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After much procrastinating, and several things that rhyme, I've finished chapter six. It's actually LONGER than I had expected it to be.

Remind me again to yell at myself for setting release dates so far into the future so as to make myself look impressive by delivering sooner. (Learned that'n from Scotty... :P)

I worked off and on on it. There may be bits that are inconsistent. I looked through it and spotted an age error, but if you see anything erroneous, notify me and I'll fix it ASAP :)

I think I just made up a word... *Erroneous*.... I've heard it before, but I don't know its actual definition so... well... a little help there would be welcome aswell.

Warning: This story contains implied sexual scenes, conversation of an erotic nature, many subliminal messages, a few referances to popular franchises, used humorously, and

relationships between characters of the homosexual variety. Mostly because I can't write straight sex to save my life, but also because I find it arousing and I'm sure you feel the same way.

If you're under the legal sexing age in your region, you are VERBOTEN<> to read this. That said, have fun all you underage tyrants... cause I KNOW some of you are underage... it's inevitable. Fair warning however, don't get caught cause I don't want bad emails and neither does Y*.

<>Verboten: Forbidden (Just in case you don't know.)

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Chapter 6: The Shattering Effect

Nearly all of the foxes had matted fur. Jasyn recognized the twin scents of urine and semen. The fugitives emptied into the main submarine bay, a tricky feat at best. They'd managed, however, and now the Sirian prisoners, young and old, filled the bay to near capacity.

Jasyn was overwhelmed and Axis, who was standing at his side, was a bit put off. In his most commanding tone to date, Jasyn shouted over the din, but to no avail.

It was Axis' turn. He simply took to the air and the entire crowd looked up at him, shocked silence ensuing.

"Thank you!" he called down to them, before landing at Jasyn's side again.

"Now! As I was trying to say! This is the Sea Base Epsilon, maintained by the Sirius-Earth Rebellion. I am Commander of the Sirian Rebellion and Lieutenant of the Earth Space Corps, Commander/Lieutenant Jasyn Emitt. You will refer to me as either Jasyn or Commander Emitt. This is Axis Levi, my head engineer as well as close, personal friend. You will treat him and any other person here with the same respect you would give to me. Do I make myself clear?" Jasyn warned.

The entire congregation 'yessir'd and Jasyn continued.

"While you are here you are allowed to be merely civilians, however if you are to remain here you will have to do something to earn your keep. Sexual favours are not a form of payment here. Moreover, all species, be they fox, wolf, or even human, are to be treated as equals. Understood?"

Another resounding yes from the crowd ensued.

"Good," said Jasyn, before he finished with, "Axis here will take you to the floor your quarters are on."

"All right everyone," said Axis as Jasyn stepped back. "When you get to your quarters, there will be a dresser with a pair of uniforms inside. It will look very similar to the one I'm wearing, except it won't have the rank pins I have. This uniform will designate you as a civilian while at the same time providing you something to wear. You are required to wear at least the pants portion of the uniform if you aren't going to sign up."

A paw raised in the crowd as Axis took a pause, and he pointed to it. "What if we want to join the resistance?" came the voice.

"Or rejoin?" shouted another.

Axis put his paws up as questions were fired and he answered at length with, "If you've been a part of the military here, we'll have a file on you. If you have a record here and you wish to rejoin, please enter your name into the computers and your quarters will be logged. You will also immediately be re-instated as your former rank. If you wish to join then do the same. Your quarters will be logged, as with the others, but you'll be given the rank of Ensign. Those who wish to simply live here, you'll be required to cook, clean, or otherwise maintain the station while residing in it."

"Can we go to our quarters now? I need a shower!" shouted a wolf near the back.

Axis smirked, shook his head, and turned, with Jasyn and the rest in tow. "Alright folks, come with me," said the young fox as he led them through the base. "Stick close please," he added.

--

At lunch in the Dining hall, which spanned three floors and could hold more than one thousand persons comfortably, Axis overheard a few of the refugees talking a few tables away.

He couldn't make out a lot, but he caught a few disjointed clauses. "... think that's the fox... ... wonder how he got so... ... -bably the commander's slut..." he caught from a group of wolves and a collie chatting amongst themselves.

Just as he was about to get up at say something, he caught another few clauses. "...-nder what happened to that Dalmatian.... ...-nk the emperor raped him like that collie bitch?" he heard from a group of foxes on the other side of him. Jasyn, who was sitting across from the fox and enjoying some wonderful cooking by the new kitchen crew, didn't hear any of this.

"Hey you should- mmf -try this Kit. It's like orgasm on a bun!" said Jasyn between mouthfuls. Axis blinked at him and smirked a bit before the wolf added, "Not literally..."

Axis made a faux pouting face and Jasyn shook his head and put down the makeshift turkey sandwich. It wasn't actual turkey, just pretty damned close. Closest Sirian bird to looking, acting, and tasting like turkey was a large, flightless bird that looked like a giant version of a hen, with something like an emu's head and the beak of a turkey. They called it a 'Itchat' and it tasted remarkably like turkey to the humans.

Back on topic however, Jasyn put down the sandwich and laid a paw on Axis' cheek, smiling comfortingly. "What's got you so off-centre today?" he asked, concerned.

Axis blushed a bit and laid his paw over Jasyn's, smiling back. "Nothing... It's just, you being commander, and then the refugees here, and... Jasyn, are you sure we're doing the right thing being here?"

Jasyn looked into those beautiful violet eyes and smiled a bit. "Kit. If we break this fifty-year occupation on our planet then we'll be heroes; but more importantly, we'll have saved our entire race from slavery and death," Jasyn reassured.

Axis nodded and gently looked down at his own plate. He had chosen to opt out of the interesting looking sandwich and go with something that any human would mistake as a Chicken Caesar. This bird was called a Gumu, and it looked more or less like a turkey. Tasted like chicken though.

He took another forkful and ate slowly, murring a bit at the taste. "You think your sandwich is good? Try the salad!" he said with a chuckle.

They'd both eaten about half, so they decided to give eachother the other half. They were both oddly surprised. It was a pleasant meal for them both.

Axis got a tap on his shoulder and both he and Jasyn looked over to Axis' right to see a young husky, probably only ten or eleven, looking at him curiously.

"Daddy says you're bad!" said the youth, his bright blue eyes full of confusion and his voice with no hint of shame.

"Oh does he now?" asked Jasyn, glancing up at Axis.

"Yeah! He says all foxes are bad. You don't look so bad to me though..." said the youth, blushing a bit now.

"Well thank you," said Axis, smiling a bit.

"Mathieu! How many times do I have to tell you to stay close to-" came the booming voice of an adult male husky. He was obviously the boy's father. They both had a shimmering white line running upward from the top of their nose and along the back of their heads. It was fully visible in the head fur, which was cut about eye length in the front and shoulder length in the back, and left long and tied back for the father.

The fact that he'd stopped mid-sentence told Jasyn that the man didn't much like foxes, but of course the fact that his son just blatantly announced it didn't hurt. "You're not supposed to go near any foxes that are bigger than you Mat!" growled the father, and Mathieu looked up, ears plastered to his skull.

"S-sorry daddy!" he said, cringing a bit.

"Why's that?" asked Jasyn, looking up at the man.

"What?" said the father, looking from his son to Jasyn.

"Why shouldn't he go near foxes? Think someone's going to try to rape him one day?" asked Jasyn, blinking blankly at the man. "Cause I could just have easily done that. In fact, anyone in this room could do that. Not like they could get away with it, mind you. Now, care to explain why Axis here is more dangerous than me?"

The man was speechless. The son was confused. Axis looked at Jasyn, smiled a bit, and looked back. "Yeah. Care to explain how I, a mere fox, am more dangerous than Jasyn here?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Mathieu spoke up now. "D-daddy? What's r-rape?" he asked, looking up the half-foot to meet his father's eyes.

"I'll tell you in a couple years son," said the father, before growling a bit.

"Rape is when somebody presses that thing between their legs inside of you and you don't want them to," said Axis, and the man growled a bit more.

"Y-You mean, like you do to me, daddy?" asked the son again. The man looked down, looked back up, he was suddenly even more speechless than before, trying to say things but stopping.

"I... but..." he stuttered.

"You rape your own son?" said Jasyn, glaring up at the man now.

Axis stood up and looked the man dead on, before kneeling down and looking Mat in the eyes. "Has he, Mathieu?" asked Axis, looking warmly at the boy.

Mat was suddenly flustered and blushing vividly. "Y-"

"Quiet Mathieu!" growled the father, glaring at the two.

"That's low..." said Jasyn, blinking in distaste.

"Mathieu... can I talk to you, alone?" asked Axis, looking at the boy caringly.

The young husky looked up at his dad, then between the two other furs who he'd just met. He blinked a bit and nodded silently, wondering what was going on.

Axis held out a paw and the youth took it, and together they headed to one of the offices. Jasyn looked up at the man before standing. He was easily the same height, a rather large wolf, and he glared distastefully at the man.

As Axis turned to walk away, Mathieu's father lunged at him, and in the time it took Jasyn to jump back, Axis had already turned around and was glaring down at the stunned form of Mathieu's dad. There was a single smoking patch in his shirt where a bolt of energy had just been delivered, knocking him to his back.

"Emitt to security. Get a detail up here immediately."

--

Mathieu and Axis sat in the small office, talking quietly.

"When did your father rape you, Mat?" asked Axis, looking at the young boy.

"He started three years ago..." said the youth. "He said it was to protect me from the other men in the cell."

"Yeah?" asked Axis, smiling softly. "Did he do it at all when you got here?"

"O-once... when we were dressing this morning. He grabbed my tail and rammed himself in me. It hurt for a bit and then I just went all tingly... l-like when my paw falls asleep!" answered the youth, blushing a bit.

"Did you tell him you didn't like it?" asked Axis with a reassuring smile.

"Y-yes... after every time. He just said, 'It'll make you a man,' or put his tongue in my mouth... I-I kind of liked that though..." said the child, blushing a lot now.

"Don't we all..." said Axis under his breath before he looked the youth up and down. He wasn't altogether unattractive, but Axis wasn't into cub... besides, he had Jasyn. "Can't get greedy now..." he thought to himself, smiling a bit.

"W-what's gonna happen?" asked the kid, looking up at Axis. His eyes seemed afraid.

"Well... we'll have to talk to your dad. Chances are that you'll be taken care of by another family until your dad is ready to continue raising you," said Axis with a bit of a smile.

"B-but... I don't want to..." started the youth.

"You don't want to what?" asked Axis, blinking a bit. He brushed a few hairs out of his face and looked the young husky in the eyes.

"I... don't want to go back with my dad. He treats me bad..." said Mat, and Axis blinked a bit.

"How so?"

--

"Mister Bertram Evans, for the rape and abuse of your son, you are to be separated from him until such time as he is old enough to take care of himself, and you are seen fit to see him again. Deviation to these restrictions will be met with arrest and confinement. You will maintain a distance of forty feet at minimum while inside the confines of his base, and one-thousand feet when outside," said Litman, glaring at the man.

Mathieu's father nodded and looked down, ashamed.

"As for what is to happen to your son. He will be placed in the care of the Commander of this base, as per Sirian Military law regarding refugee children without parents. Commander/Lieutenant Jasyn Emitt and Lieutenant Axis Levi are now the official guardians of young Mathieu," she added, and the youth looked up at the two older Sirians that were to be his guardians.

Axis and Jasyn had heard nothing of this until early the morning of the trial. They had to sign the papers, as well as Mr. Evans. Jasyn had remarked that a child would be a lot of work.

That was a fine end to an interesting day.

--

"Axiiis!" came the young voice of Mathieu from his room.

Axis hauled himself off of Jasyn and grumbled a bit, walking with not but a handy nearby towel around his waist. He looked in on the youth and smiled a bit. "What's up Mati?" he asked, a bit of annoyance in his voice.

"Could you get me a drink of water?" asked the boy, and Axis chuckled a bit.

"You know where the cups are, and the taps. You could get it yourself," he said with a smirk, "but I'll get it for you." With that Axis walked off and came back mere moments later with a glass filled with water. It was an easy and quick task for a telekinetic fox. Axis chuckled and levitated the drink to Mathieu's bedside table.

Mati smiled and chuckled a bit. "Thank you!" he said happily and took a sip.

"Anything else?" asked the fox, noting Jasyn's snores from the other room.

"What were you and Jasyn doing in there?" asked the boy, shyly.

Axis blushed a bit and looked away slightly. "We... were... making love..." he said, honestly.

Mati looked confused, and had raised an eyebrow. "Huh?" he said.

"K-kinda like rape... only both of us want to..." said the fox, trying to clarify.

Mati blinked a bit and looked down. "Does that mean you're going to be separated from eachother?" he asked.

Axis took a moment, before tucking the towel into itself to keep it on his hips. He walked calmly over to the young husky's bed and sat down, careful to avoid his legs. "No, Mat. What we were doing is alright. We both want to do it, and we both enjoy it a lot. We won't be separated because neither of us calls it rape. It's called making love because we were telling eachother how much we love eachother. Do you understand?" asked Axis, looking at the young husky.

"I... guess so..." said Mati, blushing a bit. "Do... you love me?" he asked quietly.

Axis blinked and blushed brightly. He was only ten, and already had sexual experience. Axis was jealous, but only a bit. He was mainly disturbed by the actions of the father. He didn't know how to reply, so he sighed a bit and ruffled Mat's head fur. "Mati... Of course we do. But that doesn't mean we're allowed to make love with you, if that's what you're asking. Get some sleep okay? Tomorrow my brother Atlas is going to take you for a flying lesson," said the fox with a smile.

With that he stood up and walked out of the room, flicking his three tails to remove the towel before hopping into the bed and waking up Jasyn from a light sleep.

The noises returned, but Mati found them comforting.

--

"Alright... now ease up on the throttle, bring us up a bit... very good Mat! You've gotten better since the last time we went flying."

The two were sitting in one of the new dual-person fighters. Axis had reprogrammed the base's automated repair bay. Now, one half of it was devoted to building his ships. Atlas' was the first off the line, the prototype if you would. The island was rich in minerals, which came as a shock to the scientists. Axis had already started an automated mining operation on one of the western slopes of the mountain. The actual base itself was located under the eastern half of the island. Not much more was past the western midpoint aside from a few herds of wild Chutulk, a species similar to cows. They had a refining station underway already. Axis was overseeing construction. The ship Atlas was flying, though, was made of spare parts. It was assembled in about a week with the modified parts that Axis had designed. It didn't look too pretty, wasn't painted, the hull changed grade halfway through the craft because they'd had to use part of the debris from another ship. It was, however, perfectly flyable. It worked exactly as Axis had planned, cloak, shields, armour, everything. The craft design was named X-Switchblade, because of its four wing-like foils, extending in an X like shape and retracting like the Striker-Interceptor. It had a varying wingspan, the second craft of its kind, but with two times the wings.

The two had been flying for a few hours each week so far. It had been two weeks since Axis and Jasyn had been given custody of Mathieu. The young husky had just celebrated his eleventh birthday the day prior.

"A few more lessons and you'll be good enough to fly missions on your own," said the fox.

Mati smirked and did a quick little roll, nodding a bit. He was born to fly a ship.

They got a message from the base and Atlas opened the channel. "Go ahead Jayse," said the fox, one of the few who could call Jasyn by name and get away with it.

"We're getting an interesting sensor blip Atlas. We're sending you a live feed, tell me what you make of it," said Jasyn, and the viewscreen in the back of the craft was replaced with a sensor feed.

"It... looks like a slipstream event, but... it's warped. It doesn't look natural so it has to be somebody trying to get here, but from where?" Atlas looked at the screen and shook his head. "It could be the Earth fleet, but I'm not seeing any ships enter the system."

The blip on the screen indicating the slipstream event faded and died, revealing a smaller one, big enough for one ship, but it wasn't moving.

"Jasyn? Do you think-" started Atlas, and Jasyn had already given an order.

"Move, everyone. That means you too Atlas. Follow the squadron up there and see what's going on. If that is an Earth ship, I want to know what's going on!"

--

The ship itself was adrift. No hails were being answered, and there were no signs of life. There was major decompression on three of ten decks and minor decompression on other parts of the ship, but the port half was in tact and so, apparently, was the Slipstream Core.

"Atlas, Aries; you're with me. We're going to fly into that fissure and go for a bit of a space walk," said Jasyn, pointing towards a large gash in one side of the hull.

It was a bit of a tight squeeze and they had to use their "arms" to get through, but they managed to fit all three MPNs inside of the ship. The gash was in the side of what looked like the cargo bay.

Jasyn was already in an airtight flight suit, and he clipped on a helmet before opening his cockpit to the vacuum of space. A whoosh of air almost blasted him out of the craft.

The three of them hopped out of their MPNs and they were immediately greeted by the lack of gravity within the earth vessel.

Pushing off of the ceiling with his hand paws, Jasyn said over the comm. "Short controlled bursts from the jets guys. Let's make it over to that door." He pointed towards a blast door that was being held open by a chunk of bulkhead.

The three made their careful way over to the door and pulled it open enough to slip through one at a time.

The interior of this room was in horrible disarray. The three of them made their way towards the "bridge" of the ship.

Fifteen minutes after they'd gotten aboard the craft they came upon a closed door, and upon opening it, found another closed door, roughly fifteen feet away.

"Airlock?" suggested Aries, himself carrying a phase rifle.

"Perhaps," replied Jasyn, before continuing in.

They got into the room and closed the rear door manually. Lights flickered and the room seemed to come to life. There was a clank behind them as the rear door sealed, and a hiss of air as the room was filled with something resembling oxygen.

Jasyn lifted his arm, atmospheric sensor attached, and read as the oxygen/nitrogen levels went up. The three of them felt a sudden pull as the artificial gravity kicked in, stumbling a bit before they caught themselves.

The front door opened to an equally bleak, yet fully in tact, other half of the ship. They took a step inside and read their sensors again.

"Still reading atmosphere... and the gravity is still working... Looks like the damage here was mostly superficial..." said Atlas, reaching up to unclip his helmet.

"Wait!" said Jasyn, stopping the fox. "Better keep these on... the atmosphere might be laced with a poison we can't detect... Let's wait until we find the crew."

"Uh... Jasyn..." started Aries, pointing at something "I think I found a member of the crew."

Aries was pointing to a somewhat mutated corpse that had been crawling out of the airlock towards the atmosphere there.

The ship had been heavily irradiated to this point, however this side of the ship seemed untouched by radiation, probably due to the heavy lead shielding between the two halves, and around the ship itself. The shielding hadn't been punctured, torn, or otherwise permeated on this side.

The crewmember's fur had practically fallen out, and their flesh beneath seemed burnt and showed the regular symptoms of radiation poisoning. Axis and Jasyn cringed a bit, and the three started to walk.

"Internal power seems pretty much active on this side of the ship, despite the lack thereof on the other half... maybe the crew hid in a critical area, like the engine room, or the battle bridge?" suggested Axis.

"That'd make sense... alright, Axis, you and Aries head down to engineering, I'll go to the battle bridge... wherever that is..." said Jasyn.

Aries had dropped away from the group and was looking at a terminal. "This looks like a map of the ship... the engine room is... here, near the middle. This is the mess hall... and this is where crew quarters is... so this must be the bridge, up here. That means that the battle bridge is... there!" He was tracing paths with his fingertip, and when finding the battle bridge, he had pressed his fingertip against it. Someone on the other end must have heard something, because they called over the comm.

"Hey! Is anyone there!?" came the voice.

Jasyn blinked and walked over, pressing a finger against the battle bridge on the map again. "I'm Commander Jasyn Emitt of the Sirian Military Resistance. With whom am I speaking?" he said.

"Ensign Ronan. Welcome to the StarHawk sir. Are you here to rescue us?" came the voice.

"Just sit tight Ensign... if you can get word to your people, tell them that we're going to be exploring the ship," said Jasyn.

"Sure thing Sir. Oh! And thanks."

"Alright..." said Jasyn, taking his fingertip away. "Atlas, get back to your suit and radio Axis, tell him to catch a flight up here with Leon. Looks like we might need him."

"Right. Be careful guys," said Atlas as he turned and headed off, back through the airlock.

Jasyn turned to Aries and smirked. "Alright, Aries; let's get this operation underway."

"Get the show on the road... as it were?" punned Aries, turning and heading off. "I'll catch up with you later... uh, Sir..." he said as he left.

"Gods, it's going to take some getting used to, being called sir... I feel old..." said Jasyn with a bit of a snicker, as he headed to the Battle Bridge.

--

Atlas wandered through the corridors, chilly now from the vacuum of space. His body had adjusted to the heated air in the pressurized half of the ship. Taking a look around, he stumbled and fell forward, landing on his hand paws, his helmet only a half-inch from the floor.

He gulped and carefully got up, looking back at the protruding piece of debris that had tripped him. It looked much like a human corpse, unprotected in the vacuum. He backed away with a gulp and kept moving towards the location of the suits. He could see the fissure in the side of the ship through the shattered windows in this corridor, deep and large.

The ship shook slightly and a beam shook free and begun moving steadily towards Atlas. With another shake the planet begun to move closer to the ship, or rather, the ship to the planet. Atlas then had a terrible revelation; the ship would undergo re-entry unless it was stopped.

Adding to the escalating horror was the sudden bolt of plasma that shot through the hull just in front of the fox. Atlas yelped and backed up suddenly, smacking the back of his helmet against the beam, suspended in the "air". He again yelped and kicked forward again, pushing his "jetpack" to full and heading through a window.

"Screw this," he said to himself, headed towards the tear.

The ship wasn't under direct fire, but rather had taken a hit due to the battle that was going on around them. Atlas was unaware, but the rest of the convoy of human ships had come through while they were on their "mission".

Wasting no time, Atlas sped to the rift and climbed into his MPN, activating the comm., and pressurizing the cockpit. He spoke into his helmet's headset, amplified through the MPNs broadcasting equipment. He hailed Jasyn's helmet.

"Jasyn! There's a firefight going on around us... I suggest you show a certain level of... expediency in getting your furred ass back here," said the fox.

Static.

That's what he got; static. He tried again, fearing the worst.

"Jasyn..." nothing " Jasyn!" he shouted. This seemed to attract the wolf's attention, as he promptly came across the comm. aswell.

"What is it Atlas?" he said, a tad annoyed.

"We're in a firefight, the rest of the convoy came in while we were aboard. I suggest you get your tail back here before I have to explain to Axis why you're a particle field," said Atlas. The tone denoted an order, but Jasyn knew better.

"Firefight? Fuck yes! Get a transport up here, quickly; we've got to evacuate these people, Aries and myself will join you shortly." came Jasyn's voice again.

Atlas blinked and, as he radioed for a transport, he got himself out of the gnarled hull and into open space. "Alright Atlas... time for your first REAL combat mission..." he told himself, after he hung up with the base.

The four or so Capital class warships, as well as the seven support craft, were giving it their all, but the Craganii blockade grid was being a pain.

"Time for a little Covert Ops... Hope this works..." he said, as he initialized a cloak generator outfitted for his MPN.

He had all of three minutes, by Axis' estimates. 'Plenty of time' as Jasyn would put it.

Spinning into a barrel roll, Atlas came up close to one of the Crag orbital stations, large spherical structures, roughly twelve kilometres across, and looked for a way inside. He found a small access duct beneath the station and aimed a missile directly upward through it.

The stations, though large, were very poorly built at best, because that one missile reached the core of the station and caused a very large, very spectacular explosion.

Atlas barely managed to clear it in time.

"One minute left... I can pull off another..." he said, confidently. He sped towards the next closest satellite and did the same trick, this time clearing it a full two seconds before the explosion.

Aries' MPN extricated itself from the mangled wreck of a ship, heading towards the action. Craganii fighters were swarming the resistance pilots.

Suddenly, as Atlas' MPNs cloak phased and died, several warships sped through the battle from the planet's largest moon.

The Craganii, surprised, lost a good thirty ships in their stunned amazement.

Jasyn began to extricate himself from the ship now, flying towards the action aswell.

In the brief two moments that Atlas watched, several shots were delivered across his back, and he spun around and dodged quickly, looking back.

What greeted him frightened him. A large capital class Craganii Cruiser flew out from behind the planet and began shooting at anything that got in their way.

A tingle went down his spine and he glared, somewhat fearfully, at the coming threat. Another shot started flying towards him, and he quickly pulled away and up, gulping a bit.

"Dammit... stupid fucking... Crag... bastards..." he mumbled, before performing another twist in midair, floating upright and facing towards the cruiser, still dodging left and right. "Eat missile!" he shouted, firing a good twenty or so missiles at the ship. Each of them, even though guided, produced several far misses. The missiles themselves turned away from the craft as though a field were moving them.

Aries, in a momentary break from combat, caught sight of the ship and sped to Atlas' aid.

"Time to help with our uninvited guest," he said to a squadron that he had been given control of. Several more advanced versions of Axis' fighter were in the squad, and followed Aries, armour absorbing the shots that managed their way through their shields.

"Jasyn, we've got some company. Engaging at attack speed," said Aries over the comm., immediately drawing fire away from Atlas, who happily resorted to aiming non-guidance phase-pulses at the Crag ships weapons.

Aries' squadron began firing guided missiles at the cruiser again, and upon seeing the phenomena resorted to phased energy pulses aswell.

"Axis... We've got a problem with the missile guidance systems. Streaming video now," said Aries, sending a recording of the missiles.

Down at the base Axis was watching the three screens most important to him, and upon hearing from Aries he immediately knew what was causing it.

"Fucking ECM generators!" shouted Axis.

"ECM?" was the reply from all of the pilots.

"Electronic Counter-Measures. A simple jamming signal should scatter them, but it'll also block the missiles targeting sensors. Turn off the Guidance on the missiles and you shouldn't have a problem."

Atlas fired an unguided missile, which hit the Crag and crippled one of their turrets.

"That's more fair now... Okay guys; rely on visual targeting only. Try to aim for the turrets that pose the greater threat; missiles, shrapnel, and EMP," said Aries, spinning and alternately firing missiles and phase-pulses at the turrets.

The small fighters, though not heavily fortified like the cruiser, were also harder to hit. There was a brief three seconds where the Crag stopped firing in their entirety.

A blinding flash surrounded the aggressing pilots, and the systems aboard each ship went haywire.

"Gah! EMP Pulse! Everyone reset systems quickly!" shouted Aries. They powered down and re-activated their ships, lights blinking and computers whirring.

This gave the Crag enough time to fire several shots at all of them.

Atlas' ship groaned in distaste, probably because of a loss of pressure in one of the limbs.

Sure enough the right arm was leaking, the pneumatic systems shot right through. "Oh bollocks... to use an old British expression," said Atlas into the comm., eliciting a chuckle from Aries.

"Time now for a little payback. Okay guys, jamming systems on. Let's disrupt communication as much as we can. Atlas, take the squad and start a direct assault on any windows you can find, then aim for critical areas like the engines, the artillery; try to find their ECM transmitters too," said Aries as an order.

Atlas blinked and raised an eyebrow. "What about you?" he asked.

"Ever heard the term 'hit and run'? I'm about to become a gnat," came the reply.

Atlas blinked, before finally understanding.

"Alright guys, follow me, pattern gamma. We'll fly around and blast them right up the tail," Atlas smirked a bit.

The fighters sped towards the engines, taking out several windows as they went. Crag almost rained into the surrounding space, and atmosphere vented from the massive ship.

--

Back in the fight with the crag swarmships, Jasyn was pursuing the final three.

"Fucking insects... time for a little existence reassignment surgery," he growled a bit, firing a missile at the leftmost craft.

Engines failing it, the craft tumbled in space, and surprisingly struck the second craft, knocking it towards, but not into, the third. Both craft incinerated, however the third fled.

"Commander Emitt, I suggest we help the others against the Crag warship," said a voice over the comm. It belonged to one of the human captains.

Jasyn spun quickly and shot off towards the fight, calling back over the comm., "Good idea! All squadrons follow me."

Jasyn was getting more confident in his piloting skills, and was pulling increasingly dangerous stunts. As the crag fired at him, he dodged at last-second timing.

With an acrobatic mid-flight flip, Jasyn began firing shots at the Crag, and dancing around the craft at breakneck speeds.

The other craft were much more docile in their attacks, firing directly at the Crag warship.

A quick defeat, being outnumbered six to one in firepower standards, followed for the cruiser, becoming disabled rather quickly.

Aries, from the corner of his eye, spotted a body that didn't look altogether Crag, wasn't really Syrian, and seemed to be struggling. Upon closer look, the body was stuck inside of an EV suit, and was, in addition, waving its arms.

"Uhh... Jayse... we've got somebody out there. They're alive, but they're struggling. They're in an EV suit from what I can tell," said Aries.

"Yeah, I'm picking them up too," came another voice.

"Me too," said Atlas, before he took a harder look around. There were more. Several more.

The Craganii ship seemed bulkier than a normal cruiser. "I... think that thing was a prison ship. It would only have a skeleton crew, and be outfitted with numerous holding cells. A riot may have followed our fight. They were very well defended aswell... and if memory serves, they're never usually alone," said Axis, from the planet. His signal was two or three seconds behind, and a bit scattered, but it was still there.

"Which means this is either a trap, or we're about to get ambushed," said Jasyn.

"Isn't a trap and an ambush the-" started Aries. He was cut off by a very large explosion; coming from the human support craft doomed to the planet. There was a transport fleeing the explosion, Sirian in design.

"-repeat... com... we've got-got the humans- ship. We're ex-experience- slight communication-ation problems," came the transport's message.

"Get back to the planet, pilot," said Jasyn, looking around himself warily. "Alright... we'll pick them up. Anyone piloting an MPN mech, let them use your suit as a springboard and direct them towards the Sonic The Hedgehog."

Jasyn directed attention towards the ship. No one except the humans knew of the popular, yet oddly named, character. Well... the humans and Axis, who snickered quietly.

"What's a hedgehog?" asked Aries, moving towards one of the people.

"Who cares? Direct man! Direct!" said Atlas, moving to aid the rest.

The oddly named ship opened its shuttle bay doors, letting the refugees in. The artificial gravity pulled them towards it after they got close enough, and from there they could angle themselves to land properly.

One of the people happened to climb up to Aries' cockpit and look in. The helmet was completely opaque from this angle. Aries didn't know how, nor did he care. The sudden sight of them was enough to send him backward in his seat and accidentally hit the "open cockpit" button.

Thanks to the fact that Aries' suit was pressurized and hooked into the ships active life support, the ship itself didn't care much that it was in space. It opened eagerly, and the being climbed in, seating themselves behind Aries.

Aries blinked and immediately closed his cockpit, grumbling a bit. He turned around once pressure was restored inside the craft and glared at the person who had climbed into his ship.

The helmet wasn't opaque any more. In fact, it was very clear.

The person looking back at him wasn't human, or Crag; but they weren't Sirian either.

Looking back at the Sirian pilot was a very relieved looking, and rather attractive, male. His fur was somewhat gold, and his eyes reminded Aries of crimson marbles, like those used on earth. They had an irregular, oblong-shaped pupil, almost like a cat's, but less pronounced, and more circular.

Through rainbow dyed head fur the furry male looked back, innocently. He looked almost teenaged. Barely past puberty, thought Aries. Immediately Aries noticed he'd been staring.

The voice was light, yet strong and confident. It was certainly fitting of a male, however it had a slight hoarseness to it. Raspy yet only finely, the male said, "Aren't you going to reply?" in human. They had a slight accent, like they'd learned to speak English at a young age, but as a second language, not a first.

This brought Aries to the present, where Jasyn was calling over the comm.

"Aries, what the hell are you doing? Answer me godsdammit!"

"Sorry sir! One of the refugees managed to get aboard," replied Aries.

"Refugee!? The hell?" shouted the male.

"What!? Oh for fuck sakes! Get to the planet now!"

"Right, sir," replied Aries, blushing vividly.

The re-entry was an awkward one, with many questions from both parties.

__________________________________________________________________________

IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!

Okay, firstly, HOLY FUCK. Anyone notice the number of stories beginning with the words "the" or "A"... I mean really.

Ranting aside.

There yah have it.

(this is the important bit)

Did you like it? I sure hope so, and I also hope that all my returning fans post a reply this time, so I feel like I've got a following again.

(Important bit ended)

Anyone curious?

I've left you at a cliffhanger now, haven't I?

What's all this? New species? Is it Syrian? Is it friendly!? Do they eat their young!?!?

Find out in the next installment of SIRIUS - BOOK TWO: BATTLEFIELDS.

And seriously, post a reply godsdammit!

Make me feel important my friends! Please!

and... i'm done now.

Edit: Sorry for editing so quickly.

I saw that damned tag error and fixed it, but in the process ended up posting my story five times. I deleted the rest of them, however, but apparently picked the one with the Tag error.

Thanks for re-pointing that out.