It was outside, hovering about 100m in front of the main cockpit. It was just floating there, oblivious to the fact that it was in the vacuum of space and that the Rethan vessel had its weapons pointed at it.
“Hey, can we talk?”
It’s voice was… oddly humble. Everyone present knew what the being was, yet no one wished to say it out loud. The uttering of this being’s true name could doom them all. Or at least that was what the legends proclaimed. The multitude of Rethan soldiers onboard were all trying to remain calm, but everyone from the lowest footsoldier to the vessel’s General were hiding their fears. After all, the being outside was the Lord of Decay.
“Can you open the external comms please?” General Somenion asked the nearest solder.
“Uh… yes, ser…” the soldier stuttered, doing as he had been asked. He handed a microphone to the General, then lowered himself down. This one seemed more scared than most.
“Hello?”
Somenion tapped the microphone to make sure it was working. Immediately, the being outside turned its attention to him.
“Ah, you’re just sorting out communications and stuff! Hi! I just want to ask you some things.”
“What do you want from us…” Somenion asked. But he paused, not knowing what to call this creature. “What do you require from us, deity?”
“Oh, not much! May I come in?”
“Come inside?”
“Yeah. It’s cold out here.”
Somenion glanced at his soldiers. Before he could answer, the being outside was gone. It was now standing… directly behind him. It took all of Somenion’s strength not to turn around and with his weapon drawn. That would only anger this being.
“On second though, maybe I should have asked permission before coming in…” the being smiled. “Hi, I’m Arkay, what’s your name?”
“I am General Somenion. This is my crew, the 606th Legion, and our vessel, V-R-E-606-1.”
Arkay seemed to just nod in acknowledgement. He looked like a rather standard Rethan. Slightly smaller than most and with what looked like strange, black smoke drifting up his legs, arms and tail. But aside from that, he didn’t look too unusual. What probably bothered the crew more though was the cold, dead aura that Arkay emitted.
“Nice, I like it! I mean it’s a little drab, but what can I expect from a standard Rethan military vessel? Anyway, what are you all doing here?”
The soldiers behind Somenion all glanced at each other. Somenion was weighing up what he could say. He decided to be as calm as possible, only giving a loose insight as to what they were doing. After all, the Lord of Decay probably already knew.
“We are patrolling our territories.”
“Hm. Really? Thought you’d be doing more…” Arkay muttered, before stopping very suddenly. He was staring directly out of the view port. It was as if the Lord of Decay was momentarily frozen in place and lost in thoughy.
The view port on the ship was not a window but in fact a large screen. A multitude of cameras on the outside of the ship would project what they saw onto the screen. The lack of a true window removed one of the major weak points of most space-faring transport. “I kinda hoped you’d be on the lookout for existential threats or something…”
Somenion blinked. “Excuse me?”
“This ship is armed, right?”
“Yes, the vessel is armed. It is… classified what we are armed with.”
Arkay didn’t seem to mind. “That’s fine. I don’t need to know. I was originally just passing by, but something’s caught my attention, something I’d like to ask you all about.”
“May we ask questions first?” Somenion asked.
“Oh, sure!” Arkay inspected the view port closely, then vanished, only to reappear by the side of one of the Rethans and their scanning equipment.
Somenion watched what the Lord of Decay was doing, choosing his words carefully. He did not want to anger this being in any way.
“I have several questions. Why are you here? What do you need from us? Are you planning on… killing anyvok?”
Arkay smiled, looking up from the console. “Oh, I’m not planning on hurting any of you lot. I just need someone to… uh, witness something…”
The Death God paused. He’d summoned a piece of paper out of thin are and had written some numbers on it in a strange, inky, off-black style. Arkay wandered back to Somenion and thrust the piece of paper into Somenion’s hand.
“Just… take us to these coordinates. I’ll explain when we get there…”