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Srettia held the throttle down and thumbed the controls, trying desperately to keep close to the debris of the former planetoid in a panicked attempt to dodge incoming fire and lose her stealthy pursuer. "Any idea where Michael is, Jack?" She cursed out as another explosion rocked the ship.

"No. Currently, there is too much local interference. Both internal and external sensors are scrambled, and I can not find him on any cameras either."

Cursing her luck, Srettia stuck close to the asteroid, moving fast and low while dodging the incoming debris with practised skill. Srettia studied the scrambled sensors, a failed attempt to discern where the enemy ship advanced to. Moving through an approaching ice field, she decided to manoeuvre through a tight cluster of rocks crashing into each other, ejecting smaller car-sized chunks in complicated directions. "That ship's movements aren't normal. How are we supposed to fight it, Jack?"

"Just keep navigating. When I get a chance, I will destroy the ship. You just need to keep alive until then."

Breaking off from her current course as a beam of blue energy bounced off her shields violently shook her ship. She attempted to move towards a larger cluster of debris. At the moment of approach, Srettia activated the extra ion drives Tanda installed and began tightly weaving between the shifting stone obstacles, finding that she was leaning heavily on her experience navigating in her home system. "Drop some scatter mines for us, Jack. Hopefully, it'll take them by surprise if it's still following us."

Feeling her ship shudder as Jack dislodged a large cluster of explosives, Srettia moved to the closest asteroid and throttled back. "Think it'll take the bait?"

"Unknown, The ship was tailing us until a moment ago. It might have changed course in an attempt to cut off our escape."

"Well, if we can find Michael, this whole thing would be a lot easier." Srettia replied, cutting the engines and hovering close to the tiny asteroid.

Srettia looked at her star map. " This cursed debris field makes it impossible to track anything. Any idea on how the enemy is trailing us so closely?"

"I believe it is following our energy trial. The faster we run, the easier it is to track us. I have been watching that ship closely. The enemy ship has been using minimal thrust to stay in line of sight and only uses power to avoid a stray piece of debris. Do you remember your training? Michael said fighter battles such as this are more about stealth than run and gun."

"Yeah, well, that asshole isn't here, and we're about to eat sh-" A mass of explosions rocked the surrounding area as her minefield exploded in an impressive cerulean light, signalling the return of her enemy.

"Detecting enemy energy signal and debris from the explosion."

Smiling, Srettia relaxed and gradually transferred power to her engines, slowly ascending from her hiding spot. "That'll teach the assho-"

Srettia was cut off mid-sentence as the small asteroid she was hiding on exploded, showering the bottom of her ship in rocks and metal.

"Enemy detected. Shielding compromised, lower hull weapons compromised, taking fire."

Srettia attempted to regain control of her vessel as it was showered with pieces of the destroyed asteroid and enemy weapons fire. Frantically she pulled on the controls in an attempt to avoid the explosion of rocks.

Srettia then shifted her shield power to the underside of her ship, with multiple systems now loudly assessing damage warnings. Cursing while her ship was torn apart, she finally got a visual of the enemy ship and gasped in awe as it quickly darted, engines first in her direction.

Srettia, currently busy trying to manoeuvre to a defensive position, anxiously watched as the enemy ship somehow charged with its engines facing her craft at an extreme speed. Skillfully it seemed to use the debris as a shield, causing all the weapons fire Jack levied at it to bounce off rocks and metals. Unfortunately, just as she was beginning to react to the insane approach, the ship was able to manoeuvre above her, giving it a perfect position and line of fire for its front-facing weapons.

Srettia watched in horror as the enemy ship tore through her now lightly shielded topside, quickly crippling her ship and weapon systems. "Status report, Jack!"

"Weapons, shields, and power offline. Multiple hull breaches, venting atmosphere. The enemy is broadcasting for our surrender."

Srettia leaned back into her couch and sighed. "Another lose for us then, is it?"

"It would seem so. We can't seem to keep up with Michael quite yet."

Srettia shut down the simulation and sulked a bit. " Any idea on what the hell just happened?"

"Unknown, the energy and debris I detected from the minefield was consistent with his ship's reactor signal. If I didn't know any better, I would think he cheated."

"Do we take that as a good sign or a bad sign? If he had to cheat to win, I guess we're getting better?" Unbuckling herself and getting up to stretch, Srettia looked over to Michael with a frown as he stood from his simulator chair.

Waiting until he walked close enough, she lightly punched him with a grin. "Aren't you supposed to go easy on beginners?"

Michael raised his eyebrow and put his hands on his hips. " Well, that one was for scaring the shit out of me last night. I nearly bashed your face in when I woke up."

Srettia poked Michael in the side with her tail while stepping into his personal space. "That was your fault for not realizing I was there in the first place. How else am I to ascertain if you can keep me warm throughout the night?"

Grabbing the tip of her tail as she was drawing it away, Michael pulled, causing her balance to shift and fall into his waiting arm. "I'm pretty sure we figured that out early on, didn't we?" Michael coolly replied, staring into Srettia's eyes while slowly drawing closer to her lips.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"I demand to know how you fooled my sensors in that minefield!"

Srettia hissed and looked into a nearby camera. "Oh yes, do tell." She asked in an exaggerated voice.

Michael laughed while looking at the clearly angry alien. " Well, I had my VI assistant fabricate a signal generator and encase it in a thin armour while I was chasing you two. Then I had it attached to a torpedo programmed to fly into your trap and dropped it with a timed delay. The hardest part was figuring out what asteroid you two were hiding on. Once I figured that out, I went to the other side and dropped my own minefield inside a crater. Once my torpedo set off your minefield, I used the explosion to mask my acceleration and set off my mines to break your hiding spot apart."

"I think you cheated. I do not accept that you are capable of creating such a plan, partner."

"Not my fault you suck at this, My friend." Michael replied, Letting go of his hostage and walking towards the sim console.

Srettia looked at Michael in disbelief. "How am I supposed to anticipate an attack like that?"

"You have it used on you, that's how." Michael replied as he walked towards the sim door. "You almost have the flying down. All you need now is the experience and tactics. I mean, it's easy to imagine a big fight with hundreds of fighters shooting at each other and flying around in squads like some space fantasy novel. But, out here, by ourselves, you need to learn how to survive. Next, we'll practice empty space tactics. But first, let's get some food."

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Ethuci sat comfortably in his office, listening to the angry male vent his frustration. He knew this was coming. The moment his fleet authority was ignored, and he was forcibly dragged across the system to the home planet, a meeting with this male was inevitable.

"I don't understand why you tolerate this blatant disregard of our authority by this alien species." Hezexhel hissed. "You should have either destroyed them or launched my boarding party. We could have taken their flagship and taught them the price for their transgression." He continued, still wearing his battle armour as he paced around Ethuci's office. "Just give the order. My team can take their flagship before they even know they've been boarded."

Ethuci sighed. He very well would have, maybe even attack them outright if his orders didn't come with the stipulation that something like this could happen and to allow it if it did. Chrarada seemed to think it could be used to agitate the Terrans during negotiations, making it easier to gather materials and technology from them. "I can't let you do that, old friend. Orders from Chrarada herself prevent me from attacking them. I have a strong feeling she wanted this to happen, and she must want to use this experience as a means to help drive the negotiations with the Terrans."

Hezexhel slammed his tail in anger before drawing a deep breath and exhaling. "The First Tail has thought that far ahead, has she? She always seems to be a few claws ahead of the next in line." Moving towards a waiting Chair, Hezexhel slowly took a seat. "Right, good luck with her friend, not that you need it with the way I've seen her look at you."

Ethuci shook his head and watched as his old friend tested the chair before allowing his full weight to hit the chair. "I feel It's already been decided, and she may attempt to claim me relatively soon. So I don't think I have much of choice in the matter at this point anyway."

Hezexhel bellowed with laughter at the thought of Chrarada pinning his friend down and stealing his heat pass through his mind. "Already sucking you cold, is she?" Relaxing slightly, he unlatched his gauntlets. "Well, there are worse ways to die. I mean, you could be stuck in a bubble wondering if the power is about to go out."

Ethuci sat in silence, thinking about Chrarada's closing thoughts on commander Finley. "I don't think that will be a problem for much longer. Apparently, this civilian commander has drafted plans to stabilize the planetside population within the week."

Hezexhel's mouth opened slightly at the thought. "You must be kidding. That's two billion souls on the planet. How could he accomplish such a task?"

"I don't know, but it's why my orders are to allow him to disregard our sovereignty. Accomplishing such a task will put us in quite the unfavourable position as you could imagine." Ethuci stated, pulling out a container of warm water and pouring two cups. "It seems the Terrans sent their best man. Nearly dragged him from his residence from what Chrarada has learnt."

Accepting the container, Hezexhel thought over the implications. "Things start to make sense if you think of it from her side, I suppose. But if he tries anything else, I'm launching my talon team. I won't stand for this continued insult of our people."

"I might have to stop you, old friend." Ethuci returned. "However, I'm not against the idea, I have my orders, and I intend to carry them out." Taking a long draw of water, Ethuci sent a silent glare across to HEzexhel. " The Terrans don't mean to harm us. I mean, they even gave that miner female her own Terran ship. I feel even for the Terrans; this commander is a bit odd. That means our job now is to sit back and let Chrarada figure out how to deal with the Terrans."

Hezexhel let out a displeased sigh and leaned into the side in his chair. "I'll do what you need me to, but I won't like it." Finishing off his water, Hezexhel got up and slightly bowed his head before leaving the room.

Upon finishing the report of his meeting with Hezexhel, Ethuci paused to reconsider the implications and deleted it, deciding to keep things to himself for now.

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Chrarada immensely enjoyed the short flight towards the capital station. Admiral Miles was as always pleasant to speak with, but studying the Terran diplomats was what she was truly after. Thankfully, following a few quick discussions with the curious crewmen on board, she was able to somehow gain entrance to where the Terran diplomats were congregating on the shuttle.

Listening as they spoke to each other and answering their questions with as little information as she was able, she found they really were willing to capitulate on most things just too, as they say, 'make new space friends.'

Learning this made her job much easier.

Currently, the only thing that remained out of her control was the blasted councillors. Sighing at the thought of being stuck in a room with one, in particular, she could only hope they followed through with her plans of how they were to act during the talks, knowing full well, they could easily throw off her planned atmosphere with a few misplaced words.

"If you follow me First Tail, we are approaching the designated station, and they are broadcasting for clearance." A steward asked.

Gracefully unfolding herself from the odd chair, Chrarada followed the unfamiliar Terran to the ship's bridge and directed them in proper landing procedures.

The station was surprised at first, causing quite the commotion from their approach. But upon finally landing in the station hangar and moving to the exit, Chrarada motioned for the Admiral to stand beside her. Her idea being that exiting the ship together would send a strong message to her people.

Taking a deep breath, she looked at the diplomats behind her and put on her war face. "Ready, Admiral?"

"I'm not sure one can be ready for the first-ever cross-species diplomatic gathering. But, I intend to see this through to the end." Admiral miles keyed the door and took a deep breath.

Chrarada looked forward and smiled. "Well said."

Taking a step forward, Chrarada and the Admiral descended the ramp together, making their way towards the waiting assembly of councillors and their aides.

"It took you long enough to get here. What, did ya get lost? Or did you decide to keep all the nice things to yourself?" A gruff male boomed, taking a step forward.

"Muldios! you will control yourself, or we will eject you from this meeting." An older-looking female snapped.

"Bahh, I've already met a Terran, and he was nice enough." Taking another step forward and tapping his tail twice, the male continued. " As my dear associate pointed out, my name is Muldios. I lead the mining guild and would very much like a tour of your ship there."

A younger female quickly stumbled forward, roughly pushing the male aside and nearly tripping over his tail in the process. "I-If he's going on a tour, I want to go as well! As the councillor of science, it's my duty!"

Chrarada eyed the young councillor and miner with fury, his friendliness throwing off the atmosphere she wanted to create and the scientist asking questions that would better be left for later. "Perhaps another time, Muldios. For now, let us move to the council chambers."

Watching as the two councillors remember themselves and stood tall, Chrarada directed the now smiling, Terran diplomats to the venue where the real battle would occur.

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