Kiru woke up feeling wonderful. She had never felt so good in her life before. None of the little aches she always had were with her. She felt quite refreshed as well as if she had the best sleep of her life.

Kiru’s mood quickly shifted as the past events came back to her mind. She had just gone through a surreal and horrible procedure. She opened her eyes and looked around. Her pod was open, the fluid gone, and dozens of young naked girls were stepping out of pods around her. It had apparently been a while since her procedure began.

Megumi shimmered into view, and said, “Good Morning Princess! I’m sure you have plenty of questions, and they will be answered. Not all at once though, besides I believe you would rather eat at the moment.”

Now that Megumi mentioned it, Kiru noticed that she was famished. Then again, she had not eaten in over a day, so that came as little surprise. She nodded. Kiru did have questions, but she would rather ask them after she had eaten.

Megumi responded by barking orders and mentioned something about a class. In fact, it sounded like Megumi considered all these naked young girls to be her classmates. Something she wasn’t sure about, yet. With no reason not to, and driven in part by hunger, and part by curiosity she formed up with the young biomechs. They formed up into a line at the door. A drone stood by the door with a stack of identical plain shifts. Simple thigh-length plain white dresses with an unremarkable cut. As each girl was handed a shift, she slipped it on with help from the drone and stepped out into the hall.

Kiru started to feel excited. It had been so long since she had last worn something, and she was beyond elated at the chance of getting something to wear again. The fact that it was only a shift didn’t bother her. Anything was better than being stark naked.

As the line grew closer, she noticed how similar in size all the biomechs were. Every single one of them had a similar body shape and size. In fact they could all pass for sisters, it was uncanny. At least they were not identical, that would just be surreal. Thankfully she was also about their size. It meant that when her turn finally arrived, she was able to slip on her shift without trouble.

Out in the hall, she noticed the girls were all lined up. Megumi greeted her, and said, “Line up with your class. Once everyone is dressed, I’ll show you to the mess hall. We can answer your questions after you have had breakfast.”

She nodded and joined the line. The prospect of food, and the promise of answers serving as powerful bait. Besides, she didn’t see a point in trying to run now. Not after what they had done to her. She had seen all the devices they were putting in her body. Devices whose function she was clueless on. Kiru was very much leaning on taking a chance. If the AI was answering questions, she had quite a few she wanted answers to.

It was not long before the AI led the way to the mess. It was a nice cozy room with several bench-style chairs and tables. Drones were placing identical plates of food at each seat. A bit different from what she was used to, as an officer she was used to having a pick of several options. As for the enlisted, well they only got what they were served. They didn’t get waiter drones, this felt like a strange cross between them. 

On entry, they were directed to take a seat. Ahead of her seats filled up, and she noticed that a drone stayed near each girl. Not that it was hard to guess why. She was getting the impression that these girls needed a helper. Not one of them managed to dress without help from that drone earlier.

Before she could go to take a seat, Megumi had singled her out and led her to a smaller table away from the others. She wasn’t sure how she felt about being singled out. Waiting for her was a warm meal. She settled into the seat, and Megumi seemed to settle into the opposite.

Kiru looked over the plate. It seemed to be a simple dish. A warm soup, with a piece of soft bread, and sliced fruit. All easy-to-eat items. Megumi answered the unasked question, “ There are two reasons for the meal. None of these girls have eaten before. It’s best to start them on something simple. Not to mention, Biomechs, as you might have guessed, lack even basic skills when they first emerge. They are quick learners though, and should be at your level in a couple of days. They are born with basic knowledge, but it does take the time to translate that knowledge into usable skills.”

“I guess that explains the waiters. They need helpers until they can do it on their own. Out of curiosity, how long does that take them?”

“Not long at all. They should meet all of my basic proficiency requirements for them in about two weeks. I did say they are quick learners, did I not?”

“You did.”

She reached for the utensil. The shape was different, but it clearly resembled a tool she was familiar with. It was a spoon, a surprisingly common tool among tool-using races. At least until you thought about things. Simple tools often ended up being similar among species with similar morphologies. The more different the morphology the more dissimilar the tools. It didn’t hold true for all tools, but it was remarkably true of the simplest tools. By no means did they end up identical though. There were always small differences.

Kiru took a moment to find a comfortable grip and then dipped the spoon into the soup. Taking a bite, she found the flavor to be rather pleasant. Although rather unfamiliar. A welcome change to what she had been eating before.

After a few bites, Megumi asked her. “Go ahead and ask any of your more pressing questions.”

Between spoonfuls of soup, she asked, “What exactly did you do to me?”

Megumi shifted slightly, and gave her a smile, “In short, a full-body upgrade. I gave you all the capabilities of a scout class Biomech. Naturally, the upgrades are currently restricted, but you still enjoy the physical improvements. Enhanced stamina, improved muscle strength, faster reactions, improved bone density, and strength. You should be able to run faster than most land vehicles, and you will also find your steps are significantly quieter than your already naturally quiet gait. You also no longer require any support.”

That added a few questions, like when were her bones enhanced? Same thing with her muscles, but she was curious about this mention of support. “What do you mean by support?”

“Your breasts. I had them enhanced. Previously they required minor support, but now that is no longer the case. They will retain their current healthy shape and appearance for the rest of your life, and you will never again need something like a bra. Chafing shouldn’t be too much of a problem either. Your new skin is far tougher than your old skin.”

She glanced at the bread, and asked, “Tougher in what way?”

“Your skin is now like a natural armor. It remains soft and supple but is highly resistant to burns, and lacerations. Underneath it is a nano weave of light armor providing further protection. A nanoweb in your skin also speeds up healing significantly. Meaning that in the unlikely event of you being cut open, the wound will heal almost instantly. Between the improved resiliency and rapid healing, you should never have to worry about chafing again.”

Swallowing a bite of bread, Kiru inquired, “Exactly how tough is my skin?”

“You’ll find yourself well protected from an array of weapons. Blades, arrows, bullets, lasers, particle beams, plasma blasts. You are protected against all of those to a varying degree. Your skin should bounce most blades, and primitive projectile weapons like bows and firearms. The enhanced thermal resistance of your skin and underlying armor will stop most low-yield energy weapons as well. Along with some middle yield personnel directed energy weapons. Won’t stop a grenade or a heavy object though. You are still quite vulnerable to concussion damage and being crushed. Also not something to rely on.”

She nodded. “Yeah, I don’t really want to be taking those in any case. Nice to know though.” Then she remembered something, “One thing I am curious about. I noticed that you removed my liver and kidneys...”

Megumi interjected, interrupting the question, “Those organs are no longer required. Their functions have been taken over by a far more efficient set of implants. Many of your organs were either enhanced or replaced entirely. Take your lungs for example. In their base state they would not have been able to provide for your enhanced body, not fully anyway. I force grew an enhanced set with optimized DNA and integrated biotechnology. I did the same with your heart.”

She couldn’t help but interject at that point. A new worry surfacing, “How much of me is still me?”

“That depends on how you look at it. All replacement parts use your DNA as a base. So technically all of the new pieces are you. Although I did replace quite a bit.”

Kiru wasn’t sure what to think and shifted lines of questioning. She swallowed a piece of fruit first, and then inquired, “Those new implants what do they do?”

“Well as already mentioned some of them replace the functions of your original organs. The other implants include a small subspace energy well, which provides power for your implants. Also included in there is a small computer interfaced directly into your brain. A series of sensory implants that will enhance your sight, and hearing. That includes providing a few additional senses.

“In addition, you have a personal cloaking device and shield generator. Your right arm now conceals a light plasma cannon. One of your implants produces and manages an army of nanites that now flow through your bloodstream. These nanites maintain your body and implants. They also greatly accelerate your natural healing and allow for minor shapeshifting. One set you might find interesting are the implants we installed in your reproductive organs. They serve mainly as a form of advanced birth control, but they will also monitor the health of any growing fetus. Automatically correcting any health issues as they occur.”

That did sound interesting, “That does sound interesting. How effective are they at birth control? Also what health issues are they capable of detecting and correcting?”

Megumi giggled, “Good questions. I’m sure you will be impressed. They are configurable. I’ll teach you how later, but you won’t get pregnant unless you want to be. As for health issues, the implants can detect all of the issues known to Solean science, and correct them. Children are highly valued in the empire, and we take every measure to ensure they are born healthy. I did the same for you, I also corrected your sterility.”

She dropped her spoon and looked right at the hologram. “What do you mean corrected my sterility!?”

“You had been sterilized previously. In fact, that seems to have been the case for all high-ranking officers I have examined. Can’t tell you when it was done. Anyway, that reminds me. How do you feel about the Imperium?”

That was something she hadn’t thought about, but now that she was, she found her feelings changed. There were so many little things, she was noticing in her memories that she hadn’t before. Strange gaps in her memory were also there. For example, she couldn’t remember what happened in any of her regular checkups. Every single one of those was a mental blank. That struck her as strange, and yet for some reason, she remembered thinking of that as normal. The inspections were also weird, and then the whole matter of people disappearing and never showing back up again. That part was the most worrisome, and yet before she had not even noticed the disappearing. She was simply told not to worry about the missing people, and she had never thought of them again. It was very evident to her now that some kind of brainwashing had been done to her.

“I’m not sure. It used to be fine, but in recent years things have been strange. The worst part is that I didn’t even notice until today that things were strange.”

“You would not have. They programmed you not to. Don’t ask me who, I don’t know yet. I need you to help me figure it out. I gave you these gifts for that reason. Perhaps together we can save your people, and end this war.”

“You say that as if I have a choice.”

“I promised you a choice earlier, I am giving it to you now. You can help me, or you can stay here and do nothing. It would be better for me if you help, but I won’t fault you if you stay out of things.”

Kiru leaned back to think. Internally weighing the pros and cons. If she had a choice, she might as well think about it. This would be a life-changing decision. The most important choice she has had in years, and she wanted to make the right one.