Among all the dangers of space, letting an unknown person aboard your vessel rates as one of the highest. Most shields are directed outwards, to defend against enemy vessels and attacks. Only capital ships are large enough to warrant internal and structural shielding, and even then the generators for said shields are located in the bowels of the ship, easy enough to find and destroy once inside.

So, say a hostile person standing at the 11th divide makes it aboard your ship. The results would not be pretty, and that’s an understatement.

It was natural then, that the crew of a little Federation scout ship panicked quite badly upon seeing a strange man walk onto their bridge. This panic turned to confusion when he spoke, and directly asked for a ride.

“Wh-what?” Asked the befuddled captain.

“My group needs a ride, and I am hoping that your ship would be willing to berth an extra 10 people.” Explained the man again.

“This is a Federation ship! Civilians aren’t allowed, especially not unknown ones who might or might not pose a threat to us!” interjected a slightly overzealous officer, though his sentiments were shared among the crew.

The man smiled. “Oh, but I was under the impression that all Federation vessels were under standing orders to help and assist any victims of ship-wreaks, attacks, or any other peoples under unfortunate circumstances out here in space. It is common spacefarer’s code, unless something has changed recently without my knowledge.”

“This is…”

“Would it help to mention that our ship was brought under fire from a group of pirate ships very close to here, and that there were scraps of other Federation vessels in the area? In fact, I seem to recall that there was a very brief blip on our detection networks, showing a single ship fleeing at light speed?”

The crew members of the Federation vessel dared not look straight at the man, for fear their guilt would show after hearing his statements. Only the captain eyed him up.

“We were the ship which fled.” She admitted. “It seemed like the best course of action, even as callous as it was. We had gotten intelligence about the pirates causing massive Federation losses in the Fringe sectors of space, and needed to transmit it.”

“I am not faulting you for that. However, the result of those actions are that 10 people now have been stranded in space, and the Federation is obligated to handle this.”

The captain sighed, and turned to a nearby officer.

“Smith, how many extra can we fit?”

“Er, normally 7, ma’am. We could squeeze in ten, though.”

“Good.” Replied the captain. She turned back to the unknown man. “We can take your people back to the Federation base. Where you go next is up to you.”

“Mhh, thank you.” He said. “I will just let the other’s introduce themselves then.” Continued the man, drawing a circle in the air. The crew felt an influx of mana from the circle, increasing sharply until it felt like a bubble popped, and the air went still again. The area where the bright golden circle was etched was stable once more, and inside the circle itself was another space, like a fathomless looking glass was suspended in midair. The Federation ship’s crew could see through the hole in space, and had a view of another ship’s interior.

“You all can come through now.” Said the man, speaking to people on the other side.

And one by one, they stepped through the hole, coming to stand inside the bridge, nine others in all.

“This might be a good time for introductions. My name is Heimdal, and these are my comrades.” Said the man. “These two are Isis and Athena, they are helping me bring the others back to our stronghold. The one standing in the back there is Jvorg, he is following for some reason or another, and the six kids are Sabrina, Haven, Godard, Ussen, Kormic, and Revian. We are traveling back to the Pantheon.”

~

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~

They has been shocked to hear our destination. After Heimdal spoke about it, the crew descended into a stunned silence. The guy assigned to show us our bunks was sweating quite badly. Does the Pantheon have a reputation among the military, then?

Hmm, it doesn’t really matter all that much. As long as they’re willing to give us passage to the nearest way station, we’ll be fine. From there, Pantheon can send another freighter to pick us up, or Heimdal could just gate us incrementally. We got close enough to where that wouldn’t be as much of an issue. After all, it’ll take about 5 days to reach Pantheon with Heimdal using his gates, if my math is right. Compared to the extra two months of getting a new freighter over here, and the time to make it back, it might be a better option.

Our rooming situation was pretty bad, though. It should have been expected, but the extra space they had was under military definitions of extra space. So, there was a single empty room with ten bunks, five lined up against each wall. Very quickly, the others came to a consensuses—Us ladies would take one side of the room, while the men would be on the other. They managed to string up a curtain of sorts across the middle to afford some privacy. I claimed the bunk furthest from the door, in the corner of the room.

I immediately sat atop the thin bed, going into meditation. My body was so, so close to breaking through when the pirates interrupted us, and I wanted to quickly shatter the barrier preventing me from advancing to the next divide.

Emptying my mind of any distractions, energy gathered in my heart, pulled from my reserves. A powerful energy suction effect occurred, naturally drawing free energy into me to prop up the process.

To break through into a new divide, only one thing is needed, and that’s raw power. Each divide represents a barrier of how much power a person can hold or wield. Someone at the 1st divide has the power of an average human. Someone at the 2nd divide has about twice that. and so on. There’s a hard boundary on the amount of mana you can hold at each divide, and to advance to the next one, that boundary must be shattered.

Right now, my body felt bloated from the raw mana coursing through my veins. It all had to be gathered at the center of my being, and forced outwards from there. If I didn’t succeed, months of recuperation would be required for the next attempt.

But that wouldn’t be necessary. The ball of mana seemed to create its own core of gravity as it was compressed, until I could do so no more. At that time, I relinquished control of the ball, and allowed it to explosively expand.

The pure energy coursed through my entire body, and I was suffused in absolute power for a mere instant. Then something shattered, and the energy sunk into me, absorbed in my muscles, my arteries, my organs and my very skin. I had broken through to the next divide.

Opening my eyes, I became aware that the room was silent.

My friends were meditating as I had been, taking advantage of the relative peace to further their own strength. Athena and Heimdal were watching me with shocked expressions on their faces, while Isis was examining me from a distance, like one would a wild animal or something similar. Jvorg was standing to the side with a smug grin on his face.

“Did—did she just break through to the 12th divide?” Asked a stunned Athena.

“S-s-she did.” Affirmed Isis.

“But…she’s like, 14!” Cried Athena.

“19.” I clarified.

“That’s still too damn young!” Shrieked Athena. “It takes 40 years for talented people to make it there!”

“I…I do not think Revian simply qualifies as ‘talented’ at this point.” Said Heimdal.

I shrugged.

“I am Odin.” I said, as if that cleared up matters. Athena’s jaw could have hit the floor. Right, while Isis and Heimdal were privy to that particular bit of knowledge, she was not.

“Hmm. I will say that I did not expect you to be so strong.” Said Heimdal, now speaking to me. “When we found you to be so young, there was concern among Isis and I that you would not be ready. It would not be an issue for Loki to continue standing in, but it would be best to have the real Odin presiding as soon as possible.”

“I grow fast. No issue.” I said.

“But still. To reach the 12th divide at your age represents limitless potential. And, with your illusions, it would not be difficult to contend with any other Pantheon head, should things reach that point. At the very least, you would be able to hold your own, power-wise.”

I nodded in understanding. They had been concerned that I wouldn’t be accepted without power, Odin title notwithstanding. In this universe we live in, the logic is sound. All prestige and fame stems from personal power, and the influence of strength. Even in an organization like the Pantheon, it isn’t enough to have the keenest mind, or the best people. Nobody would pay you any attention without the strength to command it.

And now that I’ve demonstrated my strength and my potential, they might rest easy with the knowledge of my place being secured. I can openly proclaim myself as Odin without any worry, unlike what Heimdal was originally worried about and planning for. There’s no need to lay low when I have the strength to stand at the top and not get knocked down.

Very soon after the spectacle of my breaking through, we were called down for food. My friends were roused from their meditation, and we all went down to partake in military rations. The mess hall was a crowded place, with ship crew constantly coming and going. The captain of the ship herself, Cpt. Farthings, guided us around, and sat us at a table off to the side of things.

“My apologies for the less than ideal situation on board. We have a crew of nearly five hundred aboard, mostly in expeditionary forces and soldiers. In a ship like this, there isn’t much space to be found.”

“It is of no issue. We only needed a way to the nearest way-station. It is of no consequence if this way happens to be a military scout flagship.”

We sat in silence for a while longer, pecking at the food in front of us.

“Anyway, as far as bringing you to the nearest way-station, you’re in luck. CZ-Prime is only a few days from here, and it’s the region hub.”

“So close to the Fringe?”

“It’s a military outpost as well. There are very few people willing to attack the place.” Responded the captain.

“That sounds good.” Said Heimdal.

We talked a while longer before returning to our bunks.