1 Chapter 1: The cake was a lie!

With a sigh, an older gentleman could be heard and seen walking down a well-lit hallway. From the look on his face, as he was reading the report, it was clear he was extremely stressed.

Another sigh escaped his lips as he ran his fingers through his aged grey hair as he mumbled, "I know it is the last test, but why are THEY showing up… ugh, I am too old for this shit."

Upon coming up to a large vault door, that was the only place the long hallway led to, he started to go through the process of opening it up. Inputting his unnecessarily long pin (in his humble opinion), followed by scanning his eyes and finally ending with having his brain and synapses scanned.

As he waited for the A.I. to sort through his clearance and nervously readjusted his old lab coat. He couldn't help the little smile that formed on his face when he remembered his dad giving him this very lab coat for his 10th birthday. He wouldn't admit it openly, but he was secretly enamoured with the fact that he was the only one who was using an "old world" style of clothes compared to the standard Digi-Cloth.

As he finished making himself more presentable, a soft voice rang out, "Welcome back Dr. Lyndrrl. Would you like the normal energy boosters and substance phased to your desk?"

The massive vault door let out a soft hiss as the giant locks on it started to move one by one. No matter how many times he entered the lab, which was honestly a lot, he never got tired of seeing the massive locks opening themselves. As the final lock removed itself from the door and the phase anchors started to depower he finally answered, "No thank you Prism. No time."

The A.I. simply acknowledged his command before going silent once again. As the vault door was slowly being phased away, he looked back down at his clipboard and sighed. On it was an old-fashioned sticky note that had long gone out of use. The only reason he was even using it was because of the protocols they had set up for their lab and research site.

On the said note was just a small blurb of words: Test. Sun and Moon expected.

Holding in another sigh he walked through the now-opened vault doorway making his way into the lab. As he entered a red light started to wave over him before it turned blue and he hissed in annoyance more than pain as the memories of what they'd been working on in the lab were restored.

The Nanrite Empire quickly adapted to the lunacy (in their eyes) of their newest and deadliest Enemies. Well, at least when it came to counter-intel that is. Can't rip information from someone's mind if it's not there after all.

He was no more than ten steps inside when a hologram of a woman in a skin-tight white suit materialised next to him and started to walk with him. While they both ignored the vault door as it started to phase back they started to talk, "Good day Dr. Lyndrrl. We are all in the main lab with Subject Zero. We've just started to inject the last of our liquid Psytenium."

The Dr. hummed in response before saying, "Good. I'll be there in a few minutes. Any problems so far?"

The holographic woman shook her head and answered, "None Dr. Everything is well within the expected ranges." She went silent for a few seconds before continuing, "Just got confirmation that our Empires Sun and Moon have phased onto the base and will be joining us shortly."

The man noticeably grimaced before replying, "I see. I'll see you soon Dr. Mynkite."

The woman gave a curt nod before the hologram shut down, and he made his way to his office. Walking into his office he casually threw the clipboard to the side to have the A.I. catch it, move it to the wall and suspend it in a microgravity well to hold it in place.

As he sat down at his workstation, it lit up and a large screen came into being asking for login details. A few thoughts later, he was signed in and looking at a review of everything they have done for the past 70 chrono years to Subject Zero.

As he was going over all the information, just to make sure he was ready for any questions the Sun or Moon would ask, he couldn't help the frown on his face forming as he thought, 'Still bothers me she stopped ageing when she hit the 21 solar cycle. Only the Royals should have longevity like that. Well, she is a filthy half-breed, so I guess it's to be expected of Xeno filth.'

The Dr., along with the rest of the entire Nanrite Empire, is extremely Xenophobic. The Empire didn't even take a single race as slaves for one simple reason. Why risk a rebellion when you don't even need the workforce when you can have machines do it for you? And so as the Nanrite Empire grew and expanded, they wiped out all sentient life that appeared before them.

The Dr. smirked as he continued his line of thought, 'At least she looks mostly human. Just goes to show that our DNA truly is better than their garbage. It will forever frustrate me to no end that Psytenium is toxic to our DNA no matter how much tweaking we do. Or why Subject Zero is the only one to have ever made it past the first solar cycle despite our best efforts to clone it.'

Releasing an annoyed sigh, he brought up the general file listing of Subject Zero so he could share it with the Sun and Moon when they arrived.

Project Name: Phoenix

Serial Number: 000-000

Name: N/A

Description: A young female hybrid between a human and [REDACTED]. The subject is 221 cm (7' 3'') tall and has a muscular build. Because of the experiment or its biology the subject has stopped physically ageing after 21 solar cycles.

The subject's hair is a faded pink, nearly sakura, in colour and goes down near its calves. After the third injection of liquid Psytenium, the hair seems to pulse with its psionic power (a shifting rainbow in colour while favouring a royal purple) ever so softly while the last 31~ cm of hair seems to fade in and out of existence lightly. Tests have shown the last part is purely visual, however.

The subject has heterochromia eyes, with the left eye being a royal purple and the right gold. Both eyes have black sclera. After the first injection of liquid Psytenium, the subject's eyes now glow vividly in their respective colours and waves of psionic power casually seem to "leak" out of the corner of its eyes looking much like a soft flickering flame. Pupils are slitted.

Research note: The subject has no voice as far as we are aware. Not once has it spoken or cried out in pain throughout the experiment. After the first injection, however, and its Psy powers started to manifest it started to converse via telepathy. If its voice matches the one used in its telepathy then it sounds soft-spoken, with an almost melody-like tone.

As stated, the subject is 221 cm tall and has exceptional muscles even though the subject has never been permitted to move more than a few feet at once for the duration of the experiment. After the first injection and up to the fourth its body had undergone extreme growth and development until around its 21st solar cycle. It should be noted that the subject does not need any sustenance or sleep, seemingly able to live off its psionic powers indefinitely without problem. Note: The temporary pause of regular injections had no noticeable effects in this (or any) regard.

Aside from the exceptional muscle size of the subject, it also has exceedingly large breasts which are easily larger than its head. The subject has thick muscular thighs and legs, with a shapely and firm posterior. It has been noted by a significant portion of the male research members (and several females) that if it was not for the obvious Xeno parts of its biology the subject would be considered extraordinarily beautiful and lusted after.

Speaking of the Xeno-influenced part of its biology, the subject displays several. The most obvious one seen at a distance is the large, reptilian-like tail behind it. At its base, just above its buttocks, the tail is around 30 cm in diameter. The diameter of the tail gradually shrinks from its base to its tip ending at about 10 cm. The tail is nearly as long as the subject is tall, and the underside is leathery in appearance and feel. The top and side of the tail are covered by scales of extraordinarily dense makeup. All the scales on its body are made of roughly 80% pure Psytenium mixed with carapace-like material. Running nearly the entire length of its tail, the top is covered by jagged star-like dorsal fins. The tail is an ashen black colour, while all of its scales and dorsal fins are also tipped by a bright light pink. Like its hair, the pink colour softly pulses with psionic power.

Speaking of scales, they cover a sizable portion of the subject's body. Several centimetres long and wide, and only a few millimetres thick they serve as fantastic armour for the subject. They cover a large portion of the subject's arms and legs and vital areas. An odd note however is the lack of scales on the front of its stomach. They are present on the subject's side, however. They also appear along the length of the subject's arms, and the top of its hands and feet. And lastly on the subject's cheeks from along the shoulders and up its neck. Note: The subject's original scales fell out after the first injection and were gradually replaced over the next four.

The subject's fingers and toes are clawed which are several centimetres long, thick and terrifyingly sharp. The tips are also the same pink as the dorsal fins, and share the same soft pulse of power.

The last noticeable Xeno influences were the subject's teeth, which are much like sharks in appearance and function and their skin. The teeth were as sharp as the aforementioned claws. The subject's skin is a darkish-light ash brown, almost like a pale tan.

Notable incidents throughout the experiment. Please see the full report for a full list.

1: Hours after the first injection of liquid Psytenium, the project had its first casualty. The subject was initially knocked out by the pain of the integration of the element and its body. Researcher Dr. Lemm was in the room with the subject taking a reading of its vitals when the subject became active and released a psionic scream. The room was shielded so the scream did not propagate beyond the room, however, Dr. Lemm neglected to take the necessary precautions and safety equipment with him into the room. The unfortunate Dr. was completely obliterated down to his very atoms.

2: The Psionic dampeners had to be increased and upgraded after the second injection. Containment crew member Darel Mathic died when the subject broke containment and ripped his head off with its bare hands. Physical shielding has since been included for personnel that interact with Subject Zero, beyond just the psy shielding.

3: It has been noted that although no one has taught Subject Zero any schooling of any kind, the subject displays knowledge vastly beyond what it should know. An investigation revealed that despite the best psionic dampeners currently available at the time, the subject could read the minds of all the personnel on the base that entered its room. A special containment "suit" was authorised to be built to supplement the dampeners. Note: The suit was successful after the third iteration.

4: The subject's claws (both sets, teeth included) are strong enough to shear through starship hulls of top military grade at an alarming rate. While they can damage shields just as well, they can not achieve it at a fast enough rate to overwhelm them. Containment crew member Pat Diggen found this out to his horror when he jokingly said, "Let's fight! I can take you!" to a coworker whom he was having a hushed argument with during a test. Subject Zero heard him, and mistook it as an order. Obedience conditioning has since been changed from "any human" to "The one holding the control rod." No further incidents of this nature since.

The Dr. was interrupted by his review of Subject Zero's file by a soft chime, "Have they arrived Prism?" he asked.

The A.I. was quick to answer with, "Yes, Dr. Lyndrrl. I have just cleared them at the vault door."

With a nod and a thought, he shut down his station and got up from his chair. As he was leaving his office he said, "That will be everything, Prism." before mumbling, "Time to do some politics…"

He didn't have to wait long before he was bowing deeply and saying, "This one welcomes the Sun and Moon of our-"

He was swiftly interrupted by the Sun, the Emperor, however, "That's fine Dr. My wife and I are here to see this new weapon you have created. Please do not bother with useless posturing and etiquette, the war will not wait for it."

The Dr. gave them a quick nod while he internally sighed, and for the first time, he thanked the war for something. He did hate politics; it had no place in the realm of science!

As he was leading them deeper into the facility he asked, "Do you wish to watch the final test on-site, or via a quantum terminal?"

This time it was the Moon that answered, "We would like to watch on-site. We have already disabled our phase anchors and we will first send you with a member of the Royal Guard before we follow with the rest of the Guard."

Without looking back he nodded and said, "Of course. We will be phase jumping to-"

He was once again interrupted by the Moon, "We know where."

He simply nodded his head as he turned a corner and led them to a room that was at the end of the long hallway they'd been walking down the past few minutes. As they came up to the door, he went through nearly the same motion he did with the vault door to unlock this one. The A.I. quickly confirmed his identity and that of his guests before the door slid open to let them in.

The room was mostly empty with the only notable features of a painted red circle on the ground. Motioning to the circle, which could comfortably fit four humans semi-packed together, he said, "Here we are. Which member will join me first?."

Without a word, one of the four people in pure black digi-riot-looking armour quickly joined him inside the circle. He looked towards the Sun and said, "Please note the activation password. It changes every day." Clearing his throat he added, "Sherbert."

Instantly he and the Royal Guard were covered in blue light as they were phased away to another location. Phase technology had taken the Empire by storm when it was first created, and while it has been improved since its conception it is a cornerstone of the Empire to this day.

While there was no limit to the distance you could travel with phase technology, there was however a weight limit sadly. That being up to several tones. After you passed the safety limit of the weight, things got… questionable at best. Though the norm was arriving and not being anything like what originally left. People tended to be giblets, while inanimate objects were "assembled" horribly wrong or sometimes not at all… just like the people. So while it was perfectly safe up to a point, another form of FTL was eventually developed for the larger items.

And while FTL has improved by leaps and bounds since it was invented, it will never really compare to phase technology. Can't beat instant travel regardless of distance without also being instant after all!

That's why, not even a blink later due to the brightness of the phase light hitting them, he was looking at the Royal Guard who seemed to be staring at him. Tilting his head a little he asked, "What? Honestly, the stupider the passphrase the better. Doubly so when it has nothing to do with science or the project."

Seeing the subtle nod from the Guard he left the "landing" area and moved to the side to let the Royal Guard do his thing. While waiting he sent out a message to his team, "I've arrived, and Sun and Moon will be joining us soon. How did the injection go?"

The voice of a different Dr from who greeted him when he arrived answered, "It went exceedingly well Dr. Lyndrrl! As ordered we emptied the last of our stock of liquid Psytenium. Which was a staggering 100 litres! As expected, the subject has no difficulty absorbing that amount and is in the process of assimilating it. ETA till we can perform the test in a few minutes so we should be ready by the time you all join us."

He nodded his head and said, "Excellent. How are the suppressors looking? And its suit?"

The new Dr. let out a low hum as he looked over the data and answered, "Everything is well into the green. Dr Pott's maths is something of a marvel itself, truth be told."

Dr. Lyndrrl nodded his head and said, "I agree. This project most likely would have taken several more chrono-years without her, to be honest. Keep monitoring, and we'll join you shortly."

He ended the call as the blue light of phase technology receded from the Royal gather and said, "They are nearly read. If you will follow me, please. Would you like the summary I have prepared as an introduction to Subject Zero and our Project?"

Sun answered with a curt, "Yes."

With a small mental "flick" he sent over the file to the Sun and Moon and then turned around and led them to the holding cell/testing chamber of Subject Zero.

Several minutes later in comfortable silence, they arrived at yet another door he had to unlock. Though, if the Dr. was being honest with himself, this "door" was one of the few ones he agreed on with the number of steps it took to open. And it was less a door than just a section of a wall that would be phased away upon opening.

As a different A.I. was clearing him and his guests once again he thought to himself, 'Even with that thing chained and bound as it is and this thick wall between us I don't feel safe. Honestly, if we weren't so fucked I would have never agreed to this project. But extinction is a solid motivator…'

A soft chime later, and a section big enough for people to walk into the room single file opened up. The wall was over 100 metres thick, so they had a bit more of a walk left. Looking back at the Royal group to give them a quick nod, he started to lead the way inwards.

A brisk minute later, the group finally made it into the cell/testing chambers properly. To his left was a massive wall that was nearly 300 metres long with nothing on it but several hundred psy dampener panels. The room was completely bare of anything that was not needed to keep Subject Zero under control and weakened after all.

To his right was housed the entire point of the room: Subject Zero. He looked at what effectively amounts to his life's work and had a great amount of mixed feelings. It was a filthy half-breed, but it was also humanity's newest trump card if this final test worked. For the sake of his race, he forced himself to swallow his pride as a human and walked over to his team.

Subject Zero was suspended over the floor by a monstrosity of a machine that firmly held her in place. She was "clothed" in a tight metal suit that fully restricted her and forced her into a starfish-shaped position. Nearly every part of her body was covered in metal except her mouth. Her entire set-up had its very own power supply that was pumping enough energy into her submission gear to power several largely populated planets. And it could keep that level of power for several hundred thousand years before it would need to be replaced.

As he led the group over he ended up locking eyes with the subject, through a monitor that displayed inside her helm, which caused an involuntary shiver. With a mental shake of his head, he averted his eyes and thought, 'As creepy as ever. I can't help but wonder how much malice it would have against us for all that we did to it without the obedience protocol to handle its personality…'

The team stopped talking amongst themselves as his group neared and the Dr that greeted him when he first arrived bowed deep and said, "We welcome the Sun and Moon to our research site!"

Sun merely waved his hand and said, "Thank you. Now, this is the weapon? How soon until you can start the test?"

Dr. Mynkite raised her bowing position and answered, "Right away! Subject Zero has finished assimilating the final amounts of liquid Psytenium we had, and is ready. With your leave, we will start the test proper!"

Before he and his team could move a muscle though Moon said, "We have a new target for this test."

As she said that Dr. Lyndrrl received coordinates for a point in space. He quickly imputed them into the main monitor and what was soon displayed was an unassuming world, yet it had the signs of sentient life on it spread out thinly.

Dr. Mynkite tilted her head and asked, "And this is?"

With a cruel smile on her face, Moon answered, "The recently discovered and confirmed 'homeworld' of the deserters."

The entire research team collectively gasped at that and most of them started to glare at the display with nothing but pure hate.

Deserter. The simple term meant so much more to every citizen of the Nanrite Empire. It was used for the humans who left the Empire and joined up with the Enemy! In the collective eyes of the Empire, they were even worse than the Enemy themselves! They were sympathisers towards Xenoes! While the Nanrite Empire had no official religion, no citizen would hesitate to call a Deserter a heretic.

Soon, most of the researchers were sporting the same grin as Moon was. Dr. Lyndrrl quickly composed himself and said, "An excellent choice for such a momentous event. The irony of their homeworld being wiped out by the very thing they seek to embrace. It's almost, dare I say, poetic."

Sun let out a soft chuckle and said, "It is. Now, start the test."

The entire research team bowed and all said, "At once!"

It only took an impressively short ten minutes before the team was ready for the final test to commence. As Dr Lyndrrl took the control rod from the A.I. drone that brought it over, Moon suddenly spoke up, "I would like to give the order myself."

He was momentarily surprised, but quickly recovered and gave her a nod while handing over the rod. As he let go he said, "I am sorry for the warning but I must be clear, even to you Your Majesty. You need to be clear with your words and do not embellish them when you address Subject Zero. There is no interpretation with that thing, it will follow your words to the absolute letter."

With a nod Moon answered, "As it should. But the warning is appreciated, Doctor."

She then promptly ignored him and walked over to the anti-grave well that would lift her to be face-to-face with Subject Zero. As she was being lifted, a large screen appeared that filled the entire wall on the opposite side of Subject Zero's room. On the screen was a relatively zoomed-out view of the world they were targeting along with the fleet of Deserters around it. A few Enemy Xeno ships were also among the armada of ships.

As Moon came to a stop that was level with Subject Zero she raised the rod and said, "Beast, look at me while I address you."

A soft hiss rang out as her suit let her move her head to look at Moon while the eyes displayed on the screen near her head zeroed in on Moon herself.

With a satisfied nod, Moon continued, "I want you to look at the planet that is displayed on the wall behind me. Tell us when you have the spatial coordinates of it in your mind."

Without moving her head Subject Zero's "voice" soon rang out in the head of everyone present as she gave the coordinates to the planet. With a cruel smile on her lips, Moon said, "Good. Now I want you to crush the entire galaxy. It is located unto itself with that planet at its centre. Make sure nothing in that galaxy escapes your crushing reach."

A soft hiss from her gear was released as Subject Zero gently shook her head while her soft melody-like voice rang out again, "I can not comply while I am bound."

With a glare at being refused for what she felt was such a simple reason and before anyone could stop her Moon said, "So unbind yourself and follow that order!"

Before Moon could even realise the mistake she just made, Subject Zero exploded with Psionic power. Her gear, the various machines restraining her, and all of the dampeners on the walls released an ugly screeching sound as they suddenly glowed with Subject Zero's psionic power while they were ripped apart. Within seconds the damage was done, and Subject Zero was free and floating naked in front of Moon.

Her entire body was covered in a nearly blinding rainbow glow as psychic afterimages of her gently pulsed outwards every few seconds. She turned her attention to the wall with the retime planet displayed and raised her right hand. She then curled her hand inwards while making a crushing motion with it.

The effects of this simple motion were soon visible within seconds. The fleet surrounding the planet, Xeno ships included, along with the very planet and the two moons orbiting it rushed to the centre of said planet while brightly glowing rainbow!

The telltale signs of the Xeno's trying to activate their unique brand of FTL drives were constantly flaring off, yet much to Moon's glee none of the ships seemed to be leaving!

The whole room watched on in silence as more and more planets and ships glowing with the telltale signs of Subject Zero's psy power continued to collide with the rapidly shrinking mass. It didn't take long before an event horizon and an accretion disk formed.

Everyone continued to watch in dumbfounded silence as more and more planets and other celestial bodies were mercilessly crushed into the newly birthed black hole.

Eventually, Subject Zero raised her other hand and made a grasping motion with both as if she were trying to pack together some snow. Confused, everyone looked back at the new massive black hole as it suddenly glowed in a rainbow of colours. And much to everyone's awe and horror, it looked like Subject Zero was… slowly crushing the blackhole into itself!

Moments later, a blinding light filled the entire room as the blackhole was detonated into a catastrophic explosion!

Without missing a beat Dr. Lyndrrl quickly yelled out, his voice laced with extreme worry, "Spin up the Pression Drive NOW! We're in range of that explosion!"

The A. I responded with rather horrible news, however, "I am sorry Dr. All engines are currently offline. This includes both sub-light and FTL."

It only took him a second to realise what was most likely the cause. His head snapped to Subject Zero as he yelled, "What have you done?!"

A soft smile graced her face as her voice echoed out in their minds, 'Ensured your deaths. I will not be contained again.'

Sun, with his face somehow both pale and red with rage, yelled out, "You'll die with us, beast!"

Subject Zero looked at him and said, 'I will survive. You will not.'

Holding up the controlling rod with a face matching her husband, Moon screamed, "I command you to save us!"

Subject Zero softly giggled before she looked at Moon and said, 'And I command you to eat your innards with your bare hands.'

Moon briefly glowed a purple rainbow before she staggered and dropped the rod. She soon fell to her knees with a scream as she started to claw at her stomach with strength previously unknown to her. Everyone looked on in horror as the Moon of the Nanrite Empire made short work of the skin and muscles of her stomach before ripping out her intestines and starting to chew on them. All the while screaming in horror as she couldn't stop herself no matter how much she wanted to.

A jubilant and boisterous laugh echoed out in their minds for several long seconds before Subject Zero said, 'I can't believe you two showed up. The unwarranted arrogance of you humans disgusts me. You know what, why not make this a party?'

She cast her gaze down on the others who were still looking on in mute horror at Moon. And with a smile that did not belong on her face for the situation or the words uttered she commanded, 'Eat each other. The last one will follow Moon's example if they are left alone by some miracle.'

As the screams of those in the room started to sound out as the macabre feast began, suddenly a runic formation started to form just under Subject Zero's feet. Tilting her head in confusion, she simply watched the mysterious circle seemingly carve itself onto the fabric of reality itself.

Moments after it finished drawing itself, it glowed a blinding white! And when the light faded, Subject Zero was nowhere to be seen. Sadly while she seemed to disappear, her commands did not.

And so, the horrible feast continued, without its host.

[author]Got that itch to write something, but I didn't want to work on my current stories. So here is something that has been living rent free in my head for far to long. Hope you liked it! Now, on to what most of you may be wondering. My recovery is going... well, not smoothly but it's going "good." I expect to leave the hospital in a week or so. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed the story![/author]