Prologue

            Eliza Montgomery was not having a good day, week, month or year. It started last year when her father was killed by a drunk driver operating a hover car on manual. The man had bypassed the safety lock outs that prevented that from happening and so was charged with murder. It still didn’t bring a father back to a 19 year old girl. Last month her scholarship for university was revoked because there was no longer enough interest in studying the Galaxy spanning Imperium that collapsed 1,200 years ago. 

Ruins could still be found all over the galaxy but no one could get the systems up and running or figure out how most of the tech worked, so funding had been reduced and finally cut for research. Last week she decided to move back home with her mother in the Oleg Star system in the Republic to find a new field and place to study. When she told her boyfriend about the move he dumped her within the day. Then today the passenger liner she was on was hijacked by pirates and she was currently being herded through there ship into a row of cells. 

The rich passengers were guided into the first cell. They would probably be ransomed back to their families through a broker in one of frontier stars. places where neither the republic or kingdom held influence and were mostly lawless. The crew and the majority of the rest of the passengers were pushed into a second cell. Likely to be sold off to slavers to work in dangerous places as human lives were cheaper than bots. What really worried her was the fact that only her and the other young women were dragged to the last cell. She knew what that meant and it was worse than the mines she would die much slower but it would be much worse drugged up constantly and forced to service clients, no she would die first then except that fate. As the cell slammed shut behind her she grabbed the only thing the pirates had not taken.

 A necklace given to her by her father on her 16th birthday. It looked like a piece of plastic on a steel chain worth so little that even thieves who planned to sell her as a sex slave didn’t bother stealing it. Family legend said it had been passed down since the days of the Imperium its meaning and purpose lost to time but the legend said if you snapped it in half when you were in real danger a hoard of angels or demons would descend on your location but woe to anyone who abused its power. Eliza didn’t believe in all that religious stuff about the old empire but the trinket had sparked her interest in the Imperium leading to where she was now. Sighing to herself she shrugged “ why not I’d take angels, demons, ghosts, or space bunnies at this point anything’s better then this.” She took the plastic in-between her fingers and snapped it. 

She held her breath for a moment but nothing happened. She snorted self deprecatingly. ``of course nothing happened, those stories are all bullshit.” She sat down while all but two other girls whimpered and cried in a corner. She could hear the other two whispering about how they would try to get themselves killed trying to break out when the pirates came for them. Eliza didn’t think it would work, they would probably just be beaten and dragged off by the pirates but it was as good a plan as any. A few hours later they felt the ship lurch then shudder a few times one of the two girls turned to Eliza “ maybe we will get lucky and the ship will explode!” the other girl laughed a little hysterically “I bet we are some of the few people who have ever wanted the ship they are on to explode!” Eliza was about to agree when there was one final lighter thud and all the lights went out. Then the ship's PA played an odd song. 

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It was an old style song and orchestra followed by a woman singing. She listened to the first few lines thinking it sounded vaguely familiar. “ For the honor of the Imperium the Legion marches on, for right and freedom we face all who come on, we will triumph over all who dare to face us, and raise our standard over those we shelter in our care…” She recognized that song from her studies; it was the Triumph of the Legion, the battle hymn of the Imperium’s Legion. but who would be playing that now of all times? She was distracted by the sound of pirates Slug throwers firing and whoop, whoop sound that she had heard only in documentaries that had old footage from Legion training videos. It sounded like legion rifles but that was also impossible. There were few legion rifles left, none that fired and they literally melted if anyone tried to pry them open and learn how the advanced tech worked. 

She watched two pirates run past but as they drew even with the cell they were both hit by at least two plasma bolts. Then a small black object zipped by before the light faded. In the current times only the largest military vessels could mount plasma weapons and no one could make hand held units. As she stood shocked, two figures ran into view, stopping just past the cell door. A long burst of rounds from further down impacted some sort of barrier that flared white in front of the pair who brought up the two plasma rifles and fired back. Eliza heard a scream and the shooting stopped. Three more figures moved up, one facing the way they had come, two facing the cell door, one was holding a pistol and a case the other was dressed like the others. That one pulled out a sword from his belt; it was an Imperium Gladius! That was not possible; those melted when their wielders died, period end of story. Two quick hacks from the gladius and the solid steel doors broke open as the door was kicked in the two figures rushing in. They were wearing all black with red accents and a red featureless face plate. The figure on the right had a green band on their arm with a white cross, an ancient mark for medics still in use today. The red face plate shifted to be transparent showing a woman in her twenties and a voice issued out. 

“ madam senator are you alright?” the woman asked, pulling out what looked to be a medical device. Eliza was so confused who these people were? with Imperium Tech and what did she mean senator? “ who are you people ?” Eliza mumbled in wonder. One of the women who had been seated quietly against the wall since the beginning stood “ almorta ela novita, almorta ela hade ” Eliza looked over and gasped, Elvara eyes glowing blue looked back at her, one of the long lived. Their race was rare these days most if not all having faded into the black with time and memory of the Imperium no one even spoke their language anymore, only the occasional ship seen… “an hidus parlo ethe, caroly en valllie beh nev allie.” said the other figure face still masked though the voice was clearly male.

 putting his fist to his chest and bowing slightly then in standard “ never thought I would hear a High Elvara mage quoting Earth poetry to me” the figure said in what was clearly an amused tone of voice. The Elvara had a faint smile “ and I never thought I would meet a living one of you. You’ve been gone so long” the Armored man seemed to pause trying to find the right words. Eliza couldn’t hold it in and asked louder “who are you people?!'' The man turned to her and she recoiled slightly from that blank face plate, then the man did that slight bow “ my apologies Madam Senator my name is Lt. Jack Doolin of the 9th. The legion has arrived.”