Inquisitor's Promise (Act Two, Chapter Four)
Aeneas has to keep his promises. His father's mission will be completed. And while he's at it, he will become Galatea's lord and Inquisitor. But love and politics are an explosive combination.
Chapter Four: Life of a Lieutenant
A large starship flew through the ether of outer space. The Enrico Polo was part of the Holy League Fleet that had been sent to stop the Grey Globe’s slow but steady march towards Earth.
Lieutenant Giovanni Rossi was an average man in every way possible, except for the fact that he was quite the womanizer. Though calling him one was a stretch given that most women either laughed at or were creeped out by his clumsy attempts at flirting. The rest pitied him.
Short for a man and dark-haired, the Lieutenant’s physical features were what most people would think of when they think of a man from the Italian Area. Being the second son, Giovanni joined the Venetian Space Force as soon as he was of age, and he became a star pilot.
Thus far, the most interesting event of his journey had been when his ship had entered the Electrosphere. Giovanni would never forget the experience of seeing outside the ship’s window as the Enrico Polo was enveloped by the electricity that brought it to the space where miniature planets and stars abound. Like most people in the 74th century, he had been taught in school of the nature of the Electrosphere and the celestial bodies that could be found there.
But as the Grey Globe became visible to the crew of the Enrico Polo, Giovanni’s service was about to become much more eventful.
The circular structure was a terrible sight for everyone in the Holy League Fleet. Living up to the name that it was given by those who had survived its onslaught, it looked more like a planet instead of a starship. If Earth could be any more urbanized than it was currently in the 74th century, it would look like the Grey Globe.
Giovanni did not approve of this course action, in all honesty. It seemed rather foolhardy for Doge Norberto to send another fleet at the Grey Globe after the first one had been destroyed. But Lieutenant Giovanni Rossi was not in the Space Force to question orders.
Despite the previous disaster, the Lieutenant had hoped that the Holy League would put up a better fight this time around.
Alas, his hope had been misplaced.
Almost as soon as the Fleet Admiral gave the order to engage the Grey Globe, it was clear that this would be a second disaster for Veneto and the Holy League. The starships of the Holy League were quickly overwhelmed. The Grey Globe’s resilience to standard armament turned out to be more than speculation. Furthermore, it was able to produce vessels that soon outnumbered the Holy League’s fleet.
As Giovanni boarded his starship, he had little hope of survival for himself; he never considered himself to be a hotshot pilot. But he was able to shoot down a considerable number of the Grey Globe’s smaller vessels, more than any other pilot of the Enrico Polo.
He wouldn’t be able to enjoy his newfound ace status, though. The pilot’s spacecraft was soon overwhelmed by the grey vessels.
The pilot screamed in horror when one of the vessels stuck itself to his starfighter. The vessel then dissolved itself into a wave of grey locusts that enveloped the Venetian plane. They banged at the window of Giovanni’s cockpit until they finally broke through.
If Giovanni had been killed that day, it would have been a merciful fate. But instead, the grey locusts turned into goo and inserted itself into the pilot’s body. And Giovanni was enveloped by the Grey Goo.
The Venetian Space Force listed Lieutenant Giovanni Rossi as Killed in Action that day. But like the vast majority of the fleet’s crew, his body was never found.
"Resistance is futile," would have been the battle cry, but sadly, the locusts were mute. Instead, they easily assimilated their enemy into the hive mind.