Chapter 2 Timebomb

Hj finds himself waiting at the table for over 13 minutes before the next person arrives. Hj sits there watching the wall until suddenly he looks towards the door and sees it opening and looks towards it and witness's Hydref the Queen of Titans sees walk in. Hj tilts his head slightly as he looks towards Hydref. Hydref walks over towards Hj and takes a seat next to him and she says to him "I see you're wearing your regular suit." Hj looks towards her and says "I like your new suit, Really stylish I like how you've gone for a blue and gold look rather than your typical gold and blue."

Hydref looks towards Hj and shakes her head whilst smiling under her helmet. Hj soon looks towards the door as he notices it opens again and Hydref quickly looks as well and the pair soon see a mysterious dark haired figure with red eyes walk and sit on the opposite side of the table to them. Hj looks towards the mysterious stranger sitting opposite him and asks "Who are you?". The Stranger with red eyes smiles and winks towards Hj and says "Take that helmet off and I'll tell you."

So Hj reaches to take off his helmet and places the helmet on the table and stares this stranger in the face but now his appearance is different, his eyes are no longer red and his hair is now slightly lighter and more of a Dark blond than black. Hj thinks for a moment and then asks "Are you from IO?".

The Mysterious figure smiles and says "Very clever, Yes I am from IO." Hj with a confused expression on his face then says "IO is a moon of Jupiter, So what are you doing here?" The Stranger smiles and says "I was Invited. I am King Ross of IO. The Hellraisers insisted I come." The three of the royals then look towards the man in the Dark red armour and Hj then says "I'm gonna take a stab in the dark and say your Sabre?"

The man in the dark red armour looks at Hj and says "Very well guessed. We're just waiting for one more Guest now." A couple of minutes passed until suddenly the Door opened and all 4 of them looked towards the door and saw a man wearing a white suit of New order armour and helmet carrying a briefcase and sitting down at the end of the table. Hj looks towards Sabre and asks him "This is a final warning meeting isn't it?"

Ross laughs and says "What are they gonna do? Evict us ha." Hj worryingly looks towards Ross and says "No, They will destroy us like they destroyed Hyperion last night. It's the Hellraiser way." Ross nervously looks towards Hj and says "You lie." Sabre looks towards Hj and says "I don't know what you're talking about." The man in white at the end of the table opens up his suitcase and starts to hand out a tablet to each of the 3 members present representing their people.

The man in white then says to them "Look, you three represent 3 key nations that are of a significant interest to the New order and our lord Axis. IO would act as a mining and testing ground whilst you Ross and your friends and family will live in Complete luxury and never worry about anything ever again. Hj you and your people would never have to know of anything different as all we'd want from you is a steady source of Fuel that you produce from your station. Hydref you and your people would just live in peace and prosperity whilst you could move to the capital on Necron and live the rest of you and your families lives out in complete peace and luxury with the rest of you in the room as you each represent your nations in the New order senate."

The three of them look towards the man in White and Ross asks him "Are you nuts?, what you just said sounds to me like you'll be using my people as manual labour or worse whilst you fatten me up in your Capitol unaware and unable to contact them." Hj looks at the man in white and asks "How long do we have to consider the offer?" Sabre looks towards the man in white and says "We'll give you all one earth week to consider the offer and we expect to hear back from you by the end of it, If we don't hear we'll take it as a no."

Hj then comments saying "That means Ross, If you say no IO will be going kaboom and they'll probably make you watch as it does." Ross looks at Hj and then looks towards Sabre and the man in white and says "I will have to consider your offer." Sabre looks at Ross and says "Sure, do you want to be shown the way back down to your hanger?" Ross looks at him and says "Yes please." The man in white then says "All of you please take your tablets with you so we can contact you and you can contact us."

Ross picks up his tablet and leaves the room following one of the soldiers back down to his hanger. Hj slots back on his helmet and picks up his Tablet and says "Thank you for your time, I will be leaving now too." One of the other soldiers from outside opens the door and says to Hj "Follow me" Hj begins to follow the soldier back down to his hanger. Hydref quickly followed behind taking her tablet with her. After everyone had left, Sabre looks towards the man in White and says "How does Hj know it was us?"

The man in white removes his helmet and walks over towards Sabre and sits in Hj's seat and says "It's possible that he saw ships leaving during the aftermath of the explosion. Our men were far from what I'd call quick or subtle with their task." Sabre looks towards the man in white and says "Were any of the three a match?" The man in white then says "It's still analysing Ross and Hj but it's found a match for Hydref. But It's not Cosmoss."

Sabre looks towards the man in white and asks "Who is it Joseph?" Joseph looks at Sabre and says "It's a match for Aquis, The former God of water and Sea's. Killed during Axis's rise to the throne. The night the old Utopia fell, Otherwise known as the night of the Emperor's fall." Sabre looks at Joseph and says "Well that is interesting." Joseph then suggests to Sabre saying "Perhaps it's struggling with Hj specifically because there might be more than one in his blood. I'm going to try bringing Ross first to see if that makes a difference."

A few moments pass and Joseph looks at Sabre and says "Ugh, Ross is another positive. Son of Ash, former god of fire." Sabre looks at him and says "That's impossible Ash never had any kids. He was never even married." Joseph looks at Sabre and says "Clearly he did cause it says it right here it's a 100% match not even you were that high, Ash died during the night of the Emperor's fall. It's rumoured that he was the one to set the city ablaze in the firenado." Sabre looks at Joseph and asks "How far has Hj gotten?"

Joseph checks the screen and says "79%" the Pair waits a couple more minutes and Joseph then looks back at the screen and says loudly "IT'S DONE!." Sabre looks at him and says "come on who is it?" Joseph looks at the screen and says "BY THE GODS, It's him. He's got the blood of Cosmos, He's got the blood of Aeron and he's got the blood of Jessica. He's the son of Aeron and Jessica. That's why he took so long; he's from the royal tree." Sabre in shock looks at Joseph and asks "Have we actually just found the one Axis is after. The Grand prize will be ours."

Joseph looks towards Sabre and asks "So how do we proceed from here?" Sabre thinks for a moment and says "Let's wait to see if they sign their contracts. If they do, we'll have a much easier time getting 3 gods to Necron then we would if we forced them there." Joseph then looks at Sabre and asks "You're a god yourself, why are you here?" Sabre looks at Joseph and says "I made a few mistakes and Axis kicked me out the New Utopia and chucked me in charge of the Hellraisers and said" "Here's a Division that's as Crazy and as Reckless as you are to go and bring glory to the empire."

Joseph then asks "I'm guessing what you didn't realize at the time was he was kicking out, I guess the grand prize for you is hope that you can get a ticket back inside. A shot at Redemption from the Emperor." Sabre looks at Joseph and says "You're right I want a shot at redemption. I hate being so far away from people of my own kind."

Meanwhile Hj has just arrived back at Aeron Station with Hydref's shuttle just landing next to where his Shuttle is parked. At the end of the Harbour Hj stands Waiting for Hydref to arrive. Hj has removed his suit's helmet and is carrying it in his hand. The Ramp from Hydref's shuttle begins to lower and Hydref begins to walk down it, Carrying a duffle bag in one of her hands. She walks up to Hj and asks "Do you know if there's anywhere where I could change out of this suit?"

Hj looks at her and says "If we go to the palace you could get changed in one of the Guest rooms and in case you decided to stay the night you could use the same room." Hydref begins to walk and says "Thank you, could you please lead the way to your Palace."

The pair start to head up the Staircase through the many levels of the city and Hj say's to her "I called you here today because I don't want to sign but after the events of last night I honestly feel like it is the best course of action for me and my people. If what they say is true and they only want the fuel, I'll sell them fuel if that's what it takes to keep my people safe." Hydref glances at Hj and says "I agree with your judgment and I am scared to but It does not mean we have no other options. We could band together and fight?"

Hj stops and looks towards Hydref and says "That's what my original intention was to ask you, It's why I asked to meet you today, I wanted to fight." Hydref looks at Hj and says "What's changed your mind? Are you truly that scared of them?"

Hj leans his head back and puts his hands over his face and sighs and then leans his head back straight and says "I don't want to cause a scene, If I do you can bet Axis will be sending in one of his conquest fleets here to beat us. Before you know it the Ruination could be on our doorstep and then we'll be seriously reconsidering our decisions."

Hydref tilts her head and shakes saying "You're insane, The black feet don't exist and Axis would never notice us. We're no one to him and to the new order." Hj shakes his head and says "Do you really want to take that gamble? What if we take out the Hellraisers and a day or two later the Ruination gets sent to our front door and destroys IO, Titan and everywhere else that stood up against the Ruination "

Hydref shakes her head and asks "Why? Why would that happen? We're nobodies." Hj looks around and says "We're not, I know you're not and I know I definitely am not. Come on, let's get to the palace so we can talk in more privacy." The two of them slowly made their way up what seemed like endless flights of stairs but they soon reached the Palace level with the entrance inside.

As they reached the doorway Hydref comments saying "Wow, Cool palace. But have you heard that more colours exist than just white and Gold?" Hj looks at her and shakes his head with a smile on his face as he enters the palace meanwhile Hydref has just bursts out in laughter as she enters the palace.

As they arrive inside Hj points towards a door near the entrance and says "If you want to get changed you can do it in there since it's a changing room." Hydref looks towards Hj and says "Yes please, I'll just be a minute." Hydref wanders into the Changing room whilst Hj walks over towards his throne and sits down on it.

Hydref soon leaves the changing room with her Armour now placed inside her duffle bag which she's carrying in one of her hands. Hydref walks over towards Hj and says "You know some people suit thrones those guys tend to either be so thick with muscle you wet yourself and fear for your life if they got up and walked towards you and the other type are super fat rulers who end up eating half there kingdoms food supply. You are neither of those so get up, we got things we need to discuss."

Hj steps up and starts to follow Hydref until she stops at a junction in a corridor and she looks at him and asks "So which way is it?" with her fingers pointing down the two different ways. Hj walks towards Hydref and points his finger left and says "Left until you see the stairs and then go up 3 floors."

Hydref starts to walk up the flights of stairs until she reaches the fourth floor and asks "Is it this one?" Hj looks towards her and nods and Hydref then opens the door and walks through and sees a corridor leading around the building in a loop. Hj walks in and starts to head left and says "Follow me" Hydref walks trailing behind him and asks "So will you fight or will you submit to the New order?"

Hj turns and opens a door to his left and holds his hand out pointing towards the door looking towards Hydref and says "Please, In here." Hydref walks in and sees an office style long table and room and asks Hj "Do I just sit anywhere?"

Hj looks at Hydref and says "Yep, Anywhere you'd like." Hydref walks over to the table and takes a seat on the right hand side closer to the door. Meanwhile Hj takes a seat at the top of the table near Hydref and says "Look I don't want to submit, But If we fight we will be in a war with the New Order and that's gonna be a long and tiresome operation and we will need lots and I mean lots of allies. If it's just me, you and Ross we might just be able to take down the Hellraisers but we certainly will not be able to take down the New Order."

Hydref looks at Hj and says "We have to fight. For the sake of our people. If we have to start small then so be it, I will fight with or without your help and I will be reaching out to Ross to see if he will join me. I want Titan to be unified for the first time in hundreds of years. I want us to fight together. The skies and the sea fighting side by side as one."

Hj takes a deep breath and sighs and says "Fine if we were to do this we will have to be smart, Quick and sudden with how we play this. We will need to cut their long distance communication abilities first and capture their armoury supplies. Plus we will need to capture their fleet." Hydref nods and then asks "What do you suppose we do with their leaders?"

Hj looks down and then looks at Hydref and says "We will need to eliminate them, or we will try to turn them. I want minimum bloodshed." Hydref looks at Hj and asks "Do you really believe we could turn the commanders?"

Hj nods and says "I believe their loyalty will lie with me." Hydref looks at Hj and says "Why the hell would their loyalty lie with you?" Hj looks at Hydref and says "Because I am the grandson of Cosmos, The former emperor. To many of the New order Kingdoms and many whole systems I am the rightful ruler of the new order but my existence is merely a conspiracy amongst many. I have stayed hidden here for my whole life. If I was ever to gain the eye of Axis we would all pay the price for my existence. He would probably set ablaze this sector of the galaxy just to kill me. That's why I fear if I was to fight and we were to win he would send the Ruination here to kill me or worse."

Hydref looks at Hj and says "But if you fight and if you lead us we could win cause if you were to gain the public eye of the New order people will start to switch sides and we could have an empire big enough to rival that of the new order or better. We need you not just for who your grandfather was but for who you are. You're a leader and the best in this whole system without a doubt. The people love you and not just from your own kingdom but from others too."

Hj shuts his eyes for a moment and opens them and says "You're right, I shouldn't let my personal fears get in the way. We will join you in this fight. But we lack instruments of war to be able to take the Hellraisers head on."

Hydref smiles and says "Don't you worry about that, My seas hide many dark secrets in the deep that not even the Hellraisers or you know about. We have got ships and weapons and vehicles ready and waiting to be used. I have an army and resources but not enough to fight the New order."

Hj looks at Hydref and says "We need Ross. We need allies. Tomorrow we will try to go and see him or I will go. To reduce suspicions."

Hydref nods and says "Yes, if you go and try to convince him to join us I will prepare my army and machines. Do you mind if I could have some of your fuel for my fleet as I will not have enough on my own." Hj nods and says "Please take as much as you need my stores are open to you."

Hydref then stands up and says "If we're done here, I believe I have work to get to. Please could I get an escort back to the dock?" Hj stands up and walks towards the door and opens it and looks to see 2 guards outside and says to them "Hey there guards could you please escort Hydref back to her shuttle." The guards looked towards Hj and one of them says "Yes Sir"

Hj turns to Hydref and says "Your escort awaits." Hydref walks past Hj and says "Thanks I'll return soon." Hj waves her goodbye and as she goes round the corner and out of Hj's sight Hj turns around and looks back into the room and picks up his tablet he was given by the New Order representative and heads up stairs to his room.

Hj sits down on a chair in his room and places the Tablet on a table next to him and quickly goes into his room to get changed and hang his suit up. He walks back into his living room and sits back down in his chair. He soon picks up the tablet and switches it on and looks at the screen. The symbol for the New Order soon pops up. Soon a file loads and it's title reads "Skies of Titan Contract" Hj starts to scroll through it's terms and conditions.

Meanwhile onboard Black Sabre Sabre and Joseph are on the Bridge of the Black sabre and looking out at Titan. Joseph looks at Sabre and says "I'm uncertain Sabre, I don't think waiting is truly the best option perhaps we should engage. Take him by force." Sabre leaning on a railing on the bridge looks towards Joseph and says "We need to be patient, I want him to come peacefully, but if he ends up declining our offer then we will take him by force and destroy Titan in front of his eyes. I will bring back Axis's grand prize even if I lose control of this system to do it."

Joseph shakes his head at Sabre and says "Perhaps we should inform Axis about our discovery first?" Sabre looks towards Joseph and says perhaps we should. But we'll have to contact Quake or one of the other gods first. We do not contact Axis, Axis contacts us. But I will send a message out to Quake later to see if he can relay the message to Axis and the others."

Suddenly a Hellraiser soldier walks into the bridge and stands and salutes Sabre and Joseph and says "Sir we've received 2 rejections from the tablets." Joseph looks at Sabre with a slight smirk on his face and Sabre looks at the soldier and asks "Who are the 2 refusals?"

The soldier still in salute says "IO and the Seas of Titan." Sabre glances at Joseph and looks back at the soldier and says "Very good lieutenant, You may leave us now." The soldier turns around and walks out the door. As the door closes behind the soldier Joseph looks at Sabre and says "He's not gonna sign you know this and I know this. We should just attack and get this over with. Capture the prize and boot it back to Necron." Sabre rolls his eyes at Joseph and shakes his head, We cannot harm him and we cannot destroy him spiritually or mentally and you forget he is a god. Probably the most powerful one in existence just by judging his bloodline. His father was the god of the sky and his grandfather on his mom's side was literally Cosmos.

Joseph looks at Sabre and worryingly asks "Do you think he's aware of his powers?" Sabre thinks for a moment and says "Do i think he's aware of them definitely but do I think he's InControl or aware of how to control them, I don't know but I reckon he isn't at least not to his full potential. He could just be warming them up."

Joseph looks at him with fear in his eyes "Why don't we act now?" Sabre then presses a button on his wrist and says "Anna, could you please come and escort Joseph here back to his office and keep him there." Anna's voice over the come replies saying "Yes sir, I'll be there right away."

Joseph looks at Sabre and asks "Why? What have I done?" Sabre shakes his head and walks over to Joseph and says "You have been second guessing me and you're getting on my nerves. If Hj doesn't sign those terms with acceptance I will release you and you can watch as we raise hell upon them all." Anna soon walks into the room and Grabs Joseph and says "You're coming with me." The pair soon leave the room and Sabre walks down to the bottom floor of the bridge and looks out across Space with his arms behind his back.

Meanwhile on Aeron station Hj is still sitting down on his seat but with the tablet placed to his side. Hj closed his eyes and the world around him soon became dark and a tall figure stood ahead of him. Hj stands up and walks towards him. The figure looks at Hj and asks "Are you ready?" Hj reaches out his hand and says "I am ready to learn."

The mysterious figure steps back and says "Follow my example, Hand out, Now grip the air and feel it, Channel the energy that you can feel burning in your veins. Channel it into your grip. Do you feel it?" Hj's hand tenses and suddenly a bolt of energy begins to grow out from his hand and he asks the strange figure "What's happening?" The figure smiles and says "You're using muscles that don't even know themselves that they exist. The more you use them the stronger your powers will become and the easier they will be to use. Practice in my secret Dojo upstairs. It's on the 20th floor hidden panel along the wall opposite the staircase."

Hj nods and says "Thank you father." Suddenly Hj's eyes open and the world seems normal again and Hj looks to his hand and sees the energy still in his hand, He soon opens up his hand and the energy fades into thin air. Hj soon walks out onto the balcony and breathes in the air and looks out towards the city. Hj takes the time to think until suddenly someone knocks on the door and Hj walks over and opens it to see one of his guards standing outside and the guard says "Your dinner is ready sir. Please come with me."

Hj looks the guard in the eye and says "Of course." Hj steps outside his room and closes the door behind him and follows the guard down to the hall he had the meeting with his councillor s the day before.

He enters the room and looks at the table and sees his food on the table in front of his seat. But the table was filled with the same councillor s from the previous night. Hj sits down in his seat and pulls his plate towards him and starts to eat. Everyone looks at Hj eagerly awaiting the news.

Hj stops eating for a moment and looks around at his councillor s and asks "What is it?" One of the councillor s looks at Hj and asks "What happened in the meeting?, What's the result?" Hj looks around at the table and says "I wasn't the only one invited to the meeting, Hydref was there, So was the King of IO Ross. Which leads me to assume everyone else has signed the treaty, Mars, Mercury, Earth, Venus, Pluto, Europa, everyone else has either been eliminated or are so well hidden that they will never reach the invasive eyes of the Hellraisers like the Cosmopolis ."

Hj then starts to answer the councillor s second question saying "But the result of the meeting is that we have 7 earth days to answer their offer which is half a day for the seas but a regular 7 days for us as this station is set to earth time. I've agreed to help Hydref as she wishes to remain rouge which means she wants to start a resistance. She wants me to go and recruit Ross tomorrow to see if he will join her in the cause." The councillor s look at each other then one of the councillor s who spoke to Hj yesterday asks "What do they want from us?"

Hj looks at the councillor and says "They want the fuel. They want an endless free supply of our fuel whenever they want it. But this is the Hellraisers, they will probably build a garrison and put the whole city under martial law. Whilst they ship me to Necron. But I do not want this as I suspect most of you don't want either. So tell me, have I made the wrong decision?"

The councillor s all look at each other and the same councillor who asked the question looks at Hj and calmly says "No, you made the right call. But what difference will it make? Cause if we help Hydref she will want our fuel to power her long dormant fleet buried at the bottom of the ocean."

Hj leans his elbow on the table and looks at the councillor and asks "How do you know about the fleet and yet you never told me, What secrets have you kept hidden from me, councillor s?"

The councillor s all look at each other and one says to the rest " "Who else knew, Raise your hands." Zero people raise their hands and the same councillor looks at them all and says "Oh that's just utter Garbage, I know he would have told at least 5 of you and I got my suspicions on who. How many of you have tried manipulating Hj to do what you want. I suspect all five of you I'm thinking of and him. Shame on all of you. Last I checked, what you've done is punishable by death for attempting to manipulate Hj."

Hj looks at the councillor on the end of the table who just spoke and asks him "What's your name?" The councillor looks at Hj and says "My name's Narra the second. My family are pure blood Necromians who came here with your father."

Hj nods slightly as he reaches over to grab a jug from the middle of the table and as he pours his drink from the jug he says to Narra "Could you please get me a list Narra of all the councillor s you suspect are corrupting our city and bring it to me right away, As well as what you suspect or know they've done or are up to."

Narra looks at Hj and nods saying "I'll go get you a list now my lord." She then gets up and leaves the table quickly. One of the other councillor s starts to pull out from the table and Hj looks at them and says "Sit back down, No one leaves the table until Narra gets back. The last thing I need is any of you going off and getting rid of any evidence or Narra. So everyone sit down and relax as no one is leaving this table until I find out who's trying to coup me."

A few minutes pass and soon Narra returns with a list and passes it over to Hj as she goes to sit back down. Hj looks at this list along with the crimes and actions which have happened under his notice and looks at the Six listed councillor s and says "First of let me say how upset and betrayed I am looking at this list. Everyone on this list is being thrown in prison. GUARDS!!!, Take them to jail and strip them of their ranks and privileges and question their families."

The Six Councillors soon get escorted out of the room with 4 guards on each of them. Hj looks at the rest and says "Let this be a warning and a lesson." Hj then leaves the room and heads upstairs to his room.

Hj walks into his room and closes the door behind him and picks up the tablet and sits down and boots it up and looks at the offer and hovers over the response button and keeps flicking between Accept and Decline.

Hj places his head in his arms and screams inside his head.