Phantasm 2: In the Shadow of Iniquity (one)

Earth Year 2273.

Two centuries ago the human-led confederation of worlds, the Commonwealth of Races, was established. Dozens of alien races were encountered in the time that elapsed, some openly displaying hostility towards the Commonwealth and its relatively peaceful ideals, others showing warmth and many of these entered the Commonwealth's alliance of species, while some others were neutral or somewhere in-between.

In 2216 the members of the Commonwealth of Races, the Shurukian Star Empire, seceded due to conflict regarding disputed border territories, effectively splintering the Commonwealth. Tensions escalated to full-scale war. The war lasted well over half a century. Many lives were sacrificed. The Shurukian warriors were advanced and far superior than the soldiers of the Commonwealth and would have swept through the populated systems and core-worlds had they not been challenged by the Chosen, the Commonwealth's secret weapon in the war. The general public knew little about the Chosen, only that they possessed powerful telepathic abilities and could slip inside the mind of an enemy and destroy it from within.

On Earth, homeworld of the Commonwealth, Laura Wilcox began to develop powers she could not control. A young woman struggling to mature and achieve her independence, she became able to see and "hear" the private, intimate thoughts other people harboured. Laura could reach out with her mind to touch them and within them she discovered a gateway leading to the soul of a person. She became able to grasp memories and experiences along a vast network of minds, learning from them, gaining knowledge she would not otherwise have been able to possess in a society where the input of information was fiercely regulated. And within them, similarly, she found that she could take hold of feelings and emotions as well. She could penetrate to a deeper level and touch the raw essence of a person, extending her awareness to encompass a greater area of the network of minds, allowing her to touch more and more people. Suddenly she knew their personal beliefs and prejudices, could feel the pains and the hurts and the joys and the triumphs, sharing in them all as though she knew them intimately.

After a time she developed a genuine mistrust of other people. She had access to the real truth that existed within people and all she saw was pain and greed and what appeared to be common amongst almost everyone: self-obsession. She wanted to hide away and not touch what she saw but couldn't and was forced to face it again and again. Each time it overwhelmed her. Each time she touched it she took back parts within her. For a time Laura was concerned what she touched and incorporated from others into herself was tainting her, that the corruption and the evil she witnessed were taking hold inside her as well, evil begetting evil.

What she witnessed inside others was confirmed when she was nearly raped by a Joker, a hooligan from one of the main gangs who had made Capital (her home city) their territory. She used her ability to call for assistance and escaped but she was severely traumatised by the assault; even in later years the memories of her ordeal would haunt Laura, keeping her on a constant edge of alertness.

By using her ability in such a fashion she attracted the attention of James Silverburgh, a high-ranking officer in the Commonwealth's military. He managed to apprehend her attacker and tracked Laura, making contact with her. At length he explained that she had the potential to become one of the Chosen, the protectors of the Commonwealth and its many citizens.

Laura left her family behind her, leaving with Silverburgh for a space station deep inside an area of space controlled by the Commonwealth, an installation that also doubled as a training facility for the Chosen. There, in the limited gravity environment, Laura was taught to control her abilities as they developed, shown the ways of the Chosen by her instructor Noah.

The facility was home to some twenty-thousand people at that time, many of them civilians residing on the promenade. Amongst them was a creature named Willow, an alien unlike any other. Willow was kept in almost complete darkness in her home on the promenade by Diana, an elderly woman who claimed to care for her as a friend and a guardian while simultaneously charging admission fees for people to see her.