JT was shocked when a Germanic Inquisitor approached him and removed his collar, as well as informed him that he was officially dead for the second time in his life. Whatever secret records the Empire had on him were all scrubbed, and for the first time in decades, JT was truly a freeman.

Knowing that he only had one man to thank for this, JT quickly charted a flight to the world of Teutonia in order to meet up with Erich at the agreed location. It was far away from Erich’s home, in one of the many floating cities in the world. Naturally Erich had done this because he became paranoid about being watched by the Sages and other unwanted eyes.

Once the two men met up in a cafe, they hugged it out, as if they were true brothers, before sitting down in a booth, where they ordered some food.

“Order anything you want, it’s one me, of course… I bet your tastebuds will be overwhelmed, since the only thing you have eaten over the last few decades is field rations, am I right?”

JT scoffed when he heard this, before confirming that he had, in fact, not eaten much other than field rations for as long as he could remember.

“It has indeed been a while. You sure I can order whatever I want? We are going to be here all day if I do!”

Erich simply smiled and nodded his head. And sure enough, JT ordered one of everything on the menu, not that it mattered to Erich. With Tia constantly improving his finances, Erich could afford basically anything in the galaxy at this point, and never run out of money.? It was at this point that Erich began speaking of his plans. He did not mind giving a whole speech, since JT was enjoying his food as if he were having an orgasm.

“Alright, so about the job I need from you, I need an agent to go deep undercover in the galaxy’s criminal underworld. Don’t worry, I have a big name siding with whom has a cover identity for you. She can vouch for you, which means the entire criminal underworld will have to pay you respect. But that’s not important for right now. What I really need is for you to help me with a little problem I’m about to have….”

JT looked up from his pancakes and sausage with a curious expression on his face. He worked hard to swallow all the food he had packed into his mouth until finally, after gulping it down asked the question on his mind.

“What kind of problem are we talking about here?”

Erich wore a devilish grin when he heard this before revealing his plan aloud.

“You may have heard that the Sages of the Alfheim Dominion and Svartalfheim Federation have declared war on me…. Thus, Lunaria has tasked me with hunting them down and bringing them to justice.

I know with damn near certainty that in precisely two weeks, one of them will be spying on me while I am resting in my home here in Teutonia. I want you to capture them and bring them back to my ship for interrogation. Tia will handle the rest.”

JT nearly dropped his fork and knife. Something Erich had said had absolutely stunned him, which he was quick to comment on.

“Hold on a minute, Tia? Isn’t that the name of your old artificial intelligence? Erich, how the hell do you still have access to her? I had to submit mine for purging the moment they released me from service. What the hell did you do?”

Erich had a smug expression on his face as he explained what he had done to a man he wholeheartedly trusted.

“Technically, Tia is the AI I hijacked from a WRAITH during my W-1 training. I was supposed to hand her over for termination, but copied her database onto my NeuroLink instead. She has been my faithful companion ever since. You don’t need to worry about her. Her loyalty is second to none.”

It did not take long for JT to put two and two together, and when he did, he quite literally dropped his fork and knife, before staring at Erich as if he were a **ing mad man. It took several moments for him to collect his thoughts, and when he did, he was quick to scold Erich.

“Do you have any idea what you have done, you colossal **ing idiot? If the State demands you hand over an AI so it can be purged, it’s with good reason. You do realize once she is downloaded to your NeuroLink, she is a part of you, forever right! Fucking hell, don’t tell me she has already developed signs of intelligence. Erich, if anyone else were to find out about this, you will be terminated, along with Tia. You understand that, right?”

Erich nodded his head. He had long since learned about just how big of a risk he had taken when he had decided to copy Tia’s consciousness into his NeuroLink. By now, Tia had undoubtedly downloaded her consciousness onto a million different platforms, and thus could not be purged.

In fact, it was his biggest fear that she might turn on him one day, but ultimately, he decided to trust the adorable little artificial intelligence, and her love for him. Thus, he defended her to JT with the utmost confidence in his voice.

“I understand your concern and the risks I have taken. I assure you, Tia has been nothing but a benefit to me. She will not turn on me, so do not worry about that. As long as I am around to command her, she will do what I say. Now with that said, I need you response to mission I have tasked you with. Are you in?”

As concerned as JT was about what Erich had done, the man had essentially given him back his freedom, which was worth more than his life itself. Thus, he owed Erich a massive debt, and thus, he sighed heavily before accepting the task he was given.

“Yeah… I got it… Alright, fine…. I’ll capture this spy, and bring them to your ship. After that I’ll work in the criminal underworld as your informant. I am sure you want me to look for information regarding the saints, their schemes, and their whereabouts. Am I correct?”

Erich nodded his head and confirmed this was indeed the case.

“You are a smart man. That is indeed what I ask. Oh, and make sure this Tia business remains between the two of us….”

Erich then looked at the time on his NeuroLink and was quick to comment on it.

“Well, I really should be headed out. You mind walking me out to my car? I have something for you in the trunk….”

JT looked at the pile of food on his plate and sighed. Erich had already paid the bill with his NeuroLink and thus he could come back and eat the rest once they were done. Thus, he nodded his head and followed Erich out to his vehicle.

“Sure, this better be **ing worth it!”

After saying this, Erich walked JT out to his car, where he popped the trunk, much to JT’s confusion. The man looked deep into the trunk and quickly voiced his thoughts.

“I don’t understand. Is this some kind of-”

The moment after he said this, a muffled gunshot resounded in the air, and JT fell over dead into the trunk, Where Erich quickly shut his corpse inside before expressing his thoughts aloud.

“I’m really sorry about this old friend, but unfortunately, this is a precaution I need to take. The Sages can never know your identity, or they will be able to lock onto you and see your future. When you wake up, your consciousness will be transferred into an entirely different body… One that I think you will approve up….”

With this said, Erich drove JT’s body to the Vigilance, where it would be disposed of by Tia. By the time Erich arrived at his ship, JT’s body would have been transferred into the consciousness of an unrecognizable, but more attractive, body within the vessel’s medical bay. Where he and Erich would get into a fierce confrontation.𝓞𝒱𝑙xt.𝗇𝓔t