Standard disclaimer – no money is being made here, no infringement of copyrights is intended.
This is just for the joy of writing and reading.

Authors: Tryglaw, Lightning Count.

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Wrath of Atlantis

-

They say you can choose your friends, and pick your enemies.
But familiy – that one you can't pick, there is no element of choice in there.
Weather you want it or not, you have what you get.
That simple truth would prove to have meaning much more profound,
and alter the fates of those invloved to a degree far greater
then anyone could have ever anticipated.
You have what you get.
And you must live with it.
Then again...
Maybe not...

Red.

Everything around was red.

Sometimes bright red, sometimes dark red.

Blood red, on the average, though.

It flowed, and cicrled, and pulsed, and swirled.

And it other things as well.

Gazing at it too long could well drive one mad.

Or at least cause a severe case of nausea.

Which was probably why the external viewports of the six kilometer long behemoth patiently making it way through the infinite vastness of red were rarely used.

If ever.

Then again, they were used – when the vessel shifted from the infinity of redness to infinity of blackness, dotted here and there with stars and planets.

It was on those rare occasions, that the crew could look out, to gaze at an occasional celestial body, instead of the ever-shifting red.

This was their pourpose, after all.

Why the behemoth had been constructed in the first place.

To bring it's masters to new places, seek out ones where no-one has gone before.

Or at least not recently.

The ship has served it's crew true and well for the past three years, and their journey brought them further away from home then any of their species has ever been.

They had worked very hard in these three years, and had every reason to be proud of their accomplishments.

New solar systems had been discovered, charted, laid claim to, and once connected to the ancient network that had made interstellar travel posssible, declared ready for whatever use would be found for them.

Some would become settlement, others just mining operations, and still others would house military facilities and outposts, defending the remote colonies or supporting fleet operations in adjacent sectors.

Now, one last objective was left to accomplish, and then they would head back.

It was time, too.

They've been out there for so long, working so hard with so little breaks.

The crew of the ship was drained and exhausted, both physically and mentally.

But when called upon, they could handle all that, and more.

After all, they were the best their service had to offer.

Their people had made a terrible mistake, once.

A wrong man had been sent to the wrong place at the wrong time.

And the result of that mistake had nearly caused their extinction.

But their people had learned from that mistake.

So now, only the best, most capable of handling themselves in delicate situations were sent out on missions like the one currently conducted.

It made the assignment to a mission like that among the most prestigious available.

So they would continue to carry on with their duties, no matter how tired and exhausted they were.

Their professional pride would not let them anything short of that.

But the ship's vast stores were just as depleted.

They were filled to capacity at the beginning of the journey, but there was only so much they could take it.

And unlike the crew, the ship would not fly on pride and determination alone.

So they would go home.

Soon.

But not yet.

At their last stop, as they spent two weeks repairing and reactivating one of the ancient constructs, so many of which seemed to have been placed around, the ship's optical telescopes had spotted a habitable planet in a nearby system.

And so, once more did they subject themselves to the tiresome procedure of trying to navigate a new path through the swirling red mist, away from the safety granted by the ancient network.

Every few hours they would transition out, recaltulate their position and leave behind yet another in a long series of navigational buoys, like crumpets of bread that would let them find their way back through the infinite darkness.

And hoping no pidgeons would come to eat them away.

Finally, they made it.

They transitioned in on the edge of the system.

They slowly made their way in, as the ship's powerfull sensor arrays worked at full capacity, supported in the task by the deployment of a fleet of smaller craft to hasten the survey.

The local star was very similar to the one that rose each day above the horizon of their homeworld.

Five planets made the system, and an asteroid belt between the third and the fourth.

Three inner planets were solid, one of which was habitable – a rare boon indeed, habitable worlds resembling the one they evolved upon were rare and thus greatly coveted.

This discovery alone would fetch them a nice bonus.

The outer two planets were gassious, holding numerous moons in their gravitational grasp – not unlike the ones in their home system.

Detailed scans brought yet another reason to celebrate – one of the smallish moons orbiting the fourth planet held rich deposits of the rare and precious element which made interstellar flight possible.

That discovery too would be richly rewarded, and there was much excitement and impatience, as the restless crew counted down the time that separated them from embarking on their way back home.

They would head there soon enough, but for now...

A completely different sort of excitement dominated the crew.

Their scanners had revealed ruins of now obviosly extinct civilisation.

An advanced industrial civilisation at the very least.

Their cities were long gone, covered under vegetation.

But traces of road networks were still visible from orbit.

And even better yet... clearly discernable energy readins were being observed in the ruins.

Energy sources, stll active after what had to be millenia...

The prospect of finding something like that had always fueled their imaginations, had always been among their biggest hopes. The possibilites such discoveries might bring...

And now, they found what they were looking for.

Shuttle were sent down to inspect the scanned site.

It took the crews some time to clear away the foliage hampering their movements, which amply covered the few still standing buildings.

It took even more time to carefully navigate their way through the ruins without accidentaly upsetting or collapsing anything.

And atop of all that, even more time to carefully begin to unearth the treasures that were certain to be there.

Finally, a confused message went out from the surface to the huge ship in geostationary orbit.

"Ummm, boss ? You'd better take a look at this."

-

Earth Alliance Starship Agamemnon, en route to Proxima III.

The ship's master and commander, one EarthForce captain John Sheridan, was soundly asleep when his bliss was rudely interupted by a sound as annoying as persistant.

The comm beeper.

Years of training kicked in, allowing the said captain to gather his thoughts and force them into a coherent stream.

Knowing the vid cam's field of view, he didn't bother with the entire uniform, settling for just the duty jacket, and aswered the call.

As the logo loaded, he noted it was one of the rare occasions he'd get to chat over the Gold Channel.

And that ment two things – someone really high up was on the other side of the screen, and it wasn't to be a social call.

"General Hague, sir... !" he snapped at attention, the haze of sleepyness disappearing in an instant.

It wasn't every day that the Chief of Joint Staffs graced a mere starship captain with a personal call.

Even direct orders were being handed down via the chain of command.

So either whatever all this was about, was too important to involve more people then absolutely required, the time was too short for the usual path... or there was to be no paper trail.

None of which bode too well.

Not that he had problems with following orders, but surprises were what got people killed.

Especially surprises related to events of the really important or highly classified sort.

"At ease, captain. Your standing orders are hereby rescinded. You are to observe full communications silence, and procede to the Vega colony at best speed. There you will randez-vous with, and take charge of a supply convoy. You will also receive your full briefing there. Once you reach your final destination, you will be in overall command untill further notice. Inform your crew only after you've departed Vega. Need-to-know basis along with complete secrecy applies for all the involved. This one's important, captain, so stay sharp. You've been chosen for this directly by the president himself. Do well and you won't regret it. Good luck, you're going to need it. Hague, out."

"Now that was unexpected..." Sheridan muttered silently, as he went on to inform the bridge officer on watch of the unexpected course change.

Four days later, the Agamemnon entered local space above the Vega colony.

The supply convoy was waiting allready.

That's if an Explorer-class vessel accompanied by two Omega destroyers could be considered to make one.

There was something very odd about this...

"Captain, the ships in orbit register as the explorer Cortez, the destroyers Heracles and Pollux..."

Sheridan clasped.

"Well people, you're in for a real treat. Take a good look. If you're supremely lucky, you may see two ships like her in your lifetime."

That much was true, there were only a few Explorer-class vessels in service, and bulk of the time they were somewhere out there, extending Earth's reach.

So having one assigned for shipping duty was something unheard of.

As for the other ships...

Sheridan knew the captain of the Heracles by his reputation. Trevor Hall was known to be a skilled and flexible tactician, if a bit overly agressive. The other captain, Elizabeth Morgenstern... he knew only her name.

"...we are being hailed by the Cortez."

"Put him on."

The viewscreen changed from tactical readout to a middle-aged man in EarthForce uniform.

"Glad you could make it, Swamp Rat. We were about to go without you." the man on the other side of the screen chuckled.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world, Stinky. So what's this all about ?"

"Not over the comm. Grab your XO and come over. Other captains will be here too."

The shuttle trip didn't took very long, and soon enough captain Sheridan and commander David James, his second-in-command, found themselves in the impressively large conference room of the Cortez.

Captain Jack Maynard did the honors of the house.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I present – captain Elizabeth Morgenstern of the Pollux, captain Trevor Hall of the Heracles, and last but not least, captain John Sheridan of the Agamemnon. And of course..." - pointing to one man in Army uniform - "colonel Ari Ben Zayn of the 57th Mechanised Infantry Brigade, which has been attached to our merry band."

Handshakes and greetings were exchanged, as Ben Zayn spoke:

"Captain Sheridan, I must say I look forward to this mission. It will be a honour to serve under your command. A pity so few of our people could fix the boneheads as you did."

"I did what I could. That it worked... I was surprised myself. A child should have seen the trap. Guess they were overconfident."

"Don't be so modest, captain." Hall jumped in "You took their flagship and their pride. If they were arrogant enough to underestimate you – so much the better. I'm sure if it comes to that, we'll be well off under your command. The president was right to place you in charge."

"I must admit, I was surprised myself. When the order came we were heading for the Proxima colony to take part in anti-piracy operations."

"Well, Swamp Rat, you owe me for this one..." Maynard chuckled again "I know you always wanted an Explorer, but it seems the president had you in mind to take charge of Babylon 5, now that commander Sinclair had been reassigned. However, when I suggested you for this operation he agreed immediately."

With the attention focused on the two, none had seen the brief flash of anger on Ben Zayn's face, when Babylon 5 and commander Sinclair were mentioned.

But it was gone as quickly as it came.

"As much as I'd like to continue this exchange, I do not believe my curiosity over the upcoming assignment can wait much longer..." captain Morgenstern interrupted "...perheaps we could continue this after the briefing".

Everybody present caught her hint of cutting the idle chatter and getting to the point.

Maynard continued in his relaxed manner, all while handing out datacrystals:

"Well then... Here are your orders in the writing. As ordered by the General Staff, our entire mission is strictly Top Secret, total communication silence it to be observed from now on. You, as the commanding officers, will now be given a full briefing. Your subordinates are to be briefed only after we depart Vega. Strict need-to-know basis applies."

"Well then, as you probably know, the Cortez departed Earth space three years ago, heading for the Rim. We spent some time doing maintenance work on jumpgates leading there, and then spent the next two years mapping most of Sector 900. As we were about to conclude our tour and head back, we struck the proverbial gold."

He activated a holo-emitter.

"Here, outer edge of Sector 900. Placed on the edge of our spiral arm of the galaxy, facing Core-wards. This is as rimmy as it gets. Here we found it."

A holo-image of an Earth-like planet popped up.

"As you can see, the planet is similar to Earth, even if quite a bit warmer. The tropical jungle area is much larger. Plus both the local day, and the solar year are longer then on Earth. Now here..."

First a pulsing dot indicated a specific area on the surface, then the view changed to what clearly was taken during an overflight. The surface was covered in a thick forrest, with some ruins still visible.

"...is where it gets really interresting. There were no signs of a natural catastrophy, and none of the usual signs suggesting the population died out due to a plague. Thus we believe the planet was evacuated and abandoned."

The audience seemed only mildly impressed, ruins were nice and interesting and all that, from an archeological point of view, but so far it only ment some rich people were going to get fancy antiques to show off to their fellow rich people.

"Despite all those millenia, we've found active energy singatures there. That was what caught our attention in the first place. But that's nothing.."

The curiosity of those attending got up a notch or two. It was then that the proverbial bomb fell.

"...because the local civilisation was clearly Human."

That single short sentence was probably the biggest single surprise since the Minbari surrender after The Line.

"Yes, yes. I know it sounds unbelievably, and we were just as surprised to find mortal remains of undeniably Human origin. A lucky find pretty much, what little remained in what we believe to have been a crashed short-range aircraft. Imagine our surprise when we ran the DNA scan... Anyway, the local ruins come from a clearly Human culture too. We did an initial survey, left our attached IPX survey team behind to keep working, and came home at full burn to get reinforcements. For security reasons, we've scrambled the last two jumpgate beacons leading to our objective, so we needen't worry about anyone else getting there uninvited. Once we get there, we're to formally claim the place for Earth, fortify it, see what fancy stuff we can dig up, and of course, find out whatever happened with those displaced Humans. If the opportunity presents itself, we are to establish first contact with them, and hopefully pave the way towards their eventual reunification with Earth. Last but by no means least, we are to asess the potential threats from whichever aliens abducted those Humans all the millenia ago. In no uncertain terms, we are to conduct ourselves in the most corteous and diplomattic manner we can. Earth can ill afford another Minbari War, and those folks have been out there for far longer then the Minbari have been."

"Now then, the Cortez and the destroyers are filled to capacity with troops, hardware and supplies. Once the Agamemnon's stores are loaded as well, we'll be on our way. And it's a six week trip we're looking at. So..." he clasped "let's be about it, shall we ?"

-

Somewhere a long way away.

Uncontrollably and much to his annoyance, he sneezed. The sudden expulsion of air and moisture served only to marr and disrupt his intense work, dropping a trickle of liquid on the floor he was busy studying, his nose on average barely an inch above the ground.

With a curse he knelt up, wiping the brown dust from his face that had been thrown up by the tiny explosion and from his height took a moment to examine the floor. He was inside a building, or at least part of a building, most of its roof had fallen in uncounted years ago but enough survived to give some measure of shelter around the edges.

Nature had invaded this relic of sentience, the walls cracked and draped in curtains of green ivy while weeds and grass sprang from between stones. The sun had bleached much of the paint work and wind had worn down the edges of the carvings and statues, but while the details had faded the spirit remained.

Max Eilerson appreciated the statue on a podium a few feet away, a youthful frolicking female with a garland of flowers on her stone head. She was as human as any denizen of Earth and while the years had taken their toll the statue was still very clearly a representation of a young human girl. On a previously unknown planet. Lightyears from Earth. Thousands of years old.

Eilerson liked a mystery, but he liked answers more. Plus all the money, fame and prestige which came with such answers and right now he suspected this was going to be something very special.

His team had been dropped off after the initial survey, a few prefab shelters and the lone Icarus-class scout vessel their only touches of modern human technology in this place of ancient stones and worn statues. He had been busy excavating a clay vase, decorated in almost exactly the same way as ones housed in the museum of antiquities back on Athens when the thunder caught his attention.

The sky was clear blue with a few white wisps, whatever the rumbling noise in the sky was a natural event it was not.

"Eilerson to base camp, what is that?" He spoke into a communicator on his jacket lapel.

"That's the follow up team boss." Came the reply. "Doctor Morito I'd guess."

"Very well, I'll go meet them." He ended the message. "Great, here to grab my credit."

He rose to his feet, brushing the dust from his trousers and packing his tools away. The air was beautiful and fresh, no trace of pollution or industry. The whole area was heavily wooded with a few ancient paths leading around the ruins and down to a lake, where likewise a smaller set of ruins now stood.

Disgruntled and increasingly defensive, he left the building and went to meet the new team.

The landing was as graceful as a brick hitting a pond, which was not a distant description of what was actually happening. The IPX survey ship laboured to slow itself down, its wings aiding the descent but not by much, only the eight downward swivelled engines gave it the control to land rather than crash.

The roaring blast of the engines scoured the earth under the ship, with no artificial gravity to ease through the air the landing was as noisy and unsubtle as the ship itself, an angled grey ship that was unmistakeably human. The dual emblems of Earth Force and IPX painted brightly on the hull.

It settled on its short landing gear, then powered down giving Eilerson the time he needed to approach before the ramp opened.

"Max!" A short bald man of Japanese heritage stomped down onto the ground. "Good to see you. Quite a find, eh?"

"Yeah, I've already made a number of discoveries." Eilerson emphasised his own personal success. "If you've got time I'l give you a tour."

"Sure, love to." He beamed. "Just let them offload a buggy, I hate walking."

Eilerson said nothing, briefly examining the waist of Morito and guessing that was probably true.

"So you came back with the Cortez?"

"More than that." The more senior IPX man said. "Small fleet of warships too, the initial data was enough to convince Earth Force that this was worth putting our stamp on."

"With warships?"

"They aren't taking any chances, and Earth does have a legit claim to the place after all. Guess what, Sheridan himself is in charge up there." Morito stated. "So, come on! Show me this place!"

"Who?"

"John Sheridan, don't you know ? He's the guy who scored the Minbari flagship back in the War."

"Oh? They must take it really seriously, then..."

"Yes, I heard the President himself chose him for this one."

They climbed into one of the small four wheel drive vehicles unloaded from the survey ship and set off, leaving the rest of the expedition to unpack more permanent buildings and larger vehicles laden with scientific tools.

As they drove on grey shuttles and drop ships began arcing through the sky.

"Who are they?" Eilerson asked.

"Mechanised Infantry. An entire brigade of them." Morito said. "Like I said, Earth is taking this very seriously."

"I wasn't aware this was now a military mission?"

"The President pulled a few strings." His companion said. "You know Clark is one of our biggest supporters."

"Clark, the president ? Whatever happened to Santiago ?"

"Right... you've been out of the loop for a while. There's been a tragic accident, president Santiago died along with most of his staff when EarthForce One suffered a critical engine failure. Clark's in charge now."

"Well, I never had him down as a keen archaeologist."

"He knows an opportunity when it jumps up at him."

The bounced over a bit more undergrowth before arriving on a large relatively clear plateau. A large assortment of ruins dominated the area, clearly the largest set of remains yet discovered set in a large circle.

Eilerson stopped the vehicle. "Well here is the main dig, we've focused our efforts up here and made a lot of discoveries. With a full expedition on the planet should get even better."

"This is excellent!" Morito enthused. "Look at these pillars!"

"Corinthian." Eilerson stated. "You can find almost perfectly identical ones on Earth."

"Everything here seems to have a Grecian feel to it, like uncovering an original Olympic stadium or temple on Earth."

"Might not be far from the truth." Eilerson replied. "We found evidence that not only was this place built in a greek style but that it was dedicated to a Greek figure."

"Amazing, who?"

"The Goddess Athena. It seems the main part of these ruins was a temple dedicated to Athena." Eilerson continued. "At one point it would have been a remarkable structure, superior to anything on Earth. The Parthenon seems a cheap copy by comparsion."

"How do you know it was for Athena?"

"I translated several inscriptions." Eilerson responded not so humbly.

"So quickly?"

"Yes." Eilerson nodded. "I am a genius after all, that's why I have such a generous fee."

Morito scoffed. "Yeah, don't we all know it." He shook his head in disapproval. "Anyway, what else?"

"As you can see from the statues that survived whoever carved them was human."

"Or human like?"

"Maybe, but after close studies I'd say the art here is not just of humans, but done in human style."

"This is just incredible." Morito smiled. "The money we can make out of this place…"

"There are a few little questions though." Eilerson reminded. "First this structure couldn't be replicated on Earth, not at the time of Ancient Greece anyway, even though it is in that style."

"Why not?"

"Pure engineering, the technology didn't exist back then. So whoever did build it was more advanced than the classical Greeks. Lots more advanced, we have other evidence."

"Such as?"

"Some of the stone work looks like it was cut with lasers, yeah, lasers, and the statues are too perfect. No polishing or carving marks. Some of this stuff would be difficult to do today, but back in the days of Socrates? No way."

"What about dating?"

"Well we measured the Carbon content of the atmosphere and set up our carbon dating machines to come up with an approximate date. The homies were here from no less then ten thousand years ago, possibly longer, to around five thousand years ago. When we were building the Pyramids and predating the height of ancient Greece."

"So these aren't Greek buildings, the Greek buildings were patterned after these."

Morito looked again at the ruins, noticing some rough angles. "How do you think this place fell apart?"

"Oh that's easy, someone blew it up." Eilerson replied.

"Blew it up?"

"The initial survey missed it, and the sings did fade over time, but once we got down to detailed search we found them. You can see blast marks, energy weapon impacts, shattered debris consistent with high speed impacts. This place got smashed by someone with a lot of power, far more than a bunch of hoplites with spears could ever hope to wield."

"This is getting better and better, an advanced race at least ten thousand years old or more, and we get to look around. Who knows what else we might find... And just think of the premium that any high-tech will fetch."

"You might have noticed from orbit certain stretches of land or water that had a fairly defined shape." Eilerson mentioned. "Evidence of ancient orbital strikes. Mix of beam and kinetic weapons I'd guess. Judging by the locations by rivers or sea shores there used to be cities there. These temple grounds here were probably too small to warrant an orbital strike. Ground troops finished it off. I'd say this place was destroyed as one of the last."

"Do we have any idea who could do this? Any race we know? Minbari? Yolu?"

"I don't think they were old enough." Eilerson shook his head. "At least not to have brought these folks here in the first place. This must be something entirely new."

They climbed back into the vehicle and drove away, going around lumps of masonry and back into open ground.

"If there was violence have you found any remains?" Morito asked.

"Some corpses early on." Eilerson answered. "Lots of evidence of fire and destruction, too little remained to hint about who exactly lived here."

He drove them down a winding steep slope, the odd piece of ruined building hinting that this had once been more built up.

"We found a number of other buildings that match the basic shape of those on Earth." Eilerson explained. "Theatres, baths, some villas and houses. We don't know what the larger cities look like but with the full expedition and ships in orbit we might find some areas that have survived enough to investigate."

They found some flatter ground and drove on.

"We did find something a little interesting, just in this glade here."

The vehicle halted in front of a plain stone door set into a rock face. The two men stepped out and examined it closer.

"So what is it?"

"According to the inscription." Eilerson pointed out. "Athena's tomb."

Morito paused. "What? As in the Athena? The actual Goddess?"

"That's the literal translation, yeah."

"So a dead Goddess is in there?"

"Or someone who pretended to be a Goddess, yeah."

"An old Earth Goddess, on a distant world full of Greek style ruins." Morito considered. "One of

the advanced aliens who started all this?"

"That would be my guess." Eilerson agreed. "Maybe also the answers we need about this place and why it has so many similarities to Earth."

Morito nodded. "Well, I think we need to get in there."

"Yeah, we really do. I hope the troops brought blasting charges."