Truth or Dare Chapter 13: Lost
#13 of Truth or Dare
Standard legal stuff, if you are not of age to be exposed to adult themed material for your area then please do what you must. All characters are mine, please do not use without permission. Criticism is always welcome.
Truth or Dare
Chapter 13: Lost
Katlin's first sense to come back was pain when she felt getting jostled violently and striking a hard surface. The next thing she became aware of was the sound of frantic but unintelligible speaking and many different footfalls. More yelling could be heard but it sounded distance much like the smell of smoke now assaulting her nostrils. Opening her eyes slowly Katlin found herself on her side watching blurred images of others moving in front of a bright light. After several moments and blinking her eyes things began to come into focus. She saw that the bright light was actually the insides of a ship with its back ramp dropped. The blurred images came into focus and she realized she was with the pirates. With that realization she struggles to sit up but found her arms bound behind her back and her legs were not much better off.
Her struggling did not go unnoticed as someone wearing steel toe boots stopped in front of her, took a knee, placed a gloved hand on the deck and lowered their face to hers. A wash of strong pungent smoke was blown right into her face. Closing her eyes and coughing to clear her lungs Katlin remembered the smell from that smoke quiet clearly as belonging to that of the pirate captain.
"Welcome back Miss Redtail," the Captain said, blowing more smoke in her face before clenching down on the cigar with his teeth, "I would be space bound by now but your big fuck of a friend managed to tare the ass off this fucking bucket along with my one crew chief. SO before you get the bright idea and try to roll out the back or something stupid like that, we are airborne at the moment and about a hundred feet off the deck and moving at full burn. So if you want off I am not going to stop you, but it is a long way down."
Standing back up while laughing the Captain moved away from Katlin and out of her direct line of sight. The next to come over to her was a female of unrecognizable species who squatted down giving her a clear line of sight to her covered crotch. Averting her eyes Katlin tried to look elsewhere but found that this female wore little to nothing. The shorts she was wearing might as well had been painted on and she had just a bandolier barely covering her breast. Her fur was a dyed vibrant greens and blues and her face was a mix of sharp angles rounded ears and bright green eyes. Twitching behind her was a long bottlebrush of a tail that had neon purple rings down its length.
"Why arhnt chu a pretty little ting?" the female asked tilting her head slightly, "chu werer what all da fuss wahs about?"
"Space Born?" Katlin asked not looking at her.
"Nada, I em of de Free Coloniees," the female said with a small hand flourish, "100 preecent farhee babay. Not pahrt of da anyebody. We tend to peek up on eveybodys lingo. You though ahre from . . . da core worlds." The female smiles and tilted her head to the other side and reached out to run the back of her hand down Katlin's face. "Oh I always wahnted to play wit one of your tyhpes. No bugs on chu and so sahfe to fuck." Bringing her hand back to her nose she took a deep breath before running her hand through the spiked up fur on her head. "Oh da, thaht es goot. Crazy said weh could not do any ting to ya. But he said noting about mahkin chu do ting to us. Chu havft good tounge wohk?"
Katlin's eyes grew large the more the female spoke and felt cold dread keeping its way down her body. She felt even more nervous by the way this particular female was openly looking her up and down and actively undressing her with her eyes. With little warning she leaned in close to Katlin so that she could feel her breath on her cheek and she heard and felt her take in a deep breath before leaning back on her feet and remained in a squatting position. She gave Katlin a queer look before looking over at the pirate captain.
"Oy, smooth skin," the female yelled over the sound within the ship, "I thought chu said Crazy said dis one nehva been fucked."
"I don't care if she has or not," the Captain yelled back, "the only fucking I care about is when I am doing it. And you better be in my cabin tonight."
"Cha, you wich smooth skin," the female replied laughing while looking back to Katlin. "So,chu done ride hes cock or not? Crazy say no but you smell lihk chu been rolling hunder hes sheets a while."
Katlin just stared at the female with a mixture of shock and anger on her face.
"What? Chu to prudish to tehl?" The female asked tilting her head to the left, "Oh ho, chu don't wahnt to share the good stohry den? Your bhig drahgon friend has to beh at least lohng as my own leg," to emphasize she stretched out her right leg while maintaining her balance, this also caused her shorts to ride further up her leg, "where de hell does he sthik et? No whay dat chu can take et all. Unless all he do es use your mouth lihk a fuck pocket, Es dat what he do? You haft no gag rehfelx?"
"Why is every so f-f-fucking interested if I slept with Deamos or not!" Katlin snapped angrily, her fur bristling."
"Eh? You fucked de Enforcer nuhamba one?" the female asked bringing her leg back under her, "I wahs unda de impreshion dat chu were some square."
"No I did not sleep with Deamos yet!" Katlin snarled bearing her teeth, "and e-e-e-ven if I did I w-w-would not discuss it with you."
"So who es da big fuck dat wahs chasen us?" The female asked leaning closer to Katlin, "if chu not slept wit em what da fuck he coming after chu?"
"That was not Deamos," Katlin explained in agitation, thumping her head to the deck in resignation, "that was, I think, Commander Delinach."
"Nehva heard of em," the female said leaning back to her original position, "hey, smooth skin! Chu hear oft dat big fuck Delinach?"
"If I knew about him do you think I would have fucking gone down here!" the Captain shouted over his shoulder in agitation. He was currently leaning into the cockpit and speaking with the pilot who was shaking his head vigorously and he kept pointing to a screen on his instrument panel that kept flashing numbers in red. Katlin of course could not see any of this from where she was tied up but the other female was watching the exchange with interest.
"Hey smhooth skin," the females shouted, making him look over his should again with an annoyed look, "what's de hold up?"
"Ships shields are compromised," the Captain responded in agitation, "we break atmosphere we get to experience space up close."
"Chu plahnen on sub orbit peek up?"
"That's the plan but nut-less here doesn't want to break cover."
"The canyon is the only thing keeping us alive Captain!" the pilot retorted angrily, "besides dodging that big fucking dragon we have every AA cannon locked onto us. We break cover there won't be enough left to identify anyone."
"You have two options," the Captain growled angrily, leaning close to the pilots face, "take your chances with me or take your chances with them." To stress his point the Captain had the barrel of his gun digging into the ribs of the pilot.
Cursing under his breath and muttering a prayer the pilot pulled the injured drop ship into a steep climb. So sudden was the ship climb that one of the pirates that had been at the back lost his footing and fell out screaming. Katlin herself began to roll out but was stopped when the odd female grabbed her and held her close burying her nose into Katlin's fur. The rest of the crew had grabbed straps, seats and any other hand hold as the drop ship went into a near vertical climb. The moment they broke the canyons surface bright flashes of light began erupting around the drop ship followed by bone jarring explosions.
"Shit oh shit," the pilot repeated through gritted teeth as one hand flew over one control panel after another, the other hand was fighting hard to maintain control of the yoke. "They are using some form of airburst plasma EMP charge!"
"I understood EMP," the Captain yelled over the noise, "what of it?"
"They are trying to take out the engines without destroying the ship! I can insulate the core systems but if something goes off right on us we are screwed;"
"We just broke 2500 feet, any free fall would kill us and I know they don't want Miss Redtail dead."
"Captain every drop ship has a FFTSS," the pilot replied chancing glance at the Captain, "survivability rates when deployed are 90 percent. Even if we crash they would still have us."
"Oh that system the Free Fall Transition something or another," the Captain replied sarcastically, his free hand reaching into one of the pockets on his duster, "the one that requires the master key to operate, looks kind of like this thing?" pulling his hand out and up so the pilot could see, he held an object roughly two inches long and was bright yellow with red stripes. "Just another incentive to not fucking get shot down."
The pilot for his part noticeably paled under his fur, "are you fucking insane!"
"Possibly," the Captain replied with a grin, putting the key back in his pocket, "now I would like back on my ship."
_ _ _
The March Hare had begun descending at a slow pace. Even at its controlled rate the bottom of the ship had begun to glow red from the friction of reentry. The large ship was being maneuvered so that it mirrored that of the approaching drop ship. The challenge the crew had was allowing the large ship to just break the atmosphere without getting completely caught up by the planets gravity which was providing to be exceedingly difficult. On the bridge alarms were going off as different control panels lit up indicating critical conditions throughout the ship. Targeting alarms were going off as well indicating income ships had painted them.
"Heat shields holding at 65 percent!" a bat yelled from his station, "but the engines are drawing more than twice their normal load and climbing. They are only going to be able to maintain current output for five minutes."
"How long until they reach us?" a female cougar asked from the captain's chair.
"Four minutes, if they don't get shot," down a rabbit replied from another station, "the AA fire is becoming increasingly accurate."
"Can we provide counter fire?" the cougar asked, looking over at the bat.
"We can provide covering fire but we run the risk of shooting them down," the bat replied.
"I will take that chance," the cougar stated, leaning forward in the seat slightly, "the Captain would kill all of us if we did nothing."
"But they have a Krilox Class Beam Cannons!" the bat protested, his eyes wide, "we start returning fire and we will be cut to shreds."
"Do it!" the cougar snarled, standing up from the chair and glaring at the bat. "Argue with me again and I will break every bone in your body." Looking over to the rabbit she snarled, "get engineering to transfer power to the belly of the ship and get me closer."
"But if they launch fighters. . ." the rabbit began before trailing off when he saw the look on the females face, "redirecting power."
"Christ on a cracker!" the Captain shouted in surprise as the drop ship preformed a hard bank to avoid fire coming directly at them, "I'm going to kill those fuckers when I get on board."
"They are going for the AA locations Captain," the pilot reported as he performed a series of hard rolls making the human grab hold of the pilot's chair.
"I know what they are fucking doing," the Captain snapped, "and it's not what I wanted! The fucking lizards are going to bring those two big guns they have to bare on my ship! You have ten seconds to get me on my ship!"
"But they are not in position!" the pilot snapped back just as angry, "I am not about to have my eyes sucked out of my head when we break atmosphere just so you can get back quicker."
"Would you prefer your guts on the outside?" the Captain snarled digging his gun barrel into the side of the pilot, "break atmosphere!"
"No!" The pilot responded looking at the Captain and baring his teeth, "no one has even basic field armor or a respirator! And those personal shield things of yours are not rated for zero atmospheres. We go higher we lose atmosphere and pass out then crash. We make it to space we get to enjoy decompression first hand."
"Fine," the Captain replied with a sadistic grin on his face. Pulling the trigger of his gun the report was deafening inside the cockpit. The pilot's body jerked hard against the seat restraints as blood and gore splattered against the left side of the cockpit. The drop ship began to pitch erratically as the dying coyote struggled with the controls. The Captain grabbed the ships controls with his free hand as he holstered his gun. With his now free hand he quickly unbuckled the pilot and unceremoniously dumped him from his seat. Climbing into the now empty seat he buckled himself in and quickly regained control of the erratic drop ship.
Katlin could not help feeling nauseas as the ship seemed to drop suddenly before sharply climbing again. The feeling did not subside when she saw the limp body of the pilot fall from the cockpit with a gaping wound to the left side of his torso. The body hit the deck at an awkward roll, assisted by the steep angle the ship was climbing, before glancing off the legs of a large bear nearly knocking him off his feet before rolling out the back of the ship.
"De Smooth Skin he geht real mahd sometimes," the female holding onto Katlin whispered into her ear, "but eft you are good den he treat chu real niiice," she emphasized her last statement by groping Katlin's breast.
"H-H-Hands of-f," Katlin stammered angrily, her hands going to the females and trying to stop the unwanted touch.
"I cahn let chu go if you want," the female replied, pulling Katlin tighter against her, "but you wouhld go out de back."
Katlin felt the urge to say some nasty retort but a little voice in her head told her that something bad was about to happen. As if on cue a large explosion rocked the drop ship making it drop sharply. But was more alarming was the sounds the ships engines were making, or the sounds they were not making. The realization that the ship was now in freefall was painfully evident to Katlin as she was being pressed even harder against the female holding her. Several more explosions rocked the ship knocking it into an uncontrolled spin. Squeezing her eyes tight Katlin waited for it to end.
"Are they in range?" The female cougar asked angrily, looking from the forward display to the bat on her right.
"Just within range," the bat replied nervously, he was eyeing a screen in front of him displaying a wireframe model of the drop ship, "but we might kill some on the drop ship."
"Do it," the cougar snapped, "they are all dead if we don't."
"Launchers are primed and ready, but I want you to know the system was not designed for this purpose."
"Fire the damn launchers you flying rat!" the cougar snarled, standing from the captain's chair with her teeth and claws bared.
Swallowing, the bats winged fingers passed over the controls in front of him sending multiple shudders throughout the length of the ship.
Another jolt rocked the ship followed by the screech of ripping metal. Katlin let out a scream as something struck close to where she was. Opening her eyes she saw what could only be described as a five or six foot metal spear nearly a two feet in diameter with an impressive cable attached to the back end. Said spear was embedded in the wall not six inches from her head.
"Smaht of dem to do dis," the female holding onto Katlin said loud enough for her to hear.
Before Katlin could even begin to ponder what the female meant the 'spear' let out a loud mechanical click. The sides of the 'spear' fell forward slightly into three arms and that was when Katlin realized that they were in fact large harpoons. The harpoon suddenly retracted back towards the hole it came through with the arms catching preventing it from exiting. This action caused the falling ship to stop suddenly throwing everyone to the deck, while the spinning made everyone not on the outside of the spin slide to the opposite side and back of the ship. Another pirate ended up getting tossed out the back of the ship during this, screaming and flailing as he went.
The drop ship was now spinning in the same manner a yo-yo does when just let to dangle and Katlin could feel herself getting sick. Several more hard jolts struck the ship with three more of the harpoons going through the troop bay before retracing and stopping the ship from spinning. Groaning Katlin held her hand to her mouth and tried to will her stomach to be nice. Looking from where the harpoon had been moments earlier her eyes drifted towards the back of the ship and she realized that drop ship was still at a precarious angel. Not the near vertical as before but she was sure she could not walk anywhere without being tied off to something. What caught her attention next made her look to the far wall, the metal was groaning and she could see small cracks forming along the length of the ship where the arms of the harpoon was pressing against.
As if reading her mind two of the pirates still towards the rear of the ship began to frantically climb towards the front. A loud crack made them stop and look up at her both had a look of fear in their eyes. A second audible crack was heard and the back half of the drop ship broke, it did not separate completely being held together only by a few beams but it did cause the ship to spin anew in a rather violent fashion. A third loud crack sounding different from the others was heard and Katlin saw what looked to be the harpoon that had been holding onto the back go cart wheeling out into the sky. That confused her for a moment until she felt the ship jump violently and stop spinning while the back half finally broke free falling towards the ground.
"Poor sods," the bear stated watching the back half fall away.
"Eh? It was dem or us," the female replied casually, "et was de right cahl."
Back at the hall calm had begun to reestablish itself. The dragon guards were searching throughout the large building looking for any remaining pirates. Those that had been captured or had surrendered had been executed on the spot with a round to the back of the head. Those that continued to fight met the full might of the guard as higher power weapons came out, even with their personal shield units they were quickly removed from the living plane of existence with not much left to identify them with. Commander Ross was standing by the unmoving Deamos while the elder dragon was sitting next to him holding one of her hands over his head.
"Es de bihg fuhk deed dis tihme?" Commander Ross asked, leaning over slightly and looking over the female dragons shoulder.
"Language Shoufahng," the elder dragon chided, "and no, he is not dead. That weapon the . . . human was it? Used was using a combination of new and very old technology. A percussion based projectile incorporating what appears to be a dark matter rail slide."
"Mhy Enforcers use de rahil sleed tech," Commander Ross replied with alarm, "How de fuhk deed dis hoomahn geht hes paws on et?"
"Shoufahng, language," the elder dragon chided again, "you have been in the trenches to long my friend for you speak as they do more and more."
"Da, mahbee truhe," Caommander Ross replied, "bout de sleed tech. Dat es X95 Clahsefeecation. Soo how he geht et?"
"Sykon would be my first guess Shoufahng," the elder dragon commented in a non committal tone, "but what is more alarming is the damage done by the combination of the two technologies. That is the bigger threat. We tried similar designs in the past but the dark matter slides tended to react violently with everything we experimented with which is why we went with the solid energy design. But just now we witnessed a working model and how effective it was against level three body armor and against Deamos. We both know a regular blast from a standard weapon would have just made Deamos angry, for a single shot to put him down . . .now that is dangerous and the origin of the design and material for this weapon must be found and eradicated."
"De hoomahn sahd et wahs eh old weahopn," Commander Ross said thoughtfully, standing back up, "I tink he sahd et wahs ah pe . . . peh . . . gah . . . et has chu beh ah nahtive word foom hes plahnet. Et fehls lehk mud en mhy mouth."
"His planet is a small planet on the other side of the Aldrian Rift," the elder dragon stated, " it is called 'Earth' in the native language and is comprised mostly of water. There are several species of Humans on the planet; none seems to get along with each other. They are violent, compulsive, short lived, incredibly persistent and have moments of unbelievable foresight and intelligence. Their military though large is not all that powerful, they do have superior shield technology, something to do with their bodies' not handling radiation all that well."
Commander Ross raised any eyebrow slightly, "Chu know dis how?"
"We have been intercepting Imperium transmissions," the elder dragon stated simply, "the Imperium thinks their communications are impenetrable but we broke their new code within ten minutes of them implementing it. They are actually planning to switch to a more rapid and random frequency hop next week, but we don't let them know that we know. But to your question, the Imperium has actually been at war with the Humans for almost two hundred years. It was not until the last century or so that it escalated to full open warfare. The Empire has been spared the brunt of Human expansion due to the Imperium constantly fighting and keeping them from passing the Aldrian Rift. From the reports we have gathered the Humans have been giving the Imperium a run for their money."
"Why chu nhot tehl de Empire dis?" asked Commander Ross in an angry tone, "Whe couhld havt het dem on too fronts. No mohr Imperium. Brhing sohme reahl peahs chu de sehctor."
"I don't think Humans would see it that way," the elder dragon said calmly, looking back at Commander Ross, "you heard him refer to us as animals? Humans do not see any of us as anything more than that. It does not matter that we speak, have government or even a military. To them we are animals. From what information my own sources have gathered their home planet has many similar species to us that are considerably less evolved. From what I have seen in the reports any they capture has been put on a table and opened up to see what was inside. No to attack the Imperium would descend the whole area into a genocidal conflict with the Humans reaping the rewards."
"Wehl eft noht atahk leht de Empire know so de keen haft sheeps reahdy."
"We have already. A delegation went to the core worlds, no small feat mind you. But we allowed the heads of state to review what we learned, what they choose to do with it is on them. You had noticed the increase in ship building correct? We have already shored up our own boarders and because of this recent event it has demonstrated a glaring weakness in our defenses. Easily rectified and thankfully it was just the one ship."
"Chu cohld oft sahd somting eahrlyr," Commander Ross shouted angrily, "Ah cohld haft had de Revalon ohn der ahs while Delinach was oft playing wit de pirates."
"With your entire crew planet side and your ship in dry-dock?"
"Pohnt tahken," Commander Ross fumed angrily
"They are not going anywhere Shoufahng," the elder dragon said in a calm voice looking back to Deamos, "Miss Redtail will be back with us before the day is over."
"Ah hop sho," stated Commander Ross, worry edging her voice, "eft noht, chu gonna be da one explahnin et to Deamos noht meh."
_ _ _
Katlin could scarcely believe what she was seeing as the bay doors closed beneath the drop ship. With a resolute sounding boom the large doors closed and sealed. Moments later Katlin felt the drop ship shudder as it was slowly lowered to the deck. As it was laid down in a more horizontal position Katlin was able to look out the back and actually get her first look of the inside of the larger ship.
It did not have the same well maintained look that the Revalon had it appeared grungier but Katlin could still tell that the ship at one point was military. She saw a second ship further down the bay that did not look like a drop ship or any other that she was familiar with. Frowning she tried to make sense of the steep angles that were the primary characteristic of the ship. Struggling to sit up Katlin broke from the arms of the female holding her in an attempt to get a better look at the ship. The different perspective did not help with making any more sense of the other ship.
"Like it?" the Captain said, startling Katlin. Looking back over her shoulder Katlin saw the pirate captain was now sporting a nasty gash across his brow that was openly bleeding down the left side of his face. "I call that little thing a Thrasher. The UEMC called it a XD-15 Penetrator or some crap."
"look et her fahse," the female next to Katlin said in a taunting voice, "She dohnt know what de UEMC es."
"United Earth Military Command, "the Captain said, walking around in front of Katlin and squatting down, "and you darling they would pay pretty penny to get. A military tech expert that understands the tech of the ones they are fighting against." Katlin's eyes got big with surprise.
"I thought y-y-y-y-you where t-t-turning me over to Sykon," Katlin managed to squeak out.
"Oh I am," the Captain said in a comical tone, "only because the UEMC would pay more to see me dead. They don't take kindly when you steal a battle ship carrying one of their prototype heavy fighters."
"Is that where your kind are from?" Katlin asked raising any eyebrow.
"You know," the Captain said dryly, his hand shooting out and grabbing Katlin's jaw painfully, "for a talking animal you say some dumb things. Take your question for instance you said 'Kind' with same inflection one would when talking about some nasty little critter. Sykon said I was to give you to him intact, knowing his sick little mind I suspect he wants to fuck you for himself and does not want to take sloppy seconds. Though I might be able to get away with a few broken bones if you prove troublesome."
"F-F-Fuck off," Katlin stated angrily.
"Chu know smooth skin," the odd female said, snaking her way around Katlin so her arms were draped over both of her shoulder and her head resting on her own right arm, "you cohld let meh play with her for a bit." She raider her head slightly and licked Katlin's her making her tense up, "nohting to bahd. Just ah leetl fun."
"No," the Captain stated narrowing his eyes slightly and releasing Katlin's jaw, "no one touches her." Standing he looked over to the large bear still in the drop ship, "Gunmar, take her to a holding cell and make sure she is . . . comfortable." Turning on his heel the Captain walked towards the back of the ship.
"What de heel," the female said angrily, "chu trust that fuhk but not meh?"
"He's gay," the Captain stated over his shoulder.
"What's that supposed to fucking mean?" Gunmar asked angrily, his voice rumbling in his chest.
"You don't dig chicks," the Captain said from outside the drop ship, turning he pointed at the female, "she does. Now get her down into one of the cells." Turning back around, he walked to the far end of the bay.
"Time to move," Gunmar stated, grabbing Katlin under her arm and hauling her to her feet, "I will cut the rope around your feet, but you try anything stupid and I will drag you there by your tail. Get it?"
"Yes," Katlin replied, her ears wilting slightly. Gunmar pulled a rather large knife from his belt and made a point of showing it to Katlin before went to a knee and with one jerk of his knife he cut the bonds around her ankles. Standing back up Gunmar placed a large paw rested on Katlin's shoulder.
"Move," Gunmar ordered, pushing Katlin forward. Walking forward Katlin looked over her right shoulder and saw the odd female was still sitting and had her arms crossed and a very angry scowl on her face.
* * *
Commander Ross sat at a small simple desk looking over a data pad. Across from her sat Marcus who had a very nervous look on her face as her eyes went from Commander Ross to the dark shadow standing in the corner. Marcus assumed that the one in the corner was Commander Delinach being the breathing and eyes were all wrong to be Deamos. Looking up from the data pad Commander Ross gave Marcus a critical look before looking back at the data pad.
"Is there a reason you asked for me Ma'am?" Marcus asked flatly, glancing over to Delinach to see if there was a reaction before looking back at Commander Ross.
"Da," Commander Ross simply stated without looking up.
Marcus waited to see if more was forthcoming, when none seemed to be coming she pressed her question, "is there more to this or am I going to get only one word answers?"
"Dahre es mohre chu dis Comhander Marcus," Commander Ross stated looking up at the surprised female wolf.
"I think you misspoke," said Marcus in a surprised tone, so surprised her ears were fully perked and pointed forward.
"Marcus I ahm promohtin chu to Heed Enforcer, ahs oft 2255. Yohur rahnk wihl beh Comhander 1st Clahs. Congrahchulachons on chu advahncemeent witin de Enforcer Corps, et es nhot essy chu atahin sooch rahnk."
"How the fuck can I be the ranking officer?" Marcus nearly shouted standing from her chair, "you can't have two of them and last I check Deamos was the one holding that spot."
"Demthoiousen Falchion es deed," Commander Ross stated bluntly, shocking Marcus such that her jaw dropped and she practically fell into her chair, "He wahs pronoonceed et 2250. Chu ahre now de rahnkin Enforcer."
Marcus looked numbly at a small clock on the desk of Commander Ross. The bright red number cheerily displayed 2308. Blinking when she saw the time Marcus felt anger boil past the shock and she stood slowly and placed both her hands onto the table. Leaning forward slightly she spoke calmly and quietly, "His body is not even cold, yet and you want me to step into his place? You have some balls. He warned me of how cold you were, always calculating not giving a damn about anything but the mission. If you think you are going to play me in the same manner you can go fuck yourself."
"Et wahs nicht ah queshon or rehqueest," stated Commander Ross giving Marcus critical look, unmoved by the quiet outburst, "thurn en chu wehpon or acceept chu pohsstion. Deamos wahs geeven de shaam opchion."
"Fuck you!" Marcus Snarled, pushing away from the table hard enough to push it back an inch. Turning she stormed out."
"Will she take the position Shoufahng?" Delinach asked, his voice coming out as rumble.
"Da, jest geev her ah beet," Commander Ross replied without looking over at the larger dragon.
"I still do not understand your plan," stated Delinach, his voice taking on an annoyed tone, "telling them that he is dead does not help our position. It would work better to just let them believe he was still undergoing medical treatment."
"Actually it is a rather good plan," the elder dragon's voice interrupted as she walked in the room, "why not let it be known that the most feared enforcer of Galactic Law died, during a pirate raid none the less? Why it might embolden every rouge faction, every criminal, every out law to suddenly start attacking shipping lanes. Forcing the hand of both the Imperium and the Empire to act, thus creating a stalling move." The elder dragon sat in the chair that Marcus had previously been in. "The Empire can tell that the Imperium in preoccupied. They have been building up their forces per our warning regarding the Humans. Unfortunately those that do not know the reason for this see it as a move towards war with the Imperium. The Imperium is aware of the build up as well and the increased presence of Imperium Warships on the border has put both sides on edge."
<So tell the renegades why the Empire is doing it> Delinach growled angrily.
<And let them know we can listen in? I think not> the elder dragon replied.
"Cohman pleahs," requested Commander Ross, rubbing her temples with her fingers.
"Apologies Shoufahng," the elder dragon said, "I tend to forget you cannot speak OldDrahknaliss."
"Ah cahn speahk Drahknaliss," Commander Ross replied, "ah jhust don leek chu. Et es haard on mhy vohyc."
"As I was saying," the elder dragon continued, "with increased pirate activity the Empire will be busy instead of bringing more ships to the boarder and increasing tension. The Imperium's own pirate activity will increase, but it is more rampant within the Empire. If things work the way I hope this will provide enough of a distraction for both sides to allow an operative to get past the Imperium and into Human controlled space. Once there they will locate the source of the metal that was used in the construction of that Human gun."
"It's a hot metal," Delinach said in a bored tone, "why all the grand planning. We send a small strike team into Human controlled space hit a few of their colonies; see if the metal is there. We collect enough of it and make it here. With how far the Humans are behind the Imperium we should have no problem duplicating the material."
"Ef et whas dat shimpl," began Commander Ross, "weh wohld do jhust dat."
"So what is the problem?" Delinach asked, crossing his arms in annoyance.
"The metal itself is a refined element that is actually quiet common throughout the universe," the elder dragon stated, "the issue is that Humans seem to have a some element that they add to it that is not readily available this side of the Aldrian Rift. This small adjustment makes the metal very hot but it also makes so that it reacts differently with the dark mater slide rail. The other issue is that we have learned is that this metal breaks down relatively quickly comparatively speaking of course. Meaning that the metal only stays in its current state for so long before its complete make up changes and it no longer reacts in a . . . positive . . . manner with the dark matter."
"En odder wohds," Commander Ross said, "et cahnt beh used ahfter et pahs true dahk mahter."
"So we are not looking for the metal really," Delinach said, raising an eyeridge, "we want the additive."
"Exactly," the elder dragon replied, "but I have a feeling we find the metal we should be able to find the element they are adding."
"So who is being sent?" Delinach asked.
"Ah tink Deamos wohld feet dat bill perfecht," Commander Ross replied, leaning back in her chair.