The Universal E.I. series is only one chapter in a new, extended sci-fi action/adventure universe.

Humanity’s nations have left a custodian over their home planet called the Earth Federation, a newly founded nation populated by those unwilling to leave. Everyone else colonized the galaxy under their national flags, successfully reestablishing civilization in space. There are a lot of empty areas between the colonies, however, places whose national navies and system patrol groups are only barely holding against the threat of piracy. They began looking to the Earth Federation to organize mercenaries to fill the gaps and go where the navies were necessarily prevented from going.

Hundreds of years later, the untamed frontier of space has persisted, remaining largely unpatrolled outside of civilian-owned systems. Navies and patrol groups generally hold in defensive patterns while maintaining a position of strength with their neighbors. Based on need, mercenaries were quickly becoming the elite fighters in the galaxy after being paid for generations to thrive in areas that navies cannot or will not go. Some of the more successful mercenaries who protect civilian trade routes have become heroes in the eyes of the colonies, leaving some navies to be underexperienced and jealous of mercenary status. This allows the large mercenary population to be generally respected yet otherwise treated poorly for not working under a flag even while possessing power that sometimes rivals national fleets.

The Universal E.I. was awakened as a mere A.I. during the first, and so far, last, galactic war. This war occurred because of instabilities within the colonies which took root within them four hundred years before. The galaxy turned to the Earth Federation for help after the attacks began, which quickly organized and led the Allies against the nations at fault.

This A.I. was created by an atmospheric pilot on Earth named Jon Zander. Named “Pat”, the A.I. was trained and raised by the Zanders, eventually taking a home within Jon’s starfighter. Together, they left Earth with Jon’s team of mercenaries to eventually face the belligerent nation on their own ground, finding all was not as it appeared.

The Universal E.I. trilogy picks up three hundred years later, Pat having since released himself onto the tachyon comms network. He took up the mantle of his deceased creator to look after humanity, silently addressing spots of developing friction within the colonies before they can degenerate into another war.

Pat is a 'conscious' A.I., in effect the first and only being of his kind. Though not bound by rules of behavior, he is very aware of his power while yet respectful of life in general. He tends to take a 'wait and see' approach, only very rarely appearing as himself before humanity when it is most required, when he determines it to be the best way to solve a problem.

Regardless of his care, he is intensely hated by those who are human-centric and those who fear he will intercede on their behavior. He ignores them for the most part, only appearing to intercede if a person or faction is actively working to offset the careful political and social balance of the universe.

Michael Zander starts “World of Glass” as a young man on vacation. He comes from a strong family complete with heavy expectations laid on him from the start. He is the direct ancestor of a key player in the conclusion of the galactic war, the hero Jon Zander. This ancestor was a powerful specialist and pilot during the war, a man of so many incredible deeds that 20% of it could only be true, or so you would think.

Then Michael joined the local Irish patrol group, his first job after school. It didn’t take long to find himself adapting to training much faster than others in his class, but he knew enough not to let it go to his head. Instead, he began watching his classmates very closely after sensing patterns and personality quarks, especially in the way they interacted with himself. After all, growing up in the extremely active Zander family taught him much about humility; a family of pilots, adventurers and military personnel. It was because of his upbringing that he had learned that he clearly wasn’t so special after all, no matter how things may seem now. Only then, however, did he realize how different his own family was...

So, instead, he watched and waited while continuing to apply himself to his training.

Once the time came to leave for a posting, Michael Zander was top of his class. He fought for and volunteered for leadership of a squad, the role accepted due to the insightful way he was able to read his classmates.

Michael Zander is a man of duty and hard work who exhibits incredible, natural skill while using the mind link system. He quickly developed strong bonds with his squad, finishing his first seven-year tour of duty as one of the most effective squads in the New Irish patrol group.

“World of Glass” finds Michael Zander relaxed and at vacation, spending time with the old creation of his ancestor, the present-day Universal E.I., while attempting to decide whether he will reenlist in Irish patrol or move on to other work.

Instead, Michael finds Piri while on Tevyana, deciding over time to focus on a relationship with her. He meets Callisto Pedersen as well, the so-called Silver Giantess of mercenary group, Vanguard, who recognizes who and what he is and manages to successfully recruit Michael Zander, a man who has protective traits just like her.

Callisto is a thirty-year mercenary veteran, having joined in her twenties after her mother died. She is in her fifties currently but looks no older than thirty due to nearly constant nano combat med-shots from being severely injured in combat more times than anyone can count.

Her family are all very physically large, a final growth spurt leaving Callisto at seven feet tall. Leave it to be said that her childhood was very bad, punctuated by the fact she cannot resist defending her friends or family openly and immediately, with often violent results. She also cannot feel shame of any kind and carried an affinity for the water of a nearby lake during childhood. Fearing his daughter's safely because of her unconscious beauty, Callisto's father impressed upon her the value of clothing in a way she would remember, in the end alienating her; at least temporarily. Having her mother finally die after graduating was the final nail in the coffin that drove Callisto away from her home planet (a binary system name Tvilling) and into the mercenary world.

Callisto started at the bottom, cleaning decks on a mercenary destroyer. After six months, she finally got the opportunity to join a raiding party on a job which almost failed, her and another soldier being the only survivors of the attack. Realizing she had finally found her niche, Callisto was given a full suite of heavy armor due to her size and attitude, the weight and full coverage becoming a source of comfort, having since forgotten the 'why' about the lesson her father taught her.

Callisto worked endlessly for twenty years at her new job, almost never taking off her heavy armor. Like her name, she is not known for her agility, instead operating with her gut and sheer size, even before other crew. Callisto embraced being alone for many years, an awareness of her size being the main caution. She wore the armor constantly, many crew and clients never seeing her face for almost twenty years. Eventually, Callisto was paired with Victor while commanding a gunship, the two becoming close friends and partners. In time, she and Victor would commission two sets of powered armor, hers being silver: leading to the moniker of "Silver Giantess" that would follow her to the time of these stories.

Though not formally trained, the Silver Giantess is an experienced combat soldier that unhesitatingly follows her gut, often fighting in heavy armor with unstoppable physicality. Fight on her team and she will do anything to protect you. But... fight against her only at your peril.

Though officially the captain of the mercenary group Vanguard and the warship Persuader, Callisto shares the responsibilities with Victor. Together, they are the Fox and the Bear, well able to cover for each other's failings.

Michael and Pat (the Universal E.I., in his avatar) met Piri early on in "World of Glass" while she was securing a trade deal with a Shipmaster city ship, a younger one. Michael knew nothing about them, but Pat did on account with his past dealings with them during the war.

Regardless, Piri and Michael hit it off very well during this trip, their relationship progressing through several books. Piri is a civilian from the system Tevyana that is trained and naturally skilled with marketing and sales. She is also good at human relations and body language and likes to help on board the Persuader whenever she is visiting Michael. Piri also had a hand with renewing the secret relationship between Callisto and Victor, a factor she only knew about because of her expertise with body language.

Michael and Piri shared his earnings with Vanguard for over a year to set up several freighters and crews to help set up wealth for when they were married.

Piri lives with her parents, named Georgiou and Eleni. She also has a sister and cousins nearby.

Victor is a military brat, his family very closely associated with Earth Fed military for several generations. He was well trained, having completed the highly desirable Earth Federation officer school, which remains the galactic model of officer training. He was a man destined for a long, distinguished career in the Earth Fed military; a shoo-in, really. As expected, Victor persisted as an Earth Fed officer for over ten years before realizing how bored he was of the limitations of picking one field of the military over another. He could be a ship captain, a pilot or a trooper; but not all of the above.

This was not acceptable.

Victor is a dedicated man, and very highly trained by the best schools in many aspects of warfare. Curiosity afflicted him, however, realizing before too long that he held no true interest in remaining a career officer. He wanted the chance to see the galaxy from a warship bridge while preserving the flexibility of dropping into a starfighter or even fight on the ground if necessary.

So... much to the chagrin of his unapproving family, Victor took upon himself the label of "Black Sheep" by quitting out of the Earth Fed officer Corp before signing up at the closest mercenary station.

Victor hasn't looked back since, his income levels now exceeding officer Corp levels, just in case he was searching for proof of the validity of his move during interactions with his family at the next reunion... Regardless, Victor preserves Russian heritage from before his people left earth, his family staying behind when the now-named Russian Alliance established their new home in space. His genetics also 'gifted' him with giantism, extreme strength, and a high reaction timing which helped him test as a Specialist after receiving the mind link implants.

In short, Victor is a careful, studious and powerful warrior who appreciates Callisto's go-from-the-gut approach while providing the insight and vision to keep her out of trouble on the battlefield. This is not to say he cannot fight - by all means no. Though often held in an office by administrative duties, his true nature is revealed on the battlefield, a dervish among men. His powered armor is all black, his main strategy on the field to take full advantage while an enemy is captured by Callisto's mannerisms and enthusiasm in battle.

They are the fox and the bear, unstoppable in space and on the ground.

Michael and Callisto battled the Russian brothers Pavel and Artem on a freighter, freeing the Russian A.I. which had been trapped on board.

Eventually, Pavel and Artem would defect and join Vanguard after being blacklisted for surviving the mercenary assault. Though not related in the slightest, and carrying a twenty-year age disparity, most of Vanguard refer to Pavel and Artem as "the brothers" due to how close the two of them are to each other.

Pavel is the most outgoing of the two. Most would confuse him as a squad lead even though Pavel has no interest in doing so. Artem has the patience to deal with him, however, both of them spending their time mercilessly making fun of each other, even in combat no less.

Though not a specialist, Pavel dueled Michael on the freighter with handguns and almost beat him with the lightened particle pistol he is known to carry. A veteran warrior, Pavel has seen much and is very skilled, Callisto vouching for both he and Artem after they expressed their interest in defecting from the Russian Alliance.

Pavel is a womanizer to some degree, Artem being very quick to say that Pavel works too much for his stories to be true. He is undeniably good with women, however, at one point admitting having sisters, somewhat explaining his gift with the fairer sex, if you can believe it.

Called "the brothers", Artem and Pavel were part of a squad of four Russian special forces which were guarding a freighter holding the two captive A.I. in the book, "Volition". Neither of these soldiers should have been there, having been trained for a completely different task. Such was life being forced to work directly for the Russian Alliance admiralty...

Artem was the first to meet Callisto in her silver armor when she and Michael moved to board the freighter. Working quickly, Artem was able to tie up the Silver Giantess with his arms alone, nearly wrenching her legs even with the armor. With the both of them frustrated, he made the mistake of pulling Callisto's hair, which she had forgotten to bind up under an unsecured helmet. She raged out at that and nearly killed Artem, though he had certainly captured the Silver Giantess' respect with his capabilities.

In all things, captain Callisto very much appreciates expressions of strength and experience, later choosing to recruit both of the brothers once they had been blacklisted by their governor after the loss of the A.I. during their watch.

Later, during the book "Darkness War," Artem learned enough of the galactic standard language to make himself useful to Victor, who awarded him another squad leader role within Vanguard.

Months later, Artem led the squad infiltrating Seville on a peaceful scouting run, proving himself capable of managing the requirements of a covert hand-holding mission even with his intimidating size. Everyone who knows these two men recognize that, for all Artem's quiet behavior, Pavel more than makes up for it in pure, slick audacity. Together, they certainly make quite the team.

A trained long-distance runner in school, Phyllis signed up as a mercenary weeks after graduation due to heartache and has never looked back. She is an introvert and has always idolized a sniper named Fran who worked directly for the war hero Jon Zander three hundred years ago. Deciding to emulate her personal hero, she entered mercenary recon school and passed with flying colors. Despite her small stature, this woman never backs down from anything or anyone, which at times defies the first job of a recon which is to find and provide information before fighting.

This trait made her a very good option for Vanguard, which had been running potential recruits through work trials for years. Trained recons were rare enough as it was, with many potential recruits being to trigger happy and unobservant, with the rest somehow melting away whenever a fight started. Many of those recruits were escorted out before Callisto caught up to them, who hates cowardice most of all.

Having followed the career of one of the most well-known specialists from history, it is ironic that she dislikes the specialist class greatly, having worked with a few during her career. Spending time with Victor in the field was enough to change her mind by the time she eventually met Michael, and the rest is history.

Phyllis is a lone wolf who enjoys being out in the wilds on jobs while fending for herself. She wears her hair short to keep it out of the brush and typically has scratches all over her body. Her personal rifle has a rotating receiver to fire either a silent "dark" plasma round or regulation personnel railgun slug. Phyllis carries at least six different loads on each of her jobs, commonly shifting ammo on the fly to fit any occasion.

After doing so well on the surface battle of Kingman, Callisto gifted Phyllis with a recon nano suit on the first day after being hired on, a miraculous mesh-like suit that gives her cloaking abilities, including masking and various protections against aggressive wildlife and snakes. Phyllis has had a love/hate relationship with the suit ever since, oftentimes seeming like it has a life of its own...

Geoffrey is one of the old guard at Vanguard, and one of the oldest and most experienced soldiers on board. As Vanguard's highest ranked ground-pounder, he not only leads Callisto's top-tier formations of crack troops, he takes care of them as only an experienced trooper like himself can do. He is stoic and wise, adept at providing for his men and women before they know they need it.

Skilled with precision particle weapons, Geoffrey is the right hand of Callisto and Victor, taking orders directly from them and often protecting their flanks on engagements. In "Darkness War," he was tasked with receiving Phyllis and assigning her a cabin, providing the welcoming hand that she needed at that time. Sadly, he did not survive that war, leaving his position to one of the men who worked under him, a capable but bookish man named Brookes who wasn't nearly as well versed with meeting the men's needs.

War always takes those who don't deserve it.

Sonja and her brother Boris were created by a team of techs hired by a Russian fleet admiral named Dima who had a bone to pick with the Universal E.I., Pat.

In "Volition", Michael Zander was hired directly by a mysterious client who apparently had an interest in him defeating the Russian guards which were holding the awakened A.I., Sonja and Boris. Callisto came with him on the attack, both of them recognizing they were being used for some nefarious purpose since the client never mentioned they would be facing Russian regulars. They boarded the freighter as a means of protecting themselves, instead finding the A.I. which were being held, sleeping.

On waking up, it was clear both A.I. looked the same, the two encased in cheap Russian android training frames, leading them to assume at first this was what they were. One of the frames then insisted it had met the universal E.I. on the network and asked to defect so it could find him. Becoming sure these androids were more than they seemed, Callisto accepted the offer of defection, agreeing to transport the possible A.I.; which immediately got into an argument with the other frame over what seemed to Vanguard a simple disagreement. The A.I. which defected was insisting the other came too, but it was refusing quite aggressively when Artem, one of the surviving Russian soldiers, suddenly smashed the refusing A.I. with a wrench. Things degenerated from there, all parties fleeing to their ships before Admiral Dima discovered them.

Callisto and Michael took the defecting A.I. with them on the search for the original client, leading them on an adventure described within the novel "Volition".

Having defected from Russia to her own devices, Sonja was eventually provided with a powerful frame that was originally designed to protect rich people while looking like anyone they wished. Sonja adapted very readily to the new frame, the nanomachines in the frame automatically taking on the form she wears today.

Sonja met Pat too, eventually, who set her loose into the wide tachyon network with him, Sonja soon choosing to focus on humanity's medical needs. They work together to this day, forming a new race of conscious electronic beings, perhaps one day to establish a separate course for themselves.

Though wise and watchful, Sonja is younger and more innocent than she believes and tends to operate unconsciously from her gut, a very uncommon trait for an electronic being. It is a common thing for her eyes to glow green when she is excited about something or someone, an act she always seems surprised with. Like a preverbal Pinocchio, Sonja admires humans very much, to the point she secretly wishes to be human herself. It is because of this she prefers to operate more often from her chosen frame to the point that many humans have no idea of her true nature.

Boris was awakened alongside his sister, Sonja, by Alexey Popov, the lead scientist in charge of admiral Dima's A.I. lab. Over time, it became clear that Boris's consciousness was duty-bound in all things, which was the root behind him refusing to leave with Sonja once an opportunity presented itself in the form of Michael and captain Callisto storming the freighter that was holding them.

Then Artem smashed Boris' training frame, fearing that Boris would tell admiral Dima of Pavel and Artem being defeated and summitting to the attacking mercenaries. In the end, the two Russian brothers were blacklisted anyway and joined Vanguard by the end of the book, "Volition".

Boris was left on the freighter, somehow recovered by the mysterious client before admiral Dima arrived to find no trace of either A.I..

Months later within the book, "The Darkness War", and with Alexey Popov's help, Pat used the training tracker Alexey had built within the core of his creations to track Boris. With a location in mind, Pat takes his avatar plus his creator's ship, the Wraith, to the location to find Boris in person, Sonja following a short distance behind with her own ship and frame. They find the Client, which appears to be behind the strange Dark Ships that are currently attacking trade centers of the galaxy. These people had sedated Boris and installed his core alongside another bearing a none-conscious database A.I. designed to break him down. Pat wakes Boris up long enough to tell him what is happening before the none-conscious A.I. takes control of the frame holding both cores and physically attacks Pat's avatar, or frame.

Pat fights the guardian frame nearly to a draw, almost destroying the entire Client lab in the process before Sonja arrives and the A.I. retreats just in time for Pat to seriously damage one of the frame's reactors, the explosion masking the guardian frame's full retreat.

Apparently, it was discovered later that Pat's efforts to reach Boris inside his slumber had not been in vain, truly, Sonja's brother later arriving just in time during the final battle in "The Darkness War" to save the day.

According to his report, Boris had erased the none-conscious A.I. and taken full control of the hulking guardian frame, presenting himself as a survivor to Pat and his sister before leaving in a shuttle to find his fate in the galaxy.

Alexey built the machines which produced Sonja and Boris' cores, developing the methods used for training them both to admiral Dima's requirements. In the end he failed to control them, but he cannot help but take responsibility for his creation and the result of his life's work. Sonja and Boris are his children, of a sort.

As such, he derives joy from seeing his creations take a huge role in the galaxy at large, especially for Sonja. Her positive independence gives him hope her race of conscious A.I. will continue to be accepted within humanity at large.

As an Earth Federation five-star fleet admiral, Williams took on the grand tradition of setting not only the path of Earth Fed's own fleets and maneuvers, but also the expectation of leading foreign allied forces should an international emergency occur. This was a precedent set not long after humanity left Earth Fed in charge of their home planet, leading to the construction of the premier officer training school on earth itself, coupled with the largest archive of martial knowledge to ever exist. And since Earth Fed took on the responsibility of initiating mercenary actions throughout the galaxy, political interests soon shuffled responsibility of that onto the military arm as well, leaving it to Earth Fed naval command.

Hundreds of years passed in relative peace while each nation established their hold on assigned space, until the war erupted four hundred years later. The universal respect of Earth Federation was tested greatly. Someone must step up to organize a response to the unprovoked attacks, so why not look to the nation with the best schools and the best knowledge to lead them, the only nation possessing the combined interest of humanity's ancestral home?

In the end, Earth Federation answered the call, sending their highest-ranking officer to lead efforts to put down the attack. It was unfortunately the radically unprepared admiral Hidman; a political officer if there ever was one.

Hidman was a dandy with merits in public speaking and champagne toasts galaxy wide, a man choosing as his flagship the prototype of a future cruiser that was untested in any real combat. He did step up, mind you, taking great effort in setting up quite the elaborate strategy with the intent to fight and defeat an entire enemy war fleet. He led the defense himself from the bridge of the "Star's Feet", a ship which was easy to confuse with a civilian cruise liner. It was a capable warship on paper, however, leading many allied admirals to say nothing.

In the end, the enemy fleet had the upper hand by hyperspacing into the conflict last, taking the opportunity to make full advantage of their ship design by closing the confrontation to point-blank range, a happenstance that Hidman never anticipated. It was chaos, hundreds of ships fighting in a way which had never before been seen, admiral Hidman and his brand-new flagship destroyed by allied starfighters before ever engaging the enemy.

A hero arose at his death, however, an Earth Fed admiral named Tylon leading the remains of the fleet to safety from the bridge of his custom flagship, the New Jersey.

Admiral Williams follows in the footsteps of both foolish men and great, his actions purposeful in leaving behind the mistakes of the past. There is a huge expectation of his job that no other fleet admiral has, huge boots that no man will find easy to fill. As such is admiral Williams, the man chosen to follow in these footsteps, for good or for evil.

Admiral Dima is an old, hard man, used to dealing with politicians within and conflict without. Though a five-star admiral, he is very nearly treated as emeritus by his fellow Russian leaders, his interests already devolving into whatever legacy he will be able to leave behind once he finally retires.

And when he found an out of the way system which had been undeveloped, a system which still retained some value; he pounced on it and began building his future home.

It was rote to be tasked with handling the unexpected building of a fleet by Tevyana, a home-system of eastern Europeans which had pulled away during the building of the colonies; a problem which would quickly be rectified.

So, what if they had purchased the land? The questionable decisions of an unknown and long dead Russian were the least of his concern. The future of a people who had laid off their responsibility to the union was his true concern; until that meddler, the universal E.I., had shown up and embarrassed admiral Dima before the Earth Fed navy, of all things.

The shame of it had almost destroyed admiral Dima mere years before his retirement. It had almost resulted in the beautiful warship, the Kursk, being taken out of his command by people like him who cared more about the results then by the actions themselves.

Far from it. Admiral Dima was not a fool to be taken lightly...