Joined in Mind and Body - Chapter 11
#11 of Joined in Mind and Body
Discoveries of new pleasures, speed records broken, and the first sign of combat.
Joined in Mind and Body
Chapter 11
Andrew woke sometime only a few hours later. He rarely did need much sleep. He wasn't sure what time it was, and with Serina still holding him, he couldn't reach a wrist com to find out. Of course, held as he was, he couldn't complain much either.
He relaxed, laying on his side with his lovely Kat curled up around him. His head rested on hir right foreleg and hir left foreleg curled across his chest and belly possessively. Hir upper hind leg had moved up to partially cover his hip, and hir upper body curled across the top of his head and back down his front where shi was resting hir head on his leg, just above his knee. He felt halfway guilty for a moment, realizing that shi'd be much more comfortable if he were a Kathari. But then he knew that hir unrelenting love for him and his for hir made up for it for both of them.
He repositioned himself just a little and shi stirred just enough to start purring and pull him closer to hir lowchest. He smiled to himself and curiously let himself become aware of hir dreams and thoughts. He had to keep himself from letting out a whistle of amazement. Even in hir dreams, he was the focus. He was a complete turnaround in hir life, just like shi was in his. Playfully he sent images of more personal and provocative things to hir dreams, and it wasn't long before shi was purring more deeply with the evocation of love play that he created.
Of course, the extra-nice dreams had a side effect, as he discovered when hir sheath began to fill, directly in contact with his bottom and way too easy for something to slip. Maybe he should stop? He thought about this more though. He knew hir mind from the link and shi knew his. He knew that he would always be hirs and he would willingly sacrifice everything for hir. He would die for hir if it would save hir.
So why did he cling to the notion that he couldn't have hir in his body and please hir the way shi pleased him? Well, maybe it would hurt, or be uncomfortable. But beyond that... He just never really thought of the idea before. A human guy? No... No connection. But shi was his soul mate. Shi was his love, his trus. Shi was the one whom he also gave mind, body, spirit, and soul in full release to. Maybe... Just maybe... if it didn't hurt...
He made up his mind. He would let hir stay asleep and find out. He pressed his lower back to hir belly more tightly as he sent more teasing visions to entice hir dreams. If things didn't work out, he would wake hir and apologize, and it would be okay. If they did... well, good new things for both of them, right?
He could sense hir becoming more aroused and sure enough, it wasn't long before hir slick flesh was poking him in the rump. His arms weren't in a good position to reach to assist, so he wriggled his bottom to line things up. He went by feel, and soon was pretty sure that it was... ooo... Yeah, bit of pressure there. Strange, but not unpleasant.
His attention was brought back to hir dreams, where shi was starting to fidget somewhat over the idea of mounting him, not sure shi might upset him. He sent encouragement in the dream, pointing out that it was just a drea, and shi could do anything shi liked there. Encouragingly he sent an image to hir dream of himself grasping hir hard shaft and rubbing it nicely.
He gritted his teeth and relaxed as best he could in the waking world, ready for possible discomfort or pain as hir flesh slid further from hir sheath and pressed more firmly at him. He was pleasantly surprised to feel his body more responsive to his desires and his tight hole relaxed quite nicely. Hir tapered tip was hot and soft, and slipped very easily into his depths. He was at least sure that he shouldn't be injured. He'd had bigger things than hir girth come out of him after too much cheese pizza.
He checked back in on hir dream where shi had already mounted him, still with some misgivings but a lot of joy in the act regardless. The dream action and the new sensation for hir real flesh was having quick effect on hir arousal and he squirmed a little as the pneumatic pressure from hir flesh sliding out of hir sheath quickly slipped it into his body. It was not something he was completely used to, but it was not uncomfortable or painful.
Strange, how humans were made to enjoy certain things, like something passing through that sphincter, in a natural endeavor to encourage proper body functions. If you enjoy having something pass through, you're less likely to hold it and get sick, right? Well, with nothing left to come out ever again, guess it took something going in to give the same feeling now. Hir hips gave a little push as shi reached full extension and shi hilted hirself in him as the dream progressed.
Andrew decided he liked this. Strange, in a way. When shi was asleep, he got no feedback from hir. So it was a decision based entirely on his sensation. Hir dream caught his attention again. The dream realm passed time more swiftly than real life sometimes and hir dream had already resulted in a culmination and aftercuddling. The dream Serina was sadly telling the dream Andrew that shi was happy about this, but sad because it was just a dream. Andrew grinned.
"Serina," he murmured quietly, reaching to his legs to shake hir shoulder lightly. He felt the dream dissolve as shi woke, hir eyes cracking slightly and hir tongue sneaking out to dampen hir nose. He sensed the moment of confusion as shi tried to figure out what was strange, and wriggled his bottom, tugging on hir shaft. Hir eyes shot opened and hir mind was sending a question of shock and apology to him without delay, but he shushed the misgivings and soothed hir fears that shi had done something wrong.
He was already getting feedback and knew precisely how much shi was enjoying just being buried deep within him already. "Surprise," he murmured. "It's not just a dream. I did this on purpose." He felt memories of hirs flash by. The few times shi had tried to mount a Kat being so loose that the effect was useless to both of them. A fear that shi was just too small to ever have a good fit. And now, a snug and tight and warm fit with hir own new lover and lifemate.
Dang, if he knew how nice it would feel to be in his own ass, he would have invented a way to do it himself long ago. He felt hir grip on him tighten just enough to hold him as shi pulled back hir hips and thrust experimentally. The pleasure that exploded through both of them, both from direct sensation and from the shared experiences, was intense. Andrew was well aware that he was raging hard himself now, and quite pleased to give his mate this gift.
"Oh, trus, you feel... You feel better than a Kat does to a Kat!" Shi sent him memorized sensations that a friend of hirs had given hir from pairing, and sure enough, he did feel better to hir than a normal Kat felt to another normal Kat. Maybe it was the love they shared sweetening it. Maybe it was the tightness and slight cooling sensation his lower body temperature gave to hir wonderfully hot flesh. Either way, shi already considered hirself damn lucky to be small all of a sudden, and prepared to compare memories with as many Kats as shi could to see if Andrew really was better.
Andrew blushed at the thought of his anatomy being compared to other Kathari anatomy, but as shi began to thrust slowly and smoothly, he quickly became too distracted to worry about it. Shi arched hir upper body a little, holding him with hir forelegs as shi slipped hir head between his thighs and belly. He gasped as hir tongue found the tip of his own cock, and graced it with a lick from tip to base, or at least as far as shi had room.
Andrew held on for the ride as hir muzzle engulfed his flesh and shi began to suckle demandingly on it. He tried to hold out for hir, but as he had found out enough times already, with the combined feelings between them, neither of them had any capability or desire to hold out from their peak.
His body quivered and clenched around hir shaft within him as he came powerfully again, his barely-recovered supply of his own juices being greedily drawn from his body by hir muzzle. The squeezes that he graced hir with put hir over the edge at the same time. He was astounded at the difference in sensation he got from hir as shi exploded within hir lover, compared to when he just used his hands on hir. The action had a very symbolic weight of Giving for Kats, and he realized that shi had been sad before that shi may never be able to give hirself to him properly at all.
He wasn't sure, but he imagined he could feel the hot spurts of hir seed into him, and the emotional meaning of it couldn't help but flow through him as well. His whole back was being subjected to the vibration of hir purring through hir lowchest, and as they faded off their most recent peak, Andrew realized that he had made a new discovery with his love. It was a discovery that they would likely both enjoy quite a bit in the future.
"Ooooo..." shi purred to him after releasing his warm flesh from hir muzzle. "Such a nice way to wake me up! Thank you." Shi squeezed him warmly with hir forelegs as shi held him close, hir maleness giving a few more delighted throbs within him. He felt a playful thought from hir. "So, Andrew-t'rus, does this mean you'll be 'Andrea' more often now?" Serina asked with a grin, referring to the name change that Kats undertook when they were in the female phase.
Andrew made a face, but he couldn't really complain about the name thing. He had to admit, it wasn't too bad to have found a new use for the now-otherwise-useless hole. "I dunno," he said. "I can't exactly change phases like you. It would just be when you mount me I guess." He chuckled. "Which I will definitely have no problem with if it's always this wonderful."
"I think everything will be wonderful!" Serina exclaimed. "But I'll be careful. Remember, if I hurt you, I feel it just as strong, if not more." He thought about this. It was true. It was just as hard for them to hurt each other as to hurt themselves, with the explicit feedback and sensation sharing. Maybe harder, since they cared so much for each other.
Andrew snuggled back against the fluffy chest, enjoying the fur against his bare skin. A strange thing occurred to him. "You know... I'd say 'I love you', but it just doesn't seem strong enough for the feelings I have."
Hir strong forelegs gave him another squeeze. "If you can't put it in words, just send it..." shi said, and then demonstrated...
* * *
He was instantly awash in a sea of emotion as warm as the soft fur surrounding him. A flood of devotion, of love beyond the boundaries of the universe. A complete release of hir existence, which now was there for him and him alone. Hir soul and his entwined and embraced through eternity. No small force would ever pull them apart, their minds and spirits would be together forever, even should their bodies pass on and die.
His own mind, heart, and soul echoed the feeling. It was as powerful as the cosmos, as endless as the vast starfields through which the worlds floated. And yet it was as simple as just the two of them, together, eternally joined in mind and body.
* * *
The sharing of emotions to each other faded. Andrew felt tears in his eyes at the immensity of it all. He realized that the sharing had gone on for a long time. Serina no longer had hir upper torso curled down across him, though hir forepaws still held him close. Hir flesh had slipped from him and back into hir sheath and he was left with a warm and cozy feeling as an afterglow down there.
He could feel hir shaking lightly. He realized shi was crying. Concerned, he twisted his body around in hir grasp and pulled himself up hir body to be face to face with hir. "What's wrong, trus?"
Hir hands came away from hir face and flew around him, hugging him tight and close. Shi buried hir face against the crook of his neck and cried softly. His arms slipped around hir and he held hir, trying to know what was wrong even though shi shielded from his questions.
Finally shi dropped hir shields against him and hir mind reached out to his. "I'm afraid. I felt so alone for so long and now I have you. And we have so much good together, and so much we can do. But the Dark and the Light give nothing for free. The more special something is, the harder it is to hold. Oh, Andrew, I'm afraid that something bad will happen." Shi squeezed him tightly, hir claws pricking his back in response.
"I'm afraid that we will be tested, or have something..." Shi sniffled against his chest. "Something difficult, something frightening... I just wanted to be happy, even though I am small. You make me happier than anything possibly could. I don't want to lose you, ever. I don't ever want to be afraid of losing you. I've been afraid and alone so much my whole life. Stay with me. Don't let anything bad happen to me. I won't let anything bad happen to you."
Hir ears went back at the thought of anything threatening hir love and the tears dried from hir eyes. Andrew felt hir forepaw claws pricking at his legs as shi got hirself worked up into a phantom fight for him. "Hush, shhh..." he murmured, sending soothing thoughts to hir before hir claws broke skin. "Trus, don't be afraid. I'm here. Maybe the trouble is in the past. Maybe all the hardships were tests getting to now. Your loneliness and your fears didn't defeat you, so we get each other as a reward that is already paid for."
Shi began to relax and hir ears dropped to the sides. Shi pulled hir head back and looked at him with wet amber eyes. "I hope you're right," shi murmured, and hir muzzle found his lips in a ferocious kiss. He wasn't sure for a moment whether shi was trying to kiss him or eat him, but he could feel hir need for the acknowledgement. The new things he had exposed hir - and hir entire race to through hir - shi took great pride and desire in them.
The kiss broke, leaving both of them breathless. "I will be yours, and you will be mine, always," Andrew told hir. Shi smiled at him and kept hir upper body still as shi scooted hir lower larger body around behind him, curling up around him in a new way now. He could feel that shi was still tired, and dozing off again. He had no objection to a nap himself. So he found a comfortable pillow and soon joined hir once more in slumber.
* * *
Andrew woke with a start to the loud whoop of an alarm throughout the suite. Serina raised hir head and looked around. The alarm sounded three times, though it was not too extremely alarming sounding, it definitely had them awake. Yellow lights set in the walls of the suite pulsed slowly in single long fading flashes as Sybelle, the ship's computer, made an announcement over both wrist coms and the room's general com.
"Entering Combat Alert Epsilon, all personnel are to check their assignments and be prepared for a status change within 10 minutes. Civilian crew please close shops and follow Epsilon process," the computer told everybody ship-wide. The three alarm sounds and the message were repeated once more, and then only the slowly-pulsing yellow light was left to advise crew of the ongoing alert status.
There was an intermittent beeping from both their wrist coms. Serina scrambled to hir feet. "We have assignments?" shi murmured confusedly, peering at the wrist coms. Andrew got onto hands and knees and scrambled quickly to where the wrist coms sat. He grabbed Serina's and tossed it to hir. Shi caught it easily as he activated the on-panel display on his.
"We're assigned to observation duty," he said. "As a working pair."
"That's like training," Serina explained. "When a new Kat comes on the ship, they get observation duty. Mandatory 'look and see what happens' thing."
"Huh. Well, it has the deck and location we are to report to when called. The ship data that I was given means I know where we're going at least and how to get there as a human or a Kathari." Andrew blinked as he thought about the travel time difference. "Dang, you guys really have it much faster."
"We do." Serina said simply with a smile as shi strapped hir wrist com on. "You'd better get dressed. The other humans might find it funny if you showed up naked," shi giggled. Then shi blinked. "Oh my... I wonder what they'll think if we become an active duty working pair..."
Andrew looked at hir questioningly as he latched his own wrist com. Then he remembered from the information. Working pairs often took quick mating breaks to keep their energy up. Or even worked WHILE mating if necessary. Yes... That would definitely raise some human eyebrows. Not to mention he wasn't sure how the humans aboard the ship would react to him being psionic. He had a feeling that none of them had been told.
Only a few minutes later, he was in the middle of pulling on his pants when the yellow lights suddenly changed to red and a more urgent buzzing alarm sounded. Both wrist coms beeped urgently as Sybelle announced, "Combat Alert Gamma. Combat Alert Gamma. Preparing for slipspace entry in 30 seconds. All active personnel assume stations. All assigned personnel are to report immediately." This alarm sequence and announcement was repeated twice more, but Andrew ignored it as he pulled on his socks and boots. He may not be military, but he still had the sense of urgency that any emergency situation brought.
Serina galloped across the room and skidded to a halt in front of him. "We're on observation duty, but they'll still time how quickly we get to our assignment. I want to impress them. Hop on!" Shi spun hir side around towards him.
"I'm ready!" Andrew announced as he latched his boot. "I'll get the SSR for us while you carry me." He yanked his headset from his wrist com and clipped it over his ear, then vaulted onto hir back. His arms flew around hir waist as shi bolted for the door and he wondered how the heck he was going to activate his wrist com even into eye-tracking mode if he didn't have a chance to use his hands.
"Shields, trus. You're leaking," shi sent to him just before shi reached the door. He blinked and put up his shielding, remembering to flag himself as busy on it. Shi tapped the door panel and stepped out into the hallway where a good number of Kats and Humans alike were rushing to get to their proper places. "Don't worry, you'll get used to keeping it up very quickly," shi sent comfortingly as shi turned and joined the crowd moving towards the now-open back halls and faster transport networks. He felt the subtle shift in the whole ship as it entered slipspace.
Andrew thought about trying to use his hands from around hir, but he couldn't see the controls. And he couldn't let go in this crowd as shi dodged around Kat legs and humans. But they needed to be briefed on the Situation Status Report, or they would be going up there blind, which was bad. Wait...
Andrew almost let go just to smack his own forehead. He could work with computers psionicly, right? Right. He reached out carefully to his wrist com with his mind, not sure what to expect. What he found was surprising. It was entirely second nature to him. The input controls, the data feeds, everything right there. It was as if he had been doing this all his life! Wait...
He -had- been doing it his whole life. He did let go to smack his own forehead. Thankfully Serina noticed it and spun hir upper body around to catch him before he slid off. He yelped and put his arms back around hir, then suddenly felt hir psionic energies flow around him as shi telekinessed him to hold him on. "Are you sure you have enough energy for this?" he sent, worriedly.
"I'm fine. I've never felt better, and I think we both have plenty of energy. Not at our full capacity, but really, can't you feel it?" shi sent excitedly. Sure enough, when he concentrated on his own self for a moment, with a gentle nudge from hir to show him the way, he was aware of a large pool of energy available to him. The pool was relatively shallow compared to its total capacity, but was so large that the volume of energy even in this shallow quantity was quite vast.
He returned his attention to the wrist com and activated the sequence he wanted. All that time he had himself and others thinking he was inputting data on such a small input holo. But he was really just sending the data straight into the system psionicly. He had made the input holo smaller and smaller just so he didn't have to move his fingers as much. Well, screw that! No more finger wiggling for him! Wait...
What about the way he could read computer data so fast also? Was he reading it directly off the system into his mind? He had an odd thought about that 'renegade node' in the ENEGMIS core. Had that been him? He might never know. But with the wrist com... He let himself go mentally and just did what came naturally, visualizing the system. Sure enough, the data was there, in his mind, yet through no display to him. Sunnuvabitch. Well, that explained a lot of the 'impossible' jobs that he had managed at his normal job. What... Two days ago now? Damn, two days to change a lifetime.
"Got the briefing. Sending it to you now," Andrew sent to Serina. Then he sent the briefing data itself. And Serina promptly almost stumbled and pulled out of the line of traffic. Shi spun and looked at him, hir eyes wide and hir ears back.
"What the dark was THAT?!" shi demanded.
Andrew was confused. "The SSR briefing information," he sent. "Did I do it wrong?" He was worried now. Shi was obviously concerned about something.
"You just sent me this... whatever it is..." shi replied, and sent the briefing data back to him. He couldn't see anything wrong with it.
"Yes, that's the SSR briefing information," he replied, more confused now.
"It's a jumble of really weird conceptual stuff!" shi sent back. "It's like a bad nightmare of complete nonsense. I can't make heads or tails of it."
Andrew shook his head, still confounded. "Um, maybe I just don't send stuff right? Let me try something else," he sent worriedly. He tried sending a quick bit of information from an old tech manual.
Serina blinked. "I got that just fine, but the SSR came through as a complete jumble of stuff. Almost as bad as watching blinking lights on a huge computer and trying to make sense of them."
Which makes sense, since you sent hir the raw computer data. Your mind can interpret it just fine, but hirs can't.
Andrew had an epiphany. "It sounds like I sent you the actual raw computer data that I extracted from the com! I mean, maybe because I can work with computer, my mind can figure out what the data patterns mean. But I wouldn't expect yours to do so." He thought about it for a moment, and examined his data, and realized that it was in fact the case. Now that he paid attention, he could tell the difference between the raw computer data that he sent hir, and any other information he had. He realized that he actually had a lot of stuff stored in his mind in raw computer format.
Serina peered at him, thinking, and then he felt a wash of admiration. "My mate can do computer stuff! I don't think any other Kats at all can do that! Um, but send me the translation please." Shi spun hir upper body back around and rejoined the moving crowd. Only a few tens of seconds had been lost, and they were already nearing the back-system runway for Kats.
He thought for a moment and decided to just go through it in his own mind so he had a duplicate copy in normal-thought to send hir. Okay, so basically, a small friendly colony had come under threat from a new, unnamed alien race currently designated H5-9 by the Kathterran. They were one of the few races to have gotten a level 5 hostility designation, which meant that this race effectively cared for nothing but itself and its own interests, and used nothing but force as a standard for accomplishing its interests. Such races often became defined as plague races and were tagged for extermination down to one planetary system, and a prohibition on any extra-planetary activity.
Reviews of captured specimens indicated that the race had no allies and no interest in them. Everything that was not them was food or waste. They would happily destroy full planets for fun or theft. This engagement was both for the purpose of protecting the planet and for evaluating whether the species would be put on the plague list.
So, the enemy had converged on this planet, and demanded that the inhabitants all gather into one large area so they could be liquefied all together for proper consumption. The Karenthis had been dispatched at that point. The ship had dropped out of slipspace and held on standby when the planet sent message that most of the enemy had departed, however the recent sudden escalation was because several of the enemy's planet-busting ships had arrived on scene.
Andrew collated all the information in his mind, translated to normal thought, and sent it to Serina just before they entered the runway at speed with a constant flow of Kats. Serina sent back acknowledgement and then concentrated on running. This runway was a larger artery, with many more branches in a lot of places to deposit Kats closer to their end location. The Kathari running here were all at top speed and panting softly from exertion, but Serina still was managing to pass all of them as shi sprinted along. Andrew was very impressed.
The arrived at their second to last branch and shot up the tube along with a few other Kats, everybody knowing exactly where they should be. Serina lined hirself up for hir final branch and shot up the tube to the observation area. They ended up flying out of the funnel-shaped end of the tube and into the air at the end as the gravity changed orientation. Shi twisted hir whole body lithely and landed perfectly on all four paws in front of a startled group of younger Kats who were new to the ship.
"Serina Alathir and Andrew Foster," said a Kat from behind them. Serina spun about and Andrew slid off hir back. They both nodded. The Kat was radiating an impressed feeling. "253 seconds from your suite to here. Damn good time! Your expected arrival was a good two minutes from now. In fact," the Kat looked up something on hir wrist com. "Congrats, you beat the record recruit response time percentage by a lot, and you just barely missed beating the overall record."
Andrew could feel the awe and admiration from the other Kats behind them radiating on his shielding. It was an interesting sensation. The other strange thing he realized was that the Kat was speaking Katharin, but he understood it perfectly as if he had spoken it all his life. He felt Serina get a mischievous idea, and shi spun to face him. "See?" shi demanded with mock seriousness in English. "We didn't beat the record on our very first call all because you had to put shoes on. Really, trus, you need to learn to get dressed faster."
The fact shi called him trus didn't bypass the notice of the new Kats present and the awe was suddenly intermingled with serious curiosity. Andrew blinked at hir and played along, "Well, I can't go upsetting the other humans, trus. They deal with naked Kats, but humans can't be naked in general public yet. Anyway, if I wore clothing all the time, how could we do anything fun?" On a private line to hir, he sent, "They don't seem like they know about us at all. I thought all the Kats were in on one big network?"
The feeling of curiosity and wonderment from the other Kats was getting much stronger, so he strengthened his shields as shi sent back, "New recruits aren't included in the network, so they have no idea." Andrew chuckled mentally. Wow, even more fun. Then he felt one of the new recruits trying to probe at him lightly and see if shi could get information from the odd human. Serina frowned slightly. "The Kat that is poking at you is asking me to stop shielding you," shi sent. Andrew joined hir in the frown when the recruit got too forward and tried to push forcefully past his shielding. He slapped the offending probe psionicly and one of the Kats behind them suddenly yowled from the sudden discomfort he had created by shunting hir away.
Andrew spun on the Kat who was holding hir head and glared up at hir. "I'll point out that invading another psionic's mind is grounds for permanent dismissal from duty," he sent on a wide enough band for all the Kats present to hear. Dang, he was glad that Tyrin and Kelia had given him so much information. "Since I'm a human, you probably didn't realize, so I won't press charges. But be more careful in the future."
All of the new recruits ended up staring at him wide-eyed. Andrew frowned again and worked his mouth to pronounce badly-accented Katharin, "Yes, I am psionic. Yes, I am pair-bonded to Serina, my beautiful mate here. And next time, don't be afraid to ask. We're all working together here."
"Trouble, Andrew-l'es?" Tyrin asked from the exit of the run tube. Kelia looked at the assembled new Kats and frowned.
"One of the recruits got a bit too pushy," the overseeing Kat said. "Andrew-k'is has declined to press charges for attempted mental invasion."
Tyrin looked at Andrew, "You're very kind." He smiled. "And I heard about the time you made here already. I thought I saw you two sail past us pretty fast." Tyrin looked at Andrew piercingly and contacted him mentally. "Here is some more information and some mental patterns you both will need. Kelia is giving them to Serina." Andrew blinked as he was given a burst of information and his mind assimilated it in an instant. No sleeping delay like the first time, now that his psionic pathways were properly opened from the prior blockages. Tyrin then looked at the overseer and nodded.
The overseer contacted both Andrew and Serina. "I'm going to link both of you in to the battle net through me. You two are on accelerated introduction. Normal recruits wouldn't be linked in for weeks. You'll be receiving only, but you need to get familiar with the way it works." There was an offered link and Andrew accepted it. The information that suddenly flowed through his mind was almost overwhelming for a moment, but he quickly got used to it. He stood flabbergasted at the sheer amount of data and tactical information that was traveling between Kats right now.
There was a klaxon. Sybelle announced, "Combat Alert Beta. Leaving slip space in 10 seconds. Hull transparency engaging."
"Brace yourselves, cubs," the overseer said teasingly to all the recruits. One of them giggled and another pshawed at the appellation of 'cubs' being directed at them. Then all of them shut up promptly as the ceiling and walls simply vanished, leaving the view open to the outside of the ship. On the outer level above them, pairs of Kathari were stationed at regular intervals, and numerous nodes of human support crew. However, other than the apparently-floating groups, there didn't appear to be anything between them and the mind-bending psychotechnics of slipspace.
There was a reason that most ships never showed any view of slipspace. Even a view filtered through electronics was disturbing enough. But the direct view of the actual thing was enough to turn stomachs and make anybody dizzy. Andrew heard a dismayed mewl from behind him and then a heavy thud. He spun around and saw that one of the new Kats had fainted and was quickly being attended to by hir comrades. Thankfully shi was coming back around immediately.
There was a command over the combat net for shields up and Andrew felt the gathering of psionic energy as Kats threw shielding around the whole ship. Then the space around them snapped back into real space and the ship was already in near presence with a planet.
Serina slipped hir arms around hir mate, helping steady him as there was a flood of information over the tactical network. Groups of Kats on sensing duty were all sweeping the whole sector outwards and passing the information on to the whole net of Kathari. Andrew knew without hesitation precisely where every single space-bound object in the system and beyond was. The network quickly began to fill in details including ship capabilities, minds present aboard, power levels, everything. Even every single sentient and non-sentient mind on the planet was information that he could draw upon in an instant. It was almost overwhelming, but utterly amazing.
Other Kats were inputting information from the scans into the ship's computer and electronic tac net, supplemented by information from electronic and ship-based scans. Andrew was aware that all of the Kats on the outer area above them were wearing tactical helmets, full visors tracing everything for them and feeding them information as necessary.
Andrew was aware of a good fifty-four large enemy ships and a compliment of fighters, but the main focus was a bloody-huge ship hovering near the planet. Large enough to be visible from the surface like a moon even, the majority of the ship was energy generation for the single planet-annihilating weapon it carried. This weapon was nasty and both the psionic scans and the ship-based scans indicated that it was damn close to being fully powered and firing.
There was a ping of enemy energy in their direction. They had intentionally not gone in stealthed. They wanted the enemy to know they were there and now the enemy definitely knew. The psionic tac net indicated an entourage of a dozen ships peeling off to engage the Karenthis and several enemy carriers began to disgorge fighters at a rapid rate.
The psionic tac net announced the change before Sybelle did. A single quick whoop of the alarm and a very quick line, "Alert Alpha, full engagement." The shielding around the Karenthis changed distinctly. Andrew gasped as the planet-buster's beam generator began to glow. That weapon was seconds from firing. Were they too late?
Recommended Next Steps
If you enjoyed the story, please feel encouraged to comment below, fave the story, and vote on it.