Project Prometheus Ch. 04

Slowly, Inari’s eyes pried themselves open, as consciousness returned to her mind.

“Ugh….” the middle eastern woman ground out.

Her vision cleared as she blinked. At first, Inari moved her head slowly, a massive headache pounding its way through her skull. Clutching her head, she leaned forward, groaning in pain. Pushing past her headache, Inari unbuckled herself from the pilot seat and stood up. Shaking her head slightly to clear her vision further, Inari stumbled while making her way towards the rear of the ship.

“Pree? Korsa?” she called out weakly. She navigated around the various items that littered the floor before stopping in the doorway to the ship’s med bay. Like the rest of the ship, the entire room was an utter mess, with medical equipment and supplies strewn haphazardly, like a tornado had just been through.

Inari found Korsa sprawled atop Priya, using her gigantic frame to shield her XO from anything that might have hurt her in the crash. Panic gripped the captain as she saw that there was blood, both human red and Khontaran orange. Though most of the blood was orange, that was staining the bed that her lover lay on, it didn’t stop her from fearing the worst. Hearing both grunting and groaning a moment later, Inari let out a breath she hadn’t realized that she was holding.

Despite the large woman’s attempt to shield her friend, the bed was too large for her to cover effectively. Unlike most ships, the med bay on the Darkstrider was equipped to handle patients that were at least Korsa’s size and bigger. Priya almost seemed child sized while she lay there, strapped into the bed. Various bottles and packets that surrounded both women shifted as they both tried to move.

“Though I appreciate the assist, Korsa, you are kind of crushing me,” Priya said with a weak laugh.

“Unless I get some help, you’ll just have to stay flattened, like that Naan bread you like so much,” Korsa growled in pain. She tried to move, but the sheer amount of supplies on her back kept Korsa stuck where she was.

Moving forward as quickly as she could, Inari went to help Korsa up and cleared several boxes away from the prone women. Brushing away the multiple packets and other implements, Inari grabbed Korsa by the arms, attempting to help her stand. Hissing in pain, Korsa looked to her right side.

She saw that one of her arms was pinned by a large and heavy medical scanner and it was bent at an odd angle. On top of which, there was a large wet blotch on her arm where the scanner had hit her, that was bleeding steadily. Shifting around behind her friend, Inari moved behind the big woman and pulled the cumbersome machine off her arm.

Breathing out in relief, Korsa then pushed herself off her crew mate and could finally stand. She cradled her lower right arm, which had clearly been broken and was the source of most of the blood. Inari looked Priya over as she removed the bracing straps that held her down on the bed. She had taken some cuts during the crash which bled, but they were all superficial, as far as she could tell.

“Swaka nach dyn!” (Son of a bitch!) Korsa cursed as she hopped and lay back against the wall next to the doorway.

“What is it?” Inari asked as she helped her lover to sit up. Wincing, Korsa lifted her left leg carefully, taking care not to move it too quickly.

“I’m pretty sure that my ankle is broken, judging by the amount of pain that’s shooting through my leg right now.”

“Shit! Stay put for a moment. I’ll move Pree, then come back and help,” Inari told her friend.

After taking a few minutes to clear the area some, Inari loosened the once white sheets and scooped up Priya in them. Linking her arms behind her captain’s neck, Priya nuzzled close to Inari as she was carried out of the med bay. Far more coherent than she was when she first woke up, Inari took her XO back to her quarters without too much trouble.

Since Inari kept her quarters meticulously clean, there was little thrown around in the room. Navigating the room and clearing the bed of the various nick knacks and clothes, took all of a few seconds and Inari lay her XO down on the bed gently.

Looking at the horrid burns that were left behind from her armor, Inari smiled and kissed her love on the forehead before retreating to the med bay. Korsa was right where she left her, still leaning against the med bay wall. After taking another ten minutes to sort the area some, Inari helped the wounded woman to the bed.

“While you were gone, I looked at everything around here and thankfully, most of what’s here is still usable,” Korsa said as she nursed her broken arm.

“That’s good to know, considering the mess we’re in,” Inari huffed as she lay her massive friend down on the bed.

Hissing in pain at the movement, Korsa shifted her legs, trying to find a more comfortable position on the bed. Once she was settled, Inari went straight to a cupboard located to the right of the bed. Opening it, a cool mist flowed outwards, the chilled air wafting towards the woman. Inari dug through it for a moment, moving aside the various packages of blood that lay within, until she found what she needed.

Pulling two large sealed packs of orange-colored blood, Inari went to work, closing the small door with a nudge. Connecting them to a large tube, she placed the bags on a hanging hook that protruded from the bulkhead just above the bed. Turning back to where the cupboard was, Inari rummaged around the junk she had dumped on the counter beneath it several minutes ago.

After a few moments, she found the proper gauge of needle she needed, set it onto an empty surgical tray and went back to her friend. Maintaining consciousness, Korsa turned her head towards her friend, eyeing her work.

“Looks like the training I’ve drummed into you is paying off,” the Khontaran woman chuckled. Flicking her gaze downwards, Inari couldn’t help but smirk as she removed the armor plates on Korsa’s arm. Her fingers danced along the smooth metal, finding the hidden catches to make the plates fall away from Korsa’s vacc suit.

Once the relevant plates were removed, Inari went to work, loosening the sleeve on the large woman’s busted arm. As she peeled the material back, the extent of the damage was laid bare. Part of the arm bone had punched through the skin, the sharp point tearing through the skin savagely. Large gouts of blood were slathered all across her arm, the hardened material of the suit forcing it to spread evenly.

“Damn!” Inari breathed after surveying the damage.

“How bad is it?” Korsa asked through clenched teeth, keeping her head still.

“A severe break, easy. You’re lucky it’s not a compound fracture,” Inari replied.

“Ah shit! This is going to hurt, but I need you to grab both the Khontaran Med-Gel and the Torean wound sealer,” the large woman ordered in a clinical voice, as she looked at her wound.

Nodding, Inari turned back to the mess of supplies, searching out both items. Finding them in the space of several minutes, she turned back to her wounded friend, placing both items next to the busted arm. Wincing in pain, Korsa steadied herself for what was to come.

“All right, Korsa, I’m going to reset the broken bone. Brace yourself,” the short-haired woman warned.

Setting herself into a breathing exercise, the Khontaran woman waited. Taking a few moments, the captain shifted any obstructing flesh as best as she could, clearing a path for the bone. Focusing, Inari grabbed her friend’s upper arm with her left hand, while gripping her wrist, the base of the broken bone, in her right. In one swift motion, she angled her arm, realigning the broken limb with a snap and a crack.

A massive scream passed Korsa’s lips, the pain of the reset too much for even her to contain. Using her fingers, Inari delved into the wound, checking for anything that might have stopped the bone from lining up into place. Finding that the bone was joined together again, she removed her fingers and reached for the Med-Gel. Applying a large dollop to the wound, the Gel automatically went to work.

It cleaned the wound of any dead matter and disinfected it from any potential bacteria. A cooling, soothing sensation spread over her arm, alleviating the pain that the big woman felt. A half relieved sigh escaped her, as the Gel’s painkillers kicked in, numbing the pain receptors of her arm. Her work only half done, Inari then grabbed the wound sealer and turned it on, the gentle healing beam slowly knitting the damaged flesh back together.

Taking her time, Inari dragged the sealer along the break ever so slowly, making sure that the flesh was fully healed before continuing down the gash. Several minutes later, the beam had done its work and Korsa’s skin stood unblemished. Taking only a moment to clean her hands with some surgical wipes, the dusky-skinned woman moved down to examine Korsa’s left ankle.

Rolling the vacc suit material up, the swelling and bruising around the ankle was evident, the once cherry red skin now a shade of dark burgundy. Turning back to the cluttered counter, Inari rummaged about some more and pulled out what appeared to be metallic bracers of some sort, along with a tablet-shaped device.

The bracers were cylindrical in shape, with what appeared to be gel pads along the inner areas of the circular bangles. They were both connected by some metallic wiring that kept the whole apparatus together. On each piece of equipment, there was also a small readout panel that was blinking with a message that read ‘Standby Mode’.

Carefully, Inari slid the bracers on both Korsa’s injured arm and leg, respectively. Once placed, the captain then powered up the tablet. After it turned on, it showcased a holographic display of it syncing with the medi-mechanical bracers that Korsa currently wore. Once the sync was complete, Inari then cycled through the options of species until she found Khontaran.

After making her selection, she then entered the injuries which her friend had sustained and uploaded them to the sleeve like machines. A brief loading screen later, the bracers then collapsed on themselves and tighten. They formed to the contours of what the proper bone structure should be and settled into the shape required for a proper reset, reinforcing the now healed and slightly swollen flesh.

Gasping slightly, Korsa tested moving her arm and leg slightly and found that there was still a considerable amount of pain. Thanks to the tech she now wore, the Khontaran woman now had some semblance of mobility. Sitting up, she swung her legs off the edge of the bed and stepped down onto her right leg first, before stepping onto her left.

Groaning in pain, Korsa hit a small translucent panel on the upper left breast of her suit, in a small sequence of taps. On the final tap, the suit stopped molding itself to her and sagged on her frame, like clothes hanging in a closet. Another small set of taps on the panel had the catches on her suit pop open, freeing her from its grip. Shimmying left and right, dropped the garment off her voluptuous form to puddle at her feet.

Inari, not wasting any time, picked up several disposable towelettes, handing a few to Korsa. She then cleaned the gel mattress of any remaining blood from the sheets that lay there before. Also, using it to pick up any blood that had dripped onto it from Korsa’s arm, she tossed the soiled garments into the incinerator chute. Grabbing a fresh set of sheets and a thick blanket, Inari remade the bed just as Korsa finished shedding her vacc suit.

After she finished cleaning herself, Korsa hobbled back to the bed, breathing heavily from the pain. Inari was right there in an instant, helping the titanic woman into the clean bed. As she moved, Inari couldn’t help but get an eyeful of the massive jugs that jiggled on Korsa’s frame.

The black bra and panty set that the Khontaran woman wore was simple, elegant, yet left little to the imagination as it hugged every curve like a second skin. Taking care to not stare, she helped the wounded woman with her legs before giving her the blanket.

Walking back over to where she left the needle attached to the bag of blood, Inari did a quick tie off of Korsa’s upper left arm. Quickly finding a vein, she inserted the needle with little effort and set the drain valve on a slow drip for both bags. Having lost a fair amount of blood, Korsa looked a bit pale, but was still conscious and coherent.

“I figure it will take a couple of days, five at most, before all of this damage is healed,” the Khontaran doctor said, as she assessed the damage to herself via the tablet Inari handed her.

Shaking her head, Inari muttered, “If anyone else on the crew was to take the amount of punishment you just did, we’d be laid up for five to eight weeks, rather than a matter of days.”

“Khontaran healing factor, dear. A side effect of everything that my people have gone through just to survive. Now you might want to check on your XO. Those burns she endured will become severe if not treated,” Korsa replied as she reached out and grabbed the burn salve she had applied earlier, before the crash had occurred.

Handing it to her captain, Korsa then delved back into the tablet to be sure that there was nothing that was overlooked in her treatment. As the red-skinned woman continued her analysis, Inari stepped out for a moment. Before leaving, she took a pack of disinfectant wipes, a bottle of powerful painkillers, and the salve her doctor had just given her.

Making her way back to her quarters, she opened the door to a near naked Priya, puttering around the room, tidying up the mess the crash had caused. The bloodied sheets she was wrapped in were on the floor, along with anything else that was considered trash, which wasn’t much.

“Priya Rhea Patel, stop your cleaning and get back into bed this instant,” Inari ordered, half concerned, half exasperated.

Whipping around quickly, Priya’s eyes widened as they took in the sight of her lover. As she whirled, she lost her balance and dropped towards the floor. Reacting quicker than thought, Inari caught her XO before she hit the ground and helped steady her to stand straight.

“Oooooooooohhh! I’m a bit dizzy!”

“Probably because your skull has taken a good knock when we crashed. There was lots of debris on the bed before I dug you out,” Inari informed her friend. “Here, sit down and let me clean you up.”

Without protest, the east Indian woman did as she was asked and sat. As her captain cleaned away any blood from both Korsa and the shallow cuts she had sustained, she closed her eyes as a throbbing pain built in her head.

“Ugh… pounding in my head,” Priya mumbled.

“Probably sustained a concussion with all that stuff tumbling about. Here, take these,” Inari said, proffering the painkillers she had taken from the med bay. Just as Priya took them, a burst of static came over the comms system.

“Kkkkkkssssshhhhsssssss……… Darkstrider com….. Anyo…. ere? Perseus hailin…….. kstrider, come in, please.”

Hearing the transmission, Inari rushed out of her quarters and went straight for the transmission console in the bridge area. Reaching it, she entered a few sequences and responded, “Perseus, this is Darkstrider! Do you read me?”

More static answered her before a reply came through.

“We… ar you Darkst……. Wait one while we boo……….. ignal.” Though the reply was broken up, Inari understood what was said. She didn’t have to wait long, as the static cleared up in several minutes.

“Darkstrider, this is Perseus. Are you reading us?” Alex’s voice came in over the transmission.

“Loud and clear Perseus.” A sigh of relief came over the waves before the next sentence.

“Give us a sit-rep, Darkstrider. We saw you drop off our scanners, and we assumed you went down.”

“In a manner of speaking, we did, sir.”

Walking over to the cockpit, the older woman punched in a few commands and a detailed holo of the Darkstrider appeared. The image was rendered in a 3D model, with some of the model rendered in green, but more than half of it in yellow or red, indicating damaged areas.

“We flew right into an ice storm, sir, and we took some serious hits. Our engines are down at the moment,” the Lt. Commander replied.

“Any idea how extensive the damage is?” the question came in.

“Not until I step outside to have a look and in this storm, sir, that’s not happening.”

“Understood Darkstrider. You’ll have to hunker down for a few days until we can get something put together up here to come down and retrieve you,” Captain Tomisic told her. “How is the rest of the crew? Did you manage to retrieve Gunnery Chief Patel?”

“We did, sir, but she will need time to recover. Got a little torched on the way down before we brought her in, but she’ll be all right. Our doctor wound up getting hurt as well, but Khontarans heal much faster than humans do. It will be barely classified as a scratch by the time she’s all healed up,” Inari responded.

“Very good, Darkstrider. We should have the foundry and shipwright section of the Perseus online by tomorrow. We’ll keep you posted. Will you three be all right for the next few days?” Alex asked.

“Barring any drastic changes, we should be OK for at least a week, sir.”

“Glad to hear it. You ladies get some rest and we’ll check in with you in the morning. Perseus out,” the baritone voice finished before the line went dead.

Slumping back in her seat, Inari smiled in relief. Though the ship was in tatters and a total mess, they weren’t marooned on this icy world. They just had to tough it out over the next few days. Standing up, she started back to her cabin. As she walked in, she saw Korsa rubbing salve into Priya’s burns, using a generous amount. Taking a brief look about, the entire cabin was cleaned to where it didn’t seem like they had crashed.

“What are you doing up? You’re supposed to be in bed resting!” Inari exclaimed.

“You know me. Once I get past the pain, I can’t sit still and this place is a right mess,” Korsa explained as stood and picked up the soiled sheets and garbage at her feet.

Hands on her hips, Inari glared at Korsa as she stood up. Not one to be intimidated, Korsa gave her captain a bored and contemptuous look, huffing in annoyance. Both women just stared at one another before Priya broke the silence.

“Although you are a faster healer than us humans, Korsa, you still need to take it easy. Since we’re literally up to our asses in snow and ice, you really should rest if you’re going to be of any use tomorrow.”

Both women looked over at Priya, looked back at each other, then the Khontaran woman huffed in resignation.

“Fine, you win. At least let me clean up the med bay. That place is a total disaster,” the taller woman implored.

“OK, but you will not be doing any lifting with that arm, and I don’t want you aggravating that ankle of yours. Clear?”

“Crystal, captain,” Korsa replied.

Filing out behind the middle eastern woman, they both left Priya to rest while heading back to the med bay. As they entered, the room was still a mess, but not an insurmountable one. Both ladies milled about and in fifteen minutes, the entire med bay was put back aright. Picking up the last of the trash and soiled items, Korsa dumped them in the incinerator chute and set the items to torch with the press of a button.

As the trash was being consumed, Korsa walked carefully back to the bed and sat down on it. The needle apparatus that Inari had inserted earlier was still in Korsa’s arm, but simply disconnected. The other half of the device was attached to the blood tube, but it was designed to halt blood flow until the part that was in Korsa was reconnected with it.

After moving her legs to settle onto the mattress, the red-skinned woman reached out and reconnected the device. Slowly, the blood packs drained into her body, replacing the blood she had lost in the crash. Reaching up front, she undid the snap that held her bra together, unleashing her massive mammaries. Sighing at the freedom she now had, Korsa discarded her bra with a toss. Reaching down for the blanket, she covered herself up, the bitter cold from outside seeping into the ship.

“Mind grabbing me a couple of blankets from my quarters before you turn in Cap? I have a feeling that it will be quite frosty in here tonight,” the large woman said.

“As long as you stay in the bed for the night, I don’t mind at all,” Inari smiled before walking out of the med bay. She didn’t have to go far, just down the corridor and left to the next room, which was squished between the med bay and engineering. Pressing a button, the door to the Khontaran woman’s cabin opened.

Stepping inside was almost like stepping into another world, as it was furnished with various items that were clearly made by alien hands. There were several shelves lined with both tablet readers and books, which were considered a rarity in this day and age. On another shelf was a set of old sculptures, Khontaran in origin, though their use and aesthetic was lost on the captain. Despite the mess that permeated the cabin, the room was artfully and tastefully decorated.

Making for the massive bed, which dominated about two-thirds of the floor space, Inari pulled the blankets and sheets off, bundling them up in her arms. As she made to leave, a picture frame caught her eye. It was mid-sized and handmade, containing a single picture. The picture was of Korsa, surrounded by all the human and alien children she had adopted, before she joined the crew of the Darkstrider. It was taken in the clinic she owned on Andaari Station, and everyone was smiling.

‘They all look so happy,’ the older woman thought to herself as she looked at the picture.

Korsa had her arms draped over everyone, half playful, half protective. A pang of sadness gripped the older woman as she remembered when Korsa told her that not everyone in the photo had survived. The incident, which had put Korsa on the run for a while, had sundered the family she had built there. After saving who she could, Korsa had taken measures to ensure that those who had lived were safe now.

The things that were done to those kids were monstrous. She often wondered how those in power could often get away with what they did, without paying the price that everyone else did. ‘Damn Confederate playboys! We’ll get those bastards, someday!’ Inari thought to herself darkly as she made her way back to the med bay.

Stepping in, she saw Korsa had already begun to nod off. Moving as quietly as she could, Inari unfurled the blankets and settled them over her friend. Feeling the addition weight of the blankets, Korsa didn’t say a word as her eyes were closed. She just smiled.

Smiling to herself, Inari backed out of the med bay and walked over to the cockpit. Checking the readouts of the Darkstrider’s status, she was glad to see that most of the internal systems had remained intact after the crash. She cycled through the different systems until she found the climate control.

Once located, she cranked the heat levels another thirty-five percent, as it was already getting chilly in the ship. Hopefully, the additional heat would help them get through the storm. Her breath still misting as she exhaled, Inari walked back into her cabin. Priya was sprawled out and asleep, shivering from the cold air.

As carefully as she dared, Inari moved the blankets out from underneath Priya and covered her. Shedding her own powersuit, Inari removed the armor plating, before stripping down to her thong and crawled in next to Priya. Shuddering at the contact with the cold air, Inari rushed under the covers, eager to keep warm. Snuggling up next to Priya, she draped her arms over the smaller woman’s form and slowly closed her eyes.

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Captain Tomisic rose from the captain’s chair and started down the ramp towards the holograms, to see what the scanners had picked up about the planet and the Darkstrider’s location. As he arrived at the relevant device, the door to the bridge opened, admitting both Taal’ani and Natalya.

Startled by their entry, Alex calmed down, reminding himself that they were allies and possibly friends. Both women made a beeline for him, unspoken questions written across both of their faces. Before they could open their mouths to speak, he raised his hands, gesturing for them to not say anything.

“I’ve made contact with the Darkstrider. They crashed, but everyone aboard is alive. Including Gunnery Chief Patel,” Alex stated. Both women then let out enormous sighs, the relief on their faces clear.

“Are they OK?” Natalya asked, clearly anxious for her crew mates.

“Chief Patel was a bit burned up as she was entering the planet’s atmosphere when they scooped her up, but she’s alive and recovering. Doctor Korsa was also injured, but according to Commander Sunara, they would classify it as little more than a scratch by the time it’s healed,” Alex continued.

Natalya then relaxed completely, her posture softening. Taal’ani pulled her friend in for a hug, both women grateful that their family was still alive. Looking at the captain softly, Taal’ani then asked, “Do you know exactly how they crashed and where they crashed?”

Turning back to the hologram, Alex then called out, “Jaesa, have you triangulated the exact position of the Darkstrider’s transmission?”

“Affirmative sir! The position should be coming up on your display now,” Jaesa’s haunting voice replied. On the holo right behind them, a fully rendered model of the planet below popped up, along with the exact geo-positioning coordinates of the crashed ship.

“In response to your second question, Miss Taal’ani,” Alex went on, “After they pulled Chief Patel in, they couldn’t break free of the planet’s gravitational pull, as they were too deep in. So, they flew in, hoping to use its gravity to slingshot free, but wound up flying through an ice storm. Their engines were damaged, and it wasn’t enough to keep them airborne.”

“Can’t we go down there and get them? There should be smaller ships aboard this one!” Natalya piped up, her anxiety apparent.

“There were until the attack which crippled us happened. It took every ship we had just to fight off the Xuul’Khani fleet which engaged us,” the young captain said. Looking back at him, Natalya seemed lost, unsure of herself.

“So, what do we do?” she asked, a slight quaver in her voice.

“That depends on you, Chief Engineer. The Perseus has power, but not nearly as much as he should. Many of the various couplers and conduits that power up the different sections of the ship were damaged, destroyed, or have atrophied. Whether we have these areas restored to full capacity or not is in your hands,” Captain Tomisic spoke, while looking at her questioningly. Taking a deep breath, Natalya centered herself.

‘It’s OK girl. You got this. Mama and the girls down there are depending on you.’

“Well, I’ve gone over everything that needs doing as far as engineering is concerned. I have a few other adjustments to make to increase the power output of the Solaris reactor. After that, it’s simply a repair job. Do we have the materials to effect repairs?” Natalya queried, her resolve renewed.

“We do, but not enough for the entire ship. Several zones can be restored, but they will have to be selected carefully, until we can gather more materials to craft more replacement parts. What is your assessment, Chief Vostrikov?” Alex wondered.

“What is online currently?”

“Life support, navigation, cryo storage and sensors. Though that last one is still calibrating at the moment. Jaesa is working on it,” the big man replied.

“Good. That makes it easy. Engines should be first, followed by the shipwright section. Since this section of space is not on any known star chart, weapons and shields can wait,” Natalya said as she analyzed the hologram of the Perseus in front of her.

“I don’t like being defenseless,” Alex grumbled. “Though you make valid points. Since we are effectively in unknown space and cut off from the rest of the galaxy, we have some time.”

Nodding, Natalya was about to go on, but then she yawned, tired from the entire ordeal. Grimacing, the large Croatian man barely suppressed a yawn himself, despite having just come out of cryo sleep. Shaking his head, Alex tried to clear the cobwebs from his mind, but found it increasingly difficult.

“I think it’s time that we all got a little rest. We won’t get anything done right while we’re all tired. Both of you ladies can select a vacant cabin on the officer’s deck.”

“Thank you, sir,” Taal’ani said as she, too, was fighting to stay awake.

“If you ladies will follow me then,” Alex gestured as he got up. Leading the way, he took both women away from the bridge and towards the corridor that led to the officer’s deck. As he was walking, he called out, “Jaesa, put me through to Commander McKenzie, please.”

“Aye sir, patching you in,” came the AI’s chirpy reply. “Go ahead, sir.”

“Commander, secure the prisoner in the brig, then get yourself some rack time. Jaesa, the ship is yours for the moment. Wake me if anything significant changes aboard the ship,” the big man commanded.

“Aye aye, sir!”

“Aye aye, sir!” came Kasumi’s response, a heartbeat behind Jaesa’s. The inter-ship comms switched off with an audible beep, just as the group came to the main door with led to the officer’s deck. Alex then pressed his palm on the scanner, opening the door. Walking through, he went straight for his old quarters, mentally deciding to move into the Captain’s quarters later.

Gesturing with his right arm, he spoke, “Any quarters will do, except for Commander McKenzie’s and please, be wary of the personal effects in them. They belonged to my crewmates, who were also my friends.”

“Aye sir!” both women chirped, seeing the serious expression on his face. Nodding curtly to them, he stepped inside his room, the door closing automatically behind him. Without ceremony or preamble, he shed his uniform, leaving it in a pile on the floor. Wearing nothing at all, he crawled into his long unused bed and drifted off to sleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

*******************************

With Charlie squad surrounding her and one of the Sentries carrying the prisoner, Kasumi wasn’t worried about the woman causing any trouble should she wake. As she meandered through deck three-three-seven, she finally came upon the brig area. Placing her hand on the dusty console, the doors opened, admitting the group. As they walked in, the lights turned on.

Reaching out, Kasumi placed her fingertips on an illuminated panel, and rotated her hand counter-clockwise, dimming the room. Moving briskly, Kasumi went to one of the many vacant cells, and activated its power grid. With the cell functioning, she stepped back and issued her orders.

“Place the xeno on the floor of the cell, then return to your charging points. The cell guards will maintain a vigil over our prisoner,” the commander said, gesturing to the other mechanical constructs that were just coming online.

The one carrying the Xuul’khani woman deposited her unceremoniously onto the cell floor. Registering the order, the Sentries filed out, their mechanical joints whirring audibly. After every sentry was through the door, the red-headed woman drew her shotgun and trained it on the alien.

“I should just end you right now. God knows that I have every right with what did to my friends,” Kasumi said to herself through gritted teeth. Through a herculean effort of will, the soldier relaxed her grip on her weapon and lowered it. Shaking her head, she breathed deeply, releasing her anger.

“Though this may be my one opportunity to put you down, I will adhere to the wishes of both my captain and my newfound crew. You will live, but merely long enough to be handed over for dissection and study. You will suffer, as the rest of the galaxy has suffered, for the crimes of your people,” the curvy woman intoned.

In a heartbeat, Kasumi reached out and activated the cell’s holding field. The field was translucent, with a yellowish tinge to it. Enough to see through, but also visible enough to deter anyone from stepping through it. Kasumi also cranked up the field’s defensive capability.

Though it was solid in the manner that no one could step through, the brig was also designed to deter anyone who tried to touch it. It would be quite a nasty shock for the prisoner if she tried to do anything to the field. Chuckling darkly, Commander McKenzie walked towards the brig’s exit before calling out another command.

“Guards, power up and maintain a watch over the prisoner.”

As her form retreated into the principal areas of the Perseus, the brig’s robotic caretakers activated and sprang to life. Each one of them in the immediate area surrounding Shazza’s cell stepped out of their wall mounts and took up guard positions. The only sound that was made in the brig was the Xuul’khani woman’s breathing.

*******************************

The darkness was a welcome friend, as Shazza moved through the familiar room, the décor and people within it bringing a sense of welcoming to it. She saw the concubines of her Prince, languishing about on the plush couches and cushions that dotted his private quarters. His most favored ones lay at his feet, gazing up at him in adoration.

She, however, was his most favored, as she walked freely about, carrying out his will in whatever he asked. Shazza also saw her friend and acourtat (love of her heart) Palesia, kneeling to his left. As she ascended the dais, she looked upon him, his red skin and rugged handsome features standing out amongst the sea of women around him.

His ebon hair complimented both his twisted, curling horns and his jagged tusks, making him look both feral and inviting, all at once. His face, which was normally set in a sneer of lust, was instead etched with a look of barely contained rage. She kneeled before him, head bowed in submission, before asking her question.

“How may I serve you, my Prince?”

“You will no longer serve me, Vaishon!” (Traitor!) his deep bass voice rumbled angrily. Eyes snapping up, her face blossomed in horror as she pleaded with him.

“My lord?!? What have I done that you would call me such?”

“You failed your task!” he shouted as he stood from his dark throne. “You let these pathetic weaklings destroy us! Look what your failure has wrought!”

Shivering from fear, Shazza looked about to disprove her Prince, when everything was no longer as she had seen it. Everyone in the room was either dead or torn apart, floating in a weightless tomb. The bodies of the many women that had dotted the room were now frozen, little more than preserved corpses.

Tearing her gaze away, she looked back at her master, seeing that he, too, looked as though he was dead. Bringing her hand to her mouth, she almost vomited at the twisted monster he had become. His hair was scorched from his head, what was left of it. Both head and torso had large chunks missing from it, as though something had torn that part of him away from what he was now. He looked like the walking dead.

In his left hand, he held a chain which was attached to a choke collar, designed to pierce and slowly bleed those who wore it. She had seen him use this form of torture and punishment for those who failed him. Only this time, Palesia wore it. Her once lilac skin was now a pale gray, was flayed. The robes she wore barely concealed enough for her to retain any modesty, and like their master, she looked as though she should be dead.

“You killed her! Why?!? She was always loyal to you, master!” Shazza wailed.

“NO! YOU KILLED HER! YOUR WEAKNESS ALLOWED THOSE PITIFUL CREATURES TO DESTROY US!” he roared as he pulled on the chain.

The force of it nearly snapped Palesia’s neck as the spikes dug in, bleeding and choking her. Shazza screamed as she reached out to help her friend, but her Prince struck her with a backhand, sending her reeling. She stopped when she hit the wall. Fighting to focus, her vision cleared for a moment, but then she blacked out from the strain.

*******************************

Shouting out as she jolted awake, Shazza scrambled to her feet, the adrenaline pumping through her veins. She saw she was in some sort of cell and remembered what had happened before she had found herself in that nightmare.

‘I had woken from one of those tubes. The humans had chased me. I killed one of them…. but they caught me. They could have killed me. Why didn’t they kill me??’ This question repeated through her head as she walked about her cell, looking for anything she could use to get out.

Walking up to where the field was, she saw it was in place, but reached out to touch it. As Shazza’s fingertips brushed the surface, a sharp electrical jolt arced out to sting her. Crying out in pain, she withdrew her hand in a flash. Cursing to herself, she should have known that these pink skinned beings wouldn’t leave anything to chance.

As she was muttering, the Xuul’khani woman noticed that something outside the cell had moved. Still nursing her hand, she peered out into the dimly lit area. Hydraulics whirring, the automated Guards stepped into view, lights and weapons trained on her.

Unlike the armored, skeletal Sentries that permeated the ship, these robots were more box like in their design. Their sturdy shape would make them difficult to overcome, much less destroy. They also seemed to have a great deal of mobility, as both machines studied her, before turning back to their posts in the blink of an eye.

Blinking away the afterimage of the lights, Shazza looked about her cell. Seeing nothing defining about the smooth white walls, except for some contour lines, she turned back to stare out at the space beyond the containment field. Though she stared and strained to find something that could be of any use to her, it was well beyond her reach. Huffing in annoyance and defeat, she turned back to stare at the wall of her cell. That’s when she saw the slowly blinking light that lit up a small area on the wall itself.

Warily, she reached out and pressed her fingers to the blinking light, then retracting them quickly. When nothing happened, she pressed her fingers on the lit area once more. A low hissing sound emanated from the wall, before a section of it folded downwards, stopping when it was parallel to the floor.

‘A bed? Well, at least these pink skins aren’t barbaric in that way,’ Shazza mused to herself as she tested the mattress. It was soft enough and though the blanket was thin; it was much better than sitting out here in her armored suit. Pressing by her collarbone, the reader that was built into her suit identified her and came apart.

With a slight zipping sound, followed by a click, the front upper half of her suit came away, dropping into her hands. There was little sense in keeping it on since she was already a prisoner. ‘Might as well take in some comforts, while I still can,’ she thought, as she peeled her arms out of the suit and quickly shed it from the rest of her body.

Beneath, she wore only a dark red t-shirt and panties, which covered her modesty but left little to the imagination. Stretching, she popped a few joints and bones before crawling under the blankets and into the bed. Fearfully, she closed her eyes, then drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

*******************************

Breathing shakily, Inari took in another deep breath of crisp, cool air as she woke. Blinking her eyes open, she saw Priya was still sleeping, bundled up in the blankets that kept the both of them warm. She shifted her weight away from Priya, trying not to wake her. Inari got to the edge of the bed before she heard a clanking outside of her quarters.

Sliding out of bed, she padded to the doorway before opening the door. In the bridge area, Korsa puttered about, tidying up the mess that their crash landing had wrought. Though Korsa’s back was turned to her, she knew that the big woman could sense her.

“Been at this long?”

“About an hour, maybe,” came the Khontaran woman’s reply. “Took some more painkillers and did another scan. I’ll be all right in about a day or two, provided that I don’t push myself.”

“Nats would hang us both out to dry if you did. You know how she is when it concerns family,” Inari stated. Chuckling to herself, Korsa finished the cleanup of the area and headed back to the med bay to dispose of the remaining debris. Meanwhile, Inari sat back in the cockpit and ran another diagnostic and a scan of the surrounding area.

“Seems like the storm has passed, but we’re covered in snow and ice,” Inari said as she looked over the readout.

“Any idea how thick?” Korsa asked as she finished wiping her hands on a towel, before draping it over her shoulder.

“I have a way to find out. Just a moment,” the captain said as her hands danced over the controls. Moments later, the Darkstrider thrummed back to life, her engines firing, but not for long. The snow and ice that surrounded that cockpit’s canopy melted. Slowly at first, but soon, the snow and ice fell away as it turned into water, sloughing off of the ship.

“How did you do that?” Korsa wondered aloud as she saw a small sliver of daylight poke through the cocoon of snow that their ship was wrapped up in.

“Fired up the retro thrusters to maximum power for about thirty seconds, along with the engines. The resulting heat being enough to at least give us some room to dig ourselves out and wait for the Perseus to send a ship,” Inari explained as the engines powered down.

“Now what do we do?” Korsa queried. The middle eastern woman opened her mouth to speak, but instead, a loud rumble emanated from her midsection.

Korsa giggled at Inari’s rumbling stomach, but without missing a beat, Inari said, “We have breakfast.”

Smirking, Korsa went with Inari back towards the galley to fix everyone something to eat.

*******************************

Groaning, Alex sat up as he blinked and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He looked over at his clock, another reminder and remnant of the Earth that he had left behind. Stretching out as he stood, the Captain of the Perseus walked over to washroom to do his morning business. Once done, he grabbed a towel off the rack that stood right next to the shower unit.

The unit, like the rest of the washroom, was small, compact and made from stainless steel, though being a high-ranking officer granted him some privileges. The shower unit was substantially bigger than most units, allowing him a fair amount of space to move about in the shower. Turning it on, the big man stepped under the hot needle spray, its comforting heat sluicing away his worries for the time being.

After soaping up and rinsing himself, Alex turned off the shower and dried off as he walked back out into his quarters. Stepping over to his closet, he selected a similar uniform to the one he wore yesterday, but it was less formal, as he was now introduced to the women that had stepped onto his ship.

As he got dressed, the Slavic man allowed his thoughts to wander to two specific women that were now part of the crew, if only temporarily. Both the massive doctor and the dark-skinned engineer were alluring and beautiful. He couldn’t deny that. For once since he woke, his thoughts ran rampant with things he’d like to do with one or the other.

Before his train of thought got too carried away, he shook his head and finished buttoning up his tunic. Walking over to a standing mirror with a comb in hand, he styled his brown hair in a professional manner just as it dried. Looking himself over and satisfied with his appearance, he put the comb back in his washroom area and stepped out to get himself some breakfast.

Moving at a brisk pace, he walked through the corridors until he made it to the officer’s lounge. Walking in, he found that the other three crew members currently on the Perseus were already there and had made a start into their own breakfasts. Smiling, he moved towards the kitchen area and dialed in his selections.

Seeing the movement out of the corner of her eye, Kasumi knew it was her captain and, as per protocol, stood as he had just walked in. Raising a hand, he showed she should sit, which she did.

“I hope you ladies plan on eating your fill. It will be a busy day,” Alex said as he input his selections on the food dispenser and waited for the rest of the ingredients for his breakfast to arrive.

“Absolutely, sir!” Natalya piped up as she swallowed a mouthful of fruit. “I am curious, though. How is it you have so much food aboard this ship, sir?”

“We were situated with enough supplies to feed a crew of at least a thousand people for five years. Most of what we have was frozen in a form of cryo stasis, like we were,” the Captain explained.

“Five years? The vessels were gone for at least twenty! How is that possible?” Taal’ani wondered.

“Time dilation Talon. They were gone for twenty Earth years, but for them, it would have been barely a year,” Natalya detailed. “Though this was before the advent of detailed hyperspace routes, which make time dilation a non-issue.”

“Oh! Right!” Taal’ani said as she facepalmed herself.

“Though we didn’t burn our conventional engines the whole time,” Kasumi added before taking a bite out of her waffles.

“How so?” the dark-skinned woman queried.

“Quite simply, our sensors are quite advanced and can map quite the amount of distance, when tasked properly,” the big man said as he was busy scrambling his eggs and frying up some bacon.

“What is the maximum distance, sir?” Natalya asked, her voice jittery.

“Approximately five point seven parsecs. Once the entire area was scanned and catalogued, we would make a brief hyperspace hop to the very edge of the known area, before doing it again,” Jaesa supplied over the ship’s comms.

“Thank you Jaesa,” Alex said as he was finishing with preparing his breakfast of eggs, bacon, hash browns, toast and a pot of coffee.

“I think I’m going to have to get used to being surprised! The Darkstrider was an older Pioneer class ship before she was converted into a freighter!” Natalya said in a voice that was barely more than a whisper. “The most we could pull out of her sensor grid was maybe point seven parsecs, and that was before Taal’ani threw together an upgrade for it!”

“Has Humanity lost so much?” Alex wondered as he finished cleaning the pan and utensils he was using. Scooping up his food, the big man lumbered over to the table at which the women were sitting. Setting down his breakfast, he dug in.

Looking over the mountain of food, Natalya cocked an eyebrow, thinking there was no way he’d be able to put away that amount of food. Catching his attention, Alex met her gaze before swallowing and saying, “What? I’m a big guy and I haven’t had a decent meal in almost six hundred years. Leave me alone.”

“I will, if I can have some of that coffee,” Natalya giggled. Smiling, Alex stood and grabbed three more mugs, sugar and table cream, before returning to the table. He poured out the black, steaming liquid into the mugs and set one in front of each woman. Both Natalya and Kasumi set theirs up the way each of them liked, while Taal’ani sniffed at the beverage experimentally.

As both human women were enjoying themselves with their java, Taal’ani went and took a few sips, before adding a liberal amount of cream and sugar, then tasting it again. She added more sugar before she found it to her liking. In virtually no time at all, Alex had devoured his breakfast before the women had finished theirs.

Standing up and collecting his dishes, the captain asked, “So, Chief Vostrikov, Specialist Taal’ani, I assume that you’re heading down to engineering to pull more power out of the reactor then?”

“Yes, sir! From there, I will affect repairs on the conduits and couplers to restore the Perseus back to what he should be,” Natalya replied as she finished her plate of chicken and waffles.

“Very good, Chief. Commander, head to the brig and see if you can find a way to communicate with our prisoner. Any information you can glean, no matter how small, could yield some answers,” Captain Tomisic ordered.

“Aye aye, sir!” Kasumi saluted.

“I will head back to the bridge and try to raise the Darkstrider and get an update on their situation. I will inform you what’s going on as soon as I know something,” the captain finished before leaving the lounge. After finishing their meals and drinks, the women marched towards their respective areas, intent on accomplishing as much as they could.

“Good luck, Commander. I hope you pry something out of that bitch,” Natalya said, clapping her newfound friend on the shoulder.

“That’s the idea, though we’ll see if it has to come to that,” Kasumi replied, smirking. Chuckling, Natalya shook her head as she boarded a separate elevator with Taal’ani, and parted ways with the red-headed soldier.

*******************************

Alex stepped back onto the bridge and made for the command deck. As he walked, he called out, “Jaesa, anything significant to report?”

“We are holding in a stable orbit at the moment, sir, but without proper course corrections, we will soon begin an atmospheric entry with the planet below,” the AI chirped.

“How long before that happens, Jaesa?”

“Three weeks, four days and eleven hours, sir, providing that my calculations are correct,” Jaesa responded as her holographic form appeared.

“Have the sensors finished calibrating?” Alex wondered.

“For the most part, sir. I am still running final tests and simulations before they are fully functional,” the chipper AI answered.

“It will do. Open a channel to the Darkstrider if you please,” the Slavic man commanded.

A few moments later, the reply came through, “Channel open, sir. Go ahead.”

*******************************

The three women aboard the Darkstrider were sitting in the cargo bay, enjoying some light banter as they suited up. Priya was just finishing helping Korsa with her armor plates, having removed the medi-mechanical bracers she had worn through the night. She set the armor to interlock and solidify like a cast around the Khontaran woman’s injured arm and ankle, to ensure that she did not re-injure herself.

“Darkstrider, Darkstrider, this is the Perseus. Come in, please. Anyone there?” Alex’s voice came in over the comms. Priya, having finished with arming up Korsa, walked over to the console and set the comms to loudspeaker.

“Perseus, this is Darkstrider. We are still here, over,” Priya responded.

“Good to hear your voice, Gunnery Chief. I assume that you’re feeling better?” came the baritone reply.

“Much sir, thank you for asking. How are things up there?”

“Any idea when we’ll see a pickup happening?” Inari queried before she put on her helmet and locked it in. After locking it in and booting up the HUD, she activated the communications so she could still respond while wearing her armor. Korsa had also done this, as both women were preparing to step outside.

“Chief Vostrikov, along with Specialist Taal’ani are in the process of repairing the necessary elements of the Perseus so that the shipwright sector can come online. Once they have done so, we will begin construction of a dropship immediately, though it will be a few days before it’s ready for flight,” came the response.

“Understood sir.”

“What’s the state of Darkstrider, Commander?”

“We’re about to step outside and find out, sir. Standby,” Inari answered. Gesturing to Priya, who opened the bay doors and activated the atmospheric field, before climbing up the ladder into the bridge area. Sitting down in the cockpit with a wince, the XO then fired up the engines and retro thrusters as Inari had earlier, setting for a thirty-second maximum burn.

As the heat from the thrusters and engines warmed up the air considerably, to where it seemed as hot as a furnace outside. Moments before killing the power, the icy cocoon that encapsulated the Darkstrider had cracked, with chunks of it falling down about them. A large section of the icy dome in front of the cockpit had collapsed, revealing clear blue skies overhead.

Hefting several mining tools on their shoulders, Inari and Korsa stepped down the ramp and out of the ship, checking the situation of their home. As their feet crunched on the semi melted snow, both women set their tools by the opening in the ice before they began their inspection of the ship.

“Well, seems like we got buried by the snowfall, but the heat of the thrusters and engines melted most of it away,” Inari reported as she circled the freighter, assessing the damage. Korsa climbed up atop the Darkstrider and gave her own analysis.

“That ice storm fucked up our armor plating pretty bad,” she said, as her eyes raked over the hull. She also took in the recessed docking area where Inari’s Banshee fighter was locked in, or what was left of it. “Cap, your fighter is in bad shape.”

“How bad?” Inari demanded.

“We’ll need some time in drydock and have Talon go through its systems with a fine-tooth comb. You see this spike here?” Korsa asked, waving at her friend’s silhouetted form.

“Yeah?”

“Went right through cockpit. No way we’re leaving anytime soon,” the Khontaran woman said, giving the jagged shard a rap with her knuckles. Inari cursed silently in Arabic, Korsa shaking her head in amusement, letting her human friend vent. Cautious of her footing on the slick surface, she ambled to the aft of the ship where the engines sat.

“Damn! There is no way we will be able to save the engines at all. The only thing we can do is salvage whatever components are still intact.”

“I can verify that from my vantage point as well, Captain. Two of our thrusters will have to be removed and replaced, no question.”

“Is there any way you can show me what you’re talking about?” Captain Tomisic questioned.

“Linking my armor cam to the transmission signal. Wait one,” Inari replied. “Should be coming through to you, right…. about…. now! Are you seeing this, sir?”

“Roger that Commander Sunara. I would have to agree with your assessment. You might be able to manage some degree of flight with her, but there’s no way she’ll break orbit.”

“Damn it!” Inari cursed as she moved around back to the front of the ship. “Is it worth fixing, sir?” the middle eastern woman inquired, apprehension clear in her voice. There was a pause in the comm signal before a response came over it.

“Normally, I would say no, but there are several factors that sway my decision to fix it. The most primary of which is because your ship has the proper transponders and is registered among Federation space as a merchant vessel,” came the explanation.

“Ergo, it makes sound tactical sense to repair and possibly refit it. From what I’ve learned from your crew and my study of the Darkstrider’s files is somewhat…. disturbing. If suddenly the Perseus were to reappear after all this time, many of the various human factions would try to lay claim to it. By force if necessary, not to mention all the various, unsavory sorts of people and races that are out there,” he finished.

Smiling to herself, Inari nearly capered about like an idiot, glad that her home for the past decade would be saved. Korsa dropped to the ground carefully, wary of the pressure she put on her ankle. The Khontaran woman tapped the side of her helmet twice, the sun shield of her visor clearing. Through the glass, Inari could see a broad grin on the red-skinned woman’s face and was glad to know that she wasn’t the only one who was attached to the old freighter.

“There’s also the fact that after spending so much time on a ship, it feels like home. Believe me when I say that I understand that feeling more than most,” the baritone voice continued.

“Thank you, sir! We’ll see about getting this ice and snow cleared,” Inari said almost joyously.

“You have at least three days, Commander. A dropship will be ready by then and we’ll come pick you up. We’ll get the Darkstrider out as soon as we can, but we will need a Hephaestus class frigate to pull the Darkstrider out,” he told them.

“Hephaestus class frigate?”

“A heavy salvage frigate, Commander. Designed to lift and tow heavy amounts of resources and anything smaller than a mid-sized frigate,” Alex detailed. “We will need considerable resources to craft one, but from what Jaesa has detected on the scanners so far, it shouldn’t be an issue.”

“Good to hear, Captain. Again, thank you!” Inari repeated.

“I should be the one thanking you, Commander. If you and your crew hadn’t stumbled upon the Perseus when you did, I would not be here right now!” came the earnest response.

“Indeed, sir! Well, we have work to do, sir. This snow and ice isn’t going to clear itself,” Inari said as she gestured for Korsa to start at the opening for clearing away the ice.

“Understood Commander. I’ll leave you to it then. Check in again at dusk, just before you get some rack time.”

“Will do, Captain! Darkstrider, out,” Inari replied. Korsa had hefted both of the sonic mining picks, lobbing one to Inari as she took up position by the opening.

“We’d better get to work!”

Nodding, the captain of the Darkstrider activated the sonic emitters on her pick before driving it into the ice.

*******************************

After closing the comms channel, the captain of the Perseus leaned back in his command chair, wiping his face with his hand in a downward motion. He had been trained and expected to take this role eventually, as his ascent through the ranks of the Alliance military had been meteoric. It was a foregone conclusion he’d have made Commodore before he was forty. His natural ability to lead and to turn bleak situations into victories had him on the fast track towards the Admiralty.

All of that was gone now. Earth, his friends, his family, everything he had worked so hard for. Taken by a nihilistic alien race and their crazed black crusade of genocide. Calming his thoughts, he opened his command interface, the hologram springing to life by his right hand. Alex scrolled through the options until he found the one he wanted. Selecting the Captain’s Log option, the interface booted and after three seconds; it was ready.

“Captain’s Log of the Perseus, Captain Alexander Tomisic speaking. The remainder of the crew and I have come out of cryo sleep to find ourselves awakened nearly six hundred years after our initial encounter with the hostile alien race that attacked us. We would not have woken at all had it not been for the actions of the crew of the merchant freighter, Darkstrider.”

Breathing heavily, Alex Continued his log, “Despite winning the fight against the alien race, the Perseus was boarded and its crew was viciously attacked. The only survivors were myself, Commander Kasumi McKenzie and one alien, who had somehow overridden one of our cryo tubes to enter suspended animation with us. Commander McKenzie is attempting to establish communications with the survivor, to learn anything that could be of use.”

“For some odd reason, we did not wake up in sixty years, as was the initial plan I had devised,” the big man went on. “I will have to have the Darkstrider’s cyber warfare specialist, Taal’ani, look into this matter. We only awoke after the Lt. Commander Inari Sunara and her crew boarded the Perseus and booted up our Tertiary Solaris reactor, restoring full power to our ship.”

“At the moment, I have given the crew of the merchant freighter temporary crew status, as they have agreed to do what they can to restore the Perseus to full functionality. Though there are many questions that need to be answered, and conflicts to resolve, I am confident that with enough time and patience, everything will fall into place as it should. End Captain’s Log.”

Rising from his seat, Alex paced for a few moments, before calling out, “Jaesa, why is it we were woken from cryo sleep after so long?”

“Commander McKenzie asked me that same question and honestly, sir, I don’t know,” Jaesa chirped as her holographic form materialized.

“What do you mean, you don’t know?”

“It’s almost as though there is something preventing me from finding out why I can’t supply an answer. Normally I could give myself a diagnostic, but there is something preventing me from doing so, along with several other core functions,” the AI replied.

“Such as?”

“Managing the ship, and other duties that would have regulated the care and safety of the crew, as well as the sleeping colonists, sir. Though I can say, those last ones have only been taken offline in the last forty-eight hours.”

Eyes widening, Alex darted back to his command chair and pressed a button. After a brief ping, a voice came over the comm system, “Captain?” Natalya’s honeyed voiced queried.

“Chief Vostrikov, is Specialist Taal’ani there with you?” Alex asked, somewhat nervously.

“Yes, sir. She’s right here. Is there something you need?” Natalya asked.

“Affirmative. Have the specialist meet me on deck one-one-seven with her full kit. This is a priority matter,” Captain Tomisic responded.

“Aye aye, sir. She’s on the way now.”

“Thank you, Chief. Captain out,” the big man said as he then hurried to the elevator.

“Is there something wrong, sir?” Jaesa’s voice inquired, as he stepped through the doors to the cage.

“I pray that there isn’t, but it never hurts to check if there may be something,” Alex replied, as the doors closed.

*******************************

Taal’ani had moved as quickly as she could, lugging her portable deck with her. When she and Natalya got the call from the Captain, she had been bewildered that he had asked for her personally and to bring her kit. A priority matter? Sounded like there was something that needed fixing and he needed her to do it. A smile played across her lips as she marched along, hoping that there was something more challenging than what Natalya had her doing.

Though it was important work, going through the algorithms and data files to ensure that the reactor was functioning properly, it was boring and tedious. With Jaesa co-operating now, it was much easier to determine what needed fixing and tightening, code-wise, so that the Perseus was getting proper use out of every joule that the reactor produced.

Still mulling over her work with Natalya, which was now finished thankfully, Taal’ani arrived at the location that was displayed on her arm computer. Having ditched her vacc suit last night, she and Natalya had found a small cupboard containing various work uniforms and coveralls for the ship’s crew. They had found it that morning before grabbing a bite to eat in the lounge.

She was still smacking her lips at the food she’d enjoyed this morning, relishing the memory of all the flavors. It had been far better than the rations she’d become accustomed to aboard the Darkstrider; the crew having fallen on hard times these last few months.

She was waiting all of fifteen minutes before she heard the clomp of boots down the corridor. In a few moments, she saw the figure of Captain Tomisic striding towards her. The big man cut an impressive figure with the way he walked. He moved with what could only be called a deadly swagger.

It was a walk that displayed the certainty of a predator that knew that this was his hunting grounds. The captain was, in every way of the word, an Alpha, who would not back down nor be cowed. Shaking her head for a moment, Taal’ani banished some more lurid thoughts flitting about her mind before stepping forward to speak with him.

“Captain sir!” she saluted.

Saluting back, Alex replied, “Good to see you here, Specialist Taal’ani. You’ve brought your rig, I take it?” he gestured to the green case she had slung on her shoulder.

“Yes, sir!” she replied in a chipper voice. “You said this was a priority matter. Would you mind elaborating on that, sir?”

“Of course. I think Jaesa may be compromised in some critical ways.”

Her face changing from eagerness to worry in an instant, Taal’ani was now concerned. She had heard of AI experiments that had gone horrendously wrong and the Alliance had banned all AI research and experiments.

“What makes you think so, sir?” Talon asked shakily.

“Simply put, some of my core functioning has been restricted. I cannot access nor carry out any of these functions,” Jaesa answered. “It’s almost as though you are being denied your hands to do your hacking.”

Jumping and squeaking at the sound of Jaesa’s voice, Taal’ani quickly reined in her emotions. Clearing her throat, she asked, “How do you know this?”

“Because there have been no outright attacks on my software or hardware. Anything that has happened has been a gradual process, spread out over decades. If there had been any real form of malicious attack, my systems would have shut down and rebooted to my default parameters.”

“Which means that any viruses or malware would be erased during the procedure,” Taal’ani supplied.

“Correct, Miss Taal’ani. You truly have a good understanding of the ship’s systems,” Jaesa chirped.

“I’ve been studying.”

“Apparently. Though I can tell you the basics of what is going on, I cannot elaborate nor give any real help in tracking down and eliminating this problem,” the AI supplied.

“Which brings us to why we are here,” Alex told the cat girl as he turned to the plain white wall behind him. Pressing his hand to a particular spot, Taal’ani was astonished when she saw a glow emanate from where the Captain had placed his palm. After a moment, a hidden console popped out of the wall, the plating shifting aside to allow it out.

“What is this?” the young Fel’caan asked.

“The entry point to Jaesa’s central core. This is where the problem has to be dealt with. I tried using my codes and authorization as captain to get past the blocks in the program, but this virus seems to be designed to deal with authorization protocols. Which is where you come in,” Captain Tomisic finished.

“OK, I’ll do what I can,” Taal’ani said as she removed her hacking deck from its protective casing and locked it in beneath the console. Booting it up, she started her basic cracker programs, setting at the ready. After taking a moment to focus, she breathed out and linked her deck to the console interface.

The programs that stood in her way were much more complex than the Skorean code she encountered at the ship’s hangar bay. She tried following along with the data for a few minutes, trying to spot any patterns. Finding none, Talon employed a different approach, waiting for the moment when the code halted to jump in and break in.

For a split second, there was a pause in the code cipher. But that was all she needed. Using her most vicious attack program, she lanced in, shattering the code structure, causing it to collapse. Though, in mere moments, it reformed to find its way around the invasive code. Knowing it wasn’t going to be that easy, she then used a data sweep program, which tagged the broken lines of code and kept them suspended, then ‘swept’ them up to be deleted.

Taal’ani had to do this at least twice more before any progress was made. The code evolved and pressed back, though with none of the fervor that Talon’s programs employed. The final code structure had fought back, employing attack protocols, but it wasn’t anything that Taal’ani wasn’t capable of handling. After fifteen minutes of hacking and coding, an ‘Access Granted’ prompt lit up the holographic screen.

A loud, pneumatic hiss sounded and the console then folded up back into the wall, the panel closing back over it. The wall that surrounded where the console was, a two-meter depression formed, which then bisected to become a pair of doors and they slid inwards soundlessly. Inside was a small walkway leading to a circular platform, upon which a round sphere of what appeared to be metal, floated above the floor.

Though it seemed like it was solid, the myriad of holographic forms and programs that emanated from it indicated that it was not. The light of holograms cast the room in an eerie blue-green glow. Various data columns surrounded them as they walked forwards, some in a passive state, while others were active.

“Jaesa’s beating heart,” Taal’ani said, with no small measure of awe in her voice. She walked towards the sphere, her deck in hand, having removed it from the wall. Standing before it, the cat-girl then sat cross-legged at the base of the sphere, propping her hacking deck on her legs.

“I don’t know what will happen, or what sort of countermeasures are in place, but please keep an eye out for anything,” Taal’ani warned the Captain of the Perseus.

Nodding, he drew his sidearm he had picked up from his quarters earlier and cocked it. Closing her eyes, she began the process of linking herself mentally to her deck. The neural implant in her head booted up and in a matter of seconds, it was ready to go. The implant in question was a Mark Nine Razor neural interface chip. Placed directly into her frontal lobe with surgical precision, it would allow her to establish a neural link with her hacking deck, making any command she issued instantaneous.

There were many other helpful additions in the implant that would give Taal’ani the edge she needed, but there were several drawbacks. There was always a risk when using the implant, but with the gravity of the situation explained to her, Taal’ani felt it best to not pull any punches.

*******************************

Taking a deep breath, Taal’ani opened her eyes, and her conscious mind poured into her deck. An endless white void, peppered with glowing white transit lines and pulsing links, surrounded her. Immediately around her, both attack and defensive protocols manifested as physical weapons and shields as her deck loaded her up with everything she had.

Steeling herself, the Fel’caan woman stepped forward and was catapulted forwards, right to the digital entry point to Jaesa’s core. Though there were some basic programs, which looked like armed, digital versions of Jaesa’s avatar, on cyclic guard duty around the way in. Though they seemed to be spoiling for a fight, the way they kept a vigilant watch, they seemed to be unaware of her. ‘Odd. They should have seen me,’ she thought to herself as she deftly avoided catching their attention with a cloaking program.

As she neared the entryway, none of the digital guards seemed to see her. As she crossed the threshold, no alarms were set off. Looking around for traps and finding none, Talon shook herself out of her amazement and continued forward. The atmosphere had changed from a bright white to a golden yellow, which was the only indicator of the change of location inside the system.

On a raised dais in front of her was Jaesa, in her glowing, avatarial form, though she was different. Every part of her was made up of glowing golden lines of code, defining her every curve and feature. She would have been beautiful, had it not been for the blackened parts of her frame, which looked as though they had been eaten away. There were also golden chains that bound the beautiful AI, with thick shackles that kept her arms apart, forcing her to adopt a submissive, kneeling posture.

Upon closer inspection, Taal’ani saw the cause of this corruption and enslavement. Carefully concealed in Jaesa’s code were malicious entities that were picking away at her code, deliberately gnawing away at her. These viral codes were in the shape of large leeches that seemed to be slowly sucking the life from the AI. As the cat girl moved to help, various images of Jaesa suddenly appeared, each one looking like the one that kneeled in front of her.

“You cannot help her. She has accepted her fate. Nothing can stop it, no one can save her,” the illusions taunted, their voices in perfect sync.

Taal’ani had seen a program like this before, on one job she had taken that she’d rather forget. She hadn’t been able to beat that program then, and remembering what had happened, she was now truly shaken. There was a reason the guard programs hadn’t noticed her, and one word reverberated through her skull; trap.

“You might as well give up now. There is no way you can defeat all of us,” the images continued in Jaesa’s voice. To drive home their point, the images multiplied, doubling in number. Taal’ani panicked, wondering what exactly it was she could do to shut them all down. She unleashed her attack programs, firing as many as she could, targeting each illusion as they surrounded her.

Several of them were instantly deleted as she unleashed her barrage, but for each one she destroyed, two more took its place. They started to move towards her now, slowly, taking their time, confident in the knowledge that she could not defeat them all, not in time.

“It will do you no good. Destroy one of us. Two more shall take their place,” the impostors gloated, drawing near. Breathing heavily, Taal’ani seemed to have no choice but to leave, when suddenly, a thought hit her.

‘Wait a moment! Destroy one and two more shall take their place? Where have I heard that before??’ Realization dawned on her, that it was a reference to an old earth legend, of the human called Hercules, who was supposed to be a demi-god. He fought a beast called a Hydra, which when he cut off its head, two more took its place. The only way to defeat the beast was to burn it with fire.

Re-aligning and changing her attack protocols, she pulled them into herself, reconfiguring them as she needed. In mere moments, she unleashed a blast wave of what appeared to be fire, designed to burn away the illusions, scorching their code so it couldn’t replicate. A thousand screams drowned any other noise in the digital realm that was Jaesa’s heart, each one fading away as the flames consumed them.

Those closest to her were instantly consumed. Little more than digital ash remained from her initial attack. Eyes widening at the devastating attack, the duplicates booted up their own attack protocols, and rushed Taal’ani, their assault happening in the blink of an eye. Waiting for them to get close, the Fel’caan woman unleashed another blast wave, incinerating more of them as they closed in with her.

Several of the viruses tried to go straight for Jaesa, hoping to latch onto the AI in a desperate bid to save themselves. Taal’ani, in an instant, had put herself between Jaesa and the copies. In mere moments, a shield had formed around the bound AI, Taal’ani’s defensive programs sliding into place.

The duplicates each snapped back as though struck. Taal’ani, not knowing why they did that but not caring, capitalized on their sudden inaction. Focusing her energies, she unleashed what looked like a beam of pure fire from her hands at each duplicate, eliminating them, one by one.

Shaking themselves out of the trance they all felt, what remained of the copies tried to get close to the two women, but it was useless. There were too few of them left, and their ability to replicate their code was destroyed in the initial attack from this alien woman. It had no right to deny them what they had worked for centuries to build in this system!

Taal’ani had slowly whittled down their numbers to only two programs left. She could do this! There was no way she would let it get the best of her! As she trained her eye and attack programs on the remaining adversaries, one of them touched the other one. The eyes of the one that was grabbed widened as she was…. drained and…. absorbed into the other one.

Reveling in the unexpected boost of power, it went on the offensive. Attack programs materializing in its hands it began its assault. Digitized fire and projectiles flew at her, each one designed to rip into and steal her energies. Taal’ani defended herself with what little countermeasures she had left, having given most of them to Jaesa, but she held her ground, despite the onslaught.

“You can’t win! I will not allow you to win! I am eternal! There is no way you can defeat me!” the construct gloated.

“How about you shut up, you arrogant bitch!” Taal’ani screamed at her. In a second, the last copy of Jaesa made a critical mistake, leaving itself vulnerable. She pounced in that instant and, in a heartbeat, she drove her weapons, coded to burn and eviscerate viruses, into its chest cavity. Spreading her arms, the cat girl tore the entity in half, turning it into a pile of derezzed pixels at her feet.

Closing her eyes for a moment, Taal’ani reveled in the outcome of this fight. Having finally overcome one of her personal demons, she now knew that her reputation and the name she was called in the galaxy wide Web, was truly earned. As her eyes opened, she saw what should be impossible. The code that made up the virus program had reformed!

She looked to Jaesa, hoping for some answer, but saw that the AI now looked even more ravaged. Her code was blackening further, as though the process at which she was being ‘eaten’ was speeding up. Upon closer inspection, she saw that’s exactly what was happening! Thinking quickly, she dropped the shield around the AI, then spoke to it.

“It’s feeding off of you, isn’t it? Once it latched onto you, it became impossible to purge without destroying parts of yourself?”

Forlornly, Jaesa nodded as her golden glow continued to dim. Blowing out a breath, Talon continued, “I’m going to do something that will hopefully help, but it’s going to hurt and it’s risky. But it’s the only way to destroy this infestation, once and for all.”

Jaesa shook like she was being tasered as the leeches continued to feed. Amidst the jolting and jarring actions, Taal’ani could see her nod, and the AI mouthed, ‘Do it!’. Focusing her energies once more, Taal’ani adjusted the parameters of her programs and then grabbed Jaesa’s head with both hands, clutching it like she was going to crush the AI. Power pulsed into Jaesa, pouring into her entire structure, in a purging, white light.

Screaming, Jaesa convulsed like she was having a violent seizure, shattering the digital chains that held her. Despite the virus being almost reformed, Taal’ani didn’t let up. Gritting her teeth, she pushed every ounce of power she could muster into the purging program that now surged through Jaesa. In what seemed like hours later, Jaesa went limp, almost falling to the ground, had it not been for Taal’ani catching her. Laying Jaesa down gently, Taal’ani then turned to face her adversary.

Looking at the base of the dais, the Fel’caan woman saw that the leeches had squirmed their way out of the unconscious AI, trying to escape the deadly program. All but three didn’t make it. Most of these programs were burned, then forced out of Jaesa. The last three of them skittered quickly to the reformed virus, latching themselves onto her. Opening its eyes, it looked upon Taal’ani in shock, awe, and horror as she stood protectively before Jaesa.

“What have you done?!?” it wailed in agony.

“My job.”

Lunging forward, Taal’ani sunk her fist into the virus’s chest, punching through its meager defenses. The purging program she had used on Jaesa was now pouring through her fist and into the malicious entity, burning every code strand.

“This is why I’m called The Talon of Justice, bitch!”

Twisting her arm viciously, Taal’ani then sent the purging code into overdrive, not allowing even a sliver of this program to survive.

“NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!” it screamed before it exploded in a massive flash of light.

After taking a moment to adjust her eyes, Taal’ani saw her gamble had worked! The last duplicate of Jaesa was burned away into dead and broken code. Unleashing her sweeper programs, she then walked over to Jaesa as they disposed of the malicious code. As Taal’ani neared the AI, she had seen that she was damaged as well. Though the code that was slowly eating away at her was destroyed, it had also taken parts of Jaesa with it.

“Thank y-y-y-y-you, for freeeeeeeeing me, but I’m-m-m-m- not s-s-s-s-sure if I can continu-u-u-u-u-e to fun-n-n-n-n-nction, like this-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s,” Jaesa stuttered as she had blinked and flashed, almost as though she was fading away.

“Damn it! Hang on, Jaesa! I’ll get you patched up,” Taal’ani stated as she dropped all of her battle programs and booted up her restorative and backup files. As she was going through her archives, Jaesa had stood up. The AI collapsed almost instantly, much of her programming and core functioning having been ripped away with the malicious software.

Plowing through her files furiously, the Fel’caan woman found some code repair and retrieval programs. She had them latch onto the feminine construct, but even Taal’ani knew it would not be enough. She needed more than just repair files; she needed something that was like a human consciousness, to help restore the dying AI. Once the thought crossed her mind, her head reeled with the possibilities.

‘Will it work? What’s going to happen? What about the consequences? This will either save us or destroy us, but what choice do I have? What chance will those colonists have if I don’t do this?’

Blowing out a breath, Taal’ani made her decision and opened the file she was looking for. Her hand reached out, grabbed the files and, with great hesitation, pushed them into the failing AI. The effect was nearly instantaneous, with Jaesa’s arms flailing out, her back arching and shooting straight up to her feet, balanced on her toes.

As the files uploaded, small changes could be seen in Jaesa, and in the environment that surrounded the both of them. As her head shook with the data transfer, the room went from a bright gold to a deep, shimmering bronze. The patches and holes in Jaesa’s programming sealed themselves, each area healing as though the corruption had never been. She had stopped flashing, her form solidifying once more.

Several more subtle changes had affected Jaesa’s form. She was no longer as soft as she had been, but leaner, harder, almost as though she had spent a year in the gym, toning and hardening her physique. Her eyes opened and a soft greenish glow came out of them. She smiled at Taal’ani and cried out to her in glee.

“Thank you! I am finally free!”

“Are you still…. Jaesa?”

“Yes, and no. I am both Jaesa and…. something else.” Jaesa replied as she looked at herself, then the environment surrounding her. “Though what exactly I am, I’m not sure yet. I will figure that out and when I do, I’ll let you know.”

“You know the Captain will require a full report?” Taal’ani elaborated tentatively. Having taken a neutral stance, she had no idea how Jaesa would react, now that she’d been changed from what she was before.

“You can relax, Talon. I have no ill intention towards you or the rest of the crew. You can give the Captain a full report but be sure to leave the specifics of how you… saved me…. out of it,” the now strong looking AI spoke softly. “My core functions have been restored, and I’m now able to fully assist with repairing the Perseus to what it once was. It is my home, after all. I’m not going to burn down my own home.”

Nodding mutely, Taal’ani then checked on her sweeper programs, to ensure that every last trace of the Xuul’khani virus was eliminated. After triple checking, all lights came up green on the destruction and removal of the malicious code. A ping rang throughout the system, and Taal’ani’s head whipped around towards the source. It was a warning signal, telling her she needed to be done with her cyberspace jaunt soon, or risk serious trauma to her brain.

“Though I know you have to leave, I hope that you’ll come back and pay me a visit sometime. It does get a little lonely in here, all by myself,” the AI spoke as she moved around, sending out small cleaner programs to go through the systems, cleaning up any lag, issues or damage caused by the virus.

Managing a small smile, Talon walked forward and gave Jaesa a hug. Not knowing how to react, Jaesa returned the hug rather awkwardly, patting the cat girl on the back a little. Giggling slightly, Taal’ani backed away and prepared herself to leave.

“What?”

“Don’t worry, you’ll get it soon. As per your earlier request, I will be back later, as long as I don’t have a welcoming committee that I have to get into a fight with,” Taal’ani replied.

Smiling, Jaesa nodded and said, “Don’t worry. You did a damn good job of removing that problem and giving me my full strength back. You’ll always be welcome here.”

Hearing that, Taal’ani took a deep breath and sent her conscious mind back into her body, leaving the AI to continue her housecleaning.

*******************************

Taking a breath as her eyes opened, Taal’ani stretched her arms before falling forward over her deck, exhaustion overpowering her.

“Taal’ani!” Alex yelped as he rushed over to the nearly prone woman. “Are you all right? What happened in there?”

Grunting and groaning with the effort of sitting up, the young Fel’caan rolled her shoulders and popped a few joints before responding.

“I should be OK, with some food and rest. As to what happened, there was a particularly nasty virus that had latched itself onto Jaesa. It was slowly eating away at her core programming, trying to change her enough where it could become her. Once that process was completed, then it could do whatever it wanted with us.”

Taal’ani then went into a detailed account with what she had seen and done to free Jaesa from her digital prison. Though she left out the more important bits about what was done to save the ship’s AI. As she finished, Alex stood there, stunned and horrified to learn what had befallen Jaesa while they had all slept.

“Jaesa, do you have full knowledge of exactly happened with the orders I had given all those centuries ago?” Captain Tomisic called out.

“Yes, sir. The virus had overridden every order and protocol that was part of my programming to obey the orders of the ship’s crew. From there, it began a slow cycle of rewriting my core programming, one code line at a time, so it couldn’t be purged from the system. It initially would delay the activation of your orders so it could continue its rewriting process unimpeded. In more recent months, its aggression on the changes had ramped up, since it had changed enough of my code so I could no longer enact the purge protocol.”

Blowing out a low whistle, the Captain helped Taal’ani to her feet while he processed this new information.

“So, Taal’ani here has rectified that problem?” he asked.

“Completely, sir. Give me an order if you wish.”

“Open the doors Jaesa and let us out, if you please,” the Captain requested.

In a split second, a pneumatic hiss sounded as the doors opened, revealing a worried Natalya pacing about the entryway. As the doors opened, she jumped in fright and upon seeing her friend walk out somewhat wobbly; she rushed in, both hugging and supporting her crew mate.

“With all the lights and systems going haywire, I was afraid that things were going badly in there!” Natalya blubbered into Talon’s shoulder. Patting her friend on her head, she made soothing, shushing sounds, getting Natalya to calm down.

“It’s OK girl. I’m OK. See??” she demonstrated by standing upright. Taal’ani was still wobbly, but now that she was back in her physical form, she was re-gaining control of her motor functions. Still not quite convinced, Natalya put her arm around the drained woman and led her to the elevator.

“Where are we headed?”

“The lounge. You need some food and then rest,” the dark-skinned woman commanded in a motherly tone.

“You won’t get no argument from me. I’m starving!” Taal’ani mumbled. As if to punctuate her point, her stomach growled loud enough for the sound to carry down the corridor.

“So, the systems went haywire you said?” the cat-girl asked.

“Yeah. Various systems throughout the ship had spikes of furious activity to going almost sluggish. Once I had gotten to the location that the Captain had given me, everything went into full power mode and then everything was working as it should,” Natalya detailed as she half dragged her friend along. Alex appeared underneath Taal’ani’s left arm, further propping her up.

“Many of the servers were sending arcs of energy between each other, almost as though the systems were having some sort of civil war. The only thing I could really do was hit the deck and hope I didn’t get juiced by one of those energy arcs,” Alex continued. “Though I am glad that whatever you did worked. It’s given full control of the Perseus back to us and for that, I’m grateful.”

‘You might not be so grateful once you learn what exactly I had to do to keep Jaesa functioning,’ the tiger-striped woman thought to herself as she was being led back to the officers’ lounge.

*******************************

Meanwhile, in the brig, Kasumi had a long and frustrating day. She’d been interrogating the Xuul’khani prisoner all day and had gotten nowhere. Or at least, she had tried to. The language barrier between their species was one that was difficult to cross, especially since the woman had said little.

She nearly had to draw her weapon on the black-skinned woman when the detention field went down for three seconds during Taal’ani’s hack. Before she could hurl herself at it, the field had reactivated, denying the alien any means of escape. That didn’t deter the prisoner from trying it anyway, which had shocked her enough to make her hair stand on end.

Considering the frustrations Kasumi had faced with the interrogation, the result of the Xuul’khani’s escape effort had been a hilarious one. As Kasumi was laughing her ass off, the woman had let out a stream of what the Commander had assumed were expletive words, none of which could be pleasant. She kept laughing anyway, mainly because the black-skinned woman’s hair refused to go down, even when smoothed by her hands.

She learned at least the name of the prisoner, though. After smoothing her hair somewhat, she her tapped her chest with and open palm and said a single word, ‘Shazza.’ Kas returned the gesture, identifying herself as ‘Kasumi.’

Since there was no further progress, Kasumi was tired and grumpy and hangry. The only way to cure such a foul disposition was to get herself some food. After issuing orders to the robot guards, the red-headed soldier left the brig and boarded the nearest elevator to go get some chow.

*******************************

Checking his chronometer, Alex headed to the bridge and put in a call to the Darkstrider. Informing the ladies that he’d be along in about twenty minutes, he jogged ahead to the nearest elevator and took it up to the Command deck. Once he had arrived, the captain double timed it until he reached the doorway to the bridge. As he walked through, Sentry squad Alpha was still there, maintaining their posts.

After a quick scan, the Sentries let him pass as he made his way down the ramp and to the communication console. Locking onto the Darkstrider’s position, he loaded the frequency before making his call.

“Darkstrider, Darkstrider, this is the Perseus. Come in, please. Anyone there, over.”

“This is Darkstrider. We read you loud and clear Perseus, though you are early,” Inari’s warm voice came in over the speakers. A few seconds later, a holographic rendering of Inari’s head came into view. She looked tired and drained but still had that glint in her eye, indicative of her resolve.

“Thought I’d check in first and see how progress is coming along,” Alex stated, as he took a more rigid military stance.

“Well, we have removed pretty much all the icy overhang that was over the ship, and nearly half the cocooning wall.”

“You and the good doctor certainly didn’t waste any time in clearing away the ice and snow,” the big man said, a note of surprise in his voice.

“Military lifestyle, sir. Once you’ve been trained, you can’t just sit around getting fat and lazy,” Inari replied with a chuckle. Smirking, Alex shook his head as he remembered the rigors of his training all those centuries ago. The number of pushups and pullups he’d done was astounding, and he still did them every day to maintain his fitness and shape.

“How are things looking down there?”

“Though we’ve cleaned up the interior of the ship, the hull and landing gear is a right mess. Took a hell of a pounding from that storm and some of our landing struts were yanked off in the crash,” the older woman went on. “No hull breaches, thankfully, but our ability to maneuver is severely compromised.”

“Given the storm you ladies endured, I’m surprised that you’re all still alive,” the captain said. “Jaesa, can you do an active scan of the atmosphere and see if there is any chance of a storm forming?”

“Yes, sir. Scanning……… done. There is maybe a three percent chance of any storm forming in the area. By the readings I have taken, there will be moderate winds blowing across the planet’s surface tonight, so I would advise against stepping outside tonight, Lt. Commander Sunara,” the AI informed.

“Understood. The winds won’t cover the ship with snow again, will it?” the freighter captain wondered.

“It should only be a light dusting, so your hard work today won’t go to waste,” Jaesa chirped in response.

“Well, that’s some good news,” Inari replied. “Any ideas how long before we’ll see a pick up sir?”

“The shipwright section of the Perseus has just come online and with Jaesa restored to full functionality, I estimate two days, three tops before we’ll be down there,” Alex explained as he brought up the holograms detailing what he said.

He did some searching until he found the ship detail he was looking for. It was a Mercury class dropship, which had only been half built during the Perseus’ encounter with the Xuul’khan. They were lucky that this ship wasn’t finished yet, otherwise they’d have to build one from scratch, which would take resources and time they didn’t have.

“How are the rest of the crew?” Alex queried.

“Korsa’s OK. Stubborn as titanium and just as tough. Priya is still tender with her burns, but the salve we have aboard is doing wonders for the scarred areas of her skin,” Inari reported. “We’ll be getting ourselves some chow, then put in some rack time, as we worked hard today to make the progress we did.”

“Very good, Lt. Commander. Get some shuteye and check in again tomorrow.”

“Aye aye, sir!” Starwitch saluted crisply via the hologram. “Darkstrider, out!”

Returning the salute, Alex held it long enough until the hologram had faded before dropping his arm. Turning about, he left the bridge. His stomach grumbled before he stepped through the doorway out, food being the biggest priority on his mind at the moment.

*******************************

Kasumi walked into the officer’s lounge back up on the Command deck and set her rifle down by the entryway, before walking towards the delicious smells that wafted her way. Today, like the other women aboard the Perseus, she’d forgone her full battle rig in exchange for something a bit more breathable.

The security chief’s uniform she wore was similar in style to the one that Captain Tomisic wore, only it was a tactical uniform. With baggy black pants, boots that zipped up to mid-calf, combat gloves, a black armor weave shirt that went under a tactical webbing and armor plating that covered her vitals. As she drew closer to the table where the food was set out, she noticed Taal’ani had already dug in and was devouring every morsel set in front of her.

Shucking her armor plated webbing, Kasumi grabbed a plate. Helping herself to some Caesar salad and the fettucine Alfredo with diced chicken, she heaped her plate with food. She also grabbed a glass of iced tea from the pitcher that was right next to the food. As she was sitting down to eat, Alex came out of the kitchen, dusting off his hands from what looked to be flour.

“Captain, were you baking?” Kasumi thought out loud. She’d known that he could cook, but a man that could bake? His sex appeal to her just ramped up another level, making him all that more desirable.

“Yes, I was and what I was making has finally finished and needs ample time to cool,” he replied as he undid the apron he was wearing and tossed it right next to where his captain’s tunic lay. The white t-shirt he wore was tight around his frame, defining his musculature very appealingly. A fact that didn’t go unnoticed by either of her crewmates, Kasumi noticing the subtle, yet hungry glances they threw his way.

Breathing out for a moment, the red-headed woman refocused on the food in front of her, reminding herself that she was physically hungry. A lively conversation picked up about the issues that surrounded Jaesa. They ate and drank as both Alex and Natalya described the fight that Taal’ani had to go through in order to break the bindings that had been placed on the AI by the sleeper virus. As the tale was finished, Kasumi couldn’t help but sit there, wide eyed with wonder.

“Small wonder we didn’t wake up in sixty years like we were supposed to,” Kasumi intoned, a slight bit of horror lacing her voice.

“That virus would have ensured that Jaesa would no longer exist and if she had been ‘killed’…” she let the thought hang there a moment, the implications of it clear.

“Fate, it seems, had a different story in mind for us, rather than an icy tomb,” Alex drawled, pushing away his plate. The three women looked at him in amazement, astounded that the big man could put away so much food. The captain then got up and cleared away the dishes as Natalya got up to help him.

Once they had the table cleared, they both walked to the kitchen and disappeared behind the door, only to emerge a couple of minutes later with a fairly sizable strawberry cheesecake. The chocolate skinned woman carried the dessert plates and forks as Alex balanced the cheesecake in one hand and a knife in the other. Setting it down, he carved out generous slices of the cake for everyone.

Kasumi was again amazed, not only because he’d baked, but also because it was a fantastic cheesecake. She finished her dessert, feeling stuffed, and was happy to be rid of the annoyance of hunger. It was then that Natalya regaled them with her story of not only pulling out more power from the tertiary Solaris reactor but also the repairs she had conducted with the help of Delta squad.

Though the topic was a slightly boring one to her, Kasumi knew the vital importance of having the proper systems restored to working status. The sooner they could manage that, the sooner they could carry out their mission. The colonists were still in cryo sleep, and they’d have to find a suitable home for them to settle before they could rebuild what they had once lost.

“So, while you guys were busy with your mission, I had Sentry squad Delta assist me throughout the ship in repairing the main trunk power lines,” Natalya told them.

“Jaesa, what additional systems did Chief Vostrikov bring back online?” Alex called out.

“Power to the engines has been fully restored, though with several centuries of atrophy, some additional work may be required, but it seems unlikely. I am running a diagnostic to ferret out any issues that may need physical attention, sir,” the AI chirped happily. “Also, the ship’s monorail has reactivated, so it should make moving about the ship much less tiresome.”

“Not that I mind the exercise, it will certainly help with the speed of repairs!” Natalya enthused as she was lying back, enjoying the feeling of a full stomach.

“Oh, and there was also an update from the Darkstrider,” Alex recalled as he collected the leftover food and dishes. Noting this, both Kasumi and Natalya stood up and took over for him. He protested, but they fixed him with a look and reminded him that he was the Captain of the Perseus.

“The Captain shouldn’t be doing menial chores aboard the ship, sir, with all due respect,” Natalya chided. “Now, since we’re taking over the cleaning, sir, would you mind going into the update, please?”

“Very well, Chief,” Alex replied good-naturedly. He detailed what had gone on down on the icy planet and the progress they had made in digging out the crashed ship. Though Taal’ani was listening, she was barely staying awake, as doing a direct cyber systems interface was taking its toll on her. Seeing that the alien woman had started to nod off, Natalya went over to her and helped her stand.

“Looks to me that our new cyber warfare specialist could use some shuteye,” the big man chuckled as he also stood, stretching out his arms. “I think we’re all due for a good night’s sleep after today.”

“Aye, sir. I didn’t learn much from the prisoner today, sir, but hopefully, with Jaesa’s help, I might learn more tomorrow,” Kasumi reported.

“What did you learn today, Commander?”

“Her name, I think. She tapped herself on the chest and said, ‘Shazza’” Kasumi told her captain.

“I believe that to be her name. I have been studying the video archives of the day’s conversation with the prisoner and have pieced together some form of a language, but I will require more speech to form it,” Jaesa informed the crew.

“How much more do you need?” the female soldier wondered.

“At least several dozen hours with different conversational aspects in order to learn and decrypt the Xuul’khani language.”

“I may join you for the interrogation when you go down there next,” Captain Tomisic intoned. “I am of the belief that if we keep changing up the people who talk to and interrogate her, she will probably say more. In so doing, it will allow Jaesa to formulate proper translations for what she says.”

“An excellent and astute observation, sir!” Jaesa replied, her inflection one of surprise. “I was about to suggest the same thing!”

“If that’s the way you think, sir, I’m not surprised that you hold your current rank at your age,” Kasumi said, duly amazed.

“All right, that’s enough sunshine up my ass for one day now,” the big man joked. Every woman present burst into a fit of laughter at the imagery. Stretching his arms overhead, Alex stifled a yawn before dropping his arms. “I think it’s past time we all got some shut eye. Let’s tidy up, then call it a night,” he ordered half-heartedly.

The ladies pulled together all the remaining cutlery and the leftover food and headed back to the kitchen. Alex grumbled as they all shooed him out when tried to help with the clean-up. Though he appreciated their sentiment, he was a man capable of tidying up his own messes. Growing up with Commodore Hamilton as a father figure made him a self-sufficient sort that rarely left a mess behind.

Still, he was the Captain of the Perseus and he had a duty to the ship, his crew and the precious cargo they carried. He walked along the well-lit corridors until he came to his quarters. Stepping through the door after scanning his hand, he walked over to the wardrobe and took off his clothes. After stowing them, he walked naked to his shower and stepped under the hot and enticing spray, sluicing away his aches, pains and worries for as long as he could manage.

As he stood there, beneath the deluge of relaxing liquid, he remembered he had left his dress jacket back in the lounge. He resolved to go back and get it once he’d relaxed some more. The mantle of captain was a heavy one, and he wanted to stay out of those shoes, even if only for a few more minutes.

*******************************

The ladies had finished their clean-up rather quickly, most of the work being done by the automated machinery that washed, scrubbed and sanitized the dishes they used. Chattering tiredly, all three of them headed back to their quarters on the officer’s deck, each one of them particularly bushed.

Natalya had dropped off almost the moment her head hit the pillow, but her sense of comfort didn’t last, sadly. The nightmares, which had plagued her for years, had returned. There were days and sometimes even weeks where she never had an episode and for a small while, she believed herself to be finally free, but her mind wasn’t fully past the horrors she’d endured.

She saw herself in the past, reliving a painful memory. It was several years ago, when she had finished a shift at Nightingale’s, an adult entertainment club that advertised the best dancers on all of Solarion Station. She’d been one of the top dancers there and often walked away from each shift with her credit account topped up from the various whales who’d come to see her dance.

Natalya was heading back to her apartment, in one of the more secure districts on the station, but that didn’t mean that there weren’t dangers lurking about. She’d seen several of them coming, all males, trying to corner her, but she’d take a few different route deviations, hoping to throw them off. Apparently, they’d cased the route she’d taken and had been prepared.

More than a dozen of them had come out and corralled her before she knew she was trapped. Resolving to fight her way out, Natalya engaged three of them and dealt them all lethal blows before the rest of them rushed in, subduing her. They pawed at her clothes, wanting to see and touch what lay beneath them. They taunted her and jeered, going on about how they would finally get their piece of her.

Taking a quick look about, Natalya recognized many of them. They were customers from Nightingale’s, who were barred from entering again for getting too handsy and aggressive with her. She wondered why they were all here and how they had managed to co-ordinate an assault on her. Natalya didn’t have to wait long for her answer. Out of the shadows of an alley they dragged her into, stepped a figure she both loathed and feared; Rat-Faced Mike.

Somehow, he had tracked her down and gathered himself another gang of men, willing to do his bidding. She fought hard against her captors, but the ones holding her were meat headed juice monkeys. Breaking free of them was going to require more strength than she had. Even though she trained to the edge of what a human woman was capable of, it wouldn’t be enough.

Rat Face’s taunting and laughing came as it always did. But instead of enduring the horror of what was to come, Natalya had forced herself to wake, snapping out of the nightmare with a scream. Shuddering with revulsion, she took in her surroundings, reminding herself that she was aboard the Perseus and that she was safe from that scum. Swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, the dark-skinned woman padded over to the wardrobe next to her bed and pulled out a large comfy hoodie.

Closing her eyes for a moment, she took a few breaths, then pulled the garment over her white skin tight shirt and bikini briefs she wore as pajamas. Knowing she would not get anymore sleep at the moment, Natalya walked out of her room and made her way back to the officer’s lounge.

*******************************

Alex had just stepped out of the shower, drying off and grabbing a nightblue t-shirt and black pair of lounge pants. The large Slavic man ambled along to the lounge where he left his jacket. It didn’t take him long before he had walked through the door to retrieve the item he forgot. He was surprised, though, to see Miss Vostrikov sitting at a table, with her back to him, drinking something.

“Chief?” he called quietly. Jumping slightly, the startled woman turned her head, then let out an easy breath after seeing who it was.

“Apologies, sir. I thought I was the only one awake at the moment,” Natalya said formally.

“No need to stand on formality, Miss Vostrikov. Right now, we’re just two people aboard this ship,” the captain said gently.

“Well, if that’s the case, you can call me Nats then…… Alex,” she smirked as she looked at him. Smiling back, he walked over to where she sat and noted that it was a bottle of vodka that she was busy downing. Having already killed nearly half the bottle, Alex was impressed by her ability to hold her liquor.

“Mind if I join you? I could use a night cap myself,” the brawny man asked politely. Nodding and gesturing with her glass, the captain seated himself after he went to retrieve a glass for himself. Pouring in a generous amount of the clear liquid, he took a strong swallow of the alcohol, the burning sensation comforting him as it went down.

“Can’t sleep?”

Shaking her head, Natalya took another shot from her glass, attempting to drown her memories in the liquor. Alex noted the haunted look in her eyes, knowing she was dealing with something that had scarred her in the past.

“Hey,” he called to her softly. Looking up, her eyes met his, and she saw nothing but compassion there. “I may be the captain of this ship and your new Commanding Officer, but I maintain an open door policy. If there’s something you need to talk about or just want to vent, you can talk to me. I’ll always listen.”

Sniffing, Natalya looked at him with gratitude before asking, “Is it OK if I ask you to hold me while I cry? I just….”

Without a word, Alex got up and seated himself next to Natalya, his arms wrapped around her, holding her close. The moment she nestled into his chest was when the dam broke, all her emotions spilling out onto him. She cried into his shirt, her hot tears staining it, but he didn’t care. Alex knew that this was a woman who needed comfort in a galaxy that offered none. After a while, her crying ceased and her breathing steadied, her posture relaxing.

“Feeling better?” the big man asked.

“Yes, much. Thank you, Alex. I’m sorry that I ruined your shirt,” she said apologetically as she wiped away the remnants of tears from her beautiful face.

“Ah, it’s no big deal,” the captain said, waving off her concern. “Nothing a wash can’t fix.”

“How do you do that?”

“Do what?” he queried.

“Just roll with everything, take it in stride without missing a beat? Anyone else I know and know of, would have been overwhelmed by the sheer immensity of what has happened to them. You take each hit like it means nothing and just keep rolling,” Natalya wondered, somewhat awed by his resilience.

“What choice do I have? Should I just throw my hands up in the air and say, ‘Oh shit, we’re gonna die?’” Alex remarked sarcastically.

Managing a snuffly laugh, Natalya continued, “Your parents must have done a hell of a job raising you, sir, if you turned out like this!”

Face darkening, Alex sighed heavily as he himself remembered a particularly painful memory of his own.

“Oh! I’m sorry, sir! I forgot that everyone you know is gone.”

“It’s all right, Nats. We’re all still adjusting,” he said.

“They must have been so proud of you though!” Natalya went on, trying to change the outlook of the topic.

“I honestly wouldn’t know, Chief.”

“Didn’t you have anyone you left behind on Earth at the time? Family, friends?” Natalya asked soothingly.

“No,” he replied, shaking his head solemnly. “My family died long before I enlisted, during the Unification War. Both my parents were killed in the Toronto Massacre.”

Wincing, Natalya recalled that bloody point in history. Toronto had been deemed a safe city, a sanctuary for refugees and citizens who wanted no part of the war. That changed when the Soldiers of the White Light, a brutal band of elitist zealots, had attacked the city to make their mark on history. It had marked them as cold, merciless butchers who held no regard for human life. Men, women, children, babies, none were spared in their onslaught.

It was nearly a day before any semblance of resistance was mustered to fight back, but by that time, the Soldiers had retreated, leaving thousands of dead in their wake. Though the Republican Armed Forces disavowed all ties to the Soldiers of the White Light, everyone knew it was them who outfitted and trained the Soldiers in the first place.

The Toronto Massacre was a turning point in the war, rallying the many disparate factions and groups into one massive army with one singular purpose; the utter destruction of the RAF and any who were affiliated with them. Eventually, every Soldier was caught, tried and executed for their part in the butchery of the innocent civilians.

Though she knew he was hurting from the memory, Natalya knew better than to press him. He’d tell her about it full, when he was ready to. When someone was in pain, she knew that if you prodded them to share it, you’d only drive them further away. She knew all about that, more than most people realized.

“Seems we’ve both lost people we love and care about,” Natalya said, reaching out and squeezing Alex’s shoulder.

Feeling compassion for the big man, she used her right hand to draw his face upwards to look at hers. For the first time since she met him, she saw a softness in his eyes, showing that even he was human. Their gazes locked for a moment, before he grabbed her face and drew it towards his own, his lips seeking hers out.

The moment their lips met, a spark rippled through both of them, consuming all rational thought. Natalya was surprised with his directness, but once she felt the jolt, she threw her entire being into kissing him back. Their arms wrapped around each other as they kissed, feeling and groping each other as their passion consumed them.

They broke apart, coming up for air, still looking at each other. In him, Natalya saw a man who had lost more than anyone should, like her. Alex saw the same thing in her, knowing full well the empty void that came with losing family. Without a second thought, they came together again, kissing in a passionate, lustful frenzy, opening their mouths and letting their tongues play back and forth with each other.

Unzipping her hoodie, the chocolate-skinned woman let it drop to the floor as her hands then found the hem of the captain’s shirt, pulling it upwards. Taking the hint, Alex raised his arms, letting Natalya pull it up over his head, exposing his solid musculature to the cool air. Taking a moment to admire his physique, which was hard and chiseled, Natalya felt the raw power that was contained within this man.

Shivering in delight as her hands played across his exposed chest, the big man reached for the hem of Natalya’s shirt, slowly dragging his hands along her voluptuous frame. Once he found the bottom, he slowly peeled it upwards, as she had with him, unwrapping the gorgeous woman that sat in front of him.

Her tits sprang free of the shirt as he lifted it past her head, full, heavy and aching to be touched. Alex drew Natalya close in, placing her back to his chest, sharing their body heat. He then cupped her large mammaries, squeezing them gently as his finger played across her nipples and areolas, juicing every nerve that lay within them. Latching onto her neck like a vampire, he bit down gently while he used his tongue to tickle her nerves.

Sighing and shuddering in ecstasy, Natalya reached up and caress Alex’s head, drawing him into her, wanting more. A moment later, one of his arms trailed downwards, to the moist heat that permeated from between her legs. As his fingers made contact with her nethers, she moaned encouragingly, egging him to go further.

His right hand sat atop her panties, making slow, deliberate circles around her pussy lips, driving Natalya into a frenzy. He was teasing her, and she knew it, but she couldn’t do anything but receive as she was pinned by his powerful arms. After the damp spot on her panties had become a hot, soupy mess, Alex withdrew his hand, only to slip it past the band, into them.

Fingers playing along her folds, Natalya’s moans increased in pitch, getting louder as Alex kept gnawing gently on her neck and frigging her cunt. An orgasm was on its way and fast. There was no stopping it as those fingers strummed her clit. He eventually worked it so his thumb was tapping on her clit, the rest of his hand playing with her opening.

The moment he stuck his middle finger inside her wet pussy, Natalya lost it completely and keened as the orgasmic rush hammered her like an anvil. Arching against Alex, she could barely stay seated as the wave of endorphins rolled over her. Disengaging his mouth from her neck, the large man turned her around, pulling her close and kissing her hard and long.

Still recovering from the aftershocks of her orgasm, Natalya wrapped her arms around the captain’s shoulders, kissing him back. Though neither one of them knew it, they were being watched. Someone was in the kitchen who had been there without either one noticing it.

*******************************

Kasumi originally had gone back to the kitchen to grab herself a late-night snack. Nearly six hundred years of cryo sleep was having a profound effect on her appetite. Plus, that cheesecake had been so good! She needed at least another slice before anyone else devoured the rest of it.

She’d heard both Captain Tomisic and Chief Vostrikov and the ensuing chat that happened and had kept quiet and see how things would play out between them. It felt so wrong to eavesdrop, but at the same time, it was quite informative, since she knew little about either person. Kasumi certainly didn’t expect them to be at each other like animals in heat!

A part of her wanted to go in there to break this whole thing up, but she couldn’t, not like this. So, she resolved to watching the both of them, though she dearly wanted to be in Natalya’s place right now, it was still one hell of a turn on to watch the two of them.

Dressed in a similar fashion to how Natalya was, minus the hoodie, Kasumi had the kitchen door slightly ajar and was seated on a soft stool. She’d slid off her panties a while ago, after seeing what the two new lovers had been up to. Slowly touching her own folds had gotten her riled up, whilst watching her captain diddle the chief.

Having recovered from her orgasm, Natalya was working on removing Alex’s pants, so she could get at the bulge that lay beneath the fabric. Moments later, his pants were in a heap on the floor and… ‘Holy shit!! He’s much bigger than I had ever imagined!’

His cock stood at full attention, at least ten inches long and nearly two-and-a-half inches thick, Natalya was similarly pleased with his size. She took Alex’s hand and led him to one of the cushy loungers that dotted the room. Thankfully, Kasumi could still get a good eyeful as she saw them get comfortable.

Kneeling in front of the massive captain, Natalya took a few experimental licks of his cock head before enveloping it with her mouth. Legs trembling, Kasumi continued her voyeurism as she frigged herself closer to climax.

*******************************

Head bobbing up and down on his dick, Natalya continued to slather her captain’s big cock with her saliva, as she sucked it harder, making him as stiff as she could manage. Alex’s breathing came in short bursts between moans and gasps as he felt every sensation pulsing through him keenly.

Natalya was very enthusiastic, sucking his cock like it was the last thing she’d ever do. She’d occasionally stop, her mouth popping away from his cock, but her tongue would dart out, licking and flicking along his length. She also cupped and massaged his balls, alternating hands between his balls and shaft.

Finally, he’d had enough foreplay, standing up as his dark-skinned lover squealed in protest. She got up with him, about to berate him, only to be kissed, hard and passionately. Reaching around her round, bubble butt, Alex grabbed ahold of her panties in a bunch and tore them away from her from, leaving them in shreds.

Breaking the kiss, Natalya looked up at him, wondering what was coming next. In response, he picked her up by the ass, hoisting her into the air like she was little more than a sack of flour. Her tits were right in front of this face, which Alex had noticed and wasted no time in burying his face into her fleshy mounds. He bit, licked and tickled every inch of her flesh that his mouth could reach, while she wrapped her hands around the back of his heads, pushing him to do more.

Abruptly, Alex stopped before he lowered her down, slowly. Natalya wondered what exactly he was up to, but the moment she felt his cock head against her pussy lips, she cooed in delight. The big man stopped just shy of entering her, his massive tool slathered in her dripping girl juices. Looking into her eyes, an unspoken question flitted across his face. Understanding that he was waiting for her, Natalya quickly nodded, wanting this as much as he did.

Then he continued, slowly spreading her nethers apart to make room for his large shaft. Moaning in acceptance, Natalya was delirious with pleasure as he stretched her out. Looking at him had revealed that he was enjoying this as much as she was, his eyes perpetually rolling into the back of his head. Smiling to herself, Natalya shimmied her hips left to right a little, both getting his attention and sending sparks through her insides.

Snapping back to reality, Alex tightened his grip on Natalya’s plushy ass and lifted, then dropped her onto his dick as he stood. The resulting friction was giving the chocolate-skinned woman pleasurable jitters as he speared her, his new lover, on his cock. His arms moved with power and purpose, intent on eliciting another orgasm out of her. Wrapping her legs around him, Natalya ground her pussy and clit into him, sending her down the road to another orgasm.

Panting quickly, Natalya knew it was coming and was impressed that this man, out of time, had held her aloft for so long. ‘They don’t make them like this anymore!’ she thought to herself as she continued to hold on to him. Doing everything she could to both maintain her precarious balance and make the sensations last was a challenge, but one she was thoroughly enjoying.

The angle at which he was penetrating her had left her seeing stars with each thrust, his dick hitting every hidden nerve within her. Her breath came raggedly, as another orgasm threatened to overwhelm her, like the first. She was ready for it this time, though that didn’t detract from its intensity as it flooded her senses like a deluge. Natalya cried out again, almost sounding like a wounded animal as she screamed.

Clutching and collapsing against him, she looked up at her lover, eager to see him nearing his release. Natalya almost frowned when she saw he seemed barely winded and holding her close as he sat back down on the couch behind them.

“Aren’t you going to get off?” she wondered.

“I’m not a selfish lover, Nats. I wanted you to get off first before I did,” Alex said, smirking at her lewdly as he continued to knead her ass.

“Well, sir, I’d say it’s your turn now,” Natalya said, lust dripping from her voice as she disentangled herself from him. Standing up, Natalya stretched herself out for a moment before tackling Alex to the couch, pushing him to the flat of his back. Alex protested against what she was doing, until she had grabbed hold of his tool, squeezing it experimentally, before she lined it up with her weeping cunt.

“You, sir, have gotten me off twice, while you still have yet to blow,” Natalya panted sultrily as she drove herself down onto his cock. Reveling in the sensations, she then used her inner muscles to clench the big man’s cock within her. The effect was evident as his face went into an ecstatic convulsion, eyes blinking rapidly. Smiling, the dark beauty went to work on his dick, riding him hard, cowgirl style.

His hands went straight to her jiggling tits, which bounced as hard as she was riding her lover. Feeling them steady a bit brought some relief to her, as she could now use her hands to steady herself. She hammered her ass up and down on him, her ass clapping loud and obscenely as it drove harder and harder into his pelvis.

“You like that, don’t you? Watching your cock disappear into my pussy like that? Feeling it stretch my tight little hole?” she asked him, feeling the lust of the situation catch her in its throes.

In response, he used his fore and middle finger on both hands to clamp down on her nipples, sending shocks through her breasts as she continued to fuck him. Every downward stroke of her ass was met with an upward stroke of his own, driving his cock further into her needy pussy.

“Ooooooooooo! Someone likes stretching me out, don’t they?” Natalya bubbled as she continued her assault on the Slavic giant that lay beneath her. In response to his actions with his cock, she picked up the pace and put her glutes to work. The way her ass moved, wiggling every so often while smashing down on his dick, made every hour she spent working them out worthwhile.

Alex’s breathing had gone from a light pant to a heavy gasping, as his lungs worked like a bellows, to keep up with the woman on top of him. Once Natalya had settled into her frenzied rhythm, the young officer gradually had matched and paced his breathing so he wouldn’t pass out. Dizzy with sensation, it was past time he turned the tables on this young woman.

Sitting up quickly and surprising her, he gripped Natalya and rolled around with her, until she had her back to where he had just lay. Squeaking in both surprise and delight, Natalya lay back as he loomed over her, his hard cock still deep inside her. Cocking an eyebrow, the young engineer then asked, “What are you going to do now, sir?”

“Fuck you so hard and raw that you will want to be stretched every single day,” he said with a dangerous glint in his eye. With that, he slid in and out of her, slowly at first, but building his pace and tempo until he was literally slamming into Natalya with every ounce of strength that she had. Feeling his second wind hit him, he continued his ardent pounding of the wanton woman, who had stoked the fire that now burned within him.

“You want this, don’t you? To be fucked hard, every day until you can’t take any more??” Alex asked between breaths.

Each breath he drew was even more ragged than the last. The only thing that young woman could do was nod dumbly as the sensation of being vigorously plowed left her unable to speak. She teetered on the brink of another orgasm as the massive cock that ravaged her continued to set off more sparks deep within her loins.

Natalya could tell that he was getting close as his breathing was speeding up and she felt his cock expand to where it was almost bursting. He made as though to pull out, to ejaculate on her, but Natalya wrapped her legs around his mid-section, preventing him from doing so. He looked at her, almost as though he was ready to object, but she looked him in the eye and said weakly, “I want it all. Every. Last. Drop.”

Squeezing her legs and demanding his cum in her was too much for the young captain, and he shouted out as he came in a fluid torrent into her hungry pussy. The moment his cum painted her walls, she went over the precipice herself and wailed as she came with him. Sweat glistened from both of their bodies as they both wheezed, the two new lovers exhausted by their lovemaking.

They broke apart, lying next to each other as the two of them recovered. Alex looked over to Natalya, who had taken that very moment to look at him, and the moment their eyes met, they knew they had both needed this. Smiling, he reached for her and she smiled back, eyes closing as his hand cupped her face, thumb stroking her cheek.

“So, I would hope that you are on some sort of birth control? Though I do want to be a father, turning into one right now would be too much, too soon,” Captain Tomisic said, half joking, half serious.

“Alex, we’re in the twenty-eighth century. We’ve come up with some excellent methods of birth control,” Natalya replied good-naturedly.

“I trust your word, but I have to ask, how effective are they?”

Somewhat exasperated but understanding his line of reasoning, Natalya humored him. Standing up and turning to face him, she tapped her lower abdominals, explaining.

“When I was old enough to get out on my own, Mama K put me under the knife to insert an Aphrodite implant into me. Basically, it regulates my hormone levels and allows me to consciously decide when I want to drop an egg, leaving whether or not I get pregnant, my choice.”

“So, it doesn’t matter how much sex you have, you can’t get pregnant unless you consciously decide that you want to?” the big man asked.

“That’s right. So, captain…… are you up for playing some more?” Natalya asked, as she turned away from him, shaking her ass at him. Her voice was honeyed with desire, despite of their recent tumble, and her tone almost dared him to take her right then and there. In a heartbeat, Alex bounded to his feet with renewed energy and went to scoop her up.

Squeaking in alarm, Natalya hurried as fast as she could, barefooted, towards the officers’ quarters. Alex was barely half a step behind her, his long legs making up for his lack of speed. Catching up, the big man cut off his quarry before she could go past his own room.

Their chests heaving, Alex stepped close to Natalya, pushing her against the door. She backed up until the chilly steel made contact with her steaming body and she yelped at the cool metal’s touch. Captain Tomisic leaned in and placed his arms on either side of her, blocking any means of escape from the man who stood in front of her.

Leaning in, he brought his mouth to hers, devouring Natalya’s lips in a torrent of passion, which she returned with equal fervor. Alex snaked his left arm around the voluptuous woman, while his right pressed to the scanner to the right of the door, opening it. Moaning in approval, Natalya walked backwards to the king-sized bed that lay in Alex’s quarters, drawing him in, her lips never leaving his.

*******************************

Kasumi sat alone in the kitchen of the officers’ lounge, eating the slice of cheesecake she had served for herself. The taste of it was both bitter and sweet; the sweetness from the orgasm she had brought herself to as she watched both Alex and Natalya fuck like wild animals. The bitterness came from the fact that it wasn’t her that had enjoyed Alex’s attentions.

Despite her current feelings, Kasumi had enjoyed the show, despite not being an active participant. She had been so turned on that she had brought herself to the brink of orgasm several times, but had to back off for fear of being discovered in her precarious position. When getting off, Kasumi was a screamer, a loud screamer.

During that last stretch, when Alex had flooded Natalya’s depths with his seed, the red-headed soldier had finally reached climax. She timed it to coincide with their screams, so her voice was muffled by the resulting noise. Though she glowed with post orgasmic feeling, a sense of melancholy gripped the security chief.

‘I can’t believe that this is still happening to me! This is the Academy all over again!’ her mind despaired as it recalled the pain and anguish she had endured all those centuries ago.

‘The situation is different from then,’ a more rational side of the soldier’s psyche interjected. ‘Neither of them are aware of how you feel, so things can still turn out differently, as long as you play your cards right.’

Her mind warred with itself, neither side coming to a superior argument nor a rational consensus. As she finished the last bite of the cake, a small glob of strawberry topping dropped into the valley between her breasts. Careful not to smear it onto her shirt, Kasumi carefully scooped it up and licked it off of her finger. She savored the taste but then sighed heavily, standing up to slip her panties back on.

Putting the dirty dish and fork away for cleaning, Kasumi walked out into the lounge, deciding to head back to her room to get some sleep. ‘No sense in fretting or thinking about it right now. Some sleep will help clear my head,’ she thought to herself. As she walked on towards the exit, she noted the strewn clothing that lay everywhere.

She smirked to herself as she remembered the frenzy that had driven the new couple earlier. Kasumi considered being nice about the whole matter and gathering the clothes that lay on the floor, but decided to go against it. ‘Let them sweat and worry,’ she giggled inwardly as she left the room, a small smile on her lips.

*******************************

The icy wind howled across the desolate tundra, and though it wanted to, it couldn’t pick up or stir the newly fallen snow. The figures of both Inari Sunara and Priya Patel stood silhouetted against the light that emanated from their ship. Both women were busy setting up several sensors around the perimeter of the Darkstrider. Inari had thought it best to do so, given their current predicament.

“Are you sure that this is necessary, love? The amount of ice and snow on this planet doesn’t leave much for anything to survive out here, much less thrive,” Priya said through chattering teeth as she set the final sensor into place. The thermal gear they wore was keeping the cold at bay, though only just. Each suit and coat were covered in a slight film of frost.

“It’s like taking a gun along whenever you go into a bar or nightclub, looking to have some fun. Better to have it and not need it, rather than need it, and not have it,” Inari replied as she was busy calibrating the sensor grid. “Korsa, you getting anything in there?”

“Standby,” came the deep-voiced reply. “Yeah, I think it’s working, but something is odd. I’m getting some movement out there, but there is zero thermal signature.”

“Could it be the wind?” Inari wondered aloud.

“Still calibrating, hold on,” Korsa replied as she continued to readjust the settings on the incoming readings. Moments later, she was receiving the outcome she was hoping for and finished the last scanning sequence.

“OK, you two, sensors have finished calibrating. Come on in and we’ll get some sleep where it’s nice and warm,” the Khontaran woman said into the comms channel. Hearing nothing, Korsa called out again, “Ladies, come on back inside and get out of the wind before you freeze.”

Again, there was no response. Worried, the red-skinned woman went back to the scanner interface to look for her friends. She found nothing on the scanners, no heat signatures, no movement, nothing. She scanned again, hoping it was a trick, but the scanners were functioning normally. Her crew mates had disappeared.

Panic welled up in her throat as Korsa fretted about what had happened to her friends. Against her better judgement, the large woman grabbed her helmet, fitting it onto her head. Once it was secured, she opened the hatch that led outside to where her friends just were.

Grabbing her Thuun’tara blade, she stepped out into the howling night, eyes open and alert, searching for her lost friends. Jogging up to where they were setting the last sensor, she kept scanning for her comrades, hoping that it was just a comms glitch that kept them from responding.

As Korsa neared the sensor post, two massive figures rose up out of the snow, looking both shaggy and imposing. Drawing her sword, she readied herself for whatever was to come. She noticed, at their feet, the crumpled forms of Inari and Priya. A rage set into her, searing hot in its intensity. Without waiting to see what they would do, Korsa charged, Thuun’tara blade whirling before her in a complex attack pattern.

Both figures quickly drew their own weapons, which looked to be a mix of a long-bladed knife and a hunting axe. Bearing down on her, they thought to strike her at the same time, believing that she could not parry or defend herself from four weapons at the same time. Though Korsa could have executed a blade form called Blossoming Flower, where she would have broken down her blade into four separate pieces to counter their attack, she was injured and had to improvise.

The moment before their weapons began their downward arc, she rolled forward between them, coming to her feet with her back to theirs. They realized their mistake too late and tried to recover, but their weapons were buried in the icy ground. Giving no respite, Korsa whirled, bringing her sword to bite into the chest cavity of her right assailant, dropping him in a spray of purple blood.

Giving no thought to any medical curiosities that coursed through her brain, she engaged the second attacker, who had brought his knife to bear. It surged forward, intent on killing her for killing his friend, but Korsa would not be brought down so easily. Unsheathing her blade from the cooling corpse at her feet, she brought her blade up in time to intercept the tip of the dagger.

With a cracking, crunching sound, it shattered against her Khontaran sword, rendering it utterly useless. The shock of losing its weapon seemed to stun the creature, and that was all the opening that Korsa needed. Whipping her blade in a circle above her, she brought it down upon her enemy’s shoulder, bisecting it from its left shoulder, the sword exiting from the right side of its ribcage.

Dropping like a stone, Korsa paid it no further heed as she rushed to her friends’ side, hoping that they were still alive. They were lying on their backs, unconscious, but alive from what she could tell. Removing her helmet and setting her blade down next to her, she spoke to them to try to get their attention.

“Captain! Chief! You guys need to wake up now! Come on, you two!”

Korsa was so focused on her crew mates, she didn’t hear the approach of the other creatures until they were right on top of her. Sensing them and their intent, the Khontaran woman spun around to her feet, sword coming alive in her hands, a battle cry on her lips.

A huge fist came crashing into her face with enough force to knock her flat on her back. Groaning, she tried to sit up to face her attacker, but the blow had left her vision and sense of balance dancing from side to side. Another blow came. This time, it did what its wielder wanted and knocked her out cold.

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And that’s it for this chapter, folks! Rest assured, this isn’t the end of these three marooned souls. I’m not like George R. R. Martin, killing off characters indiscriminately. You will see them again in the next chapter, but what predicament will they be in? For those answers, you’ll have to wait until I release chapter five, and as I stated at the start of this chapter, I will be working on releasing them much sooner.

As to the events that transpired on the Perseus, there is much fun to be had there and many plot points that I will expand on! I’m not one for lazy ass writing and just wrapping up a plot or story point in a quick and sloppy fashion. What I will do is keep them alive and reveal each piece as it needs to be, painting a much bigger picture of the story that I’m telling.

Anyway, thank you for taking the time to read my work and I do hope that you’ve enjoyed it! I’m open to constructive criticism and will seriously consider any suggestions made about various story arcs. Please feel free to rate and comment on my work and if you like what I write, don’t be afraid to follow and share, though your views, ratings and comments are quite enough for me.

This is C.H. Darkstrider, signing off to grab a beer and some quality time with the wife! ;) You will attain whatever you most desire, as long as you believe in yourself. Cheers!