The first breath of fresh air on a new world wasn''t exactly the scent of roses.


    As Derek slowly moved down the ramp of the shuttle, getting a feel for real gravity.. and real muscles.. for the first time in over a century, the smell was, frankly, that of dead fish. He''d personally directed every drop of water that graved this world, and every bit of it smelled like something had died in it. Because, of course, it had.


    The current stage of terraforming; where endless seas of algae were allowed to grow on Stronghold''s new seas, and then harvested for fertilizer; only to be allowed to grow all over again; wasn''t exactly pleasant or pretty. But it was necesary. He could see men and women... real, flesh and blood men and women.. working on boats, harvesting giant tanks full of the green stuff.. and the occaisional fish being sucked in by mistake.


    Even as he watched, the fish were being seperated out, dropped into a smaller tank... probably lunch, for later. Still. Thats not why he was here.


    He turned from the lake, stepping away from the shuttlepad; a pair of security drones.. well, not drones. Marines. Looked him over; briefly scanning the bulky plastic container he carried; and nodded as he walked away, heading up a nice, smooth hill leading to Minotaur Tower; a beautiful building that had spread far beyond the barebones skeleton it had been at the founding, years ago.


    The lobby also had a pair of marines; who, just like the first two, simply nod. Everyone knows him on sight, even if they didn''t have his ID the moment he walked by. As he rides the elevator; a smooth glass cylinder, showing off the vast internal lobby of the tower; he sees a few familiar faces, waving as they slide by. The package seems to be trying to escape from him as the elevator rises, but he still keeps hold of it.


    He reached the top, stepping out. Yet another pair of marines. Not a single crime more violent than a drunken brawl, but still. Marines everywhere. Well. At least at this building. He walks towards the apartment at the end of the hallway; the doors sliding open as he approaches, and the first flesh-and-blood marine he''d seen so far smiled and nodded.


    Finally, he reached the living room. "Governor Peterson."


    "Ugh. Ichika, Derek." The obviously quite pregnant young-seeming japenese woman was leaning back on the recliner, with Dorian sitting beside her. "I swear to god, if anyone else calls me governor today I''m going to have them thrown into the sun. Do you want me to call you Director? Or Commodore? Or ''The Earthforger''? Maybe we can have a pretentious nickname and title contest."


    For his part, the former Commodore rose to his feet, offering Derek a handshake; firm, steady. A grin. "Finally got a flesh and blood shell. Whats the occaision? And whats in the box?"


    "For the first... the biosphere here is actually stable now. It''d take centuries, but if we stopped work now, this planet would thrive on its own. Oh, and the latter... a baby shower gift. While I know you normally wait til the end for opening, and I''m the first one here, you might want to go ahead and open this one."Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    When he took the package and felt it abruptly shift in his hands, Dorian glanced down for a moment. "Wait. Seriously?"


    "Yup. Not the first litter, but the first adapted for Stronghold. The ones in the dome are pure earth stock."


    Dorian shook his head with a smile as he carried the box to Ichika, sliding it open; the gentle mewing sound that had been so muffled before emerging loud and clear as the woman burst into tears, gently lifting two tiny, fluffy kittens from the box. "Oh god I haven''t seen a real kitten for so long!"


    "I''d make a snarky comment about posting this video for the news, but when I saw my own little FB Junior meowing at me I may have shed a few tears myself."


    They made small-talk for a few minutes. Talking about how different things would be with children running around. And pets. And real, vibrant, life. Studiously avoided the topic of Kelsey and her new husband; aside from inquiring if there were any new ladies in Derek''s life on the part of Dora Peterson; Dorian''s mother, and Derek''s old neighbor. At the end, when the shower was over, the remaining gifts; none going over quite so well as the kittens; handed out, Derek made his way back to the shuttle. A few nods. A few salutes from the marines he passed.


    That was a nice break, for now. Time to get back to work. As the shuttle rose into the atmosphere, and he looked over the surface, he could see the trees. The cloning labs, producing new plants, new animals... new people. Thousands of cogs working together to try to turn this place into a new earth.


    That part, he could leave to the experts. He might have spent years putting the pieces into place to, eventually, make more habitable worlds, to turn the cluster into a place with dozens of new earths... but if he wanted a nice, stable future for humanity, there were still jobs to be done outside the cluster.


    ***


    The world was a confusing place. Kelsey had awoken here on Stronghold a few years ago; one of the first actual biological bodies to be completed; but wasn''t completely certain why. She knew the whole spiel; but she''d had most of her academy training complete. She should''ve been out earlier, helping with the grand war against the Magpillars, but no. She''d slept through it all.


    It was fully expected that more Mag ships would randomly pass into human space sometimes; so of course the navy was being upgraded, just in case it turned out to be an overwhelming wave. But she really wanted to go explore. See something outside the cluster, or the distant Charlie system where humanity''s fleets were still being built.


    She''d finished off her academy training easily enough; and there were hundreds of open slots, more than there were recruits; in fact, it seemed that until new kids started being born to take up the slack, there''d be more ships than crew for years to come. She kept passing up chances... but sooner or later, she''d need to either join a crew or give up on it.


    The most recent listing popped up on her icon as she relaxed in her apartment; a nice, expansive dwelling not far from what she liked to call the icky sea for the terrible smell. "Mmf. What is it this time... Patrol destroyer? Interceptor Mimic?"


    After seeing the first few lines, she sat up abruptly in excitement.


    [With the completion of initial Terraforming efforts at hundreds of sites in the cluster and ongoing work being largely automated, the Director of Terraforming Operations is stepping down. He has requested; and received; permission from Fleet to modify the Earthforge-class vessel #13 and seek out the lost Alecto-class scout vessel Megalodon; to establish friendly communications and, if necesary, provide assistance.]


    [97 additional crew are required for this mission, duty slots required including...]


    She skipped down; and immediately clicked on the Engineering post. She didn''t really know Director Thompson, aside from what she''d seen on the news... but the idea of leaving the cluster to maybe find a long-lost scout ship?


    Now that sounded like an adventure.