-chapter 57-
Anyway, the next few days passed without much of interest happening, until we finally made it to the station.
"Fuck! They made it here before us that's their carrier docked over there." Zari said as she pointed it out.
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"According to the radar all the details match up, I mean yeah it could be a different ship, but there's not many civilian light carriers around are there?" She asked.
"No, not really. Maybe your right, I mean it was a pretty good guess that we would come here." I replied.
"Yeah, it was, but we have no choice, we don't have enough fuel to make it to the next station." Zari said.
"Well we're approved to dock and they can't do anything this close to a civilian station can they?" I asked.
"No, you're right, they can't, not without a Zelusian task group showing up in about twenty minutes or so." Zari said.
"So we'll deal with them on the station." I said. "That way it's not just a matter of ships. Pheebles why don't you go get the digibabes and get ready for a fight."
"Right." Phoebe agreed.
"I'm going to sit this one out if you don't mind, I need to rest. They won't come after me here, just you and Kitty." Zari said.
"Ok then, sleep well." I replied. "If they do come looking for you, you know where the armory is."
"Yep, goodnight." Zari said as she left me alone on the bridge.
I watched the station get closer and closer for a few minutes as the ship lined itself up to dock, before Phoebe came back with Kitty and Saphy in tow.
"Where'd Zari go?" She asked.
"She's gonna sit this one out. She's tired. It's near the end of her shift anyway." I said.
"I haven't fought anything in so long." Kitty said.
"Just remember no making people screw other people." I said.
"Mhm, I was wondering when you were going to say that." Kitty said.
"So how are we going to do this?" Phoebe asked.
"Easy we'll just leave the ship and maybe go to a bar or something until one of those bounty hunters notices us, we'll let them start, but it shouldn't be too hard to win. You said you're more powerful than ever right? Now you can prove it." I said.
"Fair enough." Phoebe replied.
"What about me?" Kitty asked.
"There will be plenty for you too don't worry." I replied.
"No that's not what I meant. Did I get more powerful?" Kitty asked as she cutely gazed into my eyes.
"Well considering 100 years ago you couldn't even reliably digivolve, I think so." I said.
"Ok. Saphy any questions or are you just going to stand there?" I asked.
"I'm good." Saphira replied.
"Allright now that we confirmed that you're among the living, we'll just wait for the ship to finish docking and then we'll go." I said.
Ten minutes later the ship finished docking and we were able to leave, entering a station was always an adventure, and an opportunity to get out of the ship, but this time seemed likely to prove more so than usual. We had been to this station weeks before, so we already kind of knew the layout of things. Kitty digivolved shortly before left, then we ordered some fuel, and found a local mechanic that could give us a rough evaluation of the repair costs, though they couldn't make any repairs here, the mechanic specialized in civilian fighter-sized ships, which could be serviced at nearly every station, while ships like ours needed a more specialized facility that could deal with their larger size.
Anyway, with all that attended to, we proceeded on with our actual business. Beating the living daylights out of a bunch of bounty hunters that were becoming a serious problem.
"Ok we're not trying to kill them, but make sure they can't just come after us again. I want to see some broken bones." I said.
"That's a bit cruel." Phoebe objected.
"Well, what do you suggest Pheebles?" I asked.
"What if we take over their ship, make it jump really far away, and just leave them stranded here? I can just knock them out and then when they wake up their ship will be gone." She asked.
"You know that's actually not a terrible Idea, we'll deal with the ones at the bar first or wherever the hell they are, and then we'll go for the ship." I said.
"So we're going to the bar then?" Phoebe asked.
"Yeah." I replied.
"Can we get some drinks?" Kitty asked.
"Just don't go crazy. Remember we're more or less on a mission." I replied.
"I could use a drink too. Why don't we have drinks on the ship this is madness!" Phoebe asked.
"Because drinking and driving in space is still not a good idea." I replied.
"You don't even drive most of the time the computer does most of the work." Phoebe pointed out.
"Yeah, but there's still some situations the computer is not very good at dealing with, like asteroid fields." I said. "Or docking at stations that don't have an auto-docking system."
"But I've never seen an asteroid field, I always avoided them." Phoebe said.
"Well still, we could have just as easily ended up in one when the jump drive failed. We were lucky we didn't. " I said. "Anyway, whatever happens, don't get drunk ok, cause if both of you get drunk, I don't know what the hell is going to happen."
"Ok." Kitty said.
"Fair enough." Phoebe replied.
-a little more than an hour later at a popular local bar, after waiting for the bounty hunters to make a move for at least 30 minutes.-
"Maybe we're at the wrong bar?" Phoebe asked.
"I don't know, but you're the best Pheebles I love you so much, I love you way more than Cj does." Saphy said.
"I think you've had too much to drink." Phoebe said.
"Yeah, seems like it.' I agreed. "Told you those shots were a bad idea."
"But the glasses were so tiny." Saphira drunkenly replied.
"Yeah, but that stuff, verosian splacht extract, it's like 65% alcohol." I replied.
The splacht was a cactus-like plant native to planet Veros, famed on a galactic basis for making alcohol naturally, due to the planet's unique climate, and a unique strain of bacteria that causes the inside of the plant to ferment. The plant soaks up whatever water it can get in the wet season, then the bacteria ferments the inside of it during the dry season, where temperatures can reach over 140 degrees, slowly turning it to alcohol until it expands like a balloon until the lining of the plant can't hold it anymore and starts to leak., the liquid then spews out until the plant returns to normal size and by the next wet season it's usually healed up and ready to start the process again. The resulting liquid is commercially farmed, filtered, and sometimes mixed with various flavorings. Naturally it has a weird, super-sweet pineapple-like flavor along with the expected burning sensation of something that's 65% alcohol.
"But it's less liquid." Saphira said.
"Yeah, but it's more potent." I replied.
"What does that even mean?" She asked.
"Welp she's gone full Kitty on us." I said.
Phoebe giggled.
"Hey, she doesn't look like me at all, I'm way prettier than her." Kitty replied.
"Exactly." I said with a laugh.
"That doesn't make any sense. Wait a minute you're making fun of me aren't you?" Kitty said.
"Oh just let it go. Whenever he's like that just ignore him. It makes him crazy." Phoebe said.
"Ok," Kitty replied.
"It does not, you're making that up." I said.
-a few moments of silence later-
"Pheebles?" I asked.
"She's totally ignoring you." Saphira pointed out.
"Yeah, I figured just as much." I said.
"Hey Kitty why don't you go see if they have any music we can dance to?" I asked.
"You want to dance with me or?" She asked.
"Yeah of course, like old times remember?" I said. "On those nights you were between boyfriends and Aranea didn't want to come to the bar for whatever reason."
"Yeah I remember." She said.
"I always thought you were a way better dancer than Pheebles, just saying, no offence baby girl." I said.
"Yeah no offence, sure." Phoebe jealously replied.
"There it is." I said.
"There is no way she's a better dancer than me, how can you be serious!" Phoebe exclaimed.
"Yeah Phoebe is the best dancer in the galaxy." Saphira chimed in.
"Saphy you've never even seen me dance." Phoebe said.
"Yeah I was about to say." I interjected.
"You shut up Cj." Phoebe said.
"Awe is my sweet baby girl mad?" I asked.
"Why are we doing this?" Phoebe asked.
"Cause you're cute when you're mad." I said.
"I thought I was cute all the time." Phoebe asked.
"Yeah she is cute all the time." Saphy chimed.
"Yeah but you cuter when you're angry." I said.
"I'm not cute I'm sexy and I'm a way better than Kitty." Phoebe insisted.
"Well then you're the ugliest girl I've ever seen." Saphira said.
"Saphy whatever you think you're doing, you're not helping." Phoebe said.
"Are we really doing this again?" I asked.
"Yes." Phoebe replied.
"You can be both." I said.
"I know I can be, and I am." She said.
"Cute and Sexy?" I asked.
"No, sexy and better than Kitty." Phoebe said.
"At dancing?" I asked.
"No at basically everything." Phoebe said.
"No you're not." I said.
"Well ok I'm not as good at asking stupid questions, or falling asleep, or . . . . . " She began to say.
"So, are you jealous or has your ego grown to ridiculous proportions over the last century Galactic Empress?" I interrupted her before she could think of a third thing.
"I'm sorry, I just, you've been with her so long. I feel like. RRRR I'm so far behind" Phoebe said with a bit of frustration..
"Well Pheebles it will be allright." I said. "She's going to put some music on and then maybe you'll be able to prove that you're a better dancer, maybe."
"It will start in five minutes." Kitty said as she came back to the table.
"What will start?" Saphy asked.
"The song." Kitty said.
"What song?" Saphy asked.
"Just wait and see." Kitty replied.
"Phoebe is a better dancer than you." Saphira blurted out.
"Oh she thinks she is?" Kitty asked.
"She doesn't think she knows." Saphy replied.
"Care for a little competition fluffy butt?" Phoebe asked.
"You better be ready to lose." Kitty said.
"Can we do this Cj?" Phoebe asked.
"Yeah just don't break anything and don't get us kicked out." I said.
"Ok let's do this." Phoebe said as she stood. "Cj make sure Saphy doesn't hurt herself."
"Right." I replied.
"Winner gets to dance with Cj." Phoebe said.
"Wha?" I asked.
"Ok." Kitty replied.
"Now we just need some judges." Phoebe said.
"Hello?" I replied.
"You can't be the only judge Cj you're the prize." Phoebe replied.
"Well then go ask the bartender if she's not busy." I said.
"She is busy." Phoebe said.
"Well then get some of the patrons I guess, I don't know, maybe you can make a whole thing out of it." I said.
"I don't want you dancing with women I don't know." Phoebe said.
"Well that could just be between you and Kitty." I said. "Other people can participate just for fun I guess, I don't know. "
"What you mean is you're not comfortable with other men watching me dance." Phoebe said.
"Yeah kind of." I replied.
"Oh it will be fine." Phoebe said. "It's not like I'm going to get naked or anything, but I'll try to get others to participate if that would make you feel better. Cause we need more judges as well. Cause you'll probably go for Kitty just to annoy me and Saphy will obviously vote for me."
"Yeah probably." I replied.
Several minutes later they completely missed the song but they did get half the bar in on this competition, somehow. Apparently Kitty said there'd be a hundred credit prize. Which meant Phoebe and I would have to explain to Zari how we managed to spend over 100 credits at a bar we weren't really supposed to be drinking at. It was incredibly annoying, but it was a good time none the less. Unfortunately I couldn't decide which one was the better dancer, the prize money ended up going to this random old man who showed a hell of a lot of spirit, to the point where almost everyone noticed him. He then immediately spent most of it buying a beer for everyone there.
"Seriously all that and you couldn't vote for either one of us?" Phoebe asked.
"That guy stole the show, what can I say?" I said. "You were both great, but come on, that guy had the entire room watching him, and the other judges agreed."
"Yeah that was pretty funny." Kitty said.
"I would have voted for you Pheebles." Saphy said.
"Ok well if we were both great which one of us was better?" Phoebe asked.
"You were." Saphy replied.
"She was asking Cj. Just pick one of us already it's not like it's that hard." Kitty said.
"Well, Kitty, if I'm seeing this right, I lost cause the other judges think you were better." Phoebe said. "Cj won't pick between us because he loves us both."
"But Pheebles I love you more than anything." I said. "
But yeah, Kitty is the better dancer. But hey we got time. I could dance with both of you."
"Just dance with Kitty first because she won fair and square." Phoebe said.
"You're not upset?" I asked.
"No. Because I'm better at everything else!" Phoebe said with confidence.
"Yes you are." Sapphy agreed.
"No you're not." Kitty said.
"You're better at somethings." I said.
"And how many planets are under her control?" Phoebe asked.
"Are you even controlling them anymore really?" I asked.
"I could if I wanted too." Phoebe replied.
"You do realize you don't have to be better than her for me to love you right? Just let that sink in for a moment." I replied.
"I know that I just keep forgetting." She replied. "It's really hard, seeing you with her."
"It's hard all around baby girl, but things will work out, remember that." I said.
"Our song is about to start." Kitty said.
"You have a song?" Phoebe asked with some concern.
"To be honest I don't know what she's talking about." I said.
"The song we're supposed to dance to, the bartender suggested it." Kitty explained.
"Oh that song." I replied.
"Oh not like a personal song just a song?" Phoebe asked.
"What's a personal song?" Kitty asked in return.
"Well you know some couples have a song that means." She began to explain.
"It's starting." Kitty interrupted as she somewhat forcefully dragged me away as a song that I wasn't really paying attention too ended and the next began to play. A slow song that I never heard before and can't remember now. It was like a slow pop song, but in an alien language. It sounded like a weird mix of late 90s songs which made it even more difficult to remember, because when I would try to remember it one of those songs would come up instead.
"Guess I'll have to explain later." An annoyed Phoebe said to herself.
"You can explain it to me." Saphy replied.
"Something tells me you wouldn't remember it tomorrow if I did." Phoebe said.
"Can I get another drink?" Saphy asked with a noticeable slur.
"No, you weren't even supposed to have as much as you've already had." Phoebe said. "If you want something to drink I'll get you some water."
Phoebe went to get some water for Saphy while I danced with Kitty, as a group of 6 bounty hunters entered, and quietly got some drinks for themselves like any other patron. They could easily be distinguished by their surplus tactical gear. A few of them had pistols, but it didn't look like they came to fight, at least that didn't seem to be their initial intention.
"Cj, bounty hunters are here, second table from the door." Phoebe said to me telepathically.
"Let's dance over here Kitty." I said as I led her out of their field of vision.
"Why over here?" She asked.
"Shh." I replied.
"Oh no they finally came." She said.
"Yes, now don't act or say anything suspicious." I replied.
"Can we finish our dance?" She asked.
"That's why I led you over here so they wouldn't see us." I replied.
"Are we going to attack them or what are we going to do?" Phoebe asked.
"On second thought, let's not cause a scene here, we'll follow them out and back to their ship." I said. "Give Saphy some time to sober up."
"It's going to take more time than that." Phoebe said.
"Well, I don't know Pheebles, just keep your guard up." I said.
"Stop dating Kitty and focus on the mission!" Phoebe replied.
"Well why don't you go talk to them? They don't know your face, and you can figure out how to get us on to their ship." I said.
"Ok I will, but you'll have to watch Saphy." Phoebe said.
"We will, the song is almost over, I think." I replied.
"So what are we going to do about this?" Kitty asked.
"I'll tell you after this song. ok?" I said.
"What's Phoebe doing?" Kitty asked.
"She's going to talk with them for a bit, they won't recognize her, nobody even knows she's with us." I said. "She's going to get whatever information she can, and then we're going to follow them back to their ship. And then we'll have some fun."
"On their ship? That sounds really naughty." She said.
"Not that kind of fun, I meant we're going to kick them all off of their ship and send it deep into space." I replied.
"Oh ok. That makes more sense." Kitty replied.
"Yeah, you think so?" I asked.
"Phoebe said you guys are going to take care of me?" Saphira said as she stumbled over to us, at this point we stopped dancing, the song was coming to a close anyway.
"Yeah, why don't you just sit back down and drink some more water?" I suggested, quietly hoping her current state wouldn't compromise the mission, knowing full well it was at least going to complicate things.
A few minutes passed as Phoebe made friends with the bounty hunters, before excusing herself and returning to us.
"They didn't recognize you so you're safe for now." Phoebe said.
"What else did you find out?" I asked.
"Their ship requires a key card to enter, so it should be no problem." She continued.
"So they have an accident and we take the card?" I asked in a hushed tone.
"Right." Phoebe replied.
"A little bit of mass hypnosis and darkness love and off the ship they go." I said.
"Darkness love?" Phoebe asked.
"I can make people do things." Kitty explained.
"So you're just going to go on there and dance?" Phoebe asked.
"Nooooo." Kitty cutely replied.
" You're in for a surprise." I said. "Hate to break it to you, but she has you beat in matters of mind control too."
"No she doesn't!" Phoebe said. "I control several planets."
"Without any form of amplification?" I said.
"Oh." Phoebe replied.
"She probably can't even use an amplifier can she?" Phoebe asked, trying to make it sound like she was still better. I quickly kissed her so she'd stop feeling so jealous.
"Just let it go baby girl." I replied.
She seemed to be confused for a moment, then she said "Ok".
"Ok so now we just wait for them to leave and hope Saphy is sober enough to walk by then." I said.
"This place has a really cool ceiling." Saphira chimed in with a slur and her head noticeably tilted upwards.
"And if she's not?" Phoebe asked.
"I'll stay with her here for a while longer and then take her back to our ship while you two deal with theirs." I said.
"Ok." Phoebe replied.
"Just don't get all competitive and Kitty, remember, no . . . " I began to say before Kitty cut me off.
"I know I know, just don't end up naked in bed with Saphy." Kitty said.
"Or Zari for that matter, you horny boy." Phoebe added.
"Or some random refuel lady." Kitty added in return.
"Great now they're working together." I thought.
"Or that clone." Phoebe said.
"That wasn't even my fault." I argued.
"I know, but still." Phoebe said, pretty much just to drive me nuts.
"But still nothing." I replied.
"So Pheebles, you wanna dance? We still got time, they can't see us back here." I said after a few moments of quietly listening to the background noise of ambient bar music mixed with the discussions of random patrons.
"I thought you were never going to ask." Phoebe replied as her eyes lit up and she eagerly took my hand.
"Kitty you know the drill, make sure Saphy doesn't hurt herself. And stay away from the bounty hunters" I said as I stood up.
"Yeah, I know." She replied seemingly annoyed. With her you could never be sure whether she was aware or not. Only by her annoyance you could tell she was in fact paying attention.
Anyway I danced with my baby girl for a while as we waited.
We had to wait clear until the last call before the group of bounty hunters got up and left. The time zone of the station lined up with that of the mother planet, when it was night there, it was treated as night here by all the locals. After the hunters left, I kissed Phoebe goodbye and she left with Kitty to take them out of the equation. Saphy was starting to show signs of recovery, so I waited a little longer before leading her out the door. At that point we were the last ones there aside from the staff. I led her back to the ship, showed her to an unoccupied room, as she still hadn't taken one for herself. I tucked her into bed, told her not to leave or go wandering around the ship, then I shut off the lights and left. I headed back to my own room and dozed off for a bit.
Meanwhile Phoebe and Kitty were in the process of royally screwing over the bounty hunters, having quietly followed the group from the bar back to their ship. They were quickly knocked unconscious and their keycard was stolen, allowing them to enter. They were not the only crew members however there were quite a few inside and still more at other bars and in other areas of the station. One of them was even visiting their grandmother in the residential district. The girls quietly entered the ship and began to explore. The entrance brought them to a short corridor that led a larger hallway, to the left there were 4 bunkrooms on both sides, and a captain's suite right at the end, to the right there were another three more bunkroom and an auxiliary turret control room, with the hallway terminating at the entrance to the reactor room, which on a ship this size, including ours, usually spanned 2 decks. On this ship and our ship it's on deck 3 and 2. On our ship flanked by mostly empty cargo space, a room full of about 30 EVA suits, usually for emergency use, like lifejackets on a naval ship, and 5 bedrooms, we did keep some supplies in there but not much, a lot of space was taken up by reinforcements for safety, to protect the reactor from hull breaches, and a hanger just big enough to squeeze a pair of fighters inside, like a helipad on a naval yaught, it was basically intended so you could have a couple of smaller ships to cruise around in. If we had such things, they would be fired straight out of the back via a built in electro-magnetic catapult system, which was basically intended to propel them far enough away from the ship so that they could safely ignite their engines without setting anything on fire. The garage was hermetically sealed when the doors were closed. On the bounty hunter's ship the reactor room was sandwiched by bunk rooms and an elevator clear at the back, which went from deck 2 all the way to the control room on deck 6, with deck one being accessible by stairs only.
The bounty hunter's ship, being an ex U.S.C light carrier, consisted of 6 decks with most of the fourth deck being one big hanger space, with room for about 15 fighters, which would be raised up by a large elevator to the fifth deck and fired off the ship via a much more impressive electro-magnetic catapult system capable of launching 3 fighters at once. Neither of these decks were hermetically sealed, aside from a small section of the fourth deck towards the back where there was a cafeteria, equipment storage, and a 3045-10PG defensive turret. A non-retractable 3000 kilowatt plasmatic gattling, designed to be safely overclocked to 4500 kilowatts for ten second bursts. Intended as an anti-missile and anti-fighter weapon. Not enough power to be a threat to capital ships. A retractable version was positioned towards the front, on deck 5 only to be deployed when needed, otherwise the catapult would send fighters smashing into it. The sixth deck was basically just the bridge, located in a small tower towards the back of the ship, above deck 5 which was basically just a lounge and a meeting room. It's important to note that even though it had a similar amount of decks compared to ours, it was physically a much larger ship, being significantly longer and wider, but a somewhat similar height. It was also extremely boxy with not much thought put into exterior styling. While ours had a much more streamlined appearance.
Anyway, the third and second decks were basically just bunk rooms and the reactor, with the engine room in place of the rear-most bunk rooms on the second deck. With the 1st deck being kind of a ventral gondola with 2 more non-retractable defensive turrets on both ends, both with 3045-10PGs, between the two turrets there was a smallish cargo bay. Smaller than ours, but considering the fourth deck was 80% hanger space it didn't really matter. For the record, fighter weapons are built more for ridiculous overclocking. A standard U.S.C fighter class weapon is a 2565-1PG. 6500 kilowatts in a 1 second burst, and at that point they're so prone to overheating once that one second window is up in their third iteration they were programmed to automatically shut off for 2 seconds so they can cool down, they can do a 2500 kilowatt burst constantly at about 512bpm, the U.S.C's standard fire rate for all plasmatic gattling weapons, but this is only really useful for missiles and badly shielded civilian ships. They're also a lot smaller and lighter than the defensive weapons, hence their overheating tendencys, depending on the fighter, sustained fire might risk depleting the energy reserves. Other weapons include various missiles and very rarely, just straight up gattling cannons. Capital class weapons are a lot larger and generally a lot more powerful. The standard for the U.S.C at this point in time is 2000-64PG32, the final number indicating a deviation from the standard fire rate, now at 32 bpm, in order to avoid ridiculous power drains. If the final number isn't present, it's always assumed to be 512, if it's lower than 60, then the number after the dash is the "overclocked" bpm, where the gun basically fires faster but the power output remains the same. This is normally used only on really big guns that can drain more power than the reactors can keep up with. They won't overheat, they'll just drain all the ships power if overused. Anyway, back to the story.
"It looks like the inside of a dumpster in here. Everything is metal." Phoebe said.
Being an ex-military ship, it obviously wasn't built with luxury in mind.
"Doesn't that weaken your powers?" Kitty asked.
"Only when I have to go through the metal, it won't weaken me that much." Phoebe replied.
The hallway lights suddenly flashed red and an alarm went off.
"Here they come." Phoebe said.
"Intruders spotted near the starboard entrance." Somebody said on the intercom.
"Ok Kitty let's see what you can do." Phoebe said. "There's at least two guys nearby."
"Just don't get jealous." Kitty replied as they both anticipated the arrival of more bounty hunters.
"Why do you and Cj keep thinking I'm jealous?" She said. "I am not jealous. That's ridiculous why would I ever be. "
"There they are, let's get them!" A bounty hunter interrupted as he and his comrade rounded a corner and approached the girls, weapons drawn.
"Darkness love." Kitty said as she used her powers to take over their minds. Before they could even comprehend what she was doing they were under her control.
"Get off the ship and go to sleep.." She said.
"Right away empress." They mindlessly said as they dropped their weapons, walked passed them and out through the entrance.
"Did you ever use that on Cj? Is that why he spent 20 years with you?" Phoebe asked, somewhat shocked, she had heard what Kitty had done, but had never seen it herself.
"No, and we were friends a long time before that, while he was still married to Aranea. I would never do that to him, I love him." Kitty replied.
"I love him too. " Phoebe chimed.
"So is that all you can do is two guys at once?" Phoebe teasingly asked.
"No, I was hoping more would show up, but they're being slow or something, I don't know." Kitty replied. "How many guys can you do at once?"
"Um, well I guess I'll be your eyes and you'll send them all off of the ship." Phoebe said. Without her ship it took almost all her concentration just to control one, something she didn't want Kitty to know.
"Ok." Kitty replied.
They made their way into the main hallway and decided to start by clearing out the bunk rooms. A lot of the crew was not on the ship at this point so they only found one guy who was asleep in his bunk, with some rather expensive headphones on, which meant he didn't even hear the alarm. They removed his headphones, Kitty did her thing and he walked off of the ship, half asleep, half dressed with headphones in hand.
They went round the reactor room, and checked out the additional bunkrooms on the other side, and found nothing, so they headed for the elevator, which arrived shortly before they got there to let off 6 more bounty hunters.
"Sorry I couldn't see them." Phoebe said as they went for cover, in bunk rooms on opposite sides of the corridor.
Kitty instinctively stabbed one of them with the Nazzar nail, he died in seconds, it made quite a mess, the blood spread quickly across the smooth metal floor.
"Kitty what the hell just use your mind control. You don't have to kill them." Phoebe said.
"It won't work if they can't see me." Kitty replied.
Phoebe waited for them to get away from the elevator so she could teleport behind them, a quick burst of psychic energy knocked them all down like bowling pins.
"Kitty hurry before they get up!" Phoebe said.
Kitty came out from where she was hiding, "Darkness love" She said as the bounty hunters struggled to get back up, by the time they did so they were under her control.
"Get off the ship, and go to sleep." Kitty said.
"Yes empress." All five bounty hunters said simultaneously.
"How long do they stay out?" Phoebe asked.
"I don't think they really sleep they'll try, but most of the time they'll just lay there. But they can be snapped out of it pretty easily if they can't see me." Kitty replied.
"So what you're saying is I should probably go back and knock them out then?" Phoebe said.
"If you want too." Kitty said.
"Eh, we'll do that later." Phoebe said. "Let's go to the next floor."
"Ok." Kitty replied as she went towards the elevator.
"And try not to kill anyone else." Phoebe said.
"I'll try, no guarantees." Kitty replied.
They got in the elevator and headed up to the next floor, ending up in a small lounge area that sat behind the cafeteria. A pair of cooks nervously hid behind the counter as they entered the room, along with 2 more bounty hunters armed with pistols. Getting them off the ship was easy enough, they didn't find anyone else on deck 4, deck 5, or on the bridge, it was apparent that the rest of the crew was out partying. They checked deck one and two to make sure everyone was off, and then they headed up to the bridge.
"Ok, we'll set it to jump really far away and then we'll leave." Phoebe said.
"I was hoping there would be more people on here." Kitty said.
"They're probably all exploring the station." Phoebe said.
"Wait don't we have to undock the ship to set it to jump?" Kitty asked.
"Yeah." Phoebe replied.
"How are we going to get back on the station?" Kitty asked.
"Um, we'll see, I have an idea actually." Phoebe said.
-back to Cj, about thirty minutes later-
I had nearly drifted off to sleep when the computer decided to make an announcement.
"Docking permission requested." The computer said, which meant it had been saying that on the bridge for at least five minutes and nobody responded.
"What?" I replied as I came to the realization I was going to have to go all the way to the bridge to see what was going on.
"Docking permission requested." The computer chimed again.
"Computer hold until I make it to the bridge." I said, which basically made it shut up.
"Computer room lights on." I said to turn on the lights.
I got dressed and grudgingly headed up to the bridge to see what this was about. Sure enough there was a fighter requesting permission to dock. There were also several video message requests. I accepted one of them and a video feed came up on the screen of Phoebe wearing an oversized spacesuit looking over at and talking to Kitty who was just out of shot.
"Do you think he's asleep or banging Saphy.? She asked.
"Neither." I replied.
"Oh, Arceus Cj, don't do that." Phoebe said once she realized I could see her. One of the few times I've seen her genuinely surprised. She couldn't read me over the air.
"You got a fighter now?" I asked.
"Yeah I stole it from those bounty hunter goofballs." Phoebe said.
"Are you going to let me in or am I just going to hover out here?" She asked.
"Yeah just let me accept your request. I'll see you down there." I said.
I pressed the button, the hangar bay doors opened with a wooshing sound as air escaped, and the docking clamps prepared to clamp the ship. The docking procedure completed, Phoebe and Kitty left the garage and entered the airlock as I went down to see them. They were taking off their spacesuits when I got there.
"You stole one of their fighters?" I asked.
"Yep." Phoebe replied.
"Fair enough." I replied. "At least we got something to put in the bay now."
"I was thinking we could use it to help against Phanon." Phoebe said.
"Do you know how to pilot a space fighter?" I asked.
"I flew it over here didn't I?" Phoebe asked.
"Yeah she did, very slowly." Kitty said.
"Yeah well, I didn't want to crash." Phoebe replied.
"How did you get it off the ship?" I asked.
"I had to read the mind of a pilot so I could see how to put it on the elevator and shoot it off of the catapult." Phoebe replied.
"That wasn't fun at all." Kitty added.
"Kitty screamed, it was funny." Phoebe said.
"Not to me." Kitty argued.
"Was that before or after you undocked the ship to jump?" I asked, hoping she didn't leave anyone on the ship, otherwise they could just make it jump back here.
"Before, I had this idea planned out the whole time." Phoebe said. "So we could use it to help rescue your son."
"You can't copy that pilot's skill can you?" I asked.
"Not exactly no." Phoebe replied. "But it brought me back to you. I'm sure one of us could learn to fly it."
"Yeah, maybe." I replied.
"Not me." Kitty said. "That catapult, just no."
"You know the one on here isn't nearly as powerful." I said. "They crank it up on the carriers so they can very quickly get their fighters up to speed and in range."
"I don't care." Kitty replied.
"Cj let's go and get out of here. Bounty hunters could find out what we did and come after us at any minute." Phoebe urged.
"Yeah you're right we should get going." I said. "Come on, we can continue this up on the bridge."
So we took the elevator up to the bridge where I made preparations to undock and trundle away, back towards Phanon space. A short jump to gain some distance, and we were finally back on track.
"Ok, now they shouldn't be able to find us so easily, if they do manage to get off of that station." I said once we came out of warp speed.
"I don't know about you two, but I'm kind of tired. We were at that bar for god knows how long." I added.
"I could use a nap." Kitty agreed.
"I think we need to claim our reward for sending that ship deep into space." Phoebe said.
"What kind of reward do you want?" I asked.
"You know what kind, one of a very intimate nature. " Phoebe said." You deserve a reward too for doing such a great job looking after Saphira."
"Hehe, Pheebles, I put her to bed and then took a nap for a few hours." I said.
"Yeah, but still." Phoebe insisted.
"What about me?" Kitty asked.
"Why don't you take a shower and then you can join us." Phoebe said.
"Can't I just de-digivolve?" Kitty asked.
"No because then the blood from that guy you murdered will end up on the floor." Phoebe said. Which was true, anything she was wearing that wasn't part of her original outfit when she digivolved would simply phase through her and end up on the floor. Of course all that blood was dry now, but it was still messy.
"I didn't murder him, he was going to attack me." Kitty replied.
"Yeah, but you could have avoided killing him." Phoebe said.
"Yeah and how was I supposed to do that?" Kitty asked.
"Well not stabbing him would've been a good start." Phoebe replied.
"Why don't you just de-digivolve in the shower? Like you wouldn't even have to get naked. " I suggested.
"Yeah that would work if you ran the water afterwards so it all washes down the drain. " Phoebe added.
"Ok I'll go do that." Kitty said as she left the bridge.
"Allright Pheebles, if you really wanna do this let's get back to our room." I said. "Zari will get pissed if we do it here."
"Ok, but how is she going to know?" My beloved asked.
"No idea, but I'd rather not take the chance." I replied. "Remember a few days ago when you decided to give me a foot job in here since you just got your toes polished again and she caught us halfway through? She completely freaked out and it's not like she hasn't seen my cock before. I used to bang her almost every day after training."
"Yeah I know, don't remind me." Phoebe said.
"Sometimes she'd let me lick the sweat off her feet." I continued.
"Do you want me to tell kitty what you've been doing with her?" Phoebe asked.
"She knows, she's fine with it, she thought the more I slept with other women the less likely it would be for you to take me back." I said.
"Wow she is stupid. I'm sorry, but, well she isn't here anyway so." Phoebe said. "She can't read minds can she?"
"Yeah, she, has her moments." I asked. "And no, she's just really good at mind control, oddly enough."
"That's good to know." Phoebe replied.
"She can also cause people to feel pain without even touching them." I said.
"I can do that too." Phoebe replied. "But I don't need too."
"And that claw she has can corrode its way through steel." I said. "Thankfully only when she's using it or it'd probably burn a hole clear through the ship."
"Ok I can't do that." Phoebe replied.
"Also before we move on. I want to make things clear Cj your weiner is not allowed inside Zari or anyone else unless I'm there and I give you permission. "
"Right." I agreed. "As long as the same applies to you and your lady bits."
"Mhm." Phoebe said." Now come on let's go."
"Ok. Also Zari has bigger boobs than you." I replied.
"Cj I know, I can see, it's so silly when you lie to me like that.' She replied.
I took her hand and led her to the stairs.
"Now, are you done trying to make me slap you?" She asked.
"That's all I got for now." I replied.
"Ok then let's get going." She said as she offered her hand.
I took it and, after realizing she wasn't planning on teleporting, I led her to the stairs.
"So you're good with having a little fun?" She asked on the way down. "You're not really acting like you want it."
"If it's what you want, I love you baby girl. You just woke me up from a nap, sorry if I'm a bit tired." I said.
"Well if you just want to snuggle for a while until you're more into it that's ok too." Phoebe said.
"Allright fair enough." I replied.
"We can be intimate without going all the way." Phoebe continued.
"Very true." I replied.
"Even though I'd prefer we do." Phoebe said.
"We'll get to that." I replied.
"Actually, before we start anything, which room was Saphy in? I just want to check on her real quick." Phoebe asked.
"I think I put her in 21." I replied.
"Why'd you put her all the way down there?" Phoebe asked.
"It was close to the entrance and I didn't want to make her walk up all those stairs in her condition." I replied as we continued down several flights of stairs to deck 3.
"Saphy you awake?" Phoebe asked as she cracked the door open and poked her head through.
"Phoebe is that you?" Saphy moaned in discomfort. "I feel sick."
"Yeah you drank too much, you're going to be sick." Phoebe said. "Just stay here and rest well until you feel good enough to move. I'll bring some more water to drink. You'll get through this don't worry."
"I'm going to go get her some water then we'll have some fun ok?" Phoebe asked.
"If you say so princess." I replied.
We took the elevator back up to deck 6 where she got a glass of water from the kitchen and then we came back down to give it to Saphy.
"Is Zari still onboard?" I asked after we left Saphy alone to rest and began to head back up to deck 5.
"Yeah I'm picking her up." Phoebe said. "Why?"
"I was just thinking it would suck if those bounty hunters hit the ship while we were gone and took her, again." I said.
"Well they didn't because I can hear her." Phoebe replied. "She's dreaming about her ex-husband."
In reality the bounty hunters planned to attack our ship while it was docked, but the local port authority would not let them on board. By the time that fell through, most of the crew had dispersed and taken shore leave, the captain was not a happy man at the moment. Phoebe and Kitty didn't have that problem, as they just snuck around them.
"Allright then you ready to snuggle?" I asked.
"Yes, more than that even." Phoebe replied.
"Great." I said as I took her hand and we walked side by side to our bedroom.
I got back in bed, she took her shoes off and playfully crawled on top of me.
"We're just supposed to snuggle." I said.
"I know, but that doesn't mean I can't kiss you." She said before she playfully kissed me all around my face.
"You crazy little cutie." I said as I put my arms around her.
"Did that get you going?" She asked.
"A little bit yeah." I replied.
"Why don't we wait a bit for Kitty, since you said she could join us." I asked.
"Did I say that?" Phoebe asked.
"Yeah, and you shouldn't break promises to her like that, you two need to learn to trust each other, now more than ever." I said.
"That wasn't a promise it was a statement." She said.
"Still, you made her think she's gonna get some." I said.
"Well what's taking her so long?" Phoebe asked.
"I don't know." I replied. It was kind of weird, she didn't even have to take a shower so she should have been in here by now.
"Come on, we can make out for a little bit." I said.
"Ok." She replied as her eyes lit up she quickly started kissing me again before I could react, but I was eventually able to start kissing her back. As our passion grew the seeds for worry over Kitty withered and died. Eventually the wait was getting ridiculous, Phoebe was getting more and more horny and her boobs were about to pop out of her dress.
"Cj I have to get this dress off now it's getting hard to breath." She said as she sat up and started to remove her dress.
Before I could even react, the sight of her luxurious fun bags dropping out as she eagerly lifted her dress up over her head made me realize that Kitty was just going to be too late to catch this train.
"Now if you want to play with my boobies, we need to do more than just make out." She said as she covered her breasts with her arms.
"Well Pheebles, I don't know where the hell Kitty is, but I think we've given her more than enough time." I said.
"I think so too." She replied. "So we are going all the way then?"
"I guess so." I said. "Now bring those things over here."
"Awe, good boy." She said before smothering me with her breasts.
Anyway, we had our fun, then we snuggled for awhile, then, with Kitty still absent we decided to get dressed and see what she was up to. It turned out that for whatever reason, after she cleaned herself up she decided to play pinball in the rec room, then she went up to deck 6 to tend to her garden for a while. Then she felt slightly dirty so she cleaned herself up again, then she went back to playing pinball.
"Oh hi you guys." She said as we entered the rec room.
"Did you forget about us?" I asked.
"We were waiting for you to join, but you never came." Phoebe replied.
"Oh I'm sorry I forgot, we can do that right now." Kitty said.
"No we can't, we already did it together and we're not in the mood anymore." Phoebe said.
"You did it without me?" Kitty asked.
"Well we're not going to wait several hours for you to do literally everything else." I said. "I mean seriously Kitty Phoebe can barely wait ten minutes."
"Cj." Phoebe prodded me.
"I understand. We'll just have to some other time." Kitty replied.
"Yeah, well, not today, he's mine now. You'll just have to learn to take what is offered, when it's offered." Phoebe said.
"Pheebles quit being so in her face." I said. "There's no reason for that."
"Sorry." Phoebe apologized.
"It's ok." Kitty replied.
"So what do you wanna do now? Just play some pinball?" I asked.
"I guess so. There's not much else to do." Phoebe replied.
"At some point we'll go back to that station and get that game console working." I said.
"I hope so. I can't wait to beat you again." Phoebe replied.
"At what game?" I asked.
"All of them." She replied.
"Without cheating?" I asked.
"Of course." She replied.
"Eh, we'll see, I'm interested to see what kind of cars they have on that racing game." I replied.
"Actually, I kind of what to check out that fighter you got."
"Oh ok." Phoebe said.
"You want to come with me?" I asked.
"Sure." Phoebe replied.
"Can I go too?" Kitty asked.
"Yeah if you want." I replied.
One elevator ride down to deck 1 later.
"Ok, so it looks like it's an ex-U.S.C SF-38 Blackstar." I said once I got a closer look at it.
"Is that good?" Phoebe asked.
"These were brand new about the time I retired, the U.S.C stopped using them 20 years ago." I said. "Still, pretty badass owning one now."
"Is it any good?" Phoebe asked.
"Bounty hunters still use them for a reason. " I replied. "They're lighter and faster and more maneuverable than the current SF-47 they use now, but it doesn't have as much armor or firepower, they're not as comfortable either from what I've heard, but being a bounty hunter ship it's probably been suped up a little bit, better ai, probably slightly more efficient reactor, you know, just general upgrades and stuff to keep up to date."
"How can you tell?" Phoebe asked.
"No idea, never worked on these before." I admitted.
"You want to take it for a ride? Somebody needs to get good at flying it." Phoebe suggested.
"Can we all fit inside?" Kitty asked.
"Only two seats Kitty." I replied.
"Also remember the catapult." Phoebe said.
"Oh, right, never mind. Have fun." Kitty replied before she promptly left.
"Where you going?" I asked.
"Back to the pinball machines." She replied.
"Well ok see you later then." I said.
"Bye Cj." She moodily replied.
Once she left Phoebe and I put on some space suits, for safety reasons, and then climbed into the cockpit.
"So, you trust me to fly this thing?" I asked.
"Well, you've made it this far." Phoebe replied. "You were a captain weren't you? You should know how to fly these things."
"I'm used to flying larger ships." I said. "I don't think I've ever flown something this small and maneuverable. Eh, but there's no asteroids around and we got autopilot to bail us out if we need to, so let's give it a shot." I said as I navigated through the ship's heads-up display so I could set it up for launch.
The garage door opened, a bunch of air rushed out, we buckled ourselves up pretty tightly, I pressed the launch button on the screen, a countdown came on, ten seconds, that's how long it would give us to brace before it catapulted us out into space, during which the catapult system would charge and the fighter's reactor core would start heating up. After being flung out into space, the reactor would start burning fuel and then the engines would kick on, then, well it would be a lot like piloting, what could best be described as a really fast submarine, there were no g forces, you were just kind of floating and the only thing you could really feel was the thrust of the engines behind you. Top speed was about 2450mph, but it accelerated really slowly, and slows down even slower than that, there's no brakes in space, you have to rely on reverse thrusters, and they are normally not even a quarter of the size of the main engine. Despite going faster than the speed of sound, you don't really feel it, as aside from the Great Sword of Space, which automatically stopped before we launched there wasn't much around to really judge how fast you were going. The way the radar works in these things it starts slowing down automatically once it picks up a lot of obstacles in front of you, for safety reasons so you don't go plowing into an asteroid or something else you were moving too fast to see, but out here it was just empty space for who the hell knows how many miles According to the ships computer, it was armed with two 2060-1PGs, which were kind of old, but ok, and for some reason a 3000-24CPC12, which was bizarre, a really slow charging plasma cannon, as opposed to a plasmatic gattling, generally a corvette class anti-capital weapon, very rarely installed on fighters, and also way too slow to be useful against them, and only one of them, the reactor on this ship, which was good for a max of 25000 kilowatts per second constant, didn't have enough juice for more, keep in mind a lot of the reactor's output was also used for propulsion and other systems. It also had 4 leach missiles, which made sense given its former owners.
"You know before all this, I'd never thought I'd ever get to be in space." Phoebe said after we launched.
"Yeah, it's mindblowing isn't it?" I said. " Even more so than the nexus."
"Mhm." Phoebe replied.
"I wonder if our worlds exist somewhere out there, or they're truly in a different reality."
"I think probably a different reality." I said.
"How do you know?" She asked.
"Because each reality seems to have slight variations in the laws of physics. This ship for instance, I don't think something like this could possibly exist in your world or mine." I said. "And remember that wizard guy that had the hots for you, what was his name Marlboro?"
" I don't remember that was more than 100 years ago." Phoebe replied.
"His powers didn't even make logical sense, from our perspective." I said.
"Yeah." Phoebe replied. "Anyway, after we rescue your son, I think I'm going to try to get us back to the digital world."
"How?" I asked.
"One of my side projects." Phoebe said. "You'll see."
"How many side projects do you have?" I asked.
"Actually just that one." She replied.
"Oh, ok." I said.
"And what about Henry, Claire, and Iceleomon?" I asked.
"Well if we can't find them by then, we'll just have to move on without them." Phoebe said. "I still miss home Cj, even after all this time."
"We're immortal we can afford to wait for our friends." I said.
"Well I'm sure we'll find them by then." Phoebe replied.
"Allright so what are we doing out here?" I asked.
"I don't know, it was your idea." Phoebe said.
"Oh right." I replied as I pushed the throttle all the way up and the ship violently accelerated, accompanied by some fake engine noise. Seriously, most fighter class ships, except for the very first few types to be made, made fake, but really convincing sci-fi esque engine noises. The technical term was an AIS (Auditory Indication Suite) It was basically so you could have an auditory reminder of how fast you were going without it being overly annoying, because realistically everything would be completely silent. This even extended to the weapon system, with the weapons making fake firing and charging sounds if applicable. Missiles would broadcast explosion sounds seconds prior to detonation. And you could change the noises at will using the console. Some people preferred something less fanciful like a bass vibration, some very special people preferred a frequency wave, which had to be the most annoying thing ever, but the fake engine sounds were by far the most popular. It helped to keep the pilots situational awareness up without being completely annoying, and it also helped to break up the monotony. And even if the pilot found it annoying, he or she could just turn it off anyway.
"Woah Cj! Slow down!" Phoebe yelled.
"Oh come on 2450mph, fastest we'll probably ever go." I said, even though hyperspace was several thousand times faster, it really didn't feel like it unless you were looking out the window and the distant stars started to streak by accompanied by occasional flashes of light from stars you passed close to, or even went straight through on some occasions. Hyperspace was essentially moving so fast the ship could pass through otherwise solid objects, but to do so the reactor had to be capable of producing millions of kilowatts of energy, usually an entire fuel rod or so worth at once, reactors like this could only be fitted on fairly large ships, so no fighter ever had the ability to.
"It's scary fast." Phoebe said.
"Oh relax Pheebles, see the radar? There's literally nothing out here to hit." I said.
"What about that dot?" Phoebe asked.
"That's the Sword, and we're heading away from it." I said. "We just have to make sure to stay in communication range with it then we can just press auto dock and we'll be able to get back pretty easily."
I tested the weapon system, no concern for wasting ammo with lasers, the 2060-1PGs were ok, not much to say about it really, pretty standard laser cannon with a power draw low enough to maintain constant fire. The 3000-24CPC12 on the other hand, took a while to charge but once it did it released a ball of plasma about 5 meters in diameter. Which slowly traveled a fair distance away before eventually destabilizing and violently exploding. The onboard electronics would not let it be fired above a certain speed, probably for safety reasons as the ship was capable of going faster than the projectile. Which also meant it could very well blow itself up.
"Having fun?" Phoebe asked.
"You can always have fun with a loud laser gun." I said.
"Really?" Phoebe asked.
"It's from a song." I replied.
"It is?" Phoebe asked.
"Yeah it's called Yimson Yen and the great space war, by the Delanios."
"The what?" Phoebe asked.
"I'll show you sometime if I ever get the chance." I said.
"Did you learn any new songs while we were apart?" I asked after a few moments of silence later.
"Not really, no." She replied. "I was too busy looking for you."
"Well empress you found me now you can enjoy this place a bit more." I replied.
"I already am." She said with a cute smile.
"Oh Pheebles, you really are something else you know that?" I said.
"I know." She replied.
"Well I don't really know what else to do, maybe Zari can get us access to a training area sometime and we can practice avoiding obstacles." I I said.
"Those exist?" Phoebe asked.
"Yeah, they use a bunch of holograms to represent asteroids and other ships that way you can practice avoiding things and if you accidently hit something you don't die." I said.
"Oh, ok, neat." She replied.
"l'll just set the auto-dock and there, we should be back onboard the sword in about 20 minutes." I said.
"But how is the door going to open?" Phoebe asked. "It didn't for me."
"I have the access code. " I replied.
"What's the code?" Phoebe asked.
"I love you baby girl." I replied.
"I know, but what's the code?" She asked.
"That is the code." I said.
"Oh, really?" Phoebe said.
"Except it has "8"s instead of "b"s." I replied.
"That's so dumb." She said.
"Well it's easy to remember." I replied. "So anyway it will be about twenty minutes before we make it back."
"What are we going to do until then?" She asked.
"We could sing songs or something, I don't know.." I said.
"I don't really feel like singing." She replied.
"Well just sit and stare at all the white dots outside then." I replied.
"That's boring." She said.
"Well there's not really enough room in here to fool around, so we can't do that if that's what you want." I said. "I mean there's barely enough room to remove these spacesuits."
"No not that Cj, I just want something to do to pass the time." She said.
"Well, we could see what options this computer system has." I said.
"Like what?" Phoebe asked.
"I don't know, sometimes you can change the color of all the backlights, or the font, or the voice the computer system uses." I said as I scrolled through the menu.
After fiddling around with the ship's computer for a few minutes I found something interesting. Somebody had installed an emulator for games for an old handheld system I knew very little about. It was basically this galaxy's version of a PSP in both market segment and technology level. Further research revealed there were literally hundreds of roms stashed in a file on here. So many that I can't even imagine that the previous owned ever played them all, or was even fully aware of what they had. I wasn't familiar with any of them except for a port of an old arcade game that I played a few times in the bar back on paloran. It seemed appropriate for the situation so I clicked on it and sure enough the title screen appeared on the main control console followed by the game's theme music.
"Look at this Pheebles it can play video games." I said, already amused.
" 2543?" Phoebe asked.
" It's an old arcade game based on the first war ever held in space between the Allied Federation of Planets and Zelusian empire. Basically you fly a tiny ship through space and shoot stuff." I explained, said war was over 1000 years ago, the A.F.P eventually evolved into the U.S.C. It was somewhat similar to Bosconian, except the ships were all based on actual ships and you could only shoot in one direction, the graphics were also better, but they were retro-styled, so while it looked like a 1980s arcade game, it actually came out in 2575, in this area's timeline, and became just popular enough that an unbelievable amount of clones and renditions have been made since then. To win each level you had to destroy a combination of Zelusian carriers and destroyers, while avoiding 3 different kinds of enemy fighters, ones that would shoot lasers at you, ones that would fire guided missiles that would track you for a few seconds, and ones that were basically like the first kind but could become invulnerable for 5 second intervals. Each carrier would periodically launch enemy fighters until it was destroyed, while destroyers would just shoot at you themselves, they could shoot five projectiles in four directions from five points on the ship. Both big ships could be destroyed by hitting them in these five different points each of which would periodically become invincible. Destroying a point on a destroyer would take out one of its 5 guns as well. So as they were damaged they would become easier to approach. While a carrier would happily summon waves of fighters until it explodes. And that was basically the whole game, you kill all the big ships and move onto the next level, you get an extra life every 100000 points, and it repeats after level 64, but with faster, more dangerous fighters. There were remakes of this game in about every graphical style imaginable, but this rom used the "original" faux 1980s looking graphics that for whatever reason were making a comeback at the time of its release.
"Let's see how this works." I said as I started pushing buttons on the center keyboard, normally used for the navigation system among other things. The controls didn't take long to figure out and within seconds I was somewhat competently playing through level one.
"Hey can I try?" Phoebe asked.
"Yeah, space shoots, wasd moves." I replied.
She took over and I watched her play for a while as the ship slowly moved towards the Sword that was now just barely visible on the horizon, but very visible on the radar. Eventually we made it there.
"Does this have any other games?" Phoebe asked as the garage doors closed and we waited for the hangar to pressurize, we couldn't leave the ship until then, the computer literally wouldn't let us.
"A lot more, but we're not just going to stay out here so you can play them." I said.
"Oh come on please? Just a little longer." She asked.
"You have until the hangar pressurizes." I said.
It was fully pressurized about 20 seconds later.
"Allright come on, let's go." I said as I turned the key off which killed the console screen and the game and started the reactor shutdown procedure.
"Oh come on. Cj. That was mean." Phoebe complained.
"We can do other things now Pheebles." I said as I pressed the button to open up the canopy.
"Oh right we can." She said. "As soon as we can get out of these space suits."
"You have anything in mind?" I asked.
"No that's your job." She replied.
"Well I was just seeing if you had any preferences." I said.
"I don't care as long as I'm with you." She replied.
Sweetness overload.
"Well first we should get the ship moving again, Zari might get mad if she wakes up and we're just sitting here." I said.
"Ok." Phoebe replied as we started to remove our spacesuits.
"Then we should go check on Saphy again." She suggested.
"Allright sure if you want too.' I agreed.
"Together." She said as she seized my hand.
"Right together." I replied. "What are you doing?"
"It will be more fun if we hold hands." She cutely said with a smile.
"Eh, maybe a little bit." I agreed. "But I need my hand right now so I can get the rest of my spacesuit off.
"Oh, sorry." She said as she let go of my hand.
We got our spacesuits off and headed up to the bridge, while religiously holding hands, adding a bit of whimsy to an otherwise ordinary task. I put the Sword back on its course into Phanon space, and then we headed down to deck 3 Room 21 to check on Saphira. She was asleep, so we weren't there very long.
"Let's see what Kitty is doing." Phoebe said after we ran out of somewhat pertinent things to do.
"She's probably in the rec room, if not she's probably sleeping." I said as we headed for the elevator.
"She's probably sleeping in the rec room." Phoebe replied.
"Yeah probably." I agreed. "Wish I could sleep anywhere like that."
"Well, I can put you out anywhere you want." Phoebe said.
"Not like that, then I wake up feeling like I got hit by a truck." I replied.
"Yeah, well, you can't have everything Cj." Phoebe replied.
"I got you, that's enough." I replied.
"Awwwwe, Cj." She cutely said.
We took the elevator back up to deck 5, the rec room was empty.
"Well if she's not here she probably went to check on her garden." I said.
"oh, where's that?" Phoebe asked.
"You've never seen it?" I asked. "It's the backroom on deck six."
"Isn't that where the kitchen and dining room is?" Phoebe asked.
"Yeah it's convenient that way." I said.
The garden is in a room that has a panoramic glass roof to let in starlight, though it's also set up with uv lights for passing through space where there isn't enough ambient light, and some shutters than can cover up the glass in those rare times that there is too much light, or the glass is compromised for whatever reason. With the shutters open it offers quite a nice view only beaten by that of the bridge.
In the middle of the room among the shelves lined with various plants, Kitty was sleeping on the floor with her back against one of the shelves.
"Hey you're here." Kitty said, rising to her feet, before either of us thought to wake her up.
"Taking a nap again?" I asked.
"You know me." She replied." I got everything taken care of then I got bored waiting for you."
"What are you growing in here again?" I asked.
"Lots of things." She said.
"She set all this up herself?" Phoebe asked as she curiously looked around, somehow she had never been in this room before.
"Well, I helped her plant a few things, and I moved a lot of this stuff into here, but yeah, basically." I said.
"I'm impressed." Phoebe said.
"Awwwe thank you." Kitty said.
"This one over here is from our old house." Kitty said as she gestured towards a fairly large decorative plant with large, colorful leaves.
"Oh yeah, I remember that one." I said.
"It's really colorful." Phoebe said.
"They grow on the ugly part of Paloran that's more swamp than beach." Kitty said.
"We went there once just to explore, to kind of get out of the city that had taken over our surroundings, it wasn't a good idea." I said.
"I got stuck in the mud and it ruined my clothes, and it took hours to get clean." Kitty said.
"And there was mosquitos the size of bumblebees." I added.
"You couldn't just digivolve?" Phoebe asked.
"If I did I could have lost all my rings in the mud, or my pants could have ripped." Kitty said.
"You were wearing pants?" Phoebe asked.
"She's wearing pants now Pheebles." I said.
"No I mean like jeans." Phoebe said.
"Oh, well I was, uh, trying to show her the virtues of jeans." I said. "I showed you too remember, but you keep insisting on wearing those little dresses."
"Hey they're comfortable, they look great, and they're easy to slip in and out of, and they're easy to find in my size, and you know you like them." Phoebe said.
"Well anyway I didn't want to rip them so I had to stand in the mud until Cj could help me." Kitty continued.
"And then you threw them away even though they could have been washed." I said.
"There was no way they could have ever been clean again." She replied.
"I doubt that." Phoebe said. "You could just spray most of the mud off with a hose or something and then wash it as normal."
"I tried to tell her that." I said. "Didn't matter."
"I wasn't going to let that mud get into the washing machine and then onto everything else. I washed my rings in there!
"You did?" I asked. "Kitty you're supposed to polish them if they're dirty not chuck them into the washing machine. I guess that explains why that machine clapped out a few weeks after you moved in."
"Eheh." She said with an awkward grin. "Sorry."
"Just don't do that again." I replied.
"Ok." Kitty said.
"If you break the washing machine on here, it might be hard to get Zari to agree to purchase another one." I said.
"Oh I'm sure she would Cj, either that or I could easily get us one for free." Phoebe said.
"Pheebles I keep thinking that's gonna catch up to you someday." I said.
"I've been doing this for 80 years Cj, it hasn't caught up yet." Phoebe said.
"Yeah but it looks like the Zelusians are getting close to figuring out your little scheme." I said.
"Yeah, well, I don't need it anymore, I found you." She said.
"Still need to find Henry, Claire, and Iceleomon." I said.
"Well, I'll have to check my ship at some point to see if they turned up yet." Phoebe said. "All the communications from all the planets under my control go to it."
"Well, maybe we'll check back with it after this." I said.
"Ok, that might be awhile." Phoebe replied.
"Yeah, a few more days at least, if we don't run into anymore bounty hunters." I said.
"Is Zari awake yet?" Kitty asked.
"I don't know, her shift isn't for a few more hours." I said.
"Oh ok." Phoebe said. A few seconds later she got this look on her face and even after all the time we've been apart, I remembered and I knew exactly what she was thinking.
"I think we owe you some loving." Phoebe said after a few moments of silence.
"Yeah you do don't you?" Kitty asked.
"Would you like to collect on it now?" Phoebe asked.
"Not here, it's more fun in bed." Kitty replied.
"Really right now?" I asked.
"Well what else are we going to do?" Phoebe asked.
"Eh I don't know, I guess we could right now, but you'll both have to get me in the mood." I said.
"Oh that's easy." Phoebe said.
"Yeah it is. Let's go." Kitty agreed.
We headed back to the bedroom I shared with Phoebe and started to have some fun.
"All we have to do is a little bit of a double foot job and you'll be hard as a rock." Phoebe said as she slipped out of her shoes.
"Right it's so funny he can't resist." Kitty agreed as she started to get her shoes off.
"I know he's such a weirdo." Phoebe asked.
"No he's not." Kitty said.
"Awwe she's defending you." Phoebe said.
"You like getting licked behind your ears." I said as I pulled her close and demonstrated. I have no idea why, I found out about it during one of the less memorable and unmentioned times we've done it, but it drives her insane.
"Now that is kind of weird." Kitty said.
"Cj." She said with a gasp.
"It takes Kitty a bit to get undressed so how about we start to play a little bit?" I asked.
"Oh you can play with me all you want you naughty boy." Phoebe replied as she stuck her hand down my pants.
"Well, I should get the other side too." I said.
"Slowly, slowly slowly, oh arceus." Phoebe moaned as I brought her an immense amount of pleasure without even getting her naked.
"And now let's get your dress off." I said as I started to lift up her dress.
"But my boobs. They're not ready yet." Phoebe protested.
"Oh it'll be fine" I said. "Besides they're still pretty cute when they're tiny."
"Hey Kitty you ever see her boobs when she's not ready yet?" I asked.
"Doesn't look like there's much to see." Kitty replied.
"Hey stop teasing, you both know they're not their full size yet." Phoebe said.
"Yeah I'm going to have to lick you a few more times aren't I?" I said as I started to massage her nipples.
"Or maybe I should just rub them like this." I said.
"Yeah like that." She said.
"Then I can feel them grow in my hands." I said.
"Yeah." She softly replied.
"My special baby girl's magical balloon boobs." I said.
"Stop." Phoebe replied, embarassed.
"I gotta admit I missed these things." I said. "Kittys are great but they aren't the same."
"Not every day you get to fondle the tits of a galactic empress." I said.
"Yeah it is you married me you dummy." Phoebe replied. "Four times."
"Yeah I loved you before I even knew you were a princess." I said.
"Yeah you did." Phoebe replied.
"What?" Kitty asked.
"Never mind." We both replied before I turned Phoebe around and kissed her.
"I'll keep marrying you again and again, you know that?" I said.
"I know." Phoebe replied.
"It doesn't matter how long we're apart I'll always love you." I said.
"Oh Cj." She replied before we started to make out.
And so the fun began.