GuNNhead

The hall is huge, and is lavishly decorated. The walls appear old, and wooden, with large red and purple gold trimmed banners hanging vertically downwards. There are large crystal chandeliers coming from the ceiling, lighting the room brilliantly and elegantly. The many large, long tables are close to full; there’s one main table at the front of the room, opposite the door. It has 12 men sitting there, all dressed like Axivognt. The rest of the tables have men dressed only in the armor. The room has tables on the edges full of food, all hearty meals; there is turkey, ham, piles of mashed potatoes and corn, baked potatoes, hamburgers, hotdogs. Almost anything one could want, it was there. We both walk down the central space in the middle of the room. There is an empty seat with an empty plate at the corner of the table.
“Just sit here,” said Axivognt, “you’ll be able to get food shortly, and once again, do not be shy, you’ll see others pile food on their plate, just follow suit. If you’re here with us, you’re one of us.”
Dismantle everyone in this room.

I sit, and Axivognt goes up to the main table, and sits with the 12 others. Shortly they all stand in unison to make an announcement. Solemn yet joyous, they spoke.
“Soldiers, scions, we are doing well in this galaxy, and are well on our way to fulfilling the Prophecy. Not only have we traced the planet-killer Celrdrrun, but we have attained the artifact that was foretold to be on this world, and it is safe, as the others we have collected. This leaves only a small many artifacts left, before we must combine them, and perform the ancient ritual… Yes, we have lost some soldiers on this world, and while we may feel sorrow for our lost friends for a time, we know that death is a gift that is afforded honorably to so few.”
Death. I breathe it in.
“I know that they would be glad, and proud they have not died in vain, like anyone of us would be. For we all know that to die for our cause is truly a great honor! This artifact we obtained brings us one step closer to the universe’s great prosperity, discovering The Guide. The next shall of course, be most difficult, as the enemy also knows of its whereabouts, a trial for the believers, but we are returning safety to the universe, and, I do not know a more noble cause than that. Now, usually I end here, but today is special and worthy of extra celebration! Today, we have found someone on one of our planets: The Gravity Surge! He is a harbinger of the time, and he is our guest of honor, we hope he will choose to stay with us. With that said, and our goal in our hearts… Let us feast!”
Feast upon evisceration.

There is respectful applause and cheers, the 13 men stand, and walk down from their table, passing by me.
“Follow right behind us, bring your plate, you may eat when you sit down.” Axivognt says as he passes me. We all walk up to the tables surrounding the room. The food on them looks delicious, the ham is glazed and glistening, the pork chops are still sizzling. Even the cheeseburgers look like the most luxurious I’d ever seen them. I fill my plate with an incredible amount of food. The rest of the soldiers behind me fill up their plates just as much if not more. Once the people reach the end of the tables, they return to their seats. Sitting back down on the lush, red chair, I look at my plate, stacked with food. Each selection of food looks as tantalizing as the last; I am so hungry that I do not know where to start. Annihilation. I simply begin at the top of the pile, eating the moist turkey that is incredibly full of flavor. My next bite is of a steak; it practically melts in my mouth filling it with its well-seasoned succulence. The entire meal continues in this manner, with each bite being as, or more delicious than the last. Soon, the entire hall has finished their meals. Finish their lives.

The ship continues into space, and inside the Orbiter, everyone is able to resume their natural lives, without being harnessed to a chair for safety. The intercom comes on again.
“We have safely reached outer space, and are on time and on course, it is at this time we will ask everyone to come to the mess hall, where we will be having several meals. Eat well, for this is a time for a feast of celebration.”

At this announcement, everyone gets up, and heads to the mess hall. After a few moments Axivognt enters the room dressed in his armor, but with a very fancy silken blue coat with white fur trim on it, and looks for me, finding me easily. He walks a few steps closer, to make sure he has my attention. When I look at him, he gestures with his hand for me to follow him. I do.

“How are you holding up?”
“I am holding up.”
“Indeed! What do you think of the ship so far? It has served us well for many years”
“It’s very ergonomic, very clean looking.”
“Yes, yes, though, these white common halls tend to get bland and all look the same after so long, though they are very nice indeed. Don’t worry, though, the dining hall is a much better atmosphere than these sterile halls.”
“I am off that accursed planet, that is what matters. My ship was left orbit perhaps only a short while ago. I cannot contact it, as my… transmitter is still badly damaged. I’m not even sure that I can ever contact it again. I need to find it, so that I may leave immediately.”
“Think nothing of it, we have already found it! However, it’s extremely badly damaged, but you are more than welcome to stay until it is repaired. We have reason to believe that it was a known marauder, Celrdrrun. He’s a planet destroyer, used to work with us, for the Network, before he went renegade, disagreeing with our procedure. Your ship fell out of orbit and crashed a day ago. We believe that is when Celrdrrun left the planet, but it was not imperative to give chase. Either way, we recovered your ship; the GS-336 is in one of the lower hangars.”
Celrdrrun. He will pay dearly. “How’d you know the craft was mine?”
He points. “The logo on your jacket matches. A quaint little abode-craft, very nice. Interesting and mysterious modifications, however, as my crew attempted to repair what is left of it, they were left unable; it repairs itself better than any other, and appears to be locked by means unknown to us.”
“Yeah, that’d be her, I imagine.”
“Although I am illustrious within the known universe for my adventures and exploration, the greatest of the explorers, ever, I have never seen a craft with its inner workings; do you care to shed some light on the technology?”
“It is as mysterious to me as it is you. I developed this sort of armor, but it was ripped from my body, and my spine torn out. This armor bonded me with my craft, altering us, but I’ve lost the connections with it and the armor since. I’ve never been apart since I first became with it. The clothes that I now wear are also as mysterious as they are stylish.”
“Perhaps the answers will come in time, I am confident! So, no worries, and let us concentrate on more important matters, the dining hall! Tonight is a grand feast! A celebration!”
“What are you celebrating?”
“Ha-ha! We,” he emphasizes, amicably grasping me on the shoulder, “are celebrating, that is what matters now! There will be a speech to explain it all, so do not worry about the details, and merely enjoy the feast, I know you’re hungry if you were going to eat that ‘fruit’ ha-ha!” He concludes, the doors in front of him opening to reveal the grand dining hall. I wonder, was I truly hungry? I’ve not eaten since I acquired the suit weeks ago. It sustains me. Death sustains me, I can feel the urge. Without the suit, though, do my former inclinations take hold? Is eating a necessity any longer, or merely a pleasure to partake in without requirement? The destruction of another, that is my only necessity.

On the small flying hover-shuttle, the man tells me that he is Heritor Axivognt, and that he’s a soldier of sorts, a member of The Network of Communicating Planets. He says, without modesty, that he’s far-famed across the known universe for his adventures and exploration. He’s been advent to more new worlds than anyone else in the cosmos. We fly on towards a clearing, with the shuttle that will take us to the Orbiter. Nearing it, he tells me about what they’ve been doing.
“We’ve been in orbit, and encamped in this spot of the jungle for a few days, once we land, you should hurry on to the shuttle, and not to worry, because there’s plenty of room for you.”
The camp itself looks abandoned, completely empty. There’s one large ship, everyone is probably inside already; there are only a few people around it. It looks primed for take off.

We land, and quickly other men dressed in the relatively same armored uniform as Axivognt take the small hover-shuttle onto the ship, putting it in its hangar. More men come to greet us two, and Axivognt says he has some final things to get, going to retrieve them. The men lead me onto the ship, down the hall to the main deck, where I’m quickly given a seat. There’s a hurried air about the place, with many of the soldiers running to finish their tasks of preparation in time for the scheduled launch. Just as I am told to fasten my safety harness for take off, a siren starts to go off. For the first few seconds, I hope that it’s just the siren telling crew members that the ship is about to take off. I’m sick of this planet. Soon, I hear a voice over the intercom.
“Crew, please get to your designated seats, the ship is preparing for take-off.” After a pause, it continues. “We are only waiting for Heritor Axivognt to arrive-” It cuts itself off. “Correction, soldier Axivognt has just reported in, he is inside, and in position, and we are ready for take-off.”

I breathe a sigh of relief that nothing unexpected happened. I’m calm as I hear the engines fire up, and feel the ship as it begins to rumble and shake with the force of the engines. We become airborne, and gain altitude, when, suddenly, the mantis appears again before us. Casually flying by, it’s drawn to the commotion of the ship’s departure, massive claws about to strike. The proximity sensors start to blare loudly, and flash wildly. The crew acts hastily, and engages the giant bug. They deploy their main weapons, and fire. It appears to have no affect on the creature. A split second later, the creature explodes into a million pieces, covering the canopy of trees with its gooey innards. I feel foolish for being startled or worried, I’m with a group of soldiers who came to this planet, of course they’d be prepared for something like that.