"So, that's the story," I said, leaning back in my chair. "That's what I've been dealing with."

Spaced around the table in miniature were holograms of the Scourge I'd fought up to this point and the aliens I'd met. Jennifer and Harry were looking at one another and Mom was looking upset at the story I'd told them. Father was staring at me as though trying to pull my secrets and unsaid parts of the story from my head. It was a long moment before anyone spoke.

"These Cybers," Father started, "they're always there? They can always see what you see?"

"Yeah they can," I answered. "Cai's been really great for letting me keep track of little things that you always forget. Dates, deadlines, names, smaller plans, or little details. If I didn't have him, I think I'd still be on Rallypoint, trying to figure out how to teach other people to fight the Scourge."

"You are sure that they are unable to affect your emotions?" he asked.

"They have control of the nanites within us, but those nanites don't have the ability to change their programming and the only way to change them would be a full reset and update; which would need us to consent to that, since the procedure that would do it needs us to lay still. Otherwise, any foreign nanites would be treated like a virus or foreign bacteria that needs to be removed."

"Theoretically, the nanites could affect our hormones and any chemical in our brains, but their programming makes that impossible. Besides, to really cause a big change in all that, they'd have to have the biomechanical housing for the CAI Chip inside our brain rather than on our spinal cords. Apparently, when the Wardens made them common, any races that recieved one in the brain had rejection issues and often removed them due to pain or other less desirable reasons."

I could see he was thinking, so I took the opprotunity to get some water. I hadn't been able to drink any since I started my story and my throat was parched.

"You're really in charge of all this?" he asked finally. "It's really you, not some alien that's telling you what to do?"

"Alan, that's rude," Mom said before I could answer.

"I don't think it is Maggie," Father defended himself. "He's tall enough to make an NBA coach drool and he's strong enough to lift a car. Then there's that blue ring around his eyes and the little dots on his neck, wrist, and everywhere else we can't see. All that and you think it's rude to make sure that he's in full control of himself?"

"It's fine, Mom," I said. "He's raised some good points. Cai send for someone, a Knight, any Knight."

"What's the reason for that?" Father asked.

"You'll see," I told him. We waited for a few more minutes, during which Jennifer and Harry had started to whisper to each other and were slowly heating into a full-blown argument over whatever it was. When the door opened and the Knight I'd asked for walked in, they stopped and the young man looked around awkwardly.

"Uhm, you asked for me Commander?" he said hesitantly.

"Yes I did," I confirmed. "I'm going to give direct orders to your Cyber. Obey them."

"What?" he asked, confusion covering his face.

"Cyber, enter host sleep mode," I ordered.

"What does that mean?" the poor kid asked.

"Cyber, control host limbs and contort them in a pretzel pattern," I ignored him.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Commander, you're creeping me out," he said.

"Cyber, cease host speaking ability at vocal chords," I said.

"Now I really want to know what's going on," the Knight said.

"Cyber, use host's limbs to attack the women," I gave one last order.

"Sir, I don't know what's going on but I don't think that my Cyber can do any of that," the kid said.

"It can't," I reassured him. "I was proving my point with an aid. Thank you, dismissed."

"Yes sir, Commander," he said, saluting and making his way out of the room.

With the young Knight gone I turned to look back at my father who had laced his fingers together and was looking at me the same way he did whenever he had something difficult to tell me. Finally, with a sigh he spoke up.

"Don't suppose I can get one of those Cyber things for myself then?" he asked.

"What?" I asked.

"Like I said, everything your mother and I built before all this is gone. If you're in charge and you're back home, then I want to help you with whatever you're doing. It's the absolute least I can do," he explained, his eyes falling to the table as he spoke.

It was a moment before I spoke again.

"What?" I asked. Not my most eloquent.

"I'm saying that I want to help you with this, Rickshaw," Father said. "You don't see it, but your eyes are different; not because of the blue ring either. Last time I saw you, they were empty, lost. They'd been that way for a while and I was trying to push you to be what I knew you could be. I spoke harshly and drove you away instead, and for that I am truly sorry."

"But now," he continued before I could say anything, "now they're bright, they see something and you're working toward that, I see it clear as daylight. I want to help you with that, and I won't have anything stopping me or pulling me away, so please son, let me help you reach your goal."

I sat there, stunned for a moment, unable to think of the words to say. Like I said, my father and I didn't have the best relationship, so for him to ask how he could help, to plead that I let him help me with all this, was something entirely unexpected. My mother, I noticed looked a little shocked herself but it quickly melted away to pride and hopeful expectation. Finally, I thought of something I could use them for to help the Nephilim on Earth.

"Cai, send me Kyouka, and Carrie if she's here," I told him. For what I was thinking of, I needed my Principalities to know what was happening and if Kyouka had some objections or further ideas, then this would be the time to get them out of the way.

"Those are the two girls that met us at the hangar?" Mom asked. "How did you meet them?"

"Carrie was the first one to sign on as a Nephilim," I told her while we waited. "Kyouka was one of the more dedicated Paladins, so she reached Wing quickly and then captured the young Scourge Queen that was on Earth. She's going to take over when I leave Earth again, and Carrie's kind of my second-in-command."

"She seems a little young to be fighting monsters and leading an army," Harry said.

"Well, she is eighteen," I said. "The Wardens of Life took anyone that met their criteria aged fifteen to thirty and I couldn't turn down the kids that signed on. All I can do is try to keep them safe until they're older."

I don't know what seemed to stun them more, the fact that Carrie was only eighteen or the fact that I had sixteen year old kids in the Nephilim Army, but before I could figure that out, Kyouka walked in with Carrie.

"You asked for us, Commander," Kyouka said with a salute while Carrie just nodded to me.

"Yeah, pull up a chair," I told them. "I've had a talk with my father and I had an idea."

"My father started and built a rather successful law firm over his career. My mother inherited and expanded an accounting company over her career. I think the both of them can help us as we build our Earth presence. My father can oversee any court issues we have with whatever world laws they try to hold us back with, and my mother can oversee financing and economic growth. My father asked how he could help and I assume that extended to my mother, so this is what I thought of."

"Both of these are issues that we are already seeing problems with," Kyouka said. "Many blame us for the Scourge and their destruction and have already sought out legal actions against us. If we want to keep a presence on Earth, then we'll need to face these issues sooner or later."

"We've also had backlash from what's left of the space companies that were here," Carrie said. "Some of them are demanding that we hand over tech and others are arguing that we can't just mine out whatever resources are in the asteroid belt and the other planets. They're also saying that we can't ship in the resources we need to build our cities without paying heavy fees and all that. Total crap if you ask me. They couldn't claim any of it before now, and now that we're here and we can get it all, they're all crying that they deserve their own starships."

"So then, we'll need money and resources to keep our idea from crashing and burning outright," I said. "And having a law firm representing us to the world's courts will be very useful soon enough. Great."