Part 12

“Captain’s on the bridge,” Crystal announced.

“Status report?”

“Twelve minutes to the Navy base. Going to DefCon One as previously ordered. No other ships on scanners. Modifications to Shark are finished and we are ready to launch.”

“Are all crew members aboard?”

“Charlie, Bev, Agatha, Aurora, and Dawn are aboard Rampage to assist with organizing and training the bot troops. Aella’s projected image is aboard Rampage, “ Crystal reported.

“Thank you, Crystal. What changes were made to Shark?”

A hologram of Shark appeared in front of Crystal. “We placed two additional plasma cannons forward and aft,” she said as the hologram shifted to show the additions. “We added two phasers and two lasers fore and aft. We also added two rocket tubes and two .50 caliber machine guns forward for atmospheric engagements. Each tube carries ten missiles.

“We added one plasma cannon port and starboard and Kit figured out how to install one top and one bottom. During the test flight that you approved, Rampage’s AIs verified that our cloaked signature is still invisible. All the new gun and missile mounts can target independently. We added the same configuration to both transports. Both shuttles have forward plasma cannons and phasers, with two rocket tubes and two .50 caliber machine guns.”

“Thank you, Crystal. Please send my thanks to everyone involved. As usual, everyone did an excellent job.”

“For you Captain Master Darling, we could do nothing less,” she smirked. “Navy base in two minutes,” Crystal announced.

“Launch when ready Crystal.”

The klaxons blared inside and out, and the warning lights flashed. One minute we were inside Rampage, the next we were watching her speed away from us until we were alone in space.

“Aella, please contact the base AI and transmit transponder code for Shark and Rampage. Have the AI accept Rampage while Shark remains outside.”

It took almost a minute before Aella replied to me, “Base AI now accepts Rampage. Rampage is entering base.”

“Tell them I said to please hurry. It’s going to be nerve wracking sitting out here, waiting.”

“Aella says they’ll hurry, but it should take about six hours.”

“Thank you, Crystal. Remain at DefCon One. Wake me if there are any contacts. Crystal has the bridge. I’m going to practice ravishing slaves.” My slaves all ran screaming, right into the bedroom, while Shark’s AIs laughed.

Fifteen naked slaves were waiting for me, all kneeling along the sides of the bed.

“My choice?” I asked.

“No master. You are expected to ravish each and every one of us,” Andrea answered grinning.

“I can’t possibly do justice to every one of you,” I protested.

“Then just do each of us. We’ll make sure everyone is satisfied when you’re done,” she answered smugly. It took me several women to notice that they had been arranged alphabetically. I had spent a couple minutes each thrusting into Abbi, Andrea, Anima, Blanid, and Cailyhn before I noticed and commented.

“Master, you must be doing a poor job of ravishing your slaves if you had time to notice that,” Perele giggled. There was a beautiful sound of fifteen women giggling in my room. Twelve of the women had been treated brutally for varying periods of time, and yet they were now happy here, able to giggle.

The rest followed, one by one, until each slave had been ravished--sort of. I still hadn’t cum so I started again. This time they were paired off in a classic 69 position with Verenia joining Molly and Perele. I was back to Carlisa when Molly looked up from Perele’s lap and quipped, “Does this mean our Master is pricking a pack of previously peckered pussies?”

Pandemonium broke loose as the ladies laughed about that one.

Shortly after that, Idylle, Andrea’s honey-blonde, near look-alike was the winner when I came and filled her with my spend. I fell asleep shortly afterwards, a blonde goddess on each side of me, and a firm tit in each hand while the sounds of passion continued in the room, gradually becoming quieter as other sated couples snuggled and fell asleep.

“Captain.”

I opened my eyes to the grinning, beautiful image of our new AI Freyda sliding up my body. “Wake up Captain. Our long-range sensors have detected a ship inbound. She’s traveling cloaked at warp six and should be here in fourteen minutes.”

I kissed her, earning a brilliant smile in return, then lightly slapped the butt on each side of me. “Everyone up, we have hostile company coming.”

Who says women can’t get dressed quickly? Six minutes later, they were decked out in their uniforms and battle armor, complete with weapons. I took longer, mainly because I was busy ogling so many gorgeous asses disappearing into tight pants and delectable breasts shaking while they shimmied into those tight pants.

“Captain’s on the bridge,” Freyda announced giving me a shy sideways glance.

“SitRep please, Freyda.”

She beamed even brighter. “We have a cloaked contact inbound at warp six. Arrival at base in six minutes. No other contacts to report. Rampage estimates they will be finished in three to four hours.”

“Crystal, please keep us cloaked and just observe for now. Keep weapons ready and if the intruder targets us, fire at will. Target her engines, air locks, and bridge. Otherwise, I want to wait. There may be more pirate ships heading here and they’ll know it’s an ambush if they find a shot-up hulk. We’ll attack when Rampage is finished so we can leave right afterward.”

“Crystal, squawk for the hidden transponder on the raider ship.”

Seconds later Daisy said, “Hidden transponder response identifies the ship as Nightmare. No indication that it is aware of our presence.”

“Excellent. That makes this even easier since we can shut down most of their offensive and defensive systems. If they target us, transmit the special codes and target the command deck. If any more ships show up, squawk them for hidden transponders as well.

“Crystal, is there any way to temporarily modify our cloaking to keep us hidden while allowing one or more small funnel-shaped openings that would let us fire while we’re otherwise cloaked?”

Crystal gave me one of her incredulous looks again, but then quickly answered, “Nobody has ever been able to figure out how to do it before. With the combined resources of five AIs, maybe we can. We’ll start work on it right away.”

“Abbi, Cara, and Carlisa, please man the navigation, sensor, and weapons stations so our AIs can think. Molly and Anima please take our new crew members to the holodeck and familiarize them with the weapons we use.

“Andrea, my beautiful, blonde, goddess, princess, slave, come over here and keep my lap warm while we wait.”

“Captain, we have another contact inbound. It’s cloaked and moving at warp ten; ETA nine minutes.”

That took my attention off my lovely princess.

“Captain, it’s the ship that followed us from the Clement system,” Crystal announced.

That ship was twice as big as the one here now. “Crystal, squawk for the hidden transponder.”

Seconds later Crystal answered, “Hidden transponder response identifies the ship as Invincible. Aella identifies Invincible as ES7402, a new navy destroyer that disappeared two years ago on its first deployment. It was top of the line at the time. They never knew what happened to it or its crew. No indication that it is aware of our presence.”

“SHIT! They have a fucking destroyer!” I exclaimed.

The 7000 series denoted Empire destroyers. The 400 meant it was the fourth new version. The 02 meant that it was the Empire’s second ship of that version.

“Crystal, any indication if Nightmare is a former Navy ship?”

“No, Captain, Nightmare is a just a freighter with guns attached.”

“Crystal, how’s the cloaking problem coming?” I asked.

“Almost done Captain, we think we have a way to do it.”

“Have Aella inform Rampage of our current situation. Tell them to hurry, but it’s important that they finish everything before they leave.”

“Aella says Rampage estimates one more hour to completion. All bots are trained and ready. Work on Pike, Barracuda, Gar, and Piranha is finished. Final changes are being completed on Rampage’s cloaking modifications.

“Captain, we have figured out how to fire energy weapons and still stay cloaked. We can even change the shape of the cloak to allow all weapons to fire at the same time.”

“How long will it take you to make the changes?”

“About thirty seconds, Captain.”

“Crystal, take over the weapons console and be ready to send the special codes and fire in case our visitor notices anything. Then have the other ships make the cloaking modifications ASAP. If we have to fight, I’d rather do it one ship at a time.”

Cara stepped aside as Crystal took over. “Cloaking modifications complete, Captain. No sign that Nightmare noticed anything.”

Several minutes later, I watched as Invincible arrived. Invincible and Nightmare situated themselves at right angles to each other and from the exit so they could catch a ship leaving the base in crossfire without hitting each other. They were partially hidden below the horizon of the asteroid, so their main guns were trained right above the exit.

“Captain, radio traffic between Invincible and Nightmare indicates that a silent alarm was triggered when Shark’s transponder code was transmitted to the base. These are the only two ships sent to ambush us. They still expect their special codes to work to disable Shark when it exits. They hope to capture Shark, but have orders to destroy us if they can’t.”

We were at an angle effectively putting us above and in front of them and angled down towards them. They would need to adjust their angle of fire to hit us.

I fidgeted nervously for the next half hour expecting to be discovered at any moment.

“Captain, Rampage is finished,” Athena finally announced.

“Kit and Freyda, take over the weapons and sensor stations. Kit, set firing solutions for both ships to attack them simultaneously. Freyda, how many people are aboard Invincible?”

“Scanners indicate thirty people each aboard Invincible and Nightmare. All are on the bridges of the two ships.”

“Crystal, ask Aella for the best spot to make a hole in the hull of Invincible’s bridge. I want to kill them all while doing as little damage as possible to Invincible.”

Crystal looked deep in thought for several seconds, and then reported back. “Aella has pinpointed two spots in the hull that could be breached with no additional damage to the ship or her systems.”

“Kit, lock onto those two spots with whichever weapons will do the job with the least collateral damage. Lock all other weapons on Nightmare. I don’t care how badly it’s damaged.”

“Weapons locked on, Captain.”

“Kit, fire once Crystal transmits the coded messages to both ships. Crystal, execute!”

Four plasma cannons fired simultaneously. Two holes opened in the bridge of Nightmare, venting the contents into space. Two much smaller holes, almost impossible to see from our position except for the detritus fountaining into space through them, appeared in the hull over the bridge of Invincible.

“Freyda, report.”

“No signs of life on either ship. Shields, engines, and weapon systems are disabled.”

“Crystal, tell Rampage that it’s safe to come out. Then hook Aella up to a portable power supply. I want to add her to Invincible, so we can patch her up and take her with us.”

We pulled in next to Invincible and waited. A few minutes later, Rampage exited the asteroid base. A shuttle left Rampage and docked with us. Our four fembots dogpiled me. “We were so worried, Master,” Bev sobbed.

“Okay, ladies, we have work to do., I assume Aella can manage Invincible?”

“Yes, Captain, she assured us that she could,” Agatha answered.

Twenty minutes later the four fembots, as well as Crystal and me, were suited up and entering Invincible from the hatch. I tied off a sensor array and tossed it into the opening. Freyda reported, “The portable sensor reading is optimal--reading entire interior of ship. No life signs. Atmosphere in every compartment except the bridge. Ship has power.”

We worked our way forward to the command deck. Once on the bridge, I was amazed at how little actual damage there was. All the wiring seemed to be intact. Only two breaches in the hull showed, each less than three feet in diameter. Scorch marks and melted metal marked the location from the inside. Red stains surrounded each hole. I shuddered as I wondered what it had been like to be sucked out through one of the holes.

All blast doors had been closed and the life support was functioning. We’d had to vent the sealed hallway outside the command deck before entering the now airless command deck.

Crystal directed my work as I added Aella to the ship. It took longer since I didn’t want to further damage the ship. Fortunately, the ship hadn’t lost power, so it was easier working in a lighted environment. The girls went off exploring the ship, following directions Aella had given them earlier.

When I plugged in Aella’s AI and power source, there was a pause for a moment before two holograms suddenly appeared. Both were tall slender blondes in a trim navy uniform. Their bodies looked to be identical. Only the faces were different.

“Captain, this is Invincible, the AI of this ship. She is not only willing to work with us, but happy to do so. She has not appreciated having to work with the raiders.”

“Invincible, I have an important question for you. Are you willing to be a fully loyal member of this crew, giving your entire allegiance to Shark and to me?”

Invincible looked at me as she simply said, “Yes, Captain.”

“You deserve a new name. With us, you will be ‘Phillipis’. She was an Amazon warrior.” She thanked me for her new name. Her form shifted and her clothes disappeared. Yup, the body was a clone of Aella. “I want to change the name of the ship to Orca. Please update the ship’s records and let Rampage and Shark know.”

I added the two extra AI’s from the shuttle so Invincible would have four AIs. “Aella, your first priority is to repair the ship. Have Rampage send over whatever crew and equipment you need while Phillipis does a damage control check. After that, top priority is to clean out the bad code in Orca, starting with the hidden transponder. Hopefully one of the captives who had Navy experience was an officer.”

“Yes, Captain. One of the women was XO on a Frigate.” Aella reported.

“Excellent! She has just been promoted to Captain,” I replied.

“Phillipis, is there anything important I should know?”

“Only that I just came from the main raider base and was headed to Enigma’s homeworld. They had a signal set up to let them know if you came to this base.”

“What cargo do you carry?”

“I have forty armored tanks, fifty armored personnel carriers, twenty pieces of heavy artillery, and two hundred fifty military bots. We were supposed to stop at Enigma’s homeworld and pick up another two hundred fifty bots for training.”

“HOLY FUCK! That’s more of their invasion force,” I exclaimed.

“Aella, contact Rampage and Shark and let them know what our cargo is. I’m sure Katrina and Charlie will want to take a look. Have Bev and the girls disarm one of the stored bots and try to convert it to our side. If they can, have them start on the rest. Is there any exterior damage besides the two holes here?”

“No, Captain. Those two holes are the only damage, internal or external. Even the wiring is intact. Those were outstanding shots.”

“Are any of the bots trained to operate the tanks and artillery?”

“Yes, captain. There is a full complement trained to operate the weapons, vehicles, and artillery, including bot officers.

“HOT DAMN! Now we have a force to kick some raider ass on the ground as well as in space,” I hollered exuberantly.

“Okay, I’m going outside to patch the two holes. I’ll head to Nightmare and then back to Shark when I’m done. Are there any shuttles on board?”

“Yes, Captain. We have six shuttles and twelve armored and armed transports on board. One of the cargo holds was built especially to be used as a hangar to allow them to land in there. Each transport will carry ten tanks, ten APCs loaded with troops, or ten pieces of artillery.”

“Father is going to shit when he hears about this,” I laughed.

I loaded everything aboard Gar that I needed to make the repairs. The bot pilot flew me directly over the holes. I exited through the air lock, carrying my plasma cutter and the sheet of hull metal I’d had Rampage bring from the navy base for just this type of circumstance. I quickly cut a piece to fit over the hole and then tacked it into place with a powerful magnet. Then I cut the second piece and tacked it in place. Once my plasma torch and the extra metal were back aboard Gar, I pulled my stinger out and used T-welds to seal the plate seams.

“Phillipis see if you can hold atmosphere on the bridge,” I said through the radio in my suit.

Three minutes later, she answered, “Atmosphere holding. We’re as good as new.” I watched from outside as the transport Pike entered the cargo hold/hangar.

I climbed back inside Gar and headed for Nightmare. I tied off a sensor array and tossed it into the large crack in the hold. Freyda reported, “The portable sensor reading is optimal--reading entire interior of ship. No life signs, no atmosphere in any compartment. Ship has fifty-six percent power.”

I quickly retrieved a combination beacon and salvage transponder from an exterior pocket on my suit. I spot-welded the transponder housing to the raider hull just above my entry point, waiting for a more opportune time to toggle it on.

Once inside I hooked up the portable power unit and disconnected all other power to the AI. I removed the AI and headed back to Shark. I radioed Rampage and asked Nina to send a bot in a full spacesuit that could control Nightmare for a couple of hours. I wanted the ship to immediately head out of the wastes, and especially away from the secret navy base, before the salvage transponder was toggled on.

I was grabbed and mobbed by an ecstatic crew when I exited the air lock of Shark. I had Gar stand by just in case. Crystal began the process of transferring Nightmare’s AI to replace Aella. Molly and Perele goaded me until I was naked and in the shower where they made sure I was thoroughly clean--and that Molly was thoroughly fucked.

“Captain on the bridge,” Freyda announced. I was greeted by a tall, slender female form with the same exaggerated breasts Daisy had. I guess the raiders liked big boobs just as much as my Demarest relatives did.

“Captain, this is Carmen, the AI of the ship Nightmare.”

“Carmen, I have an important question for you. Are you willing to be a fully loyal member of this crew, giving your entire allegiance to Shark and to me?”

Carmen looked me in the eye as she answered, “Yes, Captain.”

“Carmen is there anything important I should know?”

“We were headed to our supply planet to pick up food and arms when we were re-directed here to capture this ship.”

“Thank you, Carmen. Crystal, please integrate her into Shark and add her data and the data from Orca to what we know about the raiders.”

I looked around the bridge and saw that all the crew who were on board were there. “Crystal, please put me through to Katrina.” Katrina’s image appeared in the middle of the cabin.

“Anything to report from Orca?” I asked.

“Report?” she squealed. “Shit, Captain. This place is a fucking wet dream. The bots are being re-programmed. They were already formed into a company complete with officers. They were assigned to either the tanks, the armored personnel carriers, or the artillery and are fully trained in the use of all three.

“The transports are designed to carry everything. If the transports land cloaked, we can have everything on the ground and ready to attack in three minutes from the time the transport hatches open.”

“Thank you for the report General. Please keep me informed if you find any more surprises.”

Katrina’s excited image disappeared. I knew how she felt, having just gotten Shark not quite three months ago, and now I had my own fucking navy--and obviously, ground forces, too.

“Crystal, what is the time on Westphalia at Castle Demarest?” I asked.

“0830 hours standard,” she replied.

That meant Charles should be in his office.

“Crystal, please open an encrypted channel. Use his priority code.”

The main view screen came on with Charles’ surprised face in the center. “Greetings, Father. All is well here,” I greeted him.

“Hello, Junior Son Edward. To what do I owe the honor this time?” he asked, quickly regaining his composure.

“It would appear that I have just added another ship to my armada. We captured a ship from the raiders that used to be the Empire’s destroyer Invincible. Evidently, it was captured two years ago by the raiders, using a malicious set of codes in the navy ship’s programming. The code will squawk a hidden transponder giving away their position even if they’re cloaked. Transmitting special codes will shut down the engines, shields, weapons, communications, and sensors. I’m pretty sure it’s in every ship in the navy, or at least the ones built, upgraded, or repaired in the last two or three years.

“I’m sending you a copy to provide to the navy. I suggest letting Grandfather Louis handle that project to make sure it actually is delivered to the people who need to know about it. I think it’s time to let the Emperor know about the malicious codes, too.

“I think the raider attack is imminent. Invincible had forty tanks, fifty armored personnel carriers, and twenty pieces of heavy artillery on board as well as enough transports to land everything simultaneously. There were also another two hundred fifty military bots aboard, all trained to use the equipment.”

“FUCKING A!” he hollered excitedly.

I continued. “I now have seven hundred fifty fully trained and fully armed bots in my ground forces, along with the troops Brother Ben brought me.”

“Shit, son, that’s enough to start a war with,” he exclaimed.

“Or to finish one. Is there any chance that you have access to a repair bay in St. Louis where nobody will notice us? I’d like to make a few modifications to Orca when we stop by there. Then I intend to take the fight to the raiders again and hit them where it hurts.”

“Orca?” he asked.

“I renamed Invincible. It’s been captured twice now, and I don’t feel the old name is entirely appropriate.”

“Son,” he said quietly, “I can’t begin to tell you how proud I am of you right now. You have brought great honor to Houses Demarest and Carteris as well as warning us about the possible raider attack. I must warn you that the Emperor will soon insist upon meeting you in person.”

“I was afraid of that. Try to stall him as long as possible. Explain that it’s important that the raiders not know where I am right now, so they have no idea where and when I may strike next. When this is over, I’ll do whatever I need to in order to avoid embarrassment to either house.”

“Thank you, Edward. I appreciate that and fully understand the need to keep your whereabouts secret. I just transmitted the location of a section of dry docks that has been closed for over a year. Nobody is there so nobody will know that you’ve docked. Is there anything else I can do?”

“I could use half a dozen or more of the best bots available and I’m going to need lots and lots of the nanite treated leather to make proper uniforms for everyone,” I said laughing. “I could also use a couple dozen portable power supplies for the AIs when we transfer them.”

Father joined me in the laughter. “I’ll forward this update to your brother, along with your requests, so he knows what to expect. I understand he’ll be joining you soon. I guess I’ll have to wait for your interview to find out what’s going on,” he laughed.

“Don’t believe everything you hear in that interview,” I warned him.

I thanked him for everything he’d done for me--for us.

He looked at me fondly as he said, “It is I who should thank you. Keep safe, young Ed.”

“You as well, Father,” I replied. Once again, a severely distracted Charles was yelling for his assistants before he broke our connection.

“Crystal, please raise Orca.”

I immediately recognized the woman, both from her beautiful face and from the livid bruise on that face. She’d been in the second room of the saloon and had been the one who castrated her already dead captor.

Greetings, Captain. I’m, uuuhhh, I think I’m Captain Jenae Patchett?” she said, more as a question than a statement.

“Captain Patchett. Congratulations on your promotion. Is there anything you need?”

“Thank you, sir. I think we have just about everything under control here.”

“How long until the malicious code is cleared out of your systems?”

“Phillipis estimates about three more hours. They have the transponder disabled and the code for the shields, engines, and sensors has been cleaned. Once the code for the weapons systems is cleared, they will begin reviewing everything else aboard the ship to make sure it’s not hidden somewhere else.

“I can’t believe that you’ve put more than one AI in a ship. It’s amazing what they can do. Aella said they are even able to alter the cloaking of the ship so we can fire while cloaked. I’m honored to serve under you, sir. Oh, and I’m sorry that I still have my uniform on. We came over fully armed and I haven’t had time to change yet.”

I laughed. “Don’t worry about it, Jenae. I’m more concerned about results than appearances. When everything is done, I’ll make time to personally remove your uniform if you want.”

“I’ll look forward to that,” she answered with a gleam in her eye.

“How fast can Orca travel fully cloaked?” I asked.

Jenae looked to her right and then back at me. “A little over warp seventeen Sir.”

“How soon can you move out without finishing cleaning the malicious code?”

Again, she looked off to her side. “About ten minutes, Sir.”

“Let us know when you’re ready to move out. I want to leave here ASAP in case someone else shows up. I also have a date to keep with a pretty lady in a few hours.”

Jenae raised her eyebrows at that. “Very well, sir. I’ll let you know as soon as we can get underway.”

“Carry on, Captain,” I said as the image blinked out.

“Crystal, please plot a course out of here without using any of the usual trails. As soon as we are clear of the wastes, pick up the bot aboard Nightmare and have the transponder toggled on. Then I want a cloaked, warp seventeen run towards Caddis for three hours, again avoiding any ‘ruts’. Then change course and head for St. Louis. I want Orca docked in the bays Father just transmitted us the coordinates for so she can be properly repaired and upgraded.

“I want her hull cleaned and repainted black with Shark logos and I want her shielding adjusted to make her completely invisible like Shark and Rampage. Add the extra antennas, sensor arrays, and console to increase her sensor sensitivity. Let Rampage know to be ready to leave in ten minutes and what we’ll be doing, and then transmit the course to both ships.”

Crystal had a distant look on her face for several seconds. “Done, Captain.”

“Kit, please send Gar back to Rampage for now.”

Several seconds later, I felt a tiny shudder as Gar disengaged from us and left.

Anima climbed into my lap and snuggled against me while Andrea pressed against my side. “I could get used to this, ladies,” I sighed as I ran my hand across Andrea’s taut ass.

“You’d better get used to it,” Andrea growled in a mock threatening voice before she leaned over and kissed me ferociously.

“Captain, Orca indicates that they are ready to leave,” Crystal announced.

“Please let everyone know and have Orca lead the way. That way she won’t be left behind if something happens. Crystal, I’d like you to make your main job coordinating everything between any ships we have. With three ships, fourteen transports, and eight shuttles, we might soon need our own ATC.