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?

7. Chapter 7

[Ship's Log D.G 7.22.519]

[There has never been a moment since I have served with Captain Arthur where a mission has always gone according to plan with zero deviation or interference. In the past whenever we have accepted a mission, the first, second, and last hope during said mission as remarked by the captain was 'I just hope nothing bad happens'. According to my calculations, his definition of 'bad' stems from his potential to avoid conflicts with other freelance captains, if not avoiding conflicts entirely so as to complete a mission with no interruption and requiring the use of resources such as fuel, ammunition, starfighters and of course the credits associated with replacing said resources.]

[This of course, never happens. Whenever we have accepted a job, be it as simple as a food delivery assignment, a fuel run, delivering munitions and vehicles, or even joining in military fleets and engaging in fleet actions, we have 'always' suffered some kind of setback when it comes to Captain Arthur's financial account status and his available resources attached to Great Fox.]

[During one encounter an allied heavy cruiser delivered a damaging attack to a carrier's engines, but said carrier was on a direct course with Great Fox. The resulting trajectory resulted in a minor collision but considerable damage was done to the outer hull and rear section. Not enough to render us destroyed, but enough that even 'with' financial assistance from the Major Faction we were contracted to serve with, Captian Arthur 'still' had to pay six million MPC to cover the costs of fully repairing me. I encrypted his records kf that event because he was, very 'vocal' about his distaste for having to pay so much because of someone else's mistake. Though at least the ship captain gave Arthur her share of the profits from that day's fleet engagements for the Major Faction.]

We are currently on course for Iktora Two after a brief to days traveling through Belgan space after traveling through the Guntara Sector. Arthur chose to return to Belgan Space before proceeding to Iktora Two because the Belgan Sector had a Transwarp Gate that led directly to Iktora Three, and after exiting it would be a short seventeen-hour trip until we arrive at Iktora Two.]

[Upon arriving in the sector, as is protocol, I began downloading the recent news traveling the space lanes and communications grid.]

[According to the recent public information, the nearby shipyards of Iktora Six have been constructing a new prototype warship for the current Major Faction in charge of the Iktora, Guntara, Belgan, Philocian, Yukalaran, Eengran, and Midnaria sectors, a total quadrant constituting over sixty planetoids and over One Quadrillion Individuals living in this quadrant of the galaxy. At the expenses of the Major Faction, known as the Emperium, a massive warship of unprecedented size. While this ship is among the twenty largest warships in known space, with the Titan Battleship being the largest and carrying the heaviest weapons, this new vessel boasts a size even larger than the Titan.]

[Attempting to gather additional information proved... impossible, due to the 'classified' nature of the project. But the information I was able to acquire was only publicly known because of the impossible task of keeping this project a secret.]

[According to public knowledge, the new warship has been given the 'unique' classification of 'Juggernaut'. A suitable title for a new classification of warship that is said to dwarf a Titan class vessel, which itself has various models with the most recent model with a dimension of nine hundred and twenty meters long, three-hundred and seventy-meters width, and finally two hundred and fifteen meters tall. I am unable to get exact dimensions... but the vessel is so large, that it is taking the 'entire' shipyard orbiting the planet to build this warship, and that the Major Faction has had to call in builders from across Belgan, Iktoran, and even on loan Terran ship building crews to finish the warship in a timely manner. Over two hundred thousand individuals are working on this warship and according to financial experts, the expenditures to build it are running well into six hundred 'trillion' alone in MPC.]

[It is... in Arthur's words... such an astounding number that... even 'my' circuits struggle to fathom how expensive it is, and wonders how the Major Faction can even afford to build it and for what purpose? They already field fleets larger than any of the planetary government navies they control, even if they combined their forces. I once estimated to Captain Arthur that if he purchased me as I am currently, with all weapon modifications and current standing fleet of starships, I would cost him twenty-two trillion MPC due to inflation compared to when he 'first' purchased my hull. He was... very astounded to hear the cost... his Terran Mind, in his words, unable to fathom such a number.]

[Six Hundred Trillion... while a number that I can calculate... it is still inconceivably 'high' because... what does this 'Juggernaut' warship have in terms of armaments to warrant such a cost. It is highly doubtful that the Major Faction built it to be... in 'Terran' Words... a simple Cargo Liner! Nor was it built to secure the space lanes against pirates...]

=Chapter 7 – Wolvara's Hounds Soar=

=You're not the only Captain with a Personal Starfighter Squadron Arthur=

Empty, vast space as far as the eye could see in many directions, a scenery only broken up by the occasional galactic space body of the planet or if one looked in the distant the bright glowing star of which a planetary sector orbited. Along the various space lanes between these planets where the constant flowing traffics of ships could be seen, merchant ships and cargo liners, the occasional military vessel belonging to various sector governments or even the Freelance Captains of the Major Factions traveled carrying various forms of cargo and personnel.

Be it lifesaving medical supplies or food shipments from one planet to another, the ships traveling these lanes often went escorted or not, depending on what they carried. These various ships were then often preyed upon by various Pirate Gangs roaming the space lanes, often hiding out in floating asteroids or even on planets with falsified credentials, or even in alternate Transwarp Gate Highways between various system sectors. Patrolling these space lanes were various government ships, and in the case where the sector government fleets were not present, convoys of vessels would pack together for safety and security in numbers with starship escorts.

But for those warships commanded by the Freelance Captains, who had no need to fear pirates, the space lanes could be seen as a quiet location... unless they had something of value, or looked like a tempting target. But for some ships, the space lanes could be seen as a quiet, almost harmonious place due to how little 'action' a ship sees when not engaged in warring fleet actions for the Major Factions or being harassed by pirates. But even these ships need to be ready and alert...

"Come on Ikaria you can dodge better than that!" Trishula shouted with a grin as she flew behind the Aquavram in her Arwing, firing training lasers into her ship's shields.

"Grreeerg!" Ikaria snarled as she swerved and rolled, trying to dodge the barrage of blaster shots being fired at her. "You girls really don't let up on a newbie do you!"

"Pay attention rookie or else you're dead!" Vanessa shot out as she flew by and fired off a salvo.

"Whoa!" Ikaria shouted in surprise as she pulled up, narrowly avoiding crashing into Vanessa's Arwing. "Are you 'trying' to get us killed!"

"Oh, I don't have to worry about crashing, you however-!" Katarra said as she flew alongside Ikaria now and fired off a training bomb before swerving away.

Ikaria banked left and dodged the short ranged EMP bomb that was designed to shut down her engines for a few seconds. Trishula's Pack were not relenting in their 'hazing ritual' and getting her ready for the arduous tasks of being a starfighter pilot in their squadron, especially since she had yet to see 'actual' starfighter combat outside of just training flights. But as far as flying was concerned, she was a natural, it came as easy to her as piloting one of her people's submersibles. Fighting on the other hand was another story, as she had to learn that a starfighter pilot had to avoid taking 'any' damage, if at all possible, because unlike in the oceans of her home planet, where she could eject and escape into the ocean, if 'anything' happened to her starfighter in space it was basically a death sentence.

Even the slightest problem could result in her ship being destroyed and exploding, the momentary fire and heat being the 'last' thing she'd feel before the vacuum of space snuffed her life out. So, she was taking this ritual of practicing flying seriously as she knew they were only trying to toughen her up and get her ready for when actual fighting happened. They were use to risking their lives here in space, and she had to get accustomed to flying in space and accustomed to fighting or else she'd be dead.

"Not bad rookie, you're doing pretty well... now let's see you try and hit me!" Yumi said encouragingly as she flew in front of Ikaria and presented herself as a target.

Naturally Ikaria accepted and fired off some training shots, but Yumi was able to swerve and evade, avoiding the potential 'lethal' damage. Still, she scored a few shots into her shields and she registered her shots were connecting, at least some of them.

"Oh, dear me, I'm getting hurt, I better pull out now!" Yumi pretended to squeal in fear as she flew away and the final part of their training run began.

"Now comes the fun part, here's where you have to get past 'me' and Great Fox!" Arthur said with a chuckle as she soared at Great Fox and all of her AFB Gun Batteries turned and began to open fire.

Despite how many Gun Batteries were active, only about ten were actually shooting at her, Tony's family had changed out their ammunition for training lasers that Kiandra had cobbled together so that Ikaria could practice avoiding AFB turrets in space. Unlike in water AFB Gun Batteries aboard starships were far more accurate and far more deadly to starships unless they were well shielded and armored. The Arwing's Starbomber module would allow the fighter to approach AFB batteries without much fear, but the standard Starfighter module had to rely on speed, maneuverability and the pilot's skill to avoid being destroyed.

A lesson Ikaria was learning the 'hard' way as she flew into the maelstrom of training lasers. She banked left, right, left again and then right, swerved and climbed but the ship easily homed in and began firing on her. Within three seconds of her starting the final run of the training lesson, she was already being barraged and blasted by Great Fox's impeccable tracking skills.

"Nononononooooo!" She screamed as her shields went from ninety to 'zero' in a few seconds despite her best efforts.

Instantly the field of AFB turrets shut down as her shields were dropped, and her systems registered her as 'dead' in the simulation. Another shut down at the end, something she moaned about as she flew alongside the mighty warship with the rest of Trishula's Pack.

"Uuuugh... I got shot down even 'faster' this time... even when I tried dodging 'faster'." She muttered. "How in the Aquavram Seas do you girls avoid that much firepower?"

"You'll learn eventually, it's a skill you'll pick up quickly!" Trishula said encouragingly.

"The trick isn't to pick one direction, it's to combine 'multiple' axis into your flight to avoid taking shots." Vanessa told her as she and the others appeared on her screens.

"Banking left or right just makes it easy for the ship to track you, remember a ship AI will always track your starfighter and attempt to predict your action using your flight pattern and past paths." Katarra said smartly. "If you bank left, then right, then left again it will always pick those directions and fire a spread in those directions. Remember flying in space includes all axis, not just left and right up and down. If you fly forward in circular pattern and then bank sharply at random moments, it throws off the targeting AI on a lot of ships."

"Great Fox's AI is also pretty knowledgeable about our flight paths, so it's no wonder you're getting picked up really fast by her targeting systems!" Yumi said warmly. "Don't feel ashamed, she's pretty quick on the draw and she's got experience fighting starfighters."

"I know... but... but I want to get better so that I can defend her... if... if we're attacked and something 'happens' because I'm incapable of fighting-" Ikaria muttered as they flew past her heavy guns that were starting to seal up.

Ever since she came onto the ship, she's gotten used to living aboard the starship. She's seen various sections and talked to some of the crew members, mostly Tony's family but also Mevik and Kiandra. The ship had become a home for her in the short time she's been on it, and as she talked to, listened to, and even read about Arthur's various encounters and battles with the Great Fox, she's found herself realizing just how important her job was. She had to protect this ship, even a few Starbombers could cause incredible damage after seeing records of Starbombers damaging her hull and crippling allied warships.

"Don't worry about protecting Great Fox from everything, we're a team, so if Great Fox is threatened then we'll help protect her with you." Trishula said with a smirk.

"Besides, you have to remember your part in this mini fleet, even if we're a starfighter squadron attached to a Finback Battleship, we're technically, by definition, a 'fleet' of starships." Vanessa said with a nod.

"Our job is to 'support' the Great Fox, provide starfighter cover and support the starship in ship actions and engagements." Katarra said with a raised finger. "We engage starships be they Starfighters or Starbombers, attack points of interest according to Captain Arthur, protect areas he tells us to, and ensure the ship stays floating. If it comes to fighting starships like cruisers or capitol ships, we attack using the Starbomber Module but only 'after' we get the order to from Arthur."

"Great Fox is a capable warship, she can handle herself easily, she has the firepower to take most ships one on one and even multiple cruisers without much trouble." Yumi said with a smile. "We just have to protect against starfighters, she can handle bigger threats and even other starfighters if needed, but we're there to run support and augment her abilities."

"Alrighty girls, let's head back to the ship, that's all the flight time we have tonight!" Trishula declared as they all flew together in formation toward the hanger of the Great Fox.

Ten minutes later they were all in Arthur's dining room for a quick meeting before dinner was served and then they had to go to bed.

"Alright, that was a nice training run girls, but from here on out we need to be on alert and we need to be prepared for a moment's notice." He proclaimed as he stood next to the viewscreen that was showing Great Fox's position in relation to Iktora Two. "As you can see, we're about twelve hours away from Iktora Two. I may have extended our travel time by an additional five days but better safe than sorry. The Iktoran sector is a border sector for the Emperium, the Major Faction that controls not only Belgan and Guntaran space, but also Iktoran and about five other sectors. As such, this area of space is heavily watched by the Major Faction, at least when it comes to watching the border for ships crossing through the Transwarp Gates established in the sector. Despite the heavy presence of Major Faction warships, they hardly patrol the sector for pirates, due to how 'frequently' border skirmishes break out between them and their neighbors."

He then turned and tapped the screen to bring up a star map showing the sector, showing off the eleven planets in the region that make up the system. He had Great Fox highlight the four Transwarp Gates around the sector that led across the border from Iktoran space to the neighboring Keldimora Sector. If a starship wanted to cross the border, they had to pass through one of 'these' gates. Three were heavily traversed, but the fourth was rarely travelled due to it setting ships up to travel through a Transwarp Highway in the middle of an asteroid belt. No ship smaller than a Corvette 'dared' travel it due to how risky it is, and especially with the high risk of Pirate attacks along that route. The others led either to the Guntara or Belgan star systems.

"Now you girls have never been to a border sector, so tell me, what do you know of border sectors?"

Trishula shifted her legs as she spoke up first, "All I know and what my fellow pilots know, with exception to Ikaria, is that Border Sectors are often pirate hangouts and are very much the cesspits of the galaxy no matter what Major Faction controls them. Criminal organizations tend to move along the space lanes and stay along the border sectors because they can operate in those areas since the Major Factions are so busy with their own infighting and pushing each other's borders with skirmishes, that they don't pay the criminal elements any attention."

"Yep, as far as I'm aware, if you're on the wrong side of the law, want to start over and make a new name for yourself, or even if you just want to lay low until the heat dies down, the border sectors are the best place to go." Yumi said as she nodded in agreement.

"The Major Factions don't regulate their laws on the border sectors because they're so busy monitoring and watching for potential invasions, and they're often launching small fleets of ships at their neighbors to poke and prod to see how strong the defenses of their enemies are." Katarra said as she idly tapped her knee. "With how many ships are coming and going, picking random fights and engaging in fleet actions, pirate ships and especially starfighters can often hide among the debris of shipwrecks that dot the space around the sector, launching sorties and raids on any ship on its own with impunity."

"There are so many we're told that the major factions don't even bother offering money for scavengers and salvagers to clean up the wrecks, they're often not even worth their weight in scrap alloys half the time and anything of value is picked clean already." Vanessa said with a deep sigh. "Because of this any time there's a major engagement between the Major Factions however small, more graveyard wrecks are created and they add more cover for pirates to hide in. With how many large vessels get blown up, the pirates have an easy time hiding small cruisers and frigates in the piles, just waiting for passing by starships to drop their guard."

"I've only ever heard rumors, yes, but from what I was told at the royal court by visiting admirals and dignitaries from the Belgan system, border sectors are so overrun with pirates that ships never travel alone." Ikaria said as she raised her hand to speak up. "It's a common rule that if you're traveling through a Border Sector, you either travel in a convoy or you're packing lots of firepower. Even lone capitol ships aren't safe from pirates."

He nodded as that summed up what a border sector was essentially. While it was true that 'most' border sectors when he was still alive in his previous life were essentially riddled with pirate activity, it was also true that nearly every player often welcomed pirates because it meant free loot for them. The captains working for the major factions often would put together small fleets and launch a small raid on their neighbors, seeking to poke their defenses, acting as 'pseudo pirates' and raid other player's cargo by blowing up their ships, taking their goods and then running away before a heavy response was launched. The other faction would do the same, and it was a constant tug of war, one day twenty ships would fly in, cause some damage before fleeing, the next day the other side would send fifteen to do the same.

There were so many destroyed wrecks that players often pretended to be derelict ships themselves to catch the enemy off guard.

"Yep, it's all true basically." He told them all. "From here on out we're at risk of being attacked, so as soon as you eat get some sleep. When we arrive at Iktora Two, we'll stay on board Great Fox and land the ship at the main starport. Great Fox, what can you tell us about Iktora Two and the native inhabitants?"

[Iktora Two is a planet regarded as one of the few 'civilized' planets safe by this ship's standards to land on in the sector.] She declared as they all looked at Iktora Two, which appeared to be an orange-desert like world.

Unlike the first world he thought of from Star Wars, aka Tatooine, Iktora Two was seventy-percent desert and thirty percent water, but the water was highly toxic, too high in salt concentration and various other elements that made it nigh undrinkable. The salt concentration in the water was so high that it appeared 'reddish pink' from space. The few spots of 'blue' that could be seen were simple resevoirs of water imported from other planets, like Aquavram Prime.

[Iktora Two and seven of the other planets that constitute the Iktoran sector have very low water counts, as such drinkable water is a high commodity and is one of their highest imports from neighboring sectors. Before the Civil War in the Guntara Sector, Aquavram Prime was the chief supplier and made up about ten percent of their galactic profits from exports. Iktorans themselves are Quadrapedal Humanoids with shriveled and dried out skins, mostly ranging from reddish orange to greyish brown due to how little 'water' they drink. They do not procreate with other breeds as they are a well-known 'breedist' people, believing in their own superiority due to the fact that they are able to live on some of the most hostile planets and environments, where other breeds would not wish to. Therefore, even if you have business with them, they will not regard you as 'equals' to them, and will only regard you as an equal if you are of high merit in 'their' minds.]

She then showed them the image of an Iktoran, who seemed to be a quadrupedal humanoid that was standing upright, with four legs similar to that of a centaur's build, but unlike a human mixed with a horse image of a centaur, they were more... well... 'spider like'. Their skin was very shriveled and very leathery, and their eyes were very large dark round orbs in their sockets. They were also heavily clothed with the only parts of their bodies visible being their feet, which were exoskeletal-like talons or claws, and their eyes. The rest of them were heavily robed, wore hoods, or in the terms of their face, wearing a special 'mask' that they used to eat and drink.

[Due to this nature Captain, it should also be noted that Iktorans do 'not' view Freelance Captains as equals. Despite their relationship with the Major Factions, Iktorans merely view their arrangement as them merely 'freeing' themselves from the governing of their planets. They prefer to focus on their personal power struggles, and are often highly associated with the Pirate Gangs and Havens, and are often involved with the criminal element and the underbelly of civilized society.]

There was silence as everyone listened to Great Fox's explanation, before Ikaria said, "So 'why' are we going here again? If Iktoran Space is this bad with pirates and criminal scum, why in the Galaxy and the Aquavram Ocean, are we even going here?"

"The Belgans have asked us to take on another mission, and as for Iktora Two specifically, well..."

[As stated Iktora Two is the only 'civilized' location in the Iktora Sector due to its proximity to the Sector Station controlled by the Major Faction currently orbiting Iktora One. Iktora Two hosts multiple large city centers, whereas Iktora One is a mining planet with multiple orbiting moons that were repurposed for defensive fortifications and launching platforms for automated unmanned fighters. As for the other planets, while most carry 'some' form of what the galaxy refers to as 'civilized' space fairing cultural centers, most of the planets are either barren planets with little to offer besides mining deposits, or deep fuel deposits that are extracted and sold to the various governments and Major Factions as trade exports, incapable of maintaining high populations. They also suffer frequent storms and heavy fuel mining has resulted in heavy gaseous clouds making scanning the planets difficult from space. As such, these are ideal conditions for pirates to set up hold outs and dens to slip under the radar of Major Factions and Freelance Captains attempting to control them.]

"Yep, that sums it up, which means as said, we'll be on alert from here on out, at least until we land on Iktora Two. So, Trishula, you and your pilots will have to split up duties for being on guard and ready to fly your starships. Two will be awake for several hours and then trade shifts with the next two." He explained as he looked to them. "Sorry Ikaria, but for now I don't want to run the risk of you potentially getting shot down. You're just not 'ready' for pirates yet at this stage, especially when we're entering a border sector. If necessary, I'll have you join them if they need you, but otherwise you're staying on board."

"Sigh, very well Arthur... sorry, 'Captain' Arthur." Ikaria muttered as she idly stroked her tail fin with one hand while her head fin hung over the rear of the couch. "How long will it take before we're safe enough to Iktora Two?"

"Well, as said we've got another twelve hours before we're planet-side, so if you each take a five-hour shift then the ship will be relatively 'safe' from further attacks." He told them.

"Alright, who wants to volunteer for staying up for an additional five hours?" Trishula asked with a smile to her squadmates.

"Hrmneeeeh..." They all muttered in varying tones and halfhearted 'we're considering it' words.

"Look its either we get volunteers or I pick."

"How come 'you' don't wanna volunteer?" Vanessa said with a snarky frown.

"Yea if you're so eager to volunteer why don't you take first shift?" Yumi asked with a hiss.

"Because 'I'm' the Squadron Leader and I get leadership privileges!" Trishula said back.

"I say let the captain decide who gets first shift!" Katarra declared. "All in favor?"

"Aye!" Vanessa, Katarra and Yumi all said with raised hands.

"Ney!" Trishula hollered angrily before she noticed Ikaria wasn't agreeing with her. "Come on Ikaria back me up!"

"I don't get to fly if we're lucky, I'm not picking sides if I don't have to!" She countered with her tongue sticking out.

"Sigh... well since it has to be this way and I don't want to waste precious time... Great Fox, draw straws for them and pick who gets first shift and who gets second shift please?" Arthur said as he shook his head and looked to the viewscreen.

[Of course... selecting... selection made... as a fair and impartial selector, I have rolled Trishula and Yumi for first shift and Katarra and Vanessa for second shift.]

"Oh, that is 'so' not fair and impartial, you are 'totally' getting revenge on me for that time I said you were jealous of us doing well during your test on Belga Cinco!" Trishula yelled angrily.

[As Captian Arthur requested I randomly selected those for the shifts, this decision was not in any way influenced by a potential bias.] Great Fox responded in a proud tone. [As a Freelance Captain's Ship AI, I was programmed to be as fair and impartial with any decision requested of me by my captain. If you would like to submit a complaint with how I am programmed, please take your complaint to Kiandra across the hallway currently eating synthetic Cremdela Bendura Butter soup.]

He chuckled as Trishula looked deflated with Yumi as they grudgingly nodded in acceptance of the ship's decision. As they all got up and left to go get food Arthur hung back and looked up at the camera in the room to say, "Out of curiosity Great Fox, did you 'really' pick Yumi and Trishula randomly, or did you show some bias?"

The ship was quiet for a moment before it replied in a very embarrassed tone, [I might have... increased the likelihood of her being selected by... an extra percent... but only by one.]

He raised his eyebrow at his 'fair and impartial AI', slightly disappointed at it for showing bias against his girlfriend, but also slightly amused that Kiandra would program his ship to have 'some' bias in its calculations. "You won't do anything like that with me will you?"

[Negative Captain, never! You have my assurance that I will never show bias against you in any decision I make if you ask it of me.] Great Fox replied instantly. [Though... I 'may' show some bias in your favor... as you 'are' my Captain, it is part of my programming to place you higher than the rest of the crew.]

He smiled with a chuckle as he left his room and headed to the mess hall to get some food himself instead of having Mevik deliver it to him. As he walked in, he saw that Tony's family were already seated and eating dinner that the Gevkan made that evening. He was currently giving the pilots their plates of food and upon him entering he waved hello to him with one of his four arms.

"Ah, Captain Arthur, not every day you grace my mess hall, what a pleasant surprise!" He said as Arthur picked up a plate from a nearby table and it was instantly replaced by a new one. "Today we have Terran Beef Steak spiced with Belgan Tremdara spices and a dash of Tenkartan herbs, with a side of stewed Tugran Cornus and what your breed refers to as, 'Mashed Potatoes'. I took a gander and looked up some 'Terran' recipes to spice up my routines."

"Arrh tis nice to have a taste of me home system once in a while." Tony called out with a raise of his glass. "Not that I don't like Belgan cuisine, but a Terran misses the taste of his home system once in a while!"

"Heh, thanks Mevik, but today I was hoping you could quickly whip up something to drink that can help keep me, Trishula and Yumi awake." He asked as he handed his plate to Mevik who nodded in understanding. "As you know we're in a border sector, and until we land on the 'relative' safety of Iktora Two, we need to be as alert as possible in case of pirate attacks. So, I'll be awake with the girls for a fair portion of the night on the bridge and I'm going to need something to drink to help keep me awake."

"Say no more, I understand... I'm not entirely sure what I can whip up on short notice, mrmmm might have to accept a Synthetic Drink Captain, my apologies." Mevik said as he handed back the plate. "But thanks for telling me that we're now in Iktoran space, SORRY EVERYONE, but tonight the bar's closed!"

Instantly everyone started yelling and moaning at Mevik's announcement.

"Arww come oooon!"

"We were looking forward to the opening season tonight!"

"Noooo complainin, Captain says we need to be ready, so no drinking while we're on the job! If we get attacked Captain will need you up and awake in case you need to fix something that gets damaged." Mevik shouted with a raised fist. "I'm lord and master in my mess hall, and it's my bar so it's my rules!"

Arthur shook his head with a chuckle as he left the mess hall, heading back to his private dining room to sit down and eat. Sitting down he started eating his steak and potatoes and what looked a little like corn sprinkles. The food was as delicious as always, and even as he ate more quickly than he normally would, he couldn't help but agree with what Tony said. He did miss a bit of what he used to eat when he was back home in his previous life.

He looked down at what was left of his food and sighed a little, even though he was relatively happy here in his new life. Heck he was so much better off than before when he was working minimum wage at a thankless job providing care and even amusement for people who made way more than him and thought 'one' dollar was a worthwhile tip for him. But even then, he did kind of miss some things... like talking to his few friends at work, trading jokes with online friends... complaining about people. But as Tony said, he also missed the food he ate, sure he wasn't a connoisseur, nor was he some kind of food critic, but he sure missed splurging some days on pizza.

He took a deep breath and ate the last of his food, it wasn't good to dwell on the fact that he missed home. What happened had happened, he had to live this new life now. And he had some good things to be happy for and grateful for. First among them being Great Fox, he had his ship and she was well worth being happy for. Then there was Trishula, his beautiful Purebred Belgan Girlfriend whom he 'finally' traded his V-card with after thinking he'd be a lonely loser for the rest of his life. Then there was Ikaria, his now 'second' Purebred Aquavram girlfriend/consort, sent by her father to become his, well his second girlfriend because of his nature and actions on their home planet.

"Alright, time to get ready Great Fox... can you get me a cup of coffee to drink?" He asked his ship as he put his dishes into the space to be taken and cleaned... wherever the ship took them.

[Do you have a preference? As you are aware there is a vast variety of 'coffee' mixes and types developed by Terrans and expanded upon by various breeds around the galaxy. As an example, Eldentrans alone constituted the development of no less than six hundred and forty-seven thousand types of coffee, and this does not include their 'synthetic only' variants.]

He looked at the camera in surprise, as he was 'not' aware of that. Was that another reason why Eldentrans and Terrans got along so well, the Eldentran's need to keep advancing science and picking up the Terran's coffee to power their minds and ability to 'wake up' in the morning?

"Uhm... just a nice latte with coconut milk, not too warm... I need to keep awake for several hours."

[Of course, captain, I shall have it ready and waiting in the mess hall momentarily.] Great Fox replied in a warm manner as he left the dining room and headed to the mess hall.

Inside he saw that it was vastly empty, only three individuals were present, Kiandra, Trishula and Yumi. Trishula and Yumi were both taking drinks from cups that looked similar to coffee and reading datapads. Kiandra was also reading a datapad as she drank a synthetic drink as well, yawning and stretching as she made to get up.

"Captain, working late tonight?" She asked him with a smirk.

"Yep, I'm off to the bridge to start my own shift for the night. At least until we're at Iktora Two, I need to be as alert as possible."

"Hah, figured, Trishula was complaining to me about how the AI was showing bias to her. I told her that I programmed the ship's AI to be as unbiased and professional as possible, though I made sure to throw in a few 'quirks' here and there to give it some personality." Kiandra chuckled as she walked over to him with a salute. "It's not my fault, if a Freelance Captain is going to be spending so much money on one of my creations, you deserve 'only' the finest from me. And that includes an 'actual' personality AI to interface with and converse with. You don't want just a brainless 'yes sir' or 'no ma'am' without a soul AI controlling your ship, right? You deserve to be able to converse and have lovely talks with that AI that evolves to your personality!"

"I still say she was 'one hundred percent' being biased against me!" Trishula yelled loudly.

[Your comment is noted for the records...] Great Fox replied in a 'polite' tone as a table opened up and a cup rose filled with a brownish liquid that gave off some steam. [Your latte captain, enjoy~!]

He nodded and took the cup to take a drink, a little 'miffed' that it was synthetic, but it was a liquid so he tolerated it. Besides... it still tasted good and he knew the ship had poured all its effort into making it for him.

"Nice coffee Great Fox, even if its synthetic you know how to make a coffee." He muttered as Kiandra opened the door to leave.

"Coffee, the miracle substance my people learned of that Terrans made!" Kiandra called out happily as she acknowledged the cup. "The liquid energy of your people that has fueled my breed for the last 'three thousand years' since we first learned your breed made it! Every Eldentran to this day bows their head in gratitude to your breed on behalf of every Eldentran birthed in the shade of the Great Tree itself. For without your energy infused liquid, Eldentran Scientific Research would have slowed down by seventy percent!"

"Really?" He asked in bemusement.

"Are you kidding me, Telamedura Viamtra Plainsara-Yumara herself, one of the founding members of the Eldentran Scientific Board of Research and Development, spent two hundred years of her life trying to develop a time machine to find the person who invented 'coffee' just so she could have their baby!" Kiandra cackled with a laugh as she smirked at him. "Didn't work, so she did the next best thing, found one of his descendants on Tera Prime Two, and let him knock her up 'twice'!"

Everyone still in the room just deadpanned at Kiandra at those words.

"Is your entire breed just horny..." He asked as he just could not believe someone like her could openly talk that way.

"Hey, you spend two hundred years doing complex equations and looking up theoretical physics, mechanical engineering, dimensional optics, temporal causality, and even temporal paradigms to develop a time machine... only to find out that to attempt such a thing would probably break the temporal plane and ruin the timeline to such an unbelievable degree, you'd get frustrated and jump on the first dick you find and scream to be bred! She only had another six hundred years to live if she was lucky!" Kiandra said with a laugh as she walked out, closing the door behind her. "She wanted those babies and dammit, she was going to get them with the inventor of coffee's lineage one way or another!"

They just all stared at Kiandra as she was such an eccentric maverick. Honestly, he thought, as Arthur shook his head as he asked for another cup to take to the bridge, that Kiandra was a funny individual to have on his ship and fun to have around. He could see why people thought she was a little on the 'eccentric' side.

"Though she is right about Terrans and Coffee." Trishula said as she took a long sip from her cup. "Ever since Belgans learned of coffee it's been a regular staple in many mornings for my breed. We didn't have anything like coffee before we met your people."

"Really?"

"Mhmm, it's not something we normally had Captain." Yumi said as she also took a drink. "Though unlike Eldentrans who drink it almost religiously, Belgans tend to drink it only once a morning if that, and only sparingly, never more than one cup a day. The effect in our breed is far stronger than it is for Terrans. That's why our cups are smaller than yours. Even a 'single' five-ounce cup can make us jittery and keep us awake for like fifteen hours!"

"Huh... interesting, so before I go what do you two drink?" He asked them as the ship made his second cup for him to take.

"Eh, Terrans call it Flat White, but I put extra milk in it to make it taste sweeter." Trishula said with a smile.

"BLACK ONLY FOR ME!" Yumi yelled fiercely with an equally ferocious expression before she shrunk in embarrassment in her seat. "Only 'real' pilots drink black coffee! So... I've been... told... you know..."

Both he and Trishula 'laughed' out loud at her outburst before Arthur just took his second cup of coffee, placing the first on the table to be taken back since it was empty and then heading off to the bridge. Once on the bridge he sat in his chair and was logged in as usual, sighing as he settled himself in for a long night of being as observant and alert as possible.

[You know captain, you do not 'have' to stay awake... as your ship AI, if you enable High Profile Mode, I can handle the defense of the ship and enable our gun batteries without you being on the bridge in case we are attacked.] Great Fox told him as her holographic portrait appeared in a window in front of him, alongside a dozen other windows he frequently observed and used. [While it will cost us additional fuel, you can let me handle our initial defense and get some sleep, in the event of an attack I will instantly awake you and alert you to the situation. As for your pilots, while it is understandable why you would want them alert at all times while in this border sector, the same can be said for them. In High Profile Mode, I can handle our initial defenses if need be while you and your pilots ready yourselves in the event of a surprise attack.]

"I know, but I prefer to be here at least for the first shift." He said as he brought up a starmap and saw how much distance there was between Iktora Two and Three and his positioning. "Once we're close enough to the planet the proximity between it and us will give us greater protection as pirates won't try to attack us if we're close enough to potential reinforcements. Also, with how many Freelance Captain'd ships are flying around, especially this close to Iktora One and the Sector Space Station, there's a high chance they won't dare risk an assault against us so close to Iktora Two. Besides, I don't want to waste the fuel if I can avoid it. How much fuel do we have left?"

[Due to our constant flight path in Low Profile Mode, with short bursts to power the AFB gun batteries for training drills for Ikaria's needs, each lasting no more than fifty minutes, we still have two thousand, one hundred and six Hyper Gallons of Raw Galemite Liquid Fuel in reserve. Your request to 'avoid' landing on any of the Belgan planets while in transit did result in an increase in fuel usage, however as calculated, we encountered no difficulties.]

He nodded as he pulled up another star map and zoomed in on his flight path. While he did indeed take a longer route, he wanted to 'avoid' potential pirates and so chose to return to Belgan Space before taking course he did to the Belgan/Iktoran Transwarp Gate. His path also allowed him a chance to join a small Belgan military Convoy that was transporting raw materials between the various planets. At first, he assumed that it was his ship seeking the safety of the convoy to avoid pirates, but in hindsight, as his pilots noted, it was probably the 'reverse'. The Belgans had seen his Finback Battleship Class ship and how heavily armed it was, and actually used 'it' to protect them from pirates. The sheer size of his vessel dwarfed most of the light cruisers and especially the transports, and its numerous heavy guns and AFB gun batteries gave the fleet a high degree of security and protection.

During the journey any convoy he was with would occasionally detect 'unknown' ships traversing just in range of their sensors while his ship was in Low Profile Mode, and upon spotting his ship placed smack dab in the middle of the various convoys he'd join between each Belgan Planet while mid transit to the Transwarp Gate, they'd suddenly turn around.

He assumed that despite his ship looking like an oversized transport, pirates attacking large convoys were privy and wise to the potential of a 'Freelance Captain'd Ship' hiding among the fleets of Cargo Vessels, Light Cruisers and Corvettes.

Belgan Fleets rarely sent vessels on their own, and unless they were in the company of a starfighter escort, or protected by a cruiser, frigate, or carrier, Belgan Transports would often gather together into small convoys to travel to the same destinations for protection. They would often hire freelance pilots from their various planets to escort their transports between planets, which is how he found Trishula and her squadron.

"Safety in numbers, even for a space military." He muttered as he recounted how many ships his flew with. "I keep forgetting you're more powerful than anything the Belgans have Great Fox. I was joining convoys to avoid being ambushed by Pirates, but here I am being the one joined by 'convoys' so that they can be protected."

[It is standard procedure to request an armed escort for transports. However, the Belgans lack enough dedicated ships to protect their transports due to the fact that they must dedicate at least seventy-five percent of its fleet to patrolling space and assisting the Major Faction in either offensive or defensive actions. Furthermore, since the end of the Dissident Movement in Guntara Space, most of the Belgan Fleet has been officially deployed to patrol, control, and secure the sector so relief transports and rebuilding efforts can proceed smoothly. Due to this, they do not have enough ships to protect their unarmed transports.]

He nodded as he took a sip and leaned back, examining the windows around his ship and only seeing empty space for the most part, with the occasional ship graveyard floating as debris in the distance.

"How many 'ships' do the Belgans have out of curiosity?"

[Accessing database... acquiring data... giving FC Clearance Level credentials... data acquired... currently the Belgans have a standing fleet of five thousand six hundred military grade ships, ranging from Corvette, Cruiser, Frigate and Carrier class with no more than two hundred Battleships. However, as per ship building and ownership law due to their relationship with the Major Faction, the Belgans do not possess ships of the Heavy Cruiser, Medium Carrier, Heavy Carrier, and Super Carrier, nor do they possess any Capitol class ships, and their fleets often rely heavily on Starfighter and Starbomber ships to augment their firepower.] The ship told him as she pulled up several windows to show him the various 'Belgan' classifications of ships, all labeled as 'classified' and only visible to him because of his Freelance Captain status.

"Belgan Battleships... show me a Belgan Battleship, I've never actually seen one before, most Belgan Ships I've ever seen were cruisers and carriers, with the occasional Frigate and Corvette thrown in with fleets of starfighters or bombers."

[Of course... one moment!] The ship replied warmly, before pulling up a Battleship for him.

A Belgan Battleship, if he could even call it that, was a very angular 'block-like' warship with two 'nacelle' like protrusions on the sides of the ship's main body. The Belgan Battleship was five hundred and ten meters long, one hundred and ninety meters wide, and only one hundred and five meters tall. It was 'small' compared to Great Fox, and as for armaments, various Plasma Medium Cruiser guns were equipped on the sides of the vessel, and several Kinetic Heavy Cruiser turrets dotting the upper portion of the ship. For protection against starfighters and bombers, it had about twenty AFB gun batteries that also used 'kinetic' rounds. It wasn't exactly something his ship wanted to go against, but it was also something his ship wasn't necessarily afraid of.

In a one-on-one fight, Great Fox wins hands down simply because she had far greater firepower thanks to her Titan Class Cannons, and unlike the Belgan ship which had all of its weapons pointed forward with very little range to turn, and was more focused on launching attacks against enemies in front of it, Great Fox could maneuver and bring its guns to bear against the warship in a broadside exchange that they could not retaliate against.

It was also noted, that as his ship said, there were only about 'two hundred' Belgan Battleships, and all of them were either assigned to the main fleet, or currently being repaired due to conflicts on behalf of the Major Faction. It was as Trishula said, their fleet may outnumber the Freelance Captains of the Major Faction, but that was their 'only' advantage, the Freelance Captain'd ships were all twice as powerful, and thrice as resilient when compared to the Belgan Fleet.

"I have to say, Belgan Battleships are... not as 'strong' as I was expecting. Even the lowliest Battleship a Freelance Captain can own, I believe the cheapest is the DF-36 Scorpios Numbara Battleship, carries more guns then a Belgan Battleship has."

[They also aren't as heavily armored or shielded... it would only take about three shots from our Titan Class Cannons to cause critical damage. With two broadside blasts from all our heavy cruiser cannons we would also achieve the same result. However, it should be noted that Belgan Battleships are also 'cheaper' to build then a Freelance Captain Battleship, and also faster to produce... depending on the ship it is being compared to. However, they aren't permitted to produce multiple battleships without permission from the Emperium.]

"Hrmm, I see... well that explains why they rely so heavily on their starfighters and starbomber pilots for galactic conflicts. I was always curious why I saw more Belgan Starfighters and Bombers in my previous life when in Belgan territory. The most frequent ships I saw were Carriers, I think I saw about three carriers for every cruiser, frigate or corvette when it came to Belgan ships."

[That is correct, Belgans rely heavily on starfighters and starbombers, as such they have a large number of carriers and are able to rapidly repair and deploy numerous manned and unmanned starfighters and starbombers.] The ship explained. [Over half of their navy consists of carriers, with the other half split between Cruisers, Corvettes, Frigates, and of course two hundred Battleships. As for their standing starfighter and starbomber fleet... that number is harder to estimate, since large contingents of their fighters and bombers are grounded, but a rough estimated count of fifty thousand space worthy vessels can be noted.]

He nodded as he leaned back and continued drinking his coffee, looking around the windows at the floating bits of debris in the distance, occasionally seeing broken down wrecks, skeletons of ships from battles long past. He'd see small pieces of fighters when he zoomed in on them, sometimes he saw bits of cruisers, carriers, frigates and corvettes floating among the piles. Most of these were heavily picked clean by scavengers, so he figured 'anything' of value would have long since been taken, and the only reason these pieces of metal were left were because they weren't the weight in scrap credits to haul back or break down.

"So many ships..." He muttered as he put his empty cup on the floor and just stared at space around him. "I just hope you never join them Great Fox..."

[I would also like to not join these wrecks captain... it would be... very unfortunate.] She replied in an equally quiet tone.

Feeling a little bored he decided to grab a random holographic window and called up some local data that the ship had downloaded. The local news as it were, and began reading about the latest happenings in the Iktoran Sector.

According to reports the Emperium was currently driving off a small sortie of twenty warships from their neighboring Major Faction, the Federated Commoners Guild. The small fleet of four Titans, six Cruisers, five Carriers, and five frigates had launched a small raid on a supply convoy carrying materials bound for a ship project on Iktora Six. There wasn't much info about the project publicly known aside from the fact that it was a 'massive' warship, exceeding the size of any ship previously built. It was given the name 'Juggernaut Class' and was the first being built at massive expense to the Emperium...

"Damn... that is an expensive project... only reason they're planning on building it is probably because it's going to be used for an offensive action against the Federated Commoners Guild." He muttered. "At least it's not being used against the Belgans."

He continued to sit in his chair on the bridge, occasionally looking up every few minutes to check the windows, zooming in on pieces of debris to check if they were actually debris or pirate ships pretending to be debris. Then after doing a full sweep, he'd yawn and look back at the window and go back to reading the news.

The silent hum of the ship was very enticing... it was constantly lulling him into wanting to fall asleep despite the coffee drinks.

After about three hours into his shift, he began yawning and scratching his eyes, having been up for about eighteen straight hours.

When he started getting sleepy, he would get up, stretch and walk around the chair of the bridge to try and keep himself awake, keep himself from falling asleep in the chair. Even the ship began taking notice of his actions and asked if he was certain that he didn't want to just let her handle the defense of the vessel and monitor everything for him.

[There is no harm in us spending extra fuel so you can get some sleep captain.] She stated politely. [Unlike you and your pilots I do not require sleep, and can therefore focus all of my efforts into monitoring our positions and handle the initial defense in the event of a surprise attack. I 'am' your ship AI, I was designed and built to assist you with anything I am able to in regards to ship operations. It is my primary function after all.]

"I know... just let me go another two hours, I'll be fine I swear!" He muttered tiredly as he sighed and sat back down.

[Very well... but just so you know, you 'are' starting to fall asleep, I have noted a fifteen percent drop in energy levels.]

"I'm just tired Great Fox... I'll survive!" He told her.

He resumed watching the windows and focused again on the now passing by debris fields. These skeletal graves of ships were starting to become larger and heavier with lost ships to the ravages of time and the emptiness of space, becoming pseudo asteroids fields requiring his ship to carefully navigate around.

While his ship's shields were strong enough to withstand the damage from a collision with floating pieces of ships in space, as his trip through the Belgan-Guntara Transwarp Highway showed, he wanted to avoid flying 'into' potential ambushes.

Finally, after another hour he felt something else urging him to wake up and focus his mind, as he felt his body wanting to answer a call of nature.

"Ugh, Great Fox, where's the nearest bathroom?" He asked suddenly.

[The nearest bathroom is located six doors down, please, follow the white line.] She said as he exited the Bridge.

He looked tiredly as a line lit up on the wall directing him toward the bathroom he could use. Then he sighed, shook his head and said, "Great Fox, I am too tired to say it... but I'll say it anyway, can you 'please' pick a more noticeable color?"

Seconds later the white line changed to purple, and he followed it.

Six doors away from the bridge, a substantial three-minute walk given where he started and his need to go, and he walked into a small bathroom with a window view, a toilet, and a sink. He sat down and took a deep breath as he just let his body do its thing and nature take its course. Outside he could see another field of skeletal ships floating into range, a large field by the size. He also saw that his ship was flying a little closer than he believed he should be, because he could make out some of the ships even at this distance.

"Heh, almost tempted to fly closer... even if there's not much chance of finding anything valuable, we can at least send out scavenger drones to see what's available to pick through." He muttered as he flushed the toilet and got up to wash his hands.

After washing his hands, he splashed some water onto his face to try and force his eyes and mind to be alert for just another hour. Shaking himself he looked out at space for another view to just get one more glimpse at the field before heading back to the bridge.

That was when he noticed... something odd about the field.

Getting closer to the window he looked closer and saw that... something was 'off' about the debris field. There were quite a few large ships in the field, yes there were skeletal pieces and broken parts floating freely, but, some of them were a bit... 'too intact'. There were also several fighters that looked, too well preserved to be destroyed from battle.

Then... just as he began having suspicious thoughts, his eyes confirmed what his mind was suspecting. He saw several lights turn on, saw several engines flare to life, and saw multiple ships begin to re-orientate themselves properly.

"RED ALERT, WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" He shouted as he ran out of the bathroom and headed to the bridge as fast as his feet could go.

The ship responded and began flashing warning lights, issuing the alert and calling all levels to alert status. Just as he reached the bridge and sat down, relogging himself in, the ship shuddered as the first shots were fired. He could feel the shields take the full brunt of the attack and as windows started popping up, he began activating the High Profile Mode, bringing Great Fox to full readiness.

"Attention all hands, attention all hands, we are under attack by pirates, all pilots to your ships, all pilots to your ships!" He shouted as he watched his prized Great Fox ready her guns for battle.

Brssthng*

Bshhhtrrrnggreggng*

He pulled up the monitor and took stock of his ship's status, all of her AFB gun batteries were coming online, the Heavy and Medium cruiser guns were activating and revealing themselves. The Titan Class Cannons unveiled and the ship revealed herself as the Finback Battleship she was known to be, and not the helpless cargo liner she appeared to be moments ago.

BreeTNNNG*

The ship shuddered and he felt the blast of heavy cruiser guns and especially bombers making contact with his vessel's fully powered shields.

"How many ships are we seeing Great Fox? And what's the status of Trishula and Yumi, I need fighter support out there!"

[We are under attack by five Pirate Cruisers, three light, one medium, one heavy class. Sensors detect an additional three Frigates and one Medium Carrier among them. Sensors report thirty-seven starfighter and seven starbomber ships.] She ticked off as the guns began to start tracking, then suddenly a huge salvo erupted from three of the cruisers, smashing into his port side, resulting in the ship shuddering under the assault. [We have lost one of our Heavy Cruiser guns on the port side. It appears the Heavy Cruiser has kinetic armaments included with plasma weaponry. Our shields are having little effect against its primary weapon.]

He groaned as the ship shuddered as the pirates launched their full assault now, and he even began receiving an incoming signal from the Heavy Cruiser. Apparently, the leader of this Pirate Gang was calling him on an open frequency, to negotiate his surrender he suspected.

"What's Trishula's status, and are the others awake yet?" He asked again.

[Trishula and Yumi are nearly ready to launch, Katarra, Vanessa and Ikaria are making their way to the hanger. Apologies... but you 'did' state 'all pilots to your ships'.]

He shook his head as he ignored the ship's last statement, at this point he didn't care if Ikaria wasn't ready yet, he needed all his pilot's help to defend Great Fox. "Open a channel to their ship, let's see what he has to say."

[As you wish, opening communications channel... channel open.] Great Fox stated as a holographic window appeared in front of him.

The pirate in question looked to be a mixed breed individual, bull-like Belgan by the looks but with some Gevkan going by their eyes, and they also seemed to have cybernetic implants for one of their eyes. Their face was covered by multiple scars and they wore a scarf around their neck and even had some tattoos painted on their cheek running down to below their neckline.

[Nice ship you got there buddy, be a shame if someone were to blast it outa the stars and leave it a floatin wreck like the other wrecks out here.] He said with a chuckle. [Hand over your cargo of water and ore and we'll consider lettin you live with your ship intact!]

"This is the Freelance Captain'd ship Great Fox, I am Captain Arthur, cease your attack upon my vessel or we will be forced to retaliate!" He said, giving them a warning to try and scare them off.

[Buahahha, you think your guns will scare me off, bah, you won't scare away Rambarent's Rascals so easily!] He retaliated, before the channel closed and all of the cruisers and frigates opened fire, moving into attack positions and trying to get out of the line of fire of his heavy guns.

"Well, I gave them a chance... let's respond Great Fox! Open Fire before they get out of range! Full power to shields, launch fighters when they're ready!"

[Aye Captain...]

With Trishula and Yumi in the hanger, she was just finishing the final checks as her Arwing was sealed, her weapons were fully loaded and the ship shuddered and lights flickered for a bit from the surprise pirate attack. Their ships were ready to launch and all she was wondering was how much longer Katarra, Vanessa and Ikaria were going to be.

"Looks like we have to hold them off until the others are ready to launch Yumi!" She shouted as she activated her engines and the Great Fox moved them into position to launch.

"Alright ma'am, let's go!" Yumi shouted with a brave nod.

She wasn't exactly as wide awake as she wished she were, but she was more alert than before when she was about to nod off in the mess hall. They had just finished another round of cards and were on the verge of calling it a shift when the alert sounded. The instant the alert sounded she and Yumi were running to the Hanger to ready themselves for the fight.

Now as they prepared to launch, she could only hope her squadron were ready to take on this pirate gang.

"This is Arwing Three, launching!" Trishula shouted as she urged her fighter forward.

"This is Arwing Six, moving out!" Yumi also shouted as her fighter flew out of the open hanger.

Their fighters soared out of the safety of Great Fox's hanger and into the maelstrom of plasma blaster and kinetic fire. Trishula hard banked and surfed away from a frigate's AFB gun battery burst while the Heavy Gun turrets of Great Fox began to respond with mighty bursts.

"Anything you can share Yumi?" Trishula demanded as she came in behind a pirate starfighter and began firing.

"Uuuuh too many starfighter variants for me to give an accurate reading ma'am, but I've managed to identify the starbombers, they're old Belgan V9-Cascarffa Vextrope Bombers. Heavily modified it seems, equipped with powerful plasma batteries meant to target heavily shielded ships. They're slow to turn and slow to move, but well shielded!"

Psssth dng*

Trishula's shields took a blast from a pirate ship that had gotten on her tail, and she swerved away after managing to shoot down her target.

"Gugh... annoying pirates I swear!" She yelled angrily. "Get off of my tail, only 'Arthur' gets to see my behind!"

She swerved and dove and then did a full summersault to come in behind her attacker where she unleashed a barrage of plasma bolts into her target. The pirate's shields withstood the attack for a few moments as they tried to desperately evade, but Trishula kept her guns trained and stayed on target, resulting in another notch for her score.

"Scratch one more for me!" Trishula called out.

"I GOT ONE!" Yumi cheered.

Dogfighting began in full as she and Yumi began to engage the remaining pirate ships. While they battled and flew around Great Fox, the mighty warship had slowed in her movement and was now trying to maneuver and maintain its firing cones on the cruisers which were trying to get around its sides and out of firing range.

One of the Frigates that were unfortunate enough to fly within range of the Titan Cannons unleashed a desperate barrage of plasma cannons and ignited its engines in a rapid burn to try and escape, but Arthur had opened with a massive burst from the main guns. The Titan Cannons erupted in a burst of white plasma beams. The lightly shielded Frigate stood no chance.

In a burst of light, the Frigate had been shot 'clean through', two halves of its remaining sections floating off and away in the direction the frigate had been going.

As for the cruisers, two of the Light Cruisers were trying to trade fire with the Great Fox's heavy cruiser guns as they flew toward the rear of the ship, and while one managed to escape to the safety of Great Fox's blind spot, the second was swiftly targeted by a full barrage from the heavy guns and medium guns.

Bshtngt bssthgn bssnghtn*

The ship was lit up as she barrel-rolled away from the pirate chasing her, managed to lure it away and into range of the AFB gun batteries to chase it off. As she turned and fired off a bomb to take out a small squadron of three unmanned fighter drones, she saw that the light cruiser was now little more than a smoldering wreck.

Meanwhile, the AFB gun batteries were training their plasma rounds on the multitude of starfighters and starbombers swerving and annoying the warship. Most of the unmanned drones were easily swept aside, while the manned pirate starfighters dodged and evaded many of the firing cones. The Starbombers were beginning to make firing runs on the AFB guns, and their plasma blasts were doing huge numbers to the shields, while light kinetic missiles launched en passing struck the AFB guns themselves, disabling or outright destroying them.

Suddenly a kinetic plasma round flew past her ship, narrowly missing her and colliding with the Great Fox's starboard side and slamming into a section of the ship, bringing down one of the Heavy Guns.

"Whoah!"

She yelled in surprise as she narrowly avoided being shot down, and stared for only a second at the destroyed gun turret before resuming her counter attack on a starbomber making a run on the engines. As she fired into her target, the Medium Cruiser that was circling and maintaining a slow pace to stay 'out' of Great Fox's line of fire launched a barrage from its guns into the engines of the mighty warship. Three of the large engines took direct blasts and momentarily began to sputter and lose power.

Within the bridge Arthur shook in his chair as he felt the ship take damage to its engines. Warning signals came up and holographic windows showed him the damage to the engines.

"Damage Report!" He demanded.

[Engines two, seven, and twelve have taken severe damage and have lost power... we are losing power to primary engines and secondary thrusters!] Great Fox replied calmly.

"Dammit..." He muttered as he tapped on a console and called up Tony, who responded quickly, wearing a hard hat and safety mask while lights flickered above him and sparks erupted nearby. "Tony, I've lost power to my engines and the secondary thrusters have been knocked out, get them back online!"

"We're already on it capain!" Tony shouted.

[We are losing some of our AFB gun batteries, AFB-Turrets 43-44-14-22-27 and 18 have been heavily damaged.] Great Fox replied calmly, showcasing the damaged turrets for him.

He flung the comm window away and focused back on the battle, bringing up the positioning of the cruisers. As he watched, another of the Frigates was attempting a fly by over his bow and would soon fly into range of the port guns.

"Port side guns... FIRE!"

Trng Trng Trng Trng*

One by one seven of his port side heavy guns and several of the medium guns fired off several plasma shells into the Frigate. Its shields buckled and after only a few more shots connecting the hull was decimated and the Frigate in question blasted.

[Graawr, you'll PAY for that!] The Pirate Leader yelled as another of the Heavy Cruiser's kinetic shells connected with his ship's engines.

He held his place as more warning signals sounded and his ship reported the shields taking a severe pounding, reduced to fifty-four percent from the constant shelling. As for his engines, another four of his ship's engines were knocked out of commission.

"Tony... more of my engines are down!" He shouted. "If we lose the rest, we're dead in space!"

"Momentary apparition captain, it'll soon be addressed!" Tony shouted back as he was already working on the issue. "Working on a bypass now, should be back online in a few minutes!"

On another window he saw Vanessa, Katarra and Ikaria all were in their Arwings and conducting final checks before being ready to launch.

"About time you three got in your ships, we're in deep now!" He said to them.

"We're ready to launch Captain, just send us out!" Katarra told him.

"Oh boy... you can do this Ikaria; you can do this... you can do this!" Ikaria was muttering in her Arwing as she was rotated into position.

"You'll be fine... I'll watch your back girl." Vanessa said with a confident smile to the nervous Aquavram. "The first dogfight is always the scariest... don't worry, we'll keep you safe if things get rough."

Ikaria nodded as she took a deep calming breath. This was what she was trained to do now, sure this was the first time she'd be in space combat, 'real' space combat. But she was still a trained soldier, a trained warrior... this was no different than battling dissidents in submersibles!

"Arwings, LAUNCH!"

All three of the Arwings flew out into space and into the maelstrom.

"Whoooah!" Ikaria screamed in shock as she made a hard turn to avoid crashing into a passing by fragment of a Frigate.

"Attention Arwings, several of the starbombers have broken away from the main squadron and are moving to hit the ship's starboard guns in a flyby. The AFB gun batteries are getting shelled by the enemy cruiser's guns, and their Heavy Cruiser is attacking my engines!" Arthur said as he appeared on all of their main viewscreens. "Take out those bombers before they disable too many of my AFB guns or worse, the Heavy Cruiser guns!"

"We're on it Captain!" Katarra said as she and the girls split up to look for targets.

"Yumi and I will handle the fighters, you three focus on the bombers!" Trishula ordered as she flew in behind another pirate starfighter.

"Roger that ma'am." Ikaria declared as she angled her Arwing and flew directly under the Great Fox, looking around for any Starbombers, using her targeting computer to identify the primary targets that Great Fox was marking for them. "There you are!"

She saw a Starbomber flying slow and close to the ship's underbelly, before it pulled up and out of sight, but Ikaria smirked as she pulled in behind, trying to ignore as the Great Fox's cruiser guns unleashed another barrage, dealing heavy damage to one of the Light Cruisers and causing it to erupt in multiple explosions.

"I've got you in my sight..." She said as she came in behind, aimed, and unleashed a full plasma barrage from her guns.

The bomber's shields absorbed most of the damage but it was forced to swerve and pull away from the Great Fox. She smiled as she successfully forced one of the bombers away, and did a victory spin as the AFB guns finished it off before it could escape their range. Unfortunately, her victory celebration was too early as she was soon tagged and being trailed by a pirate starfighter.

"Ugh, get off of me!" She yelled as she spun and swerved, flying in as an erratic pattern as she could to throw off her pursuer's aim.

Thinking quickly, she pulled hard on her breaks and watched as her would be killer now was in front of her, and she fired off a bomb in front of him while firing plasma bolts into his engines. While the pirate managed to dodge the bomb, it couldn't dodge her plasma bolts. The ship shuddered and buckled under her assault, and after a few short seconds it careened into the Great Fox, smashing into the shield and becoming nothing more than smoldering scrap.

"I GOT ONE!" She yelled happily as she flew past the head of Great Fox, hoping Arthur was watching her.

"Great kid, don't get cocky, and watch where you're shooting your bombs!" Trishula yelled angrily as she appeared on her screen now.

"Wha?"

"Your 'bomb' hit the Great Fox, watch the friendly fire! That's 'our' ship you know!"

"Oh... sorry..." She muttered sheepishly as she looked back, before turning and getting in behind another pirate ship.

"One bomber destroyed!" Vanessa cheered as she came up on Ikaria's side. "You hanging well girl?"

Ikaria nodded as she turned with Vanessa's starfighter, having shot down her second pirate starfighter after it rolled to try and avoid the burst of plasma rounds from Great Fox's AFB guns.

"Four bombers down, only three left ladies!" Katarra declared from the port side.

"I'm on one of them already!" Trishula declared as she fired off another bomb at one of the light cruisers while she passed it.

She was just about to get in behind one of the remaining starbombers while it made a run on the Great Fox's guns, when she watched Yumi's Arwing fly past her.

"Aragah!" Yumi shouted over the comms.

"Yumi!" Trishula yelled as she looked over and saw her ship analyst getting blasted upon.

One of the pirate's starfighters was trailing Yumi and was unleashing a constant barrage of 'energy beam' weapons. The beams of blue energy were trailing and connecting into Yumi's Arwings and had already burned through her shields.

The ship was of an unknown model or design that she was not at all familiar with, it faintly had a main body that resembled her Arwing's cockpit but it was very rounded at the front and narrow at the rear. It had four engines to propel it sticking out of the rear, and the main body was roughly twice the size of her Arwing and about a third as wide. It had four extremely large, narrow wing-like protrusions attached to the main body that were half semi-circular in shape and each featured a very large engine/thruster, that were each connected by a narrow mechanical arm to the main body, giving it a strange bird-like appearance that she had never seen before on the holo-net.

For armaments, as Yumi's Arwing was feeling, it was using two dual wielding energy beam weapons that when fired, burned into the target's shields and then stopped after a certain period, before firing again and repeating.

Yumi's fighter had taken severe damage, and as her shields buckled, the energy beams penetrated and connected to her hull, burning into and slicing off her weapons as she hard banked away to try and escape, reversing her ship and performing a U-turn.

"Sorry girls, I've gotta dock or I'm a goner!" She screamed in fear as she headed for the Great Fox.

However, her pursuer wasn't about to let her escape, in a weird twist, the whole of the ship spun around in a vertical one eighty while the wings remained motionless, the wings then flipped backwards so they were once again facing 'away' from the front of the starship, and then in an instant, all of the engines and thrusters ignited so that it launched after Yumi's starfighter with zero delay and zero loss of speed.

"Oh no you DONT!" Trishula shouted as she flew after this pirate, not about to watch her friend and ship analysist get shot down on her watch. "EAT THIS!"

She launched a powerful stream of plasma bolts at the pirate ship, expecting them to dodge and try to escape, but instead their wings clamped together, creating a 'shell-like' casing around the main body of the starfighter, so it looked like... if she remembered what Terrans called them, a hollowed out 'chicken egg' with a metal rod sticking out of the tip of it. It then wrapped itself in a strange energy shield that, instead of 'resisting' the attack... seemed to 'absorb' her attack.

She watched in disbelief as she fired off two hundred rounds and watched 'all' of them being absorbed for a short period, before it collected the energy and condensed it into four points on each of the four wings. After a few seconds they were all 'launched' at Great Fox as the fighter separated its wings and began firing on the Great Fox now, ignoring Yumi's starfighter as she was swiftly docked into the safety of the warship. The ship's shields burned a bright blue light to absorb the attack, but after a few seconds the beams burned through and connected to the hull of the ship, dealing critical burning damage to the AFB Gun Batteries.

"What kind of ship is that?" She asked in disbelief.

But she had little time to contemplate as it spun and swerved, avoiding plasma barrages and tracer rounds from the gun batteries, even as she followed in behind trying to shoot it down. After a few minutes of dogfighting where she tried to connect 'any' of her shots, but failing to do so as this pirate seemed to be anticipating her every move, it again sealed itself in a shell using its wings, and as her shots began to connect, it absorbed her plasma bolts once more, this time only a hundred as she was 'not' going to risk feeding that thing more power to use against her home.

The shots were absorbed, but this time only 'two' of the wings powered up, and launched huge energy beams at Great Fox, punching into and damaging the passing by Medium Cruiser guns on top of the warship. It then shut off its engines, spun around, fired a burst of energy beams as she flew under to try and avoid taking damage, before again, spinning around and with no loss in time, pursued her.

"Damn, who is this guy?" She asked as she swerved and dodged the energy beam weapon of the starfighter.

"I've got you girl, hang in there!" Vanessa said as she came in behind Trishula and fired off a bomb. "Bomb's away!"

Unfortunately, this pilot was seemingly 'prepared' for this surprise, as just like before, it cut its engines, spun the whole body of the ship around, doing another full vertical one eighty in space, launching a quick strike with its energy beam weapons and connecting onto the bomb 'before' it could detonate on the pirate. But it was 'just' in time to detonate and connect with Vanessa's starfighter.

"SHIT GYARAAA!" Vanessa screamed in panic as she tried to turn away, but the shockwave connected and her systems were instantly damaged from the impact.

In the time it took for the bomb to be detonated and for Vanessa's starfighter to connect with the shockwave of the explosion, the pirate starfighter had performed another vertical one eighty, and resumed pursuit of Trishula's starfighter. She swerved and dove, dodged and tried everything to get this guy off of her, but even a full flak from the plasma tracer rounds of the Great Fox as they flew along the starboard side wasn't enough to drive this guy away. Eventually they began to connect shots, and her shields instantly began to buckle.

"Only one idea left..." She muttered as she pushed her Arwing to full speed, and then slammed on her brakes.

The pirate flew past her and she took the chance to fire a bomb 'and' a barrage from her plasma guns, hoping this guy wouldn't be able to dodge both.

Her target cut their engines, did a vertical turn with their starfighter, their wings turned after so they faced the correct direction and then in an instant it sped 'away' from both her bomb 'and' her bolts.

Trishula stared in disbelief that this guy was able to so 'perfectly' calculate the correct angle to escape her attack. The reaction time they had was barely less then 'two' seconds. No mere 'pirate' could possibly act so quickly, so precisely, and with such control over their ship. She was a self-proclaimed 'Ace' of her squadron, but even 'she' couldn't move with that much control and precision.

"He's making us look like chumps!" She screamed as she pursued him as they flew at the Great Fox.

But as she flew after the target, she noticed that the pirates were suddenly fleeing the field. The Heavy Cruiser had 'finally' gotten into range of Arthur's heavy cannons, and after a short barrage the main pirate ship had seemingly had enough of this encounter. The pirate Starfighters began to scatter and the remaining ships began to flee for their lives. The ships that were not lucky to escape were now just wrecks and scraps floating in space, another debris field to join the various skeletal ship remains floating in this sector of space.

As for the pirate starfighter pilot who had run rings around Trishula and her pack, they made a run at the ship from the front, heading straight for the Titan Cannons. She pursued the pirate, not sure why they were targeting the ship head on but unwilling to let them just get away with it without a fight. She fired off more plasma bolts, shot a bomb, everything she had to try and stop this guy from doing what he was doing.

They twisted, turned and otherwise evaded every attack before steadying their aim and firing a short burst at the Titan Cannons themselves. However, it seemed 'Arthur' was the one to catch this guy off guard, as the cannon's protective shielding gates closed up and absorbed the energy beam attack, leaving nothing where they connected thanks to the Great Fox's shields protecting the hull of the vessel.

Unable to connect with the cannons, the pirate did another vertical one eighty with their ship, and sped away to join the other pirates fleeing the space battle.

"You aren't getting away from me!" Trishula yelled angrily as she tried to pursue.

"Do not pursue that ship, all Arwing pilots return to the Great Fox!" Arthur ordered.

"C-captain, you can't just..." She said, wanting to go after this guy, but she noticed as she turned to look at the ship... to see the damage that had been done to it.

Many of her guns were closing up, several had been heavily damaged and were in need of repair. Great Fox's engines had been damaged and at least 'two' were completely out of commission. There was a lot of floating scrap and fragments of ship hulls floating around the warship, and even as she looked scavenger drones were already sifting through and dragging back what valuables there were to the storage bays.

"You've done enough... we drove them off, the ship is safe... let's not push our luck." He told her. "Unfortunately, we took too much damage to the engines, we're going to have to sit here for a bit until they're all back online. We don't have enough power to quickly get us to Iktora Two."

"Then... then why did they?" She began asking, until she noticed off in the distance behind Great Fox, a group of ships flying toward them.

It appeared to be thirteen ships, seven cargo liners with five escort cruisers, one capitol ship and two corvettes. The Cargo Liners looked to be Iktoran T-1-PK Cargo Liners, smaller then Belgan transports but equipped with heavy shields. As for the escort cruisers, they appeared to be a mix of Terran cruisers and Iktoran cruisers and Belgan Corvettes. The Terran Cruisers were Heavy Cruisers, very heavily armed pieces of war. As for the lone Capitol Ship, it was clearly a Freelance Captain'd ship of Dylerian construction, almost equal in size to Great Fox and resembling a greenish/grey bird of prey with the way its wings angled outward, but it also had a strange insect 'tail-like' railgun cannon on its rear that reached up and pointed forward.

"They mistimed their assault; they were apparently going to go after the supply convoy approaching us from the rear. I just made long range contact with them, and they've agreed to join up with us and wait until our engines are restored before continuing to Iktora Two." He told her. "I've set the autopilot to move with them once our engines are back online. We'll join them and continue to Iktora Two, providing an additional escort as these supplies contain drinking water from Aquavram Prime, as well as minerals and ores still piled up from the Guntara Planets. In exchange we'll get a small commission of seventy-thousand MPC. Plus, priority salvage rights for any pirates we defeat in defense of the convoy. But for now, come on back... get some much-needed rest."

She nodded as she flew back to the warship, seeing the scavenger drones turning and going back to salvage the frigate wrecks while her fellow Arwing Pilots all headed back to the hanger.

Down in the hanger all of them exited their starships and began the long trek back to their bedrooms.

"I have no idea who that pirate was but he total'd my starfighter... my weapon systems were shot, my stabilizers nearly gave out, and I was just lucky to have made it back to the ship. If he got off another volley, I was dead..." Yumi muttered sadly. "My ship is completely out of commission for at least two days."

"At least you didn't disable your own starfighter with your own bomb!" Vanessa muttered bitterly. "My systems got scrambled and I almost got blasted by a pirate starfighter, if Arthur's ship didn't cover my dumb ass before I could restore systems and dock, I'd be dead."

Trishula sighed as she heard the complaints, but deep down she was just happy her squad mates were alive. She owed Arthur for saving Yumi and Vanessa. But still, who 'was' that guy, that wasn't an ordinary pirate starfighter pilot. They were too skilled, and that starship of theirs was obviously a custom model of some kind. It had to be, she never saw a starfighter like that before, let alone with weapons the likes she saw in action.

"Who uses 'energy beam' weaponry. Yumi, you got any idea?" She asked her analyst.

Yumi sighed as they walked up the stairs and arrived on the floor of their rooms. "Energy Beam weapons are extremely powerful and almost never used, even the Major Faction hasn't got ships that run them. Only a select number of breeds are even aware of how to create them due to the difficulty in generating enough energy to power such weapons." She explained. "I'll do some digging, see if I can come up with a lead or two, but the only ships capable of using energy beam weapons for such long durations are of the cruiser class and above. Starfighters just don't have the energy requirements unless their weapons are running external power sources."

"Well, whoever they were, that pilot had the skills and ship to match..." Katarra muttered. "They tore us to pieces... fucking damaged the Great Fox 'while' tearing into us and making us look like day one academy freshmen..."

"You're telling me, I was watching, you guys couldn't even land a single hit, how could they have reacted so quickly?" Ikaria asked, though she at least had a bit of a skip in her step.

"Don't know, such reaction times are... unnatural, almost machine-like... could have cybernetic implants or some kind of AI assisting them, but such control and reaction is 'way' beyond a normal pilot. Closest I can think of are maybe S rank Pilots, as they're experts and would easily be able to replicate such maneuvers if they had the experience to match." Katarra muttered.

"Well, whatever it was, just be glad we survived and more importantly did our job and defended the ship! Plus, by the looks of it, we'll be able to sleep in tomorrow thanks to the convoy of starships we'll be flying with." Vanessa muttered with a smile, before patting Ikaria's shoulder. "And let's give a big cheer for our newest member Ikaria for getting her combat wings. Welcome to the pack girl, you survived your first dogfight!"

"Yay!" they all cheered tiredly as they began to sperate and head to their bedrooms, with Ikaria and Trishula heading up another flight of stairs to head toward their rooms next to the captain's.

As they walked Ikaria took a tired sigh of relief as she was just glad to have made it through in one piece. She never thought she'd die, but she was still a little terrified of letting down her fellow pilots and especially Arthur in her first big engagement. She'd been in battle before, but... something about being in space was just... different. Everything was different in space when compared to the oceans of her home planet.

"You know, they say being nervous before your first space battle is a sign you'll live longer." Trishula muttered encouragingly.

"Was... was it like that for you?" Ikaria asked with a curious look.

Trishula nodded as she pulled Ikaria closer, wrapping her arm around her shoulder with a smile. "Yep... my first dogfight, my first 'real' dogfight... I was afraid. Scared of dying, scared of losing my squad mates... afraid of losing my squadron. But you get over it... you'll get over it, we all had to."

"Yawn... I'm beat..." Ikaria muttered in understanding, utterly tired... the excitement of space combat was done, but now she was left with the tiredness of being awake after only having about 'three' real hours of sleep, having spent some time lying awake due to eagerness and fear of a potential pirate raid.

"Me too... let's sleep in Arthur's bed tonight." Trishula said with a smile.

Ikaria snapped to Trishula as she headed straight to Arthur's room. "But what happened to 'keeping things professional in space' while on the job?"

"You heard him, we're going to be traveling with a convoy, pirates don't like to attack heavily armed convoys unless they have the numbers advantage. They won't 'dare' attack two massive Freelance Captain'd ships with Belgan, Terran and even Iktoran escorts. We'll be relatively safe, and we're stuck here until our engines are back to full... besides, I'm dead tired and I need my boyfriend's scent to keep me comforted after that encounter." She called back. "Plus, you think he's going to complain if two beautiful girls walk into his room, strip naked and lie in bed with him after a long day? Come on... I'm tired, let's go to bed already."

Ikaria sighed again as she was also in agreement, she was too tired to care. So, she walked after Trishula and after only a moment, walked into Arthur's room. They noticed he was in bed and was lying sideways, dead to the world around him and fast asleep in bed, apparently clad only in his boxers.

The Aquavram sighed as he looked really cute in bed, the way he slept, the content, peaceful look on his sleeping face was really cute to her. It was hard to believe that probably minutes ago he was screaming orders and commanding the ship in the heat of battle.

But she sighed as she saw Trishula stripping down to nude status and chucking her uniform and undergarments into the clothes bin, and she too stripped to nude status. She always slept in the nude to begin with, so it was second nature.

After they were done, they both headed to the bed, and Trishula got in behind Arthur while Ikaria was allowed to have his front. She noticed on the side sitting on a little pedestal, was the Azurite Ocean Gemstone... one of the sacred treasures of her breed. It just sat there in Arthur's room, a token of Ikaria's love for him, and a symbol of her tie to the royal family. It put a little smile on her that he had it on a little pedestal of its own, simple as it was, it looked like he treasured it deeply.

"Night Ikaria... or should I say... sister girlfriend?" Trishula muttered tiredly.

"Night sister girlfriend..." Ikaria whispered back.

Both of them instantly fell asleep, Trishula gently wrapping her arms around Arthur's body and pressing her D-cup breasts against his back, while Ikaria snuggled into Arthur's arms and gently wiggled his hands to cup her small B-cup breasts and grip her waist. She enjoyed it when he held her body in that way, even if they were just sleeping.

As they all slept, Great Fox monitored and observed them, before adjusting the temperature to ensure it was comfortable for them all, and then whispering, in its usual gentle and warm tone, [Pleasant Dreams... captain.]

While her captain and his pilots slept, Tony and his crew were hard at work fixing the ship and the damages it suffered, while Great Fox organized and compiled a list of salvaged materials and components from the pirate battle. She also compiled a detailed list of the ships he and his pilots destroyed and the name of the gang for records so that they could be given their allotted reward for defeating pirate ships and making the space lanes safer, however slightly. She also coordinated with the fleet captain of the convoy and prepared to join the formation once her engines were fixed and fully operational. Furthermore, she compiled another list of the damages he suffered, the damages his starfighters took, and... despite knowing it was an accident... fined Ikaria two thousand five hundred MPC from her account, pending Arthur's approval, for shooting Great Fox with a bomb for the 'friendly fire'. After about four hours the engines were ready to fire and the ship once more was underway to Iktora Two, though now on a delayed time table since they had to move at a slower pace with the convoy.

In the morning hours of the ship Arthur began to wake up, wondering why he was feeling so content and relaxed despite only sleeping for probably a few hours. Then as he slowly opened his eyes, feeling how 'heavy' his eyelids were as well as painful, clearly screaming at him to return to sleep, he felt a strange cool fleshy skin-like substance that was rubbery and firm to the touch. He instinctively gave it a squeeze and heard a quiet 'moan' of pleasure in his ears.

After a few moments his eyes began to adjust and he looked to see that he was not in fact 'alone' in his bed, and was in fact... sleeping next to not one, but 'two' beautiful girls in his bed. One of whom he was holding and was facing him, sleeping soundly and peacefully, and not waking up at his hands instinctively gripping and squeezing her small and soft, but still very firm and cool to the touch butt cheeks. Her eyes were closed and the tip of her Tailfin and Headfin poked out from under the blankets, while she snuggled against his chest while her hands were clasped together under their shared pillow.

As he noticed Ikaria's cool-to-the-touch body he also felt a pair of furry arms wrapped around his waist, and 'very' large and squishy orbs pressed against his back while a furry cheek wrested against his. He glanced to see Trishula's sleeping form next to him, breathing 'deeply' through her nose as she silently and subtly tightened her grip on his body in her dream. He could also feel their legs were having a slow but equally silent competition as they each tried to wiggle and wrap around his under the sheets, trying to claim dominance over his lower half while the upper halves were seemingly content with their chosen positions. The simple fact that he could not feel a single article of clothing between them, thanks to feeling Trishula's nipples pressing into his back, and Ikaria's breasts squished slightly against his chest, told him they were both nude.

'Something tells me I'm not getting up this morning...' He thought to himself before he shrugged and decided to enjoy the slice of heaven that he felt himself lying in. 'Eh, whatever... a guy will 'never' complain if he finds himself going to bed alone one night, and then waking up the next morning to feeling two beautiful girls naked in bed with him. Sides-'

"Great Fox... tell Mevik if any of Trishula's Pack skip breakfast, its cause we're sleeping in after last night... and also, me... I'll get up when I'm ready..." He muttered quietly, hoping the ship would hear him, not wanting to disturb the two beauties in bed with him.

[As you wish Captain, is there anything else I may help you with?] She asked in a low but loving tone.

"Yea... are we underway, we moving yet with the convoy?"

[Affirmative captain, the autopilot has begun moving us with the convoy. We are now ten hours away from Iktora Two. Is there anything else you would like me to do?]

"Yea... don't disturb me until I wake up... on... my own... kay?" He yawned heavily as he leaned back into the pillow and closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling of his two girlfriends sensing the silent 'shift' in the bed and proceeding to tighten their grip and snuggle deeper into him in the bed.

[Of course, I will make that a high priority...] She replied as she closed the window so the planetary system's sun did not shine any light into the bedroom and once more dimming the lighting to sleeping levels. [Pleasant Dreams again... my captain.]

"Yawwwn... hank... ou..." He moaned tiredly as he drifted back into sleep, before he zoned out of the galaxy and was back in dream land with his girlfriends.

Fast asleep the ship once again maintained its watch over him and those aboard her working for him and serving her. His pilots all slept and snored in their beds that morning after the night of fighting to protect Great Fox from pirate attacks. Meanwhile, Tony and his family worked in shifts to get the ship back into as peak condition as they could while on the move. Mevik the cook took notice of how 'busy' the crew was and instead of his usual routine of making a breakfast/lunch/dinner menu instead made miniature meals that consisted of a little of each, using his expertise to ensure everyone could eat heartily before either quickly returning to work if they were Tony's family, or whenever they got up, Trishula's Pack after sleeping in to recover.

As for Arthur himself, well he 'eventually felt himself no longer dead tired and slowly was waking up alongside his two sleeping beauties.

"Hawwrnnnn morning you two..." He whispered tiredly as he leaned up from the slice of heaven he was feeling before.

"Yawwmmmorning Captain..." Ikaria whispered as she rubbed her eyes, feeling like she'd had the best sleep of her life that morning.

"Mornin Arthur... sorry we snuck in but... heeernnnngyawe thought it was alright... since you said we'd be traveling in a convoy." Trishula moaned as she stretched her arms to the side and in the air, arching her back and pushing her D-cup breasts out.

"Heh... I'm never going to complain about seeing you two show up randomly in my bed one morning, especially when I get to feel such lovely 'ladies' on either side of me." He chuckled as he wrapped his arms around either of them and cupped both of their breasts at the same time.

"Ahh~!" Ikaria moaned as he gave her breast a gentle squeeze, blushing as she wasn't expecting 'that' so soon after he woke up.

"Aahha... ooh our captain is taking ah~ advantage of his sweet... innocent starfighter pilots!" Trishula giggled seductively as she leaned against him and reached up to grip his hand, encouraging him to squeeze and massage her breasts more.

"Hehe... can't blame me, when you show up in the nude?" He teased as he continued to play with them, before regretfully letting them go and saying they had to leave and he had to get to the bridge.

After they all got up and he stripped to go take a shower with the two of them, resisting the urge to have some 'fun' with them in the bathroom after the teasing in the bed, they were cleaned and Arthur ran to the mess to grab something to eat before just as quickly heading to the bridge. Mevik had prepared a series of of 'brunch' meals for the crew, and instead of eating in his private room ate in the mess, wolfing down his food quickly so he could get to the bridge. After dining, thanking Mevik and running off, surprising Trishula and Ikaria who were both slower and just arrived to the mess after he was leaving, he ran the hallways, up the stairs, down a corridor or two and walked into the bridge at last to sit down and log himself back in and overlook his ship's status.

"Alright, gimme a status Great Fox. How are we doing in terms of supplies?"

[Greetings Captain Arthur, I hope your sleep was pleasant.] Great Fox started out in a warm tone before multiple windows were brought up for him to examine and read. [After the last encounter with the pirate fleet ambush, we have nearly exhausted our AFB ammunition and only have sixteen thousand, seven hundred and twenty-two AFB Plasma Tracer rounds remaining. We still carry eighty-seven heavy cruiser plasma missiles, and an addition one hundred and twenty-six medium cruiser plasma missiles. Titan Cruiser batteries remain in high stock in proportion to how frequently we fire the main guns. We are also low on Bombs for the Arwings at five hundred and fifty in stockpile. Plasma Cartridges for the Arwings are also in need of restocking as we only have thirty-thousand in reserve.]

He groaned as he saw how little ammo he had, his ship really burned through plasma tracer rounds for the AFB gun batteries and heavy cruiser cannons. As for bombs, well they were pretty heavy use for the Arwings, same with their primary guns. His pilots 'really' knew how to eat through his ammo reserves.

"Ugh... and how are we in terms of fuel?"

[We still carry two thousand and seventy Hyper Gallons of Raw Galemite Liquid Fuel in reserve, this is because scavenger drones picking through the aftermath of the battle with the pirates located supplies that I have compiled for you.] She stated as another window was flung before him. [Here is the full list of what we acquired.]

He bent forward and examined it, smiling as he was pleased to see the loot from that pirate fleet was quite valuable. The aftermath of the battle showed he shot down the three Frigates, one of the Light Cruisers, all of the Starbombers and twenty of the Starfighters. From them his scavenger drones recovered about a hundred Hyper Gallens of Raw Galemite Liquid Fuel, extending his fuel reserves and saving him some fuel. They also recovered a few Light Cruiser Cannons, a few AFB gun turrets from the frigates, some medium plasma cannons, some spare ammunition that his ship couldn't use, explosives that his ship had no use for, various ship parts that were still in serviceable condition, and some ship alloys that could be sold for a profit since they were in 'good' condition compared to the scrap floating around the sector. From the starfighters and Starbombers, he got some fighter scrap and ship parts, mostly damaged weapons and unspent ammo cartridges. In addition, his scavenger drones also recovered a few stolen goods, mostly rare supplies, ship components and refined metals from various convoys that were worth quite a fortune.

All in all, the loot he'd gained and could sell, minus the fuel and parts he marked to keep, netted him an additional two hundred and eighty-seven grand in credits. As he looked at the frigates and cruiser, starfighters and starbombers he'd shot down, he could only smirk as he was happy to see he'd net quite a sum from them. The salvage had netted him almost two hundred grand, but the bounties on the pirates had added even more since they were a 'notorious' pirate gang among the raiders. For the three Frigates he'd blown up, he got fifteen grand each, the cruiser netted him another twenty grand, and the starbombers and fighters together gave him another ten grand. An additional bonus of twenty grand was awarded him for 'protecting a convoy from harm by acting as a decoy'. As for the stolen/recovered goods he had, they were refined materials meant for ship construction, so they were worth quite a bit, but his ship estimated their value at one hundred thousand MPC.

"In other words, thank you for taking the heat so the convoy didn't have to." He muttered. "How much in total did we earn?"

[With the bounties offered adding up to seventy-five thousand, plus the two hundred and eighty-seven thousand from salvage sale when we arrive on Iktora Two, the additional twenty thousand bonus for protecting the convoy, however unintentionally, and an additional one hundred thousand from recovered stolen goods we can sell, we have made a profit of four hundred and eighty-two thousand MPC from the battle.]

"That will go a long way to helping pay for supplies." He stated as he brought up a window and made a call to Tony down in the engine room. "Tony, Tony are you there?"

Minutes later and and he saw that it wasn't 'Tony' who responded but one of his sons, if he recalled it was Donbelbert. [Captain Arthur, sorry but my dad is currently taking a short sleep, he and mom and a few others were working on the engines for the past nine hours.] He said as he could see just behind him one of Tony's daughters lifting up a large barrel of fuel and carrying it out of sight.

"Understood, what's the status of our engines?" He asked.

[Captain, the engines took quite a beating from the Heavy Cruiser's kinetic cannons, we've managed to repair most of the internal damage and did a few bypasses so they'll operate, but until we land, we won't be able to perform external repairs.] He reported as he tapped on the screen and showed a schematic of the engine's exterior frame. [The frames took a lot of physical damage, nothing we can't fix and nothing too serious, but we're registering some damage to the fuel connection canisters and the ignition ports, nothing serious, but the longer it stays damaged the more damage it will accrue from the engines running.]

"I see, anything I can do to help you guys out?"

Donbelbert was about to respond when he looked behind him at his sister calling to him, [Hey bro, where's the number seventeen wrench? I can't find it and I need to refit this fuel pipe line!] she shouted off screen, [You left it sitting next to engine six's fuel reserve canister!]

He shook his head before returning to Arthur. [If we could shut off any of the engines we need to work on while traveling and then use something like a 'scavenger drone' but designed to affect repairs, that would allow us to perform on the fly repairs with minimal loss of speed. The benefit of your ship's engines being so large is that even if one is shut down the others can easily pick up the slack. Maybe ask Kiandra if she can work on an Arwing Module that can affect repairs for the Great Fox that we can pilot! If she can come up with something, it would be a great help in the future.]

"Got it, in the meantime fix what you can, and tell Tony when you can I said thanks for the hard work you guys do here." He said.

[No problem, Captain, we'll get things back in operation. But Yumi's starfighter is going to take a bit longer, damage from energy beam weapons isn't easy to repair.] Donbelbert said as he signed out.

"Hrmm... energy beam weapons..." He muttered. "An Energy Beam weapon attachment was considered a 'legendary status' weapon, they went for a 'fortune' back in my old life. Like real world money and no less than three grand 'cash' in person for the trade due to how powerful their damage output was and how rare they were as a drop from enemy ships." He then rubbed his chin as he thought 'hard', trying to recall energy weapons and 'any' details about where they came from or dropped. "They only ever dropped from 'rare ships', only detail ever written about them were being labeled as 'TECH Ships', because of how rare they were. Can't remember much but, I 'definitely' remember TECH being a shortened version for the 'word' it stood for."

[I'm sorry Captain, I didn't hear what you said, did you have a request?] Great Fox as warmly.

"Yea, contact Kiandra, I'm in need of her services." He said, putting the thoughts of the ship aside for now.

For all he knew, this was just a random pirate ship that had a rare armament attached to it, or perhaps it was a 'very skilled' and high ranking starfighter pilot operating a custom starfighter. Stranger occurrences have happened, and often players would 'throw' themselves onto enemy player ships to try and destroy them if they were equipped with such rare weapons in the hopes of acquiring it as loot.

[As you wish, Kiandra on screen.]

He saw another holo-window appear for him and saw Kiandra in her lab turning to him while she was doing some work off screen. [Yes Captain, what you need?] She asked.

"Kiandra, Tony's family asked me to see if you could come up with some kind of modular attachment for the Arwings that would enable them to perform on the fly repairs to the Great Fox while in space. Figured I'd ask you to make that a priority and see if you can come up with something." He told her.

[Oh, you want me to work on 'that' project huh, well I'm just doing some brainstorming now on some of my other ideas I had in mind. Since Ikaria's submersible is in your hanger bay, I was able to examine it and look at some Aquavram Tech of 'superior' quality compared to what I purchased.] She said with a nod. [Well, that makes one of my ideas easier to implement, honestly, I was wracking my brain trying to affect repairs to starfighters 'during' combat while 'in' space. Three days in a row I've been brainstorming, but if we're affecting repairs to Great Fox while in flight and not under fire instead of the Arwings during combat that makes it so much easier. Alright I'll start brainstorming again and maybe borrow some of Tony's tools for references to come up with ideas, but when I have a working model for testing, I'll let you know Captain Arthur!]

"Thank you, Kiandra." He said as she closed the comm channel. "Anything else to report Great Fox?"

[There is one minor report, it concerns Ikaria Garnetica Aquavara, your... 'consort/pilot'.] The ship said in a hesitant tone, as if unsure of how to 'classify' Ikaria to him. [During the battle she shot down a Pirate Starfighter, however she did so at the expense of one of her bombs colliding with the Great Fox. Due to this friendly fire, I have 'fined' her two thousand five hundred MPC from her account, however as she is your 'consort'... or girlfriend, and as she is directly serving as your starfighter pilot using a 'temporary pilot's license', you have the right to either enforce the fine or waive it.]

He actually raised his eyebrow at that, the ship was fining Ikaria over the fact she 'misfired' her bomb and it hit the ship? "Uh, did the bomb do any actual damage to the ship?"

[Other than shield damage, negative, however I have fined her due to the careless use of her bomb and lack of attention to her surroundings. Ammunition isn't cheap, and each bomb we must replace costs your account two thousand five hundred MPC per bomb. Furtheremore, even if it was 'heat of battle', she should still have paid attention to her surroundings and avoided firing the bomb unless she knew it would not detonate on Great Fox. Even if it is an accident, friendly fire is 'still' friendly fire, and as per Starfighter Pilot contracts, article three, section six, subsection four, paragraph two; any pilot contracted to a Freelance Captain and/or Freelance Captain'd Ship carrying out a military action on behalf of the Captain or Captain'd ship, that results in friendly fire (however minor), is to be fined for every shot of/and type of ammunition and must reimburse the captain's account for all MPC spent replenishing said ammunition used.]

He shook his head as he summed up what his ship said, Ikaria misfired her bomb in her excitement and during the heat of the fight, accidentally hitting the ship and doing shield damage. Now the ship was fining her for the friendly fire, specifically the amount it costs to replace the bomb she fired.

"Did Trishula bring this to you by chance?"

[Negative, however she did shout at Ikaria for the friendly fire, therefore in order to fully waive the fine, you and she must negotiate over it with her in a Space Court Martial.]

"Is that really necessary, it's just a 'misfire', it was an accident. You said so yourself, the only damage we suffered was in 'shield damage'."

[It may be a minor issue to you, however as your Ship AI, I must take every matter seriously. With that in mind though, as you are the Captain, you have the right to waive this fine entirely, as this is your ship and the Arwings are yours by direct ownership, as are the ammunition. What will you do Captain?]

He shook his head as he knew it was just an accident, but he also didn't want his ship to feel like Ikaria was getting off scot-free for said accident. "How about this, I talk to her about it, tell her to say she's sorry, and have her work off the debt by making her patrol in her Arwing for a few hours a day, will that suffice?"

[That will be sufficient punishment, as her temporary license only permits her a daily wage of seven hundred and ninety MPC per active service day. I will schedule her flying patrols for three days following breakfast, lunch, and before dinner until she fully pays off the fine. She will be required to fly minimum ten hours per day to meet the demand in order to qualify for the pay because of the fine.]

He leaned back and took a deep breath, before getting up and leaving the bridge to take a short rest and walk around the ship, needing to rest after everything that happened. As he walked, he came across a window that gave him a view of space outside the safety of the ship's walls, and could see the numerous ships in the convoy Great Fox had accompanied for protection and protective services.

He paused and looked, smiling as despite his Great Fox dwarfing most of the ships, he felt safety and even security in the company of the convoy. It wasn't that he wasn't confident his ship would be truly safe in space on its own, no the last battle proved it, she held her own as she did in his previous life, as she did in the journey to the Guntara Sector. But he knew even as strong as she was, she wasn't 'invincible', eventually she'd meet a match that she could not overcome. So again, seeing the defenseless cargo liners, their cruiser escorts, and the fellow Freelance Captain'd ship flying alongside his Great Fox added that security and peace of mind.

"Nice to be in a convoy again, isn't it Great Fox?" He asked his ship.

[Queary, what do you mean by 'nice' in regards to us being a part of another convoy of ships?] She asked him warmly.

"I mean, we aren't flying alone..." He told her. "Don't you... ever find it lonely whenever we're flying on our own Great Fox, no other starships around unless they're passing us by or about to attack us? No ships to fly alongside... and if they are they're 'unmanned' and have nothing to talk about besides... 'ship statuses' or so?"

Great Fox was quiet as he glanced up and to his right, having gotten used to knowing she had a 'camera' somewhere nearby, and watched as it turned to look at the convoy for a few seconds before returning to look at him. [I... suppose it is nice. But you must remember Captain, I have little to concern myself with when it comes to other starships unless you request it of me. My sole focus is to be your ship AI and to serve you to the best of my abilities in whatever capacity I am able to.] She stated, before continuing but in a 'warmer' tone, [However, it 'is' in your words... 'nice' to be able to talk to you and communicate with you. I prefer the times where 'we' talk... over communicating with 'other' starship AIs or even 'other' captains.]

"Oh, why's that?" He asked, curious about how his ship interacts with other ship AIs or other captains, or even other people, breeds, officials, etc.

[Most starship AIs tend to only communicate essential details, such as 'this ship's shield strength is at one hundred percent of capacity' or 'this ship is on a fuel resupply mission' if they're automated. They do not 'converse' beyond necessity data required to convey their purpose or mission parameters. When conversing with 'other' captains, officials, or other personal at your behest, many individuals in question do not... 'converse' beyond requesting specific details, offering only necessary information, and keeping any communications to a minimum for maximum efficiency. While it is efficient... it leaves much... 'quiet time' between my conversations with you.]

"Huh... I didn't realize you... 'enjoyed' our talks that much..." He whispered in surprise.

[After the numerous years we spent together... my AI has 'evolved' to suit your personality... I became more... 'talkative'... especially in recent days. You found it pleasing so... I continued to adapt in that manner. However, this adaptation to make assisting you more 'effective' has resulted in... as you Terrans say, a lot of 'down time' between the periods where You and I converse and I can assist you, and when we do not converse or you are asleep. It is not unpleasant, but I find the time we are together on the bridge more 'preferable'.]

He nodded as he was always curious why she sounded so 'human' when talking to him, especially the longer they spent together. "Uhm, I'm curious... can you... no wait, better question, do they make any android bodies that are essentially empty shells until an AI interfaces with them? Like how 'you' interface with Blue Fox or external vehicles you are given permission to interface with?"

[Checking database... confirmed, there are 'numerous' manufacturing companies that create android bodies and mechanical bodies that do not make use of an installed 'AI' system and instead can be interfaced with a ship's AI. These units are restricted in sale to high-ranking military officers of local system governments, who are Vice Admiral and above. The only exception to this rule, are the Freelance Captains who have express purchase rights. To this end, only a limited number of planetary system sectors can produce them.] Great Fox stated.

"Would 'Dyleria' be one?"

[Affirmative, they do sell android units to Freelance Captains, details of these units are classified and only given to Freelance Captains while planetside on Dyleria One.]

"Alright, well when we have an opportunity to visit Dyleria One for any reason, I can look into purchasing an android body for you if you want. That way you can join us planetside whenever we leave the ship and you can feel like you're with us instead of just a disembodied voice attached to the ship."

[I... see... I was... not anticipating the... idea of having my own body as an option.] Great Fox said in a somewhat shy yet slightly 'eager' tone. [I... would like to point out that... having my own body would not... improve my capabilities to perform as your Ship AI, Captain Arthur.]

"Are you saying you don't want one?"

[No... I am merely... stating that having my own body would not improve my abilities to perform ship duties as your Ship AI. But... I am not 'against' the idea...] She said again, but in a very shy, somewhat hesitant tone this time. [If... you want me to have my own body, I will accept your decision, as I would 'still' be interfaced with the ship's systems, it would just be another system for me to interface with. All I am merely saying is... it would be a... 'Financial investment' that... has very little return when it comes to improving my capabilities as your Ship AI, or when it concerns improving the ship's abilities.]

He chuckled as his ship was sounding embarrassed at the idea of having her own body for whatever idea. But he just decided to let it be for now, "We'll think about it, for now we have other things to focus on... like getting to Iktora Two."

[Affirmative...] She said, though sounding 'slightly' relieved as she said so.

He continued to walk through the ship's corridors, idly wondering what he should do when he found himself walking past the library again, and remembered the time he was in the ship's lounge room that his Great Fox also had an exercise room and even a pool room.

"Hey Great Fox, can you show me where the exercise room is?"

[Please follow the blue line.] She replied

He watched as a blue line lit up along the wall and followed it as it turned him around, down a flight of stairs, turned left and walked along a corridor that went well past the lounge room. After another few minutes of walking, he eventually found himself approaching a door that, as usual, featured the symbol of Great Fox's insignia but now surrounding the simplistic art of a pair of weights. Smirking as he knew he should've expected to see Great Fox's insignia on literally 'every' door, but seeing his ship's insignia on a new location always seemed to get an amusing chuckle out of him. After approaching the door opened and he looked around in interest at the new location.

The room in question was a spaciously sized one by the standards he'd come to know of the rooms aboard Great Fox. It was about fifteen meters by twenty meters by six meters. The low ceiling didn't matter much to him when he noticed all of the variously bolted down exercising equipment littering the room. Along one wall were treadmills built into the floor with handles to separate individuals. Dotting a full third of the room were various weight-lifting stations featuring weight discs, some dumbbells of varying weights, a couple of bed-like frames to do sit ups and mats for push-ups. There were some boxing bags and punching gloves, and even a little raised boxing arena to allow individuals to spar. For the remaining third of the room were various mats used for stretching and martial arts combat training. All along the room were various water stations with signs at regular intervals with inspirational messages like 'No Pain, No Gain', or 'You Can't Climb Higher, Without Taking Your First Step', and other messages like 'Don't Forget to Hydrate' to remind people to take breaks.

"Neat..." He muttered as his first glance around showed off the equipment.

But he was also not alone, around the room in various stations were Trishula and her girls performing different types of exercises. He saw Trishula was at one of the weight-lifting equipment pumping iron, lifting two fifty-pound weights for a total of a hundred, and showing off her muscular body. Vanessa was with Ikaria in the boxing arena, both of them going through a simple boxing match to help toughen and train the Aquavram. Yumi was over at the mats with Katarra going through a martial arts exercise. All of them were wearing skin-tight suits to cover their chest and hips but otherwise all they had on were skin-tight shorts, shirts, and socks with light shoes on. The only exception was Ikaria who was barefoot, while she and Vanessa were wearing special rubber safety helmets to protect their heads from their strikes.

"Captain!" Yumi shouted as she noticed him walking in, yipping in surprise as everyone stopped what they were doing to pay attention to him.

"Captain Arthur... what a surprise!" Trishula said quickly as she put the weights down to stand at attention. "Sorry we didn't notice you earlier!"

"At ease girls, I just came to check out the room and maybe get in a bit of exercise myself, I haven't exactly been doing any regular exercise work in a while." He muttered as he remembered the 'last' time he... well exercised was a LONG time ago in his previous life.

"Well, this is the room as you can see." Trishula said as she walked over to him and the other girls nodded and returned to their training routines.

"Come on Ikaria you can hit harder, I can still feel my cheek!" Vanessa yapped loudly at the Aquavram, the Belgan blocking and punching back.

He noticed Ikaria was panting heavily as she hopped and punched, doing little bounces on her feet as she traded jabs and blocked Vanessa's blows.

"We're training Ikaria up, just because she's a Fighter Pilot now doesn't mean she can't skip on maintaining her body." Trishula said. "Fighter Pilots need to be as physically fit and mentally disciplined, even if she's going to be flying around in an Arwing. Course while she is a trained warrior by Aquavram Standards we need to bring her up to speed for 'our' squadron."

"Come on Ikaria, harder, you call that a punch, I slapped my ex harder than that!" Vanessa yelled as she blocked two of Ikaria's jabs.

Ikaria punched, jabbed, blocked and jabbed some more, pushing into Vanessa's guard and trying to land a few good hits into the Mixed Belgan. But after about ten seconds of him and Trishula watching a holographic bell appeared in front of them and a loud 'ding' sounded, indicating that they were to seperated. Both lowered their gloves and backed up into their corners were two soft chairs raised up for them to sit, accompanied by glasses of water and cold towels to boot.

"I hope you aren't running her too ragged..." He whispered as Ikaria looked like she was struggling up in the boxing arena.

"She's fine captain, most times we just have her do stretches, lift weights and maybe do some martial arts sparing, stuff she's familiar with to train her." Trishula said with a smirk and a wink. "We just have her doing the boxing now because it will help build her endurance up. She'll get up to our standard in no time. It's really nice your exercise room is as varied as it is, as one thing starfighter pilots struggle with on extended space voyages is getting regular exercise to maintain our physique."

"Yea, best we could manage before we jumping jacks as you Terrans call it, and other stretching motions, alongside the regular push-ups and sit-ups." Katarra called out.

Nodding as he watched Ikaria getting back up to go into another round with Vanessa, he himself decided to head over to the treadmills to get some running in, not feeling like trying to lift weights when he saw how much Trishula was lifting. Trishula decided to also join him after she replaced the weights.

"Oh, before you go exercising you need to change into workout clothes Captain." Trishula said as she pointed at a changing room that he didn't even notice the first time.

Looking over at the door he nodded and headed to the men's side while Trishula started up her treadmill to set it up. Inside the changing room he saw various lockers each the size of what he would see in a high school, sectioned off into threes per locker. Opening up one he saw a standard uniform to wear, a skin-tight shirt, trousers, socks, and thin lightweight shoes all with the Great Fox insignia on them. Quickly changing out of his current outfit and into the new uniform, he wasn't surprised to see the uniform was a perfect fit. It seemed the outfit stretched a little, but it was 'designed' to stretch.

Dressed to work out he headed out and to the treadmills again, getting on the one next to Trishula and clicking a few buttons to pick the speed.

"So how long do you girls usually work out every day?" He asked Trishula as they both jogged.

"About... three or so hours, more if the downtime is really long and we don't expect to be attacked!" She said with a bit of a pant in her breath. "I've noticed you don't come down here often, any reason why?"

"Eh... mostly just forgetting, I often didn't uh... 'have' the time to get regular exercise 'before'." He said in a very 'dull' tone so she got the message.

"Ah." She replied, with a slow and knowing nod, realizing he was talking about his past life. "Well, it's nice to see you down here working out with us."

"Yea, though... I may do some work outs; you know when I'm alone and you girls aren't around." He told her. "It's nothing personal, it's just... you know, just... uh how much can you lift out of curiosity?"

"About two hundred and fifty pounds both arms if I'm pushing myself, but on average I lift about a hundred and seventy to stay in shape." She said nonchalantly. "I do fifty pounds per arm to warm myself up before moving on to the bigger weights. Why, how much do you lift?"

"Uh... you know... uhm... maybe, 'thirty' pounds per arm... and that's it. I've uhm, you know never really 'committed' to working out regularly." He muttered feebly in embarrassment that his girlfriend was a practical body builder by his standards while he basically had noodle arms to her.

"Heh... you could fool me; you can hold and lift 'me' well enough." She giggled with a playful wink, not trying to hurt his male pride at being stronger than him.

She had gotten used to the fact that he wasn't from 'her' universe or galaxy, so hearing he wasn't a regular exerciser was just another detail to add to the list of things she learned about him. She could tell though he wasn't a body builder person, but his body was still in shape enough to be healthy. Besides, even if she outclassed his muscles, he was a 'drink runner' before he became her captain, whereas she was a military trained Belgan serving as his starfighter pilot. Naturally she'd be stronger.

There was no comparing the two of them in that department, although...

She smirked as she took the chance to glance at his legs and arms, if she 'helped' him get a bit stronger, she wouldn't mind given the benefits he would get when it came to the bedroom. Thinking, she nonchalantly said, "If you want, I can help train you in our spare time."

"Help train?" He asked her.

"Yea, you know... just 'saying'... if you want to put on a bit more muscle for 'any' reason... I can give you a... 'reward' or two." She said with a cheeky smile, whispering the last part with a very playful smile and a sly wink.

To emphasize the point, she took a chance to make a loop with two fingers, and then poked her index finger through it, winking to get her message across.

"I mean... I won't say 'no'..." He replied with a nervous blush, but at the same time some 'spicy' images flew through his mind as he pictured the two of them in the room.

He pictured the two of them alone in the exercise room, with her wearing a sexy outfit and saying something seductive, telling him to 'push up' a hundred times while doing 'push ins' under him.

"Heh, don't think too hard on it, if you want me to help just say so and I'll come train you so you can build up those muscles of yours. Besides... the stronger you get, the longer 'we' get to go in bed... just saying." She said with a 'very' sultry tone, whispering the last part again as she resumed jogging with him in silence.

They continued to jog for a while longer, and during that time they would take little breaks to grab water and catch their breaths. During their time Ikaria was still boxing with Vanessa, helping build her endurance and bringing her up to her pack's standard. Katarra and Yumi stopped doing martial arts and began to do some weight lifting like Trishula had done before. All the while the ship continued to fly on its course and go through the usual routine of making sure everything was up to standard and waiting to see if she was needed or if Arthur needed to be alerted of something. After about two hours of working out the girls started to call it for the day, and they all changed out of their clothes to go shower and cool off before returning to their standard uniforms, their exercise uniforms drenched in varying levels of sweat.

When it was just the two of them, they decided to move on from jogging and 'finally' Arthur headed over to lift some weights for about another hour, before they would go eat dinner and then head off to bed. Trishula went and checked to make sure her squadron and Ikaria were out and Great Fox confirmed they were alone, and would probably 'be' alone for the foreseeable future, before she went to help him work out in proper.

"I've never done real weight lifting so, sorry if what I can do is featherweight to you." He said as he grabbed two thirty-pound dumbbells to start with.

"No problem, in fact, I have an idea to help 'ease' you into lifting, 'heavier' weights." She said with a smile as she walked around to be in front of him, holding forty-five pounders in each hand and putting them down.

She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a sly wink as he prepared to start lifting, she then whispered, "Alright, here's your 'first' level of inspirational reward from your trainer... lift them together, up and down like you would normally. And for each time you lift them above my shoulders... and I'll know you did it right when I feel them touch my shoulders... I'll give you a kiss. And the longer you keep going without breaking pace, the longer my lips... stay connected with yours."

"And... the 'forty-five pound' weights you picked up?" He asked as she inched closer to his face.

"Hmhmhm... let's start with the thirty pounders. If you can lift them a total of two hundred times... I take my top off, and you get to feel my 'girls' while you lift, as we make out." She giggled with a wink. "But if you stop, you have to start over."

"Alright... try keeping count with me, so I don't lose track." He muttered playfully as she nodded.

He started lifting and true to her word, once she felt the two dumbbells lift to her shoulders, she leaned forward and planted her lips on his. Her soft mouth and the fur coating her body tickling his skin as he could smell a bit of her sweaty odor from her workout that day tickling his nose. But again, true to her word, as he began to get into the rhythm of lifting sixty pounds while making out with his Purebred Belgan girlfriend, she continued to kiss and lick his tongue, playfully moaning each time he lifted to keep count.

"Mhmon... mhrwo... mmhrem... mmmphr..." She moaned into his mouth, helping 'inspire her boyfriend by keeping a tight hold on him and also getting some 'private' fun with him.

After welcoming Ikaria into their romantic relationship, she knew she would eventually have to accept sharing her captain's time with her, so she happily decided to take any private time with him in bold strides. She wasn't planning on anything 'big' that day, they were still in potential danger so she had to be relatively on alert to defend the ship if needed. So, as she closed her eyes, simply enjoying her make out session with Arthur, she mentally kept count of how many lifts he did. Even if this was an excuse to kiss him, she was still going to help encourage him to improve his body and physique. She only wanted what was best for him.

"Mmphfif-mphsi... mmphfi-mpsevn..." She chuckled happily into her kiss, feeling the dumbbells being lifted to her shoulders.

Twenty minutes later in which she only separated from his lips to breathe properly, before resuming kissing him, and she felt him reach two hundred, but he was panting a bit. The constant kissing combined with his needing to work on improving his muscles leaving him somewhat short of breath.

"Mmphaa... two hundred... nicely done... Arthur!" She said with a smile. "Knew you had it in you."

"Yea... just... let me... catch my breath." He whispered tiredly as he put the weights down and panted in earnest.

She nodded as she grabbed a glass of water for him and her, letting them take a drink and catch his breath before the next part. Smirking, she waited until he was done and they put their cups in a little stand so they could be taken by the ship and cleaned. Afterwards she went around his back and reached around to grip his shirt. "Alright, time for stage 'two', as promised, you kept it up so now comes your 'next' challenge with an added reward incentive."

"What are you-?" He started saying before she swiftly lifted his shirt up and revealed his bare chest. While it hardly had six-pack abs it still was healthy and she smiled at his sudden surprised look.

"Well how 'else' are you going to enjoy your new 'reward incentive' to work out?" She chuckled as she reached down with one hand to start lifting her own shirt off, throwing away his shirt with the other.

Shirt off she let her beautifully soft, firm and wonderfully bountiful D-cup breasts to bounce freely. Her nipples were erect from her hormones urging her to get in bed with him, but she kept them under control. As much as she'd like to start practicing having babies, now wasn't the time. They were exercising, but that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy the time with him.

"Now... let's start lifting the 'forty-five' pounders." She whispered seductively as she bent down, picked up the dumbbells and handed them to him, before reaching around and holding herself close to him, pressing her breasts into his chest. "Here's your work out challenge... same as before, lift them up to my shoulders... if I feel them, I stay like this and keep making out with you, and letting you feel my boobs against your bare chest. If you can make it to three hundred... I'll let you plow me in the shower room. But if you lose pace or stop, well... that's where our workout ends for tonight."

"Damn, you really know how to make me suffer!" He muttered as he felt her soft breasts squished up against his body, trying his hardest to stay focused on holding the weights over dropping them and making out with her in full.

"Hehe... no pain, no 'gain'... now start lifting Arthur." She whispered, smelling his odor and feeling turned on.

Damn her Purebred genes, her body had become so accustomed to his scent that she was actually struggling to stay focused and not just let him plow her right then and there.

As a Purebred Belgan, the more intimate and more accustomed a member of her breed became to their lover, the stronger effect they had when it came to sexual intercourse. There may be long periods of time between when they would become intimate, but she was 'still' feeling the urge to become intimate with him. His smell was already making her want to make out even more with him, her removing her shirt wasn't helping.

'He is lucky he's a Purebred Terran, because 'damn' if we were both Belgan Purebreds, we would have skipped the whole 'work out session' and just started fucking twenty minutes ago with how I'm feeling.' She thought to herself, actually grateful that Terrans don't have those genetic quirks the Purebreds of her breed have.

As Arthur started lifting, she again began counting, kissing him as he did the first lift and pushing deeper into his mouth. Her tongue once again began playfully poking, licking, lapping at and otherwise dancing with his tongue, while she sensually moaned the count he was at when it came to lifting the weights. Her eyes closed alongside his as they continued to kiss, but she could also 'feel' the struggle his body was suffering, he was definitely breathing harder, she could feel his chest expanding a bit faster alongside his heart, but she was also proud of the fact that he was not losing pace.

Or at least not at first. He 'eventually' began to slow down, but he would pick up speed as he began to start struggling. A hundred lifts in and she could feel the telltale signs that he was almost all spent. When she pulled away to let him breathe, she whispered encouragingly, "Come on... you can do it, one hundred and sixteen... only another hundred and eighty-four to go! One-seventeen, one-eighteen... mmpho-nnteen... mphoe-twntve..."

Arthur however was 'trying' to keep up with the pace she'd set him, however his arms were feeling the 'weight' he was lifting, they weren't used to lifting weights, let alone as much as he was doing now. The most exercise he'd done was really walking, and maybe the occasional push-ups and sit-ups session, and even then, only enough to stay 'healthy' and 'in shape' where he was happy. So Trishula pushing him to lift more and do it faster was definitely a new trait. Thirty was his limit that he was comfortable with... the forty-five-pound dumbbells felt like they were making his muscles 'burn' from keeping them lifting. And especially 'after' doing two hundred lifts while making out with his girlfriend?

But, ten minutes later he sadly couldn't, he lifted the dumbbells up, and slowly lowered them and felt his arms get a little limp, before slooowly lifting them up and becoming plainly obvious he couldn't keep going at the pace.

"Hah... sorry... I... oh my arms are hurting!" He muttered as he backed away and put the weights down, breathing heavily and panting. "What... what was my final count?"

"Heh, sorry but you only got to one hundred and forty-five. Barely 'halfway' there chief." She said with an apologetic smile. "Alright, let's hit the shower!"

He nodded as they picked up the weights and returned them to where they were while also grabbing their shirts, before heading into the different rooms to change. Arthur changed out of his sweaty shorts and went into the shower room to take a quick cooling shower and clean himself off.

When he felt a pair of furry arms wrap around his neck and a pair of large familiar breasts on his back, having felt them for the past half hour. He turned around to see Trishula smirking as she leaned forward and again kissed him full on the lips, surprising him further because he wasn't 'expecting' her to do this so suddenly.

"Mmmph... mmphrawhat... what happened toahoooh..." He started saying before one of her hands reached down and began to stroke his dick, which was becoming quickly excited with her attention.

"I figured... you did get to about halfway, and you obviously worked your body hard today, I decided that you deserve a little reward." She said seductively. "Now, just relax... and let 'me' give you that reward... unless of course you don't 'want' it?"

"Ooooh I want iiiiiit..." He moaned as she bent down and started licking his dick while the cool shower water washed over them.

"Mmmphknew you would... now let me tend to your tired, exhausted... oh so lonely 'starship' captain." She muttered as she wrapped her arms around his waist to grip him easier, and began sucking and licking his dick from the tip to the base.

Truth be told she had a feeling she was going to come up with an excuse to have fun with him, and her excuse was that he had worked hard, he deserved a reward. True she set a high bar, but as far as her hormones were concerned, he did enough to enjoy a shower fuck, even if that 'was' the original reward. But smelling his scent, feeling him close, and having gone for over a week without intercourse let alone being able to sleep in the same bed as him she just couldn't restrain herself anymore.

Her body missed his touches and especially his little 'starfighters', it was how her Purebred Breed ensured pregnancy occurred when they were 'in heat'. Regular intercourse ensured that her body didn't perceive his genes as some foreign disease needing to be stopped, only way to train it, regular sex. At least... that's what she 'thinks' it is, she wasn't paying much attention in health class when they went over that detail, she was dreaming of starships and flying away from her mother. Now however, now that she had her starship and was flying 'far' away from her mother, she could focus on what the Health Class was covering.

"Mmmph... mhmm... mmmphm..." She moaned as she sucked and licked, lapped and played with his dick in her mouth, hearing his moans of pleasure as he subtly gripped her head and began guiding her to pick her pace up and go deeper.

"Ah... oooh fuck... fuck your mouth feels good Trishula... mmmphya it feels good." He muttered as he scratched and rubbed her hair while pulling her into his waist harder and faster.

As she took his dick deeper, feeling it growing longer and wider ever so slightly with each passing moment, slowly reaching its full size. As it pushed into her harder and deeper, she eventually began to feel it going to her throat, and even a little bit to the back when she angled her mouth slightly. After a few more seconds where she sucked hard and deep throated his now 'ready' starship, she slowly pulled it out of her mouth with a loud pop, smiling as she leaned down and began licking his balls, feeling them twitch in excitement, imagining his little starfighters amassing for launch after an extended time period since his starship toured her starport.

"Mhmmm like that..." She whispered as she gave his sack a gentle lick, being 'extra' careful with her boyfriend's precious malehood.

"Oh yea... oh I liked that." He muttered as he lifted her up to standing position, and she smirked while instinctively helping getting herself ready for the plunge. "But now I can't resist putting it in... I want you so much right now!"

"Mmhmhm... well... cumatra elmu gutra Artruartra Captain... my starport is soooo ready... and it's been so lonely." She said while she was turned around so she could stand with her back against the wall and she was able to wrap her leg around his waist while her arms wrapped around his neck. "Oaoooh... ooh I can feel a wonderful, oh and 'muscular' starship poking at myaaaah~!"

Arthur didn't waste any time as his dick only teased her entrance for a moment before plunging headfirst into her passage. Without any time to adjust or feel him fill her sex, he began to thrust in and out of her pussy, feeling her sex tighten with each push. He had been feeling tired moments ago and was feeling the cooling water wash over his tired arms, but now the excitement from his girlfriend enticing him to enjoy her had re-energized his body to want to taste her in full after quite a long period of travel time.

Each time he pushed and thrust, the sound of flesh slapping against fur covered flesh was heard. Every time his hips met hers, a hard *plap* and *plop* was heard. Each time he pumped her pussy, her breasts would bounce slightly in a hypnotic fashion that captured Arthur's eyes and teased him to taste them. He took the opportunity to bend down and lick her boobs, resulting in her moaning from the stimulation, before he resumed focusing on her pussy again.

"Ahah... hah... hoohmy Artruartra, oh fuktara miendra... fuck meya oooh yes, yes... fuck me harder Arthur... oooh yes!" She squealed happily as he began pushing harder and harder into her body. "Oh yea... yea... menduratua, mein stuarpra, my starship... oh this is my starship, my starport's favorite visitor! Oh, fuck I missed you, oh we missed you!"

"Fuck I missed this pussy; my dick fits you so perfectly... ooh fuck it's like a warm glove... just as tight... fuck Trishula." He moaned in happiness as he slowed down, lifted her other leg so she could properly wrap around his waist, and then began to slowly slide in and out of her sex to draw out their fun time in the shower. "Oooh ya... oooooh ya Trishula... oooh fuck you feel good."

They smiled as she pulled herself closer, squishing her bountiful breasts against his chest, breathing heavily as he continued to push in and out of her pussy, sliding in before pulling back, the cold water washing over them the entire time. Her sex continued to slicken his dick with her juices, twitching in eagerness as his dick pressed against her cervix, while her walls felt the full length of his member. She could feel the tiny little veins, feel the tip, the head of his dick press to 'just' against her cervix, and Arthur could tell whenever it kissed her entrance to her womb before pulling away to repeat the gesture.

Meanwhile her breasts, left free and untouched, continued to squish and bounce with each motion, her erect nipples poking and rubbing against his in a playful exchange as she continued to moan and pant with each exchange.

"Mmmohmmm mmhohoooh yea... fuck... oh Arthur... I... I wish I'd met you sooner." She moaned happily, whispering her affection to him as she continued to bounce up and down on his dick. "You've been the 'best' captain to me, the best boyfriend... I'm so lucky to have you, so lucky I met you!"

"I think the same is said for me... oh fuck you are so hot and wonderful Trishula." He replied, before slowing down and kissing her again.

"Mmmhmmph... mmnch... mmm!" She giggled as she kissed and smooched his lips, feeling her tongue dance and tango with his in their mouths.

Their tongues would poke, prod, pull away or plunge toward their partner's, sharing a little of their saliva each time. Then after a moment she felt him adjust his grip on her body, and tighten his hands around her soft, firm, and very well shaped butt cheeks. Once he was set, he slowly pulled out of her sex until 'just' the tip was left... then 'rammed' right back in as hard as he could.

"Aahhh... oooh ya... now we're talking!" She muttered happily as he began pulling out. "Oh yea... fucking GAHHhhoooh... combat practice... my starport's favorite exercYIIIP!"

"Same... aaand fUCK!" He shouted as he rammed her again. "Hahh... Hahh... oooh... oohfuck!"

"Ghahahoooh... ooooh... mmmfUUUck... yaaaaooohYiiiip!"

He continued that pace of slowly pulling out before thrusting hard, each time feeling his dick batter and poke her cervix, the entrance to her womb giving a sturdy, if foolish resistance since they both knew the end result of this session. After a few moments he gave a few more gentle thrusts at a steady pace... before hilting fully and pulling her tighter against his body.

"Mmmph... taste my breasts Captain... oooh I liked it when you kissed them earlier!"

"My pleasure... mmmmhmm."

He leaned down and began to lick her breasts again, feeling their softness and licking them from the tip to the base and back to the tips again. He then put his mouth to her nipples and began to lick and lap at her tits, feeling them perk in excitement and even 'gently' bite them to cause her to moan in pleasure. He pulled more of her breast into his mouth while using one hand to massage her other breast, rubbing and squeezing it in circular motions to stimulate her further.

"OOohhhoooh hhoooohyea... oooh I love feeling your teeth... oohya. Mmhmmm Belgans... oooh we 'love' when our partner bites us... gently though... gently now... ah~!"

He did as she wanted, gently biting her breasts with his teeth, only doing so to squeeze them and not actually 'hurt' her body. Despite how strong she was, just like how she treated him, he didn't want to hurt any part of her. After a bit of gentle biting and playing with her soft fleshy mounds, he let them go and resumed kissing her again. Then he turned her around and readjusted his grip on her hips and butt, and then began to steadily bounce her at a faster pace.

"Oooohayaa... oooh ya, I'm almost there... I'm about to come!" He told her.

"Ooohya... uuuughaya, ooohya... fuck me... oooh yea my favorite part..." She shouted excitedly, her tongue lolling out and trying to lick his lips. "Miendra, fuktara... mein bodeh ehn du yumlra, mehn stuarpra is ready... oh release your starfighter... break my port door open!"

He bounced her up and down on his dick, feeling his release coming closer and closer, it was inevitable at this point and the harder he thrust the closer it got. Wanting to fulfill her wish he quickly lowered her to the floor as fast as he could, and began shoving harder and harder into her sex, feeling the cold water of the shower now bathing their backs and especially where they were connected, the motion of water raining upon his genitals stimulating his balls to release their payload faster and faster.

"Fuck... here... here... it comes... ioooohI'm about to cuuuum!" He told her.

"Yes... yeas... meindra, Arturartra... ARTHUR!"

"TRISHULA...nnnhya... haaah... haaaaaah oooohyaa... ooooooh!"

With one final shove, he pushed his dick as 'far' as he could, and finally he felt his dick push the tip right past the cervix and into her womb, and from there he 'held still'. Both of them feeling their sexes twitching, with Trishula feeling his dick pulsing in a wavy motion, his balls twitching, expanding and contracting ever so slightly, while her sex tightened and sprayed his dick with her juices, giving little squeezes to stimulate his member to release deep inside her womb. She could feel his dick depositing the hot warm cum that carried millions upon millions of his precious little starfighters, all swarming their new home, all of them so eager to explore her womb.

"OOooh... hoooh... mmmmphmmm mmmphm." She moaned as she kissed him, feeling his dick continue to twitch and pulse in her pussy.

They continued to kiss and catch their breaths, their hearts beating 'heavily' from the sexual activity they just participated in. After a few moments they began to settle down and breathe more easily. Eventually their sexes gave the final release, and they both pulled away, feeling him slip out of her, leaving her pussy to leak a little of his cum, an amount that would make any man proud to see leaving their lover knowing that was only the 'trace' amount compared to what was deposited into her womb.

"Mmmmhmm... so... what do you think... is this reward good enough 'incentive' for you to work out more?" She asked seductively.

"Oh, Trishula, you had me at the word 'incentive'." He muttered as he kissed her again.

After a few moments of cuddling and making out, they separated and 'properly' showered to clean themselves. Once they were showered and cleaned up, they both left the room and got into their standard uniforms.

[Captain, a moment of your time please?] The ship stated as they left the room and headed into the hallway.

"Yes, Great Fox?"

[I would like to report that while we are on approach to Iktora Two, now being six hours out, we have been sent landing coordinates ahead of schedule by the orbiting space station via their external communication relay satellites this far out from the planet. However, I am sorry to report that we will need to land at the Temzura City Spaceport, due to the heavy space traffic between the planets of Iktora Two and Iktora Six. This is because with just how many ships there are picking up and delivering cargo to the shipyards of Iktora Six, only the Temzura City Spaceport is available to support housing Great Fox. The other city spaceports are being reserved by the Major Faction, and as such only Emperium warships, starfighters, starbombers, and cargo transports and liners, or ships that are of those types belonging to factions associated with the Major Faction are being granted landing rights to those space stations.]

"Okay, so what's wrong with that?"

[The Temzura City Spaceport is... notorious for being a black market and refuge of 'ill tempered' individuals. It is also rated the highest in criminal activity, and the lowest in terms of local policing effectivity. Most of the 'local peace keeping' is done by local crime lords acting as district mayors using their own gangs of 'thugs' and 'mercenaries' that are nothing more than glorified police soldiers. While I would lodge a complaint on your behalf due to the poor safety measures, the local government is already stretched thin enough helping the fleet of Emperium ships passing through the planetary star system to... 'concern themselves' with our 'minor complaint' about our landing permits.]

"I see... something tells me that was 'said in advance' by the sound of it." He said, already knowing how bad border sectors were in his previous life, and suspecting that now he was in one it would be even worse.

[As a matter of fact, that 'was' included in our landing permits, how did you know?] Great Fox asked in a very surprised tone, almost like she couldn't believe he guessed right.

"Lucky guess, but it sounded like they were telling us 'If you have a problem, don't complain, or you'll waste your time'." He said as he and Trishula continued to walk. "Well, do we have to sit in orbit while they check out our armaments, cargo, and all that jazz like we had to on Belga Cinco?"

[Affirmative, due to the fact we are in a border sector, security measures will be extra tight and we will need to sit through a full routine inspection. I do not know how long it will take, but it may take upwards of over two hours if their scanning crews are busy. Especially since half of the convoy of ships will be changing course to Iktora One while the rest will be landing on Iktora Two, and as we are not a 'priority', we will have to sit in orbit and wait until the convoy is taken care of by the Port Authorities.]

He sighed as he accepted that, his ship had a mission but it was 'off the record', and no official details were being given until they landed and met this contact the Belgans wanted him to locate.

After walking to go get dinner he and Trishula were treated to the sight of Mevik placing dinner dishes on his table, looking a little tired that day.

"Ah good afternoon, Captain, I hope things are going better for you now than they were last night."

"A little better, but Great Fox took a bit of a beating last night, Tony and his family have been working overtime fixing things and even Yumi's starfighter took a major scrapping." He told the chef. "You're looking a little tired yourself."

"Oh, don't mind me, all that shaking last night and the battle just kept me up for a bit longer than I would have liked. That and having to shake up my usual breakfast and lunch routines wasn't what I expected." Mevik said as he put a few finishing garnishes on the plates. "Well, I must return to the mess hall, Tony and his family will be very hungry after all that work they've been putting in, and your pilots have definitely earned a hearty meal after defending the ship the way they did. Enjoy!"

With that he politely walked out while he and Trishula sat down and started digging into dinner, today's being some sort of Belgan dish that resembled a human kabob with differently cooked meats, vegetables, and fruits strung together through a stick as the main meal, while variously sprinkled dips littered the plate to add taste and spice. As a side offering, a small bowl with cooked Terran Rice and various toppings like sprinkled cheese and even a gooey substance akin to honey to complete it. For drinks, Mevik had poured them some fruity beverage with the same coloring as a cherry.

"So, Captain, what do we do once we reach Iktora Two? Take the Blue Fox down?" Trishula asked as she picked up a kabob and started eating.

"Mhmph, no... I won't risk Blue Fox being on its own in a Border Sector. Even if Great Fox can override and pilot it to the safety of the ship." He said as he started digging in, enjoying the taste of the meat and vegetables. "So, we'll just stay on board Great Fox unlike the last time where I took Blue Fox down to Belga Cinco when she had to stay in orbit for a scanning crew."

Trishula nodded in agreement, better to not risk anything happening to Blue Fox even if the chances are low. As they ate Ikaria soon joined them, giving a friendly wave as she sat down with her food as well on Arthur's other side.

"Hey Arthur, Trishula, how are you guys doing?"

"Could be better, but things could have been worse, thank you for helping protect the ship last night, and sorry you were called up to battle so quickly when I said you weren't ready." He told Ikaria as he took a break to talk. "But you did pretty well in your first space battle all things considered."

"Yea, I was not expecting space combat to be as hectic as it was... I was in submersible battles yes, but the most chaotic it ever became was when we battled Lumarinara's forces at the end of the war." She said with a sheepish smile. "But... at least the ship was protected so that's all that matters!"

"Yea, now if only you didn't 'shoot' our own ship in the middle of 'defending it!" Trishula said angrily to her. "Just because it was an accident and it was your first space battle doesn't mean I won't let it slide! Friendly fire is still friendly fire, we're supposed to be defending the Great Fox, not hitting it with our own bombs!"

"It was an accident... and besides it didn't do any damage... right?" Ikaria said back but asked the last part in a hopeful if somewhat 'nervous' tone.

"No, the ship didn't suffer any damage, but Great Fox still noted you shot the ship with a bomb, and so has fined you twenty-five hundred MPC to replace the bomb."

"What, you're fining me because I accidentally misfired my bomb!?" Ikaria asked incredulously. "But I don't have that much saved up, my temporary license doesn't count training runs as 'active service days', I don't even have eight days' worth of pay to pay!"

"At least your only getting fined, Great Fox wanted to go through a full court martial." Arthur said with a chuckle. "I offered a counter proposal that was satisfactory, to pay it off you will do flight patrols when we're in space, three full days' worth minimum starting after you have Breakfast and going for a full ten hours per day, with lunch and dinner breaks offered."

"Thirty hours patrolling space around the ship... uuugh." Ikaria moaned as her headfin waved behind her and her tailfin flopped over the side of the couch she was on to dangle above the floor.

Ikaria was 'not' keen on flying alone out in space patrolling around the Great Fox, whether she would be given backup or not, it was 'boring' patrol duty again, just like she had done on Aquavram Prime when she 'was' let out of the city, if not stuck behind a desk doing paperwork. It was an accident, no harm was done, couldn't she get a break? But as she was about to resign herself to her fate, she had an idea, silly as it was, but she 'was' Arthur's girlfriend and consort so she 'could' try using that to get out of patrol duty.

"I mean, Arthur... isn't there something I could 'offer' to... you know, 'persuade' you let me off patrol duty?" She said with a sly smile while gently planting her hand on Arthur's leg and 'slowly' rubbing it closer and closer to his waist, while also leaning heavily on his side. "You know... something 'else' I can do to... 'pay off my debt'?"

[Attempting to influence Captain Arthur's decision in official ship matters via offering sexual favors or even with credits will not be tolerated.] The ship 'instantly' stated while the viewscreen switched on to show an angry fox face with menacing red eyes. [Any further attempts will result in further fines Temporary Starfighter Pilot Ikaria!]

Trishula started 'laughing' as Ikaria hung her head in defeat, yea it was a long shot, but she figured might as well try. Heck, she's 'used' to such tactics from the royal court, even if they never worked on her.

"I can't believe you just 'tried' to seduce Arthur to get out of working to pay off your fine!" The Belgan said with a laugh. "Credit where credit's due, but 'wow' I can't believe you tried that."

[Please do not attempt make yourself look superior Starfighter Pilot Trishula.] Great Fox as she stopped looking 'angry' at Ikaria and now gave Trishula the 'glare' from the viewscreen. [Using your body to inspire Arthur to work out and rewarding him with sexual intercourse in the 'male' shower room is just as bad, you are 'also' in violation of bathroom gender separation policy. The shower rooms for the exercise room are meant for 'showers' not sexual intercourse, even 'if' you are classified as his girlfriend and you two are sexually active, it is 'still' forbidden!]

At that Trishula 'stopped laughing and started blushing hard in embarrassment, as that was 'not' supposed to be made public to Ikaria. Now it was Ikaria's turn to act smug and laugh as she 'knew' something was up when she noticed Trishula wasn't with the rest of the squadron after they went to relax in the Rec room.

"Ooooh, so I'm not the 'only one' to be using their body to sway Arthur?" She asked with a grin.

Arthur was sheepishly blushing as Great Fox revealed that secret. "Was it 'necessary' to reveal that Great Fox... I mean... that was supposed to be uh... 'private'."

[Apologies captain, however if it makes you feel better, I only revealed it to Ikaria... but she 'was' in violation of that ship protocol. I only wished to remind her that she is 'far' from immune to the statement.] She said in a slightly apologetic tone as the fox vanished from the viewscreen.

"Anyway... it's only for three days Ikaria, I'll have one of the other squadron members fly with you so you're not alone, and you'll only be flying a certain distance away from Great Fox in patrol patterns. Don't worry, I won't let you suffer alone." Arthur said to her with a smile.

[I recommend having Trishula go out with her.]

"Okay what is with you and constantly trying to make me suffer, I swear this is all about that stupid test back on Belga Cinco isn't it, you're just jealous I beat you and this is revenge isn't it!?" Trishula snapped instantly.

"Hehehehe." He chuckled as the ship and his Girlfriend got into another mini fight where Great Fox assured her it was 'not' biased or jealous, and Trishula yelling how the ship was 'absolutely biased' and jealous.

"I guess it's unavoidable... at least I won't be forced to pay out of pocket for a stupid misfired bomb." She muttered bitterly.

She had to accept that in space and especially on a Freelance Captain's ship, things were entirely different then compared to when she was on Aquavram Prime. While she was now used to being in a starfighter and had gotten used to living aboard a starship, certain things were still new and she still had to become accustomed to them. Such as making sure she didn't misfire or waste her shots, especially against 'allied' targets, as it seemed that any such misfires cause her to have to pay Arthur back for everything she shot. But as Trishula moaned as she 'finally' accepted Arthur's request to fly with Ikaria on patrol duty for one of the three days, while Vanessa would take the second, and Yumi and Katarra would share the third day, she did find some 'other things' that she did enjoy.

When Trishula said she'd go and share the news with the other pilots in her pack, leaving her and Arthur alone, she smirked a little and sidled up closer to Arthur and gently coaxed her fingers into his so they could mingle. "So, Arthur... uh, when will you ever have some 'secret time' with me away from Trishula?" She asked slyly.

"Uhm... I mean, if this is about uh, what Great Fox said it 'wasn't' planned, she sort of 'couldn't resist herself'." He told her sheepishly with an awkward blush.

How he could be embarrassed to admit to Ikaria he banged Trishula while everyone was busy to his 'second' girlfriend, knowing full well he's slept with both of them at the same time was something he was still unsure of. Part of him was still accepting he had 'two' girlfriends, oh what would his past life self say to him if he could talk to him?

"Don't be embarrassed, she loves you and just wants to enjoy her time with you to the fullest." Ikaria said as she could see this was something Arthur wasn't aware of.

Being in the military she knew of many guys and even some girls who always took 'full' advantage of any free time they had to spend with their loved ones. Even though when she served it was peacetime until Lumarinara started his rebellion, there was just this 'air of uncertainty', as they never knew if something bad would happen. And when it happened, that wish to be with those they loved as much as they could, only intensified. So Trishula taking advantage of them being alone after working out and then pulling him to plow her, right before they might land on a planet filled with criminal scum and potential hostiles, especially in a border sector, probably just added to her drive.

"I'm not upset she had fun with you behind my back, she's the first girl, so she has that 'privilege'. I'm only your consort remember, second girlfriend to you yea but still, she gets priority for your time. I'm only saying..." She whispered seductively, before turning and leaning up, using one hand to turn him toward her and kissed him on the lips.

He was naturally bigger than her, so like before when she pulled him into a kiss his lips dominated hers. But she actually liked it, even as she slipped her tongue in between his lips, poked, prodded and teased his tongue to pay attention to it. It was slow to assert itself, but when it did, his tongue absolutely 'dominated' hers as it was larger, stronger, and pushed its way into her mouth and began to wrap and smother hers in her mouth. She moaned a little as the exchange, panting slightly before pulling away with a sly grin.

"I'm only saying... if you ever want me just pull me aside Arthur. I don't mind where or when... you know, as long as it's not in the middle of the night and I'm dead tired and trying to sleep in my bed. I'm not just your pilot on board Great Fox, I'm your Consort and girlfriend as well, I've got desires too... I want to spend quality time with you as well."

"Alright, I'll try to find time for you, maybe on another planet that 'isn't' in the Iktoran sector." He said as gently rubbed her cheek.

Ikaria nodded as they both got up, depositing their dishes in the open slot and seperated, with Ikaria heading to the mess hall to enjoy some time in the bar watching entertainment and play some cards with the other members of Trishula's Pack, while he headed to the bridge to oversee some things and finish checking over some data logs before he'd head to bed himself.

Back on the bridge, he sat down and logged himself back in, watching as the ship pulled up some holographic windows for him, each showing information that needed his attention before they'd reach Iktora Two. Some of it was just communications from the other Freelance Captain in the convoy, telling him that they were going to split up as they neared the orbit of Iktora two to continue on to Iktora One with half the convoy while the rest proceeded to the surface, and wishing him safe travels among the stars.

Another message came from the Iktoran Port Authorities requesting his Freelance Captain's Identification numbers and ship's name as well as her classification status ahead of arrival. A third came as a priority communication from the Sector Station orbiting Iktora One, from the Sub CEO in charge, a major representative of the Major Faction.

"An invitation to join the Emperium as a permanent Freelance Captain associated with the Emperium... benefits include financial backing, a permanent Emergency Life Restoration Pod on every sector station under their control, immunity from all local lawfirms, access to their ship storage bays and access to their reserve fleet in case of wartime activities, blah blah blah..." He muttered as he rejected the offer, flinging the window down to Great Fox's AI below his chair. "Great Fox, please respond that while enticing, I must reject the offer at this time, but will keep it in mind as I wish to remain an Unaffiliated Freelance Captain for now."

[Naturally, I have already prepared your response and will transmit it.] Great Fox stated in a knowing tone.

"How'd you know what my response would be?"

[You have made similar responses in the past, as such I took note of what your general responses were and created multiple templates that offered similar but differing responses to politely decline any offer from any Major Faction to join them.]

He was about to respond when he realized that in his past life, he 'did' respond to any offer from a Major Faction to join them permanently with a 'no' but never turned down offers to work for them temporarily during wartime fleet actions. While he would serve one faction at times and then leave to join another, he never was a 'permanent' member of any faction.

"Well, thank you very much Great Fox." He said as he resumed looking at the next data point, seeing various documents and forms he was expected to have read and filled out regarding landing rights and requirements from Emperium ships, stating that before he could be permitted to land, they got priority.

He continued to look at data logs, feeling a little tired as time went on, hours passed before they started nearing the planet of Iktora Two. Out of curiosity he had the ship bring up a window of the planet and informed the crew that they were now approaching Iktora Two.

Already he was seeing the 'heavy' traffic of starships circling the planet. According to the local planet time, the city starport he was allowed to land on due to his 'unaffiliated status' was currently entering night hours, and it was heavily flowing with ships entering and exiting the planet's surface. There were hundreds of platforms orbiting and situated around the planet, kind of resembling the ones around Belga Cinco. There were also multiple open-ended shipyards, many of them currently were tending to various battleships and cruisers. Other platforms were stocked with turrets, strategically positioned to defend the shipyards and others were equipped with hanger bays, each containing squadrons of unmanned starfighters to act as the planet's initial defense force in the event of a surprise attack.

Flying around the planet, exiting and entering the atmosphere and orbit of Iktora Two were different ships of varying sizes and types. Some seemed to be solely positioned to 'defend' the planet and were on patrol, others were gathering together into small fleets no greater than ten and setting course for the direction of Iktora Three.

After making the announcement, he looked on a holo window to see Ikaria was eagerly running with Trishula's Pack following behind to join her in heading to the nearest window with a visual of the planet.

Down with Ikaria she had become excited to be approaching a new planet, especially a desert planet. It was as far from Aquavram Prime in type as she had ever heard of or seen.

"Whoooah, look at all of the ships!" Ikaria said in awe as she reached the window and could see the planet now.

There had to be 'hundreds' of starships littering the space around Iktora Two, of all shapes and sizes that she'd 'never' seen before outside of the library. There were orbiting space stations, mostly shipyards by the looks of them, and various platforms filled with defensive turrets and hangers to defend the planet and shipyards. As for the planet itself, it was so very different compared to Aquavram prime, where her home was filled with hues of blue, this planet was littered with hues of orange, yellowish brown, greys and other colors that were 'far' from blue, but she did see a few blotches of pink here and there. Hardly 'any' green could be seen, and what little blue there was... well it was like tiny dots that were hardly noticeable.

"It's so... 'dry'." She muttered in awe.

"You're 'surprised' to see a world that isn't made entirely of water?" Trishula asked with a smirk.

"Yea, I was surrounded by water my entire life, seeing a planet filled with 'sand' and hardly any water is so 'strange'." Ikaria replied in disbelief.

[Glad you're enjoying your first sight of Iktora Two, according to Great Fox's database, Iktora Two only has no natural water, what you are seeing are reservoirs of water imported from other planets. It wasn't until the Belgans recently secured the Guntara Sector could trade resume, as the Iktora Sector imports most of its drinkable water from Aquavram Prime. It is a highly sought after commodity here, since any water found in the system is often purchased 'for' and 'by' the Major Faction, meaning Local Sector Government has to import it from Aquavram Prime.] Arthur said over the intercom. [The water your seeing on the surface, the 'natural' water, is highly toxic and very salty, none of it is drinkable. One sip, and you best hope you're within a few minutes travel distance of a hospital.]

"Heh, lotta sand down there, at least Uncle Tony will be happy." Vanessa said with a smirk. "No water for him to 'drown' in."

"I hate sand... it gets everywhere... really seeps into my fur." Yumi muttered with a groan.

"Please, you're comparing the sand we played in at the beaches on Belga Dos the 'one' time we had a vacation from the academy to 'this' planet?" Katarra chuckled. "That's nothing, this sand is going to get into places you never knew existed, you'll be taking showers 'after' taking a shower just to get all the sand off!"

[Speaking of the planet, we will be staying in orbit for tonight girls, get some rest. We have to wait until we are granted permission to land by the port authorities since we don't have priority docking permits. Tomorrow morning I'll have a staff meeting with everyone in the mess hall to cover a few things 'before' we disembark to begin our mission here on behalf of the Belgans. Off to bed now!]

Everyone nodded and started leaving with Ikaria being the last, still gawking at all of the ships, the planet, everything since this was her 'first' planet she ever visited since leaving Aquavram Prime. Her excitement was just too much to contain, she couldn't wait to land, she wanted to go down there so much she was half tempted to hop into her starfighter and fly down there. But, she nodded, and accepted she'd have to wait. In this area Arthur was wiser and was more correct, she'd have to wait for his lead and let him direct her in what to do.

She headed after the others to head to her bedroom, tiredly undressing and lying in bed in the nude, taking one last look at the planet, seeing the face of the planet as the section there were approaching changing in the traditional day and night cycle. It was so far away, yet getting closer every minute, and she couldn't wait until she woke up to see what this 'new' world would be like.

Yea, it sounded 'unpleasant' with how Arthur, Trishula and Great Fox described the planet based on local information. But still, even knowing it wouldn't be paradise, she was still excited to go to this new planet. So, with an excited smile, she yawned, turned over in her sleep, and began to drift off into sleep.

Arthur sighed as he leaned in his bed and drifted off to sleep, having told the ship his orders after she transmitted their landing permits and sending their credentials to the port authorities. She'd been told to initiate landing procedures when they were given their landing coordinates and permitted to land on the planet's surface, and she'd replied with a warm [As you wish, pleasant dreams Captain.], before he headed to bed. Now he yawned and rolled onto his side and fell asleep.

Hours into the night the ship sat orbiting the planet, with various ships passing by it at varying ranges, some with their weapons disabled, some without weapons. Numerous starships of varying sizes and class traversed the space around Iktora Two and the many space stations. Small fleets of starfighters would occasionally fly in group patrols between the stations, and otherwise the planet continued to act as a major hub of ship activity in the border zone.

Two hours in, heavy comm traffic occurred, and the ship was given an updated report saying that the fleet of warships sent from the Federated Commoners Guild were surrounded and soundly defeated, though nine of the ships escaped through the Transwarp Gate in a hasty retreat to the safety of FCG space across the border. The Emperium has already launched a counter sortie of twenty-two warships across the border to conduct a raid in response, and they expect to hear word from the fleet within four days.

Great Fox noted this information and made a datalog for the captain's perusal when he woke up.

Half an hour later the Port Authorities signaled Great Fox to hold where it was while a scanning crew began its check of her hull and armaments, as well as requesting a full account of its cargo and ledger records. She gave her responses and submitted the records as asked, before awaiting the scanning crews to finish their work.

Finally, four hours later since Captain Arthur went to sleep, she received landing coordinates and was given permission to land. Following her captain's orders, she began the decent, plotting a course through the atmosphere and toward the surface destination. As the ship descended the surface began to heat up and she activated her thermal shields to protect the insides, as well as stabilizers to steady her descent.

Arthur however, felt the ship shudder and shake, rattling him from his warm, wonderful dream... a dream he couldn't remember much outside of the fact that it was a very 'hot' dream. There were two beautiful girls in it, looking like Trishula and Ikaria both scantily clad, making spicy comments about how 'hot' it was and asking him to help 'cool them down'. He 'last' remembered Trishula leaning up and teasing him with her bra and asking him to 'loosen it' so she could cool down in the heat. Then the ship started shaking and he felt himself forcibly awakened.

"Wh-what the..." He started stammering as he looked around, and saw the window shuddered close. "Report!"

[Captain Arthur, we have begun descending to the planet's surface, Port Authorities have finished their inspection on time.] She stated warmly. [We are passing through the final layers of the atmosphere; touchdown will be in five minutes!]

"Is it always this SHAKY?" He asked as he gripped his bed tightly to steady himself.

[Negative, we are actually entering the planet through the rotational direction of the atmosphere so the stabilizers aren't having to use as much energy. Normally it is six percent more turbulent when we enter against the planet's rotational direction.]

"It wasn't this 'shaky' when I went on Blue Fox and landed on Belga Cinco! And last time we entered a planet's orbit we were passing through a storm! I thought 'that' was why it was shaking so much."

[Apologies if you are feeling discomfort captain, however to explain that, Blue Fox is approximately two-point six percent the mass of Great Fox, therefore the atmospheric turbulence is less felt on the transport.] The Ship AI said in an apologetic tone. [Touch down in three minutes... please stand by.]

He held the bed and tried to relax, but after a few minutes the ship lurched as it achieved touchdown, and because of how his bed was positioned, he was flung in the direction of the ship's landing and half-thrown out of bed. He grunted in pain and bitterness as he pushed himself off the ground, and back onto his bed.

"Ugh... Great Fox... open a channel to all decks!" He muttered in frustration.

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

He took a deep breath and said, "Attention all hands, we have achieved touch down... we are now on Iktora Two... I deeply apologize if anyone was rudely awoken... please go back to sleep." He said before adding, "As a side note, after breakfast in the morning, there will be a staff meeting in the mess hall... Great Fox will remind you then, have a... hopefully restful sleep from here on out."

He rolled back into his bed and growled, trying to fall back asleep, grunting as he wished he could have fallen asleep and 'stayed' asleep.

"Great Fox... next time, if possible, 'wait' until we're all awake to land the ship?"

[Apologies captain, I will make a note of that. Pleasant Dreams.] She said in a warm, apologetic tone as he rolled over and closed his eyes.

Sleep didn't come easy, but eventually he zoned out and drifted off to slumberland, only instead of enjoying a dream filled with 'fun', he instead felt himself just 'zone out' from the world around him, one moment he was falling asleep, and then the next it was like he was feeling himself waking up to the sunlight ruining his sleep from the outside.

[Good morning captain, I hope your sleep was pleasant.] The ship told him in a warm tone. [There are multiple datalogs needing your attention on the bridge, and other data logs I have compiled that may be of interest to you. As you know we have landed on Iktora Two, current local time is o-seven hundred hours, as such it is highly recommended that we begin the day's activities and begin making progress on our mission here on Iktora Two.]

He yawned as he looked out the window and saw that it was bright and sunny, as well as 'way' brighter than it should be in the very early morning hours of a day. "Yawwnwhy is it so bright out this early?" He asked tiredly.

[Iktora Two orbits the planetary star system's star at a speed of-]

Please... just give me the 'short' answer... it's too early for my brain to understand complicated math." He whispered as his eyes were 'still' trying to get back to sleep, and knowing full well the ship was about to describe the speed at which Iktora Two orbits the star and then begin translating that into how it looks like one pm on Earth when its barely 'six' in the morning.

[Apologies Captain, to explain, Iktora Two has a fast planetary rotation speed and this translates to it having only a fifteen-hour day period, which leaves a total of seven and a half hours dedicated to day and night respectively. Official morning hours started two hours ago.]

"Uuugh... I can't wait until we're done here in this border sector." He muttered as he slowly got up and went to the bathroom to wash up, telling himself he was going to have to get 'used' to this crazy hour period very quickly.

Taking a shower quickly to clean himself, he got into a uniform and made his way to eat breakfast, informing the ship he would deal with the 'data logs' that the ship had for him later. Going to the Mess Hall, he chose to ate with the crew, telling everyone who was there that they didn't have any time to spare with how little 'time' was in the day then what they were familiar with.

After a quick breakfast of hotcakes, eggs, smoked meat strips and a quick cup of synthetic coffee, he stood up and called everyone's attention when they were done.

"Alright, staff meeting now, so pause for a moment everyone, because time is of the essence." He shouted as he got up and walked around where Mevik usually stood so he could get everyone's attention.

Everyone paused in their eating, and he had to take a brief moment to remind himself that, this was 'actually' the first time he ever acted this way in his new life. Before he was always the low guy just listening to whoever was in charge, now he was the one in charge. So, he took a brief moment to collect his thoughts, his breath, and then began talking while Great Fox activated a nearby viewscreen to show various data points and images in relation to whatever he was talking about.

"I don't know if any of you are aware but, here on Iktora Two the day is much shorter than anywhere else. It only has fifteen hours in the day, and so if anyone was wondering 'why' it was so bright this morning, well now you know." He explained as the ship showed a comparison between Belga Cinco and Iktora Two, with Belga Cinco having a twenty-seven-hour day compared to Iktora Two's fifteen. "Now, we've landed in Iktora Two's Temzura City Spaceport, while my status as a Freelance Captain gives me priority to put in orders for supplies and other materials, the Port Authority is currently focusing most of its crews with the Freelance Captains working for the Emperium. How are we doing when it comes to our food supplies Mevik?"

"Captain, we are starting to run low on some supplies, mostly in the vegetables and fruits, as meats are easier to preserve for longer periods." Mevik said with a nod. "Overall, we have about another week, maybe more left!"

"Alright, have Great Fox request what food options are available for you to order and put them in. I don't know how long of a wait it will be before they'll resupply us, but better we put it in early rather than later." He told the Gevkin, who nodded as he grabbed under the table with one of his four arms and pulled up a datapad, already doing as he asked. "How are we when it comes to supplies for repairs and maintenance for the ship Tony?"

"Ehh... need some more Heavy Cannon parts, your ship's guns aren't easy to come up with parts to fix the bigger ones, smaller ones are fine. The recent damage to the engine leads much to be desired, might need ta put in some requests for pieces to make the necessary repairs, but overall, we're still looking good with what we have in stock!" Tony said, raising his mechanical hand to give him a thumbs up.

"Same thing then, put in the request for parts, the ship will charge my account. Sooner the better!" He told Tony who nodded with another thumbs up.

"Now, I'm going to be heading out in a bit into the city to see if we can find this contact that the Belgans have for us, an Iktoran black market dealer named 'Parshtruga'." He said. "I have 'no idea' what this mission entails, or why I haven't been given any details, but it must be important because it's a rush assignment from the Belgans. I took a big risk extending the time it took to get here by heading to the Belgan-Iktoran transwarp gate, instead of the Guntara-Iktoran gate, so the sooner we find them the better."

He then turned to tap the viewscreen and brought up some data points that Arthur had requested before coming here. These points being the 'less then civilized' nature of the planet and city, despite being under the close monitoring of the Major Faction's fleets.

"Iktora Two is 'filled' with potential criminals and pirates, it's not lawless but don't expect to see a police officer when you walk out the door. If anyone leaves, make sure you leave with a buddy and especially if you have any training, a blaster of some kind to protect yourselves. Stick with your buddy and above all, do not talk to anyone you do not know or can trust." He told them with a serious face. "I want everyone to take a HUD Headset when they leave, have Great Fox monitor you at all times, and if you go out return before dark!"

"Don't worry Arthur, me and my Squadron will be there to watch out for you when you leave." Trishula said with a nod of understanding.

He was glad to hear that, but he was hoping nothing 'bad' would happen. "Well, let's hope everything is peaceful here until we leave." He said with a halfhearted chuckle. "Iktora Two is also a 'desert' planet, very dry... so if you take any water with you, keep it close and keep it hidden. Someone may very well mug you just to take it. Ikaria... I know you don't like to hear it, but... you 'are' an Aquavram..."

"Don't worry, my people have a tool to help us handle dry environments." Ikaria said excitedly as she held up a neck device that he'd seen a few times, specifically when he was at the Royal Court in Arquoovra Majesta's Coral Palace. "This will allow me to endure dry places by giving my gills water to breath without exposing them to the sand and dry air."

He was a 'little' concerned, as while he was worried for her safety, he felt that even with such a device it wouldn't be enough.

"Alright, but... just so you know Iktora Two's temperature is 'far' from what you might be familiar with or even could endure. It's 'very' hot out and with all the sand its very, very dry!" He told her worriedly. "The little water on this planet is so salty and toxic its poisonous... I'd feel safer knowing you were on the ship instead of walking around. Are you sure that device will protect you?"

"I think so, though it's mostly used to help keep our breathing steady by allowing our gills to filter water and oxygen even when on land." Ikaria said with a reassuring smile.

He still felt nervous, and his face showed it, but Ikaria looked dead set on venturing onto the new planet's surface as she said, "Captain, I'm not a helpless royal princess, I'm a former Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Guard, I'm a trained soldier, and now I'm a fully-fledged starship pilot, even if my license is only that of a Temp Pilot's. I can handle walking around out there!"

He looked hesitant still, but he couldn't exactly find a reason to refuse her besides 'I'm the captain so what I say goes', and order her to stay on the ship. So, seeing no other way, he nodded and accepted her decision to take the risk.

"Alright, anything from medical or science to add to this conversation?"

"Other than 'stay hydrated' and be indoors when a sandstorm rolls in, nothing, you know the rules and so do I when it comes to visiting a border sector planet, make your business quick and be ready to say goodbye." Kiandra said with a frown. "This planet may be close to the Sector Station of Iktora One, but Iktorans are hardly Belgans or Aquavrams, and the locals aren't your friendly neighbor. Don't expect the police to be present around every corner, if someone tries to pick a fight, either just run away, or blast them away. You won't see me walking around out there captain, I'm a scientist, a doctor, not a starfighter pilot with military training or combat experience! Buuuut just to be on the safe side, medical wing is on standby in case any injuries occur among the crew."

Arthur nodded as he finished the meeting and told them to try to 'avoid' leaving the ship, if necessary, but if they did for any reason, remember what he said, pick a buddy, don't separate, wear a HUD Headset, and if possible 'walk armed'.

After that he and everyone left and he chose to head out of the ship with Trishula's Pack in tow. They all chose to wear 'light' uniforms, as recommended by the ship, forgoing their usual vests and jackets and simply wearing light clothes like light shirts and pants that bore the Emblem of Great Fox. Each of them also had a HUD headset, as per his orders. Each of the girls with exception to Ikaria also had plasma pistols in holsters strapped to their waist, while Ikaria had her royal armor and an Aquavram Spear, along with a small Royal Aquavram Dagger, standard armaments given to the Royal Guard, that she was given before she left.

As they exited the elevator tube that lowered from the hull of the ship and to ground floor, a small rusty, dirty go-kart like vehicle waiting for them to take them from the ship's landing section of the spaceport to the terminal. Unfortunately, before anyone got in the first thing, they all felt was the 'heat'. Being the second planet closest to the sun made Iktora Two very hot, it was incredible that he and everyone didn't instantly faint from heat stroke, as the first thing he felt was a wave of hot air that 'instantly' contrasted with the previously cool and temperate environment of the starship they were in before.

"Oooh my god how hot is it?" He asked as he held a hand up to cover his eyes as he looked around at his first desert planet.

[Would you like the answer in traditional Terran temperatures, or would you prefer local temperature terminology, or even Belgan captain Arthur?] The ship asked in a very warm tone.

"Ugh... give me Terran Celsius..." He asked in a tired tone.

[Forty-three point two degrees Celsius, this is a very cool temperature by Iktora Two standards until sundown when temperatures begin to drop to Twenty-one degrees Celsius, and at night temperatures will reach to Five degrees Celsius. Though today it is reported that there will be frequent sand gusts.]

He shook his head as he got into the vehicle and had to hiss in pain as he 'barely' avoided burning his hand opening the vehicle, it was soooo hot to the touch. Obviously, the locals did 'not' put much effort into ensuring their vehicles weren't left open to the elements. Everyone began getting in to their seats, Katarra, Yumi and Vanessa all panting from the heat and their tails hanging limp, while Trishula was fanning herself and trying to avoid a heat stroke.

"Oooh these people do NOT know what shade is for a vehicle. How is the ship's hull doing Great Fox, I'm guessing you're not any cooler then this kart is?"

[Outer hull temperatures detected reaching sixty-seven degrees Celsius, however internal temperatures remain steady at a cool twenty-five degrees Celsius thanks to multiple cooling systems and especially our stockpile of highly effective Cryofreeze coolant fluids which distributes a cooling temperature throughout the ship.]

"Ugh, this is 'fucking hot'... how are you holding up Captain?" Trishula asked as the vehicle moved on from the ship.

"Sweating, I think we should have brought water bottles to stay hydrated." He muttered. "Your fur can't be handling this heat all that well. How are you handling it Ikaria?"

"I'm... I'm... fine... just... so dry... this planet is... so hot... so dry..." Ikaria panted in a hoarse tone.

Hearing her voice, he looked around to see her panting, her usually smooth and cool skin was, 'very' dry to the eye. Though her little neck-fluid thing that allowed her gills to breathe was working as intended, it was clear the Aquavram was struggling. Her fins were limp and 'very' dried out, her feet being barefoot had lots of sand coating the skin and flippers of her feet, further drying them out as they absorbed her body's moisture. Even her head and tail fin were not looking healthy, and her eyes though normally red by default, were starting to turn 'redder', a very unhealthy red.

She looked like she was about to be sick.

"Ikaria? Are you sure you're fine?"

Vanessa and Yumi who were sitting next to her looked at her in worry as she was slow to respond, but she nodded, faintly, panting heavily and rubbing her forehead as if to wipe away sweat, only her body wasn't 'sweating'. It was as if her body was 'dehydrating' at a very rapid pace and could not sweat...

"Ikaria, can you... are you able to sweat?" He asked as the other girls and himself were sweating and thus able to handle the heat, but Ikaria didn't seem to be sweating at all.

"I... I'm fine... I... really am... okay... it's just... so... dr-" Ikaria tried to speak, but then she started to wave left and right in her seat, before she all but collapsed onto Yumi's shoulder.

"IKARIA!"

"Great Fox turn us around, get us back to the ship as fast as you can!" He ordered as everyone started trying to cover her, he himself taking off his shirt and handing it to Vanessa and Yumi. "Cover her up, give her some shade help her cool off! Great Fox alert Kiandra, medical emergency, Ikaria is suffering from the heat!"

[Affirmative, I am alerting Kiandra to the emergency...] The ship stated as the kart turned around and sped 'back' to the ship while everyone worried over Ikaria, trying to get her to stay conscious, shouting at her and trying to help her as best they can.

It took the vehicle only a few minutes to swiftly return to the Great Fox, and the instant they were out the elevator lowered and they returned into the cool temperature of the ship. She was then rushed to the medical ward where Kiandra began tending to her. After ten minutes of waiting Arthur and the girls were allowed in to check on her status.

"How is she Doctor?" He asked Kiandra as she was wearing her medical gown.

"Suffered momentary heat stroke, nothing serious since you rushed her back here as quick as you did, she'll make a full recovery very quickly." Kiandra said with a nod as Ikaria was sitting up. "Contrary to what she said, she was 'not' prepared for the heat of Iktora Two. And despite what I suggested in a 'very clear words', none of you even brought the basics for this planet which is a 'container of water' that at least satisfies the individual's need."

She sighed with an exacerbated face, like she couldn't believe Arthur's crew were so incompetent. "You five are relatively alright other than being thirsty, your bodies have sweat glands and can handle the heat better then Ikaria, but 'you' Ikaria, you are an Aquavram. Going onto a 'desert planet' without a constant source of water to hydrate your body, is just 'asking' me to sign a death certificate. The Terran and Belgan body, mixed or Purebred, are capable of regulating internal body heats far better than an Aquavram body ever could. That little 'Gill Breather' may be effective to help relieve stress and calm yourself in numerous situations, as well as allow you to breathe more easily on foreign planetary environments than what your used to, but even a 'fish out of water' doesn't describe how bad you were suffering."

She showed a medical scan of Ikaria's body before and after she left the ship, showing just how fast her body dried up and how severely she was suffering from the heat.

Arthur could just 'see' how fast her arm and wrist fins shriveled up, how much water just 'evaporated' from her skin and how severely dehydrated she was. Another few minutes and she probably would have died.

"I... just didn't want to be left behind... this is my first planet since leaving home... I just really wanted to go." She whispered sadly, while a needle and tube were pumping some kind of 'blueish liquid' into her body.

"Ugh, no excuse, I don't 'care' if you're a starfighter pilot nor how thick-headed you pilots are some days, you can't change what your biology dictates what you can and can't do." Kiandra said with a harsh snappy voice as she smacked her head lightly with a clipboard. "These scans show that you were 'twenty' minutes from 'organ failure', heatstroke is bad enough, but that's where the damage is almost irreversible! You almost 'died' just leaving the ship, forget exploring the planet, you might as well jump into the morgue at that rate! Your breed has spent its entire existence in the oceans of Aquavram Prime, you are surrounded by water even in the dry land of your bubble cities with how much moisture there is, this planet has 'no' drinkable water, it barely has enough oxygen production to support life, it's so hot and dry that the water in your body barely has time to become 'sweat'. For your breed this place is a death sentence!"

He and the girls were expecting her to keep drilling into Ikaria the dangers of this planet, then turn to him saying she can't suggest sending the Aquavram out. Instead, she sighed, smirked, and ran through the group to a nearby desk that had some equipment sitting on it.

"Soooo, since I had 'pleeeenty' of time to while away the hours to myself before we got here, and knowing we were heading to a desert planet, I started coming up with a new piece of tech I wanted to build to keep my mind thinking!" She said eagerly, lifting up one of the pieces and showing it off. "Behold, the latest creation from Kiandra Tumia Forest-Vorestra! I don't have a name for it yet, but what it is, is it's a mask that instead of allowing one to breathe through their nose and mouth, allows one to drink a continuous supply of water into their system specifically to remain hydrated!"

She presented it to Ikaria and quickly had her wear it. Arthur was a bit amused at how Kiandra just 'randomly' could come up with the perfect piece of tech in her spare time for a situation she seemed to be planning for in advance, but he realized she was a maverick, and only put her true effort into whatever tickled her mind. So, with that knowledge, he just listened in on what Kiandra's newest toy could do.

"I had a mental calculation while I was sleeping that we 'may' run into this issue, so I took a gas mask, modified it, did some funky tech work in the lab, calculated the ratio at which water turns into sweat in a heated environment, looked up Iktora Two's temperature range from hottest to coolest, examined the biological and genetic differences between the crew's breeds, put all that into some equations and presto, came up with this piece of tech!" She said with a proud smile as she pulled out a few cylinders filled with the same blueish liquid that was pumping into Ikaria's arm. "I even created a new liquid formula for this device, I'm such a genius! Using the same liquid coolant formula used by Dylerians to cool the interior of this vessel with 'half' the volume of coolant compared to traditional water coolants found on Terran ships at 'twice' the effectivity, I created a 'new' formula for water that will allow one to 'hydrate' their body using the 'same' amount of water but with 'thrice' the effectivity! I've already submitted a patent for the liquid formula and had Great Fox transmit it along the network system of the Major Factions so it reaches Eldentra Major within three months! Heh, I can't 'wait' to tell that smug bastard at the science patent office I developed twenty formulas for liquid substances before him. That'll teach him to cheat off of my homework when we were in Basic Theoretical Physics one-o-seven!"

Listening to Kiandra talk about her creations was indeed an experience he, Trishula, Ikaria and the other three girls of Trishula's Pack thought. But as Arthur held one of these cylinders and stared at the liquid inside, he had to admit, Kiandra knew her stuff and he was glad to have her on board his ship. Having an Eldentran was like having a cheat code when it came to scientific or medical problems. Just give her some time, a room to work in, and she performed miracles.

"So... in short, it's a more 'effective' jar of water?" He asked.

"Oh, it makes a bottle of water feel ashamed!" Kiandra laughed. "Course it takes a while to synthesize, I had to uh, drain our water supplies a bit, not nearly as much as you think don't worry. But, each of those little cylinders contains enough fluid to hydrate your bodies for days. One of those can last you Arthur, just as an example, for six days and be just as fresh as your first sip."

She then walked over to Ikaria who was 'still' wearing the mask looking a little confused as she was unable to speak while wearing the mask. The mask itself looked like a snorkeler's mask, though without the goggles, and was strapped around her head via a strap that sat below her headfin. On the mask were two little cylinder-shaped slots that Kiandra showed how the cylinders would sit, pressing them into the slot, turning, waiting until it 'hissed' and then showed as a series of bubbles flowed into it, indicating fluid was being extracted and drunk. Ikaria herself nodded and showed she was drinking it via her throat.

"The mask has special sensors I built in to monitor your hydration levels, averaging how much water your system is losing in this heat, and will regularly release water to help you remain stable and avoid drying out." Kiadnra said as she then took the neck-piece that she was wearing before and extracted a very 'thin' cylinder that was filled with oxygen-rich water, emptied it, and instead filled it and several other such cylinders with her new liquid formula. "Don't worry, I know what your gills need, and this liquid is just as rich in oxygen as what you normally use. It will make it 'easier' to breathe on this planet through your gills. Even with the mask hydrating your body regularly, your gills will feel the heat through your skin, and even this neck piece won't be enough to help your gills breathe normally. Don't worry about running out, I made extras so you have refills, as soon as one is emptied, it'll glow red and you can replace it at any time. I've set it up so only 'one' canister is ever used at any time."

She then turned to the rest of them and handed them each a cylinder, each one about the size of a twenty-ounce water bottle.

"As for you five, Arthur, Trishula, Vanessa, Yumi, Katarra, the cylinders have little seals installed into the lids, just push the button, a nozzle will extend, and you can drink without spilling any or risking it evaporating in the heat. Each bottle can last you two days on this planet with how much you'll dehydrate, if you need more, I'll start synthesizing another container of the liquid. But just so you know, water is a high value resource on this planet." She said with a serious tone. "Try to keep these close to you, don't let them get stolen. These 'will' draw attention because of how expensive a drink is on this planet; pure water is almost as expensive as Raw Galemite Liquid Fuel. Even 'you' will be charged for water if you try to get it from anyone 'but' the Central Depot. Even the ship only has so much water it can spare when it comes to drinking water, so try not to waste it while we're here."

[In regards to that, I am sorry to report that most necessary items are on full reserve for Major Faction related ships only. While requesting an inventory and price list for what the ship needs to resupply on, I was informed that while we can restock our ammunition and even some food, some supplies such as basic water is not being offered by the Planetary Central Depot. If we intend to purchase supplies locally, we will have to locate a supplier planet side, but I 'highly' recommend against that, as they will no doubt charge you exorbitantly due to your Freelance Captain status.]

He tapped his HUD Headset to see what the ship had to show, and it showed him the various prices for items of interest that he needed for his ship. Ammunition was actually cheaper here on Iktora Two, no doubt because of how close he was to the Sector Station and the fact this was a border sector. He could easily save himself a good two hundred grand in MPC to replenish his stockpiles. As for Fuel, it was the same standard price as when he was on Belga Cinco, but Great Fox estimated that it would cost him about four hundred and sixty-two thousand credits to fully resupply his ship's reserves. As for the additional supplies that Tony and Mevik had input and requested her to order, Great Fox had calculated the costs would chew another hundred grand, most of it being Tony's doing as food options to order were 'limited'.

The ship had also calculated the costs when it came to how much money they made from the sale of the loot from the pirate battle, and thankfully the fuel alone would be completely covered by the profits. The ship had also showed him the water levels they had in reserve, while a portion was dedicated to 'non-drinking options', the drinkable water they had was only at eighty-seven percent of capacity. It wasn't a huge deal, since their crew was barely more than twenty individuals, and they hadn't even needed to resupply water since leaving Aquavram Prime when the ship subtly resupplied for them, but it 'did' mean that until he could resupply, their tanks of water would only continue to deplete.

"Out of curiosity, how much would I have to pay for water 'if' we purchased locally, compared to if the Central Planetary Depot sold us the water?" He asked.

[Unable to calculate... as local suppliers do not make their sales prices publicly known. Such sales are notorious for 'rapid fluctuations' from buyer to buyer. Again, I 'highly' recommend against buying locally unless it is absolutely necessary.]

He agreed, price gauging was definitely something he wanted to avoid.

"Alright, well, let's try leaving again everyone. Thank you, Kiandra, for helping us and for your rapid care for Ikaria." He told the little doctor/scientist as she yawned.

"Eh, that's what you pay me for, be a miracle worker on demand. I'm just happy that my little invention will get used... Nrnhmmmmnr I 'really' spent too much time working on it! I got 'sooo' involved with it that I'm actually embarrassed." She moaned as she and everyone left.

Everyone began to leave the ship again, but only 'after' Arthur made sure everyone had strapped their new waters to their waist in a secured fashion, and that Ikaria was fully hydrated and had properly prepared herself for the heat. As they once more entered the heat, Arthur felt the burning 'heat' from the desert planet, and again, wished privately that he hadn't accepted this mission on behalf of the Belgans.

"Ugh, where do we even 'go' to meet up or locate this contact?" He muttered as the vehicle lumbered toward the spaceport terminal.

"Yea, how do we meet a black-market dealer, they don't exactly have storefronts out in the open if they give their names publicly..." Trishula said.

As the little kart traveled along the spaceport's ground, which was little more than just hardened sand flattened and kept smooth by various elements in the ground mixed together to create a smooth surface.

"Hey Ikaria, are your feet going to be alright?" He asked her as the kart was traveling in autopilot mode.

Ikaria took a big drink from her mask before pulling it down to talk. "The soles of my feet are tougher than your feet Arthur, they'll be fine. The only problem my body suffers in this heat is dehydration, so long as I stay sufficiently hydrated, I'll be fine." She said before swiftly replacing the mask and taking another drink.

He nodded as he turned to look forward at the approaching terminal. Despite the city of Temzura being built around a spaceport, it was hardly as advanced as Belga Cinco, it was clear that most of the materials built here were of a sand/rock substance, eerily similar to what he saw the buildings were made of in Star Wars. Most of the terminal itself was a yellowish-white color, and as far as ships they passed, most were corvettes and small frigates or cargo transports, all packed tightly together with only enough space in between to ensure they could launch and land safely. It was just so obvious that they were being forced to sit tight together, simply because they weren't associated with the Major Faction.

Even Great Fox was no exception, despite being a 'Freelance Captain'd' ship, she had about four or five Arwings length of space between her and the other ships around her.

"No special treatment for us here ladies, remember, try not to talk to anyone if you don't have to, and stay alert." He told them as they neared the terminal and the kart slowed down.

"Roger!" They all replied as the kart came to a stop and they all got out quickly.

Arthur took a quick drink from his 'water' and sealed it back up, strapping it to his waist and leading the way into the terminal. Inside there were customs similar to what he saw at Belga Cinco, but instead of living individuals there were simple androids scanning crews and personnel as they went through, either leaving or entering the spaceport itself.

He himself led the way to one droid and declared his name was Arthur Smith of the ship Great Fox.

[Please state your purpose for landing on Iktora Two.] The droid said as it tapped several buttons on a keyboard and took a retinal scan of him and his pilots.

"I'm here to take on a mission for the Belgan Government, the details of which are unknown and will be given to me when I meet the representative." He said in a polite tone. "For record purposes, I only know I am to meet an individual, for the sake of my mission, I will not divulge their name."

[What potential contraband are you or your party carrying?]

"Uh, none?" He said, as he had no idea why it would ask for 'contraband'.

[Any weapons or other personal affects?]

"Four FCSSIE plasma pistols, one Aquavram spear and one Aquavram dagger." Trishula replied in an instant, all of her girls each showing strapped to their sides various Great Fox issued standard plasma pistols, the kind he was offered aboard Blue Fox but rejected carrying.

[Your statement has been cataloged and personal affects logged in, proceed, do not cause trouble. Welcome, and have a nice day!] The droid said as its central body turn while its head remained focused on them, tapping a button and opening the little gate to let them through.

They passed through, ignoring making eye contact and entering the city.

"What's FCSSIE stand for?" He asked curiously.

"Freelance Captain'd Ship Standard Issue Equipment, we use anything you give us as 'standard issue' since its from your ship, down to our uniforms, sleeping gowns, weapons, even equipment and tools." Trishula responded. "Most Freelance Captain'd ships offer their crew 'standard issue' stuff, be it clothes, weapons, or equipment."

He nodded and continued walking.

The city of Temzura was not what he was expecting, but he wasn't sure 'what' he was expecting. Despite seeing multiple variations of the same yellowish, peach-white sandish structures dotting the city itself, it was also bustling heavily with activity. People were wandering the narrow streets and small sidewalks with the occasional hovercraft travelling through the streets. There were lots of miniature locally run shops selling wares to passersby, various signs and shopkeepers showing off merchandise and trying to encourage prospective buyers to stop and browse.

"Alright, let's start looking around for some Iktorans... shouldn't be that hard to find 'one' who might know him." He said as he led the way.

They passed by some shops that were run by mixed breeds of different planetary systems. He and the girls took note of several Belgans, mostly mixed, some Terrans, and other breeds of all sizes and shapes. At one point Arthur thought he saw what looked like a star was Zabrak, but instead of bone-like horn protrusions on their head they were instead around their necks. Ikaria even glanced at a fellow 'aquatic' breed, who Great Fox noted was a Promara mix breed, from the Promda starsystem, that looked very 'jellyfish' like, with a large bubble surrounding their head that seemed filled with a liquid, while they themselves were covered in large heavy suits.

Yet, as they continued to travel with Arthur looking around, he didn't see many 'Iktorans' that looked like they might know this Parshtruga he was looking for. And with how little time they had left in the day, he needed to make progress fast, as time was of the essence.

Then Vanessa glanced over at a local stand that was in fact, being run by an Iktoran, and nudged Arthur before nodding toward them. He nodded and walked over to the small outdoor stand that was selling what looked like different forms of 'smoking' tools and types of nicotine-like substances for them.

As they approached the Iktoran, the hooded individual eyed them with a very cold, calculating look behind a mask while also taking a very long pipe that was as long as his arm and putting the tip to their mouth, which again was hidden by the robe.

"Hello, may I ask you for some information." He asked politely as he leaned on the stand's table, looking directly at the storekeeper.

They paused for a moment before pulling the tip of the pipe out of their mouth, and then 'breathing out' the smoke, causing him to cough heavily and wave away the air around him, while Ikaria quickly turned away to protect herself from the toxic fumes, despite the mask.

"Beegreet tookononomuia..." They said in a series of hisses and clicks that sounded like a mixture of 'cricket song' and native Aquavram language.

"I'm a Terran Freelance Captain, I don't... speak your language... can you please speak Galactic Basic?" He asked.

The Iktoran slooowly shook their head, and put the pipe to their mouth and breathed in deeply, for several moments, before pulling it out and again breathing 'smoke fumes' at him.

"Ugbretookokokooo, Kekmo tookakakarama!"

[Shall I translate what they are saying for you?] Great Fox offered politely as she appeared in the corner of his HUD.

"Yes please." He muttered bitterly, remembering how the ship told him that Iktorans didn't give a 'shit' about his Freelance Captain's status.

[Very well... according to my language translation subroutines, their first message was... 'Buy something then I'll talk...'. Their second message was... and this is a 'civilized translation' removing the profanity they used... 'If you want information REDACTED, buy something or leave!'] The ship told him in a 'polite' tone. [I will 'not' repeat what they called you... it was very... 'rude' to say the least.]

He rolled his eyes as he 'knew' this was probably a scam, but he had to start somewhere. So, he grabbed the smallest pipe that looked the cheapest and nodded, saying he would buy that. "How much?"

They breathed in their smoke again and breathed it out at him, before hissing and clicking their response, which Great Fox translated to, "Forty thousand credits."

"Forty 'thousand' credits?" He asked incredulously. "For a 'pipe'?"

"That's a fucking rip off!" Trishula growled angrily.

The Iktoran smoked and breathed it at him, before replying in a 'smug' tone that Great Fox translated to, "We both know you aren't buying the pipe, you're buying the information... pipe is just formality, sides, you're a Freelance Captain, you can afford it."

Arthur was about to say 'fuck you' and leave, but he bit his tongue and held back his pride. The storekeeper had a point, he wasn't buying the pipe, he was buying the information. So begrudgingly, he nodded and let the Iktoran raise their insect-like hand and used a Retinal Scanner to confirm the payment, which the ship, 'apologized' to him saying she has confirmed the payment.

Even Great Fox knew he was being scammed, but as he was the captain and it was his money, all she could do was confirm the payment was made and transfer the funds from his account.

"Alright, now that you have your money, tell me what you know, I need to find an Iktoran named Parshtrugra." He said with a glare.

They chuckled in amusement, apparently, they 'liked' his attitude more than his politeness, either that or they were enjoying the fact they got a ton of credits for free practically. "Parshtrugra is a black-market dealer, deals with 'military-grade contraband'." They said in a quiet tone. "Parshtrugra isn't his real name, just one of ten Aliases he's known by... you want to find him, you don't find him... he finds 'you', sends 'you' message and brings you to 'him'."

He rolled his eyes in distaste, wishing he hadn't taken this job for the Belgans now, it was quickly becoming less then worth it. "And... 'how' do I get him to 'find me', as you put it?"

They took another smoke, a very deep one, before breathing out and spraying all of them, with exception to Ikaria who had backed up with Vanessa to avoid the smoke for her health's sake. They then said, "Go to bar, any bar... order drink... Tuberna Vodma... ask bartender if they've seen your 'friend' Trugraparsh. Wait until you have to pay tab, they tell you he'll be in touch, then 'wait' until you receive message in communication link. It will have time and place. Now go... or buy something. And leave pipe..."

He was about to retort, saying he bought the damn pipe for forty thousand credits, when he remembered what the Iktoran said... he didn't 'buy' the pipe... he was buying the information. The pipe was just a formality, just a way to get him to fork over the credits 'before' they gave the information.

"I hope you fucking die of heatstroke someday." He told the Iktoran, not knowing their gender as he and the girls walked away.

The Iktoran however, laughed loudly as they tipped their pipe at him while they left, apparently again, 'liking' his attitude more than his politeness.

"Great Fox, can you set up a waypoint for me, locate the nearest bar that sells that drink." He said as they walked.

[Yes Captain, this will only take a brief moment to access and scan the records over local drinking establishments and their menus.] The ship said politely as her profile image in the corner of his Hud began flicking through various windows and images for him.

It took the ship a few minutes in which they mingled around, talking to each other and otherwise observing their surroundings. Now that he had some time to look around, he began to notice the distinct differences between the people of Iktora Two and Belga Cinco, as well as the Aquavrams. Most ordinary people he saw tended to be wearing light clothing, obviously because of the heat, with nearly everyone wearing a head covering and even facial covering on some because of the frequent gusts of wind that blew loose dusts clouds of sand around.

Arthur wasn't enjoying the sand, but at least unlike his pilots with exception to Ikaria, Trishula and her girls were having it very rough.

"Ugh, my tail is absolutely 'coated' in sand, it is so itchy!" Yumi complained as she put a few sprinkles of water on her hand and rubbed her tail in an attempt to rid it of sand.

"Told you, desert planets get you covered with sand in places you never knew you had." Katarra chuckled as she did the same but for her ears.

"Hey, at least you aren't a Purebred Belgan, you only have fur covering about twenty or thirty percent of your body." Trishula complained as she couldn't do the same and just kept scrunching her eyes, clearly resisting the urge to scratch with how much sand was getting into her fur. "My fur is just itching me all over my body, ugh... I 'hate' desert planets. Remind me to stay on the ship next time we visit a desert planet, or at least find me a uniform that keeps the sand out!"

"Aaaah the benefits of being 'mixed bred' instead of a purebred." Vanessa chuckled, but she wasn't using her water for her fur, instead taking a drink from it.

Arthur didn't want to say anything as he was currently resisting the urge to scratch his hair because it too was itching from how much sand was being blown around. Though his skin wasn't fairing any better, as he could feel sand on his arms, and even starting to feel it penetrating his shoes and feet somehow.

The ship eventually found a pub that had the drink he was looking for, and set up a waypoint for him which he triggered with his PPS glove. He led the way and they began walking again toward the bar in question, Ikaria staying close to him while Vanessa stayed behind her, Yumi and Katarra flanking them, and Trishula right beside him.

After ten minutes of walking to the bar he noticed how the sun was starting to begin to set, already approaching dusk hours, indicating that they had a few hours of daylight left before night came.

"Great Fox how cold does it get at night again?"

[On average Fifteen degrees Celsius, however Weather Forecasts report tonight there will be a night-time sandstorm, and temperatures will reach Nine degrees Celsius. Sandstorms are very dangerous for your health, it is highly recommended you return to the Great Fox within one hour and forty minutes, before the storm is scheduled to arrive for your safety.]

He nodded and requested her to put a timer on when the storm would reach them so he could keep track, and asked her to warn them when they had to arrive so they'd make it safely back 'before' the storm reached them.

[Of course, captain, I will continue to monitor the weather at your request if any updates occur.] Great Fox replied warmly.

Timer in place he and the girls slowed down in their walk as they approached the bar, and Arthur could 'not' help but notice how 'dull' the entrance was. Over the door he spotted a sign that had the bar's name in Iktoran, which the ship translated for him to say, 'Mommy's Homestead'. He had a chuckle, as so far this planet had done anything 'but' treat him like he was in his mother's home, as he walked toward the door and it opened, sinking into the floor and allowing him to walk down a small flight of stairs.

Inside the bar, he saw that it looked like an a-typical bar one would see if they entered a desert world environment. With the building itself made of the same sandish/rock/element that every other building seemed to be made of, they could be more 'creative' in how they allowed patrons to be seated. The center area was a circular ring-like platform raised above waist-height, with multiple little stools for customers to sit and enjoy their drinks. The bartender himself, or 'themselves' were standing and either cleaning glasses or filling glasses with various kinds of liquids, obviously liquors and beers. They did this via a series of levers and taps that each were connected to a very convaluted group of pipes all rotating and crisscrossing above a center dais, or structure of some kind, that gave a chilling 'mist' appearance.

As for the other places, there were the obvious tables, little glowing lamps hovering above each to provide just enough light to see each other and even little holographic games built into the tables to while away the hours, or holographic windows to watch broadcasts of the viewer's choosing. Built into the 'walls' were little carved out openings that also featured tables and chairs. At one corner was a raised stand that had a special forcefield set up to protect a live band, currently playing music on the local equivalent of a 'piano', and had little musical instruments that were... well outlandish, but sort of resembled a guitar, if a guitar had 'six' handles each barely three inches and was in the shape of a clover... with over a hundred buttons built into it. The band even had a little microphone-headsets that they were using to sing vocals while they played.

As for the band itself, well... Arthur could see 'why' this bar had so many patrons, as it was clear that 'they' were the obvious main attraction, being scantily clad ladies with well refined bodies that would draw any guy's eyes, which they were. The band's members consisted of a Mixed Terran, Mixed Belgan, and two other members whose species Arthur didn't recognize, but one of whom was a very tall, thin lady with greenish-yellow skin and 'sort of' resembled an Aquavram, but had a large layer of frills around their head and was more 'shark like' with gills along their neck covered by a similar neck-tech that Ikaria had. The other was a greenish-brown colored... 'plant girl' was the best way to describe her, with vine-like arms and little thorny fingers, who's main feature was her obviously exaggerated breast size, even 'bigger' than Trishula's and even more womanly hips, with a flower-like hairdo that gave her the appearance of a rose.

"Alright... uh, let's sit over there." He said, nodding at an empty table that could sit them all. "Anyone want a drink or something so we blend in? Just say it, doesn't matter."

As they sat down, they started looking at each other and nodded, before listing what they each wanted. "I'll take whatever that drink is you need to get, so you can get whatever you want Captain." Vanessa said with a nod.

"Uh, get me a Belgan Woogtara." Yumi said.

"Belgan Voskra for me." Katarra said.

"Honestly... I don't want anything." Trishula said politely.

Ikaria took a drink of water before she shook her head and took off the mask to talk, "I'm scared to even drink 'water' here... I'm sure if I took even a sip of anything, I'd be back in Kiandra's medical ward with something..." She muttered apologetically. "Aquavram Liquor is 'very' light compared to anything you guys can drink... even the heaviest Aquavram Beer is like... 'ten percent' of a typical light Terran drink, and Belgans are about half as strong as Terrans!"

He nodded and headed to the station to order their drinks, standing at an open spot he gave a little wave and nod toward one of the Bartenders, a mixed Belgan that was 'eerily' similar to Bolgous, namely his pig-like traits but had a mixture of other traits that made him more 'scale-like' compared to say Trishula's wolf-like fur.

He lumbered over on a cybernetic leg and leaned heavily on the bar-table and said, "What's your poison?" He asked in a very gruff tone.

"I've a need for a Tuberna Vodma..." Arthur replied, saying the last part 'slowly', "And I was also wondering if perhaps uh, you've seen my 'friend', Trugraparsh. He said he'd meet me here today and it's getting late in the day."

The bartender gave a very 'slow' nod as he rapped his fingers on the table. "Ahhh no, haven't seen him yet but I'll ask the others, they been here longer and see if they saw him, prob in the can, anything else while you're here, noticin you walked in with a coupla friends."

"Yea, gimme a Belgan Woogtara, a Belgan Voskra, and... what kind of Terran Drinks you offer?"

"Eh got da usual, Terran Vodkas, Terran Lagers, and we even offer Terran Root Beer."

Hearing 'root beer' made him blink in surprise, not expecting 'that' of all drinks on Iktora Two. "Alright, gimme two Terran Root Beers."

The bartender scoffed as he nodded in understanding, "Iuno 'how' your breed can stand drinking that shit... it's vile, so bubbly... and... cloy and 'happy'..."

He laughed as he knew where 'that' sounded familiar, "It's insidious, isn't it... if you drink enough of it, you begin to like it." He responded.

"I knoooow... and that shit is one of our most 'popular' drinks for Terrans here." The bartender said as he pulled up a retinal scanner and charged Arthur for the drinks, before turning and lumbering away, saying a server will deliver their drinks in a few.

He nodded as he began to back away to turn and head back to his pilots, before he felt himself bumping into the back of another Patron. He was turning around, about to apologize and say he was sorry, when he was 'grabbed by his shirt and turned around 'forcefully' to stare into the face of the 'individual' he bumped into.

The one he was about to apologize to was a seven-foot tall, insect-like alien that resembled a cocroach if it were bipedal, had muscular arms, and translucent wings with an exoskeletal chitin plating of brownish-green hues. Their eyes were like that of a spider's, where though they had 'two' eyes overall, each eye itself was divided into segmented eye irises that were all focused in an 'angry' glare as they stared at Arthur, with his shocked face reflected in all of them, while two antennae were 'sniffing' his hair and the individuals' mouth was curled in a snarl.

"VRwhaaatyou thiiiiinkyou're doooingssss!" They 'hissed' in an insect-like song like that of a cricket's, similar to how the Iktoran sounded before.

"N-nothing... I just... bumped into you by accident!" He said as he tried to talk through the horrible 'smell'. "Just put me down, and I'll-"

"Yuuuuthinks I'maletssss yougolikessss that?" They said as their two buddies got up and surrounded him now, knuckles cracking. "Terransssall same, think you oooooowns place!"

"Ooowes us apologiessss we thinksss!" The other said in a lighter tone.

Arthur tried to respond but he coughed, the 'smell' from all three being so close was bad, he was actually gagging.

"Maaaybe your 'ears' no works... weeesaaids you owes apology!"

"Yea... but too bad my nose works 'just fine'..." He muttered, before he realized his mistake, as he said that 'out loud', intending to apologize but the 'smell' was just so bad.

"Why... yousss little-!" The bug-alien thing growled angrily as he pulled his fist back to punch Arthur in the face.

Before a furry arm grabbed said fist, and redirected it into the face of the owner, and then was promptly followed up by a kick to their waist that forced them to let Arthur go. When he fell to the ground he backed up as his pilots, Trishula, Yumi and Katarra quickly and 'brutally' got into a brawl in the middle of the bar, smacking and punching, lifting and even stomping on the three bug guys while everyone turned to watch, and even the Band stopped singing to watch.

Watching the three Belgans lay waste to these guys made Arthur feel lucky he hired them, as within just a few minutes, despite being nearly half as tall as the three girls, the bar bullies were quickly dealt with by the pilots. Yumi growled and hissed with cat-like ferocity as she showed off her claws on her fingers and scratched, bit and clawed down one guy after 'brutally' snapping his wings apart and twisting their antennae, before pummeling them in the chest and face. Katarra handled hers just as viciously, kicking and sweeping her foe before backhanding them with their own glass and pulling their arm back and making them scream in pain because of the fact that she was bending it in a direction it was 'not' meant to bend.

Trishula though, was the 'most' brutal of all three, no doubt because of that Instactireine chemical pumping through her systems the moment she realized he was being threatened and her Purebred Belgan nature demanding she brutalize anyone threatening him. She had started out punching the guy with his own fist, then kicked him in the waist with her foot, after that she had physically lifted him and brought his back down on her knee. After that she leapt up and used gravity to help her elbow smash into his mouth, knocking out several teeth in the process, before grabbing his wings and literally 'ripped' half of them off, opened his mouth and then 'shoved' the ends into it, before grabbing his antennae and twisting them into a tight knot. To finish them off, she rolled them over and then jumped and landed 'both' shoes onto their crotch, before lifting them up and bringing her 'knee' to the same location.

All while this was happening, everyone in the bar was hooting and stomping and cheering as the fight went on.

It was over as quickly as it was brutal, all three Pilots stood up and cracked knuckles and looked around with glares, as if daring anyone else to fight them. Trishula rolled her shoulders after her thug flopped to the floor, all but dead, as she stood next to her captain and shouted, "Freelance Pilot, Trishula Belga-Uno Galara. Official Freelance Pilot's contracted duties to protect her captain from potential threats... go back to your drinks, unless you also want a piece!" while stretching her fingers, before nodding to the stooges they beat up, and telling her girls "Take out the trash, least we can do for the establishment."

Yumi and Katarra nodded as they and Vanessa, who joined after the fight grabbed the thugs and pulled them out by their feet, and just as quickly, everyone went back to their drinks and pretended the barfight never happened. Even the music resumed while Arthur and Trishula walked back to their seat.

"Those were Iksorians by the way... like I said, bug-like people, all fliers, real bad attitudes and they smell bad." She told him.

"You are 'vicious'..." He whispered to her, again amazed that the same girl who lets him plow her starport and handles him with gentle paws, is the same girl who can go 'Rambo' at a moment's notice with a six pack to boot, just because some guy gets too 'aggressive' with him. "I keep forgetting how 'strong' you are... compared to me..."

"Don't worry captain, I may out-bench press you, but I'll always let you be on top with me." She giggled seductively.

As they sat back at their table with Ikaria, she just stared wide eyed as Trishula and her girls went 'ballistic' on those Iskorians. After she took a drink to hydrate, she pulled the mask off and said, "Was... that the... thing that I keep hearing about when it comes to Purebred Belgan Females, and how everyone keeps saying 'don't threaten a Purebred Belgan Girl's lover'?"

"We Purebred Belgan Females will protect our males with way more ferocity and strength than any other breed out there." Trishula said with a proud nod as her body calmed down, the chemical flooding her systems having run its course now that Arthur was safe. "But that doesn't mean I won't treat you Arthur, and 'yours' like precious gemstones and handle you with the softest paws I can. Especially in bed."

"Now I see 'why' they said don't ever do that." Ikaria muttered in awe, amazed that Trishula could be 'that' brutal and vicious.

The night she bedded Arthur she'd watched Trishula let him have his way with her, now she saw that the reality was that Trishula was the 'real' muscle in their threesome.

"You make it sound like I'm a wimp... they just caught me off guard and... ugh they just stank; I couldn't even think straight. I would have fought back if I could." Arthur said sheepishly, feeling ashamed that he had to be bailed out by the girls.

"And I bet you would have kicked their asses just like you did those thugs on Belga Cinco." Trishula said with a proud nod, knowing he was no slouch, just lacking the military 'training' she and her girls had. "But don't worry about feeling if your male 'pride' was wounded today. If you want, I'll let you have your way with me in bed later... and let you do 'anything' to me."

Ikaria and Arthur chuckled as they knew that didn't exactly help mend his wounded male pride, but Arthur did at least feel a 'little' pride knowing that while Trishula would butcher an Iskorian, she'd always be the sweetest girl in his arms.

A few moments later Yumi, Katarra and Vanessa walked back to their table and sat back, laughing that they just earned a full day's pay thanks to that little barfight.

"Heh, well can't say we didn't do our duties as starpilots of Great Fox." Yumi said cheerfully.

"We defended our Captain from bad guys!" Katarra said proudly.

"Well, you three did at least, I don't think me dragging thugs out and shoving them onto the street counts as 'active duty'." Vanessa muttered with a smirk.

"I'll let it slide this time; you all get a full day's pay today." He told them all.

"Wooohoooo!" They all cheered together, tails wagging in their seats.

Suddenly the music ground to a halt and everyone began cheering and hooting as the main singer, the Terran Girl, waved to the crowd and said, "And now the moment we all been waitin on, Happy Hour Karaoke!" She called out with a sly smirk. "Alrighty light boy, who is the lucky table that gets to pick the song tonight!"

All the tables began shifting lights until after a few seconds, only 'one' table was lit up in the slightly dark establishment, Arthur's Table. Everyone booed and complained as the girl waved her finger in a 'naughty naughty' fashion, before leaving the shield and sauntering over to their table, eyes on Arthur with a seductive smile.

Arthur could feel Trishula glaring daggers, and felt her paw go from gripping his hand, to shifting over his groin in a 'protective' manner, as if protecting his malehood from this rival girl. He could even feel her muscles growing tense, and noticed her tail stand on edge.

"Well partner, welcome to 'mommy's home', got any 'special requeeest'?" She asked in a very seductive tone, sitting in the seat next to Arthur with a sly smirk, knowing full well that Trishula was glaring 'daggers' at her. "Perhaps a little, 'something' to sing about? Or maybe you want a 'special' surprise for tonight's entertainment?"

*This skank has ten seconds until I pull out my blaster!* Trishula thought angrily as this girl 'dared' touch her boyfriend.

"Oh no, no I... really don't have any request." Arthur muttered nervously, not liking how close her 'cleavage' was to his chest, getting nervous as Trishula continued to glare daggers.

The other girls, with exception to Ikaria who 'also' was getting mad, were just chuckling and giggling in laughter at Arthur's nervousness and his shy exterior at this attention.

"Ooooh come on, suuuurely you have 'sooooomething' you want me to sing about... a little 'something'?"

Arthur thought quickly, trying to come up with 'something' to get her away before Trishula went Rambo again at the perceived threat to her boyfriend. "Alright... uh... how about, sing a song about a guy who... iuno uh... gets reborn into a world as a starship's captain!"

"Oooh, never heard of that little story before... a little unusual, but I've heard stranger requests!" She giggled as she got up with a nod. "Alrighty ladies, start up the tune and follow along... keep up girls, and let's get this show on the road!"

The second she got up Arthur breathed a sigh of relief, while Trishula continued to glare and show fangs until the singer was well away. The band started up a western tune that sounded like something out of a cowboy theme from his old life.

"This life aint fair despite us all bein kings n queens! Now I've an honest mind to end it all and show the world a thing!" She sang as she twirled and tapped the floor with her heel, smiling as she sang to the crowd. "Soon as my page went turned, she pulled from the book sayin 'I'm still needed for a scene', so here I am the captain of my starship so you better learn my name!"

The beat kept going and everyone whistled and catcalled as she tap danced around, pushing her breasts up and showing off her cleavage, as well as occasionally sitting on the laps of some guests, showing her legs and winking before lightly smacking them when they tried to cope a feel.

"With all the fallen ships that seem to lay around, my girl here needs a guidin hand to fly her through the lanes. Bet you all think I'm a simpleton with this here ship I run, but sure as my blaster's charged your all ganna learn my name!" She sang and was swiftly joined by her colleagues.

"Oooohooohhh oooh ohoooh hooooh!"

"Take down a pirate gang like I aint even tryin, meet me on the other side of the transwarp gate like a starship capt'n! Ahhm the sharpest tool you'll ever need no cracks bout it! I'm not no dimwit pilot no sense in beatin round it!" She sang as she spun and her dress frayed everywhere, before she landed with a leg on another patron, showing off 'far too much skin' and barely concealing her panties, with a smirk and letting the guy feel her. "Pry these starfighters away from my hanger bay, then only part of me that's left is ship's name!"

"Oooohooohhh oooh ohoooh hoooohoooh!"

She slapped his hand away and walked on with the tapdancing going around, shoulders rolling the entire time.

"So if you join on up with my ship then soon you'll see, that unlike life's hand that plays with dice of twos or threes..." She sang as her hips waved almost hypnotically to the patrons around her. "When all you been drinkin is the driplets of the game, then you'll find the friendly nature of my crew was worth the wait!"

"Oooohooohhh oooh ohoooh hooooh!"

"Let's give em hell all!" She snickered with a playful wink to Arthur and Trishula's table, causing Trishula to 'snarl' dangerously.

"Take down a pirate gang like I aint even tryin, meet me on the other side of the transwarp gate like a starship capt'n! Ahhm the sharpest tool you'll ever need no cracks bout it! I'm not no dimwit pilot no sense in beatin round it!" She sang as she spun again and her dress flew everywhere, this time showing 'off' her... well Arthur averted his eyes to not make Trishula or Ikaria think he was 'cheating' on them, but he heard 'everyone' hooting and cackling in the background. "Pry these starfighters away from my hanger bay, then only part of me that's left is ship's name!"

"They say tis a sin to go against all life's paths, that what you walk is what you got and you should accept what fore." She giggled with a sly wink. "Well If I must take it let me say the path laid before me, suits me no well better than the one that I just passed!"

"A little bit of fear helps to shine a little light, to make you realize we all were born with the gift of flight!" The singer sang as she reached into her dress between her cleavage, and with expert 'hands', tugged out her own 'bra' and waved it around to cheers and cat-calls! "It's just a little proof to show that if life aint playin fair, then why should we follow its rules when we were born to care? This be the lesson I did learn so now ya'll hear my name!"

"Ahhm the sharpest tool you'll ever need no cracks bout it! I'm not no dimwit pilot no sense in beatin round it!" She sang as she tossed her bra and a couple people actually jumped to grab it. "Pry these starfighters away from my hanger bay, then only part of me that's left is ship's name!"

"Now through the empty space lanes oh you might hear a tale, of what happens to a captain and his ship that play by their own game! All they leave behind is trails of foolish pirate gangs, who didn't learn of my ship and didn't dare to learn my name!" She concluded her song as she re-entered the forcefield, and upon the song's conclusion smoke filled it up, obscuring them from view.

When the smoke cleared, the band was gone.

As everyone wooted and applaused, Trishula whispered in a quiet tone to him, "If I meet her on the street don't blame me if I get 'vicious' again." She warned him.

"I'll help bury her body." Ikaria also muttered in agreement.

Arthur made a mental note to never come here again if he can avoid it as a lady server walked over with a tray of drinks and placing them on the table for them, before telling them to have a good time. "Bar says your 'friend' hasn't been here yet, but they left a message, say'n somtin bout how they'll send a transmission to your ship tomorrow. Enjoy yourselves now~!"

Everyone grabbed their respective drinks with Arthur handing Trishula one of the Root Beers and explaining what it was.

"Root Beer, never had it before."

"First for everything, alright let's drink up and then head back before the sandstorm arrives." Arthur told them all as they all picked up their glasses, with Ikaria lifting up one of her special 'water formulas' to join them. "Alright, cheers."

"Cheers!"

Everyone took a gulp and Arthur felt his throat swig the root beer down with a familiarity that he hasn't had in a very long time. The last time he drank root beer was as a teen, but even though it came from an alien planet, was relatively 'synthesized' to a certain degree, it still tasted exactly as Root Beer should taste.

"Uuugh, this is such a 'creamy' and... bubbly drink." Trishula said as she pulled her mouth away from the glass. "I mean... I don't hate it but... ugh, how do you Terrans drink this stuff? It's so... bubbly."

"It's an acquired taste, I just got it because it was one of the few drinks they serve here that is non-alcoholic and is familiar to me." He told her as they all took drinks and began talking. "We have a saying, the more you drink it, the more you begin to like it."

"Root Beer, rooooot beeer..." Vanessa said as she downed the entire drink she took in place of her captain in one gulp, the drink itself being very small by comparison. "Oh yea, root beer, or as we Belgans call it, the 'Sweet Drink'."

"Sweet Drink, ooooh that drink!" Yumi said as she eyed the glass. "That drink Terrans buy Belgan girls when trying to hit on them. Lotta guys tried that trick on us back at the academy, remember Katarra?"

"Oh do I, heh, I remember going to the drink hall and laughing at how many guys tried to score with me."

"That explains why you kept on coming back with a different guy every other week Katarra until you were old enough to 'actually' drink." Trishula muttered as she rolled her eyes. "Hate that 'our' legal drinking age is twenty-six whereas Terrans can drink at twenty-one, ugh, biology really is a bitch when it comes to different breeds."

"Why's that, what's so special about Root Beer for Belgans?" He asked as Ikaria glanced at the drink now. "It's non-alcoholic, why would it have an effect on your breed?"

"It's different for mixed-breed Belgans, the various root extracts and syrupy ingredients has an aphrodisiac effect on us." Vanessa explained with a wink. "Purebred Belgans don't feel the effect, but due to the mixed genetics of our parentage, especially if we have Terran heritage, a mixed Belgan gets a bit more 'excited' then normally. Which is why Katarra kept coming back to our room every other week with another guy. It was a common trick to try an easy score with a girl in her bed."

"Which is also why every time a guy came over, I swiftly had to kick them out. Academy rules, no having 'fun' with the other sex while attending the academy in the dorms!" Trishula said with a smirk.

"Yeaaaa... some of them were cute though." Katarra muttered with a chuckle. "Probably saved me from having a pup quite a few times ma'am."

"Someone had to keep you two in line." She said proudly. "Fortunately for a Purebred Belgan, the drink doesn't have that kind of effect."

Arthur was about to ask if Root Beer had 'any' effect on a Purebred Belgan, when a loud plasma blast sounded and a flash of light erupted from one of the tables across the room. Arthur saw that at one of the tables a trio of individuals were sitting and playing cards, or more accurately, 'were' playing cards. There was a large pile of holographic coins to signify 'credits' being wagered, and a massive pile of them were lying next to the only remaining patron at the table still sitting up. The other two had fallen to the floor, their chests and faces with third-degree plasma burns, the culprit being a plasma pistol held by a guy at another table.

The Purebred Belgan, 'male' as he recognized the obviously male-features of the individual was smirking as he held his plasma pistol out aimed at one of the seats, before skillfully spinning it and holstering it.

"No need to be sore losers... not my captain's fault you can't play cards." They called out as the credits vanished and the remaining person got up.

The Belgan was very wolf-like, almost a mirror copy of Trishula, but where her fur was silver-white with tints of blue the lower he looked, this guy's fur was dark blue with streaks of black. He had a mercenary pilot's uniform, similar to what his pilots wore, but instead of the emblem of Great Fox with a star peaking over the horizon etched onto his shoulder's vest, it was a Wolf's head with spiked fur, mouth open as it seemed to be swallowing a star peaking over a horizon. He looked to be about as tall as Arthur, and with more of a muscular build when compared to Trishula, and he noticed a large scar that ran down one eye, apparently the remains of some kind plasma-blade that slashed his left eye, leaving him now with a... different eye.

"Freelance Pilot, Wolvara Belga-Seis Donrav, protecting my captain as per my contract. Back to your drinks, or else!" He called out with a snarl as he stood by his captain, and everyone without hesitation, went back to their drinks.

The Belgan nodded to their captain, a... girl, though something seemed odd about them to Arthur. The girl in question, nodded and sauntered over to the bartenders with long neon-pink pigtail-hair and standing just as tall as Trishula did, said something and then snapped their fingers, pointed at the two corpses and then a large 'bin' labeled 'TRASH'. The Belgan nodded, grabbed the two dead guys and carried them over to the trash bin, and dumped them without any hesitation.

The Bartender scanned their eye, and the girl walked out, arms clasped behind her head and leaving without Arthur or any of his girls getting a look at their face. Though before they left, they leaned over and 'kissed' him on the cheek, saying something that caused him to reply, "Any time captain, just stop being so damn good at cards I have to blast your opponents."

With that they left and Arthur felt a little more 'grateful' for how his girls handled thugs compared to, well 'Donrav' did for his captain. "Alright, anyone uh... feel like heading back now?" He asked them about ten minutes later.

"Yea, I think I'm done. Let's head home." Yumi agreed, and was swiftly followed by the other girls with Trishula downing the last of her root beer.

So, with that he asked Great Fox to set up a waypoint and guide them back to the ship. After leaving the establishment, with them carefully stepping 'around' the still unconscious Iskorians that Yumi, Vanessa and Katarra dragged out. Twilight hours were fast approaching, the streets were already fast emptying and the wind was picking up, sand blasting people in gusts and bursts. On the corner of his HUD, Great Fox had labeled that the sandstorm was fast approaching, only about fifteen minutes away before its full force reached the spaceport-city.

"Damn, I thought we had more time!" He shouted in surprise as they started picking up the pace.

[The storm picked up speed Captain, while the estimated time was reliable thanks to local weather forecasts, sandstorms are notorious for... surprising locals with how quick they can gain momentum.] The ship apologized to him.

"Alright, well let's pick up our pace unless we want to be stuck walking in a sandstorm ladies!" He called out to everyone, and with his order they all started moving faster.

Fortunately, the ship had the foresight to request a vehicle to wait for them at the terminal exit to the spaceport landing pad. With only a few moments until the full fury of the sandstorm hit them, they all jumped into the kart-like jeep and it sped off toward the Great Fox. Arthur was actually trying to shield his eyes with how fierce the wind was roaring and with how much dust and sand was flying around. Every few seconds another gust would blow the stuff into his face and onto anywhere else it could reach. He could hear Yumi complaining and Katarra coughing from the sand. Vanessa just grunted as she used her sleeve to try and cover her mouth and nose, while Trishula yanked the lid of her fluid drink to shove her mouth and nose into it, preferring to sniff the fluid and taste it continuously over the sand getting into her mouth and nose fur.

But eventually Great Fox soon came up, but so had the full force of the storm, they were being battered and shoved around by the wind. A miniature sand tornado was rolling around the spaceport, and various pieces of debris, mostly cloth, loose pieces of buildings or even furniture flying around smacking and battering anything they connected on.

"GREAT FOX, LOWER THE ELEVATOR!" He shouted over the storm.

[But Captain, you are not near enough to warrant its activation. Protocol dictates that you be within five meters-]

"JUST DO IT! I WANT TO GET ON BOARD THE SECOND WE STOP!"

[As you wish, deploying.]

Moments after she finished speaking, he saw the elevator lower onto the landing field, and after a minute of the vehicle racing across the tarmac substitute used by Iktora Two, everyone jumped out and dashed to the elevator. It closed up, right as a piece of a salesstand landed in front of the door, and they all were pulled up into the safety of the starship.

"Buaha... that was too close!" He muttered.

"Damn, I really hate desert planets now... can't wait to get back into space!" Trishula muttered in agreement.

"On second thought, I agree with Trishula... fuck sand and heat, give me oceans and rainstorms any day!" Ikaria agreed as she and everyone exited. "I prefer the ocean stormfronts on Aquavram Prime. At least they didn't affect us unless we were fishing near the surface! The worst we had to worry about were the water tornados, or the occasional whirlpool created by hurricanes!"

"Ugh, I need to take a shower!" Yumi complained as she and the other girls were scraping sand out of their fur.

"I'm taking about 'three' showers... ganna need them all to get the sand out!" Vanessa agreed.

"Same." Katarra muttered.

"I'm taking a shower just to be 'safe', I don't want any sand sticking to me!" Ikaria muttered as they all separated and headed to their rooms.

So, while the girls all went to their bedrooms to clean off and change uniforms, Arthur went and did the same, calling Mevik and asking if he had prepared dinner or lunch, considering how little time in the 'day' there was. After being told that Mevik had prepared what he called Lundinner, lunch and dinner combined, he said have his, share sent to his dining room as he'll be late due to needing to clean after arriving just as the sandstorm hit. One extensive shower and extensive drying session later, he headed to eat and was swiftly joined by Trishula and Ikaria, who both had their shares of food from the mess hall.

"Jeez, that is a nasty sandstorm out there." Trishula commented as she ate from a soup containing Klendura Crab and an assortment of vegetables and fruits, boiled and steamed with herbs and spices in a creamy white broth.

"Glad I'm in here safe and sound..." Ikaria muttered in agreement.

"Great Fox, will the ship be safe from this sandstorm?"

On the viewscreen Great Fox appeared with a cartoonish rendition of herself, a fox wearing a suit and a hat in the shape of an umbrella, holding a stick and pointing at the forecast as the storm raged over an outline of Great Fox.

[Wind speeds currently are reaching seventy-five kmph, however during the night the storm is estimated to pick up speed and reach eighty-eight kmph.] The ship reported, before it shifted to a schematic of the ship and showing the impact it would have on the ship. [Just after you returned, I initiated Low Profile Mode shielding. The shields will consume energy during the night for the duration of the storm, but otherwise no harm will come to the vessel so long as we have enough energy reserves in the shield generators. I estimate that we will only burn through at most four of our twelve generators' energy reserves. Once the storm passes, I will disengage the shields and then the generators will go through a full recharge cycle.]

He nodded as he took a gulp of his soup. The ship would be safe thanks to his shields, so that was one worry off his back. He was afraid of potential damage to the vessel. "Well, keep an ear out for any messages for us Great Fox, I'm expecting a call from that black market dealer with a time and location to meet them."

[As you wish captain. There are still some datalogs that I have that you should take notice of sooner rather than later, and I have an updated datalog regarding your finances in regards to recent purchases.]

He sighed as he didn't want to look at more datalogs, he'd spent all trip coming here looking at datalogs. But he was the captain, and he had duties to perform, not everything about being captain of a starship was pirate battles, bar brawls, or huge paydays and loots.

"Alright, let me eat fast then, so I can go read and then get ready for bed..."

"Talk about speed-eating... you've been barely here for five minutes." Trishula muttered sadly as she watched him eat quickly.

"With only fifteen hours in a day, I have to make every minute matter." He agreed as he swallowed and got up to deposit his dishes in the slot. "Alright, take care you two."

Leaving the dining room he walked to the bridge, passing by the windows that showed outside the ship and showed the fierce storm raging outside, flashes of blue light indicating the shields activating and deflecting potential damage from the hull. Minutes after he walked to the bridge, he entered, sat down and logged himself in to look over what the ship had to show him.

"Alright, let's see what you got."

Instantly several windows showed up for his viewing in terms of importance and whether it was local news or information regarding his finances, or if they regarded his ship's status.

[In local news captain, the fleet from the FCG was defeated with fifty-percent casualty rate in the vicinity of Iktora Four, however, Emperium Forces reported that the remaining ships, a total of nine, managed to escape across the border through the Transwarp Gate. Emperium ships are already beginning to amass and prepare for a raid into FCG territory, and they are offering unaffiliated Freelance Captains with job offers to join the raid fleet for a 'generous' pay rate, with ships destroyed bonuses offered as well.]

"You know my response, thanks for the offer but I'm good." He replied dully.

[Of course.] She replied as she instantly attached an 'apology letter' to that datalog and it vanished from sight, but was swiftly replaced. [In a recent report, pirate raids have increased in the Belgan Sector. With most of the fleet assisting Emperium forces in its border skirmishes, and a sizeable portion of its remaining fleet securing the Guntara Sector and providing escorts to relief transports, the Belgan Government has put up multiple job offers for any unaffiliated Freelance Captains in the sector to help run food, fuel, equipment and livestock cargo between the various planetoids of the sector. They are offering a five to ten percent increase in the usual going rate compared to previous offers.]

"Make a note of that, if we decide to head back for any reason, we could use the steady work." He told her.

[Affirmative, I will make a note to continuously check and see if this offer is still viable in the future.] The ship replied warmly, as the datalog was given a green check and placed off to the side, being replaced by another holographic window, or datalog. [While it is 'unconfirmed', multiple pirate ships were spotted making a dash through the old Transwarp Gate that grants access to a hyperspace lane, which leads 'through' an asteroid field. The Iktoran Government made a note to the Emperium about the incident; however, the Major Faction has chosen to declare it a 'non-priority' and has directed none of their standing ships in the sector to patrol the corridor of space. There are no job offerings to investigate, but I figured it should be brought to your attention.]

"Hrmmmm, there may be a Pirate Asteroid Base in the highway. But without knowing, going in there would be rather pointless and very risky." He said. "I'll try keeping that in mind... for now, it's as the Emperium said, a non-priorty. If they aren't going to dedicate ships to even watch the transwarp gate leading to an asteroid field, it's probably not that serious or important. Next?"

The window vanished and another one floated before him, this time showing various purchases tied to his account. [Mevik and Tony have made various purchases regarding materials this ship needs, and I have also compiled a list of other essentials regarding our weapons and fuel. The materials are ready and all we need is a final approval for purchase. With your approval, I shall begin processing the paperwork and begin handling logistic details.]

He looked over the list and combining everything, he would have to pay over a million in just the essentials. It was actually the 'food' that was more expensive, since Mevik had requested local goods, and sadly that meant they had to pay more. The chef had put a note apologizing, however the Central Depot didn't have 'much to offer', and this was the only other option otherwise food would get very tight in the days to come.

Tony's requests had proven to be cheaper than anticipated, a note from him saying that 'he knows the language to get what's needed for the right price'. The parts were cheaper since he seemed to have ordered it from a dealer that he had an affiliation with 'back in the day'.

Great Fox herself had gone through the weapons and fuel manifest and compiled the necessary items. A complete resupply of fuel and ammunition, as well as the building and resupplying of their 'bombs', would cost up to five hundred grand, and this was only because ammunition in a Border Sector was dirt cheap compared to say the Belgan sector. With how much some of the planets were geared toward war economics and manufacturing, ammunition was easy to come by.

In total, he was going to spend a million two hundred. "Food and Fuel are the most expensive things in a border sector. Remind me next time to resupply on food in Belgan territory Great Fox. Much cheaper to get food in a 'dedicated farming planetary sector'." He said as he tapped the approval button and the windows left, with the ship already starting on processing the paperwork and beginning handling the logistics.

[Of course, captain, I will make a note of that in the logs.] She said in a warm tone as the last window appeared for him. [I have made it a note to investigate any scrapyards containing starfighters, or investigate if any planets had starfighters for sale. Per your request, in an effort to locate additional 'Bottlenose-D-Zentra Fighters', or Arwings as you dub them. Unfortunately, there are none available here on Iktora Two, or in the sector. But there are a select number of starfighters being offered for discount, in case you might be interested.]

He looked it over and saw a few starfighters, some he recognized and others he didn't, but nothing important that he wanted. "Nothing I want, unless I want to start collecting starfighters, but there's only so much space in the hanger and I don't feel like wasting the credits. Keep an eye out though."

With that the last window vanished and the ship reported that he was up to date on everything she had to tell him. "How soon will it be until the supplies we ordered are brought on board?"

[Estimated time should be between twelve hours and thirteen hours, after the storm passes in approximately four hours, crews will begin gathering the requisitioned materials and purchases, and will begin loading procedures.] The ship stated. [It will take about a full day's cycle before we are fully supplied and can depart from Iktora Two. I will keep you updated to this timetable if it changes.]

He nodded as he got up, stretched, and declared he was heading to bed. "Keep an eye on the ship for me Great Fox, and alert me if anything major happens."

[Of course, captain, please have a restful sleep tonight.] The ship said in a warm and loving tone. [Pleasant Dreams captain.]

He nodded and left the bridge, heading away to his familiar bedroom. As he passed by the windows, again he would glance and see the storm raging silently outside, occasionally triggering his ship's shields with either bursts of wind, large clumps of sand, or bits of random debris that the storm had picked up along its path. He sighed as he walked into his bedroom and opened the door to see a pair of already sleeping forms lying on his bed.

It was Trishula and Ikaria, and both of them were lying facing each other but on opposite sides under the blanket. Smirking, he shook his head and felt a strange 'bubbly' feeling in his chest. Just the thought as he entered his bathroom to brush his teeth, wash his hands, and dump his clothes in the bin, that those two girls were willing to wait for him in his bed was causing a strange feeling in his chest.

It was... weird, he didn't understand, he should have expected it and he should be feeling normal about it, but the fact that those two beautiful girls, his 'girlfriends' didn't even bother going back to their rooms and instead instantly went to his room for bed... was a strange feeling to get used to. He sighed, took a deep breath, and muttered "I have 'two' girlfriends... who want to spend their nights with me."

He then walked out wearing a simple nightrobe, walked over to Trishula's side of the bed and lifted the blankets to climb in, hoping to 'not' disturb her...

When he noticed both of them were once again in the nude, only wearing the same silken see-through nightgown that Trishula always sported that did 'not' hide her beautiful naked body beneath it, her large, bountiful, D-Cup breasts on full display as she slept on her back. Ikaria's smaller B-Cup breasts, and smaller body were also on full display, but she lay sideway so as to make it more comfortable for her tail and head fins, both of which lay parallel to each other and occasionally 'twitched' in her sleep.

Arthur had to control his body because upon seeing the two nude girls, his first instinct was to get excited, and he forcefully pushed his body to get under control, and instead slowly climbed into bed between the two girls. Once in between he wasted no time settling himself into place and was about to close his eyes, when he felt the bed shift again, ever so slightly.

Then a pair of furry arms wrapped around him, while an equal number of cool, rubbery-skin arms reached over and gripped his body.

Glancing over he saw both girls peaking with their eyes slightly open, tired smirks on their faces as they saw him finally lying in bed with them.

"Took you long enough..." Trishula whispered tiredly as she leaned over and licked his cheek warmly. "We were getting 'tired' from waiting... decided to sleep early."

Ikaria nodded as she wiggled closer, pressing her body against his and using her closeness to pull his left arm and have it reach around her back, gently guiding his hand toward her small but firmly soft butt cheeks.

"Hmhmmm... I like it when you hold me this way in my sleep... it feels really nice to me." She muttered tiredly, yawning as she snuggled closer.

Trishula, not to be outdone by her sister girlfriend, wiggled his hand downward and had both 'hers' and his gripping together, letting his grip her equally firm, soft and bountiful butt cheeks, moaning in pleasure as he squeezed subconsciously. "Hah... she's right... that feels nice..."

"You girls are too much at night." He muttered as he gave them both squeezes, causing them to coo and moan. "Good night Trishula, Ikaria." He whispered tiredly.

"Good night!" They whispered in unison.

And so, with that, the night went on, with Great Fox monitoring their situation and watching the storm as it continued to rage and blast the Temzura City Spaceport. Three hours after the storm arrived, the storm finally ended, an hour earlier than expected, and so the ship began managing the logistics and issuing the orders and requests using Captain Arthur's Freelance Captain's License to get the crews to show priority to Great Fox compared to 'non' FC ships. By the time the first rays of light hit the ship, Arthur and Crew were eventually welcomed to the sight of another hot day and a morning breakfast.

After another morning waking up to feeling two nude girls in his bed, Arthur and his two girlfriends/pilots got up and cleaned themselves before heading to eat breakfast. Breakfast that morning was an... 'eventful' affair, as thanks to Ikaria's healthy status, she'd actually gone through an 'Egg Cycle', and so her body produced an unfertile egg. At her request, she'd asked Mevik to prepare a 'special' breakfast dish for Arthur specifically using her egg as an ingredient.

"Uhm... why do you uh..." Arthur asked as he was staring at his breakfast dish consisting of salted scrambled eggs, grilled slices of herbed Bukran fish, and herbal toast with jam and butter.

The scrambled eggs were of course, from Ikaria's own body, so instead of the usual yellow or white coloring, they were a crisp light blue overall. She didn't want to share her eggs with the crew just yet, she wanted her 'first' egg to be specially prepared for Arthur, and so promised her next egg to Mevik to cook for himself if he prepared her 'first' egg she had since coming aboard for Arthur only. Trishula was staring at the scrambled eggs alongside Arthur with an understandably 'dumbfounded' look. Ikaria however, was beaming in excitement as she waited for Arthur to take a bite.

"I know, I know, it's a HUGE honor to be the first to taste Aquavram scrambled eggs before any other member of the crew!" Ikaria said happily. "And this is a 'royal' egg, so it's even 'more' delicious! Go on, take a bite, tell me what you think! It came out yesterday, just before we all went to bed. I'm super excited to see you try it!"

"Excited is... 'one' way to describe it." Trishula said with a slightly bemused smile.

"It's... not every day I get to say I ate an egg from someone I know personally." He muttered as he took his fork and picked at a piece of the scrambled egg pile. "Alright, bottoms up."

He reminded himself that Ikaria was an Aquavram, and for them they had no problems letting other breeds eat their eggs, provided they weren't 'fertilized' or at least couldn't be fertilized. He also reminded himself that Aquavrams sold their eggs to be 'eaten' on purpose. So, with that said, he scooped up some eggs and took a bite.

He closed his eyes and then opened them in surprise, these were some very 'delicious' eggs, the salt and the natural flavor of the eggs was a unique combo he wasn't expecting. It was a strange 'sea' flavor, probably because of Ikaria's Aquavram nature, but the combination of the sea egg, the salt that Mevik used, and a few other spices caused him to swallow his bite with gusto.

"Wow... it's delicious!" He said in surprise.

"Wait, 'really'?" Trishula said in surprise as she looked at the scrambled eggs, taking a fork from her plate and taking a bite as well. "Holy stars these are good..."

"Hhehe!" Ikaria giggled as she beamed. "The signs of a healthy female Aquavram, and the royal bloodline is 'known' to have the tastiest eggs, that's why my mother, sister and my eggs are worth the most compared to a normal female. We take 'great care' of our bodies for that reason! What you're eating is an egg worth nine thousand credits on the market!"

"First... I have to admit it's delicious... second... I feel... slightly weird knowing I'm eating an egg that came from your body." Arthur muttered.

"Yeaaaa dunno how to feel about this." Trishula also agreed as they all resumed eating their meals.

"You'll get used to it, I plan on selling my eggs again unless the crew wants to eat them for breakfast as regular meals, but I'll ask for a payment for each egg I have!" Ikaria stated boldly. "Nine grand per egg Captain, that's the deal, of course I'll give you a discount since you're my boyfriend and I technically work for you."

[Please do not attempt to haggle contracts while you are still technically under contract with Captain Arthur.] Great Fox said coldly as the viewscreen turned on, showing a cartoon rendition of Great Fox giving Ikaria the cold stare. [According to your Temp Pilot's License, while Arthur is sponsoring you to fly for him using his starfighters, any potential 'financial deals' you make while still in his service, Arthur will get an immediate ninety percent cut, with an additional five percent tax due to your 'temp pilot' status.]

"What, a 'Ninety-five Percent Cut'?" Ikaria yelled in surprise. "Then that means I'd get practically 'nothing'!"

Trishula was ''bawling'' her eyes out laughing in mirth at how Ikaria reacted. The Aquavram was trying to hustle her eggs for the crew and earn extra credits while on board as a passive income. But the 'instant' she tried the ship shot her down. "So much for 'that' idea! You forget Ikaria, this isn't Aquavram Prime, Arthur is paying 'you' to be a starfighter pilot. The ship comes first, not your wallet!"

"Uhghhh..." Ikaria moaned sadly as she fell forward. "But that was how I made most of my money before... guuuugrh."

"Pffftmhmmhm... tell you what, let me talk it over with Great Fox, and... see if we can come to an 'agreement'." Arthur muttered with a sheepish smile, wanting to at least 'try' to help Ikaria out since these were 'her' eggs and she was willing to give them to the crew in exchange for 'some' credits.

He reasons, it's not like Ikaria's a breeding chicken whose sole purpose is to lay eggs for people to eat. It's either she eats them herself or any eggs she has go to waste since they're basically duds, useless for anything besides being cooked and salted or used in some other dish. The least he and Great Fox can do is make a few exemptions for her to earn a small passive income from her own body.

"Well... if I can get 'something' I'll be content." She muttered as she resumed eating.

"Hmhmhm... at least you can get something." Trishula commented as she too resumed eating.

They all continued eating and finished chowing down, with Great Fox telling him he had a few datalogs and notices waiting needing his attention. So, after eating, he went up to the Bridge while Trishula and Ikaria went to go for a light exercise run with the rest of Trishula's Pack.

"Alright, what have we got?"

As usual, multiple holographic windows appeared the moment he sat down in the chair. The first of which was an updated time-stamp window showing the ETA for various supplies to be loaded. [Due to the storm ending an hour sooner, and due to the fact that work crews were allocated to begin loading supplies for Great Fox, I have an updated time stamp for when we will be fully supplied and free to leave.] The ship stated politely. [Due to the limited personnel available to the spaceport being dedicated to tending to us, I am afraid we will have to wait an addition seven hours before loading will be completed. I apologize, however, despite filing a complaint requesting they 'increase' their efficiency, citing the inefficiency ratio when listing other ships that were tended to that were 'also' unaffiliated FC vessels... I was given a reply that states, and I quote, 'Not our fault'.]

He chuckled, knowing that would probably be the response, they didn't care about Great Fox since he wasn't working for the main faction, so why should they put extra concern for them. They deal with Freelance Captains every day, every hour, every minute. He was lucky they even gave him 'minor' priority over the Non-Freelance Captain'd ships. Unlike on Belga Cinco where they had dedicated crews the second that he landed, they were just another ship to the spaceport.

"At least we'll get supplied." He told her as he flung the window away and the next one floated in front of him.

[In local news, the IWDG, or Iktoran Water Distribution Guild, recently was forced to raise its prices for any Non-Emperium-Affiliated individual or individuals by twenty percent. This is due to a recent raid by pirates attempting to steal from a local reservoir, no doubt in an attempt to turnover for a profit, and accidentally damaged the protective dome protecting the water, emptying the reservoir entirely and losing fifteen percent of the planet's water supply.] She stated. [While it is 'unlikely' to occur while planetside... I recommend we leave the planet soon, as we carry a 'vast' quantity of water, and would be a very tempting target for pirates while still here.]

He nodded as he agreed, he didn't like being here, as soon as they got the mission details and could leave, he would take Great Fox out.

"Alright, next?"

The next window appeared, showing him various mission offers from the local system and the Major Faction. [We have received multiple mission offers, mostly relating to the Major Faction. We are being requested to provide escort to supply ships heading to Iktora Six. We are also being offered missions to patrol the various space lanes between the Transwarp Gates. There is also a local mission asking for an unaffiliated Freelance Captain to provide an escort to a Tug-Transport, carrying 'special livestock' cargo from Iktora Two, to the closest Transwarp Gate which crosses the border from Emperium to Federated Commoner's Guild territory.]

He was about to mutter something like how that sounded 'suicidal', considering how alert the Emperium was and would be alert for any 'suspicious' ships leaving the sector and attempting to cross the border, when suddenly the window flashed and crossed out the final mission request.

[Apologies... apparently that last mission was recently accepted by another Freelance Captain. What little detail I could 'inquire' about the mission request, was that the Tug-Transport would be leaving later in the day, and they were offering a substantial reward for such a 'simple' assignment.]

"Hmm... that's odd, why so much money for 'special livestock', what's so special about those animals, are they like exotic livestock?" He asked curiously.

[Unknown, there were no details about the mission besides what was stated.]

He shrugged, he wasn't going to take the mission anyway, he already had one from the Belgans, and so swiped the window away, telling Great Fox to ignore those missions for now and bringing up the last one.

This final holographic window showed an encrypted transmission, from a sender who only identified themselves as 'his friend TrugraParsh'.

"Well, looks like he's finally sent his message." He said as he tapped it to look at the message, but it was still encrypted, which Great Fox was deciphering for him. "Let's see... message reads, 'Meeting Coordinates, local planetary X/Y coordinates negative fifty-six, positive twelve... local time, o nine hundred hours. Do not be late, and do NOT be early.' Hrmmm."

He flung the window to the side and looked over at a local planetary map the ship brought up for him, pulled the holographic window over and expanded it. "Where are these coordinates located..."

[Here they are.] The ship warmly stated as it zeroed in on the coordinates he was looking for, zooming in and bringing up a hi-res image of the area from orbit.

"Hmm there's not a lot out there. It looks like there's an abandoned factory and some other abandoned buildings surrounding it." He said. "You got any information about it?"

[Checking local databases... accessing data... making additional inquiries... the factory is an old Iktoran munitions factory and depot storage from sixteen hundred years ago. The factory was one of two hundred hidden locations that constructed the now illegal 'iktoran Energy Discharge Cannon' that damaged my systems on Aquavram Prime.] The ship stated. [These factories are well documented and were heavily emptied of any vital resources, infrastructure, and further excavated to remove any potential remaining weapons by both Iktoran and Major Faction forces over the centuries. They now lie in ruin and are abandoned, little more than desperate shelter points for potential sandstorms. Local Weapon Testing over the past two thousand years have rendered these small zones inhospitable, incapable of supporting 'any' potential life. Not even microorganisms can survive in these small 'dead zones' each ranging two hundred meters to five hundred meters, that dot Iktora Two's planetary landscape.]

"Hmmm... would there be any 'reason' to go out there? Besides to serve as a meeting point?"

[Unknown...]

"Well then... we'll find out soon enough. How long until we can go there with Blue Fox?"

[Estimated time of departure, five hours. I will ready Blue Fox and the Arwings for departure.]

He nodded and was about to leave when he received an incoming call from Tony. Curious he clicked the window and answered it to see Tony lifting up a safety mask while in the background his wife and two of his sons were currently replacing some panels and welding something that looked like an engine.

[Captain, got some bad news sir.] He said as several sparks rained behind him from his wife's welding work. [The engines took a bit more of a beating then we realized, while our hotfixes in space kept us going, we're going to have to keep the engines shut off at least for a couple of days so we can fully repair them.]

"How serious is the damage are we talking here?" He asked worriedly.

[Nothing too serious, mostly external damage but some of the kinetic cannon shells that Heavy Cruiser was pumping into the engines through the shields did quite a number on the internal fuel lines. Fortunately, backups cut off the fuel passages so we didn't erupt into a giant fireball while in space, you can thank Eldentran foresight for that, Kiandra tied the Neuronet fiber cables to the fuel lines so Great Fox automatically detected the damage and cut off the fuel, before rerouting it through undamaged lines to prevent catastrophic damage.]

As he finished saying that, a large panel fell down and was swiftly grabbed by another of Tony's children, one of his daughters, wearing an exosuit meant to help with heavy lifting. She carried it off screen and his sons started working on the internal structure, while Tony continued talking to him.

[What that means in case yer wonderin captain, is that we won't be able to take off until all the repairs are done to the engines for safety reasons. Until all the fuel lines are fully repaired, I dun reccomend riskin taking off with four of our engines out of commission.]

Arthur was about to ask if they could speed it up, saying he had a potential mission in line, when Tony preemptively answered with a gesture of his hand. [Ah know, ah know, you're probably ganna ask me to speed it up, we'll see what we can do, but just like with yer cannons, better to play it safe and do the repairs in an atmosphere that 'wont' risk critical damage if something sparks the wrong way. I'll have my fam work on the engines through the night in shifts. Best case scenario I can say, we'll be able to fly tomorrow mornin.]

"Alright, what about Yumi's starfighter, how far along are you with her Arwing?"

[Hey pa, you almost done, we could use you over here!] One of his sons called out.

[Hang your engines I'm talkin to the captain!] He yelled back. [Yumi's Arwing took some critical damages that we're still ironing out, but the engines are more of a priority, so she'll have to wait. Luckily Arwing Fourteen is still functioning and can be used, so she can still fly if you needs her.]

"Alright, thank you Tony for you and your family's hard work, just don't overwork yourselves now." He replied gratefully.

[No problem, A'IGHT I'm comin!]

With that the transmission ended and he got up to head to the library to read up on some things before heading out with the girls. Hours passed by while Trishula and her pack did some exercises, and Arthur lounged in the library to enjoy the quiet and peace. When it came time to leave, he called for Trishula and her pilots to head to the hanger.

"Alright, so here's how it goes, Ikaria will be piloting Blue Fox, while Trishula, Yumi, Katarra and Vanessa fly in your Arwings to provide escort duty." He told them as he and Ikaria was sitting in the pilot's chair while he sat in the co-pilot's chair. "Yumi, sorry to say but you'll have to make do with Arwing Fourteen until your main Arwing is finished being repaired."

[Don't worry captain, I'll manage 'somehow'.] Yumi chuckled on the viewscreen.

[Poor Yumi, has to take another Arwing that is the 'exact same' as her original one she was flying. However will she manage?] Katarra giggled.

[Yumi must be suffering so much over there!] Vanessa chuckled.

[Alright enough fun talk, let's get flying girls!] Trishula said as she finished her final checks and the various starships were all rolled into position for takeoff.

"You alright there Ikaria?" He asked as she was slow to complete the flight-check list.

"Uh... a little... these controls are a bit 'different' compared to the usual Starfighter and Submersible controls I'm used to." She said sheepishly as she flicked a few switches and double checked a screen. "I mean... they're all familiar and I can understand them but... you know... they're also 'different' and... stuff."

[Captain, are you positive you do not want 'me' to handle the piloting of Blue Fox and have Ikaria provide additional fighter escort?] The ship responded in a 'hesitant' tone.

"Are you saying I can't fly this ship?" Ikaria asked angrily. "I can fly this fox as well as any of Arthur's pilots!" She then glanced at him with a somewhat embarrassed and sheepish smile, "Given its... my 'first time' flying it... but I can fly it!"

"I trust Ikaria Great Fox; she can handle Blue Fox."

[Very well... but for safety's sake, I will be on standby to take control if need be.]

He nodded and watched as Ikaria took a deep breath before nodding to herself, flicking a few more switches and pushing some more buttons, gripping the handles and saying, "All systems ready, fuel lines are green, engines hot... Escort Arwings, are you ready to depart?"

[We've been ready, we're burning minutes here!] Vanessa laughed loudly. [Take off already rookie, our captain has an important meeting, don't make him late!]

Ikaria nodded as she pulled on the handles and the ship pushed forward, engines burning and launching them out of the Great Fox's hanger. Soon after they left four Arwings flew out of the hanger as well, following in Blue Fox's wake and taking up a defensive star formation with Trishula in the lead, Yumi and Katarra on either side, and finally Vanessa in the rear most position.

[I have set up a waypoint for Ikaria to follow, estimated time of arrival will be thirty-five minutes pending no interruptions in the flight schedule.] Great Fox declared as a blue beacon appeared on the main radar screen.

Ikaria nodded as she kept glancing at the radar and the main window, watching her elevation and speed and keeping the craft leveled. After a while the Aquavram breathed a sigh of relief, and once more focused on her job of flying the Blue Fox.

"You're doing good Ikaria, just stay focused and we'll get there." He said as they flew past the remnants of the city outskirts and were now flying over open desert.

"Thanks Arthur." She muttered gratefully.

After a few minutes of silent flying, occasionally broken up by the girls rotating their positions so they had something to do, he decided to help ease Ikaria out of the worry of messing up with flying him personally. "So, how was your first foray into the galaxy?" He asked. "Was this life what you were hoping or expecting it to be Ikaria?"

"I'll be honest, it's been pretty alright." She muttered as she glanced at the radar and readjusted her course to correct for pilot error. "It was way more exciting than I first imagined, especially my first battle. I was... not prepared. I mean, I've been in battle yes but... I don't know it just felt... different that time."

He nodded as he understood, the panic was definitely there when it came to the 'first' battle. He remembered his first time when his life was in actual danger. That first day he was reincarnated... being surprised by a pirate gang attacking him out of nowhere, when he was relaxed and at peace. But, just like Ikaria he got over it, he learned he had to be prepared and alert.

"Well... no matter what happens, I promise I won't let anything bad happen to you." He told her. "Just like I promised Trishula... no matter what happens, if you absolutely must, save yourself... don't sacrifice your life... not even for my ship."

Ikaria took a deep breath as she smiled, blushing slightly as she glanced at Arthur, happy to know he cared about her.

[Uh, are you slowing down there, or are you having engine problems rookie?] Vanessa called out over the comms.

"Eeep!" Ikaria squealed as she quickly pulled the controls to increase speed.

Sure enough, they had been losing speed, apparently Ikaria had been subtly slowing down without even realizing it, resulting in Arthur and all of the other members of Trishula's Pack laughing.

As Ikaria piloted the Blue Fox, the transport and its fighter escort continued to fly at great speeds over the sandy dunes and expanses of desert. Arthur would occasionally look around to see if there was anything 'worth' looking at to change up the monotony of seeing just hills of sand and dirt so dry it barely qualified as dirt. At some point he checked to his left and saw a large dustcloud far off in the distance, and surmised another sandstorm was forming, but thankfully heading another direction.

Occasionally he'd see random starships off in the distance, or would even see one crossing their paths temporarily, heading to different locations. Most of the transports were rusted, dirty things. Though he did notice a 'unique' difference between some of the more commonly seen transports, as they looked to be like space trucks, tethered to large containers of varying types. Some were squarish rectangles, and others rounded spheres that were attached to supporting engines. Curious, he asked Great Fox to explain the ships in question.

[The vessels in question are Iktoran Tug-Transports.] The ship told him, bringing up a schematic to show him. [Iktoran Tug-Transports are considered outdated among starship captains, due to their 'archaic' design, but thanks to their 'uniqueness', they are able to transport cargo of varying types with little difficulty 'and' said cargo can be highly specialized for cheaper costs.]

She separated the Tugs from their cargo to demonstrate, showing how the main transport, the 'Tug' was equipped with multiple external engines and carried heavy fuel containers internally to power these engines, while the 'cargo' portion used its own engines to assist in pushing it through space and within the atmosphere of a planet.

[As Iktoran technology devoted itself away from warfare toward running transports, most Iktoran vessels became specialized toward transportation. When it comes to smugglers, Iktoran Tug ships are considered the 'go to' for ownership and running, as they often can outmaneuver much larger warships run by Freelance Captains, thanks to their numerous engine drives. It is often said among the various Freelance Captains, that the only classification of starship that can surpass an Iktoran Tug-Transport in maneuverability, is a starfighter.] The ship reported, bringing up a small schematic of the fuel lines for Iktoran engines. [When it comes to fuel efficiency, Iktoran ships were labeled the 'fifth' most efficient among the galaxy. They are capable of traversing the space lanes using far less fuel than most other transports, with just as high speeds and greater maneuverability.]

He nodded, that was indeed an impressive accomplishment, now he knew why some of his friends often used 'Iktoran Transports' when running secret deliveries between various faction borders.

"Interesting... maybe we can use Iktoran engine designs to see if we can improve your own efficiency Great Fox."

[Apologies captain, however my engines 'do' use Iktoran designs. It is the main reason why I do not use nearly as much fuel as other warships of my size. According to her personal notes, Kiandra took apart a broken Iktoran engine to understand how it was created 'before' implementing similar design schematics, though she stated she 'vastly' improved the original concept by seven percent.]

He chuckled, Kiandra really did plan her designs in advance for a ton of things.

So, they continued to fly across the deserts of Iktora Two, a transport and four starfighters flying the airways. Occasionally they would see some lone buildings that had defensive turret emplacements, they would be sent messages warning them to 'stay away' because they were private property. At one point they flew over another spaceport city that was even more heavily trafficked then Temzura City was.

All the while the girls complained about the sun and even started activating their heat shields to protect them.

But... after enough time had passed, Ikaria told them all that they were approaching their destination and was starting to decrease altitude and speed for landing. Arthur sat straight up and looked at their destination as it came into view. The abandoned factory was as Great Fox reported, a giant rectangular building with multiple little buildings around it, a metallic fence that once encircled it rusted to the point where the little links were falling apart due to exposure to the elements. Broken windows and even caved in roofs told the story that nobody had been here in centuries. But sitting on one side of the factory was an Iktoran Tug-Transport, modified so that instead of a cargo container, it was carrying a weapon's platform with multiple turrets and even a missile launcher.

"Looks like we arrived on time." He muttered as Ikaria brought Blue Fox down on the 'other' side, away from the Iktoran transport. "Girls, plant your starfighters down near that rocky outcropping so you have some shade and so you can come to our rescue if needed. Trishula, you join me with Ikaria."

[Don't trust our contact?] Yumi asked as she, Katarra and Vanessa followed his order and swerved off course, leaving only Trishula's Starfighter to land with Blue Fox.

"About as much as I can tolerate their smoking habits." He muttered.

[Smart.] Katarra said in agreement.

Ikaria landed the Blue Fox and grabbed her dagger, spear, and mask, slotting two fresh liquid canisters in and nodding to say she was ready. Once they were set, he departed with her and met Trishula on the ground who had her blaster out and was eyeing their surroundings. Once they were together, he led the way toward an open door to the factory.

"Ugh... place has seen better days." Trishula muttered in disgust.

He nodded, the place was so empty, even the few remaining pillars that kept the roof up were crumbling to nothing. Debris littered the floor, broken glass dotted the walls, hardly anything was left to rot away to the elements as they moved into the interior. Then as they entered a smaller room that was large enough to fit a swimming pool, a pair of spotlights shone on them all, causing them to pause and shield their eyes.

Eventually, their eyes adjusted and Arthur looked to see several people in front of them, many of them armed with plasma rifles and even electric staffs. Their breeds varied, two Terrans, one mixed Belgan, a few Iskorians and even some other breeds he didn't recognize, but chief among them was a heavily robed Iktoran who wore a gas mask and was smoking.

"Parshtrugra I take it?" He asked loudly while Trishula stood to his left and kept her blaster ready, Ikaria hand on her dagger and her spear held up defensively.

The Iktoran nodded, still taking a smoke and then 'puffing' it out, before talking. "Beezgrak tu grakpooooor Yagdoskcra!" They said in a synthetic voice.

"Parshtrugra says, you are 'lucky' you arrived, another minute and he would have left." The Terran to his left said, translating for him.

"Sorry, but traffic was bad, and a black cat crossed my ship's path so we had to take a longer road." He said sarcastically as he took a step forward. "So, now that I'm here, I was told that you have a mission for me from the Belgans?"

Parshtrugra nodded as he took another puff, and extended his insect-like claw forward, holding out a datapad for one of his comrades to hand over to him. Arthur took the datapad and began reading the details.

"Kreeeegz dooomavda, pektookoramora, garelumna FCG egdooooomra Emperium."

"Parshtrugra says that the mission is time sensitive, he can wait no more days, this mission will affect an upcoming conflict between the FCG and the Emperium."

Arthur read the details; a Belgan Fleet Admiral was acting as a double agent for the FCG on behalf of the Emperium. They needed an unaffiliated Freelance Captain to take a very 'special' set of sixty Titan Class Cannons that have been modified, to backfire when used. According to the information, the Federated Commoner's Guild knew of the Juggernaut's construction and were planning to launch a 'massive' invasion force to destroy and cripple the Emperium's defenses in the sector as a preemptive strike for a total invasion of the sector.

Should Arthur accept the mission, he would need to collect these cannons and then transport them across the border to a nearby FCG shipyard, where they would be taken and installed into several freshly built Titan Battleships. Once installed and powered up, they would trigger a chain reaction in the energy distribution nodes of the battleships, causing catastrophic damage and not only blowing up the ships while they were still in drydock, but also disable any nearby ships and installations for 'days'.

In other words, if this plan worked out, the Emperium would be able to launch a surprise invasion into FCG territory while they were reeling from the sabotage and wouldn't be able to rally ships until they had lost swaths of their border sector territory, enough for Emperium forces to set up a base of operations to launch further assaults, eventually leading to a massive fleet invasion of the sector station.

He knew that trick all too well, it was a similar trick the Boomdocks, another Major Faction from his old life used. They pretended to have some of their pilots act as double agents, and then when the time came, they turned their own ships into mobile EMP bombs, right as Boomdock Fleets exited Transwarp Speeds on top of their enemies. By the time the ships recovered, almost a fifth of the enemy fleet would be crippled or outright destroyed.

"I see... so how much would I be getting for delivering these cannons?" He asked.

Parshtrugra slowly took a puff of smoke and then breathed out, about to respond, when he eyed Ikaria for a moment, or more specifically her 'dagger'. Then he said, "Beeeegs toookra meend dregria."

"Parshtrugra asks you to permit him to speak to the young Aquavram, in her own language, before he responds."

He looked to Ikaria who shrugged and nodded.

"To what... 'honor' do I owe Parshtrugra, that he would speak to me in my own native language, when he will not even speak to my captain, whom I am the consort of, in Galactic Basic?" She asked coldly.

Parshtrugra laughed out loud, a laugh filled with mirth as he put his pipe away, as if pleased with her words before speaking in Ikaria's native tongue, matching it squeaky tone for tone. "Bellregrurara, eeegpooolamna barlremlumnia. Parlweeem, greeegtoo nadra."

Ikaria was taken aback, that this Iktoran was so well versed in her tongue, but she narrowed her eyes as she clutched her dagger and responded. "Greeglumra, lreemlugreema peeegramluooonru!"

Subtly Arthur watched as the two conversed, trading words, observing how the Iktoran was very 'respectful' with how he addressed Ikaria and what he said. Ikaria though, with each progression of the conversation, became increasingly more upset and angrier, to the point where she dropped the Native Aquavram tongue and shouted in Basic Galactic, "AND YOU LET THEM GET AWAY, WITHOUT TELLING THE MAJOR FACTION!?"

"Ikaria?" He asked in surprise, not understanding what was said as Great Fox didn't translate for him.

Ikaria was seething with anger as she turned to Arthur and said, "This... SCUM... just told me... that a Tug-Transport departed not even half an hour ago, carrying over two HUNDRED of my breed. They're making for the border to be sold into... into... INTO SLAVERY!"

After hearing that, he realized what she was talking about, "The missing female Aquavrams..." He whispered in shock.

Trishula and Ikaria looked to him in shock and surprise. "Wait, you 'knew' about this?" Ikaria asked.

"Arthur, what's going on?" Trishula asked.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and then began explaining. "Before we left Aquavram Prime, Fleet Admiral Temor of the Belgan's Second Fleet first division, informed me that his ships intercepted and liberated a transport carrying Aquavrams that were being shipped by pirates to be sold into slavery. However, he informed me that the pirates were only carrying 'male' Aquavrams, and that they were sold in a black-market warehouse on Iktora Two, en mass. But the Belgans never found out what happened to the 'females' sold."

Parshtrugra laughed, almost sadly, as he said, "Greeektuuu moovkra temndooogra! Kreeegpu tekumana eeegro."

"Parhstrugra says, the Females have been genetically altered illegally! He knows not the procedure but he knows it can only be reversed on Aquavram Prime, and only if they are returned 'swiftly' within a week."

"WELL, WHY DIDN'T YOU ALERT THE MAJOR FACTION!" Ikaria screamed angrily.

Parshtrugra shook his head before saying, "Grek gktooomra eegro menegregrooo ektrooomra. Keeeg... toogra, moorektra."

"To expose them would expose me, if I am exposed, my operations will be lost. You do not live as long as I as a black-market dealer, by being stupid. I needed to... find a way, to help them without exposing myself."

At that Ikaria turned to Arthur. "We have to go after that transport Arthur! We need to save my people while we still can!"

Arthur nodded and was about to leave, before Parstrugra said, in 'Basic Galactic' this time, "Eighty Million."

Arthur stopped and turned to the dealer, and stared in confusion while he pulled up his pipe and smoked again. "What?"

"Eighty... 'million." He said again. "That is the reward being offered by the Emperium for completing this delivery and making it back without arousing suspicion. I have the cannons, and the Belgans have played their part, now all 'you' have to do, is accept the delivery at Temzura City Spaceport, and deliver the cannons in three days to the Federated Commoner's Guild on the other side of the Space Highway. Eighty Million MPC is the reward. We can delay the mission no longer, if we don't arrive with the cannons in three days... they will catch wind of the plan... and the Emperium will be forced to adjust its strategy."

Arthur was about to respond, when he realized what Parshtrugra was saying, he was telling him the offer, because there wasn't enough time to do both. He couldn't catch up to the Tug-Transport to rescue the Aquavram Females so he could return them to Aquavram Prime, 'and' return to Temzura City Spaceport to deliver the cannons. Blue Fox might be able to traverse the Transwarp Gates, but it 'can't' deliver the cannons, nor deliver the Aquavrams in time to save them from these 'genetic alterations' made to them.

He had to make a choice.

"Y... you aren't going to..." Ikaria muttered in fear, noticing his hesitation.

"Why are you telling me this?" He asked incredulously.

Parhstrugra took a smoke before replying, again in Basic Galactic. "Just telling you your options... Freelance Captain. On one hand, you have a guarantee of vast credits to your account for completing the mission. On the other, you have 'no' guarantee of credits for rescuing some girls. You might save them, yes... but what promise of reward will you get for saving them?" He said with a mocking tone. "The Emperium has offered you their price, the Belgans trust you, hence why they sent you to 'me', and through the Belgans the Major Faction trusts you. That alone, is worth 'ten times' the credits they're paying you... you do this for the Major Faction, you can ask for 'quite' a few favors."

"Now you might save these girls... perhaps you can save them in time, but perhaps... it's too late, and nothing you do will help. You bring them back... what will the Aquavrams give you in exchange... their 'gratitude'? What good is 'Aquavram Gratitude' worth? They cannot hope to match the Emperium's credit offer, they are still in the beginning stages of rebuilding. They don't even have 'basic trade' established again with their neighbors. You already have their 'royal daughter' as a consort... there is nothing more you can gain by aiding them. You can't take both missions... only one... choose what you must... just know what you're sacrificing by taking one over the other. I can't find 'another' to replace you should you reject my mission, but I also won't blame you if you reject it."

"What will you do... 'Freelance Captain'?"

Arthur took a deep breath, stupid as he was, Parshtrugra was making a point. It may be too late already to save them from this fate, and eighty million, that was a LOT of credits for him... but...

Looking at Ikaria, he saw her expression, looking slightly worried, afraid that he might reject the idea of rescuing her fellow Aquavrams and instead working for the Emperium.

He took another deep breath, and then with a determined expression, tapped his HUD Headset to get in contact with Great Fox. "Great Fox, I need to know the exact trajectory of a Tug-Transport that just left the planet, heading toward the nearest Transwarp Gate leading to the FCG Border about thirty minutes ago!"

[Captain, if we do this, we will automatically fail the mission the Belgans have given us, this may affect our relationships with the Belgans or even the Major Faction in the future. This is also a sizeable income we are choosing to forgo, and it is unlikely we will ever get a mission with a credit reward this high in the future. Are you certain you wish to pursue this course of action?] The ship asked in a polite, but cautious tone.

She was neither attempting to dissuade him or judge him, she was simply stating the facts as they were, warning him of the potential repercussions because of his actions. He knew whatever he picked, she would follow him unquestioningly.

"Do it." He ordered in a tone of finality.

[As you wish... gathering data...] The ship said as various windows appeared, with her 'mission tracker' adjusting and updating itself.

Previously it had been a 'Mission for the Major Faction', but now it read 'Failed'. Underneath it a new mission was labeled, 'Rescue the Aquavram Females'.

He turned to Ikaria who was smiling happily, showing that her faith in his character was once more reassured. "Let's go, we have a transport to catch!" He told them, before he turned, glancing back to Parshtrugra with a glare, but also a smile. "Also, before I go... fuck you."

Parshtrugra cackled as he nodded, raising his pipe as Arthur, Trishula and Ikaria ran out of the factory, yelling, "Gooooood luck!"

They stormed out of the factory and ran to their ships, Arthur and Ikaria into the Blue Fox while Trishula climbed into Arwing Three. As quickly as she could Ikaria started up the transport and soon, they were skybound, Ikaria pushing the engines fast to get into space, swiftly being followed by Trishula, Vanessa, Yumi and Katarra.

[We heard from Trishula, she linked us to her HUD captain.] Katarra called out.

[I'm glad you chose to save those Aquavram Girls, we knew we picked the right captain to swear our oaths of loyalty to!] Yumi cheered happily.

[Heh, stop trying to play 'Hero' captain, or you'll find me stopping by your room at night.] Vanessa teased him.

After about ten minutes the group of ships left the planet's atmosphere, and Great Fox had reported from the Planetary Port Authority the ship in question, and thanks to inquiring from numerous passing by FC Ships its location and course.

[According to data I've cross-referenced, the ship is a Type-H Iktoran Tug-Transport, outdated by modern standards, since the latest model is a Type-L variant. It's currently on a Galactic Special Heading of North by Northeast, heading six-two-one by four-seven-four, on a direct course for the nearest Transwarp Gate leading across the border to FCG Territory.] The ship informed him.

"How far away are we, and can Blue Fox catch up to the ship?"

[At maximum speeds Blue Fox can catch up to the Tug-Transport, as due to its nature when compared to FC Ships and non-Iktoran transports, the Iktoran Tugs are not as fast, but are far more maneuverable.] Great Fox reported.

"Good enough for me!" Ikaria shouted as she punched in a few commands and forced the Blue Fox transport to go at its maximum speed, with the Arwings maintaining their formation.

Arthur could do nothing really besides watch through the window at the stars, the various background scenes of space, occasionally seeing blips on the radar of random ships either out of range or out of sight. But as they pushed their engines as fast as they could go, he eventually saw on the radar, a 'large' collection of blips surrounding a larger blip. It was the Iktoran Tug, and it was not alone.

[Captain Arthur, I'm picking up several unmanned fighters on my scanners!] Yumi declared as she appeared on the window. [They appear to be of Terran design, from what I can make out, they're G-06-Termina Stormfront Wasps. Highly maneuverable and are equipped with Twin Plasma Blaster cannons for standard weaponry and limited shielding, they're designed for anti-starfighter combat and meant to perform strafing runs on larger ships.]

[Terran Unmanned Starfighters?] Katarra asked incredulously. [Why are they getting an escort from 'Terrans'?]

[I don't know, the Terran sectors aren't even under the control of the Federated Commoner's Guild, the only Terran Sector that 'we' can reach safely without crossing a border is the Terra-Delta sector.] Vanessa said calmly.

[I see this as a massive betrayal, what Terran in their right mind would condone protecting a transport carrying Aquavram Slaves!] Trishula snarled over the comms. [Almost sixty-percent of Belgans have Terran Heritage and can trace their lineages to the first Terrans that Purebred Belgans met and began copulating with! Terrans were among the 'strongest' advocates of outlawing slavery in any planetary star system in all of known space! They were our closest allies during the first galactic wars between the Major Factions, and sent us ships to help us defend our system from the Bascarans over a thousand years ago!]

[Tell me about it, my grandmother was a Purebred and she fell in love with a Terran who gave up his comfy life on Terra-Prime to move to Belga-Quatro!] Yumi moaned. [He died of a heart attack... she was so sad and she loved him so much that she never dated again; my mother was an only daughter... you know how 'rare' that is for a Belgan to have only one kitten? When mom met my Terran dad, she swore to have more kittens... dad was a stay at home raising me and my thirteen brothers and sister... she was always sad because she could never be there all the time for him 'and' us.]

[Less talk about the breed betrayal and focus on that transport!] Katarra shouted. [We have to disable the transport and stop it from reaching the Transwarp Gate. If it manages to enter Transwarp Space and cross into the space highway, we'll never catch up or save those Aquavrams!]

"Yep, and since Blue Fox is completely unarmed, Ikaria and I will hang back and see if we can come up with some way to board it or hack into the tug's cargo module. Here are your standing orders girls, engage those starfighters until I say otherwise! If we can't find a way to disable it safely, we'll have to find a way to blast the transport and shut it down without harming the Aquavrams."

"ROGER THAT!" All four of the girls shouted as they surged forward toward the transport.

As one unit they all primed their weapons, and began to track targets as they neared the group of ships. As they got within communication's range, they received an automated communique from one of the unmanned starfighters.

[This is Escort Wasp T-05-LQ-021... disengage your weapon's systems and leave the vicinity of this escort, or you will be regarded as hostile and targeted as such.]

Trishula smirked as she responded, saying, "This is Trishula of Arwing Three, you're guarding a transport that is carrying slaves, order it to stand down or we 'will' open fire to disable it!" knowing full well that wouldn't work, unmanned starfighters, even if they had onboard AIs, never talked.

It just wasn't their style, and sure enough, despite her message half of the escort, a total of seven fighters turned and began firing rapid plasma cannon bursts to engage Trishula's Pack. Instantly she and her pilots evaded and counter attacked, Trishula launching a bomb to blow up two of the starfighters while her girls began engaging in a dogfight with the starfighters.

The unmanned starfighters looked like their namesake from the Terran Sector, if she remembered what a 'wasp' looked like. The G-06-Termina Stormfront Wasps as Yumi described them, were about seven meters long, four meters wide, and three meters tall starfighters that had a roughly 'triangular' shaped main body with six wing-like extensions, two of which were at the rear of the ship and mirrored at the bottom, with the remaining two sticking out halfway along the vessel. The four rear wing extensions each had small miniature thrusters to give the fighter increased maneuvering capabilities, and had a single large engine at the rear to propel it forward. As for the central wings, each wing had mounted on them a Plasma Cannon for offensive capabilities.

When the battle began in earnest, the remaining starfighters turned and sped away from the transport, sending out a distress signal to call for aid as they engaged with Trishula's pack.

[These things aren't like the pirate unmanned fighters we fought in the space highway!] Vanessa said as she was being pursued by two of them and having to dodge quite a lot to avoid being shot down.

[Yea but they're just as fragile!] Katarra declared as she shot one down even as she herself was being shot at.

[Ugh, they're too fast... I can't shake it!] Yumi called out as she did a summersault to try and shake her pursuer.

"I got you girl!" Trishula said as she came up behind Yumi and fired off a rapid blast of plasma shots from her cannons.

The Terran Wasp fighter veered away and attempted to evade the attack, but Trishula easily targeted it down and blasted its engines after breaking through its shields, causing it to explode mid-flight and send pieces flying everywhere, the fragments bouncing harmlessly off her shields as she flew through it.

"Scratch one more for me! WHOA!" She said as she had to swerve as behind her a Wasp fighter had got on her tail. "Ugh, for the last time, only 'ARTHUR' gets to ram his 'ship' into my 'starport' from that direction!'

She did a barrel roll to the left and then right, before swerving up and to the left again, and then performing a rapid descent and braking hard to throw the fighter's targeting off and make it pass by her, directly into her cannon's crosshair. After a short burst from her cannons, she shot down another starfighter. She celebrated and quickly returned to the battle as the number of unmanned fighters were starting to thin down, but she heard her radar beep and saw far off into the distance, a 'large' vessel on approach.

Confused, she did a quick scan and then stared in 'horror' as she realized 'where' these pirates or smugglers were getting their escort from.

"Oh... no... it's a Freelance Captain'd ship..." She muttered. "We gotta wrap this up fast girls, we got a Super Carrier on approach!"

[A Super Carrier, oh that is NOT good!] Yumi shouted in horror.

[Without Great Fox's firepower we do not have the power to take on a Super Carrier.] Vanessa agreed.

[This is Arthur in Blue Fox, we see the carrier too, which means we 'have' to do something drastic. I'm having Great Fox analyze the transport to see if we can come up with a plan, but until we can think of something, you just have to fight those fighters!]

She nodded and swerved just as another Wasp began tailing her, forcing her to summersault and try to get behind it.

For several minutes the girls and the Wasps battled around and near the Tug Transport, with Blue Fox rapidly approaching, attempting to get close to the tug. But the Tug, apparently realizing what they were after, began to use its maneuverability to its advantage, as while it couldn't outpace Blue Fox, could keep away from it. Each time Blue Fox swerved in behind the Tug would make a rapid turn to get out of line, and while Blue Fox was fast it could only 'lumber' after the Tug, unable to get in front or alongside it safely.

Suddenly, one of the remaining five Wasp starfighters veered away and began to go after the Blue Fox, firing short bursts against the transports. Not enough to do damage, but enough to force Trishula to forget the battle and the Tug. The ship's shields easily held off the short burst of weapon's fire, but the Wasp was already turning around for another pass.

"They're going after the Blue Fox!" She shouted.

[Why are they attacking the Blue Fox, its unarmed! It's illegal to target unarmed civilian transports!] Katarra shouted as she was being pursued.

[Unarmed Starfighters aren't programmed to discriminate between unarmed and armed ships. They'll target anything perceived to be a hostile threat!] Yumi told them.

[Trishula, we're under attack, our shields can't take that kind of a beating for long!] Ikaria said as the wasp fired on the Blue Fox again, but the shields absorbed more damage.

Without hesitation she turned away, leaving the remaining fighters to her squadron while she zoomed to defend her captain/boyfriend and sister girlfriend. She fired a burst of plasma shots on the wasp, but it twisted and turned, dodging her shots as best it could while 'continuing' to attack the defenseless transport.

After a series of blasts, the shields of Blue Fox completely collapsed, right as the Wasp flew past and began to turn for a final assault.

[Shields down, we're exposed!] Arthur yelled in fear. [Do something Trishula!]

"NO, YOU DON'T!" She screamed in rage, as she fired a bomb 'and' rapidly fired her guns to shoot down the wasp.

It was a 'bit' overkill, but her massive attack burst utterly devastated the unmanned starfighter, leaving barely 'any' wreckage left.

She breathed a sigh of relief as she stared at the Blue Fox, safe and sound as she turned back to join her squadron. The remaining unmanned fighters were now outnumbered two to one, with the last ones flying desperately to maintain the defense of the Tug. In a desperation ploy, they both turned and began to try an attack run on the Blue Fox, but none of the girls were having any of it as Yumi, Vanessa and Katarra fired a bomb each to intercept and blow them out of space, leaving only scrap to float as remnants.

"That's the last of them Arthur, have you found a way to disable that tug without hurting the captives?" Trishula asked hopefully.

[We have, Great Fox?]

[According to the data I have on the Tug, the main body of the cargo module and the Tug-transport module are connected via a series of interlocked connection rods.] The ship reported, as it brought up a schematic to show them. [A carefully aimed plasma shot at these links will sever the links. It should be noted however, that these 'also' serve as the cargo-module's power cables... and this particular module uses a... hanger frame that allows the cargo bays to be opened to the vacuum of space. We will have approximately 'five' minutes to rescue the prisoners before the doors open once we sever the power to the cargo module.]

[Can Blue Fox link up to supply power?] Yumi asked fearfully.

[No... but she 'can' line up her door to the cargo-module's emergency access door...] Arthur said. [One of you has to 'carefully' shoot out the cables!]

Moments after Arthur said that, an incoming communication from the Tug appeared on their viewscreens. [This is the Second in command of the Tug-Transport Grelmarka, speaking on behalf of the Captain!]

The voice belonged to a Gevkan with a patch over one of their eyes, and she could tell that unlike Mevik he was 'far' from your friendly cook.

[We 'know' what you're after, and if you know what's good for you, you'll immediately disable your weapons and depart, or 'else'.]

Arthur in Blue Fox wasn't buying it, but he figured 'try' and negotiate to rescue the Aquavrams. "This is Freelance Captain Arthur of Great Fox, currently onboard the Civilian Transport 'Blue Fox'. You are carrying Aquavram prisoners on board your ship as 'cargo' and are in violation of anti-slavery galactic laws. If you disengage your cargo this instant and allow us to take those girls on board safely, we will allow you to leave with your ship intact." He told them boldly.

[Hehehe... nice try, allow me to give you my 'counter offer'!] The second in command said with a smirk, and then Arthur watched as lights around one of the cargo module's bay doors began to light up.

"No... NO!" He shouted in horror.

"NOOOO!" Ikaria 'screamed' in terror as the door began to open.

They watched in disbelief as the door opened, and then the protective 'shield' disengaged, allowing the bay's contents to spill out into the empty, vacuum of space. Arthur's heart began to pound in sheer fear, as he watched... in silence... crates fly out and drift away.

[Buahahahah... you should have 'seen' the looks on your faces!] The Gevkan cackled with a grin. [But I think I've made my point... that bay had nothing but a few crates of 'valuable contents', nothing 'living', but it was worth quite a lot to us. Not as much as what's in the 'other' cargo bays, but I digress... I think we've made our case plain. You better stay back... or 'else'...]

With that the transmission cut out, and Arthur leaned into the chair, catching his breath as he had a momentary heart attack.

"We... we have to do something Arthur!" Ikaria moaned fearfully, looking to him for hope and assurance, as well as guidance.

"We will... we just have to be careful." He muttered. "Great Fox, is there any way we can... I don't know, 'blind' them so that Trishula and her squadron can take the shots and sever that Tug from its Cargo module?"

[I can attempt to send out a low frequency jamming signal that will hide the Arwings from scanners, but it will only be temporary. If the crew is watching from a window, this tactic will not work. I apologize, but this is the limit of my capabilities without access to the Great Fox's systems. Blue Fox is not meant to be more than a transport.]

"Ugh, hitting something that narrow... that's a tall order... can any of us make that shot?" Trishula asked over the comms to her fellow pilots who all had backed up to the Blue Fox to protect it, and stay 'away' from the Tug to avoid risking harm to the prisoners. "We need to do it fast, we're running out of time, we have to 'stop' that Tug before it reaches the Transwarp Gate!"

Suddenly, an incoming transmission occurred, [Can't let you do that, 'Trishula's Pack'!]

She looked down to see a 'forced' transmission being imposed onto her viewscreen, and as static overtook the screen, it eventually focused to show a hound's head with spiked fur, howling to the stars, mouth open as a sun peaked over the horizon. Moments after that image appeared, a Purebred Belgan appeared in front of it, smirking as they looked at her face to face.

It was the same Purebred Belgan she and the others saw in the bar, the one who defended his captain with a blaster before 'throwing' the dead bodies of their attacker quite literally into the trash. On her radar she saw 'four' blips flying toward them at top speed, and she turned to see four starfighters entering her visual range.

Each of these starfighters were very different compared to the unmanned Wasps. The Starfighters flown by the Purebred Belgan and his compatriots it seemed, were eleven meters in length from tip to engine, four meters tall and five meters wide. They had double pointed noses that featured a secondary weapon's feed in the center, and had three wings extending from the center and rear of the fighter's chasis, with two on either side of the cockpit while the third extended from the top at the rear, all three bending forward like that of a scorpion's tail. They seemed to be armed with twin plasma blasters, and the top-most wing extension had small cylinder-like shield generators built into it. The main body of the starfighter was a deep crimson red color overall, with various black attachments to give it a bulkier appearance, while the wings themselves were tinted silver and gold.

[Congratulations, you've found yourself the target of Wolvara's Hounds!] Wolvara said in an open comm to Trishula and her squadron.

[Our Captain has given orders for your immediate 'termination'.] Another face, a male mixed Terran with yellow scale-like skin akin to that of a lizard's spoke next, replacing Wolvara.

[Based on my scientific calculations, you're not worth the credits in 'scrap' it took to build your starfighters, but the 'reward' for us protecting that Tug more than makes up for it!] An Eldentran of all breeds, male again, appeared on Trishula's viewscreen to replace the previous guy.

[Nice to meet you, and it will be nicer to see your engines fleeing before us!] Another Belgan, female mixed breed this time, mostly Katren with 'some' Terran, and orange-yellow fur. [I'll have a new nailfile for my 'claws' using your wrecks after we're through with you.]

Trishula growled as she guessed what had happened, the FC had sent out their 'own' group of freelance starfighter pilots to tango with her squadron.

"Trishula's Pack, engage those ships, keep them away from the Blue Fox! Don't let any of them through!" She ordered as she led the charge, swerving away from Blue Fox and the Tug.

[Wolvara's Hounds, you know the drill... separate, and exterminate!] Donrav countered as his own squadron flew head-long against Trishula's Pack.

In a collection of metal and plasma, eight starfighters soared and began blasting each other, swerving and rolling out of their attacker's sight lines before separating into individual dogfighting. Trishula knew her girls were but lowly C-Rank pilots, but she also knew they had what it took to take on these mercenary pilots.

Trishula and Wolvara however did not alter their courses, both blasting and shifting their flight paths ever so slightly as they charged each other, only flying by each other, so close, that for half a second, time slowed down and she glanced up to see Wolvara in his cockpit, and she in hers. Both of them gave each other menacing glares for the tiniest of seconds, before they flew past each other.

Then in an instant, he had performed a rapid turn, shutting his engines down, adjusting his thrusters so he could turn rapidly, and was instantly on Trishula's rear and targeting her engines.

[What's wrong little pup, can't play with the big boys?] He taunted her over the comms.

"Grreg..." She grunted as she swerved and tried to summersault, but was matched move for move.

"Get off of my tail!" Yumi hissed angrily as she rolled and braked, trying everything to get her pursuer off.

[What's wrong little kitty, didn't inherit the 'good genes' from your mother?] The lone female Belgan of Wolvara's Hounds taunted. [Oh, let me guess, your mom got stuck with a fat slob who couldn't please her in bed but she didn't have anyone better, and you got stuck with his 'bad' genes?]

"RAWWWR-You leave my FATHER out of this; he was a WONDERFUL dad! Better then 'yours' I bet!" Yumi screeched angrily, as she cut her engines, activated thrusters and tuned her stabilizers so that she spun one eighty, and fired off a bomb 'with' a burst of her plasma cannons, before re-engaging engines and pulling in behind her would-be pursuer.

Her shots hit home and scored some shield damage, but the bomb flew right past their target and exploded harmlessly in space.

[Rrawwr... seems the little kitten's got a temper! This will be fun...]

"You haven't even SEEN a temper yet, I'll get you for making false claims about my father, my mother not only still loves my Terran dad to this day but just last YEAR she had another kitten with him!"

As Yumi got angry over the words being thrown at her flying her starfighter with an expertise she rarely showed, Katarra however was not as skilled at maneuvering her Arwing compared to Yumi, who had masterful control over hers. Despite Katarra's best efforts the fox Belgan could not shake her tailing foe.

[Where's your sense of ferocity, your hunting spirit... is this 'truly' all you are capable of?] The scaly mixed-terran taunted in a low voice, while shooting multiple plasma shots into her shields. [You Belgans have had your inner 'beast' tamed by Terrans, what a shame...]

"Just... wait... until 'I'm' behind you!" She replied as she braked hard, but her target did a perfect reverse summersault, seeing the 'easy' to read maneuver and once more appearing behind her. "How the-"

[Heh, you seem to enjoy being in front, I've always 'wanted' a wife like that, perhaps I'll take you as my personal girl to mother my eggs!] He cackled with a smirk as he resumed firing on her. [Maybe with 'my' help, I can give your lineage back its inner beast.]

"In your 'fucking dreams'! I'll make you PAY for that comment about the Belgan's linked heritage with the Terrans!" She shouted angrily as their two starships swerved and dove, dancing a chaotic battle dance, each trying to get a tag on the other with their guns. "If I'm having anyone's kits, they'll be a Terran's!"

[Hrmhmhm, we'll see about that, if you can 'live' long enough that is!]

Meanwhile Vanessa was tailing her target, the Eldentran pilot who wasn't even 'trying' to avoid being shot at, only shifting ever so 'slightly' to narrowly ensure each shot missed her ship.

"Grrr, are you even taking me 'seriously'?" Vanessa snarled as she poured on the weapon's fire.

[Please, with 'my' scientific mind, I can calculate the exact time it takes you to pull the trigger and the response time your starfighter has to actually 'respond' and fire, down to the microsecond.] The Eldentran said with a sarcastic roll of their eyes.

"Oh really, let's see you dodge THIS then!" Vanessa sneered as she flipped a switch and activated the Arwing's 'alternate fire' mode.

Instantly her Arwing's plasma guns turned slightly and focused onto the center of her targeting square, and began alternating weapon's fire. She managed to score a few hits before her target summersaulted and nosedived away, but Vanessa kept pace with her.

[Alright, I'll give you that, that's a new trick, now let me show you mine!]

In front of her fighter a bomb-like missile flew out but hung in space, causing Vanessa to steer off course already seeing the obvious trap. Sure enough, she got just out of range of the explosion and the resulting shockwave. "Ugh, clever little bastard... disabled the propulsion unit of his plasma torpedo so that it launched out of the tube using only the fighter's momentum, then triggered the time detonator so it exploded 'behind' him right as I would have hit its effective range!"

[Hah, that wasn't even the main point of that stunt... behiiiiind yoooou!]

Vanessa turned and began to quickly take evasive actions, as a series of plasma bolts slammed into her shields from the Eldentran pilot. Vanessa had to admit, these guys were good, they weren't the unmanned drones or even the pirates they faced before. These guys were damn professionals.

[Can't escape me, I have a better ship!]

While her girls were in their own individual dogfights, Trishula and Wolvara were continuously trading blows, each tagging the other's shields as they continued to joust and tail one another. Trishula would tag him for a few shots, before he'd barrel roll away, braking and then slipping behind her to do the same. Then they'd separate and fly toward each other at maximum speeds shooting plasma bolts and veering off course 'just' at the last second to avoid crashing.

[You're good... but I'm better!] Wolvara snarled as he slipped behind her again.

"You're nothing special, I'm the leader and founder of Trishula's Pack and Ace Pilot of Great Fox! I'll wipe the floor with you!" She declared as she pulled on the breaks while pretending to summersault, only to dive downward and come up behind him when he moved to match.

[HAH, you call yourself an 'Ace' Pilot?] He cackled with a grin. [Perhaps compared to a bunch of food escort 'C-Rank' pilots fresh from their Promotion out of D-Rank, you 'are' something of an Ace pilot. But I'm not your low tier pirate who can barely fly his way out of a derelict station, you're talking to an A-Rank pilot... you're nothing 'special' C-Rank Trishula Belga-Uno Galara!]

She went wide eyes as she was told of his rank, no way, they were 'A-Rank' pilots?

As if to prove his point, he cut his engines, activated his thrusters for a short rotating burst, and then restarted his engines so that he was instantly behind her as they once more jousted. He did it so seamlessly and without any effort, it was almost like it was second nature. These pilots were worth their grade.

"Garah!" She stammered as she turned and flew as hard as she could, her shields starting to drop rapidly, hitting danger levels.

[Come on pup, at least make this a challenge, surely you can do better!] He taunted her as he pushed ahead of her, as if 'taunting' her, daring her to try and shoot him down.

Trishula checked her ammo, and she saw she was starting to run low; her girls had spent a fair portion on the unmanned wasps, now they were wasting ammo on these guys. But she still had enough to finish the job, she couldn't be scared, even if these guys were 'one' rank below S-Rank, she had to defeat them.

So, she steeled herself and launched a furious assault from her guns, firing a locked-on bomb in an attempt to bring Wolvara down. But unfortunately, he rolled, swerved, and sped 'just' out of range of the bomb before it could go off and damage his starfighter. Then he performed another fancy maneuver where he cut his engines while turning rapidly, used his onboard thrusters to align himself, and charged 'straight' at Trishula's fighter for another jousting run.

But this time, Trishula had a trick up her sleeve, as she 'also' cut her engines and tuned her Arwing's thrusters so she spun a full vertical one-eighty, 'over' Wolvara's starfighter, and fired several clean shots into his ship.

[What the heck?] He stammered in disbelief as she reactivated her engines, and followed behind him.

"How's 'THAT' for a C-Rank pilot!?" She shot out as she began hammering into his shields now, forcing him to duck and weave.

[Grrreg... I underestimated you pup... now you've made it interesting, you're starting to act like an Ace Pilot!] He responded with a huge grin.

Once more he began to dodge, weave, evading her attacks as he flew in a wide circle, and his path was leading him directly toward the Blue Fox. Trishula began to panic as she dared 'not' risk firing once he came into visual line of sight with the unarmed transport. But just as she hesitated to fire, fearing that Wolvara would open fire on the Blue Fox to get to her... he simply continued his turn and sped 'away' from it.

[Relax... unlike 'pirates' or the unmanned drones my Captain deployed; I promise my Hounds won't harm the transport.] He said to her in a polite tone. [I have the 'honor' of an A-Rank pilot to my-]

Beereebebebebeeeep*

[Hrmm?] Wolvara hummed as his gaze shifted from her, to his left at something she couldn't see as a series of flashing lights happened in his cockpit. [Oh... I see... very well.]

Suddenly he turned away from Trishula, and said in a comm to all of them, [Wolvara's Hounds, disengage targets and form up on my wing!]

As one all three of the other pilots pulled away from Trishula's Pack and began to assume an attack formation behind Wolvara's starfighter. Confused Trishula signaled her own Pack to form up with her. They watched as they flew with expert skill in a wide path, before splitting up and flying so they wound up flying toward the Tug-Transport. At the same time, from out of the corner of her vision, she spotted a small squadron of Unmanned Wasp fighters, launched from a large starship further away that she couldn't make out the shape or look of at this distance. The wasps all flew toward the Tug Transport with rapid purpose.

[What, what's going on?] The second in command of the Tug demanded in an open comm.

The instant the ships had all congregated into range of the transport, Wolvara's Hounds all opened fire, shooting with precision at the tug's connection cables, severing the link between the Tug Module with the Cargo Module. The second the connection was severed, Wolvara's ships flew away in close formation, while the wasps all lined up and one by one, activated short range tractor beams onto the cargo module, slowing its movement as they passed by one by one, engaging and disengaging as they each passed it by, shifting its position enough so that it cleanly pulled away and came to a safe stop.

[Wh-wha-we PAID YOU TO PROTECT US, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!]

Trishula was 'also' confused, they were fighting over whether they could get some time enough to make that shot, but then out of nowhere they just 'abandon' their mission and do the job of rescuing the prisoners for them? Then on the comm viewscreen, an incoming transmission occurred, overriding all other comms with the image of a standing wolf outline, with a star peaking over the horizon behind it. Then a voice declared, [And I wasn't told precisely what it was I was protecting, until ten minutes ago when Captain 'Arthur' sent me detailed recordings clearing things up.]

Trishula realized, that the voice was that of the Freelance Captain that Wolvara's Hounds worked for. And the voice... sounded 'pissed'.

[As a Freelance Captain there is 'no' job too dirty or outrageous that I have no qualms about taking, whether it's something mundane and boring like protecting a Scavenger ship picking through a scrap field in space, or launching a bombing raid against a military instillation at the behest of one of the Major Factions! But the 'one' thing I will not tolerate is engaging in mission acts that require me to defend those engaging in 'slavery'.] They said in a voice 'full' of bitterness and disdain. [Wolvara's Hounds... terminate our 'former' client at once! I'm not in the mood for mercy today!]

[Understood, Wolvara's Hounds... open fire!]

In an instant all four of their former attackers now turned their weapons onto the Tug, ignoring the sudden desperate screams of the captain and crew, and within moments of opening fire with a rapid burst of plasma bolts and plasma torpedoes, the Tug exploded into a huge ball of fire, scrap metal and burned pieces flying everywhere. While this was going on, Blue Fox had already begun to align itself and carefully angle its port-side door so that it could safely extend its shields around a portion of the Cargo Module, and enable Arthur and Ikaria to board the module.

"I... don't..." Trishula stammered as her pack flew circling the Blue Fox.

[Hmmph, typical, we get a nice, short, easy job that pays well... and we have to play the 'good guy' after finding out we're the 'bad guy' in this.] The FC's voice said bitterly. [Better hope the Aquavrams pay you more than what I was offered to escort them to the Transwarp Gate! I'm in a 'bad mood' now, what a waste of unmanned starfighters, fuel, and ammunition. Come back Wolvara's Hounds, I have to find us another job that 'pays' more than what we lost today! I just wasted a hundred 'grand' on this trip in unmanned fighters alone, and now I'm going to have to report this incident to the Major Faction!]

[Lovely... and here I was hoping we could enjoy real meat for dinner today... back to the synthetic stuff I guess.] The scaley mixed-Terran said as he flew off toward the Carrier.

[My beautiful rewaaaard... I was hoping to use some of that to upgrade my fighter's weapon's systems!] The Eldentran moaned bitterly as they left as well.

[Well... that was amusing while it lasted... pity we got lied to... guess we'll have to wait until next time to get paid...] The feline Belgan said as she was next to fly off and away. [And to think our last payday was a week ago...]

Trishula took a sigh of relief, before she saw the last ship, Wolvara's, fly alongside her squadron and saw that he was contacting them all as well.

[You win this day Trishula's Pack... but make no mistake... you got 'lucky' today... best hope we don't meet again, else next time... you won't be so fortunate!] He declared before he swerved away and sped off, joining the rest of his squadron while the unmanned starfighters all tailed behind him.

While Trishula and her pack continued to circle and protect Arthur's transport, inside the transport, Ikaria was getting ready to exit the transport through the door, once Great Fox had perfectly aligned the Blue Fox to the Cargo Module, and more importantly accessed its onboard systems to control it remotely.

"Hurry up, we only have a few minutes to save them!" Ikaria shouted as Arthur watched the screen.

"Hold on... almost..." Arthur said as the Blue Fox neede to align perfectly 'and' establish an exact speed with the trajectory of the cargo module, or else they risk the shields not perfectly covering the two doors.

After a few more seconds, Great Fox gave the green light, signaling that she had finished her work.

"Go!"

Instantly Ikaria hit the button to force open the door, and the module's door opened in response, allowing her to jump the small gap between the two. She landed inside the cargo module and stared as she saw that the entire module was just one long corridor with various open bays, each sealed off by a closed door. Without hesitation, she ran to the first one and saw that it was in fact, as told, filled with Aquavram women... but...

"By the Ancients..." She whispered in shock, unable to believe what she was seeing.

She pushed a button to get the door open, and walked in.

As one all of the girls who were awake and could look, looked up at the intruder, and were just as equally shocked to see her as she was them. But unlike them, she was utterly horrified but what she was seeing. Because all of them, with almost no exception... had very bloated stomachs, some of them breathing heavily, and clutching their stomachs with both hands. There was a small 'toilet', if you could call it that, built into the cargo-module's bay, and a feeder that allowed them to eat synthetic food regularly being dispensed. They were all also 'naked', not a single article of clothing on them, exposing their naked bodies and the sight alone made Ikaria almost weep in tears as she saw what had become of her people from Lumarinara's Civil War.

"Arthur... this is Ikaria... I've found the girls... we need more time, there's not enough time to get them all out!"

"I'M ALREADY ON IT!" He shouted from the hall, and she saw through her HUD Headset, that Arthur was grabbing a wire and was hurriedly connecting it to the Blue Fox's power grid in main room, following Great Fox's instructions. "There, we have more time... let's get those girls out!"

She nodded and walked over to the group of women huddled together, and bent down to help one of them stand.

"What... what happened?" She whispered nervously, afraid to ask, but needing to know so they could help them however they could.

The Aquavram, who stood taller than her, but looked like she was four months pregnant when compared to a Belgan or Terran female, sniffed sadly, before whispering what happened to them. "We... were kidnapped... during the opening days of the war." She cried tearfully as the others slowly started to get up, some with difficulty. "Lumarinara... his soldiers... they traded us to pirates, for weapons... then the pirates... took us to a desert planet. We were kept in an empty... abandoned metal building, then they started separating us... the males dragged one way and us the other. They beat us if we tried to fight back..."

Ikaria could figure what happened after, knowing that part of the story thanks to Arthur. But... still she listened.

"Then... they started... using genetic experiments on us... they altered our bodies... they modified our egg producing ovaries, altered how our bodies produce eggs and... and..." She started crying, before holding her eyes and belly. "They... they raped us... to 'force' the procedure... to make our bodies believe we were breeding... they made us 'produce' eggs, and our bodies... they won't release them... even if they aren't fertilized. I... I have 'twenty' eggs in me alone! It hurts so much..."

At that Ikaria pulled the poor woman into her embrace, patting her back and trying her best to shoosh her, calm her down, let her know she's sorry. But inside, she was 'seething' with anger and crying in despair...

One part of her, wanted to take her Arwing, fly back to Aquavram Prime, find the cell Lumarinara is in and bash his skull in with a hammer made of damaged bone for what he did selling these poor girls to the pirates. Meanwhile, the other part of her was crying as she very well could have suffered the same fate as these girls had she not been rescued by Arthur and she resisted Lumarinara, and felt so sad that these poor girls suffered so much.

"It's... it's okay... it's okay... we'll get you home... we'll put you right..." She muttered as she looked around at the other girls now. "I swear... I SWEAR... as the 'second' Royal Daughter in line for the throne, as Ikaria Garnetica Aquavara, pilot and consort of Arthur Smith, Freelance Captain of Great Fox... that we're bringing you girls home!"

After hearing her name and her title, they all muttered as they were not expecting to be rescued by the 'royal family'. But without exception all of them, even the one who was crying, took a kneeling position and thanked her for rescuing them, addressing her as 'Your Highness'. She wanted to correct them, but she didn't care at this point, she had more important duties as Arthur called her and said he found more of the girls, and said they were in 'very' bad shape.

"I know... let's... get them to safety!" She said as she began leading them toward the door and out into the hallway, pointing toward the door to Blue Fox.

Arthur was with Ikaria as he helped them lead bay after bay with multiple Aquavram women. Slowly they emptied bay after bay, finding female Aquavrams in equally terrible states and equally bad conditions. For their sake, Arthur 'tried' to avoid staring at their bodies, because he wanted to give them 'some' dignity with regards to how they were treated. Many thanked him, hugging him and pleadingly begging to give them news of loved ones they were torn from, brothers, husbands, boyfriends, sons that were in the other transport. As they checked the last one, Arthur saw that it was empty, nobody was left.

"Thank goodness that Iktorans streamlined and simplified their cargo modules to only have 'one' single corridor to connect all of their cargo bays together!" He said as he ran with Ikaria back to the Blue Fox, having checked the last bay and finding nothing but crates with Aquavram Eggs and various foods/fuel supplies.

He had been tempted to ask what to do with them, but Ikaria preempted his question by saying 'let them rot in space' when the Blue Fox cut power to the module. Not one to question her, knowing where those eggs came from and 'why'... he nodded and they left. Once they were onboard Blue Fox, and everyone was safe and accounted for, Arthur gave the signal and told Great Fox to disengage from the module, and begin plotting a course to Iktora Two, and back to Great Fox.

She did as asked, and as they closed off the energy, the module's bay doors opened as power was finally severed, and out of the bays floated crates and containers.

Arthur sighed as he glanced to Ikaria, who piloted Blue Fox away. "All Arwings... report it."

"This is Trishula in Arwing Three... feeling beat, but still flying." Trishula said quietly, having watched the scene on Arthur's HUD through her viewscreen.

"Yumi here... ugh... I almost broke 'two' Arwings in three days... I hope the repair bills don't come outa my pocket." Yumi complained as her Arwing had suffered some damage to its stabilizers and engines.

"Those bastards... how 'dare' they get away with what they said!" Katarra complained as her Arwing was sporting burn spots and barely managed to keep her shields intact. "If we had Great Fox, woulda been a different story!"

"Vanessa here... wishing I had a starship to ram my starport now." Vanessa said bitterly.

Trishula knew the feeling, all of them had been beaten up today. Yes, they won, but it wasn't a 'win' per say. It was as Wolvara said, they won because they got 'lucky'. She looked over the damage to her starfighter, and while the shields had held, there was still some surface damage that the fighter suffered. Tony was going to have to have his family work overtime to get them into peak condition. "Let's just head home everyone..."

Everyone nodded as they all flew off toward Iktora Two, escorting Blue Fox and its precious cargo. En-route to the ship, he contacted Kiandra and informed her of the situation, and once they were near enough to the safety of the ship, ordered the girls to pull ahead and dock with the ship so that they could gather the clothes he'd ordered Great Fox to assemble so that the poor girls had 'something' to wear, to at least have some dignity and modesty restored to them.

Without fail they did as instructed, and soon after landing Arthur stepped out and let the girls step in to help Ikaria with the girls, while he headed to the bridge to inform Tony that they needed to finish the engines as soon as possible. When asked why he was in such a rush, Arthur simply told him that they found the Aquavram Girls, and had to return to Aquavram Prime as soon as possible.

Kiandra meanwhile was worked overtime after being informed of the situation, and spent hours upon hours, well into the night studying the genetic modifications and understanding what was done to the poor girls and helping however she could. Hours into the night, Arthur went to meet with her as she informed him, she had something to report.

"What's the word?" He asked as he saw how tired and dare he say, almost depressed she looked.

Kiandra took off a pair of spectacles she used to help analyze 'tons' of data, because of how small the writing was on the computers. She sighed, took a drink of some kind of synthetic energy drink, and then turned to him with very tired looking eyes. For the first time she actually looked like someone over two hundred years old, and not a young ten-year-old girl. She had bags under her eyes, and looked ready to chug an entire twelve pack of cheap beer cans from the corner gas station.

"Well, they suffered quite extensive genetic modifications, of that there is no doubt." She said to him, pointing at a computer with different DNA strands, showing Ikaria's healthy genetic strand for comparison, and then multiple modified strands. "This is definitely Iktoran science at work, I recognize the samples. I've managed to make 'minor' corrections, and I've been able to formulate and synthesize a medical compound that reversed some of the damage done to their bodies. But I'm afraid, that's about all I can accomplish, even with the tools at my disposal."

She then tapped another screen and brought up a 'storage' system, showing that she had removed... well 'eggs' from the girls.

"Ugh... poor things, they had their hormones modified to think they had to produce an egg twenty-four seven at six hundred percent above the normal ovulation rate for Aquavrams. Their bodies... weren't able to handle it. We got to them just in time... another day, and they would have been 'dying' if they weren't lucky enough to have their bodies 'forcibly' eject the eggs. Of course... to start up the process, they needed a... 'spark'... and of course when given the option, there's the 'efficient' way and then there's... the fun way."

"Raped..." He whispered, and noticed that among the three hundred and twenty-nine eggs that Kiandra had removed, eighty-seven were... fertilized. "They impregnated them without even knowing... those bastards. They were going to use them to produce Aquavram Eggs, and sell them on the market above value, and they didn't even 'care' that they were going to kill the girls to do it."

"Yep... the Aquavram Body isn't known to have the strongest immune system... but if there is 'one' benefit it has... is that it will sterilize itself to ensure its offspring are protected until a safe environment is detected. Those fluids in the female's womb also have nutritional properties that can prolong the life expectancy of sperm. Medical professionalism told me to... 'ask' what they wanted to do with the fertilized eggs. I gave them... the choice. None of them wanted to keep the eggs, naturally. I've already begun the automated abortion process to... end the process and prevent them from growing. And as for their current situation, I've developed a synthetic fluid that will 'stop' their ovaries from producing eggs... but the rest of the modifications done to them will have to be repaired and reversed on Aquavram Prime."

He nodded as he patted her shoulder, thanking her for her work.

"You did the best you can with what you have... if you want, I can maybe buy better equipment for you."

"I'm fine, don't worry... Great Fox wasn't 'designed' to be a top-of-the-line hospital which houses far more 'specialized' facilities to treat these kinds of issues. Besides, I've already all but finished work on reversing the effects and restoring them to normal. The Aquavrams have more dedicated facilities that can handle this, and they'll have genetic backups of these girls so once we land, they'll be able to jumpstart the process and restore these girls, all I have to do is finish the research and develop the procedure for them. I just wish... I could restore their mental state, the trauma they endured... the shame. Those scars cannot be mended by any medical procedure, only time can heal it... they have a loooong healing process ahead of them. But at least they'll heal."

He nodded, heading to bed, having been waiting all day and half the night for that report, unwilling to sleep until Kiandra spoke to him.

Until next time, Pleasant Dreams, Captains=

[Trishula's Log]

[Wolvara's Hounds... who are they, what are they... well thanks to a bit of digging and with Arthur's permission to use his codes I did some digging and asked Great Fox to look up information for me about the group.]

[Turns out... Wolvara Belga-Seis Donrav is basically just like me, a Purebred Belgan from our home system. He leads the squadron known as 'Wolvara's Hounds and works for a Freelance Captain. They are A-Rank pilots, all of them, and they've been in the mercenary pilot's thing as Freelance Starfighter Pilots for ten years. Despite only being 'thirty-four' years old, Wolvara has far more experience than me and my girls combined. The best we can boast... well before we joined up with Arthur, was guarding a fuel transport, which... took a ton of damage that we had to pay to repair, which we couldn't...]

[But his squadron's records... fuck what have they not done? Fleet engagements under temporary contracts with three of the Major Factions, spice raids on Qualatro Prime, escorting noble dignitaries, space station raids, Pirate base raids, convoy assaults 'and' protection duties... he makes me and my girls look like fresh out of the academy graduates on our first 'job' hunt looking for a random scavenger in need of protection detail. And they're flying ships similar to our Arwings, as Yumi said they were piloting Dylerian-Leftra KJ-9 Multi-Modular Yellow Jacket-Venture Fighters... nasty ships to match the pilots.]

[I managed to dig up some details about the pilots, besides Wolvara. First up was a fellow Belgan, Plumia Belga-Tres Hundra. Before she joined Wolvara's Hounds, she was a pirate mercenary for hire, a random gun people paid to do a dirty job somebody wanted done but didn't want anyone knowing 'they' did it. She was shot down by Wolvara himself, and after evading capture for five hours, was 'finally' tracked down by his Captain and offered her a choice. 'Join Wolvara's Hounds' as a permanent pilot, working for their captain and ship, or be turned into the Starfighter Pilot's Guild for going awol with her 'last' starship she was assigned to. She took the job, and in exchange, their captain used their influence to wipe away the 'wanted status' and gave her a fresh start.]

[The next I found out about was the Eldentran, a guy called Hobstan Indara-Meadow Medra. If Kiandra is a maverick, this guy is a madman. Using his intelligence to develop explosives and perfect the art of weapons development, he singlehandedly has improved the firing abilities of Wolvara's Squadron's starships to be on par with those of the Major Faction's latest ships and designs. That explains why their weapons did so much damage to us, they were firing with the power of top-of-the-line plasma blasters. He started 'flying' when he found that shooting his toys was just as much fun as making them shoot better, and when he found that Wolvara's Hounds were hiring, he was an instant pick up.]

[Then there's the last one, the sleazeball as Katarra shouted about today. Vrespara Kesdra, a Lizdoran from the Lacerta Sector. Despite having two of the most 'passive' parents ever to be heard about among the Lizdoran breed and Terran breed, he was always more 'violent' than any of his fellow Lizdorans. He became a skilled hunter, and soon moved on from the 'legal' hunting sports to the illegal. When he became wanted by the Starfighter Pilot's Guild, who was there to hunt him down... Wolvara's Hounds. Just like with Plumia, he managed to not only escape capture but even gave all 'three' of the members of Wolvara's Hounds a run for their money in starfighter combat, using a ship he stole of course. Their captain, impressed, offered him a deal, 'loyalty' to their ship and the Hounds that comes with a Freelance Captain's influence to give him a clean start, or a plasma bullet in between the eyes. It's obvious which the slimeball chose.]

[That was all I could find out... sadly, most of their 'personal' records were placed under lock and key, and only a Freelance Captain with 'reasonable need for information' could access it. Unfortunately, that's the limits of Arthur's influence. The only thing else I could find out about their squadron was the Captain they served, and the ship they flew. Their captain, 'Blair Cuttingham' a Purebred Terran, was the Freelance Captain they worked for. As for their ship, Bucephalus was a Terran Herculean 9-0T Super Carrier Class warship... but that's all the information I can gather, any data regarding their weapons and other things as well as the captain themself are... classified.]

[After rescuing the Aquavram girls, we only had to wait until we were fully supplied, and then we instantly took off back to Aquavram Prime. I've never seen Arthur look so... distressed. I tried cheering him up but... it was like... he was just out of it. Vanessa tells me, it's hard being a Freelance Captain, I can tell but I don't think we're even scratching the surface. She said Arthur was faced with a choice, a job to help the Major Faction achieve a potential victory against another faction, with vast riches as a reward even 'if' the plan didn't go right... or what he chose, to be a hero. Sometimes being a Hero isn't what it's cracked up to be.]

[Ikaria has been very quiet too, seeing her so... focused on training and flying, really has me worried. I tried joking with her to see if she wanted to try a threesome with Arthur in the bathroom, but she just... shook her head, saying she wasn't in the mood. To be frank, neither was I... this side trip to Iktora Two wasn't what we wanted, but at least we made the right call to go there. If we didn't... who knows what would have happened to those girls.]

[We're about two days out from Aquavram Prime, once we've delivered the girls, we're heading back to Belgan Territory to take up some jobs the Belgans have offered. They're not the most lucrative, but they're enough to fill our pockets and make some credits in a relatively 'safe' sector, away from the threat of the Major Factions personal war efforts. My only hope, is that once we return to Belgan Space, things will go back to normal here aboard Great Fox.]

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Alright, so this is my 'final' chapter, at least for the rest of november/december, I need to work on my other stories... but before I go, I wanted to leave you with a question and ask for opinions.

Atm these chapters are SO LONG, longer than you realize, this chapter alone is 63k words... and took me almost '2' months to write... I actually struggle to write so much and keep motivated. So... would you like me to continue with these long chapters in the future, or would you prefer me to shorten them to focus more on the various aspect 'of' the chapter. Like say 20k-30k per chapter, or continue with the overly long chapters of 50k

Shorter chapters mean they get out faster, longer mean they'll... take longer, but obviously you'll have more to read per chapter

Tell me what you thought of the chapter too in a review, what'd you like, didn't like. I love reading reviews, and i honestly hope I did well with the story so far and especially the chapter itself, and painting that the life of a Freelance Captain isn't all glory, money, hot girls and space battles, sometimes you gatta see the 'ugly' side of the galaxy to show the 'good' side of the galaxy.

And yes, i 'did' introduce the 'next' waifu, though not as you would expect, she'll have to wait a bit to be revealed in 'full', but just so you saw, she can easily handle Trishula's Pack and show them their place. They'll have to work harder to match their new rivals in Wolvara's Hounds, and don't worry, they'll meet again in battle.

Till next time space captains