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Sam and Maxine were in their cabin, trying to make pups again. They had been sceduled for patrol duty, but knowing how hard they had been trying, Maya had given them the morning off. They'd have to make it up in the evening of course, but for the moment they had time to themselves.

Maxine was naked beside the bed, on all fours as Maya had shown her. She obviously couldn't flag because she didn't have a tail, but she did her best to immitate the rest of the posture, and stick her rear out invitingly.

Sam took his time exploring her neither regions with one hand, examining her anatomy, whilst undressing himself with the other hand. It was a sort of foreplay they both enjoyed, and once he had gotten her good and wet, he mounted her properly. As he did so, she pulled his sheath back, freeing his red-rocket, and used her hand to guide him into the correct hole. Sam began to hump instinctively. "Mmm fso wonderful." he said, his breath growing rapid. His tail was wagging like crazy.

Maxine worked her hips as a bitch would, pushing back against Sam as he continued to thrust into her wildly. She could feel his knot starting to expand and it felt incredible as always, the way it put pressure on her g-spot in just the right way.

Sam was well equipped for someone his size, and she was loving every second of it.

In less than two minutes, Sam was panting like mad, as his rocket fired spurt after spurt of thin watery seed into her sopping wet sex. he was cumming so rapidly it was almost a continuous stream.

Sam had finally stopped humping, and dismounted for the turn and tie. He was still cumming like crazy, and Maxine could feel his little canine tailhole pulsated with each squirt, just as it always did.

"Ohh yess>" she moaned. "Mmm breed me good...ahh good boy...fuck me!"

Now that they were butt to butt like two canines, the bucket was barely being big enough for Sam to support himself in this position. Sam used the tip of his tail to good effect as well. it was just barely long enough that he could use it to tickle the small of her back. All the while his red-rocket continually pumped her pussy full of his hot watery canine seed. despite the fact his rocket was small for her size, he came with enough pressure, that each pulse of doggy seed squirted against her cervix lightly.

Maxine had to fight herself to keep still. It felt so good she wanted to grind her rump back against him with wild abandon, but she didn't want to inadvertantly bump him off the bucket in doing so

She was drunk with pleasure, and moaning like crazy, already teetering on the edge of another orgasm. The first had already wracked her body so hard with pure carnal bliss she still couldn't see straight, the likes of which she had never felt before.

Sam teasing her with his tail wasn't helping matters, as it forced her even closer toward another tremendous climax. The best part of all was the way Sam's knot stretched her vagina just enough to put pressure on her g-spot and her clit at the same time.

Every so often, Sam pulled forward a little. just enough to keep his knot pulled tight against her g-spot. He was panting constantly, to the point his tongue was hanging out, off to one side of his muzzle, and he kept saying (In canid) "Good girl good girl...ohh gods! have my puppies" over and over again.

Maxine climaxed again, squirting like a bitch (because she was so full of dog cum, she was able to build up a bit of pressure), just as Sam's knot had shrank enough for him to pull out.

She screamed in pure extacy, professing her love for him loud enough for the entire ship to hear over and over again.

Sam took a moment to lick himself, cleaning his rocket of their combined fluids, and helping it to go back into his sheath. then helay down next to his lover and they cuddled while he rested up for another go.

While the sheltie laid back in only his fur enjoying the after glow of their love making he noticed Maxine reading something on a pad, curiosity got the better of him and he moved his snout right off her shoulder.

"What you reading my love?" He asked not being up on the human writing.

"Oh? This is something I downloaded. I wanted to check a few things out." She said turning the pad back to the start of the article.

As the sheltie looked at the picture next to the text he couldn't read he saw a a sheltie much like himself but only this one was a feral canine, a non talking, walks on four legs dog.

"You know comparing me to a feral dog is like comparing a human to a monkey?" Sam said with a head tilt.

"I know but I learned some amazing facts. Shelties are known a strong work drive, a herding breed like collies. Some of these facts still hold true" Maxine answered.

"Ok. What else does it tell you about me?" He asked with a canine smile.

"You have boundless energy and unlike your collie counterparts your breed is more independent?" Maxine said while still reading.

Sam then straddled the human without warning.

"Sam! What are you doing?" She asked in shock.

"That's half right, I do have energy but independent or not I can't do this on my own." He said pointing down to his sheath and the red tip poking out.

Maxine didn't say a word only pulling him closer and placing a kiss on the sheltie's nose pad.

He'd wanted to try this position for some time, as he'd seen Hank do it this way with Karen in one of Maya's ''Home movies'', but also because several people had told him that was the position most natural for human females. Hitting the target would be tricky, but at least he wouldn't need the bucket this time.

Remembering how Hank had positioned himself in the video, Sam mimiced it as best he could. It felt awkward to say the least, but nonetheless Maxine used her left hand to guide his tip into the right hole, and as soon as his red rocket was fully inside her, Sam couldn't help thrusting like crazy. Strange as the position was, it still felt wonderful, and best of all, not only did he not need a bucket, but he and Maxine could look into eachother's eyes, and share a passionate kiss as they made love as well. At least until he dismounted for the turn and tie that is. Some natural canine habits were just too ingrained to change.

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

WOrk on the trajector and the ship upgrades was progressing steadily, but there had been a small setback during the night. A faulty grounding shunt in one of the newly installed components had fed raw current back into the control circuitry, damaging two computer nodes and knocking out power on four decks.

"Ah'll git it sorted rahgt away." Maya told captain Patterson. then to her staff, "Who's workin on the Queen Elizabeth las' night?"

"Repairman second class Anita, Ma'am." Tom said, checking the duty roster.

"Ensign butterfingers." Kayla said quietly.

" 'Scuse me?" Maya said.

"Its what people jokingly call her." the wolf replied. "She's got a great mind for Engineering, but she's also a bit of a klutz."

"Bridge t' Transporter room." Maya pressed a button on her command chair.

"Go ahead Admiral." Karen replied.

"If'n yer not too busy Ah need ya t' grab yer tools an' beam over t' the Queen Elizabeth." Maya said. "See if y'kin straighten out Anika's blunder an' git thangs workin rahgt."

"No problem Admiral." Karen said. "Tell Captain Patterson I'm on my way."

"Shure'nuff." Maya said. She closed the internal comm, then to captain Patterson "Ah'm sendin over mah best an' brightest. She'll have ya back online in no tahme."

"Thank you, Admiral." Patterson replied.

Karen materialized on the bridge of the Queen Elizabeth, standing beside captain Patterson's command chair as he talked.

"I must say I'm really loving this fleet, Admiral." Patterson said. "When a problem comes up you deal with it. You dont beat around the bush like the brass back home."

"Never send a shiba to do a spaniel's job." Karen remarked playfully, then "Transporter chief Karen, Starship Excalibur. I'm here to fix Anika's blunder and complete the installation."

"welcome aboard." Captain Patterson said. "I know you, You're the new owner of AMD."

"Yes that is correct." Karen said.

Captain Patterson left his first officer in command, and then said "If you'll follow me I can show you where the problem started, ma'am."

"Thank you captain." Karen said. "Lead the way."

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

Captain Patterson brought Karen to the main Engineering deck, where they crawled through a maintenence hatch and down several access tunnels to reach their destination. There was a heavy smell of fried electronics and fused control crystals in the air, and Karen's large fancy ears picked up the sound of arcing electricity before they saw it.

Being a proper gentleman Englishman, Captain Patterson had insisted ''ladies first'', holding the hatch for Karen and then climbing in after her. Now inside the maintenence tunnels however, he regretted doing so as it was impossible to look where he was going without being treated to a view of the spaniel's shapely rump. He couldn't help feeling it was impolite despite the fact that it was impossible to avoid the view.

Needless to say he breathed a sigh of relief when they finally exited the tunnels into one of the utility junctions between decks. They could both see the faulty component that had creating the problem, still arcing and sputtering now and then. Anika was standing beside the damaged component, trying to figure out what went wrong. She wet her pants and dumped her anal glands when Karen caught her by the scruff of the neck and spun her around.

Captain patterson commented on the foul odor, saying Karen had scared the Shiba into soiling herself.

Karen didn't bother correcting him at the moment, as she was too busy dressing Anika down for her mistake however.

"Sorry is no excuse." Karen said. "You're an Engineer, you were supposed to install these components correctly, and double check you didn't cross polarize the power feeds and grounding shunts."

"Y'yes ma'am." Anika said.

"Look above our heads." Karen said. "There's a hundred thousand gallons of Deuterium in that tank. If your blunder had arced two inches higher....."

"We would have gone up like a fireworks show." Captain Patterson spoke for her.

"Exactly." Karen said. "Pack your tools and get out of my way before you vent the atmosphere or something."

"Y'yes ma'am." Anika said. "P permission to shower first...everyone will smell..."

"Denied." Karen said. "The humiliation of people knowing you dumped your glands is a small taste of things to come. You put a lot of lives in danger because you didn't bother to mind the proper polarization. If you are unsure you should have checked with Engineering."

With that, Anika slumped away starting back through the tunnels with her tail between her legs.

"Sorry about that." Karen told captain Patterson. "This doesn't look too bad." She reached down to cut the power, and then set to work removing the damaged component. "I'll have to replace the motherboards in the damaged computer nodes, and likely the data crystal clusters as well once I bring the system back online."

"Thankfully we back up our operational data to mechanical harddrives for exactly this sort of problem." Captain Patterson said.

"That simplifies things." Karen said. "When I said three hours I was thinking I would have to rewrite your entire operating system from scratch. Since that is not necessary I will have you back online". she pauses to toss the damaged component aside and slide the fresh one into place. "As soon as I finsih connecting this up and swap out those motherboards, so ten minutes, fifteen tops. I don't multiply my repair estimates like some Engineers do."

"So how long to finish installing the upgrades then?" Captain Patterson asked.

"I will have to double-check the rest of the components have been installed correctly, before I continue the work." Karen said. "After that, it should not be more than a couple of hours."

"Anika said it would take three days." Captain Patterson said.

Karen made the final connection, and turned around to begin pulling motherboards from the first computer node. "Yeah she thinks its cool to multiply repair estimates because Tina does it." Karen said. "It makes them look like miracle workers when they say three days and get it done in three hours, but I don't believe in doing that."

True to her word, ten minutes exactly had passed, since she said it, and Karen snapped the last motherboard into place, then reached down to flip the power back on.

"Patterson to Enginering." The captain spoke into his communicator. "What's our status?"

"Full power and life support restored to all decks, sir, and the computer shows green across the board."

"Glad to hear it." The captain said. "Patterson Out." He put away the communicator, and watched Karen inspect each of the previously installed components noting how thorough she was, then said. "Looks like you have everything well in hand here, I'll be on the Bridge if you need me."

"Thank you, Captain." Karen said.

With that, the captain turned and started back through the access tunnels.

Karen found two more sloppy installations during her re-checking of Anika's work, and after correctig those, she set about completing the installation.

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

For Anika it was embarassing enough returning to Excalibur having wet herself and dumped her glands, but when she was called to the Admiral's ready-room she knew she wasn't getting off the hook that easily.

"Have a seat." Maya said, pointing to the char facing her desk.

Dreading what was to come, Anika did exactly as she was told. She couldn't read anything in the Admiral's expressions but then again that was Maya. Always stone-faced. You could never tell what she was feeling.

"Yer a bright Engineer, but y' screwed up." Maya began. "Y' put a lot a' lives in danger cause a' that."

"Yes ma'am, Karen already lectured me about that." Anika said. "I will be more careful."

"If'n we wadn' in this Expanse, s' far from anywhere with proper repair facilities, Ah might be inclahned t' say havin t' come back here 'thout a shower after pissin yerself an' poppin yer glands was punishment enuff." Maya said."But we ain't got that luxury in the Expanse. All we got is the fleet. We cain't afford blunders lahk that."

Maya reached under her desk, and Anika froze in place. She thought for sure Maya was retrieving a paddle.

What Maya brought out was just as bad however.

"Yer punishment." Maya said, fastening the Cone of Shame around the shiba's neck "Is t' wear the Cone A' Shame fer Three days. The exact tahme Ya gave s' a work estimate. In that tahme, yer Engineerin' clearance's revoked, an' won' be reinstated 'till ya attend a week a' Engineerin' classes, an' retake the qualification exams."

"Yes Ma'am." Anika replied. She was relieved she wasn't getting a spanking, but in a way the Cone of Shame was worse. She knew a lot of people would laugh at her for wearing it, especially that hot blue-tick coonhound boy she was trying to get to notice her, and in that regard it was as much torture as if Maya had subjected her to thumbscrews.

"Report t Tina in Engineerin t' start yer classes." Maya said. "An Don' Touch Anythin.... Dismissed."

With that, Anika got up slowly, and trudgingly left.

It could have gone much worse. She thought. Her tight little canine anus clenching hard at the thought of being anally violated publicly by the Admiral's huge strap-on. It was bad enough the first time when she got ''sexxed in'', and she had no desire to repeat the experience.

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

Out on patrol duty once more, as he was covering for Sam, Hank was worried sick. He did his best not to let it affect his piloting skills, but nonetheless it was all he could think about.

"Try not to think about it." Gunner said on comms. "She'll be home safe and sound before we finish our patrol."

"I know it sounds silly." Hank said. "But I worry myself sick every time she leaves the safety of our ship...Our home. She is my everything."

"That's perfectly understandable." Gunner said. "But she's just fixing Anika's blunder. Speaking of whom, did you catch what the little shiba was wearing? " Gunner laughed, trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah I saw that." Hank said. "I bet she dont make that mistake again."

"I would think not." Gunner replied. "I would hate to see what else the Admiral has for punishment devices."

"Lets hope we never find out..." Hank said. "Heads' up. I just saw something, bearing 210, mark 115.....There it is again."

"I see it too." Gunner said. "Ships dropping out of Hyperspace. There's too much interferance from the Trajector to get a clean reading from here." She switched comm channels, then, Excalibur, Gunner, Tally six unknowns just dropped out of hyperspace bearing 210 mark 115, possibly more. Unable to get a positive ID due to interferance, permission to take a closer look?"

"Gunner, Excalibur." Maya said, "Granted, go check it out, then get yer asses back here fer reinforcements if'n 's hostile."

"Wilco Excalibur." Gunner replied. Then back on Teamcomm, "Patrol squadron form up on me, weapons hot."

She waited until everyone was in position, then, "Rolling out, bearing 210 mark 115, punch it."

"Yes ma'am, 210 mark 115 full afterburner." Hank repeated, following her move.

One by one the other pilots followed suit.

"What have we got here, Xians?" Cambridge asked.

"That would be my guess." Ivanov said.

"We don't know yet." Gunner said. "That's what we're here to find out."

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

"Tactical alert." Maya said. "Shields up, Arm weapons an' polarize the hull."

"Yes ma'am." Tom replied, carrying out her orders immediately.

"May, send t' all ships." Maya began. "Set alert 1 status throughout the fleet, all ships t' battlestations. We don' know whats out there but if'n s' hostile we gotta protect the trajector."

Yes ma'am." May replied.

Maya pushed a buttoon on her command chair, ordering the main bulk of her fighter squadrons to launch.

She saw moments later, the earthships all doing the same.

"Admiral, the fleet reports Alert 1 status." May said. "All ships report full tactical capability."

"I'm showing shields up and weapons online on all ships." Larry who was still filling in for Molly said.

"Ahead dead slow. Move us t' the head a' the battle line." Maya said. "If'n 's dickheads after the Trajector, there gonna be in fer a world a' hurt."

"Yes ma'am." Kayla replied.

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

"Gods!" Gunner said on teamcomm. They were in visual range of the unknown ships now. "They're not Xian..."

"At least not a design we're familiar with." Hank agreed.

"No. That's impossible..." Gunner said. "That's Xenia's ship."

"Galaxy Commander Xenia a' the Glorious Planet X." the clone broke in using teamcomm.

"That's impossible I saw you die." Gunner said. then to her squadmates "Bug out 180 mark 0 and lets punch it for home."

"Yes run y' little roaches. " Xenia mocked. "Scamper back t' yer holes."

then she has her comm officer switch back to long range comm channel she was using. "Y' was rahgt Mah love." she told King Jerry. "The mercs're here, an' theyre up t' somethin."

"Stop them, claim the device for us, but keep yourself safe." Jerry glubbed. "If it gets too hot, bug out."

"Shure 'nuff Hun." Xenia replied. " Xenia out."

What Jerry didn't know, was Xenia was playing him. She pretended to love him, because she wanted the power and strength of the Xians under her command. She had planned this ever since crossing over. Yes, she was the Xenia from the alternate reality, as this universe's Xenia had been killed many years ago. Anyway her plan was, she'd ride out the war as Jerry's Queen, and most skilled commander, and then, once the universe was theirs, the Dick Head would have a little ''accident'', leaving her as Emperess of the entire universe.

First things first though, she had to survive the battle to come.

"Shields up arm weapons an' launch fighters." Xenia barked orders to her command staff. "Helm, ahead full, stand bah Hyperdrive fer point t' point jumps."

"Yes Galaxy Commander." Came the replies.

Gunner reported back it was Xenia, and everyone settled in for the battle to come.

When at last Xenia's flagship came into view, Maya had May open a channel.

"Done Admiral." May replied.

"Jus' wanted t' make shure y' knew who beat ya." Maya said, motioning for May to close the channel. then on fleetwide, "Weapons free, weapons free. all ships fahr at will." Excalibur's massive autocannons thundered to life, and one by one the other ships all followed suit.

Xenia's flagship, a heavy dreadnought like Excalibur, but of her own design, turned and banked presenting a narrower target as Excalibur's initial salvo slammed into its shields, then opened up with a broadside barrage.

Kayla's steady hand on the help, and Tom's skill at the tactical station worked well together, and as Excalibur maneuvered and returned fire, they took the hits in the most heavily shielded areas.

Xenia's Xian battlecruisers were a real nuisance due to their agile maneuverability, but they soon found themselves outmatched as the similarly nimble Earthships working in pairs would soon make short work of them.

"Shields holding at ninety five percent Admiral." Tom informed.

"Enemy shields down to ninety three percent." Larry said. "Buckner and Tsun Tsu coming about from strafing run."

"Captain Poloniev reports the Vassilev and Stuart jus' took out one a' the Xian battlecruisers." May said.

Excalibur's shields cackled with electricity as another salvo struck home.

"Evasive maneuvers, target amidships." Maya ordered.

At the same moment, the Queen Elizabeth, and the Stonewall Jackson (with Dana in command as Mike was on Excalibur with Erika when the battle began), finished off a second of the Xian battlecruisers, and came about for a strafing run at the flagship.

..........

"No ya idiots, don' git separated." Xenia barked. "Work in pairs lahk theyre doin."

"There's too many of them, my queen." The captain of an Xian cruiser replied. "We should withdraw."

"Hold yer ground 'er Ah'll shoot ya mahself." Xenia retorted. "morningwood coordinate with the wang, phallus coordinate with glans, shlong with the willy."

"We just lost the Shlong and the Willy, Ma'am." Xenia's sensors officer reported.

"Fuck! she's good." Xenia spat. "But not good enuff. Come about fer a broadside, an' target the smaller ships with our ventral cannons."

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

"Scratch two!" Kelly announced on teamcomm as another Xian fighter exploded.

"Plenty more where those came from." Hank said. "Dont let it go to your head."

"Thats two for me." Ivanov anounced.

"Yee Haw! That's how we do it in Dixie!" Danny crowed as another Xian fighter exploded. "Thats three by my count."

"Four for me." Yaolin added.

"Four here too." Hank said.

"You all getting slow?" I got seven already." Gunner remarked playfully.

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

"Engineering we need to speed up the recharge of our main cannon if possible." Captain patterson said, releasing the comm button.

"You're lucky I'm still here." Karen said. "I can shunt the auxiliary power through the tertiary booster colils, it should cut your recharge time in half...but overheating will still be an issue."

"Brilliant." the chief engineer said. "I dont know how she came up with that, but its bloody brilliant."

"Alright get on it, both of you." Patterson said. "And pay attention to her work, you might learn something."

"Yes sir." they both replied, and immediately got to work.

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

"Target bearing 003, mark 117, velocity one million kph." Larry announced.

"Hard t' starboard, stay with 'em." Maya said.

Kayla put the helm hard over, altering course to chase after Xenia's Heavy Dreadnought. Its custom design made it 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

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

"Direct hit to our ventral midsection ma'am." 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." Dana said "Lets stay on them."

"yes ma'am." George 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." Dana shouted. "FIre!"

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

Xenia's 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. Tom made every shot count, but Xenia's 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." Tom announced.

"Enemy shields down to sixty percent." Larry 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.

......

The Lee and the Landry had broken off their attack on Xenia's flagship 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.

"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." the captain 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." Jim announced. "Repeat, scratch one cruiser."

"Lee, Excalibur, 's great news keep it up." Maya said. "We're still tanglin with Xenia over here."

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

Melanie, Hank, Dawson, and Ivanov 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. Xenia's flagship had already deployed a tanker in response to their tactics however, and Melanie was intent on taking it out.

"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." Hank 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." Hank 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 dazzling display of flashes and plooms of color. but they all knew better. This was a warzone. The 'fireworks' was simply their people and Xenia's 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 said on comms. "Light em up."

"Fox-2 " Hank called out, pickling off an air to air missile at the closest Xian elite fighter.

"Fox-2 Fox-2" Dawson and Kelly each said as they copied Hank's example.

Ivanov said something in Russian the UT didn't pick up. Presumably a similar slang for ''missile launched'' though how Molly had overlooked a single slang term in coding the UT was unknown.

"Fox-2, 4" Melanie called out, having rapidly cooked off four of her air to air missiles in a skewed 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?" Kelly asked.

"Honorable combat. evenly matched." Hank said.

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

"Admiral." Larry 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." Tom replied. he relayed orders to the Armory, and continued firing at Xenia's flagship with the cannons intended to keep firing solids.

In the armory, Belle worked fast to switch the feed mechanisms to draw from the alternate magazine hoppers, then reported the task complete.

Tom opened up on Xenia's flagship with the new shells an instant later.

The first salvo of purely solids had dug in deep, cutting huge gouges in Xenia's hull 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 Xenia's ship. Larry reported the damage was significant, but somehow Xenia was still in the fight.

"Ma'am, its the Queen Elizabeth." Larry said. "They just took out the Wang's shields, but their main cannon is overheating... and they have three cruisers bearing down on them."

"An' the Jackson?" Maya asked.

"Their shields are holding for now." Larry said. "But its two against three in Xenia's favor."

"Alrahght." Maya said. "Kayla, hyperdrive, 's take the weight off the Queen Elizabeth."

The fact Karen was still aboard the Queen Elizabeth gave her all the more reason to do so.

"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 Queen Elizabeth and its pursuing Xian cruisers in textbook fashion.

"Queen Elizabeth, Excalibur, reckon y'kin use a hand." Maya said on comms.

Autocannon fire from all three cruisers intended for the Queen Elizabeth 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."

"Excalibur, Queen Elizabeth. Jolly good timing, Admiral." Patterson said. "Just buy us time to cool our main cannon and we're good."

"Make it fast." Maya said. "even our shields aint gonna hold ferever."

"Two minutes." Patterson said. "Karen says we can fire again in two minutes. My chief Engineer says we need twice that, but given I've seen her in action I'm inclined to go with Karen's estimate."

"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.

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

The CSS Lee moved in for the kill on the damaged XSS Phallus. 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 Phallus 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 Phallus Exploded moments later, as their reactor breeched.

"Excalibur, Lee." Jim announced, "The Phallus is History."

"Lee, Excalibur, 's good t' hear." Maya said.

.......

Excalibur and the Jackson's combined AC fire finished off the Peter just as the Queen Elizabeth's main cannon finished cooling.

captain Nigel Paterson gave the order to break off, before the Xian ship exploded, and the Queen Elizabeth 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.

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

Gunner 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.

.......

Hank's team successfully eliminated the Xian tanker, but it had cost them. All four of their fighters were shieldless, and had suffered damage. Kelly 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. Kelly 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.

Hank relayed the situation to Excalibur, and had Kelly 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. Ivanov and Yaolin each got a grapple on one of Kelly's wings, and the three fighters carried the crippled fighter between them. Melanie ran cover for them while the five of them limped home.

......

"Bridge t' fighter bay." Maya said. " We got a bent bird comin in hot, an better git Natalie down there."

"Copy that." Feena replied.

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

"Ok here's where it gets tricky." Hank said. "She's got no way to deploy landing struts or tailhook so we got to keep the cables taut to slow her down."

"Yes we practice this in simulation." Ivanov said.

"Good." Hank said. "Nice and steady now. "Speed 350, gear down and locked, tailhook down. Here we go."

Excalibur's open fighter bay doors were rapidly approaching as he spoke.

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

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

Fighter bay

Hank, Yaolin, and Ivanov successfully brought Kelly's fighter down between them.

Feena pried the canopy open, and Kelly was hoisted out of her fighter by Hank, and Ivanov, 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.

Kelly 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.

Hank got a fresh fighter while his was marked in for repairs, Ivanov and Yaolin simply waited for Feena to top off their fuel tanks, and they too rejoined the fray.

.......

Tom 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 Xian cruiser, 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, Tom 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,Xenia's flagship jumped in behind them, and blasted their already weakened Aft Shields with its massive main autocannons.

The force of the impact had buffeted the ship so hard, Maya was thrown out of the 'big chair', landing face down on the floor. Maya picked herself back up, shrugging it off, "Report!" she shouted.

"Xenia jumped in behind us Admiral." Larry said.

"We ate it bad. Redline AC burst took out our aft shields, damaged several secondary systems...and targeting sensors." Tom said. "I can shoot manually, but no lock-on capability."

"Nuke 'em fore they kin fahr again." Maya said. "May, tell the fahghters t' scramble clear, Kayla war emergency power, maximum acceleration."

"Ma'am with no targeting sensors our missiles cant lock on." Tom informed.

"Shoot from the hip." Maya said. "Git their bearin, an' go with that."

"bearing 331 mark 110." Larry 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." Tom said. "Tracking true, detonation in three seconds."

"Engaging hyperdrive." Kayla said.

They made a brief jump as before, and came out beside the Louisiana, which was busy with a single cruiser, the XSS Prick.

Unfortunately things didnt go exactly as planned. sure Xenia's flagship ate their nuke, but its shields held, at 30 %. it was moving to intercept, but the Alabama 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. " Larry 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.

........

.........

Casualty reports were already coming in. Maya listened to May 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 Trina, one of May's same-age sisters, and Maya's daughter's. 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.

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

.........

Xwnia's flagship, Bridge

"Fuck! That bitch just dont quit." the weapons officer said.

"Maya dont surprise me." Xenia said. "Its those damned humans... how could a world so primitive, fight back so hard?"

"They were oppressed before, my queen." 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." Xenia said. "Keep them busy an prepare mah charriot."

"Yes my queen." the weapons officer said.

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

Excalibur, Sick Bay

The wounded pilots, kept pouring in. They were from all 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.

...........

Excalibur finished off Xenia's flagship with a salvo of 80'' AC fire that set off a chain reaction in the ship's deuterium tanks. Just before it Exploded, Xenia departed in her ''charriot.'' their version of Excalibur's Admiral's yahct. Xenia had hoped to jump to hyperspace just as the core blew, letting the detonation mask her escape, but unfortunately for her her departure hadn't gone unseen. Still she had a plan. She always had a plan.

"Admiral I have something belongs to you." captain Poloniev said on comms.

The Vassilev had snagged Xenia's escape craft with grappler lines before she could jump to hyperspace.

An instant later, Xenia cut in, transmitting an image of a dalmatian girl nude, in an escape pod. Air could be heard hissing out as Xenia said. "S' still tahme t' save 'er, Admiral, but y'gotta let me go t' do it."

"Cut 'er loose, Dimitri." Maya said. "She won' git back t' X fore we're ready."

Reluctantly captain Poloniev obeyed, and while Xenia sped away, the dalmatian girl was recovered, and found to be a pilot from the canid empire, having been held and tortured by Xenia for years.

Repairs were underway, and Karen had returned home to Excalibur, and the rush to complete the trajector was now doubled.

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

In Excalibur's sick bay, Kelly had just awoken from surgery. Special arrangements with captains Poloniev and Cheng had allowed Ivanov and Yaolin to be standing at her bedside along with Hank when she came around.

Seeing the faces of her fellow pilots she had flown many long combat patrols with made Kelly feel good.

Pilots that log many hours together like that have a sort of unspoken bond. You watch eachother's back out there, and its something you never forget.

Her fellow pilots stood by her bedside, helmets in hand, each offering well wishes and a desire to see her back in the cockpit as soon as possible.

"They're shipping me back to the Queen Elizabeth in the morning." Kelly replied. "I really appreciate what you did though."

"Just get well soon." Hank said. "We need you out there."

"Patrol duty would not be same without you." Ivanov added.

"Thank you." Kelly said. She gave her best British salute, which Yaolin and Ivanov gave the Chinese and Russian equivalents respectively, and Hank gave the Avenging Aces Mercenary salute.

"Queen and Country." Kelly said.

"For Admiral Maya." Hank returned.

After that, the pilots dispersed, as Doc Natalie said Kelly needed to rest.

Yaolin and Ivanov returned to their ships, and Hank retired to his cabin where Karen was waiting for him.

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

Mike and Erika having just returned from the relaxation spa fuly rejuvenated were on Excalibur's bridge speaking with Admiral Maya.

"How could you let her go, Admiral?" Erika asked. "You could have made her talk."

"She's mah clone." Maya said. "Torture won' work on her anymore'n it's work on me. Sahdes, we got a dalmatian girl 's bin her prisoner fer a few years, Ah reckon she mahgt know somethin."

"Your clone?" Mike asked. "Then why is she trying to kill you. Seems counterproductive to me."

" S a long story." Maya said. "Suffice it t' say Ah's cloned 'thout mah knowledge bah another race a' bad guys, an' the clone brainworshed t' see me s' evil an' want t' conquer the universe."

"Great, so now the dick-heads have your command experience." Mike said.

"Not quite." Maya said. "She's only got mah knowledge up t' the point she's created, an' that was 'fore the Lee was even built. She don' know nothin 'bout yer ships an' their capabilities, 'er anythin lahk that."

"At least that is good news." Mike agreed.

"Nothing Xenia says can be trusted." Erika said. "If she appears to concede it is only because it benefits her in some as yet unknown to us way." she paused then "I still say you should have ordered captain Poloniev to blow her to bits rather than release her ship. The girl you recovered could well be a plant."

"Ah'm well aware a' that." Maya said. "She's got basic comferts, but under constant surveilance, an' no access t' secure areas. Ah had Doc Natalie do a total colonoscopy, vaginoscopy, gastroscopy, an' full bioscan t' check fer hidden transmitters 'er anythang jus in case."

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

Shortly after Mike returned to the Stonewall Jackson, Maya addressed the fleet on fleetwide comms:

"We won a small victory t'day. S' a drop in the bucket a' thangs t' come, but Ah couldn' be prouder a' all a ya. Y'all worked t'gether flawlessly, lahk a well oiled machine, an' that's exactly what we need. Keep up the good work. Excalibur out."

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

Maya left Kayla in command and made her way down to the guest quarters where the dalmatian girl had been given room and board. She brought a bottle of Canid whiskey with her, and a parcel of bacon, as such things tended to loosen tight lips and help break the ice, and she wasn't sure how the girl would react.

"Welcome aboard Excalibur." Maya said as she entered the room. "Ah'm Admiral Maya. Mahnd if'n Ah join ya."

"Its your ship." the girl said indifferently.

"Look, pup, yer not dreamin." Maya said. "Ah;m not Xenia. Ah'm not here t' torture ya, Ah brought ya somethin t' eat, an' a drink if'n y' want." Maya offered the bacon and alcohol to the dalmatian as she spoke.

"She says you're evil." the girl said, sheepishly taking a strip of bacon as if she expected it to be electrified. "Says you give people false hope and leave them with a sore anus and an empty bank account."

"An yet who was it rapin an' torturin ya fer infermation?" Maya said, pouring herself and the girl a drink. "Bah the way, Ah didn' catch yer name."

"You have no idea the things she did to me...to all of us." The girl said. She timidly took the drink then added "Lori..I'm Lori...Sorry I been called spotty butt so long it took me a moment, Admiral." She paused then "There were a dozen of us at one point...we were her playthings....I lasted longer than the others...but I knew my time was coming...she let things slip in rape sessions so she never the same pets very long."

"What kind a' thangs?" Maya asked, lapping her won drink.

"For one, she is really obsessed with a spaniel named Karen. Apparently she's some kind of genius and Xenia wants her to complete Jerry's flagship, XSS Destroyer. The way I took it the ship can fly, but the experimental engines and weapons are not functional. Xenia needs Karen to make it work so she and Jerry can annihilate opposition."

"Yeah that'll never happen." Maya said. "Anythin else?"

"Take me with you." the girl said. "Make me your cabin girl, I'm yours to do with as you wish." She got on hands and knees flagging to prove her point. "I want to be there when you take her down."

"Put yer tail down." Maya said. "An' git sum clothes on. Yer not mah slave, yer a guest aboard mah flagship."

"Do i displease you, Admiral?" Lori said. "I know I am well used, but I assure you I am very skilled in a multitude of pleasure techniques."

"No, yer plenty attractive." Maya stops to sniff Lori under her tail "An' y' smell nahse too... 's jus, Ah don' have that sort a' playthings."

"I want to join you." The girl said. "Dont you have to sex me in?"

"Well yeah, but y' gotta be shure that's what y' want firs. An' Doc Natalie tells me yer not mentally in any condition t' make that kinda decision yet. Y' want vengance, Ah kin understand that...but don' let that make ya do somethin yer gonna regret. Mercenary life aint fer the faint a' heart."

Please Admiral." Lori begged.

"Give it some tahme." Maya said. "If'n y'still want in when Doc Natalie clears ya on psych eval, then we'll talk."

"Thank you, Admiral." the girl said.

"An' s' ya know Ah do got a pretty good ahdea bout what y' bin through. Mah comm officer used t' be part a' Xenia's crew...an' she tol' graphic tales a' what went on on that ship."

With that, Maya left the rest of the bacon, poured the girl another drink, and then took the bottle with her back to the bridge.

Maya put the bottle away, and took her seat in the command chair.

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