13 An Enigma

"Ahahah yes, everything is going according to plan."

'Allen' couldn't stop himself from cheerfully speaking out loud as he watched the video displayed on the screen in front of him in his private office.

That video being a live feed being recorded and uploaded all the way from spacestation 17 to his P.A.I.N. department complex back on Earth by one of the crimson marines stationed there.

If it weren't for the complex array of spacestations and satellites spread amongst the Solar System and the advanced technology installed into the crimson marines' 'blood' suit then Allen wouldn't be able to sit here and watch the event unfold halfway across the Earth's Solar System.

Of course this feat was trivial compared to instantaneous travel and communication across multiple solar systems or even galaxies but even then, when putting into perspective the distance between Earth and a station on the other side of the first asteroid belt, such a feat was still incredible.

With this in mind, Allen couldn't help but mentally thank his human predecessors who helped transform the human species who were once confined to a single planet into this space faring civilization who explored, navigated and colonised the galaxies of the universe.

As one would expect, exploring, navigating and colonising the stars did not come without any costs.

Other than the multitude of uncontrollable accidents and inner human conflicts and sabotage that hindered the advancement of humanity, there was one obstacle that stood up above all else.

The 'Xeno Threat.'

The word; 'xeno' was only an umbrella term used to describe any and all 'intelligent' non-human species.

The universe was vast and as such, there was a vast array of different Xeno species.

In fact, a majority of Xeno species that have yet to reach the technological state to freely and easily explore the universe were ultimately conquered and 'domesticated' or completely exterminated by humanity, depending on which intergalactic human nation colonised their respective planet.

Some species that were lucky enough to have their planet colonised by a more moderate nation were even able to assimilate into human civilization, albeit as second class citizens.

Most of the time, a xenos species won't be as lucky and will end up as slave labour under nations like the Russo-Chinese Federation as an alternative to droid labour.

In the worst case scenario, if a xenos species were to encounter a nation like the United Planets of America who had zero tolerance for alien species, complete and total annihilation would be their only fate.

However, not every xeno species that humanity encountered was technologically lacking.

But that was why people like Allen existed.

That was why the Intergalactic Terran Confederation and it's mighty Confederate Army and Fleet existed.

Shaw's ramblings during General Assemblies about how the Confederation and humanity itself was threatened by hostile xenos did indeed have a basis, it was just that the Confederation could not spare the manpower and resources for the expeditionary invasion force that Shaw wanted.

After all, it was generally accepted that maintaining internal security within human space was more important than an invasion into any of the other space faring civilizations' territory that will surely cost humanity an unimaginable price.

But that was why he was keeping an especially close eye on a particular person being displayed on the crimson marine's livestream.

For she could be a key player in helping the Confederation against any threats, whether it be internal or external, domestic or foreign.

For she was a psionic ranked to be at least C-class at an age no older than five years old.

Although she was by no means the most powerful young psionic, there once existed a six year old A-class psionic, she could quite possibly, be regarded as the most talented in her own way.

Not only was she a highly ranked psionic at such a young age, but she was incredibly talented at manipulating her psionic powers as well.

In the preliminary tests and evaluations, they were able to trick her into revealing her extraordinary fire manipulation abilities as well as her relatively rare ability to summon lightning.

While her fire was limited to basic red and yellow flames, she has shown that she could manipulate and control them with frightening ease and strength.

She can compress her flames size to that of a low calibre bullet without losing too much of the fireball's potential lethality while at the same time, being able to move at speeds comparable to bullets fired from a conventional Gauss rifle when they were at such a small size.

In other words, in the state she is now, she is comparable to a fully armed crimson marine in terms of firepower and combat potential.

And they were yet to cultivate her psionic capabilities or even test the limits of her flame manipulation.

On top of this, she was capable of generating white lighting, although it was considered as the weakest form of lightning that a heat psionic could conjure, the fact that she was able to summon lighting in of itself was an extraordinary psionic feat second only to the ability to form condensed light.

This psionic's name was 'Cynthia Starr' and Allen would only need to use one word to describe her.

'Prodigy.'

She was a prodigy through and through.

And that was the exact reason why he set up this exact scenario.

To see how she would react and to see how much of her psionic power they could lure out.

And Allen had to thank his department's doctrine for the information he needed to pull his master plan off.

P.A.I.N. doesn't only check the psionic capabilities of their recruits, but they do extensive background research on them too.

A task that can be done easily enough thanks to their expansive intelligence network and their access to the Confederation's vast civilian databases.

Since they train their psionic operatives to be highly efficient and effective killing machines who are loyal to the Confederation, said psionic operatives are then also liable to become threats to the very people they are supposed to serve.

As such, preliminary background research is required to ensure the integrity of P.A.I.N.'s operatives.

Other than for safety concerns, background research also helped with the training and conditioning of the new recruits.

Thanks to this aforementioned background research, Allen has a general idea of Cynthia's personality, upholding and quirks.

For starters, in the earlier stages of her life, she referred to herself with male pronouns and even once attempted to urinate while standing up.

She grew out of these tendencies eventually but Allen doubted if such trivial information would be of use to him. It was more of a 'fun fact' than anything else.

Other than that, Allen was given the idea that Cynthia was comparable to a normal, well-meaning, everyday girl when you exclude the fact that she was born rich, even among citizens of the Euronic Republic Union and of course, her immense psionic capabilities.

In fact, she was not only described to be very normal, but she appeared to look very normal as well.

It was at the point that Allen almost couldn't believe that this girl was not only known to be very psionically gifted, but also the same person who was reported to have been responsible for nine separate deaths during the incident on the Eden.

Although she claimed she didn't know how she did it or even what happened and the joint investigation done by D.R.E.A.D. and P.A.I.N. concluded that she killed them impulsively out of fear and self-defence, the whole ordeal is still very suspicious.

Those weren't run-of-the-mill criminal brutes or drunk penal conscripts, but rather, hardened and veteran mercenaries who were well equipped and well trained.

Even if they were heavily outclassed by the Crimson Marines on every level, a total of nine corpses were found without any damage evident of a round fired from a Gauss rifle, but rather a scorched hole that could only be done through a psionic's fireball.

The psionic evaluation did confirm that she was indeed responsible for these scorched holes but Allen still felt that something was off.

Every single corpse had a vital organ pierced, whether it be a massive gaping hole in the chest or a few precise holes that punctured the lungs, not a single corpse was damaged with a non-mortal wound.

If it were one or two corpses that only had their vitals hit, then it could be attributed to at least some degree of luck.

However, it was not just one or two, but all nine corpses with a punctured or destroyed vital organ.

Although no one found this to not be the slightest bit suspicious, there was nothing else that they can get out of the girl that often acted scared or confused.

Until now that is.

The other person standing opposite to Cynthia was Zackary Mocxe, a nineteen year old D-class psionic recruit.

The background research on Zackary revealed to Allen that Zackary had an inferiority complex coupled with misogynistic tendencies, both of which resulted from him living under the shadow of his nine apparently more impressive older sisters, despite none of them being psionically gifted.

He was the type of person that would definitely not get along well with Cynthia, a mere five year old girl who technically held the same rank as him.

It was to set up this very scenario that Allen ensured that they were both sent to the same military installation where they supposed to receive their preliminary training.

This genius plan was the brainchild of non-other than Allen himself, specifically engineered to bring him results.

It was beautiful.

It was ingenious.

It was-

"Stupid."

"Yes it is stu- wait what?"

Allen's shocked voice rang across his office in response to the sudden voice that suddenly spoke up and interrupted his thoughts.

With a confused voice, he turned his attention away from the screen before proceeding to face and question the person who spoke.

"Stupid?"

The other person, Melanie Menendez who he personally invited to his office to watch this event unfold with him, sighed as she replied.

"Yes boss, it is stupid. Very stupid. Inconceivably stupid."

Melanie paused to once again sigh before she continued speaking.

"Honestly boss, out of all your weird and crazy ideas, this has got to be a new low. This is not some fictional story where cliched tropes are bound to go the way you expect them to unless they are being subverted. This-"

"Ahhhhhhhh!"

Before Melanie could finish her sentence, she was interrupted by a painful scream.

A painful scream that originated from the crimson marine's live feed.

Allen and Melanie both gave each other thoughtful glance before they faced the video screen.

There they saw Zackary who was once standing proud with his nose high, was now rolling on the floor.

Both of his hands covered his face as he screamed.