"...And now we move on to a special report from Jehanna Elani, exclusive for Terran Federation Network News!" The sharply dressed lead anchor said enthusiastically, as the cameras cut away from him to focus on a beautiful dusky skinned girl.
"Thank you, Bill." the young reporter said gratefully.
"Just last week we heard of a terrifying incursion into Terran Federation space!" Jehanna said excitedly.
"A band of despicable pirates had ravaged the sectors around Port Heracles, capturing and killing civilians and military personnel alike in their reign of terror!" she exclaimed.
"Any people captured by these evil pirates were being sold as slaves to the Kirrix!" the young reporter gasped with wide eyes.
"There's some truly evil folk out there, Jehanna." Bill said sadly, shaking his head as the camera cut to him briefly.
"That there are, Bill." Jehanna replied somberly.
"Fortunately, the Terran Federation is lucky to have heroes too!" Jehanna said, passionately.
"TFNN has managed to get an exclusive interview with John Blake, Commander of the Invictus." the young woman said, her eyes flashing with excitement.
The screen opened up to show a holo-image of John's face and the four girls in the bedroom whooped and cheered.
The interview John and Jehanna had recorded days earlier on the Invictus played through. Then the cameras cut back to Jehanna who had moved over to sit at a desk next to Bill.
"I almost feel sorry for the enemies of humanity!" Bill Armstrong grinned at her.
"What a guy!" Jehanna Elani said with a sigh, beaming a huge smile at her fellow presenter.
"Thank you for that inspiring Special Report Jehanna. Now, in other news..." Bill began, leading into another story.
*You were quite photogenic. Ever think about being an actor?* Alyssa thought as they turned off the screen and focused on each other.
*Never appealed to me, didn't even join the Theater Club in secondary school before I enrolled in the Academy,* John told them all.
*Okay, 15 seconds of fame had. Now what do we do?* Calara asked.
*They should be finished with the retrofitting by now, Olympus keeps to a 24-hour schedule after all. We can leave for Ashana as soon as we get up there,* John decided.
They all gathered their many purchases from yesterday, John and Jonah roped into carrying the majority with their 'big, manly arms' as Alyssa insisted. They checked out and took a hover-limo to the spaceport. They reached the Raptor, which looked even more intimidating in the sunlight than it had on Olympus the previous day.
*Hmm, with the way they're all positioned, all 6 Gatling Laser turrets could provide forward-facing support for the 2 Laser Cannons,* Dana observed, her sharp mechanical eye dissecting the ship in her mind within seconds.
*That's about as much firepower as an average Corvette! They really juiced this bird up to the gills,* John thought in admiration.
*If this is what we get for taking out a few pirates and stopping the Kirrix, I can't wait to see what happens if we help out against the Kintark or something,* Jonah chuckled in the chorus.
They loaded into the Raptor, taking a brief elevator trip to the cockpit. John sat in the pilot's seat, Jade getting comfortable in his lap. *I'm going to use auto-pilot this time, but you can watch how all the readings change for the trip,* he told his Nymph lover, who they'd decided to train up as the dropship's pilot.
*Yes, Master!* Jade thought cheerfully.
In a matter of minutes, they were out of the atmosphere and on approach to Olympus Shipyard and specifically Docking Bay 11, where they'd left the Invictus. John spoke briefly with Flight Command, confirming they were returning to their assigned docking bay. They entered the atmospheric force field of the Docking Bay. Taking manual control, John gently flew them into the Hangar Bay of the Invictus, setting the Raptor down gently in the center of the room meant specifically for just such a dropship.
Now that they were out of the public eye, Alyssa lifted all the shopping bags with Telekinesis. They left the Raptor, the girls taking the elevator up to Deck 2 to pack away all their new clothes. John and Jonah took a brief look in the Cargo Bay, where they confirmed the Tyrenium had been taken and their order from McCarran Arms and the Steinbeck Armory had arrived overnight. They took the elevator up to the Bridge, and were soon joined by the women of the crew.
*There's something here,* Calara noted when she reached her Tactical station. She picked up a handwritten card. *'In all the excitement, I forgot to give this yesterday. Congratulations, well earned.' - Charles,* the Latina read. She opened the small medal case and gasped. *I've… I've been promoted to First Lieutenant! And I've gotten a Novaburst!*
*Congratulations, honey!* John beamed, going down to wrap his Tactical Officer in a hug and give her a tender kiss. *Charles is right, you earned those.*
*Our evil plan in giving Callie all the credit paid off,* Alyssa giggled. *Seriously, I'm happy for you, my love.*
Jonah and the other two girls gave their own well wishes. When Calara recovered from the moment, everyone went to their assigned seat. Jade sat at the Pilot station, though Jonah didn't activate it yet. Jonah got them clearance to leave Olympus and took them out towards the Nav Beacon at the 'southern' edge of the system. Alyssa had already plotted their course from the Terran Core Worlds to the Ashanath homeworld.
*Should take us just under 5 days,* Alyssa reported.
*Hard to believe the Grays owned all of what's now the Federation and gave it up without a fight,* Dana mused as she looked at the holographic atlas of the Galactic League. The Ashanath Collective, if she had her mental geometry right, had given up over 80% of the total volume of their former empire over to the Terrans.
*They're pacifistic scientists, maybe they appreciated not having to defend against the Kintark, Brimorians, and Kirrix as much,* John shrugged. *From what I know, they have their hands full as it is keeping the Drakkar at bay.*
Alyssa activated the FTL Drive once they were free of Alpha Centauri's gravity well, accelerating to hyperwarp speeds on a cloud of tachyons. *Now, am I the only one who wants to check out Dana's new home away from home?* Calara spoke up in the chorus.
Dana all but sprinted for the elevator. Oddly, she had them go back down to Deck 9. *I want to test if they got the loading ramp installed properly,* she explained.
They reached the Cargo Bay, John lifting all the weapons and armor crates with Telekinesis and dragging them along. They all went over to stand on the large rectangle marked with yellow paint on the floor. Dana went to the new control panel sticking out of the ground and activated the simple 'up' button. Anti-grav cyclics began to whir and a panel over their head retracted. The loading ramp lifted slowly into the air, heading up to slot into the floor of the Engineering Bay. *Supposedly, this thing can support up to 50 tons. I can work on even the really big projects like upgrades to the Raptor or Invictus and just bring them down in pieces,* Dana grinned as they made their slow progress up.
When they finally reached Deck 7 and the Engineering Bay, John was struck by the certainty he was in a place he didn't fully appreciate. A number of big, complex, and very expensive machines and tools were installed all around what had once been the Invictus' Armory, now repurposed as Dana's workshop. Dana walked up to the central console that doubled as a holographic workbench with awe. A few quick commands, and the whole room seemed to wake up as the devices came online.
*I'm going to have SO much fun in here,* the redhead grinned with excitement that bordered on physical arousal.
*What's first on the docket, Sparks?* John asked, using the engineer's old nickname from Karron.
*Since you never know when the next pirate ambush or enemy boarding action is going to be, I'll prioritize upgrading 3 XR75 Rifles to Railguns and making my personal solution to the equipping time problem for the Phalanx suits,* Dana reported, already loading the first commands for a round of parts to the Mass Fabricators. *That way, the dream team of you, Jonah and Alyssa will be ready for a fight. Should only take me 3 days or so. After that, I'll just keep cranking them out until I've modified every Rifle and suit. After that, I'll reassess based on the needs of the crew and any time constraints.*
*Solid plan,* Jonah nodded. *Let us know if you need anything.*
*I will. Now shoo. You're breathing my air, and I need to get in the zone here,* Dana thought, going to open a crate and pull out one of the new XR75 Rifles.
Chuckling, the rest of the crew left Dana to get lost in her project. The redhead's phenomenal mind was already filled with scientific minutiae and math too fast for anyone else to understand. Jonah, Alyssa, and Jade went to the Gym to train or exercise. John and Calara planned to join them, but their call history showed Maria Fernandez, Calara's mother, had called the ship twice already before they'd arrived. It was probably over the news feature, and they wanted to contact the kind woman.
The Invictus sailed through the dark of space, her crew blissfully unaware that they'd unknowingly gotten on the radar of a very scary man. Many light years away, a foreboding figure brooded on a gothic throne, watching the Terran Federation Network News on an overhanging monitor. He had just finished watching some air headed reporter fawning over some half-baked 'hero' and he snorted with derision.
*The T-Feds must be getting hammered by the Kintark if they're resorting to this dross,* the man thought to himself and sneered derisively.
A digital readout flashed on the machine next to him as the complex decryption algorithms went to work on the incoming message. The man looked at it with interest, hoping that perhaps this might alleviate his boredom. He read through the message and a sinister smile spread across his face.
"Oh dear, Mr. Blake. It looks like you've made someone very angry," he said, grinning malignantly.
He rose smoothly from the throne and stalked purposefully through dimly lit corridors, the feeble red glow of the lights doing little to illuminate the brooding stone walls. He finally arrived at the storage vault he had dubbed 'the mausoleum' in a more whimsical moment and he approached an ominous black metal sarcophagus that loomed over him.
He wiped dust from the archaic control panel and entered the activation sequence, causing the sarcophagus to give a tortured groan as it cracked down the center. The man caught the hint of movement from inside the darkened tomb as the occupant began to rouse from their slumber.
"Yes... you'll do nicely," he gloated in self satisfaction.
The Master Assassin had gotten a contract. And one way or another, he always closed his contracts.
A New Breed
John woke up the next morning, smiling the smile of a man who'd gotten well and truly laid the night before. Dana had been… extremely appreciative of her new Engineering Bay. Once he'd worn her out and blown her up like a balloon, he'd had fun watching the others get a share of his cum out of her womb. By the time Jonah had started to take his turn with the redhead, John had recharged enough to have fun with Alyssa, Calara, and Jade. It had been a great night for them all.
He enjoyed the peace and quiet of the morning for a bit, just soaking up the warmth and breathing sounds of his bedmates. John was naturally an early riser, he always seemed to be the first to wake up out of them all. Soon enough, though, his waking thoughts caused enough 'noise' in the chorus to awaken the rest of the crew. Giving everyone a good morning kiss, John led the walk into the bathroom to take their morning shower.
*So, what's the plan for the day?* John asked them all over a full English breakfast.
*I'll take Jade down to the Raptor, give her some practice in flight simulator mode and be her backseat pilot/tutor,* Jonah volunteered.
*I'll be finished with the first Railgun in a couple hours tops, you can test fire it,* Dana shrugged, her mind already crunching something about proper number of hooks per plate for the new armor.
*I'll stay on the Bridge, I can do research on the Holonet. I'd like to learn more about the Ashanath before we meet them, and I'll also be able to keep at my project of memorizing the whole Galactic League,* Alyssa chimed in.
*Which leaves you and me free to spar,* Calara thought. *I need to practice my Prescience somehow, and since you're the hub of the whole psychic network you can flex your own reserves by constantly feeding me the energy to keep it running.*
*All sounds good,* John nodded as he took a bite of egg.
They cleaned up after the meal and went to do their self-assigned tasks. Once John and Calara were warmed up, they engaged in physical sparring. John had been teaching Calara everything he knew about martial arts almost since she'd joined. Between the Change giving her peak athleticism for a Terran female and boosting her brain and learning curve, she was already as fine an opponent as any John had faced. Sure, he was taller, heavier, stronger, and had more reach. That usually tipped the edge in his favor. But ever since she'd gotten the power to predict the future, Calara had been consistently handing him his ass. John couldn't be prouder of his student and lover.
*Railgun's ready!* Dana announced in the chorus around 1000 hours.
Everyone took a break to go to the Firing Range, where Dana was holding the modified XR75 Rifle-turned-Railgun in her arms. She handed it to John, who carefully hefted it in his grip. *I thought you were replacing a lot of the frame with that lightweight polymer you got from the Kirrix. This still feels heavier than the original,* John noted.
*Miniature Power Core to fuel the magnetic rails in the stock accounts for most of it,* Dana explained. *I've made it so you can still use standard ammo and grab it from other Terrans in the field. The second case slot is for these.* John accepted a magazine filled with what looked like hollow glass tubes. *Magnetic sabots. The standard bullet slots into one and then gets accelerated to hypersonic speeds. So you don't blow your ears out everytime you fire, I included a noise dampener in the barrel, like what we had in the booth at Infinity. The sabot magazine can hold 250, or 5 standard clips of caseless. Stick to hollow-point unless you want to take out a tank!*
John nodded, slapping the sabot magazine into the slot in front of the grip and the standard hollow-point clip into the bullpup slot behind. Selecting single fire, John lifted the Railgun into firing position. He lined the holo-scope up with a handy training dummy Dana had raised at 30 yards. Taking a breath and exhaling half, John lined up the shot and squeezed the trigger.
"Pkow," murmured the Railgun, even as a split-second later a massive hole was blown out of the dummy's torso.
*Damn, Sparks, you outdid yourself,* Alyssa thought with an impressed whistle.
*Yeah, but it's not perfect,* Dana huffed. *Even top of the line Terran heatsinks can't handle full auto. Even extended burst fire could generate enough waste heat from the rails to warp the barrel. Short of getting Kintark examples, me taking the time to reverse-engineer better ones, or us getting our hands on a better base material than Titanium or the polymer, we're stuck.*
*With the penetration on this thing, even burst fire seems like overkill,* John chuckled. *Everyone want to take a turn?*
Jonah, Alyssa, and Calara each took a try with the Railgun, amazed at the stopping power compared to the original XR75 Rifle. When Calara finished, John turned to Jade. *Jade, honey, want to try? We haven't really started your combat training yet, might as well begin now.*
Jade got an oddly conflicted look. *I would prefer not to,* she thought, her mental voice having a strange strain to it.
John frowned. *Honey, what's wrong? Every member of the crew needs to be able to shoot, it's so we can protect each other.*
Jade let out a cry as she doubled over. *Jade begs Master not to order her to pick up a weapon!*
A second later, John had Jade in his arms, trying to comfort her. *Ok, Jade, ok! You don't have to fire the Railgun. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do.*
*Thank you, Master,* Jade sagged in relief in his arms.
*What the damn hell?* Jonah blinked.
*Mael'nerak designed the Nymphs from the ground up. Maybe he input genetic programming to avoid weapons to make sure none ever thought of rebelling,* Alyssa hypothesized, even as she went to card a hand through Jade's hair and scratch her ears in the way she knew relaxed the emerald-skinned girl.
*Hmm… makes sense, since they're so easily upgradable if they get a dose of Progenitor cum. And you don't take over an empire the size we think he had without being a bit paranoid. I wonder if that's why the Ashanath are so pacifistic as well. He obviously didn't include that aversion with the Drakkar, they're well-known for their butchery,* Calara mused.
*Yeah, but the Nymphs and Ashanath are psychic. None of the other 4 species we think he had a hand in are. Maybe that's a factor,* Dana thought, turning the problem over in her mind like a puzzle.
*Well, wonder if that aversion to weapons carries over to pulling triggers for the Raptor. If it does, we may have to nix our plans to have her pilot the dropship, it has too much firepower to not utilize it with a mentally crippled pilot on that front,* Jonah thought, harsh but logical.
*I am sorry for being difficult,* Jade spoke up in the chorus.
*It's no fault of yours, Jade,* John rushed to assure her. *You can't help how Mael'nerak wired your species. We'll experiment, and if it turns out you categorically can't use weapons, we'll just leave you out of combat missions.*
*I still want to help, though!* Jade thought passionately. *I could transform into a bird and scout out the battlefield from above,* she suggested.
*Can you transform into a bird?* John asked. They'd confirmed her ability to make mild alterations to her Nymph shape, but taking a non-humanoid form was a lot different.
*Step back, please, Master,* Jade thought.
John let the Nymph go and she backed up to get some space. She closed her eyes and focused. Before their amazed eyes, she shimmered with green light. When her body was visible again, gone was the 5'9 Angel. In her place was a fierce, 600 lb. Jade Tiger with familiar eyes. *I had a master, the Collector, who kept a menagerie. I was his prized possession, of course. I spent years studying the other animals in their cages. I'm confident I can take their shapes accurately with some practice,* she thought to the chorus, her green-and-black striped skin with white flashes looking mighty intimidating spread over her lean, muscular frame.
*Wow,* John blinked. *While the idea of a fully sapient tiger charging into battle alongside me is very, very cool, how would we keep you armored? If you're constantly changing shape, you can't wear the Phalanx suits. What happens if you get shot as an animal?*
Jade hummed low in her feline throat. To John's shock, green hexagons the same color as her eyes appeared. Unlike his, Jonah's, and Alyssa's hexagons though, these didn't appear to be made of pure hardened light. Little crackles of electricity flickered at the edges of each polygon. *I have the gift of lightning, which you have nurtured with your generosity from a pitiful spark to a raging storm, Master. I can use barriers like this to shield me. Also, I can focus on making my skin harder, more resistant to injury. Please allow me the privilege of assisting you in battle.*
*Electrokinetic shapeshifting alien… well, how could I turn that down? Sure thing, Jade! We'll have to practice, of course, but you're cleared for combat missions alongside us,* John finally decided.
The Tiger shifted in a shimmer back into the familiar Nymph catgirl. Jade beamed and leapt into John's arms to kiss him breathless. *Thank you, Master! I will not let you down!*
The next few days passed in a happy blur, the crew in constant Telepathic contact and meeting at each mealtime. Dana finished the other 2 Railguns and then revealed her solution to the armor problem: equipping frames. It was a simple enough concept. She'd taken each individual piece of Phalanx Alpha armor and split them into two halves. She'd installed flexible latch-and-hook designs based on the Kirrix' own armor. Upon stepping into the boots of an equipping frame, the press of a button would have robotic arms encase the occupant from head to toe in the modified armor. By touching their right thumb to the base of their pinky, the hooks would engage and lock them in. This reduced the effective armoring time from over 4 minutes to less than 10 seconds (8.2 according to Dana's stopwatch when she demonstrated it).
Apart from Dana's engineering, Jade made excellent progress in the flight simulator for the Raptor, with Jonah her patient teacher. She'd also joined psychic training in the Gym, cycling between a few preferred animal forms to get more comfortable with them. She also worked hard on her Electrokinetic Shields, wanting John to never have to worry she'd be injured by flying bullets or lasers.
And they all made shameless use of each other when they had a free moment. They were all frisky, open, and in most cases in love after all. The Invictus felt more like a pleasure barge than a modified Navy ship half the time.
The morning of the 4th day of their trip, they were just putting the dishes for breakfast away when a chime went off on the intercom. *We've crossed into the Ashanath Collective,* John informed everyone.
They loaded into the elevator and went up to the Bridge. They had taken their stations when John noticed a comm request from an Ashanath patrol. *How'd they know we were in their territory so quick?* Alyssa wondered.
*The Grays have sensor nets set up all over the border. Even professional smugglers have a hard time getting in and out of the Collective without the Grays knowing about it,* Jonah revealed.
*Speaking from experience?* Dana asked with a chuckle.
*I plead the Fifth,* Jonah thought with a roguish grin.
John accepted the hail. An Ashanath male (or John assumed, he honestly had a hard time telling the difference) appeared on the vid-screen. Clad in a silvery jumpsuit, it had pale gray skin, an enlarged cranium compared to a Terran, all-black eyes that took up most of its face, and no visible ears.
"This is Leader Linnaeus," came a whispery voice over the speakers. Linnaeus' mouth hadn't moved, a computer translating his natural Telepathy into Terran Standard. "Please identify yourself and state your business in Ashanath territory."
*Do we pretend to be tourists and traders just here to get the upgrades, or do we mention Mael'nerak right out the gate?* John posed to his crew. While they all naturally deferred to his authority, he liked to pretend it was a democracy on their crew.
*I'm all for dropping Mael'nerak's name and seeing how this guy reacts,* Jonah suggested.
*Half the reason we're here is to get more information on the Progenitors. We'll get more answers if we're honest from the start. I say go for it,* Alyssa offered.
*I'd advise caution, but even if we get a violent response we're near enough the border to just turn around and run if necessary. I think we should all remember that Mael'nerak wasn't the nicest guy for a good chunk of time. Even if he eventually sacrificed himself to save his whole empire from Ranagon, the Ashanath might not remember him fondly,* Calara spoke up.
*I suppose 'we come in peace' is going a step too far? Seriously, just tell him who you are,* Dana contributed.
*Never be ashamed of who you are, Master,* Jade thought warmly.
John set his shoulders and focused on Linnaeus. "I am John Blake on the Invictus. I was born in the Terran Federation, but I'm not Terran. I am a Progenitor, like the ancient Mael'nerak. I've come with peaceful intentions of learning all the Ashanath know about my people. While we're here, I figured I might as well get some of your famous FTL Drive and Power Core technology for my ship."
Linnaeus' small mouth dropped, revealing gray gums without teeth. Eyelids came down and went up as the Ashanath blinked rapidly. If the one Ashanath horror film John had forced himself to watch was any indication, this was the Grays' equivalent of screaming at full voice. "P-p-please wait o-one moment," Linnaeus managed, even his computer-generated voice conveying the depths of his sheer terror. The screen cut to a 'hold' notification, complete with the emblem of the Ashanath Collective.
*They definitely remember something,* John noted wryly.
*Not everyday a member of your creator's species pops in to visit,* Alyssa noted, trying to remain positive.
They waited for a tense minute. Finally, Linnaeus reappeared on the screen. "JohnBlake, you have been summoned before the High Council of Ashana. Please sync hyperwarp signatures with my patrol as we take formation around you. Do not deviate from this flightpath."
"Very well," John nodded.
Linnaeus' image cut out without another word. Alyssa modified their route for the one provided by the Ashanath, even though it was slower. No need to test their host's patience. A trio of Cruiser-sized saucers approached and formed a triangle around the Invictus.
John leaned back in his Command Chair. *Well… hot tub? It's out of our hands now. We'll arrive at Ashana tomorrow, and then apparently we have an appointment with the leaders of the whole Collective.*
*How do the Ashanath rule themselves?* Dana asked curiously.
*8 democratic districts, each led by a High Councilor. They collectively vote in the Senior Councilor, who's head of state and makes all the chief executive decisions for the whole empire,* Calara recalled from her lessons at the Academy.
*I'll join you in the tub, might as well relax before we're possibly thrown into prison as your accomplices,* Jonah thought with grim humor.
*I'll get back to the Railguns,* Dana decided.
*I'll help, it'll be like the old days on Karron!* Alyssa grinned.
*I will go with Master,* Jade thought, always happy when she was in water or by John's side; both simultaneously would have her blissed out.
*I'll do kata, plus I want to work on that one combination I came up with myself,* Calara decided.
Plans made, they all went down to Deck 7. John, Jonah, Calara, and Jade went to the Gym while Alyssa and Dana went to the Engineering Bay.
Less than half an hour later, Calara was just working up a good sweat when a feeling of bone-chilling foreboding suffused her entire being. Acting on instinct, she activated her Prescience. There, at the furthest edge of her future sight, disaster.
*We're about to be Interdicted!* Calara all but screamed into the chorus.
John blinked, before activating Psychic Alacrity and rushing out of the tub and to put on his clothes. *What the fuck?! Are the Ashanath double-crossing us?!*
*I don't know, I only saw far enough to hear the alarm,* Calara explained.
By the time the crew had all reached the elevator, enough time had passed for Calara's premonition to come to pass.
"BWOOP! BWOOP! BWOOP!" went the Interdiction alarm, the whole ship shuddering as it was forcibly pulled into a system and out of hyperwarp speeds.
An agonizing elevator ride later, they all rushed out onto the Bridge. Dana went straight to her Engineering console. *Shields up! No damage yet to any part of the ship!*
John's eyes were raking the Tactical Map as soon as he brought it up. He blinked. *Is that… Drakkar raiders! What the fuck are they doing this deep into Ashanath space?!*
*More importantly, how dumb can you get? 1 on 4, even the sharks can't be that stupid,* Jonah snorted.
*That's not normal Drakkar armor plating,* Calara noted. *It's supposed to be gray-and-purple. That Cruiser is pitch black.*
*Running active scan,* Dana reported, acting preemptively. As the results started to pour in, the rest of the crew observed the Ashanath saucers doing battle with the Drakkar warship. Their red Beam Lasers bore down on the Drakkar's Shields. In less than a minute, the force field vanished and the lasers started to hit the ship. But rather than piercing straight through the enemy ship as John expected, the beams of light didn't seem to even scratch the lusterless black armor.
*That's not normal, is it?* Jade asked astutely.
*Analyzing… less than half the total energy of those lasers went through!* Dana reported in disbelief.
To retaliate, the Drakkar Cruiser pivoted with eerie grace to point at one Ashanath craft. Over a dozen of their own Beam Lasers lashed out; what the Drakkar lacked in sophistication, they compensated with overwhelming force. The Ashanath's Shields buckled visibly, before caving halfway through the attack. The saucer was obliterated by the Drakkar's full broadside, less than half the ship left to float as debris in the black emptiness of space.
John grit his teeth. *That armor is heavily resistant to laser tech. Fine. Calara, give it to them with the Mass Drivers.*
Jonah maneuvered the Invictus and Calara lined up a shot with the Drakkar ship towards the stern. The armor buckled at the hyperwarp impact, before all 4 shells exploded violently. The Drakkar Cruiser continued to move, proving its crew was still alive, but it had lost half its engines in the blast and was much slower.
*Plotting weak points,* Dana reported as more details came in from the active scan. *What the… all their weapons are forward-facing!* she reported.
On hearing that, Jonah made sure to keep them out of the Drakkar's fire arcs. Calara lined up another shot with the Mass Drivers as they recharged. At 30 seconds on the dot, Calara fired the massive cannons. This time, the Drakkar cockpit vanished in an explosion.
*You took out the Bridge, and life signs are fading. Don't relax yet, though, two dropships launched!* Dana told them all.
Jonah turned them around and actively fled from the Drakkar dropships. The marauding aliens' boarding actions were legendary. The two surviving Ashanath saucers made themselves useful, raining laser fire on the two dropships. The Shields on the two spacecraft soon vanished, but their strange black armor proved all but impervious to the Ashanath's attacks. Making the executive decision, John had Jonah turn around and Calara took out one dropship with the Mass Drivers. This, however, allowed the remaining one to get close enough to dock with their airlock.
John and Jonah rushed with Psychic Alacrity to the Briefing Room where Dana had set up the first set of equipping frames. Grabbing their Railguns from the weapons rack in the room, the Progenitor and Patriarch rushed at blurring speeds to the elevator. *Man the Bridge, the Drakkar could have had reinforcements,* John ordered the women of his crew.
The elevator ride was pure hell, John must have mashed the button for Deck 9 a hundred times, knowing it wouldn't make a damn difference. By the time they finally arrived at the bottom deck, the Drakkar had apparently gotten impatient with the closed airlock doors. With the explosive boom of a breaching charge, John saw the outer airlock door vanish in a cloud of smoke and shrapnel. Taking cover at the corner near the elevator, John lined up his shot and took down the first Drakkar to show his ugly head.
The Drakkar were brutally effective from an evolutionary standpoint. They had at least two of everything except the brain. John could appreciate Mael'nerak's good work in designing them as shock troops, probably for the war with Ranagon to supplement his Maliri forces. They one and all had mottled lime-green skin, heads like hammerhead sharks, and large mouths filled with double-rows of serrated teeth. Thick, muscled arms, 4 of them, stuck out of their stocky torsos, held up by two humanoid legs. When John fired his Railgun at the first to charge into the hallway, he saw the highly-oxygenated blue blood spatter all over his hallway. The cleaning robots would be scrubbing that up for hours.
Jonah, rather than hide behind the corner, had slid to the side of the hallway and raised a rampart of golden-white hexagons to shield himself. He could see through the translucent shield, popping out at super-speed to take down any Drakkar John didn't get to first. But they just kept pouring out the airlock, ready to crawl over their brothers' cooling corpses to get the honor of the kill and the prize of flesh to feast on. They weren't just ass-ugly, their culture was atrocious and barbaric.
*Ok, fuck this shit,* John thought as he ducked back to avoid a Heavy Laser blast from one particularly muscular Drakkar. Activating Psychic Alacrity and surrounding himself in a coat of blue hexagonal Psychic Shields, John rushed into the hallway. He crouch-slid to grab one of the fallen Drakkar's preferred sword-shields. Returning to his feet, the melee weapon feeling like it weighed a feather, John tore through the invading alien horde like a farmer's scythe through a wheat field at harvest. He deactivated his super-speed as the final Drakkar fell headless to the floor. He flicked the sword-shield, sending the blue blood dripping along its length to hit the ground.
*Damn, that was a sight to see,* Jonah thought in admiration.
*I need to get me one of these,* John thought, looking down at the thick blade with admiration. It had felt extremely cathartic, not to mention viscerally satisfying, to take down the Drakkar who'd broken into his ship with one of their own weapons. It felt like an odd mix of the thrill of success at a good shot with the primal enjoyment of a good fight. *Seriously, do they make swords for Terrans? Outside Renaissance festivals and such.*
*I'm sure someone somewhere will take your commission, assuming Dana doesn't crank out her own version of a sword for you,* Alyssa thought, relief radiating from her mental voice. *No more Drakkar on the long-range scanners. We're being hailed by Leader Linnaeus.*
John grabbed his Railgun from where he'd dropped it and took the elevator trip back up to the Command Deck alongside Jonah. He stepped out onto the Bridge, smiling reassuringly at his Angels, and took his seat on the central podium. John hit the button to take the hail from the Ashanath.
Linnaeus appeared on the vid-screen. "JohnBlake, apologies on behalf of the Ashasnath Collective. You were never meant to be in any danger, we assure you. This was not an attempt at an ambush," the alien rushed to tell John.
"I understand," John nodded. "My condolences on the loss of your patrol ship."
"Their voices will be remembered," Linnaeus said, though the robotic voice was tinged with sorrow and regret.
"If I may, though, what in the world were Drakkar raiders doing this deep in your territory? And what was with their armor, I've never seen Drakkar with that material on their ships before!" John asked.
Linnaeus gave a slow blink. "You may discuss that with the High Council when you meet them tomorrow," he finally said.
"Ok," John nodded, recognizing a 'don't ask' when he heard it. "If this whole unpleasantness is over with, we can get back on course to Ashana."
Linnaeus gave a stiff nod, as if the Terran gesture was unfamiliar to him. The vid-screen vanished as the transmission ended. Jonah silently guided them into formation with the remaining 2 Ashanath Cruisers and Alyssa synced their hyperwarp signatures as they all went superluminal.
John blew out a breath. *Well… that's my excitement for the day,* he chuckled.
*John, we need to discuss the implications of this whole episode,* Calara started, her mind whirring as she extrapolated some data and made conclusions.
*Indeed we do. But first, I want to have 'thank God we survived sex' with each of you. And to really celebrate, I think it's about time I broke in Jade's ass,* John thought. He fully intended to have a full debrief… after, though.
They all eagerly went to the Commander's Quarters. And the bout of lovemaking ended up being even more special than they expected. When John had slid his lubed-up Progenitor cock into Jade's willing ass, she groaned about a 'funny feeling'. To the shock of everyone, a copy of John's cock, identical to the millimeter, had grown out of Jade's crotch. With a little concentration, the Nymph was able to reproduce another 2. A quick lick by a curious Alyssa and a groan from John confirmed that Jade could transfer sensations from the fake cocks to his real cock in her ass. John wound up with Jonah plastered to his back, matching his pace into John's own hole while John pounded the living daylights out of a gasping Jade, who had Alyssa, Calara, and Dana all impaled on her own cocks.
Even for them, it was a memorable session.
When John stopped floating in a cloud of happy endorphins, oxytocin, and the good kind of body ache from an excellent workout, he glanced at the chronometer. *We should get lunch,* he projected to his similarly sated lovers.
*I'm good,* Jade giggled, rubbing her glowing belly. John had cum almost a full gallon, he'd gotten so worked up.
They took a quick rinse in the shower, then all padded nude to the Lounge. John, feeling too lazy to really cook, grabbed two pizzas he'd pre-made and frozen in anticipation of just such an occasion. He threw them in the oven to heat up, and went to sit at the head of the table.
*Okay, Jade is officially the most awesome member of the crew. You've been eclipsed, my big-dicked dude,* Dana chuckled after a minute of companionable silence.
*No arguments here, honey,* John nodded. *Though one has to wonder why Mael'nerak included that feature in Nymphs.*
*You seriously asking that, after what we just had? He made them the perfect spies and sex toys, he probably just threw it in so he could fuck his whole harem at once when he got bored,* Jonah snorted.
*We need to experiment. If Jade can grow as many copies as she wants, then maybe she can extend them and make them prehensile. She might be our own tentacle monster out of a hentai porno!* Alyssa giggled.
Calara hummed in thought. *In all seriousness, I think it might have been about utility. Think about it, do you really think Mael'nerak or any typical Progenitor dedicates a whole entire load to each new Thrall? If all it takes is whatever psychic enzyme or catalyst is mixed into John's seminal fluid entering a person's stomach, it seems awfully wasteful if your goal is to build an army of psychic slaves as fast as possible. Between her breast hollowing and this tentacle trick, my guess is Mael'nerak made the Nymphs not just as spies to topple the Achonin, but as the perfect recruiters for his network.*
John hummed in thought. *That rings true. Just load up the nearest Nymph and she can feed a couple dozen Maliri. But in that case, what about the Change?*
*We're dealing with a guy who made species for fun,* Alyssa thought, her own mind tackling the issue. *I'd bet good money that he designed each species for a specific purpose. The Trankarans' name means 'miner', and that matches with what Barya told us about their oral histories. Drakkar, according to John, means 'expendable soldier', and having had an encounter with them they certainly seem to be effective in combat. Terrans were an 'experiment', and we may never know what for exactly. The Ashanath are the 'collective', which is a bit vague. Psychic grunt workers, non-combatant supervisors of all his planets, an attempt to make and study a chorus? We may have to ask the High Council if they know why Mael'nerak made them directly. But the Maliri, if they were designed as his primary stock of Thralls and he was genetically customizing them from the start, probably have some tweaks to make them ideal for that purpose. John, ever seen a Maliri female?*
John blinked as he really thought about it. *Now that you mention it, no. I've only ever met men when I visit the border stations. Huh, wonder what that's about.*
*Well, I've seen them in Jade's memories. They all had our body type, and maybe that wasn't a consequence of the Change. Maybe Mael'nerak made it so every Maliri woman naturally grows into this shape. Given 10 thousand years without reinforcement, I'm sure there's been a mutation or two. But my guess is each Maliri female is an Amazon already and just needs a few drops of cum to add them to a Progenitor's network,* Alyssa argued logically.
*A whole empire of women John's exact type of body? I know where we're going right after the reunion with Calara's family,* Dana giggled.
*Very funny, Sparks. Though I won't deny I find the idea of a visit very appealing, it's hardly a priority,* John rolled his eyes.
The oven dinged, and John went to get the pizzas. He floated their trays over to the table after slicing them, along with plates and glasses of water. All but Jade tucked in, having worked up quite the appetite.
Jade had a look of concentration on her face for half the meal. *Something on your mind, Jade?* John asked his Nymph Angel.
*I want to get this right,* she replied. She set her shoulders and looked right in John's eye. *I love you… John.*
John dropped the crust he'd been working on. The others didn't react much better. *Jade… you said my name,* John thought in shock.
*You have taken me in every way. You have taken my mind and, rather than crushing or abusing it, have built it into something I never dared to dream I could have. You got the perfect slave, and were determined to set her free. I'm yours, John. Not because of genetic programming, but because you gave me the power to choose and I choose you. You own me, John. I'll stay by your side until you tell me to leave,* Jade thought, her musical voice steady and filled with the kind of love they write songs about.
John rushed out of his chair to pick up Jade and pull her into a blistering kiss. *I love you too, Jade. And I'll never ask you to leave.*
*Then I will never go,* Jade thought simply, and it carried the weight of a vow she'd die to protect.
John managed to detach himself from Jade eventually, returning to his cooling food.
*As sweet and lovely as that was… we do need to have a talk about the Drakkar,* Calara reluctantly brought up.
*I've been trying not to think about that,* Jonah grumbled. *Whatever that new armor is, it makes them all but immune to military-grade lasers. If it becomes standard on every Drakkar warband… the whole League could be in for a rough ride. The only reason we won was because we have ballistics.*
*At the very least, they seem to be extremely effective against the Ashanath with this black armor. And the Grays weren't exactly overwhelmingly superior from a military standpoint before this development,* Calara stated. *Given we got attacked almost on the Terran border, I think it's safe to assume that the Ashanath are in trouble.*
*If it's really that bad, why haven't they appealed to their allies for help?* John wondered.
*How do you know they haven't? The Terrans probably said no, they're busy with the Kintark and vice versa. The Maliri don't give a fuck about anyone but themselves. The Brimorians don't even share a border and getting any forces over here would be prohibitively complicated. The Trankarans might chip in, but they use Fusion weapons. I haven't had a chance to really examine it yet, but if the Drakkar's armor is heat-resistant or absorbs energy, not just reflective to make it so effective against lasers, then the Trankarans won't be much help against the Drakkar either,* Dana laid out grimly.
*So the Ashanath are in a pickle. And along came a Progenitor looking to cut a deal. This could prove quite lucrative!* Alyssa thought brightly.
John eyed his Matriarch. *Honey, we can't single-handedly fight the entire Drakkar Navy, not even one at a time.*
*We don't have any data to support the idea that this armor has been discovered by the whole of Drakkar society. From what I've dug up, they're actually a matriarchal society. The men live in fear of the Pod Queens. The males form warbands and go out to raid each other and other species to rack up kills and prestige to earn the right to mate with females. This armor could be an innovation by one particularly bright scientist for just one warband. We can't know for sure until we meet with the High Council. But if it's only a handful of ships causing the Ashanath trouble… we could help out with that. For a price, of course,* Alyssa thought with an eager grin.
*You thinking their most advanced FTL Drive and Power Core tech for free?* Dana thought with her own grin.
*To start,* the blonde nodded.
*We're getting a bit ahead of ourselves,* John thought, though he did find the idea extremely appealing himself. *Dana, after this, get dressed and head down to Deck 9. You can scavenge tech from the Drakkar and run your own analysis. The rest of us will relax for the day.*
John, feeling ebullient at Jade's declaration of love and commitment to him, took the Nymph down to the pool after lunch to spend the day swimming together. Alyssa went to the Bridge, not wanting to be caught with their pants down if they got ambushed by Drakkar again. Plus, she could keep memorizing the Galactic League atlas, she was already 20% done. Jonah decided to get properly sloshed to celebrate their victory over the Drakkar, and Calara got swept along.
They had a quick dinner at 1830, nothing more exciting having happened during the day. John followed Dana down to the Engineering Bay afterwards at her request.
*Drakkar tech is interesting all by itself, even if a bit crude and unrefined,* Dana began her report as she led John to a workbench where she'd laid out examples of their tech. *They favor melee weapons, though they also have ballistic rifles and lasers much like Terrans. Their shield-swords and armor actually have magnetic repulsion built-in, which would stop most everything short of military-grade weapons. I got some ideas for our own Phalanx suits to make us much more resistant to bullets, if I can manage to integrate the Faraday cage properly. And I will. The real interesting thing is the material in their armor, the black shit.*
*What is it?* John asked.
*First off, do you know how the periodic table of elements works?* Dana checked.
*118 natural elements, based on number of protons per atom,* John rattled off. He'd gotten a decent education and he wasn't a complete moron just because his mind wasn't enhanced by the Change. *Isotopes have different numbers of neutrons, ions have different numbers of electrons. Atoms of different elements can bond into molecules to make compounds, and make up basically everything in the universe. Go on, Dana.*
*Right, what do you know about exotic elements? Not the radioactive shit once you get too many neutrons and they become unstable. I mean elements where the atoms aren't made of just protons, neutrons, and electrons?* Dana asked.
*As much as what you just told me,* John admitted.
*Right. Protons, neutrons, and electrons are your standard subatomic particles, and make up about 90% of the known universe and such. But there's over a dozen different kinds of particles that have been observed to bind with other particles to make stable exotic atoms. These exotic atoms, while related to standard elements, behave so differently that scientists decided to make it easier and just call them new elements entirely. There's over 2 dozen known elements on the Extended Periodic Table. Tyrenium, for example, is an exotic form of Uranium. The reason I bring this up is that there's an exotic element in the Drakkar's armor. It's a kind of steel, in that its an alloy of Iron and an exotic form of Carbon that the computer identified as Onyxium,* Dana lectured.
*Tell me about Onyxium,* John prompted.
*It's black, it's shiny, it has a hexagonal atomic structure that makes it a near-perfect conductor of heat, electricity, and really all energy,* Dana answered, pulling up some data on the holo-console she was carrying. *The Drakkar's super-steel reflected 20% of each laser strike, bouncing it right off. Another 60% was absorbed by the Onyxium into integrated capacitors, so the Drakkar actually got energy from each attack. Combined, an Ashanath laser only hits at a fifth of its total strength against these new Drakkar ships.*
*Combined with the Drakkar's habit of slapping as many weapons as they can power on each ship, they must be tearing the Ashanath a new one,* John winced, remembering how that one Ashanath saucer was destroyed in a single blast. *The Grays are entirely dependent on Laser weaponry. The Drakkar couldn't have come up with a better way to counteract Ashanath defenses.*
*Yeah, about that…* Dana frowned. *The capacitors I talked about? Advanced, even to me and I've been working with Terran military-grade tech since I got on the Invictus. Given the level of the rest of their tech, I don't think the Drakkar came up with this armor on their own. My gut says someone else gave it to them.*
John blinked. *Hmm… but who?*
*That is the question, isn't it,* Dana sighed.
Far away from the Invictus, a robed man observed the Sector Map, a particular ship highlighted as it was escorted through Ashanath space. He grinned, reaching up a finger to trace his pointed ear.
*Hmm… this should be interesting. Don't you think, Ailanthia?* he projected to his Matriarch.
*Yes, my Lord,* his most faithful servant agreed.