The Mission

Komarov came a few minutes later and he had Medics with him.

Corwin was conveyed into a shuttle and you all flew back to the ship.

At the very evening, you all were called into a briefing room. You had time to rest and get medical attention from a medic. Ramus even got a new tablet (although he would have to reinstall a few applications and install some other Programms...standard Human configurations weren't optimised for a Tetra after all)

as you took a seat Komarov entered the room and sat down on the control desk in the front. This was no normal meeting, as you could see.
"I'm not allowed to tell you everything...The whole thing is top secret...I'm risking my job just by telling you the little bits that I do know...But you've earned it after all."
Komarov looked at all of you.
"Hermes is exactly what he had introduced himself as...He is a god."
He made a little pause, to see your reactions.
"To be honest, the body you fought wasn't Hermes...but his mind was. Deities do exist...but they're different than you would imagine.
They are Alien Life forms...Thinking energy as some people call them...
It's...hard to explain...They are able to transfer themselves into living being, if plants, animals or humans...the more complex a being is, the harder it gets, that's why Hermes had his capsule...We disturbed him while he was still transferring, he was weak...
Every God has a different range of powers. Hermes could teleport, Zeus as an example is able to throw lightning etc..."
He made another pause, maybe he was thinking, what other things, he could tell you without getting into too much trouble.
"Now you know who your Enemy was...Corwin...that's a different Story...and not mine to tell you. He is no god...ask him, if you want to know more...He's stable and should be awake in a few hours...that's all that I can tell you. You will maybe encounter other deities on your mission, but that's all that I can tell you."
With these words he stood up and started to walk out of the Room.

(die waffe aus der Kiste will ich aber noch)

Suddenly everything went really fast. Serene hung her new weapon over her Shoulder, and took a new one out of the crate. She heard, that something happend behind her, but was to busy with examining her new weapon, that she didn't realise it all. Then there was a boom, at a hell lot of light, thus she turned a little surprised. Hermes was gone, and Corwin looked horrible. Everything was over, she thought, somehow disappointed.

Afterwards, in the evening they were called to a meeting. Komarov told them something about gods, greek gods, that somehow weren't just myths... Strange thing...
"I won't dare fighting a guy called Zeus...", she mumbled after Komarov left, "For everyone, who does... well for there sake I truely hope, that not every ancient greek god is really alive... there are a fucking lot of them"

[Ari]

Spoiler:

verschießt laser strahlen, zählt unter carabiner, genauere stats folgen, falls das RPG weiterläuft.

It didn’t take long for the medics to arrive, and Komarov was with them. Everyone got back to the shuttles and at a moment’s notice they were out of the facility again. Irasem wondered how long they’ve actually been on this mission. He knew he lost all sense for time during the weird battle against Hermes; it felt like it had taken ages. Maybe it had only been five minutes, though.
Back on the ship, Irasem refused to see any medics and went straight to his room. He got out of his armour and took a long hot shower before checking trough his equipment. He had just finished cleaning and reloading his beloved MGL when his radio clicked and he was called to the briefing room.
Irasem noticed this wasn’t about to be an ordinary briefing as soon as he entered the room. There was no one there except for his squad mates. So this was going to be special. He took a seat and soon after Komarov entered the room.
“I'm not allowed to tell you everything” Komarov started. “The whole thing is top secret. I'm risking my job just by telling you the little bits that I do know. But you’ve earned it after all.” The look he gave them told Irasem he was serious. “Hermes is exactly what he had introduced himself as: He is a god.”
Irasem had to stop himself from bursting into laughter. This was just crazy! He shook his head in disbelieve. This wasn’t possible! …was it?
Komarov went on explaining stuff about alien live forms and the transformation of minds into different bodies. If Irasem hadn’t seen Hermes himself, he would have said Komarov was insane. But unfortunately he did see Hermes and this really explained a lot. Well, basically Komarov just told them what Hermes had already mentioned, but hearing this from the Lieutenant made it sound real. As real as “You’ve just fought a god!” could sound, anyway.
“Now you know who your enemy was. Corwin… that's a different story… and not mine to tell you. He is no god. Ask him, if you want to know more. He's stable and should be awake in a few hours. That's all that I can tell you. You will maybe encounter other deities on your mission, but that's all that I can tell you” Komarov finished and got up to leave.
All that took some time to sink in. Irasem found himself staring into space while he tried to work out what it meant to have fought – and killed – a god. Or a god’s vessel, to be more precisely.
“I won't dare fighting a guy called Zeus...” Serene said. “For everyone who does... well for their sake I truly hope that not every ancient Greek god is really alive... there are a fucking lot of them” Irasem didn’t know anything about Greek gods at all. He assumed that the Greek were a human tribe… with a lot of mythology apparently. Right now, he didn’t care at all.
He wished he could ask Komarov how he got to know all that. But since all this was classified information the Lieutenant wouldn’t tell him anything. No need to bother him then.
Irasem got up slowly and walked out. He headed for the medical station. He didn’t like to ask Corwin personal questions after he’d just been wounded so badly, but he wanted answers. During the fight, there had been no time to worry about the Captain’s power. Now, however, there’d been plenty of time to think the happenings over. And Komarov’s briefing had risen even more questions than it’d answer. Irasem wouldn’t have dared to ask Corwin about the issue if it hadn’t been for Komarov suggesting this option. Now he had to take his chances.
Irasem stepped in the way of the first medic he encountered. “Where is Captain Corwin? I’ve got to talk to him as soon as he’s awake.”

The medic pointed towards a Door "He's in there...he woke up a few minutes ago, earlier than we expected." He said and walked away.

The room is small and looks rather sterile, everything white or metal.
Corwin is bandaged a lot, but he's awake. "Hello Irasem...So I guess, Vadim didn't answer all our questions? What do you want to know?"

Irasem hadn’t expected the medic to be of much help, but it seemed he found the right guy. He told Irasem that the Captain was already awake and apparently he was allowed to visit him.
Stepping into the small and impersonal hospital room, he found Corwin to be of sound mind. He was rather sitting in his bed then lying, the blanket struck back exposing a bandaged chest.
“Hello Irasem... So I guess Vadim didn't answer all our questions? What do you want to know?”
The direct question took the Gorn by surprise. He found himself noticing that Corwin knew about Komarov giving his squad classified information and wondered how a badly injured man who had just woken up could have his head on so straight.
Irasem struggled to find the right words. He didn’t want to sound impolite or even offend Corwin, but since he seemed to know why he came here anyway, he decided to make it short. “What are you?”, he asked looking the Captain over appraisingly. “I mean, what was that power? These sparkles and the light? And how did you know Hermes? And…” Irasem shut up, finding his common sense. “I’m sorry, sir. How are you? Do you feel capable of answering all these questions right now?”

Corwin grinned as Irasem asked his questions. "Oh I'm quite alright...We have a good medical service team and the overload didn't affect any internal organs...but I guess I'll start at the beginning." Corwin moved a little, so he sat straight.

"I don't know how familiar you are with the Human history...but the reasons why we are in space is the distortion core technology. The common knowledge says that we’ve developed them…but that’s not true.
They were found on mars and then reverse engineered by us.
We had seen their powers and wanted to know how we could apply them.
A research facility was built on the planet Barkesh…you might remember the name from my…conversation with Theran.
I was stationed there with him and the rest of my squad.
While most of the scientists used the distortion cores for transportation or inside of weapons, one had a quite…different approach. Dragomir Spas was his Name.
Spas had the idea, that we might be able to transplant a core inside a body, giving the soldier the opportunity to control the core with his mind…as far as I know the way it works is similar to brainwaves, but I’m no scientist.
Well, the Americans had found out about our research and attacked our facility.
We fought them and won, but they managed to destroy our medical wing and I was heavily wounded
My heart was damaged, able to keep me alive for maybe another few hours, but all prosthetics were in the medical wing, which was destroyed.
Spas had the idea to build something similar to a prosthetic, implementing a Core.
Knowing that I would die anyway, I accepted.
Well turned out he was right all along. It worked. The first prototype wasn’t perfect but as soon as the Medical facility was rebuilt, I got a new one, refined and perfectly working.

I was tested and proven ready. My powers were enormous….nearly godlike…
At the same time, some colonies were attacked…always only one or two attacker, but always fatal.
Hermes was one of them.
No one was able to kill them and so they relied on me. But I was not alone. Some of my squad also applied for a core.
Theran, Komarov, Jenkins, our former captain Braga and Noemi.
They all got a core…and survived…many more were given one…but died.
We were sent out to eliminate the Threat.
Well…we found out that they’re gods and that they have something to do with the distortion cores, but not much more. But more things happened.
Braga, our Captain somehow lost control over his core…nearly killing Jenkins and me…and he killed Noemi.
The question came up, if using them inside a Human was a good idea. Jenkins and me wanted to shut down the facility…that power isn’t made for humans…it’s too much…
Braga and Theran wanted to raise a whole modified army…it would have given us the power to rule over the universe. Just imagine an army of Soldiers like Hermes.
At the end there was an accident. Theran and I had started a fight and because of our big destructive abilities most parts of the facility were torn down.
The Higher ups closed it…but I guess they just moved to another planet for more research…
This is what I am…a modified human, no more, no less.”

The story the Captain told Irasem was stunning to say the least. He didn’t get all details concerning the Earth’s history, though he didn’t care much. It was that true god-like power Irasem couldn’t take in. He tried to imagine the scenario of Gods attacking colonies – for whatever reason – and those few super-humans like Corwin defending them. What unbelievable power these cores held! And how bad things could get when you lose control. It wasn’t only that fact that truly worried Irasem, though. “Braga and Theran wanted to raise a whole modified army… it would have given us the power to rule over the universe. Just imagine an army of soldiers like Hermes.” The greater the power, the greater the consequences when someone abused it. It wouldn’t even need an army, as far as Irasem was concerned. Corwin and his squad alone would have been able to start an entirely new game with self-written rules only. They didn’t take that option, though.
“Wow”, Irasem said at last. It wasn’t the smartest comment, but it kind of summed things up. “With people like you we could really stand a chance against those Gods. They need to be stopped - and we’re gonna accomplish that!”