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It took the better part of a month but Sam finally got all of the women home. She reflected on it and realized that most of the trouble she had was specifically in convincing the systems she was entering that she was not there for war purposes. In hind sight, having such a huge warship didn't help matters much. She did, however, intercept two more Vey'Ral attacks on planets and had a few skirmishes with raiders that didn't realize what ship it was. She didn't mind much; the more she battled the more supplies she was able to salvage from their ships. She needed a lot of supplies for her redecorating excursion she was about to undertake anyways. For now she was floating in a dead space pocket near a derelict space station.

She looked at a 3D layout of the changes that she wanted to make. There were several 50 foot diameter tunnels that were going to run through to and from different sections of the ship including one long tunnel from end to end. The commons area and number of rooms available was going to be severely reduced since she no longer was going to need to house a crew of over a thousand individuals. Her power array and weapon capacitor block were going to be increased in size. Her hangar was going to stay largely the same size but she was adding an additional section next to it in the space where the rooms were being removed. The new space was going to be exclusively for salvage and will have several robots throughout it to take care of the salvaging operations instead of the inefficient salvage drones. Then the last change was going to be installing several more weapons around the hull. She was going to be the only person on this ship for the most part so the ship needed to handle itself in her chaotic life.

The ship's AI, that she had lovingly named Kyle, was practically a free thinking being. The vast libraries of knowledge stored in his database covered nearly everything up until a thousand years ago. To update him, though, she would need to travel to Draknaliz and speak with the Ren'Indral. They were the ones who built the ship and held the technologies to update it. They were also the most technologically advanced race in the known universe. Sam would have to find some way to negotiate with them to bring Kyle up to date. Not that he really needed it; his abilities far exceeded anything Sam could have ever hoped for. Kyle could explain a race's biology one minute, replicate fine cuisine from various races in the food processing units another, and work up designs for ship modification and discuss them with Sam a few minutes later. It was a shame he didn't have a personality or she'd dare to have actual conversations with him.

Sam liked the looks of her improvements and approved them for demolition and construction. Kyle sealed off sections of the ship and set salvage drones tearing through departments and unused sections so they could begin the construction. The demolition, she knew, was going to take a lot less time than the actual construction but in the end it was going to be completely worth it. After Kelly and Cathy had built two engineering robots, Sam had made the robot's first chore to make more. With the same efficiency as the two engineers had demonstrated, the robots had gotten to work making a crew of eight, totaling ten robots under the control of Kyle and they were all highly efficient at what needed to be done. Each robot could test, assemble, weld, and cut whatever needed to be worked on and could work outside in the vacuum environment just as easily with the gravity pads, similar to the artificial gravity system in the ship, installed on their feet.

Sam kept busy right alongside the robots to keep from going stir crazy. She was all alone on a ship nearly twenty miles long and almost a mile wide in the middle. To make matters worse she was in dead space between two planet systems to avoid confrontation while she worked on remodeling. For weeks she spent her time flying around the open areas of the craft and overseeing construction to make sure the robots were not breaking down.

It was the day they reconnected the weapon power array that trouble found her. A large group of ships all dropped their star drives just a few thousand miles away from Sam. Proximity alarms went off and made Sam stop what she was doing while a view screen robot flew up to her. She sent out a general hail to the group of ships to find out what they wanted. She was mildly surprised when someone who resembled Drazt answered the call. She could tell he was an older lizard man but she could also tell he was a very angry lizard man.

Sam thought it curious that she would find them out in the middle of nowhere, "can I help you?"

He spoke a different language but thankfully it was one Sam learned from the Drakorna she had encountered the other day, "you are too close to the borders of our territory. Leave now or we will be forced to open fire, enemy!"

Sam just stared at him for half a minute before turning back to the panel she was helping install, "you're kidding me, right? I'm in dead space that is owned by no one specifically so I can do the repairs on my ship I need to do. I've been out here for almost a month as it is and you pick now to interrupt me?"

"Stay your tongue wench! The Drazlith Republic protects its borders with an iron fist! Leave now or forfeit your life!"

Apparently women didn't rank very high in his government, "I am outside of your borders and not bothering anybody. Leave me to finish my repairs and I will leave as soon as I am done."

"No! you will leave now or we will remove you from our space the hard way!"

Sam was irritated now, "get your head out of your ass and look at what you are up against! You do not stand a chance against this ship! You will forfeit the lives of you and your crew if you engage me."

The screen shut off mid rant and they opened fire on her ship. She barely had time to put up her shields before the first shots hit her hull. She also noticed that the ten battleships that were firing on her were hitting much harder than other ships she had dealt with. If she didn't open fire herself then they would burn though her shields before her star drive came online. She had no choice but to engage and release her heavy and medium combat drones. These weren't Vey'Ral. They were normal individuals and as the first ship exploded she slumped down where she was. So many lives lost and there was nothing she could do about it. It was them or her and she had no intentions of rolling over and dying yet.

They fought to the last ship and her shield power was down in the red when she finally stopped the last of them. She was so wracked with grief for having to kill them that she went to a window to look out. Unfortunately that was a bad idea as she saw a chunk of ship drift past with a few dead sailors clinging to it. She was already distraught but now she was traumatized. Vey'Ral were rapists and murderers from the time they were born but these were just normal beings living their lives and following orders. Beings that might have had families. Now they were dead.

Sam needed to get out of there before more arrived though and her star drive was disconnected while she did power grid upgrades. She leaned against a wall and slowly brought the main drive up to full power. Within minutes she was travelling at over 100,000 miles per hour and leaving the area far behind. She knew she needed to finish the ship modifications so she shouldered her burden and got back to work on her repairs.

It took another two months to finish the modifications to the ship. During that time she kept the ship on the move and away from the Drazlith Republic so that she didn't get any more surprise visits. It was bad enough that Kyle had sent out the salvage drones in the middle of battle to collect the debris of the downed ships so that they would gain something from the assault. Sam felt like she was stealing from the dead by salvaging most of their wrecks but the deed was already done so she had no reason to lose the material. It helped keep her main drive running for so long as well since it takes a lot of fuel to run. She eventually reached a point where the star drive was able to be reconnected and was able to stop her main drive and jump out of the area, stopping in a random system decided by Kyle.

Sam never checked to see where they had stopped. Since the assault she had been slowly slipping into a depression, eventually getting to where she couldn't help with construction and later unable to get out of bed. She would occasionally crawl out of bed and relax in her bath spring but every time Kyle would send in a robot to keep an eye on her so that she didn't try to take her own life. Constantly thoughts of self mutilation plagued her mind. Sam was going to attempt to harm herself at one point but before she got the nerve to do it a medical robot came into the room and sedated her. It even gave her a shot of something similar to Prozac.

Sam had woken from that episode with an IV in her arm and a killer headache. Kyle greeted her with a video drone and told her there was a boarding ship enroute to the ship. She was confused until he mentioned they were orbiting Draknaliz and the boarding ship was Ren'Indral. They were coming to inspect the ship and speak to her. Sam agreed to let them board but didn't have the energy to leave her room. She hadn't eaten anything in four days and had barely eaten much of anything for the whole month before. The only reason she had eaten a few days ago was at Kyle's insistence.

Sam had become emaciated during her depression and looked completely disheveled and sick compared to her fit self after she changed. She was still laying on her bed when the diplomat arrived at her room. Kyle's video drone let her in and within three steps she gasped in shock at the sight of Sam, "good lord, what happened to it?"

Kyle's mechanical voice echoed slightly in the room, "she has fallen into despair since her last engagement. She believes herself a heartless beast for battling Drazlith Republic ships."

The woman walked over to the side of the bed next to Sam. She didn't look up at the woman but Sam knew she was being judged and the tear matted fur and feathers on her face were not a pretty sight, "up with you, child. I read 'Kyle's' report on you on my way in. You are too young to have known about the Drazlith Republic. Come on now, up with you!" Sam was hauled bodily into a sitting position and forced to look at the woman. She had a vaguely familiar appearance similar to an armadillo, "you should not despair over having killed them. They are one of the main reasons the Vey'Ral run rampant through the systems. They support them, even allowing them to breed with their women openly. You did good by destroying their ships. You should not starve yourself over their loss. For goodness sake you weigh almost nothing!"

Sam looked at her forearm and saw the bones showing through her short fur. She had almost no muscle left on her body but what the woman said clicked in her head, "they are supporters of the Vey'Ral?"

"Yes. Even their women volunteer to become breeders for them. They have been blockaded from the rest of the societies because of such. Now come with me. We need to clear the ship off for upgrades."

"Upgrades? But I just remodeled the ship."

When Sam couldn't stand on her own a robot that had been standing outside the room came in and picked her up, "you have really let yourself go. Kyle will take you to our ship. Kor'Ran are rare enough, we do not need them killing themselves."

Sam thought her words were a little curious, "where are you taking me? And what is a Kor'Ran?"

"We are taking you into our city. You need time to heal, young one. We will help you."

Sam could feel the depression starting to lift knowing now who she had killed. She felt so tired though. She barely made it out the door to her room before she passed out again. Kyle kept an eye on her vitals while they headed to the hangar. Sam had built a few small cars that could transport several individuals and supplies from end to end of the ship. They rode one since twenty miles is a long distance to walk. Once the tunnels were in place, though, Sam had enjoyed using them to fly through the ship but that joy did not last very long.

---

She didn't know how long she had been out for but she was in a strange location with a couple IV's in her arms and had a killer headache again. The last time she woke up like this she had been sedated by Kyle to keep from killing herself. At least she still had her clothing on. Upon looking around she realized that the walls were solid stone as if she was under ground. They were completely smooth though and looked like polished granite. She tried to move off the bed and touch the walls but she didn't have the strength to lift her body off the bed. A couple more tries and she was thoroughly exhausted.

"That is probably not a good idea yet. You were severely malnourished and emaciated. It is going to take a while to bring you back to health." It was a male voice, that much she could tell, but she didn't see where it came from.

"Who is there?" Even Sam's voice echoed strangely in the room, hearing her voice come from off to her right.

The person chuckled this time and Sam lifted her head, with some effort, and saw somebody sitting in the corner of the room, next to a large door. She could see the various machines around the room but the person was difficult to make out. Her vision wasn't quite cooperating with her, "you do not know me. In fact no one here knows you either. The Ren'Indral would not let us look at your family pattern until you woke up. They say it is an invasion of privacy. I do not fully agree but I am in no position to argue with them. They are our keepers and protectors. The few of us who survived have lived with them in secrecy for millennia. To find one so young and from outside our circles is intriguing and dangerous."

Sam growled, "if I wasn't as sick as I am I would show you how dangerous I can be."

"So feisty!" He laughed again at his own inside joke, "you should learn to tame that temper of yours. It may get you in trouble one day."

"Kiss my ass." Sam put her head back down to relax the strain on it. Even as near death as she was, putting up with this prick was getting her riled up.

"You will be kissing my feet in no time. I guarantee you that." With his statement he got up to leave. The door opened before he reached it though and a very angry sounding Ren'Indral shooed him out of the room. They walked over to the bedside and Sam got a look at the first male she has seen so far. He looked like an armadillo like the females except he had large spade shaped scales instead of the wide flexible bands like the females. He had something with him but she didn't recognize the smell.

"Here, I bring you food. Now that you awake we take out IV. Food cheaper too." He had a thick accent and Sam guessed he was from an area much further from the area the diplomat was from.

"Thank you. What is it?" She was genuinely curious since she hadn't eaten many meals in the past couple months.

"Gorda hash. Very tasty and good for you. Is mainly what Kor'Ran eat. Was staple of the Ren'Dal."

He brought over a tray with the food and Sam noticed it looked much like hashbrowns with colorful spices on it. Sam was curious about what else she could eat, "what is the main food of the Drakorna? Do you know?"

"Ahh, no matter. Drako' eat meat. They no handle hash well. We no have meat though. Too tough to process for us. Kor'Ran no complain."

"Okay. That makes sense. Thank you," Sam took a small bite of the hash and could see why it was a staple of the Ren'Dal diet. It was delicious and felt satisfying going down. She instantly felt much stronger after a few bites and pulled herself up to get at it better. The nurse, at least she thought he was a nurse, was surprised she was able to sit up when she could barely lift her head a few minutes ago. She cleaned her plate and with a girly burp and a smile asked for some more.

"You sure? No want you get sick."

"Please? I won't get sick. Promise." Sam tried the puppy dog look to be extra effective and it seemed to work.

"Okay okay. I bring 'nother plate. You stop if you full. No try over eat, yes?"

"Promise. I won't get myself sick."

The nurse left with a nod and Sam took advantage of the slot in the middle of the bed to sit upright. Her vision was back to normal now that she had some calories in her body and she took a better look around the room. She couldn't tell if she was underground or if the walls just appeared to be polished stone. All of the instruments, however, were very high tech looking. She was a little upset that she couldn't read anything though. All the power of minor telepathy to learn new languages but it didn't apply to writing. She would need to learn how to write for every language the hard way. At least she could speak them so that made things easier. It only took a few minutes and the nurse was back with another plate of hash. This time it was steaming hot.

"Is hot, yes? Be careful."

"I will, thank you." Sam took a deep breath of the aromas and marveled at how much of a difference there was between room temperature and fresh hash. The first bite was heaven as well, making her take her time eating. The temperature was even a little hot for her tolerance but it wasn't enough to burn her. After the last bite was down she noticed the nurse had left already, leaving her to wonder what to do now. She also noticed that he had already pulled out her IV's when she wasn't paying attention. Small drops of liquid bandage like material were on each point an IV was attached. Scratching didn't take them off so Sam figured they would fall off with due time.

It only took a few minutes for Sam to get bored and try standing. It certainly was easier than when she had been shot with the nerve poison but still took some effort. She could even feel her leg muscles rebuilding themselves from the effort and she was starting to get hungry again. It was time to go for a walk and find the cafeteria.

Sam peeked out of her door and saw that the hallways were dimly lit. She figured it was because it was night but you can't be too sure with races she's barely met. She tried sniffing to see if she could smell her way around but it seemed they kept the place pretty well sealed up. It took her a second but she actually picked up the smell of her nurse and it only went one way down the hall. She must have looked strange sniffing the air like some dog every few steps but she felt justified. No one was around to comment on her habit anyways. Sam finally came to a room that she could smell the hash coming from and opened the door. It looked like any old cafeteria complete with salad bar and high tech drink fountain. She couldn't read the writing on anything though so she was going to have to do everything by smell.

The hash was pretty easy to find and it was next to a couple items that looked like meat that smelled edible so Sam grabbed a couple. She didn't see any methods of paying and figured it was all free so she walked over to the drink machine and tried a flavor. The first one was clear and smelled sour so she didn't even bother with that one. The second smelled partially like cola and was slightly tasty but not her ideal. The third was a slightly sweet tasting red drink that reminded her of strawberries so she stuck with that one. Since the room was empty she just picked the nearest table and noticed that the chairs were designed for people with large tails and easily sat down comfortably for once. She started with the hash just to make sure she ate something she could keep down first and tasted one of the meat like substances. Turned out to not be meat but it at least had a lot of protein similar to a bean paste. The other two were the same material just prepared differently and Sam thought they were pretty tasty.

She was just about finished with her meal when a crowd of Ren'Indral came into the hall. They seemed to be ignoring her until the first one finished getting their food turned around to see her chewing at the table. Sam had been watching them curiously and had one ear cocked up and the other to the side. All he said was 'Kor'Ran' and everyone stopped what they were doing. It almost sounded like a curse when he said it but none reacted angrily.

Sam took a sip of her drink and the one who spotted her first watched curiously, "you like that drink?"

Sam looked at the drink and back to the armadillo man, "yes. It reminds me a lot of a fruit from my home planet."

"You are Kor'Ran, yes?"

She had been hearing that word a lot lately, "I think so. I just got here and it is the first time I've heard that term."

He smiled widely, "ahh. You are the new one! You just arrived on the Doomhammer! Welcome, welcome! I heard you were ill. You are better now?"

"Yes, much better. Thank you. Don't let me hold you up, I know I get cranky when I am hungry."

"Oh, yes yes. Holding up the line." He moved out of the way to sit next to Sam and everyone behind him magically started moving again, getting their foods and sitting in an almost drone like fashion. It was slightly creepy to her but the first one started her on conversations of what she had done before getting there. No one butted into her conversation and seemed to magically ignore her.

Eventually her nurse came into the room looking very worried but once he spotted her he calmed down instantly. He came over and said one word that her brain translated as the phrase, "thank you for your time. Be well and we will talk another day" before gesturing for Sam to follow him. She bid the one she was talking to farewell in her own way and followed the nurse out of the room. He took her further down the hall before pausing to ask a question, "why are you up and around? You should be in bed recovering, not walking. How do you do this? I saw you practically at death's door an hour ago and now you only look thin and not emaciated."

Sam just shrugged, "I don't know. I've always been like this. I heal fast. Wounds that would kill someone else don't kill me. I've gotten used to it and don't think about it but I suppose it may be strange to someone who doesn't know me."

"Are you sure you Kor'Ran? Is not normal."

"You know, I didn't even know what a Kor'Ran was until an hour ago. All I know is that I am half Drakornan and half Ren'Dal. I do not know who my mother or father were. I do not know anything about what I am. All I know is who I am and that I was born almost 32 years ago."

"You were... born? You did not hatch from egg?"

"As far as I know, yes. I saw the images of my birth, they were real."

"We need go. Something not right about you. I take you to head of Kor'Ran sector."

"If it is that person who was in my room earlier, I would rather not."

"No, no. Come with me." He started walking at a faster pace with a worried Sam right behind him. She didn't understand why he was in such a hurry but couldn't get anything out of him as they hurried along. They eventually passed out of what she assumed was the hospital and into an office space. There was people bustling about and even more working at holographic computer stations. Sam was reminded once again she couldn't read the language as she tried to figure out what they were doing. They finally stepped out of the building completely and out into a huge cavern with flying vehicles flowing like it was Friday morning traffic. One broke off and flew down to them and Sam was practically shoved into the back seat of it. These were not designed as well and didn't have accommodations for her tail so she sat rather uncomfortably as they sped off and back into traffic towards their unknown destination. Sam watched as the underground city soared past her with great pillars of stone holding up the roof only 300 feet above them. Finally the cab they were in broke off and landed next to an indiscriminate building. She still couldn't get her nurse to talk and he almost seemed to shun her questions.

As quick as they had been walking before they went straight into the building. Past security guards, past working Ren'Indral, past what looked like conference rooms. Sam did notice one thing about the whole underground city: there was no beauty to it. Everything was drab, simple, and the same colors. She was starting to wonder if they were color blind. It would explain a lot about their city though living under ground probably gives them incredible night vision. They finally stopped in front of a couple of very large guards blocking an equally large set of double doors.

"We need to see the archiver." That one sentence, as simple as it was, told Sam a lot about what they were doing there.

The guard on the right was the only one who moved, "you do not have clearance to be in here. What gives you the idea to make that claim?"

"This Kor'Ran. She is different. Something about her does not match the others aside from gender. We need to find out why."

This time the left one moved, "you do not have clearance! Return to your assigned district."

Sam was starting to get irritated, "look, we just need some information. Just let us in or page whoever is in there pea brain."

"Kor'Ran have no dominion here. Cease and desist!"

"Make me, meat head!" That was all it took and the guard took a downward swing at Sam. She reached up to block him and stopped his blow in its tracks. He struggled for a full minute to make Sam buckle but she wasn't even shaking from strain.

The door opened behind him right as his strength was giving out and he stepped back from Sam, "guard 0471, what is the meaning of this?"

"These two left their designated areas. They are making false claims to see you, archiver."

The archiver was a short, older woman that reminded Sam of a librarian. She looked over to the two who caused the interruption and raised an eyebrow, "well now. This certainly falls under the section of 'unusual requests', doesn't it 0471? That's what I thought. Come in you two. Maybe you can share why you have arrived at my door."

"This Kor'Ran looks the same as the others but she has a remarkable healing rate and, from what I saw just outside the door, incredible strength! I thought it in best interest to bring her to you to find out why." Mr. Nurse seemed overly stressed in this archiver's presence. Sam just wondered what was so scary about a librarian.

"Ahh, I've heard of you. Yes, you think a lot. It has gotten you into trouble before, no? This time, though, you are justified. She is indeed different from the rest but we must find out why. Tell me, how old are you?"

Sam just shrugged, "I'm 31."

The librarian turned to look at Sam in disbelief, "31? That's it?! That can not be! How did you come into this world?"

"Well I come from Ogra 3 and I was born from a human. I was also born human if that makes any difference."

The librarian flinched at the mention of being born human, "oh dear. Someone of Ren'Dal descent performed the forbidden ritual on your egg. I thought that ritual was lost millennia ago. Do you know how old your egg was?"

"I was told by a powerful psychic that my essence is 15,000 years old, if that is the same thing."

She just stared at Sam for a full minute, "15,000 years? Your egg should have been a rock by then! But that would also put your creation as a first generation. Do you know who your parents were?"

"No. Nobody would tell me. I know nothing of my heritage. I was originally being sent here to my supposed mother though."

"Interesting. We can probably work with that. I just need to check these shipping logs and... there. One package intended for... Queen Arlan? That can't be right. But we control all shipping on and off this planet. That is the only package to a Drakorna in the past five years. You were being shipped to the queen? Her son was killed in the initial battle though! She shouldn't have had another... unless it was right before the attack? I would need to contact her on the matter and before I talk to her about anything I need to confirm you are hers."

She turned to Sam with a very determined expression, "what do you need from me?"

"A blood sample and your family markings should suffice. The latter is pretty easy to get but I will need to send in a tech for a blood sample."

"What are you going to do with the blood sample? I have my original folder with all of my information from the Office of the Lost on my ship."

The librarian paused for a second before getting confused again, "ship? You are 31 and already have a ship??"

"Yes? Is it really that bad? I took it over from a mass of Vey'Ral a while back. Your people are doing some upgrades to it right now. The Doomhammer. At least that is what the diplomat told me was happening."

"You came in on that beast?! We haven't built a ship even close to that size since it was created to battle Vey'Ral. It is a shame that ship was not in service for very long before it was taken over. I applaud the Drakorna who was in charge of the ship for minimizing the damage done over the years he was tortured. Now then, back to the matter at hand. I forget that Medic here is trained in blood draw, he can get me the sample." He just nodded and pulled a gun of sorts out of thin air and stuck it to Sam's arm. She felt a pinch then the barrel on the device turned red with blood and he pulled it away. He hesitated for a second with a cotton ball but put it away once he noticed Sam's arm heal quickly.

They both stopped and stared at Sam for a minute before she got uncomfortable, "what? What now?"

"We're waiting. We can't look at your family markings with that clothing on!"

"Oh. Right, here." Sam pulled her dress over her head and set it on the desk next to her.

Medic, as the librarian called him, didn't seem to know what he was looking at but she instantly knew the pattern, "indeed. That is certainly Queen Arlan's pattern. It is interesting that yours is in feather instead of fur though. I only know of one Ren'Dal who was strong enough to have overridden enough of her power to put feathers on the pattern. Duke Kordo. He was the strongest of all of the Ren'Dal and leader of the tribe that was closest to the Drakorna. They were also the only tribe who was friendly with the Drakorna which makes sense for them to be the ones who made the Kor'Ran." She looked at a few things before shooing them out, "take her back to the rest of the Kor'Ran. Queen Arlan will visit her there."

Sam slipped back on her dress before they headed back to the facility they started at. They walked at a leisurely pace this time and she got to know her medic a little better, "so you are born with a name but once you are ready to work they designate you by your title and a number? That seems awful cold."

"It is not that bad. My original name is Glen but my title is medic 1742. Among friends we still go by our original names though. We grow up knowing this is the system. Our population is very dense on this planet so it is difficult to have everyone with unique names. Chances are you may wind up at the same job with one or two others with the same name. It used to happen too often and people would get confused but that was over a millennia ago. With the system in place you have a wristband like this that can dictate where you can go and is used for everything ranging from food to discipline."

Sam looked at the silver band on his wrist. It reminded her a lot the Nike fuel band, "so you said this controls your food, too? How does it do that?"

"We are only allowed a certain ration of food per day. If we eat something high in calories then our budget later is reduced. It prevents us from getting fat. We did that once before and it became a huge problem, no pun intended."

"I know that would be good for my home world. A large percentage of the population is overweight." Sam realized something as well, "hey wait, why can I understand you clearer now than when we first met?"

They stepped outside and a cab came down to pick them up again, "I'm not sure. You are probably just getting used to my dialect. I'm from a city on the other side of the world and the dialect is different."

"That makes sense. So how many Kor'Ran are there?"

"There was fifty of them last week. Sometimes they come and go. Most of them are comfortable here and don't run off but occasionally one will want to see the world. They come back after a time but sometimes they either die or make it off world. Those we obviously never see again."

"Well that doesn't sound very exciting. So what are the Kor'Ran like?"

"Er... well... I don't think I'm the one that should tell you that. They don't treat me very well since I am their assigned medical provider. None of them are like you though and certainly aren't as courteous either. There actually has never been a confirmed hatching of a female Kor'Ran so I don't know how they will react to you."

"Well to be honest, I wasn't born female. I was exposed to some chemical that changed my gender. So technically there never has been a female naturally."

Glen raised a thick eyebrow ridge at Sam, "is that so? I thought it was strange to see a female. Do you have any other questions before we get there? We're almost there."

"I can't think of anything. I'm sure I'll have more questions after I've met them. Not sure I want to though."

Glen sighed, "I know the feeling. They are my charges though. I just hope they don't treat you like they treat me."

They stepped out of the cab when Sam figured she should ask, "so how do they treat you? What do they do?"

He just shrugged, "they bully me. They know they are stronger and faster so they do what they can, push me around, trip me up. Occasionally I've ended up in a trash can."

Sam cringed while they walked through the front doors, "That sounds like what adolescents do where I am from. Older, higher classmen do that to the younger ones in school. It is very juvenile and annoying."

"Yeah well, most of these Kor'Ran are over 6,000 years old. There are a few who are only 3,000 but there are none younger than that. Well, besides you, but technically you are over 15,000 years old and a first generation so you don't count."

Sam got a good laugh out of that, "yeah yeah. Okay, show me to the 6,000 year old adolescents. Let's see how this goes."

"Good, because it's right behind this door." The door was huge, perhaps ten feet tall and a good fifteen feet wide. It looked like it was either meant for a large group to pass through or for something to fly through. Sam checked and it was too narrow for her to fly through comfortably but she could tuck her wings in to fly through at high speeds. Glen opened the door and the moment it was wide enough to get a good view of the inside there was forty pairs of eyes locked on her. Each was also sporting a sneer that raised her hackles.

Sam just groaned, "this is not going to be a pleasant experience."