"Outrage political world overnight as President Hunt demands Disgraced EX admiral Adam Vir extradited back to Earth. The former UNSC Admiral was last seen on Earth 48 hours after the death of President Kelly before he could be detained for questioning. The Disgraced Admiral committed mutiny against higher command, stealing his ship, in a move than some in the political world have labeled as open treason. For the past six years, the Admiral's whereabouts have been unknown though, government sources claim his involvement in underground black-market trading. Further sources have claimed Ex Admiral Vir responsible for the Impetus star that appeared in the northern sky for a little over two years ending not three months previously. Xenobiologists working on the sight after the disappearance of the Impetus Star, have found evidence of alien biological material, they claim belongs to the creature known as Behemoth, responsible for the mass killing of multiple UNSC personnel in a series of devastating attacks. Though there is no footage from the fight leading up to the impetus star, all sources on EX Admiral Koslov's ship claim they were rescued by an unknown ship of advanced alien design, owned and flown by Adam Vir, which was subsequently used to destroy the Behemoth. Despite all the corroborating evidence, President Hunt Claims the Impetus star as a failed attack against the Earth, Lunar, and Martian states. The political situation here on Earth has remained stable until last night when the whereabouts of Ex Admiral Vir were made public, Tim Grayson comes with more of the story."

"Thank you, Jennifer. Right now we are reporting live from the surface of a recently established colony exoplanet known as Arcadia. Established more than three years ago as a shipping waypoint, Arcadia has since grown into a thriving terraformed metropolis, with vast tracks of carefully controlled wilderness, and a baffling, but beautiful array of genetically altered alien life. Ownership, and government hierarchy of Arcadia was unknown for the large part of three years, but last night this changed as the Arcadian government came out with an official statement accepting treaties terms to join the Galactic Assembly. This coming in as a major political statement by way of the GA after the withdrawal of Earth and Luna from the original accords, which have angered many in the Hunt Cabinet."

"Tim Can you tell u more about why the Hunt administration is so angry over the GA's agreement to establish formal ties with Arcadia."

"Yes Jennifer, this primarily due to the Arcadian Presidency. From what we have learned Arcadia is a constitutional monarchy overseen by three primary political members known as the Triumvirate, these including King James of New-Sparta, previously announced missing from his established settlement, Hybrid Eris Vir from Noctopolis, and... Adam Vir ."

"So this is where Adam Vir has been hiding for the past few years?"

"that does seem to be the case, Jen. We did some small investigation into the third party real estate firm that sold this planet originally, and it turns out Adam Vir was the original buyer though his name was not listed due to the third party loophole. Since the Steel eye settlement, it looks like he has been slowly funneling money into Arcadia infrastructure."

"What does this all mean. The agreement with the GA?"

"It means that, like Mars Arcadia does not recognize earth as its government, and is not part of the UN. It also means that the GA has sided with Admiral Vir in conflict with President Hunt."

"So Hunts demand to Extradite Admiral Vir back to Earth...."

"Simply a political statement, nothing more. Adam Vir is the sovereign ruler of another planet upon which Hunt has no legal rights, in a universe where he also has no legal rights, since he forfeited those when he withdrew Earth from the GA. Admiral Vir can only be detained if he is to set foot on Earth or Luna , or upon any Earth owned hub, space port, or colony that has not yet seceded from the UN."

***

The Big Talk Radio Talk Show

With Big Mike Kaminsky

"Tonight Adam Vir gives the Hunt administration another finger. Seriously this man probably has to carry his enormous brass balls around in a wheelbarrow, because Damn. Imagine being at the top of Earth's most wanted list for treason, buying a whole ass planet, making yourself king, and then formally joining the GA while President hunt sits there like an impotent screw up unable to do jack all about it."

"So, Mike I think its safe to say that you support Adam Vir?"

"Support? The man is my idol. I mean don't we all wish we could pull that sort of nuclear revenge on our shitty bosses, right? I mean this man did exactly what he should have done. At the first opportunity to save and invest money, the man must have done it because, how else can you afford to buy a planet. He was so angry with the administration that he established his own damn government. That is a level of sheer spite, that I aspire to."

"And what do you think about his involvement with Admiral Kelly's death."

"Look this particular topic is like beating a horse so dead its practically bones, but I have said it before and I will say it again. We have looked at the evidence, we have gone through the scenarios right, and basically, we have found absolutely nothing to indicate Admiral Vir had anything to do with her death. Look he's married to the daughter of the alien that killed Kelly, but all stories I have hard about the saint of Anin, say that she did not get along with her mother, so it seems weird to me that he would have any sympathy for her."

"Why do you think the Hunt administration is pushing this so hard?"

"Well, that's easy. The man screwed up and he screwed up bad, and now he is blustering in order to cover up how much he has screwed up because if anyone in their right mind looks at this, actually looks, they will see what a clusterfuck this guy has started. I mean Mars, the Europa colonies, Bramble, and other previously UN affiliated settlements have succeeded. The Martians are actively hostile, President Hunt has pulled out of the GA and most Tesraki trade agreements resulting in astronomical increases in pricing for asteroid mining equipment and other natural resources grown off world. He has completely alienated the Burg, who after joining the GA were in the process of brokering a trade agreement that would give earth access to a specialized natural plant fiber that would have revolutionized how we build ships. Like I' not exactly the biggest fan of Burg myself, but their new leader Zaran seems like a decent guy, and has formally apologized for the actions of the burg under their previous queen. Then of course we have the Celzex to consider. I mean you have a super race of tiny, murderous fluff balls, with the firepower to destroy entire solar systems, and then you alienate the one guy who made friends with them. I mean we haven't seen hide or hair of Lord Avex in almost two years since the Impetus star, and I am just wondering, when is he gonna show up with a gunship to blast earth into a crater."

***

"When indeed," The martial said leaning over in his seat to turn off the video feed, leaving him sitting in partial silence. Outside he could hear the sound of Arcadia nightlife in the distance as young men and women made their way towards the clubs and bars on the center strip of the city. A bright glowing blue Jelly floated past his window, causing Rogue to lift his head from the floor in interest.

What was he doing?

The martial had live don Arcadia for a little over two years now, after Admiral Vir's disappearance the succession from the UN and the breakdown of diplomatic relations had left him cut off, at a standstill and without support from his original bosses, "The cat is out of the bag now."

Rogue didn't rise his head, but his tail beat once or twice at the ground to the sound of the Marshal's voice.

The man leaned back in his chair to stare up at the dark ceiling.

This was all getting very complicated. President hunt now knew where Adam Vir was, which meant he would certainly get a substantial reward if he were to complete his mission. At the same time what he was doing was highly illegal, and if he were to try and attempt what he was trying to attempt than he would certainly be imprisoned for the rest of his life off-world. A part of him wanted to simply vanish into thin air, to meld into the crowd of Arcadia and become just another citizen. It wasn't a horrible idea after all, and he actually kind of liked it here.

He had a nice routine of going to work at the bar, then coming back to walk rogue. He took hikes out in the nature preserve and photographed the strange alien life that he saw there. He had made friends with some of the strange animals that he saw, including one of the seven point white stags. He knew that he could live here happily for the rest of his life, not bothering anyone and not being bothered.

But.

He still had soemthing to lose.

Were they even still alive after all this time?

After he had technically failed?

He shivered once, resting his head in his hands and running his fingers through his hair, grabbing handfuls in an attempt to calm himself. Life had been far more simple back in the day, before he had agreed to undertake this new job, before all the training, before his name was struck from the records.

Before he had been turned into a weapon.

At the time he thought he would be deposing despots, assassinating dictators, not sent on morally questionable missions to kill and capture people who didn't deserve that.

But who was more important?

His collateral.

Or his target.

He knew the truth about the Hunt administration, but he also knew that no one was going to believe him, that no one was going to help him.

He stood sharply from his seat.

Behind him his personal AI NEMO rose from her charging port in the wall.

"Time for a walk Rogue."

The dog lifted himself from his feet and trotted over to the door, his tail wagging hard as he tried to contain his excitement. The Marshal patted his dog on the head as he clipped down the dog's collar. He had paid a lot of money to get rogue, paid even more to license him as a drug sniffing dog as was required by intergalactic law, and now he was still paying for the training courses to certify himself as a handler so he could even keep rogue in the first place.

If everything worked out, he would have a job for life, a stable income and a raise. He could work with rogue all day.

But that just wasn't an option .

He hated how it couldn't be.

It sounded like such a nice alternative.

They stepped outside into the cool night air, a breeze rolling past in a slow undulating wave. The sun orbs that lined the street had been dimmed to their nighttime bluish hue illuminating the underbelly of clouds overhead. Arcadia had been getting more weather over the past few days than he had seen in the pat two years.

It had rained at least twice, one of those times being a thunderstorm.

The arcadia Echological team had announced that Arcadia's weather system was finally beginning to stabilize. The water generation systems that had been going for the past six years had finally fused enough hydrogen and oxygen to make enough natural water to create natural lakes and streams, including underground reservoirs. Artificial heating systems resulted in evaporation that lead to the creation of clouds and the generation of electrical energy.

There was even talk about a slowly growing inland sea in the northern hemisphere of Arcadia, though it was more of a large lake right now than an actual sea. It would take a few more generations until such a thing was possible.

Then of course there was the slowly growing wildlife..

Scientists had already observed behavior changes in plants and animals in response to the natural planetary chemistry and the lack of real sunlight. No one was sure what the result was going to be but a lot of people were very excited.

He wished he could be excited with them.

The martial stopped at the head of the walking street, looking down its length to the imposing black spire of the spiral tower.

Looking up he could see dim light glowing In the penthouse, and though he could detect the movement of silhouettes behind the dimmed glass.

If everything went according to plan, he would be robbing a son of their father, in one way or another