A small spaceship was currently flying over western Euro toward northern Norte’am. No straight lines adorned the tiny ship. It’s bulbous cockpit sat atop a cabin that had two sleek curved engines on each side.

  Chen Deau, the pilot, had discovered early on that these ships had a tactical advantage to them; they could get in and out of an area nearly undetected -- perfect for reconnaissance missions such as this one.

  He had taken off about an hour and a half ago -- an approximate distance of 4000 miles from where they currently were. The ship had flown into the exosphere and was just starting to bounce back down in an arc like telemetry and would land in about 20 minutes.

  A small Golden Age aerospace facility was rediscovered about 30 years ago. A lot of effort was put into repairing it and now a mercantile fleet of craft were being constructed by the Consensus who had big plans for the lost knowledge.

  Two existing “Silhouette” models, like the one Chen was in now, called the "Verdant" and the "Mercury" were only produced as prototypes -- testing out the 3d printer capabilities. It also helped that the sleek ships did a good job conveying the might and power which sure beat the typical horse and carriage, hover carts, or occasional and rare “Skip” 'copter transports.

  Chen was a well stocked man with dark healthy skin, good teeth, and a penetrating stare. His hazel brown eyes glimmered in the starlight as he fiddled with some controls on the left side of his console. The 6'2" tall 180 pound man looked like he was a 32 year old in the prime of his life, although he was considerably older. He brushed his fingers against the tightly cut brown hair at his scalp as he listened to a device at his ear and focused on the monitoring display.

  Today he looked very pedestrian in his seemingly simple black outfit, sitting comfortably in his seat — he could easily be a town innkeeper as far as any one knew — he definitely did not look like a top ranking officer. Right now he would have been looking at the beautiful pale blue planet outside his window, if he were not talking to his wife Leah whom looked as beautiful at 35 as she had when he met her at 17.

  Leah had just asked Chen if he would be home in time for his youngest daughter Andrea's 9th naming day in three weeks. She knew from experience that Chen's missions could take some time to plan, prepare, and execute. In the past there had been entire months that Chen was away.

  "I should be back by then. I'm just following up on a lead; get in look around and get back." His 217 years of being a Herald had thought him that nothing was for certain, plans always had a way of changing on the field, but he wasn't going to mention that -- timing was another thing he had learnt over time.

  Leah had just started on a long diatribe, one Chen had heard a many times before. "Well than I'll let her know that you will be here. You missed her celebration last year and she was so..."

  "So when we get to the ground”, Kildra interrupted, “I think maybe we should just send out the drones to home in on any heat signatures and attack on sight. That would make short work of any sizable force. Afterward a thorough search of... Chen, are you listening?"

  Kildra was a Wisp, but not any Wisp; she was Chen's Wisp. It's said "Every Herald has their Wisp", but if you asked a Wisp, they would correct it into, "Every Wisp has a Herald". It was a small difference that made a big difference.

  The Wisp were non-corporeal beings gifted to Humanity as stewards by the Ilexia during the Golden Age, over 500 years ago. They were meant to guide us in the usage of the new knowledge that the Ilexia had given us. Over time Wisp became more of an icon to the masses. This particular Wisp, really liked to ‘guide’ him Chen thought to himself.

  "Hold on a moment dear, Kildra is in my ear." Chen said in his most polite way. Leah tried to be nice to Kildra, but it was always a challenge. He sometimes would feel a pang of pity for Leah for having knowingly married a Herald; having to live with a Wisp in her life. He’d often ask himself, if maybe his wife was a sadist?

  At his urging Kildra was in her shell, a small metallic hummingbird, and flew around Chen’s head as she was speaking to him. The wings made a silver blur as they raced up and down at hundreds of rotations per minute. The buzz of the wings almost drowned out the hum of the small turbo fan located under the birds body which is what actually kept the shell afloat.

  Kildra was hard look at since she kept darting from side to side, so Chen grasp a hand toward her in an attempt to corral the fast bird into one spot.

  "Don't grab at me!" she yelled at him. Her high pitched voice echoing deep into his ear. Chen flinched at the unexpected volume in the quiet cabin.

  "Kildra, would you please give me a moment. I'm on the communicator with my wife. Thank you." Chen said while moving back to the communication device that was to the left of his cockpit controls.

  "Why do you think you can talk to me like that! I'm not a pet that you can simply swat away when you feel like it."

  Chen gave her a frustrated side glance and went back to his conversation with Leah.

  Leah having been used to 18 years of overhearing his one sided conversations, laughed as she told him she thought Kildra would be sour for a while after his last comment.

  "Yea, maybe. Better to get on with this and give her time to vent it off. You know, I look forward to seeing you soon, right?" He asked as his voice lowered on the last part. With Kildra always around, since Wisp and Herald are bonded for life, the couple had gotten very good at communicating between the lines. Sometimes just a look could speak volumes between the two.

  Chen spoke to his daughters before he went back to finish his preparations. His oldest daughter, Cindra, was already a fountain of knowledge at the ripe age of 12, and had told him -- matter of factly -- that if he were further out in space he would be able to see the Golden Age era floating colonies of Venus and since he was still so close, he should be able to see the Moon colony of Lunas. He simply agreed -- not wanting to go into the specifics of the Chakalexy invasion and their aftermath. Giving her his blessings he asked to speak to his youngest daughter Andrea.

  Andrea was the shyer of the two. And although she wasn't one to state fiction for fact, she had already mastered the ways of subterfuge in her own lovely way.

  "Daddy, Miss Boren told us that in the Golden Age, every girl had a doll made of glass. Do you think there are still some dolls made of glass daddy? Do you think they are hard to find?" Andrea said with a sparkle of hope in her eye and a grin of expectation on her face that he knew was there even though the communication array was voice only.

  "Well I'm not sure. Glass breaks pretty easy and the Golden Age was some 500 years ago. Maybe they've all broken now?" Chen said playfully to his daughter.

  "No Daddy! Things made in the Golden age don't just break daddy! They were made of gold and that's hard as steel daddy! Even the glass daddy! They don't just break!" Andrea said with a gusto and fire in her belly that always made Chen laugh.

  "Good point. How about I keep an eye out for one of those shatter-proof dolls? Sound good?" Chen asked in his most diplomatic voice.

  "Yes daddy, that would be very a good thing to keep a look out for. Who knows, right daddy?" Andrea responded with the joy that only an 8 year old could have over a receiving her Daddy's promise.

  "Right, now, I love you darling, but put your mother back on, I've got to get going."

  Chen said his goodbyes to Leah and made a mental note to ask Kildra to create him an unbreakable glass doll for Andrea's naming day gift. The gods alone knew what heartache that favor that would cost him. On second thought, he decided he would ask Divan instead.

  Directly behind him a second chair stood and was swiveled to face the instrumentation desk on the port side of the ship. On the front starboard side was a seat for a copilot, and another seat behind the copilot. That seat had the same redundant instrumentation as its port side neighbor. The overall cockpit was no more than 2 square meters wide.

  A small hallway opened up after the chairs, marking the middle of the ship. It stretched on to the back of the ship for about 6 meters but the hallway itself was all but 1 meter wide. At the end of the ship a single exit stood. In the back on either side of the exit were closet sized enclaves which held the lavatory on port and a kitchen on starboard.

  The walls of the hallway were made for easy storage access. The entire wall unit could be lifted, with a complicated set of twisting of gears and pulling of levers, to access the even more complicated ship systems. At the top most half of the port side wall was Chen's armory shelves where his field gear was stowed.

  Most days Chen would wear a more presentable dark grey shirt and slacks made of a cotton and linen blend that made it light and airy, and a smart pair of light tactical boots, the default Rear Guard Scout uniform. The cut of the shirt went to the top of his neck and had a short collar which left his Adams apple exposed. His clothes were made of a rare Golden Age technology that would fasten the garment together, like buttons would, but leave no sign of the seam, making the shirt or pants appear to be one whole piece -- in fact Kildra said it was a lot like sewing it in place unto his body.

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  On the right lapel of the shirt collar a small red circle with a golden outline would signify his command of the Read Guard Scout Division. His left collar would display the symbol of the Heraldry —- a golden oak leaf. Both emblems looked like they were grown onto the shirts rather than sewn on.

  Today, however, he was scouting, investigating actually but the two had parallels. As such he wore his hunting apparel. A black tightly fit full length turtleneck shirt tucked into black cargo pants. The material was also a gift of the Golden Age that Chen cherished the moment Kildra made him his first set. The fabric itself was as soft as silk on the inside, but the outside felt as if it were made of thick sturdy material and had the benefit of being bullet and puncture resistant to small caliber rounds and common melee weapons. Chen was sure the material could be used in other ways but whenever he asked Kildra about it she would simply tell him "Our role is not that of those research and development monkeys in tower 6. Go ask them if you're so interested." To which he had in fact done numerous times to little affect.

  A light grey overcoat with a large hood would go over his plain hunter garb. The overcoat would provide an optic camouflage vastly superior to multi dyed jackets that most people still wore. As an added benefit it also provided thermodynamic control for a broad range of environments. He often wondered, if these were the scraps of the Golden Age, what the actual Golden Age had been like.

  From the shelf he pulled out a set of 3 black sheaths which held three perfectly weighted throwing knives sharpened to an atoms width of sharpness. Attached to the sheaths ran three stretchable belts and buckles. Chen proceeded to strap the knives to his left thigh.

  From the same shelf he pulled a sheathed dagger about the length of his forearm down. Pulling the dagger from its sheath he inspected it. The black dagger was light to the touch, but not too light. Its razor edges were serrated on one side and straight bladed on the other side. An indent at the base told the wielder where pommel and blade connected. He inspected it to his satisfaction and then put it back into its sheath and placing it on his right hip where it clicked into place on his kit.

  A dual mode automatic pistol came next off the shelf. The iridium depleted bullet shells could cut a hole into most ships and armor. The gun was a good and stable sidearm, but depleted too fast. At 600 rounds per minute the 30 round magazine was empty in about 3 seconds if he allowed it to stay in automatic -- as such setting it to a 3 bullet semi-auto burst mode was a necessity. He placed the gun into its holster and like the dagger it clicked into place on his left hip.

  On the top two shelves, a shimmer of yellow light cast a hazy opaqueness to everything inside the cabinet, as if you were looking through a dirty glass. It was in fact a barrier field that ensured no undo access to the contents. Scanning his palm to the wall, the yellow light dissipated from the shelves allowing them to look normal again.

  From the middle shelf Chen pulled a box down which had a word embossed on it reading "KOBE". Opening another knife was there that looked a lot like the other with two exceptions; first, both sides of the dagger were straight bladed and second, this dagger had what looked like a small switch which had to be purposefully pushed in to activate it, which is what Chen did. A slight hum filled the room and a blue sheen covered the blade from right to left, followed by a yellow sheen from left to right. Ensuring that the dual frequency Kobe dagger was working as desired he turned it off and put it on his hip just opposite his regular dagger.

  'Kobe' weapons were named after Kobe Self Defense, a Golden Age foundry. Emergence age explorers first found these plasma based weapons and quickly referred to them all as Kobe class weapons -- regardless of foundry. Today a few smith's can create a Kobe weapon, but most warriors still covet the rare originals.

  Chen continued to provision himself with the necessity's of the hunt such as canteen, salt pills, rations, etc. Finally from the long shelf at the top of the wall he pulled down his Kobe polearm.

  It was a long dagger-axe pole weapon called a Ji. A 1 meter long blade extended at the top of the pole. At the blades base another blade extended out a little less than half a meter. Together they formed one whole blade in an L shape.

  The shaft itself was a composite material from the Golden Age that stood 2 meters in height. It too had a carefully crafted button on its stem which Chen tested out. Instead of an audible hum like the daggers, you could feel an atmospheric pressure emit from the weapon. Unlike his dagger, which when activated basically got covered in plasma allowing then to cut through practically anything, the polearm was used to basically blow things up.

  Of course to literally blow something up, that 'thing' had to be within 160 degrees and 6 feet in front of where the polearm hit, making it an excellent mid-range melee weapon. The emitting blast would disable electronics with a strong electromagnetic field. It would also dismember things with its strong kinetic blast well past the suggested 6 feet kill zone. Conveniently, the wielder was protected from the blast itself using a blast shield that would pop out just before the blast.

  Chen had found the pole-arm about 27 years ago in a small unknown foundry located in the south western section of the Oceania continent. Since then he's lost count of the times he's been offered riches for it; but he would never let it go, not even when a request to borrow it for private study came from the Lucio himself.

  "Oh for the love of Wisp, you're not taking that are you!?" Kildra said coming around his left shoulder, the hum of her wings annoying his ear with the flutter of an unexpected air. He severely disliked her bird avatars.

  He was actually debating whether to take it or leave it here, safe in the barrier field.

  There were actually many reasons to leave it and as such he delved through his brain to think of any reason to take it.

  They were visiting the secluded Forest of Gru, which was supposedly notorious for its moist coverage; he would need a walking stick wouldn't he? Also, if there were hostiles in the forest he'd need to blow them up right?

  Unlike the ridiculous rumors of mutated animals and thinking plants, the forest had in fact been suggested as a possible origin point for a band of thieves that were stealing consensus material quite regularly now. The tip came from a very dead thief, so he wasn't really expecting to find anything here. As outlandish as an intercontinental smuggling cartel sounded the fact was that rediscovered Golden Age tech was found all the time. The ship he was on was a prime example of that, he decided to check it out.

  Not many people live on the Norte’Am continent in large masses but many Golden Age technologies could still be hidden under centuries of debris here and there.

  In truth he knew that as a reconnaissance mission, this shouldn't require a Kobe polearm in his arsenal, but he finally decided to take it anyway solely because he knew how much the thing bothered Kildra. Being a high energy weapon it was one of the only things that could actually harm her.

  Being a Wisp, Kildra rarely showed fear to anything or anyone; to the chagrin of everyone. So knowing she actually respected, or feared the polearm, made Chen feel a little warm inside. Although in reality, Chen knew that he couldn't, physically, ever do any harm to Kildra. His life was bonded to hers as surely as the stars we planted in the heavens.

  Heralds without a Wisp would die a quick and painful death. Nobody understood why, but de-bonding with a Wisp would wreak havoc on the Herald's organs causing an agonizing, but quick, death. The Wisp however would be fine, maybe sad if anything.

  Other Heralds would usually brush it off and say that was a small payment for eternal life, youth and access to the Wisp's knowledge of the Golden Age. Chen was slowly starting to rethink that. Soon his wife would grow old and die followed by his children and his children's children, all the while he would stay healthy and physically appear as his 32 years old self. Chen was one of the oldest Heralds, and didn't even remember a time before being a Herald.

  Most other Heralds were devoted to their Wisp and considered having a family as a blasphemy to the Heraldry itself, as Kildra was keen to remind him whenever the chance presented itself. This was a view he himself shared until he met Leah in a small village off the cost of the continent of Africa 19 years ago. A conflicted Chen went to the Lucio, the leader of the Consensus and an Herald of an earlier model Wisp, and asked his advice expecting him to follow the typical thinking of most Heralds.

  "Our life is long Chen. We do many things that most don't. So why would we not do things many do. Enjoy your life with this woman, while you can. Just remember that time will take her from you faster than you would have a mind for, and you can do nothing about it."

  Chen married Leah that very year, taking her with him to live in Schronienie, or what came to be called the "The Last City", where he bought a manor house for them in the upscale Outer Tower grounds. As a bride price to her father he gave a large herd of wild goats and a roost full of chickens; a very extravagant and noble gift to the coastal village folk.

  As Chen was lost in these thoughts, he swatted his ear as exhaust air tickled his ear canal. "Kildra please, a little space" he mumbled turning the polearm off and put the sheath back on the blade. Even when turned off the polearm blade was atomically sharp.

  "Oh, are you upset at me? Did I interrupt your conversation with your wife? I'm so sorry, I thought we were working on a mission, or did you forget that part Chen? Seriously you forget your place at times. That is why Heralds don't get married. You'll see. She's going to get old and pass away like all humans do -- and no there is no way I can resurrect her with out killing her or you in the process -- and than you will see WHY Heralds don't get married or start families. Mark my words Chen." she said while flying about Chen's head as if he were the flower the hummingbird draws from. "I swear, Darin’s right, we should make Heralds pledge their allegiance before we raise them -- if only we could." she whispered more to herself than Chen as she floated away.

  The small bird perched on the copilot seat and yelled from across the room, "And if my Shell's form irritates you so much remember it's your own damn fault for insisting I not inhabit your body when we are not in the field. The indignity of having my host, MY OWN HOST, not allow me to enter him except when he says. The indignity of it all!" and with a final humph she flew off to rear of the ship.

  Leaving his pack and his polearm at the rear of the ship Chen walked to his pilot's chair and announced, "Seems we've re-entered the atmosphere, prepare for landing in 5 minutes, let the Tower know we've arrived and are about to embark on the mission."

  "Oh and Kildra, use the bathroom now before we leave the ship if you must. There will be no stopping when we get to the woods" Chen said with a slight chuckle.

  To this, an annoyed Kildra revved her engines in a loud drone and replied "Only disgusting bioforms as yourself need to relieve themselves of their own waste instead of recycling them!"

  Coming up in Chapter 2:

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