THE END OF BEGINNINGS

TWENTY-SIX

With unblinking eyes, Aronos Tal Do watched the scene on the sunbathed landing pad.  His window was a thin, glass display on a wall in a quiet chamber.  The streaming images were being captured by Atlantis' security network.  It had been easy enough for Aronos to get access into the lightly encrypted system.  The broad, naive trust of his fellow Lanteans made the aged soldier irritated.  He almost pitied them.  It was just more evidence of their desperate need of salvation; a salvation only he could bring them.  A salvation he was going to bring them.
Aronos continued watching the scene on the pier.  The only sound in the room within the city-ship's central spire was the stealthy, steady hum of chilled air being pumped through vents above the floor.  Even his own breathing , so measured and calm, seemed inaudible.  He was alone with his thoughts and the sight of his once most trusted friend.  The well of bright light pouring out from the glass display made the darkness of the chamber all that deeper.  Aronos didn't mind the empty void around him.  He was enjoying the solitude.  However, he knew this time of isolation would be brief.  He only wished it hadn't seemed so fleeting.
Suddenly, the silence in the room was broken.  A doorway opened behind him with a soft, quick hiss.  The sound of the parting doors was almost deafening in Aranos' ears.  Dim light spilled into the black chamber around a slim, silhouetted figure.  Aronos didn't turn around to regard the younger man he knew was there.  He didn't move from the spot he'd been standing or look away from the screen as his tall companion walked past the chamber's threshold.
His name was Danavic.  At least, that was the name his parents had given him.  Aronos wasn't sure what the sisters were calling him.  He moved across the chamber with an ominous elegance.  His back was straight.  His arms moved subtly at his sides.  His long hair billowed, only slightly, away from his neck and upper back.  He stopped just behind Aronos.  His wide, animal-like eyes locked onto the bright display.  "So, they have arrived."
Aronos shifted his eyes, looking away from the display for the first time since the Pilgrim had landed.  "Yes," he replied.
Danavic stood silently just behind Aronos' right shoulder.  His eyes, made an oily gray by the light from the display, looked back and forth between the scene on the landing pad and the other man in the chamber.  There was a stoic confidence being projected by Aronos.  Yet, Danavic sensed something below the prideful facade.  There was something unsteady in the man's heart.  There were thoughts and emotions he was holding back.
"Is this going to be a problem," Danavic asked after watching Aronos for a long moment.  "You gave assurances to us.  You have an obligation-"
"No," Aronos said sternly, answering Danavic's question.  "It is not a problem.  Quite the opposite, in fact."
"Good."
"Geras Aurallio is about to become a vital part of our plan."
"You are confident of this?  That he will cooperate willingly?  That any of them will?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"Geras Aurallio is a strong man, but a strong man with many weaknesses.  And, I am the man who knows how to exploit them.  He will help us, whether he volunteers or not.  Where he goes, the others will follow.  He and his family will set the course for the future of this little galaxy and the new era we are ushering in.  This is the great beginning, when the Lanteans realize the failings of their own philosophies, when they bear witness to just how fragile and pointless their own mortality is.  This point forward will mark the time when a new and better way of life is spread throughout the stars.
"This is the dawn of the Iratus."