Chapter 43: The Master of Death
"Avocato."
"What is it?"
"What are you going to do?"
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The armada of incinerators and their escorts approached the system with caution, well aware of Scotia Majoran's long and bloody military history. It was a surprise attack, carefully orchestrated, and exactly the sort of action Avocato was best at planning and executing. The fighting was intense, but brief. In the end, as well armed and fierce as they were, the sheer numbers of the Tera Con fleet overwhelmed the Scoti defenses, and Soctia Majoran, Scotia Minores, and a dozen colony moons reluctantly agreed to a cease-fire.
Furious planetary leaders immediately demanded an explanation for the unprovoked attacked and blockade. Avocato let them wait for a response as he positioned his fleet to his satisfaction. The intent of so many battleships was unmistakable. Incinerators were designed for ship-to-ship and ship-to-surface engagements. The Scotia system didn't possess nearly enough ships to mount a counter attack against such overwhelming odds. The few dozen ships that tried to take off - either to escape or attack, it didn't matter which - were summarily shot down before they could break atmosphere.
An armored transport was dispatched from the Vulpen Keo. Picking up an escort of six smaller fighters on the way, the transport flew directly to the largest continent on Scotia Majoran, to a scarcely-populated region far inland, deliberately selected for its remoteness.
Standing on the bridge of the Vulpen Keo, isolated and cold and alone, Avocato watched the ships descend toward the yellow and blue planet until they were the merest points of lights. He felt no pride, no sense of glory or shame or regret. Not yet. Those feelings would come in their own time and make their home in the recesses of his mind, to linger in misery. Right now, he felt nothing at all, just a sense of physical heaviness, as if gravity had increased for him alone. He felt as though all emotion had been drained out of him, leaving an empty vessel behind. It was alarmingly similar to the feral state he'd entered on Zee Secundus, just without the inherent violence.
Or not. What he was about to do surpassed violence the same way an ocean surpassed a tear. The scale was simply too vast for comparison.
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"I'll uphold my oath and follow orders."
"These people weren't the ones who tried to kill you."
"But they will. They tried to kill me for something I hadn't done yet, either."
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"My lord, the fleet is in position and we are ready for your address to the people of Scotia."
His voice was steady, though to his own ears it sounded hollow and his heart was still heavy. It was a familiar sensation, the weight of command, and it would be with him until this crisis passed. If it passed. It was a burden he could never put down. Avocato knew full well what he was about to do would be looked upon as an act of war against the rest of the universe. He also knew that he was merely the instrument by which the Lord Commander acted. It would happen with or without him. Had Bodek been successful, or his plan to die with the Kalibar had worked, or Gary had been one whit less reckless and daring, the Scotia system would still meet the same fate.
"This one?" the hologram of the Lord Commander asked, pointing to one of the buttons before him.
Avocato glanced over. If there was one thing that was a certainty in this universe, it was that for all his power and ruthlessness, the Lord Commander lacked all competency when it came to any piece of technology more complex than a light switch. For his own sanity, Avocato had ordered color-coded buttons on every piece of equipment on Tera Con Prime within a week of taking command. Even then, knowing which color button did what had never sunk in the little tyrant's memory. That, or he knew and just liked to come off as helpless to catch anyone mocking him. Avocato wasn't sure, nor did he care. He certainly wasn't going to lose his patience – or head - over something so petty as he'd seen other officers do.
"The blue one to the right, my lord," Avocato quietly corrected, keeping his tone and expression perfectly bland and his thoughts to himself. His four-year-old son was more tech savvy.
"Yes, that's the one," the Lord Commander replied as if he hadn't been pointing at the black button. Back on Tera Con Prime, the Lord Commander hit the button and took over every form of communication, public, private, and military, within the planetary system, his image projected throughout the worlds.
"To the people of the Scotia system, greetings! You may have noticed my fleet visiting your system under the command of General Avocato. I am the Lord Commander, head of the Tera Con Empire." A wicked leer spread over his face. "And you have pissed off the wrong person."
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"There's no glory in this."
"You're right. There isn't. Nor honor, nor point. But if I don't obey orders, Ventrexia is next."
"Are you prepared to see this through?"
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Refusing to step foot on the home planet of someone who had tried very hard and on multiple occasions to murder his best friend, Nikos stood on the ramp of the transport as the Scoti prisoner was escorted off the ship by three guards. They brought him ten paces beyond the ramp, then uncuffed him before stepping away and taking positions to protect the colonel should the prisoner try anything. Bodek's gaze swept all around them, alarmed.
"Where are we?"
"I believe it's called Torodo Plains?"
"Savanna," corrected Bodek sharply, belatedly recognizing the place. "Torodo Savanna."
"Ah. Savanna." Nikos nodded in acknowledgement. He looked across the expanse of orange rocks and yellowish grass, not particularly moved by the setting, though the Scoti seemed to be. "We weren't very precise in the translations. There didn't seem to be much need for it now." He shrugged, unconcerned.
"We're on Scotia Majoran. What do you mean, there wasn't much need? Are you going to kill me?"
The Ventrexian stiffened, offended at the suggestion. "Of course I'm not. I'm letting you go." Nikos pointed towards the rising sun. "If you walk that way, you'll come across a settlement. You'll have to walk quickly, though."
"Why so?"
Cool blue eyes regarded him unflinchingly. "I believe you know the answer to that question already."
"What is the day? Tell me!"
"I believe you know that answer as well. Does it really matter?"
Horror swept over Bodek. "He's going to destroy my planet."
"Actually, you have destroyed your planet. Up until your assault upon the Kalibar, the Tera Con Empire had no aggressions or intentions towards the Scotia system. The attempt on General Avocato's life sealed your planet's fate. If you hadn't touched the Kalibar, we would have no reason to be holding this conversation. Even if you had declared war before attacking, we could have argued to spare this system even though you utilized a Death Knell. And he would have. General Avocato has no desire to become a xenocide. The fact that you took it upon yourself to try to change history has, in fact, written history. A self-fulfilling prophesy, if you will. Unfortunately for you, Avocato ordered a databurst with all relevant information sent to Tera Con Prime before the Kalibar self-destructed. Once your vessels and life readings were confirmed as Scoti, the Lord Commander gave the order."
"He IS going to destroy Scotia Majoran!"
Nikos frowned. "What did you expect? The orders have already been issued by the Lord Commander. Avocato is just going to see that they're carried out. That's part of the reason I brought the deep-space fleet to escort him home."
"To kill everyone?"
Nikos smirked at his shifting standards. "Isn't that how these things work out? Cosmic justice comes around for us all. Now it's just Scotia Majoran's turn."
"We're not at war with you!"
The colonel almost laughed. "But we're at war with you."
"But-"
"But what?" snapped Nikos, suddenly as cold as ice. "It's not right? It's not fair? Explain your use of a Death Knell against the crew of the Kalibar and then try to speak to me of what's right and fair, Scoti. How is that not war? Your people are no saints. I've seen what your planet's ultimate weapon can do. I've seen worlds that were once teeming that will never support life again. Do your scientists accept responsibility for all the planets the Inci devastated with your Death Knells, or do they stand back and point their fingers and say they had no control over how their creation was used?" He waited, then sneered when Bodek could not contradict him. "I thought as much. Your hypocrisy is nauseating. General Avocato, at least, has the moral courage to acknowledge and accept responsibility for his actions. You, on the other hand, have no one to blame but yourself."
Bodek raised haunted eyes to the Ventrexian officer. "Avocato is death. A master of it."
"No," said Nikos sadly, turning away. He knew anything he said right now wouldn't matter in an hour, a day, a year. "He's its slave."
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"I know what's coming, Nikos. I'm prepared to do worse. A lot worse."
"At what price?"
"I am the price. And I'll do anything to keep my son alive."
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"General Avocato, the transport carrying Colonel-in-Command Nikos is docking now," reported the comm officer. "He reports the prisoner has been released."
Avocato nodded, distracted. "Tell him to report directly to the bridge."
"Aye, sir."
"Lieutenant, open a shipwide channel to all commands."
"Open and ready, sir."
Positioning himself next to the hologram of the Lord Commander, Avocato collected himself for a moment, then spoke, calm and steady in contrast to the Lord Commander's venom of a few minutes ago. "All ships and soldiers of the Tera Con Empire, this is Supreme Commander General Avocato." His voice carried to every ship in the Scoti system. He was sure his words were being picked by Scoti comm lines as well. That was fine. He wasn't telling them anything they didn't already know, he was simply couching the situation in far more personal terms than the Lord Commander had used. He knew the soldiers admired and valued him highly, perhaps even loved him the way he had loved some of his commanders in the Ventrexian military, trusting them to get him home. He needed every soldier on his side for this to work. He needed them righteously angry and offended. "You all know why we're assembled here. Scoti terrorists attacked and boarded my flagship Kalibar in the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Ziga Turi. Their intent was to assassinate me, and they didn't care who got in their way. They deliberately chose to attack at a time when the Kalibar could not defend herself, and they saw fit to unleash a Death Knell, a weapon banned by all civilized worlds, killing the crew. Rather than let the Scoti dictate my death, I activated the Kalibar's self-destruct. It was pure good fortune that I managed to survive. The universe clearly is not done with me yet. We, however, are done with the Scoti. For this unprovoked act of war, and for the creation, production, and deployment of the Death Knells, we will be carrying out the Lord Commander's orders set forth by the Tera Con Convention. To wit, the home system of the assassins will be eliminated." He looked to Captain Ichitrix's, his eyes hard and cold. "Captains, all guns at the ready. Maximum power and spread. Prepare to rain fire on my command."
"Aye, sir. Shall we have ground troops ready, General?" asked Ichitrix's.
Avocato muted the comm link to address her. "Have them on alert, Captain, but if they need to be deployed it won't be until tomorrow. A ground invasion shouldn't be necessary for this operation."
"How long shall we maintain fire, sir?"
His expression never changed. "Until I give the order to stop."
For the briefest moment, he saw the shock in her small, round eyes. Then Ichtrix's recovered, saluting sharply. "Understood, sir," she said, and fled his presence.
Let the whole universe despise and revile him. Let his name be spoken with hate for generations to come. Let them say and do what they liked to him. Today, he would earned their rancor. If he was to be called a monster, a Master of Death, then so be it.
So long as his son lived.
And he would live. This was simply the first of many steps Avocato had to take to guarantee Little Cato would be in Gary's care a decade from now.
"General?" goaded the Lord Commander impatiently, clearly anticipating a show.
He didn't look away from the planet below, but toggling the comm unit again, he did start the hated battle cry. "For eternity!"
"For Lord Commander!" exclaimed every person on the bridge, on the ship, in the fleet. Let Scotia hear and tremble.
Avocato looked into the abyss and saw two things: his own cold reflection, and -
"Fire."
