Chapter 43

At the Confederate base, the personnel were making their rounds, ensuring its security. Patrols were sweeping through the immediate area, ensuring that there were no intruders. They continued doing their duty, staying true to their training and discipline. Major Robert Sawyer smiled as he watched this happen from the command post, scrolling through the feeds.

“Sir, was raising the base so soon such a good idea? With our shield generator not fully online yet, we are exposed,” one of his subordinates, a lieutenant, told him, his voice laced with worry.

“While you make a solid point in being exposed like this, our scanners show that the picket ships are on their way down planetside. While it is an unprecedented move, it is also one that could be tactically advantageous to our enemies. How, I do not yet know,” the Major told his cohorts.

“Then how can you be certain that the natives plan to get one over on us?” he queried, still failing to see the point in the move.

“They could be bringing the ships down to dismantle them and set their weapons to optimal firing positions. Or they could be rigging them for a suicide detonation, to charge in and devastate our fleet for when the ships arrive. There are several such scenarios which could see them gain the upper hand,” the man explained, with several of the other officers nodding in agreement.

“Since we do not know who their commander is, nor their intention, the best response is to get into position to gun them down. Their picket ships are already in a full descent, so they can’t change trajectory fast enough before they are in range of our weapons,” the Major went on.

“Shooting them down and turning them into slag will remove any potential advantage they could hope to gain. Risky, but rewarding,” another officer, a captain by his insignia, agreed, seeing the logic behind the move.

“Well, since we have some excellent weapons on hand, I would say the advantage is ours! Do we have those picket ships in range yet?” another officer, a striking brunette, questioned one of the radar techs milling about the consoles.

“Ten seconds, ma’am!” one of the techs replied, answering her question.

“I want our cannons set to full power! I don’t want them to just crash. I want these ships obliterated!! Show the residents of this world that they are better off under our rule!” Sawyer called out, flexing his authority.

“Yes, sir!” one of the gunnery sergeants called out.

“Weapons in range, sir!” another gunner called out.

“Open fire!!”

They all felt the slight tremor of cannons firing, along with the launch of missiles, all of them screaming for the incoming ships. They all smugly watched as the picket ships flew headlong into the projectiles. Suddenly, several of the shots stopped tracking, like they had been shot down or destroyed. More and more were falling off the scanners, each one becoming nothing in seconds.

“What—what the fuck is happening?!?” one officer cried out in disbelief. His answer came in the shape of a contact that was on an intercept course with each projectile. The contact moved fast, much faster than anyone there had dared to believe.

“That must be that new ship in the town! The Darkrunner!” one of the officers said, the answer coming to him.

“The Darkstrider,” Major Sawyer corrected the man.

He’d heard that this frigate was supposed to be some sort of state-of-the-art warship. Robert discounted those rumors as hearsay, but now was forced to conclude that there may have been some veracity to these rumors. The Major continued to watch on the radar holo how the Darkstrider continually brought down each shot. Those that couldn’t be hit, the Darkstrider put itself between the picket ships and the projectiles, absorbing each hit.

“That can’t be right! No way such a small ship has such a powerful shield system!” the brunette gasped. She was astounded that not only had the Darkstrider’s shields held, but how their weapons had barely even dented them! Their disbelief then melted into panic as several projectiles were fired from the Darkstrider, heading straight for them!

“Focus on defensive fire!! Don’t let any of those missiles hit us!” Major Sawyer bellowed. He hoped and prayed that these gunners were as good as their reputations suggested.

The gunners went to work, trying to catch the salvo of missiles that were screaming in on their positions. Most of them were destroyed, but several of the projectiles were cluster missiles, which separated from the main projectile and tracked the original target, which was them.

“Brace for impact!!” one of the gunners screamed, trying to shoot down the small missiles, but failing to do so. Several detonations rocked the base and the command center rattled like they were experiencing an earthquake. As soon as it had begun, the shock waves subsided, allowing them to breathe again now that they all knew they would survive.

“Any further attacks incoming?” Sawyer barked, seeking an answer.

“Negative, sir!” one of the radar techs replied. “The Darkstrider appears to be breaking off, escorting the picket ships to the town!”

“This is Major Sawyer. I need a damage report! Anyone out there?” the man called out as he dialed out the base wide loudspeaker.

“Sir! Senior Engineer Raimes, here!” came a voice a few moments later.

“Talk to me, Raimes! What kind of damage did we sustain??” the man questioned.

“Several of our missile turrets and lascannons were hit! The turrets suffered the worst of the damage, with some of the ordinance detonating the moment they were hit! The cannons fared better, but not by much!” the man reported.

“How long will it take for you to conduct repairs to make them operational?” the Major asked, hoping it wasn’t too bad.

“Repairs are already commencing and at this point, it looks like we’ll have them operational in several hours,” Raimes replied.

“Put every available man you have on it. I want to be able to stop such attacks when they come in the future,” Major Sawyer told him.

“Yes, sir!” Raimes replied before the line went dead.

“If this one frigate has this much firepower, then why are they breaking off? They could finish us with ease with such strikes,” the brunette told him.

“Maybe such shots were well aimed ones, as opposed to powerful ones. The shockwave told me as much. What is really surprising is how much punishment that frigate took and is still flying fine. It makes me wonder where this ship originated from and who is flying it,” Sawyer said with a pensive look on his face.

“Speaking of ships, the picket group made it to town, intact. They have all dropped off our radar,” another tech called out.

“Hmm. Very good,” Sawyer commented.

“‘Very good’? Pardon me sir, but this is a disaster! Now those ships are at Tanith’s Gully and who knows what they will do with all that firepower??” the captain groused.

Robert wasn’t worried, though. Instead, he was a little excited! It had been a while since he faced a foe that he considered a worthy challenge! Whoever was commanding this group of ragtag survivors was someone he wondered about crossing blades with. Both figuratively and literally! He smiled cunningly as he planned out his next move, knowing that for the first time in a long while, he was going to enjoy this campaign!

“This game just got interesting!!”

The Darkstrider landed on its assigned pad with a gentle thunk; the ship powering down to where it was on minimal power. Inari sat in her seat for a moment, admiring her ship, still scarcely believing that this was the same old beat up freighter.

“Captain Min, are you there?” Inari asked over the comms.

“Aye, my lady! Did Vincent’s intel bear fruit?” he asked.

“It did! Good call on flying out there to escort them down! The Confed base opened fire on them the moment they were in range! It wouldn’t have been pretty and these guys would not have seen their families again!” Inari remarked.

“I take it you at least hit them back?” Daved asked, as he broke into the channel.

“That we did! Hit them with a few torpedoes and some laser bolts. Only went with about twenty percent power to them,” Inari replied.

“Why the hell didn’t you hit them at full power? You could have annihilated that base in two passes! Maybe one!!” Daved griped, failing to see Inari’s plan.

“The idea was to hurt them and put them on their heels, not destroy them. If we had done so, it would have been more detrimental to the overall plan if we had leveled the base,” Inari countered.

“Oh? How?”

“Simple. The Darkstrider is built to do some serious damage, but to tip our hand so quickly would take away our tactical advantage. Say we destroyed the Confed base, and what people that are still alive in the base get a transmission out. Or they don’t get a transmission out, and the incoming fleet hears nothing from their troops here. What would the fleet commander think?” she posed.

“If I were a fleet commander, I would wonder what destroyed the base, hearing such a transmission. If I heard nothing, I would stop the fleet and send a few scout ships, to see what was going on,” Dagan started, following the breadcrumbs Inari left for him.

“If I learned that one ship was able to devastate a well armed and entrenched base on the planet...” Dagan continued.

“ ... then it would make me reevaluate if we had enough firepower to bring the planet to heel!” Daved said with a snap of his fingers, as he saw the apparent logic of it.

“Exactly! So, as long as we make it look like we are getting lucky shots in, they will be lulled into a false sense of security. The more they think that, the more they’ll think they still have the upper hand. If we tip our hand too soon, the fleet will probably turn around and wait until they have more than enough firepower to overwhelm us,” Inari finished.

“So, we run defensive measures until the fleet arrives, making them think we are barely staving them off?” Daved asked, making sure he understood the gameplan.

“That’s right. Then, we they think they have us backed into a corner and start making mistakes, then we let them have it. Many battles have been turned using such tactics,” Inari stated.

“And I have seen such turns of the tide take place in my years. It is a rare thing that such a plan backfires,” Dagan put in, adding his two cents.

“All right, then. I better get back to minding the town and grabbing some shuteye. It’s going to be a long few days ahead of us,” Daved said before he left the line.

“I should go too! Rest would be a most welcome reprieve!” Dagan said as he, too, got off the line. Inari was about to step off herself when another ping came in over the line, which she answered.

“Darkstrider, are you there?” came a male voice over the line.

“Yeah, I’m here. Who is this?” she asked, curious who’d be calling her up at this hour.

“William Johnson, captain of the frigate Mjolnir. I was also a former marine back in the Federation. Came here not long after you left that first time,” he told her.

“I ... see.”

“Never believed the bullshit that happened to you back in the Federation. Looked to me that Briggs wanted certain favors, but you were the first to deny him. After you left, some folks thought to investigate the bastard. Turns out you weren’t the first he tried this on, nor the last,” he told her.

“I’d heard something about that but never really looked into it. Thought it nothing more than tabloid drivel,” Inari replied, happy to hear that someone was on her side.

“Oh, no, it was very real! Massive scandal on the Federation Navy, and left a black mark on them they’re still trying to scrub off!” William told her. He then quickly detailed what had happened and who was involved, with more than half the woman that Briggs had abused coming forward. Inari was surprised that an admiral’s daughter was involved and had a self satisfactory smile, knowing the man finally got his just desserts.

“Glad to know that prick was finally outed. How did he escape custody?” Inari wondered.

“He wasn’t in custody. The fucker vanished just as the story was breaking. No one could find him and believe me, the investigators tried. Bastard is still on the run and if I was him, I’d stay down. There’s a sizable bounty on his head,” the man told her.

“A bounty? How big of a bounty?” Inari questioned.

“About five million credits, last I heard. Heard tell of it going up to ten, but I can’t confirm that. Been a while since I left Prodosia,” the man told her. Hearing this left Inari’s mind reeling as she thought about the bounty for Rat-Faced Mike. His was well over one million credits, but Briggs had one on his head for at least five?!? This certainly changed things up, and she was going to have to speak with Priya and Alex about this!

“Either way, it’s good to hear that. Now, I believe you called in for a reason?” Inari asked as she stifled a yawn.

“Oh, yes! I just wanted to say thank you for saving our hides up there! We would have been blown to bits if you hadn’t run that defensive screen to shield us from that attack!” Captain Johnson told her.

“Not a problem! The ground attack didn’t even do much, as our shields held beautifully!” she said.

“Well, when you blow most of the ordinance out of the sky like you did, it’s no wonder they held that easily! You and your crew are amazing shots!” he complimented.

“Well, thank you, captain! I assume that you and yours have your orders?” she asked.

“Yes, ma’am! We’re already in the process of vacating our ships and taking everything that is not essential to them out. We should be done with that in roughly three hours,” he told her.

“Very good. Continue with the plan and we’ll see you and yours in three hours,” Inari told him as she cut the line and stepped away from the console. She stretched and yawned, heading over to her quarters to get some sleep. As Inari opened the door, she walked in and found Priya dozing in bed, murmuring in her sleep.

Giggling quietly to herself, Inari stripped her clothes off and slid into bed, nuzzling with her love. Sighing, she closed her eyes and put her mind at rest, as she would need it. The deputies and Sentries were keeping an eye on things, making sure that the townsfolk behaved themselves. Anyone who didn’t was arrested, or had skipped town altogether.

Most of those who had left were gangs, or former gang members, and she shed no tears over them. Such people were opportunists, who never looked past themselves and what they wanted. Anyone who did that wasn’t worth the time of day. Inari slowly drifted off, knowing that the few hours would feel like a few minutes, but she took it anyway, as some rest was better than no rest.

While most of the crew had drifted off to sleep, Matthias was restless. He was still hopped up on nerves and adrenaline, wondering what he’d do now. The man wandered the bowels of the Darkstrider, taking in the ship he was in. It was a splendid ship, one which appeared to be fairly new. He wondered how that was, given that many ships outside of the military were this new, yet so powerful.

He shelved that thought as he found his way to the workout area and smiled. Matthias looked over the equipment and figured he’d have himself a proper workout, as it had been a while since he’d done one. As he approached the zone, he watched as a female figure emerged from the ladies’ locker room. It was that Artucian woman, Luminia and damn, did she look fine in her workout gear!

“Oh! Hello there! Matthias, was it?” Luminia asked as she spotted the human man.

“Yup! But you can call me Matt! You are ... Lumina?” he queried, trying to remember her name.

“Luminia, but everyone calls me Lumi, so you can too!” she said in a chipper tone. Her voice made Matthias smile as he eyed the woman up and down before he answered.

“OK, then ... Lumi. Couldn’t sleep?” Matthias asked, as he saw her start out with some stretching exercises.

“Nope! Nerves, I guess! With the battle coming at us soon, who wouldn’t be nervous?” she asked with a slight titter to her voice.

“Everyone else on this ship, I suppose. They’re all busy snoozing by now, while I can’t sleep. I tried, but I was just tossing and turning,” Matthias answered.

“Same! That’s why I came here. Do a bit of a workout and hope it would make me tired enough to conk out,” she told him.

“That’s not a half bad idea! Mind if I join you?” he asked.

“Nope! Head over into the men’s locker room to find some clothes and shoes. We put a few generic sizes in there, in case we picked up more people who would be guests on the ship,” she told him.

Smiling, Matthias walked over to the locker room and headed inside, easily finding the gear Luminia told him about. Much of it fit him easily enough, as the sizes weren’t too bad. The shoes were a bit on the big side, but Matthias didn’t mind, as it was better to have them too big as opposed to too small. As he finished up, he walked out and found Luminia already starting on her workout, which looked like it was focused on her legs.

“Leg day for you, eh?” Matthias wondered as he saw the woman go through a few leg extensions.

“Yup! What about you?” Luminia asked as she finished her set.

“Arms for me. Need to build them up to where they are as strong as my legs are,” Matthias told her.

Nodding, Luminia let Matthias get to work, but couldn’t help getting an eyeful of the dark-skinned man. He was more than easy on the eyes and Luminia enjoyed the shape of the man. He was lean like a warrior, yet possessed a mystery to him that almost made him appear to be ... mystical. She put her mind back to her workout and continued on, not wanting to look like she was some drooling imbecile.

Matthias could almost feel Luminia’s eyes on him, and this made the man smile all the wider. He knew he attracted feminine attention wherever he went, but catching the eye of a beautiful alien woman was something else! Sure, she had four eyes, but that did nothing to diminish her attractiveness. Hell, with the way she was built, he had never seen a woman more exotic than her!

Shaking his head for a moment, Matthias cleared his mind and focused on his workout. After stretching, he started with some simple bicep curls and went from there. He was focusing hard on getting his biceps working, but he didn’t neglect his triceps or forearms, either. Matthias pushed himself, as it had been a while since he did a proper arm day like this.

He wasn’t working hard for his own benefit, though. Matthias wanted to be sure that he caught Luminia’s eye, hoping that she saw him as appealing as he did her. Using his peripheral vision, he caught Luminia staring at him more than once. He smirked to himself, as he knew he had that woman’s attention. Though, to be fair, she had his attention just as often.

Luminia was pushing her legs to their limits, wanting to get a good workout in. Sure, she wouldn’t be able to hit it as hard as Korsa would, but she could easily match the other girls in sheer weight. As she was doing her lunges and squats, Luminia was certain that she felt Matthias’ eyes on her. Or more specifically, her ass, which she was making sure to flex with each rep.

Having such attention was a given for Luminia, as back home on Talemkha, many a man had literally thrown themselves at her. But half the time, it was only because of what she was: the daughter of the high chieftaness. The other half the time, it was because men saw her as someone to have as a ... booty call?

That’s what she thought it was called, but the attention from Matthias felt ... different. The energy rolling off the man was that of want and desire, about the woman he saw before him. While she would be more than up for indulging the man his desires, should they align with hers, Luminia hoped that there would be ... more to it.

Once she had placed the bar up in its original position, with the assistance of the workout drones, Luminia turned to grab her towel. It was then that she caught Matthias staring, his eyes transfixed on her rear. He turned his head, but it was too late, as she had caught him and she could see him blush at being caught. Luminia giggled to herself, happy to see that she had an effect on the man.

Luminia toweled off the sweat on her body while covertly watching Matthias finish his standing barbell curls. The man pushed himself hard, clearly showing off for her, but Luminia enjoyed the show. It had been a while since anyone had tried to impress her liker this, so she kept watching. Once Matthias finished, he turned to grab his towel and slipped, falling to his back.

“Matthias! Are you OK?” she asked, rushing over to see that he was.

“Yeah! I’ll be all right! Think I might need to towel off between every set,” he groaned as he sat up. Luminia wondered what he was talking about and that’s when she saw the small smattering of moisture on the mats.

“You sweat that much?” she asked, as she started to laugh at the man.

“Hey! It’s impolite to laugh at someone for being different like that,” Matthias griped, his face going sour.

“I’m not laughing at that! I’m laughing at you going for a spill like that, silly!” Luminia chuckled.

“Oh! Well...” Matthias stuttered, at a loss for words.

“Do you want a hand up?” she asked, offering her hand to the man. Matthias smiled and took it, standing up with her help. Once he was on his feet, he was maybe an inch away from Luminia, looking up at the tall woman. While she was taller by a couple of inches, they saw eye to eye and the desire that both of them exhibited was plain as day.

Matthias took the initiative and cupped Luminia’s face, stroking her cheek. Luminia sighed in delight, loving the feel of Matthias’ hand on her. She looked at him and almost frowned, as he hadn’t done anything yet. This was cleared up when she heard his question, which made her smile on the inside as much as she was on the outside.

“May I?”

“Please,” she answered, almost begging for him to continue.

Not wasting another second, Matthias closed the distance and placed his mouth on top of hers, kissing the woman. Luminia returned the kiss, eager to show him just how much she wanted this. They were both quite eager, as their tongues met halfway, caressing each other in a sensuous dance.

They came apart, both beyond turned on and chests heaving with need. While they were both sweaty and oily, neither cared, as they wanted each other badly. Neither one spoke to the other, but with the way they looked at each other, words would have simply been a waste at this point. Moments later, they were pawing at each other’s bodies, almost tearing their clothes off in an effort to get the other naked.

It didn’t take long until they were both stark naked, bodies pressed to one another, the heat intensifying for the both of them. Matthias kissed her again, letting his passion come out in full force. He then stopped and kissed her cheek, then her jawline, then her neck, which made Luminia shiver delightedly. Her ardor rose with every kiss, especially once he got past her collarbone.

“Matt ... more ... please...” Luminia begged, enjoying the teasing that he was doing. Matthias just chuckled, and kept going, slowing down when he came to her breasts. She then felt him cup and caress her heavy mammaries, taking his time to worship them like he felt they should be.

Luminia was in absolute heaven at this point, well past the point of no return. She wasn’t only going to have this man, but she was going to have him in such a way that he’d remember this night for years! As he was sucking on her nipples, Luminia could feel her legs buckle, as though she was going to lose her balance.

Before such a thing could happen, she felt Matthias’ arms encircle her and guided her down to a vacant bench behind her, laying her on it. Luminia looked up at him adoringly, happy that he read her enough to spot that she was going to fall. Matthias simply growled in carnal delight as he continued to worship her body, working his way further downwards.

Luminia’s breath caught as he neared her nethers, making her hum in anticipation of it. The moment she felt the heat of his mouth hit her mons, it was all she could do to not pull his head into her and demand he service her good and hard. She restrained herself though, as Luminia knew that forcing any lover to do something was often a mood killer. So, she waited to see, or feel, what Matthias would do next.

Matthias took his time, not wanting to rush this, but opened his mouth and dragged his tongue along Luminia’s moist pussy lips. He stopped when he got to her steaming channel and licked upwards, eliciting cute squeaks and squeals as he did this. Knowing that he had her deep in, Matthias continued using this tactic, going up and down, driving the woman wild.

Luminia was overwhelmed with need, as her body was wracked with pleasure and wanted to experience more. She felt her peak draw near and she was losing her mind at how much Matthias was torturing her with his tonguework. Just when she thought she couldn’t take it anymore, Matthias switched things up and latched onto her quim with his mouth, sucking on it hard.

Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as Luminia’s high was pushed to a new level, one which put her on the knife’s edge of bliss. She was wondering what would happen next as she felt Matthias’ hands slither underneath her legs and up the side of her body. Luminia then felt his hands palming her breasts as he ate her out. Her body quaked, dangerously close to orgasm, but then Matthias tongued her clit and pinched her nipples at the same time.

Luminia nearly screamed, but stuffed her hand into her mouth to prevent that from happening. Her body spasmed and shook as she went over the edge into blissful oblivion. Her entire body jittered as she was wracked with insane amounts of pleasure that no one had ever given her before! Luminia’s head lolled back and forth, like she was drunk and, in a sense, she was.

Matthias growled happily as he slowly withdrew from Luminia, letting the woman enjoy herself. There was no sense in pushing her too hard, as she had obviously enjoyed every second of this! He was about to position himself on top of her when she popped up and grabbed him, slamming the man down onto the bench.

Matthias was about to ask what was going on when he felt the warm heat of Luminia’s mouth on his dick. If she wanted to do this to him, then he wasn’t going to argue! Especially since he’d seen that her teeth were mostly canines! While some part of him worried about what she could do with such chompers, he pushed it aside. Something told the man that he could trust her and not fuss about what she did with her teeth.

He then hissed as he felt a slight pressure along the shaft of his cock. Luminia was using her teeth, but in a way that was only driving his ardor up. She wasn’t cutting him or drawing blood, but testing how sensitive he was down there. Seeing that he wasn’t super sensitive, Luminia kept up the pressure, making Matthias gasp and groan in delight.

“Someone likes this ... don’t they?” Luminia purred as took his cock in her mouth, her head bobbing up and down his shaft.

“Gnnnnnuuuhhhhh!! Damn right ... I do!! Fuck woman! I’m going to blow if you keep doing that!” Matthias warned.

“Well, we can’t be having that! Still need to give a little something back,” she giggled as she popped her mouth off his dick and stood up.

Luminia then straddled Matthias, her quim hovering over his erect dick. Slowly, she sat down, using her hand to guide to her slick opening. The moment his head touched her entrance, both shuddered at the contact. Luminia looked down at Matthias, all four eyes focusing on him, and on her face was an unasked question. Matthias saw the look and knew that she was silently asking him if he wanted this.

Grinning at the woman, Matthias gave her a nod, which wiped the question from her face and mind. Smiling down at the man, she sheathed his cock in her pussy, turning him into her lover in one fell swoop. They both moaned at this, the insistent pressure they felt overwhelmed them both. Matthias had never been with anyone who was so tight and Luminia was similarly amazed at how thick Matthias was!

“By the ... spirits and ... gods! You are ... big!” Luminia moaned as she leaned atop of Matthias, pressing her tits into his chest.

“Mmmmm! You are so ... tight!!” he groaned, thinking she might be a virgin.

“Don’t ... get a ... lot of ... male ... attention,” she confessed, still adjusting to his size.

“Let’s ... fix that,” Matthias rumbled as he moved his hips down from hers, sliding his dick out of her before pressing it back in. Luminia shuddered and yelped a bit, but enjoyed the motion. Matthias did it again and Luminia cooed, feeling more pleasure come out of it.

She then sat up and put her hand on Matthias’ abs, making him stop. Luminia then grinned down at the man, her new lover, and started moving her own hips up and down. The friction she felt was delicious, and it put her back on course with chasing down another high. Licking her lips and crying out gently, Luminia continued to ride Matthias, letting his dick stretch her out nicely.