Roads Untraveled - Part XIX

Story by OttersGonnaOtt on SoFurry

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The girls wake up do odd conditions and solve some problems. The crew of the Starbreeze fights their way back home.

This chapter has a super secret delay involved. I was surprised with a trip to a certain theme park featuring anthropomorphic critters and a prominent geodesic sphere made of steel. It was strange, but I highly recommend it. I am literally writing this blurb as my family drives home, and actually finished and proofed this chapter during the vacation. Fun stuff. :3

This chapter isn't the longest I've written, but it gets a good bit of interpersonal and story work across. I planned a tad more content for this one, but opted to delay it into next chapter as the structuring now appears to work better for the upcoming chapter's main points. There's not too much left in this book from a main arc point of view, but the content could also be stretched and squashed depending on how much detail I deem appropriate. We'll see what's left, but I'd say seven to ten chapters are remaining, gravitating towards the leaner side.

I'll post a journal and some photos about my trip that are relevant to the fandom soon. Aside from that, have fun reading this chapter!

As always, this story may contain adult content and explicit sexual imagery. If you aren't allowed or don't wish to view such material, please stop reading immediately. You may cringe / giggle / have an aneurysm from silly content tags. To all the rest, enjoy! Comments and critiques are welcome and encouraged.


«Sis! Hey, wake up!»

«I'll give it a try, Michelle.» Io 'walked' over to her host and playfully kicked her in the shoulder. «Mikhaila, your sister needs you.»

«Huh?» The otter-alien hybrid shot her head towards her sister, wiping her eyes groggily. «What is it, sis? Oh... You need the inhaler?»

Chelle nodded from beneath her mother's protective arm, carefully minding that she didn't wake her. «My skin's on fire. I could have used that a few hours ago.»

«Indeed.» Europa made herself known off to the side of the rec room. «I had to wake Chelle before things got out of hand.» She inspected her own virtual hand and then eyed her host's webbed equivalent. «Or out of ~paw~, I guess...»

«Well either way, I've got the thing right here.» Mik pulled out the formaldehyde inhaler and tossed it over, but the item fell short by a meter or so. «Well, crap. Either of your other vines free to grab it?»

Chelle wrenched one free, but didn't bother after the slight struggle beneath her mother. «Actually, I'd like to just sneak out of here. Think you could lend a portal?»

«Ah, I follow you. Sure.» Mik closed her eyes a moment as she formed her end of the tunnel vertically, then nodded to her twin. «All you, sis.»

Chelle formed a matching portal beneath herself, allowing her to fall only a few feet and transition into a standing position out of the exit side. She quickly disconnected her tendril from her sister and closed the input end so Ilaria wouldn't accidentally roll in behind her, leaving her mother clutching nothing but a blanket. Then Chelle moved out of the way and pointed to Mik, signaling a warning before she opened another input portal beneath her sister.

Once Mik was standing next to her sister she reconnected their Link with a fleshy vine. «That worked better than I assumed it would.» She crouched to retrieve the inhaler, pausing to smile as Carbon covered himself in the absence of Mik's body heat. «Here, sis. So, what's the plan? Find the brat?»

Chelle took a moment to huff some formaldehyde. «Actually, I was thinking of sating another issue but mom looks worn out already.»

Mik took the inhaler back and puffed on it herself for good measure. «You realize you don't need to be polite with just us here, right? We both need a good fuck, simple as that.»

«Yeah, well... I was thinking maybe Uncle Yoyo...»

«Same here.» Mik started towards the door, touching a spare tendril to the door controls. «Io, if you would...»

«Sure.» The veile flickered for a moment as she told the door to open. «Done. Just... promise me you'll ask when you get there. Things seem complicated with your uncle right now.»

«Yeah, we know. We still have to try though; we've got needs.» Chelle walked through the door before her twin. «I hope he's up for it though. I can't believe he's avoiding fucking us.»

«Yeah, I'm itching for someone inside me too.» Mik caught up and hugged her sister as they scurried down the hallway. «I guess I could settle for Zoë if he's still against it. Pretty sure she'll let us have fun with her.»

«I guess, but that won't help as much as having liquid ~man~ deep inside us.» Chelle slipped a paw into her pants and threw out all modesty. «It's been a few days too. Please don't give up too easily, sis. We need to convince him, or maybe even Uncle Dee. If not, I'm probably looking for another guy.»

Mik tugged her sister, prompting her to move faster rather than languish in the hallway any longer. «We won't need to look around at all. We'll convince Uncle Yoyo this time.»

The girls finally rounded the corner to the officers' quarters, and Chelle took the initiative by touching a tendril to her uncles' door. «I hope they aren't sleeping. I'd feel bad about waking them up, especially Zoë.»

«Well I don't think that'll be an issue...»

"Gods above, that was good!" Iolvin flopped onto his back, his freshly-spent spire of otter cock glistening with a mix of his and Zoë's aftermath. "If I had another ounce in me I'd finish you off too, babe."

"Hell no. You've already gone three times, and my ass can't handle that much." Adrian hunched forward, gently hugging his paws around Zoë's head and flagging his tail as she bobbed in his lap. "Oh gods, Zoë... I think I'm..."

The human only sped up her bout of fellatio duty, Dee's words encouraging her onward. "Mn-hmm!"

"Holy shit!"

"That's it. Cum for me, babe." Yoyo smiled, sat upright, and planted his muzzle onto his mate's as that release hit him hard. "Mmn... You are way too sexy. You know that?"

"Gods... Oh shit. Zoë, I didn't mean to make you swallow it a—"

"Uh, hey. We have visitors." Yoyo locked eyes with one of his nieces and smiled nervously as he signed his next words for reinforcement. "I'm glad you're up and about, girls. The timing's not great, though. Could you give us a few?"

"Please?" Zoë sat upright, still gasping for air as she finished swallowing Dee's sizable load. "His lordship isn't appropriate right now. I'd ask that you let me dress him first."

The girls looked at each other as Mik beamed, «Up to you, sis. I can wait a minute.»

«Well I can't. It actually ~aches~.» Chelle pulled them both closer to sit on the edge of the bed as she signed her intent. <We really need sex, but mom is worn out. Please, uncle... Could you fuck us?>

Yoyo looked to Dee for a moment, which didn't help much since he was the only signer of the group. "I would, but... I'm tired myself. We spent the whole morning having sex, girls."

<But it feels like I'm on fire!>

"I know, uh... Mik? No, Chelle. Sorry." Yoyo gave both girls a pat on the head that morphed into rubs between their ears. "That constant heat of yours sucks, an I can smell it from here. In an hour or so I should be alright to help, if it's really that important. I can't leave my two favorite girls hurting like that."

<Aww...>

"So they want you to screw them?" Dee shook his head as he stood and found his underwear. "I'm... not against it if it really helps them. I'm just concerned because they're so young."

"That's actually just about my view on it." Yoyo followed his mate's lead and slipped into his boxer briefs, hinting that Zoë should get dressed as well. "So girls, what will we do until then? I know Lulu... ah, your mother... she wanted you to move our unexpected guests to a hospital or something."

"Yeah, we can't leave with them aboard. We have too many dopplegangers already." Dee found a set of neon bike shorts and slipped into those, than reached for his bodysuit. "After the night you just had, I'm voting we do whatever we can to speed up the ride back home. They'll attack us again for sure."

"Well we should at least check with your sister on that. Ellie looked a bit out of her comfort zone when we dumped that Rose in her lap." Yoyo paused to jump into his own bodysuit, then shook his head when he found Zoë preparing clothes for him rather than her own. "Zoë, that's not necessary. You're a mess, so worry about yourself first."

"My liege surely doesn't want to be seen so exposed?" Zoë brought over a simple set of jeans and a green tee shirt after she was sure they belonged to her patron. "I'm fine like this. Now let's get you dressed, milord."

"Nope. Have you forgotten my sister's rules already?" Yoyo took the clothes with a thankful nod, then nudged Zoë over to the closet. "Just throw a dress on or something. You don't need someone jumping your bones because you're showing off all your goods, and sopping wet at that."

"But I—" Yoyo frowned for once in his life, the rare body language scaring Zoë into submission. "I'll get dressed. Do you...?"

"I'm fine, kiddo. Just hurry up." Yoyo quickly slipped into his pants, then fumbled with his shirt as he spoke. "Adrian, can you let your sister know we're coming?"

"Already did." Yoyo pulled his shirt down to find Dee dressed and touching a wall console. "Ready to go?"

"Uh..." Yoyo chuckled a little when he spied Zoë trying to throw a dress over her head without opening the waist, then moved in to assist. "Forgot something, kiddo. There, much better."

"I... Th-Thank you, my liege."

"I really wish you'd stop with those names..."

Zoë perked up in protest at the proposed absurdity of the concept. "Milord, I can't do that! You deserve my full respect!"

"But—"

"Zoë, I think I have a solution." Dee pulled a finger towards himself and the human responded to the beckoning. They huddled and whispered a bit, a sly grin forming on Dee's muzzle in the process. "There. Give that a try."

"Are you... sure?" A nod spun the human around to test the new idea. "Are... God... Are you ready to go, master?"

Iolvin fought back a hearty laugh, mostly not wanting to upset his little minion any further than he already had. "Wow. Yeah... I know that socially that's not cool to promote our thing as slavery and all, but I think I like it. Not as high-andMighty." He walked over to Adrian near the door and gave his mate-toBe a kiss. "You know me and my kinks way too well, babe."

Dee was all smiles and grins as he left the room and held the door sensor for the others. "That I do. Plus, I don't have to be the 'slave' in bed unless I want to. Win-win."

Yoyo snagged Zoë as she entered the hallway, pulling her into a quick kiss as well. "Thank you for being flexible, kiddo." He stood upright and led the way to the back of the ship, occasionally giving Zoë and Dee various gropes. "So I guess the question now is if I should get Zoë a collar. Maybe not as nice as yours though, babe."

"Nope. Not happening. She's following you." Dee strut forward with a sense of pride in his steps. "I'm ~marrying~ you."

— — — — —

"Where the hell are they?" Ilaria rubbed her eyes as they adjusted to the brighter lighting of the medical bay versus the hall. "Oh, Ellie. How are our guests doing?"

The fair-furred otter looked up from his console and switched the direction of his crossed legs to better face the visitor. "They're doing alright. The... Uh, Cathy suffered a concussion as I thought, but she'll be alright. She should stay in a doctor's supervision for another day. Definitely drop her off in a hospital."

"That's the plan."

"The other... DeeDee, can you bring me the green girl's chart? Careful with her breather."

Adrian rounded the door into a patient room holding a digital clipboard. "Here you go, sis."

"Thanks." Elliot checked over the data on the chart and sighed in frustration. "I see signs of the girl's vines—or whatever they're called—healing already. Aside from that, I'm clueless."

"Wait, rewind that. We have a Yangurran aboard?"

Ellie looked up baffled for a moment, then huffed out a sigh now in understanding. "Right. You were asleep. Yoyo managed to convince a girl to come in peacefully or something. Beat the shit out of her and her extra appendages before that though. Looks like she's out of those vines now, poor thing. She calls herself Rose, I think."

"As if we needed another clone on our merry little ship..."

"Well I don't care. She's hurt and I'm here to patch her up." Ellie put the chart down next to his console and laid back a bit more relaxed. "I could really use some more info though. Carbon might help more than your kids did."

"The girls? I've been looking for them all over and they've found some way to hide from the ship's sensors." Ari stepped into the middle of the room and started snooping into the various wings. "They're not still here, are they? I need to find them so we can get home. I barely heard about that attack last night, so the sooner the better."

"They're... over here. Might want to give them a minute though." Dee returned to the room he had just exited and pulled Iolvin around the corner. "The girls wanted some ~help~ and came to us. Sweetie, they almost done in there?"

"Well I've lost count how many times they came. I'm not sure they ~will~ stop." Upon realizing with whom Dee was talking, Yoyo strode out and gave his sister a hug. "Mornin', Lulu. Sorry, the girls were horny. They're in there."

Immediately after Yoyo broke line of sight, a yip and crash sounded in the room followed by Zoë peeking her flustered face around Dee's shoulder. "Master! Forgive me!"

"Shit, my bad. I forgot to stay in sight." Yoyo moved back towards the patient care room and nodded to someone inside. <Sorry, Chelle. I owe you one.>

"Eep!" Without a moment to brace herself, the hybrid ran into Zoë, slammed her against the far wall, and drove two of her slick cocks back into the warmth they were relishing a moment prior. "G-God...!"

"So, that happened." Ari shook her head in disbelief, then tried to peek into the rest of the room. "So who's Mikhaila playing with then?"

"Ah... That was... nice..." Ashe panted as Mik finished giving her the same treatment as her twin did to Zoë. "H-Hey, sis..."

"Ashe?" Ari immediately shot a concerned look to Ellie. "What the hell? I thought you two were dating?"

"We are. She just likes to have fun with others while I watch." The otter perused some documents on his console idly, a smirk spread across his muzzle. "Besides, she's helping keep your girls healthy. I'm okay with that."

Ari did a double take as she peeped in on the Arctic wolf. "I... I guess I can't complain if everyone's good for it." She watched as her daughter withdrew from the canine's folds, then flushed with a sense of pride as she spotted two condoms on her cocks. "At least they're being safe now. Oh, but we're not. Can we move Rose without hurting her further?"

"Her injuries are only on appendages so I'd assume it's safe enough, but again I could use a second opinion on the anatomy."

"Good enough. She's off the ship the minute we—" The Starbreeze shook as she lifted out of dock. "Aha! Good timing, Carbon."

"So we're just chucking them both aside and hauling ass?" Yoyo bit his lip as he fought between choices of yelling at his sister over not caring versus reinforcing his safety concerns. "We need to get going, but do we really have to leave them? I feel bad for slicing half that Rose girl's limbs off."

"Was she trying to kill you?"

"Yeah, but—"

"Then airlock her for all I care. My crew and family come first." Ari walked over to Mik and helped her find a garbage bin for her condoms, noting the grunts of her other daughter's orgasm in the process. "Mik, honey? Think you and your sister could make a few of those portals in a minute?"

<Make what?> Mik gave the cum balloons she'd just made to her mother and focused her signing. <Sorry. Did you mention 'portals'? Yeah, I think we're able to make some, mom.>

Ari chucked the condoms into a biohazardous materials bin and signed her answer. <Yes, that's it. I'd like to send three people to a hospital or police station without landing. You have to be really careful, though. Mommy... cares a lot about some of them.>

<You mean mom and grandma?> Mik stared at her sister as she removed her own lengths from Zoë's depths, only to find one of the condoms had broken and made a mess in her rough remounting. <We'll be careful. Just point out where you want them and where they are right now.>

<Your grandma and this world's Rose are nearby. Robyn though...> Ari shook her head as she noticed the mishap with Chelle and moved to clean her up with some paper towels. <She may have left with her crew, but she mentioned staying behind by herself because of the danger.> She wiped down her daughter's softening manhood and brought up her watch as the other paw went for more towels. "Actually... Prisma, can you find Robyn? Is she aboard?"

The AI projected herself from a holographic display in the ceiling normally meant for visualizing body scans. "Yes ma'am. There's one monitoring the fusion engine and another stowed securely on the mantle behind the captain's chair."

"That's... Gods, Prisma. She's my late wife, gods rest her soul, not carry-on luggage." Ari sighed and finished cleaning up Zoë's nethers as best as she could manage. <Girls, Robyn's in engineering.>

<I could use a minute, mom. I'm a bit tired for two portals...>

<Well we don't need to make two ~distant~ ones.> Mikhaila threw out a tendril and reached for one of her sister's. «Mom wants us to work quickly, sis. We can't stay in the atmosphere too long without having to refuel, and we definitely don't want to land again.»

«Fi~ne...» Michelle slumped against her sister and nuzzled her in the neck. <We'll take care of it, mom. Are you going to the bridge?>

<Sadly, I should. I wanted to see them off, but we could be attacked any moment and I'm not gonna be responsible for anyone else dying in this universe. Stay safe, my whelps.> Ari stood and walked past her twin with a sly grin. "I've got to check on the launch. Thanks... Well, thanks for taking care of those two all the time. It means a lot to me."

"Two kids like them are way too much for a single parent, especially one that's in charge of a crew as well." Yoyo gave his sister a kiss and a pat on the ass as she walked by. "You've earned a little help, Lulu. Go do your thing. We'll help the girls."

"Thanks, guys. Let me know when they're done. You'll know where to find me." Ari backpedaled out the room and nearly fell as she bumped into Olivia's wheelchair. "Ack! Sorry!"

"It's alright. I should have squeaked or something." Liv circled around Ari and let friction slow her before the doc. "You find those pills I asked for? I'm starting to itch like crazy."

"Oh, sure. Give me a minute to grab them."

Ari paused instead of heading off. "You alright, Liv? Anything I should know about?"

"Just my nerves. Recently I've been feeling temperature changes as touch, and... well, it's like pins and needles when it gets colder."

"Ouch. Definitely pester Ellie then."

"Oh, before you go..." Liv spun herself around and gave a more clinical assessment on the otter's posture. "Right. You're shifting to your right some. Could we... Uh, could you make some time for me to check you over, alone? I forgot to factor in your... you know... when I fixed that leg."

"My... ~Oh~!" Ilaria bowed to the group and slipped backwards. "I'll make sure to get with you when we're back home. Later."

«Lulu, wait.» Ari groaned and slipped back around the corner for her brother. "I have something I need to talk about too, if you have the time."

"For you, always. I really do need to get to the bridge though." Ari hinted with a point to her noggin that she could chat on the way with their wireless Link, then scurried off. «What is it, lil' bro?»

«Hmm... How to put this...?» Yoyo looked down to his mate-toBe and smiled as he finished cleaning up the girls. «You're a captain now. Ship captains have the ability to perform legally-binding agreements and ceremonies in international space, right?»

«Yeah, I guess. Not sure what...» There was a pause, followed by a flood of happiness and euphoria. «You could just be more direct, silly. In fact, I'm not agreeing to anything until you are.»

Yoyo shook his head at his sister's smug game. «Alright. I'd like you to marry me and Adrian, sis. I was thinking we could grab mom and dad when we get back and then... Well, I guess they say orbit is already pretty romantic.»

«Yeah, I hear space is very pretty this time of the ~millennium~.» There was a delay as Ari diverted her attention elsewhere, but Yoyo could almost feel her chuckling to herself. «You're thinking too small, Yoyo. I'd say wait for a ceremony instead normally, because Dee deserves that much and the family would like it better than a cold ship and some stars.»

«Aw. So you won't do it?»

«Oh, I will. You're just thinking ~too small~ to make it worth the effort.» Another pause, including the beginnings of Ari's unfiltered speech centers whispering to herself, hinted that she's probably made it to the bridge. «So, what's Dee's favorite planet?»

«He likes...» Yoyo smiled and tapped his temple as Dee eyed him ponderously. «He likes the one with the big rings. I always said I'd show him on my old telescope.»

«Saturn, Yoyo. Basic highschool stuff... Well now you get to show him much closer.» There was another, more mentally taxing delay just prior to the Starbreeze shifting course. «Consider my wedding gift as the chance for you two to be the first Earthlings to ever see those rings without a lens in the way. And even better, don't tell him. We'll blindfold him on the observation deck or something. You figure out the details, and I'll make sure we have whatever we need to make it there.»

«Lulu... Thank you. This is a lot, especially with how much responsibility you've got now. I'm proud you're my twin sister.»

«And I'm proud you're my twin brother. Later, Yoyo. Gotta take care of business.»

«Do what you need to get us home safe. Later, sis.» Yoyo walked over and pulled Dee into a warm hug out of nowhere. "I love you, babe."

"I..." The smaller otter succumbed to the larger's embrace with a confused smile, soon relenting into tender nuzzle and kiss. "I love you too, Iolvin."

— — — — —

"Good orbit, Alex. Bring her about slowly."

"Aye. Slow to port."

Ilaria checked her captain's console and frowned. "Carmine? Buck? Either of you see what the hell I'm seeing? Aft and low?"

"Aft and..." Buck straightened in his chair and furiously tapped on his main screen hologram. "Aye, ma'am. Them same goons gone and found us again. Cameras confirm they're tha' same ship followed us here."

"Crap. Trick, ignore that last order. Head directly away from... this marker I just added to the nav system. We need some distance between us until we figure out a plan to keep them from following us home." Ari hunched forward and read over the enemy's flight vector details with some assistance from her nanite glasses. "They're smaller and lighter than us. They'll catch up soon. Ideas?"

"Ma'am?" Buck looked over worryingly to his captain. "I think they're charging' something. Whatever it is, I ain't thinkin' we should let 'em ~murder~ us with it."

"Yep, good idea. Trick, show us that name in action." Ari tapped a few buttons and slid her finger across a confirmation bar. "Safe limits are disengaged. Try not to break her."

"I'll keep our ship nice and pretty, Ari. Just... everyone should probably hold onto something."

"Warning's out to the whole ship, Alex. Just shake them off."

"Working on it!" Suddenly the engines vectored hard to starboard, glancing into a strafing dive for Earth. "Gravity should help, but I need a bit more control! Anything else you can do, cap'?"

"I don't..."

"Captain, should I manually drive my main pods to match the new inputs?" Prisma appeared on the main projector and generated a simulation of what she wanted to do to the wings of the Starbreeze, rotating them freely. "I can create manual toggles if need be. I... would rather some structural damage than to explode."

"Do it! Alex!"

"I see them! So this one..." Alex switched off the water feeds to the engines, leaving them with no ballast to push against. She rotated the main engines and slammed on the gas and water for just a moment, sending the ship into a tailspin. "Gods... Hope nobody gets sick!"

"I feel bad for Yoyo now." Ari checked her screen, the visuals there not nearly as confusing as the view outside. "The hell are you doing?"

"This!" The engines came back in full just as Trick's smile stretched across her face. The Starbreeze was now accelerating tangent to the incoming ship, just in time for their first salvo of plasma to miss by a safe margin. "That won't work so well a second time, Ari."

"Shit..." The otter looked around her various screens and sighed. "We'll never find our origin point flying like this. We need to disable them."

"Well first thing's first!" Alex jerked the ship hard to ventral and port, only allowing minor splashes of the next salvo to pepper the hull. "Do we even have guns on this fine lady?"

"We have... a really large cannon, actually." Ari practically slammed her paw through a call button. "Cargo One? Anyone down there?"

"I... Is this..." There was a moment of various noises as someone became acquainted with the communication controls of her panel. "I think so. I'm... still a bit disoriented."

"Viola? Good enough." Ari pulled up a few camera feeds and jumped around between them until she found the wild dog. "Gotcha. Let's see... Oh, that'll do. That'll do nicely. Vi? That you or Siamun in control?"

"Uh... I think I'm mostly doing everything..."

"Alright, good. You see those bits of scrap metal on the ground?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Now look to your right. See that big tube in the center of the room? There's a hatch to your front." Ari gave her plan a bit more stern thought, but only ended up smirking as she thought of the results. "Cram as much of that scrap into the inside of that hatch as you can and tell me when you're done."

"In..." Vi jogged over to the mentioned hatch and opened it, setting off a red light both near her and on Ari's console. "Oh, I see. There's a chamber in there. Sure, I've got this."

"Good. Move as fast as you can and don't worry about the details." Ari looked up towards Trick and updated her on the plan. "Alex, is there some sort of probe reticule in your instruments?"

"Probes..." The amphibian finished another hard turn and then flipped through her view modes. "Oh, I like this. Anything with a small dot like that ~has~ to be good. You said this fires probes?"

"Well, it'll probe the ~inside of their ship~." Ari braced as another battering of plasma seared the tail of the ship. "We only get one shot, so make it count. Loading it now."

"Um, Ari?" The otter returned her gaze to Viola as she shifted around trying to keep balance. "I can't put any more in and it won't close all the way."

"Huh. I thought it held more than that." Ari tried to get a better angle on the probe chamber but none of the better camera angles were motorized. "Take out what you need to and seal it, Vi. You did good. Alex, line us up."

"Thought you'd never ask!" Trick killed the engines and spot-thrusted to spin the Starbreeze in place like a gimbaled turret in her drift, rather than risk flying towards the enemy freighter. "They'll hit us like this, so give me the go-ahead!"

Ari checked her console and found a green safety light for the probe bay, lighting her up with a smile. "Oh, please do. Fire!"

"Charging..." Trick fine-tuned her aim, taking notes on the predicted impact point as well as their own movement relative to the enemy's own. "Done. Firing death probe!"

A loud thud shook through the ship, highlighted by the sound of steel scraping the magnetic launcher raw for the briefest of moments. Even several dozen kilometers away, the salvo of space-grade shotgun buck littered the target in but a fraction of a second. Contrary to what many would expect in movies, the rear of the enemy ship silently ripped free of the front only to remain lightly tethered by a few odds and ends. The only explosion in sight was a brief puff of white as the internal atmosphere sought to pollute the Earth's own, forsaking the remaining inhabitants of the freighter who weren't flung into the black.

"Bingo! Perfect shot, Alex!" Ari slowly stood in an attempt to get her blood pumping and clear out some unnecessary adrenaline. "Now that was satisfying. Alright, damage reports. How bad is my girl?"

Prisma jerked back to life now that her systems weren't devoted to maneuvering support. "Thruster one is out of alignment by two degrees and suffering from minor locking due to thermal expansion. All other damage is nominal." The AI sighed as she checked over her own external camera feeds. "I... could really use a fresh coat of paint though. My ablative paneling did its job but I'm all... ~melty~ now."

"We'll have them all replaced once we're docked at Lambda Tower again. You deserve a bit of a makeover after those stunts." Ilaria smiled to her crew, then gave a confirmatory nod. "Good job, guys. I'm proud to have you as my crew. Now let's go home and have ourselves a drink. First round's on me."

To more than a few curious looks, Prisma quirked her head and asked, "Can I try some too?"

"Do you even have a way to ~handle~ beverages, Pris?"

The AI summoned a camera view of her android shell, now sporting a brand new noggin. "I've been working on a sense of taste with my new head. I've even compiled behavioral matrices regarding the mental effects of alcohol. I'd really like to try them out, Ari."

"This could get interesting." Ari sat down as she started to laugh at the imagery in her mind's eye. "Well with this new turn of events, maybe I'll have to make the ~whole night~ on me."