Trinity Blood: Divergent Path
Chapter 9: Arrival at Storm's Tip
Abel stared at holo-screen before him and his men. It was projected out from the wall and connected to the computer in Abel's office. "Solomon, your leader of team one and, Barrack, you've team two. I want the two of you to split the ship between you. The enemy somehow had knowledge of where to strike us. I want to know where their information's coming from, understood?"
"Sir!" both Solomon and Barrack straightened and saluted Abel.
"Arthur, you're to take three others with you and patrol the storage sectors of the ship."
"Sir," Arthur straightened as well.
"Tabitha—"
"I'll stay here while you get some rest," Tabitha suggested.
"No, you'll take three others and start patrolling the dinning and market areas of the ship. Move out." Abel turned his gaze on the four of them. Solomon, Barrack, and Arthur all left, but Tabitha remained. "I gave you an order, Tabitha, get going."
"Sir, you've been up for nearly seventy-two hours straight. Enhanced human or not you need to sleep, not to mention to eat. You've not even taken a break for a meal."
"Later," Abel stated, turning away from Tabitha. He picked up a data-cub holding yesterday's reports. "There's too much to be done before we arrive and little time to—"
The data-cub was snatched from his hand. "Not 'later,' it was 'later' yesterday and the day before that. I can drag Lilith into this if you want, sir."
Abel looked her in the eye. Was she serious? "Lilith is busy," Abel countered. The thought of having Lilith nag at him made the room spin around Abel. "Now give me the data-cub."
"I could easily get her involved in this, sir." Tabitha held the data-cub out away from Abel. "If you don't rest soon you'll collapse from exhaustion."
"I've only been up for forty-eight hours, not seventy-two. Stop acting out and get to work." Abel easily snagged the data-cub back. "We still have radical forces on the loose. Even if they're hiding we have to find them before we arrive on Mars."
"Yes sir," Tabitha said in a stiff voice, her jaw clenched. Straightening, she saluted him before turning and striding from the room.
Abel watched her go. Well that could've gone better. He hadn't meant to make her mad, but the last thing Abel needed was a subordinate to start treating him like he was kid. God, his job was hard enough as it was.
The door into his office swooshed open and Abel entered. He walked around the desk to the chair and collapsed in it. Perhaps Tabitha was right. Abel really could do with sleep. No, sleep could come later. Abel pulled the laptop towards him and closed the program which had been projected.
"You look almost ill."
Abel's head snapped up to see his sister standing in the door. Her bright green eyes were locked on him filled with both curiosity and laughter.
"Did I scare you?" Seth giggled. She shifted the butterfly necklace before racing over to the desk and hoping onto it. Looking over her shoulder, she leaned back, kicking her legs.
Abel shut off the computer. "Why are you here, dear sister?"
"Because I'm so booored," Seth exaggerated, "I've nothing to do and no one to talk to." She pouted, glaring at him as if this were all Abel's fault.
"You could talk with Sonya?" Abel suggested. Couldn't Seth just leave? He loved his sister dearly. Nonetheless he still had to file paperwork, read reports, prepare the next wave of patrols, and that only tipped the list.
"Nope, she's her hands full with watching stars. Watching stars is so boring." Seth wrinkled her nose. "'Specially out here. They don't change in space! It's boring!"
"And just think on all work you'll have once we land," Abel stated.
Seth just ignored him. "Plus I finished all the books I brought. There's nothing to do."
"So you talk with me?" Abel cocked an eyebrow.
"Hey, can I brow one of your books?" Seth stared at him. Her eyes were intense.
"I don't have a clue what you're talking about."
"Liar," Seth sniffed. "Come on, you read those books dad gave you enough I know you wouldn't have left them behind."
"Dad?" Abel played dumb. He knew perfectly well who she was talking about. Though, Abel had never viewed him as a father.
"You know, stop playing dumb!" Seth glared at him. "The books Doctor Thomas gave you years ago. You even carry one on you."
"Oooh, those books. What's wrong with Sherlock Holmes? I thought you loved that book," Abel inquired.
"I do. It's my favorite, but I've read it three times since starting the journey and it's the only book I've with me. I didn't think to bring others."
Abel hesitated.
Seth rolled over so her stomach and chest were on the desk, legs sticking out behind her. She clasped her hands together, begging. "Come on, please."
"Fine, just take care of it. I've only one copy," Abel said as he drew a book from his book. Every part of him was screaming at him not to let Seth have this book. It was the first one Thomas had ever let Abel read. No matter the years which passed Abel kept it with him. A treasure he never read, a treasure to be kept safe. He knew it was silly, that keeping this book didn't mean Thomas would come back. For some reason Abel kept it on him. In a vein hope, an unrealistic hope, for the memories to become a reality once more.
Abel placed the old book between. The age showed in the gold lined pages, the worn, leather cover of the book. If Abel ever solid the book he'd be rich just because of the gold lining. The UN had never discovered Abel held such a treasure. Thomas had told Abel to tell no one about the book. The only ones to know were the five of them.
Seth picked up the book and opened. At once one eyebrow lowered, her face twisting into a look of complete and utter confusion. "What language is this?"
"Latin."
"Latin?!" Seth held the book away from her, gaping. "Why read it in Latin? You could have this in any language."
Abel scowled and bit back the urge to snap at her or take the book back. It was just Seth being his dear, little sister after all. "If you don't like it, don't read it."
"Is that a challenge?" Seth asked a sly grin splitting her features. "I accept. I'll learn this language and read the book even if it takes me my entire life to do!" She raised her fist, looking so determined and confident the world seemed to stop in that instant.
Abel smiled, his voice softening, "I know you can do it in less than a year."
"You bet I can!"
Abel chuckled.
"Hey!" Seth slammed her hands down on his desk. "No, laughing, I'm serious."
"I wasn't laying at you, dear sister," Abel said, smiling at her. "You're going to need that determination. Latin's a dead language after all."
"I know," Seth puffed out a cheek. She then grinned and leaned forward until her nose was nearly touching his. "You're the best." And she kissed him on the cheek. "Bye." She leapt back and practically danced to the door before racing away, giggling.
Abel just stared after her. His tired mind, trying to process what the hell just happened. By the time it clicked his sister had kissed, Seth was long.
A sigh escaped Abel. Oh well, it was just Seth being her normal hyper self. Besides, in a few years, she might not have a chance to be herself.
Abel pulled himself away from these thoughts by starting to read the reports. He'd gotten through only three when the door hissed open. Looking up, Abel noticed it wasn't Seth or one of his officers. Instead a short man Abel knew to be a representative for one of the few nations to still hold sway in the UN stormed in.
"What the hell is this?!" the snort man slammed a sheet a paper down on the desk.
Why the hell was this man here? It was Cain's job to deal with the diplomats, not Abel's. "A sheet of paper," Abel replied, "but I believe you were referring to what's on the sheet." Leaning back in his seat, Abel looked coolly up at the man.
This representative reminded Abel of General Hall. His short, stocky build and the look of complete distain on his face told Abel he wasn't someone Abel would like. Rich clothes adorned the man. The thin lining of gold on the cuffs of his sleeves was enough to make most people stare.
"Cheeky bastard," growled the man. "All you military dogs are the same. Damn UN!" he bared his teeth in a snarl.
Abel just looked up at him, not amused by this. It was now he could tell what this man was so upset about. Abel's team had found several people aboard the ship suspected to have helped the radical group aboard. This man must've been one of them or something like that. Abel had placed restrictions on them. It was to make it harder for another attack to occur. Abel did know not all of them were part of the radical group and so he was watching them for a few weeks and then would lift the restrictions.
"You think just because you're in that position it makes you one of us. Ha, when we get back to Earth you'll be a slave again. No rights, no power, nothing but the clothes on your back and your family."
Abel's jaw tightened. He could see where this was going and didn't like it one bit. His gloved hand balled into a fist. Hand trembling, Abel glared at the man. He had to hold his anger. He had to keep calm.
"Perhaps, I'll ask the UN if I could keep that little sister of yours. She'll be quite the looker when she grows up," he sneered.
Searing rage pulsed through Abel's veins. How dare he threaten Abel's dear sister.
"Unless you make this go away that is."
Abel snapped then. Growling in rage, he leapt, uncoiling from the seat as viper would to spring on its prey. His fist collided with the man's face. "No one threatens Seth!"
"Especially when the office door's open and the rest of us can hear what you're saying," stated a cool voice from the door. "Give the word, Lieutenant-Colonel, and I'll throw this trash out."
"You have it," Abel stated.
The officer smiled, his blue eyes glinting. "Well, you guys heard the lieutenant-colonel let's get this trash out."
Two more officers appeared, taking hold of the man from behind. "Damn UN dog!" he shrieked, spit flying from his thick lips. "I'll make you regret this day, Nightlord! You'll regret ever crossing me!" he continued spitting out threats as the two officers dragged him off.
"That was fun," stated the first officer. He turned to Abel and smiled. "I just got back from patrolling the living quarters, sir. I thought you'd want to take a look at this." He stepped forward and held out a bag. In the bag was a data-cub and a note. "The writing matched that left at the murder," he explained.
"Excellent work," Abel praised, trying to grasp this man's name.
He looked rather amused by this. "It's Officer Barvon, Alexander Barvon. And not to worry about forgetting it, I've not spoken to you yet after all." He smiled and shrugged, acting almost carefree. Even still there was a look in his eye which told Abel Alexander didn't like this situation one bit.
"Has the data-cub been tested?" Abel asked. There was something about Alexander that just made Abel like him. Perhaps it was the fact he was keeping in good humor even though he'd have to be sleep deprived as well. Most around his rank were.
"No one's inserted it yet," Alexander replied. "I thought you'd want to prepare a secure system to see what was on it."
"Yes." Abel nodded. Taking the cane in one hand, he took the bag from Alexander with the other. He didn't bother using the cane as he walked out of the office. "Find a computer. We need to know what's on this." Abel looked at the paper in the bag. There was only one word on it: Igne. "Fire?" Abel stared at the word in confusion.
"Sir, got one!" Alexander called Abel over.
Walking to the man, Abel tried to figure out what the word implied. It could mean a number of things. But what did it mean here?
Abel stopped before the system and pulled out the data-cub. It was warm to the touch and heavier than most data-cubs. He passes it to Alexander who stood before the computer.
Leaning over, Alexander placed the data-cub on the computer. It sunk in. A harsh smell filled the room. One word appeared on the screen "boom." Oh hell! A timer replaced the word.
"Get out now!" Abel shouted to the few people in the room. A time had appeared on the computer.
Several of the officers raced out of the room. Alexander bent over the keys and started to type.
"Move!" Abel pulled the man from the seat and threw him towards the exit. Abel then cut power to the laptop to minimize damage. "I said move," he snapped at Alexander.
The officer hesitated and took a step towards Abel. "I won't leave without you, sir."
Abel scowled. Not wasting breath on pointless words, Abel wheeled around and raced towards Alexander. Taking hold of the officer, headed for the exit. Only a few seconds remained. The ticking tapped in his ears as his heart rate rose. Oh hell, oh hell, oh hell! He threw Alexander before and leapt for the exit after the man.
An explosion rocked the ship. Abel struck the ground. Fire flew over him. His ears rang from the impact of the sound. Rolling over, Abel saw a fire licking at the doors. The next instant the sprinkler system activated. The water socked Abel and the other officers in the hall.
Abel looked at the others there. None of the officers who'd been in there were missing. A small breath escaped him, his heart lifting as if a weight had been taken from it. That hadn't been fun.
xxx
"Major."
Cain was greeted by Shane the second he was through the door into his office.
"This was came for you this morning," Shane said as he stood and held out a data-cub to him.
"Thank you, Shane." Cain gave the man a small nod of greeting. Taking the data-cub, Cain asked, "Have the reports come in from the United Nations?"
"Not yet, sir, but they should be arriving sometime today. There are a few reports on your system already from Mars and the construction crews already there."
Before the colony and even left Lunar Base another group had been on Mars. There were only a handful of humans in the group and the rest were droids. Their task was the hardest one: build the dome and the colony before the colonists arrived.
"I'll take a look at them and get them back to Mars before we arrive."
"That's a high goal," Shane pointed out, "we arrive tomorrow."
"I know." Cain nodded to Shane before walking fully into his office. He'd take a look at the data-cub then set to work on the documents which had come in from Mars. Taking his seat, Cain slipped the data-cub into the computer.
The screen went black. Several long moments passed before the screen flickered and a man appeared seated in a dark room. The shadows cast over his face made it only just possible to tell he had shoulder length hair. He was dressed in a long, torn, black, jean coat. Around his neck was a thick, but loose, dirty scarf.
"Guten morgen, Major Nightlord."
A chill fell over the room. The very air had turned to ice. If Cain moved, if he breathed, his skin would crack and shatter, scattering tiny fragments to the floor. The cold, the void where emotion should've been, echoed in each word this man uttered.
"It's common courtesy to reply when greeted."
His hand trembled. Cain slipped it off the desk and took a deep breath. "It's common courtesy to give ones name as well," Cain pointed out. The peace the breath brought swept through him. The chill loosened its hold. Whoever this man was, he wasn't here.
"Ah, but one of my associates has given you my name."
"Really?" Cain forced his muscles to loosen. Heartbeat by heartbeat, he relaxed until he was staring at the man as if bored. He hooked an eyebrow. "And would your associates be."
"Have you ever heard the expression: 'in fire the world will be created anew'?" The man lit what looked to be a cigarette. His voice held a certain blandness to it. The words seemed to hold no meaning to him; as if the very thought of emotion and feeling had never crossed his mind.
"What do you want?" Cain replied, matching his voice to this stranger's. A hollow feeling wormed into the pit of his stomach, a feeling which scent waves of unease coursing through his body. The emotion was the ocean's waves beating against the solid, jagged stone of a cliff face.
"You." In that word was a chilling note.
"What?" Cain wasn't certain he'd just heard that.
"I want you, all four of you. I've prepared everything for your arrival. A display the likes of which hasn't been seen." Passion leaked into his voice. The emotion dripped to ground as little drops of blood.
A name, hovered at the edge of Cain's mind, uttered on the breath of dying woman; clouded from mind by blinding rage of the moment. "Why?" was all Cain could say.
"Quite simply: the four of you are gods or soon will be gods."
"You're making as much sense as that terrorist group was. They thought—" Cain's eyes widened, mouthing forming an "o." Realization sunk in. It couldn't be— "Isaak?"
The man gave a soft, throaty chuckle. "Indeed, I'm Isaak, Mein Herr. Think of me as your prophet."
Or a mad man, Cain thought to himself. "We're not gods," Cain stated.
"Nein, not yet."
"What do you mean by that?" Cain demanded. This man was grinding Cain's nerves to the limit. Not even Abel had gotten this deep under Cain's skin before.
"Let me put it this way: a god must feel the coldness of death before ascending to godhood. They must know the pain and torment of living as a mortal. To die and return as a god, that's your destiny."
"That's a load of—"
The entire room shook. Cain leapt to his feet, looking wildly around.
"It seems your brother's found the little gift my associates left for him."
Fear swept through Cain. "What did you do?!"
Isaak laughed. The image dissolved into the black screen.
Touching his radio, Cain forced his voice to remain calm. "Abel, come in."
"What?!" his brother snapped. "Look," his voice was calmer, "I've my hands full right now, Cain. Whatever the hell you want, wait until eight hundred hours tomorrow. I'll meet you on observation deck one." The comm. shut off.
Abel was safe. Cain took in a deep, shaking breath. The chair swayed as Cain collapsed into it. His hand blocked out the bright light, the ceiling only just visible through the gaps between his fingers. Abel was safe. Cain closed his eyes. But for how long?
xxx
The sight before Abel was almost breath taking. The brown world took up most the window, a giant, a ball of sand so unlike Earth. It was Mars. It was their future. The idea of looking down on this world, to finally set eyes on it, made Abel's breath catch in his throat.
It was eight hundred hours, nearly thirty passed that actually, and Abel stood alone on observation deck two. Right then the crews were scrambling around the ship, preparing for landing, preparing for their lives to being on this world.
"Abel." The soft sound of Cain's voice sounded from the entryway.
"I thought you'd forgotten," Abel stated, blanking his expression before turning his back on the world. He leaned against the glass.
Cain walked up to stand beside Abel. His light eyes were locked on the planet below. "Such an ugly world to hold all of humanities hopes, isn't it?"
"What did you want, Cain? You're already thirty minutes late." Ugly? Mars wasn't ugly? It didn't hold Earth's silent beauty, but it was still beautiful in its own right.
"I was… warned," it sounded as if Cain was dancing around the truth, letting Abel hear only a little. "A group of people are planning on killing you."
At this Abel snorted. "Nothing new there. Sounds like the damn UN to me."
"Not the UN. These people are far more dangerous."
"Cain," Abel straightened, "I got that much when someone tried to blow up security yesterday. I'm not stupid."
"I'm not saying just that, Abel. They really want you dead." Panic laced Cain's voice. His brother turned and took hold of him. Fingers bit into Abel's unarmored arm. "They're going to try again and again until you're killed." The panic hand taken over Cain's eyes, his voice trembled, each word entwined so deeply with the emotion there was no escaping it.
"Get ahold of yourself." Abel stuck his brother in the gut.
Cain gasped, releasing Abel and stumbling back a few paces.
"You're reading too much into what's happened. It's just a coincidence, nothing more or less. Stop acting as if the entire world's out to get us. I'm not dead and I've no plans to die."
"You have to listen!" Cain shouted, eyes wide. "They're—"
"Go see Lilith," Abel stated, starting towards the door. "You need something to help you sleep and take your mind off of what happened. That group doesn't have enough members left to do much damage." With those words, Abel left his brother. That'd been a hug waste of time!
(Author's Note: We finally reached Mars (cheers)
And the last important character has entered for this part… I guess I should say last two have entered: Isaak and Alexander.
A Request: If you read this chapter please comment. Comments really do help me with the next chapter and more.)
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