Megumi stretched as she stood before her ground gate waiting for the coils to warm up. She had finished her tasks here, and Kiru was off running with her friends. There were other people that could use her attention, however, and she figured she would use this opportunity to have a long-overdue conversation with Erisa. One that apparently would have to wait longer than she expected. Just as the gate activated, dialing a portal back to the Constellation’s gate room, she felt a telepathic connection attempt. She quickly recognized who was attempting contact, even if it was quite unexpected. She accepted the connection, and inquired, “Ulliera?”

A happy excited voice came over the connection complete with a wide array of images. Highly detailed psionic scans of a star system, but not one Megumi recognized. “Hey, Megumi! I found the perfect system for a nest and wanted to talk to you about it. Glad to know you are still in communications range!”

Megumi suppressed an internal sigh. It was one of those calls. On the other hand, she apparently made more of an impression than she thought. They were friends already, or at least the dragon thought they were. Then again she did have something to share as well.

“You found a good site for a nest? Good for you. I’ve been busy myself. I’m working on building an outpost on an uninhabited world right now.”

“That sounds interesting, you will have to tell me all about it. And yes, I did find a good site. It’s perfect! Well, it doesn’t have a primitive population of its own, but it does have some shipwrecked Neku. Personally, I think that is better.”

“Shipwrecked Neku?” she replied, a smirk on her face. She sent a feeling of amusement down the link, and said, “I take it there is a story there. Am I right?”

The dragon replied with mirth, “Yeah when I entered the system, there were some Neku ships gathered in the system. Easily a few thousand ships actually. They attacked me before I could really take a look at what this system had to offer. I may have played with them, and quite a few Neku abandoned their ships. Most of them ended up landing on the fourth planet, often in clusters. There are some who ended up landing alone, but anyway I am setting up my nest near one of the larger clusters. A group of about two thousand. They chose a really good landing site, but I feel these Neku would need my help for establishing a stable colony.”

She understood that and giggled a bit. Then she felt a little sorry for those poor Neku. They really had terrible luck. First, they ended up being some shadowy group/person’s brainwashed pawns, and then they ended up stranded on a planet with a nesting dragon. That wasn’t considered desirable for many reasons. “I don’t doubt they would need help, alright. Most cultures wisely steer clear of planets claimed by a nesting dragon. At most, they might try to send supplies, but a rescue would be out of the question.”

“I wouldn’t allow that anyway. Not without being screened anyway. Right now I am about to help out the cluster near my new nest. After they finish a little lottery on who ends up as the caretakers for my soon-to-be-laid eggs.”

Megumi sighed, and replied, “Well I guess that is a fair way to decide that.”

“Best way I thought of. Anyway, you mentioned building an outpost?”

She sent feelings of affirmation, and said, “Yes, I found a lovely little world not far from the Neku border. I plan to use the planet to train Biomechs, but it is located in a region of space that is particularly productive for energy wells.”

She sent her own scans over the connection. The system, the planet, the local hyperspace geography.

“Interesting. Would make an okay nest right now, but if you keep tapping the depths for power it will make a very good nest later. I kind of wish I had a few wells here as well. Any dragon would love a mana-dense nest. The levels are adequate here, but they could be better..”

“I will consider building a couple for you. Assuming I have the time. Putting that aside, what are you going to do with all of the other Neku shipwrecked on your world? The ones not near your nest.”

“I’ll gather the ones I can, but I do have other concerns.”

“Building your nest no doubt. As I recall, dragons go to great lengths to dig out and fortify their nests.”

“I need to make it ready for my children, and I must train my new servants. They need to be prepared for the job I recruited them for. If it isn’t too much trouble for you, could you do something to help those stranded on the other continents?”

Megumi let that hang for a moment, and then replied, “I’ll see what I can do.”

Already her mind was considering what to supply. It needed to be kept simple, and primitive. Nothing that the Neku would not have been able to procure themselves if they had the resources. Not to mention it needed to be kept low tech or they would not be able to maintain what she sent them. Farming equipment would be a must. Some of them might not have clean water, and she could list several low tech solutions to those problems. Shelter would also be important. She could prefab a few houses for them, but they would have to assemble them. Simple hand tools would likely be welcomed as well. Hammers, nails, saws, screwdrivers, that sort of thing. Generating a list, she ordered a subroutine to get started on manufacture. Then turned her attention back to Uliera. Their conversation quickly drifted into idle, but enjoyable conversation.

Kiru felt the rush of warm wind on her face. She was very much enjoying the rush, the thrill of running at full tilt. The rocky ground of the desert she was racing through presented little challenge for her enhanced body. If she looked around, she would be able to spot a few of her classmates, also running through the desert. She wasn’t sure how fast they were going, however. Her mind was too focused on trying to keep ahead of May, she didn’t want to lose their little race.

If she had to guess, however, she felt she was easily outrunning most light vehicles. It felt exhilarating. The wind rushing by, the ground passing so quickly that if she was not enhanced she might have missed the many details of this gorgeous desert. The rocky soil glittered in the harsh sun bringing to life the lovely browns, golds, reds, and oranges of the soil. Here and there large rocks jutted out of the ground, and her eyes spotted numerous smaller ones. Sparse desert shrubs struggled to take root where they could in the harsh desert.

She jumped. Sailing over a desert snake that she had spotted in her path. Kiru had no fear of the creature, but didn’t particularly feel like trampling it. She didn’t want to have to wash it off later. It wasn’t the first snake she had seen. The desert was filled with lizards, snakes, and insects. Most of which were harmless, at least to her and her classmates.

Landing back on the ground, she shot off like a rocket to maintain her pace. A part of her marveled at the fact that she wasn’t even winded yet. Her old self would never have been able to run this fast, and would have been winded long ago if she had tried to make this run. A part of her wondered how far she had run, but she didn’t bother to check her hud. She didn’t want to lose her lead.

Ahead she spotted a formation of large rocks right in her path. She cursed, that was going to cost her a little time. Nothing she could do about it. Well she could try shooting them, but she didn’t think that was legal. Besides, she had no experience trying to use her weapon at full speed. They were too tall to jump, so Kiru altered her course to avoid the rocks. There was no helping the detour though.

Thankfully, it proved to only be a small detour, and she was back on course in mere seconds. A part of her was amazed at how easily she could maneuver at these speeds. The enhancements done to her body never ceased to impress. It really drove home the fact that she was technically a super-soldier now. All of her classmates were as well. She tried not to think of the implications.

Moments later she crested a hill, and the ridge came into view. The goal of their little race. She had gone farther than she thought. A bit of relief went through her, she was almost to the goal, and she left May in the dust over an hour ago. Kiru had not seen her since and felt it safe to say she had won. Kiru was going to enjoy this. She put on a final burst of speed to close the remaining distance more quickly.

The terrain whizzed by at dizzying speed, but as she drew closer she noticed a few figures already at the ridge. It seemed a few of her classmates were already there. That didn’t matter though, she wasn’t racing them.  Only May, and as long as she got there before May that meant she had won. She didn’t see May, and she didn’t think May could have gotten ahead of her in any case.

Just before she reached the ridge, she put on the brakes. Kicking up a cloud of dust, and rocks. She smiled and looked around. A part of her feeling quite accomplished to have made it, but before she could celebrate, a familiar voice spoke, “Glad to see you finally made it! Did you get lost or something?”

She turned towards the source, and her shoulders slumped. Kiru felt herself deflate, as leaning against a rock with a wide grin on her face was May. It seemed she had somehow lost the race. A part of her turned red, as she remembered what that meant. Feeling indignant, she shouted, “HOW!? I left you behind hours ago! How are you here?”

May just chuckled. “I took a better route, clearly. Now I am sure you remember the consequences of losing, yes?”

Kiru sighed and looked away. She very much did. With reluctance, she reached for her clothes and started to take them off. This was embarrassing, but she had lost. Worse she already agreed to this. Kiru lost her chance to protest this hours ago. This wasn’t fair! At least she would be able to put her clothes back on when they got back. The penalty had simply been that the loser runs back naked.

As her clothes hit the ground May commented, “Looking good. Ready for the run back to the outpost?”

She gave May a look, “Of course not! Might as well get it over with?” Then she glanced at her clothes on the ground. “How are we getting those back anyway?”

One of her other classmates came over. She recognized her, it was her next-door neighbor Qei. Qei spoke quietly, “May asked me to carry the loser’s clothes back to the outpost.” While showing off a small pack she was carrying.

This sucked, but she was already backed into a corner. Kiru figured it was best to get it over with. She handed her clothes over, and watched as Qei quickly and efficiently packed them into the small pack. May smiled, and said, “Race you back! If I lose I’ll take my clothes off, and if you lose you stay naked for the rest of the day!”

She shot off like a rocket before Kiru could protest those conditions. Kiru didn’t even have time to really blush at the thought. She took off after May. With every intention of beating her this time.