An Old Friend 3
"Where did you come from? How did you get on our ship?" Asked Tyr suspiciously. "The only other ships in the area are Moggog."
"Tyr, what does it matter where he came from or who he is? The important thing is that he saved us!" Harper rolled over and crawled over to Ares. "Oh, thank you! Thank you thank you thank you!"
"I'm a real God. I don't need ships like you mortals do." Ares explained matter of factly. He glanced down at Harper who was still sniveling at his boots. Ares rolled his eyes. Cowards. He preferred brave warriors. "And as to how I got here, I teleported from Olympus. Not that you know what Olympus is. These days you people have forgotten so many things."
"If you are a real God like you say, why would you care about us?" Tyr asked as he slowly climbed to his feet. He examined one of his wounds and frowned. They needed to be cleaned, but he doubted if he would be able to do that any time soon. No doubt more Maggog were still on the ship. "You are not my God. Why would you help me?"
"Tyr! The Divine cares about all of us. We are all His children." Rev Bem told his friend. The Maggog crewmember frowned. He remembered what the leader of the invading Maggog had said to him. He had stated that every creature *except* the Maggog were created by the Divine. He had insisted that the Maggog were created by something else, something Un-Divine. This went against everything Rev Bem had been taught. It troubled him deeply, even though he faith was strong. But perhaps it was not as strong as he had thought. He wanted to forget what the other Maggog had told him, but it was burned into his mind. It would not let him go.
"And I told you I'm not your Divine." Ares repeated.
"But you are hear because the Divine wanted you to be here, at this time in this place." Rev Bem explained to Ares. He spread out his arms as he spoke. "The Divine works in mysterious ways. He works through you although you may not know it. Trust in the Divine."
Ares turned his gaze to Tyr. "I am the God of all warriors. You worship me whether you know it or not. I *am* War. And I didn't come here to save you or your little friend. I came to save your Captain. And I know him far better than any of you do. I know he would be upset if I didn't save you people, so I did. There is far more at stake here than you think. I'm not going to let Dylan ruin it."
They followed Ares down the ruined corridor in the direction Rev Bem had came from. He stepped over the bodies of dozens of dead Maggog. The sight of so much death didn't bother Ares. He was used to it from thousands of battlefields for thousands of years. But Harper was a different matter. He had a slightly greenish tint to his face. Finally they reached Rommie where she was still pinned to the wall. Ares yanked the weapon out of her stomach, freeing the android.
They heard Andromeda, the ship's computer, calling for help. People were injured on the bridge and needed help. So they entered a turbo lift and headed for the bridge.
"You said more was at stake here." Tyr said as he watched Ares. "More than this ship. What exactly did you mean?"
"Oh, how about the life of every intelligent creature in this galaxy?" Ares answered.
