Chapter One

Hello my name is Topanga Ojeda and for me this is a new beginning and one I have looked forward to for four long years. I will not in this tale be alluding to my past on Earth of the reality in which I still reside but instead I will reveal enough for one to catch up to my story fairly quickly.

To begin in my travels over the years I have taken a new name and that name is Starchilde the Traveler. Now why that name well let us just say that I possess powers far beyond the measure of even many paranormals as they are often called. I owe my powers to having been exposed to reality altering science which for all intent and purposes could also be called magic. My presence in a parallel Earth time at around 2011 instead of being with my parents in the dimension and time of my birth in 3033 was the end result of a freak occurrence of cosmic proportions that opened a wormhole and deposited me on a far less advanced Earth of 1987.

Now of course my people had developed many other advances that I possessed even before I had acquired my so called powers. Let us just say in my time or intellects had advanced to the limits of comprehension to say it mildly. In addition we used our intellect to advance every part of our lives. So don’t feel too bad for me being stranded as a child on a backward world at two years old. For in truth in that time I had already learned more that many will ever learn in their entire lifetimes. I had even already been trained by my parents on how to handle the changes which would occur within my body. Sadly what I lacked when I had arrived on the Earth that was to become my new home was the wisdom of my parents to guide me in the proper use of those abilities.

I was fortunate to find on Earth after a few bad years a group of other paranormals with whom I had thought I could build a bond. In reality my time with them only proved to show me just how much I had to learn for my own mind had been fighting me and creating new personalities that my powers were bringing into reality as flesh and blood beings. Suffice to say thankfully I was able to come to my senses enough to realize I needed to depart the Earth. I left to find myself among the stars and come to terms with my psychological issues and self impose boundaries on my powers before I became a threat to Earth so that one day I might return as its Savior.

Instead what I found out about the greater universe or more accurately the cage a small part of the Galaxy had been placed within. In my own reality and time many of the same types of creatures never proved a threat to my people who had already reached what this Age might call the Dysonian Age. So yeah we had at the time our technology had reached the level where we literally manufactured worlds to suit our needs and had actually enclosed solar systems with spheres and used the power of the suns to provide power. My point was not to brag but to only state the truth something I have come to embrace and proved to be paramount to my enlightenment.

I will not dwell on our advances but instead return to my tale and what I found it seemed a race calling the Thorans who are basically a bionic insectoid race had started a massive war. A war that they had won and even convinced a group of humanoids who were losing the war called the Araks to police a zone in which they had an interest. So yes the Thoran invasion was only a ruse to acquire a rare material which they call Outlaw Matter or what I call Anti-Matter that manifested itself when wormholes formed and pulled matter from other universes into this one.

So the end result was that twenty years ago a group that would come to be called the Isolationists would become the police of what would be called the Crossroads Protectorate. The fact that Earth was in this zone and seemed to not even have noticed it was of course only a side note really since Earth quite often seems quite caught up in its own affairs due to its abundance of powerful paranormals. Now the zone is in reality a cube some thousand light years around protected by a powerful inhibiting leeching field. Over the last four years of travelling and learning the differences of this galaxy and my own I had managed to map out the entire cube. For the most part until I had grown in power the field put around the Crossroads Protectorate would serve to contain me so after awhile I slowed down.

I instead chose to focus on my humanity and to learn more of the prison in which I had been confined. I of course used my abilities to protect myself from harm and actually I had rarely run into any trouble since my enhanced senses prevented it. Establishing myself in the economic system of the Crossroads Protectorate was for someone of my skill not all that difficult and while on Earth I had enjoyed the life of a Courier I found those skills still in need even in my new life. Sure I work freelance really only taking jobs where I sense no one will be hurt and a girl can have a good time.

I have found the Crossroads Protectorate to be quite interesting and perhaps the mystery I felt the most intriguing was the one of the Outlaw Matter as it is called. The word was that an entire world called Emerald had appeared in the system and to say mysterious events were occurring would be saying it mildly. Not much information was really forthcoming due to offshoot race of the Araks that called themselves the Starlords. The Starlords it seemed had enough paranormal power to impress the Isolationists. It should be noted that for that to be the case there just had to be more to the Starlords than met the eye. I had considered checking it out for myself eventually but I was in no rush. That’s of course when fate would intervene and bring a Visulant basically an ancient amphibious humanoid cyborg race named Tor into a meeting with me.

I had been enjoying myself on Punkus itself a large moon sized space ship and a grouping of constructed small moon sized ships which served as habitats, space docks, manufacturing and even government space. So alright not really a government since the whole place is run by a corporation of sorts called the Combine. Imagine a crowded space dock with all types of aliens arriving and departing with shady deals happening at every dark corner of which there are many and you might be beginning to get a feel for the place. To be honest I loved it but back to Tor he had approached me and spoke in his races interesting visually transmitted style if I was from Earth. Suffice to say I had been channeling not only my cosmic awareness but also the ability to transmit my thoughts as signals or images which enabled me as a neat side effect to speak to any living creature or machine. So with Tor being a little bit of both it was no real effort to speak with him.

Basically he informed me that on another side of the Gas Giant called Big Friend by the locals was another moon ship that was used as a space dock that seemed to have a human among them. He had of course asked me if I was a human from Earth and in a way I was just not really so not really a lie. I did not sense any malice from him and on top of that he was offering me a job. Since I am never one to turn down easy money I asked about his offer and he informed me that he would pay me seventy credits to just contact them and another thirty that would be deposited to my account if they agreed to speak with him. On top of that he was willing to even provide me a shuttle to their current location.

Finding the group which included the human who upon seeing him seemed to remind me of some hero from Earth called something purple the fact that he was wearing what could only be called a super-hero costume pretty much confirmed he was from Earth. I on the other hand was wearing next to nothing really only a few items from my 30th century utility belt which consisted of glasses which served to provide night vision, a colorful bracelet which served as a miniature advanced computer and chronometer, a necklace which functioned as a backup communicator and environmental recorder of course the belt and a very revealing stylish purple see through chemise, my utility belt and black and purple laced calf leather boots. To set the record straight I am not actually a loose woman per se but in this sector of space I had learned that a woman can get away with wearing just about anything they want. So since I am quite the attractive woman I figure why not use it to my advantage.

I would soon learn that the man in purple was in reality the Purple Puma one of Earth’s many obscure super-heroes a very human. His two companions were a bit odd to say the least an attractive female who looked like the locale humanoid types by her style of dress perhaps a Collubian. Now the other her bodyguard was another story all together a shady humanoid Grimlock so for the most part I ignored them and focused on Purple Puma. I had approached them and found asked the Purple Puma if he was from Earth and he confirmed that he was and even flirted with me. That fact that he reminded me of another masked crime fighter who I shall not mention did much to draw my attention. The looks the Grimlock was giving me were interesting to say the least and after a moment the woman I would learn was called Nialla spoke to me in a very odd language. I basically had gotten right to business and informed that Purple Puma that I was also from Earth sort of and was traveling and I had encountered someone who had wanted to know if he was also from Earth.

There were a few tense moments where they seemed to be considering if I was trying to spy on them or lure them into a trap but my honesty won them over. After all I told them I was getting paid to just meet them and if they wanted to talk to Tor then I would get paid more and that Tor had a business proposition for them. Nialla would eventually say that her companion was named Morgan and after I allowed her to scan my mind to insure that I posed no hidden danger she was willing to trust me. I will admit while I can of course be telepathic I have memories of the horrors of the powers of the mind and I prefer to not use such powers if at all possible it’s too bad most of the inhabitants of this sector of space are telepaths.

Nialla let me know that in reality she was in charge and after brokering a deal with Tor whose individual signal I had locked down I found out that he was a Velveeta Cheese and Coke Soda dealer. Purple Puma seemed eager to make the hundred thousand credits by transporting one thousand bricks of cheese and two thousand liters of Coke which were it seemed selling for seventy credits a brick and fifteen credits a liter. Nialla it seemed had other plans first which seemed to include a journey to the planet Darkness. A quick word on Darkness imagine a water world but just without any land at all to speak of than throw in giant sea creatures add domed underwater cites and throw in eternal night. Sounds like a great place right?

Soon we were joined by another companion and man from Earth named George who while of Asian descent reminded me of another younger Asian I had known years ago also called George who had also been the super-hero known as Spectraman. It was possible they were related but I did not dwell on it for I had needed to get away from Earth and my old life so who was I to pry into the lives of others. We then boarded Purple Puma’s space ship where I would have the time to get to know my new companions better. I had slipped and mentioned to Puma that I been travelling but I had not mentioned a ship and I had told him I would explain once we were on board his ship.

Once we were on board ship the Puma confirmed that we would be arriving at the planet Darkness in around six hours. Oddly thought the Human George instead took the controls and decided to take the ship for a spin around Big Friend for some reason. That possible reason soon became apparent as we approached a solitary moon sized sphere. As we entered into range it suddenly lit up and Puma opened communications. It seemed that the ship was either owned or ran by someone called Destiny or some facsimile thereof. The communication was sound only without visual for which I was glad for I had only ever know one Destiny and that had been a shifty figure who had worked with a corporation called Triton back on Earth years ago. It seemed that Destiny or one of his clones, duplicates or droids take you pick had established a presence in this system as well.

We had been introduced by the Puma and Nialla wanted to speak about the Red Menace and a device they had been trying to acquire. It seems that this device Destiny would inform them had to power to absorb and convert paranormal energy. Oddly the race to claim it had taken the life of everyone that Nialla and Morgan had met who had tried to help them. I will admit I turned on my recorder and zoned out of their conversation I really did not want to be reminded of Destiny and I only wanted small doses of Earth for it reminded me to much of a past that I had moved beyond both emotionally and physically.

Instead I had focused on Morgan the quiet passive aggressive Grimlock who had changed from casual clothes into believe it or not a ninja outfit complete with ninjato short sword and even shuriken. He had seemed a little more talkative and showed me that he was a metamorph and had even presumed to become a copy of my physical form right down to my Deoxyribonucleic acid or more commonly known as DNA. It was interesting to say the least for Nialla had told me what he did was actually natural for his race and it was starting to come together for if everyone being on this planet they called Hyboria which was where they both said they had come all possessed paranormal abilities and the Red Menace had a way to harness their power with ease I could see why they had done it.

The Starlords it seemed were using the Red Menace as their minions and not only that using the women and to a lesser extent the men from that planet and other descendents of theirs to extract their latent paranormal abilities in a physical form that they could sell for profit. I had thought the rumors I had heard of such atrocities were mere folly but as I had looked at Morgan and then Nialla who confirmed what Morgan had said I realized that the rare chemical know as Space Mead was a chemical that could be extracted from sentient beings. Sadly the downside was that they did not survive the procedure. So while I had surmised that I might be able to use their temporal technology to one day create a stable temporal wormhole to the alternate future of my birth I was not willing to us the lives of countless others to do so.

At which point I started paying more attention for next Nialla explained that the so called God Cthulhu was helping the Starlords and of course had a plan to destroy the entire Cosmos. What was odd was that Morgan had claimed that they had been sent from his own worlds past by Gods of their own to try and stop this so called Mad God. Wow Nialla even claimed to be the daughter of a God who was the so called father of Hell. I was unable to completely control my composure when they had related that information and even Puma seemed a little worried and even seemed I would like to say concerned. Actually it looked more like afraid but he clarified that even saying the name of Cthulhu had the chance to make him aware of your presence which would allow him to send minions of his to harass and attack you. Not that really big of a trick but I agreed with Puma an annoying one.

I will perhaps try to only say this once my people had learned long ago that the concept Gods were in reality somewhat ambiguous for what were Gods really but beings with far more power than those surrounding them. On Earth there were those who had wanted to worship me as a Goddess and I had met others who had made similar claims on more than one occasion. So while it’s true I do possess powers beyond most mortals I had needed the power of my parents Ascension Machine to bring me into my paranormal abilities. Granted I was only two years old when I had been placed in Ascension Machine and had not learned the training or mental disciple to forge the mental bridge to the abilities I now possess but I would have eventually learned. The reason for my parents haste had been that our race had been ready to shed our physical coils and exist permanently as pure energy and the races they watched over were going to be left behind. My parents were not comfortable with that plan and so they had given me a boost as it were. So while it’s true there are limits on my abilities many of which I place upon myself there are still real ones which limit me as I had learned at the Isolationist barrier. I had not yet become strong enough to overcome my weaknesses but I had already vowed that one day I would.

Back to the present for it seemed that Nialla who it seemed had narrowly escaped being sold on the black market along with Morgan said she one day wanted to return and put a stop to the plans of Cthulhu which put Emerald as planet two on his list with only one more world to go before he supposedly had the power to bring its plans to fruition. I told them I would be willing to of course assist which as we had departed Destiny’s sphere and he had given us a personal code with which to contact him we were finally on our way to Darkness.

Why were we working as mercenaries well it seemed that as George had explained to me in order to become connected into the workings of the sector we needed to build up credentials in order to eventually be approached by those who had enough influence to offer us the kind of assistance we would need to be become true players in the sector. Finally it made sense why we were headed to a Stamp Parts manufacturing facility to investigate espionage. One small step which it seemed included a mild payday and our star would rise as they say. Well I figured now that they had Starchilde in their mist what else could they really expect.

I took the rest of the six hours to ask the ship computer if it had a room where I could freshen up thankfully there was one. I realized that I needed some alone time so I stripped off my chemise removed my boots and cleaned them with a sonic resonance and folded them and placed them into my utility belt. I then reconfigured my utility belt into base mode and shrunk myself so I could enter my miniature apartment. For the record yes I can shrink that small and to be honest two of the compartments within my utility belt had always served as my own personal base as well as my apartment. Once inside I needed to work out a little in order to deal with some pent up sexual frustration. I mean really Nialla was a smoking hot female, Morgan could take any physical form that I wished him to take in truth a fantasy that I had yet to have a chance to make a reality, Puma had that whole masked crusader thing working for him which I had always found super sexy and finally George had that whole mysterious and experienced vibe going on. Let us just say that I took great pleasure in creating hologram copies of each of them in order to live out my fantasies and leave it at that.

Once we had officially arrived at Darkness we were treated like royalty after the complex pressuring procedures to enable us to withstand the depths of the undersea domed city which was home to the Stamp Parts facility. Nialla had chosen to introduce us collectively as Star Phoenix We had left the Puma Ship in orbit and descended by shuttle and eventually we were breathing the poisonous toxic air of Darkness. We were met by Stamp Parts manager and he led us to his office and we discussed Nialla’s plan to interview all of six thousand workers of which two thousand were working each shift. As one shift had been due to get off we settled down to start the interviews. Puma decided it was a good time to take a nap while Morgan had assumed the visage of a native Gandian a warm blooded near reptile race in order to fit in. The rest of us did not even bother to change. I of course made sure they sent out for food and drinks since I could tell that it was going to be a long day.

George had taken the liberty to hack into Stamp Parts surveillance and had notice that five individuals of the shift we were going to interview stood out. Nialla insisted on interviewing each one while I spend the time observing my new companions. She would ask each of them the same three questions. It was the same each time “Who do you work for.”, “Do you like Stamp Parks.”, and “Where do you want to be.” after a while it started to sound like a recording on a loop. The end result being that after we interviewed the first we found he had a set of implanted memories. Puma had woken up and suggested we try a scan for DNA and that was when I realized that no one was doing that already. I had been enjoying the snacks and solving a number of complex galactic equations in my head actually. So I had thanked Puma who went back to resting and I performed the mental exercise to enhance all my senses to extreme paranormal levels.

Morgan had turned invisible and moved after our tagged employee I had silently kept an eye on him by following the light energy around the worker and him since now that my senses had been awakened I could find him without much effort. I did not actually mention it at the time but then again I was not trying to burst anyone’s bubble. Morgan had returned a few moments later and he and George had a few words regarding why he was back and I let them both relax and told them not to worry I was keeping an eye on him and would be able to do so with two others if it was deemed necessary. In other words I told them they would have to watch two others.

We then resumed our previous procedure and where I in addition to my 6th Sense to determine the state of each workers unease but also my enhanced senses which allowed me to see into their very bodies and search for DNA. At the same time Morgan would try the old fashioned way to discern their motives while Nialla herself would use her telepathy to read their minds. I will admit I did not really approve but so far Nialla had shown that she could use her powers responsibly. So with three of the targets locked down and Nialla locking on the mind of another and Morgan cloaked and shadowing the remaining one of the George Five we had our targets.

Of course the other four had not possessed DNA but after finding out that DNA was a good quantifier for the job of espionage agent we left the offices and instead walked among the second shift and cleared them and then went out to the line where the third shift was working and searched there last. That’s where we found a fifth who I decided to keep in my perception due to the fact the other five as they had told us were heading to a church. With that we left to catch up with Morgan who had already invisibly boarded a trolley which already had ten other passengers on board. I will admit I felt a little concerned but I had decided to have faith in Nialla and either way I could be there in less than a blink of an eye if necessary so decided on the course of patience.

My plan worked for a short while for Nialla, Puma and I moved into his miniature Puma doll which I had seen walking around while he had rested and transformed into a Cadillac Eldorado which then activated a cloaking device. George it seemed decided to activate his own cloaking device and proceeded to jump after the slow moving trolley. The lull did not last long for no sooner had the trolley entered a tunnel than all of the fifteen passengers transformed into the figure of the same grey haired humanoid with glowing eyes and they said in unison “Exterminate! Exterminate!” and they proceeded to try and do just that. They failed miserably actually for it seemed that Morgan was indeed tougher than he looked for they did everything from fire slug throwers to assaulting him physically all to no avail.

Morgan on the other had called out for help not that he seemed to need it and had already dispatched one of the fifteen I would realize now were advance mechanized drones. George move into action and jumped on top of the trolley while telling Morgan through the telepathic link created by Nialla to move back. I can only deduce that he must have done something to calm the drones down for while they remained their new forms the trolley moved on and stopped at the church. As it had stopped a man looked out the door and seemed to be concerned and just when he thought he might close the door and go about his night Morgan and Puma jumped into action.

They had both moved efficiently and effectively to corner who we were to find out was a quite successful industrial espionage operative. He had frozen in his tracks when faced with the claws of Purple Puma and the ninjato of Morgan who also called himself the Nimble. Between Nialla’s telepathic mind reading abilities and his suddenly very loose lips he gave himself up. He revealed that he was the owner of the infiltrator bots or actually that he had borrowed enough to buy them and was paying back the banks with interest. We found out he had some three hundred droids scattered around the planet in his service as we employed by many other corporation including Stamp Parts. The funny part about the whole thing was that he had been hired by the Stamp Part competitor Electro Plate so in truth he was being paid by both sides and neither of them had realized it.

One mystery thought still remained and that was the stray infiltrator droid still at Stamp Parts whose owner still remained at large. Of course Phil the industrial spy had revealed the information on all his clients including the Vice President at Electro Plate as well as the contact information of all of his other clients. One never knows when such information might prove useful in the future. It occurred to me that if both companies were it now seemed to me up to no good we could either just shut down Phil or inform Electro Plate of the spying being conducted by Stamp Parts and acquire yet another notch in the belt of Nialla’s team Star Phoenix. I was not really up for that plan but I did mention it so that I could later on attempt to strike it down if it became necessary. The last thing I wanted to become involved in was extortion and blackmail as such were the bread and butter of Villains not Heroes. In truth I was beginning to question the motives and drives of my current travelling companions and if I wanted to join them or not.

That of course brought me to the real issues I still had to deal with both personally and no doubt with my new companions if I even chose to call them that. So perhaps I was feeling a little guilty about the whole hologram thing. I had to admit even thought I could honestly say I have conquered my mental and emotional issues I still had one weakness. Dare I say it Hedonism and a vast case of Egoism. Thankfully I am a very well mannered and loving person otherwise I might have other issues but to move on just who were my new companions and how would their presence if I let myself love them effect me. I will have to keep a close eye on Purple Puma, Nialla the Mystical, Morgan the Nimble and the George the Elusive to find out if Lone Wolf as I had come to calling myself can find a place among the Star Phoenix.