Kezia would inhale deeply... and glance at the holographic display. "RC has given me what she feels are the three best options. I'll be the one doing the deed, so I feel that this should be my decision."

Eyeball coughed. "You do need us to get you there. So I think we all need to agree on a target; and if you say no, it doesn't happen."

Captain Moreau looked around the table for a moment. "These creatures are responsible for literally millions of years and quadrillions of deaths by supporting this Emperor. If sacrificing a few worlds is needed to get the job done, then I say we do it, damn the cost."

RC tapped the table. "We have a few options which I feel are all good for this. The first is to go big. The Imperial Capital. Over one hundred billion souls, serviced by slaves and automated servants, an enormous hive consisting of the vast group of servitors that keep it all running. Hard target. Heavily defended. Absolutely impossible to ignore, and the ratio of criminals to innocents is ridiculous; while a few of the wealthier Imperials have living slaves, most of them rely on automation because its simply not cost effective to ship in enough to feed that many slaves; they rely mostly on automated hydroponic gardens. After hitting that one, Kezia could then move to the other, food-growing worlds in the same system; they actually ship over a billion tons of food to the planet every day; these, however, actually do have a fair number of innocents, so I'd recommend delaying, pretending it takes time to repeat the process... the Emperor should come running after the Capital."

Kezia blinked. "Oh, shit. Thats... yeah. That would do it. If anything would get him to come running, that would be the job. I.... not sure I can handle that much at once, right now. I might need to do a smaller planet first. I know I could handle millions. Probably billions. But hundreds of billions...."

RC studied Kezia for a few seconds, and tapped the keys again. "My second option then might be a good starter. I have thirty-seven different candidates which are all worlds in the terraforming process where they haven't seeded sentient life yet. If we hit one of those first, then said we were going to hit the capital..."

Captain Moreau looked over the images that appeared. "He might be waiting when we got there if we do that. By all reports he's insanely fast. Is that what we want?"

Kezia glanced at the captain. "Honestly, I wouldn't mind. As much power as I'd get from over a hundred billion souls, I have no idea how that would change me."

Eyeball looked to meet Kezia's gaze.. an effect spoiled by the helmet. "On the other hand... according to Hera, more energy starts giving diminishing returns after a while in terms of performance improvement; and the Olympians are already past that threshold. Each Ambrosia fruit they eat barely makes a difference now, and thats the equivalent of hundreds of lives. Scale that up to the billions.... If you were to actually consume the Capital, and that many souls... it might only be a drop in the bucket compared to the Emperor, but it might mean you're a fourth, or a third, as strong as him. Enough to at least survive a fight, even if you can't kill him."

Kezia inhaled deeply. "Ahh.... You're right. And we don't need to listen to Hera for that. Me and my grandfather, my cousin, several in my family are past that threshold. I would need to consume a city to noticeably increase my power, while giving any of the crew a fraction of that would turn them into a mid-grade metahuman."

She turned to RC with a knowing gaze. "Assuming they were human."

RC glared at Kezia. "What are you trying to say?"

"Whatever they once were, the engineering crew are more machine than person now. I can feel them; there's some life there. But every one of them is stronger than any ordinary human, but has the life force of... a gopher. Something living, but tiny, weak. What have you done to them?"

"...Nothing they didn't volunteer for. If any of them wants to tell you, they can feel free."

Kezia puled to her feet; the table audibly creaking with the force she exerted on it as she glared right back at RC. "Can they? Or have you turned them into machine puppets? Are you like Ascension with his army of Pale Ones? Each of those crew just a sack of meat to you, pulled by strings?"

Eyeball slammed a fist into the table. Kezia and RC both stopped, turning to him. "Thats enough." He looked between the two. He wasn't completely certain what to tell Kezia, aside from revealing the truth about almost the entire engineering crew being Ascension-built cyborgs. "We're getting distracted. Kezia. The crew issue is something you, I, and RC can discuss privately. To be clear, what happened with those people happened at Eye-Tech, and we absolutely do not condone involuntary medical procedures on anyone but convicts of certain serious offenses.. and none of those on the crew fit that bill. RC and her team all volunteered for what happened to them, and have almost exactly the same implants."

"Not almost. Exactly the same. Me, Dax, Riva, Sharee, Janice.. the rest of the team. Exact same implants. Super-reflexes, super-durability. We're treading the fine line of optimizing our ability to fight and handle fast-paced situations with not being impacted by quantum disrupters. Though... thats another thing we need to talk about."

"Oh?"

RC smiled. "Those shields we bought? They form an effective barrier against the disrupter technology of the Jotun, and any other similar devices. If we can make them small enough, we could actually make AI-driven interceptor drones or missiles that the tech wouldn't work on. It would still be great at stopping grey goo situations, but... once it gets back home, it'll make a huge difference in all sorts of applications. Honestly, the terraforming gear we bought so cheaply will make a bigger impact at home than almost anything. The specs I've seen on it are.... should be... impossible."

Eyeball blinked. That.... Jotun sensors and disrupters were the key to the destruction of Ascension's forces during the war. If the Engineer got hold of it, and passed it to whatever secret offworld base Ascension had been building... He studied RC for a moment. Ascension was solid. Dependable. The machines were willing to take out individual humans, but had demonstrated an absolute willingness to fall down to the last to preserve the human species. The settlements Ascension was building? Frankly seemed like a much better way to go about things than the lackadaisical approach the US was taking, or the brutal, oppressive route of the Chinese.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"..That could be important. I think we should drop by one of these terraforming worlds. Buy a ship. Gather our motley assortment of crabs, the terraforming gear, and a couple of our engineering staff to keep things running... and send it back home. Then, of course, once it leaves the system... Kezia can do her thing. Its possible the ship might be lost in the process of killing the Emperor, and that feels... possibly vital."

Kezia sighed. "We'll have that discussion later. But... yes. That could work. I will be vulnerable, sort-of, while performing the ritual to make the effect planet-sized, so I'll need a team of body-guards to keep off the natives."

Eyeball chuckled. "Not a big deal. Me, Ripper, a few marines and some deployed weapons from cargo on the surface, and Spike and our lady dark up in orbit... honestly, could probably handle anything. Though... how do we keep them from getting killed by the ritual?"

"Anyone standing in the ritual circle will be fine. In fact, those closer to the center will actually absorb some of the power I'm draining. Step out, though, and you'll be dead in seconds. So.... very much a 'stick with me if you want to live' situation."

"...So if we sent the whole Marine complement down, they'd come back stronger, tougher, better able to survive the next ritual, on the capital?"

Kezia blinked. "Well. Yes, actually. I can make the circle bigger than I need to, take most of the power for myself for either the Capital ritual or a fight with the Emperor, and still leave all the marines heavily augmented. I've never done this before deliberately, but... it'll be interesting to see the results."

***

At first, there wasn't much reaction to the Emperor's approach to the planet. The fleet hailed him; offering appropriate greetings. He ignored them, hurtling towards the deep oceans, far from any of the major cities, where the pressure would crush most living things; and the Jotun didn't realize anything was amiss until a few seconds before he hit the water; as he hadn't slowed down at all, launching an enormous tsunami in all directions. The fleet in the system began to gather, emergency drills started, people running for shelters from the enormous wave to come; most of the major cities were primarily aquatic, for what little good that would do.

When he reached the surface of the planet in the depths below; feeling the cold, the pressure; nothing against his enormous, powerful form; he felt the planet. An enormous web of interconnected life, all working as a whole; and he began to feed.

At first, the smaller creatures died. Insects. Fish. Then the children died in the screaming arms of their parents... but it didn't take long before those grew silent as well. In orbit, the fleet listened as the world grew quiet. Frantic cries for help turning silent. The greenish tinge to the world turning a dull brown over the blue of the enormous oceans.

When the Emperor emerged from the ocean, leaving a dead husk of a world behind, weapons fired; plasma cannons on defensive stations that had stood for thousands of years firing bolts of energy as hot as the core of a sun, which... were barely felt by the Emperor, as he settled in, tentacles tearing apart the largest of the stations as he consumed its crew; and started to analyze the wreckage. Looking for records, for history; to learn just why Jotun had been foolish enough to invade the Forbidden Zone; hadn't the stupid crab lost his father to it already? There must be something in here to explain it all.

***

For Almasi, it had taken over two days of brutal, incredibly difficult climbing to reach where he stood now; a dark, dank, pit in the earth. He hoped he was near the surface. That if he could just go a bit longer, he might make it. His power was starting to put a strain on him. He was becoming exhausted. Making mistakes. If he didn't see daylight soon, it would be over.

Then... he could see it. A crack of light, in the darkness above, so vivid as to be blinding. A flashlight, pointing downward! He smiled, working his fingers into another crack, using his other hand to start carving another handhold. He was going to make it! Freedom would be there, above him! Someone to help!

Behind the flashlight, a cold, pale face stared through a scope at the vividly faceted white figure, and turned. Clone looked at Aziz for a moment, and the man smiled, before turning to the tall, dull obsidian skinned giant beside them; the man appeared to have been carved from a single massive, glistening stone. "Well, Khan? He made it. This is your moment. That rifle in Clone's hands will finish the job; can break a diamond like it was nothing. You take that rifle, pull the trigger, and the country is yours. We won't say a thing. Or. We help him out. Apologize for the results of the Neutronium. And he's convinced of both our willingness to help, and your loyalty."

The giant glowered at Aziz for a moment, and shook his head. "What, become the Obsidian King with the help of some foreigners? No..."

Aziz frowned in disappointment as a dagger-like blade started to take shape in the man's hand. What was the idiot doing? He was strong, yes, and those blades his power created were sharp. But they couldn't pierce diamond.

A sudden toss. A loud 'Thunk' sound. Almasi looked up, blinking against the light; and saw a dagger planted in the stone, a foot above him. He looked further; and saw Obsidian, one of his chief allies, standing at the edge of the pit; and saw the sky, and trees, above. How far had he gone? That was... the jungle, not his palace. Why the.... Another thunk.

Another dagger, a foot above that one. And another. Almasi smiled; and gripped the handle, pulling himself up; nodding at the men above him. This would make it much easier, yes. And the story would sound better, if he had pulled himself from the pit on his own.

When he reached the edge, and the men gathered there; a blend of strangers and his own soldiers; helped pull him free; he finally allowed himself to return to flesh, the diamond sheen fading from his skin. One of the men there... he recognized him. Aziz. The telepath. He looked around at his soldiers...

At first, he'd thought that the neutronium might be an assassination attempt. But no. If Almasi had taken proper precautions, like actually standing on a properly prepared surface, that matter might have been incredibly useful. For something; he wasn't sure just what. And this... the telepath could easily have influenced his allies, and had a deathtrap waiting for him at the surface.

"I thank you for your gift. And I apologize for my hubris in wasting it."

Aziz smiled, and extended a hand. "I apologize for the harm my gift caused. I helped your men locate you, when I learned what had happened, and hope that we might still be allies in the days to come." Perhaps Obsidian didn't have the... stones.. to do the job. But as Almasi accepted his hand, Aziz smiled. Turning the king into a puppet would be even better; and with the king already favorably inclined to him now... trivial.

He glanced askance at the shining black metahuman. He had mistaken the man's intentions when he'd asked for Aziz's help finding where Almasi had ended up, in the depths. If he hadn't already been influencing him for so long, this might have gone awry. He would need to be more cautious, going forward with him.