Forevermore Unto the Void

The War in Heaven (part 1: Prelude)

              "Man must become stronger, more profound, and more evil"-Friedrich Nietzsche

1

10 Minutes to Midnight (~52,500 AFR [after the fall of R'lyeh, or approximately 55,550 CE])

Two shadows stood in a dark room speaking in hushed tones. Hooded and cloaked, they went, in this area, by the names Ariadne and Minos.

"Are you sure?" Ariadne asked. "Because you need to be completely sure. You know what happened to-"

"Yes," Minos replied. "I am very much aware. Their idiotic bungling of a simple mission made the Doomsday Clock jump ten minutes."

"And another mistake like that would-"

"I'm aware."

"Are you sure that this is the way to proceed, that we have to-"

"Yes. Trust me, it's the wisest course of action."

"If we should fail-"

"We won't."

"But if we do-"

"Yes. War will break considerably harder on us than it might otherwise."

"We need to make sure that it will happen the way we want it to."

"Of course. The Syndicate and Argus are our priority targets. When they fall, the OPA and IPA will vie for power in the vacuum left behind."

"What of Sabre, the MCR, or the Conglomerate?"

"Sabre possess no military might of their own; they're a splinter group of the Syndicate who are just upset they weren't elected among the oligarchs, the MCR don't have the strength to challenge any of them and, if we do this right, they'll be shredded in the crossfire."

"What of the Conglomerate?"

"What of them? They have no measurable assets, nor military strength of any kind, and no long-term plan."

"And what," a third figure, Theseus, just walking into their midst, asked "of the Mindful?"

"Don't be absurd," Minos replied. "The Mindful are a pathetic attempt at an ethical technocracy that's barely worth calling a nation. I mean, really, does a handful of rogue scientists that broke off from Argus a few decades ago count as a whole nation? We barely count the xeno quasi-empires that dot the galaxy, so I don't really think that the Mindful even count."

"They've more of a presence than the Conglomerate, though," Ariadne replied.

"Everyone has more of a presence than the Conglomerate," Theseus countered. "Where do we strike first?"

"We could attempt to create a border dispute between the IPA and the Syndicate," Minos suggested. "Perhaps something in the Spartos system?"

"Hit them at the Gate control hub?" asked Theseus. "Weaken their defenses, then perhaps sweep in and burn what's left?"

"Yes, but no," Ariadne answered. "That level of slash-and-burn is ill-advised. Starting a war is one thing, but do you want to go to Midnight that quickly?"

"No," Midas answered. "Our research team hasn't progressed to where we can enact the Midnight Protocol effectively yet."

"What is this 'midnight protocol'?" Theseus asked.

"It's an endgame project," Midas replied. "Something that we've been designing to end the war in one fell swoop. Current estimates place it as being online by the time the clock hits One Minute to Midnight, assuming reasonable progression of the countdown."