Kiru stretched as she stepped off the boat. It had been a long and mostly uneventful trip. She had spent most of the trip playing games with May, and Qei. They had played a few rounds of card games, and a couple of board games. Even tried out a couple of video games. A few of the games had been quite interesting, but eventually they got bored of games.

After the games, Kiru had curled up with a datapad and started reading. She had picked one of the historical novels that Megumi had recommended. She was learning quite a bit about early Solean history. Some of what was covered she already knew. Such as the fact they were nomadic, and lost their original homeworld. The novels however revealed more to her. Not much of real note but there were a few highlights. She had recently been reading about the Solean interactions with a race known as the Sythar. 

The Soleans first encountered them early in the year 313 SDE. Although these were minor encounters, it wasn’t until the following year that any notable interactions occurred. As a number of skirmishes occurred between the two species in that year. At the time, the Solean fleet was still largely reliant on updated versions of the aging 1204 starfighter, a space superiority fighter that was over three hundred years old. Despite its age, the 1204 was a very effective craft and performed many roles in the Solean fleet. It was used heavily for escorting raiders and protecting their ships from hostile light craft. Its modular design allowed it to be outfitted for a variety of roles, and it could even mount a very effective micro torpedo launcher that was effective against small starships such as corvettes and frigates.

Against the Sythar however, the aging 1204 proved inadequate. The Sythar specialized in fighter craft, and had designed several very effective starfighters, that could outperform or at least match Solean equivalents including the 1204. Their mainstay fighter, the Xanthos, was a particularly tough, and much newer fighter. The craft was often equipped with high-energy pulsed Tetraphasic Particle cannons, and multiphasic torpedoes. The hull was well armored. In addition, the craft was also shielded with high powered fighter shields, and it employed a reactionless main drive.

In contrast, the 1204 had no shields, was equipped with high-energy phased particle cannons commonly referred to as ‘Phase Lances’ and miniaturized AMF plasma torpedoes or photon torpedoes. It too featured a reactionless main drive, but unlike the Xanthos, it also had FTL capability. Both fighters had the ability to mount light missiles for use against other fighters, and were equipped with countermeasures for missiles.

In battle the two craft actually performed very similarly. With the 1204 having a slight edge due to its ability to warp. This however was wholly unacceptable for the Soleans, as their nomadic nature made it much more difficult for them to replace fighter losses. A fact the Soleans became very concerned about after a few disastrous skirmishes with the Sythar over the course of the year 314 SDE.

The Solean response was to naturally look at improving current fighter designs to compete with the more numerous Xanthos fighters employed by the Sythar. The natural first place they looked for improvement was their armor. Solean armor in that era was really good, but the Tetraphasic particle weapons employed by the Sythar were able to penetrate it. Kiru didn’t know why though since she wasn’t familiar with Tetraphasic particle weapons, or Solean armor. The book had just been about to explain that bit, when they had pulled into port. 

Pushing those thoughts aside, she looked around the port. It seemed normal enough at first glance. Nothing seemed out of place, and the few conversations she could hear sounded normal. The nearby docks were all dedicated to passengers, and their ship wasn’t the only ship offloading passengers. The only thing she noted as odd was that everyone getting off the boat was female. She hadn’t seen any men. In fact she didn’t see any among the workers either. It seemed odd to her.

She quietly pointed that out to Qei who was standing next to her. Qei replied in a low tone of voice, “I noticed. It does help us blend in a bit, though.”

She nodded, “It does. Our party being all-female would have stuck out if there were more men around.”

There wasn’t much more to say. Not in public anyway, but she took a moment to look over the women they passed as they headed out of the port. Nothing seemed out of place, but then again, she didn’t know any of them. So there was no way to tell if little things about them had changed. Perhaps they would see something more interesting, in the city, rather than here in the port? Kiru had a rather strong feeling that they would find something in the city. She doubted an empire-wide brainwashing force would be completely invisible.

It wasn’t long after they left the port that she spotted an oddity. The oddity wasn’t with her fellow Neku but rather with the people in the streets. She had noticed an alien she was not familiar with. One she had never seen before. That alone wasn’t enough to consider the alien an oddity. Aliens were not common in the capital, but a few tourists could be spotted here and there. Some of these tourists might even be attached to diplomatic entourages, but the diplomats themselves typically stuck to the embassy district closer to the city center. As such, most aliens in the capital were either at the embassy district or near the starports.

The alien she spotted was bipedal and stood around 150 centimeters tall. It was female, and entirely naked. The weird part was that people were treating that as normal. Its skin was a pale green, except on the belly and face where it transitioned to a creamy white. She had large expressive purple eyes, and a round heart-shaped face framed by shoulder-length dark hair. The only hair on her body in fact. Her ears were pointed and prominently featured, reminiscent of Erali ears but larger. One feature that Kiru really noted was that she had six tentacle-like appendages stretching out of her back, and no arms. Also of note was that she had four pairs of breasts, although the lower pairs on her belly were less prominent. Barely more than little bumps, while the upper pairs were more developed. Overall she had a lithe figure, and her legs looked like those of a fellow runner. Kiru had an urge to challenge the girl to a foot race. Naturally she would have to limit herself to natural Neku limits if she did. Kiru wasn’t going to though. 

Another thing Kiru noted was that the alien seemed young, but she moved with power and grace. There was an aura of confidence presented with her every step, and she looked upon those around her as if they were beneath her. 

As they drew closer, Kiru noticed as the alien approached a young woman and her daughter. The alien smiled, and knelt. She said something then, but Kiru couldn’t hear what was said. It seemed friendly though as the mother seemed pleased with what was said. As for the girl, she seemed happy as well. She said something back, and a few more words were exchanged.

Then something really odd happened. Not with the alien, but the pair. The mother suddenly began stripping her daughter down, and the girl cooperated, helping her mother remove her clothes. The weirdest part was that no one stopped, they simply walked past the bizarre scene as if nothing was happening. 

As soon as the girl was naked, the alien grabbed her hand with one of its tentacle arms, smiled, and said something to her mother. Her mother nodded, said something back, then proceeded to pack away her daughter’s clothes in her handbag. At the same time, the alien led the girl away. Kiru decided to follow. She restrained her desire to dash off immediately, and signaled her intentions to her friends.

They had also seen the strange sight and were inclined to follow as well. However they had other objectives to complete in the city. Qei told her, “go ahead, we are also curious about that. We’ll catch up later.”

She knew what those other objectives were. They had to secure lodging, and scout out a few spots of interest in the town. So Kiru wished them luck, and split away to follow the alien. The stange naked alien, and the young girl she had in tow had already slipped out of sight in the crowd. For Kiru however, that was not a problem. Her internal sensors were already keeping track of the pair. Kiru navigated the crowd following after, but keeping out of sight. She didn’t want them to know she was following them

She would have considered cloaking so she could follow them at a closer range, but there were too many people. Someone would be bound to notice her cloak in the middle of this crowd. It didn’t help that they had arrived during the busiest hours of the day. On the other hand, this large number of people served to hide her quite well from her target.

Kiru followed the odd pair through several crowded streets, until finally the pair turned down an alleyway. The alley was reasonably clean, and well maintained indicating a more well off region of the city, but there were very few people in sight. The only souls in sight were the odd pair, and one person dumping trash into a dumpster. She saw the pair halfway down the alley when she entered. Kiru glanced around and noticed no one looking her way. She cloaked. As the enhanced Neku knew that this alley represented a much higher chance of being noticed than the crowded streets.

It was just in time too, as the alien female looked back. Her bright purple eyes sweeping over the alley. A strange expression appeared on her face. The girl shook her head, and then continued on her way. Kiru didn’t know what to make of that, and followed after her.

The alien and the young girl she was towing along continued across the alley, and entered another street. One less busy than the one they entered the alley from. There were still a fair number of people around, but the street wasn’t packed. This made progress easier. She closed the gap, while remaining careful to avoid bumping into people. She still brushed against a few people as she passed, but nobody seemed to realize that they had just brushed against an invisible girl.

The pair she was following finally stopped in front of a small building. It was a clinic. A perfectly ordinary looking clinic, with a few people going in, and some leaving. There were a number of people that could be seen waiting inside the reception room. The pair entered the building, and Kiru followed them in.

Inside Kiru noticed that the receptionist was another naked alien of the same species that she was following. The alien signaled the receptionist, who smiled and nodded. She excused herself from the woman she was talking to before, and proceeded to a small door which she opened. The pair headed through, and Kiru followed them closely. Slipping in just before the door was closed. Already she was wondering what the alien was planning to do with the little girl she had with her, and was also wondering why her mother had let the alien take her.

Before she could get her answer, the alien stopped and looked towards her. She swept the area, and that same odd expression from earlier showed up on her face. It looked kind of cute honestly. The alien sighed, “I must be going crazy.”