"Are you done assessing me Sergeant?" The woman asked as she leaned back in her chair. "Or do you need a bit more time to put the pieces together."

    Jace smiled as he moved forward and stood at attention in front of her desk, making a quick salute. "No, I do not need more time, Director Fenrir." Jace answered while the tiger wandered around the side of the desk and began sniffing the director.

    "Good, sit." Director Fenrir told him motioning for him to sit while the tiger made a chuffing noise and began rubbing its face against her side. Director Fenrir moved a hand over and began rubbing its head.

    Jace was seated and chuckled, "what exactly am I here for?"

    "Because Solisa wanted to brief us at the same time about what creature this is. She is quite busy at the moment completely redesigning the Wing of Pegasus. We probably have some time until she comes back." Director Fenrir explained.

    "In that case I have a few questions, like how you pulled this off without anyone noticing? The amount of manpower and money that has gone into this place had to be astronomical." Jace pointed out.

    "Time." Director Fenrir chuckled. "For the last eighteen years this has been the personal and very secret project of his Imperial Majesty. In fact we are getting close to building our own private academy for the children that were born or brought here."

    "That also explains the high population. As well as the civilians I saw in parts of the station I walked past. Every time you brought someone here you also brought their family, but only their immediate family." Jace pointed out.

    "That is correct. We have also limited communication. So only I can authorize or send out a message. But we have not brought everyone''s family. Like Admiral Dakota, his family was too high profile to bring them here without giving away our hand." The Director explained.

    "Was?" sea??h thё N??elFirё.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Director Fenrir smiled, "It no longer matters that people do not know we exist. But we are keeping up communication barriers and whatnot to hide our position."

    "So I was right? A massive civil war is coming to the Vexical Empire?" Jace asked with a grin.

    "Coming? The civil war as you call it started over eighteen years ago. But it was kept in the dark and out of the news. It really started when the noble faction had the empress and second prince killed in a bid for control." Director Fenrir began explaining what happened. "Roughly seventeen years ago, Archduke Beltrum threatened the emperor into shifting trade into his system once he had acquired the First Prince''s support. The First Prince, being the ambitious little shit had no qualms about killing his own mother or brother. Since then he had been building up his forces with the Archduke in the form of Tyranus."

    "Then on the other side is the First Princess, after her brother killed their mother she had been silently building up a presence in the trade industry. While she managed to survive during her younger years by joining the military for the mandatory service. Now she holds silent control over two systems through her control using trade and her contracts alone. If the emperor was not planning to completely collapse the imperial family and nobility he would have made her the next ruler."

    "There is also the Union. It is actually spanning most nations. The one in the Vexical Empire is controlled by an old comrade of the emperor''s who left after the former emperor did nothing when his wife was raped and murdered by the Archduke despite the substantial evidence. Now he is working with the people that are anti-nobility and anti-royalty. That was eighteen years ago when it happened and the real start of the civil war when the current emperor realized things had to change."

    "The last faction is us. For the moment we are named the Military Intelligence and Logistics Division or MILD for short. The emperor created it in order to keep the people that would stay loyal to him safe. So he kept the existence of this place a secret despite the numerous Requiem relics that were found here."

    "Okay, but why are you telling me this? If you recall, I am just a lowly Sergeant." Jace pointed out as the tiger came over to him and rested its head on his thigh. He started scratching behind its ear.

    Director Fenrir smiled sweetly but it made him shiver. "Actually I will tell you at a later date. It seems that Solisa returned."

    "Indeed I have!" Solisa appeared over the director''s table. "Now while I have time I will cover all the ''Requiem'' as you called them new about Astral Beasts."

    "Astral Beasts?" Jace asked.

    "Yeah that tiger," she pointed her holographic hand at the tiger that was taking an interest in the hologram now. "She is an Astral Beast. Yes I can tell the gender. Now no more interrupting." Solisa looked between Jace and the director.

    "Please continue Solisa." Director Fenrir told her.

    "Astral Beasts can appear in almost any form. Usually a mimic of a form that they had seen before. Young Astral Beasts will wander using an advanced form of space travel. They can exist in space in any form. The longer they live the stronger they become. When they are young they search for a suitable person and imprint on them, assimilating their genetics and learning their language."

    Solisa brought up images of data in formats he had never seen before. "We are not aware if they have a predetermined lifespan or how they reproduce. But we do know that they see the people they imprint on as parents. As for the imprinting, it does nothing to the actual person they are imprinting on. So Jace does not have to worry about it harming him. But that is just about all I know about Astral Beasts. Their information was privileged, like your classified information. But from the basic descriptions I believe they were the basis and foundation that the Requiem created the nanosystem."

    Director Fenrir leaned forward with a frown. "Astral Beast? Okay, so I suppose I cannot really separate it from Ja- I mean Sergeant Steel. Solisa, where could we find where the privileged information would be?"

    "I do not know. If I had to guess it would be with one of the AIs that the Victorium have taken. The Rogue Metal Legion has kept me updated and apparently a specific faction within the Victorium is pushing back against handing over the Requiem AIs." Solisa explained with a shrug. "For now just have Jace make daily reports and it should be fine. Just do not be surprised when the Astral Beast takes on a partial human form."

    Jace frowned as he processed the information he was just given. Out of all of it the idea he latched to the most was that this Astral Beast saw him as a parental figure. Basically it made him a parent, it was odd.

    "Okay then," Director Fenrir sighed, "if that is all Solisa?"

    Solisa chuckled, "yes I am all done and I have already sent a message to the Admiral. He is on his way with an Osprey." The holographic otter disappeared.

    "Then I suppose we should head to the hangar, come on Sergeant Steel. It is time for the next appointment." The director stood up and pulled on a hip holster with a strange looking pistol.

    "Oh?" Jace followed the director as she exited her office. The guards did not follow them. While the two guards that had escorted him here had left. "Can I know what the next appointment is?"

    "You should already know. So instead of reminding you, I will just let you figure it out on your own." The director chuckled while she led the way. As they walked Jace thought he might be starting to get a handle on this woman''s personality.

    While walking through the halls she was greeted happily by most of the people. She even spent a few minutes answering questions to calm a worried mother about the future academy that was being set up in the system. Then there was the group of kids they ran into who were playing in the middle of an intersection, she stopped to talk to them for a few minutes as well.

    The various situations they encountered sort of reminded Jace of the more communal parts of the slums. Which usually shined the brightest when disaster loomed because everyone would help out no matter the reason. It almost made him nostalgic for those times.

    They eventually arrived at a smaller hangar where an Osprey was waiting with a pair of familiar faces. The hangar was almost completely unoccupied. Almost as if it was intentionally cleared out before they arrived.

    Jace looked over at the director and caught her momentary lapse in the facade of her facial expression. For a single moment she looked to be almost beaming with excitement. But it quickly disappeared a moment later.

    "You are going all out to keep this marriage telepathy thing a secret aren''t you?" Jace asked, intending to ask Salem about the director''s change in expression later.