We were in a Gym of sorts, dummies and sport machines were strategically placed throughout the room.

Traction weight machines, modern running machines that simulated different environments these were but a few examples of the variety of chrome tinted contraptions design to push the body beyond its limits. The whole area had that pleasant new room smell, completely different from the old gym I used to frequent previously, whose odor was permeated with the sweat of multiple people. Separated by a glass wall was a shooting range equipped with virtual simulation projectors on the ceiling of the room. The whole room screamed “Rich” but I didn’t let it go to my head. Other than the shooting range and the gym, the station seemed to only be coloured grey, the colour was rather depressing; I hadn’t said anything before, but Idunn really did live in a sad place. There was no-one else here but her; at least before I arrived, and the station’s all-grey-and-technological theme really didn’t help with the claustrophobic feel of the place - did she even go to the moon-planet to stretch her feet and breath non recycled air? I would, it would be utterly unbearable otherwise, I would feel suffocated.

*Clap, clap*

I heard behind me, Idunn her hands together smiled with glee as if we were at the more exciting part of the day. Maybe she was right.

“Let’s discuss the changes I made to your body, Fenicia. As your m… mother, I couldn’t leave you as you were, in your... imperfect state. Even though you are a hybrid of my race and your father’s.” She spat on the ground when she said the last word, “You are still far from perfect.”

I could see that we had similar feelings about the old codger.

“First, let me tell you that the augments that your body received are not the ones I originally wanted to gift to you” Idunn looked at me, as if she was sorry about something. When she looked me in the eyes, that impression disappeared fast. Only cold calculation remained in her gaze.

“I can feel their effects, the way my speed, awareness and reflexes are out of this world. Everything is sped up, it’s really hard to keep my attention on you because you speak slowly to me.” I gave her my impression, maybe she had a solution? I can’t stay like this if I want to interact with people.

“That’s what I feared.” Traces of worry marred Idunn’s cute face. “Omega class augments without prior training with them are too much…”

“Where did you get them?”

“They were a present from a friend, but…” Idunn suddenly busied herself with a holoscreen and wouldn’t look at me.

“But… ?” I coaxed her on. Nothing is free, even among friends, and I sure as fuck don’t want to be paying the price.

Idunn sighed heavily. “There was a condition attached to their use, I need to go work for her full time. By now I’m sure that she knows they’ve been activated and will be on her way.”

So the augments have tracking on them, huh? It would be awfully convenient if the augments your prospective employer “friend” was using to keep an eye on your position were to be used on someone else… someone who might disappear perhaps? Sell me anonymously to an unknown party like they do those super soldiers, make good money and the mercenaries take the fall. Super soldiers were either created in vitro, being birthed in artificial womb, or were kidnapped. Either way they were then enslaved and  sold like cattle to mercenary’s outfits, conglomerate or governments. Nope, no slavery for me, never. I prepared myself to deck the woman and escape - but I paused, if a way out of her employer’s grasp was so easy to pull off, why had she not attempted it before? Still, I don’t want to take any chances. But when I went to move, I found the woman looking towards me, a saddened expression on her young-looking face. She pulled a crystal cube of the pocket of her lab coat and offered it to me with her dainty hand. I took it and observed it carefully. White circuits like lines crisscrossed its pale blue surface.

“What is this?” I asked, wary––.

“Your memories, I extracted them. Those are the memories of when you were detained and tortured in the Ares compound.” She didn’t shy away from my gaze anymore.

“What are you talking...”

“Come on, Fenicia you are smarter than this. Why were you injured and needed to spend a month in a regeneration tank?” The derisive tone she used cut through any doubts or justification I could come up with.

I could be wrong to be so paranoid about this woman, if she was truthfully willing to invest so much into giving me back my memories after taking care of me, then perhaps she wasn’t completely evil.

“I am not about to sell you to anyone. Fenicia, I left you in the hands of a society which couldn’t see how special you were, they had no idea; those muscle for brains idiots. I am sorry, but I am trying to atone, to help you and right the wrongs, I…” Idunn continued but I tuned her out, damn telepath…

I’ve heard of those fabled data cube, they can store organic memories; some of the larger ones are powerful enough to contain the personality and whole being of someone. High grade android or powerful AI uses them as cores.  If the information about them is correct they can…

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

I was in dark place, only one ceiling light dimly lit the room. A man I don’t know entered the room, it’s only use must be to torture or force information out of people. He had a mace in hands, tall for a human and beefy. He smiled at me. The man swung the tool and went for my legs…

I was thrown out of the memory by a flare of pain in my lower limbs. I was on my knees and breathing hard, my mind stopped working. All I knew was pain. PAIN. I let go of the cube. Famous item, yeah. That fucking cube recorded every bit of your memories, even how you felt at the moment it recorded. The worst thing was, it recorded how you perceived the pain. Even though the actual level of pain might have been fairly low, if your brain had thought it was the worst thing you had ever experienced, then the cube would deliver

“I should have told you about the feedback.” I heard Idunn say.

“Right~”

“I needed you functional for when we needed to talk. I extracted those memories and want to give you the choice to explore them; there is a way to cut the feedback. I will show you later.”

“We will speak later about my reason for rescuing you… ”  Idunn said with certainty.

I frowned.

“While you get used to them, There is a way for you to control your augments. There are levels of activation that you can consciously control, but first you must initialize a pattern for them.” Idunn put a finger on the holoscreen that appeared earlier. “By fighting.”

Someone, -  wait no, I corrected myself - something appeared through a mechanized sliding door. A training android with skin, ears, a nose and a mouth resembling organic matter, walked calmly towards me. Maybe it has others things hidden by the white Gi it wore. The android bowed to me when it finally reached me. I returned the gesture, which got me immediately attacked. I dodged with minimal movement, the kick, intended for my bowed head, missed by millimeters. Like I said to Idunn earlier, everything seemed like it was moving through molasses; the kick felt like it was coming at me in slow motion. Righting myself, I caught the trainer android’s leg… it was so kindly offered.  I then went out of my way to strike at his patella with my elbow. A sickening crunch resounded in the room, fortunately it wasn’t my elbow that made the noise; it seems that I have gained a significant boost in strength and the durability of my bones has been increased. To finish the trainer, I threw my own kick, knocking its head off completely and spraying synthetic blood, and viscera everywhere.

“Eugh” I couldn’t help but be somewhat disgusted by the mess.

I heard a bell like laugh behind me, turning around, I found myself facing an amused Idunn.

“Now you see. If you go out there without control, you are going to kill people without meaning to.” She looked at me meaningfully a serious expression suddenly on her face. “Imagine trying to take the hand of a child…” Idunn put her hands in the pockets of her lab coat and watched me.

I may be an uncaring bitch, debatably a murderer, but I have never sought to kill people who didn’t deserve it. The fake blood tainting my body and my clothes suddenly take a different meaning. Clenching and unclenching my fists, the power I received is devastating on a personal level. I should strive to control myself even more stringently than before, after meeting Idunn who constantly eroded what I thought I knew about myself and my ancestry, I don’t know what going to happen anymore. I had projects, a life of mayhem and chaos to disseminate in the known galaxy. Aiding innocents and giving some nasty Dratzzn’it* what was coming to them, but hey Life, that bitch, loves to fuck with us. Change is inevitable, I forgot that lesson and the result? I think I got stabbed in the back. I would not have ever been captured by Ares mercenaries otherwise. A decision crystallized itself within me, with a certainty that I lacked previously before.

I am going to fuck people up. I would not let myself worry about the stains on my soul that were going to taint it .

“Let’s continue training.” I said to Idunn, unmoved by the worried face she made.

We continued to adjust the level of force I would deploy with my augments for the rest of the day. Idunn said that the nanites imbuing my body and making it possible to be a super super soldier – I really didn’t like the comparison and made it clear, but was ignored - were self learning and applied the correct amount of energy to respond to the threat. The little Assurian lady told me that the system sustaining my augments wasn’t infallible, that prolonged use would gradually lessen the power of the augments - which was substantial, might I add. Resilience, augmented senses, speed and let’s not forget the last of them, a boost to psionics abilities. I just discovered that I have telekinesis! If I were to believe Idunn, it's part of my Assurian legacy, that power is the most common one of her family line – which one she belongs to, she couldn’t reveal to me - making me doubt the legitimacy of her claims even further. I don’t want her to be right, she’s crazy. I can tell when someone is especially dangerous from a glance; I can sense it in my guts. But like I said; Life doesn’t care about what you want. Anyway, Idunn said that she released the mental block that she put on me when I was nine months old on my warrior form and my mental abilities, because I was “precocious”. She awoke my telekinesis by ordering a trainer android to throw pointy knives at me from afar while I was tied to an upright bench. It was like I already knew what it was going to do, I could feel the knife going for my head at great speed and stopped it mid flight by “binding” it in the air stopping its movements toward me.  I was so surprised that I lost my grip on the knife, but Idunn didn’t stop there and multiple androids launched knives from all different angles. The feeling of sensing everything around me came back and I batted the knives away with my mind. I missed a couple, which were vaporized as soon as they came within a foot of my head, giving me a fright.

I glared at the woman when she finished the hail of shiny pointy things. The only excuse she gave me was something called “tough love”. That is apparently a human saying which mean raising your kids by letting them experience good and bad things? Ah! Humans have always been weird to me; always trying to force their way of thinking and ideals on alien minds.

So I have powers. I had never imagined that I would be dealt such a good hand. I had to find what my limits were for future fights that come my way. Idunn may be crazy and dangerous, but I owe her. Whatever her reasons are, even if she is my mother; she doesn’t deserve death after she gave me life again.

Come little mercenary ship, poke the Daklist Nest**. I shall give you with a warm welcome.