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Ambush

Dark. Dark, cold and lonely â€" that's how the universe is like.

Today started like every other day. Nothing special really. The huge mass of alloys, cables,

engines and computers that formed the ship made it's way through space.

Small, colourful splodges that seemed to be nebulas of some kind could make anyone dream about the wonders, planets and life forms distant galaxies might hold â€"

if they'd have time that is.

Despite the fact that it was still morning, at least for what the clock could tell, everyone aboard was already awake and covered in work and their daily duties.

After all this was a battleship and as such it had to be manned and ready for anything anytime.

In a moderate pace, the captain was making his way through the wide corridors, sunken on the data pad he was holding in his right hand.

The people that were walking past him all seemed busy in some way and although he didn't look up from his pad very often, he managed not to crash into someone.

After some minutes the grey wolf reached the elevator at the end of the corridor.

He greeted the soldiers on each side and pressed his thumb onto the screen right of the doors.

After the identification process was completed, the doors slid open and he entered,

letting the hand he was holding the pad in hang loosely at his side.

One of the things he never liked was to check the various statistics about engine power,

generator output, weapons-, hull- and ammunition-checklists, information about the nightshift, communications logs and even more ‘crap'.

Once the doors were closed he sighed.

"With all these advanced computers and integrated systems you should think one wouldn't

have to be bothered with reading this crap every day..."

Just able to finish his sentence, the lift had already reached the next level and the doors opened again.

Before he went on, captain Zarak made sure to stop at his room so he could get rid of the pad.

Some seconds later he walked in on the bridge.

"Captain on bridge!", one of the officers shouted.

Everyone stood up from their chairs and saluted him.

With a disgruntled sigh he replied:

"Damn it! I told you how I think about this part of the insignia. This is a goddamned battleship, not a ceremonial cruiser for old, suspended veterans! Keep your eyes on the screens! This is war! The enemy could already be on attack course by now without anyone noticing!"

For a moment there was a total silence. Some were looking at each other, others just

remained motionless.

"Sorry captain, I think we're still not used to it. Don't forget about the training everyone has gone through."

The wolf raised an eyebrow and his eyes fell on the shape of a quite beautiful female.

Even the strict uniforms everyone wore couldn't really take away from her pure beauty.

She smiled as she noticed the kind of puzzled look on the man's face and continued:

"They were taught to follow the insignia because it reflects discipline.

And ‘without discipline we can shoot ourselves in the head right now.'

Your words, captain."

The wolfess' smile broadened at the end of her words.

Slowly at first, but then at once, a smile formed on the captain's face as well.

"Who else would dare to contradict the captain's words, but the First Officer..."

Both smiled to each other for a bit longer, then Aidan ordered everyone to proceed and

sat on his chair.

It was situated in the middle of the bridge, with the Navigations Officer on the left, the Weapons Officer on the right; the First Officer had her place behind the captain.

Some metres in front of the captain, seven big screens framed the wall; the largest one in

the middle, the others left and right of it; three on each side.

Together with the cameras they were covering everything around the ship this way: front, left, right, back, up and down. At the moment the main screen was displaying the view of the front camera as usual in standard flight mode. Not much to see right now besides the ship's dark hull and some of the many communications devices and antennas cruising through the cold depths of space somewhere far outside the Sol-System.

The captain turned his chair to the side, just enough to face his First Officer.

"Did I really say that?"

Grinning, she replied : "Yes captain."

She was still amused about the fact that her supervisor tended to forget some things every now and then. It made him so much more human, whereas ‘human' might not quite be the right term.

Both of them, along with some other soldiers that formed the Allied Fleet's Task Force, a specialized little team, consisting out of genetically enhanced elite soldiers from all kinds of battlefields and origins. They were said to be earth's best answer to a similar project they encountered during the long war against some unknown menace that turned out to be an enhanced, cruel soldier himself. The really disturbing thing about him was that he commanded a powerful fleet, all state-of-the-art, and was obviously aiming to attack earth itself.

But right now, the battle-shaken ship was merely floating through quiet space and as it was war became a bit more distant again.

"Huh...well...so in that case it's right, of course..."

He turned his chair again, now facing the screen connected to the armrest of his chair and touched some symbols on it.

"Anything to report?", the wolf asked.

"No, nothing to report, captain", the answer came from the white furred wolfess who was already taking care of other things like the latest battle reports and so on.

"Estimated time till we reach the colony?"

"6 hours and 34 minutes."

"That's too long. We received the distress call already nine hours ago."

His fingertip touched one of the buttons on the screen.

"Engine room, here bridge."

The voice of a male sounded through the speakers as the response came:

"Engine room reporting in."

"We need more power to the engines."

Some mumbled words could be heard, then, suddenly another voice came up.

"Captain, we are already at maximum speed. We can't take out more of the engines without risking to damage them."

"Dirk ... those people depend on us. The more time passes, the more lives are in danger.

We do need to arrive ASAP."

The man in the engine room mumbled.

"Okay, I'll see what I can do, but don't you make me responsible for any damage on the engines, I've warned you! Engine room out."

With a beep, the comm went dead.

"I'll be in my room if there should be anything."

Aidan stood up, left the bridge and entered the room to the right. Plunging in the chair,

he took the pad again and continued to read.

The minutes passed and once he was sure he had sighted all the important data,

he closed his eyes and rubbed them with the fingers of his right hand.

There were several big, fortified windows at the wall behind him.

Usually they're open, but when the ship's under attack a heavy armour plate

emerges to cover the windows securely.

Slowly, the comfortable chair turned towards the window right behind it.

"Space always seems so peaceful ... lies ... "

As always in silent moments, his thoughts started to drift off again.

They circled around and made him think about things like this.

Mostly they were just about the war, the last battle, when they will run into the next,

if it's all worth it ...

He always came to the same result : Yes. Yes, it is worth it.

It is worth it because of all the things that make life good.

Things like nature and it's beauty, flowers, sunny days, children and ... love?

No, love's not one of them.

People say one day love will come to everyone â€" lies!

But even through those thoughts, deep inside, he knew that he was just angered about everything involving love, because he, himself, couldn't find someone that would take the their place in his heart, yet.

"I don't get it ... I'm not bad looking, I have good manners ... well, sometimes, and I sure am not a freak â€" genetics aside ... meh ... maybe ... in another life, at another time ... feh."

Saying this, he forced his mind to choose another theme to think about.

This is war and war doesn't care about the individual, it only cares about life or let life.

The wolf's fingers touched the screen nearby and a calm but happy melody was filling his ears.

Still looking outside, he fell asleep, slowly.

You should think as captain you have a lot of privileges and free time, but even though he knew it wouldn't be like that, he never guessed this job to be so draining.

Maybe it would've been a lot easier if he wouldn't be the leader of the Task Force at the same time.

But in lack of experienced captains, Fleet Command couldn't do without

assigning two positions to him.

To make it worse the last days have been filled with away missions.

At least he could get in touch with fresh air again.

The filtered air aboard the Harmony always had something ... impersonal about it.

Nothing could replace the smell of flowers, trees and grass.

The shrill noise of an alert shocked him out of his dreams and just when he turned his chair around, the doors opened and his First Officer ran in.

"Captain, our sensors spotted an enemy fleet portside!"

Without giving a reply, he hurried after the wolfess.

He never understood why the girl preferred to report to him personal,

instead of just using the comm, but that sure was just one of her quirks.

On the corridors the red lights were already flashing, as they did in every part of the vessel.

Reaching the control centre, Zarak jumped on his chair.

"Gimme the fleet on the main screen!"

The screen changed it's view and the cameras zoomed in, showing a massive fleet.

"How many?"

"Two battleships, one carrier and six frigates.", the voice behind him replied.

"Damn! Distance?"

"8000 kilometres, coming closer."

"Time till interception?"

"At current speed 7 minutes 42 seconds."

"Where did they come from?"

"I don't know, they just showed on the sensors all of a sudden ... they must've been waiting for us!", the sensors officer tried to explain.

"How long to the colony?"

"One hour and thirteen minutes.", the wolfess said.

"Tactical view!"

Two seconds later the main screen was showing an overview along with models of the ships involved, distances and circles around every large ship, which were standing for it's effective range of fire.

"This can't be just by accident. They must've known where to find us.

They must've known that we'd pass this sector. Their formation's just too organised and concentrated on one point ... It's an ambush !", the captain resulted.

"Orders, captain?", Celestra asked.

"Let's play pretend ... make it look as if we have malfunctions. Engine room", the speakers beeped, " ... I want the engines to look damaged. Slow down to 80 % and fire them up to

100 % every 20 to 30 seconds."

"Aye, captain."

"Shall I activate the weapons, sir ?", the Weapons Officer asked.

"No, not yet. Keep em offline until I say so. And let the energy system look damaged as well. Switch to passive, but keep the active radar flashing.

And ... would someone stop the alarm, finally?!"

"Acknowledged."

With his eyes fixed on the main screen, he was watching the enemy fleet coming closer and closer.

He knew the enemy captain couldn't be a novice, no, a novice would split the fleet and attack from different angles at once, hoping they would maximize the damage and reduce the own losses at the same time, just as it's been taught at the academy.

But the Celestial Harmony was not like any other ship.

Attacking from the front would mean that they have less time to deal any damage as the ship's main turrets would shred their hulls in no time.

An attack from both sides would just maximize the ship's own firepower.

When it was built, they put much thought into the design and thanks to that there is very few if any angle the ship could not fire at.

The weapons themselves have been mounted to both sides equally.

This way it could teach anyone a lethal lesson that thought they were an easy deal.

"Three minutes till interception."

Calmly, the grey wolf was watching the happening on the main screen.

He knew what to do, he just had to hope for the enemy captain to know that as well.

"2500 kilometres, still coming closer."

"2000 kilometres ... they're holding position!"

Suddenly, an oppressive silence laid upon the whole bridge. All eyes were focused on the big screen at the front.

And even though it was just two minutes that passed, it felt like hours.

Hours of insecurity about what would come.

But amongst them was one that knew very well what would happen.

"Multiple radar contacts!", the First Officer's voice cut through the silence like a sharp blade.

"I can see ... 260 ... no ... 450 enemy attack ships approaching!"

"What kind of and numbers?", Aidan asked and he couldn't hide an evil grin.

"320 fighters, 110 bombers and 20 corvettes."

"Shall I activate the weapons, captain?", the Weapons Officer was already holding a hand over his console.

"Stand by for orders."

"1500 kilometres."

"1000 kilometres. Captain, they'll be in range in less than 30 seconds!"

"25 seconds."

"20 seconds, Captain!"

"Just a little more..."

"15 seconds!"

"Activate flak batteries 1 to 3, multiple targets, priority on bombers!"

In less than 3 seconds the heavy doors slid open and the portside batteries became visible.

Each battery held 20 flak turrets, which were aiming at the wall of approaching spacecrafts.

"Batteries ready!"

"Restore power to the radar, switch back to active, engines to full power!"

"4 seconds!"

"Fire!"

Almost within the blink of an eye, the double â€" barrelled turrets opened fire.

60 smaller war heads made their way towards the enemy vessels and a small chemo â€" electrical explosion caused them to burst, only to unload their, considering light armoured spacecrafts, deadly freight: thousands of high velocity shrapnels.

Each turret had already picked a target, before the fire order came and as they all fired at the same time, the line of enemy fighters lightened immensely during the first attack flight.

Explosions lit the screen, about 50 at the same time, dipping the dark ship hull

into a sparkly gloom ranging from white to red with all its varieties in between.

Just now they came in range of their weapons and their bullets hit the ship's thick armour like a swarm of small insects.

The ship quaked just a little from the impacts of the bomber's torpedoes.

Bombers and corvettes, those were the only ones of them that could do real damage to the ship.

The rest of the formation crossed the ship at it's side axis and dashed past it.

But before they could come in range again, the starboard batteries had already been activated

and they ran into another curtain of shrapnels that delivered dozens of deadly hits .

Again torpedoes exploded on contact with the Harmony's thick, armored hull.

Thanks to the immense counter fire they had come against them, none of the pilots was able to lock on less fortified or vital spots and thus the damage they caused was just minimal.

For the second time the portside batteries picked their targets, hungering for victims.

Millions of shrapnels pierced through the line of enemy fighters, continuing their work.

They had no chance; they retreated.

During these first 30 seconds, almost 1/3 of the enemy ships had been taken down, some of them through explosions of ships close to them, a few through collisions with damaged vessels.

"All stations damage report!"

Captain Zarak's gaze was fixed to the ships on the screen.

His plan seemed to have worked; he grinned just a bit.

"Minor hull damage,", the white wolfess' fingers swirled over the console in front of her,

"some high pressure pipes have been damaged. Automatic block engaged. Reports of light injuries from all over the ship. At all ... nothing serious, captain."

"Phew ... seems like we're still alive", she said jokingly with a sarcastic smile on her lips.

"And not only that, we've been able to deal out some heavy losses to them, too.

Right, FO?"

FO ... he loved to use abbreviations like that one, she thought to herself before replying.

She knew what he intended to hear with that remark.

Over the time they've been together now, out on the field and on so many away missions,

Aidan, Celestra and everyone else from the Task Force grew closer to each other.

They knew they could rely on each other and in these times they had no chance but to do so.

"Enemy losses come to 54 fighters and 83 bombers. None of the corvettes has been destroyed,

but they took medium to light damage."

The grey figure in front of her just let out a thoughtful ‘hmm'.

Usually now would be the time to start own fighters, plot a direct course towards the enemy ships and hit them with hard strikes â€" or to take the own retreat.

Still the enemy did outnumber them at least 3 to 1, no matter how strong the Harmony was.

Ears all over the room were waiting for their commands, not daring to look away from the lights blinking on the screens in front of them.

But he hesitated. Something just didn't seem right about it.

They were still holding their positions, out of range of the large battleship's main turrets.

None of them was moving, neither towards them, nor away.

And this was the strange part about it.

"What are they planning?", he said finally.

"Captain?", it was the Weapons Officer that looked up to face the captain.

"They're not following any usual schemes ... they must be planning something ... must

have an ace in their backhand ... Anyway, we don't have time to loose! There are people dying!

Get us back on our last course, full power!"

"Aye, captain."

And the ship started to move again.

Aidan couldn't stop gazing on the tactical overview in front of him.

The fleet still wasn't moving.

He watched them disappear in the dark; the sensor contacts slowly faded, one by one.

"Any signs we're being followed, FO?"

"Nope, no signs to read, captain."

But those words couldn't calm him down.

Deep inside the back of his head he just knew something had to be wrong.

Could he be mistaken about that?

The minutes passed.

Nothing did happen.

"Shall I power down the weapons again, captain?"

But the Weapons Officer didn't get any reply.

"Captain?"

"Err...yes yes, deactivate weapons."

"And the alarm?"

"Yes, switch to standby."

Celestra pressed a button and the red lights made place for strong, blue light

that emitted from organic diodes.

Standing up, the captain took a last look at the main screen and walked over to his commander.

She was slightly smaller than him, her dark, almost black hair always well-tended.

As she turned her head to look him in the eyes, his mind made up the image of those deep blue circles with the hair flowing in the wind and some streaks covering her face

like he had seen her weeks ago.

There was something about her; something he couldn't name, yet.

Just some seconds later, that image had faded again.

"The bridge is all y..."

"We've got contact!", the voice of the Radar Officer interrupted him.

He hastened back to his chair and Celestra looked back on her screen.

"Battlestations!"

The sirens raised, their ear piercing sound alarming everyone, the pilots, that have just left their spacecrafts, ran back and got ready for take off again.

Senses sharpened, adrenaline started to rush through the body - even after the hundredth time

you can't totally get used to it.

On the screen, several small red dots were showing, all coming from portside.

"Bring batteries 1 to 3 online, WO."

"Aye."

"How many?"

His ears caught the soft voice from behind him, still calm like a professional.

"Looks like the remains of the enemy fighters ... but ... "

"But?"

"That makes no sense, captain! Why'd they attack again, flying to their certain death?!"

Suddenly the girl's voice sounded doubtful.

"I don't know, but I know that they're coming from the worst vector they could've chosen."

Meanwhile, the red dots came closer. They were looking the farest from being threatingly.

Shaking his head, captain Zarak was waiting for the upcoming battle ... no, skirmish at it's best.

To maximize their firepower and to protect the bombers, they were flying in a

widespread, staggered formation.

Nothing seemed to be strange about this but the fact that they are attacking.

From one second to the next, some of them broke up the formation and darted away in a 20° angle.

"What the ... deserters? Whereto're they flying?"

"There are neither planets nor stations they could reach on their current course."

"Maybe a hidden base ship?"

"Possible, captain."

"They're leaving sensor range."

"Okay, gimme a close-range view!"

A short, acknowledging beep later, it was showing on the main screen.

The spacecrafts came in range and the batteries opened fire,

but this time most of them were able to evade it.

This skirmish would be over soon and end up with the total defeat of the enemy vessels

But they didn't give away the slightest sign of a retreat.

"They're coming back!"

"What? Who?"

"The deserters; they're coming in a direct angle towards our engines."

"Are they insane? What are they intending to achieve with that? They must know their weapons won't do any damage!"

"I don't know, maybe they want to capitulate. They're not flying at attack speed, but quite slowly."

"Slowly?"

"Yes, captain."

"Well, first we have to take care about the rest of them, anyways."

Red dots vanish from the screen.

With every couple of seconds more of them stop showing up.

It was now, when the wolf's eyes came down to have a look at the few fighters

nearing stern slowly.

"Slowly...", his brain started to draw connections.

"Slowly!"

"Captain?", First Officer Silver asks with one brow raised.

"How fast are those fighters at our tail?"

"175 km/s."

"Damn! Immediate start for all fighters! I want them to take down those ships!"

"But...captain..."

"DO IT!"

"Aye...", still confused, but without reluctance the commander gives the flight deck clearance for start and passes on the orders.

"Captain...may I get to know why we're attacking possible renegades?"

"175 km/s, FO!"

"I...don't understand..."

"That's the velocity of an ABST!"

At those words, the wolfess goes wide-eyed, her jaw dropping.

New contacts pop up on the tactical overview, but this time green ones â€" the fighters have been launched.

All remaining enemy fighters are setting them as new priority targets on first sight.

Most of them are unable to execute their given orders, not with another fighter on their tail.

They get drawn into dogfights.

Nonetheless, a handful manages to slip through the enemy lines and is flying towards their targets.

By now, the suspected renegades are just about 3000 kilometres away.

At 1500 kilometres they meet each other.

The experienced pilots flying the fighters stationed at the Harmony aim

for their targets and open fire.

Captain Zarak was right, it was a trap.

Their fighters were just hiding the torpedoes by flying closely above them.

Unfortunately, the 5 own fighters that could brake through have to face the escort now.

Every time one of them tries to concentrate his fire on the torpedoes, they have another enemy at their tail, clinging to them like a tick.

Finally, one of them takes down one of the 8 torpedoes.

Another one dies down in it's explosion.

Without time to celebrate the lucky pilot gets shot.

The vengeance follows right after : one of the enemies crashes into another torpedo, the other one explodes after several hits.

On his chair aboard the Celestial Harmony, the captain watches everything.

Just 2125 kilometres away, the heavy warheads are still holding their course.

"Damn! They won't make it! Emergency â€" tack!"

With a yellow flame, the power jets portside front and starboard rear fire up, setting the whole ship in a slow turn.

"30 seconds till impact!"

Two more torpedoes get destroyed, but for the loss of another fighter.

Quite helpless, the captain and everyone else on the bridge are doomed to watch.

"20!"

But the pilots won't give up easily, they're still continuing their efforts - not without fruits.

Aidan could see another one of the torpedoes vanish from the screen.

"10!"

The grey wolf hits the communications button on his screen.

"5!"

"To all fighters : cease actions and get on a safe distance from the ship!

Everyone else ... prepare yourselves for impact!"

"2!"

The fighter pilots punch in their afterburners and the ones that were chasing the torpedoes

shoot away over the battleship.

Everyone at the command centre grabs the arm rests of their chairs or anything else close enough that's promising enough hold.

"1!"

"Impact!"

The torpedoes hit their target hard. The whole construction shakes with the force of an earthquake and an oppressive silence is floating in the air, then the smashing noise of the detonating explosives penetrates everyone's ears forcefully, making them dumb for anything else.

Right after a mighty, destructive shockwave rolls through the ship.

Ammunition explodes, pipes break, walls bend, rooms deform, fires start everywhere, followed by screams and people running.

Just slowly, the shockwave and the ring in everyone's ears fades.

The wolfess, who is holding the rank of the commander, opens her eyes again, which she had squeezed shut.

Some people fall around at the bridge.

Then, the demanding, still damped voice of the captain screams at the top of it's capacity:

"Status report !"

Forced to regain control over herself quickly again, she begins to search the screen for the

damage reports.

"Severe damage to the thrusters ... engines offline ... stern armour down to 46 % ...

several reports of fires, damaged bulkheads, minor hull breaches, lots of wounded; some

of them severely. We've lost 13 fighters, the remaining ones are taking care of the last

enemy spacecrafts. Main power still functional. Weapons ... waiting for orders."

A red drop fell on her screen. Her hand reached to touch her forehead.

She'd taken a laceration. Her eyes travelled through the bridge. Some were still about

to stand up and get a clear head again. Fortunately, no one has been seriously injured.

The captain himself seemed to be glued to his chair.

"Damn! Any readings on the radar ?"

"Not for the moment, captain."

"NO, I wanna see a completed 90 ° turn!"

"Aye, captain."

The ship turned and once the 90 ° have been reached, the damaged jets powered down again.

Meanwhile the pilots of the Celestial Harmony have taken out all enemy fighters that were

left on the radar.

Having their task fulfilled they took positions around the ship for guarding purposes,

standing by for further instructions.

Aidan felt betrayed; betrayed by his own mind.

He should've noticed earlier!

But it's too late now and he's the one responsible for the big mess they're all in now.

Without it's engines, the ship was quite vulnerable.

They still had weapons, but their ammunition isn't infinite and the enemy captain's already calling in more ships, for sure.

Not only that, there were still the colonists, desperately waiting for the support they had asked for.

The captain sighed.

"And this day just started like any other day..."

"Captain?", the commander asked.

He stood up and turned around to have a look at the bridge.

Some screens the officers around him worked on were broken, others were just black and useless.

Steam from a cooling pipe that broke through the ceiling was hissing at him.

And then he noticed the injuries.

Most of the officers were wounded at the head, some bleeding noses, a bleeding lip and ... the red stream of blood running down his First Officer's face.

He walked up to her, put a finger below her chin and turned her head so he could have a better look at the wound.

Close to her place was a first aid kit, which he grabbed and opened to take out

a bandage and scissors.

He cut off a small piece and used it to clean the wolfess' head of the blood.

Then he took another piece and put it on her wound.

"You'll need to press that against your forehead.", he uttered and her fingers replaced his.

She looked in his eyes and he gazed back.

After some time a grin formed on his face.

"Didn't mama tell you not to make a mess with your ketchup ?"

Even though that joke wasn't real funny at all, she smiled cutely at him and his grin widened.

Seeing this she had no chance but to laugh.

Content about that, he got back to his chair and browsed through several sub menus.

He had underestimated that captain, that was for sure, but this wouldn't happen twice!

The tactical overview beeped as it pinged the three enemy battleships along with their escort.

"Coming to catch your prey already?", Aidan mumbled, „well, you'll find this prey to bite back just as hard!"

"Activate primary and secondary weapons!"

The human at the weapons control, who was still attending to his injury, pressed the bandage to his nose and entered the given orders one handed.

With a hearable, dull, but still mighty and deep growl the four Terminator turrets extended.

Their sheer dimensions combined with the huge barrels could turn anyone's face they'd be pointed at to red.

A thud later, they were in place and ready to fire, the tracked turrets on the wings were already waiting.

Looking at the main screen, Aidan watched the dots nearing.

"Either they're totally stupid or they have another ace waiting..."

Wordless, he was waiting for anything to happen;

a manoeuvre that'd give away their plans, the start of more torpedoes or fighters, anything.

Those ships, as they came closer, seemed like angels of death â€"

dark, gigantic; bristling with weapons.

"But...", he thought to himself, „if they're angels of death, then the Harmony,

even in it's current state, is an archangel of light. And as such,

we do well know how to defend ourselves."

Concentrated, the captain's eyes were monitoring their every move.

"Closer...come closer...yeah, that's right...just like that...", his mind commented.

Surprisingly, they expected his wish, as if he had mind control over them.

If so then just to a certain point; the ships fired their front break jets.

One of the battleships came closer, but stood out of range to the main weapons.

"Incoming transmission.", Celestra reported.

"Origin?"

"This enemy ship, captain.", and she was looking to the main screen that

was showing said battleship.

"Put it on the main screen!", Aidan ordered, „Let's see what they want."

One digitized order later, the screen was displaying the bridge of another ship.

Lounging on his chair, it's captain started to laugh evilly before he stood up,

looking straight into the camera aboard his ship.

"My...what do we have here...the famous captain Zarak, commander of the A.F. Celestial Harmony.", he paused to grin wide and mockingly, „seems like you have a ... ‘little problem'

with your engines, haven't we ?", he laughed again.

"Grrr...", captain Zarak growled while he gnashed his teeth and his claws gouged into the armrest,

but he managed to swallow his hatred.

Blowing out hot air, he calmed himself and replied with a calm, steady voice :

"Not a problem we couldn't fix easily.

• Well, since you seem to know about me, I guess it'd be just

fair if you'd tell me about yourself now."

Again a laughter raised on the enemy bridge.

"Captain...my name's not of interest. But you shall know that neither you, nor your ship will make

it to that colony! Not in one piece at least...", the nameless captain smirked.

"What! ...What do you want?"

"Ohhh...now you're disappointing me, captain Zarak...I want you, of course...you...or your ship.

See? I'm generous! I'm leaving the decision to you, hehehehe."

Aidan couldn't resist to let out another growl, but that just amused the human captain on the other

side of the screen.

"What do they say about barking dogs again? Oh, right! They don't bite! Nahahahahaa.", he was in fact laughing about his own bad joke, but it didn't miss it's purpose. It raged the wolf.

The other captain steadied himself quite fast again : "I'm expecting your answer within

the next five minutes! Not a single minute longer!"

He sat back on his chair and presented an attached, big red button.

"You wouldn't want me to push this one again, would you?"

The comm went dead.

Aidan was still sitting there, wordless, shivering in hatred.

He knew what that was meaning. They wanted him. The worst imaginable scenario a captain could encounter: being the target. But what if he'd not comply?

Of course he already imagined different outcomes, but each ended up with either the total destruction of the Celestial Harmony or her crew getting caught or, even worse, killed.

Even if he'd deliver himself to the unknown, a sacrifice he and everyone of his team was willing to take without question, no one would guarantee that they wouldn't destroy the ship nonetheless.

Five minutes...just some time ago they seemed to pass in slow â€" motion, the same way like every time you're waiting on something to happen.

Right now, though, the time ran away.

What should he do?

No matter what...he couldn't win, not without heavy losses and an 80 % chance of the Harmony to get blasted to bits.

He couldn't allow that to happen.

The Task Force under his very own command along with that ship were the last fortress that stood between the dark forces and earth's doom; not only earth's, but mankind's.

What use the Task Force had, a team in which every member was well rehearsed on each other, a strong chain, without one of its links?

Whatever, it'd still exist. The rest of them would still be there and they would do good, maybe find another leader, a replacement, yeah, he was replaceable; maybe not at ease, but sooner or later they'd come up with someone else.

The decision seemed to be made, but he wasn't at his wits' end yet.

Fortunately, only 2 minutes had passed til now and of what he could tell,

the enemy was feeling real confident.

He'd never expect an attack from a damaged, outnumbered ship.

That plan was crazy, but it was just as crazy that it could work.

After all, captain Zarak was known for his ... ‘unconventional' methods.

"Engine room, how bad's the damage?"

"Here engine room. Looks like they hit us hard, captain. We've got many wounded and the rest of us is trying to get the engines back online."

"How long would that take?"

"I can't tell at the moment, but probably several hours. I have to bypass lots of damaged conductors; not to talk about the damage on the thrusters. Someone will have to get out and fix them somehow. That alone can take hours."

"What about the secondary engines?"

"Sorry, captain, they got damaged as well."

"Damn!"

"If I had the men I need ... hmm ... I just got an idea captain. They're damaged, but not as bad as the main engines. With enough men I might be able to fix them in less than an hour.

But we wouldn't make more than 30 % of max speed."

"Better than nothing...what about the power jets?"

"What about them, captain?"

"If we'd use the starboard jets all at once, we should be able to move the ship, wouldn't we?"

"There's nothing speaking against it, captain. But we'd be more than slow...I think something around 5, maybe 10 % of max speed."

"Good, concentrate on the repairs now, I'll give you the men you need."

"Acknowledged, engine room out."

"So...how can we get in range?", the captain mumbled after he ended the call.

Suddenly, it hit him like a slap in the face: "The front power jets!"

"Captain?", the commander laid her head to the side, looking at him.

Aidan turned: "The front thrusters! They have enough power to build up a counterforce to the engines to stop the ship. I can imagine that's enough to come in range to their fleet."

"That...that's insane!"

"Maybe, but it's our only chance. Prepare everything for such a manoeuvre."

"Aye...captain.", the wolfess shook her head, but she didn't dare to say anything against it.

She knew it were those ideas that saved their lives more than once, so she silently made the preparations instead.

"Nav, on my command, you'll perform a high â€" speed turn, showing them our tail, then you'll bring us close enough to open fire, followed by a 180 ° turn. I don't care if that means to damage the power jets, just do it."

"Aye aye."

The grey wolf opened a comm-channel: " To all fighters, we'll engage the enemy. Stay away from the ship. We'll do a high â€" speed turn. Once the turn's complete, form up above and below the ship.

Your task will be to eliminate all incoming torpedoes. Other than that ... try not to get hit and don't, I repeat: don't attack the enemy!"

"Here squadron leader alpha, confirmed."

"Squadron leader beta, confirmed."

"Here leader gamma, acknowledged."

"Leader delta, confirmed."

"Weapons Officer, aim for the weapons generators on both of the battleships. Open fire at my command!"

"Yes, captain!"

"All stations ready?"

All officers gave green light.

"Okay; let's do this hellride! NO...execute!"

With great skill, his experienced Navigations Officer used the digital controls to turn the ship.

The additional fuel that's being rerouted to the jets accelerates the manoeuvre at the factor ten.

The conduits hold, but they won't for a long time.

Emergency manoeuvres like that aren't named like that for nothing.

Different parts experience extreme stress, something they've not been build for.

All fighters stay on distance and as the huge thrusters at the front of the ship begin their work, everyone knows what's at the bottom of the orders.

Elegantly, the gigantic colossus reaches great speed at ease.

Before one of the enemy captains could realize what was going on, the Harmony had already turned again, flying in between the two battleships.

"FIRE!"

One command and the firestorm started.

All of the four main turrets fired three heavy, armour-piercing bullets.

They hit the first battleship with devastating force. The thick armour on it could take some shots, but 12 at once were just too much. Two of them hit the ship in the same place, punching through the outer hull and exploding inside.

Other hits destroyed a big part of their crew quarters and ammunition depots below the hull.

Even though they couldn't make it past the armour, the shockwave sure did.

The battleship's main turrets were useless after that devilish rain.

Four torpedoes left their tubes, just before a chain reaction started, hitting the ship's main reactors and overloaded them.

A big explosion from the inside broke it apart. It's hull ripped open, the vacuum sucking out the men that were still alive.

Energy systems connected to the generators overloaded as well, generating new explosions all over the enemy ship.

It's countless parts remained silent. Drifting through space, the rest of what used to be a vessel didn't mean a threat any longer.

Four more torpedoes had the Harmony set as target.

A cluster of fighters darted towards them.

But the carrier and the battleship that were left, along with their escort, which had been damaged through the explosion as well, activated their engines and opened fire.

Their heavy turrets made the ship shiver with every impact.

Though their fire was random, the immense bomb carpet alone dealt out a lot of damage, some of it heavy.

Meanwhile at the bridge of the Celestial Harmony, everyone had to fight against the rumbling, making sure not to fall.

"Hull stable, but decreasing. Currently at 84 %!", Celestra shouts.

"Aim for their turrets!"

The heavy guns fired again.

Crushing waves washed over them; two turrets were lost on the carrier.

A frigate took a hit, disabling it at once.

The following wave could destroy one of the big turrets on the battleship.

But they repeated fire and hit one of the anti â€" frigate turrets.

With a hole inside its armour, it denied its duty.

Unfortunately the frigates took care about the fighters that were assigned to intercept the torpedoes, giving them a hard time.

The Harmony fired four own torpedoes.

But it was worthless. The escort of frigates and their weapons, which have been designed to track quite fast targets, shredded them in no time.

Still there were six torpedoes on course.

"Evasive manoeuvres!"

The ship managed to fly out two of them, the fighters took down another one at the last second.

Heavy impacts on the ship's front and portside broke pipes along the whole ship; inside an explosion.

The quaking wouldn't want to stop. Everyone was falling around. Many of those that were stationed at the damaged parts got killed on impact.

Fire ran through the corridors and demanded its sacrifices.

The automated fire extinguish system activated itself and avoided further intrusion.

Bulkheads closed to seal off the still intact parts.

The portside was now dominated by a large, frayed hole.

At the command centre, most of them managed to stay on their chairs, they knew the drill for this time. Smoke from cable fires polluted the air.

"Extinguish the fires!", the captain yells.

Rushing to a mobile fire extinguisher, he helped them doing so. The air filtration system did the rest.

"Report!"

"We took heavy damage! Portside armour down! Many sections have to fight the fire; lots of losses; even more wounded! Weapons down!", she was coughing as she made her report.

"Damn!", the wolf hit on his armrest real hard.

"Incoming transmission!"

"On screen!"

"Njeheheheheee...captain....what a bad decision. How foolish one must be to think he could stand against us. Really captain, you could've avoided those losses and the ... heavy damage to your ship.

My sensors tell me that your weapons are down. Surrender now or be destroyed!

I await you aboard my ship! If we should find any weapons on you ...

I'm sure you can imagine ...", the transmission ended.

Aside from the crackling that came from short â€" circuits inside the systems and the hissing of steam, the bridge became silent.

Captain Zarak closed his eyes, sitting up straight on his chair.

When he was like that, you could mistake him to be completely calm and relaxed, but deep inside a fire was blazing, strong enough to overwhelm one.

He took a deep breath and his head leant down a bit.

Being forced with your back against the wall without any other way left than just the one you knew ill would be waiting for you, lurking in the shadows, ready to strike any second â€"

that was something he couldn't stand.

The ultimatum was clear: deliver yourself or die with the rest of your crew, your friends, the ship.

More even, take responsibility for the loss of earth's last defence.

There was only one thing left he could do now.

He knew it â€" the other captain knew it and, even if they didn't want to believe it, the officers knew it as well.

"Hangar, prepare a shuttle for launch."

"But captain, the runway is blotched with debris."

"Then get rid of them, goddamit!"

"...Aye, captain."

Outbreaks like that were rather rare on him.

He didn't even want to yell at the man; it wasn't his fault, he just tried to inform his captain correctly.

Though that's the least of his worries right now.

Aidan stood up from his chair; slowly, making sure to feel its cloth with his hands.

Strange enough, the screens in front of him managed to stay mostly unharmed; just some

cracks along their surface.

Around him, everyone had taken some lighter injuries; the computers, consoles and interior

was not so lucky.

In fact everything was looking so beaten and depraved as if the ship would be one of those you can find on a scrap yard, nothing more but disused witnesses of earlier wars, waiting for someone to revive them, to restore their glorious history and to reward them for their good services, the many injuries and dead they had seen, the many bullets their hulls had taken.

But no one would ever come.

Once so proud and brave, they just became something people wanted to get rid of.

Their memory, their history, everything they were standing for became forgotten, as did mankind's heroes of once.

The wolf snorted mockingly.

He made his way towards the door.

"You ... you can't be serious with that, captain!", the commander shouted.

The door slid open in front of him and he remained there.

Looking over his shoulder, back to her, his only words were:

"The ship's yours. Try to get away ASAP or to disable the enemy ships somehow.

I'll try to keep them busy as long as I can, but I'm sure they'll fire again once they received further orders."

With his right hand he unfastened the two straps of the holster on his leg and his handgun fell to the floor.

Like that he left the bridge and the door closed behind him.

Unsure about what to do, the wolfess stood there, motionless, looking into astonished faces.

She knew what Aidan was about to do, but something told her that she couldn't allow that to happen.

Sick of waiting and pondering, she ran out the door and caught up with him half way to the elevator, but the captain didn't want to stop.

"Captain! It's too dangerous to leave!"

"It's too dangerous not to leave.", he answered calmly.

"I can't allow you to go!"

"Feh! I don't need your allowance."

"It's a trap! They'll kill you, most likely!"

"A sacrifice I'm more than willing to take."

"Rule three, officer's booklet: ‘Never let your commanding officer run into obviously dangerous situations or situations with the risk that he's getting caught by enemy forces.'!", she shouted, angry about his stubbornness.

He stopped walking and turned around, facing her : " ‘Rule one, captain's booklet : ‘Do everything necessary to avoid loosing your ship and the crew'! There is no discussion about that!"

Aidan was glaring into her eyes, leaving no doubt that no one could stop him.

The captain turned around again and continued his way.

Commander Silver sighed and closed her eyes.

Her hand opened the button on the holster and grabbed the handle of the pistol.

"In this case...you leave no chance to me than to absolve you from your command."

She aimed the weapon at him and he stopped, not turning around.

"Oh please...I know you wouldn't pull the trigger... It's against your personality.

I know you too good for that by now."

Her eyes opened wide. How could he know that?

Leaving her like that, the captain went on and reached the elevator, calling it.

A couple of metres behind, Celestra's arms, which where still holding the gun aimed to the point the captain was standing just seconds ago, started to shiver â€" he was right.

Realizing what has happened, she threw the gun away and followed him, running.

As she reached him, he was already about to enter the elevator.

"Captain! Please...don't go!"

Seeing her storming closer, a big portion of astonishment laid down on him.

He thought that he had said enough already, but still not enough as it seemed.

"I have to."

As his fingers reached to touch the controls, she took a stand between the doors, so it was impossible for him to use the elevator.

Captain Zarak's eyebrows rose.

"Would you step aside now?", he said, his voice reflecting his irritation.

"No captain...I...I can't."

"What? Would you prefer to get blasted with everyone else aboard including the whole ship?!"

She blinked. Her brain told her that the one in front of her was right. It was just logical to let him go and thus possibly save the Harmony and it's crew.

But there was something else telling her not to let him go, no matter the results.

The wolfess' became more to more desperate facing the facts.

Below her ribs her heart was beating against her chest nervously.

Her eyes became watery.

"Cap...Aidan...please...don't go...just...stay here..."

What was wrong with her? He couldn't understand the whole situation.

"There's no other way..."

"But...don't leave me alone..."

The captain sighed : "Get yourself back in order again, commander!"

"I...can't", the tears started to flow. It saddened her that he just didn't seem to understand.

"You can't why?"

"...because..."

"Well?"

But instead of a reply he was met with silence. The commander's head was hanging down, eyes closed, tears running down her cheeks.

"If you'd excuse me now...", he hit the control.

Before he could put his arm back again, the female stopped him.

Her hand was taking a grasp of his wrist and he didn't try to resist.

She moved her head to face him.

"Because...", her voice softened, "...because I love you."

The wolf's face cricked.

"Well...err...it's nice of you to act like that ... but it's not necessary to try to cheer me up."

"You...You think I'm just faking it?"

"I don't see why you shouldn't."

Suddenly, she wrapped her arm around his neck, took a step closer, cocked her head and pressed her lips to his, kissing him long and passionately.

Taken by surprise, the captain was unable to do anything else than giving in, his eyes wide open at the kiss.

For a while he was just trying to understand, but eventually his arms wrapped around her waist and back and he kissed her as well, closing his eyes and just concentrating on the moment.

He even forgot about what was happening around him.

Everything felt so right; the world seemed to be in order.

Her free hand went up his back, feeling him gently while their kiss deepened.

This kiss told him that she was not faking and for the first time in his life

he was feeling loved for real.

It ended too quick for his tastes.

Her arms were hanging loosely around his neck and her face was in front of him, looking down.

Aidan noticed that she started crying again, even though her eyes were shut.

With his hand, he softly wiped away the streams on her cheek.

Saddened, he raised his voice: "I...have to, you know."

Celestra nodded. She tightened the grip on his neck and hugged him tightly, her cheek pressed against his shoulder.

The grey wolf put his chin on her head, snuggling her softly as he pet her right cheek.

He enjoyed the warmth emitting from her as well as the smell of her hair and fur.

This moment he realized that he loved her as well; he did so all the time, he just couldn't tell that it was love he was feeling for her.

Now he knew it for sure.

But that knowledge wouldn't help him.

He whispered into her ear.

"I love you too, Celestra. But...I have to go now. Please ... try to understand ..."

She wasn't willing to let go of him, and so wasn't he, but he had to leave before the fire would start all over again.

He forced her off him as gentle as possible and she gazed into his eyes, wordless.

"Thank you. Thank you for all.", the captain said as the doors slid closed.

"I'll be waiting for you!"

Celestra put her palm on the closing doors and so did the one behind them.

Those deep, blue eyes on him were the last thing he saw before the elevator began to move.

It didn't make it any easier for him.

Far from it; now he had to fight real hard not to start crying himself.

His thoughts were circling around that image of her.

All the times she'd made him laugh, the many fights they had fought; a buzzing

shook him awake again.

The doors gave way to the corridor and he went down to the hangar deck.

They'd already taken care of the debris and the shuttle was ready for launch.

Slowly the captain took one step by another, climbing up the stairs that lead to the shuttle.

He hit the button on the inside and the door closed.

Once inside, Aidan started the engines and checked the systems.

Everything was ready; ready for this meaningful, last flight.

Unable to bear the feelings that were awakening inside him, he couldn't wait for the hangar doors to open and started as soon as there was enough room for his shuttle to fit through.

Taking a last look back to the ship through the shuttle's windows he sighed, his gaze resting on the spot where its bridge was, still thinking about what has happened just some minutes ago.

The shuttle was quite fast and so he reached the battleship in no time.

With his heart heavy, he entered their hangar and landed somewhere close to a door.

The guards were already getting in position around the vessel, heavily armed.

For a second he imagined to jump out of the shuttle and acquire one of the guard's rifles.

But they were just too much for one alone.

They'd shoot him faster than he could look.

No, he couldn't risk his live that easily, he had to survive as long as possible.

He owed it to the people aboard his former ship and, what's even more important, he owed it to the one waiting for him.

She didn't say it just for the words' simple meaning; no, he knew what it meant.

A loud metallic hammering told him that the soldiers outside became impatient.

The grey wolf opened the door and descended to the hangar floor.

Surrounded by them, the ones to his sides took his arms by force and used handcuffs to lock them together behind his back.

One in front of him started to search him for any kind of weapon.

That guy's hands scanned his body intimately without missing a part.

"Clear!", his voice raised, looking to someone who must've been their commander.

"Take him to the bridge!", the reply came.

Wordless, he got ‘supported' by two soldiers that were forcing him to come along.

After endless hallways the men reached their assigned destination; their captain was already waiting for them.

Again one of his mocking grins defined his face.

"Welcome aboard, captain Zarak. I hope your travel hasn't been too ... uncomfortable."

"Not really."

"Good...goooood."

He glanced to the one commanding the troop of soldiers and nodded to him.

A little later a dull pain at the hollow of his knee almost caused the wolf to kneel down.

In the last moment he managed to shift his weight, but it was worthless.

The same pain jumped to his other leg and forced him to the floor.

"Yeah...I think that's more appropriate. Kneeling in front of your capturer. My...where has all your proud gone, captain?"

Aidan bared his teeth and growled at the guy.

"If it wouldn't be for the soldiers around you wouldn't be acting like that..."

He just laughed again.

A cue of his and the soldier punched him across the face.

"Where are your good manners, captain?"

"FEH! I crap on your manners!"

The grey wolf got hit in the face once more. His lip bursted.

Once his head was back in place again, the blood began to run down his muzzle.

It tripped from his chin and soaked the dark grey floor plating.

"You better comply and tell us what we want to know or you'll regret it!"

"We'll see about that..."

Behind him, this annoying soldier was about to prepare for another punch, but before he could act,

the ship's captain stopped him.

Wondering about his sudden generosity, Aidan looked up at him with a little surprise.

"Damn!", he thought, " that smile of his is starting to become really annoying!"

Once he was done smiling, he announced the reason pretty self â€" assured :

"It's alright, Lieutenant. He'll have lots of time to learn. But for now...introduce our...'guest'

to his new...'apartment'."

The Lieutenant saluted and he and his man shoved the wolf up to his legs and pushed him forward, exiting the bridge.

"What about their ship, captain?"

"Yeah, I guess now would be a good point of time to destroy their all so great battleship once and for all, before they trouble us again."

The ship's Commander turned around and glared into his First Officer's face.

"You don't get paid for thinking! Who are you to tell me what to do?

Do you really think destroying that ship would make him talk?!

You idiot!", he walked closer, looking him directly in the face, „Moron! That's just the reason why I'm commanding this ship and not you! I have the brains for it!

Does it look like they could run from us?

Does it look like they could attack us?

NO!

So why...I ask you why should we destroy that ship", he pointed to the screen," and loose our only

pressurizing medium against him?! Do you really think he'd still be talking once his crew and all his friends aboard would be dead?! NO!

So shut up and just...continue what you get paid for!"

The man in front of him didn't dare to reply. Too high was the risk he would get replaced by someone else. Worse even, the captain would shoot him right at his place.

Some decks below a prison cell's door got opened; a heavy, reinforced compound of steel, carbon and some other chemicals.

Captain Zarak landed on his face as they threw him inside and the door got locked behind him.

Getting up, he growled back at the door, but no one would hear it anymore.

His eyes travelled through the room.

It was small, dark and spartan.

There wasn't more than just a bed, a toilet and a basin along with the corresponding implements.

Above his head a rather dark lamp was buzzing lightly.

The handcuffs still hindering him, he sat down on the bed and prepared himself for a long stay and the possible treatments they'd come up with to make him talk.

He was planning on making it as hard as possible for them to get to know anything at all.

But he also knew they're known for their cruel methods of extracting info.

"Okay guys, we need possible solutions ... any ideas?"

The female's gaze travelled from one to another, then she sat down.

"Dirk. How's the status of the engines?"

"Uhm...well...err...not so good I think. The repairs are still taking time."

"And the weapons?"

"The generator's still offline, but we're working on it."

"How long till we have weapons and drive again ?"

"I can't tell by now, but I'm assuming...something about two to three hours at least."

Celestra sighed, her head supported by her hands and arms which where rested on the table in front of her.

"Okay. How many losses?"

"Data are still not completely in, yet. But at least 142 after last estimates.", the blonde arctic vixen spoke.

Commander Silver shook her head lightly, then looked up again.

"Time for some good news now, isn't it? What about the comm-relay?"

"It's functional, but it seems like they're jamming our signal, so we can't make contact with the fleet.", Luke answered that question.

"Could you find a way to make it work anyways?"

"I'd have to reconfigure the basic I / O parameters, switch to another frequency and maybe boost the signal, but yeah, I guess it could work."

"How long?", she asked, her voice reflecting a bit of impatience.

"Too long, I think. More than an hour."

"Any other ways? Something like a plan b?"

"Hmm...there is another one. As far as I know Response Force Lyre 1 had been relocated to a nearby sector. They're just consisting of some frigates, corvettes...some fighters as escort, but if we could send them a transmission, we could have them passing it on to the Fleet HQ and they could send reinforcements."

"Sounds good. How much time would you need for that?"

"I wouldn't have to boost the signal and I could also shorten the work on the I / O system, so...shouldn't be more than 20 minutes."

"Very well, you better get going then."

"Okay.", he replied, leaving the room in a hurry, not caring to salute or anything.

"On to the weapons...I think it'd be best to concentrate on getting them online again."

"If I'd detach the men working on the engine we could probably manage to rebuild the damaged conductors, reroute the power and restore the generator's output."

"I hope that won't take as long as it sounds like..."

"We have enough men; it wouldn't take all too long. Maybe an hour or two. Just we couldn't work on the engines at the same time."

"That doesn't matter, we couldn't get away anyways. But weapons do sound good now.

I'm just worrying about their reinforcements arriving here faster than ours, so we have to have a plan b. Nonetheless I'm counting on you and your men to get them to work as soon as possible, we're running out of time here."

"I double that. Best I'm gonna go start working then."

"I think so, too.", Celestra nodded, looking after the black wolf with long hair as he left through the door.

"Hmm...good. So far for that. Now we have to discuss on how to rescue Ai....the captain."

"The captain?", Joe looked at her surprised.

"Where is he?", asked the buff guy on the other side of the table.

"He...he delivered himself to the enemy."

"What?!"

Everyone of them starred at the female in command.

None of them could imagine that he'd do such a thing.

"He had no choice. He did it for earth's sake - for us!"

"They're probably already torturing him while we're speaking.", said the youngest of them, a wolfess with grey fur and colored hair, while she was looking around.

Celestra swallowed, those words were penetrating her ears painfully. She didn't like that thought and it made her heart gear up.

"Chris...", Tamara glared at her.

"What ?"

"We mustn't think like that. Let's rather focus on how to get him outta there.", Joe threw in.

Minutes later the plan was made up and the members of the TF were leaving the meeting room.

At that time, the whole room was looking dark and depressing.

The parts of the table which were dark in color, the dark red on the chairs, the dark walls and floor.

The overall colour scheme deposed on Celestra's mind.

She stood up and positioned herself at the nearby window.

Even the surrounding universe was dark.

She sighed and tried to find consolation in the bright stars and the far away colorful nebulas.

Much to her dismay she found little to none.

Too much her thoughts were fixed on the fate of her captain.

But he wasn't just her captain; he was more to her â€" she really loved him with all her heart.

She didn't want to imagine loosing him.

Hopefully everything would work out the way they had imagined it.

"Like your new apartment, captain Zarak?"

"Not that fucking grin again...", he mumbled to the wall.

"Where are your fleets?"

The figure in the cell remained silent.

"You don't want to tell, right?"

More silence.

"Good good. I was looking forward to get entertained by you."

The door's lock gave sound and the door slid open.

Soldiers came in and forced him down a corridor to a larger room.

On the way he could catch a view of the other inmates.

He saw their faces: broken, fallen and poor beings, just waiting for death.

It didn't daunt him, no, it raged him.

Right now he wished he could get rid of those handcuffs and go beat that captain to pieces for the things he did to them.

Not even the women were save.

"Bastards!", he shouted and gnashed his teeth.

The hatred captain, who was leading the way turned his head to smile.

Obviously he enjoyed doing that.

Large, heavy doors opened and gave way to a threatening room, fresh blood still on the floor and walls at some places.

No one seemed to care about that. Why should they?

It had this special touch to it and the psychological effect was even better.

The air smelled mouldy and rusty metal mixed with that along with the copper â€" like smell of the blood.

Really not a pleasant place to be.

But they didn't leave him any choice.

In the middle of the room stood a chair made of metal.

It had cuffs attached to it to restrain the victim's wrists, ankles and neck.

They tied him to that chair and made sure everything had a tight fit.

Once that has happened, bright, dazzling lights turned on, robbing him of his sight.

In front of him, the enemy captain took a seat, lounging on his chair.

Two hefty soldiers flanked the wolf.

He knew what would come next so he closed his eyes and his mind loosened from his body.

It was part of the training he went through.

Of course everyone knew about the possibility of being caught by the enemy and so they also knew about their questioning methods.

Thanks to the intelligence reports they'd been able to put together a training with the aim to make their soldiers and especially the officers as resistant as possible to mental and physical pain.

That's exactly what he could use now.

The two men aside him got to work.

Merciless they exchanged each other in punching.

Dull bashes hit the captain's face left, then right, only to start again.

His head flew from one side to the other and soon their knuckles and fingers were coated with blood.

Aidan could feel the pain, but the training reduced the feeling enormously.

His mind was dizzy as the beatings stopped and his head hung loosely.

Both cheeks were bursted open, the streams of blood running down the sides.

The parts of his face that were not covered in blood were covered with bruises.

It felt like his cheeks were burning as if some kind of acid would be cauterising through the flesh.

"Now, dear captain...do you feel more...talkative now ?"

The reply didn't come.

"I see you have made your decision...but there are endless ways to make you talk. Ehehehehe."

The soldiers freed him from the chair and shoved him to a nearby wall with cuffs.

He got lifted and the cuffs locked around his wrists and ankles.

It was by no means a relaxing pose.

He could see them taking out their knives and the blades cut through his clothing.

Just a bit later he was stripped of them and his ears caught that damned laughter again.

"I hope it's not too chilly for you, because it will get much colder in a few moments."

"Meh..."

Of course he didn't lie. Big nozzles extended from the ceiling and the wall.

Once they were in place, ice-cold water shot towards him.

The pressure was enough to make sure it'll get everywhere and the nozzles were all set for his torso.

Within seconds he could feel his body temperature drop.

After a minute, he was shivering badly; even the fur couldn't shield him from that.

As his lips became pale, the man on the chair pushed another button and the water temperature raised from 10 to 60 degrees.

Everyone who ever played in the snow till his hands were so cold he almost couldn't feel them anymore and then let hot water run over them knows about the stinging pain it caused.

Multiplying that with something about 50 to 100 results in the pain the captain had to sustain.

It was hell.

He gnashed his teeth and leant his head to the side, the muscles in his face clenching.

His circulation couldn't deal with the fierce burden;

it collapsed and took his mind away to a place without pain.

"You are really disappointing me, captain..."

The man ordered the ship's doctor to bring him back as soon as possible and the doctor came, already equipped with all things necessary.

Meanwhile Luke's fixes on the comm were nearing its end.

He was a bit over time and the commander was already swishing from left to right behind him.

"How much longer?"

"Not much. I'm almost done."

"Hurry please!"

The fox nodded in reply as his fingertips were rushing over the keys.

A final beep and he was done.

"Okay...everything's set up and working. We could give it a try now."

"Good. Let's hope it's working.", Celestra said as she stopped walking around and leant over the console, one arm resting on the backrest of Luke's chair.

She was following his every action and her view changed between his fingers and the screen.

It just had to work! No failure allowed; not by the things that were at risk.

"Here's the A.F. Celestial Harmony! To all friendly ships in range: we took severe damage and are currently hold by enemy forces! Our communications are blocked and we need immediate support!"

The fox paused his calls for possible answers, but instead there was just a hissing on the frequency.

"I repeat: This is the A.F. Celestial Harmony on distress call! To all allied ships in range of this transmission: we took heavy damage and are being hold by enemy forces! We're requesting immediate support!"

But again there was just a hissing.

The white wolfess looked into Luke's face.

"What's wrong?! Did you choose the right frequency?"

"There were very few they didn't block. I had to take one which hasn't been used for years now."

"Are you even sure the signal comes through?"

He shook his head: "No, I'm not. Technically it should be able to interfuse their jamming signals."

"Is there a way to find out?"

"Well...err...we'd know for sure if we'd get an answer..."

"Try again!"

The red fox nodded and repeated his call â€" with the same result as before.

"Damn!", Celestra shouted.

With all her hope taken away, she supported her head with her arms and desperately leant over the console.

Luke sighed and shook his head; he also didn't see a sparkle of hope anymore.

The channel was still hissing, but suddenly the hissing changed, rose in intensity and began to sound like a voice.

After a while the guy at the console blinked.

His ears perked and his head raised again, his eyes opening wider the higher his head got.

"We got a response!", he exclaimed happily.

Celestra stood straight again and as she was still wondering about what he was talking about, the smart fox was already boosting the incoming signal and put it on the speakers.

A male voice filled their ears with hope.

"Here captain Muller from the frigate A.F. Vertex. We received your signal. Can you read me?"

Wagging, Luke was looking at the female to his side, smiling widely at her and waiting for the permission to answer.

Her right hand was holding her forehead while her left hand was put below the elbow of the right arm and she shook her head, laughing softly with closed eyes.

"You have the permission to answer."

"Here's the Harmony, captain. Great to hear your voice!"

"How's your status?"

"Weapons and engines are down; our communications are being jammed and we're surrounded by an enemy battleship, a carrier and some frigates. Our signal isn't strong enough to reach the FHQ, but we need reinforcements!"

"What are your coordinates?"

"I'll try to send them to your computer, captain."

He pressed some buttons and a bit later captain Muller acknowledged their arrival.

"Harmony, we'll take care about that. My Communications Officer is already contacting the fleet.

But it'll take a while for them to arrive. You can bargain for them in 40 minutes the earliest.

If there's anything else we can do for you..."

"Confirmed. Other than that I don't think there's something you could do for us, captain."

"Okay, but we'll stay put if you should need us. Vertex out."

"I thank you, captain. Celestial Harmony out."

"Wow", commander Silver sighed, „those are the best news today so far!"

Just as the communications have ended, the Fox could feel a slight pressure on his right shoulder

and he turned his head to look.

"Good work, Luke!", she smiled, „I knew we could count on you!"

He couldn't find any words, so instead he just smiled at her.

Celestra gently rubbed his shoulder a bit, then turned and walked over to the captain's chair.

Slowly her hand slid over the chair's material before she sat down in reservation and struck by memories.

She took some deep breaths to get acquainted a bit.

"This is the commanding officer to all: our communication trials have been successful and we're expecting reinforcements in less than an hour. We're still not through yet, but I'm very confident that all of us will be back to safety within the next few hours. Till then stay alerted! FO out."

Did she really just say FO? She's never used that before, at least not that she had noticed.

So why did she just say that? Was it for her thoughts just fixed on that very aim to free her captain from the grasp of the enemy? Or was it just due to her being called like that for so often now that she just got used to it? She couldn't tell.

All over the ship meanwhile soldiers and crewmen were pleased with those words of her.

Since the captain had left she kept the crew informed about what was going on.

It would turn out to be a good decision, because many already started to worry.

The more time passed, the more anxious they became, but the constant updates on the ship's status cooled their minds and the latest one even managed to raise their spirits.

The overall moral was at it's best at the moment and everyone was eager to work, eager to give their all so they wouldn't have to just sit and wait.

‘Never underestimate the power of moral' â€" one of Celestra's guidelines.

The captain always loved how she could manage to fill people's hearts with adamantine will and passionate courage.

No matter how dark the clouds would hang, no matter how outnumbered they were, how lost the battle seemed to be, she was the one to encourage them and to make them believe in tomorrow.

If it wouldn't have been for her talent, most likely they wouldn't be alive today, anymore.

Unfortunately, she couldn't manage to cheer up herself.

Usually the captain, who also had a talent for motivation, would do that.

Both of them complemented one another all so well with their talents â€" but the captain wasn't here.

It'd still take at least half an hour for the power of the weapons to be restored and right now there was nothing left to do for her. All the people at the bridge, cheering around her, didn't help, either.

She stood up and left the bridge, her tail hanging loosely.

At first she intended to go to her own room, but then she crossed the door to the captain's.

She was about to enter when she restrained herself.

Everything inside that room would remind her of him and thus sadden her even more.

But maybe the closeness to that room was just the relief she was hoping for.

The door slid open and gave way to the large table with the screen on top and the big armchair behind it.

On the left a small lounge with smaller armchairs, a low glass table and a comfortable couch.

Also on the left side, but a bit hidden and at the opposite wall of the room: a small bar.

She took a step forward and looked around.

Never before had this room been so oppressive, so...lifeless.

Her steps navigated her to the large windows behind the table.

The black of the universe seemed so final, so cold and so lonely.

Even the stars couldn't change that feeling.

She put her hand on the reinforced glass and starred out into the darkness, wondering how her love would be doing right now.

Being like that, she felt herself connected to Aidan, her soul entwined to his.

And her worried, saddened mind began to sing a song, one her lips and voice joined to sing after a while.

"Would you do it with me

Heal the scars and change the stars

Would you do it for me

Turn loose the heaven within

I'd take you away

Castaway on a lonely day

Bosom for a teary cheek

My song can but borrow your grace"

Miles away, the drugs began to take effect.

Like an almighty invader, the chemicals found their way to the right synapses and shook the mind of the tormented grey wolf awake again.

Immediately, with penetrating speed, an immense pain flooded his every limb.

It became unbearable, but at the same time the drugs denied him another peaceful unconsciousness.

The doctor smiled toothily.

He enjoyed seeing the pain spread among their enemies and he loved extending their pain to endless.

The water had been turned off before the doctor arrived, but the guy on his chair still had far more cruel ideas at hand.

Of course he wouldn't want to make his own hands dirty.

Therefore, almost unnoticeable for the blurred vision of the tied victim, another of his henchmen had been ordered to the room.

Just a black figure behind a bright light, a shadow, nothing more.

On a hand sign the doctor went away and the dark figure stepped closer.

But the way it did was different from the one of the soldiers.

It was ... slower ... somehow more delicate and tranquilizing.

As the lamp was able to highlight its body, the captain's eyes slowly adapted and as the figure was close enough, he could see by the tight chemise accentuating it's bust that it was a female.

More even ... he saw something like a tail.

"A tail?!", his mind was asking that question very slowly, almost letter for letter.

It couldn't be!

There were rumours about Haxton developing more of his kind; once usual men and women turned into deadly efficient, merciless and cruel beasts.

But despite his expectations, her face was quite beautiful, not at all threatening.

Her fur was colourful and it held all tones of brown and beige â€" a hyena to guess.

She extended her arm and ran her index finger slowly and gently from the wolf's chest

up to his chin.

The room between both their faces disappeared as she drew her head closer to his.

Her dark golden eyes became hypnotising to his debilitated mind and so he was unable to fight when she started to kiss his lips and her tongue invaded his mouth.

With her left hand she was rubbing his furred chest in a gentle manner; her right hand

joining it soon after.

Suddenly, the face in front of him seemed so familiar.

Not like the hyena anymore, but more like ... yes ... like a wolf ... a white wolf.

And her voice changed along with her look.

The female broke the kiss and began to utter some words :

"So ... dear captain, why don't you just tell me what I want to know?"

But all she got in reply were several blinks.

"Well, the sooner you tell me... the sooner ... we could have some fun ... "

She pushed herself closer, her full breasts now rubbing against his chest, seducing him

with a woman's weapons.

His mind, drugged as it was, together with his lonely heart made him impersonalise his deepest wish and within seconds his sight became clear again and the one in front of him changed into

his First Officer â€" Celestra.

Bewitched, he was open for her influence.

"Come on...I know it's your desire... "

Again her lips travelled closer, this time to his neck, gently running up and kissing softly.

Aidan closed his eyes and started to hum lowly, enjoying the treatment as everything else around him was erased from his thoughts.

Her hands travelled lower to his stomach.

"Tell me the positions of your fleet..."

"Huh ?"

"Your fleet. The positions..."

His eyelids sprang open again. Why would his FO ask such questions?

Slowly the thoughts connected and threw up even more questions.

Would his FO really do such things?

After all he's the captain and both of them knew that there are rules forbidding such kind of behaviour and relationships that outreached more than just a professional level in general.

It took a bit time and blinking, but eventually the eyes followed along with his mind and overwhelmed the effects the drugs had on him.

"You! Do you really think I'd fall for your tries? I'll never tell you!"

The hyena smirked and took a step back.

"Too bad captain. You could've had it the easy way, but now I'm forced to really hurt you."

She leaned a bit closer again, a devilish smile on her face as her right hand brushed up his chest and,

with a fast, sudden move diagonally down to the side, her sharp claws cut into his skin.

The blood ran from the four long lines and drenched his fur.

But she wasn't finished, yet.

That hushed growl the wolf let out was not satisfying enough.

Another strike followed and then another one.

The captain grit his teeth and breathed slowly, but heavily, not willing to give any of them the satisfaction of having made him scream.

Still the hyena was continuing and she loved slashing her victim.

It didn't took long until the blood was covering the floor to her feet and the wolf's body was red of blood and littered with cuts.

She licked the blood from her claws while watching her work, smiling at him evilly.

The time that passed seemed endless to the tortured wolf; but also for the ones on his ship.

Walking around nervously, the same way over and over again with her tail dragging after her, Celestra became more to more impatient.

She couldn't bear to be unable to do more than just waiting for the repairs to be finished.

A look to her watch told her that the estimated time was nearing its end.

"Finally !", she thought.

The seconds seemed to slow down the closer they came to the set time.

Once her watch gave her satisfaction, she called the head-engineer immediately.

"How far're you with the repairs?!" Her voice was shaking as she yelled.

"Grrr....yeah, yeah, yeah! Almost done! ...just a ... little more, okay?"

"Damn! Hurry up! The longer we need the likelier it is that we'll loose him!"

"Okay...", Dirk growled," I'll get back to you in a minute..."

A minute...nothing under normal circumstances, but right now a lifetime.

She was about to start walking again when her eyes met Luke's.

He looked quite irritated and just now she realized what she was doing.

The wolfess sat down on the captain's chair, trying to calm herself a bit.

Slowly, her claws dug into its armrests and her whole body started to tense as she was counting down the time.

Images of torture, blood and pain rushed through her head, threatening to overwhelm her.

"... what sufferings he must be experiencing right now...I should be there at his side, but...I'm forced to be here...", she said to herself.

"Repairs're done, bridge. Standing by for your orders."

Those words where a relief to her.

"Good work! We'll need you here if there should be any problems!"

"Understood. And...bring him back, alive..."

"I will."

"Attack group, get ready! We'll meet at the hangar, immediately!"

The communication ended and the commander swung up from the chair, smiling slightly.

The latest news made her heart jump and she found new courage, believing in her own words.

Yes, she will bring him back, alive.

When she reached the hangar deck, she was fully equipped with bulletproof armour and an assault rifle.

Although they tried to talk her out of it she insisted on leading the attack, herself.

She eyeballed everyone; the fast and heavily armoured shuttles were waiting at the soldier's backs.

"Okay everyone! You know what to do! You've been briefed quite intense about this!

I know as well as you do that you're professionals!

The targets' set, so go in, do your job, bring our captain home and we're back in the blink

of an eye! Time's running out, so MOVE !"

The troop-leaders nodded and ordered their men to enter the shuttles.

Everyone turned and climbed into the big transports on the double.

As the heavy ramp closed behind the wolfess, she grabbed one of the loops at the shuttle's ceiling.

"Everything ready?", she spoke through her micro.

"Turrets locked on target and ready for activation."

"Pilot, we're ready for take â€" off!", she noted the man in control of the shuttle.

The sideward engines, which where already running, emitted a sudden flash of blue light and the noise level rose as the ship started hovering and then flew closer to the hangar doors.

Just in front of them, it got into waiting position.

"Okay, restore the energy to the weapon systems and wait for my command."

"Standing by."

Probably they'd have already noticed that their weapons were activated again, and in fact they did, but it was too late...

"Hit em hard!"

Only about a second later the four main turrets started to lay down a firestorm

upon the remaining battleship.

The first salvo took out several of their smaller turrets and had a direct hit at the enemy

ship's bridge.

While the hangar doors drove open, the next salvo was already about to get fired and when the ships left the hangar deck, the heavy turrets gave their bridge the rest. It blew up in a nice explosion, robbing their ship of every defence- and attack-capabilities.

As soon as the troop transports had left the Harmony's hulk, all enemy frigates started their engines, heading towards the ship's location, and their carrier provided cover â€" fire.

The fighters got in formation with each shuttle and they continued their way to the disabled ship in front of them.

But the enemy fire wasn't unregulated; the frigates aimed their guns and were now trying to take down the attack crafts.

In reply to that, they started their evasive manoeuvres, making it really hard for them to place a hit.

One bullet missed the commander's shuttle for just some inches and she almost slid as a result of the quick reactions of the pilot.

A bit disgruntled, Celestra contacted the mothership: "Dirk, can't you take off that heavy ship, dammit?!"

"Yeah, yeah...give it a second!"

The frigates came closer, but the main turrets had been assigned to other tasks and so the smaller double â€" barrels had to take care of their group.

"To all fighters: leave formation and concentrate fire on the frigates' turrets, but make sure not to get in the way of our own fire!"

The leaders of the different echelons acknowledged the order and broke the formation, trying to take the frigate's fire away from the transporters.

While the shuttles headed further towards the damaged ship, they locked their guns on the turrets and fired the small amount of rockets they had been equipped with.

What seemed to be the leading frigate didn't draw it's fire away from the main targets and so didn't the rest of them.

One of the shuttles took a graze, but fortunately, thanks to their quite heavy armour, it only damaged the portside engine and thus just reduced its speed.

Just seconds after that shot, the front-turret of that frigate bursted into a fireball after several direct rocket hits.

The fighters were able to deal out some minor damage to the frigates as they passed them, just in time for the heavy guns firing again.

As the next salvo hit the group of frigates, for them it must've felt like flying through a minefield.

Three frigates, which have been the closest to the Harmony, took heavy damage, two blew up in large explosions as a result of the damage they took.

The middle one came to a rest after the hits and the damaged one further at the rear of their formation, along with the remaining two frigates, slowed down and tried to escape the following rain of death.

But the way was clear now and the antiâ€"frigate turrets did quite well.

Several hits pierced through the hull of the outer one, others destroyed half of the middle one's portside hull, leaving a long scar along its centre-line.

Completely coverless and too heavily damaged, they couldn't do more but remain motionless.

Shuttles one and two already reached the hangar doors, but they were still closed.

The carrier tried to win ground and activated its main engines to take the fighters into cross fire.

With a decent respect for its flak-batteries they fell back while Luke, on board on one of the shuttles, tried to hack the hangar door controls on the battleship's safe side which was facing away from the carrier.

It took a little while, but eventually the shuttles were able to enter and behind them the heavy doors closed.

In no time the hangar deck was under control.

Celestra stepped down the ramp and inspected the large room.

"You," and she made a gesture that enclosed all soldiers of the shuttle she had exited, „come with me, the rest proceeds as discussed!"

Every group left the deck through a different door and they found little to none resistance.

Most of the crew was still unaware of the boarding parties, because without their bridge, the whole ship wasn't more than a huge, lifeless animal awaiting its redeeming stab.

"Bridge?! ... BRIDGE GODDAMMIT RESPOND!!!..... Fuck!", the captain, who's been so confident of victory some minutes ago, slammed his fist against the wall.

"You two...go check what's going on there and tell those idiots that I'll boot them all personally once I'm done here!"

The soldiers nodded and left the room, leaving a worried captain behind who grew more nervous, though he tried to hide it.

"Becoming nervous, captain?", the hyena smiled a devious smile.

"Err...no...there's no reason to. My men will have the situation back under control in no time.

And then we'll teach them a lesson by executing the ones that were responsible for this little ... annoyance."

"You know...that'd be just in your own interest, captain."

Outside, the damaged Harmony fought a rancorous battle with the still mostly unharmed carrier.

At normal conditions their ship would've had an easy game with a carrier, but in its damaged state, odds were slightly on the carrier's side.

Carriers didn't have torpedo-tubes so they could host as much crafts as possible; a fact everyone aboard the facing ship was happy about, because another one or two hits of them, three at the most, at damaged areas would've given them the rest.

While firing with no rest, the giant turned around 180 ° to have its weak side turned away.

Smaller explosions hit its hull all the way: bullets of the enemy ship that couldn't pierce through the thick armour, but instead blew into bits.

The big projectiles though, which flew back at infernal speed, could do some damage.

One of it punched through the carrier's armour plating as if it'd be nothing, drew a large tunnel behind it and came to rest inside the monster's belly.

A cut-through cable harness around the hole twitched with electricity, a deformed joist extended into the inner parts of the ship and everywhere around was fire and explosions.

But the attack didn't cease.

In fact, they seemed to double their efforts.

A hit destroyed one of the Harmony's frigate-turrets and others dug gorges into the hull,

but nothing all too serious.

The battle still lasted when the wolfess in her battle-armour was running through the ship's corridors, lit by the red, flashing light of the alarm, the marines following her.

Still the surprise was on their sides as most internal communications fell out with the destruction of the bridge.

Very few soldiers crossed their way; even fewer were able to point their weapons at the leading wolf.

With deadly precision she killed everyone who dared to try to shoot her.

Corpses were soon plastering the way.

Only the ones who didn't have a reaction quick enough to draw their weapons got knocked out and thus came away with their lives.

While she was running and fighting, sweating and panting heavily from this endurance-draining trial, she didn't even notice how her body was already longing for a break, a little rest and she just ignored it when her muscles were starting to hurt from the long ways through this mass of steel.

She had an aim in front of her and she wouldn't stop before she had reached it.

The men behind her, securing her back and taking care of everyone coming from a crossing corridor, were already falling back; but she didn't notice, she was too fixed on her mission.

Blood spattered on the walls, floor, her armour and face as she continued her way to the cells.

"Why're they not responding?" The dark figure became really nervous by now.

"They should've already reported..."

"Well, maybe they can't", the hyena said sarcastically.

"Can't you go and take a look?"

The female smiled a cunning smile.

"But of course I could. The question is: do I want to?"

"You're mired in this as deep as I am, so it'd be in your interest as well as in mine!"

Again she smiled and then left, swaying her rear seductively, pistol ready.

There it was!

The bulkhead that was leading to the cell-wing was right behind this crook!

Carefully, the commander leant against the edge of the wall and spied around it.

Two soldiers were still guarding the door.

Obviously they had strict orders, otherwise they would've already left their position to investigate the reason for that alarm.

"Okay girl... steady your breath... You have to get past those guys... No problem...heh...really...", she tried to calm herself mentally.

Another peek certified her sighting. Indeed there were two strong looking, tall soldiers with assault rifles at hand, guarding the entrance.

What was that?

Something liquid-like was covering the visor and dripped down on her muzzle.

With her hand she wiped it away, intending to have a clear view again.

Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect and she just smeared it around.

She lifted the visor and inspected that liquid closely.

Blood!

"But....where? .... When?!....Did....did I really kill so many people? I can't believe that it was me...but....no, there's no time for doubts now. They're cruel men, only out for destruction and slavery! There's been already so many innocent they've killed...it has to be stopped!"

Her mind prevailed over the doubts and thus her will to get past the soldiers by all means reinforced.

One of the soldiers grunted.

"Do we really have to stay here while the whole ship's in motion ?"

"Our orders were clear: ‘Don't leave your posts, no matter what's going on.'"

"Meh...I hate being treated like an idiot! He knows we're good soldiers! We should go and see what's going on!", and he was about to leave his position when the other soldier interfered:

"Okay...sure... go and take a look! It won't be my head that'll get blasted afterwards..."

"Dammit!"

He went back to his post and glared to the guy to his side.

Sure, he knew about all that. And he also knew that he was right but that angered him, nonetheless.

He couldn't stand him being always the one to be right.

Nonetheless he didn't rebel against his mate and just got back to guarding duties.

Suddenly, something that sounded like a whistle cut through the thick air that was lying heavily in the corridor in front of them.

One of them raised an eyebrow, not really getting what was going on.

But the following silence let them ease again.

Another whistle.

They pricked up their ears and turned them towards the direction the noise came from.

"You heard that as well?", said the left one, the one that seemed to always be proven right.

"What?"

"That noise..."

"You mean that whistle?"

"Yeah..."

"Wow...someone whistled...we should investigate, huh?", the right one said and he put quite some sarcasm into his words. But maybe he would at least have an excuse for leaving his post that way.

"Mh...yeah, of course we should! And now stop playing around and have a look already!"

"Yeah yeah...sheesh..."

Inwardly, the guy smiled to himself. Seems like he was able to outrun his mate for once.

He had what he wanted; he could leave his position.

But the luck wasn't on his side for all too long.

Once he passed the corner and left the sight of the second soldier, a numb hit took him off.

His vision faded to black and little stars started to dance.

"Steve?"

Obviously, the hit had caused too much noise and as the answer of his friend was a long time coming, he readied his rifle and came closer.

She knew the lifeless body on the floor would betray her, so she wasted no time and hid it nearby.

As the soldier peeked around the corner, there was nothing there for him to see.

Not on first sight at least, but he wasn't one to overlook something that easy.

In the dark he could make out just the shape of a boot; but not just a simple boot, one attached to a leg! And when he was about to near, in the corner of his eye he could make out a reflection in a hidden figure's eye.

Quickly, his weapon was pointing towards that spot.

"Raise your hands and come to the light! No games or I'll nail you to the wall right here!"

"Damn!", the commander thought to herself.

Being caught by that guy wasn't her plan.

In fact it should've went the opposite way, but there she was now, a gun pointing at her face.

There was nothing she could do at the moment, even though she tinkered with the idea of just trying to disarm him. But the distance was far enough for him to react before she would've been able to, most likely.

She dropped her gun, raised her hands and slowly came to the light, making eye contact with him.

A grin lightened up his face.

"Now...what do we have here? Jackpot I'd say! I'm not surprised you were able to take out that idiot, but seems like I was too smart for you, ain't I?"

"Luck...nothing more."

"Mhhh...", he eyed her slowly from tip to toe, „c'mon, show me your face! I wanna see it as long as it's still unharmed."

Hesitantly she complied, making sure to look him straight in the eyes again once the helm was taken off.

Once more he eyed her.

"Hehehe...I think I'm gonna have some fun with you before I'm reporting my catch...

And now...drop all your weapons!"

She let go of the helm that she was holding still and her rifle, pistol and knife followed it.

Each of them echoed through the corridors in another way.

In this moment Celestra's senses were as sharp as a razor and every cell of her brain was

working on a solution; a way that she could regain control again.

"Good. Seems like you're one of the smarter ones, eh?", he smiled to her and then kicked away the weapons, to have them out of her reach.

With a flash in his eyes he turned her around and slammed her on the wall, forcefully.

The cold metal of his weapons was digging into her back.

He took her hands and tied them together with a cord, then he turned her around again.

Now that she was defenceless, he had the time to take a closer look at his prey.

His left hand came up to her cheek and held her in place while he was examining her.

"Mhhhehehe, such a pretty face...so untouched and innocent... It'll be my pleasure to wash that off you!"

The commander squirmed in his grasp when her ears caught his words; words of perversion that made her feel repulsion for this man.

To top it, he started as well to paw her armour now.

"You won't need this any longer..."

Inside her, the anger raised with each of his actions, each of his words. It became obnoxious.

And while he still tried to take off her armour, he brought her over the top.

"Okay! That's it! Now you're going to pay!", Celestra yelled to herself and the last part of it to her capturer as well.

Before he knew what was going on, her knee hit him in the crotch hard and he almost sank to his knees, but had enough strength of will no to.

His grip loosened a bit, but not enough to get free.

Soon the pain faded into pure rage.

The answer came quick.

In a fast motion he punched her in the face that hard it made the skin of her left cheek burst and her head strike against the wall.

Still panting from the pain he endured, his lips curled, and with the rage clearly elevating his voice he flashed his teeth at her.

"You.Damn.Bitch! I'll show you who's in control!"

The soldier didn't give her time to recover, but instead punched her in the guts as hard as he could.

Fortunately, the battle-armour swallowed most of the impact, but it was still enough to force her on her knees, coughing and almost unable to breathe.

Her head was lifted cruelly by her hair; in a way she had to look up to him.

"Like that bitch?! I see we're not so bold anymore, are we?"

"F....Fuck...you! ..."

"Ohhhohohoooo....no, I have a much better idea...I'll fuck you!", came the threat while he pulled her head back.

Celestra bared her teeth and flashed her fangs, growling threateningly at those words.

The one in front of her didn't like that kind of behaviour and so he drew his knife and put the tip to the corner of her lips.

"Now now...bad doggy! That face could stay..."

To reinforce his threat, he dragged the blade from her lips all the way to her cheeks, the edge barely touching the skin below her fur.

But the wolfess didn't stop growling, at least not till he yanked her head back and pressed the tip of the knife onto the skin on the side of her muzzle, penetrating the skin.

"You really think I'm just giving empty promises, right?!"

Slowly, the blade moved towards her upper lip, the pressure not easing.

A sharp pain reassured that a nice, long, accurate, red slice now defined her muzzle.

More the surprise than the pain caused her to stop growling and to open her eyes wide, instead.

No matter what the trigger for that was, it had the desired effect.

With a mad grin he turned to her again.

"You learn fast! Good bitch!"

The soldier patted the top of her head like you'd do with your dog and let go of her hair.

For the moment he was satisfied with that little success, though he was aware that she'd not stop fighting that easily.

After all she was a soldier; that he could tell by the look of her armour and the weapons she was carrying.

To his surprise she seemed to have come very far. Somehow she had managed to be right there in front of him now.

Maybe she's even part of some kind of special-unit.

But that wasn't the point at the moment.

Quickly his thoughts swung around again and he got back to his abhorrent ‘game'.

"So...if you know what's good for you doggy, then you better do what I say now..."

Obviously the wolfess didn't care about giving him an answer.

With a fast motion his hand was at her throat and yanked her up to her feet just to press her hard against the wall and cause her to choke.

"I didn't hear you..."

Still there was no answer, only light choking-noises.

That was unacceptable and he dug his hand deeper into her throat, shaking her.

This time she tried to answer him.

It took some time, but eventually she managed to reply.

"Y...ye...y...yes..."

Yes: that was the word he wanted to hear from her.

"2:0", he thought to himself as he chuckled.

The first thing Celestra did when he released his grip, was to gasp for breath.

Her throat was sore, but that was just a minor problem.

At least he let go of her, which raised her chances to escape.

"Do you promise not to try running or anything else when I free your hands now?"

His voice was strangely calm and even, no sign of rage anymore.

She knew the best way to get away was to have him encased in a false misk of self-confidence.

That way he would drop his guard over time and become open for influences or unable to strike back a quick attack.

Slowly, he fumbled the knot open with one hand while he pressed the muzzle of his gun to her chest.

"No tricks!", he growled.

Agreeing in silence, she waited patiently for him to remove the cord.

At the moment, as unpleasant as it was, she was completely at his mercy.

The man's grip eased and he took a step away from her, his greedy eyes gluing on her shape.

"Better...and now...I think we don't need that armour anymore. I want you take it off!"

Wordless, her own eyes locked on his in a glare; she started taking it off, beginning with loosening its straps.

The soldier's smile became dirtier the more she lifted it and thus slowly revealed her trained, flat belly to him.

Seconds later she had lifted it to the bottom of her bra, well aware of his arousal.

With every centimetre she lifted the armour, his gun dropped a bit more.

His eyes were too busy sucking in her curves, her breasts and the fur on them that protruded over the hemline of the cloth as well as her sexy belly; his mind was already framing images of all the things he would do to her.

She expected it; she knew that he was distracted for the most part now.

The time was right. It's now or never. And, one has to admit, now sounded much better than never.

Once the armour was over her head, she grabbed its edge and, in a quick turn, slammed it in his face, sending him staggering and then, before he could get rid of the jacket-like clothing, pounced onto him and grabbed his wrists.

He was already reaching for his rifle, which he lost during the pounce, but Celestra was quick enough to interfere his plans.

Applying her whole weight in order to keep him on the floor, she sat on his stomach and held his wrists in place.

"Freeing me was a failure! The last one you ever did!", she menaced him with a deep growl.

Below her, the soldier was wiggling and struggling to no avail at first. However he was stronger and weighed more than her.

She tried hard to keep him down. Her long, dark hair hung in his face and it moved around with his motions.

With every second it became harder for her to maintain the needed amount of pressure and strength.

His struggling made it even harder for the wolfess.

A quick motion later, her sharp, pointed teeth dug into the man's nose painfully.

The adrenaline made him immune to pain, even when her jaws pressed together harder.

Little streams of red ran down his face, but he didn't care.

This was not the time to care about small injuries.

In the end he managed to roll over with her, bringing him on top and while he did, he pulled away his nose from her teeth, leaving deep wounds in his flesh.

After he made sure she won't escape his grasp, he addressed to her, angered beyond reach with the flame of rage burning madly in his eyes.

"That's it! You've overdone it!"

He took his knife in to his right hand and pointed its tip to her chest.

"Now you'll die you bloody dog!"

Celestra tried to get free again, but he was just too strong for her. Her heart raced as she struggled desperately below the weight of the soldier.

She saw the blade of his sharp knife blinking in the air.

There was no escape anymore.

Her muscles relaxed and she closed her eyes as the knife came down at high speed.

Then a loud noise and voices everywhere.

Her body felt so light all of a sudden.

Was she dead?

Slowly she opened her eyes again; a blinding light stole her vision.

As her eyes adjusted, she noticed several men standing around her, yelling.

She blinked several times.

What has happened?

One of them lifted her into a sitting position and she took a look around.

The man that was so close to kill her just milliseconds ago was lying on the floor beneath her, bleeding heavily.

And herself?

Obviously...she was still alive.

The reason why, she was being told by one of the soldiers.

"Dammit Commander! You've been lucky we finally managed to catch up with you again!

Just a second later and you would've been dead! You really shouldn't have left our group!"

"So that was what happened...", she thought to herself, still a little dizzy, "...they must've shot him just before he was able to knife..."

The wolfess took a deep breath, inhaling the filtered air of the ship, the smell of fresh blood, a gun that has just been fired and sweat lingered in the air - she sighed.

"Good work...once we're through with this...remember me to recommend you for a medal..."

As he leant her a hand to help her stand up, he smiled : "I gladly will, commander."

Once she was back to her feet, she smiled back to him and grabbed her armour, which another soldier was holding out to her, and put it back on.

Pistol and knife were put back to their assigned places again and she went on to the main door that was leading to the cell complex.

She pushed the button â€" locked.

"Your assignment.", she pointed her face to the one with the explosives in his equipment and stepped away from the door.

Wordless, the soldier came near and kneeled on the floor in front of the bulkhead.

As he glued the explosives to the door and set up the timer, everyone else retreated to the wall behind the corner.

The soldier at the door followed them shortly after on the double.

He ran behind the wall and just about 5 seconds later a loud explosion had taken care about the reinforced door.

As the dust had vanished, they checked the door.

The metal was ripped apart in the middle and around the hole it was bent inside the following room.

Leading the troop, Celestra was the first to step through the door and examine the cellblocks.

While the soldiers secured the ways, she spent the time with checking the different cells.

Most of them had inmates, poor beings they must've captured on different planets on their flight or from other ships.

All of them had scars, wounds, and all kinds of injuries and were in a miserable condition - most likely the consequences of torture and their cruel treatment.

They were almost unable to move a single finger; that weak they were.

It touched the wolfess' heart and saddened her to see how cruel men can be.

She felt ashamed for her own kind.

‘Own kind'...it sounded so unreal like the whole situation here was looking.

With the inspection of the last cell, it was clear that the captain wasn't held here.

But where else could he be?

With that question her heart began to race again.

What if they were already torturing him in the most brutal and unimaginable ways?

Or worse: they've already killed him?

Whatever it was...she had to find out...quick.

Hopefully it wasn't too late already.

She had to hurry...but where to search?

The ship was huge and they could be anywhere.

Maybe the inmates were the key to that question and thus she picked one and asked him for the location of the torture-room.

It was a middle-aged black man.

He was lying on his stomach and a look at his back revealed the reason for it.

They must've whipped him about a dozen times.

Long cuts were situated all over his sore back.

He raised his head a little to look her in the eyes and spoke to her in a low tone and with shivering voice â€" signs of how weak he was and how immense the endured pain must've been.

She had to listen carefully and understood just about 2/3 of it, but fortunately the man knew the way.

"Thank you.", she smiled warmly.

"Captain!"

"Yes, ma'am?"

"I want to see those men free and taken care of! Assign some men to bring them to the shuttle and attend to the worst injured as best as possible!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"The rest follows me!"

Shortly after, the captain had men assigned to the task, leaving himself and what seemed to be his best men to escort the First Officer.

A long way with many twists and long corridors further, a well-known human's nervousness increased with every noise his ears could make out and with every minute that passed without notice from either his men or the hyena.

His eyes wandered through the room, from one wall to another and, obviously, he was sweating.

"Goddamn animal!" His teeth grinded against each other.

Zarak slowly raised his head, his drugged vision and mind becoming clearer again.

But as the effects of the drugs passed, the pain took their place.

Fighting it as much as possible, he perceived his enemy's inner unease.

With all his remaining strength he pushed against the restraints â€" nothing.

Still the other captain hadn't noticed that he was awake.

Right now that wasn't of advantage nor of disadvantage, though.

He had to do something; but what?

His only option was to converse with him; try to anger him, to raise his nervousness and thus maybe cause him to do a mistake that'd get him free â€" somehow.

"Heh...animal...Are you really that different of her ?"

A bit shocked and surprised by the captain's words, whom he had already forgotten about, the man turned around.

Although he didn't like the wolf's words, they brought enough diversion to make him forget about the rest for a moment.

"You! Animal! What do you know? You know nothing! There are many people that would pay quite a sum for you with a collar and leash attached!"

"I always knew that I was popular, but that is new; even to myself.", Aidan grinned.

And that grin was just enough to anger the other guy.

With direct, determining steps he walked in front of his captive, a club in his hand.

Aidan already prepared for the blow, but it didn't come.

Instead, the club was pushed hard against his chest to hinder his breathing .

"Don't forget who's in charge! If you wouldn't be of more value alive, you'd already be dead or experiencing the worst pain of your life!"

"I knew it had a reason you just dared to tickle me till now.", he smiled at him.

"Grrr....don't overdo it, doggy! Or I might forget about my orders and just tear you apart!"

To that, the wolf laughed.

"Hahaha...c'mon...you and forgetting about your orders? You're too much of a coward as that you'd actually do so!"

Saying that turned out to be not as good of an idea for the reply was as simple as it was painful.

The club hit him hard across the face, causing his brain to become benumbed.

"SHUT UP YOU DIRTY BASTARD! You know nothing about me! One more word and I'm going to show you!"

Captain Zarak just gathered enough energy to speak up once more.

"You....you think you're...strong...but...everyone can be a hero when...fighting someone that is bound to a wall you coward!"

And that was the last straw.

The once so cool man ticked out, threw the club into the corner with such force that it noted its new location with a loud, noisy sound, and freed the captain of his bindings.

Once that has happened, he dropped to his knees as the gravity was tugging on his legs.

"So?! Is that all?! I though you wanted a fight, doggy!"

Aidan took some time to regain control over his senses and his body, before he made an attempt to stand.

Slowly, his figure built up and eventually he stood upwards â€" a bit shaky maybe, but standing.

He took a defending stance and locked his gaze on the hatred enemy, waiting for his first step.

The human on the other hand was still raged and his fists flung around nervously.

As the wolf in front of him still didn't have taken any other actions, he couldn't stand it any longer and jumped forward to place a hard punch with his right.

Although Aidan was prepared for something like that, he wasn't able to block the punch; he was just too weak and still shaky on his legs.

He got hit in the face â€" again.

The wounds on his left cheek, that had already stopped bleeding, broke open again and he could feel the warmth as blood ran down his cheek.

The captain let out a soft moan and grunted as he resumed his former position again.

He tensed the muscles on his forehead and muzzle which deformed his abused face and made him look like a beast; one that could jump on that hated enemy and rip him apart limb by limb any second.

Again it was his capturer that attacked; but this time captain Zarak was able to block the hit and,

in a quick, but nonetheless powerful punch, hit him hard in the side, causing him to stumble backwards coughing.

Aidan though didn't want to end it that quick already.

No...he would be patient and analyze his technique before he'd make him pay for all that guy has done to him.

"Nnnargh...not bad...", he coughed out some blood and wiped it off his lips, "...captain...

But you'll need more than that to defeat me!"

Seeing that his opponent was still all, but far away from being defenceless, he shifted a gear back and went on in a slower, more deliberate pace.

This time, he waited in an attack stance and eyed the wolf carefully before he dekeded with his right and then stroke with his left.

He grinned as he took a step back again and saw that the captain was trying to not loose his balance.

"Seems like you're still underestimating me, captain...what a pity.", he said mockingly.

The grey wolf just grunted in reply and glared at him.

What this coward can do, he also could and thus he dekeded as well, but he placed a much more powerful hit on him as his foot flew towards him at a high speed and reorganized his guts.

It sent that fool down on the floor, coughing blood and gasping for air.

Satisfied, Aidan glanced down on him, smiling to himself.

Yes, by no doubt it gave him pleasure to see that bastard like that.

"....you...ngh....you...fu...fucking sonofabitch!", he yelled, still choking.

Captain Zarak was still smiling down on him, but suddenly he felt an immense pain in his left thigh.

It came from a knife that coward must've drawn when he didn't look.

He was still holding it, but the adrenaline was gulping a good portion of the pain and so the captain was still able to stand.

With the back of his fist he slapped the kneeling guy across the face, forcing him to let go of the knife that way.

He was already limping a bit, but he also wanted to go on by all means.

The battleship's captain stood up again, pissed that he wasn't holding the knife anymore.

Once he got rid of the blood on his mouth he stormed towards Aidan, intending on ramming him with his head. Before he was close enough, the wolf had taken a step aside and, as he passed, grabbed him by his neck, turning around together with him and threw him against a nearby wall.

With a sound of bones slamming against metal, he fell back on the floor.

It didn't take him long until he was standing again and considering his next steps.

The grey figure in front of him meanwhile felt the pain come through more to more.

When the human finally ran towards him again and tried to hit him with an attack of his leg, he blocked, gripped it and twisted it in a painful way.

But his opponent was able to free himself and, in the same turn, kicked the captain of the Harmony hard on the chest and prepared for a punch.

Short of air, Aidan was fighting the results of that hit. In the last second, he was able to evade the punch.

For the next seconds, he made sure to leave enough room between himself and the bad guy; enough for him to regather his breathe.

When his capturer realized his chances weren't good enough, he gladly took every chance to play unfair.

Once again, one of his attacks ended in a merciless punch in the face and he decided the time would be just fine for the little plan he made up.

The grey wolf prepared to block another punch, but it was just fake.

Instead, he felt the great pain his enemy's shoe caused him, when he was hit in stomach.

That not enough, while stumbling, the human grabbed hold of the knife again.

Slowly he started to twist and turn it around in the wound and within a second the pain grew to a level that rendered the wolf motionless and he fell on his knees and then on his back.

His sight turned black and just a small tunnel remained through that he could render the scenery.

Slightly, he could feel something cold pressing against the skin of his neck.

His capturer was already sitting on top of him, making sure he wouldn't be able to get away again.

Numb, the voice pierced through his ears as he spoke : " Now....prepare to die!"

The captain laid his head on the side and all he could see was the blade, pointing at his throat, coming down on him.

His vision gave place for total darkness, his ears failed and his mind became silent.

A light...there was a light in this endless darkness...

It grew brighter and bigger.

Also it seemed to come closer.

Was that the light people were talking about all the time?

The one you see once you're dead?

Dead...so he must be dead then...

What else could be the fact?

There was no way he could've survived that.

All around him was still, motionless and cold.

Although it didn't feel chilly, the darkness itself was enough to make him feel that way.

The only warmth that seemed to be there was this bright light in front of him.

He took a step forward, it felt like floating.

There was nothing below his feet.

Yet he moved.

"Hmph...funny...", he thought.

He extended his arms and felt the warmth emitting from that strange light.

As he took another step, it seemed like he had passed several metres with just one motion.

The distance to the wall of light shrunk away with every step.

But suddenly he stopped.

"Wait...is that even a good idea? I don't even know what's inside that....that light-bulb!"

Low voices pierced through the bone-crushing silence.

He wasn't able to make out what they were saying, but obviously they weren't the voices of evil.

Curious, Aidan continued his path and the voices grew louder.

By now he could say for sure that they were female, interrupted by strange noises and some kind of constant beeping.

"Hmm..."

As he came closer, the white in front of him turned out to be interspersed with very light tones of grey, a bit yellow.

The colours became more intense as he walked on and so did the voices, which died away several times.

Suddenly the colors seemed to form a bigger whole...some kind of scenery...one he knew, but wasn't able to allocate.

The picture grew clearer and there was something that was looking like a table.

He wondered about that when he noticed walls...along with blinking lights.

There was also a bed.

"What the fuck?!"

The perspective he had on that bed was strange to say the least.

Almost as if...as if he'd be lying inside it!

All of a sudden, a shape that was looking quite female passed the scenery.

She was dressed like medical personal and that assured him of what he was thinking.

"The...the sickbay?!", his mind shouted, "How the hell?!"

The wall of light was already directly in front of him. Still hesitating a bit, he stepped into the scenery.

The next thing he knew was that he opened his eyes and blinked several times til his eyes adjusted to the environment.

He was breathing heavily from the pain he felt, but it was much less than what he already went through. The beeping was still present; it came from the right.

Already expecting it, his eyes beheld the monitor that was displaying heartbeat, frequency, blood pressure, pulse and even more things.

Still a bit disbelieving, he snorted.

A second later his attention was drawn to the shape of a head that was lying on the bed; some inches higher than his knee.

Its long, dark brown hair fell loosely on the sheets and white-furred arms gave it a bit comfort.

As his eyes travelled her figure, he realized it was his First Officer.

"She didn't leave your bed from the moment we've put you in it."

Aidan turned his head to the left where a vixen was standing and smiling at him, now.

Obviously it was Doc Chase, how everyone used to call her, but close friends also called her Foxy.

It fit her smart mind very well.

She already solved many problems concerning medical issues.

Under her care there was no other option than to get back on your feet again.

He never met a more passionate medic.

"How...how long..."

"Two days. Your injuries were quite bad and you've lost a lot of blood. But we've been able to patch you up again."

Upon ending her phrase, the vixen looked at the sleeping commander.

"Anyway, you still need a lot of rest before you're able to get back on schedule again.

And I'm sure you two have a lot to talk about.", she smiled.

"If you should need anything, just push the button on your right."

She turned around and vanished from his view; most likely attending to other patients.

As her figure faded away, the captain's eyes went back to the pretty female at his bed.

The slow, deep breathing along with the little motions of her chest were really tranquillising.

In the embrace of the artificial light her slightly wavy hair sparkled in all different shapes of brown.

Somehow, he couldn't explain it himself, a sense of optimism and calm, but strong, life-restoring energy was radiating from her.

Aidan was really happy to be back again, but seeing her rose that feeling even more.

In this moment he couldn't have thought of anything more beautiful to behold.

With some effort, due to the way he was laying in the bed, he extended his right arm.

He could feel the air leaving her nostrils and brushing over the fur on his fingers like a soft touch.

Just noticing it, he stroked away a strand of hair that was hanging in her face and combed it to the side of her forehead.

For a moment he paused, just fondling her face, her muzzle, her ears with his eyes.

Then his fingers stroked through her hair as gentle as he was able to manage to.

A content, deep-drawn hum like a sigh ran through her throat and a little, hardly noticeable smile accentuated her face.

Suddenly she moved and Aidan feared waking her, so he took back his hand and laid his arm on the mattress, at his side.

Not a second too late as it turned out.

The motion descended into a stretching, which was accompanied by a long yawn.

Celestra raised her body without opening her eyes at first, but once she had blinked off the sleep from her eyes, two sparkling blue orbs were observing him.

Although they were hypnotising, they were also smiling at him with all tones of light blue around the iris.

Her smile broadened and in a rush of feelings and sensations she hopped forward and wrapped her arms around his neck.

For a moment her head was resting with her cheek on the soft fur on his chest and she hugged him tightly as if never wanting to let go again.

Obviously she was overjoyed and it made him happy to see her like that.

No matter what he had to experience â€" this sight was totally worth it.

As she realized what she was doing, she opened her eyes in a rush and backed off and sprang to attention.

"Sir!", she saluted," Good to have you back again!"

Still a bit confused, the grey wolf looked up at her as he brushed over his chest, something wet spreading over his fingertips.

Celestra's eyes were still a bit shiny from the tears she didn't succeed in fighting back.

"Thank you...", the captain pondered about how to call her,"...FO. And ...you don't need to be so formal."

Hearing the abbreviation again made her smile as she replied : "Yes, sir."

"Please...take a seat..."

Slowly she seated herself on the chair that was standing aside the bed.

"Well...err...", he was looking from side to side shyly, searching for the right words,"...how...err....how it comes I'm still...still alive?"

The wolfess smiled to him as she answered: "Let's just say me and the men arrived just in time.

Which doesn't mean you've not been close to...to...just a second later and you wouldn't be lying here and talking to me."

"Oh...so you've saved my life. I dunno what to say...a simple thank you wouldn't quite fit here."

"It's okay. I'm sure you would've done the same for me."

"Well...yeah, of course. But still...Anyways...what about the ship ?"

"The ship's fine considering the circumstances. We were able to restore power and get a transmission through thanks to Dirk's and Luke's talents. They're both genius.

We carried you back to the shuttle immediately once we found you.

Thank god your blood-loss wasn't too much and Foxy was able to stabilize you.

I don't even want to imagine what would've happened if ..."

She took a short break to think it all over again and then continued: "Oh, we've found many prisoners. I thought it'd be an good idea to bring them to our ship.

As we set off and left their ship behind, our reinforcements arrived.

Of course they've missed all the fun, but the Aurora's torpedoes gave their Carrier the rest.

Otherwise your lady would be in a ... well ... not so healthy condition by now.

But don't worry, it's nothing you couldn't fix with a little hammering and bending."

"That's good to hear."

Celestra's face was reflecting a certain devotion as if remembering all the losses they took.

But nonetheless it was comforting and her eyes were burning with sheer willpower and happiness at the same time.

Willpower to go on and do her job, happiness about having her captain back.

"Uhm...say...did you see a female hyena coming your way on the enemy ship?"

"Huh?"

"There was a female hyena...She was...trying to squeeze me for information..."

"Oh...I'm sorry, but we didn't see anyone like that."

"Hmm..."

"But Dirk said the sensors caught a small spacecraft darting away from the bilge just before the reinforcements were close enough to intercept."

"Hmm...interesting...what happened to the other captain? Is he still alive?"

"No", she said dryly, "I had to take him down."

"Oh...well...I'm just wondering who it was that made the plan for this rescue-mission. It was you, wasn't it?"

A bit shy she turned her head to the side and smiled : "It wasn't my plan alone. The others also helped working it out and they had good ideas, as well!"

Her modesty caused him to smile: "Well, but it was a good plan nonetheless."

Wordless, her only reply remained a cute smile and he wished this moment would've lasted longer, but it was now he had to tell her that they weren't allowed to build up a relationship in any other way than a friendly one and it saddened him.

After a whole while of silence, he attended to her.

"Uhm...what...what you said when I left the Harmony...", it wasn't easy for him to find the words and he paused.

"Yes?", the wolfess asked with an ensuring tone.

"...did...did you mean it or was that just for motivation?"

Before answering that question, she took a deep breath and then shook her head.

"No, that wasn't just for motivation. I...I did mean it."

"Well...err...you know that the rules are prohibiting any kind of intercourse further than a friendship..."

Celestra sighed and her gaze went down to her thighs.

"Yes...yes I know."

Captain Zarak was looking at her and thinking quite a lot before he continued.

Pushing her away would break his heart and it would rob him of every sense of beauty in the world, of that he was aware.

"Well, you know...according to the rules I'd have to apply disciplinary measures now."

Her body remained motionless and all her happiness seemed to have been taken away within a second.

"But...but they're rules that have been made for standard situations and for a crew that'd stay in space for 6 months at top. I don't think they apply to our crew's situation. None of them had seen solid ground for more than a couple of days since we've started. It's been over a year now and no one knows how long this war will last."

Hearing that, the wolfess' ears perked slowly, but then in a single motion and her head rose again with a smile growing on her lips.

"And besides...besides I know the memory of you and your last words before I left the ship was what kept me alive there. You've been the strength inside me that kept me alive."

But the commander didn't allow him to finish his words. In the blink of an eye she was holding him in a deep embrace. This time she didn't hide her tears of joy.

"Oh thank you captain! I...I was hoping you would say that! I...I don't even know what to say...I'm just so happy...!", she sniffed and the tears were flowing down her cheeks.

Again a bit puzzled by her outright actions, he slowly wrapped his right arm around her and returned the embrace, closing his eyes.

"Shhhh....", he whispered in her ear, " you don't need to say any more."

The embrace lasted for a long time and gently he wiped away her tears.

"Funny how two people, working together for so long now, need such a long time to discover their feelings for each other, huh?"

Rubbing her soft cheek against his she acknowledged with a hum.

Then she lifted herself a bit and looked him straight in the eyes.

His right hand came up to stroke over the small scar on her muzzle.

"You're injured..."

"It's nothing. Well...nothing compared to your injuries."

Those words made him proud of her and he smiled, stroke away another branch of hair from her face and uttered the three words that are meaning the world: "Celestra, my little warrior-girl ...I love you."

As if those words were adding to her already over-the-top joy, she grinned a wide and happy smile.

"I love you too!"

And then she leaned in to kiss him.

It was a deep and passionate kiss and the wolf joined in just as passionate.

This sure was a divine moment for the both of them.

And suddenly, everything that has happened over the past days, every pain and misery that

has been caused, it all seemed like nothing compared to this very moment in which no

words were needed to express how each of them was feeling for one another.

Definition:

p. 10, l. 20: ABST â€" short for Anti-BattleShip-Torpedoe

p.12, l. 4: NO â€" Navigations Officer

p.27, l. 27: FHQ - FleetHeadQuarter

Lyrics by Nightwish.

Story, characters and universe © Daniel Giebel

Proofread.