<em><strong>UCAS Special Forces Office, Eidolon Unit Alpha Prime, Chimera Team 0009<br/>Federal District of Columbia, United Canadian and American States, North America <br/>August 19, 2072, 0832 GMT</strong></em><br/><br/>Inside the military base in the heart of the UCAS, William Hotchner, codename Ghost, waited for his partner.  Correction: his new partner.  Ghost’s previous partner, a former ex-UCAS Marine, had been badly wounded in the course of an overseas investigation, and his rehabilitation was a long time running.  So SOCOM had seen fit to hand the Eidolon man a new teammate.<br/><br/>Ghost was, before he was an Eidolon, UCAS Army Special Forces.  He had signed up not long after graduating from high school, and had served the interests of the UCAS in a dozen different countries on continents across the globe.  He was not your average soldier, either.  Ghost was an Adept, one of the magically active persons on the planet whose talent manifested not in being able to throw around spells but in physical improvements to his body, namely in quicker reflexes and the ability to kill things a lot quicker.  Which was why his primary specialty was unarmed combat, between his magical talents and training in the martial arts, he was nearly unparalleled in that field.<br/><br/>But he wasn’t just a puncher, Ghost could shoot with the best of them, and he was a decent pilot for stolen transportation.  Score two and three for him.<br/><br/>After a couple of years in the Special Forces, he’d come to the notice of the Chimera Teams, and had promptly been pulled from the ranks of the Army to serve in a capacity even the blackest of teams the Army had just didn’t possess.  He did not exist.  Anywhere, except in the database files of the UCAS military.  He could go anywhere, do anything, kill anyone, and never have to answer to anyone but the people above him.<br/><br/>And he wasn’t the only one…