The S.S. Olympus -under refurbishment

Chapter XII: Pandora's Box: Dark Wraiths

Hercules cut in, "Hades, she did come in handy. We have no idea what sort of cultural destruction the wraiths have already wrought. We need all of the cultural knowledge we can get." 

The android then leveled his gaze at Cornelia, "Next time Cornelia, perhaps you should look before you leap?" he smiled momentarily at his own joke, "As the euphemism goes." Cornelia opened her mouth to retort, but he continued, ignoring her.  "You do not know what dark wraiths are, and cannot possibly make an educated decision about your use or survivability. That being said I can see how your skillset can be useful." 

Hades turned to Zeus. "How did this happen who was watching the ship?"

"Apollo," Zeus answered, "I told you he disappeared the same night."

"Where in the frak is Apollo?" Hades said stepping towards Zeus. "Where was everyone else when this happened?" He allowed for a poignant silence, "Where were you?"

Zeus glared back at him, "Out, and never question my decisions again."

Hades threw up his hands in frustration. "Whose bed was it this time?"

"None of your petaqing business!" Zeus retorted angrily. "How dare you speak to me that way I am your captain! You, answer to me!"

"Not when your philandering could destroy an entire world I don't!" Hades seethed. "Where were Hera and Artemis?"

A feminine voice answered his "Working unlike anyone else on this bloody ship!" The green silhouette of Artemis slid out from behind a door. She looked squarely at Zeus. " I calmed Hera down I am not covering for you again."

Hades glared at Artemis. "Working? Wasn't your job also to watch the ship?"

"My job," Artemis said forcefully. "Is protecting my crew. Hera needed supplies. I was out helping her gather them. She was vulnerable alone, even against these Roman morons."

"Hey!" Cornelia shouted defensively.

"No offense," Artemis said shrugging. She then pointed at Zeus. "If our Captain could keep it in his pants none of this would have happened. He and Apollo were supposed to be watching the ship together." Her lack of composure shocked Cornelia to her core. It made the threat of whatever the 'dark wraiths' were all the more real. 

"Okay fine where was Apollo he is more than capable of handling one barbaric thief."

"Stop insulting my people!" Cornelia exclaimed in frustration.

"Correction Corny, They are not your people." Hades lashed out.

"Correction night light, while I am not royalty, they are my people." The hair on Cornelia's neck rose in anger as the tension mounted.

Hercules once again refocused them on the task at hand. "If Apollo is responsible for the loss then why is he not here."

A small bit of tension slipped away from Zeus' expression. "I need you all to go get him. He did go, and has been gone for over a week."

Artemis groaned. "I am coming this time."

"No, you are not. Clearly, our ship is clearly vulnerable. You stay here." Zeus roared. "and next time you and Hera can wait until I get back before you leave for any reason!"

A silent standoff between Artemis and Zeus lasted for several minutes. Finally, she cocked her crossbow and stormed out of the ship.

Cornelia looked at her two companions for answers. Hades just glared at Zeus' back as he left and Hercules was busily operating the replicator. Realizing she wasn't getting answers from her friends she tried the next best thing.

"Hebe," she called out to the invisible servant. "What is a dark wraith?"

A holographic image of ghostly orange fire appeared before her. It was shifting and moving with a hypnotic rhythm. Its orange light was ghostly and alluring.

Then Hebe's sweet feminine voice sounded over the comm "Dark Wraith(s): are phasic creatures that roam deep space. They feed off the dark emotions. Typically when they infect a host they experience; strong and uncontrollable emotions, urges, or deadly illnesses. The most common side effects are wraith, envy, jealousy, gluttony, greed, and plague. 

"Are all alien creatures bad?"

Hebe either answered or continued, Cornelia was unsure. "On exceptionally rare occasions some victims encounter a white wraith which fills them with an inexplicable amount of hope and goodwill.

"What happened to the people who were infected?"

" All ships who have been infected resulted in self-destruction."

"How many survivors?"

"None, all files on wraiths have been recovered from sensor logs and computer reports." 

Cornelia smacked Hades. Who glared at her as he rubbed his cheeks. "What in the name of Styx were you idiots thinking? Why would you ever bring those things here?"

Hercules cut Hades off before he could lash out. "On the contrary miss. As you may remember we did not intend to bring them here." 

"Okay to the Axium zoo. Why would you want to bring those horrid things anywhere?"

Hades growled. "Because princess, we were studying them. I had developed a special container that held them in place, and I was trying to find ways of counteracting them. Do you think with such a dangerous thing wandering space, we were not trying to find a way to protect people against them?"

"Were you successful?" She snapped at him.

Hades simply smashed a couple of buttons on the replicator creating supplies and fresh clothes. "you have one hour to get ready Corny, then we are going." He handed Hercules pieces of 'skin'.

Cornelia felt sick as Hercules began to graft the patches Hades was creating back on his body, she was grateful for the excuse to leave the room. 

A/N
Thank you for reading. If you are enjoying the story, please vote and comment. It means a lot. If you enjoy my writing style please also check out the Tendaaren Chronicles it's is a 100% Kimi original.

Pandora's Box- please go to the mythology and methodology section if you want to understand the complexities that are involved with turning this classic myth into science fiction.