Adam looked out from high rise window and out over the dark, glistening metal of the midnight city. Inside his chest something thrilled with the beating of his heart. Overhead, looking up at the vast field of stars, he could almost see the warping of the artificial atmosphere that held the city in place upon this craggy asteroid.

His asteroid.

It was a long story, sort of difficult to explain, but back when he was still a member of the UNSC he had gotten in contact with a realtor of sorts, this Tesraki was a contractor for a large mining company that was selling the rights to land in asteroids for acres on the dollar, the only stipulation on the contract was that the asteroid HAD to provide a net profit that was higher than its maintenance. And of course with prices that low, Adam didn't see why he shouldn't own his own asteroid and lease it over as a docking station or a waypoint of some sort.

Back then he hadn't foreseen what was going to hap, but he had purchased the deed to the asteroid through a third party, which meant while his name was on the deed, it wasn't in GA records. That is kind of how the Tesraki preferred to do business as letting someone know who owned what assets was often a bad idea in their cutthroat world of economics.

So, he had a penthouse on the moon and a random asteroid.

For a little extra income, he had leased some of the land out to a shipping and warehouse company, who built a small station on his asteroid and paid him in rent every few months or so. They were quiet and its not like they could do anything to mess up his asteroid while he thought about something better to do with it.

After a while, the small asteroid turned out to sit in the middle of a relatively strategic shipping route, mostly moving textiles, and another company had come in offering to "terraform" the asteroid as it were, though the meaning of the word was far removed from its original sci-fi roots, or like the reality of what they had done on mars.

Now when he said small asteroid, he wasn't exactly giving the hunk of rock enough credit.

If it had been in closer orbit of a planet, it would definitely have counted as a moon, in fact, based on calculations done by the mining company, the asteroid had actually been misclassified as an asteroid and should have been marked as an exoplanet,

It was bigger than Pluto after all..

So, when he said small asteroid.

What he actually meant was small sizzed moon.

Yeah, yeah, he knew those things were two completely different objects and hardly worth comparing, but if he thought too much about the fact that he owned his own exo-planet, he'd probably jump high enough to exit its gravitational pull and float off into space.

Even so, the company they had been working with had set down gravity field generators, and then pumped the correct mixture of breathable atmosphere out onto the rock. They had left the generators out for a while, while the asteroid collected nearby dust and rocks with its newfound earth gravity, and when that was done, they had gone about building residential areas for the workers on the waypoint, hotels and.

Eventually

Cooperate buildings.

Before he knew what had happened , he was the owner of a small moon and the small city that came with it.

This was a fact he had kept in his back pocket with some difficulty, but the last few years had seen him too busy to visit his little moon, and he wasn't aware of just hos much they had done in his absence.

But now things had changed.

His little resistance force was in need of a base of operations, and everyone had been delighted to find the moon waiting for them, or asteroid or exoplanet or whatever it was.

The city had only grown since then.

Ever since President Hunt had signed a congressional bill making LFIL activity.... Not necessarily illegal, but he was requiring some sort of registration, so the government knew who. This was, supposedly, in an effort to curb the spread of the void sickness, even though everyone knew that's not how it spread and the bill was just a front for making LFIL activities illegal again, on earth and all her colonies.

Since then his little moon had been inundated with LFIL refugees fleeing from stigma and oppression in other parts of the galaxy.

This was not to mention the entire clan of Neo-spartans and Drev, who got along so well that they had simultaneously affected the entire architecture of the city , all while developing a rich mixed culture of warriors.

Black marble and stone set in the Greek style with gymnasiums and statues.

Strange to see Leonidas and Lanus standing side by side, carved in white marble standing atop their black plinths, strange to see how the neo-Spartans adapted their old life to the future without losing their essence.

Ok yeah he couldn't pretend it was an asteroid, the small exo planet had a 5,000 mile circumference, a little smaller than earth's moon.

His moon did not adhere to earth standards.

It had taken a lot of legal, and illegal, documenting and layers, but eventually he had managed to make his little moon and independent nation, run by an unknown benefactor. Anyone was welcome, including LFIL affiliated people, and refugees.

Crazy how unbelievably rich steeling a ship from the UNSC and going rogue could make you.

Rich enough now that he had promised the kind of sparta his own SE2 suit to go with his upgrades.

Neo-Sparta was actually a region on his planet now, having promised half of the moon to the kind of Sparta, which he could do with as he liked, though he was always welcome in the city.

Shortly after they had all moved in, Adam had commissioned the help of genetics experts and biologists to give his planet a little life.

Since it was a terraformed planet, GA law allowed him to create his own ecosystem, and even now the plans beyond where the Neo-spartan civilization ended, you could hear the howling of roving wolves, and see lines upon lines of genetically altered saplings growing faster than they should have in less light than they needed.

Alien fauna and flora mixed together to create a beautiful and strange landscape.

A landscape which he had demanded include bioluminescence.

If there was one mistake the architect had made when designing earth, it had been not to include enough bioluminescence.

He could see the glow now, just beyond the city, a sort of pale green haze on the horizon from where the plant life lit up the night.

More light lit up the sky behind him, and he turned to the opposite window to find.... His most lucrative achievement yet.

The Hippodrome

Yeah, yeah, yeah he knew that the word had originally referred only to an arena designed specifically for chariot and horse racing, but it sounded cool, and he wasn't willing to let a bit of technicality stop him from doing soemthing interesting.

He headed there now, taking his private elevator down through the building and into the atrium, where water features ran down the side of the room, and glowed with small pink bioluminescent flowers floating on lily pads. Strange pail trees, not dissimilar to coil trees sprouted from the water, though their branches hung like those of weeping willows filling the room with the heady, fragrant scent of flowers.

He had his own private walkway from the penthouse to the Hippodrome, and even now he could hear the howling of a crowd, and the roaring of an announcer hyping up their fervent hunger for battle.

Gladiatorial battle, the important distinction being they did not fight to the death, and the Gladiators were paid volunteers.

The announcer spoke with the familiar caustic sarcasm he always had.

Conn did have a flare for the dramatic, and he enjoyed getting the opportunity to ridicule people on a grand scale.

He didn't bother heading to the upper box, but instead descended deeper into the arena walls and down into the basement where he found the combatants waiting.

"I still don't think this is fair." He said

Sunny turned to look at him, her bright golden eyes sharp, "You loaded yourself into a railgun without telling me and then made me pull the trigger without knowing it. So, I think I don't have to listen to anything you say."

"Than fight me." He said feeling that his voice came across a little more winy than he intended.

Across the room James, the King of Sparta was cracking his knuckles one by one and rolling his neck on his shoulders.

"No, The king of Sparta vs the saint of Anin." His voice was filled with excitement and hunger, "The stadium is already filled to max capacity, and it would be wrong to disappoint our audience."

He picked up his spear and slammed it against the ground shedding sparks and causing a pulse of blue light to roll up through the shaft.

Sunny crossed her arms, "This is your punishment. You do something I don't like and I fight the idiot who gave you the idea."

The king of Sparta only smiled tightly as he as he pulled off his cape and hung it against the wall. He knew that he was going to need every advantage.

He wasn't an idiot, and he didn't tend to overestimate his abilities.

Adam sighed, "Alright, fine." He stepped back, "But don't hurt each other too badly."
The two of them gave him the same disappointed look before he retreated up to his box where he would be relegated to watching the fight. Off to his side Conn was using his new voice to hype up the crowd.

The implant at the base of his throat was almost invisible, and so was the wire that connected the microphone to the base of his skull.

No longer did he require his translation gloves, just the impulses from his brain to create a voice, a voice that Adam had been surprised to learn was modeled off the voice that he had given Conn inside his head, a voice he had been surprised to hear out loud for the first time to the point where he almost spit out his drink the moment he heard it.

He wasn't surprised when Ramirez stepped into the box next to him and took a seat. As usual his friend wasn't wearing a shirt, and his past few weeks spending time with the Spartans..... and an old fling of his, had not been unkind to his body.

"Showoff." Adam grumbled.

Ramirez grinned at him.

He didn't have any digital tattoos, which were popular now among the crew having argued once that he wouldn't want to deprive anyone of pure bodily perfection.

Adam had snorted.

"Simon called in about half an hour ago, her patrol seems to be going well, the crew is behaving themselves."

He nodded once, "Good."

Ramirez gave him an appraising look and then grinned.

Adam frowned, "What?"

"Just look at you.... Come a long way since Little lieutenant Vir Biffed it on Proxima B." He waved a hand in Adam's general direction, "Now look at you, the pirate king!"

Adam frowned, he hadn't thought of it that way.

"And this place." Ramirez went on, "Pirate's cove."

Adam shook his head in amusement, allowing Ramirez to prattle on, "You're like space Al Capone, the Don of a new criminal empire."

He said it with enthusiasm, but Adam couldn't help but feel a slight bit of melancholy. He had enver wanted to be a criminal, just acknowledging the word was hard enough for him to do. He wanted to believe he was just doing the right thing, but now, thinking about it he wondered if he was letting his vanity and greed get in the way.

All of a sudden the opulence of the stadium and.... And everything struck him.

Ramirez saw the change on his face, reaching out a hand to rest on Adam's shoulder, "That's not what I meant. You've created soemthing good here, a new life for these people, something good, something with hope." He shook Adam once, "This is a good thing, so stop moping."

Adam smiled ruefully, "I hardly call commissioning glow I the dark flowers to be moping."

"It's a good thing you're a big fat nerd, otherwise we wouldn't get anything cool around here."

"LADIES, GENTLEMAN, and the other several thousand of you who barely warrant acknowledging. THE HIPPODROME PRESENTS, THE SAINT VS..... THE KING."

The crowd roared, erupting out of their seats, their hands waving manically over their heads.

"In the first corner." Conn's voice echoed all around them as Adam found him leaning, unintentionally far forward in his seat. He tried to rein himself in but the excitement was palpable.

"The KING OF SPARTA." The crowd continued to roar as James steppe d out onto the field, his arms and chest bare, his shining golden shield held in one arm, a spear tight in the other. His golden helmet and red plume glowed in he light of the stadium as he thrust his spear into the air drawing the screams of the crowd.

"Hailing from... Canada of all places this 6'2 muscle bound neanderthal is sure to rip you bodily limb from limb just for his pre warmup." Adam smiled at Conn's disparaging style of announcing.

"And opposing him! The SAINT OF ANIN!"

The crowd roared again, Drev battle cries clawing towards the ceiling as Sunny stepped onto the field.

She had no shield, but wore her glimmering pearl armor.

"Hailing at only 7 feet tall, the saint of Anin is the shortest and most useless saint Anin has ever had, you know ever since we learned god isn't real and the spirits are dead."

Adam rolled his eyes.

"Gladiators!"

Sunny and James raised their spears, "Hail, Sentinel, those who are about to fight salute you!"

Adam rolled his eyes at the sheer drama, but the crowd roared with approval.

"Opponents bow!"

Sunny and James turned bowing sharply to each other before pacing backwards into defensive stances.

Adam saw Sunny was holding her spear for fire style fighting. James was less flashy holding his shield in front of his body and bracing his spear towards sunny against the Rim as they circled.

The crowd grew quiet with anticipation.

Adam found himself leaning forward involuntarily his eyes wide.

It was sunny who made the first move, charging inward with her spear aloft battering into James's shield and attempting to throw him off balance. He met her attack with distain, shoving her back and jabbing at her with his spear, which she caught with the reverse end of her weapon batting it away.

They separated only momentarily before locking back into combat. Overhead the massive holoprojection zoomed in close on their fight, giving it a cinematic quality the fight just didn't have seen from such a distance.

Drone cameras buzzed around them as they fought.

Sunny swept at his legs, which he jumped over, ducking just in time to avoid another swipe and deflecting a reverse blow to skid across his shield. Batting her spear aside he thrust towards her chest which she dodged, bringing her hand down fast enough to grab the shaft of the spear with one hand.

Her advantage didn't last long as with, one mighty pull, he dragged her inward and clobbered her with his shield, scoring the first real hit the fight had seen.

The crowd roared as she skidded back regaining her balance and flipping her spear to a steadier stone stance, likely against the effectiveness of his shield., not moments later they connected again. She batted aside his spear with her forearm, ducked past another thrust of his shield, and somehow managed to cut through his guard and ring his helmet like a bell. He almost lost his balance as the crowd screamed for blood, but he was upright faster than she could take advantage of his downed guard.

They circled for a moment and then roared back into the fight. James switched tactics discarding his spear and pulling out his short sword.

He did it so quickly that it almost caught her off guard, sliding it past his shield and towards her torso. She broth her spear down catching the blade on the center of the weapon with a jarring ring before bringing her spear around to aim at his head again, though he blocked it easily with his shield.

Adam was poised on the edge of his seat now, eager to know who the victor would be.

"YAWN." Conn announced, "I've seen slap fights more interesting than this! Oh, but I have a fun idea."

Sunny and James knew something was up almost immediately as the ground began to rumble as the sand of the arena below was slowly covered by a large rolling slab of stone.

Both of them leaped upward, landing neatly on the rolling cover as it sealed shut. While Sunny was watching her feet, James lunged forward taking her by surprise, though she brought her spear up last minute, legs wobbly and unbalanced. He kicked at her leg and sent her to her knee, but was thwarted when she used the power in her legs to lunge forward at a low angle, hitting his shield so hard he was knocked backwards, tripping as the slab jolted into place.

He rolled to the side just as one of the slabs pushed itself upward, and then all around them they were surrounded by a forest of stone.

Spectators cheered on the artificial terrain. James took the high ground, but Sunny went low, aiming for his legs. He was forced to jump to another pillar as she raced up after him. Despite his foot height, she was still tall enough it didn't matter. They danced over the top of the pillars exchanging blows, leaping and jumping when it was warranted.

Sunny executed a short set of movements over three small pillars, battering him with her momentum, and then clipping his shield so hard he was thrown backward, and his sandal slipped on the stone.

He yelped as he fell, catching himself with one hand, dropping his sword, but forced to let himself down as Sunny plunged her spear towards him.

He landed in a crouch next to his sword, and she leaped down after him.

He tried to position himself to take account o her fall, and thrust his sword to where he elgs would be, not cutting her but tripping her up badly.

He kicked sharply contacting her back and causing her to stagger forward, but instead of falling she rolled snatching his discarded spear from the ground with her other hand, coming up armed with two weapons instead of one

Still it wasn't ideal, the weapon was long, and wielding both would be difficult.

So she went for a different tactic hurling the spear directly towards him.

He batted it out of the air with his shield, but his momentary distraction allowed her to charge forward. She dropped her spear low scoring first blood as a shallow gash along his ribcage.

The crowd howled ravenously.

And then with a resounding crash and grumble, water began pouring into the stadium.

Both combatants were thrown off guard as their feet were immediately drenched in ankle deep water. Sunny took the opportunity, kicking up a wave of water to blind him again as she lunged inward, but his shield was thrown up last minute blocking her spear and the worst of the water.

Droplets rained down as they splashed through the deepening shallows, force to find refuge overhead on the tall pillars as the stadium was slowly flooded. Soon the water was well above head height as the two balanced atop the stone monoliths exchanging blows back and forth.

Then James pulled out another one of his tricks.

His SE armor whirred to life and he leaped completely over her head spinning in mid air before coming to land on a pillar above her.

Sunny didn't seem surprised and followed. The sound of metal on metal rung through the stadium, and the crowd cheered booed and screamed as bets were traded and voices were raised. Beside him Ramirez too leaned forward in his seat. James unleashed a devastation set of attacks slamming his sword repeatedly into the haft of her spear. The shock wave going up her arms must have been incredible, but she managed not to fall, her heel hanging precariously over the edge. He was pressing her hard now with all his fury, not relenting.

And Adam knew who was going to win.

Knew it by the look on Sunny's face.

He was leaning out over the edge now, his eyes wide.

And watched as she moved at speeds unmatched by anything he had ever seen.

She brought her spear low and forward catching James under the arms and against the chest. It wasn't offensive enough to hurt him, and too close in for her spear to be affective, but she was inside his guard too, and with widening eyes of understanding, James tried to backpedal, only for sunny to drop backwards, hitting the very edge of the pillar flat on her back, and using her foot to lever James over her head and bodily fling him from the pillar. His legs and arms flailed as he fell, impacting the water with a monstrous splash and eruption of water, his metal shield helmet and greaves, quickly dragging him down.

The shield would be the hardest to deal with, and as the seconds ticked by , Adam held his breath.

An then James burst from the water a few yards away sputtering and hacking, his shield gone as he clawed his way out onto the stone, dripping and weaponless. He had to get rid of his shield and needed the other hand to undue the straps .

Sunny was not about to let this advantage go, and raced towards him.

He managed to catch her spear in his hands clinging to it even as he dripped and coughed. They pressed against each other, testing their strength, but pound for pound Drev are more dense, and stronger than your average human.

She forced him to his knees, and then to his back.

He tried kicking at her, but she was too smart for that.

The haft of the spear was pressed against his throat.

She could kill him if she wanted.

A horn blasted somewhere, and Sunny turned her head to Adam, the entire stadium did their eyes eager.

Adam stood waiting and watching as the crowd held out their hands thumbs down chanting for a little more spectacle.

Adam waited theatrically allowing the moment to build, before slowly raising his hand, and turning down his thumb with the shake of his head.

And then Sunny tipped the king of Sparta back into the water with a loud splash.

The stadium roared with amusement as he came up for air the second time.

"THE SAINT, GIVEN HOLY POWER, SO SHORT SHES THE DEFINITION OF THE NAPOLEAN COMPLEX. OUR WINNER, THE SAINT OF ANIN!"

The crowd roared as the stadium slowly began to drain, and The King of Sparta defeated shook water from himself and retrieved his things.

Adam hurried down to meet them worried that James might be resentful of losing the fight.

But when he walked in smiling chin raised, he let a sigh of relief go unnoticed.

One of the best fights I have ever had. You will have to teach me some of what you know, as I certainly intend to defeat you one day." He was saying to Sunny

Adam held back glad she had found a new friend.

Listening as sunny began a small lecture on some minor form she thought might work really well with his use of a shield.

Standing there back pressed against the stone, he could almost forget what had brought him to this place.

And the Void lurking beyond.