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Chapter 5 â€" The Fall

"Hope is something that is always left to chance" - Eagalis Willis - 19th Century Silmerian Poet

"The Terra Nova is attempting to flee" whispered an officer to Commander Aaron who was sat on his nice, new command centre. He was proud that he been able to command the flagship of the Asgard fleet. The Tigris was an ancient battleship that had been discovered inside Raven's Nest Shipyard orbiting Terra. This vessel had been kept top secret by the Chentrilla Military Administration who originally believed that it was of alien design however they had soon learned about their glorious past serving the Asgard...

Or so they thought.

Once Asgard had invaded Terra and convinced the countries of the planet to surrender to their sovereignty. The instructed Terra for a new purpose, helping the Asgard uncover "legendary artefacts" hidden deep within the soil of both Terra and Silmeria. These "Divine Treasures" would help the Asgard reshape the cosmos, melding thought, energy and time together. To create perfection...

The Terran people who cooperated with this vision and supported it were given reasonable positions of responsibility although only the "Prophets" Diamond and Obsidian communicated with the Asgard directly and informed the people of their will. Many had welcomed their new purpose in life, but most opposed Terra loosing its freedom under what could have been considered as "False Gods"

"Prophet Diamond?" asked Commander Aaron, looking back at the white Pegasus standing behind him, watching over his shoulder at the fleeing ship outside. Diamond looked down at Aaron, his eyes scanning all over Aaron's young and battle-ready face. Diamond smirked, so far the plan had worked perfectly, their were no prisoners on the shipyard. He had fabricated the reports in order to lure the rebellious ship here.

"I presume the Gods command us to pursue and destroy?" Aaron was very young, a commander at only 22, he had proven himself to be inexperienced but an efficient leader, sympathetic to the cause against the rebels. This antelope's soul ambition was to wipe the rebellion and rejoice in the glory of the Gods.

Brainwashed...

Diamond shook his head and spoke calmly to Commander Aaron. "I believe it would be more prudent to capture the vessel and not destroy it... The God's want Eclypse Version 3.2 alive so that they can upgrade him and remove the defective software."

Aaron nodded, he pointed to a crew member, who was dressed in white, completely from head to toe so that no part of their body could be seen. The entire crew, apart from Aaron and Diamond were comprised of these "Aesir" who were rumoured to be horrible genetic abominations which the Gods had discarded for slave work because of their imperfections.

"Move us into tractor range then, lets surprise them with the new Pegasus drive" said Commander Aaron. He stood up from his central chair. "Would you like to take charge of their imprisonment Prophet Diamond?"

Diamond nodded and stepped straight off the bridge into a large circular lift. He sighed as he walked into the lift, he would stop by the armoury and gear up a weapon, swapping his clothes for a military uniform...

He had his own agenda

A green field surrounded the ship, in long energy tendrils as the ship seemed to release four large, wing-like beams that curved round the ship. The Tigris shot forward in a blaze of the light and appeared just above the Nova.

"Shit!" sighed Silver.

Location: Tigris â€" Launching Bay

"And you are?" asked Eclypse while gazing with a wild glare at the white Pegasus in front of him. His handgun twitched as both of them had their weapons pointed at each other.

Who would shoot first?

Diamond looked straight into Eclypse's brown eyes, he had a feeling that they had met before. "I am Lieutenant J.L Hera, Asgard Battle Division, 2nd Battalion" he lied, his rifle still in his hands, ready to kill this rat and end the pointless rebellion against the Gods. He was getting ready to pull the trigger and end Eclypse life when he felt a click next to his head.

"Drop it!" said a masculine voice. Diamond nudged his head sideways to see a fox standing behind him, pointing a cold, metal handgun at his head. He noticed that the fox had an eye-patch which remained consistent with reports of the crew of the Terra Nova.

However the intelligence showed that there were four onboard, so why only two here now?

The rifle hit the floor as Diamond turned around with his hands in the air, luckily his wings had been retracted so he simply looked like just another off-duty security officer. He decided that he could kill two birds with one stone here, as they were in familiar territory.

He smiled at both Silver and Eclypse. "Thank God! You've arrived... have you come to liberate us from the Asgard?"

Eclypse stared at Diamond with a strange confusion, he was completely unaware that the Asgard were recruiting Terrans into their defence force. That seemed almost counter-productive for him, why would the Asgard recruit a force, coerced or not that could rebel against them? The answer eluded him but now was not the time to think about this, Hera gave him access to information about the ship and security.

"What me to waste him?" asked Silver, looking down at Diamond with a malicious smile.

"He could make problems and he is a collaborator..."

"NO!" screamed Diamond, launching himself onto Eclypse's feet. "I was only forced into working for Asgard, otherwise my wife... and children... would die... but-t-t... President Diamond had them killed...let me help you, I have nothing to loose!"

Silver readied his weapon; he had no objection to putting this collaborator down. People like him, sickened him to the core, after all it was a collaborator that led to the death of his parents on Terra about six months ago. Silver had once been a proud pilot in the Terran air force, he had a natural feel for flying and could perform complex tactics at high speeds. However when the Asgard invaded Terra, his unit, which consisted of the best pilots in the world were all to be put to death without hesitation as the Asgard had considered them to be troublesome if they remained alive.

Silver's parents, who lived in the peaceful village of Southvale, near the city of Gia hid him from the Aesir death squads that purged all the other members of Silver's unit. Silver was then aided by both his parents, and Eclypse who rescued him from Terra on the Nova. All had gone well, except for a family friend who had willingly given the Aesir information about how Silver had escaped in exchange for not having to work down in the mines. Silver's parents were both publically executed after that. That experience had changed

Silver who, driven by his own desire for revenge had assisted Eclypse in starting the resistance. However on more than one occasion, Eclypse had to pull him back from going too far.

"Silver...?" said Eclypse in a calm and soft voice. Silver sighed, knowing that he was going to try and reason with him. "He may be useful in helping us disable this ship and get out of here...put the gun away." Silver sighed and put his gun away, not because of what Eclypse had said but because he did not want to destroy their only means of escape from this superior enemy.

"Diamond?" asked Eclypse, Diamond automatically looked up, wondering if his cover had been blown. "I have heard that name before... he is the same breed as you, correct?"

Diamond looked up, he instantly acted a convincing look of terror as he climbed to his feet.

"Different tribes... I grew up on the east continent... wait! Your Eclypse... right... you're in the resistance?"

Eclypse nodded his head. "We came here to rescue some prisoners... however I believe we may have walked into a trap... we could use all the help we can get. Will you answer the call of all Terrans join us in our fight against the Asgard? We need to disable this vessel."

Diamond nodded, inside he smirked to himself, he had the opportunity to end the resistance right here and ensure that nobody defied the God's will... his will! He picked up his rifle, checking that it was loaded and walked forward.

"We will need to get to the central engineering section, there we can sabotage all the ship's systems and Commander Aaron will not know what hit ‘em" he said. "I know the command codes and I can get you in there... for Terra!"

"For Terra" said Eclypse as he loaded his handgun.