ATHANATOS

War and Breadsticks

In eight hours, the crew and passengers of the M-612 were packed off along with Nidhi in a transport ship. The M-612 itself was picked up by another ship, and taken with the transport to the capital ship. Nidhi, Zack, Ryan, Sam, Alex, Ethan, and Zhang stayed on with the scout team. They were given three large cabins to stay in. A little while later, they gathered in the conference room to discuss.

"Ok, so now that we're alone, we can talk." said Nidhi. They sat around a white round table on swivel chairs which Ryan loved for some reason.

"First off, I should ask..." said Nidhi. "Where is Jason?"

Alex then realised that during their first visit to Hades, Ryan's mom had gone abroad, most likely to the Outer Rim. A trip that long would have taken at least two months but on her way back she must have heard that Anexis was under lockdown when Lucifer came to power. This meant that she couldn't have known of her son's passing. She took a deep breath, collected her thoughts and said

"Mrs. Alester?" said Alex, shakily. "Jas was... there is no easy way to put it. He was killed by El Furic."

Nidhi covered her mouth. "Dead? My son..." she trailed off.

"I'm sorry but it happened. We all saw it happen." finished Alex.

The room became silent for a full five minutes.

"We have a lot of bad news," said Ethan. "John died too."

"X? The one who thought you were his torturer?" it turned out that Nidhi had done her homework on him.

"That one. He gave his life to protect us."

"There's more." said Ryan. "Ma, I wish we had time to grieve but we really don't. As we speak, Ares is sending an army to Anexis. It will be war."

"I know, Ryan," said Nidhi. "I know my husband's millennia old past and I know that he is immortal but there is still so much more. So if you have a story to tell me, let's start now."

Over the next hour, they filled her in on everything they knew from the drones to the spire to the Anexian army which Ryan knew about because of his undercover days. They explained Lucifer's ability to create and destroy realities at will and his power to create energy out of nothing.

When Ryan finished his explanation on Lucifer's current abilities, Nidhi asked "What happened to the so called stone that was with Ethan? You mentioned the doctor who helped to surgically pull it out of him."

"Weird sentences to say but yes, the stone is safe in the M-612 cargo bay. It's held at the center of a cylinder by magnetised plasma."

"I'll send someone to retrieve it." said Ryan's mom.

She pressed a button and a connector tube detached from the room, disappearing into a ship. The ship itself disappeared moments later, in the direction

She continued. "Now, what should we do?"

"Like hell if we know," said Zhang.

"Look, we have a fleet of twenty ships, and one has gone towards the Outer Rim already to get the M-612. We can split the fleet in two, and send some of us to Terra to finish the mission, while the rest of us head back to the Rim. My capital ship isn't far from here."

"Based on the map I saw in the cockpit, we'll swing past Ares and into the outer belt. Ares has an army there."

"I know and it's nice that you noticed the course but Ares respects the Outer Rim and will hold fire when they see us."

"Well, it looks like we're safe for a bit. We can all let our guard down for a while. Now I know we all have this question so let's get it answered. How long till we reach?" asked Zack.