A Ship and her Captain : An Isekai Story

by The Imperator 2 you

A Man working part time as a drink runner, finds himself reincarnated into the world of his space game after saving the life of a little girl from a train collision. A fan of nintendo games, he nicknamed his ship, Great Fox, and now finds himself as her captain. Gathering a crew of loyal friends and even love interests, what kind of life will he live in this new world?

6. Chapter 6

[Ship's Log X.V 6.21.445]

[If there is one thing I have learned in my time serving Captain Arthur as his Ship AI, it is that one should never underestimate the length one will go to either complete one's mission or interrupt another's mission. During a mission to Paldora Six in which we safely delivered two hundred tons of raw Galemite Liquid Fuel, we were accosted by several pirate cruisers and starfighters. However, after the engagement were dealt with, a Freelance Captain piloting a Solarian Flare class Frigate left a nearby field of asteroids and launched an assault on us. Despite being heavily outmatched they used the pirates to their advantage, hitting us after we were weakened by the pirates in an attempt to destroy our cargo.]

[Apparently, our mission was leaked through back channels, and an unknown party offered to another Freelance Captain a substantial reward to intercept us and destroy our cargo. While it is not unheard of for Freelance Captains to engage in counter missions regarding other Freelance Captains on missions, it was most clever that they waited until we were attacked by pirates and weakened before attempting to assault us. Despite this surprise engagement, their assault failed as we were prepared with newly equipped with Titan Class Cannons for our main guns. This encounter ended with us fighting another Freelance Captain in ship-to-ship combat, but the fact that our mission was leaked implied that further attacks were probably being considered.]

[While we arrived on Aquavram Prime with little strife, the journey 'to' the planet was another story, and now that we have landed and are docked it seems that the dissident influence was deeper than expected, for supporters of the movement were found within the capitol city. Several attempted to infiltrate and destroy our cargo. Though their primary objective seemed to be the relief supplies we were carrying bound for the citizens of the planet, they also mistakenly targeted our personal supplies of food, specifically a portion of our meat that was in cold storage for long term preservation. While the relief supplies, and the 'primary objective' of this vessel's mission were safely protected, two days of meat, most notably our entire stockpile of Berluva Boar meat, a very high-quality meat often served by high-ranking establishments in the Belga System, was lost. Not only was the meat lost but also a portion of the cargo bay, specifically the section it was stored in, was also damaged in the raid.]

[During this time Captain Arthur and Ace Pilot Trishula were... 'engaged' in personal activities involving each other, and it was required of the Ship AI to interrupt them of the incident and request the Captain's presence. While he arrived, his girlfriend Trishula also joined him, in a very bad mood as far as has been seen so far. During a brief attempt at interrogation, the dissidents attempted to refuse to answer to questions, but were swiftly... 'persuaded'... to answer questions by way of Trishula's intervention with her... unique form of information retrieval techniques. From them we learned of the dissident involvement and how they are being directed by one of the nobilities, if not multiple members of the royal court. While it is... 'commonly' associated that the upper class are 'required' to act in the best interests of those below or less privileged, often termed as Noblesse Oblige by the Terrans... Arthur noted in his personal log that the nobles at the royal court seemingly do not pay much adherence to this phrase. As is often seen in many species' societies, rarely does the nobility or upper class truly care for those of the lower class.]

[Trishula, in her personal log, stated she cannot wait to leave the planet after our mission is completed, a sentiment shared by Arthur after attending a royal party thrown in his honor as the King's guest. Captain Arthur and Trishula did not enjoy their time at the party, nor did they partake much in the food, and the conversations rarely drew them much interest. I don't think I've ever seen Arthur seem more bored, or desperate for pirate intervention, as was observed within his personal log. For privacy, I have kept the main details encrypted, however among the nobility, [REDACTED] drew his ire the most as [REDACTED] spoke of [CONVERSATION REDACTED, ENTRY REDACTED] and [STATEMENT REDACTED] all but drove him pretending to have a heart attack to get him and Trishula out of the party.]

[It seems Ikaria, also known by another name not formally known, Inkaria when addressed in a formal manner, shared this mentality as she did not wish to attend the party either, but did so out of duty as a royal daughter. However, she clashed with a Lord Umbara and stopped all party activity due to a shouting exchange of verbal accusations and insinuated accusations. She swiftly left the party, and the next time Captain Arthur and Trishula met her was in the garden. Her emotional state was distraught, and she seemed extremely bitter with herself, only cheered up thanks to Arthur and Trishula's companionship.]

[After departing the grounds of the Coral Palace, Arthur took Blue Fox the standard personnel transport attached to Great Fox to space, taking with it Chef Mevik, Chief Engineer/Mechanic Tony and his wife Felucia into space to host a 'private' dinner party. In his words in a communication to me when he made this request, he wanted to make tonight better for Trishula, who seemed to be having a miserable time in his eyes. With our new mission, I quickly readied Blue Fox for a dinner party, uploading various music and sounds to set the setting, plotting an orbital course around the planet to give the lighting within the transport as good a setting as possible.]

[Our efforts were successful, as in Trishula's words, in her own personal log... she's had three of the happiest days of her life so far, the first was when she last saw her mother while boarding a transport bound for the Belga Space Military Academy. The second... was when she bedded Arthur for the first time, trading... in her words 'V-cards' with him. The third, was that night when she had a fancy dinner party complete with dancing among friends and family, with the man she loved.]

[But while this has been going on... I have been performing investigative work at Arthur's behest, as were Trishula's companions Katarra, Yumi and Vanessa. Our collective efforts have nearly finished and I am preparing a full report on the individual known as Polmer. Despite numerous attempts to block me from gathering information, as this is a 'clandestine' operation, I was permitted to subvert these blockages, under the Freelance Captain's Statute of Circumvention of Local Laws, Section Twenty-Six, Subsection Seven, Paragraph Thirteen... 'In the event of information being given about a person, or persons, or governmental body's word in regards to their character as a trustworthy source of information or action, without having foreknowledge of the Indvidual person, or persons, or governmental body in question; if the individual makes a statement or series of statements that casts shadow upon the validity of the truth of their words when given to the Freelance Captain: The captain in this situation may seek out and subvert the local government's authority to collect information to either prove or disprove the reasonable doubt in regards to the question of character of the Individual Person, Persons, or Governmental Body that originally raised this reasonable doubt of their character.]

[Captain Arthur... does not like hearing overly long worded statements, I have noted... therefore if he questions what that means, in short... Polmer's statement about the events that transpired upon the day Ikaria was shot down, almost captured by dissidents, and our sudden attack by the Naval Guard, caused doubt in Arthur's mind as to his honesty. This has given him a reasonable doubt and cause to perform a private investigation that I undertook at his request. While there was 'no' evidence at the time to suggest calling his character into question... my recent information I have dug up... suggests otherwise. I must investigate further and compile the full data for Captain Arthur...]

=Chapter 6 – The Battle Beneath the Waves=

=The Stars call to Ikaria as she calls to Arthur and Trishula=

Arthur was sitting naked in his bathroom in a pool of soapy water that had a thin layer of bubbles covering the top portion of it. Sitting in his lap just resting in his embrace also nude was Trishula, pressing her breasts against his chest as she lazily enjoyed the newest setting that Arthur found out about his bathroom aboard the Great Fox.

After returning to the ship late last night from the 'Blue Fox' dinner party that Arthur hosted so Trishula could have a proper after dinner dance, as well as salvaging the almost 'ruined' night, they both slept in his room cuddled with each other. After waking up in the morning next to a semi-nude Trishula he went to go shower first before he noticed on the floor of his bathroom's shower space, were little slots that he inquired Great Fox about. After telling him the captain's bathroom had a 'bathtub mode', he asked to see it, and the ship happily raised up the little plasteel walls to encompass the bathwater and began filling it for him, complete with soapy bubbles in a very cool and relaxing setting.

The soap mixture the ship informed him, was a special mix of various chemical formulas designed to idly scrub his body to remove it of dirt, grime and scrub his hair clean while he soaked in the water of the bath. It was described as a 'Luxury bathtub', a service the ship provided only for the captain, specifically for days where he was stressed out and needed to relax while bathing. The process was achieved thanks not only to the chemical formula used, but also because of the bathtub's built in water circulation system designed to subtly spin the water in different rotations at different levels. But for Arthur, it was just such a heavenly experience sitting in the bathtub and feeling his body being cleaned soaking in the water and feeling it shift around him in such soft and pleasant manners.

After Trishula entered the bathroom expecting to see him showering or brushing his teeth, she also joined him in the bathtub since her room didn't have such a luxury.

"Haaaah... I can feel my fur being cleaned and the smell of the soap seeping into my skin and fur..." Trishula moaned lazily in bliss as she smiled into his embrace.

"Same here... it feels so nice just to sit in a bathtub and just let the soap and water do its thing for your body." He agreed.

"Damn... it feels soooo nice having you as a boyfriend." She whispered. "Having a 'bathtub' attachment as a 'standard issue' for your bathroom's shower space. Fuktara melruva Kiandra treated you Freelance Captains like royalty when she designed this ship..."

He looked down to her to see her smirking as she glanced at him through a slight opening of her eyes. "Why's that, is it because of the bathtub's way of cleaning us?"

"No, because your bathroom has a 'bathtub' silly." She chuckled. "None of the other rooms on this ship have a bathtub. Sure, everything is standard issue in our rooms, but a bathtub is a luxury for us Belgans. Yea, when it comes to Terrans your breed is more 'bathtub inclined' but for us Belgans, it considered a luxury since it costs more to fill a bath compared to using a standard shower. Only celebrity types or high-ranking naval officers get to own a bathtub for their personal use."

"Wait, its 'that' much of a luxury for you?" He asked in surprise. "Back where I came from, you know my 'old life'... almost every home and even apartment had a bathtub and a showerhead, not just one or the other on average."

Trishula did a double take at that bit of information, as she only ever heard of the Terran System from her instructors that originated from it and immigrated from there. They often talked about how they had to get used to only showering, and how Terran made ships were far less 'luxurious' compared to what Belgan ships had, not to mention 'smaller' in construction sizes in terms of ship types. On average Yumi informed her, Terran made Ships, not counting the special ones meant for Freelance Captains or very high-ranking officers, like the Titan Class Ship which originated from Terran Designers on Terra Four.

But what made Terran Ships notable was the 'density' of the powerful gun batteries they were often renowned for. On average, even a Light Cruiser of Terran Design, while smaller then a Belgan Light Cruiser, often carried the same firepower of a Medium Cruiser. And pity to the pirate that 'dares' challenge a Terran Battleship, with twice the firepower of what she knew Belgan Battleships carried on average. Given they weren't the prettiest or the sturdiest of ships in combat, but they weren't to be trifled with. Yet the one thing they often mentioned, was how little in the way of 'luxury' they had, maybe a mess hall, a place to get drinks, maybe a lounge but no bathtubs and they often shared rooms with bunkmates.

Yet when Arthur talked about how in his old life 'every' Terran home seemed to have a bathtub, it actually made her wonder how his breed could do some stuff backwards.

"Wow, as Backwater as your planet is made out to be from your description, you sure do have a lot of luxuries my breed wishes it had." She said as she returned to squishing into his chest and sighing contentedly. "I would have slaved away and sucked up to the ugliest jerk of an Iskorian Captain, they're a breed from the Iskora Sector, in case you were wondering. Bug like people, all of them fliers, but real bad attitudes and they just aren't friendly to chat with even on their best days, not to mention smelly. Anyway, I would have sucked up to the jerkiest jerk of their captains and just let him abuse my verbally if I could have gotten work on his ship for my girls, because they always give their workers the best working environments including a 'bathtub' with every room."

"Iskora... I think I 'might' have been over there at some point... they're like twelve quadrants away." He muttered as he remembered at one time joining in a fleet action in that sector.

"Yea... but this is 'way' better..." She muttered as she chuckled and kissed him on the lips before returning to resting. "Haaah... a cute boyfriend, a comfy bathtub, soap chemical water that is set to automatically clean and massage my skin and scent my fur... what could be better this morning?"

He just held her close and used one hand to stroke her tail which lazily waved around in the water, her tailbone poking through the fur under the water and making her coo as he gently teased her tail under the water.

"Maybe not missing 'breakfast' half the time?" He asked her with a chuckle.

"Mhmm... yea that would make things better." She muttered with a shrug as they had, again, missed breakfast that morning with how late they slept in. "Well, at least we can still spend this morning relaxing together. So, after we finish this job, where are we going next?"

"I don't know, I was thinking we could either head back to the Belga Sector if we aren't asked to take on a new job when we make contact with the Belgan Government, or we could head to the Iktora sector. Iskora... Iktora... why do they sound so similar?"

"Names, travel enough and eventually you'll find two sectors share a similar sounding name..." Trishula said with another shrug. "I have heard a bit about Iktora... supposed to be a pirate den, lotta scum from around the quadrant tend to gather there, best place for one to go if you're looking to avoid the authorities, start a new life as a criminal, or lay low until you can jump quadrants. Nearly every Border Sector is similar, the Major Factions don't regulate the laws as much because they're constantly focusing on their neighbors and watching for potential invasions and surprise attacks."

"Yep, sounds about right, I remember traveling through several border sectors, constant ships patrolling the border transwarp gates, and especially the mega transwarp gates that connect the Sector Stations." He told her.

They sat in silence as she rolled over and laid her back against his chest now, reaching down and holding his hands so that she could have them grip her breasts and begin massaging them again, teasing her nipples and sighing in contentedness as she enjoyed feeling him play with her mounds. But after a few moments of him rotating them slightly, gently massaging and teasing her nipples with his fingers she leaned her head against his cheek and asked a question.

"What... what are they like?" She asked.

"What are what like?"

"The Sector Stations... I've... never actually 'seen' one in person... only heard of it." She muttered. "The Major Faction that controls our sector removed their station six hundred years ago and relocated it to Belga Nueve... it's a more easily defensible location, on account of the fact that it's an uninhabitable rock, and is only good for orbital mining from starships for the planet's buried ores and minerals."

She sighed as she was 'never' allowed near there, since none of the ships she escorted went there, and it was forbidden to approach the station without permission. The only ships permitted to approach the sector stations freely, were of course Freelance Captain'd ships. Unless you had a permit from the central government, had business and a verified appointment to be there, were a fleet liaison representing the sector government 'for' the Major Faction, or were 'invited' by the Major Faction for whatever reason, all ships approaching the area around the Sector Station were to be treated as hostile and 'shoot dead on sight', no questions asked and no repercussions suffered on the Major Faction's part.

It was said that a ship couldn't even get 'close' to the station because of how well defended it was. The moons orbiting the planet had station-grade plasma cannons equivalent to Titan Class Batteries. There were orbital defense platforms ringing an outer perimeter halfway to the planet that were equipped with heavy cruiser grade turrets and multiple tiers of AFB gun batteries. Orbital satellites surrounding the perimeter triggered the activation of cleverly disguised minefields posing as an asteroid ring. The station itself was so large it was practically a 'planet', capable of housing a 'thousand' ships ranging from Battleship to Corvette class, and it was said that 'every' Sector Station had a standard contingent of bare minimum one thousand unmanned starfighters and four hundred starbombers to act as its personal army in case of an assault.

These starfighters weren't even the dummy starfighters that Great Fox used to test her squadron either, they were the elite of all unmanned starfighters, the cream of the crop, the most 'effective' and most 'expensive' starfighters money could possibly buy. According to Yumi, they were rumored to be Razor A-Z Swarm V2-X Galactica Starfighters, produced 'exclusively' for only the Major Factions to use. The starbombers according to her, were the equally devastating and feared Dagger A-Z Bullet V3-T Galactica Starbombers, just as equally constructed and purchased solely for use by the Major Factions.

None of her colleagues in the academy had ever visited the station, none of the ship captains she's spoken to from the academy went there, not even her instructors, teachers or captains she served under, even the rude ones, had ever gone to the sector station.

"I'm curious is all... I've heard rumors, I've heard stories... all of my girls have at some point... but we never knew if they were true." She told him. "I remember hearing how any ship daring to approach is shot down and killed instantly unless it's allowed to be there. I'm told each station carries a thousand starfighters and starbombers, all unmanned and are the elite starships of their classes. It's rumored that there's like a thousand starships docked in the station that range from Battleship to Corvette class, that there's a massive transwarp gate orbiting the station just out of range used for massive transwarp jumps so large fleets could be deployed to 'any' sector under the Major Faction's control. Are... any of the rumors true?"

She waited for his answer, knowing he would never lie to her. He was a Freelance Captain, and so if anyone could tell her the details to confirm the rumors or deny them, it would be him. He's been to the stations; he's been to those locations. Heck he's 'been' in fleet actions for them, served under them, fought against them... he would know the truth of what lies within the station.

"It's all true."

She felt him stop playing with her breasts as she turned to look at him in astonishment, and saw the grim, almost 'nervous' facial expression he had as he just stared at the opposite wall.

"Yep... it's all true." He whispered again. "Those 'massive transwarp gates' you mentioned are the Mega Transwarp Gates I told you about. They're so large that they can fit hundreds of vessels and launch them through transwarp en-mass. They're used to reinforce or launch assaults against sectors that have the corresponding jump coordinates. They can only reach to neighboring sectors, but when you take into consideration that the Mega Transwarp Gates can launch a hundred or more ships in a tenth of the time it takes a single ship to travel a standard Transwarp Gate, that means they can reinforce 'any' sector they control within as little as two hours minimum depending on the distance."

Her mouth opened in absolute 'horror' as he told her this information.

"It's also true that numerous ships are docked and stored within the sector stations. A Freelance Captain sometimes buys multiple ships depending on how 'lucrative' the jobs they take are, or if they're working for the Major Faction itself, and they entrust the safety of their extra ships to the stations. Likewise, the Major Factions fund and create ships to be used by its captains in wartime, and they use those ships in fleet actions to control and launch attacks on sectors."

[Captain Arthur is accurate in his description of the Major Factions and the Sector Stations.] Great Fox informed them suddenly. [In exchange for collecting dues in the form of monthly MPC payments, the Major Faction offers sector wide protective services, various freelance contracts, and of course the Freelance Captain's free reign of the sectors to carry out missions inside any sector's space. Because of this exchange, despite there being continuous pirate raids and pirate gangs appearing attacking the hyperspace lanes and various space lanes, there is actuality, no 'war' between the various sectors. The only reason the local governments continue to maintain their space navies, is due to requiring a 'standing fleet' should rival Major Factions attempt to invade sector space before the Major Faction can respond to its defense, or local sector governments engage in wartime actions without the backing of the Major Factions. It is a 'mutual exchange' of services and fees. This is also why Captain Arthur is given 'special treatment' as a Freelance Captain in regards to spaceport procedures, his license makes him a representative of the Major Factions, despite his lack of affiliation to any 'specific' faction.]

Trishula just... couldn't believe it, she just couldn't 'conceive' of such a standing force. Why... why would anyone, any faction, any 'government' need such a powerful standing navy of ships positioned at every single sector station?

"And... the 'shoot on sight' rumors?" She whispered.

He nodded, that was a 'standard rule' from when he was in the game. It only ever applied to 'NPC' ships, and he never really saw it happen, but there would sometimes be random pirate ships or groups of NPC ships moving around space, sometimes they'd wander near the stations and they would be blasted before even getting close. Player ships never had to fear, unless they were at war and serving opposite sides, but generally all player-controlled ships could approach the stations freely and dock, get missions, restock, exchange ships, trade credits, weapons, and supplies.

"When you can potentially disguise a hundred Titan Class Ships as being 'neutral' ships just passing through, better to be safe than sorry." He whispered as he gently hugged her tightly. "If you approach, you better have a reason. If you're an unaffiliated 'Freelance Captain' you're given a grace period of distance and time before you're required to tell the faction why you're there so heavily armed, even if your outnumbered and outgunned a hundred to one. Either you tell them why you're there or you risk being blasted. Fortunately, most ships just approach and respond that they're going to engage in the market, and are given permission to dock. Their weapons are disabled, and that's the end of the story... only when war is declared and a 'massive' fleet of starships exit the Mega Transwarp Gate, do the stations ever see real combat... otherwise passing by ships that are unfortunate enough to get too close without realizing it, are destroyed on sight, no questions asked and no answers given. They came too close, end of story."

At that the friendly, cheerful, relaxed mood in the bath from before was all gone, as she could not... fathom... just how much 'power' the Major Factions had, how much 'wealth' they had and just how far their reach extended. There was probably over a hundred Major Factions controlling the galaxy, just as there were thousands of sectors in it, and 'each' faction had this influence and reach.

She actually shuddered in fear, just imagining it now, a massive fleet of a 'thousand' Titan Class Battleships approaching her home planet of Belga Uno, all of them angling their powerful guns and firing an orbital bombardment to level the entire planet's surface, causing her to fear for her home planet. The fact that the Major Factions could do that at 'any' time... for any reason, and the only thing keeping them from doing that was 'another' Major Faction and the fact that doing so was entirely pointless in the long run given how powerful they were already by comparison and the fact that keeping them 'safe' and protected ensured a steady income of revenue.

Arthur could sense the shift in her emotions, subtly, and asked, "Are you okay?"

She shook her head, not feeling okay at all. Before she didn't think much of them, her breed, her sector, every sector, everyone just lived under the 'Protective-Rule' of the Major Factions for so long that they were used to it. It was just a part of their daily lives, the knowledge that even though they had a government, their own politics, their own navy, there was always a larger faction ruling over them that 'their' government worked for, paid dues to, and who's navy outmatched and outnumbered theirs without 'any' difficulty. They were just so used to it, it was just second nature back then to say, 'Eh sure, we have a galactic ruler overlooking us that we pay money for protection, but as long as they keep us safe and protect our space, we don't mind since they stay out of our business and daily lives most of the time anyway! Heck even their wars don't affect us most of the time, even if the major faction that controls us is pushed out, we just swap who we pay our dues to and everything keeps going as normal!' and that was the end of it.

Now... now she was terrified of the Major Factions. The Freelance Captain rumors she once heard about them being trigger happy warmongers waiting for any reason to start blasting each other paled in comparison to the Major Faction rumors that Arthur had 'confirmed' for her. Between the two, the Freelance Captains were civilized aristocrats drinking 'tea' by the fire. She had far less to fear from the Freelance Captains deciding to have a dumb brawl between their ships in the middle of space, then she did by a Major Faction deciding one day, 'we want that corridor of space, let's invade'.

"I'm... scared... how do they have so much power? How can so many sectors just... 'accept' them and not be terrified of their power and influence?" She muttered. "The entire Belgan Navy could come together and challenge the Major Faction controlling our sector, and yet... we wouldn't even come close to a 'fraction' of their power. How can you... just not be afraid thinking about their power?"

"I fear them, oh trust me... before I didn't because... it was a different life. But now I do because... well, being an 'unaffiliated' Freelance Captain is a blessing and a curse. I don't have to fear having to work for a singular Faction and being affiliated with them, but I also don't have any of their protections if the going gets tough for me. It's not something I ever thought about before, but now... it's always at the back of my mind. But that's alright... because while that tiny fear may be at the back of my mind... there's something even more important at the front of my mind to think about."

"Oh?" She asked curiously, wondering what could possibly drive away those fears she herself was having controlling her thoughts, that he only considered at the back of 'his' mind.

"Yep... and that is... this." He told her as he gently turned her around in the bathtub and pulled her into a kiss, which she slowly reciprocated, cooing as she was embraced by her boyfriend that morning again until he separated from her. "Who cares about the Major Factions when I'm flying in space with the most beautiful starship ever, and while I have the most beautiful Belgan Girl in the galaxy as my girlfriend."

She chuckled at that as she nodded in agreement, who cared about the Major Factions indeed, when the same was true for her, she was flying around in this ship with the best captain in the galaxy as her boyfriend. She was so tempted to take him for another morning ride, but after missing breakfast and spending an extra-long time in the bathtub, they 'had' to get on with the day, they had things to do and a briefing to take care of.

So, after sitting in the bathtub for as long as they did, they both finally got out, dried off and put on their uniforms to leave the bathroom and head to his private dining room so he could hear what her girls had to report.

Half an hour later he sat in the dining room with Trishula, Vanessa, Katarra and Yumi after the three of them were called by Great Fox to gather there to disclose what they found.

"Alright, what did you find out?" He asked the three girls as they each took a drink from the mess hall.

"Well, as you ordered the three of us went around the capitol city and asked around about those 'rumors' you asked us to look into." Vanessa said as she leaned back on the large couch. "I decided to go around and visit various bubble biomes, the ones a bit further away from the Great Fox that didn't have a visual of the ship from where they were. Katarra went to the Refugee sectors to ask around, and Yumi volunteered among the soldiers that were offloading cargo from the ship itself."

"The soldiers I managed to talk to had no knowledge of any rumors captain." Yumi said as she stood up to talk first. "Many were speculating and hoping 'before' we arrived that a ship would arrive, but the closest information I got to regarding the rumors about the dissidents capturing and hiding a starship in the oceans, was them purchasing unusual military grade equipment from space pirates and capturing several dissidents with off-worlder weapons that would be useless against Aquavram Tech due to how little 'our' tech can relate to theirs. Other than their unique starships which are nothing more than outdated transports, our starships are far superior and far more advanced then the Aquavram Submersibles and especially their Underwater Walkers, which serve as little more than mobile weapons platforms and mobile command posts."

Arthur nodded as he turned to Katarra as she stood up to replace Yumi who sat down.

"I visited the Refugee Sector, despite Ikaria's wishes for us to avoid going there before." She said as she crossed her arms. "The refugees from across the planet outnumber the local citizens by magnitudes, it was actually next to impossible for me to avoid being spotted due to the fact that there isn't a large enough mixed Belgan population to hide among, but thanks to wearing some dirty clothes and an oversized jacket I traded for using some food rations I took from the ship to use as bargaining chips, I managed to stay under the radar and do some digging."

Again, he nodded as Katarra took a deep breath to continue her accounts.

"The rumors didn't exist, at least the ones regarding dissidents stealing a starship and hiding it underwater to use in an attack on the capitol city. But there were 'some' rumors circulating that the dissidents were up to some very shady things during and before the war. Refugees from the war-torn sections of the planet, particularly those hit in the early days by dissident attack and orbital bombardment, noted that the dissidents had access to weapons that weren't of Aquavram origin. Not counting the fact that they paid for pirates to strike the planet from orbit, the refugees talked about unusual weapons being used by the dissidents. And that in the panicked rush to escape, many Aquavrams were captured by the dissidents."

"Wait, captured by the dissidents, are they being held hostage?" He asked curiously.

"Don't think so, there were no ransom demands, no negotiations to release prisoners, nothing. Rumors were spreading that they were being captured and transported off the planet through the pirates being sold into slavery to pay for the ships and weapons. But... well, they are 'rumors' for a reason, no concrete evidence to go on and its only speculation. Some say the dissidents captured their friends and neighbors, family members and relatives, others say they were just shot dead if they were guys or if they were girls then... well you can fill in the blanks... they weren't pretty pictures." Katarra said as she shook her head and sat down, not having anything more to say. "It was a different story each time, I hope none of them are true..."

He nodded as he looked to Vanessa who stood up and crossed her arms now.

"I visited the sections where the local citizens of the capitol resided, the ones that didn't have a visual of the ship. It's basically a similar story to Katarra and Yumi, I asked around, paid a few bribes... showed some tail to get some attention, don't worry nothing more than leg fur... but otherwise nobody had information regarding the rumors of dissidents stealing and concealing a starship to be used in an attack on the capitol. There were rumors circulating about us, but mostly just grandiose stories being shared by excited residents gossiping about the first bit of positive news they've had to talk about in weeks."

Vanessa shifted as she smirked and began to recount the rumors for him. "Most of the rumors talk about our adventures to reach the planet and deliver our supplies, some overexaggerating the size and composition of the pirate fleet that ambushed us. Others talk about how pirates boarded our ship and you engaged in a fierce hand-to-hand duel with the pirate fleet admiral to defend our supplies. Others say our ship battled for five straight days and nights fending off pirate ships... but that's it as far as rumors go, they just get crazier as you ask more people. I believe even 'one' rumor has you challenging Lord Lumarinara himself to a spear duel to rescue Ikaria so she could give us the coordinates to the capitol, that your ship fought off a hundred dissident submersibles, and that even the King himself is offering you her hand in marriage as a reward to join the Royal Court for your deeds."

"Those are some 'wild' rumors..." He muttered in amazement.

"I have to admit, some of those sound outlandish and would make a great story to tell." Trishula laughed as Vanessa sat down. "Oh boy, imagine how 'disappointed' they would be to find out that the entire story is 'we fought off a hundred and fifty starfighters and thirty starbombers, three medium cruisers over two hours, and then we flew in bored silence for 4 days straight after that!"

"Hey at least the 'saving Ikariaria' and fighting off dissident submersibles was accurate to the story as well." Arthur exclaimed, but he too was in agreement. "On the one hand I want to straighten the facts for them, but on the other... I don't want to spoil their fun and gossip. They haven't had much stuff to be positive about for a while... let them spread wild stories if they want."

"Yea I think that's for the best." Yumi muttered as her tail made a 'frown' behind her back. "I talked to some of the soldiers and they asked if any of 'those' rumors were true. Had to uh... shatter some fantasies about us. You should have 'heard' the elaborate tales they were talking about behind our backs..."

"Why do you two get the fun jobs while I'm hearing rumors of murder and rape and wearing rags to stay undercover..." Katarra muttered bitterly as she heard how Vanessa and Yumi heard fun gossip while she had to listen to refugees spreading horror stories.

"I'm sorry you had to do that for me Katarra, but at least nothing happened to you right?" He asked her to which she nodded.

"So, we learned that there were no rumors of dissidents planning to attack the capitol with a stolen starship, pretending to be delivering supplies." Trishula concluded. "What does that mean for Polmer and his story Captain?"

"It means stuff doesn't add up... he told us his side of the story, but it just doesn't add up when you lay the facts down to the events that transpired." Arthur told them all. "According to him... he lost contact with Ikaria's patrol after being jammed for an extended period of time. Then, after failing to reestablish contact, he heads 'back' to the capitol where at some point he 'scans' and picks up a starship, and then warns the Naval Guard to be on alert, acting on rumors saying how dissidents were planning on using a 'stolen starship' pretending to be carrying supplies while in actuality it was carrying dissident soldiers planning an assault. The guard is told to attack on sight... to ignore transmissions... but it's not until Ikaria makes her speech saving us do they let down their guard and allow us to pass."

[Pardon me for interjecting, but during your excursion to rescue Ikaria from her submersible crash, I managed to temporarily link my systems to her submersible's equivalent of a 'black box', which stored the last few minutes of data her submersible recorded.] Great Fox said suddenly as the ship's picture appeared on the corner of the viewscreen and showed several lines of data she was decoding for him. [In response to your request to dig deeper into Polmer's character Arthur, I began an investigation that is still ongoing, but one piece of evidence I can offer before compiling the full data list for you is the details of this black box.]

"Alright, show us what you can."

[Of course, captain...] The ship said warmly as it pulled a specific data block and showed it to them. [This data block shows the scans that Ikaria's submersible performed and the data she picked up. She detected a large 'submerged entity' southwest of her current position at the time, a hundred thousand kilometers and traveling rapidly through the trenches in the opposite direction of the capitol. This information seems to correlate with our position at that time, as cross-referencing global positioning data confirms our position at the time of being scanned. However, her scans were inconclusive, as they only could detect something 'massive', unable to determine what the object was. At that distance... according to recorded audio logs taken from the black box data, she and her two Ensigns believed us to be a large swarm of Gooper Fish, as the species is known to congregate in a massive swarm to protect themselves from predators in the world. At such a distance to Aquavram scanners, a large swarm of the fish would look like a singular object swimming in the ocean... it is not hard to understand why they would make the assumption.]

"If we were scanned why didn't 'we' detect being scanned?" Trishula asked.

[We weren't, they merely detected and scanned the 'wave' we were making and the large amount of water being pushed in our wake. At such ranges even a weak and outdated scanning system could detect us, but without more focused scans at closer ranges, they would not be able to determine anything more than the following facts; something 'large' was swimming through the water at a very fast pace at a low depth.] The ship responded as it showed two different images, one of Great Fox as it was scanned if Great Fox did the scanning, showing the detailed image of the vessel, and a strange shapeless mass of something equally large to represent the Aquavram scanners. [Given the lack of communication with the outside galaxy, lacking any official word of aid coming, and that they were not expecting a starship of our size to be able to submerge and traverse the oceans... it is understandable why they assumed we were a school of fish. They were anticipating a fleet of Belgan starships carrying aid, not a Freelance Captain's ship, and so they believed us to be a school of fish. That was the only 'logical' explanation that made sense to them at the time.]

[If Polmer did indeed scan us as he said he did, and he detected us as he said we were, a 'starship' en-route to the capitol city after losing contact with Ikaria and her patrol, apparently being jammed... based on his testimony and the information in my database, it is impossible for him to have detected us without us detecting him. I detected no concentrated scans of my hull outside of dissident scans as they pursued you. While I was still technically 'blind' in terms of my scanning equipment, even blind I can detect when we are being scanned, unless his scans were at such a low frequency as to be undetectable, but only the Ancient Swimmer so far has performed such a feat to my database's knowledge. And this was only until it was close enough for me to detect.]

Arthur sighed as he held his chin and tried thinking about what to do next. Did he just misinterpret, was it all hallucinated because Polmer was starving and scared, out alone in dissident territory and having lost contact with Ikaria? No something was wrong, there was another piece to this puzzle missing... and that was the information Great Fox was still digging up for him on Polmer.

"How much is left before you're finished investigating Polmer Great Fox?"

[I have compiled a list of datapoints, but it is still incomplete, there are a few more inquiries I would like to make before finishing and submitting it to you.]

He shook his head, he didn't feel like waiting, what she had would suffice for now, she could give him the rest later. "Show me what you have... Trishula, Yumi, Katarra, Vanessa... you're dismissed, thank you for your help, and Katarra, I'm sorry for asking you to do what you did. Nobody should have to hear what you heard."

"No... but I'm paid to do a job by you, can't exactly say no because the words aren't fun to hear." Katarra said with a shrug. "Don't worry captain, I'm fine really... I'm a starfighter pilot, I can handle this stuff. It's just not fun hearing girls describe... I'll leave the details out; you got the gist in my report."

As the three girls left, Trishula was last to leave and glanced at Arthur before nodding at Katarra who was last to leave, and he nodded silently, telling her he'll do what she was asking him to do. Smiling she winked in gratitude and left to head to the lounge with her girls, closing the door behind her.

"Great Fox, put Katarra down for a bonus, five hundred MPC... no make it one thousand MPC, put it down as 'mental and emotional-hazard pay' and make sure to pay her, Vanessa and Yumi full pay for the hours they worked investigating for me. It's the least I can do for them."

[Very well captain... I will make a note in the ledger when it comes time to make payments to Trishula's Pack.] She said as the viewscreen began showing datapoints for him. [This is the data I have compiled.]

He stood up and got a closer look at the viewscreen, looking over the information Great Fox dug up for him. The ship had been 'very' thorough in her investigation and questioning. He was amazed by how deep she dug and the... methods she used to collect this information. His ship had made notes for him discussing how many automated systems attempted to bar her access to this data, and how she had to institute various 'Freelance Captain' privileges and state various 'Major Faction Local Legal Subversion Precedence' the ship AI was afforded due to being owned 'by' a Freelance Captain, in order to acquire this data for him.

Polmer was 'far' from a shining example of the Naval Guard. While most of his 'bad' record was swept clean and hid under the rug, and many of his 'problems' were placed under lock and key, Great Fox had skillfully persuaded and forced the information out of the various databases to be compiled together for Arthur to read.

"Damn... why is this fucker even still 'allowed' in the Naval Guard as an Ensign, let alone one that works close to Ikaria the 'second daughter' in line for the royal throne?" He muttered in disbelief. "I mean, I'm far from an angel but... fuck. He tries sleeping with a Dutchess' daughter... then tries to blame it on him being drunk when she winds up 'pregnant' and tries to back out of it. He pushes responsibilities on those with less seniority than him. CO remarks him as being lazy, uninspired, and has made numerous attempted requests to formally dismiss him from the Naval Guard's active duty and either put him on Civilian Service detail, or discharge him entirely but were shot down. The previous general bailed him out of the scandal and managed to wrap it up and out of sight before the civil war started. The current General has maintained that he is to remain at his station with Ikaria's unit, but reduced his pay as a compromise, he's even been known to try and blackmail those who try to use stuff against him. Damn... even Ikaria's CO remarks that she has tried to hit on her a few times, and a few private notes from Ikaria herself says he's an idiot, a 'nice' idiot because he's gotten her out of a few jams with her CO, but still an idiot for trying to hit on her."

He shook his head as he really didn't like this guy now, not only was he a liar he was also a dick, in more ways than one.

"Well at least Ikaria smacked him down, I really don't like the idea of this guy putting a hand on her, but then again, I don't like the idea of him putting a hand on 'any' girl." He muttered as he pulled all of his thoughts together. "So, the guy knocks up a girl, gets bailed out by a general, he's been stationed with the unit Ikaria is attached to and continues to make dumb choices despite the trouble he's been bailed out of... but what does it all mean."

He started walking around the room while Great Fox removed the data and followed his movements via the camera in the room.

"He's a jerk, okay, he's also someone who thinks he can get away with stuff until he gets caught, then he tries to weasel his way out of taking responsibility. He's willing to take 'some' heat but only when the consequences are minor and only because its 'Ikaria' he's willing to bail out. Alright... but why do these generals keep bailing him out if that's the case? Does he have any relatives in high places of government or the military, or even the royal family?"

[Negative, none that I've found yet. I can only trace his place of origins to one of the minor outlying settlements that supplied food to the capitol city.] Great Fox warmly told him. [I can investigate further if you request, but so far, he has no family relations to the nobility or to high-ranking generals... other than to the previous General, General Bugnara.]

"General Bugnara?"

[General Bugnara was the previous general of the Naval Guard before the civil war, but after Lord Lumarinara declared open Rebellion, Bugnara severed his ties to the crown and joined Lumarinara and the rebels. General Bugnara helped Polmer get his rank before the civil war, and was the one to handle the 'scandal' when he was found to be taking advantage of a Dutchess' daughter. After that he was replaced by his former lieutenant and second in command, newly appointed General Bronarva.]

"Hrrmm." He hummed to himself as he thought about this. "So, Bugnara gets Polmer to his current position, covers up for him... then joins the rebellion and his replacement, continues to do his 'previous' boss's job for him and keeps Polmer where he is, out of trouble and ensures he stays within close proximity to Ikaria. Despite complaints, his clear lack of being a likeable character, and his constant trying to not take responsibility for his failings and also full-blown willingness to use blackmail to get his way."

[Is there a correlation you are drawing to Captain, based on the information you are connecting, it appears to my systems that you are implying that Generals Bugnara and Bronarva were working together long before the Civil War occurred and planned to use Polmer for some unknown reason that I am unaware of or can draw a conclusion to.] She asked in a puzzled tone. [What are you thinking the data point to in regards to your suspicions to Polmer and his story?]

He smirked as he had an idea, a crazy conspiracy poking his brain, but he was already this far in so he might as well check that out as well. "Great Fox, who ordered Ikaria, her two ensigns and Polmer on patrol that day to go scavenging for food?"

[Checking... one moment... hold... confirmed, General Bronarva handed the order down for Ikaria and her two escorting ensigns, Rubara and Junber, and Polmer who was assigned to screen for them as they were pushing deeper than usual into dissident-controlled territory. Rubara and Junber were declared dead, and we confirmed the reports when we rescued Ikaria. Only Polmer returned back safely. It should be noted that Ikaria's CO remarked that Ikaria chose to push further then intended.]

He raised an eyebrow as that wasn't suspicious at all. "So 'Polmer' gets assigned to screen for dissidents while Ikaria and her escorts were scavenging for food, they push further and further into dissident territory then they meant to, due to being driven by hunger no doubt. Polmer can't seem to communicate for an extended period of time, and Ikaria gets ambushed by dissidents... almost like they 'knew' she was going to be there, and weren't just lying in wait, but actively going to seek her out and knew just where to go look."

[Captain... are you suggesting...]

He nodded as he looked to the camera. "That Polmer is a 'Dissident', a 'spy' working for Lumarinara, and both he and General Bugnara were using him to stay within close range of Ikaria. That's the only explanation for everything, how he 'knew' of a starship on approach without actually having any data to suggest it besides a 'vague picture' that could have easily been mistaken for a large school of fish. How he could have warned the Naval Guard to be on guard for a starship, pretending to be bringing relief aid and to shoot it on sight, stating that it was actually carrying rebels about to launch a direct assault. It's also why he was able to get back without a scratch."

He sighed though, despite the conclusions this was all speculation, without a confession, or evidence, he had no way to prove it. So, he just sat back down and thought about his next move. He could go to Ikaria, talk to her and tell her what he thought about Polmer, but what if she didn't believe him? All he had in regards to his theory about Polmer being a spy, was that he was hardly a white knight, and what if she thought his way of 'getting' that info wasn't exactly good either, considering his ship had to basically subvert her government to get the data he asked for.

"Ugh, why did I have to get involved in politics?" He muttered. "I hate politics..."

He was about to get up and head to the lounge when the viewscreen activated to show an excited Kiandra smirking as her hair was frayed and wearing goggles while covered in grime along her face.

"Caaaaptain! You'll love this, I've got a working model for testing in regards to the new submersible module for the Arwings. Everything looks good so far in theory testing and in my little private lab I set up to test in a controlled setting! But I need 'actual' data for me to finish the module's construction so Tony and his family can get to work building it. Mind If I borrow one of your Arwings to implement a work in progress module for field testing?" She said happily.

"Sure thing, Kiandra, you can borrow Arwing Twelve, just don't go scratching the paint." He said with a smirk.

"Schweet, thanks a lot captain, trust me, when this module is ready, you'll thank me for it if we ever go to another water planet!" She said with a wink. "Also, I found a workaround so your ship can deploy its shields underwater. I had to do some tweaking with the emitters and narrow down the closeness of the shields to the hull to a very precise measurement, making it only extend to about 'your' arm's length... but after I upload the data for your ship, you'll be able to enter High Profile Mode and implement your shields even while underwater!"

"That's great, probably the best news I've heard all day." He said with a smile as he was actually glad to hear his ship could deploy its shields again.

"Yeaaaa you REALLY worked my brain with this job, damn near fried me, I spent six hours the last three nights chugging synthetic energy drinks while working on the problem." She said while doing a happy dance. "You have 'no' idea how hard it was, calculating the energy to barrier ratio, crunching some data, watching emitters explode, by the way you'll need to get Tony to fix the emitters I took and blew up from your inventory, about two hundred or so, anyway it was a NIGHTMARE, having to find a way to stop the water molecules from constantly triggering the shield and overloading the emitters. BUUUT thanks to Aquavram Bubble Shield Technology, I found a solution and a workaround, sadly the downside is that the shields won't be able to operate at more than sixty percent of maximum capacity when all the shield generators are active. That's the best I can do without building an entirely new shield generator from scratch designed to work underwater. As for your Arwings, I'm afraid that is going to take a LOT longer... due to power requirements and the fact that the starfighter shield emitters are much smaller and less powerful.]

"Damn I was hoping I could use them at full power, but I guess, sixty percent is better than zero percent when it comes to protecting us from damage." He said as Trishula nodded in agreement.

[With a bit more work I should be able to implement our own version of the bubble shield, as a new type of shield for the Great Fox to implement as a Shield Modular Attachment, so we can use it to navigate harmful nebulas and other radioactive gaseous anomalies! You'll need to buy another shield generator to equip it to the ship and I'll need to do some tinkering to make the modifications, but that's something future me can deal with. Take that Peruvian Academy of Starship Sciences, YOU CAN PROTECT A SHIP FROM PROLONGED EXPOSURE TO RADIOACTIVE PARTICLES IN SPACE WITH JUST SHIELD TECHNOLOGY!"

He just chuckled as she terminated the connection from her end and got up to stretch. After about half an hour of thinking about what he was going to do he was informed by Great Fox that he was receiving a call from Arquoovra Majesta. According to her King Gungadara was summoning him to the Coral Palace.

"Ugh... I don't suppose I can ignore it?" He asked the ship with a frown, not wanting to talk to the nobility after the disastrous party last night.

[I am afraid not captain, until we can make contact with Belgan officials or are dismissed by the royal court, we are still under contract to work with the Aquavram Official Government when it comes to 'official' matters.] She told him apologetically. [This summons is on behalf of the King and Queen of the royal court.]

He sighed as he nodded and went to the hanger, asking Great Fox to ready Blue Fox for departure.

Twenty minutes later he was pushing through the bubble shield of the Coral Palace's biome and was soon landing at the designated courtyard where he landed the night before. As he walked forward, he noticed that there were more 'guards' on duty today, and some of them were more 'armed' than the ones he saw at the dinner party and the attitude was far more serious. He had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach as he walked through the doors and was rushed by a servant to the throne room to meet with the King and Queen.

In the royal chamber Arthur walked through, only glancing around to see how many soldiers were there, as well as military officials and nobles. There was an air of frustration and fear he noted as he approached the throne where the King was looking angry 'and' scared, while the Queen was more on the nervous and scared side.

"Can you identify if any of these Aquavrams are General Bronarva?" He whispered quietly.

[Affirmative, he is the third individual to the right of the Queen.]

When he curtly bowed to the King and stood at attention, crossing his arms behind his back, he said in polite voice, "You summoned me your majesty?"

"Yes, I did, Captain Arthur, I've summoned you to ask you a very 'simple' and very important question." He said in a very 'restrained' tone. "Where is my daughter? Where is Ikaria?"

Arthur blinked in surprise at that question, did she not 'stay' at the palace last night?

"I'm... sorry, I don't know. Why would I know, didn't she stay at the palace or return to the military base where she was stationed?"

"My daughter has not been seen since last night, the military base has stated that she never returned to the barracks or checked in with her commanding officer, nor did she return to her bedroom here in the Coral Palace!" He yelled, again though it was a restrained shout, with hints of rage and nervous fear mixed in. "You are the only other individual on the entire planet who has had ANY personal contact or knowledge regarding her whereabouts! I want my daughter back and you are the LAST soul I can think of who might have a shred of knowledge as to where she could be!"

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't be of much help... the last time I spoke to her was just before I left the palace and boarded my transport-" He started saying, about to mention that she had received a letter from Lord Umbara, when the King stood up and yelled in an angry tone.

"And your transport did NOT return to your ship but instead went into space!"

Arthur remained as calm as he could, about to open his mouth and reply that was correct, but 'again' wanting to explain what happened after he saw Ikaria last, but the King was having 'none' of it and continued to yell, "Your transport spent over an 'hour' in space orbiting the planet, far out of range of the few scanners our planet still has access to. You then returned to your ship 'after' that time. That is more than enough time for 'anyone' to have met you and for you... you to... to do... something I don't know but..."

Arthur actually raised an eyebrow at that, "Your Majesty, are you suggesting that I 'kidnapped' your own daughter? Knowing full well that I 'saved' her life to bring her back to you?"

The King was looking conflicted, like he didn't 'want' to admit that he was thinking that, or wanted to say that, but still the anger, the frustration, the fear... spoke for him. His fists were shaking, he looked ready to throw the first object he could grab across the floor, he looked like a man wanting to just 'destroy' something for the sake of venting.

"Darling please... calm down... think of it rationally... why would Captain Arthur want to do a thing like that?" The Queen said fearfully, reaching over and touching his arm to try and calm him down.

"I don't... nniDon't know!" He growled as he sat down again upon the throne. "But my general put the suggestion forward, he said that only someone with space-faring technology could have possibly whisked her away in the night after they concluded their investigation..."

At that Arthur only 'glanced' at the general as he realized his conspiracy might not be a conspiracy after all. "Is that so..." He muttered as he returned to the King. "Your majesty... if it will put your mind at ease, or even if it will give you some sense of hope... you can order every soldier of the Naval Guard to conduct a full inspection of my ship from stem to stern, top to bottom, room after room, down to the last 'box'... but you will not find her aboard my ship."

He then took a deep breath as he thought about what to say next.

"You say she... 'vanished'... in the night, and according to your military only someone like 'me' could have done that?" He asked, to which the King and general nodded.

"Unnnfortunately, our investigation could not find much evidence to suggest foul play. There were no traces of a struggle, no evidence to suggest a fight, no blood or anything to suggest physical harm, and we found no scattered weapon or anything to suggest that her highness Inkaria... is still on the planet." General Bronarva said in a somber tone. "As we can find no evidence or suspects... you are the only one who could have knowledge of her whereabouts... with your permission your majesty... I will have my soldiers begin a 'full' investigation, starting... from the cargo bays!"

He only waited until the King hesitated before giving him a nod, making it an order and for the General to nod and begin to leave, before Arthur snarled, "And risk you blowing up my cargo bays 'a second time'? I don't think so, 'general'."

"What did you say?" He growled back.

"You heard me loud and clear the first time, but just to clarify, I don't want you or your soldiers to touch my ship, or even leave this room until I have to say what I have to say." Arthur declared as he tapped his HUD Headset and signaled Great Fox. "Your Majesty, if you want to see your daughter again, I suggest you listen to what I have to say."

"Are you 'threatening' my daughter with harm?" He yelled as he got up, and every soldier took aim at him with their weapons. "I should have you arrested and your ship confiscated for that outburst."

Arthur took a deep and slow breath, as this was getting him nowhere. "Your majesty... you have a right to be angry right now, frustrated, and... even afraid for your daughter's safety." He said as politely and slowly as he could so the message was heard. "But... you need... at least for this moment in time... to stop thinking like a King, and think... like a father. Think rationally... it's the only way we'll see Ikaria returned to you safe and sound. That is 'all' I am asking of you, think calmly and rationally, and listen to what I have to say... before it's too late. I promise, you have my word... that if you listen to me and what I have to say... I will do all in my power as a Freelance Captain to help rescue your daughter."

The King just glared at him for several minutes, staring him down with every soldier waiting for the word to arrest and escort him away, or even to open fire. But after a few moments the King nodded, and sat down again, and all of the soldiers returned to a neutral stance.

Arthur nodded as he looked at the HUD again and asked Great Fox to collect all of the data and prepare to present it to the King, using his words as audio cues. After that he took the headset off and held it in the palm of his hand to a nearby soldier, asking them to take it and hand it to the King, which they did. He then instructed the king to wear it, placing it over his eye so he could view what Great Fox would show him as 'he' spoke it to him.

"Now, as I was trying to say, the last time I spoke to Ikaria was last night, before I left in my transport. The last time we spoke I was comforting her about how upset she was over attending the party, and trying to cheer her up with my pilot. When we parted, she had received a letter from Lord Umbara asking for a private talk in the garden, something about apologizing to her for how he phrased his words."

"That's impossible... I was at the party the entire time!" Lord Umbara shouted from somewhere to Arthur's left, causing him to look to him with a neutral expression. "I at 'no point' had time or incentive to write a letter to her highness, the princess had insulted and upset me! Why would I seek to talk to her in private to 'apologize' for what I said, when I at no point, was apologetic?"

"Indeed, why 'would' you?" He asked as he turned away to look at the Queen's side where the CO and the General was. "Tell me ma'am, are you Ikaria's Commanding Officer."

"Yes, I am her commanding officer, why do you ask?" She asked in a courteous tone.

"Then you would also happen to know of an Ensign Polmer, is that also, correct?"

"Yes... but what does Polmer have to do with this?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing, he is just trying to steer the conversation away from himself, trying to cast others in the light so that he may be protected." General Bronarva growled.

"Oh yes... let me steer the conversation away from the Freelance Captain who risked his ship against space pirates, pushed through a thunderstorm and took electrical damage to his ship, swam through the oceans blind practically, rescued the king's daughter due to sheer luck and coincidence, drove off dissidents while being shot at, and happened to be carrying the relief supplies your city needed to avoid starvation... and instead bring up the poor ensign who knocked up a Dutchess's daughter because he couldn't keep his lower head under control, then tried to pretend he was drunk and weasel out of it, pushes his responsibilities onto those with less seniority then him, hits on the king's daughter when at the base, shows negative working traits... and a whole bunch of other things that even I didn't have a chance to look at since my ship found the data for me!" He declared to the whole of the room, his voice getting louder and angrier as he stared at the CO and General, with the CO looking shocked and surprised as he listed off 'everything' while the General's eyes started to narrow at him.

There was utter silence as the room just stared, waiting.

Then...

"Blasphemous lies... slander, all you are doing is bringing up a false narrative on a loyal soldier of the Naval Guard, to try and disguise your own potential guilt!" The General said.

"Oh... I don't think so general... not when... at the very least... 'one' of you knows I'm telling the truth..." He said as he nodded to the CO, who looked back at the General and then confirmed what he was saying with a nod of her own head. "You'll also find... that the King, isn't disagreeing with me. Because he's staring at the data in front of him and reading it with his own eye."

The General, CO, even the Queen and everyone else looked at the King as he just stared in front of him, eyes focused on the HUD and scanning the data as it was dictated, even using a finger to shakily read and even reread what it was saying to him.

"W-w... when did all of 'this' happen?" He whispered, before he slowly turned to glare at the General and CO. "Why... have you let this... this... SCUM... remain at his post... next to my DAUGHTER for as long as he has?"

"Y-y-your majesty I..." The CO tried to say, but Arthur saved her by speaking for her.

"Ikaria's CO has made numerous attempts to remove him, you'll find that data being shown to you now." He said as he glanced around, and turned to Lord Umbara. "And for your sake Umbara, I suggest you stay right where you are... and 'you too' Bronarva... because I'm not done with either of you!"

"Wh-what you can't just-" Umbara tried to say but the King shouted, "ANYONE trying to leave, will be arrested, and thrown in jail, THAT is a 'ROYAL DECREE'!"

He then sat down and looked at the data again as Great Fox dictated it for him, silently reading and learning. Arthur waited until he was finished and then nodded to Arthur to continue.

"As said, Ikaria's CO tried numerous times to have him removed or switched from active military to civil service duty, mostly so she wouldn't have to deal with him." He said to which she nodded. "However, she wasn't permitted because she was under orders to keep him there... orders handed to her from General Bronarva. Now... one 'could' argue that he was just trying to give him a second chance to change for the better... but one has to question... why that specific unit, why that particular section of the base he was stationed in... well... you said so yourself your majesty. Why is that 'scum' allowed to remain at his post next to your daughter for this long?"

At that everyone turned to General Bronarva, with the King looking ready to commit murder as he silently asked that question to the now, growing very nervous general who seemed to be stammering to try and give an explanation.

"W-well... y-y-you s-s-see I-eha-uh if you'll uh j-just let me uhm... there is a p-p-perfectly logical explanation for all of this..."

"Oh, I think you already know why... and if what I suspect is true... what is your name ma'am?" He asked the CO.

"Commander, Commander Hilmarina of the Naval Guard, first division." She said with a smile, pleased to be addressed properly by him.

"Well, Hilmarina, can you tell me... where is Polmer now? Was he by chance... ordered out onto patrol this morning?"

"Y-yes... actually yes..." She said as she looked only 'slightly confused, before her eyes began to open wide as what he was implying subtly, crossed her mind. "No... no you don't mean to say..."

"That Polmer is a 'traitor', he's a dissident spy..." He said as he looked to General Bronarva. "Isn't it ironic, that the previous General, Bugnara got Polmer the position he did and worked so hard to bail him out of that scandal with the Dutchess's daughter and covered it up so that nobody would hear about it? Isn't it also oddly ironic how the general that 'replaces' him works so hard to keep Polmer at his station, keeping him out of trouble and cleaning up his messes after him? It almost seems like he was being 'protected'... almost like someone wanted him there, so that when the time came... he was in the 'best' position to be close to your daughter your majesty."

"What... did you order him to do, with MY DAUGHTER!?" King Gungadara yelled as he got up and stormed toward the General, as numerous guards closed in around him.

"I-I-I Didn't do anything, I have no idea what he's talking about!" He said nervously, beads of sweat breaking out over his body as his eyes stared in fear at the weapons pointed around him and the king's anger in front of him.

"Oh, I'm sure he knows... because isn't it ironic, that Polmer's story makes quite a convenient array of excuses to explain how everything fell into perfect alignment for him to come back to the capitol the day 'my ship' lands and Ikaria gets attacked on patrol?" He said, to which the king turned back to him and his eyes focused again on the HUD in front of his eye. "You see when my ship landed, it was almost utterly blind, unable to maneuver the trenches and valleys of your ocean due to the mineral elements messing up its scans. However, even in its blinded state, the ship was still able to register, because my 'transport' also registered them, a serious of explosions a hundred kilometers away from where we were, and registered a distress beacon. That was when we rescued your daughter, were pursued by dissident attack subs... but they focused only on me, not my fighters, almost like they had an objective and were trying to stop me. When we began to approach your city, your naval guard attacked us without so much as a warning, a question, nothing, communications silence as I tried to tell them of my intentions."

"It wasn't until your daughter came to our rescue, that they stopped and allowed us to pass. If my medical officer didn't do a good job helping her and we didn't feed her, who knows... my ship might have been destroyed, all the supplies lost... and your own daughter killed by accident perhaps... not that I would have allowed anyone to die under my watch if I can help it. But still... his excuse for everything that happened..." He said as he turned to Bronarva with a glare. "He just 'happens' to lose communications with Ikaria's group, and he just decides, 'well I can't contact her, I'm probably being jammed by the dissidents so let's head home', really... the second daughter in line for the throne, just say 'fuck it' let's go home, maybe she's fine and is waiting there! And he just so 'happens' to scan a ship in dissident territory as he's making his way back?"

He began to sneer at the clearly scared general. "My ship may have been blind for a few hours, but she is 'far' from helpless, she could have detected a scan on her from anything your people have access to. She could scan a section of the planet from beneath the waves at her depth at the moment, put her above the water and she can extend it to several continental plates, put her in space and she's able to scan globally. She never detected a scan the entire time until the dissidents were right on top of her. And just for Polmer's sake let's play Devil's advocate..."

"What's... devil's advocate?" The Queen asked in confusion.

"It means someone speaks out for the opposing side just to try and prove a point. So, I'll play the Devil's Advocate, let's say he did scan the ship and it just so happened to have occurred when the dissidents scanned us and my ship didn't register it. Maybe 'that's' why she didn't detect him. Even if Polmer 'could' have scanned the ship, unless he was at a close enough range to scan the ship directly, at a far enough distance... as Ikaria's sub showed, my ship only looked like a shapeless 'blob' of something massive, pushing the water in its wake and traveling very fast. To Ikaria and her colleagues, my ship looked like a giant school of Gooper Fish swarming together for protection. But if Polmer scanned my ship and 'learned' it was a ship, that means he had to have been close enough to scan the ship directly... and that would imply one of two scenarios, one he was close enough to have scanned my ship but far enough away to not be attacked by dissidents, which my ship would have detected. Or two... he was one of the dissident subs attacking us that 'scanned' my ship and retreated with the rest when they were driven away!"

"Which means... if Polmer is a traitor, then so is Bronarva... and he has been in contact and league with Bugnara and Lumarinara, and they were conspiring to kidnap your daughter, and now Polmer has taken her to his base of operations even now. They used his patrol to disguise when Polmer could safely take her out without anyone suspecting him, after all... he was 'ordered' to patrol an area near where the dissidents were that shot her and her ensigns down. Why else would he be there?"

The King finished reading the data as it was transcribed, and then with all the calmness he could muster, took off the Headset and slowly, with very restrained steps, walked over to Arthur and smiled, nodding to him as he handed back the headset. Arthur knew he was about to explode as he replaced the headset. "If you want to punch him, I think you are within your right, as a 'father'... but... if I may suggest, do so 'not' as a king, it... doesn't befit a King to be seen committing such an act."

The King nodded as he carefully removed his crown and took off his cape that signified his royal status, handed the crown to a soldier to hold and then neatly folded the cape before placing it on the throne next to his wife who seemed to be crying, muttering words of fear for her daughter's safety. After the cape was placed on the throne, and the crown returned and placed atop it, he ran over and began 'pummeling' the general with his fists and kicking him while his soldiers held him down.

While Arthur turned away to let the father break a fin or two, he turned to Umbara who looked to be sweating just as much as he watched Bronarva get beaten within an inch of his life by the king. The other nobles weren't any happier, but they weren't exactly trying to help, some even began backing away from Umbara as Arthur turned to him.

"Great Fox... out of curiosity, did you pick up any court controlled televised transmissions the night our cargo bays were attacked?" He asked.

[Affirmative, there was 'one' televised broadcast that I can report that was made city-wide that used a Royal Court's seal.] She told him warmly.

"Fascinating..." He said as Umbara took 'one' step back and soldiers stepped forward to stop him from trying to run. "And 'whose' seal, was it?"

[According to the data I looked up, it was Lord Umbara's Royal Court Seal when he made a public broadcast on behalf of the court. Despite his new title his seal was still that of a Duke.]

"Interesting, that Lord Umbara's seal was used just before my ship was attacked, and when I interrogated them, they told me that they were 'ordered' by a public broadcast with a coded message, using a duke's seal... yes, you're a Lord... but something tells me... you don't have a lord's 'seal' since you 'married' into current 'Lord Lumarinara's family, so until he dies or resigns his title, you're still technically a Duke, only a 'lord' by association. And it's so fascinating, that a mere tew hours after he made that announcement to the whole city... my ship gets attacked by dissidents, during a change of the Naval Guard workforce, with orders to blow up my cargo."

Umbara gulped as he tried to back away, but was quickly grabbed by soldiers and began panicking as he was pulled away.

"Arrest Umbara, and have him thrown in prison!" King Gungadara shouted as he got up from beating Bronarva, who was being dragged, literally, across the floor with a tiny trail of blood coating it. "Have those who have closely associated with them 'also' arrested for questioning, I want a FULL investigation to root out the traitors in our midst!" He screamed in anger as he returned to the throne. "Every other noble still here, I want 'OUT'... now!"

Moments after the guards began to leave, two went to grab the CO, who began to panic as she tried to plead that she had nothing to do with this. Arthur managed to save her though, and say "She's clean your majesty... she's loyal, she actually wanted Polmer gone and had no knowledge of anything going on. She was being used."

The guards looked to the King as did Hilmarina, and he nodded, allowing her to breathe a sigh of relief when they let her go. As the room emptied except for him, the King and Queen, a few guards and Hilmarina the Commander of the Naval Guard, the King replaced his crown and cape and took a seat. Then he held his face in the palm of his hands, subtly weeping alongside his wife who was whispering Native Aquavram as she too cried upon her throne.

He gave them a moment to mourn, but he coughed to get his attention. "Your Majesty, I understand your fear and worry for your daughter. But now is not the time for worry and fear." He told him. "Right now, you have to take care of some important matters, matters that must be done despite this incident. You have to go through your ranks and root out those who are working for the dissident movement, both in the civil and active military."

"Yes... yes you are right. I shall do that once I have deployed submersibles to begin locating Lumarinara's camp. I should have listened to my daughter from the start, I should have rooted him out instead of waiting idly for help..." Gungadara said angrily.

"No... you can't, not yet." He said, which caused the King to look at him in confusion. "Right now, you don't know 'who' to trust. Your own 'general' was a traitor and a dissident, working with spies and plotting to kidnap your daughter. At this point the list of individuals you can wholeheartedly trust is narrow, too narrow to risk such an action... the only soldiers you can count on to not turn on you or warn Lumarinara that you're onto his plan are your Royal Guard... and Hilmarina here. That's not enough to perform such a search."

"Then who can I trust, who can I send out?"

"There is one group you can trust... 'mine'." He said with a smile. "I promised remember, I'll do all within my power to find and save Ikaria. My ship and pilots will bring her back safe and sound, but in order to do so I'll need to take my ship and depart. I can speed up my search if I can be given Polmer's last known trajectory before he vanished."

"Go... I'll have the soldiers working to finish collecting the crates they're offloading." The King said as he turned to Hilmarina and she nodded with a salute. "Commander Hilmarina!"

"Yes, your majesty?" She asked as she was about to leave, but turned and saluted him to hear what he had to say.

"As of this moment, you are my new General... Your first order of business once you have carried out my order, is to transmit what Arthur needs to his ship. Your second order is to find a soldier who you can trust to act as your new Lieutenant and Second in command. Then root out the dissidents in your ranks."

She blinked several times as she was told she just jumped several ranks to the highest rank in the army, and just shook in disbelief as she nodded and left to carry out her orders.

"Then I will return to my ship and begin to leave."

As he was turning to leave, about to start jogging because of the rush he was in, he was called by the King who had one final message to him.

"Arthur... as a Freelance Captain, you are 'entitled' to a reward if you perform any mission for the crown." He declared as he walked toward him with a soft expression and tone in his voice to match. "This is an official mission for you, 'bring my daughter back'... please... as a father... she means everything to me just like my other daughter and my wife. As a King, I can't always treat her as my daughter, I must always think of the court and the people, and balance the two... but... she is still my precious daughter, and I would give my life, my crown, everything to have her back safe and sound."

He then offered a hand to him to shake, and said, "If you succeed in bringing my daughter back... I will offer you as a reward-"

Minutes later Arthur boarded Blue Fox and it took off to the Great Fox, and he sat down in the chair to bring up the HUD. "Great Fox, get me in touch with Trishula!"

[One moment please...]

He waited for a couple minutes before the HUD opened a window for him to see a nude Trishula with wet fur, a towel being used to quickly dry herself off. [Arthur, you caught me in the shower, can I help you or did you just want to see me wet~?] She asked in a teasing tone with a smile.

"No time for that Trishula, get dried and get your squadron together and ready for a briefing!" He said in a serious tone.

Trishula instantly realized the seriousness of the situation through his tone and began rushing to dry herself, no longer trying to tease him with her body or play with him. [What's going on Captain?] She asked in just as serious a tone.

"You'll find out when I'm back on the ship, hurry it up, time is of the essence and lives are at stake!" He said as she nodded and closed the channel. "Great Fox, get the ship ready to launch, I want us to be ready to move 'Yesterday'!"

[Captain... I am... being sent a coded transmission.] Great Fox said in a 'curious' tone.

"Can you decipher it?"

[Yes, it will only take a few moments...] She declared as the Blue Fox approached the Great Fox's hanger and was slowly guided in to dock. [Done... here is the message.]

He looked at the transmission message and raised his eyebrow. "Well, what a 'coincidence'..." He muttered. "What a happy 'coincidence'. Great Fox, I'm going to need a 'second' HUD Headset, and tell Kiandra I need her services right now."

As Arthur was leaving Blue Fox and going to meet with his pilots, over five hundred thousand kilometers away from the capitol in an armed encampment that was layered with various bubble biomes, crab walkers and submersible attack subs, in the largest bubble biome that was being used as a multilayered structure, a single Aquavram Female was slowly coming to as she began to wake up from her deep sleep.

"Nnngh... what... the... where am I?" She muttered as she rolled over and slowly pushed herself up.

As Ikaria slowly got her bearings, she saw that first she was still wearing her dress from the party, second, she was in a very fancy looking bedroom. The room she was in had a view of the outside, but the door was locked, only allowing her to look around the room and see the assortment of furniture. She got up and ran to the window to look out, and stared in confusion and then horror as she saw the numerous submersibles, the crab walkers, the circle of automated turrets, and the large number of armed Aquavrams swimming and marching around in the bubble biomes. But the biggest thing that drew her attention, were the various symbols of Lord Lumarinara's royal seal upon the various submersibles and walkers.

"I've been captured by the dissidents..." She muttered as she cursed Lord Umbara, knowing she should never have trusted that fool!

As she ran to the door and tried to get out, but still seeing it was locked, she tried to dig around the room to see if she could find 'anything' to help her. But nothing was in the room, and the drawers were bolted into the furniture so she couldn't use them as weapons. She grabbed at the chair and tried to 'bash' the window, but a small force field bounced the blow back.

She jumped back in surprise, and cursed her luck, she was utterly trapped. Unfortunately, her dress had nothing to help her, she had no communicator, not that she could have used it to begin with, and no tools to help her. All she had was her necklace, her ring and her dress.

With nothing else to do, she sat back on the bed and tried to think of what to do, trying to scheme up some way to escape, but without help... she wasn't getting out of here. So, she sat and waited, knowing eventually someone would come for her.

Sure enough, after about fifteen minutes of her sitting, getting up, pacing and then going back to the bed the door was unlocked and she got up, backing away to get herself ready for the worst. However, instead of what she expected, an armed soldier looking for her, she saw a very old and well-trimmed butler, wearing a suit and rolling in a mobile tray carrying a covered plate of food.

He rolled it forward and over to the table, bowing to her and pulling out a tablecloth for her. He then picked up the tray, and unveiled it to reveal a steaming tray of delicious looking cooked Klendura Crab, a salad of Kelpweed and exotic off-worlder garnishes, and finally a grilled trio of Gooperfish already pre-sliced for her. He politely bowed and declared in a warm tone, "Your Highness, lunch is served, courtesy of Lord Lumarinara." He declared. "He wishes to speak with you, 'after' you have had something to eat of course, please... enjoy his hospitality as his guest."

She could feel her stomach give a slight rumble as it smelled the well-prepared tray of food, and she slowly walked over to it and looked at the beautiful spread and even 'smelled' the enticing aroma. For a moment, she was so tempted to eat it, she hadn't eaten that morning obviously, and if it was lunch she didn't want to 'not' eat...

But then she remembered two important things, she was in Lord Lumarinara's camp and he wanted her to 'eat'. The second thing, was that after having tasted good food aboard the Great Fox, and seeing how happy everyone was as they ate it, and how it made her feel... she suddenly found her people's traditional foods sorely lacking not in taste, but in warmth of familiarity.

She sighed as she picked up the tray and looked to the butler. "Did you make this?" She asked.

"Why yes, I prepare all of Lord Lumarinara's meals, I hope you enjoy and find it satisfactory." He said politely with a humble bow.

"Fine... don't take this the wrong way... it's not 'you'... I'm sure it tastes wonderful but..." She said coldly as she extended her arm out and tipped the tray over, throwing all of the food to the floor. "I don't trust 'anything' if it's associated with Lord Lumarinara, especially when I know I'm a prisoner, not a 'guest'." When the last of the food hit the floor, she put the tray on the table and said in a cold voice. "Take me to Lumarinara, I'm not hungry."

The Butler nodded, showing neither disappointment nor displeasure at the fact that she had thrown away the food he probably so carefully cooked to perfection specifically for her. Instead, he politely beckoned her to follow him, and she was led out the room and down the hall. She walked through corridors, past doors and random assortments of objects, everything mostly deserted but she knew that this was probably Lumarinara's main headquarters.

She was eventually escorted through another series of corridors, and she saw, to her surprise, several crates that were slightly covered that seemed to have been cracked open, showing the contents within them. She saw a few vials of what looked like various forms of medications, but that was all she could see of the crates.

After a bit of more walking, she was led to a door and the butler opened it up, bowing her in. "Her Highness, my lord."

She stepped forward and stared again at Lord Lumarinara. The Aquavram was tall for their breed, not nearly as tall as Arthur, only standing at five-foot four whereas she was four foot eight, but he was still tall considering the average was four foot nine. As far as looks go he was about as 'handsome' as an Aquavram could be, he didn't have a large chin, his cheeks were smooth, his nose was well defined, and he had some muscle to him that most girls at court would find attractive. However, she was not 'most' girls at court, and she could only glare at him as he got up and approached Ikaria from around the table. He nodded to his butler and said, "Thank you, you may leave now."

The Butler humbly bowed and turned around, leaving behind the door he came from and closing it behind him with a soft click.

"Ah, Ikaria, it is good to finally meet you face to face again, away from the royal court. I trust you enjoyed your meal?" Lord Lumarinara asked in a 'pleasant' tone, offering her his hand to take.

She just stared at it and then glared back, refusing the offer.

Seeing this show of hostility caused him to only frown slightly before he bowed again and offered his hand once more, "Surely you will at least let me do the honor of kissing your finger, you are Royalty after all... it would be discourteous of me to not show you my respect and admiration."

"I think my body will be in need of emergency medical care if you even held my hand for a second." She sneered. "What do you want, you didn't go to the trouble of kidnapping me away from the Coral Palace just to show me 'courtly courtesy and respect'."

Lumarinara's smile faltered again as he stood up and nodded, but still that air of 'cunning' and deviousness never left his person as he turned around and stared out of the window. "Tell me Ikaria... how are the people doing at the capitol... better I hope?" He asked her.

"The citizens of the Arquoovra Majesta are doing better now that relief has arrived!" She snarled. "It took a month and a week, but finally the galaxy sent us aid. Which we wouldn't have needed in the first place if you hadn't started this whole civil war in the first place!"

"Yes, and for that I am truly sorry..." Lumarinara said in a sad tone. "Truly I am... if things could have been different, if I could have gone about achieving my goals in a more peaceful way, in a 'courtlier' manner... perhaps we would never have had to fight ourselves. But as you know, the Court 'rarely' does things in a manner that befits the people's needs."

"Oh, I know all about the royal court, they talk and talk, and talk some more, they ignore our people they focus on themselves, they only use caring for the people and only 'care' for them as ways to advance themselves and gain more political points in an attempt to reach the royal throne!"

"Yes... you see now why I couldn't have done things more peacefully?" He asked as he turned to her. "Look around us, look at our people, what have we become over the years? The centuries, the thousands of years since we first entered space?"

"We've become prosperous, we've become almost harmonious, we live in an almost 'perfect' balance with our world!" She countered. "Our people don't have to starve, at least before they didn't. They don't have to overwork themselves, at least 'before' they didn't! Before this civil war started our people could pursue passions and hobbies for their livelihoods. Our culture has declined in just a month because of this war! Before you there was song in the streets, Aquavrams could dance and visit squares for performances, our streets were cleaned, there was always activity and nary a soul went hungry!"

"Yes yes yes, as your sister told me at court, and as the other nobles at court recited, poetry this, song that, culture this... and all it cost us, was our 'future' among the stars!" He said with an angry snap, turning around to glare at her. "Look at us, look at our people, we're the 'bumps' of the galaxy. The other powers, the other sectors all walk over us and treat us like we're backwards and don't matter!"

"We 'do' matter!" She yelled back.

"Only because our 'planets' matter!" He shouted at her. "You think the galaxy cares about us, you think they care about Aquavram Prime, they only care about 'us' because we're the only ones who were capable of setting up their precious 'mining' establishments and colonies on the Guntara Planetoids. They are 'ours' by sector association, and yet we just 'handed' them over to the galaxy to mine on a silver platter!"

"We don't care about those planets, we can't even 'live' on them, the toxic fumes are hazardous to ships, if we even tried stepping foot on the planet, even if we pass the gasses, the air is foul. We'd get sick and die within 'days'. Why should we care what the Belgans or any other system does with them, we can't even live or work on those planets to begin with! The logistics are too much already for us so let other systems that have the credits and want to waste them managing the mining settlements and refineries have at them!"

"YES, SO HAS BEEN SAID COUNTLESS TIMES!" He screamed at her, causing her to back up in fear. "Oh yes, when 'they' need the minerals and ores to keep building ships, so the Major Factions can fund their personal wars and keep building more and more ships... we're happy to lend a hand. Sure, mine the ores and minerals, just pay us royalties and have at the planets! And yet... when trouble starts for us, when 'we' need help... what happens?"

He took a deep breath and turned around, looking outside the window again as he frowned. "When a civil war breaks out... what happens? Tell me."

"The... other systems, the Major Faction calls upon Freelance Captains to lend aid, to destroy your space forces and clear space... our neighboring allies send fleets to render assistance and help the Freelance Captains secure the sector again." She said sternly.

"Yes... but only because their precious 'minerals and ores' on the Guntara Planetoids were threatened, because we supply a 'huge' portion of the materials needed to build ships across the quadrants. The moment the precious ores are secured and no longer threatened... what happened 'after'." He countered with a frown of disappointment. "Tell me... what happened 'after'."

"They... they..." She muttered as she had no other way to say it, not liking it but having to admit he had a point here. "They... left instantly."

"They left... 'instantly'." He said with a nod. "The Freelance Captains didn't bother staying to help, because the 'money' wasn't enough to keep them interested. The allied fleets left because they couldn't stay to secure the sector for 'whatever' reason. We were left... alone, and on our own! No ships patrolling our space, no assistance offered... 'none'."

"Assistance 'was' offered, they did try to send help!" She countered, knowing this was true thanks to Arthur. "The... The Belgans sent two convoys of food and medical supplies, but they were... intercepted by pirates and..."

"And that was the end of it." He said with a grin. "They sent 'two' convoys, but instead of sending them with powerful military escorts... they sent them with a weak enough escort that 'pirates', lowly pirates could stop them from arriving to help you. If we were SO important, why did they send such a weak escort 'twice'?"

She didn't know what to say, but she then muttered feebly, "They... did... they sent another escort, they pooled all the resources they had left to spare." She said, listing and reciting Arthur and Trishula's own words. "The ship... the Captain's ship Great Fox... it was the only one that could do the job... he risked his ship to save us."

"And I bet he was 'paid' to do it too, paid quite a lot to take on the job after hearing 'two' convoys were destroyed." He said with a grin.

She... figured that was true, but she also wanted to believe, no she 'had' to believe that Arthur didn't just take on the job of saving her planet because he was offered enough money. Arthur... Arthur was a good person, he had a kind soul, he wasn't like those other captains who just left when the money wasn't good enough anymore. He didn't need to save her life, he didn't need to leave the Ancient Swimmer alone, he could have ignored her, shot at it, just headed straight to his destination... he had to be good!

"He's... different he's... he's..."

"You really think he accepted the job for 'charity'? He's a Freelance Captain!" Lumarinara said sternly. "Freelance Captains travel the space ways taking on whatever job pays them the most. They accept jobs to pay for their ships, their fuel, their food, their ammo, their 'everything'. They take a job, pay to get supplies to carry it out, complete the job, take another job and do the whole process over again. They 'never' take a job for charity, they 'always' do what suits their interests... your 'captain' is no different! Give him a high enough price tag, and he'll reconsider his options."

There was silence for a bit as he let her think of his words. Then he said, "It may have been brutal, it may not have been pretty... and I WISH I didn't have to do it, but my actions proved my point. The moment the Gunatara Planets were threatened, the Major Factions, our allies all came to our rescue. But the second the pay wasn't good enough and the job was done, the Freelance Captains all left! When they were needed elsewhere, our allies recalled their fleets while leaving 'my' pocket of dissidents still active on the planet!"

"They could have stayed to make sure we were finished, they could have forced me to surrender... but instead, they just turned around, and 'left'... leaving us on our own, to suffer... and 'starve'."

She didn't want to believe it... he... he was her hero, her savior. His own Breath of Life flows through her body, he 'saved' her life and gave her hope again. She gave him her first kisses, she didn't want to believe that there were no good captains out there, that they were all the same! But... Lumarinara was right... so far, he was proving that he was right.

"But... he..."

"The moment he gets paid his money, the moment he offloads the 'rest' of his cargo, the second his business on our planet is concluded, he will take off in his ship and back into space to find a new job that offers a good prize to be worth it." Lumarinara asked politely. "What reason does he have to remain, what reason does he have to care about us after he's done his job? Does he have a wife here, does he have a family, does he want to settle down? No... he's a Freelance Captain, he lives in space, not on Aquavram Prime."

She felt so deflated, but still, a tiny voice tried to rebel, to not give in to his words. But... he was telling the truth. Brutal as it was, he proved his point, the galaxy 'didn't' care about them. They didn't exactly rush to provide security 'after' the space around the Gunatara Planets and Aquavram Prime was cleared. They may have sent convoys but they sure didn't attach heavier security to ensure they got through safely, even after losing two, they had to find a 'freelance captain' to complete the mission.

"Admit it... we Aquavrams have to stand on our own if we're to be seen as a respected power in the galaxy!" Lumarinara told her. "They only care about us because we own the gas planets that can be mined for ores and minerals for their precious starships. They pay us in royalties, but also ask 'us' to pay for 'them' to secure our space! How is that 'mutually' beneficial to both parties? We get royalties and they get the minerals, the ores, and the 'money' we make in 'royalties' so they can protect 'our' space?"

He stood before her with a frown, an apologetic frown as she looked into his eyes.

"We deserve to be as much a power as the Belgans, the Iktorans, the Terrans, 'everyone' in the galaxy. But we're not... because our 'king', the Royal Court, keeps holding us back. We don't need the stars, our waters are all we want and need, we're happy and we live wonderful lives here on Aquavram Prime. Well... I don't like that, I'm not happy, and clearly not 'everyone' is happy with that arrangement."

"I wish I didn't have to do this; I would have walked any other path if it meant reaching my goals without bloodshed. But I swear I am doing this for the sake of our people... they 'deserve' to be among the stars and deserve to treated as 'equals' by the galaxy, not treated as just a stepping stone and used until our usefulness has ended."

"I want to show you something..." He muttered as he turned and pointed at the large window that was a bubble shield. "Look..."

She glanced at him and then the window, and slowly walked over to it to see outside. There, arrayed in multiple small bubble shields, were large numbers of crates, various supply crates. Soldiers were picking up some of the boxes and positioning them, securing them. She just stared in shock, seeing so many crates, and so many bubble shielded domes. Over half of the camp seemed dedicated to storing those crates.

"Those are 'supply crates', supplies I was planning to offer the people of the capitol as a peace offering, a 'truce'. But your father instead chose to keep the war going... instead of offering to negotiate, he chose to prolong the war, prolong your people's suffering. He could have easily 'ended' this war when my space forces and allies were defeated, I was 'willing' to negotiate an end to hostilities. Instead... he let your people suffer, for 'over a month'."

She just stared in horror at the supplies, all of this time, all of that suffering... could have been 'avoided'?

"I was defeated Ikaria, my forces were outnumbered, they were crushed... my movement all but finished. If your father had chosen to talk, to extend a coral branch of peace to offer 'peace'... I would have gladly negotiated. I would have given up my title, become nothing more than a normal citizen, if he would accept these supplies and at least let me 'apologize' and explain to the people my actions and the reasons I took them, so that the people didn't have to suffer any further. But you know what happened instead, we stayed at war... no offers of peace, no negotiations... just a cold war between us... he chose to hide in the capitol, keeping the people within his oversized palace and letting nobody out!"

"And now that he has food, he feels justified to continue it, he's going to keep this war going instead of trying to end it 'peacefully'. Instead of a peaceful end... he will want bloodshed so that to the people his actions are vindicated and justified. Now he'll get to use 'me' as justification for his rule as it stands..."

She turned away and looked at the supply crates, thinking about his words again, but still... that tiny voice... that little voice from before refused to listen, trying to tell her to not listen yet the rest of her wasn't thinking in favor of her voice.

"Don't you think our people deserve better, don't we deserve to be seen as a galactic power, worthy of equal respect, and not just that aquatic breed that owns the planets that we harvest our minerals and ores for the ships we need?" He whispered as he placed a hand upon her shoulders, but despite her wishes to fling it away, she did not. "Consider my offer... join us, with your help... we can not only end this war, but we can usher in an era of growth and prosperity our people have not ever seen since the 'olden days' when we first unified under the Coral Palace."

She thought... and was on the verge of caving, but then at the last second... she saw a glint in the ocean. She focused her eyes, and watched as that glint continued to shine, continued to glint and glitter in the distance. As if thinking it would improve her ability to see, she stepped as close to the bubble shield as possible to look outside and observed as the glint turned from this speckle of light, to a very distinctly shaped 'mass'. It was narrow, angular, and somewhat bulky as it drew closer.

Then... with a sudden look of excitement and hope, she saw that the approaching mass was in fact a 'starship', a starfighter to be precise. It was not just 'any' starfighter, but one she recognized as belonging to the Great Fox... Arthur.

"Arthur..." She whispered as she watched the ship flying toward them.

"Yes... the Freelance Captain." Lumarinara said with a smile. "I invited him here for a private meeting. As a Freelance Captain he is the 'perfect' person to negotiate with, his loyalty is to none but whoever pays the most to him. He has no oath to the king, he accepted the job that brings him here not on behalf of us, but on behalf of the Belgans. So, I plan to talk to him, and offer him something to help me take control of the government. With him by 'our' side Ikaria, we will take over the Royal Court, we can sweep aside those royal fools who only concern themselves with their personal lives, and care little for the people! We can usher in a new era!"

Seeing Arthur's starfighter approaching caused her to pause, it was as if his mere 'presence' had given strength to that voice in her that was still defiantly speaking out against Lumarinara. Wait until Arthur was there, wait until you could talk to him, hear what he has to say it was telling her! You can trust him, you can believe him, he is your savior, he gave you his Breath of Life, if there were any you can believe it is he who breathed life into you and gave your heart the will to beat strongly once more!

"I'll wait with you until Arthur is with us, before I commit to anything..." She said coldly.

Lumarinara nodded with a proud smile as he beckoned her to follow him, and together they left to head to another room in the building.

Meanwhile Arthur was alone in the Arwing and was currently piloting it as 'steadily' as he could but failing as the ship swayed and wavered from side to side. "Grrr... how come it is so EASY to pilot this thing with a bloody keyboard and mouse then it is with 'actual' fighter pilot controls?!" He complained as his starfighter shuddered with his slight movements via the handle controls he was moving. "Ugh, I need to tell the Great Fox to ready some simulations for me when I get back. This is ridiculous! Now I see why Trishula went to an academy to become a starfighter pilot!"

As he approached the coordinates he was provided, he saw the massively large encampment of bubble shields, automated turrets rotating and turning to take him, saw the large array of submersibles and the many, many supply crates littering the camp as far as he could see. But he also saw a particularly empty bubble shield, that was just low enough and large enough to encompass his starfighter.

"Alright, you can do this... just let the autopilot do its thing! Like Trishula said, it will automatically engage if you are attempting to land without taking proper landing procedures to avoid you crashing and dying." He muttered as he pulled his starfighter up and dove toward the biome shield. "Alright... anytime now... aaaaanytime now autopilot... anytime now! I'd like to not repeat the first time I crashed an Arwing into my ship... or die a second time!"

The Arwing picked up speed as it aimed directly at the bubble shield, and the ship slightly shook and shuddered as he kept shaking the ship, as if readying himself to pull up suddenly to avoid crashing. After a few seconds though, thankfully several red lights lit up and switched to green, and the ship's controls locked up, with the starfighter steadying itself and slowing down and angling itself for a 'proper' landing. He breathed a sigh of relief as he let go and thanked his lucky stars.

After his starfighter landed he glanced at a specific button that was blinking. He glanced around making sure the turrets were aimed at him, that his HUD Headsets had gotten a good sweep of them as well as the submersibles. Once he'd nodded and given the scans to his starship, he pushed the button and it activated, turning solid and then began subtly switching between colors.

Then he pushed up the canopy of the starfighter and opened it up so he could exit from it. Carefully he climbed out, having never done this before and having to jump down from it to land on the ground. He looked around and followed the bubble biome's extended shield toward the large structure before him. As he walked into the building he saw several stacks of crates, that each bore insignias labeling what they were filled with, and took notice of them as he continued to walk.

The building was pretty empty as far as Aquavram Personnel went, and it was obvious that this Lumarinara wanted him to come to him, without an escort as numerous rooms were closed off and various hallways had their lights shut off. Seeing no other way but forward, he followed the lit passages, walked up several flights of stairs and down even more corridors.

After a few minutes of walking though, he saw a room that had two guards stationed outside of it, was asked to relinquish his weapons, and opened his vest to reveal a singular plasma pistol he was carrying strapped to the inside, handing it over. He then walked in with the door closing automatically behind him.

In the room he saw several things, first the numerous number of guards positioned around the room that were all armed. The next thing he saw was Ikaria still wearing her dress from the party, but she looked unharmed and for that he was glad. The third thing he saw was an Aquavram male who wore fancy clothes and even fancier shell armor.

"Lord Lumarinara I assume?" He asked curtly.

"Yes, and you must be this 'Captain Arthur' that Ikaria keeps going on about." He said as he beckoned him to step into the room further. "So glad you could come, I was just informing Ikaria here that you received my invitation and notably, did not inform the King of it."

"Of course not, because if I'm correct, if I had, your 'spies' or lookouts watching for me approaching between here and the capitol, would have warned you if they saw anyone else 'besides' me..."

"Sharp... I see why you're a Freelance Captain." Lumarinara said with a smirk as sat down behind his desk and Arthur stepped forward to stand before him. "Shall we get down to business then?"

"First, Ikaria... are you alright?" He said, turning to Ikaria.

"Yes... yes, I haven't been harmed and they've treated me well." She told him warmly.

"Good to hear, I was worried when you went missing, quite a bit of fuss... your father thought I had kidnapped you. He's worried about you, you know, you should head home." He told her with an equally warm tone.

"My father... I... see." She muttered as she glanced down.

He didn't like that, Lumarinara had said things to her, she wasn't acting like she was before. But he could solve that later, he had to deal with Lumarinara.

"So, your invitation told me to come here, alone and in an unarmed starship, as you can see, I removed my pistol and handed it over to your guards. Now explain why you told me to come out here alone, with my starship remaining docked in the capitol and with all of my starfighters still in the hanger bay?"

"Hmm nice to see someone has some honor among you Freelance Captains." Lumarinara said as he leaned forward with a smirk. "I am here to offer you a proposal... Ikaria would you be polite to leave the room, as this is a private conversation I wish to have with Arthur."

"Whatever you intend to say, can be said with her in the room." He said sternly, not wanting to lose track of her. "She stays, that's the 'only' condition for me listening to you."

Lumarinara's smile faltered for a moment before he nodded, and continued, "Very well, a simple term and agreeable. I will be frank; I am in need of your services."

"Oh?" Arthur countered.

"Yes, you see your ship is in a very unique position, you are within striking distance of the Coral Palace itself. With you at the helm, and with my backing... and with Ikaria's influence and command over the Naval Guard, we could bring about a swift end to this Civil War and 'force' King Gungadara to accept my terms for a peaceful resolution." Lumarinara said. "I know... it seems like I'm asking you to betray your contract, but you must have seen if you spent any time in the Coral Palace, especially among the nobles at court, that those of the elite were not suffering from the effects of the civil war. Your contract was to the 'people', not to those political elites who were not even paying you to begin with, you were there to help the sick and starving masses who clutched their hungry bellies surviving off of scraps, while the high and mighty at court ate feasts."

"You can complete your contract even 'if' you support me in my bid to take control of the Coral Throne, you will still receive full payment from the Beglan Officials. But if you support me in my wish to liberate and free my people... I will offer you 'double' of whatever it is you are being offered and more if you join my side. Ikaria has all but agreed to join my cause... she only wished to hear what you have to say before committing. You needn't even fire a shot, you just simply have to await my signal to make your declaration, and 'demand' that the King accept my terms for peace, or else you will open fire upon the Coral Palace."

Arthur just stared neutrally at the Lord, not believing he was hearing this talk. "And you think he will listen to my 'demand'?"

Ikaria's eyes went wide, was he actually considering the offer?

"Oh I'm 'sure' the nobles will force him to listen, they won't want to be killed in the line of fire, they value their own lives and wealth then they do the King and his rule..."

He thought for a moment and then said, "The people of the city... the supplies I saw stockpiled as I was flying in... are they for your people, or were they intended for the masses?"

"The masses, I was planning on offering them soon after my space forces were defeated, as an offering of peace... to bargain for favorable terms to end the war so that we could put this war behind us and move on. But now they sit... waiting to be used."

Arthur was quiet as he waited, making him think he was actually considering it as a series of lights momentarily flashed outside the bubble shield window, before he sighed and said as he pulled his hand into his sleeve and gripped, "With all my civility that I have to offer... shove that offer up your ass." before flinging his arm out and pointing a plasma pistol of Belgan Origins at the Lord.

Just as the soldiers in the room began to raise their weapons, he shouted, "ANYONE MOVES and he dies!" To a shocked Lumarinara and an even more surprised Ikaria. "This pistol is of Belgan Origins, its currently loaded with a single shot, and it's pointed at you Lord Lumarinara... so you'll do as I say now, and not try to lie your way into a position of power at the expense of those you consider below you."

"L-lie?" He stammered.

"Yes, did you really think I wouldn't notice the insignias on those crates?" He asked with a frown. "Curious how they have the same symbols as the crates aboard my starship, surely you noticed as well right Ikaria? Those are the Belgan Relief Supplies in the previous two convoys that were intercepted by pirates. But my ship noted that there were no supplies in the wrecks floating in the Hyperspace Lane. Not even a single crate... almost like they were emptied first and 'then' blasted."

"I... they... were?" She asked in confusion, before looking out the window and stared at the closest stack in a bubble biome.

Sure enough, the closest stack of crates had the same insignias she had seen aboard Great Fox.

"W-wait... I can explain that!"

"Oh yes... do tell... tell us how you heroically 'liberated' those supplies from the Pirates you 'paid' to intercept the Belgan Convoys and deliver them here to your camp." He said with a frown. "I'm all ears..."

"W-we 'did' liberate them, the pirates had landed on the planet and..."

"Pirate ships 'landing' on an Ocean Planet with no active spaceport and no 'landmass' to land on?" He taunted. "The only way they could have done that is if they used the mobile spaceport controlled by the King and Arquoovra Majesta. But then that would imply... instead of landing and you attacking them, they were 'offloading' them and handing them over to you. Don't try and lie to me, it doesn't suit you and it doesn't work on me."

While Lumarinara was trying to recover from Arthur pegging his lie and destroying it in real time, Ikaria's voice that had been defiant still was now growing in strength, screaming at her that she could listen to Arthur and trust him! "You 'paid' pirates... you paid for them to intercept our relief convoys... then... the real reason why we suffered was because-"

"Because he was planning on using your people's 'suffering' to his advantage." He told her while still glaring at Lumarinara. "According to my pilot's tactical expert, the only way the convoys could have fallen without any word reaching your side or the Belgan's side of the transwarp gate, was if pirates infiltrated the starfighter pilot pool and destroyed the convoy from the inside. That's why they hired me, they needed someone they could trust to ensure the convoy's safety 'and' your relief supplies reached their destination with the maximum security they could find. My ship was the only one that had the tools for the job in the entire system."

"He planned the war out from the start, he blew up the spaceports of the Guntara Planets and Aquavram Prime, shot down communications satellites and cut your people off from the galaxy. He destroyed your food supplies and forced you all into a position where the only safe place was the capitol, so that food reserves were exhausted as quick as possible, and so that when disease broke out it could spread like a plague. He paid pirates to intercept the convoys and bring the relief supplies meant for your people to him, so that he could use them in his war to gain power. If my convoy didn't make it through, your people would have 'caved' into his offer for food and medicine, and then his dissidents look like heroes and your father is the villain!"

Lumarinara's look of fear turned to rage as he realized he'd been found out.

"Quite the plan, but Katarra saw through it, sharp girl, I should offer her a raise because by the look on your face she hit the nail on the coffin." He told him. "The only thing you didn't count on, was 'me' and my ship's abilities ruining your plan. You had Polmer spy on you, keeping tabs on Ikaria, and when the time was right and she was sent out on patrol to look for food, he was assigned to screen for her... and he pointed where she was to your subs so she could be 'retrieved'."

Ikaria looked to Arthur in shock, Polmer was a spy, he was a dissident?

"Oh yea, I found that out too, he let slip too much... should have told him to keep his mouth shut and not mention more than needed. He told me he scanned my ship, but my ship has a record of everything that scans her going back fifteen years... she was only scanned by 'five' submersibles, and they were all attacking me as I fled with Ikaria in my transport. He also mentioned a rumor of dissidents attacking with a captured starship pretending to be carrying relief aid... funny how he heard that rumor when there was no such rumor circulating among the population or the military. Also... he was being 'jammed' by dissidents before he returned to the capitol, if that were true either they were sleeping and not planning to attack him, or he was already among their ranks, because in order for your people to jam scanners you'd have to be within close range to do so!"

Lumarinara was seething with anger as Arthur kept the gun pointed at him, while the HUDs showed several lines of code going off.

"I didn't come out here because you invited me, I came out here because I made a promise to save King Gungadara's daughter." He said. "Your invitation just happened to give me the coordinates, saving me the trouble of searching for you. Ikaria get behind me!"

She looked between Lumarinara and Arthur, before she gained a determined look and ran to Arthur, hiding behind him and looking around the room.

"You are 'not' getting out of here alive; you know that right?" Lumarinara shouted. "The second you try to leave the compound you'll be shot dead!"

"Oh, don't worry about me, I have a safety net... but I assure you I'm going to leave with Ikaria beside me." He told them. "Her father was so desperate to see her safely returned again. You have a wonderful father Ikaria; I wish I had one like him growing up. You see, even though he was a dad first he was still a King, and when I made the call to say I was going to rescue you, he offered me a reward."

"A reward?"

"As a King, he couldn't just let a Freelance Captain act for the Aquavram government without offering a reward of some kind... so, in exchange for me rescuing you and bringing you back to him safe and unharmed... he offered me your hand in marriage."

She just gasped in surprise; her 'father' wanted him to marry her? She wasn't against it, but... it was so sudden and-

"Fortunately, I told him no, as I told him-" He said as he went back to that memory.

=Flashback=

"If you succeed in bringing my daughter back... I will offer you as a reward my own daughter Ikaria's hand in marriage." King Gungadara said with his hand outstretched. "I can see, she seems to adore you and enjoys her time with you. She connects more with you and your ship and crew, then she does with us at the Royal Court. I ask you to return her to me, and in exchange I will give you her hand in marriage."

Arthur just stared at the hand before he shook his head, "No, I'm not doing this for that, you don't need to offer me anything because I'm not accepting a mission from you." He told him.

"But-"

"No, I'm doing this because I made a promise remember, I said 'if you listen to what I have to say and let me speak, I will do all in my power to find and bring your daughter back'. I'm fulfilling my promise now, you gave me permission to speak and now I'm honoring my word. Besides, you're her father first, not her king, you shouldn't just offer up your daughter to the first person who claims he can rescue her. She's not a potted plant you can just give away because someone cleaned your bedroom."

"But... I'm a King, I'm King Gungadara of Aquavram Prime, I can't just let you do this for me without offering 'something'." He said with a warm expression, glad to hear he had some restraint. "My honor and pride won't let me just watch you save my daughter without offering a reward of 'some kind'. Please, I ask you, name your price, anything, even a potted coral tree as a reward will satisfy my pride!"

Arthur sighed as he just couldn't understand him, but nodded. "Fine, if you want to reward me, then promise upon my return, you will begin to make preparations to deploy your mobile spaceport so that the transports in orbit can finally land. And then, make immediate preparations to take those supplies using your people's space transports to the Guntara Planets. They can't wait forever."

The King listened to his request, and nodded, placing a hand on his chest and saying, "On my pride as King of Aquavram Prime and the Aquvram People, I will do as you ask. Rescue my daughter and return her safely, and what you have asked will be done!"

=Flashback ends=

Ikaria stared at Arthur's face as he recounted the story, her father was willing to give her up to this Terran because he saw how happy she was with him, how comfortable she was with him, and trusted him above 'all' others with her hand in marriage? He was willing to let her be a Purebred Terran's 'wife' that he only knew of for a few days, then a random Noble of the Court regardless of deeds that he's known his whole life?

"You can offer me everything under the sun Lumarinara, but before I was even 'told' of how much I would be offered, I had already told the Vice Admiral who requested my assistance that I would accept the job. Before Ikaria's father offered me a reward, I had already accepted the task of finding and bringing her home." He told the Lord. "I'm not just some mercenary you can pay a lot of money and he'll turn on his employers. Anyone who can do that when it suits him, is someone you can 'never' trust ever. And that is not who I am, I won't just turn on the people I came here to save just because someone offered me more money. Even if nobody was harmed and things turned out for the best, I won't break my word... I was asked to bring relief aid to the people of Aquavram Prime, to save lives, and that's what I'm going to do! I promised to save Ikaria and bring her back safely to her father and mother, and damn me to the deepest circle of hell if I don't do that!"

'He really 'isn't' like all of the other captains we've met at court.' She thought. 'He didn't do this for money, or fame, or power or even because he wanted 'her'. He did this because he made a promise...'

She blushed as she had a sudden picture of Arthur kissing her in the royal throne room, to cheers and applause, and sighed sadly as he had rejected that offer. But that fantasy can wait as she looked to Lumarinara and couldn't believe that for a brief moment she was ACTUALLY considering joining him and thought about overthrowing her own father and the rest of the royal court! Inside her that little voice roared in anger, its cry now silencing 'any' of the previous thoughts that had been swayed before, now screaming her loyalty and faith to the person who gave her his Breath of Life.

"Sorry 'Lord' Lumarinara, but you can kiss your offer to have me join your side and help you get onto the Royal Throne goodbye!" She snarled. "As long as I live, you'll 'never' sit on the throne, let alone with 'me' by your side! Arthur, how are we going to escape, do we take Lumarinara hostage?"

"As if, if you even 'try' to grab me, my own soldiers will shoot you dead!" Lumarinara snarled. "And if you try to do anything, they'll shot 'you' Ikaria, you can't escape, I've told my turrets to destroy your ship if you even think of leaving without my permission. Even if its landed, the second they see you with me holding me hostage they'll blast it, your trapped!"

"Yes... you laid quite the trap, automatic turrets, submersible attack subs ready to launch, soldiers surrounding the building and me not being Aquavram and having no oxygen mask means this entire building is a death trap for me if you decide to flood it with water." He said with a smirk as he saw various lights blinking outside and saw his starship slowly rising outside the bubble shield window. "Which is why... I came prepared."

He nodded to the shield window and Lumarinara 'and' Ikaria looked over to stare in shock at the Arwing slowly pushing closer and closer, the tip of the cockpit beginning to poke into the bubble and breach into the room.

"W-what... how... why aren't my turrets destroying your ship, it should have been shot down the second it tried to take off without my permission!" He said in disbelief.

"Funny thing about automatic turrets with pre-programmed attack parameters, easy to shut down with the proper virus." He said with a grin as he reached up with his free hand and picked up the left HUD Headset, which was showing him Kiandra's snickering grin of a face with a full bar next to it reading 'Kekekekeke' instead of '100%'. "My science officer created what she called a Modular Delayed Action Virus, the second I pulled out my gun from my sleeve it started the virus up and every system that had weapons affiliated to them that it could infect began to shut off when it was ready, gatta love Eldentran Creativity. My starship began infecting your turrets and submersibles the second I touched down and initiated the procedure. The second your computers acknowledged me departing the ship and connected with my starship so they could lock onto it, your entire fortress was being infected by the virus one linked system at a time. I just had to talk until it was ready to go."

"But... how could..."

"You're probably seeing the light show outside-" He said before the lights in the room began flashing different colors. "And now inside, that was the signal saying the virus was ready to deploy, and all I had to do was... figurately, 'pull the trigger'. Your turrets are down, your subs are grounded, and your people are probably frantically trying to figure out what is going on. It won't last forever, but this confusion will last long enough for me and Ikaria to escape."

He then replaced the HUD headset and wrapped his arm around Ikaria, keeping her safe as he kept the gun pointed at Lumarinara, slowly walking toward the Arwing's cockpit that opened up for him. Once they were there he climbed in, still keeping the gun pointed at the Lord while Ikaria climbed in next. It was a tight fit, but with her sitting on his lap sideways and her arms around his neck she was settled into place. The cockpit began to slowly close as he kept the gun pointed at the furious Lord.

"You will not escape me, you can't get away, I have submersibles on patrol that will hunt you down when I give them the order!"

"Oh, shut up!" He said as he pulled the trigger and shot the table that the Lord was sitting at.

The instant he fired and missed, the soldiers raised their weapons and started blasting his starfighter, but the cockpit closed and pulled away before any damage could be risked upon him and his passenger. He pulled the controls and turned around, flinging his hand down and creating a waypoint tracker that he could follow and see with his HUD Headset. With the turrets down and the subs all blinking a light show like it was a rave party downstairs, he pushed his starship forward and through the water away from the dissident encampment with Ikaria holding him and looking around outside.

"Don't tell anyone this, but I was actually trying to shoot him but I missed..." He muttered to her.

"No problem." She whispered in understanding.

Unfortunately, as he flew the starship his piloting skills still weren't nearly as refined as his pilots, so even though his starfighter had turned and flew away at maximum speed, it did so with a bunch of turning and swaying, as if he were flying drunk.

"Ugh... well that was not the prettiest of escapes, but at least the first half of my mission is complete." He said as he continued to try and become accustomed to flying a starfighter. "So, how are you feeling Ikaria?"

"Uh... I'm doing better now." She whispered as she looked to him in the cramped space. "You know... now that you saved me again..."

Ikaria just blushed as she turned back to look away, having a fantasy image of Lord Lumarinara cursing Arthur for foiling his plans as he flew away with her in his arms, his ship spinning in a mocking manner as the pilot made his escape. But her fantasy was ruined as the starship swerved, constantly shifting left and right as Arthur tried to steady the ship. "Uh, why are we moving around so much?"

"I'm going to be honest Ikaria; I haven't got nearly as much flight time when it comes to starfighters as I do my Great Fox." He said as he again started getting used to the controls.

"What, how can you not have flying experience in a starfighter if you're a Freelance Captain?" Ikaria asked worriedly.

"It's much easier flying a starship that takes five full minutes to do a full one-eighty, then it is to fly a starship that can fly a hundred loops around said starship while it's turning around." He explained apologetically. "I prefer to leave the starfighter flying to the professional starfighter pilots. But hopefully we can get back to the safety of the Great Fox without being chased down by Lumarinara's forces. With any luck, I won't need my backup that should even now be on its way."

"Arthur..."

"What's up?" He asked.

"Did... my father 'really' offer you my hand in marriage if you promised to rescue me?" She asked tentatively. "Or did you just say that because Lumarinara was there..."

"No... those were his exact words..." He told her. "But what I also said was true, you aren't just someone or something that can be offered to another as some prize to be won. Which is why I rejected the offer and instead asked him to just ensure the mobile spaceport was deployed sooner rather than later. Those orbiting transports need to land, sooner rather than later. I've done my part and saved your people from starvation and disease, now your people need to do the same, and launch your own transports to save the people on the verge of starvation on the Guntara Planetoids."

He saw her looking a little disheartened and tried to lighten her mood by saying, "Of course, I still have one more Aquavram to save, that one is you and making sure you're reunited with your father safe and sound."

She giggled as she snuggled into place and got as comfortable as the small cockpit allowed. "Alright, My Hero, full speed ahead!"

"Heh, just sit back, make sure you're secured in your seat and enjoy the ride." He said as he pushed his fighter on and made sure to keep it well above the seabed.

Back at Lumarinara's fortress, half an hour of Arthur flying later though, the Dissident Lord had finally managed to get his base of operations back under control and was even now, sending out a large broadcast to all of his attack subs that were in the field, while his soldiers boarded 'their' subs and began to take off in pursuit of the escaping princess and her rescuer.

"Attention all field units, this is Lord Lumarinara... Princess Ikaria is on the move and escaping!" He declared to every soldier he had at his disposal. "She is fleeing Southwest, heading toward Arquoovra Majesta. She is in a Dylerian-Centro VG-1 Post Beta Multi-Modular Bottlenose-D-Zentra Fighter, in the company of the Freelance Captain Arthur! His starfighter is unarmed and defenseless!"

Across the sea various field submersibles began to take off and head in the direction of where they were spotted.

"I repeat, attention all field units, Princess Ikaria is to be captured and not harmed, you are free to kill the captain and shoot down the starfighter they're in, but she must be captured UNHARMED! STOP HER, capture her, capture her, CAPTURE HER AND BRING HER BACK ALIVE!"

Arthur's starfighter swam over a stretch of coral forest and did a little spin to make Ikaria laugh as she was in a starfighter for the first time, showing off his little techniques and joking that he was the best starfighter pilot in the galaxy. But as they did a little swerve because he was still trying to master the basics of flying his own ship's starfighter, he noticed off to the side several streams of bubble trails, obviously spotting submersibles on fast approach.

"Well fuck, there goes that hope..." He muttered as he stared to their left.

She looked to their left now and saw the submersibles, and then turned to the right to see even more swimming toward them, gaining speed and obviously preparing to fire upon them with depth charge missiles.

"I guess Lord Lumarinara got his systems back under control!" She whispered nervously.

"Yep, which means now comes the 'next' part of my mission, getting you back 'safe and sound'." He said as he felt around the starfighter and began activating the distress beacons he had deployed at specific intervals along the way to his meeting. "Good thing we had those distress beacons in storage... pity I used all fifty, ganna need to replenish my stock when we land on another planet. Alright Ikaria, hang on, I'm going to push this thing to its maximum speed! This is gonna get rough!"

"Can we escape them?"

"My dear Ikaria, sorry 'Princess' Ikaria... sorry again, 'Lieutenant Commander' Ikaria, sorry I forgot you hated being addressed as a princess... but anyway, you deserve the flight skills of an S-Rank Pilot to help you escape." He said with a nervous chuckle. "But I'm afraid... you are going to have to settle for the flying abilities of a Freelance Captain with about two and a half hours of actual flight time."

"I'll take what I can get!" Ikaria whispered with a nervous laugh.

He floored the gas petal on his starfighter and pushed the engines to their limits, swerving from side to side as submersibles began to emerge from behind, attempting to catch him and intercept him. His starfighter's radar began to alert him to numerous projectiles being launched, and he began to take evasive actions, swerving hard left then hard right, dodging the blasts and feeling his ship shudder from the shockwaves.

*Doofpht, dooph doofupth doompfht*

"Grrgh... how does Trishula handle this thing in battle... note to self, see about increasing all of my pilot's pay, I have more respect for them now!"

"Can't we go any faster?" Ikaria asked nervously as another explosion occurred to her right and shook the starship.

"I'm going as fast as I can, it took me two whole hours travel time to get from the city to the dissident camp, I woulda been here faster but I was ordered under pain of you being harmed to leave Great Fox behind and come alone, unarmed, in an unarmed transport." He said apologetically. "Hang on to your dress!"

"Whoooah!" She screamed as he went into a rapid dive and swerved into the trenches of the ocean floor, pushing his starfighter through loops and rings, using the terrain as best he could to avoid attacks.

Unfortunately, while he was kept safe from weapon's fire, he was not able to escape as the trench only led one direction. The moment he had to leave the attacks resumed, and all that did was make him feel like he'd lost his lunch. "Urrgh... Oh please stomach don't throw up the snack we had coming here... it was only a small sandwich!"

"Hey Arthur, this is a starfighter right?" Ikaria asked as he swerved and avoided another missile explosion.

"Yea?"

"So that implies this thing can fly in space, right?" She asked as she noticed he was 'not' flying above water, out of range of the submersible's attacks.

"Yes and?"

"Well why aren't we flying... I don't know, in 'space'?" She asked frantically. "They can't follow us above water, let alone in space!"

"That would be the smart thing yes, and trust me when I say, I would have done that the instant you were aboard if I could." He said with an apologetic smile. "This starfighter can't fly above the water, let alone space!"

"What?!"

In his head he pictured what he was describing to her as he told the story of why he was in this particular Arwing.

"Each of my Arwings are capable of modular attachments, allowing them to be equipped with various modules to enable different capabilities. My chief scientist was using this Arwing to test the submersible modular attachment, but it wasn't finished, she didn't get a chance to take it for a test ride or ask one of my pilots to test it for her. So, when Lumarinara 'invited me' to attend a meeting, Kiandra asked me to take this Arwing for field data."

"The propeller systems the Arwing uses make it much faster and gives it increased maneuverability, but since it was only meant for a field test, it has no weapons and is basically just a pair of wings with propeller attachments to give it underwater movements. In order to make it viable underwater, it had to sacrifice its primary engines which allowed it to fly in space and achieve aerial flight!" He said. "I wanted to get to you as quickly as I could. I figured a submersible module would attract less attention from Lumarinara's spies in the city. Otherwise, I would have taken the other starfighters to get you out, but doing so might have risked you getting hurt, and I didn't want to take the chance."

"Oh... that is one hundred percent understandable." She said as she realized how unlucky they were at the moment. "I just really wish we were in a 'starfighter' now and not a submersible."

"You and me BOTH!" He yelled the last word as he swerved hard to the left to avoid a cascade of miniature depth charge missiles. "Ugh... but we only need... to evade them for a bit longer... the cavalry should be on its way and near us soon!"

"The cavalry, you mean the Naval Guard?"

"No, my pilots... just because it took 'me' two hours swimming to get to you, doesn't mean it will take them the same time. In the air, they're five times faster than what I can do down here. So, all we need to do is hold out until they arrive. Then it's just a matter of timing..."

"Timing for what?"

They jostled in the seat as an explosion occurred too close for Arthur's comfort, he pulled up and actually flew out into open air before submerging again in a desperate bid to get away. Alas as he dove down and lost speed, his pursuers gained on them and he saw there were now over thirty submersible subs following them. He did a barrel roll to the right, trying to dodge attacks and making both him and Ikaria scream from the movement.

"OOOOohhh oof that is NOT good for my stomach... oooh whoever wrote 'do a barrel roll' never actually did a barrel roll."

He pushed his fighter on though, dodging more missiles, more charges, watching as more subs pushed ahead to try and cut them off. He could even see in one of the cockpits of the submersibles as the Aquavram duo pointed at him, and it rammed his starfighter, trying to drive it down.

"Ugh... ooough... dammit, get 'off' of me!" He screamed as he pulled up and dodged another ramming attempt.

He continued to fly onward, Ikaria clutching him and flinching as depth charges continued to explode around the. For another ten minutes they dodged, Arthur doing everything he could think of to evade and by time, until finally a crackling sound occurred over his comms.

[Nice party, mind if we join in the fun?]

Suddenly four familiar looking red missiles, or 'bombs' as he knew them, flew toward him and exploded in a screen of shockwave, chasing the closest subs away. Moments later four Arwings flew past him and unleashed a heavy barrage of plasma bolts.

"I think the cavalry's here." He shouted happily as he tapped a button and called up Trishula. "Trishula Girl, welcome to the party!"

[Hey captain, sorry it took us a while... Great Fox had to scan for you!] She said as she appeared on the screen in front of them. [Oooh I like how you're holding her, mind doing that with 'me' in my starship some time?]

Unfortunately, his witty comeback had to wait as two more depth charge missiles struck and one actually hit his wing, causing alarms to blare in the cockpit. "Talk later... get those subs off my back, I can't dodge any longer!"

[We're on it, just keep flying in that direction, Great Fox will meet with you!]

He sighed in relief as he focused on flying now, already seeing Trishula and her girls getting into the fight with the subs, many of them breaking off and even several being destroyed as they unleashed another volley of bombs. Behind him he saw in a rear viewscreen that he clicked, he was able to watch as the Arwings began engaging in an underwater dogfight with the Submersibles, some being forced to fight back while the rest continued to try and pursue him and Ikaria. But now that he knew his starfighter pilots were there, he just had to fly a little bit longer.

So, he pushed his submersible down, pushing toward the ocean floor as he readied his ship to prepare for its largest leap into the air. His ship zoomed down, pressing very close to the ocean floor as more depth charge missiles struck, blowing up the coral floor and rocky outcroppings. As he pushed his ship as fast as it could physically go, he flicked his hand again and saw the waypoint finder pull up directly ahead.

He pulled on the controls and pulled up, following the trail as Ikaria clutched him tightly.

"Arthur?"

Suddenly a wall of plasma bolts shot through the water, creating a wall of steam and blasting around him at the submersibles behind them, blowing them up or forcing them to veer off course to save their lives.

"ARTHUR!?"

"Hang ooooon!" He yelled as he saw a large shadow pass over head, blocking the light from the sun above. "This is ganna be CLOSE!"

The surface raced faster and faster, and seconds later he blasted through and surged up into the air, right as he saw Great Fox flying at an angle and making a turn high above. Just before his Arwing began to fall back, gravity lost its hold as the ship caught him in her tractor beam, and slowly began to pull him up and into the safety of her hanger bay, with multiple mechanical arms already extending to grab and guide his ship safely back into its nest.

"Whoaaaaa!" Ikaria screamed in awe as she saw Great Fox turning over the ocean of her home world. "THAT IS SO COOL!"

"Phew... alright girls, come on back home... mission accomplished, the packages are secured!" He said to the girls who were just driving off the remaining dissidents that still had fight left in them.

[These guys do not have a spine; you'd think they'd be willing to stand their ground when over twenty AFB Gun Batteries shoot a wall of plasma tracer rounds into the ocean while four Arwings engage them?] Vanessa chuckled.

[Bunch of bullies I swear, moment you stand up to them they lose their nerve!] Yumi cheered.

[Oh sure, they'll happily follow and shoot at an unarmed starfighter when they outnumber it fifty to one, but the second you show them four starfighters that can shoot back and a Finback Battleship firing a full AFB gun battery broadside, they turn tail and run like puppies to mommy!] Katarra laughed.

"Heh, you girls earned your pay today, saved our lives big time, wasn't sure how much longer I could keep them from hitting us." He told them all.

[Talk about the easiest full payday we ever had, that was barely five minutes of dogfighting! Cha ching!] Trishula chuckled as well. [Honestly, we didn't even break a sweat today! Come on girls, drinks are on me tonight!]

[Wooohooo!] They all cheered as four Arwings flew out of the ocean while his Arwing was pulled into the might Great Fox, and safely nestled into its place.

As the ship slowly began to level out and they were fully settled into the hanger, he sighed as he looked at Ikaria again and said, "Well, here we are again Ikaria, welcome aboard the Great Fox... hope you enjoy your short time again."

She just blushed as she nodded and smiled, whispering, "Thank you again." as the canopy opened and allowed them to exit.

The trip back to Arquoovra Majesta was short since Great Fox was able to dive again but far closer to the capitol. During that time, he had Great Fox download the footage from the two HUD Headsets so he could have it transmitted to the Aquavrams when they arrived. Kiandra was acting giddy as she eagerly thanked him for the combat data as well as the flight data she needed to finish her module, and promised they'll be ready tomorrow for full deployment in the field!

When they finally arrived at the capitol and rested again in their previous location, and work resumed once more, he and Ikaria left the ship to go and return to her to her father. But 'before' they could leave, Great Fox notified him that, 'Polmer' happened to be there and was trying to contact Ikaria to see if she was alright.

Smirking, he told him, in her place, that she was in fact fine, and invited him to board the ship through the cargo bays so they can meet again and she can say hi to him. At the cargo bay where the soldiers were working, he told her what to do for Polmer, at least until he was close enough, then after that she was free to do as she wished. While they waited for him to cross the bridge as several cargo crates were carefully moved from the ship, they finally saw Polmer jogging toward them and Ikaria smiled happily, going to greet him.

"Your highness, Ikaria... there you are, I'm so glad to hear you're okay!" He said with a cheerful smile as she nodded. "When I was told you were kidnapped, I came back to find out if it was true, I only just arrived a while ago, I didn't even have time to check in with the base when I-"

The 'second' he was close enough Ikaria balled up her fist and punched Polmer right in the middle of his face, then she grabbed him and threw him to the ground, and elbowed his stomach to cause him to scream in pain. After that she grabbed him, picked him up, and with her own strength flung him toward the soldiers who weren't carrying crates and who looked stunned to see her act that way without any warning.

"Polmer Azure Imbara, you are UNDER arrest for treason against the crown and the people of Aquavram Prime, as well as the murder of Ensigns Rubara and Junber, and for kidnapping me!" She yelled. "Soldiers, take him to the detention center and inform my CO that I have had this dissident and traitor arrested. There will be a public announcement from the broadcast system using 'my' personal seal of the Royal Family to explain everything!"

After a moment to process everything, they nodded and saluted her, before dragging a groaning Polmer out under guard. She turned and breathed out the air she was holding in, whispering, "That felt so good."

"Yea, your father was the same when he found out his second general was also a dissident, and that he was behind you being kidnapped." He said as he led the way up to the hanger to board Blue Fox.

"Wait, General Bronarva was a dissident too, was 'ANYONE' loyal to my family in the high command?"

"Well, your CO Hilmarina got a field promotion to General moments before I left, so there's her."

"Oh, yea... well if anyone deserves a promotion it's her, poor girl was a CO for twenty years."

Fifteen minutes later, Arthur and Trishula were heading toward the Coral Palace, and soon enough they were allowed into the palace itself, and then the Coral Throne Room. The Throne Room was bustling with activity as the King and Queen were talking to various military officials and nobles. Newly appointed General Hilmarina was looking over datapoints on a datapad and talking to the King and another soldier next to her, seemingly going over a list of suspected dissidents. Upon their entrance all activity in the room stopped as they turned to the two of them, but as King Gungadara and Queen Inkamaria saw their daughter, they switched from royals performing official duties to worried mother and father.

"Ikaria!"

"IKARIA!"

"Mom, Dad!"

They ran toward each other and just hugged, causing Arthur to smile as well as the other soldier's expressions to soften as they saw the family reunited again, with the second daughter safe and sound.

"Are you alright dear, tell me, what happened, did Lumarinara do anything to you, what about Polmer, did he touch you or..."

"Oh, please dear, tell us your fine, please say you're alright that nothing happened!"

"Mom, dad... I'm fine... don't worry, I wasn't hurt and they didn't do anything to me." She assured them with a smile. "Thanks to Captain Arthur, I'm safe and sound... and thanks to him... I avoided almost joining Lumarinara's dissident movement."

"You... he tried to get you to join his movement?" Gungadara asked in shock.

"Yes... but, with Arthur's words, and proof... he opened my eyes and made me see the truth." She said with a stern stare. "He and former General Bugnara were behind everything with the Civil War. From the start he planned to use our people's suffering to create a scenario where he and his dissidents looked like heroes and that the galaxy was against us! He didn't target our food sources and the spaceports of the Guntara System, as well as our communications satellites for no reason. He was doing it so that when our people began to starve and suffer, on the verge of dying, he was going to show up on our doorstep with tons of food and medical supplies. He even paid pirates to intercept the convoys that were dispatched from Belga Cinco carrying supplies for us, and paid them to take those supplies to 'him'. I saw them with my own eyes, I saw the crates, those were Belgan Relief packages in his camp! He was going to use the food and medical shortage to put himself in a position of power... he wanted 'me' to join his movement..."

"And knowing him, he probably planned to replace 'you' as King, using your own daughter to legitimize himself on the throne." He told them. "Even as we fled, he ordered his own forces to try and shoot us down to try and recapture her."

"He... if failing to get you to join him willingly... oh my daughter, I shudder at the thought of what he would have done to you after you rejected him!" He said as he hugged her close to him.

"My poor Ikaria, I'm so sorry you suffered as you did... we should never have doubted your words..."

"It's alright mom and dad, I forgive you..." She whispered happily as she hugged them as well.

After a few more moments of them being a family again, the King stood up and turned to him and shook his hand. "Thank you, Arthur, as promised I will immediately have my new General begin drawing upon soldiers and citizens to man the Mobile Spaceport and by tomorrow morning, your transports will finally be allowed to land. By the next day we will be able to ready our own intergalactic transports and deliver those supplies to the Guntara Planetoids, we won't let them suffer the same fate 'my' people suffered."

He nodded, glad to finally see his objective would be completed, he 'had' to ensure at least 'four' of the transports landed to ensure a successful mission.

"Your daughter plans on making a public announcement, I'll have Great Fox transfer all of the visual data my HUD headsets recorded so you can expose Lumarinara's motives and expose his supporters to the truth. Those supporters in the city will realize he was 'never' on their side, and will instantly expose whoever is still loyal to him. Once he loses any support he has left in the city, he won't be any more of a threat to your people."

The King nodded as Arthur saluted him and turned to leave.

"Wait!" Ikaria shouted as she ran forward and made him turn around again. "Wait Arthur... you... you can make the announcement, father, you can give him a royal seal, you can make him an official noble of the royal court. If 'you' tell everyone and show the proof..."

Arthur shook his head as he turned and patted her shoulder, smiling as he appreciated Ikaria's wishes to reward him for everything, he has done for her and her people, but he just couldn't accept it.

"I know... but it won't mean as much from me telling it, as it will from you, having been captured by him and escaped, having been rescued and saved the supplies from destruction when we first approached." He told her. "I appreciate your offer to try and make me a noble, but that's just not who I am. I'm a Freelance Captain... my place is among the stars on the bridge of my beautiful ship, Great Fox."

Ikaria deflated a little, as that wasn't the main reason she wanted to make him a noble of the royal court, even if he was a Purebred Terran... but, she smiled sadly as she nodded and accepted his decision. It was true, he didn't belong among the nobles at court, he was a Freelance Captain, his place was on the bridge of his starship, among the stars.

"She is a beautiful ship." She said with a smile.

"That she is, and I'm happy to be her captain." He said as he stood at attention and saluted her, resulting in her standing at attention and saluting back. "Take care of yourself Lieutenant Commander Ikaria of the Naval Guard, first division. Try not to get into trouble again. Rescuing princesses while on a delivery mission to provide relief was not in the job description that I accepted." He told her with a playful smirk and a wink.

She chuckled as she nodded and watched him turn around and leave, but as he left her shoulders drooped and her fins, both tail and head, drooped as well as she watched him leaving. A small part of her, wanted to walk with him, to leave with him. Short as her time on the Great Fox was that day, she still felt so much more comfortable and safer than anywhere else she has been. Even her old room in the Royal Palace wasn't as welcoming as she felt aboard the ship. But more importantly, she just... wanted to be with him, she was so comfortable and so happy being in his presence. She felt relaxed, happy, and... she was in love with him.

"It is a shame he didn't accept your offer my daughter." The King said with a sad smile to his daughter.

"Indeed, I have a feeling he would have made a fine noble at court." The Queen said warmly.

"No..." She whispered to them, causing them to look to her. "He wouldn't have made a fine noble, it's like he said, he's a Freelance Captain not a noble. But... he would have been one of the few good ones here."

She turned and headed out of the throne room, and headed toward the communications wing of the Coral Palace, where they made public broadcasts to the entire capitol city. As she left the room and closed the door behind her, she sniffled as she wiped her eyes, feeling her heart beat sadly.

"He wouldn't have been one of the few good ones... he would have been the 'only' good one... the only good one I would have loved."

The hours went by as they always did, but after an hour since Great Fox returned, a public announcement was made with Ikaria once again appearing on the screen of every televised broadcast in the city. She announced the events that transpired last night, proclaiming that she had been kidnapped and whisked away by dissidents to Lord Lumarinara's base of operations. She explained all the details she was provided by Great Fox, about Lumarinara's plans, how there were dissident sympathizers and traitors in their midst, how they attacked the cargo of relief supplies aboard the Great Fox, how Lumarinara paid pirates to intercept and deliver the supplies meant to relieve Aquavram Prime sent by the Belgans, how he tried to coerce her to turn on her father and the royal court to overthrow them, everything to expose the truth about the dissidents.

She urged her people that were supporting Lumarinara to turn on him, saying he did not care if they had starved to death, proclaiming that he would have let them suffer while he and his soldiers were healthy and well fed, that he even tried to destroy the supplies Captain Arthur risked his ship and crew to safely deliver to them.

While this was going on, Arthur was enjoying dinner with Trishula in his private dining room before they would head to bed.

"Well, at least that should be the end of it." He told Trishula as she nodded in agreement, having listened in on Ikaria's speech and both of them commenting on how extensive the information was.

"Yep, now that he's exposed any hope Lumarinara has of appearing as the good guy are all gone. No way he can get the public's support for his rule and eventually even his own forces will start to realize they're on the losing side and start to switch over." Trishula said in agreement. "Well Arthur, when you took this job were you expecting to get involved in planetary politics?"

"No, I was just hoping I would land, deliver my supplies, maybe they'd send thank you messages and that would be the end of it." He told her. "Tomorrow they will deploy the mobile spaceport and the transports will be able to finally land and offload their supplies. Once four of them land and the Aquavrams confirm we have successfully delivered the transports and the supplies they carry, we'll have completed our job and all we need to do is wait for them to finish offloading the remaining relief supplies in the cargo bays, before we can finally leave."

"Back to space we go... I can't wait." She said warmly. "By the way... how did Ikaria and her parents react when you reunited them?"

"Oh, they tried to make me a Noble of the royal court." He told her with a chuckle. "Ikaria offered to make me a noble, was even asking her father to give me a royal seal so that I could make the announcement myself. As for her father, well when he asked me to rescue Ikaria, he tried to offer Ikaria's hand in marriage if I succeeded."

"No way... he tried to get you to marry Ikaria?" She said in disbelief.

"Yea... but I turned him down... as beautiful and nice as Ikaria is... she's... I'm just not worthy of her." He told her. "She deserves to be with a noble, she is a princess after all... I'm only a Freelance Captain. Not a duke or a lord..."

"No... but I think that was the whole reason she wanted you to become one." Trishula said with a smile as she leaned over and kissed him. "You won the princess' heart and even her own Father wanted you to marry her."

"I guess... but... I also don't want to upset you or make you think I'm cheating on you or-"

She kissed him on the cheek again as she held his hand with a warm smile on her face. "I appreciate the loyalty you have for me... it's nice to hear you feel that way, but remember what I said about Belgan culture... I don't mind sharing you as long as I know the girl. And... to be fair, I've come to know Ikaria quite well... doesn't help that we keep running into her and she keeps joining our little duets. She's basically like me before I left my mother and became a starfighter pilot."

She leaned over and ate some more food to stall for time, and he joined her too so she wasn't alone. But as she chewed and swallowed, she leaned back on him and resumed talking.

"We're both the same, I was miserable living with my mother because she wanted to control my life. Wouldn't let me be with friends unless they were Purebred Belgans, wouldn't let me date boys unless they were Purebred Belgans... course I won't compare you to them, Captain." She said with a playful wink. "But anyway, yea she tried to get me to marry a Purebred Belgan to start a family, wanted me to become a housewife and just be a younger version of 'her'. She controlled my life and it wasn't until I 'finally' was able to leave... did I feel free and like I could be happy at long last."

"Ikaria is a royal daughter, but she hates being in the Royal Palace. She came from a wealthy place but she cut off her own financial ties so she wouldn't be associated with them. She complains about how the nobles only talk and don't really care about the people, while she joined the military specifically so she could help the people in the only way she knew she could, and to show the Court 'did' care about them, and weren't just thinking of themselves. She starved herself alongside her soldiers and the people... and so far, the only time I've seen her smile is when she was on our starship or talking with us."

He looked to her as she smiled and nodded to him. "You know, something tells me if you had made the offer to invite her onto the ship, she would have jumped at the opportunity. And if you had accepted her dad's offer to marry her, she would have been just as happy as I was when you saved me and my girls from debtor's jail."

"Trishula are you saying..."

"I'm not saying... you know, go sleep with another girl while you're in bed with me... don't worry about me being the jealous type. After all, as long as you love me, my heart will always see your heart as the other heart I was looking for in life. But... before we leave... just think about it... if there is a girl that I wouldn't mind sharing you with... Ikaria is one. At the very least... consider inviting her to join the ship. If she wants to join that is... for all you know your heart is also the other one her own is looking for in the galaxy."

So, with that they continued to eat and Arthur was left to think his private thoughts. When they finished eating and were done, they chose to just head to the library to spend some time in quiet while Mevik opened up the bar. He told them as they left his dining room, carrying a crate, in an excited tone that he got some new stock of Aquavram Liquor that the Depot Master found, and was excited to have new drinks for the crew to try out.

"Would you like to join us tonight Captain and Trishula, new drinks are always worth celebrating with friends and company!" He said excitedly.

"No thank you Mevik, but enjoy the new drinks." He told the Gevkan after he walked in with a nod.

"Well don't mind me if I don't take his drinks!" Kiandra said as she walked past Arthur to follow after Mevik.

"I thought you only eat and drink synthetic items."

"Eldentrans only eat Synthetic foods and synthetic drinks, that is true. But when it comes to drinks, we also like to get drunk on the real stuff and party just like the rest of the galaxy!" She yelled with a laugh as she opened the door. "Alright boys and girls, the Party Rocker is in the House tonight! First rounds on me!"

"Woooohoooo"

"AH'LL DRINK TO THAT!"

The door closed as Arthur chuckled with Trishula as they headed to the Library for its peace and quiet atmosphere.

In the library Arthur walked over to one of the beanbag chairs while Trishula walked beside him and pulled another beanbag chair to sit with him. She sank into it with him and just sighed in blissful contentedness.

"So, is there a reason why you wanted to come here instead of to bed?" He asked her.

"Yea, I wanted to hear more of your adventures with Great Fox before you met us on Belga Cinco." She said with a smile. "I loved hearing your story at the party, you know... the only 'good' part of that party. You got any more stories to share?"

"Hrmmm... let me see..." He said as he got up and walked over to one of the shelves that was labeled 'Records'. "No... no... no that wasn't entirely fun. No, no... only faced pirates. Ah... here!"

He picked up a datapad that had the details and records of another fleet action he was a part of when he worked for a major faction seeking to take over the Terran-Nova Sector. Regarding the game's history in his previous life, in the game, Terrans expanded and colonized to four sectors neighboring their home system, known as Terran-Prime, and according to lore, it was when they reached Terran-Nova was when they were noticed by the galaxy as a whole and entered the galactic stage. Since then, Major Factions rose and fell in control of the Terran Sectors. Some were pushed out, others reclaimed, and it was often a hot zone of galactic conflicts for the Major Factions, as the Terrans often made the strongest weapons and had the fastest ship manufacturing capabilities among any system.

While the quality was far from Dylerian, they could produce 'standard starships' faster than anyone else. In the time it took Dyleria One to produce Great Fox as an example, the Terrans could produce ten Titan Class battleships, due to how standardized they have become as ship models. All they needed were the funds and resources to produce them, and several Major Factions are constantly fighting for control of these sectors.

"Here we are, this one will be interesting for you." He said as he walked over with the datapad and sat down with her. "I was with Great Fox involved in a fleet action for the Terran-Nova sector."

"Terran-Nova, oh wow, your species stomping grounds." She said excitedly as she leaned on him and looked at the datapad to read.

"Yep, me and Great Fox were involved in a fleet action fighting with a Major Faction at the time while it was fighting with three other Major Factions for control of the Terran Sectors. My group was fighting around Terra-Nova Two..."

"Four Major Factions were duking it out over control of those sectors..." She whispered in astonishment. "I never heard of this conflict... I guess they really don't concern themselves with normal galactic governments with their conflicts and issues. I never hear about these battles that rage between the Major Factions, only that they happen frequently and oftentimes seemingly randomly."

"Yea, of course I wasn't actually affiliated with the four factions fighting for the sectors at the time, I was a rogue Freelance Captain, I was in need of money after paying for some upgrades to the ship. I swapped out several of my light and medium cruiser cannons on the port and starboard side for heavy cruiser cannons to match the ones I had equipped. I only had about four heavy guns at the time on each side, so the additional armaments gave me some much-needed firepower, but the cost to get them and pay for the armaments was so much. So, when the major factions were calling for freelance captains to help fight in fleet actions for them, paying well mind you, I signed up to serve a temporary contract with them."

"Temporary Contract, I didn't know they offered that."

"Only to Freelance Captains, they need large starships, corvettes, frigates, cruisers, battleships, carriers and especially dreadnaughts to serve in the wars they often find themselves in. Believe it or not they don't just collect large starships for fleets like what I told you back at the party. They mostly only do so when invading high priority targets that 'warrant' such a massive force. They bring so many ships to not only take sectors but also secure them against a counter attack. Otherwise, they try to take the sector piece by piece, securing pockets through fleet actions and then when they have enough of a foot hold, they bring in all of their forces for a final assault if the enemy still intends on defending the sector with full force."

"Wow... so, what were you doing for them and how much was the pay?"

"Well, I was part of a small fleet action like I said, and as for the pay, for each day I served in fleet actions as requested by the Major Faction, I was given ten thousand credits, with additional credits offered for each ship I destroyed of the opposing factions, which varied depending on the ship type."

"Ten thousand a 'day'?" She asked incredulously. "A transport captain makes ten times that per delivery of 'food' from Belga Cinco to Belga Dos! I figured with how rich they are they would offer more; I mean your risking your life, your ship, everything for a war on their behalf?"

"Ten thousand a day seems like a little until you realize the incentive to work for them came in the ships I destroy. For each Corvette I was given five thousand credits, for cruisers from light to heavy, seven, ten and twelve thousand per ship and type. Frigates were offered a flat ten grand each. Carriers ranging from light, medium, heavy and finally to super had a reward of ten grand, twelve grand, fifteen grand and finally twenty-five grand, and starfighters or bombers were given five hundred per vessel. Battleships were awarded twenty-five thousand, and finally dreadnaughts were thirty thousand." He told her with a chuckle. "They were awarded based on 'fleet' compositions, so even if someone shot down a dreadnaught that I had been hammering into for most of the fight, I still got the reward same as the rest of my fleet. Trust me, we battled fleets almost every day, sometimes large-scale conflicts and sometimes just brief skirmishes. Never a day went by during such wars where battles weren't happening that involved large ships and without one or two getting destroyed."

She raised her eyebrow in surprise, that was a lot of money and now she saw the incentive for non-affiliated Freelance Captains to sign up and join in the wars for the Major Factions.

"How much did you make..."

"Well, with repairs to my ship, ammo consumption and restocking from the battles, I believe I made about two million before I decided to pull out when the battles started getting too risky. But I will tell you about my first battle during that time with the fleet I was assigned to." He said as he turned back to the datapad. "Like I was saying, we had just secured Terra-Nova Three and were moving into orbit of Terra-Nova Two."

Trishula smiled as she leaned into him to listen as he recounted the story for her.

"My fleet had been harassed by several heavy carriers the enemy had deployed to slow our advances. Great Fox was one of four Finback Battleships that had joined in the conflict on the Major Faction I signed up with. But while my ship was more built as a battleship, the other three were acting as carriers and contained large contingents of starfighters and bombers. We also had six corvettes and three heavy cruisers to act as support for the finbacks. Finally, we had 'four' Titan Class Battleships assigned by the Major Faction to take command and help spearhead the assault to Terra-Nova Two."

"There we were, approaching Terra-Nova Two, the two titans taking the lead position while our fleet was in an arrowhead formation, with my Great Fox just behind them, flanked by the corvettes and cruisers, the remaining Finbacks in the rear position ready to launch fighters. As we neared the planet we could see the enemy fleet, twenty warships consisting of four carriers, two dreadnaughts, multiple frigates and two medium cruisers." He said in a dramatic tone, causing her to chuckle in amusement. "We launched a sortie of fighters from the finbacks at the rear, and the Titans took up long range offensive positions while I maneuvered to the side to provide cover against their bombers and the corvettes moved to cover them from the other side. Then the Dreadnaughts moved into attack range and a long-range bombardment ensued... Titan Class Plasma Shots being exchanged between the ships at long range, shields flashing as they absorbed the full blasts, starfighters zipping and engaging in between avoiding plasma tracer rounds. Starbombers slipping around the battle lines and being intercepted while escort fighters on both sides pursued them. Then... out of nowhere from the other side of the planet, a 'third' fleet of fifteen starships appeared on radar!"

"Reinforcements, was it a trap?" She asked eagerly.

"It was a trap indeed, but not reinforcements, it was a fleet working for one of the other two Major Factions in the conflict. We had just noticed this third fleet too late, and so did the other fleet. They had been waiting for our two fleets to commit to a full battle before launching their own assault due to being outnumbered. Our cruisers turned to screen against their counter attack, and my fellow Finbacks moved from the rear position to take up an attack formation to meet their ships! Our fleet had the firepower with the Titan Battleships, but they were engaged in long range combat against the dreadnaughts. So, the fleet admiral-"

He continued to tell the story of his encounters with the fleet around Terra-Nova Two long into the night, recounting how many starships were destroyed and how he and Great Fox managed to help win the battle thanks to his ship being able to act as a 'fifth' battleship for the fleet. He told how all three fleets eventually began to concede ground unable and unwilling to commit further resources into the engagement as their numbers dwindled and the strength of each fleet was reduced. When the Vice Admiral, after assuming command when the Fleet Admiral's ship was destroyed, ordered the full retreat, only 'one' of the Titans remained and of his fleet, three corvettes were destroyed, two frigates were lost, one of the Finback's was heavily damaged and nearly all of their starfighters and bombers were gone. As for him and Great Fox, she had taken a beating, having to change position and engage the third fleet's cruisers in a fierce three on one encounter.

Nearly all of her AFB gun batteries were drained from shooting down so many fighters, and he had expended seventy percent of his new ammunition from the exchanges. Her hull needed to be repaired in several places, and her engines had been severely damaged due to taking shots from the bombers. In the exchanges with the cruisers his shields had fallen and he began to take serious damage from their cannons to his guns, meaning he had to replace them 'right' after buying them.

The story went so long into the night that the ship was starting to turn down lights in the room and along the rest of the ship to signal bed time. When they were ready to sleep, they basically stumbled toward his bedroom and flopped into bed to sleep, not even bothering to get into pajamas or leaving their uniforms.

As they both quickly fell asleep, Great Fox watched them in the bed, making a note to turn the cooling unit's power up and decrease the temperature so they wouldn't overheat under the blanket in their uniforms. As this happened, she once more played some soothing music to help ease them into as peaceful a dream state as she was able to.

Before finally, staring at Arthur's content expression as a mechanical arm extended from a slot in the room to gently rub his hair, and whispering in a warm, loving tone, [Pleasant dreams... captain...] before doing the same with Trishula, [and... Trishula.]

With that she resumed monitoring all activity aboard the ship and watching communications for any abnormalities.

The night went on with very little activity to go on, and when morning came the crew of Great Fox got up and began to go about their lives having become more then accustomed to life aboard the ship. After Arthur finished eating breakfast with Trishula, both of them talking about plans that day with her offering to have him join her and her girls in the lounge for a few games when Great Fox informed him of a message from the military base.

"What is it Great Fox?" He asked as he got up from the couch to walk with Trishula to the lounge to check it out, having never been there before.

[Captain, I am happy to report that the Aquavrams have finally deployed their mobile spaceport, it is currently en route to open waters so that it can deploy and allow the orbiting cargo liners to finally land and offload their cargo.] The ship said in a happy tone. [Once four of the transports successfully land and offloading has been completed, we will have successfully completed our mission to Aquavram Prime, and will need to only wait until our own cargo bays are empty.]

"Well, that's nice to hear, what is the mobile spaceport by the way, and why is it 'mobile'?"

Great Fox used the viewscreen in the room to show him a schematic of an eight-legged walker with a huge circular pad on its top that featured multiple pieces of equipment meant to load and offload pieces of cargo, and assist in repair crews or working staff. The walker was divided into two sections, the 'mobile' portion which was the segmented mechanical legs and the enormous circular structure that constituted most of the body and the landing pad itself at the top.

[The Aquavram Mobile Spaceport was considered the pinnacle of spaceport and starport technology at the time of its construction and completion seven hundred and twenty years ago. Due to the constant shifting nature of the ocean currents and the lack of a stable landmass, as well as the frequency of fierce storm weather disrupting galactic trade to and from the planet, Aquavram Prime developed and created a Mobile Spaceport, using underwater walker technology to create a large landing with a radius of twenty-five kilometers pad for starships to land upon safely, and could be maneuvered under water to appear in areas of calm weather. Due to its size, it is very slow to move and only does so to ensure that access to starships needing to land is granted. When the war began, the mobile spaceport was hidden and only the royal family and select nobles were aware of its location to ensure the dissidents didn't destroy it or attempt to seize control of it. Now that it has been deployed and is on the move, I have been provided the coordinates for the cargo liners to begin landing procedures.]

"Good to know the king had the foresight to ensure it was protected."

[Affirmative, with your permission captain, I will upload the coordinates to the cargo liners and have them initiate landing procedures so the Aquavrams can begin offloading the cargo, and finally complete our mission.]

"Permission granted Great Fox, let's finally finish the job we set out to accomplish and help the people still trapped on the Guntara Planets."

[Very well... transmitting coordinates and orders... coordinates received, orders received, the fleet is moving into orbital position and will begin its descent in five minutes minutes. I can safely report that none of the ships were attacked during our time on the planet and all ten are present and accounted for.]

"Lucky us!" Trishula laughed as she led the way out.

They walked through the halls of the ship past the various rooms and areas that were either just bedrooms or areas of interest like the medical bay, the science bay, various storage units for 'unique' items or places where pieces of technology were stored and not associated with the cargo bay. After about ten minutes of walking, they found the lounge, which was shown visually as the ever-present insignia of Great Fox, encircling the symbol a table with chairs around it that had playing cards poking out of it.

Inside the room, he saw that unlike the rest of the ship this room was a peachy orangish yellow color for the walls, and a very light blue for floor and ceiling. The room itself was thirty meters by fifteen meters by eight meters in terms of diameters, and was packed with various luxury comforts to provide those aboard the ship a place to relax and unwind. There was what looked like a miniature bowling lane complete with self-righting pins, a bowling ball service station, and a couple of chairs for people to sit and trade who was playing.

There was also a large square that had an active holographic net and large rackets that sort of reminded him of tennis rackets, only he couldn't see a ball and assumed the ball was also holographic. Further toward the other side of the room after the court came a couple of tables that had board games like checkers, chess, and even a card table with poker chips of varying value, with a 'Gambling real credits is not permitted while on duty' sign hanging over it.

On the far side at the end of the room was even a little mini-fridge that had a clear door to show the contents, various drinks of different types were currently stashed in it, and there were even some tables nearby with chairs so people could sit and relax. There was even a large viewscreen that had the symbol of Great Fox and the words 'Please Select in flight movie', scrolling along it in repeating fashion. There were even a few 'old-style arcade games' that seemed to feature retro games, and there was even a jukebox with records.

"Wow, nice lounge." Arthur said as he wandered through the room with Trishula.

"Your ship just has a little of everything for us, there's even an exercise room next door where we sometimes go to work out to stay in shape." Trishula said as she followed.

"Kiandra really went all out for this ship's comforts of the crew, not just for the ship's capabilities but also to make sure we would be as comfortable in space." He commented as he picked up a bowling ball and felt the weight and took a look down the aisle.

"Yep, and to think I was considered 'lucky' just to be able to dock with a transport and for me and my girls to have a place to 'sleep' aboard Belgan Transports back before I met you." She laughed. "We served with a few other transports and ships, but most of them were Belgan ships and we were always on escort duty. Your ship is a palace, a floating palace by comparison."

[I am pleased to be given such complements when being compared to other starships, but please keep in mind the 'quality' of the starship you are comparing me to.] Great Fox said as they heard a whirling noise and saw a camera in the middle of the room, as usual, turn to stare at him and Trishula with a red recording light. [Standard Belgan transports are... notorious for being ill maintained, and not capable of extremely long-term space travel. This vessel however was designed to be active in space for weeks at a time in regards to fuel capacities, and is constantly maintained to be in top condition at all times. Standard issue comforts are the 'least' this ship can offer to a crew serving aboard it.]

"Standard issue, always with the standard issue." Trishula laughed. "What exactly is your definition of 'standard issue' Great Fox. Remember, aboard a Belgan Transport, standard issue means the engines are the same and so is the hull and cargo space as another transport."

[Due to the cost to produce a Finback Battleship Class vessel, the Dylerian construction teams were given a set of 'standardized' options by the designer for the ship's interior and exterior. While the engines, weapons, and portions of the ship can be modified at the captain's behest, certain interior rooms are given 'standard' treatments. All the crew quarters were designed with exception to the captain's quarters to be 'standard issue' by Kiandra's designs. Due to Terrans taking up a majority of Freelance Captain licenses, of which they make up thirty percent, many lounge luxuries were placed in the room as standard issue based on Terran preferences. Due to long term travel times in space, various rooms were needed for the crew if any to maintain their health, both physically and mentally.]

Arthur just facepalmed as he whispered, "I'm starting to think if we compared everything on this ship to another ship, we'd have a different version of 'standard issue'."

"Say Great Fox, can you play some 'standard issue music' for us?" Trishula taunted.

[With pleasure, do you have a preference captain?]

"Nah, just play something... upbeat and jazz sounding."

[As you wish, enjoy your time in the lounge.] She declared as she began playing a very upbeat and cheerful jazzy tune over the jukebox speakers.

They smiled as they turned to the bowling aisle and Arthur decided to start up a game with her to pass the time. He rolled the first ball and watched as it travelled the length of the lane before it collided with the pins on the right side, knocking down four of them and disappearing into the hole at the back. He could hear it rolling around beneath the floor until it rolled back up to the holding station where the other balls were sitting. As it was replaced, the pins that had been knocked down were pulled away by mechanical arms leaving the upright ones alone.

"Alright, go get em captain!" Trishula laughed as she sat in the chair.

He smirked as he pulled his arm back and rolled the ball forward, but unfortunately in his enthusiasm he threw it too far to the left and it guttered out, missing the pins entirely.

"Damn..." He chuckled embarrassingly as the pins were picked up and all ten returned.

"Hah, gutter ball!" She laughed as she got up and picked up a ball now. "I actually had to learn what this game was called, never saw it before on Belga Cinco. Perhaps you can explain why you Terrans find rolling a ball into a bunch of standing pins just to knock them over fun?"

"Eh, it's just kind of fun for us, sorry what do 'Belgans' do for fun?" He said as he watched her concentrating.

"Well one of our favorite games to play is Holo Ball, think of it as your Terran version of 'Tennis'." She said as she pulled her arm back and rolled the ball forward, doing a happy dance as she struck the pins closer to the middle and knocked eight down. "Only instead of bouncing it directly at the other side, we bounce it up using the rackets. Maybe later me and the girls can show you a few rounds."

She retrieved her ball and proceeded to throw it again, but cursed as she missed 'both' pins entirely. The ball returned and the pins were all replaced.

"Really, what else does your breed do for fun?"

"Oh, the usual, racing events, sometimes we do operas and musical plays, but our favorite pastime wet-dirt wrestling!"

"You mean 'mud' wrestling?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Eh, wet-dirt, mud, as you Terrans say potato, potato. Same thing but said differently." She said with a shrug as they continued to trade throws. "Wet-dirt wrestling, or 'mud' wrestling as you put it, is a pastime from before our breed achieved what the galaxy classifies as 'space fairing civilization', when we finally could enter space and we slowly began to extend our reach to other planets besides our own. Back in ancient times our ancestors often had members competing for boyfriends and even girlfriends, this was before we got comfortable sharing mind you, and the only way to settle disputes without killing each other was to wrestle and force our opponent to submit. Nowadays its more done as a sport, and competitors fight more for fun and as a full-time profession. There're teams, leagues and everything for the sport."

"Jeez... the more I hear about your culture the more I realize just how 'different' it is from mine where I grew up." He muttered as he took a turn and fist pumped because he scored a strike.

"Why, what was it like, how did your breed handle disputes for couples when they happened?" She asked politely, knowing he was talking about his past life again.

"Well..." He muttered as he glanced around to make sure nobody was there or was walking in.

[You are safe to converse captain, Trishula's pilots are currently doing swimming stretches in the ship's pool room.]

"Wait we have a pool room?" He asked in surprise, never hearing that or realizing his ship EVER had a pool.

[Affirmative, it is a standard sized pool room of ten meters length, four meters width, and at its deepest is five meters while at its shortest is half a meter.] She declared warmly. [Due to the ship's potential movements the pool is only ever filled when it is stationary or not expected to be turning or rotating while in space, or as we are now, completely still and grounded. When the ship is about to take off or engage in unknown maneuvers, the pool is swiftly drained and the liquid cleaned, sterilized and returned to a storage tank for potential further use. As a note, the water stored in the tank that keeps the pool water is declared 'not meant for general drinking', and as such when a member of the crew asks for a drink of water, it is not pulled from that tank. Also, in case you are interested, we also have an exercise room.]

"Okay, well I guess my next time I feel like exploring I need to check out the pool room." He said to himself as he turned back to Trishula. "Anyway, I... don't really 'know' how my 'breed' handled boyfriend/girlfriend disputes... most times, at least I think so, when a guy was dating a girl and say... another girl wanted to date him... when she found out he was already dating another girl she would just accept it and try to not approach him like that again. But sometimes, so I've read or been told, girls will most 'certainly' fight other girls for a boy, though its mostly done through words and backhanded rumors, almost never physically."

"Okay... and if it's a 'girl' that has two boys looking for her?"

"Well... sometimes it's the same story, but... sometimes if it's a jealous type and he wants the girl, he'll try to... make himself look better and compete with him." He said as he picked up the ball again and just stared at it. "It rarely happened when we hit adult hood, but during teenage years, sometimes guys competed to prove they were the best for the girls. If say a guy who wasn't popular or was a weakling physically, somehow got the attention of a pretty girl a stronger, more popular guy might get jealous if he'd been eyeing her for a while. So... he'd... well show up whenever the two were together, he'd maybe try to show off how good he was to her, try to make the rival look worse. It was often a competition and unless the girl and the guy were friends or she just outright didn't like the other guy... well, whoever was better got the girl. But most often, we just... didn't waste our time getting involved... wasn't worth the emotional problems nearly every time."

Trishula actually was shocked at hearing that his breed 'competed' for their significant others. For her breed, the only thing that was worth competing over were bragging rights, personal stuff, telling your best friend your boyfriend makes more or your girlfriend had three pups in one litter while the other guy's girl only had one. Heck if Vanessa had a boyfriend still and they weren't squadron mates, she would be 'bragging' to her how Arthur 'owned' a Finback Battleship and was a Freelance Captain. Meanwhile Vanessa's only claim to boyfriend fame was that while he was alive, he was a starfighter pilot attached to a Belgan Light Carrier, and drove the same junky starfighter 'they' were using before Arthur's Arwings.

"Did... no never mind, I remember what you told me the night we traded V-cards." She whispered sadly as she got up after he threw the ball and silently watched it gutter.

She walked up behind him and pulled him into a hug, and she could feel his heartbeat beating a little sadly.

"I guess... you didn't get lucky or, find a girl you liked?" She asked quietly. "Was there even 'a' girl that caught your attention before you met me?"

He sighed as he glanced at her somber expression, knowing she wasn't asking because she wanted to compare herself to his past, but because she was actually worried about him, even if what happened no longer mattered now. "There were a few girls, I won't lie... when you're a teenager, your hormones are going crazy and you see cute girls all around you, you just... want to have one as yours. But I was a loner, a geek... I was more into games, computers... cards, that stuff. I didn't like exercising and rarely talked to people, so I wasn't popular, strong, or handsome enough I think to get girls attention. They didn't exactly fall head over heels to talk to me either so again it wasn't like I was missing out on anything... but there was 'one' girl I did manage to become friends with... for a time at least."

"What was her name?" She asked as she dragged him to sit and she sat in his lap to comfort him.

"Sigh... her name was Mary... Mary Brooks... we were friends at lunch, shared a few classes, same homeroom. We often geeked out over stuff like cards, games, manga... those are mature versions of picture books in case you're wondering. We were friends for a few months and I had a 'big' crush on her... well I was gathering up the courage to 'finally' ask her on a date and hopefully ask her to be my girlfriend. One day I had felt ready, so I was going to ask over lunch."

"I'm sensing a 'but'... part of the story about to be told."

He sighed again as he nodded, the 'but' in question. "One lunch period I noticed she didn't walk with the rest of our class as we went to our lockers to change books. I asked around, and a few of my classmates told me they saw her heading to a first-floor staircase on the opposite side of the school. It was the only part of the school that didn't have a security guard sitting watching for trouble makers, or a camera monitoring it. I made the short journey from one side of the building to the other, walked down two stairs and... turned a corner to..."

He closed his eyes as he always hated seeing what he saw, it was a memory he always tried to forget, to move on from... but even now, thinking of it hurt him.

"I saw her... well at least 'some' of her... arms around the Senior football captain of our school's team, lips locked, legs spread, panties hanging off her foot in the shadow of the staircase, shirt under her to act as a cushion and bra hanging off her wrist." He told her. "He was, well no other way to describe it, they were having sex... and even though I only could see them... from the rear, I could tell she had... given up her V-card to him."

Trishula's mouth hung open in horror, as she cuddled him and whispered apologies, gently rubbing her cheek against his as she realized how bad that was for him. 'Arthur... you poor thing... oh... losing your crush like 'that'... that's... oh that is the 'worst' feeling. Nobody deserves that, not a soul deserves to have that happen to them at such a young age!'

He gulped as he accepted her comforts, knowing she was sorry for his pain and loss. He kept saying it was in the past, doesn't matter, she was just a crush, a silly high school crush, she wasn't serious about you so don't feel so sorry about missing out on being with her. But... it still hurt him to this day, every day it lessened a little more, and even now that he had Trishula around his arms the pain was slowly going away, but the pain was still there, a 'what if' that will always remain. What if he had gathered his courage and asked a day sooner, or two days, or even three?

"I... didn't watch anymore, I turned around, went to lunch... she never showed up, didn't see her till next class. We stopped talking, it just... happened, no real explanation she just stopped sitting with me and I stopped talking to her. Turns out the football captain was a scumbag in school, found out after he moved away three weeks later. Found out how big of a scumbag he was three months later... he was actually dating and flirting with three girls in our high school and just before he moved away, he even managed to have sex with a freshman girl... got all four pregnant, by the time they found out... it was too late for them to have an abortion... never found out what happened to Mary or her child after the last time I saw her. I think she had to... drop out of high school to start working to pay for it, because I never saw her in the following years. You could say I dodged a bullet; I think she tried dating other guys to put the blame on them... but... well she was getting a 'bigger' belly, she blamed it on overeating. I think we all knew subtly what it was, and every guy stayed away so they wouldn't get involved."

"That still doesn't matter, she broke your heart... what she did... that's..." Trishula said sadly, but Arthur continued, as if he never heard her say that.

"Her parents... tried to get me tested when they found out, I was the 'only' boy she ever talked about before the football captain knocked her up. My parents were furious, thought I was the culprit, but... well one DNA test later and my name was cleared, that was the last time I saw her. Like I said, never talked to her ever again, never saw her again after... and never found out what became of her. But after her... well, I gave up trying to date or trying to find a girlfriend. Girls weren't fawning over me, and the one girl I liked that I thought was like me, jumped to spread her legs for the first popular guy who teased her heart. So... I figured, why bother... besides... it was just a high school crush, it's in the past... but it's always been there in my head... a 'what if'... what if I'd asked one day sooner... two days, even three, what if?"

Trishula gently held him close to her as he was trying to avoid crying, and she could feel it, it was that 'Terran Male Pride' that his breed had where they try to show no tears or sadness in front of others. But she could feel it, deep down he was crying over the chance he'd lost. But she wouldn't let her boyfriend suffer, as his girlfriend her responsibility was to be there and be his shoulder to cry on and let be himself.

She shifted herself so she could sit with her legs wrapped around his waist and look directly at him. As she did, she leaned forward and whispered, "Arthur... thank you for telling me." She whispered to him. "I'm sorry for what you lost as a younger man, and while I can't compare without knowing her, just know that I'll be better than her. She chose to let a random guy sweettalk his way into her starport just because he was popular, he didn't care if she ended up growing a pup without wanting it, and when she realized what he'd done she tried to find a scapegoat to put the blame on and save herself, because he wasn't there."

She then slowly leaned forward and kissed his lips, slipping her tongue into his mouth and moaning as he reciprocated, their fleshy mouth muscles rubbing and dancing with their partners before they separated for air.

"I'll be different, because I am different. I was saving myself for my heart's other half, I didn't just let you take me without thinking about it. It wasn't until you said I was worthy to be your ship's starfighter pilot, despite being a lowly C-rank pilot... that I truly knew you were the one I was searching for. I saw what kind of a person, a captain, a 'man' you were that day. You treated me with the respect of a squadron leader looking for work, when others ignored me. You treated me as a respectable starfighter pilot, when others would have taken advantage and used my body when I offered it to you. You paid my squadron's entire debt when you didn't have to, for no other reason then so we wouldn't be burdened with such a debt. You gave us a home among the stars and fighters we'd only dreamed of having, when others would have said 'you're on your own'. You said we were worthy to fly the space lanes and sore to distant star systems, when other captains would have said we're only good enough to protect produce transports from pirates."

"That Mary... only liked you because you had similar interests, but once she let a popular man tease her and she let plow her starport, she acted like you didn't exist because she was suddenly popular. I won't be that... I'll be the same girl I was to you outside of the Central Depot Main Office Building in years to come. She found out too late she was pregnant and tried to dump it on another boy, I eagerly want to carry your pup with all my pride and joy if you want me to have it, and I'll have 'more' then one if you want me to. I'll raise twenty pups on Great Fox with you if you want them, that's how happy I am with you now. And unlike her who just pretended you didn't exist until she tried to use you to get out of being a single mother, I'll never forget for the rest of my life, what you did for me and my squadron."

She then held up her hand that so long ago she'd wounded, and recited again... "Baracico, mandala harvelta! Mehnlachio al Bufantoonio, mehn bodeh un hartra bel soolva. With this I belong to you. Ill follow you and Great Fox, for as long as I live."

He smiled as she recited her oath again, and they both shared a gentle and heartwarming kiss with the other. As she cuddled him tightly, they both found the chair a little uncomfortable to sit and embrace each other this way, so with only a gentle pull, he picked her up and, while still kissing her, gently laid her on the floor and continued to make out with her. But as he did, she felt him squeezing her a little too tightly, not painfully but it wasn't comfortable for her.

She gently squirmed under his grip and pushed him off her only a little, just enough to get her message across to him. "Arthur... relax... you don't need to squeeze me so hard." She said softly.

"I'm sorry I... didn't realize I was hurting you, I-"

She stopped him with a smirk, holding her finger to him as she winked. "I didn't mean it as in it was painful, I mean... you don't have to hold me so tight as if you're afraid I'll vanish or run off with another man." She said warmly. "I'm not going anywhere and I don't want another... so don't feel like you have to keep me like a grounded starship. Let me fly, let me be free, let me 'breathe'... because like tony said, treat me like a starship and I'll always come back home to you."

He nodded as he leaned down and more 'gently' kissed her lips, and together they just stayed like that for a few moments, just being a guy and girl sharing a private moment again with each other. As they pulled away and headed over to the court so she could show him how the game of Holo-ball worked, the ship's lights suddenly turned red and warning sirens erupted.

'Breep, Breep, Breep, Breep'

"Great Fox, what's going on?"

[Captain, a series of explosions are occurring in the military base. Communications channels are off the charts with traffic, I am attempting to scan and inquire as to the reasons for this heavy comm traffic... stand by...]

He wasn't interested in 'standing by' though, as he said, "Open a channel to all decks!"

[Attention all decks, attention all decks, please stand by for a message from the captain! Go ahead Captain.]

"All pilots, head to the hanger bay and get your Arwings ready to launch. Repeat, all pilots head to the hanger and get your Arwings ready for launch!" He yelled as he nodded to Trishula, who nodded in understanding and rushed out with him, both heading opposite directions, him to the bridge while she headed to get her squadron and head to the hanger bay.

Up on the bridge he sat down and pulled up the various holographic windows. "Open a channel to the military base, get me SOMEONE to talk to!" He demanded.

[Opening channel... channel open, on screen.] The ship declared as a holographic window was flung up from below so he could talk visually to whoever she had contacted.

It was Ikaria and she was looking frantic as she appeared on the window, behind her various smoke trails and fires could be seen as Aquavrams were trying to fight back and get the situation under control.

"Captain Arthur, this is Ikaria can you read me?"

"Yes, Ikaria I can read you, what's going on?"

"It's horrible captain, our entire submersible attack fleet has been sabotaged!" She screamed.

At the military base Ikaria coughed from the smoke filling her base's aqua bay, where all of her base's submersibles were stationed, and now all of them were disabled or outright destroyed. Soldiers were trying to fight the fires and repair crews trying to salvage 'some' of the submersibles and get them working, but it was a struggle.

"We don't know how it happened, but it seems the dissidents managed to disable 'all' of our submersibles, we're almost completely defenseless! The Naval Guard cannot deploy any submersibles." She told Arthur through the viewscreen on the far side of the room. "We've also received a report from the mobile spaceport that multiple attack submersibles and crab walkers are heading toward it, baring the royal seal of Lumarinara and his dissident forces. The spaceport cannot defend itself, and while the cargo liners are landed on it, it can't submerge and attempt to flee. Based on this information Arthur, General Hilmarina declared that Lumarinara is launching an all-out assault!"

"What, Lumarinara is launching an all-out assault on the Mobile Spaceport? How can he possibly do that?"

She shook her head as she had no idea how it was possible, they had all but rooted out 'every' remaining dissident in the military they thought, but it seemed at some point, perhaps even long before this happened, he'd planned this attack. The crews working for the Naval Guard were all screened, those who showed sympathies were instantly removed for questioning and those who were loyal were tested and confirmed. It was impossible for them to have sabotaged 'every' submersible the Naval Guard had. There were just too many for them to have gotten their hands on, some had been in storage for 'weeks' and others had been undergoing repairs, they would have detected or found devices meant to sabotage them.

"I don't know, but right now we're utterly defenseless, we're trying to get some of our submersibles back in working condition, the only good thing we have is that most only suffered minor damage and can be repaired. But until they are fixed, the mobile spaceport is defenseless. We can't get there fast enough to protect it!"

"Very well then, I'll tell any Aquavram soldiers still working on carrying relief cargo to finish what they're carrying and depart so that Great Fox can take off." He told her. "We'll head to the Mobile Spaceport and protect it. I still have a mission to complete, and my cargo liners are being threatened, I have to protect them!"

"But you'll be outnumbered hundreds to one, this isn't just a 'few' submersibles that your ship can shoot off with just a burst of plasma bolts from your AFB gun batteries. This is 'every' dissident soldier under Lumarinara's control. He'll have more than just a few attack subs; he'll have crab walkers as well! He has fleets of attack subs; you'll be outnumbered and outgunned!"

At that Arthur smirked as he chuckled to her, causing her to look confused as to 'why' he could chuckle at a time like this. Did he not understand the gravity of the situation? Lumarinara was going all out this time. He'd apparently decided that if claiming the crown through subversion and manipulation wasn't going to work, he'd conquer it and force his way onto the throne! How could Arthur just 'chuckle' at being told that his ship, big as it was, as powerful as it seemed, would be outnumbered hundreds to one and just as outgunned?

"Ikaria, we Terrans have a saying... we may be outnumbered... but we're 'never' out gunned." He told her with a confident smile, and the way he smiled to her made her blush at just how 'confident' he sounded.

It was almost like the prospect of fighting all of Lumarinara's forces at the same time didn't faze him.

'Is that just the confidence of a Freelance Captain, having engaged with galactic conflicts in space against ships of equal and stronger caliber in greater numbers?' She thought to herself.

After confirming again that his ship would be heading out to protect the mobile spaceport, he closed the channel and left her to stand in the hanger bay of the Naval Guard. She looked around the bay at the many damaged attack submersibles, and knew that even if Arthur's ship was powerful, it was nowhere near enough by itself to take on the entirety of Lumarinara's dissident fleet.

So, with determination she ran over to the submersible summon console to look up and see if 'any' submersibles with combat capabilities were still available to deploy. She saw a few were still in serviceable condition, but they were small, weak scouting submersibles, the kind she used back when she was first rescued by him and his pilots.

Punching in the command she summoned the scout submersible and ran to the docking station so it could be dropped into the water through the bubble shield.

"Ikaria, where are you going?" Her new CO, Commander Dendura shouted as he ran over.

She just ignored him and jumped into the submersible and initiated the deployment procedure, punching buttons and activating the sub's startup procedure.

"Ikaria, get out of that sub, where do you think you're going?!"

"To help protect the Mobile Spaceport!" She shouted as she flipped switches and armed her sub's depth charge missiles and defense mines.

"You can't defend the mobile spaceport in a scout sub by yourself, it's hardly armed and barely can withstand any attacks!" Her new CO told her as he ran over to stand next to the sub. "The scout subs are designed to scout and are meant for maneuverability, not combat. You'll be outnumbered, outgunned and outmatched by dissident attack subs. We can't send you any backup until the attack subs that can be repaired are repaired! Wait until we're ready and can send out a relief force!"

"I may be outnumbered and outgunned, but I'll never be outmatched by dissidents!" She repeated back to him, using the same words Arthur used. "Captain Arthur and the Great Fox are heading to protect the Mobile Spaceport; they're going to need all the help they can get!"

She punched in the command to launch the scout sub as her cockpit sealed her up in a bubble shield. Then she was released and dropped to the water.

"Send the subs as soon as they're ready, we'll hold them off as long as we can!"

She descended into the water and watched as her view was filled with bubbles and waves as she was flung into the oceans of her home planet again. She activated her sub's propulsion units and flew away from Arquoovra Majesta, turning away and soaring over the bubble biome that contained the Coral Palace and after the engine trails of the mighty Great Fox. The warship already taking off away from the city and speeding towards its destined meeting with Lumarinara's forces.

She flew after it, slowly catching up as the ship broke through to the surface and leveled out, heading east to where the Mobile Spaceport was positioned.

She tapped the communications and called upon the ship to speak to Arthur, and after a few moments her sub's viewscreen activated and he appeared.

"Captain Arthur, this is Lieutenant Commander Ikaria of the Naval Guard's first division, I'm following alongside your ship to join you in the defense of the Mobile Spaceport!"

Arthur shook his head in bemusement with a slight smirk as he looked up and said, "Something tells me even if I ask, you'd follow along anyway?"

"Yep." She said with an equal grin.

He sighed as he accepted the inevitable, and said, "Just don't make me get into another Arwing to rescue you again for the third time, remember, I can't fly them nearly as well as my pilots even on their worst day."

"No promises!"

So, with that her tiny little sub flew alongside the massive warship as they both sored through the ocean currents, Great Fox making a note of her submersible and transmitting its data to the Arwings and automated turrets so they would not accidentally fire upon her during combat.

Far off in the distance though, an enormous crab walker with eight segmented mechanical legs, various coral outcroppings growing upon it and even a few aquatic species of plants that had also grown upon the underside, around the legs and even around the joints of the Mobile Spaceport was currently sitting still as its upper half that was dry and having been cleared of loose coral crustations since the spaceport was last used. Resting atop the spaceport, ten Belgan Cargo Liners heavily laden with relief supplies for the Guntara Planets, sat with their bays open while work crews frantically shot with plasma blasters and engaged with boarding dissidents in vicious spear on spear battles, some used special blades and others fought with other aquatic weapons as they defended the platform from being boarded.

Down below, hundreds upon hundreds of attack submersibles, and a hundred crab walkers were currently swarming around the mobile spaceport, launching depth charge missiles and attacking the hardened armor of the legs and underside, seeking to destroy and permanently disable the spaceport so that no further relief aid could be provided to either the Guntara Planetoids or the Aquavram capitol city.

Sitting in the command deck of his pride and joy Garluda class Command Walker, Lord Lumarinara smirked as he watched the battle unfold. As predicted, his 'surprise' that General Bugnara and his loyal forces left before they became dissidents had gone off without a hitch. Now even if for any reason the submersibles that were damaged could be repaired, by the time they did, it would be far too late to do anything.

"I 'had' wanted to be viewed when I started my reign as a hero of the people, now that our plan has been undone, the only option left for me to save my movement, is to become a conqueror. Detestable as it is... it's the only option left."

"Lord Lumarinara, our boarding forces are trying to advance and control the landing pad, but they're being held by defending Naval Guard soldiers!" A deck hand declared.

"What of our underwater forces, how are they fairing?"

"My Lord, the numerous coral outcroppings covering the leg armor and coral shells covering the underside of the Mobile Spaceport have coated the walker in a powerful armored plating that our depth charge missiles are having difficulty penetrating. They are having to make repeated runs to cause enough damage to crack the walker's defenses."

"Order our submersibles to continue to hammer at the walker's armor, deploy the walkers into a long-range attack formation on the nearby cliffs and reinforce them with shield generators and stationary gun turrets." Bugnara ordered. "We'll hammer the legs until they buckle under the weight of the spaceport. Once the legs are destroyed the spaceport will no longer be able to function."

He watched as his fleet of walkers around him began to move into positions, taking up positions on various underwater cliffs and outcroppings to make use of their mounted heavy depth charge missile launchers. At the same time the remaining attack submersibles began to swarm the legs obeying his order to launch continuous assaults on the walker.

As for those Submersibles that had expended their ammunition, they retreated to the safety of some crab walkers to rearm from loading crews using their ammunition payloads they brought along.

"My Lord, I have a report from our western scouts, a massive vessel is approaching on a direct course moving fast..." Another deck hand declared.

He turned with a knowing smile, already figuring who it was and that he and Bugnara had calculated correctly over the response to this attack.

"It's the Freelance Captain's ship, Great Fox!"

"Well, he arrived about the time you predicted he would Bugnara." He told the general, to which he nodded in agreement.

"Order the fifth, seventh and eighth wings to launch an attack on the starship. Have the second, third and ninth divert to reinforce after they're rearmed. Get Walkers six, ten, fifteen and thirty to begin launching missiles at their coordinates." Bugnara declared as the numerous hands began to issue the orders.

"If we destroy the Great Fox, we destroy the city's last hopes of food and medicine, with the spaceport's destruction they will be unable to get further assistance from the Belgans or anyone else. Once he has only 'me' to turn to for food, King Gungadara will have no choice but to supersede the throne to me. It's not how I would have wanted to ascend to the throne, but I will achieve my goal regardless. As for a tie to the royal lineage... well I can always 'demand' that Queen Inkamaria enters an arrangement with me, unless she wishes to sacrifice one of her daughters to me... I can always have one of them become my consort after the King is executed, and the remaining daughter can go to you Bugnara. But first, we must win this final battle."

He stood up and stepped over to the holo-map that showed the battle as it was unfolding, various little green dots to represent his forces and a giant red square to represent Great Fox as it was approaching, unaware of the tiny little red dot next to it.

"Bring up our special units from the rear guard, I plan to give that captain a 'surprise'... when he moves into position."

Aboard the Great Fox Arthur sat in the bridge as he began activating his ship's High Profile Mode, watching as the shield generators turned on for the first time underwater. He could see a tiny thin layer of blue light surrounding the ship, indicating it was active and that his ship was now shielded. Due to the constant water pressure, the shield was now visible when normally it wasn't while in space. But as he watched the shield's meter filling, he saw it sadly only went to sixty percent of its normal strength. As Kiandra said, the best she could do without building a dedicated shield module for underwater use was sixty percent of maximum capacity.

As for his ship's guns, well after being deployed they cocked and readied themselves, his pride and joy ship readying itself for the battle to come. The ships gunned primed themselves, ammunition was loaded, targeting systems activated and everything was ready for the upcoming conflict. He felt secured and safe aboard his ship, whatever Lumarinara had he was confident his ship could meet the threat. He had to protect the Mobile Spaceport at all costs, this was the 'final' battle for Aquavram Prime he realized.

[Captain Arthur, we're ready to launch!] Trishula said on a holo window.

[I wish we had Kiandra's new submersible modular attachments before heading into this fight. Our fighters may have the power, but they just aren't as fast or as maneuverable as the submersibles in the water!] Yumi said in a nervous tone on a holo window as well

[According to her Tony's family were working all morning getting them ready, but they're still not finished. They need a bit more time.] Vanessa muttered bitterly.

[Time we can't afford, if we lose the spaceport, we lose Aquavram Prime and the Guntara Planets to the dissidents!] Katarra said angrily.

"I had wanted to avoid getting involved in a civil war..." He said with a frown as he saw the battle up ahead, seeing multiple explosions going off and saw the massive walker standing still, unable to move or defend itself. "I had hoped that this job would be simple, deliver relief supplies, stay out of the conflict, don't get involved... move on. A small part of me hoped that in this new life I have, I could avoid getting involved in major conflicts, a nice somewhat quiet life in space... but it seems that isn't the life I'm going to get."

[Captain Arthur, the Mobile Spaceport is under heavy attack by dissident forces.] The Great Fox told him as it showed a scan of the walker. [They appear to be concentrating their heaviest attacks on the legs keeping the superstructure of the spaceport afloat and above water. If any of the legs are damaged and destroyed, the walker will not be able to maintain its upright position and will fall into the ocean, destroying the spaceport and sending the cargo liners and supplies into the ocean. All eight legs must be protected to ensure the safety of the mobile spaceport and the cargo liners, as well as the relief supplies.]

He nodded as he stared at the battle ahead. "I came here to save lives, that was our mission from the start. So be it, if saving lives means I have to get involved in this war then this is where we make our stand. This is going to be Aquavram Prime's final battle to determine her people's fate!" He declared loudly as he stood up to address his pilots. "Trishula, here are you and your pilot's orders. Defend the Mobile Spaceport, do not let a single one of its legs be destroyed at all cost! Failure is 'NOT' an option! You'll earn your pay today as Starfighter Pilots of Great Fox!"

[Attention, attack submersibles on approach with Great Fox, vector one-two-one.]

"All Arwings LAUNCH!"

"Launching!" Trishula and her girls shouted as they activated their engines and flew out into water, slowing down instantly as they turned to soar forward toward the mobile spaceport.

As they took up formation Ikaria's submersible trailed in behind them, following in formation as well.

"Well look who decided to join the party." Vanessa cheered as she saw Ikaria's submersible.

"So little princess, think you can hang with us girls in 'actual' combat?" Katarra joked.

"Hey, I'm not a little princess, I'm a Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Guard's first division!" She countered with a grin.

"Alright everyone cut the chatter, our job is the Mobile Spaceport, let's show these dissidents how we fare against them when they can't run away from us anymore!" Trishula said over the comms as they sped away from the starship.

"I've got multiple attack submersibles on approach vector!" Yumi shouted as she checked their radar and saw a hundred submersibles on approach. "Uh, I can't really analyze them ma'am, I'm not a submersible specialist so I don't know anything about them, I'm a starfighter and starship analysist!"

"They're Aqua-major and Aqua-seltzer attack submersibles!" Ikaria told them for her. "Each carries a payload of six to eight depth charge missiles and are heavily armored, or at least armored in terms of Aquavram weaponry, for your plasma bolts they should buckle pretty quickly! Just don't get caught with them chasing after you!"

"Alright, leave this group to the Great Fox, our mission is the Mobile Spaceport!" Trishula ordered. "Bomb volley on my mark!"

"What, you're just going to leave Arthur by himself?" Ikaria asked in disbelief that she was telling her pilots to leave the Great Fox to stand alone against a hundred attack subs.

"Roger boss lady!" Vanessa called back as they flew forward and shot a volley of bombs at their attackers at Trishula's mark.

She watched as four bombs exploded and forced the submersibles to surge away before they were caught in the blast radius, allowing the four Arwings and Ikaria's submersible to surge forward unimpeded toward the Mobile Spaceport.

"We can't just leave-" Ikaria started to say as she looked back, but stopped talking as she watched long trails of AFB gun batteries lighting up the waters around the starship, blasting submersibles as they swarmed and assaulted Great Fox.

She could see as the first wave fired off dozens of depth charge missiles that connected to the ship's shields but did no damage to the hull. As the swarm of subs flew past and turned to reengage, the gun turrets tracked and shot down subs as they flew in range, within seconds a dozen were shot down and either exploded or crashed down to the seabed to blow up. Even as they circled around and launched more attacks the great warship showed no mercy in her retaliation, taking aim with precision and each sub that dared remain too long in visual range of the ship's guns met destruction and death.

"I... see why you said leave Great Fox alone." Ikaria whispered in amazement.

"Great Fox isn't a helpless mobile spaceport or a transport, she's a Freelance Captain's ship capable of taking on dreadnaughts." Trishula declared proudly. "Arthur can protect himself; his ship is where most of the defense for the spaceport will come from, we just have to provide support and keep the big guns off of him and Great Fox! Once she gets into position her AFB gun batteries can protect the spaceport."

She nodded as she understood and followed Trishula's lead as they flew into range of the mobile spaceport now. There were hundreds of submersibles attacking the spaceport in swarms and she could see dozens upon dozens of crab walkers moving into range to bombard the legs with their heavy depth charge missiles.

She could see multiple missiles going off and causing damage to the legs, but it seemed the superstructure of the platform was still strong as they didn't look weakened or too damaged.

"Let's get in there!" Vanessa yelled as they all separated once they reached the swarm.

Ikaria smirked as she spun into the battle with the other pilots and instantly got behind a dissident submersible, locked onto it with her depth charge missiles and fired off one. She scored a direct hit onto its engines and the attack sub spun out of control, crashing down and blowing up on the coral floor below.

Suddenly her submersible shuddered as a depth charge missile blew up directly behind her, and she growled in frustration, before going off into a huge turn to shake them and buy time. She quickly loaded up her depth mines and timed their delivery, waiting until they straightened out and released her payload. Seconds later they exploded and did so much damage to the subs that they exploded their own depth charge missiles from within. She smirked as she continued back into the fight, following after another depth charge missile, but unfortunately this one didn't hit the sensitive engine, instead it hit the armored hull, so it didn't damage it very much.

"Damnit, my weapons just aren't going to cut it unless I catch them off guard!"

As the subs continued to battle and attack the spaceport, the Arwings and Ikaria's sub continued to try and fend them off and protect the spaceport's legs. Trishula's pilots soon learned that what Ikaria said was true, their weapons easily could penetrate the hulls of the subs. Just after a few short minutes Trishula had already shot down six subs to Ikaria's three, and her squadron were racking up the kills. But still there were just so many submersibles, and they were always bringing in fresh reinforcements as some flew away to replenish their missiles and others returned to join the battle again.

It was also true that the enemy subs were far superior to their Arwings in the water, several times as Trishula engaged a sub to shoot it down, another sub swooped in to shake her off, and try as she might her Arwing just did not have the turning speed or the maneuverability to evade them. Several Missiles exploded around and near her fighter, only causing no damage because she dodged at the right moment.

"I've got three on my tail Trishula, can you lend a hand?"

"I've got your back Yumi!" She called as she brought up her targeting systems and found her in the maelstrom.

She swerved in behind Yumi, dodging subs and occasionally firing off a volley of plasma bolts at passing by enemies if they were in front of her. As she came in behind her analysist, she fired off several shots, expertly targeting and blasting the subs chasing her and shooting them out of the water. She even saw 'one' of the submersible pilots eject in a desperate bid to escape his death and flew past him, narrowly avoiding turning him into a meat paste on her ship's cockpit.

"Some guys just can't handle having starfighters." She teased with a smirk.

"I got another three down!" Katarra cheered.

"Watch out, incoming heavy fire from below!" Vanessa called out.

She looked and swerved to avoid a depth charge missile cluster launched from several of the walkers below on the sea bed. They flew off and passed by the Arwings harmlessly as they collided with the underbelly of the Mobile Spaceport.

"Damnit, we've got to deal with those crab walkers!"

"Trishula, you and Yumi deal with the walkers, me, Vanessa and Ikaria will handle the submersibles." Katarra told her.

"Got it, Yumi, let's go!"

"Right behind you leader!"

While Ikaria's submersible and two of the Arwings continued to dogfight it out with the dissident subs, Yumi's and Trishula's Arwings dove down to begin an attack run on the walkers taking aim at the underside and legs of the Mobile Spaceport.

They dove deeper, flying along the ocean bed barely a few meters off the bed itself, occasionally rising up and swerving to avoid random coral and shale outcroppings and rocky spikes. They split up to divide their attention and fire, focusing on the legs of the walkers which were by far the weakest points of their bodies.

Trishula took careful aim and pulled the trigger on her plasma blasters, smirking as the bolts easily penetrated the thin armor of the legs, causing underwater explosions as the walkers wobbled momentarily, losing their balance before falling to the seabed, helpless and unable to fight any further.

Some of the walkers turned, rather slowly, and attempted to fight back, firing depth charge cluster missiles in an attempt to hit them, but it was pup's play for her to swerve out of harm's way, avoiding the shock wave of the explosions behind her and responding with her own plasma bolts. She hammered into the main part of the walker, the head section that had the mountained armaments and served as a command point for the walker's crew, blasting it several times and eventually blowing it up in a huge explosion. As the walker collapsed behind her she swerved under its body and did a funny spin.

"How's it going Yumi!" She called out.

"I've got three down, but I'm noticing most of the walkers are taking up positions on the cliffsides to the south and west of the Mobile Spaceport." Yumi responded.

As Trishula nodded and blasted another walker's legs, sending it to fall helplessly to the seabed floor, she looked over and saw that there were dozens upon dozens of crab walkers taking aim from their perched position. They were also protected by numerous AFB gun batteries...

"AFB gun batteries, when the hell did the dissidents get access to standalone starship technology?" Trishula yelled in shock. "What you got on them Yumi?"

"Uhhh leme see what I can pull up!" Yumi said as Trishula blasted another walker and swerved out of the way of another Cluster Barrage. "Alright, they're standard Terran AFB gun battery turrets. These look like the mounted versions meant for surface to air combat; they can't fire unless the target is within medium to short range since they're underwater, and they're stuck anchored where their positioned. Nothing the Great Fox has to fear, we could probably take a few potshots but if we get too close, we'll get shredded due to our starships lacking maneuverability and speed while underwater."

"Ugh, great, so they're covering their long-range units with AFB gun batteries, so they can freely shoot at us while we can't get close enough."

[Then it's a good thing I don't need to get close enough.]

A shadow flew by overhead as she looked up and smiled, Great Fox, while still shooting at the now 'hundreds' of submersibles flying around the Mobile Spaceport and now the starship like the annoying Buzz Bugs they were, had slowly moved itself to take up a defensive posture so that its broadside protected the Mobile Spaceport from attack. Seconds later, the Heavy Cruiser Guns lowered down to take aim, while the medium topside guns rotated and took aim as well. Then in a giant burst of plasma fire, all of her guns fired at the same time and struck into the cliff side wall.

Ikaria watched as the Great Fox fired off a full broadside of its many big turrets, and in a single volley had almost destroyed the 'entire' walker force. It was such an incredible show of force, that she almost forgot she was piloting a submersible. But alas Great Fox's weapons seemed to not have done the damage they were trying to achieve, as after the bubbles vanished, numerous bubble shields had been erected to defend the walkers. Most of them had survived, but it seemed those that 'didn't activate protective bubble shields were utterly gone, just gone as various large craters were all that could be seen of where they were.

"Wow..." She just whispered in awe at the 'power' Arthur's ship had.

Arthur raised an eyebrow as he was not expecting to see bubble shields capable of withstanding the full power of his ship's broadside cannons synchronized together to cause maximum devastation. Even a Heavy Cruiser would have fallen if all of his guns, minus the Titan Guns would have hit it in unison.

"How the 'hell' did they survive with only light casualties?" He asked his ship.

[Scanning... analysis in progress... complete.] The ship said as it showed him the position of the walkers as they took aim at his vessel and the shields deactivated. [I am detecting multiple Bubble Shield Generators positioned in layers directly in front of and around the walkers along the cliffsides. Tactical data suggests they erected the bubble shields the instant we fired the broadside in order to dissipate and reduce the overall damage their forces could sustain from a single barrage. I suggest we avoid firing all cannons in unison, as synchronizing our weapons will only result in a repeat exchange.]

He nodded in agreement, "Alright, reload our guns, prepare to fire again!" He ordered the ship.

[Automatic reload is already carrying out the action, ready to fire at your command!] The ship replied.

Several gun windows popped up for him to manage while Great Fox continued to handle the AFB gun batteries, targeting submersibles as they continued to fire depth charge missiles at his warship. As for the walkers, while his guns were reloading, they all fired a synchronized barrage of Cluster Depth Charge missiles. Over a thousand depth charges flew toward his vessel and exploded on the shields. The ship shook with a violence that he didn't feel since he was blasted by the pirate cruisers in the hyperspace lane. Lights flickered and he actually had to stead himself in the chair. He looked at his shields and saw they had actually brought them down a full eleven percent with that massive assault.

"You want firepower, here's some firepower!" He shot back and began clicking the commands to fire his turrets, while he used his other hand to rotate and focus them so that the bubble shields couldn't protect against his concentrated weapons.

*Banng Baaang Baaang Baang*

Again and again, he fired his heavy cruiser batteries and then his medium battleship guns, focusing on groups of walkers. After a short series of blasts, he turned his gun's attention at another group and resumed firing, slowly but surely the walkers were destroyed in small groups of threes and fours. But while he had to focus his guns fire on small groups of walkers to ensure their bubble shields couldn't protect them, the other walkers continued to launch depth charge missile clusters. Once they had reloaded their own launchers they resumed fire.

"Uuugh!" He yelled as the ship shuddered and buckled, but still the shields held as they dropped a further nine percent. "Great Fox, divert half of the starboard side AFB gun batteries to shooting down those missiles, we can't take this much firepower!"

[Aye captain.] She said as she silenced the guns on the starboard side he requested and began to focus their fire on the missiles.

After a brief pause while he focused the guns on his next group of walkers, the remaining walkers open fired and Great Fox's gun batteries began to fire a screen of plasma tracer charges to shoot down as many Depth Charge missiles as possible. With Great Fox's precise aim and the speed at which the AFB batteries could fire, she shot down half of the missiles, but the other half collided with the ship's shield, weakening them to four percent.

"Urragah..." He muttered, but as the walkers began to lose more and more of their numbers, the damage they could do was weakening. "Keep those guns reloading Great Fox, I need to pick up the pace if we're going to stop those walkers from busting down our shields!"

[Yes captain, automatic reload functionality is operating at-]

-Psschtrewwers-

The ship shook as an electrical surge coursed through the ship, causing him to jitter in the seat for a moment. He looked around as various warning messages and error windows popped up.

"What the, Great Fox what hit us."

[U-unknown, sysysysystems not operating withininin normal parameterererers!] The ship responded in a stuttering confused tone. [I-I-I-I Can't... operate... systems not... not functioning normal... cannot cannot operate... captain!]

"What is..." He tried to tap various windows but numerous systems were reporting errors.

He checked on the automatic reload systems and saw that his guns were no longer able to reload automatically, the gun batteries themselves were turning wildly in their module slots, trying to lock onto targets but unable to fire or reload. His shields were normal and other systems had switched over to backups, but the Great Fox's automatic systems, specifically the ones tied to his weapons had all but shut down and weren't functioning properly.

[Caaaptain... systems... not... I-I-I-I cannot... function... attempting to compensa-sa-sate. Unable to compensa-sa-sa-sate, attempting reboot of all systems to restore functionalnalnal-naaality.] The ship said as her AI brain below his feet shut down and then restarted. [Systems... returned... I apologize Captain, but... I cannot function normally. My neuronets are not operating properly... I cannot integrate or activate the ship's automatic functions for the weapon's systems. Automatic reload functionality is unavailable!]

"Impossible, what the hell did they hit us with? GAHAR!" He screamed as the ship was struck again by the dissident walkers. "Get me Kiandra!"

Kiandra was just in the middle of the finishing touches of uploading the new module programs and specs for the ship, when the electrical surge coursed through her database and interfered with the upload process, temporarily pausing it. Moments after it resumed the ship was struck again by a violent blast of missiles from the enemy walkers outside, causing her to fall on her butt.

"Owie... ooof that smarts... note to self, complain to the captain I can't work if he keeps making me fall on my butt!" She said as she got back up and resumed the upload.

"Kiandra, come in Kiandra!"

She turned and tapped the viewscreen to talk to the captain. "Captain, what's wrong, also stop with the shaking, I can't work when I fall on my butt all the time!"

"Kiandra, the ship was hit by some strange dissident weapon, it's completely disabled Great Fox's ability to interface with the automatic reload functions for the weapons. She can't reload or fire them automatically anymore!"

"WHAT?" She screamed in disbelief as she turned around and began rapidly bringing up diagnostic data and reading it as it was deciphered to her. "This can't be... this is impossible, I 'built' the neurohubs and neuronet fibers this ship uses so that this is a practical impossibility! GRRR WHO IS RUINING MY WORK I SLAVED YEARS OF MY LIFE SPENDING SLEEPLESS NIGHTS TO MAKE MY BABY!"

She pulled up her personal tablet and began chin typing while using her hands to quickly type and call up data, system diagnostics, more data, a synthetic energy drink and even 'more' information from the consoles in front of her that she needed to find out and understand what was happening. After fifteen seconds she had everything that she needed except for the drink.

"Oh, you sneaky little bags of multi-cellular cooperating bodies!" She snarled as she saw this trick used before but 'never' on her designs! "Captain, they've hit us with an Iktoran Electrical Dicharge Beam! They must have gotten it from the pirates before they stopped communicating with them!"

"What the hell does that do in the simplest terms and in the shortest time." He demanded as the ship shuddered from another blast from the dissident weapons.

"It's a type of weapon outlawed by galactic law and hasn't been used or produced in a thousand years. Back then the Iktorans developed it to attack and disable ships that make use of automatic weaponry, mostly those used by the Freelance Captains of the Major Factions!" She said as she translated more data in real time to learn what it was doing to her precious creation. "It's designed to target the Neuronet of the ship, traveling through the neurofiber cables that the ship AI uses to interface, integrate and control all areas, aspects and functionalities of the starship it's interfaced into. It's attacked and overloaded the Neurohubs with an electrical current that messes up the hubs and how they perceive, translate and transfer data commands to the various areas of the ship from the bridge."

In her mind she pictured it as she described it to him. "It's similar to the nervous system our bodies use. The AI Super Computer under your chair in the bridge is the brain of the ship's AI, and the neurofibers are like the nervous systems's cables that connect it to the body as a whole, while the neurohubs act as waypoints to direct the flow of information and control what needs to go where and ensure all information is processed and carried out as quickly as possible. I designed it so that even if half of the neurohubs or fiber cables are damaged, as long as enough remain intact, the Great Fox can operate even if for any reason seventy percent of her hubs and fibers are destroyed!"

"What the Iktoran weapon did was disrupt the neurohubs and fiber cables, they've scrambled their links and now they're sending messages to areas of the ship that have no affiliation with the system she's trying to interface with. It's like you try to tell your body to move its right foot forward, but it's your left hand that shakes all about instead." She told him with an angry frown. "The reason this weapon was outlawed was because it would have disrupted nearly 'every' system aboard a starship, and it often fired back and hit the ship that fired it, so it was prone to backfiring. The Iktorans dismantled most of their weapons but a few remained on the galactic grey-black market, only pirates still make use of the tech."

"Is there a fix, I can't fight back without my guns! And if my guns are down, we're dead in the water!"

She racked her brain as this was a conundrum that she never had to deal with or expected would come up, damn her past self, why didn't she spend another two weeks theory crafting every possible scenario the Neurohub and Neurofiber cables would have to handle while interfacing with the ship ai's Neuronet? 'Oh wait, I remember, I was doing that for seven months straight and I saw this cute Mixed Terran who inherited a twin dick from his father I wanted to ride at the bar one night! Damn my past horny self for not thinking with my head and instead looking at lower heads!'

"Uuugh... leme think, come on brain use more brain cells, we need to think of a solution!" She said with a furrowed brow. "That's it... alright, Great Fox 'still' has access to certain weapon functions, it's just the automatic reload and fire functions that aren't responding properly! Therefore, the only way we can fire the guns is if you initiate manual control! From the bridge you can manually reload and fire the guns, and the ship will still be able to initiate the procedures from the bridge."

"Manual Control?" He asked incredulously as he looked around the holo windows and saw one that said 'Manual Override'.

"Yep, manual control, it's a failsafe I designed for any reason she lost functionality, at least a part of my past self was using her noggin!" Kiandra said proudly. "There are some subsystems connected to the weapons that don't use the neurohubs that will still automatically activate in the event Great Fox can't activate the procedures normally, but you'll have to tell them when to activate and what to do. Think of it like breathing while your sleeping, you can't stop it, it does so regardless of your will. But even if something tried to stop it, you can still breathe normally with your own will. You're going to have to manually tell Great Fox to fire and reload every gun you want her to use, she can still automatically target enemies, but you have to tell her to fire and reload for every weapon she's got installed until her Neurohubs are back to normal. I'll work on a fix as fast as possible, shouldn't take me long to get everything back in working order!"

Outside of the ship while the guns had fallen suspiciously silent, Trishula and the girls were panicking and trying to figure out what was going on, Trishula contacting Arthur but getting static, and Arthur trying to get Great Fox to operate again, Lord Lumarinara was smirking as the 'secret weapon' had worked as intended.

"Good thing we paid for those 'secret weapons' when we did, I told you they were worth the investment General Bugnara." Lumarinara said with a grin.

"Yes, and it is good that it worked, as we have lost over thirty percent of our standing submercible forces with this encounter." He said politely. "Our walkers took heavy casualties, we've lost forty percent of them, and the ones that remain are divided between using the secret weapons and the Depth Charge Cluster Missile launchers."

"Our standing walkers will have to do; we must finish off that starship now while its helpless." Lumarinara said as he leaned over the holo-map and pointed at various attack wings. "Order our remaining walkers to focus their fire on the starship to break down their shields, have our submersibles focus on the starship as well, once it's destroyed the Mobile-"

*Bdngngng Bdngngngn Bdngngngn*

The ground shook as his personal walker steadied itself, and in disbelief he watched as the starship had launched a 'massive' salvo from its numerous guns, and then before his and Bugnara's eyes resumed firing on his forces. In a single salvo he lost another fifteen walkers. From the various AFB gun batteries streams of plasma tracer rounds began to focus fire and shoot his attack submersibles.

"What the, how is it 'firing'?" He demanded in anger.

"Did the Iktoran blasters malfunction?" Bugnara yelled in fury.

"Negative general Bugnara, scans indicate that the ship's Nuerohub network is still suffering the effects from the Iktoran Discharge Cannons. Scans indicate that the ship's guns and cannons are being reloaded manually and fired in rapid successions! Orders being sent directly from the ship's bridge to the gun stations to force them to reload and fire without the automatic systems being engaged!" A deck hand reported.

"Impossible, how many guns does that ship have?" Bugnara asked incredulously.

"I'm counting sixteen heavy cruiser batteries and a further sixteen medium cruiser batteries, as well as over ninety AFB gun batteries are currently firing on our forces!" Another deck hand reported.

"Over a hundred guns, and they're all being reloaded and fired 'manually' in such a fast manner... that's impossible... nobody can possibly have their ship reload and fire that many guns so quickly!" Lumarinara said, speechless. "Bring up our reserve walkers and attack submersibles!"

As he watched out of the corner of his eye the various holographic maps of the battlefield around his Great Fox, he was using a holographic keyboard that he'd asked the ship to make for him so he could manually control the reloading and firing mechanisms of his ship. While his left hand was constantly clicking either reload or fire, using the R and F keys for the respective commands, his right hand was constantly switching between various turret windows and eyes scanning if they were in need of a reload or if they were ready to fire, if they had achieved a target lock or were attempting to lock onto a target.

'Thank goodness I played on the starcraft ladder during my teenage years, or else this would be impossible.'

All the while, his ship was talking, obeying the various actions as he dictated it to.

[AFB Gun battery reload, target lock acquired, HC-4 gun battery reloading, firing gun battery HC-5, firing gun battery HC-2 AFB-11 gun battery reloading, firing gun battery M-14, reloading HC-1 gun battery, gun battery HC-7 reloaded firing, firing HC-4 gun battery reloading, AFB gun battery 45 target locked firing, AFB gun battery 32 lost target lock reloading-] Great Fox was speaking so fast that her words were a jumbled mess, it was impressive how she could speak and carry out the actions in real time as he was dictating them to her. [AFB gun battery 72 reloaded firing, firing HC-8 gun battery, reload complete on gun batteries M-3, M-2, M9, firing, firing HC-11 gun battery, targets destroyed lock achieved firing gun battery AFB-43, AFB-23 reloading in progress, firing HC-7 gun battery-]

The ship was a continuous sound of gun turrets going off, explosions taking place as he watched his ship through the hundred plus windows flying in front of his eyes and swerving away as he issued the orders to his ship. Then as he took a chance glance, he saw that additional walkers were approaching from the same direction he was focusing his heavy cruiser batteries. He gulped as he resumed focus on the batteries.

"Great Fox re-establish contact with Trishula!"

[AFB-43 reloading, firing HC-2, gun batteries M-2, M4, M-6, M8 reload complete firing, firing AFB-42, target locked firing, reloading HC-3, contact reestablished Trishula on screen, firing HC-9 reloading, reload complete HC-10 firing, firing AFB-23, target lost acquiring new target AFB-66 firing, firing HC-1 reloading-]

"Arthur what's going on? What happened?" She asked as she appeared on a window in front of him.

"My ship was hit by a discharge weapon that fried Great Fox's neurohubs and disabled her ability to engage the automatic reload and firing sequences." He told her, and seconds later the dissidents fired the same weapon again and struck his ship, sending a jolt through him and his ship.

Lights flickered, the holograms blinked out of existence before reinitializing, and his ship began to stutter talk again.

[Sy-sys-systems nooooot working... i've lo-lo-lost contact with with with various systems. Reinitializing ship A-A-A-A-AI... weapon systems down until pro-pro-process is comple-e-e-e-ete!] The ship told him as she restarted again.

"You have to do 'something' about those weapons or else my ship will be unable to operate properly, let alone defend itself."

"Aye captain, we'll see what we can do!"

Outside Ikaria had seen the electrical discharge strike the mighty Great Fox, and saw twice now as the ship's weapons fell entirely silent for long periods of time, and knew that something bad had happened. Turning her scout sub she charged at the line of walkers and ignoring the AFB gun batteries. She had to do 'something'; the ship was utterly helpless against that surprise weapon of Lumarinara's.

As she turned her sub to make an attack run, the gun batteries protecting the walkers and now the new walkers that had strode through to the front lines, opened fire on her small scout submersible.

She turned and swerved, dodged and avoided attacks as best she could but the sub was just 'not' built to withstand the punishment it received seconds later. Several plasma bolts collided with her sub and easily cut through her weak armor, damaging her systems.

"Garah... dammit, not again, stabilizers out!" She turned away before she was completely shot down, and tried to keep herself in the fight, but the submersible was done. It wasn't designed for prolonged combat, and it began to slowly dip further and further down.

"Ugh... if I crash now, I'm dead... my only hope is to dock with Great Fox!" She activated her communicators and tried to send a desperate message to Arthur. "Arthur if you can hear me, I need an emergency docking procedure with the Great Fox, I'm approaching the hanger, bring me in!"

Her sub sparked and shook, the bubble shields losing power and on the verge of flooding her cockpit again like the last sub she was in. Still though, she pushed on to the ship, angling toward the hanger as best she could because it was her only hope to survive, and after a moment her ship stopped shaking and the hanger bay opened. She breathed a sigh of relief as the ship brought her in, and after a moment began to rotate her sub, grab it with mechanical claws, and slowly angle it into a nest. She watched the hanger bay's lights flicker off and on again as the ship was hit again by a barrage of Depth Charge missiles.

She exited her sub just as the bubble shield collapsed finally, and stared at the damage done to it. The sub was utterly dead, numerous destroyed points were visible and pieces of equipment were damaged and sparking. She got lucky the ship was able to pull her in as quickly as possible, another minute and her own sub would have become a similar death trap as the last sub she piloted.

Suddenly the ship was racked again and another electrical surge coursed through it, and various lights and systems flickered off and on, the shields keeping the water out of the hanger momentarily blinked for a moment before solidifying again.

Over her sub's communications grid that was still active, she could hear the comm chatter from Arthur and his pilots, having been permitted access to their comms since she joined the battle with them.

"There's too much fire coming from the flak, we can't get close enough to the walkers!"

"Don't tell me we can't, find a way through, we have to break through and shut those walkers down or else Great Fox is dead in the water!"

"Gyaaah that was close!"

"I can't penetrate their lines, there's too much fire from the gun turrets, we can't outmaneuver those plasma bolts at these speeds!"

Ikaria just listened to the frustrated and panicked sounds of the pilots, usually so confident and calm but now panicking that their biggest advantage was utterly helpless without them to save it. She could tell they were trying to protect the ship, but without dedicated submersibles they had no hope... they needed help... if only she could join the battle, even 'another' ship would turn the tide.

"If only... I could join them... just 'one' more ship might..." She whispered as she looked at the two remaining Arwings sitting in their nests, idle, unmanned.

It was as if... they called to her, she could hear this silent ring in her ears... like they 'wanted' her to join the battle, that this was her calling.

With a determined stare, seeing no other path to help her people, her savior, the ship and everyone counting on them protecting the Mobile Spaceport... she ran toward the first open Arwing sitting in a nest and jumped into the cockpit. As she jumped in, various red lights flashed and a 'Warning, Unregistered Pilot' message appeared on the starship's viewscreen in front of her.

"Come on let me fly, we don't have time for registrations!" She shouted in anger as the controls locked up.

[Ikaria what do you think you're doing?] Arthur asked as he appeared on the starfighter's main viewscreen in front of her.

"Lending a hand, your pilots can't get close enough to those walkers without help!" She told him with a determined expression. "Let me pilot your Arwing, I can't just do nothing while my people's only line to the galaxy is threatened, and I can't just sit by while your own starship is being pummeled!" She looked at all of the controls around her, most of them were unfamiliar but it looked similar enough to her submersible's that she was confident she could at least operate it, perhaps not on Trishula or her pilot's level, but certainly better than what Arthur could. "You need all the help you can get; this is 'my' planet, these are 'my' people I need to protect. I'm still the second in line to the royal throne, and I'm still a Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Guard!"

He could see the concerned look on his face as she made her argument, but he obviously didn't want to send her out in his Arwings.

[Well, if someone's going out in an Arwing now, might as well do it with my latest creation!] Kiandra said as she also appeared on the viewscreen with a cheeky grin. [Sorry for the wait captain, still working on the Nuerohub fix, but Tony and his boys just finished the last of Arwing Submersible modular attachments, and I just uploaded the modular subroutines and startup procedures to Great Fox's central data core. They're ready to go!]

[Are you sure now is a good time to deploy them, they haven't been tested fully!]

[Perfect time as any, can't get combat data without putting them into actual combat! They're combat vehicles after all, only true place to test their combat capabilities is in an 'actual' combat setting! Come on, what else are you going to do with them, take a picture?]

[Well, I guess I can't exactly find a reason to 'not' send you out... Great Fox, can you initiate a modular transformation for the Arwing Ikaria is in?]

[I-I-I-I will try... initiating star-startup procedure!]

Around Ikaria's starfighter various mechanical arms from above and below reached and began grabbing at the starfighter's wings, detaching them from the primary body of the fighter, leaving it only a cockpit and an engine. Then as the arms retracted another set of mechanical arms extended into various slots in the ceiling and floor and extracted new modular attachments, wings mostly but also other pieces and began to slowly attach them to her starfighter's body.

The wings as they were slipped on and slotted into the fighter were extremely bulky, thick pieces that extended to the left, right and rear, giving it a four-meter wing-length on either side and extended the ship's overall length to the rear by an additional three meters. The ship was then given additional attachments to either side of her cockpit as various bursts of smoke escaped tiny cracks in the starship's modules to ensure everything was tightly encased.

[Modular... transformation complete, initiating modular subroutine upload... upload in progress.]

Around her viewscreens began flashing lines of code and lines of texts faster then she could read, but she was more focused on the attachments of the starship. The wing's had become bulky, submersible-like extensions that made the starship look like a four-pointed diamond shaped fighter from a top-down view. Along the wing's exterior protected by little durasteel plating shields were small propeller attachments, three on each wing while little filters could be seen on the rear-side extension.

[Programs uploaded, initializing startup procedures, loading weapons...]

She watched as another arm extended and attached a single plasma cannon to the underside of her fighter, causing it to jolt slightly as it was sealed and attached. Then another pair of arms raised up and slotted another two weapon attachments, small rectangular launchers of some kind given the double-sided holes in them that were each two meters in length and width, and as they were attached yet 'another' mechanical arm lowered, pressed against the hole, and special rod-like missiles each tipped with a warhead that each had a 'B' letter label on them were loaded in one by one. On her viewscreen several datapoints began to appear.

[Submersible Modular Attachment complete, MP-D4-Attachments complete and no variations or misalignments detected or noted. DD-3 connections and neuronet links showing no signs of instability. Laser guided locks sealed and aqua filters on standby. Submersible engines on standby and primary engine fuel tanks are full with no leaks detected. Torpedo Bombs loaded and plasma AFB rounds loaded, no signs of malfunction detected.]

The screens showed her that her systems were updated and ready, she had a hundred and fifty plasma bolt rounds and twelve 'Torpedo Bombs' locked and loaded. As the fighter was turned and slowly rotated to be pushed out of the Great Fox's hanger, the ship shuddered as another barrage of Depth Charge missiles smacked into the vessel, causing lights to flicker and everything to shake. But the starfighter itself completed its setup, and welcomed her as 'Ikaria, Temporary Pilot of Arwing Twelve'.

Kiandra watched as her newest creation was about to be birthed into the galaxy, smiling as she watched it push ever closer to the water. "Take to the seas and bring the skies and space to your new world... my newest creation, the modular attachment, Arwing Aquatica!" She cheered happily. "Equipped with two long-range torpedo launchers each carrying payloads of Torpedo Bombs, equipped with homing guidance systems and a plasma cannon created from a modified submersible depth charge missile launcher, capable of reaching speeds of one hundred and twenty knots with engine boosts increasing it further to one hundred and seventy knots for short bursts, and increased turning speed. Engine efficiency ratio of eighty-seven percent with only a thirteen percent inefficiency due to lack of prior designs to perfect the design. The Arwing Aquatica Modular Attachment is the pinnacle fusion of starfighter and submersible technology! EAT YOUR HEART OUT ACADEMY OF STARSHIP SCIENCES! THAT'S FOR GIVING ME A 'C' IN ADVANCED THEORETICAL STARSHIP DESIGN 302!"

Ikaria took hold of the controls and declared, "Arwing Twelve, launching!" as she was fully placed in the water.

She activated her engines and was flung back into her seat as the starfighter surged forward through the water as the main engine gave a short burst of speed.

"Whoaaa... hoh... now I see 'why' they like flying these things!"

She did a full spin as she turned around and swam over the starship's top so that she could join in the fighting, dodging submersibles and taking potshots at them as she steered her vessel toward the walkers on the cliffside, right as the starship began firing off another salvo from its primary guns.

Trishula growled as she swerved away with her squadron again as the AFB gun batteries continued to hamper and bar them passage. She tried to have two of her girls swing around the flanks to find a blind spot where the turrets weren't protecting or didn't have range so they could get behind and take out the walkers. Heck she even contemplated taking into the air, flying overhead and then diving back down in behind. But the dissidents had arrayed their turrets in a multi-layered formation with some protecting the rear and others among the walkers themselves. They'd left 'no' path open for them to slip under, and as Great Fox resumed firing and the dissidents renewed their assault on the warship, preparing to fire another electrical discharge, she was starting to lose her cool. They had to shut those walkers down so Great Fox could fight back without Arthur having to do all the reloading for the ship. He was fast but it was clear he was nowhere near as effective as Great Fox at full strength, no matter his own personal abilities, Great Fox could perform millions of complex calculations and carry out thousands of commands, but acting as her backup, he wasn't as effective despite his best.

"Ugh, we can't break through their flak! If we had our shields, we could maybe risk some damage but if we try to push through, we'll get destroyed!" She muttered fearfully.

"We may have to risk a suicide run girlfriend." Katarra said in agreement as she pulled away from another burst from their gun turrets.

"Doesn't Great Fox have the life restoration pods?" Yumi asked. "We could risk our starfighters to break through and blow up the walkers before we're shot down. We have two Arwings left, and I'm only seeing 'four' Walkers that are using those weapons. So only two of us need to charge in and as long as they take out two of the walkers, we're good."

"I'd rather not risk dying if that's alright with you Yumi!" Vanessa shouted.

"Yea I'd rather not risk the Life Restoration Pod even if the captain would trust it." She told her squadron. "Not to metnion I'd rather not risk our Arwings, they aren't exactly produced anymore... but we may have no other choice. Katarra, follow me, let's pull away and then charge the line, maximum thrust!"

Suddenly several bomb-like missiles flew past her Arwing and collided with the gun turrets. A series of explosions occurred and in an instant nine of the turrets were blown up.

"Wooooot!" A voice screamed excitedly as another Arwing flew past hers, an Arwing equipped with modular attachments that she hadn't seen before. "Why haven't my breed made any of these!"

Trishula watched as 'Ikaria' flying in the Arwing flew directly into the gun batteries line of fire and began to swerve and dodge their counter attack, easily evading thanks to her Arwing's new modular attachment giving her increased speed and maneuverability that their standard attachments lacked while in the water. Ikaria dove directly under the attacks and swung wide, targeting more of the turrets from behind in their blind spots with her plasma cannon, destroying even more and sending panicked Aquavrams swimming away for their lives.

"Where did she get 'that' modular attachment?" Yumi asked incredulously.

"I guess Kiandra's new attachment was ready to be deployed finally." She said over the comms.

[Indeed, get back to the Great Fox girls, time to change modules, enough of being held back, let's hit Lumarinara's forces with full strength!] Arthur told her with a grin on her screen as he communicated with her.

While Trishula and her girls flew through the still ongoing Maelstrom of submersibles to dock with the ship, Ikaria was soaring through the oceans at speeds her species' best submersibles could 'never' match. She swerved she dove, she rose and spun through the waters in her Arwing with the skill she always had as a submersible pilot, but now combined with the technology of off worlder spaceships. It took her time to get a handle on what controls did what, but after getting the general gist, she found that piloting an Arwing wasn't nearly as complicated for 'her' as it was for Arthur, in fact it was almost second nature. Like she was 'meant' to fly this thing!

She dove between a walker's legs, avoided a burst of plasma fire from a plasma battery emplacement and then blasted several more turrets to destroy them and clear a path for her fellow pilots now to have an opening. She saw her primary objectives the four walkers that had been equipped with special weapons directly ahead of her. Four enormous Gerluda Class walkers, titanic low profile six legged aquatic walkers each carrying missile launchers and a new cannon that was charging up even as she sped toward them.

"Alright, let's see how you handle 'this'!" She shouted as she locked onto her first walker and fired a torpedo.

The torpedo sped away and smashed into the walker's primary body, but the tough shell armor absorbed the blast but heavily damaged its primary weapon. In response the mounted missile launchers returned fire, firing several depth charge missiles at her which she had to swerve and avoid.

"Hah, you won't catch me so easily now!"

She made a huge turn, firing plasma bolts at the turrets trying to defend the walkers, blowing some up and then focusing her fire on the walker again and battering its armor with her primary cannon. After a few moments of concentrated fire, she destroyed the walker in a massive explosion of bubbles and temporary fire before it was snuffed out by the water. The walker itself collapsed to the seabed, and she combined her next torpedoes she had left into an attack on the second walker. Their combined damage penetrated the walker's armor and it erupted in a massive explosion just like the first, sending the walker teetering and falling to the seabed. As she flew under the falling walker, she fired a series of plasma bolts into the weakened armor of the walker's leg joints. She damaged several of them with a rapid series of shots, soaring underneath it as it fired a collection of depth charge missiles to try and shoot her down.

She did a half loop and righted herself to fire at the weakened leg joints she'd hit before and caused the walker to fall over, collapsing and disabling it from joining in the rest of the fight. She looked over and saw another Gerluda class walker, as well as a few more carrying similar weapons on a higher cliff moving into position. The lone Gerluda walker was protected by several smaller walkers, and each had varying weapon platforms attached to their upper bodies. It was Lumarinara's personal walker and his personal command post.

"Oh, if I had torpedoes, I'd charge in there but I have to focus on your walkers threatening Great Fox!" She said to herself as she flew around and began firing into the legs of the next walker she could get at.

Aboard his walker Lumarinara stared in horror as his first four Gerluda Walkers that were carrying his secret weapon were all destroyed, along with their defending turrets by a 'single' starfighter that seemed to be equipped with submersible technology. His forces were being destroyed, routed even by a single starship and a handful, a 'handful' of starfighters!

"Genera Bugnara, the sixth, eighth, tenth and twelfth attack wings have all been wiped out!"

"We've just lost walkers fifty-two, thirty-two, thirty-nine and sixty-four. Walker group three wiped out. Walker group nine have just been destroyed!"

"We've lost fifty percent of our defensive turrets; we have multiple gaps in our protective cones."

"My Lord, the first, seventh, nineth and forteenth have suffered over seventy percent in casualties! The second wing commander is begging you to order the retreat!"

"Are the walkers in position yet!?" Bugnara demanded.

"All remaining walkers are entering their fields of operation now; they're beginning to open fire!"

Lumarinara watched from his walker as the other walkers moved into position and opened fire, blasting the starship again with their special weapons. The ship was hit with multiple bursts of electrical discharges and the ship momentarily stopped firing again. This gave him a sense of relief, as long as they could continue to-

*Bdngngng Bdngngngn Bdngngngn*

Not even five seconds later the ship's guns resumed firing, tracer rounds blasting his attack submersibles and the guns now concentrating their fire in synchronized attack patterns against his remaining walkers.

"What's going on, why isn't it working?" He demanded angrily as he looked at the holo-map, staring at the huge casualties he was suffering.

"I'm showing no delay or disruption in their automatic systems, they're operating at full power!" A deck hand reported.

Suddenly on his largest viewscreen it showed pure static as someone began to hack into his walker's communication's grid. It then returned to normal, but only it showed a smirking outline of a fox head with a big grin, while it held up a cartoonish image of a keyboard and mouse, winking at them all. It then changed to that of an image of an Eldentran with the biggest smile on her face as she looked at them.

[Ahhh so 'you're' the Lumarinara that I've been hearing about, nice to meet ya, name's Kiandra, Kiandra Tumia Forest-Vorestra!] She said with a cackle. [I have to admit, you pulled out a dirty trick with that Iktoran weaponry, banned for a thousand years and 'still' you find a working model among pirates, boooold plan, worthy of the creativity award! But you're dealing with a genius mind like mine, your weapon may have hampered my precious baby's systems at first, but now they're nothing more than a mere hiccup to its operations!]

[Attacking my creation's Neurohub and targeting the weapon system's automatic reloading and fire functions, pretty simple way to disable her, but cheap parlor tricks don't work on my creations! Not while 'I' am on board and can quickly program an entirely new neurohub backup algorithm and programming network in real time and upload it into the ship's data core so it resets 'all' of the neuro network to original operational status if the hubs ever suffer an outage. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go thank my captain for letting me use his ship's communications grid to send a signal to your walker and piggyback on the transmission to hack into your computers so we can have this little chat. Toodles, buh bye!] She said with a friendly wave, before the viewscreen shut off.

As he watched the four walkers on the ledge nearby all blew up, as several Arwings flew over them, having fired torpedoes and destroying them in a large volley, before turning back toward the starship to join in the battle with his submersibles.

"My lord, our remaining assault walkers are in position with the heavy artillery from the rear of the ship!"

"Order them to fire at will, blow up the ship's engines and bring it down!" Bugnara ordered. "If we can disable or even trigger it to explode, we can still win this battle, keep pressing the attack!"

He looked at the holo-table again to see the map and watched as his walkers turned, readied their heavy artillery ordinance depth charge missiles. Then, without warning, several 'large' entities swam into range of the map and made a direct beeline for the walkers.

"My Lord... there's... there's Ancient Swimmers on the battlefield!" A deckhand shouted in disbelief.

"Im... impossible!" He said in equal disbelief.

Ikaria watched as she turned along the side of the starship to take on the walkers that had moved into range from behind, out of sight of the guns aboard the ship, when she saw a school of Ancient Swimmers pushing through the water, low to the seabed and heading straight toward the walkers. In awe and shock, she watched as they all bent their heads down a little, and bashed through the walkers, sending them careening over their sides and thrashing them in a single muscular wave of ocean current and flesh. The walkers tried to flee out of the way, but the swimmers were too fast and too large to avoid, and after only a mere ten seconds they destroyed the entire division of crab walkers.

"They... they saved us." She muttered as the swimmers now turned in unison toward the remaining walkers, the ones still actively fighting Great Fox on the cliffs.

In unison all of the walkers made a break for it, but their slow speeds meant they couldn't escape the rush of water and muscle from the ancient swimmer's wrath. Some of the crews panicked and fled their walkers, swimming for all their worth as the ancient ancestors of her species barreled into and destroyed the walkers one after another.

"They... they're saving the ship... they're protecting her."

As she turned her vessel to rejoin the battle, she saw as one passed by her... and she saw it was a very 'familiar' swimmer. It was the same one that she'd remembered seeing before she lost consciousness, the same one that she saw attacking the Great Fox and forcing it to turn toward Arquoovra Majesta... and now, the 'same' swimmer, was saving the ship from harm.

She just... couldn't say anything else at that moment but, "Thank you... for blessing me." She whispered as she momentarily took her hands off the controls, and bowed in reverence to her ancestor's genetic relatives.

It blinked and sped away with the rest of its kind, pushing the remaining walkers into retreat.

"This... this can't be happening..." Lumarina whispered in horror as the Ancient Swimmers destroyed the 'last' of his walker forces still able to fight. "This is a dream... it's a nightmare."

All around the field he could see his submersible forces making a retreat, fleeing without orders, his own walker guard were now starting to back away in fear as the Great Fox began to turn to bring its 'main guns' to bare, now that it was no longer required to absorb the full brunt of his forces.

"Order the retreat, all forces fall back, we have to retreat and regroup!" Bugnara shouted.

"SIR, I'm picking up multiple walkers and submersibles approaching from the rear!" A deck hound shouted. "It's the Naval Guard! They're being led by the Imperial Gerluda Walker, the King's personal walker is leading them!"

"We're surrounded!" Another deckhand shouted.

"W-w-we have to retreat, have everyone scatter, order all of our forces to retreat back to-"

*Bdnnnnnnnng TOOOoosh*

The primary guns of the warship open fired at long last, firing off two 'powerful' shots that ripped through the ocean, evaporating the water from the intense heat and 'blasting' craters into the sea bed floor behind his forces. His walker shuddered from the sheer force of the blast as the ship's starfighters flew by and fired off a volley of torpedoes and plasma bolts, tearing into his walker guard and either disabling them or outright destroying them. In less than five seconds his walker was left alone.

[Attention Lord Lumarinara of the dissident faction, this is Freelance Captain Arthur of the Great Fox. I offer you terms for your immediate and unconditional surrender to end this civil war on your planet.]

He glared at the starship in front of him as he heard the audio of the captain speaking to him. "And if I refuse?" He shouted back.

[You don't have many options, either you and your remaining forces 'surrender' to face your people's judgements according to your law, or you continue to fight, and leave me no choice but to open fire with my main guns 'again'. But this time I'll make sure to hit you and wont 'miss' by accident, or miss on purpose. It's your choice, the Naval Guard behind you arresting you and your remaining forces... or my guns in front of you, blasting you and reducing you and everyone on board your walker to atoms.]

He stared in anger as he watched the Great Fox angle its guns, adjusting their angle to point directly at his walker. On the map he could see a large force of walkers and submersibles heading toward his forces, those attempting to flee turning back toward his walker as they were now completely surrounded.

[Titan Class Cannons are capable of leveling cities on land from orbit in space and penetrating planetary shields with enough concentrated fire, imagine what they can do to your walker at such close range. Surrender and live, make the right choice.]

His mind was panicking, his dream, his ambitions to rule from the throne of Aquavram Prime, all of his planning that he spent so long thinking up every conceivable problem and calculated risk. All of it had gone so well and according to plan... he was so close, just 'one' action away from achieving ultimate victory... but this 'one' captain and his ship... ruined 'everything'. It was all undone, everything was finished, his goals destroyed... he could not hope to salvage this situation any longer...

"Order... all units... to stand down." He whispered in defeat, his shoulders slumped as he had no choice but to accept the inevitable or die. "Inform his majesty King Gungadara the third... we surrender, unconditionally, 'I' surrender unconditionally. I ask only... that he show mercy to those who followed me."

As the king's forces continued to approach, one of the starfighters from the Great Fox slow down as it circled his walker.

[Attention Lord Lumarinara, this is Ikaria Garnetica Aquavara of the Naval Guard's first division! As of this moment, you and your forces are 'under arrest'. Furthermore... as of this moment... your dissident movement, is officially 'over'.]

Ikaria sighed as she smiled, rubbed her eyes and turned back to the Great Fox, right as the Ancient Swimmers swam past it, under it, around it, and away into the distant oceans from the sight of the battlefield. Behind them the Mobile Spaceport stood still, protected... at last the war was over. It was finally, well and truly over.

"It's over... ITS OVER!" She cheered loudly as she flew up and soared out of the water, happily doing a spin and 'splashing' back into the water.

As she surfaced, she saw several large shapes approaching from the sky, and recognized them as starships, Belgan Starships. Multiple cruisers and starfighters soaring down toward the planet, escorting cargo ships.

"Hahahah, THE BELGANS HAVE ARRIVED!" She screeched cheerfully, happily waving toward the starships from within her cockpit.

[Typical, help 'always' shows up for you 'after' you've done all the heavy lifting for them.] Arthur muttered with a tired laugh over the comms while the girls laughed happily at hearing their breed's ships had reached Aquavram Prime at long last.

Over the next few hours, Lord Lumarinara and his remaining forces were taken into custody by the Naval Guard. The surviving forces that surrendered would be treated with leniency with exception to Lord Lumarinara himself and his inner circle of conspirators to the crown and people of the Aquavram Planet. Lumarinara himself was stripped of his title, and sentenced to a maximum-security prison in isolation, along with his highest-ranking officers and allies. Those nobles who supported him and were revealed were arrested, and their titles removed, also sentenced alongside him.

His camp was raided and the Belgan supplies stolen by pirates and given to him were transported slowly over time to Arquoovra Majesta to aid in the population's relief efforts. After the Belgans arrived and made contact with Arthur, he was 'finally' declared that his mission had been completed successfully and awarded the prize money he was promised for the conditions as they were met.

[Thank you, Arthur, for completing the mission parameters set before you, and even going above and beyond what was asked of you. Make no mistake, your actions this day and the past few days will not go unnoticed, many sectors have you to thank for maintaining the status quo and even freeing the planet of the remaining dissident forces in the sector.] Fleet Admiral Temor of the Belgan second fleet first division, a Mixed Belgan of light Terran heritage said over the comms as his ship once more lay docked outside of Arquoovra Majesta, the supplies being picked up and taken off by civilian volunteers. [I wish we could offer you more for what you did, however as you know, Freelance Contracts are very tight. We can't give you more than what was defined in the contract even if you go above what was asked of you. If I could I'd offer you more money for recovering the stolen supplies from the previous two convoys we sent out. However, unfortunately we cannot pay you for them, only for delivering the supplies we sent you with and ensuring your mission was a success by escorting the transports to land safely on the planet.]

"Well, there goes that paid vacation I was hoping for." He chuckled in response.

[Mhmhmhm, I'm sorry.] The Admiral said with a chuckle and a salute. [You will however, be happy to hear this, because of my rank I can make some 'leeway' with the contract. For your actions I can remove the fine for losing two of our transports en route. Therefore, your original prize of one million eight hundred and fifty thousand MPC will be awarded to you, and we will give you the additional five hundred thousand in bonus reward for keeping ten transports alive. This brings your prize reward to two million, three hundred and fifty thousand. Also, we received your ship's report of the pirates you destroyed and identified their markings as belonging to numerous gangs. Too many to count. We thank you for making the space lanes safter, and will award the bounties associated with them, which is an additional seven hundred and seventy thousand MPC. Sadly, a passing by 'Freelance Captain'd Dreadnaught' scavenged up the valuable supplies from the wreckages and salvagers already picked clean the metal alloys and already sold them to us, or else we would have offered you the credits for them also.]

'Cha Ching.' He thought with a smile, he didn't care about the Dreadnaught captain taking free loot from him, the credits were good enough. "Alright, now that we're almost done, is there anything else you need us to do?"

[We ask that you remain on Aquavram Prime until the cargo your ship is carrying is fully offloaded, after that your contract with us is finished. If you are interested, we have another 'job' that would be suited to your ship's capabilities.]

"Alright, what is it?"

[I'm afraid I can't tell you everything over the comms for various reasons. However, the major details are thus. We need you to take your ship to Iktora Two, and locate a black-market dealer named 'Parshtruga', he's an Iktoran that deals with black market grade weapons and vehicles. He'll give you the details in person and the prize that we're offering. It's a time sensitive mission, as soon as your done on Aquavram Prime, head to the sector.]

He nodded in understanding, not really liking the fact he wasn't being told of the details, but the Belgans seemed to have their reasons for secrecy, he'd find out on Iktora Two.

"Alright, is there anything else?"

[Yes, there is 'one' thing. Before we arrived, my fleet intercepted and boarded a cargo liner that was carrying highly controversial contraband that we were returning to Aquavram Prime. The 'contraband' in question, were Aquavram citizens, kidnapped from the planet and were being sold into slavery. They were being delivered to a mining colony several sectors away and were attempting to travel 'through Belgan Space.]

"Slavery, why the hell are there 'slaves'?" He asked incredulously.

This was the second time he heard about someone dealing in 'slave trade' in this universe.

[Well for various reasons, but in this case, they were being sent as a cheap and disposable labor force for underwater mineral and ore extraction. Naturally, slavery is outlawed in Belgan Space as well as ninety-five percent of the known galaxy. None of the Major Factions tolerate it, but... a 'few' don't actively attempt to police it, and it is 'these' quadrants controlled by said Major Factions, that slavery thrives. Provided they don't make it obvious; the Major Factions have no reason to intervene, as they rarely get involved in local authorities or governments issues unless it's on the galactic level.] The Fleet Admiral said with a sad nod.

[The reason why I'm informing you of this, is because the Aquavrams on board the cramped cargo liner were all 'male'. This is... highly suspicious, as it begs the question of where the 'females' are and where they were taken and for what purpose. After questioning them, we learned they were captured by dissident forces during the opening days of the civil war, about a two-to-three-day period from the start, and sold to pirates. From there... they were taken to Iktora Two... and sold in a black-market warehouse en mass... the males sold to one group to work as forced labor... it is unknown what happened to the females. It isn't part of your mission for us, but should you find any information about them, the Aquavram Government would be highly grateful to your assistance. The Belgan Government, in recognition for what you did, will render whatever assistance we can, should you find out any information that helps us locate them.]

He nodded in understanding, as he was afraid what would happen to those Aquavram women.

"I'll do what I can."

[I hope you find them Captain... I... spoke to many of the men. They had wives... daughters... sisters that were taken from them. Some of them quite literally ripped out of their arms and beaten to get away from them.] The Belgan Admiral said as he balled up his fist angrily, before he shook his head and regained his composure. [In any case, the money has already been wired to your account... we thank you for your services. Safe travels, and may the stars watch over you and your ship Captain Arthur.]

With that he gave a final salute and closed the channel. He leaned back in his chair and sighed as his ship brought up his available funds and account transactions. He could see the various lines of 'red' he'd created over the last few days and weeks since setting out from Belga Cinco. His ship had already added up his funds he'd made and was glad to see the money flow upward again with only a very tiny dip down to show him paying for the girls' portion of the prize per their contract.

"How much did we make?" He asked.

[Calculating... with the original prize offered of one million eight hundred and fifty thousand, plus an additional five hundred thousand, no longer counting the two hundred thousand in fines for losing the transports in transit, and the additional seven hundred and seventy thousand in pirate bounties, we have made a total of three million, one hundred and twenty thousand MPC. I have already calculated and deducted from the prize pool your pilot's pays for their services and have notified them of payments made.]

He smiled as he leaned back and was happy to see the funds grow for his account. It was 'quite' the payday for him and his ship. It wasn't 'nearly' as big as his biggest payouts from some previous missions, but it was a damn impressive payout all the same.

"Well, I can't wait to spend half of it having to pay to refill your fuel ammo and for food!"

[Indeed, we have spent quite a bit of ammunition these past few battles. We are starting to run low on AFB ammunition. Estimated costs to replenish all supplies for weapons provided we don't engage in more conflicts, is about three hundred and seventy thousand, fuel refill will evolve as we reach Iktora Two, but estimated ranges are between a further four hundred thousand and seven hundred thousand. Food costs can vary, but I estimate it will cost about a hundred thousand to replenish our stockpiles.]

He chuckled sadly as Great Fox ticked off her massive expenditures for him. "You are one expensive lady Great Fox, but you're worth every credit."

[I am glad to know that you believe so... it is... comforting to know you will spend as much as you do on my needs.] She said a hint of shyness.

He agreed as he got up and stretched to eat dinner with Trishula, dining with her in the mess hall instead of his private room and enjoying Mevik's 'hero's reward' cooking, serving a delicious cake desert for the crew after everyone performed so well that day in addition to dinner. Tony and his family had worked very hard to get the Arwing modular attachments ready for the battle, Kiandra had fixed Great Fox's systems and upgraded her neuronet so that Iktoran weapon would not affect her again in the future, his pilots had naturally flown and shot down numerous dissidents, and he had kept the Great Fox fighting. It was quite the party. The atmosphere was cheerful and happy and as the night went on the party started to really kick off as Mevik opened the bar up.

Arthur however, just chose to leave early and headed to his bed, feeling exhausted after the day they had.

As he slowly climbed into bed, he heard the bedroom open and saw Trishula walk in with her usual 'nude sleeping ware'. Her usual bedroom clothing consisted of just a transparent night-gown and nothing else, her fur was a little wet because she had just left the shower in her room apparently. As she climbed in with him, she smiled and leaned into his embrace, giving him a gentle kiss.

"You seem to like wearing that outfit whenever you join me in my bed."

"Mhmhm... it's my 'uniform' for bed afterall." She snickered. "You never know when my starport might suddenly get invaded during the night by a surprise attacking starship and its ravenous band of 'invasive' starfighters, looking for a peaceful starport that has its guard down. I need to be 'ready' to defend myself after all."

"You keep talking like that and instead of going to bed we'll be testing your defenses." He whispered to her as she slowly rolled over him and wiggled her hips into her favorite position.

"Mmhmhm... my squadron and I did well today, you can't blame me if... say... I asked for a 'bonus'?"

"A 'bonus'... what a greedy ace pilot I have... I just 'paid' you for over eight day's pay hours ago, and you want a 'bonus'?" He whispered in play anger as he lifted her gown and she pulled his boxers down. "You know what... forget sleep, I need to teach your starport a lesson and give you another 'kind' of bonus! Wanna know what it's called?"

"Oh, tell me..." She giggled as she leaned down and began kissing him.

"It's called... 'overtime'..."

As the days passed on Aquavram Prime, Great Fox and her crew continued to live their daily lives. Some days they just lounged around or worked on exercisizing, Trishula's Pilots had fun flying in their new modules for their Arwings, and there was even a little race held between the pilots over who could navigate a course underwater and return to the ship fastest. Yumi won it, and she was given a bonus of five thousand MPC while Trishula came in second and got three thousand, Vanessa third for one thousand, and Katarra the participation award of a free bottle of Aquavram Wine from 'Lumarinara's' personal collection.

But the day eventually came, when Arthur and his crew had to leave. Before they went the King had thrown a magnificent parade and festival, even paying for an opera that depicted the heroic acts of him, his ship and crew for the public and his crew. Nearly every Aquavram turned up for the festivities at some point, the play had been greeted with applause and even the ship put on a show by using the city's broadcast network to play segments from its perspective of the Arwings and itself fighting the walkers and submersibles. Even the Ancient Swimmers were given a highlight.

But the time arrived... when it was time for Arthur and his ship to begin departing. The last of the supplies were being offloaded, the ship was already plotting a course to leave the planet, having to change routes because of another storm hanging over the capitol, and everyone waiting to watch the ship take off for the final time away from the planet, perhaps to never be seen again.

But on that morning, with many, many hours to go before Great Fox left, Ikaria sat in the military base at her desk, trying to focus on her military tasks. She had been given by her general... paper work. Now that the war was over, now that Lumarinara was behind bars, his forces all but removed from public society, his final resources reclaimed and distributed accordingly... her life had become utterly boring.

One would welcome this shift; many soldiers had welcomed boredom and peacetime affairs after being in a civil war mindset for over a month and having spent so long starving. Not a week ago she was tying her armor together multiple times over because of how thin she was. Now though, she was stuck staring at a viewscreen, trying to find motivation to fill out paperwork.

She however wasn't looking at it, she was staring at a window showing a live camera feed of Great Fox.

She missed the ship, the people aboard it... and especially Arthur. She had become so friendly with the pilots, with Trishula... but most important she had become so close to Arthur. Sometimes during the week since the war ended, she'd contact Arthur and sometimes him and Trishula during her off times to talk to them. Sometimes she'd be allowed to join and join them for meals, sometimes she'd spend time touring the ship's library, reading what they had to offer and touring the ship's luxuries. All the while... she felt so comfortable and now that the ship was scheduled to leave... she felt so lonely, so detached from her life now.

A part of her... sad as it was to admit it, missed the war, yes things were bad, and things had started to improve since he came down with his starship. But... before Lumarinara was defeated utterly, she had him and his ship to always look forward to. Now that it was about to leave, she felt... lonely, sad... like she no longer belonged or had no purpose here on her home planet.

She was never going to ascend to the throne unless her sister up and 'died', she was never going to ever make changes to the royal court or help her citizens the way she would have... and she didn't want to be another Lumarinara. She was a fighter... a pilot... a warrior... she... belonged where battles had to fought, but now that the battles were done, she only had 'paperwork' to look forward to. She joined the military to make a difference, but all she'd done was paperwork, the only time she made a true difference was... when she was in a submersible or... the Arwing, temporary as it was... her time in that starship had been... natural.

It was like she 'belonged' in that starship and-

"Ikaria?"

"Uwaagh!" She shouted in surprise panic as she flicked to her paperwork and looked around, seeing her new General staring at her with a raised eyebrow. "General Hilmarina... can I help you?"

Hilmarina frowned as she leaned over and pressed a button, bringing up the previous window of the starship still docked, at least temporarily...

"You've been watching the starship for the past two hours... I know you've not gotten any work done, because this is the seventh time I've seen you staring at it in passing." She said with a stern tone. "I understand your bored, but we still have work to do..."

"Yes ma'am... I understand." Ikaria muttered as she turned back to her viewscreen and tried to go back to work, but even as minutes passed and the General still hung around, she just... couldn't work and had zero motivation to work.

The general noticed this... and sighed, shaking her head as she pushed the button and looked at the ship again with her.

"It's a beautiful ship, isn't it?" She asked.

"Yes... she is."

Silence again as the general and her stared at the ship on the viewscreen. "It's not the same as being on our own transports, is it?" Hilmarina said. "I should know, I toured one... it's not the same as an off-worlder ship."

Ikaria nodded, it wasn't the same as an Aquavram Transport, it was just not the same.

"You know... I always wondered 'why' General Bugnara and Bronarva tried to only make you do boring work. But then I discovered they were doing so to keep you safe, so when the time came you would be there for Lumarinara's plans. Now however... I see, you never were meant to be here, you chose to be here but... you just don't belong here to begin with."

She looked to the general to see her looking off into the distance, not paying her attention or looking at the screen, just staring off... seemingly to space.

"If I had it my way I'd make you my Lieutenant, but I've already named my husband that... you weren't there at the time, and I needed someone I could trust. But truth be told, with no wars to fight, nothing but civil policing to focus on... my job, his job... and your job are nothing more than boring paper work and scheduling tasks. Even with the reconstruction efforts, all we're doing is just securing borders and keeping everyone 'safe' for the next few years... just more boring work all things considered."

She then looked to her with a smirk.

"I won't say... or tell you... or 'order' you to do something, you're still technically the second royal daughter in line for the throne." She said as she turned and clasped her hands behind her back. "If you don't feel you belong here, you should go where you 'do' belong... whether that be here, or the royal court... or even... up there. Most of us don't want to go where we don't belong, and most of us belong here in the waters of our home... but you... I think you belong... up there."

"General Hilmarina?" She asked, wondering if she was telling her to go to the Great Fox?

Hilmarina turned and smiled. "You only have one shot your highness. As your general, your 'final' order from me... should you decide to follow it, is to make it count!" She said with a final salute, and then proceeded to leave without looking back at her.

Ikaria stared in slight surprise, but smiled as she saluted her general as well and then ran up from her desk and began to head toward the Coral Palace. She had very little time and so much to do.

As she raced toward the Coral Palace, she requested a private audience with the royal family who were in council. After waiting for a period of time, she was allowed into the throne room and headed toward her father, mother and sister.

"Ikaria, good to see you again." Her father said as he and her family walked over to her from the throne. "What is wrong my dear, why do you come before us today with such urgency?"

She took a deep breath and said, "Father, with your permission... I would like permission to... to... ugh... to fully sever my line to the throne and leave the planet aboard Great Fox!" She said in as official a tone as she could muster.

"What, are you 'serious'?" Inkara asked incredulously. "You can't possibly abandon your lineage to the throne, you're needed here on Aquavram Prime. If anything should happen to me for 'any' reason, it will be 'you' who has to ascend to the throne and continue our bloodline!"

"Darling, why would you even consider asking something so outrageous?" Her mother Inkamaria asked with a deeply shocked expression.

"Yes... please... explain why?" Gungadara asked with a surprisingly calm expression.

She sighed as she thought about her words, knowing she'd have to make a case for herself and knew it had to be good. "Mother, Father... sister... I do not belong on Aquavram Prime any longer." She said with a sad smile. "I realize that now, ever since I was old enough to talk, I knew I was different. It started when I began to detest being at court, I would argue with the nobles, I would complain about them, I would lash out and criticize them. When I joined the military, I did so, so that our people would believe that the royal family were not like the nobles. I figured I'd make a difference in the military and in service to the people and the crown as a member of the crown. But every day I was in the military I either did boring routine paperwork jobs that could have been assigned to a secretary, or I was on scouting missions in the service of the exotic exports branch of the trade union."

"During the war... it was the same, I figured I'd be fighting dissidents, rescuing our people, fighting for our way of life and restoring the peace... but all I did was the same and all I ever was seen as was just a pawn in someone else's game. Even as I starved alongside our soldiers, our people... it was the same story without me seeing. And when I returned with Arthur, and joined him at the party you threw in his honor, I saw... I was not like them, even more so. Everyone here ate full hearty meals, sure they knew of the war, but they were cared mostly only for their social circles and personal lives. Not the citizens' needs and their hungry bellies or sick bodies. They only think about them when it comes to social status, and doing what's best for 'them' in the name of 'service of the people'."

She smiled sadly as she glanced in the direction of the ship, where she wanted to be.

"But aboard Great Fox... I was different then I was here, I was an equal to them, they fed me the same, cared for me just the same, and I felt I made a difference, an impact... I felt like I belonged. When I drove an Arwing starfighter, I felt... like I belonged. The halls of the starship that I walked along, I felt like I belonged. In the final moments of the war, I made a difference, I stopped Lumarinara, I saved our people, I preserved our way of life and gave us a future again."

She turned again to her family and said with a proud smile, "I belong among the stars, our people don't want to go but I do. I hear their call... I hear it... the call, the song is calling to me. I can 'hear' the galaxy, the stars, the planets beyond our own calling to me to fly out and journey through space. To make a difference. Perhaps I mean nothing in the grand scheme of the galaxy, perhaps I'll be nothing more than a random note on a page in the books of history... but I feel like I can make a difference however small! And that is what I want."

"But also..." She whispered as she felt her heart, felt it beating, and took a deep breath. "I feel... a call, from Arthur. He may not be doing it intentionally... but... he's calling to me, he 'wants' me to be with him, or perhaps it's just my heart's personal belief. But I think I also belong among the stars by his side! My heart hears its call, it beat because of his Breath of Life... now I want to return that favor with all of my heart, my heart calls to him and even now it beats more loudly just talking by talking about him. I want to go with him, I want to be with him, so please let me go!"

She looked to her family with a confident expression. "Inkara is more meant to be queen then I am, she can talk to and tolerate the royal court, she knows the language of the nobles and can keep her emotions under control more than I ever can. If I ascended, I'd probably end the Royal Throne as an institution and I'd overturn our way of life. Or worse I may do something horrible and turn into another Lumarinara, with how I feel toward the nobles and the royal court. The truth is I'd never ascend to the throne unless something 'drastic' happens, and now that Lumarinara is gone and the threat of dissidents is over, there is nothing for me here. I'll never become queen, and I have no aspirations to become one. With the war's end I have no more purpose in the military, and I do not wish to spend my life filling out forms and being a glorified secretary, or become some noble's wife just for a political marriage so that the royal bloodline remains intact should the worst happen."

She then stood up straight and asked finally, "So let me go... let me go be where I feel I belong, among those I belong with... with the one I wish to be with, and have a life I actually want to live. Let me answer the calls I hear."

There was silence in the throne room as she awaited her family's response. It was a short silence, but eventually her sister walked forward and held her hands. "Sister, please... reconsider... I know we've always been at odds; we argue... we spite each other. But... I just don't want to see you leave and... never see you again. You're still my precious little sister, and life just wouldn't be the same without you here!"

"I know... and I'll miss you and mother and father every day, but... I want to go into space, I want to be with Arthur and Trishula and the rest of the crew of the Great Fox! It's where I belong now, I realize it."

"Mother, Father, please convince her to stay!" Inkara asked hopefully, turning to their parents. "She needs to stay, if anything... if anything happens... just... say 'something'!"

Both of her parents looked to each other and gave each other nods of understanding. "My little child... my darling child..." Inkamaria whispered as she walked over and held her daughter. "I wish you would listen and stay... seeing you all but sever your ties to your family broke my heart. Seeing you leave the palace to live at the base nearly broke me inside..."

She nodded as she knew that her mother had been the most emotional with her choosing to live in the military base, severing her ties to the crown's royal treasury, and all but saying 'I'm not a royal princess' to her people.

But then she slowly hugged her tightly and let her go with a sad smile, and said, "If you intend to go... you will need a few things, and you will need to leave your royal seal behind. And we will need to do it fast because the ship has already been cleared to leave and will be departing in a few hours."

She beamed in happiness as her mother gave her permission to leave.

"Mother, you can't be... father say something!" Inkara asked incredulously.

However, their father was smiling sadly as well, proudly even as he silently told his daughter that he was not going to say anything to make Ikaria stay behind. "She does not wish to stay, she does not belong here as she said, and as her father I will not make her stay where she will be unhappy." He told them. "It pains my heart to watch and hear my own daughter wish to leave her home for a life among the stars, but I do so knowing that she will be in the hands of one I have come to trust and respect. I once offered that man your hand in marriage my daughter, and he refused only because he respected you as a person... not as... in his words... a potted plant to be 'traded' at another's behest as a prize for doing what one promised."

She smiled as she knew, and knew that she would finally get to be with him in space even if he tried to not make her his at first out of respect to her.

Her father walked over and embraced her again as his daughter, a bit of tears falling down his cheeks as they both knew this may be the last time they see one another, and so both silently wished to prolong the contact as long as possible.

"Take care my daughter... please... do not let our line end with you among the stars. Vow... vow to continue it with him. The Coral Tree of our lineage has grown large, the very palace we live in is the very tree of our family. Long has it grown... and though you are a tiny branch of the tree of our family... you are 'still' a part of that tree." He whispered warmly to her. "Grow a new tree now, grow a proud tree with him. Let the branches of your lineage extend even further than those of the Coral Palace!"

"I will... I will, and it will be even 'greater' than the Coral Palace!"

As he pulled away, she looked to her sister who was trying to reject the inevitable reality setting in. She tearfully stepped forward and whispered, "Please reconsider sister... I don't want to lose you... I don't care if we argue, fight, bicker... you're still my precious sister. Please stay... you... you can invite him to stay if you want, we can make him a permanent royal, we can make a decree, we can... we can do something just 'please' say you'll stay!"

She chuckled sadly as she knew he'd never accept that offer, they could offer him all the money, titles, comforts, everything under the Aquavram sun and sea, and he'd turn them away all the time. "He is a Freelance Captain... his place is among the stars, not tied to a single planet. He doesn't belong here... anymore then I do."

After a short while as her sister tried to resist, inevitably though, even 'she' accepted the inevitable and they embraced one another as sisters for the last time. Inkara and Ikaria both cried tears of sadness that they might never meet again, and both hugged and she even playfully gave her a knuckle rub against her head fin for the last time. Finally, she nodded and accepted their fates.

"The next time I hear of your adventures in space, it better be about a glorious battle! I'll never forgive you if you don't partake in some epic encounter worthy of the history books!"

She smiled as she reached into the folds of her uniform and pulled out her royal seal, the only thing that she had that tied her to the royal family and ensured her lineage to the royal throne. As long as she kept it, she was a royal daughter and could make a claim to the royal throne. For so long she had it, for so long she'd always had it, but she knew she couldn't keep it if she intended to go to the stars. Such a tie meant 'nothing' to the galactic stage, all that mattered, was the ship she was tied to and the personal bonds she had.

She handed it over to her mother who tearfully accepted it, and then they began to prepare for her departure, as time was of the essence. She gathered her personal belongings from her room, a few items that she needed as a female Aquavram, a few reading materials to make her life comfortable, some decorations to make her stay in her room comfortable, and a coral tree to grow. She was also given a royal treasure to keep and offer to Arthur, and finally left the palace with excited steps as she couldn't stay any longer, for the ship was about to start leaving.

At the military base she ran toward the submersible bay to board a submersible as there was no way she'd reach Great Fox in time to board it normally and the ship was already warming its engines and starting to leave the city. She ran into the bay and paused as she saw in awe hundreds, if not thousands of Aquavrams in uniform standing in rows and lines, leaving only a small path for her that had a direct line to an Attack submersible, their fastest model.

"Everyone..."

General Hilmarina and her husband stepped forward and stood at attention, crossing their arms as they turned inward. She then shouted, "Attention Soldiers of the Naval Guard, Ikaria Garnetica Aquavara has chosen to leave our planet, perhaps for good. As she will no longer be considered among our number, it is only fitting that she be given a proper military send off. As she makes her way past you, you will address and salute her for the final time, as Lieutenant Commander Ikaria, of the Naval Guard's 'first division'!" She then turned and smiled to say, "Your submersible awaits ma'am..."

She nodded and began strolling with pride, her large bag over her back that carried all of her belongings she could stuff into it. As she walked by her soldiers, many of them she'd known all her life in the military base, many she'd bickered with and argued with, some she spent long hours in the mess hall and having fun making jokes of their COs... all of them, began saluting her as she walked by them. Without fail she looked into their faces and saluted them back. As she reached the submersible, the new lieutenant and second in command of the Naval Guard, shouted, "Companies... LeeeEFT Face... RrrrIGHT face!"

Everyone turned to face Ikaria again, still saluting as she was about to board her submersible.

She tearfully cried and wiped away her tears as she shouted, "MAY OUR OCEANS BE FOREVER BLUE!"

"AND MAY THEY BE TRUE TO YOU!" They responded in kind.

She nodded with a proud stature, and jumped into the submersible's cockpit, activating its systems and being released into the oceans of her home planet once again. She turned on the engines and flew away from the base, soaring over the Coral Palace, giving it a final wave to say goodbye to her family, before turning forward and pushing her sub to catch up to the Great Fox. The vessel had started to leave and was already exiting the large cavern that encompassed the capitol city, its rear engines shining like little lights as they passed over the edge and she chased after the vessel.

It was a chase as the starship was easily faster than her submersible, but even 'it' had to slow down to avoid various outcroppings and only when it had reached open ocean did it start to pick up speed, but she was still able to get closer and closer to it.

As she got nearer to it, she saw the vessel starting to rise higher and higher, approaching the surface and the head breaching the surface. The ship was on the verge of taking off and leaving her behind. It started to rise higher and higher, soon the top half was over the ocean surface!

Panicking she punched up her communications and began transmitting to Great Fox.

"This is Ikaria to Great Fox, Arthur do you hear me?" She asked. "My father and family have given me their blessing to join your crew. Please let me board and let me join you!"

She got no response as the ship continued to push through the water, and in a desperate bid to catch up, she began to ascend higher as well, surfing alongside the ship and skipping her submersible across the water. Every few seconds she would jump out of the water to try and get his attention, diving back down to pick up speed only to jump up again.

"Please Arthur, I know I have no right to ask you to take me on board, but I want to go with you! I want to go into space, please let me join!" She cried out, hoping he was listening to her and that his ship wasn't operating on its own!

As the ship began to push higher and higher, she started losing faith that he was listening, fearing that she was about to be left behind. But just as she dove and leapt out of the water again, she felt her sub jostle as it was grabbed by the familiar tractor beam of the starship. She could feel her sub hanging over the water now, and slowly began to be dragged closer and closer to its now opening hanger bay.

As the ship started to rise higher and higher, pulling her closer and closer, her submersible began detecting signals from below and behind.

She looked around as the sub was turned so it could be drawn into the ship properly, and she stared in awe as multiple submersibles from the Naval Guard had caught up to her and Great Fox. They were all making leaps out of the water in various waves to give her a final farewell, wishing her luck in her new life and travels in space.

"Hahahah, bye everyone, I'll miss you all!" She screamed happily as she waved them farewell as well.

Aquavram Prime was her home planet, but it was no longer her home. As she was pulled into the ship and it turned skyward, angling toward space, she cried her final tears of sadness as she waved goodbye to her old life. Now however, as she was rotated into the ship and pulled into one of the empty starfighter nests, she found herself on her 'new' home, the home she felt she truly belonged on.

She exited her submersible and followed a line presented to her by Great Fox to where Arthur was waiting for her, and after about ten minutes of walking she met him in the hallways with Trishula. She noticed that he had the formal hat in his hand behind his back that she had seen him wear at the party.

"Arthur!" She said happily as she ran toward him, stopping in front of him with a smile. "Thank you for letting me join your ship!"

"Ikaria, nice to see you again." He said with a smile. "I was honestly surprised you piloted a submersible to catch up to my ship. But... I also can't say I'm surprised you wanted to join up with us. Trishula told me you were probably wanting to join my ship and crew, and... well..."

"I told him you probably 'also' wanted to join to be with 'him', more so than anything else." Trishula said with a chuckle.

Ikaria blushed, was she really 'that' easy to read?

"Listen Ikaria, I know you want to join my crew and I have no qualms against inviting you to join, but... about my relationship with Trishula... you know she's-"

"I know... and... I know I have no right to intrude but..." She said with a sheepish blush. "My father had a solution he told me about, before I left... he suspected that you might have been in a relationship with Trishula since... you know, she was with you at the party and you kept rejecting any offer that might allow me to marry you. He said, if you and Trishula are still willing to accept me, I am more than willing to become your consort, Arthur!"

"My consort?"

"Consort?" Trishula asked in confusion. "What is that, some sort of 'girlfriend' term?"

"Sort of... it means, even though you might have a wife who you are married to and loyal to, and people will recognize your offspring as the legitimate heirs to your lineage and bloodline, you can still have another partner that the public might not be aware of." Ikaria explained. "So, say you get married and for any reason, you have children with Trishula. If you decide to leave your ship to your children, Trishula's children will inherit the ship but any children 'I' may have with you won't. If... you will accept me as your consort... then it means I can be with you as a 'partner' still!"

Arthur glanced nervously off to the side to look out the window at the water of the planet they were still flying through. "Oh boy... how did this happen to me..." He muttered in embarrassment.

"Heh, well I've got nothing against sharing, my breed is willing to share our mates, boy or girl, provided we know them personally and are familiar with them." Trishula said as she walked over and pulled Ikaria into a girl hug. "We can settle some things 'later', don't worry about Arthur, he'll get used to the idea. It's a Terran thing, their breed is mostly on the 'one to one' idea when it comes to coupling up. I got nothing against it, feels more romantic when it comes to romances, but if your heart finds his heart as the puzzle piece it was missing like mine did, then I will 'not' object to sharing him. Just remember I'm his first girl and I get dibs on having pups with him first. You have to wait until after mine come out, got it?"

She smiled a little sheepishly as she was 'welcomed' into the private circle in Arthur and Trishula's life. She honestly didn't mind waiting to have a child with Arthur, not like she could control when it happened, her body would just decide for her when she was able to procreate.

"Well Arthur, feel like showing Ikaria the launch? This time from the forward viewing space?" Trishula asked with a smirk.

"Yea sure, would you care to observe the launch?" Arthur said with a smile as he was happy to talk about something else besides his and Trishula's love life.

"Observe the launch, you BET I would!" She said excitedly as this was her 'first' time going into space.

He smiled as he led the way for Trishula and Ikaria to the forward most viewing space. He had already ended the autopilot so Great Fox was flying herself under his guidance. He could now give her verbal commands and she'd obey just like the first time when they left Belga Cinco. After about fifteen minutes of walking, they reached the forward section that had a view of the ocean and whatever was in front of them. They were even able to see beneath the waves because the ship was still partially in the water.

"Alright... ready girls?" He said as he placed the hat atop his head, now familiar with what was expected and used to the procedures after doing it the first time.

"Ready captain!" Trishula said with a smirk.

"Very well, Great Fox open a channel to all decks!" He said in a professional tone.

[As you wish. Attention all decks, prepare for an announcement from the captain. At your leisure captain.] The ship responded in a warm tone.

"All hands, we are preparing to launch and enter orbit to return to space. As before, if you would like to observe us leaving the planet, please direct yourselves to the nearest window!" He said before nodding to the nearby camera. "No distraction now ladies, this is important. Status report Great Fox!"

[We are all clear captain, cargo bays are on lockdown, skies are open with no stormfronts in range, fuel lines fully loaded and systems on standby awaiting your orders!]

"Very good, let's get skybound then!"

[My pleasure captain, all decks prepare for launch! Systems activating!]

"Let's do this smartly ship... no mistakes!" He said as he stepped forward to stare out the window with the full authority of a ship's captain. "Engines to one quarter power, engage all thrusters! Bring engines to half power as we exit the water!"

The ship roared as the engines and thrusters activated, and soon the starship began picking up even 'more' speed, Ikaria was stunned that the ship could go even faster, amazed that she had only been keeping up with the ship when it was 'barely' moving!

"Thrusters to maximum, full power from the generators, give us a slow ascent at one hundred thirty degrees!"

[Aye Captain, one hundred thirty-degree angle of ascent~] The ship replied warmly.

Everyone could feel as the ship pulled out of the water, Ikaria rushing to the window to stare as the waters of her home planet fell lower and lower from her sight. Soon she could see for kilometers, tens of thousands of kilometers in all directions! The view was unbelievable, never before had she seen her home like this before, oceans as far as she could see and beautiful waves of the coral seabed below! She even began feeling as the ship began to pick up speed, pushing faster and faster.

"Increase angle of ascent, take us to one hundred forty-five now Great Fox."

[Aye Captain, increasing angle of ascent to one hundred forty-five degrees~] She replied again just as excitedly.

As the world began to fall away ever so slowly, increasing in pace and the ship began to heat up from the front as they made their ascent from the planet itself and into its atmosphere, he and everyone began to feel the effect of gravity beginning to lose its hold on them. Soon they had left the planet and were now in the vastness of space, and all three of them started to float slightly. Ikaria was having fun as she pretended to swim and lie on her back feeling the weightlessness.

"Great Fox, engage the artificial gravity on my mark... mark!"

[Aye captain!] And a short burst of light rushed through the ship from the front, making its way to the rear.

Suddenly everyone fell back to the floor and Ikaria fell flat on her butt while he and Trishula landed on their feet, though Arthur stumbled ever so slightly, having prepared himself this time. He looked at Ikaria rubbing her butt with a groan and smirked, before focusing his attention on the window again.

"Galactic South by Southeast Great Fox, spacial heading four-four-nine by three-seven-five!"

[Aye Captain, Galactic South by Southeast, spacial heading four-four-nine by three-seven-five!]

The ship made a sharp turn and began heading away from the planet, Ikaria staring at her home planet as it looked from space. To her it looked like a giant blue marble in space, a beautiful blue marble that belonged to her breed and what they called home.

"It's... wow... it all looks so 'small' from here..."

"And it's about to get a whole lot 'smaller'." Trishula whispered to her.

He nodded in agreement as he focused forward again. "Engage internal heating and cooling systems on all necessary decks and levels!"

[Aye captain, heating systems engaged, cooling units engaged!]

The ship suddenly started getting to more comfortable levels, with Ikaria not even noticing how cold it was getting due to how excited she was to be flying in space. Now that she noticed it, she just 'felt' how cold it was the moment they left her planet.

"Take us away Great Fox, all haste if you please."

[Full Speed ahead, aye captain!]

He turned to Ikaria who he noticed was 'not' bracing herself for the full force of Great Fox's engines. "Brace yourself Ikaria." He warned her.

"Oh, come on, it can't be that baAAAD!" She started saying before she screamed in surprise, being flung onto her butt again while Trishula and Arthur nudged from the full force of Great Fox activating her engines to full strength and 'soaring' out of the last of her planet's gravitational hold on her.

The ship pushed on through space under its full force and momentum, leaving Aquavram Prime behind and growing smaller and smaller with each passing moment. Arthur waited until they were a far enough distance away and Ikaria had gotten used to the speed of an intergalactic starship moving through space. He turned to her with a proud smile as she looked up at him and saluted her and Trishula with a tip of his hat, before returning his attention forward.

"Alright Great Fox, decrease engine output now by fifty percent, disengage rear thrusters activate stabilizers, set a course for the Beglan-Iktoran Transwarp Space Highway Gate. New heading, Galactic South by Southwest, heading three-two-seven by two-one-five!"

[Aye captain, adjusting course and speed, inputting new heading, South by Southeast, heading three-two-seven by two-one-five! We are now en route!]

He nodded as he did an about face and began walking with his hands crossed behind his back, Trishula saluted him and winked while Ikaria mirrored her salute after seeing Trishula do it.

"If you'll pardon me ladies, I have to engage the Low Profile Mode, and it can only be done on the bridge. So, Ikaria, how would you rate your first takeoff into space?"

Ikaria looked to think it over for a moment, before she smiled and said, "I rate it 'ten' out of five!"

He smiled as he left them behind, Trishula saying she'll show her around and show her her new room. He headed to the bridge and sat down in his chair, pulling up the windows and switching everything to Low Profile Mode, reducing all energy output requirements to minimal to save on fuel. He then leaned back in his chair and thought about his next move.

"Well, now what do we do with Ikaria?" He asked Great Fox. "She uh... doesn't have a starfighter pilot's license, does she?"

[Negative captain, she does not have a starfighter pilot's license. However, due to your Freelance Captain's license, you can offer her a temporary field license to pilot a starfighter and work for you until she can take the exam to qualify for a license.] She told him.

"Temporary field license, I can do that?"

[Yes, but only under specific conditions and for specific candidates that meet a minimum qualifications requirement. As she was in the Naval Guard as a Lieutenant Commander and has shown to be capable of not only piloting and operating a submersible, she also showed that she can pilot a starfighter in a combat setting. These qualifications meet the minimum requirements to offer her such a field license to her. She will be given a set temporary licensed pilot's wage, which is below that of a D-rank pilots with similar payment methods as Trishula's C-rank pilot contract. With your permission, I will create a temporary license for her using the data I have received from the Aquavram central government database, and she will have a daily wage of seven hundred and ninety MPC per active service day and will receive a reduced pay of twenty-five percent per day she is not actively on duty.]

"Why the twenty-five percent instead of the usual twenty?"

[The twenty-five percent payrate is due to the fact that she will need to pay to take a D-Rank license exam using her own funds, this is to allow her time to accumulate the credits to afford the exam.]

"Ah, I see." He muttered. "Well make it so then Great Fox."

[As you wish. Captain, Trishula has taken Ikaria to one of the quarters close to your own. Do you wish her to have these quarters, or shall I give her quarters further away near the rest of the crew?]

"Let her stay there... I have a feeling she's going to be visiting my room tonight..."

[Are you... planning to become intimate with her as well?]

"I mean it wasn't my 'intention' to... but... I won't reject her feelings for me if Trishula isn't against the idea. Especially since... I'll be honest she's pretty cute and beautiful for an Aquavram Female. How many guys out there can say a royal princess wants to be with them in an intimate manner and their girlfriend actually is encouraging it and doesn't mind?"

[I can attempt to calculate based on-]

"That was a rhetorical question Great Fox, I don't need it answered." He said instantly.

[Of course, captain, I apologize... is this a case of... not reading the room?] She asked tentatively.

"A little..." He muttered as he got up and stretched, going to go eat dinner and asking her to watch the scanners for him.

[With pleasure captain, enjoy your dinner~!] She said in a heartwarming tone.

As he sat in his dining room with a plate of Prokus Steak, cooked Belgan beans and steamed Iskoran vegetables eating and enjoying the food, the door opened and Trishula walked in with her own plate, accompanied by Ikaria.

"Hi captain, hope you don't mind some company tonight, figured since it is Ikaria's first night aboard a starship she might as well learn the ropes of standard protocols." She said with a grin.

"No problem, are you adjusting well Ikaria?"

She nodded happily as she sat down on Arthur's other side while Trishula sat next to him. They all started eating with Ikaria fawning over the food, having never tasted meat like this before, only ever really eating Gooper Fish or Klendura Crab meat. It was such a different set of food that she was unfamiliar with but tasted soooo good to her.

"Now listen Ikaria, I know you're all eager to be Arthur's 'consort', but you have to realize there's a few things about being on board a starship in regards to personal and professional life!" Trishula said in a serious tone as the food was almost finished being eaten.

"What kind of things?" She asked politely.

"First of all, like I said, I'm his first girlfriend... I was his 'first' for a lot of things. First kiss, first girlfriend, first... well first to take his virginity and have her virginity taken." She said with a proud smile, puffing up her D-Cup breasts. "As such, I'm his 'main' girlfriend, I don't mind sharing him like I said... but I will 'never' let a girl near him or his heart if they might hurt it even slightly. Not only that, like I said, I get 'first dibs' on having his pups, so you must wait your turn until I give birth to his first pups!"

"Uhm... okay, I got nothing against that but, where does the 'professional' part of our life come into play?" She asked in confusion while Arthur blushed from the conversation.

'Yes, well as you know while we're planet side, we can be a couple and I often either spend my nights with him in his room, or when someone happens to be taking his room, he spends it in my room." She said with a bit of a frown. "However, while in space, we have to maintain our 'professional' life and keep the act up while on duty as the ship travels through space. I've accepted you as a new member of my starfighter squadron, Trishula's Pack, but as you're a new member I'll have you do some training flights with us with the captain's permission. After all, flying starfighters costs fuel and fuel isn't cheap!"

"This also means most times Arthur will either be on the bridge or potentially eating in his room here, if not visiting the rest of the ship. That means you can't go to him whenever you want, you need to remember that he is after all the Captain of the ship, he has duties to attend to and he needs to stay focused. We are his starfighter pilots, not just his girlfriends, we also have duties to perform and that means being ready to fly and defend the ship at a moment's notice from any threat, from pirates to other freelance ships. He pays us after all, we don't just live here for free, all of us have jobs to do and for us pilots we have to fly and fight starfighters."

"That sadly, also means you can't always sleep with him at night, while in space I don't visit Arthur's room unless I know we're safe and won't be threatened, such as when we travel through a Transwarp Gate. So, you have to stay in your own bed during travel times while in space, but when we're planet side, well you can walk into his room whenever he's there. But always remember, when the ships in danger, your duty is to defend her first!"

She nodded in understanding and knew what she had to do now. While she might become his consort, she was 'still' a soldier, now a starfighter pilot. She had to protect the starship above all else, even if it meant giving her life to protect the ship. The ship was what mattered, after that came the people in it, and then whatever contents were aboard the ship.

"Uhm... then, since it's my first night... before I... switch to my 'professional life'... can I just... uhm?" She whispered tentatively, very shy as she was asking to kiss Trishula's boyfriend, who was now 'her' captain as well.

"Oh, why not ask him?" She said with a smirk, looking at Arthur.

"I mean... I won't say no... but, Trishula are 'you' okay with it?" He asked, before fully committing to accepting Ikaria's feelings.

Trishula rolled her eyes and nodded. "You dummy, how many times am I going to say it, I'm a 'Purebred Belgan'. We have no qualms about sharing, we just need to know 'who' we're sharing with... you have my permission to kiss her, I'm happy you think that way, but now... now you need to change your 'Terran' customs and accept 'Belgan' customs. Now 'kiss her', you're going to be doing more than just a little kiss later on, trust me!"

He nodded and turned to Ikaria who looked very nervous and shy as she inched closer to him.

"Before I do this... I'll just say this Ikaria... your beautiful, and any guy would be lucky to have you for a girlfriend. I've come to really like you over the last week with how much we've talked and the time we spent getting to know each other. It's... well honestly all I can say is I'm beating myself up because I shouldn't find myself liking another girl as much as I love Trishula. Part of me says, 'don't do it, it's not right, you have Trishula'... so... I ask, do you really want me, are you okay with me?"

She gulped as that was the first time she ever heard a guy say that to her, not expecting him to hate himself for actually starting to like another girl almost as much as a girl he really loved and didn't want to betray. But her answer was already decided, she nodded and whispered, "I've been in love with you since the moment you risked your own life to rescue me from Lumarinara's base. If there is 'one' person in this world that I'm comfortable placing my heart into their hands, trusting them to not crush it at any moment, ending my life... it's your hands... Arthur." She whispered to him. "You gave me your Breath of Life... now I give you my heart..."

With that she leaned up and kissed his lips, feeling him push into hers as well, and just like before she felt her lips press against those of her savior's, feeling his warmth, his affection, his trust with his heart and feelings to hers...

All she could do was push deeper, slipping her tongue through her lips to tease and poke his, requesting access to again touch his as it once did before. With a moment's hesitation, his mouth opened and his own tongue met hers, they danced a little, poked and prodded, but then like a Aquavram Velvara Fish, teasing its mate to join it, it slipped 'slowly' back into his mouth, before pushing forward and wrapping around her tongue, pressing back into her mouth where they began a fierce and joyful dance. Due to her smaller size, her tongue was naturally weaker than his, so it had very little chance of resisting its advances. Yet as she felt his tongue wrap and cuddle, push and explore her mouth, she found that she enjoyed when he dominated her mouth and her tongue happily just massaged and wrapped around his to smother it in wet affection.

"Mhmm... mmhmmhaah!" She panted as that was so exciting and very intoxicating. "That... that felt good..."

"Heh, he's had quite some practice since his first kiss with me!" Trishula said as she too leaned over and kissed Arthur's mouth, showing her new 'sister girlfriend' how it was done and trading dance positions with his tongue.

Ikaria had wanted to go further, now that she'd had a tiny taste of her new boyfriend, she wanted more, but Trishula stood up with Arthur and said that she had to wait a bit longer, they had to head to bed as dinner was over, and they had to get ready so they could wake up tomorrow morning.

"Since it's our 'first night' together... Arthur... can we make an exception and stay in your room for tonight?"

"Sure... just uh... let me get prepared 'mentally'." He chuckled as he knew what she was plotting.

"No promises!" She giggled as they left the room and headed away from the mess hall that had now turned into a bar and everyone was already enjoying drinks and chattering it up with that day's entertainment.

They all headed to their rooms, the walk being filled with Trishula talking to Arthur about their next mission and asking for details while Ikaria walked alongside them. Eventually she started getting involved with the conversations and asked about details regarding life aboard the ship. She asked things like how many ships there were in the galaxy, how many places they've been to, how fast Great Fox could go, were there other starfighters he had or planned to get, tons of questions.

Naturally he answered what he could, but after another ten minutes of walking they finally reached the Captain's Quarters, and there they separated. While Arthur went into his room, Trishula entered the room on his left, and she approached the room on the right. Both had been given the closest rooms to his, and both had an equal distance to his. Inside she went over to the bed and rummaged around the large bag she'd brought to carry her things.

Inside she pulled out a special orb a quarter of a meter in diameter. The orb was a special treasure of her people, an orb considered by her people to be the 'only' perfect gemstone of its kind found on her planet. The gemstone orb was called the Azurite Ocean Gemstone, and it was one of fifteen of the royal treasures that belonged to the royal family, kept in the Coral Palace under heavy guard. Only when a new monarch and his or her partner was announced to be ascending to the throne, were the fifteen treasures gathered in the coral throne room. Though she had chosen to sever her connection to the royal throne, severing her link to ever hope to ascend to claim her birthright, this was acceptable to her.

But before she left, her mother had brought forth one of the fifteen treasures, and given it to her so no matter where she goes, no matter what happens to her, if 'ever' she returned, she could be recognized because of this treasure. She was told that she could keep it herself or gift it to Arthur to do as he wished with it, it was hers now to determine what would befall the treasure of her people. It represented the unity of her people, one breed, one world, forever blue and forever in harmony and peace, the blueish hues and colors giving every part of it a sense that she was looking upon the very oceans of her home world!

Deeper in the bag she pulled out a special case that carried a coral tree, a piece of the original coral tree that represented the royal family and affirmed her identity and lineage. Though she had only a tiny link remaining, her very bloodline being that link, she was still at her core a royal princess and would always be considered a part of the royal family tree. But now the tiny tree she placed on a desk sat, waiting to be nurtured and grown... a new tree to symbolize her new life among the stars. A piece of her home would always follow her wherever she went.

She sighed as she touched the tree, happy to have a piece of her home even though she wanted to leave it so much.

Her door rang and she turned and welcomed whoever it was, watching as it opened to see Trishula enter wearing only a bra and panties and smirking.

"Hey there new girlfriend, ready to become an adult in full?"

"Uh... almost." She muttered as she slowly began removing her uniform, her shell armor pieces that covered her head and tail fins, the pieces of armor that adorned her wrists and knees and elbows. Once she was down to just her clothes, she tentatively removed her shirt, then her pants, leaving her only clad in her panties because she chose to not wear a bra due to her small breast size.

She glanced over at Trishula and looked at herself, feeling deflated as she again compared herself to Trishula, and lamented not only was she 'smaller' then the Purebred Belgan, but also, she was was 'smaller' in her chest and hip sizes.

"Heeey stop comparing yourself to me, you look beautiful." Trishula said as she walked over and patted her shoulder. "Also remember, you're not trying to compete with me... we're both sharing the same guy after all. The only one you have to look good for is him."

She smiled a little as she nodded, but whispered something about 'not having any bras' because she never needed them before. "Don't worry, besides, we won't be keeping what we have left on for much longer, now let's go... our 'boyfriend' is waiting."

She agreed as she walked out of her room with Trishula, holding the royal treasure in her arms as they headed to Arthur's Quarters.

Inside of his room Arthur was preparing himself for what he knew was going to happen, he'd brushed his teeth and changed into some clean undergarments. He didn't know why he was so nervous; it wasn't like his first night where he slept with Trishula and was internally trying to not 'ruin' the experience for either of them. He'd slept with her quite a few times, most of them initiated by her given, but still he had slept with her enough to be more then comfortable with a beautiful girl in bed. But tonight, he was going to have 'two' girls in his bed, one of whom was a royal princess, even if she no longer had a claim to the title and it was her first time probably being with a guy.

"Well Arthur, you went from a geeky nobody loner who would have been lucky to get a 'hi' from a girl before parting ways in highschool, to having two alien girlfriends, one of whom is eagerly counting down the days before she can attempt getting pregnant with your baby." He whispered with an almost hysterical chuckle to his reflection in the mirror. "Oh, what would your past self say to you in the present if you could talk to him."

He gave his mouth another cleaning rinse before he finally left his bathroom to go to his bedroom. As he exited the bathroom he saw Trishula and Ikaria were already in the room as well, both of them talking to each other with both clad only in panties, and in Trishula's case a bra.

"Ah uh... Arthur uhm..." Ikaria said nervously as she quickly covered her small breasts up.

Trishula just giggled as she reached over and pulled Ikaria's arms away, the Aquavram was just so adorable and shy to the Belgan because of how self-conscious she was.

"Ikaria, you're about to lose your V-card, no need to be shy about your body." She whispered to her. "Besides, you want him to think your pretty right, well best way to show off how pretty you are to Arthur is to show how confident you are in your body. I only wore the ship's nightgown when I first slept with him!"

Ikaria nodded sheepishly as Arthur stepped over to the bed and sat next to her, and finally she got a bit more confidence in herself as she slowly lowered her arms to show her small B-cup breasts to Arthur. She may have been smaller then both Arthur and Trishula, but Arthur couldn't help but notice how cute and beautiful she looked to him. She resembled a teenager to Arthur, but she was still a mature woman of her breed. Her little gills on the side of her neck were tightly sealed because there was no water to filter, and her body was no longer marred by the signs of hunger and starvation that he'd seen their first meeting.

She looked like an entirely different girl to him.

"So... not to make this look awkward or anything... but how does... this work?" Ikaria asked sheepishly as she sat between the two 'bigger' people in the room.

She was such a nervous wreck internally; she'd never even thought of dating or looking to be intimate with anyone before Arthur. The closest she did was having male friends in the Naval Guard, but they never got farther then friends. Now here she was almost entirely naked and exposed to Arthur and Trishula. Her arm fins were flexing along her body, her tail and head fins were draped across the bed, and she was both nervous and excited at the same time.

"Heh, well, let's start with kissing, and sloooowly work our way to the exciting stuff." Trishula said as she winked to Arthur. "Arthur, you get Ikaria ready... while I get 'you' ready."

Arthur nodded as he slid closer to Ikaria and gently wrapped an arm around her, while Trishula backed away to let them have some privacy with each other and watch the action unfold. Ikaria's cheeks blushed as she leaned up and slowly began to kiss Arthur on his lips again, once more feeling how soft his lips were to her skin. As she began to softly moan into the embrace as she felt a 'switch' inside of her turn on, and it was then that she began to get more into, more eager and less 'shy' about the contact with him. She eagerly wrapped her arms around his neck and held the back of his head while opening her mouth just a little, so her tongue could poke against his and tease it to release its playmate again.

Just like before though, his mouth reciprocated and allowed his tongue to playfully poke, prod and gently invite hers to explore his. After she'd licked around his mouth and tasted him, she turned her tongue to dance with his and gently began backing out, playfully inviting his to tour hers again.

"Mhmmhmm." Ikaria moaned as she pushed against Arthur's chest, closing her eyes and feeling him rub her head fin with one hand while the other held her waist.

While Arthur was feeling Ikaria's body, he could feel the major difference between their skins. While his skin was warm and had a slight rubbery feeling to it, Ikaria's skin was far squishier and much cooler to the touch. He also noticed there was no 'hair' on her body, not a single part of her had a single strand to be found, she was entirely smooth with exception to the slightly leathery fins along her legs and arms, and the little flippers that connected her fingers and toes together. He could feel them contract and expand when she flexed her fingers.

After a few moments of them sharing an intimate kiss Ikaria pulled away to breath heavily, trying to catch her breath after that experience.

"That... that felt... wonderful." She muttered. "That... Arthur... that felt so ah hah mhmpph!"

She stopped talking again when she felt him move his hands from her tailfin to her breasts, playfully massaging her little mounds and teasing her nipples, sending shivers of pleasure and delight. Her body was naturally smaller than Arthur, so as he cupped and squeezed, using his fingers to tease and play with the peaks of her womanly mounds, she could feel that his entire hand could cover her breasts each on their own.

While Ikaria's breasts were much smaller than Trishula's, they were still soft to the touch and her nipples began to perk up at his continued teasing and touches. Ikaria's soft moans were beautifully cute sounds to his hears and he wanted to hear more of them, so as she blushed and moaned into his mouth, he reached down with his other hand and slipped his hand under her panties and began to poke at her sex.

"Mhmmph! Mmmphaaah! Oh... Arthur... ah, hah ahsah oh, that's..." She gasped as she felt him rub her sex's entrance and began feeling him sliding his fingers into her passage.

Trishula was actually getting turned on as she watched him play with Ikaria in front of her, all of their bed-time encounters and even times in the bathroom had given him more experience. She smiled as she unclasped her bra to let her D-cup breasts bounce freely, while she slid her panties off and walked over to the front of the bed so she could pull Arthur's boxers down and free the large 'lump' that was his dick getting excited. She grinned as she watched it spring up in its semi-hard state, seeing it growing to full length but needing a bit more 'help' to get it ready.

She licked her lips as she nodded to him and winked, before leaning down and beginning to 'tend' to his dick, being very careful to help his member get ready. As a Purebred Belgan she valued every part of her boyfriend, but as she licked his dick from the base to the tip, smelling his male scent and breathing it deeply to get her body to recognize it and excited. It wasn't hard to feel excited, every time she found herself near him in such an intimate fashion, her body quivered in delight and anticipation. Each time he penetrated her pussy and released his virile seed into her womb, she could 'feel' her body enthusiastically accept it, only feeling a sense of sadness because his little ones wouldn't be able to achieve their goal.

But that wasn't for now, as she continued to lick and lather, kiss and eventually suckle and suck his dick. She opened her maw and began bobbing her head up and down, using careful motions to ensure her sharp teeth didn't accidentally scrape or damage the skin of his hardening member. Every action she took she could feel her body restraining itself to ensure no harm came to the male tool of her Terran lover. She used her hands to gently cup and tickle his dick, a finger to stroke and poke his little jewels, the factory of his starfighters, and feel her mouth use just enough muscle strength to create a pleasurable experience without squeezing too hard to cause pain.

All of this happening while Arthur playfully teased Ikaria's virgin sex and her little fleshy B-cup breast mounds. Ikaria herself moaned and gasped in pleasure, being silenced as she kissed Arthur again but pulling away as she needed air so much.

"Mphahh hah... hah... oohaya... yheaya, ohohyea Arthur... brelgruulra greegrlalargrala!" She panted in a mix of Native Aquavram and Galactic Basic.

Trishula smirked as she picked up her pace, giving Arthur a blowjob, constantly feeling his dick twitch in excitement and eventually reach full length and girth. It was an impressive specimen that she was happy to have and would guard with all her ferocity as his girlfriend.

She was a Purebred Belgan after all, if 'anybody' even remotely threatened where her future puppies would come from, she'd not only ensure they never would touch him again, she'll crush 'their' chances of ever having puppies in the future! To others she'll crush their jewels like nuts in the palm of her hand for hurting him, but with his she'll playfully tease and gently stroke, like she was doing now, to entice them to increase 'starfighter production' and let the little ones inside know that it was almost time to launch!

After a bit she began licking the tip, pulling it out of her mouth and admired at it was ready to go. The male member of her beloved Terran stood tall and proud, twitching in excitement and confusion as her mouth no longer was tending to it while a smidgen of pre began to leak out from the tip.

"Hehehe... don't worry, you'll have me soon!" She whispered seductively, kissing it again with a strong smooch, apologizing that she had to stop tending to it. "But first, you have another port to claim, a 'new' port... a harbor to be precise. Don't worry though my wonderful starship, my starport is getting ready for you and when you arrive it will be worth it!" She then looked up at Arthur and said, "Alright Arthur... time to begin... be gentle with her now, remember she's a virgin and she's an Aquavram, she's smaller than me!"

He pulled away from Ikaria as he nodded and helped her lie down on the bed so she could prepare herself. She removed her own panties at long last, pulling them off and throwing them to the side of the bed as they were no longer needed. She eyed Arthur's dick and gulped in nervousness and fear. Her tailfin twitched in both excitement and fear as she felt him line up with her sex.

It wasn't that she was afraid of sex, she was afraid of sex with 'Arthur'... he was a Terran, Purebred or not, his breed was bigger than hers naturally, even Lumarinara who was tall for an Aquavarm was still shorter than Arthur. And this meant... well his dick was 'huge' for her. The very tip of his tip alone was bigger than her sex's entrance.

"Can I begin Ikaria?" He asked her quietly.

She gasped a little in shock, but nodded tentatively, whispering, "Please be gentle... it's my first time and... you're huge for me."

"Yea, remember Arthur, once you're in just wait and let her harbor adjust to your starship." Trishula said in as playful and serious a tone as she could.

He nodded as he carefully angled himself, leaned himself over her and held her hand to help comfort her. She nodded in gratitude, smiling as she knew he would be careful with her. She felt him put pressure on her sex, slowly pushing the folds of her pussy open and begin to coax his way into her passage.

"Nyaeh... nnngh!" She moaned in a mix of pleasure and pain, feeling him push slower and slower into her body. "It... it hurts... it hurts so much!"

He was huge, there was no other way to describe it, his dick pushed into her pussy and inched deeper and deeper, forcibly expanding it to encompass his girth and feel the entirety of his length go deeper with every second. But as she felt her walls expand, she felt that he was going further and further, once the head was in the rest of his length began to fit more easily.

Then she felt him pause, and realized instinctively why, he'd touched her virgin barrier, the last line to mark her virginity. She tearfully nodded to give him permission, unable to speak, and after only a bit of poking, prodding, he shoved all the way in to not prolong the pain!

"Hyeaaaaah!" She gasped as she felt him 'hilt'.

Ikaria couldn't tell if she was supposed to be feeling happy or scared, she could feel his entire length filling every crevice in her passage, it was stretched to its limits, it was so painful. But scrunched her teeth and bore it, squeezing her new lover's hips as tight as she could with her legs and reaching up and holding him as tight as her arms could grasp.

While this happened Arthur just let her do it, he knew she would be in more pain the Trishula when they first did it. Trishula was barely shorter than him so she easily could handle sex with him, but Ikaria was almost two feet shorter and her body wasn't obviously 'meant' to take someone like him.

But as she panted and got over the pain of losing her virginity, her painful lashes began to slow down in strength as she began to settle down. Eventually she stopped panting and looked up into his eyes with a somewhat painful smile, and a slow nod.

"I'm... I'm alright... now." Ikaria whispered happily.

Arthur nodded and used one hand to wipe away her tears again, and she chuckled as she knew why he was doing that, and then told him he could continue. With her consent given he began to pull out of her slowly, her small passage tightening as his dick slowly left before pushing back in again.

"Hah... haaah... hyeaah... aah... hah... hahah uhao ooh... oooh!" Ikaria moaned as he slowly slid in and out of her pussy, feeling it stretch and tighten with each motion he made.

For Arthur, Ikaria's pussy was exceedingly tight, a little painful at first, but now that it was slowly adjusting to his shape, he began to feel intense levels of pleasure even Trishula's sex couldn't give him. Trishula's passage was soft and wonderful, and had learned his dick's shape and now could perfectly massage, tighten, and ensure both him and her receive maximum pleasure for their reliefs. Ikaria however, was tight, wonderfully tight and due to her biology, it would always remain tight for him. He could also feel as he hilted that without any effort he was pushing right past her cervix and straight into her womb. Each time he pushed in he could feel the tip of his member touch the wall of her inner most sanctuary and with each thrust she made a cute moan of pleasure that made him want to keep doing it.

Trishula just watched as her boyfriend made love to Ikaria, slowly teasing her sex and rubbing it as she couldn't wait for her turn. While it seemed, Ikaria had been very afraid and it hurt at first, she was getting into sex just as easily as she and Arthur did their first night.

She could also tell that Arthur was being very gentle with her, as he didn't want to push as hard or as rough as she often asked him to do when they tussled under the sheets.

"Hah... haha. Hahah... oh Arthur... Arthur... it... it feels good... ooooh you're so big." Ikaria muttered as she wrapped her legs tightly around his waist. "Ahaha haha... oh yes... harder... I want more... more now... hah!"

"Alright, if you ask for it... ngn... but if it becomes too... painful... let me know!" He whispered to her as he pulled her up and began kissing her again.

"MPphm, mmph! Mmphpmph! Mhmmphpmph!" She moaned into his mouth as he began to bounce her up and down on his shaft, feeling his dick pump harder and still just as deep as before into her sex.

With each time he hilted she felt him smack the edge of her womb, feeling her most sacred and protected space in her body being battered by its new guest was truly an experience. She'd never thought much of sex, only fantasizing about it being with the man she'd end up loving, not realizing in her past that she'd end up doing it with a Terran of all breeds.

"Mmmph, mmhpmh... hmmphph!" She moaned as she began being pulled up and down with more force now. "Mmphah haha... oh yea... I... I can... never go... oh Arthur!"

She smiled as she was pumped harder and harder now, feeling his dick twitching inside of her, the pleasure as he began to thrust in and out as hard as possible.

"Arthur... Arthur... I can't... ooooh... you've tainted me, I can never look at my own breed again, oh your dick is too much... it's too big, my pussy can't... haha... aaah... oooohya, it can't think of an Aquavram after you now. They can't compare... only if it's you, I can't haha... haah!"

"Shit... I'm... about to come... I'm about to come Ikaria!"

"Ooh, looks like she's about to have her first creampie." Trishula smiled as she rubbed Arthur's back. "Arthur, can you kiss me while you fill Ikaria up? Now that there's a third member of our little 'family', I want to do some fun stuff with you and her."

"Alright..." He muttered as he leaned over and kissed Trishula while she held him steady, teasing Ikaria's breasts to increase her stimulation.

"Hahha, haha... hah... Oh... fuck... me... I'm... hah hah ahahahha hahahhahah aAAAhAaah!" Ikaria screamed as he hilted one final time and his dick began twitching and pulsing, filling her small womb with his cum.

He gasped in tired pleasure as he released into her pussy, feeling her tighten on his dick and coat it with a gooey substance, her body creating an airtight seal as their juices mixed in her womb. He could see as his dick twitched and pulsed, pushing more and more of his seed into her, that he could see an ever so tiny 'bulge' begin to form right below her stomach where they were connected.

Ikaria however, was over the moon as she had her first release with him, she could feel his seed filling her to the brim, her womb was actually struggling to keep it all contained and she didn't want to see him pull out. She was just feeling so good from having sex with Arthur. Now she understood why some of her people chose to couple with non Aquavrams... it wasn't just the romantic aspect... there were 'benefits' to their partner. A male Aquavram couldn't give her the same pleasure that he could, a male of her breed couldn't compete in the 'package' department when it came to other species.

Perhaps an Eldentran but that's about it, after that they were going to lose most times.

"Hah... haah... haaah... oooha... that... that felt wonderful, thank you... thank you Arthur." She whispered to him warmly as she leaned against him. "Was... was it good for you, was... my body... did you feel pleasure from me like I felt from you?"

Arthur panted as he pulled Ikaria into a tired kiss, seeing her eyes twinkle in joy as she was intimate with him. "Ikaria... you were wonderful." He told her.

She beamed a little at that, she had given him pleasure in bed, and he certainly did the same for her.

"Now that you've made every girl in this room a woman, time for round two lover boy..." Trishula said with a playful wink. "Hope you still have some starfighters left in reserve, because my starport has been dry for the past several days since before we went to that party on Aquavram Prime."

"Trishula... for you, I 'always' have reserve starfighters!" He muttered playfully.

"Starfighters?" Ikaria asked in confusion.

"His sperm, I like to use starship terminology with him, gets him 'excited' during sex..." She giggled as he slowly pulled out, leaving Ikaria to moan at the loss of his dick and seeing a bit of his seed leak out.

As he got to the edge of the bed she got up and bent down again to see his somewhat tired dick still hard but obviously needing a recharge. She playfully winked again at him and began to suck and suckle on it, licking it from tip to base and playfully massaging it with her hands and fingers. She teased his jewels again, nothing more than little pokes and strokes, causing him to groan in exhausted pleasure. She cleaned and worked to get his dick ready while he reached down and began rubbing her ears and scratching her head.

Her tail wagged in excitement, flicking from side to side as she continued to stroke her pussy, feeling it wet with eagerness and especially loneliness. It was wondering where was its favorite guest, where was its starship, why wasn't it docking with her?

'Oh, don't worry Starport Trishula, Mini Arthur-1 just needs a quick cleanup and a motivational pre-checkup before it proceeds to land.'

"Mhmm... mmmphmph mmmhpha!" She gasped as she released his dick and watched it playfully twitch in excitement, ready to go again. "Such a wonderful dick you are, so hard working... and you saved your reserve starfighters for me... you deserve a special reward for tonight!"

She looked into Arthur's slightly confused expression as she winked and leaned up against the bed frame, before lifting her breasts and planting his dick smack in between the two of them.

"Hooohoooh!" He gasped as she began rubbing up and down.

"Mhmm like it?" She asked with a smirk.

"Oooh fuck Trishula... oh that feels amazing... oh your breasts feel so good!"

"Watch this... your dick is juuust big enough for a 'special service', that Spaceport Trishula only offers to its 'favorite visitors'." She snickered. "You're our only customer that visits us, so you get a 'special reward' for being a loyal and valued customer to Spaceport Trishula!"

She leaned down and began licking and lapping at his dick's head, feeling it twitch and wiggle in between her slippery breasts. She then began pulling it closer and closer until it could just enter her mouth, and there she began bobbing up and down with both her head and breasts, massaging every part of his member from the jewels to the tip. She could taste his pre again, and knew that it was already getting ready to release, but she didn't want it to go to waste.

No, his little starfighters don't get to die in her stomach, tasty as they'd be, they deserve to swim in her womb and enjoy their lives to the fullest!

"Oooh fuck... fuck yea... mmmph that feels amazing!" He moaned as he held her shoulders.

She continued to kiss and lick, flicking her tongue around his dick and coating it in her tongue's saliva. As she felt it starting to twitch eagerly in excitement, she gave it one final squeeze with her breasts, before she pulled away and stood up, walked back to the edge of the room and beckoned him with a smirk and a wave of her fingers.

"Come and get it~!" She giggled.

This was her favorite way to get him to act the way she liked as she had found her favorite sex position with him. He stood up and walked over to her, kissing her as she wrapped her arms around his shoulder and helped his arms lift her up by first wrapping one leg around his waist, and then eventually the other so that he was holding her up.

"Heheh... get ready for a show Ikaria, this is how a 'pro' starport handles a starship!" She snickered as she looked to him. "This is spaceport Trishula calling Mini Arthur-1... you have permission to dock... over?"

"This is Mini Arthur-1, we are commencing docking... advise... we have quite a few 'starfighters' in need of 'special landing'... is your starport ready to receive?" He whispered as he playfully teased her sex's entrance, poking it with his dick before entering.

"We are ready to receive... you may begin at your pleasure... nnhyaa oooh yea... mmmph yea that... oooh hoooh yea... hoh yea, hoh ya yea haah hah oh that feels good!" She panted as he began pushing in and out of her sex.

Trishula's warm and smooth passage welcomed his dick back in and eagerly began to tighten and massage every inch of it. She could feel how big his member was and even though they had done this quite a few times, she could never get over how much he filled her. Each time he thrust in and out she tightened and expanded for him, her sex trying to tease and invite it to stay. She could feel his member pump into her, pushing against her cervix, trying to get into her womb that was playfully resisting because it wanted it to 'work' for its reward.

"Ahah hahah... sorry... Min Arthur-1, but... you... hah... have to... hah hahoha break down our shields... mmphaha if you want to haha land in our 'private' section." She winked while gasping. "Harbors are haha...hahooohayea easier for a starship to fill, but my starport was built to handle you. You need to HYAH!"

He lifted her up and slammed her down onto his dick, ramming into her more slowly but harder.

"All you... hah need to do... nngya is ask!" He cackled. "I'm a hard working hah starship captain, I want... oohoaya your so good... oh fuck you're so tight... you feel wonderful Trishula!"

"Thank yaha hah haoha mmphya come on... harder, harder Arthur!" She said excitedly as she wrapped her legs tighter around his hips. "Oh Artruartra, mehn tookarma, tuckanoia Arthur..."

Ikaria watched as Trishula leaned into Arthur and began making out with their shared boyfriend, her tail wagging while slowing down in their love making. She could see how happy she looked and just how much more familiar they were with each other and wishing he could do that with her. Trishula seemed to be enjoying herself, but she also smiled because even if Trishula was a 'pro', she was now equal to her in status... at least in terms of their relationship with Arthur.

"Mmhmph... mmhphya... ooh yumetra amzoongia Artruatra, mehn bodeh loovartra ehndo starship no matter how many times we do this..." She whispered lovingly as he continued to slowly push in and out, wanting to prolong their love making.

"Same here Trishula... no matter what I'm so happy to have you as my girlfriend, you 'and' Ikaria now." He said loudly so Ikaria could hear him, which caused her to snicker in happiness.

"Heh... ooohya..." She moaned as she leaned forward and kissed him deeply, licking his tongue and playfully dancing while he continued to hilt, having gained access to her womb after battering her cervix after a while. "Mmmph yea... oooh Arthur, mehn Artruartra... oh ilumna bodeh cundara pupara tonight, I would be so happy."

She whispered her words to him as he carried her over to the bed to finish, knowing that he and she were close to release and wanting to finish soon.

"Alright... ready to have my starfighters now Starport Trishula?" He asked as he leaned her onto the bed and pushed into her so he was as deep as he could go.

"This is... Starport Trishula... our landing bays are ready to relieve your tired, exhausted... virile starfighters. We're ready to give them a wonderful vacation..." She moaned.

With that he began thrusting harder and harder into her pussy, feeling his dick hilting and the sounds of their flesh slapping against one another as her breasts bounced with their motion, the bed creaking and groaning under their movements.

"Aahh hahah hoohya... hohohya hooohya mmphya! Oh yea harder... harder I'm almost there! Oh Arthur, Arthur!"

"Trishula... Trishula I'm... about... to come!"

"Yes, yes, inside... oh give me them... yes give me them haah!" She moaned as she leaned back, bracing herself. "Oh please, come inside me, yes little ones, oh get ready, none of you stay behind! I want all of you, my womb is ready, oh yea... all of you come in, I want to feel you all so much! My body missed having you visit!"

She wrapped her legs tightly, wrapped her arms around his shoulders and squeezed, not giving him 'anymore' room to pull out, only letting him thrust harder into her pussy.

"I... I can't... hold it... here... I... come Nnnhygya!"

"Haaah!" She screamed as he released into her, feeling streams of cum, hot gooey cum pour into her body. "Oooohyea... I feel them... I feel them rushing into me!"

She panted heavily, her chest heaving up and down as they both gasped from the exertion, while his dick twitched and convulsed into her womb. She could feel him filling her as much as possible, feeling his virile seed swarming her body to explore and search.

She smiled as she turned her head and began licking his cheek gratefully, happily, thanking him for doing so much for them tonight. She knew going two rounds was rough on a man, so she wanted to show him his effort was not in vain. He turned into her licks and kissed her, their breathing slowly steadying as his dick twitched a few more times, sending the last of his seed into her womb and leaving her satisfied.

"Mmmph... oh Artruartra, mehn bodeh wimtra alma pupara, mukamra mehn happha Belgan entu galagara!" She whispered lovingly in Native Belgan, before she said in Galactic Basic, "But I must 'still' wait until that blessed day. Until then, I will never stop enjoying the feeling of sharing a bed with you."

"I wish I could learn Native Belgan with how much you use it now." He muttered as he pulled out of her, causing her to giggle in delight.

"Eh, don't worry about it, I only speak it when I feel the need to now. It feels nice to speak Native Belgan, though I only do so when I'm really happy and comfortable with you, or if I'm really, really pissed!"

"Uh... about that, can I ask you something?" Ikaria asked as they both laid down in bed with Ikaria snuggling up to Arthur's right while Trishula took the left.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Uhm, there's this 'thing' about Purebred Belgans that I keep hearing about. Sometimes it was from the Naval Guard soldiers at the base, sometimes it's from your own crew. What is it with Purebred Belgans and something about the 'pelvic region'... and something about making them mad that causes every guy to flinch in fear?"

"Hmahahahaha!" Trishula giggled in delight as Arthur understood as well. "Ooooh you wanna know about 'that' huh? Well, to explain, Belgan Culture is different from most other cultures because while most are male dominated, Belgan is equally male/female dominated. There's one thing you never do, and that is threaten a 'Female' Purebred Belgan's boyfriend, especially if you threaten the 'male' part of them."

She leaned over and winked slowly at her boyfriend who smiled in understanding.

"If you 'ever' threaten a Purebred Belgan girl's boyfriend, like say 'Arthur' here... and say you want to hurt him or... hurt his 'male tool'... well we get 'very' defensive. Our body reacts to the knowledge and releases a special chemical found only in a Purebred Belgan Female's body, turns our senses, muscles, and reflexes up a few notches, not much but enough to make us quite the threat. Our favorite method of ensuring no harm comes to our men, is by 'breaking' the other guy's jewels and ending their starfighter production capabilities. Gets the job done 'every time'."

Ikaria's mouth went agape when she heard that, no 'wonder' the soldiers had a saying 'don't go near a Purebred Belgan girl's boyfriend or husband'.

"Do you... 'have' to go to that extreme, that sounds... a little excessive."

"As a guy... I would agree." Arthur said quietly.

"And as his girl, I say 'you can't go far enough to protect your pup's father'." She said with a smirk. "This is where my pups will come from, I want nothing bad to happen to it... and any guy who even 'looks' at it in a threatening manner, will feel my knee and scream in pain! Because I love you Arthur, with all my heart I love you!"

"Yea... same here, I love you as well!" Ikaria said with a smile.

"And I love you both... but I am tired, and need to sleep." He told the two of them.

They both agreed and soon all three had leaned into the bed, the blankets being pulled over them and letting sleep take ahold of them. Arthur was almost instantly asleep, but Trishula and Ikaria both slowly leaned their hands into his and subtly grasped them before finally falling asleep as well.

While they slept, Great Fox watched, observed, and waited until they were in REM Sleep to finally whisper in a gentle and loving tone, [Pleasant dreams... captain.] and playing music to sooth them during the night.

In the morning, Ikaria slowly woke up and saw that she was alone in the giant bed, and saw that the bathroom door was open. She yawned, stretched, got up and headed into it and saw Trishula in the shower cleaning herself and washing herself down.

"Morning sister girlfriend!" She said.

"Morning Trishula... where's Arthur?"

"Eh, Captain had to rush to breakfast and then head to the bridge, captain duties you know... we missed Breakfast by the way."

"WHAT?" Ikaria screamed. "Why didn't you wake me up for breakfast?"

"Get used to it, if you're going to have Captain Arthur's starship plowing its way into your harbor and feeling his little starfighters swarm it to make themselves at home, you'll find yourself skipping a few meals in the morning unless you wake yourself up." She said with a snicker. "Besides, he tried to wake us up, you didn't want to, and I said 'I'll skip tonight' and went back to sleep."

Ikaria groaned as she got into the shower and joined her to clean herself off, using soap provided and cleaning herself down.

They both cleaned and left the bathroom together after drying, and in Arthur's room they found their uniforms waiting for them. Ikaria seeing a 'new' uniform, reaching up and examining it before putting it on.

It was the same uniform that Trishula war, a light vest with a shirt, pants as well as her panties. She looked at the vest and saw etched into the sleeve along her shoulder was the insignia of Great Fox, outlining a star peaking over the horizon. Her new uniform, proof she was a member of Trishula's Pack and a full-fledged member of the crew!

"Welcome to the crew and welcome to my pack Ikaria!" Trishula said. "Now, from here on out you have to follow my orders, you're the lowest on the totem pole so you get to go through our hazing ritual where we train you up to keep up with us!"

"Hazing ritual?"

"Don't worry, it just means we shoot you with training lasers so you can learn how to pilot a starfighter in 'space', it's a whole different story out here in zero gravity environments then it is underwater. You have to watch your speeds, keep track of your surroundings, all the usual bells and whistles but you also have to-" Trishula explained as she talked to Ikaria about her new life aboard the Great Fox.

They walked down the hallway, heading toward lounge to meet up with the rest of her squadron.

=Until next time, Pleasant Dreams, Captains=

[Ikaria's Log]

[So, this is life aboard a starship... I have to say, its way different than what I've been familiar with. Life in the Naval Guard to me was some of the most 'boring' times I ever experienced. I used to think it was just because I was the Second Royal Daughter, but now I realize I was just being used as a pawn in a grand scheme for Lumarinara to try and take control of the Aquavram Throne.]

[Though, I also have to think that... in all honesty, my work I was given was because there was 'little' for me to do. There were no battles to fight until the civil war, I wasn't in the civilian sector, so all I could do was paperwork or go out on submersible scouting runs for various sectors of the civilian service. When the war started, I figured... well I'd be given active combat duty. But nope, stuck in the base most of the time. The most excitement I got before I encountered Arthur and his crew was helping to escort refugees to the capitol city.]

[I was... wondering why Arthur didn't want to marry me after the war ended. There were quite a few days where I thought about father's request to give my hand to him in marriage if he succeeded in saving me. He was willing to let me be with him, to make him a royal, a member of our family. He could have had a legitimate tie to the throne and a legitimate claim 'to' the Coral Throne if he'd gone through with it. Even if he went back into space, he would have had a true tie through me, to claim the crown for himself if 'anything' happened to my sister!]

[I wonder if that's why... why he didn't accept it, because he knew if that happened, he might end up being tied down to my planet. There was one thing, perhaps only one thing that Lumarinara was telling the truth about. Freelance Captains have no loyalty to any planet, or government. They... serve only themselves, at least in regards to their true loyalties. Arthur had no wishes to be tied to my breed, my world. But he also was tied to them because of the contract to save us. He didn't 'have' to risk his ship and his pilots to save the mobile spaceport, but he did anyway because he was still under contract to save us.]

[I'm happy... happy that I could join him, even as a consort. I may not be a princess anymore, only in name, but I am 'still' a Royal Princess of the Aquavram People. I gave Arthur the symbol of my status, the royal treasure bestowed upon me, as my gift to him. He has it in his room, it has a special place on a table, it makes me happy to know it's there. I even got to keep Arwing Twelve as my personal starfighter. Flying in space is definately 'not' the same as it is underwater. The speed, the turning, the power... oh starfighters are incredible and I've never known Space so everything is a new experience and I'm excited to visit new places!]

[We're traveling to Iktora Two, a border sector for the Major Faction that controls the Belgan and Gunatar sectors. It's known to have pirate activity and be a refuge for pirates and criminal scum. It's not an ideal location to visit, but Arthur says we have a mission waiting for us there by the Belgans and time is of the essence, that was why he couldn't stop his ship and had to pick me up while preparing to leave.]

[I'll miss my world, I'll miss my family, and I'll miss the oceans of my planet. But I've got a piece of my home and little bits to remind me I'm not alone. Besides, I've got Arthur, and now Trishula and everyone else aboard Great Fox. I can't wait to see what adventures are in store!]

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=Author's notes=

So, before I leave to work on my other stories now, I'll come back to this one don't worry, I've got to ask a few questions that you can respond in a review as well as dm/pm me.

I'm still trying to come up with a name for the 'rival squadron' to Trishula's Pack, anyone got any ideas~?

The Major factions do not have names at the moment, someone asked me what are they called and what do they do, and for the most part, they're just called 'Major Factions' to represent a higher power/authority then the local governing body of the star system's sector.

I came up with the idea of them being in the world, as an explanation for other space exploration/fighting games. Such as EVE online, we know that there are certain player factions that control sectors of space, but can you imagine what the inhabitants of the worlds 'in' those sectors think of the player factions?

Think how players don't just go around blowing up planets because, well there's no point. They're already in control so why blow up a planet and everyone on it if they can't resist you to begin with. Hense the major factions, and why local governments still exist/operate have navies etc but still answer to a 'major faction' but don't have direct control over them or even 'any' control over them. And why the major factions don't really concern themselves with the govenrments. Provided the local government pays them dues/taxes, harvests resources and generally 'funds' the major factions, the factions protect/maintain a peaceful sector to ensure prosperity and protection, only when something 'happens' that warrants them intervening, do they intervene.

So, do you think they should have names, or just keep them vague, mysterious, only known as 'the major faction in charge of the sector/quadrant'?

I think it would be funny to hear a person snicker at the thought of an entire sector shuddering at the thought of 'Test Alliance Please Ignore' battleships warping into the sector to wage war on 'Goonswarm' starships, and not understand the humor of the names because for them 'that's how things are'."

Also... broke my record for most words, 69k words almost lol

Review away~! I love reading reviews as always~!