An Endless Voyage: ch:12: Showdown
The party wound down, ending about an hour ahead of scedule. everyone retuned to their duties for a bit, before turning in. As Maya had predicted, Misty got along great with Tom, who was more than happy to adopt her as well. they spent some time talking things over, and when bedtime finally came, Maya and Tom agreed that due to her mental insecurities it would be best for Misty to sleep with them in their bed tonight, and then work on getting her comfortable sleeping in her own bed once the immediate mission had been completed. Misty loved the idea. her biological parents had never done this since she was weaned, so it was something that she was thankful for. Being roughly the same size as Tom, she had little difficulty snuggling in between Tom and Maya, though the fact Maya always slept nude had surprised her. Tom normally did as well, but for him, it felt awkward doing so now despite Maya's insistance he do so anyway.Nonetheless he did. Misty was afraid she would wet or soil herself in her sleep, so she had not wanted to sleep nude. She even sheepishly asked Maya for a diaper to sleep in. Maya insisted she needed to sleep nude to get comfortable with her body, and so she relented. She slept on her left side, belly to belly with Maya, arms wrapped tightly around her new mommy. Tom was uncomfortable with the idea, but he got into bed anyway, snuggling up with his back to Misty's, so he didnt have to worry about the pup accidentally goosing herself with his cock, should he get wood during the night, and eventually they all drifted off to sleep. Morning came all too soon, and when Tom groggily opened his eyes to shut off the alarm, he froze in shock. he was no longer turned toward the edge of the bed, instead having turned over and snuggled Misty during the night, believing her to be Maya in his unconsious dreamstate. He slowly peeled back the covers hoping he hadn't done anything regrettable during that dream. Misty's tail was curled up, not held down defensively, so at least he saw she was feeling safe. He felt guilty for looking, but her canine anus didn't look like it had been penetrated. there was no semen or glistening anal-gland seepage. His cock, was hanging normally, flaccid, angled down towards his feet, thankfully. He pulled his foreskin back to check for any sign of feces just to be sure though, but finding none he relaxed. He hadn't accidentally done anything in his sleep. He quickly slid out of the enormous bed, and got dressed, then woke Maya before hurrying off to the showers. Maya rubbed the sleep from her eyes, then got dressed, woke the younger pups for school, and then finally woke Misty up.They headed out at last. Maya took the girls all to shower with her, whilst sending Tom Junior and the boys across the hall. Misty was scared to shower with so many
people, but Maya assured her it was safe. She also did her glands for her, and then did the same for her biological pups.Today Karen did Maya's glands for her, as Amaia was doing Rena's and Rena did Karen's. The size difference meant Karen had to shove her whole hand up Maya's ass, and then use her other hand to pinch the glands between her two palms.
After the shower, They all had breakfast, and Dawn took the younger pups to school. She had to prepare a curriculum for Misty anyway, so said she would start tomorrow, and so Maya took her to the bridge with her, and had her sit on her lap in the Big Chair. She spent a good ten minutes explaining to the pup what all the strange stuff around her was, then finally they sat in silence for a bit.another five minutes after that.... "Entering Pleiades nebula ma'am." Kayla said. "Slow t' 2x lahghtspeed." Maya said. "correct yer course t' head fer Pleiades Atlas/Pleione system.""Done ma;am." Kayla said. "entering the system in three minutes.""Gimme a deep scan a' the system." Maya told Molly. "Single active pulse, then passive beam only.""Yes Admiral." Molly replied. "Scanning for Xian presence.""Ma'am, the Lee wants to know if they should go to red alert." Erika said."Not yet." Maya said. "Don' wanna tip mah hand.""Understood." Erika said."Admiral." Molly said. "I have a confirmed Xian presense in the system. Lots of cruisers and troop-transports, and...four Heavy Dreadnoughts...four...This is...""Ain't the firs tahme be bin outmatched, won' be the last." Maya said. "Red alert shields up, arm weapons an' polarize the hull." Maya said. "An' tell the esrthships t' do the same. 's come outta hyperspace firin. gotta hit em hard an' fast.""Yes ma'am" came the replies.An instant later they came out of hyperspace, and Callie immediately began firing at the closest Xian ship. Moments later the Earthships did the same."Monsters?" Misty questioned." Ah reckon 's pretty close." Maya said. "THey hurt people, so mommy hurts them back."............................Lead Xian ship(In Xian)"Star Admiral Andy, sir. She's here." the sensors officer said. "That fucking kuvasz bitch and her band of flunkies just engaged the fleet.""Kill the rest, but bring Maya to me. I have plans for her." Andy said."But sir, she's not alone. two smaller vessels... from that planet we were about to invade, from the look of it.""Pathetic." ANdy said. "No way their puny weapons can even get through our shields...without their planetary based missiles.""I would not be so sure." the sensors officer said.Andy shot him then demanded "Get me another sensors officer up here."Y'yes sir." the crewmen replied."Comm sir." the comm officer said."Go." ANdy said.the officer opened the comm link." "a
Admiral Maya, y'member her...she's from the Leto...got off fore ya kin finish the job." Maya said gesturing to the pup on her lap. "Yer gonna wish ya'd never left yer homeworld, Dick Heads!"the comm ended.................................."Weapons free all ships, weapons free." Maya announced. she pushed a button on her chair." Launch fahghters, stand bah t' deploy the tanker.""Target bearing 003, mark 117, velocity one million kph." Molly announced."Hard t' strboard, stay with 'em." Maya said.Kayla put the helm hard over, altering course to chase after the xian Heavy Dreadnought. Its long slender design made the xian vessel a bit faster at sublight speeds, but it also made it less maneuverable. the length giving such a huge broadside volly though sort of made up for that.Misty got scared when the Xian ship returned fire. Excaliburs shields cackled with electricity absorbing the impact as the Xian weapos hit hard, making Excalibur shake a bit from the force of the impact. Maya assured her the shields were holding, however. and Callie confirmed the fact an instant later.The smaller earthships were more maneuverable, darting about as nimbly as the Xian cruisers as they made attack runs on another Xian Heavy Dreadnought. Their shields and hull armor wouldn't stand up to as much as Excaliburs of course, but their maneuverability more than made up for that. For the moment the battle was pretty well even. Neither side seemed to be gaining much ground. It was going to be a helluva fight..............."Watch yourself red six, these pointy headed freaks're tricky." Sarah said on comms. "Matt, Jenny, Kevin, with me, punch it.""Roger that, Gunner. we're right on your six." the human pilots replied. Sarah leads her wingmen into the fray, engaging the swarming mass of Xian fighters being deployed head-on. There were thousands of them, tens of thousands. from the distance it was like a swarm of bees. Each of the Xian Heavy Dreadnoughts and the accompanying cruisers were all fully crewed. that meant they were also able to deploy enough fighters that they had the advantage in numbers, of at least twenty to one, probably more. Still, outnumbered as they were, the Aces and their earthship allies kept their cool. They had no choice. If their mission failed, Earth was doomed, and given how lightly the Xians had been taken by the mammilian alliance, things would only go from bad to worse. Maya was right. Sarah thought. The Xians had to be shown no fear. Made to see that their numbers were not as intimidating as they would like folks to believe. No matter how hopeless the battle looked, they Had to succeed. "Scratch one!" Sarah shouted on comms as an Xian fighter exploded."Scratch two." Another pilot crowed."Scratch three..."heads up, lead." Matt called out."I see him." Sarah said.
"Kinda busy though.""I cant get a clear shot." Jenny announced."I got him" Kevin said. "Scratch four.""Six y'mean Ah jus got two." Ashley shouted triumphantly. ................. "Direct hit to our ventral midsection sir." the Jackson's tactical officer shouted over the noise of people yelling reports, and the ship shaking from the impact. "Shields down to ninety percent. no damage.""Attack pattern Maya 7, transfer auxiliary power to shields." Mike said "Lets stay on them.""yes sir." Dana replied. "Enemy shields down another three percent." the sensors officer said. "Two Xian cruisers closing off our aft port quarter. they'll be in weapons range in five seconds.""Aft cannons and railgun batteries." Mike shouted. "FIre!"...................... The Xian helmsman was good, but Kayla was better. no matter how he maneuvered, Excalibur was right on top of them. Autocannon rounds flew back and forth as the massive battleships excanged broadsides. Callie made every shot count, but the Xian gunner was no slouch himself. A lot of their ordinance found its mark. The force of the impacts buffeted excalibur, but the shields were holding. The battle raged outside with a ferocity Excalibur hadn't seen since the insectoid invasion three years ago. Tina had assured Maya the ship was up to the task, but still, the ammount of firepower being exchanged was tremendous. "Excalibur, Rena." The comm came in, just as the ship shook violently from something big slamming into their shields. "Be advised the bastards are starting to make kamikaze runs.""Rena, Excalibur, copy that." Maya replied. "Scramble defensive don' let 'em through.""Excalibur, Rena, copy that." Rena replied. then to her wingmen "Form up bravo two and lets keep that from happening again.""Shields at 80 percent." Callie announced. "Enemy shields down to sixty percent." Molly added. "Reading power fluctuations in their primary systems.""Stay on 'em." Maya said.Another barrage of Xian AC fire slammed the shields, buffeting Excalibur with the force of the impact. Misty looked terrified. she gripped Maya's fur tightly trying to steady herself. She was shaking like a leaf, worried the dickheads would win." s' alrahght princess." Maya said, feeling the hot wetness soaking the pup's pants, and running on down to her own shorts. "Excalibur's a tough ship, she's made fer this kinda thang. not lahk them tin cans civvies use."......The Lee had broken off their attack on one of the Heavy Dreadnoughts momentarily to go after the cruisers. these lighter more maneuverable ships needed to be dealt with quickly because their strafing tactics stripped away precious shield power when it was needed the most. This tactic caught the Xians off guard. Andy never expected anyone would go after the smaller
ships while there were still battleships out there. It was a real morale blow. He was one of the Xian elite. A master strategist tasked with conquering Earth because of his skill.... and yet his strategy was beaten. Not by some brilliant mammilian strategist, but by a simple human from the very planet he was tasked to conquer. it was a real kick to the ballchin to say the least. "Shields at 60 percent sir." the tactical officer said."Enemy vessel's shields are down." the sensors officer said."Maya said we give them no quarter." James ordered. "Target their reactor core all forward batteries. Fire."The weapons officer obeyed the captain's orders, and their AC and railgun fire tore through the thin hull plating of the cruiser, and damaging the core. The ship exploded an instant later."target destroyed!" the sensors officer cheered."Excalibur, Lee, we have a kill." James announced. "Repeat, scratch one cruiser.""Lee, Excalibur, 's great news keep it up." Maya said. "We're tanglin with a Heavy Dreadnought over here.".................... "Enemy shields at seventy percent sir." the sensors officer said. "Transfer power to the main cannon." Mile said. "Target their bridge.""Sir?" the weapons officer asked."You heard me lieutenant." Mike said. "Yes sir." the weapons officer replied. "Cannon is fully charged, target....locked.""Fire." Mike ordered.The weapons officer mashed on the trigger.A massive white-hot plasma beam erupted from the nose of the ship, slamming hard into the Xian Heavy Dreadnough's bridge. The Xians' shields cackled wildly with electricity. They were under tremendous strain trying to dissipate the energy of the Jackson's Plasma Beam Cannon. They were already beginning to buckle under the strain. Then it was over. the weapon had spent its energy and needed to recharge."Target remains!" the sensors officer said. "Enemy shields at fifteen percent, moderate damage to secondary systems.""Autocannons keep on it." Mike said. "Switch power back to railguns, spin up missiles one through six. ""Yes sir." the tactical officer replied."SIr, two more enemy vessels closing from astern. Aft turret is tracking them.""Better get on that aft turret." Mike told the weaposn officer. "Fire at anything that moves.................................... Melanie, Tom, Dawson, and Larry were flying a tight V formation, punching their way through the Xians' defensive fighter screen. Their mission plan being to get in close, and harass the Xians by denying their fighters a chance to refuel and re-arm. The XSS Johnson had already deployed a tanker in response to their tactics however, and Melanie was intent on taking it out. Tom's injured left arm made the tight maneuvers excruciatingly painful, and he'd had to sneak into his
fighter without Natalie knowing, as the good doctor would have ordered him medically unfit to fly, but he was determined. It just didnt feel right watching his friends risk their lives and not being out here in the fray, helpng them see the battle through. It had almost cost him, twice now. The pain becoming unbearable when he'd needed to make a critical maneuver nearly screwing it up. The thought of his pups and cubs back home, and of Karen ready to give birth any time however had given him the strength to bear the pain, and see the task completed. "Watch yourselves boys the soup's pretty thick from here on in." Melanie warned them on comms. "Better tighten it up, and lets get fast.""Copy that." Tom said. then to his wingmen. "We're not gonna like this, but we got no choice. Full afterburner and keep it there until Melanie tells us otherwise." Everyone accelerated as he said that, then "Slow deep breaths. the g-s make you want to suck it down fast, but you're breathing pure o2 at this speed. keep your eyes on the HUD, and force yourselves to concentrate. you will get dizzy. your vision will blur, but you have to stay alert." Tom finished. Melanie was right. The battle raged all around them. This close to the Xian ships, the world around them was alive with ordinance. autocannon and railgun slugs whizzing about. missiles and torpedoes passing eachother in flight. XR Lasers and plasma beams dancing about like some lightshow on Aphrodite III. To see it all and not know the destructive potential one would say it was beautiful. the dassling display of flashes and plooms of color. but they all knew better. This was a warzone. The 'fireworks' was simply their people and the Xians exchanging weapons fire on a grand scale. and the ships' shields absorbing the impacts as the shots found their marks. By the time Melanie let them throttle back, they were all dizzy and disoriented. it took a few seconds to shake themselves out of it. When they did the tanker was ahead of them, protected by a half dozen elite Xian pilots. The Xian fighters looked like winged penises, true to the Xian design of making all their vehicles phallic shaped to match their heads. They carried a single 20" rotary Autocannon in the 'head', and two missile-pods tucked in tight under the wings. a pair of smaller turbojets in the sack portion, and a single large afterburning turbojet in the tail end of the main 'shaft'. They were faster, and had better acceleration than the Phoenixes, but the Phoenix MK V could turn much tighter, and carry a more diverse weapons loadout. "Ok boys, time to dance." Melanie siad on comms. "Light em up.""Fox-2 " Tom called out, pickling off an air to air missile at the closest Xian elite fighter."Fox-2 Fox-2" Dawson and Larry each said as they copied Tom's example."Fox-2, 4" Melanie called out, having rapidly cooked off four of
her air to air missiles in askewed line, as she'd banked hard and accelerated once more while firing. It was a waste of ordinance, sure, but the newfie bitch had flown with Maya enough times to know wasteful as it was, the tactic would usually catch an enemy off guard. More importantly the skewed line firing pattern made jamming and evasion more difficult, as typically the missiles would home in from both sides. The Xians broke formation as soon as they saw the missiles coming at them, and worked hard to defeat the lock. They dropped flares and countermeasures, actively jamming the targeting sensors, and broke off in different directions. Three of the six fighters evaded the oncomng missiles entirely, but two of the others ate the whole volley. the first shot collapsing their shields and the second and 3rd blowing them apart.Neither pilot had a chance to eject. the 3rd took a bit of shield damage from the explosions, but was still in the fight."Thats more like it." Melanie said. "4 on 4, a circle of equals." of course she only had 2 air to air missiles left, so she'd switched to autocannons already."Circle of Equals?" Larry asked."Honorable combat. evenly matched." Tom said.......................... "Admiral." Molly said. "that last salvo hit them hard. their ventral port shields collapsed under the strain.""Good." Maya said. "Concentrate fahr on their exposed hull, cannons 14 thru 56 switch t' HE shells, 10-14 fahrin incendiaries, rest keep fahrin solids.""Yes ma'am." Callie replied. She relayed orders to the Armory, and continued firing at the Xian Dreadnought with the cannons intended to keep firing solids.In the armory, Kara worked fast to switch the feed mechanisms to draw from the alternate magazine hoppers, then reported the task complete. Callie opened up on the Xian ship with the new shells an instant later.The first salvo of purely solids had dug in deep, cutting huge gouges in the Xians' hill armor in some places, punching clean through it in others. the subsequent salvo of HE and incindiaries blew those hull breeches wide open, sending towering columns of flame and molten metal raining down on anyone in those sections of the Xian ship. Molly reported the damage was significant, but somehow the Willie was still in the fight. "Ma'am, its the Jackson." Molly said. "They just took out the Peter's shields, but their main cannon draws so much power it weakens their shields... and they have three cruisers bearing down on them." "An' the Lee?" Maya asked."Their shields are holding for now." Molly said."Alrahght." Maya said. "Kayla, hyperdrive, 's take the weight off the Jackson.""Point to point jump, yes ma'am." Kayla said. She made the adjustments, then flipped the switch, and Excalibur shot off into hyperspace, only to emerge just as quickly on the other
side of the warzone, their inertia carrying them neatly between the Jackson and its pursuing Xian cruisers in textbook fashion."Jackson, Excalibur, reckon y'kin use a hand." Maya said on comms.Autocannon fire from all three cruisers intended for the Jackson slammed hard into Excalibur's ventral aft shields. The ship shook hard like an earthquake, but the shields held firm."Aft ventral shields at forty percent, no damage." Callie replied. "Aft cannons returning fire.""Jackson, Excalibur. Thanks for pulling our butts out of the fire, Admiral." Mike said. "Just buy us time to recharge our main cannon and we're good.""Make it fast." Maya said. "even our shields aint gonna hold ferever.""Two minutes." Mike said."Ah'll see what we kin do." Maya said. She pushed a button on her chair. "Tina, reduce artificial gravity t' half standard, an transfer that t' shields too. ""yes ma'am." Tina replied.Misty giggled as the gravity suddenly getting lighter tickled her belly. she still looked scared, but it was nice to hear nonetheless.......WIth all the jarring and turbulent shaking of the battle, Hank worried about Karen hurting herself. He had her on their bed, surrounded by pillows on both sides, to cushion the jarring effect and protect her pregnant belly.............. The CSS Lee moved in for the kill on the damaged XSS Willy. Their gunner making every shot count as they poured salvo after salvo of railgun and AC fire into the Xian ship.Their shots ripped the Willy wide open, sending debris, and mutilated bodies spewing out into the vacuum of space. The bodies were mutilated from internal fires and electrical burns, ballistic damage from shrapnel, and molten metal. others had simply burst open when suddenly exposed to hard vacuum. The Willy Exploded moments later, as their reactor breeched, but not before James ordered some of the bodies beamed aboard for study. (mammilians gave them transporters as well as hyperdrives). "Excalibur, Lee." James announced, "The willy is History.""Lee, Excalibur, 's good t' hear." Maya said.Unfortunately in their haste to recover xian bodies they'd stayed a bit too long before bugging out, and the Lee caught the tail end of the shockwave as the Willy's core breeching had created.It drained their shields to 13 percent, and overloaded various systems throughout the ship........ Excalibur and the Jackson's combined AC fire finished off the Peter just as the Jackson's cannon finished recharging.Mike gave the order to break off, before the Xian ship exploded, and the Jackson evaded the ensuing shockwave completely as a result.Excalibur evaded most of the blast but lost a little shield power from the tail end of it."Hard about, 's hit them cruisers head-on." Maya ordered.Kayla put the helm hard over, swinging the massive Heavy Dreadnought
around as tightly as possible and in doing so brought both their forward autocannons, and their less stressed bow shielding toward the enemy. Mike had announced his kill already. It was good news. with two of the four Heavy Dreadnoughts out of the picture, things were starting to look up........ Sarah brought her team in close, to top off on the Tanker Excalibur had deployed earlier.
It was tight tricky work, tanking up in flight. and that was in the best of times. doing it in the heat of battle like this, well that was much worse.The human pilots with her had never done it under battle condidtions before, so Sarah had to talk them through it. Hothead that she was teaching wasn't exactly her strong suit...but still she got the job done. Matt got it on the first try, but the tanker crew had waved Kevin and Jenny off twice, for coming in too fast and weaving too much. The 3rd time around though Sarah managed to get them headed in properly, and their refueling went without incident. finally the four of them rejoined the fray........ Tom's team successfully eliminated the Xian tanker, but it had cost them. All four of their fighters were shieldless, and had suffered damage. Melanie was the worst off. Her cockpit had been punctured by a stray round, and was venting atmosphjere despite the combat foam contained between the panes of 'glass' (really a tempered transparent crystal much stronger than ordinary glass) expanding out to try and plug the leak. Melanie herself had managed to remain conscious long enough to head for Excalibur, thanks to her mask. She was bleeding pretty good from a chest wound however, and needed medical attention fast. Tom relayed the situation to Excalibur, and had Melanie shut down her engines before she lost consciousness. then he put a magnetic grapple on her fighter to tow it in. His own ship wasn't much better off, with one functioning turbine, but he didnt have much choice. Rena ran cover for them while the four of them limped home.......Tina used her engineering skills to unlock Hank's cabin, and rushed in at that moment carrying a helmet."New prototype. she said. "A neural helmet lets you interface with a computer and control a fighter remotely no time to explain, have her put it on.""But I'm not a combat pilot." Karen protested, as Hank brought her the helmet."You know how to fly." Tina said. "Melanie is in trouble she's unconsious and Tom is towing her in. I need you to interface with her ship, and bring it in to land safely.""But if Tom has her in tow, why?" Karen asked."He has one good engine. he cant carry both their ships once inside our gravity field." Tina said.Hank slipped the helmet over the spaniel's head, and activated the interface as Tina instructed."I see it." Karen said. "Tom this is Karen, if you can hear me,
release the cable. I have control of Melanie's fighter, and I am powering up to match speed for landing."Tom heard the computer translate Karen's voice, and released the cable. "Good luck." he said.Karen took a moment to feel things out. She could actually feel the various systems at her disposal as if the fighter were a part of her body.Her first priority was to dial up the o2 output, to try and keep Melanie from hypoxia. then she throttled up the engines, and eased up beside Tom.Finally she 'felt' the sensors lock onto the glidepath beacon, and double-checking visually on the helmets display which showed a virtual image of the cockpit, she confirmed vectors, and alligned the fighter for landing.
"Ok." Karen told Tina. "I hope this works...Its been a long time since I did this for real..." she paused then "ANd this is different...I'm not operating the controls with my hands and feet....I am the controls...it feels like the various systems are a part of my body....its really strange.""Just focus on the landing." Tina said. "Looking good, Karen. Thats it." Tom said. "Nice and steady, you have the ball, just bring 'er on home."" I have the ball.... slowing to 500 kph." Karen confirmed. "she feels a bit sluggish...rcs thrusters are slow to respond.""Looking good." Tom said over comms. "Go on home I'll be right behind you.""Lets hope I remember Basic Flight." Karen replied with a laugh. "Gear down and locked...tailhook deployed....throttles at idle....""Pitch up a touch." Tom said. "Your nose is too level you'll drop like a stone.""point five degrees vertical pitch." Karen said. Through her helmets hud she saw the flight deck coming up fast. then heard the 'thump' as the landing gear made contact. she set the brakes, and saw on a virtual readout of the ship's actual HUD that the tailhook snagged the arrestor cables perfectly. as soon as the speed said 0kph she shut down the systems one by one and opened the cockpit by thinking about it. then reached up and disconnected the interface herself. "That was...strange." Karen said. "Melanie's fighter is aboard....but my head feels like a ton of bricks.""Mental fatigue." Tina said. " pregnancy amplifies delta waves, which is why you had to do it. your pregnancy is the most advanced, and so your psychokinetic interface aptitude was the highest. its thereason the helmet will probably never see widespread use.""What about the pups?" Hank asked, worried."Natalie said it was harmless or I would not have done it." Tina said..............Fighter bayMelanie was hoisted out of her fighter by Tom, Dawson, and Larry, and put on a stretcher Natalie and her med team had brought. SHe was bleeding pretty bad, but had regained consciousness briefly. long enough to realize she was home.Melanie had a deep wound in her right chest, that
looked really bad. Still she was better off than Natalie had thought. When she'd first heard what happened.Zach, a human from the Lee wasn't much better off, and Cadence, a tigress from Excalibur was even worse. she had several abdominal lacerations from shrapnel penetrating her cockpit, which had sealed easily as the holes were smaller, but the damage it had done was worse. Zach just had head trauma, from where he hit his head when the force of his cockpit module ejecting had slammed him into the instrument panel briefly. and electrical burns on his legs where the instrument panel and internal circuitry had short circuited and showered him in sparks........ Callie got the drop on one of the three cruisers before they had a chance to react. a 'redline burst' (firing until getting a heat warning) of their entire forward autocannon banks had made short work of the XSS phallus, carving it up like swiss cheese. A gory mess of bodies equipment and globules of blood poured from the hundreds of hull perforations, before the cruiser exploded.The other two unfortunately had taken evasive action, and while the autocannons had to cool off, Callie only had torpedoes, missiles, and the slow to recharge but highly effective XR lasers to work with. Unfortunately Maya wasnt the only one who knew how to make use of brief hyperspace hops in combat. While they were fighting the cruisers, the Xian Heavy Dreadnought XSS Schlong jumped in behind them, and blasted their already weakened Aft Shields with its massive main weapon. in this case, a particle beam cannon that ate through their shields like paper. The shields stopped most of it, though the aft shields were drained completely, but enough got through to damage their targeting sensors, and chink away at their hull plating.The force of the impact had buffeted the ship so hard, Maya and Misty were both thrown out of the 'big chair', landing face down on the floor. Maya picked herself back up, shrugging it off, and helped Misty back into the seat with her. "Report!" she shouted."Xian dreadnought jumped in behind us Admiral." Molly said."We ate it bad. particle cannon took out our aft shields, damaged several secondary systems...and targeting sensors." Callie said. "I can shoot manually, but no lock-on capability.""Nuke 'em fore they kin fahr again." Maya said. "Erika tell the fahghters t' scramble clear, Kayla war emergency power, maximum acceleration.""Ma'am with no targeting sensors our missiles cant lock on." Callie informed."Shoot from the hip." Maya said. "Git their bearin, an' go with that.""XSS Schlong, bearing 331 mark 110." Molly said. "They are accelerating to match our velocity.""Stand bah hyperdrive. we caint take a shockwave full on without shields." Maya said. "Authorization Maya 225 omega epsilon charlie charlie zulu baker alpha.alpha,
fahr.""Missile away Admiral." Callie said. "Tracking true, detonation in three seconds.""Engaging hyperdrive." Kayla said. They made a brief jump as before, and came out beside the Lee, which was busy with a single cruiser, the XSS Prick.Unfortunately things didnt go exactly as planned. sure the XSS Schlong ate their nuke, but its shields held, at 30 %. it was moving to intercept, but the Jackson headed it off."Flame out." Kayla said. "We got a flame-out on number three turbine....scratch that, all three main engines ... we're adrift ma'am."Maya mashed on a button in the arm of her chair. "Tina, the hell's goin on down there, git them engines started.""I'm doing my best Admiral, but that last jump, on top of the damage...short circuiting and electrical ''explosions heard...Its a mess down here, ma'am." Tina said."The XSS Pecker is moving to intercept us. " Molly said. "they'll be in weapons range in three minutes.""Two minutes." Maya told Tina. "Y'got two minutes t' git the engines goin.""Already on it." Tina said. "Try it now."Kayla did just that. she hit the startswitches for the main turbines, and one by one, they spooled up, and fired right up normally.........Excalibur's nuke had severely weakened the Schlong's shields, and when the Jackson brought her main cannon to bear, the Xian dreadnought flayed open like a can of sardines, spewing bodies and debris like a fountain, and venting globule after globule of water as their entire freshwater supply emptied into the vacuum of space.THe entire ship exploded moments later. "That's three!" Mike crowed triumphantly on comms. Then he gave the order to head for the nearest cruiser, and let them have it. using autocannons and railguns while the main cannon recharged.Their shields were down to 20 percent, but they were still in the fight. protocol said to break off and recharge their shields, but against the Dick Heads, that would never work............. The Lee had lost their shields entirely, but the hull plating was holding for the moment. still, James was extremely glad Excalibur had jumped in when it did, as taking on two fully shielded cruisers himself with no shields was fighting a hopeless battle. They had sustained damage to secondary systems, as well as hyperdrive and long range subspace comms, and a hull breech on e deck, but the emergency bulkheads had sealed it off. ........... Casualty reports were already coming in. Maya listened to Erika reporting those from the other ships, and Natalie reporting their own. It wasn't pretty. Several pilots from each ship had been forced to eject, and their cockpit modules been towed aboard the closest friendly ship, two pilots were confirmed dead, their fighters exploding before they could eject. dozens more were critically wounded. one of the dead pilots was
Mina Buckner, a tabby who was Natalie's adopted daughter. The other, a human from the Jackson. Vicky Anders...age 19...still a kid. She had given her all, and racked up a dozen kills before the bastards finally got her. She had died with honor, but still...she was so young. Misty sat om Maya's lap, still scared and worried. she was feeling a little better though as now she had been turning her head to look around the bridge, curious as to the happenings, rather than just staring out at the battle raging outside. She didnt speak, but still Maya was glad to see her relax a little. They helped the Lee destroy the two cruisers in front of them, then the two of them made for the last Xian Dreadnought. XSS Pecker.The Pecker had full shields though, and a nasty 40" RAC that could fire ten times faster than normal, and twice as long without overheating. But that was in the ''head'' of the ship, and both James and Maya fully intended to fight them broadsides for that very reason..........Pecker, Bridge "Fuck! That bitch just dont quit." the weapons officer said. "Her ship is no match for us, with no rear shields and forward shields at twenty percent...and that human starship with her has no shieldig left at all. one good salvo is all it would take." "Maya dont surprise me." Andy said. "Its those damned humans... how could a world so primitive, fight back so hard?""They were oppressed before sir." the security officer said. "The one captured pilot I've been torturing told me a rival faction on their world oppressed them for a long time...and that we remind them of those oppressors.""No matter. They will all die in the end, for defying their gods." Andy said. "Finish them before word of their success can spread to other worlds.""Yes sir." the weapons officer said...................Excalibur, Sick Bay The wounded kept pouring in. some were pilots, some were workers, caught in the wrong place when power conduits exploded, or hull breeches occoured and they were lucky enough to get out before the emergency bulkheads or forcefields sealed the areas off. others had suffered injuries from coolant leaks, and hard radiation. They were from all three ships, as Excalibur having the best equipped sick bay, they got all the more severe injuries. It wasnt a pretty sight. There were people with severe burns, and lacerations, blood and bodily fluids everywhere. On top of that, Doc Natalie had to deal with some of the humans feeling uneasy about having a mammilian doctor operate on them. They were understandably scared, sure, but it was more than that. some of them were afraid Natalie wouldnt know how to put them back together right. women worried they'd wake up with teats, or worse, a penis, men worried they'd wake up with a baculum, or worse, a dogina, and all manner of crazy nonsensical thoughts running
through their minds............ The Jackson wasnt much better off. Taking on three cruisers at once, their shields rapidly fell to zero. Their Main Cannon took one of the phallic vessels out of the equation quickly, but the other two were still pounding their armored hull. Mike considered his options, as the bridge consoles were exploding all around him. sparks flew everywhere. the lights went out, and for a moment they were in total darkness before the backups kicked in. It was in that darkness he saw their hyperdrive was still online, and so he gave the order, taking a page from Maya's battle tactics, and the Jackson pickled off a couple nukes before jumping away from the cruisers......right in the path of the Pecker's main cannon. The nukes were more than enough to destroy the cruisers, though so it was worth it. He was sure he was about to die.Then... Excalibur came from seemingly out of nowhere, their hull battered, pocked with impact craters, and fired everything they could down that main cannon. The Pecker's shields held, of course, long enough for them to fire a long burst that finished off Excalibur's forward shields, and more craters flecked the armored hull. Mike could see from those craters, just how thick Excalibur's armor really was. It was no wonder they could stay in the fight so well.Excalibur had bought him the time he needed. The main cannon would be ready soon, and he'd blast the hell out of the Pecker's shields, evening the odds........The Lee was concentrating their fire on the aft section, intent on taking out their hyperdrive before Andy could decide to flee.It was going well so far. The Xians' aft cannons were having a hard time tracking the nimble earthship, but the Lee's railguns and autocannons had no trouble keeping up the bombardment, pummeling the Xian Dreadnought's shields relentlessly, until they finally broke through. "Excalibur, Lee, target's hyperdrive is history!" James shouted enthusiastically."Lee, Excalibur, good t' hear." Maya said............... The Jackson fired their main cannon into the Xian ship's engineering section, where their shields were weakest.The white-hot plasma beam tore through the Xians' hull, breeching their reactor core, and the Xian ship exploded.Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and as soon as the last of the fighters were dealt with, Maya ordered everyone stand down from Red Alert and begin repairs immediately. ....Tina surveyed the damage, and began work immediately. The problem was, the ship was still bleeding power from somewhere, and she was having a hard time pinning it down. It looked to be in one of the unoccupied sections...but they shouldnt be powered...no one had been in there since May's time, as far as she knew. Still, she'd have to send a team to check it
out......Natalie got everyone stabilized, then started on the surgeries. Unfortunately Stacy (bear) had died of inhaled coolant toxicity despite Natalie's best efforts.Still, from the look of things, Natalie was relatively certain the others wold all survive. she couldnt be sure till she started operating on them, but she was confident she could save them all..... Maya took Misty to her cabin so they could both change. Then she comforted the pup as best she could.Misty was relieved actually. seeing the ''weird aliens'' go boom made her feel really good............ Tina's team reported back that the problem was caused by malfunctioning systems they couldnt make heads or tails of, and that the air was stale in there, due to the co2 scrubbers barely functioning. they said that everything looked ancient. there were no touchscreens or holograms...and the deck plating creaked and groaned beneath their feet........... Tina gave Maya her report, and then, Maya left Misty with Tom, and she and Tina went to see the one person who knew May better than anyone...Agnes Moore... She had been May's lesbianic lover, and friend since the day May bought the ship, so if anyone knew about those sections, it was her.. Agnes told them she remembered walking the ship with May, inspecting it, like it was yesterday, and then suggested Maya and Tina walk with her to see the damaged areas.Tina led the way, and they soon found themselves in a dark corridor. the lights flickered, some didnt work at all. The air was musty, like an old basement. and the deck plating felt spongy beneath their feet.The first problem they found is the co2 scrubbers . They were gross, corroded, and oozing something that looked truly revolting. It didnt really stink though, it just had a strange odor to it. In another room, they saw something that mad Maya's panties wet... A turret that could be extended from the underbelly of the ship. It had four enormous 80" autocannons...but they werent like normal autocannons. they had improvements to the barrels and firing mechanisms to increase the shell velocity and augment the rate of fire. The feed mechanism was rusted up, but the cannons themselves looked reasonably sound.In an ajacent room, were 500 rounds of 80" ammo. dingy, corroded, and covered in dust. the shells looked like they could fall apart, or worse, go off, from the rusted primers at any moment.The projectiles were Solids, from the look of it. Continuing their exploration, they found a secondary bridge, where several damaged consoles were clearly bleeding power. Maya sat down in the chair and hit a button. the viewscreen flickered, hissed, and buzzed, crackling with static, then finally came to life. a flickering image of her mother, May filled the screen. "Excalibur Mission log, May Dixon
commanding." the image said. "Jus left spacedock after buyin the ship, Agfnes 'n me 're explorin, an' found this secondary bridge. mahght be handy if'n the main bridge gits damaged. what else... hm.. Agnes 's in heat, Ah'm glad fer that. We jus got out firs' real contract offer, s' thats good, an' we're headed fer Reptillian space t' test 'er under battle conditions. May out."the recording ended.continuing on they found several labs, and a workshop with what looked to be a fighter.... or it used to be. It was badly damaged, and crude by comparison to their modern Phoenixes, still it looked cool, and from the look of all those tallies it actually belonged to May herself.While Maya climbed into the dust covered old fighter to try and see if any of its systems workled, Agnes told them all of a place they could get parts. There was a planet in the Pleiades Merope system that had a canine colony on it. they made parts for ships back when Excalibur was new, so they surely still had some. Maya downloaded the entire computer database from the fighter, then climbed out, and using her communicator ordered they all set course for the Pleiades Merope system, best possible speed. then she put it away, and their exploration continued.........Karen insisted on seeing Melanie despite Natalie's reservations. She found the injured pilot wrapped in bandages with tubes of various sizes stuffed into every orifice of her body.Still, Melanie recognized Karen in spite of the pain she was in. "I'm glad you came." she told the little spaniel. "DOc says it was you who saved my life.""Yeah. I guess I did." Karen replied. "It was Tina's invention that did it though.""Naw, you did it." Melanie said. "I owe you one."......... All three ships had limped into hyperspace. It would take a while to get there as they were barely able to make 2x lightspeed, but if Agnes was right, and she usually was, then they could get all their ships fixed up like new or better when they got there.