A chiming tone rang out, alerting me to the fact that someone was standing outside my office.

"Enter," I called out as I penned a signature to another of the documents that I was working on.

"You wanted to see me sir?" Erica asked as the door closed behind her.

"I did," I said. "Have a seat."

While Erica sat and made herself comfortable, I continued with the documents I'd been working on when she arrived. Eventually, I finished with them and leaned back in my chair to look at her while steepling my fingers together.

"Horseman Applewood tells me about the decision you've made, Cadet," I said, using her proper rank instead of the false one she walked around using to prevent others from asking questions. "I just want to know one thing. Why?"

"I want the best training I can get," she said. "That means that you and Horseman Applewood are the best choices for that. You're both in combat very often, so you know how to use your weapons better than most of the sparring instructors, and you both know how to lead offensives to take back entire planets, which means you can teach me about strategy and other issues that instructors don't talk about very often, like supply numbers. That's why I made my choice."

"I see," I said. "And the request to remain a part of my squad after you've met my standards for Knight?"

"It would look bad, sir, if I was only a part of your squad for a few years before being reassigned without a combat record," she said. "I don't want to have Principality Applewood with a bad record in your eyes because of her choice."

"Paladin. Paladin Applewood," I corrected her. It had only been a day since I'd demoted Sarah, so I guess word hadn't gotten around yet. "I can accept the first reason for choosing to stay in my squad, but the second one's already sailed."

She didn't say anything in answer as I continued to look at her before I spoke again.

"Carrie has always acted as my second-in-command, my assistant," I told her. "Since she'll be spending time training and teaching you, you'll step into the role of her assistant and you will keep anything and everything you see, hear, or otherwise encounter while working in that capacity to yourself. That means that unless you become Demigod yourself, you won't tell anyone about any part of it and if need be, you'll forget about it as well. Clear?"

"Crystal, sir," she said nervously. "Can I ask you a question?"

"You may," I allowed with a nod.

"Why did you give me a choice about staying in your squad?" she asked. "You could have sent me back to the academy or reassigned me so that I wasn't somewhere that caused you a problem."

"If I sent a Galaxy-Jumper back to drop off one person and turn around, that would be a massive waste of resources and not something I can justify," I told her. "It would be even more of a waste to send a Cadet that was plucked from her training when we can finish that training here. Do you understand that?"

She nodded.

"Then you are dismissed," I told her turning back to my documents. "Carrie is likely expecting you in the training area. Best not to keep her waiting."

"Yes sir. Thank you, sir," she said standing, saluting, and leaving in that order.

"Cai, please tell Touka that Cadet Swans needs to work on her saluting," I said after the door shut. "She's not placing her fist correctly."

"It is done," my Cyber said. "Is there anything else?"

"Not unless you've got a better way to go through these reports and requests," I answered.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

"I do not," he said. Predictable.

I spent another two hours working through the massive amount of paperwork that was piled on my desk before he spoke again.

"Paladin Applewood's Cyber, Clark, has sent word that she has been approached by a group of scientists that wish to speak with you," he said.

"Tell them I'm on the way," I said standing. Whatever they needed me for, I guess they couldn't find Carrie, so they'd gone to the next best thing and not paid attention to the new color on her uniform. As a Paladin now, Sarah was under orders to direct all scientists to Carrie or I instead of working to answer their questions or solve the problems they brought to her. Whatever these scientists needed me for, it could be anything based on the way Cai had phrased it.

"Anything you can tell me about the why of this?" I asked as I made my way to the area they were waiting at.

"None," Cai answered. "Paladin Applewood was not forthcoming with the exact reasoning."

"Of course not," I sighed. "We may all be approaching seventy and eighty but we still tend to act our appearance instead of our age."

"You act like an older man," Cai told me. "Maybe the rest act as younger people because they know you will correct their behavior and mistakes."

"I'm not their parent," I grumbled. "I'm only close to Carrie really, and that's more of sibling kind of bond than anything else."

"This is true," Cai agreed. "I also must point out that Paladin Applewood was not forthcoming because she has not been told the reason for why they wish to see you either."

"Oh," I said. "That changes things a little, then."

I opened the door that lead into the room Sarah had told Cai she and the scientists were waiting in, and I walked inside, noticing that the holo projector was set up and that Sarah was waiting with them making polite small-talk.

"What seems to be the problem?" I asked as I approached them all.

"If you'll excuse me," Sarah said to the scientists with a smile before turning and making her way out with only a word to me. "Demigod."

"Demigod James," one of the few women that had shown up greeted me with a smile. "We have made a cursory study of the relic and we wished to discuss with you the options we could employ going forward as we continued to study it and eventually integrated its database into the Nephilim systems."

I could see why she had been the one to speak up, most of the others were men and of the few women that had been chosen for this, she was easily the one who made full use of her appearance in her daily life. Her makeup was applied expertly and her clothing was chosen to accentuate her body's shape while remaining modest and business-like. The way she held herself was with the same confidence of a woman who was used to having men bow to her whims, but the stance she'd taken and the tone of her voice was one that told me she'd had to convince more than a few to go along with her despite her beauty. In short, this was a woman who'd spent her adult life working to further her career.

"What have you found and what ideas do you have?" I asked.

"The first thing," she said with her smile, "is that we've found out the age of the relic. You were right in your thoughts that it was over a million years old."

"We've been able to date it to approximately forty million years in age," one of the men took over with a nervous look. "Carbon dating was difficult, even with all the advanced equipment we had available, but we were able to find enough traces throughout the relic to place its age with confidence."

"We also determined what materials the outer casing of it is made of," the woman said. "It appears to be an alloy with a harder and more stable make than our own Warden mithril. Perhaps on the level of Warden adamantine? Traces of carbon, iron, titanium, lead, and other rare elements were paired together in a lattice form that allows it to retain shape and hardness, while also weathering all erosion without any decay."

"We're also looking into a way to remove a small piece of it for further study," another man said. "If we can determine the method to make it, then we could significantly upgrade the weapons and armor that the Nephilim Army uses, not just in the field but also in the construction of starships and buildings."

"The last thing we found out is the size and shape," the woman took over again. "We used X-rays and radar devices to determine that the relic is approximately twenty feet in size from the upper point to the lower point. We were also able to find out that it is shaped in a double spike with both spikes meeting at the widest point of around five feet outward from the center."

"That's all good to hear," I said. "Why exactly do you need me before taking more steps with the relic?"

"The first question we had," the woman began, "is whether or not we were allowed to remove a small piece of the relic's outer casing for further study. We feel that having that sample piece in a secondary lab setting will allow those who wish to focus on it to have more room and working area without compromising the already limited space that we've all been using."

"I see, go on," I said without making an immediate decision.

"The second request was that we be allowed to study the relic's interaction with someone while they are in the state you mentioned in your reports on your own contact with the relic," she said with a smile. "Finally, some of the engineers have a few more difficult questions that we felt you were best for answering."

"Well then, seems that there's quite a few matters that need my attention," I said. "Let's begin working on those."