For those of you who like the Halo Spartans in general, the next arc of my story is for you. This arc is my version of the beginning of the Spartan 1 program. Master Chief, Cortana, DR Halsey and all the other Spartan 2s will still be in my story but further on. It will be awhile until they are born and I'm doing the Spartan 1 and 2 programs differently then in Halo canon. There will be a BIG difference between the Spartan 1 and 2 programs.

Try and guess what that is.

Warhammer 40k. Psychic, Psyker.

Starcraft Psionic, Psiker.


Location Inapplicable. Middle of nowhere I guess?

Time frame Inapplicable. I have no f-ing clue?

Dimension Psyon's private construct universe.

In a reality of infinite sky that stretched out into a seemingly infinite horizon with blue skies and white clouds above and black thundering storm clouds below and planets of varying sizes visible off in the distance, floated a simple fantasy airship. It was just a three hundred meters long red wood boat with a massive balloon strapted above it by many black cables. The upper deck was flat and open with many plant gardens along the sides consisting of vegetables and fruits even a few trees of many odd and varied forms, colors and shapes that were not from any other known species or planets.

At the center of the deck stood a large tent shaped like a triangle with it's three poles supporting its three extended awnings which extend from the decagon (ten sided hexagon) shaped tent body. The avatar of Pyson, the being which created the combination universe Ellen was born into, moved away a flap of the tents opening and walked out of his? her?, it's home.

The avatar form of Psyon was a mostly humanoid being of a genderless form as it had qualities that were of both feminine and masculin, standing seven feet tall on long pointed legs that ended in feet that split into three long flat featureless toes, wearing a closed black plating and gray under cloth overcoat, that was open in the upper chest exposing his pale gray skin and the gold chain and ruby cross hanging on his chest, and extending from his lower back was a tail that split into seven wings that glowed and shifted between all the colors of the rainbow which his gray white hair also glowed faintly with, as faint lights of many colors traced along each strand of hair.

Psyon's avatar form walked to the front bow of the airship in the infinite sky and watched as the more interesting events unfolding on Remnant reached there current climax. Psyons gaze pierced through the boundary between universes and time to see that last of the more interesting things the Zerg of Ellen's swarm are doing on on Remnant.

After words the Zerg construct nation of Atlantis took the surviving population of Xanadu in as refugees and honored guests and the people of Xanadu entered a age free of the threat of Grimm but not one in which they are allowed to become complacent as most citizen's took part in a new tradition Solus created to keep such counter productive thoughts at bay and make sure the people of both Atlantis and the now defunct Xanadu active, strong and retain their combat skills.

This new tradition was the hunting of Grimm and taming of Zerglings as battle mounts. The taming of Zerglings was a difficult thing to accomplice for the humans even though Solus gave the Zerglings a limited free will that allowed them to choose to go and do what they want within certain limits such as not leaving the borders of Atlantis, not attacking anyone who is not Grimm and not morphing into a Baneling, but alpha morphs were allowed some times.

The tradition helped keep the military of Atlantis and the knight guards active and skilled since no Grimm can survive entering the borders of Atlantis for long. Much to Salem's frustration in the few times she attempted to attack the nation only to fail every time. Salem then understood that these Zerg as she discovered were far superior to Grimm in every way, and in the few times Grimm managed to kill Zerg they started to dissolve into a pool of acidic liquified flesh soup, indicating that the Zerg had gained the ability to self destruct after being killed. This would greatly reduce the possibility that the Overminds swarm would gain the Essence of Ellen's swarm.

It was not the same as Grimm dissolving however as Solus and his evolution master Vo'zen discovered. The Grimm that die just loose cell cohesion and fall apart when they are hit with a strong enough attack that may or may not kill them as the cells of Grimms bodys fall apart. It was also discovered that certain types of Grimm (like the Dragon) have the ability to use Dust fueled elemental psionic attacks or abilities, but Grimm are unable to form a aura or develop a semblance. And in time Salem would seek way's and allies to evolve her Grimm to match the Zerg in power.

"Hmm is there anything else going on," Psyon mused as he? her? it? looked to other places around the galaxy.

In the galactic neighborhood of Earth, Ellen's swarm has been moving around from system to system creating more mobile space platforms and increasing their numbers as they moved around the galaxy. However it seems Ellen had also left a few hive clusters at the Alpha centauri star system (the closest star system to Sol, Earths star system) along with many other star systems surrounding them.

"Ellen must be placing hive clusters in star systems around Earth to test humanity once they achieve faster than light drive technology," Psyon commented.

Psyon then turned his reality penetrating vision to the Koprulu sector where the Overminds original swarm and the Protoss empire were having a good old war on a scale that any race from the Warhammer 40k universe would envy. The Protoss empire had managed (with great effort) to quarantine the Overminds swarm to the few tens of thousands of star systems surrounding Char, which was about one tenth of the total Koprulu sector, but as Psyon looked into the Overminds mind (something few beings in that universe could do without being caught) he discovered the Overmind had become obsessed with evolving his swarm so that they could devour the psionic abilities of the Protoss. But try as they might Abathur and the other evolution masters could not achieve that goal because of the Protoss Khala which subsumed their very essence with psionic power like a shell that prevented the Zerg from devouring their essence and also left a terrible taste in the Zergs mouths.

"Hmm I wonder how Ellen will intervene in... THAT... MESS... and if her swarm can devour Protoss essence, hmm?"

Psyon also observed that The dark templar Narizem of Shakuras had not had contact with the Zerg yet. Psyon saw that this was because Shakuras was on the exact total opposite side of the Koprulu sector from Char. With the main Protoss empire and lots of empty space between them and the Overminds swarm.

"Wonder if Zeratul will encounter the Zerg earlier than in the original StarCraft universe?"

Psyon again turned his sight to the Koprulu sectors far edge where the Tal'darim home world Slayn was. The Tal'darim were slowly building up their forces under the leadership of Amon and Samir who it seems had discovered the location of the Forerunner Keyship in the Covenant capital of High Charity which they needed to reach installation 00 (also known as the lesser ark) and stop the construction of new Halos or maybe take it over. But they could not risk exposing themselves to the Monitors just yet. As soon as the lesser ark comes under fire it's defense systems fire power will annihilate Amon's Tal'darim forces. No Amon and Samir have planned to let others like the humans or Covenant reach the Lesser Ark first, and sneak their own sealth forces in with them and find and disable the defenses of the Lesser Ark.

"Amon certainly is thinking things through. Well he is in a less than favorable position at the moment. And he is a powerful warp entity who fought in the three way galaxy wide war between the Xel'naga (Forerunners) the Flood and his master who was created by the strongest emotion of the Forerunners."

Psyon smiled at the progress so far and at the former templar Alarak and his antics of using his brain and brutality to out smart and backstab his way up the chain of ascension.

"He he always entertaining that one. Now lets see how Aliasse is doing?

Psyon then turned his gaze to Earth and it orbital colonies.


Chapter 12

Spartans Rising Part 1


Sol system, Extreme Earth orbit

Date, March 4th, Tuesday, 2290

Location, Lagrange point 2, colony 4

Name, Arden colony

The space around Earth glittered as many dozens of multi kilometer long colonies stations resting at their Lagrange points orbiting humanities home world along with many thousands of ships of many types and models both civilian transports and cargo craft mixed with military ships. Some few dozen or so Vanguard class cruisers along with other types with new and old models. Many of the new colonies took the shape of the classic O'Neill cylinder space colony which were the larger scale replacement's for the older Bernal sphere colonies that were constructed in the second wave of space colonization of Earth and Reaches solar systems, and most of which were now well over a century old and being rapidly replaced by the far larger and advanced O'neill cylinder type space colony which before, was far to costly and difficult to mass produce until five decades ago when the massive scale construction technology also known as the colony class builder ships (CCBS) were completed.

These massive ships can build larger scale colonies quickly with their many human workers, smart AI, a army of dumb AI controlled drone craft and a dozen internal factories that use the latest and most advanced 3d molecular printing systems to create the colony core support shaft, fusion reactors, multi layered self sealing air tight hull plating and life support systems that will slowly form into a new colony shell that can then be filled with buildings, plants and forests, artificial mountains and lakes depending on the purpose of the space colony.

Although CCBS's cost nearly as much as a Bernal sphere colony (And are almost the same size) CCB ships allow for the faster, more efficient and far less costly construction of larger scale space colonies like colony Arden which was the forth O'Neill class space colony to be built in recorded history, and the best selling points to them was that fact one CCB ship could build another CCB ship which was used to quickly construct six of such ships within a half decade at a cost that was only double the construction cost of the first CCB ship and then have them build six O'neil class colonies together.

Arden may have been the forth of it's type to be built in recorded history but after decades of non stop construction the Sol system now had nearly a hundred O'neill class colonies scattered around many of its planets. Some space colonies were made to be massive mining craft used in the mining efforts in the asteroid belt and in the outer solar system, while others were used as giant amusement parks, and others as giant space hotels housing many thousands of workers who would use the now common shuttle craft that swarm the space between the colonies. Though the range of such craft was limited to just the local colonies requiring actual space ships to travel longer distances such as across the solar system, but small craft could be used to traverse the ancient warp gate on Mars. Which has been the subject of many long and varied experiments by scientists over the years to unlock the secret to faster than light travel. Currently two scientists named Tobias Shaw and Wallace Fujikawa were spear heading such research on Mars.

Down through the years Arden colony had changed a bit since it was a generalist type colony that could be reconfigured to do many things. But at the current point in time it was serving as a industrial colony that refined and processed ore mined in the outer solar system and as a transit hub/rest point to the many traveling people going between the inner and outer solar system.

Another odd quirk of Arden colony was that it had become the cyborg capital of the solar system with nearly ninety two percent of the population having some kind of artificial body part or another (and yes that includes mechanical Cat ears and tails). Many workers had their brain and organs transplanted into a cybernetic humanoid shell with a face and form that was modeled after their original bodies unless they wanted to look differently or more attractive looking for their wife's or husbands.

These new bodies allowed the colony workers in the ship docks and factories to work more freely and for longer periods of time which was a boost to the economy and lessened company safety costs of protective suits that were normally needed to protect the workers from radiation, chemicals and the vacuum of space, only in the case of the people who had such cyberization done the humanoid shell that housed their brain and organs acted as the protective system and also allowed them to remain able to eat, drink and have children while also having the strength and protection that the new body provides.

Arden colony is also something of a gathering place for the types of people who are cyborg enthusiast and have a attraction to the tech and it's many... peculiarities such as cyborg dogs and cats and other odd things people do with the tech such as creating cyborg bodies that are modeled after famous comic book superheroes or videogame characters and having them fight in arenas for people's entertainment like some kind of weird cyborg cosplay combat. But to be honest such things only attracted many tourists to the colony who, may not be into getting their bodies chopped up and replaced with a carbon-nano-ceramic skeleton and cnt muscle fiber replacement's but people do find such things entertaining.

Even though Arden was mainly an industrial colony it also had its far share of hotels, restaurant's and trinket shops for all the tourists that come through to spend their money on. And it was at one of these restaurants street side seating areas that a dark haired woman with sunglasses and a expensive looking suit sat, enjoying her coffee and cookies when she received a E-mail.

Her phone [Beeped] as it showed a new mail had been received.

"Hmm," the woman mumbled to herself as she took a sip of her coffee and opened the new e-mail.

{Miss shadow. I am police commissioner Samuel liner and I have heard much about your skills and perfect arrest record. I would like to employee you for a investigation concerning the local E-drugs and smuggling operation in our colony. I have full authority to pay your fee and give you full access to our files on the case, baring of course that you agree to the non disclosure agreement concerning the police evidence of course. If you accept this job I look forward to working with you.} {Message end}

Miss shadow leaned back into her chair thinking as she took another sip of her coffee, musing about the job offer.

"Hmm oh well, may as well," With that decided Miss shadow summoned a taxi and waited eating the last of her cookies and coffee while the auto driving taxi car pulled up to the street side restaurant. Miss shadow got in and left telling the car to go to the colony police HQ in the 2nd district.

As Miss shadow left a man in a suit with short hair walked into the seating area for the restaurant and looked around but not seeing who he wanted to find he then used his systems authority on the nere by security cameras using his cyberlink, a internal wireless communication system in his head which was a simple and common form of cyberization.

He looked through the more recent video records and found the woman known as Miss shadow just leaving not a minute ago. "Uh, just missed her!" the man said to himself as he connected to a long distance link that connected to his ships quantum com system that allowed instant faster than light communication across the star system with no time lag. It even worked from Reach to Earth and was a system the United Terran Government, military and companies used to link their respective factions and branch's that were scattered across the two star systems.

"Yes its me... no unfortunately I missed her... ok i'll stay in the area until she comes back and i'll make contact then... understood. [click] Hmm may as well enjoy myself then. The man said as he sat down and ordered himself something to eat.

Meanwhile minutes later Miss shadow reached the police HQ of the colony which rested at the base of one of the main support towers that connects the colonies outer shell to the inner colony core which houses the artificial lighting and fusion reactors that are the main power source and also acts as the spine of the colony.

Showing her ID to the guard at the door Miss shadow was ushered into the building and met with a officer who had been waiting for her and they walked to the office of Samuel Liner.

"Ah i'm glad you decided to take the job Miss shadow and it's a pleasure to finally meet you," Samuel Liner exclaimed as he stood up and shook Miss shadows hand.

"It a pleasure to meet you to mister Liner. Now if I may can we go into more detail about this case of E-drugs coming into the colony?"

"Of course." Commissioner Liner sat back down and hit a button on his desk that closed the blinds and darkened the room as a hologram blinked on over his desk.

The hologram showed a human's brain with cyber implants and then it was affected by a E-drug that caused the typical effects a mind altering drug would have but then it caused a falte in the programming of one implant and then that cascaded into failures in the others and then back into the brain and caused a full blown seizure that killed the simulated brain.

"That was a simulation of what the worse reaction to E-drugs is." commissioner Liner said as he shut off the hologram and turned the lights back on. "Hopefully we can bring down the people who are smuggling these E-drugs along with whatever else they bring into our colony."

"You really didn't need the light show commissioner Liner. I've already took the job so all I need is the info on the main lead," Miss shadow stated.

"Of course. I was just showing you the effects of the E-drug and how deadly it can be when overused [sigh] which happens far too often. We lost 50 people last month alone."

Commissioner Liner then downloaded a file on the case concerning all of the details of the smuggling operation the police have found so far and how they may be entering the colony.

"I assume your coming to me because I can go places and do things you can't," Miss shadow said as she looked through the files.

The commissioner nodded. "Yes and no. We have evidence that a psiker is working with the smugglers and using their... 'gifts' to get through the normal colony security some how?."

Miss shadow stopped and looked the commissioner in the eyes. "Shouldn't the psi-academy have picked them up?"

"Yes well the academy can't find EVERYONE who develops psionic abilities all the time. There's bound to be a few that fall through the cracks here and there. And I would like to explore all my options before asking 'them' for help and that's where free agents like you come in" commissioner Liner admitted.

Miss shadow sighed and stood up. "I understand why you came to me then. I'll updated you on my progress when I find something of note. No doubt this psiker will be well guarded, but I can handle a untrained rouge psiker should I haft to fight them."

"I'm glad to hear that," commissioner Liner replied as Miss shadow left his office.

Miss shadow left the police HQ and took her taxi to the otherside of the colony. By the information gathered by the police there is a possible lead. One of the dock workers who has a criminal record may be working with the E-drug smugglers, however there's little evidence to his involvement... so far.

Miss shadow arrived at a bar the space port workers frequent often and it was a place she often went to to get information on the black market objects when a job calls for it.

The words Salazar's bar and pub flashed brightly on the neon-sign over the door as Miss shadow entered the building. She had been here a few times before on other investigations and that's why mister Salazar the bar keep recognized her as he cleaned a beer glass.

"Hello Miss shadow, what are you here for today?" Salazar a man of turkish decent asked as he pored a drink and placed it on a conveyor belt on the counter which sent it down to the other end of the counter where a man grabbed it and took a drink of the cold alcohol.

"Im looking for this man have you seen him in your bar Sal?" Miss shadow said politely showing Sal a picture of the suspect.

"Hmm he's a regular and sometimes comes in with these other two guys who only come on mondays for some reason," Sal answered.

"Can you give me a description of those other men he comes here with?" Miss shadow asked.

"Yeah give me a minute," Sal replied as he used his inplant to send some of his memories of the men to Miss shadows phone.

Miss shadow looked at the image on her phone and smiled. "Thanks Sal,"Miss shadow thanked as she sent some money to Sal's bank account.

"Anytime miss S," Sal thanked as he poured another drink.

A man in the corner of the room kept a eye on this Miss Shadow as she left the bar and sent a message via his implant to his friend who was the suspect the lady was after.

Miss shadow left Salazar's bar and pub and proceeded to take her taxi to the apartment block of the suspects. The habitation blocks for workers and their families are built for capacity first and comefurt second as the multi story wall shaped building ringed around the colonies cylinder shaped interior like an artificial mountain range of towers and apartments ten stories high and a seventy meters thick.

Miss Shadow took a elevator up to level 10 and walked across a walkway that overlooked a park area on one side of the wall shaped Habatation block. Miss Shadow continued on her way until reaching the apartment of the suspect.

[Knock] [knock] Miss Shadow knocked on the door.

A few moments later a loud noise was heard on the other side of the door that suspiciously sounded like a wall being knocked down by a cyborg followed by screaming from someone who was living on the other side of the wall.

"Oh! great he's running," Miss Shadow said sarcastically with a eye roll and sigh. She broke the door down and found a big hole in the wall with a mother and her young kid in the adjoining apartment. Miss Shadow chased after the running suspect already thinking someone at Salazar's bar had tipped him off. But that begs the question why would he stick around until she arrived?.

"Ugh" Miss Shadow grunted as she rounded a corner finally catching sight of the suspect who was a big guy with arms of black exposed cnt muscle fibers with military boots and camo pants and a black tank top. The chase continued across a hundred meters of the walkway that ringed along the whole habitation block.

The suspect then jumped over the railing falling multiply stories and landed in a crouch cracking the polycrete ground before he took off in a dead sprint again, but Miss shadow wasn't loosing her suspect and she let loose a small fly sized drone that followed the suspect keeping a eye on him as he ran into a subway terminal and tried to blend into the crowed. The suspect then took the express train to the otherside of the colony and after about seven minutes of traveling got out giving a sigh thinking he's in the clear.

'Damn I need to thank Johnny for the heads up after I get back,' the suspect thought as he walked through the subway station. "Guess I shouldn't have waited around... but I couldn't leave this around for the cops to find. Guess I shouldn't have just left it laying under the bed like that, it took forever to find it." the suspect mumbled to himself as he felt a object in his pants pocket as he left the train station and signaled a taxi with his implant.

A few seconds later a auto driving taxi pulled up to the station and the suspect got in and breathed a sigh of relief. The taxi's simple AI unit asked for a destination, but as the suspect opened his mouth the taxi was flipped slowly and gently onto it's side not shattering any glass but knocking the suspect for a loop as his world was flipped onto it's side.

"Shit what the hell?!" the suspect exclaimed as he stood up in the now sideways car and opened the door looking around but not seeing anything but the crowed of people staring at him in his side ways taxi. "What the fuck! is someone messing with me?"

"Yeah me."

The suspect turned around and saw the same woman he had thought he lost standing behind him. Miss Shadow hopped onto the sideways taxi and grabbed the suspect by the face and pulled him out of the taxi like a ragdoll before smashing him into the ground with such force it cracked the ground.

"YOU made me run all the way across the colony. I don't like running that far unless im exercising so please answer my questions or I can't guarantee your safety from my fist," Miss Shadow yelled and drove the threat home by casually punching into the polycrete ground next to the suspects head down to her elbow.

"Uh... I um I..." the suspect stammered a little perturbed that the woman could just lift him like a childs toy which was not THAT easy even for other cyborgs given the weight of his custom neosteel skeletons. Most cyborgs have a carbon nanotube reinforced ceramic skeleton but this guy had specific tastes and wanted a heavy duty skeleton to be even tougher to knock around but it also made him slower and almost double the average cyborgs weight which was normally 278 pounds and his was over 400 pounds.

"Oh, don't give me the, my boss is scary and will kill me if I talk routine. Because believe me when I say that I'M way scarier than whatever cheap goon squad your boss has so why don't you do both me and your self a favor and talk. I promise to have your sentence reduced if you don't waste my time further," Miss shadow stated as she glared at the suspect below her.

"Uh!... ok ok, but can you let me up please, everyones looking at us."

Miss Shadow shrugged already feeling the eyes of the crowd on them and took her hand off the mans face allowing him to stand up.

"Uh thanks."

"Just follow me," Miss Shadow said as she rolled the taxi back onto its wheels and they both got in.

[Destination please] the robotic car asked not affected in the least bit by the fact it was rolled onto its side. Normally auto taxis would report any abuse or damage to themselves or anything in their sight as another security measure used by the police but Miss Shadow had moved the taxi onto it's side slowly and didn't do any damage so the taxis AI didn't report anything.

"Just drive to the otherside of the colony," Miss shadow ordered the taxi.

The taxi did as instructed and drove off through a street and onto a overpass that ran straight across the colony from one end to the other.

"Eh damn how in the world did you get to the other side of the colony as soon as I did?" the suspect asked scratching his head on the question.

"That's a trade secret. Now tell me what you know about the E-drug smuggling operation," Miss shadow asked with a subdued hostility still mad that she had to hoof it across the colony.

"Eh [sigh] fine you'll probably throw me out a airlock next if I don't tell you."

"Good plan." Miss Shadow replied seriously considering the option and making the suspect flinch and regret the slip of his tongue.

"Uhh... anyway you'll need these."

The suspect pulled out a pair of dark glasses from his pocket handing them to Miss shadow.

"Their shades that can see specific light spectrums. They allow me to see the marked cargo containers im supposed to move."

"Huh! special light emitting paint that uses a none visible spectrum of light that can only be seen in certain light wavelengths. Interesting!, and smart. So long as the police don't catch on anyway."

"Uh yeah whatever you say," the suspect said as they passed a colony support column beside the overpass.

"I would have thought a big guy like you would have put up more of a fight?" Miss shadow commented.

"Yeah well only idiot's fight against someone with a military grade cyber body and maybe training. Were you in the military or some spook secrete organisation like ONI. You had to be to get a body like that. I have a neosteel skeleton and you lifted me like a ragdoll!?"

Miss shadow turned to the suspect and smiled innocently. "Maybe... but if I told you I would have to kill you. You know how ONI works."

The man gulped as he looked away at the buildings and parks passing by. "Ugh i'll take your word for it."

"Now tell me who these other two men are," Miss shadow asked showing the man the picture of him and the other two suspects on her cell phone.

"That's Roger and Max, their the guys who... convinced me to take this job on the side."

"You know where I can find them?"

"No clue. They just show up and give me a new pair of shades every week and take the old pair."

"Again smart switching both the paint used and the shades every week," Miss shadow commented as they pulled off the overpass and onto another road. Miss shadow then raised her head as she noticed something.

"Huh!?... great," Miss shadow then twisted in her seat bracing herself against the suspect and then kicking the door off its hinges and yelling at the suspect to follow her or he's dead. Both of them jumped out of the car and rolled on the road as the taxi continued along its way a bit more until a heavy cargo loaded 18 wheeler smashed into it and they both exploded shattering windows and damaging nearby buildings and stopping any other traffic on the road.

Miss shadow and the suspect stood up as the fire of the two wrecked vehicles burned. "Well it seems that someone wants us... or you dead, maybe your second less than legal employers?"

"Uh how in the world did you know that truck was coming, don't tell me your one of those..."

Miss shadow turned to the suspect and just smiled the fire burning behind her.

Over head a drone watched as the the two targets survived the truck bomb.


Somewhere in Arden colony in a large open and expensive looking office with a view overlooking the city.

"Damn the bomb didn't kill them," a gruff man in a expensive suit yelled sitting up from his chair as he turned from the screen to his goons. "Anyone want to explain why that little bitch and the loud mouth aren't dead?"

The mans goons looked at a loss for words until one made a suggestion.

"Uh boss maybe the girl got things wrong I mean maybe this Miss shadow is a psiker too and she messed the prediction up or... something."

The boss man sat in his chair considering the theory. "Hmm. This Miss shadow does have quit the reputation of being hard to kill. Not just in Arden but the whole 'side' (name of a group colonies)."

The boss man reclined in his chair and took a sip of his alcohol drink. "Maybe. The girl can only see a short time into the future so maybe she missed something. If this Miss shadow is a psiker she should be able to sense her when she gets in range and then we can choose the best way to deal with her."

"And what about the cops boss by now they know about our marked cargo containers?" the second goon said.

The boss man shrugged and grinned. "That's no worry, we were just using those modified containers with that glow marks trick to smuggle a little extra into the colony. Our main route in to Arden is still a safe secrete. We just have to eliminate that Miss shadow before she uncovers more of our operation."


Main police office Arden colony

The police were quick to respond as any unauthorised fire or explosion was considered a major threat to the colony considering they were inside a enclosed spinning cylinder in space. Firefighter crews, security drones and police cars arrived just a minute after the attempted assassination on Miss shadow and the now compliant suspect.

A half hour later the compliant suspect was in a interrogation cell repeating everything he told Miss shadow to the police for protection.

"Well that's new, paint that glows in a specific light spectrum used to mark illegal cargo so it can be moved be for being inspected," police commissioner Samuel Liner said as he watched the suspect talk to a officer about what little he knows.

"It would seem that Miss shadow has poked the beehive." Lieutenant Luke commented as he looked on a paper display screen of a list of the cargo types and ships the suspect said his marked containers were coming from.

"It looks like there's a lot of different ships and transport companies that are being used by the smugglers." Lieutenant Luke said explaining their current findings. "It would seem that the marked cargo containers our officers found have a false wall that holds the E-drugs, but other illegal contraband was discovered to. The list includes some guns, gems, gold jewelry and even some... ugh fetuses in life support capsules what the hell?!" the lieutenant exclaimed in shock of the illegal cargo the police found just a short time ago at one of the space docks storage warehouse's.

"Ugh... well this is certainly a brake in the case anyway," commissioner Liner said as he turned to the Lieutenant. "Where is Miss shadow?"

"Oh she's out looking for anymore leads, one being those two men, Roger and Max who recruited our suspect here whose name is James by the way."

"More than likely those two are aliases or dummy android bodies that were used as proxy's to keep the real smugglers at arms length with their grunts like James here taking the fall in their place."

"I've heard of criminals in other colonies using that tactic. Then how will Miss shadow find them or trace them back to the ringleader?" Lieutenant Luke asked.

"Hmmm I don't know how she does it but she has a perfect arrest record and always finds the most impossible to get information and evidence. She'll find the needle in the haystack it's just a matter of time," commissioner Samuel Liner stated.


Meanwhile across Arden colony Miss shadow was investigating the people who transport the marked cargo containers after they enter the colony but after hours of questioning the shipping companies she found nothing but dead ends. Miss shadow then decided to take some time off and return to her favorite restaurant for something to eat and think on her next move.

After arriving she sat down at her normal chair and looked at the menu and then paid for and sent her order to the kitchen with the electronic menu page on her table. A few minutes later the waiter brought her a plate of steak with a side of vegetables. Miss shadow gave thanks for her food and dug in using the knife to cut the steak into smaller mouth sized bits along with the pieces of carrots and potatoes before eating them.

After Miss shadows second bite of her meal a man came up to her table. "Miss shadow I presume," the man said politely as the female private investigator chewed her food and looked up to the man. "I'm a representative of Neo-Cortex. Do you know of them?"

Miss shadow chewed her food, swallowed and replied. "Yes but i've never had any dealings with them. If you here to hire me I'm already on a job."

"May I sit down?" Miss shadow shrugged and guestuared to the chair opposite her and the man sat down. "Miss Shadow my name is Sampson and in my experience it is always best for all parties involved if less time is spent muttering nonsense and people cut to the chase, so I will do so. I am here to tell you that my employer the CEO of Neo-Cortex wishes to meet with you."

Miss shadow stopped eating and stared at the man. "Why would the CEO of NeoCortex want to meet me?"

"I don't know, but I was told to mention your real name is... Aliasse and... say Valkyrur?," Sampson said wondering why he had to say such a odd thing.

Miss Shadow or rather Aliasse dropped her fork and knife on the plate and stared daggers into Sampson making him flinch back and start sweating.

"Uh um... that is... your... real name... is it not?" Sampson stammered as the revealed Aliasse sighed as she realised the man was just told to say that to get her attention. Whoever this person in NeoCortex is that wants to meet her, they must be well informed or someone from Aliasse's past, but who that could be is a mystery at the moment.

Aliasse extended her incorporeal aura into Sampson's head and scanned his thoughts and memories. A telepathic technique Aliasse had learned over the many long years but that the other Valkyrur Ellen had gained quickly by devouring the Tal'darim Azrumaths psionic power and life force at the end of the first Zerg war.

Aliasse sighed as she didn't find out anything that Sampson hadn't told her already except for the fact that he didn't know who the CEO of NeoCortex was. Not even what they looked like or even their name as he was just a low level employee and the CEO of NeoCortex is known for keeping their identity secret.

"So your big boss wants me to meet with them huh?" Aliasse asked already knowing the answer.

"Um yes...," Sampson replied loosening his tie, a little stressed out from the death glare Aliasse gave him a second ago.

"Ok I'll go meet your boss. But only AFTER i'm done with my current job," Aliasse answered.

"I understand." Sampson replied with a smile as he pulled a small cylinder shaped usb drive and handed it to Aliasse who took it and placed it into a cyber port at the back of her neck. "That is a high level security ID key used to enter the NeoCortex main office building. You do know where it is right?"

"New york correct," Aliasse replied looking over the security ID key as it was filed into her cyber implants memory which was the most simple and common form of cyberization as it was as convenient in the modern era as cell phones and credit cards in previous era's and also used in the UNSC military.

"Yes." Sampson replied. "I believe my work here is done unless you have any more questions Miss shadow?"

Aliasse looked up at Sampson as the date key appeared superimposed over her view of the world as a disc with many interlocking segments. "No. I suppose i'll get all my answers when I meet your boss," Aliasse said as she closed the ID key and it disappeared from her sight.

Sampson stood up and said his goodbys to Aliasse before taking a taxi and leaving.

As he left Aliasse sighed wondering who this big shot in NeoCortex is that wants to meet her.

"I suppose i'll just have to wait for that until I complete my current job," Aliasse said out loud as she finished her meal and got back to work as Miss shadow. The lights on the colony core started to dim to the night cycle as Miss shadow returned to her apartment to review her findings so far.

It was a typical apartment room with one bed and bathroom, Aliasse had become quit the penny pincher over the years knowing her savings would be useful someday. Miss shadow sat on the edge of her bed and snapped her fingers three times activating a holo screen and holo keyboard as she started her review of the evidence so far as images of the suspect James and the other seven dock workers who the police had found to be working for the smugglers as go betweens to get the E-drugs and any other contraband into the colony.

The paid off dock workers would identify the marked cargo in the warehouse and load them onto transports trucks which are also marked before they could go through normal screening process. And then those transport drivers whom were also paid off by the smugglers would drop the marked cargo off at random points all over the colony and continue with the delivery of their normal cargo.

"Hmm, those drop off points can't be random," Miss shadow mused as she brought up the locations of all the subway and emergency tunnel infrastructure throughout the colony and low and behold the tunnels match up almost perfectly with the drop off locations the arrested suspects reported. But their was also a wrinkle in that those tunnels don't have security cameras in them but their entryways do at least.

Aliasse then ran a security scan of all the security cameras at or near the locations of the entryways of the tunnels big enough for vehicles but found nothing.

"Hmm what to do, what to do," Aliasse repeated as she swung her legs out and in, thinking when a idea clicked in her mind. Already having colony security authorization given by the colonies police commissioner Aliasse looked up the records of the traffic movements which again the police would have looked at but Aliasse is looking at it in a different way as she brought up the movements of every vehicle and pedestrian in the colony over the past four weeks and then correlated that date with the cameras sighting of the trucks and people that frequent the areas around any of the tunnel entryways and then scanned for any androids or cyborgs moving around the areas that were carrying any boxes.

After spending hours looking through all the raw date Aliasse found the next link in the trail the smugglers left as she found the same cyborgs and androids going to and from the same areas, all of which seemed to be carrying a large box and used the same routes the same days as the illegal cargo was dropped off and they even made poor attempts to hide this fact by just changing their clothes, skin and hair color. Which was done by color changing nanoparticles in their skin and clothes which was the same way Aliasse had changed her hair color. The nanoparticles are biodegradable or can be washed out as well.

Apparently the cyborgs and androids had been using the human access points of the tunnels that are in between buildings and had hacked the nearby security camera's date so they were out of sight when they picked up the cargo and then just walked it to wherever they take the stuff. And luckley they hadn't hacked the date of too many cameras as that would be a dead give way to the people that maintain the security cameras that they've been tampered with as the more cameras they hack increases the odds that they'll be found out.

"Bingo!" Aliasse exclaimed as she followed the routes of all the cyborgs and androids take through the colony and found where they all lead to. Three locations showed in red on the holo screen mape of the colony. A 'apartment building' a 'warehouse' and a 'garage' where they enter and leave from, and no one other then the cyborgs ever leaves the locations meaning the android pack mule's are just their to create more randomness to the people using the routes.

Aliasse then looked into who owned the three locations and again came up short as they were all abandoned or not owned at the time. But that begs the question why haven't they been demolished yet. In the modern era humanity is much more considerate of the things they create and leave behind be it trash, junk or abandoned building's which if they aren't being used then the local city planning authorities will normally find a use for them or demolish the buildings to make room for something new. Aliasse then looked into who owned the three buildings last and yet again came up short as the people who owned them are either dead or moved off the colony. Aliasse then started looking into the city planning bureau.

[Knock][Knock]

Aliasse turned her full attention to her front door.

"Room service" a muffled voice came from the other side of the door.

"I'll be there in a minute," Aliasse replied as she expanded her incorporel aura field to the man at her door discovering that it wasn't a man from the lack of a soul which Aliasse had developed a sense for but a android with a bomb in its torso.

Androids and other so called dumb AIs can be instilled with a mind and a pseudo personality and can be very convincing for the most part but there has always been slit differences between them and real people as androids and other purely machine intelligences lack a certain type of creativity and a engaging personality that can change and adapt organically as it grows older and has many life experiences like a Human or smart AI created from a human mind, which are by law now considered Human because they are created from a human like a baby is although the process IS different. But many scholars and scientists consider that when a smart AI is created fragments of the person's mind and soul are transferred or copied to the new smart AI like a child having parts of their parents DNA in them.

"Ugh you have got to be kidding me," Aliasse exclaimed with a eye roll as she had lost count of the number of times someone has tried to kill ker with this old trick over the last few decades she had been masquerading as Miss shadow private investigator. Well considering the number of high level criminals she had put away this shouldn't be surprising.

Aliasse got up and turned off her holo terminal and walked towards the door readying her aura, but at that moment her instincts flared and she turned around and scanned the nearby rooftops with her aura field and found another android with a M20 SSR MAV/AW military grade rocket launcher aimed right at her through the window. The android was invisible to her before because of its optical camo which rendered it invisible to both the naked eye and most IR sensor tech but it was still no match for her aura field scan.

"Well shit," Aliasse mumbled to herself as she formulated plan.

Thinking fast Aliasse used her aura to slice the door frame from the wall and grab it with the android and throw them both as fast as she could out her apartment window where the android exploded in mid-air shattering five stories of the apartment buildings windows. Moments later but still to slow for Aliasse the second android fired its rocket launcher only for the rocket to be shot down mid-air by a needle thin aure blade that bisected it down through the middle and a millisecond later it detonated doing less damage then the android bomb. The second android watched as Aliasse looked at it and made a gesture from the blown out window of her apartment and was then sliced into neatly cut slices of itself and dropped the rocket launcher.

Aliasse breathed a sigh of relief as the two assassin's were dealt with but her apartment was now window and doorless and she had outed herself as a psiker to the criminals shes after from the remote connection they had with the two assassin-roids as their called sometimes.

"Oh well my as well go on the offensive now," Aliasse mused as she decided to get changed into something more suited for combat."

Five minutes later Aliasse wore a gray and black skin tight bodysuit with thick pads on the shoulders thighs, chest and back with hard CNT reinforced ceramic contact points on the knuckles, boots, elbows and knees as she watched from another buildings roof top and gave her repot to colony police commissioner Samuel Liner, as a small crowed of people gathered on the streets below consisting of the colony police, fire fighters, ambulances and Paramedics who tended to people injured by the explosion.

"...And that's all I have to report on the case and the assassination attempt's on my life," she said to commissioner Liner over the phone.

~Understood Miss shadow, we'll investigate the city planning authorities and follow the lead you sent us. What will you do now that your case is over?~ commissioner Samuel Liner asked over the phone.

"Oh my job isn't over just yet. I still have someone to pay back for trying to kill me twice now."

~Oh?. Well good luck then and try and not cause to much collateral damage to my colony~

"Hehe ok i'll try that but I can't guarantee anything," Aliasse replied as she then ended the call.

Aliasse then turned around and started running along the roof top and jumped across the twenty foot gap to another building and then ran across it and leaped again onto the side of a skyscraper and using her aura stuck to the vertical surface like a spider. She then ran up the side of the forty story building to the roof. Aliasse then got a running start and jumped off the buildings roof, forming a gliding wing suit with her aura and glided across the colony to the area near her destination which was the location of the pskier the smugglers were using who by Aliasse's theory has been using a precognition ability to tell the smugglers when to send a shipment of their illegal contraband and which cargo containers to put it in so as to avoid the searches of the colonies space port security when they make their random searches for illegal cargo every now and then.

Aliasse had normally refrained from using her psionic powers at least to a minimum degree to avoid what she considered cheating as she wanted to only rely her mind and detective skills to solve cases during her 'so called vacation' as Miss shadow. But since that her time as Miss shadow was coming to a close she saw that it was at least useful to use her advanced Valkyrur psionic sensory abilities to locate the smugglers by the psiker they were using who was the only one in Arden colony besides Aliasse.

Aliasse snuck around the network of security systems surrounding a high rise building she sensed the young psiker was in as it was a simple task to use her aura field to sense where all the motion sensors, inferred, camares and fly sized security drones were and phase parts of her aura into their solid state and silence the security systems apart or just avoid them.

Aliasse could tell that who ever owned this building and was at the center of the smuggling operation was rich and influential in a criminal short of way that reminded her of mobsters from the 1920s given the decor. Aliasse had been into crime drama stories and other noir esque books for a few hundred years now and was apart of why she developed the new identity of Miss shadow and became a private detective which might seem odd in this modern age of space travel, space colonies and intersolar travel but it works for Aliasse and as she jumped up to the second floor she did feel a little regret that her time playing around while solving real crime cases was coming to a close.

Aliasse could feel the psiker was close and got serious focusing fully on trying to not get caught.

'If their a precog then this may be a trap,' Aliasse sighed silently as she clung to the ceiling, letting a passing guard move down the hallway but not before she read his mind to make sure he wasn't a android and this wasn't a trap or something. Once he was gone down the hall the shadowy infiltrator continued on her way.

After going through a few rooms and two hallways Aliasse finally reached the room the psiker was in which made Aliasse blink once she saw it. Passed a set of large double doors lay a japanese themed rock garden with a large stone in the center that screamed Yakuza in Aliasse's head. But it seemed out of place with the more western theme of the rest of the building. Aesthetics aside the room was beautiful. Aliasse stuck to the ceiling and walls avoiding any pressure sensors in the floor as she made her way to what she assumed to be the psikers bedroom.

Aliasse slowly slid the japanese door paneling open and crawled into the bedroom where a young girl no older than ten maybe lay sleeping. If she was the daughter of the smuggler then it would be a bit complicated taking her out of here. Aliasse sighed and decided to leave her alone for now and started to make her way to the main office when something big, bipedal and heavily armored crashed through the wall and aimed it's big gun at Aliasse.

"OK **** ME!" Aliasse exclaimed as she recognised the thing and leaped to the girls bed grabbing her while the gun tracked her movements and fired a barrage of 20mm automatic rounds. The gun fire ripped the room apart as Aliasse dodged to the side expanding her incorporeal aura sensory field and jumped around with the sleeping child in her arms staying out of the direct line of sight of the gun until she leaped out the door and back into the rock garden.

As Aliasse made her escape from the room the exo suits 20mm rifle went empty. The rifle's mag dropped and broke through the floorboards as a new mag was loaded and the exo suit turned around after them, which had to have been piloted by a android since Aliasse didn't sense a terran in it.

'Shit this is not good. This thing must have been set to trigger when the bed girls room door was opened,' Aliasse thought as she hide behind the large rock in the middle of the garden as the black and white exo suit slowly followed after them braking through the doorway and aimed its gun into the garden looking for it's targets. Knowing she had to take that thing out without bringing the building down, Aliasse placed the girl down on the ground and formed a aura barrier around the girl who was still out like a light, and a aura armor over herself, both of them were connected by a incorporeal aura line.

In the next instant Aliasse leaped out from cover and was tracked by the exo suit as it fired ripping holes along the wall. The repetitive bangs of the 20mm rifle resounded in the small garden as Aliasse leaped around the room like a blur, while the android controlled exo suit struggled to track its target leaping all over the place. After thirty seconds of this Aliasse extended the aura on her for arms into blades and closed the distance leaping over the exo suit and sliced it's arm off but not the one holding the rifle. The exo suit lifted a leg and rotated its body to aim behind itself and started shooting again but quickly ran out of ammo and now it had lost it's reloading arm. Aliasse took this opportunity to finish it off and sliced off the left leg and then pierced the torso where the androids brain was and ended the fight as the exo suit went limp.

"Damn how in the world did these guys get their hands on a military grade exosuit?," Aliasse complained as she walked back to the now demolished stone in the middle of the garden and removed the rubble from on top off the girl who had been protected by the aura barrier.

Aliasse held the still sleeping girl in two aura arms on her back as she continued along her way to the main office where she started up the desk mounted computer and looked for any evidence she could find.

"Ahh well I figured the date would be deleted." Aliasse mumbled as she started to leave.

A moment later the lights came on and ten bodyguard type androids in suits holding smgs ran into the room surrounding Aliasse who stood her ground.

~Well well well if it isn't the illustrious Miss shadow~ a grif sounding voice came from the desk computer screen that was now showing the rising and falling waves of a sound only screen.

"Great I guess that your the big boss of the smuggling operation," Aliasse replied lifting her hands up in the air.

~Yes and I was very surprised you survived that last attempt I made on your life. You are a hard one to kill which is way I decided to use this back up plan after my little bird told me you were coming here or rather there. It may destroy my favorite house and kill my little bird but it's nothing in the long run, and I know you won't survive this time.~

A moment later the building exploded as explosive charges detonated all over its lower floors collapsing the apartment building and creating a dust cloud that blanketed the area in pulverised polycreat dust.

On the other side of the colony a limo drove down the highway. Inside was a big man in a tan business suit with white strips watching the holo screen projected from the ceiling showing the destruction of his for more base of operation. "If she survives that i'll curse god for all the trouble."

"Think shes dead," asked a goon sitting opposite his boss inside the limo.

The boss man just uncorked a bottle of wine and poured a glass for himself.

"Don't joke around. She's got to be dead after that," said another goon as his boss took a drink of his wine.

"Still shame about the girl though," goon 1 said.

"Their a dime a dozen. I'll just have my man in the psi-academy on Reach look for another one on his day off. He is a wrangler after all so it's his job to look for little lost sheep and send them to where their most needed, he he," the boss man chuckled as he took another drink of his wine.

"Uh boss I don't want to be a worry wart but how does your guy in the academy keep from being found out. I mean it a place full of people that can read your mind after all?" goon 1 asked.

The boss man chuckled. "Oh there are ways to keep your secrets safe if you know how. I remember the guy saying something about neural resocialization."

"What... isn't that what they use to brainpan criminals in prison who can't rejoin society because of their violent tendencies or insanity?" stated goon 2.

"Yeah that's the one" the boss said as he poured himself another glass of wine. "It can also prevent a telepath from reading your mind if your know how to calibrate the machine properly but that's a closely guarded secret by the psi-academy."

"Hmm is that why the government keeps such a close guard on those resoc machines?"

"Yeah maybe," the boss man replied as he looked out the window. "Can't wait to get off this colony and back on Earth."

A moment later the car stopped. Sloshing around the boss mans wine and a little got onto his expensive shoes as the three in the back wondered they had stopped. "Driver what's wrong why have we stopped?" asked the angered boss man.

~Charles geist you and your associates are under arrest by the authority of the Arden colony police department. Come out with your hands up~ Lieutenant Luke announced by loudspeaker from the police barricade of police cars and one APC blocking the road to the space port.

"Damn how did find they find me grrrrr" The now named boss man Charles geist fumed as he held onto his glass barley keeping his cool.


A hour later Lieutenant Luke and other officers brought Charles geist and his men in handcuffs to the central police station to be processed and incarcerated. As he was being brought in Charles caught sight of Miss shadow in a casual dress as she smiled back at him. Charles looked at her in shock before sneering back and was then ushered away into the interrogation room for further questioning on his other associates in the Arden city planning bureau and the psi-academy.

Lieutenant Luke walked up to Miss shadow and asked. "How did you and the girl survive the building collapsing? it was a rubble pile when the first responders arrived."

Miss shadow turned to the lieutenant. "A lady can have her secrets now can't she. Besides how's the girl doing?" asking her own question.

The lieutenant turned to the young ten year old psiker girl in another room with a blanket over her shoulders and a very sad expression on her face but also one that seemed relived. "Shes fine just a little drugged by a sedative but no injuries... like you... of which i'm very curious about. But she hasn't said a thing since waking up."

Miss shadow humed to herself as she thought. "I'm a little worried about her mental state."

The lieutenant turned back to Miss shadow. "You think she's a threat to herself or others?."

Miss shadow shook her head. "No its more emotional trauma im worried about than anything. Who knows what she's been through while she was held by that Charles guy and his men."

Lieutenant Luke sighed. "If only our police department had a few agents from the psi-academy maybe this wouldn't have happened."

Miss shadow shrugged. "The population of normal Terrans to those with psionic potential is just about 99.5% to .5%. And around a hundred years ago on Reach it was only a fraction of that. There's only so many agents the academy can send out to places they can help in."

Lieutenant Luke scratched his head. "So the number of people developing psionic abilities are on the slow rise. Maybe in a few hundred years they'll be a academy agent in every police department. But I'm really surprised the military don't have some special ops group that consists of nothing but psikers."

There was silence between the two which made the lieutenant look to Miss shadow who replied. "Maybe there is and no one has ever seen them before. I know ONI has a few psionic agents but a black ops team... I don't think they have enough personnel with psionic abilities for that given THEIR, high standards and how hard it is for someone to pass their training requirement's. Anyway i'm off."

Miss shadow walked off a bit before turning around and asking the lieutenant. "Oh and lieutenant did you find out her name?"

The lieutenant turned to Miss shadow replying. "No like I said before she hasn't said a word and her ID record hasn't came up on any of the date bases we searched. She must have been smuggled into the colony otherwise we would have her arrival in our records at least."

Miss shadow thought for a moment before replying. "Hows Selvaria Bles sound."

The lieutenant blinked and shrugged. "It's better than Jane Doe. I'll put it into her record for now until she decides to give us her real name... if she has one."

"Hmm... good by lieutenant, I have a meeting to get to now."

The lieutenant and the girl now named Selvaria Bles both watched as Miss shadow entered the elevator and left, leaving the lieutenant to call the psi-academy and let them know that he has a young unregistered psiker in his care.


A hour later Aliasse was all packed and ready to go to New York city where the HQ of Neo Cortex and this unknown person who wants to meet with her is.

Aliasse entered the crowded space port at the front of the colony were many other people were coming and going to and off flights. The Arden colony space port area was actually a ring shaped cluster of eight space port terminals each connected to a inner ring of dozen's of ship docks. Each one connecting to a large center hollow in the front portion of the colony that's called the front gate.

The front gate is where incoming ships enter into the colony and are grabbed by large docking mag-clamps that run along the walls and pull the ships up (or down depending on your perspective) into the giant airlocks that separate the front gate from the port terminals and they are then placed into holding docks that are sized for shuttles and private ships of all kinds, each with their own launch tube that can send them back out of the colony again. This system of a one way entrance and multiple exits ensure that the possibility of accidents of ships or shuttles crashing is eliminated for the most part and makes the whole system more efficient and safer.

Aliasse walked to port terminal 4, dock 20 where her private shuttle was and boarded, starting up the autopilot AI and inputting the desired location. The AI then calculated the course and on one of the cockpit display screens created a simulated path from the Arden colony to one of Earths orbital elevators numbered NO.3 also known as Star-road. The other two's name's were Heavens pillar, and Black column. Each of the three massive 17 thousand mile long constructs which link the surface of the Earth to space are the centers of transportation to and off the Earth even though all three are still under construction which when completed will have them ending at around 40 to 50 thousand kilometers long. However it will still take a century or two for them to be completed given the slow but steady pace of construction.

It's actually not uncommon now a days for multiple generations of families to work on the elevator construction project which the construction of has also been a major boon to the economy along with the Mars elevators that are also under construction but a little farther behind.

After inputting her destination Aliasse moved to the seating area took a set as the AI of her shuttle communicated with the Port authority on their launch.

[Cut to a outside view showing the spinning cylinder shaped space station that is Arden colony]

The O'neill cylinder class colony like all the others like it was 10 kilometers long 4 kilometers wide with rounded ends and a outer surface covered in solar panels, with three agricultural rings at both ends and the middle which house many pods that produce food for the colony. The front end of the colony had a cross shaped com array with the front gate hollow in its center along with a few dozen holes around it on the curved surface for the launching shuttles.

~Port authority this is the autopilot AI for a private shuttle, designation 'Sleipnir' in dock 20. We will be launching to travel to Earth's orbital elevator NO3. Please confirm~ the robotic voice of the shuttle transmitted.

[Cut to the inside of the port authority command room where many workers were sitting in a semi circle observing the few dozen display screens along the curved walls. Each showing dozens of different colored and shaped ships entering and leaving the colony or in dock]

~Arden port authority to private shuttle Sleipnir. Your flight path is open and you are clear to launch~

[Cut to the Sleipnir shuttles dock as the giant airlock doors in front of the shuttle opened allowing the shuttle to be moved into the forward launching chamber]

~Confirmed Arden port authority. Entering launch tube now.~

The maglev platform the Sleipnir shuttle was on moved forwards into the airtight launch tube and the giant airlock closed behind it.

~We confirme airtight seal on launch bay doors. Opening outer doors,~ a member of the port authority said as they hit a button that opened the outer doors of the launch tube airlock.

In front of the Sleipnir shuttle the stars and space became visible at the end of a maglev launch tunnel as the giant doors in front of it parted.

~Final launch checks completed. Arden port authority requesting final permission to launch?~ the Sleipnir AI asked.

~We confirm Sleipnir your are go for launch.~

~Confirmed Arden port authority. Sleipnir shuttle launching~ the AI replied as it remotely activated the maglev launch system.

A moment later Aliasse felt herself accelerate at a rapid pace as her shuttle launched into space. Aliasse turned to the wall and pressed a button causing the whole interior of the shuttle to change color and show the outside of the shuttle like one big window or display screen.

The blackness of space and the glittering of distant stars became her world as Aliasse stared out into the void of space. In the ever increasing distance behind the shuttle were a cluster of twelve colonies rotating in space a few dozen kilometers away from each other in either direction of Arden colony. Aliasse then pressed another button and a green hud like display appeared showing and highlighting all the other hundreds of shuttles and ships around her.

Most were civilian transport craft, others cargo haulers, and largest were the UNSC military ships of their many varying types and classes from patrolling Longswords to Vanguard class cruisers and everything in between.

One of the other colonies at the same lagrange point as Arden is a UNSC military base. A whole colony serving as a base and space dock to a fleet of ships and tens of thousands of UNSC personnel. The United Nations in UNSC pertains to the united space colonies and planets of the Terran controlled space much like the united states of america. Each one with their own local government like an independent nation but all united as a collective.

Aliasse reclined her chair and told the shuttles AI to play some music and as it started she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep to enjoy the rest of her trip.

Three hours later the Sleipnir shuttle docked at the low orbital station at the orbital elevators 10,000 kilometer point which also connected to the lowest geostationary ring that was directly over the Earths equator and connects all three orbital elevators together as one giant megastructure. Such a ring has multiple purposes one being a stabilizing structure for the three orbital towers. Second being a massive platform for solar panels that collect massive amounts of solar energy and send it by electromagnetic beam array it to the cities on Earth or even to the network of orbiting satellites. And the third purpose is as a platform for the defensive orbital laser cannon arrays powered by the solar panels. These weapons are meant to defend Earth from any planet killer comets or from orbital attack along with the other super Mac defense satellites orbiting around the Earth above or below the equator where the three orbital elevators and the orbital ring were.

Aliasse spent little time on the low orbital station other then to pick up a few snacks at this one store she likes, then it was a short trip down the orbital elevator and a plane ride to New York. Aliasse could have had her private shuttle just enter the Earths atmosphere and land directly at the New York space port but she wasn't in a hurry and she really liked the glazed caramel filled chocolate donuts from that shop.

Five hours after starting her journey Aliasse,s plane arrived at the big apple that was New York.

However the city and the surrounding areas have been through major reconstruction ever since the early twenty first century. Humanity now collectively calling itself Terrans ever since there was a major philosophical debate over true gender equality that was linked to the 'man' wording in humanity and also the dispute over the name of the political and government system of the colonies across the Sol and Epsilon Eridani star systems which was... mostly about the actually name of the human controlled space which was previously called the UEG or United Earth Government. But after someone thought that name was offending and or inaccurate to the people on the colonies and Reach it was changed to the United Terran Government which includes all of human or Terran people as a collective with no disparity between gender or where a Terran lives, be it on Earth, Reach or any of the many space colonies in both Sol or the Epsilon Eridani star systems.

As her plane descended to JFK International Airport, Aliasse looked out the window observing the city below.

The shining white towers of manhattan island split in the middle by that great green patch that was central park and surrounded by the new forests around it including the forest on long island. The forests to Manhattan's west were dotted by a few dozen one mile wide skyscraper clusters that radiated farther westward from Manhattan island in five semi circles and separated by a few miles of forest. Each of these mini cities were connected by elevated overpasses that weaved between the treetops and dozens of underground subways. Each mini-city was separated from the forest by a ring shaped ten story high building standing around them to divide the Terran urban centers from the surrounding forest like a wall.

The newly grown forests (Well a few hundred years old by this point but still young by a trees standards) also had their fare share of footpaths and rest stops between each mini-city which allowed people to walk among the new forest that was allowed to return after it was mostly cut down in the preceding centuries. The people enjoyed the walks through the forest and the occasional encounter with animals of all kinds from deer to squirrels to butterflies and all kind of birds that called the forest home even if it is right beside a major city or rather intermingled with it as both nature and the Terran's cities sharing the same space without one being pushed out or harmed by the other.

In the previous centuries many forests were cut down and replaced by a urban sprawling landscape of concrete, houses, factories and buildings of varying purposes, but now in the late twenty second century the forests that humanity had cut down have been allowed to grow back with many of them replanted by Terrans themselves and the animals returned to them as Terrans have learned to live in true harmony with nature as many cities on Earth and Reach have been built to be as space efficient and less disrupting to nature as possible. Many cities are also built underground, floating on the oceans surface or placed at the bottom of the ocean and there's even a few small floating cities in the skies, kept aloft by the gravity repulsion drives (which were reversed engineered from Protoss tech) that were used in lifting large or massive objects off or lowering them onto a planet's surface like the many civilian cargo, transport or military ships that leave Earth Mars and Reaches surface daily. Even the orbital elevators use the gravity repulsion drives to keep themselves aloft and to lessen the strain of their own weight.

After leaving the airport Aliasse took a taxi into the hussle and bussle of the city that never sleeps and after a few minutes going through traffic, arrived at the base of a very tall building in downtown Manhattan. The taxis lone occupant a silver hair and scarlet eyed woman exited the vehicle and paid the human driver. Humans driving taxi's maybe a odd thing in other places as most drive themselves but in the current era humans driving taxis has become something of a tradiction in New York much like the Gondola's in Venice that are driven by gondoliers but at one point someone tried using androids but after much dispute about the job being a tradition the practice was returned to a human only job.

"Huh so this is their HQ," Aliasse mumbled as she looked upwards to the odd building that was NeoCortex,s HQ.

The NeoCortex HQ building had a giant sphere at its base with a eight sided octagon tower extending out of it that split into eight outward facing points at its top floor with another sphere placed in between them.

Aliasse entered through the rotating doors and stopped at the front counter where she asked clerk on what floor the CEO's office was and showed him the ID security key.

After the security key was confirmed the clerk said he was expecting her and said the CEO's office was at the top floor of the building located in that sphere.

Aliasse thanked the man and proceeded to the nearby express elevator to the top floor. Elevators of the current area are maglev based and can go straight to the top of a building, but most elevator shafts have two elevators in them to take more people up and down more efficiently with each elevator having its own... territory one could say only moving between designated floors. But the express elevator Aliasse took was a straight shot to the top of the building without needing to switch to another elevator.

The elevator dinged as the doors parted and Aliasse stepped out into a large curved circular hallway that looked like it went around the CEO's office. A moment later a android in a nurses uniform walked up to Aliasse and bowed. Unlike most other androids that are made to look Terran this one was clearly a android with white skin and dark lines around the joints and edges of her face.

"Miss Aliasse please follow me," the nurse droid said flatly.

Aliasse followed the android nurse through the curved hallway and into the sphere shaped part of the building. Inside there was a garden with a dome skylight and platform in the center that had what looked like a normal looking house?! on it.

Aliasse blinked at the improbable house that was in a skyscraper over a thousand feet above the ground before continuing to follow the android nurse into the main room of the house.

"Please wait here while I inform my master her guest is here," the android nurse said flatly before going up the stares to the second floor.

Aliasse took the moment to look around at the house and all the family and landscape pictures along the walls and the white flowered vase on the table set between two couches in the middle of the room.

"Well this is new. I've heard of working at home but not having your home at your place of work," Aliasse noted to herself as she sat on one of the couch's. A few moments later the android nurse and a aged woman with gray hair and faded green eyes who looked in her late 60's came down the staircase.

"Thank you rose please go and fix a pot of tea please," the old woman who must be the CEO of NeoCortex said as she sat down on the opposing couch from Aliasse, her hands on top the other on her lap as the two looked into each others eyes a moment.

"Um your the one who wanted to see me?," Aliasse asked studying the woman.

"Yes," the old woman said tilting her head a bit with her reply.

"So what was it you wanted to talk to me about? " Aliasse asked as the old woman continued to look at her like she was expecting Aliasse to realize something. Aliasse continued to eye the woman and something clicked and Aliasse felt that she knew this woman from... somewhere but couldn't put her finger on it.

"Who are you?"

The elderly woman shrugged. "You tell me, we met a few times before a long time ago... after the first Zerg war."

Aliasse narrowed her eyes and thought harder of where she could have met her before and then it clicked. "Ellen!?" Aliasse exclaimed incredulously as the nurse android returned and placed a plate with a pot of tea and two cups on it on the table between the two couch's and poured a little of the fragrant tea into the cups.

"Thank you Rosa you may tend to the garden now. I think the Irises need some attention today."

Silently Rosa bowed and left out the front door and old woman Ellen took a sip of her tea with Aliasse still staring intently at her waiting for a answer.

"To be explain, I am the real Ellen's first clone." The self confessed clone of Ellen Reid explained as she put the cup down on its plate. "I'm the clone of Ellen Reid she created to fill in her place with her family all those years ago." Aliasse was now showing a face that was going through the reason's how this clone of Ellen the swarm empress was still alive. "Oh don't give me that look im alive because i'm a certified genius with a IQ of over 200 and perfect eidetic memory, thanks to the other Ellen's evolution master Abastein playing around with my head. But to explain further, after I spent decades helping to build up humanities fleet of ground to space shuttles and the next gen space stations along with the first Moon and Mars base's. I changed the direction of my research to myself and decided to extend my lifespan using genetic augmentations that repaired my cells and genetic information. It isn't perfect and I require to go through the regeneration treatment every few decades and I change my identity when I do so."

Aliasse sighed taking her tea cup in hand and took a sip smiling at the pleasant taste. "So why did you call me here?."

Chapter End


Meanwhile back in Psyons private universe.

Psyon blinked his eyes ending his current observation of the events in the other universe and now only saw the infinite sky of his own universe as a gas giant passed in front of a nearby star.

"Hmm interesting... I think it's time I paid Noobzilla a visit."

Psyon then leaped off his floating fantasy airship and fell down towards the black thunder clouds a unknown distance below and disappeared through a fold in space.


"Wait? what? I didn't write this! he's going where!..." Noobzilla exclaimed as he found these words on his fanfiction's latest chapter after proof reading it and no matter what he did the words wouldn't disappear so he had to post it as is.