John looked up in surprise as Dana and Calara walked into the bedroom. They both wore slightly confused expressions on their beautiful faces, which soon evaporated when they took in the scene on the bed.

Jade was lying on her back, her rounded belly sticking up proudly where she was stuffed full of John's cum. She was panting excitedly, having just been licked to a very satisfying orgasm by Alyssa, who was lying between the Nymphs spread thighs.

The ravishing blonde looked back over her shoulder and grinned excitedly, licking her lips. "Yes! It worked!" she exclaimed happily, as the brunette and redhead entered the room.

"I could hear your voice saying my name!" Dana said, her eyes wide.

"Me too!" Calara exclaimed. "I heard you calling to me in my mind." the startled Latina agreed. "You can transmit your thoughts now?" she asked in amazement.

"Well I've been doing that with John for a while now and it just worked perfectly with Jade. I figured now was as good a time as any to experiment with you two," Alyssa replied with a grin. "By the way, Jade has a womb full of cum and she's feeling in a generous mood..."

Calara and Dana exchanged excited glances and then rushed over to Jade on the bed, who smiled at them both affectionately. The brunette began to kiss the Nymph lovingly, while Dana knelt between the green skinned alien girl's spread thighs.

"This makes a change!" the redhead said with a giggle, "You're normally the one eating me out." She settled into place and began to lap away noisily at her friend's pussy, while Jade moaned into Calara's mouth and ran her fingers through Dana's lustrous auburn hair.

Alyssa moved over the bed to cuddle up with John and the two of them watched the three gorgeous young women coupled together so intimately on the bed. "Dinner and a show," Alyssa said cheekily, as she ran her fingers lightly over her stomach, slightly rounded where she now carried John's cum. "You sure know how to show a girl a good time!"

John laughed and pulled her tightly to him as they watched Jade writhing at the end of Dana's eager tongue. "You always show me a good time," he said affectionately.

"Are you really happy?" Alyssa asked him curiously, staring up at John's face with her big expressive eyes.

"Are you kidding me?!" John grinned, sweeping the ravishing teenager up in his arms.

She squealed happily as he pulled her effortlessly over him, so that he was staring up at her face. "I've been living on cloud nine pretty much as soon as I met you and life seems to be getting better every day!" he said, shaking his head in amazement.

"Good," Alyssa said, smiling contentedly and then she leaned down to kiss him. He held her in his arms for a long time, just losing himself in her tender loving kisses, as Alyssa's soft lips moved with his own. The blonde's long hair fanned down around his face, brushing gently against his cheek and her athletic body felt toned and sleek where he held her.

A breathy chorus of sighs to their side finally broke the enchanting spell and they looked over to see that Jade, Dana and Calara were watching them with delight.

"Seeing you two together like that was beautiful," Dana said wistfully.

"You get your fair share too!" Alyssa countered with a grin.

Nevertheless Dana and Calara were both up for a good smooch and John was happy to oblige. Jade curled up with Alyssa and watched them contentedly, as he took turns kissing the eager young women.

"Not going for a passionate kiss?" Alyssa asked the Nymph playfully.

"I already had one," Jade said contentedly. "He's rocked my world once today already, I think twice is being greedy," she added with a smile.

Alyssa hugged her affectionately and once all the girls were done they all relaxed in bed together for a little while.

"We should be arriving at Ashana in a few minutes," Alyssa warned them a short while later as she glanced up at the ship's chronometer.

"No rest for the wicked," John laughed. "I'll go make us all some dinner while you ladies make sure repairs are under way. Anyone up for being my assistant in the kitchen?"

"I'd love to help!" Jade volunteered immediately.

"Me too," Calara said unexpectedly. "I've done all I can with reviewing the Kappa-Indarran system."

"Wonderful!" John grinned, happy to have their company. "Let's get washed up and then we'll reconvene to the kitchen."

After a quick shower, all five of them headed out, before parting ways as they passed the grav-tubes. John insisted that Alyssa and Dana join them for dinner in an hour, and after pledging sincerely that they would, the blonde and the redhead stepped into the soothing blue light and levitated up to the command deck. John hit the button to enter the officer's lounge and led Calara and Jade across the huge room and into the kitchen at the back.

"So, tell me a little bit more about your family," John suggested to Calara as he handed her a sharp knife and set her up with preparing the vegetables.

"What do you want to know?" the Latina asked him curiously as she began to slice up carrots.

"Everything!" he laughed. "I really want to make a good impression, so anything you think might be helpful. All I really know is your mother is called Maria, and she misses you terribly!"

"Oh, that was so embarrassing when she called!" Calara flushed, remembering the holo-vid call after her mother had seen John's interview with the press.

"Your mother seemed quite lovely. You have nothing to be embarrassed about," Jade interjected kindly, as she began to slice up the chicken fillets for dinner.

"Thanks," Calara replied appreciatively, sharing a warm glance with the Nymph.

"So, start with your parents first," John prompted her, as he prepared a chicken stock. "Tell me a little about them."

"Well, their names are Jack and Maria," Calara began. "They're both from a military background and my dad still serves; He's the Captain of the cruiser Damocles," she said proudly. "My mother used to be a communications officer, before she retired to bring up me and my brothers."

"My parents bought a nice house on Jericho in the Episilon-Eridani system, and my mother holds the fort while we're all off having adventures," she said with a grin. "It was a great place to grow up with lots of open space to roam around. My parents were great believers in discipline, but as long as you played by their rules, my brothers and I had a great time," she explained fondly, as she tipped the sliced up vegetables from her chopping board into the pan.

"What about your brothers? What are they like?"

"I have three older brothers, Mateo, Dylan and Eduardo. Mateo is the eldest and is a lieutenant commander now. He's a navigator on a light carrier, the TFS Hydra. Dylan is a medic stationed at Port Megara near the border with the Trankaran Republic. Finally, there's Eduardo..." she trailed off, chuckling lightly. "He's always getting into trouble, but he's an engineer, lieutenant second class, on the battleship Orion."

"So, you outrank him now?" John asked with a smile.

Calara paused for a moment, a startled expression dawning on her face, then burst into laughter. "Oh, I'd forgotten about that! He's going to be so pissed! Mateo and Dylan will never let that go..."

"You all seem to have gone into quite different military specialisations," John observed, thinking about the different careers of the Fernandez men.

"My father always liked to joke about crewing our own family ship, what with everyone filling different roles," the brunette said, looking wistful.

"What did your dad start his career as?" John asked her curiously

"He was a tactical officer, like me," Calara said, then paused awkwardly, a blush spreading across her face.

"I'm looking forward to meeting them," John said with a smile.

"Oh, I'm not so sure you'll feel the same way after you've met them. They like to give my prospective boyfriends the 'Full Fernandez' and none have passed the test so far," she smiled at him apologetically.

"That sounds intriguing," Jade said. "What did they do to your last boyfriend?" she asked curiously, putting down her knife and handing over the sliced up chicken to John.

"They're all into sparring," Calara said exasperatedly, rolling her eyes. "They aren't malicious, but they like to put a guy on the spot and see how he handles himself under pressure. The last guy I took to meet them didn't fare so well," she laughed with embarrassment.

"If they're all into martial arts, how come you weren't trained too?" John asked, looking puzzled. Calara had been a novice when he'd started their morning training sessions.

"Well, before we met, I wasn't quite so robust as I am now," the brunette said with a self effacing grin. "They're all big guys, and they didn't really approve of their little sister getting into the ring," she shrugged indifferently.

"Any pointers on how to win them over?" John asked tentatively, as he stirred in all the ingredients.

"Conquer the boss, and the rest will fall into line," Calara replied with a smile.

"Who's the boss though? Your mother or your father?" John laughed, nudging her gently with his elbow.

The Latina giggled cutely, imagining her mother ordering around her stern father. She stopped laughing abruptly though, when she began to remember the many subtle ways her mother actually steered many of the family decisions.

"Curse you and your magic cum!" Calara started laughing again and shaking her head in wonder. "Now you've made me smarter, I'm starting to re-evaluate my whole family dynamic!"

"I'm sorry, honey, I can't help but be attracted to beautiful, intelligent women," John said, moving up closer and running his fingers through her long thick hair. He gently caressed the side of her head and then cupped her head protectively in his hand. "And you're both gorgeous and incredibly smart."

Calara looked at him lovingly and moved into his arms for a soul searing kiss.

Jade watched John kissing the beautiful teenager he held possessively in his arms, and waited for them to break for air before she spoke up. "I'm curious, John. Who do you see as being the boss in our little family?"

John laughed and answered immediately. "I think you know who rules the roost," he said, as he reached out to grab her with his left arm and pulled her close, squeezing her taut buttock firmly.

"Oh, without a doubt," Jade sighed ecstatically. "I just wondered if you were aware of how much we hang on your every word."

"You like me being in charge, don't you?" he asked rhetorically, with a confident smile on his face, enjoying feeling her body pressed against him.

Jade nodded exuberantly, her eyes flashing with excitement.

"Well, I can only agree. I for one, like taking your orders," Calara murmured breathily, with a sensual smile on her beautiful face.

"You're a very good girl," John said approvingly, caressing her pert asscheek as well.

"For you, always," she purred in reply, brushing up against him gently.

"I'll remember that later," he promised. "For now, we better get dinner finished!"

They wrapped up the last of the meal preparation and soon the dinner was simmering away happily on the oven. Dana and Alyssa rejoined them, and soon they had the table set as they chattered away together. The girls gathered around the dinner table as John brought out the piping hot pan, the delicious smelling food wafting mouth watering aromas into the officer's lounge.

"Honey, could you activate the serving platform for me please?" John asked distractedly, trying to avoid burning himself on the hot pan he held in his hands.

"Sure, no problem!" Dana said eagerly, standing up and moving towards the controls.

"Ok, handsome," Alyssa replied, rising from her chair.

"I'm on it, Sir..." Calara said, her eyes still smouldering with arousal from the kiss in the kitchen.

"Of course, John," Jade said, obediently moving to follow his request.

They all stopped and stared at one another for a moment and then burst out laughing, the beautiful chorus of melodic female voices lighting up the room, accompanied by John's embarrassed baritone chuckle. Jade winked at him and as the closest person to the controls, pressed the button that raised the platform in the middle of the table.

John placed the pan down carefully and then looked around at the girls who were still smirking with amusement. "Ok, perhaps I need to come up with some more creative nicknames for you all," he laughed lightly. "I guess I can't keep calling you all 'honey' all the time!"

He was met with a chorus of girlish whines, begging him to keep using it.

"Ok, ok!" he laughed. "But I'll still try and raise my game a bit."

The girls smiled at him fondly and everyone tucked into dinner, thoroughly enjoying the tasty meal they had prepared. Once they had finished eating, John settled down on a comfy sofa with Dana keeping him company while the rest tidied up.

"How long to go on the repairs?" John asked the redhead curiously.

"Not long actually," she replied, sounding impressed. "The Ashanath can strip damaged plating off the ship and replace it with fresh armour very quickly using the Psi-shapers."

"That's good news. I want us up and ready as soon as possible, so we can try and hit the Drakkar base before they evacuate and set up shop elsewhere," he replied with a satisfied nod. "How bad was the damage?"

"The Drakkar left some nasty gouges in several plates, but they didn't punch through," Dana said smugly. "They did blow out two capacitors though, so if we'd continued taking hits in those locations, it could have gotten very nasty!"

"It's a good job our sexy blonde pilot managed to avoid the worst of it then!" John replied, raising his voice to carry over to Alyssa, then chuckling lightly as he belatedly remembered she would be eavesdropping the entire conversation anyway.

"I appreciate the thought," Alyssa said with an affectionate smile on her full lips, as she glided over to join them and sat next to John.

"I know you said we're in short supply of Onyxium. Can we salvage anything from those damaged armour plates?" John asked Dana with a frown.

"Sure!" the redhead replied eagerly. "If Alyssa is up for reshaping the plates again, we can just add more alloy and then reform the Invictium into a completely fresh armour section."

The blonde slumped at the thought of having to use the psi-shaper again. "If I have to..." she sighed melodramatically.

"Ah, come on! Reforming it a second time shouldn't be so bad. It's not like I'm asking you to triple shape it!" Dana said enthusiastically. "Besides, the armour will be tougher if you reform it, so when we have the time, maybe you could re-armour the entire ship?"

"The entire ship!" Alyssa groaned. "My poor brain!"

"Don't strain yourself, honey," John cut in firmly. "You're still getting used to using psychic powers, so I want you to be careful."

"I'll probably need you to top me up afterwards," Alyssa said, suddenly warming up to the idea and looking at him coyly. "Just to make sure I'm alright, obviously."

"Obviously..." John agreed, slipping his hand under her top and letting his fingertips brush over her slim toned midrift possessively. Alyssa stared into his eyes, enjoying the intimate, familiar way he was caressing her.

A beep coming from Dana's waist drew their attention away from each other for the moment and they looked up curiously. Calara and Jade had finished tidying up and they gathered around too.

Dana unclipped a communicator from her belt and then placed it on the coffee table in front of her. She pressed a button to answer the call and High Councillor Rathus' bulbous grey head filled the holo-image. "Rathus! It's great to see you!" she said in a friendly tone.

"It is wonderful to see you too Dana," the robed Ashanath said in his whispery voice. "We have completed all of the repairs that you requested and the damaged armour plates have been stored in the cargo bay."

"That was so fast! Tell the boys I send them a big kiss!" Dana said delightedly.

"Some of the engineers are female, but I will convey your message nonetheless," Rathus said, dipping into a low bow.

"Yes please. Kisses for the girls too!" Dana giggled and waved him goodbye, before ending the communication. "And we're ready to go!" she said eagerly.

"Ok ladies, let's go finish what we started," John said soberly, rising to his feet once Alyssa had stood smoothly.

"It's time for serious faces now, right?" Alyssa grinned at him and dodged out of his grasp to avoid being tickled.

They laughed as they followed the skipping blonde out of the officer's lounge.

***

The Invictus slipped out of hyper warp effortlessly, the tachyon wave that had carried them forward dissipating in an instant, but leaving the ship briefly shrouded in a nimbus of slowly fading blue light.

"Tactical map and system map if you please, Calara," John said, leaning forward eagerly.

He was seated in the Commander's chair up on the podium that dominated the bridge. From here he had an excellent view of everything and everyone that was up on the command deck, as well as being able to gain the full benefit of the holo images displayed before him.

The system map showed the Kappa-Indarran system, centred on its white class F star. There were three gas giant planets in this system and two asteroid belts, both of which had been strip mined by the Ashanath centuries ago. The Helium-3 rich gas giant they were interested in occupied the second orbital path around the star and was currently on the other side of the system map to them. Alyssa had brought the Invictus out of hyper warp on the outskirts of the system, and was following Calara's plan to ghost around the asteroid belts, until they got close enough to pick up the Drakkar base with passive scans.

"Are we still running at minimal power Dana?" he asked the redhead, who was watching the holographic maps intently.

"Yep, everything's fine," she replied after throwing a quick glance at the energy distribution hologram.

Letting out a breath he didn't realise he'd been holding, John turned towards Alyssa, who was seated to his right on the command podium. "Take us in whenever you're ready."

The blonde girl nodded eagerly and gently powered up the engines, but only enough to allow them to make steady progress, whilst keeping their energy profile nice and low. The assault cruiser stalked forward, heading determinedly towards the first swathe of asteroids that orbited the star on the sixth orbital path.

"Now, let's just hope they haven't left minefields in the asteroid fields or rigged them with proximity sensors," Calara said, grinning up at John with her fingers crossed for luck.

"Wouldn't it have been a good idea to raise that before?" Jade asked her curiously, noting the worried expression that suddenly appeared on John's face.

"Perhaps, but if I were a betting woman, I'd be willing to lay good money that the Drakkar haven't done either," Calara said confidently.

"Why did you mention them then?" Jade asked her, puzzled.

"It's what I'd do," the Latina said with a shrug.

Fortunately, the first asteroid belt had neither, and Alyssa was able to guide them through the sparsely populated asteroid belt with the bare minimum of retro-thruster usage. She changed course towards the next asteroid belt that lay on the third orbital path, fired the main engines for a couple of seconds, and then powered them off completely. The energy profile of the Invictus dropped like a stone as the engines were effectively shut down, and they coasted in closer to the second asteroid field, silent and deadly like some vengeful apparition.

"Very nice..." John whistled appreciatively as the momentum from the initial engine burn carried them in closer, the ship absolutely undetectable except by the most powerful of sensors.

"Better safe than sorry," Alyssa said, smiling back at him.

She began to feather the retro thrusters as the slowly moving asteroids began to loom closer, not using them for more than a second at a time, in tightly controlled little bursts. The Invictus turned slowly and pointed directly into the heart of the asteroid belt, gradually losing speed as Alyssa braked by using the front mounted thrusters. She had set the course perfectly, so they were able to slowly coast in on a straight line, eliminating the need to use side mounted thrusters for asteroid evasion purposes.

Abruptly, the tactical map began to light up as the passive sensors came in range to detect a number of vessels in orbit around the nearby gas giant. They stared at the tactical map with bated breath, hardly daring to move, as they waited to see what lurked in the Kappa-Indarran system.

"Hey, you were right!" Jade congratulated Calara happily. "They're definitely using the Kappa-Indarran system as a base!"

"Look! They've set up a helium refinery and some kind of temporary dry dock!" Dana exclaimed, intrigued by the design of the structures.

"Is that what I think it is?" Calara asked John, pensively. "It looks like they're accompanied by two more cruisers as well!" she said in dismay.

"Yeah, that's a Drakkar battleship alright," John growled as he stared at the huge vessel, confirming Calara's worst fears. "How the fuck did they sneak that into Grey space?"

"That battleship is huge!" Alyssa said, casting him a worried glance. "It's got to be nearly fifteen hundred metres long!"

"Yeah, I know..." John said remorsefully. "There's no way we can take that in a stand up fight."

"Dana, are the sensors broken?" Jade asked suddenly.

The redhead shot a worried look at her console and rapidly ran a diagnostic routine. "No, everything checks out fine. Why do you ask?" she asked with concern.

"Then, what is that odd glitching was over there..." the Nymph said, pointing to an area of the tactical map behind the current location of the Drakkar battleship.

"What do you mea-" Dana said, before cutting off abruptly. "What the fuck is that?" she swore looking at the tactical map in shock.

They all peered intently at the tactical map, trying to make out the flickering image. It was faint and only appeared for one second out of every ten, but now that Jade had spotted it with her sharp eyes and pointed it out, they were now very aware of the ghostly ship that appeared to be haunting the Kappa-Indarran system. The ship was vast and jet black, only really noticeable against the darkness of space because of the absence of stars in that blackness, rather than being able to actually make out its profile. A deathly quiet descended on the bridge as they stared at it with wide eyes.

"John, who flies a ship like that?" Calara whispered, as though afraid to disturb the tense silence.

"I've never seen or heard of anything like that before," John replied in a hushed voice.

"Well I think it's a fair bet that something that looks that evil isn't going to be friendly," Alyssa said softly with a worried frown.

"That ship reminds me of the Invictus," Jade offered helpfully.

John's abrupt laughter broke the tense mood on the bridge like a thunderstorm clearing the air.

"Well at least we know where the Drakkar got the tech for their armour," Dana said. "I knew there was no way they came up with that on their own!"

"If whoever is flying that ship is advanced enough to come up with radically enhanced armour, we probably don't want to find out what their weapons can do," Calara said grimly.

"Yeah, agreed. A ship that size is likely to be armed to the teeth," John said ominously.

"So what do we do now?" Dana asked him curiously. "Tell the Ashanath 'sorry they're too tough for us' and then give up on the alliance? I'm kind of fond of my new toys," she said with a grin.

"No, I don't think so," John replied with a wry smile. "But we're going to have to come up with something creative. Our chances of defeating them in a ship battle have just crashed from very slim to none."

"Have you got anything in mind?" Calara asked eagerly.

"Well, we could try luring them to the remaining asteroid that's still filled with explosives," he said dubiously. "Dana, are you able to fabricate more explosives if we need them?"

Dana looked thoughtful for a moment and then replied: "Sure, but I'm a little short on raw materials. If we can stock up, I could produce as much as we need. Well within reason of cour-"

"Something's happening with the black ship!" Jade blurted in alarm, cutting Dana off and pointing at the tactical map.

They watched transfixed as a spiralling circle of energy appeared in front of the massive ship, casting a ghastly pale shroud over the sinister black hull and briefly illuminating its sleek and angular lines. The light moved down the length of the ship, rotating slowly around the hull as it went, and appeared to be erasing the terrifying craft from existence. A few long seconds later, the pallid nimbus of light winked out, and then the otherworldly ship was gone. The girls all looked to John, who shook his head, equally mystified.

"Oh! I think I know what that was!" Dana exclaimed, her eyes open wide in amazement.

"You do?" Alyssa said bemused. "Ok, who's flying it?"

"No, not the ship, silly! That strange pale light!" Dana grinned, her face alight with her excitement. "I think they just generated their own wormhole!"

"No way. That's impossible," Alyssa said curtly, having studied all the current attempts at wormhole generation when training to be a Navigator. "It's all only theory and you can't stabilise them!"

"There's lots of species out there with tech way more advanced than ours," John said gently, surprised at Alyssa's vehement rejection of the idea.

The blonde looked suitably chastened and she turned to the redhead. "I'm sorry Sparks, I had to learn all the navigator stuff verbatim in a crash course and I guess some of it stuck a little too well!"

"Don't worry about it," Dana replied and shrugged dismissively as though it was already forgotten. "But I'm fairly certain that's what we just witnessed. What I'd give to have technical schematics of a wormhole generator!" she added, sighing wistfully.

"If that black ship can generate wormholes whenever and wherever it likes, that explains how they brought the battleship here to Grey space, along with all those cruisers!" Calara said suddenly, struck with inspiration.

"Oh, well done Lieutenant!" John said approvingly. "That makes far more sense than any of the possibilities I've had running through my head."

"The remaining ships don't seem to have black hulls. Well except that one in the temporary drydock, but that's only half complete," Jade noted as she continued to stare at the tactical display.

"Wow, you're on fire today!" John said to the Nymph appreciatively.

Calara zoomed in the tactical map to show the Drakkar battleship and cruisers in detail. The battleship was absolutely enormous and at double the size of the Drakkar cruisers, it was triple the size of the Invictus. The front of the battleship sported row after row of beam lasers and then on the flanks, the massive fifty metre long barrels of heavy bore cannon jutted out from the hull. Atop the spine of the ship was rack after rack of missile ports, that would be capable of launching an overwhelming barrage of high explosives.

One of the cruisers looked to be the same size and configuration as the ones they had previously faced, but instead of the purple ship being covered in black armour plating, the way the last ones had been equipped, this vessel was encased in dark grey plates. The cruiser in the drydock looked to be in the process of being upgraded to black armour, but only the front half seemed to have been upgraded so far.

John narrowed his eyes as he studied the ships currently stationary in orbit around the gas giant. "If they're using the drydock to replate their ships, maybe we can do something about your Onyxium shortage Dana..." he said, grinning wickedly.

"Are you suggesting we steal from the Drakkar? John, I'm appalled!" Alyssa said, her eyes gleaming as she held her hand over her open mouth as if shocked.

"Oh wow! That's a great idea!" Dana said eagerly. "That mystery ship must be their source for the ore as well! Maybe they've just dropped off a new batch?"

"What do you think Jade? Would you be able to sneak us in there to pull off a heist?" Alyssa asked the Nymph eagerly.

"Oh, yes! Please let me try, John!" Jade started bouncing up and down, barely able to contain her excitement.

"Are you sure you can get us in there undetected?" he asked, his voice turning serious.

"They'll have no idea we're there, I promise!" she grinned, her emerald eyes sparkling in the light.

"Alright then, but we're still going to have to do something about the battleship though," he said, studying the zoomed in view of the Drakkar command ship, deep in thought. "If we're going in with the Raptor anyway, maybe we could do a spacewalk and plant explosives on critical places on the hull. You said you could create as much explosives as we need, right Dana?"

"True, but that's going to take me quite some time to fabricate and we'd need to do a supply run to stock up on the various chemicals I'd need." she said doubtfully.

"It's not like you to be negative," Alyssa said perceptively, narrowing her eyes. "What have you got in mind?"

"I might have a much quicker way of achieving the same results," The feisty redhead replied, grinning malevolently.

***

"I'm not sure this is a great idea..." John said, narrowing his eyes as he glanced at the feisty redhead.

"You worry too much!" Dana said, standing up on tip-toe to give him a peck on the cheek.

They were standing at the back of the roomy cockpit of the Raptor gunship, as Jade skilfully brought them gliding in towards the Drakkar shipyard, drifting along on minimal power. Alyssa was sitting to the Nymph's side in the co-pilot's chair guiding her protégé on how best to approach, whilst minimising the chance of detection.

"It feels weird wearing body armour!" Dana said excitedly, as she twisted and turned experimentally in the heavily modified Phalanx armour suit, her helmet tucked under her arm.

"And you're definitely sure you need to come with us?" John said doubtfully, concerned about having Dana go anywhere near the battleship. "You can't just contact us on the communicators and guide us through what we need to do?"

"No, afraid not. If we're going to overload their power core, It's going to be too complicated for me to walk you through it," she said, accompanied by an apologetic shrug.

"We should have had you practicing in the firing range with Calara these last few weeks," he said with a frown.

"I'm not too bad a shot actually," she reassured him, adding a cheeky wink. "All those handguns I designed for the Diablo's weren't going to test fire themselves!"

"I'll take your word for it, but a fully automatic railgun is quite an upgrade on the pistols and SMGs you had in your old workshop. I still want you to let me and Alyssa take the lead. We've had a lot of experience fighting as a team now," he said sternly.

"You got it boss!" she replied with a mock salute.

John laughed lightly and then turned his attention back to the gorgeous women flying the ship.

"That's right, just bring us in nice and gently," Alyssa said encouragingly. "Head towards those containers over there first."

Jade nodded and coaxed the Raptor around to slink ever closer to the small group of containers, situated near the Drydock framework that the Drakkar had constructed. They passed around the rear of the partially refitted enemy cruiser and it towered over them, blocking all light from the Kappa-Indarran star. They waited pensively until their gunship left the shadow of the Drakkar cruiser and then continued onwards to their target. Jade brought them in very close to the containers, before halting their forward momentum with the judicious use of retro-thrusters.

"That was perfect!" Alyssa said proudly. "I couldn't have done any better myself."

Jade beamed at the blonde with delight and then turned to look at John. "I kept my promise!" she said happily.

"You were amazing!" he agreed, stepping forward to lean over the back of her chair and give her an upside down kiss. The Nymph giggled cutely and kissed him back avidly.

"Come on," Alyssa said with a laugh. "You can fuck her brains out later, but we better get on with this first!"

John nodded and placed his black armoured helmet back on his head. He glanced up to the icon in the top right, enabling external speech and audio pickups. Alyssa donned her helmet too, and they waved Jade goodbye as they left the cockpit and activated the elevator in the corridor outside.

"I need to get some grav-tubes fitted in here," Dana said thoughtfully. "And a Tachyon drive too. It just didn't seem important when we had so much more critical things to do first."

"The Ashanath seem very happy with us at the moment," John said with a smile. "I'm sure they'll be glad to assist with the refit."

The door to the elevator swished open, leading out into the Raptor's main level. John led the way, and the two girls followed him to the large storage compartment at the back, which contained the airlock collars to either side of the gunship. They strode into the large room and walked over to the port airlock. John activated the inner airlock door and then he and Alyssa stepped through, and sealed the door behind them.

"These suits are definitely vacuum sealed, right Sparks?" Alyssa asked, sounding a little worried, which was most unlike her.

"Don't worry, you're perfectly safe. When I upgraded the suits with the magnetic field generators, I had to install a faraday cage in between the inner and outer protective layers to keep you safe. I made sure the body armour was fully sealed then," Dana said reassuringly.

Alyssa turned back to John and put her hand on his shoulder. "Be careful, alright?" she said, sounding uncommonly concerned.

"I'll be fine, this isn't my first spacewalk!" he said, the wide grin on his face carrying over with his speech. He unclipped one of the safety wires that were attached to the wall inside the airlock collar and attached it to his belt. "Just hit that red button when you need to reel me in," he said, pointing at the glowing red button above his safety wire.

Alyssa nodded as John approached the outer airlock door and hit the button to open the portal. Overhead warning lights began to flash ominously and a sombre computer voice spoke up. "Outer airlock door activated. Airlock will be compromised in five seconds." Alyssa resisted the strong urge to dart over and hit the button to cancel the airlock opening and mentally counted down from five. "Decompression begun," the computer voice said, as the air was sucked from the room.

The outer airlock door spiralled open slowly, leaving John and Alyssa to look out at the stunning vista of stars unimpeded.

"It's breathtaking!" Alyssa said, standing by John's side and looking out in awe.

"I'll take you for a proper spacewalk sometime," he promised. "When we aren't surrounded by bloodthirsty Drakkar preferably!"

"I'll hold you to that!" she said affectionately.

John looked out at the dozens of containers stacked nearby. Jade had done a really excellent job and brought the Raptor's hull to within five metres from their target. The containers looked to be generic five foot cubed ore storage units, similar to those that they'd used to transport the Tyrenium only a month ago. He leaned out of the airlock and then gently pushed away from the collar, drifting easily towards the orderly rows of containers.

The first box he came too had a metallic grey glyph stamped in the middle of the lid. He took hold of the lid and pulled, but found it was sealed tight. Bracing himself, John tugged at the side of the container, applying his newly discovered strength, and the lid crumpled then tore free. He looked inside and saw dozens of shiny metallic bars that had the familiar grey glint of steel. He moved on to the next container, pulling himself along with his hands and saw an identical metallic grey glyph. Sure enough, when he ripped off the lid, he found more steel bars.

Having confirmed what the metallic grey glyph meant, John moved along the row of containers, finding the exact same copies of the glyph on all of them.

"Ok, haul me in honey, we need to move on to the next batch of containers," he spoke to Alyssa.

She pressed the button on the wall and he felt a gentle tugging on the safety cord as he was pulled back into the ship. As soon as he reached the airlock, Alyssa grabbed his arm and guided him inside. A few seconds later, the Raptor thrust forward and began to glide smoothly on to the next stack of containers.

"How did Jade know we were ready so fast?" he asked Alyssa curiously. "I didn't hear you use the voice-comms."

"I thought it to her," she replied. "It's actually slightly easier to send my thoughts to Jade telepathically than it is with Dana and Calara."

"Nymphs are latently psychic," John reminded her. "Perhaps that makes a difference?"

"That makes sense," Alyssa agreed, before pointing out the airlock. "We're here!"

John looked out and saw that Jade had pulled the Raptor right alongside another row of containers. He leaned out the airlock and saw grey glyph after grey glyph on the lids in front of him, so he stepped back inside next to Alyssa. "They're all steel, better let Jade know to move on," he said to the young woman at his side.

A few seconds later the Raptor pulled away again, eased forward by the gentle and sparing use of the manoeuvring thrusters. He looked out at the next set of containers, seeing the grey glyphed lids as they approached. "Keep going," he said to Alyssa and the Raptor continued past the containers without stopping.

Starting to wonder if they might have guessed incorrectly about the mystery ship supplying the Drakkar with ore, he leaned out again to take a look at the next batch of crates. Instead of the grey glyph, these ones were topped by a black rune. "We've found them!" he called out to Alyssa triumphantly. "There's too many to bring in through the airlock though, so tell Jade to bring the tail of the Raptor around to face them."

Alyssa nodded as he stood back from the outer airlock doors and sealed them shut. As soon as air had been pumped back into the airlock collar, he opened the inner doors.

"We'll bring them in through the loading ramp at the back of the gunship," he told Dana, who had been waiting inside the ship and listening to the conversation between him and Alyssa.

"Sure!" Dana said excitedly and walked over to the big loading ramp that made up the back wall of the room when sealed.

John and the two girls secured themselves with safety wires and then Dana hit the button on the wall, that would begin the decompression of the room. Warning lights flashed and the computer advised caution, before the air was finally sucked from the cargo storage area. When they were standing in a vacuum, she hit the button to activate the loading ramp and it swung open slowly, revealing the twenty neatly stacked containers.

John grabbed another ten safety cables, unhooking them from the wall. Not wasting any time, he walked forward to build up some momentum and then stepped lightly off the deck to float smoothly over to the rows of containers. He took a cord from the bundle in his hand and then clipped it to the handle on the side of the crate. "Ok, start winching them in," he said to Dana, his voice transmitted clearly to her helmet.

She was standing at the wall panel and once Alyssa had gently tugged the cables and identified the correct one, Dana pressed the appropriate button to start hauling it in. John went down the row, attaching cable after cable until he's used up the entire bundle. He hung on to the last container, and then drifted back to the Raptor as Dana winched it back.

The containers were in a disorganised jumble by the entrance, and he had to clamber over them to get back inside the gunship. He carefully pried open one of the lids, revealing bars of jet black ore and when he looked to Dana she gave him the thumbs up. "Jackpot!" she cheered exuberantly. He picked up each of the heavy containers without any trouble, and then moved them to the back of the cargo compartment and stacked them neatly, freeing up room for them to load the rest. The girls watched him work, as the ore containers were much too heavy to lift by themselves.

"This is awesome!" Dana said to him over the intercom as he launched himself out to float to the next set of containers, another bundle of safety cables in hand. "With this much ore, I could make enough Invictium to re-armour the ship twice over!" she added with relief.

"Who says crime doesn't pay?" Alyssa laughed happily, as they started bringing back the last of the containers.

"I prefer to think of it as 'requisitioned', rather than stolen," John chuckled.

"Ah yes, the old requisitioned excuse. I think I've heard that one before," Alyssa said archly.

It took a few more minutes to drag in the last few ore containers, and then John stacked them neatly in the gunship, so that Alyssa could close up the loading ramp and re-pressurise the back of the ship. Dana went to each container in turn, activating their magnetic base that would lock them securely in the cargo compartment of the gunship. John activated the voice-comms between his body armour and the Raptor cockpit.

"Top notch flying Jade!" he said to the Nymph with delight. "We're fully loaded with ore!"

"That's wonderful John," she replied excitedly. "Shall I bring you round to board the battleship now?"

"Yeah, go ahead, we'll be ready in a few minutes," he ordered, as he led Dana and Alyssa through the reinforced doors at the back of the room and headed down the corridor to the gunship's armoury.

They had transferred three rifles and plenty of ammo over to the dropship, and they securely fastened the loaded magazines to their utility harnesses before picking up the XR75 railguns. John slapped in the magazine of sabots in front of the trigger guard, then picked up a clip of hollow point caseless and slotted it into place at the back of the weapon. The ammo counter on the side of the gun read 250/50, showing that he was ready to go. He brought the rifle up to his shoulder to look through the scope, before lowering it and turning to look at the girls. They were performing similar weapons checks and then they nodded at him, signifying they were ready to move out.

John turned and looked at his Invictium sword, which was leaning forlornly against the wall. Given the Drakkar's propensity for melee combat, he would have liked to have brought it with them, but hauling around the five foot long blade would be too encumbering. He sighed regretfully and then turned to leave the armoury.

"Sorry John, I forgot!" Dana said, reaching out to put her hand on his chest to stop him from leaving. "I came up with a way you can carry the sword around with you!"

"Oh really?" he smiled. "I don't see a scabbard with you."

"It's the 28th century! I think we can come up with something a little more high-tech than that," she grinned at him impishly. "Now turn around so I can attach it for you."

John did as she asked, facing away from the eager young woman. He felt her attaching something into place against the armour on his shoulder, followed by a rapid series of clicks, before she tapped him lightly on his arm.

"Ok you're good to go!" she said excitedly. "Go and pick up the sword and then bring it around to your back as though you were putting it into a scabbard."

He went over to the glistening black blade and picked it up in his right hand. Being careful not to hit the girls, the weapon racks or anything else in the armoury for that matter, he brought the sword over his shoulder. He felt an odd tugging sensation on the grip when the hilt was parallel to his shoulder, as though the sword wanted to move out of his hand.

"Perfect!" Dana exclaimed. "Now, just let go."

Following her instructions, John released his grip on the weapon, wincing as he awaited the deafening crash of the sword clattering to the floor, but nothing happened. He turned his head to the right and saw the hilt and pommel sticking up over his right hand shoulder, floating there silently.

"How did you do that?" he asked her, intrigued. "Is it done by anti-grav?"

"Nah, the cyclics would burn out if you had them running all the time. I just tweaked one of the magnetic field emitters on your back to act as a harness, then attached some bands around the grip to keep the sword perfectly positioned in the field. To draw the sword, just hold the grip and pull it over your shoulder!" she said eagerly.

Doing exactly that, John tugged slightly on the blade and it moved easily out of the magnetic field that had been suspending it in place. He returned the weapon to his back and then clapped the redhead on the shoulder.

"This is perfect!" he laughed happily. "Zero encumbrance. Where were you when I was training as a marine, hauling around heavy weapons?" he marvelled.

"I hadn't been born then," Dana giggled wickedly.

"Oh god, you're making me feel old!" John groaned exaggeratedly.

"Come on old timer, we better go raid the Drakkar battleship before you need your afternoon nap!" Alyssa said teasingly, gesturing towards the door out of the armoury.

"After you," John said chivalrously.

"Age before beauty," Alyssa smirked, and then squeaked as he slapped her armoured rump when he walked past.

"I need to come with you two on more combat missions, this is great fun!" Dana laughed happily.

They walked back to the big room at the back of the gunship and gathered around the starboard airlock. Dana pressed the button on the door, and then the three of them stepped into the airlock collar, before she closed the inner door behind them.

"Jade?" John called over the voice-comms to the cockpit. "We're in position, have you docked us with the battleship?"

"Yes, John, the docking clamps are secured. You can board them whenever you're ready," the Nymph said confidently.

"Great work, honey. Get clear and stay out of sight as soon as we're safely on board," he ordered, pressing the button on the outer airlock door. As the collar was secured with an airtight seal, the sombre computer voice stayed silent this time and the airlock door spiralled open.

"That was anticlimactic," Alyssa said wryly as they faced the sealed reinforced airlock door on the Drakkar ship.

"Well I guess this is where I bust our way in," John said eagerly, getting ready to batter the door.

"Easy there Hercules," Dana chuckled. " I might be able to help with this one," she said, as she stepped up to the panel by the side of the airlock door and attached a hand held device. After rapidly entering a series of commands on the unfolding keyboard, the heavy bulkhead door split down the middle and then slowly eased apart, accompanied by the hiss of hydraulics. It signified that it had opened fully with a deep metallic clunk.

"Very impressive!" John commended her. "How are you able to hack your way into their systems? I didn't know you could speak Drakkar?"

"I tripped the hydraulics, and the door opened automatically," Dana said triumphantly, as they stepped through the now yawning portal and into the airlock. She disconnected the device, and then fitted it to the other side of the door.

Before she sealed the door, John placed his hand on the DNA reader on the Raptor. The green light scanned across his gauntleted hand and then after a quiet beep, the airlock door spiralled shut. A few moments later the Drakkar airlock door hissed and groaned as it clanged closed.

"Ok stay safe, we're clear," John said to Jade on the voice-comm.

"Just give me a call when you want a lift home!" Jade replied happily.

They watched through the small porthole in the airlock door as the gunship detached from the battleship and then disappeared silently from view. Turning towards the inner airlock door, they saw that this one was operated by a button and Dana stepped forward to push it. The inner door clanked open noisily and they winced at the din as the small airlock filled with the grating sound.

John and Alyssa moved forward as a pair, with railguns raised, each looking down either end of the corridor that the airlock door opened out into. They could see no sign of angry crew, or even alarms being raised and as they relaxed a little they realised why. The Drakkar ship seemed to be alive with sound, heavy clanks and shrieks of metal echoing down the corridor and greeting them raucously where they stood in the hallway.

"For once I'm glad someone did a crap job on maintenance!" Dana laughed with relief.

"Ok, which way to the power core?" John asked quietly.

"If their battleship follows the same design doctrine as their cruisers, the power core will be centrally located in the aft of the ship," Dana said after a moment's pause for thought. "If I had active scan results I could tell you for sure, but that's my best guess."

"Sounds sensible. Let's move out," he said decisively, taking the lead and walking down the corridor ahead of him with his weapon at the ready.

Dana and Alyssa followed behind, easily keeping pace as they headed deeper into the ship. The Drakkar vessel was dimly lit, with half the lights blown completely and every third or fourth light flickering intermittently, casting creepy shadows. Panels were pulled off the walls here and there, with the occasional cable snaking down from the ceiling. Dana shook her head in disapproval as she looked over the exceptionally shoddy state of disrepair the ship was in.

The first cross section they arrived at, John immediately moved to check the right corridor, while Alyssa moved fluidly to the left; both poking their heads out to check at the same time. Seeing no signs of life, they headed further inwards and soon approached another cross junction.

Ahead of them Dana could see that the corridor opened out into a larger room after another twenty metres, bulky four armed Drakkar lurching about in the distance. While she was waiting pensively, unsure what to do, Alyssa moved left and John simultaneously checked to the right. Abruptly John raised his railgun and fired, the quiet "Prrrkow!" of the three round burst sounding worryingly loud to the tense redhead. Alyssa seemed to react instantly, pivoting on the spot and firing a second later, high velocity rounds blasting out to seek their targets. The two of them fired repeatedly down the corridor to the right, targeting some unseen foe.

Dana watched the Drakkar up ahead in the room in front of them, her weapon raised in case any of them turned and tried to raise the alarm. Her nerve wracking vigil ended as soon as it had began, when Alyssa tapped her lightly on the arm and whispered. "Follow me, we need to cover the corridor."

Nodding, Dana followed after her fully armoured friend and stepped around to the right and out of potential line of sight to the room ahead of them. She looked wide eyed at the still twitching corpses of the three Drakkar that had been walking down this corridor only a few metres away from the junction. With the element of surprise, John and Alyssa had been able to hose them down with railgun rounds before they could hope to react. Huge holes had been shot through the purple armoured aliens, dark blue blood and gore decorating the wall opposite.

John was nowhere in sight, and Dana panicked for a moment, wondering where he had gone. Her question was answered a few seconds later as he re-entered the corridor from a room 15 metres away on the right.

"Cover me a moment girls, I'll stash the corpses in here," he said quietly.

Alyssa dropped to one knee near the intersection, checking for approaching Drakkar. "Watch the other way Dana," she said softly.

Dana knelt down by the other wall and watched down the corridor. She couldn't help but be distracted however, when John picked up one of 300lb Drakkar smoothly and carried it over his left shoulder, it's many arms dragging on the floor behind him. He dumped the corpse unceremoniously in the room ahead, before returning to stash the other two corpses in a similar fashion. The door had a strange wheel set into the frame and once John had closed the door to his impromptu morgue, he spun the wheel, locking the door in place. Waiting for a particular cacophonous clanging from the ship, he wrenched the wheel off the frame to the accompanying shriek of twisting metal and then rested it by the door.

"Oops..." he said quietly.

"Err, what about all that mess?" Dana said, waving at the gouts of blue blood sprayed all over the heavily shadowed walls.

"Let's just hope they think it's from a random fist fight," Alyssa said optimistically.

John turned his railgun around and knocked out a couple more lights with the butt of the weapon. His wanton act of vandalism cast the area in even darker shadows, making it much harder to see all the Drakkar blood. He then beckoned them to follow him, and they headed further down the corridor, away from the scene of the ambush. The corridor took a few random twists and turns, as they followed it towards the rear of the ship, before it eventually opened out in a stairwell, but instead of stairs, there were a few sets of ramps heading up and down.

"We better not hang around here," John said quietly. "Which way do you think Dana?"

Remembering that they had docked around the middle of the ship and halfway up the hull, Dana stopped for a moment to get her bearings. "We probably want to head down a couple of levels, then head in towards the central spine of the ship," she said cautiously.

"Sounds good. Let's go," John said, and moved confidently over to the nearest slope leading down.

"Movement above us!" Alyssa whispered in warning.

"Move!" he said brusquely, and then darted ahead down the slope.

Alyssa and Dana followed his lead and sprinted after him as he raced down the ramp, turning a corner, and then following another ramp downwards. Instead of heading down any further, John moved quickly across the open area by the many ramp entrances and checked the corridor that would take them into the central part of the ship. Alyssa and Dana darted over to join him, relieved to be moving out of the open and feeling a little less exposed.

They moved cautiously forward now, passing a few sealed doors and leaving them undisturbed as they moved ever deeper into the battleship. Finally, they reached a sturdy blast door that was currently wide open, giving them a clear view into the big central chamber ahead.

"This is it!" Dana whispered excitedly, peering around the corner. "I can see the power converter and the plasma conduits. We should definitely find the power core located in there."

There were numerous gantries leading upwards from the floor they were currently standing in, but they noticed many bulky figures wandering around on the upper levels.

"So, what's the plan?" John asked Dana quietly.

"I'm going to shut down most of their power regulators," she replied in a hushed but eager voice.

"Is that something you can do from down here?" Alyssa asked her friend curiously.

"Afraid not." the redhead replied apologetically. "For a ship of this size, there's going to be a couple of dozen. They'll be scattered around the central core on the higher levels."

"So that means we'll have to clear out the Drakkar," John surmised. "Is there any way you can get them to leave without a fight?" he asked Dana.

"If they were using Terran computer systems, sure! Unfortunately, as you helpfully pointed out, I don't speak Drakkar," she said ruefully.

"We clear them out the fun way then!" Alyssa said enthusiastically, checking the ammo counter on her railgun.

John nodded and took the lead and they moved quietly out across the darkened lower level of the reactor chamber, scuttling across the floor like shiny black beetles. They turned the corner of the ramp up to the first level and began to ascend cautiously, spotting three Drakkar engineers hunched over brightly flashing consoles.

*Take the left one,* Alyssa's voice sounded clearly in Dana's mind as they silently drew closer.

Dana aimed at the left most Drakkar, holding her breath as she targeted the creature through her scope. It's hideous lime green hammer shaped head filled the crosshairs and she could see the subtle mottled brown patterning on the bulging section that housed its brain. She gently squeezed the trigger, and the railgun whispered a quiet message of death to the unknowing alien. "Prrrkow," her weapon murmured, closely chorused by Alyssa's and John's railguns.

The Drakkar's head exploded in an instant as it was hit by the three round burst. A shower of blue blood geysered up from its now headless torso and the four armed creature slumped lifelessly over the console it had been so focused on before.

Dana let out her breath with a relieved sigh, and then looked around the platform. John and Alyssa had similarly dispatched their allocated Drakkar and the floor was now covered in a sticky sea of blue blood. She spotted a dark red cylinder embedded in the wall, that was pulsating rhythmically and casting an eerie crimson light into the room. "That looks like a constant load regulator, if I'm not mistaken!" she thought to herself, as she approached it cautiously.

*We'll start clearing the upper levels, you do whatever you need to, and follow us up,* Alyssa's voice sounded clearly in her mind.

She half turned and gave them a thumbs up sign, before turning her full attention back to the power regulator in front of her. Unclipping a handheld multi-tool from her belt, she undid the screws on the casing and then got to work.

John took the lead up the ramp, moving swiftly and silently to the next level, knowing that time was now of the essence. Any of the Drakkar engineers up here could head down to the bloodbath below at a moment's notice, so they needed to act fast while they still had surprise on their side. This next level was dominated by the bottom half of a pulsing red sphere set into the ceiling. Power cables and wiring snaked in and out of the enormous globe, and the throbbing light made the power core look like some enormous sickly heart.

There were five Drakkar in this room, three of them watching and cheering avidly while two of their colleagues grappled in the centre of the room. The slightly larger of the two managed to knock the other engineer to the floor, and then began to rain blows down on his head, while the prone Drakkar attempted to ward him off with four frantically waving hands.

Taking pity on the hapless engineer who was on the receiving end of a vicious clobbering, Alyssa narrowed her eyes and targeted the victorious Drakkar, gently squeezing the trigger and sending three hyper-speed rounds into the unsuspecting creatures face. The hollow point bullets slammed into the alien and knocked its decapitated body off his victim, spraying blood over his cohorts, "I don't like bullies," Alyssa said with grim satisfaction.

The other three Drakkar looked up at them in shock, their fang filled maws hanging open as they stood there stunned, still frozen mid-cheer, their faces covered in blue blood and ichor. John calmly fired two bursts, hitting the first solidly in the chest, punching big holes through its torso, and the second in the groin, doubling it over. The last one whimpered in fear and sprinted for the doorway, only to be shot in the back as it ran. It staggered on for several steps before crashing into a computer console and sprawling on the floor.

The remaining Drakkar got to its feet on shaky legs and turned towards its mysterious benefactors. Alyssa pulled the trigger and gunned it down, sending it cartwheeling backwards, its azure lifeblood fountaining out behind it. "I don't like Drakkar much either," she shrugged apologetically.

"Hark at you with the quips!" John laughed, shaking his head as he moved forward to check down the corridor.

"You must be a bad influence," she replied, laughing gaily.

The Drakkar John had shot in the groin was rolling around on the floor in agony, and he put it out of its misery with a headshot. He walked past it, then stepped over the spasming Drakkar that had tried to flee, and scanned the corridor ahead. It ran off for over fifty metres before being shrouded by the gloom. "Ok this looks clear, let's move on to the next level."

Alyssa strode over to join him, and the two of them reloaded their railguns with full clips. She was keeping a close eye on the swirling nebulous of emotions in her mind that represented Dana and she was quite content, happy even, as she worked her destructive magic on the Drakkar ship. Alyssa smiled and then followed John up the next ramp.

They moved quickly and quietly, hugging the wall as they ascended to the top level of the reactor chamber. When John had walked far enough up the ramp to see into the room, he ducked back quickly waving Alyssa backwards with a warning hand.

*You can just think it to me, remember,* she said in his mind, her psychic voice carrying an undercurrent of playfulness.

*Sorry it was instinct,* John shrugged mentally. *The top level is heaving with Drakkar, this could get nasty,* he warned her.

*Shock and awe?* she smirked, raising her railgun and deliberately turning off the sound suppressor.

*Remind me to pass on my thanks to whoever trained you,* John laughed along with her, turning off the sound suppressor on his own railgun.

They crept up the last few metres of the ramp, and ducked behind some bulky computer consoles. There were at least 20 Drakkar in this room, most of them spread out around the walls, operating machinery, and studying displays. There was a small group of four standing in the middle, arguing ferociously about something.

John glanced at the top right icon on the HUD inside his Phalanx armour helmet and turned off external audio. Alyssa did the same as they crouched there, preparing to unleash their ambush. *Dana, turn off audio in your armour, we're firing the railguns without sound suppressors,* she warned her friend who was now disabling her fifth power regulator.

*Give her five seconds,* Alyssa cautioned John, and they waited patiently, counting to five in their heads, their blood pumping with adrenalin.

*Now!* John thought to her, and they rose as one to face the Drakkar in the room.

Alyssa started on the left, while John started on the right. "PRRRRRRRRRRRRRKOW!!!!!!" The railguns thundered as they fired them on full auto, spraying their incredibly destructive firepower around the room. The first dozen Drakkar didn't even have time to react as high velocity rounds slammed into them, blasting holes in the creatures, and sending dismembered limbs and blue gore flying around the room.

As John and Alyssa's weapons finally clicked, the magazines spent, the Drakkar reacted in several different ways. The group in the middle stood and stared, open mawed in shock. A couple of the survivors around the walls who had been showered in their colleagues blood turned and fled, while some of the bolder engineers pulled out pistols and began to return fire.

Expecting only conventional rounds, John was surprised when the Drakkar engineers started firing virulent purple laser beams in their direction. He was hit twice in the chest before he ducked down, the breastplate of his armour smoking where the shots had gouged into the black surface. Fortunately the reflective nature of the armour had robbed the shots of some of their strength, but they were still potent enough to worry about. He slapped in another clip before he rose and began to fire in bursts, specifically targeting the armed Drakkar who were shooting at them.

Once Alyssa had reloaded, she opened up with full auto again, cutting down the group of stunned Drakkar engineers who were clustered around the reactor. She deliberately aimed high, not wanting to test how well the power core was armoured, and focused on shooting the group of Drakkar in the head and upper chest. She smiled with satisfaction when she hit the last one in the throat, sending its head sailing through the air.

*Shit!* John swore with his inner voice, bringing her focus back to the rest of the room.

*A couple of the runners got away,* he warned her as he shot the last of the laser pistol wielding Drakkar, stitching fist sized holes across the alien's chest and sending it slumping over, quite dead. *We better get back to Dana.*

Their industrious chief engineer had moved up the ramp to the level below them, and was humming a merry tune to herself, as she worked on disabling her eleventh power regulator. She was so wrapped up in her work, she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings, apart from stepping carefully over the occasional Drakkar corpse. She pried the housing off the next power regulator, and then began to work on shutting down the power feeds, not noticing when a Drakkar entered the room from the corridor. The alien engineer wielded a big wrench in his hands, and he charged towards her letting out a roar. With her external audio turned off as well, she was completely oblivious to the imminent danger, and was therefore caught completely by surprise when the Drakkar swung the wrench around, smashing it into her arm and sending her crashing into the wall.

*Dana's in trouble!* Alyssa yelled to John as she picked up the fear and pain from the Dana presence in her mind. She sprinted towards the ramp heading downwards and vaulted over the computer console in the way.

John charged after her, feeling a surge of panic rising in his chest. *Fuck! We should have never have left her!* he chastised himself, as he barrelled down the ramp after Alyssa.

Dana had bounced off the wall, and yowled in agony as pain shot up her right arm when she sprawled on the floor. Her railgun was propped up against the wall, to free up both hands to work on the power regulator, and she turned back frantically to look for her weapon. She gasped as the Drakkar stepped into her line of sight and swung the heavy wrench at her again. Twisting to the side, she narrowly avoided having her head caved in as the massive impromptu club crashed into the floor behind her. Her armour plated feet scrabbled on the steel decking, trying to gain purchase, as she tried to crawl backwards and away from the looming Drakkar.

The enraged Drakkar engineer lifted back its head and roared at her silently, which added a certain surreal nature to the deadly fight. She glanced up at the icon on her HUD to re-enable sound and caught the end of the blood curdling scream, making her wish she had left the creature on mute. It stepped forward to take another overhead swipe at her, and she skittered backwards, frantically trying to get some distance from the creature. It swung the wrench down again, and caught her on the right leg, causing the armour plating to crack and warp, badly bruising her thigh. The Drakkar dropped the wrench, then loomed over her with grasping hands and its sharp toothed jaws spread wide, dripping saliva down on her chest.

Just when she thought she was doomed, the Drakkar lurched violently as an azure bloom appeared on its chest, accompanied by the deafening "PKOW!" of an unsuppressed railgun. Dana saw the shock on its face before It whirled to face the new foe, just as the railgun fired again. "PRRRRRRRRRRRRRKOW!!!!!!" the weapon roared and then the Drakkar's upper body seemed to disappear in a riotous blue explosion as round after high velocity round blew it apart.

"Sparks, are you ok!" Alyssa called in a frightened voice, as she leapt over the obliterated Drakkar to hover over her friend.

"Yeah, I'm fine..." Dana replied. "I just wasn't paying attenti- Ow! fuck!!!!" she gasped in pain as she tried to stand up, instinctively putting her weight on her left arm to steady herself. She collapsed backwards, holding her arm as white hot lances of agony shot up to her shoulder.

"That looks bad, I think you've got a broken arm," John said with concern, appearing at her side.

"I'll be ok," Dana said stoically, wincing with the pain.

John helped her up while Alyssa picked up the discarded railgun. "We need to get you out of here," he said worriedly.

"I'll be fine, honestly..." Dana said slurring slightly, shivering and wobbling uncertainly on her feet.

"Shh, you'll be ok, let me take care of you honey," he said to her soothingly.

*She might be going into shock!* John's inner voice said to Alyssa, shot through with worry. *We need to get her to safety as quickly as we can.*

Alyssa nodded, and then moved to his side to take over supporting Dana. *I've got her, you lead us out.* she thought to him.

John headed over to the ramp that led to the lower level, reactivating the sound suppressor on the end of his railgun. He checked behind them to make sure nothing else was following, and then moved down the ramp looking for any signs of approaching Drakkar. Alyssa and Dana followed behind him walking awkwardly down the ramp, and then across the floor of the reactor room. They walked down the corridor that returned them to the open area with the ramps that went up and down to the other levels, before cautiously moving over to return to the level they initially boarded from.

John had jogged a little way ahead and disappeared out of sight as he turned around the corner to continue up the slope. He suddenly came sprinting back, urging her back with his hand.

*There's a big armed group of them up there!* he thought to Alyssa with alarm. *They must be investigating the gunshots.*

*Or checking the airlocks for signs of forced entry,* Alyssa guessed as she turned Dana around and they made their way downwards.

A few moments later, an alarm sounded out loudly, blaring obnoxiously down the corridor.

"We've got to find another way out," John said pensively as they headed down another level. "Did you see any signs of hangar bays?" he asked Alyssa.

"No, not that I remember." The blonde replied, recalling the image of the huge battleship on the tactical map, as well as what she had seen up close from the dropship.

"That probably means they have a hangar bay at the bottom of the ship, like the Stalingrad," he guessed. "Does that sounds right to you Dana?"

The redhead nodded groggily, focused mainly on standing upright and trying not to being sick. "Yeah makes sense to me," she slurred.

*She's worrying me John. People can die from going into shock, right?* Alyssa's voice sounded in his head, sounding small and scared.

*She'll be fine, honey, just try not to knock the break and keep her calm.* John said, sounding confident. He was suppressing his worries though, having seen comrades die from shock, caused by what had initially seemed like relatively minor gunshot wounds.

They stumbled further down into the bowels of the Drakkar battleship, luckily avoiding any patrols. "Where is everyone?" Alyssa asked him as they reached the lowest level, having descended down the ramps unopposed.

"All their patrols must be either investigating the carnage in the reactor room, or sealing off access to the airlocks," John guessed from experience.

"Ok, which way now?" Alyssa demanded, holding Dana steady.

"Jade?" John called out to the Raptor gunship on the voice-comm. "Can you hear me?"

"There's some interference, but I can hear you," the Nymph replied.

"Good. Dana's been hit and we need to evac her straight away!" he explained. "We can't get to the airlocks, so I need you to check the underside of the battleship's hull and see if you can find any hangar bays."

"You can count on me!" Jade said fiercely, as she moved the Raptor out from the shadow of the battleships vast engines. Using minimal thrusters to keep her energy profile low, she glided down underneath the belly of the huge Drakkar vessel, carefully coasting along and starting to move the Raptor a little further from the enemy hull. With a little more distance between her ship and the looming battleship, she was able to rotate the cockpit upwards to give herself a nice clear view of the underside of the hull. Her sharp, cat-like eyes zeroed in on a couple of darkened indentations in the hull amidships, and in the centre of the vessel.

"You were right! There's a couple, John!" she said excitedly on the voice-comm. "They're positioned in the middle of the ship, on the bottom deck."

"Perfect! We'll head that way and meet you there," he replied, sounding relieved.

Jade nudged the gunship forward, slowly approaching the two indentations set in the bottom of the hull and studying the darkened portals intently. They were both sealed, with what looked like heavily reinforced outer hull doors locked in place. The Nymph sighed in frustration, having hoped that she'd be able to just sail straight in and wait for them, but instead resigned herself to having to wait for John and his companions to open the doors from the inside.

The minutes ticked by as Jade waited impatiently, worrying about how Dana was doing and how seriously she was hurt. Abruptly her eyes darted to the battleship hull as she spotted motion above her, the massive sturdy doors beginning to prise apart. Thinking that her friends had managed to make it to the hangar much faster than she expected, a big beaming smile lit up her face and she readied the Raptor to rise up through the slowly opening hangar bay doors.

Just as she was about to move the gunship forward, the gap now large enough for her craft, a blocky Drakkar transport dropped out of the yawning portal above, its purple hull covered in thick grey plating and long sharp spikes. "Grey plates." Jade thought to herself, and grinned wickedly. "Bad for you, good for me."

Her eyes narrowed for a second, activating the optical targeting system, and the Drakkar dropship was haloed in a targeting reticle. She pulled the trigger on her flightstick, and the Raptor's Gatling lasers spun up for a second before unleashing six bright orange streams of laser bolts at the enemy transport. Caught completely unawares, the dropship hung there as if in a daze as she raked their shields with an unending stream of laser fire. A few seconds later their shields fizzled out, overwhelmed by the amount of deadly energy being poured into them. The Gatling lasers continued unabated, now gouging molten impact craters into the heavy steel plating.

Casually flipping up the red safety cover, Jade pressed the thumb button on her flight control, and the shoulder mounted laser cannons that ran the length of the gunship opened up. Two amber hued energy bolts blasted into the side of the ship, punching gaping holes in the hull, and causing the dropship to drift away as the air was sucked out of the ship in an explosive decompression. She fired twice more with the laser cannons just to make sure, the final shot rupturing the enemy cockpit and instantly killing the pilot.

Jade grinned happily to herself, and then sprang into action when she noticed movement from above her head once again. It looked like the Drakkar were attempting to close the hangar bay doors, but they were too slow, and the Raptor was much too fast. Jade gripped the flightstick and tensed her body, concentrating on making her body much denser. She cranked up the throttle, and the gunship surged forward, darting nimbly through the gap, and making the spiking G-counter set off warning lights and sirens around the cockpit. She slammed on the retro-thrusters the instant she was safely through the hangar doors, causing the G-counter to have a negative-G aneurysm, while her incredibly resilient body simply shrugged off acceleration forces that would have been fatal for a Terran.

She closed her eyes and relaxed for a moment, returning her body density to normal before opening her eyes slowly. The hangar bay was a riot of motion, with four armed aliens sprinting around in a panic, some darting for cover, others running to another parked dropship. The Nymph grinned excitedly. She liked it when her prey ran away, it made the hunt more satisfying. The Raptor's Gatling lasers began to rotate again, the six gun barrels spinning up and filling the huge hangar with an ominous high pitched whir...

***

John moved cautiously down the corridor, checking the passageways to the right as they reached each T-junction. They were on the lowest deck of the Drakkar battleship, and moving as quietly and stealthily as they could. Dana was having trouble going much faster than a slow walking pace, what with the lingering effects of the shock, as well as the nasty bruising to her leg. Alyssa was supporting her friend well, being very careful not to aggravate the injuries, and keeping up a constant stream of reassuring, comforting thoughts to Dana's mind. This meant that she was in no position to aid in a firefight, though, so their little three man fireteam had been effectively reduced to one.

Pausing at the fifth right hand T-junction in a row, John glanced back at the girls. "I think we're about at the middle of the ship by now, let's head in," he said quietly.

"I'm ok, honestly..." Dana said unconvincingly, wincing with the sharp pain in her arm.

"I know you are, Sparks, you're doing so well," Alyssa replied softly, as they followed in John's wake.

They progressed further into the gloomy ship, their quiet footfalls completely masked by the dreadful clanking and grinding of hydraulics in desperate need of some oil. Down here on the lowest deck the corridors were in an even worse state of disrepair, with floor panels pulled up and broad cables left undulating over each other in chaotic jumbles. Their progress was slowed further by having to carefully step over the mess, and the journey down the corridors seemed to take forever.

John reached a crossroad, and glanced left first but saw nothing, before glancing to the right and cursing as two Drakkar stumbled into him. He brought his rifle up instinctively, and shoved it into the closest creature's chest before pulling the trigger. The Drakkar stared at him in shock with two wide black eyes, its fang filled jaw snapping up and down reflexively as round after round punched through its quivering torso. It keeled over on its side, grabbing the railgun with all four hands in a deathgrip, and pulling it out of his hand.

The second Drakkar roared in fury and took a wild double haymaker swing with its left arms, knocking John off balance and away down the corridor. Seeing that his railgun was well out of reach, he grabbed the hilt of his sword and drew it over his shoulder, releasing it from the magnetic fields. The Drakkar snarled in rage and surged forward with eagerly grasping hands, only to have John do a wide sweep with his blade and cleanly chop off the creature's right limbs at the forearm. The alien was brought up short, and frantically grasped each bloodied stump with its left hands, leaving it open to a broad backhanded swing that cleaved through its head, the astonished face split horizontally down the middle.

John stepped over the Drakkar after it crashed to the floor and walked determinedly over to the first Drakkar that had collapsed on his railgun. "That's mine I believe," he said, as he heaved the creature over and then yanked the weapon out of its nerveless fingers.

Alyssa had her railgun in her right hand, the heavy barrel wavering unsteadily in her one handed grip. She relaxed when she saw that the danger was over, and then concentrated on supporting Dana again. *Let's keep going, I'm worried about Dana,* she thought to John as he turned to check they were alright. He nodded silently, putting his sword back in the embrace of the magnetic scabbard, and then jogged ahead up the corridor to check the next junction.

John looked both ways at the junction, but didn't see any signs of life. He walked forward cautiously, as his sharp ears picked up what sounded like gunfire coming from up ahead. Spotting a pair of sturdy double doors on the left side of the gloomy corridor ahead, he checked the ammo counter on his railgun and saw he was down to 87/13. Deciding it was better to be safe than sorry, he swapped the hollow point magazine, and then loaded in a fresh clip of sabots in the second slot. He had only just slid the clip home when the doors ahead burst open with a deafening clang, and a terrified Drakkar burst through. John quickly raised his railgun, but before he could pull the trigger, the alien was drilled through by dozens of laser bolts, leaving it to stagger forward a few more steps before it tottered over flat on its face.

John approached the door cautiously, hearing an unending stream of laser fire coming from inside the room within. He glanced over at the Drakkar that had tried to flee just to be sure, but steam rose from the charred corpse, its body a smouldering ruin. Not wanting to poke his head out and risk getting shot in the face, he activated the voice-comm to the Raptor. "Jade? Is that you tearing up the ship? We're behind the double doors, next to the Drakkar you just turned into Swiss cheese," he said wryly.

"John! I'm so glad you're here!" she replied, sounding relieved. "I'm just about done, let me finish off the last couple and then I'll land."

He turned back towards Alyssa and Dana, beckoning them forward as they heard the Gatling lasers exacting a heavy toll on the Drakkar in the room beyond.

***

"Sir, it looks like they're trying to escape through the hangar bay!" the Drakkar lieutenant gasped to the darkly brooding Drakkar raid leader. Overlord Okug was seated in his impressive war-throne, resplendent with spikes and the impaled skulls of the sixteen challengers who had tried to usurp his command.

"Have you sent down the reinforcements?" he snarled angrily.

"Yes, Sir, but they aren't responding to our comms any more..." the trembling Lieutenant said nervously, well aware of Okug's notorious hair-trigger temper.

"Put me in contact with whoever's in charge down there," he shouted angrily.

"We've lost contact with everyone..." the lieutenant said regretfully. "We've also had reports from the drydock. The black ore the Dark One gave us seems to have disappeared!" he added with trepidation.

Overlord Okug bellowed in apoplectic fury. He lunged at his lieutenant and grabbed the quaking crewman in a four armed grip, raised him over his head and then snapped him in half.

"Pathetic fool!" he snarled with contempt, as he hurled the broken body of his underling to the side.

First Giruk and Ookur had disappeared without a trace, then Vermogrok and Zarog had seemingly vanished after intercepting a convoy. Now he had hostile forces wandering around freely inside his own ship!

"Am I surrounded by total halfwits and incompetents?" he raged to himself. If the Dark One found out the Onyxium had been stolen out from under Okug's nose, he dreaded to think what would happen to him.

"Power up the ship!" he roared at the bridge crew. "Those bastards must have a vessel lurking around here somewhere!" He pulled his monstrously large sword from the sheath on the back of his war-throne and stalked out of the bridge, backhanding a crewman who was too slow to get out of his way. He needed that Onyxium back, and he knew where to get his hands on the people who'd stolen it...

***

John led the girls out from behind the door and into the hangar bay. The huge room was a scene of unsurpassed devastation, with dozens of Drakkar shot to pieces by Jade's merciless marksmanship. There was a strange roasted meat smell that wafted through the air, originating from the charred corpses that had been flash cooked by searing laser fire. The source of all the destruction was the familiar glistening black Raptor gunship, now sitting stationary to the side of the hangar, the barrels of the Gatling lasers glowing red hot from the continuous firing.

Jade had parked the gunship on one of the chevron marked landing pads, the previous dropship occupant of the pad now shattered debris floating outside the battleship's hull. She had activated the Raptor's loading ramp, and as it lowered to the hangar bay floor, she waved to them, happy and relieved to see they were ok. Alyssa, Dana and John started picking their way over the gunned down Drakkar, weaving a path through the carnage as they made their way to the gunship.

They were about half way there, when a mighty roar from across the hangar froze them in their tracks. John spun around, and moved to position himself between the girls and whatever had made the noise. His eyes landed on a monstrously huge Drakkar who came pounding through the big doorway, a colossal sword in two of its arms as it barrelled into the room.

Overlord Okug spotted the black armoured figures immediately as they made their way to the ferocious looking black ship that was parked in his hangar bay. He had a moment's hesitation when he saw the trespassing ship, bearing an uncanny resemblance to the Dark One's own ship with its black armour. There was no mistaking the challenging way in which one of them moved to engage him though, and he charged forward, determined to stop these thieves from escaping.

John fired immediately, but his high velocity rounds bounced away harmlessly from the Drakkar boss, with the familiar whumping sound of their own Phalanx armour suits. The bastard had the same kind of magnetic repulsive field, John realised as the hulking foe grinned at him evilly, and charged towards him.

John slung his rifle and pulled out his Invictium sword confidently. He had easily dispatched every enemy he had faced with this blade so far, the Drakkar unable to cope with his overwhelming strength. He started running forward himself, eager to get to grips with this new opponent.

Jade watched the twelve foot tall, four armed behemoth charging towards her lover and she felt genuinely afraid for him. Nonetheless, John held his sword confidently in a two handed grip, and was running forward in his own counter charge. Her attention flicked back to Alyssa, who was half carrying Dana towards her and the safety of the Raptor, and Jade darted down the ramp to come and help.

The two blades struck one another in a thunderous reverberation that echoed around the vast chamber, the ringing sound deafening as it bounced in waves from the magnetic walls.

John had expected to be able to follow through with his strike, beating back the Drakkar Overlord with the same ease he had done to the Drakkar Warboss Vermogrok, who had fatefully attempted to board his ship. To his surprise, the huge brute managed to parry successfully with a sturdy four handed grip on its massive sword. He swung back and then chopped down again, but this was parried successfully too. Okug moved quickly to counterattack and began to rain his own powerful blows down on John, using his huge height advantage to add extra momentum to his swings. John parried them valiantly, able to ward off the powerful blows with a two handed block, but the speed and ferocity of the attacks was alarming and he took a couple of steps back from the creature.

Sensing he had the advantage, Okug began attacking with long sweeping strikes from the left and then the right, knocking John further off balance. This tiny humanoid was freakishly strong, he'd give him that, but his lack of swordsmanship was allowing a seasoned veteran like Okug to tip the fight in his favour. He powered up a heavy four handed strike from the right, which the armoured opponent parried easily, and then quickly shifted to a three handed grip and followed up with a lightning quick sweep from the left. John turned to face the incoming blade, moving boldly to parry, and Okug grinned evilly, springing his trap.

Just as the two heavy blades crashed together, the Overlord activated the two foot long wristblade on his lower right fist, that he had held back, waiting for an opening. He stepped forward and punched John in the torso with all his might, the razor-sharp blade slicing straight through the armour and skewering his opponent.

"John!!!" Alyssa screamed, as the image of John in her mind contorted in agony, pain blossoming from the blade driven through his lower chest. She whirled around causing Dana to grunt in pain, to see that the huge Drakkar overlord had impaled her lover through the torso, and was now lifting him off the ground and roaring triumphantly. Before Alyssa could react, Jade sprinted straight past her, shimmering violently as she ran full tilt towards the combatants who were locked in a deadly, one sided dance. The Nymph leapt into the air, and then exploded outwards, torn clothing flying everywhere, as she expanded in an instant, to form a colossal Jade tiger.

Jade was reacting purely on instinct, seeing John in such mortal danger. She tore across the hangar, powerful muscles rippling in her flanks as she charged in her massive feline form. John was hanging limply, skewered as he was on two feet of steel, and the Drakkar overlord began to raise his huge sword for a two handed overhead coup-de-grace, while his fourth hand grabbed John's sword arm, preventing him from parrying. Flying across the hangar, Jade leapt and sailed through the air, before sinking her fangs into the Overlords upraised forearm and clawing at his biceps savagely. The claws sliced through his armour with ease, gouting blue blood all over her and the hangar.

Okug flicked away the armoured figure he had impaled on his wristblade, roaring in pain as the monstrous feline pounced on him, gnawing his forearm and gouging his upper right arm with her cruel claws. He spun to try and strike at the Jade tiger with his wristblade, but the hideous beast had moved directly behind him, and was raking his back savagely with her rear claws. He toppled to the side as she clawed and bit him unrelentingly, his bulky armour being torn to pieces by the feral monstrosity that was clamped to his wrist.

Jade tensed her jaws and then bit down, feeling the Drakkar's bones crunch satisfyingly under the huge pressure. She twisted her head from side to side and then yanked back, ripping his forearm from his body. The Drakkar bellowed with the pain, but used the moment's freedom to shove her clear and roll away, grabbing his sword as he went. Jade arched her back and then twisted, instantly flipping into a crouch. The Overlord backed away, waving his sword warily in front of him, his eyes full of fear. Jade snarled, her lips pulling back from her six inch fangs and she prowled forward on heavy paws, the hunt having begun once again.

*We have to save John!* Alyssa's voice sounded clearly in her mind, and Jade swung her head around to look for her master.

Seizing the opportunity presented by the momentarily distracted beast, Okug turned and fled for the exit, knowing full well when he was outmatched. That Jade tiger had three hundred pounds on him, and had just torn off his upper right forearm with savage ease. He knew when it was time to run, and he did just that.

Feeling a momentary pang of irritation at her prey being allowed to flee, Jade reigned in her instincts to gleefully hunt him down, and bounded over to John instead. He was crumpled on the floor, his black armour splattered with crimson blood. She took a deep breath and relaxed her breathing, reforming her body back into the Nymph shape she held in her mind.

"Come on John, I've got you," she said soothingly, slinging his railgun over one shoulder and helping him stand. She took the heavy sword from his hand and moved it to his back where the magnetic field caught it in a secure embrace.

"Jade... You saved my life..." he mumbled weakly.

"And you gave me one to live, so we're all square," she said fondly. "Now let's get out of here!"

John nodded slowly and leaned on her supportive arms as she helped him stagger to the waiting gunship. Alyssa ran down the steps to join them, having propped up Dana inside, and between her and Jade they half carried, half dragged John into the Raptor.

"Well we fucked that right up..." Alyssa sighed ruefully, removing her helmet, before turning towards Jade. "Except you of course," she said warmly, clasping the Nymph on her dark green shoulder. "Can you save our butts again and get us out of here?"

Jade nodded eagerly, and darted away to run back to the cockpit, her spectacular nude body disappearing through the open doorway. Alyssa slapped her hand on the button to close the ramp, then pulled a med-kit off the wall and returned to John's side. He had passed out from the pain and blood loss, so she moved his thumb to the palm of his armoured hand, hearing the rapid series of metal clicks as the armour unlocked. She tentatively removed his chest plate, worried about just how badly he'd been injured.

"Is he ok?" Dana asked from where she sat slumped against the wall. She had removed her helmet, and was watching Alyssa with worried eyes, her face pale.

"He will be, when I get this trauma kit on," Alyssa cursed under her breath as she fumbled with the unfamiliar package, whilst trying to read the instructions.

Dana looked on, cradling her broken arm against her chest. "We need a medic so badly!" she said vehemently.

"Yeah, I know, I'm on it," Alyssa grumbled, as she finally unfolded the trauma kit, then lifted John gingerly and applied it to both sides of the puncture wound. The blade had gone straight through his body, just under the ribs, but she had no idea how bad that was.

"I need to get up to Jade," Dana said, looking towards the open doorway.

"Do you need my help?" Alyssa asked, cradling John's head in her lap.

"No, you look after him, I'll be ok," The redhead said, then groaned as she stood up tentatively, holding her broken right arm to her chest and steadying herself with her left arm.

"Ok, but take care, alright?" Alyssa said, looking at her friend with a worried expression on her face.

Dana nodded, walking warily into the corridor, and hitting the button on the elevator. A few seconds later the doors swished open softly, and she staggered inside, hitting the button to take her up to the flight deck. The elevator chimed when it went up to the next floor, and once the doors had opened, she lurched out and limped along to the cockpit. Jade had taken off with the Raptor, and was unloading blast after blast from the gunship's laser cannons at the closed hangar bay doors. Dana slumped in the co-pilots chair and watched as the next blast ripped one of the doors away from the frame, sending it spiralling away into the blackness of space beyond.

"Time to leave this party," Jade said with a smile and rolled the Raptor on its side, before slipping through the narrow gap with only metres to spare. She powered down the gunship and prepared to slip away unseen like a ghost.

"No," Dana spoke up insistently. "Don't sneak away, we want them to chase us."

Jade looked at her friend with concerned eyes. "Are you sure you're not delirious?" she asked warily.

"We need them pissed," she said confidently, before taking a deep breath and sagging into the chair.

Jade turned back towards the controls, before shooting her friend one more worried glance. "You're sure?" she asked nervously.

"Trust me," the redhead said.

Squaring her shoulders, the Nymph faced the controls and cranked up the throttle.

***

Overlord Okug cursed and snorted as he lurched back on to the bridge. "I would have had that little bastard if it wasn't for that thrice-damned fucking monster biting my hand off!" he fumed to himself. One of the bridge crew approached him and Okug decapitated the impudent fool with a two handed swipe of his sword.

"They're going to try sneaking away!" he roared to the rest of the Drakkar on the bridge. "If that ship escapes, I'll kill every last one of you!"

"Sir..." his quaking helmsman said tentatively.

"What?!" Okug growled dangerously, stalking closer.

"They aren't trying to hide, they're running for it!" the Drakkar said, pointing at the tactical map. Sure enough, the black armoured gunship was racing away at full speed.

"Get after them and power up the weapons," he roared. "I want them turned into a smear!"

The battleship powered up its vast engines, turning its huge bulk with surprising speed, to then surge after their target and begin the chase. The two remaining cruisers had moved in to flank the battleship, and join Okug in his pursuit of John and his team.

"Full speed ahead!" Okug roared, and the helmsman pushed their mighty engines into overdrive.

"Sir..." The chief engineer called out in a worried voice, seeing the energy in the power core spiking dangerously.

"Silence!" Okug bellowed. "Power up the weapons, I want them dead!"

The fast and nimble black gunship was racing away, seemingly heading for an asteroid field in the third orbital path around the Kappa-Indarran star. Okug wrapped a crude tourniquet around the bloodied stump of his wrist, and stared intently at the tactical map as he towered over the Drakkar gunner sitting at the adjacent station.

"Fire all weapons, kill them now!" he ordered malevolently, his eyes filled with hate.

"...But, Sir!" the chief engineer blurted out, his voice deeply worried.

"KILL THEM!!!" Okug bellowed with all his might, showering his gunner with saliva.

The Drakkar gunner eagerly pulled the trigger to fire the beam lasers, and stabbed his thumb on the button that would launch the racks of missiles along the spine of the colossal battleship. The fifty beam lasers began to glow a virulent purple and the covers on the missile racks slid open, exposing forty eight primed explosive missiles. Suddenly the battleship lurched violently, throwing everyone off their feet.

"What the fuck was that?!" Okug screamed in fury.

"It's the Power core!" the engineer shrieked, "We blew out the power regulators, its going critical!"

"Shut it down!" Okug yelled angrily.

"I can't! We're doomed!" the engineer wailed.

The Overlord stared at the tiny gunship as it raced away. "I'll see you in hell," he muttered with resignation, and a moment later Okug, the bridge, and the entire battleship, were consumed in a vast explosion as the fusion powered core ruptured. The blast wave completely enveloped the two flanking cruisers, blowing out their shields in an instant and ripping through armour plating, incinerating ships and crew alike in the conflagration. When the devastating explosion dissipated, all that was left of the once powerful alien ships were charred, ruined hulks.

***

Jade shook her head in disbelief as she looked at the forlorn wrecks that they'd left in their wake. She was certain the Raptor had been doomed when the battleship had given chase, and for it to suddenly be ripped apart like that, was the last thing she's been expecting. She turned to look at Dana, who was looking at the tactical map with grim satisfaction on her face.

"You knew it would do that?" Jade asked her, amazed.

"I'd disabled half their power regulators already. I knew if they pushed their reactor too hard it would blow," Dana said smugly.

"What if they decide just to use a couple of beams on us?" Jade persisted.

"Well we'd have been dead, but I didn't think they'd do that, not after the mess we made in there," she laughed hollowly.

"We better get you back to the Invictus," Jade said, noting how tired Dana was looking. She turned back to the console in front of her and hailed the assault cruiser that was lurking deep in the asteroid field.

"Are you guys alright?!" Calara's worried face filled the view screen. "What the heck happened?"

"It's a long story," Jade said with a wry smile. "Come and meet us out of the asteroid field, we need to get Dana and John back on the Invictus."

"I'll be right there!" the Latina nodded, her concerned face disappearing from the view screen as she ended the call.

***

The Invictus moved swift and sure through hyper-warp, the tachyon field speeding them across the sector at an incredible velocity. They were headed back to Ashana now, their mission done. John was laid out flat on his back in the middle of the bed, slumbering peacefully, his torso wrapped in a fresh trauma kit. The girls were curled up on the bed, all of them except for Calara fast asleep, with Alyssa curled up protectively behind Dana, who's bandage wrapped arm rested lightly on her hugely rounded belly.

Calara could hardly believe what the other's had been up to on their jaunt into the battleship. She had listened avidly as Alyssa had filled her in on the misbegotten boarding action, while Jade had lovingly emptied John's balls while he lay propped up in bed, running his hand through her dark green hair. Calara had never seen John looking so weary and so badly injured, and it worried her terribly, but he'd insisted that Dana get topped up to heal her broken arm. As soon as Jade was done, he'd fallen straight to sleep, and then they'd gathered around to watch the Nymph feed the bruised and battered redhead.

Feeling inexplicably tired herself, Calara yawned and stretched, before curling up behind Jade. From the stories she'd been told, it sounded like the beautiful dark green alien girl had really saved the day. Calara had been thinking of a way to thank the Nymph for saving her in the first Drakkar boarding action, and she had come up with an idea how to do it. She knew the others would love to see as well, especially after Jade had come to their rescue now too! The Latina yawned again and snuggled up against her friend, before dropping off into a dreamless slumber.