[ WP ] Turns out it was n't the Nazis hiding on the dark side of the moon . It was the Roman Empire . They 've come back with a vengeance .

`` Preparing to breach atmosphere, Legate!'' 
 
 `` Let it be done, captain.'' 
 
 Legate Caecilius Petrus Belisarius stood tall on the bridge of his titanic flagship *Cerberus*. His brilliant red cape fell almost to the floor behind him, secured by gold sunbursts on the front of his shoulders. His helmet was ridged with a large bristle of equally brilliant red horse hair. His breastplate, specially commissioned for the occasion, bore an elaborate engraving of a massive bull, horns lowered and charging. The bull's hooves pounded through stylized waves, whipping them up into a foam. The legate's boots and greaves were of burnished bronze, reflecting the blinking yellow and red lights of the console before him. 
 
 He stood on a high platform at the rear of the bridge. Below him, his men, dressed in more practical solid black, tight-fitting uniforms, worked efficiently at three banks of consoles. The bright blue earth filled the enormous window in front of them. 
 
 The engines came to life with a deep roar that filled the whole ship. Legate Belisarius felt just a small shudder before the inertial dampeners kicked in. The earth began to rotate downwards in the window as the captain oriented the ship for atmospheric entry. In a few moments, the window was filled with the blackness of space, which was quickly replaced with a red, fiery glow. 
 
 This was the critical moment. The *Cerberus* was an enormous vessel, eight stadia long -- over a kilometer, by the engineers' measure -- and two stadia across at its widest point. If they would fail, it would be here. Should the heat shields fail, or if the structure was not able to withstand the colossal stress, then they would break up in the atmosphere. Belisarius took solace in the fact that if either of those two things happened, they would likely not have more than a quarter second to realize what had happened before they were all burned to ash. 
 
 But the *Cerberus* held steady. This was solid Roman engineering -- designed by descendants of the ones who built the aqueducts and the Coliseum, built to last for three thousand years or more. 
 
 The ship glowed bright red, like a coal, as they burned through the sky. Seconds later, there were three more coals burning as more ships breached the atmosphere. Then a dozen. Then a hundred, as *Legio X Fretensis* began the invasion. 
 
 The die was cast.
