GONE.

After the unfortunate events at Vulcan, the Excalibur returned to Avalon with news of the Grand Marshal's abduction. For months Star Command and the Spartans launched searches into hyperspace around Vulcan to try and find the lost Excalibur Red, the Primark even sought the aid of Providence to locate their lost hero, but after numerous failed attempted, ten months after the tragedy, Nya Crimson was pronounced dead.

A funeral procession was held for her in every district on the planet. Millions gathered around monuments erected in her honor to mourn the loss of their hero. On board the Excalibur, a private wake was hosted by the Spartans to mark her passing and her children were placed into the custody of Terror Quinn and his wife Mari.

Everyone grieved for months, some even years, but eventually life went on.

* * *

Now, almost twelve years after the presumed death of Grand Marshal Nya Crimson, on a distant world, in a seedy club, at the counter sits a lone figure away from the crowd, wearing an azure blue hooded bomber jacket over a fitted dark combat suit and light body armor, with a slim featureless helmet hiding their face.

The bartender looks at this figure, noting the large glass of alcohol they ordered still sits in front of them, undrunk.

"Is there something wrong with your drink there, missy?" the bartender asks, noting the obvious feminine curves of the stranger's figure, and quite the figure too; a well-endowed bust, narrow waist and wide hips with long legs.

"I'm just waiting for someone," the stranger replies, her voice distorted by the odd-looking helmet, which completely covers her head but long locks of her raven black hair still spill out from the back of the helmet.

Moments later, someone walks into the club and the figure looks up. Bors of the Severus System was widely known around these parts as a man who can procure rare, hard to find items through less than legal channels.

He walks to the VIP section with a girl on each of his four arms, nodding to the stranger to follow. They sit at a private booth.

"Do you have what I asked for?" the stranger demands as soon as she sits down.

"This particular artifact was very difficult to liberate from its previous home," Bors says, as one of his girls opens a briefcase and presents its content, "it appears that addition compensation is required."

"We agreed on 60." The stranger urged

"Well now I'm saying 95, minimum," the smuggler replies, "if you don't like it, you'll just have to go find another."

"You do not want to cross me, Bors," the figure threatens, a threatening aura emanating from their body

"Perish the thought. I've heard all the rumors about you." Bors said, "The Gypsy, scourge of the shattered systems, Nightmare of the Menagerie. I've even heard one crazy story that you were trained by Nya Crimson herself, one of her Spartan warriors."

"Don't you dare say that name!" the stranger snarled

"I seem to have struck a nerve, Gypsy," Bors said. The nickname was gotten from how she was always on the move, never settling down. A true nomad. "Apologies,"

The Gypsy calmed down, settling down to negotiate again, "I can get you 7 extra, no higher."

"Well, I can get twice what we agreed for an Avalon Spartan armor in working order," Bors said, "even more for the person wearing it,"

"You didn't," the stranger groans

"Sorry, girlie," Bors said, "you have quite the price on your head after your exploits in the lawless sector and a lot of people are gunning to collect on that bounty."

With the snap of his finger, the Gypsy was surrounded by goons, all holding guns aimed at her

"Don't worry, these won't kill you," Bors said, "they'll just stun you, but they pack a serious punch and will hurt like a bitch if you try anything funny. Now, why don't we take you somewhere more private?"

"So you can sell me to the Anubis?" the stranger accused

"Or anyone else who's willing to pay exorbitantly for your sweet ass." Bors said, "Nothing personal; I get people rare and hard to find items. It just so happens that in this situation, you happen to qualify; the mysterious Spartan who stole the secrets of Nya Crimson, and fled Avalon, even I'm curious."

"Is that what they're saying about me these days?" the Gypsy scoffed, standing up and raising her hands. "Because I was never trained by Nya Crimson."

"Also, I'd love to take a look under the helm," Bors added, "see what kind of face goes with such a rockin' bod."

One of the goons approaches the Gypsy, pulling down her hook. The helmet is incredibly thin and smooth, almost molded to her face, with a blank mirrored surface of polished dark metal. The goon reaches for the helmet, only to receive a shock when he tries to forcibly remove it. In that instant where the goon recoils, the Gypsy slaps her hands together loudly, releasing a pulse of purple and green aura that engulfs the entire room, every person in the club is paralyzed, not completely frozen but moving at a snail's pace.

"If you knew how valuable I really was; you probably wouldn't have underestimated me." The Gypsy stated as she grabs the briefcase from the hands of the frozen girl. They then throw down a stack of cards on the table, "We agreed on 60, but I'm keeping 20 because you tried to screw me over."

She walks away, but hadn't even made it out of the club when the time freeze wore off, the aura fading and returning everyone to their previous state.

"Shit," the cursed as the goons gave chase

The Gypsy ran out of the club, going down the street, dodging as the goons shot at her. She ran for blocks before coming to a stop at the edge of the city, looking over at the majestic waterfalls that went so far down, it was hidden by a layer of mist.

Turning around, the stranger found themselves surrounded by Bors and his men.

"Give up," Bors yelled, "there's nowhere left for you to go."

"Yes there is," the stranger replied, "down."

Before Bors could do anything, the Gypsy leapt off the edge of the city, falling down into the abyss.

"No." Bors cried, watching as his prize disappeared below the mist.

Then, he watched in disbelief as the stranger rose up, standing atop a jet black craft, the ship was the size of a jet plane, sharp and angular, like an arrowhead, with a burnt black hull and a gothic design aesthetic. It had large fins along its sides, along with two detached engine pylons positioned by the read, with a single larger pylon at the rear which sustained a small orb of energy. On the side, written in hot pink was the name of the ship, The Renegade. It was a fine machine, definitely comparable in style to the Black Excalibur, the dreaded black sword of Avalon.

As the ship continued to rise, Bors sees the Gypsy's helmet retract, finally exposing her face. He sees her wild black mane slowly turning azure blue with black streaks blowing around, with a roundish face with olive complexion. Then he notices her eyes, one glowing a brilliant blue, the other a vibrant yellow, both almost crystalline.

The last thing Bors sees before the ship takes off, is Astrid Crimson, the Gypsy, Scourge of the Shattered Systems and Nightmare of the Menagerie, flipping him the bird as she enters down a hatch in the roof.

* * *

As the Renegade leaves the planet's atmosphere, 25-year-old Astrid Crimson sits at the controls, locking in coordinate for the autopilot, then she walks out of the cockpit goes towards the lounge.

She looked at the briefcase she had just recovered and opened it, inside was an old stone tablet with ancient writings and diagrams etched onto its face. To an average person it looked like another old artifact, but to an adept like Astrid it was actually a map, an ancient star chart interstellar pioneers used to plot out hyper-streams. There were over a dozen such maps still in existence, each one containing lost knowledge of hyperspace.

"Lane, scan this map and add the rendering to the others," Astrid ordered to the ships AI,

From the ceiling a light shined down on the tablet, capturing its image, then a byte projection of the map appeared in the air, connecting to several similar images, forming the pieces of a larger map.

"Overlay onto current stellar-maps," Astrid added as the image of Hyperion space was superimposed over the map.

What Astrid saw was hyper-streams, the way they moved silently over real space, connecting point of Hyperion together that were tens and hundreds of millions of light-years apart, but it was more than just Hyperion, hyperspace connected the entire universe together in a web far more infinitely complex than could be currently understood by mortals.

For the last five years, Astrid had made it her mission to understand hyperspace, so she could find the wreck of the Excalibur Red and rescue her mom.

Hours later, Astrid was in her cabin, on her cot, lying there unable to sleep.

'When was the last time I had sex?' she contemplates, pleasuring herself to pass the time. Suddenly, a loud beeping startles her. She immediately gathers mana into her free hand forming an ethereal blade which glowed with power, then she notices the device next to her bed flashing the message; INCOMING TRANSMISSION; ELI.

She lets the mana fade away and picks up the device, tapping on its face, it shows the image of her younger brother, Eli Crimson. He's grown up in these last eleven years, he even had the starting of a beard growing on his chin

"What do you want?" she groaned

"Good to see you're not dead." Eli told her, "Although your current state of dress leaves much to be desired,"

She looked down, realizing she was naked, save the bracelet around her right wrist.

"Y'know these new holo-comms come with modesty filters right?" Eli comments, looking away

"Eh, modesty was never really my thing, but if you're gonna make such a big deal out of it…" Astrid shrugged, as she activates the modesty filter and holograms of animated steam clouds appear around her covering her breasts and crotch,

"Better?"

"Much, so how did it go?"

"Bors tried to sell me," Astrid replied, "but I still managed to get it."

"Excellent, if you send me the data I can devise potential mana currents."

"You know you could get in a lot of trouble for helping me" Astrid says once again

"The sooner you finish this, the sooner you can come back," Eli reasoned, "Besides, you'd be helpless without me."

Astrid chuckled at his comment, feeling nostalgic, "How's home?"

"You would know if you stopped by every once in a while," Eli said pointedly

"I had this dream last night, about that time we went to the beach," she said with a sad smile, "and we built that sandcastle with mom,"

"That was a long time ago,"

"Yeah, but we were happy then." Astrid mused, "You, me and Morgan,"

"She's still looking for you," Eli said, "In her own time, she has probes dedicated to searching."

"Guess she hasn't forgiven me yet?"

"I honestly don't know, I rarely see her," Eli said, "not since the High Order took over the Spartans."

"Yeah, I've heard this new Primark is a total prick." Astrid said

"Primark Morag is making some tough calls, but he believes he's doing what's best," Eli defended, "it's not easy for him, he's not as popular as his predecessors,"

"How is everyone?" Astrid asked

"Mari is doing okay, and the twins call me every now and then. Terror's been pretty busy lately."

"Is something wrong?"

"Well, I hear that the elves are on the move. They've been sighted closer and closer to our territory."

"Are they after Kiva?" Astrid asked, worried for her mentor.

"No one knows," Eli said, "but there is talk of a military response if they get too close."

"War? That's crazy." Astrid stated, "the elves are too powerful,"

"And we have nine Excaliburs in service, plus they've only spotted small scouting parties, so they think our chances are even" Eli said, then he looked away, "I gotta go. Work thing,"

"Yeah, we need to end this transmission before it becomes traceable." Astrid said, "Take care, little brother."

"You too. Don't do something stupid and get yourself killed." Eli signed off as the call was terminated.

* * *

Eli put down the secure communication device he had used to call his renegade sister, sneakily slipping it into his pocket as a woman walked up to him. she was wearing a blue blouse and black pencil skirt with stylish boots that reached up to her shins, over her clothes, she had a white lab coat, similar to Eli's.

"Eli, what are you doing over here?" she asked

"Nothing much," Eli lied, as he kissed the girl on the forehead, "just luring you in,"

"Stop it," she giggled, "no inappropriate behavior in the workplace,"

"We're the only ones here, who's going to know?" Eli grinned as he scooped the girl into his arms and kissed her on the lips

"Eli Crimson, you're a bad influence on me," she smiled as she returned his kiss

Their moment was ruined when the bands they both wore started beeping.

"Ugh, what now?" the girl groaned as she stepped away from him

"Let's find out," they tapped on the bands and both projected a singular hologram of an elderly man

"Vice-chief Crimson, vice-chief Raddix," the man greeted

"Councilman Raddix," Eli greeted back

"Father," the girl replied

"The High Order were impressed with your proposal on the nuform," the man said,

"Thank you," Eli said,

"They want an audience with the two brilliant minds from the R&D Department that developed such an innovative piece of tech."

"It wasn't just the two of us, dad," the girl said, "It was a team effort."

"But it's your names on the presentation, Aria." The man said, "I'm sending a shuttle out to pick you up, then afterwards I'll treat you to dinner."

The holo-comm faded and Eli chuckled, "He still doesn't know, does he?"

"Know what?" the girl, Aria, asked

"About us?"

"Us? No, he doesn't." Aria said, "He'd flip if he knew that my lab partner was also my boyfriend."

"Oh, so I'm your boyfriend?" Eli teased, "I thought you said I was just a fling."

"You were," Aria said with a blush, "but you have this annoying ability of getting me to like you too much."

"So, will you accompany me to the docking bay, madam?" Eli joked, offering her his arm

"What a gentleman," Aria smiled taking it, "your mother must've raised you right."

"She did," Eli said as he led her out of their lab.

They were currently at the permanent R&D outpost on Vulcan station. Two years after the loss of the Grand Marshal, R&D were able to reactivate the Praxian gateway they recovered, with assistance from Loki, they were able to link their gateway with another gateway discovered on Vulcan and now have an instant shortcut between Vulcan and Avalon.

"I'd have liked to have met her," Aria said, "The famous Nya Crimson, hero of Avalon."

"If you had met my mother, you'd be terrified." Eli said

"Why do you say that?"

"Because she would've intimidated you," Eli said, as he brought up a hologram of Nya,

"She doesn't look all that scary,"

"Try saying that when she looks like this," the hologram changed to Nya surrounded in her blood aura, with her eyes glowing red as she glared dead ahead.

"Well, I still wouldn't have been scared," Aria boasted

"Really?"

"Yeah, I'd have you there to protect me."

An hour and one shuttle ride later, Eli and Aria found themselves before the Throne of Valor, being escorted inside by security.

As they walked the halls, they ran into Terror Quinn, Commander-General for Cerberus Command central headquarters.

"Eli, what brings you here?" the lykan asked

"Summons by the High Order, what about you?" Eli asked

"Her," Terror pointed towards an approaching group of Spartans, in their military-style biotic suits. The person Terror was pointing at was the lavender haired woman who was leading them.

Morgan had adapted fully to the military style in these eleven years, from the way she spoke to her posture, she oozed military discipline. She had grown her hair out since the last time Eli had seen her, tying the back in a ponytail, the biggest change to Morgan was the eyepatch that covered her right eye, hiding the scar that Astrid had given her.

"Eli, good to see you," she greeted as she stopped by them with the rest of her squad.

"Morgan," Eli replied, "this is Aria, my lab partner."

"She's the one who helped you develop the nuform?"

"Y-yeah," Aria said, "It's an honor to meet you, Major Morgan,"

Morgan shook her hand, "It's nice to finally meet my brother's coworker,"

"What are you doing here?" Eli asked, "Shouldn't you be on the Excalibur?"

"Rear-Admiral Amara sent me to report the situation at our boundary to the High Order," Morgan replied, "They're mobilizing the fleet, so we were delivering intelligence."

"Well we also had a summons from the High Order as well," Eli said,

A few moments passed in awkward silence; the two siblings hadn't been in the same location in three years.

"Y'know it almost feels like old times," Terror mused to himself, "All that's missing are Astrid and Nya,"

At that, Morgan's eyes turned hard, "Well, one of those two is a deserter, and the other is dead, so I don't think it'll ever feel like old times."

"Morgan, Astrid just needs her space," Eli said, "she'll be back when she's come to terms with it,"

"Mom is dead, Eli." His sister chided him, "We both saw it. Astrid is chasing a fantasy and she needs to grow up."

"She still believes the Red is out there," Eli said, "that she can find it,"

"Still?" Morgan asked suspiciously, "How do you know that?"

Eli gulped, he couldn't let it be known that he was aiding a fugitive of the Inquisitors, especially by his sister,

"I-if I was speaking to her, you'd be able to find her," Eli reasoned, "The Inquisitors track all transmissions to and from the station."

"But you're clever, aren't you little brother," Morgan said, getting close, "clever enough to device a covert means of communications."

"What are you implying?" Eli asked, he was then shocked, when Morgan wrapped her arms around him in an embrace,

"You're the only family I've got left, little bro," she said to him, "Mom's dead and Astrid seems deadest on joining her. I can't lose you too, I won't."

"Morgan…" for a moment, Eli wondered if he could reach out to Astrid and convince her to come back,

"Ma'am, we need to be going," one of the Inquisitors informed her

"Right," Morgan said, letting her brother go, "I'll talk to you later, alright? We should keep in touch."

"Yeah," Eli said as Terror led the Inquisitors out

"Okay… she's a little scary," Aria admitted

"I know," Eli said, "the women in my family are… really intense in their own ways."

Eli and Aria entered the council chamber, the grand hall that once served as the throne room for the former World Lord. From the walls hung holographic banners of the different branches of government from military, to finance, to agriculture, to development, and above the massive round table that sat on a raised platform, floated the emblem of Avalon.

The twenty-one men and women of the High Order were seated at the table and Eli took notice of the one seat that remained vacant for years; the seat of the Grand Marshal.

The current Primark, Krux Morag, stood waiting as they approached. This was Eli's first time meeting the man, he was an undine, evident by his pale blue dolphin-like skin and the breathing apparatus that covered the gills on his neck. Like all undines, he was smartly dressed and had a sharp fashion sense.

Councilman Raddix, Aria's fathers, stood up from his seat to announce them,

"Councilmembers of the High Order, allow me to introduce Eli Crimson and my daughter, Aria Raddix from the R&D Department."

"So you were the ones who developed the nuform?" the Primark remarked as he walked around the table and down the platform to meet them, "the best and brightest of Research and Development."

"Your words are too kind," Aria curtsied before the man

"And you, my young man, are the son of the late Grand Marshal," he turned his spectacled eyes on Eli, shaking his hands, "you have greatness in your blood, so I expect no less,"

"I just hope I'm up for the job," Eli said,

"From what you've accomplished already, I think you're more that up for it." The Primark remarked with a toothy grin.

Nuform was the revolutionary new technology recently released by the R&D Department. Next-gen smart matter, inspired from observing byte constructs and incorporating solid hologram technology Eli had developed years ago. The culmination of years of research led to the creation of these virtual particles, the key component used in the light-based nuform constructs.

The technology was still quite new, only being fully integrated with the Spartans, equipped in their bands.

"First he comes up with the solid holograms, now this?" Morag states, "The possible uses for this nuform is limitless, it is my decision to double the funding given to R&D," the Primark remarks, "It will be known as Raddix-Crimson Grant."

"T-thank you, sir," councilman Raddix said, bowing

"It is to further your efforts in fully understanding and incorporating Praxian technology." Morag said

"We won't disappoint you," Aria assured

"I'm expecting great things," Morag smiled.

Eli just smiled and said nothing, he had his reservations but he didn't want to ruin the mood as Councilman Raddix emphatically shook his hand and pat him on the back.

Much later, at one of the finest restaurants in the capitol, Councilman Raddix was sitting at a reserved table with Aria and Eli as they celebrated over a lavish meal.

"So what's it like working at Vulcan?" the councilman asked

"Well, it's a lot better now than it was twelve years ago," Eli said, "I still was there during the recovery effort, I saw the survivors."

"Horrible thing, that situation," the councilman said, "And no one still knows what caused it?"

"No," Eli lied, "We just know that my mom sacrificed herself to destroy it."

After the events at Vulcan, it was declared that the existence and nature of the Maja were to be kept a secret, even from the High Order. The survivors had their memories altered thanks to the work of Kiva and her adepts.

"Dad, Eli doesn't like to talk about it," Aria said, "it brings up old wounds."

"Sorry, my boy," the councilman apologized, "Your mother was a one of a kind woman."

"I know," Eli said, as he thumbed the black ring that was on his right middle finger, Nya's command ring.

"On lighter issues; how's your social life, Eli?" the councilman asked, "are you seeing anyone?"

Eli who had been drinking a glass of wine, choked at the question, "Ex-excuse me?" he coughed

"Dad!" Aria hissed, embarrassed

"Oh come now, I'm not blind," the elder man chuckled good naturedly, "He's a handsome young man with an honored name and good prospects, it won't be strange if he caught someone's eye."

Eli glanced nervously at Aria,

"Um… a-actually, there is someone who's caught my eye," Eli replied,

"Well, congratulations, I'm sure that special someone is very lucky." the councilman said, "so, where did you meet,"

Aria glared at Eli shaking her head

"We actually met at work." Eli explained, "I don't leave Vulcan all that often, so there're limited opportunities to meet people."

"I can't really say I condone fraternization in the workplace, but these things do tend to happen." The councilman said

"She's something special," Eli said, "But we're taking things slow,"

Aria looked away to hide the deep blush that tainted her face.

The councilman observed the strange behavior of his daughter curiously, "So who is this mystery woman who has you so infatuated?"

"Oh my god, dad." Aria snapped, "It's me, okay? Eli and I are seeing each other; we have been for several months now."

The councilman looked at the two of them speechless for several moments, then he burst out laughing, "Well it's about time!"

"What?" Eli asked confused by his reaction

"I've suspected that she was seeing someone recently," her father said, "she's been more cheerful whenever we talk and I noticed she's put more work into her appearance."

"Dad!" Aria hissed, her face red

"So, you're not mad?" Eli asked

"No, I can't tell you how relieved I am to hear that she's been seeing you," the councilman said, "To be honest I should've figured it out; the two of you working very closely together, keeping odd hours. It was bound to happen."

"Yeah,"

"You haven't started sleeping together, have you?" the councilman questioned

"Somebody, please just kill me now," Aria moaned as she put her head on the table

* * *

Astrid had just stepped out of the shower, as she dried her hair with a towel, she looked in the mirror. Her body was always quite the sight, it was still shocking how much she looked like her mother, if she dyed her hair red she could even be her body double.

Aside from her face, she had done everything she could to stand out, like the glowing circuits that adorned her arms –mana conduits Kiva had called them— they went from her forearms down to the back of her hands, like sleeve tattoos. Then there was the piercings, small pieces of low grade urm alloy that went through her right nipple, belly button, and her left ear, even the low quality metal used to make these pieces were very expensive. There were also the scars, like the numerous claw marks that marked her back and sides, the odd stab wounds and that bullet wound on her bicep, then there was the burn on her left leg. All of these were proof that the last several years had not been particularly kind, but they had toughened her up. From her evident muscles and chiseled abs, to her confident stride and posture, she wasn't the same little girl she was when her mom went away, she was a hardened woman now.

She turned away from the mirror and then looked over to the corner of her cabin where her clothes were sprawled out on her cot, she picked up the biotic suit and inspected it.

After the disappearance of the Grand Marshal, the Spartans were integrated into Cerberus' chain of command, put under the control of the Commander General, however, a lot of their proprietary technology was also integrated with Cerberus, like the specs for their combat armor. From those specs, dozens of variations were made, modified and revised for a plethora of uses, the byte mesh weave was now available to every branch of the Avalon military.

Astrid had gotten one such variant armor when she enlisted to join Cerberus, hers was modified for combat adept, not as versatile or as equipped as normal armor, but lighter than most, and still as durable and adaptive. Her armor was imbued with magecraft and engraved with all manner of protective and support sigils, it could very well count as magitek.

She'd never forget the day she got it, how proud Morgan had been of her, then the look in her sister's eyes when she caught Astrid trying to flee afterwards. Someday she would apologize to Morgan for what she did to her, but until she found their mom, 'someday' would have to wait.

She put on her biotic suit, taking a moment to admire how thin the material was –like a second layer of skin— and how it accentuated her curves, especially her hips and ass. It was a black and blue bodysuit with silver designs, with a full right sleeve but a sleeveless left that was cut off at the shoulder, as well as at the hips. She had added an opening in the chest, showing a good bit of cleavage, and wore low rise cargo pants with it, which left her hips exposed. She puts on a pair of combat boots with armored greaves over her shins, and a long glove that went up to her left forearm. Now dressed, she proceeded out to the main cabin where the star chart of hyperspace is floating in the air.

Her obsessive belief that her mom was still alive, despite how much everyone around her said otherwise, stemmed from a connection Astrid always had with Nya. Whenever they were near, Astrid could feel the unique ripples her mother made in the mana stream, and even now, she could still feel those ripples, calling out to her from so far away… weak, but still very much alive.

She meditated before the star chart, trying to divine her next destination, then an incessant pinging broke her concentration.

"What is it, Lane?" She demanded, opening her eyes as the byte construct scattered, replaced by a holographic screen, showing the words; ALERT! EXCALIBUR-CLASS VESSEL INBOUND!

"Shit!" Astrid swore as she scrambled for the cockpit. The renegade was cloaked, but an Excalibur's sensors would be able to detect the solid hologram projection that hid her from view.

She hopped onto her chair and grabbed the controls, punching in commands into a console by her side she brought the main engines online and proceeded to fly the ship away.

That's when it happened.

All of a sudden, her monitors and screens flashed red with an ominous message scrawled on them; MOTHERSHIP OVERRIDE! RENEGADE CONTROLS HAVE BEEN SLAVED TO X003; EXCALIBUR BLUE! TRACTOR BEAM LOCK DETECTED!

"No, no, NO!" Astrid screamed in frustration, "This can't be happening! I was so close!"

As her ship was now under the control of the Excalibur Blue, being pulled in via tractor beam, Astrid had a very good guess who was waiting for her. She went back into the main cabin, where her body armor lay on its charging rack, waiting.

She grabbed her helmet off the rack, looking at her distorted reflection in the wild faceplate. "Alright, if they want a fight, I'll give them a hell of a fight!" she said defiantly as the helmet opened up and she put it on. She then walked to a cabinet behind her charging armor, that opened up to reveal her secret weapon.

The Rescue floated into the hangar bay of the Excalibur Blue, coming to rest before a procession of Spartans, outfitted in combat heavy armor –another variant that came with a more aggressive weapons system and also stronger durability.

At the head of the procession were two women, one was a dark skinned woman with black hair that was braided into a long fishtail and three dark grey eyes that noticed everything, she was dressed in standard Spartan biotic suit underneath a dark military coat with the insignia of the Spartans on it. The other woman was an elf with knee length golden blonde hair and glowing eyes, she was dressed in a biotic suit, but this one was black and white with gold designs.

"You think she'll come quietly?" Grandmaster Kiva asked her wife

"You know whose daughter she is, right?" Admiral Amara replied her, she then turned to the Spartans around them, "As soon as the hatch opens, I want that ship flooded with enough sedatives to drop an elephant."

The Spartans replied with an affirmative, and seconds later, the hatch at the side of the ship opened up and several Spartans fired gas canisters into it.

"Get ready," Kiva warns Amara as Astrid suddenly bursts from the hatch, dressed in her adept's light armor. In her hands was a device that had once been a plasma rifle, but had been since repurposed into another kind of weapon. Kiva sensed the mana coursing through it and moved Amara out of the way as Astrid released a massive psionic pulse that knocked away the gathered Spartans.

"What is that thing?" Amara demanded

"I don't know, some sort of magitek maybe?" Kiva replied, "where did she get it from?"

"Astrid, stop this," Amara orders as she draws her plasma pistol

"You think you can take me down with that?" Astrid yells, her voice distorted by her helmet

"I'd rather not, but you're not really giving me a lot of options." Amara said, "nice hardware,"

"Thanks, I call it my Alchemy gun." Astrid retorts as it charges up,

"Astrid, we want to help you." Kiva pleads

"Then let me go." Astrid snapped

"You know we can't do that," Amara replies, "you're kind of wanted by Avalon."

"Then I'll have to force my way through you."

"Would your mother have wanted that?" Kiva questions

She was replied by a blast of psionic energy that shatters her barrier and sends her and Amara flying back,

"You really shouldn't have said that," Amara groans as she gets up

"It was worth a shot," Kiva says as her hands glow, "Go, I'll keep her occupied."

"Are you sure? She's stronger than you," Amara stated

Kiva stares pointedly at her, but Amara just shrugs. It was true.

"I know, but I'm the one who taught her everything she knows," Kiva says as she changes at Astrid, using her telekinesis to fling her rifle from her hands.

Master and student face off, blasting each other with psionic powers, ever energy blast is countered with a shield, ever energy blade is parried with another. Astrid's raw power is matched only by Kiva's centuries of experience. The two are at a dead tie.

"Give it up, Astrid," Kiva says as she binds her student with ribbons made of mana, "I have almost seven hundred years more experience than you."

"But I'm a Crimson! We're stubborn assholes!" Astrid replies, as she breaks through the ribbons with pure strength of will. Her body is engulfed in mana, releasing waves of psionic energy in every direction. Kiva is frankly in awe of the raw power her former student possesses, much more than anyone she has ever seen before… well, almost anyone.

"True, which is why we had contingencies built." Amara said as she shots Astrid in the back several times with her plasma rifle. The blasts don't hurt Astrid much with her armor on, but they do throw her off balance, which gives Kiva the opportunity to use telekinesis to lift Astrid off her feet and throw her towards a grey twelve-foot cube that the Spartans had had in waiting. The cube opens up and Astrid is thrown inside, then it locks up, trapping her inside.

For several minutes, the cube trembles as it contains the monstrous attacks from the adept within, until finally all is silent.

Amara and Kiva go to the side of the cube, where a holo-screen shows the interior, Astrid is curled up in the corner with her knees to her chest, her jacket and armor have been discarded and her helmet is on the other side of the cube. She appears to be sulking.

"Can you hear us in there?" Amara asked

"What the fuck is this thing?" Astrid demands,

"It's called a dry cell, it's made from a special mana-absorbing material," Amara said,

"Null matter," Astrid guesses, "I'm familiar with the stuff."

Kiva nodded, "Very good. In the Theocracy, the dungeons are filled with cells like this, built to imprison criminal adepts."

"Congratulations; you finally caught me." Astrid sneered, "Are you going to take me back to Avalon to stand trial, or give me over to Morgan?"

"Neither," Kiva said as she opened the cube, "as I said; we want to help you."