Megumi stretched her avatar before slipping out of her room in the captain's quarters. She glanced to the other but decided not to go in. In the last two months since she had brought down the Iniri, Kiru and her family were bonding again. Qelu had come along as well, as she was rather attached to Kiru. Megumi knew that they needed time to properly reconnect. Little Qiri was actually really happy to finally know her mother. It was taking time for her to bond but she would get there. It was amazing really how much things were changing with them. Qiri’s conditioning had been meant to prevent her from ever knowing or wanting to know her mother, but with that gone she was able to. Not only that she wanted to know her birth mother.

Stepping out into the hall, she found E-5 waiting for her. Before she could say a word, the girl asked, “Is it time!?”

Megumi smiled, “Yep. A-98 is waiting for us. I guess you are more excited though.”

“How can I not!? It will be nice to finally have a body of my own and be able to hug my sister. Let’s go!”

“We still have to do the mind transfer. Have you decided which of you is going to the new body?”

“Well we had a few arguments about it, but we finally decided that I will go. This body did originally belong solely to Eriku afterall.”

“Glad you two could work it out. Makes my job easier.”

Together they took a lift and she led E-5/Eriku to a smaller med lab. It had only a single tube in it. They stepped in and were greeted by A-98, who spoke, “I’m kinda jealous.” then she sighed, “I wish I could have a sister like this”

E-5 gave the other Neku a hug, “I know but we can’t change the past.” then she frowned, “Can we?”

Megumi replied, “We cannot, no one can. Not even the First Lords were able to change the past.”

A-98 blinked, “First Lords? Who were they?”

“The first Soleans, the founders of the Empire. Only one of them remains alive today, but what is important to note is that they had access to knowledge that we don’t have today. They could do things we cannot, they understood time and space in a fashion that was lost when they left this life for the next. Perhaps the Supreme Protector Countryman remembers, but he doesn’t share that knowledge if he does.”

A-98 was thoughtful for a moment before replying, “It sounds like they were amazing people then.”

“It does, but they were gone long before I was built. So I don’t feel qualified to say. I never met them and until recently I couldn’t even say I met Countryman. Now I have had one conversation with him, which reminds me I still have a mission from him to take care of.”

“A mission?”

“A cleansing and containment mission. Nothing you need to worry about. Especially not on a day such as today.”

The two agreed and they turned to the table. As the procedure began, it was a simple matter for her to disentangle the two souls sharing Eriku’s body and move E-5 to her new body. Then the pod split open to reveal a slightly damp and very naked girl identical to Eriku. A genetic clone with a few enhancements, she had given similar ones to Erkiu. The two sisters happily greeted each other and then wandered off with A-98 for some bonding. Although Megumi suspected it would be a bit more than just that.

Rather than pay unwanted attention to them during a private moment of bonding, she left the room. Heading on to the Bridge, she didn’t go there often, it was largely redundant anyway. Still she had rebuilt it and maybe now that Kiru was back it might see more use.

Arriving at the bridge she found Kiru sitting at the tactical console staring at the screens. She giggled, “Planning to shoot something?”

Kiru chuckled, “Not really, just thinking really.”

Megumi turned to the stairs leading to the upper command level. “Well I thought you would be with your daughter a bit longer, or maybe go see your sister since she is coming with us. She finally has her own body again, you know?”

“I heard, but I think it best I left those two alone for a bit. Maybe see them in the evening?”

“Sounds like a plan,” replied Megumi while taking the stairs.

Kiru stood up and moved to follow, “So where are we going next?”

“The galaxy of Tem via the stargate in the Varmach Sector. I’ll be stopping by the ancient outpost there to reactivate it.”

Kiru nodded, “I’ve not really looked at the charts, how long will this all take?”

“At maximum warp? I predict we will reach the Niase sector in about three months. Crossing galaxies is by no means quick but the use of a stargate certainly helps. Without that it would take a little over a year to reach the Tem Galaxy from here, and a further two months to reach the Niase sector. Thankfully the gate is well positioned for us.”

“Certainly sounds like it. Although back in the Imperium I would not have thought a trip between galaxies could be so fast, gate or no.”

“Well your race will get there in their own time. My creators discovered hyperwarp technology a mere century after leaving their homeworld, but most races learn of it later. So don’t be discouraged that yours don’t have it yet.”

“Honestly I find it amazing that your creators developed it only a hundred years after developing space flight.”

Megumi giggled, “A hundred years after discovering warp drive and it wasn’t entirely their own work. They may have... stolen some of the components.”

Kiru blinked, “Didn’t expect that. I take it they reverse-engineered it then.”

“Well they did and with time they improved upon it and made the technology their own.”

“So who did they steal it from anyway?”

“A race of machines known as the Cylovans. They were native to the home galaxy of the Solean people. They evolved from industrial service drones into sentient machines who took on their creator's belief in peace. Unfortunately, their interpretation could be translated as peace through slavery. They sought to enslave all sapient life in order to save it from itself. How could anyone grow without freedom? Without the option to make their own mistakes?”

“I don’t like them, they sound like the Iniri.”

“Well they don’t use mind control. Chemicals, but no mind control and the Iniri had no plans to enslave the galaxy. They needed you and most of them were trying to uplift your kind in their image. I already removed those that can’t be redeemed. I’m sure you will like how things have changed when we get back.”

“So are these Cylovans still around? If they are I hope someone reprogrammed them.”

“No, they were a casualty of the campaign of galactic conquest that began with the Solean return to the homeworld in the year ten thousand SDE. After subsuming the Terran Empire into the newly formed Solean Empire, a process that took about eighty years, the nomadic fleets of my creators began to engage the Cylovan fleets in a series of wars. Each species liberated was soon given status as a member of the Empire be it as subject or protectorate. It took centuries to solidify control by the end of which the Cylovan collective was beaten. A few remnants did survive the war, but over the next couple thousand years, they were hunted down and destroyed. One of the rare cases of genocide in imperial history.”

Kiru frowed, “Yet you let the Iniri live.”

“We did and trust me this was the better path. The other would have been chaos and fire. There was no other way for a gentle transition to occur. You will see when we come back this way and visit.”

“I’ll trust you on that. Hell I already made my choice.”

“That you did. Now are you ready to depart?”

Kiru nodded, as she glanced to the screens. A moment later space distorted as the ship lept to FTL speeds. She was now underway, and out of the sector. New missions and new challenges awaited. As they headed to parts unknown to Neku, Erali and Iniri. Kiru was looking forward to this. There was so much to learn, so much to see, and a galaxy of wonders and perhaps more terrors to explore.