"Dustin, it is good that you have returned. We have had a few interesting encounters with the one AI you previously thought destroyed. We are not sure exactly what happened, and are still investigating, but it seems that it is attempting to wipe out all of the last traces of itself," said the nanobot hive mind as soon as they came out of warp.
"That's good. I discovered that it wasn't all gone, and reprogrammed it to do that. I'm glad that it's working."
"If you are the one behind this new activity, then we shall cease our efforts to understand it, and allow the AI to die in its own way. We have had no other attempts to hack our system, since you repaired and upgraded us."
Nodding, he ended the communication with it, and opened the one that his son was trying to contact them on.
"Dad! I'm so glad I got a hold of you! I had this horrible vision that you were in some science facility, and were in a coma, or something." Kit's face was red and blotchy, and Dustin realized he must have been crying. It wasn't a look he was used to.
"No, I'm fine son, and we have some more people for you. It could have been a vision from the past, before you were born?" he asked, thinking back on the Josagn ship he had been on so long ago.
"Maybe…that seems right, that it was in the past. Okay," he seemed to get himself under control and started typing in the orders for a ship to come fetch the people on board. "I will need another planet jumped in, to handle many more people. At the moment we barely have extra room for growth."
"I can do that. I'll keep an eye out for a good planet."
Checking the coordinates, after the people were safely transferred, they made the jump to the last planet that contained Uz'En.
"I can't believe we're almost done," said Olivia, excitedly as their destination popped into view.
"What do you plan to do after we're done?" asked Kitteral.
"I think a vacation is in order," said Dustin, glancing over at Olivia. She smiled and nodded.
"That would be good," agreed Granny, looking down at her console at the stats of the planet below.
"Dustin," she said, with a frown, "I think we have a problem."
"What?" he turned to check on his own console, and immediately had to grab the controls to dodge an incoming missile. Several more followed that one, but thankfully, they couldn't steer in the vacuum of space.
He flew the ship over behind the moon and cloaked, before peeking out to see what was going on.
"How were they able to react so fast?" asked Kitteral. "We just arrived!"
"They have an orbital security system. It attacks anyone who approaches the planet," said Olivia, reading from her screen.
"I bet that's why the nanobots never managed to get on planet. The security system blows up everything larger than a fist sized rock, and an electric field pretty much destroys everything else," said Dustin, rather impressed.
"I'm receiving a communication request," said the computer.
"Hello?" said Dustin.
"You are in restricted air space. All unauthorized vehicles are to leave immediately, or suffer the consequences." The voice on the other side sounded very mechanical, as if it were a preprogrammed message.
"We have citizens of our people on the planet below, based on scans, and would like to request permission to retrieve them," said Dustin, fully expecting no response.
"One moment," came the mechanical voice, surprising him. "By what rights do you claim these people of yours?"
"I am the king of my people, and I am here to reclaim the last of them."
They waited for a response, and soon it came.
"We will grant you access to landing strip two. Please do not defer from your flight path directly to it, or we will be forced to respond with force."
"Understood, thank you."
Dustin gave a small laugh and guided the ship towards the planet. When they got close, he uncloaked and the field from the security system went down. The moment they were inside the field, it went back up, and the ship rocked a little.
"That's pretty impressive. We're going to have to see about getting one for our planet," said Olivia.
Dustin nodded as he guided the ship down to the landing strip with a huge two painted on it. A group of people waited as they landed.
"Greetings, King, I am the Chancellor of the people of this planet. It has come to my attention, that you seek your people? May I ask by what means do you recognize them by?" she had a simple smile as she led them to the small building next to the landing strip.
"My people are known as Uz'En. We have a unique ability to change our forms, though many have lost that ability due to not using it for several generations," Dustin tried to explain.
She nodded, as if she understood, or to encourage him, he couldn't tell.
"Our people were scattered from their home world many generations ago, by slavers. I have been trying to get all of my people gathered back together, now that we have a safe place to call home. This is my last destination, throughout the entire galaxy."
"That is fascinating. I have never heard of the term Uz'En, but we do have a penchant for change physically. Perhaps you have a better way of determining who is from your people?"
Dustin scratched his head. He had never encountered a race that could change like his, so another method of telling them apart from other races, other than using the nanobots, didn't exist. He tried to explain that to her, and she was incredibly curious about the nanobots.
"They are a technology unique to our people, that several other races were able to steal and try to utilize. We really don't wish to trade the secrets to it," said Olivia, as Dustin fell silent.
"That would explain the rumors that have been traveling around about the nanobots going rogue," nodded the woman.
"Do you mind if we use some of the nanobots to see how many of our people are on your planet? I promise they will all return to me, once they are done scanning the people here."
She thought about Dustin's request seriously. "I don't think that would be a bad idea, I'm just not sure it would be allowed. We have struggled for many years to gain freedom from those who would enslave us. Is there any way you can guarantee that these nanobots won't go rogue and cause trouble? I have already overstepped my authority in allowing you to enter our atmosphere."
"Then why did you let us land?" asked Dustin, convinced there was something else going on.
"We have managed to keep ourselves free from oppression for fifteen years now, unfortunately, we are struggling with genetic inbreeding, from a lack of fresh bloodlines. I had hoped that you might be able to provide a solution if we are of the same race."
"That seems pretty farfetched," Olivia said, narrowing her eyes.
"I had honestly hoped your males would be willing to donate for the cause," she said with a smile.
Olivia frowned, and Dustin just managed to step in before she attacked her.
"While at least one of us might be interested, I could provide a better solution if the population of your people are Uz'En."