Megumi starred in the mirror. She adjusted her top, and double checked the appearance of her avatar. Today was her twenty fifth birthday, and her captain had a big party planned out for today. So she wanted to look perfect for the event, and she also wanted to experiment. Her crew was comprised mainly of Soleans and Terrans. Both races were rather promiscuous and she wanted to try that out herself as well. They really seemed to enjoy that act, and like any young girl she wanted to have a little fun. Of course just like any other girl she didn’t want to be with just anyone. Which is why she had been flirting with her captain the past few months. Besides, she also needed the distraction. Her last two missions had gone poorly, and as a result fifty seven planets had to be purified.

Purifying a planet was never a pleasant task nor was it pretty, but it was the only real cure for a Darkation Infestation. The process involved extensive radiation bombardment, and was used to cleanse a planet of all life. Afterwards the targeted planet was little more than a radioactive husk. The radiation of choice used was a mix of several radiation types including the deadliest pair of radiation known. Zeta radiation an exotic radiation type that was extremely deadly given the way it caused organic compounds to simply break down, and gamma radiation were used in conjunction on the targeted world. Once the process was complete, not only would there be no life, but any oceans and the atmosphere would be gone as well. However any technology and infrastructure would be preserved. Which meant that recolonization would be cheaper after the cleanup, when compared to glassing a world. Both choices were better than destroying the infested planet however.

She forcefully pulled her thoughts away from the unpleasant concept of planetary purification, and focused on her appearance. Her long silver hair had been done up in a pair of twin tails. It was a common enough hairstyle among Soleans, but the larger Terrans thought of it as childish. Still she liked the look, and the Terrans would say that it worked well given her small size. She was wearing a short top that left her stomach exposed, and a pair of tight shorts. She had also spent a bit of time polishing up her scales, giving them a lovely shine in the process. She had no doubt that she would be drawing a few eyes at the party. Stepping away from the mirror she pressed a button and watched it disappear before heading for the door. Leaving her little bedroom she entered the hall that led to the main room of the captains suite. She had been sharing the captain’s suite with the captain and his mates since launch. So she wasn’t surprised to see a naked girl pass her in the hall. The girl was Mira, she was a little shorter than Megumi, but she was better endowed up top. Right now her Solean secondary racial characteristics were shapeshifted away. Which meant she resembled a little Terran girl at the moment.

Only someone who didn’t know what to look for would mistake her for a child however. Her purple eyes were one of the biggest give aways. Anyone who looked into them would see reflected the wisdom that only came with age. Mira was almost old enough to qualify as an elder lord. She stopped Mira in the hall, and asked a question. The older girl turned, and answered, “Yeah, I’m going to be at the party. Just need to take a bath first, and find something cute to wear.”

“Wait, you are actually going to wear clothes?” said Megumi surprised. In the fifteen years she had been onboard she had never seen Mira wear clothing. Most Soleans wore little clothing, but she was part of the group that didn’t bother with clothes at all.

“A lot of Terrans are going to be at the party, too. It's just easier to wear clothes, than deal with their complaints,” said Mira.

“I think it's partially because they think it is inappropriate to be naked, and partially because we look like children to them,” said Megumi.

“You would be right then. They have difficulty distinguishing a Solean child from an adult. The only way they can tell is when we are displaying our secondary racial characteristics, but wings and talons are awfully inconvenient while indoors,” said Mira. Megumi briefly thought that displaying their scales might help, but then she remembered that they had difficulty displaying just their scales. Instead she said, “too bad Terrans can’t perceive the Solean Aura.”

All Soleans had a unique Aura. This Aura allowed other Soleans to determine their approximate age. Since Soleans physically stop aging after they reach physical maturity. Not only that, but it also plays a major part in how they can tell each other apart. Being shapeshifters, it isn’t too hard for them to pretend to be someone else, but they can’t fool each other thanks to their unique aura. Megumi being a machine made by the Soleans naturally had the ability to perceive their auras. Warships had their restricted areas, and she had to have the ability to make sure only authorized people got in.

“That might solve the little inconvenience caused by the fact that we look young, but it would cause other smaller problems,” replied Mira. Megumi quickly realized what she meant, and let her go about her business.

Exiting the suite, she used her link with the ship to determine the best route to the party. The party was being held in a large rec room on deck thirty three that had an excellent view of the stars. Right now they were in orbit of a standard terrestrial type planet, not far from a nebula. Given their current position, the viewports down there would have an excellent view of both in about thirty minutes. She prepped her engines for station keeping, as she felt the view would be appropriate for the party.

She reached the rec room just in time to see the view she was thinking of finally come into play. She felt it was just perfect, and engaged the engines for station keeping. Then she began to look around. While it was technically her birthday party, the captain had made it into a big event to raise crew morale. As such, most of the crew had been invited. Dozens of Soleans were already present, and they were dressed in light, but fancy clothing. The fact that most of the ones here were female was actually quite expected. As a whole the Solean race gave birth to more girls than boys, and as such their population was largely female. This was consequently reflected in the composition of their ship crews. A good number of Terrans were also present, but unlike the Soleans all of the ones here were female, but their clothing choices were similar. Not all that surprising since Solean fashion was just a skimpier variant of the Terran fashion. As for the lack of men on their part, that had to do more with culture than anything else.

The Terrans were a highly matriarchal race, and men were effectively second class citizens in their society. This fact consequently had effects in all strata of their society, but it had worked for them for millenia. They were also the most warlike members of the empire, and thanks to their position they had been the largest driving force behind the expansion of the Solean Empire.

Also in attendance were a handful of Draviri. The Draviri were often thought of as a subspecies of the Solean race, thanks to their resemblance to a mature Solean. They however lacked the Solean ability to shapeshift, and their talons were retractable. They also had retractable claws, but they were in fact not a subspecies of the Solean Race. They were in fact the result of a genetic engineering project. Soleans were individually powerful, but it took millenia to properly train a Solean warrior. Not to mention that a Solean child took half a millenia to properly mature. Terran shock troops were impressive and could easily be fielded in large numbers, but they lacked the mental abilities and mobility of Solean soldiers. The Draviri were a warrior race designed to fill the gap. While not as powerful as a Solean, they could reproduce far more rapidly. Their resemblance to the Solean race was not a coincidence since Solean DNA was used as the base for creating them. Which also explained their small size, they were about the same size on average as a Solean.

As for fashion, their fashion sense was different from the two cousin races. Or to be more accurate they had no sense of fashion. They had been designed to be highly resilient, and their bodies were protected by highly durable and resilient scales. As such they needed no protection from the elements, but they also had a natural warrior mentality. It was to the point that they completely disdained normal clothes. In fact they didn’t even understand why other races wore clothing. The only clothing they considered worth wearing was armor. Their traditional dress was a suit of scale armor traditionally made from their own shed scales. Said scales were actually a very good material for making armor. They were made of a light, but dense material that could easily shrug off both physical and energy based attacks. Primitive weapons like arrows, and spears had no chance to penetrate it. More advanced primitive weapons like chemical mass drivers, and lasers would struggle to penetrate the material of those scales. Modern ground weapons could pierce it, but their scales were tough enough to absorb a few hits.

The few Draviri here were either in their armor or were naked, much to the displeasure of the Terrans. Unfortunately for the Terrans, they were unable to understand why they had a problem with someone walking around naked. Megumi didn’t give them much notice beyond acknowledging their presence. Instead she mingled, and spoke with the more important individuals here in the party. It was mostly idle talk with the department heads, and unit leaders. People she often associated with on a daily basis and knew well.

The moment she saw her captain entered the room, she politely excused herself from her conversation with the chief engineer. Then she rushed up to talk with him. Captain Akira was a member of one of the oldest clans in the Solean Empire the Drake Clan.

“Looks like someone is excited to see me,” said Akira as soon as she got close to him. She gave him her best smile, and replied, “Hello, sir. What do you think of the view?”

“It’s lovely, are you maintaining station?” asked Akira. She nodded, and excitedly confirmed it, “I thought this view would be worth the effort.”

He ruffled her hair, and she almost let out a contented sigh as she enjoyed the attention. “You chose a lovely view, and I must say that new outfit looks nice on you,” said Akira after a few moments. She was glad he noticed the outfit as she had spent quite some time designing it. She lifted the skirt a bit, and twirled before saying, “I designed it myself! I’m glad you like it.”

“Well you did a good job,” said the captain. She enjoyed the compliment, and then dragged him off towards the buffet table.

Coming back to the present, Megumi remembered she had a lot of fun during that party, but she didn’t get what she wanted. Akira had seen her as too much of a child to have sex with. In a way she was his daughter, but that wouldn’t have been much of an issue. Incest was actually quite common in Solean society. Which is why she did eventually get what she had wanted then, but it had been decades later.

Thinking back on it, she thought about the girl Kiru that she was about to teach. A girl’s first time was special to her, and while she was artificial, her own was also special to her. Looking at the nearby pod, she wondered if Kiru would like the partner she had made for the girl. She had used every technique at her disposal to design him. She programed, and shaped him to effectively be Kiru’s idea of the ideal partner.