Omega

Tag Anaton had never seen Avalon before.

Some theorized it was the actual homeworld of humanity. All agreed that it was the capital of the Third Imperium. All knew that all roads (such as they were) led to this planet. Few knew that its name derived from a word that referred to utopia – a word that had been ancient by the time of the Ancients themselves. And if that was true, Tag reflected, it supposed it justified the saying that "one person's utopia was another person's dystopia." Because from space, Avalon was beautiful – a world of blue seas, green land, and white poles. But its status of utopia had always been built for the 10% (at best) that could call themselves free. People who enjoyed more discretion under the Bioweave. People like himself. People that Tag knew were crewing the Imperium ships that were set up to defend the planet.

Ten years since he'd broken bread with the Imperium, and it had come to this. Ten years, to the point where the forces of the Zero Rebellion not only outnumbered Vykar's forces, but had fought their way to the Imperium's capital itself. Ten years since Gem had stolen the Imperator from his father and rechristened it the Rogue, and one year since he'd renamed it the Liberator. The letters on its hull were no longer in the language of the Ancients, but the language used by humanity across the galaxy. Designed to be read by anyone and everyone, regardless of how much control the Bioweave exacted on them.

And now he was here. Commanding the most powerful ship that existed in the galaxy, against a fleet that was outnumbered twice over. Under sane circumstances, that would have been enough to force Avalon's surrender. But if the last decade had taught Tag anything, it was that Rakshiff Vykar, once general, now emperor, was anything but sane.

"Sir." He looked at one of his crew – one of the many former children he'd helped rescue from Magog, now a man. "Hailing frequencies are open."

Tag nodded. "Fine. Let's throw the first punch."

"Sir?"

He shook his head and activated a holographic feed in the centre of the bridge. "Wars are fought with words as much with weapons. Even when they're over."

The first sentence was taken from the works of Frederick Germond. The second was his own addition. Because the rebellion against the Imperium and the struggle to free humanity was all but over. What happened next was up to a man that had been Tag's enemy for ten years. The man who appeared before him, clad in a red power suit, and glaring at him from the Imperium's throne. A man by the name of Rakshiff Vykar.

"Emperor Vykar," Tag said.

"Rakshiff."

"Excuse me?"

"Rakshiff, you reprobate. Emperor Rakshiff the First of the Line of Vykar. Emperor of the Third Imperium, and-"

"Yeah, yeah, you're big, you're bald, and you're powerful. Makes me miss the Faculty."

It was a slight lie – Rakshiff was human. The Faculty would have never surrendered because they were AIs, and logic would dictate that it would be better to fight against an enemy that would unplug them as soon as they took victory. Vykar, however? He was insane. He'd always been insane. But Tag hoped that he still had a sense of self-preservation.

"I see you've brought your gang with you," Vykar continued. "Been raiding the scrap dumps recently?"

"What, your ships that we've blasted into slag? Yeah, we've raided them."

Rakshiff scowled and Tag looked around. Half of the bridge were watching the exchange. The other half were pretending not to watch while keeping put at their stations. He took a breath, wishing Zero was here. That Del was here. That…

"War's over Vykar," Tag said. "You lost."

"Really. And who won?" Vykar leant back in his throne. "A bunch of fanatics who want to take humanity to the dark ages? A group of children who think they're adults?"

Tag frowned – he was an adult. 24 years old. But even then, that wasn't why the barb hurt. He was 24, and by extension, one of the oldest people left in the rebellion. People followed him. People died for him.

"That's it? No pithy comeback? No smart remark? Obviously the son of Cav Anaton has lost his tongue."

"No. I just lost the silver spoon in it."

"Like you lost dear daddy? Like you lost Zero and Del Rev?"

"Keep talking Vykar, you might end up in the same place they did."

Tag saw a flicker in Vykar's eyes – the same flicker he'd seen over and over again on each world the Zero Rebellion had liberated. Hope. The people he'd encountered had seized the hope that they could be free of the Imperium. Free of the Bioweave. The hope in Vykar's eyes was that he could live.

"Like I said Vykar, the war's over," Tag said. "Your forces are outnumbered two to one, and we've got the Liberator. So either you surrender now, or you surrender later. Your choice."

Vykar snorted. "That's the third name for that big fancy ship of yours Tag. Thought of a fourth one yet?"

"Last chance Vykar."

The emperor snorted. "Funny thing Tag – I don't think you're actually going to do it."

Tag's eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?"

Vykar chuckled. "Tag Anaton. Omega-level Bioweave. Given all the freedom in the world, and decided to throw it all away."

"Look at my ships Vykar. You'll see what you're throwing away if you keep this up. If you-"

"No, you little brat," Vykar snarled. He leant forward in the throne. "You listen, and you look."

The hologram of Vykar winked out, and before Tag could ask what happened, it was replaced with a series of cycling images. Each one of them showing Imperium troopers. Most of them were inside ships that Tag guessed were among Vykar's fleet. A handful (by way of comparison) were on the surface. Most of them had their helmets on, but Tag knew that if they hadn't, he'd see in their eyes the same glazed look he was seeing in the ones that weren't wearing them. The look of those in complete thrall to the Bioweave. Like drones, serving a queen bee who was male, old, angry, and sociopathic.

You bastard, Tag thought.

The hologram returned to Vykar, grinning like a fox among chickens. "Quite loyal, aren't they? An entire army, willing to die in my name."

"They're Alphas," Tag said. "Slaves."

"Oh, don't be so harsh, there's a few Betas there," Vykar laughed.

Tag, clenching his fist at his side, murmured, "you really doing this Vykar? You know the higher level of control the Bioweave exerts, the less capable the subject becomes?"

"Oh I do. And I don't care. Because I don't think you have it in you Tag Anaton. Because the only way to me is through my fleet. And the only way through my fleet is to destroy it. Which means that all the people of the Imperium you're here to save are going to be slaughtered."

Tag clenched his fist even harder. Casting a quick glance around the bridge, he saw that he wasn't the only one torn over the dilemma. The people here had joined the rebellion of their own free will. That didn't mean that their hatred for the Imperium automatically extended to its people, let alone ones who'd been reduced to mindless slaves. He saw some of them look at him. Expecting an answer. A declaration. Maybe even a joke like the ones Zero would have made. Before…

"Well, Tag?" Vykar asked. "I'm waiting."

Tag took a breath. "Keep doing that, Vykar. I have time."

"Excuse me?"

"You can't win the fight. You can only try and make it as hard on us as possible. Shows how pathetic you really are."

Vykar snarled. "You miserable little-"

Tag terminated the feed and looked among the bridge. "Give him time to boil," he said. "Maybe he'll reconsider."

One of his officers approached him. "Sir, we're not going to attack?"

"No. Not yet. We attack, and we-"

"Win," he said.

Tag narrowed his gaze. "What's your name?"

"Tycio Lekima," he said. "You liberated my world of Lawshall. I was on the Star Hail before transferring to the Liberator."

"And what should we do, Tycio? Just attack?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"It's what Zero would have done. He'd have gone straight into it."

Tag winced – not just from Tycio's words, but from the chorus of affirmation coming from most of the bridge crew. They were young. They were impatient. Worst of all, they were hungry for blood. In another time, on a world thousands of light years from this one, Del had worried that Zero was turning him and Gem into child soldiers. Now, with Zero gone, with Del gone…

I've done it, Tag reflected. I've gone and done it.

"Sir," Tycio said. "We should attack. Every second we delay gives Vykar more time to find reinforcements, or build his defences, or-"

"I'm giving Vykar an hour," Tag said. He looked at one of his bridge crew. "Raven Suffolk? You have the bridge."

The girl of nineteen nodded, turning very pale, very fast, her golden hair falling down over her eyes. "Yes…yes sir."

Tycio scoffed. "Raven. Right. Course you choose her, since she looks like-"

Tag blasted him – a kinetic blast that wasn't nearly enough to do any harm, but still with enough kinetic force to send Tycio skidding across the deck.

"Like I said," Tag said. "An hour."

Fifty minutes later, Tag was still in his quarters. Fifty minutes of calling the bridge every five minutes to see if Vykar had contacted the fleet. Fifty minutes of getting the same answer every time – "no." Vykar, it seemed, was willing to fight to the end, and take millions, possibly even billions, with him. After all, Avalon had a population of 15 billion, and soldier or otherwise, Vykar controlled every one of them. He just had a shortage of material, not flesh.

So this is what victory feels like, Tag thought. He leant on his bed. Wonder if Zero would have felt the same way.

Zero. The rebellion was named after him. The man who'd inadvertently created the Bioweave in the first place on Dosk, and had fought Vykar there for a supposed final time a decade ago. Zero was dead. Librarian was dead. Del was dead. So many people were dead, that Tag had feared more than once that if he took down the Imperium, there wouldn't be enough people left to make something new, or at least, something cohesive. Which, on the other hand, might have been better. Maybe that was how humanity was meant to function, not locked into a single system of government, but-

"You overthinking things again?"

Tag smirked, as he heard his wife talk. "Didn't hear you come in."

"Never left dumbass."

"Keep talking like that, I'll put you on deck duty."

"I want to be on deck duty, but you said that I couldn't."

He sat up on the bed and looked at her, plus the bulge in her stomach. She'd been pregnant for eight months, which had led her to joke that he better hurry up and overthrow Vykar before their child was born.

"Hey." She clicked her fingers in front of Tag. "Eyes up here."

He raised them from the stomach to her chest.

"Higher."

Smirking, he obliged.

"Now lower."

He sighed and got to his feet. "Dunno why I even play."

"Oh keep trying. You'll get there eventually."

He smiled, and kissed her on the forehead. And in a rare show of humility, his wife kissed him back.

It was a relationship born out of circumstance, but the last decade had been good to the likes of Tag Anaton and Mika Tarrant. For others? Others like Zero, Del, Librarian…Gem…? Not so much.

"I know why you're here," Mika said, as Tag broke the embrace and looked out through the porthole, to one of the adjacent ships. "Vykar's refusing to surrender."

"Vykar, I'm not worried about," Tag said. "It's the people."

She put a hand on his shoulder. "I know," she said. "It's one of your redeeming qualities."

"Oh?" He glanced at her. "What are my others?"

"Don't get greedy smartarse." Tag said nothing, and he saw her face soften. "Well, you're smart for one. You'll find a way out of this."

Tag sighed. "I've got a way out of this."

"Oh good. Then we-"

"Didn't say it was a good way." He looked back out into space. "I can beat Vykar. He knows it. Only he knows that I know that he knows that doing so will require me to kill millions."

"Um, yeah," Mika said. "That was, like, at least one 'I know' too many."

"And he knows that Zero-"

"No," Mika said.

Tag looked at her, and saw that she'd lost all trace of jubilation. All trace of snark. He watched as she took a seat on the bed – the bed designed for one, but the one that they'd shared ever since…well, ever since Gem had…

"You can't think of Zero," Mika said. "He's gone. They're all gone. You were here at the start Tag. You're the one to finish it."

"Mika, I'm not scared about finishing it. I'm scared about how."

Mika sighed, and looked up at her husband. "You always were a goody two-shoes, you know that?"

Tag scoffed. "You obviously didn't know child-me."

"I grew up in the Imperium and went to the Academy as well, I can guess. But here's the thing. Vykar will get reinforcements. The longer we wait, the more people will die."

Tag didn't answer. He just looked down, rubbing his hands together.

"Tag," Mika said.

He'd made promises to all of the old crew of the Rogue as their lives were snuffed out one by one. He wasn't sure if doing this would be keeping them.

"Tag," Mika repeated.

He looked up at her, and she cupped his chin under her hand.

"Tag, I'm going to try and sound deep, and insightful, and I'm probably going to fail, because that's really not my thing, but…"

"But?"

"Yeah, still working on it, but I…" She took a breath, and he saw her put a hand on her stomach. "You, I, we were born in the Imperium. We got the benefits from it. People like you got an Omega-level Bioweave, which gave you the freedom to hack that very Bioweave, and keep fighting after…well, everything else."

Tag frowned – for all of Mika's self-deprecation, the speech wasn't sounding too bad.

"But you have to end it," she said. "No matter what Vykar does, you have to end it. End him. The Bioweave. The Imperium itself, if you have to."

"But I-"

"Third Imperium, Tag. The First and Second are lost to history, but the human race continued afterwards. And it'll continue after Avalon, no matter what Vykar does."

"You're asking me to play a game of numbers," Tag said. "I attack now, millions will die. At worst, billions."

"And you'd save trillions," Mika said.

He glowered. "You make it sound so easy."

"It isn't easy Tag, but…" She trailed off, as the intercom sounded.

"Bridge calling Admiral Anaton."

Tag winced. He hated that title. There were times when he hated the name as well. His father and mother had died before Zero and the rest of the Rogue's crew had. He was the last of House Anaton, and he was burning the house's foundations, along with the empire that had allowed them to grow.

"Bridge calling Admiral Anaton."

He gave Mika one last look and answered. "Tag here."

"Sir, it's been an hour," Raven said. "There's still no response from Vykar."

"Great," Tag murmured.

"And sir? We've identified eight capital ships exiting FTL travel on the planet's far side. Vykar's getting the reinforcements he called for."

Tag winced, and closed his eyes. Glad that no-one on the bridge could see them, even if Mika could.

"Sir, if we're going to do this, we have to do it now."

Tag said nothing. He looked at Mika. She looked at him. For once, without smile, or sparkle in her eyes – the things that he'd seen in her on Magog. The things that had been there for him when no-one else was. The things that, over time, had caused him to love her.

"Sir, what are your orders?"

Tag pressed the button. "I'm on my way to the bridge, Raven."

"Sir, you didn't say if…I mean, the natives are getting restless, and-"

"Tell the natives that…" He took a breath. "Tell them that we're doing this."

"Sir?"

"We're going to attack. Today, the Imperium, Bioweave, and Vykar meet the same fate. Today, the rebellion ends."

"Yes sir. Of course sir. Waiting for you on the bridge sir."

Did she really have to sound so happy about it, he wondered? Either way, he shut off the intercom and looked at Mika. She gave him a nod. He, after a moment's hesitation, gave her a hug, and a kiss.

"Go get 'em," she whispered.

Silently, he obliged. Ready to bring about the attack. The end of all things.

Omega.

A/N

...what? The chances of the show getting a second season are now pretty much non-existent. You can't tell me this isn't how the story really ended! :P