NationStates Jolt Archive

[OOC: Anyone involved in the Demon War is welcome to post once my characters arrive in Atlantian space. Taledonia is also welcome. Anyone else, sit back and watch.]

Space is a very crowded place, yet is infinite. Seemingly a paradox, but one that was taken as just another fact of reality by nearly everyone. Unless, of course, you decided to leave whatever galaxy you happen to be in. Then all you get is infinity... and a whole heaping lot of it at that.

"The Great Void..." Im Kmmta murmered, eyeing the screen as his ship sat a 25,000 lightyears outside the galactic rim. Ahead of them was a rarity... a rouge star with planets. "All hands, battlestations. Helm... commence final jump and be ready to jump again if things get hot."

The ship lept ahead and ended up inside the Oort cloud of the system, ready to leap away if needed... but no shots came at them. No fleet came to challenge them. They were alone, but the Archangel was among it's own kind.

The crew stared at the carnage onscreen. Two or three thousand ships were broken around them... hulls shattered, engines dark and crews long dead. Im stood up. "Full scan. Find me any intact ships." The Archangel had been found adrift on the galactic rim, this system as the point of origin of the last jump. Because of the massive amount of damage the ship had sustained, they had never jumped to the mystery star, fearing that something may well be waiting for it to return. Im feared he knew what that something was.

For three days, they scanned the wrecks and haul chucnks aboard for study and found that most were indeed from the same manufactuer as the ship they were on. And that facility lay in wait far ahead, dead in space. A massive shipyard, with four ships docked at it, all dead as well. One was another gunship, but was barely 1/4 of the way built, but with it's magnetic cannons fully assembled. Another two, which had been completed, were like the gunship, but smaller and with less powerful magnetic cannons. The last one was a third of the smaller ships, but only it's superstructure was complete. A few hours later, pieces of other ships began to be found... made of photons.

Ransom stepped up to him. "Shall we leave the system?"

Im looked at the designs of the ships, both Demon and alien. "No... this battle happened at the very least a milenia ago. Any Demons in the area are long since dead." Im turned. "Helm... best speed to the shipyard. I want those ships under my command and I want them now!"

--------

An hour later, the gunship was at the shipyard, scanning every inch of it and the docked ships. All were lifeless, so Im decided that salvage was in order. They detatched both of the magnentic cannons from the gunship under conctruction and attached them to Archangel's underbelly, putting shield generators on the currently useless weapons. If nothing else, the guns would serve as spare parts. Im watched the crews working and then the other two ships that were completed in the yard. Scans showed they were empty. He came here for a ship... maybe he could get two.

"Ransom, I want you to give the crews that are working on the cannons one day of rest, once they are through. Then send them over to one of the two dreanoughts." He watched her look at them and went on. "If we can man even one with a skeleton crew and get it back to a secure base inside the galax-"

Ransom cut him off. "No, sir. We should get them operational here and use this system as our base. We had a damn good hiding place on Discord. Out here... who in their right mind would come out a quarter galaxy into the Great Void? I've seen a couple age reports on the star in this system. It's stable for another few million years before it will start throwing hard radiation around again. Apparently it's a very slow burning Population One star that's already shrunk to a white dwarf. And the technology we can salvage from those wrecks and the station... we can always have a safe place to retreat to."

Im listened and considered, then shook his head. "No. I won't risk reactivating that station. It might start screaming out into the Great Void that someone turned it on... and we may get a Demon battleship knocking at our door."

Ransom looked a bit unhappy, but nodded. "Yes, sir."

I was there and I saw what you did,
I saw it with my own two eyes.
So you can wipe off that grin,
I know where you've been.
It's all been a pack of lies...

Three days later.

Im turned away from the window, where he had been watching crews activate the two dreadnoughts and looked at Ransom. "Amelia... we need more people. Archangel can't deploy with a quarter complement on board and expect to be battle ready, refit or not. We need to start recruiting."

She nodded. "I know. I'm readying orders for the Ripstar."

"Ripstar? That ship is commanded by a Terran with no sense of honor. He can't be trusted very far... how will he lure qualified people away from real fleets?" Im looked at her as if she was losing her mind.

"By going to Sol and making contact with two captains I know very well and trust. I ordered them to go to Sol with the Task Force and see what the state of the Empire is. It's becoming a player in the game once more... they won't miss two ships." Ransom smiled at the look on his face.

Im looked annoyed. "I will trust your judgement, Ransom... this time. Do not keep such information from me again, or you will be serving in a much less.... dignified manner." Now he smiled at the look on her face. He kept up the illusion that he would, if he was fit, use a terran female for pleasure. In fact, he would carry out his threat by having her muted permanently and given to the common crew members to rape as they pleased. A fate much worse, he thought.

Ransom just nodded. "Aye, sir. I will dispatch the orders to Ripstar through the relays you set up." Im nodded and exited the bridge, leaving Ransom to her duties.

-------

One month later, two ships jumped in system. One was a Vlad class battlecruiser and the other an Assault Ship. The ships docked and emptied of crew and equipment, loading them onto the alien dreadnoughts.

Im Kmmta stood of the bridge of Archangel and looked at the two other captains before him on the screen. "Hello, gentleman. I trust you are pleased with your new commands? Ames, your ship is the Ajax. Rittenhouse, your ship is the Gates of Mitnal."

"How many more ships are arriving, Im?" Ames asked.

"None. All we need are the three ships we have here, for the moment."

He began to brief them on the specs of their ships and their capabilities, which took the better part of a day.

As the ships began to launch from the shipyard's docks a day later, a message was relayed to it from the comm network Im had setup across 1/4 of the Milky Way. Im read the report five times and looked at Ransom, who put a hand on his shoulder. He smiled at the unusal reassurance. It faded almost immediatly. "Put me through shipwide and to the dreadnoughts. Tell them to patch me through to all their decks as well." Once it was done, he began to tell a story so fantastic that Ames and Rittenhouse thought he was insane... Until he had them unscramble the faint signals coming in from outside the galaxy and see the fleet communiques, orders and battles.

He looked around at their faces... a few looked almost as pale as he did. The only one unfazed was Amelia Ransom, his first officer. She had known for a long time what he truely was. He sighed. "Comm... launch a beacon probe to these coordinates." He tapped in a location inside a globular cluser 'near' the Milky Way and a coded message to be sent with it. "It will take a few days, even with it's jump drive."

It was eight days later that they got an answer, in the form of a 1.3 kilometer long battleship. Im stood up and admired the lines of his ship and looked at Ransom. "The Archangel is yours, Captain. Take care of her..."

"I will, Shiplord. Strength and honor." she answered, giving Im an ancient battlefield saying of good luck, instead of a goodbye. Im looked around once more, knowing he was going to miss the ancient ship, even if he was going back to the ship he had called home for decades. Then he vanished into the lift and was soon transfering over to the battleship that was twenty five percent bigger than the old gunship.

Im stepped out of the shuttle and onto the deck, his senior staff waiting. He looked at them all and smiled. "It's been a long time... eight years. I hope I didn't miss much?"

Aristomache, his first officer, chuckled. "A few dozen battles... Hades being Hades... not a whole lot, Shiplord." She smiled at him and tried to ignore the fact he looked thinner than he had before setting off on his mission.

"Good, then let's get to work." Im said with a bit of force to reassure his command staff he hadn't gone soft, his mind focusing on what he needed to do. First was a good shower and a fresh uniform. He couldn't very well take charge of a battleship smelling bad and in a filthy uniform of another military, after all.

Then he made his way to the bridge, taking the longest route he could to the lift, so that enough of the crew saw that he was back and still the same Im Kmmta as he always was. A few of the Aztec Panthers stopped and saluted him. He returned the salute after making sure their armor was perfectly within regulations. They seemed even prouder after that than they had before they had caught sight of him. His approval was a very powerful thing on his ship.

The doors opened onto the bridge and he paused before stepping out... a wave of memories swept over him from years ago. Had it really been eight years since he had stepped onto this bridge? He finally did step out of the lift and watched as the bridge crew all stop what they were doing to look at him. He looked at each of them in turn, as well and didn't let his feelings show on his face. They were all of his species, males and females. How many times had he longed to be away from humans and back among his own? He stepped over to the main command interface console and pressed his hand to it.

A cheery feminine voice spoke as the ship's AI, much more advanced than the one on Archangel, scanned his palm and DNA. He watched the matching text appear on the display. "SCANNING... DNA AND PALM SIGNATURE MATCH VERIFIED. UPDATING COMMAND INTERFACE CODES FOR BATTLESHIP TRIDENT... WELCOME BACK, COMMANDER." He smiled smally at the voice he had grown to miss. "Thank you, Io."

Im stepped down to the command chair and pressed the shipwide comm. "This is Shiplord Im Kmmta. May the record show that as of this cycle and date, I am hereby taking command of the Trident as it's permanent commander... It's good to be home." He released the button and sat down. "Hail the the other ships... tell them to set course for the Atlantian homeworld. It's time we revealed what's really going on."

Aristomache stepped to his side. "Do you think the Atlantians will listen? This will be upsetting the entire balance of their religious sect and most likely cause mass panic if it becomes widely known too soon."

"Empress Atlantia is a good leader... she may not like what we have to tell her, but with the proof we have, there is little she can do to deny it. She will take measures to not scare her people too badly." Im answered, before looking at the helm. "Initate Jump."

Ah, a semi-peacful day for the Atlantian Navy around Cirrus. They knew it couldn't last. And... they were right.

A 1.3 kilometer battleship (http://img490.imageshack.us/img490/6291/battleship2zy.jpg) appeared less than 1000 miles the planet, seconds before three other ships appear. One is Archangel (http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/2772/renegadegunship6pe.png), carrying two extra magnetic cannons that have been clamped to it's hull, while the other two (http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/7210/renegadedreadnought3th.jpg) looked like the gunship's smaller siblings.

The battleship hails the government and military comm networks. "This is Shiplord Im Kmmta, commanding the Olympian Battleship Trident. Please connect us to the Empress immediatly as I have military information that is vital to the defense of certain outlying systems." And he closed the channel. "I give them three minutes before she replies. Provided she isn't in the bath or something. In that case... eight minutes."

Aristomache just chuckled. "You haven't changed a bit... Still, I wonder how far we can trust your other two captains. I know your personal crew trusts you with their lives, but those two?"

"If we had crews trained on that ancient equipment, I would not hesitate to staff both with our own crews. But these humans know their ships better than any crew we could have brought back." He paused. "Speaking of which... what do you think of the job we've done with the old flagship?"

She snorted. "You turned a command ship... the best command ship we had in the early days, into a sledgehammer. If you were any other, I'd have you commanding a light cruiser instead of Archangel or Trident." She shook her head at his laughter.

"Then I'm certainly glad you're my first officer and not my superior. I can keep you under control, this way." He was enjoying himself, for the moment. After a moment, he composed himself again as his cold, logical mind took over and pushed his good mood aside to focus on the task at hand. How to tell a ruler... a person... that everything the believed and thought about their Gods was a lie? And more importantly, how to make them believe you?

Almost on cue, the defense platforms powered up, getting ready to fire. However, recognizing Im, the Atlantian commander ordered the turrets (and the fleet) to stand down.

“Acknowledged, Trident. Empress Atlantia will speak with you shortly”

…

Atlantia’s personal quarters, Senate complex, Posidopolis

It was dark, with only the soft glow of candle light to uncover the various objects in the room. The candles filled the edges of the room, all a shade of red. The room itself wasn’t all that big, only around the size of what one would consider “normal”.

A low-laying “bed” (really, just two mattresses with covers) sat in the center. A dresser was on the far end of the room, opposite of the door. On top of it sat a metal of honor, given to her by Admiral Vega during the civil war. Other objects included her tiara, a picture stand of an older Emperor (presumably her father), a model golden pyramid, and a small rod which was her trident.

On her bed, Atlantia sat cross-legged in a traditional meditative position, with a group of candles in front of her. In front of them sat a small idol of a goddess. Her personal patron goddess. It was the god she had chosen to be closest too, a tradition most Atlantians followed.

Athena, Goddess of wisdom. Grant me sight. Grant me…grant me wisdom. She prayed silently. Please, help me determine the right course of action.

The door chimed, and Atlantia opened her eyes. “Yes?”

“Empress, the Crimmond Renegade commander…Im Kmmta, wants to talk to you. His ship is in orbit” said another female voice. Atlantia instantly recognized it as Senator Andromada.

She stood up. “Patch me through”

The screen on her wall activated. Atlantia hid all of her worry away. The visions she had had on Im’s ship a month ago, the discovery of a Demon battleship in the ruins of Zoir space just a week ago…it all too much. So many appearances to make, so many people to comfort….but who was she to comfort if she herself was terrified beyond any stretch of the imagination?

As the screen activated, she put on a face of neutrality. She had an appearance to keep up. “Im Kmmta. Have you come to make an offer?” she asked, remembering her slight conversation last time they had met.

Im stood, the bridge of the ship he was on completely different than the one she had seen. Three levels, all clean, brown and silver in hue, lit softly and evenly. The most surprising change was the crew... they were all from Im's own species. "Not the kind you expect, Atlantia." he nods and the view switches to an exterior shot from one of the dreadnoughts, showing the Trident and Archangel, revealing the size of Im's new ship, then back.

As the image switches back, he is stepping down from the middle level of the bride to the operations station, nodding to the officer there, who gets up and moves offscreen. "It is good to see you again, if only it were under different circumstances. I am sorry, but there is no easy way to say what I am about to. I can only ask that you wait until I am finished to respond. I am afraid I was not telling the truth when we last met. My motives for wanting access to Atlantian ports was more than just survival. I needed information..." A pause as he checks that the channel is secured and coded. "On this." An image of the Demon ship the Atlantians had found appeared, though it was from an angle that showed it under tow by an Atlantian ship.

He hmms and shakes his head a tad. "Actually, that is incorrect. I only wanted information on the Demons in general... to get an idea of how well you were prepared for them. My contacts followed one of your salvage patrols into Zoir space and got that image. It was better information than I could have gotten from you... and far more disturbing." A female of whatever species Im was sat in the operations seat and began sending data, showing massive battles happening between fleets... one of the ships being Archangel, it's magnetic cannons gutting a Demon cruiser stem to stern with one volley from each cannon. "Those battles were happening at the time when the Demon fleet first attacked your galaxy... before it was trapped in that alternate dimension."

Your galaxy?

"This is a battle that took place nine years ago." An even bigger battle took place, where Demon ships and Olympian ships fought to draws. One side, the Olympians, had superior fleets(in terms of weapons and tactics) and the other, the Demons, superior numbers. It showed the side of the Trident opening up like a can, throwing it into a massive barrel roll, crushing a light cruiser that was too close. "This ship was forced to withdraw from the battle because of that damage and was laid up for over two years for massive repairs. One year into that repair process, I was re-assigned to assess what the strength of your galaxy was... to see if we needed to come to your aid."

He sighed. "Atlantia, you have always thought that the Demon Wars were fought totally inside this galaxy. Your information is incorrect. What your people experienced was only one front of the war that is going on here..." The image shifts to the globular clusters, then back. "There is more I must tell you. Things that cannot be spoken over a comm channel, no matter how secure. Will you come here, to the Trident?"

Atlantia’s heart skipped a beat, and dived right into her stomach. Her legs became slightly weaker.

Oh gods…more demons…

Her mind flashed back to the vision she had had for a brief second.

“Y-yes” she replied, “Of course. I shall be there in a few minutes”

With that, Atlantia severed the comm signal, and took a deep breath. No. No weakness. This was her chance. She would protect her people, like she had always promised.

Never again.

After a few seconds spent composing herself, Atlantia opened a comm signal to the flight bay of the complex. “Empress Atlantia to flight bay. Have my shuttle prepped and ready for departure, ASAP”

…

The small craft flew first through the atmosphere of Cirrus, then through the spheres of turrets in orbit, then towards the behemoth of a battleship that Im called his new home.

…Where in Tartarus had he gotten that thing?

What Atlantia didn’t know however, was that the truly amusing thing was that Im HAD gotten it from Tartarus. Or at least some place close by.

“Atlantia to Trident. Prepare for docking.” She said, authoritatively, in a matter-of-fact voice. She had forgone all formalities such as “empress” as well.

The bay doors opened, and it was obvious that this bay did not need depressurization, by the workers milling around... and the one man standing still in front of the bay control console as the ship slid through the forcefield and landed softly, aided by small tractor beams.

Im walked to the vehicle and stood by the exit, waiting for her to step out.

As he did so, ships from the three ships Im was commanding. The captains of all three ships exited and were escorted out. Im watched, before looking at the celing. "Io, please inform me when you are done giving Ransom, Ames and Rittenhouse the classified information on what they will be facing."

A voice floated from nowhere, as he watched Atlantia exit. "Yes, Commander... One moment. Commander, Argo has left your quarters. I believe he is heading for your current location."

Im thinks for a moment and sighs. "Tell him to wait for me on the bridge. I will be there shortly."

"Yes, Commander.... he agrees."

"Good." Im looks to Atlantia and smiles thinly, bowing his head a bit. More respectful this time around, but now he was representing more than just one ship... "Empress, welcome aboard. Again, I am sorry for my earlier deceptions, but they were unavoidable. If it was at all possible, you would have never learned the truth about what is going on outside the galaxy. This is a war between Gods and we are very sorry you were dragged into our battles."

He leads her from the bay, passing some type of feline race, resembling Jaguars. By the arms they were carrying, these were part of the security forces onboard... or perhaps they were the Olympian version of Anubites. He does not say anything as they ride the lift through the ship, but he is obviously uncomfortable. An emotion he had not displayed before.

As they exited, the walk down the ramps of the large bridge and into his office, much larger and nicer than his old one. He stops in the middle and looks towards a dark shape behind a partition leading to a cot, closet and head. "Argo?"

A creature that could only be modeled after Cerberus himself lifts it's heads and bounds over to him putting a taloned paw on both shoulders and sniffing at his face. One of the heads spots Atlantia and growls. "Argo! Behave... she is my guest." The growls stop and it drops to all fours and sits beside his desk. Amazingly, it seemed to understand him. He turns to her. "After eight years, he's still not completely convinced I'm me." Seeing her understandably disturbed look, he offers her a seat. "Some captains have fish, others cats... I have a Cerberus. Please, sit." He takes his seat and and pats Argo on one of it's heads and, for a moment, it looks like an overgrown, three headed puppy.

Atlantia’s mind raced as they moved through the ship. She was mostly ignoring everything as they walked, thinking to herself. …A war of gods? What? Obviously, he was over-reacting. Demons, as powerful as they were, were not gods. The gods did not use ships, they simply came, and--

Atlantia’s jaw dropped. Standing in front of her was a mythical creature, even by Atlantian standards. And not one of those nice mythical creatures, like a fairy or something, but…

“Oh...oh my…gods…” she jumped back as the creature growled. She was near hyperventilating as she tried to process the fact that the lord of the underworld’s personal pet dog was standing right in front of her.

“Wh-who…who a-are you?” she asked, looking at Im, “…are…are you…H-Hades?” she gulped as she looked around, “Am…I…” she trailed off, indicating the idea that she was indeed deceased.

Im shakes his head, speaking softly and calmly. "No, I am not Hades, nor is this actually Cerberus... nor are you dead. Please sit and I will explain everything to you." Argo looked at her and then laid down and yawned, looking as harmless as something as frightening as him could look.

Im waits until she sits to bring up a display on the wall, showing old paintings of the Olympian and Titan Gods. "Olympians. Gods to you. Superiors to me. Titans. Gods to you... Enemies to me." He sighed and leaned back. "There was a Terran that once said that any technology advanced enough can seem like magic to a less advanced culture. It can make an unimpresseve member of an alien species look like a God. That is what happened to your ancestors, Atlantia. They are powerful aliens that can do many things that amaze even me... but they are not Gods."

He brings up a picture of a bearded alien, looking like a very pale Atlantian or human, that had a much meaner looking Cerberus at his side. "This is Hades, as he actually appears. Supreme Commander of the Fourth Olympian Fleet. I am a Shiplord under his command. Let me start at the start of things... long ago, back when those legends of Gods were being written as things that happened days ago, not milenia, the Olympians rose up against the Titans. They removed them from Olympia and cast them out... What the universe saw was the Titans being banished from this Galaxy to the globular clusters close by. We call them the Tartarus Clusters. Over the milenia, both sides used species they had taken with them to create warriors and fleets. And they did battle... At one point, the Olympian fleets were stretched thin and were being kept busy at every turn. The Titans sent a fleet to this galaxy... Atlantia, the Demons aren't just aliens. They are the warriors of the Titans."

He looks at her and leans forward. "I know that hearing that everything you hold to be true is a lie is very hard. That is why we have not approached you like this ever before. But there is a problem... The Zoir were always the ones that led the way to battle with the Demons. Without them, this galaxy is weak enough to be torn apart. That is why we must step in. We cannot allow our war to slaughter a galaxy. I know that hearing your Gods are nothing more than powerful aliens would destroy your religion, so I urge you to not tell the public. If you must tell them something, tell them that the Demons were sent by the Titans themselves as revenge upon the Olympians and we were dispatched by the Olympians to stop them from attacking again. We want to keep damage to your society at an absolute minimum. I am telling you as you must be aware of what is actually happening so that you can make critical decisions."

He was trying his level best to be as gentle and comforting as possible, but how could you tell someone that and make it not feel like a blow to the head?

Atlantia blinked. Her mind was not quite sure how to deal with the seemingly mindless essay it had just been forced to ingest.

The history of the universe was a simple one. The Protogenoi (Gaia, Oranos, and the other primordial deities) gave rise to the Titans (Cronus), the Amunites (Ra, Anubis, and others), the Annuna (Anu), the Aesir (Odin and Thor), the Vanir (Fyre), the Polpol Vuh, as well as the lesser pantheons, such as the Jotuns (giants), Cyclopses, and the Wuya. From there, the Titans gave rise to the Olympians, the youngest of the pantheons.

Now that…that was…

But…how…

A religion, thousands upon thousands of years old. Set down in books as law and history before Terrans had even climbed down from the trees they had been birthed in…that had been mostly unchanged since day one. A religion that had survived not just the destruction of Lemuria as well as Atlantis, but the destruction of the Atlantian colony on Earth at the hands of the proto-Egyptians and Greeks, and the scattering of her people.

Atlantia could only utter one simple reply.

“…what?”

Im pressed a control on the desk and the wall size screen shifts to images of beings that bore striking resemblences to her Gods in rooms not unlike the conferance rooms on her own starships, looking at holographic displays of battle plans, or speaking to ancient civilizations dressed in that culture's most sophisticated garb and even sending gigantic bolts of electricity down to the grown from ships sitting in storm clouds.

"I wish I could provide proiof of what I say by having one of them here, but Hades is far too busy at this moment, attacking the Titans. He does send his best to you and your people though." Yay... the Lord of the Underworld has the Atlantians in his heart and prayers. Not that he would be praying, one would guess.

"There are many Gods that have shaped the worlds that we mortals have grown up in. My species is one of few that were told the truth directly." He scrolled through images. "Zeus, Hades, Hera, Athena, Poseidon... Coeus, Crius, Rhea, Themis, Iapetus... all of them are still having effects directly and indirectly on your society. Through religion and through war. All of them still dwell in or around the galaxy, though most are either around it in the Clusters or are inside the Core. The ones that don't are the Primordial Gods. Even Zeus does not know exactly where they have gone off to. Probably to create and shape life in another galaxy, performing their role as the start of things."

Im sat back and let the system scroll through images of the Gods, their ships, a few battels with Titan ships(before they changed their form to the disturbing things they are now), fights later with Demon ships, gigantic space stations inside nebula...

"Atlantia, they lied to you. To countless civilizations. If the Titans had not been able to destroy the Zoir, they would still be lying to you by not stepping up and telling you the truth. I am sorry, but I do not have time to comfort you... I need you to realize that we are here to help, before our war causes another civilization to vanish."

No…

No…

No…

That…that couldn’t be true. It….it just…

Oh…oh gods…

Gods.

All a lie. All a lie.

Everything she had ever believed in. Her entire religion was a fraud. God…why?

Was there a god?

…Was there even a soul?

Atlantia sat, frozen. During the final days of the Zoir war, before the colony ship had taken off, religion had kept her going. Her faith that in the end, everything would be alright. That the gods would protect her people. That when they died, they went to the underworld, to either Tartarus or Elyisan.

When her world was destroyed, and she was placed in cryogenic freeze for twelve-thousand years, and awoke to find everything different…her religion kept her going. Her faith.

When the civil war broke out, and she revealed her heritage as royalty as a way to try and bring an end to the war, she believed it to be the will of the gods.

Just ten minutes ago she had been praying to her patron god, Athena, for guidance.

But…but now…

“Oh...” she whispered, her fists clenching on the table. She looked as if she was in shock, and indeed she was. Her emotionless face just continuing to breath shallowly. Finally, a small tear rolled down.

“So…then…” she whispered, still trying to digest the fact that there were no gods, no saviors, “What…now…?”

"Now?" He gets up and walks to a cabinet and pours her a red drink that smelled strong. He set it in front of her. "Now you have a drink. One will help with your current state of shock, numbness and cold hard feeling of fear. We have had to tell civilizations such things before. The reactions are always the same... which is why we try to avoid telling if possible."

He places the bottle back in it's place. "As for what to do beyond the drink? Prepare for war. The Titans are coming. And they will do to your Republic what they did to the Zoir. They will do it to the Elarans, to Sol, to countles other worlds in their path and then they will mass an attack on the Olympians and others inside the Core."

He takes a seat beside her and looks at her. "Atlantia... I know that your Gods are not Gods. I don't know that there aren't actually Gods somewhere. I have seen the Olympians look up at the sky when under stress, the same as those that believe in them do, looking for some sort of higher support. They would never admit it, but it is more than possible that they themselves have Gods."

“…what is it?” she asked, tilting it closer to her, and taking a sniff. For all she knew, it was some form of nectar or ambrosia. And who knew what god…alien food, would do to her.

She was exactly as Im had put it. Numb, lost…afraid. A little hurt.

…No. Very hurt.

Im smiles. "It's a wine that has about half the kick of Elaran Ale. It is grown from a strain of grapes that died out on Earth a long, long time ago. Couldn't handle a few cold winters in a row. We grow them in hydroponic gardens now. I always have a bottle on board, as it's one of the most pleasent tastes I've encountered."

He places a hand on her shoulder. "Atlantia, I wish I could make this easier, but short of using medical devices that alter your mind's ability to cope, I can't. And I wouldn't use such things for something like this. Too much chance of dependancy forming." Even while trying to comfort her, his cold and logical mind kept poking it's nose into things. "This information will only be shared with a few people in your society. Only those that must know, will know. You cannot tell the population... it would cause more damage than the Titans."

She hesitated, then took a sip. A slight smile formed over her face, just barely noticeable, as she swallowed. The smile vanished as she put the glass down, and looked blankly at the table.

“…Why not?” she asked. “It’s all a lie, isn’t it? A giant fabrication? Lies do more damage then…” her voice trailed off. She knew she couldn’t tell. She didn’t have the heart.

But that was the most sickening part of it, wasn’t it? Twenty-five thousand years of a culture who’s theological basis was a complete sham. And now she was forced to play the puppeteer.

This hurt worse then the Zoir destroying her planet. This was worse then her father dying. And she never thought she would live to see the day when something could be worse then that. She closed her eyes, fighting away another tear. She thought of who she had to tell.

Admiral Vega, Senator Andromada. Possibly Professor Rathma, a former crewmember of the Olympia, and now one of the lead scientists working on the demon project.

She just wanted to wish it all away, that she was dreaming up a horrible nightmare. A part of her wanted to ram Im through the wall. Another part of her just wanted to give in and cry.

But she couldn’t do either. She was a puppeteer being used as a puppet for the greatest scam this galaxy had ever seen.

Im didn't seem surprised by her reaction at all and let her say what she felt she had to. He stood up and walked toward the screen, which has stopped on a situation map of the galaxy. Beside him, Argo made a whining sound, as if he had understood the whole conversation. Im rubbed his three heads as he gazed at the multi-colored map.

"You are welcome to search the database of the Trident for any information you wish to look up. There are duties I must attend to at the moment. When you wish to speak more, as Io to page me." he walked to the door. "Come, Argo." The hellhound stood and looked at Atlantia, intelligent eyes looking her over before it exits onto the bridge. Im steps out and the doors hiss shut, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

As he stands outside of his office, he speaks softly. "Io, if she attempts suicide, pump in anesthetic gas. Maximum safe dosage. And summon myself and a medical team immediatly." He remembered reading reports on those that other Shiplords had revealed the truth to. A few couldn't cope. He didn't think Atlantia would do such a thing, but one never knew.

"Yes, Commander." a whisper floated past his ears.

Im took his seat on the command level, Argo sitting beside him. he began to sign off on the various reports he needed to look over, looking up after a moment. "Navigation, I want jumps calculated for all Atlantian systems and all Zoir systems on the border. I'm not sure which one we'll have to travel to, yet."

Aristomache stepped up to him. "Is it wise to leave her alone?"

"I believe so. She needs to be free to search our archives unhindered and unguided. I placed the standard safeguards on her." Im answered, leaning back in his chair. "Comm, send a coded signal to the nearest relay station. Inform our fleet that we are in the process of informing key members of the Atlantians of the truth. Painful and heart wreching process that it is."

There was a pause and then the officer proceeded.

Aristomache looked at him and spoke softly. "Pity, sir? From you?"

"Not pity... Guilt. Sadness. Anger. That I had to be the one to destroy one of the few things in her life that are unchanging. Religion is one of the pillars that societies are built on and take strength from. And I just took a super-sledge to it. You have no idea how easy and how difficult that is to do." Im glared at the screen, "I'm not going to be sleeping well tonight, I don't imagine." His hand dropped and patted his pet on two of it's heads, the other watching Aristomache.

Aristomache backed off without a word. She had no intention of continuing a conversation while he was in such a mood. Not with Argo sitting just two feet away from her. While not as horrible as his species namesake, the Cerberus was bad enough. Add to the fact he was at least semi-intelligent...

So…what now?

Atlantia remained motionless for a good few minutes. She wiped away another tear, and cleared her throat.

“Computer” she said, finally speaking, “…run database search on…” she thought for a second. Asking philosophical questions would be stupid and a waste of time. She would figure out her own life later, right now her people came first.

“…Run database search on all information concerning the history of the galaxy. Highlight all major references on Titan, Olympus, and other major Atlantian and Terran god pantheons”

A large timeline appeared, with the different major event markers able to lead into deeper entries.

Recorded history of the Milky Way Galaxy began a little more then a billion and a half years after the big bang, back when the galaxy was still new. Over 12 billion years ago, a planet deep inside the core of the Milky Way gave rise to a semi-immortal sentient species. They rose in power, colonizing many of the worlds in the older stars, not much paying attention to the dust clouds in the disk, those stars not yet formed.

For millions of years, this race found itself alone in the universe. They became depressed and lonely, and so with their technology, seeded many of the outlaying worlds of the core. Asguard, Valhalla, Olympus, Othrys, and many other worlds and systems. They became the children of these older people. They included the gods who would eventually be known as gods among the Greeks and Romans, the Egyptians, the various Mesoamerican empires, the Hopi and Anasazi, the Norse, and the various Mesopotamian empires. And for a time, all was good.

But as the races got older, and more powerful, they began to stretch to the stars, building massive fleets and armies, not unlike the empires of today, in order to achieve dominance over the other children. Vanir vs. Aesir. Aesir vs. Jotun. Annuna vs. Amunite. Polpol Vuh vs. Wyua.

And of course, the Titans willing to strike back at their very creators. A conflict which they won, with the covert assistance of Gaia, their “mother”. At the end of the Oranos war, Cronus was placed in charge of the Titans, as king. An alliance was formed, a loose confederacy, with the other newly emerged pantheons. And for a time, all was good.

But the races continued to get older, and more advanced. And as time progressed, they got bored. And, like their parents, they got lonely. They began to dabble in the experiments that the Protogenoi had used to create them, only out in the newly forming stars in the disk.

Eventually, a younger group of Titans rebelled against the order, declaring independence, with the charges that the Titans had been less-then-nice to their group. And once again, war emerged. The first civil war. Titans fought the Olympians, who were indeed assisted by many of the lesser Titans, as well as the Cyclopses and Hundred-handed giants…the lesser pantheons. And to everyone’s surprise…the Titans fell. The chosen people of the originals fell to their children, just as they had fallen to the Titans. The Olympians sentenced many of the Titans to the far reaches of the galaxy, to the Globular clusters of the same star makeup as the core, but in far less supply.

They shone brilliantly, but nothing in comparison to the shine of the core. Thus was the fate of fallen angels, cast out of heaven, out into the abyss.

Enraged, Gaia made war on the Olympians, and all those whom had assisted them. A coalition was formed, and many of the pantheons in turn made war on the Protogenoi, at last throwing off the shackles of the old ones. Only the Jotuns remained loyal to the old ones. War ripped heaven asunder, and for the first time, the gods took the battlefield to their experiments in the disk, using primitive worlds and peoples to their advantage.

The old ones struck back with intense fury. Typhon, the system destroyer. It’s sister ship, and the children fleet that came from that. In return, the Olympians, Amunites, Asier, and others unleashed weapons of lightning and thunder, releasing powers of the elements.

In the end, the Protogenoi were forced back, beaten at last by their children. Olympus was an uncrackable bastion of power. Gaia, Oranos, and the other Protogenoi quietly left the galaxy, to parts unknown. None were ever seen again, leaving the younger gods to build the galaxy in their own image. The Asier forced the Jotuns and their allies into the rim of the galaxy, locked away alongside the Titans. And for a time, all was good.

Then they returned. The Titans, vengeful, attacked heaven in full force, only to be repelled. Again and again. Growing weary of the Titan attacks, and worryful of their developing children in the disk, the Pantheon alliance sent fleets to fight the Titans, Jotuns, and their allies in the dark depths of Tartarus, beyond the rim. The war of gods was taken to Hell, leaving the children races to continue their own development, unaware that they were part of something bigger, save myths and legends that most eventually discarded in favor of science and more satisfying religions.

And the war would continue. The Titans and Jotuns and their allies would forever hate, loath, and grow jealous of the Pantheon Alliance, those who lived in the light. And they would wish for nothing more then their destruction.

Im looked at the screen that was in the arm of his chair, noting what Atlantia was looking at. The logical first step. Find out exactly what the truth really is.

He paused after a moment and punched in a command to the computer, opening up sealed files to her and prompted the computer to alert her that more information is availible. Im looked at the Archangel and hmmed. "Contact the Atlantian military. Ask them if we may store the two Magnetic Cannons Archangel is hauling for a short while, until they can be used to refit the current systems. Inform them that the cannons are not powered, but the loading system of each had fifteen rounds inside. These are no more than spheres of metal and cannot be discharged on their own."

----

Inside Im's office the soft, soothing voice of Io, the ship's AI floated around Atlantia as a translucent image of a Greek woman's face appeared over the text on the screen. "Empress, files containing details about the Atlantian and surrounding races part in the great war are availible. Shall I call them up for you?"

The Atlantian defense fleet complied, giving the Archangel docking clearance to one of the Prometheus class shipyards.

…

Atlantia nodded slowly, “Yes please”.

A new timeline appeared, with the same kind of markers that signaled deeper entries. Tiny video files played next to them.

A little under thirteen thousand years ago under the modern Terran solar calendar, the eldest of the younger races of the galaxy had risen to power in the disk. Thousands upon Thousands, all populating the vast arms of the spiral galaxy they called home. The Pantheon races had become mythical gods to those who had either used their planet as a base, or had manipulated them, or both. In reality, they had retreated to the core for reasons only known to them.

The Milky Way’s arms are not always uniform. Sometimes there are oddities, wrinkles or flays in the structure of the spiral. One such “split end” is now known as the Orion arm, a small connecting bridge between the Sagittarius and Perseus arms. In the Orion arm, and the area around it in the other two arms it connects, a large cluster of races, more compacted then anywhere else in the galaxy rose. This is mostly due to the fact that the Titan’s main cluster was (almost) in this line of sight with the core of the galaxy. This was the battleground.

A little under thirteen thousand years ago, the tranquility of this sector of space was broken, and the younger races were put to the test. A demon fleet, the children of the Titans, had broken through Olympian and Aesir defenses on the rim, and had begun moving towards the core, destroying everything as they went. After destroying several major empires in the Perseus arm, they reached what Terrans would eventually come to call local space.

The largest of the newer powers in the region were a bear-like species known as the Zoir. At first they fought alone, being given defeat after defeat. For every ship the demons lost, the Zoir would lose three.

Realizing they could not fight alone, the Zoir enlisted the assistance of those “behind them”, core-ward to their empire. After much discussion, the Zoir convinced many of them that if the Zoir fell, they would be next.

The aquatic and spiritual Nommo, from the Sirius system, whose representatives to earth would become known as “Dagon” to the Palestinians. The Centaurs. The crystalline species known as the Un. A reptilian species, the Vilirian. The original Orions. The phoenixs of legend, the Sha’ra. The feline Kejians. The Elves. The blue-skinned, red-haired telepathic Pleadians. The Ki’minal, another avian peoples. The Ik’in’al, an insectoid species. The Drovan, ancestral enemy of the Elarans. And the Atlantians. And many more, minor races.

Together the massive alliance fought back, delivering stalemate after stalemate to the stunned demon forces, who had believed that any resistance they would have encountered before reaching the core would have been minor. They did not anticipate empires that could withstand massive assaults, much less anticipate UNITY.

And finally, the demons did not anticipate ingenuity on the part of the Zoir. New technologies, especially designed to fight Demon technology, was placed on the battlefield with increasing regularity. Plasma particle beams, to slice through the Photonium armor. Special armor to protect against the torpedoes. Magnetic shells. Antiphoton torpedos. Polaron waves.

And the weapon that ended the war. Something that should have been lightyears beyond Zoir technology. The power to fold space-time in on itself and form a pocket dimension. After almost ten years of fighting, the Zoir and their allies corralled the demon fleet into an area of a few unpopulated starsystems…and folded them out of existence.

Content with their victory, the various races went back to their dealings…until one by one, they were picked off by the Zoir. After the Zoir empire fell due to a biogenetic virus concocted by the Drovan when the Zoir came for them, the resulting void of alien species would set the stage for the inevitable rise of Terrans, who would come to dominate political affairs in the disk…

Im watched the office on the hidden camera that only he, Aristomache and Io had access to and watched her finish with those files. He stands and nods at his first officer, who takes his place in the command chair. Argo gets up and follows Im back to the office.

As the door slides open, Argo uses his bulk to force his way inside before Im, who steps on the animal's tail. A grunt and one of the heads whips around and almost growls at Im. Only the look of very thinnly veiled anger keeps the beast quiet and it goes to it's place beside his desk. Im sits, looking at the screen. "Your ancestors did better than we could have hoped. We're not entirely sure how the Zoir created that pocket dimension with the echnology they should have had by then. Even we do not use such technology... at least not often. It is only a stop-gap measure. To stop this enemy, you have to kill them all."

Im placed his palm on a hidden control in the black tabletop and a faint light glowed beneath it as it scanned his hand. He punched in commands and watched the screen shift from the text and video to show the galaxy. Sol's range of influence dominatied the area around it and over half was under tehir influence somehow or another. The core glowed a soft blue and Atlantian space was green, Elaran blu and so on. There as a blank space where the Zoir should have been. "The Zoir are along the best invasion corridor. With the spearhead species gone, the Titan's children believe that they will be able to swiftly crush the rest. And they would be correct... if we were not here. Soon there will be more Olympian ships in this Galaxy. Not enough to win alone, but with your help..."

He looks at her and shuts the screen off. "Atlantia, I am as sorry as I can be that you are bearing this burden. I feel angry that they would let this charade go on so long as to let faiths get so imbedded into your societies that they are a pillar that holds it up and gives it uncommon strength. If they had told the truth milenia ago, this would never be the case. You could have already been helping us make the Titans submit. Instead we have to use more deception to cover up that one deception has been uncovered. It is a disgusting business and I strongly wish I could make all of this just... go away." Unlike Atlantia, he didn't sound hurt or sad. He sounded just moment away from breaking something in a fit of rage. "When I get back to the Clusters..." He trails off, knowing that the AI was listening.

---------

The Archangel headed towards the shipyard, taking it's own damn sweet time getting there... but get there it did, being careful to dock without shuddering the cannons too much. They then contacted the Atlantians and said they would be handling the disconnecting and wanted them to handle the moving to a facility suited to storing the weapons. A process that would take several hours each.

Grudgingly, the Atlantian command complied with the Archangel’s request, as per Atlantia’s orders before she had left. She had left vague instructions regarding Im, pending his return from their last encounter, in the case she was not able to deliver the orders personally.

The Atlantian command at Citadel One was annoyed. If they had at least been given a REASON to help the renegades, other then “classified”…

…

Atlantia’s head was bowed in thought, her eyes closed. When Im finished speaking, she opened them, and rose her head slightly. Before, when Im had first met Atlantia, her eyes had been one of fierce fire. Ones that, while seemingly tempered by past events, had mostly come to terms with whatever had happened. Ones that had seemed to know of a purpose in life. An inner fire that gave her strength, and a ball of energy. One that would be seemingly difficult to put out.

Now they were empty. The fire was there, but it was a superficial one, one born of necessity (and almost vengeance), not of inner strength.

“It doesn’t matter” she said, standing up. “I have a mission to protect my people” she looked Im directly in the eye. “I was there when the Zoir picked my world apart. I won’t let it happen again. I will never let my people die”

Her statement was odd. The Zoir war had been twelve and a half thousand years ago. Atlantian lifespans only lasted around 300 years, and in very rare cases extended to 500. And Atlantia only looked to be in her mid-twenties in Terran terms. Perhaps in her 80’s or 90’s by Atlantian standards. But Atlantia had left the statement without any explanation, as if she had been commenting on something trivial.

Im's face softened and he leaned back, startled to see her face so different. He started to question her and stopped, then muttered. "What was that name..." He looked up as it came to him. "You are misplaced in time, like Seth?"

She shook her head, “Not exactly”

Seth. There was a name. She wished she had been able to meet him in person. The last she had heard, he had been one of the possible prospects for the special Strike Force Alpha team. And when the base was destroyed by rebel Ascendency forces, his body was among one of the ones missing, presumed dead. …That and the prototype transformation module. And as far as she knew, the Ascendency didn’t have it.

“When the Zoir destroyed my world, we launched several colony ships. One, the Salvation, made it to Earth. The others, as far as we know, didn’t make it. Either they were destroyed, or wandered about aimlessly with little or no power. My ship never got the chance to jump, our engines were destroyed as we left orbit”

“About 30 years ago, the Olympia found me in deep cryogenic freeze. Being royalty, I had been given a special compartment at the request of my father, one that seemed to have lasted longer then the others on the ship. Much longer” as she spoke, she had almost wished she had died with everyone else on that colony vessel, peacefully in her sleep.

Im eyed her and nodded. "I see... Olympia, eh?" he remembered that ship. Well, at least he remembered blowing a hole in it's flank. "More and more, I am seeing ships in this system that I, personally, declared to be hostile towards the Task Force. I actually fired on Olympia, during the Phalanix Incident." He brought up a list of thirty ships, all listed as 'Threat'. "All but one of the large ships in this system are on this list, in fact. I wonder why that did not come up earlier?"

He was trying to shift her attention off the blow she had been dealt and hoped it wasn't too obvious.

The Phalanix incident. During the early days of the civil war, the Olympia and its ragtag fleet had flown from Atlantian space, carrying what remained of the Atlantian senate with it, in hopes of bringing them to safety, away from the growing Ascendancy forces.

Two years in, two of the Olympia’s crew, Xol and Sing, had been captured by Ascendancy forces. Through skillful lying, an apathetic captain, and a lot of luck, the two had managed to convince the captain that they had in fact been captured by Federation forces. From there they were given positions onboard his ship.

Mostly because he just wanted to shut them up.

“The Phalanix situation was…complicated” Atlantia said, remembering the incident, now five years old. “Crimmond Renegade forces fought both Atlantian fleets in that battle”

As the Ascendancy scoutfleet had jumped in to survey the system, they had awoken the Phalanix dreadnoughts in the system. From there, things had gone to hell quickly.

“We originally weren’t going to get involved…but when we learned two of our crewmembers were onboard, we had to take the chance. That was when you opened fire on us”

Im would remember the Olympia blowing a hole through the already heavily-damaged Ascendancy light cruiser.

For the moment, Atlantia seemed to almost be living in the past. Even though it had been a trying time, there were good memories that had happened then. She had almost seemingly forgot what was going on as she reminisced.

Im stands and looks at her. "Five years ago, we were enemies." He extends his hand. "Today we are allies... and we will help you in whatever way we can."

He didn't want to bring her out of the less stressful times of her memory... but he had to do it.

Snapping back to reality, Atlantia glanced at Im’s hand. …He was offering a handshake? A Renegade commander…offering a handshake?

She met his hand with her own, and forced a small smile. “Allies” she replied. “…what should we do?”

Im smiled and shook it before striaghtening his uniform, which was far from Renegade issue. "Now? We prepare to catch those sons of whores completely off guard." He looks at the ceiling. "Io, load up attack plan Kmmta 59. Adjust to take into account the absence of Zoir."

There was a short pause and the screen shifted to a map of a random generic system, filled with ships from several nations. Demon ships appear and head for them in a classic wave attack. As they become commited to the attack, an Olympian fleet appears behind them and traps them between the fire of both forces. "I believe the Terrnas call this a 'turkey shoot'. It will most likely rob them of their most experience crews early on, leaving them with the reserves of the invasion fleet, giving us a much better chance as the war progresses."

The image shifts away to a painting of Mount Olympia, most likely the symbol of the Olympian fleet. "You need more allies than just us. And more Atlantians need to know the truth. Those that are key to drawing up plans and studying the Demon ship. Allied leaders must know as well, though the damage to their society will most likely be much less significant than to yours."

Atlantia watched the battle unfold. An effective tactic. Although she secretly surmised the Titans would change tactics after one or two battles occurring like that. Possibly a “double” turkey-shoot.

“…I can’t inform alliance members” she said, as Im finished. “You said you wanted to keep this covered up, right? If they find out…any one of them could easily blackmail us. Or use the information to launch a full scale invasion after the war. With moral gone, we wouldn’t stand a chance”

She studied the board, then looked back at Im. “Can’t we just tell them as much as they NEED to know? As in, they’re fighting an ancient species? It worked well enough in the last war.”

Good... she's still thinking clearly.

"Yes, bhut how to explain the Olympian ships? Tell a version of the truth, I suppose. We are ancient enemies of the Demons come to stop the most recent invasion."

He sighed. "More deception. Damned aliens with superiority complexes..." he mutters, not caring if the AI heard. He had been on record for years as thinking the Olympians had over inflated egos.

She closed her eyes and sighed as she slightly bent over the table, her arms supporting her.

Why? Why the damned lies?

She opened her eyes after a moment. “We should codename you the Angels. I should start looking for allies, I guess” She slammed her fist down at the table, as hard as possible, suddenly and quickly. “AAAAGH. I should have accepted the alliance offer with the republic!”

She took a couple deep breaths. “I’m an idiot”

Im looks at her. "I strongly urged Pompey to offer you a mutual defense pact and explained what teh Demons had done and that if he ever wanted to do business with you in the future, it would be wise to help ensure you don't get destroyed. I am not sure if I scared him off or not. I hope not... he seemed hopeful that an agreement could be reached."

He looks out the window, then back. "Atlantia, I need to know where the Demon ship is, so I... we... can brief the others. We may have days or we may have years." As an afterthought, he looked at the cieling. "Io, remove all mention of Olympian from all outgoing signals and relay to the fleet that they should do the same as they arrive."

"Yes, Commander."

He looks at her. "I'm not sure, but I think Hades is sending the Four Horsemen. Which will give us a massive edge here, but weaken us in the clusters somewhat."

She walked over to the window, a little bit away from Im. She stared out at the starry sky. Still amazing that something so beautiful could be so deadly.

“Turi system” she said, “Citadel Ten, on the edge of Atlantian space. I assume you know where that is. It’s where your people dropped Seth off”

She assumed the horsemen were some class of ship, so she didn’t ask. Whatever it was, it was bound to be powerful.

Im nods and steps to the door, then out onto the bridge. After Atlantia exits, so does Argo. "Inform the Atlantians we are proceeding to the Turi system. I doubt they will ask why. If they do, put them on screen."

He takes a seat in his command chair and motions for Atlantia to take a seat at the currently unmanned Science station. Argo takes his place beside Im, looking as fierce as ever. "Helm, prepare for jump. The Ajax and Gates of Mitnal will follow."

Atlantia sat down in the science station, quickly looking over the controls, hoping she wouldn’t have to use many of them. When in the fleet, she was a marine, not a scientist. She then turned to face the screen, and fought back a yawn. It had been well after dark when she had left, and she hadn’t been getting much sleep lately.

And somehow, she figured she’d be getting even less from now on.

Im waited an appropriate amount of time, then sent orders to the Archangel to leave when they could to join the group at Turi.

"Initiate jump."

The ship lept into a swirling mass of dimensions. "Io, change screen spectrem to density mesh." The dizzying maelstrom became undulating meshes. Much easier on the eyes. "Have the other ships followed?"

"Yes, Commander."

"Very well..." He looks at Atlantia. "It will be a couple hours until we reach Turi. Perhaps you would like to take advantage of our guest facilities?"

She nodded, turning around. “If that wouldn’t be too much of an inconvenience” she was exhausted, having had only a couple hours of sleep the night before, followed by a full day, and then…this.

Im looked at his first officer. "Aristomache, if you would show her to the guest quarters?"

Aristomache nodded and stepped down from the Comm and over to Atlantia. "This way, Empress." She said, voice much kinder than Im's ever could hope to be. Usually it was the first officer who was overbearing and the captain who was well liked. Not on this ship.

She led Atlantia to the lifts and rode down a few levels, then walked down a few corridors. "If you need to get to the bridge and get lost, just ask Io or one of the crew." She says as she punches in a code by a sealed doorway. It slides open into a medium sized room with all the basics, only with top quality materials. Otherwise, it looked little better than junior officers quarters. "The size isn't what it might be, but we're a warship, not a cruise liner."

“It’s perfectly fine, commander” she replied, “thank you”

Atlantia waited until Aristomache was gone and the door was shut. She sat down on the bed in silence. She bowed her head in her hands, her white hair drifting down to her legs. Now alone, she could try to come to terms with her emotions.

Everything…all of it. A lie. A scam. A fraud.

A fake.

What…what was the point of anything? Was there a god? A soul? …Anything? Was everything just a set of arbitrary rules set down by physics? Was there no hope at all?

Her head rose, as if remembering something. She reached down, and pulled a small golden necklace from her shirt. On the end of it was a small medallion, in the shape of a round shield and an owl-like creature on it.

Athena’s symbol.

For a moment, Atlantia sat perfectly still, just studying it. Studying every facet and detail. It was something she had been given for her birthday, back on old Atlantis.

House of Athena. House of Wisdom.

She made a half-hearted laugh at the idea of wisdom. She had been played like a fool, there was no wisdom here. Tears rolled down her face.

“I trusted you” she whispered to the medallion. “I put my faith in you. I…everything I am. Everything I believe in. And you just took it away from me!” her voice was beginning to grow louder, more angry.

“Everything!” she pulled the necklace off, snapping the end behind her neck apart. “And now you forsake me! How dare you! HOW DARE YOU!” tears were now coming down her face in increasing fury, “HOW COULD YOU?! WHY?! WHYY?!”

In a fit of anger, she shot the medallion at the mirror on the wall, impaling it in the glass, and cracking the glass. She stared at her shattered reflection through the broken mirror. Each shard showed a slightly different facet of her face. Confusion. Chaos.

“No hope…” she cried, as she slide down the wall to her knees, and sat down on the floor next to the bed. “No hope at all…”

There would be no salvation. No hope. Gods did not will her to be on the throne, she had no qualifications. She was no guardian of her people.

No hope. No salvation. No purpose. And when it was all over, no after. Nothing.

She put her head into her lap and cried to herself silently, something she had not done in years, as she went to sleep for the next few hours in dreamless sleep.

Im's few hours were spent on the mundane things a ship commander had to do, such as signing off on reports, creating ones of his own and, of course, making sure his pet was happy. For Argo, that meant getting a leg bone of some giant animal for him to gnaw on.

As they approached the destination, Io spoke up. "Commander, we are approaching the Turi system. Shall I wake the Empress now?"

"Of course, Io. They will want to speak to her." He stands up and walks out onto the bridge from his office. "Helm, take us into realspace when we reach the coordinates. Comm, alert the dreadnoughts of our ETA."

--------

A series of chimes, like a few windchimes of a breezy day, rolls through the quarters, followed by the voice of the AI. "Empress Atlantia, we are approaching the Turi system. Your presence is requested on the bridge."

If that doesn't rouse her, the lighting in the room would go to it's brightest intensity and the chimes would play again, louder, along with the vocal prompt.

Atlantia groggily awoke to the obnoxious sounds and lights.

“Alright, alright, I’m up already” she muttered to the AI, “Shut the Styx up”

Styx. Oh…right.

The empress was sprawled out across the corner between the wall and the bed, in what she found to be fairly uncomfortable. Her neck was twisted, leaving it and her left arm (which had been slept on) quite sore. She rubbed her head, and sat up.

Bad mistake. Pain shot through her spine after sleeping in such a crooked position. Grrrrrreat.

“Tell…whoever, I’ll be there in a minute” she said to the AI, still not fully awake. She got to her feet and twisted her back, popping it. Through her half-shut eyes and the broken mirror, she saw her hair was slightly messed up. She toyed with it for a moment, getting it to lay down.

“Ugh…” she muttered to herself, holding the back of her neck. Grabbing the rod from her belt, she extended it into her trident, and moved out into the hall, towards the bridge.

"The Empress is on her way, Commander."

"Thank you, Io." Im looked at the helm. "Transition back at your discretion."

The ship had a small wave of inertia pass through it, a clear signal to all on board that they had arrived. Im's eyes widened, as did several others. Atlantia had failed to mention the small detail of an armada on alert status being present. "SHIELDS!" He shouted, as the fighter patrols and several of the ships rounded on the Battleship and Dreadnoughts. So much for a good first impression...

The Turi system was a major colony world on the edge of Atlantian space, with four worlds. The second planet, Lithia, was a class M which housed two-hundred million lives. The third planet out, Rola, was a class H with a mere five thousand. However, it’s moon Rolba, a class O, boasted a full on five-hundred million. In orbit of this moon sat Citadel Ten, a large 10 kilometer pyramid-like base that resembled the one back in orbit of Cirrus.

And surrounding Rolba was a fleet of about a thousand ships, a full fifth of the Atlantian feet, if not more. And if that wasn’t enough, every defense turret in orbit was standing hot at red alert.

And in the midst of it all sat a two-kilometer vessel that was almost as black as night, with many tendrils.

Several squadrons of Atlantian fighters and bombers neared the Olympian vessels, followed by a few of the smaller Atlantian vessels. A standard first-wave attack. A few of the first wings opened fire on the unknown vessels, then veered off for another strike.

The shields flared and the deck shook, but otherwise the first assault did not do much to the Trident or it's 'escorts'. As they came in for anoteh run, Im looked at the weapons officer. "Remove enough of those fighters that the others think twice before making attack runs."

Points of light glowed on the hull of the battleship from fifty different spots and seconds later, bursts of plasma and magneticly propelled 'shot' wer slung into the groups as they make their passes. As the next group came, a plasma burst large enough to engulf a dozen fighters swept up at them. One of the dreadnoughts fires a shell the size of a large truck at the group after that.

Seconds later, Im Kmmta's image was broadcast to the system, looking very angry indeed. "Cease fire you damned Atlantians! Your Empress is aboard this ship!" As if on cue, the doors of the lift at the rear of the bridge open, delivering Atlantia into a brand new type of migrane.

Over half of the fighter group was decimated within the first few return vollys. They and the smaller ships veered off, seemingly retreating….except for the fact that suddenly, the fleet began to move, like a wall. A thousand vessels (not to mention thousands of fighters), a few of them being as big, if not larger then the Trident itself.

Atlantia stepped onto the bridge as it shook. “What in the…” she muttered, as she used her trident to keep her from falling over from the shaking. She looked up at the viewscreen.

Ooooh shit.

“This is Empress Atlantia of the house of Athena” she proclaimed, speaking into a small device on her wristband. “I repeat, this is Empress Atlantia to Atlantian 1st, 5th, 8th, 13th, and 21st fleets. STAND DOWN. This is an ORDER” she rattled off the fleet numbers as if they had been memorized in her head. She knew were all twenty-five fleets were, and who was in command of those fleets.

The ships stopped advancing towards the Trident and its fleet, and instead began to move back into position around the moon…and the demon warship.

“That’s better” she said, a slight sigh of relief. She looked at Im in a sort of quizzical ‘Now what do you want?’ look.

Im nodded to Atlantia. "Thank you." He turned back towards the screen, which was still broadcasting. "Now that we've been properly welcomed to the system..." he looks towads the weapons officer. "Power down weapons and shields. helm, take us to the Citidal." He looks back at the screen. "I have information that is much more valuable than whatever you can glean from that three hundred year old battlescruiser. They aren't even using thsoe on the front lines anymore, unless they're desperate."

He cuts off the transmission and returns to his seat. "Atlantia... I don't mean to be rude, but perhaps next time you would warn me that there is an armada present at our destination? I was expecting a low-key operation, meant to go unnoticed. Not..." he getures towards the massive fleet. "...that."

“My apologies. I thought you would have assumed” she said, walking over to him from the bridge entrance. “There’s nothing low-key about this. It was back when news first broke out, but you can’t exactly hide a two kilometer warship in orbit. Besides, after this long, either the Ascendancy or the surviving Zoir warlords…or both, already know of it. This was a precaution.”

Well…that and while the AI had gone and seemingly blown himself up, no one was really sure if the ship was a trap or not, despite a good deal of teams already on board, studying the craft. But Atlantia failed to mention this fear, not deeming it important enough.

A thousand vessels. Several thousand fighters. A ten kilometer base. A fleet of orbital turrets. An entire FIFTH of Atlantis’s forces, both peace-time and reserve, were here, in orbit. Since the entire country had gone to red alert some weeks back, every reserve fleet had been placed into active duty, and staffed to their fullest. Now over five thousand Atlantian vessels were in a space of about 40 star systems. A thousand of them were here. Another thousand were split up defending the four biggest populated worlds, Cirrus, Uxal, Allos, and Vernar.

Two thousand had been assigned to various places, most of them to hold the line in Zoir space. However, some were in Sol, attending to problems on Earth, with a new “protectorate” in the northern part of the Gholgoth continent (as well as a small fleet defending Hope shipyards in the Kuiper Belt). A few others had been sent off to go scout for probable allies.

And the final thousand had been sent to various lighter populated worlds in Atlantian space (along with the various Citadel class Starbases, and many smaller outposts), as well as the borders of Phalanxian and Xanthalian space….just in case. With the exception of a small contingent in the Gree system however, the border to Elaran space had been left oddly unprotected…

And of course, a small fleet had been sent to the Ubea system, a seemingly unimportant uninhabited system in the center of Atlantian space, who’s only jump node led to Kora, the capital system of the Imperial Federation, for reasons unknown. The system was marked as off-limits to non-military ships. Not that anyone ever bothered anyway…it was a dead-end.

And yet, after activating a fleet that massive…everyone still felt as through resources were stretched to the limit.

“Attention Citadel Ten” Atlantia said, speaking into her wristband, “prepare for docking”

“Acknowledged, Empress Atlantia. Will this be a personal shuttle, or will the vessel be docking directly?”

Atlantia looked at Im, apperently giving the choice to him.

Im looks up. "Io?"

"Our docking system is not compatible with the Atlantians, Commander. A personal craft is the only way to transfer over at this moment."

He nods at Atlantia and looks at Aristomache. She nods, acknowledging the unspoken transfer of command.

After a short moment, he looks at Atlantia. "There will be three transfering over."

“Three on a personal craft” Atlantia spoke into her communicator. “And keep fanfare to a minimum. Only alert the Admirals and the Station Commander.”

“Understood, Empress. And welcome to Citadel Ten.”

Atlantia severed communication and glanced at Im, waiting for him to lead the way.

Im headed towards the lift, Argo automatically following him. Im allows the hellhound in first and then steps in, waiting for Atlantia before letting the doors shut. "I hope you don't mind Argo coming along... he is a very persuasive creature when one is making claims of being a descendant of Hades."

Once the three are on their way, either in Atlantia's ship or in one of the larger Olympian transports, he pats the hellhound on it's three heads. "Argo is an amazing creature, even by my exacting standards. A Cerberus that is not just intelligent, but sentient. A pure bred killing machine that uses three minds to create tactics in a fraction of the time you or I could, can rip a Demon into pieces and is also one of the most loyal friends a ship's captain can have." Im seemed to care for Argo more than anyone else she had met so far, revealing that behind the cold, hard shell he had to have in order to command, he was not all that different than any other humanoid being. The hellhound seemed to absorb the praise with pleasure, laying two of it's heads in his lap. The third remained alert to any possible danger. "Have you ever had pets, Atlantia?"

“Not any I was ever close to” Atlantia said, smiling faintly. “My father got me a Pegasus when I was a kid. Wanted me to learn to ride it. I of course wanted a dragon, but he said a dragon wasn’t lady-like” she laughed, the first real laugh since she had been faced with the truth. It was completely ludicrous, the scenario she was explaining. Something only high-class snobs would talk about casually.

“Isn’t bringing Argo a risk?” she asked, “If someone sees him…”

Im just smiles as she talks and then looks at her and taps Argo's armored hide. "If you mean they may attack, he's built to take lots of punishment and not even notice. If you mean our attempt to keep the truth as hidden as possible... tell the truth. Argo is a genetically engineered war machine designed to instill fear into my enemies."

As they arrive, Im stands up. "Well, this is going to be an interesting few hours."

Docking Bay six, Citadel Ten

“Admiral Koth”

The middle-aged admiral turned around in the empty docking bay to see another middle-aged admiral, slightly younger then he, approaching him.

“Ah, Admiral Vega” Koth said, as Vega walked up to him.

“Come to welcome our empress I see?” Vega asked.

Koth shook his head. “Actually, I’m more interested in finding out what this fellow she brought with her knows. Over a week of rummaging through that ship and NOTHING. We can’t figure out how the damn thing works. At least with ancient Atlantian or Zoir technology we can make heads or tails of it…but we don’t even know how they froze photons into a solid state!”


“ADMIRAL VEGA!” a voice shouted.

“Here it comes” Koth sighed, “Here we go” Vega nodded in despair, as they both turned around.

“Commander Ikari. What may I do for you?” Vega asked, with a superficial smile.

“What is this nonsense about Empress Atlantia making a visit?! And on an alien vessel?!” the commander shouted. He was an elderly man, in his twilight years.

“Yes, we’re waiting for her now” Vega said, “What about them?”

Ikari’s eye twitched. “…but…preparations…”

“She said she wanted this to be with low fan-fare”

Ikari rubbed the bridge of his nose. “First the immigrants, then the time displacement refugees, then the demon ship, then the fleets and the admirals…now this” he looked at Vega in the eyes. “This is a colony system, it’s supposed to be DEAD”

“I’m…sorry?” Vega asked, not sure what he was apologizing for, After all, this WAS a matter of national importance.

“I was supposed to retire in peace…” Ikari whined, turning away from them, and outstretching his hands. He spun back around and pointed at Vega. “I blame YOU”

As he said that, his communicator beeped. He sighed as he took the call.

“Commander Ikari, what is it?”

“Sir, there’s been a riot in mess hall three. A couple of the Kejians didn’t like what the Zoir refugees had to say.”

Ikari’s eye twitched again. “Understood, I’m on my way. Ikari out” he looked at Vega and pointed again “YOU”. With that, the commander stomped off, as best as an old man could.

Koth rubbed his chin for a moment. “…who let the Kenji and the Zoir in the same room?”

Vega shrugged in a plea for innocence, as the door opened, revealing Atlantia, Im, and Argo.

“Vega!” Atlantia shouted, rushing over to him. They embraced in a short hug.

“So what brings you here, princess?” he asked as they let go.

She smiled, “I told you not to call me that” she looked behind her at Im and Argo. “This is Im Kmmta, captain of the Trident. And…that’s Argo”

Vega’s and Koth’s eyes widened somewhat at the sight of the hellhound.

“Woah” Koth muttered.

Im stood and nodded slowly, Argo wasting no time in getting off the small ship, three heads looking in all directions for threats. Im followed and patted him at the base of his necks. "What's the matter, boys? Never seen a gaurd dog before?" One of Argo's heads whipped around on Im and growled at such an insulting title. Im removed his hand. "I was kidding, Argo. You know how much I respect you." Satisfied, the hound went back to it's scan of the area.

Im looks at the two of them. "Gentleman, we have much to discuss..."

“Admiral Koth, commander of the eighth fleet” said Koth, “And this is Admiral Vega, of the first fleet. Shall we?” Koth asked, motioning that they should start walking. He kept a close eye on the Cerberus, however. Possible genetic manipulation, like the Anubites? Except any he had seen that dealt with multiple heads usually ended in self-destruction., like the Hydra project. THAT had been a nightmare.

Vega nodded. “We should go speak in the station’s lounge. Come.” he started off, leading the way. Koth and Atlantia followed.

Koth look back at Im and his…companion.

“…how?” he whispered to Im.

Ahead of them, Vega and Atlantia walked side-by-side.

“So how are the others?” she asked, speaking of the crew of the Olympia.

“I’m…not sure” Vega said, “I had to give up a lot of my crew when we went to full alert status, as we needed experienced crewmembers on some of the other ships. However, I managed to keep some of my bridge crew intact. Xol, Sing. Achillies. Goran. Oh, and Rathma’s here, working on the demon ship”

It was odd that he mentioned Goran. While he had become a major player on the ship when she had last met, he was still just another marine. Unless…

Im looked at Koth, but didn't answer, instead taking an electronic pad he had with him off his belt. "Io, confirm that a datastream can be established." There was a small pause and a female voice answered. "Confirmed, Commander." "Good. Prepare all files that Atlantia looked at, plus fleet archive information. I want it all availible for display as soon as I call for it. Also, notify me when the fleet arrives in galaxy." In galaxy? "Yes, Commander."

He puts the pad back on his belt and nodded at Koth. Beside him, Argo was quite interested in his surroundings, stopping to stare at a console every so often, as if... memorizing the map of Citidal 10 that was displayed. He then tritted forward to stay at Im's side. Im seemed to think nothing of the odd activity.

Koth glanced at Im again, with an even more confused look, then without anything, just turned back around and continued to walk.

“So…who is he?” asked Vega, to Atlantia.

“..It’s…a long story” the Empress replied, “And one you’ve heard before. Just…not like this”

“…Pardon?”

“Just wait for him to explain” she said, her face looking a bit more down then before.

The group traversed the hallway until they hit a turbolift, which took them to one of the conference lounges. Due to Argo’s size, they would probably have to take two separate trips up.

Im and Argo rode in the second lift, stepping out and following silently until they reached their destination. Once inside the conferance room, Im took the pad off his belt and hooked a mobile holographic projector to it, a 3D render of Mount Olympus hovered over the table top, not unlike the displayes of a fleet symbol would look like.

If there were others present in the room when they arrived, he would speak softly. "Before we go onto any more introductions, Empress... please confirm that all the people in this room are indeed the people you wish briefed. Any others must leave immediatly, due to the nature of my information."

Once that was all said and done with, he began. "These are your Gods." The holographic display scrolled through paintings of every Olympian, Titan and Primordial God. "These are how your Gods actually look." More images of beings that looked somewhat like the paintings, but were obviously not human or Atlantian. One of them bore a very passing resemblence to Im.

"All your legends of the Gods are true... more or less. Without going through all of them, I will highlight the important events..." For the next hour, he went down the list of items, listing different conflicts, the rise of the Titans to power, then the Atlantians, then the banishment of the Titans... "The Titans were sent outside of the galaxy to the Globular clusters." Images of them appeared and all the experts on the Demons recognized them as the same that the Demons had come from. "Several fleets were sent, commanded by Olympians, to keep them there. One of those was Hades, Supreme Commander of the Fourth Fleet." The alien that bore a slight resemblence to Im appeared. "He and the others, Titan and Olympian, gathered races along the way to use as troops. Mine was one of those, remolded into a form that pleased Hades."

Im stops and looks at Argo. "Argo here is not just a genetic experiement, he is a direct descendant of Cerberus and was a gift from Hades, for my skills in battle." He smiled for the first time since coming bfefore them and patted the beast on it's middle head. "He is a sentient being, able to understand everything we say, follow orders and devise battle plans. He has boarded three Demon ships and has a sizable kill record for his one hundred and sixty years of service." Argo huffed and looked proud of such acievements.

A low chiming sound was heard and Im tapped a control on the pad. "Yes, Io?" "Commander, the Advance Assault Wing has arrived inside the galaxy. I have relayed our position to them. They will be arriving in the Turi system within the hour." "How many ships are in the Wing?" [/i]"Including the ships currently under your command, one battleship, one gunship, two dreadnoughts, ten heavy battlecruisers, one hundred heavy cruisers, fifty light cruisers and several others whose class and names I cannot access."[/i] Im presses his thumb to the screen and speaks in a language not one of them would understand. Probably an ancient language used for security codes. "Security authorization accepted. Commander, the four remaining ships are the experimental battlecruisers: Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death."

"Thank you Io." Im smiled. "It's been a long time since I've seen the Four Horsemen in action." He taps at the screen, sending the miniature holographic display spinning until it showed the various classes of ships. "This is the Advance Assault Wing. One hundred and sixty eight ships strong, counting the Trident, the Gates of Mitnal, the Ajax and the Archangel. Not exactly impressive in numbers, but it is only the spearhead. More ships will pour into the galaxy when the attack comes." He changes the view and four ships, snap into focus. "These are the Four Horsemen. Pestilence and Famine are the ones with the tubular structures. War and Death are the thicker ones. The first two are primarily armed with photon distortion weapons, designed to destabilize the armor of the Demon ships. It is an experimental weapon at this time. They also carry loadouts of standard plasma, but it far less numbers than a warship of their sizes normally hauls. The other two are armed almost exclusivly with plasma, though they have weaker versions of the distortion weapons. As such, it is standard procedure to have the ships work in pairs, to maximize efficiency. What we are sending to this galaxy will weaken us in the Clusters. The only benefit is that they will also be weakened. Hopefully enough that we can continue a stalemate at worst there and be able to decimate the invasion force here, going a long way to ending this war once and for all."

Im looked at the gathered Atlantians. "I am sorry that I have had to come before you today and tell you that everything your people have believed in for milenia is nothing but a lie. I must, though... the lies have gone on for too long and they will still go on. You all know as I do that the people cannot know what you now know... it would throw your whole society out of balance at a time when it needs to be at it's strongest. That is why all Olympian ships will be code named 'Angels'. That will work to keep teh cover for a time... until Hades comes, of course. When the war starts in earnest, he will come in the Elis, named after the only Greek city to worship him. His ship will be commanding the whole of the Angel fleet."

Im then grew quiet, switching the display back to the floating Mount Olympus. He then waited for the torrent of questions.

Objective one: Zoir Empire: Completed

Objective two: Atlantian Federation: incomplete

Objective three: The Republic: incomplete

Objective four: Drovan Empire: incomplete

Objective five: Elaran Empire: incomplete

Objective six: The Mindset: incomplete

Objective seven: Hyperspatial Travel (The Maker-Mind): incomplete

Objective eight: Fedral Union: incomplete

Objective nine: Chronosian Imperium: incomplete

Objective ten: Xanthal: incomplete

See next ten>>>

===

Phase Two Initiated. Isolation and deconstruction of Imperial Federation of Atlantis now in progress. Stand by to initiate attack orders.

…

Kul System, deep in former Zoir space

Six Atlantian vessels moved silently through the dead system, moving by a dead class L world. Class L was “marginal”. Little water, little nutrients, but a few hardy lichen species could probably exist. It was ripe for terraforming.

Except this world had once been class M.

The largest Atlantian vessel was a Gemini (http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/8862/geminiheavycruiserbn4.jpg) class Heavy Cruiser, six-hundred meters in length. Two smaller Orion (http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/6237/orionlightcruiserqi0.jpg) class Light Cruisers (each about four-hundred fifty meters in length), and three Chaac (http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/5452/chaacfrigate1vn.jpg) class Interceptors (each two-hundred meters in length) flanked the vessel, along with a contingent of fightercraft.

Unknownst to them, another small taskforce was quickly approaching under phase-cloak. Twelve small scout (http://vv8.jetc.org/tech/images/Stop.jpg) class vessels, only one-hundred fifty-three meters in length, decloaked as they passed both over and the Atlantian fleet, opening fire as they did.

Caught completely off guard, one of the Chaac class Interceptors was obliterated almost instantly thanks to a barrage of Polyphasic torpedos. The scouts bombarded the remaining ships from both the bottom and the top, wearing through both the shields and ablative armor.

The remaining two Chaac classes, as well as the two Orion classes, moved out from the firing zone, attempting to out-flank the enemy vessels. One of the Orion’s met its end as two of the scouts turned their attention to it and blew two large holes through its hull with Phased Energy Beams.

The Gemini seemingly imploded as its defenses shut down, thanks to the firing occurring on opposite sides…but not before slicing apart two of the scouts with its red Orcalic Beam Cannons.

The surviving three ships now attempted to escape, to warn the others. They couldn’t from long range however, the Demon scoutships had successfully jammed all transmissions. Three of the scouts moved in front of the Atlantian vessels, cutting them off from escape, as the other seven closed in from behind. They opened fire simultaneously, taking out first one, then both Chaac class Interceptors.

The Orion moved up, opening fire with a barrage of Orcalic Pulse turrets. They torched two more of the scoutships…as the Orion was vaporized. The surviving eight scoutships moved back into a fleet formation, and went to warp. Not one distress signal had gone off. It would take the Atlantians at least several hours before they would notice.

…

Citadel Ten conference lounge, Turi System

Admirals Koth and Vega glanced at each other as Im explained himself. As he finished, there was a moment of silence. Atlantia was sitting a seat away from them, seemingly lost in deep thought.

“It would explain a great many things” Vega said at last. “Those scriptures always struck me odd. They were…different then most other religions. Competing god empires” he laughed, “Who would have thought it?” he glanced over at Atlantia’s solemn face, and his smile vanished. He was an idiot.

Koth was simply overwhelmed. So much information to process. The two main bits however, would of course be one: the Demons were coming, and two: his faith was a sham. A joke. A fraud. He glanced over at Atlantia. She seemed to be feeling the same way, if not worse.

“We have to end this” Atlantia said, ignoring both Vega’s and Koth’s glances in her direction. “Once and for all. End the war. We’ll turn back the invasion here, and then continue on into the clusters, either with support or no support from our allies. And then…once our worlds are safe, we’ll begin to dismantle the Atlantian religion. Slowly, so that no one will notice or care”

Im nods. "I would start with the Titan Gods... seeing as they are the ones trying to kill you all." he tapped the screen and the hologram shifted to a ten inch tall Greek woman in ancient clothing. "Io, begin transferring the data on the demon ships to Admiral Koth and Vega's ships. Eyes only authorization."

"Yes, Commander."

He looked at the others. "The information contained within those files shows weak points that we have found, basics on how their ships operate and tactics that we have used against them in the past. Have you AIs and experts comb the information quickly and get that information to your captains. The Demons do not do things in half measures... we may have as much as a year before all out war comes to Atlantian worlds, or it may be hours. As such, the Assault Wing will join us here and then I will lead it away, to open space." He taps a control and a map of dots stretched acorss 1/4 of the galaxy appears. "These beacons will allow you to contact us at any time within minutes and will also allow you to directly signal the Olympian fleets in the Clusters... though it will take several days for the message to reach and for a fleet to arrive. Until then..." He pauses. "Io, what is your analysis?"

The AI's image appeared. "The current number of ships present, plus the Olympian ships currently in galaxy, plus at least two allied fleets will be able to fight back against the Demons and could win, depending on Demon numbers and ship classes present. The probability of a favorable outcome can be increased, if reinforcements arrive from the Clusters no more than six days into engagement."

Im looks at her. "Define 'favorable outcome'."

The AI tilted her head and spoke with what was almost malice.... "They all die."

"That'll do. Thank you, Io." Im nodded to the AI and it vanished in a small flash of light.

Vega cocked his head at the AI’s estimate. They all die. He wondered if that statement had more then one meaning.

“Two allied fleets, hmm?” he asked, “Then I guess it’s time for us to start sending flowers to all of our neighbors”

“Vega, that will be your job” Atlantia said, “Koth, get that information out to the other admirals”

“And what about you?” asked Vega.

Atlantia looked at him. “I will be helping you”

Im looks over information in the holographic display, scrolling through images and text faster than one should be able to read. After a few minutes of his almost trance-like state, he speaks. "I do believe I have prepared you as much as I can... without you and your crews having combat experience against the Demons, there are limites as to how much I can help you. I have also analyzed the loadouts of your ships. They aren't tuned to fight Demons in particular, but they will do the job just fine."

Argo made a grunt beside him. "Yes, yes... I'm sure they know not to use light based weapons." Well, that was odd...

"Commander, the Advance Assault Wing is arriving."

Im turned towards the window as ships appeared out of nowhere, looking like ships the Atlantians had known of for years. They looked like... the ships that the Renegades built on their own. Obviously they had Im doing the designing for the Task Force.

The battlecruisers (http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/3255/9abde57aa42c18b70335350cv0.jpg) were almost the length of the Trident, but much thinner. The arrow shaped ships all looked dangerous and deadly, down through the heavy cruisers (http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/7144/8ad261325177e4341d9f2f8py4.jpg) to the light cruisers (http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/4034/c205691aecc47eec8c4dd3aqk6.jpg) to the fighters (http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/306/d91a46fb69af8e700b9fb8des1.jpg) and to... the four (http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/4038/8ff65f6fb6d38b0a5dfe5bedo0.jpg) very (http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/47/88ca28c9bdb9811fd1a17f9ly6.jpg) odd (http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/6620/91a450488db8b3dd2b015daqc8.jpg) ships (http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/3610/d59c368d5f29b2651430a51hu5.jpg), unlike anything the Atlantian fleet had ever seen before.

The three Atlantians looked out the window, Vega and Atlantia getting up to get a closer look.

“Well…I’ll be damned” Vega smirked, “How about that”

“Admiral, you and the Olympia will be leaving tomorrow morning for Xanthalian space, while Koth stays here to oversee everything” said Atlantia, “You have the most experience when dealing with the Xanthal, and they are our closest allies after the Elarans. Well…” she looked at Im, “And him. You must hurry, time is short. I will continue to try and open a communications channel to the Elaran government”

Vega nodded. “Understood. I’d better go to make preparations, then”

Atlantia nodded back, “Go. Do what you need to do”

Vega bowed slightly to Im. “Until we meet again” the middle-aged admiral left the room. Atlantia turned to Im.

“Well Im, I must thank you. For all your help” she said, hiding the sadness inside her.

Im watched the fleet along with Argo, not seeming to pay any mind to the Atlantians until spoken to. He turns and nods at Vega, then looks at Atlantia and stares for almost ten seconds, before sighing. "I must be honest, Atlantia... while I detest what the Olympians and Titans have done in milenia past to the people of the galaxy and feel great sympathy for your plight, I have no particular stake in this galaxy beyond the death of every Demon and Titan. What you do after that happens is your affair... I'm simply not so cold hearted as to broadcast the truth into every Atlantian home."

He turns back towards the window and watches the ships form up around the Trident. "Honestly, after eight years inside this galaxy, I'd be happy to never enter it again. Far too crowded and violent."

Atlantia nodded, looking away from Im, instead at the fleet through the window. By this point, Koth had left as well, off to sort through everything he had just been told. Atlantia secretly hoped he would take it better then she was.

“I know” she said at last. “I would be lying if I said there wasn’t a part of me that just wanted to broadcast to everyone, rid ourselves of this as quickly as possible. But then I remember what’s at stake”

More silence.

“And the part of me that realizes I would be doing it just because I was angry. And confused. And lost. You tore something out that was the core to who I was, Im. The only thing that kept me hanging on in those tough times. And now…nothing is, except vengeance. And that’s no good for anyone”

A slightly shorter period of silence.

“I really wish you were lying. I…I don’t know what to belive. I don’t know if I could handle a truth which involved there being no one out there to look out for us. A truth which said we were alone, a product of sheer coincidence”

She looked at Im.

“After this is all over…after we sweep over the clusters and destroy the demons once and for all…I want you all to leave us alone. No more lies, no more experiments, no more manipulating”

She had purposefully left the Titans out of that statement. And with that, Atlantia headed towards the door, and stopped when it opened. “I have work to attend to…people to see. I will…see you later. You have access to all general areas of the station. Good day”

With that, Atlantia walked out, leaving Im and Argo alone.

Im listens to her and as she starts to leave, he turns and speaks. "You don't have to worry about us after this. We were created to fight the Demons and Titans. After there are no more of them to kill, we're no longer useful to the Olympians. And things that are no longer useful have a way of disappearing." Amazingly, he speaks of the genocide of his own species and many, many others without any malice or feeling at all. He says it as if he was talking about a ship being decommisioned.

Atlantia heard Im’s words as the door shut. She stood there, on the other side of the door for several moments, debating on if she should turn back around and re-enter the room. Finally however, she walked off.

“I can deal” she muttered to herself, her arms crossed as if she was cold.

…

Atlantia’s guest quarters, Citadel Ten

A cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth.

An eightfold path.

Heaven.

The star of the gods.

The five pillars.

Salvation through faith alone.

Self-fulfilling Destiny.

A chosen people.

Ten Commandments.

Atlantia’s computer screen was filled with windows upon windows upon windows. And then more windows. Atlantia herself was asleep on the desk.

There was a chime.

“mmm…” she muttered.

Another chime. Atlantia’s eyes flittered open. A third chime.

“Come”

Admiral Vega stepped into the room. “I just decided to stop by before we headed out, as we didn’t get to talk much”

“We didn’t…did we?” Atlantia asked sadly, as she turned around. “We never do anymore”

“Talking was a lot easier when we ate in the same mess hall each day”

She chuckled a little. “Yeah…it was”

Vega glanced at her computer. “So…what’s all this?”

Atlantia turned back around to look at her screen. “Oh…I’m religion shopping”

“…pardon?” Vega’s eyebrow arched.

“Seeing if there’s anything out there” she said, her mood changing from slightly whimsical to serious and sad again. “Anything for me”

“You found anything?” the admiral asked, walking over and taking a closer look at all the jumbled windows on the screen.

The empress shook her head. “Not much. Most religions are race specific. I can’t exactly apply the Sha’ra concept of reincarnation to myself. I don’t blow up into a burst of flame and then hatch every millennium” she said, talking about the phoenix-like species. She listed through more.

“The Nommo believe they are God’s chosen people, created to assist everyone else in the universe. There’s a sect of the T’kiri that believe they are their own gods. Earth has so many religions, who are so factional that they will kill one another over minor differences. And who knows what the Elarans believe”

She sighed.

“I’m scared, Vega”

Vega was taken slightly aback. Atlantia had only once else admitted to this in front of him. When they had found her and she was adjusting to her new life.

“Over religion?” he asked, “Just…follow your heart” he lied. What qualifications did he have to give her advice over faith? He was always a skeptic.

“If there is no god, then there is no “right” side” Atlantia said, looking directly past her computer and out the window, into the starry sky. “No justice. No mercy. It’s all whoever has the biggest gun. And Vega, we don’t have the biggest gun, even with Im on our side. And if there is no right side…does that make us all evil? I mean…look at the Olympians and the Titans. One manipulates and uses lesser races for their own purposes. The other just outright commits xenocide”

“I…” Vega started. “Well…I…” he sighed. “I don’t have any advice for you, Atlantia. I never believed in our gods. And now I never will. I’m sorry”

Vega turned to head out the door. “I will see you when I return from Xanthal space…hopefully with Xanthalian support in tow. Until then”

He walked out the door.

Atlantia continued to look out the window, at the lack of direction of the cosmos. The lack of morals. And one thing was on her mind.

They were all going to die.

Im and Argo returned to the Trident without incident.

Once back on his bridge, Im contacted the Wing. "We have a limited amount of time. The Atlantians were fully briefed and they will brief their allies. We are levaing the system to go to deep space. There is less of a chance that they will spot us there. When we do attack... I know you will all fight and die like the men and women I know you to be. Kmmta out."

The whole fleet jumped away, leaving the Atlantians to prepare...