Proposition - Complete

[Miki Yamuri]

Proposition

Tom Blake was a very successful Computer wiz that worked for the Satellite and Propulsion unit of Nano/Gen Incorporated. His Position was one of the most prestigious jobs on the planet and he was proud to have it.

He looked like a professional athlete on the outside. He stood 6 foot 1 inch tall and tipped the scales to 220 pounds. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on his muscular frame. Most of the young women he worked with swooned over him as he passed them in the hall. Many were very disappointed he never gave any of them a 2nd glance and wondered why. They all knew he didn’t have anybody nor did he seem to socialize. Almost all of his energies went into researching and building more advanced electronic circuitry for the probes and satellites.

In his heart, as big and muscular as he was, he had a fantasy of being a small, petite and very beautiful woman. A secret he guarded closer than any of the top secret projects he worked with. He dreamed often of being able to walk freely outdoors in a cute mini skirt and halter top, showing off a pair of cute panties to any that would look, or a nice pair of form fitting jeans and a baby T. He knew, in the world as it was, this would never happen.

When things around the lab got to him, he would put in for a leave of absence for a few weeks and go to the remotest and wildest place in the wilderness he could find to be alone and think things through. He of course, because of necessity, had a sat-phone with him and a GPS locator so someone would know where he was and be able to find him in case of trouble.

He had finally arrived at the place deep in the high mountains. He was so far from any civilization, the only way he knew he was still on the planet earth was the soft glow many miles in the distance of the nearest town. He stood and pondered as he watched the stars in the heavens, and dreamed of being female.

Another Galaxy, Far, Far Away

Meena Tvassu was the daughter of one of the most feared and powerful Space Pirates in the Anquatine Galaxy. She in her own right had garnered fear though out the systems and had just as high a price on her head as did her father.

Her father had always wanted a son ... but the only woman he ever fell in love with, only gave him a daughter before the Space Armada devastated the small agra-station she lived on and killed her. He never again fell in love. He realized that having a daughter could prove to be advantageous, if she had the right stuff, and raised her to be athletic and extremely smart.

She grew into a very beautiful young woman. She stood about 4 feet tall and weighed 83 pounds. She had a very curvy round bottom and a narrow waist. From her long blond hair to the tips of her toes, she was an extremely attractive and cute girl ... much to the chagrin of her father. Everyone who knew of her ... never let her small size fool them into a false sense of security. Those unfortunate few who did ... quickly regretted it.

Because of her father’s wish, Meena grew up with the fantasy of being a man, and not the girl she had the unfortunate luck of being born. She had desperately searched for a means to becoming a man ... only to find that the surgeries and drug treatments available fell way short of accomplishing her goals ... although ... the available techniques were very good ... they were not good enough.

Ambushed

Meena was making the Triple Nexus run. She had a very sleek and fast ship made to haul lots of tonnage, but still have the power and armaments to be formidable. As luck ... or bad luck, would have it, She was 36 parsecs out of the Tricor’s Gate System when the Space Armada attacked her.

On the bridge, her weapons officer turns and says with excited tremors in his voice, “Captain, we have ... aaaammm ... a major contact. 3 parsecs and closing at slightly below light speed.”

Meena swivels around in her chair and says with authority, “Put it on tactical. How many ... and how bad’s the news?”

The Weapons officer flips switches and pushes buttons as many displays flash across his screen. Meena can see, they are being pursued by a very large combat fleet composed of heavy cruisers and missile ships.

She was thinking to herself how strange it was that they were just under light speed. She knew they could tell her ship was fast and could pull 9,000 gravities into NR space ... without warning, the collision alarm went off.

There was a tremendous explosion somewhere amidships as the shields failed and inertial dampeners could not contain all of the expended energy. The ship shuddered and rolled on to it’s side. Artificial gravitics flickered, making it impossible to stand up, until the energy wave had dissipated. All who were fortunate enough to be in their gravity chairs, felt the painful effects of un-dampened inertia, but were uninjured. Those who weren’t ... didn’t fair so well in the injury department.

The lighting on the Bridge went from soft white to battle emergency red. Many alarms sounded loudly.

The Science officer shouted above the cacophony, “Ma’am, we have a hull breach amidships. We’re venting atmosphere. Damage control says that we lost 12 crewmen and most of the engineering section. Port side weapons are gone.”

Meena sees the flanking armada as it breaks from NR space. There were many beam ships all in battle formation. They had intended to take her ... alive ... or in many pieces ... apparently, many pieces was the preferred way. She could see the next salvo of neutron particle beams had already flashed from the attacker’s emitters. The tactical display burned red with them. The other battle group behind had begun to close distance and arm their formidable weapons. They too would be firing in a few short seconds.

Tactical shouts, “Ma’am, we can’t take another hit to port. There are many beams on their way and will be here momentarily. Shields are down to 40% frontal, off line to port side. If we can bring the ship around to starboard, the shield’s are full strength.”

Meena shouts, “Helm, hard to starboard ... give me full power on the NR drive! I want the full 9,000 G’s ... NOW!!”

The bridge crew felt themselves grow extremely painfully heavy as the strained inertial dampeners screamed to keep up as the sleek ship spun on is axis to show its starboard side shields to the attack.

Many more alarms went off as the Weapons Officer shouts, “Brace yourselves ... here it comes!”

At the exact same moment the NR drive poured its massive particle field around the ship and opened the NR space portal, the neutron beams hit. They added many hundreds of thousands of raw ergs of energy to the NR drives particle field. There were many explosions and sparks flew. Fires erupted from many of the bridge control stations. Men and women were bodily thrown in all directions. Inertia became a serious issue as it painfully, and for some, fatally, pinned the crew to what ever location they happened to be in as the ship lurched off into the NR space portal at well over 100,000 gravities due to the added energy boost from the attacking beam ships. The lights went out ... Stygian darkness filled the ship along with acrid smoke lit only by showers of sparks and many fires.

The ship vanishes from Real Space into NR space in a flash of powerful energies. The Battle Group that had been approaching from behind had fired their weapons ... into an empty reach of space.

Discovery

Slowly and painfully, the darkness parts ... kind of. Meena groans softly as she moves from her cramped bent over the arms position and sat back in the command chair. There are many places in her body that hurt badly from the gravity distortion. The only light on the bridge, is flying sparks, many small fires, and the remaining console lights. Most of them indicating massive damage to the ship’s hull and electronic systems.

Meena could tell however, the NR drive had survived the massive overload. Smoke drifted through the bridge and many sparks and small fires were every where as the slowly reviving bridge crew dealt with it.

Meena taps commands into the Padd keyboard on the arm of her chair. She’s very thankful that navigation and sensors are still more or less operating. Stellar cartography ... told a frightening story.

In no direction she pointed the advanced navigation sensors, could they find a familiar star. The massive energy overload had sent them careening off at a hypervelocity never before achieved. The only hope they had of ever finding home again, was if the navigation computer had managed to log the transfer. If it had been off line and not recording, they could be lost for ever. The icy cold darkness of space is vast ... and unforgiving.

Meena heard the squeal of tortured metal. She turns quickly hoping it wasn’t a bulkhead failing to the cold hard vacuum of space. None of the crew had the chance to don the emergency suits.

A very bright beam of light pierces the semidarkness as several crew members pry the twisted bridge bulkhead open. The largest of the bunch hurried over to Meena with a large medical pack and says with concern, “Are you all right Captain? You’re father will have me flushed into space if you’re hurt.”

Meena says in a rough voice, “I’m not hurt, Doc ... at least I don’t think so. Just minor aches and pains.”

The Man put the large bag down and opens it. He removes a device from it that looks like a small calculator and points it at Meena. He expertly taps the softly glowing front of the devise as it makes a strange whistling screeching noise. Meena gets goose bumps from the sound ... she’s always hated those medical scanners and wondered why no one had ever made it make a nicer noise. This was like someone scratching their fingernails over a chalk board.

Satisfied there was no serious injury to Meena, he went to the more seriously injured crew and began working his seeming healing magic on those he was able to. Some, were beyond help as the massive effects of inertia had crushed them or broken their bodies.

The main lights on the bridge come on suddenly and the ventilators clear the air rapidly. The crew had extinguished many of the fires. Damage wasn’t as bad as it had appeared in the fire lit simi-darkness. Meena could tell that the major damage was to engineering and the port side hull where the first salvos had hit. She needed to get the Shield generators on that side repaired and hopefully some weapon pods back on line as well.

A tall thin man came to Meena and saluted. He said, “Captain, we lost engineering and the replicator. We need to find a planet to set down on for repairs as soon as possible. NR drive is online as well as navigation. I’m afraid that the inertial dampeners are burned out. We experienced acceleration no one has ever encountered before and they all were massively over loaded. I’m afraid we won’t be able to enter NR space and live, Inertia would crush us, He shrugs helplessly, “however, sub-light is available. We should be able to maintain a good portion of relativistic light speed. Life Support is ... patched together like a cross stitched quilt and won’t last long. It’s only functioning at about 46% efficiency. ”

Meena asks, “Is there anyway to get at least one section of the dampeners online? I think we are an awfully long way from home and will need the drive to get back.”

He replies sadly, “I’m afraid not Captain .... unless we can find a suitable planet with the technology to produce the parts we need, activation of the NR drive will prove fatal.”

Meena feels the pit of her stomach fall. The only planet within a reasonable hop, will take 3 months to get to at sub-light. She scans it with long range sensors. She does detect a high energy reading, but nothing that would indicate a thriving civilization.

She says in her authoritative voice, “Navigator, are you able to resume your duties?”

The young woman had just finished having the gash on her forehead repaired. She nods curtly and replies in a professional tone, “Yes Ma’am ... what heading?”

Meena says softly, “Bring her to bearing 322.6 mark 7 on the new astral chart. Transferring data to your station.”

Meena taps the padd’s keys on her armrest. The Navigator’s eyes get big as the new data fills her navigation board. She turns and looks at Meena with fear in her eyes.

Meena says softly, “Plot the course and engage. If we can’t make repairs, we’re not going anywhere but there anyway.”

The navigator swivels around as she says ,”Yes Ma’am ... plotted and engaged.”

There is a sudden painful jerk as the ship begins to accelerate. This lasts for several minutes as the ship gains a significant portion of relativistic speed. Meena sits back in her chair and surveys her bridge. There is a lot of damage, but they had survived lots worse. IF she had just 1 bank of dampeners ... just 1. She has a lot of time to contemplate the loss of the dampeners.

What Happened Here?

After 3 months of travel with Co2 levels and carbon monoxide levels borderline toxic, they finally arrived in geosynchronous orbit above the planet. The Stellar cartography computer labeled it just CM221 ... Class M #221. Gravity within acceptable ranges along with oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere within proper limits. It would smell very fresh compared to what was on board at the present.

Meena says ,”Science, give me a scan of the surface. I want to know what that energy reading is, and ... if they might by chance have something we can use.”

The man behind her says, “Scanning ... There are many large cities. It seems they are in a massive state of decay. No sign of war. I’m not detecting any biologicals or radiations that are lethal. It seems that this planet has been abandoned ... centuries ago. Flora is invading the cities and most all of the bridges over the major waterways have fallen in. I detect no form of animal life of any kind. I do find normal insect and microbial life forms however. I am detecting a massive energy reading. I’m not real sure what it is, but it is strong, steady, and could power our ship for the rest of time. There appears to be some kind of distortion radiating several hundred meters from the energy source. It’s interfering with the scans and I can’t give any more information at this distance.”

Meena says softly, “Helm, set us down in that large clearing that’s 3 kilometers south from the energy source.”

The young woman replies, “Yes Ma’am.”

All can feel the bottom fall out of their stomachs as the ship begins to descend. Meena had forgotten how rough space flight could be with out the inertia being removed. Several of the younger crew become nauseous amid the bucking and pitching decent.
All breath a sigh of relief as the ship gently touches down in a clearing surrounded by many very old, large, and neglected trees.

Neena could tell this used to be a park of some kind ... many centuries ago. She could see amid the high grasses and unkempt shrubs, the remainders of benches and fountains. She truly wonders what happened here to make an entire population vanish. From everything their sensors could tell them ... the population just left suddenly one day.

She swivels in her chair and says, “Science, prepare several scavenger teams. We need to find materials to repair the ship. We can patch the hull adequately enough with materials close by. We need to find some sort of advanced electronics. Without the Dampeners ... we will never see home again. I want you and Tony from Engineering along with 4 men from Security to be in the cargo bay in 20 minutes with full Recon gear.” She waves her hand and makes a face as she adds, “And since there are no adverse reasons why not, open the vents and flush the atmosphere. It needs more than a bit of ... clearing.”

The man swivels back to his console and replies, “Yes Ma’am, on it.”

By the time Meena had reached the bent and twisted portal out of the Bridge, she could smell the freshness of the newly added air. She was at least grateful this biosphere was intact and safe enough for that. The foulness of the ships atmosphere was beginning to make everyone sick.

She proceeded to the Cargo bay. As she walked in, she picked up a communicator and a combat neutron weapon. She wanted to be well armed ... just in case the sensors missed something important. She also took a Padd sensor and a full recon backpack. By the time she had finished dressing, the rest of her team had assembled and were ready.

She walks up to the Science Officer and says, “Ok, Randy, what we are looking for is materials and objects that we can scavenge to repair the inertial dampeners. This is the most important thing. Without them, we are stranded in this star system, where ever that happens to be, more than likely on this planet. Move out!”

She walks to the Bay’s then open port and out into a new unexplored world. The excited butterflies danced in her tummy as she brings out her sensor padd and begins a scan of the area. The air was wonderfully fresh and smelled of rain and blooming flowers. For many miles in all directions, all her padd could detect are normal atmospheric readings, plant and insect life, along with rather familiar microbial life. A chill runs up her spine as she wonders what happened to the planetary population. The massive energy reading was unmistakable. It stood out like a beacon in the night.

She turns and examines her ship. Its graceful sleek lines were scarred by a very large, nasty burned and open gash in the side. She realized how lucky they all were. If the salvos had hit a few meters aft, the NR core would have breached. The resulting explosion would have atomized the whole ship along with several hundred kilometers around. A very near thing. She thanked the Creator for the mercy as she turned her mind to the treasure hunt at hand.

Randy walks up to Meena and points off to the north as he says, “It seems the only power source is in that direction. I am detecting what appears to be a major city. There is massive decay and neglect. I would recommend extreme caution if we enter any of the structures. It’s obvious no one has been here for many centuries.”

Meena nods and says softly, “Follow me. Be on guard ... we’re not sure what happened here, or if what ever it was ... is still active.”

The City

The 7 followed the cracked and decayed path out of the over grown park. Meena was impressed, this was a very lush and beautiful place in its time. Even in its neglected and wild state, all the flowering plants and large trees were beautiful. The smells of the many flowers was wonderful, especially after the horrid smells caused by the failing life support on her ship. The only sound was the soft rustle of the leaves, and the sound of buzzing insects gathering pollen. This kept everyone’s nerves on razor edge.

The team finally left a thick over growth and entered a decaying and over grown square. There were many very tall and crumbling buildings all around. The roads and walkways had fallen into major disrepair, but walking was still easy. There was debris from the falling in of the buildings, but no sign of war or any other reason why the population would have left. Sensors couldn’t even pick up any signs of chemical remains of where bodies would have lain. The farther into the city the team trekked, the more obvious it was that a major mystery had happened and was lost in time, like tears in the rain.

They could see conveyances parked neatly along the sides of the roadways and in what appeared to be parking garages. Many of these were still intact ... many were not. To the joy of the team’s Science Officer, there were lots of salvageable electronics. If nothing else, he would be able to repair the replicator, and this in turn could create the necessary parts for repairs. There was plenty of raw matter to convert.

Meena takes out her comm and opens it. She punches a button and it chirps loudly in the quite. A soft female voice answers, “Bridge, Torrie here.”

“This is the Captain,” Meena replied, “I’m checking in. All is quiet. We have found enough salvageable material to at least repair the replicator. We should be on our way in about a month if our luck holds out.”

Torrie replies with obvious joy in her tone, “That’s good news Captain. I will inform the crew and have the repair parties ready.”

Meena says softly, “Do that .... Captain out.”

She closes her communicator. Before she can put it away, it chirps ... an incoming comm ... but not from the ship or any of the landing teams. The directional indicator shows it is coming from the heart of the massive energy readings.

She opens it again and says, “This is Captain Meena Tvassu of the Starship Trinity Moon, who is this?”

There is no reply, only a steady tone. Meena brings out her sensor padd and scans. The tone has a carrier amplitude that’s almost off the scale. Who or what ever is sending the tone, wants to insure there is no mistake as to its location.

She says with excitement in her voice, “This way team. It seems someone wants us to follow. Weapons out, shoot to stun ... not to kill. I want some answers.”

There are rustling and clicking sounds as the team unslung their weapons. They proceed off slightly southwest towards the massive energy signature and the beacon. The closer they come to the energy source, the less the decay to the structures appears. They notice that windows have started being intact, and there is no debris in the streets. Still, the silence has the team’s skin crawling. To be in a city of this size and not hear any sounds ... is unnerving.

The Lab

They round a sharp bend in the road. Without warning, they seem to cross a barrier. They can feel it as they cross running all through them. Chills rise and their hair stands on end. On this side of the barrier, the city is pristine. There is absolutely no debris or decay of any kind. All the conveyances parked here appear to be brand new. Signs and street lamps blink and glow as would be expected in a large populated city. Still, nothing but eerie silence. At maximum scan, the padd could pick up no life forms except insect and normal microbial life.

The scan shows the barrier extends in a circle several miles in circumference. It’s like a force field of some type that the sensor padd is unable to identify. Meena did notice, however, that all of their chronometers had begun to act funny and no longer appeared to keep proper time. They would run forward and backward in 10 minute intervals ... as if time were caught within the same 10 minute time window. She shakes her head in wonder.

About 800 meters ahead, Meena could see a domed structure that had 8 radiating arms leading out to smaller domes. This was the source of the energy and the carrier wave.

She and her team approached cautiously. The only sounds, the breathing of the team and their foot falls on the walkway. When they arrived at the door of the main dome, the light within came on and the door slid open with a airy whoosh. Cool dry air came out. It was slightly warm out and the team had been walking and exploring for several hours. The cool air felt nice in the hot midday.

A sudden sound caused all to turn and take defensive stances. An ornate fountain had just come on and began to send its sprays into the air in a beautiful and complex dance. Meena didn’t understand, but it was obvious .. the only answers they might get ... are inside.

Randy took a deep scan of the area, still no humanoid, or any other mammalian life forms of any kind.

He says, “Captain, I can’t find any humanoid life ... anywhere within scanner range. Apparently this is all automated.”

Meena replies, “Call the ship and inform them we have reached the origin of the energy signature and that we have received a tracking signal from it. I am leaving 2 of the team here at the external side of the door to stand guard just in case. The rest, including you, are coming with me.”

Randy replies, “Yes, Captain.”

The sound of his communicator chirping and the conversation is heard as Meena scans the interior of the main dome. Within are thick carpets and lots of comfortable looking furniture. It looks for the world to her like a large well lighted business office. The really strange thing though, every thing is in pristine condition. Not a speck of dust or any signs of decay.

Meena posts the 2 guards on the outside of the entrance. The other 4 of the team follow her into the main room. The air is fresh and cool. There is another fountain tinkling softly against a far wall. The sounds of soft alien music could be heard drifting lazily in the air.

Meena noticed immediately, every 10 minutes, the music refrain ended abruptly in mid note and started over where it had begun when they entered. A strange tingle ran through them exactly then too. Meena knew something mysterious was happening, but her sensors and observations were unable to tell her what exactly. Only the chronometers backing up and advancing every 10 minutes gave a clue. Somehow ... time was being manipulated.

Her padd still was locked onto the signal. It acted like a GPS locator. The team followed it deep inside the dome structure. Seemingly impenetrably locked and sealed doors opened for them as they approached. Through out the building, it was obvious, this was a highly technologically advance raced race that was several hundred years in advance of their own. Meena hopes upon hope she could find something of value to bring back with her to help her clan ... and enough upgrades to repair her damaged ship.

Discovery

After several hours of exploration, they finally came to a massive door. What ever had been leading them, was behind it. Randy walked up to what appeared to be a control panel on the wall. He bent slightly and examined the graceful swirls and squiggles that made up the language of the lost civilization.

Without warning, the panel changes form. It looks like a circle with more of the strange symbols glowing and seemingly wiggling across its surface. 2 things like hands reach out and grab Randy by his head and securely but gently hold him before he can react. A beam flashes out from the center of the devise. Randy gasps loudly as his mind explodes into many over powering thoughts, images, and concepts. A severe pain runs through his head as the soft darkness of unconsciousness envelopes him.

The devise releases him and his limp body falls to the floor. There is a loud grinding noise. It sounds like massive beams are being pulled back into the wall. The door begins to swing open on its massive hinges with an unused metallic groan.

Randy moans loudly as he rolls over and places a hand to his temple. He shakes his head and blinks his eyes as he looks dazedly around. Meena and another of the crew were at his side.

She helps him to sit up and asks in a concerned voice, “Are you all right? Are you in pain?”

Randy shakes his head and says softly, “No, I don’t think I’m hurt ... I just feel like I’ve had too much to drink and startin to have a hangover.”

Several of the crew laugh softly.

Meena says with a concerned tone, “Can you stand up?”

She runs the medical scanner across him. It shows only that there has been massive memory activity and pons area activation. Nothing detrimental.

She helps Randy to his feet. He shakes his head and says, “I ... I know what happened here. It seems they discovered a portal into an alternate time line. It didn’t work exactly as planned. The only thing left, is what ever is caught within the coronal flux bubble here. The computer system is still active and has awaited someone to return for millions of years. It protected itself by recycling through 10 minutes leading up to the disaster.”

The door booms loudly as it completed its opening cycle. Beyond, Meena’s imagination could not imagine what she saw. It was technologically beyond anything they had ever seen. The bright glowing aura around the open time gate filled the lab. The control equipment appeared to be some type of liquid light holograms ... solid ... ephemeral ... made of pure light.

The Science Officer stood with his mouth hanging open. His wildest fantasy of pure, unadulterated scientific discovery lay before him. None of the team moved for a few moments as the shock of discovery held them.

Meena said in a quavering voice, one of you wait here, the rest follow me. Let’s see if we can find something that will help us return home.”

One young woman turned and stood against the wall with her weapon at the ready as the other 4 entered the Lab. Coronal Time Energy danced across everything and made the hair on the back of their necks stand up. Everywhere they looked, super advanced equipment flashed and hummed energetically. The chronometers had completely stopped functioning. They were caught within the space between one second and the next.

Randy whistled softly, “Man, what I wouldn’t give for a month or 2 to study this stuff.”

Meena said in a coo, “Well dummy, careful what you wish for ... cuz we’re not going anywhere until the ship is repaired. You’ve got your study time.”

Meena opened her communicator and called the ship. She had an Engineering team come to the lab. Everything they could make copies of ... everything they could disassemble ... everything including the time portal itself ... everything ... they took back to the ship.

By the time the Team had finished, there were complete archival copies and translations off all the data in the computer banks .. even the computer itself was carefully disassembled, blueprinted, and taken back to the ship for careful storage. They had found star charts that told them they were hundreds of millions of light years from home. At the very outer edge of the massive star charts in the database, they found the Holaproxima star system. It was on the outer edge of what their known universe had been until now. Space truly appeared to be infinite, as long as you were able to travel the distance. Within the Data, was even a way to boost the power and efficiency of their NR drive. If they chose, there was even a new type of drive, many types of weapons, and force fields with far more power than any could imagine. The most welcome of all the new equipment, was the power source. A small canister about the size of a coffee can that contained a crystal of unimaginable power. With minor modifications, it was interfaced with their own power supply giving them an unlimited source. When they finally left the Lab, every scrap of everything they could gather had been removed. The room was bare except for unusable rubble.

A Fantasy Come True.

There was 1 room no one had yet entered and Meena wasn’t about to let a treasure trove of this magnitude go unexplored. She went to the door. It didn’t open as the others did and was solidly locked. Meena tried everything she could to get the door to open. Without the computer to unlock it ... it was no use. She backed down the long hall and fired her neutron weapon at the door. An ear shattering explosion and a shower of small debris ... the door was no more.

It appeared to be a small storage room, filled with many kinds of small devises. One rather large devise caught her interest. Over the months they had been on the planet, she had developed a working knowledge of the Alien language. This piece of equipment made her heart leap for joy. What it did, was transfer the life force of one living object into that of another. It didn’t matter what the 2 objects were ... only prerequisites ... both had to be living. This was ... exactly what she had been wanting all her life! The chance to be a man! She brought this devise back and stored it in her personal quarters ... it belonged to her.

They had finally repaired the ship and installed all the new equipment. The upgraded version of the Starship Trinity Moon, was a formidable ship the likes of which her galaxy had never before seen. At maximum gravities, they would be home within a few days. The Armada had a very rude awakening coming she couldn’t wait to deliver. She shivered with excitement.

The Encounter

Meena was sitting in her chair as she said authoritatively, “Helm, set course to bearing 1.101 mark 6 along the alpha gradient. Engage at 40,000 gravities. Let’s shake the phugg bugs from the systems .. shall we?”

The young lady at the helm giggles and replies, “Yes ma’am ... engaging , 40,000 gravities.”

There is a sound, more felt than heard. All of the forward stars seemed to turn very blue as the ones behind them turned blood red. Every point of light seemed to stream towards them at an ever faster more blue pace, only to immediately vanish into a red haze aft. Everyone’s skin tingled as the ship accelerated smoothly to speeds unheard of in their quadrant of space.

Suddenly ... all the colors in front and rear seemed to come together at one time and the ship wasn’t moving any longer. Several red lights were blinking indicating a power core misalignment. A simple fix ... one of the bugs they needed to work from the system.

Stellar Cartography indicated they had jumped 2 galaxies. They were now in a beautiful spiral galaxy with graceful sweeping arms.

The Comm officer announces, “Captain, I’m picking up some radio chatter coming from one of the arms of that galaxy ahead. It’s ... more like a broadcast on a low radio carrier frequency.”

Meena replies, “Put it on speakers, let hear what they have to say.”

There is a few moments of static. Then, the Comm Officer filters out the white noise and enhances the signal.

From the speakers comes the loud and arrogant voice speaking these words, “Heute scheint es mir, der Vorsehung, daß das Schicksal Braunau am Inn hätte als meine Heimat gewählt. Für diese kleine Stadt liegt an der Grenze zwischen beiden deutschen Staaten, die wir der jüngeren Generation zumindest war es unser Leben arbeiten müssen, um wieder zu vereinen mit allen Mitteln zur Verfügung.”

Meena looks at the communications officer and asks, “Is it possible .. we can translate that gibberish?

The Comm Officer says quickly, “I’ll try Captain ... “

There is more garble and loud static as the broadcast is fed into the translation computer and its new database.

Now, the translated voice says the words, “TODAY it seems to me providential that Fate should have chosen Braunau on the Inn as my birthplace. For this little town lies on the boundary between two German states which we of the younger generation at least have made it our life work to reunite by every means at our disposal.”

Meena turns and asks, “What do you make of it?”

The Comm Officer replies, “It seems to be an impassioned speech by some kind of ... political leader from one of those planets. It’s Titled ... My Mission. Seems someone named ... Hitler is making the speech.”

Meena shakes her head and replies, “Seems every corner of the universe, there’s some kind of person doing that. See if you can isolate the origin of that transmission. Seems like a good place to set down and make the adjustments to the new core.”

The Comm Officer says, “It coming from that location.” A big red spot appears on the forward view screen with coordinates. She continues, “It’s easy to find that planet, it glows with all kinds of electromagnetic communications.”

Meena says, “Helm, make our course there. We can use the NR drive to get there, it’s not that far.”

The young woman responds , “Yes Ma’am, laid in.”

Meena replies, “Engage, 3,000 gravities.”

Tom was stretched out in his new comfortable sleeping bag watching the night sky. He dreamed of one day, traveling to the stars. He didn’t believe there was life out there, it was just the adventure of it all.

As he watched, a very bright object seemed to approach. The larger it became, the brighter. As he watched, it seemed to hover above him for a minute or 2 then plunged fierily across the sky in a beautiful pyrotechnic display. He made a wish on what he thought was a falling star as it disappeared beyond the horizon in the west. His heart felt wish ... to be a very petit and beautiful young woman. He smiles at the foolishness of it all as he watches the magnificent glory of the evening sky.

Discovery

After landing, Meena had lots of time on her hands. The engineers were very efficient and required no supervision on her part. She took time to access the many forms of electromagnetic communications and learned the human languages quickly. The thing called Soap Opera seemed kind of silly as did a lot of the videos from MTV.

She managed to find a communication that was not encrypted called the World Wide Web. She discovered all the knowledge of the earth seemed to be located in this global database for anyone who seeks it.

She discovered many who had the fantasy of being the opposite gender than their birth. As she search through the data base, she discovers a cute little Ababy and Sissy Site called Sweet Kiddies ... SK for short. Apparently, there were thousands who shared the same fantasy as she. She was most impressed with this planet and their World Wide Web.

There was one person in particular she became interested in ... he was a boy who called himself Debbiesissy. She read all of his comments and responses. She read how he longed to be a pretty young woman. Meena was extremely interested in this individual.

She began hacking his account information and what the ISP was that gave him access to the site. From this information. She gleaned his name, address, even his account information. She also learned ... his love of the outdoors and his favorite camping location. This she learned .. from HeadLeaf, a very popular online community.

She ran back to her chair on the bridge and called up Stellar Cartography database. She narrowed the search parameters to local area and discovered ... the object of her search ... was within 7 kilometers of the landing site. She stared at the pictures of him from HeadLeaf ... her new body ... would be perfect.

The Hunt

She gathered 6 of her best Crew members and armed them with stunners. One of the new devises they had acquired was the personal cloaking devise. IT effectively rendered the wearer invisible. She was extremely happy that her engineers had been able to add this devise to the ships shields ... effectively rendering it invisible. She had relocated the ship to within a kilometer of her prey’s camping spot and it rested ... invisible to all except those who had the frequency the shield’s modulated at. Even then ... you only knew there was a spatial anomaly ... not that some large object was cloaked.

Meena says to her capture team, “I do not want him injured in any way. I intend to try and convince him to go along with this plan voluntarily at first if at all possible. If he refuses, then we will take more direct action. Remain invisible until I give you the signal ... understood?”

The mutual reply, “Aye Captain.”

Meena checked her outfit. She was dressed in a cute pair of tight shorts, a form fitting blouse and hiking boots. She checked her back pack. She had a very large bottle of Lingurian Wine. She giggles to herself as she is sure this will loosen her prey’s tongue and fog his mind appropriately. As good as this wine is, she will have to make sure she doesn’t consume too much ... it’ll have the same effect on her.

Meena commands, “Move out.”

The capture team becomes invisible and it appears a very pretty young woman in a very cute outfit walked into the woods ... alone, in the dark. The hunt had begun.

Strange Proposals

As Tom lay snuggled in his sleeping bag watching the stars, he heard the crashing foot falls of someone meandering loudly through the woods. He reached down and held his 9mm pistol loosely in his hand just in case who ever it was ... wasn’t friendly.

In a few minutes, a very beautiful young woman in shorts and a tight top emerged from the trail into his camp. From her blond pony tails to the tip of her boots, she was perhaps one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. She looks around his camp .... her big surprised eyes falling on him. He was far more beautiful a man in person than what Meena had seen in the pictures on HeadLeaf.

She says in a shy sort of voice, “Umm hello?? I ... hope I’m not disturbing you?”

Tom couldn’t believe it. Her voice had such a wonderful accent and she was so beautiful.

He stumbles a reply, “N .. no .. no, not at all.” He sits up and waves her to the fire, “Come and have a seat. I didn’t bring much with me, but I’ll share what I have.”

He stands from his sleeping bag and walks to where he had several folding chairs propped against a tree. He opens 2 of them and sets them by the fire, next to the coffee pot. Unnoticed by him, his sleeping bag slightly jumps and twitches. His 9mm floats away and vanishes seemingly into thin air.

She says in a shy and cute way, “My name’s Meena, what’s yours?”

He replies back, “My name’s Tom. What brings you this far out in the wilderness? It’s kind of dangerous for a young woman to be out all alone.”

She giggles and replies, “I was out to camp with my boyfriend. He turned out to be a real jerk and I left. Hope you don’t mind ... if I share your camp site tonight? I really don’t have much choice.”

Tom couldn’t believe his good fortune as he replies, “Not at all and welcome. If you would like, I will even help you with your tent.”

She seems to blush before replying in a cute and shy voice, “Well, I don’t actually have one ... it all got left with that jerk. I do have a big bottle of wine though ... it’s really wonderful. Would you like to have a drink with me?”

Many possibilities quickly crossed his mind. He only had his bag. It was big enough for 2 however ...

He quickly snaps back to the moment and replies, “What?? Oh, yes ... sure, I would love to.”

Meena sits gracefully in the offered chair. She dug through her backpack as Tom sits in the chair next to her. She brings out 2 plastic collapsible cups and opens them with a flick of her wrist. Next, she brings out one of most strangely shaped wine bottles he had ever seen. The squiggles on the label meant nothing to him. The picture on it depicted a grove of some kind of fruit trees with 3 planets over head. She fills the 2 cups with a very pleasantly smelling blue liquid.

She picks up one of the cups and raises it towards him, “Here’s to new friends.”

He picks up the other cup and smells it. The aroma of the wine was very heady and wonderful. He sees her take the whole cup and drink it down in the toast. He takes a ginger sip ... it was the most wonderful tasting wine he had ever had. It tasted like ... Ambrosia. He more than enjoyed the toast to new friends as he drained the cup.

It went straight to his head. He felt wonderful. This was the best wine he had ever had and wanted more. She poured him another and another as he asked for it. Each one ... compounding the wonderful high enveloping him.

She was a wonderful chatter box. She was bright and very articulate. They talked about computers, nano technology, propulsion techniques and fuels. She was obviously an Engineer or Scientist.

He wasn’t sure ... how they got on the subject of ... personal fantasies. He was embarrassed to think he had actually broached the subject. She answered his questions in a shy but willing manner. He suddenly realized he had told her how much he had wished he was a female and was in the middle of describing what his fantasy self would look like when he came to his senses.

He watched as she poured another round of wine into the glasses. He was impressed, but it seemed the bottle was just as full now, as when she had originally pulled the cork. She finished the latest pour, puts the bottle down by her chair, and sits back with the full cup in her dainty hands.

Meena takes a sip and says softly, “Go on sweetie. Seems you want to be a really pretty woman. I on the other hand, wonder what it would be like to be a big, strong, handsome man.”

She giggles as she takes another sip from her cup. He can’t believe he had just revealed his most secret desire to a stranger ... much less a cute woman like this.

He stammers, “You .. you’re .. I mean ... it doesn’t bother you?”

She looks confused as she replies, “Does , what bother me silly?”

He shakes his head and replies, “That I just told you how much I would like to be a woman?”

She looks at him with a sparkle in her eye as she puts her cup down. She says in a conspiratorial whisper loud enough for him to hear, “What would you say, if you got an offer to become female? The only thing is, you would have to give up your body and accept another’s? You would be guaranteed the new body to be healthy and to live 3 times longer than your current one under these circumstance if all remains the same?”

He quickly drinks down his cup of wine before replying, “What would I do?” He shakes his head ... he can’t believe he’s actually having this conversation, “That is probably one of my most heartfelt wishes.”

Meena giggles. Her eyes blaze with an inner fire as she says in a strange tone of voice, “Be careful what you wish for big boy.”

A chill runs up his spine as he responds, “Why? It’s just a fantasy and would never happen.”

She giggles again and says, “You might just get your wish ... that’s why. Now!”

6 armed men suddenly appear in a loose circle surrounding Tom. They just appeared out of nothing to be standing there surrounding him. He lunges for his sleeping bag. His pistol isn’t there. He turns all wild eyed to see one of the armed men holding it between his thumb and forefinger. Tom knew it was impossible for anyone to have gotten it from the bag with out him seeing them. He is truly afraid at this moment.

Meena doesn’t move. She says in a soft reassuring voice, “Come now sweet heart, no need to fear. It seems to me, you have the chance to be the woman you have always dreamed of. I am going to give you my body. In exchange, I am going to take yours. I will make sure you have all your wants and needs fulfilled on this back water planet. You have already told me it’s the deepest wish and fantasy you have. Now, it’s going to be a reality.”

She drinks down her cup of wine and refills it before continuing, “At this point, you have 2 choices ... you can do it willingly as you have said you would ... or ... we can take what we came for and do it anyway whether you resist or not. Either way, it is going to happen. What’s your choice?”

Tom is totally mind blown. He cannot believe what he has just heard. Fear wells up inside him ... he can taste it in his mouth. His heart is pounding ... he feels like a trapped animal. He doesn’t think about it ... he turns and runs as fast as his legs can pump. He hears a high pitched whine and feels a tremendous charge hit him in the middle of his back. His body goes numb ... he can’t understand why the ground has suddenly come up and hit him. He lies there in the leaves and brush totally confused as to why it happened and how he came to be there.

He hears voices, but is unable to understand what they are saying. He feels a soft kiss on his cheek. He feels like he is being wrapped in his sleeping bag and carried. Everything seems surreal and like a dream. Ghostly dark images drift past his stunned eyes as the team carry him back to the cloaked ship. He drifts off as he quits fighting it. Soft darkness takes him.

Gender Bender

He wakens. There is soft light. His eyes open, but what he sees is straight out of a science fiction movie. He is in some kind of laboratory, strapped to a padded table. He struggles ... the straps hold him firmly. There is no escape. He sees equipment unlike anything his imagination could dream

Meena walks up to him and kisses him on his nose. She says softly, “Your new name can be what ever you choose. I promise I will set you up on this planet so you have no worries about anything for the rest of your life."

Tom gasps out in shock, "You .. you can't be serious?"

She giggles and replies, “You tell me if I’m serious in just a few minutes.”

He sees her getting on another table across from him as one of the men from his camp wheels a weird alien devise up between them. They place a hood over her. The men walk to Tom, they place this long cylindrical hood over his body ... just like they did her

He hears a muffled voice say, “Ready??

He hears her muffled reply, “Yes.”

Without warning, he feels something grab him to the very bottom of the essence of his soul. It pulls ... hard. there is resistance in him ... he fights as it pulls harder until it almost hurts. There is suddenly an electrical fire filling his existence. He feels like he is literally being torn from his body as he resists harder and harder.

Many sensations assail him ... some good, some not so good. He feels everything within him rip loose as he feels as if he has just died. He can see his body lying on the table surrounded by a reddish pink glow with the hood over it.

He finds himself trapped in a spherical place surrounded by some form of energy. He cannot get through it. He realizes another is with him. For a split second ... the 2 become 1 and he knows exactly what it feels like to be a girl. All his maleness vanishes as he opens his eyes and screams.

His voice >>gasps<< It's true! OMG!! It happened!!

The hood is removed. He is totally disoriented while someone gently helps him to sit up ... he's not dressed the same any more ... balance seems wrong. When his mind and sight clears ... he realizes ... he's dressed like the girl was.

>>GASP!!<<

He turns his head and sees himself sitting up on the other table with a huge grin. This has to be a dream. He looks down ... he is wearing the short shorts and the tight blouse. He looks back towards the other table. He sees himself slowly getting off the table.

He hears his own voice ask him, “Now, was I serious, or was I joking?”

His body walks to him and helps him off the table. He is so mind blown he doesn’t resist. His body holds his hand and walks him to a mirror that one of the other men in the lab had just brought in. The girl he sees looking back at him ... is him!! He finds darkness taking his mind softly as he faints into the strong arms of his old body.

~~ End Part One ~~

[Miki Yamuri]

Proposition - Pt 2

Awakening Dreams

Tom Blake
Laurie Blake
Meena Tvassu
Tom Tvassu

Tom slowly awakens into that luxurious state of not quite awake and still dreaming. He feels wonderful and stretches. His body feels so alive and tingly all over. The sleeping bag feels like a large soft mattress. Even his clothes feel so much different. In his mind, he still has the surface memory of camping and of the extremely beautiful girl that had come into camp. He remembers drinking a most wonderful wine and her telling him she had no tent. He had the most wonderful dream too, today was going to be a fantastic day!

He rolls over ... ummm ... it feels so wonderful. He snuggles up close and gently puts a leg across. His lips seek out the other’s ... they touch ... a wonderful tongue begins to explore his mouth. He wraps his around it and tries to capture it and suckle on it.

A warm sensation begins at his chest and goes wonderfully to his crotch. The warmth of the other body arousing him. He tingles with warm sensations and is alive all over. His .. nipples tingle and seem to get so hard and sensitive. He has need. His crotch feels so warm and wet and in need of the other. He reaches down and caresses gently ... it becomes so wonderfully hard ... passion wells up in him ... his chest tingles so wonderfully as his crotch seems to wiggle inside and sends chills up his spine ... he takes the hardness in his hand and wants so much ...

In mid passionate French Kiss ... as the other’s hands gently take his bottom and squeezes softly, he opens his eyes and comes completely awake. He has someone’s penis in his hand and is really wanting it ... Fear runs all through him ... Something’s wrong!

He gasps loudly as he backs away from the person ... suddenly, Tom finds himself falling with a thump onto a soft thickly carpeted floor along with the covers. He blinks in wide eyed surprise ... his own face looks concernedly over the edge of the bed and asks in his own voice, “Are you hurt? What’s wrong sweet heart? If you relax, it’s all natural and comes normally.”

Tom doesn’t know what to think. He looks down at himself ... he’s wearing a very cute babydoll nightie with bikini rumba bottoms. He sees *GASP* his cute, perky breasts poking through the soft maroon colored cloth. His hands go to his crotch. His panties are still moist from the passion he still feels inside. A lock of blond hair falls across his face in a cute manner as he stares. He can’t believe it. He feels a most wonderful rush run through him as his fingers gingerly explore his aroused vagina.

He hears his voice say softly, “You have your fondest wish sweet heart. I took your body, and gave you mine. I have decided to take the name Thomas ... Tom for short ... just like yours. I am now Captain Thomas Tvassu and have it so noted in the ship’s log along with the transfer data to prove I am who I say I am. Do you need help getting up? Are you hurt?”

Tom looks up incredulous. The memories of the capture and subsequent transfer come back to him. He’s still in a state of unbelief as he takes the offered hand and says softly, “I ... I’m ... I mean no .. I’m not hurt.”

His voice is so cute and sweet now ... a pleasant feeling begins to build within him ... he really is a girl!!

He is helped back to his feet and onto the bed. The site of his muscular body lying there in nothing but a pair of jockey shorts, and the massive arousal it had ... sent a sweet tingle of arousal through his new body. He could feel his nipples as they became hard and even more sensitive. The fabric of his top adds to the wonderful sensation.

He hears the Captain ask softly, “Would you like me .. to name you? I think I can give you a really pretty name to go with a very pretty girl.”

As Tom sat in stunned and very pleasant confusion, the Captain rolled slightly over and opened a drawer in the stand on the other side of the bed. He removed some thing and rolled back. It was an ebony black box. Its dimensions were 6 inches by 2 inches by 2 inches deep.

The Captain says in a very deep and sooo sexy voice, “This is the first present a man will give to you as a woman. I think it’s very appropriate, that I should be the man since I do have your body.”

He opens the box. Inside is a very beautiful choke collar necklace. It had a large gold setting with one of the largest most beautiful diamonds Tom had ever seen. The Captain removes it from its resting place in the thick red velvet of the box and reaches over. It tickles Tom’s neck as it is fastened on. He can’t help it .. he giggles softly. Tom puts his hand to the front of it and runs his fingers softly over the setting. He feels so strange and wonderful over it all at this point. He has no clue how to put words to the growing feeling of joy she feels or what to say. He is sort of afraid of the intense attraction she feels for his ... male body.

Without warning, The captain is in front of Tom ... his hand gently takes Tom by his chin and tilts her head back slightly ... their lips meet again and a wonderful exciting probing tongue is exploring his mouth and entwining with his own. Tom is kissing him back without thinking about it ... Tom shivers with delight as the Captain’s hands softly caress Tom’s new femaleness.

Tom hears his voice ... from ... his old body say so sexily and softly, “I think you would be cute as Laurie. Yes, Laurie Blake is who you are from now on. Your 21 years old and a very beautiful young woman.”

He French kisses Laurie again. She can’t think straight ... passion fills her and sends waves of tingly sensations all throughout her young body. The name Laurie burns it’s way in the place Tom used to be. She is ... a 21 year old girl ... and really wants to ... She comes back to her other mind and breaks the kiss.

Laurie feels she is going to fall into the Captain’s eyes and drowned. She is totally mind blown at all the wonderful sensations washing through her. She never knew the need could be so intense, or how really cute her old face really was. Now she understood ... lots of things.

He whispers so softly in her ear, the warm breath tickles, “I think it’s also very appropriate, that you and me are the first to make love to each other. As you can tell already, if you just relax and let it happen ... it’s as natural as any.”

She shivers helplessly. Laurie can’t believe how intense the need and desire is. She had never envisioned a time or place where she could even explore this part of herself. Laurie is really enjoying this. She has thoughts deep inside ... but if she ignores them and just enjoys what’s happening ... OMG!!

Tom’s hands gently caress Laurie’s aroused nipples. She again is over powered by a strong need to ... make love. His mouth covers hers ... that wonderful probing tongue. Ummmm. She lets go and becomes helpless as Tom lays her on her back. His hand caresses her breasts. Wonderful sensations run all through her all the way to her vagina. It is alive and moist. Laurie can’t believe how wonderful the need is.

She squeaks softly as Tom’s hand is suddenly between her legs. She can feel his fingers as they gently caress her special place. Laurie has never experienced this intense wave of pleasure that rushes through her before in her life.

Tom’s fingers softly enters Laurie’s panties through the leg opening. Laurie’s eyes get huge as she squeaks helplessly. She feels his fingers ... they ... touch her opening. Laurie has never felt this wonderful sensation that fills her as he gently begins to penetrate. Many thoughts and emotions run rapid fire through Laurie’s mind. She is a total passionate jumble at this point.

Laurie’s breath comes in short sweet squeaks as Tom begins to explore her vagina with his fingers. He bends and kisses her again on her lips. There are thoughts deep in the back of her mind ... but she is so lost in passion, she can’t hear them anymore.

Laurie feels herself being sat up. Her top is being removed ... she can feel the wonderful tingle of the delicate cloth as it slowly runs across her aroused skin. Goose bumps rise. Tom kisses her passionately as he moves between her legs and gently lays her on her back again. His warm soft mouth suddenly is sucking Laurie’s aroused nipples. Passion burns all the way to her vagina. She realizes ... she’s about to have female sex ... she helplessly gasps at his attentions ... this is her wildest fantasy come true.

She feels his moist and impassioned kisses as they start moving from her breasts down to her tummy. Tom licks her tummy button and gives it a soft kiss. Tom well knows ... Laurie is very ticklish .. and knows exactly where all the special spots are.

Laurie can’t help herself. The kiss in her tummy tickled so much and felt so intensely wonderful. She screeches out and gasps in a very cute voice, “No!! Stop!! *GIGGLES ** ...”

Laurie pushes weakly on Tom’s shoulders as he kisses it again. She looses her mind as she wiggles and squirms in the embrace. Tom’s moist lips then begin to kiss father down. Laurie stops squirming as she feels the electric tingle of anticipation. Each kiss brought tingly goose bumps all through her.

Suddenly, Laurie can feel his soft warm breath on her vagina. A really nice feeling rushes up her spine. Tom’s lips tease her hairless place through her panties ever so lightly in a kiss. Laurie squeaks out as she arches her back to the intensity of this first touch. Tom takes this opportunity to pull down Laurie’s panties.

Tom cannot believe how different it all is now. This is nothing like ... the other girls he had as ... a woman. He knows exactly what to do to insure Laurie has the best first encounter. He begins to explore Laurie’s privacy softly at first. Checking each fold and crevasse. Finding that sweet spot that he knows will drive her crazy.

Tom held Laurie’s legs open with his forearms as he held her vaginal lips open with his fingers. He was amazed at how pretty his old vagina had been and how tasty it was. He puts his face into it and explores it as deeply as his tongue could reach. Laurie lay trembling, her eyes wide and her breath coming in short squeaky gasps. As a woman, Tom had become quite adept at pleasing his other girlfriends. He also knew all the squeaky places in Laurie’s body ... because it used to be his own.

Laurie couldn’t help it ... She feels all the emotions building inside her ... all the tremendously wonderful waves of pleasure and chills washing through her ... it all reached a peak. Waves and waves spasmed all through her. Her soft squeaking gasps proof of her wonderful orgasm.

Laurie’s mind was all aflutter with the new sensations that moved through her in waves. When her eyes cleared, Tom had maneuvered to between her legs. Laurie could feel the muscles in his body ripple has he moved ... the hairiness of his chest on her aroused nipples and tummy. His thighs holding her legs open. Laurie gasps softly as the tip of ... OMG!!

There was several tentative pushes into her vagina. Her eyes got big as she realized she was going to make love ... to her ...to Tom ... to?? ...

Another thrust ... this one slid slowly in deep. Laurie experienced many sharp twinges ... and many more electrical chills that raised goose flesh all over her body. She couldn’t help it .. her squeaking gasps showing her pleasure. Each thrust, brought new and more pleasant sensations. Tom pushed as deep as he could on the 5th thrust. Laurie squeaks as some thing inside her opens. IT doesn’t hurt ... not really ... but she is so full now and ... it has her ... open .. and so warm ... she loses her mind as Tom begins to slowly at first , then with increasing passion, thrust in to her.

They kiss .. passionately as Tom continues to thrust into Laurie. She can’t help it ... she wraps her cute young thighs around him as much as she can and pulls, matching his thrusts with hers. Laurie can feel her vagina is alive with wonderful spasms and sensations. Tom’s tongue entwines hers ... she can’t help it ... she falls in love.

Tom nor Laurie have any concept of time. Tom can’t believe the emotions in him as he thrusts into her. He feels a pressure building in his loins as he thrusts ... it reaches a point and breaks over ... Tom grunts softly as he has his very first male orgasm. He can’t believe how different a male orgasm is.

He gasps out, “Laurie ... I .. I’m ... cumming.!”

A pleasant chill fills Laurie’s body and a wonderful tingle of fear as she feels Tom’s thing throb within her eager and moist vagina. IT becomes so warm and wet deep in that special place he had been thrusting into earlier. She grabs hold of him with her arms and legs and pulls. She feels his body tremble as he releases deep inside her. She too has a wonderful orgasm. There are many thoughts and emotions flooding her mind.

Tom collapses beside her and pants. Laurie can feel the wet gooshyness in her privacy. She rolls over and snuggles with Tom. In her heart ... she knows she has fallen in love ... with a man named Tom. Tom knows in his heart ... he has fallen in love ... with a girl named Laurie. They snuggle, cuddle, and kiss lovingly until sleep comes and gently takes them again. Laurie’s last thoughts before sleep ... today was a fantastic day!

Dawn of a New Day

Laurie is awakened the next day by an incessant buzzing whistle. Tom rolls over after untangling himself from Laurie, and hits a button inlayed in the table.

Tom says with a bit of irritation in his voice, “What is it? It better be extremely important.”

The small female voice said softly, “I’m sorry to bother you Captain ... I’m not real sure how much of a threat it poses to us, but ...”

Tom says Authoritatively, “Get to it ... what’s up?”

The voice replies, “Yes, Sir! It seems that a complete mobile infantry regiment complete with attack vehicles both on the ground and in the air have arrived at the place where the quarry campsite was. They ... appear to be doing a very thorough search of the area. What are your orders, Captain?”

Laurie gasps softly as she puts her hand to her mouth. Her eyes get huge as she looks at Tom.

Tom sees the expression and replies to the comm, “I’ll get back to you on actions. Currently, stay cloaked and displaced in time ... about .5 seconds ... That should render us invisible and untouchable until I decide how I’m going to handle it.”

The voice replied, “Aye Captain,” Then the comm closed.

Tom turns his head and cocks it slightly to one side and raises an eyebrow. He looks at Laurie sitting with her hand over her mouth and a big eyed expression for a few seconds then asks softly, “Alright, girl ... spill it. Why has most of the areas mobile armored units set up a search at the campsite?”

Laurie’s face turns really red in the cheeks as she says softly, “I ... forgot to call in at the scheduled time. It’s the job I do ... I’m a satellite and systems specialist working for the company that supplies all of the advanced military hardware to our country. I’m not really alone out here. They just have me on a long leash so to speak.”

Tom looks at the floor, his expression seeming to take on a somber expression. He rubs his forehead with the back of his hand. After about 3 minutes he says, “We ... have a lot to discuss. I will not just up and leave you here. I can’t really take you back to my system. All the authorities will think you’re me, and that won’t do. I can’t just ... send you back into society and leave you there either. You will probably not be allowed to go back to what you were doing. Then ... there’s another problem too ...”

Laurie sits up and comes to her knees. She was still nude as she crawls over and wraps her arms around Tom and asks softly, “What’s ... the other problem?”

Tom wraps his arm around her waist and pulls her close. He was looking deeply in her very blue eyes.

He smiles and replies, “I know I didn’t exactly ... let you choose what happened. I can tell ... you don’t mind in the least.”

Laurie giggles as she kisses him on his ear. She then coos softly, “This is a fantasy so special to me come true ... I can’t explain how I feel. If I don’t ... think about it ... I seem to act like any other girl. It’s like ... a dream or something.”

Tom kisses Laurie on her lips and says with emotion, “Laurie ... I know this is going to sound ... strange ... but it’s none the less true. I love you. I fell in love with you last night. I ... don’t really want to leave you here.”

Laurie gasps as she hears Tom’s words. She was in love with him too. She couldn’t understand what happened, but she knew ... Tom was the love of her heart. She looks down at the bed as she says softly, “Tom ... I .. I fell in love with ... with you too. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know if you even had thoughts like that about ... us.”

Tom stands and holds out his hand to Laurie. She looks up at him for a second and then takes the offered hand. Tom gently pulls her to her feet. Laurie gracefully slips off the bed and follows behind him as he leads her by the hand into the bathroom. He programs the environment chamber for a gentle spring rain shower, then picks Laurie up and kisses her as he steps into the wonderfully pulsating water.

As the environment chamber produced the warm spring shower, Tom held Laurie in his arms and French Kissed her. He never knew that kissing and making love could be so ... wonderfully different. He never in a million years thought he would find the very girl of his heart ... wearing his skin. Even thinking about it seemed strange ... but it was working itself out without any intervention.

They both washed each other lovingly in all the squeaky places. They hugged and kissed along the way. Each knew that they had finally found exactly what they had wanted in the other. It was funny how changing the binding a bit, made the book a lot more appealing.

Laurie discovers how to get the liquid shampoo to dispense ... but couldn’t get it to turn off. They were knee deep in honeysuckle smelling pink bubbles quickly. Tom laughs as he shows Laurie how to stop the flow. By the time the bubbles had been completely rinsed away, every square inch of their bodies were squeaky clean.

Tom steps out of the shower first. Laurie was stepping out and brushing her wet hair from in front of her eyes, when she is suddenly engulfed in a very soft and very thick towel. Tom dries Laurie’s hair briskly, then with gentle tickles in all the special places along the way, he lovingly dries the rest of her. Laurie was loving every minute of it. She giggles and squirms and screeches in Tom’s loving embrace as he dries and tickles her.

Tom asks, “And what would the Princess Laurie like to wear today?”

Laurie crawls back to the head of the bed and sits with her legs folded under her. She didn’t have very much experience in dressing as a girl, but she wanted to be cute as possible, like in her many late night fantasies.

She says softly in a shy voice, “Well ... I would like to be ... dressed really cute. It has been one of my fantasies since I was 10.”

Tom smiles, he knows exactly the outfits he would like her to be in. He puts his index finger over Laurie’s lips. She stays silent and looks at him as he gets up and walks to a wall panel.

He says, “To open the closet, all you have to do is place your hand on the wall here.”

The wall panel became translucent, then vanished. The nano-steel had retracted into the adjacent areas into the collectors. It made the appearance the wall panel simply faded away. Behind it, was a large room, complete with clothes, vanities, shoes, and lots of other accessories Laurie had no idea the use of.

Tom turns and smiles. He says softly, “I still need some input as to what you’re wanting to do. I’m offering ... to ... ummm ...”

Suddenly, Tom felt serious butterflies in his stomach. He was about to ask Laurie if she would be his consort. Many thoughts and fears ran through his emotions along with many new emotions. He had also made a special inquiry to the crew which came back favorable. There were some things missing ... Tom knew this. He did know this as well, he wasn’t about to toss Laurie to the proverbial Rennacs. He shivered to think of those lizard - cat like creatures and their razor sharp claws and fangs.

Tom could see Laurie sitting and waiting for him to finish. She had a curious expression on her cute face and a sparkle in her eye. The diamond in the choke collar even seemed to sparkle brighter.

Tom clears his throat and says with a strange tone in his voice, “Will you ... consider being my consort? With the new engines and other upgrades to this ship, I could say ... commute to work ... so to speak? I mean, live here on earth as one of you, but leave to my galaxy to work.”

Tom laughs slightly as he shakes his head. He pinches the bridge of his nose, he can’t believe how ... weird that sounded.

Laurie is taken by surprise. She knew she had fallen in love with Tom, and he had shown he was passionate about it too. The pleasant soreness deep inside her reminded her of that. She had not entertained the idea of ... being his ... wife. She sat in stunned silence with her mouth opened slightly.

There was no real thought in what she said. Her mind was in a major turmoil. In less than 24 hours, she had gone from being a Man to being a woman ... being asked the million dollar question, after the most amazing and wonderful sex she had ever had.

Laurie heard her cute voice say in a soft emotional whisper, “Yes ... I ...”

She realized what had come from her mouth. She sat in even more stunned silence as she brought her hands to her mouth. She looks at Tom ... Laurie couldn’t believe how cute his face was and how wonderfully his muscular and hairy body turned her on and attracted her. Those male thoughts deep inside began to stir, but the new female emotions, and the new glow of love in her heart, made them seem so unimportant.

She runs her hand softly over the diamond setting in the Choke Collar he had given her. He had said it was the first gift a man would give to her. Somehow, this was like an engagement present.

Laurie puts her hands in her lap and looks down at the mattress. She says in a small shy voice, “Yes, Tom. I would .... love to be ... your ... ummm ... consort.”

Tom comes back to the bed and slides on beside Laurie. He lifts her chin with his large hand and kisses her on the lips. Laurie lets go. She wraps her arms lovingly around Tom’s neck, turns and sits on his lap. She French Kisses him passionately. She had never known the intensity of emotion ... that flooded her heart and mind ... before in her life.

When they finally break the kiss, the 2 sat and looked deep into the other’s eyes. There was this ... connection deep within their souls. In the transfer, they had been the same person and shared each other’s wants and needs ... for a split instant, the 2 had been in heaven. The bond between them transcended time and space.

Tom swallows and says softly, “I think you should be getting dressed before ... we loose that opportunity.”

Laurie giggles as she gets off of his lap and walks to the closet. On one side, was all of Meena’s clothes. On the other, were the clothes Tom had for himself. Laurie thought it fitting to claim Meena’s clothes as her own.

She walks to where several horizontal panels were in the wall. She put her hand on one of them. This one slid out like a drawer. Inside were many pairs of different panties. She place her hand on several others. Within them were jammies, nighties, and stockings. Another contained slips and bras. Laurie had a huge selection of clothing to choose from too.

She saw this adorable sundress hanging just down the row from her. It was a soft pastel pink with white mixed. There was a cute pair of lacy panties that matched perfectly. Laurie felt a tingle inside as she realized this dress was just short enough, she could live the fantasy of showing off her panties. She felt all silly and blushes slightly at the thought. But she wanted to do it ... just for the thrill.

She takes the panties and eagerly steps into them. She can feel the soft fabric as it slides up her legs and over her thighs. She enjoys every moment. They fit perfectly. She walks to where the dress is hanging and removes it from the rack. She puts her arms in it and lifts them in the air. She wiggles and squirms, but it seems it doesn’t want to cooperate.

Suddenly, she can feel hands tugging gently on the dress as it slips down her arms and over her head and body. Tom is kissing her on the lips as he slowly and sensually zips it up the back. Laurie can do nothing but shiver at the tingles all this had brought. Laurie was very happy ... she had finally found the thing in her life that was missing ... She had finally become a girl. She returns Tom’s kiss as lovingly as she possibly could. She was now ... his Official Consort.

Proof is in the Pudding

Laurie stood in front of the mirror in the closet and examined herself from all angles. The dress was very short and just barely covered her panties. It had ruffled sleeve openings and ruffles along the hem. Her panties were soft pastel pink with white lace around the legs and waist. The choke collar necklace was the crowning piece to her outfit.

She stepped into the slippers there. They were soft and very comfortable. She stands up in time for Tom to come up behind her and take her hair from her shoulders and hold it up to the back of her head.

Tom says softly, “I think you would look wonderful in ponytails ... what you think?”

He then gathers 2 hands full of her hair and makes ponytails with his fingers. Laurie sees them in the mirror. The very pretty girl looking back has a very excited expression and sparkles in her blue eyes. Laurie giggles as Tom puts the scrunches in her hair making the ponytails.

Tom puts on his new Captain’s Uniform. The black of the uniform offset the gold and silver and all the insignia’s and medals very well. Although Laurie didn’t realize it, she was looking at the reason Meena and her father had become pirates. They and the pirate clans ... were the surviving members of a peoples who’s Home World had been totally destroyed by the Galactic Empire that now rules the Anquatine Galaxy. Tom, and his father and many of the survivors, were the undefeated Battle Fleet Personnel of the Anquatine Space Armada.

This group of individuals had held off the Galactic Empire for over 100 Galactic Years. The Empire knew to its soul ... that these battle hardened peoples have a very good probability of defeating them, unless by attrition, they can reduce the battle efficiency enough they can be defeated by overwhelming force. The latter was a dim hope. In a toe to toe standoff, the rag tag Anquatine Space Armada was far superior to several top of the line Battle Ships of the Galactic Empire. Proof was in the fact ... this ship still lived.

Tom finished preening and turned to look at Laurie. She was extremely pretty. Tom was more than proud to claim ... her ... as his consort. Laurie could feel her heart quicken its pace as he turned and looked at her. He cut a very dashing and handsome figure. Laurie was extremely glad, that they had come hunting last night.

Tom holds out his hand and says softly, “Come with me Laurie. I want to show you something ... and ask you another question.”

Laurie takes his offered hand and allows him to escort her through the ship. Everywhere she looked, seemed to be out of an extremely high tech Science Fiction movie. Many of the things she saw, her mind had no way of categorizing. Bulkhead doors seemed to dematerialize before her eyes, only to reappear after they had passed as solid as any thick metal door. There wasn’t even a seam to outline where they should have been. After a bit of a tour, Tom escorted Laurie to a conveyor tube. Tom said, “Bridge.” as he and she walked into what looked like a swirling sparkly mist ... only to suddenly exit onto one of the most fantastic places she had ever been.

She saw the many crew members sitting in their form fitting gravity couches, consoles seemed to be draped around them. They were designed so that very minimal movement through a virtual interface would allow the function requested to be engaged. This came in very handy when issues with the speed of the craft and the inertial compensators don’t quite agree.

Laurie could also see many other screens that seemed to be holographic magically hanging in the air. She understood the Tactical Display. Under a contract with DARPA, she was working on a similar display at Nano/Gen Inc. This technology, however, was centuries ahead of anything she had ever dreamed.

Tom leads her to the command couch and has her sit in the 1st Officer’s seat, he slides into the command chair beside her. He places his hand on the Padd display on the arm console, a small light appears and scans his palm. The chair comes alive as does Laurie’s.

Tom picks up a small ear piece/microphone set and hands it to Laurie. He picks up the one from the command chair and puts it on. Laurie watches him and repeats the process. There is a humm and then .... she could hear the quiet buzz of multi-informational channels coherently relaying all the shipboard data.

She discovered that by simply focusing on any 1 data stream, she could have that report appear on the screen in her Couch console. It was a holographic screen and control and served many functions all at the same time. To say the least, Laurie was impressed with the technology. It really was centuries beyond anything she had seen or had been working on.

There is a soft click in her earpiece, as Tom’s deep quiet voice said, “Welcome to the Bridge. This is the Captain Speaking. I have an announcement to make and I want all on ship/com to log in.”

There is a few seconds of motion from all on the bridge. Laurie could see the holographic displays fill with Tom’s face.

Tom Continues, “It is with some sorrow I must inform the Bridge that the first officer Commander Jakob Henery, was killed in action. He was a very good officer, an excellent 1st officer, and a sorely missed friend.”

There is a few seconds of rustlings and faint whisperings. It is obvious to Laurie, this Officer would be missed. She thinks how hard it would be to fill his place.

Tom looks to Laurie, both of their faces appear on the holo displays.

He takes her hand and says softly, “And, I would like the crew to meet my Consort. I know she looks very familiar to all. Her name is Laurie Blake. If she will accept the position, I would also give her the rank of Commander, and 1st Officer of the Star Ship Trinity Moon.”

Laurie could hear a soft twitter all through the Bridge. It took a second for her to realize what Tom had just said. She gasps as she looks at Tom with big surprised eyes.

Tom asks softly, “Well? What’s your answer?”

The buzz on the command deck became louder. Everyone was on the edge of their seats to see if the earth girl would do it. They all knew the male profile. They had been briefed on what Laurie had been doing in her male role and had every confidence she could do the job ... with a bit of reorientation and retraining ... of course.

Laurie sat, stunned. This just had to be a wine induced dream ... right? She had never seen a blue wine before ... did it have some kind of hallucinogen in it? The only really bad fear in her at this point ... if she is dreaming, she hoped she never woke up.

She stumbled in a shy way and replied, “I ... uuuhh .. yea, sure. I just hope I can ... at least in a small way ... do the job adequately.”

Tom replies, “Let it be so noted in the ship’s log that on this date, Laurie Blake has been promoted to the rank of Commander and assigned as 1st Officer, Starship, Trinity Moon by Executive order of the Captain.”

There is a beeping noise in her ear piece. A mechanical voice said, “Welcome to the Bridge Commander Blake. This is the 1st Officer’s Tactical comm and data link. Over the course of the next several days, I will be reorienting myself and you to this system. I can reconfigure every link to fit your custom requests.”

There is a soft beep and all the soft multi-channel comms came back on.

Laurie is suddenly aware of all the functions around her. The data stream drifts through her consciousness softly and unobtrusively. She knew it was there, but only if she focused her mind on it, could she actually hear it. Anything that her mind might suddenly localize, suddenly became a holo-screen interface. A brief synopsis would first appear. If Laurie wanted more in depth information, the entire data stream was available.

If something of importance came through the link, this data would ping in her mind and she would focus on it. It was set up as a custom link for the particular individual’s preferences. The AI was indeed intelligent, and seemingly could read Laurie’s mind as to what her preferences were. How often these preferences changed didn’t seem to matter.

Suddenly, all the interfaces changed. New data streams started to pour in. She saw the huge Military deployment around where her camp was 2 days ago. She watched as super advanced tracking equipment brought firing solutions, weapons availabilities, and kill probabilities to her holo-display interface.

A trickle of fear ran up her spine as she realized what the readings were telling her. Should the Trinity Moon bring to bear, just one of her smallest weapon’s pods, it alone would devastate the entire Military operation.

Tom says Authoritatively, “Tactical, bring the current situation onto the main screen. I don’t feel they pose any threat to us.” Tom brings his couch to a more upright position, so more displays were visible then continues, “It seems to me, if we do nothing ... this will just become a huge unsolved mystery to tantalize their imaginations with. Then, on the other hand ... we can have some diversion with them. Nothing they have poses any threat to the ship.”

Laurie replies, “And just what do you mean by ... diversion?”

As soon as she said it, she realizes that the Tactical Officer heard what she said. She heard him softly gasp at her tone. As soon as this realization happened, she also knew the link between her and the Captain became private as the AI quickly adjusted the link preference. It too was still learning what Laurie’s neural responses were. Within 24 hours, this type of thing wouldn’t happen again except under extreme causality.

Tom replies, “I was just thinking of giving them a UFO story to tell for a while. I saw on your World Wide Web, that this is a great preoccupation with many on your planet. All I would be doing, is making a lot of ... other wise unhappy people ... happy.” He flips his hand.

Laurie snorts, “In what way? By destroying a whole army base? They are there looking for me you know. I don’t want anyone injured. Understood?”

Tom Replies, “I accept the 1st Officer’s recommendation to set forward weapon’s pods to heavy stun, thin beam. We’ll let them draw first blood. I want no one killed ... understood weapons?”

A young female and a young male voice replies, “Yes Sir.”

This time, the AI had made the comm between Laurie and Tom private, the weapon’s officers were not in the link.

Tom says sweetly, “Is ... that satisfactory ... my sweetheart 1st Officer?”

Laurie was still slightly upset, but yes ... she would like to have a little fun with the Military anyway. Put them in their place so to speak. As long as no one got hurt ... it was fine.

She replies, “That’s wonderful ... Captain honey bunches.” And blows him a kiss.

Fun and Games

Tom said in his authoritative voice, “Navigation, take us to 92 meters and hold. Scan for fast moving aircraft. I want to play a little tag ... see how their egos handle it.”


Helm responds ... Laurie can hear her words clearly as she responds immediately after getting the command, “Aye Captain, ship currently station keeping ... 92 meters.”

There is a soft twitter of laughter on the bridge as the foreword view screen rapidly changes views. Laurie felt no sensation of movement in any way. The upgraded inertial compensators were excessively more than adequate for the job they did ... under normal circumstances. Far superior to the ones the ship originally was constructed with.

The Tactical screen changed, Laurie could see many aircraft hovering around the area. The display was so fine and accurate, at a glance she could even tell what the different aircraft were. As her mind wandered among the different contacts, when ever something caught her attention, the AI would automatically enhance that particular contact and display all the available data she was interested in. Laurie was very impressed.

Suddenly, 6 contacts turned bright red and began blinking. Speed and course information appeared in the tactical. Firing solutions appeared as well as weapons availability. These were the fast movers Tom had wanted to find. Laurie did note, all the active weapons pods were set to heavy stun.

Tom said softly, “Helm, I want you to manually shadow those craft long enough for their sensors to notice us. Set time displacement to current, take us out of cloaking.”

The young Helm officer’s voice said, “Yes sir. Shadowing current target speed and positions.”

Tactical chimed in, “Shields at maximum, time displacement current, and we’re not cloaked. They should have noticed us by now.”

To those watching, a very large, graceful looking, highly advanced aircraft suddenly appeared in the middle of the F22 Raptor formation. It matched their course and speed perfectly. As fast and maneuverable as the F22s were, this aircraft had them beat.

Someone in the F22 formation noticed the Trinity Moon after they had shadowed them for a full 3 minutes. A lot longer than Laurie thought should be. She knows the Radar instrumentation ... it’s the most highly advance Tactical and Strategic sensors available to fighter aircraft on Earth. This was ... way too long for a hostile target acquisition.

2 of the jets banked left as 2 banked right. The last 2, one went straight up, the other dove and did a curly cue twist. All were attempting to loop around and come up aft of the Trinity Moon. The game was afoot.

Laurie watched as Tom barked orders. Tom was a very good tactician and Captain. He did 90 degree turns at mach to show his craft was seemingly unaffected by G forces. When several of the fighters got behind, Tom suddenly pivoted at mach 4 and returned in the opposite direction to show the F22 pilots, that being behind Trinity Moon, held no advantage in the least. He did this several times, much to the chagrin of the fighter pilots. Tom even played horsepower games with them. He allowed them to catch up to the Trinity Moon on either side and behind ... then pop ... he would accelerate to 400 gravities suddenly for a second or 2. To the pursuing pilots, this amounted to the Trinity Moon vanishing from their visual and radar instantly, only to return immediately to shadow them again.

Laurie hears Tom’s voice in her ear, “Well, Laurie, is there anything you forgot in camp that you might want to keep?”

Laurie thought about it for a bit. The Sat / Phone! Since they were already playing games ... why not give Sat/Com a call .. and let them know a beautiful woman had all their closely guarded secrets ... no one but she as Tom could know.

She replies, “Yes, I had a communications devise ... a Satellite link phone. It has many special numbers in its memory that ... would be fun to call right about now.” She giggles at what her mind’s eye sees as their expressions when they get this call.

She continues, “Here’s the number if you can track it ... (803) 555- 1212.

She hears the young Tactical officer’s voice say, “Tracking comm device now. It seems it’s ... 300 meters to the south west of the target site. It’s being kept in one of the large command tents 1st Officer.”

Laurie’s eyes get big as she realizes not only the complexity of the comm systems on the bridge, but at how unerringly it delivered exactly the data needed ... seemingly to her ... like magic.

Laurie smiles and says playfully, “Ok, Capitaiin. How are you gonna get this girls cell from the meanies? HUmmm?”

Tom glances over at Laurie’s smiling face then issues this order, “Navigation, set the ship back in the spot we were in. Activate cloak and time displacement to .05. I think the 1st officer and I are going on a little ... recovery mission here.”

The young female voice replies, “Yes Sir. Ship currently at station keeping in prior location. We are cloaked and time displaced.”

Laurie heard a ping in her ear piece. The data opened on a holo-control.

A young man stood in the screen and said, “Hello, Commander, This is to inform you that all of the excursion equipment is ready for you and the Captain in hangar bay 2.”

As the interface vanished, Laurie heard Tom say, “Well, 1st officer, The Captain thinks it’s time for your first mission. In short, it seems there is a devise that contains critical data to the survival of the human species. We are tasked to retrieve it from hostile forces.”

Laurie blinks a few times while she tried to figure out if he was ... making a joke ... or was ... simi-serious. She was sure that Tom understood about Sat-phones. The only data they contained, were telephone numbers that ... other wise are unpublished.

Tom says softly, “As pretty as you are dressed this way, you do have a uniform. It is highly unusual for a full Commander ... not have any medals. Since I am the Captain, I choose to take my new 1st Officer on her first dangerous retrieval assignment. Upon successful completion, I will of course be duty bound to recognize her heroism and coolness under enemy fire.”

Laurie sat with her mouth open for a second, she suddenly realized the gravity couch had somehow ... released her from its comfortable embrace. She wiggles out of the couch, and shows several of the young male bridge crew, a wonderful view up her short dress.

Tom took Laurie by the hand and escorted her to the conveyor tube. As they stepped into the sparking swirling mist, Tom said, Cargo Bay 2. Laurie felt the tingle through her body, then they stepped out into the large expanse of Cargo Bay 2.

Tom turned and looked at Laurie’s amazed expression. He says softly, “If we had a place and the proper research team, we could adopt that technology to transporting from ship to surface and back. We have the technology, just don’t have the place and personnel to complete the research.”

Laurie replies, “Well, we can use part of Cargo Bay 2 and set it up as the research lab. As far as personnel, at Nano / Gen, I was the head of the research department in the Satellite division. I’m very sure ... with a little research into the current transfer tube technology, I and a few hand picked individuals could accomplish it.”

Tom gives Laurie a soft smooch on her lips and replies, “I’m very sure you could sweet heart.”

The 2 of them stop for a second and kiss. Tom takes Laurie’s bottom in his hands and squeezes as he pulls her into his body. Laurie squeaks softly as she feels the hardness of his muscles ... and ... the rising of something else.

Laurie breaks the kiss and says softly with passion in her voice, “Sweetheart, we need to get on with the mission ... before we loose the opportunity.”

Tom looks into her blue eyes for a second before replying, “I wonder if ... loosing the opportunity wouldn’t be more fulfilling.” He sighs softly before continuing, “Lets get our equipment and uniforms on.”

They walk to the drop zone and don the excursion uniforms and utility belts including the personal cloaking devises and small assault neutron weapons. The 2 kiss one last time, then engage the cloaks. They could see each other, because the devises were tuned to the harmonic frequencies of the other. Otherwise, they would be unable to see or coordinate visually with each other.

The 2 of them walked out of the open bay doors into the early afternoon. There was a huge military mobile command base set up coordinating the huge operation. Tom and Laurie slipped among them as unnoticed as a gentle wind. The search was going badly for the General in charge. He was outside yelling orders to the many scrambling men.

Laurie giggles. She knows they will never find any trace if she doesn’t give them a clue. She brings out the padd sensor. She’s not real sure how to operate it exactly. The crash course the Tech in the Landing Bay had given her was adequate enough if you were familiar with the technology ... but if it was thousands of years in advance of anything you had ever seen before ... >>shrugs<<

She began to punch in commands into the padd. As unsure as Laurie was with the Technology of the padd sensor, she did manage to access the data she was searching for quite easily. The Sat / Phone was located in the large tent where the General was now having his most recent hissy fit.

Laurie and Tom entered the Tent. There were at least 50 men and women all trembling under the massive verbal assault from the General. Laurie locates the phone, along with all the other equipment at her camp including the 9mm Glock.

She walks over to the case and points the padd at the lock. She fumbles with the keys on the padd’s face for a minute, then the seal on the box containing her Sat / Phone pops open. She reaches in a takes the phone and stuffs it into the fanny pouch on her utility belt. The General just happened to see the phone drift lazily out of the case and ... vanish into thin air.

The General yells in a loud authoritative voice, “Seal all exits. No one enters or leaves this tent. Someone is here that is unauthorized ... and I want to talk to them ... NOW!!”

Armed soldiers appear in all the exits. They charge their weapons and activate their UV and IR goggles, hoping to see a heat signature or some thing. The cloaking device rendered Tom and Laurie invisible to all known sensors of the Earth. Effectively, they were as ghosts to the military personnel looking for them.

A loud klaxon was sounding and someone was yelling, “Intruder alert!! ... intruder alert!! All personnel, command tent security has been compromised!”

Laurie walks to Tom, avoiding several scrambling SpecOp’s soldiers. She asks softly, “Is there a way I can talk to General Fathead .. and stay cloaked?”

Tom replies, “I’m not sure ... it would be fun to try though.”

Laurie walks to the General. She punches in several commands into the cloak’s control interface. There is a shimmering in the air where Laurie stood. It was just noticeable enough to appear a ghost had passed before she became totally cloaked again.

She whispers in the General’s ear, “Hello General Fathead. I want you to know, absolutely beyond any shadow of a doubt ... this is an Alien Abduction and a very large UFO is in the area and has been dogging your fighter aircraft for the last hour.”

The General jumps and falls over a computer table onto his back. He yells, “It ... it spoke to me!”

A young Lieutenant comes over to the General and helps him to his feet. He hands him several sheets of paper and salutes. He says, “Sir, reports are coming in of a large unknown type of aircraft that has been out maneuvering our F22 Raptors for about an hour. Here are photos of it from the wing cams.”

The General is pointing to what the Lieutenant thinks is an empty space and yells, “One of the bastards is here! She spoke to me ... told me exactly what you just told me.”

The General looks at the recon photos. They show a very large Aircraft. Very sleek lines and very advanced. Well beyond anything he has ever seen before. According to the reports, A squadron of F22’s couldn’t intercept or even keep up with it. The General knew ... this was a first contact scenario with an extraterrestrial. Keeping it under wraps ... was impossible at this point. There had been way too many eye witnesses to the event.

A disembodied female voice says softly, “You may as well call off the search. Thomas Blake is officially an Alien Abductee. Something else for your peoples to consider too, you’re just tenants to this world ... you don’t own it. The Land Lord is ... rather upset with you and will probably want to evict you if there isn’t a marked improvement in how the earth is treated within 1 year.”

As the General turns blue yelling orders to the many fearful and confused soldiers, Laurie and Tom leave the compound. None of the containment procedures the General had implemented had even slowed them down. One blast from Tom’s neutron assault weapon, had totally destroyed the closed and electrified gate in a very spectacular display of sparks and pyrotechnics.

Where no Terran Woman Has Gone Before

Laurie was sitting in the 1st officer’s gravity couch next to Tom. She had a very happy feeling about all the phone calls she had made to the many DARPA and top secret facilities. She wondered what went through their minds as they tried to track the Sat / Phone and discovered it was coming from an empty region of space in geosynchronous obit. For the last 3 months, she had really enjoyed playing the brain games with the top US and world officials.

She had awakened this morning ... kind of queasy to her tummy. She had been sick for a bit, but now felt wonderful. She eagerly awaited the long journey ahead ... the vast beyond of space beckoned.

Tom said Authoritatively, “Navigation, set course to 172.1 mark 6 on the new alpha gradient. Engage 70,000 gravities. Let’s go home.”

Laurie heard the young Lieutenants voice reply, “Aye sir, engaged.”

Laurie logged into stellar navigation and watched what transpired on her holo-screen interface. All the stars foreword, seemed to stream towards the ship in an ever bluer stream of stars, only to part just as suddenly and disappear aft in a wash or ever reddening light. Within seconds, all the approaching stars seemed to merge into one large blue glow as the aft merged into one large red glow.

Laurie heard Tom say softly in her earpiece, “It’s called the Doppler effect. All light approaching us will be ever bluer as its relative distance from us decreases and the receding light turns ever redder as the relativistic distance from us increases.”

Laurie replies softly, “I do understand the principal. It’s just, I’ve never been in space ... or traveled at speeds in excess of relativity.”

Tom explains, “Currently, we are not in relativistic space/time. This is a region we have named NR Space. NR of course stands for Not Real. As well as we understand the NR drive, our scientists have been unable to explain what this particular region we transit through is. Normal Physics doesn’t apply here. That’s why we call it ... not real. We can’t define it in any real terms.”

Laurie asks, “How fast is ... 70,000 gravities?”

She could hear a sort of laugh in his voice as he replied, “Well ... up until a few months ago, 9,000 gravities was the fastest our civilization could travel. That was approximately 20,000 Ly an hour. The current speed we have, we have only been able to calculate by the gravity distortion wave it creates as it traverses NR space. 70,000 gravities will have us back in our originating Anquatine Galaxy within 3 or 4 days. The distance?? Several hundred million light years. By the time we arrive, Navigation should be able to tell you the speed we traversed the distance.”

Laurie asks softly, “Can we go ... faster?”

Tom’s soft reply, “Yes, faster than we can even imagine. We haven’t had the new engines long enough to explore maximum potential. We do have the regular NR drive still available and active. Within solar systems and local Galactic regions, that would be sufficient.”

Laurie’s can hear the ship’s doctor come on her ear piece. He says softly in his professional manner, “Commander Blake, I need to see you in the sick bay at your earliest convenience. Please have the Captain accompany you.”

Laurie replies, “Sure Doctor, why do you need to see us?”

He replies, “I need to do a routine examination on you. It seems there are a few things I need to check into to insure everything is going all right.”

Laurie feels a tingle of fear run through her as she gasps softly, “Is ... is there something wrong with me?”

The doctor replies reassuringly, “No, Commander, not at all. You’re in perfect health. I will explain further when you see me.”

The comm returns to the coherent multi-channel data stream. Laurie is slightly uneasy. She has noticed she has had an upset tummy several times over the last month. An old fear almost rises enough within her to be heard again ... but not quite.

Laurie says softly, “Tom? Doc wants us to come see him in the sick bay. As soon as you can give someone else the Conn ... let’s get it over with.”

Tom transfers The Conn to the Science Officer and helps Laurie from her gravity couch. They walk to the transfer tube .. Laurie says sick bay as they enter ... they exit into another place full of technological wonders beyond Laurie’s imagination.

Surprise

While Laurie looked around the sick bay at all the technological marvels, A thin, Middle aged man with salt and pepper colored hair walked out of an office in the back. He stopped for a second at a table and picked up a medical padd sensor, then walked to Tom and Laurie.

He said softly, “I’m the ship’s doctor. I must say ... you are the spitting image of our former Captain.” He chuckles softly then continues, “There’s nothing to be alarmed about, It has been brought to my attention by ship board crew monitor, that you seem to be ... having a small issue. I want to scan you and see if we can make you more comfortable.”

Laurie looks at Tom in askance. Tom’s eyes get slightly larger as he raises his eyebrows and shrugs slightly.

The Doctor beckons to a small, slightly reclining couch and waits for Laurie to sit. After Laurie has seated and gotten comfortable on the couch, he brings the padd out and taps the softly glowing face. It makes this awful screeching whistle ... like someone scratching their fingers over a chalk board. Laurie shivers as her skin crawls and chill bumps form.

She whines softly, “Man, can’t they make that sound better? That’s the most horrid sound I ever heard.”

The Doctor’s eyes get sparkly as he raises an eyebrow. He snorts a laugh as he replies, “Actually, yes ... I can.” He plays with the padd’s lighted panel for a bit and the horrid sound goes away. He continues, “The sound it makes offers diagnostic utility to the padd. After using it for a while, we can determine a lot of physical heath issues of an individual by the sound. No one has actually ever asked to have it turned off. Is that better?”

Laurie nods ... she’s very glad that horrible noise had stopped. The Doctor waved the devise over her tummy several times. He stepped back and punched at the face of the padd with his finger for several minutes, then smiles a broad smile.”

He said softly, “I think I have good news for you young lady.”

A chill of apprehension fills her as she asks, “What is it Doc? Is there something wrong?”

The Doctor runs his hand through his graying hair as he replies gently, “Well ... it’s definite, your approximately 1 month pregnant. The fetus is developing normally and appears to be healthy.”

Laurie’s eyes get huge as her mouth falls open. She looks at Tom who had a wonderful happy expression.

Laurie says in a sort of squeak, “I ... I’m ... pregnant?”

Her mind is in a turmoil at this point. That was one of the things she was sort of worried about all this time when she was making love to Tom. She was so in love with him ... it didn’t really seem a real worry ... until now.

The Doctor replies in a cheery voice, “Yes, Commander Blake, You’re pregnant. I can give you something that won’t hurt the baby, but will ease the morning sickness if you want. Other than that, I would like to have you come in 1nce a week for a check up. It will only take about 5 minutes. As small as your body is, I want to keep a close eye on you so there won’t be any birthing problems.”

Laurie gasps out softly, “B ... birthing?”

The Doctor smiles softly and replies, “Why, yes, Commander. I’m sure you’re going to want to have your first baby naturally. I’m sure Tom will want to be there while it’s happening too.”

Laurie gasps softly as she put her hand to her mouth. She is so over whelmed with this news ... soft darkness takes her as Tom quickly grabs her and slowly lays her back on the soft couch. The Doctor quickly scans her from head to foot.

He says to Tom, “It seems she has fainted. There’s nothing physically wrong with her. I will have her taken to your quarters and have a Nurse watch over her until she wakes.”

Tom nods, bends and gives Laurie a kiss on her cheek.

He whispers lovingly in her ear, “Well done. You have made me very happy and very proud.” He stands and says, “Let me know when she’s awake, I want to spend time with her. We have ... lots of things to discuss.”

The Doctor nods and replies, “Aye Captain.”

Tom Returns to the bridge and his command chair. He is perhaps one of the happiest persons on the ship right now. He can’t believe it ... he has made Laurie pregnant.

~~ End Pt2 ~~

[Miki Yamuri]

Proposition pt3 - Brave New World

Laurie wakes slowly, her head hurts and she’s a bit disoriented. She sits up and realizes she’s in Tom’s and her quarters. A young nurse walks over and gently puts a fluffy pillow behind Laurie’s head and tucks the covers in a bit.

She says in a cute cooing voice, “Well, hello. I’m Lt Cammie. I’m your nurse for right now. How’s the new mommy feeling? Seems we had a bit of a spill earlier.”

Lt. Cammie takes one of the medical padd scanners from her apron pocket, and scans Laurie from head to foot. Laurie noticed this one was set to silent too. She was glad ... that horrid racket it makes she really didn’t want to hear right now.

Laurie feels a tingle run through her as Lt. Cammie reminded her ... she was pregnant. Laurie lays back on the pillow and groans. She can’t believe this has happened. She hadn’t been a girl long enough to think about a period. It was also one of those ... important questions that was on her mind ... that didn’t seem important while she was making love ... was to ask Tom about Birth Control.

Laurie was thinking how just 4 months ago, was when the most fantastic fantasy of her life had been granted by Tom. She had only been a girl for 4 short months, and was already pregnant. She shakes her head incredulously. She is still all fuzzy headed in shock over it.

The nurse coos softly, “It seems you have a slight chemical imbalance. Do you have a headache? Would you like something? It works really fast and won’t hurt baby.”

Lt Cammie had taken a strange looking pen thing from her other pocket and put a small vial with a clear liquid in it. The nurse stands with a cute smile looking at Laurie. Laurie rubs her forehead ... and realizes she has a fairly nasty headache.

Laurie says softly, “Sure, my head is splitting.”

Lt Cammie puts the pen devise to the side of Laurie’s neck. There is a hissing pop and a slight sting. Laurie’s headache quickly fades away.

The nurse pats Laurie on her arm and says softly in her cute cooing voice, “There will be another Doctor come in shortly. Don’t be afraid of her. She’s kinda weird ... but then ... when you can read the emotional state of a person’s life force ... well ... a little eccentricity is probably in order.”

The nurse turns quickly and exits the room. Laurie can hear the soft whispering sound of the nano-steel door as it opens and closes in its remarkable manner. She sits and contemplates it all. Having a baby on one side of her ... made her probably the happiest she had ever been. On the other hand ... there was some male parts in her ... that was upset about the whole thing. She loved Tom more now than she ever had ... and there were other things starting to creep into her mind.

She thought of how she would look ... all bloated and pregnant. Would Tom still find her attractive? How would she ever get out of the gravity couch? What kind of maternity clothes do girls wear anyway? How badly was it going to mess up her figure? How bad was it going to hurt?? **Gasp!!**

Suddenly, Laurie realizes ... she’s having thoughts of things over feelings and emotions ... she never had until 4 months ago. She puts her head in her hands ... and starts to cry. This is too much too fast ... she is totally mind blown.

Tom is sitting in his gravity couch on Top of the Universe. HE can’t believe he has made his Consort pregnant. It was something as a female, he had never worried over. As a woman, he was only attracted to women ... so he never thought about it. Tom felt bad in a way about not warning Laurie ... but on the other hand ... Tom had been so emotionally involved in suddenly being a man ... he had forgotten.

Tom was deeply touched that he was going to have a real family shortly too. He loved Laurie more now than ever and he was so proud of her too. HE couldn’t wait for her to wake up ... so he could tell her his heart.

Tom feels a hand on his shoulder. He turns his head slightly and sees the Tall thin Science officer.

Tom asks, “What’s up Randy? Getting board with all the new toys we found?”

Randy snorts a laugh and replies, “Well , that ... and I wanted to congratulate you. I hear the Commander is pregnant. This is wonderful news too. I think your father will be ... ummm ... kind of surprised over it all though.”

Tom nods and mutters, “To say the least. I wonder how he’s going to take it that he has a son now ... and a new very familiar looking daughter-in-law?”

The 2 men look at each other for a split second, then burst out laughing.

Randy says merrily, “Well, I hope to be there when you tell him ... so we both can see.”

He musses Tom’s hair playfully before returning to his station and sitting in his gravity couch.

Tom shakes his head as he chuckles to himself. He can’t imagine how his father was going to take the news. Laurie was technically, through genetics, still his daughter and he ... was no longer part of the family except by the fact Laurie was his Official Consort. Now that there was an infant involved ... he laughs with sheer joy ... he’s actually going to be a dad! How wild.

In his earpiece, the voice of the Ship’s Doctor says, “Captain, you asked me to notify you as soon as Commander Blake woke. You might want to take a few minutes before you go ... there’s a Sheemah with her now. I would think you might benefit with a few sessions with her as well.”

Tom replies, “Thanks Doc, I really have a lot of things to say to Laurie. I’m so ... proud of her I could explode. I will ... have a chat with the Sheemah ... eventually.”

The Doctor’s voice said sardonically, “Just don’t wait until it becomes an order.” Then the Captain’s multi-channel data feeds came back as the Dr’s data channel on the other end closed.

Tom sat for a few minutes and went over in his mind all the things he had planned to say. Finally, he removed his headset and left the command chair. He entered the conveyor tube as he said ... “Captain’s Quarters.” He steps out of the tube just down the hall from his Quarters. He slowly walks to the door ... takes a deep breath ... then enters.

Laurie is crying softly with her face in her hands ... when ... she walked in. Laurie didn’t hear a sound, yet ... her soul knew she had entered. Laurie looks up suddenly. She sees a ... young woman dressed in something more akin to a sparkling web of energy than anything else.

Her skin had a bluish tent. She reminded Laurie very much of the tales of Elves she had read while she was a kid in high school. The resemblance was striking. On her head, she wore something that looked like a sparkling silver spider’s web. Directly in the middle of her forehead, was a jewel that looked like a living thing. As Laurie looked at it, she realized, it looked like ... an eye ... and it seemed it saw directly into her very essence.

In a heavily accented, wonderfully musical voice, the woman introduced herself, “Ello Comonder, Menome’s Dr. Mitherium. Iamma Sheemah.”

Laurie looks at this woman for a second, not really sure exactly what to do or say. Laurie asks softly with awe in her voice, “Hello, Dr ... Mitherium. What is it you do? Umm .. what’s a ... Sheemah?”

She laughs softly in a tinkling way and replies, “Am b da one who sees widin. Am tol of ur unique spirit anna wanna see n help to meld.” The Sheema held out her hands palms up before continuing, “We kno it b hard in time and times ... am doinna meld sos u no have conflicts in ... who you are now becom. A Sheema ... Sheema mean Spirit. Tis what I b ... Spirit.”

Laurie could not believe what she saw. Dr. Mitherium didn’t seem to walk ... she sort of ... became like a soft airy blur and flowed to the side of the bed where she appeared to solidify. She stood with her hands outstretched, Laurie could feel an energy from the Dr tingling through her. Laurie by instinct, backed against the pillow and headboard. She had no idea what to think. She was deathly afraid of ... this ... thing.

The Dr. bent slightly and took Laurie’s face gently in her hands. The touch was incredible. A wonderful energy suddenly permeated her existence. The Dr’s hands felt so soft. All the fear that was in Laurie vanished away as her deepest thoughts, feelings, and emotions opened. A very loving and caring presence was ... there. Laurie couldn’t hide from the presents as it learned all there was to know ... of Laurie, of Tom ... his childhood ... of all the deep seated fantasies that were fulfilled when she became a girl. The fear and worry over being pregnant. The love of her life ... Tom ... her beloved Consort.

Laurie hears in her mind a soft voice say joyfully, “Ah, yes ... N it b Tom now is it. Another meld it is to do.”

Laurie suddenly is aware that the division between her female personality and her male personality is under intense scrutiny. If Laurie didn’t put too much thought into it ... it was sort of easy for her to function as a female ... with the many things having to be learned on the fly. There was the male part and it had intense thoughts and attitudes and got in the way of things most times.

Laurie suddenly tenses up and gasps softly. The presents was in her deepest essence. Laurie could feel her very soul being held lovingly in the Sheema’s hands. The feeling was mysterious and eerie. At the same time, most wonderful and exotic. The male part of Laurie’s personality, was suddenly merging and blending with the female part. It felt so wonderful ... and like she was being forced at the same time. Intense tingling waves ran through Laurie’s existence as the last of her masculinity merged and became all female.

Being pregnant was ... a real surprise. She had many worries about it still. Would Tom still think she’s pretty when she’s all bloated with baby. How bad is it going to mess up her figure? Then wondering questions ... what does it feel like to have a baby? Laurie puts her hands on her tummy. She will know in about 8 months.

Laurie suddenly is aware that Dr. Mitherium is standing beside the bed with her hands folded in front of her. She has a wonderful smile on her face as she looks at Laurie.

Dr. Mitherium says in her wonderfully accented musical voice, “Was refreshin it was to b there. I kno many Spirits an you b mos unique. You notta mon, butta wooman. But tis in you asa mon too. Now merged it is n ur spirit all femaale ... conflict essa resolved.”

Dr. Mitherium suddenly fades and is gone as the door to the room opens and Tom walks in. Tom sees his extremely beautiful Consort sitting with her back to the headboard, all scrunched into a tight ball. Her eyes were huge in awe.

Tom asks in a concerned tone as he sits beside Laurie and takes one of her hands lovingly into his, “What’s wrong sweetheart? You’re all pale and look like you saw a ghost.”

Laurie points to the place The Doctor had been standing and stammers, “It .. umm .. she ?? Th the Doctor just .... vanished. She ... held me in her hands ... I mean ...”

Tom takes Laurie’s chin in his free hand and turns it towards him. He kisses Laurie’s lips softly.

He says, “Laurie, now that we are about to be ... parents ... we should make those plans we discussed a month ago. I do want to introduce us to my dad so he has a firm understanding of who we are. I do also think we need to discuss ... what’s going to happen after that ... in the Anquatine Galaxy, which is our final destination.”

Laurie says softly, “Tom, I just had one the weirdest experiences, other than having my body swapped, that I have ever had. What ... is a Sheema? Are they alive?? IT is able to reach in and ... change me from the inside.”

Tom smiles and replies, “A Sheema, is an energy being. I am not sure where their home world is. I do know, however, they are the universe’s best Psychiatrists. I am sort of under orders from the ship’s doctor to report to her for a session.”

Laurie looks at Tom and says, “A ... merging?”

Tom nods and responds, “Yea, I think that’s what it’s called ... a merging.”

Laurie reaches over and hugs Tom tightly as she kisses him on his neck. She says softly, “Tom ... I’m ... pregnant. I really am going to have a .... baby. I can’t believe it.”

Tom kisses Laurie back and says lovingly, “I’m so proud of you too sweetheart. You have made me the happiest person in the universe. Now, we need to discuss where you’re going to live and raise our child. If we set up homestead in the Anquatine Galaxy, there is a danger you and our child might get killed. The Empire has no qualms about surprise attacks on civilians based on false negotiations. My mother was killed in such a raid. The attacking Armada got 1 hit into the Agra-station where we lived. I just happened to be away with one of my friends at a jammie party in a different star system. The Artificial Singularity we used as a power source got away from us because of Torr containment failure. The attacking Armada ... never returned home. Before they could leave, the singularity had become engorged. Due to its small size and gravity density, all the matter it had pulled into itself and converted to energy was released explosively. It destroyed 50 parsecs around the asteroid .. that used to be the station. We ... never found any debris.”

Laurie says with a bit of exasperation in her voice, “Where ... I’m going to raise our child? And just what are you going to be doing? Another thing ... is a Consort .. the same as a wife?”

Tom quickly replies, “What I’m going to be doing, sweet stuff ... is commuting back and forth between ummm ... work and home. A Star Ship like Trinity Moon isn’t exactly the ideal place for a child to grow up ... but it is an excellent place to learn and grow mentally.” He pats Laurie’s hand reassuringly, “I’m not sure what a wife is love, but a consort is a life-mate. I most certainly will do what ever you ask to make them ... the same if you wish.” Tom smiles a radiant smile.

The 2 of them discussed many things about the new family they were becoming. Tom even asked her to marry him and be his ... wife ... just so everything was right with their arrangement. They discussed housing arrangements ... one in each Galaxy was finally decided on. That way, their child would be able to grow up with his earth peoples ... and his Anquatine peoples as well. Would relieve the culture shock of being separated and suddenly discovering, he is a child of 2 Galaxies separated by millions of light years.

Tom says softly, “I also have ... just a bit of history about the Anquatine peoples too. We used to be a peaceful Galaxy spanning Federation with several thousand Core worlds. We were supposedly called to a Peace summit by the invading Galactic Empire. We never took them seriously ... which was a major mistake. Their ships and weapons were .... formidable, but not as formidable as ours. While most of the Anquatine Galactic Armada was disarmed and at the Peace Summit, The Galactic Empire divided its attack fleets into several battle groups. They attacked us ... without mercy ... at the Peace Summit.”

Laurie crawls over close to Tom and hugs him as she kisses him on his cheek. She says softly, “I’m so sorry.”

Tom smiles weakly and continues, “Our Battle fleet managed to recharge the neutron cores and saved most of our ships. We did loose some very valuable Multitask Dreadnoughts, but the larger portion was saved. We defeated the Galactic Empire’s fleet even though they out numbered us 4 to 1. We received the first distress calls from our home system just as we defeated the last of the enemy missile ships. We gathered all the survivors we could and raced home under full 9,000 gravities. We arrived too late to prevent the total destruction of the home system. 3 inhabited worlds and 2 inhabited moons ... totally destroyed. Our home world was named, Imerium. Planetary defenses destroyed many of the attackers, however ... a highly maneuverable ship with many high yield missiles coupled with plasma beams ... the end result was planetary genocide. There were survivors ... equipment ... tools ... and other things of great value to a peoples that would be suddenly recolonizing.”

Tom stood and began to slowly pace. He stopped at the bar and poured himself a glass of blue wine ... from a very strangely shaped bottle. He drank several down quickly. He poured one last glass full and walked back to the bed and sat beside Laurie.

He continued, “By the time we had gathered everything and collected all the survivors we could find ... the Galactic Empire had returned in force. We were in no position to fight toe to toe ... although I personally feel Grandfather and the others would have won if they did. We have defended our remaining Federation worlds doggedly from the Empire’s incursions for over 100 years. They came to call us Pirates. We attacked, smuggled, and captured as many and as much and as often as we possibly could. Unfortunately, we have been unable to advance our technology, or to build ships at an adequate rate to do more than relieve attrition. Now!! With the New Trinity Moon as the Flagship ... and the new technology we found, which we wouldn’t have discovered if the Empire hadn’t attacked me, we now have the edge we need ... to retake our rightful place.”

Laurie says softly, “That means ... all out war. What happens if they discover earth?”

Tom reassures Laurie, “They do not have the capability to travel that far. The only reason we do, is because of the upgrades and the engine technology we discovered on a planet we were forced to set down on for repairs. That’s also how we came to find the swap equipment ... and of course ... you.”

Tom takes another sip of his glass as Laurie runs her hand through his hair.

Laurie says softly, “How much more formidable does the new technology make you?”

Tom smiles and replies, “Well ... the time displacement cloak, makes us totally invisible. The new power source seems to be unlimited. By adding many millions of ergs to the neutron stream, our weapons are the most formidable in the Galaxy. Coupled with the new engine Technology, it makes us invincible. The only problem ... it will take at least 6 months to retrofit the other ships and ... about a year or more before the first totally new battle ships come from our small shipyard. If we could take the shipyard at Hellenas Planetia ... and do it with the yard mostly intact ... we could start to produce 5 ships at a pop every 6 months. Combine that with the current 3 from Donatuea Ship Yard ... we would have 8 every 6 months.”

Laurie coos softy, “Well, sweetie ... We could probably try that ... with the Trinity Moon as the surprise Ace in the hole ... I’m sure the shipyard would fall rather quickly.”

Tom suddenly takes Laurie around the waist and lays her back in the bed. He plants a huge kiss on her lips as he tickles her in the ribs. Laurie kicks and screeches as he tickles. They finally wind up snuggled together ... kissing and ... many other fun things.

Home Coming

3 days had passed quickly. Since the meeting with the Sheema ... things had been ... normal for Laurie. She still had the wonderful new adventure sensations ... but everything seemed wonderfully new adventurously normal now.

She sat in the 1st Officer’s gravity couch on the bridge. She was sort of paying attention to the multi-channel chatter. From what she could see from the ghostly tactical display, they were approaching an area prone for ambushes.

Tom said, “Navigation, bring us to 343 mark 2 at 1/32 relative.”

Laurie could hear the young lieutenant’s voice reply, “Aye Captain, 343 mark 2 ... 1/32 relative.”

The blue wash of color quickly resolved into many stars as the red wash from behind seemed to catch up and merge with the blue. They all hung like jewels on the forward screen. Laurie knew that the ship was time displaced about .05 seconds, rendering it unseen and untouchable. Their weapons on the other hand ... would seem to pop out of no where with no tracking or evasion time. The new yield potential of the neutron plasma weapons still remained to be seen. The new power source provided them unlimited energy to pump into them giving them almost unlimited potential. It depended heavily on how good they reproduced the new nano bussard rams. They replaced the huge clunky ones from before and allowed more weapon to be loaded faster and with tremendously more energy.

Laurie noticed a weird graviton signature from a large asteroid. Either it had many tons of iron and steel dotted regularly within it’s crust ... or there were about 10 ships of some kind hidden in a cave inside it.

Laurie says softly, “Sweet heart?”

Toms voice replies quietly, “Yes, love?”

She was so glad that the AI knew immediately which conversations to make private and which not to.

She continues, “Iyyyeee ... am getting some weird readings from that Asteroid. I think it’s an ambush.”

Just as Laurie shows Tom the data she had, 4 ships leave one of the large openings in the asteroid. 2 heavy missile cruisers and 2 beam ships. No mistaking now that there were 4 free and clear to navigate, 6 still within the cave. 2 of the signatures in the cave ... represented some kind of huge unknown ship.

Tactical comes on the ear piece, “Captain ...”

Tom replies, “I know ... Commander Blake’s tracking them already.”

He opens another interface and it shows the course plots the 4 had taken. They apparently were charging their weapons for an attack. With a wave of his finger, the plot split down the middle and a visual of long range sensors came up in the other half of the display. They showed another Anquatine ship. From the signature, it was one of their own beam ships.

Tom says in an Authoritative voice, “Navigation, “Plot an intercept course. Bring us up between them and the approaching ship. I want to ... introduce them to the new and improved Trinity Moon. Tactical, lock weapons on the 2 beam ships first. Take them out totally. I want the missile ships damaged severely ... but I want survivors. I don’t want the transmissions jammed either. I want them to call for help. Let the Empire know ... We’re back and are ... pissed!”

The acknowledgments from tactical and navigation came through simultaneously ... but clearly.

Laurie watched as the display blinked. Trinity Moon had over taken and come up half way between the oncoming Anquatine beam ship, and the Galactic Empire battle group. The Battle Group had no idea ... the ambush was on them.

Tom barked, “Weapons ... tie into Tactical and bring forward neutron plasma cannons on line.”

Weapons replied, “Aye, Captain ... tied in and have solutions plotted ... forward cannons up.”

Tom raises his hand and points his finger at the Weapon’s Officer and says, “Wait for my command.”

The young officer replies, “Yes sir.”

Laurie says quietly, “Tom, You realize that the beam ships won’t have time to raise their shields before the first salvo hits. There’s little chance of ... the missile ships getting off any weapons before we destroy them too.”

Tom nods his head and replies, “You don’t know about crazers yet. They are armed at all times and can be fired instantly. No charging required. They’re not as powerful as Plasma weapons ... but they are formidable in their own right. They are used to detonate neutron plasma balls before they impact.”

“Weapons, Captain ... targets within range in ... 5 seconds and accelerating.”

Tom replies, “Stand by to fire ... “

“Aye, standing.”

Suddenly the display before Laurie changed and Tactical came on. She could feel the silent countdown until the accelerating targets came under weapon’s fire. Laurie was sure ... that they already were within range ... Tom wanted to make it seem more over whelming and give them as little time as possible to realize they were under attack.

“Weapons ... mark”

“Aye ... tagged”

Tom said quietly with much satisfaction in his voice, “For all the blood and death you have brought ... Fire all forward batteries.”

Laurie heard the acknowledgment, she felt the ship shudder as each plasma cannon released its tremendous blast of neutron plasma. She knew this must be a powerful blast because she could ... feel it in the ship, the new inertial dampeners were just barely able to keep up when all 16 of them fired at once.

The Tactical Display lit with the plasma trajectories. Seconds before they impacted, the other ships fired some kind of energy weapon at the heart of the approaching plasma. They did a fair job of attempting to raise the shields too. It did dampen the massive energy frequency a little, but as tremendously more powerful they were than normal ... it didn’t matter in the least.

Laurie watched as the plasma impacted on the partial shields of the beam ships. They flared brightly for mere seconds before the generators overloaded and exploded. The hulls of the ships burned brilliantly in the icy cold of space as the beam ships became glowing plasma and debris.

All comms on the bridge became silent for a split second as the awesome destructiveness of their new weapons became clear. The quickly expanding clouds of ionized gas and plasma bore stark witness.

Tactical display changed. It now showed the missile ships had turned on their search sensors. They didn’t realize it, but they were scanning exactly the right coordinates ... but the wrong coronal bubble. Tom smiles, he has them deep within targeting range ... and they don’t even know where the Trinity Moon is.

Tom says softly, “Weapons ... I want survivors ... I want them to see it was Trinity Moon. Tactical ... set displacement to current ... weapons ... fire all forward batteries.”

Tactical responded, “Displacement current”

Weapons replied, “Firing.”

The ship shuddered again as the batteries fired their awesome plasma death. The Missile ships had seen Trinity Moon mere seconds before they realized ... they couldn’t evade its weapon’s fire. To them ... Trinity Moon had suddenly appeared from no where less than 40,000 meters off their bow ... point blank for plasma weapons, and fired. Tactical showed their feeble attempt to strengthen their forward shields.

The Neutron Plasma impacted on their shields ... they flared as bright as a nova for a split second before the generators melted down and exploded under the massive overload. Large chunks of hull plating burned away. The engine rooms of the Missile ships began having massive 2ndary explosions. They obviously were venting atmosphere from many locations ... fire burning through the clouds like a liquid living thing, until it had consumed it.

Comm lit up with emergency calls for reinforcement and rescue. IT was obvious ... the Missile Ships were seriously damaged. Laurie sat in awed silence as she watched the growing bubble of debris surrounding the 2 crippled ships.

Tom shouted, “Comm ... open a channel to the oncoming Anquatine beam ship. Inform them who it was that attacked and defended. Also ... tell them to run. The Asteroid on their Tactical is an ambush. We will watch their backs.”

Comm responded, “Aye.” A few seconds later comm continues, “Captain ... there’s ... a comm for you. But ... I think Commander Blake needs to take it first and do a bit of explaining.”

Tom inquires, “And, why ... is that?”

Comm replies, “It’s your father, wanting to thank his little girl for the rescue and over watch.”

Tom and Laurie look at each other with surprised expressions. Laurie starts to giggle as Tom replies, “Put us on private conference.”

“Aye Captain ... 3 way private enabled.”

A very handsome middle aged man appears on the screen. He beams a huge smile and says joyously, “Hi, baby girl! I knew the stories of your ship being destroyed were exaggerated. I’m very grateful for the assist ... but ... how did you manage it? You just .. appeared suddenly and the Battle group was ... in pieces.”

Laurie says shyly, “Uhh .. Hi, dad. I think ... I have a few things to tell you.”

Tom says softly, “I think you had better be prepared for what you’re going to hear ... Admiral Tvassu.”

The Admiral looks at the both of them and smiles broadly as he says jovially, “Ok, I’m game ... I promise to listen and say nothing until one of you says it’s ok. What I really want to hear ... is why my daughter isn’t the Captain of her own ship?”

He cocks his head to the side and raises an eyebrow. Laurie makes a face as she looks to Tom. Tom shrugs his shoulders.

Laurie sighs and replies in a small voice, “Well ... technically ... she is captain of her own ship.”

Tom joined in, “I ... found a devise dad ... it swapped our life force ... I’m her,” he points to Laurie.

Laurie points to Tom and replies sheepishly, “And I’m him.”

Admiral Tvassu’s face still had it’s smile on it. He looked from one image to the next in his holo-interface.

His only response, “I want to see the both of you at Rendezvous, ASAP. Is that clear?”

Tom and Laurie simultaneously said, “Yes sir!”

The comm went dead and the beam ship spun on its axis and disappeared into NR space under 4,200 gravities.

Laurie says softly, “Sweetheart?”

“Yes, baby.”

“I think ... we have a huge lotsa explaining to do.”

Tom replies Sardonically, “You think?”

Ghost Stories

Tom had cloaked the ship and stood at station keeping, 40,000 meters from the 2 disabled Missile ships.
2 super dreadnaughts, a missile ship, and 3 beam ships quickly arrived after the SOS began. Tom knew he could take the Super dreadnaughts as well, and this would be wonderful additions to his kill score.

Tom says with a tinge of excitement in his voice, “Weapons, I want you to target the super dreadnaught’s engine and power stations. Pretend their shields are not up.”

The young tactical officers incredulous voice replies, “Targeted and locked.”

A small converted battle ship under normal circumstances, stood no chance against behemoths like this, much less 2 at the same time. It was one thing to over power beam ships ... it was excitingly impressive to knock out 2 missile ships ... to destroy 2 super dreds in one attack .... was impossible. A soft murmur began on the bridge. Everyone held their breath and nervously chattered. It would be a devastating blow to the Galactic Empire to loose 2 of their most prized battle ships, and 2 heavy missile cruisers in one strike ... not to mention the fear factor.

Tom watched as Tactical displayed all the weapons pods his opponents had. A complete battle group in one ship. Tom counted 600 missile pods, 125 beam pods, 40 crazer slots, and 200 plasma cannons per ship.

He smiles to his soul as he whispers, “Time to pay sweeties. Weapons ... fire plasma cannons ... full power!”

The Trinity Moon bucked suddenly. It came as a complete shock to the crew at Navigation, the weapons produced so much kick when as all 16 cannons fired at full power, it knocked the ship backwards 25 meters from station keeping. The auto nav computers had to reacquire location.

Tactical display burned red with the attack. Tom and the bridge crew watched with anticipation as the awesome neutron plasma bolts swiftly closed distance to their targets. To the crews of the other ships, the plasma attack had suddenly appeared from nowhere at point blank range. The power readings of the plasma was off the scales and their computers couldn’t compute it. They had no time to respond or react ... only realize ... they were under massive attack.

Laurie gasps at the awesome power of the new plasma cannons as the bolts impact the super dreadnought’s shields. The pyrotechnic display lit up many parsecs with bright bluish white light. The dreadnought’s shields lasted a second or 2 longer than the missile ship’s did before the generators melted down and exploded under the extreme overload.

Huge sections of armorplast shielding burned away as the ships began to vent atmosphere. The ship closest to Trinity Moon appeared to accordion in on itself front to back, before a massive explosion from the power core detonated ... creating a quickly expanding cloud of debris, bodies, and brightly glowing plasma.

The other ship broke in 2 amidships. Massive explosions erupt from the engine compartment half, spewing more debris before its power core breached and exploded. Tactical recorded the front half of the ship, along with the bridge, tumbling off on the front of the over pressure wave created by the massive explosion.

All on the bridge of the Trinity Moon sat in silent awe as it was repeatedly lit painfully bright by the exploding ships. Never before had such overwhelming superiority been demonstrated against the Galactic Empire ... by a single ship.

Tom suddenly shouts, “YES!!! Take that you bastards!” as he slaps the arm of his gravity couch.

A cheer went up from the bridge crew as they began congratulating themselves on a job well done. The other 4 ships began to fire their weapons wildly in the direction of Trinity Moon. There were many that should have been direct hits and caused much damage ... due to the time dilation feature added to their shields ... all the fire passed harmlessly by.

Comm began receiving multitudes of SOS’s and requests for emergency aid. The confusing comms became so massive, they began to be multiphasic and bleed over into the many others.

The survivors told of a ship ... they knew had been destroyed. Many were there the time it happened. They saw the massive beams hit its shields and the huge nova bright flash as it vanished. What they didn’t know ... was the flash was Trinity Moon entering the NR gateway under more power than any in this Galaxy had ever seen ... not its destruction.

Fear grew to monumental proportions as the news of the Ghost Ship from Hell spread like wildfire through out the Galactic Empire. This time ... there were survivors to tell of it and even tactical recordings. Not just vague rumors like all the many other times a legend was born.

Rendezvous

Laurie’s tummy had become queasy after the attack. She had never seen a battle in space before, and the destruction and loss of life had gotten to her. While Tom and the rest of the Bridge crew cheered and celebrated, Laurie had retired to her quarters and lain down. She covered her eyes and allowed the massive explosions of the battle play over in her mind. She knew, there were survivors in the foreword half of the Dreadnaught that had been swept away on the pressure wave. Even though they were the enemy, she hoped they were found before life support was exhausted. Suffocation is a horrid way to die.

Tom sat silently in his gravity couch for a long time and watched the rescue operations. He was sorely tempted to destroy the remaining ships, but he also wanted survivors and records. He remembers the command his father had given him and decided after several hours of watching and listening to the hysterical comm chatter, that he would go to the coordinates of Rendezvous. He and Laurie had mountains of explaining to do. Tom knew his father was a reasonable man, and with the Medical Logs, the devise, and the Medical staff as witnesses, he would be convinced.

Tom says in his Authoritative voice, “Helm, Set course 348.33 mark 8. Takes us home to Rendezvous. I think I have some .. explaining to do.”

Helm responded, “348.33 mark 8 locked in.”

Tom replied, “Engage ... 6,000 gravities.”

The young helm lieutenant replied, “Aye, Engaged, 6,000 gravities.”

To all those from the Galactic Empire that were alive and in a position to see. From no where, a huge spatial anomaly opened right on their beams. There was a tremendous flash of energies, and space became empty again, except for the debris of the battle and the ships trying to rescue survivors. Science Officers and Tactical Officers alike swore it was a rupture in real time and NR Space. This created even more fear and stories of the Ghost ship.

Tom thought a lot about what he was going to say to her?? Father. Tom had always told him that in another reality, she would have been a man. This always caused his Father to hug and kiss ... her, while he tickled her. Tom smiled at the memories, and the realization that things now are going to be different. It would more than likely be Laurie who gets that kind of attention. Tom began to think about the differences now ... and wonder if a visit to the Sheema’s ... Sanctum ... might not be such a bad idea. He noticed a marked improvement in Laurie after the visit she had.

Another thought came to mind. Tom smiled evilly as he thought of the impact it will have on Rendezvous Docking Control. HE was going to give a live demonstration of the new technology Trinity Moon had been fitted with.

Tom knew Trinity moon will be the only ship in the Anquatine Armada that will have this technology for the better part of a year. Tom thinks of the devastating attack he had just accomplished ... and wonders if there will be any Galactic Empire left in a year.

Arrival
Laurie had returned to the bridge and took her gravity couch. Tom was glad she was back. As Laurie put her headset on, she heard Tom talking to Docking Control, Rendezvous.

“That’s affirmative Trinity Moon. 1/100th relative to core dock 9. I’m sure Captain Meena knows the way.”

Tom replies with a bit of a snort, “I’m very well familiar where my home is Lieutenant.”

Dock Control replies, “Yes, sir ... Captain.”

Tom flops back into his gravity couch. He feels slightly miffed .... then realized the young Lieutenant had no way of knowing. There was a lot of explaining that had to be done. Tom knew that’s why his father had wanted them back home ... it was going to be a weird sort of explanation, and if he thought the 2 of them had lost their minds, the best medical care available was right here in Core Control. Tom shook his head. He wondered if his father wouldn’t already think him crazy after this demonstration.”

Tom said softly, “Navigation, slow to 1/100th relative .... Tactical, maintain .05 displacement.”

The smiling reply from both officers, “YESSS SIR!”

There is a ripple of twitters and giggles from the bridge. They know exactly what Tom intends to do .. and it will bloody well scare Docking Control to death.

Tom watched as Navigation manually guided the Star Ship into the docking births. Tom could see several new Destroyers docked in several of the births to starboard. It made him feel good to know that tonnage had increased at least ... by 2 ... not including the Trinity Moon.

The crew could hear repeated requests for Trinity Moon to advance into the birthing area. None of the advanced sensors could detect it. Navigation pulled the sleek Starship right up into the birth and stopped without bumping into the crash pad. For a ship this size, a manual park was impressive credentials for a Pilot.

Tom says softly, “Set displacement current ... Hello peoples ... we’re Home.”

To the Docking Masters and their assistants, Trinity Moon appeared from nowhere. The young Lieutenant on duty in Docking Control fell out of his chair and spilled his coffee all over. The radars lit up with the presents of a ship in a place ... it’s not supposed to be. Alarms sounded. The Lieutenant picks himself from the floor and turns off the security alarms. Emergency Klaxons begin to sound loudly through out the station. The automated docking computer recognized the Trinity Moon and attached all mooring clamps and power couplers. The Bridge lights blinked slightly as it switched from internal to external power.

The entire Rendezvous Station was now on Red Alert. The Admiral stood at his desk and looked over the sudden appearance of his daughter’s ship. He knew from the battle earlier ... her ship had at least 1 new capability. He also was concerned by their babbling about ... switching bodies. He hoped some kind of Space Psychosis hadn’t robbed him of an obviously excellent captain ... and his daughter.

The Admiral walked to his personal comm and pushed a red button. A bright female voice responded, “Yes Admiral?”

He responded, “Take the station off of red alert ... return to amber at level 3. Have my daughter and ... the Captain of Trinity Moon brought to my office please. ”

She responded, “Yes sir, immediately.”

He walks to his cabinet and removes a short thick bottle and pours himself a glass of amber liquid as the alarm klaxons went silent. He replaces the bottle and drinks down the glasses contents in 1 gulp, then walks back to the observation port to watch the berth Trinity Moon now rested in. He wonders what his daughter has gotten herself into ... this time.

~~ End Pt3 ~~

[Admin]

Proposition - Pt.4

Reckoning

As Tom busied himself with normal docking protocols, he knew he would need the data concerning the ships new upgrades and the medical data concerning the Life Force swap he and Laurie had done. Tom calls the data up on his holo console, then makes a crystal backup of it on his Padd. He slips the Padd into his pocket and zips the pocket closed.

Comm says, “Captain, you, and the First Officer, are required to be in the Admiral’s office.”

Tom raises an eyebrow in surprise as he snaps back, “Oh, really, and this is news?”

Comm replies sheepishly, “You don’t understand Captain. The Admiral has sent an armed guard to escort you there ... now.”

Out of the transport tube stepped 4 armored and well armed Troopers. They unslung their weapons as they walked from the tube to the Command Central where the First Officer’s Couch and the Captain’s couch were. 3 of the men stood at sharp attention while the sergeant stepped forward.

The Sergeant says respectfully, “Sir, we are required to escort you and the Admiral’s daughter to his office without delay.”

Tom raised his hands palm up and replies, “That’s the first place we are going. I know you’re aware of what I have to do before we leave the ship in berth?”

The sergeant nods his head and replies, “Yes, Sir. We will have to escort you through those duties. You and Meena are required to be in our site at all times until you are in the Admiral’s office.”

Laurie looks at Tom with big eyes as she says softly, “Are you sure this ... wasn’t a big mistake Tom?”

Tom replies, “I’m not real sure about anything at this point. I do know, Dad’s really ... upset over everything.” He slowly shakes his head then continues, “All right people, let’s get a move on. Follow us so we can get the ship board docking procedures completed.”

The 4 armed men followed at a respectful distance behind the Captain and First Officer as they completed all the manual shut down of the bridge and Engineering section. They insured all the massive weapons were completely powered down and grounded to the berth so there would be no accidental discharges.

By the time all the I’s were dotted and the T’s crossed, several hours had passed. This was normal for a ship just into the birth. The armed men escorted Laurie and Tom across the huge Tarmac into Core Control.

As they stepped into the sparkling swirling mist of the Transport tube, the Sergeant said, “Admiral’s office.”

When they stepped out of the tube, Laurie stopped suddenly and her mouth dropped open. Out of the huge armorplast view port behind the Admiral’s desk, was the enormous swirling mass of the accretion disk and event horizon of a massive black hole. All around it beyond the graviton distortion were huge Planetesimal sized devices. What ever the technology, she could only guess at. It was many centuries beyond anything she had seen on Earth.

The Admiral was taking a hard perusal of his daughter’s face as she looked at it. He swiveled in his chair and looked out the huge port as he said, “That, young lady ... as you should already know, is the power source of the station.”

He swivels back and waves his hand to the chairs in front of his desk. Tom looks at Laurie for a second before taking her hand and escorting her to the chair. Both of them sat ... the Admiral’s smile vanished.

He said in a deep growling angry voice, “Now, before I throw both of you into the brig for the remainder of your lives, I think you had better explain just what in the Hell’s going on ... and make it clear, to the point, and .... I hope you have brought a whole lot of corroborating data to back it up.”

Tom unzipped his pocket and removed the Padd. He put it on the Admiral’s desk and sat back in the chair.

Tom said softly, “Dad, I have made some startling discoveries ... and brought back the technological edge we need to finally defeat the Galactic Empire totally and run them from our Galaxy. I destroyed 2 Missile ships and 2 Super Dreadnaughts with just a Battle Ship. Imagine what we could do with an entire Battle Fleet of Special Purpose Dreadnaughts all equipped with this technology.”

The Admiral leans forward and picks up the Padd. He looks at it for a minute before his blue eyes rest on Tom again ... Tom knew the fire he saw in them ... and he knew his Father was very intrigued.

The Admiral growls, “First off young man, I’m not real sure who you are. I see you holding a position on my daughter’s personal ship that you do not have the ability to hold. I see her in the position of 1st Officer on her own damn ship.” He slaps his empty hand on the desk causing all on its top to jump. “I see my daughter’s ship appear suddenly from no where and take out an entire Battle group single handedly ... then ... I hear nonsense about the 2 of you swapping bodies. Last, but not least, I see the same ship miraculously appear in its home berth with out being detected by some of the most advanced sensors in the galaxy. I want first and foremost ... to know ...” he looks at Laurie with softening eyes, “Is it really you in the male body? Or have the both of you gone daft? Be advised, I’m not in the mood for any childish pranks.”

Laurie says softly with a tinge of fear in her voice, “Umm ... Admiral, I know I look a lot like your daughter, but, I’m not really. I don’t know what the device is,” she points to Tom, “He has it locked up in our quarters. It really did ... swap us ... and it has been a real adventure for me since. I’m from a planet called Earth ...”

The Admiral snorts a quick laugh and comments, “A planet called dirt.” He shakes his head.

Laurie blushes and squirms nervously, “We have no such Technology such as I have seen on the Trinity Moon ... or anywhere else except in fantasy fiction stories.”

Tom says, “If you look at the data on my Padd there, you’ll see what we are saying is true.”

Laurie adds softly, “I think we can take the shipyard at Hellenas Planetia to help retrofit the current fleet. A single ship with its engineering department completely refit the Trinity Moon in about 2 months ... along with making repairs from battle damage.”

The Admiral looks sharply at Laurie as he replies, “And how do you propose to take the most heavily defended location in the Empire without ...”

The Admiral’s expression softens suddenly as he looks down at the Padd in his hand. He realizes the potential suddenly as he remembers the battle he witnessed between the Trinity Moon and the Empire’s ambush. He sits back in his chair and lets out a breath in a soft whooshing sound. If they controlled the Ship yard there ...

He takes the Padd and opens the back panel on it and removes the memory crystal. He plugs it into the computer station on his desk and allows it to down load the massive data it contained. He stared with great interest as the holo console lit up with Trinity Moon’s Engineering and Science departmental analysis and the actual schematics and diagrams. The Admiral paid special attention to the large data file from the Medical department. He couldn’t believe it ... but here it was in the Ship’s report ... the Man sitting across from him ... was, in fact, his daughter.

The Admiral stands and walks slowly around his desk to Tom. He musses his hair and then bends and hugs him tightly.

The Admiral says softly, “Meena, I was so upset when we deciphered a Battle Analysis report from the Empire that showed your ship being destroyed in an ambush. I had no idea that you survived ... much less return to me as my son. It’s been months since the battle and no word other wise.” He turns and looks at Laurie, “I still have the greatest feelings for you as well. You’re ... in flesh at least ... still Meena.” He waves his hand towards the holo console, “And this new technology ... it’s incredible! Those crystals in the power source depicted here, we have a huge asteroid belt that is full of them around Gamma Hydroxyl ... more than our civilization could hope to use in many hundreds of thousands of centuries.” He turns and looks fondly on the 2 sitting, “Are there anymore surprises I should know about?”

Laurie blushes pink and says in a soft shy voice, “Well ... Tom is my ... Husband for one ...”

The Admiral responds with a curious tone, “Husband? Just what is a husband, pray tell?”

Tom Replies, “It’s the same as a Life Mate Consort, dad.”

Laurie adds even more softly and shyly, “I’m ... also pregnant.” She looks down and places her hands on her tummy.

The Admiral’s expression changes suddenly to one of incredulity. He slightly stumbles backwards and flops in his chair.

He says with total shock in his voice, “P ... pregnant? I thought that you didn’t like boys ... I mean ... you were ... What’s Vickie going to say about this?”

The Admiral stands from his chair, looks at the 2 of them. He walks to his cabinet and removes a short thick bottle and pours himself a glass of amber liquid. He returns to his chair with the bottle in one hand and the glass in the other. After he sat in the chair again, he drank down the glass and poured himself another. At this point, he removes his very sharply tailored uniform jacket and drapes it across the back of the chair with a flip of his wrist, then removes his tie and undoes his shirt’s top 3 buttons. He takes another drink and refills the glass before sitting back in the chair with a sigh and propping his feet on the desktop.

As he sipped his drink he commented, “Well, now ... seems we have a bit of a quandary ... not to mention a total mess. I like Vickie and think she’s a wonderful girl, Meena. I think we should call her and inform her of ... this ... change.”

Laurie says with a tinge of temper in her voice, “And just who is Vickie, Mr. Thomas Tvassu? Or is this something ... a Consort shouldn’t know?”

The Admiral takes a long drink from his glass and laughs before refilling it. He pinches his nose with his free hand as he shakes his head.

Tom frowns at the Admiral as he replies, “Vickie was my ... lover for a longtime. I ... never liked boys because I always wanted to be one. I wasn’t keeping it a secret ... I just didn’t really think all of the ramifications of the swap ... just that it would fulfill my dream as it did yours.”

Tom stands and walks to the Admiral’s cabinet and retrieves a glass. He walks to the desk and pours some of the amber liquid into the glass before sitting back in the chair.

The Admiral waves his hand in a flippant manner and says, “I think it would be wise to have her brought here ... and given an explanation. That way ... if she looses it ... we can control her better.”

Tom nods and removes his comm from his pocket. He pushes a button on the front of it. In about 7 seconds ... it beeped 3 times.

Tom says softly, “Well, she’s on her way. Laurie, wait until you meet her before you have a fit too ... please?”

Laurie was obviously upset, but she nodded her head in agreement.

It was several hours before Vickie could be at the Station. She was off world and had just completed her assignment. Even at 9,000 gravities ... it would be the better part of the day.

The 3 of them had a long and heart felt conversation about ... everything, including arrangements for Laurie to have the baby.

The wonders of time displacement and invisibility were hot topics. The Admiral even had the Trinity Moon’s Tactical data down loaded so he could watch the overwhelming defeat of the Super Dreadnaughts ... the only ships in the Galactic Empire’s Armada that the Anquatines feared. It was fast, maneuverable, heavily armed, and heavily armored with massive shields. Now, the Empire only had 4 left ... taking of the ship yard with the Trinity Moon as the ambush ... ohhh the celebrations.

The augmentation and massive power boost to the plasma neutron cannons brought the most scrutiny from the Admiral. Combine that with the new time displacement shields and cloaking devise, not to mention the super speeds now attainable with upgraded inertial dampers and the engine technology that was hundreds of years in advance of their own ... the Admiral agreed with one of Tom’s postulations ... would there be a Galactic Empire left in the Anquatine Galaxy within a year.

Several hours into the heavy discussion about the taking of Hellenas Planetia Starship Facility, Vickie arrived. With a grand flourish, a very beautiful young woman in a form fitting battle uniform entered the office. She tosses her helmet onto the rack by the door and proceeds to the Admiral’s desk and gives him a huge hug.

She says cheerfully, “Hi pops, what’s up? Came fast as I could ... speed limit is 20Ly an hours ya know.” She giggles sweetly and kisses him on his cheek.

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Laurie sitting in a chair beside one of the most handsome men she had ever seen. Vickie stands up suddenly and gasps loudly ... her expression was one of shock and great joy.

She shrieks with joy , “Meena!! You’re alive!!” as she runs over and hugs and kisses Laurie all over.

Laurie didn’t really mind being kissed by the very beautiful young woman ... but there was confusion as to how Tom would take it ... and other weird thoughts that began to run through her mind.

Vickie broke the kiss quickly and stepped back with big eyes and her mouth open. She looks at Laurie, then at Tom. She turns and looks at the Admiral with big eyes and a very strange expression.

She turns back to Laurie and says in a low menacing voice, “You look like Meena ... but you’re not. You ... you feel like Meena ... but there’s ... something that makes you entirely different. Are you Meena’s twin ... or are you one of those filthy clones?”

Tom says, “Vic ... settle down. You might even want to have a drink. I know you still drink Lingurian Wine.”

Vickie turns and her eyes narrow for a bit before an expression of surprise takes her features.

Tom says softly, “I know ... your empathy is not making any sense ... is it? It’s nice to have a special ability, but every now and again ... something extraordinary happens and the ether gets muddled.”

Vickie says in a small confused voice, “Just what the hell’s going on here? I do not know you sir ...,”
She reaches slowly out and touches Tom’s face then says in a gasp, “But you ... you’re ... Meena.”

The Admiral had stood and walked to Vickie. He took her gently by the arm and walked her to another chair and sat her in it. He walked back to his desk, poured another drink, then sat back in his chair and propped his feet on the desk.

The Admiral says whimsically, “Well, now ... since we all know that who we think we’re looking at ... isn’t. A little explanation is in order. It seems, Meena has found a way to become a man ... and she gave her body to the person who’s body she took. Does ... that sound about right Meena ... or should I start calling you Tom now?” He shakes his head again and takes another drink.

Tom says softly, I think you should start calling me Tom, dad. And, yes, that’s about right so far. Vickie, I also have taken Laurie ... as my Consort.”

Laurie pipes up and says, “Don’t forget to mention, I’m pregnant with your child.”

Vickie sits silently as all the explanations roll past. She smiles sardonically suddenly and laughs.

Amid he guffawing laughter, she manages to say, “Well, now ... it seems the universe has conspired to make this easy for all concerned. Meen ... I mean ... Tom, You were shown to be destroyed. We have the intercepted Tactical data from the Battle Group that ambushed you. There were no rescue beacons .. or any transponder signals. I basically did my scout thing to keep it all off my mind. Now ...you’re ... back ... but as 2 separate people.”

Tom stands and walks to Vickie and hugs her. He says softly, “I always told you if I found a way to be a man ... I would take it.”

Vickie begins to cry as she whispers, “Who would ever believe you could actually find a devise that could do it ... much less ... bonding with the very person who took your body?? If that’s not ... weird ...”

Tom says softly, “Vickie, when the transfer happened, Laurie and I became the same person. We then were separated into 2 distinct but merged entities. She is a part of me as I am a part of her.”

While Tom comforted Vickie, Laurie was thinking how much she was attracted to Vickie anyway. The passionate kiss Vickie gave her when they first saw each other was ... so nice. More strange feelings and thoughts began to drift through her mind ... just barely loud enough for her to almost hear them. Although the feelings of attraction were obvious.

The Admiral says, “Laurie, Vickie is our front line Scout. She’s the best in the business. She also has a kind of empathy too. She can read spirits and tell intentions. It’s what makes her so good at her job. Meena and Vickie were part of my forward Search and destroy team. They also scavenged parts and raw materials. It’s one of the reasons we’re called Pirates by the Galactic Empire ... we’re exceptionally good at scavenging. I think ... that the 3 of you should be confined to ... your quarters. Since ... it’s the same place for the 3 of you ... I think you need to work this out .. in private. Tomorrow, I will have a plan made to see if we can actually take the Ship Yard. If we can ... the Galaxy is ours again.”

Laurie stands and takes Vickie by the hand and says softly, “Come with Tom and me ... I think we can get past this if we just ... be in the moment and let things take care of themselves.”

Tom leads the way back to their quarters and some ... very nice introductions.

Battle Plans

After Tom and the girls had left the office, the Admiral started perusing the Weapon’s Technical Overview. He discovered how close they had been to this revolutionary advance in Neutron Plasma Technology and couldn’t believe it. The only thing they hadn’t done, was the nano upgrades to the Bussard Rams that funneled the high temperature neutron plasma, and the Super Conductance Cryogenic Capacitors that stored the extreme energy prior to discharge. Couple this with the new crystalline power source ... His mind boggled at the possibilities. This was unlimited energy to pump into the weapons. The only upper limit, was the ability of the rams to handle the plasma.

He began to look over the new engine technology. He discovered that the biggest difference between their NR drive and the new technology, was the core of dark matter that created the massive energy required to make the NR Portal of sufficient strength to create a stable graviton tunnel necessary for matter transfer of the ship from origin to destination.

Torr containment of the Dark Matter was easy with the crystalline power source. A device the size of a coffee can would supply all the power requirements a Special Purpose Super Dread Naught could ever handle ... plus more.

The Chrono Shields and the cloaking technology ... made the ship so equipped totally invisible to all known sensors ... and totally untouchable in plainer normal space. The Admiral smiles a deep and satisfied smile as he thinks of what would be on the Empire’s Battle Command’s mind when plasma balls of unimaginable power spring from point blank range ... and decimate everything.

The Admiral reaches over to the comm box and pushes a button. A bright and chipper female voice answers, “Yes, Admiral?”

He replies with a strange tone in his voice, “I want the Department heads of Engineering, Donatuea Ship Yard, Asteroid Mining, and Strategic Planning in my office immediately. Tell them to bring all their little toys and lots of coffee ... we’re planning a major refit of our entire Armada and ... a new type of battle ship ... The Omega.”

Her quick reply, “Yes Sir! Immediately.”

The Admiral stands and buttons his shirt and ties the tie neatly. He gathers his coat from the back of his chair and puts it on. He turns and drinks the last of his drink before putting the bottle and glasses away.

He walks to the huge armorplast view port and looks out at the power source of the station. As unimaginably powerful as that was ... it was only good for planetary systems. With this new crystal ... they now had a portable unlimited power source ... the possibilities were awe inspiring.

He watched as the massive accretion disk of the singularity slowly pin wheeled in the vastness of space before him.

Wheels within Wheels

Within the hour, all the department heads had arrived and were seated in the Admiral’s office. The news of building a new Special Purpose Super Dreadnaught caused a great deal of excitement. The only real dissension on its construction ... was the head of Donatuea Ship Yard. To build just one of those Battle Groups in one ship would take all of the yard’s facilities and resources. They would be unable to keep up with the attrition rate among the other ships.

The Admiral quieted all the arguing officers as he opened a holo console with the new weapons, shields, cloaks, and engine technology specifications.

The Admiral says, “Gentlemen, we have in our possession a new technology that places us in the position to retake our Galaxy from the invaders. I agree with the Major that we need a better facility with more capabilities to build the Omega.” The Admiral opens the new technical schematics on the Trinity Moon and allows them to examine them for a few minutes before continuing, “As you can see, we have a Battle Ship that has already been outfitted. As you can also see in the Tactical Record of the most recent engagements, 2 of the Empire’s most dreaded ships do not have the capability to survive an attack by this single ship. With this ship as the ambush, I propose taking the Hellenas Planetia Starship Facility.”

A loud murmur rises briefly as the Officers realize the potential.

The Captain that is the Head of Strategic Planning states in his gravely voice, “That’s a huge facility, Admiral ... and probably one of the most heavily defended places in the Empire. They have many orbital beam and plasma stations, not to mention a highly effective sensor net surrounding it. We can’t get within a light year of the place before they know we’re coming.”

The Commander that was the head of Engineering spoke up in reply, “If I’m reading this Diagram right, it seems we have a time displacement and a cloaking ability. The power requirements are tremendous though. Using our current singularity power source, the consumption rate would exceed supply by many thousands of percent if the ship is cloaked. We would be unable to fire weapons ... or do anything else while still shielded.”

The Admiral smiles as he brings up a new display on the holo console. He says brightly, “This, my friends, is how we supply all the power requirements.”

The men leaned closer for a better view. In the display, were the Technical breakdowns of a brand new crystalline power source and the subsequent Dark Matter containment unit. One of the by products of the crystal was Dark Matter. The Dark Matter was used in a brand new reaction vessel that created unimaginable power for use in the new engine technology. Trinity Moon literally produced unlimited power. The only limitation, was the ability of the Rams and the plasma conduits to contain and transfer.

Even this was mitigated. All looked with awe at the redesign and construction of both rams and conduits. There were schematics for many types of super conducting heat sinks that allowed for repeated immediate firings of the Neutron Plasma Cannons without the necessity for a cool down. The only lag between firings ... is the time required to create and build the plasma to discharge levels. In essence, a ship equipped with the new weapons technology, could fire their cannons once every 10 seconds ... this was unheard of ... the heat build up would be like the center of a sun. The new heat sinks handle it with ease and even re-channeled the heat to aid in the Dark Matter reactions, improving engine operations.

The Admiral brings up another display on the holo console and explains, “This is a Star Map of Gamma Hydroxyl.” He focuses the display to the Asteroid belt surrounding the system, “And this .... is where we find the crystals to build the power source. A device the size of this pitcher,” he picks it up to show the other officers, “is what gave the Trinity Moon the over whelming superiority to take out 2 Super Dreadnaughts single handedly.”

The Admiral grins as the room explodes with excited voices.

The Admiral points to the Captain in charge of Mining and asks, “How long do you think it will take for your department to have a significant quantity of this crystal? Bear in mind, we know next to nothing about how this crystal will react to our current mining procedures. I don’t want anyone getting hurt or killed in process ... at least ... I want it kept to absolute minimums.”

Engineering piped up and said, “Admiral, on the next screen, it gives detailed mining instructions. I see the crystals need to be handled with care ... they have a habit of exploding violently if mishandled.”

Mining opens another holo console with the mining instructions. He has the data along with the star maps transferred to his section Chief.

He says with confidence in his voice, “We can have 100 tons in 3 months ... give or take a ton or 2.”

Engineering chimes in, “And we can have several thousand of the power canisters within 60 days of the delivery.”

The head of the ship yard sat silently perusing the data on the consoles. He kept shaking his head slowly for a long time before he spoke, “Admiral, to refit our fleet completely ... would take almost 3 years. Don’t get me wrong ... within the year, we would have several dozen ships refit with the new upgrades. The building of this new Omega Class Special Purpose ... would take at least 2 years per ship ... unless we did take Hellenas Planetia. If I had that facility at my disposal ... we would have an invincible armada within a year and six months.”

The Admiral says, “All right gentlemen, I want all of you on this ... now!” The Admiral taps his finger on the desk making a loud noise. “Everyone get to it. I want Strategic Planning to stay, everyone else is dismissed to begin.”

Everyone in the room stood suddenly and saluted and said in unison, “Aye Admiral.”

The room cleared quickly leaving only the Admiral and the head of Strategic Planning.

An Angry Phantom

In a very lonely stretch of space, 3 small ships pulled Pickett duty. This was as far as you could get from the Empire and still be in Anquatine Galactic Space. At station keeping, 400 megakliks away was a small agra-station. The only defenses it had, were the 3 ships patrolling. The station was populated mostly with young women and children. The station had been set up to mimic a certain biosphere and all of its flora and fauna. It was maintained as a park for the gifted children of Imeria.

2 of the ships were Destroyers, the 3rd was a small missile ship. It was also equipped with a superconductive railgun and 2 crazer batteries. None of the 3 ships were equipped to handle what happened.

Suddenly, within 50 megakliks to the stern of the patrol, 4 massive Super Dread Naught and 3 beam ships dropped from NR space. All 4 of the SD’s fired their forward weapons as soon as the NR Portal energies had dissipated. The 3 patrolling ships only had enough time to strengthen their rearward shields before the assault struck. The Massive ships turned their sites on the helpless station as the 3 defending ships exploded into bright burning plasma and debris. Little was left of the station by the time the battle group reentered NR space. At the station’s ruins, many tremendous explosions and massive ventings to space. Fire raged in the venting as a wild thing. The few survivors told of begging for their lives. Recovered data proves the station had IDed that they were an unarmed noncombatant station.

One of the few who were still true blooded Imerian ... was Tom and his family. Many of the dead women and children, were his family. A man’s wrath grew within Tom’s heart. One thought on his mind as he stormed into the Admiral’s office, was revenge. The Empire had killed his mother by destroying another such unarmed station in a surprise ambush like this one. The Admiral ... had genocide on his heart as Tom and he made ... personal plans.

2 days later, Laurie and Tom were sitting in their gravity couches preparing to leave Rendezvous Station. With them were 4 other battle ships. The plan was, that the battle ships would be the bait ... Trinity Moon the ambush.

The Admiral stood at the armorplast port and watched the pride of his fleet and its escort, as they vanished into NR Space. They knew exactly where the SDs were. Soon, the Empire would discover ... there is a Ghost with unlimited power after them.

Once this side mission was complete, Hellenas Planetia Starship Facility belonged to the Imerium. There were 6 beam ships, 3 destroyers, and 3 small missile ships that awaited at station keeping for the arrival of the Trinity Moon and her escorts in the Hellenas Star System.

Tom said with a slight growl in his voice, “Navigation, set course 656.72 mark 6 on the delta gradient.”

The young Ensign replies, “Course set 656.72 mark 6 delta.”

Tom snaps, “Engage, 9000 gravities! Set time displacement to .05”

The young Ensign replies, “Engaged, 9000 gravities, time displacement to .05”

A massive NR portal opens, the 5 ships jump into NR space and vanish. The Trinity Moon appears to be an ephemeral ghost without the cloak engaged. Sensors would be unable to scan or provide a weapon’s lock, or hit it with weapon’s fire, how ever all would be able to see it on all of the visuals. She was truly an Avenging Spirit.

The Admiral salutes and whispers, “Revenge, Captain Thomas Tvassu. Show no mercy.”

Contact

The 4 SDs and their beam ship escorts drop out of NR Space 1 parsec from their home berthing facility. The Captain of the flag ship Dugo BuHey sat back in his chair with a smug bit of prideful accomplishment. He had struck at the heart of the foul Pirate infestation and knew there would be many thousands less of them to worry about in the future. It was the merest accident that a long range drone had even detected the station and it escorts. The fact that station was unarmed and the Empire violated about every Intergalactic Law to destroy those stations ... meant nothing.

The Battle group came to station keeping as they transmitted the security recognition codes to the Facility. He smiles as he looks at the planetoid sized weapon’s platforms and AI controlled Search and Kill droids defending the central Facility. He knew in his heart, with them and his battle group there, this was an impregnable repair and living Facility. This was by no means a Dry Dock or a construction yard, but it did have the ability to maintain his small battle group including all the up to date upgrades for his SDs.

The Molten Core of the planetoid the Facility was constructed on had been utilized as a power source. Using ancient water cooling and generation systems used in centuries old Nuclear Reactor technology, they had almost unlimited power. As long as the core of the planetoid remained hot enough to boil some type of liquid or colloidal medium ... they had power. Enough power to service the many hundreds of plasma cannons and beam pods strategically located in what was known as: The Sphere Of Death. Any ship entering this area would be met with an unimaginable, indefensible attack. Any attack against individual grids of the Sphere ... well, His battle group could mop that up in a hurry.

The Captain hears his tactical officer in his headset, “Captain, I am picking up a Large NR portal opening 4 parsecs from outer marker. Ummm ... the signal appears to be jammed, there’s a lot of interference ... I can’t get an exact reading on long range ... but it appears there are 4 Battle Ships with weapon’s armed setting up a stealth approach to the arrival corridor. They are pirate.”

The Captain muses for just a bit. He thinks it’s strange that the signal wasn’t completely degraded. Those cursed Pirates always did have the upper hand when it came to a technological edge. Still, if this easy kill was being offered up ... it would be just another thing to put on his promotion recommendation.

At that moment, along with his communications officer’s verification, all the tactical displays went to battle station red. The entire facility went to battle stations as the massive Neutron Plasma cannons and beam pods came to life. The SK drones began to track and lock onto the weak and fuzzy signals and to disappear off into the void for the kill.

The 4 Imerium Battle ships set up what was supposed to look like an ambush. They had to have their engineering section to mistune the jamming technology so the enemy would be able to see them. They sat in anxious anticipation. If what they had been told about the Trinity Moon was wrong ... this would be suicide.

The Imerium Captains watched as the Facility went on Battle Alert. The SK Droids were easy to handle. Their power sources made it easy to spot and kill them long before they were in their own weapon’s range. If they were unexpected however, they were deadly, highly maneuverable, very fast, and highly intelligent weapons platforms. The perfect ambush weapon.

They watched as the 4 SDs pivoted on their central axis and assumed attack formation. Their massive weapons came on line and the ships sensors began to signal solid lock. The attack would come very soon and would be formidable indeed.

From astern of the SDs, a flash of energy that totally surprised everyone. When the massive energy had dissipated, A Battle ship of the Killer Class appeared. It was ... vaporous and simi-transparent. It appeared on none of the sensors, only in the visual displays. Weapons computers couldn’t track or lock onto the image. As far as the AI was concerned, the visual images being fed to it were inaccurate. The Name in bold black on it’s white Hull was unmistakable to all who had been at the ambush that day, or to the survivors of the attack on the 2 other SDs ... this was the Trinity Moon.

Weapon’s Officers took manual controls and began firing at the coordinates of the image ... to no effect. Fear rose in the crew of the Facility’s hearts. The Avenging Ghost was here ... now!

Laurie said softly, “Sweetie, I’m reading several ... thousand weapons all powered up. Transmitting their coordinates to Tactical.”

The Data appeared on the Tactical holo console. If Trinity Moon hadn’t been displaced in time, there would have been no chance of her even getting off a shot. Several hundred neutron plasma bolts had passed harmlessly through them and off into interstellar space before the energies that constituted them dissipated.

Tom says with a great deal of satisfaction in his voice, “Weapons, I want you to target their engine rooms and engineering only. I want them unable to move. I want them to watch as their lovely Facility becomes a graveyard.”

Tactical replies, “Aye Captain, The SD’s engines and engineering sections are targeted and locked ... what about the beam ships”

Tom replies, “Our Battle ships are more than a match for them. Fire all weapons, full power!”

All 18 of the Plasma Cannons fire. The Trinity moon bucks and is displaced by the massive energy discharge, station keeping computers have to reacquire location. The sheer mass of the plasma due to its constituent neutron content more than likely out weighed the large Gas Giant that orbited Delta Star.

The Captain of the Dugo BuHey shouts at his crew, “Evasive ... Now!! I want 9000 gravities and room to maneuver!”

10 seconds later, another 18 plasma Balls spring to life from the Trinity Moon. The crew of the SDs didn’t have any more time to react. The Captain only had a few seconds to contemplate this impossible fire rate before the first plasma attack hit his rear and side shields.

The Shields flared nova bright for a second before the generators over loaded and exploded. Massive amounts of plasma impacted on the plasteel armor of the hull and boiled it away. The ship began to vent atmosphere violently. The engine room appeared to accordion in on itself as the engineering section became a massive boiling sphere of hot debris and flash fire. The pride of the Empire, Dugo BuHey has been totally disabled. The lights and life support on the bridge go out with the loss of engineering. All gravity is lost as the ship begins to slowly tumble scattering debris, bodies, and hot plasma into an ever winding sphere.

The 2nd SD fared worse. After the impact, the Power Core breached and exploded violently. The bright ball of energy was surrounded by a flat ring of scattering debris. The remaining 2 SDs managed to spin around and face this Horrid apparition of death and bring their main weapons to bear.

The plasma torpedoes exploded exactly where Trinity Moon should have been. The Empire’s Tactical officer’s plotting skill left nothing to chance. All to no avail. The surviving crew only knew they had to run ... Captain’s orders or not.

As impossible as it was ... 2 more plasma volleys sprang from the Trinity Moon. The heat had to be unimaginable. The fire rate brought 72 plasma torpedoes to bear on them in 40 seconds. This was totally insane.

The SD’s crews had already plotted an emergency exit course at 9,000 gravities before the Captain demanded a retreat. The engines were already starting to build the necessary energies to run as he gave the order.

Just as the ships began to move, before they could even engage their NR drives, The torpedoes impacted their forward shields. They flared brightly for a second before their generators melted down and exploded under the massive over load. The torpedoes impacted the hull amidships, breaking both ship’s back. As the 2 parts separated amid the explosions and oxygen consuming fires, the aft grew bright and exploded again as the power core breached. A Massive debris field scattered rapidly in all directions.

Time elapsed, 1 minute ... Score: 4 SDs totally disabled or destroyed. In the Imerium Battle ships that were handling the beam ships admirably, a cheer went up ... it was absolutely true ... Trinity Moon had the Technology they had been told .... and it was as deadly.

The Facility head began broadcasting its surrender on all channels. He cried about the women and children on the station. Tom felt a pang of guilt at what he was about to do. 2 wrongs didn’t make it right ... although attacking one of the Empires strongest defense stations in the heart of their Empire ... would send the message that any more destruction of Imerium Agra Stations would be avenged ... eye for an eye. Tom didn’t know just how strongly this message was about to be conveyed. The Emperor’s wife, son, and daughter were on this Facility. This station, wasn’t defenseless and was also a military target ... so sad.

Tom said with a gravelly voice, “Tactical, Target the military portion of the Facility. If we can leave survivors ... so be it.”

The young lieutenant’s voice replies, “Target locked.”

Tom replies, “Fire all weapons ... rotation in continuous fire mode.”

A murmur from the bridge crew drifts softly to Tom’s ears as Tactical responds, “Firing.”

1 at a time, Trinity Moon’s plasma cannons fire a massive energy bolt toward the planetoid the Facility was built upon. In continuous rotation, Plasma torpedoes filled the sensors of the Facility. The fire rate was totally impossible ... the heat generated was well in excess of the core of a sun. No one in the Empire had any clue how to dissipate such heat. It was capable of boiling away oceans.

The facility head had no more time to contemplate this ... or anything else in this life. The first plasma torpedoes impacted the Facilities shields. They lasted a whopping 3 seconds before their huge shield generators exploded. The station was helpless as torpedo after torpedo impacted. Huge explosions racked it to the very molten core.

Massive fires erupted and debris cast off into space. The many hundreds of weapon pods went dark as the power failed. A huge explosion sent massive amounts of boiling hot energy and debris spinning off in all directions. The crust of the planetoid cracks centrally and begins to spew tremendous quantities of magma in many fountains of bright glowing pyroclastic displays. A hugely bright and soundless flash, a planetary sized energy wave spreads out at many thousands of klicks an hour from where the Facility and its planetoid used to be.

Tom says quietly, “Cease Fire. Navigation, Plot a course to Hellenas Star System. It’s time we took back our home.”

Navigation replies, “Plotted and locked in sir.”

“Engage, 50,000 gravities.”

“Engaged.”

As the 4 Imerium Battle ships begin rescue operations and taking many, many prisoners, they see the massive NR portal open and the Trinity Moon vanish. All are in awe.

~~ End Pt4 ~~

[Admin]

Proposition Pt5 - Hellanas Planitia

The Emperor sat on his opulent throne, surrounded by his many young and pretty female slaves, and brooded darkly. Nothing they could do would lift his spirits ... he had just gotten the news about 2 of his prized Super Dreadnaughts being totally obliterated by a ... Phantom. Ordinarily he would be throwing a real fit over such foolish news, but this time ... there were eye witness accounts and tactical data to support the claims. This was a real problem.

His favorite slave girl, dressed only in a cute pair of black with red lace tie on bikini panties and a soft, simi transparent matching flutter top, climbed into his lap and hugged his neck gently as she kisses him on his lips and does her absolute best to cheer him up. He held her in his arms and smiles weakly. She giggles softly and acts truly adorable. He is really happy he had taken her in the last raid, she had been a wonderful play toy from the very start. He was sorry that her very tender and loving attentions at this moment had no effect on his mood. He would have truly enjoyed her attentions under any other circumstances.

He waves his hand over a padd on the arm of his throne, a holo-console magically appears in the air in front of him. The Tactical data of the 2 SD’s encounter with the Trinity Moon played through once again. It was inconceivable to him that any vessel had such abilities. Tracking logs indicated the phantom ship just wasn’t where people said it should have been. The data also shows Tremendously powerful Neutron Plasma Torpedoes Slamming into the shields and hulls and totally destroying them. The Armorplast hulls alone should have absorbed many direct hits before causing any damage to the vessel ... much less totally destroying it. The fact the shields failed immediately, was also truly unbelievable.

The door to the throne room opens suddenly and a very old, wizened man hobbles across the thick purple and red carpet leading to the throne. He stops and wheezes breathlessly for a few minutes before bowing deeply.

He wheezes out in his old frail breathless voice, “Your Eminence, I have news of the gravest kind and of the utmost importance.”

The Emperor raised an eyebrow and said in a low growl, “And what news could be more grave than this last bit?” He waves his hand flippantly towards the holo-console.

The old man gasps breathlessly as he bows to his knees. “Master, all the Super Dreadnaughts and their entire battle Facility have been totally obliterated. Several Pirate battle ships were in the area, but .. it wasn’t they who did the damage. The Pirates have taken many prisoners ... all military.”

The Emperor stands suddenly, dumping the extremely pretty young girl in his lap onto her cute round bottom. She scrabbles away in fear as he booms out, “The hell you say!” He steps forward through the holo-console suspended before him and looks down at the old man and continues, “What news of my wife and family?”

The old man replies in breathless fear, “The entire planetoid has been destroyed. None of the weapon emplacements were effective against what ever this Ghost Ship is.” He holds out a memory crystal in his trembling hand, “This is the combined tactical data of all the surviving ships. The Dugo Buhey ... Your most prized and advanced ship, has been damaged beyond repair. The other’s were totally destroyed.”

The Emperor looks down at the trembling old man. He bends and helps him to his feet as he takes the crystal.

He says softly with his rage obvious in his tone, “Old man, you need not fear me nor grovel at my feet. You are my most trusted friend and adviser. Tell me of what did this to one of the most fortified installations in my Empire.”

The old man looks at his Emperor and wheezes breathlessly, “A Killer Class Battle Ship named Trinity Moon.”

The Emperor booms in fury, “A what?! A single ship?! A Battle ship?! Again, the hell you say!!”

His voice echoes throughout the room as all the remaining girls screech in fear and run. The throne room empties as the emperor throws and smashes many objects against the wall in his fury.

He continues in his wrath, “A single Killer Class Vessel destroyed all 6 of my most powerful and advanced battle platforms? Not to mention the most fortified Facility in my Empire? This is Totally preposterous!”

The old man trembles even more in fear as he wheezes, “Please my Lord, look at the data crystal ... it tells all.”

The Emperor unclenched his fist. He sees the crystal in his palm and a small trickle of blood where its sharp contact edge had cut him. He wheels about and flops back on his throne. He removes the first data crystal from the slot near the padd and inserts the new one. The data that appeared ... scared the Emperor for the first time in his long life.

All visual data indicated a Killer class battle ship named Trinity Moon had single handedly attacked his SD’s and his home Facility and destroyed them. There was no tracking data available ... the Tactical Computers declared the visual data to be corrupted ... until Trinity Moon fired its plasma torpedoes. The torpedoes were real ... the fire rate was impossible ... their power was incomprehensible.

A plasma cannon can only fire after it has been allowed to cool for a time. That’s the reason there were so many other types of weapons on the Supers, and why the cannons were exposed to the icy cold of space along with being encased in very advanced cryogenic units. The external temperature was maintained at -300 degrees. Even with this, an SD could not produce a sustained plasma attack, the heat would reach nova proportions rapidly and overload the cryogenic systems, not to mention the power requirements to produce and contain the plasma for a sustained attack.

There were other issues as well. Containment and transfer to the storage unit and the cannon. The storage unit had to be cooled as well as maintain torr containment of the boiling hot and extremely heavy neutron plasma bolt while the bussard rams funneled it to and from the plasma conduits for transfer. All this placed even more of a tremendous strain on the cryogenic cooling systems in a fire fight.

The data clearly indicated, Trinity Moon had no such limitation. He couldn’t fathom the energy required to produce neutron plasma torpedoes of that mass and energy duration, much less repeatedly doing so in less than 10 seconds and in the quantity shown.

He growls menacingly, “Old man, call my war counsel ... now!”

The old man bows deeply and retreats as quickly as his old frame can manage. The Emperor is afraid. He must find a way to counter this threat. He must avenge himself of the death of his wife and family ... his heart sinks into the darkness of hopeless despair as he watches the Trinity Moon single handedly destroy his life.

Vengeance is a Dish Served Cold

Laurie sat in her gravity couch with many holo-consoles wrapped gracefully around her like softly glowing clouds. She was feeling kind of queasy in her tummy again ... morning sickness does that. She released herself from the gravity couch and walked to the transfer tube. She was thinking how wonderful it was to be a girl. Being pregnant ... except for the morning sickness of course and a few other minor things, was perhaps the most exciting thing about being a girl ... next to sex with the man she truly loved. **blushes**

Before entering the tube, she said softly, “Medical.” And walked into the sparkling swirling mist only to appear in a very dark place that seemed to have fog rolling around her feet. The only light seemed to emanate from her own body. All else was featureless. There appeared to be no up, down, or anything else for that matter except for the swirling fog.

The icy fingers of terror began to fill her as she realized, there’s no way back. She wandered around in what she thought would be tight concentric circles several times ... there were absolutely no features of any kind for her eyes to lock onto except for the ever present swirling fog.

Laurie says loudly in a fearful trembling voice, “Hello?? Is anybody here? Can anybody hear me?”

The Stygian darkness completely swallows her voice. To Laurie’s ears, her voice sounded hollow and featureless .... just like her surroundings. Laurie is now on the verge of total panic.

Without warning, A soft glowing sphere of light appears and settles to the same plane Laurie seems to be standing on. From within the light, a figure resolves slowly into ... Vickie. She looks beaten and bleeding from several places and has dark soot stains on her cheeks and hands. Her hair is a total mess, her normally immaculate skin tight body suit was torn ragged.

She speaks, Her voice sounds far away and ghostly, “Meena ... help us. My battle ship has been crippled. We were ambushed by an Imperial siege task force. They out number us 10 to 1 ... we are in desperate need ... please ... hurry.”

Laurie feels the pit of her stomach drop out as she seems to be falling very far ... very fast. Laurie can feel the air rapidly passing her as she falls. She’s suddenly on her knees in front of the transfer tube ... throwing up. She is very ill. Her tummy was extremely upset. Several Medical nurses quickly surround her and help her into Medical Examination.

As she is laid back on the examination couch, The Salt and pepper haired Doctor walks out with a medical scanner padd in his left hand and a pen syringe in the other. He punches several buttons on the front of the padd and scans Laurie from head to foot.

Laurie gasps out in fear, “Doctor ... something just happened .. I have to tell Tom!” as she starts to sit up.

The doctor says softly as he gently but firmly presses her back onto the couch, “Just call me Doc, everyone does. Now, young lady, I am fully aware something has just happened. You have been missing from the ship for the better part of 20 minutes. To put your mind to rest, physically, the only issue is your suffering from a slight case of morning sickness.”

He places the syringe against Laurie’s neck. There is a hissing pop as Laurie feels a sting. Her tummy immediately settles.

Doc continues, “I have notified the Captain you have returned from where ever you went. He and the Science officer will be here in a moment. You just lie back and relax, like a good girl.” he pats her reassuringly on her arm.

As if on cue, the Nano Port opens, Tom and the Science officer enter quickly and walk to the couch Laurie was lying on. Tom takes her by the hand and runs his fingers lovingly through her hair.

Tom says with obvious worry in his voice, “I thought you had fallen out of the universe sweet heart. I was so afraid we wouldn’t ever find you.”

The Science Officer said, “The Transfer Tube diagnostics gave an alert that your matter stream vanished during the assimilation phase. From what I see in the diagnostic readouts, an anomaly opened and you were taken. We have never experienced such a phenomenon in well over 100 years of using this technology.”

Tom chimed in, “And when I got the incident alarm ... I was extremely upset, to say the least. We were looking for a way to track where you might have gone, when ship board sensors reported you were in front of the Transfer tube in Medical Corridor.”

Laurie frantically takes Tom by his arms and says almost hysterically, “It’s Vickie ... it’s ... the battle group you sent to Hellanas! They have been ambushed! Some how, Vickie took me somewhere somehow and told me. They are in desperate trouble and need our immediate help!”

Tom looks into Laurie’s eyes with a knowing understanding before turning quickly and rushing to the comm station on a nearby wall. He waves his hand over the plate and says sternly, “Navigation, this is the Captain, I want speed adjusted to 85,000 gravities. Our battle group at Hellenas has been jumped and needs emergency assistance.”

The young lieutenant’s voice responds, “Forgive me sir, we could be at Hellenas in 5 minutes if you allow me to set for 150,000 gravities. I know we haven’t tested the systems for that ... but I’m sure we can do it.”

Tom replies, “If the engines can handle it, do it and do it now. Set time displacement to .05 no cloak. Let those bastards know who it is bringing them to their knees.”

Navigation replies, “Speed to 150,000 gravities, displacement to .05 ... no cloak.”

The feel of the Trinity Moon changes suddenly. Everyone on board could feel a strange tingling wave run deep within them as she accelerated smoothly far beyond what current physics touted as possible.

Rescue

The captain of the Destroyer Keil Tah sat smugly as he watched several of his missiles impact on the Pirate battle ship’s shields. He was impressed by how well so few ships had thus far defended against such an over whelming attack. Of the 6 beam ships, 3 destroyers, and 3 small missile ships originally in the attack group, 1 destroyer had been totally destroyed, 1 disabled severely, and one damaged but still fully battle capable as the latest update to his tactical display reveled. Of the beam ships, they had all been destroyed, but the payoff was 5 to 1 of them. He hated the superiority they had in beam technology. The Missile ships were another animal all together. They battled on completely unharmed and battle capable as the massive explosion of what used to be the battle ship Koc Err proved.

Of the 70 Ships in his Siege Fleet, 23 of them had been destroyed or disabled beyond repair. Those numbers were staggering. He mused about how the Empire managed to devastate probably the mightiest armada they had ever encountered. A false peace summit ... it had worked far better than hoped. The Empire managed to destroy 2/3rds of the pirate fleet and their home system before they had managed to bring their engines online and power weapons. The surviving collection of ships did manage to devastate their small battle fleet, however many reinforcements arrived from the home system right on time. The Pirates were forced to gather what ever they could and flee after destroying all that was left behind so it wouldn’t fall into the Empire’s hands ... how the Empire had wished they could have found some technology.

The Captain knew as soon as the debris cleared from his last missile strike on the Pirate battle ship, shields had failed and the entire starboard plasma array was gone along with most of the beam pods. He knew the ship was still deadly, although it was just a matter of a few more strikes since the shields failed. The formidable missile ships would be coming to bear the full attack shortly, and they would soon be disabled or destroyed.

He still couldn’t believe how many of his ships might be destroyed before that happened. He was glad this system’s Starship facility was able to replace the ships within a few months, other wise, the Empire would have lost to the pirates many years ago. He also understood very well ... why the Empire kept a close watch for anything that looked like construction of a large scale new ship facility by the Pirates. Such construction was easily discovered. If the Pirates could build ships faster ... he didn’t want to contemplate it.

The Captain’s musings are rudely interrupted, as a huge flash of dark energy and NR wave more powerful than had ever been recorded appeared. A singularity of tremendous power forms in the midst of his remaining siege fleet and a simi transparent vaporous Battle Ship appears.

The ship doesn’t show on any of the tactical tracking displays. The Captain stares at his visual display in disbelief. The dark lettering on the white hull left no mistake in his mind ... The Ghost Ship Trinity Moon had arrived ... and this time it was his turn to face its wrath.

Laurie had returned to the bridge, the shot Doc had given her had done the trick. She was wrapped in a soft cloud of holo-consoles filled with tactical information on the Empire’s battle fleet.

Of particular interest to her, was the battle cruiser Mariposa. She wiggles a finger and another small display opens with long range scans of her condition. Vickie’s ship was badly damaged, but life support was still operational. There had been many of the crew killed. Laurie hoped they had arrived in time to save Vickie ... she hoped. Visuals of Vickie’s ship showed she had put up a massive fight.

Laurie says softly into her tactical headset, “Sweetie, Mariposa lives. She’s critically damaged ... but life support is functioning. Here’s the tactical and firing solutions on the Empire fleet.”

A small holo-consol opens to the left of Tom’s elbow with the data. Tom waves his hand slightly, the screen moves to his lap.

Tom says Authoritatively, “Tactical, target all remaining enemy contacts. Fire beams and Plasma Torpedoes on a rotating basis. I want to see single shots adding up to a huge attack. I want them to be astounded unto death!”

A soft twitter of laughter ripples across the bridge.

Tactical replies, “Single targeted on a rotating basis, Aye.”

Tom said softly, “Burn in hell.” As he clenches his fist before him.

Tactical replies, “Firing.”

There are 18 Neutron Plasma Torpedo cannons on a Killer Class Battle Cruiser, 12 Beam pods, 4 missile launchers, and 8 crazer batteries for plasma defense. With the 18 Cannons firing in continuous rotation, it meant a constant stream of Plasma flowed from the Trinity Moon ... one torpedo at a time.

The fire rate was unheard of. Rapidly, the space between Trinity Moon and the Empire ships filled with massively powerful Neutron Plasma as the fire control AI spun the ship on her axis and each enemy ship was individually targeted. The Enemy Captains scrambled to move their ships under emergency power. Due to the extremely close proximity ... they could mostly only look on in astonished fear.

Tom said softly, “Helm, move us to station keeping with our ships. Bring our Torpedoes to bear. Engage, 1,000 gravities. I really don’t want to be in the middle of this ... I would rather watch.”

Helm Responds, “Aye, Captain ... us too. 1000 gravities to mark 122.2 by 6.98 relative ... station keeping. Torpedoes locked on enemy targets.”

To the Captain of the Destroyer Keil Tah, for an instant, there suddenly were 2 Trinity Moons. One at the heart of this rapidly expanding sphere of plasma death, the other at station keeping among the Pirate Battle Group half a parsec away. Then one vanished, leaving his Siege Fleet alone to die in the hellish fire of man made micro supernovas.

The crews scrambled frantically to flee. Many had just gotten their ships engines ready for the NR jump when the first impacts came.

Tactical recorded the entire move Tom had ordered. Due to the limitation on firing plasma up till that point, that maneuver was just something drunken Tactical Officers would joke with their Captains about at the Officer’s Lounge. Tactical and Visual display updated and showed massive quantities of Neutron Plasma Torpedoes expanding rapidly in a sphere originating from Trinity Moon’s original plainer location. It showed the enemy NR portals as they began to form.

The Crew watched as the first torpedoes struck the shields of the closest ships. They flared brightly before failing in many showers of pyrotechnic fire. The Plasma impacts the armorplast hulls, boiling them away to constituent molecular components. Massive secondary explosions flair as the Plasma rapidly expanded, consuming all it touched including asteroids and small Planetesimals in close proximity as ever more energy was added from the engaged NR drives.

Completely unexpected by all on the Trinity Moon, enough mass and high energy plasma had collected from the destroyed ships and local asteroid flotsam that the massive weight of the neutron component caused everything to collapse into a tight fiery ball. All watched breathlessly as the awesomely powerful fireball became the size of a fist for an instant before exploding again. This explosion was perhaps the largest one ever created by any humanoid species.

All consumingly bright, nova hot, massively powerful, it explodes. A rapidly expanding shock wave of high energy plasma spreads out at nearly the speed of light, totally consuming the remainder of the Imperial Siege Fleet, debris, and even the remaining asteroids in a conflagration to put Dante’s inferno to shame. It was fortuitous that the remainder of the Imerium Battle Fleet was far enough distant. The massive graviton of the neutron component kept the planet sized fireball contained within the local coordinate.

All on the bridges of the surviving Imerium fleet sat in awed silence as this small sun burned brightly for several minutes, before being pulled back into a very tight quantum singularity ... and vanishing. Nothing remained to tell the tale of this confrontation, except the Tactical recordings.

Tom and Laurie heard the voice of the Helmsman say softly, “Looks like it was a good thing we wanted to watch.”

There were many other voices that agreed using many colorful metaphors.

Laurie said in a simi serious tone, “Well, Captain dearest, seems you need to lay off the coffee for a while.”

Laughter erupts from the bridge crew along with many cheers. The Imerium had in a single ship, the over whelming superiority to defeat the Empire. Now, the last target on Tom’s agenda ... Hellanas Planitia Starship Facility would be theirs. Soon, the Imerium would have many such ships ... and even more dangerous ones to boot.
Mariposa

Tom orders, “Science, scan the Mariposa, insure her life support is still operational,” Tom looks at the visuals of the badly damaged ship. “I’m sure they will be over joyed by a life line. Helm, plot a manual course to station keeping 1 klick off her port beam ... Time for a life boat. Use main maneuvering thrusters.”

Helm Responds, “Aye Captain, bringing us along side to station keeping, 1 klick port.”

The Trinity Moon becomes stationary amid the debris field beside the damaged Mariposa.

Science responds, “It seems their damage control is still doing its job. I read the remaining weapons have come back on line as well as 75% shields. She does have maneuvering capabilities now as well as sublight ... although her NR drive is totally destroyed. I think ... we’re getting a message from them.”

Tom says quickly, “Put it on channel!”

Science replies, “Aye Captain ... on channel.”

In their headsets came the unstable, static filled voice of Vickie, “That was some display. I asked for help ... not to create a blasted sun.”

Tom and Laurie laugh in relief as Tom replies, “Well sweetheart, when a girl begs a man for help ... we have to be knights in shining armor.”

Twitters of laughter from the bridge crew.

Tom continues, “We’re sending over help. I see you’re ship has shields and weapons again. I think medals and commendations are in order. Your battle group handled itself well against far superior numbers.”

Vickie replies, “Well, Mr shiny pants, apparently your ship has ... tipped the scales in our favor. I would love nothing more ... than to walk through the Garden of the Moon again.”

Laurie says softly, “I’m glad that we will have the opportunity soon. I would love nothing more than to be escorted through the garden by you and Tom. I have never been there , but I have seen holos. I am so glad you were able to contact me ... even though it was more than an unusual way.”

Vickie replies softly, “I would love nothing more, than to take you ...” a loud hissing and the comm failed.

Tom orders, “I want the Stingers over there immediately. I also want you to bring the Captain of the Mariposa to my ship ... Laurie and myself have some ... Tactical Data to discuss with her.”

Laughter from the bridge as the Rescue Team Officer responds with cheer in his tone, “Aye Captain, as soon as possible.”

For 6 weeks, the attack and capture of Hellenas was put on hold while repairs were made to the repairable ships and reinforcements were brought in to replace the damaged or destroyed ones. Rescue operations went forward rapidly and all the injured and dead were quickly accounted for. The same couldn’t be said for the siege force. As far as the Empire was concerned ... it had vanished into the mysterious vastness of the cosmos and was never heard from again.

The Mariposa was badly damaged, however, her engineering department with the help of the manufacturing core of the small missile ships, and many of Trinity Moon’s engineering department, managed to cobble her back together with several of Trinity Moon’s upgrades. She now had time displacement, the power crystal upgrade to her power core, and the amazingly powerful additions to the Neutron Plasma Torpedoes. The other battle ship, the Willow the Wisp, was fitted similarly, with the addition of cloaking. The Captain thought it was fitting given the name of his ship.

Now, The Imerium had 3 ships with unlimited destructive power. Tom received comm traffic from Rendezvous Station that ground troops were being sent in via Special Contained Transport. Under no circumstances were the seals to opened until time of deployment ... for safety reasons. The crew seemed to take that in stride ... Laurie was very curious and asked for a tour. What she discovered ... changed the course of history and life quality for a very special race of people.

A large asteroid tug had arrived with a rather large Planetesimal in tow that literally bristled with planetary siege plasma technology. With the new power core addition and dark energy engine upgrades to the NR drive, the tug could move a G type Planetesimal at 6,000 gravities. This meant planetary sized defense cores with the new plasma tech could be deployed at will through NR space to any locale required.

According to Tom’s ... father ... dark energy NR Drives were being designed and built to power the Planetesimals making them the new Omega class Special Purpose Dreadnaught. This type of construction meant the most devastating attack from the Empire, would harmlessly impact on the surface of the world leaving craters, but causing no damage to the Starship core nestled safely miles under ground. Shields were no longer truly necessary because of time dilation. Making the Omega Planetoid Special Purpose Super Dreadnaught, the mightiest ship in known space.

This particular small planetoid however, was nothing more than one tremendously large Neutron Plasma Defense Station. The core of the planetoid was the fire control center, crystalline power core, and Personnel quarters. There were planetary defense beam cannons and rocket launchers to enhance the effectiveness of the station. Planetary shields were added as an after thought which worked well in the end. It enables time dilation to be added to the generators making the planetoid untouchable in the plainer norm.

Lizard Cats

During the weeks it took to gather and repair, Laurie had gone to the Special Contained Transport for a tour. She wanted to know what kind of personnel would be locked away under seals for ... safety purposes. The Pilot and his First Officer made it a big affair, complete with an Official Dinner. They treated her like Royalty the whole time she was there ... it tickled her pink.

The time for the tour came, the Captain rose from his chair at the table and rang a small silver bell. The Steward came to the Captain and the exchanged quiet words Laurie couldn’t hear. The Steward came to Laurie’s chair and pulled it from the table smoothly and helped her to her feet.

The Captain said, “Commander, if you will come with me, I think I have something very interesting to show you.”

He walks over and offers Laurie his arm, which she takes. He escorts her from the Captain’s Mess into the hall.

The Captain said apologetically, “Forgive the walk Commander, this vessel isn’t equipped with transfer tubes. It helps with the safety of the crew.”

Laurie responded with puzzlement in her voice, “Safety of the crew? That’s another thing; why are the rest of the personnel on this ship referred to as Dangerous Biological Cargo? Do they have some type of contagious disease or some other horrid thing?”

The Captain smiles broadly and replies, “You really don’t know, do you?”

“Know what Captain? Is this a game of some kind?” Laurie said with a bit of frustration in her voice.

By this time, they had walked the length of the long corridor. Laurie knew they had passed from the forward control module to the first Personnel Hold and stood before the Nano Port.

The Captain waves a devise in his palm over a small square panel on the wall ... the door slides open and reveals humanoid life forms Laurie thought she would only dream of in a nightmare in the container’s hold far below.

The Captain replies, “This Commander, and I wouldn’t call anything about a Lizard Cat a game.”

Laurie walks to the plasteel window and looks down. What she sees might be called humanoid. It has arms and legs like Humans, but the musculature was tremendously more powerful. She could see they had retractable claws both on their large hands and their feet. The claws on their toes Laurie estimated at about 3 inches. The ones on the hands to be about 4 to 5 inches. They seemed to be hinged between the phalanges on their hands and feet the same as a cat and could be retracted when not in use.

They had a type of natural scaly armor that protected their chest and backs. She was sure there were more places, but from this distance she couldn’t tell. They even had a tail that quite obviously was used as a weapon as well. It too was heavily scaled.

Their faces looked like a predatory cat and a man’s blended in a very aesthetic way, complete with the whiskers. They even had cat ears on the top of their heads. She regretted her first impression of thinking these creatures were from a nightmare ... in all truth, they were very beautiful Predators.

She watched as they pranced and cavorted. It seemed to her though, these creatures were far more intelligent than the data she had been given said. She saw how tremendously agile they were and their ability to climb the walls was uncanny.

Something was familiar ... She knew instantly ... the group she was watching was playing Tag! She couldn’t believe it. They had made the game into fighting practice. For all intents and purposes, it looked like they were viciously fighting among themselves. The only thing, no one was getting hurt and you could tell who was it if you paid attention. They were excellent fighters.

She saw another group playing Hide and go Seek, with the single Lizard Cat doing a very stealthy and thorough Search and Kill ... of course .. the kill part appeared to be 2 well matched opponents using a very strange type of deadly martial arts. If she didn’t have the inkling of what was actually going on, it would appear they were again mindlessly fighting and being extremely vicious.

Laurie sees one particular Lizard Cat that had sprung to the top of one of the high blocks and sits with its legs over the edge.

Laurie puts her hand to the plasteel window and says softly, “I know there’s more to you than just viciousness and violence.”

The young lizard cat turns suddenly and looks her in the eye and wiggles his ears. He had such beautiful golden eyes too. She realized he had heard her and was surprised. The Lizard Cat stands up and extends his right arm up towards the one Laurie has on the window. At first, Laurie thought he was growling at her until she realized, with a mouth full of teeth and fangs ... that’s how a smile would look.

Laurie says, “Captain, would it be very ... hard to get a closer look at one of these ... Predators? I have never seen such a creature before and would like the opportunity. I don’t mean dead or unconscious either. Like maybe .. that one?” Laurie points to the Lizard cat with his arm up.

The Captain looks down and sees the young warrior as he drops his arm and quick as a flash jumps from the top of the tall box and is gone. The Captain isn’t happy about Laurie’s selection, she just happened to have chosen one of the Elite Combat Cats ... it would be difficult ... but not impossible.

The Captain replies, “Of course Commander, Although he may be asleep at first.. For his safety as well as yours and the crews.”

Laurie says with bit of exasperation, “If you must, you must.”

The Captain walked to the comm station on the wall and said, “Containment, this is the Captain. I would like you to bring SpecOps (he makes a purring rowing noise ) to observation and examination room 1 please. And make ready the spectators booth ... full shields.”

The reply, “Aye, Captain. Give us about 20 minutes ... that’s onena the feisty beasties.”

The Captain offers Laurie his elbow one more time and says cordially, “If you’ll come this way please Commander.” As he extends his other arm palm up in the direction of the corridor leading further into the container.

Laurie takes his arm and says softly, “I’m all yours Captain.”

The Captain leads her deep within the Container Vessel. She is brought into a room that is secured from the other room by a powerful forcefeild, and a plasteel observation window. Laurie walks to the shimmering curtain of the field and can feel her hair stand up from the electromagnetic discharge.

The Nano port on the far side of the room dissolves away and several large men enter carrying the simi conscious form of the Lizard Cat. They place him on the raised platform in the middle, then quickly leave ... the opening vanishing.

The Captain says, “You can stay as long as you like Commander, I have other ship business requiring my attention. If you need anything, the comm station is on the table there.” He points to the square made into the table. “I will see you in a few hours. Have a good time.” He bows slightly at the waist then departs, leaving Laurie alone with the Cat.

She sits in the lone chair on her side of the room and whispers softly, “I’m so sorry. I asked him not to hurt you. But he insisted.”

It sits up and shakes its head to clear it. It sees Laurie in the other room and wiggles its ears.

The cat said in a delightfully singsong voice, “It’s ok I suppose. You’re different ... from all the others ... like ... Viiikeee. I can tell, we have a special sense like Viikeee. I’m not supposed to talk to you ... human. It’s sort of against our people’s traditions. But you’re ... you have the spirit ... different and I had to.”

He gets up and spins gracefully around to sit with his legs over the edge of the table. Laurie was totally flabbergasted ... they were supposed to be something akin to highly trained Dobermans or German Sheppard ... not thinking reasoning individuals. The records data was totally wrong. They were a genetic construct ... but they were highly intelligent.

Laurie asks softly, “What’s your name?”

The Warrior replies (he makes a purring rowing noise that sounded similar to what the Captain had done, but far more elegant.).

Laurie says with awe in her voice, “Why do you and your people act like ... simi wild animals? You obviously are extremely intelligent.?”

He replies softly in his wonderful singsong voice, “It gives us ... privacy from Human’s eyes. We know we are supposed to fight .. we are very well cared for other wise ... but still ... even with bars made of gold and tapestries of silk .. a prison is a prison. We were created, and are born into slavery to die as slaves. Why must we show to the overlord ... we are smart as him? Gives us a tactical advantage.”

Laurie says, “If you didn’t act so vicious towards everyone not a Lizard Cat ... perhaps that would change. I for one ... am truly surprised no one thinks of you more than a well trained animal.”

The young Lizard Cat jumps from the table and flexes his huge arm muscles and rolls his shoulders showing off huge neck and pectoris muscles. He is many times stronger than several human males.

This time his voice sounds like a soft purr, “But that is all we are to humans ... we are just animals. We have been constructed to where we cannot breed among ourselves ... resistance would be short lived ... to one generation.”

Laurie heard the Nano Port begin to open, the Lizard Cat snarls viciously and lunges at the force field. There is a loud electrical zap and he was thrown to the ground and slid several feet. He sits up and winks at Laurie as he snarls even more viciously and lunges again.

The Steward walks to Laurie’s side as the Lizard Cat hits the force field again, with the same results. The Lizard Cat rolls around quickly and gracefully to stand in a crouched position with his claws out. They were so sharp, they actually sparkled. He snarls viciously showing his fangs as his eyes bore into the Steward.

The Steward says, “They truly are a magnificent killer. Fearless and completely lost in feral rage.”

Laurie looks at the Steward with disgust and replies, “Perhaps there’s more to them that ... you’re just too blind to see.”

The Steward laughs and says, “You sound just like Vickie. She’s been saying for years these animals are smarter than we are.” He points to the young Lizard Cat as he makes short work of the wall panel where the forcefeild emitter was anchored in its armorplast housing, “The only thing on that thing’s mind .. is killing.”

Laurie looks at the Young Lizard Cat as he winks at her again before he lunges full force into the plasteel window, causing it to shatter into many small cracks. The Armorplast fiber woven through the window prevented it from being torn apart by the powerful thrusts of the Cat and his razor sharp claws.

He springs backward onto the raised slab in the middle of the room and snarls viciously, all his powerful muscles rippling. Laurie is amazed at this beautiful creature. She knew she must have a conversation with Vickie and Tom straight away.

As Laurie was escorted away, She heard loud keening snarls and many smashing sounds behind her. She heard men yelling and hollering and stunner fire. She heard many horrible screams amid angry snarls and ripping and slashing sounds. She heard several men had been seriously injured and needed emergency treatment. She heard many stunners go off simultaneously and then ... silence. She truly wished the Lizard Cat didn’t act that way. It really wasn’t necessary in her mind.

By the time Laurie had reached the Trinity Moon’s docking bay, Tom had ordered the ship to yellow alert. Laurie heard Tom’s voice issuing orders to prepare for assault on the Hellanas Planitia Starship Facility. The crew was in a mad ordered scramble as they prepared for the assault.

Laurie entered the transport tube and said softly, “Bridge.” When she stepped out, all the stations were manned and ready. Holo-consoles surrounded all with it’s shimmering cloud like halos. Laurie slid into her gravity couch, picked up her headset and put it on.

Tom’s voice said softly, “How did you like the tour sweet heart? Those are some nasty critters ... aren’t they?”

Laurie replied, “They can be if they want to be. We have to talk. I’m sure Vickie has already said something before now from what the Steward said.”

Tom replies, “It will have to wait until after the assault. We have 3 ships and a mobile planetoid planetary defense platform. All have the new plasma upgrades and time dilation. I am hoping to take the Facility without damaging it too horribly bad. If I can knock out their power core, the rest is a matter of letting the Lizard Cats go. They will have cleared the Facility in about 4 hours.”

Laurie asked concerned, “And how do you make the facility safe for humans from the Cats?”

Tom answers, “We fill the life support with KoG44 gas. It induces rapid sleep, with minimal side effects. The Cats are not harmed. They are a valuable asset to our Military ground forces and we want them back.”

Laurie says softly, “Sweetie, before you use the gas, let’s have our little talk. We need to have Vickie here too. Lets us call this an official First Officer’s Strategy Meeting with the Captains.”

Tom says, “Fair enough. Helm, Set course for Hellanas Planitia Starship Facility. Engage 60,000 gravities. Time dilation to .05 and cloak us.”

Helm replies, “Aye Captain, Course set Hellanas Planitia Starship Facility, dilation to .05, cloaked and engaged ... 60,000 gravities.”

A massive NR portal opens, Trinity Moon vanishes from the plainer norm into NR Space followed by Mariposa and Willow the Wisp.

Conquered

Due to the extremely more advanced engines in Trinity Moon, She had arrived well before the other battle ships and Troop Transports. When they arrived, Mariposa and Willow the Wisp would do Search and Kill all normal corridors entering and leaving the facility’s space. The Neutron Plasma Planetoid would be positioned inside a debris field close to the docking berths. The debris field alone would effectively hide the planetoid from scans. With the cloaking technology and Time Dilation feature, the planetoid was invisible. The shipyard was extremely busy and had many large warships in dry dock for repairs. This planetoid would be a real surprise to any warships that decided to play hero.

Tom brought the Trinity Moon to station keeping 90 megaklicks from the station completely cloaked, rendering them totally invisible and untouchable. They scanned the power production plant closely. If the torpedo breaches the power core, the resulting 2ndary explosion would devastate most of the facility they wanted to preserve. If the torpedo impacted and just took out the engineering section, this would render the facility helpless.

They had spare crystal power cores, and bringing the power back quickly ... would be no issue. What Tom wanted, was to preserve as much of the Facility intact as possible. This particular facility was built with the power core dangerously close to the engineering section that was responsible for power distribution. It was done this way just as a deterrent to a foreign power attempting to do just this. It could be done, however, the weapons officer would plot the solution by hand to make sure there would be no mistakes. The young Lieutenant was also the best Tactical Solutions Plot Officer in known space.

Dropping the lizard cats into the simi darkness with just the emergency lighting, would be optimal for them. Their eyes can adapt to see many wavelengths. Coupled with the personal cloaking devise, the Lizard Cats would be unstoppable. The power chips of the personal cloak was designed to provide peak power for 4 hours. By then, the Facility’s personnel would have been ... dealt with.

The danger lay in the time it took for the restoration of power. A Lizard Cat is stealthy as well as vicious beyond reasoning. The engineering crew was in just as much danger as any combatant on the station. It would be a dangerous time between beginning restoration and the introduction of the gas into the life support system. Even with the heavy stunners designed to take down a Lizard Cat unharmed ... the odds of serious injury were fatally high.

Tom said, “Weapon’s Officer, have you the Solutions plotted?”

The young lieutenant’s voice replies, “Aye, Captain, on targeting board now.”

Laurie waves a finger and a small holo-consoule opens with an extremely complicated equation appears.
Laurie feeds the data into the targeting computer for analysis. Targeting AI then integrates it into main tactical targeting computer. The skill of the young weapon’s officer has again confounded the AI.

Laurie says softly, “Sweetie, according to the Targeting Computer, the equations are pin point accurate to within total yield radius. I think our weapon’s officer should get a commendation for his meticulous handling of the equation.”

Tom replies, “So noted in the ship’s log with Captain’ endorsement. Tactical, I want the Engineering room main transfer block to be the impact point. I understand about the propagation paradox because of the heavy neutron component ... a few nano seconds one way or the other doesn’t matter. It either works ... or we blow 2/3rds of the station away.”

The voices of the young Lieutenants in Tactical confirmed weapon’s lock. They did remind the Captain about the error probabilities and were again told those didn’t matter.

Tom commands, “Target marked.”

Tactical, “Tagged, set to 322.5 by 717.89 ... dilation frequency neutral.”

Tom says, “Energy duration set to prime ... point of convergence.”

Tactical, “Aye, Point of convergence.”

Tom looks up from the weapon’s plotting holo and scanned his bridge. When this day was done, one way or the other ... the Empire was dead to the Imerium. They would drive this invader from their stars. He was proud of each and every officer his eyes fell on ... especially one cute little blond named Commander Laurie Blake. He smiles at Laurie and blows her a kiss. Their child will grow up in a universe free of the war and destruction it has known since the Empire had arrived.

Tom Barks, “Fire single Torpedo.”

Tactical, “Firing.”

Commander Harold Thorne sat back in his chair and propped his booted feet on the consoles before him. He smirked smugly as he lit his very aromatic nebreedian cigar. He knew this was illegal because of its narcotic effects ... but hey, he had the whole Empire eating out of his hand. He even had the Emperor here today kissing his ass.

This facility may be under military jurisdiction, but he owned it and the rest of the system the raw materials came from. Since he had made it very lucrative for not only himself, but the Emperor as well, he could get away with anything. As long as the ships rolled out.

The commander leans way back in the chair and blows a long thick cloud of the sweet smelling smoke. Life was good, and it was made better by the ties with the Emperor.

As he sits foreword and looks out the main port over the construction yard, he sees a tremendously bright flash ... and impossibly, at point blank range, a single plasma torpedo. He watches in horror as it streaks towards his station at many thousands of klicks an hour. The shields failed almost immediately in a huge shower of pyrotechnics. He watches stunned as It impacts ... just where he knew it had to ... engineering. The whole station suddenly jolts and pitches throwing the Commander from his chair, bodily against the far wall. The lights flicker and go out ... the red lights of the emergency system wink on.

The Commander claws his way to his feet and over to the plasteel view port. The place Engineering used to be was now a boiling conflagration of boiling hot plasma, debris, and blow torch hot fires raging in the blow off of the venting atmosphere. As the debris and plasma thinned, he could see the stars through the monstrously huge gaping hole in the station. The accuracy of the shot was mind boggling. It had to have exploded exactly on top of the power transfer box ... and the duration timing was perfect too, other wise the plasma would have knocked out the torr containment equipment of the power core self destructing the station.

The Commander watched as the large Destroyer, Seyh Nhur, completed power up and began leaving her berth. With the transfer facility destroyed, the Station had no weapons, shields ... or life support. Any of the warships in berth that could manage to escape, would be the only defense they had now.

Several beam ships and 2 missile ships left the berth and gathered in battle formation with Seyh Nhur to begin long and short range scans for the attacking vessel. They knew it had to be close. None of their sensors picked up anything.

Seyh Nhur’s Tactical scans detected several NR portals as they formed 2.5 megaklicks port. What appeared sent chills of terror down his spine. Few had ever survived an attack by these creatures ... those that did still waken screaming in terror in the night. There before him was a complete S&K SpecOp Division of Lizard Cats on final approach to deployment.

The Commander managed to sit back in his chair at the main console. The bastards knew just where to hit him ... and not destroy the station. He begins the emergency power up routine for the old style fusion generators ... he is unable to begin the startup .. the cryo cooling systems were off line and the storage facility was destroyed.

“Damn!” he exclaims as he bangs his hand on the useless console.

From the debris field the Commander sees huge flashes begin. He stands and looks hard out the plasteel port to see what could possibly be going wrong now. The debris field was a long way away. He pulls an old style ocular from a leather holster hung at his waist, and extended it. He couldn’t believe what he saw.

Seemingly as if by magic, planetary defense sized plasma torpedoes appeared from within the debris and flashed toward the Destroyer and the beam ships. The beam ships died in huge fireballs, the destroyer critically damaged. It began to tumble and spread debris in an ever widening area.

The Missile ships fortified their forward shields and spun on their axis to face the direction the torpedoes originated from. They fired many Anti-Matter Missiles at the coordinates. Asteroid sized explosions tore through the debris field clearing many megakilcks of space. The Planetoid was untouched, wrapped in a time field .05 seconds removed.

The Commander saw many Huge Plasma torpedoes appear again ... this time he knew the Missile ships were the target. He drops the ocular, contracts it, and returns it to its holster. He sees the tremendously bright flashes that he knew were the death throws of the Missile ships.

He looks wildly around the simi dark control room for any inspiration on how to solve his power problem. He looks back out the port ... and sees them. He had heard stories about them and thought they were just pirate lore ... created to instill fear into the invaded army. He realized now ... they did create fear .. but for a wholly different reason. He watched as a whole Division of Lizard Cats were infiltrated into his station. He turns in a panic and looks at the door into the control room. He runs over and pulls the weapon from his holster and sets it to narrow beam. He disables the nano retracting mechanism ... the door technically doesn’t exist at this moment. He fervently hopes the Stories aren’t true.

He realizes he has wet his pants as he hears the blood chilling screeches and growls of the rapidly approaching horde of Lizard Cats ... and the heart stopping wails and cries of those unfortunate enough to have met one.

~~ End Pt5 ~~

[Admin]

Proposition Pt6 - Fate has an Even hand

Commander Harold Thorne knelt for what seemed like hours awaiting some kind of rescue. He was extremely uncomfortable in his wet undies. They had become a chilling reminder of the fear in his soul.

The sounds of the Horde and the screams of their victims had subsided. Internal comms were down on the most part except for critical locations. He had the comm open and was talking to a power production specialist about jury rigging some kind of emergency power when the cats had arrived at that location.

If Thorne lived ... he would have waking nightmares about the sounds, and the sites he had seen on the holo-console for the remainder of his days. He had watched as the 12 men had seemingly exploded into a mass of quivering flesh and blood splatters amid many horrid growls and hisses and spitting noises. There was no visible reason as to how or why this happened ... Thorne knew ... to the pit of his soul ... he knew and feared unto death.

A mad fearful flash runs across his mind as he remembers the Emperor had been visiting the station, and as far as he knew, had not left prior to the attack. Thorne realizes, he had no options left at this point. Panic totally takes over as he begins to cry.

Laurie was definitely having problems getting out of her gravity couch. She was obviously pregnant at this point and was showing. She had to abandon her usual clothes and wear maternity clothes. She was thankful for the help of the Science officer as he carefully helped her to stand.

Before removing her headset, she says to Tom, “Sweetie, it’s time for you and Vickie to come to the Captain’s Briefing Room. We need to have a very serious conversation before the engineers restore power and gas the place.”

Tom replies, “Give me a few minutes, I have to tie up a few loose ends and contact Vickie.”

Laurie waddles to the transfer tube and into the sparkling energy mist.

Thorne began to hear strange noises coming from the air system and from the Nano door. Fear began to be so strong in him it hurt. He realized he had again wet his pants as the puddle slowly formed on the deck and the warm wetness filled his left shoe.

He backed under the console below the Plassteel view port. This was the only cover in the room. He set his weapon to wide beam and hopes he had enough energy in the single power pack in his weapon. He checks the energy level ... he had fired the weapon 1 time to disable the door ... he had maybe 100 shots left. From the stories he had heard of Lizard Cats, that was no where near enough. They had natural armor that deflected most of the impact of an energy weapon. He had enough energy to probably really piss them off.

He sees his Nebreedian cigar on the floor where it had fallen after the plasma attack. It had gone out and left the entire thing. He crawls quickly over to it and lights it again. He takes a deep inhale of the acrid sweet smoke, and allowed it to seep into his mind.

After several deep inhales, his fear had gone and he felt a whole lot better about things until he glanced out the plassteel port. He saw 3 Killer Class Battle Ships appear from no where as ephemerally as mist. The dark letters on the white hull of one of them, again brought fear to his soul.

He had heard all the tales that had sprung up since the destruction of the SD’s and the Emperor’s home station. He had heard of the Wrathful Ghost Ship that could spit plasma like a space dragon. Never, in his wildest hallucinations, did he ever expect to come face to face ... with a real live Ghost. There it hovered at station keeping 100 klicks from his station ... The Trinity Moon.

Thorne suddenly hears weird ... purring noises softly coming from the ventilation. They soon were accompanied by even stranger ... purring, softly musical keening sounds. The hair on his head stands as he quickly crawls under the console and takes a large inhale of his cigar.

Suddenly, the 4 grates in the ceiling fall. He can hear many soft impact sounds and quick scurrying noises all around him. The hair all over his body stands up as an electrical tingle of fight or flight adrenalin fills his body. He knows in his soul ... the cats have arrived.

Laurie steps from the swirling sparkling mist of the transport tube into the Captain’s Briefing room. She waddles over to the comfortable chair at the table and flops in. It automatically adjusted to her body. It fit the contours of her body like a well made glove and was extremely comfortable. Laurie appreciated this ... her back was giving her sort of issues as she became larger with child.

Laurie smiles as she feels her child move and kick within her womb. This was the most wonderful thing she could have imagined. To be with child and feel a new life growing and actually moving inside her. She was probably the happiest she had ever been. She was so glad Meena had come hunting on Earth ... and swapped bodies with her.

After talking cooingly to and petting her tummy gently for a few minutes as the baby kicked softly, she opened a holo-console screen and searched the ship’s database for any information on Lizard Cat.

There were 2 creatures that came to the screen under genetic/bio warfare. One was a very vicious lizard creature called a Rennac. From what she could tell, this was the framework creature for the Lizard Cat. Its reptilian frame had natural body armor that could withstand a fairly large plasma attack as well as large projectile weapons. It had a remarkable ability to quickly heal very serious injuries as well as rapid digital regeneration.

The other creature appeared to be a soft fuzzy Cat like mammal called a Koomtu. After reading more, Laurie learned this was also a very vicious predatory animal. It had the ability to see in many different light frequencies as well as remarkable hearing and olfactory abilities.

Both creatures had remarkable athletic and stealth abilities as well as the Rennac’s ability to chameleon and blend into it’s natural environment. The original creature the blending of the 2 genomes created wasn’t even given a name. Only a Number 666-228. Laurie shook her head ... this seemed to say Devil Cat. She couldn’t be sure because of the difference in Civilizations ... but the coincidence was remarkable.

She read the many experiments conducted and how many personnel were injured handling the creatures. It was quite obvious this was the perfect predator. Naturally armor plated, ability to see in any light, and to automatically camouflage to meet what ever conditions might exist as well as ultra sensitive hearing and sense of smell.

It also had very formidable claws. They were made in such a way they could cut through many types of metals and other materials. They were sharp to the Nth molecule of their structure. They were in fact sharper than the sharpest scalpel and very nearly as tough as armorplast shielding.

There were many issues with training. This creature was totally independent and none of the Technicians could train them to do the simplest tasks. This would not do. It was believed if they reconstituted them with a more humanoid shape and a larger cranial capacity, it would aid it, endowing them with a better ability to be trained and slightly more intelligence.

The next series of genetic constructs were vicious beyond belief, but each successive genome, could be more effectively trained. Laurie could see many improvements in the creature’s abilities as they perfected the genome. Each successive generation began training the next. However, with each success, came the added danger the creatures posed to the Technicians handling them.

One issue that became immediately a serious problem, was the creature’s ability to reproduce rapidly. If 2 mating pairs of these creatures somehow got loose in the wild, it would mean disaster. It was conceivable that they could conquer an entire biosphere within a year if given the opportunity.

The secret to the Bio-evolution of the creature ... it was genetically altered to be unable to reproduce with its own species. Laurie gasps in shock as she realizes, the fail safe to limiting the Cat’s ability to reproduce, lay in the fact a humanoid was required to complete fecundation. All other cat’s were genetically reproduced through forced cellular integration and mitosis in a laboratory environment, keeping the genetic secret intact. Not exactly cloning, but similar in application without replicative fade issues inherent with cloning. It allowed the genome to maintain genetic diversity, without any of the Xerox effect.

The final genome, designated LC-228/Lizard Cat, was a beautiful predatory creature, well suited for the hunt and fully capable of being trained to perform complex military maneuvers and strategies. The only issue in Laurie’s mind, they were excessively intelligent and harbored a resentment towards their human masters.

Laurie grins as a devious thought crosses her mind. She just hopes Purrrroowweeerrrkkk had the radio given to each of them for tracking purposes, and it could also receive a voice message, and he would listen. She calls softly and sends a message. To her surprise, she gets one back ... a purring acknowledgment of her message. These creatures are more human ... than anyone believed.

Thorne looks sharp as he could muster to see one of the cats before they saw him. As hard as he looked, he could hear soft, indistinct rustling sounds from time to time, but no sightings. Thorne looked to his watch, it had been exactly 4 hours since the cats had begun their assault of his station. He knew they had missed a critical communication with Imperial Battle Command and in turn, a battle fleet would have been dispatched immediately and would arrive within another 45 minutes ... if he could hold out that long.

Before his eyes, the room seems to fill with indistinct vaporous forms. He rubs his eyes and takes another look. Sure enough, the room begins to fill with creatures he thought were demons from hell. By the time they had become completely opaque, the room had about 40 of the horrid fanged critters in it. The power supplies on the personal cloaks expired right on time. Thorne still had to look close to see them. Their natural camouflage ability made them extremely hard to see.

He listened to the sing song purrs, growls, and spits and was absolutely sure they were talking among themselves. He saw one of the Cats go to the end console and gut it with a swipe of his molecule sharp claws, while another swiped the damaged nano retracting mechanisms on both sides of the door. He watched in disbelief as these demons actually repaired the mechanisms and opened the thick Airlock type bulkhead door using parts scavenged from the damaged console.

The door seemingly disappears as it opens. He sees a figure bodily thrown in and slide across the floor several feet. The Largest of the Demons he had yet seen walks in. To Thorne, it appeared he was snarling viciously and showing his sharp fangs. What Thorne failed to realize, was this is what its face would look like if it was smiling.

Tom and Vickie walk out of the swirling mist into the briefing room. They cross the room and sit. Tom punches several commands into the holo-console. One wall becomes an observation port. Laurie can see there are many, many Missile ships, Killer class Battle Ships, and several Large Special Purpose Destroyers on station. What truly amazed her, were the Planetoid sized Planetary Defense Platforms. Each bristling with the new plasma arrays and multitudes of dark antimatter missile tubes. She counted about 36 of the monsters, and watched as they were towed off into strategic locations. The Imerium people intended to keep this station at all costs.

Tom swivels around several times in the gravity couch then replies with joy in his voice, “OK, sweet heart. What is it we must discuss? The defense plans are on their own at this time .... the personnel can handle it by themselves.”

Vickie adds, with a giggle, “If you get any bigger **giggle** we’re gonna have to widen all the portals.”

Laurie places her hands softly on her tummy and smiles. She replies, “This is the most wonderful thing to ever experience ... having life grow inside me.”

Vickie leans over and gives Laurie a sweet kiss on her lips and says in a soft whisper, “And you are so adorable in that smock top.”

Both girls giggle as Tom rolls his eyes and looks out the view port.

Laurie brings up the Lizard Cat information on the screen before beginning, “I have discovered something very important about the Cats.” She highlights the learning curve and the complexity of the data being taught, then continues, “Has it ever occurred to any of the eggheads, that these creatures are sentient beings? I mean, how else can it be explained the way they not only learn new tasks rapidly, but teach their young as well?”

Vickie sits up straight in her gravity couch and says with passion, “YES! I’ve been saying that for years. I even have had conversations with them ... that everyone thinks I’m a nut because of me telling people is rather upsetting.”

Tom replies with obvious patience in his voice, “And why do you now feel they are ... intelligent beings? I’m sorry Vickie, but no one else has heard them speak, although they are remarkably trainable.”

Laurie replies softly, “Because of this ...” She brings out a small comm padd and turns it on. She says into it, “Purrrroowweeerrrkkk, it’s now or never. Either you break your people’s taboo and speak to The Captain, or your peoples will be gassed and returned to the holding ship.”

Tom’s mouth falls open as he hears a musical sing song voice with a heavy accent reply, “Lorrriiii, am replyin to tell u also, we got 2 major captives.”

Tom sits up suddenly with great interest, “This is ... one of the Cats speaking?”

The voice replies, “It is Master huumon ... tisa Spec Ops who replyin. I gotsa Emporor here anna owner of this place. They no very hoppy bot it nuthers.”

Tom can hear many purring rowing noises from the back ground.

Vickie replies with excitement in her voice, “They’re laughing ... that’s that noise they make ... when they laugh.”

Tom had suspected because of the things Vickie had always said, but had never expected to speak to one. He was totally flabbergasted. Laurie understood his surprise ... it would be the same as a German Sheppard standing on its hind legs and speaking in English.

They could hear the voice of the Emperor whimpering in the back ground and begging them not to hurt him. Tom’s mouth fell open. This meant the war was truly over. His child would be born in a Galaxy free from the oppression of ... then the realization of why Laurie was having this conference dawned on him.

How could the Imerium peoples be so arrogant as to keep large quantities of slaves ... regardless of whether they were genetic constructs or not, and whine about the oppression of the Galactic Empire, when they were oppressing another species into forced slavery.

Tom says slowly and softly, “How are we to .. help? They cannot breed among themselves. It has to be done in a genetics lab.”

Laurie replies, Not so, sweet heart. All they need is a humanoid male or a female to accomplish it. The young born of such a union will always be Lizard Cat. It’s how the genetic cycles were constructed within their RNA.”

Vickie giggles and replies, “And what girl would mate ... with such a creature? Or evena desperate man?”

The 3 of them laugh.

Laurie replies, “Well ...” very softly and shyly, “instead of killing all the war prisoners for the crimes committed against the Anquatine Galaxy ... including the Emperor, why not let the cats use them as genetic breeding subjects. We do have a very large genetic breeding base so they will have a viable genetic pool to draw from. And, because of our Superb Cloning Techniques and the devise You brought back that swaps life forces ... we can even do gender benders on the males and females .. or create new bodies for them through cloning and implant them. They would in essence ... forever be at the mercy of the creatures that came into existence because of them and even enslave the very people who enslaved our Galaxy for so long. It would allow for the Lizard Cats to grow and become a free race of peoples on their own planet. They could even instill in their new personal assistants ... a need to be with them.”

Tom slowly shakes his head as he replies, “The cats are excessively war like creatures. They Breed really quickly too. What would keep them from mounting a galactic war of their own?”

Laurie replies, “Have you ever thought that they are war like, because we made them act that way? Perhaps you should realize, we are as war like as they.”

Tom scratches his head before asking, “But, wouldn’t we then be guilty of oppressing a race of peoples ... into sexual bondage?”

Laurie replies softly, “I guess the word genocide has no meaning to the Imerium? It seems to me, that the remainder of the Galactic Empire are to be put to death for serious war crimes. To me, either way ... except this way, they could be put to better use alive, and be punished for their horrific crimes against the peoples of the Anquatine Galaxy.”

Tom frowns darkly as Vickie adds, “Seems ta this girl, they deserve lots worse than to be sex toys **giggles** like maybe even makin em pets or something.”

Tom speaks into the comm padd, “SpecOp ... If I arranged to have you brought here to my ship, can I reasonably expect you to conduct yourself in a nonviolent manner?”

A large amount of musical purring noise came from the back ground as Purrrroowweeerrrkkk replies, “Master Huumon ... you can. Is you gives freedom anna life ... us peopleess be no more war lessn is gotsa.”

Many more purring musical sounds could be heard from the padd ... also the voice of the Emperor wailing to be released.

Tom said softly, “I’m sending an engineer to get you. Understand he is going to be extremely fearful of you and your people. Do not give him .. or anyone else cause to fire a weapon. If they do it by their own volition .. I will have them put to death for you to watch .. is this acceptable?”

Purrrroowweeerrrkkk replies, “It is Master Huumon.”

Tom says softly again. “And one other thing, please ... Don’t call me Master ... call me ... Tom.”

Purrrroowweeerrrkkk replies, “Very well ... Tom. I be spectin you soon ... atta bridge airlock.”

Thorne knew he had to do something. He could plainly see his Emperor groveling at the feet of these monsters. He knew he was as good as dead, so he took careful aim at the largest of the creatures ... and fired his hand weapon. The whine of the weapon filled the room as the wide beam flashed brilliantly against the body of the Monster. It was set to full power.

Thorne held the trigger down and drained the power pack. The huge monster stumbled backwards before turning to the console he was hidden under and growling ferociously, the scale armor of his chest still smoking from weapons fire.

Before Thorne could react, the monster had jumped the length of the room and shredded the console above him. He felt the iron grip of the monster for a split second before he realized he was flying through the air. He impacted hard on the wall 30 feet across from where he had been and fell into a heavy heap on the deck. Thorne knew immediately there were several bones ... including a few ribs .. broken.

He groans in severe pain as the Cat stands over him and says in a heavily accented growling voice, “Huumon, it only luck keep you monga livin. Do thattagin .. know tha beyond painfully.”

Thorne knew he was in no shape to do ... anything about anything. He needed medical attention soon. Blood slowly began to ooze from the corner of his mouth and nose as sharp stabbing pains ran through his side and chest.

Thorne listened as the Huge monster actually had a Conversation with someone over a comm padd. He was incredulous. These monsters were actually extremely intelligent, as proven by the rapidity with which they repaired the Nano Retracting equipment using salvaged parts. All Thorne could do was groan in pain. Even breathing was agonizingly painful. He hoped whoever was coming ... brought a doctor too.

Tom leans forward slightly and activates the comm. He says, “Engineering, I have a .. very special assignment. I want you to prep one of our Sting Fighters. Send Jason ... he’s the crazy one. Under no circumstances are you to fire upon any of the creatures that open the Airlock. Is that understood?”

The confused tech’s voice replies, “Yes, sir ... instructions are clear.”

Tom continues, “You are to pickup a Lizard Cat and transport him to my briefing room airlock. There is to be no stunner fire ... or any other type of weapons fire ... on the pain of firing squad.”

The Tech stammers, “B ... but ... sir!! Those are wild and dangerous critters!”

Tom replies sternly, “No more or less than we, their teachers. This time, they will act different. Either do as I ordered you, or I will have you thrown in the brig.”

The quick reply, “Yes, Sir! Immediately.”

Lt. Jason Sprigg was a highly decorated Sting Fighter pilot. His bravery was only accented by his wild and daring side. He had the highest hit/kill ratio of anyone in the Galaxy.

He had been told many times, ‘ There are old pilots, and then there are bold pilots ... there are no old bold pilots.’

This adage seemed to not apply to him ... except possibly this time. He trembled in fear for the first time in his life as he completed the lock on procedure at the Stations Control Room airlock. He wasn’t allowed to carry any weapons of any kind. They had even confiscated his P-38 opener tool. He had seen the aftermath of a Lizard Cat raid before ... he deathly feared the sound of the ship’s airlock breaking seal and slowly opening.

As pressure equalized, the only sound he could hear ... was a man crying and whimpering ... begging to be allowed to live. Jason slowly unbuckled his harnesses and stood from the gravity couch. He slowly walked to the hatch ... The vision he saw froze him to that spot. There were 40 of the large fanged creatures standing in the room ... all uncaged or harnessed in anyway. He was so glad he had gone to the bathroom before leaving the Trinity Moon ... other wise, he was sure he would have peed his trousers.

The largest of the group bends and carefully picks up a man that had been lying by a wall. Judging from the smears on the wall, the man had hit it with a fair amount of force and was severely injured.

Jason backed slowly into the cockpit and stood by the pilot’s gravity couch. On the outside, no one could tell how deathly afraid he was ... he knew the Lizard Cat knew.
The Cat said nothing as it entered the cockpit and took a seat. He cradled the human in his arms as he looked at Jason.

Jason nods once and seats himself in the pilot’s gravity couch and straps himself in. He opens a comm link and says softly, “The passenger has company. Have a medical trauma team on station for arrival ... in 15 chrons.”

“Aye sir, You are approved for direct flight to the Captain’s Airlock. A Trauma team is awaiting your arrival.”

The Trio stood by their chairs as the trauma team prepared for the arrival of the fighter. Seal indicators showed that the airlock had sealed and was pressurizing. The only armed individuals in the room, were the standard honor guard contingent. They knew their orders as well. Do not fire on the pain of death.

The door opens, Jason exits normally and comes to stand beside Tom. He salutes smartly and says, “Lt Sprigg Reporting sir. I have delivered the package in optimal condition as ordered.”

Tom salutes back as he replies, “Well done Lieutenant, I will make a personal commendation in your record for this.”

Jason replies , “Thank you sir.” He salutes one more time as Tom dismisses him.

After Jason leaves, The Cat exits the craft into the briefing room carrying the injured Thorne. He surrenders Thorne to the Trauma team who immediately begin their hurried, very frenzied routine of Triage and stabilization. They quickly leave the room with their severely injured patient in their charge.

The Doc says hurriedly as he leaves, “He’s badly hurt Captain, but we got to him in time ... he’s gonna make it.”

Freedom Conference

The Cat shakes his head and comments, “Shame he gonna live ... stupid huumon shot me with hand weapon.” He points to the black scorch on his chest scales as he sits and wraps his prehensile tail around his arm.

Laurie and Vickie stood with big eyes and surprised expressions. Tom blinked several times then smiled.

He shakes his head as he says, “Your name is ... forgive the crudeness of my pronunciation ... Purrrroowweeerrrkkk?”

The Cat appears to snarl viciously in what the trio had come to know was a broad smile. His toothy fangy grin very much looked menacing. Tom waves to the guard contingent making them lower their weapons.

Tom says with anger in his voice, “I told you not to do that. Now, I want all of you out of my briefing room.” As the Honor Guard contingent left in shame, Tom opens a channel on the comm padd, “Bridge? This is the Captain. I want Ensign Broadhearst and the Legal officer here in 3 minutes with complete Ambassadorial kit.”

The Science officer replies, “Aye, full kit.”

The Cat continues his fangy grin as he replies, “Thassa fair proximation Huumon Tom. Isa tonal thin you missin tho.”

He then proceeded to make a wonderfully musical purring meow that cannot be properly represented in written words.

He continues softly, “Our Speatch bassed ona tone. We gots huge tonal ranges above Huumon hearin. Can talk ... Masta Huumon no hears.”

He cocks his head to one side as Laurie walks slowly over. The Cat looks on and wiggles his ears as she begins to examine the scorch mark on his chest scales. She runs her hand over the armored scales. They were so smooth ... not rough like she had first thought.

Laurie’s delicate fingers slowly run over the scorch mark, it felt rough under her fingers.

She asks with concern in her voice, “Does this hurt? I will get the Doc back in here to tend to it if you want.”

The Cat shows more fang as his grin broadens, “Norrrooww, it nah hurts Huumon Laurie.” He takes her hand gently in his huge hand, “Is nice n sof ur’s are.”

A strange, but very pleasant tingle of fear ran up Laurie’s spine. She squeaks softly in a gasp as she feels his hand around hers. It was hard as steel ... but gentle. She could feel the roughness of his palm and finger pads. She looked at the place the claws retracted into. They were almost completely hidden within the folds of leather hard skin between his digits.

The Cat bends slightly and nudges her hand softly with his nose. Vickie giggles suddenly, then puts her hand over her mouth quickly.

She says with a hint of embarrassment, “Sorry ... It’s just he kissed your hand Laurie. It’s tha same thingy Kitty does when she bein affectionate. Remember? We call em Kitty Kisses.”

Laurie can’t help herself, She blushes very deeply as a feeling of shyness runs through her. There is something about the Cat that has completely taken Laurie. She’s not really sure what it is, but she really likes this young ... person.

The Cat replies softly in its heavily accented voice, “Issa Honor ta hold ur hand Missy Huumon.” He reaches over and gently holds his hand over Laurie’s swollen Tummy as the baby moves and kicks within her. “You of mixed spirit ... an wif kitts too. Isa great Honor Missy Huumon.”

Laurie couldn’t help wincing a bit as the Cat rubbed her tummy softly and felt her child moving within her. The fear she felt over being this close to the Cat and being touched by him was different somehow. It actually felt ... good. She was also feeling wonderful about the complement he had just given her.

Tom says softly, “First, I want to apologize for the ... reactions everyone has. Our impression of your race ... is mostly mindless violence. I had no idea, that you were an advance species.”

Laurie says in a shy soft voice, “All the data released to the general population indicates their species is like a well trained German Sheppard dog or something. Even in the official report I have on the Console has sort of contradictory information. It shows a high level of trainability coupled with generational training. The only conclusion to support both indications, is they are highly intelligent.”

The cat makes a purring rowing noise as his mouth opens wide and he shows a full set of razor sharp pointed teeth, complete with 2 upper and lower fangs. Laurie giggles softly. She knows now, this is the sound of their laughter.

The Cat says softly, “I nota dog thingy. Amma man much as enny.” He flexes his arms producing huge muscles. “ Am jusa different kinda man.”

Vickie says softly, “I’ve been trying to tell people this since one of the Cats had a talk with me. I could sense they were far more intelligent than they let on. It’s just everyone thinks I’m nuts. Even you.” She pushes Tom on his shoulder.

Tom shakes his head slowly as he takes the bridge of his nose between his fingers. He knew he could no longer deny these were sentient people and not vicious animals.

Tom says softly, “There’s no apology I can give that would make what we have done to your people ... that would justify what we did. I can however ... offer you a deal that would give you freedom and a world to conquer and build. We also will tell you the secret to ... procreation, and give you the ability to reproduce at will. However, there are stipulations and safeguards ... just in case. I’m sorry, but if you’re interested ... this is the best I can do for your people at this time. Later, after the Galaxy has gotten used to you and we tell them of your magnificent bravery and selfless contribution to the war effort ... this will change.”

The Cat’s ears stood up erect. It was obvious what Tom had offered was more than acceptable ... even before discussion.

Right on cue, Ensign Broadhearst and the Legal officer stepped from the Transfer Tube’s swirling sparkling mist. They stopped suddenly as their eyes fell on the Lizard Cat sitting at the conference table, holding Laurie’s hand. Obvious fear crossed their expressions. Both had seen the fury and devastation Lizard Cats were capable of.

Tom says, “Come in and set up. We are making a historic peace treaty with a new race of Humanoids ... The Lizard Cats.”

The Legal Officer stares with big eyes for a few more seconds, before he walks warily to the conference table and opens his leather briefcase. He removes the legal Padd devise and many dummy padds that were the Liaison Network. He gave each person one as he turned them all on.

They all linked together and began recording the procedure while making the legal documents that gave all the Lizard Cats the designation of being a sentient race and allowed the freedom and autonomy afforded to such sentient peoples.

Purrrroowweeerrrkkk made it clear that his people would be referred to from then on as the Renni-tu ... a mix of Rennac and Koomtu, the 2 creatures from which their original genetics were derived.

The final disposition of the Galactic Empire prisoners were given over to the Renni-tu to deal with as they chose. All the genetic information necessary to insure procreation continued on uninterrupted for the Renni-tu was documented and sealed into a binding Treaty that went into effect immediately through out the Anquatine Galaxy.

One of the Stipulations that Purrrroowweeerrrkkk had offered, was that the Renni-tu would continue being the Elite of the Elite Special Operations soldiers for the Imerium Ground Forces. There were no other creatures in the Galaxy that could fill that position better. The Imerium agreed. For the first time in his life, Tom shook hands ... with a real live ... Renni-tu. He felt .... honored.

Laurie’s head felt so wonderful as she stood next to the Renni-tu ... she couldn’t understand why, but she felt safe with him. She stood and allowed him to keep his hand on her tummy as the baby kicked and wiggled softly.

Purrrroowweeerrrkkk of course had the most ferocious snarl on his face anyone had ever seen. He made such an adorable purring urrking sound that all had come to know ... as laughter ... or, if you could imagine it ... he was giggling. He places the side of his head on Laurie’s tummy beside his large strong hand. Purrrroowweeerrrkkk was enthralled with Laurie ... and the fact she was pregnant.

Laurie couldn’t help herself, she caressed his head and scratched behind his ears softly. From deep within Purrrroowweeerrrkkk’s chest, a simi-loud rumbling sound that all knew well ... he was purring contentedly.

The Galactic Empire’s Battle Command had become worried when the Hellenas Planitia Starship Yard had missed its scheduled communication. Long range scans had quit picking up the navigation beacons. None of the many ships in dock for upgrades or repairs could be contacted, nor were any of the outer defense markers transmitting.

Commodore Beeker had dispatched a large battle group consisting of 14 Anti-Matter Missile ships, 21 Proton Beam Ships, and 8 Battle Cruisers. Hellenas Plainitia was the largest and most strategic ship facility in the galaxy and the Commodore had no intention of loosing it. If need be, he would insure it was totally destroyed, leaving nothing for the enemy to occupy.

He stood by the plassteel port and saluted as the battle group vanished into NR Space. He was worried. The last time this had happened, The Empire had lost all of it’s largest and most powerful ships, along with the Emperor’s home station. The other thing that had seriously worried the Commodore, the Emperor’s last communication was from Hellenas ... just seconds before all contact with the station was lost. He truly hopes the Battle Group arrived in time.

The Captain of the Willow - The - Wisp over saw the placement of all the Defense Planetoids. They had new weapon systems and new missile technology, not to mention new plasma, shield, targeting, tracking, and stealth technology. The new Dark Matter Engine cores were still under construction.

The Captain had never heard of Dark Anti-Matter, and had never seen such a missile before. The size of the explosion was far smaller than the yield of standard anti-matter, however the destruction was far greater. From what the scientists had documented, the dark matter created a unique counter rotating singularity that opened a rift in space time. Everything within the massive graviton field of the rift ... vanished, leaving nothing for several thousand mega klicks around. This destruction field was far greater than the Anti-Matter explosions of the old missiles. The dark anti-matter missiles were also a quarter the size of a standard anti-matter missile, allowing for a far greater number to be stacked in each magazine.

The most devastating thing about the new weapon systems, was the Neutron Plasma Cannons coupled with the new chrono shield/cloaking technology. This effectively rendered the planetoids undetectable by any scanning technology and invulnerable to any weapon systems employed by the Galactic Empire.

The many planetoids had been spaced spherically, equidistant apart, leaving huge fields of over lapping fire power. Each planetoid had to be precisely located so the explosive yield of their weapons would not destroy any friendly installations. The AI’s of the station keeping equipment were more precise than any before deployed by the Imerium. All were grateful for the new technology brought back by the Trinity Moon.

The Captain of the Willow - The - Wisp sat at station keeping just beyond the corona of the Hellenas Planitia Sun, cloaked and time displaced. He waited impatiently for the attack he knew was coming. He smiles a deep and satisfied smile ... he knew this was a surprise the likes of which the Galactic Empire had never dreamed of in their worst nightmare.

Commander Jonas of the Galactic Empire sat in his gravity couch and contemplated the lack of Intel on the objective. He had ordered all the ships to gather into a large cone with all the beam ships interspaced with the missile ships at the larger end of the cone. The Battle ships were at the smallest end of the cone. This afforded the greatest protection for the smaller beam vessels by the large shield capacity of the missile ships, while allowing the neutron plasma cannons of the battle ships to fire unfettered while being protected by the beam ships.

“Tactical,” he snapped in impatience, “What do long range scanners show from this distance?”

The young Ensign replies, “I can see no damage to the station ... save for an anomalous reading where the engineering section is located. I am unable to resolve those readings, however ... I see no real reason why we have lost contact. I do see many ships in berth and have no answer as to why we have no contact with them. I am still not detecting any beacons of any kind or EM emissions.”

The Commander barks, “Comm ... have you been able to raise Commander Thorne or the Emperor’s Vessel?”

Comm Officer replies, “No, sir. I am detecting no EM transmissions of any kind. Not jammed ... just no transmissions. Inter-physic or otherwise.”

The Commander bangs his fist on the arm of his gravity couch. His ships were pulling maximum gravities. He wished they could increase their speed. He needed to be at attack range yesterday to assess what the problem could be.

Willow - The -Wisp’s Tactical barks, “Commander, long range scanners show a very large battle contingent rapidly approaching. They should be here in ... about 15 chrons.”

“Thank you Ensign. Comm, notify all attack platforms, full power to all weapons systems and shield components. Bring the battle group to full Red Alert.”

“Ay, Captain.”

An aggravating klaxon begins to sound. People began to scurry about in a very ordered chaos in preparations for the final battle for Helleas Planitia Starship Facility as all the weapons platforms vanish like mist on a hot summers day.

Final Conflict

43 Galactic Empire warships dropped from NR space into plainer normal space. The battle group Commander stared hard at his tactical displays. It was obvious at this range there had been some kind of major incident at the station. Sensors picked up an expanding debris field of what had been a rather formidable battle group within the opposite approach vector. The massive hole all the way through the station where the Engineering section used to be, was extremely disconcerting as well.

None of the Battle Group’s sensors could pick up any IFF signatures of friendly battle ships ... or any enemy war ships. As his Tactical Officer stated ... there were no EM signatures of any kind. This caused the hair on the back of the Commander’s head to stand up. He knew they were there somewhere, it was his job to at this point to seek them out ... and destroy them.

20 megaklicks ahead of his Missile ship, A vaporous form shimmered into normal space. The name on the white hull said Willow- The – Wisp. HE rubbed his eyes and took another look. He could see stars and things through the image. The ship didn’t appear on any sensors or tactical.

His Comm Officer pipes up, “Receiving a communication ... It’s from them.” He turns and points to the main view port. “No visuals, just a comm.”

The Commander replies in an incredulous tone, “Put it on speakers. Let’s hear what they have to say.”

“Aye, sir ... speakers.”

The Commander says in his best Authoritative voice, “This is Commander Sh’aandhl, You have trespassed on the Galactic Empire and committed an act of war! Stand down and prepare to be boarded .. or we will destroy you.”

The laughing deep male voice from the other ship replies, “I am a Willow the Wisp! And you think you can catch a spirit do you?” More laughter with more heard from behind. The sound of the comm was so eerie. Like it was coming from another ... place? The time dilation added this unique feature to communications. “Tag! You’re it! It’s up to you to find us ... we seeeee youuuuu! Can you see us?” The comm goes dead, and the vaporous Ship ahead suddenly dissolves into complete nothingness like a mist.

Tactical shouts suddenly, “Sir! A single missile! It appeared suddenly from no where! It’s targeted one of the Beam ships ... The Kraaga. The missile is a whole lot smaller than a normal antimatter missile, but it’s also a whole lot faster. Engine and energy signatures ... are unknown to us.”

The crew of the Kraaga only had time to realize they were under attack before the missile impacted on their shields ... and passes right through with no interaction. They never knew the explosion.

Commander Sh’aandhl sat mortified as he watched this new missile detonate on the hull of the beam ship. The explosion was nothing like he had ever witnessed in his life. A bright blue electrical type of spark flashed brightly and engulfed the ship within a spider’s web of energetic writhing energy tendrils. The point of impact suddenly warped impossibly, as if a huge hole had opened in the middle of reality. Within a blink of an eye, everything within hundreds of mega clicks vanished. Nothing was left, not even a residual energy signature. He had just lost 8 ships to one missile ... this was preposterous!

Commander Sh’aandhl slaps the comm padd on the arm of his gravity couch and shouts, “Weapon’s, lock full contingent on a reciprocal course of that missile from the point of initial contact!”

“Aye sir ... Targeted and locked.”

“FIRE!!!”

200 antimatter missiles leapt from the launchers. Each single missile capable of massive destruction. They flashed to the targeted location and detonated at the same time. A massively bright sun burned bright white for several seconds before all the antimatter had been consumed.

From the exact same spot ... came 16 unbelievably powerful neutron plasma torpedoes.

They were super fast in their tracking approach. None of the Commander’s instruments could calculate the energy contained in 1, much less 16. Suddenly, 16 more ... and 16 more!!

The Commander shouts loudly, “NOOO!!!”

The massively powerful neutron plasma torpedoes impact on 14 more of his battle group. Their shields flair nova bright before the shield generators overload and fail in a massive pyrotechnic display. Commander Sh’aandhl watches in horror as the most advanced armorplast plating in the Galactic Empire boils away and the ships explode violently, their power cores breached. Only thing left when the flash blindness passes, is a rapidly expanding sphere of boiling hot plasma and massive debris.

The last thing on Commander Sh’aandhl’s mind ... was total amazement as seemingly the whole of space came alive with plasma and those weird missiles. He never knew the explosions ... or the massive rift that opened in the plainer norm ... totally swallowing all evidence the battle ever happened.

The Imerium battle contingent sat in shocked immobility as the energies played out.
The battle was over ... if they could even call it that. There were no survivors of the Galactic Empire’s ships ... except those captured with the station. Retrofitted, they will make a fine addition to the Imerium’s new super powered Space Armada.

The Hunters ... are now Hunted

Laurie was sitting in a large, but comfortable lounger with Purrrroowweeerrrkkk curled up beside her with his head in her lap. She was scratching gently behind his ears as he purred contentedly. Another of the Renni-tu bodily drug the dethroned Emperor into the conference room and gave him a toss.

He slid several feet to Laurie’s feet and stopped. He sobbed pitifully. Tom and Vickie walked from around the conference table to stand behind the lounger. The Emperor looks up in time to see some thing he would have nightmares about for the rest of his long, long, long life.

Out the plassteel view port, he saw his Battle Fleet. He saw the initial exchanges ... then he saw massive amounts of plasma appear from no where and destroy all the ships. Suddenly, a huge blue spark ignited. Covering the entire exploding battle group with a furiously energetic spider web of massive energy. He couldn’t believe his eyes as space time seemed to warp suddenly, a huge ... hole in reality opened and in a flash, swallowed the entire battle. None of his battle fleet was left.

Tom says softly, “Now that you no longer have visions of grandeur, allow me to introduce you to your Empire’s new .. masters.”

Purrrroowweeerrrkkk stands and grins broadly, showing a massively ferocious snarl as he smiled. The Emperor blanches totally white as he sees several more of these demons walk into the conference room.

Tom continues, “Now, all the surviving member of your Empire, now belong to the Renni-tu. It is up to them to do with you ... totally as they please.”

There are many purring rowing noises as many of the Renni-tu laugh. Purrrroowweeerrrkkk lets out a fierce growl as he shows fangs and extremely large muscles and razor sharp claws to the Emperor.

The Emperor messes himself with fear at the prospects of what these creatures plan to do with him .. and his surviving peoples.

~~ End Pt6 ~~

[Miki Yamuri]

This is a cute little space adventure with a few neat twistys ... hope you enjoy