an endless voyage continued ch 25
Admiral Maya followed captain Mike as he led the way out of the CSS Stonewall Jackson's fighter bay and into one of the main corridors. Rather than the tank-top and cut-off jean shorts she typically wore, the kuvasz was dressed in her Admiral's uniform, for a change. Mike was so used to seeing Maya in her somewhat revealing usual attire it came as a surprise seeing her dressed for the occasion, decked out in full honors as she was. It felt good seeing Maya properly dressed for the occasion, but more importantly Mike knew it would be easier for his crew to focus on what she had to say rather than mentally undressing her as they might had she worn her usual attire.
"If I'd had more advanced warning, Admiral, my staff and I would have worn full-dress-honors." Mike said as they walked. " 's hardly necessary." Maya said.
The crewmen in the corridors gave them a wide berth, moving off to the sides and standing at attention until they passed. The main entrance to the captain's mess was located on the bridge, and while there was a secondary entrance normally used by gallley staff to bring food, Mike felt it best they use the entrance on the bridge.
The bridge officers were all chattering amongst themselves when Mike and Maya entered. "Admiral On Deck!" Dana, the first officer shouted as soon as she saw them. Everyone fell silent, and stood up, snapping to attention and saluting.
"At ease." Maya barked, returning their salute; "As ya were, crewmen." "Yes ma'am." everyone replied in unison, and quickly sat back down at their stations. "You have the bridge, Dana." Mike said next. "The Admiral and I have much to discuss." He poened the door that led to the captain's mess as he spoke, and they headed inside.
"Hope you like Heineken." Mike said, bending down to retrieve two beers from a mini-fridge near the dining table. "I'm afraid we don't have much variety." " 's fine." Maya said, taking the cold bottle of beer Mike offered. She popped the cap off with the canine clawnail of her right thumb as she spoke; "Actually given how long we bin out here 's a wonder y'got any Earth beer left."
"True." Mike agreed, opening his beer with a bottle-opener and taking a swig. "Make yourself at home, Admiral, the food should be here shortly." "Shure 'nuff." Maya said. She carefully lowered herself into a dining chair across from where Mike sat. The gap between the back of the chair and the seat gave her tail sufficient clearance the chair felt comfortable, despite being small for her size. The metal frame of the chair creaked and groaned under her weight, but thankfully it held together.
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"Heads' Up Gunner, our bogie's moving." Rena said on squadron comms. "They dont seem to be in a big hurry."
"I see it." Sarah replied, "Its definately Xian, but They may not be aware of us yet." "Agreed." Melody replied. "They're likely searching the vicinity of the last signal they recieved from their hidden saboteurs,"
"Excalibur, Gunner." Sarah said opening communications, "Positive ID on at least one Xian Heavy Dreadnought, possibly more. Bearing indicates they are unaware of our exact position."
"Gunner, Excalibur, copy that." Kayla replied. "How's your fuel?"
"60% ma'am." Sarah replied. "Permission to go in for a closer look?"
"Negative Gunner, I have something else in mind. " she sent a databurst that displayed a map of the current sector, with a section highlited on her HUD. "We need you to begin deploying anti-ship mines in the location indicated, tanker's on its way you can top up when you get there."
"Roger that, Excalibur." Gunner said., then she relayed the orders to the other pilots.
"Good luck, Gunner, Excalibur out." Kayla said, and the comm fell silent.
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The food arrived as Maya finished explaining her plan to sit tight and complete repairs of the saboteurs' damage, while luring any nearby Xian ships into a minefield. Maya finished her beer, belched heartily, and opened her MRE. She then poured water in the heater pouch, and placed it as well as the food back inside the main bag, and folded the end over to the indicated mark to seal it up. As she finished, Mike handed her another beer, and then set about preparing his own MRE similarly.
"Great." Mike said sarcastically. "Salisbury steak, what'd you get, Admiral?"
"Ah reckon it says "Chicken Dinner" but 's hard t' say, Readin' Earthscript's a lot harder'n speakin' yer language."
"English." Mike said. "its only one of Earth's languages, but yes you read that correctly." he paused then, "You're lucky, that's actually one of the better MRE's."
Maya opened her new beer, and Mike did the same when he finished preparing his MRE. With her free hand, she pulled a datapad from one of her uniform's pockets. " 's has the frequency we used t' expose the saboteurs, an' scematics fer buildin' a prototype ultrasonic rifle t' use it....course y'kin also play it through internal comms 's a means a' verifyin ever'one's who there supposed t' be." she stopped to take a long draught from her beer, then, " the frequency only affects Xians, s' its harmless." She handed the datapad to Mike.
"Its in English." Mike said, surprised.
"Molly translated it." Maya explained.
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The procedure finally complete, Tom withdrew his arm along with the ultrasound probe, then wiped the probe down, and disposed of his shoulder-length gloves. Then he set about cleaning and sterilizing the equipment, preparing it for the next use.
"All normal." Tom told Aisa as he worked to put the equipment away, "Two perfectly healthy cubs growing as they should."
"Thank you Tom." Aisa replied. "Grayden and I can hardly wait."
"I'm kinda surprised you two hit it off so well." Tom said. "I thought you were a honeysniffer (mammilian term for lesbian)."
"I just never met the right guy before." Aisa said. "Grayden and I make eachother happy." She worked to get dressed as she spoke.
"I'm glad to hear it." Tom said, putting the last of the equipment away. "Well I better get going, just keep up with the vitamin supplements Natalie perscribed, and try not to overexert yourself too much." And with that, he left.
Tom headed down to the livestock farm in cargo-bay-6, and spent two hours milking the feral lionesses for dairy products, then fed the pigs, and finally spent an hour shoveling straw. It was his turn to do the farm-work today, and while it wasn't exactly a glamorous job, it was important to the survival of the fleet. besides it had its advantages. Particularly one of the lionesses, Nayako. Of all the dairy lionesses, Nayako was special, she had bonded deeply with both Tom and Maya, and was both their loyal pet, and zoophilic lover.
Because of the fact he'd gotten Natalie's special injection long ago, Tom had to be careful doing vaginal, to pull out before he came, and finish with his hand...at least until such time as Maya mentioned she wanted to add some half-feral hybrids to the crew, anyway.
Fortunately, Nayako seemed to prefer anal anyway, and despite how wonderful lioness pussy felt, the added hassle of having to pull out, that came with vaginal, made Tom glad Nayako preferred anal anyway. It was for that reason, Tom kept a bottle of high quality anal lube on a shelf in the milking shed.
Tom spent another hour buttloving Nayako long and deep, then he stopped by the mens' showers on his way to the fighter bay. He planned to join Sarah and the others, providing there was enough clean fuel to spare.
Given the public nature of the showers, it came as little surprise when Tom's son, Tom Jr. stepped into the showers as well, taking the next avalible shower stall. What did come as a surprise, however, is what his son had to say.
"Dad, could you fly me over to the CSS Lee when we get done?" Tom Jr. Asked. "I been asked to a movie by Shelley....that hot Cajun bitch Molly's been tutoring in exolinguistics."
"Sure son...but, you shouldn't use that term. Gods know I don't know much about human females, but I do know they find that term offensive." Tom said. "Hank could probably help you a lot though."
"Can't I just do like you do with Mom and Sis and the others?" Tom Jr asked.
"I wouldn't reccomend it." Tom said. "I'm a zoophile, son. Before I met your mother I only ever had sex with feral animals, so my courtship behaviors are very canine...and a lot of human females don't enjoy that sort of behavior. All I can say for sure, is, Talk to Hank. He can teach you about human females. "
"Thanks dad." Tom Jr said. "And dont tell mom...she wants me to fuck Laci."
"Well son, Laci is fun, but honestly your mother wouldnt mind you dating Shelley. She wants you to fuck Laci just to make pups, but she believes love knows no bounds as do I." Tom said.
"I heard you were with Karen earlier." Tom Jr said. "Can I smell your fingers?"
"You could, but you wouldnt like it, I been working on the farm in Cargo Bay 6." Tom said. "I was with Karen earlier."
" "uncle" Hank don't mind?" Tom Jr asked.
"No." Tom said "Not for me doing it...Hank and I have known eachother since we were very young."
"We should go when we finish here." Tom Jr said. "I don't want to be late?"
"Why not use the transporter?" Tom asked. "Its working now, Karen had just taken it offline during lovemaking."
"I'm not allowed." Tom Jr said. "Last time I was down there, May goosed Karen, and blamed it on me, and so I'm banned for a week."
"Fair enough." Tom said. "I'll have to make sure we can spare the fuel...and there's a possibility we could end up dogfighting Xian fighters, but we'll try it."
"Sounds good to me, dad." Tom Jr replied.
"What's this girl like?" Tom asked. "You mentioned Molly teaching her Exolinguistics, is she their comm officer?"
"She's a R&D technician>" Tom Jr said. "She's studying Exolinguistics as a hobby. You'll like her, dad, she's smart, sexy, and got a great sense of humor too. She fusses over her appearance like Molly, and wears strange scents that make my nose itch, but other than that, she's perfect."
"I saw her meeting with Molly, I know what she looks like, son, I was referring to hobbies and stuff." Tom said.
"Aside from Exolinguistics, she also enjoys horror movies, chess, playing sports, and studying ancient Mamilian cultures." Tom Jr replied.
Tom rinsed the conditioner from his hair, and then began to towel off. "Sounds like a good choice." he said.
Tom Jr took longer, using a secondary handheld showerhead to rinse the conditioner from his fur in all the hard to reach places, then shook off like a feral dog before making use of the fur drier.
Tom made use of another towel to dry his hair while he waited for his son to finish, then they got dressed, and headed down to the fighter bay.
"Have we cleaned enough of the tainted fuel to spare another fighter?" Tom asked Feena.
"Your fighter is fully fueled, and loaded with viable munitions just in case." Feena replied."Although this isn't exactly the best time for piloting lessons."
"I'm going over to the Lee." Tom Jr explained. "After what happened in the transporter room this is the only option.
"Fair enough." Feena said "Be safe out there."
"Climb in the back and strap in." Tom said, as he climbed into the front seat. He worked to strap himself in, then looked back to verify his son had done the same. Then he ran through the powerup sequence, closed and pressurized the cockpit, and fired up the engines, then snapped his mask on securely.
"Put your mask on, son." Tom said.next.
"Dad...It'll mat my fur. I just conditioned it." Tom Jr protested.
"Come on son, we're wasting Deuterium here, you have to put your mask on." Tom said.
Tom Jr reluctantly complied, then caught a glimpse of himself and his father's reflections in the cockpit canopy. "Damn we look cool, dont we."
"That we do, son, that we do." Tom replied, taxiing to allign with the open fighter bay doors, then he called the bridge for departure clearance, locked the landing brakes, and ran the engines up to power for takeoff. "Feel that raw power."
"Yeah." Tom Jr replied. "I can't wait to be a fighter pilot like you, dad."
Kayla replied clearing them for departure, and Tom released the brakes, their fighter accelerated across the flight deck, Tom popped the nose up just before they reached the open doors, and they glided smoothly into space.
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When the meal was complete, Maya thanked Mike for lunch, then set about going deck by deck shaking hands and assuring people she had taken steps to make certain the enemy could never again infiltrate the fleet. As she'd hoped, her presence seemed to improve morale considerably, though a few people were surprised by her visit. Maya assured them all that the success of this mission was foremost on her mind and she would lead them all to a glorious victory when they finally found X.
As before she saved the fighter bay for last, and Mike accompanied her to the fighter bay to see her off afterward. Once Maya finished with the fighter bay technicians however, Mike made it clear he had another reason for accompaning her as well.
"Sure you won't stick around, Admiral?" Mike asked. "I could use a sparring partner." "Another time." Maya said. "Ah gotta git goin' fore them pointys find our position."
"Alright." Mike said. "Tell Erika I'll beam over as soon as this battle is over."
"Shure 'nuff." Maya said. "Y'got a fine ship, an' a fine crew here captain, keep up the good work."
"Thank you, Admiral." Mike said. "Be safe."
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Hank finished in the armory temporarily, having taken a break to report to the mess hall for dinner, after which, he reported to Kayla on the bridge. Kayla told him to resume work in the armory, but he never made it. Halfway to the armory,, May pulled him into a storage room, for "a quick romp' before the upcoming battle.