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Sam's ship was looming over them now as they shuttled into the hangar. Sam couldn't help but chuckle at the other Kor'Ran staring and looking around the massive bay. You could fit several large starships in the belly of this beast and that wasn't even a tenth of the ship. Sam even stared in mild wonderment at how clean and new everything looked now. The Ren'Indral certainly worked wonders.

Through her awe, Sam couldn't help but notice Clara shivering in her arms, and not from cold. The poor cub was curled into a ball and breathing shallow. Sam stroked through Clara's fur and could feel the fever burning through. Sam didn't wait for the airlock doors to fully open before flying as fast as possible to the infirmary, leaving Troy and the others standing around clueless.

Another orb, this one sleeker, came in through the open door. It stopped a few feet away from Troy, "welcome to the DoomHammer. Sam would like to thank you and give you a tour herself but she is indisposed in the infirmary with her bonded Coran. If you would like to follow me, I will guide you around the ship and to your quarters while you are aboard the ship."

An orange colored Kor'Ran spoke up, "who are you and what is so special about this Sam person? There has been a lot of hype around her."

"If you will follow me, I will explain everything I can. First off, I am Kyle, the ship's AI unit. I am directly linked with Sam, so if anyone needs her just ask and I will relay the message and response. You will generally have free reign over the ship except for access to any ships docked. There are facilities further back on this ship that are restricted to Sam and engineering crew as well. This room to our right is a training facility and will be stocked with weapons of various types and strengths as Sam acquires them."

"Why would we need weapons?"

"That is a topic best discussed with Sam directly. Her reasoning is difficult to relay without disclosing sensitive information. Either way, should you choose to spar, this would be the room to do it. Do you gents prefer to fly or travel by conventional means?"

"Fly? Why would we fly? It is terribly inconvenient."

Troy just shook his head, "I will fly. Sam seems to enjoy it, I feel we should as well."

"Very well. For those that wish to move by traditional means, this tunnel runs the length of the ship with smaller tunnels that branch out to different departments. There are a few cars like this one that will aid you in traversing quickly, simply press the button here against the wall and one will arrive shortly. Also, the ship is 20 miles long and walking that distance can take a while. The last 3 miles are dedicated to engineering and combat capabilities so the tunnel does not run through there. Now if you'll ju--."

"Hold on hold on." A teal colored Kor'Ran interrupted this time, "why is there so much combat built into this ship? A sparring room, weapons locker, miles of combat capabilities in the ship. What else does this ship have?"

Kyle continued without missing a beat, "just hop onto the trolley. This ship was designed and built as a war ship back 3000 years ago by the Ren'Indral. It still serves that purpose now through Sam and many Vey'Ral have fallen to her command. She is a very skilled and capable fighter."

The Kor'Ran glanced at each other before the trolley started to move, picking up speed to 40 miles per hour. Troy was able to keep up and wasn't terribly winded when they reached the quarters. Everyone was pleasantly surprised to find comfortable quarters with plush beds and all of the amenities they would want. Troy was more worried about Sam though. They hadn't seen her since she flew off with the Coran kit earlier. None of the others were concerned about her, mostly because of the bruises they still carried, but Troy noticed how distressed Sam was at the Coran's condition. After picking a room, which coincidentally became locked to his biosignature, he headed back out to find Sam. There seemed to be quite a few of the little orbs floating around now that the tour had finished and one came up to give him directions. The orb wound up guiding him halfway back to the shuttle bay and into a hallway that seemed awful small for being to the medical bay. They came to a locked door with a retina scanner in the center. This was definitely not the medical bay.

A complex lock on the door spun open with multiple clicks and gears until the door itself spun out of the way. If the rest of the ship was not spectacular enough, this room alone would have made up for it. The entire top was glass, giving a beautiful view of the stars and planets nearby. In the center of the room was a large bed that looked like it was fit for a king, or queen in Sam's case. The decoration was sparse but one step into the room sent sensations up his leg he didn't know possible from carpet. It was so soft and plush that it felt like stepping on silk piles. Sam must have loved it in this room. Off to the side Troy heard running water through an open doorway. As he got closer, the running water started to sound off; more like cascading water. Stepping through the doorway floored him once again. The running water was a waterfall flowing into a pool set into the ground. Sam was down in the water holding Clara in her arms, keeping her head above the water. There was an IV coming from the kit's leg and attached to a bag hanging next to the door he hadn't noticed yet. The kit looked miserable but at least she was more responsive than she had been on the shuttle.

"Hi, Troy. I'm glad you came alone. Welcome to my sanctuary, how can I help you?"

"Hey. I was just coming to check on you and Clara. You rushed out of there pretty fast, I didn't know what happened."

"I didn't know what was going on. Kyle explained that it is something rare. Something about mixing the gift from the Gilden with a blood offering. It messes with things. Clara has in a sense become my blood sister now. I am told it is something the Ren'Dal used to do with battle companions. That combined with some leftover chemicals in my blood and now she is changing. Into what, I do not know yet. I am just trying to keep her comfortable for now. Kyle estimates it at 3 hours if we keep the protein drip going." Sam stroked through Clara's wet fur to keep the kit calm.

"I don't know whether Clara is more annoyed at being wet or in pain."

Sam took a look at Clara's surly face and couldn't help but giggle, "probably more the water than anything. She clawed me when I first dragged her in here."

As if to punctuate the statement, Clara extended her long claws in a stretch towards Troy, "ouch. Those are some wicked claws for such a small critter. Where did she get you?"

"She clawed up my arm pretty good, but it already healed. Those claws are just about as bad as mine."

"I haven't seen any claws on you. And how did your arm heal already? No one can heal that fast."

"I don't understand it, but I do. Everything heals fast. And my claws are here," Sam pulled her foot out of the water for Troy to see and extended her claws.

Troy looked closely at the claws with a frown. Things with Sam did not add up, "Sam, I have some questions."

"Uh, sure. What did you need?"

"Well, I've been noticing things strange. About you. None of the Kor'Ran have feet like you do, our wings are shorter, our teeth are not nearly so large or sharp, and our ears are smaller. At times you look more animal than sentroid. But yet you are one of the most intelligent beings I've met, your strength is unrivaled by any but the strongest of creatures, you are lightning fast... You are nothing like us and yet you can be nothing but a Kor'Ran. I just don't understand how you can be the way you are."

"So... this isn't normal? I noticed you guys were a little different but I didn't think it was that bad. What does it mean? Why am I different?"

"I have no idea, Sam. No idea. We could try a genetic scan to see if there are any variances? The Ren'Indral do that early in pregnancies to check for defects. I'm sure your ship will have the facilities for that."

"Well, I guess we can try after Clara feels better. I'm curious though, how fast do you heal? Like, if you got a gash on your arm, how long until it heals over?"

"A gash? Like deep enough to see muscle? A few weeks at least. And it would need stitches to hold it shut. How fast would you... or do you heal?"

"A gash through to muscle would take about 10 minutes to heal. Broken bones about an hour. I don't think anything short of severe bodily damage or decapitation can kill me."

"That's... Disturbing. Intriguing but disturbing. Makes me a little jealous as well. We all would probably be more daring if we weren't so easy to kill."

Sam went through some quick conversation in her head with Kyle. Sam had started life male and she wondered if it was the female aspect that made her strong. Kyle suggested running tests in the med lab to see. Kyle also mentioned possibly resynthesizing the chemical that changed him to her. It could prove useful.

"You alright, Sam? You spaced out for a few minutes."

"Oh, sorry. I was talking with Kyle. There's some things I want to try and a couple tests to run. It's been close to three hours. Let's check on Clara now."

Sam pulled Clara up out of the water and she and Troy were both shocked to see tiny wings sprouting from Clara as well as a changed stance to bipedal instead of feral. The little kit seemed happier now at least, the pain of the changes over. Sam remembered her own changes and shuddered. That pain was excruciating. What she was going to do with this kit in the meantime was a question she hoped would be answered soon. Having a pet versus having a child were two completely separate ideas.

Sam had a cart waiting for them when they came out of her room. One of the creepy orbs was floating over it, the eye like lens focused on Troy giving him chills. Troy felt like flying again and Sam couldn't hide her smile when he mentioned it.

"After you, Troy."

Troy smiled himself as he took off into the tunnel. He was only a few flaps into his flight when a rapid banging sound caught up to and went under him. Sam was running along bottom of the tunnel faster than he could comfortably fly. With a quick hop, Sam spread her wings and soared in front of Troy. She kept her speed even with his so she could put on a show, though she was putting on a second show she was unaware of. Troy couldn't help but notice he could see right up her dress and to her uncovered groin. It wasn't much to see but the whole idea itself got him excited. He was certainly glad he was wearing pants.

Sam was oblivious to this as she held Clara out from her body. The cub took a liking to the wind and even spread her little wings out. Clara giggled like the child she was as Sam started rocking and twisting in the air to show off some acrobatics. Once she got started with the moves, Troy watched Sam for a different reason. Sam flew like a bird in her prime. Graceful, powerful, and awe inspiring. The cute giggles and mews from Clara as Sam guided the cub through the air made the sight heartwarming as well. Troy wouldn't admit it, but he was jealous. It had been a pleasant flight but all good things must come to an end. Sam tucked her wings and dove right through the doorway. Troy was not as adventurous and opted for landing before following Sam in.

Two hours later saw Troy and Clara lounging in Sam's room with her. They were relaxing but Sam was very much irritated. The results of the tests were alarming at best, "how does one's DNA get combined with 107 other creatures? Seriously, how is that possible?!"

"I have an idea," Troy rubbed at his chin in thought, "it would also explain why you have such different features than we do."

"Is that so? Well then, [Mister Wizard], do enlighten me."

Troy was about to answer but Sam had said something from a strange language, "what does that mean?"

"What? [Mister Wizard]?" Sam realized what she was saying had no translation into any language she knew aside from earth, "it's just something from my home world. So why and how do I have 109 sets of genetic material?"

"Wait, 109? I thought there was only 107... oh right, the original two. Well Drakorna have been known to reincarnate themselves. They make an egg and pour their essence into it. When they are done, they make a small hole in the shell and pour their blood into it. Their life is aucked from their body and imbued into the egg. The only problem is that the egg can not be hatched unless another Drakorna hatches it. Couples usually will reincarnate one then the other. This way they stay together. That is why there are not many new Drakorna. Even millions of years later they still have no more population."

"Interesting. But how does that pertain to me?"

"Well my theory is that Maza imbued your egg with the blood of 107 other beings trying to keep it alive. It is possible, but hasn't been done in a very long time. I believe that the last one he finally used was the last piece that was needed to hatch your egg."

"Huh. Do you think the last one would have changed me to look like something other than this?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I wasn't born like this. I was a completely different species. And I certainly wasn't so... petite."

"I don't think so. There is only one thing that could do that. It is called the Dark Rite. It takes a dagger made of starmetal to perform. It is possible that the Rite had been performed on your egg if Maza could not figure out how to hatch an egg, or if your egg had been too weak to hatch." Troy stroked his chin in thought. Where would Maza have learned the Dark Rite.

Sam was not thinking the same thoughts. In fact, hers were completely random. She was noticing that Troy had a small patch of feathers on his chin that looked like a goatee in the same color of vibrant orange as the rest of his feathers. She missed her goatee.

"Actually, if the being used for the Rite was stronger than what remained of the egg, then the strength of the egg would have imbued into the being and died off. In the very rare event that they were both weakened, then they would have merged and the genetics and energy of the egg would have remained dormant until a time was reached that the egg could take over."

Sam gave this new information some thought. It did make sense if one thing was true, "would a chemical that destroys a specific type of DNA provide an opening for the egg genetics to take over?"

"If one such chemical did exist, then yes, it is likely. Why do you ask?"

"Because that is why I changed species and why I am female. I was born male. This chemical stripped me of everything I was used to; my whole belief in the world. My flesh is white, I have fur and feathers, my eyes are huge and violet, and I have wings. It took me years just to get used to it." Sam played with one of the feathers on her cheek, "I still miss how simple my life was before."

Troy surprised Sam. He grabbed the base of Sam's wing and pulled her over next to him. He overshot a little and pulled her partially into his lap, probably not expecting her to be so light. Regardless, he still wrapped his arms around her, "you have been through a lot for someone so young. Trauma, war, death, betrayal. It is a wonder you have become so strong when many would have buckled." Troy rubbed Sam's arms, hoping to soothe her. It was working even though he couldn't see it. Sam felt good in his lap like this; comfortable, appreciated, even loved. Troy interrupted her warm fuzzy feelings with a completely random thought, or at least random for her, "this chemical that changed you. Do you still have some?"

"What? No. That was over 5 years ago. I have Kyle synthesizing some from my blood though. Apparently I still have some in me. Why do you ask?"

"Interesting. I just know some who would be more than happy to change their genders, if that is what this chemical does."

Sam eyed Troy, wondering if he meant himself. She didn't even know if this chemical would do the same to anyone else, "that isn't what it was designed for. I'm not saying it wouldn't do that, but it may have been a fluke. I get the feeling that some on the ship would rather be female...?"

"Well... yes. All of them actually. It is one reason they came. They wanted to find out why you were female, and so strong, while they all were born male. You defy everything we know."

"Well, I've been told many times I am defiant. I guess this is just another to add to the list. Tell you what," Sam ran a claw through Troy's chest fur, "Kyle is just about done making enough chemical to change everyone on this ship. How about you go talk to them and bring the lot to the medical bay. We can run some tests and see what happens in a little while."

"Did you want me to get them now?"

Sam sighed and shimmied a little further into Troy's lap, "no, not yet. I haven't been this comfortable if over 5 years and I don't want it to end yet." Clara decided she didn't want to be left out of the cuddles and hopped into Sam's arms, eliciting a chuckle from Troy and Sam.

"Well I guess Clara says we aren't going anywhere soon either."