The Rise of Atlantis

This story takes place before Creation's Guardian.

A gegobyte is an actual term for measuring computer data. A gegobyte is 10 to the power of 30. It's meaningless to think about how many DVDs that would be, but suffice it to say it's more than I could watch in a lifetime.

A special thanks to my editor Kayline Blake for her title suggestions and her usual fantastic editing job! Well done Kay!

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It's estimated that there's a hundred billion Earth type planets in the Milky Way galaxy. With well over that number of galaxies existing in the known universe; the number of Earth type planets increases exponentially. It's not only possible; it's extremely likely that we are not alone in this universe. To think otherwise would be the epitome of human arrogance.

Furthermore, to even begin to think we are the most intelligent species in creation would be arrogant beyond belief. Yes, I'm sure there are planets where life's just beginning to crawl out of its oceans. Just as I'm sure that there are others who make our so called civilizations look like we're barely past our stone age.

If advanced civilizations do exist, why haven't they contacted us? Simply put, any species intelligent enough to develop interstellar space flight would also be smart enough to stay as far away from Earth and its people as possible. Why is that? Again, the answer isn't exactly rocket science. What do we have to offer them? I'm sure they don't want or need our immaturity, our inhumanity, our racism, our bigotry, our hatred, or our greed. Our science has far outpaced our maturity and this is NOT a good thing folks. Any peaceful, intelligent race monitoring Earth would give our planet a very wide berth rather than subject themselves to the chaos and depravity the hatemongers cause. For any open contact to occur between the human race and an alien species it would probably be either a total accident or a hostile takeover of the Earth to prevent us from ever becoming a space based race. Although, humanity will probably do them a favor and self-destruct long before the human race even comes close to being able to reach for the stars.

There are of course many other possibilities. This is the tale of just one of those possible scenarios.

Prologue:

The Atlantians and the Groms have been at war with each other for a little more than a hundred years. In the beginning both sides were about equal militarily with the Atlantians having a slight edge due to their research into creating psionic abilities among their people.

The Atlantians quickly realized that there were only two ways the war could end; a cease fire leading to a possible peace treaty or the total destruction of one or both of the races. Several times during the early years of the war, the Atlantians asked the Groms for a temporary cease fire to discuss a possible armistice. Each time the request for a cease fire was made, the Groms saw it as a sign of weakness on the part of the Atlantians and escalated their attacks. Finally, both sides stopped trying to capture the others colony worlds, at first making the planets uninhabitable by poisoning the air and water with antimatter radiation, then later developing the ability to shatter planets into nothing more than asteroids.

It had come to the point where all the Groms had left was their home world and all the Atlantians were left with were just their home world and a single colony planet in their home star system. Both sides were making preparations for the final destruction of their enemy.

Chapter One:

Approximate Earth time: 4500BCE

Atlantian date and time: 6297/22/09...0900 hours.

Place: Aboard the Atlantian battle cruiser Destructor in the Kaylon Cluster.

Commander McDuff said, "Admiral Rodgers, Commander McDonald is reporting in from the scout ship Victorious"

"Put her on screen," replied Admiral Rodgers.

A beautiful redhead appeared on the forward view screen. Her long red tresses fell to the small of her back in soft curly ringlets and the golden specs in her gorgeous emerald eyes sparkled with excitement. "Good day Admiral. The Groms have amassed a fleet of a hundred and ten ships about three parsecs from your present position. Sir, they must be getting really desperate because it's one hell of a mixed bag they've put together. There are three heavy fighter carriers, five of their big battleships, and fifteen light cruisers. They've also got thirty seven light destroyers, but the rest are all small patrol ships. It looks like they've really scraped the bottom of the barrel this time Admiral."

"Good work Commander. Your father will be very proud of you. Any chance they've spotted you yet?"

"I doubt it Sir. Our cloak is fully operational and we're using the gravitational field of Sylkar's moon to prevent any tachyon field distortions. The Groms aren't doing any active sensor sweeps and they're using the Sylkar system's three gas giants to shield their ships from outside detection. In fact the only way we found them was by following the warp trail of one of their carriers. My best guess is they know your fleet's about to hit Gromus. They're probably hoping to bushwhack you. They know that if even one Atlantian battle cruiser reaches Gromus it's the end of their home world, so they're throwing everything they've got left at you. There's one weird thing though. A single destroyer left their fleet about ten minutes ago. It was heavily shielded so I couldn't scan it and I have no clue where it's headed or what it's up to."

"What in the hell could they be hoping to accomplish with a single destroyer?" The Admiral mused. "The defenses on both Atlantia and Cronus are already on high alert and could easily handle one destroyer. The crew compliment of a Groms destroyer is only about a hundred. Maybe they're using it to smuggle their royal family and some of their bigwigs to safety. Don't worry about the Groms fleet. Now that we know where they are, I'll surprise them with an ambush of my own. In the meantime, why don't you see if you can track down that wayward destroyer and figure out what the hell it's up to?"

"Aye aye sir! Good luck Admiral! I hope you kick the shit out of them sir!"

"Thank you Commander. It'll be a hell of a battle, but I'll give them a couple of hits for you. Good luck to you too. Let me know when you find out what that destroyer's up to. That's got me really curious."

"Will do Admiral. Victorious out."

Aboard the H.M.S. Victorious several hours later:

"Ma'am, I'm picking up a message from Admiral Rodgers to fleet command. He's reporting that the Groms' fleet has been destroyed. However, only his ship survived the battle. The Destructor's taken some damage, but she's fully operational. He's heading for Gromus to complete his mission."

"Thank you Ensign. Send him a flash message. 'H.M.S. Victorious to H.M.S. Destructor: Congratulations and good luck Admiral. All our prayers and hopes go with you.' Sign it H.M.S. Victorious," Commander Lyssa McDonald replied.

The helmsman spoke up, "Ma'am, that destroyer's changed course again. This is her fourth time and none of the course changes make any sense."

"Hmm, really? Okay, bring up a star chart and overlay her course changes on it for me." Lyssa stared at the screen for several seconds. "That, Lieutenant Kim, is called a 'deceptive, evasive course'. If you look closely, you'll see she has a base course that you can use to extrapolate her actual destination from." As she looked at the screen closer, a horrifying realization hit her like a kick in the gut! She spun around to her communications officer and snapped, "Send an emergency flash message to all commands! Groms destroyer headed for Atlantia. Believe it to be packed with antimatter and on a suicide mission. Most likely target is Atlantian sun. Requesting immediate assistance.' Sign it Commander Lyssa McDonald, Commanding officer, H.M.S. Victorious." She turned back to the helmsman. "Set course for Atlantia, emergency speed!" Lyssa slapped a button on the arm of her chair. "Engineering, I need every bit of speed you can give me. If we don't get to Atlantia before that damn destroyer, we won't have a home to go to anymore. I don't give a damn if you burn out the main engines, just get me there!"

"I can give you warp seven point eight for about three and a half hours. After that we're dead in space, Ma'am," the engineer replied.

Lyssa looked at the helmsman. "Time to Atlantia?"

"Twenty one minutes at that speed Ma'am," the helmsman replied.

"Fuck! Can you give me an ETA on that destroyer?"

"Judging by her warp emissions, I'd say just under fifteen minutes. She had a bit of a lead on us to begin with and now it looks like her commander is running flat out just like we are. I'm sorry Ma'am. There's no way we're gonna catch her in time."

"Incoming message from fleet command. It's your father Ma'am," the communications officer said.

"On screen," Lyssa replied.

"Commander McDonald you are ordered to stand down and hold your current position," King Jacob said.

"But daddy, you'll die," Lyssa said as the tears streamed down her cheeks.

"There's nothing you can do to prevent that from happening now. You're too well trained not to know that. So don't make me relieve you of your command."

Lyssa nodded at the helmsman. "All stop, thrusters at station keeping."

"Thank you Lyssa;" King Jacob sighed then continued, "If you had followed that destroyer into our home system, you would've died too. You were right. She's on a direct course for our sun. She has more shielding than our planetary antimatter reactors and she's equipped with some kind of special heat shield that our scientists can't even begin to understand. We think she's a pre-programed drone packed with every bit of antimatter the Groms could lay their hands on. The lowest estimate is that she's carrying several thousand Imperial tons and that the resulting explosion will turn our sun into a giant quasar. Every planet in this system will be sucked into it. There'll be no survivors.

"I'm ordering you to implement general order seven, effective immediately. You're now Queen Lyssa, absolute ruler of all that's left of our people. Guard your people well and rule them wisely with compassion and understanding Queen Lyssa."

King Jacob paused to gather his thoughts then continued, "Now that I've done my duty as your king, I can speak freely to you as your father. I realize you were probably upset when I kept you in command of a scout ship instead of giving you command of a battle cruiser. Please understand, it wasn't any reflection on your skills and abilities as a commander. But you're my only heir, and we're at war. Because of general order seven, I had to keep you some place that was reasonably safe. The Victorious is much more than a simple scout ship. She was specifically designed with exactly this type of situation in mind. There's a hidden computer system that contains the sum of all our knowledge and all the other important information you'll need to know to be an effective ruler. Your crew was handpicked by me. They're the absolute best the fleet's ever had. Admiral Rodgers' son Ian is not just your chief engineer. He was assigned by me to be your personal bodyguard the moment you assumed command of the Victorious. I swore him to secrecy and ordered him to keep a low profile unless something like this happened. From now on your safety is his first priority. I know how stubborn you can get Lyssa, but Ian's duty is to keep you safe. So please, listen to him and let him do his job. We're almost out of time, Baby Girl. You'll find some personal messages on your private computer from both your mother and me. Never forget that we've always been proud of the beautiful and courageous woman you've become. We've loved you from the instant you were conceived and we'll carry that love with us into eternity. Goodbye my darling baby girl, I love you!"

"I love you too Daddy," Lyssa choked out between sobs. A few seconds later there was a huge flash of bright light nearly blinding everyone on the command deck. There was total silence as the screen went black. Although they all knew exactly what was gonna happen, the enormity of it all still shocked everyone to the core. After several minutes, the silence was broken by the communications officer.

"My Queen, there's an incoming message from Admiral Rodgers."

Lyssa sighed deeply as she stood. "Pipe it to my ready room. I'll take it in there. Duty calls people. Engage the cloak and set course for Gromus, warp six."

"Warp six to Gromus, aye aye, My Queen," replied the helmsman.

Lyssa went through her ready room to the bathroom in her quarters. She quickly splashed some cold water on her face wiping it dry as she returned to her ready room. As she sat down, she said to herself, "Pull yourself together Lyssa. You've got a fucking job to do and you can't show any signs of weakness. Especially not right now." She sighed deeply then tapped the blinking message button on her desk console and Admiral Rodgers appeared on her computer screen.

"My Queen, I'm sorry for your loss," the admiral said.

"Thank you Admiral, but there'll be time enough to grieve later. Right now I need your report."

"Of course, My Queen. Simply put, there are no more Groms. Their fleet's been wiped out, and Gromus itself doesn't exist anymore. My ship's all that's left of my battle fleet. She's taken a hell of a beating, but repairs are underway and she's operational, as long as we don't get into another firefight anytime soon. I've also taken heavy casualties. A hundred and seven dead, two hundred ninety three wounded. Almost half of them are in critical condition. We're holding position orbiting Nexia awaiting your orders. The former Gromus system is too full of asteroids to navigate safely now."

Lyssa was stunned for a moment. Four hundred casualties! A forty percent casualty rate wasn't unheard of, but it WAS highly unusual. Then again the admiral had lost ninety nine out of the one hundred ships he had brought to bear against the Groms. They didn't call Admiral Rodgers 'Old Blood and Guts' for nothing, Lyssa mused. Then something the admiral had said cut through Lyssa's musings like a knife.

"Shit! One second Admiral!" Lyssa tapped another button on her console. "Helm, divert course to Nexia, same speed." She turned back to her screen. "Thanks for the warning Admiral. We would've dropped out of warp right into the middle of that mess. What's the status of your medical resources and how many of those on the critical list do you think you'll lose?" Lyssa inquired.

"I figured you'd wanna rendezvous. Dropping out of warp into that bunch of asteroids would be more than a bit dangerous, especially since the gravitational fields are still in flux. I have no idea how many more people I'm gonna lose, My Queen. My CMO says it's too early to tell for sure. Medical supplies are gonna be tight, but staff wise, we're doing okay. I require all crew members to have at least some basic medical training. Everyone on board could be certified as an EMT at the very least. My biggest concern is that I've got eight crits with serious head injuries and no neurosurgeon. We usually just keep those cases on life support until we get back to Atlantia and then let the hospitals deal with them. But that's no longer an option so I don't know what I'm gonna do."

"Well I've got a hell of a surprise for you Admiral. I think my father must've been a psychic. Just before we left Atlantia, he ordered us to carry extra medical supplies. I've got three storerooms full. I'm sure there's more than enough to meet your immediate needs. He also stationed an extra doctor on board. It seems that the son of one of my father's friends wanted to add some space time to his adventures without serving on an actual combat ship. So my father stuck me with him. Believe it or not, he's a neurosurgeon. One of the first things he did when he came aboard was to commandeer a section of my sickbay. He also requisitioned a shitload of equipment before we left spacedock. Now, he's got a fully equipped neurosurgery operating room in my sickbay. I realize he never expected to actually have to use it, but it looks like his free ride is over. I'll tell him to expect eight incoming patients in...oh...about three hours. I'll have to borrow a few of your people to act as nursing staff because I don't have enough to cover that many patients around the clock."

The admiral's eyes widened with surprise. "You're right, that's far too much to be just coincidence. My guess is that your father suspected the Groms would pull something like this shit and took a few precautions. I'll let my CMO know you have a neurosurgeon on board and that you're gonna need a few med techs. That and the medical supplies should make him as happy as a pig in shit."

"Okay Admiral, I have other pressing matters to attend to, but I'm gonna want a meeting with you and the senior staff of both ships when we meet up. Victorious out."

Lyssa closed the frequency then tapped another button on her console and said, "Lieutenant Ian Rodgers report to my ready room on the double." She tapped a second button and said, "Dr. McGowan, expect eight neurosurgery patients in about three hours. No further information is available at this time."

Lyssa's communications console beeped and her door chimed at exactly the same time. She said, "Enter." then tapped the blinking green button on her console. When Ian Rodgers stepped into the room. She pointed to a chair indicating that Ian should sit as Dr. McGowan's face appeared on her screen.

"What's happened Ma'am? Why should I be expecting eight patients? What kind of head injuries are we talking about here?"

Lyssa frowned with irritation. "Dr. McGowan, do you not understand Atlantian? For a supposedly intelligent man, you're being incredibly stupid! When I said I had no further information, that's exactly what I meant! All I can tell you is that there are eight people aboard the Destructor in need of emergency neurosurgery. Since you're the only qualified neurosurgeon available, you're up. If you want any more information than that, I'd suggest you contact the Destructor's Chief Medical Officer directly. I'm sure he can answer any questions you may have. Now if you don't mind, I have other things to do."

Lyssa closed the link with a tired sigh then said, "Sorry to keep you waiting Lieutenant. I understand you have some security protocols you'd like to discuss with me. I have some time right now, but not a hell of a lot. Given the situation, I'm sure you can understand that I've got a shitload of things to do, and precious little time to do them. Give me the basics and I'll do my best to stick to them. Just try to remember that things are very fluid right now and there may be times when I'll have to step out of the box."

"Believe me Your Majesty, I understand better than most people exactly how difficult the situation is for you right now. As long as you're on this ship with people we both know and trust I don't have too many security concerns. There'll be an armed guard outside your quarters around the clock, and you'll be accompanied by another armed guard anytime you're not in your quarters. Aboard this ship, it'll usually just be me. I've rerouted all the critical engineering circuits to a station on the command deck. I'll be able to monitor them, and protect you at the same time. Anytime you leave this ship, you'll be accompanied by a full security team. You probably think I'm going a bit overboard, but I've actually tried to keep things fairly simple. You're the only surviving member of the royal family. That makes both of our jobs incredibly difficult. Yours for obvious reasons. You've got a lot of hard decisions to make. Mine, because if anything happens to you, chaos ensues. It also means that you're a prime candidate for assassination should anyone decide to attempt a coup. So do us both a favor. Before you decide to do something that could be dangerous, think about how important and valuable your life is to your people, My Queen."