CHAPTER 46 – CULMINATION

DATE POINT: MAY 12th, 7 A.U. (AFTER UNIFICATION)

LOCATION: SOL SYSTEM, INSIDE ANOMALOUS STRUCTURE

LIEUTENANT BRANDON “LOCUST” HERRERA

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Brandon burst around the corner with his suit suspended by a TK field to maximize his speed. HT one followed mere seconds behind.

“There they are! Light em up! Dibs on the Quadragon in front!” Anderson shouted over their group comms.

Brandon pulled back a little higher into the air to clear a shot for the tank as he maximized the efficiency of his neural link to assign targets. His semi-autonomous repeating railgun arms began to sling high velocity slugs at his designated foes, freeing his mind to focus on the bigger picture. The front-most Quadragon exploded in a bright flash of gore as an armor-penetrating HEAT round turned its midsection to a bloody pulp. Bright photonic arrows whizzed over the heads towards the few remaining Uraei heads foolish enough to provide him a clear shot.

“Ariana… is Estefani… ordered to fall back…link up with you. Paul and Hamilton…. still alive and fighting… need to hurry!”

“Estefani, Damn am I glad to hear your voice! We’re patching you into team comms now. Stay put for the moment, we’re engaging the last of the enemies between us. Anderson, we should be in range, let’s give Paul an update when you get a free second. You’ve got the best transmitter.” Ariana replied before she hefted her bow and took aim once more.

Brandon snarled as he dodged left and right to avoid prolonged laser exposure on any one armor plate. The constant motion interrupted the aim on his rifle, forcing him to unload almost a full magazine to take out a single charging Quadragon.

That’s it, I’m putting a stop to this! He thought as he prepped a flight of micro missiles with a smirk.

Six missiles streaked forth from his shoulder launchers into the largest concentrations of remaining scarabs who were doing their best to cluster together to protect the last of the Uraei.

Bad mistake.

Fire decimated their ranks at the as Brandon focused once more on his marksmanship. Now with far fewer distractions, he turned his attention on the survivors.

“HT One reporting! We're moving to pick up Estefani and are on our way to you! Just hang on a little longer, help is on the way!”

Brandon lined up a shot with the last few rounds in his magazine and squeezed the trigger several times in rapid succession. The rounds burst a Quadragon head open and punched multiple gaping holes out of its torso before continuing on to ricochet through a scarab behind it.

“Hurry the fuck up! Or there won’t be anyone left to save!” Hamilton shouted over comms.

Just what the hell do you think we’re doing here!? Brandon thought as he swapped mags.

He aimed his rifle towards the last of the Quadragons only for it to explode in a burst of fire and blood. Anderson.

“Hey! You stole my kill!” Brandon shouted before switching targets to fire at the handful of retreating survivors of the mass carnage.

“This coming from the dude who damn near wiped out the whole field solo. That how you got your call sign, Locust?” Anderson fired back with a chuckle.

Brandon smirked. “You know it! Clear the field, leave nothing behind!”

“Cut the shit-talking and get in gear! Those mutant fucks are retreating right towards Estefani, or did you already forget what we’re supposed to be doing here?”

Ariana’s words twisted into Brandon’s guts like a knife. He pushed forward into a tight bank around the corner chasing the motion detector signals of his last remaining targets. Anderson shot forward behind him in a vain attempt to catch up. As he rounded the last corner he swept his gaze across the half dozen remaining enemies to set them as targets for his railguns. Estefani dropped the closest scarab with a pair of arrows as four hyper-velocity slugs pulped four targets.

"This is HT One, we're at the last curve. We had to take care of a few last stragglers, keep fighting, we're almost there!"

The Rhino rounded the corner below him as the last scarab fell to their combined fire. HT one pulled up to a stop right in front of Estefani.

“Hey, toots, looking for a ride?”

“SO not the time! Ugh! Just… get moving!” She hissed as she hopped into one of the rear shooting nests and strapped herself in.

“Ariana listen… about Paul… Oh god, its bad… He was just trying to protect us… Then he went and got himself bitten and swallowed by that snake… beast. We had to cut him out of its throat! There’s just so many heads, and they keep growing back! I just... I don't know how the hell we were supposed to fight that thing! Now Hamilton is fighting it alone, and he's still wounded... Paul’s hardly better off, barely recovered, and he’s up solo against fresh reinforcements! We need to get in there now!”

Brandon shot ahead of the tank as two new medstat icons popped up on his squad status screen. Paul’s icon switched from orange to a deep flashing red, urging him onward.

Hang in there! He thought as a deep voice reverberated through the open doorway ahead speaking in an unfamiliar tongue.

Brandon burst through the doorway into a scene of pure chaos that his brain nearly refused to comprehend. Hamilton fought a desperate battle with a multi headed hydra-beast. Judging from his deep orange-red medstat icon and the way he favored his bloodied side, it was a battle he was losing. His spear was lodged in the eye socket of a dragon-like head which reared back in preparation for a fire attack.

To his right a truck-sized alligator-lion thing rushed towards Paul, who lay in an unresponsive heap against the back wall. Behind them stood one of the giants, clad in some kind of dog-headed armored suit. In one hand it held a bejeweled mace, and in the other it held a scythe with a pitch-black blade. The moment of indecision broke as he calculated which of the potential targets was the most immediate threat.

Brandon raised his rifle and shot several quick rounds into the center mass of the gator-beast. Two rounds went just slightly wide but the third tore a bloody chunk from its shoulder. Brandon pulled back up into the sky as he set it as the target for his repeating railguns with devastating effect from three successful impacts in the first salvo. A pitch-black null barrier wrapped the injured beast deflecting the second salvo as the giant withdrew it to his side with telekinesis.

Dual powers?! Fucking fantastic, of course that's a thing.

HT One flew into the room below him and immediately curved around and skid to a stop against the ground to his side.

“PAUL!” Ariana fought with her restraints before she launched into the air towards him. She landed neatly beside Paul and inspected his broken form.

“You… You’re not allowed to go first! You promised me you asshole! Don’t you dare leave me alone out here!”

She put her hand out before her and created a field overhead strong enough to lift Paul’s overgrown body slightly from the ground before she dropped it just as gently.

“If I can lift Paul, I should be able to lift Hamilton, just gotta widen the field. Locust, can you help get him to the door? Hamilton, before you even argue with me, don’t. You need a medic, and you know it.”

“I ain't dead yet! Still… got some fight left in me… and I’ve got its patterns down now…” Hamilton replied as he raised his shield up to block the incoming flame strike.

The Rhino’s main cannon fired into the fire-breathing dragon head and painted its brains against the back wall. Hamilton swung his shield to block an already in motion claw strike, and got knocked backwards in the process. The great hydra-beast howled in pain as it turned towards the new threat. While it was distracted, Brandon turned his rifle onto the armored giant, forcing it to turtle up behind a barrier.

"You should evac with the rest too, Estefani." Brandon said.

"Not a chance in hell!" She fired back.

"Remember that I can see your medstat, you're barely holding it together. You may be full of that xenotech, but you're still human and you're at the edge of your limits. I'll gladly make it an order if I have to. Now move it, I'll cover you!" Brandon fired back.

"Fine. They'll need my help if they run into more trouble out there anyway." She said before she unstrapped herself from her seat and rushed over to Ariana.

Brandon took the time to swoop in close enough to engulf Hamilton in a TK field before he flew him over and sat him down outside the doors close to Paul. Brandon set down on his suit’s legs and stood firm as the monster closed the gap between them. He unleashed his repeating railguns upon the beast in a bid to draw its attention, dealing disappointingly limited damage. His attention momentarily snapped back to Ariana as she directed everyone into position.

“You sure you got this Sergeant?” He regretted those words the moment they left his mouth.

“I was always the stronger one, he was always better at endurance and flight. Now I gotta be just as good at both…. or he dies, I don’t see there being any other choice here Lieutenant. I'll deliver them to safety even if it kills me.” She said with hollow finality.

She raised both hands in the air and lifted the four of them into a hover before she shot off through the door.

“Stay alive in here boys… fight smart, we can’t lose anyone else today...” Ariana said over comms with a slight hitch in her voice.

"Don't worry, we've got this from here. You focus on your job, we'll focus on ours." Brandon said.

Good, that takes care of one problem….

Everywhere he shot the hydra-beast, its skin seemed to ripple and heal back over within moments. Some of the very first impacts were covered over in fading scar tissue already. Brandon started backing up and activated his TK field effect generator as the rampaging Hydra-beast closed the gap.

“Anderson…. ANDERSON! WE GOTTA GET MOVING, MAN!” Jenkins shouted.

One of its cobra-looking heads hissed and shot acid at the tank as it shuddered and lifted off into the air. A portion of the spray landed across the front corner and over Jenkins. Brandon just managed to lift off in the other direction in time to avoid the rest of the spray.

“Shit shit shit! Acid’s eating through my harness!” Jenkins shouted as the side armor of the tank began to smoke and steam.

The hover-tank began flying circles around the Naga as its remaining three heads snapped at them as Jenkins struggled to stay in his seat and hang on through the banks and curves.

The giant dropped its barrier and barked some guttural nonsense in their horrid tongue with a fervor that reverberated through the room. It then lifted itself into the air and flew in a curved path towards him. Brandon twisted about and set the giant as the primary target for his railguns then refocused his TK field directly behind himself to begin their dance. His first volley mostly missed as they twisted about locked in a high gee-force chase. The fourth round skipped off a bright bubble that flashed at the moment of impact before dissipating.

Overlapping shields. One more dump on the bullshit pile… Fuck it; stress test time! Just how strong are you?

“Careful, our giant can summon a null barrier and has a photonic shield generator. I'll keep the giant distracted in the meantime, but that means you gotta kill that hydra thing fast. I’m gonna need Jenkins on that belt fed in a minute if we’re gonna have a prayer at cracking these shields.”

HT One slid to a stop at the far end of the room and lined up a shot which struck the beast mid-breast and put a temporary stop to its chase. Jenkins jumped out and soon came up with an ammo crate from under an armor flap in the back. The Rhino’s main gun fired again, this time snapping one of the great beast’s legs and sending it crashing to the ground. Jenkins scrambled into the forward shooting post and got to work on the belt fed.

“I've only got two full belts left! The barrel is half shot out, but it’s the last one we have so it's gonna have to do. Give me a minute and I’ll have it ready to fire on your order!” Jenkins said.

The giant seemed intent on making himself damn near impossible to land a hit on. Shots from his rifle and from the railguns mostly went wide as they twisted and dodged through the air. Occasionally he succeeded in getting the shield to flash, but it wouldn't be anywhere near enough. Brandon resonated a third foci into boosting his acceleration to buy some precious time as he locked in a flight of micro missiles. Just as soon as they streaked forth from his shoulder launchers, he hit the barrier control and everything went black as the null matter sheathed over him and blocked the outside light. Moments later, Brandon was jarred in his seat as the shock wave blasted him off his original course.

Brandon dropped the barrier and fought to stabilize their trajectory before finally settling into a hover in the center of the room. The smoke cleared to reveal a null barrier floating up from the rubble below.

Dammit!

"All right Jenkins, hit him hard the second that barrier drops! Anderson, make sure he's got a good sight line!”

Brandon targeted the barrier with his railguns and held his rifle at the ready as he hovered in wait. Down below, the Rhino worked to relocate to a better intermediate firing location as they dodged a desperate stream of fire from the irate hydra.

“Kinda busy with your first request over here, dude!” Anderson shot back. Moments later they came out of a curve and fired again, grazing a dragon head rather than landing a direct hit.

His attention snapped back as the barrier around the giant dropped and he resumed his chase.

“There it is, hit it now!” Brandon shouted out, choosing to ignore the tank commander’s comment in light of more pressing concerns.

A stream of whizzing bullets and luminescent tracers met with a volley of rounds from Brandon’s weapons as they intersected the giant's flight path. His shield flashed bright yellow and then into orange before another null barrier enveloped the giant as it shot off in a different direction.

“Damn, almost had it! That shield can take some abuse, but we can definitely crack it. I’ll keep him on the defensive for now while you finish that snake.” Brandon said, riding a high of confidence.

“Locust, watch your damned back!”

“Thanks… huh?!”

Brandon spun about and just managed to dodge a column of flame that arced in his direction. He fired a steady stream of repeating railgun slugs towards that head as he retreated. Another HEAT shell slammed into the beast's neck, nearly decapitating it

“Nice shot! Now what I wanna know is how that thing snuck up on me like that?!”

“You were focused on the giant, you know, standard tunnel vision crap. Even on three legs that big fucker is way faster than it looks. We can’t keep bailing you out, so stay focused!” Anderson replied with a bit more snark than was necessary.

As Brandon opened his mouth to protest, the giant broke free and accelerated like a rocket straight at him. He very nearly squeezed the trigger until he realized HT one was in his line of fire on the other end of the room.

Clever little bastard... This won't do... Brandon thought before a wicked idea crept into his brain. He activated a TK field overhead and rocketed toward the ceiling.

Better.... almost....

He activated a second, smaller field on his flank to pivot himself just a little more.

Perfect.

Satisfied, he locked in a flight of missiles, ordered his repeating railguns to fire, and expended his rifle’s magazine into the charging giant. Every round that somehow missed, skipped off a shield, or flew just a hair wide would instead now have the angry, thrashing hydra-beast to act as its backstop.

“NOW, Jenkins!”

The glowing shield was enveloped in fire from two angles as Jenkins found his aim then finally remembered to lead its target. His missiles streaked forward and converged in together until the whole area was engulfed in a bright explosion.

THUNK! The bolt locked backwards and he dropped his empty mag. A pitch black barrier shot forth from the explosion as he reached for the mag storage in his thigh. The surface rippled and elongated before it peeled itself into neat quadrants of null matter like the opening pedals of a flower.

How in the fuck....

Jenkins resumed fire while one of the null matter sections separated and reformed itself into a floating shield. A second one moved and enlarged itself to block the giant from Brandon’s railgun fire. His booming voice spoke in its detestable tongue amid deep, choking laughter.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“I’m down to my last bit of ammo in this thing. That shield trick he did is utter bullshit! Gah! Asshole’s literally mocking us right now!” Jenkins shouted.

“Plan hasn’t changed, he’ll fry his brain trying to play those null barrier games too much longer. We just gotta keep up the pressure on his shields, and we gotta kill that damned snake!” Brandon replied.

He then slapped the new mag in place and racked in a round as he tracked his target. Brandon centered his sights into a gap between the black free form shields. Simultaneously, he powered through the fastest missile flight authorization of his career.

Down to my last flight… this better work…

He fired only when the missiles were in their final approach. Brandon watched with pleasure as round after round smashed into his adversary’s over-stressed shield which quickly flashed to a deep orange. The shield-petals shifted inwards again and reformed into a sphere as the explosion washed over it and the shock wave sent it flying into a debris pile in the corner of the demolished room. Brandon pulled himself into a tight curve in his escape from the explosion only to see the wide open jaws of the hydra-beast growing ever larger by the second. Through quick thinking he managed to pivot into a dive which at its lowest point was but one precarious moment away from a crash. As he pulled out of the depths of the curve, he decelerated enough to catch his breath at the top of the parabolic arc.

With his pulse still racing, Brandon studied the ground, looking for where the enemy's null barrier had come to a rest. A frustrated dragon head shot fire at his position, which forced him to fly higher and to refocus his attention. Below him, the Rhino managed to land another body strike to the hydra, which then heaved and collapsed. One of its two surviving heads lifted itself momentarily and gasped desperately before Brandon put a .50 BMG round through its eye socket. The only other motion afterwards from the fallen beast was the occasional shudder or twitch.

“Holy shit… I think we actually killed it!” Jenkins said

“Nice shot, that one looked permanent.” Brandon commented.

“Finally got a clean lung shot from the side, but it had to have already been well weakened by that point for that one to take it down. Hell of a hunt!”

Brandon returned his attention to searching the various debris piles across the destroyed room. They still had one more target to find. He gave the order to launch his spy drone and set it to search the maze of experiment tanks, broken glass, and twisted metal that was all that was left in much of the room.

“We’re gonna check out the lizard, make sure it’s actually dead.” Anderson said.

The tank’s main cannon fired again and the body of the great beast shifted with the hit and then rolled back into place. Brandon furrowed his eyebrows and zoomed the feed until a black orb whizzed by on his spy drone camera.

“Giant’s heading your way!” Brandon yelled out.

Knowing better than to waste ammo on a barrier, he tracked it with his targeting systems on hold as he awaited his opportunity and flew to give chase. In the final seconds as the barrier arrived on scene it decelerated to a near-stop. The skin of the barrier split apart into multiple sections with the largest chunk blocking the giant from Brandon’s line of fire.

The bottom quarters of the barrier split into innumerable flat diamond daggers of null matter. Brandon watched in horror as the daggers shot forwards in random trajectories that pierced and threaded their way through HT One’s crew compartment. Both the commander and pilot medstat icons flashed red as the Rhino shuddered and dropped smoking from the sky. Jenkins’ medstat flashed orange as the tank hit the deck hard and he whiplashed his way through the crash.

“NOOO! FUCK! Anderson!! Jenkins! Talk to me!”

Jenkins groggily tugged at his harness as the giant landed a few meters away and pointed his mace at him. Brandon fired a railgun salvo that turned his shield orange before the null matter shield shifted back into place to block further shots. As he fired at the shield, he noticed it began to grow smaller and thinner as more of the field-trapped null matter was sloughed away with each deflected bullet.

Fuck this!

Brandon activated a twin focused TK field behind the giant and sucked him off his feet before he accelerated the center of the field away for a vicious throw. To his surprise, Jenkins was ripped away from his desperate hold onto the ruined tank as well even though he was well outside of the TK field’s capture radius.

What the hell?

Brandon created a field to capture Jenkins as he sailed by within range, only to find himself caught in a tug of war with the giant at the other end. If that throw had done anything to harm the giant, it was less than obvious as it advanced boldly with its mace head outstretched and glowing. The golden scepter it held in its other hand flashed for a moment before a flat sickle-blade of null matter appeared. Jenkins began to writhe in the middle of the competition for his life and custody. A wound through his side began bleeding profusely, with the blood streaking towards both of the dueling fields pulling at him. The giant began to bark out commands as it yanked backwards on its mace.

Brandon raised his rifle up searched for any angle he could strike that wasn’t blocked by either Jenkin’s body or the remainder of the giant’s null matter shield. Brandon cursed and activated a third foci to pull even harder at Jenkins until his medstat began flashing into the red. Retrieving Jenkins just to kill him in the process was clearly an unacceptable outcome, so Brandon reduced the field strength to match the giant's as he racked his brain for a solution.

“Let him go!” He shouted, even though he knew the lack of translation made it pointless.

The giant yelled something back and looked to the ceiling as some speakers began blaring more of that guttural gibberish they called a language.

"Just.... let... me... go..." Jenkins managed to wheeze.

"I do that, you're dead for sure!"

Something had to give, and Brandon’s finger itched against the trigger while Anubis laughed behind the remnant of his null matter shield and Jenkins screamed.

MEANWHILE…..

DATE POINT: UNKNOWN

LOCATION: UNKNOWN

TECHNICAL SERGEANT VANESSA GARDNER

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Vanessa followed closely behind Thoth and Osiris as they led her deeper into the palace. As they traversed the halls, the sheer number of dark rooms and corridors stood out to her. Thoth seemed to notice her wandering gaze and slowed down to speak with her.

“It is truly a shame we will never again be able to showcase the splendor of the palace as it was before the attack. There was a time when these halls were full of life and love, song and revelry, the finest quality alcohol with feasts of ambrosia and souma; truly all of the finest pleasures in life were available to us. Now we can barely render even this…. pathetic shadow of the days of our crowning glory.”

“That sounds incredible. I would have loved to experience that! Ideally without having to be murdered and eaten first. Ironic, here I am, dead, and I don’t even get to experience the party before I move on…. A fitting end to the story of my goddamn life, all with a nice pretty bow of bullshit on it.”

Her voice caught in her throat as she swallowed a wave of bitterness.

"It is a commonality of all life that both the good and the evil so rarely do get what they deserve in life. This facility was part of our attempt to correct such injustice by granting the gift of a malleable, blissful eternity to the worthy in death."

“What… actually happened to this facility, anyway?” She asked, dancing around asking the one question she desperately wanted to ask yet so feared getting the answer to.

“It was a surprise attack timed to align with the murder of Khepri, Rah’s ceremonial body. The plasma torpedo that struck the facility caused catastrophic damage to our computational capacity and our communications uplink to the servers on Nii’Baruu. Betrayed as we were, catastrophically damaged, and set adrift with no hope of rescue or repair, we were forced to evacuate our surviving techno-priests and power down the facility. By the time Horus arrived, the damage was done, and Set had retreated with our other Ur-Uatchi. With a heavy heart, Osiris ordered Horus to return to the outer patrols to continue to keep watch for agents of Apophis or the Alderei as there was little else he or his crew could do for us directly. Afterwards, we made the decision to power down our personality profiles to save an emergency reserve of power.” Thoth replied.

“That’s horrible... I’m so sorry. Why not just send Horus out to attack Set? Why allow him to get away with this?”

“First, the complicit traitor-Pharaoh, Akhenaten, needed to be dethroned and the true religion restored in Kemet. Horus was to only return to revive us when this task was completed, and then only with enough allies to seize the inner solar system from the clutches of Set. It was your arrival and reactivation of the wormhole reactor that prompted our early reawakening. It was also the nature of your arrival and your clear intentions to take this facility for yourselves that has provoked this conflict we now seek to resolve.” This time Osiris answered, with anger evident behind his tone.

“Oh.... We kinda ruined all of your plans then, didn’t we?” Gardner asked sheepishly.

They passed through a doorway into a grand hall with ornate benches lining the walls and a golden throne at the far end. Osiris looked at her with a deep sigh before he disappeared in a flash of light, only to reappear seated on his throne. Osiris stared her down from his seat above her on the elevated dais for what felt like several agonizing minutes. Gardner eventually broke down and spoke first in a low voice.

“Sorry.”

“A simple apology, while appreciated, will not reverse the damage your people have done in the short time since your arrival. It would be wise of you to remember this as we begin negotiations.”

“Yes, your grace.” Gardner replied sheepishly.

“Good. We can only hope you show more wisdom in these proceedings than your leadership has thus far exhibited. Now, let us move quickly, time is not our ally. Thoth, display the progress of the battle for us.” Osiris commanded.

“Yes, your grace. Time dilation is set to one third standard.” Thoth responded.

The whole floor below them disappeared, replaced by an aerial view of the capstone chamber as well as the battle that raged within. HT One was flying around in a desperate bid to battle some kind of heavily wounded Hydra looking beast while one of their Patriot suits, probably Locust, seemed to be on the run from a jackal-headed giant.

Is that… Oh dammit…. What was his name again? Anubis! Egyptian god of… death? Double dammit.

“Where… where is everyone else!? What happened to them?” Gardner asked, steeling herself for the answer.

“The rest of your allies that entered the capstone chamber are dead or too injured to continue. They fought admirably against the Antiu, the Khepirim, and the Henatiu but against the might of Nau-Shesma, even their best efforts proved… inadequate. It now falls upon your machines of war to continue the fight. Impressive as they are, they are unlikely to be up to the task. Anubis has orders to stall for time, but not at the cost of his own life or safety. There will come a point in this battle where he will be forced to fight more… aggressively. We will have to conclude our negotiations before that happens or there will be even more of your people's blood spilled and thus even less hope for an alliance.”

The matter of fact delivery and Osiris’ unwavering eye contact made it clear this was no idle threat. Vanessa’s mind went into overdrive to find another solution, anything, to avert the looming catastrophe.

“Can’t you simply order him to stop fighting while we talk?”

“No. As of this moment, you are interlopers with the proven intent to kill us and steal our facility. We are fully within our rights to defend our territory, property, and interests in this system against such a threat. Furthermore, you have severely damaged Horus’ Ur-Uatchi and have very nearly handed Set his final victory over our faction. We will only agree to a ceasefire if we can craft an alliance that promises to restore our fortunes.”

Vanessa’s jaw set tight as she fought to keep her face impassive while Osiris shot her down. Unwilling to give in so easily, she quickly thought of another angle.

“You mentioned time dilation earlier, can we at least slow things down a bit more, to give us more time? Any task worth doing should be given both the attention and the time required to do it right, the first time.”

Osiris seemed to pause to consider her words when Thoth spoke up.

“Wise words, my child. You are absolutely correct in a general sense, but your request is impossible. Time dilation in this sense is a side effect of the fact that digital organic minds think and operate faster than the steady flow of the speed of time in the third dimension. Three times speed or one third time dilation is the farthest we dare push our surviving computers. If we lose them, this whole simulation dies with it, including your personality profile.”

“You really are just full of good news aren’t you?” She asked as she watched the battle unfolding below.

“It is clear from reviewing your battle prowess and tactics that you are hopelessly outmatched by our deific grade war bodies and our hybrid beasts. Stripped of your weapons and war machines, your best warriors were defeated by a mere Naga! It is clear you have no chance against Set and Aten together, much less against the combined might of the Olympians. You need Anubis and Horus as allies in the battle for the inner solar system just like you will need our soldiers and network of alliances once you make planet-fall. You also require access to our manufacturing capability to quickly repair your ship. You need us far more than we need you, there is no denying this fact.”

Osiris said with such overpowering confidence, Gardner struggled against the rising tide of intrusive doubts and depressing thoughts that flooded her mind. As her awareness of this grew, a tiny surge of stubborn anger acted like a raft to which she clung for dear life.

“If you are truly so powerful, then you wouldn’t have gotten yourselves into this situation in the first place, would you? I think you need us much more than you claim.”

“A fair point, child. One we do not entirely dispute. Together we have the strength to prevail. Separated and weakened by our battles against each other, we have no hope for victory. Surely you can see this?” Osiris replied back, leaving the question hanging in the air.

After what seemed like an eternity, she answered begrudgingly.

“I can see how we would be stronger together and how further conflict might be ruinous, yes. We already agreed there were advantages, but I also remember you warning me of the cost.” Gardner said before she folded her arms and stared defiantly at Osiris.

Your move, now.

Below her, the battle continued in slow motion as Nau-Shesma still lived, even though it had taken a round to the leg and had lost another head. Simultaneously, Locust’s missiles and railguns continually failed to breach Anubis’ layered defenses, even with Jenkins’ assistance.

How in the hell does Anubis manipulate null matter like that?!

A slow, building laugh snapped her attention back to Osiris.

“As always, you are an impeccable judge of character, Thoth. You are intelligent, possess strong morals, and are wise beyond your years. Your skepticism is hardly surprising, just know that we have no desire or need to lie to you. The truth will illuminate your way to the proper path. Tell me, child, what do you know of the nature and powers of Zeus?”

“Uh…. If I can remember my mythology, he can fly, shoot lightning and control storms, is near invulnerable, and can either shapeshift or manipulate people’s perceptions and memories to make them think he can. I remember something about him turning into a swan or other animals to get close enough to… take women he desired by force. He’s jealous, prideful, and arrogant, as Thoth said before, a tyrant.”

Gardner said, unsure where Osiris was trying to take this.

“Good, after what must be thousands of years it is fascinating to hear that such a strong cultural memory has survived. Zeus resides permanently now in his war body and is nearly invulnerable and omnipotent. The only deity more powerful than he is Ah’Mon Rah in his war body, as Rah was the last truly omnipotent deity created. There was an attack on the Abzu that destroyed its life creation laboratories after the rebellion of the Canaanite gods. Since then, our people have regressed in our ability to create another similarly powerful deity. Even our facilities here are a pale shadow of that original homeworld built technology. This means that our numbers are limited, and we must increasingly rely upon more… traditional measures to create more deified children. Zeus is both desperately trying to pass on his powerful genes while at the same time he is paranoid of creating an heir powerful enough to become a rival strong enough to dethrone him.”

“I think I am beginning to understand. Is this why you believe Zeus to be the mastermind of your own betrayal and the sealing away of Rah? Because Rah is the only one with arguably more power than Zeus left?”

The connection struck her like a lightning bolt. Osiris stared at her and there was the slightest uptick of a smile that formed across his features. Before he could answer, HT one struck down Nau-Shesma with a perfectly aimed shot. The Naga’s death throes brought with them a surge of joy.

“This is… an unfortunate turn of events. Our time is even shorter now. Anubis will be forced to stop fighting defensively now. Your friends are in grave danger. Zeus has all four of the primary powers, telekinesis, coarse null matter manipulation, empathic reading, and precognition. He also has four of the five combinatory powers in varying strengths. The only power his war body was not created with was direct mental domination. You are truly lucky, because if he was given that gift then none of us would be able to face him, and all hope would be lost. Even Anubis, as powerful as he is, is merely a dyad, the specific type which we call a Reaver. He is a powerful telekinetic and has both coarse and fine control over the summoning and shaping of null matter. Zeus has all of these powers, along with the ability to sense the flows of time and probability as well as to read the electro-emotional vibrations emanating from the brains of sapient creatures. This has led to the common belief that Zeus sees all and hears all, though that is not strictly accurate. It is likely, however, that Zeus is aware of the branching of the timelines that would have occurred with your arrival.”

Gardner’s eyes shot wide open in alarm.

“You mean to tell me that Zeus probably already knows we are here?!”

“He does not have as much fine control over his gift of prophecy as, say, Apollo, but he has the power, nonetheless. It is highly likely that if he is not already aware of your presence, he will not remain ignorant for long. There will be no element of surprise to rely upon, you will find yourselves constantly under attack and your plans will often be foiled and ruined. He also has a small army of dyad and triad powered gods at his command. We have already lost our edge against him, and your battles with our forces have blunted the tip of your spear. Do you truly think you are in a position to be able to defeat such a foe without additional help? Help that only we and our remaining allies can provide?”

Vanessa withered under his gaze as her troubled mind struggled to refute his logic.

“No… Our chances don’t sound very good if we attacked him head on. There has to be other ways, the captain is pretty damn smart, if I could relay this intel to him I’m sure we could come up with a plan. Hell, couldn’t we just… like nuke him from orbit just to be sure?”

“You could try, but he rarely leaves his base on Mount Olympus, which has been fortified with shielding capable of withstanding orbital strikes. Remember, he is well aware that we hold the keys to the solar system and will have prepared for the possibility that we would one day send an Ur-Uatchi to rain down fire upon him. You will have to find another way. You can run from the truth, but it won’t change its immutable nature. You need our active assistance, or you will lose. Only we know which gods and cities will rally to our combined cause, and only we can get them to listen. You are outsiders, invaders, and are far more likely to unite your enemies in common cause against you than you are to ignite a revolution against Zeus and the pantheons.”

“Can I send a message to the Captain, get him to weigh in and provide guidance? There is so much information here that he must know.” As she spoke, Gardner found it increasingly difficult to fight the hopelessness filling her.

“You are dead and trapped here in this simulation with us. Our communications equipment has been destroyed along with most of our computational capacity as you already know. We can no more send a message to your captain than we can send a message to Anubis. Why do you think we had to give him the orders we did before uploading his personality aspect into his war body? The last thing he knew was that we managed to successfully capture your Ka and that we intended to begin negotiations. It would be unwise to expect his mercy to last.”

Anger again flared within her, which helped push back against the looming depression.

“YOU LIARS! You said we could stop the battle if we came to an agreement here and now you tell me we can’t even COMMUNICATE WITH ANUBIS!?”

“You forget yourself, child! It is unwise to make accusations born of ignorance. We have never lied to you, for the power of the truth is inescapable. There is but one way to end this battle in time to save your friends, but the choice must be yours and you must own it wholly once it has been made. The first option is to refuse our generous offer of an alliance and to leave the results of the battle to chance. The end result will be that your fate will be tied to ours here. If we repel your forces, they are likely to destroy this facility rather than suffer further losses, or we will destroy it to prevent its capture if Anubis loses. Can we agree that this is the least desirable of all outcomes?”

“Yes, we can agree on at least that. Now, what’s the other option?” Vanessa said through gritted teeth.

“You will renounce the ties to your former life and eternally bind yourself to our service. Through this act of willing sacrifice you will be reborn in the light of the divine mysteries. Your personality aspect will be uploaded into a new and powerful war body that we have in temporal stasis here. You will have the opportunity and authority in our name to command a ceasefire and end the bloodshed. Afterwards, you will bring the good news of our proposed alliance to your former captain and crew as our ambassador. You will have full access to the manufacturing capacity of this station and any others that you capture. Together with Anubis you will have the authority in my name to command Horus and his crew. With their help, we will take the station where Rah is imprisoned, though we will not release him at this time, as he would likely wish to… alter this deal. Together, we will take back the solar system and the planet’s surface from our enemies, and together will we share in the responsibility of its governance.”

Gardner fought with the horrible twisting knot of conflicting emotions as she attempted to think as rationally as she could amidst the storm.

“What if I can’t get my people to agree to these terms? Even then, how will we be able to communicate with you afterwards? What if….”

A null barrier shooting across the rendered battlespace below her grabbed her attention as she trailed off. She watched in mute horror as Anubis split his barrier into tiny daggers which carved dozens of holes straight through the Rhino’s armor, sending it crashing to the ground. She fell to her knees as she raised her hand over her mouth and goosebumps raced across her skin.

“Oh no…” She managed to say as tears streaked down her face.

“We are out of time. It gives us no pleasure to force this upon you, but as of now you are our only combined hope. You will have everything you need to succeed, if you simply choose to have the courage to try and the concerted will to break through resistance. We will make sure a portion of our personality aspect will be uploaded as an advisor and to instruct you in the divine mysteries, but you will retain full control of the body itself. You know the right decision, you simply need to make it.”

Overwhelmed, Vanessa watched in horror as Anubis and Locust fought over Jenkins’ horribly wounded body.

“I… I can’t!”

“You can, and you must. We promise you with everything within us that you can do this, and you will have us by your side for support, always. This choice, in the end must be yours. What say you?”

Gardner took one last look at the scene playing out in slow motion below and hardened her resolve.

She knew what she had to do.