Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Story: The Ocean's Son
Chapter 14: An Old Enemy Returns
In Atlantis
Annabeth's POV
We all followed Ian as we ran out of the library. Ian ran into the nearest elevator, and we joined him a moment later. We rode the elevator to the basement of the palace.
"I thought the basement was where the databanks were located?" I asked.
"Yes, plus the war room, it is the safest, and most secure room in the palace." Ian said. The elevator door opened, Ian sprinted from the elevator, and we all followed trying to keep up with the surprisingly quick son of Poseidon. We ran passed rows and rows of computer servers, and storage devices until we saw a black door with a gold trident on it. Ian opened the door, and we all entered behind him. We all stopped as the door closed behind us. There was a large granite table in the middle of the room that could seat twenty people. Large screen monitors circled the walls of the room. Poseidon was already seated at the head of the table, and a large holographic image of the city floated above the table. I looked at the image in complete wonder. The city was huge, and so was the dome. The image spread out in front of us, so we could see for thirty miles outside the city. The front of the enemy fleet could be seen coming into view. Poseidon finally noticed us, and motioned for us to sit down. We all grabbed a chair, and then sat at the table.
"I'm glad that all of you could join me." Poseidon said.
"Do we know anything about the intruders?" Athena asked.
"Not yet" Poseidon hit a few buttons in front of him, the hologram shifted into a zoomed in view of one of the ships. The ship was shaped like a squid with faux tentacles that extended from the rear of the vessel. The ships looked slim and fast. An area in the room began to shimmer almost like a mirror that was losing focus, and then Sophus appeared in the middle of the room. He looked so old and tired, but his bright green eyes reminded you that he was most definitely alive and alert. Poseidon looked at his old friend, and motioned toward the holographic image of the enemy ship. Sophus's eye narrowed as he analyzed the ship, then his eyes widened with realization.
"You know this ship?" Athena asked.
"Yes, it can't be, but it is. This technology belonged to the Lermurians." Sophus said, Artemis leaned forward on the table in curiosity.
"All records show that they were destroyed by the Atlantean super weapon." Artemis said.
"Yes, they are dead, but their city and their technology could still exist." Sophus said.
"My old friend, what are you saying?" Poseidon said.
"You rebuilt Atlantis from its previous glory using our technology. What if someone else did the same with the Lemurians?" Sophus said.
"You mean Oceanus?" Ian asked. Athena and Artemis both looked at the young demigod and smiled.
"Exactly Ian, you're paying attention for once." Sophus said sarcastically, as everyone chuckled, except for Ian and Thalia.
"How can you tell that the technology is Lemurian?" Athena asked. Sophus gave her a satisfied stare.
"Good question" Sophus said. He began to run through some equations on the computer at a speed that I found difficult to follow. I looked at my mother, and I saw her eyes moving at an incredible pace to keep up with him. When he finished, he then hit the enter button, my mother just stared at him with a huge smile. "I just reconfigured the city sensor arrays to provide details on the enemy ship; thats the reason" He pointed to a interior structure towards the front of the ship. The screen zoomed in, and suddenly an organic reading flashed on the screen. "This ship has a brain."
"You mean like a computer brain?" I asked.
"No, look closer." Sophus said. I stared at the screen until I realized the answer.
"You've got it now; this ship has a real organic brain. Even more important; this ship is organic in nature. The Lemurians grew their ships, in other words they had living ships. Can you imagine a ship that could think, and that could repair itself, if injured?" Sophus said.
"That's it, that's why the Atlantean super weapon caused so much damage to them." Poseidon said. Everyone turned toward him in curiosity.
"Yes, my friend, you're correct." Sophus said. The rest of us stared at them in curiosity. "You see, the Atlantean super weapon destroyed organic tissues. From the largest whale to the smallest microbe; this weapon killed anything alive. It was the perfect doomsday weapon." Sophus said, toward the end I could see the sadness on his face, and the horror of the memories reflected in his eyes. Poseidon put his hand on his friend's shoulder.
"You did everything you could, they wouldn't listen to you. It wasn't your fault." Poseidon said.
"I created that weapon, of course it's my fault." Sophus said.
"Yes, but you could not control how they used it." Poseidon said. Sophus sighed; you could tell that the two of them had argued this issue before. My mother broke the awkward silence.
"So there is a fleet of these ships on their way to Atlantis?" Athena asked.
"Yes, they are pretty far out, but this ship must be a scout. Our city sensors range is limited." Poseidon said, then I noticed Ian stand up, and run to a computer terminal by the corner of the room. He sat down, and began to type away furiously.
"Good idea son, the sonar nets." Poseidon said, Sophus's eyes lit up at the idea.
"You'll have to reconfigure them." Sophus said.
"On it" Ian said confidently. After a few minutes of him typing, the hologram above the table began to change into a sonar display. Several blips began to appear on the screen on the far side away from the center of the map. "Atlantis is in the center, it appears that these ships are coming from the South at twenty knots, currently the sensor nets detect ..." Ian's voice trailed off.
"Ian, what's happening?" Poseidon asked worriedly.
"There are at least one thousand ships headed our way." Ian said in complete shock.
"What? How can that be possible?" Poseidon asked.
"Clearly its possible; we have to mount a defense." Athena said. Poseidon looked at her with a wry smile on his face.
"Ian contact my generals." Poseidon ordered. Ian nodded as he furiously typed away on his terminal. After a good ten minutes the doors to the war room opened revealing two men, who walked in proudly, they wore gold armor, and carried smaller versions of Poseidon's trident. They walked toward the table, and bowed before Poseidon.
"My lord" They both said at the same time.
"Good, you made it here very quickly my old friends. These are the generals of the Atlantean fleet, besides Perseus that is." Poseidon said. He gestured to the first man, who had dark brown hair and blue eyes. "This is Thaumas, the god of the wonders of the sea, he controls our fast interceptor fleet." Poseidon then gestured to the second man who had blond hair and green eyes. "This is Proteus, god of the changing sea, he leads my full heavy cruiser fleet." We all bowed to the two gods. "Proteus these are our guests. Lady Artemis and Lady Athena along with Thalia, daughter of Zeus and Annabeth, daughter of Athena." The two gods bowed at us with warm smiles.
"My lord, we heard that Perseus has been injured in battle with Oceanus, will he be joining the battle?" Proteus asked. Poseidon looked at him sadly.
"I'm afraid that my son is in a coma at the moment." Poseidon said, Proteus and Thaumas both wore concerned looks.
"Will, general Tyson command the Trident?" Thaumas asked.
"I'm afraid Tyson will command his brethren Cyclops, I have ordered him to the forges to ready the Cyclops army." Poseidon said.
"Who will command the Trident, my lord." Proteus asked. Poseidon turned, and looked at Ian. Ian's face paled as he realized what his father's stare meant.
"Ian, you shall command the Trident." Poseidon said. Proteus and Thaumas looked at Ian in concern before they wiped the emotion from their faces. "Does anyone dispute my order?" No one dared say anything against Poseidon's command.
"Who will stay to defend the inside of the city?" Athena asked, changing the subject.
"I will stay, and guard the city from the top of the citadel." Poseidon said as he touched a button on his display, the holographic image shifted until an image of the palace appeared. Suddenly, a tall tower grew from the middle of the palace until it stood just twenty feet from the edge of the shield. The tower was capped by a glass dome, that seemed to glow with a strange blue energy.
"What is that?" Artemis asked.
"That is where I keep my trident." Poseidon said. So that was the location where the trident was house when it wasn't in Poseidon's hand.
"I would like to assist in the defense of the city." Athena and Artemis said at the same time making the two look at each other warily. Poseidon gave both of them a warm smile.
"I would be honored to have both of you by my side as we enter the battle." Poseidon said proudly making both goddesses blush.
"Lord Poseidon, I know that I speak for Thalia when I say that we would like to accompany Ian aboard the Trident." I said. Poseidon smiled at me, and then looked at Thalia. She nodded in agreement as she gave a concerned look toward Ian, who still looked shocked, and a little green around the gills; no pun intended.
"Permission granted. Now, Proteus and Thaumas prepare the fleets. Ian take your crew back to the Trident, and prepare for departure. Sophus, please accompany Artemis, Athena and I to the citadel. We will need your knowledge of the enemy." Poseidon ordered. Everyone nodded in agreement, and then left the war room. Before we left an Iris message appeared in the middle of the table.
My lord. A voice said in my head. I looked around as I realized that everyone else had heard the voice as well. Poseidon looked into the message window within the rainbow to see a dolphin swimming in the sea.
"Delphin, you received our call." Poseidon said.
Yes, I will have a group ready to provide support to the fleet, Delphin said within our brains.
"Good, please give my thanks to the volunteers." Poseidon said.
I will my lord, see you soon, Delphin said as the message faded.
"What do you mean by volunteers?" Athena asked.
"Delphin as most of you know is the god of dolphins, and he is also the general of our volunteer marine animal force. It was Percy's idea. He did not feel that it was right for me to order sea creatures to fight for us, he said it was too much like Oceanus. So with Delphin's help we created a volunteer force of sea creatures that choose to fight with us against our enemies." Poseidon said.
"As god of the seas you could command them to fight." Artemis said.
"I could, but I agree with Percy. I will not order them to fight, if they choose not to. I understand the errors of my previous ways. I must rule, but I must do so compassionately. Something that Oceanus could never understand." Poseidon said. "I will never order creatures to their deaths, I will ask for their assistance through the volunteer force, and thats all." I felt proud, so proud of Percy and his father. I looked at my mother, and I could tell that she was seeing Poseidon in a different light. This time with him in Atlantis had certainly changed her perception of him. "Now everyone has their orders, may the spirits of the seas be with you." Ian, Thalia and I left the war room, and then continued to walk toward the Trident. Ian seemed very quiet, and I could tell that Thalia was worried.
"Ian, what's wrong?" I asked. I grew tired of waiting for Thalia.
"I've never commanded the Trident before; Tyson was always there when Percy was away. What if I screw up?" Ian said. Thalia grabbed him by the arm, and faced him angrily.
"Ian Theseus Anderson, you will do just fine, and do not let me here you talk that way again." Thalia yelled. Ian for his part was completely stunned, he never heard Thalia, so forceful before, but I knew that he would have to get use to it, that was the real Thalia.
"Listen to her Ian." A voice said, we all turned around to see Sophus standing behind us with a smile on his face. "Daughters of Zeus, so forceful, and well, reckless at times." Thalia just stared at the old man, but she smiled when Sophus gave her an amused grin.
"Reminds you of sons of Poseidon, don't they?" I asked. Sophus looked toward me, and nodded.
"Quite true, daughter of Athena." Sophus said as he turned back toward Ian. "Percy believed that you were ready to lead, and frankly, so do I." Sophus said. Ian walked forward, and gave the old man a hug.
"Thank you" Ian said.
"No thanks necessary, follow your training, remember, you were taught by the best." Sophus said as he touched the control on his wrist, and then dissolved into nothingness. Ian put his arm around Thalia, and then kissed her on the cheek.
"Thanks, lightning girl." Ian said, making Thalia blush,
"You're welcome, water boy." Thalia said. I rolled my eyes, and started walking toward the Trident.
"Are you two teenage love birds going to come, or not?" I asked sarcastically. They both gave me the death glare as they ran to catch up. We were about to go into battle against a relatively unknown fleet, but for some reason, I felt more confident than ever.
AN: Next chapter, the Battle for Atlantis.