On the planet Sahelia...

The Hood ship had been deposited on a rocky plateau. A battle screen was set up by Mordos technicians, and humans and dragons were busy unloading equipment.

The 5 sand dragons were on reconnaissance and happy to be back in an environment they liked, but it was a different story for the others.

Sahelia was the planet of thirst and water was worth its weight in gold. It was precious and the Hood's reserves had to be carefully guarded.

Tania and Argentrix were in the command room and Argentrix wanted to get out and was received by a choking puff of burning sand.

She screamed out in pain and returned to her dragon shape and the sand scraped her skin. As she screamed, the sand seeped into her mouth and nostrils and she had to go inside.

She exploded with grief. It was hell for her.

"Help, IVAAAAAAANNNN, Helpers!???? Help!

Fomalhaut, who was attending the show, couldn't take it anymore. He hugged his daughter in his arms, seeing her so unhappy.

"Papaaa. Help me... How are you here? What are you doing here? I'm going crazy...

"Laa, laa, honey, daddy came sneaking out to save you. You're not alone anymore..."

Then she hit her daddy. What about my little brother? Did you abandon him?

"Mommy is here and we'll come back together. It was out of the question to abandon you. You know how much I love you"...

She cried for a long time against the scales of her father, Fomalhaut.

But Tanya, happy for Argentrix that she wasn't completely abandoned, was also surprised. Marise... Her adopted daughter had come here illegally.

She received a slap from Tania, then she was hugged, knowing that she wasn't alone anymore either.

"You see, Mama Tania, I've managed to break through your vigilance. I am with you."

Tania cried a little. "You've ruined your future..."

Marise: "No, I am with you and I will continue my adventures together."

Tania, happy but angry, looked at the battle screen.

A Mordos man, a commanding officer gave us our first deployment instructions.

"There's a 45% chance you're a Zerg spy terrorist. There's a 32% chance you won't be betrayed by a spy. We can accept those constraints."

"My name is Henrico, mentat of the House of Mordos. Your mission is to harvest the crystals. Survive and avoid the Zergs, avoid the Sanddrakes, that's my advice."

Then a tactical message was sent. :

Serve the House of MORDOS by harvesting the cristals from the Imperial Basin. If any Zerg forces try to prevent you or stop the production, neutralize them.

Build Silos to be more efficient and to avoid losing the cristals.

Build solid foundations to prevent you from getting stuck in the mud and the structures from overturning in sandstorms. Doing otherwise is a waste of resources.

Collect 2500 Solaris to reimburse the cost of this mission.

A database has been updated in your system for further details."

Huh, they're already collecting interest...

A giant spaceship brought our base and the elements for a refinery and a collector.

The sand dragons had gone on a scouting expedition and quickly "smelled" the mana emanating from the cristals deposits.

On their return, the best location for the refinery and the route that the sand harvester, otherwise known as the "collector", would take to set up the refinery was determined.

It was a heavy, armoured vehicle, especially against sand and giant worms, but also offered protection against small and medium weapons.

We also had to install wind traps, a super wind turbine that produced energy like a small nuclear power plant.

As soon as we started the machinery, bronze and sand dragons spotted red uniforms. They must have been Zerg scouts.

The zerg, a nasty species, like mantis can take human appearance and mimic humanity. Many of them stay in human form but their savagery, brutality...unheard of...

One of the dragons jumped on them in midair and they were grabbed by the mighty talons. Bullets and weapons bouncing off their scales.

About 20 soldiers were killed.

If it hadn't been for the dragons, we would have suffered our first losses.

Tania was right to bet on the strength of the dragons rather than bought weapons.

But, of surprise, a Zerg troop ship arrived west, this time with commandos.

They were on motorcycles and their speed was pretty fast.

The dragons ran at them, but the motorcycles had stronger weapons than guns.

But the dragons' tusks got the better of the bikers.