I know I said Karron this chapter, but turns out I had one more filler left in me before we got there. I hope it entertains.
Hana looked up from the chair she'd been sitting in, stomach still bloated from her breakfast after her and Naruto's impromptu closet sex. "Did I miss something?"
Hinata hopped off the bed to bounce over to Hana. "I cracked the secret of Astral Bonds! Now it's only a matter of time before the whole crew has a group mind, or pack mind as I like to call it. Imagine how we'll be able to coordinate in battle! Or the espionage we could do! This could very well be our secret weapon! Well, aside from every other psychic power we have on hand, of course. But a pack mind is still fucking useful, I say!"
"It is, babe," Naruto said, wrapping his Matriarch in a hug. "So, you and Sasuke want to do the same with Hana now? You were only under for about an hour."
Hinata frowned. "I'm not ready to bond with her yet. The connection is too weak. And if it's too weak for me, it's too weak for Sasuke. We'll have to spend more time with Hana first."
"I'm fine with that. I loved being Naruto's sole focus this last week, but I want to get to know my XO and Chief of Staff as well." Hana grinned brightly. "We're going to be best friends before you know it!"
"Friendship rather than discipline. Perhaps a better way to run a ship, but much harder to arrange," Sasuke mused, still sitting on the bed. "Now, perhaps we should all get dressed and go about our days? As memory serves, these are pirate-infested systems and we don't want to be naked should it come time for a boarding action."
Naruto snapped. "Right, boarding action. That reminds me. I did this for Hinata, I should probably do it for you two too." Naruto gave first Sasuke and then Hana a long, lingering kiss.
Sasuke blinked. "Why do I suddenly know Jujitsu?"
"Or how to factor wind when the target is over 500 meters away?" Hana added.
Hinata chucked. "He did this for me before we boarded the pirates that attacked Hana's Corvette. He telepathically gave you copies of his skills at self-defense and combat. I've worked out most of the kinks myself in the Firing Range and Gym by this point, but you both should still be better equipped than if you'd walked into a fight blind."
Hana bounced up. "Can we spar? Please? My family all practice martial arts except me, they wouldn't let me learn and I didn't have time to take the courses at the Academy with my Tactical specialization. It would be so nice if the next time I see one of my brothers I can throw him on his ass!"
Naruto grinned. "I'd be happy to, honey. Though I should warn you, on this crew we spar for anal sex priviliges, loser receives."
Hana blushed scarlet but seemed determined. "What happens if I win?"
"You're an Uzu now, you can make Psychic Constructs. Like I said, loser receives."
Hana's brain seemed to short-circuit. "You… you mean…"
"Pegging, dear, the word is pegging," Hinata instructed. "It really is something, to have a big strong man turn into a begging puddle on your mind-dildo. I've only got to do it once on either of them and I'll always treasure those memories."
"So, Hana and I are going to spar in the Gym until lunch, or thereabouts. Sasuke, Hinata, what are you up to?"
Sasuke shrugged on workout clothes. "I'd like to join Hinata in straightening out the kinks of this memory transfer in the Firing Range. Maybe she can update them, even, if she's gotten better than you by now."
"It wouldn't surprise me at all if she had. She's been working at it a whole week, that's how long it took her to get her Navigator First Class license."
Sasuke stumbled. "You got that license after only a week of study?"
"With a perfect score. Enhanced intellect, which you now have too. It's our one advantage over our muscle-bound hunk of a leader.
"Me Naruto. You Hinata. We bang bang like monkeys later," Naruto grunted.
Course decided, the two teams shared an elevator ride to Deck 7. Sasuke and Hinata, looking very intimidating with Naruto's two XR73 Rifles shouldered, went into the Firing Range to practice accuracy and speed. Naruto and Hana went into the gym, past the pool which Hana eyed excitedly, and to the workout mats set aside for self-defense practice.
"First thing we're going to do is warm up. I know that's unlikely to happen before a real fight, but the last thing we need is to strain a muscle when it could be avoided," Naruto instructed his student.
Hana nodded. "Yes, Commander."
Naruto led Hana through a series of stretches, working each individual muscle group until their whole bodies were warm and loose. "Right. Now, I'm going to show you the standard Konoha Federation close combat kata. It's a mixture from various styles that the eggheads in High Command have deemed most effective in a fight. There are variations on it, including the Special Ops kata I'll show you later. But for now, I'm starting you with the moveset that your brothers have all been practicing since they were teenagers."
"Fair enough. Let's get started!" Hana said, bouncing on the balls of her toes.
Naruto proceeded to mime the sequence, with Hana doing a passable job at following along through the whole ten minutes. Then he repeated it. And then again. Once he was certain she could repeat it without mistakes, Naruto began to circle her and stop her to correct her form whenever she overextended or misplaced her feet. Hana never made the same mistake twice and within an hour was doing a textbook kata flawlessly.
Naruto shook his head. "I almost feel guilty for giving you this enhanced intellect, if you're going to use it to become a killing machine."
"Isn't that what Thralls are for? Soldiers for the Uzu's army?"
"You're much more than just a Thrall, honey, you're an Uzu in your own right. But unlike me, you have all the advantages of a Thrall. If you three wanted to mutiny, I couldn't really stop you."
Hana winced in pain. "Don't talk about us betraying you. It hurts my heart."
"And that's the weakness of a Thrall, the threat of their Uzu's destruction. That really scares me, the idea that you'd all be catatonic or suicidal if something happened to me," Naruto brooded.
"I'm not even going to think about that. We're all immortal, and we're going to live happily ever after and drown in the amount of children we all have. That's the end of it," Hana said decisively.
Naruto chuckled. "Whatever you say, babe. Now, time for the Special Ops kata. It's basically the standard kata 2.0, with a few tricks thrown in hard-learned from years of boarding actions. Your mother MAY have learned this version, but your brothers certainly haven't."
Hana's eyes flashed with excitement. "What are we waiting for then? Let's get started."
Naruto led Hana through the much more intense workout of the new kata, lasting twenty minutes a run and covering for much more brutal tactics. Again, Hana seemed to half-know the kata before she even started, and with positive reinforcement and gentle encouragement, managed to have the whole thing memorized after an hour.
"Brilliant, Hana. I doubt I've seen it better done by my instructor at the Academy. Now, time to put it in action," Naruto praised, which made Hana all but glow. At his final words though, she tensed and went into the stance she had just perfected. Naruto mirrored her with his own stance. "I have my own style I've synthesized from the martial arts I've already learned, the Special Ops training, and a few alien brawling moves I've picked up over the years. Which leads us to our first lesson: how do you beat a stronger, faster, more experienced opponent?"
Hana furrowed her brow. "Shoot him before the fight starts?"
"Good idea, but wrong answer. You'll find out in a moment. Ready?" Hana firmed her stance, her eyes tracking Naruto for the first hint of movement. "Go!" And with a surge of Psychic Speed and Strength, Naruto literally picked Hana up, placed her down, and pinned her.
Hana blinked and spasmed, trying to get out of his hold. "Hey!"
"The answer is: you don't. If you have a gun or any other weapon, the odds might be stacked slightly more in your favor. But 99 times out of 100, when you're up against a better fighter, the smart answer is to surrender or run. Don't risk your life trying to prove something, like how strong or committed you are. Just kneel down, roll over and show your belly, and trust that your teammates will rescue you eventually. That's the hardest lesson every Marine had to learn: how to give up when fighting was pointless. Better to preserve your life and fight another day than go down in a blaze of glory."
Hana remembered something. "But I've got psychic powers!" So saying, she reached for the power marked 'Telekinesis' in her mind and tried to throw Naruto off of her.
To no effect.
"And if you were any good at them, you'd have realized I put up a Null-Zone almost before we landed, to prevent tricks like that. It's like a psychic dead zone, no powers in the affected area, not even the caster's. This is a lesson in physical martial arts. Let's keep it about them. When you're a multiple black belt that can hand me my ass, then you can experiment with adding psychic powers to the mix. Until then, it's just good old-fashioned blood, sweat, and tears," Naruto instructed. Then his voice turned erotically menacing. "Now, I believe I warned you about the penalty for losing a spar…"
Hana's eyes widened before she grinned and seemed to snuggle into Naruto's embrace. "Indeed you did."
"And I won, fair and square. Now the prize is mine for the taking," Naruto crooned, nipping her ear and neck.
"Yes!" she gasped at the stimulating touches.
Shifting his grip so he was holding her down with only one hand, Naruto grabbed Hana's shorts and, with a surge of purely physical strength, ripped them off her body. She gasped, feeling her borrowed clothes get ruined. "Those were Hinata's," she protested weakly.
"I'll make it up to her," Naruto grunted, reaching into his pocket. Pulling out a bottle of lube, he inserted the nozzle into her delicate rosebud and squeezed. filling her insides with the lubricant. She shuddered at the cool liquid deep in her guts, which Naruto proceeded to rearrange by thrusting a couple fingers into her hole. She gasped and grunted at the unfamiliar but lovely sensations of Naruto reaching into her rectum. When Naruto deemed her appropriately prepared, he pulled his digits free. Shucking his own shorts down to his ankles, he aligned her leaking prick with her opened hole.
"You want it?" Naruto growled.
"Yes! Stick it in!" Hana cried, feeling deliciously feminine and helpless trapped under his male grip.
With her blessing, Naruto thrust his cock all the way in until his quad was nestled against her pussy, his crown pulsing deep in Hana's colon.
"Holy buggering shit!" Hana breathed out. "You're inside me. You're not in my pussy, but you're still all the way inside me. You're in my ASS. My virgin little ass."
"Not a virgin anymore, Hana. Now you're a fully-fucked bitch of the Pack. And now your Alpha is going to ride you until he shoots so far up your insides it comes out your mouth!" So saying, Naruto reaffirmed his pin on Hana and went to town, thrusting up and down into Hana's rear chute, the very top of his erection bulging out her tummy on the upstroke. The feel of something so hot and huge in previously untapped depths sent Hana reeling, with no option other than to lie there and take it. She was soon drooling on the ground, her eyes rolling back into her head. Seeing the total 'ahegao' look on his partner's face sent Naruto into a frenzy, humping like a dog in heat, until his orgasm finally brought an end to the anal lovemaking.
"Fuck, that's the stuff," Naruto breathed as he pumped the last drop out of his quad. Withdrawing his meat stick from Hana's ass, Naruto checked on his Tactical Officer. "Hana? Honey? You okay?"
"... That's how I'll 'lose' a match with you? I'll never honestly try to win!" Hana exclaimed when she came down from the dizzying heights Naruto's dick had sent her.
"Not even with the thought of returning the favor to motivate you?" Naruto asked playfully, like a fox.
Hana shuddered. "I think it would be more weird than sexy to do that to you. Plus, now that I know that's a thing, I'm pretty sure I walked in on my parents doing that one Valentine's Day when I was 8. So no pegging for me, nope, nope."
"Well, the option's yours if you ever beat me in a spar. Now, let's make sure that load I gave you goes to good use," Naruto said, focusing on his seed with Telekinesis.
Hana shuddered as she felt the pints of semi-liquid spunk travel through her large and small intestines and into her stomach. "We should make you do this to yourself one day, then you'd know how weird it feels."
"Yeah, not risking it. My body might reject it. I gagged the one time I tried my own cum. I can only imagine how my stomach would react to a full load."
"Curious. Would the same thing happen to Sasuke?"
"Pretty sure not, but then again his sperm aren't psychically charged. So he can suck himself off whenever he wants to, but that's just not an option for me. Now, I believe it's about lunchtime."
Helping Hana to her feet, Naruto and Hana left the Gym to find Hinata and Sasuke waiting by the elevator for them. Seeing Hana walking without bottoms made Hinata grin wickedly. "See, Sasuke, I told you that quickie wouldn't bother Naruto. He had his own session with Hana."
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "At some point, I'll learn to just smile and nod along with anything you say."
"Good practice?" Naruto asked as they slid into the elevator.
"I hit five bull's-eyes in a row. I've never hit a bull's-eye before in my life," Sasuke reported in awe of his own success. "And Hinata made me look like a kid with a BB gun. She's a better shot that you, Naruto. Possibly the best shot I've ever seen, really."
"It's all just math, once you know what to calculate for," Hinata shrugged, downplaying her hard-earned talent.
"You could make a fortune in the pool halls," Sasuke remarked.
"No thanks, I'll stick with Naruto's fortune. All 96 million and change."
Hana blinked, overcoming her embarrassment at having no bottoms. "That's how rich you are?"
"Well, that's the total after all our purchases in Alpha Centauri, including the Invictus. And it's how rich you are too, sweetie. My ryo chit is keyed to accept all of you as users. I added you while you were asleep this morning once I was sure your DNA had settled."
Hana blinked up at Naruto as he led the four of them to the Officer's Lounge. "You trust me with all that money?"
"In a word, yes. I trust you to be loyal to me for an eternity, the least I can do is give you access to the family coffers," Naruto explained himself. "Now, I feel like pasta. Carbonara okay with everyone?"
"What's in that again?" Sasuke asked.
"Ham, bacon, peas, creamy butter sauce over thin noodles. It's my favorite and I don't even get to eat it," Hana pouted, rubbing her gravid belly.
Naruto's face fell. "Oh, I'm sorry honey. Don't worry, I'll make something else. We can have your favorite tomorrow, I promise."
"You really don't have to…" Hana trailed off as Naruto vanished into the Kitchen without another word.
"There's no talking him out of it, so expect an empty tummy tomorrow around lunch or dinner," Hinata advised. "If you're taking suggestions, Naruto, I haven't tried crab yet!" she called.
"Crab Ravioli it is. Give me 40 minutes to prep the crab and make all the shells and then we're good to go!" Naruto's voice came from the Kitchen.
"While we're waiting, we can get to know each other better. Naruto tells me you come from a military family?" Sasuke asked Hana.
"Yeah. Mom started out as Bridge crew for the Damocles and stuck around long enough to make Commander. My dad transferred in and supposedly it was love at first sight. They got a lot of heat about tiptoeing the line around the no fraternization policy. Then my mom got pregnant with the triplets out of nowhere, and my Dad decided to retire to look after the family while my mom kept her career. We're pretty sure I was conceived at the after-party for her promotion to Captain, and then it was a quiet few years getting raised on Jericho. The boys all enlisted in the Academy their 16th birthday, and I was only a couple years behind them."
"What was everyone's specializations?" Sasuke asked, fascinated. His own family wasn't so much career military as career power-mongers, and he and Itachi had just happened to pick the Navy for their political playground.
"Mom was Tactical, so I'm following in her footsteps. Dad worked Comms. Kuromaru is a doctor, Akamaru is in Engineering and Kiba is a pilot. My mom used to joke that we could all crew our own ship, the KFSS Inuzuka. I guess now that dream's toast," Hana said with a wry smirk. "I wouldn't transfer back even if I had the chance."
"You'd pick us over your family?" Hinata asked, shocked. Hana seemed to have had the kind of childhood Hinata and Tenten had dreamed about. That she'd throw that away after a week with them seemed extreme.
"It would break my heart, but I need to live my own life. You guys have already given me so much. I want to be worthy of that."
Sasuke and Hinata both gave Hana a hug, with Naruto flooding her mind with affection and appreciation through the Bond. The moment passed, and the conversation continued. Hana told amusing stories from the Academy and her brief stint on the Griffon, while Sasuke and Hinata had their own share of anecdotes to fuel the talk. Before they knew it, Naruto was placing a plate of steaming ravioli on the central mat of the table, each one about two bites worth of food.
"Crab Ravioli, enjoy my people," Naruto proclaimed.
"Remember to kiss the chef!" Hinata called, pecking the blonde on the cheek while Hana and Sasuke came around to do the same. Then they all sat down and gorged themselves on flat dumplings filled with perfectly seasoned crab.
"Add this to my favorites! This stuff is delicious!" Hinata exclaimed around a full mouth.
"We can load up the pantry with more exotic fare next time we're at Gravitus. You like crab, you should love lobster," Naruto grinned.
"Lobster on the Invictus. What's next, caviar and foie gras? Champagne with every meal?" Sasuke muttered.
"We're millionaires, Sasuke. Possibly billionaires if there's enough Tyrenium at Karron and we survive the trip back to Olympus. We can afford to splurge on the grocery list. At least she hasn't discovered alien cuisine yet."
Hana's eyes lit up. "Oh, that reminds me. I went to this food festival one weekend at the Academy and they had Oto dishes to sample. I didn't even mind they were vegetarian, they were so yummy!"
Hinata's eyes flashed. "Very well. First, Olympus. Then, Suna. After that, off to the Oto Regency for a bit of food tourism!"
Hana blinked. "We're going to Suna? Why?"
"I thought they might have information on the Uzu and I wanted to check to confirm. If all else fails, we can also get an upgraded Power Core and Tachyon Drive for the Invictus to hold us over until Tenten makes Uzu equivalents. The Suna have the best in the galaxy."
"They'll charge you through the nose for civilian-grade equipment. But much as it pains me to admit, even that would be an improvement on our Konoha Federation tech," Sasuke sighed.
Hana patted her dwindling waistline. "So, these schematics for Uzu tech, you can all see them in your head?"
"Yes, and so should you be able," Hinata said. "Give it a good hard think, like you were looking for a blind spot in your own head."
Hana focused and then, much like when she saw her physical changes in the mirror, she was suddenly aware of a whole section of her mind dedicated to Uzu blueprints and ancestral knowledge. She zoomed through them, stopping at random on certain inventions that caught her eye. By sheer happenstance, she settled on the Weapons Control System.
"Oh, wow! The Uzu Tactical Chair is amazing! It seems designed to use every hand and eye movement to track or fire the weapons! It makes what we have on the Bridge seem clumsy as the first automobiles!"
Naruto nodded. "The tech supremacy the Uzu have over the Galactic League cannot be overstated. That's why I'm really hoping Tenten will have the know-how to actually build some of it for us so we can use it."
"But there's, like, over a dozen synthetic or exotic elements that aren't even on the Periodic Table in here, to say nothing of mixtures and alloys. How could we possibly synthesize those?" Hana asked.
Naruto sighed. "I suppose we could rent reactor time at a big fusion plant. But that could get expensive even by our standards very quickly."
"I don't suppose we could save a whole species and they'd let us use one of their reactors pro bono?" Hinata asked.
"Not likely, Hinata," Sasuke said, barely stopping from rolling his eyes.
"You never know. It could happen," Naruto defended. "Now, I think for this afternoon we should switch. I can teach Hana how to shoot while Hinata teaches Sasuke how to spar. Sound okay?"
"I'm going to get my ass kicked by a teenage girl. Is this a fantasy or a nightmare?" Sasuke wondered aloud.
"I'll whip him into shape! And remember, Sasuke, we spar for anal sex," Hinata purred.
"I'm fucked, by more than one definition," Sasuke stated flatly.
Naruto and Hana went to grab the XR73 Rifles left by the door, and then went for the elevator, trailed by Hinata and Sasuke (after a quick detour to get Hana some pants). The rest of the afternoon passed in a blur of gunfire and kicks for our quartet. Sasuke had been a martial arts prodigy but hadn't done a kata in over a decade due to his bum arm, so he was badly out of practice and predictably lost. Hinata managed to coax a long, drawn-out release from his magic button as compensation. Naruto observed the same phenomenal learning curve in Hana's shooting as he had her fighting. By the end of the afternoon, she was trying and succeeding at trick shots that would have eluded him.
"You should train with Hinata tomorrow. She could have you at her level in a day, with the rate you improve," Naruto marveled.
"Two girls bonding over gunfire, just like in the movies," Hana said lightly. They saw Hinata and Sasuke approaching. Hana took one look at Sasuke's slight limp and blushed up a storm. "Oh, good God."
"I take it Hinata won?" Naruto asked with a cheeky grin.
"Not a word out of you. That's twice I've had to endure it, you only did it the once," Sasuke growled.
"Endure. You make it sound like such a hardship," Hinata said with a pout.
"Would you be this grouchy if you took it from me later tonight?" Naruto asked, eyes alight with lusty intention.
The other three paused.
"Would it be inappropriate for me to bring popcorn?" Hinata asked.
"NaruSasu," Hana breathed out, her inner yaoi fan coming to life.
Sasuke blushed. "Well, I wouldn't say no to finally being properly claimed by you."
"Aright, then. But to warm us up for the special event, Hinata and Hana are going to give us a show."
"Yowza! Ladies and gentleman, it's Homo Night on the Invictus!" Hinata cheered.
Hana blushed prettily. "We haven't had one-on-one attention between us. I'd like to experiment with you, might as well be tonight."
"And then I take an Alpha Uzu cock up my ass. That should be fun," Sasuke stated.
"I've gotten nothing but rave reviews so far, man. Just relax and let me in," Naruto whispered in his ear.
And the four of them went into the elevator, a night of earthly delights ahead of them.
They woke the next day bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Hinata won the game of Rock-Paper-Scissors to get the right to Naruto's morning load. Leading Hana with rifles in hand, Hinata took Hana down to the Firing Range. Sasuke elected to stay on the Bridge to keep an eye out for pirates and Naruto chose to practice wielding two different elements in each hand in the Gym. Lunch was a fun affair, all four of them eating for a change. Sasuke and Hana gave a two-person blowjob for dessert, splitting Naruto's cum roughly evenly between them. Their afternoons resembled their mornings, until dinner and a long group bath to relax after a long day.
The next day was uneventful, Hana back on the Bridge mastering the Tactical Chair with Sasuke as a companion, Hinata and Naruto having a mock psychic duel in the Gym. After lunch, Naruto had just persuaded Hinata into trying swimming lessons when Hana contacted Naruto mentally.
*Incoming distress beacon, Commander. Please report to the Bridge.*
Naruto was all business in an instant. "Change of plans, babe. We're picking up a distress call."
"But is it real or a decoy like the last one?" Hinata asked as they waited impatiently for the elevator.
"In either case, this isn't the Fool's Gold. If it's an attack, we'll help. And if it's another trap, those pirates will rue the day we crossed paths." *Sasuke, what's it look like?*
*Four ships, three of them without transponder codes. The last ship is a Heavy Freighter. My gut says raid in progress.* The Chief of Staff sounded cold and logical as he assessed the situation.
Naruto and Hinata burst out of the elevator, going straight for their Chairs. "Hana, try hailing the Freighter."
"Three minutes to intercept, we're practically on top of them," Hinata reported, resorting to speech to keep Hana in the loop.
"This should be easy, the Invictus is bigger than those three ships combined. Let's just hope the pirates haven't started a boarding action yet," Sasuke analyzed, his red eyes glowing bright from the holograms.
"The Freighter is hailing us, Commander. They're the source of the distress beacon," Hana reported.
Naruto hit a button on his Command Chair to open a channel. "This is Uzumaki Naruto, Commander of the Cruiser Invictus. What's the situation?"
"Oh, thank God!" Came the panicked reply. A shaky image of a man appeared in the air above the Bridge. "You got to help us! We're being attacked by pirates, slavers I think!"
"Hang tight, we'll be there in two minutes," Naruto reassured. "Just attempt evasive maneuvers until we get there."
"A-alright, Commander."
With that, Naruto ended the transmission. "Weapons hot, Lieutenant," he ordered, his strong unwavering voice filling his crew with confidence.
They surged forward, the Cruisers massive engines throbbing with power and Hana was able to pick up more information on the pirates as they closed in.
"A Lexon class Frigate and two bulk Corvettes, sir!" she exclaimed, hitting a button to show the marauding pirate ships as they pursued the limping Heavy Freighter. They could see the rear of the Freighter was pock marked with numerous craters, where the pirates had tried to disable the engines with weapons fire.
"XO, raise shields," Naruto commanded, before hitting a button that would hail the pirate ships.
"Pirate vessels, cease all hostile actions and power down and you will be spared" Naruto ordered curtly.
"Go fuck yourself jerkwad!" came the well reasoned reply from the Frigate.
Naruto shrugged to himself. If they wanted to sign their own death warrant, so be it. "Fire at will Lieutenant!" he ordered.
Hana was focusing intently on the holographic targeting matrix in front of her and her finger carefully depressed the trigger on the right control. Six scintillating beams of energy punched into the Frigate, overloading it's shields in a single devastating strike and following through to shear off the rear quarter of the ship. Without its engines to hold it steady, the frigate began to slowly tumble forward in a roll, still maintaining its previous momentum.
The Invictus bore down inexorably as the bulk Corvettes began evasive manoeuvres, desperate to escape from the lethal warship.
"Remaining ships attempting to withdraw, Commander. Orders?" Hana asked.
"You know the penalty for piracy, Lieutenant" Naruto replied firmly. "Finish them," he said, his sombre voice sounding their death knell.
Hana nodded grimly and the Corvettes came under attack from a withering hail of Laser Cannon blasts. Their weak shields managed to deflect the first couple of impacts, but they were totally outclassed by the military grade laser cannons and soon collapsed. The fleeing pirate hulls lit up from the concentrated firepower and both ships exploded practically simultaneously.
Hinata brought the Invictus around so that it was directly astern of the crippled Frigate. She could see escape pods blasting clear of the ship, as the pirates frantically deserted the doomed craft. Hana caressed the trigger and the beam lasers cored through the length of the frigate, causing the front of the ship to explode outwards, scattering glowing debris in a wide arc.
"Perfect attack. All ships neutralized, not even a hit on our shields," Sasuke noted with approval.
"Excellent work, ladies," Naruto said with approval, making their hearts lift. He hit a button that would hail the Freighter.
"Oh, thank you Commander, you saved us all!" The man from before had a grateful expression on his face.
"My crew did the real work, but thanks. Can you make it to your destination from here or do you need a tow?" Naruto asked politely.
"We're a little dinged up but nothing we can't handle. You can be on your way. We'll never forget you for this!" The man gave a cheerful wave and then the image cut out.
Hana resealed the weapons hatches, the Invictus's teeth retracting, as Hinata guided them back to the Nav Beacon and into hyperwarp toward Karron.
"Everyone, to my Ready Room," Naruto commanded, striding over and past the door to take his place behind his desk. Sasuke, Hinata, and Hana followed behind him, arranging themselves unconsciously in the order they joined the crew before him.
"Hinata, your piloting was brilliant. I can't believe you couldn't coordinate telepathically with Hana, it was so good. That could have single-handedly won us the battle. Hana, you handled your first combat like a veteran, and I'm incredibly proud to consider you my Tactical Officer. I love you both very much… now tell me how you feel after the attack," Naruto ordered.
"Standard Corvette houses around 20, Frigate about 50. I'm responsible for the death of about 100 people now," Hana said dejectedly.
"They weren't really people, though. They were pirates, probably the same band that attacked you. Scum like that is better off dead," Hinata said emphatically.
"Not to dehumanize the enemy, but they would have been executed like the swine they are even if they were captured and went to trial. We just saved the K-Fed a few thousand in legal costs, if you think about it," Sasuke spoke up.
"I won't say it gets easy. But I will say you learn to live with the blood on your hands. Just focus on all the good you've done. For example, the 34 people on that Freighter that we saved. Good, innocent people saved from death or worse at the hands of those pirates," Naruto hugged Hana.
Hana recovered herself under their words and care. "Thanks, everyone."
"I say we celebrate our first victory by all getting properly drunk!" Naruto proclaimed. "Hinata, Hana, you two go ahead. And go easy on the vodka, I don't want either of you sloshed before we get there."
"Okay!" Hinata chirped before taking Hana's hand. "Come on, Hana, let's let the menfolk talk while we get nice and lubed up… and then get drunk." The bluenette cackled at her own joke as the door closed behind them.
"So, what is it?" Sasuke asked.
Naruto replied mentally. *It must have been hard on you, seeing the Invictus in combat and not being in a position to do anything. I didn't realize what a passive role Chief of Staff was until now. Are you upset? I can find another job for you if you want.*
Sasuke sighed and smiled. *Idiot. I knew what I was signing up for. The Invictus belongs to you, not me anymore. I'm just a courtesy seat on the Bridge. I'll be nothing but a witness with Naval experience from here on out. I'm fine with that, save the seats for people that deserve them.*
Naruto grinned and kissed his Patriarch. *You are an amazing man, and I love you just as much as the ladies.*
*Never thought I'd say it to a man and mean it, but I love you too. Now come on. I'm eager to see your striptease after six rum and ginger ales.*
They entered the Officer's Lounge to find Hana and Hinata already well boozed, each nursing their third vodka spritzer. Since this was a celebration, Naruto went straight for the rum to catch up with them, while Sasuke caved and resorted to his own weakness: tequila. After an hour, things were blurry and everything was funny. After another hour, their sides hurt from laughter and it wasn't safe to stand up unassisted. Hinata told of fond memories of Tenten, two girls united against the universe. Calara had picked up a number of dirty jokes from her older brothers. Sasuke had a surprising number of slapstick anecdotes from running Olympus Shipyard. Naruto told tales of growing up on Konoha and the hijinks he'd gotten into in the Academy. By the time dinner came around, they were all too lazy to cook or even eat. They all just stared out the window at the streaking stars.
"Well, thish was fun. Now for a shower and bed. And shex. Maybe shex," Hinata declared when the chronometer hit 2000.
"We should, yawn, probably heal ourselves before we do. Don't want to have a hangover," Naruto advised.
Sasuke furrowed his brow before standing up straight. "Straight to sobriety? Psychic powers are so versatile."
"Mighty Uzu, immune to the consequences of mortal drinking!" Hana declared before using her own autophagy to get dry. "Seriously, this rocks."
"I don't think Hinata heard me before she went charging off," Naruto observed, eyes following the trail of clothes out the Lounge and down the hallway.
"Let's get her before she drowns herself in the shower," Sasuke sighed.
"You love her, warts and all, admit it," Hana teased.
"What relevance does that have to the issue?"
They indeed stopped Hinata from creating a bubble bath in the middle of the shower floor with some drunken Telekinesis. The fact that Water Manipulation was a mid-tier power and she managed it intoxicated only impressed Naruto. Eventually, Hinata realized she could heal her own drunkenness and joined them in the land of the sober. They all dried off after the shower and collapsed into a pile on the bed.
The next day, Naruto managed to coax all three members of his crew into the hot tub in the gym, the bubbly water feeling divine. For Hinata, it was a baby step towards the pool. For Sasuke and Hana, it was a relaxing way to spend an afternoon.
The next day was the day they were scheduled to arrived at Karron. At dinner, Naruto couldn't help asking "You nervous about tomorrow?"
Hinata shrugged. "Not really. The plan is solid. We meet up with Tenten to convince her to come aboard, if not necessarily offer the Gift. After that, a trip to Mizuki's mine to get the last of the Tyrenium. We check that he hasn't learned he was ripped off with Telepathy, and then it should be smooth sailing away from Karron plus Tenten and x tons of Tyrenium."
"And with our luck, there's equal chances of that happening or having to kidnap Tenten and fight off an army of mercs and gang members hired by one pissed off miner." Sasuke took another bite of his meal. "In any case, I trust in our ability to handle it."
"Being effectively demigods does inspire confidence in one's operations," Hana mused.
Naruto grinned. "Well, then, seems we're ready. Karron doesn't stand a chance."
NOW Karron and Tenten next chapter. Apologies for the confusion. Please fave, follow, or review.