Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, or any of the associated characters, and no money is being made from the publication of this fic.

Summary: Athena was a terrible person to have as an enemy

TACTICS

It was rare for the Gods to directly intervene in the conflicts of mortals, but this was looking to be one of those times.

Eirene, as a minor goddess, worked best by indirect influence, or through her children. She rarely had them; a side-effect of being the embodiment of peace was that she was rarely stirred by enough passion to create a child, but that only made her demigod children more powerful.

Her sons inevitably became successful diplomats or ambassadors or lawmakers, writing treaties and leading negotiations. Her daughters tended to either make high-profile marriages (Eirene always claimed her children publicly and personally delivered them to their mortal parent - it gave them a boost in life when everyone knew who your divine parent was) and run things from behind the scenes, or seek out Chiron and become active Heroes, taking a more direct hand in promoting peace.

The war brewing between Greece and Troy, however, was a bit more than she could handle on her own. So, she recruited help.

Conflict between major powers was inevitable, but there were ways to mitigate things, if you had the wisdom.

Aphrodite had promised Paris that he would have Helen as his wife, but running away in the night was possibly the worst way to go about it.

Menelaus was not a young man, and was often away at war with his brother, Agamemnon, secure in the fact that Helen had already successfully born children, including a male heir. Aphrodite was in bed with the God of War, who would have little problem organising an accident in the heat of battle.

Even if war did come to pass, killing Menelaus would allow peace to be achieved without too much fuss.

One death, and the rest would fall into place. Helen would have no problem marrying again, and marriages were used as a seal upon alliances all the time. Hector, King Priam's oldest son and Heir, was not available, but Paris could be granted a divorce from the nymph he married before he was recognised as a prince.

Agamemnon would support the match if it gave him a better claim of acting as regent to his nephew, and it was unlikely that the other Kings would care that much, as most of them had found other wives when Helen finally chose her husband, and their sons, in most cases, were too young to be considered an option for Helen's hand.

Aphrodite's promise would be fulfilled, peace would be restored, and a lot of suffering could be avoided.

Eirene, Goddess of Peace and Horai of Spring, beamed at her sister happily as she sipped nectar.

Any idiot could see that war would be the only outcome as soon as Helen stepped onto Paris's ship to Troy, so Eirene had sought the advice of Athena. "I confess, sister, that this is beyond my hopes. I have a son in Troy on a diplomatic mission –"

Athena, Goddess of Battle Strategy among other things, smiled benevolently at her half-sibling. "I know. I always have a plan, and they always work. Isn't it such a pity that if Paris had only chosen me as the Fairest, he could have had Helen as his wife without all this fuss?"

The Goddess of Wisdom swept out, already planning strategies for what would come to be known as the Trojan War. Odysseus, one of her current favourites, would be participating in the War, and perhaps a drawn-out conflict would be the perfect time to test a theory she had been working on. If Athena had been born from the combined thoughts of her parents, perhaps she could do the same with a mortal, producing a demigod. Odysseus would be a fine candidate.

Eirene (who had come for advice on stopping the war, not to witness the rare occasion of Athena's pride getting the better of her) watched her half-sister leave, wishing that they had both inherited a bit less of their father's arrogance and ruthlessly suppressing the urge to do something unworthy of herself in frustration.

The olive bough was one of Eirene's sacred symbols, too, and Athena's temple was situated in an olive grove... No. Amusing as it would be, forcing Athena to duck every time she went near her own symbol of power would serve no practical purpose.

Other than her own personal satisfaction, of course, but that was a dangerous path to tread.

Eirene sighed and went to find Apollo. Arrogant flirt or not, he was the best choice if you wanted to know about the future, and appreciated that she actually listened to his warnings, unlike the other gods.

Honestly, being the Goddess of Peace was hard enough in a society that thrived on Alpha-male competitiveness, without her divine kindred using every divine squabble as an excuse to start a war.

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A/N: Sorry it's been a while since I updated, but I've had this half-written for a while.

As with many of my stories, it stems from a 'what-if' conversation with friends, talking about the Trojan War and how it could have been fought better. As one of the rare instances of the Gods actually getting personally involved in mortal conflict, we started exploring ideas. Then I was re-reading 'The Titan's Curse', specifically the scene where Percy was thinking about what kind of enemy Athena would make, and this was born.

As always, Reviews and Constructive Criticism are highly appreciated.

Thanks,

Nat