Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or the Heroes of Olympus Series.
Story: Champion of the Pit: Destiny's Warrior
Chapter 21: Destiny's Battle, Part I
The planetoid or vessel of Chaos entered the solar system that held the planet Earth. The vessel moved at a fast pace toward the third planet of the system. As the vessel entered the system the surface of the artificial moon lit up with lights and laser sensors. The laser sensors turned out towards space as they scanned the planets as they passed. The sensors currently studied a large gas giant class planet that was orbited by dozens of moons and asteroids. The sensors studied each object for reference, but the vessel never slowed from its destination, its target. The vessel's speed increased as it moved passed the outer planets. A small red planet appeared in the distance until the vessel's sensors began to scan the surface of the planet that was named after the late Roman god of war. The sensors swept the surface, but the vessel continued on its way toward its target, Earth. The blue planet appeared a few minutes later, it was slightly larger than Mars, but the real difference lay in the massive presence of water on the surface. This was a planet of life and hope. The sensors moved to scan the surface until the massive vessel stopped abruptly.
Sirens blared throughout the vessel, signaling that something was very wrong. Chaos sat on his throne deep within the massive planetoid. He looked at the blue planet that lay in the distance on the screen in front of him. A grey moon was also visible. The doors to the throne room opened, a robot in a feminine form stepped into the room, and she walked toward the black throne that held her master. She bowed on one knee at the steps of the throne.
"Yes child," Chaos said with mock sincerity.
The robot flinched at his voice. "We have hit some type of gravitational barrier, my lord. It prevents our vessel from approaching the planet or its moon."
Chaos nodded. He expected such a tactic from his little brother. "Thoth wants the weapons of this vessel far away from the planet. So be it, prepare our fighter squadrons and landing craft, we will destroy this planet, that is my command."
The robot stood and bowed her head. "By your command, Master," she said before she turned and left the throne room.
Chaos turned in his throne to look at the small planet on his view screen. "I will have my revenge and in the process, I will eliminate the last threat to my plans."
Earth – in orbit
Three strange vessels sat in orbit of the third planet; they were white in color, but they also contained gold and bronze mechanical devices on the white surfaces. The vessels would look familiar to any inhabitant of the planet, but they would have also looked strange. They had been modified to fight in space. They were the three retired space shuttles, which once helped build a space station and bring humans to low Earth orbit. Now they were one of the first lines of defense for the planet. They were surrounded by three dozen satellites that searched out the distance of space from the planet, looking for the enemy that was soon to arrive. The satellites began to flash and buzz with activity as they focused on one particular area of space.
The shuttles flashed with red lights, signaling that the enemy had arrived. The bronze and gold devices on the surface of the shuttles illuminated before a magnetic shield surrounded each craft and the dozen of satellites that surrounded them. The defense of Earth was about to begin.
One thousand vessels approached the planet with five hundred landing craft behind them. Suddenly, the vessels broke formation as lasers and missiles shot towards them. The majority of the fighters broke off, but one hundred remained to protect the landing craft vessels. The lasers and missiles struck home against the smaller vessels sending debris hurtling through space and into the other fighter craft. The fighter craft closed the distance and intercepted the dozens of satellites. They opened up on the satellites with plasma cannons and missiles of their own. The fight had begun, but the defenses of Earth were overmatched. The dozens of satellites were destroyed with only a hundred enemy vessels destroyed out of one thousand.
As the enemy fighters regrouped to catch up with the landing craft, the landing craft vessels and their escorts neared Earth orbit. Three vessels stood in their way, the shuttles. The one hundred escort craft targeted the vessels and attacked. Their missiles and plasma cannons bounced off the force shields of the shuttle craft causing the enemy vessels to steer away from the enemy. As the enemy craft turned, the shuttles targeted them and let loose with a barrage of metal objects the size of trash cans, the objects shot out from their rail guns as they hit the smaller vessels. The enemy shields were designed to fight energy weapons, not the metal objects that were hurled at them. The one hundred enemy craft were decimated in a few minutes. The shuttles began to target the enemy landing craft; the rail guns tore the vessels apart before they could enter the atmosphere, a few of the vessels escaped, but the majority of them had been destroyed.
The crews of the shuttle roared in victory before they sent warning signals to New York, the target of the landing craft. The celebration was short lived as eight hundred fighters descended upon the planet and the three lone defenders. The crews of the shuttles fired their rail guns and tore apart the enemy until they were finally overwhelmed as the shuttles were destroyed as dozens of fighters descended upon them in a collision course. The shuttles exploded in low Earth orbit, but there wasn't fire or noise, the cold vacuum of space kept any flames from forming and muted any noise. The only thing to be seen would be the ships exploding as their hulls were breached and the air within them escaped, the only other visible signs would have been the freezing of water vapor from the air within the ships and the now dead bodies that floated within the blackness of space. The remaining five hundred fighters descended upon the planet, their target, New York, the home of the gods of Olympus.
Mount Olympus – throne room
Thoth and the other gods of Olympus sat on their thrones as they watched an image of the fight in space in a glowing orb that hovered above them. Thoth sighed as the last defenders were destroyed. He bowed his head. "May their spirits rest in peace; their sacrifice shall be remembered." The other gods bowed their heads in unison. Alarms sounded around the throne room as the first blasts of energy weapons signaled the enemy attack. Thoth stood from his throne. "Initiate defense sequence." A half of the gods disappeared to assist in the aerial defense of the city, while the other half left to the surface to fight the ground forces of the enemy that would no doubt attack the Empire State Building. Thoth turned toward the hearth, the last Olympian sat on her throne with a worried expression on her face. Thoth walked over to the goddess he loved. "I must go and face my brother." Hestia nodded. "I wish you could stay," she said sadly. The sadness in her voice made the son of Chronus and Ananke stiffen with pain. His body actually hurt at her sadness. He leaned down and kissed her lips. Hestia returned the kiss, desperate not to let him go, but Thoth broke the kiss before he stepped away from her. "I must face him. I'm the only one who can. I'm sorry my love." He disappeared into a bright, white light, leaving the goddess sitting by her hearth. She stoked the flames as fiery tears slipped from her eyes.
Thoth appeared on the roof of the throne room temple. He was about to call to Draco, but he felt a familiar presence behind him, he turned to see the goddess of wisdom. She stared at him expectantly; he knew why she was here. Thoth clutched the golden spike that hung around his neck before his white eyes faded as they were replaced with sea green eyes that flowed like molten lava with sparkles of blue and gold flake within them.
"Percy," Athena said as she walked toward the teenage son of Poseidon. Percy smiled at her as his heart filled with love and warmth at the sight of the goddess that he loved. The two embraced as the wisdom goddess held onto him tightly. It was very much unlike her to be this way, but she loved him more that she would ever like to admit. He was about to go and fight Chaos; a fight that he might not return from. She had to see him one last time. "Please come back."
Percy pulled out of the embrace, but he held her shoulders as he stared into her sad, grey eyes. "I will come back. I promise," he replied.
Athena stiffened at his words. "Don't make promises you can't keep."
Percy smiled as her tough side came through. "You don't always have to be so tough Athena. You can let others see your softer side, but if you can't, at least let me see it."
His words broke through her strong façade. A few tears leaked from her eyes before he brushed them away with his thumb. "I love you Athena, never forget that." She pulled him into a hug again as she let out her pain and fear. She cried into his shirt until she finally overcame her emotions. She pulled out of the hug with a determined look on her face. "Come back or I'll find you and kick your ass," she said.
Percy laughed. "I wouldn't want that," he said. He leaned forward and kissed her one last time. "I won't promise. I'll just come back."
She forced a smiled as she stared into his eyes. She gave him one last stern look before she disappeared into a golden light. Percy's smile faded when she left. He clutched the golden spike before Thoth's spirit took over his body. "We'll see both of them again, my friend," Thoth whispered. The roof shook once, Thoth turned to see Draco standing on the roof expectantly. "Has your family arrived?" Draco snorted a flame into the air. Thoth snapped his fingers before he appeared on the back of the dragon King. "Off to battle we go my friend; one that will seal the fate of the universe." Draco flew off into the atmosphere before he flashed out into outer space.
The skies around Manhattan were quiet before the sound of hundreds of jet fighters could be heard over head. The people of the city looked up to see jets from air forces all around the world appear over heard, but they weren't there to fight each other, no they were there to defend the city. Suddenly, flashes of light appeared over head as hundreds of small black and red craft appeared, each was shaped like a dagger or bladed weapon. The two forces for just a moment faced each other in formation, before the fighting began, and the skies over Manhattan erupted into explosions, flames and destruction.
Lights appeared around the base of the Empire State Building, the area around the building was devoid of life. The inhabitants of the city had been evacuated from mid-town. The lights disappeared and in their place were two hundred demigods and a few gods. A red light and a golden light appeared in front of the assortment of gods and demigods, when the lights faded Tartarus and Athena appeared in their place. Tartarus turned toward the wisdom goddess. "I hated Perseus for leaving, but now I see why he did, he was fated to merge with Thoth and lead us in defense of our planet," he said.
Athena nodded. "Perseus always did have bad luck," she replied sarcastically, which earned a chuckle from the primordial god. "I can see why he cares for you so much," he replied.
Athena smiled wickedly. "Yes, he is quite a glutton for punishment."
Tartarus chuckled before his demeanor changed. He looked down the street as a few thousand robots appeared before them. "Machines," he observed. Athena nodded. "Thoth said that Chaos destroys what he considers frail and leaves what he believes is strong," Athena explained. Tartarus gave her a curious expression. "He destroys the body, but leaves the soul." Tartarus's eyes narrowed. "Blasphemy," he yelled. Athena nodded. "Quite so," a voice said from behind them. They turned to see the lord of the dead at their side. He looked over at Tartarus. "It appears that we shall battle together, old friend." Tartarus laughed. "Yes, let's show these machines what it means to face the lords of the underworld," Tartarus replied before he raised his hands and five hundred monsters of all varieties appeared in the street beside the demigods. The demigods and gods stepped back at their presence. "Do not fear, today they shall fight at our side against the enemies of Earth." Hades smiled at the god of the pit. "My turn," he said before the ground cracked open and hundreds of dead soldiers both skeleton and Sparti crawled out of the crack and took positions on the other side of the demigods and gods. Tartarus smiled at the lord of the dead before he gave a curt nod. "Attack!"
AN: There you go the beginning of the battle. Next chapter will see more of the fight in the skies above Manhattan, and Thoth's battle in space against Chaos and his massive mother ship, so stay tuned more to come.