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The shuttle craft they had used to come across from the Shadow's Claw to the Slirkstrith settled into a landing in the ark ship's shuttle bay.

Jake, Sintas, Rhokki and Voph debarked and began to make their way across the platform to the back wall of the bay, where the elevators are located.

Rhokki was absolutely stunned by what he saw. He had a background in engineering and he was fascinated by machinery, drive systems, and ships in general. He'd studied the Slirkstrith in the past and was a fan of the ship, but he was not prepared for the scale of it all once seen with his own eyes. He craned his head this way and that and even straight up as he gawked at the size of the shuttle bay and saw the hundreds of cargo ships and shuttles of various sizes sitting on the 'tarmac' that stretched all around the cylinder. The bay was almost large enough for the Shadow's Claw to fly right in and park, but not quite.

Sintas too seemed daunted by the size of it and even the zeth seemed to be rubber-necking.

Jake smiled as he watched the reactions of his companions. He remembered how blown away he'd been by all of this the first time he saw it. It still impressed the hell out of him.

He couldn't wait to show Rhokki the jungle; though he worried that once the big lion got loose in there they might never see him again. He would enjoy it immensely. There was a great deal of stalking and hunting to be done in the thirty mile long, wild, steamy jungle that stretched the full way around the cylinder.

Jake looked around at the shuttle bay and all of the activity here. It was far busier than he'd ever seen it before.

He saw that all of the massive cargo containers that had been 'stacked' in zero gravity near the center of the bay had been moved to the back wall and were attached there. All of the cargo ships and shuttles had been clamped to the floor of the bay by thick booms that extended up from the tarmac to lock them in place. All of this must have been done to secure everything against the emergency braking burn the Slirkstrith was going to be executing, but that had been canceled when the Shadow's Claw showed her thrusters to them.

Several of the partially disabled fighters that were too damaged to safely maneuver back into their launch gantries in the exposed spinning inner cylinder had to come into the shuttle bay instead.

Some completely disabled fighter craft had been pulled in by what looked like small tugs, and were now dangling beneath them from cables as they were lowered back into gravity to be set down on the tarmac for repairs.

Other shuttles had also come in after collecting pilots who had been stranded, floating in space after their fighter ships were destroyed or disabled.

There were several siskreth fighter pilots here and there getting out of their flight suits and being checked over by medical staff.

Amidst the organized chaos there was some commotion off to one side and he suddenly heard a loud roar and a deep and powerful voice boomed, "Jake! By the Old Mother! This cannot be!"

He looked over where more fighter pilots had been getting out of their space suits after being retrieved, and there was a massive white polar bear charging him at top speed, forcing siskreths to shout and dive out of the way or be run over.

He barely had time to recognize his friend Chet, and even as he wondered what he was doing here instead of staying back on the Shadow's Claw, the huge bear launched himself at Jake and enveloped the shocked man in a mass of white fur. He'd grabbed Jake in a bear hug and rolled on the floor and finally came to a stop on his back holding the man tightly against him as though afraid he might slip away and vanish.

Jake wiggled to try to get free, but Chet continued to hold on and began to lick at him and plant kisses all over him like Jake was the love of his life and the bear hadn't seen him in ages.

Chet was wracked with fits of powerful emotion as he continued to roar intermittently and then whimper while tears streamed down his face and he repeatedly kissed at Jake, and then he shouted, "I saw your ship destroyed with my own eyes as I floated disabled in mine! I saw a missile hit you directly and vaporize you! How is it that you are here? Have I gone insane? My little one! My love! There are no longer any mind maps! I thought I had lost you forever!"

The massive bear squeezed Jake so hard he could barely breathe while he rubbed his face lovingly against Jake's cheek and rolled back and forth on the floor with him squeezed against his chest, and he whimpered with uncontainable emotion.

Rhokki and Sintas moved in to try to help Jake extricate himself by pulling at the bear's massive paws and suddenly Chet went insane with rage.

He rolled to his side and set Jake on the floor then stood over him on his hind legs, rearing up to his full ten foot height. He faced the lions and roared long and loud at them with spittle flying from his mouth, baring his long, white teeth and waving his massive paws towards them like he would kill them in an instant if they came any closer.

All of the siskreth crewmen nearby immediately scattered in fear that a thousand pounds of raging bear was about to come down hard on anyone who stayed too close.

The two big cats backed away in shock at his behavior. The lions were large and dangerous, but the polar bear was more than twice their size and could likely take them out with one swipe of his massive paws with their long, black claws.

Chet was not going to let anyone near Jake. He thought he'd lost the only person he'd ever come to love deeply, the only person he wanted to share the rest of his life with, and he was not going to let these strangers take him away again.

Jake's mind worked frantically to try to figure out what the hell was going on, and he quickly realized this was not his Chet. This wasn't the bear he'd been having so much fun with in the fighter simulator and had become great friends with. This was Chet 2, the one who'd been resurrected right here on the Slirkstrith just over six weeks ago, after his favors had been cut off on Ausku's home world three months before that. This Chet and the other Jake must have developed exactly the type of relationship Jake had fantasized about while he'd been having so much fun with Chet back on the Shadow's Claw.

He could easily imagine, given his almost uncontrollable desire for sex, that with no Srythryn to help him satisfy his needs for the last five weeks, Jake must have pestered and wheedled and cajoled the beautiful bear until he finally wore him down and the big bear relented and allowed Jake to explore him. That must be what had happened. Jake was already secretly in love with his Chet so he could certainly see how if they became intimate it would lead to a deep emotional connection.

Jake 2 was dead, and so was Srythryn 2. Ausku 2 never came into being as she was still in the resurrection process aboard the jinvhon ship when it had dissolved in orbit around her home world. That left Chet 2. He was still alive and well. He must have been in the same squadron of Juggernauts as Jake had been! They were both pilots!

It made sense in a way. The universe must have some strange way of seeking its proper balance. When Jake had first met Srythryn on the shuttle from Earth, the croc had told him how certain organic compounds always wanted to assemble in roughly the same ways throughout the universe. Perhaps this was some sort of macroscopic version of the same process at play. Given the similar circumstances, the two pairs naturally gravitated towards the same ends. Jake and Chet had both gotten into training in the simulators on the Shadow's Claw and according to Mak they had shown an aptitude for it. Why not the same thing here on the Slirkstrith? Jake 2 would have been going straight into the fighter pilot program to try to get certified as quickly as possible to regain his immortality. Chet 2 must have had some reason of his own to join him in the program, just as this Jake had joined Chet on the Claw. Over the past five weeks the two must have developed a close and intimate relationship while Srythryn 2 was going through the resurrection process.

The poor bear had witnessed the death of his love when Mak was forced to stop Jake 2 from destroying the satellite warhead. It must have been devastating to watch it happen.

"Chetichwal! What is the meaning of this behavior? I order you to stand down!" Sintas shouted.

"Who are you to order me?!" Chet roared, "You are rhuxus! You are the enemy! It was your people who dissolved my match's world! I should kill you where you stand!"

Jake jumped up and stood in front of Chet and threw his arms up to get the raging bear's attention and shouted, "Chet, stop! They're friends! They've done nothing wrong! I'm with them! Calm down, please!"

Chet looked down at Jake with a puzzled look on his face and asked, "What are you talking about? How can you be with them? You were with me up until less than an hour ago. We fought together. I watched you die and it nearly killed me! What is happening?"

"Can you come down from there so we can talk?" Jake asked.

The massive bear dropped back down to all fours and Jake stepped forward and hugged him around the neck.

"There are some things I have to explain to you. You're not going to like them, but I need you to try to accept things. We don't have much time. The captain is waiting for us in a briefing room. We're still in deep trouble and we need to find some way out of it so I don't have the time to explain things gently..."

Mak suddenly appeared from somewhere and said, "I've been looking all over for you guys! This place is massive! They didn't give me clear instructions on where to land. I was almost half way around the cylinder from here. Can you believe the size of this place? I heard some commotion over here, what's going on?"

He noticed the polar bear and said, "Chet? What are you doing here?"

The bear looked the young bull up and down and said in a frustrated growl, "I've never met you before in my life. How do you know my name? Why do you act like I should know you?"

A look of realization suddenly dawned on Mak's face and he turned to Jake and asked, "Is this their Chet?"

Jake nodded.

"What is happening?" Chet asked in a louder voice, "I demand to know!"

The powerful bear was clearly beginning to build towards another explosive rage so Jake turned to Sintas and asked, "Would it be alright if you all went ahead and I followed in the next elevator?"

Sintas looked at Chet for a moment, wondering if she should trust the dangerous bear with Jake, but she quickly realized that while everyone else was in danger, Jake was the only one who was safe. She nodded and asked Rhokki, Mak and Voph to come with her. She led them to an elevator and they got aboard and disappeared into the floor.

Jake turned back to Chet and said, "I'm sorry for all of this. There's something you need to know right away. The Jake you knew really did die out there. I'm not him."

Chet's face began to twist into a look of anger, then grief, then utter confusion again, and then he asked, "What do you mean you're not him? How could you not be? I know you! I love you! Yet...I did see you die with my own eyes. You must be dead...yet here you stand. You clearly know me so you are him. I don't understand this."

"There were two Jakes, and this may come as a shock but, there are two of you too. It happened as a result of our suspicious 'deaths' by vaporization. We didn't really die. Neither one of us. We had the communication of our favors cut off and it triggered our resurrections, but we were still alive and going on with our lives, oblivious to the fact that there was another one of us stewing in the pot. I ended up on that rhuxus ship out there, and by total fluke so did you, the other you that is."

The bear looked confused at first, but then a look of dawning realization came over him as he grasped what Jake was saying and he said, "There is another me?"

Jake nodded and smiled and said, "There is. He and I are great friends. I love him, though I've never told him how strongly I truly feel for him."

"So you are saying I never died? I somehow ended up aboard that rhuxus ship? I was resurrected in error? What about Ausku? Did she not die either?"

"She's alive and well. We left her on another planet, so she's not aboard the Shadow's Claw. She's doing some important work for us."

"The other me, he is still aboard this Shadow's Claw?"

"Yes, he is. He's been training to become a fighter pilot and a member of the crew. We've both been going through the training together. We've been having a ton of fun. He and I have become close friends."

"Only friends? You've never been intimate with him?" Chet asked.

"No. I've fantasized about it often, but I had the impression that he was not going to be interested in that sort of thing so I never tried to approach him in that way."

Chet smiled briefly as he remembered how through his whole long life he had been convinced of his own heterosexuality, and how quickly that had changed once he met Jake while under the influence of his post-hibernation mating drive induced by the resurrection process. The urge to procreate had simply been the catalyst to reveal to Chet who he really was and why he'd never truly been in love or completely happy before. The intense attraction he felt to Jake was undeniable and his deep love for the man grew from it, spurred by the fun they'd had together as they tested each other in the simulator, and in the bedroom. Jake was the world to him now and he could not imagine life without him. The other Chet was a fool for not seeing what he was missing out on.

He suddenly got a look of intense sadness and said, "I have lost the love of my life. You were the most amazing thing that had ever happened to me. I had no idea how happy I could be until you came into my life. I have made love to you every day since the first day we met and each time has been more wonderful than the time before. Nothing ever made me happier than I was when I held you against me. When I watched you die, I felt that I would be alone for the rest of my life. There would never be anyone who could replace you. We have been through so much together in these past weeks. It is so hard to look at you and know that you are not him and you do not remember any of it. I share those wonderful memories with no one now. I feel like I don't want to let you out of my sight, yet even though I feel I know you so well, you don't know me. This is so hard to understand."

"I know it's got to be a shock," Jake said, "If it helps any, just think of the fact that I really am him and I do sort of know you. I've had a crush on you, the other you, for a while. I think we can easily get back to where you were with the other me. It may take a bit of time, but I really am him, so I like all the same things. We were identical in a sense, with just a few months of different experiences, but I really am him. I find you just as attractive as he did. I find you to be just as much fun as he did. I know it may not seem right somehow, but I'm frankly excited about this. I want you to know I'm more than willing to get right back to where you were with him as soon as you feel ready. It may get a bit complicated because I've had so many experiences with the other you so I know him better, but he's you and you're him, so anything you like, he would like too. Knowing him well means I know you well, so loving him means I love you. If you love me, the other me, then the other you would love me quite easily too. I'm thinking he might be surprised at the revelation that he would enjoy sex with a male. This is going to be a bit complicated, but we'll figure it out somehow. We just need to give it time."

There was a 'bong' and Srythryn's voice came over the intercom and he said, "Jake, I have just been contacted by Captain Sintas. She is on her way to the briefing room and she told me of your run-in with our Chetichwal. Is everything alright back there?"

"Everything is fine. Chet is understandably confused. Would it be alright if I brought him along to our briefing if he wants to come?"

"Yes, of course. Thriststris was shocked when I told him of the death of your other self. Communications have been completely blocked here so he was not yet aware of it. He explained the attachment that your other self had formed with Chetichwal and it ran very deep. I had never mentioned it to you, but your other self and the other Chet had been intimate just after your resurrection and I could already see that you were developing an affection for him as the two of you played in the simulator. I had made arrangements to modify our home so that Chet could stay in it with us and they must have spent all of the last five weeks together. He has suffered a great loss and I can imagine that having suddenly found you again, he would not want you to leave his sight. If he wishes, he is welcome to join us. Please make your way here as quickly as you can. We must begin to discuss how we will deal with the Jinvhon threat."

"We're on our way," Jake said, and then he asked Chet, "Do you want to come along? We're in great danger so we need to rush. I can explain more of what's going on along the way."

Chet nodded and followed Jake into an elevator.

During the very long ride all the way towards the front of the hundred mile long ship, Jake explained everything to Chet right up to the moment they rode the shuttle over from the Shadow's Claw, including the truth about the First Ones.

Occasionally, a look of anguish would cross the big bear's face as he realized again that his Jake was really gone, but at the same time he struggled with the idea that this Jake was exactly the same person, with the five weeks he and Chet had shared sort of wiped from his mind as though from amnesia. It was easier to take that way because it meant they simply needed to get to know each other once more. They were the same people so they would be exactly as they'd been in no time. They simply needed to start building new memories of new experiences that they would share.

It was such a strange thing to have happen, but as they spoke to each other more and more to the point of finishing each other's thoughts and sentences like an old couple who knew each other very well would do, both of them quickly began to realize they would fall right into whatever groove they'd been in before. It was simply a matter of time.

Jake's heart was beating quite quickly as he felt like the bear he'd had a crush on for so long was suddenly madly in love with him, yet this really wasn't quite the bear he'd had a crush on. It seemed completely inappropriate, but somehow he wanted to find a quiet place and get busy exploring Chet 2 like he'd been fantasizing about for so long. It would feel almost like he was taking advantage of his Chet and getting to know him intimately and enjoying his body without his knowledge or consent. He resolved to not do anything with this Chet until he'd sat down and had a long talk with his Chet back on the Shadow's Claw.

His head was spinning from this unexpected meeting, but he couldn't shake the excitement he felt about it.

He remembered how his Chet had said he found it somehow comforting to know there was another him out there somewhere. Jake hoped he'd still feel the same way once he actually met his double. He thought about how much he might enjoy a future with two Chets in it. Life was going to suddenly be a whole lot more interesting, as if it hadn't been interesting enough already.

After their long conversation was finally done, they hugged tightly and held each other for a long moment.

"I feel immense relief," Chet said as Jake squeezed his neck, "I have not lost my love at all. You are right here with me. You really are him."

They felt the elevator slowing to a stop and they broke the hug.

Jake couldn't stop grinning at the massive bear and Chet smiled right back as the elevator rose up and opened onto a wide hallway.

The green track on the floor led them to a briefing room where all of the others sat and waited for them.

Rhokki and Sintas were looking a bit nervous as the massive white bear entered the room, but they relaxed immediately when they saw him smiling.

Chet went over to Sintas and said, "I wish to apologize for my behavior earlier. As I'm sure you must understand, it was somewhat of a shock to see the love of my life, who I had watched die, suddenly appear alive and in the midst of the enemy. Jake has explained the situation and I realize now that you are in fact responsible for him coming back into my life. This version of him would have died months ago had you not rescued him from the miquanowan sacred planet. For that I am deeply in your debt."

Sintas smiled and said, "We have all gained immeasurably by having 'rescued him', as you put it, from the planet. No debt is owed. I am sorry for your loss. I can only assume that the Jake you knew was as wonderful as the one here with us now."

Chet said, "He was indeed, but he still is. In the brief time we spoke on the elevator I have already come to realize that this is the same man I fell deeply in love with. We do not share the same memories but I will greatly enjoy telling this Jake every detail of my adventures with the other."

"I assume Jake has apprised you of the situation with the First Ones and the truth of what they are?" Srythryn asked.

Chet nodded and said, "I have not had time to process it fully. It was truly a shock, but if what he says is true, I will gladly throw my lot in with all of yours and do everything in my power to help."

"We will be having a quick series of orientation sessions with the entire crew in which we will show the evidence that has been compiled against the First Ones by the zeths. I wish everyone to know what it is we are fighting for, and fighting against," Srythryn said, "For now, you'll have to take us at our word. I have quite possibly sacrificed my entire race in an attempt to disarm the First Ones and remove them as a threat to the entire collective of races, and we must now deal with the fallout of that failed attempt. The entire Jinvhon fleet is now racing in towards our location to destroy us, and my home world."

"What is our status now?" Sintas asked, "Has the Shadow's Claw completed her docking maneuver yet?"

Srythryn shook his head and said, "Not yet, but it will be done within minutes. We will not be drastically changing course until your ship is firmly attached to ours. We have built a tremendous amount of momentum and since we did not engage in emergency braking procedures, we still have to bleed it off. Our navigator has plotted a course that will bring us near some of the outer planets to use them for braking assist and redirect us in a spiral orbit back inward so that we can slow down while coming back in range of my planet, where we will be able to use the planet itself, and its two moons, to slow us down the rest of the way as originally planned, but without the need for extreme braking thrust. It will take significantly longer to slow us, but it will still allow us to engage the jinvhon ships before they can reach the planet."

"I think the planet is likely safe until they achieve their primary objective, which will be to destroy the Shadow's Claw," Sintas said.

Srythryn nodded and said, "With your ship inside of our shields and docked with us, our vessels are essentially one and the same now. They will have to destroy the Slirkstrith in order to destroy the Shadow's Claw, and we will show them that that will be no easy task."

"Are you saying we might stand a chance against all of those warships?" Jake asked.

"No, we cannot prevail, but we can certainly put a serious dent in their numbers. With a great deal of luck we may even hold out long enough to prevent them destroying my home world before the zeth forces can catch up to them and engage and destroy what's left of the jinvhon fleet. We need to take down as many of them as we can to ensure the success of the zeths in defending my planet. In the end, that is all that really matters. We must ensure the survival of my race," Srythryn said.

"It doesn't seem like there's much strategy to discuss then," Jake said, "All we can do is fight as hard as we can for as long as we can until they finally wear us down and kill us."

Srythryn shrugged and said, "The Slirkstrith is powerful, but there is only so much we can do before we exhaust the energy in our buffer. The outcome is inevitable and unavoidable. Their numbers are too great."

Chet cleared his throat.

Srythryn looked over at him and said, "You are a valued member of my crew, Chetichwal. If you wish to speak, do not hesitate."

"It is only that I am put in mind of the final battle in the simulator when Jake and I achieved our certification. We were pitted against Thriststris, and his skill alone in his more maneuverable Rapier was more than equal to ours combined. We would not have been able to beat him and he would eventually have worn us down and taken us out, were it not for a desperate move I made. I allowed my buffer to charge fully, then I rushed at him with my shields down and spilled the stored antimatter into the internals of the ship to instantly annihilate the mass of it, and the resulting powerful explosion stripped Thriststris' ship of its shields, cracked its hull open, and left him completely disabled. My intent was to sacrifice myself in order to ensure Jake's survival, and his victory. It worked."

"That sounds like an exciting battle that I will enjoy reviewing when I have more time, but I fail to see the connection. Are you suggesting that we self-destruct the Slirkstrith to try to take out the jinvhon forces?" Srythryn asked.

"I am suggesting just that, Captain. You said so yourself; it is the planet you are attempting to save. Are you not willing to at least consider sacrificing your ark ship and its nearly forty thousand occupants in order to save the billions on your home world and the future of your entire race? If you try to fight them in the normal way they will eventually wear you down and destroy you, leaving your planet open to attack by not only them, but all of the other forces that will follow in behind them. They will destroy this ship and your planet. If you can destroy the jinvhon fleet yourself, it will leave nothing in between the zeths forces and your planet and they can take a defensive position around it and still be at full power to prepare to face whatever other forces come in to the system.

"Your antimatter buffer is large enough that it would be close to the power of a small solar nova if it all annihilated at once with the mass of the jinvhon ships. The initial detonation would annihilate the containment and spray the remaining antimatter in the buffer outward to annihilate with the matter of all of the jinvhon ships within range. The amount of energy released by that amount of matter conversion would ensure that any that were not in range of the initial vaporization would likely be destroyed by the shock wave of the blast. We would simply need to somehow lead them well away from the planet in order to protect it from the explosion. As Captain Sintas has said, the planet is likely safe until the jinvhon have achieved their primary goal, which is to destroy the Shadow's Claw which, as you've said, means destroying the Slirkstrith. Where we go, they will follow, until they have destroyed us. It should be a simple matter to alter our course back outward on an obvious track and as they all move to intercept us to prevent our escape, we will sweep together the entirety of the jinvhon fleet and we can destroy it all in one large blast."

Jake was immediately impressed with Chet's tactical thinking. It was a solid idea and it may be the only possible way to save the planet. They could use their already massively built up speed to rocket back out of the system as fast as possible in a growing spiral as though attempting to break through and escape, and the jinvhon would dutifully follow. They would not risk allowing the Shadow's Claw to slip past them into interstellar space to jump away and possibly never be seen again.

It would serve the dual purpose of drawing them away from Srythryn's home world, thus allowing the zeth forces to move into a defensive position around it. Once at a safe distance from the siskreth home world they could hit the button and self-destruct to take all of the jinvhon ships out at once using the huge volume of antimatter in the Slirkstrith's fully charged buffer.

He thought of the ark ship and all of its occupants being vaporized in an antimatter blast, and it occurred to him that the ship must have some sort of mechanism to protect it from a problem with the antimatter containment systems. There must be a way to eject the buffer if needed. There should be sufficient matter in the ships of the jinvhon fleet to create a blast that would annihilate them all without having to use the mass of the Slirkstrith. Perhaps it could be done without losing the ark ship and her population.

Before he could ask the question, Srythryn said, "It is an excellent idea, and we should consider it. The Slirkstrith was designed with the drive system and antimatter buffer at the front so that it could easily be separated from the cylinder and power itself away in case of emergency. Without the mass of the ark ship attached, the massive antimatter sphere and drive system can accelerate at a rate several hundred times greater, and could easily be a great distance away in a very short time before it self-destructs. The blast would be more than big enough to consume the jinvhon ships if they all give chase.

"The problem is, they would have no reason to chase the buffer and drive system. The ark ship would be nearly defenseless without the antimatter buffer and it is only the ark ship and the Shadow's Claw attached to her that they wish destroyed. The antimatter generator stays with the ark ship so that it can continue to power our life support systems and shields, but without the main buffer, the shields would not hold out against direct attack, and without the main drive systems, we would only have maneuvering retros and would not be able to attempt to run from them. They would see the buffer detach from the ship and come at them, and they would know immediately what we were attempting and would scramble to spread out and away from it. If they spread out far enough many would escape damage and it would only take one of their warships to destroy the Slirkstrith without the massive buffer to maintain our shields."

"What about the Shadow's Claw?" Jake asked, "I hate to suggest it, but couldn't she be used like a sort of antimatter cruise missile? She's the one they want and she can easily accelerate much faster than the Slirkstrith. She would be coming right at them so her stealth measures would make her invisible. They may not even realize what's happening until she's right in their midst, so they would have no time to react and spread out before she detonates. Since they'd all be tightly packed, there should be enough antimatter in her fully charged buffer to do the job, shouldn't there? Could we bring all of her crew aboard the ark ship, then send her out armed to self-destruct? She's the one they really want because they think she dissolved their ark ship. Even if they did see her, they would all chase her, wouldn't they?"

Sintas said, "She is the one they are after, yes, and I would gladly sacrifice her to ensure the protection of the siskreth home world and ark ship. However, the explosion from her much smaller buffer would likely not be nearly great enough to take out all of the jinvhon forces even if they did all follow her. Still, it should weaken their numbers enough that the Slirkstrith could use her superior power to take out the rest with her cannon while the zeth forces continue to rush inward to protect the planet. I think it might be a better approach as it leaves us with a functioning Slirkstrith with a fully charged buffer, and we would need her formidable power to add to the zeths' forces in order to face the rest of the collective forces that will be coming in to destroy us and the planet."

"Agreed, that is an even better approach," Chet said.

Srythryn nodded and said, "If we can manage to eliminate at least half of the jinvhon forces in the antimatter annihilation blast, there would be sufficient power in our massive buffer to chip away at the remainder with our main cannon until there are none left. It would be a close thing, but it should work. It is our best hope."

"How would we get past the in-rushing jinvhon ships on order to draw them far enough out from the planet to protect it from the blast?" Jake asked.

"We just need to make a hole," Mak said, "This ship has a lot of Juggernauts, right? Each one can carry four antimatter torpedoes. Why not launch all of the Jugs you have and make a wall of them out front. When we start to get close to the line of jinvhon ships, launch all of the torpedoes in staggered sequence to create a wall of small antimatter explosions like flak bursts. If they're too stupid to get out of the way of that, a lot of them right at the center would be destroyed outright. Any of them close to the center that survive would have their shields softened right up and a shot or two from the main cannon should vaporize them to clear the road. If they're smart enough to get out of the way, we'll have our hole and we fly right through it."

"Yes, that would work," Srythryn said, "We would take advantage of our speed to launch the warheads at a velocity that would overcome their defensive systems' abilities. Instead of using the outer planets for gravitational braking, we could alter our trajectory to use them instead for gravitational assist to bring our speed even higher. We would need to spiral around the system outward and that would have the advantage of making our course obvious, which would give the jinvhon the ability to ascertain precisely where we will be intersecting their ships. They will not have time to gather all of their forces together to block us, but they will have sufficient advance warning to get close and they will alter their courses immediately so that they will all come together near the area where we will be blasting through them to rush outward.

"We have four hundred Juggernauts and they would be launching sixteen hundred antimatter warheads creating a wall of flak that would utterly destroy any ships directly in the midst of it and weaken the shields of any others nearby even if they manage to destroy half of the warheads before they reach their target. We would simply need to use the Slirkstrith's superior power to take out whatever ships do manage to get out in front of us in the wake of the explosions and punch through them to continue to accelerate outward. We will have a greater speed than them as we will simply be continuing on our original course once we punch through, while they will be forced to use up some of their speed in changing direction to pursue us. That will allow us to gain a significant gap once we break through so that we can ultimately launch the Shadow's Claw back towards the pursuing forces. We may not completely outrun the blast of her antimatter self-destruct, but we'll have enough distance that the Slirkstrith's shields would be well up to the task of absorbing the resulting shock wave. We should come out of it unscathed."

Sintas nodded, "It will work. With the Shadow's Claw coming directly at them nose on, they will not be able to track her optically and will have no reason to believe she has separated from the Slirkstrith. They will not be able to scan her and they will not see her coming. She will be right amidst them and they will be all bunched up giving chase when she detonates. The only ships not caught in the blast would be those that were too far away to catch up. Those are the only ones the Slirkstrith will need to deal with, and even many of those might have their shields severely depleted from the remnants of the shock wave. It may still be a difficult fight, but at least we'll have a chance. This is our best option and may be the only way to ensure the survival of the siskreth home world."

The zeth raised his hand and everyone waited to hear what he had to add.

Rhokki said, "Voph says there are still a few small groups of zeth capital ships that have not yet jumped into the system. They wished to remain in interstellar space and continue to build speed so that they could strategically be jumped directly into where they were most needed when more collective ships came into the system to join the battle. He says that since our momentum will have carried us right back out of the heliosphere before the Claw is detonated, the last of the zeth ships can be jumped in just behind us to face the remaining jinvhon forces to aid in clearing the last of them out."

Srythryn nodded and said, "Excellent. That will give us the edge we'll need to ensure victory against whatever jinvhon forces remain, and leave us in much better shape to battle the rest of the collective that may be steaming hard toward us once they see what we have done. Our main concern then will be bringing ourselves around and back into the system again to join the bulk of the zeth fleet in the defense of the planet. We will still have an extremely long fight ahead of us, but we will be in a solid defensive stance and should be able to hold out for a very long while with the resources from the planet and the orbital ship yards to support us in the fight."

They all agreed this was their best approach.

Sintas said, "I will order the evacuation of the Shadow's Claw immediately through the docking ramps. It will not take much more than an hour to bring everyone through. Jake, I would like you to take charge of the evacuation of the Claw's crew please. Rhokki, I need you to work with the engineering team to dismantle the yanking equipment and bring it over to the Slirkstrith. We may have need of it at some point. Mak, please coordinate having all of our fighters brought into the Slirkstrith's shuttle bay. There's no point throwing away good equipment when it can be easily saved. Voph, we have hundreds of crates of zeth QECHS communicator cores that we intended to disperse as needed as more worlds joined our resistance. Please take care of bringing them over, as well as any other zeth technology that might be salvaged and used to our advantage."

Srythryn said, "I will order our navigators to plot a new course using the outer giant planets for gravitational assist to boost our speed even higher, and we'll increase our own acceleration back to combat level immediately. The population has still not been released from the emergency section of the ship. They are still strapped into their acceleration seats so we'll keep them there in case we need to do any hard maneuvers with the Slirkstrith. I will have the fighter crews continue to board their craft and hang in the gantries in preparation. Provided we keep any hard acceleration brief and do not exceed several seconds at a time, they should be able to handle it, though it will be extremely uncomfortable. We can use the acceleration seats they will leave vacant for the crew of the Shadow's Claw. Chet, please take charge of the evacuation from the Slirkstrith's side of the ramps. Everyone is dismissed. We will reconvene on the bridge when the contact with the jinvhon forces approaches."

They all dispersed and headed off to assist in whatever way they could with the evacuation of the Shadow's Claw while the Slirkstrith changed course.

The crew of the stealth ship was only just over a thousand and it did not take long at all to bring them all aboard the ark ship and into the emergency section.

Chet 2 was at the access to the main docking ramp on the Slirkstrith overseeing the operation as the last of the Shadow's Claw crew members came aboard.

A short time after the flow of black and grey lions finished, Jake came through. He had been running the evacuation operation from the stealth ship's side of the docking access and he was the last to come through.

He emerged from the docking access and looked over and saw Chet 2 and waved to him and smiled. Jake turned back to the access and waved someone in, and Chet emerged to join him and Jake pointed at Chet 2.

Chet looked over and smiled and Chet 2 immediately felt a sense of joy overcome him like he was seeing a long lost friend with whom he'd shared his entire life. He realized immediately that the other Chet must be feeling exactly the same way.

Everything he had ever done in his life, every feeling he'd ever had, every desire, every success and every failure he'd experienced, every moment of joy or sadness, this person shared with him. He new right away that he would have no problem having a double in his life. To him he would simply be the best friend and confidante he'd ever had and their relationship would continue that way. There would be no need to get to know each other at all. They would simply quickly need to get up to speed on the last few months that they'd been separate and then they could continue in whatever way worked best.

Jake stayed back while Chet came up to Chet 2 and said, "Jake told me of your meeting with him. He said you were placed in charge of the evacuation and that I would see you on my way through. I stayed with him until last so that you would be done with your task and you and I could speak."

Chet 2 nodded and said, "I know that you are not shy and, though what I need to share with you is personal and private, with your permission, I would like to ask Jake to join us for our conversation. He is a very big part of my life and this concerns him and I would like him with us."

Chet nodded and he looked back to Jake and waved him over.

Jake smiled and came to join them, but said nothing as he waited for the two of them to start.

The Chets looked each other over for a few moments, both smiling, and Chet 2 asked, "Did Jake mention anything about my relationship with his other self?"

Chet shook his head and said, "No, though he did have an interesting look on his face when he gave me the news of your meeting and he looked a little flushed as though I'd caught him in some embarrassing situation. I asked him what was affecting him so, but he only smiled more and said that it would probably be best if you explained it to me as it was all new to him still."

Chet 2 nodded and said, "Yes, I believe he was right in leaving it to me to explain. It will come as a revelation to you, but I know you well enough to say that you will be most intrigued by it and you will not want to waste any time before beginning to explore it."

Chet said, "Before you begin, I would like to say how happy I am that I am able to meet you. I have felt a strange sort of comfort to know of your existence since I first learned of you months ago and it was disappointing to me when I thought that we might never be allowed to come together. You and I share everything in common and I somehow feel that you are my best friend in the world even though we have never met."

Chet 2 said, "I feel the same way, though news of your existence came as a surprise to me just an hour ago. I feel as though I've known you my whole life and there is simply no reason to waste any time getting used to each other. We are as used to ourselves as we could possibly be. The only thing new to both of us is the idea of approaching our physical selves in a way we could never have done before, and the fact that there are important people in our lives who we will have to share. I know that I can be frank and open with you so I will not beat about the bush. I must tell you that you are quite homosexual."

Jake grinned at the frankness of the big bear. He wasn't surprised by it, nor should he be, but it still struck him as amusing for some reason. His Chet didn't have the patience to waste time trying to couch words delicately when it was simplest and most efficient to simply say what was on your mind. Chet 2 was obviously the same way, and that just made sense.

Chet smiled and said, "I have lately suspected that was the case. Ever since I met Jake I have felt stirrings that have been difficult to control. They came as a surprise to me since I was in no way under the effects of the post-hibernation drive for procreation. I wanted very much to explore the possibility of sex as a means of recreation with Jake. I'd never felt that way before but the more time I spent with him, the more attached to him I became emotionally, and it drove me to want him more in a more intimate way. I have been trying to come to terms with it and I was near to the point of approaching Jake to ask him if he would be at all interested in exploring me in that way."

"I can tell you without reservation that he would be most interested. Jake's appetite for sex is insatiable and it is to our advantage. I have fucked him many times and it is easily the most satisfying experience of my life each and every time I've done it. He is a wonderful man and I have fallen deeply in love with him. He means more to me than my own life now. I know you will come to feel the same way about him once you allow yourself to experience him completely. This is not precisely the same Jake I knew, yet it is. I have no doubt of that. I would prefer not to waste any time but go right back to the relationship I had with his other self. I know him well enough to know that will not be a problem for him," Chet 2 said.

Jake smiled and nodded at him.

Chet said, "I know that you are right. I have no reason to doubt it. I am filled with excitement at the prospect of it and I am eager to proceed."

Chet then turned to Jake and said, "I have been interested in you on a level somewhat deeper than simple friendship for some time now. I have enjoyed your company immensely since the first day we met and the more time we've spent together the more time I wished to spend with you. I felt that I might fall in love with you and I now know that I was correct. From what my double says, it seems that you are inclined to feel the same way. I would like to dispense with the awkward and slow process of falling in love, and attempt to immediately bring our relationship to the level that we know it will ultimately achieve. Could we go somewhere and be intimate right away?"

Jake blushed and asked, "Are you saying you want to have sex? Right now?"

Chet smiled and nodded and Chet 2 grinned, but said nothing.

Jake looked between them and thought about it. He'd had a serious crush on Chet for a long time now. He'd grown attached to him at an emotional level and he'd begun to fall in love with him already. Why not simply take it right to the next level? They had a couple more hours before they would be needed again and the future was uncertain. This might be their only chance to do this. He didn't want the regret of having missed this experience hanging over him if he died in the coming battle.

He thought of Mak, Srythryn and Rhokki and how they might feel about it. The main thing he'd learned from his time with all of them was that they were all very open to their own enjoyment as well as his. He didn't think for a moment that any of them would have a problem with this. They would likely want to get involved at some point in fact. There was nothing stopping him from enjoying the two beautiful bears.

He smiled and nodded.

The Chets both began to grin and Chet 2 said, "The beach house has been modified to make me comfortable. Srythryn had requested it before he went out after the stealth ship five weeks ago. Jake and I have been sharing it since, while we waited for the captain to resurrect. Let us go there."

Chet 2 led the way as they entered an elevator and rode it to the living section.

"I must warn you, Chet, you will be extremely uncomfortable to the point of being ready to collapse as we enter the living space. The jungle is intensely hot and humid. We have only a very short way to go before we enter the house and it will be quite comfortably cool in there. Brace yourself for the heat and know that you will not have to suffer it very long."

The elevator came to a stop and they made their way along the path through the jungle as quickly as they could without over-exerting the polar bears. Both of them found it difficult to take for long, but if they attempted to run through, it would only be worse.

Jake's heart rate began to increase as they approached the beach. Not only was he excited about what he was about to do with the two beautiful polar bears, he was also anxious to see his home once again. He had only spent one wonderful morning in it with Srythryn before his untimely death at the water park, but it was truly the only place in the universe now that he could call home, and he was looking forward to seeing it again.

They finally emerged onto the beach of the private cove and Chet gasped as he took in the view.

The sun was high and the ocean was a beautiful azure blue, with waves crashing against the beach. There was a light breeze coming in off the water and as they looked out over the ocean they saw a pair of what looked almost like dolphins cavorting together as they jumped from the water and sliced back into it in perfect rhythm over and over again. Crabs scuttled along the beach and fought over remnants of what looked like jelly fish that had washed ashore. A large bird that had been flying high along the beach suddenly dived down and snatched up one of the crabs and flew off to have a meal. The palm trees behind the house rustled in the breeze and they saw a monkey like creature jump from one tree to another and it emitted a sharp cry at them as if to try to scare them away as they approached.

Chet took it all in and sighed and said, "This is absolutely beautiful! I wish that I could better handle the heat. I would love nothing more than to spend some time out here and engage in a bit of quiet reflection while enjoying this breathtaking view. How wonderful it must be to call this place home!"

"You will learn that for yourself. I have no doubt that Srythryn will expect you to consider it your home too now," Chet 2 said, "It may become somewhat crowded in a hurry since it is ultimately going to house all of us who wish to spend our days with Jake. As for enjoying the view, you will have every opportunity to do so if you wish. At Jake's suggestion, Srythryn was kind enough to have an environment suit fabricated for me that allows me to enjoy the whole of the ship in great comfort. You are welcome to try it out. I will have another made as quickly as possible so we'll each have one."

Chet smiled and nodded.

They entered the house and Jake's heart swelled as he walked into the living area. There were images and moving holograms of him all over the place. They all must have been taken by cameras hidden throughout the water park because they were all images of him enjoying himself on the day he was there. Srythryn must have added them all when he was forced to wait out Jake's resurrection, even though he had previously said he was not one to collect mementos or photographs. He suddenly had an urge to contact Srythryn and tell the sweet croc how much he loved him.

"Let us go straight to the bedroom," Chet 2 said, "We won't have much time before Jake is called away so we should not waste any of it."

Jake smiled and nodded and he and Chet followed the big bear into the room.

Jake saw that in place of a bed, there was a very large sleeping mat covering most of the floor. Chet 2 made his way to the middle of it and rolled over onto his back. He smiled at Jake and patted his chest, inviting the man to come aboard.

"I have come to love sharing affection with you, Jake. I know that it is all still new to you, but I hope that you will not be shy."

Jake smiled and quickly undressed, and then he climbed onto the lounging polar bear and wiggled up to kiss him. Chet 2 grinned and hugged him tightly and then rubbed his furry cheek affectionately against the side of Jake's face.

"I was devastated when I lost you. I am thrilled beyond words to have you back. I needed this to reassure myself that it is really you. I love you, my sweet little one. I will always love you," the big bear said.

It felt so strange to be hearing this from a duplicate of the bear he'd had a crush on for so long but had only really been friends with.

Jake looked over at Chet, who was smiling and watching with great interest.

Instead of replying to Chet 2, Jake felt more comfortable speaking directly to Chet, "I've had a major crush on you for a while now. I've wanted this more than you can imagine."

He looked at Chet 2 and added, "I have no doubt that in no time at all I'll be as deeply in love with you as my other self was."

Chet 2 smiled and kissed Jake lightly on the lips.

Chet said, "It is wonderful to see you showing such affection, Chet. I have never felt that way before, but already I feel the urge to engage in it with Jake. This is all very strange, and very wonderful. I have a powerful urge to fuck you, Jake. Would you mind if I did so?"

Jake chuckled and said, "Of course I wouldn't mind."

"Jake enjoys it quite a bit. He also does things with his mouth that may surprise you at first. What you will find even more surprising is the fact that once you try them yourself, you will find that you enjoy them even more than him," Chet 2 said to Chet, "I have acquired a taste for cleaning Jake inside and out with my tongue. I can never get enough of my sweet man."

Jake chuckled as Chet 2 lightly tickled his ribs.

"Jake, please turn around so that I might use my tongue to prepare you while you enjoy my cock. Chet, feel free to mount our man once he is ready. I look forward to watching you penetrate him from this vantage. It will be a thrill."

Jake was fully aroused now. He'd been fantasizing about Chet for a while, and the prospect of suddenly having two of them at once was unexpected and titillating.

He got off the big bear and turned himself around and settled back onto him again. His knees came down on either side of the bear's chest with his thighs in the pits of Chet 2's forelegs.

He positioned himself with his face right at Chet 2's big, furry sheath and he could already see the pointed red tip of the bear's thick cock emerging from the end of it. A powerful wave of lust washed over him and he leaned right in and put his mouth on the end of the sheath and clamped his lips onto it while pushing forward to slide it down over the cock within, sucking it into his mouth.

Chet 2 moaned immediately at the sensation. He curved his long neck down and pushed his muzzle right at Jake's ass and extended his tongue and began to lick him with abandon. He licked at Jake's big balls, and then up the crack of his butt and began to tongue his hole. The bear brought his big paws up and spread Jake's ass cheeks with them to expose his anus, and then lustily jammed his tongue right in to it and started licking at his insides.

Jake moaned at the wonderful sensation and he heard more moaning coming from the side. He briefly lifted his head off of Chet 2's cock and looked over at Chet. The bear's eyes were slightly glazed and his tongue was hanging out as he watched his other self hungrily eating Jake out. Chet's red cock was quickly emerging from its sheath. He very much wanted to mount Jake.

Chet 2 continued to enjoy rimming his lover until he got him good and wet, then he pulled back and smiled at Chet and nodded.

Chet wasted no time and he got up and maneuvered over top of Jake and began to hump at him. The hard tip of his cock stabbed at Jake until it found the entrance and then Chet moaned and grunted as he pushed forward and his thick cock forced the man's anus to spread and accept it.

Jake groaned at the wonderful sensation of being stretched open and the fat, powerful tool being shoved into him. He looked down at that very same tool in front of him. The idea that he was being fucked by the same bear that he was lying on top of, and was about to enjoy sucking again, drove him wild. He loved it.

He sucked the thick cock back in and started to bob his head up and down on it in rhythm with the thrusting of the massive bear on top of him.

Chet 2 moaned loudly as he watched Chet's dripping cock find the entrance and plunge into Jake. It was an amazing sight to see and it drove him to new heights of lust. He worked his paw in between himself and Jake to grab hold of the man's straining member. He started to twist and squeeze Jake's cock and jack the shaft while Jake moaned at the sensation.

Chet 2 watched Chet's thick, red cock as it pistoned in and out of the man's anus. It looked incredible. He watched as Chet thrust harder and harder, moving forward until he was burying the full length of his thick cock into Jake. The bear's massive, furry balls were bouncing off of Jake's as he fucked him hard. Chet 2 could not resist moving his face in and sniffing at the big, furry sack and then he extended his tongue and licked at it.

Chet moaned at the extra sensation and he gasped, "Put your tongue in my hole. I wish to know how that feels."

Chet 2 grinned. He remembered how he had gotten Jake to do the same for him when they'd first got together. He'd come to love the act himself and he was sure his other self would come to enjoy it just as much.

He moved his head back. His neck was just long enough that he was able to stretch it up and his tongue was able to reach Chet's asshole. Chet 2 plunged his tongue into his other self and the dirtiness of what he was doing with his own body sent him over the edge quickly.

He moaned loudly and his orgasm crashed into him and he tensed and shot a stream of thick, hot cum into Jake's mouth while he kept his long tongue deep inside his other self, tasting his insides.

Chet moaned at the sensation of his other self's long tongue spreading his sensitive anus and licking at the smooth walls of his rectum. He clamped his anus down hard to squeeze Chet 2's tongue and marveled at the sensation of it rubbing against the myriad of nerve endings in his sphincter. That, coupled with the feeling of his thick cock being squeezed by multiple rings of muscles inside Jake's rectum, made him shout out as his orgasm hit him hard and he thrust deeply into Jake and grunted as he began to spray his seed into the man.

Jake had cum shooting from two Chets into both ends of him and he was overcome with lust as his own orgasm washed over him and his pelvic muscle began to pulse and pump jets of his cum out onto Chet 2's belly while the bear worked his penis hard with his paw.

The three of them moaned and bucked as they were wracked with convulsions over and over again while their intense orgasms played their bodies.

It was some time before they finally settled down. Chet pulled out of Jake and moved to the side and turned around and collapsed onto the sleeping mat and rolled onto his back.

Jake got off of Chet 2 and turned and sat down between the two Chets on the mat.

The Chets looked at each other and grinned, then both of them looked at Jake.

"That was incredible!" Chet exclaimed, "Thank you both!"

Jake smiled and brought both of his hands up and began to rub at the furry chests of the Chets on either side of him as they lounged on their backs with their legs splayed out.

"You two are incredibly beautiful to me," Jake said, "I look forward to doing this a lot from now on. I can't wait to explore every inch of you."

"I never thought I would say this, but I can't wait to fuck you again. The idea of sex for the pleasure of it is new to me, but it feels so good. I am almost ready to go again right away," Chet said, and then he looked over at Chet 2 and said, "I cannot believe what you did with your tongue. It was so arousing. I feel the urge to try it myself."

Chet 2 said, "Trust me when I say you will enjoy it immensely."

Chet 2 then rolled over and got up and positioned himself over Chet's face and lowered his butt onto his muzzle and said, "Go ahead and try. You know you want to."

Chet moaned and extended his wide, pink tongue and began to work at the sweaty pucker under the tail of his other self.

Jake was once again awash with powerful waves of lust as he watched the two intimately explore each other. He stood and moved over in front of Chet 2's face and the bear immediately opened his mouth to accept Jake's already stiffening cock into it.

The three got right back into the groove and allowed their lust to lead them in whatever direction it might take them.

It had been a rough few hours prior to this, and the worst was yet to come. They were about to enter into a battle that might decide the fate of Srythryn's race. Even if they succeeded against the vast numbers of the jinvhon fleet, they would still have to stand their ground and face the rest of the collective as more and more ships would be called into action by the First Ones.

It would not be long before the fight would begin and they intended to make the most of what little time they had and simply enjoy each other.