Chapter 49

Return to Vhaldaria

Galen continued to caress the side of Silva's face, relieved that he was free from Cailus as Symon ran a quick scan over him and Eli with medic scanner drones while they were unconscious to make sure the chips were nuked.

"Galen, Reggie... You can release them, now." Egad said. Reggie and Galen did so, unhooking their manacles and harnesses from the chains on the bed. Galen gently held Silva in his arms as he sat on the bed with him, a relieved yet sorrowful expression on his face as he petted his head.

"Well, everything looks good. The chips are completely fried and inoperable, fully nuked... That's a relief, at least we won't have to worry about- Wait! Wait, wait... What?! What in the bloody hell is this?!" Symon exclaimed with a horrified look.

Egad was over at Symon's side in a flash, looking over the tablet screen with him. A section of Silva's body had been highlighted in red, his left forearm. They both read over the data that was displayed, then turned to look at each other, saying the same phrase.

"Holy Fuck."

Galen looked over to Egad. "Master... That's doesn't sound like good news."

"It isn't." Egad said as Symon quickly packed away the jars, tablet, and his scanner drones. "We just found another chip in Silva's arm. That chip, however, isn't a control implant. It is a temporary locator beacon, designed to be temperature resistant and to send out a temporary tracking signal for ten seconds before shutting down! It was activated after the control chips went out, and just pinged our location! All of us have to get out of here, now!"

Galen quickly scooped Silva into his arms, Reggie doing the same with Eli. "Master, how are we going to escape? With all our vehicles, we only are able to transport twelve people at the most!"

Egad's mind raced at supersonic speeds, quickly figuring out a solution. "Galen, Reggie, get Silva and Eli buckled into the Audi, and inform Mick and the rest of the coven and the tribals of the situation! I'm going to need to call in a few favors..."

With that, Egad whipped out his cell phone, dialing in a few numbers for some emergency transport contacts.

Thirty Minutes Later...

Moon City - Spaceport...

Foxtail-1- Civilization-Class Luxury Space Yacht - Egad's Ship...

Mick drove the Audi into the cargo hold of Egad's luxury space yacht, Foxtail-1 after the Diablo and the bikes had been loaded up. Once it was in the hold, tied down and secure with the rest of the vehicles, Mick got out of the car and went over to the lift. Mick pressed two buttons: The first closed and sealed the cargo hold door, and the second closed the lift, making it rise to the passenger compartment.

When the lift got up to the passenger area, the doors opened. Mick walked at a brisk pace through the first-class interior, filled with the coven in the first section, and all of Reggie's tribe in the second section, who had been picked up from a nearby location via an anonymous private bus. Mick went straight to the cockpit to see how Chaos and Hatred were progressing on takeoff preparations. Xen and Egad were in the cockpit as well. Egad was in the co-pilot's seat next to Chaos, while Xen and Hatred were managing the sensor and tactical stations. Xen was also managing a data feed that was linked back to Egad's castle with Codec on the line, everyone wearing headsets.

"You guys doing ok?" Mick asked.

"A little bit of an adrenaline spike, but we're fine." Chaos said, pressing a button on the flight headset he was wearing. "Foxtail-1 to Control Tower, we are ready for liftoff. Awaiting permission to depart."

"Standby, Foxtail-1..." The tower controller replied. "...Permission granted, Foxtail-1. You are free to takeoff. Proceed to taxi on Runway 5, repeat: Runway 5."

"Confirmed, tower." Chaos pulled the throttle back slowly, spooling up the ship's engines to one-eight thrust as it taxied onto Runway 5. "Tower, this is Foxtail-1. We are on Runway 5, initiating takeoff sequence..." Chaos and Egad started flipping switches and buttons at the controls, going through the process. "Warp Core online... Power levels stable. Navigational Deflectors engaged, shields on standby... Cabin is fully sealed, fasten seat belt light activated... Hull pressure primed... All systems go. Increasing power to six-eights thrust for takeoff..."

Mick settled into an empty seat next to Xen, buckling in as the ship started to gain speed, taxing down the runway. A few seconds later after it reached flight speed, Chaos gently pulled back his flight yoke, and the ship ascended off the runway and into the air, climbing into the sky.

"Tower, this is Foxtail 1. We have liftoff, repeat we have liftoff." Chaos said.

"Roger that, Foxtail 1." Control replied. "You are clear to enter orbit and engage FTL drive. Safe travels to you."

"Roger, Tower. Thank you. Foxtail-1 out." Chaos said, guiding the ship through the atmosphere into space. The sky parted, revealing stars and the vastness of space as they left Tarion III's atmosphere.

Egad switched his headset to the line with Codec. "Codec, is there anything on the news right now about the villa? Do you still have a connection to the system there?"

"One moment, Master...." Codec said. "Uh... Master, I have bad news. For both you, and Mick Daniels. I just pinged the connection to the villa, and it is totally inoperative. Everything there is down. To add to things, I just found one of the local news feeds. From what they report, several areas in the Moon City area were hit by a missile attack from an unknown militant group, including the villa and the entire neighborhood with Mick's beach house, as well as several car repair garages, and one landing near the farmer's market square. They suspect it to be terrorists, but... I think we all know who it really was."

Egad's look of anger from the news faded into a disheartened expression. "...Thank you for the update, Codec, even if it was bad news." He turned to Chaos. "Are we ready to engage the FTL drive?"

Chaos nodded. "Yes, Master. Everything reads out as ready."

"Very well, then." Egad said, setting his hand on Chaos' shoulder and giving it a comforting, loving rub, his face going into a hopeful-neutral expression. "Let's go home."

Chaos smiled. "Yes, Master. Plotting course for Vhaldaria into the navigational computer now..." Chaos started to input a few commands onto a touchscreen in the cockpit. "Course laid in for Vhaldaria, Master. Projected arrival time is 4 hours from now. Standing by for FTL jump, just say the word."

Egad's face set into a warm grin. "Engage."

Chaos happily pressed the button that engaged the FTL Drive. Foxtail-1's slip-warp engines powered up, and the ship blasted off at faster-than-light speed from Tarion III into the cosmos towards Vhaldaria.

# # # #

Two Hours Later...

Foxtail-1- Civilization-Class Luxury Space Yacht - Egad's Ship...

En Route to Vhaldaria...

Two hours passed as Egad and Chaos guided the ship back home. Checking on the instrument readouts, looking over their plotted course for any updates they would need to know, and quietly counting down the distance remaining.

Jet then entered the cockpit. "Master... Pardon the interruption, but I've noticed Tommy has been very sad and quiet since we left Tarion III. I think you should talk to him and see what is bringing him down."

Mick unbuckled from his seat and stood up. "It's okay, Uncle. I'll take the helm for the rest of the flight back."

Chaos looked at Mick, a little surprised. "...With all due respect, Mick, do you know how to fly a spacecraft at sub-light and faster-than-light speeds?"

Mick let out a laugh. "I do, actually. Before I became a transporter, I was a very talented and skilled starfighter pilot. Had my own mercenary group, we called ourselves Flux Squadron. I've been looking over the controls, and most of them look exactly like the ones I used in my Pyro GL starfighter. As for the rest, I can quickly learn about what those do, if you are willing to give me a quick catch-up course."

Chaos smiled. "Very well, but it is ultimately Master's decision in the end." He turned to Egad. "So, Master... What is your say?"

Egad gave a warm look and pressed a button on a console that put his station on standby, then unbuckled from his seat as he took off his headset. "Well, I do know about Mick and Flux Squadron's record, which is without a doubt, illustrious. Plus, I can't just ignore the needs of the members of my coven, whether they are physical or emotional." He stood up out of the chair. "You have the copilot's seat, Mick."

"Thank you, Uncle." Mick patted Egad on the shoulder, then settled into the copilot's seat, buckling in, and putting on the headset. "Don't worry. I've got things covered here."

Egad nodded and followed Jet out of the cockpit as Mick reactivated the copilot's station and attended to flying the ship with Chaos, the half-demon wolf giving him a quick update on starship flight controls.

# # # #

Egad walked into the passenger cabin. It was adorned with even-spaced rows of nice, well-cushioned, breathable leather seats that could be converted to plush cloth seats at the push of a button, all with plenty of leg room. The seats were situated along the sides of the cabin, surrounding a long coffee table in the center. Like the seats, the coffee table was bolted down to the floor, which was covered in nice, well-cushioned, padded carpeting that felt good under bare feet. The coffee table also had several built-in food synthesizers of the highest quality, so the food and drink didn't taste bland and plain.

Sitting in one of the seats, in between Bishop and Gareth, was Tommy. Tommy appeared to have been crying earlier, as his face had tear stains. Gareth and Bishop also were holding Tommy close, comforting him.

"Tommy, what's wrong?" Egad asked, concerned.

"...I just feel bad that the villa was destroyed." Tommy said quietly. "It was a very nice house, and I now think of Cailus as an even bigger jerk because of him wrecking it."

Egad knelt in front of Tommy, adding another hand of comfort to his shoulder. "I understand, and I do agree. The villa was a really nice getaway location that I thoroughly enjoyed, along with everyone else, and it's a damn shame that it is gone." Egad's voice was gentle and caring, yet still resonated with Tommy's feelings. "But try to look at it this way: I would rather lose a 2,000,000-credit house in a barrage of missiles than lose any living member of my coven in the same circumstance. A house can be rebuilt with no problems, which the villa will be. Mortal lives, on the other hand are not so easy to reconstitute after death, besides the action of that being clear taboo in many cultures."

Tommy's face slowly set into a smile. "That is true. I will try to look at it in that view from now on, Master."

Egad smiled and stood up, getting the coven's attention. "Now, we have two more hours left until we get back home, and I must say, now that we are out of danger and things are settling down... I'm feeling a bit horny."

Everyone chuckled playfully, the Jaren's especially, and unbuckled from their seats with lewd grins. "Very well, Master." Bishop said. "How can we pleasure you?"

Egad gave a toothy smile of lust. "...Well, since Reggie and his tribals are in the second passenger area, I figured we could all just have a quick orgy in here. Not only for me to unwind, but for everyone else that needs to as well. If anyone else has any extreme, pressing sexual needs that they need to tend to, please step forward. If anyone else gets aroused while watching, feel free to pleasure yourselves and each other in your seats."

In the end, Tommy, Uniko, Zhal, Symon, and Amon stepped forward, while everyone else buckled back into their seats, all disrobing their waists and preparing for the unique and lewd in-flight entertainment.

# # # #

One Hour Later...

Silva slowly started to stir back to consciousness, his eyelids feeling like lead weights as he opened them. The wolf felt weak and drained, with hardly any energy in his body. As his vision cleared, he saw he was sitting in the seat of some sort of vehicle, a buckled harness going over his chest securing him in the seat. He also realized that he had no clothes on and was completely naked aside from a blanket covering him from the waist down. He turned to his left, and saw Galen sitting next to him, also buckled into his seat, fast asleep. Galen, like Silva, was also nude with the addition of a black and red thong with a partially-removable flap pouch, which was currently open, aside from manacles on his wrist and ankles, a black bandanna tied around his elbow with his usual red one, and a set of dog tags around his neck with his crescent moon amulet. He also wore leather fingerless gloves with cloth anklet socks. Other than that, Galen was fully exposed, nothing covering him.

Silva took a quick glance around. He realized now what kind of vehicle he was in: This was a spaceship, a type of vehicle that could travel the stars! These, along with many other fascinating technologies brought by the Sky Folk, had only just been introduced to Vhaldaria by entrepreneurs from different worlds, though they were careful as they introduced them into Vhaldarian society, and didn't force the new technologies on anyone out of desire to conserve their way of life and not ruin the world or it's cultures. The entrepreneurs had been so careful in this way, that Vhaldaria only had one public spaceport and control tower for the entire planet, located in the capital city of the kingdom of Kestrel, and had no future plans or desire to develop any more. As for private spaceport pads, even those were few and far between.

Continuing to look around the spaceship's interior, which was very high-end and luxurious, Silva saw many other individuals in other seats, buckled in as well. Some were asleep, like Galen. Others were sitting quietly, reading books, or looking over electronic tablet screens they were holding. Silva then turned to his right, seeing Uniko and Zhal in the seats next to him, also fast asleep, their bodies exposed like Galen's. They also had manacles on their wrists and ankles, though unlike Galen's, which were a bright silver, theirs were different in color: Uniko's manacles were vibrant purple, Zhal's a shade of dark cobalt. As for what little clothing they had on, Uniko had cloth arm bands that went to the base of his elbows, with anklet socks as well, a small high-hemline vest over his shoulders that went down to the bottom of his chest, his groin covered by a purple g-string thong with a button-up pouch, which was currently open, the unicorn's cock and balls hanging out of the pouch lazily. Zhal had a short, blue cape made of satin around his shoulders, held up by straps around his shoulders that went under his arms with some prayer beads around his neck, his crotch covered with a skimpy fundoshi, his glands hanging out from the side, as the front of the fundoshi had been pushed out of the way. Zhal also wore anklet socks with a supportive athletic sleeve on his left arm, both black in color. Like Galen, Uniko and Zhal were basically exposed.

Silva looked down at his hands, seeing his wrists in irons held together by a short chain. He moved his legs slightly, finding his ankles bound together in the same way. Silva wasn't stupid. Despite being under Cailus' control when he tried to ambush Uniko with the horned wolf and young fox, he remembered everything. Cailus told him after the chips were put into his body how they worked; that they could control his thoughts, his actions, even his feelings at a push of a button, that button being under Cailus' finger. This didn't deaden Silva's feelings of guilt, though. He knew despite being Cailus' living marionette that the chips weren't entirely to blame. He had been very angry with Galen, Uniko, and Zhal for leaving Mel'Andrea, and not even writing back to let him know that they were all alive and well. Though that anger had now faded, he still felt hurt.

Silva looked again at his brother next to him. Looking at the lion sleep in the seat, alive and well filled Silva with happiness, helping him feel slightly better from his guilt and the lonely pain from the past five years. He leaned over in his seat, resting his head on Galen's shoulder and closed his eyes. Galen's body felt warm, just like all those times before when he would cuddle with his brother after having a nightmare when he was a cub. These memories brought a few tears to Silva's eyes as he rested his body against Galen's.

After a few moments of this, Silva felt Galen's body shift as he leaned against the lion. Silva looked up, and saw Galen starting to wake up. Galen turned to look at Silva, the wolf resting his head on his shoulder, noticing his tears as well.

"...Hey, little brother." Galen said quietly with a kind grin. After a few seconds, he took Silva into his arms, holding him close in an embrace as they sat there. "...I'm sorry I didn't let you know. I should have asked Master to write a quick letter, send a courier with a message, something, anything... So you wouldn't have had to go through all this."

Silva then felt wet drops fall onto his shoulder. Galen was crying! His brother Galen, the former Captain of the Guard, one of the Three Towers, the stoic and rigid defender of Mel'Andrea... He was crying!

After a few more moments, Silva spoke again, his voice soft and quiet. "Brother.... I wish you had told me, but that's all done and over with. It's in the past now, it can't be changed. All we can do now is try to work past it." Silva nuzzled Galen as he was held in the lion's kind embrace as more tears ran down his face. "I'm just happy to see you again, and be by your side..."

As the brothers quietly wept, Uniko and Zhal awoke as well. Turning to see what was going on, they also leaned over and embraced Silva in comfort, all of them now reunited after five long years apart.

# # # #

One Hour later, in the cockpit...

Mick had quickly learned what all the extra controls did as he sat in Foxtail-1's cockpit, Chaos finished with giving him a quick refresher.

"Okay. Glad to see that this isn't much different from my Pyro. It's basically the same, only the six-axis system is missing since this is a yacht and not a starfighter." Mick said, bringing up a quick schematic of the ship on a touchscreen. "To be honest, I've always wondered what it was like to fly a Civilization-class yacht. However, from what I'm looking at, and judging by what the screen is telling me, this is not your run-of-the-mill space yacht. Ablative hull armor plating, dual-layer regenerative shields, much more powerful engines and hull integrity reinforcement for greater sub-light speeds and better durability under extreme maneuvers... A higher-output warp core that puts out five times more power than the standard one... I'm even seeing concealed weapon emplacements as well: Pop-out revolving tri-barrel blaster turrets, four on each side of the outer hull port and starboard... Two concealed torpedo launchers on the wing struts at the front of the bases... Even a pop-out, dual-barrel rail cannon on the dorsal underbelly, located aft of the cockpit itself! Cool!"

Chaos looked at Mick, confused. "That's not bad, is it? I hope you are not offended..."

Mick gave a hearty laugh, looking at Chaos with a wide, giddy smile. "Are you kidding?! I'm not offended at all! In fact, I'm very impressed and happy that my uncle isn't going across the galaxy in his personal starship without making sure there is a way he can defend himself and cover his ass if he gets into trouble. To be honest, after all he has been through with his brother... He's most likely going to end up using these sooner or later, and judging by the layout and specifications... When these defenses are put into use, it basically turns the yacht into an awesome, kick-ass, luxury combat frigate."

Chaos relaxed, understanding Mick's point of view. "I'm glad you approve. Also, that does give me relief that we won't be totally helpless if we are attacked while we are flying through space."

Egad then walked back into the cockpit with a yawn, his pants and shirt gone, wearing nothing but his black thong as clothing. His face looked like he had just woken up, and his fur was slightly tussled.

Mick grinned, seeing Egad's reflection in the cockpit canopy glass. "I assume that you helped Tommy with what was troubling him as well as elevate his mood?"

Egad chuckled, sitting down and buckling into the vacant captain's chair behind Mick, two arm consoles unfolding and sliding in front of him from behind the chair after he buckled in. "Yes. Tommy's doing okay now, and I even helped a few others with some needs of their own."

Mick smiled. "Good to hear." The navicomputer beeped a few times in soft chimes of notification. Mick and Chaos looked at the navicomputer's screen.

"We're approaching Vhaldaria." Mick said, he and Chaos refocusing their attention on flying. "Standing by to cut FTL drive and re-engage sub-light engines..."

Chaos readied his side of the controls. "Confirmed. Dropping out of FTL in three... Two... One..."

Chaos flipped the pair of switches that controlled the FTL drive, dropping the ship out of transit. The blue tunnel with stars streaking past disappeared, revealing the planet of Vhaldaria in front of them along with a mid-size sphere, against a backdrop of stars and a nearby nebula. Several freighters and transports were in orbit around a small sensor array that was referred to as a "Parking beacon." It designated an area for starships to wait in orbit before given clearance to land on the planet.

"Well, we're home." Chaos said. "Home sweet home..."

Xen's console then beeped a few times. "Egad, Mick, Chaos... There's a ship nearby outside of the range of the parking beacon, dead ahead off our port bow. It's ID Transponder identifies it as the Zodiac Star. They just put in an intercept course and started broadcasting a maintenance assist request. They are moving slowly, but don't appear damaged. I can't scan them properly from this distance..."

Mick raised an eyebrow, looking out through the dual-plated glass canopy at the approaching ship. "...That looks like an old Cornerian X-01 frigate. From what I can see, it's been overhauled with a lot of new weapon emplacements... Judging by the insignia on the side, it's a mercenary ship. Not surprising, the X-01 is a discontinued design generation, and some of them even ended up being sold off at auctions to private parties after it was phased out of use by the CDF."

"Hail them, please." Egad said.

Mick opened the communications array on broadcast mode to the Zodiac Star. "Zodiac Star, this is Foxtail-1, private ship registry number LX-571937. You are sending out a maintenance assist request broadcast. What is wrong with your ship?"

The line was silent with no response as the Zodiac star moved closer.

Egad held his chin in his palm in a thinker-like pose as he sat in the chair, his elbow on an armrest. "...Cut the comm channel. Take us down to a low burn. Xen, please put that ship up on the holo-monitor."

Mick cut communications while Chaos brought Foxtail-1's sub-light speed down to a crawl, positioning the throttle at one-eighth thrust. The frigate appeared on the holodisplay in front of Egad as he looked it over. "Hmmm... She seems fine, no clear damage visible. Engines seem to be operating fine, too. Can you get any further readings, Xen?"

Several alarms then went off at Xen's console, as the barrels of the Zodiac Star's dual plasma cannon main guns started to glow with light, activating!

"Guys! They're firing on us! Powering up shields!" Xen's hands flew across his touchscreens and switches at his station with lightning speed, bringing the shields online in emergency charge-up mode, an energetic hum going through the ship! They were at full-strength in a few seconds, right as the plasma cannons fired!

"Everyone, Brace for impact!" Xen shouted over the intercom. A few seconds later, the plasma shots hit Foxtail-1, jarring the yacht with a convulsing shake, the plasma bursts exploding into fireballs on impacting the shields!

Mick quickly went into command mode, looking over the displays. The shields had held against the plasma cannons with little damage and were quickly regenerating, with no damage to any subsystems. "Hatred! Return fire! Spin up the Tri-barrel turrets, all batteries! Now!"

"Do it!" Egad agreed, signaling his approval.

Hatred quickly did as he was told, hands swiftly inputting commands into his console as the tri-barrel turrets popped out of their concealed hardpoints. "Spinning up all turrets... Target acquired, firing all!"

The turrets fired, unleashing a burst of continuous fire for several seconds bombarding the Zodiac Star! Its shields held but were at seventy-five percent once the turrets had finished!

"Aw, yeah! That's right, bitches!" Mick shouted, pointing a finger at the Zodiac Star. "The first shot was free, now your ass is ours for the taking!"

Egad nodded as he looked on, his face in an expression mirroring Mick's. "Quite So... Xen, what kind of damage did we do?"

"Their shield strength is down to 75%. That barrage also sent some feedback through one of their primary eps conduits supplying power to their main guns, rendering them inoperative. They only have fixed blaster turrets and torpedoes now." Xen reported as he looked over the readings on his screen. "No hull damage, but... Wait, I'm getting another reading... Ten more power supplies just went active inside the ship..."

Mick and Chaos watched as a section of the Zodiac Star's hull slid open, as ten JMU-05 Gunship fighters rocketed out, single-file!

"Oh, come on!" Mick whined, knowing that the playing field had now shifted.