Extra long chapter today, and sadly the last of the chapters I had saved up. Updates will now be weekly, give or take. I hope no one got spoiled by the rapid pace. Please enjoy.
"We should return to the Invictus. Do you need assistance?" Naruto asked the Freighter commander.
"Our engines were blown out, but we can wait for assistance from Port Heracles. They responded to our distress beacon but said they'd not be here for two hours. We never would have survived that long without you!"
Naruto grinned. "We'll return to the Invictus and cover you until help arrives. What we were going towards will keep."
*You're going to be very proud of me,* Tenten projected into his head as Naruto and Hinata walked a hero's retreat out of the Calypso and into the Griffon and back into the Invictus.
*I'm always proud of you. Why this time in particular?*
*I hacked the transponders for the pirate ships! With their black-box data and pings, we have the specs of the entire fleet. There's good news and bad news but this is very useful, right?*
*You kidding, it's bloody fantastic! For our first time you're going to have trouble walking the next day.*
*Sasuke first, no threesomes. These are my terms.*
*And I'll respect them. I'm just saying… beast sex. Now since when can you crack military-grade encryption?*
*I dabbled back on Karron. And over the past few days, everything just seems easier to do. It was a breeze, really.*
*Tenten is sitting here like the damn cat that caught the canary. Can you get up here so we can join in the surprise?* Sasuke projected.
Naruto and Hinata took the elevator up to the Bridge. When they stepped out, Hana gave them both a surprise hug and kiss. "15 pirates from the gang that attacked me, all dead because of you. Including the sadistic cyborg that whipped me. The crew of the Griffon can rest in peace now. Now what's got Tenten tickled pink?"
"While we were waiting around for these two to clean up the trash, I wrote a little algorithm to crack the pirates' transponders. We now know how many ships they have and what kind!" Tenten announced.
Sasuke's jaw dropped, an act equivalent to a lesser man screeching. "No way. That's invaluable. Highly illegal, but we're independent Consultants, not Navy."
"What's the bad news?" Hinata asked, recognizing the look on her friend's face.
Tenten swiped a screen and a bevy of holograms filled the air. "Counting the vessels we destroyed in this attack, they still have twenty ex-Navy ships. And the Captain of the merry band is in a Heavy Cruiser called the Stalingrad."
Naruto, Sasuke, and Hana's faces crumbled in shock. "Impossible. I don't care if they were raiding freaking Tyrenium from passerby, there's no way a pirate could have gotten his hands on a Heavy Cruiser!" Sasuke ranted.
"Depends on if he had help. Use your access codes, look up the purchaser and who authorized each sale for this mini-fleet," Naruto ordered.
Sasuke furiously typed at his console for a few minutes. "The ships were all purchased by one Momochi Zabuza at price before each ship officially went to auction. And the man who signed off on it all… Gato. You were right, Naruto."
"I can't believe that filthy traitor wanted to get into my pants. He's armed a pirate armada! How much could he possibly be getting paid?" Hana demanded
"If I know Gato after five minutes with him, not as much as he should have. The slime seemed the type to take what he could get so long as he didn't have to stick out his neck. Even if it meant giving Mr Momochi the Stalingrad."
Hinata sighed. "I'm not Navy. I'm guessing Heavy Cruiser beats Assault Cruiser?"
"They're half again as big, have more Beams, Heavy Cannons rather than Laser Cannons, and are built to take a pounding." Naruto summarized.
"But based on what I'm reading on the pitch and yaw, this one in particular is slow as a snail at taking turns. If we can get in its blind spot, we should have a chance," Tenten argued, trying to brighten the crew's mood.
"Sure, get in its blind spot. After fighting 19 picket ships and surviving its broadside." Sasuke shook his head. "This is turning into the kind of op they award medals for, posthumously or otherwise. I say we call for backup. It's suicide for us to do this on our own."
"I'm all for that. But also consider: they're pirates, not hardened military. If we kill enough of them fast enough, that should demoralize the rest into surrendering or fleeing. It sticks in my craw to let some of these scum escape, but I'll take that if it means winning the battle," Naruto argued.
"So, what's the plan, Commander?" Hana asked, looking to Naruto.
Naruto steepled his fingers. "... We wait for the backup from Port Heracles to arrive. We report all we found to the man in charge. If he volunteers to help us, great. But one way or another, we're going to Chendar. I trust this crew to make it through this."
It was a tense couple hours. They broke briefly for lunch, and Tenten experienced her first somber blowjob. Then it was back to the Bridge, waiting for the reinforcements from Port Heracles to arrive. They tried talking, but all topics eventually led back to their epic clash that upcoming evening. Finally, the long-range scanners picked up something.
"Reads as a group of Konoha Federation vessels. A Cruiser and three Destroyers. Not much but better than nothing," Hana declared.
"Assuming all of them come with us. At least one has to stay to watch the Calypso," Sasuke reasoned.
"Commander, we're being hailed," Hinata stated as the ships entered the system.
Naruto opened a channel and was met with a distinguished gentleman with greying temples and wearing his tan Konoha Federation jacket. "This is Captain Flintlock on the Indomitable, please identify yourself Assault Cruiser."
"Commander Uzumaki Naruto on the Invictus. It's good to see you, Captain."
"The distress beacon reported a pirate attack. What happened to the pirates?"
"My crew happened. We took out two Frigates and a Corvette and aided in repelling a boarding action from another Corvette. All decommissioned Navy vessels."
"Sounds like we're very lucky you stopped by, Commander." Flintlock's brow furrowed. "But, the computer has you pinged as a civilian vessel?"
"Tell me, Captain, have you heard of the Consultants?"
"Ah, I read ya. Special Ops' little loopholes. If it walks like a civvie and quacks like a civvie then it must be a civvie. Seems like you're keeping in top form."
"And we're about to take on an even bigger fish. We stumbled onto something big, and I was hoping you and your men could help us with it. If not, that's up to you, but just know my team is going through with it with or without you." Naruto clicked his teeth.
Flintlock crossed his arms. "I'm listening, Commander."
"My team managed to hack the surviving Corvette and the blocked transponders. We have the order of battle for the pirates plaguing this sector, and we've tracked down their base."
"And you want our help cleaning them up. Sounds simple enough. What they got, another dozen Frigates and Corvettes?"
"And a few Destroyers and a Heavy Cruiser for the coup de grace," Naruto said calmly.
Flintlock sputtered. "A Heavy Cruiser? Preposterous!"
"Here's where it gets interesting. According to the auction yard records at Port Heracles, all these ships were bought by the same buyer in a full buyout. And each transaction was overseen by Commander Gato himself." Naruto raised his brow. "I've met the weasel. When's the last time he got personally involved in the decommissioning side of things?"
"It paints a damning picture, I'll give you that. Certainly enough to get a warrant. I'll send orders to Heracles to have Gato quietly detained. But that still leaves us with almost two dozen pirate vessels loose in this sector!"
"Hence my plan. We both head for the Chendar system. The Invictus will go in first and go in dark. We'll coast and gather intel with passive scans. Then you arrive and kick the beehive in, and we appear like a trapdoor spider in their midst. Between the two of us, we should be able to handle the fleet with shock and awe tactics. I'm fine with letting you get all the credit, naturally. After all, we're just a crew of passing civilians," Naruto said drolly.
Flintlock burst into laughter. "You're smooth, kid. And you've got balls to spare. That's a potent combination. All right. I'll leave my Destroyers with the Freighter and give you a 15 minute head start into this Chendar system. It'll be the stuff they make propos about, two intrepid Cruisers against the evil pirate armada! And we'll share the credit, don't worry. I see my men get the respect they are due."
"Very well, Captain Flintlock. My navigator is sending over the proposed route. She has a novel warp tunneling technique, so just trust the travel time the computer gives you and don't deviate. See you in Chendar." With a nod of respect, Naruto closed the comm chanel.
"I am so hot for you right now. Talking, standing your ground against a man who outranks you… it's scintillating," Hinata shivered.
"Glad I got your juices flowing. Now get us back on route for Chendar after you send the route to them."
Hinata glided the Invictus towards the Nav Beacon, the Indomitable trailing nowhere near as gracefully behind her. With a flash of blue, a tachyon wave was generated that carried them into superluminal speeds.
Tenten eyed the energy graphs for the Tachyon Drive and Power Core. "You know, I might be able to make us go faster."
"Let's not risk it today. Besides, we want energy levels down, not spiking. I want us down to life support the second we exit hyperwarp," Naruto instructed.
"ETA 2 hours. With any luck, we'll catch them all together with their pants down. The Indomitable has a similar loadout, but they don't have Hana. The two of us should be able to take down the armada without reaching red on the shields." Hinata sighed. "Dinner?"
"Might as well. Though I for one just feel like soup and salad," Sasuke sighed. "I say again, this is the kind of op that gets you fired or wins you a Nova Burst. Three conflicts in a week, we weren't that active back in the Invictus's hayday!"
"I could use one of those. Would give me something to brag to my family about," Hana joked.
"I'm still digesting lunch. I'll stay up here and keep an eye on things," Tenten offered.
The full Uzu members of the crew had a hurried and understated dinner. They returned to the Bridge within the hour, fueled for anything. Then it was just a waiting game as the Invictus rushed inexorably toward Chendar.
The Invictus jumped into the outskirts of the Chendar system and left hyperwarp. They could see nothing on the long range scans but they put all systems on low power except for the engines. Hinata brought them in closer towards the long deep asteroid belts that orbited the star, and reduced engine power as they approached.
Thousands of huge rocky asteroids spun and drifted slowly in the field, all that remained of two planetary bodies that had collided millennia ago. Ramming any of these moving hazards could prove fatal to the Invictus with the shields down, even with the thick armour plating protecting the hull. Hinata was confident however and she guided the Assault Cruiser through the asteroid belt with an agility that one would have thought impossible in a ship that size. Tenten watched in alarm as they seemed to swing perilously close to vast asteroids, but their skilled navigator never wavered and the enormous hunks of rock sailed past harmlessly. She eventually brought them to a stop in an impact crater on a behemoth of an asteroid that spun lazily at the edge of the belt.
"Excellent job, honey," Naruto said to Hinata, impressed by her skills. She smiled back at him proudly.
"OK Hana, passive scans only, what can you see?" he asked the eager Lieutenant.
The brunette brought up the tactical map of the Chendar system, showing the Gas Mining Facility looking like some kind of bloated red arachnid in the centre of the map. The Invictus was lurking in the bottom right corner, the graphical representation of the Assault Cruiser partially obscured by the asteroid belt. The rest of the map began to populate, as more information came back from the passive scans.
There were three groups of picket ships moving in lazy loops around the outskirts of the pirates base. Five more ships were docked at the base itself and a group of seven were heading out of the system, on a path that would take them fairly near the Invictus' current location in the asteroid belt. All the ships had deactivated transponders, so the identity of each vessel remained hidden.
"Let me fix that," Tenten said, typing up a storm on her console. Her algorithm launched and within a minute the transponders came uncloaked and the exact configuration of the pirate fleet became clear on the Tactical Map.
"Excellent work Tenten!" Naruto said enthusiastically. At a stroke she had eliminated a huge element of the unknown and it would make their planning for the rest of the battle incomparably easier.
The picket groups each consisted of a Frigate with two Corvettes and the outbound ships were a Destroyer , two Frigates and four Corvettes. The final group docked at the Gas mining facility was the Heavy Cruiser, a Destroyer and two Corvettes.
"I thought there were only supposed to be twenty ships? What's that?" Hinata asked, pointing at a mystery vessel that was docked alongside the Heavy Cruiser.
"I can't hack that code," Tenten admitted.
"It's big, whatever it is," Hana replied, looking at the mass readings for the unknown craft.
"That means it's probably alien. Most likely whoever bought the slaves from the pirates," Sasuke reasoned.
"We'll let the Indomitable take that group that's leaving. We'll go for the three picket groups and reconvene on the Gas Mining Facility. We'll have to be careful to neutralize the Stalingrad without destroying it, we can't be sure they've finished loading all the slaves into that alien ship," Naruto ordered.
As if on cue, the Indomitable appeared in the system at full speed. Naruto hit a button and broke the Invictus's cover by sending out a comm signal.
"Yes, Commander?" Flintlock asked, appearing over the Bridge.
"We've hacked their transponders, sending you the data now. Take that group of seven you're about to run into, we'll handle the picket groups. We'll meet up at the Heavy Cruiser."
"You just saved me a few minutes of active scans. Good luck and godspeed, Uzumaki."
"You as well, Flintlock," Naruto replied before closing the comm channel. While he'd been talking to the Captain, Tenten had powered up the ship. Hinata raced with full speed for the closest picket groups even as the System Map began to fill with Laser fire from the Indomitable confronting the group of seven that had been on the way out.
"Might as well follow protocol," Sasuke said, flicking a switch. "Attention, pirates of Chendar. This is the Assault Cruiser Invictus, accompanied by the Cruiser Indomitable. Power down and surrender and you may face prison time instead of certain death. You have been warned."
"Always nice to offer," Hana muttered, her eyes locked on the targeting matrix. It felt horribly clunky compared to the Uzu equivalent in her head, but it was what she had to work with.
Hinata swerved the ship to face the first picket group. "Have at them, Hana," Hinata encouraged.
In a similar way to their first attack with the Freighter last week, Hana gutted the Frigate like a skilled fishwife before going for the Corvettes. When they exploded, chewed up by Laser Cannon fire, Hana returned to finish off the Frigate. The whole thing took less than fifteen seconds.
"One down, two to go," Hana counted, Hinata already moving the Invictus for the next group.
"How's the Indomitable?" Naruto asked.
"Holding their own," Sasuke answered, his Uchiha eyes tracking the whole System Map. "The Heavy Cruiser and its picket ships are starting to move. We better hurry before they get the chance to run. I'm going to run an active scan on that mystery ship once we're in range, something's bothering me."
"Wondering who has the means to pay for all these ships and would be interested in human slaves? Yeah, that's bugging me too." Naruto focused on the second picket group they had already reached. "Hana, baby, do your thing."
"With pleasure," Hana growled as she unleashed the full might of the Invictus on the hapless pirates. They were obliterated in seconds, though they managed to get off some shots before going down.
"Shields at 93%" Tenten reported.
"We'll recharge in twenty seconds," Sasuke said reviewing his console.
"Which is how long I need to reach that third picket group," Hinata said. She turned the Invictus after the group that was turning to flee the system. As they neared the Invictus's range, Hana was about to attack when they were hailed.
"They're powering down," Hinata announced.
Naruto accepted the comm request. "Don't waste my time, pirates," he snarled.
"We surrender! Mercy!" Cried out a scared pirate that appeared above them.
"I doubt you'd show the same courtesy, but that's the difference between us. Power down and remain immobile until we contact you after killing your Captain. If you hit us in the back, I will end you." Naruto's face could have been carved from stone.
"Done!" The captain of the Frigate agreed.
Naruto cut the channel. "Hinata, make for the Mining Facility. Sasuke, watch our six. Hana, get ready to attack the Stalingrad. Tenten, full power to engines and shields."
"The Indomitable is finished with their fight. Shields in the mid-forties. Want me to hail them?" Sasuke asked.
"Please do." Naruto waited until his button lit up before pressing it. Captain Flintlock appeared above the tactical holograms. "Captain, seems we had the easy job."
"That's a fight we won't soon forget. I notice you left the last group alive," the middle-aged Captain observed.
"They surrendered, figured I'd give them a chance to honor their word."
"Couldn't pay me to turn my back on a pirate," Flintlock said gruffly.
"Being noble only counts when you do it even when it isn't easy," Naruto defended. "Now, we'll take point on the Stalingrad, you provide support while your shields recharge. Between the two of us, we should take them down easy -"
"Motherfuckers!" Sasuke exclaimed.
Flintlock jumped. "What's that?"
"My Chief of Staff. Sasuke, what the hell?" Naruto demanded.
"That mystery vessel? It's a fucking Nuke Hive ship!" Sasuke told both leaders.
"Those monsters! How could they?" Naruto gaped.
"I completely agree with your Chief's sentiment," Flintlock growled.
*Someone want to tell me who or what the Nuke are?* Hinata asked the pack mind.
"Nuke are parasitic insects that are kill-on-sight across the entire Galactic League," Hana whispered for Tenten and Hinata's benefit. "They implant their eggs in other species and the grubs eat their way out of the host. They're strong, they're numerous, they have Neutron weapons that sting like hell. They're a living plague on the galaxy. They must be paying this Momochi Zabuza a fortune to have him trading slaves to them!"
"Commander. The Stalingrad and the Hive ship are on separate escape vectors. Scans show over 400 Konoha life signatures aboard the Hive ship. Orders?" Hinata reported after processing the situation.
Naruto grit his teeth. "Change of plans, Flintlock. We can let the Stalingrad go if we must but we CANNOT allow the Nuke to get away with those hostages. You've seen the footage of what happens on a Hive ship. We disable the ship and then lead a boarding action."
"Sounds like a plan. I'll let you attack first while our shields recuperate. Good luck with those Neutron Beams!"
"Yes, Captain. Over and out." Naruto closed the channel and grit his teeth. "Sasuke, keep scanning the Hive ship, pull schematics from K-Fed files, give Hana all the information she can get. Hana, I want that ship immobile and toothless before they make it halfway out the gravity well. Hinata, make her soar."
Hinata turned the ship and made for the Hive ship, an ugly brown monstrosity that resembled a giant tick. It and and Stalingrad were hauling ass away from the Gas Mining Facility. "They'll be able to hit hyperwarp in three minutes," Hinata growled.
"How long until we're in range?"
"Two minutes."
"I wouldn't be so sure. Permission to do something risky, Commander?" Tenten asked.
"Do it, Chief," Naruto ordered, trusting in Tenten.
Tenten hit a few buttons and swiped her console screen. With a shudder, the Invictus seemed to jump and double in speed.
"Jesus, what did you do to my ship?" Sasuke demanded.
"Disabled the safeties on the engines. They won't explode if we do it for less than a minute. We should intercept the Hive ship in thirty seconds now." Tenten grinned.
"Tenten, you are the shit. You are the gods-damned shit," Hinata said with a predatory grin, bearing down on the Hive ship.
Hana's eyes were already looking for weak points to target. "Most of their firing arcs don't cover the bottom of their ship. We could hide there."
"It's armored in its own way. The holding cells are on the bottom of a Hive ship. One stray shot after the shields go down and innocent lives are lost," Sasuke advised. He noticed something. "The third picket group is rendezvousing with the Stalingrad."
"That's what you get for trusting pirates. Can't worry about that now," Naruto muttered.
Tenten reengaged the safeties the second they hit the edge of Beam Laser range. Hana fired the full force of the Invictus's strongest lasers, the red beams hitting the Nuke's shields and harmlessly dissipating. The insectoid vessel returned with sickly corruscating green beams. Hinata jerked the Invictus out of the way like a fighter dodging a blow. Hana waited impatiently for the cooldown period before firing the Beams again, aided by the twelve forward-facing Laser Cannons. The shields sizzled before collapsing, the last of the beams scratching the engines.
"Firing main guns!" Hana announced, unloading the Mass Drivers. The shells hit one engine like a bull's-eye, making it explode and begin to smoke. The Hive ship fired their Neutron Beams again. This time, Hinata couldn't dodge and the Invictus had to weather the barrage.
"Shields at 76%. Three more of those and we're naked," Tenten said worriedly.
"They won't get off one more," Hana stated, her eyes noting an area marked in red on the data Sasuke had fed her targeting matrix. Firing the Beams for a third time, Hana carved a furrow on the rear of the Hive ship. There was a surprisingly big explosion, and half the ship seemed to go dark.
"Nice job, hitting that Power Regulator," Sasuke praised.
Tenten's eyes drifted to the Stalingrad and made a few calculations. "Momochi just fled the system. I calculated his exit vector though and we should be able to track him close enough after we're done with the Nuke."
"Brilliant, honey. Now, Hana, take out their engines."
"Yes, Commander," Hana replied before beginning to pepper the Hive ship's engines with Laser Cannon fire.
Hinata noticed something on the map. "They've launched dropships."
Naruto shivered a little at the thought of Nuke on his ship. "Take them out but leave one. We can repel the attack and use the dropship as a Trojan horse to clear out the Docking Bay when we board. We needed a dropship anyway."
"Great plan. Hinata, turn the top deck towards them after this next round of Beams. That will take out two of them and leave the third for you and Naruto," Hana instructed.
Hinata performed the maneuver before standing up from her Chair and grabbing her XR73 Rifle. "I always enjoyed squashing bugs. What do Nuke look like?"
"Giant mix of preying mantis, ant, and centipede. They have disturbingly expressive faces. Aim for the head or the thorax. We'll need to fetch AP ammo, they have armored carapaces." Naruto stepped into the elevator. "I know we'll be using Psychic Speed, but be careful. They can be fast and some have natural poison."
*I will,* Hinata assured him. The elevator opened to the airlock on Deck 9 after a quick detour to the closet for ammo, just as the light turned green indicating another ship had docked.
*Random question, why the hell would they design their airlocks to match up with a K-Fed door?*
*The whole Galactic League follows a similar protocol for airlock design. The Nuke have boarded enough ships over the centuries to adapt. They're sentient. A hive mind, but sentient.*
*Hive mind like the pack mind or hive mind like a bunch of drones obeying the queen?*
*Option B. Now, let's get the walls messy.*
Naruto depressed the button to open the airlock with Telekinesis. The door swooshed open and a charging Nuke almost slammed face-first into the elevator door between them. It looked up with shock only to have Hinata unload a bullet in its brain.
Naruto sped up psychically and began to shoot into the interior of the Nuke dropship, which had almost a dozen Nuke Shock Troops clutching Neutron Rifles. They were all dead before they could aim or fire once Hinata joined in the massacre, including the pilot who turned to run.
"You can fly this thing, right?"
"With Psychic Translation and remnants to guide me, I can fly anything. I might choke on the stink of bug blood, but I'll fly this into the Docking Bay."
"See you there, beautiful." Naruto kissed her before she entered the dropship and pressed a button to seal the airlock. Naruto walked over to the door to the Docking Bay. He used his sleeve computer to interface with the Invictus and open the Docking Bay doors while keeping the atmospheric force field up so Naruto didn't get sucked into the vacuum of space. A tense few minutes and then the Nuke dropship flew into the Docking Bay with an elegance that was pure Hinata. She set it down and the loading ramp on the rear drooled down.
"Come help me haul out these corpses, we don't need to be tripping over bugs when we're storming the Hive ship," Hinata requested. Naruto joined her and made quick work of hauling out the brain-gored bodies of the six-limbed creatures. They were hauled into a pile with their weapons next to them.
*Might not be Uzu tech but Tenten will still have fun playing with them.*
*She might not be able to walk tomorrow after Sasuke and I are done with her tonight. But that's for later.* Naruto tapped his wrist communicator. *Sasuke, patch me through to the Indomitable.*
*Done.* With that, a hologram of Flintlock appeared over Naruto's wrist.
"Commander. Sorry you had to take on the Hive ship single-handed, but we're in position and will support you if any reinforcements arrive. Gutsy move disengaging the safeties. You must have a top-notch Chief Engineer to try a move that."
"I recruit the best and raise them to be better. Now, my team has acquired a Nuke dropship after an attempted boarding. Me and my XO will go in and clear out the Docking Bay of troops so your own dropships can come in. We'll rescue the hostages, transfer them to the Indomitable, and then the Invictus can chase after Momochi."
"You already traced their path? What kind of computers are you rocking in that old Cruiser?" Flintlock asked surprised.
"Standard, I just have a math whiz or two on my crew." Naruto grinned. "Your troops ready to fight off a Nuke Hive?"
"My Marines are baying for blood. We'll follow you into the Docking Bay after five minutes." Flintlock's brow furrowed. "Just you and your XO? The two of you alone?"
"Small parties can go places battalions can't. Besides, my crew is more quality over quantity. We're minimal."
Flintlock shrugged. "It's your neck. See you when the job is done."
"See you, Captain." Naruto brought down his wrist. "Time to do our own boarding action."
Naruto and Hinata got in the dropship, sitting in the co-pilot's and pilot's seat respectively. Hinata lifted then up and out of the Docking Bay, not wavering a millimeter from her intended flight path. Once in the blackness of space, they flew along the side of the Hive ship until they found the Docking Bay, which was open but for an atmospheric force field. Hinata led them into the Hive ship, ignoring the blinking intercom.
Hinata carefully glided into the big open hangar bay without causing suspicion. The Hive ship was brightly lit by glowing hexagonal walls that surrounded the entire bay, all throbbing with a strange pulsating luminescence. The hexagonal panels directly in front of them, which were on the port side of the ship were all dimmed. Figures swarmed over another dropship, probably ground crew Naruto guessed, as a squad of ten more Insectoid shock troops marched down from an overhead ramp to get ready to board their transport.
Hinata gently rotated their dropship, as they came forward on their final approach to an unoccupied landing pad. As the marching soldiers swung into view, Hinata pulled the trigger on the odd shaped joystick and twin streams of sickly green energy bolts blasted out and scythed through the lined up soldiers. The Nuke trooper's chitinous bodies exploded as they were hit by the powerful energy pulses, causing limbs, antenna and pieces of armoured exoskeleton to be blasted about the Hangar bay as the troopers were struck by the Neutron bolts. The Insectoid forces were caught completely by surprise and by the time the survivors tried to react, they were picked off by a second deadly volley of accurate shots.
"Oops!" Hinata exclaimed, holding her hand over her open mouth in mock surprise.
Naruto chuckled. He watched as Hinata used the Heavy Neutron guns of the dropship to mow down the ground crew. In no time, the hanger bay was clear of Nuke. Hinata finally sat down on the landing pad.
They left the dropship and maintained a vigil of the large entrances into the hangar bay. Five minutes later, two Konoha Federation dropships sailed into the bay. They touched down next to Hinata's stolen ship and soon disgorged their load of trained Marines. The men all stared at Hinata, her hair hanging free and looking gorgeous even or perhaps especially because she had a Nuke blood splatter on her cheek. One of the men stepped forward, the eagle insignia on his shoulder pads marking him as the leader of the Marines.
"Commander Paul Richards, KFMC. And yes, that's standard naming convention."
"Commander Uzumaki Naruto, KFMC Special Ops, retired." Naruto returned the salute Richards gave him.
"Not so retired from what Captain Flintlock tells me."
"I am on paper. This is my XO, Hyuuga Hinata."
Richards looked her over and whistled. "A beautiful woman that can hold a gun. I'm in love."
"Sorry, flirt, I'm taken," Hinata smiled good-naturedly.
"Damn. So, how you want to do this? You're the ranking officer, Uzumaki."
Naruto considered their options, weighing secrecy versus success, and made a plan. "Leave all but six of your troops here. We need to go through the Hive Guard, the Broodmother, and the Hivelord to get to the holding cells, but we can't afford to have our exit compromised. Plus, I have a feeling a small army is headed for this hangar bay, the Nuke have cameras too. The eight of us will have to be enough to punch through the heart of their crew."
Richards nodded. "Fair enough, makes sense. I'm coming with you, though. Flintlock told me to keep an eye on the Consultant to make up for us taking out only seven ships."
"Fine. You should be aware that Hinata and I are… Enhanced. So if we move super fast or break a Nuke in half with our bare hands, don't be surprised."
"Top notch work, whoever did your cybernetics. Let's go. The longer we wait, the more chance that Hivelord implanted some poor innocent." Richards turned. "You, you, you, you, you, with me and the Commander on the rescue team. The rest of you, I want two firing lines covering the entrances to this room. They know we're here, and they'll want us out. Make them pay for daring to invade our territory!"
"OOH-RAH!" Howled the Marines.
Naruto pulled up a model of the ship Sasuke had sent to his suit's computer. "This way. I take point, Hinata takes the rear. No, not because she's a woman, but because she's my best shot and I trust her to shoot over all our heads to get a charging Nuke. Now let's go."
"Yes, sir!" The Marines and Richards all said, with Hinata merely nodding silently.
They entered a wide corridor that continued the odd hexagonal tiling in the hangar bay. Each tile pulsed with light and the lighting in the hall throbbed, as though in time with the Hive ship's pulse. They passed sealed doorways occasionally, but there were no sounds coming from within the adjoining rooms, so Naruto led them on quickly, hoping to maintain the element of surprise. The corridor ended in a set of ornate double doors, so they darted up to them, getting ready to storm through. Naruto listened intently, but all he could hear was an odd chirruping noise, so he cautiously eased the door open while the Marines covered him with their rifles.
The big door swung open smoothly and the disconcerting chirruping noise became more intense. It seemed to fluctuate, getting alternately louder then softer and sounding utterly alien and extremely creepy. Now that the door was open, they could see that they were looking in on a hexagonal shaped room. There was a curving ramp that led both upwards and downwards and the strange chirruping noise seemed to be coming from the lower depths of the ship.
"The life readings all came from the lower decks, so I guess we go down," Naruto said to the team.
They nodded their agreement and followed as he began to lead them down the curving walkway, spiralling downwards a good three or four full rotations around the central axis before they finally reached the bottom. The ramp opened out into a big room, big double doors at the end with smaller entrances on the flanking walls, the entire right hand side darkened after the loss of power.
An upraised curved dais sat in the middle of the room, with a bulky six limbed Nuke operating hexagonal buttons on the odd looking console. Naruto raised his Rifle to take the shot when there was a squawk from Richards's wrist. Unfortunately the Nuke noticed the flash of light and looked up, spotting them. It pushed some kind of button in front of it and the hexagonal tiled walls started to glow red instead of white, plunging the room into crimson shaded gloom. A strange squawking noise sounded shrilly and reverberated around the chamber, echoing ominously.
Cursing, Naruto rushed forward with Psychic Speed and snapped the Nuke's neck like a dry twig. It tumbled to the floor of its dais. Returning to normal speed, Naruto turned, trying to reign in his temper. "That better be your pregnant wife or the Fleet Admiral himself, Paul."
"Sorry, sir. Forgot to mute it." Richards tapped the communicator. "Rawlins, this had better be important."
"We've got a horde trying to break into the hangar bay. We've already got three casualties. We'll hold them off as long as we can but this could be close!"
The clicking sound of many clawed feet began to come from both side doors.
"That's the Hive Guard. Everyone, behind the dais. Grenades on three," Naruto barked. The eight of them squeezed behind the barrier of the dais, ignoring the dead Nuke they were crouched on top of, staying out of line of sight as two squads of Insectoid soldiers appeared from each hallway. There were six Nuke soldiers per squad, each group led by a hulking Overseer Insect.
"1… 2… 3!" Naruto counted in a whisper, as everyone unclipped a grenade and tossed them into the mass of insectoid lifeforms. Neutron fire buzzed over them for a second before there were over half a dozen explosions. They stood up cautiously to look at the results.
Each Nuke patrol had been ripped apart by the grenades. The doorways were blackened, scorched ruins, with billowing black smoke pouring out of the incinerated tiling and a few more shattered tiles sheared off the wall to clang to the floor. The Nuke forces had been annihilated by the powerful explosives, chitinous appendages were scattered all over the floor and viscous green liquid dripped from where it had been sprayed all over the walls. Miraculously, one of the bulky Overseer bugs was still moving, even though it had lost two of its leg limbs. It screeched a piercing squeal of rage as it tried to level its Neutron Rifle in their direction and the team all opened up on it, sending round after round into its armoured body. It took an alarmingly high number of bullets to finally stop it twitching, the tough Insectoid able to take a surprising amount of punishment.
The sound of more Nuke came from the ramp leading up into the ship. The team arranged behind the barricade of the dais wall as another two squads of Nuke came down the ramp trailed by another Overseer.
"Aim for their feet," Naruto commanded before they had reached the floor. The Marines and Hinata began firing, shooting out the Nuke's legs from under them and leaving them vulnerable to be picked off by more fire. The Overseer Insect roared and charged. In a move that had the Marines dropping their jaws, Hinata met its charge and unloaded a round under its chin, maneuvering her weapon around its flailing limbs.
Naruto chuckled. "My girl's fearless and fatal, gentlemen. Now, the Broodmother should be on the other side of this door. She's bigger, stronger, and meaner than the Overseers. Her job is to protect the grubs, after all. Aim for the eyes and joints, don't bother trying to bleed her out by aiming for center mass."
"Got it, Commander," Richards said, his Marines nodded with him. Seeing Hinata already poised and aimed behind the dais, Naruto pressed the hexagonal button next to the double doors. The portal yawned open, and the chirruping sound reached peak volume, the sources no longer blocked by intervening walls.
Hundreds of grubs wiggled and cried in hexagonal cubbyholes, mechanical claws dropping bits of rancid meat into each cradle. Looking over it all, all twelve feet of her, was the Nuke Broodmother. She had four eyes and twice as many legs as her lesser evolved brethren, and she had zero temper. She took one look at the Konoha invaders in this sacred space and lost it. Roaring her displeasure, she charged.
"Fire at will!" Richards called out, his Marines and he all unloading at her four compact eyes. She roared and raised her hands to cover her head when she felt the pain. Hinata and Naruto were the only ones to have any success shooting out her joints. Her elbows and knees was blown apart until she slid on the ground to crash before them. After an alarming number of shots through her eyes into her brain, she finally stopped moving.
"Just the Hivelord left. If he's not here then he's busy with implantation. Which means we need to hurry. Follow me," Naruto instructed as he walked through the grub chamber and down the ramp at the end down further into the ship. They eventually reached another double door.
As they opened the door, they were met with the sound of a horrible wailing human scream. They glanced at each other nervously and then moved through the door into the next chamber. This huge room was stacked floor to ceiling along the sides with chitinous cages, terrified human prisoners locked within. They overlooked a scene of nightmares in front of them.
Three naked human prisoners were restrained on a round platform in the centre of the room. The first, a man, was slumped over unconscious with drool falling from his mouth and his bloated stomach pulsing as rounded shapes writhed within his abdomen. The second was a woman, who was screaming in fear and looking on in horror at her shipmate.
The third figure was another woman, her body obscured by the hulking insectoid form that hovered above her. It was over ten feet tall and had six limbs, four of which were holding its body up above her and the last set holding the woman it had mounted in place below it. A large bulbous segment grew out of its lower body which ended with an ovipositor, that was shoved deep inside the prostrate figure below. The woman was crying and groaning in horrified revulsion as small spheres passed down through the pulsating transparent section at the back of the creature and were pushed inside her tightly packed ass, her midsection bloating obscenely to accommodate the Nuke eggs.
"We can't all fire at once, we might hit the prisoners. Hinata, I need your sniping skills."
"You got it, Commander," Hinata said, raising her rifle to her eye.
"Hey ugly!" Naruto shouted down the hallway.
The Hivelord withdrew from the woman with a sickening 'schluck' sound. The Hivelord turned and seeing them, roared… and fell over dead, Hinata having shot an armor piercing round into his mouth and out the back of his skull.
Richards whistled. "Goddamn woman, you can shoot."
"I practiced, that's all. Helps to have a little…enhancement, of course."
Richards shook his head. "I'd like to have some enhancement like that. If I transfered to your crew, could I get in on that?"
Naruto and Hinata exchanged a glance. "If you agreed to all the consent forms after knowing the side-effects, sure. And you'd be effectively retiring or going on indefinite leave, since I'm officially a civilian and all."
"Aw, well. Maybe another time." Richards turned to the watching prisoners. "Everyone! I'm Commander Richards from the Cruiser Indomitable! You're all coming home with me and my boys, alright?"
There was scratchy but well-heartened cheering from the masses. Naruto was all prepared to be ignored when Richards added. "And here's Commander Uzumaki Naruto and his XO Hyuuga Hinata! They led the rescue op and wiped out half the pirate fleet as well as disabling the Nuke ship so we could even board. Give them a round of applause, won't you?"
There was hooting and hollering from the prisoners as the Marines began to open each cage. There was indeed applause for Naruto and Hinata.
"Happy to help! Now, Marines, you support this poor man and woman. Richards, Hinata and I will take point on leading everyone back to the hangar bay." Naruto checked his ammo counter. "Halfway through my last clip, I hope they're done up there."
"What I could do with a few squads of 'enhanced' Marines. But I'm about out too. Hopefully our boys repelled the counter boarding party."
"If not, we can always use a couple of these Neutron Rifles to kill the Nuke. Taste of their own medicine seems deliciously ironic," Hinata said as they walked past the corpses of the Hive Guard.
"I understand you're going after the pirate leader when you get back to your ship. After that, what next? Single-handedly winning the conflict with the Kumo Empire?"
"Olympus Shipyard. We're transporting a shipment of Tyrenium, enough for a Dreadnought. After that, the Invictus is going on a tour of the Galactic League," Naruto shared, seeing no harm. Plus it was hard not to bond with a man after being in combat with him.
Richards blew out a whistle. "Tyrenium, damn. You get a commission on that?"
"100%. I am the civilian trader who bought it so I could sell it, after all."
"You split the cut evenly with your crew?" Richards asked interestedly.
"Naruto turned his private account into the community chest. We're all going on a shopping spree on Gravitus after the sale goes through," Hinata explained with a grin.
Richards hissed. "Money and high-end subcutaneous cybernetics. Where do I sign?"
"Is that a sincere request? Because I could pull some strings with a Vice Admiral I know and get you transferred. Just know that once you join my crew it's almost impossible to leave." Naruto eyed Richards intently. *He's handsome and nice, right? We could use a Marine Chief for boarding actions and ground actions.*
*I think he's just being wistful. He's not leaving the Indomitable, he loves it too much. And I'm sensing a pattern in your male crushes. You like ladies fresh and innocent, but you like men seasoned and experienced.*
*I like establishing my youthful dominance over them while enjoying their wisdom. You're right, I'd noticed that in myself.*
Richards sighed. "My wife's a nurse back on the Indomitable. Unless you could nab her too, I'm afraid I'll have to say no."
"I could, if you want. Just be aware this offer lasts until we leave the system. Hopefully Flintlock won't fire on us for nabbing his Marine Chief," Naruto flirted. Yes, flirted.
"I'll get back to you. Nicole and I need to have a talk." They reached the hangar bay, the 'brrt' of Konoha Federation assault rifles filling the air. A battlefield of fallen Nuke covered the ground in piles of chitin and puddles of green blood. It hadn't all gone the K-Fed's way, though. Over a dozen men lay dead or writhing from Neutron damage. Richards sighed. "On second thought, never mind. It'll take me hours to handle all this and you need to get after Momochi. Let's just call this missed opportunity."
"We would have been happy to have you. Now, we'll leave the prisoners with you. Hinata and I will head back to the Invictus. I'll have a talk with Flintlock and then we'll go after the pirate. Pleasure serving with you, Richards." Naruto snapped a crisp salute. Hinata mimicked him perfectly.
Richards grinned and returned the salute. "I'll keep track of you, Uzumaki. I have a feeling you'll 'consult' on some big things in the future."
With that, they parted ways. Hinata piloted their stolen Nuke dropship back to the Invictus.
*We're coming back and in one piece. Prep the Invictus to go after the Stalingrad.* Naruto projected in the pack mind and to Tenten simultaneously. He'd finally worked out the trick of thinking two different things at once. Naruto strolled out of the dropship with Hinata beside him. The cleaning robots were huddled around the pile of Nuke corpses, their programming unable to cope with the unknown objects. They trailed behind the two Uzu, who were trailing green blood from when the Broodmother charged.
They stepped out of the elevator into the Bridge and cheers. Hana and Tenten all clapped while Sasuke hummed the anthem of the Konoha Federation. Stripping out of their soiled armor and leaving the suits on the floor, Naruto and Hinata took their Chairs.
"Get me the Indomitable," Naruto requested.
Tenten reached over to the inactive Comms console next to her Engineering station, and flicked a few switches. The face of Captain Flintlock filled the air.
"Commander, still alive I see. Commander Richards gave you and your XO a raving review. And he mentioned something about how you tried to seduce him away from me?" Flintlock raised a brow.
"I just mentioned some of the perks of joining my crew and the fact we had an opening. I almost got him and Nicole, but the time crunch killed our chance. As for our performance, like I said, I take the best and make them better.*
"Now, I'm going to be stuck here for hours ferrying 400+ freed prisoners to my Cargo Bay and towing this Hive ship is going to slow us to a crawl. Seems our part in this little operation is done. Want to wait for back-up before going after Momochi or want to just go charging off?" Flintlock asked.
"We finish what we start on this crew, Captain. The Invictus is going after the Stalingrad as soon as this call ends. I'll be sure to mention your valor and crew's competence in my AAR."
"Likewise, Commander. God bless you and your crew. I hope we meet again," Flintlock saluted, which Naruto mirrored. Then the channel cut out.
"Move to intercept the Stalingrad, ladies," Naruto ordered.
Hinata flew them to the Nav Beacon and then plotted a course based on the direction Tenten had calculated they'd gone. "ETA 14 hours, assuming they don't deviate course. That's the smart thing to do, but these are pirates. Will the Interdictor even work on a larger vessel or multiple vessels?"
"So long as it's within five times the Invictus's mass, it will work just fine," Tenten reported. "Now what was it like on the bug boat?"
Hana shuddered. "I saw footage in the Academy, it seems like the stuff of nightmares."
"The 40s Purges were before my time, but Itachi served during the last. He described it as entering a shiny green womb filled with creepy critters that make you shudder." Sasuke shivered.
"Sounds about right. We got to see all four evolutionary forms including grubs. I hope they rush those two that were already implanted to Heracles. Nuke gestation is less than a week." Naruto shuddered. "I'm so glad I have a penis and not an ovipositor."
"Does it make a difference? Either way the victim's belly ends up bloated," Hinata teased.
"Ha ha ha. Wish we'd found a Queen on there. That would have killed every Nuke in the Hive mind. Unfortunately, they know that and that's why they stay safe on their home planets."
"Psychic signals from systems away? Do they have Astral Bonds?" Hinata asked.
"We'd have to disect one to be sure, but I think it's somehow biological. Though I could just see THAT Astral Entity sponsoring the Nuke as well as the Uzu."
"Where do Nuke come from?" Tenten asked. She'd been shown a map of known space and had it memorized like she'd memorized everything since she started drinking Uzu cum.
"Out past Karron, on the Rim? Right? Naruto, I asked you once what was out there and you thought of the Nuke," Hinata remembered.
"I'll never win an argument with you with a memory like that. Yes, honey, Nuke space is from a few systems past Karron to the Outer Rim." Naruto's face closed off. "That's also the space my mother's ship went to investigate, so my father might be out there too."
"You ever imagine, what it might have been like if she'd brought you with her when she returned to him?" Sasuke asked.
"I don't know. Uzu aren't exactly compassionate parents based on my Guide's knowledge. More every man for himself. I would have been a hostage held to doubly ensure her loyalty and probably nothing else. And then I'd never have had the life I had. So bad as it sounds, I'm glad she abandoned me. It led me to all of you."
"That's so sweet but so sad," Hana said, hand on her heart. "Once we're at full power, you want to go searching for her? With Uzu weapons, we could fight off any Nuke fleet we run into."
"Maybe, but it's not a priority. They haven't been a part of my life growing up, I don't need them in my life now," Naruto stared decisively.
Tenten stood up. "The mood is dead and my belly is flat. I know a way to fix both!" Sinking to her knees before the Command Chair, she unbuttoned Naruto's pants and pulled out his soft length. She stroked and mouthed it to full growth, and then began to deepthroat him repeatedly. Naruto sighed and laid a hand on her head, enjoying the blowjob as the ache of combat seeped into his muscles. He'd need help getting to the shower, after he finished. There was no point in holding out so he was soon unloading down Tenten's throat.
Tenten stood up, rubbing her engorged belly. "That makes 21 by my count. That's a week of three meals a day. So, am I going to wake up with pointy ears?"
Naruto reviewed her progress in her compartment in his mind. "Maybe even before you fall asleep tonight. You're right on the cusp of Uzuhood."
"And to mark the occasion, you'll finally lose your virginity," Sasuke said seductively. Tenten blushed and giggled like a schoolgirl. Hana and Hinata shared knowing looks while Naruto buttoned up his pants.
"Well, I'm not waiting for us to catch up with the Stalingrad. I'm getting a hot shower and going to bed after watching the show. Who's with me?" Naruto asked.
"Aye!" Called out the members of his Pack. They all stood up and, with an alarm set for the long-range scanners, left the Bridge for Deck 2.
Confrontation with Zabuza and the introduction of a surprise character next chapter. Please fave, follow, or review.