Second Best

[Ghods Charles al'Demichase XIV]

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Ghods flipped his wrist over, his ship on autopilot through the Tau44 systems. He was nearing the coordinate of Cortana's signals, but he wasn't there yet. He had taken a longer path intentionally. He needed a final self-reflection. To ask himself the last question. Who was he leaving behind? Who was he now, who he would erase? Who is it that he would never be again?

"Ghods Charles al'Demichase the Fourteenth", he said out loud. "Second born twin. Son of Magnus Carter al'Demichase the Eleventh. Brother of Meko Madrid al'Demichase. The First, I suppose..." He grit his teeth and clenched his fists, anger already welling up inside him. "Second favorite child. Second smartest. Second strongest. Second best. Today that changes." He was 41K out. He'd cut the cruise engines if he had to.

"Son of a great scientist confined to the annals of Pittsburgh through the greed of elitist scum. Second leader of the Wolfblood gang, second to the Xenos on those rancid streets. I am Romulus, he who left his own brother for a duty that was beyond his short vision. He was blinded by greed, and it was my duty. I did what was right, as I do now."

His suit and helmet fizzled. A failed attempt at two of his most ambitions experiments. Crippling defeats. He attempted to unlock the true potential of a human mind. All he succeeded in was making his own brain a danger to his life. Even now, he felt electricity tingle on his fingers, conducting into his suit, into his second failed ambition. The suit bent the light around his skin, making him invisible for mere fractions of a second. Of course, the invisibility simply became filled with static, and returned to normal. The suit was a power sink, to let the energy his brain exerted into something. It wasn't enough to power the suit, it wasn't enough to gain him a power of his own, beyond instant suicide, that is. It wasn't enough. He had sold his life out for a chance to gain the upper-hand, and still he came in second. Still not good enough. Today that changed. 15K from his waypoint. He was at the edge of a nebula, resembling a barrier nebula in composition and color, a common color to find in the Taus.

The rest of his life flashed briefly. He escaped Pittsburgh, and had run to the Omicrons. A militant organisation had taught him the truth of this universe, of a Light that blesses all. That was what he was here for. He was leaving behind the darkness inside himself, which had plagued him from birth, which haunted him even now, forcing him to wear a prison built on his failures. He was covered in a reminder that he was always second. Today that changed. 7K from the waypoint. It was difficult to see, but there was a large asteroid in the distance. Hollow asteroid base. Secured as well. Not a single soul for 50 Kilometers. He transmitted the hailing signal from 5K, and then from 3K, and finally from 800M, just to be safe. He had come to far to get spaced for silent approach. He heard no reply on any frequency, but the bay doors opened, and that was as much hinting as he needed.

He landed his Raven's Talon on the first pad in an unlit room. The entire station was dark. Gravity induction was active, and so was air filtering and oxygen injection. He stepped out of his ship, paused, and stepped back in. He left his handgun in the ship. It would be rude to walk on hallowed ground with a weapon.

Ghods stepped out onto the platform. The clanking of his metal boots echoed in the dark halls. Ghods could see nearly perfectly. He had installed many different visual modifications into his helmet, night vision being one of them. He scanned the silent room briefly, and saw nothing, so he moved to an Equipment Roller, and hopped on it. He sat down next to a missile that he didn't recognize, and began to steel his nerves, reassuring himself just as he had done on the flight over here. He adjusted his lenses for infrared, and waited uncomfortably. For the first time since he was a child, he was nervous, but he wouldn't let that hinder him. Not now. Second best no more. Today he would change. He was at his waypoint.

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Encrypted Signal

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