"Ok, we have implanted the chip into the bird. Specimin, Fengnau female. Age, approximately 3,200. Height from base of head to base of tail, 22 centimeters. Weight, 19 grams."

The giant dragon-like creature smiled, pushing a few buttons as soon as his human assistant finished the last stitch. The tiny bird in front of them would be one of the first surviving birds with this chip, which would hopefully boost her species' survivability, by increasing their fertility, making them a bit more cautious, and heightening their senses. This bird, one of the last 20 of her kind left, would hopedully be the shining example that mechanical augmentations could help bring a species back from the brink of extinction, following the failure of Project Finix the previous year. A second team were testing the use of nanobots instead of chips, wirh projects Alari and Seneca.

"Anesthetic agent neutralized. Initiating recovery sequence." The machine beeped quietly. The dragon-like creature reached inside the airtight chamber, gently grabbing the tiny unconscious bird with his massive claws, using his tail to balance as he walked bipedally to the room next to the operating room, labelled the "recovery unit". The Dahxi's human assistant quickly pushed a few buttons, opening one of the chambers. The Dahxi gently placed the bird inside, then shut the door on the machine.

"Recovery commencing."

Good.

---

The first thing the tiny bird became aware of was the amount of information whizzing through her mind at the speed of light. In and out, she was aware of a million things she couldn't understand. She wasn't able to understand. She became terrified at once, feeling her heart race faster than what was thought possible. The last things she felt were a sudden, intense headache and a sudden beeping of the machine.

---

"Subject Gerre's heart rate hit 1,945 beats per minute before the brain exploded. Cause is determined to be from excess adrenaline signalled." The human assistant said, wiping away a tear from her eye. "Work on projects Alari and Seneca have proven most successful, however."

"Oh no, Gerre..." The Dahxi lowered his head, emitting a grieving low rumble from the back of his throat.

"Would you like to see projects Alari and Seneca right now?" The human asked. The Dahxi nodded his head, ending the low rumble noise from the back of his throat.

"We need to see how the other 3 projects are, seeing the failure of project Finix and project Gerre."

---

In the conservatory, two brightly-colored fengnau flittered around the branches, chirping happily amongst each other.

"Alari, estimated to be about 1,000 years old, seems to have developed some measure of sentience as well, and seems to be the most successful. Seneca seems to have only developed sentience as a result of the chip rather than the intended effects. But, as you can see, both birds are able to communicate and sense out danger much better."

"And the other surviving 17 birds?"

"Project Alari nanobots seem to have spread to the others via physical contact, as they appear to spread. However, this effect seems to be limited to fengnau, as the nanobots appear to be unable to implant in any other species."

"Interesting, interesting."

"Dr. Ehemo, another interesting thing to note, Alari appears to display the average intelligence of a human child."

"The fengnao might then be added as a list of sentient species, then. Emperor Makoger might be very interested in further studies."

"Tokoter... Emo?" One of the tiny birds flew down from her perch, landing on his nose horn. "Alari is eper!"

"Alari, come here!" The human held out a leather glove, beckoning the little bird to land on the glove. However, the bird only stared at the human.

"No. I wanna be emperor!"

---

"I am empress now. Alari, the empress of the Empyre!!!"

"Your majesty, project Alari seems to have been the most successful of the restoration plans. As you can see, subject Alari has not only survived the procedure, but has shown to be more fearful compared to studies before the nanobots, and has adapted to her heightened senses dramatically. On top of that, she and other fengnau that she had come into contact with seem to have gained sentience. She has even recently laid her own clutch of not one, but 2 eggs, which are under the care of the rest of the preservation team back on Planet Heska."

Despite the darker lighting in the room which caused his black scales to camoflauge perfectly into the dark room, the Emperor's smile was clear as day. He chuckled lightly when the bird landed on his dark brown nose horn, who proceeded to chirp excitedly.

"I WANNA BE EMPRESS!!!"

"Alari, come back here!" One of the shuinau representatives crowed. "I'll give you treats if you behave."

"Hold on." The Emperor mused. "I am growing old, and have no successor to my throne. I wish to make this bird Empress, as a symbol of hope to all our conservation efforts around our sector."

---

Because of the success of Project Alari, the fengnau population increased from just 19 birds to 148 birds just 400 years later. The species was reclassified as sentient, and Alari was kindly given the position of Empress after the passing of Emperor Makoger. An interesting phenomenon was observed with Alari's first clutch of eggs, who were named Sol and Lux. Sol, the male, quickly showed to have reached Alari's level of intelligence after just 1 year after hatching, and Lux, the female, showed to have reached Alari's intelligence after 380 days after hatching. Similar phenomenon had been recorded in other clutches from the other female birds who still survived, and was a scientific wonder. Additionally, after 100 years following the initial implantation of nanobots, Alari showed to have been able to connect to the internet and navigate successfully. The chicks hatched after implantation showed the same ability.

Overall, the project was a wild success, and Scientists hope to have over 100,000 of the species by the next 500 years.

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In the Present Day
Aisacorgi System, Planet ACI-2
Benefarme's Sector

"Benefarme's sector is fairly famous in District 3 as the home of the Rising Fire.  That is to say, home of hope.  It is here where we go to find new hope, as the Dahxi-Human alliance infringes on us the avianoids.  Do you understand what I'm saying?"

The fluffy, uncoordinated chick merely peeped, grasped as tightly as possible to the sleek blue feathers of the large bird as he soared above the hazy orange skies.  The large bird looked at the tiny chick on his back, rolling his eyes.

"You can't even reply back, anyways."

The chick seemed to peep angrily in response, lightly yanking one of the feathers it was holding on to.

"You know, a couple of centuries ago, fengnau meat was a delicacy in the shuinau menus... Maybe I can just take a small nibble of fengnau wing..."

The chick started screeching, terrified.  It let go of the shuinau's feathers, tumbling ungracefully off the larger bird's back and landing unceremoniously on the ground. The large bird swooped down, grabbing the ground with the chick in between his talons in such a way as to prevent escape.

"C'mon, chill out dude.  Not gonna actually eat you... yet."  The shuinau chuckled, tightening his grasp of the chick before taking to the skies once again.  "We are here for one purpose.  We are looking for a 'Hegerran' who is said to know the secrets of the ancient worlds."
 

---

The Royal Palace, Finixis System

"And please ensure that the Arselen conservation effort is going on track.  We don't need to lose another insectiform species."

"Yes, minister."

Kaline Haxan nodded, turning to the next person in line.

"Minister, I present troubling news from District 2, in the Jaihonaian system. Fengnau poaching suspected."

"Not more fengnau poaching..."  Kaline groaned in frustration.  He ran his fingers through his hair frustratedly, turning to his little partner-in-crime, a 10 day old chick from Alari's most recent clutch of eggs, who has already proven to possess an incredible intelligence, despite being unable to see or hear clearly, much less speak.  "What do we know so far?"

"An unidentified shuinau snuck into the nesting site of last year's hatchlings, and took one of the chicks.  Seneca wasn't in the nest at the time, and seems to be very distressed following the disappearance of her hatchling."

"Ok. Double security around the nesting sites, and make sure that all known fosters are aware to keep a sharp eye on their chicks. I will authorize a team to begin a search."

"Thank you, minister."

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