Allison got a message about ten minutes after the first Twilight movie ended indicating that her medical staff was ready to thaw out the first colonist now it was a matter of choosing them.  Allison was pretty sure she didn’t want to start with her Aunt Zuri.  She smiled at Zelda.


    “Thank you for supper and the movie.  I need to go.”


    Zelda pouted.


    “Already?”


    “Yes, sorry, it’s important, trust me.”


    She gathered up her schoolbooks.


    “See you tomorrow, Zelda.”


    Zelda walked her out.  She asked to be transported from the surface directly to the ancient colony ship.  She hadn’t visited before.  There were one hundred of them.  The ship had no artificial gravity which shouldn’t have surprised Allison.  She felt a bit sick as she floated through the ship.  One of the Commonwealth escorts noticed her discomfort.


    “Not used to zero-G, ma’am?”


    Allison made a noncommittal sound then responded.


    “No, I’m just having flash backs to when I was stranded in my fighter cockpit for weeks.  I had no gravity and barely any power, it took me over a month to recover my muscle mass and bone density.  I hope we can get this done quickly.  Where is Veronica Teague?”


    He chuckled.


    “This way, ma’am.”


    He pulled himself along the cryostasis chamber with handles that had been placed at equal intervals for just that purpose.


    “Why is there no gravity plating on this thing?”


    He shrugged.


    “The cryopods were not designed to work in gravity so none was ever added.  Here she is.”


    Allison rubbed her hand over the glass to clear the frost.  Her eyes went wide when she saw it was her biological mother.  It couldn’t be.  It was actually impossible.  She had been subsumed by whatever entity she had been an extension of.  She lifted her wrist up and scanned what appeared to be a teenage girl.  She was technically still ‘alive’.  Another strike against this being her vampiric biological mother. Widow caught up as Allison was scanning the Enid look-alike.  The wolf-born’s jaw dropped.


    “That can’t be.”


    Allison glanced at her.


    “It isn’t.  She’s alive.  Or well as alive as these peoplesicles can be.”


    Allison pulled the liquid metal wire from the housing on her holo-tablet and connected it to the data port on the cyropod.  The liquid metal easily adapted itself to the USB-C plugin and she started receiving data.  She moved the DNA data stored in the cryopod over to her own DNA and hit compare.  Her AR HUD flashed that there was a sixty percent match.  High likelihood that Allison was the child of Veronica.  She shook her head.


    “This can’t be her.  It says she’s my mother, but my mother is long gone.  This has to be a clone.”


    She scanned some additional information included with the pod’s data bundle.  Veronica was infected with nanites.  She reached out her hand and touched the pod.  She wasn’t sure why she did it but suddenly she started receiving data directly from the nanites swarming in Veronica’s blood.  Her own nanites were pulling their code and analyzing it for her and somehow passing the knowledge contained within directly into her brain.  The code was bad.  They were maladapted.  Whoever programmed them were idiots playing with things they did not fully understand.  They would kill her every night and resurrect her at dawn.  It made no sense.  She focused on the nanites and updated their code so they would repair Veronica’s cells, also she ensured they would not randomly kill her.  The code base was littered with fragments that indicated this was the work of the 21^st century version of BMC.  She turned to Widow.


    “Widow, I have more data to gather here, go verify the wolf-born is a wolf-born would you please?”


    Widow narrowed her eyes.


    “I’m not about to leave you here alone.”


    Allison looked around.


    “They’re all frozen solid, what is going to happen to me here?  This place might as well be a mausoleum.”


    She glanced at the Commonwealth escort.


    “No offense.”


    He shrugged.


    “We’ve said worse ourselves.”


    Widow grumbled but pulled herself towards the front of the bay.  Allison turned to her escort.


    “I need this pod transported to my ship immediately.  If anyone from your government asks, tell them she has nanotech and her cells will repair themselves she doesn’t need any treatment, she just needs to be thawed out.  I’ve verified it and can provide the data.  As her daughter, which I can also prove, I can authorize it.”


    She moved on to meet up with her medical team and the representatives from the Commonwealth.  The escort followed her but was speaking over comms.  They were deep in debate on who they should try the first thaw on.  Allison looked over the list.  The short list didn’t include her cousins.  She was actually leaning towards one of them or both of them because as dhampir they had the greatest chance of survival if something went wrong.  She cleared her throat and everyone looked at her.


    “The Aurelius twins.  Plutonia and Rose.  They are dhampirs.  They have the greatest chance of survival if the process is flawed.  If you have doses of the super-blood that was used on me after my duel you can quadruple their chances of survival.  Also, I’ve had Veronica Teague transported over.  She will be able to regenerate and survive.  That gives you three tests to perfect the process.”


    Her medical staff looked at her the chief medical officer of the Ark Royal who was familiar with Allison and her nargle looked the teenage Battlelord up and down.


    “How do you know Veronica Teague will regenerate.”


    Allison shook her head.


    “I can’t tell you, its classified, orders of the president.  The twins are my cousins, that makes me the only biological relative here.  Have them transported to the Ark Royal.  I’ll have the medical team on the Phoenix work on Veronica.  That way we have a League medical team, and an Alliance medical team experienced in the process and the Commonwealth medical team can do the second twin while being guided by our medical teams.  Once we’re sure the process is going to work, we can start on the rest.  Make sure to get that dhampir blood booster before you start.”


    The chief medical officer looked like she wanted to disagree, Allison frowned.


    “You have your orders.”


    Everyone was transported back to their ships.  Allison made her way to the medical bay which had been retrofitted to support modern League medical technology along with some System’s Alliance technology.  That included nanites.  Her lead medical officer was on loan from the Synthlin Medical Council.  She was quite familiar with her; It was Leshy, the chief medical officer of Mary’s World Medical station, or rather former chief medical officer.  The station was still being repaired after the battle with the Sal’nash.  She hovered about moving her six arms in various ways to scan the occupant of the cryopod.  She looked at Allison.


    “Battlelord, I did not expect a patient let alone you to observe.”


    Allison had her arms crossed as she stared at the mystery in the cryopod.  Who was this girl?


    “Did you notice the nanotech?”


    Leshy’s encounter suit made an affirmative tone.


    “Yes.  Someone has erased the nanites and replaced them with System’s Alliance code.  The work was sloppy.  You have made corrections?”


    Allison nodded.


    “I hope they can correct the nanites her body is generating like your code changes propagated through mine.  I did my best, but I’m not an expert.”


    Leshy sounded amused when she spoke.


    “For an amateur programmer, you seem to have quite a bit of skill.  I suspect it is the hidden data stored within your genetic makeup.  It appears the nanites were not the only thing you inherited from your biological mother.  We could just remove her and she would wake but you have requested we follow the process we have designed to revive these poor souls.  Why?”


    Allison shrugged.


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    “You and I both know how draining nanite regeneration can be, also she’s a safe test subject, if she doesn’t need her nanites to restore her, then our process is solid.  I couldn’t send her to the Ark Royal, you know the System’s Alliance laws around nanotechnology.”


    Leshy hovered about prepping to perform the thaw.  Two medical staff from the Commonwealth came in along with another Synthlin and a Yorleer.  Allison watched as they went about the process their three governments and their medical specialists had come up with to safely thaw out the colonists.  It was far easier to save them then someone who’d naturally frozen to death on Earth or was preserved after death so well they could be resurrected by medical science.  These people were technically alive, well the non-vampires.


    Leshy and her team worked diligently to restore Veronica to the waking world.  Slowly her vital signs started to come to life.  Eventually she woke up.  To say she was freaked out was an understatement she started pounding on the pod.  Leshy and her team quickly opened it up.  Veronica struggled to get out.  She had been covered in a goo-like substance.  So, she easily slipped out of the grasp of the medical team.  She stumbled and yanked the breathing tube out of her mouth.   She tried to get past Allison who stopped her.  Veronica looked around in a panic.  Allison spoke up.


    “Veronica, you’re safe.  You’re on my ship the Pheonix.”


    The panicked girl slipped as she saw Leshy approaching her.  Allison knelt down.


    “You’re safe, that is Leshy, she’s my chief medical officer.  She’s just worried about you, you’ve been in cryosleep for almost a thousand years.”


    Veronica still looked panicked.


    “I can’t stay here you’re all in danger I haven’t had blood… it’s dark.”


    Allison raised an eyebrow.


    “That won’t matter, I fixed your nanites.  They can’t kill you anymore.  Are you… uh… vampire?”


    Veronica looked very confused at this point.


    “What?  How do you know about us?”


    Allison shrugged.


    “I’d show you my fangs, but I have trouble getting them out on command.  Please, let Leshy and the staff look you over.  Their encounter suits look strange I know, but trust me, they’re mostly harmless.”


    Veronica looked around.


    “Where is Lysander?  He said he would be here when I woke up.”


    Allison stood up and grabbed a towel from one of the medical beds that was being used for storage and offered it to the naked Veronica.


    “You’re going to want to get that stuff off, if its anything like Synthlin slime it is a nightmare to get out of the nooks and crannies when it dries.”


    Veronica was starting to shiver.  Allison wrapped the towel around her and guided her back to the medical staff who had been keeping their distance.


    “Sorry, my aunt and uncle are still frozen. The twins are being thawed out in my carrier’s medical center.  Just get warm, get dry and let them do their jobs.  They have some injections to give you.  Nothing harmful, just to prevent you from getting sick.  Once that’s done, we’ll be going to my carrier.”


    Allison paced back and forth while waiting for Leshy and the staff to check Veronica over.  The Commonwealth had already provided replicated clothing for her.   Once Veronica was ready Allison motioned for her to follow.  She led her towards the matter transmission room, or what would be a full-fledged matter transmission room in a few days.  It was working but wasn’t pretty yet.  Conduit was hanging everywhere.  Veronica was looking at everything as they passed.  She looked a bit taken aback by the matter transmission room that was showing the guts of both Allison’s alien flagship and Commonwealth equipment.


    “Humans have changed a lot.”


    Allison raised an eyebrow then shook her head once she figured out what Veronica was talking about.


    “Nah, this is a hundred thousand year old alien destroyer I salvaged.  It is a long story, but human technology is vulnerable to a weapon system the aliens we’re at war with utilize.  And tech from the Commonwealth.”


    She looked at the matter transmission technician that was on shift.


    “Could you beam us over to the Ark Royal please?”


    The tech nodded.


    “Aye, ma’am, just step on the pads please.”


    Veronica screamed as she was disintegrated, she was still screaming when Allison reappeared beside her.  Allison touched her arm.


    “Sorry, I should have warned you… you’re fine, we just got transported to my carrier.”


    The pair left the matter transmission room.  Allison led her charge towards a room she’d had prepared for her family.


    “Wait here, Sergeant T’rysiss will get you anything you need.”


    Allison motioned to the humanoid raptor who was a member of the Sauroid species, and also a space marine in the System’s Alliance Military.  T’ryiss stood at attention when she saw Allison who waved her hand dismissively.


    “At ease.  Security precaution.  She’s a Sauroid, she’s from the light side of their world, they are herbivores.  Don’t let the teeth scare you.”


    Veronica went into the quarters after giving T’ryiss a bit closer inspection.  Allison lifted a necklace from around her neck and fingered the data chip it carried while she headed to the holo-sims on the Ark Royal.  She entered her command code and walked in, then she inserted the chip.  The image changed.


    She was expecting an aircraft carrier, but what she got was a bar and not the pilots bar she’d been at with Enid’s ghost.  This one was wooden and had a balcony.  A band was playing and the crowd was going wild.  She was shocked to see Eyre and Enid both up on stage singing along with the lead singer.  She was also shocked at how awesome they sounded.  She’d never heard the song before but she was getting goosebumps.  People in the crowd were wearing sparkly hats and glow sticks.  A banner said: ‘Welcome to 1999’.  Eyre and Enid bowed to the crowd who were cheering.  Her sister addressed the crowd.


    “It appears the guys are ready now.  Sorry for the delay!  Happy New Year!”


    The women left the stage, and a band took their place.  The lead singer yelled out.


    “Happy New Year, time to party like its 1999!  Let’s hear it for Tina and her daughter Sarah, I’m almost scared to follow up that song.”


    Enid slid onto the barstool beside Allison.  Allison turned to talk to her biological mother’s hologram but Enid just put her finger to her lips and pointed to the stage.  The crowd was going wild now.  The lead singer sang the first line of their song and it got the entire room was on their feet cheering.


    “He said, I’m Tragically Hip!”


    When the song finished Enid motioned for Allison to follow her to where they could hear each other speak.  Allison looked around the snow covered ground.


    “Where are we even?  What happened to Okinawa?”


    Enid smiled.


    “We’re in 1999, New Year’s Eve in Muskoka, Ontario, Canada.”


    Allison blinked a few times.


    “Why?”


    Enid shrugged.


    “Why not?”


    Allison frowned.


    “This is serious!  I don’t have time for games.”


    Enid sighed.


    “I’m sorry, you’re starting to sound like I used to.  Take a breath hon, look out at the snow falling over the beautiful frozen lake.”


    Allison threw up her hands.


    “You’re a hologram, just behave like one, would you?  I need information.”


    Enid leaned on the wooden railing and took a deep breath.


    “Fine, have it your way.  I know why you’re here but ask anyway.”


    Allison rolled her eyes.


    “I found my Aunt Zuri, Uncle Lysander and Aunt Aeliana and their kids in cryostasis fifteen billion light years from Earth.  And a clone of you!  You made a mess I need to clean up.  How do I do this?”


    Enid didn’t look shocked or surprised.


    “I can’t tell you what to do.  Look, I made this… representation of me to prepare you for what is to come but if I start dictating to you directly Seraph is going to take direct notice, and we don’t want that.  Right now, you’re a subconscious peripheral thought at best.  You do not want to become her focus until you’re stronger.”


    Allison was pissed.


    “But you can tell your sister?”


    Enid shrugged.


    “A loophole.  She won’t tell you what I said directly.  There are very few beings that are unique in the multiverse.  You’re one of them because you inherited a part of Seraph’s divinity through me.  That makes you problematic for her.  You have the tools to solve this problem.  I made sure you had them.”


    Allison wanted to strangle Enid.  Her biological mother looked so small and harmless.  She knew better though.


    “Can you at least tell me what happened to the tesseract?”


    Enid nodded.


    “You absorbed it.  It’s part of you now.”


    Allison was wide-eyed suddenly.


    “You… it has more energy than a magnetar pulse and it’s inside me?”


    Enid shrugged.


    “Allison, you are literally a shard of the all mother who created the universe.  That means when you grow into your full potential the power of the tesseract is insignificant.  Focus on the problem at hand.  Your family.  Veronica is a clone of me, yes, but she’s also just a fifteen year old girl mentally, so don’t treat her like she’s me.  She’s not, she has none of my memories, or my abilities, but she inherited all of my fighting skills.  She’s a vampire when she’s dead but a weak one, a newborn.  You’re stronger than her as a dhampir.  Lysander and Aeliana can help you.  Though not with what is about to happen.”


    Allison clenched her fists.


    “What is going to happen next?  Haven’t I already lost enough?”


    Enid sighed.


    “I can’t tell you, all I can say is, you’re not alone here.  Remember that. I have one piece of advice for you: Everything can die you just need to find the right weapon but you can never destroy energy you can only transfer it, or contain it.”


    Allison’s wrist vibrated and she looked at her AR HUD.  Her cousins were awake.


    “Anything else I should know about Plutonia and Rose?”


    Enid seemed to roll the question around in her head before answering.


    “They’re dhampirs but they’re also… wolf-born.”


    Allison’s eyes went wide.


    “Wait, they might… why didn’t you say something sooner?”


    Allison pulled her small data chip out of the housing by the entrance as she ran towards medical.  Enid and the hologram of the winter night vanished like ghosts fading into the Earth’s lost past.  Allison was in a dead run to the medical bay.  She was out of breath as she spoke to her transport officer while still running towards medical.


    “Transport Widow over to medical on the Ark Royal now!”


    She arrived just in time to tackle one of the seven foot tall werewolves that were in the midst of a brutal fight with armored Space Marines from the Ark Royal.  Thankfully the marines were cybernetically enhanced and were wearing full body armor.  Widow was in her black furred war form which dwarfed both the twins, and she was holding down one of them.  Allison was pushing every ounce of her blood vitality into super strength, between that in her armor she was barely managing to hold the twin she tackled down.  A squad of marines rushed in and looked like they were about to shoot the twins with stun weapons.  Widow threw a medical bed at the newcomers knocking them down.  She roared.


    “Stop.  Make worse!”


    Wolf-born had trouble with normal spoken languages once they got into war form.  They were unable to speak at all in wolf form.  She spoke in the language of spirits to the twins.  Between her massive size and the fact, she was an alpha she somehow managed to get through to the twins who shifted into their human forms.


    Allison released her twin and backed away.  Widow shifted back down to her human form.  Allison looked around the damaged medical bay and at the terrified medical staff.


    “Sorry, I didn’t know they were wolf-born.  If I had I would have told you to wake their parents up first.”


    The twin Allison had tackled gave her a strange look once she noticed Allison’s armor.


    “You’re… part of our family, aren’t you?  That’s the same armor Aunt Enid wears.”


    Allison nodded to her fifteen year old cousin.


    “It’s hers, I inherited it, I guess.  I’m your cousin Enid was my biological mother.  You’re safe here.  This is my escort carrier.  Your parents are still in cryostasis.  Veronica is awake.  That is Widow, she’s one of the leader’s of the wolf-born.  I am sorry you didn’t have any familiar faces here when you woke up.  You’re not in any trouble.  Your reaction was understandable.”


    Allison looked at the gathered medical staff.


    “Don’t just stand there, check the Marines for injuries!”


    Her tone snapped the medical staff out of their flight or fight response and they rushed to check on the marines.  She looked at Widow.


    “Please escort them to their temporary quarters and make sure they get blood.”


    Widow nodded.


    “As you wish, Battlelord.”


    Allison rubbed her temples as she looked over the damage to the medical bay.  It was reminiscent of her brawl with the security forces of the Silwrath flagship.  She opened a comm channel to engineering.


    “Chief, I need a team sent to medical to make emergency repairs.  We need this place up and running ASAP.”


    She looked at the damage one last time with a heavy sigh.