Chapter 5: The Skirmish at Sector XIU-56

“Mmngh...,” Scott groaned a little bit. His eyes opened up to the darkness. Was it all a dream? Please don’t let it be a dream.

The dark room of Veleshar’s quarters filled Scott’s vision. He realized that he had been sleeping comfortably on Veleshar’s bed, resting on his side with his head planted on one of the large pillows. A blanket was neatly covering his naked body.

His eyes had already been adjusted to the low light. He felt a hint of breathing hitting his face. It was Veleshar sleeping comfortably next to him on the other side of the bed. Her naked body was facing him, also covered in the bed sheets.

“Thank God it wasn’t a dream...,” Scott whispered. A part of him remembered it all. The back of the man’s hand reached forward and gently caressed Veleshar’s snout. Her nostrils would flare, breathing warm air into the man’s face.

“Mnnn,” Veleshar moaned. Her shark-like eyes opened up to see him. A gentle smile appeared on her face.

“What time is it?” Scott asked.

Veleshar looked at what could have been considered a timepiece. Scott couldn’t read it. The squiggly lines would reshape to form different textual characters.

“Two hours before we wake up,” Veleshar told him. “Ready for ... how you say it ... Round three?”

“Ah ... I need to refuel,” Scott said. “Drained ... dry.”

“How do you feel?”

“I don’t know ... different? Tired? Happy?”

“How does it feel not to be a virgin anymore?”

Scott seemed to think about it. “I’m not sure ... the sex was amazing, but ... I don’t feel different from before.”

“Tell me more,” She requested.

“I was told by a friend that when you have sex for the first time ... it’s like getting your driver’s license. You feel like a million mard, but...”

“Because virginity is a state of the mind, Scott,” she explained to him. “Sex is a natural thing ... part of life, not an achievement to be gained, but cherished after it happens.”

“The real gift is waking up beside you...”

“Yes,” she smiled, agreeing with him.

She leaned her snout forward as their lips met. They kissed each other for a few seconds before Veleshar extended her hand to meet his.

“I love you, Scott,” she said. “You are amazing ... especially the 2nd time.”

“I guess I have a good trainer,” the man joked.

She reached her right leg forward along with her finned tail. Using both appendages, she pulled the man closer to her body in a tight embrace.

“Mmm...,” the man groaned. He was on the verge of closing his eyes and falling asleep.

“Now to have sex with Yui’to...,” she said.

It took a few seconds for him to process that comment. One of Scott’s eyes opened wide.

“Uhhh ... what?” he asked.

“I want you to have sex with her,” she replied with her eyes closed.

Scott took a deep breath. “I think that I might be hearing things. Did you just say that you want me to have sex with Yui’to?”

“Yes. Does it trouble you?”

“I ... I ... umm ... I wasn’t expecting you to say that to me.”

The man’s eyes fully opened. It was a rush of every emotion all at once.

“You don’t want to have sex with her?” her eyes opened up. Scott thought she was joking, at least from what he could see.

“You serious?”

“Yes. I want you to mate with her.”

Scott pulled his hands away. There was so much there to contemplate. His emotions were everywhere. Veleshar could see the man was growing upset. She let him go as he lifted his body up and sat at the edge of the bed. His back was exposed to her.

“What’s wrong?” she asked him.

“ ... Why do you want me to have sex with her?” he asked.

“Because I want her to be happy, Scott.”

“Happy?” He glanced over to her. “What about us?”

“I don’t understand.”

“I love you, Veleshar. I’m not some piece of meat to be passed around to be chewed up and spat out. I knew there was something up ... something that wasn’t regular ... no declaration of mateship ... it’s what you Itreans do, right? But not this time.”

He sat up as Veleshar knew the man was distressed. She quickly got out of bed. Meanwhile, Scott was wandering to the nearby bulkhead.

“I just...,” Scott said as he breathed hard. “I just want a wife ... I want to be happily married ... have kids ... I’ve been denied all this time. Finally, I met somebody like you, and now I found out it’s nothing but a fling ... Sure, go ahead, Scott. Mind fucking half the crew? Yeah, sure ... any other man would want that, right? Hundreds of women ... let me go get a list to write it all. Meanwhile, the woman of my dreams, I say goodbye ... she never knows how much I love her ... how much...”

The man’s conversation was cut short. Veleshar had grabbed the man in a rear bear hug. Quickly, without being able to see it, she opened her mouth and bit down on the man’s shoulder.

“Aahh!” Scott recoiled at the sudden shock of a bite.

Wait ... he tried to resist, but there wasn’t any pain either. The man’s peripheral vision marked the sight. He could see the snout of Veleshar. She neatly bit into him, but her teeth did not cut. It felt pokey, but it wasn’t designed to injure him.

Instead, the man began to relax. Veleshar moved her hands around him, placing and wrapping one onto his, gripping it tightly.

It started to feel nice. The shark-like woman’s tender care was apparent. She had enough strength to bite his shoulder and wreck his collarbone, but that wasn’t the point of it. It was as if Scott’s distraught reaction was drained before him, leaving him in a state of ease so that she relaxed her bite, opened her mouth, and let go of him. A small set of red marks could be seen on the man’s shoulder, upper chest, and back, but nothing had been pierced.

“What was that for?” Scott asked, turning around to look up at her.

“Sorry,” she replied. “It is how Shal’rein ... how we kiss. You ... needed it.”

“Needed it?” his brow lifted in question.

“Scott ... you’re not a piece of meat to me. I asked because I want to make her happy.”

“I’m trying to understand why you want me to do that.”

“Come here...,” Veleshar held the man’s hand and guided him to the bed so that they could sit down together. In their nakedness, they sat down and faced each other while Scott remained patient to give her a chance to speak.

“Why do you not feel comfortable having sex with Yui’to?” she asked him.

“Because I feel that I would be betraying you ... that you actually don’t care about what happened just now ... that you don’t love me by doing that. It’s ... unfaithful for me to cheat on another woman like this.”

“Says who?”

“Says the people I was raised with.”

Veleshar smiled. She hugged the man and held him close. It took Scott by surprise.

“You are a wonderful man,” she told him.

“Huh?” he questioned.

“Scott, I know that. I know that you are an honorable male, both kind and gentle. I knew my instincts were right when I found you.”

“I ... don’t understand.”

Veleshar’s hand played with the man’s hair for a brief moment. “Let me explain to you, Scott. About everything...”

The man seemed curious, willing to let Veleshar speak.

“It hasn’t been easy on us,” she explained as she looked ahead. “The day we found out that Zilik’s Disease existed. Every woman in our civilization was hit with the reality that our men were dying ... that there was nothing that could be done about it. So much death ... I simply couldn’t believe it. Sometimes...,” she resisted the urge to cry. “Sometimes I wish that I died with Gular’shel. Such a wonderful man he was. Such evil to be released upon him.”

“I know...”

“It is to be there when one truly understands the impact that we felt.” She held her palm out a little bit. “It was the action of a single individual, a misandrist with a hatred for men, to alter our entire path. Zilik is an Itrean who believes that anything like you is not worth living. She holds a double standard towards you or anybody who is like you. Any excuse that you make is only proof that you are a disease. She became the embodiment of death and decay.”

“Yeah...”

“When Gular’shel died, I didn’t know what to do at first. We had so many plans together that I found myself utterly alone. Shira was a teenager, and I was a single parent. The word began to spread about the forced operations. ‘Go and marry a woman that isn’t a woman,’ they told me. ‘Go and make babies.’ How can you tell somebody to do that? I knew then that mateship was dead. We may have survived the disease, but we are the walking dead. Before we met you ... the humans ... we pretended to declare mateships like nothing ever happened. To me, my prior mate was Gular’shel ... nothing can change that.”

“And what about me?”

“You are caught in the middle of our problems, Scott. Before we met you, I found peace with my crew. They became my family. Yui’to was a mother of three sons, all gone.”

Scott seemed remorseful. “I didn’t know that.”

“She won’t tell you, but I knew that she was one of the most depressed on our ship. She may appear tough with you at times, but I know better. The more and more time I spent with her, the more I enjoyed her company.”

“You love her...”

“Yes, I do.”

“You two ... had sex?”

“Quite often.”

Scott leaned forward and briefly put his hands to his head. He could feel Veleshar’s hand cradling his back and neck. A smile appeared on her face.

“She’s not your mate...,” he remarked.

“She is a dear friend,” she replied. “Worthy of being my second in command. My closest allies are the ones that wake up beside me in bed. But I can promise you that few do.”

“That’s your way of saying that the ones that are special to you are the ones you spend time with the most?”

“Yes. The ones in my closest orbit are with me ... the greatest reward shared between us. No mateship needs to be declared because you are my mate, Scott. For as long as you are with me, my love for you will never end.”

“And now you’re asking me to have sex with her...,” he remarked.

“Yes. She needs a male. I can only do so much because I am what I am. It will be healthy for you as well. The both of you can learn as much about the other as sex can allow. It will make the both of you happy.”

“But what about her beliefs?”

“Shared ... Like many of my crew, the decision to defect was an easy choice ... once we knew the truth. She has only found peace with me since then. I believe that she would be happy to take you...” She pointed at her supposed restroom. “In my pool ... my gift to you, Scott. The best swimming pool of the ship, fit for four Shal’rein.”

Scott was understanding more and more about all this. He still had to say something, though.

“I was always told to never cheat on a woman,” he said. “What you ask is ... it’s a lot.”

“Zilik never gave you a choice, Scott,” Veleshar remarked. “She never gave me a choice, nor did any of us. By wiping out all the males, it forces you to violate your moral laws just as it has mine. It is the final irony of the madwoman that she is. She assumed that all men are evil, and because of her actions, it forces you to adapt. You are a good man ... a man of many women. I’m sad that there aren’t enough of you to become mates with all of us but there aren’t enough of you. There isn’t enough of your males to breed with all our sisters and companions. In order for us to save our people, you must make the sacrifice ... and take as many of us that you can.”

“You ... almost make it sound like I should breed with all the women on the ship,” he remarked.

“If I had that power, I would do so without hesitation and promise my fertility to you. I already birthed a child, my ability to create your offspring is without question.”

Scott was still reeling from everything that was told to him. He had to admit that Veleshar was doing her best to convince him. An entire ship of women and Veleshar was practically begging him to have sex with all of them.

However, one thing that she said mattered the most to him. He acknowledged that he jumped into it without ever considering it ... becoming a father.

“You would...,” he mumbled for a second. “Want to have my child?”

“I promise a child for you,” Veleshar said. “Just as I know that Yui’to wants one as well. The choice is yours.”

Phew ... Scott felt warm. Blood was rushing to his penis, making him grow erect. The very concept of the idea seemed to surge within him. He could knock up so many...

No ... he had to resist some of the thought. He wasn’t some hooker ready to sleep with every woman that came to him. He had to have some standards that...

“I can see that you are excited with the idea,” Veleshar said, looking down at his crotch.

“Umm ... guess there’s no hiding that,” the man said.

“It’s ok,” she said.

Veleshar stood up. She let go of Scott as she wandered around the man, almost as if she were looking for something.

“What?” he asked.

“I know what it is that you seek from me,” she explained. “You feel that you need proof of our undying love. Then you will have it.”

The Shal’rein approached a set of cabinets on one of the walls. She tapped the button, causing one of the compartments to open up. Scott had no idea what it was that she was shifting through, especially from the angle.

“Ah ... here it is,” she said. Her hand reached in and pulled out something. It was difficult to tell what it was until she approached him and opened up her hand.

“This is ... a grip?” Scott asked.

“Yes. I heard you were building a gun, but you didn’t have a scanner grip. It belonged to Gular’shel.”

Scott took the grip and looked at it. “Wait, is that right? This belonged to your former mate.”

Veleshar smiled and almost waved her hand. “It’s alright. Gular’shel had several guns from the war. They always tell you that it’s a tradition for the Shal’rein to be buried with their firearm, but most of the time, the Shal’rein has too many guns to do it. It’s yours.”

“Are you sure?”

“Hmmm, just make sure to return it to me if you plan on leaving the ship. But, for now, it’s yours, my oath of my undying love to you.”

A sense of happiness could be seen on Scott’s face. Much of his prior trepidation and feelings had calmed down some. However, it would be quickly interrupted.

A beeping sound filled the room. It grabbed Veleshar’s attention. The Shal’rein walked over and quickly grabbed her nightgown before slipping it on. It was a queue for Scott to also put on his shorts. The beeping sound remained as the desk computer gave a small flash of light.

Veleshar headed over to her small desk and activated the viewer screen. Scott stood away from it, but he could hear another Itrean’s voice. The series of clicks, chirps, and alien words were prevalent. The Shal’rein captain was already well seated, communicating to whomever it was.

It didn’t take long before Scott was wearing his shorts and t-shirt. He approached the desk but didn’t step close enough so that the cameras would show him to the other communicator. However, from what he could see, Veleshar was communicating with a Yutilian. A series of large black, white, and green feathers could be seen on her face. The stranger was well decorated with her uniform, consisting of black, gold, green, and cape regalia. There was nothing else of further note, but Scott could tell that this Yutilian was of high rank.

“Ooda Click Viala?” Veleshar asked her.

“Quira Cila Click tre,” the Yutilian replied. Her voice was light but serious in tone.

Veleshar replied back to her. Scott understood a little bit of her last sentence. It almost translated to something like, “We’re on our way.” She said a few other words before closing out the transmission.

The Shal’rein captain stood up and briefly looked at Scott.

“What is it?” he asked her.

“Get dressed in your uniform,” she replied. “You’ll get a chance to see the bridge soon.”

Scott wasn’t going to delay any longer. He walked over to his uniform and was in the process of getting changed. Something was up, and he knew things would get tense rather soon...

Both Veleshar and Scott were dressed in their respective uniforms. The long passageway of the Gular’shel almost seemed like walking into a makeshift royal palace. A purple and gold silk carpet lined the deck as the vein bulkheads persisted. There was a lot of space in the passageway, enough to easily allow swaths of Shal’rein to walk in and out. The near-zero gravity environment outside the rotating ring was apparent as the Itreans wore their magnetic wrappings to keep them anchored to the deck when they walked. The same could be said for Scott, as the scene was so quiet that he could hear the clicking from his magnetic boots.

There was little activity. A slow, dimming, flashing purple light could be seen from the bulkheads. Itrean words could be heard from the intercom. Scott swore that the voice was that of Yui’to. She was speaking so fast that the man couldn’t understand the words being spoken. However, he was familiar with the flashing light. On the Ikra Battleships, these were markers indicating a high alert status. It was evident that their version of general quarters was sounded, and a possible battle was coming.

This was the part that had Scott on edge somewhat. The Gular’shel was a warship, and the Itreans were always at war. It was as if he could see a storm brewing in the distance, and the ship was heading straight into it while nothing could be done about it.

The main doors of the bridge opened as Veleshar and Scott walked in together. Unlike the prior Ikra Battleships, the dorsal bridge of the Gular’shel was quite large. It was almost shaped like a rectangular room consisting of control stations mounted on the port and starboard sides. Shal’rein and Yutilian women were busily operating these biomechanical units by inserting their hands and arms into them. Living people were mended with their almost living equipment.

Meanwhile, their small circular screens showed various stations throughout the ship. In the center of the room, there were three chairs almost connected to a central desk. On the far end of the bridge was a main display network.

Yui’to was sitting in the main chair, interacting with a panel and computer unit, when she stood up and faced Veleshar. Her hands were neatly pressed to her side before she held her palm open near her right breast, her finned tail straightened and put into a 90-degree angle before doing a light bow with her head. Veleshar already did her quick nods before Yui’to dropped her salute. Both Scott and the adjunct approached her as Scott remarked upon the room.

“Report,” Veleshar asked her.

“We are setting up the gate to Sector XIU-56,” Yui’to explained. “All stations ready. Weapons ready.”

“And the status of the Aksren fleet?”

“Still the same since they were picked up by Observation Post 4823,” Yui’to made a few clicks in her voice.

“Is Cebravis helping out with setting up the false gates?”

“Yes. They have set the wormhole opening 20,000 Excins from their location.”

“How much longer before we jump?”

Yui’to was doing the math in her head. “Six minutes. 40,000 Excins from their location.”

Scott looked at the display to see a gate probe ring being established in front of the ship. The Gular’shel was still located in the Cebravin sector. The tethered gate ring in orbit had a swirling vortex opening up. The man had never seen this type of maneuver before. Why was Cebravis setting a wormhole to this distant sector when the Gular’shel was setting up its own?

From space, the Itrean gate probes behaved slightly differently than the typical UHN probes. Each device that flew from the forward launch tube would slow down and start to enter a circular formation in front of the warship. However, upon reaching it, the probes would start to extend a curved pipeline to the next one. They were connecting to one another to form a gate ring.

“Status of the cloak?” Veleshar asked.

“Operating at 48%,” Yui’to said. “They won’t detect us.”

“But they will pick up the wormholes. We will have to be fast. Yui’to, I will take command.” Veleshar looked at the man. “And Scott, you will sit by my side. Make sure that you’re secured.”

“Aye,” Scott said without hesitation. The man was quick as he, Yui’to, and Veleshar sat in their respective seats. There was enough room for all three to interact with the main console ahead of them. As Scott sat down, a series of tendrils grew outward from the seat mountings. They gently latched themselves to his lower knee and leg. He remembered how the Ikra Battleships had a similar feature as well. The biomechanical ligaments were one of the Itrean examples of “seatbelts.” It eventually held his chest and neck into the back of the chair as well. Veleshar sat in the central chair as Yui’to sat on the left. They placed their hands into the portholes to interact with the console. Meanwhile, Scott took a few deep breaths, knowing that he was just a passenger.

“Ready sensor periscopes,” Veleshar ordered.

“Periscopes engaged,” Yui’to replied.

From above, Scott could see a large apparatus deployed and lowered to the center bridge console. It looked like an actual periscope but fitted with large side grips and buttons on the side. It stopped not far from Veleshar’s head. Above and below the dorsal and ventral bridges was a small fin-like device. It extended just outside the cloaking field of the invisible ship.

“Five minutes before gate ring formation,” Yui’to said.

Things fell quiet. All the gate probes had been deployed and were in the final process of forming a ring. It would be a matter of time before it would start.

“What’s going on?” Scott asked. “You told me earlier that an Aksren fleet was spotted in Sector XIU-56, and it involved us somehow.”

“Yes,” Veleshar explained. “Five warships jumped into the sector and were picked up by the T’rintar observation outpost in the area. It’s a typical Aksren incursion fleet. Sector XIU-56 is about two of your light years from planet Gi’ii’lo’trelda.”

“Why would they be doing that?

“Because they are Aksren...,” Yui’to said with some aggravation.

“The Aksren are always on the offense,” Veleshar explained. “These are sometimes looked at as ‘Hiow’ Fleets ... Aksren fleets are designed to ‘challenge’ the local defense fleets to respond. You can say it’s a propaganda move on their part.”

“Why not just ignore it?” Scott asked.

“Because in time, the Aksren will only bring in more ships. Eventually, they will use it as an excuse to launch a much larger assault onto other T’rintar worlds.”

“It would also make the T’rintar clan look weak,” Yui’to added. “They must respond.”

“But there is one problem,” Veleshar continued. “The Aksren do not always challenge the local defense fleets. Sometimes, a Hiow fleet is designed to distract the local defenses. By removing some of the local assets from the nearby systems, the Aksren will use it to launch a larger assault on their primary targets. I believe that is what they are doing right now.”

“Why do you believe that?”

“The Aksren fleet consists of two Siv Mark 1 Scouting Battleships, two Italx Mark 1 Battleships, and one Akra Dreadnought. They are not using their most current warships ... almost as if they are using them as in a sacrificial way.”

“They would appear to be using somewhat older equipment,” Yui’to added. “But good enough to be used in a direct confrontation.”

“So ... what does that mean?” Scott asked.

“I believe,” Veleshar explained. “That the best move is to give the Aksren what they want, but not the way they would prefer it. The T’rintar were considering launching a fleet to intercept them, but I felt it was better for our ship to destroy them.”

“Uh ... what?” Scott’s eyes went wide. “Just us?”

“Yes,” Veleshar smiled. “The Aksren are hoping that the T’rintar send a response. They do not know that my ship will be present. The Gular’shel will intercept and destroy them.”

A single heavy battleship against four warships and a dreadnought. Scott knew those were grave odds. Even the powerful dreadnought required almost three UHN battleships just to take on one of them. They were raw bastions of power and strength. Was it truly possible that the Gular’shel could take them all down?

Veleshar seemed confident enough. This was her vessel. She knew her ship’s strengths and weaknesses and what it could do.

“How?” Scott asked.

“Simple,” Yui’to answered. “We jump in and destroy them.”

“He is asking more specifically,” Veleshar explained. “Scott, you are aware that Cebravis is creating a wormhole to the sector? Yes?”

“Yeah.”

“And we are also creating our own?”

“Yes. Uh, why are we doing that?”

“Many reasons. If you were the opponent and you saw an enemy wormhole appearing near your location, how would you react?”

“I would probably shoot at it.”

“Yes,” Veleshar explained. “Cebravis is distracting them. It is much closer to them. Meanwhile, ours are further away.”

“What about us? We might be cloaked, but can they still detect us?”

“Yes, depending on what both of us do. However, it will still be easy for us to slip in and attack them.” Veleshar looked at Yui’to. “Increase cloaking field strength to maximum. When the gate is formed, take us in, lay in a course to the Aksren fleet, and take us to ‘Jikoq’ speeds.”

“Understood,” Yui’to replied. She began keying in commands to her console.

Scott noticed from the main bridge display that the starfield in front of the ship was growing dark and hazy. Even the gate ring was heavily distorted as if the light was contorting and twisting the object into thousands of different pieces.

“Jikoq?” Scott asked.

“Maximum safe undetectable speed,” Veleshar said. “It’s the best way I can translate that.”

“Ahh ... I’m still trying to understand cloaking technology.”

“It’s alright. Today, you will learn more about it. Our field strength is usually kept at 50%. It helps make it easier for the scales to last longer and the generators can keep them powered on for months. Typically, most cloaking battleships operate this way. It allows them to track the outside environment more easily. However, they can still be detected at certain ranges. The other choice is full strength. At full power, the cloaking field is strongest, making the ship more undetectable. However...”

“It also draws a lot of power,” Scott answered.

“Yes, and it also limits our ability to track objects outside the ship. Our sensor ranges are limited with the exception of those that stick out of our field.”

“The periscope ... ah,” Scott realized.

The main viewscreen switched over to the periscope sensor fins. It provided a basic layout of space and served as the ship’s pair of eyes. With it, it allowed the Gular’shel crew to see. There appeared to be two camera eyepieces, one that was fixed forward and provided a basic sensor layout and the other on a swivel mount of some sort.

“The periscope is what allows us to track our opponents,” Veleshar explained as she reached up to it. She pulled the main apparatus down, causing it to slide into place near her head. The rail system above allowed her to push it towards Scott.

“Here...,” Veleshar said.

From the seating arrangement, Scott reluctantly took hold of the two large grips and looked into the visor unit. It was like looking through a pair of binoculars. The fish-eye lenses, however, were as clear as day. The resolution was even better than what the main bridge display could ever see. The countless stars were everywhere. The probe ring ahead was nearly forming a wormhole. He rotated the unit a little bit, marking the scenery and lit planet of Cebravis from the right. The man was amazed that he could practically rotate the scope to almost ninety degrees before his shorter-than-Shal’rein height prevented him from doing so. He returned to looking straight ahead.

“Wow,” he remarked.

“You can use the grips to push the periscope up and down. The buttons allow you access to zoom in and out while also controlling the weapon systems.”

“So that way, you can shoot the enemy yourself?”

“Yes, which is why you will be one of our spotters,” Veleshar told him.

“Uh ... you sure about that?”

“Heh,” Yui’to chuckled with a few clicks in her voice. “Like a gibb’o ... scared when the shooting starts. You might have the honor of killing an enemy ... an honor for any Shal’rein.”

“Ugh,” Scott sighed. “Fine. I’ll be your spotter.” The very thought of being thrown into a battle was scary enough, but now Yui’to was practically mocking him.

“Don’t worry,” Veleshar said. “I disabled the guns on your periscope. Yui’to will have the honor of shooting from her station. All you have to do is help relay the information to us.”

“Good,” Yui’to added with a smile. Her attention seemed focused on her console.