Lords of Kobol - Prelude: Of Gods and Titans

by Edward T. Yeatts III

awoke, he was laying down, cuffed to the rails of a gurney. A paramedic was tending to him while three officers scowled above. With a jerk, Ares tried to sit up and realized that something was on his face.

  "You hit your head," the paramedic said. "I've got it stitched. I'm more worried about your hip and your leg."

  Ares tensed his muscles in sequence throughout his body as a kind of self-diagnostic. "I'm fine."

  One of the officers leaned forward and practically yelled in his face, "You're being charged with assault and attempted murder."

  Ares smiled. "Assault? Yes. Not attempted murder."

  The officer leaned back and a woman peered into the ambulance. She was wearing a suit and seemed surprised to see Ares. "Do you know who this is?" she muttered. The officers exchanged looks before she stepped into the area. "Uncuff him. He's mine." Reluctantly, the men complied.

  The woman led Ares away and toward a waiting vehicle. She said nothing. He said nothing. Soon they were in downtown Cales in a government building. When they walked inside, she said to a guard, "Take him to level three. And keep an eye on him. He likes to run."

  Minutes later, Ares was tied to a wooden chair. His eye was still bloody and two humans stood at the door of the small room with rifles. He knew an interrogation was coming soon. They made him wait in silence for a while, though. Finally, a man wearing a crumpled dress shirt and a few days worth of facial growth entered and dropped a stack of papers onto the table.

  "Ares?"

  The Olympian nodded.

  "I'm Francis Scipio, an interrogation officer with Tiberia's central command." He stood in front of the table, slumped. He sighed and continued, "I have some questions for you but it won't take long."

  Ares didn't respond.

  "Where is the Olympus Institute based these days?"

  One side of Ares' mouth curled upward into a smirk. He didn't answer.

  Scipio waited and then asked, "What's the range on your mind being able to download into a new body?" A single eyebrow of Ares' shot up. "Yes, we know about that. We've got the Titans, you know." He leaned over and continued, "So what's the range? If you die here, … are we close enough so you can wake up again?"

  No response.

  "When's the last time you spoke with a Titan?"

  No response.

  Scipio sighed and asked, "Where is Zeus?"

  No response.

  "Look, Ares," the interrogator said. "You're a Psilon. Just like your old man. We just want to know where he is so we can talk to him."

  "Talk to Zeus?" Ares scoffed, "You don't know him very well."

  "That's his fault, though, isn't it?" Scipio said. He stood and walked around the table. "There's a war going on out there and not against Attica. We're working together. Cylons are fighting humans; that's the important thing. Routing us out of our homes. And you," he turned, pointing at Ares, "you Psilons, you flesh-and-blood Cylons, are holding your hands up and playing the pacifist card."

  "We have no quarrel with you or them," Ares said.

  "Sure. That's what you say now. What about when we let you go? Will you run and tell daddy how the mean ol' humans roughed you up?"

  Ares grinned. "I'm a big boy."

  "Right." The man leaned over the table. "The Caesar just wants to speak with Zeus. He just wants the opportunity to try and win you guys over to our side."

  "Yeah, well," he stretched his arms against the rope, causing the chair to creak, "arresting his son might not prove as conducive to trust as you might think."

  "You're not under arrest." Scipio removed a knife from his pocket and sliced the ropes. Ares let the strands fall to the floor and he watched the interrogator fold the blade and return it to his pocket. "See?"

  Ares was about to speak when he heard a distant alarm sound. The man turned to the guards, one of whom was pressing a device into his ear. "Clankers. They're here."

  "Frak," Scipio said. He turned and looked at Ares, sighed loudly and said, "Keep him here. Protect him."

  The guards nodded and turned to the door. Ares stood and walked to the window. He looked out and saw only the courtyard of the facility. The lights had been shut off. A guard gave him a wary look, but then he turned back toward the door. There was an explosion. Out the window, Ares saw the side of a wall blow out. The guards primed their weapons and distant gunfire reverberated in the hallway.

  "Hey, guys," Ares said, "would one of you mind giving me something to shoot with?"

  The guards looked at each other and one finally pulled a handgun from his waist and handed it to him. "Be sure you point it at the shiny ones."

  Ares pulled the slide back and released it. He walked back to the window and looked down. There was no ledge, no ladder, no drain pipe. Nothing to grab onto and climb down. He turned to look around the room when he heard gunfire just outside. He backed against the wall and readied the weapon. An explosion knocked the door in, bashing one of the guards in the head. Two golden Cylons stepped into view and, with two quick shots, killed the other standing guard. They walked into the room and one stared at Ares while the other studied the human lying unconscious on the ground. It shot him in the head.

  The Cylon looking at Ares finally spoke. "You are Ares, are you not?"

  Ares was aiming his pistol right at the single circular eye socket of the Cylon. He contemplated shooting the thing but he noted that its weapon wasn't raised. "I am."

  "We are not here for you," it said. "You are free to go." It turned and walked out of the room.

  The second Cylon moved to the doorway and said, "Be sure to tell your father that we extended this courtesy."

  Once the machines were gone, Ares stepped into the hallway and looked in both directions. The soldiers had moved away and were going from office to office as though they were looking for something. He ducked back into the room and removed his satchel from a table in the interrogation room. He breathed slowly and thought about what to do next.

  With the handgun by his side, Ares moved in the opposite direction. He found a stairwell and ran down the steps. Outside an exit, the darkened courtyard of the government building seemed empty. He quickly and quietly moved across it, emerging on the far side by a city park. He concealed the gun and walked nonchalantly along the sidewalk.

  He looked down at his wristband and contemplated sending a message to Zeus. They really want to meet with him. What does the Caesar want with my father? He kept thinking as he mentally mapped his way to his original meeting place. Cylons in Tiberia. They've invaded more than just Scythia then. The war is going worse than even father thought. And what did that interrogator say? 'We're working together …' Maybe the rumors are true.

  Distant sirens came from the government compound. The streets were bare. He saw an old storefront ahead and the logo matched the one he was given to look for. He continued to walk quickly but purposefully along the sidewalk. He passed by the front door of the store and looked in as best he could. He saw nothing … save for a small red eagle drawn on the 'closed' sign.

  Ares turned right at the next streetlight and then snuck behind a parked car. He crouched low and darted to the front door and found that it was open. Once he got inside and pushed it shut, he stood and said, "Flash."

  Someone turned on a lantern and Ares saw about ten people with guns aimed at him. An older man smiled and said, "Thunder." He offered his hand and Ares took it eagerly. "It is good to see you, friend."

  "You as well, Darro." The man leaned to the left and studied the Psilon's injury. Ares shook his head and said, "Just a bit of bad timing, apparently."

  "But good, too?" Darro smiled and pointed toward downtown. "The Cylons could not have chosen a better time for their raid."

  "A raid, eh?"

  Darro nodded. "Apparently. Not a full invasion." He shrugged. "We have a few people on the inside."

  Ares looked around at the group and then exhaled loudl
y. "Well, I am here. What was so urgent?"

  "A great many opportunites." Darro pulled a couple of chairs forward. "Infiltration, leaking reports from government entitites. What Cronus is up to." Ares grinned. "We have much to discuss." Someone in the background cleared his throat and Darro snapped his fingers. "First, I have a new lieutenant to introduce to you." A young man stepped from the shadow and stood next to Darro. "This is Thon Ahljaela."

  Ares reached his large hand out and took Thon's. As he shook it, he said, "Welcome aboard."

  LXXXVII

  CRONUS

  5 Years Before the End

  "The Caesar is growing weak," he said.

  Iapetus raised a single eyebrow and mumbled, "Be careful."

  "Don't worry," Cronus smiled. "I'm speaking figuratively. Of course." He turned and looked across the faces of the assembled Titans. "His forces have been rebuffed time and again. Tiberia gains a foothold in Gela and loses ground in Jomon. The Cylons take another shitpile nation in Eridia and launch sorties into Isinnia. Quintus is on the way out, I hear."

  Iapetus nodded and said, "But Caesar backs him, strongly."

  "He is not the only mechanism at work in the Empire," Theia said. "We need strength."

  Cronus leaned forward and propped himself up on his elbows. "The emperor is fortunate that the Cylons' attention is split. By invading other nations and taking their armaments, they can't push back as effectively against the legions."

  "But," Hyperion said, "there's a tipping point." Cronus nodded. "The Cylons have gained a massive force through