Chapter 9

The Seraph starship cruised through space on a beeline towards Pandora. The news of the return spread quickly throughout the ship, and the overall opinion of the crew as positive. Hyperius sat in the captain's chair, his legs crossed and his head propped up by his hand. He simply gazed out the viewing port, his eyes set on some unseen point before him.

He feared for the worst. He thought he had accounted for every contingency, every possibility, in his carefully-laid plans. Apparently, he hadn't covered them all.

Voracidous relayed to him that the ship would arrive near Pandora in about three days' time. Hyperius could arrive sooner; he could force the engines to maximum output. That, however, would be a waste of resources, something he had kept careful track of. Not an ounce of fuel was put to waste.

"Hyperius, sir," a Seraph officer said, "Pandora is within range of the long-range detectors."

"Run a preliminary scan," Hyperius mused, his attention piqued. A few taps of a keyboard later, the scan was underway.

After a minute or two, the officer said, "There appears to be another object within orbit, sir." He sounded skeptical.

Hyperius' frown tightened. "Show me." Another few quick pecks.

The image that appeared on the Seraph general's screen was nothing like he had anticipated. The object was placed between Elpis and Pandora, and it was… blocky, almost crude-looking. It was massive as well, almost the size of-

A space station.

"Penetrative scan," Hyperius barked. A moment later, the image morphed into a highly-detailed, three-dimensional schematic of the station. It was extremely intricate and organized. Hyperius was impressed.

"Sure doesn't look Eridian," Voracidous commented from beside the Seraph general. "It's too blocky, too rigid."

"If Eridians did not design it," Hyperius replied, "then who else could have?" Voracidous offered no reply. The Seraph general relayed another order to the officer: "Scan it for Eridian bio-signatures."

Another minute of waiting. "The scan returned nothing," the officer announced. "No Eridian bio-signatures detected."

Hyperius eyed the officer, his brow furrowed. "Are you absolutely certain?"

"T-The instruments do not lie, sir," the officer answered uneasily.

"Instruments can be faulty," the Seraph general countered, keeping strict eye contact. "Make doubly sure they are not." The officer mumbled to himself before beginning a diagnostics check on the equipment. Machines, for all their worth, were simply not as reliable as flesh and blood.

Hyperius sat back in his seat as he let his mind wander. He couldn't even begin to guess at the creators of the odd space station. The various Eridian monarchs eradicated most of the intelligent life in any galaxy the empire reached. The monarchy believed and preached that the Eridians were the epitome of evolution, the ultimate species, the perfect race. They built up dozens of other civilizations, only to tear them down when they questioned the monarchy's rule.

Hyperius was brought up upon those twisted principles. He believed them whole-heartedly until he actually saw the atrocities of the monarchy with his own eyes. Destroying those who challenge your authority, Hyperius believed, only shows weakness and fear, not strength.

That was part of the reason he wanted to give the Queen a taste of her own medicine.

Nonetheless, the space station fascinated Hyperius. He wanted to explore it firsthand, but his instruments told him it would take another week of travel to reach Pandora.

He could, of course, just blink over to it in an instant.

Hyperius stood, the abrupt motion startling Voracidous. "I will investigate this object myself," the Seraph general said. If his officers voiced any objections, he could not hear them, for he was already intently focusing on the station. He vanished with a flash of scarlet light.

Blake's weariness showed as he materialized beside the Fast Travel station near his office. He massaged the bridge of his nose, sighing as he did. He faintly heard the rapid typing of keys from his aids in the small computer wings nearby.

Noticing Blake's worn-out look, one such aid, his secretary, a charming young woman with long blonde hair, approached him. "You look absolutely ragged," she said, adopting a concerned look as she spoke. "Is there anything I can do to help, Mr. Blake?"

The Hyperion CEO smiled lightly at the woman's attention. "Running a corporation such as this tends to wear men out, Alexis," he admitted. "Some coffee would be lovely."

"We just emptied the pot, but I'll brew some more," Alexis chirped. She went about the process, only faintly hearing her boss' appreciation.

Blake made his way towards his office with slow steps. He had barely slept in days, and the fatigue was hitting him all at once. He pressed his palm up against a reading device, an added security measure, and the twin doors slid open once his handprint was recognized.

He only took a few steps into his office before he froze, his tired eyes wide and locked on a stranger.

It stood gazing out his broad windows at Pandora, a purple hand pressed against the glass. It must have been close to seven feet tall, likely more. Smooth, golden armor adorned the creature's body, adding to its muscly bulk. Silence filled the large room for several seconds before the clicking of the doors closing broke it.

The sound caught the attention of the creature, and it turned itself to glance back at the source. It locked its golden eyes with those of Blake. The Hyperion CEO felt the creature's gaze bore into, as if scrutinizing him. Marks on the creature's muscled arms pulsed lime-green, as did its eyes. Blake felt an itching sensation on the back of his neck, and he rubbed the area with his bony fingers.

After another moment of tense silence, the creature spoke fluently in the Common Language: "Fascinating." It broke its stare to glance around the office. "I would never have thought it possible."

Blake's head cocked to one side as he studied the creature and heard it speak. An alien life form perfectly versed in the Common Language? How utterly bizarre. A more pressing question bothered Blake: "How did you get access to my office?"

The creature smirked, saying, "I did not require 'access', particularly from the likes of you. I go where I please." It lowered its other hand from the glass and walked around Blake's desk. "I must admit, I am rather impressed with this space station. I am more surprised that species such as yours could accomplish such a feat of engineering."

"What makes you say that?" Blake asked, his expression somewhere between irritated and questioning.

"The last I was aware of, you humans were more content on annihilating each other over petty differences than exploring the Universe," the creature answered coldly. "You were willing to start a war over anything – anything at all – if someone profited from the act. Your eagerness for bloodshed is disgusting."

"What makes you so superior to us?" Blake retorted. "What puts you in the position to judge us so harshly?"

The creature hissed, "I have watched your race for longer than any of you could hope to live. I have seen your kind grow and mature. My kind even tried to help nurture you, yet you turned us away. That, however, is not important. Your development does not concern me in the least."

The creature stepped back towards the panel of windows and once again looked through them at the planet below. It said, "When someone steals from you, what is the natural urge that follows?"

The sudden shift in the creature's tone threw Blake off momentarily. "I suppose you would seek revenge," he answered meekly. "You would want to take back what is yours."

"To take back what is yours," the creature echoed Blake's response. A devilish smile played across its lips. "That is exactly what I wanted to hear." It turned back to face Blake, a sinister glint in its eye. "You see, your race has taken something from mine, and I intend to take that exact course of action."

Blake's eyes widened as a revelation struck him. Though he already knew the answer, he dared to ask, "What are you?"

"The rightful owner of Pandora," the creature sneered with a grin. "I am the ruler of the last surviving members of the Eridian race, though we do not address ourselves as such anymore. We have transcended them, I purged them with fire! Now, I seek to rebuild on their ashes, to begin a new glorious age, the age… of the Seraphs!"

Its voice dropped to a sinister snarl, his smile darkening to a scowl. "You and the rest of your insect race stand in my way. However, I will not follow in my predecessor's footsteps and destroy those who oppose me. I seek diplomacy, and I would imagine you do as well. You do not strike me as the bloodthirsty type."

Blake shuddered as the creature spoke. Its method of business – threatening, then seeking negotiations – was eerily similar to those of Handsome Jack. The effectiveness of the method was undeniable; after all, a fearful party will do whatever it takes to save itself from its aggressor.

Blake, however, was used to dealing out the aggression, not receiving it.

His words were quiet, almost inaudible: "What do you require of me?"

A victorious smirk emerged on the creature's face. "As I have already said, I do not want unnecessary bloodshed from either party. Though I have a distaste for your race, exterminating you all would be too drastic. Instead, I want you to move all of the humans on Pandora elsewhere. The farther away, the better."

Blake gawked at the creature's request. "There are millions of people on Pandora," he protested. "Moving them all would take months, and that assumes they all cooperate."

The creature cocked a brow. "You think they will resist?"

"The former president of this company left a rather… sour reputation," Blake explained, "a reputation I'm trying to salvage. I have many enemies on Pandora who would rather see this company dissolved than hear it out. Furthermore, a vast majority of the population is simply not worth saving."

Another dubious look from the creature. "You believe they deserve less than you do? How petty."

"They are savages!" Blake snapped. "Filthy, mindless, murderous bandits!" He mentally winced at his own words as he calmed himself. "I will gladly help the sane people on Pandora, but I want nothing to do with the bandits."

The creature chuckled, a snide grin on its lips. "Your kind has not changed at all." The grin quickly faded back to the creature's steely mask. "If you refuse to help them, then you will destroy them. The blood will be on your hands, not on mine."

"Fine," Blake sighed in defeat. He massaged the bridge of his nose. "Is that all?"

"I believe so," the creature mused. It faced the panel of windows once more, its arms behind its back. "You have seven days."

Blake froze. "I have what?!" He tried to find the creature, but it was gone. The only evidence that it was even there was a fading red silhouette. It had just… vanished.

The Hyperion CEO heaved a sigh, shaking his head. "Just what is going on?"

He faintly heard the doors to his office slide open, as well as the clack of heels on the polished floor. "Sorry for the wait, Mr. Blake!" the cheery voice of Alexis rang out. "I just had to run down to-" The secretary noticed Blake's odd posture and body language. "Sir, is everything alright?"

Blake turned around slowly, the familiarity of the voice calming him slightly. He saw the young woman's worried face and adopted a thin smile. "Of course, Alexis," He accepted the mug of steaming coffee from her hands. "There's nothing to worry about."

A/N: Surprise, surprise, I'm not actually dead. School ending, as well as the chaos that is high school graduation, left me mentally drained (not to mention my general lack of motivation). For the moment, though, I'm back. Kind of a short chapter this time, mainly for the above reasons, but I still think it's decent. As always, feedback is much appreciated. It really does help.