As the shuttle ferried my squad and I from the Phoenix's Wings, the Galaxy Jumper we'd been on after entering the system, I kept my eyes on the two squad members that were untested in combat as far as I knew. Not that Bunny was much better, she'd only seen ship combat with Sarah giving the orders. I'd need to be careful with all of them.

"So do we have any idea where we're going or what we're looking for?" Benjamin asked as Micheal fiddled with his mag-rifle's sight.

"Computers are pretty similar across species," I told him. "They have delicate components and wires going everywhere, usually there's a screen of some sort close by, or it's in a temprature controlled space. The only time I remember an alien species having different computers was the Iollans; theirs are crystal-based and have twice the storage capacity of everyone else's."

"Then why don't we all use their model?" Micheal asked.

"Because of the agreement between all Warden races that technology was only shared when it benefitted the survival of all species directly," I explained. "Crystal-based computers didn't benefit the other races from a survival standpoint so they never shared the specifics with everyone else."

"I think we might want to keep an eye out for crystal-based tech down there," Carrie said. "The obelisk wasn't wires and delicate components so much as something we couldn't even access without a lot of effort. Then there's the trouble with the starships that were lost because they were used to ferry Scourge onto cleared planets. We thought the Iollans were responsible, still do, but it could have been the Rif'nay'fex survivors even then. Making sure that the Scourge weren't removed because of something weird or a fluke."

"Why wouldn't they make themselves known before now?" Sarah asked her sister.

"They needed to build a fleet of warships," I said. "If they've been using anonymity to hide, then they didn't have a lot of warships or trained soldiers for if the Scourge were pushed back. That time they spent building and training people, we spent expanding. Now that they've shown themselves, I wouldn't be surprised if they ran somewhere else and are trying to rebuild whatever population numbers they had. They blew nearly everything when they hit us and even if they sent a lot of ships and people, it wasn't enough for us to have much more than a skinned knee in the grand scheme of it all. Especially if you look at population numbers."

"Was there a spike right after they hit?" Bunny asked.

"I don't know," I shrugged. "But we did just go beyond the trillions for Humanity. At that point we're guessing more than anything for what ever comes next. As for Deva in general, we're approaching two hundred trillion. All that and they sent maybe seventy trillion at us when they attacked. If they'd sent more or used better tactics then we'd have been in trouble but they didn't, so even if we lost millions in the fighting, it didn't slow down our growth enough to make a difference."

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"Aren't we worried about population growth?" Benjamin asked.

"Seems like eventually we'd hit something like critical mass," Micheal agreed.

"A lot of Human corporations are looking into domed cities and artificial gravity production," I explained. "They hope to either construct cities on dead worlds and have them domed in and slowly spread across the planet they're on. They're also looking into constructing enclosed habitats that are self-sufficient for space living. The idea there is that there are only so many planets in the galaxy so why not fill in the rest with artificial constructions that they can live on, or rather in."

"Sounds like they have some promising ideas for all that," Micheal said, nodding to Benjamin.

"That's true," Benjamin said.

"If they can get that down, then it won't matter how large populations grow," Bunny agreed. "There's always going to be room for them."

"Sounds like something straight out of science fiction to me," Sarah spoke up.

"Definitely," Carrie agreed.

"I think they made horror stories about this," I nodded in agreement with them.

"What? You can't really think that?" Micheal asked incredulously. "The idea that we can do something like this is nothing short of genius."

"Sounds like a new way to enslave people to me," Sarah said. "They used to use debt and advertisements for it, but soon enough they'll be able to use things like oxygen privileges or repair credits."

"Don't mind them," Bunny said to Micheal and Benjamin, heading off the brewing argument. "They're all old as hell, so stuff like this is scary to them. My grandfather used to tell me about growing up with stories of Rickshaw James and his main sidekick Carrie Applewood."

"I am not the sidekick," Carrie protested.

"Yeah," I agreed with her. "I'm too pretty to need a sidekick."

That sent her and Sarah into a fit of giggles as Bunny tried and failed to keep a smile from cracking her face while I mock-glared at her.

As the shuttle touched down and we disembarked, I went to work dividing us into pairs that would hopefully minimize any potential issues.

"Carrie, I want you and Benjamin to stick together," I told them. "Sarah, you're with Bunny. Micheal, you got the short straw. You're with me. Everyone keep a line open to your partner and have your Cyber on standby to send a message out if you need help. Clear?"

As everyone nodded, I secured my helmet and drew my sword.

"Then let's get to it. The faster this is done the faster we find the trail we're looking for," I said leading the way.

We moved through the city as a group, avoiding Scourge and making our way closer to the most important buildings in the city. The house of worship they used to honor Hyn'bel and the Scourge, and the administrative building that was clearly marked out with their version of block lettering.

"Carrie, I want you to check out the house of worship," I told her as we came closer to both. "Find anything you can that speaks to where they might have gone, and don't hesitate to have Benjamin use his Cyber to interface with any tech in there. It might be what we're looking for."

"Yes, sir," Carrie answered me. "Come on Benjamin, let's go to church."

As they stepped away, I turned my attention to Sarah and Bunny.

"I want you two to find a point that you can use those," I indicated their mag-rifles, "to keep Scourge from coming too close to here until we're ready to leave."

"Can do," Sarah promised before looking around and pointing to the tallest building in sight and looking toward me.

"That one works," I told her. "Just make sure that you have good sightlines of the house of worship and the admin building."

With a nod, she lead Bunny away and it was just Micheal and I left out in the street.

"Let's go," I said, waving him to follow me. "Like I said, the faster we're done here, the faster we get back to the search."