“You may enter”.

I checked myself quickly before entering the office. Uniform, check. Fur in place, check. Claws retracted, check. I straightened my back and with a deep breath, opened the door.

Besides, it wasn’t every day that you got to meet someone like the Fleet Admiral in the flesh.

“I’m glad that you could make it all the way to Procyon on such short notice, Tusaale. I wanted to personally congratulate you on your promotion to captain. And captain of the Shenlong, no less!”, he exclaimed, congratulating me like he had known me for a long time. Pride swelled up in my chest, so I took a second to compose myself before I replied.

“I am happy to hear that, Sir. I am only doing my duty to the Collective, and I hope to keep on doing it for centuries to come.”

“That’s a commendable ambition, Captain. I have no doubt that you will continue to serve the CSS and that you will be a magnificent example for the Kashim, as well as for every other species in the Collective. Actually, that kind of ties in to why I called you here today.”

“I assume that you didn’t call me all the way here on such short notice just to congratulate me, Sir”, I replied, making sure that I kept my back ramrod straight with nary a sliver of emotion on my face,

“Its alright, you can relax. I’m not going to admonish you for something like your posture”, he proclaimed, chickling to himself as he gestured for me to sit down. “Besides, you may need to take a seat for what you are about to hear next.”

I sat down slowly and adjusted my body, unsure of what the Admiral to tell me. I struggled to control my pounding hearts, a bead of sweat slowly running down my back.

The Admiral looked at me intensely, albeit for only a couple of seconds at most, seemingly sizing me up to see if I could be trusted. I was apparently trustworthy because a moment later he pulled up a holofile, with the words *TOP SECRET* and *NEED TO KNOW BASIS* emblazoned on the front. I’m sure there was also a *ON PAIN OF DEATH* somewhere in there too. I looked at the Fleet Admiral with a puzzled look on my face, while on the inside I was bursting at the seams to know what the hell was going on.

“Tusaale, I need you to understand that by opening this file you agree to the terms and conditions held within. Everything in here is a valuable state secret, so should you tell anybody not in the know, your nanite network will overload and kill you immediately. It won’t be a painless death either. You still have the option of walking away, and if you do, I entirely understand. So, what is your choice”?

I thought intensely for a few moments, weighing out everything I could. Why would the Admiral tell me this? If it really is such a closely guarded secret, it must be worth knowing; however, is it worth certain death if I so much as slip up and tell someone. I was still internally debating myself, yet my mouth moved before I could even be sure of myself.

“I will gladly open the file sir.”

The Fleet Admiral smiled a genuine smile that I had never seen in any media of the man. “I am glad that you chose so, captain. I advise that you read it before we go any further.”

I opened the file and soaked in the contents. With each and every letter read, my eyes widened further and further.

*TOP SECRET MILITARY FILE*

*SUBJECT TO A NEED TO KNOW BASIS ON PAIN OF DEATH*

PROJECT TITLE: Project Paragon

SUBJECT: Hannibal Davis, D.O.B AD 10870, (133 years old), currently missing, presumed alive.

DETAILS: Ten years ago, the subject volunteered to be a part of the project. Due to his extensive and decorated combat history he was allowed, along with two thousand others, to take part in Project Paragon.

The aim of Project Paragon is to create the ultimate living weapons, capable of combat with Archangel Class and above foes. The five survivors of the conversion process are able to output tremendous energies, with up to 100 yottajoules per second available at peak safe output, 400 yottajoules per second available at peak output.

After rigorous experimentation, it was decided that the best location for the subject’s soul to reside would be in the core of a star

This has been achieved through the Soul Link project, a successful attempt at channelling extremely high amounts of energy via metaphysical means. After observing the enemy’s method of extracting and storing souls, we managed to replicate it to our benefit. By placing a subject’s soul into an optimal energy source and maintaining a link with their bodies, the subject would be able to harness this energy to our advantage.

As no biological body would be able to withstand these energies, their soul was linked to a specially designed combat cyborg designed to resemble them, in order to lessen any potential mental issues. This cyborg has come equipped with AIRES (Artificial Intelligence Reconnaissance, Engagement and Security system), which manages combat against any powerful enemy forces, as no biological being would be able to do so. It also acts as a failsafe, should the subject become unstable.

The body itself is made of a neutronium frame, with super polymers in place of muscles and conduits for energy where any arteries or veins would be. Anti-gravity fields are included to lessen the immense weight of neutronium. The body is also saturated with nanites controlled by AIRES, which facilitate any quick repairs. After multiple complaints we also included an artificial tongue and stomach, which the nanites take care of.

The Soul Link comes with great cost to the vessel. Should a person’s soul not be able to withstand the environment within the core of a star, their soul itself would be destroyed. This may be the reason for the very low success rate, as it takes the exceptional even among the exceptional to even have a chance at success.

CAPABILITIES: Heightened strength, super speed, flight, energy projectiles, supreme durability and energy to mass conversion. The subject is forbidden from using more than a gigajoule of energy without cooperation from AIRES.

COMBAT APPLICATIONS: Without any backing from C.S.S forces, the subject is able to directly take on Archangel class foes, as proven with his encounter with Ramiel at NGC 4258.

It honesty took me a few minutes to even think about closing my mouth, such was the shock I was in. A mortal creature, being able to take on the gods themselves? If a thought like that had even occurred to me before now, I would have dismissed it as a pipe dream; yet here I was, reading a document that laid bare what mortals could do if they put their mind to it.

“How is something of this magnitude top secret? Why would you hide this from the populace if he’s apparently fought significant enemies and won?! How did Hannibal hide this from us? And most importantly, what do you mean Hannibal is missing! He died two days ago, when he got blown up by those fanatical bastards!”, I yelled at the top of my voice. I stopped in my tracks when I realised who I was raising my voice towards, so I lowered my head in apology. “I’m sorry for my undisciplined behaviour, Sir. I am ready to receive any punishment you think is necessary”, I proclaimed, in actuality terrified of what the venerable Fleet Admiral might do to me.

“Its fine, Tusaale. In fact, I’d be surprised if you didn’t react in this manner at all, since my sources tell me that the two of you have grown to be rather close over the past year. Although, we have our reasons for keeping this secret, because even though we have put checks and balances in place, how many people would be comfortable sharing a space with somebody who could annihilate a planet”?

“Not that many, Sir”, I replied, not having to put much thought into my answer.

“You would also do well to remember that as a member of this project he couldn’t tell anyone about it, under penalty of death”, said the Fleet Admiral, rising out of his chair and heading towards the cabinet nearby. I saw him gently grab a rectangular looking… thingy from the cabinet, and he gracefully returned to his seat.

“If I may ask, what is that thing sir.? I’ve never seen something like that.”

“This, my friend, is ancient technology. From Old Earth itself. It’s called a flash drive, which was once used to store data. This one can store an entire thirty-two gigabytes, if you can believe it!”, he guffawed, finding a bit too much humour in his joke.

“I’m assuming you have a reason for using such an item”?

“These, my friend, are completely covert. No one in the modern day, except for a select few, even have the capable hardware to use one. These are incapable of connecting to the datanet; furthermore, the vast majority of people don’t even know what these are.”

“OK then, that’s pretty nice, but what kind of data is so sensitive that you would go to these lengths, Sir”?

“The data for your mission, should you choose to accept it”. The Fleet Admiral slid the flash drive across the table, looking at me expectantly. I didn’t hesitate to take it from him, which warranted a beaming smile. “You’ve made the right choice, Tusaale. Now, lets get to business. Your mission is to find and retrieve Hannibal”.

“Excuse me for asking, but how do you know that he is alive? I saw his ship get disintegrated, there’s no surviving that.”

At this point, the Fleet Admiral slowly got up and walked towards the viewscreen, spending a minute facing it with the burgundy curtains facing him. I was wary of speaking up, fearing that the revered hero of the C.S.S may have been more eccentric than he was letting on. For a while he seemed content to let me stew in the strangeness of it all, but then he suddenly grabbed the curtains and forced them apart with a dramatic flair, turning towards me as he did so. He gestured towards the window.

“What do you see, captain”? I walked up towards the window, making sure to capture every last detail in the hopes of seeing whatever the admiral saw. Even through the dimmed viewscreen, Rigel’s dazzling light was too bright to gaze upon directly. I looked around the system, admiring the grand, wonderous feats of engineering that the Rigellians had completed so long ago. Many stations littered the system, allowing for a heavy flow of traffic. In front of the stars light, it almost gave the illusion of it being a cosmic river of some kind.

“I see life, Sir. Its almost as if the system itself is alive.”.

“Well, you’re almost correct. You said that you wanted to know how we know that Hannibal is still alive”?

“Yes, Sir.”

“Well, he’s right in front of us, captain.”

My eyes narrowed in confusion for a split second, while I desperately tried to decipher what he meant. I gazed upon the star and then it dawned on me, along with the light from the star itself.

“His soul is inside the star”, I whispered to myself, too shocked to say it any louder.

“It’s never left”, replied the Admiral, clearly soaking in the moment. “If he had died, his soul would have passed on, yet since his soul is still there, that just means he’s not with us.”

“But… but where? I saw his ship blow up!”

“There’s a known spatial anomaly at the tip of the northern arm of Andromeda, coincidentally the exact same place where you encountered the Greater Holy Fleet. The energy of the detonation must have warped his ship somewhere else. I’m gonna need you to track him down and deliver him home safely, captain. Since this isn’t an official mission, im going to keep it of the books. I can trust that you’ll do the same?”

“Of course, Sir. When do you want me to begin?”

“All of the information needed is on the flash drive. Ill deliver to your accommodation the suitable hardware necessary to use it. Make sure you get some quality rest, because you’re going to need it. Oh, and Tusaale”?

“Yes?”

“Congratulations on the promotion.”