3.16.

The shiny black ship dropped out of the hyperatomic plane and immediately began firing upon the station. The first few shots got through, destroying vast swaths of the docks and the loading bays. Then the station’s shield generators came online, blocking further assaults. Sixteen missiles were launched by the Tumbaruna Toko , and those were shot down with extreme prejudice by the stations point-defense cannons.

As abruptly as it had appeared, the Toko vanished back into the hyperatomic plane. The stations guardians – those that had not been destroyed by the attack on the docks – immediately gave chase.

The Toko was one ship. It was a powerful ship, a destroyer, made by the martial people of the Yonohoah. But it was only one ship, and now there were sixteen chasing it. The Rosanteans were confident that it could not prevail.

The toko traveled for thirty-two light years. It wasn’t significantly faster than the ships pursuing it, and it dropped into normal space only a few minutes ahead of time.

That was enough time to shoot at and destroy six of the asteroids that were near the pirate’s central base. The pirates panicked and began loading into their ships and fighters, launching all of their defenses in preparation to fight for their home and their lives.

The Toko slid into slipspace and vanished just as the fleet of Enforcer vessels appeared.

The ensuing battle lasted for hours. The losses were heavy on either side. Each side unleashed unforgiving attacks and utilized brutal tactics. One side was fighting to uphold the law, the other to defend their homes. Neither was willing to surrender, both kept an eye out for the black ship against the darkness of space.

In the darkness, the Toko watched silently, ready to spring upon the Enforcers if they should succeed against the pirates.

The pirates carried the day.

Emboldened at realizing that they had defeated the primary defenders of this section of space, they began boldly carrying out a reign of terror that would stretch a hundred light years in every direction.

The Toko purred maliciously in the darkness as it searched out its next target.

~~~~~~~

Emperor Thatress shuddered as the image of his mother engaged in unspeakable acts appeared once more before him. He’d executed three heads of IT in an effort to motivate them to find that damned program and destroy it.

The current head of IT was pleading for his life, pointing out that he’d only been in the department for three days and had been a janitor before his promotion.

Then the head of IT’s mother appeared and began engaging in lewd acts with Thatress’s own holy mother.

The execution was swift and painless.

The replacement head of IT was appointed a few hours later. He also had no idea what he was doing, but was very motivated to learn quickly.

Thatress sent a message to his generals.

This outrage would not go unanswered. Thatress ordered his generals to send the invasion forces immediately. Take the planets. End the war.

The Toko and its crew would have been thrilled to know that their parting gift to the empire would cause them to make such a disastrous decision.

~~~~~~

Captain Moon absently stroked the fur of her Yukopan adjutant, who was sleeping nearby. It purred and scratched itself. She smiled.

If it had been awake, it would have been utterly terrified to be so close to a human. She had learned over the last week or so that the adjutant was not a high-ranking position. It was the lowest of the low. Not because of a disdain for the humans whom they served, but because of fear.

The Yukopan, like all members of Xenosapiens sulivans , remained utterly terrified of mankind. They desperately avoided contact whenever and however possible, to the point where they would outright flee from a room if a human entered it, unless they were engaged in a critical task.

It was reassuring that they put the flying of The Other Shoe above their fear, but it was a close thing, and Captain Moon had found that it was generally best to remain in the location that they had designated as the human bridge.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

She was down to a crew of five. Herself, a weapons officer, a communications officer, and two generalists who were ready to serve in whatever capacity the situation demanded. Including stepping into Moon’s own role, if necessary.

Everything else was delegated to the Yukopans.

The combat effectiveness of their mock-drills and maneuvers had escalated significantly as they had whittled down their crew and put more and more control into the Yukopan’s paws. While they may be terrified of humans, they were desperate to protect Earth. Not the least of which because their families and entire people, aside from those serving on the military vessels they had surrendered to Earth, were presently living in the Outback in Australia.

She smiled and patted the Adjutants nose. He – she was pretty sure that she was learning to differentiate their genders – suddenly awoke and fled the room in a panic. A new adjutant arrived a moment later.

She smiled.

With the reduced number of crew, the ESF could spread its officers further and take over an increased number of the Yukopan vessels. They were working on shaking down more and more of the surrendered flotilla, thousands of vessels strong excluding those that functioned as mere transports for the entire Yukopan population.

The war games and exercises were going well. The Yonohoans were cooperating in the capacity as mock-enemies. They appeared unexpectedly, broadcasting IFFs declaring themselves to be engaged in the war-game and directing the ESF to engage them as though they were the Rosanteans, except of course using targeting rounds for combat instead of live ammunition.

The Earth lost more often than it won as they exchanged dummy rounds with the Yonohoans. But they were gaining ground steadily in the win-loss ratio.

While the role of Adjutant was filled by a soldier who was currently low in the rankings of the Yukopans complex social order, doing so would rapidly rocket them to the top. Especially if Captain Moon made it difficult for them to serve, so she ordered her new adjutant to serve as a pillow as she contemplated her new situation.

Trevor had gotten over his pissy-fit that she’d rejoined the ESF.

She sighed, correcting herself. He had decided that he cared about her enough to overlook the fact that she had abandoned him with her cat and rejoined the military mere days before the second battle for Earth.

It wasn’t fair to him to dismiss his justified reaction to her making a significant life-decision without talking about it with him first. Especially one that put her life in danger, when he hadn’t signed up for that when they’d started their relationship. When she had told him who she was, she had also told him that she was out of the military for health reasons.

She had pulled the carpet out from under their relationship. She was lucky that there was hardwood floors underneath.

She elbowed the adjutant as she tried to get comfortable. He was miserable in this position, but if she kept it up he’d probably be the highest ranking Yukopan on the ship for a few days, so she was ultimately doing him a favor.

She thought about the difference from her previous command. Her previous command style. Serving with the Yukopans would take some getting used to, and she was constantly getting advice from the Yonohoans on how to adjust her command style to invoke fear and respect into her new subordinates.

It was important that they were afraid of her. They would serve harder if they were afraid of her. Not because they thought that she would hurt them, but because it meant that they believed in her. They would trust the strategies that she came up with and believe in her ability to lead them through battle.

Fortunately it was easy to instill fear in her new furry underlings. Certain tones of voice at the right moment. Control over her posture and facial expressions. Lengthy pauses. Eye contact.

They were skittish creatures. But they were allies. She couldn’t treat them like humans, that much had become blatantly obvious in the first few days. But she didn’t think of them as lessers, either.

They had built this spacecraft with their own technology. They had given it to the people of Earth for reasons that were as of yet not well understood. But they had also placed their civilians under the protection of the military that they were now serving.

According to the Yonohoans, their message was clear. “Our children live with your children. Our fates are intertwined. If you fall, so do we. If you thrive, so do we. We are two people together. The two are one.”

Captain Moon just hoped that putting all of their eggs in the same basket wasn’t a mistake.

As she thought of her obligations, those past and present, she realized that there was one that she had been failing to meet. Sarah had been under her command aboard the Seeker of New Discoveries , and while she had relinquished that command, she still felt obligated to help the former analyst in her recovery following the worst case of Tunnel Drive exposure recorded.

“Call Sarah,” she told the ship’s system. The system knew exactly which Sarah she meant, having received her contact list.

The ship paused. “Unable to establish connection,” it said at length.

Captain Moon frowned. She hadn’t expected Sarah to ignore the call. “What is the local time at Sarah’s location?” she asked.

“Unable to determine. Connection is locked out due to military protocols.”

“Military? She’s aboard a Toormonda,” Captain Moon said.

“Last known position of Sarah was aboard a Toormonda, confirmed. Present location locked out due to military protocols,” the computer agreed.

Captain Moon’s blood ran cold. She recalled her own experience with ‘military protocols’ aboard a Toormonda. The short soldier who had boarded the Keeper of Dreams after the heady success of their science mission. That experience had led to the revealing of the location of Earth. What would this encounter reveal?

“Put me through to Eolai,” Captain Moon said. “If Sarah’s in trouble, then I want to know why, and what I can do about it.”

‎