Claire sighed as her hair floats around her, shrouding her in gold.No matter how many times I see it, I’ll never get used to it. She leans back relaxing as she stares at the Penguin Nebula. It was the most beautiful sight she’s ever seen and was her most favorite spot. Whenever she had a run to do in space she always made sure to stop and take in the view, mainly the Nebula. Claire lost herself as she stared into the star nursery when her wrist began to beep. The silence shattered, Claire glared at her beckoning “FP” tattoo and jerked her hand open, answering the call.

“Where the hell are you?”

It was Abby, her Handler, “You know where I am.”

Claire stared as the mini hologram version of Abby within the palm of her hand crosses her arms in irritation, “I mean why haven’t you come back yet? Did you get the supplies?”

Being a Handler was hard work, or so they say. Many Handlers were Humans or Mages with little to no magic. They worked for the Guild and gave their assigned Mages their work assignments but also monitored their magic. If a Mage was using magic in the wrong way, for the wrong reasons, it’s up to the Handler to let the higher ups know so appropriate action could be taken. In Claire’s opinion Handlers are nothing more than people spying on them, watching their every move, nick picking everything they do and nagging them about every job to be done. But Claire is lucky, she’ll admit that. She and Abby became fast friends and have a strong friendship. Abby’s Human but she’s never judged Claire and even stood by her side when Claire was put on trial for the “unlawful use of magic” at that construction site five years ago. Abby felt responsible for she accepted the assignment and gave it to Claire and no matter what Claire said, it wasn’t her fault.

Claire’s job this time was to collect precious metal supplies from asteroids in space, and she does tend to lag behind heading home. “Yes I’ve got them. Can’t I enjoy the view? It doesn’t get any better than this.”

Claire gestured to the Nebula behind holo Abby but she barely moved, “Hurry up. Boss wants to see you.”

Claire raised her eyebrow, perplexed, “Really? Why?”

“I don’t know!” Abby was clearly irate today, “He just said to get you in his office ASAP.”

Abby began to mutter about the piles of paperwork forever on her desk as the holo flicked off. Claire began to wonder what this could be about as she took one last look at the Nebula and headed home. Quick as a flash she flew through space at warp drive and was in Earth’s solar system within minutes. In another blink she was flaming through the atmosphere and made her way to the processing plant. Once there the workers directed her to the unloading area and she opened a hole into her special dimension and dumped all the supplies she collected. All the workers came out to see the show and were soon clapping and cheering at all the new stocks. This was one of the few perks of Mage work. There are times where, you do do good.

Some John Hancock's later and Claire steps out into the parking lot holding out her left wrist. She jerks open her hand again much like before and a holo Fairy appears smiling a pleasant secretary smile, “Destination please.”

“Master Melvin’s office.”

“Code?”

“07032812.”

“Code accepted. Please wait as the port is opened.”

The holo flicked off and Claire stood there patiently as magic began to hum around her. Before she could start tapping her foot the portal opened above her head and sucked her in much like a vacuum and blinked out with a flash of light. Claire held her breathe as her body was stretch and bent, going all kinds of twists and turns until finally her feet met solid ground. She found herself in Melvin’s lobby with his secretary, Doris, clacking away at the keys.

Never looking up Doris gestures absently over her shoulder, “He’s expecting you, go in.”

“If he’s expecting me why didn’t he let the portal go into his office?”

Claire was asking this as she walked to the door and got her answer when she walked in. Three faces turned to see her and she could tell something big was happening. Melvin was sitting behind his desk, his massive frame blocking much of the light from the window behind him. When Claire first came into this office at 5 years of age, he reminded her of Santa, but a very cut, very fit Santa. He never had hair that she could remember and kept his workout routine so his muscles never lacked. He had a round head with round everything, ears, eyes, nose, mouth. He had a white beard that was never longer than ¼ inch and would scratch it when deep in thought. His massive frame came from his Giant blood, though diluted through the generations. No one knew just how long he’s been the Guild Boss or what magic he was capable of but he was definitely the type of man you would want on your side. The two other men sitting before the desk however, intrigued Claire.

They were clearly human and wore work suits, much like lawyers and paper-pushers, and that was her answer. They’ve probably never seen a Mage before let alone magic, so Melvin made her exit the portal in his lobby rather than right in front of the men, startling them. All three of them stood as Claire shut the door behind her and walked to the center of the room.

“You wanted to see me, sir?”

“Yes Claire please have a sit. Oh uh, this is Mr. Malcome and Mr. Gerowe.”

He pointed to each man in turn and Claire shook their out stretched hands and sat. There was an awkward silence as the two suits were clearly unsure of what to do next and Melvin looking just as uncertain.

No longer being able to stand the silence Claire cleared her throat, “What is it sir?”

Melvin scratched his beard looking as if he wanted to be anywhere else, “There’s been an order from the Joint Unit.”

Claire blinked in shocked; there’s never been an order from the Joint Unit before. Back in 1892, approximately 100 years after the Guild was formed, the young American government issued a warning to the Guild. Work with us, or against us. Rogue Mages were on the raise and crime and violence were climbing. Everyone was being murdered, humans and Mages. The government called to the Guild for help and they never out rightly refused, but help was never given either. So when they gave the warning, the Guild Head at that time worked with them to create the Joint Unit.

They were in task of handling communications between the government and the Guild and to help keep the relationships between humans and Mages a peaceful one. It was the Joint Unit that first came up with the license idea and all the laws and protocols with it and it was them that created projects and jobs to help build the bridges between Mages and humans. The only items to pass through the Unit were items that were voted on equally from both sides, made up of both humans and Mages. Like anything when you put a group of two people in a room there will be fights and debates but miracles do happen when something is agreed on by all sides. That’s why it’s so rare to receive an order from the Unit. They hardly agree on anything even in the 23rd century.

“What was it?”

Claire looked around at all three faces as no one answered and felt her anger rising. She knew nothing good could come of it so she did her best as she waited for someone to say something. She didn’t have to wait long when Mr. Malcome answered, or was it Mr. Gerowe?

“They want us to build a Joint Task Force.”

“But we already have one. Them.”

“No, no. A police Task Force.”

The other suit answered that one which confused Claire even more, “But why, it’s redundant. The Guild already has the Mage Knight Patrol and they don’t bother any local PD.”

“They was us to create a new unit, a new department comprising of both Humans and Mages.”

Melvin was the one to say that as Claire stared at him, “But I don’t understand. Why now? Why together? We already have police for ourselves as do the humans. Why do we need to create a whole new thing?”

“Because the Knights only handles extreme cases with very dangerous Mages, too dangerous for humans to handle. That leaves petty Mages with petty crimes who can still do major harm, loose out there up against the humans. This new department will handle everyday crimes and mysteries that regular police can’t handle.”

As Claire thought it over, the more it made sense. There were all kinds of warlocks and witches out there that do more harm than good and the MKP does do a good job of finding them and stripping them of their powers. But for little things like messing with the weather of a small town or using magic wrongly against a human, the Knights tend to overlook them thinking the local PDs can handle them when in truth more lives are hurt or even lost when humans try to corner a petty Mage. So it’s understandable why this new unit is being made but the timing just seems wrong to her.

“Well ok, yeah I get that, but what does this have to do with me?”

Throats were cleared on either side of her and she looked at each in turn, turning back to Melvin, “You’re the first Mage transferring over.”