Star Dancer
Chapter 12
 
 
            “What is the status of the attack on the human compound?” The Preator asked.
            “My Lord, The human compound has been heavily damaged. The carriers are returning.” The small underling hesitated, but said no more.
            “Good, so what is the location of the Talosian force?”
            “Unknown, My Lord. The attack did not enable us to find the enemy location. No enemy forces were tracked anywhere in the system.” The underling was becoming frightened; it knew of its lord’s temper.
            “I want to see both force commanders in my office as soon as the carriers land. Is that understood?”
            The underling cringed, “My Lord, the report is not complete. All attacking forces are lost. The carriers are returning empty.”
            “WHAT?!” the Preator picked up the underling and threw it across the bridge. “You expect me to believe that every unit in that attack was destroyed by the humans?” It screamed.
            The underling raised its upper arms in supplication, its blue blood flowing freely down its face from the impact with the wall. “My Lord!” It panted, cowering before the enraged Preator. “As with the previous seven carriers, the attacking force was not seen! It’s true the humans launched some of their atmospheric craft, but they had no effect. W-We don’t know what destroyed our forces, but it wasn’t the humans!” The Preator turned and stormed back down the hall to its office.
 
 
 
            Ian cried silently. Elias died trying to save Andreya Stavros. The pain of that double loss was slowly turning into a cold rage fueled by the other losses, and the growing list of wounded.  An unprovoked attack on a civilian installation was beyond Ian’s ability to understand at the moment. Silver and Ghost squadrons had returned to Talos to help the survivors. However four craft stayed in the air patrolling, incase the Enemy returned to finish the job.
            “My parents were there.” Lt. Sims, the weapons officer, softly said.
            In a quiet controlled voice, Ian said. “Helm, set course for Earth. Put us above Talos.”
            “Sir, I’d need the main engines for that. The Enemy would see us.” Andres stated, turning to look at Ian. He looked into Ian’s cold, hard eyes, and turned back to his console to plot the course for earth orbit.
            Ian then turned to his comm “Phoenix Base, this is the Captain. Launch all available fighters. We’re going to finish this.” He switched to intercom, “Flight Control, this is the Captain. Launch Gold squadron, we’re going to Earth.” He toggled another switch. “Armory, ready those hyper-missiles for launch. Coordinate with Navigation for the delivery coordinates.” He switched to another channel. “Engineering, this is the Captain. Be ready to activate those decoys, we’re going to need them.” He switched to ship wide and felt the vibrations through the deck as Star begin to move. “Captain, to all personnel. The Enemy has attacked and destroyed most of Talos. This unprovoked attack shows more plainly then any history recording how much they value human life. Though the reason is not yet clear for the attack, we don’t want to give them the chance to attack another city. May the gods be with us.” He paused, took a deep breath, and, with a firm voice said. “Stand by for master safety disable. Ready all stations for battle.”
            “Flight control; please inform Ghost and Silver squadrons to get rearmed as fast as possible. I’ll need them airborne when we get there. Leave the two Centurions there as guards. Once Gold squadron is clear, launch our Centurions.”
            He looked at Jenny, “Is the Columbia still monitoring the Supernova?” When she nodded, he continued. “Star, get me a channel to the Columbia.”
            “Columbia here.” A young voice answered. From the sound of her voice, it was clear she had been crying.
            “Columbia, this is the Captain. I want you to watch that big son-of-a-bitch very closely. As soon as it starts to launch ships, I want you to do a full power burn for Star Dancer. I know they’ll see you, I’m counting on it.”
            “Affirmative, Captain.”
            Star put a system wide tactical display on the main screen. The auxiliary displays on each side also lit up. The one to the right listed the assets of Star Dancer. The one on the left displayed the Supernova’s assets. The list for the Supernova was still considerably longer then Star Dancers. Ian thought that would soon change.
            “Armory reports the first ten hyper-missiles ready. Flight time is two minutes.” Jenny reported.
            “Sir, I’ve calculated the effect of the hyper-missiles damage to the supernova. If we hit the main reactor, the resulting explosion could affect the orbit of Venus. It’s just too close.” Andres said quickly.
            “You picked a hell of a time to tell me that, Andres. Give me an idea of a minimum safe distance and make it fast.” Ian said. Thinking quickly, he hit his intercom button. “Engineering, activate the two Jupiter decoys! Have them set a course for the Supernova.” He turned to Jenny, “Tell Columbia to get the hell out of there now!” he paused, thinking quickly, “De-cloak the ship. Master safety off; arm all missiles. Batteries one thru five fire upon acquisition, and re-load. Hyper-missiles; stand-by.”
            Ian felt the thrumming of Star Dancers engines through the deck. He felt aware of everything around him; his vision seemed clearer, his hearing more acute. His heart beat in time with the pulse of the powerful engines. He felt alive.
 
 
 
            “Preator! We have detected a power source! Please come to the bridge.” An excited voice issued from the speaker on his desk. It had retired to its ready room to contemplate how it was going to explain itself to the High Council. Further losses in an attack that the High Council might not believe justified would not reflect well upon it. They might even order its death. The call from the bridge roused it from the painful analysis of the enigmas surrounding this mission. How could it loose forces to an enemy that wasn’t there? It put aside those ruminations and headed for the bridge.
            It arrived on the bridge and noticed the increased activity. “What have you found?”
            “My Lord, we have detected a power source consistent with a Talosian dreadnaught class heavy cruiser near the moon of the human planet. It just popped up on our scopes! We’re….”
A sub-commander interrupted the commanders report; “My Lord, we are tracking two more Talosian heavy cruisers near the fifth planet. They are on an intercept course with us.”
“My Lord, a cloaked Talosian Centurion was hiding on the far side of this planet; it is running for the first cruiser.” The commander reported.
Three Talosian heavy cruisers! How could that be? The High Council had reported them all destroyed hundreds of cycles ago. It took its chair on the bridge, and began analyzing the reports. One cruiser, they could handle with no problem, two was still possible, but three made the odds considerably less. Luckily they were spread out enough for him to even the odds somewhat, but he must act quickly.
“My Lord, the first Cruiser has decloaked, and has opened her missile tubes. It’s preparing to fire.”
“Recall the picket carriers, if they can be in range of the last two cruisers, have them attack and harass them.  Sound the alert! Launch all carriers! Launch all fighters! Arm the missile batteries. Helm set course for the first cruiser, best speed. We need to attack and destroy it before the other two can close enough to assist it. Relax, sub-commander, if it’s out of our range, we’re still out of theirs.”
This was very strange, why are the Talosians attacking now? Why didn’t they attack when the great ship first arrived? Perhaps the Talosians had been simply waiting to see what we would do? Perhaps the Talosians had an interest in the humans as well? True, the Talosian race was close enough, genetically, to the humans to breed with them, but there wasn’t supposed to be any free Talosians left. It got a bad feeling that the High Council didn’t know that some Talosians had survived, and with their ships.
“Prepare a message drone for the High Council. Copy the logs to it, and send it out immediately.” It ordered.
“Drone away.” The commander reported.
 
 
 
“Sir, she’s taken the bait and starting to move!” Lt. Sims reported.
“Mr. Andres, I need that information.” Ian’s voice rising as he watched the projected course of the Supernova intersect with Star Dancer.
“Sir, the outer enemy units are moving to intercept the decoys.” Jenny reported.
Ian watched the list on the left change, listing six carriers at half intensity, indicating their status in this battle. That still left 13 carriers, with their un-launched compliments of 40 fighter craft each, plus the additional 200 from the Supernova itself.
“Sir, half a million kilometers should be safe for the hyper-missiles.” Andres finally reported.
“Thank you, Mr. Andres.” Ian said.
“Flight control, this is the Captain. Get Ghost, and Silver squadrons off the ground. Have them link up with Bronze squadron, and start hitting carriers. I want them to spread out, and hit as many as they can in the first wave. I imagine once they start blowing up, they’re gonna throw everything they have at us. Let the Centurions start on those fighters.”
“Roger command.”
“Firing batteries one through five.” Lt. Sims reported. 25 orange blips appeared on the tactical display as the missiles began tracking their target.
Ian also watched the 20 green blips for bronze squadron speed ahead of Star, and toward the 40 green blips holding orbit above earth.
“Earth orbit in two-zero minutes” Mr. Andres reported.
“Lead enemy units in attack range in one-zero minutes.” Lt. Sims reported.
“Steady as she goes Mr. Andres.” Ian said, watching the display intently.
“Gold Squadron requesting weapons hot.” Jenny reported. Since Gold Squadron was the escort for Star Dancer they were under Ian’s direct command once launched.
“Permission granted.” Ian acknowledged. Noting their configuration around the ship, he added, “Spread them out or when we start taking missile hits, they’ll get hit too.”
Jenny turned back to her console, “Gold leader, this is Command. You have weapons hot. Go to pattern bravo; distance two-zero.”
Ian barely heard her as he watched his fighters begin the attack on the lead 5 carriers. One fighter each moved to just above the carriers as the rest of the task force flew right past them, full throttle, heading for their own targets.
“Sir, the Supernova is firing missiles. My god sir, it’s firing all of its missiles!” Lt. Sims reported; his face suddenly pale.
Ian watched the screen with horror as a veritable cloud of missiles twice the size of Star Dancer was displayed.
“Sims, use the remaining missile batteries to knock those out. Don’t target the missiles directly, but explode them close enough to take those down.” Ian suggested, he watched the young man think a moment, Ian could actually see the light come on in his eyes. “Fire when ready, Lieutenant.”
Sims was already typing furiously into his keyboard. “Program laid in, and executing: missiles away. Lead enemy units opening missile tubes and arming weapons.”
 “Come on guys do your thing.” Ian said under his breath.
Ian watched as the five shadow fighters suddenly broke away from the carriers shortly before they exploded.
Two of the fighters didn’t make it to safety, one blip just went out, but the other, stopped accelerating, and a red circle appeared around it, indicating that it was still there, but in trouble.
“Flight control, this is the Captain. Launch a recovery drone.”
“Already on it, Sir.”
Ian watched as the remaining carriers started launching their fighters. He glanced at the left side display, as it began adding the fighters as active assets. The eight remaining carriers launched 320 fighters. He also watched as the closely spaced icons of the inbound missiles started to vanish. Whole sections of the mass of missiles simply disappeared, until there were none left.
“Sir, the shock waves from our missiles did the trick; we took out all the Supernova’s missiles. That’ll teach them to group ‘em so close together.” Sims reported.
“Supernova at 300,000 kilometers from Venus.” Andres called out.
            Ian looked back Andres. “Warm up the hyper-missiles, stand-by to launch.”
            “Hyper-missile flight time: now one minute ten seconds.” Mr. Andres reported.
“Enemy carriers now in missile launching range. Confirmed, we have 16 inbound missiles.” Lt. Sims reported.
“Alert Gold squadron, activate anti-missile batteries.” Ian ordered.
“Supernova now at four-five-zero thousand kilometers. Firing solution is locked. Safety is off, guidance is locked and warheads are armed. The birds are awake and ready to fly, sir.” Mr. Andres called out the pre-launch checklist for a hyper-missile.
Ian nodded to Lt. Sims, “Launch the first ten hyper-missiles.” he looked to Jenny, “Warn the fighters to stay clear of the Supernova.”
“Jump point forming five kilometer aft.” Andres reported, and after a short pause, “All missiles away.”
A few minutes later, “Sir, those are some decoys Engineering put together.” Jenny said a little awe in her voice
“Why do you say that, Commander?” Ian asked puzzled by her tone.
“Because, they both just launched fighters to intercept the inbound carriers.” She said calmly.
“What? They weren’t designed to do that!” Ian said. “He punched his intercom. “Engineering, this is the Captain. What the hell is going on with your decoys? They just launched fighters to attack six enemy carriers!”
“Captain, I don’t know! I tried to make them change course, to shy away from the carriers, but they didn’t respond. I have no idea sir.” The Engineer said.
“Sir!” Star said urgently, appearing beside him. “I am receiving signals on the Talosian battle frequencies. I also have IFF markers for the F.S.S. Prometheus, and the F.S.S. Pegasus! Those are not decoys!”
Ian sat stunned, staring at Star.
“Sir, hyper-missile arrival in 15 seconds. Jump point forming amidships of the Supernova.” Mr. Andres called out.
“Sir, enemy missile impact in five, four, three…” Lt. Sims called out.
“Sound collision!” Ian quickly hit the intercom, “All stations! Brace for impact!” He felt Star Dancer rock under the almost simultaneous impacts of the five missiles that made it through the defenses.
“Damage?” Ian asked.
“Shield down to 73%, minor damage to the outer hull. Fighters incoming!” Lt. Sims reported.
 
 
 
“My Lord they have launched missiles.” The sub-commander reported.
“So, they have. Commander, launch all batteries, and reload. They might actually survive the first salvo. This enemy is tricky.”
“All missiles launching, My Lord.”
“My Lord! The first five carriers have been destroyed!” the sub-commander reported.
“Have the remaining carriers launch all fighters, and fire their missiles as soon as they come into range.” The Preator ordered.
“My Lord, the cruiser has fired more missiles.” The commander said.
“They’re just trying to get as much damage in as they think they can before we destroy them.”
            “My Lord, our fighters are being destroyed, but we can’t see the enemy!”
            The Preator stared at the screen, its fighters were indeed being destroyed, but the only thing even close to its craft, was the occasional blip of a Centurion. “Find out what’s destroying those ships now! Order them all to attack the cruiser, best speed!” It said.
            The screen on the bridge showed the huge cloud of missiles on course for the cruiser, suddenly, whole sections of the group stated disappearing. “What’s happening to our missiles? We’ve lost half of them already!”
            “It’s the second barrage the cruiser fired, My Lord. They detonated right in front of them, and they are being detonated by the explosions of the others.” The commander reported.
            “This enemy is very tricky, indeed. Commander, prepare a second salvo, this time do not arm the warheads until they are close to the target, and stagger the launches.” The Preator ordered.
            “My Lord, it will be a few minutes before all the batteries are reloaded.” It said.
All of the sudden the great ship began to shudder, and a loud groan echoed through the bridge. The Preator felt the forward pull as if the great ship came to a halt in space.
“What under the black suns is going on?! We’re trying to fight a battle!” it stood, fighting the urge to go flying through the air.
“My Lord! Readings say a small jump point is forming, but the readings have to be wrong.” The sub-commander said.
“What? Where does it say the point is forming?” It asked, a cold feeling creeping over it.
“Cargo 84, Decks 76 through 82, section 12.” was the reply.
It fell back to its chair in shock. How could a jump point form in an area that was already occupied? Sub-space physics said it was not possible. But Cargo 84 was empty. The hold, positioned just ahead of the six main reactors, was the storage hold for the carriers.
It had all been a trap. “Eject the command module!” It screamed as the great ship began to succumb to the gravimetric shear of the jump point forming in its belly.
 
 
 
“Ian look!” Jenny exclaimed, pointing to the screen.
Ian looked at the screen; it showed the Supernova breaking up. Then the symbols indicating a huge shock wave, as the main reactor went critical and exploded.
“Sir, the enemy fighters are ramming the landing bays!” Lt. Sims yelled over the noise and shaking of the explosions.
“Fire in Alpha bay! Magnetic curtain is down to 31%, we’re leaking atmosphere!” Jenny called out.
“Evacuate Alpha bay! Then seal it, and drop the curtain. Once the fire is out bring the curtain back up, and get Damage Control on it ASAP! We’ve got fighters that need a place to land.” Ian called back. He glanced at the display, and watched as the enemy number dropped. Some due to the explosions that Ian still felt, some because of the work of his fighters, and frigates. The rocking explosions became less frequent as the numbers dropped to zero, and the left screen went dark.
Ian called engineering on the intercom. “I know you’re busy Chief, but what’s our status?”
“We took a pounding, Sir. Defense Shield is down to 25%. We have six, no seven breeches in the outer hull. We lost three laser cannons, and one rocket launcher. Alpha bay is the worst hit. The fires are out, but the magnetic curtain has failed completely. We lost the entire atmosphere in Alpha, but the rest of the ship seems to be okay. I’ve got two teams working on the landing bay, and I’ve sent drones to repair the hull. Other than some minor electrical fires, I think we’ve got a handle on it. You should be able to land your ships in about 30 minutes.” The Chief reported.
“Well done, Chief.” Ian said, and switched channels, “Captain to CMO. How many wounded?”
Beth’s voice sounded harried as she reported. “We have 4 dead, 3 missing, and 21 wounded; some of them pretty badly. I’ll call you back after we get done.”
He turned to Lt. Sims. “Are there any more enemy ships left?”
“Nothing showing, Sir.”
“Alright. Commander, let’s stand down to yellow alert until we can get some of this damage fixed.” He turned to the intercom. “Flight control, this is the Captain. Begin landings on Beta bay. Engineering tells me Alpha will be repaired in about 30 minutes, so hold the fighters assigned to it on stand by. Send the rest back to their respective bases. You did good work down there today, John.”
“Thank you, Captain. I’ll tell my people.” John’s voice answered.
“Sir, we’re being hailed. It’s the Captain of the Prometheus.” Jenny said.
Ian took a deep breath, and slowly let it out. “Put it on the main screen please, Commander.”
A handsome woman of about 32 years of age appeared on the main screen. Ian tried to remember greeting protocols from his history lessons, but nothing came to mind. He smiled as warmly as he could and switching to Talosian, said. “Greetings, Captain. Welcome to Earth.”
“And greetings to you as well Captain. It is customary among our people to make the greeting in the others native tongue.” She inclined her head in a slight bow, and placed her hand over heart. “I am Captain Serina. On behalf of our fellow Captain, Captain Loreen, I greet you, and ask if you require any assistance.”
Momentarily thrown by her use of English, Ian hesitated and then returned her bow. “I am Captain Ian Williams. Thank you, Captain, but my engineer tells me that we’ll be able to land our remaining craft within the hour. May I say that your presence here has taken us by surprise? We thought we were the only ones left.”
“I too am somewhat surprised by your existence. With your permission Captain, Captain Loreen, and myself would like to come aboard tomorrow and meet with you. I for one look forward to hearing your tale. We may also be able to fill you in on what has been happening since your ship was thought destroyed.”
“My first officer and I look forward to meeting you, Captain. On behalf of my crew, I thank you for your assistance today.”
Her expression seemed somewhat amused. “Our assistance? We did nothing. You are the ones who destroyed a Supernova, alone. That has never been done before, you should be proud. I can imagine you must be tired, Captain. So until tomorrow, I bid you a good day.”
“I bid you a good day as well, and would you please relay my greeting, and my thanks to Captain Loreen?” Ian said, inclining his head to her. She returned the slight bow, and the screen went blank.
Ian stood tiredly, and looked at Jenny, “Commander, as soon as you can, find out what assistance Talos might need and get it sent down to them. Lt. Sims, recloak the ship. If someone on the ground hasn’t spotted us yet, let’s not give them more of a chance to do so. I’ll be in Medbay.”
Ian slowly walked through Medbay. Stopping and talking briefly with everyone that was awake, thanking them for their bravery, and offering words of encouragement.
He met briefly with the families of the fallen, offering his condolences, and to give what comfort he could.
He finally found himself at the nursery, looking in on his quietly sleeping children. One of the nurses smiled at him briefly as she hurried to a baby that was beginning to fuss.
All this pain. How long would they have to deal with Caldarians? Would Star be destroyed the next time they came? Surely they would send a battle fleet now, to wipe out Ian’s small force, and enslave the planet.
What about the other Talosian ships? How many more are there? Would they help? He had no way of knowing.
Talos needed to be rebuilt, this time without the vision and direction of his friend Elias. Ian felt the tears again threaten to start anew, as images of the people killed at Talos passed through his mind.
He turned and began walking to his quarters, tears slowly falling down his cheeks.
Beth had seen him as he left. She swallowed the sudden lump in her throat. She saw the look of pain and sorrow on her son’s face. She longed to comfort him, but the wounded still needed her, and she couldn’t go to him yet. She quickly issued orders to Star to slip a mild sedative into a drink for him the next time he used a replicator. She then turned back to the task of reattaching a young crewman’s arm.
Ian walked in to his quarters, and found the replicator softly beeping. He automatically went to see what the noise was. A display screen above the delivery shelf informed him that the CMO had ordered a protein drink to restore lost nutrients. He was about to cancel it, but knew Beth would be mad if he didn’t drink it. He took the drink, and sat down in the living room to think about what needed to be done, and what the next steps would be.
He drank absently as his mind tried to focus on a constructive course of action. Images of Elias, Andreya Stavros and the rest kept flooding his mind, and pushing him back down into grief.
He lay down on the couch he had been sitting on, and placed his arm over his eyes. He was still struggling to focus when the sedative slipped his mind into sleep. Star, seeing him softly sleeping, began her teaching program. A new history lesson, one taken from the database aboard the Pegasus, was waiting for him.
 
 
 
Shortly after the destruction of the Talosian home world, the five remaining dreadnaughts met up with what was left of the Talosian fleet. It was then that the news of the colony world’s fall was also confirmed. The remaining captains conferred, and decided to seek assistance from a race that called themselves the Eldar. Of the other races, they had been the least disagreeable.
A delegation was selected and sent to the Eldar. They were to tell what had happened, and to seek an alliance. Not much hope was placed on this mission succeeding and other ships were dispatched to the fringes of the galaxy to find a new planet were they could start to rebuild.
The mission to the Eldar succeeded far better then the Talosians had imagined. When the delegate from the Talosians arrived they found a conference in session of the five other races. They had received intelligence on a horrifying new weapon developed by the Caldarians that could destroy a star. The Talosians arrival, and the news they carried, confirmed their intelligence reports. An alliance was formed between the six races, though none cared for the other much, and there was little trust, they all agreed that none could stand alone and survive. They also agreed that the Caldarian threat had to be removed.
Messages exchanged between the surviving members of the Talosian race and the Talosian ambassador, requested that some of the surviving Talosian ships be included in the mission being planned; the offer was politely refused. The new Alliance Councel agreed with the Talosian desire to avenge the destruction of their race, but argued that there simply weren’t enough of them left to risk losing any in the upcoming offensive. The Talosians had found a new planet, and there was much work to be done to get it set up.
Though the Talosians grumbled about it, they had to agree that the Council had been correct. The roughly 10,000 remaining Talosians set about the task of rebuilding, and beginning the ‘arduous’ task of repopulating the race. As a memorial to the 7 billion lives that ended in one fiery second, the planet was named New Talos.
A tremendous battle had been fought over the Caldarian home world. The combined fleets of the five races eventually defeated the assembled ships of the Caldarians, and then turned their attentions to the planet. Once all offensive ability had been dealt with, most of the Alliance fleet departed to hunt down the remaining Caldarian fleets. The objective of the attack had been to remove the Caldarian ability to effectively wage war. In the heart of one of the larges cities on the heavily populated planet, a large complex of buildings looked very much like a weapons research facility.
A strike was authorized, and executed. The facility, which later was surmised to have been a very new, and revolutionary type of power generating facility, was destroyed with very devastating results. The containment field around a small neutron star was destroyed, and a very large pulse of neutron radiation was released before the failsafe devices could shut it down. This set in place a planet-wide chain reaction of overloading power stations, and industrial catastrophes. Many hundreds of kilometers away, another research project to produce energy for the power-starved over-populated planet was affected. A geothermal vent had been drilled through the planet’s crust in an effort to use the heat of the planetary core to produce energy.
The power loss released the shields holding the magma at bay, the magma was forced 200 kilometers into the air. The loss of pressure in the planetary core caused the planet break up. 250 billion Caldarians and their slaves died.
Special care was given on the remaining Caldarian worlds. Alliance fleets would offer surrender to the Caldarian warships instead of destruction, and amnesty to the crews. It was declined.
Eventually, no more Caldarian ships were found, and it was assumed that all had been destroyed.
During the course of the battles with the Caldarian forces, the members of the Alliance learned to trust and respect one another. Trade began, and eventually the societies became closer.
In this new Alliance the Talosians found, much to their astonishment, a philosophical bias against replicated goods by the other five races. So the Talosians once again became an industrialized society.
The remaining Caldarian worlds were forced to accept the strictures placed on them by the new Alliance, but flatly refused to accept membership. They demanded the right to arm themselves ‘for protection’, and were politely informed that protection would be provided by the Alliance. They screamed when Alliance soldiers seized, and freed the slaves that had been captured.
40,000 new Talosian citizens were brought to New Talos to begin a life of freedom.
Now that the Caldarians no longer posed a threat, the society began focusing on research, and exploration. As time passed, very little research was given to weapons systems. The remainder of the galaxy had been explored, and expeditions had been sent to other galaxies.
 
 
 
Ian awoke to as the bed was moved slightly. Sometime while he slept, someone had moved him from the couch to the bedroom, taken his uniform off, and put him to bed. The naked, warm bodies of Cindy and Talena were snuggled up against him. He looked up into the tired eyes of Beth, as she was trying to crawl into the big bed.
Ian winked at her as he gently began untangling himself from the sleeping girls. He needed to relieve himself. He passed a nude Jenny on his way to the bathroom; she gave him a quick kiss, before continuing on to bed.
He did his business, and returned to find his spot still waiting for him. He crawled over Beth and Talena, and gently slid under the blankets. He quickly returned to sleep, and to the dream he was having.
 
 
 
Aside from the policing of their member worlds, the Alliance no longer had any serious conflicts. From time to time a band of pirates or smugglers needed to be hunted down and dealt with as well as the occasional planetary revolt or interplanetary war. So the Alliance grew.
Then the exploration teams discovered a new enemy. A vast empire had taken control of the galaxy the Alliance had sent the teams to. The Alliance had decided that sharing technology with underdeveloped worlds could seriously jeopardize their development; it was an extension of a non-interference policy. Earth was already classified under that policy before the Alliance was formed. However, the representatives of the Empire lacked many things that the members of the Alliance had. They lacked Talosian replicator technology, as well as the differing Artificial Intelligence units that that all the Alliance members used. In an effort to seize this technology, they attacked the exploration teams. Completely surrounded, and heavily out numbered, the teams destroyed their own ships to prevent the technology from falling into the hands of the Empire.
The teams had sent emergency messages back to the Alliance telling them what was happening. The Empire, threw its might into an attack on the Alliance worlds. In the first few years of the war, the Alliance had lost almost half of its worlds. Very slowly the Alliance began to beat the invaders back. Ironically 2/3rds of the Alliance ship yards and most of the weapons facilities had fallen to the Empire. Since most of those facilities had been A.I controlled, they self-destructed. The war is ongoing, with neither side making any progress until recently. The Empire has started to take worlds again.
Then a small recon buoy, set outside a forgotten solar system reported the presence of a jump point producing a Caldarian Capital ship.
 
 
 
Ian’s eyes opened to the wonderful feeling of being softly caressed. His head was on a soft pillow of warm flesh. He was lying on his side, his head on Cindy’s bare tummy. Jenny was on her side next to Cindy and was softly stroking Cindy’s breast. Talena was spooned up behind Ian, and was still softly snoring. Beth was resting on her side, across the end of the bed, looking at them.
Ian yawned, trying not to wake the sleeping girl behind him. “Good morning, ladies. What time is it?”
“About 0600, my love.” Beth said. “How do you feel this morning?”
“Better, you drugged me didn’t you?” Ian accused, teasingly.
“Yes I did. You needed to sleep to get past the pain you were feeling. Now you can start to deal with the loss. You did well yesterday, Ian. The simple fact that we are still alive is testimony to that.” Beth answered.
“I should have had more ground forces at Talos. I didn’t, and people died. I don’t think I can forgive myself for that.” Ian said, softly caressing Cindy’s side.
“Love, you can’t think of everything. You had enough down there to protect them against a domestic attack. You had no way of knowing that the Enemy would do that. They had been leaving the planet alone.” Cindy spoke softly, gently running her fingers through his hair.
“I still should have seen the possibility. I made a bad mistake that cost people their lives. Now I have to live with that.” Ian answered.
“I don’t think anyone, most especially the people of Talos, think this was your fault. The only person blaming you is you. I know we’re not going to be able to convince you otherwise though, you’re going to have to do that yourself.” Jenny said.
“Well, I know one thing; I’m going to get a detachment of marines down there as soon we can get them trained.” Ian said.
“Captain?” Star voice came from the other side of the door.
“Come in, Star. Most of us are awake.” Ian smiled tenderly at Talena.
Star materialized in front of the door. “Sir, I am sorry to bother you. The Captains will be landing in Beta in an hour. We have also received more requests for aid from Talos. The United States Government has sent investigators that are asking a lot of uncomfortable questions. Luke Belden would like you to contact him as soon as possible.”
Beth stood up, and headed for the bathroom. Jenny stood as well, to follow her.
Thinking quickly, Ian took a deep breath and said “Jenny, wait a moment please”, and gently got out of bed as well. The motion did wake Talena, who got a pouting smile on her lips, and scooted over to cuddle Cindy. Ian took another deep breath, “I want Gold squadron in full dress uniform and inspection ready in Beta in 45 minutes.” Both Cindy’s and Talena’s eyes grew wide as they scrambled out of bed. Talena ran to the bathroom, as Cindy issued the alert to the rest of her squadron. “I also want the rest of the command staff in full dress as well, to greet the Captains when they arrive. I will excuse Engineering and Computer Sciences ifthey really need to be. I’ll call Luke, as soon as I’m dressed, Jenny, I want you to handle the aid requests. We’ll have to be careful with all the inspectors running around. Perhaps we can ‘influence’ them if we need to, but I’d rather not do that unless we have to.” Jenny nodded, and headed for the shower. Ian turned back to Star, “Find out if the Captains have eaten breakfast, provided they are on the same schedule as we are. I’ll want to use the small conference room near the bridge to meet with them.” Ian said.
As Ian was walking to join the girls in the shower, Star answered him, “No, They have not eaten, and it is close enough for them to enjoy breakfast.” She smiled approvingly at him. He gave her a smug grin and a wink before he walked into the shower with his wives.
 
 
 
“Star, get Luke on the line, I’ll be in the living room.” Ian said as he finished putting his boots on. He stood, and walked out to the living room. Luke Belden’s Face was on the screen, but he was holding a telephone receiver to his ear, indicating that he was not alone in his office.
“Hi Luke, you got some problems huh?”
“Ian! Good to hear from you again, yeah, there are some folks here trying to figure out what happened, and who it was that attacked us. They haven’t been able to tell us much though.”
“Excellent, keep playing dumb. If we don’t confirm anything, they can’t think we actually had anything to do with this. Get some of the recruiters back there to keep an eye on them. If any of them get a clue as to what is underground or anything else, we may have to ‘adjust’ them. I have to host the Captains in a few minutes, so I won’t be able to help you much right now, but let Jenny know if you do need anything.”
“Yeah, I thought so too, but they deny any weapons tests or the like.” Luke said, maintaining a cover on the conversation. “We’re getting the wounded patched up, and the funerals will be held the day after tomorrow. Can I tell the families that you’ll be there?”
“Yes, I’ll be there. I just wish we could give them the honor they deserve. But, with those inspectors running around, we’ll have to be discrete.”
“Yeah, I agree. I’ll let them know you’ll be there. It was good to hear your voice again, Ian. Don’t be such a stranger, huh?”
“Thanks Luke, are you sure you can handle these folks?”
“Yes, we’re handling all the arrangements. See you in a couple of days?”
“I’ll be there. Good work Luke, call me later tonight, and let me know how things are going.”
“Will do, give your wife a hug for me. Okay, talk to you later.”
“Bye Luke.”
Star materialized beside Ian. “The Captains will land in about ten minutes, Sir.”
“Thanks, let the rest of the command staff know.” Ian told her as he jogged out the door and headed for the maglev.
“CAPTAIN ON DECK!” echoed through the bay as Ian burst through the door.
“Carry on!” Ian called, though not as loud. He looked around and saw most everyone was there. The chief engineer was absent, Jenny was still on her way and the rest of the staff were present.
He walked over to Cindy, “Let’s get your people in formation over here.” Ian led her to a spot and indicated how he wanted her pilots. “They can just stand there, until the shuttle is on final approach, then bring them to attention. Once the Captains disembark, be sure to salute.” He grinned at her. She looked really nervous. “Relax Cin, after all, you sleep with a Captain, how scary can these two be?”
“It’s not that Ian, you’re my brother. This is different. These are real Talosians!”
“Don’t sweat it Cin, they are still humans, just like us.”
“Attention! Prometheus’ shuttle on final approach. Clear the landing area!” Came the voice of flight control over the speakers in the bay.
Ian winked at her as she spun around to get her people in place. Ian quickly returned to the group of command staff, and got them into a semblance of order.
The shuttlecraft slipped through the magnetic curtain, and settled to the deck near the group. The main hatch slid open and Ian stepped forward to greet the Captains.
Captain Serina and a man wearing the uniform of a Captain exited the craft. Smiling, they walked up to Ian.
The woman saluted, “Captain Serina requests permission to come aboard, Captain.”
Ian, smiling, returned her salute. “Permission granted, Captain, Welcome aboard.”
She stepped aside, and the man stepped forward, his eyes shown with pride, and admiration as he saluted Ian. “Captain Loreen requests permission to come aboard, Captain.”
Ian returned the salute. “Permission granted Captain.” He then turned, introduced his staff and Gold squadron.
Cindy saluted briskly when the Captains approached. Captain Loreen was the first to notice that there were twice as many pilots present as should be for a squadron.
“Captain, why are there so many pilots in your escort? We only counted ten craft during the battle.”
“You were correct in your count, Captain. The Shadow fighter is a two-man craft.” Ian said. “I am led to understand it is still early in your ships’ day. Would you care to join me for breakfast?”
“Thank you, Captain. That would be most welcome.” Serina said warmly.
“Good, then if you’ll follow me, I’m sure we can find something to eat.” Ian grinned.
Chuckling, the Captains followed Ian from the hanger.
 
 
 
As the Captains left the hanger bay, Captain Loreen, asked Ian. “Captain, I noticed that you have modified your landing bay to accommodate your new fighter craft. How is it you been able to accomplish so much with so little? This refit for example, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so extensive done outside of a dry dock facility.”
“Actually Captain, We’ve done a lot more then this re-fit without a dry dock facility. Star has informed me that you have had a briefing on everything that has happened, so I won’t go into it much. When we first came to Star Dancer, it was crashed on the moon. It was intact, but still had suffered considerable damage. Whole sections needed to be replaced. At that time, only my own family and a couple of close friends knew about the ship. Our A.I. had informed us about the Caldarian threat and after inspecting the ship; we started recruiting from the general populace of the planet. We simply made due. At the time we didn’t see another option.” Ian replied.
“Still, your accomplishments are awe inspiring.” Captain Serina stated.
Ian shrugged, “I just wish I had thought of better protective measures, we lost some good people.”
They had arrived at the small conference room. “Captain,” Captain Loreen said, “I also learned from that briefing how old you really are. This may be hard for you to hear, but every one of us has made mistakes. By our standards, you are young to be a Captain. However, you have done the impossible. I know of no other Captain that could have even attempted this. Your grief is understandable, and though we did not know the people you lost, Serina and I share your loss. At one time or another, we’ve all made decisions that cost people their lives. Some of those decisions might not have been the right ones. The best that any of us can do is to try our best. You have done that.”
“The hardest part of being a Captain, is dealing with the pain of loss. I… I’ve never gotten used to it. I honestly don’t believe that any of us have.” Captain Serina said thoughtfully, it was evident she was still dealing with a loss of her own. “The pain helps us to be more careful in our decisions, but we can’t let it keep us from fulfilling our duty. Yes, you are the youngest Captain ever to be posted. But I think the A.I. made a good choice in you. That is evident in your actions, and in your concern for the people entrusted to your care.”
“Since we are all the same rank, can we drop the title? Too much formality gets dull.” Loreen asked.
“I’m sure I don’t mind.” Ian stated. Serina just smiled softly and nodded, thankful for the change of subject.
“Well, I offered you both breakfast, and we have yet to get anything to eat. I have no idea what you would have for breakfast, so, if you don’t mind, I’ll let you order your own.” Ian said, indicating the Captains should go first.
Both Captains grinned, and spoke their orders into the replicator. After they had finished, and retrieved the bowls of an oatmeal looking substance, Ian stepped up to order his. He ordered pancakes, and sausage, with orange juice.
Once he sat down, Serina looked at his plate, “Ian that smells great, what is it?”
Ian pointed to each item as he told her, “These are pancakes with butter and maple syrup, this is pork sausage, and this is orange juice. It’s a common breakfast for earth. Would you like a taste?”
“Yes, I would.”
Ian cut a bite size piece of the stack of pancakes, speared it with his fork, and handed it to Serina.
She picked up the fork, and daintily stuffed it into her mouth. Her eyes lit up as her taste buds informed her of the flavor. She chewed, and swallowed, “This is excellent! Loreen, you really must try this!”
Loreen chuckled, as Ian told her to try the sausage, and pushed his orange juice over to her. The look in her eye prompted Ian to go back to the replicator, and re-order his breakfast. He also got an order for Loreen.
“This is fabulous! Serina spoke between bites.
Ian chuckled, as Loreen also began to enjoy the meal.
“From our surveillance of this system Ian, we have discovered the base on the moon, and the one on the planet. Do you have any other installations we haven’t found yet?” Loreen asked.
“No, all we’ve had time for is the moon base, and the town on the planet. The people who lived there named the town Talos. That was one of the first mistakes I let happen. If I hadn’t let them name the town that, it might still be intact.” And those people would still be alive. Ian added silently.
“Not true Ian, You had a force shield around the place. Plus you have Talosian reactors operating there. The Caldarians would have discovered them just as fast, no matter what. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying you should have used only the planet’s existing technology, I would have done the exactly the same thing. The only difference is I would have known those things were easily detectable. It still wouldn’t have stopped me from using them. What I would like to know, is how you’ve kept everything from the discovery of the native population?” Serina asked as she cut another piece of the sausage.
Mostly we’ve used bribery, and sleight of hand. It’s not the most honorable way of doing things, but it is the most effective. I’m afraid my planet is still driven by greed and rife with suspicion. I’ve instructed the people at Talos to play dumb about the attack. I doubt it will help much, but it should hold off too many questions until we can come up with a better explanation. Unfortunately, the government knows the attack was by an alien force. I am sure they got a good look at those Caldarian fighters.” Ian replied.
“The only thing I can suggest is pull your people out, and level the place. Leave nothing behind, simply disappear, and leave no trace.” Loreen suggested.
They had finished the food by now, and were sitting back from the table. Ian was thinking as he rose and gathered the dishes. “That is a possibility, and one I’ll put to them. We were going to be sending a probe to the next solar system, to check out a planet there for colonization. Perhaps we can move those people to the moon base or aboard here until we can see if the planet is viable. If not, maybe expand the facilities on the moon.” Ian ordered three cups of coffee, a creamer and sugar bowl. Took the tray and returned to the table.
Ian introduced them to coffee and as he suspected, Loreen liked his black, while Serina liked cream and sugar.
“Well, I think we may have a course of action for the town of Talos. I’m curious though, from the history lesson I got last night, I know you are part of an Alliance. What I would like to know is; what happens now? The Caldarians obviously have warships still, and are a threat to my planet. I wouldn’t be comfortable leaving it defenseless, and we all have taken an oath to defend this planet. I feel an obligation to try to counter the damage being done by the existing governments as well. I don’t mean to sound like an ass, but we’re not part of the Alliance here, and I don’t think my people will want to leave.”
“We can understand that. In fact, personally, I would be disappointed in you if you did. That being said, I am to extend an invitation to you, as Captain of the Star Dancer, to join the Alliance as a portion of the Talosian race. As such, you can request that this sector be your home, and the Alliance will recognize it as such. You might be asked to Council from time to time, or for other projects, but essentially, this sector would become yours to patrol. Off the record, I can already see that you will be expanding quite fast, if for no other reason then the revolutionary fighter craft you have developed. Our weapons research has been severely limited by the continuing conflict with the Empire. Frankly, the Talosian Council will want you to produce the fighters, and do the refits to the ships that will carry them. You will need a lot of help, and a place to work without risk of technologically contaminating your home planet. You will also need another ship here to insure the security of the sector.” Serina told him.
She continued, “You will have to leave briefly to visit New Talos, and the Council there, then, you will need to go to the Alliance Council and give them your answer. If choose not to join, Loreen and I will wish you good luck, and leave you to yourselves. We will not be able to assist you if the need comes. The Alliance forbids the military assistance of non-alliance members.”
“I was wondering why you didn’t do something to stop the attack on Talos.” Ian said, frowning.
Serina took his hand, “Actually Ian, Loreen and I both would have done everything in our power to stop that. It took us by as much surprise as it did you, but we were farther away.”
Loreen’s eyebrow rose at the uncharacteristic action of Serina, but chose not to say anything. His wrist unit beeped.
“Captain here” he said to his comm unit in Talosian.
“Excuse me Sir, but we’ve been ordered back to New Talos. The Prometheus is to remain here, and the rest of the fleet is to return to Alliance space.” The voice said.
“Very good Commander, get the ship ready to get underway. I’ll rejoin you as soon as I’ve finished here.” He replied. He looked at Serina, “You heard?”
She nodded, and raised her wrist to her mouth. “Captain to XO.”
“XO here.” A voice replied
“Bring the ship next to the Star Dancer. The rest of the fleet will be leaving soon, we are to remain, and provide assistance.” She ordered.
“Affirmative.”
“I’ll be remaining on board to assist and advise Captain Ian.”
“Well, that’s taken care of.” Serina said, switching back to English.
As Loreen stood, Ian and Serina joined him. “Captain, let me say what an honor it’s been to meet you, and I look forward to seeing you again. Thank you for that excellent meal, I will order my ship’s A.I. to get a copy of your culinary database before we depart. I wish I had more time to look over all of your accomplishments, but I’ve been given my orders.”
“It’s been a pleasure to meet you too Captain, can we walk you back to the shuttle?” Ian asked.
Loreen glanced at Serina, and smiled slightly, “Thank you Captain, but that’s not necessary. You and Serina have a lot to discuss. I’ll leave you to it.” He said.
As the door closed behind Loreen, Serina smiled at Ian, “Ian, if you don’t mind, I would like to see those new fighters. I must say, it’s a good thing you put IFF modules in them, or we wouldn’t have known they were out there.”
Ian grinned, “Star, have both Lt. Williams’ meet me in Alpha bay.” With a slight bow, he indicated to Serina, that she should precede him.
“I understand, from studying your culture, that you have two names, the second serving as a kind of family identifier. How is it, that these two lieutenants have the same name as you? Are they members of your family?” Serina asked as they got into the maglev.
“Actually, yes they are. Both are my bond mates, and one is my sister. The Chief Medical Officer and the Executive Officer are also my bond mates, and the CMO is my mother.”
“I was led to believe that such things are rare on your world.” She said.
“They are. I had a hard time learning to deal with the situation myself to begin with. The society down there has a lot of unwritten rules that everyone takes to heart. I was a product of that society, until I realized how much I really did love my mother and sister.”
“It truly sounds like a different culture then what I’m used too. I didn’t bond with any of my family, but I can clearly remember learning about love with my brothers and sisters, then later with my parents.” She had gotten a very sad expression on her face as she spoke, as if the memories troubled her.
“May I ask what happened to them? You seem so sad remembering them.” Ian asked.
“I don’t know what happened to them. They’re slaves I suppose, or dead. My home world fell to the Empire. I also lost my wives and husbands in that battle. All I have left of them are my children. I suppose I shouldn’t still let it bother me so much since it happened almost 7 cycles ago, but it does. That’s a pain I don’t believe will ever heal.” Tears were rolling freely down her face, and Ian, feeling responsible for reminding her, put his arm around her.
“I’m sorry I asked you to relive that. I’m also sorry about your loss. I think I would go completely insane if I lost any of my ladies, or our kids.”
“Kids?” She asked, looking confused, “baby goats?”
Ian couldn’t help it, he laughed. “Kids are a slang term for human children as well.”
She looked confused for a moment, and then started chuckling. She quickly tried to wipe her eyes as the maglev slowed for the arrival at the flight deck. But the splotches on her face were still evident.
“Let’s stop by the restroom before we get out to the bay.” Ian suggested.
She smiled gratefully at him, as they got off the maglev, and turned into the restroom. Since the ‘public’ restrooms aboard ship were unisex, Ian followed her in, and bent to a sink to wash his hands and face. She walked into a stall and closed the door. Ian heard her take a long piss, longer then his wives ever took. He just about burst trying to suppress a laugh when she farted. None of his ladies ever did that in front of him. He finished up, as she walked back out of the stall and started to wash up. “I thought I was going to burst! That coffee goes right through you.” She said. Ian just smiled.
 
 
 
“This young one is your bond mate?” Serina asked, as Ian introduced her to Talena.
“Yes she is. She spent 2500 years, er, Cycles in cryogenic suspension at her last Captain’s request. She had applied to and was accepted by the flight school aboard ship before Star crashed in this system. She had almost finished when the attack came. Since her awakening, she has been a great help training new pilots, and helping to organize the youth. My Command Staff emancipated her. She and Cindy here are the flight leaders for Gold squadron; Star Dancers escort and first line of defense.” Ian said proudly.
“Well, for being so young, you two ladies have certainly got a lot to be proud of.” Serina said to them.
“Thank you, Captain”, they answered in unison; both at stiff attention.
Serina chuckled, “Relax girls, I would like to see your ship.”
Cindy and Talena grinned, and led the way to the lift up to the rows of platforms for the shadow fighters.
Looking over the landing area, she turned to Ian, “Ian, I noticed when I landed, and again now, that the landing areas are quite different then ours. May I ask why?”
“Certainly. The armor on the new fighter craft actually generates energy as it passes through space. We had to modify the landing area so the craft could land safely without killing the first person to touch it, or causing a possibly harmful discharge. We are currently retro fitting our hornets with the new armor, a new weapons system, and a new flight computer.”
“Where is that work being done?” Serina asked.
“Phoenix base, on the moon, they do all the research down there now. I’m told they may even have a new heavy cruiser class ship designed, but I haven’t seen the plans yet.”
“Amazing. You’ve only been at this for a cycle and a half?” Serina looked around with awe.
They had arrived at a wide balcony on the top row of platforms.
Talena walked up to a control panel set next to a large door, and toggled an intercom. “Flight Control, this is Lt. Williams. Could you please place Valkyrie One into maintenance mode, and bring her out.”
“Affirmative, stand clear.”
Serina looked a little puzzled, so Cindy explained what was going on.
“The armor can generate energy from the light as well, so the fighters are kept in a black room. We can pull it out of the room for short periods of time to work on it, but it has to be grounded or it will become energized again. During an alert, all the craft are brought back out like this so we can climb in. Otherwise, it’s back into the dark room. Even if it’s only a drill, we’ll get aboard, and we are slid back into the room.”
The fighter had completed its retraction out of its den by this time, and Serina studied it with a practiced eye. She walked around it, stuck her head into the dual cockpit, and drew her hand across the shining armor.
“It… It tingles!” She said as her hand slid across the armor.
“Yes ma’am. That’s the armor becoming energized.” Talena said quickly.
“What’s this?” Serina asked, indicating the turret mounted nose cannon.
“A dual mounted, magnetic induction, variable velocity, cannon. The designer calls it ‘Lucifer’s Hammer’. It’s capable of firing pellets at the maximum rate of about 3000 a minute, at velocities of up to just below the speed of light. He originally designed it to fire faster then that, but it was found that it burned out its bearings too quickly. We can retard the velocity for firing in an atmosphere, and also change the composition of the projectile fired so it breaks up.” Talena beamed, she was very proud of her new fighter.
“How does it handle?” Serina asked.
Cindy spoke this time, “Like a dream, it has a thought assisted flight system.”
Serina looked up at her with a disbelief written all over her face, “A what?”
Cindy chuckled, “A thought assisted flight control system. My helmet has sensors in it that can read certain responses directly from my thoughts, and actually help me fly, or fire weapons.”
“You’ve got to be joking. How good is the system? Can you fly it completely hands free?” the female Captain asked. She was getting excited.
“Not quite hands free yet, but Stephanie is working on it. She believes that a hands free system would improve pilot response time exponentially.” Cindy replied. “I’m sure Talena or I would be happy to take you for a flight sometime ma’am.”
“I’ll take you up on that offer, lieutenant.” She turned to Ian; “You have assembled an out standing group of people if you can produce wonders like this in such a short time. I would like to meet the designers later.”
“I’m sure we’ll be able to get down to the moon base, we have some time before we could leave anyway, so I’m sure you’ll get to see the moon base.” Ian replied.
Serina turned back to the two girls. “Ladies, thank you for showing me your wonderful craft.”
“Our pleasure, Captain. If you’re spending the evening with us, please make sure our husband brings you with him to dinner.” Talena said. Then with a twinkle in her eye said, “I’ll discuss dessert with my wives.”
Serina looked taken aback for a moment, looked quickly at Cindy and Ian. “I thank you, and would enjoy dessert very much.”
What the hell was that all about? Ian wondered. A smiling Talena turned back to the control unit on the wall to inform flight control they had finished with the fighter.
“I should probably put in an appearance on the bridge, and see how things are going on the planet. Would you like to accompany me, Serina?” Ian asked.
“Yes, I would. Thank you.” She said.
“Thanks girls, you can go back to whatever you were doing now.” Ian said over his shoulder to them. He didn’t make any move to go anywhere, but the girls smiled, took each other’s hand and walked towards the lift. “One of the main problems I’ve been having is a lack of pilots. After reconfiguring the launch bays, I have 90 shadow and 60 hornets. Each shadow takes two crewmembers, so I need 240 pilots. If I add to that the compliment of Talos, and what I should have on at Phoenix Base, it comes out to 400 pilots. I have twenty at Talos, and 80 here, with 20 more getting ready to graduate flight school. My off duty pilots have been pulling shuttle duty, since I don’t have the extra pilots for that. Plus I’m short on general staff as well. I honestly have no idea how we survived the last battle. I take that back, I do know how, we were damn lucky.” Ian said, wondering why he was babbling at her like this. Maybe because it’s because I felt she would understand my problems more. Bullshit! I barely know her! He said to himself. Why was he opening up to her like this?
“I can see what you mean. I thought the high Council was nuts sending the Prometheus out here. We had barely gotten back to a dry dock when the orders came in. I’m running about 40 fighters low right now, I have plenty of trained pilots, but no ships.” She sighed. “To bad we don’t have time to reconfigure my ship like yours.”
Ian gave a low chuckle. “Are you building your fighters aboard?”
“We weren’t, but since we got sent here, I ordered them to start. Why? What do you have up your sleeve?”
“I know this is a lot to ask, since we just met, but, do you trust me?” Ian asked, a slight grin on his face.
            The smile completely left Serina’s face as she blinked at him. “That is really strange, I do trust you, completely.”
            “Good. We need to get moving though, I’ve got a lot to get set in motion, and a few hundred people to get away from a potentially hostile government. Come on,” He took her hand, and led her quickly toward the lift. “And don’t worry, if you don’t like the sound of this, you can veto it at any time.” he lifted his wrist to his mouth, “Star! I need all department heads in my conference room in 10 minutes, and I’ll want a video connection with the leaders of Talos as well. I know it may be hard for them to get away, but it’s very important!”
            Serina jogged beside the rapidly moving young Captain. Such energy! Is this the same melancholy man that greeted them this morning? She felt her heart quicken. He’s inspired! This is the man that did all these things in such a short time. Granted he has a unique group of people helping him, but only a person like this could bring them all together. Damn! He’s even got me excited, and I don’t even know what he has planned!
            Does he know what his wife, Talena, suggested for tonight? Probably not, she would have expected either Cindy or Ian to react to that comment. With all that this amazing group of people had learned, they still lacked some knowledge. Obviously not all the old Talosian customs had been taught. She had surprised herself with her answer to that offer. She’d had no desire since she lost her lovers, when the beautiful, silver haired girl suggested it; she’d leapt at the offer! Was this a sign that she was finally healing? Or were the spirits of her dead lovers telling her it was time to move on? She didn’t know, the one thing she did know was, since meeting this handsome young man; she had begun to feel alive again. She hoped that the offer of ‘dessert’ would be acceptable to Ian’s wives. For the first time in seven cycles she felt her bare pussy getting very, very wet.