The dwarves had finished their work on Luna’s hull with surprising speed and efficiency in the night.

Ryan now took the time to inspect Luna’s mostly repaired hull, Jaren riding on top of the Mk. II as he did.

Jaren pointed to an unfinished part of the hull, “Why didn’t they do those parts?”

Ryan moved the Mk. II closer to the spot Jaren pointed to, “Oh, those are the sensor plates. I asked the dwarf boss, and he said they didn’t have the knowhow to fix them.”

Jaren nodded, “Can you fix ‘em?”

Ryan moved the Mk. II to the one sensor plate they had repaired, “Already fixed this one. Might need to upgrade it using the tech the dwarves used for the rest of the hull, though. Don’t want a weak spot.”

Jaren looked at the sensor plate, “You can do that?”

Ryan didn’t want to give away too much, “We have our ways.”

Jaren shrugged, “You have some scanners or somethin’?”

Ryan ignored the question, “I’ve been thinking…”

Jaren noticed Ryan’s deflection of her question and rested an elbow on her knee and rested her chin on her hand, “Hmm?”

Ryan lifted the Mk. II high enough to see the mountains in the distance, causing Jaren to have to grab on to the drone so as not to fall off, “Well, I was wondering if I could hire your sisters for a job. The two we met yesterday,” the noises of the man in question killing Chie and Mayu appeared in his mind and he had to push them out, “said you and your sisters were the strongest Adventurers, and…”

Jaren looked around at the view with amazement, and used her hand to block the sun, “This view’s amazing! I can see over the edge of the disk!” She stood up, “Sorry, I interrupted.” She stretched, “You want to hire us for a job?”

Ryan rotated the Mk. II until Jaren faced the mountains, “Yeah. I’ve been trying to leave Mljos Tersa, but some dragons keep blocking the exit.”

Jaren squinted at the mountains, “You want us to kill them?”

Ryan didn’t really care, “Kill them, or drive them away long enough for me to figure out how to open the exit.”

Jaren stood up, “Sounds fun. Marjolaine, Madeleine, Millefeuille, Éclair, and Galette say they’ll help. I’ll help too, if I can. Viennesoire can’t fight, but she can use her eyes to help.”

The fast response amazed Ryan, “Wow, I was just expecting the ones we practiced with yesterday.”

Jaren shook her head, “They’re the best on the ground, but fighting dragons usually involves flying, so the others can make up the difference using tools.”

Ryan could see how it might work that way, “So you have tools that let you fly?”

Jaren nodded, “Yep! Those Aos Si try to hoard them for themselves, but sometimes…” She winked and pointed to the speck of the cats’ shed far below, “Mind if you move above the shed? Maybe a little east of it?”

Ryan did, “Okay…”

Jaren jumped off, “I’ve never fallen from this high before!”

Ryan panicked for a second, then remembered how tough she was and wanted to see her land, so jumped the Mk. II next to the shed.

Jaren grew from a speck as she fell. They hadn’t gone super high, so it only took her a few seconds to reach the ground, where she landed using one of those tacky superhero landings.

Jaren stood up, and shivered, “Whoa… I know the fall can’t kill me, but I still can’t get over that dread as I rush to the ground.”

Ryan wondered just how tough Jaren was, “Can anything hurt you?”

Jaren shrugged, “I’m sure there’s something out there. I bet if you threw me into a star or black hole, that’d do the job.”

Ryan found the thought that it’d take those kinds of things to kill her outrageous, “There’s got to be something a little less… out there, that could kill you.”

Jaren shrugged again, “I guess suffocation or starvation might work. Can’t live without breathing or food.” She turned towards the city, where her sisters were leaving the restaurant, “Haven’t fought a dragon yet, so that might work.” She nodded, “Ah… about our hiring fee...”

Ryan had gotten distracted and forgotten to ask about fees, “Oh yeah! Sorry, I was going to ask you, but you jumped off the Mk. II.”

Jaren nodded again, “That’s okay. I got distracted first.”

Ryan turned to the cat girls, “How much?”

Jaren grinned, “Oh, we’ve got enough money. They want...” Jaren stayed silent for a moment, then nodded, “Sounds good.” She paused again, “Let’s see… We want the dragon’s body, and for you to help us find its lair..”

Ryan didn’t see any problem with the request, “That shouldn’t be too hard. I’ve seen where the dragons leave whenever they see a drone.”

Jaren nodded, “Nice.” She turned back to the Mk. II, “I’d also like a ride on your ship when you leave. I’ve always wanted to explore space and looking at stuff from orbit would be awesome. Don’t need to take me too far, just enough to be in space and maybe see a planet or two.”

Ryan trusted Jaren enough at this point to at least take her on a trip, “Luna doesn’t have windows, but a spacewalk should do the trick, and I guarantee you the view is worth it.”

Jaren grinned, “Cool.” She turned to the shed, “Alright, better get digging. The more I can find before they get here, the less chaotic finding everything will be.”

The cat girls arrived a minute later, and Ryan moved the Mk. II back to stay out of the way.

It was interesting watching them together, as aside from the occasional exclamation of emotion, they were silent. He could often tell when they ‘spoke’ to each other as they’d glance at the one they ‘spoke’ too, but the conversation was always silent.

Despite them often getting in each other's way, before long, the cat girls were ready. Charlotte and Madeleine both wore heavy plate armor, Galette wore plate too, but looked lighter and more maneuverable, the rest wore a mix of chain and plate that looked even lighter still. Jaren wore light clothes and some tinted goggles that looked like they belonged in a steampunk novel. Viennesoire wore her normal clothes. All but Viennesoire had the same devices strapped to their ankles and wrists.

As for weapons, each wielded a weapon with Galette, a long sword and shield, Eclair a halberd, Millefeuille a large war scythe, Madeleine dual wield long swords, and Marjolaine a giant hammer with a head almost as big as she was. Jaren had a metal umbrella and a belt with six orbs hanging from it. Viennesoire held nothing.

Now that he got a good look at them, he recognized what they wore as the same armor he’d seen when they’d stolen the Mk. I.

Jaren walked over to the Mk. II, “Alright, we’re ready to go. Can you bring Luna over?”

Ryan had discussed this with the crew earlier, so they were already ready, “Jaren said she’d help with the dragons, so we’ll head out as soon as I pick them up.”

Becky and Mikan were teaching English to Saki, Aoi, and Sashae in the mess hall.

Becky looked up, “Great, time to go kill some dragons…”

Saki didn’t look the slightest bit interested, and merely shifted in place.

Aoi leapt into the air and flitted around the room, “Dragon! Kill dragon!”

Sashae looked interested and stopped looking at the flashcards he’d made for her to practice reading the alphabet.

Anton was already in the airlock with his space suit on, “Sweet! Those dragons are gonna get a face full of particle beams and plasma!”

Ryan thought about Chie, no he was Evan again now that he had changed back to being a man. It was still three weeks until he woke up in his new body, so Ryan needed to make sure he kept Luna safe until then.

Next, he thought about Mayu. He was happy she was going back to her original appearance, he just wished there had been a better way to do it and was glad he didn’t have to see her ice princess body after Mathew had… taken care of it.

Ryan pushed his thoughts back to the task at hand, and moved Luna over the shed, then opened the now fixed airlock, “Alright, hop in!”

The cat girls jumped into the airlock, and Ryan jumped to Mljos Tersa’s airlock after closing Luna’s.

A different dragon, this one black, waited for them on a roost of sorts that hadn’t been there the day before.

Ryan opened the airlock, “There’s a black dragon, but two more should come, so hurry.”

Jaren turned to Viennesoire and nodded, then looked outside, “Black means acid breath, so be careful, everyone.”

Jaren, Millefeuille, Madeleine, Marjolaine, Éclair, and Galette all jumped out.

The dragon had already left the roost and headed towards Luna, but paused as it noticed the cat girls leave Luna. Its face contorted in discomfort and headed towards them.

The cat girls all moved at the same speed and moved into a ‘V’ formation, with Jaren at the lead.

At the last second, the dragon raised altitude, its face contorting in discomfort again, and sent a stream of dragon excrement towards Jaren.

Jaren raised her umbrella in time, but the sheer volume of liquid dragon waste overwhelmed her, ripping the umbrella from her hands and causing her to spin uncontrollably for a moment, spraying butt chocolate onto the other cat girls.

The dragon’s face showed relief and shook the excess stool from its rear.

Viennesoire started giggling.

Anton started laughing hysterically, “The dragon just took a giant dump on Jaren!”

Becky started gagging.

Sashae let out a light chuckle, “Jaren get poop on.”

Aoi cackled, “Stinky! Jaren is stinky now! Dragon funny!”

Saki wasn’t even watching.

The cat girls swarmed the dragon, with Millefeuile, Marjolaine, and Madeleine heading directly for it, and the others except Jaren going to flank it. Jaren was a little behind the group thanks to having to grab her falling umbrella, but wasted no time and headed straight for its head.

With the dragon now preoccupied, Ryan sent out the Mk. I and Mk. II, and charged the particle beam with the heaviest hitting shot he could, then jumped Luna past the dragon and next to the airlock.

The dragon fought hard, spitting acid at the cat girls as they approached.

Millefeuille arrived first, dodging the dragon’s acid breath, and slashed at the dragon’s wing with her war scythe.

The dragon pulled its wing back, but Eclair raised her halberd, shooting a beam of light into the dragon’s eyes, causing it to flinch long enough for Millefeuille to hit her mark.

Sparks arced from Millefuille’s scythe just before impact, causing the wing to spasm.

Galette, Marjolaine, and Madeline used the opportunity to converge on the dragon’s head.

Galette used her shield to block the dragon’s view and prodded at it with her sword.

Marjolaine flew above Galette, her hammer erupting flames from the back like a rocket, and smashed the dragon’s neck as it barely avoided a hit to the head, sparks arcing from the hammer as it connected.

Madeleine went under Galette and slashed at the dragon’s chest with her two swords, causing gashes in the dragon’s thick hide, sparks arcing into the wounds from the swords.

The dragon’s body spasmed as it took the hits, and it looked like it had difficulty moving as the electricity overwhelmed its muscles.

Anton fired a particle beam at the dragon, punching a hole next to its left eye, “Stop moving!”

The dragon roared in pain as Anton and the cat girls continued their assault.

Jaren finally moved in as it roared and tossed two orbs down its throat, which exploded seconds later.

The dragon roared in pain again, smoke and blood spraying from its mouth.

Ryan had been waiting for an opening, and fired a particle beam at its exposed throat.

The beam pierced the flesh and the dragon’s head jerked back before its body went limp and started falling.

Ryan jumped Luna under the dragon, and caught its body, causing the ship to dip under the extra weight, forcing him to adjust the FTL’s output. He then jumped back to Mljos Tersa’s airlock.

He looked towards the mountains, and saw the other two dragons had appeared, but stopped once they saw the black dragon killed.

Anton looked at the dragon’s tail hanging over Luna’s airlock, “Wow, that was fast. Only got three shots off.”

Becky looked impressed, “The girls didn’t even let it get off any good attacks,” she wretched, “except for that first one…”

Ryan focused on Mljos Tersa’s airlock, “Yeah, but there’s still two more dragons, so I should hurry and open this thing.”

Anton crossed his arms and nodded, “I think Becky’s right, you need to use the same radio frequency this place used to transmit to us when we got here.”

Ryan had already prepared for it, and transmitted, “Open!”

The airlock started opening.

Ryan felt embarrassed he hadn’t thought about doing that before.

Anton whooped, “Yeah! It opened!”

Ryan sent the Mk. II through the doors, then waited for the cat girls to return, “Alright, the Mk. II is fully fueled and ready to head out.”

Anton crossed his arms, “Ya sure we can’t go too? Who cares if we can’t get back in?”

Becky almost looked like she agreed with him, “Yeah, well… we still need the anti meatball tech.”

Anton shrugged and shook his head, “Who cares? All we gotta do is jump into interstellar space and use the warp drive to go the rest of the way.”

Ryan hated having this discussion, “And in a few thousand years, the meatballs make it to the system, anyway.”

Anton waved a hand dismissively, “They’ll die from old age or starvation long before that.”

Becky sighed, “And what if they can go into hibernation?”

Ryan also had another reason he didn’t want to take Luna, “We need to drop the dragon off first, anyway…”

Jaren landed in Luna’s airlock and took off in a sprint, “I’m gonna use your shower!”

Anton gagged, “That’s awful!”

Viennesoire gagged too and almost threw up.

The other cat girls had given Jaren a lead and took a few moments before they landed too.

Ryan closed Luna’s airlock, “Alright, we should head back to the city and dump the dragon.”

Anton was squeezing his nose to block Jaren’s new perfume and spoke in a nasally voice, “Where we gonna dump this, anyway?”

Galette took off her helmet and sat down on a bench, “Behind Shina’s.”

Ryan wasn’t sure having a dead dragon behind a restaurant was a great idea, “Won’t someone try to steal it?”

Galette turned towards the Three Stooges, “They will protect it.”

Millefeuille gave Anton a thumbs up.

Madeleine and Marjolaine didn’t even react as they doffed their helmets and sat next to Galette.

Ryan jumped Luna to Shina’s, and tilted Luna so the dragon's body slid off, then opened the airlock, “Alright, dumped the body. I’ll let you know when I find this dragon’s hoard.

Ryan had left the Mk. I by Mljos Tersa’s airlock to watch the dragons.

They were heading back towards the mountains, so Ryan jumped the Mk. I to a cave he’d seen the black dragon leave. There, the drone entered the cave and followed the largest passage until he came to a room filled with bones, excrement, and a scattering of treasures.

Ryan showed the cat girls the video feed, “Found your dragon hoard. Not too much, but I can still take you there.”

Jaren had just found the hallway bathroom, and was about to turn off the camera and audio he had told her she could do, “Might as well.”

Madeleine and Eclair jumped out of Luna’s airlock.

Jaren put her hand over the button, but didn’t press it, “Madeleine and Eclair are gonna deal with the body. The rest of us will go to the hoard.”

Ryan closed the airlock and jumped to the cave, then opened the airlock again.

The cat girls and Anton jumped out and rushed into the cave.

Anton raised his particle beam rifle as he ran, “Treasure, here we come!”

Ryan focused back on the Mk. II as it now had access to space and moved it out. He didn’t know which museum was which, so targeted the nearest.

Here, he found another half world.

A voice came over the radio, “Welcome to the Museum of Earth’s Ancient History. Here you will…”

Ryan stopped listening and zoomed in on the contents inside, to find recreations of cities and monuments one would find in a history book. There didn’t seem to be any people.

Ryan was just scouting for now, so turned to the next museum and turned on the FTL.

It wasn’t until two jumps later that he found what he set out to find, the museum that supposedly chronicled Earth’s last days.

This half world was complete, but the inside still looked like a construction yard that had just barely started, with piles of dirt, rock, and building materials laid out here and there.

Ryan wondered if he should go inside, as both doors to the museum’s airlock were open, with dozens of drones and ships going in and out as they did their work.

The Mk. II’s fuel was okay, so he had enough to snoop around for a few minutes, and headed inside.

The drones and ships ignored him as he moved past them.

Once past the airlock, he began looking for a place their friend might stay when overseeing the construction of this place.

There was a cube directly below the airlock that looked like a perfect candidate.

The cube had large windows on the three sides, a dome with a garden on top, and an airlock on the last wall.

Ryan looked inside and saw a single room with a desk, couch, several chairs, a bookshelf filled with books, and some plants. The garden dome had a nice grass field with several trees spaced throughout, some birds, squirrels, and a cat. There was no one inside.

Ryan moved to the airlock and found a note which read:

Trouble came up. Will be gone for a while. Hope you’re enjoying your stay.

Ryan wondered what kind of trouble had happened. He’d have to come check back every day, now that he knew where to come.

Ryan left the unfinished museum, and started the Mk. II’s trip back to Mljos Tersa, then focused back on the cat girls as it traveled.

They had uncovered more trinkets than he’d noticed before as they dug through the piles of bones, but nothing looked that interesting to him.

Jaren exited the bathroom wearing just a towel, and looked extremely refreshed, “Can I get some of that soap? Blows what we’ve been using out of the water.” She paused, “Thanks for the shower, by the way. Been too long…”

Ryan was happy to see her so refreshed, especially after taking that ‘attack’ from the dragon, “I’ll get some soap for you. Oh, and glad you enjoyed the shower.”

She turned to look back into the bathroom at her soiled clothes and wrinkled her nose, “You wouldn’t happen to have a washing machine I could use, too?”

Ryan selected a repair drone repairing a sensor nearest to them and started bringing it to the bathroom, “Sure, I’ll have a drone pick them up for you. Want me to print out some clothes for you to wear so you don’t have to walk around in a towel?”

Ryan’s maleness kicked in and he sized up Jaren’s body. Despite the towel, he could tell she had a great figure, but if what she’d told them about herself was true, that so-called goddess she’d talked about had probably designed it so it made sense. He’d done the exact same thing with the crew.

Jaren raised an eyebrow, “You already got my sizes?”

Ryan hadn’t even thought about that, “No, I thought something like a bathrobe would work.”

Jaren blushed, “Oh, that makes sense. Sorry, it’s just ever since becoming a woman I’ve had to deal with too many pervs, so I just assumed…”

Ryan laughed, “No problem. Never been a girl, so I don’t think I can understand, but…”

Étién’s comm turned on. Ryan had only heard from her earlier in the morning that she couldn’t visit today, so he thought she had some free time to chat.

Étién’s voice came over the comm, her breathing heavy, “Ryan… need help. Found killer,” she grunted, and he heard crunching leaves, “in forest…”

The video feed showed Étién somewhere in the forest, and he only caught glimpses of her face as she moved around. He also caught a glimpse of something else. Something that looked like a person, but wrong. It was hard to tell how, but the face almost looked patched together.

The comm turned off as a shadow covered the camera.

Ryan opened up comms to everyone, “Étién needs help, don’t have time to wait so I’ll have to come back for everyone in the cave later.”

Ryan jumped to the forest and started searching for Étién.