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Karen felt the wad of gause padding she'd stuffed in the back of her underwear and sniffed her hand, the moment she got out of the utility cart. Fortunately it was still clean, so she hurried onto the Bridge, and had Kayla help her into the command chair, hoping that sitting down would help keep it that way. To an extent, she was probably right of course. The pressure would likely help. Nevertheless she mentally kicked herself for not accepting the good doctor's offer of a diaper, or at the very least asked Vice Admiral Ashley to discretely place some rubber padding in the Command chair. The inevitable leaking would be embarassing enough. The last thing she wanted to do was to soil Maya's chair in the process.

"S' how'd it go, Admiral?" May asked, genuinely concerned.

"You saw the video by now right?" Karen replied.

"SHure 'nuff! an' Ah climaxed s' hard ah literally shat mahself!" May said. "Gods! that was somethin!...but Ah mean the results."

"Perfectly normal." Karen replied. "You no doubt heard what Grayson said, about never having seen one so healthy."

"Shure 'nuff." May said. "Ah'm pleased t' hear it."

"Yeah me too." Kayla said. "We just lost one commanding officer. We cant afford to lose another one so soon."

"Thank you for your concern, now lets get down to buisness." Karen said.

"Yes Ma'am." the others all replied, and then one by one proceeded to give updated reports on the ship's current status as usual.

Puppy Maya was very excited at the various sights and sounds on the Bridge. Occasionally she'd release the teat she was sucking to yip and make excited puppy grunts. Occasionally she'd even babble "wolfie" or "fluffy tail' and similar babytalk.

Maya was happy to be on the bridge, albeit a bit frustrated at her immature body being unable to convey anything properly. She was aware of, and understood everything of course, from the good news about Karen's checkup, to the various reports given and Karen's orders.

She really enjoyed Karen ''mothering'' her like this. It reminded her how much she missed Old May. She only had vague memories of being on the bridge with her birth mother of course, but she liked to think it was something like this.

Maya wasn't the least embarassed about the diaper changes, or sucking Karen's teats either. She just wished she could somehow let Karen know how she felt.

The silver lining in it all was, she enjoyed playing with the other pups, even though it was a little weird playing with her own youngest litter. She enjoyed being babied, but would never admit to that of course, and most of all she finally got a chance to relax. She didn't have to make split-second life or death decisions that affected a lot of lives anymore. Didn't have to read reports, or stay up late meeting with fleet captains. SHe missed eating real food, and making love, of course. but she didn't miss always being constipated, and she didn't miss having to do her own glands either.

Not to mention she could get away with staring in the showers, as few besides Karen knew that she had her full adult mind. Most just thought she was a curious pup who didnt really know what she was looking at.

She also found she could get away with chewing on a lot of things too. Usually Karen would only scold her for chewing on parts of the command chair, and things of that nature. She even got away with stealing one of Mayamay's chew toys and letting Callie's spoiled brat Clara get the blame for it.

Karen rarely let anyone else hold her, but that was just as well. Tom seemed a little creeped out whenever he had to do so, and Hank kept getting her confused with his and Mabelle's youngest pups, and had to sniff her to tell the difference every time. Both boys had no trouble making love to Karen with her watching, oddly enough.

The one thing she didn't enjoy, was the way Karen dressed her like a princess, in fancy puppy dresses with fancy tiara's, and things of that nature.

....

Karen found there was a strange sort of serenity to the chaos of the Bridge. You didn't notice it on the outside looking in, and you didn't notice it on temporary command duty, but it was there. You couldn't force it. It had to come naturally, but once you got a feel for it, it was beautiful.

She had enjoyed standing in Maya's shadow, and helping her to lead the fleet through the Xian war, but being the Admiral certainly had its perks.

Tom was getting a bit carried away with his scrapbook he was making for his younger pups, and Maya too when they either found a solution of she grew up naturally.

"Admiral Karen in command!" he called out, snapping another picture with his phone.

"Give it a rest, Tom." Karen said. "I think you have enough of those now."

"Your the boss!" Tom said, putting his phone away. "But why not live it up? I just want you to know, we're all behind you. a hundred percent. We'll follow you to the ends of the universe and beyond. "

"Thank you Tom, that means a lot, especially coming from you." Karen replied.

And that was the truth. Tom was always so far up Maya's ass that Karen figured he'd be the last to warm up to the change in command, so she knew she was doing a good job having won him over already.

"I haven't given up on restoring Maya to her proper age, but if we don't find a solution soon, you just might get your chance." Karen said

"Your talking about Xenia, I take it." Tom said.

"Among others yes." Karen said. "After we finish this mission, I intend to hunt down Xenia, Jerry, and the rest of those assholes that put bounties on us, and eliminate them one by one."

"Well I know we can count on Mike." Tom said. "And I'd suggest inviting captain Poloniev as well. his top gun, Yuri is a hell of a pilot. Not to mention having the firepower of that new Titan class ship couldn't hurt."

"I'm still working out the details, but I agree." Karen said. "Thats another reason we are going to that space station the day after tomorrow. We were in the Expanse a long time, so I need to get a feel for how things have played out out here to decide how to proceed."

"Lead on, we'll follow!" Tom remarked "Bestides, cant beat the view!"

"Yeah that's for sure!" Hank added.

"Is that all you boys ever think about?" Karen said with a laugh.

This idle banter was soon cut short however, as Erika announced; "Admiral I'm picking up a distress call on the lower subspace bands. the signal is bleeding all over ajacent channels, and very weak."

"Lets see it." Karen said. "Molly see if you can pinpoint its location."

"Its audio only ma'am. Patching it through now." Erika replied.

"I have it, Admiral." Molly said. "point five lightyears off our present course, bearing 330 mark 144."

An instant later a female voice crackled through the speakers over the comm static.

"Help Please...static...If anyone can hear me...static...help!"

"This is Admiral Karen of the Avenging Aces." Karen replied. "What is the nature of your emergency?"

"Static...Starliner....Static...Attacked...more static...escape pod."

"Ma'am the signal... I ran the cryptoanalysis twice to be certain...Its Xian, Admiral." Erika said. "Yet the girl is speaking Canid."

"Tom, alter course, Erika inform the Jackson, and try to clean that up." Karen replied. then to the girl on comms, "we're on our way. Just hold on a little longer."

"I will try." the girl replied. "static...two years...static...escape."

"thats as good as I can make it, Admiral." Erika said.

The girl must have accidentally closed the comm link as the channel fell silent. It hardly mattered anyway, as Tom brought the massive Heavy Dreadnought out of hyperspace moments later.

"I'm reading a lot of debris...and one Xian escape pod. Two Canid lifesigns aboard." Molly said. "One strong, one very weak."

Karen pushed a button and informed Sick Bay to prepare for casualties, then contacted the fighter bay to launch a retrieval flight.

"May, you have the bridge." Karen said, "Tom you're with me." She started to get up, and immediately regretted it.

As Tom helped her down from the Command chair, Karen felt something warm and heavy in the back of her pants. Instantly her ears felt like they were on fire. She could already smell it, so she knew the others had to as well.

Tom didn't complain however. Instead he just told Hank to hold baby Maya for a minute, asked Karen to bend over, and then took off his shirt to clean up the mess as he had for his pups many times when they were potty training or had undergone the same procedure. He had even done this for Maya before.

Then he proceeded to lick Karen the rest of the way clean.

"Gods! Tom! that's...Eww...!" Karen complained, her embarassment made worse by the fact Tom was licking her clean like this.

"Tastes fine to me, princess!" Tom remarked, quickly diving back in. He didnt stop until Karen was perfectly clean. When Tom finally withdrew his tongue, he swiftly mounted Karen anally right there on the bridge.

Karen's numb canine anus gave no resistance to being mounted, and made working up a steady pace easy. THe downside to that was, it also didnt grip like usual.

Hank sent Callie to go get Karen a change of clothes, then just stood and watched, holding puppy Maya.

Karen panted like crazy, and started to hump back against Tom. THough she hadn't felt the penetration, Tom's rapidly growing Kuvasz knot put pressure on her honeypie through the muscular wall separating the two. Her short little fancy tail was already wagging like crazy.

Tom was just getting started, of course. He wasn't the least bothered by the mess they were making, and didn't care who saw them.

"Fuck yes! " Karen panted. "Good boy! Oh Gods! fuck my dirty little shithole long and deep. Knot me tight and pump me so full of cream I look pregnant!"

"With pleasure, beautiful!" Tom replied. He was panting pretty hard himself now, and his fluffy kuvasz tail was kicking up quite the breeze.

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

In the Fighter Bay, Vice Admiral Ashley was waiting with Doc Natalie when Sarah towed the escape pod in with her fighter.

Two stout looking security officers pried the hatch open, and held weapons ready as Ashley helped Natalie extricate the pod's occupants. Luckily there was no cause for alarm, as they were genuinely both canine (Feena had flooded the fighter bay with the Xians' ''brown note'' as a precaution).

The male looked to in pretty rough shape. He'd obviously been in a big fight, and was suffering from poorly tended injuries as a result.

The female, a young Kuvasz pup just starting her first heat, looked to be in good health, aside from malnutrition and mild dehydration.

"Ah'm vice Admiral Ashley, welcome aboard the starship Excalibur." Ashley said. "Admiral Karen is...preoccupied at the moment but Ah kin show ya round once Doc Natalie says 's ok."

"Aye lass go on I'll be busy treatin yoor friend for a while." Natalie said.

"Follow me." Ashley instructed.

"Hmph. You have no idea who I am, do you, Vice Admiral!" the girl remarked indignant.

"Sumone in need, Ah reckon. Yer starliner's attacked two years ago, an' y'bin a prisoner a' the Xians till ya both escaped recently, from what Ah pieced t'gether a' the comm." Ashley said.

"I am Princess Mayali, Eldest daughter of Her Majesty Queen Molly, and future heir to the throne!" the girl remarked. "You will carry me to meet your Admiral so that I can demand she take me home Immediately!"

"Ah'm afraid Admiral Karen gives the orders on this ship miss fancypants." Ashley said. "Yer jus' a passenger."

"How rude! I should have you whipped for your insolence!" the girl remarked.

"Ah'll take ya t' the Admiral, but Ah suggest ya change yer tone an' show sum respect, 'er ya mahgt find yerself gettin aqqainted with the brig." Ashley returned.

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

Tom had just dismounted for the turn and tie, when Callie returned with Karen some fresh clothes, as well as Billy Ballchin and four armed security guards. The Xian had cleaning supplies of course, and soon busied himself scrubbing what he called a ''food'' stain from the seat cushion of the command chair. He was more than happy to do it, getting to stretch his legs like this, nevermind the fact he had only seen the Bridge once before, when Kayla had made a similar mess of the helm console seat for the same reasons.

Some people masturbated, others just enjoyed the show while continuing to do their jobs, but in every case it was impossible not to notice.

Karen was very vocal with yips and pleasuregrowls, praising Tom for the size of his knot, and things of that nature.

Tom was pretty vocal himself. frequently praising Karen for how wonderful she felt.

They both moved around quite a bit, tied as they were. Most of the time Karen was dominant, dragging Tom around by his knot as she moved about.

When Tom did the pulling it was usually because he was trying to twist around enough to be able to lick up any spillage.

Unfortunately as luck would have it, they were still tied when Ashley brought their new passenger in.

At first it was just a little embarassing being caught tied like this.

"Admiral, Ah'm sorry fer the intrusion." Ashley said, feeling a twinge of embarassment herself. " This's Princess Mayali, one a' the passengers. The onther one's in Sick Bay, but Natalie said he's respondin' well."

Karen was too embarassed to speak, being literally caught with her pants down, and a thick red rocket up her ass on her own bridge like that. Thankfully at least, Callie had led the Xian back to the brig moments ago and he'd finished his work, so the only smells were from the occasional leak that seeped out around Tom's knot, and of course her soiled pants rolled up inside Tom's shirt, but still, it was embarassing as can be.

She'd never actually met Princess Mayali of course, not up close anyway. But she had attended the "presentation Feast" when the princess was born, as had Tom, Callie, and Belle, disguised as rich aristocrats of course. The reason being was that Maya had overheard a plot to puppynap the newborn princess, for ransom, and as such had sent in a team to prevent it.

"Which one of you is Admiral Karen?" Mayali spoke up.

Karen forced herself to meet the girl's gaze. "I am." she replied.

"Admiral I demand you return me to my homeworld immediately!" Mayali barked. "And punish this crewman for not obeying me!"

"You are a guest aboard my vessel." Karen spoke gently but firmly. "My crew are not your servants. We are a long way from your palace, and we just saved your life. I fully intend to return you home, but you need to understand we are not a luxury liner."

"You will see to my accomodations properly, Admiral." Mayali returned. "And get me some real food!"

"You have a cabin." Karen said. "And if you don't like the food, Don't eat it. Or would you prefer I return you to your escape pod?"

Mayali opened her mouth to complain again, but at that same moment, Tom's knot deflated and they separated, and the princess was close enough that some of the dirty cum splattered into her muzzle before she could say anything.

Several people laughed. Tom was too busy cleaning up the spillage of course, and when he finished, he licked Karen clean once more, and then set about licking himself to get his Red Rocket back into its sheath.

Mayali threw up, of course.

After cleaning that up, Ashley led her away to the Admiral's quarters to wait for Karen to finish.

Tom helped Karen with a diaper which Callie had brought as well, and then Karen got dressed, took puppy Maya back from Hank, and set out for her cabin to meet with Mayali properly.

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

When Karen stepped into the room she found things were not as they should be. Mayali was sitting on the wrong side of the desk, chewing on one of her chew toys.

"This is more like it, Admiral." she had stopped briefly to say. "I want this cabin!"

"I'm sorry princess, but this is my cabin." Karen said. "And you know thats not that kind of toy. I dont mind you using my chewtoys, but thats a buttplug."

Right away Mayali spit out the toy with a disgusted face, and Karen couldn't help but laugh.

After that she said; "You are in my seat, princess. move around and sit here so we can get started."

Thankfully Mayali didn't make much of a fuss and did as Karen asked.

"Good." Karen said. "You have grown a lot, princess. Last time I saw you, you were smaller than little Maya here."

"We have never met." Mayali said.

"You were too young to remember and did not have your eyes open yet." Karen said. "Besides I was in disguise. I was there because someone planned to puppynap you at your Presentation."

"Such a cute puppy! I want to hold her!" Mayali said.

Karen thought about it for a moment, and decided it would help break the ice. "Alright, hold your hands like mine." Karen said, handing over the pup slowly. "Thats it, now rest her head on your arm like that, and support her tail with your other hand...thats perfect."

"Is she yours?" Mayali asked next.

"Not biologically, but many of the crew are." Karen said. "She's pure kuvasz, adopted, but I have some half kuvasz biological pups."

"Ouch." Mayali said. "That had to hurt!"

"The birth yes, not the mating." Karen said. "Our doctor has perfected female to female interbreeding."

"That must be useful." Mayali said.

"It is." Karen said. "Anyway, I wanted to ask you a few questions if you don't mind."

"Alright." Mayali said. "Sorry about earlier. I just... well your the first Canids I've seen outside of an Xian torture chamber in years, other than my personal guard. The boy that was with me."

"Think nothing of it." Karen said. "How did it happen?"

I dont really know." Mayali said. "One minute we were coming out of hyperspace to dock with a space station. the next I hear the captain yelling over the internal comms about the station being gone. Then I saw them. ships shaped like...male reproductive organs... several of them. They started firing. the ship shook like it was coming apart. They must have cut through our shields in no time. The lights went out People were screaming. Then the gravity cut out, and these men with heads shaped like those same parts were going through the ship with guns, shooting people. I thought they were going to shoot me too, but they didn't. They slaughtered everyone else, including my security detail, and then they took me aboard one of their ships. That's where I met the boy who was with me. He used to be a soldier, and volunteered to be my personal guard when I explained who I was.

We were tortured, always being pumped for information. He didn't let me lose hope. For two long years we plotted and planned, waiting for the right chance. Other prisoners joined our cause over time, and one day we finally got our chance. We took over the ship, and set a course for home. unfortunately we were attacked again and the others used the ship to keep the Xians busy while we escaped in the pod you found us in.

"The Xians have been defeated." Karen said. "You can take comfort in that. As to taking you home, we are on our way to the homeworld currently. I would not normally divulge the nature of our mission, but suffice it to say it involves another VIP passenger who hired us to deliver her to meet with your mother." she paused then, "As to your accomodations, I will see what I can do, but as I said we are a war ship, not a luxury ship." she paused again, then "I can arrange for your biological needs to be met as well if you want."

"And what needs would that be?" Mayali said. "Do you have a gilded toilet or something like that?"

"I could afford one, but no. that is not what I mean." Karen said.

"Then I dont understand." Mayali said.

"Don't be a fool, Mayali, you're in heat. I can smell it from here." Karen said.

"Its my first." Mayali said. "Thank the Gods that didn't happen while we were in the Xians' brig."

"I will make arrangements for the Festival." Karen said. "I know you would rather be home for that, but we make do with what we have. As to relief, I would not be aversed to relieving you myself if you wish, It wouldn't be the first time I've been with a kuvasz bitch. Or I can arrange for any of my crew to do so if you want."

"That will be part of the festival." Mayali said. "Have you ever spent the night with a princess before?"

"As a matter of fact I have." Karen said. "She was nothing like you though."

Puppy Maya giggled when Karen said that. Mayali didn't catch on, but Karen knew it to mean that Maya knew she was referring to her.

"Did the Xians ever touch you? Sexually?" Karen asked next. "I only ask out of concern for your health."

"Not with their private parts." Mayali said. They seemed fascinated with my anatomy, and stuck probes in me and the others, but they seemed to misunderstand our bodily functions. They seemed to think that food came from our behinds. During one probing session one of them mentioned ''assessing my food production''.

That is good news. I was worried about mental scarring. Still, I would like you to speak with Agnes about the probing. Among her other duties she is our ship's counselor." Karen said., noting the probing in the report she was writing. "As for why they think food comes from our backsides, well, Doctor Natalie could explain that better, but it has to do with Xian biology. Their bodies can't digest most normal food. Roaches and other insects are edible to them, but as gross as it sounds, our waste is the best source of nutrition. It is like a gourmet meal to them."

"That would explain why we were expected to use buckets." Mayali said. "I had thought they simply lacked plumbing facilities in their brig, but this makes more sense."

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

While Karen was meeting with Princess Mayali, Doc Natalie was just finishing up with the other passenger's surgery. She had to use all sorts of high tech medical procedures from micro-thorascopic repair of lung lacerations, to laser debridment and resection of bone-deep stab wounds, and even transanal laparoscopic microsurgery to remove abdominal bullets and repair tissues. SHe also had to remove a fair number of intermuscular bullets the old fashioned way, of course. Her patient was currently in recovery, and would wake up shortly. He wasn't totally out of the woods, as Natalie still had him on a potent concoction of IV antibiotics and antivirals to reverse the sepsis from his wounds having gone improperly treated so long, but the good doctor was confident he was going to make a full recovery.

When he finally woke up, the soldier looked around groggily. He was on a ship, he knew. There was a familiar scent in the air, which overpowered the blotting antiseptic smell of Sick Bay. Judging by the medical devices he saw, he reasoned this was a Canid ship. That was a huge relief in itself.

It wasn't until he saw Doc Natalie tending to him that he realized exactly where he was. He was on Excalibur. Maya's ship. And if Maya was here, outside the Exmanse, that must mean she was successful. The war was over. The Xians were finally defeated. And yet it all seemed impossible. Too good to be true.

"Doctor!" he said finally, deciding he had to know. "Unless my nose decieves me, you are Doctor Natalie, correct."

"Aye lad." Natalie replied.

"Then I am aboard Excalibur?" he asked.

"Aye lad." Natalie replied.

"Then I would like to speak with Admiral Maya immediately." he said.

"That is one thing I canna do." Natalie said.

"What happened to her?"

"I canna say, lad. Its classified. Admiral Karen's orders." Natalie replied.

"Then inform Admiral Karen I wish to speak with her." he said.

"Aye lad that I can do." Natalie said.

"Where is her royal highness? Princess Mayali?" he asked next.

"She is fine lad, and meeting with the Admiral right now." Natalie said.

"Thank you." the soldier said. Hearing that put his mind at ease. He still worried what had happened in the Expanse, why Karen was in command, but Mayali was safe, at least. It was sort of ironic he had hoped to see Maya again. The last time they had met, Maya had beat the snot out of him in a bar-room brawl, and yet he couldnt help feeling being here, on this ship, was the greatest blessing. "So what hapened in the Expanse?" he finally asked.

"We won, eventually....but it cost us." Natalie said.

"Maya?" he tried again.

"While I have noo doubt thats how Maya would want to go out, no. Maya made it home. THe change in command happened out here, but I canna say no more." Natalie said.

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

Now that the ships were back in Hyperspace, Mike had beamed over to spend time with Erika. He'd been informed of their second VIP passenger of course, and while he was eager to meet Princess Mayali, he was more interested in some personal time with his true love.

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

Mayali interrupted their discussion, complaining that Maya smelled, and was being fussy.

Karen took the pup back knowing exactly what she needed, of course.

Mayali had expected Karen would take the pup somewhere private to take care of it, but no. Much to the displeasure of her delicate princess nose, Mayali had to ''enjoy'' everything, as Karen changed the pup then and there.

Karen called Agnes in after that, and after introducing her to Mayali, Karen watched her young-old friend lead the princess away on a casual stroll through the corridors as they talked.

Karen was thankful that Maya needing changed had covered up the smell of her own leaking. The diaper kept most of the scent contained of course, but with the recent buttsex on top of being numb from the procedure earlier, well as one can imagine it filled up pretty quickly.

As embarassing as it was being changed, Karen was glad it was Hank doing it for her this time. She hoped the lube was finally starting to wear off too, as she felt a hint of coolness when he was applying ''puppy oil'' after cleaning her up. She reasoned she'd still need at least one more diaper, but by some feeling slightly returning she reasoned by the next change she wouldn't need to wear one any longer.

When Hank had finished, Karen got dressed once more, and set out for Sick Bay to meet with the other passenger as Doc Natalie had asked.

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

"Well what do you think, princess?" Agnes asked as they walked. "I know she's not the posh starliners your used to, but she's home, to us anyway."

"Its a lot cleaner than I imagined." Mayali said. "The Admiral is not what I expected either. "She is personable, easy to talk to. I was expecting a stone-faced brute that lets big cannons do the talking."

"She certainly has a unique command style that's for sure." Agnes said. "But it works. And make no mistake, just because she is easy to talk to, doesn't mean she hasn't got her finger on the trigger. I know she looks cute and cuddly, but get on her bad side, and, gods help you. Just ask those pirates we ran into the other day."

"I guess that makes sense." Mayali said. "Shouldnt we be talking about the Xians though. I mean that is how it works, right?"

"We can talk about whatever you would like, princess." Agnes said. "It would help you feel better to talk about your ordeal, but I understand if you are not ready. We can work up to that slowly."

"No, its alright." Mayali said. "Like I told the Admiral, there wasn't really anything sexual about it. They were always examining me, and sticking probes in me, but nothing really sexual."

"But you felt violated, didn't you." Agnes said. "When they were probing you I would imagine you felt dirty, scared, and embarassed."

"It was horrible." Mayali confirmed. "It felt really gross when they stuck those things in me. They would put things in my bottom and take ''samples''. The smell...everyone had to know it was me...I felt so embarassed my ears were on fire. and then (gagging repeatedly) they...they tasted ...the samples...(gags again) and ate it."

Mayali paused to get her stomach under control, before continuing. "We had to use the bathroom in buckets."

"The Xians have strange dietary needs." Agnes said. "You told the Admiral you were tortured. What sort of things did they do?"

"Yes." Mayali said. "We were subjected to interrogations making use of electric shocks delivered to teats and private parts. There was also the mental torture of being forced to watch others being beaten, whipped, and even shot in noncritical areas. "

Their conversation was interrupted as a particularly frisky malamute boy almost knocked the princess down when he, having caught Mayali's estrus scent, came running, dropped to all fours, teeth chattering, and very enthusiastically proceeded to sniff the princess' rump.

"Leave me alone pervert!" Mayali snapped.

"I can't help it, beautiful. The way you're broadcasting that divine scent, every man on this ship is gonna want some!" the boy remarked.

"A lot of the girls too! A yellow lab in an engineering uniform remarked. She'd emerged from a crawlspace to join the sniffing moments ago."

"Alright that's enough." Agnes said. "You both had a sniff, leave the girl alone."

"Yes ma'am." they both replied, going their separate ways.

"My apologies." Agnes said. "But they are right, your scent is very potent, princess."

"I know." Mayali said. "I have been having a lot of strange sensations and cravings. But that does not excuse their behavior. To do that before the festival...its just wrong."

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

After meeting with the soldier in Sick Bay, Karen gave orders setting in motion the preparations for the Estrus Festival.

THe shipboard still was working overtime producing home-brew Canid Whiskey (moonshine), and an entire normally unused deck was brought online, prepared to handle all Festival activities, and appropriately decorated.

The Galley was similarly busy preparing a feast fit for a Queen, and likewise the Canid Opera singing Great Pyrenees girl from the Recreation Spa was preparing for her biggest live performance yet. She'd actually written her own Opera about Maya's accomplishments, the change in command, and sailing the stars anew under Admiral Karen, which she felt was perfect for this occasion. She added it to her list alongside other Opera's from popular artists from all corners of Canid controlled space.

On the bridge, Karen took the helm personally, due to the delicate nature of the maneuvers involved, to dock with another ship while in hyperspace, and after what felt like an eternity of agonizingly slow micro-fine course corrections, and people anxiously looking on, the great behemoth that was Excalibur, and the Confederate Battlecruiser C.S.S. Stonewall Jackson inched closer together.

There was a spark of electricity, and both ships jostled from the impact as their navigation screens (very low power shields to deflect space debris) ''kissed''.

For a moment the vibrations intensified into rough turbulence, as their hyperspace window generators struggled to sync up.

Then like the eye of a storm, it all smoothed out. The docking booms extended, and moments later everyone gave an audible sigh of relief when Molly reported "We have softdock capture, Admiral."

"Good>" Karen said, quickly but carefully moving the controls almost inperceptably. On comms she said; "Godsdamnit Dana I said trim port by point 0001 degrees."

"Sorry Admiral I thought you said 0.001 degrees." Dana replied.

"Nevermind I corrected for it." Karen said. "Brace for Hard-Dock."

"Wilco Excalibur." Dana said.

A moment later they all felt the bump, and the hull reverberated with a metallic clang as the airlocks fully engaged the docking collars.

"Excalibur we have hardseal." Dana said.

"Copy that, Jackson, we show the same." Karen said. "Belle, you're up."

"Yes ma'am." Belle replied from the bridge Engineering station. "Initializing docking umbilical uplink." She paused a moment, and the lights dimmed slightly for an instant, before coming back to full brightness. "Power, lifesupport and artificial gravity are now part of our power grid, ma'am."

"Good." Karen said. "Jackson, your people are going to feel a little heavy on their feet as your grav generators come up to our standard. We are equalizing pressure and will open the airlock shortly."

"Wilco Excalibur, we'll be waiting." Dana replied.

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

The purpose of docking this time was of course to easier facilitate the back and forth of crewmen wishing to attend the Festival.

With the docking procedures complete, Karen stopped by the showers to get out of her diaper and get cleaned up. The lube had finally worn off, as she tested by fingering her butt while showering off, so when she finished, Karen simply got dressed, then returned to her cabin to change into her fancier Admiral's uniform, or ''full dress uniform" in proper military parlance, in preparation for conducting the festival. She went to meet the Jackson's command staff at the airlock after that, and welcome them aboard.

The humans aboard the Jackson all knew the festival well of course, having experienced it many times in the Expanse, as the rest of the fleet had as well. This would be the first time experiencing it for Royalty of course.

There were a few new crewmen on both ships who didn't know what the festival was, and President Landry had read about it in her research into Canid culture, but never imagined she would avtually experience it, but as Mike was telling his new transporter chief, the one that had made the blunder, "The festival is something you just have to experience. There really is no good way to explain it."

Speaking of which, Karen was currently explaining things to the Confederate President.

Chloe Landry was the adventurous sort. She was eager to explore this deeply sipritual and intimate aspect of Canid culture. She was a little surprised to learn that nudity was involved. More specifically that everyone would be stripping down to just their collars, but she wasn't one to complain. Besides, she considered herself to be very attractive, so what did she have to be ashamed of, right? Nevermind the fact that everyone else, including the Admiral herself, and the princess for whom the Festival was arranged, would all be just as naked.

"Your culture is different." Karen said when she had explained everything. "I would not take offense if you opted out of the ''natural'' attire."

"No but Ah reckon Princess Mayali would." President Landry said. " S' alrahgt Admiral, Ah'll honor yer customs completely."

"But Madam President!" one of the Men in Grey protested.

"We all will." President Landry said. "Do ah have t' make it a executive order?"

"No ma'am, my apologies." the same Man in Grey replied.

"Alright, and thank you." Karen said. "I have already showered, but if any of you need to freshen up, we have about an hour before the Festival begins."