Justice Corp: Gamma (The Golden Knights)

by shenandoahok

Jimmy McGinnis builds the Golden Knights, and takes on an old evil in the universe: The Green Lantern Corp. In the process, he searches for the traitors in his organization who handed over pertinent military secrets to Moxia, and tries building powerful Battlecruisers to stop his fleet of Demon Class Ships, Warbirds and Parasitic Vessels. (Read Justice Corp: Gamma First)

2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

T'Naga

Six Earth Years Earlier : Two Doraxian Years.

Doraxian Television Broadcast Channel 4 News:

Reporter: So, you know more about T'Naga's history than the people who were born here?

General McGinnis: Yes. I don't say this with hubris, but I have privy to knowledge that the average citizen doesn't.

Reporter: Why should we listen to you?

General McGinnis: My wife and I have the interest of the Doraxian people in mind when we say, "You should be honoring T'Naga's accomplishments and not denigrating him." Without T'Naga, there wouldn't be a Doraxia. It's really that simple. It breaks my heart that his descendants have chosen to change their honorable name because of the backlash over him committing himself to an asylum.

Reporter: But how do you explain the madness in his journals?

General McGinnis: Have you read his journals?

Reporter: Answer my question?

General McGinnis: Did you read T'Naga's journals?

Reporter: No. Why should I?

General McGinnis: Then what qualifies you to call anything he has written madness? If we're a society of great minds, then said great minds must do their homework. I sit here disgusted that such a small minded man thinks he has the right to disrespect the name of one of the greatest minds in Doraxian history without reading his works. What good is having that T on the front of your name, Mister T'Narian, if you're not using it for the greater good of Doraxia? Now, I have put T'Naga's work back in the space over this world, and I will have a warship patrolling Earth, one for Thoraxia, and one for Praxis. Within the next two years, the Demon will be saving Brion Noir from destruction and terraforming another planet in their solar system. T'Naga's work is saving lives. And if anybody has anything bad to say about the man, then I hope you remember that T'Naga's work saved your life.

Reporter: So, this is your world?

General McGinnis: I'm over the Doraxian Military and this world is building me a Lantern School on Zaar. I killed a Parallax threatening one of our science vessels. My wife is the Blue Ghost. So, is this my world, Mister T'Narian?

Reporter: You weren't born here.

End of Broadcast

Later in the day…

Doraxian Television Broadcast: Channel Six News.

Reporter: Legendary reporter, R'Ded T'Narian, was abruptly dismissed from News Channel Four this morning. The station said, and I quote, "We can't have one of our Reporters disrespecting the highest ranking Doraxian military officer on our network. General McGinnis has worked for the good of Doraxia, and given us the opportunity to appreciate one of our greatest scientist in our history. "

End of Broadcast

Doraxian Television Broadcast: Channel Eight News.

Reporter: So, what's your name?

Prea T'Priot: My name is Prea T'Priot, and my family name was Naga, but my ancestors changed it eight hundred years ago to avoid the shame. My family had copies of my ancestor's journals, but I had never read them until recently.

Reporter: What made you read them?

Prea T'Priot: General McGinnis. In every one of his journals, he's talking about Jimmy McGinnis by name. I wanted to read it for myself. He mentions the Blue Ghost in several passages too, and plainly discusses Niona Iobi. He even calls her the Emerald Princess and Green Witch. T'Naga says he built the Demon class ships for Jimmy, and that he would lead an Army that brings peace to the Universe.

Reporter: So, was he crazy?

Prea T'Priot: General McGinnis said, and I quote, "Any person who depends on logic and reason would question their sanity after writing this. He wasn't crazy. He just didn't understand what was happening to him. Needless to say, I was born. T'Nalia was born. Niona was born. The Demon has risen, and the first order is to restore T'Naga's name. I think as long as Doraxia denigrates their greatest scientist and treats his descendants like criminals, then its star isn't as bright as it can be." So, no. He wasn't crazy.

Reporter: Will you be changing your name?

Prea T'Priot: As soon as possible.

End of Broadcast

Prea was on the science vessel that picked him up when he was only fourteen-years-old, and she had him in a few of her classes at Glassco University. She was an intern on the science vessel, and she saw the relationship between T'Nalia and Jimmy blossom. Prea's first name was actually CheCha, but she went by Prea because she thought Prea T'Priot was a cool sounding name. But now that she took on the T'Naga name, she decided to go by Checha T'Naga her actual birth name. She lived in Glassco, and was just an everyday girl, a plain woman with absolutely no flair. She was shaped like a pole, and ridiculed her entire life for being the epitome of plain. So, she put some flair in her name by calling herself Prea T'Priot, but now that her real name had weight, she enjoyed CheCha T'Naga.

CheCha lived on the bottom floor of her domicile, and it was hardly anything worth mentioning. She didn't have a boyfriend at all, but she did hit on Jimmy before he could control his powers. It was on the science vessel, and she handed him a tray of food through a slot on the wall while T'Nalia was off somewhere. She thought he belonged to her, and became enraged at the mere thought that CheCha had an interest in him. It didn't make any sense because only the lowly, poor men of the slums had only one wife, and most Doraxian men of means had at least three. When T'Nalia saw her standing outside Jimmy's hovel, she went crazy on Prea. She told her to leave a couple of times; but on the third time, T'Nalia said, "If you don't get the fuck out of here, I'll chop off your head, and throw you out the bay doors."

Every morning, CheCha walked around Glassco University, and tried to keep her body in some kind of shape. She was a smooth skin blue woman approximately five-foot-five with long, black hair. She kept it cut in a bowl cut, and her pointy ears were visible. She had her T in Psychology, and worked as a counselor. Her eyes were evenly spaced, and green. She wore glasses, and opted out of the corrective eye surgery. She wasn't affiliated with any of the ascetic groups; besides, the ascetics were usually extremely wealthy, but coming from a poor background like hers, she hadn't developed the attitude to refrain from the sensual pleasures. Her sexual liaisons were many, but since she graduated with her PhD, only a few. The park was always a good place to meet stray, Doraxian men, but none of them seemed interested in carnal pleasures. It wasn't that she couldn't fall in love with an ascetic, but she wanted a man to ravish her when she wasn't looking. She loved having men pleasuring her, but she had wrestled with a few women during her college years. The girls called it dabbling, and she did it whenever the opportunity arose. She saw T'Nalia at a party once, sitting in the back of the room, and quietly minding her own business. Some of the city girls had been touching each other's cheeks as a way to say, "Let's dabble," and now that she thought about it, it was an insane thing to do. Placing a gentle hand on another Doraxian's face meant, "I love you sexually." It was a powerful meaning in Doraxian culture, and nobody ever said it unless they were in a committed relationship. Casual lovers didn't use that expression, and to use that expression with an ascetic was insanity. She gently touched Su'Ra T'Nalia's cheek, and lost two soft nights, and the doctor's told her she wouldn't suffer any permanent brain damage. She didn't see Su'Ra strike her in the face repeatedly, but people talked about it for a long time. In any case, She walked with madness to touch a Doraxian's cheeks because it had a special meaning, and it was a meaning known throughout the solar system.

CheCha sat outside her apartment on a hard night, a night where it was fully dark, and drank some Doraxian Ale while watching the Demon orbit the planet. It was a beautiful night, the kind of night where she wanted some extra company, but it wasn't in the works. She wondered if the Royal Couple was on the ground or in the Demon-or making love on the Glassco Mountains. She laughed at the fact that Jimmy and Su'Ra lived in a quaint apartment across the way, but after they returned, they now lived on the outskirts of the city on a large ranch. She saw an emerald colored woman and a chestnut painted woman walk over to her, and she immediately new it was Lieutenant Colonel Niona. Cautiously, CheCha watched her words, as she was not only a LTC in the Doraxian military, but the second wife of Jimmy's, and she looked the part. She wore the ascetic bowl cut, and her apricot, bittersweet hair flowed down the center of her back almost perfectly. Her face, and gazing directly at her face, at her eyes specifically, straight at her lime beauties were hypnotic, and she could barely turn away.

"Are you looking for somebody, ma'am?" CheCha asked with a smile.

Niona smiled back at her, and didn't display any teeth. "Has the General contacted you?" She asked.

"No, ma'am," she said.

"He wants to fast track you through the Officer Lantern Course," she said, "You can be a Lieutenant in four months. Due to your degree, you'll beat my Captain Diggle to the rank of LTC," she said. "She's enrolled in the officer course at Glassco, but you would be in the accelerated one."

"Why me?" She asked. "What makes me special?"

"Walk with us, T'Naga?" Niona asked. They walked down the sidewalk of the apartment complex, and Niona said, "The General asked for you specifically."

"But why?" She asked.

"You mean a great deal to him," Tina said with a grimace.

Niona laughed. "T'Nalia asked the same thing. The General needs an intelligence branch who collects, mines, and analyzes data. He needs a set of men and women who can acquire information using whatever means necessary without regrets. "

"He needs a whore?" She asked.

"He said an ally," she said with a straight face, "But he said you would say whore."

"Regardless, please don't ever let the General hear you call yourself a whore," Tina said. "He hates that."

Lantern Basic took place in the sticks of Zaar, and the Citadel was large and beautiful-and dangerous. It was a palace in the center of the camp grounds, and situated to the north of the base was a large mansion with the Lantern symbol on the front. The barracks stretched across the campus, and there was over thirty thousand recruits chanting and singing cadences all over the base. There were highrise buildings with the Lantern symbol on the front, and it was multiple barracks throughout the area. Because of the newness, everything excited her, and when Niona saw her enthusiasm on the parasite, she told her to enhance her calm.

"You're on your way to becoming an intelligence officer," she said, "You won't be living a life full of emotions."

"Yes, ma'am," she said with a grimace.

The faces on the parasite looked drab and unassuming-and full of sorrow, and in some ways unsure of what to expect. CheCha stepped off the parasite with her mates, and walked in front of the shuttle, and before she had an opportunity to unwind, a large, sapphire colored man in a black uniform with the name tag like her's walked over to her.

"Hello, sir," CheCha said politely.

"What the fuck?" Sixth Classmen T'Naga said, "Do I look like a sir to you?" He walked around her, and then said. "Get your asses at parade rest." He demonstrated the position, and some of the recruits were slow to move. "Are you slow or something, soldier?" He asked. "What's your name?"

"Checha T'Naga," she said.

"Oh. You're the General's favorite," he said. "Do you know what that means?"

"I'm special," she quipped.

"You're special alright. NOW BEAT YOUR FUCKING FACE!" He exclaimed!

She pounded her face with her fists, and Niona laughingly said, "Push-ups!"

"Get your asses on the ground, and give me twenty push-ups! Do it now! Move, maggots."

Checha walked into the barracks, a long bay with so many beds, and she grabbed a bunk in the middle of the room, on the right side, and next to a Dorian, and his battle scars were evident. The scar over his right eye made her curious, and something inside of her wanted to ask him what happened, but then she refrained from asking personal questions. He looked like a Doraxian, but he didn't have pointy ears, and he had a protruding forehead. He lay in the bed in his underwear, a black, lantern shirt, and black underwear. He read a manual called Lantern Regulation nine-twenty-three. It was a manual concerning the appearance of the Lantern uniforms.

"Dorian, what do your people call you?" Checha asked.

He looked over at her for a moment, and then said, "Subin Ra."

"I'm Checha T'Naga," she said. "It's really nice to meet you."

He laughed. "You know you better keep up?"

She paused for a moment, and didn't know what he meant. "What are you saying?"

"You know what I'm saying," he said, "I saw your television interview."

She gasped. "You did?"

"My Dorian Commander is on Vitic, and she's taking command of Grace," he said, "She said the General has big plans for you."

"I don't know why," she said, "I'm nothing special."

The inprocessing into the Lantern Corp took the entire day, and she signed several official documents that enlisted her into the Old Guard. As soon as she finished with Lantern Basic, she would receive her commission, and then move on to the Accelerated Officer Course. After that, she would enter into Lantern Intelligence School, but meanwhile, she had to receive her uniforms, t-shirts, underwear, boots, socks, and running shoes. They gave her two patrol caps, two berets, and two belts with Lantern buckles. Her entire day was nothing more than standing, waiting, and then waiting some more, and every now and again Sixth Classmen T'Naga would act crazy. Even in the chow hall line, it was stop and go all the way until she received her tray of slop: Madi meat, pip eggs, and cabbage with a sweet roll. She sat in the rear of the cafeteria, and Subin sat next to her, and he didn't waste time when it came to shoving the food in his mouth. She took a few bites of her food, and ate like she was back on Doraxia, and then when LTC Niona walked into the cafeteria, the Sixth Classmen T'Naga screamed, "At Ease."

"As you were," LTC Niona said. "Sixth Classmen, hurry the hell up, and get these maggots out of my chow hall."

"Yes, ma'am," he said, "You heard LTC. One more scoop, and then move out."

Back in the barracks, she sat on her bunk, pulled off her blouse, and laid her head on her pillow. The screaming and yelling-and the fact that she felt singled out weighed heavy on her soul. She tried to relax, but push-ups made her sore, and the harshness of the environment didn't sit well with her. She closed her eyes for a moment, and then a serenity came over her, and it felt good. Suddenly, she felt a tingle in her mind, and then Jimmy whispered to her telepathically, "I'm going to need you to be stronger, CheCha."

"Why am I so important to you?" She thought. "I'm just a raggedy girl from the slums."

"You are Doraxia," he said, "I need you to conduct yourself like you're an ascetic because we need the Nagas to move up the social ladder. Your family should break bread with the Nalias, Danks, Neads, and Narians."

"They will never allow Nagas to be in their group," she said. "They'll go to war with you before they allow that."

"Just conduct yourself accordingly," he said, "Don't do anything to cheapen your character."

In some ways, she felt the General equivocate about her looseness, but she didn't have any plans to act like she did in college, and sleep around in the hopes somebody would find her worthy. She knew boys from the upper crust used the girls from the slums as tools, and never had any intention of anything more. She moved past that stage in her life, and didn't want to relive it. All of the men she experienced in her college years never returned for a second date, and it left her damaged to a certain degree. She didn't have the poise or the gait-or even the knowledge to be desirable in the opposite sex's eyes.

She walked into the bathroom, and it was full of naked people of all genders bathing in the open, and she did the same. It was a menagerie of Lanterns of all different species and backgrounds, and due to her curiosity, she had to gawk. Some were furry, some were sleek and shaved, some were fiery red, some were white like the snow, some were beautiful like the midnight, and some were a combination of everything graceful in nature.

Nudity wasn't a problem in most alien communities, and they didn't view nudity the same as some of the more primitive cultures. She sat on the bench in the rear of the shower, slapped some shaving cream on her legs, and shaved them. Subin sat down beside her in the buff, and laughed. She looked down at his business for a moment, and then over at his face.

"What?" She asked. She looked down at her stubbly legs, and asked, "You need a shaving too?"

"You won't be doing that much shaving once we start with the actual training," he said. "We start with the LPT test in the morning, laser training, and then combatives."

She sat back against the wall, and her pubic hairs were thick, and her breast were about a c-cup. "We're going to have to set a cleaning roster," she said with a smile. The thought popped into her mind, and she quickly realized Niona had given her information telepathically. "With this many bodies, it's going to get nasty quickly."

"That's true," Subin said. "Surely, you'll have Command within a year or so, so you need to assert dominance."

Shaking her head in disbelief, she looked over at him, and asked, "How do you know that?"

"You're on the fast track program," he said.

She walked into the bay in the bare, and said, "Listen up. I'm going to make a cleaning roster for the bathroom. In addition, we'll need night guards who work in two hour shifts on either side of the room. I will make a roster for that too."

Niona walked into the bay, and said, "Okay. Private T'Naga is the Platoon Leader, and I will give her the information, and she'll give it to you." She handed CheCha the cleaning roster and the night guard's roster. "Post these on the wall."

"Okay," she said. "I'm going to put this on the far end of the wall." She walked down the floor in the nude, and then said, "Make sure you check this on the daily."

Next morning...

The physical fitness area had a musty smell, and about two thousand troops were in and around the area doing different types of exercises. Subin and Checha walked onto the field, and then she stood in the middle of it, and screamed, "Fall in." All the soldiers ran in her direction, and made one mass formation. There were about one hundred troops in her company, and Niona was the battalion commander. Her company commander was Captain Diggle, and she walked on the scene in her lantern uniform. "Go ahead and prepare them for the physical fitness test, Private T'Naga."

"Yes, ma'am," she said. She looked directly at the formation, and said, "Extend to the left. March!" The entire formation extended to the left with their arms out to the side, and as soon as they came to a standstill, she screamed, "Arms downward. Move!" She then centered herself on the formation, and said, "Left. Face!" She looked left and then right, and then said, "Extend to the left! March!" The soldiers did the same thing, and when they stopped moving, she said, "Arms downward. Move. Right, face! From front to rear, count off!" Once the soldiers finished with their count, she said, "Even numbers one step to the left! Uncover."

It was warm, real warm, and Tina walked through the formation as they stretched, and did a light warm up. "Remember," Tina said in a strong, but soft voice, "This is a diagnostic test, so I can see where we need to focus. If you cramp up or become sick during the test, then you're done. Nobody needs to perish in this heat. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, ma'am!" The company screamed.

After about ten minutes of stretches, Checha formed them back up, and started off with a twenty-five man front, and a series of Fifth Classmen descendant on the area, and the test commenced.

For about ten minutes, Sixth Classman T'Naga demonstrated how to do the pushups, and he talked about correct form, and Checha paced in the background. She worried about failing because she didn't want to disappoint the Command Staff, and that included Niona, Tina, T'Nalia, Jimmy, and so on. She knew the General was watching her closely, and he'd lose faith in her if she failed. She thought that, but the General never said such a thing or filled her head with that idea. It was something she made up in her own head.

Men of Doraxian, Human, and Neonotium had to do fifty-two pushups for a passing score, and when it came to Dorians, they had to do seventy-two push-ups to pass. The women-on the other hand-had to do twenty-five and thirty-six push-ups respectively. When the first group stepped forward, Tina screamed, "The rest of you give me an about-face. Give each other some privacy." Everybody turned in unison, and then Tina held a stopwatch in her right hand, and said, "Ready." She paused for a moment, and said, "Graders, give me a thumbs up."

"Yes, ma'am," they said.

"Get set," Tina said. "Begin."

Checha was next in the line, and she could hear Subin pushing the ground like he was a freight train, and she heard the counter say, "Eighty-eight." As soon the counter called out his number, he hopped to his feet.

"That's what I'm talking about," Subin barked.

When he walked past her, he tapped her on the shoulder, and said, "You go this, T'Naga. Make it happen." She smiled, and then did an about face, and knelt down on the gray pad. She looked straight ahead, tried to concentrate, and then she heard, "Get set." She assumed the position, and then she heard, "Begin." She tried her best to knock out her pushups, but by the time she knocked out fifteen, she felt her arms about ready to give out. She wasn't very strong when it came to the upper body, and she knew she wasn't going to make it. It meant she would be a failure in front of her peers. Suddenly, she felt a tingle in her mind, and something rejuvenated her muscles, and she continued to knock out her push-ups. When she reached thirty, she wanted to get up, but she couldn't move her hands off the ground. Suddenly, a voice entered her mind, and told her to keep pushing. By the time she finished, she knocked out seventy-two pushups.

"Goodness, Private T'Naga," Tina said, "You Lanterned the hell out of that."

Among the screams of failure, some of the soldiers walked over to the edge of field frustrated they didn't pass the test, and immediately she felt the need to remind them it wasn't for the record. She trotted over to the Lanterns, and said, "Stay positive, people. This is just a diagnostic. We'll work on it."

Zaar's humidity had a certain bite to it, and the heat made it feel like a pot of boiling water. Tina stood in front of everybody with her stopwatch, and screamed, "Drink water. This heat is serious business, even for the Doraxians."

After the physical fitness test, the soldiers marched back to the barracks, took a shower, and donned their utilitarian, black Lanterns fatigues, and formed it back up in front of the barracks. The General walked by with Colonel T'Nalia and LTC Niona Iobi, and Checha brought the troops to the position of attention, and saluted the General. He saluted back, and then looked directly at Niona, and she said, "Tomorrow, those damn chocolate bar boots better have a gloss to them. Sixth Classmen, make sure these maggots know how to polish their boots. Don't embarrass me in front of the General again."

"Yes, ma'am," he said, "Private T'Naga, you will be in charged of the boot party tonight. You will make sure every soldier is highly glossed for first formation. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Sixth Classment!" She said.

"Private Ra, Private Williams, Private T'Nead, and Private Nalia, you guys are my squad leaders. You will lead the squads, and insure your people are glossed for first formation."

She called the company to attention, and marched them over to the chow hall.

"Give them a right face, and file them from the right," Sixth Classmen T'Naga said.

"Right, face!" She exclaimed. "File from the right column right," she said.

"As you were," Sixth Classmen T'Naga said. "The squad leader on the right should say column right, march. The rest of you maggots say, 'Stand fast.' When you see the last person march by, the next squad leader will say, 'Forward, march.' Do you maggots understand?"

"Yes, Sixth Classmen."

"Try it again, Private T'Naga," he said.

"File from the right column right!" She exclaimed.

The Lanterns worked in unison, and Private T'Naga saw the LTC smiling outside the door of the chow hall, and she felt good about that. When the last squad marched into the chow hall, the Sixth Classmen looked at her, and said, "You eat last. Your soldiers eat first."

"Yes, Sixth Classman," she said.

Combatives Range: 0900 Hours

The morning heat beat down on the Lantern's heads, and a FWB or a floating water buffalo entered the area with refreshing water and energy drinks, and when it rolled by, a robot by the name of Reginald climbed off of it. He wore the Lantern, utilitarian black uniform with the beret, and his skin was the color of chestnuts. He had the rank of a Major, and he was the only sentient robot in the Lantern Corp. Immediately, he said, "Give the trainees a break for refreshments, Sixth Classmen."

"Yes, sir," he said.

"Squad leaders, make sure your soldiers are drinking water," Private T'Naga said. "Hydration is paramount."

After the water break, the soldiers walked out to the rubber pit, a black pit full of bits of rubber that allowed the Lanterns to throw, roll, and flip without hurting themselves. Fourth Classmen Du'Ra T'Nead demonstrated the landing techniques, and he flipped in the air, and landed perfectly on the ground. He fell slightly on his side, smacked his hand on the ground, and let out a yelp as his body made contact with the cushioned floor. He did the same flip two more times, and then had a twenty-five man front across the Combatives Park, and had them flipping, running out of the pit, and then circling around to do it again. Every time the whistle blew, a group of soldiers would flip into the air, and land perfectly or not so perfectly in the loose rubber.

Private T'Naga heard the whistle, and then she flipped, hopped to her feet, ran out the pit, and back around again. The smell of the rubber nauseated her, but she kept flipping. The Cadre screamed about them not making enough noise on impact, and some of them had to do it again. After a while, it began to hurt. It got to a point where the soreness from the LPT Test kicked in, and it was hard on her body, but she didn't complain.

"Drink an energy drink," Private T'Naga said. "Replenish those electrolytes."

Fourth Classmen Du'Ra T'Nead walked up to the pit, and did three side rolls in a row, and then when he was on the other side of the pit, he exited, and circled back around. He dove, rolled, and came up on his feet. He then repeated it until he was on the other side of the pit, and then he ran around to the other side. "Line up, and let's get this done," Sixth Classman T'Naga said.

The black rubber left dark streaks all over everybody's faces, and the rubber was hot, real hot, and it was hot enough to burn the skin of anybody who tried to lay in the pit. Waves of heat arose from the fiery blackness, and Checha watched it closely. The sun beat down on the Lanterns mercilessly, and the heat was at a dangerous level. Large machines flew overhead called Murks that sprayed the soldiers with mist that acted like coolant. A cool haze encompassed the area, and then the Sixth Classmen screamed for everybody to start rolling, and the rubber became a soupy mess, but they rolled nonetheless.

The whistle wasn't just a mere whistle; it became the bane of CheCha's existence while she rolled around in the tenebrous pit of rubber. The mist fell, and the soldiers rolled, and then the rubber painted everything black. Every time the Sixth Classmen blew that whistle, her heart raced, and she rolled and rolled-and then rolled. Her body ached, and all of her soldiers ached, and when they complained, she said, "Shut the hell up, and roll." And then the whistle blew for the last time, and she stood in the middle of the pit, and the mist fell, but it didn't do anything for the blackness, or the aches, or the slight headache from the repetitive rolls. She just stood their quietly wondering if she was meant to be a Yellow Lantern.

Firing Range…

CheCha sat on a ledge outside of the Firing Range, and had a Lantern Enhanced Edible Meal or LEEM, and it came in a golden brown package. When she opened it, she pulled out a white wipe, and used it to clean the blackness off her sapphire hands before she could consume her dehydrated meal. She felt the razor burns on her legs from shaving the previous night, and when Subin sat beside her, she said, "You should have done a better job in convincing me not to shave last night. My legs are on fire."

"Tried to warn you," he said, "That rubber is merciless." He took a bite of his Madi meat sandwich, and then said, "My legs are tight from the LPT test. I'm going to be hurting tomorrow."

She smirked, and then ate some rehydrated Madi meat without the bread, and then said, "I'm hurting now. I'm hoping I can qualify with my rifle because I can barely raise my arms."

"I bet the General marries the LTC within a year," he said with a smirk.

"What makes you think that?" She asked.

"The General and Niona saved the lives of the Dorian officers stranded during the Boar Wars," he said, "The General and Niona were on a tryst."

"There's something going on," she said, "But it's custom for wealthy men to have multiple wives."

"I'm not really saying it right," he said, "I think you're one of the General's wives."

She scoffed. "Oh please."

"Talk to one of the Neonotiums," he said, "They said you're his third wife, and Niona is his second."

"Surely they tease," she said, "In this society, Nagas are the trash. For the General to marry a lowly creature like me, it would cause a war. The Doraxians wouldn't tolerate a Naga with that much power. Besides, Su'Ra is my first cousin, but they disowned my mother for marrying my father. She'd object me to the General's face. And let's say Niona approved of law states that both current wives have to agree to bring in the third wife. The husband doesn't get a say so.

"But what if he really wants you?" He asked.

"There can be a physical relationship, but I wouldn't inherit any wealth. Let's be honest, I bring nothing to the table."

"Maybe he'll marry you for love," he said.

She laughed. "That's crazy. T'Nalia has a fortune. Niona's a princess on Neo Star," she said. "Jimmy owns a fleet of Demon ships, and received billions of dollars from protecting worlds throughout the galaxy." She paused for a moment. "I have nothing to offer the General."

"It's all crazy," he said, "Why would the COS give a nineteen-year-older the powerfulest ship in the universe?"

The Officer's Advance Course...

There were fourteen men and women in the accelerated advance courses, and all of them were part of the intelligence branch. The workload was next to insane, and it was harder than college courses at Glassco University. The cadre put four months of coursework into two months, and everybody thought that was it. The cadre spent days on the different systems of government around the Universe, and it was extremely boring. They taught them how to gather data, analyze it, and then change the classification on it. In addition, they were taught how to make positronic bombs that completely destroyed ships, and disseminate false information to bring down governments. CheCha had no idea that the little boy they found in space knew so much about destroying governments around the Universe.

The General walked into the classroom after the last test, and told everybody what they thought about him and the school because their minds were like an openbook to a telepath. Freely, he walked on the minds of his elite, intelligent recruits, and stole their thoughts without any resistance. It was a mental rape that none of them had ever experienced, and it seemed like the empaths in the class suffered the most. He demonstrated how powerful he was by controlling everybody in the room's actions, and when he focused on their parietal lobe, the sensation was so unexpected and forceful that the entire class screamed climatically.

"Don't let anybody control you without permission," he said calmly. "You must use mental Blue Fu techniques to counteract the strongest telepaths. If you can't block, divert. You keep diverting until you push the telepath out of your mind." He paused. In the back of the room was Niona, and he just gave her a look.

"Recruits! Attention!" Niona ordered. The General left out of the room., and then he immediately returned.

Every recruit lost balance, and stumbled to the ground. "I just manipulated your cerebellum. You're my elite intelligent officers, and you will conceal your thoughts. Punishments will be severe if you don't hide your thoughts from me," he screeched. "Every one of you were glad to see me exit the room. Hide that shit. The information in your head is classified. Act like it."

The Lieutenant Colonel walked in front of the classroom, and ordered all the students to push their desk to the sides of the classroom. She went through a series of meditation techniques, and ordered the class to follow her steps. She taught them how to empty their minds, and fill it with a series of diversions. It wasn't easy for all of them because they had hidden baggage in the nether regions of their conscience. Lieutenant Colonel Niona was a serious person who rarely smiled, but she was loyal to her General. She repeated the steps with the recruits to the point of nausea, and then she gave a sobering warning.

"If you don't pass these lessons, you won't graduate," she said with no feeling whatsoever.

Immediately, CheCha T'Naga had a whirlwind of thoughts running through her mind, and Lieutenant Colonel looked directly at her, and then she thought about a kitten playing with a ball of yarn. She thought about eating Madi meat pizza, and the Lieutenant Colonel smiled. It was a rare occasion for her to crack a smile outside of the people in her inner circle.

"Recruits! Attention!" Niona ordered. "Lieutenant T'Naga, stay. Recruits! Dismissed!"

Checha hurried up to the Lieutenant Colonel, and she immediately emptied her mind. She went to the position of attention. "Ma'am?"

"Walk with me Lieutenant," She ordered.

"Yes, ma'am," T'Naga said. "Am I in trouble?"

"Did you do something wrong?" She asked.

"No, ma'am," T'Naga said.

"Then why would you ask such a question?" She asked. "The General doesn't tolerate idle chitchat from recruits or self doubt. It's unbecoming unless it's for the mission.

"Yes, ma'am," she said.

"You're the General's pet," she said.

"Is that a good thing?" T'Naga asked.

"In most cases, yes. In your case, no," she said, "He said you're very manipulative, and tried to make T'Nalia jealous on the science vessel."

"It's true," she lowered her head to show shame.

The Lieutenant Colonel turned to her, and said, "Suppress your thoughts. Facial expressions are a form of communication."

"Yes, ma'am," T'Naga said.

"You're plain. You have no flare," she said, "You're artless. The General needs a spy who is irresistible, a seductress to all sexes. Can you be enticing?" She asked.

"I've had my share of men and women," she said softly.

"No. Did any of them call you back?" Niona asked.

"No," she said.

"The General doesn't want a skank. He needs a charming, irresistible woman who men, women, and all those in between will sell their souls to seduce," she said, "Your missions will go unknown, and you will never be rewarded. The closest friend you will ever have is the General. You can never talk about the part you played in the new world. If you accept your new role, he will send you to Earth for a year to train with the Silver Blades. Upon your return, you will be promoted to the rank of Captain."

"I thought my training in Blue Fu would suffice," she said.

"Seriously? That's an art mainly for self defense," Niona said, "We're training spies who may have to kill."

At the end of her arduous, spy training on Zaar, six people supposedly failed, and CheCha was in the group. She kept her calm when the General walked into the class in his black Lantern, form fitting uniform, and told her that she wasn't worth the time and money. He was brutal in his delivery, and he did the same thing to the other five students. He kicked them out of the classroom, and when CheCha was outside the building, she heard one of the Doraxian men say, "What the hell?" She turned around, and slapped him to the ground.

"Why did you do that?" He asked.

"'Cause we're the spies, you idiot," she said. "Never discuss this school or what went on here. The other soldiers are merely technicians."

"I see," he said.

Later in the week…

Niona gave T'Naga a week off before heading to Earth with Lieutenant Knight and five additional spies, and she was no more than eight-years-old. When she sat in the Dracunculus, Lieutenant Colonel Niona arrived with a black box that had top secret on it. She put up the shields on the windows, so the occupants couldn't see what she was doing. When she walked on to the ship, she placed the box under the Dracunculus pilot's seat. She pulled out her palm computer, and programmed it, but CheCha didn't know what was happening. She wasn't familiar with what she was doing, and she considered herself an expert on flying Doraxian ships.

"Ma'am, can I ask what you're doing?" T'Naga asked.

"No," she said. She didn't say anything else or try to explain it. "It's good that you're diverting your thoughts consistently now." She turned around to the crew, and said, "You're all at the right clearance levels, and what I'm about to tell you must never be uttered, repeated, or thought. Do you understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," they all said in unison.

"These parasitic shuttles are meant to drain the power of enemy ships, and not design for long term space travel," she said, "But we're taking this one sixty-five light years to Earth."

"That's four months," T'Naga screeched, "We'll starve."

Niona gave her a cold stare. "Shut up, Lieutenant. We know how long it takes." She paused for a moment, " I just fitted a Transwarp apparatus on the ship, and we'll be on Earth within an hour."

T'Naga slowly raised her hand.

"Lantern, what?" She asked.

"That's impossible," she said.

"Tell that to the General," Niona said, "He made it."

"He's the real deal," she said.

"Houston, we have a cheese eater onboard," Karen said.

Niona smiled. "It appears we do."

"I know that's a slight," T'Naga said, "I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the short short ride."

"Just remember it's secret tech. Nobody discusses it with anybody," Niona said. "Once you have your ships, if the tech isn't innate to the parasitic conveyance, then remove it, put it in its case, and take it with you."

Once on Earth Niona took the ship to Tibet, and an Asian woman named Talia met them. When she walked off the parasitic vessel, she was met by over fifteen assassins, and then an older, Asian woman came out of nowhere. She was very beautiful, and had a long streak of gray hair down the center of her head.

"Talia, the General sends his thanks for taking in these Doraxian soldiers," she said. She opened up her top secret case, and gave her five gold bars worth nearly fifteen million dollars.

"I was willing to train them for free," she said, "The General liberated the world, and has manned ships protecting humans from enslavers. We'll do whatever we can for such a gracious leader."

Niona nodded her head, and said, "He'll feel disrespected if you don't take his gold."

"In that case," she took the gold bars, and handed it to the gentleman standing to her right. "Do you want us to train the women too?"

"No. But thank you for offering," she said, "I'll return for these soldiers in three earth years. Please note that we may send more troops your way for training."

"We welcome this," she said.

When Niona landed on Paradise Island, Christina met them on the beach, and she embraced Niona. It was the first time that T'Naga had met a woman over seven feet tall, and it shocked her for a moment. She was a tenebrous woman with long, curly hair, but when she looked at her curls closely, it resembled snakes.

She handed Christina some bars of gold, and said, "Train the General's soldiers well. I will be back for Lieutenant T'Naga in three years," she said, "Lieutenant Knight will be with you until she's twelve-years-old, and it's important that both soldiers are trained well."

"We promise," Christina said, "The General is a great man, and we'll help him in his quest to improve the 'Verse."

Niona placed her hands on T'Naga's shoulders. "You must tutor Karen where she's lacking. Promise me you will do that?"

"Yes, ma'am," she said, "I will treat her like my sister."

"As will we all, Lieutenant Colonel," Christina said.

The morning started off quietly, and T'Naga had a hard time sleeping because of the rustic living conditions. She walked out of the large, female quarters, looked over the land, and thought it was archaic. She couldn't believe she agreed to spend three years in a backwards society hell bent on eliminating men. Directly outside of the hut was a bust of a woman named Athena. She looked at it for a moment, but none of it resonated for her. She slept in a room full of women warriors who were austere like the ascetics. There wasn't a frumpy one in the entire room, and they slept with their weapons underneath their cots. Immediately, she had the feeling that every last one of them hated men, and that was further substantiated when she overheard a group of women question any woman who would submit to the will of a man. She thought their thinking was hostile when it came to the opposite sex. She thought about T'Nalia for a second, and remembered that she was The Blue Ghost, a Yellow Lantern, and the second in command of the Doraxian military.

The first thing the women did was go for a little swim in the ocean. They raced back and forth to a smaller island about five hundred yards from the main island. Karen didn't do so well at first, and had to use her ring to make herself a life vest on a couple of occasions. Christina worked with her daily on her swimming techniques until she was able to make the distance without struggling.

It took T'Naga a few tries to beat the swim course, but she struggled with the cooler temperatures. When her body hit the cool water, it shocked her for a moment. All the other ladies had good starts, but she lagged behind them at first. When she saw them climb out of the water onto the dry ground, she thought she was done, and she felt a bit of delight. But as soon as her feet touched the gritty sand, the ladies dove back in the water for another swim to the other side.

She heard Karen crying in the middle of the swim trek, and one of the girls named Diandra said to her, "Child. You have to find your inner woman, and do this."

"I can't," she said.

"If that's how you feel, then you will never complete the trek," she said. The young woman swam off, and left Karen floating in the water.

"Karen, swim over to me," T'Naga said. "We'll do a little more every week." The child dog paddled back to the Island, and the other women waited for her with their arms folded.

"She will grow strong," Diandra said, "I was ten the first time I made it there and back."

"See, Karen," T'Naga said. "There's hope for you."

It was only seven-o'clock in the morning, and the water had dried out Karen's hair. It was kinky, and it looked feral. Christina gave T'Naga some essential oils for Karen's hair, and she braided her hair every morning after the swim. T'Naga made it a morning ritual to fix Karen's hair, and then they would discuss their military lessons. They quoted their general orders every morning, so they wouldn't forget.

Christina walked into the women's quarters, and handed them canteens. "Drink plenty of water throughout the day," she said, "Dehydration will sneak up on you."

"Yes, Sister," T'Nalia said, "Thank you."

"Thank you, Sister," Karen said.

After they ate a small breakfast of honey, fish, and flat bread, they practiced with the sticks. T'Naga found them to be tedious because it was a twenty something pound stick, and when they practiced their techniques, it went all the way to lunch. When she looked at her hands, they were sore and blistered, and the same was with Karen's. T'Naga had always thought she was a masochist on some level, but now she realized she was nowhere near the level of the ladies around her when it came to enduring pain.

Lunch consisted of tender, fried shark meat, brown rice, and a soft, buttery roll. The roll was the best part of the meal because it nearly melted in her mouth. The shark meat didn't have a pleasant taste at all, and if it wasn't for the fact she needed energy to survive, she would have tossed it. The other women didn't mind the atrocious food, and when Christina sat in front of her, she said, "Remember, you don't live to eat. You eat to live."

"That's true," T'Naga said,

Surprisingly, her blue skin wasn't a liability in the social standing on Paradise Island because everybody was treated the same. She was a sister as much as all the other women, and she wasn't human at all. She wondered how women who lived on the fringes of an already archaic world had ideals that she thought were equal to her own. She then realized it was the exclusion of men that allowed them to see her as a sister. It was a time in Doraxian history when they thought archaically, but that was the time of the Grays. Blues hated Blues, and saved all their graces for the Grays. It was a self-destructive time. But on Earth, it seemed that Paradise Island was humanity's last contingency; it was the ancestors of the ladies around her that saved humanity on more than one occasion.

It was obvious that a blue woman such as herself was incongruous to the planet Earth, but she saw something in her sisters. Unfortunately, the United States was in a Civil War, and it was based on skin color. It had spilled into the deep waters of the Pacific Ocean, and went far beyond small-arms fire. An airbase in Central California launched two sub-nuclear missiles into the ocean, and it was headed for Paradise Island. The entire island went on alert, and a positronic gun protruded from the center of the community, and fired two shots, but missed its target. Karen and T'Naga flew into the air, captured the missiles, and redirected them to above the clouds. They exploded without causing any harm.

When they returned back to the Island, Christina told them about the deconstruction of several major societies around the world, and they estimated it would take them hundreds of years to recover from the invasion and enslavement of humankind. T'Naga didn't speak on the subject because the General hadn't given her permission to discuss his feelings about the situation. She learned quickly that he had decathected from the United States before he ever left the planet the first time. After he had a meeting with the Council of Science on the matter, he wrote a secure memo detailing why he wouldn't interfere in the Civil War in the United States. He had a ship over the planet call the Annihilator One commanded by Major T'Nifa, an Old Guard officer who wanted to retire. The General rescinded his retirement until his Lanterns finished with their schooling. That meant he'd be commanding the ship for six, long Earth years.

T'Naga pulled her communicator out of her personal suitcase, and looked over it for a moment. She didn't expect to have to use it, but the fact two military missiles almost hit Paradise Island was unacceptable. She pressed the button to contact the Annihilator One. "Commander T'Nifa, this is Lieutenant T'Naga," she said, "Are you there? Over."

"What do you need, Lieutenant?" He asked.

"Two missiles nearly hit Paradise Island. Why didn't you shoot them out of the air?" She asked.

"The General told me not to interfere with earthly matters," he said.

"He said don't mess with the Continental United States," she said, "If an errant missile leaves the borders of the United States, you're ordered to shoot it down."

"On whose authority?" He asked.

"I don't want to sound over dramatic, Major, but I have Karen Knight with me. Do you know who she is?" T'Naga asked.

"Isn't she in the Inner Circle?" He asked.

"That's right," she said, "Think about it the next time a missile heads this way."

Later in the morning, Christina demonstrated the art of the Silver Blades, and they practiced sword fighting with wooden blades. They did takedown techniques for hours, and then the girls practiced on countering those moves. It was a tedious endeavor, but she learned many moves not taught in the Blue Arts. The Blue Arts focused on self-defense moves, and when it came to offensive tactics, it wasn't part of the original art form.

Karen was good at sword fighting, and when T'Naga asked where she learned her moves, she said the General taught her telepathically when he taught Tina. She said he would bring her into his mental training sessions, and teach her how to fight with or without the Yellow Power ring. In addition, she had Niona and T'Nalia training her a couple of times a week.

"You have just as much training as me," T'Naga said.

"Life isn't easy being part of the inner circle," Karen said, "Training is the difference between life and death. I had just turned seven when he freed me from bondage, and I've been training every day since."

"I'm amazed he chose me," T'Naga said.

Karen laughed. "He saw your interview." She paused. "He called you Prea."

"That's the name I went by," she said, "I changed it back after he gave my family name meaning."

"When he saw your interview, he said, 'How did we miss the perfect soldier?'" She said. "T'Nalia didn't have the same reaction, and Niona and I left the bridge. If you haven't heard their arguments, you'll be shocked that two intelligent people can stoop to nasty insults. If she pushes his buttons, everybody on the ship will feel his pain on a mental level."

T'Naga laughed aloud, and said, "Oh. I've been there," she said, "I was there when they first met."

After two months in the process, T'Naga and Karen dove into the Ocean from the cliff, and raced across the cold water. T'Naga was slightly ahead of the youngster, but she swam like a seasoned pro. When they arrived on the far island, they hopped out of the water, and practiced their Silver Blade techniques. Once they finished with the twelve forms, they dove back into the water, and swam to the other side.

T'Naga sat on the south edge of the Island, and quietly watched the birds. She loved the seagulls as they flew through the air majestically. Many of them were white with black tails, and they flocked on the far end of the island. The seagulls made her feel good, but it wasn't a panacea for all her pains. On some levels, she felt the south end of Paradise Island was cathartic. It gave her a sense of solace. She was an expert at suppressing her feelings, but it didn't mean she didn't have them. It was a mandate from the General that none of his spies could show emotion, but at the end of the day, some surfaced. Every day she worked on keeping them down, but they had a way of bubbling to the top. She feared the General persuaded her to enter a world of loneliness, and it frightened her to be alone emotionally, and as her time on the island slowly went by, she realized the General had his wife and sagacious sage on his side. They filled that void that lurked in his soul. Unfortunately, she had to learn how to suppress the raucous in her mind, but it was hard. She felt that her mind was going through some kind of process over her decision to becoming a spy. But at the end of the day, she realized nobody had ever filled the void in her soul, and to make matters worse, no man had filled her vagina more than once. She searched her heart for a moment, and she was upset. She had spent her entire life studying, and now that she had achieved all her goals, she had a job that wouldn't allow her a family.

Karen flew down to her from the top of Paradise Island, and sat beside her for a moment. "I was the first through the Officer Spy School, CheCha," she said, "I'm only eight-years-old, and my mind has been brutalized by two powerful telepaths." She paused for a moment. "I learned how to divert, block, and the whole game, but it wasn't easy. You have to continue to suppress your emotions, sister, because when you leave here, I promise you Niona won't take it easy on you."

"Niona said the General took a special interest in me," she said.

"If I knew what I know now, and Niona told me that, I would cry and run-a-way," she said, "Because he never complains if I don't meet his expectations, he pushes his disappointment into my mind telepathically, and it's a thousand times worse than anything I can fathom for myself."

"Can you divert his abilities?" She asked.

"I don't think you understand how the process works," Karen said, "Niona was a trained telepath. On her world, they spent the majority of their schooling training the mind." She paused for a moment, and then said, "Niona taught the General how to circumvent, penetrate, and annihilate the mind. He's stronger than any telepathic creature known."

"So, was all the training worthless?" She asked.

"You'll be able to divert most telepaths," Karen said, "But if they are well trained, it's like Blue Fu, but with the mind. This is the reason you must continue to practice daily because as soon as we leave Paradise Island, you're promoted, and given your assignment."

"How do you know this?" She asked.

"It's only known in the Inner Circle," she said, "You do know you're in the circle, right?"

"Me?" She asked.

"The General has taken a special interest in you is the key," she said, "You're reporting directly to Niona." She patted her on the back. "Don't tell anybody about this conversation."

"I won't," she said.

"You're getting a warbird called the Subterfuge in six years," she said.

"I'm going to enjoy that," she said, "The shipyard is already working on your ship, and fitting it with two gamma cannons and four positronic laser cannons. It will be the first warbird with twenty slots for parasitic Lantern ships. They will attach to the outer hull of the ship, and help maximize shield strength in case of a sudden attack."

"Wow! Are you pulling my leg?" She asked.

"Nope. The General designed the ship specifically for you," Karen said, "It's a warbird with Demon level shields and weapons. This is the reason why we can't discuss this ship with anybody. Colonels and above are the only ones allowed to command Demon class ships. "

After the first year of training with the Silver Blades, she went to the other side of the Island with the Bullets and Bracelets regiment, but they only had two sets of bracelets made out of amazonium, an indestructible metal supposedly forged by the gods. The actual bracelets were in a golden display in the main temple, but it was off limits to everybody except the top brass of the Island. Karen stood in the middle of the small field wearing a substandard bracelet on her wrist, and when the women fired an innocuous laser at her, she missed it, and was struck in the shoulder. It had a slight sting to it. When the Amazon fired the second laser, she blocked it with ease.

"Why are there only two sets of these bracelets?" She asked.

"The gods gave us three pair, but one pair died with Diana," Christina said.

"Gods?" T'Naga said. She placed her hand on her head, and then walked into the sleeping quarters. She grabbed her palm computer, and sent it to analyze the actual bracelets, and if the Annihilator One's replicator could duplicate the bracelets. When the computer returned to her, it had the ingredients for the metal, and the ship's replicator had the ability to reproduce them. "Christina, the warship above the planet can make the bracelets."

"Like the real ones?" She asked.

"Exactly like the real ones," she said, "There's no reason that every member can't wear the real deal."

Christina folded her arms, and said, "I'm worried about protocol."
"Isn't it sisters working to help sisters?" T'Naga asked.

"How long will it take to make?" She asked.

"The replicator is already producing thirty sets," she said, "I will have the major's XO deliver them."

When the bracelets arrived, it was a Fourth Class Tia Di'Andre, a female parasitic pilot to drop them off. For some reason, the Major had a hard time understanding the culture, but after about fifteen minutes of back and forth, he finally agreed to a woman pilot. She handed a pair to all the women, and they placed them on their wrist. Christina pulled out a real gun, and fired it at one of the experts, and the bracelets worked like the originals. T'Naga thought she had done something great, but she did something unexpected: she challenged their religion.

"If anybody can make the bracelets, then how can I be sure our gods made the originals?" Demetria asked.

"It does make me wonder," Herita said, "I thought only the gods could produce Amazonium."

T'Naga realized that she went too far, and now she had to use her skills of manipulation. "The replicators on the warship were forged by the technology of the gods," she said, "I guess I should have mentioned that in the beginning."

"Demetria, we're sorry about that," Karen said, "Our technology was designed by Zeus himself, and to think we can produce your bracelets without his blessing is a step into madness."

"That sounds reasonable," Christina agreed.

"So, please consider the bracelets a gift from father Zeus," T'Naga said.

Later in the week…

The fact that she lied about the originator of the bracelets caused more lies, and it was getting out of hand. When she said that Zeus approved of the bracelets, they asked her if she had ever met Zeus. It was to the point that she was losing her mind trying to keep up with the lies.

Karen celebrated her ninth birthday, and when the ladies asked her about Zeus, she said plainly, "Father Zeus doesn't want me to discuss the bracelets. He has told me the bracelets were a gift, and I shouldn't try to explain god's manna to mere humans."

"You're right, sister," Demetra said.

"I think you should pray about your doubts, and find a path back to our father's grace," she said, "I'm going to meditate about it now."

"I will, sister. Thank you for your powerful words," she said.

Karen and T'Naga practiced with their bracelets, and then T'Naga asked, "Did the General tell you to say that?"

"Yep," she said. "What did he say to you?"

"Be quiet, and let you handle it," she said, "How can he speak to us from Doraxia?"

"I don't know. It's a blessing and a curse," she said, "But I called him, and said we were in trouble."

"Yeah. I was leading us down a dark path," T'Naga said, "I didn't know what to say."

"Well. The General is an atheist," she said. "But he tells us to always be careful not to tread on other world's traditions. This lesson was covered in your studies."

"Yeah. I guess I'm naive," she said, "I didn't even think to apply it to this situation."

"This is why we have to practice those skills," she said, "We're not empaths and telepaths. We have to train hard to compete with them."

"I just realized something," she said.

"What's that?" Karen asked.

"You're here to keep an eye on me," she said, "I allowed Niona to make me believe I was training you."

Karen laughed. "The General is relieved," she said, "He was afraid you were an idiot."

"So, I'm still being tested?" She asked.

"Every day," she said, "The General said you either suppress your feelings or you're going to start feeling a lot of pain."

"So, has the General been spying on me this whole time?" She asked.

"Nope. I told him the problem, and he read your thoughts to get a quick assessment of the situation." she said, "He's going to be working with you telepathically after he finishes with building the parasitic, Lantern prototype with T'Nalia." She paused. "Meanwhile, he needs for us to practice on suppressing our thoughts."

Christina walked over to them, and they stood in the middle of the small field, and said, "Jimmy just contacted me," she said, "I hate when he does that."

"He's contacted you before?" T'Naga asked.

"Several times," she said, "He promised that he'd liberate my homeworld." She paused for a moment. "I had the troops assembled to assist him, but he already had the Kryptonians leaving the planet. Later he contacted me about training you guys."

"What did he want from you now?" Karen asked.

"He told me to bring out CheCha's beauty and grace," she smiled. "He said he needed an adaptable, cosmopolitan woman who can seduce worlds. He said your comportment was atrocious, and he needed a substantial improvement."

"That's impossible," Karen said.

"Surely, he wasn't talking literally," Christina said, "But I know what he meant."

"I'm like a lump of clay in this game," CheCha T'Naga said, "Molded into the General's image."

Karen laughed. "That explains why you have that bowl cut, and long, flowing hair in the back," she said, "That's Colonel T'Nalia's hair cut. You're his third." She laughed aloud, and then Christina started laughing.

"It's true," T'Naga said. "Why didn't I see that? This is one of the styles of a married, ascetic woman."

"Why did you choose it?" Christina asked.

"It feels right," she said. "It goes with my face. What do you think?"

"It does," Karen said, "You look like the royal sect." Karen smirked. "I just realized something."

"What's that?" T'Naga asked.

"The General persuaded you to fashion your hair that way," Karen said.

"It makes sense," Christina said, "He took your ancestor, and made him whole in the eyes of the Doraxian people. He told me the tragic story."

"That's why he's focused on you so much," Karen said, "You're the descendant of the man he admires the most."

Several of the Amazons worked with T'Naga's gait, and it wasn't easy for her. Her entire life was comprised of slouching, and dragging her feet when she walked. She never had a significant other, and every one of her excursions was with an inebriated individual. No sober Doraxian had ever looked at her, and thought to approach her sexually. She didn't have a style of her own that set her apart from the crowd, and now the Amazons were bringing her inner beauty to the surface. Christina was fastidious with her gait; she was upright, and walked with poise. Every step flowed with precision.

"You did that perfectly," Karen said to Christina.

She smiled. "I was a Princess on my homeworld, but we escaped when the Lords of Decay attacked my planet."

"Where do I know that name?" T'Naga said.

"The General's genetic makeup includes that race," she said, "They're the reason he has the power to kill everybody in the room when he couldn't control his powers."

"The Lords of Decay have powers like that?" Karen asked.

"No. They usually have to touch flesh, and absorb its strength. Scientist weaponized it when they made Jimmy's genetic goo," she said, "It was the reason the Justice Corp hated him."

"My father had the best trainers on the planet to teach me comportment," she said, "He dreamed we'd return to Gorgon, and I would rule with grace."

"Where's your father?" Karen said.

"Don't know," she said, "He disappeared over Gotham during the battles."

Karen cried a little. "Was your father Captain Africa?" She asked?

"Yes," she said.

"I was six-years-old when I saw the battle between Captain Africa and two Kryptonians," she said. "I saw him fall into Gotham lake, but he never resurfaced."

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Yes," she said, "My father had all of Captain Africa's memorabilia," she said, "I recognized him."

"Interesting," Christina said. She paced back and forth for a moment. "Did the Kryptonians go in after him?"

"No," she said, "They flew off."

"What are you thinking?" T'Naga said.

She smiled. "It's probably nothing, but Gorgons hibernate in the water. He could be there for twenty-years."

T'Naga placed her right hand on Christina's back. "Sister, I will ask the Annihilator One to scan that lake."

"You'd do that for me?" Christina asked.

"Sisters helping sisters," Karen said, "That's the way we roll."

T'Naga and Karen walked on the beach of Paradise Island, and they waded in the salty water for a moment. She watched the water beat against the rocks, and then she saw some clothes floating.

"What's that?" Karen asked.

T'Naga flew into the air over the clothes, and when she grabbed them out of the water, it was three, dead men. She brought them to the beach, and gently laid them on the ground. They were brown skinned, much browner than Karen, but lighter than the General.

"I wonder how they died," Karen said.

"It looks like starvation," T'Naga said, "There might be hundreds of Americans trying to escape the continent because of the Civil War."

Christina descended on the beach, and Karen said, "I didn't know you could fly."

"All Gorgons can," she said, "I don't do it much these days." She knelt beside the bodies, and then said, "It's the horrors of the Ocean."

"It's the violence," T'Naga said, "People are trying to escape the violence without being prepared for the sea."

"Take them to the morgue on the east end of the Island," Christina said.

T'Naga picked them up with the power of her ring, and took them to the morgue, and then she said a Doraxian prayer over them. "May the laws of science allow your cosmic energies to flow back into the Earth."

Two weeks later…

It was early in the morning, about thirty minutes before the swim, when T'Nalia felt the pressure on her frontal lobe. When she rubbed her head, she realized she was standing on the beach, and she didn't know how she had gotten there.

"What's going on with me?" She asked.

Suddenly, she heard a voice in her head. "I usually relay messages to you through Karen. She's like my daughter, and I need you to stay up with her mental training. Now, Did you feel any pressure in your head just now?"

"Yes, General," she said, "It was a slight pressure and a tingling in the front of my head."

"I'm going to sever the link between us, and then I want you to see if you can feel when I return," he said, "If you can feel the connection, then you can divert it."

"Okay, sir," she said, "Let's try it."

When the General severed the link between him and his protege, she stood, quietly on the beach for about a minute. Once he reconnected to her, she felt a slight tingle. It was just enough for her to recognize it.

"Did you feel anything?" The General asked telepathically.

"A tingle," she thought. "It was ever so slight."

"Now, when you feel that tingle, I want you to wrap your thoughts with images of pips," he said telepathically.

"Why pips?" She asked.

"It doesn't have to be pips, silly," he said telepathically, "Just make sure it's something that doesn't give away any secrets."

The General severed the connection for a moment, and then upon reconnection, she immediately thought of a flock of pips, and kept that image up for about thirty seconds. Suddenly, she felt another tingle and then another one and then another one until the General was able to bypass her ruse. "It's okay, Lieutenant. You diverted me for a few seconds, and that's better than most. I think if you have a poem along with random images you'll be able to shut a telepath down completely."

"It's overwhelming, sir," she thought.

"I know, CheCha, but I believe in you," he said, "For homework, I want you to learn a poem by Robert Frost, a great Earth poet. After you rotate through five, good innocuous images, recite the poem," he said, "This should give you enough time to escape or fatigue the telepath. To do the latter intimidates the telepath, and many of them are insecure when they encounter a strong mind."

"Thank you for this lesson, sir," she thought.

"You have another two years of training," he said telepathically, "I have your first assignment on the Blue Dragon as soon as you're done on Paradise Island."

"What will I be doing?" She thought.

"Blending into the enlisted section," he thought telepathically. "Get back to your training, Checha. I will contact you in a few weeks."

"Yes, sir," she said.

After the morning swim, the ladies formed the Circle of Grace, and T'Naga was in the middle of it. Christina was walking around the circle, and she gave the orders for one of the ladies to attack T'Naga.

"Karen! Attack," Christina said loudly.

The young, Earth girl raced into the circle, and they engaged in hand-to-hand combat. When Karen slipped up, T'Naga pushed her backwards against Demetria, and then Christina yelled, "Demetria! Attack!"

The Amazon flipped into the middle of the circle, and lunged at T'Naga with a front snap kick. T'Naga flipped into the air, and knocked the young woman on the ground. Christina flipped into the circle, and the combatives were fast and precise. Christina rolled T'Naga onto her back, and then T'Naga rotated to her feet, and kicked the Amazonian in the chin. Christina leaped backward, lunged forward, and then methodically tossed T'Naga onto the ground. The fall was done controlled and professional. T'Naga laid on her back trying to catch her breath, and then Christina dismissed the other ladies.

Karen said, "You okay, champ?"

"I think so," she said, "Christina kicks fast."

"Do you know Jessica Hall?" Christina asked.

"I know her quite well," Karen said, "She's in the General's Inner Circle."

"She trained me," Christina said. "She also trained Vivian."

Karen laughed. "Jessica is one tough cookie," she said, "I know her sister too."

"I don't know these women, but I saw them for a brief moment," she said, "They were going through the Officer Lantern School at Glassco University. I was on my way to Zaar the next day."

"I start the Officer Lantern Course when I'm fourteen," she said. "I'll be promoted to Captain on my entry date, and promoted to Major on my exit date."

"How long is the school?" Christina asked.

"Six, long Earth years," Karen said.

"Oh. That's a long time," she said, "You'll be like twenty." She smiled. "You're so grown already."

"It's because I'm the communications officer on the Demon," she said, "I've learned so many different languages and customs that I feel like my head is going to explode."

"So, are the General and T'Nalia like your parents," Christina said.

She paused for a moment, and T'Naga set up with her arms folded. She looked over at Karen. "I don't know," Karen said, "I ask them for permission like they were my parents. I cry in the General's arms when I'm upset."

"The General talked to me this morning," T'Naga said. "The first thing he said was take care of Karen because she's like a daughter to me."

Karen started crying for a moment, and Christina and T'Naga hugged her. "What's wrong?" T'Naga asked.

"I missed them," she said. "They're the closest I will have to parents."

Two Months Later…

T'Nalia and Niona flew one of the newly, off-the-line parasitic Lantern ships to Paradise Island, and visited Karen for a day. T'Naga immediately noticed the Colonel's comportment, and she stood like she owned the world. Niona was the same way, and she entered into T'Naga's mind for a moment.

She said telepathically, "The General is pleased with your progress, as am I."

"He's reticent when it comes to the comments," she thought.

"Don't expect the same praise from T'Nalia, but keep up the good work."

"Thank you, ma'am," she thought.

Niona walked over to T'Naga, and said, "Come check out the new ships." They walked over to the vessel, and it was made out of an indestructible alloy, and it had two seats in it. The shuttle had a bathroom in the rear and two beds. It had the ability to go into transwarp, and it had one gamma cannon. In addition, it had a positronic laser with the capabilities of traveling at warp nine. In attack mode, it had cables that attached onto an enemy ship, and drained it of its power. The vessel didn't have to sit directly on the ship like the older models.

"This is the Colonel's machine," Niona said, "The basic, parasitic vessels travel at warp seven."

"Will all of them be silver?" She asked.

T'Nalia and Karen walked up to her, and she said, "No. Field grade officers will have vessels like this one. Your vessel will be black." T'Nalia smiled. "Actually, you will have a black vessel that travels at warp nine."

"My vessel will be like this?" She asked.

"It will actually have more gadgets than this," she said, "Remember, you're an intelligence officer. Your special gadgets will be concealed until you need them. Once the Subterfuge is finished, it will have twenty parasitic vessels attached to it."

"Doraxia is changing so fast," T'Naga said.

Niona laughed. "You'll love this. The Doraxian government is tracking down all the Nagas, and given them forty billion dollars, and a monthly stipend for life."

"We'll be moving up the social ladder," T'Naga said.

"The General estimates the Nagas will have a seat on the Council of Science in seven years," T'Nalia said, "That will put you in line for the position."

"Seriously?" She asked.

"You will have the credentials," Niona said, "All you have to do is make the rank of Colonel in five, Doraxian years."

"What about me?" Karen asked.

"Honey, we have a load of things planned for you," T'Nalia said.

"It's a lot," Niona said in agreement. "Upon graduation from Glassco, you're taking charge of a three hundred man Battle Cruiser called the Earth Shaker."

"It's a nice ship," T'Nalia said. T'Nalia and Niona hugged Karen, and Niona looked over at T'Naga.

"Keep training hard, T'Naga," she said, "May the laws of science keep you strong."

T'Naga shook Niona's hand, and said, "Thank you, ma'am."

"T'Naga, take care of my daughter," she said, "I want her back strong."

"I will, ma'am," T'Naga said.

Karen hugged T'Nalia, and said, "I miss you and love you so much."

"We will visit every couple of months now," Niona said. "Oh. The General took the bracelet design, and now they're a part of the intelligence officer's uniform."

When the Colonel and Lieutenant Colonel left Karen and T'Naga practiced with the wooden swords on the beach. They were with a group of the other ladies, and the clickety clack of the swords lasted for hours. The ladies were mastering their techniques because the realization that the end of the training was real. The ladies switched partners every ten minutes to learn new styles. After she finished her training session, everybody except for her went to prepare for dinner. She walked along the beach for a while, and saw her reflection in the salty water. She hadn't realized the amount of attrition she had gone through until she saw her reflection. She knew her body wasn't desirable to the opposite sex because she wasn't curvaceous like the Colonel. Even Niona had curves, and she was thinner than the Colonel. She laughed. The Colonel didn't have any fat on her, but all the Nalias were curvey women: small waist, firm arms, and round hips.

Karen and T'Naga sat at the dinner table, and ate their fill of whale blubber in a white, tangy noodle sauce. It was really good, but she realized the food wasn't enough to sustain her weight or give her the curves she desired. When Christine walked by, she said, "I need more calories to keep up my weight."

"We can give you a quarter more food to eat, but I would suggest you include weight lifting in your struggle for the curvaceous body. Wider shoulders, a small waist, and the right attitude will melt a man's heart," she said.

"Thank you, sister," T'Naga said.

She had been on the Island for nearly fifteen months, and she didn't know about the nice, state of the art gymnasium on the small island. She had seen the buildings on the other side, but she never desired to visit it. She and Christina swam to the other side, and walked into the gym. They walked inside of the facility, and it had several treadmills, a litany of weights, and cow bells. There were several women in the gym, but she didn't recognize them. It had been years since she had entered a gymnasium. Fitness was a thing on Doraxia, but sports was a rarity. The Doraxian people placed education above sports, and it wasn't merely words they would say. There hadn't been a sports match on Doraxia since the Grays died off. They were the ones fueling the sports industry with Blues who had been beaten mentally throughout their young lives.

T'Naga walked over to a machine that had the weight bar locked in it. She placed some small weights on either side, and followed the instructions on the wall. Up and down she went until she had a nice burn on her bottom, and then she repeated the process. She loved working out, but she didn't want to over do it on the first day. She had spent an hour on the leg weights, and when she went to swim back to the other Island, she immediately realized it wasn't going to happen. Her legs throbbed. Christina had already swam back to the other side, but T'Naga had to use the power of her ring. When she returned, it was right at lunchtime, and she gobbled down as much food as possible. She felt Karen watching her eat.

"What?" T'Naga asked.

"You're gobbling down your food like somebody is going to steal it," she said.

"Lifting weights has increased my appetite," she said.

On the the last months of the third year, Karen turned eleven-years-old, and her hair was long, healthy, and shiny. The sun had darkened her skin a few shades, and her eyebrows were thick and black. She was strong for an eleven-year-old child, and was quick with the sword. T'Naga looked like a blue, fitness model, and she kept her hair in the ascetic, bowl cut, long in the back, and straight. Her body had changed from a skinny, no-shaped stick woman to a somewhat muscular, curvacious fitness woman. She didn't have narrow hips anymore; they were curvy and strong, and when she talked, she had a commanding voice. Her gait was one of a dignified woman with a royal background.

T'Naga sat on the beach in her two piece bathing suit; her blue skin sparkled in the sunlight, and she was ready for her first duty station. It was her last day on Paradise Island, and Karen cried for the whole week leading up to the day of T'Naga's departure. The sun had baked her soft blue skin to a tenebrous color. She was like a walking piece of art because of all the weight lifting and exercising. She was stationed on the Demon, and she was the commander over Alpha Company. When Niona picked her up, it was in the Demodectic, and it was a much faster ship since the new design.

She had to force Karen to see her off, and that they would cross paths a million times because they were both in the General's inner circle. The General had been promoted to a three star, and it was a big thing all over Doraxia. She had missed the actual ceremony. When Niona landed on Paradise Island, Karen barely hugged T'Naga back, and it caused her to cry.

"I thought we were sisters," T'Naga said.

"We are," Karen said, "I'm just sadden that you're leaving me."

"I have to," she said, "In two years, you'll be back on the Demon."

"Yeah. Only for a year then six years of college," she said, "My life is all training."
"As is mine, but isn't it the life of Yellow Lanterns?" She asked.

Karen made a grimace, and then hugged T'Naga, and the Doraxian climbed aboard the Demodectic.

"Lieutenant, once we pick up the guys we'll be in Doraxian space in thirty minutes," she said.

"That's faster than before, ma'am," T'Naga said.

"It's been three years," Niona said, "We have second generation tech now. It's much faster."

When the Demodectic left Earth's orbit, a black hole opened, and the ship flew into it, and came out on the other side. When T'Naga looked up, she could see Doraxia in the distance, and the Demon orbiting around the planet. There were several large vessel patrolling the sector, and she saw two Joradic vessels flying around the area.

"This has all changed," T'Naga said. "I never thought this would happen."

"You guys can take a two week respite before reporting for duty," she said. She flew the ship into the Demon's bay, and there were about fifteen Lantern vessels in it. When Niona and her exited the Demodectic, she tapped the side of a black ship, and said, "The is your baby. It's fast and maneuvers like a dream."

"This is all mine?" T'Naga asked.

"Yes. As soon as you sign out, you're on leave," she said. "Take your ship, and go visit loved ones."

She showed the other five guys their ships, and they were equally surprised.

Niona assumed command of the Demon while the General was in his room working on his thesis for The immobilizer ray. The Colonel was on world with Raydon visiting her parents, and she had a week left on her respite. She hadn't developed a rapport with her new bridge staff, and still had a longing for Captain Diggle and Karen Knight; they were all in school or training on Earth. She sat in the Command Chair, and Captain D'um T'Larty was on communications. He was a large, out-of-shape Doraxain who the General put on the overweight program as soon as he came on board the Demon. The General said that the Old Guard will meet height and weight standards before the end of the first year or he'd kick them out of the military.

Captain D'um T'Larry had a large, square head, and was balding in the middle; he was an older man, a man who spent nearly ten years in the military. His voice was gentle, but deep, and he spent a lot of time in the lounge after work. He had narrow eyes, and thick, overbearing eyebrows to the point that the General asked Niona to scrub the regulations for proper eyebrow length. It was no secret that the General had a problem with the Old Guard, and it was because they skirted the regulations and didn't try to meet the standard. When the Old Guard went to the rifle range on Zaar to test out the targets, he left them there until they all qualified. They were on ground for three weeks, and the General would send in nothing but water and the Old Guard military rations that everybody hated. They only had to hit thirty out of fifty targets to pass, and everybody kept getting scores like twenty one, fifteen, seventeen, and so on. So, the general took the ten that passed the test, and had them transporting food back and forth to the flunkies, and set up an entire sleeping area in the rear of the range. The General accused them of failing on purpose so he said that he would keep them all on the range until they all qualified or died.

After three weeks, Niona picked up the soldiers, and said, "I wouldn't look at the General when you're back on the Demon."

"Yes, ma'am," Captain D'um T'Larry said. "I lost fifteen pounds living off those rations."

"Good for you," Niona said, "If the General notices, he might actually smile."

"Why is he so angry?" Captain D'um T'Larry asked.

"What's your degree in?" Niona asked.

"I have a doctorate in physics," he said.

"Have you ever used your doctorate for the betterment of Doraxia?" Niona asked.

He paused for a moment. "No. I've never used it at all."

"That's why he's upset," she said, "There are too many PhDs with no skills in their respective fields. He needs knowledgeable people on his team, and not a bunch of sham artists." She turned around in her seat, and watched the first squad climb onto the shuttle. "The flight is only ten minutes. We're stacked in here, so brace yourself."

One of the other members on the bridge was Captain Iona T'Nee. She wore her hair in braids, and it was a style from the ascetics that was approved in the manual called Military Blue Codes For Garrison Dress (MBCFGD). T'Nalia had the Captains on Vitic work on the manual, and then they submitted their work to her, she compiled the manual into precise instructions. When Jimmy saw it, the manual didn't have the ascetic hairstyles in it, and he told them to rewrite it, and if they left out the styles for the ascetics, he'd come to Vitic, micromanage the entire project, and then fire their asses. In addition, he sent out three memorandums on military manuals, and demanded that the Officers documented every aspect of the ships. If a lever had to be pulled or a button had to be pushed, it had better have documentation on it.

"Colonel, do you think the General is being too hard on the Old Guard?" Captain T'Nee said. "There's a manual on ships' levers."

"He's big on documentation," she said, "Soldiers won't always know the proper technique, but they will have the manual on their palm computers. It's his command to do as he chooses."

"Yes, ma'am," She said.

"As far as his treatment of the Old Guard, I think he will soften in time, but for now, he wants the Military Blue Standard. He believes in brains over bronze, but a soldier must have enough bronze to meet the needs of the military. If I gave you a fitness test, Captain T'Nee, could you pass?"

"I'd struggle on the pullups, but I think the push-ups and run would be in my favor," she said.

"The ascetics always do well," Niona said. "It's their diets."

On the monitor was Captain T'Dunn, a young man who grew up on Vitic, and was familiar with the ships. He had played in the shipyards as a child, and had always dreamed of the ships flying again.

"Captain T'Dunn, what are your feelings about the General's work?" Niona asked.

"To be on the Demon is the greatest feeling in the world, ma'am," he said, "I feel safer knowing we have a General who has a Doraxia first attitude."

"Me too," Niona said. "He believes in a strong military."

"I think he cemented my love when he asked that reporter if he read T'Naga's journals," he said, "As doctorates, it's our duty to read the material before we give our opinions."

"Yeah. The General is dismayed over the amount of PhDs without a coherent thesis on file," he said, "He wants the best PhDs on Doraxia working on his Praxis project, and he's only found a plethora of sham artists."

Suddenly, Niona's head tingled for a moment, and then she felt Jimmy's telepathic thought. "Come to my room."

"Yes, sir," she said telepathically. "What's this about?"

"Just to chat," he said telepathically.

"Captain D'um T'Larty , you have the bridge," She said.

"Yes, ma'am," he said.

When she entered into Jimmy's hovel, the bed was made, but he had wadded paper all over the floor. He looked like a madman as he sat on the far side of the room. It was a rarity that anybody used paper on Doraxia, but he must have ordered some at some point.

"Where are you at on this project?" She asked.

"I need a device that immobilizes everybody in an entire area," he said telepathically. "It doesn't kill them or hurt them in anyway, but it allows for our scientists to move around them, and collect data undetected."

"Is this a weapon?" She asked telepathically.

"No," he whispered telepathically. He stood up, walked over to her, and gently touched her cheek. It caught her off guard because he hadn't ever done that in the past. She knew what it meant, even though it wasn't the custom of her people, the Neonotiums. "I will figure out how to immobilize people, so our scientists can document them without interfering with their society."

"In the past, the Doraxians only contacted advance races," she whispered telepathically.

"When it comes to a cultural exchange, I think we can only contact races who have moved past religions," he whispered telepathically, "Our advance technology would seem godlike to primitives."

"Can we speak freely for a moment, sir?" She asked telepathically.

"You're always welcomed to speak freely to me, Niona," he said telepathically. "We're the only people on the ship who speak like this."

"I had a dream last night," she whispered telepathically, "It was you and me playing with our five children." She paused for a moment, "All of T'Nalia's kids were grown, and I remember raising them..."

"Why are you worried with that?" Jimmy whispered telepathically.

"What did you do?" She said loudly.

Jimmy walked over to her, and he placed his hands on her face, and then she pulled away from him. They wore similar, skin tight uniforms that clung to their bodies. She came up to his chest, and when he held her, her face was buried in his chest. She walked over to the wall, and placed her left hand on it. When Jimmy came up behind her, she tried to walk away from him, but he held her in place, and wouldn't let her walk away.

She whispered telepathically, "Tell me, Jimmy. If you love me, you'll tell me what you did because that dream was real."

He walked over to the bed, and said, "I'm frightened to tell you." He had tears streaming down his face. "You won't love me if you saw what I did."

"Show me," she said with tears rolling down her face. "Show me what you did, Jimmy."

He looked at her for a moment, and picked her up with his telekinetic powers, and laid her on the bed next to him. He placed her underneath his body, and kissed her sensually, and she kissed him back. "It may be my only real kiss from you after this," he said telepathically.

"Just do it," she whispered telepathically.

She laid underneath the man who would become her husband, and he gently pressed his head against hers. A white glow poured out of his mind, and went into hers, and she tensed up, and then her body went completely limp.

Alternative Timeline:

Niona flew down to her abode; it was a quaint cottage on Praxis surrounded by a group of other cottages. It had a white picket fence, and everybody was scientists and officers under the General. When she opened the door, Jimmy stood in the middle of the room waiting for her. It was a humble home, a modest home that didn't take up much real estate. He had some Madi meat cooking on the stove, cabbage, and pip eggs, and when she took a whiff, she said, "It smells delicious." She smiled. "Where's the boys?" She asked.

"I sent them to Doraxia," he said, "The T'Nalias have been asking to see their grandkids everyday."

She paused. "Shouldn't we make the decision together?"

Jimmy smirked. "Are we married now?" He asked.

"I don't know what to call this," she mumbled. "We're a couple without being a couple. I love you more than myself, but we sleep apart. I've offered you my body, but you don't want it."

Jimmy paused. He walked over to the stove, and stirred the cabbage. On the far wall, a picture of T'Nalia and the kids hanged on the wall. "T'Nalia's been dead for three Doraxian years," he said, "Maybe it's time to move on." He looked back at her for a moment. "It seems like the right time."

She sat on the edge of the sofia, and she had grown accustomed to the sleeping arrangements. She pulled at her orange hair, and then her countenance changed. "What are you saying, Jimmy?" She asked. She sighed. "Are you in search of another Blue, a human, or what? What do you want?"

"You're purposely trying to be difficult," he said with a matter of factly look on his face. "You know exactly what I want."

"You've destroyed worlds, but you've never looked at me and said that you want me," she snapped.

"My love for you stretches over fifteen years," he said, "My heart is with you."

He placed his head against hers, and initiated the Neonotium's mating ritual when a telepathic connection was made. It scared Niona because she hadn't ever had sex, and the mating ritual devastated the women because the male thrusted all of his empathic energy into the female, and it caused every nerve ending to fire at once. She was more than capable of having sex like a human or Doraxian woman, and she had her doubts about Jimmy's knowledge on Neonotium mating practices, but he was off to a good start. She was so busy with the Sapphires that sex never came up, and then when she put all her energies into Jimmy, he was completely faithful to T'Nalia in mind, body, and soul.

"Hold on, Jimmy?" She asked. "Why are you doing the mating ritual like I'm twenty something?"

"When I said I loved you," he said, "I meant that I love you so much that I want children."

She squinted, and thought he had gone insane. "I'm forty-five, Jimmy," she said laughingly. She shook her head in disbelief. "I don't know about Kryptonians, but my baby-making days have come and gone." She folded her arms. "I had my last woman-time almost a year ago."

Jimmy paused for a moment, and turned off the heat on the food. He quickly made Niona a plate, and then asked her a question. "Why are you finding excuses?" He asked. "I'm sorry that it took so long to get over T'Nalia, but I loved both of you at the same time." He pointed at himself when he said, "I chose to refrain from being intimate with you.." He touched her face like she was a Doraxian woman. "I've always had a void in my life, and it was because we never consummated our love."

"But we can't go back, Jimmy," she said. "There's no way to redo what nature has done. You can't refit my baby making factory like it's one of your ships. You have a multitude of wives, and I've tolerated all of that. But to think I can give you children now..."

He laughed for a moment. "Have you ever asked yourself why I destroyed Oa?" He handed her the plate of food, and she ate a little before she answered.

She looked at him with a scowl for a moment. "Because they killed your beloved."

"No. It was because they destroyed her body," he said, "I begged those monsters to turn her over to me." A tear raced down his face, fell off his brown chin, and fell onto the floor. "They incinerated her just to wound me."

"What are you saying?" She asked. "She was gone, Jimmy. You're telling me you killed one hundred billion people with the Demon because of one death?"

"Jon Stewart told them to burn my beloved," he said, "Because he knew of my powers."

"What? It's common knowledge that you can kill with a mere touch," she said, "They burned her for that?"

"And I can restore life in the same way," he said, "I could have brought her back. I could have made her whole, Niona."

"You're serious?" She asked.

"Put down your plate, and let me hold you for a moment," he said. She walked over to him, and he grabbed her by the neck with one hand and around the waist with the other one. A golden glow encompassed her entire body, and Jimmy pushed his magnificent energy into her. She felt his energy flowing through her body, and it caused screams of pleasure. Her body gyrated in his arms, and then she went limp for a second. Upon regaining consciousness, she sat back on the couch.

Niona, stood up, straightened her clothes, and walked over to the middle of the room, looked at her ring hand, and said, "My hands look so young." She felt her face, and ran into the bathroom to look at it. "What the?" She ran back to the living room, and said, "It's like I'm twenty."

Jimmy didn't say anything at all about her looks. Niona felt a draft for a moment, and when she looked down at her body, she was completely nude.

"Jimmy, what are you doing?" She asked.

She tried to cover her emerald colored breast with the right hand and her vagina with the left, but Jimmy blocked her from doing so. He used his telekinetic powers, and stretched her slender arms out to the side.

"My thirst for you is at its zenith," he whispered to her telepathically. "I want our minds and bodies swirled together." He pressed her against the wall. She was wide-eyed and feared him to a certain degree. She didn't know what to expect from the ritual because she hadn't ever done it in her life. Niona's people, the women in particular, attached themselves to one mate for life, and for her, Jimmy was her chosen mate. She had never wanted another one, but at the same time, she feared him when he wasn't considerate of her wants and needs. Jimmy's clothing fell off his body and then he flew up to her, fully erect and threatening.

"Jimmy, you're frightening me," she whispered telepathically.

He placed the back of his left hand against her emerald, right cheek. He ran his fingers through her orange hair, and she tensed up a little. "We've been through wars together, and you never flinched."

"I had on clothes then," she said with a forced smile.

"Your body is beautiful," he smirked. "Your baby making factory is turned on."

Gently, he pressed his head against hers, and a beam of white light protruded out of his frontal lobe. It slowly penetrated Niona's forehead, and her entire body tensed up, and she made a loud whiny noise that was piercing. It didn't stop the process at all. In fact, he slowly increased the intensity of the light until she climaxed. Her entire body convulsed, and then Jimmy said, "You're almost ready for the insemination." When the luciferous beam surrounded her, she gently bit her bottom lip, and moaned. At that point, he thrusted his empathic energies through her mind, and manipulated her sensory glands. Her breath was heavy. Her hands tried to push Jimmy back, but he wasn't relenting. When he felt her vagina throbbing, he knew it was time for insemination. He kept pressure on her sensory glands, and she repeatedly climaxed. When he inserted his manhood into her, Niona and Jimmy wrestled in mid-air. She became aggressive like a feral cat, and Jimmy continued to massage her mind. Repeatedly, he caused her to climax when he infused her with his mental energies for the fourth time, and he had to wipe the tears from her face.

"This is too much," she complained.

"Just a little longer," he whispered telepathically. "I promise."

After that, he injected her with his empathic powers for the fifth and last time, and then every cell in her body screamed with joyous pain. She went into convulsions, and then he inseminated her with a full load of his DNA. Her body was so overwhelmed by the Neonotium's mating ritual that she continued to convulse madly on the couch. The thrashing about worried her because she couldn't control it. She shuddered. She suffered with the mental and physical aftermath of the ritual for almost two weeks, and she had to take a respite from the Demon.

She laid in Jimmy's bed, and she felt overwhelmed by what Jimmy had done to her. Her body hurt all over, and it had to do with the insemination process. After it was all said and done, she could still feel him inside of her head, and she kept asking him, "Are you using telepathy on me?"

"No," he said. "It's because of the ritual."

"All I can think about is you," she mumbled. She pulled the blanket up to her neck, and continued to shudder. "It was so scary." She laid back on the bed, and looked up at the ceiling. "Why did you do the ritual?"

Jimmy sat on the chair next to his bed, and he only had on some underwear. "It increased the chance of a pregnancy," he said. "We'll know in a couple of weeks if it worked." Jimmy crawled in bed with her, and spooned with her nude body. She laid in his arms, and fell asleep for a few hours.

After she had the baby after seven months, Jimmy named him Terry McGinnis. He had curly hair with soft, brownish green skin. The Doraxian doctors said they should wait a few months before engaging in coitus, but Jimmy didn't want to wait that long. They had developed a healthy, sexual relationship during the pregnancy, and she learned how to relieve him in a multitude of ways. At times, her sexual appetite was just as insatiable as his. So, he laid across Niona, and healed her entire body because he wanted to start on the next child. All the soreness from the birth was gone, and her body snapped back into place.

When Jimmy finished with his respite, he asked Niona to join him on the Demon, and they traveled to Earth. She and Jimmy went through another mating ritual, and had another baby. Jimmy called the child Bruce. While traveling around the universe, Jimmy and Niona would perform the mating ritual eight more times, and she gave birth to all his kids.

Niona, Jimmy, and the kids traveled to Doraxia, and played on the large waterslides in Glassco. It was the best time in Niona's life. She loved him so much that she could barely stand to be apart from her husband. In her wildest dreams, she didn't think her life could be complete after so much death.

When Jimmy had his fifty-seventh birthday, he still looked as he did when he was twenty, and his love for Niona hadn't subsided one iota. He was going through some old files on the Demon, and a photo of the three of them popped up on the screen, and he smiled. Niona was on the other side of the room, and she asked, "What's wrong?"

"I did it all wrong," he lamented, "I've destroyed worlds." He paused for a moment. "I lost my T'Nalia. I've wiped out entire races."

"What are you saying?" She asked. She placed her hands on his face.

"I've killed billions," he said, "This isn't the universe I wanted, Niona." He was in their bedroom on the Demon, and they had just eaten breakfast. The kids were with Niona's family.

"But it's the Universe we have," she said. "It's not like you can have a redo." She smirked.

"I have to go back," he said. "With the power of my ring, I can redo all of this."

"Jimmy. I love us." She made a circle motion with her right finger. "I love all of this." She wiped the tears from her face. "I love our children," she stressed. "Don't take away my kids, Jimmy."

"If I go back, we can do it right," he said, "Maybe you'll be my first."

She cried hard because she knew she couldn't change his mind. "I won't. She'll always be your first."

"T'Naga's journals say my love for you is just as strong as my love for her," he said, "I'm broken without the both of you."

She raised her ring hand to him, and prepared to fire. Her countenance had changed to bitterness. "I'll fight you for my kids."

"Let me do this, Niona. I beg you. We'll remake these kids in a better world."

"Terry is almost a man," she said, "How can you do this to our sons?"

Jimmy looked at her for a moment, and then everything went black.

End of Timeline

Niona screamed as loud as she could, and fell off the bed crying. When Jimmy looked at her, he tried to reach for her, but she shoved his hand away. "You're a monster!" For an hour, she didn't say anything to him. She rocked back and forth on the floor, and sobbed. "How did I forget everything that mattered?"

"I took it away from you," he said, "If I couldn't stand what I had done, then I knew you wouldn't be able to."

"Shouldn't that be my choice, Jimmy?" She asked. "I hate you," She screamed. Suddenly, she started crying so hard that she couldn't breathe. She was holding her chest, and her body was palpitating. "You hurt me, Jimmy."

He was crying too, and crawled off the bed, and held her.

"You took my kids from me, Jimmy. They were so precious," she said.

He covered his face for a moment, and said telepathically, "Don't tell T'Nalia about this."

"I should tell her everything," she said telepathically, "But I won't." She stood up for a moment, and sat next to him. "You killed all of our kids," she lamented, "Don't you feel anything?"

"I didn't find out until the Demon reached Earth," he whispered mentally. He touched her on the cheek, and then said, "I would have never done what he did."

She sat on his lap, and said, "I'm not happy with this." She began crying again, and she had to say it telepathically. "I'm a complete mess now."

He gently placed his head against hers, and as soon as she felt the tingle, she put up a series of mental images. It was a stop sign, a picture of a pip, a picture of a cat, and then a picture of a dog. It pushed Jimmy right out of her mind. She then felt another tingle, and she immediately put up a picture of a house, a boat, her old ship, and then she said, "Don't kill the memory of our children."

"I just want to stop your pain," he said telepathically.

"No. I need it," she said, "Promise me, Jimmy. Promise me you won't take my memories."

"How can you love me after knowing what you know?' He asked.

She kissed him on the forehead, and said, "I will always love you." She kissed him on the lips, and then said, "I'm wounded by all of this, Jimmy." She hugged him, and he buried his face in her bosom. He gently picked her up, laid her on the bed, and kissed her passionately. Her lips were soft and enjoyable, and in the back of his mind, he wanted to beat himself for making a comparison between her and T'Nalia, but in reality, there wasn't anything to compare. Niona had her own smells and idiosyncrasies that he enjoyed, and when it came to T'Nalia, she had a different scent that was equally pleasant. Their black Lantern uniforms were in harmony; it was hard to tell where he ended and she began. He sat her up, pulled off her top, undid her bra, and she looked vulnerable to him. There wasn't anything sensual about their performance. Niona folded her arms over her bare breast, and it bothered him. He didn't want to be forceful, but he didn't want her covering her beauty.

He asked her telepathically, "Why are you covering your breast?" Apprehensively, she dropped her hands to her side, and she looked like innocents stolen. "How long have you loved me?" He asked.

She looked up at him for a moment, and said telepathically, "As far back as I can remember." He gently pulled off her pants, folded them, and laid them on the end of the bed. She watched his every move, and felt a little nervous about the moment. "I'm frightened, Jimmy." She put her knees up to her chest, and looked like a slender, well built emerald colored woman.

"You're with me, Niona," he whispered telepathically. He kissed her on the lips, softly traced her lips with his mouth.

"It's just," she paused for a moment. "I've had dreams of this moment, but I've never had the moment." Her orange hair was wild, and he gingerly stretched her out on the bed, and he immediately noticed she was stiff like a board. He looked down her body, and her pubic hairs were wild, but he enjoyed it.

"Are you okay?" He whispered telepathically. "If you're not comfortable…"

"I'm nervous," she said telepathically. "I feel like I might make a mistake."

Jimmy laughed. "As long as you don't die, we're good."

"I can die?" She asked.

He wiggled between her legs, and they felt good against his skin. He pulled her into him, and then he stopped for a moment. "I'm going to stimulate you telekinetically," he said, "It will prepare you."

"Okay," she said.

He massaged her vulva with his telekinetic powers, and she became aroused. Once she was on the verge of exploding. he entered her, and she palpitated underneath his masculine frame. He crawled off her, and held her until the next morning. When he awoke, T'Nalia was waking them up.

"Get dressed, guys," she said, "It's breakfast time."

Niona jumped off the bed, and grabbed her clothes. "Sorry, ma'am." She felt ashamed, but she knew T'Nalia approved.

T'Nalia looked at her for a moment, and said, "Calm down, Colonel."

"I was startled," she said.

Jimmy hopped off the bed, and used his ring, and donned his Lantern uniform. He placed his right hand on T'Nalia's face, and she did the same to him. "Did Raydon have a good time?"

"He wanted to stay with his Papa," she said, "I think he wants to run his farm business."

Jimmy laughed. "It will be his choice."

"Well, I need to check on the bridge?" Niona said. "Welcome back, ma'am."

Niona went to the bay, and T'Naga flew into the bay with her new ship, and then she gave her protoge a hug. "How was your respite?"

"Quite uneventful," she said, "I sold my abode, and now I am ready to explore the galaxy."

T'Nalia and Niona walked to the bridge, and the General was in the command chair. As soon as he saw, T'Naga, he nodded to Niona.

Niona's countenance changed, and then she said, "Bridge, attention!"

"Lieutenant T'Naga, post," the General said.

Niona picked up a piece of paper attached to her Operations post, and said, "By the orders of the Federation of Yellow Lanterns, Lieutenant Checha T'Naga, you are hereby promoted to the rank of Captain. Ordered by the Federation of Yellow Lanterns and signed by General Jimmy McGinnis Commanding."

The General pulled off her Lieutenant rank, and then placed on her Captain bars. She saluted him, and then he saluted back. He then shook her hands, and all the other officers patted her on the back.

When T'Naga left out of the room, she overheard the Colonel say, "Lieutenant Colonel, she's your personal project. You have to make sure she can block powerful telepaths like the General."

"Yes, ma'am," she said.

The idea of blocking a mind like the general scared her because he was so powerful. He was far more than a mere telepath; he accessed different parts of the brain to control bodily functions and mood; but at the same time, he often said a level five blocker could circumvent the strongest of telepaths. Unfortunately, she only scored a level five on one test, but Niona thought she had the ability for a consistent score of a five. On the other hand, Niona was powerful too, because she had formal training in manipulating the mind, and according to the General, she was way beyond a level five.

She was on the first floor of the ship, and she stood in front of her soldiers, and briefed them on what she expected of them. As the new commander of Alpha company, she signed for the parasitic vessel called the Taenia, and once it attached onto an enemy ship, it had the ability to drain it of power and control different systems on the ship. She plopped the maintenance manual on the floor along with several other manuals on the ship's functions, and then said, "Every last one of you will know every aspect of the Taenia," she ordered, "This ship will save our lives when the crew knows how it works."

"Yes, ma'am," the troops said in unison. She looked at a male soldier named T'Nalia, and asked, "Are you any kin to the Colonel?"

"She's my cousin," he said proudly.

"You won't receive any special attention," she said. "This goes for everybody. Make sure you use your chain of command. We'll try to handle everything on the company level before we take it to the Lieutenant Colonel. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Her soldiers said in unison.

She looked over at her XO who was a frumpy Blue woman. She stood approximately five-foot four inches, and a wide backside. Her beige uniform was noticeably tight because she hadn't purchased new ones since the weight gain.. Her hair was unnaturally blond, and it bothered Captain T'Naga when she first saw it. She looked over at her XO, and said, "The MBCFGD is specific about dyed hair. If my XO isn't adhering to the Military Blue Codes For Garrison Dress, then how can I expect the enlisted to adhere to it?"

"Yes, ma'am," she said, "Captain T'Pom didn't mind."

"Obviously," she said, "You understand I'm a Yellow Lantern, and I follow the General's orders down to the last word. How far out of regulations are you according to the Obesity Check Program (OCP)?"

"About thirty pounds," she said, "I"m working on it."

"What does working on it mean?" Captain T'Naga asked.

"I'm eating healthy," she said.

"Eat less, XO," she said. She paused for a moment, and then said, "Tomorrow I will have your initial counseling statements ready. Oh. Your scores on the firing range are pathetic. If you're not used to meeting the standards, life will be painful for you."

"I'm going to need time to adjust to these new rules," she said.

"New? I'm talking regulations, Lieutenant," she snapped. "You do understand we live and die by our training?"

"Yes, ma'am," she said.

Captain T'Naga walked into an office on the first floor, and the XO had a desk in the front room. Top's office was connected to the Captain's office. She had a holder for her palm computer on her desk, and it connected directly into a widescreen monitor. She walked into the XO's office, and said, "Something is bothering me," she said.

"What's wrong, ma'am?" She asked.

"During my little speech, I noticed Sixth Classmen T'Mida smiling at you," she said calmly. "Are you two having an illicit affair?"

The XO looked down at the floor for a moment. "It just happened a few times," she mumbled.

The Captain sighed. "Do you know what LAR means?" She asked.

"Leadership and Respect," she said, "The manual that discusses the General's expectations of his leaders."

"Who are the other enlisted soldiers on your fuckbuddy list?" She asked. "Don't bother lying either."

"Almost all the day crew," she said, "Including the girls. We dabble a bit."

"If you have relations with another lower enlisted, I will have you court martialed and thrown in prison," she said, "That's from the General directly through me to you."

"The General knows?" She asked.

"He's a telepath, you idiot," T'Naga said, "He told me what you were doing."

"You're thirty pounds overweight. You can't fire a weapon. You're sleeping with two companies." She shook her head in disbelief. "I thought the General was exaggerating when he displayed his dismay with the Old Guard."

"Yes, ma'am," she said.

She slid a tablet computer to her, and said, "I need your signature on this counseling statement. The General wrote this one, and everything we discussed on fraternization is in it." She waited for her signature, and then she said, "You'd have to work hard just to be a dirtbag, XO."

The XO started sobbing.

"Unless you're crying from crotchrot, you best wipe those tears from your face, and get the hell out of my office," she snapped, "Get your shit together, XO."

The XO stood, and saluted the Captain, but the Captain didn't return a salute.

"I only salute soldiers. Get the fuck out of my office, and send Top in here," she ordered.

Top was an older Doraxian male by the name of Vincent T'Rae. He had a narrow face, and small eyes, and about two days of razor stubble on his face. He had a wide nose with one thick connected eyebrow. His mustache didn't meet the standard, and his stomach protruded over his waistline. The beige uniform fit loosely on his body, and he looked unkempt to a certain degree. Before he even took a seat in the Captain's office, she said, "You fucking my XO?"

He paused for a moment, and had a look of disbelief on his face. "Wait? What did she say?"

"It's not important what she said," she said in her command voice. "I'm asking you a question, and I expect an honest answer."

"We were drinking Booshies and Kinzie's Cocktails, and a couple of us guys walked her to her abode afterwards," he said, "Next thing I know she wants us to test her mettle."

"What does that mean?" She asked with an inquisitive look.

"Anal," he quipped.

"Oh. Go ahead and sign this reprimand," she said, "When you're done, send in Seventh Classmen T'Raria." She paused. "The lounge is off limits for a month."

Later in the evening…

Niona and T'Naga had drinks at the lounge, and Niona was a bit tipsy. Her hair was a bowl cut in the front, long in the back, and she resembled the married ascetic women of Doraxia. She was nearly the doppleganger of T'Nalia except she had beryl skin. Almost every female soldier aboard the Demon had the same haircut, and it became the standard because of the Colonel's hair style. But at the same time, she thought Niona's hair style had more to do with her position to the General. He referred to her as his Second.

"I read E'Da T'Naga's classified journals," T'Naga said. "Do you love the General like his journals claim?"

"We don't normally discuss this," she said softly. "Don't repeat any of this."

"Okay," T'Naga said. "I gave up the Sapphire Corp just to be the Second," she said.

"Does being the Second bother you?" T'Naga asked.

"The Second appears to be a name to him," she said, "He treats T'Nalia and I as equals."

"Do you love him?" She asked.

"With all my heart," she said, "We're always telepathically linked. We rarely talk verbally. It's all mental with him."

"How long have y'all been connected?" T'Naga asked.

"It's difficult to say," she said, "I left home at ten in search for him. He kept calling out to me every time he was in pain. He was calling me his sage."

"Wow," she said. "I saw you when you bowed to T'Nalia, and called her the wife of the Great Destroyer."

"Yeah. I would have gone with Jimmy at that point if he had asked me, but he told me to wait," she said, "He told me he needed me well trained before I came on his team."

"You're like trained now," she said.

"Oh yeah. I spent the next five years training every day," she said.

"Do y'all fight?" She asked.

Niona laughed. "Yes. All families fight," she said

'You told me the General was interested in me," she said.

"Yes. I'm sure you feeling the pain of that," Niona said laughingly. "He wants you to clean up Alpha Company to prove you can handle stress."

"Did you know about them?" She asked.

She laughed. "The General confined me to my hovel because I wanted to throw your XO out the bay door."

"She knows the regs, but bucks them," she said, "She knew every regulation she violated."

"We're working on ways to change their behavior," Niona said, "The fraternization is widespread in the Old Guard."

She had a few more Booshies at the lounge, and T'Naga offered to escort her to her abode, but she said, "That's okay. The General will do that. It was the first time that she had seen the LTC drunk, and she was a quiet one at that. In some ways, she wondered if she was dealing with some personal pain, but if that was the case, she didn't say anything about it. Before she finished her drink, the General walked into the lounge. The way he touched her face told a million and one stories. She knew he loved her, but the way he placed his hand against her cheek was more than mere love. He had done the same thing to T'Nalia, and only a few men had the ability to love two women equally. He gently picked the LTC up, carried her out of the drink-joint, and T'Naga thought he was the most romantic man in the world.

The next morning,,,,

The General, Colonel, and LTC walked in the dining facility, and T'Naga said, "At Ease." It was an acknowledgement of the General's presence, and since everybody was eating, she said "At Ease" instead of "Attention." They sat apart from the rest of the crew, and seemed to enjoy each other's company. The LTC and General talked to the Colonel directly, but never to each other verbally. However, she knew they were speaking to each other constantly, but it didn't seem to bother the Colonel.

When T'Naga finished up with her sweet coffee, she noticed Lieutenant T'Higgins walk into the dining facility, and she looked raggedy. It was so bad that she walked up to her, and asked if everything was okay.

"Why is your uniform unkempt?" She asked.

"I had a rough night," she said, "A lot of pressures."

"If you need to see a counselor, I can give you a referral."

"That's okay, ma'am," she said.

T'Naga watched her walk away with her tray, and thought her XO might be having a mental breakdown. It worried her because she had to depend on her for several perfunctory task. She realized she was going to have to depend on her Seventh Classmen more because her XO wasn't up for the job. It had been nearly four, Doraxian months since she assumed command of Alpha Company, and LT T'Higgins had grown progressively worse. She left her wrist communicator in the Taenia, and was out of reach for two hours. T'Naga wrote her up for her lack of awareness, and losing her communicator.

Later in the morning she inspected her parasitic, Lantern Ship that she secretly named the Blue Bug. The vessel didn't have any identifying markers, and the Lanterns were authorized to destroy the machines if captured by the enemy. The General deemed the Transwarp technology so secretive that they never spoke of it outside their circles. The technology was innate to the craft, and wasn't removable like the tech on the parasitic shuttles. She had to maintain her flight status by going on three, two-hour inspections a week. Once she received clearance from the bridge, she flew past Doraxia, and traveled all the way to Joradic Prime in a matter of seconds.

She heard what sounded like a hot-mike, and then a voice came over her radio. It was a higher pitched, feminine voice that she didn't recognize. It sounded like it was in distress. "General T'McGinnis, this is Neva of Neo Star."

"Go ahead, Neva," the General said.

"We're under attacked by two Lantern Battlecruisers," she said, "They've kidnapped Princess Niona Iobi."

"Did she say Niona?" T'Naga said.

"There must be a mistake," Niona said, "I'm Niona Iobi, and I'm with General T'McGinnis right now."

"All parasitic vessels, report back to the Demon immediately," the General said.

When T'Naga reported to the bridge, she walked over to the LTC, and said, "What's going on?"

"I have no idea," she said, "I'm Princess Niona Iobi," she said, "There's an impostor."

"Well, I'm taking control of this situation," The General said. "Captain T'Naga, made sure all parasitic vessels are ready to be deployed."

"Yes, sir," she said.

The General sat in his Command Chair, and said, "Captain T'Nee, man the weapons."

"Yes, sir," she said.

"Computer, warmode," The General commanded.

"Warmode on," the computer said.

He clicked on his wrist communicator, and said, "Are the parasitic vessels ready?"

"Yes, sir," Captain T'Naga said.

"Computer, activate the transwarp drive, and lock a course for Neo Star."

"Yes, sir," the Computer said.

Within a few seconds, a black hole opened up in front of the Demon, and when it went through it, it was about two hundred thousand miles from Neo Star, and there was seven Battlecruisers attacking Neo Star's ship.

"Captain T'Larry, put me in contact with the lead Lantern ship," he ordered.

"You're linked in now, sir," Captain T'Larry said.

"This is General T'McGinnis of the Doraxian Military. Who am I speaking with?"

"Deploy the parasitic vessels," T'Nalia said over the intercom. "Gorilla Attack Pattern Alpha, and then wait for further instructions."

"This is Commander Vance of the Green Lantern Corp. Stay out of this, General," he said.

"You do understand an attack on Neo Star is an attack on Doraxia?" He asked.

"Princess Niona Iobi is a fugitive from justice," he said, "And we're bringing her in."

The General paused for a moment, and scanned all the ships telepathically until he found the Neonotium mind, and to his amazement, the pitiable creature's brain waves felt like his LTC's mind. He looked back at Niona, and whispered to her mentally, "Can you feel her mind?"

"Yes, this is impossible," she whispered mentally.

He click on his wrist communicator, and then said, "Captain T'Naga, attach your ship to the lead vessel."

"Yes, sir," she said.

"Commander Vance, release your prisoner into my custody," he said.

"No. Besides, she doesn't want to go with you," he said, "She's deathly afraid of you."

The General looked back at his wife, and she immediately said, "All parasitic vessels attach."

"Let's do this again, Commander?" The General asked. "Release the Princess into my custody or I will turn your ships against you."

He laughed loudly into his communications device, and it upset the General. He clicked on his wrist communicator, and then said, "T'Naga, increased the temperature of his vessel by thirty degrees."

"Yes, sir," she said, "Increasing temperature."

"Commander, it's about to get seriously warm on your ship," the General said. He looked back at his wife for a moment.

"Parasitic vessels, drain them," she ordered.

"Not you, T'Naga," the General said.

Suddenly, all the ships except for one went completely dark.

"What did you do?" The Commander screamed.

"You're pretty much running solo, Commander. Now, you hand Niona over to my Captain or we'll destroy your fleet."

"You think the Lantern Corp will allow you to keep meddling in Lantern business?" He asked.

"Why do you have Niona in your custody?" The General asked.

"Future crimes," he said, "Why is it so damn hot?"

"I'm about to destroy one of your ships," the General said.

"She doesn't want to go with you, General," he said.

"I'm coming over, Commander," the General said.

"Jimmy. Is that protocol?" T'Nalia asked.

"I scanned her brain, and it feels like Niona," he said.

"Niona's right here," T'Nalia said.

"I believe she's our Niona from another dimension, and she's frightened," he said. He looked over at his LTC, and asked, "Can you feel her fear?"

"Yes, sir," she said.

The General walked up to his wife, and placed his right hand on her left cheek, and said, "I have to do this."

"I know," she said. She placed her hands on his cheeks. He then walked over to Niona, and did the same thing. He hopped in his parasitic vessel, and flew to the head Battlecruiser. He docked with the ship, and walked inside of it, and an entire Lantern entourage met him at the door. They had their power rings on him like they wanted to shoot him.

"Are you prepared for this fight?" The General asked.

"We're not afraid of you," the head Lantern said. "We took care of Sinestro and we'll take care of you."

Jimmy paused for a second, and then simultaneously massaged their brains, and they all passed out on the floor. He walked over their bodies, through the hallways, and up to the bridge. When his feet stepped onto the deck of the bridge, the Commander took a defensive posture, and prepared to fire on the General.

"Kill him," Niona screamed.

Jimmy looked over at the woman who looked just like his Sage, and paused at the sight of her. When their eyes met, she began to scream for the Commander to keep him away from her. He had never seen anybody react to him like she did. Immediately, Jimmy caused all of the Lanterns on the bridge to pass out on the floor while he read Niona's thought. He quickly realized that she was a level zeron in mind manipulation, and that meant she couldn't have been a future or past iteration of his Sage. He quickly came to the conclusion that she was from an alternate Earth.

"Where are you from?" He asked telepathically. The Neonotium didn't respond to him, and then he manipulated her pariental lobe, and her body palpitated. She was covered in sweat, and her clothes stuck to her body. When her body gyrated back and forth, he noticed she didn't have a Lantern ring on any finger. Slowly, he walked over to her, and she tried to back away from him. When he touched her face, she fell to the ground crying and screaming.

"You killed them all," she said, "You destroyed Doraxia."

Jimmy picked her up with his telekinetic powers, and she was stretched out in front of him. He went into her mind, and read her true thoughts. He saw himself use the Demon to punch a hole through Doraxia, and the entire planet exploded. It was such a horrific thought that he didn't have the ability to entertain it. He then saw her attack him with the Blue Dragon, and he shot her out of the sky, but she survived. In the alternative universe, she didn't have a Lantern ring, and she wasn't trained in mind manipulation.

"How did you crossover to this universe?" Jimmy asked with a grimace on his face. Niona sat against the control panel wearing the attire of her homeworld. It was a black gown like dress, black bra, and black, skin tight underpants.

"I had a device that allowed me to crossover," she said. She folded her arms, and then said, "It's gone. It's all gone."

"Why don't you have control of your telepathic abilities?" He asked.

"It wasn't allowed," she said, "It was deemed against the law to use them."

"You're a leader of the resistance movement against my Doppleganger," he said, "How many soldiers do you have?"

"Don't know," she said, "He attacked us with the Demon, and killed hundreds of my men."

"Why did he attack Doraxia?" He asked.

"They tried to take his ship after he destroyed Oa," she said.

"But you were his ally," he said, "Why did you turn on him?"

She grimaced. "He killed children." She started crying. "I loved you, Jimmy."

"I'm not your Jimmy," he said.

"Don't you think I know that?" She asked. "I'm just saying. Jimmy has been traveling the galaxy killing anybody associated with the Lantern Corp."

"Is your Jimmy a telepath?" He asked.

"Yes," she said "He never taught you how to mentally block his telepathy?" He asked.

"No. That would have threatened him," he said.

Jimmy looked over at her, and injected his feelings into her, and she gasped. "I'm sorry. It's just I see my Niona when I look at you..."

"Well, I'm not her, and I don't want any feelings for you," she said.

"Niona, if you're incapable of deflecting, blocking, and circumventing mental attacks, you're not going to win the war," he said.

"Why would you help me?" She asked.

"Why wouldn't I?" Jimmy asked. "Your training will take about two years," he said, "Once you're finished, I can return you back to your 'verse, and you can train warriors to stand against Jimmy."

"What if I just stay on Neostar?" She asked.

""No," he said, "The Lanterns will attack you to get to me."

"What does it matter?" She asked.

"'Cause I feel your thoughts," he said, "You're on the same wavelength as my Second, and we're telepathically linked right now."

When the General and Niona-two left the ship, he ordered all the parasitic vessels back onto the Demon. He transferred Niona-two over to T'Naga, and then said, "Take her to Doraxia, and sign her up for the Lantern Officer Course." He looked at Niona. "My Second is asking you to change your name."

Niona paused for a moment. "I love my name." She walked up to Jimmy, and said, "Irita Niobi."

"My Second loves that name," he said. "She will work on your backstory, and transcripts from Neo Star." He turned to Captain T'Naga, and said, "Upon your return, Captain, we need to talk about some staffing issues," he said, "I can't have instability in leadership."

"Yes, sir," she said.

The next day…

The General laid his wife on their bed after she fell asleep at her desk. She and her LTC worked on Irita's paperwork well into the late night, and the General received hourly reports on the restoration of Neostar's three damaged ships. He had four robots from the Demon repairing Neostar's damage vessels. When T'Nalia awoke eight hours later, the General had a breakfast prepared for her, and she ate some Madi meat bacon, a pip egg, and a Booshi fruit.

"I can't tolerate Lieutenant T'Higgins' behavior any longer," he said. He lay next to his wife in the bed while she enjoyed her meal. He paused for a moment, and then said, "I'm thinking of sending her to Doraxia for an evaluation."

"What's wrong with the counselors on the ship?" She asked.

"She needs covert treatment," he said. "I don't want anybody knowing about her treatment. T'Rolo told me he had some people for my extreme cases."

"She's just a frumpy, out-of-shape officer, Jimmy. Why all the special treatment?"

"I can't afford to throw away one soldier," he said, "Not one. I have Niona and T'Naga escorting them to Glassco as we speak."

"What's the ETC on fixing Neostar's ships?" She asked.

"Two days," he said. "I need a Demon class ship monitoring this sector."

"You don't have a Colonel for the job," she said.

"I'm not willing to give you or Niona up, but I also have Colonel T'Lita Noir over the shipyard retiring."

"He's overdue," she said, "Like twenty years or so." She paused for a moment. "Jimmy, if you revitalize him than you must do the same for his wife."

"I can't afford to lose him at this time," he said. He paused for a moment.

"Just promote Captain T'Dank to Major, and give him the fighter class Demon ship," she said, "Then frock him to LTC."

"Are you serious right now?" Jimmy asked. "The fact that T'Dank wants me to give him command of the Dragon is unthinkable."

T'Nalia suddenly broke into laughter. "That's the nephew caught having sex with a Madi."

Jimmy was serious the whole time, and then said, "He was on Vitic when that happened. He's irresponsible."

"He was right out of the Academy then," she said.

"He'll get the Dragon, but I'm not giving him command of a Demon class ship," he said, "That would be madness on my part."

"Oh, Jimmy," She said, "You just want T'Naga commanding the Demon Fighter. Everybody sees the way you coddle her. You let the male officers live and die by their choices, but you have Niona ensuring the world sees T'Naga propitiously."

"I'm restoring the image of the Naga name," Jimmy said, "So, forgive me if that bothers you. Besides, she has the worst unit on the ship. I don't think that's pampering."

"You've had like ten counseling sessions with T'Naga. How many have you had with your other Captains?"

"Three," he said, "But it's because she will eventually command the Subterfuge." He kissed her on the lips, and then said, "You've always hated Checha."

"You know she once touched my cheek," she said cringingly. "City girls were touching each other's cheeks to express their interest in dabbling."

"What happened?" Jimmy asked.

"I knocked her the hell out," she said. "She lost two soft nights."

"You never told me that," he said.

"It's not like you needed to hear it," she said. She climbed out of bed, and placed her food tray on her desk. When she walked over to the bathroom, she nodded for him, and he walked over to her, and placed his hands on her face. Gently, he pulled off her clothes, and walked with her into the shower. The water hit her hair, poured onto her face, and down her curvaceous body, and then Jimmy kissed her soft lips passionately. He gently washed her body from head to toe, and it was a ritualistic practice with Doraxian couples. He knew every curve, every mark, and every abrasion on her entire body. Her heart had a distinct beat pattern that he learned through the years, and even when it came to the way she walked, he noticed. When he finished lathering up her sapphire colored body, he took the nozzle, and washed her off.

The shower had a bench installed in it, and because Doraxians liked warm temperatures, it also doubled as a sauna. Jimmy sat on the bench, and his manhood was at its apogee. She placed her arms in two straps that protruded from the ceiling, and gently sat on his wooden tower, and the ropes allowed her to ease on to it. Once she placed her vulva in a comfortable position, she gyrated on his flexible muscle hard and fast. It was raw. Over the years, she had learned to pound her husband hard and fast. When he climaxed, his entire body went into convulsions, and it took the vitality out of his elastic pride. She continued to sit on him until she felt his last throb, his last palpitation, and the breadth from his last whisper of "I love you."

For about thirty minutes, T'Nalia laid her head on her husband's bare lap while they sat in the warm shower. They were completely nude, and it was steamy. Jimmy placed his left hand on her stomach, and she gently caressed it.

"You know T'Lita Noir has no children?" T'Nalia asked.

"I had heard that," he said.

"His wife couldn't bear children," she said, "There was always a sadness about that because the science didn't work for her."

"If he chooses to allow me to restore his vitality, she'll end up pregnant at some point," he said.

"It's imperative that we convey that message to them," She said.

Back on the bridge...

The General sat in the Command Chair, and the Colonel stood next to him wearing the basic Lantern dress: black blouse, black skirt, and black boots. Her white tank-top t-shirt teased right below the unbuttoned top, button slot. She wore the black beret with the rank in the center. T'Nalia was notorious for designing practical clothing; it never sparkled or caught the common man's eye. The General loved T'Nalia's utilitarian designs, and because she was so conservative in her attire, one unfastened top button aroused him. The uniform had a white, tank top shirt underneath it, and she caught him gawking at her. She developed a half-cocked, mischievous smile, and then tapped him on the forehead.

"You like what you see?" She whispered playfully.

"There's closets all over this ship," he whispered.

"Jimmy. We're working," she said laughingly.

Niona stepped onto the bridge, and took the Monitoring Station, and looked into the visor. The General noticed her swollen eyes as soon as she entered the room, and that was when he realized she had severed her telepathic connection. He looked over at her, and tried to penetrate her mind, but she put up an image of their first born son. It caused a knot in his throat, and he didn't know what to say at that point. He tried to enter her mind with a series of attacks, and she put up images of all their kids one after the other, and then once he broke her defenses, she said mentally, "Is it too much to ask for a little time to myself?"

He looked over at her for a moment, but she wouldn't look up at him, and then he severed the link. "The Doraxian tech is amazing," The General said, "The robots are incredible."

"Blue technology at its best," T'Nalia said smilingly.

Jimmy looked over at his beloved, Niona, and she had tears streaming down her face. He immediately initiated a telepathic link with her, and said mentally, "Let me fixed this?"

"I'm not broken, Jimmy. You are," she said, "It's not fair that you can rewind the universe until everything fits perfectly in your box," she lamented telepathically. "Only a monster would take away what we had."

"Excuse me, T'Nalia," Jimmy said, "I must handle a problem below deck. You have the bridge."

Jimmy exited the bridge, and then Niona said, "You're cruel.

He walked down to the bay for a moment, and climbed in his parasitic Lantern ship. He opened the bay doors telekinetically, and flew out of them. Once he moved past the ship, he used his telepathic powers to block everybody from detecting him leaving, and he then took off at warp nine across the stars, and dropped his telepathic connection to Niona. In a matter of seconds, he activated the transwarp device, and hopped nearly two thousand light years across the galaxy. All of the transwarp devices except for his own hopped fifty light years at a time, but the device on his parasitic Lantern ship had a max range of four thousand light years. He brought the ship to a stop, and watched several majestic lifeforms floating in front of him. The animals were of all different colors and sizes, and the violet ones were the loveliest. They were large, jelly like creatures that chunked bags of spores across the universe to populate worlds, and Jimmy called them the Rudimentals. He hadn't been around the creatures in the current timeline, but he remembered he missed them for several reasons. The planet directly below the creatures was called the Discontinuum, a world where time stood still.

On the alternate timeline, Jimmy wasn't a reckless man, at least when it came to the people he loved. With his superpowers and the ring of the Destroyer, he built a world that didn't move through time. He built a world that wasn't easily discovered by alien creatures. When he exited his ship, the Rudimentals went about their day, and didn't bother him. If any other creature had made his or her way near the planet, they'd attack them viciously.

Without hesitation, he flew down to the planet, and it was green like the Earth. There was a large, self sustaining building in the middle of mountains of vegetation. When he placed his hand to the door, a computer said, "Welcome, Jimmy T'McGinnis." He walked down a dark corridor, and a Doraxian robot met him.

"It's nice to see you, sir," the robot said, "All is well. The cryogenic subjects are sound asleep."

"Thank you," he said, "I would like to see the family."

A gymnasium size room opened, and there were hundreds of cryogenic chambers. He walked past Jessica, Vivian, T'Naga, and all the way over to Niona, and all of his kids. The chambers had tubes protruding from them, and he could see his wife's beautiful emerald face. He cried over her chamber for hours, and kept telling her that he loved her so much, and he felt some relief that he ensured they escaped the confines of time. He kept them as a contingency in case he ever lost Niona. He looked over at his handsome sons, and they were even more good-looking than he remembered. For some reason, his mind played with the idea of awakening his wife, but that was an obvious mistake. He knew if he let her get up that he wouldn't want to put her back to sleep. Besides, he'd have to explain the selfish route of rewinding the Universe so he could satisfy his ego.

Jimmy sat on the floor by his wife's chamber, and tried to think through the madness of what he had done, but it was hard. He had T'Nalia back in his life, and that felt good to him, and at the same time, she encouraged him not to neglect Niona. His life was already a thousand times better than his previous life, but since Niona remembered the alternate timeline, what was once a blessing turned into a curse. He played with erasing the children from Niona's memory on several occasions, but that was his selfishness bubbling to the surface. He came to the realization that he had to be a man about what he caused, and let Niona vent when she needed to vent. He took a ginormous breath, and walked out of the room, and decided that he"d visit his wife as much as time allowed.

Back on the ship…

Jimmy sat in the Officer's Lounge by himself, and drank a few Pilikakas, a strong beverage genetically designed to get him drunk. It wasn't a drink that he could share with his wife or Niona because it would make them sick. He had tried the Booshi a few times, but it had absolutely no effect on him. He knew T'Nalia was a connoisseur of fine alcoholic beverages, but the Pilikakas wasn't for Doraxians. As soon as he thought about Niona, he reconnected to her mind, and she was still in a lot of pain. She was up in her room crying so hard that she didn't feel him reconnect.

"What are you doing?" Jimmy asked telepathically. He felt her thinking, but she didn't say anything. "I've been selfish," he said, "I've hurt you badly, and I wish I could undo your pain." It was late in the evening, and T'Nalia had scuttled off to bed as soon as she left work because he never returned to the bridge. She didn't take it personally because he often had meetings with the Council of Science that lasted hours. Niona concealed her dismay, but as soon as Jimmy reconnected with her, she made sure he felt her pain. He realized that his selfishness was a major character flaw, but he addressed it like it was a foible. He looked at the time on his communicator, and realized that Niona hadn't said anything to him at all, and it bothered him. The silence was madness because he had been talking to her all day everyday for years. "I can't stand this rancor between us, Niona," he said telepathically.

After a while, he ran to her hovel, waived his right hand across the door, but it didn't slide open. He used his x-ray vision, and looked through the door, and saw his beloved laid out on the floor with an empty bottle of alcohol: Pilikakas! He telekinetically unlocked the door, and it immediately slid open. He ran into her room, and felt her face, but she was barely breathing. She smelled like pure alcohol, and he realized that she suffered from alcohol poisoning. Immediately, he grabbed her, and encompassed her with his golden glow.

Niona sat against the far wall of her hovel, and she was still in her work clothes. They were stained with vomit and blood. Her orange hair was in a frenzy, and her eyes filled with tears. With the use of his telekinesis, he stripped off her soiled clothes. She stood against the wall almost in a daze, and he only had a tenuous telepathic link to her. He didn't know if she was rejecting the link or if the hazy connection was a result of the poison. He picked her up, and gingerly placed her in the shower. The water poured over her emerald body, and when that happened, it cemented their nexus. It was consequential and lively. He placed his hands on her head, and a luciferius white beam extended from his head, and went into her head. He downloaded the earlier events into her mind, so she could feel what he felt, and he gave her a full video of their children. It brightened her visage, and it was the first smile she had in days.

"My babies," she said. Her smile went from ear to ear.

He broke the connection, and whispered telepathically, "I placed them outside of time in the In Between."

"They're alive?" She asked.

"Very," he said. "They're two thousand light years away in a hidden sector of space. I've wrapped an entire area of space in the In Between."

"How do you know they're okay?" She asked with a scowl on her face.

He sat down on the bench, and she leant against the wall of the shower. "I went there earlier today," he said, "I broke connection with you so you wouldn't detect me."

"Take me to our kids, Jimmy," she demanded. "I want to see them now. "

Jimmy stood to his feet, and talked to T'Nalia with his telepathy, but she tried to ignore him. "I need you to come with Niona and I."

"Can't you go without me?" She thought.

"No. This is a family affair," he said, "I'm going to need the Quantum Drive."

Later in the evening…

Jimmy and Niona walked over to T'Nalia wearing their full, Lantern dress, and T'Nalia immediately asked, "What's going on with you two?" Niona didn't say anything. She walked into the ship, and T'Nalia watched her with wondering eyes. "What did you do, Jimmy?"

He grimaced for a moment, and sat against the Dracunculus, and said, "Memories have returned in both Niona and I," he said, "Somehow, future me rewound the Universe to meet my need to bring you back." T'Nalia placed her right hand against his face, but didn't say anything. She was demonstrating to him that nothing had changed because of the new revelation. He grabbed her hands, and guided her into the shuttle. He took the driver's seat, and his wife sat next to him in the co-pilot seat. Niona was in the very back, and didn't say anything at all. He told his wife the entire story of what had happened, and the scientist in her simmered to the surface.

'You built a world in the In Between?" She screeched.

"Lower you voice," Jimmy said.

She said in a loud whisper, "That's just theory that the In Between existed at all."

"Please understand that we're about to visit all of our children," he said, "That means our three kids T'Nalia and our five kids Niona."

"Let's go, Jimmy. Please,' Niona demanded.

Once Jimmy flew the Dracunculus past the stern of the Dragon, he took off at warp five, and then opened up the Transwarp tunnel. The only people who knew about the technology to jump beyond fifty light years was inside the shuttle and they were sworn to secrecy. All Transwarp technology was highly classified, but the Quantum Drive wasn't ever discussed with anybody outside the circle.

"What are all those creatures?" T'Nalia asked.

"Rudimentals," he said, "In their genetics are the basic building blocks of life."

"What life?" She asked.

"All life," he said, "You, me, Niona." He paused for a moment, and started his descent into the Discontinuum's atmosphere. "We're almost there."

By the time he landed the Dracunculus in front of the large building, Niona was crying telepathically, and it nearly drove Jimmy mad. He helped T'Nalia out of the vessel, but Niona yanked her hand away from his. When T'Nalia saw it, she said, "You told me not to blame our Jimmy for what his future self did. That was you, right?"

Niona paused for a moment. "I did say that."

"Then let's keep our emotions out of this, and act like Lanterns," she said. "Are we all in agreement?"

Niona nodded. "Sorry, sir," she said.

Jimmy knew she didn't listen to anything T'Nalia said because if she did, she would have whispered to him telepathically. She never verbally said anything meaningful to him unless it was to show her disgust in something he did. When he opened the door, the robot answered it.

"Back so soon, General T'McGinnis," he said. The robot escorted the team to the chambers, and when the doors slid opened, Niona didn't hesitate to find her children. She was in the wrong area of the bay, and Jimmy immediately grabbed her telekinetically. He sat her down right in front of herself, and she immediately paused in and T'Nalia walked over to Niona and her doppelganger, and he looked at her for a moment.

"I can tell you truly loved her," T'Nalia said.

"He loved you more," Niona quipped. "He killed billions over you." She looked at her oldest son, Terry, and peered into his chamber. "He looks so peacefull…"

"He would have done the same for you Niona," T'Nalia said, "Look at how he decorated your chamber."

She looked over at her doppelganger's chamber, and said, "It's just decoration."

"As long as our family stays within the In Between, our shenanigans can't touch them," he said, "We can't remove them until I turn fifty-eight."

"So, there are two Raydons?" T'Nalia asked.

"Yes," Jimmy said. "There may be two of all our kids."

"I don't see that," Niona said.

"Well. There will be two Terrys," Jimmy said, "I can promise you that."

"I'm not having your baby, Jimmy," Niona said.

"Are you going to tell her or do you want me to tell her?" T'Nalia asked.

For a second, the room was extremely quiet. Niona walked over to the medical robot, and said, "Robot, scan subject Niona," she said.

The Robot scanned her for a moment, and said, "Subject Niona is expecting."

"That means you're pregnant," T'Nalia quipped.

Niona held her stomach for a moment, and said, "I could have hurt my baby." She looked over at Jimmy, and said, "You could have told me this."

"You're right," Jimmy said, "T'Nalia, please stop drinking, so you won't hurt our baby."

"You meant Niona," she said,

NIona laughed. "He meant T'Nalia."

"Actually, I did mean T'Nalia," Jimmy said.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" She asked.

When the robot confirmed T'Nalia's pregnancy, she laid on the floor for a moment, and sobbed.

"Screw you two," Jimmy said, "I thought we could celebrate later, but I don't want to do anything with you two right now."

Back on the ship…

Niona had fallen asleep in the shuttle, and as soon as they returned to the Demon, he carried her to his bedroom. T'Nalia hopped in the bed, and Jimmy laid Niona in the middle. He looked over at his wife, and she was turned facing the other way. "I expected I was pregnant too," she said, "I had thrown up earlier."

"You two hurt me today," he said, "My heart is with you guys, and I feel like you two don't appreciate me."

"Oh please," Niona said softly. "I'm more than happy to be the mother of your child."

"Do the ascetics allow for polygamy?" Jimmy asked. "This is important to me."

"Yes," T'Nalia said, "It happens on Neostar too."

"Are any of the Council of Science members in polygamous relationships?"

"Two of them are," she said.

"The wedding should be on Neostar," Niona said, "I'm a princess on my world."

"Neonodiums would view the relationship as a financial arrangement and military protection," Jimmy said, "I think that's a good thing."

"It would definitely cement an alliance with the Doraxian military," T'Nalia said.

"How would Doraxians view it?" Niona asked.

"Doraxians would take it as a business arrangement, especially since Jimmy's worth billions now," she said.

"I think everybody in this room knows why I want to marry Niona," he said, "But I think the narrative of the marriage being a business arrangement would be more palatable to all cultures involved."

"How would the military take it?" T'Nalia asked.

"I think they already know we all have a strong, undeniable connection," he said.

Two months later…

Niona and Jimmy were on Neostar with the Baby, and they were married in a secret wedding in the Iona family home. T'Naga was T'Nalia's body guard during the wedding, and it worried Jimmy because they'd be traveling back to the Demon without him. The wedding was considered a secret until after T'Nalia and Jimmy remarried. T'Nalia gave the Iobis her Lantern ship that she flew to Oa, and they loved it. It was the only ship in Jimmy's immediately family without the Transwarp technology. He had access to some powerful ships that weren't on the books, and with his money, he had some ships built, but all his advance ships had Transwarp technology. The Lanterns responsible for dignitaries were called Technicians, and they were part of the intelligent branch. A Technician was at least a level three Mind Blocker with Blue Fu defensive combat skills.

But when it came to T'Nalia, she had T'Naga escorting her, and even though she hated her, T'Naga was a level five Mind Blocker, and she wore bracelets made out of amazonium. She was a Silver Blade warrior, and an assassin.

"This is the strongest alliance we've ever had with the Neonodiums, Jimmy," T'Nalia, the father of his wife, said. "I can't begin to tell you what you've done for Doraxia."

"I know the elite views my marriages with the daughters of Doraxia and Neostar as alliances, but I truly love them," he said, "I hope they don't just see me as a military brute, but as a man who loved his wives beyond the materialistic."

During the Neonodium wedding, T'Nalia walked Jimmy down the aisle, and promised to share him with Niona for all times, and during the ceremony, the woman made a pact to never turn on each other. It was a beautiful event of the elites on Neostar and the elites from Doraxia, mainly the Council of Science.

"Give Niona the time of her life," she said smilingly. T'Nalia's stomach was large, and she was about a month from giving birth.

"Tell T'Naga about her next assignment," he said. He kissed T'Nalia on the lips, and then placed the back of his right hand on her left cheek.

After Terry was born, Niona's mother took the baby, so the couple could enjoy their honeymoon. He loved Niona so much that he spent the majority of his time adhering to her every need through the pregnancy. He oiled her tummy to keep the stretch marks at a minimum, and kissed her tummy everytime he left her hovel. He's spend one night with T'Nalia during her pregnancy and the next night with Niona until he moved Niona into his hovel he shared with T'Nalia. Jimmy brought his two wives breakfast full of Madi meat and pip eggs, and when he placed them in front of them, T'Nalia asked Niona, "Who's S'Rae F'Nare?"

Jimmy quickly sat down, and Niona looked befuddled for a moment. "You remember her?" Jimmy asked.

"I heard Niona mention her name," she said.

Niona set her fork on her tray, and placed her right hand over her mouth. She grimaced for a moment, and looked over at Jimmy. "She's Jimmy's wife."

T'Nalia dropped her eating utensil, and asked. "Current wife?"

"She's no more than seven or eight right now, but I sense her presence," Jimmy said. "I sense she's in danger."

"You should tell me these things," T'Nalia said. "Both of you. How many wives do you have?"

Niona paused. She raised up her right hand, and showed her five fingers.

"Really?" She asked. She looked up at Jimmy, and then asked. "Who are they?"

Niona looked stressed. "You won't like at least one name on the list."

"Let me fucking guess. Checha!"

"Bingo," Niona said.

"How did you know?" Jimmy asked.

"As soon as you returned, you recruited her, built her a ship, and trained her above and beyond the rest," she said, "Why can't you be upfront about this?"

"I should have told you about Checha, but where would that have left us?" Jimmy asked.

"I told you before that men of means have a multitude of wives," she said, "You can have a thousand wives, but you must have approval from your previous wives to bring a new one into the fold. If we don't approve, then she's nothing more that a paramour." T'Nalia shook her head in frustration. "I love you guys. Please have a good time on your honeymoon."

"Thank you," Niona said. "Thank you for everything."

Jimmy had a Yellow Lantern Battlecruiser called the TCB, and it was based on the parasitic Lantern ships, but much bigger. It was a ship he designed for himself, and it was equipped with Demon level weapons and shields on it. It was equipped with two parasitic vessels attached to the outside of the ship. The name of his new vessel was called The Code Breaker. It had a break area next to the bridge, three bedrooms, and four bathrooms. There was a bathroom and shower on the bridge, and each bedroom had one. One of the bedrooms was the master bedroom, and Jimmy had the ability to control the ship from that room.

The large screen monitor had a fireplace display on it, and the couple laid in front of it drinking wine on a large, red beanbag. They had complained a little that they never enjoyed a childhood, especially since she had ran away at the age of ten. She had her hair cut in the ascetic style: bowl cut in the front with long black hair. She wore her traditional clothing: a blue, nearly see-through dress, black bra, and black panties. Jimmy gingerly ran his fingers through her nice, orange hair, and kissed her soft lips. He could taste a hint of wine, and he enjoyed it. She laid on top of him, and then asked, "When you showed me what happen in the alternate timeline, you impregnated me," she said, "What I thought was a view into my past life was the insemination?"

"No," he said, "The insemination happened afterwards, but we had the Neonotium mating ritual when I showed you the past life. All of the feelings, all the palpitations, and all the enjoyment happened in real time, even when you begged me for mercy. The same vaginal contractions that made a propitious insemination in the reenactment happened repeatedly during the flashback, and even after you told me you hated me, your body was telling me a different story. So, when we had sex afterwards, the insemination took place."

"Did you know that would happen?" She asked.

"I suspected as much," he said.

"So, Terry wasn't an accident?" She asked.

"No," he said. He paused for a moment, and then asked, "Did you want it to be an accident?"

"No," she said, "I just want to be involved in the decision making."

Jimmy played with her thick, orange hair, and gently kissed her emerald visage, and said, "We didn't marry until after T'Nalia died in the prior timeline," he whispered telepathically, "That was a mistake. I think we got it right this time."

She smiled sheepishly, and placed the backside of her emerald, right hand against his brown cheek, and whispered mentally, "Even when we met all those years ago, I loved you and I felt your love for me. Your love has been the greatest force in my life." She bent over in what appeared to be in pain for a moment. Grabbing her head, she fell off the bean bag. "It's S'Rae!"

Jimmy paused for a moment, and ruminated. "I sense her."

She walked over to the terminal, and pulled it out for a moment. "If I can sense her telepathic mind, then the ship must be in our vicinity."

He tried to find the ship with his conscious mind, and then he said, "If it's a Peridian vessel, the ship has mind blocking equipment. I keep losing the connection."

"I don't see anything, Jimmy," she said. "I'm going to stay in this space for now, and wait."

He walked over to her, as she faced the terminal, and gently pushed her long, orange hair behind her ears. "I've been looking through the manning rosters of the Old Guard and Lantern Corp," he whispered telepathically. "If we go to war, I'll need you to command a Demon class ship." She didn't say anything at all, and stared directly at the floor for a long time. "T'Nalia will also command her own ship. I just don't have the manning needed yet to leave you out the equation."

She sighed. "It's only temporary, right?" She asked telepathically.

"Yes," he whispered telepathically, "The people of Doraxia won't stand for a Demon class ship in production for too long." She laid her head on his right shoulder, and hugged him tightly for a moment. "I've been working on revamping the Old Guard schools," he said, "It'll take a year to put it in place, but the Doraxian people have an aversion to exercise."

She smirked. "The ascetics, gays, and transexuals are the fittest, better educated, and most loyal to Doraxia."

"But they won't pull the trigger," he whispered telepathically. "How can I ensure a transexual will pull the trigger?"

"Life like simulators would work," she said. "We have holographic technology on Neo Star, and it's highly possible to install the tech in all the ships in the fleet." She kissed him, ran over to his dresser, and pulled out his fake vagina. "The holographic simulators will give you a lot more pleasure than this thing." She laughed.

"You're not going to make me use that on our honeymoon, are you?" He whispered telepathically.

"Honestly, you never had to use this," she whispered telepathically, "I'm always here for you, Jimmy." She walked back over to him, and kissed him softly.

Jimmy pulled her closer to him, and he gingerly placed his head against hers, and a beam of light went into her mind, and he massaged her cerebral. Her body trembled in enjoyment, and she moaned loudly. When she finished, she laid on his chest for a moment, and kissed his chiseled abs.

She looked him in the eyes, and he felt a tingle in his head, and then Niona massage his cerebral, and he palpitated wildly. She stood up on her knees, looked at him, and put all her telepathic energy into him, and it was the first time she had him screaming for more. When he climaxed, he fell off the bag, and onto the floor.

She rubbed his shoulders as he lay on the ground palpitating from the telepathic foreplay. By stimulating certain areas of the brain, they could reach the maximum climax, and they often did all the time. "The only bad thing about this is it's addictive like a drug," she whispered telepathically.

"It is a drug," Jimmy said, "That's why we're always talking telepathically."

She smiled. "Promise me you'll be careful when doing this with T'Nalia or Checha?" She whispered telepathically. "It's an addiction to people without our abilities."

"Every now and again I give T'Nalia that pleasure," he whispered telepathically. "How much is an addiction?"

"It depends on the person," she whispered telepathically. "I've been connected to you for life. I haven't connected with another empath for cerebral sex, but the addictiveness was a discussion in my training."

Suddenly, the ship's alarms went off. The sirens blared loudly for about ten seconds, and then softened. Jimmy hopped off the floor, and said, "Computer bring up the problem."

The display went from the fireplace to a large ship that was the size of a city.

"Are you seeing this?" Jimmy asked Niona telepathically. "I don't detect S'Rae."

"It's like an entire city," she whispered telepathically. "I'll keep searching for her because if I sensed her once, then I should sense her again."

It looked like it had a slew of powerful cannons on it, but none of them were deadlier than his gamma cannon he thought. The ship stretched the size of two football fields, and it was like a mega city in space. He didn't recognize the design, but it had to be the Peridians. It wasn't a Lantern vessel, and he scanned it telepathically, but there wasn't any Lanterns aboard the ship. He immediately donned his Yellow Lantern Uniform, and then said, "Computer, hail the alien ship."

"Yes, General. Connection established," the computer said. He reached over for Niona, and she stood beside him. She donned her Yellow Lantern uniform with a twirl of her right finger, and she seemed prepared to be an Ambassador. He looked over at his wife, and her gait was royal like.

"My name is General McGinnis of Doraxia, and this is my wife Niona McGinnis of Neo Star" he said, "Who are you?"

It was a long pause, and then the alien said, "I'm Commander Stack of the Peridians."

"Where do I know that name?" Jimmy asked Niona. "Stack?"

"Go into war mode, Jimmy,' Niona said telepathically, "Stack attacked the Hellion in ther other timeline, and killed six thousand slaves on Gidison during the Great War." A red light blinked on the monitor, and then she said, "They're preparing to fire."

Suddenly, the alien vessel revved up its weapon system, and Jimmy put his vessel on a war footing. He walked over to another panel with a litany of buttons on it. A flat screen monitor ascended from a slot in the panel, and then he did a scan of the vessel. When he read the population readout on the screen, he looked back at his wife, and said, "They have seventy thousand people on that ship."

"You're the leader of the Doraxian military," she whispered mentally, "If they force your hand, then …"

"My mission is to avoid mass killings," he whispered telepathically. "I've already killed thousands."

"I stand with you on whatever you choose to do," she said, "We're in war mode. If you fire on them, it will cut through that ship like butter."

Jimmy went back over the monitor, and Commander Stack looked directly at him. He wore a long coat with metals on the right side. Steel spikes protruded from his head, and he flared his nostrils as if he were angry. "Do you know who I am, Commander Stack?"

"I do," he said. His gritty voice sounded wise, but his Sage told him not to trust them.

Niona said telepathically, "These Peridians are huge slave traders. I mean huge."

Jimmy looked over at her for a moment, and then said telepathically, "You're really advocating for me killing these people."

"Earth owes the Peridians two million additional slaves, and the Lanterns said you're holding up the request," he said, "Give us the slaves."

"Under what authority?" Jimmy asked.

"How far is their planet from our current position?" He asked Niona telepathically.

"Two hundred light years," she said telepathically. "It's in the Dark Corridor."

"Under the Treaty of Trust and Subjugation," he said, "We have two million slaves coming to us."

"I nullified that treaty, Commander," he said. His countenance changed, and he looked angry. "I obliterated six Lantern Battlecruisers over this nearly seven years ago."

"The treaty is good according to the Lantern Corp," he said.

"No. Kai Ro voided the treaty because he was a representative of the Lantern Corp while being a citizen of Earth. The price tag of fifty million slaves was propitiously in favor of Oa, and left Earth with a bad deal."

"That's not my problem," the Commander said.

"You do understand I will destroy Peridia over this issue," he said, "I'd wipe out your race."

Unexpectedly, The alien vessel fired upon Jimmy's ship, and it knocked it backwards several hundred feet. Niona nearly fell to the ground, but with Jimmy's telekinesis, he was able to keep her upright. Jimmy's ship, The Code Breaker, was a much smaller ship than the Demon, but it had a powerful gamma cannon. "Computer, break communications."

"Communications severed," the computer said.

"Computer, find the frequency of the alien ship's shields," he said, "When you have the frequency, lower their shields, and then fire a continuance gamma ray at their command structure for fifteen minutes."

"This will destroy the enemy ship," the computer said.

"That's the plan," he said.

"Please note, General, their weapon system is substandard," the computer said, "You have the dominant firepower."

"Computer, who programmed you?" Jimmy asked.

"T'Nalia McGinnis," the computer said.

"Fine. When their shields are down, hit them with something to let them know we mean business."

Jimmy looked over at his wife with a grimace.

"Don't blame me," she whispered telepathically. "I'm Niona. Besides, I believe S'Rae is on that vessel. I can't sense her, but let's not risk it. Even if she were dead, I sensed her brain activity in the last few hours."

"Cancel the order, Computer," he said softly. "I too felt her. The only reason I don't destroy that ship is in the hopes the fifth is on it. I'll have a better outcome with my ring."

He decided to leave the confines of his ship, and faced the alien vessel head on. When he charged the ship, the Commander fired on him, and struck him in the chest, but it didn't do anything to him. He used his heat vision, and it tore a hole in a vital part of the ship. When the ship fired directly at him a second time, he put up a wall with his power ring, and then cut the alien vessel in half with a laser from it. He clicked a button on his wrist, and then said, "Computer, fire on the alien vessel with full force on my command."

"Yes, sir. Waiting for the command."

"Jimmy, the Commander is surrendering," Niona said.

He flew back into his ship, and the Commander was on the screen. "We have mass casualties."

Niona whispered telepathically, "thirty-two hundred dead."

"Computer, send in the robots to help prepare the alien vessel on my command," he commanded.

"Yes, sir," the ship said, "It will take approximately two days to repair the vessel."

"Jimmy, I'm reading twenty-two thousand humans aboard the alien vessel," Niona whispered telepathically.

"Computer, delay that order," Jimmy demanded.

"Commander, a couple of things are going to happen. One. I am bringing in some galaxy class ships to retrieve all the humans aboard your vessel."

"You don't have the right!" He screamed. "This ship is under Green Lantern jurisdiction."

"I can restore your deceased as long as you don't interfere with the repatriation of my people."

"Restore the deceased? What is this? Magic?" He exclaimed.

"It's science, idiot," Jimmy quipped.

"Three. I'll use my robots to restore your vessel," he said, "Now, If you don't agree to this, the alternative options are destroying your ship, punching a hole through your world, and tracking down your remaining people throughout the galaxy, and killing them too. I'm game for whatever you choose."

"You'd blow up a world with thirty billion people?" He asked.

Niona whispered to him, and said, "I sensed her for a split second."

"When you said you knew of me, what did you mean?" Jimmy asked.

"That you were the one who interfered with the Treaty of Trust and Subjugation," the Commander said.

"He's being deceptive," Niona whispered telepathically. "Everything about his face indicates he's hiding something."

"So, you don't know about the two billion dollar bounty on my head?" He asked.

"No bounty is that high," The Commander said.

"Do you know I'm the leader of the Yellow Lantern Corp?" He asked.

"What happened to Sinestro?" The Commander asked.

"You know he's not be forthright now," Niona said telepathically as a matter of factly.

"Missing," he said. "I suggest you never attack an enemy you don't know. Not killing you is like going on a diet. I could fall off the bandwagon at any time, and slaughter everybody you know."

"General, can you send those robots?' The Commander asked. "The temperature is dropping."

"Their atmospheric machine is damaged," Niona said telepathically, "Maybe six hours of usable air and they'll freeze to death in about four hours." She paused for a moment. "Were you really thinking about blowing up their world?"

"No," he whispered telepathically. "It's called brinkmanship." He tapped a button on his communicator, and then said, "Colonel T'Nalia, I need The Blue Dream to pick up twenty something thousand humans."

"Is it serviceable?" T'Nalia asked.

"I believe so," he said, "Colonel T'Lita Noir told me it was operational." He stopped talking to her through the communicator, and then said telepathically, "Have T'Naga pilot the ship, and place the Transwarp Drive on it."

"Somebody will notice, Jimmy," she thought.

"Just be discreet," he whispered telepathically.

"I'll send Captain T'Naga to Vitic with the extra drive," she thought, "We'll be there in six hours."

Later in the day…

The crew of the alien vessel placed all the dead in a pool of water on the first floor like the General ordered, but he didn't see a Gidison child. He looked around the room with his super vision, but didn't see her at all. He could hear her telepathic thoughts, and for a moment, he wondered if he imagined it. When he walked onto the alien vessel, he felt the fear, and if he said he didn't enjoy it, he would be telling a lie. The fear went into the ring, and turned it into enjoyable electrical pulses that fed into his mind. The ring worried him. He hadn't felt fear in a long time, and now it was happening all at once. He twirled his right finger in the air, and all of his clothes disappeared off his body, and he was bare in front of the ship's crew. His appearance baffled everybody.

"Is this all of them?" He asked.

"Yes, sir," one of the soldiers said.

Jimmy walked into the water, bare from top to bottom, and sent a powerful golden current through the water. For five minutes, he illumined the entire room, and revived the dead. At first, a little child climbed out of the pool, and cried because he was soaking wet. The bodies flailed in the water, but he didn't lessen the strength. He could hear the aliens calling what he was doing witchcraft, and that bothered him. He didn't want others to view his powers as being godlike or that he was a god. His abilities had more to do with the power of science, and he wanted to perpetuate that idea to all. The newly revived walked out of the pool, and within fifteen minutes, Jimmy stood in the water by himself. He flew directly in the air, and donned his Yellow Lantern uniform.

Back on The Code Breaker…

"Jimmy, this is T'Nalia," she said, "We're about ten minutes out."

"What ships do you have with you?" He asked.

"I have the Demon and T'Nalia's piloting the Blue Dream," she said.

"Okay," he said.

"We'll have to terraform another planet in Earth's solar system," she said.

"Damn," Jimmy said. He was dumbfounded for a moment.

"The Peridians have diseases that are harmful to humans," she said, "They don't affect you, me, or Niona, but devastating to humans."

"What's that one planet?" Jimmy asked telepathically.

"You're going to have to be clearer than that, honey," she thought. "There's trillions."

"I want to say Prime Star," he said without any conviction.

"Yeah. It's like Earth, but it's twenty light years from Earth," she thought. "It''s kind of just sitting there. Empty"

"Screw that. We can put them on an empty planet in Doraxia's solar system," he said.

"Why?" She asked.

"'Cause Doraxian scientist need work," he said telepathically. "Where's my level five containment planet?"

"Honey, you have the Council on speed dial," she thought. "If you need it, they'll give it to you."

"Ugh. I don't have any of the safety plans written for the level five containment planet," he said telepathically. "I need all the safety protocols in place in case of contamination."

"Just put them on Prime Star," she thought. "Many of them will die from the diseases, but some of them might adapt."

Niona stood at the computer monitor, and then said telepathically, "Something isn't right with this machine. I'm counting fifteen thousand humans now."

He walked over to her, gingerly placed the back of his hand on her right cheek, and she step back from the computer. Jimmy ran several of his own algorithms, and then stated, "It's a ruse. I'm not detecting any humans." He stepped back for a moment, and sent a telepathic message to T'Nalia, "Stay about two light years back, T'Nalia."

"What's going on?" She thought.

"I don't know," he said telepathically. "Give me an hour."

"Okay," she thought.

"I'm not able to read any minds in the ship," he said telepathically to Niona. "They're using some kind of powerful equipment to block my powers."

"Me either," she said telepathically. "It's like a mental block." She walked up behind him, and guided him to the bean bag. When he sat back, she placed her hands on either side of his temples. "Concentrate," she said telepathically. "Force your way through the block."

Suddenly, Jimmy felt a tingle, and he immediately threw up several images of random objects, and it was enough to thwart the attack. When he felt another series of tingles, he threw up another set of random images, and then he saw a telepathic anomaly on the part of his attackers. He used his mental prowess to tunnel into their machinery, and caused it to short out. When that happened, it opened up a different reality, and the alien ship was half the size he originally thought, and he visualized nine empaths aboard the ship with one, cruel leader named Haddic Stack. In addition, he felt only nine thousand minds, but they weren't telepaths or humans. He focused in on the empaths, and went deep into their minds with every means to cripple them, but he realized they were lowly slaves. They were like midnight: dark, strong in body, but abused and saddened. They weren't Peridians like the lead telepath; they were an ancient race called the Gidisons, and they were tall, dark, and docile. His future wife was from the same race, and he knew she was aboard the ship. The Gidisons were strong empaths, but most didn't explore their abilities because of Peridian laws that prohibited them from mental agility. The Peridians forced them to wear mind-blocking helmets, and only the Gidisons on the fringes of society refused to do so. In addition, they were androgynous creatures with both male and female parts until the age of twenty-one, and only during insemination did a Gidison become fully female. If one of their species wasn't seminated by the age of twenty-one, then they were male. Nature made the choice for them, and it was always male. But if a male inseminated an androgyne before twenty-one, then a metamorphosis took place.

"Something isn't right," Jimmy whispered telepathically to his wife. "I'm sensing the Fifth?"

"T'Nalia is the First. You called me the Second. Checha is the Third. I never knew the Fourth. The Fifth was of an ancient, androgynous race, an enslaved race. She was a princess. When you mated with her, she became like you. We went to her world to free them from bondage, and it caused the Great War. If she's on that vessel, then the circle is complete."

"If she's damaged, I'm going to end him," Jimmy said.

"I'm feeling her powers. She's calling us," Niona said.

"She's a telepath," Jimmy said, "A strong one like you."

Jimmy and Niona flew over to the ship, and they headed directly for the control room. The hallways were narrow and dark. They were dark because the robots hadn't restored all the power yet. When he opened the door to the control room, he saw eight Gidisons with helmets on their heads, but the machinery didn't work. Haddic Stack had a pistol to one of the pitiable creatures' heads, and the General took it from him using telekinesis. The alien tried to attack Jimmy on a mental level, but it didn't work. He wasn't a natural telepath like everybody else in the room. Jimmy immediately realized Haddic's helmet was the source of his powers, and he flipped it off his head. When he removed the alien's helmet, Niona went into his mind, and knocked him out cold.

The Gidisons took off the machinery that gave them the power to block the General, and they had silver helmets on their heads that fit like skull caps. When Jimmy removed one of the helmets from the Gidison who sat closest to him, he started screaming. Quickly, the young man ripped the helmet from the General's hands, and placed it back on his head.

"Are you hurt?" Jimmy asked telepathically.

"It's against the law to remove the helmet," he replied telepathically. "I feel bare without it."

"You're not living to your full potential," Jimmy said, "My wife and I are strong telepaths, and we'd never lessen ourselves with these helmets."

"It's all we know. We're nothing without these helmets," the young man said, "It's the only way for us to be accepted in our society."

"It's their culture," Niona said telepathically. "It's useless to try to change them."

He pressed the back of his right hand to her left cheek to indicated he understood her wisdom. "What is your name?" Jimmy asked him telepathically.

"It's A-Doc Benrae," he said, "You're the Destroyer, and your androgyne is in the trash."

"In the trash?" His visage changed. "Who put her there?" Jimmy asked.

A-Doc looked over at the Paridian commander as he lay on the ground, and Jimmy wanted to tear his body apart. The idea of his androgyne in the trash tore at his essence, and he felt a rage rise in him like no other. "He knew you would come for her." He paused, and took a swallow. "He knew you'd react if you thought humans were aboard."

Enraged, Jimmy's mind searched through the ship, in every air duct and trash compactor until he found her half dead under a pile of trash. He used his telekinesis to pull her to safety, and her body floated gingerly through the halls of the ship until his androgyne was in front of him looking cadaverous. Gingerly, he placed her on the floor, and she was gaunt and frail. Her haggard looks angered him, and with the power of his mind, he shook the entire vessel.

"A-Doc, my androgyne is telling me you saved her," he said, "She's Princess F'Nare, and her life is the most important life to you now. This goes for all of you. I will birth my androgyne at the age of eighteen, and if anybody touches her, I'll kill them a million times."

He gently grabbed his epicene and cradled her in his arms, and his tears dropped on her face. Niona backed away from him for a moment, and his entire body glowed gold, and he rejuvenated the child. His androgyne grew strong in his arms, and then he put the beautiful, crystal black child on the ground.

She fell to her knees, and cried loudly. "Master, I escaped Gidia two years ago to find you. I called out to you daily, and prayed to the laws of science that you would save me from this prison. I've crawled in the ducts of this ship, and I've eaten the trash of the respectable. Your humble Fifth is but a filthy child, and if you can see any good in me, I promise to serve you in this life as I did in the last."

"You are my fifth, and when you become of age, we will marry. I will birth you, and we'll free your people from bondage."

S'Rae walked over to Niona, and bowed, "Princess Iobi, oh sister, I'm ready to start my training."

"And train you shall," Niona said. "Not only will you become a Yellow Lantern, but we'll teach you how to rule Gidia."

"Can we become Lanterns too?" A-Doc asked.

"Yes. You men will bring a new era of freedom to Gidia," he said, "Your descendants will group up in a world where your mental abilities will be an asset." Jimmy looked over his left shoulder at Haddic, and he slowly stood up. He pulled out his gun, and held it on the General.

"Are you kidding me?" Niona asked loudly. "Have you lost your mind?" She shook her head, and then slammed him into the floor with a yellow beam from her ring. She swatted him with a giant yellow hand, and killed him. Blood spewed from his mouth, and then he took his last breath.

The Gidisons were astonished by Niona's powers, and they were saying back and forth that they had never seen a woman with so much strength. Jimmy bumped her shoulder, and she cheesed for a moment.

"My wife can pick you guys up, and take you to Doraxia for school," Jimmy said, "You can be Lanterns in six years."

"Wait? Your wife is here," A-Doc said.

"I have another wife," Jimmy said. "Her name is T'Nalia."

"Slaves aren't allowed to marry," A-Doc said.

"Being Married to my Nionan and T'Nalia is the greatest feeling in the Universe," Jimmy said, "You join the Corp of Yellow Lanterns, and we'll make it so all your people can marry." Jimmy closed his eyes for a moment." He noticed that all of the Gidisons were older than twenty-one, and they were all male. He pulled his fifth close to him, and said, "You're home, S'Rae."

She walked over to the dead Commander, and sighed. "You told me that you must go back and redo all the death and destruction you caused," she whispered telepathically to the General. "If you don't bring the Commander back, all the people on this vessel will perish."

"I see you're wiser now than ever," he whispered telepathically.

T'Naga arrived at the ship with the Blue Dream, and T'Nalia headed back to Doraxian space with the Demon. She didn't want to interfere with the honeymoon. The General walked over to T'Naga, and she called the bridge to attention. "Take them to Doraxia, and enroll them up for school. I'm depending on you to handle this, Captain."

"Yes, sir," she said in her commanding voice. She couldn't believe how tall the androgynous people were, and they were well mannered with the silver helmets on their heads. She looked at the child, and said, "You're cute."

"Third …" S'Rae said.

"Not yet," General whispered telepathically. "She doesn't know she's the Third."

"Really? She loves you like I love you," S'Rae whispered telepathically. "Please correct this before I finish my schooling, Master. Please bring the Fourth home, so we may know her in this world."

"How do you know her?" Jimmy whispered telepathically.

"Master, I am the Fifth," S'Rae whispered. "When you birth me, you imbue me with your child, your knowledge, and your skills. In time, I want to see T'Vee McGinnis."

They had on tattered clothing that barely covered their private parts, and S'Rae's dress had grown small. It barely covered her frame. They had shapely bodies like women, but their genitals were pronounced and ginormous. The Blue Dream was such a large ship that conveyor belts assisted with moving the people through the ship. She measured the androgynous men with her palm computer, and made clothing for them.

"How old are you guys?" Jimmy asked.

"Nineteen," they all said.

"Oh," he said. 'Okay. You're still androgyne?"

"Yes. I haven't chosen my path," A-doc said. "I'll look at this deeply next year."

"Can I have a black dress?" S'Rae asked. "I've chosen my path. I'm a girl. Put a huge yellow J in the middle of it." The General hugged S'Rae for a long time, and Niona joined in on the hug. "Master, I'm home. Sister, I've missed you."

Niona cried a little. "I've missed you too, sister." She placed her hands on S'Rae's small shoulders, and said, "Our family is almost complete."

"What's the J for?" Checha asked.

"Jimmy," she said.

"That's cute. You're paying respect because he saved your life?" She asked.

Jimmy sent her a telepathic thought, and said, "Tell her that's it."

"Yeah. That's it," S'Rae said.

Nearly Two Years Later on the Demon…

The General gave Checha T'Naga orders to report to the Blue Dragon in a few months for a special assignment, and the mission worried her because the General didn't give her any details. He hadn't given her all the information because he was finishing his thesis on Transwarp Theory, and T'Rauna kept asking him inane questions about his theory. He planned on receiving his T within the month, and she was traveling to Earth to pick up his father. She looked in the mirror at her sapphire face, and then sighed at the fact she hadn't received her next rank. The General had promised her a promotion before she left for the Dragon, and he hadn't mentioned anything about it. When she mentioned it to Niona, she told her to stop begging in the cruelest way possible.

"Listen. You made Captain in two years, so shut your damn mouth, T'Naga," she screeched, "He'll promote you in due time. He's been spending a tremendous amount of time working with S'Rae and Tina in his spare time."

She didn't say anything at first, but she felt like she had to say something. "I've done everything you told me to do, ma'am."

"You knew the deal," Niona screeched. "Do you see any awards on my service uniform? The Intelligence Corp is the best, brightest, and less decorated." She did her basic checks on the Dracunculus. "Jimmy told you that from day one."

"I know," she said softly.

"So, keep your emotions in check then, T'Naga," she said. "Your best friend in your life is the General."

"But why the Dragon?" She asked with an annoying stress in her voice. "It's just a warbird, and I wanted to be on the Demon."

Niona looked around the bay, and then pulled out a yellow, inflatable object, and threw it on the ground. It formed a secure, holographic hovel, and they walked inside. The building gave them some privacy to speak without worrying about being recorded. Once inside, Niona sat on a holographic bench, and T'Naga sat on the other side.

"Your mission on the Dragon is surveillance only," she said, "He thought he had detected a glitch in the Dracunculus' ship detection sensors, but he couldn't find the problem."

"Don't glitches happen?" T'Naga asked.

"We returned to the planet in the Demon, and I also detected the glitch," she said. "He no longer believes it's a glitch."

"What did he discover?" She asked.

"There's an alien technology that blocked his telepathy," she said, "He believes it's the Distortions, but he isn't sure. You will be Private Naga and the General wants you to gather information on the crew."

T'Naga looked down at the golden ground with a grimace on her blue visage.

"Do I need to give you the specifics of how you go about acquiring this information?" Niona asked. She paused for a moment.

"You're saying I'll have to use my womanly charms," she said.

"The General said do whatever it takes," she said with a scowl on her face. "It meant be a princess if it takes being a princess." She looked down at the ground for a second. "And be a whore if it takes being a whore."

"Does he think I'm a whore?" She asked.

"I've never asked him," she said, "But I know he doesn't think that. You're going to command the Subterfuge. It's a Demon Class Ship. You must mean something to him if he's giving you such a prestigious ship. Do you have any sense of the trust he has in you?"

'I know," she said.

When the holographic hovel disappeared, she helped Niona finish inspecting the Dracunculus. The crew inspected all the ships twice a day in accordance with the manual. The General insisted on doing everything by the book, and he expected each soldier to have a Soldier's Manual on their person. It had the basic instructions on how to be an Old Guard Soldier.

"Follow me to the bridge," Niona ordered.

"What's going on?" T'Naga asked.

"You ask a lot of questions, Captain," she said as they walked quickly down the hallway. "The General orders me and then I order you. I don't think you need to know anything beyond that."

"Yes, ma'am. I didn't mean.."

"Shut up, Soldier,' she said, "The General is telling me he found a problem with your service records."

"What problem?" She asked. Her eyes were large, and she started to panic.

"Keep those emotions in check, T'Naga," she said. "You're a fucking Intelligence officer under my command, and I'll rip those bars off your shoulder if you don't get your shit together."

When the bridge doors opened, Niona screamed, "Attention to orders!" Everybody on the bridge stood to attention.

The General said, "Captain T'Naga, post!" T'Naga ran over to the General, and stood in front of him. Niona said to her telepathically, "Don't you dare smile." Niona read from her tablet computer, "By the orders of the Federation of Yellow Lanterns, Captain Checha T'Naga, you are hereby promoted to the rank of Major. Ordered by the Federation of Yellow Lanterns and signed by General Jimmy McGinnis Commanding."

The General pinned on her new rank, and then said, "I want everybody to know that Major T'Naga has been an asset to the Yellow Lanterns. She has performed numerous missions, and I expect she will have a long, glorious career serving the people of Doraxia. Let's give her a hand." The entire bridge burst into a thunderous clap, and then the Major saluted the General, and he returned her salute.

"Thank you, sir," She said.

The General smiled, and then said, "Walk with me, Major."

"Yes, sir," she said.

They walked through the narrow hallways, and the General said, "Somebody on the Dragon isn't who they claim to be," he said, "There's something blocking my telepathy, and I"m not able to read this entity."

"How do you know it exists?" She asked.

"It's there. I can feel it, but I can't detect its whereabouts," he said, "I'm going to need you deep undercover. I'm sending Lieutenant Jade and Lieutenant Iobi to the Dragon in three months," he said, "I want you on the Dragon in a few days."

"Why so soon, sir?" She asked.

He sighed. "I need you to have intimate relations with the command staff," he said.

"But won't they be breaking the law?" She asked.

"Yes," he said, "I'll be able to detect the alien presences by their reaction to you."

"So, you're going to be watching me?" She asked.

"For the first three months," he said, "When the Demon leaves for Brion Noir, the Denison Barrier will block my telepathy, but you'll have Jade, Iobi and two other Lanterns at your disposal."

"What about my Lantern vessel?" She asked.

"It will be with Kal-El," he said, "I've already talked to him, and he will store it, but keep it locked. I don't want anybody knowing about the Transwarp equipment on it." He paused for a moment. "I know I'm asking a lot of you." He gently grabbed the back of her neck, and placed his forehead next to hers. He said telepathically, "Always know I think the world of you."

"Thank you, sir," she said, "I will do better than my best for you. Always," she said.

He smiled. "After you finish with this mission, I want you to spend some time with Cadet S'Rae," he said. "She's fast tracking through school, and will be finished in a year."

"Are you sending her to the intelligence course?" She asked?

"Yes. She's a strong telepath. She has already surpassed some of our best, and in a few years will be on my level."

"Are you replacing me?" Checha asked.

"No," he said, "I have future plans for you that we'll discuss down the road, but currently, I need you on the Dragon."

The General walked down the corridor, and Checha went in the other direction. She walked into her hovel, and grabbed her belongings, and then she received a telepathic message from the General. "You're stationed on the Demon. The Dragon is a temporary duty assignment, but it'll be written like permanent duty station orders. After the mission, you will return to the Demon."

"Okay, sir," she thought. "What does the Major of the Dragon know?"

"Nothing at all," he whispered telepathically. "He's a substandard soldier, but his mind is wide opened. He's not the threat. He's a threat as far as being worthless, but he's not the threat that concerns me."

"He's a T'Dank?" She thought.

"Yeah. You had relations with his uncle," he said telepathically. "He got him the job."

"Oh. You know about that affair?" She asked.

"You're my intelligence officer," he said telepathically. "I've gone over your complete background. government records, school transcripts, relationships, and everything. Get cozy with T'Dank, so you have more liberty to move about the ship."

"Okay, sir," she said.

"Once Captain Jade arrives, she'll be a stickler for the rules, but if she gets in your way, seduce her, and then make her believe she used you."

"You want me to make her believe she treated me like a whore?" She asked.

"Yes," he said, "It will make her open up to you, and passively share knowledge," he said telepathically. "Everybody on this ship will see things, but it's your job to take all the information you receive, and connect the dots."

"Yes, sir," she thought.

"My wife is on her way, and will take you to the Dragon," he said telepathically, "We will be there in a week to drop off your ship. Good luck, Major."

"Thank you, sir," she thought.

Day two on the Dragon…

T'Naga reported to Fifth Classmen B'Na Tara, a young Classmen who didn't know much about life outside the Old Guard. She walked into the bay, past the fizzle bottles and trash, and then over to the parasitic ships. There was so much trash on the floor that she had forgotten she was on a military ship. She looked the raggedy Fifth Classmen up and down, and realized that she was in just to pass time.

The Tara clan was a poor people, a people who didn't have any wealth or political clout. She had bad, mild navy blue skin, and she had shaved her eyebrows at some point. The small bumps on her face resembled acne, and with all the advance treatments, she didn't have a clue on why she didn't use them. She held a Booshi flavored fizzy throughout the entire tour of the ship, and many of the poorer clans drank fizzy drinks without much water. Fizzies tore at the enamel on the teeth, and caused chronic tooth decay. Many of the poor Doraxians suffered from bad teeth because of the fizzy drinks, but every ship had plenty of the stuff except for the Demon. One of Colonel T'Nalia's number one rules was no fizzy drinks, and the General backed her without question.

When Fifth Classmen Tara finished with her fizzy, she tossed it on the floor, and then kicked it across the bay. If not for the military, she'd probably live the sordid life of a sex worker in the Bricks, a sex villiage in the heart of Forge City. There was loads of trash in every area of the bay, and she felt sick to her stomach when she saw it. The Demon was the exact opposite of the Dragon, and everybody on the ship ensured its cleanliness. If the General caught a soldier tossing trash on any parts of his ship, he'd probably play an evil mind trick on them.

Fifth Classmen Tara showed her a strong, solid black vessel called the Sarcoptic, a parasitic ship capable of draining a large battlecruiser of power. It had phaser burns on the side of it, and she looked at it closely to see the extent of the damage. Immediately, she noticed the crew hadn't kept up maintenance on the vessel, and it didn't have any of the Transwarp tech on it. She had a black glove over her Lantern ring, and she had a medical slip for it in case somebody questioned her about it. She claimed she had a chronic condition that required her to wear the glove, but it was to hide her Yellow Lantern Ring. When she saw the condition of the vessel, her heart raced a little because she imagined what the General would say about it. One of his major pet peeves was the lack of upkeep on his parasitic vessels. When he reactivated the Old Guard, the General gave close attention to the defunct parasitic vessels, and upgraded them with advance technology. He wanted the vessels patrolling the space around his warbirds at all time, and the Dragon had all their parasitic vessels dormant in the bays.

"Fifth Classmen Tara, shouldn't there be patrols?" Private Naga asked.

"The Commander said it wasn't important," she said. She tapped on the front of the vessel, and smiled. "We spend most of our time in the lounge drinking Booshi drinks and playing Crumps."

"What's the possibility of alien ships in the area?" She asked.

"Doesn't concern me," Tara said, "I'm not letting some alien General tell me what to think, do, or feel. He comes to Doraxia, and takes over like he owns the place. I don't care if he is married to the Blue Ghost. I hate her too, and his bitch, Ni something."

Naga blacked out for a moment, and when she awoke, Fifth Classmen Tara was passed out on the floor, bleeding. She looked at her hands, and they had Tara's blood on them. She thought she was going to be able to keep calm, but somehow she completely lost it, and beat the Fifth Classmen unconscious. She checked her pulse, and then walked to her quarters. When she thought about what she said about the General, she thought about beating her a few more times. The General put Doraxians back to work, and if not for him, many doctors would be rotting away on government benefits. She must have been in her room for over two hours before her Lieutenant paid her a visit.

She heard a knock on her door, and when she opened it, Lieutenant T'Nary walked into her room, and charged her with assault for the beating of Fifth Classmen Tara. He walked into her room with his chest sticking out, but he was a frumpy man, a man who didn't care anything about his appearance. He was a strong, burly looking guy with a thick, uncouth beard. He had scraggly hair, and probably hadn't ever read the manual that covered the proper wear of facial hair.

She looked at the Lieutenant, and said, "I want legal representation."

"Why did you knock out a superior Classmen's front teeth?" He asked.

"Nobody disrespects the Command Staff in front of me," she said, "The General brought prestige back to my name after a thousand years, and I'll be damned if somebody disrespects his name in front of me."

"You're from the Naga clan?" He said. "Okay. So, she said bad things about the General?" He asked.

"And the Blue Ghost," she said, "And LTC Colonel Iobi. There are more Doraxian ships in space now than any time in the last five hundred years, and if Officers and Enlisted don't have a modicum of respect for my General, then they don't need to be in the Old Guard."

"I'm going to let this slide," he said, "But you best keep your hands off the other soldiers."

"Yes, sir," she said with a grimace on her face. "I guess you approve of her disrespect?"

"Major T'Dank put out Doraxia is for Doraxians, and I agree with that," he said.

She felt a plethora of rage building inside of her. She said, "You're really close to sedition, sir. The General is our leader, and he has the backing of the COS and the Senate. He's taken his wealth, and put it back into Doraxia." She began to cry. "It hurts my heart to know that I work for and around people who are hating my General for no reason."

"He broke ties with the Green Lantern Corp," he said, "We had honor once."

"They're an organization that promotes slavery," she said, "They go against our core values. We have our own core now. We built it. Doraxans built the Yellow Lantern school on Zaar."

The Lieutenant laughed. "Whatever." He walked out of her room, and said, "You're caping hard for a man you don't know."

She told the computer to close the door to her hovel, and then she eased her way into a meditative form. She gently waved her arms back and forth, and then kicked the air. It was a smooth motion that allowed her to relax. There was a storm of emotions that took place inside her mind. She didn't understand how they could be so naive, so ignorant, and so anti-Doraxia. It was indicative of the poor to be cruel and tribal.

The walls on her room were bare, and she didn't have any pictures that didn't have the Command Staff in them. All the pictures she had were on the Demon, and she was in uniform with her official rank on them. The General wanted her to be meticulous when it came to concealing her identity, and from what she could tell, nobody on the Dragon tried to soldier. She walked out of her hovel, back to the bay, and went through the Sarcoptic's maintenance schedule, and it disconcerted her because they hadn't recorded checks in over two months. There were three other parasitic shuttles in the bay named Demodectic, Blood Sucker, and The Tick, and when she checked their records, she found the same amount of neglect.

The parasitic ships had devices called suckers on the bottom that attached to the enemy ships, and drained them. The cables had to be properly greased on a bi-monthly schedule, and when she checked the computer, they hadn't been greased in nearly six months. The General designed the new shuttles, and they were only a year old. The newest machinery in the Dragon's arsenal looked dilapidated because of the poor upkeep, and she couldn't believe it. She walked back to the rear gunner's seat, and noticed one of the soldier's carved a swear directed at the General in it, and it nearly drove her insane. She rested her mind for a moment. The pain of seeing the defacement of Doraxian equipment by Doraxians was tantamount to the proverbial stab in the heart. She did her function checks on the guns, and they all failed. The ship wasn't prepared for battle, and from what she saw, it wasn't prepared for flight. She did a quick check on the Omega Thrusters, and they didn't appear to be functional. The Omega Thrusters fired when the ship lifted off its target, and then unleashed its final gamma blow to the enemy, breaking the ship in half. In addition, it was still early in the work day, and she hadn't seen one soldier in the bay in over an hour. In the Bay Safety Manual or the BSM, two soldiers conducted a walk through every thirty minutes in a garrison environment. During an increased threat level, it went down to every fifteen minutes.

Private Naga walked over to the wall mounted Robot, and placed in several codes in the system. The robot hopped out of the wall, and began work on the ships. In a matter of minutes, she had all eight bay robots in operation on the parasitic vessels, and she worked with one of them on the Sarcoptic.

"This is shameful," the robot said, "No ship should be in this condition unless it just came back from war."

"I know, right?" Private Naga said, "The General will have them all waterboarded if he were to see this." She paused for a moment, and tapped the robot on the shoulder. He was in the middle of removing the gunner's seat. "Are you recording troop activities while in stasis?"

"Yes, Major," the robot said, "The General has us recording everything because of the threat."

"Don't call me by my rank while I'm on this ship," she said, "I'm on a mission for the General."

"Sorry, ma'am," he said.

"Just Private will do," she said, "What's your name?"

The robot laughed. "Just robot."

"That won't do," she said, "Let's call you Nero."

"Why Nero?" He asked.

"It's a name I like and I like you," she said, "You will help me gather information."

"Nero at your service, Private," he said, "What do you need to know?"

"Remember, all of this is confidential," she said, "Tell nobody of our conversations."

"Understood, Private," he said.

"Has the Dragon's sensors picked up any alien vessels in the last year?" She asked.

"There have been shadows," Nero said, "But the bridge crew hasn't made note of it in the logs."

"Why is that?" She asked.

"They're not manning it on a regular basis," he said. He paused for a moment, and then said, "Nobody is on the bridge right now."

"Using all the information that you have on the shadows, what's the probability of it being a cloaked, enemy vessel?"

"This calculation includes the General's attack on the Lantern Battlecruisers, and the advent of his school on Zaar," he said, "The speed of his ascension into a sizeable force in the Universe has brought attention to Doraxia. The probability of an enemy alien vessel spying on the Dragon is upwards of ninety five percent."

"How many nations do you think the General has offended?" She asked.

"Thousands," he said, "The Green Lantern Corp represents thousands of worlds. It's almost safe to say that he has killed a member from each world the Corp represents."

"This means we should be at an increased threat level," she said.

"We don't have the manpower for increased patrols," he said, "Even when the additional Lanterns arrive, we won't have it." He laughed. "We aren't patrolling now."

She had a stern look on her face. "I can promise things will change for the better once I submit my report." She patted Nero on the back. "I'm going to let you get back to work, but remember that what we do, we do for the good of Doraxia."

"For the good of Doraxia," Nero said.

During Lunch…

Private Naga walked into the cafeteria, and almost all the soldiers were chugging down fizzies like water, and none of them looked as if they could pass a physical fitness test. The main dish was Madi meat, white rice, cabbage, and two pip eggs. She noticed that some of the the soldiers drank Booshi Ice, a canned alcoholic beverage that was inconsistent with the DMR or Doraxian Military Regulations.

When Fifth Classmen Tara saw her, she made a threat, "Watch your back, cunt?"

Private Naga looked at the bruised soldier, and said, "Don't make me put my Doraxian military size six boot up your blue ass."

When Fifth Classmen Tara tried to stand to her feet, her co-workers kept her seated. "Not here," one of the Classmen said. Her front, two teeth were missing, and she slurred her speech. Private Naga looked dead in her amber eyes, and she saw a small flinch. She knew Fifth Classmen Tara was a weak individual, and wasn't able to think outside her small niche of friends. Due to the ongoing disrespect of the General on the Dragon made her look adept at being on the wrong people's radar. She realized she would have to let the disrespect of the General slide, but it was painful to hear it nonetheless.

She sat down with her tray of food, and the Madi meat wasn't near as good as it was on the Demon. The General's father-in-law owned several. large Madi farms, and his wife grew up cooking the stuff. They ate Madi meat almost everyday on the Demon, and it was always fresh. None of the foods on the Demon were of the nebulous variety because T'Nalia always had the Classmen inspecting it, and giving Niona a report daily. She realized the members of the Dragon had found solace in their substandard conditions, and the General wouldn't tolerate it.

T'Naga sat with her back to the door, and when the Major walked past her position, she stood up, and said, "At ease."

"As you were," the Major said, "It's been along time since I've heard that. It kind of scared me."

A young, Doraxian woman, a Fifth Classmen sat with him, and with the way the chinwag sounded, Private Naga believed they had or were having an intimate relationship. She had to make note of it because the General wanted all the issues notated, even though his main focus was on the shadows. At the current time, she didn't know much about the Major except that he was a frumpy, untrimmed man. His beige uniform was tattered, and he had a scraggly beard. For some reason, none of the soldiers went by the Military Blue Codes For Garrison Dress (MBCFGD), and that was a problem. She saw several soldiers, both men and women, covered in face paint, and that section was highlighted in the MBCFGD.

Another bridge officer besides the Major walked into the chow hall, and it disturbed her because two bridge officers should have been on the bridge at all times. Lieutenant T'Nead, a tall, exotic looking Doraxian woman who looked like a model pranced into the dining facility, and Private Naga was enamoured with her immediately. She had a svelte frame, and resembled royal families like the T'Nalias and T'Danks. Even though Major T'Dank was of the royal lineage, he made an art out of looking and acting like a dirtbag. Every time Private Naga thought of Major T'Dank being of the royals, she wanted to laugh.

Private Naga placed her dirty tray on the conveyor belt, and looked over at the Fifth Classmen with the Major, and read her name tag. It was a soldier named Nalia, and she was almost sure that was the Colonel's cousin. For a moment, she thought the Major was some sort of Masochist. Not only was he fraternizing with the enlisted, but with relatives of the Command Staff. The Doraxian Military Law was clear on fraternization, and it was obvious the Officer Corp skirted the law.

Later in the day…

Captain T'Vlad, the commander of First Company, called Private Naga into his office. He was a well dressed officer, military cut, and cleaned shaven. He had beige gloves on with his uniform, and many soldiers wore them because the ships were cooler than they liked. He was obviously a step above the other officers on the ship with his square face. The square face gave him a tough appearance, and he talked with a gritty voice. He was a lighter skinned Blue, a Blue with a high mixture of Gray, and that automatically caused her to distrust him. She immediately noticed his last name, and it was one of the lower classes, a name derived from the Northern Hemisphere, the cooler region where the Grays once thrived before the blight wiped them out. Most of the light skinned Blues during the time of the Grays were raised by Grays, and treated the Blues badly. The Grays put the light skinned Blues over Blue organizations, and lead them down the wrong path four nearly four thousand years. It was the Nagas and Nalias that gave rise to Blue independance from the Grays.

Private Naga noticed photos of the Commander on the wall, and he had several photos with his husband. His husband was a school instructor at a secondary school on Vitic, and often dressed like a woman according to some of his photos. He kept his desk messy, and he had tons of paperwork on it, but she didn't have any idea on why. Nobody seemed to be doing anything of value on the ship, and the fact that the Captain had a ton of paperwork on his desk probably meant he had a side business.

"You're barely on this ship a day, and you attacked my Fifth Classmen, Private," he said angrily.

'I'm barely on this ship a day, and your Fifth Classmen disrespected the General, and I won't tolerate that behavior," she said. "If not for him, all of us would be sitting on Vitic twiddling our thumbs."

"That's no reason for you to knock out her teeth," the Commander said.

"It's the lack of leadership on this vessel that's the problem," Private Naga said, "The enlisted personnel gave an oath to obey the Officers appointed above us. Call me a neophyte or whatever, but I meant it."

"You have to be punished," he said. "You hit an NCO."

"Really? I haven't met one NCO on this ship," she said, "Would an NCO keep the bay trashy? Would an NCO say disrespectful things about the Command Staff? I don't even know the mission."

The Commander smirked. "We provide security and logistics to the scientists aiding the Kryptonians."

"Well, shouldn't we be providing that security by patrolling the space around the warbird?" She asked. "It's in our General Orders." She paused for a moment, and then said, "General order number one is 'I will use the parasitic vessels to guard the Blue Dragon, and destroy any enemy vessel that tries to molest her.'"

"It's up to the Major," the Captain said.

"He doesn't have the authority to override the patrols," she said, "It's in the regulations, signed by the General, and backed by the COS."

"So you're telling a superior officer on what he should be doing?" He asked.

"When said superior officer skirts the law, you're damn right I'm going to say something," she said, "The Kryptonians are important to Doraxia's interest."

"Listen. You're just a private and don't know shit, Private Naga." He pulled out his tablet computer, and said, "Sign your reprimand, and then get the hell out of my office." When he went to hand the Private the tablet computer, his nose started bleeding badly. His body suddenly went limp, and then he fell to the floor. He was only on the ground for a moment, but when he stood back up, he said, "Obviously you're the General's pet," he said, "He over did it with the telepathy."

"The General just warned you about treating me badly, and you're still going to be disrespectful?" She asked. "I guess you're going to need a lobotomy."

"So, he just told me to put the Sarcoptic on patrol," he said.

"Yet, it still sits quietly in the bay," she said, "If the General contacted you directly, then that means he's interested in you. If you're ate up, you'll learn quickly that there isn't anything more painful than the General's love."

"Screw the reprimand, and prepare the Sarcoptic for flight," he said. "We'll put our ship on patrol regardless of what the other Captains choose."

"I think that's wise, sir," she said.

"Oh. I don't for a second believe you're a Private, Major. You need to scale it back a bit," he said.

She gasped. "How do you know?" She asked.

"I'll be your XO on the Subterfuge," he said. He removed the glove off his right hand, and he wore a Yellow Lantern Ring. "The General put me on the ship for your backup."

"What's your level?" She asked.

"Three," he said, "I'm just a technician."

"No. You're a soldier for the good of Doraxia," she said.

That evening…

Private Naga felt the General enter into her mind, and he said, "You're being too feisty."

"Sorry, sir," she thought. "I will try not to let the disrespect for you to make my blood boil."

'It's okay. Stay focused on the glitch," he said.

"I will, sir," she said.

"I need you in the lounge, and meet the Bridge staff," the General said telepathically, "I'm sorry to say this, but I need you to be the bouncer."

"Okay, sir," she said. She knew it was coming at some point, and bouncer or bouncing meant a man or woman who bounced from one lap to the next. He wanted her to seduce the Bridge staff, and in some ways, she felt insecure about it.