CYCLES

by Phantom Bard

Through many lives, and in many ages, an eternal destiny of love and hope kindled the Spirit of Battle and the search for the Balance of Dark and Light in the soul of a Warrior Princess. This is the non-illustrated version.

CYCLES

By Phantom Bard

10 /14/2000, 1 /21/2001, 2 /4/2001 Revised © Ides of March, 2001

Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction, and is offered for non-profit entertainment. It may not be sold, may be downloaded for personal use only, and must contain this statement. The characters from the TV series Xena: Warrior Princess, including Xena, Gabrielle, Eve, Callisto, Joxer, Tegason, Virgilius, Ming Tien, and the portrayals of Ares, Eli, Sisyphus, and the archangel Michael are the creations and property of MCA/Universal and Renaissance Pictures. No malice is intended to these characters or concepts. I would like to express my thanks to their creators for sharing them with us. The other characters are my own creations, or have been plucked from history, (may they rest in peace).

Feedback can be sent to me at the address above.

This story contains violence that may be disturbing to some readers…planets destroyed, and some personal trauma. So what's a story without conflict? There are relationships based on the existing subtext presented in the series. There is no intent to offend, however if you feel that these topics will make you uncomfortable, please read something less disturbing, like the news. This story is based on events in the 2nd season episode "Ten Little Warlords", and the 3rd season episode "Furies". It also contains references to episodes through the mid 6th season. After that this tale starts to deviate from the show in some ways. I hope you enjoy this story.

4,514 B.C.

He was in that place where there is no time but the moment. When the present is so demanding that thought disappears and only action remains. Where reflex and instinct balance life and death. All the plans and dreams, forgotten in the face of his attackers. The anger and hatred he felt in their eyes…he fought to resist being hypnotized like a rat before a cobra. The glint of light on the spear point as it snapped towards him, and the sweep of his sword parrying the thrust. He stood with his older brother as they faced their pursuers. It was the bitterest of battles, for those who fought this day were family. Already he had slain his mother's brother, and watched his eldest brother die on his father's spear. They were rebels, cursed as renegades, yet against the spreading evil he knew someone must stand. They had borne away a treasure beyond value; the mightiest heirloom of their world's noblest family. Down the hill from the city and onto the field they fought, buying time for their followers to flee, giving ground in retreat, yet making their pursuers earn every step. A quick glance over his shoulder told him his younger brother had reached the ship. Already his wife and youngest brother were aboard, bearing their prize. Even if he fell now they would succeed.

Now onto the gangway, parrying the thrusts of spear and sword, counterattacking with the fury of the Spirit of Battle. If he and his brother could win the threshold they would be safe. Again he checked the distance behind them. Beside him came a grunt of pain, and he snapped his attention back to the battle. His father's spear had pierced his brother's shoulder, but his brother had trapped the spear with his arm, holding the shaft. Then his brother hewed the spearhead from the shaft with his sword, and cut their father across the cheek. He leapt in front as his brother ripped the spearhead from his flesh, and flung it into their father's side. The tip pierced his jerkin, cracking a rib, but the scrollwork of his breastplate would not allow the width of the spearhead to penetrate. Their father drew his sword, and knocked away the spearhead with disdain as their uncle moved to join him. Suddenly he was grabbed from behind and swung through the port. His brother had spun him around, reversing their positions, and drawing his second sword. For a moment they were face to face, and though his brother's eyes were grim he had a smile on his face.

"May the Great Power bless thy journey," his brother whispered, as he slammed the pommel of his sword against the hatch lock. The port snapped shut.

"Brother, no…" he cried, but it was too late. Through the port he could hear the faint clash of weapons, and his brother's laughter. Then an alarm sounded through the ship, and he felt it start to move. With his back to the port he slid to the floor, put his head in his hands, and wept.

The ship lifted from the launch field, turning to the west as it rose, gaining speed and altitude, rising through the clouds. In seconds the battle was miles below. Lasers tracked the starship as it accelerated, and but for the ship's shields they would have bitten the hull to ruin. Finally he stood and looked out a view port…there lay the void, cold and black, beautiful and terrifying, lit by a billion suns. The starship reached jump velocity and the stars winked out. They had escaped.

"Brother, may the Great Power bless thy soul," he whispered.

In the following days his young wife piloted the ship through over two thousand jumps. No one, not even using the planetary computer, would be following their course to the new world.

"Brother, we prepare for the final jump," his youngest brother said, giggling, as he shook him awake. After the heartbreak of the battle he hadn't slept but a couple hours at a time. He must have dozed in his chair.

"Ok little guy, lets go to the control room and watch, shall we?" he said, as he boosted the youngster onto his shoulders.

They entered the control room and he smiled at his middle brother and his wife, who sat in the pilot's chair.

"I didn't want you to miss this, my love," she said, smiling at him.

"Thank you, beloved. I am longing to see this new world of your visions…I pray it is as beautiful as you described."

"You know my dreams always come true, husband."

"I know. It's just a matter of faith."

The stars winked out, and they made the jump. When they terminated there was a blue world below them. Oceans and continents…beautiful as they were revealed by the advance of dawn across the terminator. To their starboard hung a giant moon, and far away, a yellow sun. He felt the presence of a wealth of life below, and a Great Power around them.

"Gods, beloved," he gasped, "you have brought us to a Cardinal world…a world without end. In all the galaxy there are only a few."

"Zeus my husband, this is the world of which I have dreamt. Long shall we live here, and one day, here we shall die. While we live, we shall rule as Gods, yet we are also part of a larger plan I cannot foresee. This too I know from my dreams."

Below them, on the planet, mankind had achieved civilization…cities, metals, and language. In the lands surrounding an inland sea, filled with a thousand islands, a young peoples awaited the coming of the Gods.

PART ONE

XENA : GODDESS OF WAR

INTRODUCTION

I've been around a long time, and I thought I should write all this down. It really is history, and I've started to feel obligated to preserve it. There isn't anyone who knows the whole story except me. Maybe someday someone will need to know. So much has been lost in the passage of time, and often I hear things that make me want to scream, "No, No, No! It didn't happen that way!". While I still have the chance I'd like to get my own story right. It's more than just taking names and kicking ass.

This is a big step for me. It's really out of character. I guess writing was never my thing, but things change…I've changed…the world changed. (Now that was really deep, wasn't it). I knew someone once who could have done this right, so I just keep asking myself, what would she have done? How would she have told this story? What words would she have chosen to make it come alive? (By the gods, I still miss her). I guess I'd be satisfied if you didn't throw this scroll down in boredom and disgust. What makes it difficult for me is that I've never loved hearing stories about my adventures. Writing about them myself…well, I never even considered that. Still, maybe in time the people who want to know what I have to say will find this story, and their questions will be answered. I hope they read it in time. I really do, because I know some things they don't. Something is going to happen sooner or later, and every year that passes increases the odds that it will be soon. Just like a town waiting for a siege to begin, we need to prepare. We will be facing a new enemy, with our lives at stake, and we won't know how they play the game of war….

I wrote this Introduction in 2002, before the invasion, but I have left it to stand in the final version. ~X.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

Well it was just like I thought; Sisyphus had hidden Ares' sword in plain sight. That old warlord, the one who tried to sneak up on me, he'd had it all along and he never knew it. Sisyphus had changed its appearance. I buried my dagger in his guts without even looking at him. Ironically, Ares had tucked his own sword into that dead warlord's hands, when we laid his corpse on the table. I only knew where it was for sure when I leaped up on that table while I was fighting Tegason. The first time I reached down to take it from the corpse he nearly cut my arm off. Actually he nearly cut Callisto's arm off, but I was trapped in her body, and I still needed that arm. Eventually I grabbed it and used it to parry Tegason's sword and disembowel him. Then I raised Ares' sword as if in salute, and I felt the power course through my body. It was as though I'd been struck by lightning. Though I didn't know it then, I was already half way to being a goddess because I was Ares' daughter. (The Furies later led me to discover that). Just holding Ares' sword, and knowing what it was, finished the job. The old bloodlust I knew so well blossomed, like Greek fire, in my heart…it became almost too much to resist. I saw strategies within strategies, and countless options fanning out before me. I could almost sense the future, and I quickly made some hard choices. For a few moments I wanted to be the sole Goddess of War. The power was intoxicating, and I was a better warrior than Ares, even in Callisto's body. Meanwhile, he was still fighting.

After taking a beating, Ares finally gutted Virgilius with a dagger. It had taken him long enough. That left the two of us, with Sisyphus trying to convince me to kill Ares. Then Joxer and Gabrielle burst in, still acting flaky. Well, you know I'd had my differences with Ares, but I understood him, and I'd trust him long before I'd trust Sisyphus. Sisyphus had made a deal with Hades, and if I'd killed Ares, he would have become the new God of War in spite of me, for Hades had the greater power. That scenario just wasn't an option…so I saved Ares' hide when Virgilius started to get up behind him with that ridiculous axe.

ON THE BEACH…AND AFTERWARDS

"Now if I can just survive the boat ride with Joxer, I'll be fine," Gabrielle said as we walked beside the surf. Ares had been restored as God of War, and Sisyphus went back to pushing his rock. Joxer was running on ahead, with his loud mindless giggle…

"Trust me, you'll be fine…and so will I," I said, as I shifted bodies. The surprise on my bard's face was simply priceless.

I didn't need Ares to help me recover my body from Callisto, any more than I needed his sword to remain a goddess. In the time my favorite mortal took to speak a sentence, I could go and seize my body back from Hades' realm. Hades looked at me, more shocked than Gabrielle. Ares had just given him a tongue lashing for his deal with Sisyphus, and when I showed up, he didn't know what to think. All he knew was that I had godlike powers. I didn't tell him anything either. I liked letting him live in suspense. Better still, Callisto always thought Ares had switched us back. The less "sick girl" knew the better.

"Xena? It's you, right? Not Callisto?" (Gabrielle's so cute when she's perplexed).

"It's me. Go on, test me," I answered, as I touched her arm.

"Whose body is worse to be trapped in than Callisto's?" she asked.

"A snake haired Gorgon's…but not by much," I replied with a grin.

"It really is you…." she exclaimed with relief, and she hugged me.

I decided I could never tell Gabrielle about my godhood. I didn't want it to come between us. I let her think Ares had kept his promise, and restored me to my body. I thought telling her I was now a goddess would have turned her friendship into worship. That would have felt too much like of the days of "Xena the Destroyer of Nations", and her army. Years later, when I saw how she acted with Aphrodite, I had some second thoughts, but by then it was too late. I wouldn't have gone through another rift for anything, and this was kind of a big secret I'd kept from her. Made my lie about killing Ming T'ien seem like horse feed.

I learned to control my powers, like I'd learned to control my reflexes. I found that my ability to make plans was greatly enhanced. With my divine sense of strategy and tactics, I seldom resorted to raw power. When I did use my new abilities, I always made sure to explain them in some other way. I used my powers in Chin, to escape execution and destroy Ming T'ien, and later to turn Khan's army into stone. Without my powers, Gabrielle and I would have been killed in that fall down the cliff, back when we convinced the Olympians of our deaths. Mostly I used my powers to appear mortal.

I think the hardest thing I ever did was staying in that ice tomb for 25 years. Long enough for Eve to grow up without me. I knew there was no way I could keep her safe from the gods all that time. Sooner or later they would have gotten to her. So I watched her become a warrior, and I preserved Gabrielle. Strategy takes on a whole new dimension when you're immortal. I even let Ares play his part. I had to wait until the time was right, but by then I had strong allies. Michael and his God told me Eve had an important role to play in the world. They'd arranged her birth for a reason. Eventually they persuaded me to wait, and their plan was so subtle I couldn't refuse. Talk about the greater good…hmm, they had it all figured out, and I just had to be in on it. They were out to change everything…taking down those Olympians was just a sideshow, and in the end it actually worked. Michael's God sent his son into the world, and he caused a major shift in mankind's beliefs. Instead of living in a world ruled by the whims and cruelty of many gods, people could believe they were the objects of their god's love. A god who valued every one of them, good or bad. A god who would forgive them. A god who asked only that they confess their failings and seek redemption through faith.

For me it started with a few of Eli's followers, but in time, billions would kneel before this god. At first Eli was a street magician who wanted to be a healer. It wasn't really about god. Later he went out to teach a way of living based on love. He wanted to find a true way to peace. Then the Olympians got worried because he gave people an option to worshipping them. People stopped believing they had no choice but to accept the pettiness of the gods. So the Olympians, Ares in particular, tried to intimidate Eli and his followers. Around that time, Eli started having visions when he'd pray for guidance. In seeking, he found someone who could give him answers. The ancient One God of the Israelites took Eli under His wing and used him to perform miracles…curing the sick, and even raising the dead. I wasn't sure if God had inspired Eli, or if Eli had stumbled on God by chance. In the end, Eli was martyred and the One God inherited all his followers, but Eli's teachings were the groundwork of the movement.

One thing I have come to understand is that the Olympians differed greatly from the One God. They were tied to the world, and so they experienced a flow of time. For this reason, they consulted the Fates for their prophecies. Not so the One God…for Him, time does not flow, it simply is. He could see ahead as easily as He could see back into the past. He made the Fates read what He willed into their strands, or as we say now, He used them to disseminate disinformation. Everyone from Zeus on down bought into that "Twilight of the Gods" routine. Ares almost saw through it when he told Livia that for 25 years, while her identity was a secret, nothing happened, and all they had to fear was fear. Thankfully, he was only trying to convince her to kill me…he didn't believe his own words. As I said, there were tactics within tactics. They never knew their real enemy.

I tried one last time. I came to Olympus to offer Athena a deal; she would heal Gabrielle and Eve, and I would leave them in peace. I had really hoped she would accept. But on the way to the great hall, Ares appeared with a deal of his own.

"I'm here to make you an offer," he said as he came towards us. I was losing patience and time was running out. I wanted to shoot him dead for old times' sake.

"We'll make you a god." (Good one Ares…what you don't know will get you killed).

"And what about Eve and Gabrielle?" I asked, knowing what his answer would be.

"Gabrielle we can negotiate, but Eve…she is our death warrant. She has to die."

Then he came forward and lowered the crossbow I held, from his chest. He had guts, I'll give him that.

"You know, this is the second time we've faced off one on one, since you became Xena Slayer of Gods, and you still haven't been able to pull the trigger."

I shot him in the thigh by reflex. I'd intended to re-aim and shoot higher, but I twitched. So I bound him in Hephaestus' chain, and brought him along to my confrontation with Athena. He was shocked, blustering, and indignant. Guess he'd forgotten about being wounded by Diomedes II at Troy, when Athena had driven the chariot against him. In the end I was glad he survived. When all appeared lost, he brought Gabrielle and Eve back to life, allowing me to impale Athena for a second time. I hadn't known it was possible without her blessing. For that one act I was forever in his debt, and I finally let myself feel something for him. Gratitude. I protected him for the rest of his mortal life.

Athena, Goddess of War and Wisdom, was dead, and Ares, God of War, was mortal. But Xena, Goddess of War and Strategy survived. Wars still happened and people didn't act violently insane, as they had when Ares lost his sword to Sisyphus all those years ago. But did anyone wonder why? Noooo! Not even Gabrielle, who had been through that, realized what wasn't happening. She was preoccupied with our happy ending. Her bard's sensibilities for a plot line blinded her. In all the years that followed, she never caught on. No one did.

For as long as she lived she was my favorite. Once she chose to accept the necessity of fighting, I strengthened her, and increased her prowess. Nothing unbelievable, but though she sometimes lost a fight, in the end she always vanquished her foes. She never fell prey to hubris and she never lost her heart, or her hope for a better world. She has repaid me a hundred to one. Whenever I have felt like giving up, her memory strengthened me, and increased my prowess. Over the centuries she has done more good, through me, than she could ever have imagined. I hope she forgives me.

THE FIRST CRUSADE

Time went by fast after Gabrielle left the world. At many times and in many places I fought to protect the civilized nations I knew. I tried to preserve peoples' freedom, and the knowledge of ancient times. It was a long, slow defeat. I spent years watching the Roman Empire as it grew too large to manage, and eventually rotted from within. The leadership went to hell, and without it the territories fell prey to invaders and insurgents. Finally the known world was reduced to petty kingdoms and city-states. I was tired of it all. Been there, done that.

The followers of Eli had become a dominant power, with all the corruption and politics that go along with it. Just like the Roman Empire, the church rotted from within. The leadership was cynical and worldly. The rank and file was fanatical. What a great legacy to Eli's memory…hatred for all non-Christians, and constant suspicion of each other. It really hit the fan when the Arabs took over the Holy Lands and tried to expand into Europe. By then, Christendom had split into the Western Roman, and the Eastern Byzantine churches. There was plenty of animosity between them, (and in fact their prelates had excommunicated each other), but when faced with a common enemy, they got together to "crush the infidels".

In 1095, on November 27th, Pope Urban II begged the faithful of Clermont, in central France, to bring military aid to the Byzantine Emperor, Alexis 1 Comnenus. His capitol of Constantinople was threatened by the expansion of the Turks and Arabs. Well, Urban II managed to rouse the rabble. Soon zealots were screaming, "Dieu li volt!" (God wills it!), and in the best traditions of the church they marched off ready to kill. As a measure of the fanaticism of the times, thousands of peasants joined the crusade, following Peter the Hermit. He rode heroically from Amiens at the head of his troops, (on a donkey), on March 10, 1096. Much to their credit, or the discredit of the nobles and militaries, Peter's "People's Crusade" reached Constantinople in August, about half a year ahead of the soldiers. They having been sidetracked in Mainz, slaughtering the Jewish population.

When Peter the Hermit and his rabble arrived in Constantinople, Alexis 1 tried to persuade him to await the Crusader armies. Well after riding all that way on a donkey, he wasn't going to let a silly thing like common sense stop him. Peter the Hermit, besotted by his status and following, convinced the Byzantine Emperor to take him and his peasants across the Bosphorus Strait. When I spoke to Alexis 1, he told me he just wanted to be rid of them all, and would do anything to get them out of Constantinople. I could see this was a disaster in the making…even real soldiers would have had a hard time with the Turks in Anatolia. Sure enough, after crossing the Bosphorus, the "People's Crusade" was massacred by the Turks at Civetot. As someone I once knew had said, 'What could you possibly have been thinking?' This wasn't a war. It was a stupid, wasteful slaughter. I saw the effect of religion on the feebleminded masses. Frenzy, hysteria, and loss of life followed the charisma of faith run amok.

In the following years the Crusader armies were militarily successful, but the bloodshed on both sides, in the name of God, was a bitter embarrassment. When the Christians finally took Jerusalem in 1099, they killed almost everyone inside. Mutilated dead lay hip deep in the al-Aksa Mosque, and the smoke of the bodies, from the great synagogue as it burned to the ground, screamed to heaven. In that time, I turned my back on the One God.

THE INVENTOR OF MILAN

He had recently arrived from Florence, and he was the most unlikely military engineer I had ever seen. I don't think he ever wielded a weapon in battle. His first love was sketching plants and landscapes, and he'd apprenticed as a painter. He was a vegetarian when I met him at the court of Duke Lodovico Sforza, the warlord of Milan. I heard he was also accomplished as a sculptor, but my interest was in his military inventiveness. In hopes of safeguarding the civilized lands from barbarian invasion, I had become obsessed with developing better weapons. I came to his studio as the day was fading. I had some ideas I wanted to discuss with him.

He was sitting before an easel, which held a smallish wood panel. The partially finished painting he'd been applying colors to was a portrait of a woman, seated before a craggy landscape. Though her clothing was dark, there was a light reflected in her face, and her expression suggested patience, touched by amusement. It looked like it needed work, yet the space and light he depicted appeared very real. I thought it would be a nice painting when he finished it. To either side of the easel was a clutter of sketches, books, and partially finished scale models of sculptures and machinery. It spoke of a mind distracted by too many interests competing for attention, and too little time. It also made me think of lack of focus, or discipline.

An apprentice announced my presence, "Master, you have a visitor, Xena di Amphipolis…she wishes to consult on engines of war."

With a sigh he turned to face me, and I registered the intensity of his eyes.

"Xena di Amphipolis, you are far from your home…engines of war you would discuss. I am so tired of war, and death, and fighting. There are so many wonders in God's Creation, yet so much energy is spent in conflict and destruction."

"Master, it has been so in all the days I have known," I spoke, in the Latin of Byzantium, "Mankind seems destined for conflict, with the world, and with other men. I believe it comes as the result of our spirits being each alone in our bodies, striving against the elements."

His eyes brightened as he pondered my words. My belief that all conflict was an outgrowth of our struggles to survive, as individual beings, in an indifferent world, had excited his mind. I knew what conclusion he would reach.

"Xena, speak not of this beyond this room. The priests would see in it a heresy, for it negates the omnipotence of God's design for us in the world. They would demand your penitence with torture."

"This I know well, and to you alone I will say that God is not as men would believe Him to be. The world is driven by a will, blind and ruthless, and being of the world, man can be blind and ruthless as well. Civilization is threatened by barbaric tribes in the north, and the east. In the south the Arabs spread their influence. Your own lord is threatened by the French. I would wish for new weapons to confound our enemies, and save our lives."

"I have given much attention to the development of weapons. It is a part of my duties to the Duke. But perhaps you have some ideas of your own," he said, "and I must ask you to accept my apologies. I thought you merely a mercenary, enamoured of violence for the glory it confers, yet now I see you are a thinker as well as a beautiful woman."

"Beauty lives in the beholder's eye, and what wisdom I have is from experience," I replied, "as for the engines of war, I have some ideas…would you like to hear them?"

"Yes, of course. I seek always after knowledge, and I thirst for discourse with those who have it."

So we spoke a long time that evening, and many evenings after. I told him of my thoughts on a rapid firing weapon using the small canon that could be handheld. I spoke of an armored mobile platform for canon, to allow them to move on the battlefield. I shared my vision for ways to allow soldiers to attack from under the water, and from the air above. He devoured my information, sketching constantly. He had a sense of how such inspirations could become real machines…could be built, and deployed on the battlefield. My respect for his abilities increased greatly. I had great hopes for the construction of the designs he sketched in those meetings. And I indulged him in his true love. I posed for him. He sketched me standing, looking down and to my right, my arms embracing a column for reference. He said he was inspired to paint a subject from the old mythology. Another project to contest for his time.

The years passed, and none of the wonderful machines he designed were built. For one reason or another they never became real weapons until hundreds of years later, and then they were deadly. The machine gun, the tank, the helicopter, scuba gear, and others were eventually developed. I can't imagine how history would have been changed if they had been built in 1485. I will tell you this. The small portrait he was working on when we first met hangs in the Louvre in Paris, revered by art lovers the world over, though the colors have darkened. Her smile has captivated millions of viewers over the centuries…it is perhaps his best-known work. And the sketches he made of me? He actually did finish that project. In his painting I stand embracing a swan, with cherubs to my right, as Leda.

He was a peaceful, intelligent, and inquisitive soul, forced by his times to serve corrupt and violent men. Men, whose memory has faded, while his lives on as the model of a Renaissance Man. Five hundred years later, people still speak the name of Leonardo, from the country village of Vinci.

A NEW HOPE

A few years after I spoke with Leonardo in Milan, a Genoese sea captain, Cristoforo Colombo, won patronage from the monarchs of Spain, and led three small ships on a voyage of discovery into the west. In time, I learned he had discovered the Caribbean and parts of South America. Soon there were trade, colonies, and slavery. Just what you'd expect of the avaricious, immoral, hypocritical movers and shakers of those times. Gold, God, and Glory, but also Slavery, Small Pox, and Spirits…the colonization of the New World started as an extension of the worst the Old World had to offer. Thankfully, the natives eventually became restless. It seemed to take forever…from 1492 to 1776.

In the meantime I had begun to formulate a strategy which was based on "arming all quarters". The aim was to make the approaches by land, air, and sea impossible for an invader to overcome. Since the dawn of warfare, land passage had been the preoccupation of generals, warlords, and kings. Sea power had been proved in the Mediterranean for two millennia. After my talks with Leonardo, I realized that underwater and airborne warfare would someday be of strategic importance as well.

Both were centuries away, so I concentrated on ships. The voyages of discovery led to trade routes which needed protection. The Spanish and English built formidable navies to enforce their interests around the world. I felt the development of naval power was better undertaken by an island nation, and so I worked with the English. I fed inspirations for tactical and engineering advances to their admiralty, and on October 21, 1805 they were victorious at the Battle of Trafalgar. There the English navy smashed the navies of the France and Spain. They had saved themselves from the impending invasion by Napoleon, and established themselves as the supreme naval power of their time. Another act that turned my favor to the English, was their abolition, in 1800, of the ancient evil of slavery. Yet, they impressed tradesmen, prisoners, and even foreign sailors into service on their ships. For this reason, in the last years of the 1700's, I traveled to the fledgling republic of the United States of America. At the time they had no navy, but they had guts, and they had raw materials. And unlike the Europeans, they had a much looser social structure that I found refreshing. It allowed them a willingness to try new things, and this was a characteristic I needed for my plans.

Like I had with Leonardo so long before, I went to meet with the leading military designer of that time. He was a Philadelphia shipbuilder named Joshua Humphreys, who was a master shipwright, and had been commissioned by Congress to design frigates for the nation's navy. After a few minutes, he realized that I knew the specifications of all the British naval vessels. Because I had recently come from England, he assumed I was a spy, and this suited me. His budgets didn't allow him to build battleships, called "ships of the line". Instead, I convinced him to build enlarged versions of intermediate sized warships. We created a concept for these ships, that what they could not outgun, they would be able to outrun.

The three sister ships, United States, Constitution, and President would carry up to 50 long guns, which fired 24 pound shot. They also carried 20 shorter carronades, which fired shot as heavy as 42 pounds. By contrast, a British frigate might carry an equal number of lighter guns, firing 18 pound shot. Physically, our frigates were about a third longer, at 204 feet in length, and slightly wider. These proportions created a swift hull, and a long gun platform. Humphreys designed tall masts to carry huge sails, giving these ships more speed than any similar frigates. Finally, to protect them from damage by enemy fire, the hulls were live oak, and white oak, 15 to 25 inches thick. In battle trim, they carried crews of about 450, and displaced about 2,200 tons. USS United States and USS Constitution were completed in 1797. USS President was launched in 1800.

On June 12, 1812 the United States went to war with the greatest navy then in existence. There were 860 ships in the British navy in 1812. Of these, 191 were ships of the line carrying 74 to 130 guns. Another 245 were frigates, armed with 50 or more guns. The United States navy had 50 ships, the largest being Humphreys' three new frigates. It had been seven years since the British navy had lost a one on one battle at sea. In 200 engagements, they had lost only five battles in the last twenty years. It was of vital importance to me that this new country prevailed. My plans for the future of warfare hinged on its development into a world power. There was no alternative to being prepared….none.

In the first battle, August 19, 1812, it took the USS Constitution less than three hours to render the British frigate HMS Guerriere a dismasted wreck; so badly damaged she was sunk, rather than taken as a prize. She fired more than 950 rounds at her enemy. Sailors saw 18 pound British cannonballs bouncing off Constitution's oak hull. Battle casualties; 101 British, 14 American. Next, the USS United States defeated the HMS Macedon, forcing her to surrender, and killing a third of her crew. Finally as the year ended, USS Constitution again destroyed a British frigate, the HMS Java, a faster ship. The British Admiralty forbade its frigates to engage the American ships one on one. Then, as the war came to an end in 1815, USS Constitution fought and defeated HMS Cyane and HMS Levant, both ships of the line, in a two against one engagement.

The war ended with the young United States a respected power abroad, and a confident nation at home. It foreshadowed the eventual might and influence this country would one day hold. In the development of arms, no country has ever succeeded so well. From those ships built in the first twenty-five years of their country's history, to the high tech weapons of the 21st century, the American military always managed to hold an edge. Their only defeats came from political constraints on the exercise of force.

And finally the dreams of the inventor of Milan began to come into existence. 1862, Richard Jordan Gatling created the first machine gun. 1864, the CSA H.L. Hunley became the first submarine to sink a warship, the USS Housatonic. 1903, Wilber and Orville Wright made the first controlled airplane flight.

A TIME OF TESTING

Now came the time of testing, and may the Gods forgive me. The human capacity to find conflict is endless. There are hatreds simmering all over the world, ancient and recent. At any time they can come to the surface; just a spark can start fires that scorch their way across the world. In the 20th century it happened twice, and both times I let it burn. I needed to assess what level of warfare mankind could unleash. I needed to see if we could meet the challenge I knew was coming. By 1918 I knew we weren't ready. I reached the same conclusion in 1945.

In June of 1914, a minor nobleman was assassinated in Sarajevo. Within four months most of Europe was involved. Leonardo's inventions were deployed for the first time on a large scale. Submarines, tanks, automatic weapons, and aircraft, as well as chemical weapons all made their major league debuts. By the time it ended, 8.7 million had died. For me it was depressing. Any enemy capable of invading us would have run over us in a week.

In the late thirties, Germany began a series of invasions in Europe which shattered the post World War I peace. In the Pacific, Japan expanded too. Industrial development had given nations deadlier weapons, in greater numbers, and the death tolls reflected this. 36 million lives were lost, mostly between 1939 and 1945…over 5 million a year. There were two new weapons. The Germans had developed truly destructive rockets. But only at the very end, when the United States detonated atomic bombs, did there seem to be any hope for our preparedness. We might have held out for a month.

Almost 45 million people died in those two great wars. As bad as that was, it must be kept in perspective. Twelve years of war resulted in about 3.75 million casualties per year. In 1918 an epidemic of influenza swept the world. 20 million died of infection in that one year. And though I was immune, I remember the horror when, from 1346 to 1350 the plague ruled in Europe, killing a third of the population. 20 to 30 million people died…4 to 6 million a year. Deaths from disease have no purpose. Death in war is for a cause, even if that cause is unworthy. As Goddess of War I could sense impending threats. I knew we were running out of time, and I knew we were far from ready.

A WARLORD AGAIN

My senses were making the hair on my head stand on end. I was losing patience with the pace of mankind. I had to do something, fast. (Of course this is all relative, being immortal, fast gets measured in decades, as opposed to centuries). So I did what I knew how to do so well. I marshaled soldiers for war. For the first time in almost two thousand years I took up the mantle of leader. I became a warlord again.

In 1938 I had a taste of the possible invasion I had come to fear. On October 30th I was in my living room in New York City, reading news of the growing troubles in Europe. The radio spewed out a report of landing craft falling from the sky outside Grovers Mill, New Jersey. As I listened in horror, the reports spoke of the emergence of alien craft, armed with "death rays", making their way across the countryside. They were destroying anything in their path, and they seemed to be invincible. Local authorities and the National Guard were helpless to stop them. I made a gesture, and disappeared.

In a moment, I reappeared in the town of Grovers Mill, which is about 4 miles from Princeton University. There was panic in the streets, and no one noticed the flash as I materialized. I was ready to destroy anything alien, regardless of who saw it, but I sensed no non-human presence. Although everyone was reacting as if there was an invasion, there were no invaders. This was just like some trick of the Gods from the old days, but I didn't sense any of them either. For a while I sat on a bench in the town's park, trying to make sense out of what I was seeing. Nearby a radio was playing another report. The couple listening to the radio were young hipsters, sitting on their porch, the radio playing through the window. I approached them…they were the only calm people I saw.

"What do you know about all this space invader stuff?" I asked, trying to appear relaxed.

"Isn't it hip? They've got the old cats jumpin'", the young man said with a big grin.

"It's so cooool !" his girlfriend giggled as she put an arm around his shoulder.

This was just too weird. I knew young people had different values, but this…

"It's the Mercury Theater show", he said, almost in hysterics, " and it's got everyone in a panic."

"This is a radio show? And all these people are believing it? What in Tartarus?"

"They made an announcement right at the beginning," the girl was starting to heave with laughter, "but do you think people listen?"

"There're going to be seizures all night long….", the boy was leaning back laughing too.

"Of all the stupid….." I disappeared in a flash. Maybe those kids would be the ones having the seizures. I guess they were the only ones to see anything unexplainable that night.

Turned out to be a clever hoax, created in the studio by a young man of 23, named Orson Wells. His radio troop was giving a dramatic presentation based on the 1898 novel "War of the Worlds", by H. G. Wells, a failed science teacher. It was an early highlight in a stellar career in entertainment, and a lesson to me about the power of the media. I felt like a fool, but as I stewed about it, I realized that the threat was possible. Why couldn't there be creatures from other worlds that could become our enemies? Perhaps this was the source of the foreboding I'd felt growing inside me for so long. Was it an outgrowth of a warrior's paranoia? Was I becoming unhinged after so long? I had to know.

In the weeks that followed I wrote letters to scientists, and the results confirmed my suspicions. In learned circles it was assumed that alien life existed. What temperament it had, no scientist could reasonably say. When or if it would come to Earth was anyone's guess. They claimed all that was the realm of fantasy and fiction. My own certainty grew stronger. I was a warrior with senses attuned to threat. I was the Goddess of War, and my senses were more attuned then any mortal's. So I followed my instincts, and I raised an army.

One thing about being an immortal is that you never want for material things. I had amassed a fortune equal to the worth of some nations, and it was untraceable. I began cashing in investments based on my knowledge of the fortunes of war. I was pretty sure the world was going to battle on a giant scale very soon. I barely got my money out of Europe before Hitler took everything for the Reich.

I watched and waited, and hired a few core agents to help me as the war began. Some were politicians, some military, and some scientists. They kept up with the status of weapons development, having contacts with allied governments. On several occasions we "helped out", providing military intelligence I had been able to obtain by superhuman means. We also concentrated on bringing scientists out of the war zones, and each of those scientists repaid us with information. My forces grew. In late 1943 we tested a uranium fission device in Antarctica, and no one knew. Unlike today, there was no worldwide radar network. The next year we had a primitive ICBM to deliver it. This we also tested, firing from a ship at 58° S x 130° W. The South Pole was taking a beating, but it was for the greater good.

After the war my army grew quickly. We concentrated on the development of high tech weapons systems, and I could afford to hire the best minds. Men and women who would have been "persuaded" to work for various governments came to me instead. We were a shadow organization without a country; a rumor of hope to scientists behind the iron curtain, simply a rumor in the west. I had never intended my army as an invasion force. I didn't need great numbers of troops. Only half of my personnel were combat regulars. The remainder was support or research oriented. We never numbered more than 5,000.

Throughout the cold war we managed to outstrip the weapons development programs on both sides of the iron curtain. We didn't have red tape to contend with, and we didn't have to mass-produce our current weapons in the numbers the U.S. and U.S.S.R. did. We always concentrated on what was next. In 1978 we were working on high-energy projectile weapons. We soon had an electromagnetic launcher that could drive a 10-pound steel egg to a good fraction of the speed of light. On June 30, 1980 during a test, the egg passed through Mt. St. Helens, blowing the top off the mountain. The projectile then continued on its path, retaining enough energy to escape gravity and fly into space. It moved too fast for conventional radar, outpacing their emitted waves…no image could bounce back.

Another 80's program we developed was the x-ray laser. It had been rumored as a research topic in the Strategic Defense Initiative of President Reagan. The claims were circulated to disturb the Russians. They derived from a security breach at my facility. The only way we could test this weapon was to launch it, disguised as a communications satellite, in a rocket hired from the French. After achieving orbit, it had a "malfunction" which sent it around the far side of the moon. There, sensors detonated a hydrogen fusion device. The blast energized a pure carbon rod, causing it to lase for 1/ 10,000 of a second. The resulting beam was reflected onto 4 mirrors, and from there lanced out into space. The entire satellite ceased to exist in under 1/500 of a second. By then the beams were well on their way. We registered energy spikes on 4 asteroids that disintegrated. This was undetected, as no one is watching every obscure asteroid between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. We now had a second weapon I felt we could use against invaders.

My next problem was the development of weapons platforms. I couldn't just deploy my weapons wherever I wanted, and I knew we would need to use them quickly. Mobile platforms seemed the only answer. I pondered solutions for many years. Finally I sent out spies to check on rumors I'd heard about a government installation in Tenopah, Nevada. When I got their reports, I led troops into a conflict for the first time in a thousand years. I chose 50 members of my Beta team, and trained them for a covert strike. I could transport myself anywhere by my will…all Gods could. I could also bring whatever I held. On a night of the new moon, when the desert was dark, my troops entered a non-metallic troop carrier. I put my arms around it, and transported us to Area 51 at Nellis Test Range. The results were never reported. What happens inside an Air Force maximum-security installation is not reported in the media. It would have been an embarrassment. In a short battle, my troops took possession of two American flying saucers, products of 50 years of development based on the Roswell crashes in the late 40's. They flew themselves home, and I still beat them back to our headquarters. It probably took the Air Force weeks to repair the damage we did to their radar and security structures. My expectation is that they believe the aliens repossessed their hardware. We took pains to make it appear that way.

THE DARK OF NIGHT

We have no past,

We won't reach back,

Keep with me forward,

All through the night.

And once we start,

The meter clicks,

And it goes running,

All through the night.

Until it ends, there is no end.

*Lyric excerpt from: "All Through the Night", Jules Shear ©1982

We had developed the flying saucers we took from the U.S. Air Force, making them larger, and improving their handling. My development team perfected and installed devices that directed electromagnetic pulses, converted to microwave emissions, strong enough to destroy any electronic device. By the turn of the millenium we had twelve ships, armed to the teeth. I named them for the Olympian Gods and Goddesses of ancient times…a tribute, and a last chance for them to protect the people they had once ruled. They were housed in the mid-Pacific, one of the least known places left on Earth. At all times two were aloft, and they could come and go as they pleased, for they reflected nothing. No radar on Earth could detect them. Of course my flagship was the Ares. How fitting for a Goddess of War, to fight from her father's namesake. All the years of development and testing created, for the world and its people, an unknown shield against the enemy none could see. Just like a town waiting for the siege to begin, we were finally prepared. We would be facing a new enemy, with our lives at stake, and they won't know how we play the game of war…

In 2006, as winter gave way to spring, my senses left me no doubt the attack was near. I put my forces on alert status, and ordered a third ship onto patrol. We listened to every voice from the sky, our sensors ceaselessly probing the heavens. On March 14th we detected a whisper. It came, like a rumor on the breeze, reflected off the Jovian moon Ganymede. The invaders sought to approach us by stealth from behind the giant planet. My hackers commandeered three spy satellites, and triangulated its position. Still beyond the orbit of Saturn, but closing on the Earth, and adjusting its approach to remain hidden. We left the satellites pointed at the invader, and returned control to their governments. Twenty-three minutes later my hackers reported the armed forces of the U.S., Russia, England, Germany, France, and China coming to DefCon 2 status. They were too slow. I already had eight ships beyond lunar orbit, and all our planetary systems were at DefStat 1. Still there was no communication from the alien.

Leaving Apollo and Zeus around the dark side of the moon, I formed six ships into two squadrons. Aboard Ares, with Hera, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Artemis, and Hades, we blocked all gravitational fields save one. With no sensation of movement, our ships fell towards Jupiter. We approached using the planet to hide us, just as the enemy did. At 228 million kilometers from the sun we lifted briefly from the system elliptic, dodging the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Aphrodite, Hephaestus, and Hades fell 1,000 miles behind my squadron, and began a course divergence. My plan called for a squadron to transit the giant planet on each side, to catch the enemy in a pincer maneuver. We would time our appearance to coincide with the increase in gravitational effects of the planet on the enemy ship. This would reduce their options to maneuver.

Transmissions from my base reported dozens of small ships lifting from the desert of Nevada…the New Air Force. They were positioning themselves in a network over the hemisphere of the earth, facing the alien ship.

As my squadrons approached Jupiter, my base reported the alien was releasing dozens of smaller craft, each about a mile in diameter. Just to make sure, I went to my ready room and I vanished from the Ares. And reappeared in the void of space, directly in front of the invader. It was a huge disc, with a spreading ring of smaller ships forming a perimeter around it. For a moment I was seduced by the cold, stark void…the sensation of eternity…the siren call of oblivion. Someday I would return here, I told myself. When the wars, and the fighting, the conflict, and the blood made my soul too weary. When to continue was more painful than to die, I would commit myself to the endless reaches of space. I would let myself fall into the heart of the sun, and allow my remains to burn on the Pyre of the Gods. It was the Thanatose Desire that shadows the survival instinct. I shook it off, and in a flash I returned to my ship.

Just before beginning the transit of Jupiter, each of my ships launched two 20-pound projectiles at 27% of the speed of light. They would punch through the gaseous planet, exiting the far side to impact anything in their paths. With double the mass, they carried the square of the energy of the projectile we had tested at Mt. St. Helens, 26 years before. As a last action, each squadron spread out to provide fighting room for its ships. We would attack across 30 degrees of planetary latitude from each side. The pilots fine tuned the gravitational blinds, and the ships fell around the giant planet. Onboard sensors revealed 9 impacts on the far side of Jupiter; a 75% strike rate. Our enemy knew they were under attack.

As my squadrons passed the terminator into the dark side of Jupiter, the crews discharged electromagnetic pulses to disable the enemy's electronic systems. We broadcast a burst of pulses for five seconds. Though each pulse lasted only 1/100th of a second, the total energy expended would have powered everything on Earth for a year. We saw the cloud surface of Jupiter recoil as it ionized under the onslaught, and for a moment the planet was no longer round. No electrical device could have withstood such an attack, regardless of the shielding used to protect it.

Within two minutes we had transited sufficient planetary longitude to engage the enemy from both sides of the planet. There was wreckage, the fragments of nine smaller ships, still incandescent from the absorbed energy of our pulse attack. But the remaining small ships, and the giant mother-ship were gone. Our sensors probed the planet to see if the enemy had taken refuge below the clouds. There was nothing. Then, faint but clear, we heard what we'd always hoped we'd never hear. Broadcast from my base on Earth, flung into space on a tight but powerful beam came the cry for help.

"Mayday. Mayday. Earth is under attack. Earth is under attack. Targets have entered the atmosphere. Landings expected on all landmasses. Mayday. Mayday."

Somehow, without our sensing it, all the undamaged alien craft had jumped. From the dark side of Jupiter, to a low orbit over Earth, they had jumped. And I had a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach. In my time, long ago, such a tactic could only have been achieved by a God.

The return fall to Earth would take my ships almost three hours. Too long. But I could return in a heartbeat. So I addressed my crews.

"Warriors, you have fought with courage and honor, but we have been taken by surprise. Our enemy has an unexpected capability. They have made a teleport, and now threaten Earth. I am returning to Earth with Ares. I order the remainder of you to make greatest speed and return to Earth. I do not know what you will find when you arrive, how the battle will stand. You are soldiers in a shadow force. No one knows of you. No one will thank you. But you are the best hope for our world, and for mankind. You are the guardians, the first and last defense. What you are going to see may not make any sense to you, but believe me when I say that you are the heirs to a tradition of honor that stretches back over 4,000 years. I know that I have been a question to you, as much as I have been a leader. I will tell you that I have expected and prepared for this battle for a very long time. To lose is not an option."

"Almost 2,500 years ago, King Leonidas heroically defended the pass at Thermopylae against an overwhelming force of Persian invaders. They fought to the last man. I expect nothing less of you. No one could ever expect anything more."

"If we prevail, mankind will see a new dawn. Our race can continue to find its way in the sun. But if we fail, we shall be lost in the dark of night."

"You and I are warriors. It is all we have, and it is all that we can be. We have no past. We won't reach back. Keep with me, forward all through the night. Until it ends, there is no end."

On five ships the blinds opened, and 500 warriors started the fall back to Earth. And as they watched there was a flash, and the Ares with 101 warriors aboard vanished.

RETURN OF THE WAR GOD

We reappeared only 5 miles above the Earth's surface, and our coming was greeted with lightning. For a moment my crew panicked, but admirably they recovered quickly, though they never looked at me the same again. I knew I had shocked them, but what they thought I didn't find out until later. Most assumed my flagship employed a new technology. I don't think anyone suspected something divine.

Our sensors picked up a wealth of information. The New Air Force was engaging the smaller alien ships in the atmosphere, while the mother-ship remained in low orbit. They seemed to be holding their own, but they had to team up against the enemy ships, and they were too few. They were also sustaining major casualties. Already they were down to 60% strength. The older weapons, the nuclear arsenals, simply had no effect. After the first couple of detonations caused degradation of communications they ceased. Several of the aliens had made landfall. Once down, they disgorged hovering killers, which seemed to be armed with particle beam weapons. They were highly destructive, and virtually unstoppable. Of my remaining six ships, Apollo, and Zeus, reinforced by Athena, were battling in the skies. They had managed to destroy five enemy ships with their electromagnetic launchers. Hermes, Poseidon, and Hestia were unaccounted for. U.S. military communications were confused. They were reporting aerial actions by unknown friendly forces, (ours), and friendly fire from unknown ground based weapons, type undetermined, (also ours). The President was in his command bunker under the White House, directing the New Air Force, with his generals. The populace was in a general state of panic, except for the survivalist paramilitaries. They were being slaughtered while trying to fight the hovering killers. (Gods bless their useless heroics).

The enemy battle plan seemed to concentrate on landing killers to take control of the capitols and major cities of the world powers. This was predictable. There was one thing that didn't make sense. A number of the smaller ships were in the process of landing near Athens. Greece had been a second rate power, at best, for centuries. It should have been a secondary objective. I sensed it was a clue to a riddle that I didn't understand. It captured my attention. In battle, an anomaly can hold the key to victory. I ordered the Ares to Athens.

We flew, east to west and crossed the terminator over Viet Nam, passing into the dawn of March 15th. Our sensors reported two alien ships northeast of us, on a course to make landfall on the mainland behind Hong Kong. A squadron of the New Air Force was engaging them. As the air battle raged, we saw first one, then another of the New Air Force saucers vaporized by the alien's beam weapon. Against two alien ships they were hopelessly outclassed. We had to do something fast, in a few minutes they would have been destroyed. I ordered the Ares' ExO, Lieutenant Adam McClellan, to hail the New Air Force ships.

"New Air Force fighters, this is the Ares. Break off your attack. We are targeting the alien ships. On my mark, you will have three seconds to clear a five-mile radius. I repeat, break off your attack. For your safety, clear a five-mile radius from the alien ships. You will have three seconds from my mark."

"This is the New Air Force Epsilon squadron leader to the Ares. Who are you? This is a war zone. Transmit your identification codes."

"This is the Ares. I repeat, on my mark you will have three seconds to clear a five-mile radius from the alien ships." Lt. McClellan was getting tired of military procedure.

"We are elements of the United States Air Force. This is a war zone. Transmit your identification codes, now."

I could tell Lt. McClellan didn't like that demanding tone. They wanted to get into a macho pissing contest. We were closing on the alien ship too quickly to indulge this squadron leader. As we spoke, another New Air Force saucer was hit by an alien beam weapon. It tumbled into the sea. I looked at my ExO with one eyebrow raised, and the hint of a grin at the corners of my mouth. He understood that look.

"Mark. One one-thousand…"

Three of the fighters broke off their attack on the aliens, and sped away. The two remaining fighters, (probably the squadron leader, and his wingman), flew directly at us.

"Two one-thousand…"

Within the Ares huge capacitors built up a charge, from the special fusion reactors, of 1.5 x 10¹³ joules. The ship began to glow and shed gamma radiation. The two approaching New Air Force fighters were roasted, and spun out of control. They fell from the sky.

"Three one-thousand!"

There was no visible beam, but two bolts from the x-ray laser leaped from the Ares towards the alien ships. The clouds jerked, recoiling from the air expansion around the beams. Then there was a flash, and the enemy ships exploded. The Ares changed course to avoid the wreckage.

"Direct hits Mr. McClellan, well done." I praised my ExO and the crew, "Resume course, and make all possible speed to Athens."

"Xena, the remaining New Air Force fighters are pursuing us. They are hailing us."

"Audio on," I ordered.

"Ares, this is the New Air Force Epsilon squadron. We are ordered to demand that you accompany us to our base. Military Intelligence is requiring you for a debriefing. Please comply…"

"Audio off," I ordered with a sigh, "Mr. McClellan, we don't have time for this. What is our ETA for Athens?"

"Eleven minutes and thirty seven seconds, Xena."

"Continue heading and speed. I will rejoin you as soon as I can. It appears I have some business with the new Air Force." I vanished from the bridge of the Ares.

I reappeared with a flash in the war bunker six stories under the White House. There was no use dickering with the M. I. agents. I decided to talk to the boss. At first the whole room was stunned into silence, and no one moved. I could have killed most of them. Then they realized they had an intruder. A detail of Marines surrounded me, with carbines leveled. A group of Secret Service agents hustled the President out of the room. I gave them time to clear the doorway. The officer in charge of the Marine detail was puffing himself up to demand my identification, or some such nonsense. I vanished, and reappeared in the hallway, in front of the elevator the president was being led to.

"Mr. President. I am here to help. My forces are also fighting the aliens. I only need a few moments of your time," I said, as I spread my arms to show I had no weapons. The hail of pistol fire from the Secret Service agents struck me at point blank range. Bullets ricocheted, others struck the walls and the elevator doors. I waited for them to empty their magazines. It was obvious they required a demonstration of power. They had started to reload when I formed a fireball, and flung it at the nearest agent. Flames enveloped his body, flaring, then dying away. The other agents were paralyzed. I seized the initiative.

"Mr. President, your Air Force is being decimated. On the ground your forces cannot withstand the hover killers." I decided there was no gain in sparing his feelings, "You will lose this war in a day because you are not prepared. You cannot lead this fight. You cannot match my forces. I demand that you keep out of our way. My warriors will defeat these invaders. You have no talent for war, and this battle is worthy of the Goddess of War."

As the Marine detail crowded into the hallway, and the Secret Service agents pulled the President behind them, I vanished with a flash. I had spent three precious minutes on a flabby ex-lawyer and his cowboy wannabe guards. It felt like a waste of my time.

I reappeared on the bridge of the Ares…the dozens of bullet wounds were already healing, but my uniform remained tattered. There was no blood. Gods don't bleed. Again I had shocked my crew into silence. They stared at me. They must have had a thousand questions. Now was not the time. Lt. McClellan was the first to regain his composure.

"Commander on the bridge," he announced, as if anyone needed to be told, then he gulped, and added, "Xena, course and speed are stable. ETA to Athens is now seven minutes and eighteen seconds."

"Very good Mr. McClellan." I said as I left to get a new uniform, "I believe the New Air Force will not bother us anymore…I've just had a chat with the President."

Oops, why did I say that? Often the best thing to do is minimize a disturbing situation, not make it more bizarre. I didn't want my warriors' focus diverted from the battle ahead by speculation about my behavior. Making the ship jump from Jupiter to Earth might be explained by technology, but I had vanished and reappeared twice without explanation, the second time reappearing full of bullet wounds. McClellan and a couple others had been close enough to see my flesh healing through the holes in my uniform. I hadn't been wearing body armor. The rumors would be flying. Oh well. As I changed into the fresh uniform, the silliest thought crossed my mind, and I laughed out loud. I should have appeared to the President as a snake-haired Gorgon. When I returned to the bridge, that thought kept playing in my mind, and it took heroic control to keep from giggling in front of my crew.

"Xena, we are crossing the Hellespont, forty seconds to Athens," Lt. McClellan reported, "sensors indicate two alien ships on the ground. There are hover killers roaming the city, and there is something going on at the Acropolis."

Something was going on at the Acropolis…I could feel it in every fiber of my being. I had to see what it was.

"Target the alien ships, Mr. McClellan," I ordered, "from now on, they aren't going anywhere."

"Yes Commander," he said, then turning to the weapons officer he ordered, "prepare the x-ray laser for firing, target the alien ships, fire on my mark."

"Mr. McClellan, I am going to investigate the Acropolis. You will have command of the Ares." I said as I turned to go, "Attempt to destroy the hover killers if possible, but watch for alien ships appearing. Remember, they can jump."

He looked at me, and for once I couldn't read his expression.

"Xena, we will do all we can," he said gravely, then he added, "god speed, and good luck."

"Thank you, and may the Gods bless your efforts." I whispered, as I disappeared.

I watched my ship from the entrance to a cave on the north side of the Acropolis. The Ares was barrel-rolling and tumbling in an aerial ballet. As it wheeled over the city there was a resounding blast, and one of the alien ships exploded, sending fragments into the sky. The Ares turned and made a pass, buzzing the Acropolis right above me, then it soared vertically and back-flipped, twisting as it hurtled towards the ground. It came into the city again so low I saw dust drawn up into its wake. It was able to hit the second alien as it lifted off. There was an electromagnetic pulse, just one, delivered at an up angle so it wouldn't hit the city. It caught the fleeing alien amidships, causing it to incandesce for a heartbeat before it exploded. The Ares passed unscathed through the fireball and sped north, gaining altitude to continue its attack.

I entered the Acropolis through the ruins of the postern door in the north wall. I hugged the ruined wall, passing unseen into the courtyard of the House of the Arrephoroi. The marching feet of an army echoed in the plaza alongside the Parthenon. Moving from cover to cover in the rubble, I worked my way into the courtyard behind the Erchtheion, through a ruined portico, and onto the stairs.

I could see a procession of troops in black and silver. They were marching in companies with trumpets and drums. Others stood in ranks with their backs towards me. There were hundreds of them, armed with swords and spears. Banners and standards fluttered in the breeze. They were being reviewed from a canopy just out of sight, on the Altar of Athena. I moved closer, hidden in the ruins. I was suspicious, and my senses were ringing alarms in my head. Finally I had a straight line of sight. I could see clearly under the canopy.

I felt the blood in my veins turn to ice. Across the millennia came forgotten feelings that grasped me like Hephaestus' chain. For a moment I was a young warrior again with a freshly bloodied sword. There under the canopy, in the light of the sun, stood Ares, the God of War. Then the scene shifted. The troops and the banners, the canopy and the trumpeters, all shimmered and disappeared. We were alone among the ruins, on the high hill of Athens. He came towards me, smiling, until we stood face to face. He reached out and caressed my cheek with the back of his hand, gentle, and his smile was without guile.

Then he spoke to me, and his voice was still so familiar it tore my heart.

"Xena, I have returned from beyond death to win your heart and soul. Did you forget after all these years? I told you that I love you, and that someday nothing would stand between us. Remember? A God need never lie."

So many feelings ripped through me in that moment. I was a warrior, a Goddess, a leader, and an immortal. Before any of that, I was a human. But first and last, I was a woman. He was the one man who meant more to me than any other. He had been father, teacher, idol, enemy, and savior. I had worshipped him, waged war for him, rebelled against him, fought him, and saved him. He had given me my divinity and my heritage. He had always loved me, and in the depths of my heart I had always felt for him, even when I knew he was bad for me. After two thousand years, I could finally admit I had loved him. I realized tears were streaming down my face. It had been hundreds of years since I had cried. But, what was he like now? How could he be here? I was in the middle of a war. Could we possibly see an eternity together? In that moment, I admitted to myself that it was what I wanted.

"I know you're confused, and you have a million questions, but there's a war going on baby," he said with a grin, "and a world with two war gods should fear nothing. The aliens who have landed are doomed. In a few hours they will die."

I was suspicious…it was starting to feel like old times.

"How can you know that Ares? We know nothing about these aliens. We haven't captured or interrogated even one of them."

"We don't need to Xena. You see, I've got the inside dope on them, straight from the boss. They don't know it yet, but they can't survive on Earth, trust me", he said with a big grin, and he rolled his eyes, making a point of looking at the sky.

"What do you mean, 'the inside dope', and who's this boss you're talking about," I asked, my suspicions rising. I was starting to suspect who he was referring to, but I had to hear it from him.

" I'm talking about the One God Xena, and I don't mean Dahak. He's the big guy now, and I work for Him. Hell, you're working for Him too, you just don't know it."

"Ares, I stopped working for Him 900 years ago, after that wretched First Crusade. And how is it that the God of War is working for the God of Love?"

"Well, love can be seen in severity as well as mercy. You know, spare the rod, and spoil the brat. Love without strength is a force out of balance. It can become a pathway to evil. I'm not the God of Blind and Pointless Conflict, Xena. I have become a God of Righteous Wrath and Holy Retribution. I have a place in the order of things."

He was making sense, and I felt my doubts weaken, "But what about me…you said…"

"You've been driving mankind forward in their ability to wage war, not trying to stamp it out. You have a natural feeling for the necessity of war, and you don't deny its worth. While I've been gone, you have been the Spirit of Battle. And believe me Xena, if you hadn't been needed, you would have found yourself stripped of your powers."

"So how come you're back now?" I asked, since he'd died as a mortal so many years ago.

"Do you know what today is?" he asked in return.

"Yeah, it's March 15th, 2006…the Ides of March."

"It is two thousand years to the day, since I died as a mortal man. As a mortal, my soul passed to judgement before the One God. I had to serve two thousand years for my old sins, before I could return to Earth. Well, I'm back…and I like older women!"

I couldn't help but laugh. It was partly release of stress, partly rediscovering a close relationship that had changed for the better. The world was being invaded by aliens, but I was happy. (Gods, did that ever sound callous).

"All this feel-good stuff is great, but there's a war going on…lets kick some ass."

I would swear he was reading my mind. And when he winked at me I was sure of it.

"Let's go see the mother-ship Xena, your guys are going to do fine with the ones here on Earth."

He put his arms around me, and I didn't resist. I felt his power as we vanished in flames. It was just like the old days.

THE RETURN OF THE GODS

We appeared inside the mother-ship, and it WAS just like the old days. We grabbed a guard in the hallway before he could react. I tried to put a nerve pinch on him, but it didn't work. Ares just grabbed him and lifted him off his feet.

"Tell me how to get to the bridge, or I'll rip your guts out," he snarled, an inch from the guard's face. He ended up showing us the way on a panel readout. Ares threw him against a wall so hard he slumped onto the floor.

We made our way to the bridge of the mother-ship through corridors and lifts. We punched out all the aliens we encountered along the way. They had great weapons, but they couldn't fight. They had lost that edge so long ago it was easy. Most of them only reacted with surprise when they saw us. They were technicians, not warriors. I'm sure they never believed their ship could be invaded. A deadly mistake.

"Xena, lets have some fun. When we get to their bridge, lets take them out the old fashioned way," Ares said with a wolfish grin.

"Ok," I agreed, "no god tricks".

Finally we came to the doors of their bridge, and we blasted them open.

I had a sword in my hand when we invaded the bridge, and it sang a song of blood. The aliens looked like men, and they bled like men. They fought us with handheld beam weapons, powered down so as not to destroy their own ship. They were too slow. Ares moved as fast as lightning, always a step ahead of his enemies. In the end, the weapons didn't matter. Fighting hand to hand has always been a matter of speed and practiced ferocity. When it was done, we stood together on the empty bridge, surrounded by the bodies of the fallen.

In the space at the center of the bridge, the air shimmered, and with flames and flashes of lightning, six figures appeared. Four male and two female, dressed in armor and leather, like warriors of old. They were armed with swords. They spread out across the bridge to keep us at bay.

"The last of the renegades," said one of the males, "your sires fled from our world, and ruled the mortals here as Gods."

"It is our fortune to capture or kill you, for the bounty on your heads has grown great over the centuries," said one of the women, "your choice."

Ares and I just looked at each other, a glance passing between us.

"Glad to know somebody out there's heard of us," Ares quipped.

"Give it your best shot," I said, summoning all my menace, "I knew there were Gods involved with the aliens when their ships jumped away from Jupiter. I'm glad you finally worked up the guts to show yourselves."

"Brave words," the woman said, "Lets see how you do when you're not fighting mortals."

She leaped to attack Ares. He sidestepped, spinning away from her sword arm, and as he finished the spin, his sword sliced away her left arm and shoulder. As she staggered forward from the blow, he reversed his grip and impaled her. Her body vanished, as her sword clattered to the floor.

Two of the men charged at me from the front. I flipped over them and impaled one of the others who hung back blocking the doors. They hadn't seen that coming, and I began to wonder if they were complete pushovers.

"Two down, and four to go," Ares called to me from across the bridge.

Now I was trading blows with the other woman, and she was an outstanding fighter. Her sword moved with the assurance and grace of a natural born warrior. Ares was holding off two of the men, advancing and retreating…it looked like a stalemate. The last man moved to join the woman I was fighting. This would be tough. I flipped over the woman's sword, and landed behind the man. I kicked him in the back, sending him sprawling onto the floor between the woman and I. It gave me a second. He flipped back onto his feet and joined the woman, to attack me from two sides. I rolled out from between them, and they came after me side by side. Across the bridge, Ares had smashed one of his attackers in the face with the pommel of his sword, stunning him. Then, with a crescent kick, he sent him head over heels onto the floor.

As the man and woman I was fighting pressed me, I gave way, parrying and blocking their blows. They advanced, slashing furiously, trying to force me to make an error. In the next moment, I let them think just that. I feigned a stumble, and to recover I had to roll over my left shoulder. The woman's sword slashed so close to my leg I could feel the blade nick my boot. Then I was rolling to my feet grasping the forgotten sword of the woman Ares had killed at the start of the fight. The next time they came at me, I spun, deflecting the man's sword with one blade, and slashing the woman across the chest. I continued the spin, moving to put her between the man and I, and when I came around again, I buried the borrowed sword in her neck, nearly taking her head off. It happened so fast that she was still swinging her sword at the place where I had been, when her body disappeared. The man attacking me looked shocked, and I pressed him with my sword. He was no match for me. It was just a matter of time.

Ares had forced one of his opponents into a corner, then kicked him in the stomach so hard he doubled over. His second opponent charged at his back, but he was too quick. He dodged the oncoming sword, and tripped the man, shoving him into the first. He impaled him. Ares was laughing at him as the other man's body disappeared. In a blind rage, the remaining enemy raised his sword, and charged at Ares. Ares dropped into a low front stance, and drove his sword into the attacker so hard he was lifted into the air, and flew over him.

At almost the same time, I backhanded the man I was fighting, whipping his head to his right. My right hand followed the left, like a swinging double punch, but my right hand held my sword. It crashed across his temple, opening his head, and separating his jaw from his skull. Ares' and then my opponent disappeared almost at the same time.

We looked at each other across the bloody bridge, and I gave my war cry, something I'd given up long ago. Then I went to him, and kissed him, as his arms came up to embrace me.

Now for the payoff of our battle. I found the navigation controls, and discovered how they jumped. I learned enough that I could send their ship on a jump into the sun. Not so long ago I had contemplated that same trip, yearning for the Pyre of the Gods. Now I wouldn't have let go of life for all the riches of ten worlds.

I set the controls to co-ordinates 000x000x000, and triggered the helm to execute the jump. Then we vanished together. We watched the jump from the stillness of space. (A God need never breath). I saw that the Hestia, Poseidon, and Hermes had been attacking the mother-ship, and they were suddenly engaging empty space. With the vision of Gods, we saw the flare on the sun's face, marking the passing of the alien ship.

When we reappeared on the Acropolis we could hear the sounds of the battle in the city. The Ares was spinning overhead, directing pulses at the hover killers in the city.

"Xena, that ship's one of yours isn't it," Ares asked, watching it with admiration, "you can order them all to stand down."

"What do you mean, Ares," I asked, for it was strange to hear the God of War advising a retreat.

"I told you, these aliens are doomed. They have only a few hours of life once they land," he replied, "there's no use jeopardizing your warriors, trust me."

I laughed, remembering all the times he'd said that. Times when I could count on him betraying every bargain we made. But now…now I knew I could trust him.

"Ok," I said, smiling, "I'll trust you."

I took the com link from my belt, and hailed all of my forces. On twelve ships, at my base in the Pacific, and among all the land forces my voice was heard.

"Attention…Attention. This is Xena of Amphipolis, ΑΩθπΣΦΔΨ, this is a direct order. All forces disengage and return to base. I repeat. All forces disengage and return to base. I will meet you there."

Overhead, the Ares spiraled up into the sky, then banked into the east, headed for the base in the mid-Pacific. Within the orbit of the moon, the five ships from my sortie to Jupiter joined the Hestia, Poseidon, and Hermes, and adjusted their courses for home. Over North and South America, the Zeus, Apollo, and Athena broke away from the alien ships they were attacking. In the Americas, and in Europe, my troops silenced their ground-based weapons, moved to their assembly points, and entered troop carriers. The aliens continued with their dispersal and occupation.

"I hope you know what you're doing," I said to Ares, "if something goes wrong, it will be almost impossible to beat them once they have control on the ground. There are too many of them for my forces to handle, and the old armies are almost useless."

"I know, I know," Ares said, "But have a little faith. It's God's world too, and He's been preparing for this longer than you have."

Daily code identifying Xena of Amphipolis: Alpha,Omega,theta,pi,Sigma,Phi,Delta,Psi

THE SECRET WEAPON

In the air, in the earth, and in the sea there was a secret weapon hiding. This planet was protected against invaders from the very beginning. It was almost a case of reality imitating art, for the ending to this story had already been written. Back in 1898, a failed science teacher, who was a man of uncommon foresight, had written a novel about space invaders…invaders from Mars rather than another solar system, but alien invaders none the less. The Martians had succumbed in the end through no doing of man, for men had been powerless to stop them. When the invaders came to Earth in 2006, we could fight them, and we might have won, but again, it was unnecessary. The Earth was protected.

All across the globe, the hover killers ceased their attacks. The alien ships dropped from the skies, or lay dead where they had landed. In every nation, the invading soldiers slumped to the ground, dying horribly. They couldn't retreat and they couldn't go home. As Ares had said, they were doomed.

They were beaten, in the end, not by the weapons of man, or the strategy of a Goddess. They were defeated by the smallest of living things. Just as in H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds", the viruses and the bacteria, to which we were immune, proved deadly to the aliens. They were the secret weapon which the One God had blessed the Earth with from the very beginning. Being the first living things, they armed all quarters, and created a defense for all the life forms that came after. They have been mutating and evolving for over three billion years. They change within months, defeating our own antibiotics. No invader could have prepared for or neutralized such a defense. Having no immunity, the aliens contracted myriad combinations of infections of the most potent virulence. Truly, by the grace of God we were victorious.

PART TWO

THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS

INTRODUCTION

Long ago, in a time of ancient Gods, Warlords, and Kings, the schemes of Sisyphus and Hades allowed me to secretly become the Goddess of War and Strategy. Within a few years, Ares, the Great God of War, became a mortal man, sacrificing his immortality to aid me in battle. The war of the Olympians against my daughter, the Twilight of the Gods, brought destruction to seven of the twelve major Gods and Goddesses. Afterwards, I remained the Incarnation of the Spirit of Battle, and for over two thousand years I worked to prepare mankind for an invasion that I sensed would come. Finally, in the second half of the twentieth century, I reclaimed my ancient mantle of warlord, raised a shadow army, and created the most powerful defensive force the world had ever known. As the twenty-first century began, the prowess of my warriors and our twelve warships was unmatched. We could have dominated the planet. Yet even a Goddess cannot foresee all that is to come. There was a Power above me, and as battle raged, Ares, my God of War, returned from death, and an ancient weapon was revealed.

THE FOLLOW UP TO THE INVASION

(Or Last War, On Xena)

In 2006, an alien invasion acted as a diversion for a troop of bounty hunters who intended to capture Ares and I for some kind of intergalactic reward. They had said we were the "last of the renegades", and claimed, "your sires fled our world, and ruled the mortals here as Gods". I doubt the bounty hunters would have been broken hearted if their invasion had succeeded. After all, settling down to rule the Earth, as Gods themselves, would have been a good backup plan. I would have done the same thing if I were still a bloodthirsty warlord. You always need a fallback position in any campaign, it's just good strategy.

In the end, the invasion failed. I would love to claim the forces of my shadow army had defeated them. That's just not the truth. When I started writing this history, I promised my long lost soul mate and favorite that I'd tell the truth. The truth is that terrestrial microbes had infected the alien soldiers, and wiped them out on the first day of their invasion. True, a newly resurrected Ares and I had invaded their mother ship, beaten the bounty hunters in an old fashioned sword fight, and sent the mother ship into the sun. Not bad for a day's work I guess. Well anyway, the Earth was saved, Ares and I got together after a couple thousand years, and a lot of alien technology almost fell into human hands. There was also a major mess to clean up. The invading force numbered thirty-one landing craft, each a mile in diameter, about three hundred hovering killers, and about thirty thousand alien soldiers. These are the ones who made it to Earth. Nine landing craft were destroyed on the far side of Jupiter by my warships. Of those who came to earth, my forces, and the New Air Force of the United States, destroyed another twelve.

A war, like an illness requires a time of recovery and healing. The destruction of even a day of modern war can take years to be healed. I sent my forces to take possession of as much of the alien technology as possible, and we acted quickly, while the world's governments were still in shock. We couldn't collect everything, but only a couple ships and a handful of hover killers escaped our immediate acquisition. Ares and I went time after time to the sites of the alien wreckage, appearing in a ship or hover killer, and disappearing with it, transporting it to my base in the mid-Pacific. Some we took as Military Intel cadres approached. Some we took before they arrived. The last ones, we took from government labs within a couple days. I know mortals, and I felt that the alien technology was too deadly for their possession. After all, my own ships were the results of human development based on the Roswell crashes from the forties. When we had rounded up everything the aliens brought to Earth, I let my scientists go through it all. They were so excited, like the cliché kids on Christmas Day, tearing into the alien hardware, and even the bodies of the aliens themselves. We left it to the governments of the world to clean up the damage the aliens had done.

The U.S. President in particular was furious. He broadcast demands and ultimatums in all directions, requiring me to share not only the alien technology, but my own as well. Ares and I ignored him. After a few weeks he stopped sputtering, realizing he couldn't command me, and only appeared impotent. I had paid him an insulting visit during the war, and my initially helpful gesture earned me a few dozen bullet wounds. Someone once said, "no good deed goes unpunished". Ares and I let him stew…we would deal with him at our convenience, not his. Such is the prerogative of Gods.

There were some unanswered questions in my mind. Things which the war brought up. The most troubling was the bounty hunters. Where were they from? Was there a whole world full of them, and if so, where? Would they come after us again? What about the aliens and their civilization? Ares and I spent many days talking about these issues, but in the end there was no way to find out, unless they showed up again. And a big "no thank you" to that offer.

"Ares, I'm worried about the bounty hunters. There are probably more of them out there, and they could show up anytime," I said while we watched the scientists in one of my labs, "what's to stop them from invading us and starting a new race of Gods?"

"Us," he replied.

"You aren't worried at all are you?"

"What me worry, baby," he said with his usual bravado, "we kicked their asses, they'd be suicidal to show up here. Besides, we aren't alone in this you know."

"Ares, a secret weapon is only a secret until you use it. I'm not going to relax and depend on a bunch of germs to keep the world safe again."

"Xe, it's not just germs. There are other Powers, other defenses. Just relax, hon, the big guy isn't going to let a bunch of aliens take over…this is His show."

"Yeah, yeah, He's the one who needed me to do away with the other Olympians, and put a new king in hell," I said, reminding him that God hadn't done everything, "I think we should be ready, just in case. After all, He let Zeus take over way back when, and maybe Zeus wasn't the best or brightest of the race of the renegades."

"Well, keep a couple of your ships flying if it makes you feel better."

"I just wish you'd be a little more concerned."

"I just wish you had a little more faith," he replied, "but you're right, He did let Zeus take over…LET being the important word here. When He was ready for a change, Zeus was history."

"Wait a second, are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Yeah. He used Zeus to clear out some leftovers…the Titans, and the Old Ones. He wanted mankind to get used to the idea of their Gods looking like people, like us. I mean, let's face it…who would have accepted His son if Jesus had looked like a sea cucumber?"

I chewed on that for awhile as I watched the scientists preparing to test a particle beam weapon they'd removed from a hovering killer. They had set up a target, and attached a power source. Ares came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. I leaned back against his chest. Below us in the lab the scientists had retreated behind a force-wall, and put on shield helmets. A klaxon sounded. Suddenly there was a whump, and a blinding white beam sizzled the air. In under a second it had pierced a six-foot thick steel plate. The beam stopped dead where it met a force-wall, and then it ceased. We could smell ozone. The scientists examined the plate, and congratulated each other. One of them looked up, and seeing us made a "thumbs up" sign. We would have the beam weapons installed on our ships within a week.

"Well that was hot," Ares joked as he took my hand, "come on Xe, let me show you something."

My scientists, so nonchalant in their investigation of the alien weapon, jumped as we vanished in a flash of lightning and flames.

WHAT WAS AND WHAT SHALL EVER BE

Granite cliffs fell sheer to the pounding surf two thousand feet below, and the reddish sun cast lengthening shadows on the columns and arches in the hall. A ring of sixteen thrones circled the meeting space, open to the sky. Six of the thrones sat empty. A shadow cast into the circle struck the red stone inlaid at the center. The figure on the South throne rose and addressed the other nine.

"We have all felt the loss of our brothers and sisters. They no longer exist in time. In success their hunt has failed. They have been cast into the void."

The figure on the East throne rose and spoke.

"For the renegades they sought, and finding them, by the renegades they have been destroyed."

The figure on the North throne rose and spoke.

"Behold, the renegades have become strong in their prowess, and as warriors they have endured. Such is the legacy of our way."

The figure on the West throne rose and spoke.

"Still the riddle remains: Two rings that hold the dark and light, And through eternity remain, No hand of man shall hold the right, For joining them shall be our bane."

In the silence that followed the image of a figure formed in the red stone, a warrior in leather and bronze, and from his anguished face his voice echoed in the circle.

"My son, my son, why have you betrayed us."

THE CAUSE OF FAITH

I didn't know where Ares was taking me, or what he wanted to show me, but I trusted him, and let him take me where he would. We reappeared outside time and the world, in a place I'd never seen before. It was a high meadow among clouds, where the sun shone brightly, and a gentle breeze blew. There was a familiar feel to the place, but I knew I'd never been there. In the meadow were many figures, some with wings of black and some with wings of white.

"They can't see or hear us, but they are angels and archangels," Ares whispered to me, "you never came to this part of heaven. I don't know if we're really here, or if this is a vision. All I know is we can't interact."

"Why did you bring me here," I said.

My heart was deeply troubled, for my only memories of heaven were twisted with pain. I had been here with Gabrielle when we had died together, crucified by the Romans. I had tried to defy the Holy Order to be with her, for I had given up my purity and become a demon. Ares wrapped his arms around me in comfort, and I could see the sadness in his eyes.

"Wait, and watch," he said, "what you see will bring you joy and tears."

As I watched the angels and archangels moving about on their business, one came towards us. A figure with the black wings of an archangel. I fell to my knees, and my heart broke. I knew that figure. In two thousand years I could never forget her. Never, never, never in a million years would I forget her. Through the blur of my tears my voice croaked as I whispered her name.

"Gabrielle."

Of all the company of heaven she alone seemed to be searching for something or someone, and though she looked through us as she drew near, she stopped only an arm's length away. I stood, and saw her clearly, the sun-lightened hair I knew was silky to the touch. The piercing green eyes which had held my own so many times. The lips that had called my name, and had given me so much hope and brought so much laughter. As I watched, her eyes filled, and a single tear overflowed. I reached out, but I could not touch her face. Though she was looking right at me she gave no sign of recognition, yet I heard her whisper.

"Xena where are you."

Then she turned away, and walked back across the meadow the way she had come. But as she turned, I noticed something I hadn't marked before. At her waist, on a brass belt hook, hung the chakram that I had lost so long ago. Then I leaned against Ares sobbing, and I wrapped my arms around his neck. He held me a long time until my breathing quieted, and when I dared to look up I saw on my finger a single tear of gold.

Before he brought me back to the world, to my base in the mid-Pacific, he said one thing to me that I have never forgotten.

"Xena, my beloved, her spirit will never die. As a Goddess you are immortal and cannot join her in heaven, but you must believe that all things in the world change in time. As I too have done, she has waited two thousand years, and kept her love for you alive with hope. In love and hope lies the cause of faith."

It was the first time I truly realized how much he had changed. Then we vanished, and when we reappeared I looked down at my scientists. A blinding white beam sizzled the air. In under a second it had pierced a six-foot thick steel plate. The beam stopped dead where it met a force-wall, then it ceased. We could smell ozone. The scientists examined the plate, and congratulated each other. One of them looked up, and seeing us made a "thumbs up" sign. We would have the beam weapons installed on our ships within a week. This time they didn't have a reason to jump.

"I know you don't like to startle them with God Stuff," he said with a sad smile, "I brought us back while they were busy."

The scientists hadn't noticed our reappearance, and as the timeline had been altered, our disappearance never happened. God Stuff alright.

For a while I was silent, lost in memory, seeing the pictures in my mind from a simpler life. The cherished memories of the years I had spent with Gabrielle so long ago. I was shaken by the sight of her, and by knowing her soul had not been reborn to a new life. I was moved by the knowledge that she still loved and missed me. I realized she knew I had not died. I realized she was still waiting for me after two thousand years. Ares had said love and hope were the cause of faith. Unlike me, love and hope were such a natural part of Gabrielle. The faith that so many strive for, and cling to, was second nature to her. I didn't doubt she had the strength to maintain her faith forever.

Our souls were supposed to be linked, destined to find each other again and again, in life after life. Somehow that promise had never come to pass. I hadn't realized how much I missed her…how much I still loved her.

"Oh Ares," I sobbed, "what happened to all the things we believed in?"

"You became a Goddess," he said softly, "and she became an archangel again. Both of you are outside the order of the world. The cycle of rebirth was broken from both sides."

"I belong with her," I whispered.

"Maybe," he said, "but I sense the One God's Will in this, Xena. After being around Him for two thousand years, I can sense His presence, just as you can sense mine."

God's Will? I knew from long ago just how subtle He could be. When I was first reunited with Ares, he had claimed that I too worked for the One God, whether I willed it or no. If I accepted that, then I had to accept that the One God had a reason for separating Gabrielle and I…for interrupting our destiny, of which it was implicit that He approved. Could two thousand years of loneliness be nothing more than part of the job? Then I thought of Ares. He had taken me to see Gabrielle, knowing I would find again my soul mate, and my desire to be reunited with her…at the cost of my love for him? Oh gods how his heart must have been breaking. To finally win my love, only to lose it again. After waiting for two thousand years just to be reunited with me. Did he know? Yes, of course he did. He had never been stupid, and yet he took me to see her anyway. What kind of God would cause such heartbreak and sorrow? What plan for the greater good could require so much sacrifice and pain? Ares, Ares, I do love you, for this more than all the other things you have done for me, save one. And what could I say to him that would acknowledge his pain and sacrifice. What poor words of comfort could I offer without speaking a lie we both would know. Ares, my heart is breaking too. Between what is, and what shall surely be, there is no clean victory, no happy ending. All choices are tainted with sorrow and guilt. Sometimes even a Goddess and a God are helpless in the arms of fate. I turned and looked at him as he stood before me, and as I had before long ago, I spoke the most pitifully inadequate of words, though they came from my heart.

"Thank you."

WORLD WITHOUT END

In the circle of thrones eight figures rose in greeting as two rejoined the circle. The ten figures seated themselves, and one of the newly arrived figures rose to speak.

"We have followed the trail of the hunters. It leads to a small world that circles a yellow star on the fringe. It circles in the third position, and holds captive a giant moon. Much debris circles this world. It is a strange world, with lands and seas much like ours. It is overrun with life in many forms. There the trail of the hunters ends. Beyond the fifth planet is the debris of attack ships destroyed in battle. The trail of the transport ship ends in the yellow star."

The second newly arrived figure rose and spoke.

"Many powers inhabit this planet, but they inhabit different planes. Some we can see, and some we cannot see. The spawn of the renegades is there, but the renegades are gone. Though they are few, the spawn turned against the hunters, and threw them into the void. There are many mortals, and many machines which seem to live. They have many weapons, but we could not see the rings. They are not there."

The figure on the South throne rose and spoke.

"If the rings are not there then we have nothing to fear, for we outnumber the spawn."

The figure on the East throne rose and spoke.

"To avenge our brothers and sisters, to this world we shall lay siege."

The figure on the North throne rose and spoke.

"Beware, for the spawn destroyed the hunters yet they were outnumbered. They are strong in their prowess. They are warriors."

The figure on the West throne rose and spoke.

"There is danger and there is doom. There are powers that we cannot see. There are powers on many planes. The renegades took the rings in their betrayal, yet the rings are not there. There is treachery on this world. One of the Great Powers is on this world, for there are so many forms of life. This is a Cardinal world. Through future colonies it shall endure. This is a world without end."

The figure on the South throne spoke again.

"If the renegades could thrive on this world, then so shall we, with the blessing of the Great Power there."

The figure on the East throne spoke again.

"To rule as Gods on a Cardinal world would a great victory be."

The figure on the North throne spoke again.

"Beware the enemy within, lest the hubris in your heart destroy us."

The figure on the West throne spoke again.

"On a Cardinal world a Great Power rules to it's own desire, and even the Gods may be scattered in the wind of it's passing. Yet to this world we shall lay siege for vengeance, in our brothers' and sisters' names."

The figure in the red stone spoke in a voice that echoed in the circle.

"My son, thy betrayal has doomed thyself, and thy family, for the riddle is a prophecy. The rings survive from a Cardinal world long ago abandoned. They were the creation of the Great Power that first separated dark and light. If the rings have been joined, then it's wounds will kill Gods of your generation, yet leave the spawn untouched. In vengeance for the dead you shall doom the living, and all shall be lost."

THE KINGDOM

In the weeks that followed I again felt the sense of impending danger which had accompanied me for centuries before the invasion. I wasn't wholly sure that my emotional upset wasn't the cause, but being a warrior I valued preparedness above all else. Two weeks after the equinox I ordered three ships to patrol at all times, and we again watched the sky.

Several days after my warships resumed patrol, there was an incident involving the U.S. New Air Force. Fate required that the Ares be involved. Now under the command of Adam McClellan, recently promoted to Captain, the Ares was over the North Atlantic travelling from Europe on a routine flight path. At 0400 GMT, the Ares was approached by a squadron of eight American saucers. The following exchanges come from the A/V recorder aboard the Ares.

"Captain, we are being hailed," the communications officer reported.

"Audio on, Mr. Davis," Capt. McClellan ordered.

"Aye, Capt."

"Unknown warship, this is the New Air Force Theta Squadron. You are in a NATO airspace. Identify yourself at once," their squadron leader transmitted.

"This is the Ares. We are on routine Atlantic patrol. Please do not approach. Maintain a twenty-mile radius. This is a safety warning. We are at DefStat 2 condition. Hostile actions will not be tolerated," Capt. McClellan replied. This is a standard warning when my forces are at DefStat 2. At this condition level my forces will accept no interference.

"Ares, you are regarded as a suspect foreign power. You are operating in defiance of NSC guidelines, and are within NATO sovereign airspace. We require that you accept our escort, and make landfall at Reykjavik, Iceland base. Do you copy, Ares?"

"Theta Squadron leader, this is the Ares. Conditions are unacceptable. We will not comply. Do not approach. Maintain a twenty-mile radius. This is a safety warning. Hostile actions will not be tolerated. I repeat. Do not approach," Capt. McClellan said. At the same time, he ordered his communications officer to inform my command center of the developing situation. I ordered the Apollo and the Athena off patrol. They were to converge with the Ares by the most expedient courses…about six minutes.

"Ares, refusal is not acceptable. Procedures are dictated by the lawful charter of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. You must comply or you will be forced down. I repeat, you are required to accept our escort, and make landfall at Reykjavik base."

"This is the Ares. We do not recognize your authority. We accept orders only from our own commander. We will not comply. I repeat. We will not comply. You are within twenty-seven miles and closing. Do not approach. I repeat. Do not approach."

With these ships, seven miles disappears in seconds. The twenty-mile radius allows only one course correction and adjustment for the New Air Force fighters. We had made maneuvering advancements on our warships, and they were perhaps two generations beyond anything the New Air Force had.

The Theta Squadron continued closing on the Ares, and as they crossed the twenty-mile radius, McClellan knew he had them.

"Weapons officer, charge the x-ray laser and initiate a full force-wall shield," he ordered.

"Aye, Capt."

Captain McClellan had ordered the giant capacitors within the Ares to build a charge of 1.5 x 10¹³ joules. A sphere of visible distortion surrounded the ship. Within two seconds the Ares was glowing blue-white, and shedding gamma radiation. The g-rays built up within the force-wall shield to create a radiant weapon. Upon collapse of the force-wall, the gamma rays would kill anything within a twenty-mile radius, literally roasting metal, plastic, and living tissue. A body so exposed would explode in less than 1/100 of a second. This was a passive-aggressive tactic.

Sensors aboard the Ares monitored the inter-ship communications between the Theta squadron fighters.

"Theta leader to Theta squadron, they were radiating g-rays, then nothing. What's going on?"

"Theta 6 to Theta leader, long-range visual of the Ares is distorted, but the ship is glowing. I don't like this."

"Theta 4 to Theta squadron, remember that briefing we got about this ship from the survivors of the Epsilon squadron? It destroyed two alien ships at the same time, but before it fired it was radiating g-rays. Two E-squad ships were roasted."

"Theta leader to Theta squadron, maintain intercept course. Those bastards are fuckin' with Old Glory, and we can't let that pass."

"Roger that Theta leader."

They didn't have a chance. Capt. McClellan ordered full stop, which maintains a ship's celestial position and negates the Earth's rotation. Before they could react, the New Air Force fighters had closed to within three miles of the Ares. From the mesosphere the Apollo and Athena power-dived to meet them. Glowing blue-white, they came like flaming bolts out of the near black where the unblinking stars are bright. They stopped their fall to bracket both the Ares and the Theta squadron, orbiting them at a seven-mile radius, like the twin electrons of a helium atom, creating a spherical shell. The Ares at the center glowed within its force-wall shield, nova bright, utterly blinding to the New Air Force crews. The trap was sprung, now for the test of wills.

Ares and I appeared in the New Air Force command center, at National Security Council headquarters. With lightning and flames we materialized in their situation room, where a huge screen showed the view from the Theta squadron's cameras. It was blasted out…the screen completely white. Ares made a gesture, and the screen darkened, filtering the image to make it visible. I addressed the commanders, as their guards belatedly surrounded us.

"General Reusch, General Abbot, Mr. Hewitt, we have a situation," I said with a smile, "your Theta squadron has managed to enter my trap in pursuit of one of my warships. How dare you interfere with my forces?"

"Who the hell are you, and how did you get in here?" General Abbot countered.

"General, please leave this to me…it is an intelligence matter, not a military matter," Hewitt said with forced restraint, "we cannot gain anything by force, for I guess we are in no position to make demands."

"You're the brains of this outfit?" I asked, knowing Dean Hewitt had been head of both the CIA, and the NSC, and had been in charge of U.S. intelligence, under four administrations, for over twenty years.

"I guess you could say that. I have never met a Goddess, " he said with a slight smile, then nodded to Ares, "or a God before."

"What the hell are you talking about…are you crazy?" General Reusch interrupted.

"I told you I would handle this." Hewitt said more forcefully, " Neither of you can recognize your most valuable allies, or keep from provoking them. If they didn't have centuries of patience you would both be dead in a heartbeat."

"Believe him," Ares said, "and by the way, she's the one with the patience, not me."

The generals were seething, but Hewitt was in charge. He probably told the President off too. I knew enough about him to know the President should be scared of him. In some ways, the United States was his kingdom, and in his kingdom even some high ranking people went missing. No one overruled him on national security issues.

"Mr. Hewitt, we have to reach an agreement very quickly. Your pilots are having difficulty with restraint. I believe their orders are to try to shoot their way out of such situations where possible?"

"Yes," he confirmed, "and yes, an agreement for future situations is a necessity."

"Do you know what you are looking at, now that the screen is showing an image?" Ares asked him.

"High energy radiation, type unknown, contained around your central ship in an undetermined manner." He looked at me and continued, "I would guess the results of a containment failure are lethal, and that failure is under the control of your crew. That's all I can be sure of based on our reports of your forces' actions during the invasion last month."

"That's accurate enough," I replied, "this is only a passive tactic. If your crews fire on my ship, it will elect to breach its force-wall. Your ship's fire will not pass the force-wall. They cannot harm my ships. Because of my two other ships, they cannot withdraw. They can surrender unconditionally, which we prefer, or they can be destroyed."

"Flawless battle tactics," Hewitt replied, "I would expect no less from the Goddess of War. We surrender. I don't want to sacrifice our crews needlessly, but more important, I don't want us to be enemies. We got off on the wrong foot when you came to see the President. I'm sorry about the Secret Service overreaction. They were stressed."

"That's acceptable, as far as it goes," I said, "but I want it clear to all the armed forces everywhere that they are never to interfere with my forces. We are concerned with the defense of the Earth, not with the acquisition of territory on it."

"Make them understand they can't beat us, and we don't want to have to beat them," Ares said, "we've got more deadly enemies in our sights."

"Another alien incursion?" Hewitt asked, making the connection in a flash. He was smart, and he didn't miss a thing. Our conditions were expected sooner or later, and didn't seem to concern him much. I realized that they were a military matter to him.

"Perhaps," I replied, "I suspect another assault soon, and I have placed my forces on alert."

It seemed we had reached an agreement. There was nothing further to discuss. Ares and I vanished. Moments later I ordered my three ships to stand down, and I saw the New Air Force squadron fly off in the other direction….whipped.

AND THE POWER

A week later the assault I had expected began with the materialization of two mother ships in low orbit over the Earth. This time there was no stealth, no warning, no chance of waylaying the invaders before they reached us. They had learned their lesson well…once burned, twice wary applies everywhere in the galaxy. Within twelve minutes all of my warships had moved to engage the enemy. Joined by the New Air Force, we barricaded their flight paths, hoping to keep them from landing any of their attack ships. At first it appeared to be a stalemate. They made no move to release the numerous smaller ships. Perhaps they knew enough about their earlier failure to be wary of landing, but if there was to be no landing, then there could be no goal to the invasion, except Ares and me. Perhaps this was only a great posse coming to apprehend the renegades. Perhaps the Earth would be spared. That would almost be acceptable.

We waited. Ares and I had materialized in Washington, D.C. to meet with Dean Hewitt. He had become a valuable contact for us, reigning in the impulsive President, and using him to manage the Congress. Where the U.S. led, the rest of the nations would follow. In a way, the whole world had become Hewitt's kingdom. Not bad for a South Carolina army brat.

Then all hell broke loose. From the mother ships over fifty landing ships emerged. The battle plan Ares and I had agreed on with Dean Hewitt left the New Air Force to rain fire on the emerging ships, while my twelve warships would deal with the ones who got past them. A lot of the aliens got past them, and many more would have if not for the heroics of Delta squadron. All eight fighters of the Delta squadron, realizing they were outclassed by the alien ships, chose a suicidal maneuver which will be long remembered in the military history of Earth. Ares will make sure those courageous warriors are never forgotten.

Taking advantage of their smaller size, the Delta squadron moved into the dispersing formation of alien landing ships, and flew head-on towards the mother ship's exit portal. Because of their position in the column of enemy ships, they couldn't be fired on. The aliens would have been shooting at each other. They fired continuously at the landing ships, destroying many as they passed by. That was not their objective. Though reduced to five fighters, they breached the mother ship's defenses, and flew into the alien's hanger deck. Once inside, they made kamikaze runs at the command structure that acted as a flight control tower for the departing ships. They overloaded their own reactors, turning their ships into fusion torpedoes. Three of the New Air Force fighters managed to crash into the command structure, causing so much damage that almost twenty alien ships were trapped inside. This meant that close to two hundred hover killers and twenty thousand enemy troops never joined the battle. Their attack was recorded, from their onboard cameras, at the New Air Force command center. Those images are now almost a cliché for patriotism and self-sacrifice. The Delta squadron's attack is studied by every military cadet in every branch of the service, and there is not a single American school child that hasn't seen the footage.

There were many other outstanding acts of bravery in the skies over Earth that day, as mankind fought for its continued freedom. My warships attacked the aliens relentlessly, and all the while their tactics and capabilities were being analyzed by military experts on Earth. To say they were astonished would be an understatement.

Over the South American rainforests of the Amazon basin, my warships Apollo and Hera engaged a squadron of six enemy ships. The enemy ships were attacking from a formation, and so my ships applied a fast moving and unpredictable attack pattern. They combined to engage the aliens from two sides, making high-speed feints and firing runs. In this attack pattern, they minimized the disadvantage of being outnumbered by always keeping the enemies in each others' lines of fire. They made their attack runs keeping two or more of the alien ships perfectly lined up behind each other. They fired both x-ray laser beams, and electromagnetic pulses. As they flew, they corkscrewed or wove erratically so as to present an inconsistent and difficult target. The aliens couldn't fire on them with any accuracy.

The Apollo lined up a target, with another enemy ship behind it. The approach was made with the sun at the Apollo's back, making visual and infrared tracking impossible. At only a half-mile from the targets, the Apollo struck the nearest alien ship with an electromagnetic pulse series. In the three-quarters of a second it took the Apollo to close with and pass the nearer target, over a hundred pulses lashed out, shifting from the first to the second target as he passed. Behind the Apollo, first one, then the other enemy ship incandesced from the absorbed energy, and exploded. By the time the debris sphere began to expand, the Apollo was far beyond the blast zone.

In the confusion of their destruction, the Hera swept up from below, glowing blue-white with deadly gamma radiation. Two beams lanced out from the Hera as she passed through the center of the ruined enemy formation, and two more of their ships exploded. In a second and a half she was two miles above the targets, back flipping to reverse her course and resume the attack. But ill fate was with her that day, and as she lined up the remaining two aliens for a diving attack, another three enemy ships dropped from the cloudbank to the south to intercept her. From the west, the Apollo hurtled in to cover for her, and from a distance of almost fifteen miles a projectile from his electromagnetic launcher punctured one of the alien ships, causing it to flip end over end into the jungle below. At 27% of the speed of light, the projectile had struck the target before the weapons officer had lifted his finger from the firing button. Still, two enemy ships were closing on the Hera from the south. There were also two ships remaining from the original squadron she was engaging. She targeted the original two with electromagnetic pulses, but the Apollo was closing too fast. She aborted the firing, closed her force-wall shield, and rammed one of the enemy ships instead. At the speed the Hera was moving, it was like a bullet hitting an alabaster egg.

The two incoming aliens waited for her to drop her shielding. As the Hera began to glow with gamma radiation prior to an x-ray laser attack, they fired their particle beam weapons. The beams from the two ships were directed through rotating prisms to form a flickering net two miles square. The Hera struck the net at full speed. She absorbed so much energy that for a second she appeared to be a multiple image in blue-white, being stretched like a rubber band. There was no explosion. One moment she was there, the next moment she was gone. Like her namesake two millennia before, the Queen of the Olympians was the first to be lost.

Half a world away, over the sub-continent of India, Zeus and Poseidon were fighting for their lives. Outnumbered six to one at the start of the battle, they were facing two full squadrons of alien ships, the squadron they had engaged, and a second which had reinforced them. My warships were designed to fight at a numerical disadvantage. They had to be. We never intended to build many of them. So we armed them to the teeth, and each ship carried a triple crew. When the second squadron arrived to oppose them, the Zeus and the Poseidon changed tactics. Double teaming their battle stations, and linking their navigation controls, they maintained a distance of a half a mile between them. Then they flew in tandem, revolving around each other like the suns of a double star, covering each other's backs, and multiplying their firepower. As their enemies converged on their position, their flight path described a tumbling spiral, electromagnetic pulses dispersing in a widening sphere around them. The tactic was devastating. Around them seven enemy vessels incandesced, doomed, but the five that remained formed a sphere around them, tracking their procession across the sky with weapons fire. As the population of Srinagar watched the Gods battle above, the five surviving alien ships laced the sky with their particle beams, driving the battle to the West. Whether they drew straws, or acted on orders, no one shall ever know, but two of the alien ships, despairing of victory by normal means, flew into my warships' formation, ramming them, and sacrificing themselves as well. It was a tactic of desperation, but valid on the battlefield against a smaller force. The resulting fireball could be seen for almost two hundred miles, and the shock wave leveled buildings in Islamabad, now only fifty miles away. In a moment I had lost two more of my ships, and two hundred of Earth's finest warriors met their end.

The hand of fate struck down the Hephaestus over the Bering Strait. Having destroyed a lone alien ship with a beam from his x-ray laser, the Hephaestus was suddenly besieged by the remaining five ships of the enemy squadron. They were fighting in the whiteout of a squall, targeting each other by sensors, their weapons lacing the clouds with the lightning of war. The Hephaestus flew within the enemy formation, tricking them into shooting down two of their own ships, while killing another with an electromagnetic pulse. But the pulse was his undoing. Though not a weapon of war, yet still destructive are the forces of nature. The electromagnetic pulse series caused a huge static buildup on the ship's hull, and when an alien ship approached, the discharge of lightning jumped between them. For a second the Hephaestus was blinded, and at the speed the ship was travelling, that second brought doom. The Hephaestus struck the Bering Sea at over 3,500 miles per hour, skipped twice on the surface, and slammed into Gambell, on the tip of St. Lawrence Island.

AND THE GLORY

Ares and I had concluded our meeting with Dean Hewitt. We had agreed to release some of the alien technology, and to have our advisors direct its integration into the U.S. arsenal. By the terms of our agreement, my advisors would answer only to me, and they would not be obstructed by the military command structure. I think Hewitt enjoyed the idea that the generals would have no real control over my men. He also knew I would never agree to having my warriors take orders from them, and he wanted the technology. He had succeeded in achieving through negotiation, what the President had failed to get with his earlier demands. We were all in the oval office, getting his signature on the documents, when we saw the flames, and the flashes of lightning that could only signal the appearance of Gods.

Out on the lawn of the White House, with the Washington Monument in the background, they materialized. There were ten of them, dressed in leather, fur, and coarse fabrics. They wore helms and armor of steel and bronze; bracers, grieves, breastplates, and gauntlets. They bore the weapons of ancient warriors, spear, bow, and sword. They were equally divided, male and female. They stared directly at Ares and me as if the walls of the White House were glass. They stood in a line facing us, and in the center a God stepped forward.

"We have found the spawn of the renegades, and our triumph is at hand."

From the end of the row of figures a Goddess stepped forward.

"Two only are they, yet in battle our hunters did they overcome."

At the far end of the row another Goddess stepped forward.

"Fear not, for the rings are not with them, and they are unarmed."

The God standing next to her in the row stepped forward.

"Still, there are powers unseen about us, and the fate of worlds is not ordained."

Ares and I looked at each other as Dean Hewitt and the President looked on. Their aides had fled in terror, but a detail of secret service agents had entered the oval office.

"Take them to the bunker," I told them, "and keep your heads down."

"Guess it's' time to go to work, baby," Ares said. "looks like we could use our weapons though…now where did I put that sword?"

"Ares, I think they really don't take us seriously," I said with a grin, "and I always did like a fight against overwhelming odds."

"Makes them careless, huh," Ares quipped, "I'll take the ladies, and you can have the boys hon, I know you'll knock 'em dead."

"You're both crazy," Hewitt remarked as the agents dragged him out into the hall, "hope you beat them though, they don't look like they're very reasonable folks."

"We've got a deal," I called after him, "and I always keep my word."

Ares was concentrating on something, but then he smiled and said, "Oh yeah, how could I forget."

There was a flash, and we were in the battle dress we had worn two thousand years ago. I didn't remember that breast-plate being as heavy, but it felt good to have a sword at my back. I drew it, absently spinning it twice on my palm.

"The balance is good," I told him as I watched him draw his own sword.

"It should be, Xe, it's yours…took me awhile to remember where it was though. I don't think the British Museum will miss it a bit. It hasn't been on display since the forties."

"I see you've still got your old blade," I said, looking at the sword that had once made me a Goddess, then glancing at the battered sword in my hand. I swore I'd never lose it again.

"Yeah, the One God gave it back to me when he let me return to the world," he said, "I think he liked it himself though."

"Come forth to your doom," one of Gods yelled from the row of figures on the lawn.

. "Sounds like a challenge to me," I said.

"Nothing like ganging up on us, ya know…kinda rubs me the wrong way," Ares said.

"Me too. Guess we should start by evening the odds," I said with a grin.

"Don't scorch the carpet," Ares joked as we disappeared in flames from the oval office.

We appeared on the White House lawn right behind the row of Gods and Goddesses, and before they knew what hit them we had hewed down three. Then we disappeared again, and materialized twenty feet in front of them. They were still reacting to our surprise attack.

"Hey," I said to Ares with a smile, "no fair…you slashed two of them, and I only got one."

"Kindness to your enemies is cruelty to yourself," Ares replied with a grin.

"Have you noticed the four standing ahead of the others?" I asked him, "I think they're the ones we're going to have trouble with."

"They don't look so tough," Ares said, appraising them like warlords in the old days, "I'll bet it's been forever since they've really had to fight."

"The time has come for you to meet your fate," one of the three secondary Gods said, "and we will beat you without cowardly tricks."

"If you think ten against two is a fair fight, you've got nothing to say," Ares yelled back at him, "this is WAR, boy!"

"Yeah, give it your best shot," I yelled, "and by the way, when you're in our back yard, you play by our rules."

We closed with them. The three who had stayed in the line took the lead at first, the four speakers hanging back. I noticed they were watching us, trying to get a feel for our tactics. I would have done the same with an unknown but deadly enemy. Perhaps they underestimated me, but it was a young looking God who approached me, while a God and a Goddess attacked Ares. The young God I fought was a very good swordsman…not a prodigy, but more than competent. He just didn't know enough tricks of the trade to survive very long. He began by circling me, then opened with a high slashing attack. I tested him by blocking his strokes and shoving his blade away to break his rhythm. He didn't fight my force, but continued with it, pivoting on one foot, and spinning to attack me from the other direction. Again I shoved away his blade, and again he pivoted, to attack from the other direction. I knew his weakness. After trading blows with him face to face, I shoved away his blade for a third time, and as he started to pivot, I leaped over his turned back, landing behind him as he slashed at where I had been. I brought my blade down on his neck from behind, and he fell on his face. A moment later his body disappeared.

Now I joined Ares as he fought the God and Goddess. The Goddess was wielding a spear, and had managed to keep Ares from killing the God, who was armed with a sword. They fought well together, covering for each other, and working their weapons at the long and middle distances. I knew from experience that to best them I would have to neutralize the Goddess with the spear to allow us to get close enough to kill them. I waited for an opening, and leapt in front of her as Ares traded blows with the swordsman. She used the spear like the Romans had, holding it from the end, and attempting to stab with the point. The Chinese field lance, with its flexible shaft, used both ends to attack, by both stabbing and slashing, and I had always found it a more troublesome weapon to defeat. She made rapid controlled movements, parrying my most rapid attacks, and driving me back with the point, using longer thrusts that came from the movement of her body. I was again testing my opponent, probing her techniques to find anything unexpected. She was very quick, very strong, and very predictable. A good technician, but not an artist. I had no doubt that I would kill her.

By now Ares had appraised his opponent, finding the weakness in his repertoire. Being used to fighting with the spear wielding Goddess, he was lazy, and didn't recover well. I watched them out of the corner of my eye as I fought. Ares pressed his enemy, changing speeds to confuse him, then, without warning he unleashed his full speed. His opponent couldn't believe how fast he could move that massive sword using only one hand. Ares slammed both sides of his blade, slapping it to the side, and sliding the tip of his own blade up his arm, slicing him to the bone from the wrist to the shoulder. Shock and pain distorted his face, and he looked at the wound. He was out of position, and couldn't parry when Ares thrust his sword into his chest.

And I saw the reaction I was looking for on the face of the Goddess with the spear. She was either the lover or the sister of the swordsman Ares had killed. When she thrust at me again, there was the slightest decrease in her speed. I spun, rolling up the shaft of her spear, now too close for the way she used it. If she had abandoned the weapon, leapt back, and drawn her own sword, perhaps she could have recovered, but she was hurt by the loss of her loved one. My sword entered her body just above the sternum, and pierced her windpipe before striking her spine. She gave me an astonished look, and then her body vanished. I looked over, and gave Ares a big smile.

"Yeah," he crowed, "we bad, we bad."

"So what about you?" I asked the four who had been watching us, "Seen enough? Going home?"

As if to make a final test, one of the Goddesses notched four arrows in the long bow she carried, and fired them at us. As two arrows came towards me, I leapt high into the air, back flipping, and landed after the arrows had passed. Ares just held out his sword and angled the blade towards the arrows targeting him, using it as a defelade. The arrows struck the blade, deflecting off it and away.

"Is that the best you can do?" he asked.

I took a quick look around us, and noticed, on the other side of the fence surrounding the White House lawn, a news team had set up and were broadcasting our battle with a camera. I couldn't resist waving, and seeing this, Ares looked over at them too…and bowed.

Our four opponents drew their swords and approached us. Ares and I went to meet them. We squared off, each of us facing a God and a Goddess. They were very good fighters. Actually, they were outstanding. They were pathetic tacticians. I would have set three against one, leaving the fourth to hold off the other of us, until the three had made their kill. Then it would have been four against one…one who was already tired. The second kill would have been quick. But they must have been ruled by their own code of honor, and whatever it was, it worked to our advantage that day. They drove us apart, and kept pressing us relentlessly.

Those I fought favored attacking me from two sides, knowing I had only one weapon to fend them off. I expended a lot of energy turning back and forth, defending against their attacks from both sides, and hoping for a mistake or an opening. They made no mistakes, and I realized if there was to be an opening I would have to create it. To make things more difficult, the Goddess was using a main gauche, or parrying dagger, as well as a narrow bladed sword. I had often wielded my chakram with my left hand for this purpose. Now I had to move at high speed constantly, just to keep them away. At one point we had locked swords overhead, and as I blocked their two blades, she stabbed me with her dagger. I felt it pierce my left shoulder. The wound would slow me down until it healed, even though I wouldn't bleed. Ares called my name, and I knew he had seen it. I could only hope it wouldn't break his concentration. She smiled at me then, trying to goad me into an error. It wouldn't work, but it gave me an idea. The next time they closed in, I locked up their blades with my sword, and as she went to stab my chest with the dagger, I turned my wrist, letting their blades slide away down mine, and moved closer to her. There, her dagger slipped between the leather and the bronze of my breastplate. I turned, and the dagger was trapped in the scrollwork. Then I twisted my body, and wrenched it from her grasp. I would have a bruise along my side below my right breast, but I had a second blade! I pulled it out with my left hand, turned the blade towards her, and smiled. Now I could create an opening.

I fought them with renewed vigor, weapon against weapon, and I think they were surprised. As the Goddess closed in again, I kicked her hard in the stomach, throwing her off balance, and I cut her right thigh deeply with my sword. She staggered, but the God covered for her, forcing me back.

Ares had been holding off the two he fought, and his greater strength made his combat more equal than mine. At one point he had managed to slide his sword down the blade of the Goddess he fought, catching her blade guard, and by twisting his wrist, flipped her sword from her grasp. She back flipped out of his range, as his blade whistled past her throat. It was close. The God came at him, but he parried his attack, and kicked his forearm, driving his sword to the side, and creating an opening. He drove his left fist into the God's face, and followed it with a crescent kick that knocked him to the ground. Then Ares reversed his grip, stabbing his blade down to make the kill, only to have it blocked at the last moment by the Goddess who had retrieved her weapon. He turned towards her, and had to settle for kicking the downed God hard in the ribs. From where I fought I heard the snap of bone. He pressed her, driving her away, but before he could overpower her, the God rejoined the fight.

Having wounded the Goddess, I found myself concentrating on the God who was covering for her. He lunged at me, but I flipped over his blade, turning in the air, and kicked the Goddess' sword arm as I came down. There was a satisfying crack of bone as the elbow joint gave way. I had managed to damage both her right arm and leg. She transferred her sword to her left hand, and kept her injured side away from me after that. Then I heard a yell of pain, and a curse. Ares had caught his foot on a sprinkler head embedded in the lawn, twisting his ankle, and losing his balance. In that moment, the Goddess he fought had managed to knock away his sword, and the God had pierced his left side. I could tell from the position it was a lung wound, a wound that would lethally degrade his fighting ability. The Goddess was reversing her grip preparing to impale him. I did the only thing I could. I rolled over my shoulder, away from my enemies, flipped the parrying dagger so I held the blade, and threw the dagger as hard as I could. It struck her, burying itself to the hilt in her back, driving her off balance, and making her drop her sword. She fell right on top of Ares. I barely turned back to my attackers in time to roll away under the blade of the God's sword. I was rolling towards the injured Goddess, and she was ready for me. It was a bad situation. Luckily I was on her injured right side, and she had to turn to attack me. Instead of regaining my feet, I stayed down, and lashed out with my legs, sweeping her feet out so she landed on her back, the broken arm twisted beneath her. I could have killed her if I'd still had the dagger. I settled for a jabbing strike, crushing the nerves in one side of her neck. Then I was on my feet, racing towards Ares, with the God at my back and the Goddess close behind. All I could think of was keeping them away, so he could die in peace with me beside him. I doubt more than a dozen feet separated them from me, when there was a blur overhead, and the ground right behind me erupted, throwing me head over heels.

UNTO THE AGES

As Ares and I fought on the lawn of the White House, battles raged in the skies. The Hades was high above the Earth, firing on the damaged mother ship. Making pass after pass, the Hades had fired seven rounds from its electromagnetic launcher…each a twenty pound steel egg, moving at 27% of the speed of light. Each had pierced the mother ship, passing completely through it, and imparting part of its energy to damage the structural integrity of the target. The shots were not directed at random. The Hades' crew had scanned the mother ship, and located its structural axis. Each round had chipped away a part of the mother ship's frame. After seven impacts, it was like a giant cracked egg. At my base in the mid-Pacific, this message was received from the Hades.

"In the name of the free people of the Earth, we choose the way of the warrior. The crew of the Hades sends this message to any beings that would oppress mankind. IT IS A GOOD DAY TO DIE."

The Hades circled in an arc of one thousand miles, and turning back towards the mother ship, accelerated to full attack speed. The crew charged the x-ray laser capacitors to 120%, and within its force-wall shield, it glowed the blue-white of a dwarf star. The Lord of the Dead had become the Avenging Angel. The Hades slammed into the mother ship at almost 34,000 miles per hour, on the damaged axis it had created. They collapsed their force-wall shield, freeing the gamma radiation. And vaporizing themselves. The mother ship was reduced to a dead hulk, lit from within by secondary explosions, broken into two halves, which slowly drifted apart.

Two other ladies lost their lives that day. Artemis, and Athena. They were destroyed in separate battles, Artemis while engaging four alien ships over the Gibraltar Strait, and Athena during a dogfight over the Australian outback. Their crews won honor in combat, taking many invaders to Tartarus before their own destruction. I lost seven warships that day, but seven hundred warriors lost their lives.

As the Hades was preparing to make its suicide run, I was lying on my back on the White House lawn, stunned, staring at the sky. A few feet away there was a gaping hole in the ground. On the other side of the hole were a God and a Goddess who wanted to kill me. About eight feet away from me lay the fallen Ares, wounded through the chest, while a wounded Goddess, and a God intent on killing him were starting to regain their senses. In the sky above the blur resolved itself as it sped away to the east. It was the warship Ares…the distinctive red color of the hull unique among all my forces. It took what seemed like hours for my head to clear enough for me to understand what had happened. When I did, I knew I owed a crew of mortal warriors my life. Capt. McClellan had somehow managed to line up the Ares, in a vertical dive, and fire a round from the electromagnetic launcher straight down into the White House lawn. He had used the ship itself as a gun sight, and the shock wave, as the projectile slammed into the earth, had knocked us all off our feet and stunned us. He had pulled the ship out of the dive only eighty feet above the ground. Heat from the ship scorched the famous rose garden, while the suction behind it tore the antennas off the roof. I hadn't recovered enough to stand or walk, but I could crawl. I grabbed my sword, and dragged myself over to where Ares lay dying.

"Who turned out the lights," he mumbled to me as his eyes focused on mine.

"It was McClellan…he shot the lawn. Saved our butts, for a few minutes at least," I told him.

"Damn hot rodder," Ares said, forcing a grin, "we're screwed I think…at least I am."

"Bull," I said, "you're a God. You can heal."

"Yeah, yeah," he said, blinking, "not if they have anything to say about it."

I followed his gaze, and I saw the enemies staggering towards us, weapons in their hands, confident that it was all over.

"Why don't you bug out," he said, "live to fight another day and all that crap."

"I'm not leaving you," I told him, then I said it, " I love you. We're in this together."

"I have always loved you, Xena," he said, "I'd be happier knowing you were still alive. I'll tell 'em you went to powder your nose or something."

"Ares, shut up." I said, "I'm going to take at least one of them with us."

"That's my girl," he said with a grin, figuring he'd get away with it this time.

I kissed him, and I staggered to my feet, my sword gripped in both hands. I glared at them as they approached us. I thought the wounded Goddess would be joining us in hell real soon. She was closest. I didn't notice the spotlight that came down behind me, but Ares must have.

"Well, I never thought I'd be happy to see the you again," he said, "hey Xe, cavalry's here."

"Oh great, now your getting delusional on me," I muttered.

Then I heard a sound I hadn't heard in hundreds of years. It's whine sang of metal and speed. It came from behind me, and by reflex I dropped to the ground. Something flew past me a few feet above the lawn. It struck the nearest God so hard he flew backwards, ricocheted with sparks, and nailed the wounded Goddess in the side of the head, flipping her off her feet, ricocheting again…back towards me. I raised my hand, and it slammed into my palm. I closed my fingers, and let my arm absorb the impact, pulling it close to my body. When I looked, I saw I held a ring of steel, with an S-curve in the center. I just stared at it, unbelieving. Two bodies sizzled on the ground where they'd been struck down, flesh smoldering, impression of their skeletons, burning and crumbling to dust. Then they were gone. I'd seen a God die that way once before. Only once before. I stared at the chakram I held like a dim witted mortal, still unable to comprehend.

"Shut up Ares," a voice said behind me.

I didn't believe my ears, but I wanted to believe so bad that I hurt inside. There was a shadow moving up behind me, and now it covered me. A shadow with wings. I turned around, forgetting the two enemy Gods still before me. She was right there in front of me, not two feet away. The Archangel Gabrielle, and she was smiling up at me. I choked back a sob and grabbed her in a hug that would have squeezed the guts out of a mortal. She wrapped her strong arms around me and shrouded us with her wings. Neither of us spoke, for words could not express the tidal wave of emotions at this reunion. I rested my chin on her head, and would have been happy to stay that way forever, never letting go again. I might have too, but from behind me came a grunt, and a cry of triumph.

I released Gabrielle and spun around. The remaining God had driven his sword into Ares chest, pinning him to the ground. He wasn't moving. I took a step away from Gabrielle, and I threw the chakram so hard my feet left the ground. It closed the distance between us in a heartbeat, just a silver blur in the afternoon sun. Then it struck him down, the impact severing his head from his body, the force carrying it right through him to slam into the Goddess who accompanied him. It knocked her flying across the lawn, and ricocheted away, its whine a cry of outrage and vengeance. It's flight carried it to the White House portico, where it finally struck the chain of a great lamp over the doorway, dropping it to the pavement, and rebounding back to me. I caught it as I ran to Ares.

He was dead. No question about it. No breath, no twitch of dying…he was gone, killed while my back had been turned. Was every joy to be shadowed by despair? Was this the will of the One God? Though our enemies were vanquished, the cost was bitter to my heart, yet such were the fortunes of war. Many had lost their lives that day in battle, but none so dear to my wretched heart. I fell to my knees and cradled his head, and my tears splashed his face. Emotionally, I was a disaster…beyond conflicted, I felt the rise of the blinding fury that had once been my emotional retreat. The red of bloodlust grew in my heart, and demanded sacrifices, bodies to hew, enemies to snuff out…yet there were none. All our enemies were dead…the last two falling to dust a few feet away, smoldering. I raised my eyes to the sky, and with a cry that tore my throat, I wailed out the pain in my soul and the anger in my heart.

"OH GOD NO! WHY HAVE YOU BETRAYED HIM!"

And then my senses shut down. I may have passed out, or I may have turned within. I don't know how much time passed, minutes I would guess, because when I regained my senses, nothing on the lawn had changed. There was a warm hand resting on my shoulder, gently squeezing. I let the chakram and the sword fall from my hands, and I wrapped my arms around Gabrielle's waist, and buried my face in her chest. Her hands cradled my head as I sobbed. And there I stayed, as her warmth thawed the monster I knew lurked a hairsbreadth below my skin.

After a time, she gently tilted my face to look up into her eyes. I saw there the love that had changed me two millennia before, and a greater wisdom than I had ever seen.

"Xena, I know this tragedy has brought you immeasurable pain," she said, "but beyond the pain is a chance which is hidden within. You will know what to do. It is the time of change, and the time of restitution. There is a debt to be paid."

A debt? A time of change? I tried to understand, because in some deep place, her words rang true. I played back all the time I had spent with Ares since he had come back to me. His words came back to me then…"you must believe that all things in the world change in time…in hope and love lies the cause of faith." He had brought me to heaven so I would know that Gabrielle still waited for our reunion, still had faith in the promise of future lives together. He had done it, knowing he would one day lose me again. He had done it though it had broken his heart. All I could say was "thank you", such a paltry expression for what he had done…for what he had done at Olympus an age ago, when I had supposedly been a mortal, and he a God. And I knew what I had to do.

Gabrielle stepped away to give me space. I laid my hands on his head, cradling his face, and I concentrated as I had never concentrated before. "Immortal beloved, my life force for you…accept my immortality, for I would bring you back. I will that you take my gift, it was ever yours from the very beginning. Come back from the hall of souls. Come back to the world. You were meant to be a God. Come back to me." A blue light had surrounded him, flowing from my hands, and I felt the power draining out of me. I felt my wounds, and the fatigue of battle. I felt him move beneath my hands!

Behind me I heard Gabrielle softly beseeching her God as well, "Almighty Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy Will be done, on earth as in heaven…"

He lifted his head, and looked into my eyes, and he knew what I had done, for a God always knows a mortal from an immortal.

"Xena, why?" he asked.

"It was the only way," I stammered, "I couldn't let you go like this. I couldn't leave you. The world needs a God of War...the world needs you...and, and I need you. You gave up your immortality to heal Eve and Gabrielle…now things are back the way they should have been."

And I realized another thing. The circle had come back to its start, and I was mortal again. I could die, and finally, I could one day be reborn. On some day in the future, in some place we could not foresee, a child would be born to fulfill the promise made so long ago. God had granted me a way back…a way out of the detour of two thousand years we had taken. All things in the world change in time, yet all things flow in a circle. I had done God's Will, and He owed me. I knew there was one other debt to be paid, but now I had faith. I turned to look at Gabrielle. She stood on the lawn next to us, just her. The wings were gone. She looked into my eyes, and I could see the truth. Her prayer too had been answered. We were both mortal, and we could both die one day, and we could proceed with the cycle of rebirth that had been promised so long ago. We were home.

In the silence that followed I felt the sun on my back, and the beating of my mortal heart. I began to hear the sounds of the world around me. I stood, and I helped Ares to his feet. He was shaken, but otherwise unchanged. He looked into my eyes, and I knew it was an emotional moment for him, but he swallowed, took a breath, and spoke to me.

"Thank you."

Better than any other I now knew those words were not pathetic, not inadequate, for they came from the deepest part of his heart, just as they had twice come from mine. A weight of guilt lifted from me. The circle had truly closed at last.

SO MOTE IT BE

(2256 A. D.)

I've been around a long time, and I thought I should write this all down. It really is history, and I've started to feel obligated to preserve it. There isn't anyone now who knows the whole story except me. Maybe someday someone will need to know. So much has been lost in the passage of time, and often, I hear things that make me want to scream, "No, you morons! It didn't happen that way". While I still have the chance, I'd like to get it right. It's more than taking names and kicking ass.

This is a big step for me. It's really out of character. I guess writing was never my thing, but things change...I've changed...the world has changed. I've known a couple people who could have done this right, so I just keep asking myself, "What would they have done? How would they have told this story? What words would they have chosen to make it come alive?" And yes, I miss them both, even the annoying little blond. What makes it difficult is that I've always liked hearing stories about myself, but I've promised to tell the truth this time. This is not a myth or a legend. Well, maybe someday it will become a legend, for the events deserve to be seen for their heroism and passion, and they are bigger than life.

First, let me relate what happened after I was resurrected from the dead. The last of the race of the Gods was destroyed, and their threat ended forever. In all the time since, there has been no evidence of any more survivors. I am the last of the renegades. The invasion ended with their defeat at Xena's hands. The aliens who survived the battle withdrew to their remaining mother ship, and disappeared. We considered hunting them down, but I reasoned it was better to let them relate the terror they had met with on this world, then to invade their home world and prosecute the war. The defense forces Xena created have expanded, having absorbed the military forces of the nations of the Earth. Fifty years after the invasion, the people celebrated the Dissolution of Nations, and have ruled themselves as a global community for the last two hundred years. Their security from invaders is guaranteed by my Planetary Defense Forces; two hundred and fifty warships, and a half-million warriors. You cannot imagine the advances we have made.

I keep the chakram. It is not a thing to be held by mortal hands, and having within me the Balance of Dark and Light, I am the only being with the right to hold it. I treasure it, for the memories it holds, and because it was a deathbed gift from the one who held my heart. I also keep a battered sword, and a bronze breastplate, both priceless for their ancientry, and their sentimental value. I keep them with my own sword.

In the last hundred years, we have attained to the mastery of space, and the promise implied by the invading Gods. This is a Cardinal world they had said. A world without end. So Mote It Be. We have spread beyond the confines of what God first gave, and now have six colonial planets. We have established The Kingdom. On those worlds, the riot of Earthly life was transplanted, and gratefully took hold. Someday, far in the future, when this Earth is gray with age, we will live on those worlds, and many more to come. We will abandon this world, and become a race of the galaxy…by then, perhaps a race of Gods. And then what shall be? Maybe one day a band of renegades will take with them into exile the chakram and their history, and the cycle will begin again.

Mankind was created to struggle, both with the world, and with itself. The battle is joined each day, through the struggle to survive…to master the world, and to master ourselves. A two-fronted war, within and without. Mankind will always need a God of War, and in His wisdom, the Great Power that is here has always known war is not an evil to be stamped out, but a force to be applied in righteousness. What would you have? That when an evil threatened there would be no one to stand forth to set it right? The Spirit of Battle is what kindles hearts to the greater good. It exists in the hearts of every soldier who, on some battlefield baptized with the blood of his brothers, masters his fear and fights for the right of others to live in peace. It is what drives every good cop to enter into mortal danger for the sake of those who would be victimized. It is the instinct that drives a parent to protect a child, even one that is not their own. You could say it is love that drives them on, and yes, in part you would be right. But love without strength is a force out of balance, for it allows evil to prosper by its weakness. Love must have a Spirit of Battle to win it room to grow, just as a Spirit of Battle must be tempered with love, lest it degenerate into tyranny.

But I get ahead of myself with all my philosophy. The people of the world had seen what had happened on the White House lawn that day so long ago. Because of the special effects tradition of cinema, they didn't believe a bit of it. The shadow forces could be explained as a secret government project. That was believable. They went back into the background for awhile. Xena gave command to Capt. McClellan, who she promoted to Air Marshal, and she dropped out of the force. She'd had enough, and she wanted to spend her mortal years with Gabrielle and me. McClellan did a great job as commander, continuing the development of the warships, and expanding the goals to include space sciences in general. He'd been a trekker as a kid, and the thirst for the unknown had never left him. He was achieving my desire with the fire of his own heart. He became the Favorite of the God of War…the first favorite since ancient times. Nothing could stand in his way after that.

By now you are wondering, why doesn't he say more about Xena and Gabrielle? I guess after all these years, it's still hard for me to talk about them. Especially Xena. But it's part of the story, and I've promised to tell the truth.

Xena was perhaps the richest mortal on the face of the Earth. She bought properties everywhere, and she and Gabrielle lived in privacy for the rest of their lives. By the time she died, she had made anonymous donations to disperse her fortune…something like 1.2 trillion dollars. It took her forty-five years. We spent a lot of time together, the three of us, or just Xena and I. She still loved me, and there was no question of my love for her. She and Gabrielle took the long view…placing their faith in a shared eternity of successive lives. She didn't begrudge me her time in this life. She was an invaluable counsel to me, she was my best friend, and she remained my lover for many years.

On March 14, 2051, I stood in the rain with her as the earthly remains of Gabrielle of Poteidia were interred in a private mausoleum just a few miles from The Archeological Museum of Amphipolis, near the ancient city, now a ruin in Serres Prefecture. We knew the time had grown short, for Xena too had advanced in years, and to follow Gabrielle had always been her purpose. She reckoned her age to have been about thirty-four when she lifted my sword and became a Goddess. She was still thirty-four when her mortality resumed in 2006. She was now seventy-nine.

On the 13th of April, 2051 her spirit left her body for the last time in her villa on the island of Amphios. There was thunder that shook the rock beneath my feet, and lightning split the sky, tracing webs through the clouds. An honor guard of twelve warships circled the island just below the squall, holding salute formation, glowing blue-white. Then the rain came down in torrents, as though heaven itself cried at her passing. I held her hand as the warmth left it, and it was many hours before I moved from her side. It was forty-five years to the day since she had defeated the last of the invaders, and given up her immortality. In her final hour, she had sent away the members of the household, and whispered a last request to me. Then she had told me to open the safe in the wall behind her bed. There were her ancient weapons, and some other heirlooms she had managed to keep through the centuries. These she told me to take as tokens of our time together, memories of our love. Then I waited with her for the end.

In the final hours of the night I carried her body to the roof…it felt so light, for her spirit, the best and strongest part of her, was gone. The storm had ended, and the sky was clear. Nowhere on Earth are there more stars to be seen. In the dark I waited, holding her, until the first pink of dawn opened in the east. Then I laid her on the rain soaked pyre she had prepared, and with God's Fire I made it burn. All day it burned, hour after hour as the sun progressed across the sky, for I fed it with my heart long after the wood was spent. Then, as the sun went down, blazing red into the sea, so too I let the flames die. In the dark of the Aegean night I gathered the ashes of my beloved.

Half the ashes I interred with Gabrielle in the mausoleum near ancient Amphipolis. The other half I keep with the chakram and the sword. She was split between us in life, and asked to be divided thus in death. And then I mourned.

SUCCESSION

Literary Guild of America Awards Ceremony

March 15, 2086

Best Historical Fiction

Awarded to Chelle Martin

For

"The Way of the Warrior"

I really hate these awards ceremonies, but I have a reason for being here. I've read the book, and it's not bad, but it's fiction, and after the things I've seen, fiction isn't really very interesting. Not compared to the truth. I've watched this author for almost a decade, and though I will never approach her, I am very sure we'd become close friends. I'm even more certain I would become close to her lover Diana Miller. I see her in the front row. She's taller than the people on either side of her, and that dark hair makes her pretty unmistakable. She's watching her partner take the stage to accept her third award for the writing that comes from somewhere deep inside her soul. Michelle Martin is a short blond, with a bubbly personality that doesn't get mistaken for ditzy. She also holds a brown-belt in Tae Kwon Do. Diana Miller is a real piece of work. Lt. Diana Miller, that is. She is one of the youngest executive officers of a warship, and the only woman so far to hold that commission. It figures doesn't it, another cycle happening before my eyes.

I'll stay long enough to hear the acceptance speech, but I'm not sitting through the dinner afterwards. I can't take a chance on one of them noticing a tall handsome guy that no one knows anything about, but somehow seems familiar. They are both very curious, and they are both very smart. I know things are better off with them living their lives without a God in the picture. I want them to have space, to live their lives, and to grow old and die. I know they'll be back. And I know they were meant to be together. Together through a succession of lifetimes, forever. And maybe one day, just maybe, oh say ten thousand years and a hundred lifetimes down the line, someone like Diana will manage to steal the chakram, and flee to the stars. And I know she'll have someone alot like Chelle with her.

PART THREE

AURORA THE MIDNIGHT STAR

Now it's been ten thousand years,

Man has cried a billion tears.

For what he never knew,

Now man's reign is through.

But through eternal night,

The twinkling of starlight.

So very far away,

Maybe it's only yesterday.**

** Lyric excerpt from, "In the year 2525", © Zager and Evans

INTRODUCTION

For over four thousand years after I won and lost my eternal love, I watched her mortal race grow in power, and spread across the heavens. From world to world the Kingdom grew, and as had been foretold, human civilization abandoned their ancient home, and became a race of the galaxy. Through its 1,837 colonial planets, the Cardinal world of Earth had truly become a world without end. Yet along the way, though they increased in knowledge, their spirit dimmed. The strength of their youth, and the will to challenge and conquer the unknown, died in their hearts. For nearly two thousand years after the great expansion ended, there had been no pressure to take new worlds, and mold them into new homes. The homes they had won in the Great Expansion had become the center of their universe, and the rest of the galaxy became a hinterland, unworthy of consideration. Lacking the challenges that had driven them to exceed their past, they turned from combat to complacency. On the 1,837 worlds, mankind stagnated in comfort. They had conquered the struggle with their environment, and they had conquered the struggle with their bodies. There were no life threatening diseases anymore, and aging could be held at bay. With life spans of close to five hundred years, birth rates dropped. By minimizing the threat of death, there was little incentive for insuring a lineage through their offspring. Without the pressure of population growth, there was no reason to expand.

I had rejoiced as I watched the succession of lives in which the souls of Xena and Gabrielle were reborn. To me, the God of War, the permutations of their lives were the most wonderful thing about the long tale of mankind. The soul of Xena of Amphipolis always held the Spirit of Battle, channeled into a willingness to attack any problem she faced. At some point in each of her lives, she encountered and cherished the incarnation of Gabrielle of Poteidia. The soul of the once and future bard brought to their unions a sensitivity and righteousness, and a love of the written word. Somehow she always managed to chronicle their exploits. In my citadel, on the planet of Terminus Prime, I have collected thousands of her histories and fictions.

Terminus Prime was my planet. Oh yeah, it was an early colonial planet, and a part of the Kingdom, but more than that, it was the home of the Colonial Military Academy. For

over four thousand years Terminus Prime was the training ground of what Xena's Defense Forces became. At its zenith there were twelve million warriors in the population, and a fleet of over a ten thousand warships. From my planet, they patrolled the galaxy, suppressing insurrections and alien incursions throughout the known worlds. They were peerless. The Spirit of Battle burned bright in their hearts in the days of their expansion. I had never had more loyal worshippers. I watched sixty-one generations of Xenas and Gabrielles as they strove for excellence. But finally the complacency I spoke of settled on mankind. There was no further expansion. There were no insurrections among the sheep, and their alien adversaries were destroyed or absorbed. There was no need for the Defense Forces. There was no need for a God of War. The roster of warriors diminished, and the warships were decommissioned, dry docked in hanger stations within Terminus Prime. The population dropped to only four thousand by 6,920 A.D., and by the turn of the century they were little more than farmers. It had been almost three hundred years since a new world was added to the Kingdom.

The last time I saw Xena and Gabrielle was when Annika Sherril was born in 6,494 A.D. on the planet of Carillon Secundus, and Mariel Havarr was born in 6,497 A.D. on Juno. I watched over them, marveling at how Annika had the tall powerful build, raven hair, and ultramarine eyes of her unknown ancestor, while Mariel was a dead ringer for the battling bard. Though there was never any lineage in blood, throughout history their spirits were born into bodies so like the Greek women of the Hellenistic Age I had first known, that there was no mistaking them…they were always photographically identical. By 6,560 A.D. Annika was regarded as an anachronism…she had chosen a career in the Defense Forces. She had the distinction of being the last captain of a warship. They were no longer needed. The last war had been a minor skirmish almost a hundred years before her birth. In 6,895 A.D. the last warship was ordered to base, and decommissioned. Annika was pensioned at the age of 401, and died of a broken heart only six years later. For the first time, one of Gabrielle's incarnations outlived her. Mariel died in 6,922 A.D., still mourning Annika, on an almost empty world.

In 6,901 A.D. I broke my long-standing rule for the first time, and approached a living reincarnation of my beloved warrior princess. I somehow knew she would be the last. As she lay dying, I came to her as the God of War, appearing as I had in millennia past, dressed in black and girt with my ancient sword, the chakram hanging from my belt. With the clarity of the dying she knew me…she knew who and what I was.

"Greetings Annika," I said as I appeared with flames and lightning, "I salute you, for you have kept alive the Spirit of Battle, in which your race was born, and grew. I salute you, my long lost and often found mortal beloved."

"I…I know you," she said, "and lately I have dreamed about you. I have envisioned a past in which mankind lived to struggle and conquer. And in my dreams there appeared a God of War, and he was…he was you."

Across the bed from me Mariel looked on, in wonder, but not in fear.

"I am the God of War. For almost five thousand years I have watched both your souls being reborn time after time, and through those lifetimes you have found each other, and fought for the greater good. It was the fulfillment of a promise made so long ago that mankind has forgotten the world in which it was made. Mankind once looked forever forward to the next challenge, yet no more."

"I know," she said, "the people have become content in the present. They have given up the edge that made them strive, and they have lost the Spirit of Battle that such striving demands."

"Mankind will go on," I told them, "for a time at least."

"Mankind may go on, but there is no place for a person like me, and I am glad to leave it. The Defense Forces are disbanded, and the warships mothballed. Now only traders and starships for passengers ply the void between worlds."

"I would have you stay with me a little while longer," Mariel said to her.

"Leaving you is my only regret," Annika said softly, looking at her, "but I know this is my time. If what this God says is true, perhaps we shall meet again."

"I have watched over both of you all your lives, and I have felt the growing displacement in your hearts. In the future you two will be reborn again. Your souls share an eternal bond of destiny together, and it is bound to mine. One day, when the Spirit of Battle is again needed by mankind, you will be reborn."

"What is your name God of War?" Annika asked, her voice weaker as her life force ebbed.

"I am Ares," I told her, leaning close as her eyes closed, "and once, so long ago that it is now only myth, you were my beloved, Xena of Amphipolis, Warrior Princess, and for a time, Goddess of War."

"I…I remember," she whispered. Then her spirit was gone. I heard only Mariel sobbing across the deathbed from me. I looked into her reddened eyes, and said, "you were always her soul mate and love. You have found and lost her so many times, and you shall again."

"I believe you," Mariel said, "but now I am alone again."

"No," I told her, "always she outlived you, but now for the first time, it is you who are alone. Be comforted, for at last you have spared her that pain."

"Oh God," she cried out, so much like Gabrielle, "I loved her, body and soul…but her spirit was yours, and in losing it, she has died."

"Come with me now, Mariel, there is a last tribute I would pay."

As I had once done on a world distant in time and space, I carried her body to the roof. There with a wave of my hand I created a funeral pyre, and laid her body on it. And as befitted mankind's last warrior, I kindled it with God's Fire. With Mariel I mourned as the flames leaped, rising into the night. As I had before, I collected and divided the ashes. Mariel took half and kept them with her until she too passed away. The rest I took to my citadel, and set them with the chakram, and the swords, and the cherished ashes of one who had passed away long, long ago. Then I spent years reading all the histories of the race of mankind. I left the citadel only once after that. In 6,922 A. D. I went to be with Mariel as she died, and I gave her comfort with the promise of a future life. And when she was gone, I felt the long cycle coming to its end at last. Mankind had no need of a God of War, just as they had no need of a warrior with the Spirit of Battle to drive her on. So being a God, and the last of the renegades, I prepared a place, and I set a shield about the citadel, and I fell into the Sleep of the Gods. It was 6,962 A.D. and for one thousand six hundred years, the Great Complacency continued. In the passing of the centuries, Terminus Prime became a dead world, stricken from the star charts of the Kingdom. The Defense Forces were a legend of the past, nearly a myth. And none remembered the God of War. They had forgotten other things as well. Now they believed A.D. stood for "After Dissolution", and commemorated the Dissolution of Nations, the oldest event in historical memory. So Mote It Be.

FIRE IN THE NIGHT

The starship Osiris took on passengers at Sideon in the Valara system, and made the jump to Wingate. It was 8,562 A.D. I had booked passage in the steerage class, at the rear of the ship, where the quarters were less spacious, and much cheaper than in coach. In the last seventy-two years I have jumped one hundred and eighty-four times. You see I'm hunting, hunting for one person. It's worse than the proverbial "asteroid in a galaxy".

There are 1,814 worlds, plus 23 "dead" planets, and at the rate I'm going, I'll never see them all, even if I live to be five hundred years old. I don't think it will take that long though. I have faith. I have to have…I'm already one hundred and twenty-six years old. I'm following a dream, and when I've been told it's a hopeless dream, I say, "well what are dreams for?" But I think I'll find her, sometime in the next ten years. In my dreams I'm about the right age to find her, and it could be any day now. I've been telling myself that these last twenty years.

I started having prophetic dreams when I was a little child. At first they scared me, and night was a time of terrors. The counselors helped me a lot. They taught me how to stand outside the dreams, and to memorize the details, so I could wake up and "read" my memory like a story in a media crystal. The dreams always came true, and that was the best part. For a time they brought me joy. When I was twelve I started seeing things that I thought must be the ancient past. There were violent clashes, like the legends of battles…inconceivable bloody dreams with armies of warriors fighting. Nobody fought now, for such conflict was a source of shame. There were no armies. There were no battles. That was all thousands of years ago. Everyone knew that. They regarded that part of history with embarrassment and even denial. All the counselors said I must be dreaming of either historical events, or sick fantasies. I read them the details, and they tried to match them to historical records. They never once succeeded. I still had prophetic dreams too, so I hoped I wasn't completely sick. That's what they thought. There were years of treatment to "help" me. I embraced it in hopes of being "cured" of these horrific images. I was a developing teenage girl, but I was so disturbed I never even investigated my own body. The terror of nighttime was just starting.

One night I dreamed of battle…primitive battle with combat hand to hand. In the dream there was a warrior woman with black hair and piercing blue eyes. She was a leader, and with her stood a man in black who carried a sword and a metal ring. But the worst part, the part that turned me into a hunter, was that with them stood a blond haired woman, and it was me. I had this same dream every night for twenty-one days. Then I left home, and I have been searching ever since. You see, my dreams always came true, and now I knew I hadn't been dreaming of the ancient past. I had been dreaming of a future to come. Until I'd seen myself, I was able to deny what I should have known. After seeing myself, there was no way I could deny what was to be. And it got worse. I dreamed I was in battle, and I dreamed that I killed. I wielded two short dagger-like weapons, with curved guards at the hilts, and I killed. It was unthinkable. I was sick, and sick with shame. I had to leave before I gave myself away with some detail or some symptom. I would have died if anyone had found out. Night after night I woke from the dreams, and checked the details. It was always so bad. I would run from my room retching and heaving. After that I lay in my bed, and I quietly sobbed until morning, biting my covers lest anyone hear me and investigate. Finally, I couldn't stand the stress. I took a few things, booked passage off world, and fled the only home I'd ever known. I was only twenty-three. I hid on the world I'd fled to, anonymous and alone, for thirty-one years. I loathed myself. I dreamed almost every night, even when I had made myself pass out with alcohol and drugs. More and more often, the dreams began to center on the black haired warrior woman, and I started to call her the Dark Angel. She was beautiful, and utterly terrifying. She was a savage. She called to me. I had to find her. I began to hunt, hoping to confront the one who had ruined my life.

As the Osiris closed the jump to Wingate, and prepared to fall into orbit, a speck leaped out of the void. The configuration was alien, unknown. It wasn't anything the crew had ever seen. It was so very, very small. The crew hailed it with annoyance rather than fear. There was nothing to be afraid of, not in dozens of lifetimes. The speck resolved into a ship, an unknown ship. It stooped upon the Osiris like a raptor. Allowed to approach, it came within twenty miles and then it fired. A lance of brightness flashed across the space between the ships. The Osiris' hull was breached in many places. In steerage class we survived a little longer. I opened a viewport as the ship rocked beneath my feet. I saw the attacker sliding away into the void, and then it jumped. The Osiris was breaking up in space. We were doomed and I knew it. I was sad, but my life had been bitter with shame and fear, and deep down I welcomed oblivion. I turned from the viewport to find a place to await the end, and coming towards me was a woman in a crew uniform. She was tall, and I could tell she was strong. Then she looked at me, and her eyes were blue. Her long hair was straight and black, cropped in bangs in front, falling past her shoulders in back. She saw me, and stared at me. I started towards her, but I never spoke a word to her, nor she to me. I had found her…I knew it in my heart. I knew it for perhaps fifteen seconds as the hull collapsed, spilling the contents of the Osiris into space. It was so very, very cold. I thought to myself, "what are dreams for."

WHAT DREAMS ARE FOR

Mankind's Great Complacency ended with the destruction of the Osiris at Wingate. It will be remembered forever as the beginning of the fall of the Kingdom. In the next thirty-five years the aliens struck again and again. Fear gripped the people, and they didn't know what to do. The idea of fighting had been bred out of them. Legends of the Defense Forces were distasteful rumors…on some worlds suppressed, on others regarded as pornographic. In 1,814 worlds there did not exist even a single warship. Hell, on 1,814 worlds there probably wasn't a single weapon of war. There certainly weren't any warriors. Mankind had bred itself into a herding species, peaceful, conformist, doomed. At first the counsels of leaders hoped a negotiation would stop the destruction. Ships filled with emissaries sought contact with the attackers in the void. When they found it, their starships were destroyed. Tens of thousands lost their lives in these futile attempts. The only negotiation the attackers sought was through force, their only apparent goal, the annihilation of human beings. Between 8,562 A.D. and 8,597 A.D., 467 starships were obliterated. The human race didn't know who their enemy was or where they came from. They had never seen an enemy face to face, had never spoken a word to them. They didn't know whether they originated in a neglected part of the galaxy, or came from outside it. Their warships appeared, brought death, and disappeared. Never were there any survivors. Never were there any demands. Finally, mankind was cowed. The starships entered space less and less frequently, having no hope in a confrontation. The worlds became cut off from each other, communicating only by unmanned ships. The Kingdom began to fragment into 1,814 individual planets, and fear kept them apart. Now, without a Spirit of Battle, they were unable to even conceive of fighting back, and unable to believe they could prevail. There was no balance of dark and light, and without that balance they were ripe for the invasion of their planets. The ancient battle strategy of "divide and conquer", proven so long ago on their forgotten home world, opened the way for a one sided slaughter which could not be dignified with the name of war.

As the reaping of the planets began, mankind was again taken by surprise, and being largely cut off, didn't even realize it was underway, for nearly sixty years. Even then the news traveled slowly, seldom more than a few planets ahead of the wave of destruction. The attackers positioned satellites above a planet, uncontested in their labors. When they were ready, the satellites bathed the surface with high levels of deadly radiation, roasting everything to a depth of two miles. Population after population watched the appearance of the satellites, thinking them harmless, and then they died. It was quick, but not without suffering. It left the planets burned, but in a few decades, ready for alien colonization. Mankind stood by helpless, and watched. By 8,721 A.D. the Kingdom was reduced to 647 worlds, on which humans awaited their doom, in terror or denial or ignorance.

8,721 A.D. My dreams had turned dark, and I was being driven out of them. There was slowly spreading warmth in my veins, and my organs started to work again. My blood was pumped by a heart which beat at first once a month, then once a week, then once a day. Faster now, and faster…I took a breath for the first time in 1,759 years, and the air burned my lungs, but I endured it. I welcomed the burn. The next day, another breath, and then another, my heart racing one beat an hour. Blood moved, and muscles stirred in preparation for life. Consciousness wavered between dream and waking, and I struggled up to meet it. Now my heart beat ten times an hour, and my breathing matched its pace. My eyes snapped open in the dark. In the next days my senses awoke, but there was only darkness, and the hardness of cold stone, and the staleness of dead air. Still I had not moved. I could not. I lay awaiting some charge of energy, my body restored to function, my mind restored to wakefulness. I was more than any being who lived, but so much less than I had been.

8,722 A.D. From the ancient sword of the God of War, which guarded the foot of my slab, to the chakram which lay beneath my head, two blue white bolts of lightning sizzled in the dark. They enveloped me, crackling through me, surrounding me in a cocoon of blinding webbing. I felt the power course through me, and I felt the power stay within me. The power of a God was restored to me. With it came my memories. I was Ares, the God of War. It was 1,800 years since I had watched Mariel Havarr die. In all those years, no warrior had been born, no Spirit of Battle had enflamed a mortal to the greater good. Xena and Gabrielle had only been reborn once in all that time. Xena as a crewman aboard the ill-fated starship Osiris, yearning to explore the void, and Gabrielle as a tortured and luckless dreamer. They had died in the endless cold of space, useless but to herald the end of the Kingdom of Man.

I buckled on my sword belt, and hung the chakram from its hook. A second battered sword I strapped to my back. Into one pocket I put a crystal, holding the histories of many bards. Over my left shoulder I hung a breastplate of bronze, and over my right I hung a net which cradled two ancient urns. Then I neutralized the energy seal on the massive door of stone which had sealed my chamber, and with the strength of a god I muscled it aside. The citadel echoed with the steps of my boots as I paced the empty halls, stirring centuries of dust. The elements had worked their slow ruin on my citadel, engraving the years on the stones. It didn't matter. The walls had held. Finally I came to the gates of the citadel; once twelve million warriors had walked through these gates. Now there was only silence. Embedded in the keystone of the arch above the gate was the celestial clock, still counting the time since the Son of a forgotten God had been born on a forgotten world. March 15, 8,722 A.D. It was the Ides of March. It was 6,716 years to the day since I had returned to the world as a God, and met my favorite on the high hill of Athens as a battle raged. My memory supplied me with another connection. March 15, 2056, Xena had been dead for five years, but in New Haven, Connecticut in the old United States of America, Lt. Diana Miller, the first of her reincarnations, had been born. From then until now was 6,666 years. Somewhere out there the beast had arisen. My dreams had turned dark, and I had been summoned to wakefulness. Soon there would be war.

Somehow I had to find the reincarnations of Xena and Gabrielle, and hopefully I would find them together. I didn't know how old they would be or what they would be like. I hoped the Spirit of Battle was strong in them. I felt it would be needed. Though I have written what happened during my sleep, I had no way of knowing of the Fall of the Kingdom of man. At the time I awoke, I only felt that the human race was in trouble, and that I had been awakened for a reason. Somehow I had to find out what was going on in the worlds without end, for I didn't know if the end was coming, or had come. I reached out with my senses…all across the face of Terminus Prime I searched. There was only the silence of the mind. I was alone, the only intelligent being on the planet. Since the dawn of Gods or men, no one had ever been so alone. Later, I discovered I had been alone on Terminus Prime for 1,700 years.

The first step in war is to prepare for battle. In the cliffs behind the ruins of the Military Academy there had been huge blast doors, embedded, shielded, and camouflaged. Three of them stood bare in the evening sun, each a thousand feet square. Nine more would be hidden behind the façade of rock. Behind each huge door was the top of a shaft a thousand feet square, and three miles deep. Where the shafts ended was the hanger of the warships. It was a complex that could have held eighteen million souls, one of six on the planet, built as a haven for the Defense Forces in their heyday. If Terminus Prime had ever been besieged, the entire population could have survived there, underground.

I vanished from the gate, and reappeared in front of the center door. With the senses of a God I probed the door and the shaft. Intact after all this time…and the shaft was clear. Terminus Prime had been chosen for its stability. In the entire time it was populated there had never been more than a minor tremor. With my mind I saw the hanger, dark, empty of life, but filled with the warships of a long dead army. I vanished from the gate, and the flames and lightning of my arrival in the hanger, were the first light in that place since the power had shut down. I kindled God's Fire in my palm, and by its light surveyed the space. The smooth arched shapes of the hulls surrounded me and at the end was a ship very special in my memory. Slightly larger than the others, it had been the last completed. It was docked closest to the shaft, for it had also been the last warship decommissioned. The hull was iridescent and glass smooth, colored red in homage to a ship from the long ago time when only twelve warships had stood between mankind and the invaders. It was a military tradition I had insisted on for millennia. One red ship. In the whole fleet, no matter how large it became, only one ship could bear that color, and my name.

In a flash I stood beside it, and stroked the hull with my hands. Here, next to the iris port, engraved in the metal by a special laser which could bite that alloy, were the names of every Star Captain who had mastered a ship of that name. First on that list was my mortal and immortal beloved, Xena of Amphipolis - 2,006 A.D. My heart skipped a beat. At the bottom of the list was the name of my last favorite, and the last captain commissioned as its master…Star Capt. Annika Sherril - Anno Domini 6,895. Three hundred and four names separated them. Even a God, even the God of War, can feel sentiment and loss. As I stood, and ran my hand over those names, a tear slid down my cheek. Now all that remained of mankind's last warrior was my memories, and the ashes in one of the urns I carried. It had been so very long ago. It made me feel old. I stood entranced, my thoughts turned inward to the ancient days, to the bright sun of Greece, when mankind was young, and in their struggles they had worshipped renegade Gods from across space. My father Zeus, my uncle Hades, my beautiful sister Aphrodite, and the others. Even my imperious sister Athena. All long gone. I missed them all. I felt my age…almost eleven thousand years. It's not easy to be the last of the Gods, in a time when Gods aren't needed. Then, slowly, the mood lifted. I smiled, because I knew I was back for a reason. Mankind needed at least a God of War again. Perhaps not the others, but mankind needed me. I threw back my head, and shouted at the top of my lungs, and the words echoed back again and again through the hanger.

"I am Ares, the God of War, and nothing shall stand against me. I am the Flame from which the Spirit of Battle shall be kindled. Only in me is there the Balance of the Dark and the Light."

In the days that followed I restarted the power grid, which had been set to shut down after being deserted for a hundred years. The systems came on line one after another, until the base was mostly functional. Sensors probed space around the planet, and I prepared the Ares for war.

On the equinox of old Earth a warship flew for the first time in over 1,700 years. At first I played it safe, rising up the shaft and passing the huge door. I circled the planet on a shakedown run, and all systems read nominal. Next, I accelerated to one-quarter attack speed, and left Terminus Prime behind. Beyond the system I set navigation controls, and made a short jump to the Destri system, with its binary star and three dead planets. The Ares performed flawlessly. The next test I wanted to make that day was a weapons test. I couldn't resist. I am the God of War, and weapons are my thing. The last generation warships were once the terror of the galaxy, and the rumor of their coming had usually caused their enemies to flee rather than engage them. I activated a M/AM and targeted the second planet. A dead world, no larger than Mercury, it was mostly molten rock. The M/AM is an enhanced fourth generation matter/anti-matter torpedo, and once targeted will follow across the void, even making jumps to follow the target. It is seldom necessary. It can move at 32% of the speed of light. After acquiring the target I willed the weapons console to fire. Shields surrounded the Ares. There was no sound or sensation that the M/AM had been fired. The planet simply ceased to exist. There wasn't even much debris. The Ares carried up to a two dozen such torpedoes, for they were small, no bigger than a coffin. In the magazine at the hanger a special vault stored several thousand of these class 12b projectiles. I accelerated the Ares to full attack speed and left the Destri system behind. Anyone with ears, let alone sensors would have registered that blast. Clear of the Destri system I made a navigation test. I commanded the navigation control to "skip-jump" back to Terminus Prime. This was for the purpose of confusing a following craft. In three minutes the Ares made thirty random jumps, criss-crossing its trail and ending up at Terminus Prime. I was elated. I barnstormed the planet, swooping, diving, and rolling, just like that old hot rodder, Adam McClellan, had once done over the White House lawn. By the time I slipped down the shaft to the hanger I was flushed, and the call of battle was loud in my ears. I stepped out through the iris port onto the hanger floor, and whooped at the top of my lungs. I had only been back in the hanger for ten minutes when the sensors triggered the alarms signaling an incoming ship.

GRADUATION DAY

"Did you hear about Felicity?" Kara asked me as we walked through the halls between classes.

"No," I answered, shaken out of my thoughts.

"The drone came down this morning," she said, "the news is all over, how can you be so oblivious?"

"Back off," I said, looking her in the eyes, "you wanna tell me what happened, or you wanna comment on my current events? I'm a space engineering major, not a journalism major."

"Alright, take it easy Dale, geezus," Kara said, "you've got a scary temper sometimes, you know that?"

"You ain't seen nothing yet," I muttered under my breath, then to Kara I asked, "so what happened to Felicity?"

"Well, they were roasted I guess. They're saying the drone jumped while it was still in the atmosphere, or it wouldn't have gotten away. The goblins were halfway through ringing them with satellites, and you know what that means."

My gods I thought to myself, Felicity had almost three billion people, and a drone would have taken a week to get here. They're all dead by now, and Kara's acting like it's news from homecoming.

"I've gotta get to chem class," I said, just wanting to get away from her, "I'll see you later."

"Ok, see ya."

I couldn't stand how shallow most of the girls are. They didn't seem to realize it's only a matter of time before the goblins got here. I guess I've got less patience, but that's what happened when you had a single parent, instead of two, or three. I'd had to do a lot more on my own than anyone I knew who's my age. I mean how many of them ran a household at seventeen? Geezus! My Dad would be away in the capitol most of the week, and sometimes he didn't get home for a couple weeks.

"Penny for your thoughts."

"Huh?" I croaked, jerking back to reality.

"Dell to Dale, Dell to Dale…do you copy Dale?"

"Hi ya Val," I said with a smile, Valerie was practically the only girl I liked in the whole school. She was a history major, and she's a genius. Really. She was into ancient history and archeology when we were in junior high, and she'd actually already published a scientific paper. Got a lot of attention for it too, 'cause it was about ancient war. Not exactly a popular topic on peace loving Dell.

"Gonna be around after classes? Wanna hang out? I've got something really kewl to show you…something I found in the archives. I bet you'll love it."

Oh yeah, Valerie is hyper. But when she said she'd found something "kewl" I had to see it. Last time she'd said that, she'd discovered how to distill Roxxian brandy…we'd gotten smashed, and Dad never found out.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world Val. You know me, always ready to get my ass whipped for whatever you've got going," I giggled, and squeezed her shoulders, "see ya in an hour?"

"Great!" she said, nudging me with her hip, "it's a date."

We both cracked up at that. I guess we had another thing in common. I'm too tall for most boys, and she's too smart. We've been close since fourth grade, when I moved to Dell, and we both enjoyed scandalizing the cliques at school. They'd whisper that we're gay, and it didn't bother us at all, because neither one of us really respected the ones whispering. Last time one of them said anything nasty, I stole her boyfriend for a week, then dumped him. He still tried to ask me out, and that incident was during junior year. "All's fair in war", that's what Val says, and she's studied the subject for real.

Last period was Zero Grav Chem II, and I could do that stuff in my sleep. It went fast, and then I was free for the weekend. I crammed my stuff in my locker, grabbed my belt pack, and headed for the front ramp. Valerie was waiting just outside with a hard shell case about three feet long. I didn't ask. Half the time she was toting some weird stuff, and mostly it doesn't make any sense to me anyway. You get used to that when your best friend is a genius.

"I can't wait to show you this," she bubbled, "I found the patterns, and made them in metallurgy during lunch break, and there probably aren't any like them in all the worlds without ends. You won't believe it, just wait till you see these."

"Ok," I said, smiling at her exuberance, "I'm convinced. Will it keep till we get home?"

"Oh yeah, it's been about 1,700 years since anyone's seen the likes of these, so I guess another fifteen minutes won't be a problem. But just wait till you see them, you'll see why I'm so hyper about this, I swear."

Now I know it's serious. Val doesn't "swear" unless it's extreme. I was getting more and more curious now. For real.

Fifteen minutes walking seemed like a pilgrimage to Chartes Stele. I mean it seemed to take forever. The ways were crowded, and the lifts were packed. Of course we got to my place in record time anyway…it just seemed slow cause we were in a hurry.

I palmed the door locks, and we went inside. I screamed "shuddap" at the message drone, and it went away for awhile. In the kitchen we grabbed sodas, and took them to the loft. I cranked the quad so the music throbbed through the house, and I kicked off my shoes.

"Ewww, kewl nails," Val squealed as she saw the iridescent shifting colors on my toenails keeping time to the music, "tell me where!"

"Mason's…half a credit, three-quarters and you can get your fingernails done at the same time," I told her, happy to see she was so impressed. Course I knew she'd be grin.

"Glad I know you Dale," she said, "cause you save me from bein a dork with the fashion sense of a frog."

"You're a cute frog though," I told her, and she really is cute, (SWF, 17, bl/gr, 5'4", 112), and a genius. She's smart enough to know it, but she spewed soda on the floor laughing anyway. "Geezus," I exclaimed dodging, " I didn't think it was that funny."

"Sorry…guess I'm just hyper."

"Duh! So what's in the case that's got ya so hyper…I've NEVER seen you like this before," I said as she put the soda to her mouth. Timing was perfect…soda fountains up again, and then she was choking and rolling on the couch in hysterics.

"Oh Gods…Oh Gods…just shut it, I'm dying."

I'm was laughing so hard tears were blurring my vision. What are friends for.

After a couple songs finished out, and we'd gotten our wits together, she set the case on the coffee table, and palmed the lock pad. There was a hiss, and the lid popped up. She lifted it to reveal a velvet lining.

I gasped.

"Are those swords?" I asked, not really sure.

"They sure are, patterned after trainers used by the Defense Forces back in the 6,700's," she said, "these are molecularly accurate. Sharp as hell too."

"They're beautiful," I said, mesmerized, and I couldn't stop myself from lifting one from the case, "The hilt feels like it was made for my hand."

"Here," Val said lifting the other sword, "try this."

She was holding a media 4crystal configured for a personal. I let her slide the crystal into the receiver in my left temple. It must have contained motor skills. In seconds I had absorbed the material…it was a training manual implant. It ejected and I could retain or delete the info. I selected retain, and the sword felt like an old friend. I saw Valerie putting the crystal into her receiver, and watched as her eyes glazed over. Moments later she spun the sword on her palm, circled her upper body in a blur of silver blade, and came to the salute posture. I mirrored her movements. We spent the afternoon running through the contents of the manual. It took every bit of strength and energy we had, but I felt more alive than I ever had. I could see she felt it too. I found myself doing things I had never thought possible…the back flips and stuff. When it was over, we locked up the swords, and went to the kitchen to stuff ourselves. Sword training makes a person really, really hungry.

"Ya know Dale," she told me, "I think we're the only people in like…1,700 years, to use that manual…that's when the Defense Forces were disbanded."

Now it was my turn to choke on my soda. "No way! You are kidding me…right?"

"Yes way," she continued, "I know no one else has duped that manual, cause I had to configure the transfer to 4crystal. Last time anyone accessed the archive they made a disc…and no one has used a disc since about 7,000 A.D.

I was shocked. This was the kewlest, the most ultimate thing she had ever come up with. What was new to me, and had made me feel so alive, was something so old it's forgotten.

"Wait till I get done with the archives," she laughed, bringing me back from my thoughts.

"What do you mean? There's more Val?"

"Oh yeah, I've pulled a few more files, and I'm gonna transfer them ASAP. We are gonna do the whole DF training course…at least I am."

"Count me in Val. I wouldn't miss this for the worlds."

That's how it started. Valerie made the 4crystals and we uploaded the manuals. It was hard not to show off. I wanted to crack skulls, and kick ass when the cliques pulled their catty crap, but somehow I kept it together. It was senior year, and we would graduate in a few months. Besides, I wanted the star charts. Val had found antique star charts in the archives, charts from the 6,500's to 7,500's. They showed the dead worlds, and they hadn't been looked at since then. That was the time of the Defense Forces, and Val and I were getting cultish about that stuff. When I uploaded the charts I was in heaven. I stayed up for three days straight seeing the ancient skies, and the worlds of the lost void. I was in heaven for real. Then trouble came.

Everyone at school was getting crazy, anticipating graduation in two weeks. Seniors like us were out of control. It happened at lunch, when too many crazed kids were packed too close together in the cafeteria. Val and I were eating and laughing at a table in the center of the room. Of course half the rink hockey team had to be looking for a laugh that afternoon, and we were convenient victims. Kids can be cruel, old enough to hurt, and needy enough of peer approval to do it. This guy Martin came up behind Val and grabbed her, lifted her right off her seat as his buddies ringed us laughing. He was trying to force her to kiss him, and she just pushed off the seat, forcing him the direction he was pulling her. They both went down, but only Val got up…she'd managed to land with her elbow in his groin, all 112 lbs. on the point of her elbow. He was holding himself and writhing on the floor. Val started cracking up, so did I. His buddies didn't think it was so funny. They tried to grab both of us, calling us dykes and lezzies, and swinging at us like we were guys on an enemy team. Guess there was a lot of frustration getting vented. I think one of the things about the manuals is that the info becomes a part of you, and when you need it you can't help but use it. We broke bones, and dislocated joints. When it was over there were nine guys who had to be taken to the Med Center, and we were only shaken up. As we sat in the Administration office I put together what had happened. I could replay everything in slow motion. We discussed it rationally and in detail with the Principals and the Counselors. It terrified them. They maintained that we should have been too traumatized to remember details, but worse than that, they blamed us for not being victims, the idiots. I guess what really screwed us was that in the end I told them to "fuck off", and Val laughed at them.

They actually took us to jail. I couldn't believe it, but they said we were too dangerous to run around loose, until they could understand how two girls could mince the hockey team. That night in jail it got bad, really bad. After the guards had made their rounds, and the holding cell was locked down, the other six women, all real criminals, decided they were going to put us in our place. Val and I fought for our lives. When the guards made their rounds at shift change they saw blood running out of the cell. We were the only ones still breathing. On top of each of the other inmates we had put the jailhouse shivs they had attacked us with, makeshift but deadly weapons. Only their owners' finger prints were on them. It didn't matter. We were charged that night. Like everything else about Dell, it wasn't serious, not really. The jail I mean, not the charges. We were facing possible psych deletes.

The new cells we were put in were supposed to be maximum security, and guards were stationed just down the hall. The manuals had taught us how to breach security and extract from confinement. We spent three hours in those cells, just long enough to short out the locks with the cables they used instead of bedsprings. We slipped out of the cells, and had a twelve-second engagement with the four guards. We gagged them, and locked them in their own cells. Then we slipped out a public exit into the night. A pair of 17 year old fugitives…the first Defense Force cadets in 1,700 years.

The next day, we commandeered a private yacht at the space-port, lifted from Dell, and made a jump. I had never piloted a starship, even a small yacht. The jump was flawless. The next thing we knew we were above a dead world, far, far away. Two months later the goblins came and Dell was roasted. We are the only survivors of our world.

OPENING MOVE - KING TAKES PAWN x 6

Sensor alarms were blaring in the hanger, and the computer's voice was reporting on the incoming ship.

"Alert, Incoming ship. Alert, Incoming ship. Configuration unknown. Jump was terminated at the trailing Lagrange point. Standby, scanning."

The ship had terminated its jump 60 arc degrees behind Terminus Prime's moon, and in the same orbit. Flawless navigation control. Whoever was driving wasn't a sloppy pilot. They could have stayed there forever without expending any energy. I wasn't surprised that the configuration was unknown…the data banks hadn't been updated in 1,700 years.

"Alert, Incoming ship, configuration unknown, origin within the Kingdom. Current speed 20,000mph, with course shift to orbital trajectory. Standby, scanning"

They had chosen to fall into a planetary orbit around Terminus Prime at a stately speed of 20,000mph. Not an attack maneuver, at least not an obvious one.

"Alert, Incoming ship, no weapons detected on any wavelength. Two life forms aboard, biologically human, with enhancements. Course and speed steady. Now approaching planetary exosphere. Standby."

It was not a warship, and not an alien. Although the configuration was unknown, it was a ship with two humans aboard. Humans with enhancements, now what was that supposed to mean? They were approaching the outermost layers of the atmosphere, on a constant course.

"Alert, Incoming ship is scanning the surface. Onboard sensors are not intrusive, shielding is opaque to ship's sensors. Standby. Change in course and speed detected. Ship is entering orbit. Nominal altitude is 500 miles, velocity 20,000mph."

The ship had achieved a stable orbit 500 miles above the Terminus Prime. The computer was reporting that the ship's scanners couldn't see through the base's shields. I realized all they could see was a dead planet. They had no idea I was here.

Orbiting my world was a defenseless ship with two human occupants, the first I had heard of in 1,700 years. I sensed a challenge aboard, not a threat. But there was potential danger for them in an undefended orbit, and I felt their safety was my responsibility now that they were here. More than that, I simply wanted to meet them. They would have current information on the status of the Kingdom.

I went aboard the Ares, and I lifted up the shaft. At the top, I initiated full shielding as the blast door opened. As I accelerated into the light of day, the sensor alarms went off again. The computer's voice filled the Ares.

"Alert, Incoming ships. Alert, Incoming ships. Six ships have terminated jumps at the trailing Lagrange point. Alien configurations. Active shielding at level 2. Weapons detected in classes 2, 3a, 6, and 7b. Standby. Analysis; squadron of six warships, armed, speed 35,000mph, course to intercept prior arrival, behavior status hostile."

The message repeated, but I didn't hear it. Above me a race to the death had been joined. Six alien warships were moving to attack the unarmed human ship in the skies over my home world. Above me were two human lives, the first I'd encountered in 1,700 years, and they were precious to me. The Spirit of Battle blazed in my heart. By the Gods, no one was going to kill them in my skies!

"Full attack speed," I ordered the navigation control, "intercept course. Weapons control, charge x-ray laser, maintain full shields."

The Ares leapt forward, atmospheric friction causing it to leave a visible trail. I didn't care. Within its shields, the ship glowed with the blue-white of death, now blindingly bright, like a dwarf star racing up from the surface of Terminus Prime. By the time the Ares entered the mesosphere, and the trail faded, it was moving at 100,000mph, and closing the distance to the attackers. I hailed the human ship.

"Unknown human ship, this is the Ares. Acknowledge. You are under attack. There is a squadron of six hostiles closing on your position. Acknowledge."

The response I got to my transmission left me shocked.

"Uh Ares? We're under attack? Where are they? Who are you?"

It sounded like a girl. She didn't even know her ship was being followed. She had no idea she was under attack. Definitely civilians, and then I remembered, the attackers were using minimal shields. The were easily visible to me, but the civilian ship didn't have intrusive sensors. They were blind.

"Unknown human ship, this is the Ares. I am closing on your position, and will engage your attackers. Make landfall at maximum speed. Follow the coordinates I transmit. I will cover your retreat."

"Uh Ares…are you a warship? Are you the fast bright thing we can see out the ports? We can't see you on our sensors," they transmitted, and then they must have left their com link open, because I heard what sounded like a conversation between two girls!

"Geezus, look at that thing move…it's glowing…how come we can't see it on our sensors?"

"You think it's really a warship? He said we're being attacked, but I don't see anything."

"Look, are those the coordinates?"

"Is this for real?"

I closed the distance to the human ship, and sped past it, back up their trail. I could see the attackers ahead, and I was coming up on them fast. The Ares could target four hostiles at a time, so I picked the leading four. I was about to drop my shields to fire, when an over-ride locked the shields in place, and I saw a beam streak from the closest attacking ship. I was between them and their target, with full shields. I don't think their sensors could detect me. The Ares took the bolt meant for the fleeing civilian ship, and the shields held. The weapons control had maintained target-lock on the four leading attackers. In the second between their first and second firings, the Ares' fire control auto-dropped the shields and fired. Four bolts sprang from the x-ray laser, four hits, four kills. One of the remaining two attackers fired again, and again the Ares' shields held. They were target-locked, as good as dead. Then they broke off, and tried to flee. Their sensors had read the radiation signature of a class 11 weapon, and they were attempting to flee back into the void.

"No you don't you bastards," I swore at them, "you don't come hunting in my back yard and live to tell what you saw."

It was no contest. No ship can outrun the speed of light. Nothing can outrun a laser. The Ares had built a charge, and as the would-be attackers accelerated away, the shields dropped, and the Ares fired. Two beams leaped after them, catching them and destroying them. It was over so fast. Perhaps six seconds from first to last firing. I hoped they hadn't had time to transmit a message to where ever it was they came from.

The Ares back flipped and rolled, reversing its course, and decelerating to one-quarter attack speed to catch up with the civilian ship. They were following the trajectory and course coordinates I had transmitted to them, and I caught up with them during the descent. They didn't know I was there. I had maintained full shields, until they were on the ground and powered down. You can never be too sure.

They landed in front of the center blast door, and I knew how impressive those doors looked. I set the Ares down next to them, and dropped the shields. To them it would have appeared as if a red ghost ship had materialized out of nowhere on their flank. First impressions are very important, and I wanted them awed. They would soon be standing on the home world of the Colonial Defense Forces, and the home world of the God of War. Clearance for civilians to land here had been nearly impossible to obtain when the Defense Forces had been active. The were being granted a great boon, whether they realized it or not. I opened the iris port, and I stepped out of the Ares. I could see two figures through the dark ports in the cockpit of the small starship. I motioned for them to debark. One of the figures nodded. A seam appeared in the forward part of the hull, describing a rectangular port. The port slid aside, and two figures emerged. They looked like teenage girls. My heart lurched. One was tall, almost six feet, blue eyed, with dark hair, straight and falling past her shoulders. The other was short and blond. Her green eyes stared out below her bangs as she examined the Ares. Then they turned their gaze to me. What they did next almost broke my heart.

Together they reached over their right shoulders, and from scabbards on their backs each drew a sword. Together they spun them twice on their palms, circled their upper bodies in a silver blur, and presented them vertically in front of themselves. It was an ancient salute, once given by cadets to officers during military ceremonies. It was a part of the tradition of the Colonial Defense Forces. They had performed the salute flawlessly, with speed and precision, in perfect synchronization, and their eyes had never left mine. I could do only one thing. In a blur I drew my ancient blade from the scabbard at my left hip. I slashed the blade horizontally to the right and then to the left, then spun it vertically around my hand in front of my body. I brought it to my right side where I spun it on my palm twice, circled my upper body, and brought the blade to salute position, vertical in front of me. It was the salute of a Star Captain, all I dared reveal. They waited, eyes locked on mine. At the count of ten, I reversed my movements, and sheathed my sword. Two seconds later they reversed the movements they had made, ending with a smooth resheathing of the swords behind their backs. I was in shock. Where had they learned those movements? I had to find out. I walked to where they stood, still at attention.

"Name yourselves, warriors," I ordered.

"Dale Sherril, fugitive from the world of Dell," the tall one said.

"Valerie Havarr, fugitive from the world of Dell," said the blond.

DOWN MEMORY LANE

In the following days I questioned them closely about the status of the Kingdom, and the events of the last 1,700 years. I questioned them about their lives, and how they had acquired their Defense Force training. The way they could absorb information astonished me. The fact that they could immediately apply what they had learned was even more amazing. They were almost equal to third year cadets, but they also had practical experience. Added to this, they had the knowledge of the Kingdom's advances, achieved since I had entered the Sleep of the Gods. As I came to know them better I could feel the Spirit of Battle growing in them day by day. Just being immersed in this environment pushed them to become more committed as warriors. What had started as a game, became their way of life. And I discerned the spirits of Xena and Gabrielle in them. I rejoiced. They were two seventeen-year-old girls, but they were so much more. I had the beginnings of an army, and perhaps mankind had another chance. I almost ruined it.

One afternoon, as we sat under trees near the ruins of my citadel, they told me of how the Great Complacency had led to the vulnerability of mankind, leaving them defenseless before the attackers they called the goblins. No living human had ever met one of these attackers, and no one knew where they originated. In the last 160 years, the Kingdom had gone from 1,814 prosperous and peaceful worlds, to 647 isolated planets, filled with doomed and terrified people. Worlds of people who were dying as we spoke.

I was furious. How could mankind have let itself fall so low? I knew I was working myself up, but I couldn't help it…it was too close to my heart. From the time before man had stood on two legs, the creatures of Earth had struggled in competition, had conquered, and had survived. From the dark of their primal past, to the balance of dark and light, countless generations had lived and fought, hoping for a better future. The struggle had lifted mortals; had made them human. But finally, having achieved their dream, they turned their backs on the dark. All the clawing and sacrifice, the dreams, and the slow painful climb, from animal to the mortal image of God…gone. And I felt the senseless waste. The generations of warriors who had given their lives, with courage, even when hope was lost, the hundreds of millions through the ages who had died in the service of the greater good, searching for the peace that can only be won with strength. Always walking the blade's edge, between vicious brutality and helpless passivity, balanced between the dark and the light by their commitment and their iron will. I remembered brave King Leonidas, my beloved Xena, the New Air Force Delta squadron, and the Defense Forces that had protected the colonists of the Great Expansion. All lost, all had died in vain. It was inexcusable! My anger overflowed. I leapt up from where I sat, outside my old citadel.

"By the Gods how could they betray us!" I screamed to the skies.

The fire of my wrath kindled the fire in my hands, and launched it at the ancient walls. I threw the bolt of energy with all the rage in my heart. It blasted the ancient stones, slamming through them and leaving a gaping hole, cratering the earth before it. My cadets stared at me, frozen in shock and terror.

"What are you?" Valerie screamed, tears running down her face, "You're no Star Captain!"

"Who are you?" Dale whispered, backing away from me.

"I am Ares, the God of War," I flung back at them, "and for nine thousand years warriors looked to me for the Spirit of Battle, for strength when hope had died, and for courage when strength alone would not suffice. All my life, I have driven mankind to conquer themselves, and the worlds around them. Yet when I looked away, they betrayed themselves, worse, they betrayed me, but worst of all, they betrayed all the heroes of the past."

And then I vanished with lightning and flames, leaving two seventeen-year-old girls cowering under the trees on a dead world. I reappeared in the hanger of the warships, and sought solace in memories. I locked myself in the Ares, and lifted into the shaft. The blast door opened above me, and I flew out. Below I could see two small figures as they approached the breach in the citadel wall I had blasted. They turned as the Ares passed overhead, and watched until I initiated the shields, and the ship disappeared.

"Look at this Val," Dale said, pointing to the margins of the hole in the citadel wall, "the rock is glassified, awesome."

"I see it," Val said, still shaken, "what kind of power could do this?"

"Well, I guess something like a 1 gigawatt laser, or an inert projectile moving at around 10,000 feet per second."

"Awesome. Guess he was pissed, huh," Val said, "think all the God stuff he was talking about is for real, or do you think he's insane?"

"Both probably," Dale replied, "I guess it was something we said, huh…typical."

"Yeah, like when you told them to fuck off, and they threw us in jail."

"Well yeah, I guess. Come on…let's check this place out…it's ruins, you should get off on this Val."

"It's the citadel of the Defense Forces," Val said, interest calming her, "there were rumors of it in the archives."

"Looks real to me, let's go in there," Dale said, pointing to the Hall of Warriors, "looks like a lobby or something."

"Ok Dale, just keep your eyes open, huh," Val said, "this was a military base, could be booby-trapped."

"Right, that would be our luck, for sure."

They entered the Hall of Warriors, where twelve-foot tall statues of a hundred heroes lined the space in four ranks of twenty-five rows. The very first statue stopped them dead.

"Oh my God Dale, look at this!"

"Xena of Amphipolis, Founder of the Defense Forces of Old Earth, Mortal and Immortal Beloved and Favorite of the God of War…geezus." Dale read off the plaque on the statue's base.

"Geezus is right, she looks just like you…uh…like you will in fifteen years, I think."

"I guess it's his girlfriend, huh."

"Sounds like…Oh My God!" Valerie exclaimed.

"What Val?…Geezus! I see it."

"Born 127 B.C. - Died 2,051 A.D." Dale read, "What's B.C.?"

"I have no idea, but it looks like she lived 2,178 years…2,179 if there was a year 0."

"Well it says mortal AND immortal…this can't be true, isn't there always a mythical founder in these things?"

"I guess it could be," Val said slowly, "but why does she look like you?"

"You're asking me? History's your major. This is giving me the creeps."

"Me too…lets look at some of the others, ok?"

"Fine with me, how about that one, or…OH Shit!"

"What Dale? OH SHIT! Another one…and this one really looks like you 'cause she's younger."

"Capt. Diana Miller, Born 2,056 A.D. - Died 2,137 A.D. First Reincarnation of Xena of Amphipolis?"

"That's it. I'm outta here. This is more insane than Ares. Reincarnation of Xena, huh, what the hell?"

"Right behind you Val, I'm like totally creeped out now."

"And what the fuck is this?"

"You tell me…you're the science major."

"Looks like a holo-projector…REALLY primitive…wonder if it works?"

"Well, it's only got this dial, and one button, should I push it?"

"Why not Val, all it can do is blow up in our faces."

"Aren't you the optimist."

"Look Val, it's working…that's Ares, and…and that's me, err Xena, or one of her, I mean…check that funky white mansion in the back"

"They're fighting those other guys…Oh My God, she killed him." Val said with a gulp, then continued, "Now she's fighting with Ares against that couple, and…"

"Shaddup and let me watch this."

"Ok, ok…geezus. Gods they're fast."

"Look Val, she's waving…and Ares is bowing."

"Now the other four are gonna fight them."

"She jumped over those arrows, and he deflected them…two at once."

After watching in silence for a few more minutes,

"Look, that red ship shot the lawn, and knocked everyone down…they look stunned."

"Dale, I think he's dying"

"Now what, Oh My God, Val that's you…with wings, and like, you just appeared."

"I, err, she killed two of them with that ring thing, and Xena caught it."

"Awww, they're hugging."

"Oh no, that guy stabbed Ares…he's, he's dead, and Xena's killing them both."

A few minutes later…

"Did Xena just bring him back to life? Is that what I just saw?"

"Sure looked like it to me Dale."

"Ok, I've seen enough…my head's spinning, I'm outta here."

"Me too! Hey I'm hungry Dale, we haven't eaten since breakfast, and I'm starving."

"You're always hungry Val."

"Am not!"

"Are too."

Since they couldn't just vanish and reappear, it took them the better part of an hour to walk back to their ship, and by then Valerie Havarr was tired and cranky with low blood sugar, and Dale Sherril was withdrawn and cranky, overloaded by what she had seen. They attacked the galley in silence, and then dozed off. They were still asleep in their ship when I brought the Ares down next to them. I'd gone back to the Destri system and blown up the third planet. I was feeling pretty good.

THE FIRST STAFF MEETING

I dragged myself up out of this weird dream where Ares was giving his army a pep talk before a battle, and when I looked, all the warriors had Dale's face. I was hovering above looking down on all of them, and I had wings. All the Dales drew their swords, and as they raised them overhead they screamed, "Kill them all." I was waking up to voices from the front of the ship, near the hatch. It was Ares and Dale talking. Guess I know how that dream started.

"Permission to come aboard?" Ares asked.

"Permission granted if you promise not to blow up the ship," Dale replied, and in my mind's eye I could see her with a half-smile on her face.

"Who, me?" Ares asked, "I'm a perfect houseguest, and I always lift the seat."

"Huh?" Dale said, confused. I didn't understand the reference either then. Ares' speech was laced with quotes, phrases, and jokes from the past. It used to be really confusing. Now I usually know what he means.

"Never mind," Ares said, " I need to talk to you, both of you. Where's Valerie?"

"She's probably still sleeping. She's a heavy sleeper…she'd sleep till noon if I'd let her." Dale confided to Ares. She was commenting on my sleeping habits which annoyed me a little and finished waking me up. Truth hurts.

"Just like Gabrielle," Ares said, almost wistfully.

"Huh?" Dale said, again confused, "Who's Gabrielle?"

"I'm up, I'm up," I said, coming out of my cabin, and losing my fight to suppress a yawn, "Who's Gabrielle?"

"Well, that's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about, he said as the three of us entered the galley.

"About Gabrielle?" Dale asked, as I yawned again.

"About Gabrielle, Xena, the Defense Forces, me, the God of War, Earth's history, yadda, yadda…and et cetera." he said, smiling at us.

"Huh?" both of us asked.

"It's part of your training," he said, "military and civic history, and your own histories. This is very, very important. In fact, you're both as good as lost without it."

Oh great, I thought. Well here we are, space cadets, galactic runaways, attacked by aliens, rescued by a mad God obsessed with past wars, and now we're going to get the whole delusion, all wrapped up on a platter. At least we'll know where he's coming from. Guess we were supposed to humor him and sit here nodding and smiling. Not!

"Sure," I said, "nothing I'd like to do more. Ya know, hear the history of the Kingdom from someone who's missed the last 1,700 years, and claims to be another 9,000 years old. That would make you at least 10,700 years old. Well, civilization began 8,722 years ago with the 'Dissolution of Nations', a myth that's supposed to explain why people get along peacefully. A.D.? Ya know, 'After Dissolution'…what's after the numbers in a date? Well, I was a history major. I even published a research paper."

He just stared at me. It was like he thought I was crazy, and he couldn't believe what I was saying. Finally, he said, "Well, actually I'm over to 11,000 years old, and the 'Dissolution of Nations' was in 2,056 A.D. Civilization was already over 8,000 years old then, and 4,000 years of that was before my time."

He paused for a few seconds, then added, "And people don't just get along naturally…they usually try to kill each other."

I gave Dale a look, and she looked back at me with one eyebrow raised, and the hint of a grin. We were close to cracking up. He was really out there for sure.

"What?" Ares exclaimed, looking back and forth at us, "you don't believe me?"

"Oh yeah, I'm completely convinced," Dale said, then she lost it and started laughing out loud.

"We believe every word you've said," I added, cracking up totally. By now Dale was holding her stomach, and tears were starting in her eyes.

"I mean, never mind that I've spent my whole life studying history in school, and…and…" I couldn't keep it up, I just lost it and went into hysterics. Dale was collapsing, and Ares caught her.

"That's what they teach in history classes on Dell?" Ares asked in disbelief, "they're insane. They've been filling your heads with lies!"

"Well, now I'm persuaded," I managed to say between fits of laughter, "they're all crazy…and the only one who's sane is you, huh?"

"Yeah, now you've got it," he said, then seeing us laughing even harder, "Now what?"

Dale had collapsed against Ares, heaving with laughter, tears rolling down her cheeks. She had her arms around his neck…she certainly didn't seem scared of him, even if he was bonkers. He was holding her in his arms with this look of disbelief on his face, looking back and forth from her to me, and back again. I think the whole scene had a lot to do with stress induced mania.

Finally it dawned on him.

"You think I'm crazy? Me? The God of War? Crazy? The Furies are dead! I'm perfectly sane!"

That was it. I lost it totally. I was rolling on the floor laughing. If Dale hadn't been holding onto Ares she would have been on the floor with me. Finally after about five minutes, we started to get it together, wiping our faces. We couldn't look at each other without starting again.

"Look, I'm right, they're wrong. I'll prove it to you," Ares said.

Absolutely the wrong thing to say. Of course he could prove it…every lunatic could. We both went down again, my sides were splitting so bad I could barely breath. Ares had let go of Dale, and she just collapsed like a rag doll.

Ares just looked at us on the floor, "Now what did I say?"

"Ok, I'll bite. How can you prove that everything we know is wrong?" I asked him, when I could finally speak without laughing. Ares was standing there with his hands on his hips, looking kinda pissed off, and I have to admit, kinda cute.

"You learned the Defense Forces training manuals by assimilating the info from crystals, right?" he asked.

That got us more serious. He reached into a pocket and pulled out a crystal.

"This is history. Real history, written by the bards who lived through it. Thousands of years of history, straight from the horses' mouths!"

I looked at the crystal he was holding. My mind was working now. I was hooked by the possibility of what he said was in it. I could tell it was a 2crystal, and I'd have to run a transfer to 4crystal personal, but I could do that in a couple hours. I wanted it.

Dale was looking at the crystal too, but she was also looking at Ares with this weird glow in her eyes.

"Ares," she asked him, "what's a horse?"

A HORSE IS A HORSE

Well, a horse was a domesticated quadrupedal herbivore, indigenous to old Earth, Equus caballus, used for transportation and heavy labor. It was in the crystal.

I reconfigured the equipment in the base's media lab to make the transfer from 2crystal to 4crystal in personal format. Ares watched over my shoulder the whole time, as if the original crystal was something precious. When he finally admitted to me there was no backup, my hands shook every time I held it. After I modified the equipment to produce crystals for the personal interfaces Dale and I had implanted in our temples, I duped the info. At first I couldn't understand how a 2crystal could store so much data. It took three 4crystals to hold it all. Ares just smirked, said something about God stuff, and left it at that. I spent a long time trying to unlock this mystery, and finally I found that the original crystal was coded as a double helix. The 2crystal was coded like DNA. He watched us like a hawk the day Dale and I uploaded. It took hours and hours. It wasn't just facts in those crystals…there was something else. Ares said it was the Spirit of Battle we were getting. He said it came with knowing our past, who we were, who we'd been, and what it stood for. We were never the same afterwards.

He wasn't insane. Our teachers had never known what was missing. We had lost so much in the passing of the millennia, and the distances our peoples had traveled to Dell. I was in seventh heaven, and I now knew more history than anyone living, except for Dale and Ares. I was Gabrielle. I was Valerie Havarr. And I was sixty-two other reincarnations. They were all there. Ares said we were the first to remember all our past lives. I felt there was nothing I couldn't do. I had over 8,800 years of experience. He said either one of us was better than any Star Captain who had ever lived. I had never been so proud. He gave each of us a warship, and the run of the base. I had never flown a ship of any kind, but when I first stepped into the Aurora it was like coming home.

Dale was changed too. Maybe more than me. She was the reincarnation of Xena, the Warrior Princess, Lion of Amphipolis, Destroyer of Nations, Beloved and Favorite of the God of War, and once, she had been the Goddess of War and Strategy. She had been a bloodthirsty warlord, but had reformed. It was a complex and difficult position. Eventually she thrived on it. She was more reserved, introspective, and she could be hard as nails. The first time we trained with weapons after the upload there was no way I could match her. Before, we had been even. No more. In sword drills she would have killed me in the first twenty seconds. It was the same with spears, staves, chobos, daggers, bows, and everything else we trained with. There was one weapon she never trained with…the chakram. There was only one. Ares never let it out of his sight, never even let us touch it. He said there was too much bound up in it to use it as a weapon, and he wouldn't say anything more. Dale made a molecularly exact copy, but for some reason it wouldn't rebound and return. Finally, she gave up, convinced there was a power inherent in the original that could not be duplicated. Ares gave her an "I told you so" look, and never discussed it again. He stopped carrying it, and we didn't know what he'd done with it, or where it was hidden.

We spent time on maneuvers in the warships. It was awesome. The speed, the weapons, the feeling of exhilaration commanding a ship that could do almost anything as fast as we could think to do it. We conducted live fire drills, dog fighting drills, formation drills. We practiced and tested, and practiced some more. Ares drove us endlessly. One day he took us to a star system, and as we watched, he destroyed the single planet of a double star with a M/AM torpedo. I was surprised by the twinge of conscience that affected me. I had inherited displeasure with the unnecessary destruction. I think that came straight from Gabrielle. That night I thought how incredible it was. Five weeks before, Dale and I had broken out of a jail on Dell. It was time to go hunting.

In the last week of April, on the old Earth calendar, we started the hunt for the attackers. We were a squadron of three warships, Ares led in the red flagship of his name, while I flew the Aurora, dawn of a new age. Dale had asked for, and received the commission for the warship, Sword of Amphipolis. For three weeks we traveled the void, jumping from planet to planet. Terminus Prime had been colonized early in the expansion, and the attacks had begun near the frontiers. In those first weeks we found old colonial worlds; untouched worlds, where the Complacency was most deeply entrenched. When we hailed them the populations fled underground, or begged for mercy. Not once did a ship lift from a planet to greet us. Not once did a transmission express thanks or hope for our mission. After two weeks of this treatment, Ares joked that we should, "give them what they expected", and torpedo their planets. After three weeks, Dale started requesting volunteers for the New Defense Forces, and upbraiding them for their cowardice when she was met with silence, astonishment, or refusal. It was a joke to her.

In the fourth week of our hunt, the last week of May, we finally saw evidence of the attackers. The debris of a starship was floating above a dead world, ringed with satellites. Seething with hatred for the killers, Dale went on a shooting spree. Targeting satellites four at a time, she spent two hours cleaning the sky above the roasted planet. When I tried to hail her, she just replied, "not now Gabrielle, I'm busy", and closed the channel. Then the shooting would continue. I was scared for her. Meanwhile, Ares, feeling less sympathy for the colonists who had betrayed the legacy of his warriors, dispassionately analyzed the destruction the attackers had wrought on the starship. He said the damage to the hull was from a class 6 weapon, musing that it was just like the old days. I thought I knew what he meant. When he said he should have, "hunted them down and killed them all", as Xena had wanted, I was sure. He was convinced the attackers were the same aliens that had invaded Earth so many millennia ago. To me it felt wrong, though I couldn't have explained why. I surveyed the frozen floating corpses of over 2,700 people who had been on that starship. It just made me sad. Like Dale and Ares, I wouldn't have hesitated to destroy any attackers I encountered.

After a month on the hunt, we skip-jumped back to Terminus Prime. We were tense and claustrophobic, and we had been alone, each of us in a separate ship, for a month. Ares was morose, blaming himself for letting the aliens flee in their mother ship that day so long ago on Earth. I made the point to him that we still hadn't seen any of the attackers, and couldn't be sure they were the same alien race he and Xena had fought in 2,006 A.D. It didn't cheer him up at all. He was brooding. Dale had become harder than ever. She withdrew into weapons training, up to ten hours a day. She spent the rest of her time studying tactics and strategy. Like Ares, she was inconsolable. Both of them were horrible company.

Being a history and archeology major, I decided to investigate the ruins of the citadel. On the third day of my in explorations, I made a fantastic discovery. In a hall above the old situation room, I found the library. There were crystals and discs, but there were also bound books. I had never seen one before. There were almost none in all the colonies. And in a special vault, I found, displayed in laminated sheets of mineral glass, scrolls so ancient they predated the earliest memories of civilization in the colonies. Predated them by thousands of years. Even one would have been a priceless treasure, worth a planet's ransom. There were hundreds. I didn't go back to the base until the hour we lifted to resume the hunt. With a translation visor and a crystalcorder I made a study of the oldest scrolls I found. They were the works of Gabrielle, the Bard of Poteidia. In her own words, I read of the adventures of the Warrior Princess, Xena of Amphipolis. Of her darkness, and her struggle to conquer it. Of her early adventures, as she sought to atone for her evil. The stories of her triumphs over her enemies in that distant time came alive in Gabrielle's scrolls. I also learned of the timeless love between them, and the promise of an eternal destiny entwined. Now I understood the danger my dear friend Dale faced. Pushed by her ancient prowess and her newfound anger for the attackers, she was in danger of sliding down again into darkness. She would become a terrifying, if not unstoppable enemy…not the ancient Destroyer of Nations, but a Destroyer of Worlds. And like Gabrielle so long ago, I swore I would never let that happen, even if it cost me my life. When I saw Dale and Ares again, I saw them with different eyes.

THE DARKNESS IN THE LIGHT

On the calendar of old Earth it was June the first. We lifted from Terminus Prime to hunt the Kingdom. We jumped to a world near the destruction we had encountered before, and found it too had been roasted by satellites. Again we found the debris of blasted starships. We jumped again and again, and each time found ourselves looking down on another dead world. All through the first half of June we moved through the devastation of the Kingdom, like drifters riding through a ghost town. We saw not a single living thing. It was eerie, nerve wracking, and depressing. On the com screen I could see Ares' fury building, but in Dale's eyes there was a hollowness that told of a spirit dying inside. She was emotionless…had been since we left Terminus Prime. I couldn't see my old friend in her anymore.

On June the fifteenth we terminated a jump, and we entered space near the world of MiCasa. Ahead of us, a colonial starship terminated a jump, and began falling towards the planet. We dropped shields and hailed them. They identified their ship as the Icarus III, filled with refugees seeking asylum on MiCasa. They couldn't believe it when we told them we were the Colonial Defense Forces. Their captain begged us for an escort, and we complied. They were good bait. We didn't tell them that at this distance our sensors showed they were headed for a roasted planet. We flanked the Icarus III, then initiated shields, and disappeared. As the Icarus III closed on the planet, and prepared to fall into orbit, our sensor alarms went off, and the computers alerted us to incoming ships.

"Alert, Incoming ships. Alert, Incoming ships. Six ships have terminated jumps at the coordinates of the prior arrival. Alien configuration. Active shielding at level 2. Weapons detected in classes 2, 3a, 6, and 7b. Analysis, squadron of six warships, armed, speed 35,000mph, course to intercept prior arrival, behavior status hostile."

The attackers had taken the bait. If we were lucky we would save the refugees, if we were very lucky we would capture an attacker. But if things went according to plan, we would send a M/AM torpedo after a single attacking ship, through a jump, to bring destruction to its home space, and with sensors, we would find where they lived.

Ares was on point, leading the Icarus III towards MiCasa, and he began to order us to flank the attackers, and destroy five, but Dale had already back flipped the Sword of Amphipolis, and was accelerating to attack speed, closing on the six alien ships. I back flipped the Aurora, and followed her. I could already see the Sword of Amphipolis glowing blue-white in its shield, and I knew wrath and vengeance were driving Dale into a fury. The Aurora was at half attack speed, closing on the targets, when the Sword of Amphipolis dropped shields, and fired. Four alien ships incandesced…four kills. I was watching the Destroyer of Worlds being born. The Sword of Amphipolis was glowing again. I targeted the two remaining aliens, hoping she'd leave one to flee, and activated two M/AM torpedoes. Again the Sword of Amphipolis dropped shields, but she didn't fire. She was point blank with the alien, and she was daring him to fire on her. The alien had read the radiation signature of her weapon, and he wasn't going to duel with her. He powered down, as if to surrender. Then there was a flash, blinding white. The Sword of Amphipolis was alone. The alien had diverted all power to self-destruct. The last ship turned to flee, and as it reached jump velocity, I fired a M/AM. The alien jumped with the torpedo almost in contact. It was done.

Somewhere across the dark of the void an alien ship terminated its jump, hoping to report our existence. Somewhere, far away, the planet destroying power of the M/AM had followed it, found it, and destroyed it. Above the dead world of MiCasa, the sensors on our three warships recorded a seismic event. Computers crunched numbers, and produced sets of coordinates. The three computers compared coordinates, and triangulated a position. Somewhere was now a place on the space charts. The aliens were no longer hidden…at least one of their outposts lay revealed. Now we would find them…and we would kill them all.

We docked the warships with the starship, and went aboard. The Icarus III was filled with refugees, and they were scared, pissed-off, and lost, all at the same time. They had fled their home world in desperation, just ahead of the satellites, one of eight starships. The ships had left, hoping that by outnumbering the attack ships, and jumping almost in their atmosphere, at least some would escape. The Icarus III was the sole survivor. The refugees aboard, and those who had died on the other seven starships, were unusual people. Though they came from a world in the thrall of the Complacency, they had been willing to act. After watching our destruction of the attackers on their view screens, some of them were actually ready to kill. We couldn't believe it. It was wonderful. Ares in particular seemed happy that these humans could still be inspired to battle, rather than hopelessly awaiting death as all the people on the dead worlds had. They couldn't believe there were only three of us. It gave them even more faith in the idea of fighting back.

"With the right leadership, resources, and a few hundred years, there could be humans with the Spirit of Battle again," he confided to us, smiling for the first time in weeks, "if there is to be any hope, a balance of darkness and light must be created. At least there may be something here to start with."

"I bet you could do it in three generations," I told him, "if you took them to Terminus Prime, and settled them in a military atmosphere."

"Maybe," he said, "if they didn't get too comfortable there."

I could tell he was thinking about it though. In the end, we gave them the coordinates for a world we knew was still populated, telling them to seek refuge there, and that we would contact them later. For now, we had a mission.

There was one further matter to resolve before we followed the coordinates to the alien base. Aboard the Icarus III, in the captain's conference room, Ares and Dale were arguing over her conduct during the attack. She had gone off like a loose cannon, and acted like an army of one. Teamwork and discipline had gone out the window in the fury that had possessed her. The upcoming operation would require cooperation and military precision.

"What did you think you were doing, Dale? You lost it back there! You could have ruined our plan!" Ares started in on her with.

"I killed the bastards while you were still sitting back there with the refugees. What's your problem, Ares?" she threw back at him.

"I'll tell you what my problem is…you! You forgot that you're part of an army, part of the Colonial Defense Forces. You acted like a green recruit out for glory. It was just plain dumb, and in war, the dumb end up dead!" Ares yelled at her.

"Oh so that's it, huh? You're pissed cause I'm not acting like your good little soldier girl! I could have taken them all out before they knew what was going on. I almost captured one of them, and we could have finally seen who we're up against!" Dale screamed back.

"Is that what you think?" Ares said quietly, an icy coldness in his eyes, "Dale, you went in one against six without waiting for cover. While you sat there without shields playing chicken, the other alien could have turned on you and blown you out of space. Do you know what a class 7b weapon is? It's a smart fusion torpedo. It's slow, and not very powerful compared to a M/AM, but it's powerful enough to have ended your little rampage. If that last alien hadn't been such a coward, he could have had you with the push of a button. The one who self-destructed could have done the same thing. He had nothing to lose. It's what I would have done. And don't tell me Val would have taken him out. She was targeting both aliens with her torpedoes cause she didn't know what you were going to do. She couldn't have used a M/AM that close to any of us. If your ship had been destroyed we couldn't have triangulated the position of the M/AM blast, even if the rest of the plan had worked. We had to have three ships…and we only have three ships." Ares had worked himself into a lather, but he'd explained the situation in tactical terms Dale couldn't argue with. He'd never mentioned the breakdown in the chain of command. That was implied by her lack of strategic thinking. Dale didn't say anything, but she looked down, away from his eyes. She didn't apologize or capitulate, but her shoulders slumped. She knew she'd screwed up, and we'd gotten lucky. In silence we walked out and went back to our ships. Just before he entered the Ares, I heard him mutter, "just like the old days", the ghost of a smile on his lips.

THE LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS

The position of the M/AM blast was in an area beyond the Kingdom. No colony had ever been established in that area, but long ago, explorers had surveyed it. There was a habitable system, and if the Expansion had continued, it would have been settled. The system had two worlds capable of supporting life, and four other planets, three of which were gas giants further out from their sun. Of the two livable planets, one was prime real estate, the other arid, but endowed with abundant mineral deposits. We jumped to a neighboring system, and Ares made a reconnaissance jump, terminating behind the closest gas giant. Then he vanished from the Ares, and reappeared in space above the outer world. He recorded on crystal for half an hour, then returned to his ship, and skip-jumped back to join us.

The alien world was highly developed, ships came and went, some crossing the void between the two planets, others jumping away. The culture appeared military, with clockwork arrivals and departures, sentinel stations in orbit, and regular patrols. Sensor stations monitored near space. We would have to jump right into the hornet's nest to surprise them. There was one anomalous event. A squadron of six ships which broke from a formation, and fled into the void. They were immediately pursued, and two were destroyed before the other four jumped. Ares believed they were deserters trying to escape, and said it was a sign of compromised moral. At no time did he observe a ship appear or disappear, and from this he inferred the aliens had nothing better than level 2 shields. On the whole, their capabilities were equal to those of the Defense Forces two generations, or nine hundred years, before the end of Expansion…about 5,700 A.D. We were discussing assault plans, when our sensor alarms went off.

"Alert, Incoming ships. Alert, Incoming ships. Thirty ships have terminated jumps 10 million miles from your position, between your coordinates and the system sun. Alien configuration. Active shielding at level 2. Weapons detected in classes 2, 3a, 6,and 7b. Course and speed at station keeping. Analysis, five squadrons of six warships, armed. Behavior status neutral."

Immediately we charged our x-ray lasers. We programmed our navigation controls to skip jump to a neutral coordinate in the void. The aliens' tactics weren't openly hostile, but their numbers were a threat. We were in defensive posture, and too close to their home world to battle freely. To avoid detection we had to maintain com silence. They shouldn't have been able to find our position, but somehow they hailed us on a tight com beam.

"Warships of the Colonial Defense Forces, this is the Thunder of Dawn squadron. We wish a parlay. Follow our jump to a neutral position in the void. We are too close to the New Kingdom. I repeat, we wish a parlay. We are in desertion of the order and command of the Leadership. We are soul tired of the destruction, and would arrange our surrender. Do you copy?"

Though we refused to give away our position by acknowledging their transmission, they had somehow known we were there, and they knew we would follow. They accelerated away from us, and made a jump. At no time had they made a hostile move. With five squadrons they could have terminated jumps to surround us, yet they had appeared at a discreet distance, crowded together. One voice had spoken for them all, and their maneuvers had the precision of military bearing. When they were gone, Ares contacted us and told us to follow at two-minute intervals, maintaining full shielding. Then he jumped to follow the renegade Thunder of Dawn squadron. Dale jumped next, and finally, I followed.

I found myself above Terminus Prime. The Thunder of Dawn squadron was positioned at the moon's trailing Lagrange point. They were powered down, and the tides of gravity were keeping them on station. The Ares and the Sword of Amphipolis were bracketing them 120 arc degrees apart, glowing blue-white, shields up, but ready to fire. I took station in the third position of a circle around the alien squadron. Upon my arrival, they began to hail us.

"Warships of the Colonial Defense Forces, this is the Thunder of Dawn squadron. We are in desertion from the New Kingdom. We seek to surrender, and we seek asylum. We have ninety warriors, aboard. We carry valuable intelligence reports. New capabilities have been achieved by the New Kingdom. The Leadership is in defiance of our Constitution. They have lost their balance and have brought disgrace on the warriors. They must be stopped. This planet is hallowed in the memory of the New Kingdom. We request clearance for landfall on Terminus Prime, and conditions for our disarmament. We will make a gesture of good faith."

Without changing power status, the thirty warships of the Thunder of Dawn squadron jettisoned their fusion torpedoes, and twelve floated away from each ship. Our sensors revealed the torpedoes to be inactive. They still had particle beam weapons, but those couldn't penetrate our shields. They had put themselves in a nearly helpless position. After two minutes, Ares hailed them.

"Thunder of Dawn squadron, this is the Ares…"

Whatever he said next was lost in the sounds of cheering from the squadron. It went on for several minutes. It sounded more like a celebration than a surrender. Finally it quieted enough for Ares to continue.

"Warriors, proceed to the coordinates I transmit. We will escort you to landfall. The spirit of your gesture, and your petition for surrender are accepted. Asylum is granted from hostile forces, but does not repeal the application of military justice. Ares out."

With the Sword of Amphipolis and the Aurora flanking them, and the Ares following, the Thunder of Dawn squadron fell through the atmosphere of Terminus Prime, decelerated, and came to landfall on a plateau beyond the base, where no military structures were visible. We remained in our ships, powered up, and covering them from three sides while they debarked. As the warriors set foot on the soil of Terminus Prime, they fell to their knees, and kissed the bare rocky ground, like mariners, long at sea and safely returned home. We watched in wonder, and I excitedly anticipated the story they would tell. They threw their side arms in a pile, and then withdrew a distance from them. They seemed sincere in their intention to surrender. When our onboard sensors reported no life forms remaining on the alien ships, we debarked, and went to meet them.

When they saw Ares a hush went through them, and one by one, the warriors came to attention. When they saw Dale and I, they stared in wonder, and a murmur went through them. Finally, the ranking squadron leader came forward, and identified himself as Flight Lieutenant Auriel Markoff. He saluted us with a sword, and laid it on the ground at Ares feet. Ares returned the salute with his sword, which brought another gasp from them. It was a different and more complex salute than the Star Captain's salute he'd greeted us with that first day. In fact, some movements were impossible to follow. Dale and I remained at attention behind him. This was a ceremonial surrender of warriors, from their ranking officer to the ranking enemy commander, as it had once been done in the Kingdom. Ares seemed pleased with the protocols. He and Lieutenant Markoff discussed terms for a few minutes and then the officer returned to his troops. Their surrender was accepted, and further discussions had been arranged.

First of all, they weren't really aliens. They were human. Their people were originally renegades from the Kingdom, who had been driven out of the colonial worlds before the start of the Great Complacency. Their ancestors had agitated against the loss of the Spirit of Battle in the colonies, and from the time when the Expansion ended they had been ostracized. They had survived beyond the frontier, and formed a confederation they called the New Kingdom. They had had no real warships, but they did have some weapons taken from the colonies. They had armed their fastest ships. It was with these, and raw courage that they had defeated the aliens that had long ago invaded Earth. From their enemies, they had taken technology, and eventually built a fleet. Then they had fallen on the aliens, and destroyed them utterly. The home world we had seen was one of five colonial worlds. They were ruled by a Constitutional Junta, an elected military government called the Leadership. In the last two hundred years, corruption had seeped into the Leadership, turning it into a dictatorship. Then the ancient resentment of the Kingdom had exploded into the destruction of starships, and the roasting of worlds. For the last one hundred-sixty years the Leadership had savaged the Kingdom with genocide. Increasingly, these warriors were sickened by the slaughter, feeling in their hearts that unarmed civilians were undeserving and unworthy opponents.

"The sheep of the Kingdom were ripe for the slaughter, yet genocide brings no honor to warriors, and the killing of billions has sickened our hearts," their leader said to Ares, "surely the God of War believes the actions of the Leadership show their fall from the balance of dark and light."

"So it seems. The peoples of the Kingdom have fallen as well," Ares said, "and both show the evil effects of the dark and the light out of balance."

"Those of us who have deserted are willing to fight against the Leadership, for the honor of past heroes, and the hope of a balanced future."

"How many warriors would desert if given the hope of regaining their ancient honor?" Ares asked.

"Very, very few," their officer said, "you can see how many of us have had the courage and the luck to make this journey. We are raised in a command structure, and almost none can disobey orders or put honor above them"

"They know of us?" Ares asked.

"We have always known about Terminus Prime, and the God of War. It is taught to every child. We have looked to the Defense Forces as the ultimate example of warrior honor. It has been that way since the beginning of the New Kingdom," he said to Ares, "we still preserve as much of the traditions as we can. It comes from ancestors who were, at some time in their lives, members of the Defense Forces. We still know the story of the God of War, and his favorites."

Ares continued his fascinating interrogation, and the leader of the Thunder of Dawn squadron was glad to tell what he knew. His respect bordered on awe, and his commitment was beyond question.

"Tell me of the new capabilities you mentioned," Ares asked him.

"This is the reason we finally knew we had to desert," he answered, "for the last decade our researchers have been developing intrusive sensors, and with one of these we were able to discern your presence near the home world. So far only a few have been deployed."

After a pause, he continued, "When several of our squadrons failed to return, we began to whisper that the Leadership had offended the God of War, and Jihad would be unleashed against us. We knew we had to leave. We knew we would refuse to fight your forces. But there was a development in the last six months that made leaving now imperative. The torpedoes we jettisoned were class 7b weapons. Now the New Kingdom is manufacturing class 9 weapons, and in a few months they will be deployed. Yesterday there was a blast in our system, and it was of an unimaginable magnitude. There were earthquakes on our home world 150 million miles away. It was the opening salvo of the Jihad, and that night all the remaining deserters fled, or died trying."

"Class 9 weapons," Ares mused, and I could tell he was thinking back to the time such weapons had a place in his own arsenal, "with the evil in the New Kingdom, such power would be used without restraint. The 647 remaining worlds of the Kingdom could be obliterated in as many days."

I was sickened at the thought. A class 9 weapon is a simple guided missile, with a massive enhanced fusion warhead. It is the most primitive of the world destroyers. It cannot follow a target's evasive maneuvers, and it cannot jump. Against a stationary target it is deadly. With intrusive sensors, the alien ships would be able to find our warships…they wouldn't be able to hide from us, but now we wouldn't be able to hide from them either. We could be ambushed. But worse than that, Terminus Prime was known to them, and if they came here they would be able to sense us, and they could now destroy us. The thought of the priceless library came to me, and its destruction would be a high crime against mankind. I glanced at Dale, and I could tell she was seething. She would relish the opportunity to fire a M/AM torpedo at their home world, and she would revel in the destruction of her enemies. Destroyer of Worlds…Jihad…Holy War. They hadn't seen anything yet. As if reading my thoughts, the officer looked at us.

"We revere the God of War, and the descendants of Gabrielle are known as well. But she," he said looking at Dale, "is the Dark Angel, and her memory is feared and hated throughout the New Kingdom. We remember one like her in a red warship, who enforced our exile from the Kingdom long ago."

All through the night

I'll be awake and I'll be with you

All through the night

This precious time when time is new

Oh, all through the night today

Knowing that we feel the same without saying *

* "All Through The Night", © 1982, Jules Shear

Later I went to the Sword of Amphipolis, and sought out Dale. We had barely spent any time alone together since uploading the crystals. I looked into her eyes and I saw tension thinly covering a bloodthirsty rage. It scared me, and it made me sad.

"Dale, what's happened to you?" I asked her as we sat together in the galley.

"Well, guess I'm the Dark Angel now Gab…uh, I mean Val." she said, turning to face me, "I've been on edge since the upload, and they're crowding me."

"You mean Xena and all the others?"

"Yeah, I feel their anger…at the colonists, at the New Kingdom killers, at Ares…and even…even at myself," Dale said, "it's always there. I can't fight it cause it's me. I hate feeling this way all the time, but there's so much conflict, so much resentment."

"I can understand hating the colonists, and the New Kingdom," I said as I took her hands and held them, "but Ares has been pretty straight with us, and you made up for the evil of your warlord days long ago."

"Ares turned me into a monster," Dale said softly, and I could feel her hands tremble, "and I keep remembering things I did, bloody, horrible things. And like what that officer said tonight, I hear the other side of my story…feared and hated on five worlds…I feel like I'm going to explode, but I'm afraid if I do I'll go crazy…that's what she always did, like with the satellites, or those attackers...I didn't do those things, I barely remember them."

Dale was quietly sobbing, tears of frustration and anger running down her cheeks. She tried to turn away from me, but I wouldn't let her. I grabbed her around the waist and pulled her to me, and held her.

"Val, I don't know who I am anymore…or I guess I'm all of them, and I can't fight them, cause they're stronger than me…and when I try, they drive me out, and then I find I did something violent…sometimes I don't remember anything for days," Dale whispered through her tears.

Gabrielle and her reincarnations were basically good at heart. They were strong in their convictions, believing in hope and trust, and represented the light. Except perhaps for one lifetime, they were happy with who they were. Xena had been the soul in conflict. As dedicated to the greater good as she had been to her ruthless search for power, she was always driven, always deadly. I remembered what Gabrielle had said in her scrolls. Xena had been constantly fighting her darkness. It was second nature to her, and the more deadly she became, the more it required vigilante effort to resist. Gabrielle had grounded her efforts, and represented a balance to that dark with her own light. Through her devoted love she had kept Xena from giving in to her impulses, kept her on a balanced path. Now, over 8,800 years, and sixty-two lifetimes later, the weight of darkness was too heavy for one seventeen-year-old girl to fend off on her own. It was overwhelming her. It wasn't hard to see my friend disappearing into the miasma of violence that had built up across the millennia. And I didn't want to lose her. Dale had been my best friend since fourth grade; the one who went along with my schemes, the one who understood me, and the one who made me laugh. She was the one I could talk to, the only one I could really talk to; the only one I loved? I searched myself. In this lifetime it was true. Holding Dale brought me as much comfort as it brought her. Because I was as much Gabrielle as I was Valerie Havarr. I was the one who believed in her, and she needed me. She had always believed in me, and I needed her too.

"Dale, I'll always be beside you, and when the darkness threatens to overwhelm you think of me, and I will be your light," I whispered to her, "you're more than my friend. I have loved you all my lives."

She had her arms around me now, and when she heard that she squeezed me desperately tight. I could feel her tortured breathing as she sobbed in my arms, so strong and helpless. I coaxed her out of her chair, and walked her to her bunk, never breaking our embrace. My arms were still around her as she cried herself to sleep. Just before I went down from waking, she whispered, "Valerie don't ever leave me, please. I love you."

The next morning we awoke in each other's arms, tangled in her bunk. She was a tear- stained wreck, but she smiled. She was still Xena and all the others, but she was Dale again. From then on she always managed to hug me or touch my shoulder or hand, little reassurances of the bond between our souls. I did the same, and I got used to her catching me looking at her with a goofy smile on my face…I'd catch her the same way. It always made me feel so loved. It was like that for four hundred and sixty-five years.

THE MIDNIGHT STAR

Ares asked the New Kingdom deserters to open their hearts to him, and he read their resolve. Immediately he began training them to fly and fight in the warships. The irony of the New Defense Force volunteers coming from the ranks of the attackers, rather than the Kingdom, was noticed by all. On the solstice of old Earth, thirty-three warships lifted from Terminus Prime. It was a prophetic number he said, but we didn't understand the reference. We formed into three squadrons of ten ships, with a command ship to lead each of them. We formed up and jumped to the system neighboring the New Kingdom. Ares led the first attack wave. His squadron jumped to low orbit over the home world, and began attacking the sensor stations, the particle beam weapons of the alien fighters, harmless against their shields. The deserters made good use of the speed and maneuverability of the warships. When a defender fired a fusion torpedo, they would draw it, allowing it to come close. As it followed they would dive at a target. At the last moment before impact, they would evade by changing course. Speed and inertia would drive the torpedo into the target they had selected. In this way, several of the sensor stations were destroyed by New Kingdom torpedoes. It took Ares' squadron just eleven minutes to clear the home world's sensors from the skies.

Dale's squadron jumped next, terminating in the space that the defenders could no longer monitor. Her ships engaged the New Kingdom squadrons beyond the planet's exosphere, occupying them so they couldn't reinforce the planet. There would be no help for the defenders engaging Ares' ships. Slowly, the superiority of our warships took its toll on the defending forces. It was a bitter war of attrition. The surviving deserters made a legend of the fury of Dale's attacks, the Sword of Amphipolis glowing blue-white in the void, striking down defenders four at a time. She destroyed over eighty ships that day, over two hundred and forty defenders. As I watched her ship spiraling and flipping through the battle, I knew Dale had invited the fury of the past generations to aid her.

As my squadron terminated the jump into battle, we saw two squadrons of New Kingdom ships accelerating away from the home world, preparing to jump. With a sense of premonition, I armed two M/AM torpedoes, and launched them after the fleeing ships. In a heartbeat they jumped, and the torpedoes jumped in pursuit. They were doomed. We suppressed reinforcements from the second planet, and as the hangers there emptied, we shot them down. Then, one of my wingmen reported the results of a scan of the planet. Silos deep in the ground held caches of class 9 weapons, and they were being prepared for launch. My sensors read the thermal signatures of thirty-four weapons lifting from the silos below. I opened the com links to Ares and Dale, reporting the launches. In minutes it would be too late, for they would reach escape velocity, and spread out towards targets across the void. Only now, while they labored against the planetary gravity would they be vulnerable at the same time. I had to take the initiative. I assumed command of the operation by emergency override code. I knew I was too close, but there was nothing I could do. I activated a M/AM torpedo, targeted the planet, and fired.

What does it feel like to know you are going to die? How does it feel to know you have destroyed a planet full of people? Time slowed down, or my thoughts sped up. I watched the trail of the M/AM as it entered the planet's atmosphere, falling faster then a comet towards the surface. In a heartbeat, everything would be blinding white, and I wondered if I would feel any pain. The Jihad was upon them and I…I was the Destroyer of Worlds. I closed my eyes, and waited. I felt warm arms around me…yes, the power of our love, come to comfort me at the end I thought. Then I felt myself lifted, and I vanished.

What I had believed, and what was, were two different things. Ares had come for me. His ship was on the far side of the first planet, in its blast shadow when the M/AM destroyed the second planet. He had vanished from the Ares and reappeared in the Aurora, wrapped his arms around me, and taken me back. He had saved my life. We had barely materialized when he commanded the navigation control to jump. Then we were terminating somewhere across the void. Twenty-seven warships awaited us…we had lost five. There had been thirteen M/AM torpedoes remaining on the Aurora after my launch, and the ship was so close to the second planet they all detonated. There had been over thirty class 9 missiles in the planet's atmosphere. All of them exploded too. The blast was far greater than what was required to destroy a planet. It probably would have destroyed a sun. For a few moments, the Aurora had lit the void with a new dawn. It had become the midnight star. I was numb from the experience, and I finished the mission in the Ares. We had three more New Kingdom worlds to neutralize.

With coordinates supplied by the deserters, we jumped to another system. One of the fleeing squadrons had terminated their jumps in low orbit here. The following M/AM I had launched had ravaged the planet. We did not engage the survivors…they fled before us into the void. We found the same had happened in the third system we invaded, but any survivors had already fled. The fourth world would have had news of the destruction of the other planets. They would be waiting for our attack, and they would be desperate. They would fight as if they had nothing to lose. That's what we thought. What we found was very different.

We terminated our jump to the fourth planet in three squadrons, appearing simultaneously. There was no point in trying to surprise them. A full frontal attack was our best tactic. Twenty-eight warships appeared in the planet's atmosphere. Shields at full, glowing blue-white. There were no defending ships in the skies. Our sensors showed over six hundred attack ships on launch fields around the planet, unmanned, and powered down. Warriors stood at the margins of the fields in ranks as if on revue. We read the radiation signatures of weapons in silos, but the silos were closed, and the weapons had not been activated. It was a world holding its breath.

A channel opened, and the planet hailed us.

"Warships of the Colonial Defense Forces, the warriors of the New Kingdom decline combat. We will not engage in battle against the forces of the God of War. The Spirit of Battle lives in the New Kingdom. The Leadership is deposed. We ask for terms of capitulation. Our people seek to regain the balance of dark and light."

We couldn't believe it. Somehow they had thrown off the dictatorship. Somehow their history and traditions had outweighed their orders. They had offered to surrender, revering the Spirit of Battle and the God of War more highly than their own corrupt leadership. We made landfall on the launch field.

The formal ceremony of surrender took place as soon as we debarked. Three Air Marshals saluted Ares, and laid down their swords. His return salute brought cheers from the ranks of warriors. Later, their ranking officers almost wept in awe as they toured the Ares, the legendary red ship of the Defense Forces…the most advanced warship then in existence. They stood salute by the iris port, paying tribute to the roster of ship's captains engraved in the hull, and later told me their legends about them. Dale and I searched our memories for the proper responses and bearing for the ceremonies, and I think we acquitted ourselves well. Dale seemed surprised by an ancient memory she recalled, but wouldn't say anything about it.

The deserters were the subjects of some jealous looks, having been the earliest to defy the corruption, and the first to join us. They had also flown Defense Forces warships in battle, and for this too they were the subjects of envy. Within a day they came to be regarded as heroes, founders of the New Defense Forces.

That night, we stayed in the New Kingdom city where we had landed. The full discussion of terms would take a few days, and we were staying to see it through. Dale and I had rooms close together, with Ares and the deserters nearby. In the late hours of the night I went to talk with her, but her room was empty. I found Ares in a courtyard, still in discussions with the New Kingdom leaders. I didn't interrupt. I went back, and as I entered the hall leading to our rooms, a series of blue flashes came from under Ares' door. I hurried to my room, and watched the hall from my doorway. Dale left Ares' room, and quickly returned to her own. I was curious, but as I debated confronting her about it, I suddenly began to feel sleepy. It had been the longest day of my life, and I was always one to sleep when I could. So I never asked her about it until much later.

THE SURRENDER THAT WASN'T

"Does anything about all this seem wrong to you?" Dale asked me the next morning.

"Well, it was too easy," I replied, "as much as we know about the New Kingdom from the deserters, I can't believe they'd just give up and fall on their knees to Ares."

"That's part of it. They know Ares, and they know us," she said, "and they're playing him for a fool. This is war strategy, and we've only been thinking of battle tactics."

"You mean the surrender is a sham?"

"Not in the way you're thinking," Dale said, "they'll surrender alright, and they won't attack for awhile. They'll play on his ego for a couple hundred years, then they'll be back to destroying worlds…but they'll be doing it with his blessing. He's disgusted with the Kingdom. They betrayed his warrior heroes…remember the first day, when he blasted the citadel wall?"

"Oh my gods, yeah," I remembered my terror at his outburst, "these warriors are everything he's wanted."

"Yeah, and if you have an army, you have to have enemies. I know…I had an army. So who's the enemy now?"

"There's only the Old Kingdom and the New Kingdom," I answered, "Dale, what are we going to do?"

"Well, you're the history major," she said with a half-smile, "what do you think?"

"We've got to stop him."

"Wrong answer," she said, "he'll never agree to that. We have to do something, and I've got a plan."

"Ok, count me in…these bastards destroyed 1,167 worlds…"

"And an alien civilization."

"And an alien civilization, and we know they're brave. So when Ares equips them with the Defense Forces warships, and the M/AMs…"

"That's right, there'll be no stopping them. The whole galaxy will be Ares' Kingdom."

"So what are we going to do?"

"You're going to play normal, and keep him off my back. Keep your eyes and ears open, and learn what you can. The New Kingdom warriors revere him, and they said they know you, but they fear and hate me. I think I'll give them a good reason to fear and hate me. I'll let you know when we start on phase two."

Dale was acting like the Xena that Gabrielle remembered, insightful, resourceful, and always prepared with a plan. She seemed a little different, but I couldn't put my finger on why. I knew I'd go along with her…I almost always had. I just wondered what she was up to. I didn't see her for the rest of that day, or the next. Ares barely missed her, and when he asked, I said I thought she'd gone to revue the rest of the planet's forces, to take a weapons inventory for his surrender documentation. He liked the idea, said, "whatever", and went on with his meetings. I could see he liked the way the New Kingdom officers were treating him. Late that night, the ranking officer of the deserters came to me for a secret conference. He said things that left me no doubt Dale was right in suspecting the real intentions of the New Kingdom leaders. It started with a soft knock on my door….

"Valerie, it's Flight Lieutenant Markoff," he whispered through the door, "I have to speak with you, please, this is very important."

I let him in, and the first thing he did was sweep the room with a com detector, then, when he was sure no listening devices had been planted in my room, he spoke.

"I have a warning. I have learned that there is a plot against Ares, Dale, and you. You believed in us and gave us a chance to regain our honor, and I am indebted to you. This surrender is tainted. The leaders who are negotiating with the God of War were once lesser members of the dictatorship. We have found they assassinated the dictators, and assumed power. They still follow the way of darkness out of balance. They will return to the genocide. They seek to subvert Ares to their cause."

"Lieutenant Markoff," I asked, "how do you know this?"

"In the same way we found out about the intrusive sensors and the class 9 missiles, our spy network has informants among the warriors and within the Leadership. We are authorized by the Constitution to safeguard the New Kingdom. We are a brotherhood based on the Inquisitor General Corps of the Colonial Defense Forces, and see ourselves as patriots working for the greater good. I guess you could say it's almost like a religion with us…we seek the balance. I will keep you informed of what I hear. Blessed be Valerie."

"Thank you Lieutenant," I said, seeing there was more going on in the New Kingdom than we had suspected, "I hope to hear from you soon."

I sat up pondering the report from the Lieutenant, seeing how it fit in with what Dale and I already suspected. I decided it was fairly reliable, especially the part about the new leaders having assassinated the old, deposing them for their failings, for bringing down the Jihad. It made sense…it's what I would have done. Sacrifice the chaff, and save the heart of the plan. Not the acquisition of territory, but the destruction of the Kingdom, in revenge for the long ago exile. I saw that a delay of a couple hundred years made little difference, especially if you lived for five hundred. Today's leaders expected to live to see the final destruction of their defenseless enemy. Finally, I got in bed, turned out the lights, and fell into a troubled sleep.

In the early morning hours, alarms jerked me from the cocoon of sleep. I was hearing explosions on the launch fields, and out my windows I could see the New Kingdom attack ships burning by the score. Soldiers were racing through the night, and sensor beams were hunting the skies. There were no visible attackers. In fact, by dawn, the source of the attack was still unknown. As the first rays of light lifted the darkness, I could see the extent of the destruction. There was not a single New Kingdom ship intact on the launch field. I was suspicious…this reeked of sabotage, sabotage by a God. I had to find Ares.

He was still with the New Kingdom commanders, and hadn't been out of their sight since our landing. They couldn't suspect him. He was furious. He was also as baffled as the commanders. When I appeared he demanded to know where Dale was, and I was trying to think up an excuse, when she walked into the room in a swirling officer's cloak. She was with two officers of the deserters, and they reported that they had accompanied her to the other bases on the planet. They presented documents. She hadn't even been on the same continent when the attack had occurred. The search for aliens, saboteurs, and invaders commenced. She motioned me to follow her, and we went back to her room. The deserter officers trailing after us. She closed the door, and they scanned the room. Finding nothing, we were free to talk.

"Did you like my fireworks?" she asked me.

"How did you…where have you been?" was all I could say, as the officers laughed.

"Val, I found it," she said, and in her hand was the chakram.

I just stared at it, and then I stared at her, and then back at it again.

"You went back to Terminus Prime?"

"I searched the citadel for a day and a half. Finally I found a hidden sanctuary, and in it was the chakram. Remember, it can only be used by someone who holds the balance of dark and light. Well, I looked right past it twice, and then all of a sudden it was there. All I can figure is that only when Ares lost the balance could it pass to me."

"But Dale, how did you destroy all those ships?"

She opened her hand, and as I watched, God's Fire flared in her palm, then she let it fade, and finally she closed her hand. Then she dropped the cloak she wore, and she was dressed in brown leather, an ancient breastplate of bronze fastened over her chest, and a battered sword strapped to her back. She hooked the chakram to a clip at her right hip.

"Behold…Dale the Goddess of War!" said one of the officers.

"Goddess…?" I was dumbfounded.

"It's in the genes," was all she said.

Suddenly we heard sirens split the morning, sounding an alarm throughout the city. The planetary sensors had finally detected something. Over a hundred incoming warships had terminated jumps in near space, and were headed towards us. The last planet of the New Kingdom was almost defenseless, their ships having been destroyed by the Goddess of War. In Dale's room a speaker was reporting on the invading armada. 115 warships of alien configuration, with active shields at level 4. Weapons were detected in classes 6, 9b, and 10. They would be very formidable. Their course and speed showed confidence and purpose. That 115 warships could terminate jumps simultaneously and maintain formation afterwards bespoke unbelievable navigation control. In all the New Kingdom there were only 28 warships…ours. How ironic, that after hunting the galaxy to destroy the New Kingdom attackers, we might now die in their defense. Again draped in the cloak of a New Kingdom officer, Dale began to give orders for the air defense.

We rounded up a few remaining deserters, and somehow all of them were ready to leave. Most of them had gone to their warships when the destruction started, supposedly to guard them. Those twenty-eight ships were the only intact ships on the planet. I took the Sword of Amphipolis, and Dale went to the Ares. Somehow it seemed right. As a squadron, 27 ships lifted from the planet to engage the invaders. From the viewports of the Sword of Amphipolis I looked down on the Ares. Why hadn't Dale lifted? She was standing by the iris port, looking around the launch field as if she sensed something. The rest of the squadron had already passed through the clouds, but I couldn't leave her behind. I hovered 50 feet above the field watching.

Suddenly her head snapped to the right, her attention drawn by something I couldn't see. Then where she gazed there was a flash, flames and lightning, and Ares appeared 8 feet away from her, his sword in his hand. From the buildings across the launch field, scores of troops raced towards them. Ares was waving his sword and gesturing wildly…I could see he was yelling. As Dale stood before him in the officer's cloak, I programmed the weapons console and the Sword of Amphipolis glowed an angry blue-white above them. I moved towards the approaching troops in warning and they stopped short, 100 yards away. Dale was now a Goddess, but she was facing off against Ares. Ares, who was born a God over 11,000 years ago. Ares, who had been the God of War on forgotten Earth, when mankind was young. My fear for her was almost unbearable. Somewhere high above the planet the squadron made a jump.

Suddenly he leapt forward, raising his sword. Dale swept off her cloak in a flash and flung it in the air between them, blinding him for a crucial moment as she drew her battered sword.

SHADES OF THE PAST

I could feel him. I'd been able to feel him since the upload, but after I held his sword and became the Goddess of War again, the sense was acute. Now as I paused by the iris port of the Ares I felt his approach. There, to my right. I knew the very spot where he would appear. Suddenly, with the trademark flames and lightning, he stood before me, enraged, with his sword in his hand.

"You dare to betray me?" he screamed, "I know what you have done. An immortal can always see the Flame of Immortality in another."

"It is my destiny," I told him, "it is what you have allowed me to choose for myself."

"No! It was never meant to happen again! In all the other lifetimes you have lived you were always mortal, always tied to the cycle, always tied to Gabrielle."

"Still, this is my destiny."

"You destroyed all the New Kingdom ships! All my warriors' ships," he screamed.

"Your warriors…" I threw back at him, "can't you see they're using you?"

"Using me? Why you fool, I am their God!" he roared.

"Yes, they're using you, I've seen too many times how mankind has used the Gods for their own ends," I replied, remembering the Crusades, the Inquisition, the death camps.

"Did you think I wouldn't see through the ghosts you created on the sensors? You gave yourself away with that trick!"

"I created the sensor alarm as a diversion for the mortal warriors. And I wanted to draw you here," I said, "away from the squadron."

Above me I felt the squadron jump, and I knew they were safely away. Ares felt it too, and he lunged forward to attack. I barely had time to fling my cloak in his face to buy a second to pull my sword. Then he was slashing and thrusting, and I was parrying and counterattacking faster than I had ever moved before. If I'd still been mortal I'd have been dead in seconds. I glanced up and saw Val had held off the New Kingdom troops. It was a good move, but I had to get her away. Whether she realized it or not, Ares could appear in her ship, and use her against me. That glance cost me. Ares drew first blood with a quick slash across my left upper arm. The cut healed in seconds…it had been shallow, but I realized I could make no mistakes with him. I had to keep him occupied, keep him from thinking about Val. I didn't know if I could prevail against him, yet prevail I must. To lose now would be to lose the future…it would be the ruin of mankind for it would bring the Jihad of Darkness. Somehow I had to get away with the Ares…or destroy it before I died. Rarely had I been in such a vulnerable position. Ares could have trapped me and won back the chakram by destroying the ship, but I had gambled that such a thought would never cross his mind.

Of its own accord, my left hand took the chakram, and parried a blow from Ares sword. I hadn't even thought to use it. The metal of the chakram left a visible gouge in the edge of his blade, and I could see he felt the shock in his wrist. He backed off a step to recover, and then I saw the fireball bloom in his left hand. He flung it, and without thinking I deflected it away with the chakram. I had never trained with it, but I was beginning to see what a special weapon it was. It would be the mite that turned the tide. In all my lives, only one person had wielded it, and she was the only one to have ever faced Ares in combat. In all the millennia she was the only one who had ever beaten him. It took all my courage, but I stepped aside and I let her in. In an instant, I was seeing through the eyes of the Warrior Princess. I felt the rising tide of her darkness, and then its sublimation by the light. I rode the balance like a high wire in the wind, and she fought unlike anyone who has ever lived. Xena took a savage glee in the combat. It was a welcome test of wills and intelligence between two Gods of War. The father of battle and his prodigal daughter, locked in an ancient epic of dark and light. Physical skill was second nature to her, in the manner of one who has long ago mastered all that a body can do. Her prowess was unquestioned, and I was in awe as her spirit directed my body. She was enjoying herself, confident, goading Ares, and utterly without fear, for she had no doubt of the outcome. She had beaten him before, and she would beat him again.

With a tendril of my will I spoke to my beloved Gabrielle. "Flee my love, for there is no real danger here to me, only danger to you. Don't argue, please, not this time…not now."

I leapt clear of Ares, and for a second I glanced above. She had understood me, and knew where the danger lay. The Sword of Amphipolis was passing over the troops, scattering them in all directions, then it tilted up into the blue, accelerated through the clouds, and it was gone. I felt it a few seconds later when it jumped. She was safe.

With Val gone I no longer had to let him think he had a chance fighting me. Now I drove Ares back, slashing with both my sword and the chakram, and he could not withstand me. As he swung his sword again I dropped below it, and slammed the chakram up, splitting his blade from the hilt. Then I rose, spinning and leaping into the air. My leading leg passed his face with the knee bent, but my trailing leg lashed out, and my boot slammed into his head, from the jaw to the temple, the weight of my body behind it. He cart wheeled in the air before landing on the ground stunned. Before he could recover I pinned him with a fireball, and the lightning was in him, paralyzing him…delaying him.

From the depths of my memory came the whisper of Sisyphus, "Kill Ares and become the God of War." I would be the sole God of War, and for a moment the temptation was great. Then it passed like a dream. It was not the way of the Balance, and I had a premonition. I was as bound to Ares as I was to Gabrielle, and in some distant time he had a part to play…maybe for good, maybe for evil. I saw in it the Will of a Great Power, and perceived there was a design beyond my understanding.

I ran to the iris port, and leapt inside the Ares. Before I reached the controls I had willed the ship to lift from the field and accelerate to jump velocity. Lasers traced the Ares, and but for the ship's shields, they would have bitten the hull to ruin. The warship pierced the clouds, and the sky above faded from blue to black. A million stars shown forth. The Ares greeted space by jumping across the void, to follow the deserters and my beloved.

COMING HOME

Dale had given me coordinates, and I knew they weren't for Terminus Prime. I terminated the jump in the void, and joined the deserters. Before us was a world, and above it a starship lying ready. It was the Icarus III. Seconds later sensors reported a ship had terminated its jump nearby, and when I looked it was the Ares. We docked the warships with the starship, and went aboard. There were three hundred and thirty-three colonists; those willing to again travel the void. Colonists who would no longer stay in the Kingdom even now that its safety was assured, for desiring to achieve a balance which was their legacy as men, they preferred to find new worlds to conquer.

"Dale, what about Terminus Prime, what about the warships, and the magazine, and the weapons? Ares will bring his warriors there and rearm them more deadly than before." I asked her as we settled the colonists in the starship.

"Val, hon, Terminus Prime is gone…utterly and completely destroyed. As we left with the chakram I targeted the planet, and fired a M/AM before we jumped. We registered the seismic shock all the way across the galaxy in the New Kingdom. It's gone." she said.

Terminus Prime gone. The one place in the galaxy where the history of the Earth and the Kingdom was preserved. The loss was monumental. I thought of the library, Gabrielle's scrolls, the books, and all the other knowledge, lost forever. I felt bereft, deprived of a lifetime of opportunity to study and learn. I felt sorrow for the future generations of people who would never know the history of their race. My heart sank, and a single tear slid down my cheek. Dale knew what I was thinking.

"Oh no Val, no. I wouldn't…never. I remember the loss of Alexandria. Come with me, come on," she said taking my hand and leading me like a blind woman through the ship. We came to a cargo hold, locked and sealed. Dale palmed the lock pad, and the door hissed up. There was an air lock, and the inner door opened only after the outer door closed. There were crates, cases, and in racks, sealed against the elements and time, were the laminated scrolls. Near the door, on a pedestal protected by a gravity field and a hermetic casing were two small urns. Through tears of joy I read the inscriptions on the urns. On the right, "Xena of Amphipolis 127 B.C. - 2,006 A.D.", and on the left, "Annika Sherril - Anno Domini 6,494 - 6,901".

"You see, this is another reason the squadron had to escape," she said with a smile.

I had never been so happy, not since I'd brought two swords and a crystal to my dearest friend, on a world far behind. Now she was a Goddess, and I was going to become the greatest story keeper and historian the worlds had ever seen. Soon the Icarus III would lift out of orbit, and jump across the void to a new world.

"Dale, where are we going? What world are we going to settle?" I asked her.

She was overseeing the Ares as it was being berthed in a hanger deck, and her hand stroked the list of names on the hull. As her hand passed the end of the list, I saw two new names appear, Dale Sherril / Valerie Havarr - Year of Our Lord 8,722.

"Year of Our Lord?"

"Anno Domini, Val. A.D. never meant After Dissolution," she replied, as I searched my memories, and found it to be true, "I put the date to it, because with luck, we'll never fly a warship again."

"But Dale, WHERE ARE WE GOING?"

"It's a surprise," she replied.

The Icarus III lifted smoothly from orbit, accelerated into the void, and made a jump. It jumped again, and again, and again, and again. With the advanced navigation controls of the Ares linked to the Icarus III, the ship jumped every two minutes. The colonist pilot gave up on the charts and Dale just laughed. It was a joke to her. We spent a full week and made over five thousand jumps. No one, not even with a planetary computer, would be following our course. Somewhere, in the endless night of the void, I fell into a peaceful sleep tucked into a couch in the control room. I woke briefly to see Dale standing over me, looking down and smiling…I'd caught her again.

She finally shook me awake, and said she didn't want me to miss the final jump. I looked out the ports, but the stars were strange…I didn't recognize it from any chart I had ever seen.

"Mmmm, where are we," I asked as I yawned.

"We're almost home," she said, and the pilot had a big smile, like he shared her secret, "just one more jump, and it's worth seeing."

The stars winked out, and we made the jump. When we terminated, there was a blue world below us. Oceans, and continents…beautiful as they were revealed by the advance of dawn across the terminator. To our starboard hung a giant moon and far away, a yellow sun. I looked down again, and magnified the image a thousand times. Vegetation covered the land below us, and I could see herds of animals, and birds flying. I looked in wonder at the landscape below us. Finally I turned to Dale.

"It's a Cardinal world isn't it…how did you find such a planet? In all the galaxy there are only a few, and…and look at all the life!"

She took my hand and kissed it, and then she told me.

"It's in the scrolls…in one of Gabrielle's scrolls. Once, so long ago we have forgotten even the idea of it, she played a game by night, naming arrangements of stars for the pictures in her mind's eye. That list she made, when sifted through a modern computer, yielded a star chart…and from that chart, a set of coordinates. We are at the world on which it all started. It IS a Cardinal world, and if the old stories are true, there is a Great Power here as well. And, I know that is true."

"How Dale, how can you know that?" I asked with growing excitement.

"Well, first of all I'm a Goddess, and I can sense these things, but there's another reason. Remember what the deserters told you when the Lieutenant came to you in secret?"

"Well, they told me they seek the balance, and they were like a religion, and…"

And then it hit me. They sought the balance. Sought to find the balance…not for themselves, but sought THE ONE WHO HELD THE BALANCE, the balance as it was symbolized by the chakram, the dark and light joined, which only one having that balance could hold. They had found the one with the balance…Dale. When she had taken the chakram she was revealed as the one they sought.

I ran back to the passenger deck, and as I approached the deserters, a golden light came down in beams around them, and their figures faded, drawn up into it. They were smiling at me, and Dale came up to join me.

"We know the descendants of Gabrielle, for she was once one of us. And truly, you Dale are the Dark Angel. Your memory is feared and hated throughout the New Kingdom…Blessed be," the one who had been Lieutenant Markoff declared, as he vanished.

We made landfall in the highlands of a peninsula surrounded by an inland sea filled with a thousand islands. A million stars shone overhead. The library and the warship were hidden on a mountaintop. There we had our base camp. In the following decades, the colonists thrived, and their homes spread across the land. There was room to spare. In those days, Dale was revered as a Goddess, and in succeeding generations places of worship sprang up. The colonist's relationship to me was a little more complex. They knew I was mortal, but I also held so much lore and knowledge, that in later generations I was remembered as a Goddess as well. Some of this had to do with the benefits of being Dale's favorite. Yet when a question arose, they sought me out for the answers I could give, on almost any subject.

Some questions I needed to answer for myself, and I sifted my memory. Although Dale had no blood relationship to Xena, nor I to Gabrielle, the history crystals Ares had coded as a double helix had changed us more than we had suspected. They contained DNA, and upon upload, we became Xena and Gabrielle on a molecular level. Along with the memories we got the heritage. In that way, Dale was able to sneak into Ares' room that first night on the New Kingdom planet, and by lifting his sword, activate her latent godhood. She'd done it before long, long ago, and she'd known it would work again.

Ares had thought the cycle had come to an end in 6,962 A.D., and so he fell into the Sleep of the Gods. He had ignored his own prediction. In 2,084 A.D. he had written that "one day…someone…will manage to steal the chakram, and flee to the stars". Long ago a band of renegades had taken the rings of darkness and light, and fled to Earth. Like us, they were the instruments by which the Great Power returned these symbols to their home world. The renegades, Zeus and his kin, lost the balance over time, and the chakrams could not be joined. Later, with darkness in her soul, Xena had taken possession of the dark chakram. After her resurrection she was, for a time, only light. In that time she could claim the chakram of light, and joining the two, achieved the balance. When she died as a mortal, she passed it on to Ares who, as a servant of the Great Power, had the balance to hold it. When he was seduced by the New Kingdom's darkness, it was again freed. Now Dale had achieved the balance of dark and light, and holding the joined Chakram, returned it to Earth. As Goddess of War she kept alive the Spirit of Battle, and from her it flowed to the colonists. On the new world, mortal life spans reverted to what they had once been. But they had the will to master the world to which she had brought them, and they thrived, conquering all its challenges.

9,187 A.D. After 482 years I lay dying. As Dale's favorite I had outlived the other colonists. Dale was still as she had been when she became a Goddess. The time had come for us to act on the promise of eternal rebirths and a shared destiny. As always, she had a plan, and we both had faith. In the last years, after searching our memories, she had built a temple housing a circular altar. A symbol on that altar showed the dark and light as joined and equal opposites. She held me as my spirit passed from my body, and then as it hovered above, she put off her weapons and her armor. She leaned over the altar with the chakram, and she poured all her power into it. I watched as her body burned away, and for a moment I had the impression of her skeleton. Then her body fell into dust, and two rings, the separated dark and light, dropped onto the altar and came to rest on the symbols of their elements. Her spirit joined mine, and together we rose from the temple, and into the light. Now at last the Great Cycle was complete.

9,414 A.D. The young warrior looked from the cover of the trees to the temple overlooking the cliffs. She'd seen it in dreams, and it looked exactly right. She'd come to this mountaintop where legends claimed the Gods had once lived. With her was a younger girl dressed as a peasant. They were an odd pair. The warrior herself was young, just twenty-two summers old, but she had seen battle already for five years. She'd met the girl just this past spring, when she'd slain the slavers who had dragged her from her village. Their meeting was destiny, and the fulfillment of an ancient promise.

The warrior drew her sword, and she and the girl left the cover of the woods, and with stealth, made their way to the temple gate. She peered around the corner, and seeing the courtyard empty motioned her companion inside. Again she surveyed the temple, and hearing nothing, moved to the doors. They stood open, and the light inside was dim. They waited for their eyes to adjust to the gloom. Dust covered the floor, and it was littered with the remains of bodies, mummified in the dry mountain air. The girl shivered, but the warrior held her focus. The altar was in the room's center, and upon it she could see the glint of metal.

"Two rings to hold the dark and light, and through eternity remain…" she muttered, fixing her resolve, "nothing ventured nothing gained."

She had hardened herself in battle, but she looked at her companion, and tenderness filled her eyes. "If this doesn't work, I want you to take my sword, and sell it, then pay for your passage home. My ghost would find no rest if I knew I'd brought you to harm."

"I know you'll succeed," the girl told her, " you've dreamed about this, and so have I, and my dreams always come true, you know that."

"You're right…it's all a matter of faith."

The warrior sheathed her sword, and stepped to the altar. She moved with the grace and poise of one gifted with unconscious awareness of her body, the same coordination which served her so well in a fight. Lifting a hand over each ring, she took a deeper breath, and as she exhaled, she let her hands fall on the rings. They felt cool, as metal should. None of the burning at the touch that had killed all the others who had tried. She lifted the rings, still nothing. She held them together, and then the lightning started, radiating from the rings through her body, and filling the room. Then there was a flash. She opened her eyes. Somehow she felt changed. In her hands was a ring, and in its center was the s-curve, like the curve in the design on the altar. She backed away, returned to her friend, and together they hurried out of the temple and into the woods.

Far across the void, on a world unknown to them, an ancient God cried out, "My daughter, why have you betrayed me?" In the future it will breed a threat, but there will be warrior with the Spirit of Battle in her heart, and a Balance of Dark and Light in her soul, ready to meet it. Against all enemies the Spirit and the Balance will stand, for mankind is the Kingdom, and the world without end.

THE END

"Gods' fortune be with you, and keep you safe from the darkness of this day. May you walk with the sun, and dream with the moon. May the Great Power bless thy eternal journey that you one day find your way. So mote it be."

Phantom Bard, Brooklyn, N.Y., May 2001