“At last! They finally gave us the required ships to hunt down the test-subjects!”

- Research Diary of Ouluk Kelemdar

***Deep Space***

***Silith***

Less than two hours later we were ready to put our plan in motion. A plasma gun in hand, I stroll after Antioch and his menagerie of drones. Eyeing his little army of faithful servants enviously, I turn and look back at my own drone, which looks rather weak compared to his. Buggers! I would love to have an army of little helpers. All the things I could make. There are so many plans in my head, and I simply don't have the time to realize all of them.

Antioch arrives at the entrance to the storage area and checks his interface, making sure that the stowaways are still in their hideout. “They haven't moved. Are you ready?”

I nod and he activates the field emitters.

Calling up my own interface and a map of the area, I watch as the seven red dots which represent the stowaways move around as if they are in a panic. The lights in the hallways brighten and dim as the outskirts of the electromagnetic field affect them. An unwelcome, tugging sensation runs down my spine, making me aware that my nano-tech doesn't like this.

The field emitter switches off, exactly eight point twenty-three seconds after Antioch activated it.

He starts running, dashing down the corridor as fast as he can, the little robots right on his heels. We weren't gentle when we programmed the attack, but Min was fairly sure that the targets of the attack would recover quickly... if they survived it. We have to get there and take them into custody before they wake up.

Doing my best to keep up, I follow. The corridor beyond our starting point is cold and dark. Only the drones provide us with light. As predicted, most of the electronics in this area was destroyed. If it weren't for my improved vision, I would be stumbling around like a blind man.

We arrive at the secret airlock, which is well hidden behind a large panel. Antioch's drones are already tearing the cover off when I arrive, turning around the corner. The entrance to the secret hideout was well hidden, seemingly a part of the corridor. Nobody would have ever thought to check the cover plates of the corridor.

The drones reveal a round airlock behind the panel. It's large and heavy, but that doesn't deter the drones. As soon as the cover is out of the way, they use their cutting tools to get to work on the hinges.

Aiming his gun, Antioch is already standing there, waiting for the moment when the airlock opens. I join him and together we wait anxiously.

Watching one of the dots move, I kneel down to take better aim at the airlock. The drones are still trying to cut through the hinges of the first door. I notice that they seem to have serious problems compared to other materials. “This is taking too long.”

“I know. They reinforced the door somehow.” Antioch reaches for his belt and unclips a flash-grenade. He really took a liking to those... maybe I should get a few of my own.

Finally, the first seal falls off, but instead of having to deal with a second seal, the first drone is blasted to bits by a well-aimed plasma bolt. The shot ricochets off a wall, but thankfully neither Antioch nor I are hit.

Cursing, Antioch throws his flash-bang, while all of his drones flood into the hidden chamber to arrest the occupants. They were specially instructed to take the stowaways alive if possible.

As the grenade flies into the dark hole, two figures come flying out. The first one collides with Antioch, while the second barrels into me.

The force of the collision throws me back and I lose the gun in my hands. Falling on my backside, I slide a considerable distance down the corridor.

While I slide, I see Antioch exchanging blows with the slave girl who we accidentally freed back on the station. I recognize her. He tries to aim his gun, but she is too close. Bringing up a perfectly shaped leg, she sends the weapon flying with a well-placed kick. Then their arms trade blows in a whirl of motion, too fast for the eye to follow. Strike, block, strike, deflect, one motion flows into the other as both opponents are caught in a dance of action and reaction.

The battle is abruptly ended when Antioch doubles over, and the slave-girl lowers her knee. She kneed him in the groin! The whole exchange took less than two seconds. Since I don't have the necessary body upgrades, I could never be that quick, but all my mental upgrades allowed me to follow most of the fight in great detail.

Grinning, she turns towards me.

I wince. It's clear she didn't even register Antioch's last strike, when he took advantage of the opening she provided when she kneed him. His hand had shot out, connecting the edge of his palm with her delicate neck.

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As she lowers her leg, her grin slowly turns into dismay as she realizes that she is no longer in control of her body. Her head lolls to the side, her broken neck no longer supporting it properly. At last, her body realizes that the upper management went on vacation. Being a well-trained member of the employment-class, the body decides to quit working. Proper workers seldomly give it their all without permanent supervision. She topples over and slams into the ground, bouncing twice before she lies still.

A broken neck shouldn't be enough to kill her, but she is incapacitated until the spinal cord regenerates.

That brings me back to my own problem, a large brute of a man with furry ears and a snarl on his face. He is striding towards me with big steps, a dangerous light in his eyes. At least a head taller than Antioch, he is also twice as wide and packed with muscles. I gulp, being relatively sure that this guy is definitely stronger than my mate... and much less attractive.

All that bulging flesh makes it look like his head is sitting directly on his torso.

While he seems to be strong, he also looks very slow. At least he is taking his time walking towards me.

One of the drones tries to intercept him, but he casually kicks it aside, treating it like nothing more than a toy.

“Looks like your attempt at killing us didn't go as well as you planned,” he growls and bends down upon reaching me.

Despite his physical advantages, I am far from giving up. Watching the slave-girl fight taught me something. Okay, intellectually I already knew that men are very protective of their important bits, but I wasn't aware that a simple kick can have that much of an effect.

As he bends over me, I bring my leg up and into his groin. The sensation of hitting him there is strange. It feels like kicking something hard, yet soft at the same time. Upon making contact, there is a strange 'pop'. The sound isn't quite like a breaking bone, but more like a ripping tendon. I know that I just did something horrible to another person, but it fascinates me.

He yelps and stops in his tracks, a pained expression on his face.

Using my chance, I bring my hands up and place them on his eye-sockets, making sure that the connector pads in my palms have contact with his skin.

Pulling his head back, he tries to swipe my arms away, but not before I unload my capacitor banks and channel several thousand volts of electrical energy through his eyes, directly into his brain. For a brief moment, I can see the bone structure of his skull as the flesh is illuminated by the energy.

Twitching and spasming, he slams into the ground next to me.

I allow myself a few more seconds of silently lying on my back before I risk sitting up. My chest hurts from being shoved that hard and the bones in my spine pop when I get up, but I imagined it to be worse. While I was sliding across the floor, it felt like my chest had caved in.

“Are you alright?” I call out to Antioch, but it comes out as a croak.

He managed to get back up into a kneeling position, but he has both hands between his legs. “No,” he whines. “That bitch...” Then he starts whimpering and rolls on his side, taking a foetal position. “That armour is definitely a bad design... the most important bit is missing!”

I gulp and get back to my feet, just as Lisandra comes down the corridor. She was waiting in a safe location with the kids, just in case that we are the ones who get our asses kicked. To be honest, I expected the whole operation to go more smoothly. Two of the stowaways were completely unaffected.

Before doing anything else, I check their hideout, a seemingly normal living area. There are five bodies which are already restrained by our drones. I return my attention to my sister.

Upon noticing the large man, her eyes bulge. “That's considered to be a human?”

“Well, he went a little overboard with the modifications, but there are girls who like muscles,” Sam intones from next to Lisandra's left leg.

Min shoots him a pitying glance from my sister's right side. “Bro... such a long time and you have learned nothing about women. Muscles are attractive, but...” She points at the mountain who is lying next to my feet. “But that's definitely taking it too far! Not to mention that large muscles are often meant to compensate for something small!”

“Hm.” I eye muscle-man. Curious, I approach and kick him once more where it counts, just for scientific purposes of course. Somehow I don't want to pull down his trousers. Measuring him this way seems far more appropriate. His body twitches when my foot connects, but otherwise, he doesn't react. Let's hope that I haven't fried his brain and sent his personality off to the V.C.

“I think that you are right, Min. He is definitely smaller than Antioch,” I decide after a second kick.

My daughter smiles knowingly, old experience glistening in her eyes. “Let's throw our guests into the cells.”

We end up placing two men and five women in separate cells, all of them properly protected against people with our capabilities. At least Antioch and I didn't manage to escape from the inside when we tested them. They are reinforced with diamond armour.

Antioch managed to break a cell once when he created a Nano-Worker inside it. The growing-process of the first worker is a very dramatic event, since it's manufactured directly by the nano-tech from our bodies. It utterly destroyed the cell, but then we added a few features, like electrified walls and a detection system which reacts violently when the prisoner tries something.

Having accomplished his mission and sure that the stowaways are locked away, my mate retreats back to the infirmary, walking strangely. He leaves the rest of us in front of the prison area, where we decided to put off any further investigations or interrogations.

Most of the stowaways regained their consciousness, including the two who attacked us, but we decided to leave them alone for the time being. First, we want to search their hideout. It's important to find out what their plans were. Without that, it will be hard to judge their actions properly.

“Will he be alright?” I ask Min as we watch Antioch hobble away.

“Sure, sure, but I believe that he won't have any interest in his 'present'.” She shrugs. “At least for a few days. That girl got him good.”

I nod. “Well, we needed a little more time anyway. Let's return to the mess hall and discuss the various human societies which you suggested. What would be the most interesting forms of government?”

Sam licks his lips. “There is democracy, socialism, a monarchy...”

He continues explaining, while Lisandra and I listen. Aside from finding an acceptable form of social interaction between the two of us, we also have to plan out what we are going to do as our society continues growing. Some sort of government and social rules will be needed.

While Sam and Min are presenting us with different options and suggestions, I open my design interface and continue to add tweaks to our new race. The quest isn't complete until we have four progenitors, but Lisandra's rescue unlocked the menu which allows me to make a few pre-emptive changes.

I smile and giggle as I add a few very important features to my faction. After seeing the members of another faction, I am fairly certain what I don't want to happen with my race.

Sam and Min look at me with worried expressions. “What did you add?” they speak with one voice.

“That's a secret,” I answer mischievously.