Chapter 1

"Logan Jacobs to see you sir," said Mathew Jacobs' secretary over the intercom.

"Send him in," replied Mathew as he laid the papers he was reading down. It wasn't often that he saw Logan, or his sisters, due to them living with their mother in a separate estate.

Logan walked through the door into the top floor office of his father's. It was only an office in name as it took up almost the entire top floor, with only a lift, waiting area and living quarters taking up the rest. The main room was decorated with a wide assortment of weapons, from swords and knives to handguns and assault rifles. On his desk were his pride and joy; customised Glock 17s.

"Hello Father, are you well?" Logan asked as he stood in front of his father's desk.

"Very well thank you. Our food and ore production facilities have increased their efficiency another 10%," Mathew commented. "But I doubt that is why you have come to visit me here today. The last time you were here was when you told me that you had seduced my secretary and had sex with her on my own desk, an hour before I arrived."

Logan knew is father was trying to lighten the mood and so Logan replied, "I felt it only proper to tell you. It was, after all, your desk and your secretary."

Mathew couldn't keep a straight face any longer and broke down into laughter. Logan allowed himself a grin but kept silent.

"Touché," Mathew stated as he settled down. He looked around his office before facing back to his son. "You passed your test then."

Logan understood that his father had stated that, rather then asked, and merely nodded in reply.

"When do you wish to leave?" Mathew asked. He had known this day was coming but still didn't want to accept that it had indeed come.

"As soon as I can acquire a ship and a small crew," Logan explained.

"Have you told anyone else? Your sisters or mother?" Mathew asked. He was already planning what he was going to do.

"Not yet. I am going to tell them at dinner this evening. I felt I should tell you first as you are my father," Logan explained.

"Thank you for the consideration. What kind of ship and crew were you seeking to acquire?" Mathew asked his son.

"Something small, fast, moderately armed with good stealth capabilities. Self-sufficient for between 6 and 9 months, crew should be between 3-6 and maybe a few bots. I'm still working out the fine details but when I do, I'll let you know," Logan said.

"Thank you. As much as you would like to do it yourself, I would like to help in anyway I could. Our house has resources that could be put to good use," Mathew said.

"Thank you for the offer," Logan said. He was grateful for the offer but was a little upset that the House had come into the conversation. He had tried to avoid it in his life as much as he could and grow as a person on merit alone but it had always slipped in a little everywhere. At least he could be grateful that he wasn't the house heir; that honour went to his brother, the son of his father's first wife. "I must be off; I have a dinner to attend."

"I don't envy you," Mathew said with a chuckle as Logan walked out of his office with a wave. He smiled at the secretary, who smiled back, both remembering what they had done almost 3 years previous. Logan had been just 15 then, and exploring sex in as many forms as he could. Logan took one last look at her as the elevator doors closed and he started to descend.

On ground level, Logan exited the elevator and calmly walked through the lobby and out the door into a waiting limo. As soon as his door was closed, it pulled away from the curb as Logan indicated for the driver to take him home. With an hour trip in front of him, Logan sat back and recalled everything that had changed that brought him to this moment.

It all started on July 3^rd, 2006. 2004 XP14, a near earth asteroid passed within 500,000km of Earth. Everybody expected it to continue on its way and were completely and utterly surprised when it started to slow and settled into an orbit similar to the moon's. What followed next was both historical and eye-opening. Exactly 24 hours after the asteroid slowed, Earth received its first communication from a non-terrestrial intelligence.

The Raenil, as they were called, were a civilisation that travelled the Galaxy, exploring it to meet new races and to try and understand everything that they had seen from the land on their home world. The asteroid was hollowed out and used as a spacecraft, allowing them to travel relatively safely through hundreds of systems, exploring them. When they detected how advanced our world was, they decided to make contact with us and pass on some gifts.

They didn't stay long, only 3 months, but in that time they changed the course of humanity with the technology they left behind. It wasn't much, but its value was beyond comprehension.

Fusion reactor technology was shared and humans now had a clean and relatively plentiful source of power. Medical technology was given which doubled the human lifespan and cured almost all diseases on Earth. Computer and robotics technology was revealed that humans had only dreamed about and were decades away from developing. Humans developed their first true AI just one year after the Raenil left. The last three gifts were meant to encourage Humans to explore more and they did just that.