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Unknown to the blue marble below, an Xian battleship had taken up geosyncronous orbit above Earth. Thewy broadcast the following ultimatum on all frequencies using all known modulation types;

_ "This is captain cody of his majesty's sovern godship XSS LongDong, His Majesty's prince, and Heir to the glorious planet X. To all savages below, Kneel before your gods. Worship us unconditionally and surrender fully to His Majesty King Jerry, or be destroyed."_

It didnt take long for CJPSA technicians to zero in on the signal, and Confederate President Chloe Landry issued the following response;

"This's President Chloe Landry a' the Confederate States of America. Yer messin' with the wrong planet, assholes. Dixie will never surrender. I've got every nuke I got pointed at yer ship. fahr one shot, an' Ah'll blast ya back t' whatever hole y' crawled outta. We eat tyrants lahk you fer lunch. Deo Vindice, Motherfucker!"

......

Captain Mike, sceduled to take command of the C.S.S Stonewall Jackson upon its completion watched a transcript of this exchange on the morning news. He was sipping a beer and munching potato chips as he prepared to start his day, when a noise overhead drew his attention. His house shook from the sonic booms of fighters overhead. His first thought was of Confederate pilots scrambling up in their newly aquired Mammilian Phoenix Mk V aerospace fighters to deal with the threat as the president had said. He started to turn back to the TV, thinking <"Yeah go get 'em boys and girls!>" but another noise outside made him stop. Gunfire...and screaming.

Mike ran to a window to look outside, but what he saw was truly terrifying. People were running, screaming through the streets of Port Allen Louisiana as long phallic-shaped fighters strafed them from above.

Cars exploded, sending bodies and shrapnel flying, buildings caught fire, and the streets literally ran red with blood. Xian autocannon bullets tore through people like they were wet paper, leaving huge gaping wounds, and sending blood and organs flying. the bullet ridden bodies slumping to the ground like hamburger..and some were still alive. Doomed to die in agony from organ trauma and blood loss. The lucky ones were the ones who got headshot and died instantly.

Through this living hell, the whine and roar of aircraft turbines cut through the slaughter as Confederate pilots scrambled to engage the Xian aggressors.

The ground shook beneath him, three times, and Mike thought at first it was an Earthquake.

A blast of static from the TV caused him to look back, and when he did, the picture had stabilized and the newscaster was reporting nuclear detonations had been confirmed targeting Houston, Atlanta, and Miami, and President Landry had ordered a full nuclear response. He also said the president was currently negotiating with Russia, China, and the rest of the nuclear nations to convince them to aim their ICBMs at the vessel in orbit as well.

Scnens of the flattened cities flashed by, the newscaster saying a fighter pilot had recorded them, and then it cut to Port Allen. Xian fighters were launching ground assault missiles at buildings, and Mike's old highschool was one of those obliterated by the weapons.

It was bad enough seeing the nuked cities, and the death tolls rolling up like the second hand on a clock, but seeing those buildings here in his home city destroyed like that really made Mike's heart sink. Any minute he expected an Xian nuke to come crashing down. To flatten this city too. A part of him welcomed it. Wanted the brilliant flash of heat and light to take away his pain.... but every minute it didnt happen gave strength to the other part of him. the better part who knew Dixie would prevail. He couldn't give up. <If only the Jackson were finished> he thought.

Mike turned away from the grisly scene outside once more, having just seen the exhaust smoke of hundreds of ICBMs headed skyward, and returned to his chair. He downed the last of his beer and cracked open another.

That's when he heard a knock at the door.

When Mike answered the door, it was a young Cajun girl in a bloodspattered grey C.S.A.F. flightsuit.

"Captain Mike." she said. "I'm commander Dana, I'll be your first officer. If you'll come with me, I've got a Phoenix waiting on the tarmac."

"The Jackson's ready?" Mike asked.

"They're rushing the completion." Dana said. "But we need to get to Fort Lee Airforce base Immediately."

Mike grabbed his coat, and his assault rifle, and followed Dana as she led him across bloodied streets, stepping over broken bodies faces twisted in agony as they went. Occasionally she'd stop and they'd both fire a burst at the phallic shaped fighters overhead, but their 6x51mm CSA caliber rifles were no use against the shields of the Xian planes.

Finally they reached their goal. A loan Phoenix still sitting on a makeshift runway. The engines were running, so all they had to do is get in and take off.

"Watch your step captain, I left the engines running." Dana said. "Didn't want to sit out here getting shot at while they spooled up."

Mike grabbed the helmet in the seat, and slipped it on as he climbed into the front seat.

"You ever fly one of these before?" Dana asked, getting her helmet and taking the back seat.

"Yeah." Mike said. "I've got over two hundred flight hours." he closed and pressurized the cockpit and snapped his mask on, then ran the engines up to full afterburner, and as he released the landing brakes he added "Simulated combat hours that is. But I flew thousands of sorties in Confederate jets in the war."

..............

President Landry had sent out a subspace comm, recalling the C.S.S. Robert E. Lee, Earth's first hyperspace capable vessel, to help fight off the Xians, then she sent a request for aid to the Canid and Felinid empires, and finally she posted a contract on Mercnet, offering a very large sum of money in exchange for assistance against the Xians.

It was a good thing too, as neither Mammilian empire was taking the Xians seriously. Both the Canids' Molly, and the Felinids' Queen Lioness had replied saying essentially "The Xians are just another band of pirates. you said yourself they only sent one ship. Nonetheless we would divert a ship to deal with it, but neither of us has a battleship closer than two days from Earth.

Chloe knew this battle would be over before then, and with the Lee still twelve hours away, she could only hope someone on Mercnet took her contract seriously.

She had just started enjoying a nice anal knotting from her huge wolfdog, when her laptop chimed, indicating an incoming subspace transmission, converted to standart IP traffic by the subspace modem attached to the Confederate White House wifi network. She had to stretch to hit the 'answer'' key, but thankfully she got it.

A very welcome image appeared on the screen. A brawny battlescarred Kuvasz woman wearing faded cut offs and tank top, seated in her massive command chair. " 's Admiral Maya a' the Avengin Aces." the kuvasz woman said. " Ah had Kayla put the throttles up soon's Ah saw yer contract on Mercnet. What kinda cash we talkin 'bout here ma'am?"

"Admiral, you get rid of these Xians, and Ah'll see to it yer duely compensated." Chloe said. "An' if'n yer willin t' lead a fleet t' put a stop t' the Xians once an' fer all, Ah'll make ya the richest mercenaries this sahde a' the galaxy."

"Hoe long?" Maya asked. "How long Ah gotta sit in orbit with mah thumb up mah ass fore yer fleets ready?"

"Two months." Chloe replied. The Stonewall Jackson will be ready in days, and the Lee has been recalled. Our other ships will be ready in six weeks, and the Chinese, UK, and Russians just started construction of their own, using blueprints, parts and materials we have provided in exchange for them launching their missiles at the enemy aliens alonside ours. They need two months to finish."

"Aint gonna be cheap." Maya said. "We're pushin the engines but we'll be there in jus under an hour."

"Just get here Admiral, and come in guns ablazin'." Chloe said.

"Y' kin count on that ma'am. Ah fought these bastards 'fore." Maya said. "Excalibur out."

The comm ended, leaving the Confederate president to enjoy the rest of her hour-long tie in silence, save for the battle overhead. The Confederate Air Force was doing a good job of keeping the enemy pilots out of Richmond, but the battle could still be heard.

.....................................................

The Xian ship's fighter screen and anti-missile defenses shot down a great many of the Earth based missiles, but the sheer number was overwhelming. Nuclear detonation after nuclear detonation slammed into their shields as some of the missiles made it through. The heat and radiation, and force of the blasts buffeted the ship, and eventually the shields gave out under the strain of repetive nuclear strikes. A final missile launched from Richmond painted to look like a giand hand with its middle finger extended finished the job, obliterating the now shieldless phallic shaped vessel, leaving their pilots nowhere to come home to, or rearm, and once the Confederate pilots took out the Xian tankers they wouldnt have anywhere to refuel either.

......................................................

Mike and Dana encountered considerable Xian resistance, on the way to Lee AFB. Most of the time they simply evaded the phallic shaped fighters, but eventually Mike had enough, and when one unlucky dick-head actually managed to get behind them, Mike gave a hearty Rebel Yell as he pulled up hard causing the Xian to zoom past underneath them. Then he dropped the nose back down for level flight and squeezed the trigger as the HUD centered on his target. THeir Phoenix was buffeted by the recoil of the autocannons, but Mike kept the bouncing reticule painted on the Xian plane, which exploded moments later as the autocannon rounds depleted its shields, shredded the engine, and ignited the fuel.

"That's how we do it in Dixie!" Mike crowed. The close-in engagement really got his blood pumping, and despite Dana's insistance they head straight for Lee AFB, he couldn't help engaging the enemy as they went. It felt good to be back in the cockpit again, and as he carved a path through the swarm of Xians still dogfighting Confederate fighters, he switched back and forth between autocannons and air to air missiles as the range dictated.

The flak from Lee AFB's AAA guns and the SAM's had thinned the Xians considerably. Along with the Phoenix Aerospace fighters they'd recieved from the Mammilians as well as scematics to build more, the CSAF was sending up everything they had, even pulling old atmospheric jets used in the war of northern aggression out of storage to engage the Xians as it became evident they had a lot more pilots than planes avalible.

Mike could see the runway lights now, they were almost there. He pulled the throttles back and began bleeding off airspeed banking left and right as he worked to set up their final approach. He'd been in contact with the Air Base ground controller for some time now, and as he called the numbers, he'd just put the flaps down and toggled the hydraulics to lower the landing gear when a warning blared in their cockpit. Someone had locked onto them.

Mike put the gear and flaps up, and slammed the throttles to full afterburner instinctively, and an instant later the warning fell silent as the Xian fighter exploded.

"Slayer, Bullseye, sorry about that. had to tag a little pointy on your six!" A voice Mike hadn't herd in years came through the comm.

"Slayer, Bullseye! Copy that!." Mike said. "That really you, Tom?"

"That's affirmitive Slayer." Tom said. "Death Angel, Bullseye, target destroyed."

"Ah hear ya, Bullseye." Maya replied. "Jus' nailed another one mahself."

"Its been a long time." Mike said. "Glad to see you're well."

"Likewise." Tom said. "I'm a merc now. Death Angel you heard me talking to is Admiral Maya. We're here t' help ya kick the Xians' butts, then we're gonna do somethin about em fer good."

"I know, Bullseye." Mike said. "I'm going to be commanding the C.S.S. Stonewall Jackson in your Admiral's fleet."

"Mike, not to interrupt this old reunion, but we're sucking fumes." Dana pointed out.

"Oh right." Mike said. "Good to see you again Tom, but we got to set down, about outta go-go juice."

"Yeah. Tom said. "Go on I'll cover ya." then to his wingmen "Gator, on me, lets give our old friend some cover."

"Gladly." Hank said.

With Tom, Hank, Sarah, Maya, Ashley, and the rest of their squadron making short work of the remaining Xians, Mike and Dana landed without incident, just as a flame-out alarm informed him the tanks had ran completely dry. the engines spun down, and their fighter coasted to a stop. Mike locked the landing brakes, hit the cockpit release, and shut everything down so the batteries wouldn't go dead, then they set about unstrapping themselves, and at last climbed down.

"So Bullseye and Gator, you know them?" Dana asked as they walked along the runway towards the base entreance.

"Yeah." Mike said. "We all flew in the same squadron in The War. I still dont know for sure which one of us tagged more doodles but we really kicked butt anyway."

"Well I'm glad they showed up when they did." Dana said. "If Tom hadn't nailed that bastard when he did...."

"Yeah I know." Mike said. "But don't get any ideas. Tom's a zoophile. He always has been. Kept a picture of A kuvasz bitch in heat showing her rump in his fighter where other people keep naked guys or girls."

.....................................

Vice Admiral Karen was in command of Excalibur while Maya was out fragging Xians. She directed the fighter squadrons in orbit to assist the Confederate pilots in dealing with the Xian tankers, and the ship's autocannons firing grapeshot rounds to thin the Xians down. She also greeted captain Jim on comms when the Lee dropped out of hyperspace, and had Doc Natalie beam down to help the Confederates set up a field hospital as well. Karen knew a lot of lives would be saved with the great advances made by canine medicine, nevermind the breakthroughs Natalie had made herself further expanding on that.

............................................

After meeting with the general commanding the Air Force Base, Mike followed Dana as they were led to a massive runway behind the main complex, where the C.S.S. Stonewall Jackson was waiting.

They boarded immediately, and as they made their way to the bridge, Mike noted all the engineers and technicians rushing to install systems throughout the corridors.

"You sure this ship is ready?" Mike asked Dana as he took his seat in the command chair.

"The General says she'll fly." Dana remarked. "We'll finish the rest in orbit under Excalibur and Lee's protection."

"Good enough for me." Mike said. He motioned for the comm officer to open a channel. "Base this is the Stonewall Jackson, Looks like we're ready to go."

"Copy that." the general said. "You have a go for main engine start."

"Understood general." Mike said, pressing a button on his chair. "Engineering, bring APU generators online, prime the deuterioum pumps and engage jet-starters. We have a go for main engine start."

"Yes captain." the chief engineer said. Then he could be heard shouting orders in the background. After about a minute, he reported back, "Main engines spooling up now captain, estimate ignition flashover in twenty seconds."

"Understood." Mike said.

While the engines spooled up, the general and several officers walked out onto the runway, and the general proceeded to break a bottle of champagne over the bow of the ship. Afterwards he spoke into his communicator; "Good luck, and godspeed C.S.S. Stonewall Jackson. Good Hunting, and may this great ship and her valliant crew serve our homeland with the glory and valor her namesake once did. "

The engines fired up just as the General finished speaking, and as the general and his entourage left the tarmac, the Dixie war anthem "To Arms In Dixie" blared through loudspeakers throughout the base, as well as piped throughout the ship through internal comms.

Mike and the bridge crew stood with their right hand over their hearts as did everyone else in the ship and on base for the duration of the song, and when it was finished and they all took their seats and returned to their duties, the bridge engineering officer reported green status on all engines. Mike relayed to the General moments later.

"Copy that Stonewall Jackson, secure hatches and switch to internal power and life support." the General replied.

"Wilco General." Mike said. "Engineering secure all hatches, switch to internal power and life support."

"Yes sir." the engineer reported, and once more could be heard shouting orders.

a few minutes later the Engineer reported, all hatches secure sir, o2 pressure holding steady, and internal power grid is green across the board.

"Understood." Mike said. then he relayed the information to the General.

"Good to hear, captain." the general said. "Proceed with run-up."

"Yes sir." Mike said. "All engines ahead full, engage afterburners."

"Aye sir." Dana said, putting the throttles up as she spoke.

THe engines spooled up smoothly, and the afterburners engaged without incident.

"All green sir." the bridge engineer said.

"Showing green across the board General." Mike reported.

"C.S.S. Stonewall Jackson, you have a go for takeoff." the general said.

"Wilco general." Mike said. "Inertial dampers to maximum., release landing brakes."

"Aye sir." came the replies

THe main engines belching long firey jets, the Lee-class battlecruiser began to accelerate. The C.S.S. Lee had been launched from this same runway so Mike reasoned it was plenty long enough, but from the look of her white knuckles as she gripped the the flight controls Dana was not so sure.

"Relax." Mike told Dana. "Take us up nice and smooth."

"Yes sir, its just, well, we're heavier than the Lee, sir. The main cannon we have, the Lee took off without it. It was installed as a retrofit in orbit." Dana said.

"They extended the runway another fifty yards to account for that." the bridge engineering officer said.

"V1" Dana called out, pitching the nose up slightly.

"Ready on ascent jets." Mike said. "Nice and steady."

Aye sir." Dana said.

A few seconds later, Dana announced "V2." and then "Firing ascent jets....altitude 70 feet and climbing, velocity 500 knots and accelerating."

"General, we have liftoff." Mike said on comms. "Dana, retract landing struts."

"Aye sir." Dana replied.

"Copy C.S.S. Stonewall Jackson, turn right heading 042 and maintain a steady climb to orbit. Contact Excalibur Acutal, on 39.424 terahertz for orbital traffic control."

"Copy general." Mike said. "C.S.S. Stonewall Jackson acknowledges handoff." He motioned for his comm officer to open a channel on the given frequency, and moments later, an image of a beautiful buff colored cocker spaniel bitch in a much too large for her command chair filled the main window/viewscreen as the comm officer informed "done sir."

"C.S.S. Stonewall Jackson this is Vice Admiral Karen." the spaniel said. "We have you on sensors, maintain current climb rate and vector."

"Wilco Excalibur." Mike said. "Still a lot of pointys out here."

"Just maintain your course." Karen said. "Our fighters will keep the Xians off your six."

"Understood, Vice Admiral." Mike said.

And true to Karen's word, though the battle raged all around them, not a single Xian got close enough to fire on the Stonewall Jackson as it continued its steady climb to orbit. Confederate and Avenging Aces pilots flew eachother's wing as they worked together to cut the Xians down.

By the time the Jackson settled into geosynchronous orbit between the Lee and Excalibur, the last of the Xian fighters had been eliminated, and the Aces' pilots were headed back to Excalibur.

Half an hour later, Maya had sent Tina over with an Engineering detail to help finish installing the rest of the Jackson's systems, while Mike beamed over to Excalibur to visit with Tom and Hank.

Of course being unfamiliar with the layout of Excalibur, the Jackson's transporter chief had beamed Mike onto the bridge just to be safe.

Admiral Maya welcomed him aboard, and informed him Tom and Hank were in the pilots' lounge. But he also saw Excalibur's comm officer for the first time, and immediately fell in love. They hadn't even gotten to know eachother yet, but just seeing her, he was smitten. At the same time the fear of rejection held him back. Eventually he worked through it, and on his way out to go meet up with Tom and Hank, he stopped by the comms console, and said; "Hi..I'm Captain Mike, C.S.S. Stonewall Jackson."

"Lieutenant Erika." Erika replied. "Welcome aboard captain."

"Thanks." Mike said. He wasnt sure what to say next so he just said; "Would you like to go grab a beer later?"

To his delight Erika replied. "That would be great! I get off duty at 21:00. Meet you in the mess hall then, and we can go someplace more private to relax."

"Sounds good to me." Mike said. "How do I get to the mess hall from the pilots' lounge?"

"Here," Molly said, getting up from the sensors console to hand Mike a datapad. "You are here, on the Bridge. That is the pilots' lounge there, and the mess hall over here. the flashing dot is your current position. just follow the map....and you might want to catch a ride with someone driving a utility cart...This ship is huge."

"Yeah. " Maya said. " 's parts a' it we don' even know whats down there. Aint bin used sence mah Maw was in command."

Thanks." Mike said. And with that he left.

following the map, Mike jogged down the main corridor thinking it didnt look that far on the map...but by the time he was out of breath the cursor had barely moved. Thankfully he bumped into a sexy rough collie driving a utilit cart who had just unloaded several crates. "Need a lift?" she asked.

"Yeah." Mike said, climbing into the passenger seat without a second thought. "I'm trying to get to the pilots lounge."

"No problem." Belle said. "and you're lucky you caught me, you still had a very long way to go."

"In that case, could you stop by the pilots' lounge around 20:30 and give me a lift to the mess hall." Mike said.

"I have to help Holly in Engineerint while Tina works on the Jackson." Belle said. "But I will send May to give you a lift."

"Thanks." Mike said.

The Cart accelerated smoothly. Mike thought it was strange feeling the wind in his face on a starship, but nonetheless the drive was relaxing. It took about twenty minutes to get down to the Pilots' lounge, but it had been a very unique experience. Mike thanked Belle for the ride, and headed into the lounge. He was expecting to see the people playing cards and drinking various kinds of booze, but what caught him off guard was seeing the spaniel from earlier, Vice Admiral Karen, sandwiched between Tom and Hank in the middle of the room. Tom had her butt while Hank had her pussy. He sttarted to think this was a bad idea, but as he was turning to leave, another kuvasz whom he later learned was the Admiral's sister Ashley, forced him into a chair, while a beagle wearing the callsign ''gunner'' on her flightsuit poured him what smelled like a very strong drink.

"You're a pilot, Slayer." Gunner said. "I'm Gunner, Have a drink, and enjoy the show."

:Thanks" Mike said. "Any idea how much longer they will be?"

"Bullseye, Gator, and Lovegoddess?" Gunner asked.

"Yeah." Mike said. "Bullseye, Gator, and me flew together a lot in The War "

"I think they're about done they been going at it for a while." Gunner said. "You any good?"

"One of the best!" Mike said. "The three of us all have the Dixie Star, the Southern Cross of Honor, and the Confederate Wings of Valor." He took a big swig of his drink and immediately regretted it as he doubled over coughing. "Fuck.....What was that? Jet fuel?" he choked out.

"Canid whiskey." Gunner said. "If our drink is too strong for you I could ask Lovegoddess to breastfeed you."

"I can manage." Mike said.

A few minutes later, Tom, Hank, and karen were all very vocal as they climaxed together, for what Gunner said was the fifth time, and this time after catching their breath, they pulled out, and while Karen licked herself clean, and Hank just wiped the cum and estrus honey off his cock with a napkin, Tom cleaned his cock with his hand and licked it off. After that they got dressed, and joined Mike, Sarah, and Ashley at the card table they were sitting at.

"Good to see you again Mike." Hank said. "This is my wife Karen." then "Karen, Honey, this is my old friend Mike, we flew together in the C.S.A.F."

"Nice to meet you." Mike said. "And you are very pretty Vice Admiral, but I had you figured for Tom's girl."

"I'm married to the Admiral." Tom said. "But canine marriage is not monogamous."

"I thought you married Selena." Mike told hank.

"She was a controlling cunt, so I left her for Karen." Hank said.

"Yeah." Karen said. "The way she treated you...I'd love to see the look on her face when she sees the shit stain on her favorite scarf."

"How about you, you seeing anybody?" Tom asked Mike

"Just my right hand." Mike said. "Though I have a date with your comm officer tonight if all goes well."

"Ouch." Sarah said. "I hope you like it rough, captain."

Mike forced down another swig of his drink, trying hard not to make a face, but ultimately failing.

"Yeah." Tom said. "Maya says Erika's pretty wild in bed."

Tom, Hank, and Karen all had drinks like the ones Sarah had poured herself, Mike and Ashley, and Mike noticed the way Tom and Hank were sipping theirs gently. Trying that method himself, he found the potent drink much easier to swallow, and was able to discern it had a very distinct flavor, not just raw ethyl alcohol (drinking alcohol).which he found to be quite pleasant.

"Belle told me you both have pups here." Mike said. "How does that work?"

"Doc Natalie developed a serum." Tom said. "Just go down to sick bay and tell her you want the shot."

"Its a painful injection in the testicles, but you only have to do it once." Hank said. "It lasts forever."

"I'll do that if the date goes well." Mike said.

After that they spent the time getting caught up on everything they'd missed since Tom and Hank had left Earth to join the Avenging Aces.

..............................................................................

With the Xians gone, Confederate fighter pilots now turned to the role of spotter, helping the infantrymen and emergency responders locate the wounded throughout the cities attacked. mostly from the cities like Port Allen, Jackson MS, and Paducah KY which had only suffered fighter attacks, but there were a few survivors scattered around the outer rim of what used to be Houston, Atlanta, and Miama all suffering various degrees of radiaton exposure as well as in neighboring cities. School and city buses, mail trucks, and even semi-trailers were repurposed as makeshift ambulances, to get the wounded to the field hospitals Doc Natalie helped set up. In the cases of the nuked cities, Treaded APC's and helicopter airlifts were the only option.

The death toll was staggering, but thanks to Doc Natalie and the marvels of canine medicine hundreds of lives had already been saved that would have otherwise died, and that number was expected to rise into the thousands as efforts continued.

In the political aftermath of the attack, President Landry had to explain to the Confederacy's foreign allies that the Xian threat was very much a global one. The only reason they attacked the Confederacy first, was prior conflict with the CSS Lee. In essence, the Xians thought the Confederacy was the seat of Earth's power, but after this battle, they would know that The Confederacy was just one nation among many. The Xians had to be stopped, or next time they might target London, Moscow, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Rome, or any other major population centers around the world for that matter. "It aint just about Dixie anymore. Its global" Chloe said. "Dixie will stand tall against the global threat, but we stand a much better chance if we all stand together."

That was in a meeting with the other world leaders in the Global Alliance, in which the Confederate President convinced the others they wll needed to work together to get Earth ready for when the Xians return. .................................

May came to get Mike at precisely 20:30, and so began the drive to the mess hall. May drove a bit faster than Belle had, Mike noted, but still slow enough to negotiate the corridors safely.

"Ah seen ya in that picure mah daddy has." May said making conversation. "Y flew with him back then Ah reckon."

"Yeah." Mike said.

"Ah'm a pilot mahself. 'course so's Maw, s' Ah reckon it runs in the family." May said.

"Yeah." Mike said. "Now we've got these damned Xians to deal with." Mike said. "I just want to make sure what happened today never happens to anyone else."

"We'll make 'em pay." May said. "Ah dunno who long it''l take, 'er how far we'll travel, but we'll get 'em."

"Yeah." Mike said.

After that they made idle conversation for the rest of the ride. When they finally arrived, Mike thanked May for the lift, and then as the kuvasz sped away, he made his way into the great mess hall. Immediately his nose was assaulted by a variety of alien yet pleasent scent, as supper had only recently concluded (supper at 20:00). He couldn't quite place any of the smells, but as he gazed about the room he finally found Erika seated at a large table with a mess tray loaded down with some kind of finger-food. She was dressed in a puffy nightshirt, and sweatpants rather than the bridge officer's uniform he had seen her in earlier. She had a 12-pack of beer -a brand Mike was unfamiliar with- on the bench-seat beside her.

"Its good to see you again." Mike said. "What is that you're eating , anyway."

"Cheese poppers." Erika said. "Leftovers from supper. Go on, try one."

Mike did just that, and when he bit into the greasy fried thing, it was impossible not to talk with his mouth full, remarking "Mmmm this's delicious."

"I thought you might like them." Erika said. "Grab the tray, I'll carry the beer, its only about a quarter mile to my cabin."

"Lead the way, sexy." Mike said. "You know the ship better than I do...besides, I enjoy the view."

"I'm not sexy, not like Karen, Belle, or Maya, but thanks for saying so." Erika said, as she picked up the beer and began to lead Mike to her cabin.

"You are to me." Mike said. "You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. An angel shining through the shadow of Earth's darkest hour."

"You don't know me." Erika said. "I've done things....things that make me sick to think about. If you knew you would not find me so appealing."

"So have I." Mike said. "In the war."

"I didn't do it for war." Erika said. "I was forced to do those things. nothing redeeming in it at all."

"Then you are even less at fault than I am." Mike said. "and nothing could make ou less attractive to me."

They made idle conversation for the rest of the walk, then Erika unlocked the door, and led Mike inside. She locked it back afterward, and climbed up on the bed with the beer. Mike climbed up after her with the tray of cheese poppers, and Mike recounted the things he had done in the war, as they each opened a beer, and drank between munching cheese poppers. Mike noted Erika drank hers with a straw rather than tipping it the way most people in the pilots lounge had, but what really surprised him -in a good way- was when Erika pulled hom close, locked him in a passionate kiss, and shoved a muzzleful of partially chewed cheese poppers into his mouth with her tongue. Mike swallowed without a second thought, and quickly worked to return the favor. Afterward, he said; "That was incredible, what was that?"

"Food sharing." Erika said. "Its an ancient canine custom that goes back to when our people were cave dwellers."

"Its a very intimate and passionate tradition." Mike said. "I really enjoy it."

................................................................

In the days that followed, while the fleet was under construction, and Earth was recovering, Mike and Erika's relationship grew, and while Karen beamed down to AMD Headquarters to see to the installment of a canine administrator, who would relay things to her via subsbace and carry out her orders, Mike and Erika's relationship grew. After several dates in her cabin, the next time Erika got off duty, She and Mike put on Canid EV suits, and Mike flew them to walk on Earth's moon in a Phoenix Mk V. The Confederacy had been to the moon before, to take down the yankee rag and replace it with the Confederate flag, but this was the first time anyone had gone there on a date. After shutting down the engines, he hit the cockpit release, and they climbed out. Bouncing around in the low gravity felt strange but good, and Mike could tell by her reaction, Erika liked it too.