When the Gods Aren't Gods: Book Two of The Theogony (16 page)

Calvin nodded. “Yes, ma’am,” he said.

“Our mission isn’t to commit genocide or participate in the affairs of other civilizations, though,” she reminded him. “If you find any coatls, take them prisoner if at all possible. Try to use the minimum amount of force necessary to control the situation, but keep our people safe.”

Calvin nodded again. Turning to Steropes, he asked,
“Is there a good place to land?”

“Yes,”
Steropes replied. “Although they built their cities away from the water, there is a good spot to land right here on this beach.” He pointed at the map. “There is some sort of structure just inland of the landing point, and then there is what looks like a road that goes through the jungle to the main city. I would be happy to join the team going to the surface of the planet and show you myself.”

“Really?”
Captain Griffin asked. “I didn’t think that your race believed in fighting.”

“Normally, it does not,”
Steropes replied. “However, I am an anomaly among my people. I have been trained for combat.”

“No shit?”
Night asked, who had been quiet to this point. “
You’re
a warrior?”

“I used to be,”
Steropes answered. “Up until the destruction of Atlantis, when my pride got the better of me.”

“What do you mean, ‘the
destruction of Atlantis’?” Captain Griffin asked. “You’ve hinted at this many times, but never told us the whole story. Maybe it’s time we heard it.”

“It
probably is,” Steropes replied, “although the story is hard to tell.” He paused, and the Terrans could see he was struggling with it. “It was a long time ago,” he finally said, “back when we first arrived on your planet. Not too long after we landed, the Drakuls fleeing the final battle with the Eldive came to Earth in a stolen Eldive warship.” He paused, a glazed look coming over his eyes as he remembered. “I can see it just like it was yesterday. We were awakened from our sleep on a beautiful summer day. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, just a wisp of smoke coming from the volcano in the center of the island. Temperatures were pleasant...there was a light breeze blowing...it was another beautiful day in the south Pacific.”

He looked
at Calvin, and Calvin could see his eyes tearing up. “But the Drakuls had come to the planet. When the humans woke us up and told us about them, we knew that they were Drakuls.” He laughed sadly. “We were so young and stupid,” he continued. “We thought if we just upgraded some of the humans, we would be able to take care of the Drakuls without calling for additional help.”

“Who is we?”
Captain Griffin asked.

“Myself and my wife, Parvati
,” Steropes replied. “We assaulted the Drakul encampment with over 1,000 implanted humans. But the Drakuls knew we were coming; I don’t know how. As we ran screaming into their camp, they hit us from behind from where they had been hiding.” A tear rolled down his left cheek. “One of them grabbed Parvati, and I saw it tear off her arm and begin eating it. There were two Drakuls between us...there was nothing I could do. I don’t remember how, but I killed both of them, and somehow I made it to the one that killed Parvati.”

A tear rolled down his right cheek
, and he looked back down as he continued, “I shot the Drakul. And shot it. And shot it. I shot it until it came apart from being shot so many times. Then I shot the biggest pieces that were left...I fired until the battery in the rifle went dead.” Calvin knew that the rifle batteries were usually good for over 500 shots before they had to be replaced. Even if Steropes had fired the rifle in the early phase of the battle, that was still a
lot
of shots.

“That day I swore I would never fight again
. One of the Drakuls escaped our attack, and he set off the bomb that destroyed Atlantis. If I hadn’t fallen into despair, I could have stopped him. There were enough humans left, and we had enough firepower...but I was bereft of my senses. In my grief, I couldn’t move. I couldn’t think. All I could do was sit there with Parvati’s head in my lap. I picked her up assuming she was dead, but she wasn’t dead yet. She still lived, and I watched the life go out of her eyes.”

Steropes shook his head.
“I never even got to bury her,” he added. “The human leaders finally brought me to my senses, and we tracked the Drakul back to its lair in a nearby cave. Arges and Brontes had recovered the Eldive ship while we were fighting the Drakuls, and they met us at the cave with it so that we could get new batteries for our weapons. We went into the cave and killed the Drakul. It was only after it died that we found the bomb that it had armed. It was a big one...nearly big enough to crack the planet to its core, which was probably the Drakul’s intention. We only had 60 seconds before detonation. We ran back to the ship with all of the humans that we had brought and took off. We watched as the island blew up, with the body of my wife still on it. She was so brave.” He paused.

“I wasn’t functional anymore
,” he said when he continued. “After the tidal wave caused by the explosion had diminished, Arges made the decision to drop off the humans in what is modern day Greece. He thought that he had brought the ship in unseen, but some of the locals saw the humans getting off it. The locals believed that the humans were gods, since they had descended from the skies. Most of them had been modified by us, so compared to the locals, they
were
gods. They were faster, stronger and could communicate via their implants, which gave them tremendous advantages over the locals. Arges was unable to disarm the Terrans that still had weapons. Poseidon still had his trident, others had their laser rifles. That was my fault too. I could have taken them, but in my grief I just didn’t care. Every single one of them was already more powerful than 100 of the locals, even without these weapons. Thinking that we were leaving their planet, the humans decided that they would be gods...and they were. The Olympians were actually a family of 12, who were led by three brothers, Zeus, Poseidon and Hades.”

Steropes smiled wry
ly. “The irony of it all was that Parvati and I had been sent to Earth because we were
too
warlike. It was not seemly in our society to enjoy battles, fighting and war. The fact that we did made us outcasts. We wanted to go to the final battle with the Drakuls. Because we wanted to, our leadership not only didn’t send us, they sent us here for a 5,000 year tour of duty with Arges and Brontes, who they thought would pacify us. If we hadn’t wanted to fight so much, we wouldn’t have been here to actually have to do battle with the Drakuls. Funny how things work out, eh?”

“Umm...I’m
sorry but I’m not sure that’s funny at all,” said Calvin. “Why do you want to go down and fight here if you swore you would never fight again?”

“Want to?” asked Steropes. “
You misunderstand. I
don’t
want to. The loss of Parvati and the destruction of Atlantis cured me of ever wanting to go to war ever again. I don’t want to fight. However, I have fought the coatls before, and I know what to expect, much more than you do. They usually build their pyramids in the same way, and I am familiar with their layout. It’s simple; I know where the secret passages are, and you do not. I will save lives by being there and will be a tremendous resource if you let me come. I don’t want to come; I need to come.”

“If you think you’re up to it,” replied Calvin, “We would love to take advantage of your experience. You are welcome to join us.”
He looked at Night. “I’m going to go down on this one with the Space Force. You’ll have the Ground Force in backup.”

“Why the Space Force?” asked Night. “It would seem like this is the perfect spot for the Ground Force. The planet is Earth-like, with similar temperatures and gravity. The force will be landing on the ground. What’s up?”

“I don’t know,” replied Calvin. “Something just tells me that we’ll need the Space Force on this one.”

Squadron CO’s Office
, TSS
Vella Gulf
, In Orbit Around Keppler-22 ‘b,’ August 12, 2020

“Can I come in?” asked Father John Zuhlsdorf, the
Gulf’s
chaplain.

Calvin looked up from
his desk, where he was trying to get a few last minute administrative things completed prior to the assault on the planet. Calvin had long ago decided that the only thing besides cockroaches that would survive a nuclear holocaust was paperwork. “Sure,” he said. “What can I do for you?”

“I feel that I am being called to go on your upcoming mission to the planet,” replied Father Zuhlsdorf. “As a priest, it is my mission and duty to spread the word of God.
” He smiled. “I’m betting that these locals here have never heard it.”

“Um, I’m not sure that is such a great idea, Father,” replied Calvin. “I
’m expecting that we’ll be in combat this time. Not only that, it might be close combat if we have to go inside of the pyramid, probably even hand-to-hand. Despite your skills, I’m not sure you’re ready for that.” He thought for a moment, remembering his first experience with looking up the wrong end of a Chinese assault rifle. “Being in a position of ‘kill or be killed’ is pretty...intense.”

“I understand that,”
the chaplain replied, “however, I think I showed your Master Chief that I am fairly skilled in the hand-to-hand arena. He
did
promise me a trip to the surface if I beat him.”

“I know that he did,”
Calvin said, “however, you have to realize that he didn’t have the authority to promise you that.”

“I
know that,” Father Zuhlsdorf said. “However, I feel that I am being called to go on this mission. If you didn’t intend to bring me along to a planet, why did you allow me to get modified for combat or to get a combat suit?”

“Hmmm...”
Calvin said, thinking out loud. “I forgot I told Night to do that. Having those things does increase your survivability in combat...”

“Without a doubt,” agreed the chaplain. “
I have also been practicing with the platoon to get back into my old fighting shape.”

“If I say ‘yes,’”
Calvin said, “and that is still a
big
‘if,’ what sort of gear do you have? I mean, I don’t have anyone that I can detail to watch over you. You’ll have to be able to take care of yourself. Can you do that?”

“I’m glad you asked,”
Father Zuhlsdorf said with a smile. He stepped back out of the office and reached over to pick something up from the deck. Stepping back into the office, Calvin could see that he had a handful of weapons and armor.

Calvin
laughed. “You’re nothing if not prepared, it seems.” He laughed again. “All right, what have you got there?”

Father Zuhlsdorf set down the gear carefully and picked up a small sword that was just over two feet in length. The blade was slightly curved at about the midpoint, almost looking like the khukri of an Indian ghurka soldier, but a lot bigger. “This is a Greek falcata sword,” he said. “It was a devastating sword used by the Spanish against the soldiers of the Roman Empire. It was captured in
the Second Punic War and brought back to Rome. Although it hits like an axe, it still maintains the blade of a sword.”

He picked up a larger sword and helmet
, treating them as if they were very special. “These are holy relics,” he said. “They are the blessed sword and hat of Heinrich Walpot von Bassenheim, the first Grandmaster of the Order of Brothers of the German house of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, also known as the Teutonic Order. Blessed swords and hats were gifts given to leaders by the pope, in recognition of their defense of Christendom. Each pair was blessed by a pope on Christmas Eve in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Although the practice is believed to have originated with Pope Paul I’s gift to King Pepin the Short of the Franks in 758, this is the oldest surviving pair.” He looked at the pair lovingly.

“No one even knew that these still existed,” he said. “It was believed that the oldest pair was on display in France, a set given to K
ing John II of Castile by Pope Eugene IV in 1446. When I was selected to come on this mission, the pope asked the caretakers at the Vatican Museums to search through their storerooms to see if there were any special weapons that I could use. They found this sword and helmet, which was given to the first Grandmaster of the Teutonic Knights after it became a spiritual military order. It was to be used in the Fourth Crusade. I hope to be worthy of it.”

“How did you rate such a piece of history?”
Calvin asked. “Shouldn’t this be
in
the museum?”

“It probably should,”
the chaplain acknowledged, “but I used to run some public relations sites for the pope, and he not only wanted to reward me for my service, but also to make sure that the servant of God on this mission was well armed in defense of the faith, regardless of what that might entail.”

He pulled the sword out of its scabbard
, and Calvin could see that it was a work of art. An ornate weapon, it was almost four feet in length, with a cross guard and pommel made of solid steel. “It’s made of high carbon steel,” the chaplain said, “and is fairly light, although it would have been hard for anyone at that time to use it one-handed. The hilt is embellished with the coat of arms of Pope Innocent III, one of the greatest popes of the Middle Ages. The blade has his name on it, in addition to the rest of the design and filigree. Although I do not consider myself to be worthy of such a weapon, the pope has bidden me to carry it to the stars.” Calvin could see that the scabbard and helmet were similarly ornate.