Note: You can change font size, font face, and turn on dark mode by clicking the "A" icon tab in the Story Info Box.
You can temporarily switch back to a Classic Literotica® experience during our ongoing public Beta testing. Please consider leaving feedback on issues you experience or suggest improvements.
Click here
Dana shot a quick glance at Faye as she sprang to her feet. "Just give us two minutes to tidy everything away!"
***
"The Antaeus will be finishing its patrol at 22:00 as scheduled, Commodore Maddox," Galen Skotari said, his tone respectful, although he felt anything but that for his Commanding Officer.
"Anything interesting to report, Captain Skotari?" the older man replied, staring at him under his peaked cap.
Galen hesitated for a moment, considering whether or not to report the Kintark cruiser's bizarre behaviour. Knowing the kind of stern rebuke he was likely to receive, if he admitted that he just had a hunch something was wrong, Galen wisely decided to stay silent. "It's been as quiet as our last patrol, Commodore."
"Very good," Maddox said, having the good grace to look a little guilty. In an attempt to be magnanimous, he continued brightly, "You and your men can begin your delayed shore leave upon your return."
Galen tried to sound appreciative as he replied, "Thank you, Commodore. I'm sure they'll be very glad to hear that."
The older man nodded, looking pleased with himself, then reached for the button to end the call. "Commodore Maddox out."
The holo-screen shifted to the Terran Federation logo, the golden image of a winged sword pointing to star on a black background.
As soon as Maddox's face faded away, Galen rolled his eyes. "You utter dick..." he muttered under his breath.
Getting to his feet, he tried to shake off his bad mood as he left his Ready Room and eagerly marched towards the Bridge. He nodded to his XO before walking to the Engineering Station.
"How's it going, Chief?" he asked the older, bald man sitting at the Station. "Been makin' something good?"
"Hmm, I've never heard that one before," Chief Engineer Makins said with a smile. "Actually yes, my team have just finished customising the probe as you asked. It won't activate until we transmit the signal."
"Perfect, nice job," Galen replied, patting him on the shoulder. He turned and walked to the Command Podium then took his seat. "Still no change with the lizards, Alice?"
"No, Sir," Commander Hoplander replied. "Their cruiser's been shadowing us all day, staying at the limits of our sensor range."
Leaning forward in his chair, Galen said, "Okay, Chief, drop the probe. Lieutenant Goodwell, bring us about and pull directly away from the border."
Chief Makins had his eyes fixed on his console. "Probe away, Captain!"
"Changing course, Sir!" the helmsman replied, looking eager as he followed his Captain's orders.
Galen stared at the Tactical Overlay on the holographic System Map, watching the Kintark cruiser turn and start heading closer to the border, while keeping the same distance from his own ship. It looked like the Gorkan'tor was in pursuit of the Antaeus, even though it was merely matching their standard hyper-warp speed. The Kintark ship approached to a respectable distance from the border between the two empires, then slowed to a halt, appearing to be waiting patiently in case the Antaeus returned.
"Okay, Chief, hit it!" Galen called out, grinning as the Gorkan'tor fell into his trap.
The probe lit up like a beacon on the map, sending out a blazing active sensor pulse that enveloped the stationary Kintark vessel. It reacted almost immediately, reactivating its FTL drive again and turning to scurry away from the sensor probe.
All eyes on the Bridge turned towards the Chief Engineer. "Tell me we got something, Chief!" Galen called out.
"What the hell..." Makins muttered under his breath, a look of bewilderment on his face.
Galen exchanged a glance with his XO and saw that Commander Hoplander was as full of anticipation as he was. Makins tapped a few buttons on his console and displayed the sensor readings for the Gorkan'tor. The Sector Map disappeared and was replaced by the holographic image of a long blocky vessel, with a mass of engines on the back and what appeared to be clusters of cargo containers at the front.
"That's not a Kintark cruiser!" Galen exclaimed. "It's just a freighter!"
Chief Engineer Makins looked as astonished as his Captain. "The Kintark must have switched transponder codes!"
***
John, Almari and Ilyana stood outside the closed door to the Engineering Bay, waiting patiently for Dana to open the door. He glanced at them and smiled, seeing the looks of nervous anticipation on their faces.
Just as he was about to speak, the door swished open to reveal his redheaded Chief Engineer. "Okay, you can come in now!" she said cheerfully, waving them into her Workshop.
Ushering the two assassins in first, John noticed an area of the Engineering Bay had been walled off with opaque forcefields. He had a fairly good idea what was concealed behind those shimmering barriers.
Dana bounded over to the two armour equipping frames mounted against the wall and said, "Why don't you try these Paragon suits on first? I know the fit will be perfect, but I'd like to run through the features with you both."
The two Maliri women obediently followed Dana's instructions as she asked them to remove their shoes and step into armoured Paragon boots. John watched as they slipped their hands into the gauntlets then activated the thumb buttons, bringing the armoured panels down around them. Robotic arms sealed them within the body armour and he gave them a reassuring smile when he saw a flicker of apprehension on their faces. The helmets were lowered onto their heads and they were fully armoured in three seconds.
"Now just hit the button on your palm to lock the armour into place," Dana explained, followed by a series of rippling clicks a second later. "There, all done!"
Almari and Ilyana looked stunned at how quickly they'd gone from being unarmoured, to fully geared in Paragon suits. Their looks of shock increased as Dana started explaining all the functionality in the suits, starting with the shield generators.
Leaving them to get acquainted with the Paragon armour, John walked over to one of the big storage crates containing blocks of crystal Alyssium. He removed the lid with a wave of his hand, then beckoned towards the glistening white cube, drawing off a stream of metal which he gathered in a sphere beside him. Hearing a peal of laughter behind him, he turned around and saw Almari wobbling in the air, using the anti-grav generators in the arms and legs to steady herself.
"I can fly!" she gasped in delight.
He returned her smile, knowing the simple pleasure in experiencing the suit's flight mode for the first time. Ilyana giggled a moment later, as she floated off the ground and swirled around in a graceful pirouette. Having drawn off enough crystal Alyssium, he returned to the pair, who touched down on the ground again, eyes bright with excitement.
John said, "You two prefer pistols and swords, right?"
Ilyana turned and nodded. "Luna's the real expert with a blade, but we're both highly trained with swords."
"And a pistol would be preferable to a rifle," Almari agreed. "We favour fighting at close quarters and a pistol is ideally suited for that."
"Okay, I'm sure we can find something you can use, right Sparks?" John said, glancing at Dana.
She nodded eagerly. "I'll strip down a couple of the Reaper pistols and turn them into more compact laser pistols. They won't need the Quantum part of the weapon so I'll take that out entirely. They'll still be big pistols, but not the supersized hand-cannons they are now!"
"Need me to make a new gunframe?" John asked.
"Yes please," she replied, grabbing the holo-reader off her workbench. "I'll sketch out a model for you now..."
The redhead appeared to be fully absorbed in her work, so John turned to look at the assassins. "Can you picture the kind of sword you prefer in your mind? Edraele can show me and I'll do my best to make one for each of you."
Almari shared a look of surprise with Ilyana, then they both frowned with concentration, doing as John asked. Edraele showed him the images a few seconds later, the swords vaguely reminding him of a Katana. The blade had a slight curve to it with a single cutting edge and a sharp point for impaling a foe.
"Okay, let's give this a shot," he murmured, picturing the sword in his mind and drawing off a stream of liquid metal.
The crystal Alyssium flattened and elongated, smoothly flowing into the shape Edraele had projected in his mind. It only took a few moments to forge the weapon, the crystal lattice hardening a second later.
"How's that feel?" he asked, floating the sword over to Almari.
Almari's cobalt-blue eyes were wide with astonishment after watching him create a sword before her as if by magic. She tentatively reached for the handle of the blade, then grasped the hilt in a firm grip. Once her senses had confirmed that it was as solid as it appeared, she took a few experimental swings, nodding her approval.
"It feels very nice, but the balance is a little off. Can you add a bit more weight to the pommel please?" she asked, after carefully appraising the sword.
John made a few alterations to the image he had in his mind. "Sure, just throw it to me and I'll make the changes."
Almari tossed the blade to him in a gentle arc and he plucked it out of the air using telekinesis. He melted it with a swift gesture, then added a bit more metal and reshaped the blade to her specifications. When he floated it over to her again, Almari had forgotten all her earlier hesitancy and she grabbed the sword, eager to try it again. Swirling it around in a figure-of-eight she spun and slashed, attacking a legion of imaginary foes.
"I love this sword!" she finally exclaimed, eyes sparkling with joy.
"Let Ilyana have a go," John said with a smile. "If she likes it too, I'll make the same for her."
The sword met Ilyana's approval, so John melted it down, then prepared a similar weight of crystal Alyssium and began to shape and reshape the metal. When he'd reached deca-shaped, he finally crafted two identical swords, but this time he added the House Valaden crest in fine detail on the pommel. The assassins were delighted with their new weapons, loving them even more when John showed them how the incredibly strong blades were able to chop through titanium like it was butter.
He left them to practice and returned to Dana, who was putting the finishing touches on the new laser pistol schematic. She grinned at him and showed him the holo-reader, revealing an elegant and much more compact heavy pistol. It didn't take him long to shape the various components she would need to make the new weapons, leaving just a small orb of crystal Alyssium when he was done. He left that on her workbench, finishing just as Almari and Ilyana removed their Paragon body armour. Then glided over to join him, thanking him profusely for the new swords and armour.
Dana jerked a thumb in the direction of their Paragon suits. "I'll tweak their armour to add magnetic sheaths for their swords, then get the armour-equipping frames moved to the Galaena Serine. Putting the pistols together will probably take me an hour or two, but I'll have them done long before you have to go."
John glanced up at the holo-cameras, "Faye, have you got a minute?"
The purple sprite flashed into existence a moment later. "Sure! What can I do to help?"
"Can you gather up all the Justice Lasers and Punisher rifles, along with say... twenty thousand rounds of 20mm caseless and at least a thousand grenades for the integral launchers? We need that shipped over to the Maliri flagship please."
"I've already got my boys emptying the weapon racks in the forward Armoury and the Firing Range," she replied. "I'll make sure we gather enough crates of ammo too!"
"Fantastic, thanks," he said with an appreciative smile. Faye grinned in return then disappeared in a flash. Turning to look at the assassins, he continued, "We've got a few hours to kill before you leave. Fancy taking a look at our training dojo?"
They both looked surprised but eager as they nodded their agreement.
"Thanks for the help, Sparks," John called over to the redhead.
"No problem," she replied distractedly, her multi-tool whirring as she took apart the first of the Reaper pistols she'd brought with her from the weapon racks in the Briefing Room.
John led the two Maliri girls out into the corridor, then offered them each an arm. They hooked theirs through his and fell into step beside him as they walked towards the grav-tubes. Travelling up to Deck Two, they stepped out into the corridor that led to the Officers' Quarters to find Calara waiting for them outside her room.
"I've got sparring gear you can borrow," she called out to the two Maliri women, beckoning them closer.
John slipped his arms out of theirs and gently patted them both on the bottom. "Go and get changed and I'll meet you down there."
They looked surprised then excited at the prospect, both breaking into a loping jog in their eagerness to get ready. Calara opened the door for them and waved John goodbye, as she disappeared inside her room with the two assassins. He went into his own bedroom to get ready, quickly changing into his sparring gear and returning to the corridor. There was no sign of the girls yet, so he headed to Deck Three and entered the equipping room, then walked through to the dojo itself.
He was particularly fond of the teakwood training hall with its view of Mount Daisen, so he programmed the computer with that in mind. Smiling to himself, he made a few tweaks to the settings and added a timer, before activating the program. By the time he'd finished, the door opened beside him and the two assassins padded into the room.
"Have fun!" Calara said with a grin, waving them goodbye.
John strolled across the mats, turning around and beckoning the two Maliri girls to follow. "I've heard you have quite the reputation as a fighter, Ilyana..."
Her smile was reflected in her turquoise eyes. "I enjoy putting myself to the test against a challenging opponent."
"Perhaps I'd better spar with Almari first then, to warm myself up," he replied with a grin, looking at the second girl. "If you're willing?"
"Of course," she said with a smile, which faltered only a moment later. "But won't you be able to easily defeat us? I saw you fight the Kirrix monstrosities... with your speed and strength... we can't possibly beat you."
John held his hands up disarmingly. "Don't worry, I won't use any powers..."
Almari's smile was back with a vengeance as she adopted a fighting stance then charged towards him. John was barely able to block her right-handed strike in time, before she followed up with a left hook. She was a very aggressive fighter, attacking all-out right from the start. Her technique was fascinating, using a Maliri style of unarmed combat that he'd never seen before, let alone tried to defend against.
They fought for a frantic ten minutes, John desperately defending against her wild flurries of punches and kicks, but taking more than a few stinging hits. Almari was in excellent physical shape and she showed no sign of tiring as she rained down blows on his defences. Despite the varied number of strikes she was launching at him, he eventually managed to notice vague patterns in the way she fought. He could see the look of surprise and frustration on her face as she was unable to take him down and realised that she must normally overwhelm her opponents rapidly and was simply recycling those chain of attacks.
As she shifted her weight to her back foot to lash out with a kick, he surged forward, knocking her off her feet and bringing her down to the mat. She struggled for a moment, but he had her securely pinned.
"Good fight," she said with a grin, tapping him on the arm to concede her defeat.
"You're very good," he said in open admiration, releasing her from the hold. "What gave me the opening was the way you repeat your attacks. Sakura used to do the same thing with swords, that's probably how I spotted it."
Almari nodded gratefully. "I'll be mindful of that in the future, thank you."
Rising to his feet, he offered her a hand, then turned to look at Ilyana. "Would you like to go next?"
She raised an eyebrow and replied, "Are you sure you wouldn't like to rest first?"
He shook his head. "No, I'm used to long training sessions. Whenever you're ready, beautiful."
Ilyana smiled at him then prowled closer as Almari backpedalled out of the way. There was something very different about the way Ilyana moved, a languid confidence to her smooth gait that was alluring as it was unsettling. She didn't raise her hands into a defensive posture, but simply glided closer.
John decided to go on the offensive himself, after defending so long in the last bout. He lunged out with a punch to the chest, but Ilyana weaved to one side, easily avoiding his blow. He followed up with a left then another right and she made no attempt to block, simply dodging to the right then left to avoid his punches. It was fascinating to see her fight, having never gone up against such a slippery opponent before.
He tried a kick to see how she'd try and avoid that, spinning at his waist and bringing his foot around in a sweeping arc at chest height. She dropped to her haunches, back arched as she ducked under the blow, before bouncing up like a coiled spring and leaping forward to grapple him. Coiling herself around him like a snake, her arm circled his neck as she clung to his back. "Easy now..." she whispered in his ear, applying a phenomenal amount of pressure that brought him to his knees and had him seeing stars.
John tapped on her arm to concede the bout and she immediately relaxed her chokehold. "Wow, that was impressive," he said as he shook his head to get the blood flowing again.
"It's a fighting style called Kerith'merane," Ilyana informed him, backing away to give him space. "I've been an adherent to its techniques for many decades."
John looked up at her and smiled. "It's so easy to forget your true ages. You both look like you're in your early twenties."
Ilyana laughed and shared a grin with Almari.
"A Terran girl in her twenties," John corrected himself as he got to his feet again. "Okay let's go again, you slippery minx!"
"I'm not sure what a 'minx' is, but I'm sure that wasn't complimentary," Ilyana replied, calmly approaching him again.
John didn't want to chance trying to explain what it was, concentrating instead on fighting much more defensively now. He decided that kicks would leave him too exposed, so he focused on quick jabs and strikes to keep Ilyana dodging rather than moving in for a grapple again. It worked for a couple of minutes, until she caught his right wrist on one of the slightly longer punches, then rushed towards him. John managed to get a kidney punch in with his left before she got to grappling range, but she accepted the hit with a grunt, then was all over him like an octopus. Tangling her legs with his, she followed him down to the mat as he toppled over, taking advantage of his momentary disorientation to apply another debilitating choke hold.
He tapped out again, then shook his head in amazement, a deep chuckle rumbling in his chest. "I've never fought anyone as good as you with chokes and holds."
"Thank you," Ilyana replied, inclining her head politely.
"I hope that kidney punch didn't hurt too much," he apologised glancing at her toned blue torso.
She gave him an affectionate look as she squatted beside him. "It was a strong punch, but I've endured far greater pain. In truth, I barely felt it."
"Still, I'll heal you afterwards," John offered, reaching out to brush the backs of his fingers across her lower torso.
"Another reason to enjoy training with you," she replied with a grin, offering him a hand. "Would you like to fight again?"
