FSE

Furry search engine

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Seeing Prince Reons face full of terror and hopelessness as I fell through the hole, did not help the utter terror I was feeling myself. I hit the floor below relatively quickly, which also gave way, but did slow my descent a little. The next room I passed through was filled with cobwebs and dust, yet my plummet did not come to a conclusion till I crashed through to the next room.

I hit the canopy of an ancient four poster bed, which collapsed under my weight and momentum, but the mattresses and bed beneath did not. I gave a pained groan as I hit, curling up around my belly to try to protect it, I let my legs fold before I rolled onto my back and tumbled to the floor.

I gave another groan and hissed at the pain, flexing my foot paws and legs to test if anything was broken. I didn’t feel the signs of a break, even my tail which was pinned beneath me: just badly bruised and sore. I dreaded the idea of Zox’i’s face when I had to see him next. I was drawn rapidly from my self investigation by a warning, yet pained growl from close by.

I looked up and tracked my eyes around the room. It was a large bedroom, filled with old abandoned furniture, peeling paint, cobwebs and dust on almost every surface. Against the far wall was another four poster bed, although the canopy for this one appeared to have been snapped off. Laying on it on their back was what had growled at me.

They were about my height of five foot ten, with golden orange eyes, and a medium length muzzle, nostrils hidden on the end of their snout which was filled with sharp, yellowed teeth. Atop their head was a messy mop of hair that cascaded a little down their neck. It partially hid a pair of large ears, a pair of horns swept back from the crown of their head between their ears.

Two large feathery wings extended from their back looking simultaneously soft and fluffy, and extremely strong. Between their legs was a long tail which obviously grew from their lower back like my own. They had digitigrade legs, with four toed paws, however the tops of each toe looked to be covered in keratin leaving just soft paw pads on the underside. They were covered in soft purpley-pink fur, with an off white pale pink on their belly, chest, muzzle, cheeks, and feet.

Their belly was huge with clear signs of late pregnancy. They had two nipples on their chest and two teats down by their crotch. Between their spread legs was a gaping cunt which was sopping wet, a large wet spot over the bed below. Their face was twisted in pain, and they were panting in obvious discomfort. They gripped at the bed and gave an agonised moan, clearly as they had a strong contraction.

Regardless, I had no idea if they were dangerous, and their sharp looking claws didn't help me decide. My eyes darted around before landing on the door. I got up carefully and slowly, my eyes returning to the creature on the bed who continued to watch me. Slowly I made my way towards the door, watching the creature in fear of it suddenly turning violent.

“W...Wait! S…Stop!” they called out in a masculine voice, yet it was uncertain, like speaking was not something it did often “Th…That door g…goes nowhere… I…it just a… a pit." I hesitated, but tested the door, cracking it open and looked out. Past the door was a drop of several stories, down to a crumbled floor far below.

“Well fuck.” I muttered.

“I…I not hurt you.” he called before moaning loudly. I closed the door and looked back at him, seeing him clutching his belly with one hand.

“You… w…who are you?” I asked as I slowly walked over and he shook his head.

“W..we not have n…names.” he replied, panting heavily and gave a whine before pressing at his belly.

“Wh…what are you?” I then asked as I got closer to him. He gave another groan and squirmed on the bed, a spurt of fluids from between his legs, but it wasn’t a lot.

“I… In pain…” he replied honestly. As I got by his bedside, I reached out slowly to gently touch my hand against his own which rested on his belly. He flinched and looked at me, but he seemed to realise I clearly wasn’t a threat. He relaxed a little, his hand shifting to lace out fingers together and he squeezed it. For some reason this felt… monumental… to him, like for once he had someone there to be with him.

“I… I don’t really know what to do here…” I explained softly “But… I…I’ll help how I can.” he just nodded, and gave a soft rumble akin to a purr. I stayed with him as he continued to labour and push, groaning and grunting in pain and gripping my hand tightly.

He never seemed to make any progress however, all of his pushing, groaning and whimpers of pain not granting him the release he needed so badly. I could tell he was getting tired too, his movements getting more sluggish, and his groans losing their intensity.

Eventually there was a soft buzzing noise, drawing my attention away from him and towards the hole in the ceiling where I had fallen through. Something that looked like a large stingray descended down gracefully. It had six large cloth-like wings and a roundish body. On one end of it, which I assumed to be the front, were a series of large eyes. It was multi coloured, and rotated slowly before noticing me and flew over. It stopped and hovered in the air roughly a foot away, a holographic image appearing above of Bogra’s face.

“David! Are you ok?” he asked desperately and I nodded.

“Yeah… I was expecting Master I’ll admit…” I responded.

“You better be fucking glad he has no idea what is going on!” Prince Reon’s voice came over the image, it cutting to his face “I may be his brother, but I'd be Dead!” I went to respond but the male beside me gave a pained moan.

“What was that noise?” Reon asked “Did you lie to Bogra? Are you injured?”

“Guys, look as much as I love this reunion… and I do, I need Zox’i down here, is he there with you?.” I requested and the image quickly cut to the Kiquvari’s face.

“I’m here David… are you hurt?”

“A little scratched and bruised, I’m ok… but I found someone… and they need you specifically.” I answered and the image cut out, the odd drone moving to inspect the male beside me. He watched the drone with some apprehension. I had to give his hand a soft squeeze to calm and reassure him that he would be ok.

The device settled down on an old shelf nearby, settling down to rest while facing towards us. I had started to worry that Zox’i was not coming, when the Kiqu in question appeared through the hole. He had a belt that was clearly made from his own tech. It would automatically reach out with stretchy tendrils to grab at the floor above and below, letting him land gracefully. He also had a bag in his hand, and once on the ground, he quickly made his way over.

“Well hello there,” he greeted with a smile to the male on the bed who started to try to back away “Ahh, ahh, shh, calm. I won’t hurt you. My name is Zox’i, I’m a doctor, I’m here to help. Ok?”

They gave a whine and nodded, starting to relax again, yet he retained some of that tension. I continued to hold his hand, giving soft squeezes to try to remind him that I was still there, he was not alone. Zox’i stepped over and opened the bag in his hand. He pulled out the handcuffs looking device he had used the other day on me, and gently placed it on their belly.

As he read the readout his face seemed to droop a little, but he tried to maintain some level of confidence. Clearly what he was reading was bad enough that it had the Kiquvari worried. That had me a little concerned in turn, but I tried not to let that translate through.

“Oh hon…” he cooed softly “You’ve been here a while haven't you?” They gave a whine but Zox’i just shook his head softly and rubbed at his legs.

“It’s ok… let's get this delivered,” Zox’i soothed and pulled out an injector and gave him a shot “There we go, a relaxant and pain reliever, now I want you to push when you feel the urge ok?”

They nodded and gave a groan and waited. As the painkillers kicked in, he started to relax, eventually relaxing so much he sagged onto the bed and his wings were brushing the floor. I rubbed his belly a bit more and squeezed his hand again, getting a soft squeeze back and a soft rumbled purr. Clearly the shot had the desired effect, and he was enjoying the respite from the anguish. Although by the moan of pain he gave when he next had to push, it was not as effective as I expected.

Half an hour passed, filled with groans of pain, heavy panting, and whimpers. Zox’i and I offered comfort and encouragement as and when we could. Yet while Zox’i was able to assist with some devices, medical balms and some injections to give him more energy, There wasn’t a huge amount I could do personally. However I felt that I was giving some level of comfort that they hadn’t had before. Eventually they gave one loud, long cry of pain, and then collapsed back onto the bed with a grunt, panting heavily.

“You did great.” Zox’i cooed out. The male on the bed gave a soft grumble and tried to sit up, although clearly his lower areas weren’t working how he was expecting. As he moved, it seemed he barely had use of his arms and upper torso, even his wings being dragged along for the ride.

“Th…thanks…” he replied softly and couldn't meet the Kiqu’s eyes “You not need tell me… I know… It… It nothing new…” Zox’i just nodded, and I looked between them confused, a glance from the Kiqu however stopped me from asking anything.

“I’m going to take you with me,” Zox’i informed him gently, yet with an air of finality “We can give you some proper care, ok?” They nodded softly, and the Kiqu gave him one last injection. They startled and struggled a little, but I could see he was clearly falling asleep.

“Shhh, shhh, just sleep, we have you.” the Kiqu cooed softly, gently rubbing at his leg as they fell asleep.

“What… what happened?” I asked.

“I put him to sleep,” Zox’i answered softly “It will be easier to get him out of here that way.”

“What about…” I started and he shook his head.

“My people may be masters of reproduction…” he started slowly and looked to the form that was in his arms sadly “But there are some that even we can’t save…”

I wasn’t able to ask any other questions, not that I felt I needed to or was able to, Zox’i just became busy. He wrapped the stillborn infant carefully and respectfully, then gave a soft whistle which awoke the small drone that flew over to him. It gripped the wrapped package in its legs securely.

“Take it to Milgais, stop for Noone,” Zox’i told it “Then return with Ov’ids and a sleep pod.” It gave a soft chirp and flew back out the hole quickly. Zox’i then took out another belt like the one he had on, and one that looked like a body harness.

“Come here, David.”

I returned to Milgais with Zox’i, where he gave me a very intensive checkup before Master arrived in a rush. He was dressed in a long heavy fur cloak, a long sleeve shirt that was overly ornate, trousers to match and a heavy crown. It all looked way too hot, especially for the lion who already was covered from head to toe in lush fur. Behind him were Courtiers who were protesting loudly at his breaking of etiquette. They stopped however when he rounded on them and started pulling things off.

“GET OUT!” he roared angrily “I WILL BE CHANGING THOSE FUCKING RULES WHEN I LEAVE THIS SHIP! SO EITHER GET OUT OF MY SIGHT OR I’LL START EXECUTING BY THROWING YOU FROM THE DOCKING BAY!” they, wisely, started running back the way they came, with Mil snapping the door closed once the last one was out.

“Calm down, Leniad,” Zox’i instructed with an eye roll “David is fine. A little scratched and startled, but he is ok. The kitten is perfectly fine too.” Leniad just nodded and pulled me close to hug him.

“So I see,” he said softly and heaved a sigh “Sorry… I thought that we would be safer here than this. I never imagined that one of the more sound wings would start to crumble.”

“It is understandable,” the Kiqu replied “Even your brother was greatly disturbed by what happened. However David is clearly quite resilient.”

“I’m sorry Master… I didn’t mean to cause you distress.” I apologised but he just shook his head.

“You have nothing to say sorry for,” The lion replied warmly with a smile. His attention then turned to the huge stasis tank that took up a large portion of the room. Within the tank was the strange creature I had encountered, sleeping peacefully while he was being healed by the waters he was suspended in.

“Now…” the Lion said slowly, but with some clear interest “Tell me what we have here.”

“He isn’t a ‘What’, Leniad,” Zox’i scolded irritably “He is a He… much like I am.”

“Alright, alright, I should have used ‘Who’, tell me about him,” Master replied with a sigh and eye roll “I’ve never seen anything like him before…”

“Hmm, that’s unlikely,” The Kiquvari mused before waving his hand over the tank, a series of holographic displays coming up “He is native to this planet. According to his genetics, he evolved from a species you call ‘Isphelkrapedis’.”

“Isphelkrapedis?” Master asked, blinking “They went extinct almost two thousand years ago, hunted for sport by the upper classes and the destruction of their habitats.”

“Clearly not,” Zox’i said with a chuckle “If i’m reading his genetics correctly… and I’m seldom wrong, I would say a large flock of them took up residence within the palace’s unused sections. Then over the centuries, evolved into what we see before us. Judging from the internal scans and his genes, his species are carnivorous, Given that there isn’t a lot of meat sources within the Palace interior… I would assume they are cannibalistic. However, this guy is malnourished and underdeveloped. He should have a lot more muscle mass than he does, even a fat layer if he is a breeder. I couldn’t find the tell-tale markers in his body that would dictate that he has subsisted on one of his own kind, and I did a thorough check of his digestional tract. I am left to presume he has survived by hunting rats, or possibly even eating the rations left behind by exploration teams.

“In turn that explains why his kit was stillborn. It was severely underdeveloped and undernourished… poor kit didn’t have a chance. Sadly I think this was the best outcome for the it though. Due to his starvation, the mother wasn’t able to build up much in the way of a milk supply..”

“You mean even if he had managed to birth the kit…” I started and Zox’i just nodded slowly.

“It would have starved to death a few weeks… maybe days later.” he finished sadly, then cleared his throat to continue talking “I’m also seeing evidence that this isn’t his first. There is evidence of a long history of pregnancies, and there’s evidence that none of them were by choice. I can’t say how many pregnancies due to the extent of the scarring, or how many of those survived, but looking at the evidence before me, the ratio is horribly skewed one way.”

“Does answer a few questions,” Master remarked as he walked us toward the tank to look at the occupant closer up “If there are more of his kind down there… that explains what happened to all of those exploration teams.”

“My thoughts too,” Zox’i replied “From the genetics record before me however, I would assume the colony is no more than… maybe one to one and half thousand strong.”

“I… I don’t think we should send him back,” I piped up drawing their attention “Think about it… it would probably only be sending him back to either his death by the rest of his kind… or more of what he went through earlier.”

“Either way we would be dooming him…” Master trailed off and sighed “Zox’i… is he safe?”

“As safe as you are,” The Kiqu replied with a smirk “He requires an almost purely meat based diet, probably quite rare, but that isn't anything that can’t be accommodated. He would also need some training and schooling. He was able to talk, but I get the impression that’s from hanging around near the surface levels and learning it that way… I doubt he can do more.”

“What do we do about the…” I asked, looking to the capsule close by that contained the remains of the kit.

“I have already done what is demanded of me for my culture,” Zox’i explained “I have investigated the body to determine the cause, and taken a sample. However it’s up to him how we dispose of it, they may have their own rituals, and mine demand that we obey theirs.”

“Guess we won’t know till we wake him…” Master remarked and sighed “How long can you keep him under safely?”

“Minimum of three days. There is a lot that needs to be fixed, both internally and externally. He can remain in there for only as long as a week, the tank process wasn’t designed for long periods. That would mean something more serious, and if he had needed anything more intensive, I'd have given him UB treatment already.”

“Excellent… gives me time to get a few things set up, like a collar and more.”

“A collar? Really?” Zox’i asked looking towards me.

“It’s not a slave collar Zox, it’ll be mainly a tracking collar… and a means of keeping an eye on his heat cycles. I don’t want him to be jumped by any of my people, that would only be bad for everyone involved.”

“I see… and the ‘more’?”

“Setting up a ‘fence’ so he can't fly off… and beginning the process of tearing this dump down.”

“That may have a negative effect on his people… they have evolved to live inside the castle,” Zox’i explained “You could drive them to extinction.”

“We will figure that out… but they can’t stay here any longer,” Master explained then gestured to the tank “I certainly don't want THIS happening under my roof any longer.”

The idea of tearing down the Palace went down like a stone in a lake with the royal advisory committee. However he was steadfast, wouldn’t take no for an answer, and was backed by his brother. What went even worse was when it was exposed that there was a race living within the castel’s heart, and that there was one in captivity. Suddenly they were all demanding to take him into their possession, and it rapidly started to degrade, with him starting to be regarded as a thing rather than a person.

Their arguments were ended by Master slamming his fists down and roaring loudly and angrily. He reminded every one of them that he was a living, breathing being. He then proceeded to threaten them with execution if they ever forgot that fact again. Lastly he reminded them that he was the Emperor, and what he wanted done with the Palace, would be done. If he wanted the place torn down and built anew, then the Castle would be torn down and a new one constructed.

His reasons made sense. The upkeep of the place was exorbitantly expensive, just trying to stop the older, unused areas of the palace from collapsing took vast sums of money and a huge amount of dedicated man hours. Even with all that dedication, it was still dangerous to live in. In addition, there was a race of vicious creatures living deep within it's crumbled heart.

The argument came up of where to move them if they were so dangerous. If the one in Zox’i’s ship was any evidence, they were sentient to some degree. So keeping them in a zoo would only raise moral questions. However they couldn’t just be let loose, they were dangerous, even cannibalistic to their own kind, they would and could prey upon innocent civilians for food.

The choices ended up coming to, in an abandoned cave system on the planet, closed off and given a supply of food to sustain the colony. Or in a space station in orbit, specially built for their needs. Master, sadly, wasn’t impressed with either option.

Master called a recess after two hours of bickering and no progress. We retreated to his personal chambers a few rooms away, it had a large desk with several posh chairs and a lounge set up. He flopped into his chair with a huff and rubbed at his temples while I sat down opposite him. A servant appeared and set down a cappuccino for him, almost like Master had ordered it well in advance, then disappeared just as quickly.

“Think about it, Master,” I started “Either way it won’t be a zoo. Sure they will be under observation and fed on a daily basis. But they won’t be available for public access. Maybe over time, you can, secretly, prune out the traits we don’t want?”

“Are you suggesting training them like pets? Or selectively breeding them like livestock?” He asked, looking shocked and I gave a sigh.

“It sounds bad any way you put it,” I replied “But I guess it's more like just… breeding out the aggressive tendencies.”

“The only options I can think of are: One, Sterilise the lot, with the one Zox’i has excluded, and have the Kiquvari breed a new generation…” he muttered softly thinking of what options there are to take “Something they are already doing with the Drako population. Two, is to force sterilise the ones with traits we don’t want, that way we can steer their nature a bit. Three, Just let them be and ignore them once they are in their new home. Or Four, we put them in the habitat… let them breed… and take their children away when they give birth to raise them elsewhere, and hope that upbringing will solve what issues we have.”

“None of the options sound palatable…” I mumbled with a sigh, rubbing my hand back and forth over my belly “No matter how you look at it, it’s forced intervention on an entire, sentient species… It comes down to… which is the least evil of the options?”

“And possibly the cheapest…” he added with a chuckle “The advisors will protest if they think it will cost too much. The enclosure around a cave system is the cheapest, but it would be the hardest to keep them contained. A space station would be expensive to build and keep running. At the same time, hiring a team of Kiqu to restart the population would be equally as expensive… maybe more.”

“The Kiquvari are probably the most expensive option I assume… you would need to consult Zox’i about that. But even if you did hire them, you would need an enclosure made for the remaining population,” I respond “The cave systems are a dangerous option I think. There is no way to tell if they will find a way out somewhere or make one. The space station may be the only option, they can be more easily contained that way. The question is, how long will it be operating? If we let them reproduce and then take the children, you would need a sizable population to keep the species going, but it will take the longest and therefore cost you more. There is also the option of repurposing an old station in orbit if there is one. ”

“The Kiqu would potentially be the quickest, but again possibly cost a considerable amount.” he grumbled then heaved a sigh and pressed some buttons on the desk infront of him “Fuck it, contacting Zox’i.” he rotated in his seat to look at the screen behind him on the wall as it blinked on.

“Oh hello there pussy,” Zox’i greeted as he appeared on the screen “how can I help you?”

“Obviously we are trying to work out the… best course of action to take with the species living within the palace,” Master explained, leaning back in his seat. “I want to know… how expensive would it be to hire your people to… how to put it… Replace current stock?”

“Hmm, I can’t say I’m surprised you are investigating that route,” he replied “However it won't be as bad as you are probably expecting.”

“Wait… really? But isn't Kiqu…” I started

“Yes some Kiquvari services are expensive, but that is more for custom orders with extremely picky requirements,” Zox’i answered with a shrug “The more precise you want to get with the outcome, of course the price goes up. In this case we probably wouldn’t be changing a lot. Sure we would need to suppress some genes and encourage others, but I have a small head start on that here. The other part is just the diversity. To get a decent enough sample pool to prevent genetic defects down the line, we would need at least four subjects to diversify the genepool. Also, there are a few Kiqu who would jump at the chance to have a new species to tinker with, they would offer their services for free. However, unlike the Drako race, where it is being done to prevent their species from dying out due to a mutation, for free, here you would need to pay for our services.”

“And how much would that be?” Master asked.

“Less than you are paying me, per Kiquvari.” Zox’i answered.

“Wait… What?”

“Kitten, I’m charging you triple the normal rate because you're demanding so much of me.”

“I hate you…”

“No you don’t. Anyway, the primary objective now will be to capture a few more subjects… more the merrier as the humans say,” Zox’i continued with a smile “If you want to go down this route, I can send off a message to the Council Matriarchum and get the ball rolling, they will need to contact you at some point if they accept. Of course we will need to sterilise every subject that is taken from the Palace… I will not be including our boy here however.”

“I figured as much… besides, he seems to already have most of the traits we want.” Master replied and then sighed “Trapping a race of vicious flying carnivorous creatures is not going to be fun…”

“You have the home fleet in orbit?” I suggested “Maybe it is time to send in More than just a small team?”

“True… and personal shields have been invented since the last dive,” Master added thoughtfully “Station first, we need that ready for them before we start moving anyone.”

“Be aware some Kiqu may want to take a subject or two back with them,” Zox’i announced and master seemed to hesitate.

“Any subjects they take, they will need to birth themselves” Master said firmly “the colony within the palace will not be up for the taking… They may have as many samples as they like… but no live subjects from the original pool, make sure your people know that, Zox’i.”

“They would have it no other way.”

When we returned to the meeting chambers, Master announced his plans to the room, with a frosty reception. Obviously none of them were thrilled with the idea of centuries of tradition being uprooted and flipped on its head. On top of that, they all realised that they would get no say on the race that was living under their very noses.

“Sire we clearly can’t object to your demands,” One of the advisors said “But with the castle being demolished, where will the royal family reside?”

“And from where will you get the task force to undergo the capturing of these… creatures?” another asked.

“The answer to both is quite simple,” Master replied and pressed a few buttons on his bench, a hologram of a ship appearing in the centre of the room “The IFS Furor.”

“A ship, Sire?” one queried.

“The Furor is part of the Home Fleet, It is currently in orbit above us,” Master explained simply “Crew of one thousand five hundred, she is the only ship in the Home fleet capable of atmospheric entry.”

“But…” one tried to interrupt.

“She will be ordered to descend from orbit, and to land on the Royal Parade promenade where she will remain until the reconstruction is complete. All crew will disembark and take up residence within the barracks close by. Said crew will be the task force responsible for capturing the lifeforms living within the Old palace structure.”

“But…Sire…” they attempted to intervene again.

“The parade grounds are three kilometers long and one wide,” Master explained, getting a little annoyed that they keep interrupting him “Are you suggesting that there won't be enough room to house this size ship?”

“No Sire… it’s just that,” they hesitated to answer “The Furor is an experimental ship, the Atmospheric entry capabilities never progressed beyond the… Theoretical… phase. While yes it is theoretically all installed and ready to be used at a moment's notice, it has never actually been tested in a… practical sense.”

“And no, there won’t be enough room Sire,” Another piped up “You have all the courtiers, the servants, the guards, the footmen to accommodate, it is a very large compliment you will need to have with you.”

Master heaved an irritated sigh and rubbed at his forehead. The reasoning for his aggravation was not lost on me. He had been fighting all day to reduce the amount of courtiers and workers within the palace. Already he had abolished and changed the restrictions that had been placed upon him by royal etiquette. Now they were trying to put them back, or at least remind him of what he hadn’t been able to remove.

“Then it is time to get the ship past the theoretical,” he grumbled “Contact the crew, tell them they have eight hours to practise and get ready, in sixteen hours, I want that ship on the ground. As for the ensemble that you are insisting upon. That will be greatly reduced.”

“Sire?”

“Once the ship has landed, I and a select panel of individuals will begin personally interviewing each and every courtier within the Imperial Court,” Master announced “The Crown has a truly embarrassing amount of persons under its employ. Of the two thousand plus courtiers, footmen, and servants, that number will be reduced by at least half.”

“But sire, what of the war? That will take months!” one interjected.

“The war will take precedence, obviously, and at such a time that the Monarch is ready, I will leave the interviews to the remaining panel and return to the front lines to finish the conflict.” Master answered confidently “Moving on. As for what to do with the species within the castle, I have done some research, and have come to an agreement with Zox’i. I will be negotiating with the Kiquvari Council Matriarchum as soon as they respond to our inquiry. While that is going on, every subject will be sedated, have a genetic sample taken by Doctor Zox’i, and then sterilised.

“After that, they will be housed in a satellite based habitat, to live out the remainder of their lives. The Kiquvari will then be employed to replace their population with more genetically stable and socially affable subjects. The cost for this project will come out of what was the Palace Restoration budget, seeing as it is no longer required, at least not at its ridiculously bloated size.”

“Sire, building a new station would take longer than rebuilding the Castle!”

“True, however,” Master said and pressed a few buttons, the hologram in the centre of the room changing to show a large derelict space station. “This, I believe, is Balaeniceps station. It has been derelict for roughly sixty years and was an administration complex for space travel within the system. It will be brought back into service and its internal structure converted to be a habitat for the remaining population. It is certainly large enough, however it will require some serious overhaul, every system from the grav-plating to the energy network is ancient, and incompatible with current tech. The branches of the royal shipyards that are not currently working on the Monarch, will assist with the conversion.”

“That will still take several weeks, even with their assistance. Where will we keep the specimens till it is ready?”

“In stasis,” Master answered nonchalantly “With what is available here on the planet, and in orbit on the home guard fleet, we have enough pods to keep them asleep for up to a year.”

“And what of the contents of the palace?” One asked “The relics, the paintings. With the Palace being torn down, the will be a lot to extract as we go.”

“It can go into storage to start with, then… Open a museum. There will be enough to fill one, and our historians have been itching to investigate whatever is hidden within the Palace’s depths.” he answered with a shrug.

“There is nothing we can say to persuade you to a different course of action Sire? You really wish to rebuild the palace?”

“You have your orders, get it done gentlemen.”