CHAPTER 27 - EMERGENCE

DATE POINT: APRIL 25th, 7 A.U. (AFTER UNIFICATION)

LOCATION: SOL SYSTEM, ABOARD AAV “CONTACT ONE”

LIEUTENANT PAUL KARST

Fuck, I can’t wait until this is over with.

Paul’s entire world had become pain, making it difficult to focus. Thus, he sat with his eyes closed and teeth clenched, focusing on his breathing as he waited for this wave to pass as the others had beforehand. The conversation had been continuing on without him as needed.

“Paul.”

Lor Ix’Alderos had told him the pain would be superficial and short lived. That fucking liar. His bones felt like someone had cracked them open and poured molten lead into them. No amount of massaging or pain killers seemed to help the pain in his muscles when it flared up either.

“Paul, are you listening?” Shit, what did I miss?

“Yes, Henry, I heard you. Kinda distracted by the feeling of my bones and muscles turning to liquid fire.” Paul replied with a hiss.

“Your initial augmentation pains will be at their most intense over the first forty-eight hours or so. Right now, you are feeling the pain of the first steps of integration, it should pass soon. A portion of the marrow in your largest bones is being replaced by nano-machine factories, sensors, hormone, and drug production centers for your bio-medical suite and more. Surely you didn’t think this would be a painless process, did you?” Roh Thaad’at replied.

“I was informed this might be painful, but this is well above expectations. At least I am here rather than laid up in bed like Jenkins.” Paul replied, admittedly rather grumpily.

“I almost rather you had stayed in bed to recover if you aren’t going to be present in the conversation.” Henry said with his arms folded.

“Just wait until its your turn, Cap. Half of the pain in my bones can be directly linked to the multiple bio-factories being installed. The very same ones required for functional immortality. It’s no walk in the park, and I’m not normally one to complain.” Paul replied, taking none of his shit.

“Sure thing, Paul. Whatever you say.” Henry replied, barely containing the smug. Fucker’s enjoying this. At least the pain is subsiding… for now. Maybe I can focus better on the topic at hand now.

“Right, so… back on topic.” Paul said. “We have been reviewing battle plans for days. I have thought a lot about it the past few days and it makes the most sense to me to begin by breaking the bronze supply chain, which will weaken all of our enemies at once. The best way to do so is to land our forces on Cyprus. The primary sources of tin are from the mountains of central Asia near Afghanistan and to a lesser degree from maritime trade and the Cornish coast. Much of the copper used in the area is traded and supplied out of Cyprus. By basing ourselves on Cyprus, the sea will be our shield, and we can use the advantage of high altitude drone flights to have advanced warning of any potential troop and naval buildups by any of the major powers. Maritime invasion is every bit as difficult in this time as it is in the modern era. A couple of good bombing runs, and we can landslide the mountain passes used to run tin overland into Mesopotamia. The Cornish supply can be cut by taking the other islands like Sardinia once Cyprus is ours. From there, we can take Victor’s Idea to offer the secrets of steel and steam along with the truth of their occupiers identities to bribe kings and tribal leaders alike to our cause. Every single one of these empires has smaller enemies, we can use that.”

“Thank you Paul, much better. That sounds like a good place to start, and a secure enough place to make camp with our forces.” Henry admitted. “But then which of the major powers should we topple first?”

“The Myceneans have most of their forces tied up in their war on Troy, so they would be a good choice, but the Olympian pantheon also has the most active god-king war bodies to kill. I actually think for that reason we should avoid batting that hornets nest for as long as we can. The Hittites have the most territorial rivals to contend with within Anatolia, so we can keep them tied up by strengthening their enemies in secret. We can do the same by allying with the Nubians to distract the Egyptians. That way we can focus on liberating Canaan and the Levant, making our way inland to then challenge Assyria and Babylonia first.” Victor chimed in.

“Makes sense, much of Canaan and the Levant are individual city states that have been traded back and forth as imperial pawns since at least the time of Sargon. I daresay many of them would welcome us as liberators.” Paul said, finding little to argue with in Victor’s logic.

“There you go again; you can’t make those kinds of assumptions Paul! There are way too many examples to count where people thought they could waltz right in as heroes just to wind up with an insurgency on their hands.” Lance replied, arms folded. “Also, which of the god-kings runs the show on Cyprus anyway?”

“I believe she calls herself Aphrodite, her city is on the island’s west coast. Our intelligence shows she is away from her city often for months at a time. The other major city on the island is in the south and is part of Baal Haddad’s territory, though he primarily resides in Ugarit on the mainland or in Baalbek. Cutting the maritime trade route through to the Cornish coast as you call it will certainly draw Baal’s ire. If you truly plan to take Cyprus first, it will draw the attention of the Olympian pantheon and the survivors of the Titanic pantheons at the same time. Are you sure this is the wisest course of action?” Roh Thaad’at replied.

“We won’t be able to operate for long on the surface without pissing off some pantheon or another. If we land and make camp on the mainland then they can raise armies for a land invasion easily and kill us with sheer numbers unless we massacre them with advanced weapons. Clearly, that won’t win us any friends among the locals. No, we will be better protected by the ocean as we gain in strength to the point that we can begin to challenge the mainland directly and on our terms. Plus, if we can trust our mythology, Aphrodite is not exactly popular amongst the Olympians at the moment, and Baal is a tyrant who demands firstborn child sacrifices, so he won’t likely be popular with his subjects. Such rule by fear will make it easy for us to win his people to our side once we kill him. Cyprus is truly our best bet.” Paul replied firmly.

“I actually agree with the spook here.” Henry replied, much to Paul’s shock. “Plus, Aphrodite is the goddess of love, not war, right? Like you said, she’s also gone most of the year, if we take her city I suspect she will simply abandon it rather than be successful in raising a fleet to retake it. Baal I remember from the bible is supposed to be a badass, but he’ll also need to raise an entire maritime invasion force which we will be able to see the evidence of well in advance. Wooden ships can be destroyed from the air painfully easily. If Baal wants to dislodge us, he will have to fly over personally to do so. We will be ready for him.”

“I wouldn’t recommend underestimating Aphrodite, according to the myths she’s sleeping with Ares the god of war, and she still has plenty of influence. She very well might be plenty capable of being a major thorn in our side. Reading between the lines, we can infer she seems to also have some kind of ability to affect your mind to make you fall in love with her. We don’t know the extent of her powers; she could easily have broader mind control powers than just that. Plus, we don’t know what her war body is like, or even if she has one. According to Roh Thaad’at, most of the god-kings have both a war body and a ritual body. They have to store them somewhere. We also don’t know if both bodies can operate simultaneously or if they need to transfer consciousness, or even how difficult that is to do.” Victor said.

“I’m with the big guy, never underestimate the power of an angry woman. Baal may or may not be popular with his subjects, we can argue that point, there is a lot of contention about if those child sacrifices ever even happened or if they were invented as part of a smear campaign. Something tells me that Aphrodite’s subjects will probably love her. That will be trouble for us, even if she isn’t. We should assume that taking her city will lead to an insurgency at the very least. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, after all, amirite?” Lucas replied, causing the room to go quiet in contemplation.

“We really have an impossible task ahead of us, don’t we?” Lance asked.

“I wouldn’t say impossible, humans clearly found a way to kill them all off during the bronze age collapse in our own timeline, even if it is unclear as to the specifics of how that even happened. The evidence was lost during the events that lead up to the Greek dark ages, but it’s pretty clear that there were few if any god-kings left by the time the world emerged into the iron age. By the time of the Roman empire, the gods were clearly dead, and religion was all about stone idols, powerful priesthoods, and plagiarized mythologies. I had thought it interesting how our earliest stories were written like the gods were flesh and blood beings ordering things to be done but by the time of the iron age it was all about kings doing as they pleased with the “approval” of the gods. That subtlety implies they were now operating under their own orders and making their own decisions as if the gods had gone silent. It also makes sense as to why polytheism effectively died out with the rise of monotheism within a millennia of our current spot in the timeline. Zoroastrianism, Mithraism, Judaism, all of them started out acknowledging the existence of other gods but claimed to be the religion of the one true god themselves. It wouldn’t be that hard for a few scattered surviving god kings to emerge from this time period and make the transition from holy shit I’m the only god left to I am the only god, period.” Victor replied.

“Victor! Be careful with that line of reasoning, you’re treading into heretical territory there.” Lance growled, folding his arms.

“You know I ain’t been a believer for a long time, Lance. I respect your beliefs, but that don’t mean I have to shackle myself to dogma and blind myself to the truth.” Victor shot back.

“Just because we were deceived and conquered by aliens in prehistory doesn’t mean the bible is false! If anything, it helps reinforce certain parts of it.” Lance replied.

“Yeah? From what I gather, the exodus hasn’t happened yet. Therefore, Yah’Weh of Elephantine, Egypt is probably still towing the pantheon line until the rest of his pals are dead, and he leads his people into the depopulated lands of Canaan to commit genocide until they secure their promised land. Makes perfect sense to me.” Victor replied smugly.

“Not this again! You’re twisting the narrative. There are no good early attestations of this ‘Yah’Weh of Elephantine’ and you know it!” Lance shot back.

“That may be so, but the archaeology is far from settled in that region. I guarantee you we will find something sooner or later. Hell, we have a perfect opportunity now to see who’s right, don’t we? Remember again, what was the name given to the fallen angels in the bible?” Victor shot back.

“The Nephilim.” Lance said drily.

“Sounds an awful lot like the Nephaeli’im, don’t it? Tricky bit of misinformation to call them fallen angels that rebelled against God who made hybrid giants with human women in the days before the flood. Tiny coincidence there. We know they ain’t fallen angels, we know the truth, its right here in front of us. In my mind that makes Yah’Weh just another one of them!” Victor replied, pushing back hard on the topic.

“It also makes sense that God would push back against such an occupation and assist with their overthrow before preparing the world for his glory. It’s easier and ultimately irrelevant what sort of story he told about the origins of the Nephaeli’im in light of the fact that he clearly hated them and wanted all of his people to stop worshiping them.”

“OPEN YOUR EYES MAN!” Victor shot back.

“ENOUGH! This argument is pointless, we can’t prove any of it anyway, and it is detracting from the real purpose of this meeting which is to plan for our war on the surface. That is our concern, not whether this Yah’Weh of Elephantine is real or not and whether it even matters. If I hear one more word on this topic I will send you both back to the ship via spacewalk. Have I made myself clear?” Henry stared back and forth between the two men, daring them to speak.

“Yes, sir.” Lance replied, followed by Victor who repeated the same.

“Good. Let’s keep our heads in the bronze age please. That is our world now, whether we like it or not. We have very real and pressing problems that we have only just begun to work out. We cannot afford to allow infighting between us, especially not over this. There is a reason we allow for freedom of religion. We cannot prove who is right now anymore than we could before we got dropped into this timeline. No good will come of arguing about this.” Henry said, trying to broker peace.

“Sure thing, I know the truth regardless of what Victor wants to say.” Lance replied.

“Heh, Lance can keep his dogma. I for one will be very interested to see what happens when we finally make it to Egypt. We will see who is right then, I suppose.” Victor replied, smugly.

“As delightful as this little argument is, Henry is right, we need to get back to planning the invasion. We have the beginnings of a plan for how we would like things to go. We should also start making plans for when things inevitably go wrong, including what kings of scenarios in which we can use our technology advantages. We need contingency plans as much as primary plans.” Paul said.

“Very well, let’s start poking holes in the plan then. Lucas, why don’t we start with you.” Henry said.

“With pleasure.” You could hear the smile through his faceplate.

Thus, the real work began.

THE NEXT MORNING…

DATE POINT: APRIL 26th, 7 A.U. (AFTER UNIFICATION)

LOCATION: SOL SYSTEM, ABOARD UTRN INDOMITABLE WILL

ENSIGN PRESTON JENKINS

Preston awoke groggily with a stretch in his bed within the junior officer’s bunk room. His eyes snapped open once he realized the migraine was gone! Thank fuck. The past two days had been hellish. He then turned his attention to something new that showed up in his vision as well.

NEURAL SUPERCOMPUTER INSALLATION… COMPLETE

LOADING INSTALLED SUBROUTINES…. COMPLETE.

MEMORY RECORDER ACTIVATED…. CHECK SETTINGS?

BIOMONITOR ACTIVATED…. CHECK SETTINGS? BIO-MEDICAL SUITE INSTALLATION PROGRESS…. 70% COMPLETE

BIO-ELECTRIC GENERATOR INSTALLATION COMPLETE…. CHECK SETTINGS?

BIO-ELECTRICAL CAPACITOR INSTALLATION COMPLETE… CHECK SETTINGS?

RESPIROCYTE FACTORY INSTALLATION COMPLETE… 10% INTEGRATION

TITANIUM OSTEO-CLADDING… 40% COVERAGE

OCULAR SCANNER UTILITY…. 80% COMPLETE

ELECTRO-MUSCLE FACTORY INSTALLATION COMPLETE.… 10% INTEGRATION

SUBCUTANEOUS GRAPHENE ARMOR FACTORY INSTALLATION COMPLETE…. 10% INTEGRATION BEGIN GUIDED SETUP?

Oh, hell yeah! Fucking finally, time to dig in and see what this thing can do. Preston thought, with a laugh to himself before realizing he had no clue how to select anything. The interface was strange in a way that it simultaneously overlaid his vision but would disappear the moment he tried focusing on the need to see what was in front of him.

Okay, so it seems to operate on an integrated level with my thoughts, so lets try it. Yes Nope, that didn’t work. Begin guided setup.Bingo!

More menus began to pop up in his expanded vision asking him question after question. He was so enthralled in the process that he almost forgot himself and the time until he panicked as his stomach began to growl.

Oh, right, they did say that my metabolism would be boosted. What time is it anyway?

He then grabbed his datapad to check. Oh-nine-fifty! FUCK, gonna miss my chow window!

Helpfully, a digital clock appeared in his expanded vision up in the corner of his vision next to a capacitor charge bar that showed a 50% charge.

He then ripped the blanket off himself, sending it flying farther than he intended. He then grabbed for an undershirt, pulling it over his head.

SHHHRRRIIIP!

…. Just to tear it. He was going to have to get used to the extra strength it seemed.… and it was only at 10% integration? Just how strong am I going to get? There has to be a way to adjust the sensitivity.

FINE MOTOR CONTROL SETTINGS AUTO-ADJUSTMENT ACTIVATED, ADDITIONAL FIELD EXPERIENCE DATA REQUIRED TO COMPLETE PROCESS.

Well, that’s nice of you Compy. Talk about an intuitive interface! ET tech for the win I guess.

Preston then traded undershirts, this time without ripping it. He then pulled on his gym shorts.

This is going to take some getting used to. Gonna be a BEAST in the gym though!

His stomach growled at him again. Grub first.

With a smirk, he hustled over to the mess hall and got in line. When his turn came, he grabbed himself a double serving of powdered egg omelet, six slices of crispy fake-on, and a large bowl of grits. It still wasn’t enough to satisfy him completely, much to his chagrin, but a look from the cook gave him pause on the idea of grabbing more. He then made his way to the gym, eager to burn off some of the buzzing energy he felt.

Preston started by jumping on the treadmill, only to find that he had to keep bumping the speed to feel a challenge. Finally, after easily breaking a personal best in his two kilometer time, he stepped off feeling more energized than tired. A new notification popped up for him.

RESPIROCYTE INTEGRATION LEVEL -- 12% PROJECTED, REST REQUIRED FOR INTEGRATION

He then moved over to the weights and proceeded to smash through his previous records. By the time he finished at the squat rack, he found himself finally properly sore, tired, and a brand new member of the two-hundred kilogram club. Awesome.

ELECTRO-MUSCLE INTEGRATION LEVEL – 13% PROJECTED, REST REQUIRED FOR INTEGRATION

Fucking hell, thirteen percent and I’ve almost doubled my previous max outs. Just how strong am I able to get now? Gonna have to make sure I pay close attention to flexibility, too. This could easily get out of hand if I start getting superhero strong. Gotta keep balanced.

“Hey, freak, are you done with the squat rack yet? Just because you got pumped full of xeno drugs doesn’t mean you get to treat the gym like you own the place! The same rules still apply, fuckface!”

Jenkins turned to look at the source of the interruption; a scowling meter and a half of muscular marine stared up at him.

“Do you understand me, freak? Or did those xeno fucks scramble your brains too?” The smaller man spat as he aggressively dug his finger into Jenkin’s chest.

“I heard you, asshole. Haven’t you ever heard of patience, or did you lose that along with your manners? I’d have thought your mom would have taught you something about respect, but it seems not.” The words came out of his mouth almost before he even had a chance to think of the wisdom of saying them aloud.

“Fuck you, xeno lover! Don’t you dare speak about my mom; the woman was a saint! Who the fuck do you think you are!?” The micro meathead replied, shoving Jenkins surprisingly hard.

FIGHT OR FLIGHT DETECTED; COMBAT STIMULANT PACKAGE RELEASED TO BLOODSTREAM

Jenkins was pissed now, and shoved him back in retaliation, knocking the marine backwards a step.

“That’s it, we settle this now! You may have let those xeno fucks experiment on you, but you’re still no match for honest to God human strength. I’m going to enjoy pounding you into the mat. Unless you’re a coward and a traitor too.” The man said with a sneer.

Finding it hard to think or de-escalate as the stims took effect, Jenkins smirked and found himself saying “You’re on, asshole.” Instead.

“Kick his ass! Fuck that xeno lover up Brock!” One of the marine’s three buddies cheered.

“With pleasure.” Brock said with a dark, deep laugh before he threaded himself between the ropes in the sparring ring. He cracked his knuckles and rolled his head before stretching a few times to limber up.

“What are you waiting for, pussy? Bet you’re scared to fight a real man.” Brock taunted.

COMBAT SUBROUTINES UPLOADED TO WORKING MEMORY

Jenkins stared Brock straight in the eyes and broke into a run before launching himself in a front flip and landing smoothly into the ring. Holy shit, I didn’t know I could do that! Combat subroutines? Awesome!

“Preston?! What the hell is going on?” Ariana called out from the entryway to the gym. His heart skipped a beat as he saw her in workout clothes and a towel over her neck. The distraction proved costly as Brock chose that moment to charge him, landing a nasty sucker punch to the jaw, staggering him.

“What did those xeno fucks do to you? Fuck! Is your jaw made of steel!?” Brock shook his hand out before reverting to a more guarded stance as he slowly circled Jenkins.

Jenkins turned and spat some blood from a split lip out of the ring. “They did a hell of a lot more than that.”

Jenkins charged in with a feint before pivoting around Brock’s answering swing. He grabbed the smaller slab of muscle’s arm, throwing him to the mat. Brock landed with a roll and got back to his feet, closing the distance again with ease. They traded jabs, testing each other’s reflexes and defenses, but landing no seious blows. Jenkins had an advantage with his height and reach, allowing him to keep on the offense more easily. He put it to use.

“Kick that little pervert’s ass Preston!” Ariana called out. A memory flashed, reminding Jenkins where he had seen this goon before. Running down a hallway in boxers, trying to escape a hard lesson in consent at the hands of Ariana.

“Oh, I remember you now, roid rage! This’ll be fun.” Preston pushed back onto the offensive with a flurry of blows that rained down faster than he had realized he was capable of. Brock dodged and blocked what he could, but several landed anyway. Jenkins had traded speed for power somewhat, and Brock was experienced and tough, managing to make each a mere glancing blow. Slowly, Jenkins forced Brock back into the corner of the ring. Brock then changed tactics and grabbed Jenkins around his waist with a leap, forcing them both to the ground.

"You know this bitch?! I'm going to fuck her up once I finish with you. Me and her got unfinished business."

With Jenkins' advantage of extra reach eliminated, Brock was able to nearly pin him several times as they wrestled. Only his recent gains in strength and speed seemed to help now, as Brock had him beat in talent.

“Get up, he’ll beat you on the ground if you’re not careful!” Ariana called out.

“Keep out of this bitch! Fuck him up, Brock!” One of Brock's marine friends yelled out.

"Try and make me, asshole!" Ariana yelled right back, staring him down.

Jenkins roared and managed to pivot Brock into a throw that landed him against the mat with a painful crunch a few feet away. Jenkins leapt with all his might and landed with an elbow right into Brock’s ribs, which gave way with a sickening crack. In an instant, his friends were in the ring, dragging him off the mat and onto a shoulder carry while another yelled over his shoulder.

“This isn’t over, xeno lover! You and that whore are DEAD!”

“Don’t you dare talk about her like that! I’ll tear you apart with my bare hands if you even think to try it!” Jenkins screamed after their retreating forms as he felt the adrenaline fade from his system. A crippling wave of nausea rose to replace it. Before he knew what was happening in the encroaching fog, Ariana was supporting him from up under his shoulder as she led him from the ring. Her pleasant warmth and tight grip sent a shudder of pleasure through his addled brain.

“I feel like shit….” Jenkins managed to say as he fought the urge to vomit.

COMBAT HORMONE OVERDOSE DETECTED, DEPLOYING COUNTERMEASURES, ADJUSTING FUTURE DOSAGE DATA. WARNING! RECOMMEND IMMEDIATE REST

“Easy there, big guy, I got you. Let’s get you to med bay.” Jenkins heard through the fog.

“Ariana… I…”

“Stay with me! Fuck! This’ll take way too long! Clear the way!”

The last thing he felt before he blacked out was a rapid change in gee forces as Ariana lifted them off the ground and into a telekinetic assisted flight down the corridor.