Chapter 4

Mark’s anger hadn’t dampened the least bit. He could feel the heat of it coursing through his body. Walking out of the makeshift control/war room, Mark went through his bag and found his comp. Activating it, he waited for a few minutes till the face of the Imperial Space Force leader appeared on it. “How close are you,” Mark asked tight-lipped, “We managed to take out 241 ships, including 2 of their command ships. The thing is, from what I’ve seen, they

have well over 20,000 ships out there.” Pounding his fist on the desk, the Space Force leader replied, “20,000? Damn it! They are committing their whole damn fleet. They must feel awful confident to come in full force like this. We have a small contingent coming your way, but it will be tomorrow before they arrive. Can you hold out that long?”

“Yes, we’ve managed to move almost all the people close to the central cities, but they still managed to capture a man.” Almost in a whisper, Mark continued, “I won’t allow this to happen again.”

The Space leader knew the look Mark had on his face. He’d seen it on the faces of many under his command.

“It’s never easy to lose anyone. The only thing you can do is to punish those that committed the atrocities.” Mark was nodding, not really paying attention to the leader. More to himself than the leader, Mark started to talk, “Yes, he’s right. They have to be punished, every one of them. I have to eradicate them all, like the insects that they are.” The leader shook his head. He was afraid that Mark might go too far and actually try to eradicate the entire race. “Mark, you need to think about this; you can’t commit genocide. The Imperial Rights League would be clamoring for your head, besides,” the leader said, changing tactics, “you want to be around to raise those children; you want them to look up to you and not be ashamed.”

Thankfully, the remark had the desired effect, snapping Mark back to reality.

Shaking his head, Mark looked at the leader and nodded his head toward him, “Thank you. We’ll await your arrival.”

Though there were no more incidents that day, Mark made sure everyone was out of the outer cities before the imminent collapse of the other outer shield grids. Half the day was gone when the alarms went off to let Mark know that ten more sectors had gone down. Mark watched as the Styrox came gliding in. This time, he was ready for them, destroying ten ships before they were even near the ground. The rest of the descending ships opened fire haphazardly, destroying everything in sight. Mark smiled again as he destroyed another ten ships, causing the Styrox to retreat for a few minutes. Finally able to land, the Styrox began scanning the debris. Mark could see that they were disappointed.

Almost 10 minutes later, they started to leave. Once again, Mark picked off another ten ships before they were airborne, and then they were gone.

An hour later, the fleet began to bombard the shields again. Mark had been able to adjust the shields. When they started to hit the shields. They were soon surprised that the shields were once again more stable. Mark and the others tried to get some sleep, though it was difficult with the constant percussion of the Styrox blasts striking the shields. Early the next morning, Mark was making another round of the systems when another five shield grids went down. They were almost down to those around the central cities now. Well, over half the planet was now exposed, and a lot of it is now smoldering wastelands from the constant use of energy weapons. The sun began to rise as the start of the ninth day of the planetary siege also started.

Mark was walking the hallways when an alarm went off on his comp. Quickly quieting it, Mark could see the Imperial forces dropping out of hyperdrive. A huge smile lit his face as the first 100 ships on the back side of the planet exploded into nothing. Ah! Good, they had improved the energy cannons like he’d instructed. Mark watched as another 100 ships were destroyed before the Styrox started to retaliate. Mark went over the data he received, damn!

They’d only gotten a portion of the fleet ready. From what he saw, they only had about 1500 ships. This was going to be a long fight. As the battle raged on, Mark saw that the Imperial fleet was much better prepared, but the Styrox wasn’t going to go away that easily. 2 hours later, the Styrox had lost 800 ships and partly retreated, and the Imperial fleet had lost around 500, Mark started looking into ways to improve the odds.

The Imperial Leader called from his command ship, “Damn it, Mark! I was hoping that your improvements would have helped more.”

“They will; I need to send the fleet here; more updates: it appears that Tantka was able to decipher part of the shield energy matrix that the ships have. I don’t think you’ll have as much trouble,” Mark inserted confidently.

“Alright,” The leader said, “I’ve never seen anyone correct their mistakes as fast as you; we’ll wait a day to do this; that way, more will be able to join us.”

Mark started the uploads as fast as he could, afraid to broadcast them widely and fearing that Tantka might get them and decipher more. Nissie and Sam had gone into the cities, keeping in constant contact. Though his shields were almost impregnable, many near the edges were injured.

Early the next morning, the Styrox started their attack on the Imperial fleet. For 3 hours, the Styrox swarmed over the vastly outnumbered Imperials. Suddenly, a warp tunnel opened, and another 1000 Imperial ships emerged, engaging the Styrox, who in turn chose to advance past the planet, pushing their way deeper into the empire. With the updates, the Imperial ships defeated over 1200 more ships, while the Imperials had only lost 50.

“Mark,” the Imperial leader stated, “We have each part of the fleet stopping a day in front of the present position of the Styrox; the updates are being fed by secure channels; with any luck, we’ll have them in a few days.”

“Alright, I’ll continue here. Good luck and good hunting,” Mark saluted as he signed off.

Nissie walked up behind him at that moment, “Everything is good in the cities; there are a lot of burns and broken bones, but they are in high spirits.” Mark nodded, taking Arthur and Catrina into his arms. He loved them as much as he did their mothers. Walking along the rows of machinery, both began to ask him what this and that was, which he happily explained. Both Nissie and Sam looked at each other and ran for the bedroom. They didn’t get a chance like this very often. Climbing into the shower, they both groaned at how good the water felt. Looking at each other’s bodies, they both saw that they were almost back to what they were before they got pregnant. Washing each other off, they both realized it had been quite some time since they’d last had sex, especially with Mark. Waiting, they saw Mark return with two sleeping bundles in his arms. Taking the children, they had him get in the shower, and they joined him moments later.

“Mark, it’s been too long; we’ve decided that we need you,” Nissie said as she washed Mark’s back. “We’ve also decided that we are going to help you relax like we used to,” Sam said as she gently massaged Mark’s now stiffening and growing member. Mark was surprised; he’d thought that after the children, they hadn’t wanted sex anymore; true, they had been busy. Sighing, Mark decided he still had a lot to learn about females and relations. Grabbing Sam’s breast, he ran his hand over its soft smoothness, eliciting a small groan from her. Flicking the nipple, he felt her tense up from the shock waves it sent through her body.

Breathlessly, Sam gasped out, “We’ve also decided we want another child from you.” This stopped Mark for a moment; thinking only a moment, he said, “Are you both sure? You both had a hard time last time. I don’t want anything to happen to you. You and the children are the most precious people in my life.” Looking at each other, they both smiled large. Nissie finally spoke, “Yes, we’re both sure, so please shut up while we still have time; you know Arthur and Catrina won’t sleep long.”

Finally, Mark’s eyes opened wide. They weren’t kidding! They really wanted more children! Grabbing Sam, he began to kiss his way lower on her. Pulling him up, Sam and Nissie both said, “Not here, silly. Come to bed!”

Damn, they could frustrate him at times; both were on the bed, already engaged with each other, when he finally emerged from the bath. For a moment, Mark admired the view and then hurried to the bed to join them.

Both grabbed him, pushing him onto the bed as Nissie climbed on and sunk all the way to Mark’s groin, a low moan escaping both their throats; it HAD been too long! Nissie began to wonder why she’d stopped having sex with Mark. This was sheer heaven. Sam climbed up Mark’s body, lowering her vagina to Mark’s thirsty lips. A screech almost escaped her lips, which Nissie stifled with a passionate kiss.

Mark knew he wasn’t going to last long. Sex had almost been forgotten for a few years now. Finally, Mark felt his scrotum tighten as his balls began to pump his semen deep within Nissie’s body. Nissie, feeling the hot liquid filling her, quickly found her own release. Mark’s ministrations weren’t lost on Sam as she, too, found release.

Breathless, they all lay panting on the bed, each in turn beginning to question why they had stopped having sex.

Leaning over, Sam whispered in Mark’s ear, “Don’t you dare forget you owe me the next batch.” With a giggle at the look on Mark’s face, she got, begrudgingly, out of bed. Mark lay there for a few minutes, many ideas forming in his head. The fact that Tantka had made a move this fast after escaping prison, then there was the Styrox, something Tantka had shown them, had boosted their confidence enough that they thought they could easily take the empire. The fact that Tantka could easily hack the systems Mark had helped to develop years ago was ... that was it! Leaping out of bed, Mark ran naked through the house to his comp. Though they didn’t mind the show, Nissie and Sam ran after him with clothes. After all, the kids could wake up at any time.