Yurnel was in her personal office going over data from my Nephilim transformation when I found her. Well Cai found her but whatever.

"Doctor," I greeted her as I walked in, while Cai immediately began using some of the new tech that was bonded with me now to scan for any surveillance devices that weren't supposed to be anywhere.

"Commander," she stood and Nephilim saluted me. "It is good to see you up and about so soon. If you had sent word that you wished to see me and discuss the details of your transformation and set up testing to determine your limits, then I would have been happy to meet you."

"The room is secure," Cai told me.

"We need to discuss what you told me before you sedated me," I told Yurnel bluntly. No need to beat around the bush and risk letting her get away when she had answers.

"Commander, this room is not as secure as I would like," she whispered, leaning in to be heard clearly.

"Cai has already determined that there are no surveillance devices here," I assured her. "Unless the feelings you expressed are more volatile than you lead me to believe?"

I hoped she would see the out I was giving her and take it if there was something Cai and I couldn't detect that she knew about.

"Truly, you did not detect anything?" she asked with a small sigh of relief.

"No, and Cai is already working to jam any discrete recording devices and software that might be hidden in your communications device and tablet," I told her.

"That is good," she sighed leaning back in her chair in relief, she was far more expressive for a Gurtmic than any others I had encountered. "What is it that you wish to know?"

"Firstly, I want to know which Warden Commanders were calling for the control methods and the killswitches," I said. "Then, I want you to give me any and all data that led you and your team to the creation of the Nephilim genetic structure. Finally, we will discuss those tests that you mentioned and begin setting them up for tomorrow, I'm tired of bumping into everything and tripping over my own feet because I can't remember where they are."

"I can't tell you which Commanders wanted you controlled," she told me sadly, "all I know in that regard is that the order came from out of system by courier and was delivered by an Iollan. No Iollan serves on a ship that isn't controlled by another Iollan, nor do they take orders from any race but their own. They claim to be one of the Founder Races, the ones who created the Wardens of Life nearly four hundred thousand years ago."

"Which means that the Iollans are definitely against the creation of the Nephilim Army," I muttered.

"I am afraid so," Yurnel confirmed. "I can give you copies of the data we used and recorded from our simulations easily. Please give me a moment to pull it up."

"No," I said before she could begin typing into her tablet. "I don't want a copy. I want the only copy of the data. Cai is already prepared to inject a virus into the Warden database that will infect all devices connected to them and erase any and all copies of the data. I need a hard physical back-up of the data. A downloaded hard drive, a stack of files, whatever you have I need it. This is for the protection of my people."

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

"I can't give you that," the doctor said, horrified. "If I did that, then I would be rendering it impossible for anymore Nephilim Soldiers to be created. If all of the ones created at this facility were to die, then we would lose all our work and I would have no way to control who might recreate the serum."

"Doctor, I am ordering you to give me the data," I told her firmly. "Once I have it in my hands then I will begin having others totally loyal to the Nephilim study it and determine if there are any members of your team that might have snuck something you didn't notice into the serum. I will be taking the tech team's data as well to ensure the safety of any and all technology that my soldiers will use. If you refuse to give me the data, then I will take it. And no one will stop me."

I hated having to play the bully in this, but there was more than a few lives at stake, there was the fate of the Scourge, the Wardens of Life, the Nephilim Army, and, if everyone was right, the entire universe on the line. I could not leave that office without the only true copy of the data. If the Commanders arrayed against my people's freedom got a hold of it, then they would find out if Yurnel had actually placed everything they wanted her to into our genetics. If anyone within the Wardens switched sides or was secretly a spy then they'd have easy access to the data and that could spell out any potential weaknesses within Nephilim genetics. To keep all Nephilim to follow after me safe, I needed to have absolute control of that data, and I could not let anyone stop me.

"Please, Commander," she begged, "if you do this then it will only serve to alert and enflame the others. I am frightened of what they may do."

"I'm sorry, Dr. Yurnel," I said, "I truly am. I must ask that you look at this from my perspective though. I have been entrusted with the safety of everyone who swore to follow me. To keep them safe I must insist that you give me the data."

Eventually, slowly, Yurnel reached into a small box on her desk and pulled out a portable hard drive. She looked at it sadly before passing it over to me and turning away. Shamed at my actions, but secure in the knowledge that this was for my people, I took it and inserted it into my private interface. Immediately Cai dove into the data streams that flowed through it and after a moment he told me that this was the data and all of it without any changes of hidden files sheared away and hidden from sight. There was even a detailed monitoring of my Nephilim transformation as the latest entry.

"Thank you Dr. Yurnel," I said quietly. "I know this was difficult for you to do and I thank you for doing it anyway. I hope you can forgive me for the threats I levelled toward you for this. Cai, set the virus loose."

"I hope I can overcome my regret for my actions this day," Yurnel said without looking at me. "So much knowledge and effort, lost to the paranoia of the coming war. I ask only that you do not make me do anything like this again. You are my greatest dream made real. You and your people are the answers to all my prayers in my life. That I cannot lay claim to my part in destroying the Scourge anymore is something that I will always grieve."

"I can't ask you to forgive me for this," I told her. "I just ask that you trust me to protect your legacy. And all Nephilim will be told that it was a team of scientists lead by Dr. Yurnel of House Murg of the Gurtmic that created them. That I can promise you."

With those words, I left, sending her a message to report for testing my capabilities tomorrow morning. If she showed then good, if not, then I'd just have to make do with my newly recruited secretary Angie. It would just suck having to do this without a trained professional like the good doctor.

I hated playing at politics. Especially when I couldn't see all the players and the pieces they were trying to move. Even more so, when they were all supposed to be working with me instead of against me.