Kiru was about to step through the gate. The swirling blue portal was set to take her to the planet below. Her mind was already considering what Megumi had told her and her classmates. The planet below was a class four planet capable of supporting humanoid life, but not ideal. A class five plant would be considered ideal for supporting humanoid life. The planet below was almost too close to its parent star, and the northern hemisphere practically always faced the sun. That was why the northern hemisphere was almost entirely desert. The north wasn’t desolate, however, with scattered oases, and plenty of subsurface water. Orbital scans indicated extensive lakes, rivers, and caverns beneath the rocky northern deserts.

The south received less sun, but it was enough to support a vibrant thriving ecosystem. Vast forests, grasslands, and swamps covered the southern landmass, with scattered inland seas, rivers, and lakes. Megumi had detected numerous large lifeforms in the southern hemisphere. She said over half of them would be dangerous to Neku or Erali, but would be of little concern to her or her classmates. She did, however, state that a few of them could be dangerous if they were careless. Megumi had been particularly clear about a large armored reptile native to the swamps in the western hemisphere. Saying that it was the most dangerous of the native wildlife, and could kill them easily if they allowed it to catch them unawares. However, it could still prove dangerous even if it did not catch them unaware. Apparently, it was a distant cousin of dragons, a type of drake. It had scales that were resistant to most energy weapons, fangs and claws that could cleave through most forms of armor, and a natural breath weapon. It was weaker than most dragons and didn’t possess their level of intelligence, but that didn’t make it harmless. At least it couldn’t fly, like dragons could.

She stepped through the gate, and was greeted not with the sight of alien wilderness, but metal walls. Kiru looked around. There was an elegance to the alien architecture of these metal walls. Drones were busy etching alien murals, and characters into the walls. Elsewhere she could see drones working on open conduit housings. Nearby a few of her classmates were talking, and Megumi’s avatar was waiting for her. Kiru stretched her back for a moment, and then headed over towards Megumi.

“Seems a bit busier than I expected. I thought this would be a gate in the middle of an alien wilderness. What is all this?”

Megumi smiled, “Planetary stargates are important assets. I know I told you that the Soleans do not colonize planets, but the empire does claim planets. Mainly for her member races such as the Terrans or the reclusive Cavalonians. This planet would be perfect for the Cavalonians, as it already has a well-developed underground, but the Terrans wouldn’t much like this planet. I’m setting up a standard Imperial outpost here on the surface. It’s not finished, but most of the key systems are operational already. Care for a tour?”

Kiru smiled, “sounds fun!” 

Megumi giggled, but Kiru failed to notice her gaze. Then, Megumi commented, “I’ll show you around. Right now we are in the keep, at the center of the outpost. The keep holds the outpost’s primary shield generators, central power systems, and the gate room. Those aren’t the only system here, but they are among the most important. I’ll show you around when the drones finish the keep.”

Megumi signaled to Kiru that she should follow, and she followed after the ship’s avatar. Heading for an open door not far from the gate.

Kiru stopped when she stepped out of the door, and looked around again. This time in awe. As far as the eye could see, she was surrounded by flowing alien architecture. Towering metal structures, flowing metal walls, and in the distance something that looked like a city wall. Well vaguely, it wasn’t at all like the ancient ones she had seen in pictures. Then she looked up, and noticed that the sky looked vaguely distorted. There was a shimmering in the air, the kind she attributed to an active ground shield. While shields were invisible until hit, and that remained true on the ground, there were still ways to tell one was there. Especially in an atmosphere, where you could look for things like shimmering, and distortion.Effects that had nothing to do with the shield itself, but the air around it. Some ground shields were intentionally made visible as well, but the particulars of that escaped her. The why, however, was simple. It was quite dangerous if someone just walked into a shield. She already had some personal experience with why that act was dangerous.

Megumi gestured at the tall unfinished buildings around them, and began talking about the outpost. The tour that followed was a bit of a whirlwind as she was shown around the outpost. The architecture was apparently Terran, and Kiru honestly felt it was more of a city than an outpost. It had everything, factories, armories, offices. The housing was almost all communal, but there were private apartments available nearer to the keep. In many ways, the outpost felt like the future meets an ancient castle town.

Before she even knew it, Kiru was near the city gates. Nearby her classmates were gathering. Megumi gestured at the wall, and said, “I’m sure you were wondering about this.”

She nodded. Kiru really had been. The idea of it seemed... primitive. Neku cities no longer used city walls, they just weren’t very effective at keeping armies out in the current age. Hadn’t been for centuries. Some old cities still had them, maintained mainly for posterity, or historical value.

Megumi shifted into lecture mode. “Walls have always been used to keep hostile armies out of a city. The idea behind a wall is simple. A fortified barrier of stone to keep invaders out. Over the eras the concept evolved, but so did the weapons used to breach them. Ancient stone walls gave way to barriers of concrete and metal, which quickly gave way to trenches and barbed wire. The wall never really went away, merely changed forms over the ages.

“In the current age, walls have mostly returned to the ancient form. Except they are made of metal alloys and fortified with energy weapon emplacements instead of stone, and bolt throwers. The reason for this is actually quite simple. Remember earlier when I taught you how to walk through a security field?”

Kiru nodded, a puzzled expression on her face. Her tail quite clearly displayed her confusion. “The same concept can be applied to ground shields like the one protecting this outpost. That wall there is mainly intended to prevent enemy soldiers from just walking through the shield and into the outpost. Dedicated AA towers placed around the outpost make sure they don’t just fly over the wall, and into the outpost. Drone towers and ground-to-space batteries make an orbital approach difficult. Of course, in the ancient era, many a wall was brought down by sappers digging beneath the wall. We use Cavalonian technology to prevent that, being a subterranean race they are really good at both digging and preventing that act.”

That was actually rather interesting. Before she could think up her response, however, Megumi gestured with a wing and began. “Anyway, that concludes our tour. Why don’t you join your classmates for a run? I’m afraid that I’m going to have to leave you now. I have things to get done.” With that Megumi’s avatar departed, leaving her alone in the alien streets.

Megumi hadn’t been kidding when she said she had things to do. By her directives, she needed to establish a fully functioning outpost here now that she had claimed the planet for the empire. Sure it would not bear fruit for many years to come, not for the empire anyway. The planet, however, may prove useful for her, as both a training site for her biomechs and in the long term as a resupply base. Already she was planning the construction of an orbital stargate for her own use.

This system, thanks to the inherent subspace instability of the region, was also energy-rich. In a fashion that normally had to be engineered artificially by creating a singularity inside hyperspace. For example, her subspace energy wells were currently operating at 2279.227569312% of nominal output. That meant her tertiary power systems were generating more energy than her main reactors by a margin of 23.347900216%. That meant this system could supply all of her needs for the foreseeable future. Once she completed the needed infrastructure that is. At this very moment, she had drones working on the construction of a white matter forge, and the needed matter converters. Once completed, she could produce almost any resource she would need right here at this outpost.

The planet could also support a sizable biomech population, and the immediate orbital area was perfect for a small shipyard facility. One large enough to not only maintain her systems but supply her with extra escort ships if needed. Assuming she put in the time to build, and care for the needed AI cores. An AI did need a learning period before it could be pressed into service. It was the AI equivalent of childhood, she remembered her own fondly, and she would not deny her children one either.

After Megumi left, Kiru was eagerly waved over by May. Who was just as excited as she was about a run on the surface. Kiru was looking forward to feeling the wind in her face, and really getting a feel for her new body. In a way the training room had never been able to provide for her.

May excitedly asked as she got close, “Want to race to the mountain ridge to the east?”

“Mountain ridge?”

“Yeah, there are some lovely mountains to the east. Almost one hundred kilometers. I noticed them when I looked over the scans of the planet. I bet they will be gorgeous up close.”

Before she would have thought that one hundred kilometers would be stupid for a race, but with her enhanced body that didn’t seem unreasonable. She nodded. “Yeah, that sounds like fun.”

May threw her arms up, and declared, “great!” Then she leaned over and whispered into her ear. Kiru felt herself turn red, but nodded. While making a mental note, not to lose.