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As Sam ran, she saw a vendor to her left was selling staves and had one metal stave, "borrowing this! I'll bring it back!"

The vendor tried to protest but Sam ran off after the other Vey'Ral with staff in hand. As she caught up to the next group she wished it was a bladed staff as the Vey'Ral's head lopped off like it was cut. Sam paused for a second and saw the staff shimmer golden with a blade like a Naginata. She felt a bit sick seeing the blood dripping from the end. No time to think about it though, she had monsters to catch. She caught the remaining three of the group quickly and a couple swipes of the blade and they were cut down on the ground. No question this blade was sharp in the slightest. The problem now, though, was there were none left on the streets. The rest had all cut down alleys or gone through doorways. Now Sam had to pick through buildings and find the rest of them. She set her ship to scan the area for their signature and track them from her location. None of them had gone very far at least.

Sam started working her way through the buildings, picking off the Vey'Ral room by room, scaring the hell out of citizens and leaving bloody messes everywhere. Sam was sure there would be complaints but maybe the few she saved from being raped would excuse her. Finally she grabbed the last of the Vey'Ral and dragged it from an alley. It clawed and spit at her but she had her own claws in its neck as she yanked it along out into the street.

"Your people have been attacked by these creatures. This is the last of them. Some of you may seek vengeance for lost ones, harmed ones. What would you do with this thing?" There was a silence. Sam was a bloody mess and her naginata was dripping blood on the ground. She shook some of it off onto the ground in disgust. Still there was silence but they didn't look afraid. No one wanted to come forward.

"The people of Trenton were ready to kill me just for looking like one of these. Do your people not feel the same about these creatures?"

One, a short creature, maybe just under four feet tall came forward, "most of us are pacifists. We do not condone fighting. We understand necessity but only in self defense."

Sam knocked the Vey'Ral to the ground and put a foot on its back. She gestured the small creature closer, "come closer. I will show you what this one has done."

Sam put a thumb to the Vey'Ral's forehead and another to the short one's forehead as her eyes glowed an eerie purple teal swirl. Sam could see everything she sent to the small creature and it made her want to kill the Vey'Ral even more. After a few seconds she cut the feed and the small creature stood back, eyes wide with alarm.

"What-- what did you show me?"

"I showed you, from its eyes, what it has done. I cut out the mundane details of eating and traveling through space, talking about conquests. But that is just what this one has done recently. That is why on Trenton they were ready to kill me on sight just for slightly looking like one. Your military sees me the same way and has attacked me before."

"I... I did not know. That one is so young and has done so much terrible already!"

"This is why I offered his life. If you are pacifists, would you rather give him a trial as an invader? Maybe keep him for study?"

"That will not be necessary, Sam."

Sam looked up to see the representative from the last time she was here walking up with a full contingent of troops with him. Sam bristled a bit, remembering what happened last time his troops saw her.

"At ease. These ones will not harm you. Actually once they realized you were the one who practically single handedly stopped the invasion, they warmed up to you a bit."

Sam was still apprehensive, standing up and bringing the Vey'Ral with her which was still struggling, "you understand my apprehension. I have been attacked way too many times."

"I understand. In the heat of the moment, their fears and prejudice get the better of them. Perhaps now, though, I could convince you to join us?"

"I wish to maintain my neutral allegiance. I can be friendly, even an ally, so long as I am not shot at, but I do not wish to join your allegiance. You can do whatever you want with this thing though. I'm getting tired of holding it."

A few of the troops came over and took the Vey'Ral away to a vehicle behind them. Sam wondered what they were going to do with it but not enough to ask.

"Since you will not join us, can I ask a favor of you? My daughter, Linley, is on Trenton finishing her schooling. Tomorrow is her last day. Can you pick her up and bring her home? She is a huge target and I do not wish to lose her again. She is next in line to replace me as Admin of Ally forces."

"Oh. So you are one of the Admin who wanted me so badly off Earth? With how much we talked I thought you might have actually mentioned that at some point. Well let me finish collecting materials from the Vey'Ral ships and I will travel to Trenton to collect her. I imagine she may be happy to see me if she remembers me. She was a bit drowsy when we met last."

"Oh no, believe me, she remembers you. She was already starting on the troops about your mistreatment since she is an associate Admin right now."

"Speaking of Admins. Terry told me my race was classified. General Kalaknar knew what I was and spoke of battles with my race and wiping out the Ren'Dal which is half of what I am but did not mention what exactly I am. He seemed pretty surprised I am only 37 years old."

"You are 37 years old? That should not be possible. We need to bring in someone to figure this out. Count yourself lucky you survived an encounter with Kalaknar, though. He is a vicious Vey'Ral general. How did you get away?"

"I killed him and took his ship. How else do you think I got this big beast of a battleship?"

"You... you killed Kalaknar? You killed a General? In unarmed combat?"

"You make it sound like that is impossible. Didn't you read my file?"

"I... I didn't believe it. I also didn't believe that humans had developed such strong combat techniques. And you say you are only 37 years old? Your kind is not fully grown until in their 900s."

"It's true?! I'm not even fully grown until I'm almost a thousand years old?! How long am I supposed to live!? What the hell am I!?"

"Ah! Calm down, Sam. The Kor'Ran are as ageless as the Drakorna. None have died of old age yet and there are some from the original birthing still around 15,000 years later."

"Wait. I remember something. I spoke to a psychic back on Earth. She said that the soul that I merged with was 15,000 years old. Sorry I know that sounds confusing, let me explain." Sam explained everything she had learned from the psychic years ago back on Earth, trying to go into as much detail about the whole situation as she remembered.

"Maza. That must have been your brother. This also confirms that you were the lost egg from the first batch before the war with the Vey'Ral broke out. You were not officially born a Kor'Ran though. You were transferred into another being using a dark ritual performed by Maza himself at a point your egg should have been dead. Maza must have been attempting that ritual for millenia to keep that egg alive. Very curious."

"Well that's all fine and dandy but what does that mean for me? Am I actually 15,000 years old or do I go by my age since birth?"

"Oh, no. You would go with your age since birth. Your soul is 15,000 years old but you are not. Actually, I am curious where you got that bladed staff? It is glowing and I have never seen such a thing before."

"Oh, this? I grabbed it from a merchant up the way. Which reminds me I need to take it back. I borrowed it to take out the Vey'Ral."

"Wait, which merchant? The stave merchant? That is what we call soul steel then. People with strong soul and qi can shape it at will."

"Really? So I can probably change the shape of this again?"

"Again?"

"Yeah! It was just a staff, I wished it had a blade on the end and then it had a blade. Let me try a couple things."

Sam held it out and started thinking up designs for the staff. Amazingly it started morphing into different shapes before her eyes and exactly how she imagined them. She tried a rose, star, sphere, and Spongebob just for good measure. Then she got an idea. She set it against her chest and imagined a set of armor. It morphed into a set of plates of armor across her chest, legs, arms and over her wing joints just like she imagined it. She knocked on it and was happy to hear a good gong sound of heavy metal.

"Okay this is some awesome stuff. How do I buy it from him? I don't think I have any money."

"I-I'm sure you could work out some bartering. I saw your ship up there collecting materials from the big ships you destroyed. You could probably trade him something."

"Maybe. Let me make it back into a staff for him. I'm sure he wants it back."

Sam put her hand on the chest plate and changed it back to a staff. She didn't remember it having a design on it but added some Celtic and other designs to it to give it some flair. Maybe it would be appreciated. The merchant looked a bit harried from his loss and was ready to admonish Sam as she approached.

"Whoa whoa, hold up! I'm sorry I took it in a hurry! I wasn't stealing it, just borrowing it to deal with the Vey'Ral. Here, I'm bringing it back."

He still looked like he was fuming a bit when she handed the staff over but he blew up more thinking he was being cheated, "this is not my staff! It did not have these designs on it! It could not have these designs! That metal is near impossible to work as it is!"

"Alright alright, I'll change it back!" Sam touched the staff and changed it back to a plain staff at the shock of the merchant. He stared at the metal in his hands now that it was plain and smooth again like he had just witnessed the impossible.

"How? How did you do that?! There are few capable of such a feat, how did you do it?"

Sam just shrugged, "I guess I am one of the few. By the way, do you know where I can get more of that metal? I'd love to have a stash of it. This is very useful."

"I... I know not where it comes from. It is very rare as is. This staff is worth a lot of credits on its own."

"I haven't had a chance to make any money yet. Is there any way I could barter for it? Anything you want I could trade for it? I have a ship and materials I've refined and collected from the universe as well as from Vey'Ral ships."

"Unless you plan on giving me your ship, there isn't really anything I would want you could give me."

The short merchant started to turn around so Sam took a last ditch effort to list off a few things her ship said they had that were rare and expensive, "triellum crystals? Linite ore? I have a roll of Khalar fabric?"

"Wha-- each of those are worth far more than this staff! How do I know you aren't just trying to get me to part with it?"

"Because that staff is worth far more to me that those materials. Pick one and I'll bring you some as a fair trade."

"Alright. The fabric then. I can trade that much easier than the ore or crystals. Bring it and I will trade you fair and square."

Sam started to walk back to her landing craft when the Fren, the admin caught her arm, "you really have Khalar fabric?"

"Yeah? I can manufacture it. I have a whole roll of it. My clothing is actually made from it."

"Your clothing? But that is a huge waste! That fabric is extremely expensive and rare! It is used for bullet proofing nobility vehicles!"

"Yeah well it is currently serving as bulletproof garments for me and going to serve as a bargaining chip to get me that staff."

"I hope you know what you are doing. Alright, anyways, we need to be off. Good luck to you! This Vey'Ral needs to be brought down to processing."

Sam waved him off and continued her trek to her landing craft.