Lords of Kobol - Prelude: Of Gods and Titans

by Edward T. Yeatts III

to me?"

  Zeus was quiet for a moment. He spoke softly, "I've secured a place for you on the Olympus, haven't I? If I didn't love you, why would I have done that?"

  Hera was fuming. Too angry to think or rationalize. She stormed out into the rain.

  Zeus sat and watched the rain taper. 'With me,' he thought. I should have said, 'I secured a place for you on the Olympus with me.'

  Soon after, Hades came in and said the Aetos was ready to take the first group away to their waiting vehicles.

  "How long before it can come back?"

  Hades shrugged and said, "Everything's about forty kilometers away. Shouldn't be too long."

  "Go. Make it fast."

  As he ran from the cabin, Hades yelled, "We'll bring it back as soon as we can!"

  Zeus stood and walked toward the window. He watched as Leto ran toward the shuttle. A few others piled on board. Then Hera. He sighed and sat down again.

  After pouring himself a drink, Ares entered the room with an automatic rifle. Zeus asked, "Shuttle's full?"

  Ares pulled the strap over his shoulder. "Yes."

  "Who's left?" Hephaestus and Hermes burst into the cabin with a box full of wires and electronics. Zeus sipped his drink and looked at Hephaestus, "I thought you were in Huban?"

  "I was leaving later today, but …" He removed a few batteries from the box and said, "I've got all the buildings ready to go."

  Zeus nodded and looked outside. The Aetos was gone. "Who's left?"

  Hermes said, "Just us."

  "Four?" Zeus waited for a response and none came. "We could have squeezed four more onto the shuttle."

  "You said 'Group A,'" Ares smiled. "We're all B."

  Hephaestus mumbled as he fidgeted with the electronics, "And the rest of Group B is in Huban working on the ships."

  Zeus put his drink down and walked over to the table. "What are you doing?"

  Hermes grinned and said, "EMP devices."

  "EMP?" Zeus smirked and said, "Do you know if it even works on Cylons?"

  Hermes shrugged and Ares said, "Even if it doesn't, it has a pretty big explosive punch."

  Hephaestus smiled and held up a metal tube. "See?"

  Zeus leaned over and asked, "How can I help?"

  Ten minutes later, Ares spoke from the window, "Here they are."

  There were two modified Ticulan fighters, wedge-shaped and moving fast over the water. Their ionocraft drive was almost silent and they hovered near Lake Nemi's edge a hundred meters or so away from the cabin.

  "They're dropping soldiers," Ares said. He propped the stock of the rifle against his shoulder and leaned down. They marched along the muddy paths and swept left and right toward the now-empty cabins. He glanced at his wristband and tapped a few lights. He watched the cabins and when he saw Cylons disappear into one, he pressed a button.

  The blast contained more fire than force. Papers and equipment were destroyed. The cabins themselves were, too, but the splinters flew into the open and bounced off the soldiers. Only a couple of the machines in the buildings were damaged when they exploded. The ones remaining outside turned and looked toward the main cabin. Then they began to march.

  Ares raised the rifle and fired. Large-caliber rounds pierced their armor and sent Cylons to the wet ground. He kept his weapons fire brief and controlled. Each shot found a mark. The Cylons then raised their weapons and began to shoot.

  Bullets tore through glass and cheap wooden doors. Dust and splinters flew into the room around them. Ares rose up again and fired. This time, he took down a black-colored centurion. He smiled broadly until he realized that his magazine was empty. He tossed it and reloaded.

  "Connect that," Hephaestus said. As he held a wire flat against a circuit board, a bullet hit the table near him. "Shit."

  "Ares?" Zeus asked.

  "I'm working on it." He touched his wristband again and detonated all of the buildings, except their own. Fire washed over everything in sight. The Cylons were forced to stand still as the heatwaves poured over them and debris rained down. Ares took the opportunity and began to fire at the ones he could see. Seven more went down.

  Another magazine was spent. Ares only had regular rounds left. These smaller ones wouldn't help against the machines, most likely. He rose up and fired again, but the bullets bounced off of them harmlessly.

  "Hurry up with it!" Ares shouted from the window. He fired a few more shots and the enemy returned his volley.

  Hephaestus was holding the metal tube as still as possible while Zeus gingerly packed in more explosives. Hermes was pacing back and forth, trying to hear something on his earphone.

  "Almost there," Hephaestus said. He was watching a meter and the needle was rising quickly.

  Zeus closed a plastic case around the metal and electronics. It was an old first aid kit with holes melted into it for wires. Zeus glanced over to Hermes and shouted, "We're going to need some kind of delivery system."

  Ares looked at his father and then at Hermes. The small man shook his head, "Now you tell me." He darted around the cabin, lifting blankets and boxes, trying to find something. Anything.

  A bullet ricocheted into the room and Ares pressed against the wall. He popped his head to take a look quickly and he ducked aside. He ran in a crouch to the other window and stood up firing seven precise shots. "That's one down. I don't have much more ammo."

  "Save those bullets for a distraction," Hephaestus said. "The charge is almost there."

  "Hermes," Zeus said, "I hope you've got something because none of us are great Pyramid players."

  "I've got it, boss."

  Hephaestus looked at the meter and then at Zeus. "It's now or never."

  "Yep." Zeus pulled the wires from the box and turned to the door. Hermes was standing there, holding a long sock. "What the frak …"

  "Hephaestus," Hermes said, "grab an end and hold it tight against the door frame."

  "Oh, please," Hephaestus said.

  Zeus nodded quickly, "No, it'll work." He stood in the middle of the doorway, though the door was still closed. Hermes and Hephaestus were stretching the sock tightly and Ares was several meters away under a window. "Get ready, son. Straight ahead?"

  "Yes," he said. "That's where the bulk of them are."

  Zeus took a deep breath and he shouted, "Now!"

  Ares stood up and fired. A wild spray of bullets bounced off concrete, dug into the dirt, and glanced off metal armor. Zeus, cradling the device tightly, kicked open the front door and placed the case against the sock. He ran back, aimed it only slightly and released. The white and blue plastic box arced through the air and landed in some weeds only about ten meters away.

  "Oh, shit," Zeus said. "Run!" The four of them raced to the back of the cabin, fumbling for the door while bullets tore into the walls. After a moment, the case exploded and they heard the sounds of metal crunching and collapsing on itself. Zeus shook his head, trying to get the buzz out of his ears. He looked across the cabin and saw prone Cylons scattered about in front of the door.

  "Pyramid player or not," Ares said, "I could have thrown that better than your damned sock."

  Hermes laughed and Zeus grabbed his head. "Where is Hades?"

  "He'll be here in a moment." As they stood up, they heard an airship landing outside. The four of them ran to the front door and saw Poseidon waving from the window.

  Zeus walked toward the craft and stepped over a deactivated Cylon. Hades was holding the hatch open and helping Hermes inside. Zeus couldn't help but stop and bend over one of the warriors. Its metal helmet was muddy and its eye deactivated. His gaze drifted over the wide fan on the rear of its head and then Zeus pried the weapon from its firm grip.

  "Let's go." Zeus closed the hatch and looked toward the control area. "Where are those fighters?"

  "They pulled away when I started blowing the cabins," Ares said. "They're probably close."

  Poseido
n yelled from the controls, "I've got a plan." Suddenly, the Aetos lurched toward the clouds, moving due north. After several minutes, it banked and flew southeast toward the rest of the Olympians.

  "Speaking of plans," Hades said, "what's ours?"

  Zeus strapped himself into a seat and held the Cylon's rifle in his lap. "We make our way to Huban as best we can."

  Ares' eyes darted around and he said, "May I stay in Saban for a while longer?"

  Zeus raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

  "I had plans for tomorrow. Important ones."

  Zeus squinted and said, "Change them. We can't go back to the old campground any more."

  "I wasn't. I had a meeting."

  Zeus swiveled his chair and asked, "About what?"

  Ares sighed and ground his teeth. After his jaw flexed, he finally spoke, softly, "I was meeting with an arms merchant."

  Zeus said, "We have plenty of weapons for our purposes." He began to get a feeling that he wouldn't like this.

  "Not for us." Ares finally looked Zeus in the eye. "For the cells in Tiberia."

  Poseidon's head jerked upright and he stood. He quietly stepped away and sat near Hades.

  Zeus held his mouth still and took a deep breath. "How long?" Ares hesitated and Zeus followed up with, "How long has this been going on?"

  Ares was humbled and kept his head low. "About ten years."

  Zeus closed his eyes and leaned his head back on the chair. He muttered, "Ten years." Ares didn't move. "I have been telling … everyone … that we weren't involved with that. Only the propaganda."

  "If you didn't know, it was better for everyone."

  "How?" Zeus was yelling and everyone turned to see. "If we had been caught, that could have ruined me. Ruined us