The Price of Power
The Price of Power
The Celestial Grand Hall was a palace of light and glass, perched high above New Geneva's skyline, a monument to Earth's ascension as an interstellar power. It was here that the elite of the UED gathered—politicians, corporate magnates, and the newly returned Legacies.
They had once been heirs to Earth's greatest fortunes, buying their way onto Event Horizon as a vanity project, a chance to immortalize themselves as pioneers.
Now, they were anomalies—relics of a past Earth barely remembered, stepping into a world that had left them behind.
Some saw their return as historical curiosity.
Others saw opportunity.
The Legacies?
They saw a second chance.
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The Three Heirs
Among the returning elites, three names stood above the rest.
Ethan Aldrin: The Lost Heir of Terran Freight
Ethan had been born into the Aldrin Trade Dynasty, a family that had dominated Earth's pre-unification freight industry—controlling everything from intercontinental shipping to space-based cargo transport. His father, Nathaniel Aldrin, was once a titan in logistics, his wealth measured in megaton shipments rather than credits.
When Ethan secured his passage aboard Event Horizon, his father saw it as a disgraceful stunt.
"You want to chase stardust instead of running the empire I built? Fine. Don't expect to have a company waiting for you when you return."
Nathaniel was right.
Ethan never inherited his father's legacy.
Instead, the Aldrin Trade Dynasty had been absorbed into the UED's unified logistics network centuries ago. His father's empire was a distant memory, and the corporate heirs who now ruled had no interest in giving him a seat at the table.
To them, he was a footnote in history.
To Ethan?
That meant it was time to build something new.
Selene Voss: The Exiled Aristocrat
Selene had been born into one of the last dynastic aristocracies on Earth, tracing her lineage back to pre-spaceflight nobility. The Voss family had ruled in shadows, controlling financial markets and high-society institutions through generations of interwoven marriages and alliances.
By the time of Event Horizon's launch, however, the world had outgrown aristocrats.
Her father, Regent Anton Voss, had viewed their declining influence with disdain, believing money and bloodlines would always dictate the future.
Selene's decision to join Event Horizon had been a calculated risk. She had seen the writing on the wall—her family's world was shrinking, and she wanted a stake in something greater.
But in her absence?
The Voss Dynasty fell.
Her father's estate was dissolved, his assets seized and redistributed during the rise of the UED's economic reforms. Old money was irrelevant in a post-national world.
Now, she wasn't a noble.
She wasn't even rich by modern standards.
But what she had was a name that still carried weight, a legacy that could still be leveraged.
And she planned to use it.
Darius Veyron: The Discarded Prince of Finance
Darius was the son of Lucius Veyron, a banking titan who controlled pre-UED Earth's largest private financial institution. The Veyron family didn't just manage money—they dictated the movement of capital itself.
But when the UED formed, private banking collapsed.
Earth's new government nationalized key financial sectors, eliminating the old elite's grip on wealth. The Veyron dynasty was not destroyed—it evolved, becoming one of the cornerstones of interstellar finance, operating in megacorporate investments, planetary development, and defense contracting.
Darius had left believing he would return to his father's empire.
Instead, he found that the family had thrived without him. His younger cousins—people he had once dismissed as unworthy—now held his rightful inheritance.
His father was long dead. His name meant nothing to the modern Veyron elite.
They didn't see him as a prince.
They saw him as a ghost.
But ghosts could be powerful.
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A World That Moved On
As the Legacies stood among New Earth's elite, the weight of their situation became clear.
Ethan Aldrin had no trade empire left to claim.
Selene Voss had no aristocracy to return to.
Darius Veyron had been erased from his own financial dynasty.
They weren't heirs anymore.
They were players in a new game.
And they would not be ignored.
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Allies and Adversaries
The Legacies quickly identified their allies and enemies.
Valen Dusk, a rising figure in the UED Economic Council, saw their potential. "You three? You aren't bound by the system. That makes you dangerous."
Kallus Rho, an underworld broker, offered a different perspective. "Forget corporate politics. The real power moves in the dark—black markets, information leaks, and off-world dealings."
But they also faced opposition.
The UED's financial elite dismissed them as outdated relics.
Their own families saw them as dead men walking, with no place in the modern world.
But the Legacies had one thing that no one else did.
They were Event Horizon's survivors.
They weren't just businessmen.
They were history itself.
And that?
That was leverage.
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The First Move
As the night at the Celestial Grand Hall wore on, the Legacies stood together, looking over the illuminated skyline of New Geneva.
"We're not the past," Selene murmured.
Ethan smirked. "No." He lifted his glass.
"We're the future."
And as their glasses clinked, the game truly began.
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