“It gets worse. Or better, depending on your point of view. She has technomancer potential.”
I was on my feet before I knew it, the pain in my back a distant scream. “The scrot!” I yelled. Technomancers weren’t just bogeymen; they were the reason the First Empire was dust and memories. One of them was singlehandedly capable of ripping a planet-killer titan to pieces with a thought. They were walking, talking extinction-level events.
“Calm down, Dave!” Mike’s voice was a whip crack, brooking no argument. “It’s not like that. The historical records are fragmented, but the best intel suggests Technomancers were actually the reason the Empire existed in the first place. Their problem wasn’t power, it’s instability. The highest levels of Fleet Command have already been informed, and they decided that since she can be bonded, the trick is to find the right bond to keep her stable and productive. A failsafe.”
He let that sink in. The fate of worlds was being discussed in this room, over the future of one scared, brilliant girl. “They don’t know who she is yet, but the reason you were asked to be an instructor here was because you are a paladin, and you still had the path open… barely. Most of them lose the way eventually, succumb to cynicism or despair, but you made Divine Paladin even with scorched pathways. That takes a kind of self-control and discipline that made you the obvious choice to keep an eye on her, and especially to keep her unbonded by some rat-bastard who’d use her to carve out his own little empire.”
I sat back down slowly, the chair groaning under my weight. My mind was reeling. “So what, you are wanting me to be her babysitter until she grows up? And why in the nine hells are you letting a potential technomancer, child or not, into a combat drone program anyway?”
He chuckled, but it was a hollow sound. “She has a Forces affinity. I mean, spiritual is already dangerous—usually it’s only something the elves have, and they are… overly stable. No drive to attain a higher path when you are already looking forward to a lifespan measured in millennia. But Forces paired with a powerful magical affinity and the innate ability to manipulate tech on a fundamental level is what made Technomancers so scary in the first place. And she’s not really a child OR an adult yet.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“Once we found out about it,” Mike continued, his voice low and intense, “what could we do? What if there are more of them hiding on Korse? What if their susceptibility to bond is the very thing that’s keeping them from going full evil overlord on the universe? A stable, tame technomancer would be BEYOND an amazing asset for the UPF and for humanity in general… Can you imagine it? A team clearing a greater rift that spits out Earth-like worlds as a reward for cleansing it of titans, tyrants, and planet-eaters? She could be the key to that.”
He spread his hands. “She had the entry camp fooled with her little UI trick, but even at a wood-rank cultivation, she re-wrote a conscript’s tracking band to hide her real biometrics. Seriously. The things are packed to the gills with security measures, several of which are lethal. The only other option on the table, besides trying to guide her, was to space her while she’s still weak and sterilize her planet to prevent another one from emerging.”
I winced. It was the cold calculus of war on a galactic scale. Billions of lives weighed against the potential risk of one person. I’d seen it before. I’d never liked it.
“Yeah,” Mike said, seeing my expression. “So, help us Obi-Wan Wasserman. You’re our only hope. If you refuse, well, we have a few other candidates on the list we could try, but most of them could never have gotten to Divine Paladin. Their auras are… compromised. Which means, it’s likely we’d have to move to Plan B. The permanent solution.”
“So you are basically extorting me, holding the life of an entire planet over my head, if I don’t do this?” I asked, my voice dangerously quiet.
Mike shook his head. “Naww. I knew you would say yes even if I didn’t bring it up. You are as much a paladin at heart as your path dictates. Protect the innocent, help the weak grow, champion morality, protect the meek from the depredations of the strong and unethical, refuse a beer if you know you have to fly…” He gave a faint smile. “Here’s a little girl that desperately needs your help to remain alive and sane, who is lost in a place full of terrifying and unethical strangers, kidnapped by slavers and sold to a military that condones such acts, desperately hiding who and what she is for fear of getting murdered or worse… I bet she’s terrified of crying, because that might identify her as a girl, get her thrown out of the fleet, and make her easy prey for the first strong-willed stranger that comes along to turn her into their loyal monster.”
I growled at Mike, the sound rumbling in my chest. “Scrotter.” It was the highest compliment and the vilest insult I could offer him at that moment.
