Walking down a featureless, white corridor surrounded on all sides by six soldiers in their prime, all of which were both taller and stronger than you should be a frightening experience if you were a 22-year-old man with inferior physique. The smallest of the six soldiers was a foot taller than the human average, and if you were two inches shorter than that you might feel smaller than usual. They all wore military uniforms without tags of any kind to distinguish them as Paladins, if they even were that, and the uniforms were tight around their chest and arms due to enormous muscles that may have been chemically enhanced, and compared to that a hooded green shirt that hung loosely over a slightly bulging belly was not impressive at all.<br/>It would probably not make a normal young man less self-conscious if the green shirt said "The Jarl is unborn" and only made sense if you were intensely familiar with the<span style="font-style: italic">Baleonian Trilogy</span>book series.<br/><br/>Niels Kronborg did not have any of these anxieties. He liked his shirt and that quote was damn cool, and he certainly did not have time to waste with self-deprecating thoughts when his life had just taken an exciting left turn. He was being escorted by soldiers, and that was so cool! He had worked for the family company for years and he had patented some inventions of himself and worked minor contract jobs from various unimportant government sub-branches, but this was the first time he had ever done anything for the Paladins and so far it was exactly how he imagined it should be: Armed escorts, who did not say a word beyond "Yes, sir" or "Affirmative, sir"; secretive language promising great excitement about the job he was called in to do, but which he ultimate knew nothing about; Niels was even admiring the all-white corridor with uniform lighting from the ceiling leaving every inch identical to every other inch, it was exactly how he imaged a top-secret military secret installation to be. Niels could barely contain his excitement and walked with a jump in his steps, wishing the stone-faced soldiers would hurry up and get him to where they were taking him. The soldiers had longer legs than him, it would cost nothing to make better use of them!<br/><br/>Even mother and father had never worked directly with the Paladins. Among other inventions the Kronborgs made weapons, which were readily purchased and used by the Paladins, but they were not directly involved with the organization on anything deeper than a supply-purchase basis, despite the family having a long-standing desire to make their relationship more intimate. The Paladins were very careful to ignore all suggestions from the Kronborgs that they could be more efficient in their magitech designs if they only became privy to matters of national security.<br/>It then followed that when the Paladins personally asked for mother or father to come in for some special assignment - referred to as "a favour" - that the Paladins had exhausted all their other options for trying to figure out whatever it was they needed, and now only the famous Kronborg family genius could hope to save them. Or, possibly, they could find others with the same genius, but they probably did not trust those anymore than they did the Kronborgs.<br/>This was father's interpretation that he told Niels, much to their shared excitement, but Niels had an alternative hypothesis: It could be the Paladins could call in trusted scientists from other sectors or planets but it was a matter of urgency. Whatever they needed built or analyzed it had to be done<span style="font-style: italic">now</span>, and that meant resorting to the magitech experts that were actually located within city limits.<br/><br/>A time limit would make it all extra exciting, like, if the Paladins had uncovered a bomb that threatened to destroy the planet if not disarmed within the next two hour, only not that because that would be<span style="font-style: italic">scary</span><br/>Besides the soldiers would faster enough if that was the case.<br/><br/>Father and mother would have loved to go, Niels knew, especially father who had listed ideas for what the special assignment could be. Whatever it was, the Paladins did not send any information whatsoever. It was a smart move, because father would have secretly stored anything they sent.<br/>Alas, his parents could not attend. Mother and father was in a critical phase of Project XI<span style="font-style: italic">Auracalia</span>, of which Niels had only been involved with minor parts and knew nothing. He had asked to be involved since it was bound to revolutionize the world, or at least so they told him. When he begged for more information they had told him "It's a parent thing" which meant mother and father were using possibly-revolutionary, highly-expensive and time-consuming magitech as their idea of a date night.<br/><br/>On the plus side, it meant Niels was the only<span style="font-style: italic">trusted</span>family member that could be immediately deployed, although his family had made sure to take precautions. The family cherished its secrets and it held just enough power to make mild demands of the Paladins, so long as it did not cost them anything.<br/>Before Niels entered the unending hallway, which was noticeably tilted which meant he was being taken underground, he had been scanned for tech of which he carried none except for his digital books, which had been promptly confiscated, much to his regret, but it was understandable. He probably would have been strip-searched and showered in anti-contaminants if not for his family's insistence that this would violate the family dignity.<span style="font-style: italic">"A kronborg does not pollute"</span>mother had told them very sternly and made it clear that if they did not treat a Kronborg with proper respect, the Paladins could forget about their help.<br/><br/>In reality, of course, they just did not want the Paladins to know about Niels' dead arm.<br/><br/>After an unbearably long walk, which Niels would have cleared in half the time if they had allowed him, the soldiers stopped, seemingly at random and far from the end of the hall and the hall looked as white and unremarkable as ever. Niels could not help himself from smiling widely as a portion of wall slid open soundlessly, leaving a rectangular hole in an otherwise featureless space showing a buzzing laboratory where scientists dressed as informally as Niels was talking to each other, waving their arms about to emphasize points and sipping coffee so they did not have to talk and prove they had no idea what was going on. Niels instantly felt at home and a part of his brain began involuntarily analyzing the various screens and machines in the room. The conscious part of Niels was smugly telling him that the hallway and the way the door opened was an indication that the Paladins were surprisingly design orientated.<br/><br/>The soldiers made no reaction as Niels stepped into the room and remained expressionless when Niels turned around and said:<br/>"Just so you know, if the planet is destroyed, I blame your tardiness."<br/><br/>Other scientists greeted him, most looking either puzzled or annoyed that they had brought in a<span style="font-style: italic">child</span>, as if their aged geniuses could be surpassed by him. He had probably never even heard of them, so how could he know<span style="font-style: italic">anything</span>?<br/>It soon became apparently what the problem was.<br/><br/>Well...<br/><br/>It was not a bomb so that was a plus.<br/><br/>That was only slightly better than Niels' first conclusion:<br/><br/>It seemed aliens were invading.