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My New Life

Part 4: War Games, Friendships and Alerts

It's been over 6 months since we formally joined the Stellar Federation and have since officially change our group designation from Task Force Chrono-Storm to the 15th Battle Group, receiving and shuffling around crew members both old and new.

We just recently and successfully concluded some war games with the Rakshani in a two month war games exercise with the 15th divided into three smaller task forces, our overall objective: to break through the simulated Rakshani defense lines and capture Raksha, the Rakshani proved themselves to be pretty good in combat despite the lack of battle-hardened crews, their tactics are indeed sneaky and tough but not impossible to counter, our previous combat experience easily compensating for our dispersion, but in the end, we gave the Rakshani a solid thrashing.

They weren't sore about it, not entirely anyway, but the war games have shown some weaknesses in their tactics and chain of command and with our help soon rectified them, they're especially impressed with the way our AI avatars handled themselves, simulating disabled crews, the Andromeda, Lion, Enterprise, Defiant, Argus, Claw Strike, and Dagger Strike fought and flew together in ways unmatched by any living crew and left their opponents slacked-jawed with incredulity and amazement...

*Stand down, at bloody long last, * I thought to myself as the Lexington docks with Starbase 7, the mighty Heavy Assault Carrier barely shudders as the Starbase's tractor beams and docking arms keep the ship aligned for docking, then the almost undetectable resonating 'thump' of a docking tube linking up with the airlock doors.

A young man wearing a Star Fleet uniform turns to me, "General, err...Commodore, confirm docking link-up with Starbase 7, umbilicals and transfer tubes green light for maintenance and personnel transfer."

"Very well, Lt. O'Connor, stand down and report to your section chief for shore leave...and well done, kid, not a lot of people could handle a Heavy Carrier their first time around but you...you got a way of making this old girl dance, keep that up and you'll make Commander in no time."

The kid looks embarrassed my praise of his skills, "It's no big deal, sir."

"No big deal?! Kid, how many people out there can make a CV of this size dance like what you did during the war games? You turned this ship from a wallowing target into a Mumbo dancer and that's no easy feat, just say the word and I can have you permanently assigned here to the Lady Lex, what do you say?"

"I'll have to think about it, sir."

"Take as long as you need, kid. In the meantime, I am positively aching for some shore leave."

As I stood up from my command chair and stretch, then a black-and-gray, silver-trimmed blur of fur came charging through the hatchway and on to me, replanting my butt on the command chair, "Oooof! Darkcloud!" I shout reflexively as I instantly caught and recognized my purring chakat daughter.

Shi looked up and said plaintively, "Dad, are you coming off duty yet or what? Mom's waiting for you back in our quarters!"

Hir facial expressions are quite neutral but with one ear down and one pointed up, shi's giving me the 'taur version of an arched eyebrow.

Thankfully, the current bridge shift is composed mostly of humans and aliens with veteran crew members mixed in, so they simply smiled at my exuberant little daughter and laughed good-naturedly, I get up, placing my daughter across my shoulders and make our way back to my quarters, where my lifemate Whitestar, a gorgeous 6'2" chakat whose fur is a beautiful blend of gray, black and white but hir distinguishing mark is a white-colored star on hir left shoulder thus the name Whitestar, is waiting for me, as I came in, I put our daughter down and shi scampers off to hir room.

I make my way to the master bedroom, where I found Whitestar, waiting for me with a smile on hir furry muzzle, and then I noticed several duffel and saddle bags lying on the floor; arching an eyebrow, "Are we going somewhere, love?" I asked.

"As a matter of fact, we are. Captain Serah of the RIS Blood Kin has invited us as her guests at her family estate for the next two weeks and I've just finished packing our clothes and gear when you got back from the bridge with Darkcloud," Shi answered then grinned, "I assume shi was rather err...circumspect?"

I gave hir a withering look, "What do you think?"

Whitestar giggled and pulled me into hir arms for a kiss, of course, since shi's stronger than me, I couldn't resist even if I wanted to, so we had our arms around each other and kissed long and gently.

Having two sets of lungs, Whitestar had top breath on me, breaking for air, I gasped, my lungs aching for holding my breath during that kiss; then I grinned at hir, shi lay sprawled over the chakat sized bed and wasn't wearing anything, as was the chakat custom in the comfort and privacy of home, so I had a great view of hir firm 48 E bosom, which we both knew that I happily appreciate.

Shi seductively hefts and caresses them, hir pink nipples are already proudly exposed from their protective fur covering, and I know shi prefers hir feminine side but like all chakats, shi also enjoys the male side of hir personality, strongly reminds me of hir cousin Forestwalker.

Settling down next to hir, I wordlessly asked and shi answers in kind, gently yet firmly cupping one of hir breasts, I bend down and began to suck the nipple there, drinking hir delicious milk-water, a sort-of power drink containing vitamin and minerals that all chakats produce when their not lactating, either from motherhood or from helping breast-feed new born cubs.

Shi purrs contentedly as I drain the contents of one breast and then switched to the other all the while caressing hir back, shoulders, arms, forelegs and waist, at the same time, shi's helping me out of my uniform and hazard armor, in no time, shi had stripped me down to my boxers which are quite tented from arousal, then, before I knew what hit me, I'm on my back quite bare, standing at attention, and Whitestar on top on me, purring and licking me all over.

"But before we head down to the planet, what say we have a little fun first, hmmm?"

"Sounds good to me, love."

Of course, making love to a chakat requires a little knowledge of a feline's sensitive spots but more often than not, the whole thing is utterly enjoyable to both parties to say the least but I'm not giving details though, heh, heh.

After an hour of mutual love-making, we helped dressed each other and, with Darkcloud in tow, made our way down to the flight deck where my personal Thunder Wolf and a Leo-class runabout of the Tango variant, modified to be able to carry a mixed crew of morphs, 'taurs, and humans, stood ready.

Whitestar takes my duffel from me, carrying it into the runabout along with hir saddle-bags and our daughter; climbing up the boarding ladder, I settle into the comfortable envelopment of the T-Wolf's cockpit, even with my new Fleet rank of Commodore, I still love the feeling of going into battle in a cockpit, just you against the odds the universe throws at you whenever you fly into battle.

I bring her primary systems on-line and spooled the main drives to idle, the powerful rumble and sharp whine of the four PW759-7a's bringing back memories of my first combat engagement of the HK war, then I felt a twang of pain as I realized that it was also that first engagement that I met Tasha; sighing to myself, I seal the cockpit and taxi the fighter to the launch area, glancing to my left, I see Whitestar do the same; despite the advances in technology, some things never change, like the carrier catapult, instead of being discarded, it was improved continuously over the centuries to launch increasingly heavier fighters into the air then in the vacuum of space.

I felt the 'thunk' of the catapult's mag-grap as it locks on to my fighter's nose, then the next instant the powerful g-slam of the catapult launch, and before I could blink twice, I am free of the artificial gravity of the Lex and flying freely in the void.

Following procedure, I made a wide looping turn to the right, in case my drives fail, this procedure is enforced rigidly even in space dock but is second nature to all Confed personnel so only the Federation crew members are reminded regularly of that, as I finished my turn, I see Whitestar's Leo being catapulted out of the starboard bay, I loop to the left and barrel-roll into position on Whitestar's right wingman slot and followed hir down to the planet.

After gaining permission from Raksha Control to enter the planet's atmosphere and confirming the coordinates of Captain Serah's family estate, we rolled into the atmosphere, shields flaring against the heat of reentry.

45 seconds later, the flames flare out, revealing a verdant green world, reminding me of the Amazon rainforests back on Earth, then the navcomp super-imposed a waypoint arrow on my HUD, pointing the way to Serah's family estate; it only took five minutes for us to get there, then the estate came into view as we crest over a small mountain range.

I involuntarily whistle in admiration as Whitestar and I circle the estate a few times, "You said it, Nathan. This estate is huge!"

Then something else caught my attention, "Yeah and it's complete with several landing pads and bays, including what looks like a landing strip for non-repulsor craft."

I suddenly grin evilly behind my helmet but apparently Whitestar picked up what I was feeling through our empathetic link, "Nathan, whatever you have in mind, don't even try it, please."

"Whitestar, have you seen me ignore a challenge like this?"

Shi sighs over comm, "No, you never have, you stubborn lovable fool."

"Nope, never have," I reply laughingly, "Serah, this is Nathan and party, requesting permission to land, over."

"Nathan, Serah here, permission granted, landing pads four and five has been prepared for you."

"Serah, has anyone used that landing strip recently?"

"No, why?"

"Because I intend to touch down there."

"Nathan, the landing strip has never been used for over 80 years now; there is no way your Thunder Wolf can land on it."

"My T-Wolf is designed for landing on poor surface areas, it's a system based from 20th Century aircraft designs...and I haven't done a runway landing in such a long time that I can't resist the challenge to land my fighter the old-fashioned way."

"Ok but don't say I didn't warn you...do you mind if we record the whole thing though?"

"Sure, why not." I then proceed to shut down my shields, anti-grav systems and deploy the standard flaps, ailerons, elevators, rudder, and spoilers that come standard in an atmospheric aircraft; after circling once to reduce speed and making sure Whitestar has landed safely.

I turn to align with the runway, reducing thrust to only 5% and using the T-Wolf's aerodynamic design to maintain lift; I steadily reduce altitude, deploying the flaps and spoilers to both reduce speed and maintain aerodynamic balance, until I touch down on the rough runway with a slight bump, bumpily taxing all the way to the hanger, where Whitestar and Darkcloud as well as Serah and some members of her family are waiting for me, and shut downed my fighter.

Removing my helmet as I unsealed the cockpit, as I stood up, hearty applause came floating up as several 7-foot plus tall Rakshani, Serah included, walk up to where my fighter stopped.

Extending the retractable ladder, I climb down and turned to face my host and her family, she extended her paw in the standard Terran handshake which I shook firmly, then she pulled me into a massive bear hug which, given our height differences, had my head forcibly buried between her very ample cleavage.

"Serah, what are you trying to do? Smoother my mate between your breasts?" I hear Whitestar's voice addressing Serah, hir tone playful.

I answer, my voice muffled, "Hey, this isn't so bad. I can't think of a better way to go."

Laughter fills the hanger, Serah lets me go and I gasp for breath then break out into a grin and laugh along with the others, then before I know it, Whitestar has me locked in a long passionate kiss and I'm kissing back just as hard, just when my head began to ache from the lack of oxygen, did Whitestar break from our kiss with a mischievous grin of hir own, whistles and laughter from the others in the background, then Serah introduced me to her family, as it is still early, we also introduce our daughter Darkcloud to the family's cubs, about 10 in all, with most being a year older or younger to Darkcloud's 12 but like most cubs, they didn't let age get in the way of their typical hyperactive fun.

While the cubs are getting to know each other, us adults are in the living room getting more properly acquainted, as it turns out, Serah's father is a combat veteran himself so it wasn't long before the course of the conversation led to war stories, both mine and his competed for both carnage and intensity but the two of us quietly shared a secret look, known and shared only by veterans who have seen and survived the horrors of war.

Serah then raised a significant question, "Nathan, why did you take a chakat mate rather than a human mate, as far as I know humans are genetically incompatible with chakats yet here you are with a chakat mate and daughter, why?"

"My reasons have its roots in my past," I answer, "ever since learning of the big cats of Earth when I was a child, I couldn't help but fall in love with their natural grace and beauty especially of the big and furry kind, then came my first love, Princess Tasha hrai Kiranka, daughter of the Crown Prince of the Kilrathi, we met and face each other on the front lines and ended up as equals of a sort, later when we were stranded on a planet of a strategic system, we weren't found for over a year and a half; we fell in love with each other and made a vow that no matter what, at the war's end, we would marry regardless of what anyone says but it wasn't meant to be, she died just prior to the end of the war, leaving me in a state of depression for over 12 years until I received word of a black budget temporal-dimensional project in need of a veteran CO; I applied and was accepted by headquarters and the rest, as they say, is history. I adopted Darkcloud because shi needed my comfort and support when shi found that hir parents have died when their transport came under attack by Humans First renegades, since I lost my parents too, I couldn't help but comfort hir the same way my grandparents did, I took hir to my quarters and let hir sleep in my bed, comforting hir to sleep. From that point on, shi couldn't accept anyone but me to be hir adopted parent, from there I eventually met Whitestar at hir cousin Goldfur's family gathering, where the family subtly brought us together, we hit it off right away and soon began dating, it was during interviewing new crew members of the Lexington that I found out that shi was going to be my new Tactical officer and it wasn't long until the older members of the crew found out about Whitestar but they respected my choice and let it run its course, soon my heart said it was time so I took Whitestar to a candle-lit dinner and then proposed to hir, under a moonlit sky, to be my mate and you can guess what hir reaction was..."

They all grinned mischievously.

"Right, shi accepted my proposal and we went back to my place and told Darkcloud the news, shi happily accepted hir as hir new mother-to-be, happy that now hir family is whole again; two weeks later, we declare ourselves as Life-mates and the rest is history. Whitestar helped me to fully recover from my depression by reminding me that Tasha would have wanted me to live, to carry on with my life but it was too hard for me to fully break with my past until Whitestar told me how shi feels about me, then my heart told me the same thing: I love hir too. It was then that I truly broke away from my past but Whitestar never lets me forget about my first love either, reminding me that I can cherish and remember the past while living for the future." "That's a beautiful story."

Serah finally said as she wiped some tears away. "I never knew how much it cost you to win for your people."

"Gramps once said to me, 'Love will and can bloom in the strangest and most unlikely of places. Let love find its way to the one you are destined to love and you will find its like again, maybe twice within your lifetime but never more unless you are truly blessed, Nathan. Cherish those loves and you will find the greatest source of power this galaxy could ever give.'"

"Wow, is your grandfather a philosopher?" Serah asks.

"Nope, gramps was and still is a survivor; he survived the 3rd World War on Earth and helped pioneer the three human colonies on Alpha Centuari then was given a brevet rank of Commodore of Sirius' planetary defense forces and led them to victory over a heavily armed but not very bright band of pirates that were attacking freighters enroute to Sirius and to other outlying colonies, using superior battle tactics, he outwitted the pirates and destroyed their base with only 20% casualties but no deaths, his flagship, the Solar Fury, an early version of the Panther-class light cruiser, came out of the battle severely damaged since grandpa volunteered to be the bait to lure the pirates out into a kill zone where they had superior numbers and position. So you could say that my family is quite used to adversity and we can and will do our duty when called upon."

The other members of the family nod in agreement and approval, then one of the teenagers asked if he could challenge me to a bit of a sparring match.

I nod in acceptance as the youngster led me to, well, a ballroom-sized exercise room with all the trimmings; I notice similar gymnastics gear as well as the usual military style exercise and training materials plus an extra large sparring mat, given the average size of a Rakshani, that's no surprise.

"Just out of curiosity, we'll be doing hand-to-hand or augmented?" I ask. "Oh, augmented, of course, given your size and weight..."

"No, no restriction or limitations; I'd never have found out what I am really capable of, if I'd have a handicap all the time and the Kilrathi didn't cut me any corners either so don't even think about giving me a handicap, got it?" I said a tad harshly.

"Sorry."

"It's alright, Nathan, sometimes my little brother a little thick between the ears." Quips Serah.

I shuck off my boots and remove my flight suit and its peripherals, revealing the hazard armor underneath, then Serah's father raised a question, "Do you always wear your battle armor everywhere you go?"

"Actually, I've gotten used to wearing my armor on a daily basis that it's practically a second skin and besides, what would you do if you are in a situation where weapons are needed but don't have them? With my hazard armor's miniature transport buffer, everything I'll ever need is right there where and when I need it and another thing, this armor has saved my life dozens of times already and I intend to continue wearing it until the day it can no longer protect me."

He nods in agreement and approval, "Carry on then."

I turn back to my challenger, "Ready when you are."

"But you don't have your weapons out."

"I'm fine as is." I say with a smile.

"Ok, here we go. First one to be disarmed wins."

Instantly he swings down the halberd powerfully, anticipating an easy victory, boy, is he in for a surprise; just as instantly, I spin-jump out of the way, my servec'nar blades at the battle ready position, my body low, left leg spread back with the right supporting my weight plus a knowing smirk on my face that he had underestimated me.

Surprise evident on his face, he then switched from halberd to great sword, though I think that's only the equivalent of a regular sword here, given the size of the Rakshani though, that wouldn't surprise me but his problem was how to hit me, considering my 6 foot nothing height is decent-sized compared to the Rakshani's average of 7 and 1/2 to 8 feet plus.

My fast, dance-like style of defensive movement ensuring that his attacks come to within only a paw's-breadth from my body while at the time my blades block those strikes that do have a chance of hitting me.

I see him beginning to tire, only then did I strike, using a flurry of slashes, swipes, swings and sweeps, he is forced to defend from my attacks but he's having a hard time anticipating my attacks and is forced to respond so he tries another pattern of attack, with his heavy tail!

I bat the tail away with the flat of my right hand sword while at the same time, set my other one into a flurry of defensive moves, then my instincts kicked in, telling me to use a pattern of strikes that will break even the strongest of defenses, inside 30 seconds, I disarm him and say, "Yield!"

Surprised by his sudden disarming, he bares his neck in surrender and accepts his defeat, "I yield. How did you do that?" He ask, awed by my perfectly timed attack.

I sat down to catch my breath, "To be honest, I don't know, something like this happens every time when the battle is at its most critical, my instincts immediately kick in and take over, you see, from my teenage years, I've always have a...a sort of a secondary personality that I've come to rely on to get me out of very tough situations and its become such a part of me that I'd be long dead without it. And every now and then, during contests that involves skill and technique, it takes over instantly."

"Well anyhow, you fought very well, Nathan."

He extends his paw at me, I grab it and he easily pulls me up, "Come on, let's get cleaned up and ready for dinner."

"Dinner?" I blurt out, "but it's not yet even..." my words died on my lips as I check my watch which was set for both Zulu and Lima time, Zulu for Earth's 24 hrs and Lima for the Rakshan home world's 30 hr day, I slap the heel of my palm on my forehead, scolding myself for forgetting, he lead the way to the showers, there we stripped, washed off the sweat generated by our heavy exertions and dressed in more casual wear for dinner that night since, according to Serah, that most of us just stood down from war games, her father had a casual dinner/banquet prepped for us for tomorrow when we will get to know the rest of the family, coming from all over the planet.

*** *** ***

Meanwhile, aboard the TCS Eagle's Vision... One day out of Rakshah at warp 18...

Purring lightly as I got up from my bed I recently shared with a gorgeous Rakshani female, my fur mussed from our exertions, used a brush to smooth my fur back into order, thinking thoughtfully, "Perhaps this accident proved to be favorable to everyone after all, especially to us Kilrathi, we thought we would die here, without mates to bear the next generation of cubs, then discovering that both Caitian and Rakshani genes are compatible with ours, did we find new hope for the future. The Rakshani were quite eager to receive our attention and the Caitians too, though they were a bit more subdued in their approach."

I sigh happily as my Rakshani lover slept peacefully on her side, a satisfied smile on her beautiful face; the real reason I woke up early though is that the time is already approaching for my shift on the Eagle's bridge.

Essentially the only reason the EV is not stood down like the rest of the 15th is that part of the crew compliment were still lacking in certain levels of performance for properly crewing an Explorer-class starship and since this is an XC-class, the crew is a mixed bag, as the humans put it, of both Star Fleet and Star Corps personnel, trainees and experienced hands, mixed bag indeed but thankfully the critical positions such as Tactical, Weapons and Sensors are still manned by Confed personnel with Federation personnel learning at their elbows, as well as several critical positions in the various ship sections, Kilrathi and human alike.

What the Federation personnel don't know is that the EV is running completely 'cloaked' or 'silent running' from the days the humans used to have combat submersibles, so that no one would detect that a Federation ship had just passed through their area of space.

Making my way to the bridge, the low light conditions reminding me that it is still early morning back on Earth, then my keen ears pick up some odd noises, coming from the direction of turbolift 4, the same unit that traverses the whole length of the ship, touching the call button, I'm surprised that the indicator lights say that the lift is emergency stopped midway between engineering and my current position, curious of the hang-up, I access the lift's security cams via a nearby public terminal.

To my complete surprise, albeit a pleasant one, I find myself looking at a trio of chakats, just barely in their twenties I might add, happily engaged in a very heated round of sex, chakat style of course.

I sigh, missing the sanity of a purely single gender crew, but since the hermaphrodite chakats are part of the Stellar Federation, we were required to make them part of the crew but the down side was that chakats seem to have this tendency of finding and making use of every available private and quiet space for a round or three of lovemaking, which is quite typical of chakats anyway but for some of the human and Kilrathi crew members, they find this severely distracting, to say the least, one crewman reported to have found two chakats intimately entwined in one of the alpha-level Jeffries tubes just yesterday. I sigh, wondering if there was some way to teach these 'cubs' more discipline, or at least until they reach the privacy of their quarters.

I tap in my authorization and override codes, as well as the lift's PA system, then thought better of it, deciding to walk my way to the bridge, besides Kestrela and I would have done the same if it was this early in the morning, heh, heh.

After half-an-hour of walking I was able to find an unoccupied turbolift and took it all the way to the bridge, grateful for the respite back to sanity, I bark out, "XO, what's our status?"

My executive officer, a human by the name of Karl Armstrong, a descendant of Earth's Neil Armstrong, who was the first of his kind to set foot on the moon, not a bad heritage if you ask me but he attained his rank and position, like his antecedent before him, by merit rather than by blood plus the fact that he served with distinction on board the TCS Star Wolf, an Excaliber-class heavy destroyer during the 3rd Enigma Campaign.

"Long range sensors report all clear, sir, no contacts except for stellar phenomena. Cloak...minimum visibility status still in effect and all sections report no problems aside from the usual goof-ups by our new crew members, the night has been as still as space."

"Aye, except for that trio of young chakats hogging turbolift 4 that is." I gruffly answer back.

"Sir?" he asks me curious.

"Huh? Oh, nothing, nothing at all." But judging from the smiles and grins I'm seeing from the 'morphs and chakats in the other ship positions; they knew precisely what I was talking about. I was about to call for a meeting with all the section heads when suddenly..."Captain, large scale sensor anomaly detected!"

"Tactical, bring the ship to yellow alert and ready the shields but do not deploy them; Weapons, energize and arm our phasers and torpedoes, prepare for possible engagement; Helm, drop us out of warp and go to full impulse; Communications, ready all comm-channels for link up with the Lexington and Star Fleet Command; Sensors, give me pictures and stories."

"Sir, according to our long range sensors, we detected a possible hyperspace exit transition by a large group of ships, otherwise we wouldn't have detected them at all, had they jumped in singly or in small groups but numbers exceeding 8 tends to make quite a fireworks show."

"Roger, maintain minimum visibility and set course for that hyperspace exit site, full impulse; weapons and shields at the ready." "Aye, sir!" the whole bridge crew answered together.

Three hours later...

As I sat on my command chair for the past three hours, images began to take shape on the view-screen, in fact, I couldn't help notice that I have seen those shapes before, then my brain finally realized what I was looking at, the crewman at the sensor station confirmed it for me, "Sir, according to my readouts, that's a large Imperial fleet we're looking at, ship class as follows: four Imp-Star Deuce, four Vic-Star Deuce, two Escort Carriers, 7 Carrack-class cruisers, 6 Nebulon-B frigates and one Interdictor; TIE loadout at an estimated number of 684 types."

The silence on the bridge is deafening.

The Rakshani representing the Star Fleet contingent gasped out, "684 TIEs?! There no way we can counter a number that size!"

One of the humans from the Confed contingent snorts derisively, "Only 684? Jeez, during the Battle of Earth we had to face over fifteen hundred attack craft and most of the 15th's pilots survived that maelstrom. 684 TIEs aren't going to be a problem, not with the Aegis cruisers backing them up plus all our pilots are combat veterans of at least two campaigns and our CO has at least five under his belt. Not a problem at all."

"But where are they headed, this location seems to be very far off from their usual routes near the Furrderation."

That surprised me too, "You're right, this location is pretty far off from the Empire; sensors, you figure out their destination based on their direction of travel?"

"I'm on it, boss."

He swivels back to his station and began to tap a sequence of buttons and holographic touch-screens, then a horrified look came upon his face, he instantly turned to face me and said one word: "Raksha."

The entire bridge crew is stunned silent except for the background noises of a starship, and then I broke the silence, "Sensors, how long will it take them to reach Raksha?"

The lieutenant instantly snapped back to reality and tapped another sequence, responding to my query with a curt "Approximately 36 hours."

"Why thirty-six hours?"

The human at the comm station cuts in, "Sir, I was able to intercept a low frequency transmission between their ships, probably poorly-aligned transmitters, and it wasn't encrypted; and also in said interception, it seems that they have no current navigational chart of this sector so they're making a systematic gravity jump, jumping towards every detected gravity well and then updating their charts as they go and, from what I've been able to decrypt, it been slow going since the route they been traveling on has been filled with major sized gravity wells and gravitic anomalies."

"Hmm...very well. XO, have our Defiant escorts break off and make best speed to checkpoint Delta 2, tell them to be ready to transmit the emergency muster signal and what we discovered to the Lexington and Star Fleet Command and also that we'll be staying behind to track the progress of the Imperial fleet to make sure that they really are headed to Raksha. I don't what to raise a false alarm. Federation personnel, stand down and have your Confed instructors take over, this is a situation that I want to be ready for action at a moment's notice."

The tension soon mounted as we drew closer to the Imperial fleet, I had Sensors and Tactical to begin analyzing the ships for possible and potential weaknesses while at the same time, I had the Science and Engineering sections finish up work on the onboard Graviton Pulse Generator Array, which in theory would create a gravity well equal to that of a gas giant, I had both sections work on creating smaller mine versions of the larger ship carried version. The Federation personnel especially the ones with fur began to smooth down parts of their fur due to their involuntary nervous reaction except for the Rakshani that is, they are an image of calmness, which is something I have come to expect from their warrior race.

We quickly saw how big the Star Destroyers really are but recent tactical analysis indicate that they are severely handicapped when attacked at very close range since their turrets are mounted on the side rather than on ball mounts; the escort carriers are lightly armed but heavily armored and shielded but given our shield penetration technology, these carriers won't last very long, ditto the Star Destroyers.

I realize that the Empire is more brute strength and numerical superiority oriented so fast, surgical attacks that strip them of their fighter cover/support can leave them vulnerable to heavy HARM strikes and/or bomber strikes; close-in strafing runs by fighters will also strip them of their heavy weaponry, leaving them vulnerable to attack.

Suddenly, the silence is broken, "Captain, I just intercepted several short range transmissions...Oh my god...Captain, confirm, their target is Raksha, repeat, target confirmed as Raksha."

"Helm, get us the hell out of here, maximum warp but take us in a different direction before we head for Raksha; Tactical, launch whatever number of graviton pulse mines we have, dispersion pattern Alpha-6; Weaps, fire four Photon Torpedoes each at the leftmost and rightmost Carrack cruisers; Communications, the second we go to warp speed, contact the Defiants we sent off earlier, tell them that the worst is confirmed, enemy Imperial fleet inbound to Raksha and activate emergency muster protocol Alpha 1."

"Aye, sir!"

The Imperial fleet is completely caught of guard, never expecting a ship to dematerialize in the middle of their fleet, which instantly released several missiles at two of their ships and then went to warp the next instant; both Carracks exploded brilliantly, damaging two others with the shockwave but no one noticed the small oval devices that quickly and quietly attached themselves their hulls.

The Eagle's Vision came out of warp 10 seconds after its initial jump, then reoriented itself in another direction and in a flash of light, went to warp speed again, heading for Raksha.

At the same moment, the TCS Backstab and Eternal Defiance, both of the Defiant-class of corvettes, emerged out of slipstream with a blazing flash of brilliant energy above Rakshah, after a two-hr slip jump, simultaneously transmitting their emergency messages to the Lex and to Star Fleet HQ.

*** *** ***

That very evening, dinner was more like a banquet rather than a small family gathering but given the Rakshani are always on the look out for potential lovers and mates, I'm not entirely surprised but large family gatherings always make me uncomfortable but for the sake of Whitestar and Darkcloud, I stayed around getting to know plenty of Serah's family, thankful of my somewhat photographic memory.

Just then a loud pattern of beeps came from my comm-pager, indicating an incoming emergency message, to my surprise, it ended with a chirp-beep, indicating an alpha-level message; pulling it out, I saw the words that I thought would never see or hear within my career: "The beacons of Minas Tirith are lit!"

These words, taken from the Return of the King, to convey the urgency of the message and also acts as an emergency muster and recall order for all Confed forces, it also meant that enemy forces are inbound, destination unknown but the 15th is capable of intercepting the enemy before they reach their destination.

I bring my pinkies to the corners of my mouth and whistle loudly, a lot of heads turned in my direction, Whitestar's among them.

I shout out, "Whitestar, back to our room on the double, I just received an emergency muster signal from the Lex, and get back into your combat uniform, we're going to war!"

Shi didn't waste anytime in asking questions, shi instantly snaps to attention and said, "Aye, sir!" and makes hir way back to our room at a fast trot, Darkcloud right behind hir, I'm just a few strides behind both of them; entering our room, we strip down and began putting on our combat uniforms, for Whitestar and Darkcloud, the usual top with long sleeves that denotes their position as well as leg warmer-style armored shin guards on both fore and hind legs, augmented with Mk.14 medium upper torso electronic armor with arm guards and gauntlets with integral combat knife, phaser or sensor, ultra-flexible Mk.12 heavy electronic lower torso armor with integral miniature transport buffer/shield projector capable of carrying up to twelve different weapons as well as medical and food supplies and Mk.38 "Fritz"-pattern combat helmet with integral HUD, multi-spectrum visor, micro-ladar array, and multi-spectrum telecommunications array while I put on my Mk.35d Hazard armor, an exo-skeleton style battle armor that uses state-of-the-art nanites to create armor directly above the skin of the wearer as well as projecting a miniaturized deflection shield up to 2 inches above the armor itself, composed of an ultra-flexible plasterium-tritanium alloy, it allows the wearer maximum flexibility and movement as well as excellent combat survivability, coupled with a miniature transport buffer with the capacity of a small armory, integral multi-spectrum, multi-range telecommunications systems, multi-power source converters and medical diagnostic/dispenser unit; the D-model also features a wrap-around style HUD visor that projects relevant combat data to the wearer as well as shield strength, armor level and physical status.

Serah and her father came in as we were finishing putting on the last pieces of our armor, both stopping in surprise at our battle armor, then Serah asked, "Nathan, what going on?"

"I just received an emergency muster message from the Lexington, there's an inbound Imperial attack fleet heading right here, to Rakshah, ETA: 36 to 40 hours; in 5 hours or so, the 15th will be breaking out of orbit and heading out to intercept."

My news shocks them both, Serah especially, she smatters out, "H...how? When? Why?"

"How is that the Eagle's Vision was out on an extended training cruise due to the lack of adequate performance by the new Federation crew members when they detected a hyperspace exit jump at long range and investigated, discovering a large Imperial fleet and were able to identify and ascertain their target, which turned out to be Raksha and dispatched its Defiant escorts to warn us as soon as they received confirmation. When is the Eagle's Vision and her two escorts immediately went to warp speed right after the war games and were roughly half way through their cruise, about a day out at warp 18, when they detected the Imperial fleet. As to why, I don't have an answer for that until we interrogate any captured Imperial personnel." I said as I pulled on my flight suit over my Hazard armor and tuck my flight helmet under my left arm, then I add, "How soon can you muster a large enough fleet to repel the Imperial fleet?"

She answers, "At least 48 to 72 Terran hours, maximum, I think. But last I checked, twelve ships are still have half their crews on board and ten other ships with a third of their crew plus the Blood Kin has not yet offloaded its crew yet due to docking systems problems."

I smile; the Blood Kin is a Stellar Fire-class heavy cruiser, comparable to the Excaliber-class heavy destroyer in terms of firepower and staying power but is somewhat lacking in the sensory and engineering department, the other ships are, respectively, of the Fang- and Night Claw-class of destroyers, however, these particular class of ships are rather vulnerable due to the fact that most of them are roughly 12 to 15 years old; the new Night Fang-class of destroyers were meant to replace them but there has been some unforeseen design flaws found on the first six ships and until they are remedied, construction has been halted but several of our best techs are already assisting the designers in finding ways to repair and improve the design.

In the meantime, the twenty-eight Stellar Fire-class of cruisers have to take up the slack of effectively safeguarding their borders with only these old ships to back them up, a certified recipe for disaster.

The 15th came here to Rakshah for war games, true but there was a secondary reason for us being here, with their recent shortage of ships, the Rakshani are in dire need of a large force of fast moving, hard hitting warships but Star Fleet had no ships available, until we arrived, Star Fleet HQ was agonizing how to reinforce Raksha but since our ships are the only ones capable of very high warp speed and equipped with other more advanced FTL systems plus more powerful ships, weapons, and shields, we were 'volunteered' to go to Rakshah, not that we mind but we hate being 'volunteered'.

Now though, I am glad that we were 'volunteered', with most of the Rakshani fleet being 10 to 12 days distant from Raksha and spread out over 7000 cubic light years, only the 15th and what ships currently on station here at the Rakshani homeworld are the only ones who can respond to this crisis, and of the ships here, only the Blood Kin and the 15th are the only ones who can respond quickly and effectively, it was then that I realized that how vulnerable the Rakshani homeworld really is, with the Rakshani Empire on the right flank of the Stellar Federation, it protected the Federation from incursions in that direction but at the cost of Raksha being positioned in a somewhat untenable location.

Several wide open sectors with almost no other empty or dead star systems in the way, despite heavily fortified bases and shipyards. Picking up a small metal cylinder, I turn to Serah and ask, "Serah, do you have a holographic entertainment/communication system around here?"

"Yes, down at the banquet hall's left end, why?"

"You'll see." I say cryptically as I exit the room, followed by Whitestar and Darkcloud, as I make my way to the holographic system, I ignore the sounds Serah's family is making and attach the cylinder to the main projector, instantly a large holographic representation of the entire 15th is projected into the air as well as percentage numbers superimposed on them, then I key my comm and contact the Lexington, "Lex, 15th muster status please."

"Sending updated status, sir." Just as quickly, the voices of the various ship AI are heard through the speakers, "Voltaire, 40% mustered; Andromeda, 80% mustered, Tiger's Claw II, fully mustered and ready for battle; Solar Storm, 60% mustered..." on and on the numbers and ships update themselves as their crews and pilots rapidly arrive via transporter or troop carriers from the surface; in under 5 and a half hours, the 15th reports fully mustered, I smile and nod in approval, the Confed record for a fleet group this large was 8 hours, we are fully muster in under 6, excellent, I remove the cylinder and turn to Whitestar, "Commander Whitestar, prep to return to the Lexington immediately, I'll be right behind you."

Shi salutes, "Aye, sir." And runs out of the hall towards hir runabout, I turn to Serah, "Sorry to cut this gathering short, Serah but there a threat out there that I can't ignore."

She smiles, "Don't worry about it, there will be more to come, we Rakshani understand duty."

I grin back and then another thought occurred to me, "You want to come along?"

Her eyes widen in surprise, "You serious?"

"Very serious, I'm also looking for a new XO, you interested?"

"Me? As...as your second-in-command...of the 15th?"

"You got talent I've been looking for, all you need is a little refinement and fine tuning of your skills then add some combat leavening and I'll be pleased to leave you in charge of the 15th when I'm absent or indisposed."

She blushes at my praise then her father nudges, "Go my daughter; it's time once again to spread your wings and learn of new things."

She looks at her father then back to me, her eyes telling me of her dilemma, so I said, "Look, if you're not sure, that's all right, you can come see me anytime and apply for the position, and I won't hold it against you if you choose to decline."

That surprises her; she grabs me by the lapels and holds me up to her muzzle, simultaneously baring her fangs and shouting, "Are you crazy? Give up the chance to learn how every system works and the chance to see that mind of yours at work...'till hell freezes over, Nathan."

She emphasized her point with a icy glare that strangely sent shivers of pleasure through me as she release me but I gave that little thought until later though, then it occurred to me that Serah is already wearing her uniform and is looking at me expectantly, "Very well, captain, meet up with Commander Whitestar and join hir in the runabout to the Lexington, I'll be taking "Star Hunter" up anyway. Move out!"

"Yes, sir!"

And she sprints out to catch up with Whitestar as I also jog out of the hall and make my way to the hanger, where "Star Hunter" sits on her landing gear, already turned and pre-flighted by my deck crew, whose obviously had transported down from the Lex as well as the ordnance my fighter needed, "That didn't take long, did it, chief?"

"Hell no, boss, we already had everything ready to beam down when the EMS came through so we just had Lex beam us down and we went straight to work, only took us 20 minutes to get everything pre-flighted and loaded; your kitty's cocked, locked and raring to roar."

I laugh, "Thanks, chief, I don't know what I'll do without you."

"Just keep racking in those kill scores and stay in one piece and I'll be happy." He laughs back.

"Can do." I laugh out loud as I climb the boarding ladder, slip into the cockpit, pull on my helmet and seal the canopy, as the ladder is pulled away, a wolf-morph tech is waving the traditional light wands at me as he guides me out of the hanger and onto the runway, then the chief takes over and performs the timeless carrier launch moves, ending crouched down low and pointing at the end of the runway, I casually salute and punch the afterburners.

"Star Hunter" responding crisply as she took to the sky, eager to meet the foe with me like we always did ever since that first day she was assigned to me. Looking out to my left, I see Whitestar's Leo catching up to me, to my surprise, I see Serah in the pilot's seat rather than my mate, both of them wave at me and I wag my wings in response, I punch the afterburners, leaving them in my exhaust wake.

Looking out again, Serah surprises me by matching my move in order to stay level with me, nodding in approval, I roll to take the right hand wingman position, soon the sky began to change from blue to purple to black as we enter the vacuum of space and the assembled 15th Battle Group fleet came into view, I key my comlink, "Lexington flight ops, this is Simba and party plus one, requesting landing clearance, over?"

"Simba, Lexington flight ops, request granted, welcome back, boss, sorry to cut your shore leave short."

"Yeah, I know...are all ships ready to leave orbit?"

"Yes, sir, all ships reporting ready to leave orbit."

"Initiating landing sequence. I'll see you on the bridge, Lex."

"Aye, sir."

Two minutes later, touching down on the Lex's spacious flight recovery deck, Whitestar's Leo just minutes behind me, I pop the canopy and pull off my helmet, breathing deeply the sights, sounds and smells of a carrier preparing for war.

As I climb down the boarding ladder, I see the Leo touch down and taxi into the recovery slot next to mine, jogging around my fighter, I wait as the access hatch opened and Serah came out first, ducking her head to avoid hitting the top of the hatch, as she straightens I say, "Captain Serah, welcome to the TCS Lexington."

To Be Continued