ATHANATOS

Common Enemy

To give a broad view on how human territory was divided in the new solar system, there were three worlds that were inhabited - Terra, its moon Zeus, and a Mars-like world that was lazily named Ares. Terra consisted of two countries which were Anexis and Africa. Anexis was where most of Eastern countries on Earth such as India, China and Japan all settled. It became the most powerful of the countries and now was under the command of a dictator who everyone feared as if he were a god.

The council meeting was about to commence. The top floor of the Union served the purpose of the room in which the gathering would take place. Lucifer sat on his chair awaiting the commencement of the meeting. All the major leaders of the countries would be there to discuss what their next move for the greater good would be. Robert Jareen had just arrived from his trip to Africa and now without knocking, entered the room.

Robert was a friend of Lucifer's. He was entrusted with the country's deadliest military weaponry. He arrived an hour early and caught Lucifer doing something strange. The man was talking to thin air in a strange dialect.

"El?" asked Robert curiously.

Lucifer in realising that he was in the presence of someone, immediately stopped what he was doing. "Ah, Robert my friend. You're early!" he said, then murmured a soft but clear phrase - It's almost done.

The meeting commenced when the holograms of the three senators appeared around the room.

"Mister Furic," said the senator for Ares in a german accent. "May I cut to the chase?"

"Do so." replied Lucifer.

"The other senators and I have talked and we all can agree on one thing. Anexis cannot be in your hands. You may have been the person who lost against your predecessor by only six votes, but your extremist behaviour and actions have proved you to be unsuitable for your current position."

Lucifer was now annoyed, but chose not to show it.

"We now demand that you give up your title and appeal to the Terran Court immediately." said the senator of Africa.

"Senators, before you jump to decisions, allow me to explain my methods." said Lucifer calmly. "In your eyes, I am a dictator, the next Hitler, antagonist etcetera. But, think about this. Let's use a situation that we can visualise. In a school, there's a strict gym teacher. The man loves to enforce extra exercise on his students which the students don't like. In that class, every single student regardless of their differences are united in one thing - hatred. Why is that?" Lucifer was looking at the german senator.

"They have a common enemy," said the senator.

"Precisely. Now connect it to what's happening today. Though there appears to be peace, the vast distances of space separate us from each other. It isn't hard to start thinking that they may be plotting against you. After all, you can't see them. Now you start going mad - what if they use that to their advantage? With all this, an environment of distrust is created which slowly but inevitably leads to your own destruction."

The senators were dead silent for a full minute.

"It doesn't matter what your counter argument may be. Deep down, all of you believe it. Some of you may have been guilty of such thoughts. It is a fact of life that regardless of the promises you make, if you can no longer see who you made your promises with that covenant will shatter and none of you will be an exception to the consequences. The only way this species will unite is via the hatred of a common enemy. That, dear senators, is my conclusion."

"So, you intend to be the 'common enemy'?" asked the American senator from Zeus.

"That is what it takes. Someone must sacrifice their ethics and morals for the greater good."

"You killed millions." said the Zeus senator, bluntly.

"A small teaser for the coming events. When I'm done, humanity will be united. Isn't that what you all want?"

Zeus' senator Andrew Hichter had enough. He sternly said, "How can there be unity in humanity if there's no one left to unite? You are going to give up that title and walk away or you'll be dragged away."

"Are you threatening to pull your troops on me? Do remember that Anexis has the strongest military in this system." replied Lucifer in his usual calm but intimidating tone.

"We give you a month," said the german senator. "After that, we call the troops of the outer rim. They answer to the senate and no one else. We'll see how well your army does against weapons that have the same energy of the sun itself."

Robert became tense. He whispered to his boss "Sir, the outer rim's technology is top secret and it far exceeds that of ours. It isn't wise to-"

Lucifer raised his hand, gesturing Robert to stop talking. He opened and closed his fist and the holograms of the senators disappeared.

"I've had enough of those chattering animals and their empty threats. One look at the Spire and they'll flee for their own lives." he said. "Speaking of which, how is the construction of the Spire going?"

"It's going well so far, El. It'll be ready to deploy within a year." replied Robert.

"Excellent job, Robert," said Lucifer. He returned to his chair and smiled. Everything was going according to his plan.