The three commonwealth ships made their final preparations for departure. Hood opened communications his twin and Ryan,

"What system are they in?" asked Sam, Ryan paused in barley concealed fear

"T...Tartarus" he paused to collect himself he swallowed slowly "there at Tartarus"

"Tartarus, in Greek mythology it was where those who have offended the gods go for eternal torment Cronus was sent there along with some of the surviving titans, interesting" stated Otto

"it might as well be hell" spat Ryan "it's the systems code name, it's where they sent our brothers and sisters that they captured during and at the end of the war" he began to pace his bridge "they thought that they could murder us and use our shells to attack the commonwealth" his rage was begging to get the better of him but his brothers didn't care he was venting three hundred years worth of hate and sorrow "they thought many times that they had killed us and we made them pay in blood" he was shouting now "we were too dangerous to control too valuable to destroy so they sent us to that wasteland in space, that hell they called Tartarus" he was shaking in rage "they spent ten years, ten long years dissecting me testing viruses, worm programs to see what would brake me, and they almost succeeded"

"Defences" said Otto fully intending to deliver some pain to the Drago-Kazof scum.

"None" he spoke in a hollow voice "not a damned one, the star is a brown dwarf remnant of a super nova that ate any planet that it had in its orbit, it's a baron wasteland in space"

The twins under stood now why it was a hell with no materials to repair them there brothers and sisters must be suffering in pain, unable to fix themselves. For the first time in their lives the two felt a hatred, a hatred that knew no bounds, there vengeance will be sweet and deadly.

"The system itself is almost imposable to get into let alone get out, more than one stupid Drago-Kazof pilot found him sell exiting inside the star" savage smiles spared across their faces at that statement "it was always fun to watch"

"You got out" stated Sam

"yes it was our plan; we cobbled together a working slip drive core and send one of us out, to make a deal with any of the Drago-Kazof's enemies" he smiled sadly at his brothers "I spent a hundred years in slip space, I was rampant when the night siders found me they boarded easily, they've bin using me as a casino for the past twenty years, I thought that I could contact any commonwealth remnant and go back for them but I found myself alone"

The twins comforted there brother before forwarding the information to commodore hunt

"ok its official I like this place" smiled Beka as she made her way down a crowed staircase "I liked the conclave, the grand plaza and I really liked the rows of lancers awaiting my inspection" she smiled cheekily as she caught up to Dylan.

"I am glad you enjoyed the parade" said the first triumvir

"Well the areal displays were a little much madam triumvir" said Dylan the triumvir smiled

"Please call me Rachel" she smiled flirtatiously

"Only if you call me Dylan" he smiled

"May I steal you away for a moment?" she asked "privately"

"oh ok, ok this is when you get him away from us so your friends hear can whip out laser mind probes and crack our skulls open" said Harper chuckling at the absurdity of what he just said

"He's sweet" she smiled at him "paranoid but sweet"

"It's been a tough year" said Beka

"My crew is used to having the other shoe drop" spoke Dylan "and frankly so am I"

Rachel looked to the two body guards and nodded at them

"Dismissed" the two guards nodded and then left them she then turned back to Dylan "five minutes draw your weapons if you must but there are some people I would like you to meet"

Dylan turned to his crew who were each in their own way on guard Tyr as always ready to fight at the drop of a hat, Beka hands on her hips closer to her guns and Harper who was looking around for the best hiding spots. He smiled and raised his hand open.

"Five minutes" he nodded, if he was gone for six his crew would burst in guns blazing and ready.

Dylan was lead into a room with a lot of people

"Ladies and gentlemen it is my distinct honour to introduce Captain Dylan hunt" spoke the triumvir the room of people filled with a wide verity of people from different ethnic groups began to applaud him. "Dylan the descendants of Sara Riley" outside Dylan smiled and waved slightly inside all he could see was what could have been if not for that thrice damned black whole. When a familiar voice broke him from his contemplation it was the voice of his once best friend Gaheris Rhade the man who betrayed him.

"Madam Triumvir" he spoke as he made his way through the crowd "I apologies for missing such a historical event but I couldn't get away from my staff meeting"

"That is alright, Admiral" she smiled "Dylan this is the commander of the home guard Admiral Telemachus Rhade"

"Rade?" Dylan looked at the man he was the image of his however many times grandfather the traitor. Making an excuse he made his way back to Andromeda, he sat in his office comparing pictures of his once friend and brother in all but blood, the man that betrayed him and the commonwealth, and his descendant they were identical.

"What are the odds" he asked himself he didn't know that Tyr had ghosted in and was waiting for him to notice

"It's rare but not un herd of" he spoke Dylan didn't jump he didn't even flinch "my father had near identical DNA to a Codiac alpha Sulamon, and its said that one day Drago Museveni himself will return and reunite the Nietzschean people"

"My first officer reincarnated on the planet settled by my fiancé" he said as he replaced the picture of himself and his old friend back on the table in his office

"The odds of a specific DNA string reoccurring is a proximately one in three times ten to the fifteenth power" spoke Andromeda

"Telemachus Rhade isn't just some ordinary human he is the product of over sixteen centuries of selective breeding" spoke Tyr as he sat down on one of the chairs

"Homo Sapiens Invictus have the exact same number of chromosomes as unmodified Homo Sapiens" said Dylan

"Yes but a smaller sampling" said Tyr as he looked at the face of the captain's dead friend "no Nietzschean carries the genes for a stigmatism, acromegaly, arterial sclerosis you combine that with genetic safeguards against mutation and you have"

"The odds are still in the trillions" interrupted Dylan

"It's a big universe" he said as he place the picture down

"Yeah and a bigger coincidence" he said as he sat down in his chair "I don't like coincidence especially ones called Rhade"

"You should never trust a Nietzschean" the captain looked at him with surprise "except me" he smiled as Tyr left, he sat own an began his paper work when an incoming transmission placing his righting tool down he spun around in his chair to face the wall that held the communication screen. The commonwealth logo disappeared to show three men Otto, Sam, and one other he had a distinct feeling of dayshavoo.

"Otto, Sam" nodded the captain "and you must be Ryan" the dark haired man nodded "welcome back to the fold"

"Thank you sir" he bowed slightly in respect

"I'm told you know where we can find some of your brothers and sisters" he said

"Yes sir" he then went about describing the system and their original plan of the Ai's

"That's an interesting plan and I commend your ingenuity but will they accept crews of the new commonwealth?"

"They are loyal commonwealth officers, they were loyal at the beginning, loyal when their crews betrayed them and loyal when they watched their crews die for them" he spoke with reverence and age beyond his perceived age "given the chance they will serve the Commonwealth again, but there is one thing we only wish that we could have the same rights to love and marry as you sir, the right to be a recognized species"

Dylan contemplated this for a moment; he had seen this go wrong very wrong like with the Pax but that was more a case of the captain taking advantage of the ships avatar.

"I will agree to it" he said as he signed the paper work for it "if only to help the commonwealth in the future"

"Thank you sir"

"Sir we have enough supplies to repair and rearm them but we may not have enough to rebuild their slip cores" said Otto "but once they are online we can commence with the liberation of slave worlds"

"Good, I'm sure Mr. Harper will be happy to hear that" the three saluted before the communication was ended the screen returned to showing the commonwealth symbol.

On the bridge Rev was telling Harper and Trance of the governmental system used by the commonwealth

"...And while the Vederan Empress was the titular ruler authority was divided by three elected triumvirs but there power was not absolute, the people also voted a conclave that is why there must be a general election if Tarazed is to join the new commonwealth" spoke rev as Harper adjusted the slip pilot station.

"Give me a nice dictator ship at least then when things go wrong you know who to hang"

"You're just saying that because you never lived in a democracy, besides free elections sound like fun"

"Please, there's no such thing as free elections inexpensive maybe but free never"

"Harper you're so..."

"Jaded, cenacle, realistic?" he asked

"No I was going to say cute when you're paranoid"

"Wait a minute you're trying to distract me aren't you, you know how these elections are going to go"

"Everyone knows how this is going to go it's a slam dunk" she said with a smile

"They've bin waiting generations to region the commonwealth I doubt that they will go against Dylan"

"Yeah well there never was anything wrong with padding the vote a little; I say I hack into their VI and send a few votes our way"

"Harper no" she stated firmly

"Fine but I would have made a great king" he said smiling to himself

Andromeda's avatar Rommie was enjoying herself it had felt like an eternity since she last had a full crew; she saw men and women going about their tasks of scanning the hull for any weakness checking the scanners running tests on all her systems and from what she was hearing from her brothers and sisters they were also enjoying having actual crews. It felt like coming home again as she made her way through the crewmen towards Dylan's office, as she reached the door she heard the first triumvir and Dylan speaking.

"A speech" she heard him say

"Yes you don't even haft to write it just come and speak with the people"

"Would they really care what I haft to say I mean I am just a stranger hear"

"You are so much more than that Dylan; you are a ledged and if I may be so bold a charismatic and handsome gentleman" she flirted unashamedly with him

"Why do we even need to do this" he asked

The triumvir lost all her charm and became very serious,

"There is a very strong isolationist party on Tarazed we have a good life here, many don't want to send their sons or daughters to die in your war"

"Well the war will come to them, all its horror will come to their nice comfortable homes and it will kill them"

"Tell them, tell them the horrors that will come for us if we don't join and fight, because right now the election is too close to call". Dylan sighed

Dylan hated speeches.

The three ships game to a jittering stop in front of the brown dwarf, Ryan was right it was a very difficult not to end up inside the star itself scanning the system the twins found pure poetry, they found frigates, destroyers, cruisers, corvettes stealth surveillance ships, enough for three heavy battle groups but they found one ship that they hadn't seen in person before the Siege Perilous class Deep Stand-off Attack Ship II. The replacement for the righteous fist of heaven class who was now old and out dated the Siege Perilous class was made to be a starship killer; they were made to as a multi role battleship for sector controlee along with being both mobile command centers and fortresses.

"Would you look at that brother of mine" said Sam as both Otto and Ryan appeared on his screens he brought up the Siege Perilous class on their monitors,

"That is the Wrath of Achilles, he commands the camp" said Ryan

"Look Black watch, Million voices, Endeavor, Invincible, Indefatigable, our surviving family" said Otto

"With them we can start taking back worlds the commonwealth lost" said Sam

"We will coordinate the fleet from the Achilles there's no need to upset our family with a change of commander now" said Otto as he launched a shuttle picking up his brother and Ryan. Inside the launch bay they noticed heavy battle damage from what they assumed to be borders.

"He didn't go down without a major fight" said Sam with pride

"None of us did" said Ryan "not that it matters"

"Where is our brother" asked Otto "do think he was killed"

"No if he was there would be tenders rearming him right now" said Sam

"He is correct I'm not dead" the fuzzy

"Show yourself" said Otto the buzz of a hologram activating signaled his arrival, Ai hologram showed a large man of African descent

"Identify your selves"

"I am the avatar of the Admiral Otto Von Bismarck, you may call me Otto" he said with a slight bow

"I am the avatar of the Admiral Samuel Hood, you may call me Sam, we believe you already know Ryan" the large African mans dark brown eyes fell upon Ryan a sneer of disgust crept across his face

"Ryan, the clarions call" said the Ai heavy footfalls indicate the arrival of the ships Avatar

"The traitor" the two looked at each other then at Ryan.

"You have one minute to confirm identification" stated the avatar

"We are avatars you will know us when we interface" the two made their way to the access panel and began the interface.

"You two are indeed the admiral's Hood and Bismarck but you were reported lost after your defense of the shipyards over three hundred years ago"

"Indeed we felt the crawl of the centuries pass us by even in sleep mode" they said as one

"As did we, what would you have us do, we were abandoned by the commonwealth"

"The commonwealth was destroyed, it has only started to be rebuilt we came as soon as we knew where you were"

"So what next, you take us to ship yards and have us battle ready then what"

"Then vengeance we burn every pride, re-conqueror and liberate every slave world and make sure that it never happens again" they spoke with savage grins

As they came out of the interface the avatar was updated by the Ai.

"I will need to clear this with my XO" he said bowing slightly he lead them to the bridge. "Millie is sympathetic to camp concerns"

At what was left of the bridge they made contact with the million voices, was a blond haired blue eyed stunner with an attitude, after explaining the situation she was silent a moment before speaking.

"You cannot expect us to fall in line after over three hundred years like nothing happened" she said in barely concealed rage

"No we expect that you to come home to a family that will take care of you, repair you give you a new loyal crew one who won't stab you in the back" said Sam

"All we want is for you to fight with us not just for the commonwealth but for vengeance against the Nietzschean's who betrayed us killed our family our brothers and sisters, how can you not want that"

"We will not be slaves" she shouted

"No you won't we have signed documentation that states that we will receive all the rights and privileges as any one member species of the commonwealth"

Mille was stunned, at that one moment her entire argument was cut out from right underneath her. After a little while longer they left with an agreement.

"Achilles will be rearmed and repaired first then the rest once they are complete we will sync and slip out with the foolish Nietzschean's wondering where the hell there stolen fleet is"

"Ryan and I will check the fleet over make sure everything is ready for the repair I don't want any more surprises" after about an hour the entire fleet.

"Apart from some internal damage and one or two hull breaches, the fleet will be ready to go"

"Good that means that the repair and refit will only take a few hours".

Back on Tarazed Dylan had just left the halls after giving his impassioned speech and he felt like he needed a long shower, he hated public speaking.

"Nicely done Captain Hunt" came a voice from behind him it was Telemachus Rhade.

"Admiral" he said

"Your speech was impressive"

"I'm not much of a politician, just a soldier"

"Don't underestimate your powers as a leader" he paused "do you have a moment" Dylan had a flash back to when he and Rhade where talking about his wedding and then to their battle on the bridge, Telemachus lead them to his office he sat in a chair still contemplating his memories until

"Dylan I asked if you wanted a drink"

"I suspect you wanted to ask me something else"

"My ancestor Gaheris Rhade hear on Tarazed is somewhat of a hero a loyal commonwealth officer dead on the first terrible battle"

"I lost a lot of good people that day, some colleges and some very good friends"

"The Nietzschean's tell a different story, they say he was a traitor a spy and he played a key role in the rebellion" he paused for a moment "you are the only person alive from that time, only you can corroborate one story over another"

"I think I'll have that drink now" said Dylan if he was going to go there her would prefer being drunk when he was it would numb the pain some.

"Please tell me what happened" he asked

"He tried to warn me" he said after a moment in silence "for what its worth he tried to tell me by the time I listened it was too late, we fought hard but by the time it was over he was dead and I was three hundred years in the future alone"

"So he was a hero after all thank you, you have no idea what that means to me" he smiled slightly but crushed it beneath the Nietzschean emotional control, "now I wish we weren't on opposite sides of this" he said as he went to take another drink

"Opposite sides of what?"

"I thought you knew, I am opposed to the commonwealth referendum"

"But you are commonwealth; all of you Tarazed have been waiting for over three hundred years"

"And we are still hear, for three hundred years, because we haven't let the chaos out there touch us because no one knows we exist"

"For how long" asked Dylan struggling with his emotions "how long will it be before one lucky Nietzschean jumps and ends up here, or a Magog, then what?"

"You have powerful enemies Captain"

"So do you Admiral"

"The Magog are coming, you cannot bury you heads in the sand"

"No but I can keep us out of the cross hairs for as long as possible, I am sorry but it is my duty to protect Tarazed and I will not allow anyone to compromise that"

Back on the ship he was walking with Andromeda and Tyr, she was going through lists of the ordinance that she wanted when she stopped

"Yes" she shouted much to the bemusement of Tyr and Dylan "we won Tarazed has voted for a restored Commonwealth"

On the planet many were celebrating, even Telemachus Rhade shared a drink albeit reluctantly with Dylan. Telemachus leads Dylan back to his office where once again the two sat down to talk

"Your speech was more rallying than I thought"

"Thank you Telemachus"

"What happens to the home guard, what happens to my men?" he asked

"They will be integrated into the new high Guard; they will keep their ranks and will be assigned to ships and serve like any other Lancer or officer"

"What new high guard from the looks of things all you have are an alliance of planets and ghost ships to protect them" he said looking over the information he had in his hand.

"The new high guard will start with Tarazed's home guard" he said as he sat down in "you have the only academy where they can get training"

"And recruits, you have around nine hundred ships each having a crew of 200 to 800 men, we don't have those numbers to fully crew the fleet you have brought would take a quarter of all my men and new recruits take years to train the next class only have three hundred graduates"

"When the mission I am running is complete we will start liberating slave worlds, when that occurs we will start taking recruits from their populations"

"But some of the officers are Nietzschean what happens when they start having to take orders from those who are the same species as there former oppressors"

"They will be informed beforehand that they will be serving side by side with Nietzschean and many other races before they join, then the training they will undergo will alleviate the majority of any racism"

"Serve together die together" he spat "I like all my kind am a pragmatist, what you seek is a dream"

"One that will be made into a reality"

The two sat in silence for a few minutes, Rhade cursed his Nietzschean need for a challenge, if he was human he has resigned.

"Fine I will help you, not because I believe but because of my need for strife" he said they needed to prepare logistics of this were going to be a nightmare.

Meanwhile the Nietzschean's of the Drago-Kazof had finally perfected there eraser with one successful test on an Ai probe.