NC7- Alpha's Story

(1530 Lady Une Dr, May 31st, 2:45 AM)

Over the radio in their car, Lancaster and Sarah were given the 411 on the situation at Lady Une drive. When the details of what had transpired were received, Lancaster looked contemplative. "Less than twenty minutes after finding the Totem, someone else decides to decapitate and split open an elderly couple in a high class area that is full of surveillance cameras. Then the first responder was attacked, luckily it was that droid, if it was anything else we probably wouldn't have gotten the call so quickly." He said as he flipped on the siren and proceeded towards the scene.

"What are you thinking Lancaster?"

"I'm not sure, there is the possibility that whoever is responsible for the Totem, is responsible for this latest murder. However putting that thing up in two hours would take a massive amount of time, not to mention the stitching was fresh. Whoever did that put a lot of time and effort into it. It almost seems impossible for someone to commit another grisly spectacle like we've been told, if they were the one's who put up the Totem............Still"

"The latest murder was horrific, nightmarish even, just like the Totem"

"It's an M.O. that's hard to miss, almost a signature, but that is dangerous if it's true."

"Why's that?"

"Because if our Killer's signature is pure terror, they aren't done and we are only going to find worse and worse crime scenes if it is the same person. "

The Black Muscle car pulled up to 1530 Lady Une Dr. There was already significant police presence there. Lancaster and Sarah stepped out of their vehicle and walked up to Alpha "Fancy meeting you again so soon." Lancaster chuckled, holding his hand out for Alpha to shake. "So you were the first responder eh?"

"What can you tell us about the condition of the bodies and your attacker?" Sarah chimed in, pulling out a small PDA and began tapping on it.

Alpha looked over to the black muscle car pulling up, the lights across the droid flashed briefly before dimming, and once approached he’d shake the detective’s hand. “pleased to see you too responded as quickly as you could.” The blood that covered the face plate was still there staining into the reactive plate, Alpha turns away and approaches towards the corpse on the ground.


“I did not begin invasive procedures into extracting the cybernetics that make up 74% of the assailant's head, as for the state of the two victims inside”, one of the rotor drones ejected from his back and flew towards and from the top of the palm sized drone a small data card rose up as its shell opened up exposing the tiny mechanisms within.

“That card has all the video footage of my approach and my combat with the cyborg...calculations of collateral damage is equivalent to 460,000 of this city’s currency. ” He points to the house on the opposite side of the road, luckily the building was for sale and no one was living there, but it's retail value had plummeted due to being riddled with ammunition that could pop tanks...


He knelt down beside the cyborg and looked it over, monitoring the cyberware for any activity, Still even though killing was part of his base reasons for being created, he felt guilt for killing the Cyborg. Standing back up he turned back to the detectives “much of the crime scene inside is...painted in blood, i’m rather surprised that the killer was able to get out the room without leaving a trail of bloody footprints."

The Imperial Guardsman all stood at their positions as the police took to the scenes. Orders were given out to some Guardsman. "Check security footages, we might spot someone or something enteringbthe vincinity. I want every detail looked over, nothing is considered small so get to work men." An Imperial officer spoke as another Chimera charged into the scene.

"In a span of twenty minutes we are already on the move to yet another murder sight...in a well populated and well watched area if I might add..." The Commisar gave a sigh as he left the Chimera, his driver soon getting out along with the smell of unwashed socks covering his body.

Walking over to the scene where the body was left. "So...looks like whoever this mastermind is has some connections...I say that perhaps some members inside our ranks could be working for whoever is doing this if they managed to do something this bold under a watching eye. Still...that means if the killer can do this, then that means the killer must be saying that none of us are safe...a good intimidating message I have to admit, but it take more than bold intimmidation for me." Cain spoke as Jurgen handed him a small pile of documents to read over.

Of course in reality he was nervious, the back of his hands itched. That means there could be moles inside his regiment, which meant he could have his throat slit at night. Not a good thought.

"In and out with no evidence? I find that hard to believe" Lancaster sighed, lighting up a cigarette. "Well lets go have a look shall we? Sarah you stay here with Alpha and check out this attacker." He said exhaling smoke and walking up to the house. Inside the house it was normal except the dining room where the hideous scene was.

The droid was right, there was no trail of blood, nothing to say someone else had been in there other than the fact that there was no way the Grey's had done this to themselves. "Well what do you say?" Lancaster asked the M.E on scene. The M.E shook his head and looked back at the Detective with disgust on his face. "What you see is what you get. It was a blade and a sharp one at that, completely sliced through all the tendons and the skin on him, and cut her entire rib cage open, even damaging the heart underneath."

"Wow, how long did that take?"

"Seconds, based on how the blood is patterned around the area." The M.E said point around the room, to the ceiling and the floor. "His head came off, then she was split open, they died almost instantly but there would have been about three seconds where at least the wife as in excruciating pain. There is also some documents describing a severed head's span of coherence."

Lancaster looked at the mess in front of him "The last thing he sees after knowing his head has been removed is his wife get slaughtered.......... Thank you" He said and walked back outside.

Sarah was examining the body of Kyara when Lancaster exited "You said 74 percent of this woman's brain is cybernetic?" Sarah asked Alpha as she examined the body "It doesn't look like the wounds you inflicted on her would have been enough to kill her, so what did?" She asked examining the body with gloved hands as Lancaster arrive. "Kain this woman has been Genetically and Cybernetically enhanced, heavily."

"And there is no kind of evidence at this crime scene to even begin to give us a lead. Who ever did this is a ghost" Lancaster exhaled more smoke as the Chimera rolled up "Here comes the Brass" He said as he saw the Commisar emerge from the transport "This is more than just random murders"

“you would be correct in your observation Detective Balmont. The strike...” Alpha motions to his blood splattered faceplate of reactive armour. “was enough to cause deactivation of cybernetic hardware for a brief moment and knock her unconscious,in response someone wirelessly activated a killswitch which sent a high power spike of electricity directly to her brain”

He was still monitoring the signal that activated the killswitch, triangulating it, though it would take time, he turns to face Lancaster as he approaches. “I have a suggestion, i was able to trace the killswitch signal, however i do not have the necessary equipment installed to pinpoint it, i require an uplink connection, to two radio, phone or internet towers within the city, that way any outbound or inbound signal can be traced, or blocked, if i so desire, ensuring if we come across another of these cyborgs we will be able to capture and interrogate”

His head turned to the commissar “I would ask your people for this access but i know how your techpriests abhor such” again the droid looks to the damage he caused.

Cain turned to face the machine before speaking."Yeah, those Cogboys get real annoyed when people mess around with their tech...of course...nothing says they would get mad if we were to say... missplace our equipment and find it not knowing anyone used it..." The Commisar spoke as Jurgen stopped a Vox Opperator and grabbed his Vox Radio and placed it on the ground. The man simply nodded as they seemed to have plans with his equipment.

"Indeed sir, it would be a shame if our equipment while we were preparing for a rite of communication suddenly was used without our knowladge...next to your Chimera sir...where no one can spot anyone using it...from the cameras...hence not making any Cogboy yell your ear off..." Jurgen spoke as he and the Commisar turned to face the detectives, leaving the Vox Transmitter free for the taking for they could not see.

"As you may guess, we of the Imperial Guard are involved heavily in this case. Since this has moved inside Wing City we are free to make more moves now. Of course, I have my own idea on what is going on. The killer is the same, however I belive whoever is the killer has either interacted with the victims. Or has met the victoms ransomly as say...a random bump or eyed them from across the street. Of course...I'm no insane killer running around so I cant say much on this matter...What matters currently is that somehow the killer left behind no clues besides that dead cyborg woman. Even if we pinpoint a location we would need some luck if we are going to find anything there. If the killer can leave a bloodied scene without even a splash of blood on them, then we can assume they are going to clear out as soon as possible...that is of course we send mechanized companies to whatever location the machine finds...block off the distict and pray to the Emperor that we manage to get something from the net..." Cain soon handed Jurgen the stack of papers he was reading. He was going off of some ideas on those papers of course. But otherwise, this was indeed a tricky situation.

"I think our top priority should be pinpointing that Killswitch as well as review the security footage to see if we can get a good look at whoever did this." Lancaster sighed, exhaling more smoke as he looked down at the lifeless body of Kyara. "Whoever made this" He gestured down at the corpse "Couldn't have done so easily, they would need a massive space for conditioning. Also if she was enhanced genetically and cybernetically, it would require equipment, the stuff not easily obtained. Commisar. Might I suggest you do an inventory of your supplies and make sure your Techpriests haven't seen or heard of anything suspicious?"

"I think I'll start digging into the Grey's lives and see if they don't have a connection with some of the bodies in the totem as well as see if there are any overlaps in the victim's lives" Sarah said looking at the other investigators on the scene. Something wasn't adding up "I can't believe that two hundred people were killed by this one person without anyone of our respective units catching on."

"What are you thinking then?"

"I think maybe we should investigate local cemeteries and see if we don't have any random exhumations of graves"

"But they were all covered in the same moss and soil"

"That's what doesn't make any sense, from an investigative stand point, it is almost impossible"

"Well it's happening and right under our noses as well" Lancaster said dropping his cigarette and lighting another one. " We all need to be careful. Whatever is happening is happening because someone is playing a game with us. My gut tells me this is going to get uglier before it gets prettier" He sighed.

Raising his arm the armour plate would rise up and the arm split as it slingshot fired a small device which magnetized to the vox radio, the device would then took itself in among the equipment and hide itself before connecting to the vox network of the imperium, beginning the triangulation of the killswitch signal.

Alpha looked to the sky as his mode of transport returned the jet would hover down landing on the road before Alpha approached it, sending a message to Sarah’s PDA; the coordinates of where the signal’s last used location is. “triangulated, if the signal comes back online, i will have its active location pinged to your devices.”

Alpha climbed into his mode of transport and began take off, vertical takeoff, and flying off reaching supersonic speeds in under 3 seconds of flight. Tracing the signal and heading for its last location of use. he was monitoring the signal, they'd not be able to detect him tracking them until he was physically there.

The droid sat in silence in the gatehouse a warehouse owned by the Project on terra named such as it allowed almost instantaneous travel between the station and Terra, however the gate right now was nonfunctioning, to avoid any unwanted entry onto the Prometheus Station.

Alpha was listening to the radio when he heard about the fundraiser being ran by one of the mayor applicants, his head turned back to the gate as it activated, Alpha shot to his feet and went to attention, and stepping out from it was the project director Jacob Anderson followed by Charlie and Delta.

“NC06’s return to the station” Jacob spoke as he finished stepping from the translucent watery gateway, the two NC06 droids turn and head back through the gate closing. “no need to be so formal Alpha” the Professor laughed to himself and approached his creation.

“i wasn’t aware that you’d be traveling” Alpha relaxed and watched as Jacob checked over the NC07 droid, Jacob shook his head.

“You missed a report, why?” Jacob stepped back, half listening to the remains of the radio broadcast. “there have been multiple mass killings that i have been investigating.” the monotone brief report enough to chill Jacob, he glanced at the robot and shook his head.

“Equip yourself with your sidearm only, that fundraiser the radio just mentioned, are you aware where it is?”

A few minutes later and Alpha was acting Chauffeur, his sidearm holstered at his hip, Jacob in the back; soon enough the vehicle would arrive at the palace, and from the vehicle Jacob would climb out, and enter with Alpha walking alongside him.

Jacob would pass by Nadya looking for the host but Alpha would stop and speak up to his creator and charge. “Sir, this young lady is the host of this fundraiser ” Alpha motioned towards Nadya as he spoke, Jacob turned to face Alpha and looked on at his droid with a look of confusion.

“I’m sorry, what?” the middle aged man responds with as calm a demeanour he can

Nadya giggled at this. "It is a little silly that I'm able to run, but your friend is right. I'm Nadya Alexeev, and I'm running for mayor." The girl gave a brilliant grin and motioned with an open palm to the elderly lady standing next to her. "This is my babushka, Olga." She introduced politely. "It's a pleasure to meet you sir. Thank you for coming out."

She hoped that lots of people would come! The more people that came, the more the orphanages would get help, and maybe the more who would support a push for sensible limits on who could be mayor, and who would band together and support Wing City and it's citizens and safety.

Olga cackled. "And don't you worry about anything here, young man. We're all here to support the most vulnerable people in the city. And if anyone tries anything, that old man in the corner promised to turn them into a peacock!" Olga was hoping someone would try something. It would make her day. Rahal looked up from the corner he had claimed, with a full view of the door and smiled. It did not promise good things to anyone who crossed him. He had plans.

Still Nadya held out her hand to shake, hopeful. It seemed to be going well so far at least.

Jacob approached Nadya and shook her hand, his robotic hand warming up, as to not chill the young hostess. “I am glad necessary precautions have been taken, though an extra bit of security never hurt” he released her hand from his cybernetic hand, the gel pads that made up the fingers and palm cooling down. “Where are my manners, I am sorry, I am Professor Jacob Anderson.”

“And i am NC07- Alpha” the droid bowed respectfully, and looked down to check the sidearm, the small LED on the hilt glew green, the weapon locked in its hilt and inactive.

“excuse me i have a few signals to monitor.” the droid would excuse itself from the discussion standing at the edge of the hall at ease, motionless; Jacob sighed and looked back to Olga and Nadya. “One of the most stable of the designs but far too often all business.” the Professor, wringed his hands over his wrists, quickly thinking to himself.

“Wing city used to be home to me, if there’s anything you need from me go ahead and ask” Jacob was being sincere, he had a polite smile but could not get the rather intimidating thought of being turned into a peacock out the back of his mind. The thought quite visibly puzzling him.

A dark limousine rolled up in front of the even. It was clean spotless. A older male got out of the driver's side and opened the door all the way to the back. Reaching out a hand, another hand can be seen reaching out of the vehicle. Out stepped Devika in an emerald green, deep V neck dress. Her dark auburn hair up in a high bun with loose strands on each side. Behind her out came Edmund, her long lover, in a matching outfit. They both looked up at the building.

"Are you going to be on your best behavior, Ama?" Edmund said in a stern fatherly voice.

Devika side glared at him, "I thought I told you not to use my name outside of our home? These people don't need to address me by anything other than Devika. As for my behavior," she turned around, fixing his tie, and smiling up at him. "I promise to do my best. I did say coming here would be my gift to you, since you have become so... giving."" She mocked him some what for turning over a good leaf and trying to be a good guy. A part of her hated it with a passion, but she needed him and she was willing to do whatever it took to keep him.

"Good, I would hate for this to end in a disaster when all of this is for children... and to make the child look good, but either way it helps kids and I am all for that." He smiled, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. Devika smiled and grabbed his hand. She wasn't a very touchy kind of gal, but she was in the mood. Opening the door she saw a few people, the child who was running for mayor, and some robot. The girl was busy talking to them so she dragged Edmund over to the corner of the room.

"Looks like she is busy, good. Wouldn't know what to say to her anyway." She whispered into Edmund's arm as she observed the room.

"...It'll be good PR."

"Show these Terrans that the people of the Empire are not the evil thugs Terran media makes them out to be..."

The words rang in Mr. Hagan's ear loudly,through the telephone and from a Tech Con PR Exec that was giving him advice on how to expand Tech Con into the Terran Market yet again. With Dominic Hagan missing, the company had essentially been returned to him, and Miles found himself yet again running Tech Con, and coming back out of retirement.

Hagan's limo wasn't really a limo, more like a two story rolling mansion, pulled by a large tractor truck powered by a massive Tylium engine that belched thick black smoke into the air.

The trailer could be described as almost a hundred feet in length, broken into two train car like segments for ease of maneuverability. The metal shell was crafted from a lightweight, but strong alloy, however functional the exterior was, it was the interior that left one wanting more.

To Hagan's tastes, the interior bore marble floors and ceilings, with clean and simple white, and black lines, the bathrooms bore toilets that had seats forged from solid platinum, sinks trimmed with gold lead, ornately engraved with mythical designs, rare wood panels fashioned from some of Langara's rarest redwoods that were thousands of years old.

The bed inside the master quarters was linen'd with hand loomed silk from the Temple of Athena, while using the most advanced memory foams that not only conformed to the body, but altered temperature so the bed would always remain at just the right temperature.

This egregious display of wealth surrounded Miles, as he sat on a golden embroidered leather chair fashioned from the hides of the near-extinct Acadian Longhorn, native to the high plains of the Province of Tauron.

The rolling mansion was staffed with butlers, cooks, and maids to tend to Mr. Hagan's every possible want and need. In addition to the full time security staff that were riding atop the rolling motorhome, and escorting it in simple white pickup trucks.

The whole motorcade came to a stop in front of the Palace, air brakes hissing, and a lone Butler going to open the door with a few keystrokes, which caused the door to open with a slight hiss.

The Glamour of the interior practically poured onto the sidewalk, as a second Butler placed a red carpet down, and rolled it out, while a third presented Mr. Hagan with an ivory cane that was carved from the tusks of a Hafirjan elephant, and impregnated with gold and diamond leaf. The head of the cane was ornately molded solid platinum, with gold effects, and encrusted with diamonds.

In Gold lettering along the length of the cane, the words 'avaritia bonum' were engraved in Anquietas.

He wore a designer suit, tailored to his body, a tie threaded with gold trimmed paisely, and a solid gold tie clip studded with diamonds.

A silver lapel pin that bore the Tech Con logo was pinned to his lapel, over a gold silk pocket square.

As Hagan stepped on the ground, the first Butler closed the door behind him, and stood next to the door waiting, while the second one briefly combed some fresh gel into Hagan's hair, making last minute touch ups to his appearance.

Leaning on the cane, he moved forward, two well dressed Tech Con security officers in tow.

It was time to impress, as he made his way into the ball, his two aides in tow. While they did not intend violence, they were paid well to protect their employer, they were also extremely well trained, and armed to the teeth, packing the easily concealed T-65 Combat skin.

This resulted in their stature being slightly larger than most, but Miles wasn't planning on needing their services.

Stepping into the charity event, he tried to hide his disappointment. The place was a dump in his eyes, the Invictus seemed to be slacking. He shrugged ever so slightly, before plucking a champagne glass off of a nearby table. He had to see where his money was going after-all, as a sizable donation, roughly five-hundred million Aschen cubits were working their way through the wire, he had quietly hoped the benefactor of this charity had received word of his Donation, and he would be treated properly.

“It’s nice to meet you Professor, NC-07.” She said and smiled. “Mostly, we’re here tonight to help rebuild the different foster and group homes in Wing City that received damage both in the latest disaster, and in older ones.” She had been very coached in how to say this. “If you’d like to donate, any of the servers is available to help. Any amount helps.” She assured him and gestured with an open hand at the food table.

“In the meantime, there’s food to eat if you’re hungry.” She offered. There was a series of finger foods from all cultures and of all types available, and servers moving around the crowd, such as it was, with drinks.

The Diva Devika did not go unrecognized of course. Nadya was a dancer, but she played close attention to other arts, and Devika was known across cultures for her singing. Neat! A real celebrity had actually come. Still, she wasn’t certain how to approach, or how to handle this. It didn’t look like she wanted to speak, at least.

Babushka smiled at Professor Anderson. “I notice you have a prosthetic? They’ve come so far since I was your age. Did you design it yourself?” She wouldn’t ask why he needed it. That was rude.

Rahal watched as Miles Hagan arrived and scoffed at the sheer tackiness of the entrance. That was less a motorcade and more a motorhome. Terran media was going to have a field day with trailer park jokes. Still, the mage watched this party particularly carefully.

Had anyone informed Nadya that Miles Hagan, an Aschen, and a big name one, was here? This was going to test the child’s ability to be polite to all her guests wasn’t it? The girl hated that entire nation, had lost her parents to them. At least they seemed minimally armed. With protection as their main intent, they would be able to get through the door, though Rahal intended to keep a wary eye on them. Still, the enchantments and wards laid out should prevent too much violence from being successful. A few standing enchantments would make anyone trying to attack look ridiculous.

Any projectile in the air traveling faster than about 16 mph would be changing into an appropriately sized rubber duck, dependent on the mass of the object in question. Bullets, arrows, throwing stars. All of them should be caught in that net. Any coherent beam of energy hotter than 150 degrees Fahrenheit would find itself rapidly transformed into daisy petals that glittered and shimmered with stored energy. Those two standards alone would deal with much of the potential for violence. The magic had been complicated, and he had needed to collar his apprentice to help with the ward schemes, but it was sure to make him laugh if they were tripped. Attempts to draw up any magic would meet extreme resistance, and Rahal would be alerted.

Quietly, a server received news of the donation of cubits, and quietly he came to Nadya’s side and whispered in her ear about it. The girl stiffened at this, and forced herself not to get upset. This was not the time or place, and she was running for mayor. She had to play nice, even with aschen, especially when they came to…assist.

She did not go over to him though.

The professor nodded always polite and smiling, when asked about the prosthetics he chuckled. “no i didn’t design them, that would be a co-worker of mine who operates in the medical wing, i could given the time design my own version but, my talent lays in the creation of robotics” he motions to Alpha, whom stood by one of the walls out the way.


“Alpha is but one of two hundred operational stabilized A.I” Jacob said quite proudly, he glanced over towards the buffet set out and shook his head, smiling and chuckling lightly to himself. “damn, i forgot to go to my favourite diner, to pick up a coffee.”

The middle aged man took note of those entering, the singer and then the Aschen business man, his glasses activating and giving him a HUD with details, in the corner of his vision a monitor of how the A.I, Alpha, was doing.

“if you’d excuse me i’ll take up that offer of food and drink” Jacob would say, switching off his Hud and holding out his hand once more to shake with Nadya and Olga before turning on his heel and approaching the buffet table to preview the selection of finger foods. Stopping by a server to donate $150,000 out from his own pocket, the only reasoning he had so much, is well life before he joined the project.

Jacob couldn’t help but shake the feeling that the synthetic human was there to show if not try and put his creation to shame, either way that was the kind of thing to expect from the aschen, or he was told to expect, from a few of his co-workers back aboard the station.

He snacked freely enjoying the varied array of cuisine available to all, taking a glass of drink from a server, he watched the two aschen and listened briefly to their chatter, being fluent in the languages of the aschen empire.

Jacob’s attention soon fell onto the number of children and younger generations were gathered at the event, he sighed gently and took a seat “all these young people, and no family to call their own” he couldn’t safely give one of these children a family especially with how closely he works on his project, let alone the station being light years away.

As for Alpha, he continued to silently monitor the signals only stopping when he realised he had been pinged, the robot’s head turned as, the physical form reactivated, the head following the synthetic robot across the hall from himself, he’d cut himself off from the Project network and then begin erecting electronic warfare defences, all this in microseconds, though, he’d not give a response, Alpha’s head rotated towards Jacob who was glaring across from his seat at the robot. The defences stayed up however and the combat unit went back to idling, monitoring the frequency and signals.

A sleak black car made it's wa down the street. Dark tinted windows made sure that no one could see inside, but outside of this the car was more or less unassuming. Cedric watched three different screens as his car pulled up to the event. He had been busy, very busy, and still was. He was always busy in the early stages like this, when the infastructure was still being completed. Valentine Inc had already made a sweeping range of acquisitions, gobbled up small companies and firms in its expansion into the multiverse. Cedric put the final touches on a number of contracts as the car came to a stop. "Time to put on  good face."

He opened the door and slid out of the spacious back seat of the car, standing and buttoning his coat as he stepped toward the building. "Your hat sir." the driver, who had made his way quickly around to the back of the car and retrieved the black fadora from it's place on the back seat, held it out for Cedric. "Thank you Max, I'll call you when I'm ready." Cedric took the hat and placed it casually on his head before entering the building.

He could feel the magical security as soon as he entered, noting the old mage in the loby. He nodded towards the man as he entered, perhaps this party would have better luck than his last in the multiverse. The thought reminded him that he needed to made an appointment with David Malechite, he made a mental note to do so soon.

The attendies were varied, mostly well off folks looking to make grand gestures of philanthropy, though there were orphans there as well. "Theatrical, effective." Cedric said to himself. He wasn't really sure who the candidate was, a young girl, strange as it seemed. The thought of buying the future mayor of Wing City had not been ignored, Cedric had found mayors to be good business if one knew how to buy and sell them and what to get out of them in return. Oh certainly you didn't walk up to a candidate and offer them a deal, you bought candidates in much more subtle ways. However Cedric had yet to decide which candidate would be of the most use to him, so this would more or less be a philanthropic endeavor.

He kept an eye out for the hostess, regardless of other intentions, it was good manners to introduce himself.

A man in a light beard and brown hair made a light jog up toward the building where the gala was held a long light grey canister held by handle in one hand. Bristol's black formal wear sported a blue shirt at least until he crossed some new boundary that made his body itch for a moment. He looked down at the gemlike eye sported on his watch and raised an eyebrow. Then a probing gloved finger dragged across a shining sandy surface leading him to realize his shirt had turned a glinting white. Was that glitter?

The Ductu knew exactly what was on his mind as deeply buried as she was to mimic thinner clothing, ((You told me not to resist - to conform. I'm conforming. There's a larger pattern shaping reality so I can't well fight it without breaking the ward, now can I? You should see your hair. White suits you.))

He looked up while grabbing a false lock of hair that was the Ductu wrapped around his locks and scalp to protect the head. Given the amount of high powered moguls there would be at this Gala she rather insisted. It paid to pay attention to one's security detail he reasoned at the time. He momentarily reconsidered and could feel the Ductu's amusement. Now his hair and shirt looked like something gem festooned. Bristol just sighed as that was enough staring this place likely had enough hair-gazing as it was. A vault for a particularly large cognizance array that served as a aetheric battery was getting heavier the closer he got to the door. Still, haul away ho, there was politicking to do.

While he smiled at the door holding the container with ease the Ductu exerted a great deal of force through Bristol's body just to keep it off the ground. Security once satisfied with his identity was content with his declaration of exotic hard currency. The whole place felt like the vault was pulling through sap. While the potential was there it wasn't being conducted so much as stored. He looked at one of the servers considering to give the donation to them.

The Ductu interceded as shining blue marble in his 'watch' that told time while it pointed the 12th hour wherever Ductu looked, ((Hm. I don't think it's not safe for these servants to carry the vault, Bristol. You could think of it dear that if I had them the air pressure in here would make my ears pop. The pressure against this kind of flow is giving the mana battery a great deal of inertia.))

No, they'd have to figure it out. There were rules to follow in this sort of place a thought to which the Ductu demurred but accepted. The canister had to be left at the door. He placed the stone vault with ornate ferroplasm chain handle down beside a servant with security. The top of the ornate psistone casing came to just past Bristol's knees and just about as thick likely settled the air by no longer trying to move through it. It was etched for both stability of purpose and access to the learned.

He offered to a servant by way of quiet explanation and a credit chit, "Ah, good sir. Bristol Stacks with a donation from interested parties for the young lady's cause as well as my own donation. A hundred thousand."

Bristol while private about his finances was not certainly not poor. Especially since this new arrangement ensuring full independence.

He clasped his hands with a conciliatory smile, "I'm afraid the benefactors have, ah, a modified understanding of liquid assets. You will need to talk to a mage to quantify exactly but I'm told it's at least several thousand circles worth of casting at a low emission rate. I should hope they find the vault both useful and exceedingly stable."

Alpha awoke, for that is one way of calling it, the new improved adapted and constructed NC007-A body, minor changes in the eyes of the scientists and engineers to the project, but To Alpha, it was a new body, security systems needed remodeling and the new body needed to put to the test, he pushed out from the opening pod and sat up looking about, the diagnostic testing running through, the A.I monitored everything. The new body was physically an improvement over the previous iteration, its shield capacitors increased permanently and no longer an experimental setup to two shield units. Not only that the further refinement of the Reactonne material structures has now allowed for the improvement secondary layering for ship armour but the smaller plates on the robots also, furthering the credibility as stalwart warriors for the battlefield.

However Alpha wasn’t strictly a combat design, he had was an unshackled A.I compared to the rest who had some limitations to their systems, and thus for this reason, he was extracted from Terra and after reconfigurations and a Data backup of Alpha’s memories and intelligence, he was being ordered to the newly discovered system of A45F9.
Prof. Jacob Anderson stood looking over a clipboard and some sheets on it. “I don’t need to explain
your orders?” Alpha’s head turned to face his creator and wordlessly shuck his head, the data packet was already downloaded read and deleted.

Due to recent events, what with the growing animosity between powerful groups and nations, and against his morals, the Professor had each and every single one of the now six hundred A.I soldiers fitted with a ‘sweeper programme’ this programme if any one of the robots were captured, the programme would activate and reduce the A.I to nothing but scrap code followed by the self destruction of the robotic body, by collapsing the Singularity core that powered them, leaving nothing for any threat. The shields the robots all have designed to stop any catastrophic destruction of any system or planet.

Whether or not the other A.I had already purged the sweeper, Alpha had twice, thrice.
“What is this self replicating programme?” Alpha didn’t need it answered, he had already figured it out, good thing the robot was still locked into the pod, else the sweeper would’ve activated.

Jacob shook his head looking at his creation as he, it had its first existential crisis. “Alpha, Standby” the voice confirmation dinged in Alpha’s vision and the A.I was booted from the primary systems of the robot body.

After a brief respite Alpha retook control and exited the pod, Jacob no longer there Alpha walked through the station from storage and made his way to the hangar, where his much larger robotic form waited no longer in its transformed fighter craft state, he gathered his weapons from the isolated crates arranged before the ladder up to the cockpit.

Soon enough the smaller robot stepped into the chest and stood into the humanoid shaped indent inside, linking with the larger form Alpha quickly recognised there was no sweeper programme in the mech, he would use this to his advantage later.

After twenty minutes of diagnostics and checks from the engineers and Alpha himself, the Mech would transform into its fighter craft form and fly from the hangar and out into space above the ice-ball of a planet below, he’d line up his ship and begin flying, after a brief two hours of flight he would arrive at the ‘high speed gate’ as he approached it would activate and the craft pass through its five rings and be launched beyond light speeds. Slingshotted out of the system.

Ten minutes later and twenty thousand light years away Alpha would arrive in system and engage FTL to bring himself closer to the PNC station in orbit of the system that much quicker, beyond he could observe over scanners the six planetoids two of which were within the outer and inner edges of the goldilocks zone of space. Coming down to sub-light speeds, Alpha brought the craft into dock. He needed to finish calibrations of his own on his new body and get a hold of the preliminary readings of the system before heading in and beginning investigations.

what horrors, lost artefacts and other unknowns waited beyond the station. the PNC was certainly invested in finding out.

As for Jacob, he had been in his office, he had expected Alpha to try and break the restraints, thankfully, any sudden movements inside the pod caused 'system shock' for the robotic bodies, making them unresponsive to the A.I's desired actions, he sighed heavily and scooped up the packets of files off the desk and made his way to the bureaucratic hell that was the Director meeting, that he was certainly late for.

Alpha had been within Explorer station seven for little more than two hours and his vast growing mind had already isolated and destroyed the replicant program in the new body, having purged that threat to his existence, he wandered freely through the station, watching as the virtual intelligence droids went about their designed tasks, whereas Alpha’s physical structure was designed for survival and combat, the designs of these server droids were designed for that task in mind, the body he inhabited a different ballpark to the ones the V.I inhabited.

Alpha would soon wander through into the command centre, a Live feed and hologram of the system monitoring the coming and goings of space debris, so far all clear, apparently this system got by untouched by the wider multiverse, as there are no listening beacons or anything from any known empire in the Multiverse, that or the beacons are well hidden.

Alpha soon left C&C deck and made his way back to the hangar where his craft waited, after but an hour he was back out in the void, running patrols, but he wasn’t alone for long as PNC transporter ship exited its cross galactic speeds and into FTL for its final approach, when within systems boundaries it enters sub-light and soon slows enough to dock with the station, the shuttle was transporting two hundred of the six hundred combat droids, they were to be held only for defence and if needs arise, to wipe out any hostiles within the system, but they would spend much of their time in the restricted decks training and otherwise on standby.