Business taken care of, now I can return to my own personal mission: relic hunting. The only reason I’ve gotten as far as I have in life, coming from nothing, having nothing but my genes, was due to in large part the effect of a relic. I was unfortunate enough to have been picked up by a company such as mine that was much less considerate towards their assets. They catered towards the sick freaks of the universe, those that get enjoyment from torturing, dismembering, raping, and killing. That is what I provided for years; I would be sold out for single experiences. My mind modified to be nothing more than an obedient slave to whoever was my patron, they would desecrate my body, flay me living, cut off my fingers, rape me bloody, kill me, whatever they wanted, and then my company would come get me and put me back together. Over and over, I served this purpose, and each time, a little less of me could be put back together, medicine and technology can only repair so much. Over time, my body as well as my mind began to scar, to weaken and grow ugly. Then, by some miracle, someone interfered in the middle of one of my services. They burst into the room with a silver looking staff and they killed my patron, shot him right in front of me, condemning him as an awful excuse for a human being. They looked at me, and they told me that they were sorry for the cruelty of the universe. Then they touched be with that silver staff and I was healed. My body and mind restored to a time that never was, as I had never been as healthy as I was in that moment. My mental modifications gone, my scars and mental fractures no more.

What happened to me that day forever changed the course of my life. I began working ambitiously towards finding out how my life was changed. I learned that what happened to me was the result of a relic. They are objects that have been found around the known universe that possess great power, distributed between magic and kinetic forces. They are the only instances in the universe of true magic, many believe them to be sent directly from God, imbued with pure ideological power. All relics are unique in their abilities, some allow for true time traveling, while others provide immortality to their wielders, others can move mountains and cut planets in two. Exceedingly rare, relics are the most sought-after symbols of power, the only force that cannot be replicated by any human or alien means. I have made it my life’s work to find as many as I can. So far, I haven’t found even one, I’ve come close, but those that wield them, rightfully treasure them for themselves.

Newly mended, awestruck by what had just happened to me, I started to put together an empire of my own. I cheated, lied, and connived my way to power. I slept with heads of corporations to make business deals, bribed insiders for trade secrets to invest in the markets, and everything in between. Most would say that I’ve done well for myself. I personally own and operate a highly successful companion company and I also have a megalith class star cruiser, three kilometers long outfitted for exploration and discovery, my means of searching for relics.

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I have two different leads on two different relics. One is a sword, the other is an orb. The sword is being wielded by a corp contractor, his specialty is clearing worlds of sentient life for the corps to come in and harvest the planet’s resources. The sword apparently has the kinetic ability of simply being unstoppable, it cuts through anything at any desired distance away from its strikes, its magical affinity, if any, is unknown. The orb is being protected by a religious group that worship its power. It allows anyone to see into either the future or the past, and anyone who touches it simply vanishes from existence. The religious group that worships the orb believe that it sends whoever touches it straight to heaven, though this is a baseless speculation. The contractor is always on the move, and I have not been able to track him, I’ve known of his existence for a while now. The orb on the other hand is new information and we are about to send a team to go retrieve it.

I am on an orbital transport, about to dock with my cruiser, Affinity. As soon as we do, preparation to retrieve the orb relic will commence. Launch went smoothly and none of my new assets gave any trouble. I really ought to leave the introductions to someone else, it’s really just a waste of my time. I still want to pick them out, but there’s no need for me to ask them how they’re doing and if they have any questions.

“Deidra, when we dock with Affinity, I want you to pick out someone to do the meet and greets for the new companions in this sector from now on, I’m still going to go to auction and pick them out, but they’ll be inducted into the company by a new face from now on, just as they are in all the other sectors,” I say. Deidra handles most of my day-to-day tasks, things that don’t require much thinking, as she’s rather dull.

“Yes Miss, I will as soon as we get back to Affinity,” she says, never one to say much more than is absolutely needed.

We approach Affinity and slowly enter one of the landing bays. The ship transitions into the artificial gravity of Affinity and settles down on the deck. Immediately I am up and moving, I am excited to finally have a relic to go after, finding them is the hardest part, all that’s left now is to take it.