Cosmic Date: 2122, April 1st, Osiris Station

“Well, well… well,” I said aloud to myself, my words mere whispers.

“If it isn’t the consequences of my actions.” I finished with a smile.

I stared out at Earth through the tiny window of the orbital shuttle. The hundreds of full-dive simulations couldn’t lift a finger to seeing the Earth like this in person.

I felt… insignificant.

I felt good.

The ships comms rang off.

A static bored voice spoke overhead, “Approaching Osiris Station, all hands prepare to dock.”

I looked down the aisles, seeing the crew moving to positions. The overhead lights dimmed to a soft white hue, I could see the misty spray of the constantly cycling air within the ships cabin.

Next to me a fellow cadet gripped his thighs, wiping his sweaty palms on his pants. A hundred other cadets sat in palpably building excitement around me.

The shuttle’s vortex engines droned in low bass frequencies, swerving around before bringing Osiris Station into view.

It was a behemoth of glimmering hyper-steel and glastic, a gleaming bastion for humanity’s ever enduring expansion among the stars. Shaped like a spintop, at its apex sat the Infinity Dome, a gigantic transparent dome that peered into the deep abyss of space, housing a self-sufficient microcosm of plant and animal life.

Around the circumference of the station slowly rotated the Orbital Logistic Ring,.I could see hundreds of ships docked. From small civilian cargos to the slick shiny cruisers of the rich and royal, the vast emptiness of space behind it was a canvas for the hubris of humanity.

Just a couple steps…

And I would reach the stars.

I took a deep breath, adjusting my royal purple cadet uniform — I was thankful of how it looked. Black accented edges flooded down the self-adjusting weave into an almost cape-like extension at the end of the tunic and pants.

I smiled, feeling the skin-tight W.E.T-suit (Weightless Exo-Template) layer underneath modulate my core temperature.

This was the beginning of my end.

Soon I’d be trained to have my own ship, enough savings for a small crew, and the numerous worlds of space to explore.

Seven years of service was a small price to pay in my mind, I’d hopefully take an easy logistics or maintenance job and bang!

Easy money…

—

Cosmic Date: 2124, CD, April 1st

Two years after arriving at Osiris…

I stepped out of the Zero Hall. My mind spinning from flipping around in zero gravity for the past hour.

I was coming to the suspicion that my service may not be easy money.

I didn’t think I could hate the idea of stepping into zero-g. Yet enough practical combat sessions seemed to do just that.

How could they do this to me?

I held my churning stomach, praying for it to calm down before I lost my breakfast. The WET-suit was tight to my skin with sweat, rarely wet ever since we started searching the stars, but enough active movement harkened back that vestigial meaning.

I felt a slap on my back that nearly sent me hurling. “SADA! My ace squad leader, nice shots out there my man~”

I turned to see Camerai, boisterous as always, his scraggly black hair and mixed blasian features glistening with sweat. It only served to highlight his prominent cheekbones and sharp jaw, features almost as pretty as his unusually green eyes.

Royal Asturian eyes.

I stood up carefully, “Thanks, I figured I’d send our last LEO training off with a bang.” I said as we both began walking towards the Mess Hall.

We were surrounded by many other exhausted cadets, wearing excited faces at finally finishing their last semester.

“Ah~ I feel ya. So..? Have you been assigned a ship yet?” He asked, failing to hide the anticipation in his voice.

“S.S. Oblivion.” I said casually, hiding an internal smile.

“WHAA! No way!” He said throwing his hands into the air as I nodded. He obviously understood the awesome significance of the frontier ship headed for deep unknowns of space—

“—Thats the same one I got on!” He interrupted.

…

“Oh, congratulations—”

“—To the both of US!” He cheered lifting my limp, defeated arm into the air.

Osiris save my spirit.

…

Both of us slipped into the mess hall to a cacophony of excitement. The giant gymnasium sized space was filled with the chatter of soon to be certified astronauts.

I couldn’t help but smile, breathing in the intoxicating atmosphere. The sterile smell of cleaning fluid mixed with sweat musk and gallons of synthetic foods. We grabbed a full plate of celebratory synthetic steak and potatoes before joining the usual bunch at our table.

Sitting across from me and Camerai was Hatch & Helena, one of the first people I’d met when landing on Osiris and a surprisingly rare enlistment couple.

Apparently they just got bored one day, decided the stars would spice up their marriage or something.

I sat down without a word like usual.

Camerai however, immediately attacked them with a barrage of questions, many of which I wanted to hear answers to.

“Spill the beaaaans, assignments people!” He demanded.

Helena rolled her black eyes and kept eating, stuffing a potato lathered in ketchup into her mouth — missing the fact her blonde hair was dipping into the sauce.

Hatch laughed, reaching over and pulling Helena’s hair from the ketchup. “Yes of course your majesty Camerai…” He flipped a thumb over to me, “…but only if Sada shares first.”

Camerai grumbled, he never liked his royal blood being mentioned.

I smiled, Hatch always shut him up easily. “S.S. Oblivion.” I said.

They both looked up at me in surprise.

““No way!””They said simultaneously.

Finally, people who can appreciate the hard work I’d put in, people who understand how cool the Oblivion is—

“—Same as us!” Helena said.

‘…’

Is everyone in this fucking station on the Oblivion?

I forced a smile to my lips. “wow, how lovely.”

“Hah!” Hatch chortled, “Knowing you —you unsociable hermit — are probably disappointed you’ll be stuck with us for another five years.”

Helena only grinned and nodded, the ketchup sparkling in her teeth like she was pretending to be a vampire.

I sighed aloud to more of Hatch’s laughter, before grinning myself.

“Well, it won’t be just me…” I said tilting my head over to Camerai.

The couple’s eyes both widened as they tuned in unison to see Camerai’s perfectly aligned row of grinning teeth.

“”No way…”” They murmured.

“Yes way,” He replied.

“One word people, four simple syllables.” He raised his hand and began counting out the syllables — starting with his middle finger.

“Ne-”

“-Po”

“-Ti”

“-Sm.”

The whole table groaned in unison to his unashamed laughter. Helena spoke up, half an eaten steak in her mouth.

“Must be nice to have blood of Asturian gold.” She said sarcastically, “Just don’t forget about us when you become fleet commander and house lord eh?”

Camerai scoffed, “If I even survive long enough, I don’t have enough fingers to count the number of people who’d like to see my beautiful body shunted out an airlock.”

He rubbed his hands through his black hair, “Half of my forsaken family is on the damn station for the ceremony tomorrow. I’m lucky the military wing is as secure as a house vault or I’d hesitate even drinking a beer right now.”

I nodded in agreement.

Being royal was a double-edged blade. On one hand you have literal worlds given to you, on the other you have literal worlds after you.

The Asturians were no exception, having played a large role in humanity’s long and bloody history of intergalactic war.

I felt rather happy to bottom of the metaphorical galactic barrel, thankful that I grew up with a roof and at least one surviving parent to wish me good luck.

Not to mention no murderous siblings.

Camerai cleared his throat, overtly steering the conversation away from his bloodline. “Well, what’s everyones posts aboard the ship?”

“Communications, and he’s in logistics.” Helena said, which made sense to me. There couldn’t be a better fit for somebody who only spoke when necessary.

And Hatch had an uncanny ability to keep everything on track, he was top 100 for simulated supply lines in the Neural-net.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“You?” She asked Camerai.

He gave a coy smile whispering his answer, “First Lieutenant.”

“Huh? What was that?” Hatch asked.

Camerai cleared his throat. “First, uh… Lieutenant.”

The two stared at him in disbelief. Even I was giving him harsh side-eye.

Helena ground her teeth, the fork in her hand bending under her grip, “You royal fucking…”

Even Hatch grumbled something under his breath about Royal blood but kept his composure. I merely sighed, they had valid reasons to be pissed.

He’d jumped three ranks, and not easy ones either.

He was a single rank from becoming a Third Commander, in-charge of a small squadron and given his own seat at the strategem-table with the high collars of fleet command.

Camerai sighed, “Not my choice just to be clear.” We all sighed with him.

Helena put her twisted fork onto the table, rubbing her temples. “What about you Sada?”

I gave a wry “Mathias is trying to strong-arm me into Special Operations.”

“Damn…” She replied as Hatch and Camerai sucked in a sharp breath.

“I honestly wanted to go into weapon maintenance.” I said defeatedly. A simple life, and not to mention a safer life.

“Well maybe you should’ve missed more shots, or cursed at your teammates a bit more in the practice.” Camerai advised.

“And end up as a grunt? No thanks, I don’t exactly have a safety net like you your majesty.”

Camerai groaned.

I clicked my tongue, “Its… fine, whatever. I’ll just see where the solar winds take me. If anything it’ll look good on my record.”

“If you don’t die behind separatist lines.” Helena added. I gave her a sad glare.

“Sorry,” She said looking away, “but we all know it’s not exactly the cushy position you’ve been raving about wanting.”

I sighed, again, for the hundredth time this lunch.

“Fuck, I know. Fucking Mathias.” I cursed our combat instructor for his observant eye. Though I knew I couldn’t blame anyone but myself and my pride.

The atmosphere at the lunch table had gotten solemn. Which was Camerai’s queue to be himself.

“WELL~~ Sada’s death sentence aside, you all in for a party I’m throwing tonight? My room, post dinner…” He leaned in closely, voice dropping to a whisper, “I may, or may not have gotten my hands on some Solarian Smokes, Kirikan Moonshine, and maybe a rip or two of… well, I’ll leave that as a surprise.”

Hatch grinned, to which Helena punched him on the arm. She answered for the both of them, “We’ll be there but were not getting sucked into your mad black-holes of debauchery.”

Camerai laughed, “Yes, yes of course. Moderation or something — me personally? I’m going to party like it’s the end of the world baby! I gotta go call my family in prep for tomorrow now tho, I’ll see you all later!” He said, taking his tray and practically skipping away.

“You going?” Hatch asked me, rubbing his hand through his scruffy brown beard.

“Yeah, might as well. Might be the last time I can ever get glassed…” I replied, Hatch gave me a small wry smile.

“You’ll be fine, buddy. Mathias is an ass for pushing you into Special Ops, but he wouldn’t do it without reason.”

I nodded, grabbing the edges of my tray. “Thanks Hatch, hopefully I’m just in intelligence or something.” I grabbed my tray as well and stood, “I’ll see you two tonight, need to shower and call my dad.”

—

I walked down the corridor of the cadet wing. The excited chatter echoed down the hallway, harsh white toe-kick lights illuminated the walkway. Numerous dorm room doors were open wide flooding out the chorus of multiple songs, blasting down the wing.

From ancient edgy rock music to the classical tastes of dubstep, the excitement from the mess hall carried across the station.

People chattered loudly in front of the their rooms, a couple had chromatic glowing strobe lights pouring out from within.

There was no starting line for celebratory partying it seemed.

I crossed the hallway, passing through multiple eras of music and drugs before reaching my own dorm.

Motherfucker… I grimaced, seeing an unwelcome face outside my room.

A tall, stocky built man with a scar cutting across the bridge of his nose leaned against my door. Needlessly shaved head, over cold brown eyes that stared absently-mindedly at nothing, I could barely see signs of breathing from his chest.

Mathias was a silently terrifying man, always far too aware even when you thought he wouldn’t be — which he’d use against you when you least expected it. As if designed for his quiet terror, his instructor garbs had less purple and more black, giving him an almost camouflaged look amidst the sea of purple cadet uniforms and low light of the hallway.

I considered turning around and hiding away in Camerai’s party, but before I could even muster the will to run, his weathered voice called out.

“Sada Sorenti, at ease Cadet. You don’t have to look like you just saw your loan-shark.” He scorned.

I sighed, rightening my posture and approaching, giving him a short salute.

“Greetings, Intructor Mathias!” I said, obviously slightly forced.

“Enough of that shit, you’ve already passed the finish line, I’m no longer your instructor.” He said with disinterest, “I’m here to talk about your new role.”

I sighed, “Sure, come in, make yourself at home.”

I pressed my finger to the biometric scanner and my door slid open.

We both stepped into my room, a rather simple yet lush place. Despite my occupation in the cold abyss of space, I wasn’t one for cold steel of the station. It felt lifeless and somewhat soul sucking to see everyday.

Over the past two years I had… borrowed a small collection of plant clippings from the Infinity Dome, cultivating my own microcosm of life.

Every wall and surface had at least one plant hanging or clinging to its faces.

I was proud, and my efforts weren’t in vain either. There was a palpable freshness in the air, like walking through a portal to a rainforest.

The door behind us slid close, cutting the room from the rapture of noise outside.

Mathias’ eyes widened at the sight, an unnoticed and rare smile tugging at the edge of his lips. “Didn’t know you were such a green thumb Cadet.”

I shrugged, “I’m just tired of looking at hyper-steel, sir.” I said while filling two glasses of water and placing them on the table next to the only window in the room. A fake window in actuality, really just a high-resolution screen projecting an image of Earth below.

You used to be able to change it to your liking but some cadets got out of hand with floor-to-ceiling adult video watch parties.

Though with enough money or skills you could still get around it. I was fine with Earth, the slowly turning image of my home planet comforting if anything.

We both sat down on either ends of the small square table. Mathias picked up the glass, sniffed the water — then promptly emptied the glass in a nearby standing palm plant. He pulled out a flask and refilled the glass with a mysterious red liquid.

I gave no heed to his drinking habits, instead trying to gleam what he wanted to talk about.

“So, sir, what did you want to talk about?”

“Just call me Mathias now—”

“--Sada for me then.” I interrupted, to a raised eyebrow before he nodded.

“I’ve put you forward to join the RSSF, its a done deal.” He said, taking a small sip of his red liquid.

My brows creased inwards as if someone had forced a lemon down my throat.

The Fuckin Royal Special Space Forces? The branch of Special Operations that moved to the will of House Tyrelion? House of the Golden Eyes? The ruling house of the galactic empire and hegemon over Earth?

Public enemy number ONE for anyone not under the Royal umbrella — which was currently… about a third of humanity.

Give or take.

I sucked in a sharp breath.

Mathias chuckled, knowing full well the weight of being part of such an organization.

He gulped down his drink, “I’m sorry, Sada…” He said, actually somewhat apologetic, “…but it seems your skills have caught the eye of a few too many high collars up the golden ladder.”

I almost laughed, and who the fuck was feeding them such information? I wanted to say aloud. But I couldn’t blame the guy however, he was really just doing his job.

It was my fault if anything.

“Well…” I said, drawing out my words, my mind trying to see the bright side of it. “Hopefully the pays nice?”

Mathias laughed, “Hah, yes, in fact it might be the best in the entire galaxy — outside of being a house lord or fleet admiral. The Tyrelions are many things, but cheap is not one of them.”

My eyes widened, well, that didn’t sound too bad?

Though we both knew we were just lying to ourselves.

It was an open secret that Special Operations was a deadly organization to be a part of.

So I’d be rich and rolling in it if I survived huh?

“If it’s any consolation, Sada, I believe you have the potential be one of the RSSF’s top operatives. To compete against royals as a common citizen is no easy task.”

I scratched my cheek, unsure on how to take the compliment. I did appreciate the man, he had pushed me to improve and helped me see the blossoming of my abilities both in combat and leadership.

Mathias pulled two flasks, placing it on the table. One was a classic silvery metal like his own flasks. While the other was instead made of some fully matte-black almost carbon-weave like material. It looked expensive.

Notably, there was the emblem of house Tyrelion, a singular eye crossed with a sword and shield.

“This one is a gift, for when times get tough…” He said, notably not saying if towards the silver flask. “...and this,” He said, leaning in and lowering his voice, “are your golden handcuffs.”

I cocked my head in confusion.

Mathias chuckled, “Nano-tech, top of the tree… but also tied to House Tyrelion, to be forever tracked and monitored. Do you understand what I’m staying?”

I gave a wry smile and nodded. Though I couldn’t say I wasn’t internally salivating.

Nano-tech was some crazy stuff, almost like magic in a way. Self-replicating and sustaining, and incredibly fucking hard to get your hands on.

They were the mark of Royalty.

The carrot & the leash.

Apparently, depending on the house the abilities would differ, but I could understand what he was trying to tell me.

Handcuffs huh? No room for mistakes or the nano-bots would probably implode inside my organs.

“As long as you’re under the Golden Eye of Tyrelion, you’ll be at their mercy, Sada. I recommend you prepare yourself to hunker down and follow orders for the next few years.”

I nodded.

Mathias stood, “You should take the Nano-bots tonight, it’ll knock you out cold for a few hours as they settle in your body. The moment you wake up you should gather your things, say your goodbyes and report to House Tyrelion’s hall.” He stretched out his hand.

I stood taking his hand in a firm grip, “Thanks for the gifts, I’ll keep you in mind when I’m ducking under separatist fire.” I said to a light chuckle.

“Should I see you again, I pray you’ll have your organs intact.” He said, turning and leaving. The door slid open to an even louder chorus of celebrations outside before shunting the room into an abrupt silence.

I continued standing for a moment after he left. There was a building headache in my temples, I looked at my watch. A couple hours till dinner… then the party.

I sighed, hopefully for the last time today. I guess I wasn’t getting glassed for the last time.

An exhaustion was overtaking me, too many things on my mind that calling my dad slipped my mind as I turned to the table with the nano-bot flask.

I popped the lid, hesitating for a mere moment.

What choice do I have…

Going against House Tyrelion, especially now that they’ve given me nano-bots was just a speed run towards the grave.

I breathed deeply and downed the nano-bots.

Tastes like… strawberries?

I walked to my bed, not even bothering to de-cloth or slide under the covers, my eyes were already becoming heavy and I was feeling a slight burn behind my retinas.

Two years ago all I wanted was to explore the stars and unknown worlds. Now it seems all I’d be exploring is behind separatist lines.

I fell into a sleep like never before.

—

Perhaps I slept too hard, since I awoke to the piercing screams of the stations’ emergency alarms.

I struggled to open my eyes, but when I did I found my entire room doused in a sheen of red light, the stations back-up power had been engaged and was currently flickering on and off as the emergency lights were struggling to stay powered.

What the fuck is going on?

I looked at my watch, seeing a chaotic flow of messages stream to life, my eyes widened at the rare lack of neural-net connection.

BANG BANG BANG!

The subdued roar of gunfire pulled me from my stupor. The sudden noise reverberated through the metal of my room like an electrical jolt back to reality.

Something… has gone terribly fucking wrong.

Yet before I could even rise to my feet, my vision swam and a painful jolt crashed through my skull. I groaned folding over clutching my brain in my hands.

Suddenly, my eyes flared in pain, forcing me to blink. The moment I opened them I saw a Heads-Up Display appear in my vision as if I was wearing my combat visor. The golden text followed my vision naturally, only coming into view when I mentally focused on it.

Immediately my vision was flooded with a tidal wave of information, rising up in a thick column of golden text.

[NANO-TECH: PROPERTY OF HOUSE TYRELION]

[PROPERTY STATUS: 100% Healthy]

[FOUNDATIONAL AUGMENT]

- Regeneration Factor COMPLETE

- Metabolic Efficiency COMPLETE

- Cellular Rejuvenation COMPLETE

- Musculature Augmentation COMPLETE

- Neurological Optimization COMPLETE

[HOUSE AUGMENT: GOLDEN EYE MK. V

- Acuity Augmentation COMPLETE

- Neural-Reflex Enhancement COMPLETE

- Multi-Spectral Sight COMPLETE

My jaw slowly widened, until it could drop no more.

I had just stepped into an entirely new realm of existence. The knowledge of my abilities flooding into my mind like a Neural Sync.