《The Grey Imperium》 Universes with Technology, Content, Or references too. Hey all! If you are at this point reading this section you''ve either been tricked or are commited in reading my first work of this sort. Before i say anything else PLEASE check out Vexmaster''s Fanfiction where I got some/most of my ideas from. He is an amazing writer with all honesty a great inspiration to me. VexMaster if you read this, thank you for all the time you''ve put into writing. -------->https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4811481/1/StarGate-Galactic-Imperium <--------- Now as for my own story it will start off on our earth and somehow (hehehehe) it will jump to other universes and ***, ***, **********, and ********* will happen. =] First we start off in our universe then in this order jump from dimension to dimension. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Starcraft 2 Halo LMS. Gundam wing. Artemis Fowl / Sherlock Holmes Mass effect Elder scrolls Warcraft Star wars Heroes X-Men (marvel DC Universe. Matrix Dragon Ball (suggestions are also welcome) ***ADDED*** Fallout Personally developed worlds as well) These are subject to to change depending on my direction and writing. If you all have any comments, or questions ask them here! Thanks all of you and i hope you enjoy. EDIT - 1 All references to ship sizes can be found here Book I -Chapter 1 A/N: HELLO ALL WELCOME TO THE BEGINNING OF THE GREY IMPERIUM. THIS WILL BE THE FIRST BOOK ON HOW THE IMPERIUM BEGINS. PLEASE BARE WITH ME AS IT WILL TAKE A LITTLE WHILE BEFORE THE DIMENSION HOPPING FUN BEGINS. THANKS FOR READING - ESERNGO ======================================================== Leo was having a bad day so to speak. Right now his face was bloodied up, lips busted open, and a nose no longer straight. Any other day he would have looked normal with his brown hair and brown eyes. He was of average height and along a stockier build. His clothes on the other hand hadn¡¯t changed much, seeing how he was homeless and had just survived a ¡®bum hunt¡¯ by the police. Laying under a bridge trying to find some quiet in the night was something he wanted to do. Maybe he wouldn¡¯t wake up, not that he cared much anymore as he drifted off to sleep. As Leo opened up his one swollen eye, he sighed from the unfortunate survival of his wounds. He was still under the bridge when he was trying to figure out how he was going to eat that day. ¡°Hello Leo.¡± Leo turned his head to see a beautiful woman in a sparkly blue dress along with a man in a red suit and tie. ¡°What do you want? Here to kill me? Go right on ahead, ain¡¯t much to live for these days.¡± He snarled at them. ¡°My my Leo, I know yesterday wasn¡¯t a good day but surely today is a new one isn¡¯t it? Don¡¯t you want to know why we¡¯re here?¡± the man said. ¡°Don¡¯t care. Shove off¡± ¡°Come now, don¡¯t be like that. What if I took your pain away? Would you talk to us then?¡± the woman asked in a tender voice. ¡°HAH, if you take my pain away and get me some food. Sure why not perky tits.¡± He laughed as he tried to stand up and get a feel for how bad how injuries were. ¡°Ok then.¡± The woman said as she waved her hand. Leo wasn¡¯t paying attention as he was still trying to feel around. Before he could really process what she said though his pain had faded away. In a stunned confused state of mind, he touched his face only to not wince in pain. Looking at the two people in red he was all of a sudden interested. ¡°The food is on your left.¡± The man pointed. On his left appearing out of nowhere was a nice stack of waffles, maple syrup, a liter of orange juice and a banana. Looking up at them stunned, Leo said, ¡°Ok well you have my attention now. Are you going to whip up some chairs and a table now so we can be civilized now?¡± he joked. ¡°Oh that¡¯s a good idea actually.¡± The man said with a snap of his fingers. A flash of light took place between them and what appeared was a beautiful table perfect in size to fit three people. Leo just sighed and thought, ¡®and I thought if I saw it again it wouldn¡¯t baffle me as much. Goes to show what I know.¡± ¡°Well let¡¯s sit.¡± The woman said as she walked hand in hand with the man. With his food Leo sat opposite to them and started eating. ¡°Now we know who you are but obviously you don¡¯t know who we are. Would you like to fathom a guess with your little mind?¡± the man asked. ¡®Little mind? I¡¯ll show you asshole.¡¯ ¡°There¡¯s only two realistic options, higher beings or aliens.¡± He said as he took a sip from his orange juice. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Hah I won!¡± the woman said as the man grumbled. ¡°No he didn¡¯t¡­¡± the man said before he trailed off into another language. ¡°Hush dearest, I think it¡¯ll be interesting.¡± She smiled as she tapped his shoulder. ¡°I am known as Nox and this is my husband Erebus.¡± She introduced. ¡°The Gods of Night and Darkness?¡± Leo asked as he stared at them. ¡°Oh he knows who we are! Yes we are Night and Darkness, You are Leo, we know all about you. How your parents abandoned you, how your ex-wife stole your daughter from you and broke your heart, how your best friend stole her from you, and how your boss framed you for embezzling funds from the company you worked at. We also know you¡¯ve got an above human average intelligence from your military research days. We know all that and we like you.¡± Erebus said through his smile. ¡°Me? Why do you like me? I never prayed to the either of you before.¡± ¡°Oh our sons have told us much about you. They thought you would be a good source of entertainment.¡± He said. ¡°Oh yes, there is much we have to discus.¡± Nox smiled wickedly. ¡®What the hell?¡¯ ¡°Such as?¡± he asked. ¡°Simply put we want to give you a chance, a way to do something never done before.¡± Erebus said coyly. ¡°Like?¡± Leo said cautiously. ¡°Simple really. You will get three types of wishes. One of People, One of Tools, and One of Desire.¡± Nox explained. ¡°Why me?¡± Leo asked. ¡°Why not? You have no reason to live, no reason to love, and certainly no reason to do what we say, but what if you gave yourself a reason again. What if you could distribute justice as you saw fit, to create your own paradise and a hell for all those evil doers? You¡¯re wondering why do what we want, I ask you ¡®Why shouldn¡¯t you?¡¯¡± Erebus challenged. Leo sat there looking at the ground. Why shouldn¡¯t he? Who would stop him? The only one who could really stop him were the two right in front of him and they wanted him to be entertaining. Having lost everything and being left with nothing why shouldn¡¯t he just say fuck it and do whatever he wanted? ¡°Ok I¡¯m in, but explain the wishes to me.¡± He said They smiled and Erebus pulled out a small ancient looking wooden box. Opening and turning the box around to display the contents were three small orbs. ¡°These are your three wishes.¡± Erebus said as he picked up the three grey orbs. ¡°The People wish will give you the power to summon any one person to you and obey your every desire. The One of tools will give you something you can use however you see fit. Lastly the one of desire will grant you something you wish for except more wishes.¡± Erebus said. ¡°So I can get three wishes, people, tools and desire. Okay im in after you tell me what you want.¡± Leo said pushing away his tray of food. ¡°Simple, entertain us. Do a good job and we¡¯ll give you more wishes.¡± Nox said deviously. ¡®No way in hell is it going to be so easy, but what the hell.¡¯ ¡°OK, do I sign in blood or will ink be ok?¡± ¡°You already agreed so no signing. Here¡± Erebus said as he slid the box over to him. ¡°So Leo what¡¯s your first wish going to be?¡± Nox asked. Book 1 - Chapter 2 A/N: WHAAAAA POW, IM BACK AGAIN, WROTE THIS AT AT BUZZLIGHT YEAR SPEED. READ AND ENJOY. RATE, REVIEW, AND COMMENT PLEASE!!!!!!! =================== ¡°Before I make my wish can you answer some questions of mine?¡± ¡°Depends on the question but I don¡¯t see the harm in you asking.¡± Nox said with a wicked smile. ¡°Does the multiverse theory hold true? Or multiple realities? Or parallel universes?¡± Leo asked in dead seriousness. The multiverse theory, is a multiplicity of universes branching out from every moment in time, of which our universe is only one. Meaning that in addition to a multiplicity of universes there is also a multiplicity of selves and realities. Various universes within the multiverse are called "parallel universes" or "alternate universes". ¡°Yes, it¡¯s true. Nox and I exist in all of them simultaneously.¡± Erebus said. ¡°Is it possible to travel between them?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± They said in unison. ¡°I see. What about warp travel, controlled wormholes, or hyperspace?¡± ¡°Yes on all three.¡± Nox said. ¡°Ok then. Last question, Can you bring me there so I don¡¯t have to waste a wish?¡± Leo smiled. The two of them looked at each other as if in deep discussion. After a few seconds of silence they said, ¡°No.¡± ¡°Damn, I wanted to dive it a try. In that case I have my first wish.¡± Nox and Erebus looked truly interested and excited for the first time since they woke him up. What would he wish for? Super powers, weapons, wealth and fortune? ¡°For my tool wish, ¡®I wish I had the most advanced ¡®Replicators¡¯ that obeyed my every command without chance of them turning on me. That is my first wish.¡± Leo asked. Replicators were little nanite machines that self-replicated to create more and more of themselves to complete more complicated tasks. Together they formed blocks, then by using these blocks they combined together into various forms. The most commonly encountered shape is the small "bug" with four limbs and "wings" on its back. Each bug can upgrade itself into a larger "queen" to facilitate replication. Nox and Erebus looked to each other and just sighed. ¡°What?¡± Leo asked worriedly that his wish too much. ¡°Nothing, just thought it¡¯s a bit boring. I mean you could have wished for the ¡®Death Star¡¯. But little machines seems a bit of a waste if you ask me.¡± Erebus said as he snapped his fingers and a splitting pain ripped Leo¡¯s head for a short moment. ¡°It¡¯s done, one replicator queen on your tray.¡± Erebus pointed out. Looking at the tray Leo couldn¡¯t help but smile, the queen replicator began consuming the metal tray and had just enough to create a smaller bug. With only one unit on a small tray, it was easy as it took only a minute. Leo timed the process and ended was happy with what was going to happen. Replicators while in a small number were not a giant threat could potentially with enough of them be able to combine together and create a space ship. That would be a goal but until he had enough they would serve other purposes. ¡°Do you want to know my plan?¡± Leo asked the two beings. Nox shrugged and agreed. As the replicators moved around and around waiting to be given directions Leo told them his plans. Now Nox and Erebus were laughing and now not so bored with his decision. ¡°I see, I see¡­ I was wrong about you. I tell you what, for each part of the plan you complete I will grant you a pass. A pass into the next world you want, how¡¯s that sound?¡± Erebus asked. ¡°If my plans go the way I want I won¡¯t need it, but who am I to argue.¡± Leo smiled ¡°Very good, well with that we best be off.¡± Nox said as they disappeared from his sight. Sighing a breath of relief Leo decided it was time for him to get started. Last night he slept in the industrial area so there was plenty of metal around for him to have his replicators multiply. Especially with the recent economic depression. ¡°Hmm lots of empty industrial factories¡­perfect.¡± Leo said as the replicator moved off the table and followed him to form a belt. Getting out from under the bridge and feeling the cold brisk air on his face brought a smile to Leo¡¯s face. How long had it been since he¡¯d smiled after waking up in the last three years? Happiness was something he¡¯d given up on and was slitting his own wrist. Composing himself he set off to begin his grand scheme. After traveling for five minutes trying to hide his queen bug, he arrived an old rusty factory which hadn¡¯t seen any life in years. Using the replicators to consume their way through the gate to get inside was almost as easy as he doors in. Standing in the center of the factory he released half of his Replicators for them to begin multiplying their forces to 1000 bugs. Currently he had a 1 unit and for his plans ne would need thousands more to begin. With the one queen bug he noticed that the metal was not made from anything from their world. With this one queen he took his first step toward the future. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Before he could further his plans he would need a significant amount of money. He first wanted to rebuild his image and lay the groundwork for the future. With the first little bug replicator he left and went to the nearest ATM and had his replicator hack it to collect some of its money. With his new spending cash he left for a goodwill store to change his homeless appearance. The staff there was hesitant to assist him but in the end he left with a new set of clothes. A new pair of jeans, new(ish) sneakers, wallet and a jacket he left feeling better with his new look. Next was his face, he needed a haircut and a shave but that would have to wait. The next thing Leo wanted to fix was his sleeping situation, he hated the idea of sleeping another night outside so he immediately went to find a acquaintance of his. Alexi Vikol was a low level dealer and criminal but he was reliable to a certain degree. ¡°Alexi, how are you today?¡± Leo asked as he walked up to him. Alexi looked at him and stared, ¡°Leo? Looks like you found some dough and got off the street. What do you want? You aren¡¯t a usual customer but I always liked you.¡± He said with a light Russian accent. ¡®Yeah right, you just think I have some cash and you wanna take it from me.¡¯ Leo thought. ¡°I¡¯m wondering if you got a place you can let me stay at. I found a job but they need an address but the shelter won¡¯t accept me there.¡± ¡°Maybe, but you have to pay ¡®rent¡¯ and ¡®insurance¡¯.¡± He said with a dubious look. Rent and insurance was literally universal word for ¡®extortion¡¯ but Leo didn¡¯t have to worry. On the other hand he couldn¡¯t let Alexi get suspicious. ¡°How much is the ¡®rent and insurance¡¯?¡± ¡°30%¡± he said. ¡°Fuck Alexi, you¡¯re killing me here. How¡¯s 20?¡± Leo asked. ¡°How about I break your fucking kneecaps?¡± He replied with his smile disappearing. ¡°Well when you put it that way I can¡¯t say no now can I?¡± Leo said resigning to his acting skills. Which in the last three years of homelessness he had perfected. ¡°Don¡¯t forget ¡®Deposit¡¯ as well.¡± Alexi mentioned. ¡°How much?¡± Leo said feigning regret ¡°Just another 20% for the first check.¡± He pushed. ¡°Christ Alexi. Okay.¡± Leo said as he maintained his hesitation. Alexi extended his hand and they shook hands. ¡°Ok then come with me.¡± He said as he took him to a darker side of town. Two hours later and a lot of phone calls later, they were in a part of the city called ¡®The row ¡¯, since it was a row of houses that housed the worst the city had to offer. ¡°We¡¯re here, when is first paycheck?¡± He asked. ¡°I start tomorrow and I get paid twice a month so in two weeks.¡± Leo lied. ¡°Then we will be back in two weeks. Have cash and a receipt.¡± He said. Alexi explained that the house had three other people, two addicts and one girl. She looked to be a runner, from what who knew. The building was two bedroom, one bath, and one kitchen but the basement was semi clean so he could make a space for himself there. The addicts were just sitting on the sofa stoned out of their mind and the girl was nowhere in sight. Outside was only about noon and Leo was getting hungry again. Alexi handed him a key and told him if he lost it he would have to pay for a replacement in the form of ten percent of his next pay check. After this Alexi left and Leo headed off to find food. He got a good sandwich and then trekked to the public office to get copies of his vital records and new ID, took him a good four painstaking hours. ¡®Damn I hate public services. When im in charge im going to redesign all this shit.¡¯ Next was to start his new company but that would have to wait until tomorrow, it was nearly closing time for most places. However he still had time to by one important thing he¡¯d forgotten in his rush. Underwear. Book I - Chapter 3 AN: HEY PEOPLES I HOPE YOU ENJOY READING BECAUSE YOU''RE ALL AWESOME. ON A SIDE NOTE $1.4 BILLION DIVIDED BY 300 MILLION PEOPLE IS $4.33 AND DOES NOT FIX POVERTY. THANKS AND ENJOY That night he recalled his last three years. It all started with his life after his life as a scientist, he decided that although the knowledge and sense of fulfillment it gave him, it just wasn¡¯t enough. So he started working at an investment company. There he waited for his big break but got framed for making the company almost two hundred million dollars when really it was his boss. After he lost his job his wife divorced left him for his so called best friend Tim. They¡¯d been sleeping together behind his back and had been preparing to take everything from him. By the end of it all, including the lawyer fees they took nearly eight hundred thousand dollars from him. In the end it wasn¡¯t the money, the job, or even his bitch wife. The thing that hurt the most was his daughter Sara, his beautiful baby girl who was only four at the time. After everything he¡¯d been bankrupted and didn¡¯t want to ask anyone for money or help. He¡¯d lost everything and he didn¡¯t want to lose the one thing he had left, ¡®freedom¡¯. Through all the stress, pain, and whirlwind of emotions the only thing that kept him going was his will to live free. He wanted to live away from being controlled, he wanted to live forever. Tired of his brain recalling things he didn¡¯t want it to recall he finally went to sleep. The next morning he somehow was able to communicate with his replicators. What they told him was that the total amount of replicators had just went over a hundred now. He instructed them not to destroy the factory and to stop once the building integrity was at stake, also to stay hidden. His mind was now somehow connected to them as if he was one of them. A hundred was good start but he wanted more. Getting up from his makeshift bed in the middle of the basement he headed upstairs to see what in his mind a stunning beautiful woman. Half star struck and half embarrassed she turned to see him only to shriek and grabbed her hijab. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to peak.¡± Leo told her. ¡°It¡¯s too late but just don¡¯t tell anyone.¡± She said to him with pleading eyes. ¡°I promise, if you give me some of those eggs you¡¯re frying.¡± Leo said. Relaxing her shoulders her eyes watched him with caution. She put two fried eggs on a plate and put it on the table for him. ¡°Thank you¡± he said as he sat down to eat. Turning away the woman made another egg and quickly ate it and ran out the house. Leo couldn¡¯t believe the beauty of the woman in front of him, she had beautiful brown eyes and light brown skin. She was perfect in height and body but he couldn¡¯t be sure with her extremely modest clothing. Finishing his food and washing his dished he decided to head out and continue his on plans. Today he was going to register his new company and really get things done. On the way out he heard the two addicts arguing and decided it was best to get out of there before anything bad happened. Running off to catch the bus he headed into downtown in search of an old friend. Janice Wilson, was a corporate lawyer who had been one of his closest friends before three years ago. Leo ended contact with her as to not drag her down with him. Getting off at a bus stop with a payphone nearby he called the last number she had knowing it was the same one from eight years ago. ¡°Janice Wilson speaking, how can I help you?¡± ¡°Set any farts on fire today?¡± Leo joked. ¡°LEO YOU MOTHERFUCKING ASSHOLE!¡± she yelled so loud he had to move away from the phone. ¡°THREE GOD DAMN YEARS YOU DON¡¯T CONTACT ME AND THEN OUT OF THE BLUE YOU CALL ME JUST TO SEE HOW I¡¯M DOING? GET YOUR ASS TO MY OFFICE NOW SO I CAN KICK YOUR ASS!¡± She yelled through the phone. ¡°Same place?¡± Leo asked. ¡°OF COURSE YOU DUMBASS.¡± She yelled as she hung up. ¡®That went as well as I expected.¡¯ Leo chuckled. He was about fifteen minutes away by car so he caught a cab after using his replicators to get some more spending cash. In the cab he finally noticed he was starting to smell when half way there the cab kicked him out cause of his stench. Walking wasn¡¯t so bad as he got to air himself out a little bit. Unfortunately he was walking slowly as he reached the front of the building to find a pissed off little white blonde pacing around. ¡®Crap¡¯ Leo thought as he got closer to the door. Before he could react she locked eyes on him and walked towards him. Grimacing from her little frame and how she seemed to be seething from the mouth in anger, he knew what was coming as he put his hands out as to try and calm her down. ¡°Jani¡ª¡° -WHAP ¨C Leo didn¡¯t know what happened but he was on the ground. He remembered she hit hard as hell as the daughter of a boxer. He felt her hands drag him up, even though she had a small frame she always freakishly strong to him. Finally standing on his own two feet she hugged him, despite all the stared she got from people around her. ¡°I¡¯ve missed you. You stupid smelly bastard.¡± She said with a grunt. Wrapping his arms around her he said, ¡°Me too Jan, me too.¡± The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Wiping a tear from his face trying to stand straight without keeling over in pain he saw her smile. ¡°Come on upstairs Leo, I still have that whisky you gave me when I started the firm.¡± ¡°It¡¯d be a pleasure.¡± He said as he winced and walked. Heading up to her office people stopped and stared, while her workers looked at them in confusion. What in the world was a homeless bum doing in their executive corporate law firm being led by one of the senior partners? Leo was still dressed in his goodwill clothes that didn''t particularly match the atmosphere. Leading him to her office she closed the blinds. "Janice, what would your employees think of you? If you bring a man into your office and shut the blinds they might get the wrong idea." Leo joked as he took a look at the office. "You haven''t changed a thing Jan.¡± "You know me Leo. Now are you going to tell me where the hell you have been for the last three year?¡± ¡°Are you sure you want to know?¡± ¡°Want me to hit you again?¡± she asked as she went under her desk to pull out a bottle of whisky. ¡°No, I¡¯ll pass on being hit again. Where do I start?¡± He said as he began telling her about his homelessness and living on the streets in the roughest part of town. He told her about all the troubles he went through, the little details of his divorce and betrayal of his best friend. He told her all of it up until the last few days, where he skewed the truth a bit. ¡°Damn it Leo, why didn¡¯t you tell me? I could have helped you.¡± She said pissed off. ¡°Sorry Jan, I didn¡¯t want to drag you through my mud, plus your firm was stacked with work at the time. I remember you only having only five or six employees and now how many do you employ? Twenty? Thirty?¡± Leo said ¡°Twenty-three, but that¡¯s not the point Leo. You always had your stupid Pride. Damn your inner scientist. That constant need to be right was always annoying.¡± ¡°Well isn¡¯t that why we we¡¯re friends? You always loved a good debate with someone on your level.¡± He said. She smiled at that as she nursed her drink. Sitting there silently Leo couldn¡¯t bring himself to apologize, it was something very difficult to do as he had his own personal reasons. ¡°Well in any case you¡¯re here now and I¡¯m glad to have a real friend back again. Now what do you need?¡± She asked him ¡°Why do I have to ¡®need¡¯ to need something? Why can¡¯t I just want to come back and visit?¡± Leo said defensively. ¡°Because you trekked through three years of homelessness before coming.¡± She retorted with a snort. Putting up his hands in surrender, Leo chuckled at his old friend. ¡°Oh Jan you know me too well. I was hoping you could help me start up my new company, ¡®Lionhart Innovations¡¯, by helping me get through all the legal mumbo jumbo and maybe even an investment?¡± Leo said, not that he really needed an investment but it would be easier for legal reasons. ¡°That¡¯s it? For legal¡± put her finger quotations in the air ¡°legal mumbo jumbo¡± unquote ¡°and money?¡± she asked in disbelief. ¡°Well that and I want your help to take back my life. Listen Jan I¡¯m twenty-nine and the last three years were a shitstorm at the very least.¡± He said. Taking a deep breath he continued, ¡°I¡¯ve weathered that storm and now it¡¯s time to take my life back, Angela and Brad can burn in hell but I want Sara back and to do that I¡¯m going to need money. You know I suck at making money but I¡¯m smart enough to know what the world needs and what the world need¡¯s, the world will pay for it.¡± Leo said. Janice sat there analyzing her old friend, in the past he didn¡¯t care about the world or money or even his own family. Now though he was different, he was finally owning up to what she thought was his foolish attitude in life. ¡°Okay I¡¯ll help, what¡¯s first?¡± She asked. ¡°The company title, registration, and accounts.¡± Leo said. ¡°What about my ¡®investment¡¯?¡± she asked. ¡°That can wait until it¡¯s all been set up, I have a hidden slush of cash I¡¯ve hidden to put into the company.¡± He said as he pulled out five grand. ¡°Okay then how much of the company is mine?¡± She asked. ¡°20 Percent. Or 2000 shares, I want 8000.¡± Leo said. ¡°I want 30%.¡± She told him. ¡°Fine, after that I want a company card made and an office set up with three computers.¡± He said. ¡°Okay then I¡¯ll get started on the paperwork. Wait a minute.¡± She said as she got up and walked out her office. It took some time but after three hours of annoying details everything was set and ready. Lionheart Innovations. Leo¡¯s new company which was going to be in the research and development of new technology. Over the last three years of traveling all around the state of New York and meeting all the homeless and deranged people, he knew there was a shortage of jobs, food, and most of all shelter. With the funds he would begin turning the public into his favor and bring about a social change. That would be after the first patents and deals though. First was he needed a few computers for the replicators to consume, redesign, and then market. Technology was going to bring him to the future. Book I - Chapter 4 A/N: GREETINGS AND SALUTATIONS. I HOPE YOU HAVE A LOVELY DAY (IF YOU GO OUTSIDE), YOUR BEAUTIFUL ON THE INSIDE, BUT LETS BE HONEST WE ALL WANNA LOSE A FEW POUNDS/KILOS. IN THAT I WANT TO ASK A QUESTION. BEST HEALTH SMOOTHIE RECIPE? THAT IS ALL. ENJOY Stepping out of the office after signing all the paper work was quite refreshing, even though he still smelled. Leo was savoring the feeling of the beginning of his revenge and subsequent conquest. Looking around he felt a hint of nostalgia looking at all the people running out to fill out forms, getting signatures, and playing office politics. In a way Leo had more freedom than anyone else in the entire building. ¡°Everything should be done in a week so until then stay out of trouble and call me if anything comes up.¡± She told him as she came out of the office. ¡°Yeah, I will I¡¯ll talk to you in a few days. I still have stuff to do today.¡± He replied as they walked to the elevator. ¡°Well where ever you are going get a bath. You smell horrible, if you weren¡¯t one of my closest friends I¡¯d punch you.¡± She exclaimed while waving her hands in front of her face nose. ¡°Sure thing, I¡¯ll see you in a few days.¡± He chuckled. Walking out of the building Leo stretched his arms and begin his search for food. Reaching a small food stall and grabbed himself a hotdog. After paying but before he could eat he felt a signal from his replicators. The replicators had finished eating the inside of the factory and had entered a stealth mode. With this he decided to head off to the factory and see what the progress was. Crossing across town and entering the factory brought a smile as he observed his replicators now able to take various forms like in their tv series. Now he wanted them to rearrange themselves into new designs that were in his mind more efficient. He experimented with them and in the end of the day made some modifications to the design of the standard ¡®bug¡¯ forms. One new thing he did was use several of the replicators and try to create a nanite jewelry on him of sorts. Having them on him allowed him to keep himself safe and allowed him to draw money faster from ATMs. After some experimentation he got them to form into acceptable devices. After that he tried to make them into a sort of nanite skin on him but with the materials used they ended up not being very comfortable. After all that he ended up with a small group of replicators on his wrist in the form of a cheap watch. Next a new visible bracelet and a thin layer of replicator blocks across the inside layer over his shirt. From the outside it just looked like he was wearing a very metallic color shirt. These could be rearranged at a moment¡¯s notice to protect him if need be. He now gave a standing order to the replicators to protect him when there was a serious threat. Heading home in the dark was never a good idea, especially if you live on the bad side of town. Luckily today wasn¡¯t going to be a problem since he was recognized as a homeless man. That night he reached home to find Alexi standing outside waiting for someone. ¡°Hello Alexi.¡± He greeted. ¡°Have you seen the two junkies?¡± He asked ignoring his greeting. ¡°I heard them fighting each other this morning before I left. Why?¡± ¡°One suka, stabbed the other suka over some dope. Now they both can¡¯t pay rent because one is in the hospital, and the other ran away.¡± He grumbled extremely pissed off. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Oh.¡± He said not really sure how to respond. ¡°If they come back here call me. Though I doubt they will, also I should probably tell you if you touch that girl we have to hold you down as she cuts your dick off but you wouldn¡¯t touch a woman like that would you?¡± Alexi threatened. ¡°No no no no.¡± Leo quickly stammered out at the very thought. ¡°Good.¡± Alexi said as he walked away. Leo just waved good bye and headed towards the basement to head off to bed. Mentally he sent a message to the replicators to search for a new factory without being seen and repeat his previous orders. The next few days were uneventful as Leo just went on planning his future plans with everything currently moving along smoothly. Over the last five days the two addicts were never seen again as that didn¡¯t bother him. What did bother him was that the woman who was staying there was overly cautious with him. Leo never tried to be rude or give her any sign of hostility. One night he gently asked her, ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± She mumbled something that started off with an ¡®S¡¯ but hurried away. She was gone a moment later up the stairs and back to her room. Shaking his head he returned to read a magazine he bought earlier that day. Later on when he was about to head off to sleep she came back down and said, ¡°Sadia. My name is Sadia.¡± Then she ran away. After that she stopped running away at light speed. Now she stayed only a moderate distance away and only took the effort to try and look at him in the face. Finally one day Leo decided to ask her situation. ¡°How come you¡¯re here Sadia?¡± ¡°Why do you care?¡± ¡°I¡¯m just curious.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I won¡¯t be here much sooner.¡± ¡°What that¡¯s supposed to mean?¡± She looked at Leo with a sort of confusion. Sadia was thinking that although she¡¯d ran away from her husband, she knew he¡¯d find her and drag her back home. All she wanted was a short life of freedom and she had to admit it was worth the pain that she knew was coming. The only thing that she couldn¡¯t figure out was why the man in front of her cared. Thinking about whether or not to explain it to him she looked him in the eyes. Staring back at her was a curious Leo, from her ¡®landlord¡¯ she found out his situation. A homeless man of three years who¡¯d been running around on the streets. Someone who¡¯d seen the underside of society, someone who¡¯d been casted aside. Yet in his eyes she could see a man more driven in life than she¡¯d ever been. ¡°I¡¯m a runaway wife Leo. I know my husband is searching for me and soon enough he will find me and he will take me home by force if has to. What I have here is a short experience of freedom and I¡¯ve enjoyed every moment of it.¡± She explained sadly. ¡°Oh.¡± Leo said sadly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry Leo, I am prepared but until then I¡¯ll enjoy what I wish.¡± She said with a tight smile. Leo didn¡¯t respond but he didn¡¯t like it. Growing up in a traditional home he was always taught to never harm women, children or the elderly. He was ready to subvert, imprison, and even blackmail, but he wasn¡¯t going to be a killer. If he was he¡¯d have just taken over the world by force. In Leo¡¯s mind harming people was a last resort of sorts. Then again he had big plans and normally big plans had big complications. Book I - Chapter 5 AN: ALOHA AND IM BACK AGAIN WITH MY RELEASE SORRY IT''S A FEW HOURS BEHIND. LONG DAY PACKING AS I''M FLYING TOMORROW. SO SORRY NO CHAPTER TOMORROW =''[ ON A GOOD NOTE THOUGH I HOPE YOU''VE ALL SEEN STAR WARS EP.7 ----- MADE ME GIDDY IN AWESOMENESS. THAT''S ALL FOR NOW THANKS & ENJOY \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ ¡°I can hardly wait Jan!¡± Leo exclaimed in feigned excitement. ¡°Yeah yeah, keep you panties on.¡± She sighed with mock annoyance. She was in the process of signing papers and passing them to him for his signatures. After another hour or so of this they were finally set up. Lionheart Innovations up and ready for his goals on the money front. As far as he was concerned it would be easy after a few more weeks and he¡¯d be rolling in enough money to cover his stage one part. They now had their foundation, a new office building, business accounts, and corporate phones even. Only thing left was a few computers and then he¡¯d let the replicators get to work as he got to begin the second part of his plan. People. For the coming days he¡¯d need people to support and help him. Everyone would be useful but the first was someone he could trust, even more so than Janice. That left a very short list for him to pick from but the list was there. Michael Tyler was a man of fierce loyalty, unfortunately that meant he was easily manipulated. During Leo¡¯s first year Michael helped him in the first few days of homelessness by showing him what to do, what not to do, and so on. He¡¯d spent three days going from shelter to shelter in order to find his friend yet even then he¡¯d still hadn¡¯t been able to find him. But he hadn¡¯t given up yet, each time he failed he passed some money around and told them to search for Michael instead. ¡®He¡¯ll turn up eventually.¡¯ Leo thought. ¡°So what¡¯s the plan now?¡± Janice asked him as they had a celebratory drink. ¡°First? I get on a computer and type up our first patent and license it out to the world. Then we make a buttload of money.¡± He said half-jokingly. ¡°Right well let¡¯s go see the new office. Come on my driver will take us.¡± She said as they headed out. Following along and riding to their new office fifteen minutes away they stopped at a large gray building. On the directory he noticed that the building was mostly vacant with lots of space for expansion. On the elevator ride up they stopped at the thirtieth floor and got out. The office was an entire corporate building floor with plenty of space. There was a corner of computer terminals, another side for lounging and another side for work, everything he needed. Walking over he sat in his new chair and stretched his arms out. ¡°Here¡¯s the key, I have a copy so you know. This is the corporate card and our account information. Lastly these are your documents and shares.¡± She said as she dropped a bunch of things on his desk. ¡°Thanks Jan. Once the first invention is set up I¡¯ll contact you to file the patents and to handle negotiations, ok?¡± Leo said. ¡°Yeah, you have thirty days.¡± She said to him. Nodding his head he walked over to a computer terminal and got started of his work. After Hearing her leave he pulled out his replicators he ordered them to consume one of the computer terminals and reuse the materials to create something that was only something close to forty years more advanced that currently. After that he left the company and headed out to continue his search of his friend. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. On the way to a particular shelter he was stopped by another homeless person. They told him that Michael was waiting for him at the shelter or would be around the area. Leo thanked him and handed him a few fives for his trouble as he continued on the way to the shelter. At the shelter was a middle aged black man sitting next to a trashcan. ¡°Michael!¡± Leo yelled. Michael looked up as if tired of people calling his name but when he saw Leo he was immediately relieved. Michael considered Leo one of the last real people on earth to be his friend. After twelve years homeless he¡¯d taught many people how to survive American hospitality. Michael was happy for Leo seeing how he had some decent clothing, shoes, and even a watch. Though he was a little jealous of his friend¡¯s success. ¡°Leo, it¡¯s good to see you made it out of the gutter.¡± Michael said with a tone of distaste. ¡°What¡¯s wrong Mike?¡± Leo asked slightly concerned. ¡°It¡¯s nothing, what¡¯s up mike? I got word you were looking for me. Out of all the people I¡¯ve guided no one else has ever come back to look for me, but then again some have ended up dead or in jail so.¡± Michael explained. ¡°Well do you remember back then I told you what I do, what my past was, and how if we had money we¡¯d change the world for a better place?¡± Leo asked. ¡°Of course I do, I cherish those days when you still had your gentle side, before this life of ours made us too tough. What about it?¡± ¡°I have a plan but I can¡¯t do it alone, I¡¯m going to need help. Specifically I¡¯m going to need yours Michael.¡± Michael looked at him and thought, ¡®He¡¯s serious.¡¯ In the past Michael could always tell when someone was serious or not, it was a life skill he¡¯d honed to perfection. If Leo had an ounce of doubt in him he¡¯d know it. Staring into Leo¡¯s eyes he saw something, something that was worth living for again. Michael nodded his head, ¡°What do I do?¡± ¡°So you¡¯ll help?¡± Leo asked, surprised that he was agreeing so quickly. ¡°Yeah I¡¯ll help but the moment you hurt more people than you help. I¡¯m out.¡± Michael said quickly. ¡°Deal¡± Leo said as he extended his hand for Michael to shake. Michael grabbed it and Leo led them away from the Shelter to an alley where Leo explained his plan, leaving out certain details such as the replicators, the gods, and wishes along with the entirety of the plan. His explanation was limited to his plans for this planet. Michael nodded and agreed with most of the plan, the only think he didn¡¯t care for were the riots. However he knew that it would be inevitable. That day ended very well for Leo, as he recruited his most loyal friend, got the company started and had the plans ready. The replicators had sent him a message later that was a complete new product. The new invention was a piece needed in building the future quantum mirror, a prototype crystal processor. This entire process was twice as difficult to make, more difficult to work with, and more expensive. On the other hand it was almost ten times as powerful and five times as durable as a normal chip. The development of this would grant him access to money that could buy materials for replicators to work with and improve. Finally the wheels were in motion. Book I - Chapter 6 A/N: HEY ALL I''M BACK AND EXHAUSTED AFTER FLYING THE OTHER DAY. AND GOD DAMN I HATE FLYING LONG EXCRUTIATING HOURS. ON A SIDE NOTE, I HAVE DECIDED THAT I WILL POST CHAPTERS 4 TIMES A WEEK FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE. WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THIS FIRST WEEK. ALSO MY STORY WILL BE A LITTLE SLOW UNTIL WE REACH THE FIRST DIMENSION SHIFT. WHICH WILL BE STARCRAFT. SO YEAH READ UP ON STARCRAFT AND THE TECH SO YOU KNOW WHAT I''M TALKING ABOUT. IF NOT JUST ENJOY. THANKS AGAIN FOR READING AND SEE YOU LATER!!!!! It¡¯s been three weeks since the patent had been filed but sometimes it can take up to years for a patent to become completed. However it wasn¡¯t without worry, when the replicators had created this new crystal processor, they also created one other variation. The first was a dumbed down version that was only about forty years ahead that only took them a few hours to make. While the second one took a little longer and was close to a sixty years advanced. The first one was filed for patent but he knew soon that the government would be calling to come and shut his work down. Today was that day as three people came to his office as he was drinking tea relaxing as he awaited what was coming. Walking through the front door was a grunt like man checking the surroundings before he let the other two in. Next was an older man in military uniform accompanied with a younger man with glasses. Standing up Leo composed himself and walked over to greet the two of them. ¡°Mr. Leo Miller is that you?¡± the older man politely asked as he extended his hand. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s me, you are?¡± Leo asked as he shook the man¡¯s hand. ¡°I¡¯m Colonel Mark Lewoski, this is Mr. Tom Harrison were from DARPA. Are you the person who filed the patent for the crystal processor design three weeks ago?¡± He asked. ¡°Ah yes DARPA, Yes I did but I¡¯ve was expecting you.¡± Leo said as he walked away towards the counter where the coffee machine was. ¡°Coffee?¡± He asked them. ¡°Yes, please.¡± The younger one said. ¡°No thank you.¡± Said the Colonel. ¡°If you¡¯d please sit down I¡¯ll explain shortly.¡± Leo said as he got up get the coffee, inside the coffee he dropped some nanites that would enter the blood stream of Young Tom and would monitor his movements and thoughts. Walking over and handing over the cup he sat down across from them, waited until the young doctor drank some before beginning to explain. ¡°When I finished my designs I knew that Uncle Sam would want in on some of the action. Which is why I developed two of them. The first one is the one currently pending, the second one is here.¡± Leo said as he pulled out a metal box. ¡°The crystal processors I designed are more advanced than anything on the market, second it¡¯s easily ten times as powerful, and lastly it lasts longer. The pending processor is currently in my mind about forty years more advanced than what we have today. This in my hands right here is closer to about seventy years ahead of what we have. I am willing to make a trade.¡± Leo said coolly. The two men looked at each other as they nodded to each other. The colonel spoke first, ¡°What if we classify it right here and now and confiscate it? You wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything about it.?¡± ¡°Well in that case I¡¯d just have to go to ¡®Plan B¡¯ where I take my design and go public with it. Which I can do on my phone right here. Then the rest of the world will have access to my design and since it¡¯s not patented they can use freely.¡± Leo explained as he pulled out his phone with a big smile on his face. The two looked at each other again and sighed in resignation as Tom asked, ¡°What do you want? And what assurance do we have that it¡¯s what you say it is.¡± This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°Simple I will hand over all my research material as well. You can confirm the benchmarks by comparing it to your supercomputers. Do whatever you want, you¡¯ll see.¡± Leo said. ¡°Ok that¡¯s true, so what do you want?¡± The colonel asked. ¡°Simple really two things, first is you to help push my patent through the works so I don¡¯t have to wait three years and second is I want is 100 million dollars.¡± Leo calmly explained. The two looked shocked while top nearly spit out some of his coffee. ¡°You can¡¯t be serious! No processor is worth 100 million dollars. No way in hell, the patent we may be able to help with but 100 million dollars is out of the question.¡± The colonel yelled. ¡°Then in that case, how much would you consider giving?¡± Leo countered. The Colonel was about to speak when Leo stopped him. ¡°Before you say something think of this, this processor is powerful enough where you could protect all of America¡¯s digital infrastructure. How much do you think that¡¯s worth? With a couple hundred of these you could power a hack through Russia, China, and the Middle-East without them even hearing a thing. So I ask you again how much is that worth?¡± Leo asked with a cold stare. After some deliberation in private and several more minutes of negotiation, an agreement was struck. First was that only after the patent cleared would they get the research material, second they would grant him 80 million dollars, and lastly all future tech developed by Leo would first be screened by the military. Leo hadn¡¯t expected the third one but he didn¡¯t care. After he got started nothing would be able to stop him. Two months later his patent was cleared and Janice was called in to handle negotiations with other tech companies on use and production of the new processor. By the end of it six companies had agreed to use his new design which was more than enough. Now after their agreement and the projections he anticipated, he was worth somewhere along 250 million dollars. Not bad for three months work. On the business side things were beginning to take off, on the other hand at home with him and Sadia were even better. Over the last two months the two of them had grown closer, so close enough that he was considering a relationship with her. However things weren¡¯t so easy with the different clashes of culture. Sadia was comfortable around him was wasn¡¯t willing to go beyond just touching here and there. She wasn¡¯t willing to leave her husband either since it was considered taboo in her beliefs. In the end Leo just stayed in that little place way longer than he should have. By now he had a new apartment, new clothes, and even a new car. Not just for him but for his friend Michael as well. So why did he stay there? Leo was wondering that one night with him and Sadia sitting on the couch reading. Over the last two months she¡¯d increasingly talked to him. Even so much as to not even have her hijiab on all the time around him. Like normal they were happy to sit in each other¡¯s company. Tonight Sadia was feeling brave so for the first time ever, she put her hand on top Leo¡¯s hand. Shocked at this Leo looked up to see a smiling Sadia. ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking Leo. You¡¯ve been a good friend to me for the last several months and I just wanted to tell you thank you.¡± She said through her beautiful smile. ¡°It¡¯s been my pleasure Sadia, but this is a little bit much even for you.¡± Leo said as he looked at their hands. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I thought about what you said about getting a divorce.¡± She stated. ¡°And?¡± He asked, slightly anxious at her response. Deep down he¡¯d fallen for this beauty and wanted her to join him. Before she could respond though their entrance door swung open with an angry looking man storming in, with murder in his eyes. Book I - Chapter 7 A/N: HEY EVERYONE SORRY I DIDN''T POST YESTERDAY, I GOT HIT WITH A REALLY BAD FEVER SO I ONLY JUST GOT TO FINISH THIS CHAPTER. STILL A LITTLE SICK SO I DONT KNOW IF I CAN MAKE THIS WEEKS FOUR CHAPTERS BUT I WILL TRY. ALSO I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOY THIS CHAPTER. ONE OF MY FAVORITES SO FAR. AS ALWAYS ENJOY! AND PLEASE RATE AND LEAVE A COMMENT! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Standing at the door was an ugly looking, pissed off, and crazy looking man. The most notable was that he held in his hands a knife about six inches long. As Leo looked at Sadia¡¯s face, he recognized that look only as pure and utter terror. ¡°Yusef!¡± she shrieked if fear as she saw his knife. ¡°You little whore! This is where you¡¯ve been, huh you bitch? With this piece of white trash selling yourself in a dingy house! You¡¯ve gone so low as to sell yourself to pigs but won¡¯t do it for real men. I should just kill you and then have this trash here fuck your bleeding corpse. Who knows maybe I can kill you without damaging your organs.¡± He fumed as he walked over to them with the blade. Leo was in between then and put his hands up to try and stop the crazed yusef, but before he could try he attacked them. Leo in a split second pushed her behind him and put his body in front of the blade. The replicator layer could stop bullets up to a .45. A little knife would do almost nothing to him, at least that¡¯s what he thought. The man seeing that Leo was now in the way decided to slash upwards towards his neck. The man however in his rage couldn¡¯t really aim all that well and ended up way higher than that. Deep and serious the knife cut through a side of his cheek nearly cutting it all the way through. It was at that point Leo¡¯s adrenaline kicked in. leaned forward and kicked the man in the chest as hard as he could, throwing the man back. What Leo didn¡¯t know was that since he was wearing the replicators as a sort of second skin it enhanced his strength for combat. The man was flown back and thrown back against the broken door that was hanging off by a hinge. Leo then rushed in to kick the knife away as he told Sadia to call Alexi. The man was now laying on the ground unconscious or dead, Leo couldn¡¯t tell. Sadia was shaken up and holding on to Leo with a fierce grip after she got off the phone. A minute later a confused Alexi came into the room, he looked at the man and them the cut on Leo¡¯s face. Cursing in Russian Alexi pulled out his phone and called someone and spoke to them in Russian. After a few seconds, hanging up he walked over to Leo and checked on his face. ¡°What happened?¡± he asked. ¡°My husband, he found me and tried to kill me.¡± She explained before Leo could say anything. ¡°Fuck. Leo did you do that to him?¡± Alexi said as he looked into Leo¡¯s eyes. ¡°Yeah, I pulled her out of the way and he slashed my face, then I got so pumped up I kicked him in the chest.¡± ¡°Hell Leo, you killed him. He¡¯s not breathing.¡± Alexi said. Stunned at the news Sadia looked at Leo in fear and awe, while Leo was starting to feel sick. He didn¡¯t mean to kill the guy, only get him away. Leo was beginning to feel his gut wrapping itself in knots at the revelation. The tightness hit him, he was about to throw up when Sadia wrapped her arm around him and whispered to him, ¡°It¡¯s ok Leo, Its ok. Don¡¯t worry everything is going to be fine.¡± Leo looked around as everything went black. In the darkness he saw Yusef charging at him again, except this time he looked like a corpse. He has grey skin, black eyes, and yellow teeth. It was as if Yusef had come back from death and was searching for him. He felt cold, clammy, and like his heart was trying to run out of his chest. He ran from the walking corpse, but to no avail the corpse was catching up. ¡°NO!¡± he yelled as Yusef kept after him in the darkness. With the blade in his pale grey hands he lunged at him, impaling him in the heart. Shaking he sat up in his bed with Sadia there trying to keep him calm. Sweat ran down his back and face. He could feel his heart sill beating like a drum as he looked around on the bed. The first thing he noticed was that it wasn¡¯t the basement where he normally slept, he was an unfamiliar bed. The next was that he was with Sadia and seeing her without her hijab on. He looked at her and again he fell into a deep trance of her eyes. Falling deep into her eyes he finally calmed down enough to think clearly. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°I tried to wake you up but you just started thrashing around.¡± She whispered to him as she walked over her closet. Pulling out a towel she walked over to Leo as so he could wipe his own sweat away. ¡°You passed out after you heard you¡­ heard the news.¡± Grabbing the towel Leo wiped his forehead and heck when he felt his whole body go cold. Feeling around him he noticed he made most of the bed damp with his sweat. He noticed that although the replicators were on his body they just let the sweat through. ¡°I hope you don¡¯t mind but I had Alexi bring you upstairs, he said he¡¯d ¡®take care¡¯ of the body. Whatever that means.¡± She revealed as she took a seat on the bed next to him. ¡°I see.¡± Leo said in a dead tone. He knew he¡¯d killed the man in self-defense but it didn¡¯t change the fact that he still did it. His first kill. ¡°Leo, stop.¡± Sadia pleaded. Confused Leo just looked at her as he tried to figure out what she meant. Before he could say a word though she explained things too him. ¡°Leo I know that look in your eyes, that is guilt. I know because every night I would look in the mirror and give myself that same look before I ran away. I know that look Leo but don¡¯t blame yourself, he was going to kill us and you saved us.¡± She pleaded with him. ¡°Also I know what it¡¯s like to take a life, I think it¡¯s time I told you why I ran away.¡± She despaired as tear drops flooded her eyes. Leo sat in silence as he watched her fumble her hands around as if she had a nervous rub. ¡°It started two years ago, Yusef and I were married and happy with our lives. During that time my mother and father were still alive and quite wealthy after moving here from the Saudi. They were rich, his family was rich, so they weren¡¯t worried about money when I was married off. Then one morning I woke up and I overheard Yusef screaming on the phone. ¡°His family¡¯s money was tied to terrorist attacks in England where under severe pressure from foreign powers, froze his accounts. After that my life went downhill, my family had no way of contacting me and I had no way to contact them. From that day forward I was what people call ¡®a slave¡¯. With the money from his family frozen, Yusef became more agitated, violent, and abusive. In all that time he¡¯d been pushing me to try and support him with my own assets, mainly my body. He wanted me to sell myself to his rich friends so he could have spending money. After he tried a few times to convince me, I knew it would get worse. So I ran away and used some of the money I had stolen from him. That day an old woman saw me crying my heart out, she came up to me and started talking to me, gave me a hug then introduced me to Alexi. That same day she offered me protection and had her son do it, and he couldn¡¯t refuse her. He may be a gangster, but he has a good heart.¡± She sighed as she continued her story. ¡°Did you know his mother lives three houses from here? You could never tell but he¡¯d kill anyone she tell him to.¡± she said as she fiddled with her fingers, as she stared off to some distant corner of the room. ¡°Alexi protected me, his babushka protected me, and now so have you.¡± She cried, pushing her face into her hands and breaking down. Leo just pulled her in and gave her a deep hug. Not one of lust but one of care. The kind of hug you give to someone who just really needs it. Embracing him broke her, it broke down her last wall of fear of Leo. The wall that had separated her from a relationship with him, that made her fearful of violent men, except that for the first time she met a man that wasn¡¯t violent to her. For the first time in her life, she completely trusted someone other than her father. With these walls broken down she looked up and fell asleep in his arms. Book I - Chapter 8 A/N: SO GLAD THAT I WROTE THIS CHAPTER. I FEEL HAPPY AND FUZZY WRITING THIS CHAPTER AS I WROTE IT THINKING OF MY OWN GIRLFRIEND AND HOW SHE MAKES ME FEEL. CALL ME A DREAMER, ROMANTIC, OR DELUSIONAL. WHATEVER BUT I HOPE YOU ENJOY. PLEASE RATE AND COMMENT!!! ALSO PLEASE VOTE IN THE POLL!!! ---------------------------- The next morning after Sadia fell asleep in his arms caused him Leo woke up the happiest he¡¯d been in three years. Looking around he found Sadia snuggled next to him with a small smile on her face. He saw her for the first time at peace, in bed, and in his arms. The events of last night were a jumble to him at the very best. He was guilty that someone was dead, yet at the same time happy that his feelings for Sadia weren¡¯t a delusion to him. Getting out of bed he caught the scent of her hair, it gave him an instant feeling of bliss. The day was starting out good and now he needed it to get better. Today he was beginning some new projects and needed to see Janice at his apartment later. Since the inception of ¡®Lionheart Innovations¡¯ she¡¯d made more money with him in three months than she did three years at her firm. The crystal processors were on schedule to revolutionize the technological world. Heading down stairs he got ready to head to his other apartment. He¡¯d need a change of clothes after last night¡¯s festivities and a long hot shower. Before he could reach the exit of the room though Sadia called out to him, ¡°Where are you going?¡± This was the first time she¡¯d ever asked this. All the other times she just told him to ¡®Have a nice day¡¯ but this was a first. This was because Sadia didn¡¯t want him to leave, she felt at ease with him around. ¡°Why don¡¯t you come with me and find out?¡± he proposed. After a few seconds of internal conflict and struggle Sadia finally agreed to go with him. Smiling as she put on her hijab, she walked over to him and together they headed out. From the house they stayed at Leo took the bus downtown and got out in front of a garage. ¡°What are we doing here?¡± she let slip. ¡°We¡¯re here for my car.¡± Leo replied as they walked past the security booth, inside they saw the guard sleeping being how it was still early in the morning. ¡°How do you have a car?¡± she asked him. For the last several months she¡¯d only seen him walk or take the bus home and if he had a car why wouldn¡¯t he drive home? These questions fueled her confusion as they got into the parking lot to only see that the entire lot was only filled with luxury cars. Sadia looked around as if it was all a bad joke. ¡°Leo! Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re going to actually steal one of these! I thought you were a good person!¡± She accused as she followed from behind him. Chuckling at her idea of him being a car thief made him smile. From his picket he pulled out car keys and unlocked the doors to his car. Walking to the other end of the lot they arrived as an all new Audi A8. Inside was all the bells and whistles for comfort. Leather seats with heating and cooling, with a massage feature installed was something Leo looked forward to when driving. At the passenger side he opened the door for a mystified Sadia with eyes darting between Leo and the car. After Leo got into the car and got the engine on, he didn¡¯t have to see her to know that her mouth was probably wide open under her hijab. Pulling out and paying a disgruntled guard and leaving a nice tip for him they set off. ¡°Ohhh.¡± She moaned as she nestled into the seat. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°What?¡± Leo asked slightly aroused. ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me these seats has heating.¡± She said as she looked at him. Chuckling he just kept driving, they were now on their way to his other apartment, which with his company¡¯s growth allowed him a steady income and afforded him a good amount of luxury. He had spent about 3 million on the apartment, then another half million on the most comfortable furniture, kitchenware, and vanities. As for its defenses, it was operated by replicators that were set to disable intruders. The building was at the edge of the downtown area, in a place known as ¡®The Regis Tower¡¯. Pulling into the parking garage, they stopped at a security booth. ¡°Morning George.¡± Leo said to the sleeping guard. Looking up from his nap, the guard relaxed when he saw Leo. ¡°Hey there Mr. Miller. Welcome home.¡± He said as he opened the garage gates. Driving in and parking in his spot, Sadia grumbled at the loss of leather heated seats. Though now she was now slightly wary of Leo¡¯s mysterious car and this apartment in one of the most exclusive buildings in the city. Taking her hand Leo led her to the elevator where he scanned a card as the elevator began to move. On the way Sadia tried to ask Leo who he really was but couldn¡¯t bring herself to do it. As the elevator doors opened there was one door in the small hallway only there was only a small hole at eye level and no sort of keyhole or door knob. Walking ahead of her he stood in front of the door and looked into the small hole. After a second or two the door slid open to reveal what looked like a modern day palace. All the lavishness surrounding her that she had not had in many months had taken her breath away. She looked around and with her rich past had made her appreciate all of the things that were in her presence. Finally she looked Leo in the eye and asked him. ¡°Leo Miller. Who are you?¡± Smiling Leo took her hand and led her over to the sofa. ¡°Take a seat Sadia.¡± Leo smiled happily. Today he could finally tell her everything. From there he laid everything out, from losing his daughter to his bitch wife, to his genius invention, his new vast wealth and his plans for the world. All she did was listen and ask a question here and there but in the end she gave Leo a bright eyed look under her hijab. Looking down tired from the time it took to explain everything, he looked at his watch to see it was still before noon. Janice would be over at 1:00pm so he had some time until she arrived. Looking up he saw something he wasn¡¯t expecting. Sadia had removed her hijab and was giving him a warm smile. Without warning she leaned over onto him and pulled him in. For the first time in nearly five years he felt a tenderness that he¡¯d not felt since his before his homelessness. The kiss wasn¡¯t perfect by all accounts, but it was just right. Sadia was a modest lady, so for her to pull someone in for a kiss was already at the explosive emotion she felt for him. The pressure was not overly forceful, but it wasn¡¯t gentle either. A wave of relief swept through the both of them as they relaxed after the initial kiss. As they looked into each other they felt a connection that neither had ever felt before, not with their previous spouses or anyone else for that matter. In a blind spur of the moment Leo had to say the bestest dumbest thing he¡¯d ever say. ¡°I love you Sadia.¡± ¡°I love you too Leo.¡± She replied as they continued to kiss. Book I - Chapter 9 Chapter 9 A/M: HEY ALL IM SOOOOOOO SORRY I DIDN''T POST THESE LAST TWO DAYS, CAME DOWN WITH A BAD BAD BAD FEVER. I DON''T KNOW HOW MUCH I''LL BE ABLE TO WRITE THIS WEEK BUT I WILL DO MY UTMOST TO GET US THERE. =\ SORRY FOR THE DELAY AND I HOPE YOU ENJOY AND RATE!!! After the high of kissing his newly acknowledged love was over they both agreed to get some food. Sadia offered to cook for them, so that Leo could get cleaned up for his meeting with Janice. The fact that Sadia was here was definitely going to be something she¡¯d comment on seeing he¡¯d rambled about the woman for the last two months. Not caring he got into the shower and washed himself off of the hovel he¡¯d slept at. Now that Sadia knew about his life he could now try to bring her out of the hovel and ask her to stay with him here. Showering gave him some time to collect his thoughts -first time since he accidentally killed Yusef- and really reflect on himself. In 24 hours he¡¯d killed someone in self-defense, recognized his true feelings for a woman he was in love with, and finally told said woman about his vast fortunes and his feelings for her. In conclusion it had been one of the weirdest days since the meeting of Nox and Erebus. Heading into his dressing room he got some clothes and got dressed. He put on his best shirt, pants, and shoes to entertain the beauty in his home. He double checked his attire before heading to his study and getting his printouts of the new patents and future designs. With his box in hand he head out to the living room to see Sadia finishing up and plating the food, she¡¯d made eggs, toast, and some peeled fruit. She turned and smiled at his presence in the room. Setting the box near the sofa he went over to eat and together they held each other¡¯s hands and chatted. Leo asked her to move in and after some reluctance she agreed to it, on the condition she got to go back and say good-bye to Alexi and his mother. Leo agreed got some cash as a parting gift for her to give them. As they chatted the morning away the sound of his buzzer came on. The buzzer was a notice that Janice was coming and that she was on her way up on the elevator. Sadia became nervous at the idea of meeting one of Leo¡¯s friends in the flesh. ¡°Relax, she¡¯ll love you.¡± He reassured her. ¡°If you say so.¡± When Janice got in she was a little surprised that there was a woman standing next to Leo. Not trying to be rude though she just greeted the two of them as relaxed as possible. ¡°Hello Leo, You didn¡¯t tell me you had company.¡± She said out loud. ¡°Sorry Jan, I was a little distracted.¡± He said as he hinted at the fact they were holding hands. ¡°I noticed. Hi, I¡¯m Janice.¡± She introduced extending her hand out. ¡°Hello I¡¯m Sadia.¡± After they swapped introductions, Janice and Leo got straight to work. She had brought over papers on the new companies being started that day. Lionheart Technolgies Lionheart Pharmaceuticals Lionheart Pharmatech Lionheart T.V Lionheart Robotics Lionheart Communications. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.Lionheart Energies All of which were being utilized to test out the technologies that the he developed and to help further his plan of massive proportions. On Leo¡¯s side he handed off two boxes of patents that were to be filed on the experimental technology to be sent out. Of course before all this he¡¯d had a chat with his friends at the military and was going to be green lit through the Patent Office. In the end it took nearly four hours for the work to be finished and for his signature to be written over a hundred times. ¡°Finally done!¡± He exclaimed. ¡°Yeah, Thank god cause I¡¯m tired of hearing you whine.¡± Janice laughed as she packed up. ¡°I¡¯m starved, let¡¯s get some food.¡± Leo said. ¡°Well go wake up your girlfriend while I use the bathroom.¡± Getting up from the table Leo headed off to find Sadia who was taking a nap from all the boring work they were doing. Nearing the room he could hear her thrashing around and breathing heavily. Rushing in, he quickly sat next to her and tried to wake her. Yet despite his best efforts she wouldn¡¯t wake up, so he decided to try and give her a shake a little bit. It worked and as she came to she had tears flowing down her cheeks and red stuffy eyes. ¡°I saw him, he came at me and you weren¡¯t there to save me.¡± She sobbed. ¡°I thought he was back and he was stabbing me over and over and over again, I¡¯ve never felt so terrified.¡± She trembled in his arms. ¡°Don¡¯t worry it¡¯s all over, it¡¯s going to be alright.¡± ¡°What am I going to do? I don¡¯t know if I can ever let what he did to me go.¡± Leo hugged her deeply and didn¡¯t let her go. He understood the feeling of being trapped by your own nightmares. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯ll be alright. Come on let¡¯s get some food, my treat.¡± He offered. She responded with a smile and a nod, and together they went back to the main room to join Janice. On the sofa was Janice was on her phone oblivious to what had happened. Hearing them she looked up to see a Sadia who¡¯d been crying and immediately said. ¡°Leo! If you made that sweet girl cry I will flay the skin off your nutsacks!¡± she yelled. ¡°What?¡± Leo said in confusion. ¡°It wasn¡¯t him Janice, I just had a bad dream is all.¡± She reassured the Amazonian on the sofa. ¡°Oh¡± she replied calming down. ¡°Well anyway let¡¯s go out and eat.¡± Leo said. Together they got left to go eat, but seeing how it was still early they decided to go shopping as well. Leo settled on a snack to hold him over until dinner while Janice took Sadia out to shop for some nice things. Sadia after severe reservations on spending Leo¡¯s money, decided to get a beautiful silk royal blue dress, a nice bracelets and a beautiful sapphire necklace. In the end she was secretly happy she was being spoiled silly. At dinner she decided not to wear her hijab and flaunt herself for Leo. Although they never said it their behavior led to them being together ¡®unofficially¡¯. Though by the time the night had ended it was official in more ways than one. Book I - Chapter 10 A/N: OMG ITS CHAPTER 10. HURRAY!!!!! I CAN¡¯T BELIEVES IT. THANKS ALL OF YOU FOR READING AND I HOPE TO KEEP IT GOING AS CONSISTANTLY AS POSSIBLE, UNTIL THE NEXT ONE EVERYONE. ENJOY, RATE, AND COMMENT =] Side-Note: this chapter will be more of a summary of events, sadly I need an info dump chapter to move things on a bit quicker in the story. Forgive me, I know it¡¯s not the way we want it but it will have some character stuff too. So it¡¯s like one part info dump, one part character stuff. OH AND VOTE ON THE POLL UP TOP On a side not the starcraft world will take place between Brood Wars and Starcraft 2. ========================================= After all of that things flew by, five years later the Lionheart Group (owner of all lionheart companies) became one of the largest innovative group in the world. Leo had taken the world into new heights of science and technology and at the same time amassed a fortune unrivaled by anyone. That wasn¡¯t to say that he acted like the typical 1%, he shared his wealth with as many as people as possible. Those who worked in his companies were given large benefits, good pay, and positive environments. That¡¯s not to say he only treated those close to his group good but he donated millions every year and had the best homeless relocation program in the world. He housed over forty percent of the homeless population in safe warm places. After all this he also began a charity campaign to not just house the homeless but to also help them. With his ideas after a few were cleared of violent histories did he start hiring and training new workers. He helped runaways who were abused and got them into schools, got addicts who wanted a new life cleaned up, and others who just needed a second chance. As for schools he donated to school around the world and all while in the process began his own with revolutionary teaching methods. Some of which will staffed by the same homeless people he helped. Leo knew that with education he could make the world a better place, so all the teachers he hired were not the best per say. He wanted teachers who cared and who gave a shit about all their students, no matter what they thought of themselves. After his charity work came the medical advancements he brought to the world. With Lionheart Pharmatech the development for the world¡¯s first non-invasive body scan came into existence. It allowed doctors to mix x-ray, MRI, and CT scans all in one without having to make separate scans, all at minimal cost to patients. After all that was the emergency medical gel that was developed for soldiers and civilians for bullet wounds. After its release it had saved several thousand people across the country and was now being developed for use in Europe. Lastly with the use of nano-robotics (a precursor to nanites) the treatment for various viruses, funguses, and even cancer had begun to show up. For the first time in medical treatment did there seem to be a solution to diseases and sicknesses that were never thought of. On the media sector, Lionheart TV became the world¡¯s leading news station. For the first time in a long time people were given news that wasn¡¯t so depressive and that provided news in an easy to understand way, accurately. Over were the days of heavy propaganda from the governments across the world, with the exception of North Korea but nothing could be done about that. Leo made sure that the news was now presented unbiasedly which in turn changed a lot of views of western countries about other parts of the world. A main example is after two years of peaceful news reporting, extremism in America about race, sex, and even religion, radically decreased. On the other hand it forced all the extremist to band together. On the industrial side, with a combination of Lionheart Technologies, Robotics, and Energies; most industrial factories now no longer produced any carbon footprint. Most if not all factories in America were repurposed with these new machines not because of the carbon footprint, but also for the dramatic rise in efficiency as well. As for energy, he owned the most efficient solar farm in the western hemisphere (being how it was run also by replicators). This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. With all this success came adversity. Critics alike accused Leo of having a messiah complex (no shit really?) and that with his views would cause collapse of the western world. They blamed the increase of runaways, crime and anything else they could on him. Yet with all that Leo didn¡¯t give two shits about them. Say what they will the world was in a better place, the economy was up, crime was lower than it had ever been in over ten years, and people were happier all around. However that wasn¡¯t the end of his adversity, with his help to the world there were some that didn¡¯t like it. First off were the politicians, those remaining despised him, he was educating people and they couldn¡¯t have that. They launched targeted attacks on him, denouncing him, the ¡®Lionheart Group¡¯, and badmouthing his help. That ended up pretty bad for them, seeing how the people they represented weren¡¯t being heard, ¡®We like Leo, don¡¯t say bad things about Leo¡¯ was the general consensus. Next off were the corporations, they didn¡¯t like that Leo had taken up a foothold in nearly every industry known to man. Even more so they didn¡¯t like that they also couldn¡¯t do a damn thing to stop him. Those early patents they licensed from him way back in the beginning were now screwing them over. Since all the tech they had now basically required the crystal processor, they were shit out of luck in trying to stop him. That is if they still wanted to be in business. Lastly were the extremist, this was the one thing that scared the shit out of Leo. So much he in turn created Lion¡¯s Securities. A private military company that he owned that was equipped with the latest gadgets of Lionheart Technologies, Defense sector. The men hired weren¡¯t your run of the mill soldiers, in fact they were what you¡¯d call disabled. Soldiers who had lost arms and legs were immediately on the list of candidates. Not for their service but for what they stood for, to have lost something that they never thought they could get back. Leo gave these men a chance first, with prosthetic super limbs. This technology gave men a chance a new positive outlook on life. Now back to those extremist, Leo one year had gotten word that the two of the most extreme groups had come together and united on a common enemy, Leo. They were planning on attacking his home, office, and company locations. This was something Leo couldn¡¯t let stand, so with some extreme consideration from him and Sadia. In the end Leo contacted his friends at the pentagon and an hour later he got word in the form of a single line. ¡®It will be taken care of¡¯. With all this good and bad Leo still had not completed his only goal left, his daughter. After his rise to power as Tech guru he¡¯d tracked down his ex-wife and friend. He¡¯d sent numerous request to meet, talk, or even just see his daughter, all of which he never got a reply. As time went by the more nervous and anxious he¡¯d gotten about it. Finally one day Sadia and Janice couldn¡¯t put up with it anymore and pushed him into just going and seeing them. Five days later he¡¯d arrived in their neighborhood and saying he was furious would be taking him lightly. After some investigation he¡¯d discovered the two fuckups had become addicts, and were barely functioning, let alone taking care of a twelve year old girl. Leo demanded a full investigation as he stayed around to look for signs of his daughter. After several hours of research he¡¯d gotten what he wanted and sometimes the truth hurt. His daughter was missing. Book I - Chapter 11 A/N: HEY BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE, SO I REALIZED I NEED ANOTHER POLL! SO PLEASE ANSWER THIS NEW ONE. ALSO I WANT YOU GUYS TO LET ME KNOW HOW YOU LIKE THE STORY BY RATING IT AND BY COMMENTING, ALSO I WANT YOU GUYS TO KNOW I WILL TAKE A SHORT BREAK AFTER THE FIRST BOOK IS DONE (CHAPTER 15 ISH?) AND WRITE THE FIRST FEW CHAPTERS OF THE STARCRAFT BOOK AND DO A DOUBLE RELEASE TO CELEBRATE THE SECOND BOOK! WARNING: VIOLENCE WILL BE IN THIS CHAPTER. NOT SURE HOW YOU¡¯LL TAKE IT, BUT BE PREPARED. Chapter 11 Three days after Leo discovered that his daughter was missing for the first time used his security team for anything other than their job. He ordered them to nab his ex-wife and friend and take them to a black site where he would meet them. He told Sadia and she told him that he should not be violent, that he should remain true to himself. Making no promises he just nodded and went off. The building they were being held at was a shabby abandoned building and deserted with no one nearby. Inside the two were tied up with a bad over their heads and locked to a chair. Entering the room Leo immediate noticed a smell, the two had pissed themselves and were on the way to defecating themselves as well. In the room were two guards, one with a prosthetic super arm and another with a prosthetic super leg. They were stationed at the door behind Leo waiting for any trouble. Leo gathering his rage and trying to calm himself took off the bag off of his ex-wife¡¯s head, then his old friend. As their eyes adjusted to the light, their eyes fell upon Leo and together they gasped. They had not seen Leo in over eight years and they had screwed him over so bad and had left him with nothing. Stunned and not saying anything he decided to greet them first. ¡°Hello Eliza¡­ Tim¡­¡± ¡°Leo¡­?¡± the two addicts stammered. ¡°I see the money you two took from me went to waste.¡± He said as he started pacing around the room. ¡°Fuck you¡± Eliza spat and with that Leo snapped, with a quick hit he backhanded her giving a small cut on her lip. ¡°Hey watch it you asshole!¡± Tim yelled at him. ¡°SHUT THE FUCK UP! YOU DON¡¯T HAVE THE RIGHT TO SAY SHIT!¡± Leo roared at the tied up man. Cowering slightly Tim came to realize that this wasn¡¯t the same Leo he took advantage of all those years ago. Recomposing himself Leo continued to pace again. ¡°I¡¯m not going to waste time with you two, tell me where Sara is.¡± Leo demanded. At the mention of her name the two pissed themselves again. The two nervously began begging for mercy and that crying that they didn¡¯t have any choice. ¡°Stop! What did the two of you do?¡± Leo asked them while trying not to lose his patience. The two looked at each other before mumbling something. ¡°I can¡¯t hear you, speak up.¡± In a mumbled voice Eliza whispered, ¡°We sold her.¡± It was at this point that they knew, they fucked up. Leo flipped and swung his fist as hard as he could into Tim¡¯s jaw. The impact shattered his jaw and dislocated it all in a single go. Leo was about to strike again when one of the guards stopped him. For a brief second Leo considered killing the two of them, but in the end his conscience won out. As Leo was taking several breaths to calm himself, Eliza screamed at the brutal attack on her lover. At this point Tim was out cold, for good reason because if he woke up he¡¯d be in for one hell of a pain trip. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Collecting himself Leo asked Eliza, ¡°Who the fuck did you sell her to?¡± Looking up at Leo is mass fear and panic she responded with a whisper, ¡°It was some old guy, he gave us fifty grand for her. Said that no one would notice her missing.¡± ¡°FIFTY GRAND?! YOU SOLD YOUR DAUGHTER¡­ FOR FIFTY GRAND!?!?!?!?¡± Leo roared at the fear stuck woman. ¡°WHAT¡¯S HIS NAME!?¡± Leo demanded. ¡°I don¡¯t know, please Leo you have to believe us. He told us to call him Chaos and that if we were smart we¡¯d use fake names too.¡± She explained. Leo froze at that name. Chaos. The Father of Nox and Erebus. The primordial being that rules all of the cosmos, had taken his daughter. After hearing this Leo stormed out after telling his guards to begin a search for the old man. Although Leo knew that the search would avail to nothing he still tried. He let the two captives go but in return he gave them ¡®purifier¡¯. A drug that was used on addicts to clear their system of addiction. With the news of chaos Leo headed back to the place where it all began, underneath the bridge where he met the two. On his way there he brought along his remaining wish marbles. Hours later he was underneath that very same bridge, the bridge where he agreed all those years ago to ¡®entertain¡¯ the gods. ¡°NOX!!!!!¡± he screamed. ¡°EREBUS!!!!!!!¡± Leo yelled into the darkness. After a few minutes of nothing he finally gave up and took out one of his wish orbs. ¡°I wish for my daughter to be returned to me unharmed.¡± Nothing. ¡°I wish Nox and Erebus to appear in front of me.¡± Nothing. Again he wished and wished and wished and wished. Yet in the end nothing came. At the end of it all Leo fell to his knees and cried his heart out on the ground. Tears fell from his eyes, his very soul weeping at the idea of his lost little girl. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, they can¡¯t hear you.¡± A voice said behind him. Leo in utmost urgency whipped his head back to see who was there. In front of him stood an old man, seemingly in his sixties. With black hair, in a black robe, and lastly with black eyes. ¡°Hello, Leo I¡¯m Chaos.¡± =============================================== For chaos imagine a more aged Snape from the HP movies. Book I - Chapter 12 AN: HEY BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE, I WILL BE TAKING THE NEXT FEW DAYS OFF AND WILL BE REPOSING AGAIN ON MONDAY I HOPE THIS CHAPTER CLEARS UP SOME CONFUSION PEOPLE HAD ABOUT THE LAST 2 CHAPTERS AND ALSO I AM CALLING MY FIRST STARSHIP THE ATLAS. I HOPE YOU ENJOY, PLEASE RATE, COMMENT, AND SMILE. =] Chapter 12 ¡°Where is my daughter?¡± Leo asked in a panicked frenzy. ¡°She is safe I swear upon the primordial powers. She is safe.¡± Chaos said to him raising a hand to try and calm Leo down. Taking in deep breaths he asked the God, ¡°What do you want?¡± ¡°Your help.¡± He answered plainly. Leo was now confused, what would cause the primordial god, the ruler of all; to kidnap his daughter? ¡°Nox and Erebus have been¡­ preoccupied so to speak.¡± ¡°What do you mean? I thought they gave me wishes to entertain them, then all of a sudden they have something else?¡± With a difficult expression Chaos just said, ¡°I guess preoccupied isn¡¯t the right word. The correct word is¡­working, they working but beyond this realm of existence.¡± ¡°What? Why would they work, but not in this realm of existence?¡± Leo asked in disbelief. In a deep depressing sigh Chaos considered his options. The universe would need a future champion and in telling him now, he would have to rise to that challenge. The fate of not only his children, but the entire multiverse could collapse and be changed from existence. If he didn¡¯t tell him but used Sara as a hostage instead then he¡¯d do it anyway, to give him a choice or not. That was the question. Chaos tapped his chin and stared into Leo¡¯s mind. Not the first time he¡¯d done it but he had done it multiple times in order to attain a grasp on Leo¡¯s character. He¡¯d been doing it all year and finally got what he needed. An answer. ¡°It¡¯s a long explanation but let¡¯s deal with this first. If you agree to help me, I will give you your daughter back. However by agreeing you are making a deal with me, deals with me don¡¯t get broken. So I will ask you, how much do you love your daughter?¡± Chaos asked him. ¡°I¡¯ll do it, I agree just let her go!¡± Leo pleaded. ¡°As you wish.¡± Chaos said with a wave of his hand Sara appeared in front him with a flashing light. She was floating in mid-air with a look of serenity on her face. ¡°She¡¯s sleeping and doesn¡¯t remember anything about me holding her for the last few days. All she¡¯ll remember is the fact I took her and brought her to you. She¡¯ll remain that way until you hear your duty now.¡± Chaos declared. Leo could only nod as he looked at his daughter floating peacefully. ¡°Good. Take a seat.¡± Chaos said with a wave of his hand allowing a table and chairs to appear. Struggling to sit down Leo wanted to do nothing more than to take his daughter away and hold her. Yet he knew that wouldn¡¯t work. As Chaos sat down he began to explain. ¡°You know the multi-verse is true and so you know there are other universes out there. The multiverse is like a tree, all with a single origin point, what you humans call the big bang. All is in a way is correct from your human understanding. Gods are sort of the creatures that inhabit the tree, we take some essence and in return we protect and maintain the tree. Understand me so far?¡± Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Good, well what other people don¡¯t know is that there are things¡­ how would you say¡­ other trees? Their existence is similar to ours but not as vibrant. If our tree gets taken over it¡¯s sort of like a sale to get rid of stock to make space for the new stock. Everything must go¡­. Understand?¡± Leo understood. If new gods came in and look over their multiverse, then all life would be removed in order to make space for the new life. The new gods would destroy everything that remembered the old gods. Then install a new society that believed only in them. Which begged to questiong¡­ ¡°Is that what you were? You take over this tree?¡± Leo asked. ¡°Ah no. I am the original tender to this tree. When I spoke of taking over, did you think we were the only tree? Oh no there are other trees Leo. What we call the multiverse is but a single tree in the existence of the forest.¡± ¡°So what do you want me to do? How can I help you if I can¡¯t even fight them?¡± ¡°Ah yes, your role. When multiverses are invaded the gods can only battle on their level. So mortals can only battle other mortals, gods can only fight other gods. We didn¡¯t make that rule the Origin did. So in this case a god will normally raise empires and armies, and bring them into the tree to attack.¡± ¡°How long does out multiverse have?¡± ¡°About 100 years.¡± ¡°And how am I supposed to help? I can¡¯t turn earth into a space faring civilization, galactic empire, and build a super fleet in 100 years. That¡¯ll take that long just to get them unified.¡± With a one sided frown Chaos sighed. ¡°That is true, but I don¡¯t need you to lift earth into a space empire. I have a better idea, an idea I think you¡¯ll agree with. All that time when you were a kid, when you watched those tv shows, read those books, and played those games. I know you wanted to change the story your way, a way for you to be the hero. Leo, I can give you the chance to visit your favorite worlds and let you do just that. I can grant you the ability to travel the multiverse in that way you can build your empire. Now as for other motivation -and I¡¯m not talking about your daughter-. I will give you the chance to bring all you care about into immortality. I will grant you and your family godhood.¡± Chaos offered. Leo looked at Chaos and inside felt a conflicting struggle. Should he do it? Was there a reason for him to do it? Of course. Would he want godhood? Yeah of course, assuming he survived. Did he want to see all the worlds he¡¯d had a deep longing for? The answer to that was hell yeah. Leo wanted this except he had to think about his daughter and Sadia as well. ¡°Would I be alone? If I travel the multiverse. Will I have to do it alone?¡± Leo asked. ¡°Of course not¡± Chaos smiled. ¡°Ok then, you have yourself a champion. Now give me my daughter.¡± Leo said. Announcements and Character name submissions FEBRUARY 2ND, 2016 Hey all I''m sorry for not posting a chapter yesterday like I promised. You may all have a cookie as an apology. *hands out cookies* I''m finished the chapter and started the next one buuuuuuuttt my surface pro 2 (which has served me well over the years) pooped out on me. Luckily I take notes but I have to rewrite the chapter on my phone. Ughhhhh This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Sorry everyone for the delay. As a thing I''m taking character name suggestions if you all want to submit some. That might be used in Book 2 StarCraft series. Sorry again thanks for reading and hope to have the chapter up for you guys tomorrow. Book I - Chapter 13 A/N: HEY EVERYONE IM SORRY BUT HERE''S THE STUFF! I AM GETTING A REPLACEMENT LAPTOP/THING TO WRITE ON IN A WEEK SO UNTIL HEN SOME DELAY IN CHAPTERS, SUCKS I KNOW BUT ITS NOT LIKE IM WRITING AN ORIGINAL RIGHT? =''[ (FANFIC PREJUDICE) ANYWAY PLEASE ENJOY RATE AND COMMENT. ALSO I MIGHT BE WRITING ANOTHER FIC ON THE SIDE. MAYBE 2.....OR 3........ HAVE A GOOD DAY!! Chapter 13 Leo got his daughter back and when she woke up she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. She cried tears of joy seeing him again, apparently she was smart just like he was and had noticed that the famous rich guy had the same eyes she did. So she put two and two together and knew immediately. Unfortunately for her, her mom wasn¡¯t having any of it and restricted her from contacting him. After the hug Sara turned and hugged Chaos as well. ¡°Thank you for taking me to my daddy.¡± She smiled as she beamed at god. ¡°It was a pleasure young lady. Now be sure to behave and to take care of your daddy. You hear?¡± he said to her in a grandfatherly tone. ¡°Yup!¡± she cheerfully said. As they began walking away Chaos called out. ¡°Wait! I forgot something.¡± Turning around Chaos had a key in his hand and passed it to him. ¡°Take this and go to the address. You¡¯ll find all you need there.¡± Chaos said as he turned and walked the other way. Leo nodded and then left with his daughter and headed home with his guards, who by the way were oblivious of Chaos making Sara appear out of thin air. On the way home he hugged and told Sara how much he loved her and how he was so happy to have her back. She just cried and stayed in his arms and together they just hugged each other. Back at home Sadia was cooking, even with all the money in the world, one thing she loved to do no matter what was to cook for them. Leo had let her know that his little girl was coming home and that they¡¯d finally meet. She was ecstatic that the day had finally come, where she would finally become part of Leo¡¯s family. Even though he¡¯d repeatedly told her she already was, this was the last thing she needed. As she was about to put her lamb into the oven she heard the door open. Her heart skipped a beat as she thought to herself, ¡®Todays the day!¡¯ Hurrying to put the food into the oven she heard them walk into the kitchen. ¡°Hey beautiful, I want you to meet someone.¡± Turning around Sara saw maybe the most beautiful woman she¡¯d ever seen. With the bronze skin that seemed to shine, hair that was tied perfectly, and eyes that made her feel safe, Sara immediately liked the woman. ¡°Sara meet Sadia, my girlfriend. Sadia meet my daughter Sara.¡± Leo introduced. Sadia trying not to seem rude stuck out her hand to shake Sara¡¯s hand but instead got a hug instead. Sara hung tightly around her neck and whispered into her ear, ¡°Thanks for taking care of dad.¡± Sadia choked up when hearing this while Leo on the other end had something in his eyes and had turned around. After a few seconds of quiet happy tears Sadia told them that dinner would be in a few minutes. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. That night the three of them had their first family time in a long time. It was also when Leo told the two of them the truth, the truth about everything. Including who the man was, the wishes he had that were useless now, and the future. He told them about his duty now, he had to raise an empire or have all of creation fall to the invaders that were not even from their tree of the multiverse. At the end of it all Leo was drained, Sadia wasn¡¯t sure, and Sara thought it was all just a story. After they talked they decided it would be best to sleep on it and see how things were in the morning. That night Sadia had a dream, not one of the many nightmares with Yusef that she still had. No, this was her first encounter with a god. As she slept something pierced her veil of sleep, appearing through the darkness was an old man in a robe. ¡°Hello Sadia.¡± Chaos greeted. ¡°Who are you?¡± She asked. ¡°I have many names, I am the source, the origin, and the creator.¡± He said. ¡°Then you are..?¡± ¡°Yes I am, but that is not why I am here. I am here to tell you that Leo wasn¡¯t making a story up and that he will need your help.¡± ¡°My help? How can I help Leo? He¡¯s a genius, I¡¯m just a lucky woman.¡± ¡°Whatever you may think of yourself it does not equate to what he thinks of you. He will need your help, not to assist but to keep him straight. Without you I fear he will succumb to the vices of power. You will be there to keep him straight.¡± Chaos explained. Sadia after the last several years had always remained on the side, never feeling it was her place to share the limelight with Leo. Although her life had done nothing but improve once she joined Leo, she felt obligated to give him herself in as many ways as she could. With Chaos¡¯ words however she finally realized her position and finally felt that Leo wouldn¡¯t toss her aside at a moment¡¯s notice anymore. ¡°I see now what you mean. I will do all I can to help him, not because you¡¯re ordering me to but because I love him.¡± She told him. ¡°Good. Now a fair bit of warning, the worlds you will visit will not be nice. So start combat and weapons training as soon as you can.¡± Chaos smiled as he faded away into the blackness. The next morning Leo woke up to a serene Sadia sleeping next to him. He always enjoyed waking up to her warm body next to his, but today he had something to do. His first objective was to go in search of the address Chaos had given him. Leo called up the head of his security division and ordered a full detail in search of the address. Three minutes later he¡¯d gotten all the information he needed on the place, then another fifteen minutes until they began driving. Took them an hour but once they were there Leo was slightly disappointed. The building looked like a giant warehouse and in front of the building was a for sale sign. ¡®What is the plan Chaos?¡¯ Leo wondered as he looked at the building. His security detail led him to a door where there was a note. ¡®Thumbprint Reader, Get your Boss.¡¯ Chuckling at the note Leo pressed his thumb against the door and ventured in. Book I - Chapter 14 A/N: HEY EVERYONE! THANK YOU ALL FOR READING, NO ANNOUNCEMENTS OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT. JUST ENJOY, RATE, AND COMMENT. THANKS ALL YOU BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE. Chapter 14 Inside the warehouse Leo couldn¡¯t believe his eyes. In the center of the building was a computer that was a mix of Atlantean and Asgard design. It seemed to be a repository of some kind, with the combination of Atlantean knowledge and Asgard design. The repository was about the size of a tank except for two things. First being that it was floating in mid-air with some sort of anti-gravity technology, and that it was making only a slight humming noise. Second was that there was an actual interface that was in English. (Ancient and Asgards were iffy when it came to interfaces.) ¡°Amazing isn¡¯t it?¡± A voice came from behind him. After catching all of security off guard they immediately swung their guns and pointed at this voice. Walking from the shadows came a woman, in white ceremonial robes and black hair. ¡°And you are?¡± Leo asked. ¡°I am Athene.¡± She introduced as she walked up near him. ¡°Goddess of Wisdom and War. A pleasure to meet you.¡± Leo said. ¡°No need, I have been commanded to be here so here I am. Lord Chaos has told me I am to explain to you what I have created and that should be enough. This is a combination of two great civilizations technology here. The ¡®shows¡¯ you watched and worlds you only dream of, their science is all here. The Ancient Database, which includes all their schematics, research, and ascension knowledge is all there. Next are the Asgard their same knowledge is here, as well as their genetic research and conscious transfer technology, which I recommend you do in the near future. All of that is there along with basic beaming technology, the interface there on the screen can also be activated by voice command.¡± She explained as she started walking around. ¡°I would have given you more technology but Lord Chaos said that this would give you enough of a head start to begin. Due to the way time works here and comparatively to the way it is when traveling the multiverse, Lord Chaos has told me to give you this.¡± She said as she handed him a metal box. Opening the box he noticed a small countdown watch. ¡°The watch is counting down until the invasion. Do not lose it.¡± She said. ¡°Is that all?¡± Leo asked her, while still stunned at the level of advancement he had now. ¡°I would have given you dimensional weapons as well but those are bit out your realm of understanding altogether.¡± She sighed as she turned away. ¡°Build your forces quickly, time is short and we will need billions upon billions to fight for us to survive the coming tide. Good luck Herald.¡± She said as she disappeared from view. As she left the security detail was left stunned, they had heard the story from Leo but considered it the delusions of a rich and powerful billionaire. After seeing that they realized that their eccentric boss was in fact telling the truth and was in fact going to be the savior of their very existence. They could hardly believe it, but there were a few who could. One such man was Nathaniel Quinn captain of the security team and former navy seal who had lost both his arms in combat. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Nathaniel was tall, with brown hair and brown eyes, but above all he was a man who believed what he saw, and from what he saw right now he believed Leo. A being had just gave Leo advanced technology from two fictional but real civilizations. Leo had given him arms again, given him freedom of mobility, and purpose again. Nathanial believed that Leo could in fact save them all. Leo in only five years had revolutionized the world in the way it thought, lived, and progressed, from homeless to world savior. For Nathaniel and many others they could believe it, Leo would end up saving all of existence. Leo stood there looking at the floating computer, imagining all the possibilities of this technology his brain was going into overload. What was his first move going to be with the impending attack? After a few seconds of silence he finally broke his silence. ¡°Computer Core. Status¡± *Core Online, Beaming Capabilities: Available. Dimensional Engine; Available, Request designation for this unit.*, the core responded. ¡°This unit will be referred to as ¡®Eden¡¯ until further notice. What is Eden¡¯s power unit?¡± *Designation, Eden. Accepted. This unit is powered by one ZPM along with three standby ZPM¡¯s for assisted functionality.* ¡®Three ZPM¡¯s?¡¯ Leo could hardly contain himself. A single ZPM could take care of earth¡¯s power needs for the next 1000 years. ¡°Eden will beam everyone here back to my place of residence, backyard.¡± Leo said. *Acknowledged* Eden confirmed. With that a flashing light blinded everyone in the building and took them to the back of Leo¡¯s house, luckily the staff was off that day. Looking at the security that was there he figured that now was as food a time as any to start his army. ¡°All of you guys who have witnessed what just happened probably still don¡¯t believe your eyes. I don¡¯t blame you not one bit, but we are a little pressed for time. I need the best of the best to help me and you guys are exactly that. I believe you men are the best of the best. You are all men who have served for what you believe in with honor and commitment, and have given a part of yourself for that. I did my best to give it back and promised to not ask anything in return outside what we agreed on. Now I must break that promise and ask you all to serve again, not for good or bad, not for liberty or freedom, nor for family or friends, but for our existence. In a hundred years, every dimension of out known multiverse will be invaded. Some of you won¡¯t be there, some of you will, but maybe your children and even your grandchildren will. I am asking you men to do what you¡¯ve always done¡­ to fight and protect the innocent.¡± Leo declared. All around him the thirty men of his security detail surrounded themselves in thought. Considering the words of the man who held the most advanced technology on the planet along with the very foundations of human society. Nathaniel stood there wondering if he had anything to live for, he had no wife and kids so he didn¡¯t really care about others. But he then remembered he had a little brother who had just gotten married, what about him? Was he worth fighting for? Was his future kids? These questions weighed on him heavily. Book I - Chapter 15 A/N: HEY EVERYONE, ITS TIME, THE TIME FOR LEAVING EARTH HAS COME. THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!!!! AS A SURPRISE TO ALL OF YOU THIS CHAPTER WILL BE DOUBLE THE SIZE!!!! APPLAUSE NOW WE ARE NOW GOING INTO THE DEEP END OF SPACE TECH, ALL LINKS TO THE TECH MENTIONED WILL BE LINKED AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER. ALSO I REMOVED THE HAREM TAG, ALTHOUGH I KINDA THINK THERE ARE PLENTY OF OTHER HAREM STORIES OUT THERE. Chapter 15 Three days later Leo stood in front of a press conference of over a hundred reporters, all eager to hear the new announcement that was happening today. With Leo¡¯s track history they knew, when he talked and walked, the world listened and moved. Today¡¯s press conference was being held at the ¡®Lionheart Group HQ¡¯, in their main conference hall. As everything was ready Leo began. ¡°Ladies and gentlemen thank you all for coming. I am Leo Miller, founder and CEO of the ¡®Lionheart Group¡¯. Today I am here to announce something that many have also announced but I am doing something much, much more. Today I am announcing that we have started a new branch of our Technologies Division. Today I hereby announce the start of Lionheart Space, with this new announcement come with many new and exciting things. First off Lionheart Space will develop the world¡¯s first interstellar ship. Combined with exciting new technology developed by all of our affiliates. Second is that with this ship we will begin recruitment of a team of engineers, technicians, and scientists as well to crew these new ships. Lastly we will also be developing colonization equipment for places like Mars, Venus, and the moon. Today I am here to promise these things¡­ to take humanity into the real space age, in five years.¡± As the words left his lips scores of reporters sprang up with questions, camera flashed, and security had to earn their pay. That day humanity changed and Leo Miller became the most powerful man in the world. For the next five years the world would scramble on its feet to meet the demand for raw materials that Leo needed. Leo decided that he would not make just one little ship, instead with the remaining ZPMs he decided make two whole capital class ships with two ZPMs in each. Thankfully with the beaming technology installed in Eden he could fabricate duplicate versions of Eden with enough materials, which was what he was planning on first. The way beaming technology worked was a marvel to those who saw it. In essence it allowed for bonding of elements at a molecular level. This was especially important when it came to structure and durability. However the beaming technology could only rearrange molecules, not restructure them. So all metals would remain the same, however he had the ability to make alloys. Through this new ability he was now able to make the most powerful alloy on earth, considering the lack of denser metals and more advanced alloys. Leo considered the production of the ships to be not a big deal since with Eden, he not had access to time dilation technology. Although he couldn¡¯t make advanced ones he could make basic ones. With the help of Eden their capability ended up being that it could slow time by a half, giving him twice as much time in a contained space. Combining the replicators that he had hidden away with this time dilation technology, he had a fearsome combination of miners, builders, and army. With the replicators in charge of building they would take the alloys and build them into the future ships. Before this though they would need a lot more replicators. The replicators were all moved under the warehouse where Eden was given to Leo. Under the warehouse was a large storage of metals that they needed to swell their ranks. After a few weeks they had enough to begin construction on the two capital ships, which would aptly be named, ¡®The Atlas¡¯ and ¡®The Prometheus¡¯. With the new technology came one problem, energy. All the new technologies required more advanced power generation in massive proportions. The beaming technology required a lot of energy, so much that if it tapped into any power grid on the planet it would cause massive power shortages. Luckily for them they had some ZPMs. With the beaming technology combined with the building ability of the replicators they were able build an efficient antimatter power generator. It took five of them to meet the energy requirements of the time dilation fields. With the introduction of the new antimatter generators they now had a way to power their ships, along with their new weapons. The capital ships of two separate design, one was supposed to be a carrier, designed to carry drones, not the ones like the US military but advanced ones. These drones were similar to the drones from Atlantis, except for small differences. First being that weren¡¯t projectile weapons, as in they didn¡¯t kamikaze into enemies until necessary. Second was that they shot very basic laser beams, strong enough to melt steel. Lastly was that they were each half the size of fighter jets and twice as mobile and fast. Aside from drones the ships were built with new weapons technology as well. The D-33 Missile Launchers were created with the ability to fire different missiles through the same tube. Missiles had multiple payloads, explosive, puncture, and replicators. Next were C-3 Railguns, designed to fire 400 rounds a minute, with each round traveled at a speed of Mach 6. Then there were the Plasma Beams, each required the power of six antimatter generators and took some time to charge up before it could be used. Lastly there was the development of shield emitters, truthfully though it was a rudimentary version of Asgard Shielding Technology. The Prometheus spanned the length of 1500 meters, 500 meters wide and 400 meters tall. It was also equipped with personnel transport, drone bays, shield emitters, 12 rail guns and 2 Plasma Beams. In the ship drone bay five hundred drones awaited instruction while the personnel transport would be able to carry a total of 2400 colonist as well. The colonization tech that was going to be used was planned to be three fold. First was replicators building shelters out of materials they brought along, second was to build infrastructure depending on the planet, and lastly was to start production of raw materials through the use of replicators. With this he¡¯d be able to secure a solid foot hold on the planet they planned on colonizing. While Prometheus was the carrier, bringing fire and destruction to whoever stood in the way of the Atlas. The Atlas was the flagship, designed with thicker armor and bigger guns. The Atlas was the length of 2100 meters long and 600 meters wide, and almost 400 meters tall. The new flagship would be equipped with three shield emitters, 22 D-33 Missile Launchers, 42 Railguns, and 10 Plasma Beams. The Atlas would require almost 2000 people to crew, and several metric tons of supplies to keep them all happy. Lucky for them that the trip would only take a few days and that the colonies to begin producing food. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nathaniel stood at the forward deck of the Atlas, in just five short years they had built two capital class starships. Each one costing easily in the trillions, luckily they were well funded. Those who were around him were the original security detail who joined Leo that day five years ago. They all decided in the end to join Leo, on his crusade to build an empire and save all of existence. They were the first to be inducted into the Lion Guard. As they stood there reminiscing about forgotten days they finally realized that the day had come. ¡°Who¡¯d a thought that the disabled guys would end up fighting aliens and saving the multiverse?¡± His second in command Guy Fisk joked. Nathaniel laughed at the short stocky man, over the last seven years they all became dedicated to each other and to the cause. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.Three years ago Leo informed them on what the future would possibly hold. First was going to the Starcraft universe, a place where war and veteran soldiers were common. Their technology and contact with the Protoss would be invaluable, along with the Terran technology. Leo¡¯s biggest fear was the Zerg, he¡¯d hoped he would be able to partake a peace treaty with Kerrigan but he had back up plans in play if things didn¡¯t work out. ¡°So the first dimension were visiting has other humans huh?¡± one of the guys asked. ¡°Yeah but they¡¯re kinda like Australia, sent all the convicts there. Then they decide to start their own space empire.¡± The guy next to him said. Over the last few weeks every crew member and colonist was instructed to research their new home. Having already been prepped in the information they began formulating plans on how to create worlds for them to colonize in such a hostile universe. The answer came in the form of the time dilation devices. With enough power they could fast forward time for a split moment and have a millennia pass. The only problem Leo had with this plan was that it would require the loss of one of their precious ZPM. ¡°Hey boys!¡± Leo said as he walked into the forward deck. ¡°Leo! Glad you could make it.¡± Guy said. ¡°Like I would miss this!?¡± Leo exclaimed. Today the Lion Guard would be having a celebratory toast in honor of their life on Earth. After tomorrow where the ships would take off, it was unlikely that they would ever return. That night they partied hard and Leo paid for it all. Tomorrow would be the launch of ¡®The Atlas¡¯ and ¡®The Prometheus¡¯. Leo was expecting a heavy turnout as he would be streaming from the bridge of the Atlas. As they partied the night away without worry, Leo and Nathaniel sat up passing what remained of the liquor back and forth. ¡°So Boss when you gonna propose to that sweet thing?¡± Nathaniel drunkenly asked. ¡°Hah! I was just thinking about *hic* it! Relax, I have a plan¡­ Just don¡¯t steal her from me!¡± Leo drunkenly replied. ¡°Never!¡± Nate said with a bad burp of alcohol breath, and like that the two passed out. Three hours later they were all woken up and went to their quarters to sleep in preparation for tomorrow. That morning at a press conference two miles from the takeoff site, stood Leo, Sadia, Sara, Nathaniel, Guy, and Michael. All of them but Michael were dressed in complete white uniforms with gold colored trimmings. As Leo took to the stage he announced that he¡¯d signed over all of the Lionheart Group to Michael for the duration of ten years, when he returned the group would return to him as well. Next was that the ships would be out of contact for at least a year, seeing how they had sublight engines but not sublight communications. (Which Leo purposefully hid from the public) After which he said that one day he¡¯d return, and bring the humanity back out with him. Two hours later, on Board the Atlas. ¡°Eden, how are we on schedule?¡± Leo asked as he sat down on his control chair. *All proceedings are on time, Take off will begin in three minutes.* The computer said. ¡°Open a comm channel to the Prometheus.¡± Leo told the Comms Officer The Comms Officer was a blonde girl names Hayley who responded, ¡°Comm Channel Open.¡± Nodding to her Leo spoke, ¡°This is Leo to Sadia, do you read me?¡± On the other end Sadia¡¯s voice was clear as a bell. ¡°This is Sadia, what is it Leo?¡± she asked with a worried tone. ¡°Nothing wrong, just wondering how your preparations are going.¡± Leo said to her. Letting out a small sigh of relief, ¡°Preparations are on schedule, energy levels are green, pilots are ready, weapons are under stealth, and the dimensional engine has been linked to the Atlas.¡± She announced proudly. Smiling at the proud Sadia, Leo responded, ¡°That¡¯s great news, once we take off and make it past the moon and enter hyperspace out past the moon we¡¯ll jump.¡± ¡°I know Leo, we¡¯ve gone through this already.¡± She exasperated. ¡°Good, see you on the other side.¡± He said as he motioned for Comms Officer Hayley to cut the connection. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡°This is Trisha Nakamura reporting live from the takeoff site of the Atlas and the Prometheus. In just a few moments the two ships will rise from the ground where they¡¯ve been hiding for the last five years. Nobody in the last five years has been able to sneak a glimpse, let alone get a picture out to the public. It seems that the time for the secret ships to come out has come.¡± She said into her microphone. As her words ended the ground began to shake, in the distance to as far as far as the eyes could see the land seemed to open up. Some were afraid it was an earthquake, but as time went by the ground opened up more and more. Out of this massive hole, came the first ship, the Prometheus. Rising from the ground was the largest ship ever seen in human history. Slowly with its loud hum of antigrav and sublight thrusters, it slowly left the ground and reached the clouds. As the Prometheus reach the clouds another ship came out from down under. The Atlas, rising from the ground was larger than the Prometheus! People around the world couldn¡¯t believe that such a thing was possible. As the massive ships rose into the sky and left earth behind, all people could feel is a sense of accomplishment. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡°Sir, we¡¯ve reached the jump point.¡± Navigation Officer Simon reported to Leo. ¡°Good, open a channel to the Prometheus and the Atlas..¡± ¡°Channel Open.¡± ¡°Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our first point. We are about to take the first step into a new reality, all for a better future. Before all that, I just want to thank all of you, for supporting me. Without all of you this would still be a dream. Thank you.¡± Leo said as he cut the comm line. ¡°Eden, set a jump point in the Starcraft Universe. Post-brood war set one year after the retreat of the UED. Near the Umojian Protectorate.¡± *Dimensional Jump Ready at your command* ¡°5¡­4¡­.3¡­.2¡­.1¡­..MARK!¡± Leo commanded. And like that the two capital class ships disappeared, from one dimension to the next. END OF BOOK 1 -------------------------- Links to Tech http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Asgard_power_core http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Asgard_computer_core http://www.stargate-sg1-solutions.com/wiki/Technology_of_the_Asgard http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Asgard_plasma_beam_weapon http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Zero_point_energy http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Time_dilation_field http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Railgun http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Quantum_Mirror http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Antigravity_device Book II - Chapter 1 A/N: HEY EVERYONE IM HAPPY TO START THE NEXT BOOK! THE RISE OF THE GREY IMPERIUM! THANKS FOR READING. PLEASE RATE, COMMENT, AND ENJOY. Book 2 ¨C Chapter 1 As they jumped through dimensions both ship¡¯s lights swapped over to a sort of light purple light, signaling that they were in a dimensional jump. It was a special feeling, once they arrived they could feel the difference. *Dimensional Jump Completed.* Eden announced as the lights returned to normal. ¡°Helm, begin scans. I want to know where we are and to find the nearest habitable planet if possible.¡± Leo directed. People scrambled to get to work as they were now on the clock, scans from both ships were sent out in hopes of finding anything. According to the dimensional jump and Eden, they were on the outskirts of the Koprulu sector, near the Umojan Protectorate and the Terran Dominion. Where exactly between the two they weren¡¯t sure. After a little bit of waiting they realized they were in what would be called the safe zone. They were actually at the corner of both civilizations and it was actually ideal for both of them to begin their little settlement before the Dominion took notice and to build reputation with the Umojans. ¡°Sir, we¡¯ve found a planet that tops the list and matches our requirements. The planet is 30% water with similar atmosphere to earth. Atmosphere is good, temperature is a bit cooler but within acceptable ranges, Life forms are mostly non-threatening. Eden recommends the massive increase of greenhouse gasses to raise temperature. The only issue is the size.¡± A young Ensign reported. ¡°Good, take us there. Once we establish orbit I want a full detail on the planet, minerals, possible settlement sites, and ecosystem analysis. The works. After that I also want 20 million replicators in box form ready if we decide to make it our new home. Now open a channel for every single person to hear.¡± Leo said to his helm. ¡°Channel is ready, sir.¡± ¡°Everyone, as you can tell we have arrived in our new universe. As of now you are no longer from any country of Earth, you are now free from those bonds. As of this very moment we are one people and our nation is not a place but an idea... the idea that we all deserve to live. We all want that and therefore we will fight for what we believe in. With that notion home will never be where we are but who we are with. As of now, we are all men and women of ¡®The Grey Imperium¡¯.¡± Leo addressed them. As the link closed Leo asked his pilot, ¡°How long to reach our destination?¡± ¡°Thirty-two minutes sir.¡± ¡°Good, I want all of this ready by the time we arrive there. How¡¯s the hyperspace drive?¡± ¡°Entering Hyperspace in ten seconds.¡± ¡°Good.¡± As the ships pulled into hyperspace, people began moving to compiling the information that Leo asked for. People on the ship had been trained intensively for the better part of three years. A lot of them were geeky military personnel that saw Leo as the man who gave people like them a chance. Collecting sensor data, rendering 3D holographic projections, and determining clear locations for settlements wasn¡¯t very easy from a few hundred light-years away. Yet as they exited hyperspace Leo got that information and more. The planet was about twice the size of earth and twice the gravity, luckily they had gravity control technology. After they established orbit around the planet, the deep planetary scans began. They searched for everything, stable bedrock for settlements, large mineral deposits, atmospheric pressure and content, every piece of information regarding the planet and possible colonization was recorded and processed. ¡°Ok people! We got lucky!¡± Leo announced to everyone. ¡°Prepare five replicator drops; four will make settlements, while the last one begins replications for massive mining operations. We¡¯re going to name this planet¡­ Olympus, our new home. Have the replicators beamed down as soon as they¡¯re ready. Contact the engineers on the Prometheus to prep for beaming and supply drops.¡± Leo ordered. Olympus¡¯ scans revealed several interesting things about the planet. The terrain was very similar to mid-west America, a little of everything. The four settlements would be located in the plains, each roughly 200 miles apart from each other. The good thing was that the replicators would build roads in between each settlement for ease of travel. Beside good settlement spots it also did a mineralogical survey of the planet and they were lucky, very lucky. The planets size warranted them the ability to do massive amounts of mining without too much worry, mostly due to the advanced mining techniques of the replicators. One element, the famed blue mineral crystals of the Starcraft universe was detected and would be collected later for study. No doubt that it would end up being an important resource. The next thing was the discovery of Naquadah and Trinium, of which there were tons and tons of it here for some reason. Not that anyone was complaining, with the combination of the two elements they would be able to produce very advanced alloys. With those alloys they would be able to produce ships that would equal the Asgard and Atlanteans, problem was that it would take time that they didn¡¯t have. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°Next I want the replicator managers to be beamed down once the replicators have cleared an area. Make sure that each colony has enough space to sustain and also grow. We may be taking in refugees in the future and I want them all ready for expansion.¡± Leo continued. Replicator managers were people that were granted access to control replicators to a certain degree. Leo decided that we would need a more believable reason as for why he could control the replicators. So he created a crystal chip that was inserted into his brain which would grant him more fluid control. From this little invention he made more that would let others interface with them and allow them to be used to various purposes. They were given permission to do only a few things, build, mine, deconstruct, and restrain. If anyone tried to order the replicators to do anything else without proper authorization, they were immediately restrained by the replicators. ¡°Lastly, I want us to search for some rich asteroid fields for mining later. We¡¯ll use those materials for our future space port. Now let¡¯s get to work.¡± Leo finished. On the Prometheus Sadia received the green light that they would be settling and ordered her crew to begin preparations. Over the last five years she had been trained to step up in leadership roles, something she took too very well. While Leo would be leading the settlement and try to bring it into a fully operational society, she would be managing the people who would help him do so. She was the emotion to his logic and that suited her just fine. After a few minutes they got word that the replicators had already landed and began clearing sites already for people after the gravity control was installed. Colonists on the Prometheus were already clamoring about how quickly they found a planet. Over the last couple years some fanatics of Leo had started pushing him as a figure head of a joke religion. Leo and Sadia heard this but brushed it off as nothing too big a deal. However what they didn¡¯t know was that it had been dubbed an actual belief and called the Church of the Lightbringer. On the ships themselves, over a third of them were believers. In this new religion Leo was the living God of a religion and its sole worship. After an hour one settlement got its antigravity and had a replicator manager sent in. Each settlement for about a million replicators used for construction. Each manager in charge of building the settlements were civil engineers and had spent several years developing simulated societies on different terrains. Today they were using some of those simulations on how to start each settlement. One was using a ring method, while another was using a square method, in the end though each city would be tested and then modified for future worlds. The other replicators were sent hundreds of miles away, where they would immediately start replicating until they reached their maximum of 100 million blocks. They were each replicator was assigned to build two other units of replicators, before starting to mine key elements. These replicators required no manager as they were directly controlled by Leo. In just a two days they would be able to reach max numbers, and maximum allowed mining for that specific mining area. At five hours after established orbit, the settlements were ready for their first settlers. People beamed down in groups of forty every few minutes. The first groups were logistics, the people in front of managing housing, food, and supplies. After that were the technicians, people in charge of installing power and more detailed users of the replicators in building key structures, then finally were the common settlers. Settlers in the sense just that, people who were selected from all walks of life. From manual labor to skilled negotiators, everyone was a possible candidate. There were also a fair number of children included as settlers, they were actually twenty five percent of them. Leo had a strong belief that educating the young would lead him into prosperity. He may have wanted a utopia but he knew that would never happen, so he settled for efficient. He made sure to recruit specialist from all over the world. From farmers to botanists, accountants to economists, bank tellers to business men, and construction workers to architects, specialists from every field were recruited. Before they left everyone was granted what Leo called a credit chip, which would hold their funds called IC, Imperial Currency. In order to do that Leo would need raw materials to trade, preferably with the ¡®Umojan Protectorate¡¯. After that the economy would be established and they could start relations and begin friendships. Sadly, the Koprulu Sector had lots of unfriendly people. Book II - Chapter 2 Book 2 ¨C Chapter 2 One Week after establishment of settlements. Navigations Officer Simon was searching for something, asteroid belts. So far this would have been the third asteroid belt to scanned and recorded. The other two were only mildly successful as they contained trace levels of important elements they needed. Although Olympus¡¯ mining situation was good, they were mining about 200 tons of iron, copper, carbon, gold, silver, platinum, trinium, and naquadah in total for the first week alone. Currently about a third was being stashed away for when trade began. The rest of it was being used in the construction of technology and buildings. As the Atlas finished its scans of the asteroid field to reveal it was not a rich source of raw materials they began heading out. At this point in time they encountered something they weren¡¯t ready for. ¡°Sir, we¡¯re picking up signs of unknown ships on the way to us sir!¡± the helmsmen reported. ¡°How many?¡± Nathaniel asked. ¡°Seven captain, three about 600 meters long, four about 400 meters long. They¡¯ll be here in five minutes and their weapons are powered up, Captain!¡± ¡°Activate shields and hail them.¡± Nathaniel said. ¡°They¡¯re not responding sir.¡± The communications officer told him. ¡°Send a notification to Olympus, tell Leo we¡¯ve met some hostile locals and might need help. Battle stations!¡± Nathaniel ordered. With the notification of red alert the ship¡¯s light switched to a red hue. After that every railgun and missile launcher was ready to be fired. ¡°Broadcast my message to them.¡± Nathaniel said. ¡°Ready.¡± ¡°This is Captain Nathaniel Quinn of ISS Atlas, we demand you stop all advances towards our ship. We will destroy you if you do not, this is your only warning.¡± He threatened. ¡°They¡¯re not slowing down sir.¡± ¡°Eden, what are the chances they¡¯ll be able to damage us?¡± *Initial scans reveal that those ships will not be able to make it past our shields once the three main ships are taken out. However should they make it past our shields, our hull will not be able to stop the weapons of this Universe.* Eden responded. ¡°But we made this ship with the most advanced metals on earth! How could they make it so easily through our hull?¡± *Precisely, we are no longer on earth.* ¡°Touch¨¦¡¯ Eden. Helm how long until they reach here?¡± ¡°Thirty seconds sir.¡± ¡°Ok since this is our first contact were going to disable only, if necessary we¡¯ll destroy them but I doubt it will come to that. Prepare replicator missiles, we want to capture those ships people!¡± Nathaniel ordered. As the preparations finished the seven ships appeared and started in guns blazing. Nathaniel could imagine their surprise when the shields appeared to stop their attacks. ¡°Shields down to 78%!¡± ¡°Reroute power from some of the Plasma Beams. We¡¯ll need the protection. Use the railguns to punch a hole in their armor and break some of their defenses. After that send in missiles of replicators. Open fire!¡± As the ships started splitting up their formation, the forty-two railguns began targeting them. Again the ships fired upon them using everything they had from missiles to lasers. Then the railguns started shooting, each a metallic slug of tungsten steel. As the ships danced around each other, the railguns would each wear down the enemy ships. Slowly the shields on their ships collapsed, leaving them now vulnerable. ¡°Fire replicator missiles after we take down some of their point defenses. I want at least one ship to take back to Olympus.¡± Nathaniel roared through the shaking of the ship. As they began focusing on one ship¡¯s engines and power supply, the other ships would come in and help. Slowly like a pack of wolves they started out maneuvering the Atlas, taking any shot they could at breaking the shields. Nathaniel was getting worried now, the number of enemies were slowly getting to them. ¡°Sir, our shields are critical. Were down to 20 percent and out shield generators are damaged.¡± ¡°Damnit. Use ¨C¡° ¡°Incoming ship Captain¡­ it¡¯s the Prometheus!¡± the navigations officer said. Out of hyperspace came the Prometheus, immediately as it arrived it launched its fighter drones. The drones were programed by Eden from flight tactics from both Asgard and Atlantean war books. As the drones started in it the Atlas received a communication. ¡°Captain! I see you have yourself a situation here.¡± Leo said over the comm. ¡°Yes sir, I do. I was trying to capture some ships so we may study them. Also we¡¯ve refrained from using the Asgard plasma beams since you said we weren¡¯t supposed to show them yet.¡± Nathaniel reported. ¡°I understand. We¡¯ll take the little ships, you capture the big ones. You have permission to use the APB.¡± Leo said as he cut the line. After the arrival of the Prometheus, the attacking ships became wary, with a new ship here it would become a lot more difficult. As the drones started attacking, they attacked all the guns they could find. Destroying any gun placement would make it easier for them to capture in the future, once the replicator missiles landed. If they could land at all. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°Damn it! I can¡¯t believe I just thought of this. Eden can we beam replicators onboard their ships.¡± He cursed. *Yes* ¡°Damn¡­ beam replicators directly to the engine room of each ship. I want them to disable all systems except for life support and comms.¡± Nathaniel said dejectedly. ¡°Replicators on board sir. Calculations say the fastest one will need 15 minutes to take over their system. That¡¯s if they aren¡¯t discovered sir.¡± ¡°How many replicator¡¯s were sent over?¡± ¡°A thousand bug units¡¯ sir. Each with standard attack parameters.¡± A standard attack parameter was for each block to immediately begin attacking linking systems. Each system is linked by two ways, power lines and control lines. Replicator units were ordered to attack those lines, once completed they returned to their base parameters to replicate. They were also allowed to kill when enemies were identified. ¡°OK then let¡¯s give them some help. Target their weapons systems with two APBs. Fire when ready.¡± Nathaniel ordered. As the APBs hit one of the massive ships and stopped it dead in its tracks the other ships panicked at this new weapon. Finally with free reign to use the APBs, Nathaniel began targeting the systems of weapons and engines on every ship he could find. Aboard the Prometheus, Leo was targeting the smaller ships in a similar fashion. As the fighting continued some of the drones had been destroyed, a majority of them were devastating the ships external defenses. All the ships had started getting battered and their guns at this time were now barely firing, even with power. As for their engines, Leo was considering just sending droned directly into their engines, just because he knew it would definitely disable them. ¡°Ah what the hell¡­ begin sending drones to fly directly into their engines. Send two at a time force them to either retreat or surrender.¡± Leo ordered. As the drone began to self-destruct into the engines the ships immediately began to flee. ¡°Alright they¡¯ve turned their back on us¡­ let one escape and disable the others. Target their warp drives.¡± Twelve APBs hit the fleeing ships disabling all but one. ¡°Job well done. Beam over more replicators onto their ships. I want full control as soon as possible. Set them to restrain.¡± ¡°Yes sir!¡± Back on the Atlas, Nathaniel had finally taken out their warp drive, engines, and weapons. Though not before they downed the shields and hit the hull with laser fire. Luckily for them though they hit crew quarters and not anything too vital. ¡°Sir, we¡¯re receiving a transmission from the lead ship sir.¡± ¡°Patch it through.¡± Appearing on screen was a dirty looking man who was had a look of desperation. In short he looked like a sleaze ball. ¡°Okay, buddy. You win.¡± The man said with a nervous smile. ¡°That¡¯s obvious. Now want to tell me who you are and why I shouldn¡¯t kill everyone on board your ships?¡± Nathaniel asked. ¡°Wait! Let¡¯s not be rash here.¡± The man stammered. ¡°Then give me answers.¡± Nathaniel demanded. ¡°Alright. How about we meet face to face?¡± the man asked. ¡°No. You either tell me now or I target your life support systems.¡± ¡°Okay! You¡¯re a hard-ass you know?¡± The man said. ¡°Target Life su¡ª¡° ¡°Wait! Ok, I got it! You want answers, I got you. They call me Buck, im leader of this troupe called ¡®Buckies Buccaneers¡¯.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re pirates? Ready guns.¡± ¡°Wait no!¡± Buck pleaded. ¡°And why should I?¡± Nathaniel asked. ¡°I¡¯m on a job right now, refugee transport. There are three thousand people on board. You wouldn¡¯t kill them would you?¡± Buck smiled sinisterly. Nathaniel frowned as he cut the communications line. ¡°Scan their ship. If there are any refugees let me know.¡± Nathaniel ordered. The helm officer replied with, ¡°Sir, I¡¯ve found them, they¡¯re in the cargo bay.¡± ¡°I see. How many are there?¡± He asked. ¡°We can¡¯t tell sir, they¡¯re too close together. Estimates are in the hundreds sir.¡± ¡°Can we beam them out?¡± ¡°I think so sir.¡± ¡°Okay then how many can we beam off at one time?¡± ¡°Maybe half at a time. We can reroute the replicators there for target marking.¡± ¡°Do it and beam them out. Open a line to the Prometheus.¡± Nathaniel explained the situation to Leo, how the buccaneers were using the refugees as hostages. Leo did not take to it kindly and approved the plan. He would have a security team meet them in the hanger of the Prometheus and offer them a place on Olympus. As for Buck and his buccaneers, his ships were more useful. Leo told Nathaniel to do what he saw fit with the crews. A/N: THANKS FOR READING! PLEASE READ, RATE ,AND COMMENT! @slaggedfire: SARA HAD NOT BEEN FORGOTTEN, RELAX BRO. THE WORLD CAN NOT FORGET SARA......... SARA CONNER.... JK =] Book II - Chapter 3 A/N: HEY EVERYONE SORRY FOR SUCH A LATE RELEASE, I''VE BEEN HELPING MY FAMILY DO SOME SPRING CLEANING! NEVER KNEW HOW MUCH CRAP THERE WAS UNTIL IT WAS TOO LATE. =[ ON A SIDE NOTE I NEED HELP WITH DETERMINING THE OFFICIAL TITLE FOR LEO . THANKS FOR READING! PLEASE RATE, COMMENT AND ENJOY! =] Book II ¨C Chapter 3 Ira Campbell, Leader of the War Calvary or what was left of them. Three weeks ago he was hired by Shelly Todd, the settlement leader of a place called Cerola, a place that had a little over ten thousand people. He was hired protect them from pirates, but then the Dominion came. It started as just a broadcast, telling them that the world was being annexed. Soon after though it turned into relocation in a few months, then days. With the Terran Dominion bearing down on Cerola they were left with little options but to evacuate using any means necessary, even pirates. Of the refugees, most decided to head towards the Dominion core worlds or Umojan Protectorate, likely to live of struggle. Shelly refused to go to the Dominion after they forced her from her home, then refused to go to the Umojians and beg for their help. She was tired of leaders cowering and using their muscles and not their brains. From the Confederacy to the Dominion, not even counting the Zerg. So when it finally came down for her to make a choice, she did. She chose to make it out and try and find a new home, a place where the dominion couldn¡¯t touch. Ira would be in charge of the military and she would lead their society. It was a perfect plan and together they would build a new world. That was until the pirates trapped them in the cargo hold, after that it wasn¡¯t so great. For two weeks they were trapped in the cargo hold, unable to escape. Unsure about what to do, they planned on trying to escape when the ships started shaking violently. They heard the attack and the battle outside. After several minutes of battle they realized things weren¡¯t going good for the pirates, which terrified them. In their mind who had the capability to fight off three battlecruisers and four escort ships? When the firing stopped they thought it was over, that was until the people began beaming off the cargo hold. Everyone was being teleported off the ship and into a mysterious new place. ¡°Ira!¡± Shelly yelled in panic at the new room they were in. ¡°Here, Shelly!¡± a voice roared from across the room. Rushing to him Shelly let out a breath of release. ¡°Where are we?¡± she asked him. ¡°I have no ¨C¡° ¡°Ladies and Gentlemen! Please remain calm! We are not your enemies, please wait. We are the Grey Imperium, we were attacked by the ships that were holding you captive. Our leader is on the way down to see you and explain the situation.¡± A voice explained. Murmurs broke out amongst the people, confusion and fear in their voices. Who were these people? Were they human? Why were they saved? How were they saved? What would happen to them? A short while later the massive doors opened up. Walking out came Leo in his formal grey uniform, accompanied by two guards at each side. ¡±Ladies and Gentlemen! I am the Leader of The Grey Imperium! We came in search of minerals for setting up an asteroid mining field, what we got were a band of pirates who attacked us. Long story short we kicked their asses and were about to blow them out of the sky. Then they said they had innocent refugees and hostages. That is where you all come in. We didn¡¯t like the way they used you so we took you from them. Sorry for not asking.¡± ¡°What happened to them?¡± a voice in the crowd asked. ¡°They are currently being detained.¡± Leo answered. After this a flurry of questions were thrown out, more than let could answer. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. ¡°Why have you taken us?¡± Shelly yelled out before any more questions could be asked to Leo. Turing his head in interest, Leo studied the woman. She stood with her head tall, had a look of experience and training in her. As for the man she was with, he was obviously a seasoned soldier. With his grizzly` chin and bulging muscles. ¡°I haven¡¯t taken you, I merely moved you to better conditions as we work out things with the men on those other ships. Before we continue though, I am Leo and you are?¡± He asked politely. Unaccustomed to such politeness, Shelly¡¯s guard lowered momentarily. ¡°I¡¯m Shelly Todd, this is Ira Campbell. We¡¯re the in charge of this group. What do you want with us?¡± She asked. ¡°Well I don¡¯t know.¡± He said. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Well it depends, what do you want? You are refugees correct? We are in a unique situation where we could help each other.¡± Leo offered. ¡°Explain.¡± Shelly asked. ¡°The Grey Imperium is young, we are travelers from far away. We need help with this sector of the galaxy. We could trade, become citizens of the Imperium, we protect and pay you. You get to build a new world with us.¡± Leo explained. -------------------------------------------------- Leo couldn¡¯t gauge their expressions, Shelly looked interested but Ira had some reservations. Ira spent his life as a fighter, if they signed up with the imperium what would happen to him? He wondered about his life, would he be able to step down from fighting? Would they make him? ¡°You seem interested but what are you worried about?¡± Leo asked. ¡°We¡¯ll need to talk about it but I am interested.¡± She said. ¡°Yeah, we should all sit down and talk about it or could you at least show us how your people are before we make any choice.¡± Ira followed. Making a face Leo wasn¡¯t so happy. He didn¡¯t wasn¡¯t quite ready for people to visit quite yet. ¡°I would like to bring all of you there but I can¡¯t. Our technology is many times more advanced that what you can see. I can¡¯t allow even a potential leak of our abilities. I can however bring some, at most four people, to inspect our new capital planet.¡± Leo said sadly. Truthfully he wanted them to come but damn his charitable nature, he had people he was responsible for. Shelly and Ira looked at each other and nodded. ¡°Ok the two of us will go but so will two others we have to find them first. Her name is Emma Bishiop, she¡¯s was the lead development manager for our city development.¡± Shelly explained. ¡°The other is Paul Carter, my second in command.¡± Ira said. ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll have them here in a little bit. When we head back we¡¯ll call you. Now then I have preparations to make.¡± Leo said as he walked off. -On Board the Atlas- ¡°Sir, replicators are 30% complete with systems takeovers and 10% on the ship repairs.¡± ¡°Good, how about their numbers?¡± ¡°We sent metals over for them to replicate with, they¡¯re growing rapidly. Gave them a rush order sir.¡± The ensign reported. ¡°Good, how long will it take for full integration?¡± Nathaniel asked. ¡°Estimates are leaning towards the better part of six hours sir.¡± ¡°Keep sending more replicators until we get it to four hours.¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± ¡°Good.¡± -Back on Olympus- Sadia sat in the new administrative buildings with a smile on her face. She¡¯d been assigned to oversee civilian matters, today she just back her results on a very important poll. Leo¡¯s title was finally finalized, and Sadia was happy with how his title would fit his greatness. Book 2 - Chapter 3.5 A/N:: HEY EVERYONE! SORRY FOR THE LACK OF CHAPTERS THIS LAST WEEK, I''VE BEEN BUST WITH TRAVEL AND I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO MAKE TIME TO WRITE, MY APOLOGIES. ALSO I WILL HAVE TO SAY I WILL BE SLOWING DOWN CHAPTERS, I AM STARTING TO FEEL LIKE THE AMOUNT OF WORDS I NORMALLY PUT INTO A CHAPTER AREN''T CUTTING IT... SO I WILL BE INCREASING THE AMOUNT OF WORDS PER CHAPTER UNTIL I FEEL SATISFIED. SORRY AGAIN pLEASE ENJOY, RATE, AND COMMENT! Book 2 ¨C Chapter 3.5 On the Prometheus the refugees had calmed down after they were told the situation. Shelly and Ira were awaiting Leo to take them on their tour of Olympus. On the bridge Leo was in a very heavy conversation with his beloved Sadia. ¡°The people voted what?!¡± Leo exclaimed. ¡°Yup, they voted on your official title.¡± ¡°And that is what they came up with?¡± ¡°Well it was that or we just keep calling you leader. Would you prefer that? It doesn¡¯t sound very important if you ask me.¡± She said. ¡°I know but High Lord isn¡¯t what I want to be called.¡± Leo sighed. ¡°I know, but if I had my choice I¡¯d call you Grey Emperor, sounds so much sexier if you ask me.¡± she pointed out. ¡°I¡¯ll take High Lord.¡± He said quickly. ¡°I thought so.¡± She smiled. Sighing in defeat, Leo would not fight it anymore. Ever since they got to the planet, Sadia and Sara had been pushing for a more official title. Rubbing his temples, he received a notification. ¡°Yes?¡± he answered. ¡°Hello High Lord Leo!¡± Nathaniel said on the other end. ¡°Urghhh I guess you got the notification¡­¡± Leo sighed, ¡°Hah! Relax Leo, it¡¯ll only be during formal occasions.¡± He said. ¡°I know but still, a title like that. I didn¡¯t do all of this for something so large. Sometimes I forget I was bigger than just my own wants and needs.¡± Leo said. ¡°Hey, we¡¯re doing all this to survive.¡± Nathaniel reassured him. ¡°I know, I know.¡± Leo said. ¡°Well good news, the replicators will be done within the hour.¡± ¡°Ok good, we can have a defensive fleet more prepared.¡± Leo said. ¡°Also they¡¯re beginning upgrades. They¡¯re not installing new parts, just optimizing the current tech they have installed.¡± ¡°Good, what about our new prisoners?¡± Leo asked. ¡°They¡¯re being detained on their own ships, unfortunately the new crime collars aren¡¯t ready yet.¡± Nathaniel reported. ¡°How long until they¡¯re done?¡± ¡°The doc said three days to me.¡± ¡°Ok then. Once they¡¯re done I want a full briefing on its functions.¡± ¡°Yes, High Lord.¡± ¡°Oh shut up... and inform our guests that we¡¯ll be heading to Olympus soon.¡± ¡°Yes sir¡± On board the Atlas, Leo along with four others beamed onto the bridge. ¡°High Lord Leo, esteemed guests, welcome to the Atlas. I am Commander Nathaniel of Grey Imperial Army. ¡± ¡°Hello Commander, I am Shelly Todd, these are Ira Campbell, Emma Bishop, and Paul Carter. Thank you for taking us to your home.¡± ¡°It is a pleasure, please come this way. We will be entering hyperspace soon.¡± ¡°Hyperspace?¡± Ira asked confused. ¡°Ah, yes. I forgot that your current technology uses warp drives correct?¡± Nathaniel asked. Nodding their heads in confirmation, Nathaniel smiled and said, ¡°I think I¡¯ll leave the explanation to Leo.¡± Turning their heads to Leo, he sighed. ¡°Hyperspace is like warp travel. When we reach the speed of light we make a wrinkle in the fabric of real space and in that wrinkle we use it to jump to another place. We use a¡ª¡° Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Noticing that they didn¡¯t understand a word he was saying he smiled. ¡°In short, we can travel vast amounts of distance faster than any warp drive and it¡¯s more difficult for people to track us because we have to warp signal.¡± He said. Nodding their heads in understanding they continued the bridge, once there the four of them were stunned. In the bridge everything was bright, sleek, and looked majestic in a way. Everything was far too advanced for them to take in. ¡°Eden, what is our status?¡± Nathaniel asked. *Hyperspace Drives Ready* Eden announced. ¡°Eden? Is that your adjutant?¡± Emma asked. ¡°Eden, introduce yourself.¡± Leo said as he took a seat on the commander¡¯s chair. *This unit is designated ¡®Eden¡¯, I am a system designed with vastly superior and advanced knowledge. This unit is also able to do cyber warfare on enemy vessels and certain devices.* ¡°So not exactly an Adjutant?¡± Paul wondered. *This unit can¡¯t be compared to an adjutant, they are no challenge to this unit.* Stunned at the revelation that maybe their new friends were more powerful than they might have imagined. Shelly began thinking maybe it would be a good idea to join them. ¡°Engage hyperspace drives in 5¡­4¡­3¡­2¡­1¡­ engage.¡± Leo ordered. As they opened a hyperspace window and began traveling they were dazzled by the light. ¡°Travel time four minutes, sir,¡± ¡°Good. Shelly if you and the others would follow me.¡± Leo said as he walked off. Leading the others to the observation deck, Leo began explaining the way the tour would work. They would be taken to the surface, where the Prime Minister would take them on a tour. Confused as to why someone like him would have a prime minister, leo smiled. ¡°You¡¯ll see when you get there.¡± Back on Olympus things were taking off, the storage space was already half full of various metals. The shipyards were almost complete and the production of new ships would be underway. As for the blue crystals, research on the material was being started and already there were some interesting results. The crystals were a variant of neutronium, with the processing methods it made sense of how metals were so strong here. Problem was that it meant the Zerg were able to consume and process neutronuim, a scary thought. Since the crystal was a variant of neutronium and not pure neutronium, it would require processing use it. Similar to what the Terrans did in this universe. After that was the issue of vespene gas, they¡¯d discovered it now and were now trying to figure out its properties. Early lab work seemed to show that it was a highly efficient catalyst in energy reactions, with more tests pending. As for the towns they were growing exponentially, infrastructure and agriculture being prevalent. Towns were now able to grow and accommodate expansions due to some interesting technology called the moving city. Each building was built on a block and each block was able to move. This was all thanks to antigravity technology working similar to a moving city like Atlantis. Finally were the factories, each factory was run by a group of thirty people and made everything. Clothing, shoes, toiletries, consoles, appliances, and even ship parts, the only thing they didn¡¯t wake were weapons, those would be made in other locations. The factories were useful but what they lacked was the manpower to station workers there. Thus the idea of increasing the supply of workers would be a godsend to them. Sadia was working hard to make sure all the sites would be ready for them to convince their new potential allies. Book II - Chapter 4 A/N: Not too much action in this chapter but its one i enjoyed writing! =] Thanks for reading! Please rate, comment, and enjoy! Book 2 ¨C Chapter 4 As the Prometheus arrived in orbit around Olympus, the refugees stood in awe. From the observation and personal transport in orbit, the refugees were amazed at the planets beauty and size. Just a day ago their leaders went to this planet in search of a possible refuge. They were looking for a shelter, what they got was a paradise. The people were from a faraway land and that they were on a mission of peace, but they were anything but passive. On Olympus, Leo had just undergone a procedure to copy certain memories, the memories of their goals and what was a stake. Two simple thing that would be granted to those who joined the Grey Imperium, yet it would have earth shattering effects. What Leo didn¡¯t know was that the person who designed it was a sort of fanatic from the Church of the Lightbringer. The device in addition to granting those memories also held a strong suggestive power of loyalty and adoration. This short oversight would change the very way the people of the Imperium saw Leo. At the building where the refugees would be processed into becoming real citizens, there were over fifty variant of the Asgard conscious transfer device. This version transferred the ¡®introduction package¡¯, containing the info on how the current society worked, monetary system, the origins, and the mission from Leo. In time this would become the immigration building, where all who came in search of a better life joined the Imperium. As the new citizens went through the process, Leo and Sara were having some rare alone time. The last few years had been a difficult transition or her. After she was taken in by Leo he learned something about her that he had missed so much, she was just as smart as he was. Over the years she would ask him for books, suggestions, and pushed compelling arguments way too advanced for her age. Finally leo had her IQ tested, the result astounded him. She had an IQ about ten points higher than him, and two points higher than Einstein. With the news that his little girl was a genius he pushed her through accelerated courses. Before they left she had just finished high school at the age of 14 and was now starting her new studies. With all that combined with Leo dealing with the construction and staffing, it left very little time for them to see each other. Now that they¡¯d jumped to a new dimension, Leo had a lot less work and a lot more time. Except for when he was dealing with development projects. That night Sara and him would be dining in and catching up over the last few days. As the de facto ruler of the new planet, he was given two homes. One was for himself, a retreat where him and his family and friends could relax. The second was a Palace, the official residence of High Lord Leo of the Grey Imperium. Tonight he would be in his own little home where Sara and Sadia stayed together when he wasn¡¯t working at the Palace. In a flash of white light Leo was beamed into his home. To his left the shriek of a little girl was heard. ¡°Omph! Sara dear, no need to run into me like a truck!¡± Leo joked. ¡°Oh but it¡¯s been weeks since we could really have time and sit down and talk though!¡± She pouted. She may have been highly intelligent but she still loved her father with every fiber of her being. ¡°Oh I know sweetie. I miss spending time with you too, but don¡¯t worry we have all the time in the world.¡± Leo said. Smiling he carried her over his shoulder to the dining room. There Sadia was putting food on the table. ¡°Wow this looks amazing. I still can¡¯t believe how well you cook.¡± Leo said happily. ¡°Thanks. How are the refugees doing?¡± She asked. ¡°Good, they should be integrating with our people soon enough. Im glad the ¡®Introduction Package¡¯ was quickly put together.¡± Leo said. ¡°Yes, it will make a lot of things much easier.¡± She agreed. ¡°So how are they? Are they nice people?¡± Sara asked. ¡°We¡¯ll eat and talk at the same time, I¡¯m starving!¡± Leo told her. As they ate, Leo and Sadia explained to Sara about the history of what happened to their new citizens. Sara was truly disgusted by the Terran Dominion¡¯s tactics and they all agreed to be wary of future interactions with them. As they continued to eat dinner they received a communication from the Atlas. ¡°What is it Nathaniel? You know I told you this is a family night.¡± Leo said. ¡°Sorry Leo, just letting you know that we just discovered a rich mining source of Minerals on a asteroid belt on the other side of the system. How do you want me to proceed?¡± ¡°How rich are the deposits?¡± Leo asked unhappy to work on a family night. ¡°Very rich. Estimations say it¡¯s enough to start about forty of the new Viking-class cruisers.¡± ¡°Then I want you to send the half of the new replicator ships to guard the mining ships. And have the other half of the replicator ships converted for full scale mining.¡± Leo ordered. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°Yes sir. Good night.¡± Nathaniel said. That was the end of interruptions that night. Sara and Leo spent a lot of time together and played their new traditional chess game while Sadia had left to finish up some work at her office. During the game Sara asked an interesting question. ¡°Dad?¡± ¡°Yes, sweetie?¡± Leo said as he stared at the chess board. ¡°When are you going to ask Sadia to marry you?¡± Looking up Leo was surprised. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s important for the ¡°High Lord¡¯ to have a ¡®High Lady¡¯?¡± she asked. Making a face Leo didn¡¯t know how to answer, for years he was happy with her. Yet the idea of marrying her was a bit scary to him. ¡°I mean you two have been together for a long time now. Don¡¯t you think its time to make an honest woman of yet?¡± she smirked. Leo looked at her and knew she was right. They¡¯d been together for a long time now, wasn¡¯t it time? ¡°You know what¡­ how about you help me plan it? I¡¯ll figure out the plan, you figure out the how.¡± Leo offered. ¡°Deal! I already have a few plans.¡± She said as she stood up and ran off. ¡®Crap, I was hoping I¡¯d have a few days at least.¡¯ He thought. The rest of the night was spent between the two of them planning out the proposal. Three days later at the Palace, Leo was looking over the new Viking-Class cruiser ships. The new design was to have a balanced ship, with a priority to everything. The ship was going to be about 440 meters long, 200 meters wide, and 100 meters tall. With the new materials it was now able to have the new advanced hull, systems, engine, and weapon upgrades. The ships weapons were newly upgraded railguns, aptly named Railgun Mark II. These new guns were able to fire new slugs faster and harder, while not compromising on accuracy. Next were the new engines, with the new materials the new sublight engines were more efficient and faster than whatever they could build on earth. Also they also were designed to have basic warp engines of the current universe combined with a separate hyperdrive. With the new engines, it required a new power source, miniature Asgard Power Cores (APC) were now able to be made, thanks to the matter converter technology they were now able to make as many as they needed. Now instead of having thirty different antimatter generators, they now only needed two APCs. Each Viking class ship was also installed with the Asgardian shields, now three times as strong thanks to the new APCs. In the end, each ship was equipped with 14 Mark II Railguns, 6 APBs, 2 APCs, and new more advanced hulls. Leo signed off on the design as today they would immediately begin producing ships with their six new shipyards, two in each little city they had. Happy with what the ship development team was doing he commissioned them to design ten more different ships. He wanted ships that could be used to fight any group of enemy. After he finished work he went to his underground lab. It was built underneath the Palace, a place where he experimented with the combined knowledge of the Atlanteans and Asgard. Today he was experimenting with himself. He wanted to use the cloning technology of Asgard to make a younger version of himself and make himself smarter and stronger. He was nearing the age of where his mind was starting to slow down and he didn¡¯t like it, so he wanted to take advantage of the technology. Of course he was going to keep a copy of his original DNA to prevent meeting the same fate of the Asgard. In the lab was a stasis field where an artificial embryo awaiting to grow. In typical scientist function Leo documented everything. ¡°Project 4 - Log 1, I have successfully used the cloning tech to take my DNA and to grow a sample embryo. The Asgard and ancient technology have analyzed my DNA to make a more improved version of myself. I am trying to solve the human aging factor as well which neither were able to solve, yet. I am confident in the possibility of solving this. I am going to begin growing the embryo under the time dilation field. I am going to stop it at the age of normal childbirth. The time dilation will take some time still. It will take a month for the embryo to reach 9 months old. The normal birthing time.¡± As Leo turned on the field he left it to the computer to feed the optimal nutrition and keep the body brain dead. The body would be used by Leo in the coming future. Exiting his lab he received word that the mining was underway and the replicators were in process of ship conversions. As for his job of procuring a ring for Sadia, originally he was at a loss of what to get her. He wasn¡¯t the most romantic person so Sara told him to use a metal that would symbolize their time together. Leo then had the perfect idea, a multimetal ring. It was a mix of gold, neutronium, trinium, and naquadah with a special stone. The stone would be a diamond housing of a comm that would be directly linked with him. ¡®I can¡¯t wait to see the look on her face¡¯ Leo though as he got back to work in his office. Book II - Chapter 5 A/N: HEY EVERYONE SORRY BOUT NOT POSTING AS MUCH, RL HAS STARTED TO KICK MY BUTT. WILL SHOOT FOR RELEASES ABOUT ONCE A WEEK NOW UNTIL THINGS CLEAR UP. THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE. AS ALWAYS PLEASE ENJOY, COMMENT, RATE, AND HAVE A NICE DAY Chapter 5 - Book II As the Grey Imperium was building its forces, they ran into a major problem. They lacked the people to fill in the duties of the new ships. So then Sadia with her extensive knowledge of the Starcraft universe knew that there was a solution, two in fact. First was to hire mercenaries and people of different skills to spread word of a new place for them. Problem was that these people were usually criminals, psychopaths, or murderers sometimes all three. Second was to search for other refugees from the fall of the Confederacy or people running from the Dominion. This was what she preferred to do as it would be cheaper and allow for more diverse skills to join them. With the prisoners they had from their first encounter they got information on a den. A place where there was only one rule, bring trouble at your own risk. This place was called Deadman¡¯s Port, there anything could happen. There were connections to the black market, arms dealers, spies, assassins, and even mercenaries. It was all available, for a price. On the Prometheus, Ira stood in charge of moving large crates of minerals. The crates were going to be sold in order to gain some credits for bargaining. With the buccaneers in their hold they were able to get information on a certain person who could help them. The man was called Murphy, as in Murphy¡¯s Law. As Bucky explained, anything that could be gotten, can be gotten. On the bridge Nathaniel was prepping for departure. He was going to negotiate for several things, the first were to spread word to fleeing refugees, second were the mercenaries or pirates, which ever worked best for their purposes. Lastly was a hidden objective, to search for Ghosts. It was going to be an interesting task. On Olympus, under the palace Leo was talking to Dr. Oliver Strauss. Dr. Strauss was a Bio-engineer of sorts, he spent most of his life studying the miracle of life and was ready for the next big step. Studying the Asgard technology he was about to be more creative and let the computer to the modifications. His latest project was the topic of discussion now. ¡°Oliver, I understand what you¡¯re saying but this is insane.¡± Leo stated. ¡°Why Leo? With the time dilation field we would be able to push our little settlement to a full society. We could go from a few thousand to several million.¡± He argued. ¡°True but if we used the time dilation field on Olympus and multiplied our numbers how would the people here feel about that? To have a hundred years go by? A thousand? Can people really stand living through that?¡± Leo asked. ¡°Well that¡¯s where Section E comes into play. Those who are tires and want to wait for the next stage can be put into stasis and let the society just run its course.¡± ¡°No, Oliver. With the time dilation field active at that rate would not only drain our energy supplies but would also interfere with lots of other things.¡± Leo said, ending the argument. ¡°But I am interested in Project Seed.¡± Leo said. Looking up Strauss was now showing childlike look of joy. ¡°Ah yes I have multiple scenarios for that as well.¡± Strauss said as he began explaining. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.Project Seed was a new approach to solving their population problem. Due to them having a population shortage, they needed to make up for it in every possible way. The idea was to seed a small population onto a suitable planet, install a time dome and then turn on the time dilation field. One week in real time would be one year on the planet and depending on the results they would increase the rate. The end goal was to have a large enough population that could expand every month. There were two basic scenarios to test out. The first was to seed a planet, then to optimize it for food, production, or population. The second scenario was the same but make military training a standard thing, to create an action ready planet. The only thing that was concerning Leo was the people who would live on those planets. Once the planet was seeded what would happen once they needed space to expand again. In the end Project Seed was approved for two trial planets. One for production and one for food, if those were successful then the project would continue. Dr. Strauss looked excited as he left the room with Leo. As he was leaving Leo received a call from the Atlas. ¡°Guy!¡± ¡°High Lord!¡± ¡°Ugh, I wish people wouldn¡¯t call me that.¡± ¡°No such luck, to be fair I voted for Lord Buttkiss.¡± ¡°Yeah, thanks I guess, whats up?¡± ¡°Sorry, back to business. I just received word on our dimensional jump drive and our preparations for our first recruitment jump.¡± ¡°Good, what¡¯s the first jump been decided to?¡± ¡°We¡¯re going to a high conflict universe, the terminator universe. If we¡¯re lucky the newly acquired adjutant, upgraded by the replicators and Asgard tech should be able to hack into skynet and take over. Hopefully.¡± ¡°And if it doesn¡¯t work?¡± ¡°Then we start bombing the installations from orbit, removing the network one by one. Meanwhile we beam the key players on board and help them fight the machines. Either way, we¡¯ll get to rebuild an earth.¡± Guy said. ¡°Ok, I am green lighting your jump. How many people are you taking?¡± ¡°About 1500 crew and about two companies of infantry.¡± ¡°Did you give them the new beam rifles?¡± ¡°No, were not going to bring anything too advanced in case of losing it.¡± ¡°OK. When do you jump?¡± ¡°As soon as the Prometheus returns from their little recruitment trip.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± ¡°Atlas out.¡± Six hours later, on board the Prometheus. The ship was on full alert as it prepared for departure. The cargo hold was loaded up with a good amount of cargo mixed in with fighter drones. On the bridge Nathaniel was getting ready to leave, next to him was Ira and Paul Carter. ¡°Thanks for coming along you two.¡± Nathaniel said as he checked over the manifesto. ¡°Well it wouldn¡¯t be good manners for you to do all the work. My men and I have all joined up with the imperium so I would like to not how to be a refugee again.¡± Ira stated proudly. ¡°What he mean is he doesn¡¯t want SHELLY to be a refugee again.¡± Paul commented. Ira¡¯s face turned beet red, ¡°What!? I-I-I d-don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about!¡± He stammered. ¡°Uh huh, sure you don¡¯t.¡± Paul laughed. ¡°OK Ira, if you don¡¯t wanna talk about it we get it. Now time to go spread the gospel.¡± Nathaniel said as they took off. Book II – Chapter 6 HEY ALL! ESERNGO HERE, AND SOME OF YOY MAY HAVE SEEN OR READ A STORY I DID SEVERAL MONTHS ABOUT ON MY FIRST ACCOUNT HERE ON RRL CALLED '' WELCOME TO A NEW LIFE'' AND IT WAS ACTUALLY ONE OF THE TOP 100 STORIES ON THIS SITE AND STILL IS. RECENTLY I DECIDED THAT I WANTED TO REWRITE IT AND MAKE SOME IMPROVEMENTS AND DO IT BETTER. SO LINK TO THAT STORY HERE http://royalroadl.com/fiction/5659 WITH THAT BEING SAID I HOPE YOU ENJOY PLEASE RATE REVIEW AND COMMENT! AND AS ALWAYS HAVE A NICE DAY. Book 2 ¨C Chapter 6 Deadman¡¯s Port Murphy (No Last Name) was a broker, anything you needed he would do his best to get. Within reason of course and money was a lot of reason. He¡¯d spent the last several years establishing himself on Deadman¡¯s Port and it was going good. Murphy was a short stocky guy with a full on red beard and short hair. His most distinguishing feature was his little phoenix medallion around his neck. Deadman¡¯s port was a place where credits and favors paid the way, but with power you could have almost anything. As Murphy sat in his office in the little bar he owned on his little slice of paradise he received a notification on his terminal. To his surprise someone was contacting him directly with a heavily encoded message with a tag that said ¡®Bucky¡¯s Buccaneers¡¯. ¡®That¡¯s interesting, I didn¡¯t imagine the little flea brain would be able to pull something so high tech.¡¯ He thought as he put in his encryption key. What he got was something he couldn¡¯t believe. To Murphy, We are the Grey Imperium, we seek your services and wish to come to an agreement with you. If you accept open up the second attachment. Be warned. Betrayal begets blood. ¡®Intetresting. Well I do have some free time and this seems interesting.¡¯ He thought as he found the second attachment and opened it. I¡¯m glad you wish to work with us. We have three things we need, first is we need to sell minerals about 300 tons worth, second we need you to spread a message for the good people of the Koprulu sector, and the last one we will discuss once we¡¯re there. See you soon, we will arrive there in three hours. This will be our hailing frequency. ¡¯300 TONS? Shit do I even know anyone who would move that much at once? Do I have to call Takiel? Shit. Then again, if they have 300 tons of minerals then they¡¯re definitely someone I want in my corner.¡¯ Murphy thought. For the next two hours Murphy contacted almost everyone he knew but in the end couldn¡¯t get anyone who could afford a few tons, let alone three hundred. Finally giving up in sigh he had no choice but to leave a message for Takiel and hope she¡¯d hear him out. Finally two hours later she called him back. ¡°Murphy¡­ how nice of you to call¡­ you still a month before you pay up. Unless you already have the credits, then in that case I am impressed.¡± The woman responded. On the screen was a woman of Asian descent with electric blue hair and brown eyes. She was dressed in a nice black dress and fresh make up. Six months ago, Murphy took out a loan on a business deal. Unfortunately the deal went south and he lost it, all of it. ¡°Uhh not quite, but I got something thing that might interest you Takiel. I was recently contacted by some people who want several things, most of which I can handle but there¡¯s one thing I can¡¯t do.¡± He explained. ¡°Oh and whats that?¡± She asked bemused. ¡°Sellin 300 tons of minerals¡­.. by the end of the day¡­¡± he said. Silence was in the air as she looked at him in disbelief. 30 tones was more than what Deadman¡¯s Port moved in a week, to do it in a day would be impossible. ¡°Don¡¯t play with me Murphy. Who would move that much at one time?¡± She questioned. ¡°Someone new obviously. I spent the whole day trying to learn more about them but I got nothing.¡± He told her. ¡°So what do you want from me?¡± she asked. ¡°I was wondering if you knew someone.¡± He asked. ¡°Maybe, but how do I know you¡¯re not yanking my chain? If I tell them I¡¯ve got 300 tons of minerals ready for them to bulk purchase and I don''t deliver, I¡¯m dead. So let me ask you again, how to I know?¡± She said. This was the type of place Deadman¡¯s port was. No one was going to stick their neck out if they didn¡¯t have to. Murphy was in a tough situation because he knew they were real, just like his motto, ¡®Anything is possible¡¯. ¡°Then how about an introduction? If they flake out on me then im a dead man and you get to laugh at my corpse as it¡¯s flushed out an airlock and if it is legit then you get a commission on my debt. Sounds fair enough to you?¡± Murphy offered. ¡°Sounds good to me. Too good. You either really believe that there¡¯s 300 tons to be sold or you know it. Fine I¡¯ll do an introduction if this all works out we¡¯ll talk business later. Now call me back when you get word on the minerals, now shoo. I¡¯ve work to do.¡± She said as she cut the connection. ¡°Dear god help me.¡± he prayed. 6 Hours Later Prometheus ¡°So the guy comes up to my face and hits me straight in the face as im drinking.¡± ¡°Then Ira, who was right next to me, goes wham. The guy is out cold two seconds later.¡± On the bridge the three men were sharing old bar stories and fights they¡¯d been in. for the last eight hours they¡¯d been at warp speed towards Deadman¡¯s port. As they neared they finally got in range for communication and were about to call their new friend Murphy. Nathaniel had been having a good time with his new comrades but he was now all business. ¡°Hail, Murphy and see if he¡¯s got some good news for us.¡± He ordered. ¡°Comms channel open sir.¡± On the screen appeared a short red bearded man. Murphy had been awaiting this call all day. ¡°Hi there, I take it you are the Leader of the Grey Imperium?¡± Murphy asked. Stolen story; please report. ¡°No, I am Commander Nathaniel of the Prometheus, we are here to do business. You must be Murphy.¡± ¡°That I am, want to skip the chit-chat and get down to it?¡± He asked. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Good, I don¡¯t like wasting time. I have most of what you asked.¡± He started but before he could continue. ¡°Most?¡± Nathaniel asked with a raised eyebrow. ¡°Yeah. Most. I don¡¯t know where you came from or what you intend to do what I do know is that you said you have 300 tons of minerals for me to find a buyer for. That I couldn¡¯t do so I had to get outside help. Will that be a problem?¡± He asked. After some consideration, ¡°No. That will be acceptable so long as the circle of contact is small.¡± With a look of relief Murphy smiled, ¡°Glad to know you¡¯re a little flexible. Now as for that message I have a group on stand-by ready to transmit as soon as I receive my payment. As for the mineral buyer, I¡¯ll let my friend inform you.¡± ¡°How long do we have to wait?¡± ¡°Well I can try and patch her through if you¡¯d like.¡± He offered. ¡°Please do.¡± After several seconds, a head of bright blue appeared on the screen wearing a black dress. ¡°Why hello there handsome, I¡¯m Takiel.¡± The woman said as she feasted her eyes on Nathaniel. ¡®Ohhhhh he¡¯s a cuttie.¡¯ ¡°Hello Ma¡¯am.¡± Nathaniel said while keeping up his poker face. ¡®Whoa nice rack¡¯, Nathaniel thought as he watched her. ¡°Oh a gentleman as well. Be careful, I might fall in love.¡± She flirted. ¡°Now that the greeting are out of the way we can talk business. Takiel, what are their options.¡± He asked. ¡°Oh you¡¯re ruining my fun Murphy. Fine, I could only find two possible buyers on such short notice. One buyer wants only 200 tons while the other wants 800. They¡¯re both good on as far as the credits are going so you just have to take a pick.¡± She said. ¡°Who are they?¡± Nathaniel asked. ¡°Pardon?¡± She asked confused. ¡°Allow me to rephrase that. The Grey Imperium does want to sell minerals, yes. However the Imperium would prefer to sell them to like-minded people who share some of our values. So who are they?¡± Shifting uncomfortably, ¡°Well the first one is a weapons manufacturer while the second one is a rebel group.¡± ¡°Ma¡¯am can you send over all the info you have on them? We wish to review it.¡± Nathaniel said. ¡°Of course.¡± She said, returning to her business smile. As the data was sent over and Nathianiel reviewed it, he frowned severely at the people he would possibly be selling to. ¡°Miss Takiel, this isn¡¯t going to work. These two potentials are unacceptable. The arms manufacturers you say here are selling to pirates, mercs, rebels and even the Dominion. While the rebel group is linked to attacking over twenty colonies and killing several thousand people. Surely you have someone else we can do business with.¡± Nathaniel told them. ¡°I¡¯m sorry to hear that but unless you have 3000 tons or are willing to sell at a lower price then theres not much we can do.¡± She exasperated. ¡°We have 5000 tons.¡± Nathaniel said. With a stunned look, Murphy and Takiel left their mouths open. ¡°We have 5000 tons of minerals, 1000 tons of gold, 2000 silver, 1000 tons of platinum and a 1000 barrels of unrefined vespene.¡± Nathaniel told them. Now their faces went from stunned to shock. The two of them had never worked with that much before. Recovering from her shock first, Takiel laughed and said, ¡°Why this is certainly a surprise, then in that case look this over.¡± Through their connection they received another data transfer. It was an enormous file that detailed a group of Mercenaries, on paper they were known for defending refugees and independent colonies, but their real purpose was to fight The Dominion and save innocent lives. They were called ¡®The Lions¡¯ and an open contract to buy a steady flow of minerals, vespene, and weapons. On top it looked like they were barely scraping by but underneath it looked like they were a group being supported by the Umojian Protectorate. ¡°Sounds good, when can we do the deal and now how much can we expect?¡± Nathaniel asked. ¡°About 3 million in credits and at the end of the week.¡± She said. ¡°And how much is your fee?¡± Nathaniel asked. ¡°Three hundred thousand for each of us.¡± She said. ¡°20%? That¡¯s a bit steep.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what our services cost deary.¡± She smiled. ¡®What the fuck? I was only going to charge them 5 percent. With 10 I can pay off my debt and expand again.¡¯ Murphy thought to himself. ¡°Fine, but then I¡¯m expecting you to work with us from now on as well.¡± Nathaniel said. ¡°Deal.¡± She smiled. ¡°Were transmitting the details of the first message now. We want that message all over the Koprulu Sector as fast as you can. As for the last thing we need, I¡¯ll talk about it with you once I arrive.¡± He said. ¡°Sounds good, when will you be here?¡± Murphy asked. ¡°Two hours. We¡¯ll contact you when we arrive.¡± He said. They confirmed and signed off. As Nathaniel let out a breath of relief he looked over to see Ira and Paul sweating. ¡°What up you two?¡± ¡°Why¡¯d you tell them about our entire cargo? They could leak its contents and then we¡¯d be targeted by a few hundred pirated before you know it!¡± Ira exclaimed. ¡°Oh don¡¯t worry. They have problems of their own. During that transmission of ours we hacked their terminals, if they alert anyone we¡¯ll know.¡± Nathaniel told them. ¡°Really!? How¡¯d you do that?¡± Paul asked. ¡°Hmm? Its standard procedure to poke at firewalls. Not our fault that they¡¯re under protected.¡± Nathaniel said. Book II - Chapter 7 HEY ALL YOU BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE! AS ALWAYS PLEASE RATE REVIEW AND COMMENT! AND AS ALWAYS HAVE A NICE DAY. PS: I T''S MY BDAY THIS MONTH BONUS CHAPTER ON THAT DAY... TEEHEE =] Book II ¨C Chapter 7 -Unknown Location- Jason Yor, commander of a band of mercenaries named ¡®The Lions¡¯, was in his quarters finishing up his early morning shave. Looking back at his reflection it showed the look of a man in his late-twenties with a nice shade of white foam on his face. He had long golden hair with regal blue eyes. He stood a solid six feet tall with muscles bulging from his shirt. As he finished up his shave he received an alert, is was the bridge of the Battlecruiser that he was in command of. ¡°Jason we need you up here.¡± A feminine voice came from the intercom section. ¡°Will be there in five Annie.¡± He said as he started getting dressed. On his ship there were over seven hundred active crew with a standby of over 500 active assets to be used in case of rapid deployment. He prided himself on having the best drop pod marines he could. In under a moment¡¯s notice he could have 200 marines on the ground ready in a frighteningly quick time. One time a colony was being targeted by a group of raiders. The Lions had less than an hour before the raiders attacked, unfortunately for the raiders an hour was enough time for them to have coffee before they attacked. Waking through the halls to the bridge he was greeted by some of the crew, heard some complaints and told them he¡¯d look into it. As a mercenary, it wasn¡¯t just about how much you paid your crew, it¡¯s about how much they like working for you. Making everyone happy was second to keeping them alive. As he walked onto the bridge he was greeted by his second in command and best friend, Annie Angers or as the crew knew her as Annie the Angel¡­ of death. Annie was one of the best tactical commander in the sector, growing up a prodigy on all things battlecruiser related. Since the age of ten she¡¯d witnessed over a hundred skirmishes, by the time she was twenty she¡¯d commanded mercenaries defending the outer colonies from zerg, protoss, and even one time the old Earth Directorate. ¡°What have you got for me Annie?¡± Jason said as he took a post-up next to her. ¡°I just got a transmission form a vender. She said she has someone who can meet our mineral and metal needs.¡± She said as she handed over a data pad. Looking over it Jason¡¯s eyes bulged. ¡°That¡¯s over 70% of what we need! If this is real then our home base could begin construction immediately!¡± he shouted in happiness. With a frown she snatched the data pad away. ¡°Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s a little bit suspicions? We only put this order out a month ago, who could possibly attain that many minerals in that amount of time? I think it¡¯s a trap.¡± ¡°Oh there¡¯s no doubt that it could be a trap, but if it¡¯s real there¡¯s no way we can turn it down. Plus it¡¯s not like we won¡¯t have backup. You know the rules to Deadman¡¯s Port.¡± He reassured. ¡°Yeah I know, I just don¡¯t like leaving Moreth unprotected.¡± She said. Moreth was the new home of ¡®The Lions¡¯. Over the last several years of fighting the Zerg, UED, and the Dominion, the lions became one of the most hated mercenary companies by the Dominion. The down side of having so many allies outside of the Dominion was that less big named mining companies wish to incur the wrath of the ¡®Beloved¡¯ Emperor Mengsk. So if they could get an outside source of minerals without the Dominion knowing, it would be a big advantage and help a lot of people. ¡°I know you don¡¯t and neither do I but if we¡¯re going to stand a chance in the future against the Dominion then we have to chance it.¡± Jason said. With a sigh of resignation she nodded, ¡°When should I set up the meet?¡± ¡°ASAP. We need them sooner rather than later.¡± He instructed. ¡°Yes sir.¡± 3 hours later Deadman¡¯s port Takiel sat in her apartment and sighed. She had just received word from Annie the Angel. They¡¯d be here in five days to do the deal. For the last three hours she been working on spreading word of the Grey Imperium¡¯s rallying call. With so many people trying to rebuild from the brood wars, many would give this Imperium a try. As she massaged her temples she received a notification from the sexy man named Nathaniel. ¡°Why hello gorgeous.¡± She smiled. ¡°Hello Ma¡¯am. Are you busy now?¡± ¡°For you, I¡¯ll make time.¡± She said. ¡°Good, prepare to beam up.¡± He said. ¡°Wha¡ª¡°she said as she was interrupted. In the blink of an eye Takiel had been beamed from her private quarters to a room where she noticed Nathaniel and two other men standing behind him. She was slackjawed. Standing up she stuttered around as if trying to say something but was speechless. ¡°Before you ask. Yes we ¡®teleported¡¯ you up here.¡± Nathaniel started. More sounds came from her mouth as if trying to formulate proper sentences. ¡°Yes you¡¯re perfectly safe. No, we didn¡¯t get this from the protoss. Will that be all?¡± he said. Finally after what seemed to be a few moments she¡¯d finally regained the ability to speak. ¡°You really are a big bag of tricks.¡± She said. ¡°Honey, you aint seen nothing yet.¡± He smiled along with the two men behind him. ¡°Now on to introductions, to my left is Ira Campbell, on my right is Paul Carter.¡± He introduced. Not saying anything they nodded like normal military personnel. ¡°So I take it were not here on a date?¡± She smiled. ¡®Damn she¡¯s pretty, FOCUS NATHANIEL FOCUS!¡¯ he thought to himself. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Not this time.¡± He said. ¡°So there will be one later?¡± She quipped. ¡®I wonder how big he is?¡¯ She thought to herself already hoping for a date. ¡°If you play your card right. Now business.¡± He said turning serious. ¡°Right, your buyer will be here in about 5 days so what else can I do you for?¡± She flirted. Raising an eyebrow Nathaniel just said one word. ¡°Ghosts.¡± With that one word she froze. In the business there were two rules, kill those who you betray to save yourself heartache later and don¡¯t fuck with Ghosts. EVER. ¡°No.¡± She said flatly with a quivering lip. ¡°Wait just hear me out.¡± He calmly said. ¡°No, you don¡¯t understand. You don¡¯t find Ghosts. They find you!¡± She said slowly panicking. A year ago a band of mercs took a contract to kill a pair of assassin ghosts. 120 men against 2, good odds¡­ for the ghosts. By the time the ghosts were done with the mercs everyone knew, don¡¯t try and kill Ghosts. ¡°I know. Just organize a meeting in return you¡¯ll have our protection.¡± He said as he took out a green metallic stone. This was an ancient persona shield, capable of withstanding almost anything short of a nuke in this universe. After a few minutes of very delicate convincing she finally agreed. She was still terrified but it was going to be done. After that meeting came one with Murphy but instead of using him to find ghosts, Nathaniel decided to use him to find Mercenaries and to find one group in particular, Raynor¡¯s Raiders. Leo had plans to help make Raynor¡¯s life a lot easier when the Wings of Liberty began. Before that though he needed to have an already established contact. Murphy accepted the deals no problems, but couldn¡¯t understand the secrecy for just finding Mercenaries. Then again sometimes it was better not to ask questions. Leaving their two newest friends made Nathaniel relax a bit more, he knew that in 5 days he¡¯d have a few million credits, some mercs, an empty cargo and some good news for Leo. He was pleased and decided to take a look at his manifest again. 5000 tons of Minerals 1000 tons of Gold 2000 tons of Silver 1000 tons of Platinum 1000 Barrels of Vespene 10 Naquadah Generators ¡®We got lucky, with one deal they¡¯d be able to get rid of all of it and depending on how this sale goes we¡¯ll be able to make some new friends.¡¯ Nathaniel hoped. ¡°Ok guys time for some sleep. See you all in a few hours.¡± Nathaniel said as he dismissed the two other men. ¡°Ok see you In a few hours Nate.¡± Paul said. -Olympus- Leo sat in his office reviewing somethings that came across his desk. First was a ship design, something that the Asgard Power Core (APC) came up with. It looked like a standard Asgard ship, with one major difference it was equipped with standard warp drives, no hyperdrives. This ship design was so that in case there was a battle and there were losses then there would be no problem with lost tech. basically it was a marked down version of what the they currently possessed, on the other hand though it was given tougher and stronger hull than anything in the current universe¡¯s to match the new materials they¡¯d acquired. The second thing was something called Harvester. This was a plan thought up by one beer too many in Leo¡¯s opinion. The idea was to send replicators to a resource abundant planet or moon and turn on a time dilation field. In the field the replicators were to spread until they covered every inch of the place. After that it was to consume the entire thing down to the very edges of the crust. It was a horrible plan. In would take 50 years for that plan to work, in a time dilation field that was basically an entire ZPM and those were too valuable at the time. However Leo could see the benefits of parts of those plans. Thus he came up with a variation of the plan, to send in the replicators but only turn on the field for only ten years in the field. With those replicators they¡¯d be sent to the asteroid belt and then allow its increase in mining ability. Approving the two plans Leo finally had time for his own projects. Heading to his lab he wasted no time in checking on his new embryo¡¯s progress along with data on his other projects as well. After that he checked in on his list of projects currently going on and looked at his time. He¡¯d only have time to do one thing before he had to go home to spend time with Sara and Sadia. Project 1, Super soldier project. Project 2, Starcraft Marine Combat suit Optimizing. Project 3. Food supplement Project 4 Immortality Project 5 Neural Implants Project 6 Adaptive Hull Plating Project 7 Personalized Dimensional Jumper. Today he was going to pick Project 7, the Personal Dimensional Jumper. ¡°Hera, bring up progress details on project 7. Authorization High Lord Leo, HL025ZT-A07¡± Leo said. From then the room lit up, several days ago Leo had his own personal APC installed to help him with his research. It was a mix of APC, Adjutant, and Replicator. A super assistant was better than any Jarvis. ¡°Authorization Accepted, Welcome back Leo, bringing up data now.¡± It said. ¡°Great, now then time to get to work.¡± He smiled. Project 7 was an inspiration from Dr. Who, how a specific character could jump through time. Leo wanted one but so he could jump through space, time, and dimensions. With the APC it was easy to figure out space but he was still working on the time and dimensions part of it. It with this technology that he hoped that he¡¯d be able to create a force able to jump whenever problems arose. Book II - Chapter 8 A/N: HEY ALL HOW YOU WONDERFUL PEOPLE DOING? IF YOU COULD ALL TELL ME YOUR THOUGHTS FROM THE POLL IT WOULD BE AWESOME!!! THANKS SO MUCH FOR ANSWERING AND ITS OK IF YOU DIDN''T ALSO I FINALLY MADE IT PAST 15 RATINGS!!!! WOOT THAT''S A MILESTONE I TELL YA. MY NEXT GOAL IS 25 RATINGS SO EVERYONE IF YOU ENJOY THE STORY PLEASE RATE AND LET IT BE KNOWN! ALSO I HAVEN''T MENTIONED THIS YET BUT CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM IS ALWAYS WELCOME, JUST PLEASE LET''S BE CIVIL! WITHOUT FURTHER ADO PLEASE ENJOY! AND AS ALWAYS PLEASE RATE, REVIEW, AND COMMENT! Book II ¨C Chapter 8 ISS Prometheus ¨C Deadman¡¯s Port - 2 hours until meet Captain Nathaniel¡¯s Quarters. ¡°No listen I¡¯m not interested in Shelly, I just enjoy her company is all.¡± Ira said. ¡°Of course you do!¡± Paul said with Nathaniel agreeing with him right next to him. ¡°But don¡¯t you think she¡¯d be a little offended?¡± Nathaniel asked. Confused the two new looked at him as if he had a third eye. Clearly they weren¡¯t all that into social dating. ¡°Oh come on now! Don¡¯t tell me you haven¡¯t noticed.¡± Nathaniel said in mock horror. Ira and Paul could do nothing but look at each other in confusion. ¡°Oh my god¡­ no wonder the two of you are single!¡± Nathaniel complained as he tossed his hands into the air. ¡°Notice what?¡± Paul asked with interest. ¡°Ok I may not be the biggest expert on women but even I noticed this. Okay seeing how you two have no idea what I¡¯m taking about let me explain. Ira, I will be using you and Shelly as an example.¡± Nathaniel said as he went to grab a drink. For the next hour Nathaniel explained his many years on Earth and his interactions with women. He explained that even if Ira wasn¡¯t interested in Shelly that she may be interested in him. Explaining to him some hints that women liked to drop and a bunch of other things. By the end of it, Ira had a look of revelation while Paul¡¯s eyes made it seem like he¡¯d won the lottery. ¡°Then what was all that with you and Takiel?¡± Paul asked. ¡°That? That was flirtatious bargaining. Attractive women are sometimes the most dangerous negotiators. She was hoping that I¡¯d fall for it and give her some sort of leverage or leeway over me.¡± Nathaniel explained. ¡°And did it?¡± ¡°A little. I¡¯m not blind you know.¡± Nathaniel sighed, in his mind in was imagining Takiel naked. ¡°Well I don¡¯t think it would be a good idea.¡± Ira said returning to his stiff self. ¡°Agreed it wouldn¡¯t be. Oh would you look at that, speak of the she-devil.¡± Nathaniel said as he received a call from Takiel. ¡°Hello Handsome. Hope you¡¯re ready for a big deal. ¡°she said through the comm. ¡°We¡¯re ready, where are the coordinates?¡± ¡°Transmitting them to you now, watch yourself out there. The meeting is in Deadman¡¯s Port Jurisdiction but not too far from raider space.¡± She warned. ¡°Good then we¡¯ll inform you once we¡¯re finished the deal.¡± ¡°Good, one more thing. About the thing you asked me for, the word has been sent. If they decide to show up or not is completely up to them.¡± ¡°Thanks, we¡¯ll contact you again if we need more of your services.¡± Nathaniel said as he cut transmission. ¡°Time to get this show on the road.¡± As they cut the small talk and headed towards the bridge, the helmsmen had already plotted a course to the allotted coordinates. ¡°How long until we get there?¡± ¡°Using the warp engines, 61 minutes. Hyperdrive less than ten.¡± ¡°Use the warm engines, let¡¯s not give them a fright. If im right they¡¯re probably setting up a defensive position.¡± Ira advised. ¡°Ok let¡¯s go with warp engines.¡± Nathianiel confirmed. -Olympus- Leo was exhausted as he laid in bed. For the last five days he¡¯d been swamped by various things that were seemingly trivial but were becoming more and more numerous due to him putting them all aside until the last minute. ¡°You really need another way of confirming documents.¡± Sadia said as she gave him a look of pity. ¡°Good idea, I¡¯ll figure that out in the morning.¡± He said as he tried to fall asleep, unfortunately he received a ring on his comm tool before he could fall asleep. With a groan he sat up and answered his comm, it was from the ship design team. ¡°Hello.¡± Leo greeted with a yawn. ¡°Sorry for contacting you so late High Lord but we were instructed to send this to you immediately. It¡¯s the ship plans for the Destroyer, Heavy and Light Frigates, and the new capital ships. The Spear of Destiny and the Ascended.¡± The engineer said. ¡°Ah thank you Reed.¡± ¡°No problem High lord, also I wanted to let you know the data you sent us on ¡®Project 2¡¯ was quite interesting. We¡¯ve already begun testing of different alloys, new joint designs, and experimenting with different power cores. The preliminary findings should be with you in a month.¡± Reed explained. ¡°Oh that was quick. What about the second project I sent you?¡± Leo asked now paying full attention. ¡°As yes. Marlene has already begun designs of some new weapons for our troops. She said that with the help of our current technology she will have a working prototype by the end of the week.¡± ¡°Good, tell your wife I say hi as well.¡± ¡°Will do, good night Leo.¡± -Atlas- Guy Fisk was sitting in the meeting room with his team reviewing their next assignment. Skynet was the target and if they could find a way to take over, it would save them a lot of trouble. As for the local people it was a side objective, if he could recruit John Conner and some other leaders of the human resistance then it would bolster their forces into the hundreds of thousands. Men and women who''d been fighting for the better part of their lives, world be given a choice to fight a new war. If they didn''t want to join the imperium then it wouldn''t matter, the imperium would gain access to a new military asset. Terminators. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Finishing the review they confirmed the latest plan and were set to leave the moment the Prometheus returned. As they adjourned their meeting Guy checked his missed notifications and read something interesting. It was an update from EDEN on the likelihood of their success of the Terminator dimension. *Study of research material indicate an 89% positive outcome in securing control of all mech forces. If attempt to control mech forces is unsuccessful, there is a 95% chance to shut down all enemy forces.* It was sweet music to his ears, as long as they could take even a broken machine back, it would give them a good template to formulate future war material. With the likelihood of being able to take over skynet and establish their own hold on the planet being an even better solution than what they had imagined. Without warning his emergency comm channel opened, on the other side showing Nathaniel in full body armor. ¡°Nathaniel what the--?¡± ¡°No time, short version. Trade good. Possible friends. Ambush. Old enemies. Help.¡± He said as the line cut out. ¡°What the hell?¡± Guy said as he stormed off to the bridge. -Prometheus- 10 mins earlier ¡°Sir we¡¯re arriving in 3¡­2¡­.1¡­.¡± As the exited warp everything was calm. In front of them was a battle cruiser about 2/3 the size of the Prometheus. ¡°Sir they¡¯re hailing us.¡± ¡°On screen.¡± On the screen appeared Jason Yor and Annie the Angel. ¡°Greetings, I am Capt-¡° ¡°Before the small talk, we want proof of goods. If not we¡¯re leaving.¡± The blonde commander said. Annoyed at the lack of respect but keeping himself calm, Nathaniel countered. ¡°We want proof of funds, how is this going to work?¡± With a grumble Jason waved his arm and the Prometheus picked up something on its sensors. ¡°That is a dropship with 500,000 creds. Upon delivery we will send the rest.¡± He said. ¡°Fine. Lower your shields and we¡¯ll begin transport.¡± Nathaniel said as he watched the shuttle get closer and closer. Scanning the dropship and noticing the credits were actually small blocks of concentrated data made Nathaniel smile. With a nod Jason dropped the battlecruisers defense matrix, ¡°How do you plan on transporting all that cargo? With this much cargo it¡¯ll take a while.¡° Jason asked. With a nod, the helmsman silently beamed over the first shipment. ¡°Check your cargo bay.¡± Nathianiel said. Confused, Jason sent word for people to check their cargo only to be surprised that in that short amount of time over 1000 tons of minerals were in his cargo hold, neatly packed away using the least amount of space possible. ¡°How did you-¡° ¡°Let¡¯s just say, we have our ways.¡± Nathaniel smiled. ¡°Fair enough, we¡¯ll send over the remain-¡° ¡°SIR! CONTACT! 7 unidentified ships en route. ETA 13 Minutes.¡± The chief Navigations officer yelled. ¡°What?¡± Nathaniel yelled in anger. ¡®Have we been duped?¡¯ ¡°What is the meaning of this?¡± Nathaniel demanded. Confused Jason didn¡¯t understand what was happening until after they sent over their sensor data. With this news, Jason paled at the ship signatures. They were all raider ships, all with a grudge to settle with him and ¡®The Lions¡¯. ¡°Sorry but it seems like we¡¯re the targets. Those are Raider and pirate ships, all of whom I¡¯ve driven off at one point or another. I¡¯m sorry it had to come to this but take your minerals back and go. We¡¯ll try and hold them off. Sorry by the way, I¡¯m Jason.¡± He said as he cut communications and turned his ship around and started getting his ship¡¯s weapons ready. Intrigued by this Jason¡¯s honor Nathaniel observed the ship with the Prometheus¡¯ scanners. ¡°Should we help?¡± Nathaniel asked Ira and Paul. ¡°I don¡¯t know. He was awfully rude.¡± Ira smiled. ¡°Yeah he was. I don¡¯t like rude people.¡± Nathaniel smiled back. ¡°You know. It¡¯s been awhile since we¡¯ve had a chance to fight.¡± Paul pointed out. ¡°Oh that¡¯s true.¡± Ira grinned. ¡°Yeah and I think the Imperium could really use some more ships.¡± Paul said with a toothy grin. ¡°We¡¯ll I guess we¡¯re doing it for the Imperium?¡± Nathaniel clarified. ¡°Of course, we wouldn¡¯t willingly get into a battle to try out those new Fighter drones, that new CMC-400 armor you recently got, or that new C-14 Assault Rifle we gave you.¡± Ira said. ¡°Well then, power up weapons, ready drones, warm up the APB¡¯s and let¡¯s get dressed boys!¡± Nathaniel shouted. Not a minute later they received a hail from the Lions. ¡°What are you doing? Why haven¡¯t you left yet?¡± an irritated Jason asked before he could notice the armor. ¡°Well we decided we like you, we don¡¯t wanna find another buyer, and we don¡¯t like the odds of 1 vs 7.¡± Nathaniel said as he was about to get his armor on. ¡°Fine but if you die it¡¯ll be your own doing and not our problem!¡± Jason yelled. ¡°Hah! Us die? Kid were about to open your mind. By the way I¡¯m Captain Nathaniel of the Grey Imperium. Also don¡¯t worry help is on the way.¡± He said as he hung up on him. ¡°Did he just hang up on me?¡± Jason asked Annie. ¡°Yup.¡± ¡°That rat bastard. I¡¯ll give him a piece of my mind¡­ if we survive this.¡± Jason smiled. As the two ships readied weapons and awaited the coming foes, an eerie silence filled the void. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALSO I FORGOT TO MENTION I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A NICE DAY. Book II - Chapter 9 A/N: HEY ALL! SO I RECENTLY MADE THE DECISION TO GO AND WRITE A NOVEL, AS SUCH THIS SERIES MAY GET LESS AND OR SLOWER UPDATES. AS SUCH I AM PROMISING ONLY ONE CHAPTER A WEEK GUARANTEED AS LONG AS MY FINGERS CAN HANDLE IT. SECOND THING IS THAT I STARTED A WORD PRESS AND I WILL BE POSTING ONE STORY THAT ISN''T ON RRL THERE SO PLEASE CHECK IT OUT! AND AS ALWAYS PLEASE RATE, REVIEW, COMMENT AND ENJOY! Book II - Chapter 9 ¡°When the Imperium started off it was not the Empire it was now. It was a tiny planet, in a small sector, with less than ten thousand citizens. It wasn¡¯t until the Battle of Korhal did we become a galactic power house. During that time we were still preparing for the war, so we were spending more time focused on building our empire than war. It was a time of great peace.¡± -Excerpt from ¡®Birth of the Imperium¡¯ Chapter 1 ¡°Ah shit. Leo I don¡¯t know what to say other than I can reach his position in fourteen minutes with the new hyperdrive engines with your permission.¡± ¡°And I¡¯m telling you no. Those engines hasn¡¯t been fully tested yet.¡± Leo exasperated. ¡°Well then I don¡¯t know how I¡¯m supposed to save him! The data he sent me shows seven ships bearing down on them and we need to get to him quick.¡± Guy yelled. Biting his lip, Leo came up with an idea. ¡°Send one Replicator Cruiser, if it works then you have the go ahead to take four ships with you.¡± Lao offered. Seeing that he wasn¡¯t going to get a better offer Guy relented. ¡°Ok I¡¯ll have the ship readied.¡± Meeting point. Prometheus. ¡°How long until they arrive?¡± ¡°ETA 55 Seconds.¡± ¡°Well the waiting is killing me. I want to try out these new tactics you came up with Ira.¡± Nathaniel said. ¡°Oh yeah I have a feeling it¡¯ll be a hit. Once we have control of their systems it¡¯ll be like taking candy from a baby.¡± Nodding in agreement Nathaniel pressed his comm device. ¡°Are the combat teams ready Paul?¡± Nathaniel asked. ¡°Ready and itching for a fight.¡± Paul¡¯s voice responded through the intercom. ¡°Good cause they¡¯ll be here any second.¡± Nathaniel said. ¡°Can you patch me into the communications transmission if there is one? Just in case.¡± Pasl asked. ¡°Sure thing, they¡¯ll be here soon.¡± Nathaniel said. ¡°I hear ya, sir.¡± As the ships were about to arrive they received a transmission from the Lions. ¡°You sure you want to do this?¡± Jason asked. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about us.¡± Nathaniel smiled. ¡°Fine, it¡¯s your funeral.¡± Jason sighed. ¡°Haha, you¡¯ll sing a different tune once we win. Here patch into this frequency.¡± Nathaniel said. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Jason asked. ¡°This is our cyber-warfare center. Patch into that and you¡¯ll know where were moving, our attacks, and our ship-to-ship combat situation.¡± Nathaniel said. ¡°Interesting.¡± Annie said with a devious smile. A short moment later seven ships came out of warp. Surprisingly they didn¡¯t come out guns blazing. ¡°Sir, were being patched through to the Lion¡¯s ship.¡± The comm officer reported. ¡°Let¡¯s hear what they¡¯re saying.¡± Nathaniel nodded. ¡°-you doing there Jason?¡± ¡°Well at the moment im a little confused as to what you, a pirate group, are doing with raiders and other pirates? I thought you worked alone Kakarov?¡± Jason asked. ¡°Well it¡¯s one of those things of mutual interest. That and the 300,000 credit bounty on your head that was just released.¡± Kakarov chuckled. ¡°300,000? That seems a bit low if you ask me.¡± Jason said in mock horror. ¡°It is but most of us would do it for free. Seeing how you thwarted us on so many occasions. So seeing how were all were itching for a reason to go after you. This just gave us something to do.¡± He smiled. ¡°Come on now Kaka¡ª¡° ¡°Enough! You won¡¯t intimidate us to run away this time, you only have two ships against our seven. No matter how good ¡®Annie the Angel¡¯ is.¡± He yelled as he cut off the transmission. As the line cut out Jason sighed. Moments later the battlecruisers from the raiders and pirates moved in. the moment they were in range they opened fire at the Lion¡¯s battlecruiser. Luckily the Lions were able to activate their defense matrix on time before the missiles hit. ¡°Move us in! Open fire with all available railguns and missiles. After that I want us to beam the capture team on to the ship in the back, it seems that one had the highest long range weapon capabilities. Take out their weapon¡¯s and then proceed with plan Alpha-Charlie¡± Nathaniel ordered. ¡°Yes, sir¡± The men responded. The Prometheus moved in and their railguns fired up and started firing at their nearest target. The Lions on the other hand had started maneuvering towards the other left end of the wave of enemies, trying to use the other ships to interfere with block the angle of fire. The pirated were ready for this though and were moving already to accommodate the movement. ¡°Sir, Capture Team is away.¡± ¡°Good! Release the drones have them focus on intercepting missile fire. Spin up the APBs and move us in position to--¡± This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°Sir! Three more ships incoming! From our port side!¡± ¡°Damn it ok get-¡° ¡°Sir, correction 4¡­.5¡­.8 ships inbound from our port side.¡± ¡°Son of a¡ª¡° ¡°Sir were being hailed! Authorization code¡­Murphy!¡± ¡°On screen.¡± In the center of the Prometheus¡¯ tactical display appeared none other than Murphy and Takiel with another man at their side. ¡°Hey there Commander! I got those mercs you wanted, then I heard you were out here with no supervision so I brought your new help. This is Commander Jerome Wilson leader of the Infinity Fighters. They¡¯re former confederacy so they¡¯re on your list of requirements.¡± ¡°Well you couldn¡¯t have come at a better time!¡± Nathaniel smiled. ¡°Well I do try to do good work.¡± Murphy smiled. ¡°Pardon me but are we here to just extract you or are we going to take out those pirates and raiders as well?¡± The brown skinned commander asked. ¡°We¡¯re going to capture and repurpose them commander. If you do well you get one of your choosing to yourself.¡± Nathaniel smiled. ¡°Oh I¡¯ll take you up on that! Our ETA is in one mike.¡± the commander smiled. ¡°Affirmative.¡± On the other end, Jason and Annie were having a hard time dodging missiles and laser fire. ¡°All forward batteries target Kakarov¡¯s ship! He¡¯s leading them so if he goes down they¡¯ll scatter!¡± Annie roared. ¡°Annie! I just got word from that Nathaniel guy. He says he¡¯s got reinforcements coming in. ETA thirty seconds.¡± Jason announced to her. ¡°Tell them to hurry up!¡± she yelled as she returned to giving the crew orders. A short while later, eight battlecruisers appeared on the starboard side of the attacking raiders. To their surprise they weren¡¯t after Jason and the Lions but were trying to save them! Seeing how they were fresh into battle but were outgunned and out manned, the seven ships began their escape. The fastest ship to begin its escape held Paul and his Capture team. ¡°Capture Team report!¡± Nathaniel yelled. ¡°This is capture team. Were in a corridor on the way to the engine room, I don¡¯t think we¡¯re going to make it. Request evac!¡± ¡°Helm get ahold of them and beam them out.¡± ¡°We can¡¯t sir! Their defense matrix is up and interfering with the transporter. We can get things in, not out, sir¡± ¡°Damnit! Ok send in as many replicators you can direct into their cargo hold. Capture Team we can¡¯t get you out, we¡¯re sending in reinforcement, make your way to the cargo hold once you take control of the ship head right back for Deadman¡¯s port! How copy?¡± ¡°We read¡ª¡° ¡°They¡¯re gone sir.¡± ¡°Damn it¡± Nathaniel yelled as he slammed his fist. ¡°Don¡¯t worry Nathaniel, Paul isn¡¯t a child and he didn¡¯t become my second in command by not being capable.¡± Ira reassured him. ¡°I hope so Ira, I hope so.¡± Nathaniel prayed. ============================== Olympus On the Atlas, Guy was counting down to the ignition of the new hyperspace engines on the replicator ships. ¡°Ready to go in Three¡­. Two¡­. ¡° ¡°Hold it! Incoming transmission on the emergency channel. Decrypting. Playing message.¡± His helmsman said. ¡®Guy, cancel that request for help. Full details to follow. Tell High Lord Leo were going to stay a few days extra. Eight ships well be returning to the Imperium in 13 hours. Recommend you get on with your mission. See you when you get back.¡± Nathaniel said. ¡°End of message, receiving full combat log and transmission data now sir.¡± ¡°That rat bastard. Scaring the life out of me send details over to the High lord and see if we get the green light.¡± =-==--=-=-=-=-=-=- Unknown Ship. Paul shut the door and checked on his men. With him were eleven men, five who he had fought with for several years, six of whom were military vets from earth. The idea was to see how people with different training reacted to the CMC-400 suits. ¡°So what¡¯s the verdict?¡± one of the men asked. ¡°Well we¡¯re still in warp, so long as we can take control of the ship before it exits warp I think we¡¯ll be ok.¡± ¡°and if it drop out of warp before we can capture it?¡± another asked. With a dark expression Paul slid his finger across his throat. ¡°Don¡¯t let them take you alive.¡± Realizing the seriousness of their situation they all nodded. ¡°Luckily we have help. Commander Nathaniel send over some replicators before they lost us. So if we¡¯re lucky they¡¯ll take control of some of the systems. Any of you Earthies got a way to interact with the replicators?¡± he asked. ¡°I do. I can do it now if you want.¡± One marine told him ¡°Good, what¡¯s the status?¡± Paul asked. ¡°¡±They¡¯re in the cargo hold multiplying. Eta 11 minutes before they move out. Says here that they¡¯re going to seize the engine room then the bridge next. Says all life forms are hostile with exception to us. They¡¯re set to kill.¡± He told them. ¡°Good, now it¡¯s time to commandeer us a ship. We¡¯re going to take the bridge first once the replicators move to the engine room. We¡¯ll sync out attack with the replicators. Until then we rest and keep an eye out for patrols. It¡¯s a good thing we took out their ship sensors.¡± ¡°Rodger.¡± They responded. Book II - Chapter 10 Book 2 ¨C Chapter 10 ¡°The ISS Atlas, the first capital ship of the Imperium. The first ship built from the home dimension. The ship was retired and can be seen now on the Capital planet of Korhal. During the conquering of the Koprulu Sector, the Atlas was instrumental in the defeat of the Terran Dominion. As such when it was decommissioned, it stands as a living testament of the might of the Grey Imperium.¡± -excerpt from History of Imperial Spaceships chapter 1 Paul and his team were waiting for replicators to swell in number before taking over the ship. As they rested they stayed ready in the little room they were holed up in. Thanks to the replicators on board the ships¡¯s sensors were being jammed and we¡¯re having difficulty finding them. For the next few minutes they waited until they finally got word that the replicators were ready to move. It was time. Sweeping the halls any raider they ran into was killed. Paul wasn¡¯t the type of person who liked to hurt innocent people but the people on this ship were anything but. ¡°Replicators are reporting they¡¯re beginning to attack the engines.¡± ¡°Ok, let¡¯s double time it to the bridge.¡± Paul ordered. Running through the halls and fighting their way through to the bridge was actually pretty quiet. Once they reached the bridge they opened it up ready to attack who was there. To their surprise though it seemed as if everyone was unconscious. ¡°What in the world?¡± Paul said out loud. ¡°I may not be from this universe but something tells me this ain¡¯t right.¡± One of the marines commented. ¡°Agreed, but let¡¯s disarm everyone before we wake em¡¯ up.¡± Paul ordered. Moving to check if they had weapons or not, they heard a notification come up. ¡°Exiting warp in 10 seconds¡¯ ¡°Crap ok everyone man a station and put in coordinates to Deadman¡¯s Port. Looks like these guys are out cold so it won¡¯t matter.¡± With a scurry of activity the marines weren¡¯t officers but had a basic understanding of ship operations. As the ship exited warp to find the other pirates and raiders would soon be behind them. As they received a notification of someone hailing them, the marines were able to lock in deadman¡¯s port and prepare to warp. ¡°Sir, the enemy ships have noticed our engines. They¡¯re opening fire!¡± ¡°How long until we head to warp?¡± ¡°This ship is utter crap sir, it¡¯ll take a minute to charge.¡± ¡°Shit. Will we survive a minute of fire?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know but we can turn on their automated defense. It¡¯ll buy us some time from their missiles.¡± ¡°Do it!¡± Olympus ¡°Ok you got the green light. Once you get over there though you have one week to report back or I¡¯m sending Nathaniel after you.¡± Leo said. ¡°Understood sir. See you in a week.¡± Leo closed the comms to the Atlas as it was preparing its first solo jump. They would be jumping to the Terminator galaxy it order to attain schematics and a possible new production base. Leo would have loved to go and see it himself but he had a bigger problem. With the constant mining and new raw resources, there was an issue that arose that demanded his attention. Currently there we¡¯re several small cities being built on Olympus and things were going good. With the now established communities and having the cities grow, cultures were beginning to clash between the people of earth and the refugees. The refugees wanted jobs, production jobs like factory or farmers. Meanwhile the people of earth wanted to establish an automated production and have people focus solely on intellectual pursuits. Leaning on both sides of the fence, Leo considered the options. After much consulting, simulations, and research. Leo finally made a decision, that they would go and become an automated production, all while those who wanted to do those sorts of jobs would be given a chance to learn the machines and with their experience and skill, optimize and improve those systems. Those who wanted to pursue intellectual issues were for the most part allowed to do what they will. Although as a contingency, Leo made it a mandate that being the intellectuals they were that they had to learn basic production knowledge. After this he was faced with his second daunting task. Food. How was he going to feed his citizens with their current rate of growth? In simplicity Leo ordered that every town be self-sufficient in two things, food and defense. With the small cities slowly expanding he had to decide how he was going to determine the future of his people. With the coming of Amon he knew that they weren¡¯t safe as the outer colonies were easy targets for the Zerg and the coming of Mobieus Corp, slaves of the fallen Xel¡¯Naga Amon. The solution was to be able to have a nomadic population until it was time to settle. For that he turned to the Ancient technology of city building. To create cities that could take off and defend itself as well. It would be the day they began production of city-ships. Leo put his datapad down and rubbed his temples, recently he¡¯d been having migraines and his stress levels had been steadily rising. His saving grace only being that he got to see Sadia every night. Things between them were steady and he was content but with Sara¡¯s constant pestering of him, he was about to cross the line soon. Things were going to happen in a month and with any luck everyone would be there to attend. As he relished his moment of silence and reassurance he felt something shift. His head immediately began splintering in massive pain. Clutching his head and thrashing around in pain, he felt as if his skull was being ripped apart. Finding himself on the floor and the room with an alarm blazing with a green alarm light he felt a darkness take him.. -Prometheus- Nathaniel bit his lip as he awaited the return of his men. It had been almost an hour since the end of the battle and with each passing second his worries only grew and grew. ¡°Nathaniel, calm your tits. Paul will make sure they get back.¡± Ira said. ¡°Yeah well, forgive me. I¡¯m used to being the one who has to get back, not the one who¡¯s waiting for someone to get back.¡± ¡°I understand but really stop. You¡¯re making the rest of us nervous.¡± Ira informed him. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°Sorry.¡± Nathaniel said as he looked up. After several more minutes of frustration they finally got a hit. ¡°Incoming transmission sir.¡± ¡°Who is it?¡± ¡°Security Code shows Lieutenant Paul, sir.¡± ¡°Put it up.¡± Paul wasn¡¯t on the screen when it came up. Instead it was a man with a black haired ponytail and the most signature armor ever. The man was wearing Ghost armor. ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°You asked for one of us. Maybe you should explain yourself.¡± The man said. ¡°So you¡¯re a ghost?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t act coy with me!¡± The man yelled. ¡°I may know much about you but I don¡¯t know enough so if you want ghost help then you¡¯re going to need me so cut the crap. Your men are alive, just temporary unconscious. I know your ship¡¯s capabilities so just scan the bridge and you¡¯ll find your squad. Then Beam us over so we can talk, I¡¯ve worn my welcome on this ship.¡± Nodding to his helmsman who reported the scan results which confirmed the details that the ghost reported Nathaniel relaxed. ¡°Ok I¡¯ve confirmed your details. Prepare to be beamed over.¡± Nathaniel said. ¡°Good.¡± The ghost said. As they closed the com and then beamed them over, the Ghost found himself surrounded by a squad of marines with their rifles pointed at him. The ghost however wasn¡¯t worried as he let out a breath of fresh air. ¡°That¡¯s some nice air you got here. A good life support system make me feel better already.¡± The ghost said with a stoic face. ¡°This way Ghost. The commander would like to see you.¡± A guard said. ¡°Then by all means lets go.¡± The ghost said. *Future Glimpse 1* General John-117. Commander of the Spartan Force. Hero of the Covenant War. As the General landed his transport ship on board his new Death Star he sighed. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± a voice said beside him. Looking to his side he saw a beautiful Cortana, his old A.I in the body of a new T-X3 that was recently redesigned to prevent her from being corrupted now by psychic entities. In her android body she was beautiful and deadly. All the while John 117 still donned his signature Mjolnir power assault armor, but with the help of the Grey Imperium¡¯s scientists, they were now on the Mark X. Beyond making him now even harder to kill, he was also now faster, stronger, more deadly than he could have ever imagined. ¡°Nothing, it¡¯s just¡­ after the defeat of the Covenant and the forerunners. I feel as if this new enemy is going to be even more of a pain.¡± ¡°Why do you say that chief?¡± ¡°Look at what we built to stop them.¡± He gestured at the Death Star. ¡°We need this big thing for defense? And you know The High Lord has more than just this one.¡± ¡°Yeah, but at least we know it won¡¯t be boring.¡± She smiled. ¡°Well at least you¡¯ll always be with me.¡± John said. ¡°Of course. Now let¡¯s go greet High Lady Sadia, I¡¯ve missed her.¡± As they prepared to get off the transport they were escorted by the general¡¯s guard, the all new Spartan V¡¯s. They too donned the signature Mjolnir armor in grey and we¡¯re ready for anything. John smiled to himself as he was proud of the men and women who served under him. As the transport ships opened up they walked off as the official reports were filming and streaming it directly to earth. ¡®Well at least the war hasn¡¯t stared yet.¡¯ He thought to himself. Walking through the transport bay and into the military access only zone, he headed to his general¡¯s quarters with Cortana closely behind him. Once inside he went to his table and pressed a few buttons. Flashing up in front of him were his reports of his new troops, their numbers, logistics, and projected growth. ¡°Chief, we¡¯ve got an incoming transmission from the Council.¡± ¡°Patch it through.¡± A few moments later the faces of Jedi Master Obi Wan, Leader of the Jedi Forces, Admiral Jean Luc Picard of The Imperium Starfleet, Admiral Nathaniel of the Replicator Fleet, General Guy Of Imperial Planetary Defense, and High Lord Leonidas. ¡°John, glad you could join us¡° ¡°You know I can¡¯t miss these Jean Luc.¡± John replied. ¡°It¡¯s an expression, as they say¡± Jean Luc smiled. ¡°Right.¡± John said, after spending most of his life fighting and waging war, john was lacking a few screws in day to day expressions. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s get started.¡± Nathaniel said. ¡°Proceed.¡± ¡°As of now, we hereby commence the 3nd Minor Council meeting. Our agenda today is this,¡± He said as an image appeared before all the members. A recording of a soldier on the floor and a terrifying scene of a small creature which appeared out of its chest. ¡°A xenomorph has been identified on transport ship Z-3391. It was then landed on the planer of Kiplar IV, this was four days ago and two hours ago we lost communication with the planet. We sent in a team and they recovered this footage, last census showed over fifty thousand settlers while orbital scans only show a few hundred now. Kiplar IV is a minor planet but is a vital refueling station for our ships in the area so destroying the planet isn¡¯t an option like standard protocol.¡± The tension in the air was thick. John had faced off against a xenomorph once, it died like anything else but even he had to admit he didn¡¯t like the idea of fighting a few hundred of them. ¡°What are our available options?¡± High lord Leonidas asked. Nathaniel stiffened before saying, ¡°We have two available teams. One is a group of Shadow Guard in the area, while the option is a Gen 3 Ghost Squad.¡± The table didn¡¯t like the option laid out, both were essentially death blows against the xenomorphs but if anything went wrong and Xenomorphs were able to egg one of either group then the problem would only multiply. ¡°Send them both. I want that infestation dealt with.¡± HI EVERYONE SORRY FOR NOT POSTING MUCH LATELY, I WAS HIT WITH A WRITERS CONSTIPATION AND COULDN''T GET ANYTHING OUT. TEEHEE SO I''D LIKE TO APOLOGIZE FOR NOT KEEPING UP WITH MY PROMISES. NO EXCUSES BUT I FELT A LITTLE BURNT OUT. GOOD NEWS THOUGH I AM BACK AND READY TO GIVE YOU MORE. ALSO PLEASE HEAD OVER TO MY WORDPRESS SINCE I JUST POSTED A NEW ORIGINAL FICTION ON THERE! Book 2 - Chapter 11 ¡°The Imperial Navy. The greatest navy in all known existence. With over a million ships and over fifty million people. With over one hundred planets dedicated in maintaining, producing, and researching ship improvements.¡± -excerpt from History of Imperial Spaceships Book 2 - Chapter 11 In the halls of the Prometheus, several armed guard were escorting the ghost to see the Nathaniel. The Ghost as famed for his name however looked completely normal, who was only wearing simple lightweight cloaking armor. As he traveled the hallways, through the security cameras Nathaniel could see him. ¡°To slip onto a ship, survive our attack, track a team of marines through a heavy firefight, and then without any of them knowing knock them all out and take control of an entire ship on their own. These Ghosts are pretty amazing aren¡¯t they?¡± Nathaniel asked Ira only shook his head, ¡°You don¡¯t understand, Ghosts are trained from a young age. For maybe over ten years they¡¯re trained to become special soldiers. Psionic soldiers used to enhance focus, will, and mental fortitude. The ideals of compassion are completely stripped away.¡± Nathaniel looked at the ghost who walked down the hall and even from a monitor, he could see that this ghost was not someone to mess around with. ¡°Come on lets go check on the others first, I want to make sure they¡¯re all alright from this last excursion.¡± Nathaniel said to Ira. -Olympus- Sadia sat next to the medical bed where Leo was resting. They were currently waiting in the medical ward of the Palace. Awaiting the prognosis, Sadia sat there holding Leo¡¯s hand. She looked at him and prayed for him to regain consciousness. It was all she could do until the detailed medical report came back. -Atlas- As the Dimensional Jump concluded, Guy got out of his ship and prepared for a ship wide broadcast. ¡®Ladies and gentlemen, we are about to see a depressing scene. Some of you know what I¡¯m talking about, some don¡¯t, so let me explain it to all of you here and now. The planet we all originated from¡­ Earth. In this dimension has fallen to their own creations of rogue A.I and on this planet¡­ billions have died. All that remain are a few million. They are led by a man named John Connor. He is the bastion of humanity¡¯s last hope and if we can convince him to join us. Then we will rebuild earth, and turn it into the utopia it deserves to be!¡± Guy said as the ship roared with applause. As he sat down he ordered the ship to head towards the Sol system. The time to travel was two hours, so there was enough time. ¡°Eden, how confident are you in taking over Skynet?¡± Guy asked the ships A.I -I estimate an 88% chance of success and in the off chance that I should fail. There is a 95 percent chance of me shutting them down remotely.- ¡°Good. Tactical, whats our situation with our dropships?¡± ¡°They¡¯ve been outfitted with speakers and basic data cards on how to contact us since most of the human settlement is now located in underground bunkers. The others are pocket resistances we¡¯ll have to recruit slowly.¡± The tactical officer reported. ¡°Alright, after we have this planet secured we will begin sending down materials for them to begin their new lives. As for us we will be heading to some coordinates that should have prime mining spots to send back to earth.¡± Guy said as they continued on their journey. Two hours was not a lot of time, seeing how he had two companies of soldiers. That meant he had 500 soldiers to fight an army of psycho A.I robots. Not that it would be too much trouble, just extremely annoying. By the time they arrived in orbit around earth, the scene took their breath away. Craters of desolate land and the fallen ruins of human society. ¡°Eden, what date is it?¡± Guy asked as he looked at the desolation. -The current date is of this universe is July 3rd, 2032- Guy frowned at the date. July 3rd, 2032¡­ a day before John Connor was killed. ¡°Okay I want surface scans of all possible human resistance locations. Eden I want you to begin probing Skynet, but don¡¯t hack them yet. I want you to test it a little before you decide to take it out.¡± Guy ordered as the crew began to work. Today¡¯s quest was that like a movie¡­ save John Conner. -Prometheus- Guy and Ira walked down the long corridor, towards the holding cell where the ghost was currently being held. Normally, one wouldn¡¯t treat a guest with such a disrespectful manner, but when the guest is an assassin, you make exceptions. As they neared the holding cell the guard at the door let them in. Inside the room sat the ghost, who hadn¡¯t removed his helmet and armor. The only thing he didn¡¯t have was his gun, but who¡¯s to say he wasn¡¯t still armed. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Took you long enough.¡± The ghost said through his special ops mask. ¡°Sorry, just had to check out my guys, make sure they were still breathing.¡± Nathaniel said as he pulled a chair out from under the table to sit across from the ghost. ¡°I see, so what do you need a ghost for?¡± he asked. ¡°Well one would be recruitment, we¡¯d like to recruit a ghost admittedly. The other thing is though, we¡¯d like to study your tech and weapons.¡± Nathaniel told him. ¡°Thats it?¡± the ghost skeptically asked. ¡°Well, to be honest we¡¯d like to study your psionic abilities as well, but -¡± Nathaniel said but as soon as the words left his mouth, the ghost had jumped up and had pulled a knife from somewhere. ¡°Wait! Eden detain him!¡± Nathaniel shouted as he leapt back. Like that the movements of the ghost was completely sealed off as a force field had already encompassed him. The ghost however was still able to yell and voice his displeasure. ¡°Let me go or I¡¯ll melt your brain!¡± he roared as he struggled to get free. ¡°Calm the hell down, if you had let me finish I¡¯d have told you thats not what we¡¯re mainly after. We¡¯re looking to understand Ghosts, not make more of them. If we could understand you then we can help you.¡± Nathaniel said quickly to try and defuse him. The ghost looked at Nathaniel and laughed. ¡°Help us? How could you possibly help us?¡± he asked. ¡°Well for one we could make your stealth tech work better, we could give you personal shields, even improve your psionic abilities to give you more control.¡± Nathaniel said right off the top of his head. The ghost listened to what he had to say and all he could respond with was, ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yeah we could possibly do that, hell maybe we could give you an actual home. Not just for you but for all Ghosts who don¡¯t want that life of pain and death.¡± Nathaniel stated. Again the ghost just stared at him, with the eerie glow of green night vision goggles. ¡°Fine but I wanna talk to your boss before I make any promises but for now I¡¯ll shake on it.¡± The ghost agreed. ¡°Sure just drop the knife first.¡± Nathaniel said. With a chuckle the ghost dropped the knife. ¡°Drop the field Eden.¡± As the stasis field dropped, Nathaniel walked over to the Ghost and they shook hands. -Olympus- Leo woke up to a new ceiling he¡¯d never seen before. Before he could get worried though he felt the soft hands on top of his. Looking up to his side, he saw the beautiful woman who slept with her head on his bed. Sadia had spent the entire night by his side, not leaving for a moment. As she felt him stir, she slowly peaked her eyes out. Seeing Leo wake up, she smiled and kissed him. ¡°Move over.¡± She told him. Seeing that she was going to lay next to him, he scooted as much as he could. Gently she slid into the bed, pulling Leo¡¯s arms around her. As they laid there wrapped up in each other¡¯s embrace, they just stayed wrapped up together. ¡°I was so scared that you¡¯d leave me forever.¡± She whispered. Hearing the concern in her trembling voice, Leo had forgotten that she needed him as much as he needed her. ¡°Sadia, will you marry me?¡± He asked. Pulling Leo closer to her body. ¡°Of course you idiot.¡± She said. ¡°Great, I just hope Sara doesn¡¯t get too mad at me for not being overly romantic.¡± Leo chuckled as they waited for the doctor. -=-=-=- Author¡¯s message: Hi everyone, I am so sorry for not writing in such a long time, happy news though I am not a college graduate and now I can go ahead and write a lot more often. Also I have been working on something special! Anyway thanks for reading and I¡¯m so happy that you have come back to read more/ are continuing to read my story. July 4 2032 - reference to Terminator: Rise of the machines Book II - Chapter 12 Book 2 - Chapter 12 -Olympus- Leo woke up to hear the screams of Sara seeing the two of them laid out on the medical bed. ¡°Ewwwww, please tell me the two of you aren¡¯t naked under there!¡± she screamed as she covered her eyes. ¡°What! Of course!¡± Sadia said back in mock horror. ¡°Oh good, I wanted a mom not a little sibling.¡± She smirked as she plopped down next to them. Behind her the doctor had come in to report his findings. ¡°Hey Doc. Whats my prognosis?¡± Leo wondered. The doctor with her tablet swiped her tablet and then a 3D hologram of a skull came up. ¡°Well physically, nothing is wrong, Your stress levels are a little high but thats normal. The only thing is that you have an increased level of cranial pressure. But there¡¯s no known reason for why this should happen. Even after consulting the APC. There is no real reason for why it should be increasing.¡± The doctor frowned. ¡°So basically, we have no idea why its happening and that I need to relax a little.¡± Leo stated. ¡°Basically.¡± ¡°Great then, I¡¯m taking today off.¡± ¡°That would be advised and don¡¯t be alone, in case this happens again.¡± She sighed. ¡°Will do! Let¡¯s go ladies, I need to be pampered.¡± He said as he fanned himself. The girls laughed as they dragged him out of bed to get dressed. -Prometheus- Back on the Prometheus, they were meeting up with the Lions, in order to finish up their deal and put the events of the last few hours behind them. On the bridge of the Prometheus, Jason Yor and Annie the Angel were wide-eyed at all the advanced technology. ¡°Wow, I don¡¯t even know what half this stuff does honestly.¡± Annie said as she watched people work. ¡°Well, its a good thing they like us, maybe they¡¯ll give us some goodies to use.¡± Jason joked half seriously. As they chatted in the bridge, Nathaniel, Ira, and Paul joined them on the bridge. ¡°Hey there! Like what you see?¡± Nathaniel asked as they greeted each other. Jason and Annie just grinned to each other, ¡°Yeah we do, can¡¯t help appreciate a well oiled crew. Plus your tech seems to be pretty amazing.¡± Jason said as Annie nodded her head. ¡°Well I can agree with you on that.¡± Ira said. ¡°Have we met before? I swear you look familiar.¡± Annie said to him. ¡°Well I used to have a little band of guys called the ¡®War Calvary¡¯ but we took a bad job and nearly got wiped out. So I joined up with these guys.¡± Ira explained. Nodding in understanding Jason and Annie asked no more. ¡°Now then lets complete our deal?¡± Nathaniel suggested. ¡°Right!¡± Jason said as he brought out a small data tablet. ¡°Right here is a list of accounts that total up to three million, plus a little extra for helping us take care of those pirates. The accounts are completely unlinked, so you can now use these future accounts for your future funds.¡± Nathaniel took the data tablet and handed it to Ira to handle the transactions, since he was familiar with this universe¡¯s banking institutions. Ira nodded his head and walked away to move the funds to his old account, which was now the Imperium¡¯s. ¡°Thanks, we¡¯ll move the rest of the cargo over to your ship now.¡± Nathaniel said as he nodded to one of the engineers. After a few moments Jason¡¯s comm sounded off, confirming the cargo was now aboard his ship. ¡°Wow, thats really convenient¡­¡± Jason said to himself. As they chatted a little while longer, an agreement was made that the lions would work any jobs the Imperium had, in return for payment in minerals and vespene gas. Shortly after they were beamed off the ship and bid them farewell. ¡°Well today was a hell of a day!¡± Paul said as he stretched out with his arms. ¡°Yeah it was, now lets go back home. Ira can you organize with Paul patrol and freight routes with the new mercs? I want to keep them at a distance until we get to know them some more.¡± Nathaniel asked. ¡°Sure thing¡± With that they left Deadman¡¯s Port and began their trip back to Olympus. -Atlas- ¡°Sixteen hours Guy.¡± Eden informed him. It would be sixteen hours before the end of the day and they had to find John Conner by then. The crew was actively running scans, hacking satellites, and sending drones onto the planet. ¡°Any ideas yet?¡± Guy asked the room, but no one was saying anything. ¡°Seriously! How hard is it to find one guy!¡± ¡°Guy, it should be noted that most of the planet is facing very high levels of radiation. Our scans are currently 60% less effective from all the interference.¡± Eden informed him. Of course guy knew this but he was hesitant to send any personnel down on to the planet. If the machines caught any of his team and assimilated the tech they had, it would be a nightmare for everyone. ¡°Sir! I think I¡¯ve found him!¡± someone yelled. ¡°Good, on screen!¡± Guy yelled as everyone faced the main screen. On the main screen, a Rugged man whose face was covered in dirt could be seen. Around him were a group of men, resistance fighters, armed with crude beam weapons and weak rail guns. Not bad for scrap and salvage. They were in the midst of battle against a group of terminators and robots. From the looks of the aerial view, it appeared to be quite even. That is to say before the air support that was on the way arrived. The resistance seemed to be having support on the way as well, but not to fight back. The incoming support seemed to be an escape crew. ¡°Eden, tactical analysis of the fight on the ground if the air support wasn¡¯t in the picture.¡± A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Calculation seem to point to the resistance eventually winning with the new support. Though resistance guerrilla tactics point to them escaping. It seems the resistance has not won a direct conflict with skynet in some time. However slow they are doing it, they are winning the war.¡± Eden said. ¡°Well that¡¯s certainly good news. Time until their support arrives? And hypothetically if we wanted to launch drop pods at their location, how long would that take?¡± Guy asked. ¡°Their support will arrive in five minutes, twelve seconds. Drop pods forty seconds.¡± ¡°Well, lets say we be good samaritans and land a couple drop pods and kick some machine butt?¡± Guy suggested. Seeing the crew¡¯s face light up, Guy nodded. ¡°Alright! Deploy Theta Squad!¡± At the drop pod sites that were reinstalled from missile tubes, thirty six marines in CMC-300 suits filled up drop pods and were dropped launched to greet the last bastion of humanity. -Terminator Universe- -Earth- Head to head, resistance fighters and machines were battling each other. They were in an old abandoned factory, where cars used to be made. Yells of fighters shooting and the sounds of machines shooting back filled the warehouse with an echo of laser blast and minigun fire. ¡°We need to get outside!¡± one of the fighters yelled. ¡°NO! I just got word, machine air support is on the way. We need to stay here until the pickup squad arrives!¡± John yelled back as he took another shot at a terminator. Lines of curses could be heard as the fighters knew that some of them would die this day. Radio static could be heard as John received another transmission, but this time he asked them to repeat it. John couldn¡¯t believe his ears, space junk was falling on his position? As someone who received a lot of knowledge from the future, there was;t much that could surprise him. This however was new, so new he wasn¡¯t sure how to act. However with the battle in front of him, he had more important things to worry about. -Drop pod- Through the speakers of the drop pods, Guy¡¯s voice was being broadcasted to all the marines. ¡°Listen here everyone! Your objective is to kill machines, save humans, and make a good impression! Got that?¡± ¡°Sir! Yes, Sir!¡± the voices resonated. ¡°Landing in 10¡­ 9¡­ 8¡­ 7¡­. 6¡­ 5¡­¡± -Warehouse- Over the last several minutes, laser fire, screaming, and gun fire filled the warehouse full of sound. Without warning though loud noises permeated the skies and slightly distracted the resistance fighters. This gave the terminators, a chance to push up and start over taking ground. That was short-lived however as through the broken concrete roofs, metal tubed pushed through and landed all around them. For a moment all fighting stopped, the machines were calculating what to do. The fighters were confused as to shoot it or not. As everyone observed the massive cylinders, suddenly massive side panels ejected from the side. Revealing massive robotic suits of armor. In the eye of one of the resistance fighters, the acceptance of death flashed across his eyes. That is to say until the massive suits of armor started shooting, at the terminators! ¡°Sir! Are they with us?¡± one of the fighters asked John. John just looked at him and said, ¡°I have no idea.¡± As the fighting resumed, many of the fighters noticed that these new suits of armor were in fact just walking through the warehouse. Unlike resistance weapons where they would have to shoot a terminator a few times before it stayed down, one shot from the massive cannons the suits were wearing quickly demolished any terminator standing in their way. A the human fighters pushed the terminators back, one suit came up to john. ¡°Are you John Conner?¡±, came a voice from the speaker on the suit. John figured they were friendly, ¡°Yeah, what the hell are you?¡± As he said this the visor on the suit opened up, revealing to their surprise, a human. ¡°Were your new friends, our mission is to save John Conner.¡± The marine smiled. ¡°Well I could use more friends like you.¡± John said happily as he looked over and saw the terminators being wiped out. Nodding, the marine radioed over. ¡°Atlas, this is Theta-1. VIP is safe. Awaiting further orders.¡± ¡°This is Atlas. Protect VIP until meeting can be organized. Be advised Machine Air support on your location in ETA, 1 minute. Resistance forces 2 minutes out.¡± ¡°Affirmative.¡± The Marine said as he relayed orders to the rest of his teams. ¡°It¡¯s about to get heavy. You guys might wanna stay outta the way being your armors a bit light.¡± The marine suggested to the resistance fighters. ¡°Be my guest, but don¡¯t call us when you suddenly need backup.¡± John said grimly. ¡°Then in that case. Defensive formations! Theta squad, bunker tactics!¡± After a minute of waiting, thirty seconds of shooting, and ten seconds of silence. The air support had been easily brought down by the time resistance support came in. Leading the support was Kate Brewster, John¡¯s wife. When she got there, she was expecting a heavy fire fight. What she got was a what seemed like a bunch of guys drinking beer in front of the warehouse where she was supposed to be franticly rescuing. ¡°What the hell is going on?¡± she asked as she jumped into Johns arms. ¡°Well its a long stor-¡° ¡°Hey John, I got some rations you asked, Oh well this is awkward.¡± One of the Marines said as he walked out of the ware house with a lot of guns pointed at him. ¡°Dammit Leroy! I told you to stay inside until John explain who we are!¡± the comm blasted out of the marine¡¯s suit. Screams of astonishment were heard from Kate¡¯s side as the visor went up and they saw a bright eyes young man, who was awkwardly smiling as he held up his hand. ¡°Ration?¡± he offered. Book II - Chapter 13 Book 2 Chapter 13 -Prometheus.- "So this is home? Not a bad colony you have going here but I was expecting a bit¡­ more." The ghost said as he stood on the bridge. "Wait until the people start arriving, we''re small in number now but we will grow once old confederate refugees arrive." Nathaniel said. "Well they might not be so nice." The ghost commented. "What do you mean?" "Back in the day, Confederate Officials were little better than bandits in power. I know because I was a long arm of them. In short some will be aprehensice about joning, some will take a chance cause they''re desperate, and some will just want to take what you have." Nathaniel laughed as he finished. "We have over thirty ships, planetary defenses, and technology this universe has never seen before. They dont have a chance." The ghost just nodded and stared at the planet. "Sir im getting your encoded briefing packet." The communications officer stated. "Thanks, I''ll take it in my office." He told the officer. In Nathaniel''s office he pressed his hand on the scanner and his screeen began showing him reports. However it wasa small memo from Sadia that made him get out his chair. "Transport me to the High Lord''s palace. Immediately." He said as he lft his office, the ghost heard this and was intrigued. "Ira, you''re in command until otherwise stated. Stay here Ghost" Nathaniel tells them. "Nathaniel!" The ghost interupted. "What?" "I don¡¯t know for sure, but I think there''s another ghost down there." The ghost said as he looked at Olympus. "What are you talking about? There cant be any ghosts on Olympus, you¡¯re the first ghost we¡¯ve encountered.¡± Nathaniel exclaimed. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I¡¯m definitely feeling psionic energy from the planet. Its weird though, like its untrained, like a wave, powerful. Almost like they haven¡¯t learned how to control themselves yet. Which is weird seeing how powerful they are since I can feel them from here.¡± Nathaniel considered his words and remembered something that Leo had told him before they left their home universe. ¡®Sometimes we will run into unexplained situations, where all we can do is adapt and prepare for it as best we can. Don¡¯t deny whats in front on you, since nothing is impossible anymore.¡¯ ¡°Alright Ghost, come with me. Paul you stay here with Ira and monitor our new friends and check up on the mining stations.¡± Nathanial said as him and the Ghost were beamed straight onto the planet. -Olympus- In the Palace, Leo was currently lying down, enjoying the feeling of being pampered. Sadia was in the process of preparing lunch. Meanwhile Sara was upstairs doing some research on some interesting projects she found. He himself just laid back and relaxed in one of the best moods since they arrived. The knock on the door didn''t disturb him so Sadia let them in. "Leo! How are you? Are you alright?" Nathaniel said as he rushed in worried about him. "Nate, please. I''m fine, just some stress." He said, dismissing him. Nathaniel let out a sigh, relieved at the news. ¡°Thats great, I¡¯m glad you¡¯re okay. You should take a break, its been only a few weeks but you¡¯ve been at it non-stop.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be fine. My fiancee and daughter are more than enough to take care of me.¡± Leo slipped. ¡°Fiancee?¡± Nathaniel said with a raised brow. ¡°Yeah. Who¡¯s this?¡± Leo said as he noticed the ghost standing there. ¡°This is¡­ actually I don¡¯t know your name.¡± Nathaniel realized. ¡°We don¡¯t have names. Nathaniel the energy is close, extremely nearby¡± The ghost told them. ¡°What he talking about?¡± ¡°Seems like there might be ghost on Olympus, the ghost can sense their psionic energy and is . Sara!¡± Leo called out. Sara who was upstairs came down and stared directly at the ghost as he stared back at her. Staring at the Ghost she walked across the room, saying ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°The question is who are you?¡± he replied. ¡°I¡¯m getting a vibe from you¡­ like you¡¯re not really there.¡± She told him. ¡°I¡¯m a ghost. You find me only if I let you find me. Nathaniel, I found the source of our psionic disturbance.¡± ¡°Sara? Really?¡± he retorted. ¡°Yeah, she¡¯s got the gift. Very raw and untrained but she¡¯s powerful.¡± Standing up to interrupt them, ¡°Whoa whoa whoa, hold on there a second. What are you guys talking about, Sara can¡¯t be a-¡° ¡°Yes I am dad. I¡¯ve known for awhile now.¡± She interrupted. ¡°Wha¡­¡± Leo stammered. ¡°Trembling objects? Whispers in the middle of the day? Little sleep but full of energy?¡± ¡°Objects, yes. Sleep and whispers rarely.¡± ¡°I figured.¡± The ghost sighed. ¡°Explain. Now.¡± Leo sternly stated. ¡°Those are the basic abilities that most ghosts develop in training. The first manifestations of psionic energy that we can use. Normal psychics can use their abilities to influence the world arounds us. Real powerful psychics can crack a person¡¯s mind open and rip thoughts and knowledge from other people¡¯s minds. Untrained, she could be a risk to those around her, I¡¯ve seen it happen and its not pretty.¡± He explained. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°What do you mean by risk?¡± He struggled to find proper words to explain, ¡°Basically, those who lack control go a little¡­ psychotic and then need¡­removal.¡± ¡°Is there anything we can do?¡± ¡°Psi dampeners. They¡¯re a little difficult to get ahold of but¡­ it should work.¡± He said. ¡°Nathaniel.¡± ¡°On it.¡± He said as he quickly pulled out his communication tablet. ¡°My combat suit has some installed on it, but its not really designed for her.¡± ¡°Let us study it and we¡¯l replicate the tech, promise it will be returned to you exactly they way you leave it.¡± Leo pleaded. ¡°Sure but what she really needs is to learn how to control her power. How long since you started feeling it?¡± he asked. ¡°A week or so.¡± ¡°Good you haven¡¯t had time to lash out yet.¡± He said. ¡°Lash out?¡± ¡°Its complicated.¡± ¡°We have all day.¡± -Terminator Universe- Guy was watching on the main monitor John Connor with his resistance forces and Theta Squad move across the ruined urban city. Earlier he had heard John convince the other fighters allow Theta squad to accompany them. After sending a Dropship with transport vehicles filled with medical supplies, clean water, and good rations. They were more than happy to bring them along. It was another two hours later before they arroved at what semed to be an underground bunker entrance. The supplies were being unloaded as some marines stayed behind to help with some of the heavy lifting. "Theta-1 bring the hologram projector." "Affirmative." He said as he brought a square case with him. As they walked through the bunker many people were frightened to see the walking giant suits of armor that were walking. People gathered to See John return from battle but stayed away because of the new people. "Everyone gather into the auditorium." People moved and immediately began started moving as if the whole base moved at his whim. They walked through the inner part of the bunker, reaching an office that the Marine could barely fit through. Kate followed shortly after and brought some of other leaders in command. ¡°John what is going on? And what is this?¡± one of the older Leaders commented. Theta-1 who had his visor screen down, slowly opened up to reveal his human appearance. ¡°What the fuck is going on? Is that an exoskeletal suit?¡±, one of lab coat wearing woman said as she began rambling on all the pieces of tech she could identify. Slowly others who had questions began ¡°Pamala, shut up. All of you, please.¡± John sighed. All the others immediately silenced themselves. It was rare for John to be so blunt, normally he¡¯d ask them all to ¡®quiet down¡¯ or ¡®wait a moment¡¯. They realized that he only said ¡®shut up¡¯ in extreme circumstances. ¡°This is a new friend, I made. I thought it was a little crazy how he fell out of the sky but I¡¯ll leave it up to him to explain what he represents.¡± John said as all eye¡¯s fell on Theta-1. ¡°Thank you John. I am Ka, leader of Theta squad, messenger of ¡®The Grey Imperium¡¯. What you¡¯re about to hear is going to be beyond your realm of understand or belief. That however doesn¡¯t make it any less true.¡± He said as he set the box he carried down and opened it. Inside was the dome shaped object that had a small hole in the middle. Ka brought the dome and set it into the middle of the room. ¡°This is Theta-1, projector is set up.¡± He said. ¡°Affirmative, activating projector.¡± The voice on the other end responded. From the sphere, a transparent back of a person appeared. ¡°Is this thing working?¡± ¡°Sir you¡¯re facing the wrong direction.¡± ¡°Huh? Oh damn.¡± The person turned around to reveal Guy. ¡°Sorry about that, I am Commander Guy Fisk, of the ISS Atlas.¡± He introduced. ¡°ISS? As in?¡± ¡°Imperial StarShip¡± Guy answered. That quickly got everyone¡¯s attention. ¡°So you¡¯re aliens?¡± one leader said. ¡°No, we¡¯re perfectly human. Its all a bit complicated and I¡¯m not really qualified to explain the technical details but all I can really say is this. We can end the war, today. The only thing is though we¡¯re not doing it for free¡± Hearing those words made everyone twitch. Some had a concerned expression, while others had a look of hope. ¡° What do you want?¡± Kate asked. ¡°We want to send a message, to all of humanity. John is the only one everyone listens too. We want you to endorse us, of course that can come later. The main thing we want is numbers. There are 10 million people left on earth, if they all joined the imperium then we would feel more secure. The other this is that we want to take all the machines off earth and use them, put them to good use.¡± ¡°Put them to good use? What good do you need an army of war machines for?¡± One of the other leaders exclaimed. The others nodded and were equally concerned. Guy pouted as he saw their reactions. ¡°Alright. Fair enough. You want to know what we¡¯re going to fight. You deserve to know what we¡¯re going to be fighting. Eden, display projection and scenes of the Zerg.¡± ¡°Acknowledge, projecting Zerg invasions.¡±