Commander John Hook stood in the observation deck slung under Artemis's bow as the Midway and Able departed with their respective task forces of Colonial warships following behind a few minutes later. As he stands there looking down on the ashen planet below he taps into the ship's computer requesting how many nuclear weapons were detonated on the planet. A few seconds tick by as the number appears forty six fifty kiloton to two megaton hits.

Hook tapped into the ship's interface to locate the overseeing lieutenant in charge of the vast assembly bays after a few minutes the man Richard Hikowai's voice came over the radio "Yes sir?"

"Lieutenant, how much decon foam do we have? as well as how much more can we make?" Commandeer Hook asked.

The answer came back a few seconds later "right now we have a standing supply of one ton and we have enough chemicals to produce another half ton."

Running some quick calculations in his head "Very well move what you have to the hanger bay and start making more Lieutenant. Our allies suffered nearly fifty direct nuclear hits. As soon as you're done we will start decontaminating the worst of the points."

"Yes sir, I'll have the pelicans crop dust the foam." the engineer said "To ensure speedy work. The foam will have to sit for a few hours but after that it will be down to normal background levels."

"Good." Hook said "Is there anything else in the build queue at the moment?"

The engineer checked "only a pair of MAC rounds and a hundred Archer missiles to replace what the Able and Midway took to bring themselves back to full magazines. Should be finished fabricating them and new foam in about four hours, Sir"

"Excellent lieutenant as soon as that's done I want work to commence on as many Ramparts, Sentries and Helix guns as we can." The commander's mind flashed back to the battleline when they first arrived the Able Midway and the Artemis point defense had trouble taking down that large swarm. If they had time he wanted to upgrade not only the UNSC ships but add a few of the more advanced triple A systems to their Colonial allies ships."

The engineer, already jotting notes down on his pad said "Yes SIr however we will need more raw material to continue building as these orders are processed."

"I'll contact the Colonial president and arrange shipments to start." Commander Hook said.

That handled, he called Elibeth Horner when her face appeared he greeted her "Madame President my name is Commander John Hook of the Artemis and i wanted to inform you of a few things."

At the mention of the ship's name Artemis the president's eyes widened "The goddess Artemis? Commander, did you know our centralized religion worships twelve gods and goddesses?"

Commander Hook looked a little confused "No Ma'am i didn't" he replied wondering where this was going.

"Yes." The President said "we have a polytheistic religion and each of the twelve worlds have their own god or goddess. For example." she picked up the pad and waved over the city still in the process of rebuilding over the last three days since the bombings. "Scorpia's patron god is Dionysus."

Hook's eyes widen as he remembers the name from his school days learning about the ancient Greek empire. He knew the language translator was using a ancient form of greek with a few modifications. Finding his voice quickly he said "The god of wine, parties and entertainment. Right?"

This time it was President Horner's turn to widen her eyes in shock "yes exactly do your people also worship the same gods? Surely they do. Naming such a grand ship after the goddess of the hunt herself."

"Well… not exactly," he says, rubbing the back of his neck. "there are probably a few million people who worship the old gods but it's been a few thousand years since it was considered a primary religion and even then that was back on Earth."

At the mention of Earth the president dropped the camera after a few heartbeats of scrabbling to pick it up "YOUR FROM EARTH!" she practically screamed in amazement. Nearly causing John to drop his own pad.

"Yes, what do you know of Earth? And do you know where it is?" his hopes rose at the thought of going home and seeing his wife and kids again.

"No we don't know where it is" she said breathlessly "it's only mentioned in our text in our sacred scrolls that say some two thousand years ago the thirteenth tribe left Kobol our original homeworld, lost to time and space to make their new home upon a world named Earth."

"But that can't be right." Commander Hook said "we have evidence stating that humans evolved nearly fifteen thousand years ago on Earth; it is our homeworld."

Her eyes grew large and her breath caught "fifteen thousand years?" she asked, "are you sure?"

He shook his head "I am we have nearly thirteen thousand years of history recorded in our data banks if you would like as i explain why i called you in the first place you are welcome to board one of our Pelicans or one of your Raptors you would be more then welcome to look to your heart's content." he offered.

The president's eyes lit up like a child given a treat "yes of course would it be ok if i brought one of our top religious acolytes Pope Titus? To also view these histories of yours."

Ne nodded "yes that will be fine."he granted "should i vector a Pelican to pick you up?"

She shook her head quickly. "No thank you. I want to see these files as soon as possible. I have a Raptor handy. I will be aboard in twenty minutes."

True to her word Hook chuckled; he watched the odd Rapor and RCS thrusters making minute adjustments before settling. The president and a man wearing a forest green robe was practically dragged behind her.

He shook both of their wrists in greeting "Madame President, Pope Titus welcome aboard the UNSC Artemis."

The two looked around in amazement and the entire deck filled with Pelicans sitting on standby, but at the word Artemis both of their eyes snapped back to the commander "Commander Hook, please lead the way to these archives you spoke of."

"Yes ma'am however." he said gesturing to the fourteen pelican's "the reason i originally called you is we have a decontamination foam that given a hour or two can almost entirely remove the radiation from the cylons nuclear strikes i wanted your permission to deploy it to start clean up operations. Our infirmary is still being flooded with your people as the radiation continues to stagnate or even spread."

"Will this foam harm anyone or cause any additional problems?" she asked.

"No ma'am this stuff has been around for about three hundred years and before the arrival of the covenant it was unfortunately tested quite often on our outer colonies." he reassured her "its perfectly safe to the people and the environment."

"Yes please send them on their way." she says "thank you."

John leads the two to a small stateroom with a terminal connected to a holographic display. He taps into the computer Ancient Greece and the twelve Olympians and after having it translated to their language "feel free to read as much as you like. He indicates a red button on the wall "if you need anything press this button if i'm unable to come and assist you i have a Marine stationed outside to take you to just about any public area on the ship of course munitions and engineering is not open for inspection."

They stood transfixed at the photos of ancient marble statues of the ancient Olympians "yes thank you commander they both practically said at once.

Over the next hour he watches flights of Pelicans head down to the planet and begin clean up drops of the foam.