Zoalord Kiara

The Third Betrayal...

I am still not convinced that Kiara knew what she was doing. I do know she didn't want it to end the way it did but with a lack of other evidence I must conclude that she was overwhelmed and if that was the case then I cannot blame her. She had fought against Chronos, she had fought against the Olympiad and she had fought against the Advents. Like the rest of us she had seen so much loss, that I think it finally over took her. Perhaps if we had watched closer, we could have supported her better but that is something I can not be sure about now and it is something that is pure speculation. In the end, it doesn't matter, what happened, happened and history will record what it will.

But before that, there was something on a more personal note that was becoming problematical. While Sho and I had both agreed that we still wanted to be together, his forced absence had caused a distance between us. I suppose it was inevitable but it was still difficult. There is one instance that perfectly illustrates this but it also shows that we were willing to work on it.

===

"How do you manage to do these things to yourself Sho?" Mizuki questioned quietly as she dabbed at his arm with antiseptic.

"Yeah," Samual grinned his agreement. "You don't get a scratch in battle but as soon as you get back to the base, it's injury city for you."

"Heh!" Sho shrugged, glancing briefly at Samual before looking back to Mizuki. "Perhaps I just like the personal attention from my doctor."

Even Samual noticed as Mizuki stiffened but even though Sho turned to her with a concerned questioning look her cold expression did not change. Finally Sho shifted his question to Samual but the man simply indicated that he couldn't be the one to answer before he excused himself.

"Mi... Mizuki?" Sho questioned the quiet when they were alone.

"Sho," Mizuki responded but her voice seemed strained. She took a deep breath before continuing. "I'm sorry... It's not your fault."

"It is," Sho shook his head, taking her hand so that she couldn't continue treating him and had to answer him. "I said something, didn't I? Tell me please, what was it?"

"It's nothing Sho. It really shouldn't concern me."

"But it does. I have been... away when I should have been there for you, when I should have been fighting. If I had of been stronger, the Olympiad would never have been and that is something I can not atone for, ever. But, Mizuki, that doesn't mean I don't intend to try. I can only imagine how hard the years have been and while no time has passed for me, it has for you, so I know you are not the woman I remember but you are the woman I love, so nothing I say should upset you. Tell me, what was it?"

Mizuki closed her eyes for a moment. "Sho," she began, placing her spare hand on his head, gently stroking his hair. "Time has passed and while that has meant I have changed, you are still the man I wish to spend my life with so you cannot upset me greatly."

"Don't lie to me," Sho snapped somewhat more harshly than he intended but he softened his voice as he continued. "I said something, something that you associate with the passage of time. Something perhaps I cannot have known but something I feel I should have known."

"Sho..." Mizuki paused. "All right, I'll tell you but remember this is something you could not have known, no matter what expectations you may have of yourself. And Sho, as you have said, you have not been here for several years, so even if you think you should know something, that is only something you think. It is not something the rest of us think."

She took a deep breath before continuing. "Beloved, you are right though, it was something you said and it's such a silly little thing that I shouldn't be upset over it at all."

"But you are," Sho said as he gently raised one hand to her face. "You are upset and I am sorry."

"It's not your fault. It's yet another thing that can be attributed to Chronos. It was the word 'Doctor.' While it is an accurate description of my skills, it is a word that is too much associated with what Chronos did. 'Doctor' Valkus is a prime example. A meddler who did not know when to stop interfering with human genetics."

Sho looked at Mizuki, unsure of what he was feeling. He could still see the girl he loved but the woman who was speaking now was someone new. After a moment he smiled gently. Nothing had changed really, Mizuki had grown while he hadn't been there so the gradual changes were to him very sudden. I'll just have to grow to meet her, he decided silently, feeling a rush of gratitude that even after all this time she wanted to stay with him. He wasn't sure how he would have survived in this world if she had moved on.

"While I have had medical training the word we use now is Healer. I am a Healer Sho, I am not a Doctor because what I do is to treat and cure injuries and illnesses. Because of world history though, I do have a speciality in battle injuries and field medicine. For us now, the word Doctor is more associated with meddling, giving 'treatment' to those who aren't sick and who don't need it. Even those now who are still developing Zoanoid forms and who run the processing units are referred to as Professors. Actually, that's what Tetsuro is but then, could you expect anything less?"

Sho nodded slowly. It wasn't such a small distinction as she had inferred. It was something rather important but it was something he would have to consider in private. For now though, there was something more important to be attended to. "I see, well then... Perhaps I like the personal attention from my Healer!"

Mizuki flashed him a brilliant smile and the tension between them vanished as if it had never been there. "Better... But remember for the future, I specialise in battle wounds, not in accidental injuries!"

"Yes!"

"Sho," Mizuki said as she returned to dressing his wound. It wasn't that bad. It was a clean wound but it was deep. The result of a slip with a container he had been helping to shift. He could have called his unit to heal it but since that caused a distinct energy pulse, it was safer to have any wound treated in a more conventional way.

"What is it?"

"Do you... Do you feel safe with Agito?"

"What do you mean?"

"He's not... I know he's not going to attack you. He can't if he wants to have any hope of surviving but do you feel safe with him piloting one of the Advent ships?"

"Aa..." Sho considered for a moment. It wasn't a question that could be shrugged off as a matter of necessity. It was something she deserved a true and honest answer for. "I would like to say that there is no choice and leave it at that but that is not a fair answer. To answer though, yes, I do feel safe with him piloting. A part of it is that there is no choice but a part of it is that while I know he has done some terrible things, at heart Agito has been trying to do what he thinks is right."

He held up his hands to forestall the objections he could see in her. "Granted, his view differs greatly from most other peoples but from what you have told me, the Olympiad was just, wasn't it?"

Mizuki didn't like to agree but if she was fair, then it was quite true, the Olympiad had been just.

"Given that, then he's not..." Sho paused, laughing weakly. "It really is laughable for me to be saying this, but then he's not truly a bad person, just misguided but considering that his guides were Chronos, then it's understandable. So Mizuki, yes, I feel safe with him piloting. He isn't going to deviate from the plan, although I get the feeling, he doesn't want to spend a lot of time on Merrimu. I think he is the most eager to find new allies. Besides which Aptom and Tetsuro are going with him. They should be more than capable of handling any difficulties that arise."

===

And as it turned out, Tetsuro and Aptom were more than capable, mostly because after the initial launch there were very few difficulties.. But I am not yet up to that history and what happened before we left Earth is still important.

After the meeting, in which retreat to Planet Merrimu was decided upon, there was a month or so in which we prepared. The wrecked Arks were secured and many of them were found to be useable with only relatively minor repairs. In the end about eight were salvaged, with pieces scavenged from several more. Eight ships and two ancient Advent ships against the universe. It sounds absurd but that's what it was. Ten ships. Ten ships to alter the fate of humanity and while we did not know it then, two of those ships held the keys to the universe's destiny.

The two Advent ships couldn't hold that many troops but the eight rebuilt Arks could transport about two thousand humans each, in very close quarters and the round trip would take about two weeks. Sixteen thousand saved every two weeks. It's not a lot but it was enough, barely, to ensure adequate genetic diversity to allow the continuation of the human race without needing to mingle with the Zoanoids created by the Advents.

The most sickening aspect of the whole situation was the numbers. Six billion humans were reduced to two billion when the Advents arrived. That number was further reduced to one billion with further fighting. There were several failed nuclear strikes and many humans who preferred to die rather than become slaves so I do not know how many of those strikes were genuine attacks and how many were mass suicides. Of those one billion we believe the Advents transported five hundred million to other parts of the universe. The others were scattered around the globe slowly being captured and shipped off. The Resistance had direct contact with about fifty million but were only in a position to save approximately five hundred thousand, at the most. Sickening... The number of lives lost and the numbers we could not save.

In the end the Advents shipped about six hundred and fifty million Zoanoids off Earth and of them there were eight non-Chronos Zoalords. Of the Advent soldiers the final count has about one hundred million, including three of the new Zoalords killed by the Tekki or their operatives but that still leaves the bulk of 'humanity' scattered throughout the universe. Remember that Zoanoids were the last stand for the Advents against their enemy so they were shipping about 1.2 million humans a day from earth. The interstellar war was huge and that was something we never really saw from Earth. It was something we saw later but even then we were involved with the upper echelons, with the commanders and so while there were only a few of us Resistance fighters we did have a large impact on the outcome but that came later.

I find it ironic now though. Humans, Zoanoids are still scattered across the universe, thanks to the Advents. Of any race in existence now, humans are the one least tied to their home world, we are the race with one of the best chances of surviving anything. Don't get me wrong, nothing and no one is threatening Earth or humanity at the moment but in the event that anything does, then it's going to be very hard for them to chase down every pocket of humanity. And we owe it all to the Advents.

Enough of side notes that have no bearing on the history I am about to tell though.

In the final month before we left Earth, the Advents hit us harder than ever before. It was like they knew we were planning something. They did know but that was not something we discovered until the Third Betrayal was revealed.

===

Sho looked up at the ship. Despite the relative lack of time that had passed for him he had forgotten how big they were. Although despite its size, it would still only be capable of transporting five hundred troops and about 100 tonnes of equipment, enough to do the initial settlement of Merrimu. But first he had to convince the ship that they weren't the enemy, just as Agito was no doubt convincing his ship now.

Agito looked up at the ship with an air of calm that hid the rather deep feeling of uncertainty that was plaguing him. Fukamachi had explained what it was like to become the ship and he had every confidence in his ability to do it but it was still something he wasn't looking forward to. It was a quasi loss of self and he had never liked situations where he wasn't in complete control, even though, technically this time he would be in more control than he had even been before.

Shizu stepped up behind him, placing one hand on his arm with an unspoken question.

He turned to her with a soft smile, an expression he reserved for her only. "It will be all right. Wait here until I go into the ship. Once I have joined with it, I'll open the pathways in and you can start loading everything. Remember," with that word he turned to Aptom. "Don't try to force your way into any where that isn't open. I've probably left it that way for a reason."

"Heh! Planning a bit far ahead, aren't you Emperor?" The rather harsh denouncement startled them all.

"Kiara," Tetsuro began stepping towards her. "Why aren't you at the base?"

"DOWN!"

The warning came just in time and Aptom threw Tetsuro to the ground as an energy bolt passed through the space he had been in.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," Agito responded as he called his unit.

Tetsuro rose after Aptom had changed into his sleek black battle form and after quickly assessing the situation he hurried Shizu away to the relative safety of the retreating troops. Agito and Aptom were going to have to deal with this and questions would just have to come later. Of course, with what he was seeing, questions were rather easily answered.

Kiara had gone to the Advents.

But even as Agito jumped to meet her charge, Tetsuro shook his head. It wasn't that simple. Things were never that simple. What did they know? How much had she told them? Was Sho even now fighting his own Zoalord? Tetsuro frowned as he focused his thoughts, trying to remember which meetings Kiara had attended over the last month, what information she had. It was a rather refreshing surprise when he concluded that the answer was not much. For the past month Kiara had been absent from many planning meetings. The reason for this was obvious now but it did mean that while she might know the overall plan she didn't know many of the details. And that was perhaps all they could ask for.

Agito ducked under a slash from Kiara, countering with a spinning swept at her legs. Kiara jumped easily but Agito hadn't finished, and kept turning as he rose, adding velocity and vicious strength to the roundhouse kick that the new Zoalord managed to block at the expense of balance. As she stumbled a black whip fastened wrapped itself around her waist and Kiara screamed as a million volts flooded her system.

After a moment Aptom drew back. The woman was an Advent made Zoalord and while the charge was painful it was unlikely to do any lasting damage. And from the way Makishima was shifting his weight it was obvious he wanted to speak to her before they went any further.

The two sides faced off, each examining the other. While Kiara had been instrumental in the Rebellion against the Olympiad she hadn't had much opportunity to study the Guyver Unit and the information she did possess seemed very inadequate now that she was facing the reality.

"Why don't you call the Gigantic Unit, Emperor?" She taunted.

"Not necessary," Agito responded with a quiet air of assurance. The woman's Zoalord form was interesting but it didn't feel as overwhelmingly powerful as Chronos' forms or even as Zektoll's. There was something missing. The form was well muscled and sleek and she was now coloured a soft pleasing blue with darker highlights. Her hands now sported claws and there were several small globes about her body that he assumed were senses or would allow the discharge of energy. She almost looked like Alkanphel without the spines and with a feminine cast but the power was nothing like it should be.

Kiara shrugged at the insult allowing that to be her response even though her insides were twisting at the implied suggestion of weakness. "Or are you afraid I'll 'remove' it?"

Makishima cocked his head slightly. "You don't have the equipment," he concluded after a few moments of close examination. "And while I am sure you are very strong against other Zoanoids, I do believe your new masters have underestimated the Guyver Unit."

For an instant she faltered and while the expression was gone as fast as it had appeared it was enough for Makishima to assume a superior air. "I will not be defeated!" She snapped in response.

"Heh!" Aptom drawled. "Say that often enough and you might actually believe it."

"So what are you here to do?" Agito asked, ignoring Aptom. The Zoanoid would be useful but it was unlikely that he could take the new Zoalord on by himself. Unless he wanted to absorb her he probably wasn't powerful enough to actually fight one on one but as back up he would be adequate.

"I'm here to stop you Emperor," she responded.

"Oh, so who's stopping Fukamachi?" Beneath the Guyver Armor Agito smirked. So far Guyver I had been silent, in fact the little he could feel from the other Guyver was that everything was running as smoothly as could be expected. They would be taking off just as soon as they had all their supplies loaded.

"The Advents have a different policy for him. I would be grateful if I were you Emperor, yours is the easier path and death shall be quick."

"Humph!" Agito shrugged. "One more question, Kiara, before we begin. How much do they know?"

It was Kiara's turn to be nonchalant. "Wonder." With her word she jumped, bringing both arms forward to shoot energy at the Emperor.

Agito danced sideways easily avoiding the strike before he too leapt into the sky. With the ship so close he was going to have to finish this quickly so that it wouldn't be damaged and because he couldn't risk letting loose with a blast from the MegaSmasher, that meant closing with her. He flicked a couple of smaller blasts at her while he dodged the energy she kept sending his way. Aptom was slowly circling into a position to flank her but was more or less keeping himself in a safe position, ready to attack when an opening presented itself. Beneath his armor, Agito narrowed his eyes as he darted forward, sonic blades activated and swinging in for a slash across her abdomen. Kiara ducked backwards but meet the follow up slash with claws of her own.

"You're good, Emperor."

"Better than you," Agito responded as he fired the Head beam near point blank into her chest. She gasped as she staggered backwards, directly into the line of Aptom's fire.

Something's wrong... Makishima shook his head slowly. It was too easy. Even taking into account that Kiara herself was not usually a front line fighter, they were scoring hits upon her far too easily. And then there was the problem of her presence. Zoalords had a particular feel, a prickling on his skin. Gyro and Valkus both caused it, Alkanphel had made his entire body tremble, Imakarum made him feel it now and even Zektoll touched those senses but the woman was barely registering. Perhaps the quiet assurance he had shown earlier was closer to the truth than the bravado he thought it was.

"Achoff..." Kiara spat blood as she looked back at Makishima, her eyes burning. "Took you long enough to notice."

"It just makes this easier," Agito stated, raising one hand and firing a gravity globe at her.

"Ughh..." Kiara's smile was wane as she continued to glare at the Emperor. "You don't seem to sure about that."

"What are babbling about?" Aptom interrupted.

"You would be best served by thinking about the situation, Aptom," the Zoalord began coldly. "Or else you might find the truth too late." With lightning speed a tendril snapped out from her body to wrap itself around one of the black Zoanoids arms before it began to sink into his body.

"What the..?" Aptom started before he realised the truth. A look of concentration came to his posture but after a moment he stopped and with a desperate swing slashed at his confined arm. With obvious pain but grim determination he raised his free hand again, once more slashing at his infected appendage. With a final spray of blood Aptom jumped back, breathing heavily.

Kiara retracted her tendril, bringing the now severed limb with in and with a look of satisfaction adsorbed the flesh. After a moment, there was no distortion of her form and the wounds that had been inflicted had healed. She licked her lips slowly, flexing her claws. "You do have an interesting blend there," she commented, looking briefly at Aptom who was nursing the remains of his arm before turning back to Makishima.

He looked at her with the slightest traces of uncertainty although his posture remained confident. "You're not...?" he began as his unit informed him that Tetsuro and Shizu were peaking up from cover to observe the developments.

"I'm not," Kiara confirmed, relaxing now that Makishima was talking again. "I'm not what you would call a traditional Zoalord because I am more like Aptom."

"Stronger it would seem," Agito commented, more for the effect he knew the implications would have on the black Zoanoid who was reforming his arm.

Kiara shook her head. "No... Now is not the time for that," she said softly. "I am not really stronger than Aptom because our abilities are different. I absorb, he incorporates but that is not why I am here."

Aptom rose, whipping his tentacles with an audible hum to hover level with the other combatants, forming a triangle. The information she had just given him was useful and made her a far less desirable target. It also explained why he hadn't been able to take over her body, even though she had just incorporated his arm but in hindsight of a few moments he had no desire to lose his ability to split himself, it was a far to useful survival skill for him to give up.

"So why are you here?"

"I am..." Kiara swallowed hard. "I am here to offer you an alternative."

Makishima remained silent although that was reaction enough.

"The Advents aren't the darkness. They are not what you think Makishima. You see only the destruction, you do not see the creation, you don't see everything and you don't know what they are fighting. You don't know how close the universe stands to the brink of destruction."

"Ho..? I've heard this theory before but I'll humour you. So what are they fighting?"

"The Tekki."

"Tek...ki?"

"An enemy they created but did not create, one that claims to protect the future by destroying the present. I have seen them, the Advent's showed me the destruction that is the Tekki and I know that we, humans, Zoanoids are all that is holding the line. We aren't their last hope, Makishima, we are their only hope. So that's why there is an alternative."

"So what's this alternative?" Aptom growled with a note in his voice that said he had heard it all before and held the grim belief that any alternative would not include him.

"You can join them. You can all join them, as allies not as slaves. It's taken them a while Makishima but they do know how powerful you are and really that's the only reason they are offering this, because destroying you would almost be like destroying the Tekki."

"So what would it involve?" Agito questioned, while waving one hand at the black Zoanoid, telling him to remain calm. He had learnt that when a proposition was made you should listen to it fully even if it wasn't something you were planning on accepting. The proposition itself allowed you to gather information and this proposal would offer some interesting insights into the Advents.

"Ah... Ever the trusting one," Kiara seemed to smile. "You will have to help them fight. You know how effective Zoanoids are against regular soldiers and while the Tekki have what we would equate to regular soldiers, they themselves are not. But they are like Chronos, a few exceptionally strong beings ordering the rest. At least that's what they think..."

"What else?" Agito asked the question without emotion. There was something she was hanging back on, something that she felt would doom the entire bargain.

"Communicators. Like I am you must be linked to them. It is a small organic device that you may examine at your leisure if you agree to this to be certain that it is not a controlling device. That way your strengths can be integrated into the fighting forces. When the battle is over and the Tekki are gone, it can be removed and the Advents will leave Earth, this time to truly never return. They do not care what happens to the planet that is both their greatest success and greatest failure."

"What happens to the Zoanoids they have shipped off Earth already? Do they return?" The Emperor feigned continuing interest. The Communicators she spoke of were one thing but there was still something else.

"Some of them will return, some of them will remain. I wouldn't worry Emperor, there will be enough of a population left and those that remain will breed. I'm sure you will have all the subjects you want soon enough."

"Ho..." A small smile tugged around the corners of Agito's mouth as he uttered the syllable and if Shizu had been able to see it she would have known that now her husband was at his most dangerous. "Fair enough," The Black Guyver mused. "But what of the Guyver Units? After all, I possess the unit that they never wanted in our species hands."

"You already know the truth of the unit, Emperor, so you know just how far your invincibility extends." Kiara sighed. Everything was going to have to revealed before he would give his answer. "It is not a problem, Makishima. The Advents will no longer try to remove it from you."

"They don't expect me to survive the Tekki," Agito stated coldly before he laughed at the way she flinched. "Well, that we will see about. My enemies will not kill me, their's will fare no differently. One more thing though, 'mine is the easier path and death shall be quick,' huh? So what of Fukamachi?"

"What of him?" Kiara returned the challenge.

"You speak a lot of deals but you have said nothing of him, and he is the one who worries the Advents now, isn't he?" Aptom took up the thread of Agito's questioning flexing his claws absently.

"He is..." Kiara paused. "He is a problem," she said finally. "He is... He is too powerful."

"He is no more powerful than me."

"You would like to believe that, wouldn't you?" Kiara shook her head. "It doesn't matter," she continued before Agito could respond. "For the past month they have been considering this but they are adamant on this one thing, he must be destroyed."

"He's just a child."

"Perhaps. You are powerful Makishima but it was his will that made the Gigantic Unit. You may make one in the future but he had done it now and while you are capable of using it, you cannot deny that the Advent technology responds to him. So, my Masters regard him as they regarded Guyver 0, too dangerous to allow to exist."

"Hm..." Makishima made sure his voice held a note of speculation. So that was what she had been holding back. Fukamachi had to die. That was all well and good to say but much harder to do in reality. He wondered if they knew how hard it would be or if they knew a way to do it. Apart from that small detail it wasn't such a bad deal. They got rid of their enemies, he got his Empire back and got rid of the one small weakness that had remained hanging over his head. But there were two small problems: one, he wanted more than his Empire, he had never intended to remain on Earth and two, he had no way to trust them. "Who kills him?"

"You're taking this better than I thought you would."

"Who kills him?" Agito questioned again, even as he saw Aptom stiffen at the implications. It appeared the black Zoanoid would protect Guyver I, if nothing more than for the opportunity to kill him himself.

"Fukamachi? It will have to be a collaborative effort but they believe poisoning the body combined with removing the unit will result in his death..."

"Heh!" Agito held back further laughter. They just didn't understand. "Poison the body? The Rebellion tried to poison me and I do assure you I did ingest, breath and was injected with all the poison attempts they made. Poison doesn't work on me and it will not work on him. If that's the proposal then you are talking about an all out battle, one that I am sure can't be won. Why do you think I had him frozen?" He looked back at the Zoalord. "That is not the point though, I do know how to deal with him but I don't want to deal with him for them." He held up one hand, curling his fingers. "Tell you Masters, this is the hand which holds this world and this is the hand that will rip it away from them. I am Zeus and I will sit upon this worlds throne."

"Is that your answer?" She asked closing her eyes.

Makishima said nothing as he fell into a battle stance, guarding himself against both Aptom and Kiara. The black Zoanoid was stupid enough to try to take him on, even now.

"Makishima..." Aptom growled before he turned his attention to Kiara. "Fukamachi won't fall to you again."

"I am..." Kiara began softly, opening her eyes and looking back at them with a peculiar sad smile. "I am disappointed. I was expecting more from you Emperor." She too fell into her battle stance, flexing her claws.

It was over even before it had begun, Agito moved like the lightning his namesake threw. Kiara didn't try to raise a defence as his blades cris-crossed her body and only coughed, spitting blood in the aftermath. "As I said, I was expecting more from you Emperor," she said into the shocked silence that followed as she fell to the ground. Cautiously Agito and Aptom followed, landing lightly beside her.

Kiara looked up at them, "I told you," she coughed, "I'm not a traditional Zoalord, I'm something different so parts of my mind are my own."

"How much do they know?" Makishima asked with an uncharacteristic note of kindness in his voice.

"Not much," she whispered, watching her blood stain the ground red. "It... It didn't feel right to tell them and to be truthful... they didn't ask. They... They care about Sho, Emperor. The care about the Gigantic Unit. Apart..." Kiara gasped as a spasm shook her body. "...apart from... that ... abhoration, they care only about the Tekki..."

Kiara sighed. Time was almost up, she could feel it but as Agito knew she had been holding back and had questioned to find what it was, there was one more thing she had to know. "Emperor...?"

"What is it?"

"Will you... can you free this world?" Her voice was less than a whisper.

Beneath his armor Makishima clenched his jaw. "I am Zeus."

"Heh... You are Zeus?" Kiara's form melted back into that of a human who's face bore a mocking smile. "Zeus is a child to the world of the Advents. You had better grow up Emperor or you will find yourself facing the same choice I was..."

===

As quietly as that, it ended, although that is a bit of a misnomer since I am informed that Makishima was in a bad mood for quite some time after Kiara's death. His mood was enough to restore Aptoms.

As I said before though, because of the way she died, I am sure that she did not know what she was doing but even saying that she at least had the courage to take the consequences. With Kiara gone, Agito quickly merged with the ancient Advent ship and the supplies for the trip to Merrimu were loaded. There was no other incident and Agito rendevued with Sho in space and together they ran the gauntlet of the Advents.

It was far easier than we suspected I think because Advent activity at the time meant that there was a lot of traffic around Earth and we just fitted in with it. When our ships broke away from the convoy they had joined it was merely assumed that they were taking their troops to their designated destination and no questions were asked. The Advents have a communal mind but that is only when they are gathered together. Once orders have been passed they tend not to discuss it further. It was a blessing we weren't counting on but one we took full advantage of. And it was something the ships making the circuit from Earth to Merrimu took advantage of as well.

I do not remember much of the trip to Merrimu because on the ships that were left behind we discovered the keys to the Universe. The Advents had discovered that their basic unit on their newly created weapon was something they couldn't control and they had feared what a more advanced unit might become and so they had left the Earth, removing all the units but Chronos had discovered three advanced units and we had now discovered six more, three on each ship.

It was inevitable of course that we would activate them and after that the journey was forgotten.

When we reached Merrimu the planet was easily taken. There was no intelligent life on it and so we were free to settle as we chose. Word was sent back to Earth and the convoys began leaving while those of us who could left to discover the universe.

And of course, I can say this now, the universe discovered us.

===