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Hey there everyone, I know that it has been quite a while since i managed to put anything of mine out for you wonderful readers to view...but i'm hoping that now that i am settled down, things will become easier to write and i will have more tiem to do so. So as a small 'thank you' i am publishing one of my non-yiffy pieces just as one hlaf of your gift...that's right, i have another story that is already more then half done, and hopefull will be posted soon so that i can make up for missing so long a time.

Remeber that the characters Aries, Phobos, Demios, and Angelia are copywrited to the people of anchient Greece...and everyone else is of my own design.

Sincerly your writing wolf,

Cyan Spirt

p.s. isn't it a relief not have to say that you have to be over 18 to read this?....whoo

A loud alarm sounded through the ornate wooden stables; the honking horn awaking both inhabitants of their stalls and alerting them to the business of the day. But just as quickly the ringing noise started, it died away into the silence of the morning sun, its light filtering through the open walls as the rays illuminated the splendor of the wooden structure where even a king would have no qualms about sleeping.

The ceiling was patched with giant palm fronds which were held aloft by huge beams made from the center of redwood trees; the walls and posts were unblemished strips of different fruit trees, their scents wafting around the interior as a natural perfume. The stall doors were polished sheets of alabaster marble attached to the wood railings with ornate steel hinges, and had jewel encrusted doorknockers and handles to allow easy opening. And soon, two heads joined the spectacular scene as the occupiers of the stable slowly sat up and stared at each other, knowing full well what their day was going to entail.

"Guess we are needed in battle today Phobos," the light skinned horse said drowsily. His face was as beige as dry mud with specks of a darker brown that covered his soft and tender complexion; while his hair and mane were a pure white color that stood out against his darker pelt. The equine's eyes however were a blue as bright and clear as the morning sky, some even claimed to have seen actual clouds wafting though his vision as he spoke. "Hope you are ready..." he mumbled, reaching up with his fingers and wiping the sleep from his eyes.

"Of course I am ready for this Deimos," the other equine said confidently, "I just wonder when and where Aries will be taking us today." This one, unlike his counterpart, had a pelt of solid black making him seem like his body was a statue of pure obsidian given life. His mane and hair were a light gray, softening the warhorse's look; while his eyes were a bright red, the orbs resembling the heart of a volcano with embers and flames bouncing around in his head. His face and bare shoulders were covered in the medals of war, for scratches, scars, and other now healed wounds littered his pelt and told a story of a brave warrior.

"Like time or place has ever mattered to you when it comes to war," Deimos joked, flashing his blue eyes and a soft smile, his face as smooth and blemish free as the alabaster his stall door was made out of.

Phobos just stared back, trying to seem as angry as he could before bursting out into a fit of laughter as he heard the other horse join him. Their voices filling the stable with joy before they slowly calmed themselves down; "we should get ready, Aries's hired messenger could be here any second with the news..." he said softly as he stared around his stall, trying to figure out what to put on. The black horse looked over his possessions as he sat on his rather comfortable bed, the comforter the color of dry straw as he shifted one of the plush pillows over his lap to hide his nakedness from the mirror across from him; the large pane of reflective glass sitting on his darkly stained oak dresser that held all of his accessories and small pieces of clothing. Next to that was a large steel water basin for baths and other hygienic needs, while next to the head of his steel frame bed was his wood closet with gold inlay containing all of his togas, pants, and other formal wear for when they set off to meet the other gods of the different pantheons. The walls decorated with hanging displays of various weapons from all across the era of time, each one carefully polished and arranged to show off its lethal tendencies. "Any idea what we should wear Demi?" he asked casually over the short wall of his room and into the neighboring stall which was only separated by a narrow lane between them.

"How should I know?" was the response given by the beige equine, "it could be taking place at any period in time, and besides...our clothes always change to match what is going on at the time...You know that Phobos!" he shouted tiredly back. Slowly Deimos managed to sit back up, staring around his own room which was covered in light pastel colors and soft silk fabrics unlike the cold wood and metal of his counterpart; his walls displaying a various array of maps from all over the known world and beyond, each displaying the tactics that were used to quire victory, or lessons to be learned from defeat. The bed on which he sat was shaped like a large cloud, it's pillows and blankets were made from the softest of silk; while all his furniture were fashioned from the melted down golden treasures that had been sacrificed to his boss as a promise for victory. But the god had no use for the trinkets, so he had given them over to his steeds and right-hand positions as they were; thus they had ended up becoming part of his decor as he slowly made his way over to the towering dresser.

Opening it up, Demios pulled out a white cotton tunic and pair of pale ivory work pants before slipping them on over his frame, the equine preferring to go commando at the moment before his duties were assigned to him. He then made his way over to his own dresser, opening a few draws till he managed to find all that he was looking for; adding a large blue satin sash around his waist, a bandana around his neck with Aries's symbol on it, and bracelets and anklets of various colors and sizes. "Just make sure you don't come out naked like you did last time buddy," he teased, "remember how you almost hit the messenger in the face with your morning wood...scared her half to death, ya did!"

"Yeah, yeah..." the black male grumbled as he began to get ready himself. Intentionally ignoring his hygienic needs for the moment, he moved over to his large mirror and began to brush any tangles or knots from his long mane before turning around to give the same treatment to his lush tail as well. And as he stared into that pane of glass, staring back at him was a very well-built and naked equine, his muscles massive and his arms stocky but not creepily overdeveloped, and more scars and cuts running the length of his form. But once he was done looking himself over, he made his way over to his dresser and pulled out a small kilt, opting for the freedom of movement rather then confines of contemporary clothing; and in addition to that he removed a pair of worn but usable reed sandals and a small white cotton halter top that reached to mid-waist. His last additions to his outfit were adding a small red and black ribbon to tie back his hair and another one to bind the base of his tail into a more formal look. He then glanced over to a small board located on the inside of his door, the two columns reading 'victories' and 'defeats' in large cursive white letters, each having a rather big number posted below it though the 'win' columns was larger by far; "I'm going to add another tally to the victories side today," the equine mumbled as he finished getting himself ready.

"Looking at your war records again?" his beige buddy responded as he glanced over into the adjacent stall. "You always make such a big deal out of each fight or skirmish...you know, you can win the battle and not the war," he replied in a scholarly tone. He watched his stable-mate grunt before they both broke into a small chuckle, each knowing well enough that what ever side they or their master Aries won would be destined for the ultimate victory in the end even if it was years down the road. "So where is she anyways? The alarm sounded almost ten minutes ago..."

"How the hell should I know?" Phobos grunted, "I mean it's one of Hermes's children, and you know how those little tykes get distracted by everything," he chuckled. "I swear...those kids all like little condensed versions of the god himself," he mentioned while the two warriors finished getting dressed. Slowly changing only a few feet from each other, having long ago dropped their inhibitions about being naked in front of the other male, they were both male and both equine, and there was little, if anything, to be ashamed about between the two of them.

"Got that right," Demios chuckled, lifting his head up to flash a smile before ducking back behind his wall to finish tightening the sash around his trim waist and brushing his tail and mane clear from those bothersome tangles. Though just as he thought he had time to relax, the pitter-patter of little wigged steps fluttered down the corridor; "and speaking of Hades...here comes little Angelia now," as both equines looked up to see the small girl make her way into the stables, landing on a large bale of hay.

The small pair of yellow winged sandals slowly stopped their fluttering as the child peered around the stables she had come to know, as well as its occupants. For there, standing with arms crossed lazily over her chest and dressed in a large blue sun dress with ivory lace trim around the collar, arms, and hem, a small white bow tied into her long golden locks, and covered from heard to toe in assorted jewelry, was a small raccoon. "Hey there Demy...Phooie..." she said cutely, flashing her large green eyes in the equines' direction. The coon's fur was a soft gray color except for a tab of white that peeked along the underside of her muzzle, and the black mask on her face and stripe down the center of her plush tail.

"Hey there yourself, little goddess of messages," the tan equine replied, offering a warm wave as he made his way through his alabaster stall door and took a leaning position against one of the support beams in front of the child. "What do you have for us today? We figured that when the alarm sounded, one of you cubs would show up eventually, what took you?"

"Probably got distracted by some pretty flowers on the way up here...or was it a flock of gulls this time?" the other male asked gruffly, slowly making his way out of his stall as well to take a seat on a small stool on the opposite side of the path from his equine brethren. "And for another thing...it's Phobos...not Phooie, okay?" crossing his arms over his chest with a loud humph, blowing a bit of loose straw into the air.

"Well...as a matter of fact I do have something for you two," she said, angrily crossing her arms over her chest as her tail wagged sternly behind her; "but I don't think I'm going to tell you two...I came here as fast as I could, and I'll be damned if two little ponies plan on making a mockery out of me." This was certainly a child of Hermes alright, that childlike spunk and resistance to authority rearing it's rather brutally honest head.

Demios quickly jerked up, looking over at the black warhorse that looked ready to pound the small coon into the ground; so taking matters into his own hands he quickly moved to stand between the child and her possible attacker as he smiled. "You must forgive my counterpart, he has been without good entertainment for quite some time..." and by entertainment he was of course referring to the sin of the flesh, "so I hope that a simple apology on his part will make things alright?" his voice soft and mellow, which surprised most for a right-hand warrior of the god of war. He saw a small smile on the girl's face before she nodded; glaring over the tan equine's shoulder at the other horse.

Turning around as well and following her line of sight, Demios gazed upon a black horse with his eyes set like lasers on his forehead; a silent conversation happening between them as they read each other's facial expressions and subtle gestures. The obsidian equine making it clear that there was no way he was about to apologize to that runt of a child, but the constant and subtle grunts from his counterpart finally made him concede the point as he sighed, letting his shoulders droop. "I'm sorry Angelia," he huffed, his hair flying over his face as he brushed it back in frustration. He looked up, and saw to his surprise not a single reaction from the small coon, so sighing once more and adding, "Goddess of messages" to his apology.

"That's better," she announced, her blonde curls bouncing on her shoulders as she rocked back and forth on the soles of her winged sandals. Then the stables went into a small spell of silence as the two equines stared at their visitor, waiting for her to speak and tell them her little message of sorts. "Oh sorry...I forgot," she giggled after a few tenuous seconds; then, after clearing her throat, she began to recite the God of War's words like an answering machine, repeating them in his own voice.

"Demios...Phobos..." the booming voice came from the little body of the child, "I'm sure that by now you know that we have much work to do thanks to that alarm this morning. Anyways, by the time you get this....knowing the routine you go through every morning with our little messenger...I will have already saddled up and be on my way to the site of my battle. Yes, my battle!" he repeated in an even stronger voice. "You two will head off on your to the coordinates I have already locked in for you, and should you choose to hurry...you might be able to reach me in the communication room before the fighting gets really heated and then I will be enjoying myself to much to bother answering. Over and out.....Now, where did I put that flaming mace with the skull on it?" and with that, the message ended.

Angelia just giggled a bit at the end, "oops...guess I caught too much," as she swayed and twirled on the small bale of hay on which she stood; her large green eyes watching the two males as he quickly got up, the tan on going1 over to give her a small bow of thanks while the other just simply snorted a bit. "Good enough...well, I'm off....see you two on the battlefield," and with that she hopped into the air by way of her sandals, and with her blue sun dress waving in the wind, she flew through the large opening and out into the fresh air to continue on her duty.

"Come on Demy," the bigger horse said as he nudged the other male's arm as they both headed out of their stable at a good running pace. Their chests heaving as the sound of their hooves hitting the tile floor were in unison as they made their way from elaborately decorated room to another; from the throne room to the dinning table, from the in-door training course to the weapon storage area in their quest to get to the communication room before their leader would leave for battle.

The tan warrior neighed softly, "well, you can eat my dust....Phooie!" he shouted back as he sprinted ahead, bursting through the large door marked 'communications' first and into the rather high-tech looking room. "Man...he certainly has a thing for the fancy," he mumbled under shi breath as he started around the gray painted circular shaped room. The floor was bare save for the soft gray carpet that lined it, and the walls were covered in small mirrors, each one with a small name of a god or goddess hanging above it. And a large, all most movie screen mirror on the front wall with 'Aries' written in a never ending flame on the top.

"I thought he said he would meet us here...So where is he?" Phobos said flicking his tail in mild annoyance as he looked around the empty enclosure and approached the large screen only to see a small parchment laying on one of the activation knobs. "Sorry guys, guess you had too much fun with little Angelia and missed me. Just want to say that I'll be spending my time in the 12th century at the crusades, and you will be...well, just go to the prep room and see for your self. Sincerely your god and master, Aries," the equine read aloud. Sighing, he tossed the scroll to the floor and began to head out, "well, nothing left for us here."

Demios just nodded slowly, following his counterpart out of the small room, making sure to lock the door before they went off at a more leisurely run till they were standing in front of a set of large double steel blue doors, painted to look like blood was dripping from the hinges. "Every time I see that...I still don't get it," the male murmured as they pushed through and were immersed in a vast array of weaponry, armor, and supplies that could turn the tide of any war on even a small selection. "Any idea where we should look?" he turned to his right and asked, watching as his friend just strolled in and began looking things over.

Phobos just shrugged, "well, we need weapons where ever we go...kind of a given don't you think?" as he hefted up a large mace before shaking his head and thrusting it back into a pile. He got a small nod in return as they both made their way around the piles, picking up various weapons before throwing them back as not seeming good enough for this mystery battle. But finally they both made their way to the center of the room, where two rather large teleportation devices were already set up and waiting, each with a small note next to it along with a rather large box.

"Guess these must be our rides," the tan equine said, "and look...he left us little presents." As they each picked up their respective box, looking over the soft red wrapping paper with Aries's symbol engraved all over it. Demios was the first to open his gift after reading that card that said it was for him, pulling out a large four-headed flail; the base resembling a large hydra's body while each of the heads was a different colored dragon head. He twirled it around a bit, already having mastered it eons ago in his trained, and was amazed how easily it moved in his grasp. "So what did you get?" he asked, nickering happily as he continued to try out his new toy.

Not even bothering to unwrap his present, Phobos shoved his hand through and whipped out a rather large and formidable ax; it's double sided blade shaped in a full crescent with decretive trim down the center of the handle. The weapons size was certainly large enough to make any warrior top-heavy, yet the warhorse was able to wield in both hands, one if necessary as he twirled it around and pretended to strike down imaginary foes. "Pretty good gifts I have to admit," he said as they holstered their weapons and turned to look at their respective transportation tubes. "You first little pony," the larger black equine said with a smirk.

"Age before beauty," Demios responded with a small and graceful bow, his mane falling over his face to hide his smirk. Grunting a bit, the other male responded and walked up to the door, opening it up and getting in; his actions quickly mirrored by the tan male as they looked around the dark and lightless inside of the tube before hitting the small switch on the side as they felt themselves thrust through the fabric of time.

For just like all the other gods, they were timeless creatures; living in a world where the time stream dare not go, and could there for pick and choose as to what places in history or the future they wish to appear and do their bidding in: operating and effecting their own pasts and presents on a scale no single deity could completely map out. For with each change, a ripple passed along the stream, shifting its course from event to event, and changing the way history plays out for the mortal world below. Some compared it to a game of chess that has an infinite number of pieces and squares, each one able to bend the rules for itself and the others till at long last, in the depths of infinity, one would declare "checkmate".

Back in the tubes of the warriors, their clothing, weapons, and accessories were beginning to be changed by the slip-stream, turning into the fashions and weaponry of the time that they were entering. Their personality was not affected by the shift in time; however they were thrust into whatever body was the leaders, for only the greater gods could appear in the mortal realm as themselves, and their manner of speech, formalities, and other cultural information was instantly placed in temporary spots in their memory, so that as soon as they arrive they can take charge of which ever side they happened to arrive on. Each commander already thinking up schemes, plans, and strategies to out do the other on what ever kind of battle they will be facing, weither land, sea, air, or beyond...they had formulas to win every terrain.

Demios was the first of the two to emerge from his tube, stepping out into another small cylindrical room that at first glance, he mistook to be still inside the transporter; but when he turned around to try and step out again, he saw the magical door close, trapping him in this time till the battle was over and he was pushed back into his realm. Glancing around his current surroundings, he noticed that it was some sort of far futuristic setting, for the modern-day porcelain toilets he had come to know when he went into the 20th century was replaced by a sleek steel one. The room couldn't be any bigger then a few feet across, making it hard for him to take a step, let alone turn around in the confined area. The only other objects in the small place were a water basin and large mirror, which he looked into to take notice of his current clothing.

Staring back at him was a face much like his own, save for the current 'costume' that he had been changed into during the trip. For no longer did he wear the simple clothes of a tunic and work pants; instead he was in a full military captain's garb complete with all the usual trimmings. On his brow was a black rimmed hat with a plastic visor that partly obscured his eyes from view, a small logo appearing on it which showed the shape of a large metal bird looking contraption. His cotton shirt and been replaced with a steamed and pressed white jacket with gleaming buttons and clasps down the middle, a stiff color around his neck, and blue trim all down the collar, hem, and around the sleeves to add a more elegant look. There were a rather large amount of metals, pins, and other such decorations of success pinned to the lapel of his suit, giving his regal attire even more embellishment. Around his waist lay a large blue silk sash that was tied in a knot over his right hip, the ends left to dangle to mid thigh; the piece of cloth doubling as a belt to hold up the nicely creased white slacks that fell almost to the floor and partially hid his solid black hooves left in the open air. The pants also have the bright blue trim down the sides of either leg; and with the blue, white, and tan colors mixing in the form before him, the equine neighed softly, having to admit that he looked rather decent as he opened the large panel and stepped out into his quarters.

The new room was a rather simple design for the captain of wherever he had been sent, the place seeming to contain only a simple bed placed against the far wall across from him and a couple of circular windows. Yet as he moved over, his hooves clinking against the metal floor, he saw only blackness through the openings. "Must be a night battle..." he said softly, yet as he stared longer, his eyes began to adjust and he swore he could see small blinking lights in the far distance, like the entire sky was lit up with fire-flies. "Where is this strange place?" he asked himself, "it looks and acts like I'm in a castle, yet this entire thing feels like its moving...as though somehow the entire castle has grown legs." His further thoughts however were interrupted by the sound of a door sliding open into his room, and he turned to face what he took to be his second-in-command.

For there in his door way was a very shapely looking golden retriever, her bright blond hair cascading in curls over her shoulders as she wore much the same outfit that he did save for the fewer amount of decorations and medals. "You've been in that bathroom for a long time sweetie," she cooed softly, Demios arching an eyebrow having not expected his second-in-command to be so lax in her formalities. "Everyone on the bridge was getting worried, so they sent me to go look for my husband...err...I mean captain," the female corrected, her golden cheeks flushing some as her large golden orbs twinkled in the unnatural illumination. Though, those weren't the only orbs that caught the horse's attention, her body having many a supple curve and her pressed jacket nearly popping a button as it strained to keep her decent. The female's legs were thin yet toned, the white pants clinging to her form rather nicely as her large fluffy tail wagged out from behind her happily.

"Husband?" he asked loudly, raises a few finger to scratch his head as he watch the woman slowly make her way over to him and give him a small kiss on the cheek. His face lighting up as his large tail swished back and forth behind him while he tried to comprehend the situation. "But aren't you my sergeant...or right-hand man...err...woman?" his voice a little confused as he tried to grasp this affection she was showing him.

"Yes...my husband," the canine repeated, a soft smile making it's way over her muzzle as though she found all of this to be rather funny; "didn't you see your wedding ring when you woke up this morning?" she asked, lifting his own paw to his face as he now noticed a large gold band wrapped around one finger; the ring engraved with the names 'Demios' and 'Natasha' with a small red heart placed between the words. "What is with you today?" her voice as sweet as it was tinged with worry, "we have been married for just over a year now, having got through the T.I.M.P. only a few months back. They stated that as long as we were able to keep our private and professional lives apart, then there was no problem in us being married."

Slowly Demios nodded, giving the appearance as though this was all coming back to him; for long ago he had learned that the mortals with whom he worked with, should not know that he is a deity, having dealt with many a mob and many more an admiring group of fans. "And the T.I.M.P. is what again, cutie?" he asked, scratching the back of his head, "I'm sorry, just had a rather rough night of sleep is all." The equine wanting to find out everything he could about his current time and local.

"Wow...you really are acting odd today," Natasha mumbled to herself as she ran her paw though the golden locks, "it stands for The Intergalactic Military Police....which is basically the governmental body that watches our actions all the way out here in the cold depths of space." Her paws slowly moving around to grip his hips, her fingers more then just gentle as they gripped the crotch of his slacks; "you can bet that tonight will be even rougher my sweet pony, I arranged for us not to have a shift for the entire night...and I plan on riding you good and hard," her melodic voice seething with carnal desire.

Demios's eyes went wide, of course, why didn't he think of it before, this was all in outer space; it explains those uneasy movements he felt before and now why his clothes had become so fancy: he was a spaceship captain. It was then that he felt the soft caresses though the tight material, making his stallionhood stir a bit as he gulped, knowing he had to get out of this body before night fell; for making love with a mortal while on business was highly frowned upon in his line of work. "Well...err, sweetie...battles don't win themselves now do they? I should be getting to the bridge Natasha, why don't you reacquaint me with our enemy as we walk there?" the equine slowly shifting from the woman's grasp.

The golden retriever just sighed as she got the small hint that her husband was too nervous about the upcoming fight to concentrate on later tonight as she looked him over a few times before smirking. "You aren't really going out like that are you?" she inquired, though by the way she read his face, she assumed he didn't know what she was talking about. "your pistol silly....probably left it in the washroom," as she tromped into the small room, emerging minutes later with the small weapon in paw and offered it to the horse; "holster it, and we will get on our way," his second-in-command informed him as he looked over his redesigned weapon.

Demios looked over his redone weapon, having completely forgot about the flail now turned ray gun. Its sleek metal body measured about ten inches long, the handle just big enough to comfortably fit in his grip as he ran his fingers over the smooth surface. And on one side of the grip, he saw a small dial with a pointer motioning to one of five different colors; must be corresponding to the different elements of the flail it was made from, he thought to himself as he shrugged, holstered his new weapon, and followed his new and temporary wife out the door to his command station.

* * *

Meanwhile, Phobos had finally made his way out of his own tube, standing in his own room as he stared around the rather elaborate confines; the black equine looking around the room that was draped in beige and brown silk, the walls while seeming to be made of paper and wood was actually just cleverly modeled steel. The windows were made to appear as though they stared directly into the outside, though after having tried to put his fist through, he had found that it was actually very well polished and very hard glass or plastic. The room housed many a wooden piece of furniture including dressers, tables, chairs, and a large four-poster bed covered in the softest of satin sheets and a mattress that felt like nothing but packed air. Different colored paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling and casting a constant dusk-like setting over the obvious Asia inspired room; which of course made sense once the male had seen his reflection in a large mirror after having slipped out from the bed where this body had been sleeping.

He was dressed like a samurai of the ages past, however instead of bulky steel plates fashioned together with twine, he was sporting a suit made of a material stronger then Kevlar and even more flexible, however keeping the same design as the warriors long gone. His long gray locks were tied back in a small top-knot on the back of his head, the little black ribbon keeping any stray follicle from falling in front of his noble face. The rest of his clothes, or rather armor, was either a deep red or obsidian black like his pelt; the pieces fashioned together with formfitting brackets that adjusted whenever he moved or even breathed while wearing his suit. A good number of metals hung from his breastplate, each one showing off his numerous achievements on and off of the battlefield. On his left hip was a scabbard containing his modified weapon, for no longer was it a huge ax, but rather a bright gray beam sword; it's hilt making the large laser appear with a simple button, having tested it out only a few minutes prior, slicing a few corners off of some furniture.

Suddenly a soft murmur caught his attention, his large ears swiveling around till they focused on the source, identifying it as coming from the lump on the bed next to his spot which he had simply taken to being a bunch of pillows. "Whose there?" the equine commander said, his fingers already grasping his weapon as he readied himself for a fight already. With his stance ready, he slowly moved around to the side of the bed, using his fingers to nimbly lift the sheets till a pair of pale yellow horns poked forth and made him jump back. "What are you doing in your captain's quarters? I demand and answer," he nickered loudly, mentally wanting to jump right into action and slay the beast.

"The better question to ask is 'what am I not doing inside your tight quarters?'" the voice responded, obviously male in origin. Phobos was taken aback as he watched the sheets slowly lower themselves to reveal the face and upper torso of a well built and chiseled bull lying in the bed next to him, a rather lustful grin spreading over his face. He figured the boy, mentally referring to him as such since any mortal as compared to the age of a god is a child, couldn't have been any older then twenty-five. His eyes drifted from the sharp foot long horns atop his head, to the soft looking brown pelt dotted with small specks of white and black, to the two large brown lenses that looked over him with such a caring look. "The battle doesn't start for another two hours Phooey," god he hated that name, the equine thought to himself, "why not come back to bed so we can go riding again?" the large male gently thumping the empty side of the mattress with his paw as he bared his pearly whites and gave a soft moo.

The equine nickered back in surprise at the brazen gesture, his ears perking up as he instantly forgot about the weapon by his side. It wasn't the fact that he had never been with a fellow male, quite the contrary in fact, since most gods and goddesses were somewhat bisexual when it came to their partners; but the fact that he was the bottom and not the top baffled him to no end as to what the mind of the body he had taken over was thinking into agreeing to do this. "Well umm, sweety..." Phobos said softly, not knowing the bull's name, "you know that if we want to win....I have to get a surprise jump on their forces." His fingers moving up to fix his top-knot and tail binding, doing his best to appear busy so as to not have to wind up next to the larger male.

"You know I don't like it when you call me 'sweety'..." the bull responded, shifting so that his back rested against the headboard of the bed; Phobos was about to make a comment about not calling him Phooey, but was interrupted by a playful growl form the other male. "Why can't you ever just call me Pyron like it says on my medals? Or even just a simple 'Py' will work," replied the male, crossing his tree-trunk like arms over his broad chest. This position reveled more of his sculpted body to the equine; his fur was kept very short, the brown follicles covering his arms, back, neck, and ears as the only other color present on his form was a creamy off-white for the chest and what he figured was the groin as well. His chest was massive, ripples and muscles seeming to sprout form nowhere, making the veteran warrior have to admit that he was in rather good shape for people of this time.

This once again made the seasoned combatant blink, the male lying before him wasn't just his concubine, mate, or simple plaything he had picked up...he was a fellow officer. And having already deemed that he was going to be in the final frontier after being woken up by the sound of beeping and a display of oxygen levels in the hull, he had to get himself out of this, not willing to be taken by a mortal in such a fashion. "Because I...uhh, like to have my...pet names," he blundered out, giving a soft smile to appear sincere, "besides, I'm sure there are things I can do from my control room that might give us an edge like checking the gauges, seeing our supplies, arousing the troops and whatnot."

"I know one soldier that you already have aroused," a lustful snicker passing though his lips as the outline of a rather formidable appendage began to take shape under the covers before the equine forced his eyes to look away. His tail shuddering at even imaging what that might feel like as he slowly made his way to the bathroom and stepped inside, splashing his face with cold water to cool off. "Aww come on...I was only kidding," came Py's voice from outside followed the sound of shifting sheets and hooves on metal. Suddenly the male heard the door open followed by a draft of air before too large broad arms encircled his waist, trapping his arms at his sides. "I'm sorry, I guess all this battle preparation has had me kind of pent up," the bull admitted as he rested his large head on the equine's shoulder, "I promise, no more bad jokes or trying to get into your pants until this whole ordeal is over." The brown thigh rubbing up against the black one as the soldier sealed the deal with a kiss to his commander's cheek.

"Thank you..." the equine breathed out softly, his ear twitching as he felt the rough yet warm lips embrace his cheeks before the feeling was gone moments later. He turned around to watch as Pyron pulled a towel from off the nearby rack, wrapping it around his waist as he made his way though an open arch and into a nearby shower, steam soon spilling out into the small room. "I guess I'll see you down at the mess hall!" Phobos roared over the gushing shower, getting a guttural grunt in return before making his way outside his room as he looked around for directions. Shrugging, he simply turned left, made his way down the gray steel corridor lined with many a door, before the sounds of grumbling men and women entered upon his senses. Turning down a short path, in no time at all he was standing at the entrance to the ship's cafeteria, the talking now having ceased as all eyes were centered on his form in the doorway.

* * *

Back in the commander center now run by the beige horse and his wife/second in command, he was slowly learning the ropes to intergalactic combat. During the twisting walk from his room to his seat at the helm of his craft, he managed to get some information about his situation from the golden retriever, pretending to have needed a refresher course since had gotten a bad night worth of sleep and was rather tired. As it turns out, the horse was in the body of the head commander from the nation of Lesay, its people a few thousand million light-years back the way they had come as they sped off to fight the menace known only as 'The Trang". It seems that 'Trang' as they are called, has attacked several space colonies of the Lesay, killing several hundred civilians in the process and stealing billions of credits worth of materials and supplies to help with their war effort. And now the duty had fallen on his shoulders to lead this flagship along with several other frigates, battle cruisers, and transports into battle against the opposing side's main fleet; the battle scheduled to commence in only a few short hours as the site turned out to be only a few hundred miles from a recently established colony that was trying to establish itself under Lesay's rule.

"So explain these controls again for me Natasha darling," Demios said, looking over his right shoulder at the canine sitting behind him. The equine watching as she gave a soft smile before coming over to point at each of the many levers, switches, panels, screens, and displays; giving a detailed description of what to do if any of them should go into a critical state and what that means for the ship. He simply smiled and gave a soft "love you," to which he was rewarded with a quick kiss on the side of his face. Then turning to face the large and highly reinforced clear window to view their course, he took a moment to look around the bridge and his seat of power.

There were furs of all species surrounding him on all sides, their outfits consisting of a pair of bright blue slacks, blue button-down dress shirt, and a white vest on which they displayed their nametag and awards or medals if they had any. Computer terminals crowded the area, every screen lit up with numbers, diagrams, audio and video files, and other such technology that would have baffled the horse if he even had the time to look over it all. Luckily for him, the information was passed through several streaming lines of text across the bottom of his screen, simplified to percentages and short blips of messages that told that the ships condition was just fine. "So, how much longer till we arrive on target?" he asked into the microphone planted on his control panel.

Instantly his panel was swarmed with numbers and figures till he was bewildered, so randomly picking a message, he opened it and read over the contents aloud to himself. "About two more hours" the information read, he nodded slowly before managing to adjust to typing, writing back a small message to whoever had sent him the data. 'What is your rank soldier?' he wrote, a few misspellings but he managed to hammer it out quick enough in order to get a result; 'my rank is but a lowly ensign, sir' the mystery fur wrote back, making the commander nod, looking up to scan the room but finding no face staring back at him that might give a hint as to who had sent it.

'Where are you sitting?' was the next piece of information that was sent off, the equine peering up from his seat as he tried to gauge the reactions form each of the several hundred soldiers populating the room just to find this elusive combatant. 'Section Gamma, seat 59, terminal 5...sir' was the location given, though having no idea the layout of this ship, the commander had little use for such tittles and sighed softly; typing back a simple request 'just raise your paw' as Demios waited, his blue eyes scanning over every last organism in the room till at last he saw a timid paw lift in the far distant corner of the room.

From what he could see, and without using any of his godly powers, the paw looked like a soft gray, almost blue color as the fingers twitched nervously. "How do I get one of the grunts up here?" the horse asked his wife sitting behind him. He didn't expect any questions as to why he wanted to know the information, and as expected he got none, this crew was certainly well trained which meant that Phobos would have a hell of time trying to win this scrimmage.

"Just get one of your personal guards to escort the desired fur up here to your console, a robotic substitute will fill the given position and take over the functions while the worker is away." This of course just made the commander question the state, for at no time did he see any personal guards around him through his entire time here, no covertly dressed bodyguards, no security checks for the furs he met in passing...nothing. The canine seemed to have gotten that her husband didn't understand as she sighed softly; "seems you have forgotten that as well," he said with a soft grin, "you can't see them because a highly sensitive cloaking system blocks their presence from all known methods of tracking. Simply tap a button on the underside of your left paw-rest and one will appear to you and only you, ready to offer its assistance."

Nodding as he took in the information, Demios slowly felt around under the mentioned paw-rest and quickly pressed the small button, wanting to have one his newly realized bodyguards assist him as soon as possible. Within seconds of notifying whatever invisible being was around him, a black cloaked form appeared next to him, startling the captain to no avail. The species and gender were completely unknowable from the look of this secret soldier; for its armor, helmet, and other clothing completely hid ever tell-tale sign from view. Without even waiting a moment for the creature to introduce itself, the equine simply ordered, "bring me the one who sits in Section Gamma, seat 59, terminal 5," and with that he watched the lone figure nod before vanishing once again into its cloaking system as it went about its duties completely unnoticed.

And in moments, the form of the bodyguard returned only for the brief second to shove the quivering soldier out in font of the captain before vanishing off into a cloud of electrically charged particles that snapped and crackled like whips. "What is your name ward?" he asked smoothly showing no out-ward displeasure at the youth who stood before him as he gazed over the male's form. His assumptions from his seat had been correct, for the boy no more then 19 had a soft bluish gray fur that ran from the tips of his large ears to the bottom of his shoeless feet. The commander studied the boy, or rather the rabbit as he watched a small reddening color the inside of his long ears that were currently framing his small face; the black nose at the end of his face was quivering as he looked up with his large piecing blue eyes and gave a very soft smile. He was dressed the same uniform as the rest of the crew only that his lapel contained no medals or signs of achievement, and appeared absolutely mortified a having been summoned to the captain's chair while they were still in-flight to the battlegrounds.

"D-D...Dell sir," the bunny said softly, his form shaking as he gave a weary salute to his general. His small plush tail shook violently behind him as he tried his best to keep his composure, and after being offered a seat by the equine in front of him, he graciously saluted again before taking a seat in the chair that was pulled out for him. "If...I may be so bold as to ask sir," he started, his paws fumbling in his lap as he gave an innocent smile, "why did you ask me up here out of all the massive amounts of data sent to you by every other computer in my area?" Instantly he felt horrible for questioning his leader's orders and made a sound to correct himself only to be halted by Demios's outstretched palm.

"You see Dell..." the commander said softly, giving a warm smile as he tried to soothe his underling, "everyone else sent me graphs and lines and projections...you were the only one who just sent the information I wanted." His own blue eyes watching as the rabbit's cheeks turned a soft shade of red, his face seeming to light up as he realized that he wouldn't be getting in trouble. "But tell me ensign, you do look awfully young to be fighting in a mans' war, why did you want to enlist?" his question was well natured; for in all the countless times he had been the battle, nine out of ten times he was surrounded with older and more experienced fighters. But whenever he saw a mere child on the field of battle, he always became curious as to what would make them take up arms against their fellow furr.

"Well sir," the male stated quickly as began to get a bit more comfortable with his situation, "I am at the required age of 19 to join up with the military...and well, truth be told, I'm not much of a fighter myself, more of a lover." His ears twitching a bit as he turned his head just in time to see a stern glare from the second-in-command and the captain's wife, her golden eyes seeming to piece his words. Coughing a bit, he nodded and continued on, "anyways, I had been sent to a private boarding school come colonies away, and once I graduated I had no money left to find a ride back home...so after looking through all my options, I decided that I'd join the military as a way to bounce my way from station to station till I could get closer to where my family had relocated to some months ago."

Demios just chuckled as he reached over and affectionately gave the boy a small pat on the head with his large paw. "I am glad to have you employed in my service then for this battle Dell, you seem like a very capable ummm..." his words falling short as he didn't know the proper title by which to address the ensign. The equine looked back at the golden retriever only to get a solemn stare and silence as though he had done something wrong.

"Data Neural Analyzers...but everyone just calls us the DNA's for short," he said sweetly, as he began fidgeting with his fingers. "But actually sir...it turns out that the location of this battle is close to the space colony where my folks live...so I'll be reading a private shuttle, turning in my uniform and papers, getting my promised pay for service, and heading out all before the battle even starts," as Dell bowed slightly, "I'm sorry I'll be leaving you in a matter of minutes."

"Nonsense!" the horse said gleefully, "one should not apologize for being able to go home, I bet everyone here would give their stars and striped to trade places with you." He watched as the rabbit's face lit up again before nodding softly and mouthing a small 'thank you' before a rather abrupt alarm began to sign, startling the captain right out of his seat. "What's that one telling me?" he asked in a hush voice to the bunny, getting an odd stare back in return.

Dell twitched his ears a bit, looking into the captain's control panel as he smiled softly, "it means that we are almost to the site...and my stop," he added happily. Then he boy just stood there like a well-trained solider before finally Demios sent him off with a small flick of his wrist and a gently squeeze of his right shoulder. He watched as the puffy little tail wavered out of the rear of the pants before the lapine vanished down the stairs and the sound of his footsteps echoed throughout the helm.

Once he saw that the ensign had gone back to his place, probably in order to prepare for his departure from the military, chances are for life, he turned around to face the golden retriever still eyeing him. "What?...Did I do something wrong again Natasha?" he asked after a few seconds of awkward pausing between husband and wife; his tail flicking back and forth behind him as he did his best not to snort impatiently at being given the evil-eye stare from the canine.

"You know damn well that you shouldn't make friends with the lower ranked grunts," she said, her face looking at him but her paws were busying typing away on the control panel. "Sir..." the woman finally grunted out, showing that her professional and personal positions were certainly up to the task of taking him head on.

"Well why the hell not?" he asked with a shrug, the buzzer signaling their arrival having now but all vanished into the background cacophony of sounds from everyone shuffling about into their battle stations. He too was getting a tad nervous; having long since forgotten about battle in such a terrain such as the absence of space, but his determination to understand his officer overshadowed all that for the moment.

"Because oh valiant and all knowing captain of mine," she said with a smirk, the sarcasm made overly present by her tone, "you see they are beneath us...expendable...and getting to know them personally like you just did only makes us become to attached to each one as a person and will therefore effect your decisions in the heat of battle." The dog crossed her arms over her chest, resting her wrists on her prominent bosoms, "feelings and emotions have no place here in war...for even I, when on the battle field, am only another soldier to be ordered around and no longer your wife."

Her voice was as cold and calculating as it was filled with the tomes of truth, and Demios knew it; he was about to start up a counter argument before a small signal appeared on his dashboard. Looking down he saw the little message as it flew across his screen, 'thank you for everything, I wish you well -Dell" it read; and turning to glance up trough the huge forward window, he could see the small pod eject itself from the hull of the ship as he watched it drift for a moment while the ensign got his directions right and his target locked on to the base below.

* * *

Off in a secluded area on the other side of the battle ground, Phobos had just been recently briefed by his second in command, a large green dragon that towered over him by a couple of inches. The officer was dressed much the same as him, the only differences being that that color of his outfit was consisting of different shades of blue and he had a couple less metals on his chest then the commanding warhorse did. "So...what are our plans now Greco?" the black male asked, slowly turning around to glance up at the lizard, watching his eyes scan over the clipboard in his claws. The large scaly tail swept around behind him, poking out from under the material of his samurai garb. The equine then waited to hear the news, staring down at the food he had been offered upon arriving in the dinning hall minutes prior, much to the surprise of the cooks on duty. Though quickly enough the atmosphere had returned back to normal and the commander had simply taken a seat in the rear where his lieutenant had joined him moments later to brief him on their present situation.

"Well, at this moment sir," the reptile started, his long forked tongue coming out to taste the tension in the air, "we are currently on route to the selected battle area with less then 30 stellar minutes to go." Then flipping a few more pages through his notes, he began to hum and nod slowly in his rather deep voice; "as you can see, the soldiers are getting prepared for departure to their war stations, the ship is fully stocked with weapons and ammo, the helmsmen say we are right on course, and the scanners are picking up no sign of any surprise maneuvers." The information getting only a small nod from the captain before the lizard took that as a sign and sat down across the table from his leader, slowly beginning to eat his own meal with a small nervous twitch.

Distractedly, the equine began to toy with his meal, not at all thrilled at having to eat a meal unfit for a demi-god such as himself for even the lowliest of titans would not touch such gruel that had been served to him. Yet appearances came first, and so reluctantly he dug in, taking a few forkfuls of his entrée before deciding to try and find something what would distract him from having to devourer such a plate. "Greco...you seem concerned over something..." he mumbled, glancing up with his eyes as he watched the lizard sulk over his dish, his forked tongue not even bothering to taste the air around his meal.

The reptile sighed, seeing he could hide nothing from his commander as he twirled his fork in his claws; "You know I don't feel comfortable fighting this close to a civilian colony, especially with your...err...overzealous tendencies to attack everything that moves even remotely in our direction." Now normally anyone who insulate the captain was sure to get a one-way ticket out of the airlock aboard one of their many missiles, but being second in command gave Greco the ability to speak freely at all times. The large dragon remained unfazed by his comments, fearing no retribution as he continued toying with his food.

"War has no civilians or innocents!" Demios retorted rather loudly, his voice making the entire dinning hall halt conversation. "They pay taxes, they send off supplies in trade, they build weapons and machines...where do you think all that goes? Well I'll tell ya...into their army!" the warhorse said, banging a hoof on the floor beneath him as he stood up sternly. "I've eaten my fill, join me in the control room," as he made his way out from his table, extending a paw when he saw that the lizard was trying to follow him; "I'll find my way," his voice was gruff and cold, and he could feel the thousands of eyes watching him as he left the dinning hall moments later.

Thrust back into the maze of twisting, turning corridors, Demios began to make from stern to starboard and everywhere in-between as he passed numerous other furrs in the process, each one saluting or tipping his head in acknowledgment as the captain passed by. At one point he managed to overhear the sound of Pyron the bull making his way down the path in front of him, and without so much as a moments hesitation he ducked into one of the nearby service panels, waiting with baited breath as he watched through small slits his body's lover stop in front of him, sniff the air, and then continue on his way. Turning around he found himself not in a corridor, but rather a small elevator; so with nothing left to loose he hit the top button and watched the doors close, arriving seconds later out of a small panel to arrive at the helm of his ship. He saw Greco standing over by his empty seat, the male quickly standing to give a respectful bow as he opened his maw to speak but was interrupted with a quick, "I went for a walk."

That statement ended the conversation right there, the lizard respectfully sitting down again, fumbling through his massive amount of documented status reports. "The enemies' flagship and fleet have come into view sir," he said, and then without hesitation he flipped on the view screen so they could both watch the massive ships gliding over the vacant space of interstellar travel. The massive fleet a brilliant pure whit with blue stripes down the center of each vessel, the large bay windows on the front where Demios was sure to be sitting, and watching him right back.

Suddenly a small flashing blip appeared off to one side of the ship on screen, the little dot making both males strain to try and determine what it was. "What in the lands of Olympus is that?" Phobos demanded of his second in command, his fingers naturally fingering the hilt of his beam saber as he tried to resist the urge to cut something in half.

"Seems that something has fired off of their ships sir," Greco stated, reading over the flashing bulletin that had appeared on the screen next to him; "at the moment we believe that it is simply their trash expulsions for the day, nothing more." The lizard glanced over the printout, looking the page up and down, flipping it over several times before nodding that this was indeed his interpretation of things.

"Well keep an eye on it anyways, I want no surprises," the commander ordered as he tried to relax by sitting back in his chair. Soon he noticed that the large ships on the screen were getting ever closer before a number of small red boxes and circles appeared over what he took to be key areas of the massive machine's infrastructure. "Are we in fighting range yet?" the obsidian equine asked, glancing over to the dragon that in turn shifted his seat so as to peer below at the hundred of sliders vigorously typing on their terminals.

"Once the targeting computers turn green, we will be ready to fire," he announced, watching with increased focus as the targets went from bright red, to a soft orange, yellow, blue, and finally a deep hunter green with a couple numbers and percentages appearing over each selected area.

"On my mark...fire!" the horse screamed out over the entire helm, needing no amplifier to get his meaning across as he unknowingly watched particle beams of all colors, missiles, and rockets of every conceivable shape and size rain down towards the advancing fleet. His attention increased even more as he saw the first signs of small explosions and damage show itself on the hulls of the approaching armada.

* * *

"What the hell is going on?" Demios demanded as the entire vessel groaned and shook with the impact of the explosions. He hadn't expected to been fired on so recklessly, and was therefore cut off guard as the first volley of weapon fire had hit the broadside of the flagship. He was nearly thrown right off of the throne on which he sat when the first wave of missiles hit; "do they give us no warning time or even a respectable announcement?" he demanded off his wife, the golden retriever who was currently white knuckled as she gripped onto her seat with all her might.

"We are being fired upon oh dear husband of mine," Natasha retorted in her normal female mannerisms, glaring at him though her golden orbs as she retained her balance and managed to get back onto her seat as the damage reports began filling in. "They knocked our shields back to eighty percent, I'm transferring our reserve power to help bolster our defenses," the canine announced without consultation of the captain. "And of course they give us no warning, they are the 'Trang' remember? It is against their fundamental way of life to give fair warning," her voice scolding the horse, scoffing some before the next wave of lasers smacked into the side of the ship, "and the reason we are sitting ducks is because you have not given the order to return fire yet!"

Staring out of the front window, he saw Dell's transport pod positioned slightly down off the laser canons, yet still well within danger distances. "I can't fire back," he explained, "that solider is still out there and we might hit-" though the look he got from his wife instantly made him freeze up. She had been right after all, had he never gotten to know that rabbit, he wouldn't have been so inclined to care about his safety, and now here he was, his emotions making him go against better judgment and rethink his position in the heat of battle. His shoulders slumped a bit as he took a deep breath, "Everyone to their battle positions and fire on my command," his lungs filling full of air as the equine made a silent prayer that the bunny would remain safe, "fire!"

Instantly the vacant blackness of space was lit up as thousands of lasers and other projectiles rocketed out, aimed at the foreign intruders; while whit baited breath the captain sat silently, watching as the small white pod turn on it's thrusters as it began to dodge and evade laser blasts from both sides while still making its way slowly down to the space colony below. "I warned you what would happen if you got attached to one of your underlings," Natasha's stern voice said, interrupting the equine's concentration she turned to look at the equine. "Look at what you are doing," her paws going to adjust the buttons on her jacket so that they'd cover her rather voluptuous curves, "sacrificing the lives of the many for the welfare of the one."

The statement striking a chord somewhere deep in the captain's mind, feeling the reverberations of the truth resounding inside his head like a one of the temple bells he had hear so often back in his palace. "The Ensign can look out for himself...begin advancing towards the opposing fleet while keeping all weapon fire concentrated on their hull and engines," his voice as commanding as he could make it, watching a nod pass over his wife's face. Stealing a glance towards the display screen ahead of him, he watched as Dell's small little pod began to advance towards the center of the battlegrounds, the boy probably figuring that would allow him the most time to evade being hit by weapons coming from both sides before finding a path to freedom below.

* * *

"They are returning fire!" a worried voice shouted from somewhere among the massive number of computer terminals located below the bridge; as what soon followed could only be described as tremors from an earthquake, the shockwave resulting from a direct hit making the entire cruiser rock back and forth till the stabilizers kicked in. There were more frantic voices coming from below, each officer shouting status reports that ended up becoming a cacophony of useless and unrecognizable noise.

"Like that is any surprise..." Greco mumbled to himself, embarrassed about such a greenhorn of a solider having been put on the commanding flag ship. Turning tail, he marched back to his console at his commander's side, looking over the new set of data and statistics before something on the view screen caught his eye. Watching with feline curiosity, the dragon stared as what they previously took to be a trash pod, slowly began to light up thrusters as it maneuvered its way around the lasers rather then simply drifting like any normal garbage should. "Umm Sir, I believe you should see this," the lizard mentioned, gently nudging the horse's black arm before pointing a scaly claw where the little pod was currently maneuvering its way across the distance between the two fleets and directly at them.

"What is it now?" Phobos grumbled at having to have his attention shifted from the fight scene ensuing on his private view screen. Slowly his eyes followed the finger till at last he saw what he was supposed to notice, his paws clenching into tight fists as he slammed them down on the armrests of his throne. "God damn it! I knew never to trust that sly little bastard," as he felt the rage building in him, "quick...get me a direct line to the gunners."

With no hesitation, the connection was established as a black phone was placed into the captain's waiting fingers, and without even waiting for confirmation, he began barking orders into it. "See that little pod device in the middle of the battlegrounds? See its thrusters going? Think you can target it?" his voice calm and logical as he waited for each question to be answered with a 'yes sir'; then once the last inquiry was done he screamed, "so what are you waiting for and shoot it down!" before slamming the phone into it's receiver and chucking it behind him, not caring if it survived the fall to the floor or happened to hit a way-ward furr on his head.

Turning back towards the viewing panel, he watched as a small red circle formed around the little pod as four large arrows began to close in on it; eventually turning green which signaled that they were locked on and ready to fire. Greco just pushed a small button on the control panel next to him, and soon multiple lasers were shooting forth form gun turrets located behind the bridge. The blackness of space was lit up with the propulsion of rockets and the lights of lasers as the small craft tried its best to avoid each oncoming attack, turning and spinning to the capabilities of its maneuverability before finally a laser hit the rear thruster, disabling it and leaving the craft to float among the absence of space.

"Target has been neutralized," the green dragon announced scientific precision, running a few more analyses he plugged into the computer, "seems that its engines are shot, though life support functions still appear to be online. However there is some rather disconcerting news..." he said, trailing off into silence. Phobos merely turned to face him, his expression egging him to continue his talking, which he did almost instantly; "while we can't determine what is being transferred, we are 89 percent sure that there are communications between the personal in that pod and the opposing fleet."

The black warhorse stopped for a moment, running his fingers through his ponytail as he angled his head slightly. "Tell me something commander..." he said soft, the green lizard blinking a few times before nodding, "do you still see that white pod out there?"

"Why yes Sir...I do," the dragon not exactly understanding the question, but even though all the clouds of dust and debris already strewn about the battle ground, the small white ship was rather easy to notice.

"Then it isn't neutralized!" the captain responded, whinnying loudly as he slammed his hoof on the floor, turned to face his screen, pointed a single finger at the object of annoyance and hollered, "now don't stop shooting till I see only fragments left!" his red eyes bulging as he puffed a bit of steam from his nose, his large equine teeth gnashing together to form a rather unpleasant sound for the rest of the crew to hear.

"But Sir," Greco chimed in loudly, his face turning a rather pale green, "Attacking an immobile vehicle goes against the newly ratified charters of the Intergalactic War Commission Board. We could get into big trouble with the outside community that with have economic consequences from trade embargos to high tariffs on our energy reserves." The second-in-command's large claws hovered over the button that would inform the gunners to recommence firing, unsure on weither to follow his captain or the rules of the land.

"Well they aren't around here to stop us...or even know that it is happening are they?" his voice forceful as he saw the much larger male sink back into his seat and shake his head. "Good...commence firing as soon as possible," Phobos commanded again, sinking back into his own seat as he readied himself to watch the show about to unfold. Thinking all the while about how they could have rules of conduct and laws to follow during times of war, reflecting on his own experiences in raiding many a village and doing whatever he wished with the fallen warriors and their families, not caring if some big tribunal would be held to accuse him.

With a heavy heart and pangs of guilt for whomever he was sentencing to a fiery grave in the emptiness of space, Greco slowly pressed that large button again and the familiar sound of the lasers charging caught his ears. Not wanting to view the explosion, yet unable to turn away, he watched as one rather large red laser shot from just over the bridge by the central turret struck dead center of the pod's hull, and in a rather spectacular explosion by any other means, the ship vanished in a cloud of flaming gas. And once the vapors dissipated, only the chucks of unrecognizable wreckage remained on the battle field, the battle itself still raging onwards behind the now lifeless capsule.

* * *

"They did what?" Demios screamed, turning back to the view screen where only moments ago show Dell's slightly worried face, yet now depicted nothing but static before losing the signal entirely and going straight to black. His face red with anger and frustration as he began hitting his fist against the panel, trying in vain to restore signal to a ship that no longer existed; he could feel the pain welling up at such a distasteful act, and one that had been done by someone he knew.

"I said...They destroyed Dell's escape pod after its engines had been severed," Natasha repeated again for her husband, looking over the new set of reports she had been handed only moments prior. "That act in itself," she continued, "is in direct violated of new IWCB regulations...I didn't think that the 'Trang' were that ruthless to do something like that." The golden retriever simply sat there, crossing her arms over her chest as she leaning back in her seat, sighing softly and brushing loose strands of hair away from her face.

"That ingrate!" the beige equine sputtered, his fingers scraping against the side of his chair, "I thought I knew that guy, but this...this...is just too much." He could feel the stress and anxiety rising, his blood pressure almost jumping through his veins as he struggled not to break form and use some godly power to simply obliterate the opposing armada of ships.

The canine's ears perked as he sat up slightly, swiveling her chair around to better face her husband's face. "You know the opposing commander personally?" she asked softly, her voice curious once again as all the strange and awkward things she noticed from earlier began to reacquaint themselves with her memory.

Turning around sharply, Demios realized he had made an informational error and revealed a bit too much about just how much he did know about this situation. "I umm...meant it in the communal sense," he explained, "Like how we are both captains and all...it was a general comment." This seemed to pacify his wife's need for knowledge as she nodded and turned back to her consol. "Now set me up with a messenger, I want to have a talk with our enemy's leader,"

"You want to what?" she asked forcefully, turning her head swiftly as her golden lock of curls bounced over her shoulder. "First of all," she explained, "we are way out of stellar contact range for our radios to pick up. Secondly...why would you want to do that? And lastly...what could you possibly gain from putting your entire fleet into even more danger?" her shrill voice questioned.

"I want to talk to him!" the horse repeated again, this time much sterner as he stared his fellow captain down, trying to beat her in a game of will and nerves. "And if distance is the problem here...then just move us closer; you never seemed to have a problem with the mobility of this fleet before."

"Why not just let the IWCB take care of this for us?" Natasha said, doing her best to use her feminine logic as a means of finding a loophole through her mate's logic. "They just violated one of the highest regulations that charter has to offer, the intergalactic community will surely see that they get reprimanded for their actions...Why is there such a strong need for us to get involved personally?"

Grunting loudly, the equine looked back over at the golden girl who sat cross-legged on the chair next to him, one paw twirling her hair while the other steadily tapped a pen against the metal counter. "Because they aren't here right now, are they?" he huffed; "We have to take matters into our own hands and deal out their punishment ourselves...now don't make me repeat myself again and move us closer till we are in contact range. I want to see his face exactly where Dell's was only moments before he was unnecessarily killed."

"Stubborn pony," the woman grunted as she made a couple announcements into unseen speakers, and soon they could feel the ships thrusters increase their output as they were propelled farther into battle. "See, I told you that if you talked to the bunny, you would get attached to him should anything happen...and now look at you, endangering our entire crew just so you can have a hissy-fit with the other captain." She sighed softly and shook her head, "I hate to say 'I told you so' but in this case...I think that it actually fits."

"Are you questioning your captain's orders solider?" he asked loud enough so that everyone with in walking distance could hear the exchange of words, his blue eyes gazing at her with such intensity that reluctantly she had to bow her head and shake softly. "I can't hear you commander..." he repeated again, this time even louder as other crew members began to perk their ears in interest.

"No sir..." the canine grunted before turning to face her station, her fingers typing away on the screen; "we will be in contact range in a few moments...sir" her voice turning cold as the equine only grunted, waiting for the moment to confront his rival on the video screen.

* * *

"They seem to be advancing," Greco informed his captain, his voice rising in surprise as he glanced down at his instruments again just to make sure he wasn't reading them wrong; but after triple checking his calculations, he saw that indeed the enemy fleet was approaching their own.

Phobos just turned to look curiously at his lieutenant, his mind wheeling with possible plans and schemes that Demios might have concocted to beat him in this relatively foreign terrain. "Stand our ground," he ordered, preferring to let his enemy come to him rather then walk into a possible trap lied out by the clever commander.

Having learned from past experiences about questioning his captain, the dragon just nodded and made the proper arrangements to keep the vessel right on course with the approaching flagship ahead of them. After halving the distance between the two sides, the other fleet stopped and soon a small message appeared on the bottom of the large screen situated at the front of the bridge. "Seems they have sent a messenger and are waiting for our acceptance," the lizard announced, motioning to the small blinking yellow envelope signal.

"Send him in," was the order, the large black horse still dressed up as a samurai turning around to face the large entrance behind him, waiting till he saw the fur step through to deliver whatever parcel the enemy commander thought it important to send. Puffing out his chest and fingers on the hilt of his saber to appear as formidable as possible, hoping to scare the poor unfortunate soul right out of his uniform, ignoring the rather strange looks he was receiving from his crew about his behaviors.

But the messenger never came, at least not in the way that the black equine had thought he would. The next thing to hit his ears was the bellowing sound of Demios screaming, "You damn ingrate!" the decibels shooting through the roof as though the other male had been right next to his ear when screaming it; startled right off of his seat, the male turned around sharply to see the form of a giant mouth on the view screen; a rather blunt close-up of the inside of the beige horse's maw and gnashing teeth. "You are scum! Do you hear me?...Scum!" the other male repeated, steaming seeming to bellow forth from his fact as it fogged over whatever instrument was sending the images.

"You are to the camera sweetie," a female voice broke in to the mix as the blown up face of the horse turned around before slowly nodding and backing up to take a seat in his chair. "You must have shattered their eardrums...what were you thinking Demios?" the woman, now shown to be a golden retriever, scolded the captain before looking back towards the camera and bearing her teeth lightly, though a dismissive wave from her commander got her to become a bit compliment.

"What the hell is going on?" Phobos asked to no one in particular, but instead resolved to get back into his own chair as he scanned over his opponent's bridge, in particular the luscious female he had standing next to him; his eyes undressing her as he cursed his luck to get stuck with a massive bull while his counterpart got such a curvy mate to get dirty with. But those momentary fantasies fled his mind as he got down to the situation at hand; "so to what do I owe the pleasure to seeing your face on my ship?" he asked with a cold snicker.

"You bastard, you know damn well what you did!" the beige male snarled, his lips curling as his large tail shuddered behind him; in fact, dressed in such a regal outfit with a lapel filled with medals, Phobos had to admit he certainly cleaned up nice when he wanted to. "He was a non-combatant...and you blew him out of the sky."

"That is just some fancy title for cowards," he responded automatically, though the comment made the black horse blink a moment, certainly not recalling when he had purposefully killed any of his men, then again any of the laser blasts could have inadvertently got someone killed. "Besides..." he explained, looking to Greco for confirmation, "I don't know what you are even talking about. Do you any idea in the foggiest about what my counterpart is referring to?" he asked the lizard next to him.

The forked tongue tasted the air in the cabin, the second-in-command slowly shaking his head; "I do believe that you must have gotten something confused on your scanners, by our records we haven't even gotten past your shields to do any substantial structure damage." But like many times this battle, both of the respective second-in-commands checked their data while their captains stared each other down in a battle of wits, willing the other to blink first.

"Then what do you call this?" Demios asked, infuriated at Phobos's denial of his actions. He slammed his left hoof against the floor, turning to look at his wife and doing his best not to unleash his anger on the undeserving female next to him. "You told me that it was recorded somewhere...I want you to show it to them now!" he directed, moving to turn the camera to face a near by screen before a golden paw restrained his action and instead he sat there pouting in his chair.

"Yes Sir," Natasha responded formally, "I'm downloading and sending them the footage now." And sure enough, seconds after she agreed to export the video clip, Greco uploaded it onto a second and mutual view screen so that both parties could watch it together; the video showing the exact couple of seconds where Dell's pod was disabled before finally being blow up by a laser shot directly mid hull which caused an instant implosion in the vehicle.

Both pairs watched with emotionless faces, not letting the other see any possible sign of weakness to be exploited; but when the short clip was over, the first to make any moment was a small nod from the black equine. "Seems you got your cameras in the wrong place...that shows us destroying your precious bomb that was meant to sink our flagship before we even arrived," he said smoothly, not noticing how Demios's eyes had lit up.

"That what you thought it was?" the Leshay commander hollered, "a bomb!" His paw gripped his arm rest so tightly that soon he was crushing it with only his bare strength, sweat pouring down his brow as he tried not to picture Dell's last moments in that flaming inferno. "You idiot...You ingrate...You paranoid little worm," he breathed out in deep breaths, "that was no trap...that was a transport ship destined for that space colony below, bringing back a ensign who had finished his service and was returning home to his family...he was innocent and no longer a target...and you killed him!"

Phobos just huffed, "and I was supposed to know that how?" he asked, arms crossed over his chest, "it wasn't like he had a flashing sign over his capsule, and besides, he could have rallied that colony below into supporting you and possibly turning the tide of this war, I couldn't take that chance." His red eyes focusing on the form before him, narrowing at the sight of Demios, "it isn't being paranoid to want to protect your crew...something you should know well seeing as how you dragged your flagship out into the open for target practice...Oh, and didn't I ever tell you...there are no innocents in war!" and with that he flicked his wrist, and soon the lasers recommenced on firing at the large vessel.

* * *

"God damn it!" Demios shouted as his entire shipped rocked back and forth from the countless missile and rocket strikes against key areas of the hull. He watched as flashing red warning lights and loud shill sirens filled the bridge, his lower ranked commanders running from the top to the bottom deck as they tried to restore order to a world turned into chaos. Even his wife looked shaken, her golden locks strewn across her face as he babbled on and on into her microphone as to convey instructions and status reports to the rest of the fleet's crew.

"You idiot...you blasted idiot," he heard her mention time and time again between static and screaming that her microphone picked up. The canine ran her fingers down her side, trying to calm herself as she plunged head first into the massive workload and organization requirements that his decision had placed on his own crew. "I told you to be careful," she mumbled, making sure he could pick it up, "Time and time again I told you not to get involved in the personal lives of your soldiers...and now you've got us in a rut even Aries himself couldn't have escaped."

The comment about his boss certainly didn't bring any comfort to Demios, his fingers frustratingly running through his mane, having to unbutton the top clasp on his uniform due to the feeling of constriction and tightness that seemed to overwhelm him. "I'm sure he could have thought of something..." the horse said softly, picturing the god's mighty battle taking place right now thousands of years in the past, visualizing his howls of joy as he took pleasure in the rampage and pillaging of war; and then he thought of what the god would say if he could see his right-hand warrior in the sad-sorry situation he had gotten himself into over the urge to simply become friendly with his crew.

His wife seemed to ignore his statement, preferring to shuttle all her attention into creating a small smoke screen that would allow the ships to compose themselves and offer up a decent counter assault on the 'Trang' forces besieging them. "Either way, he isn't here right now to guide us Captain..." Natasha said, stressing out over the condition of their fleet, "So it looks like you will have to fill his vacated throne and guide us to victory. Because if we don't so something to turn the tide of the war in the next couple stellar minutes, we will be forced into defeat or a retreat, something neither of us wants to explain to the military tribunal."

"True..." he replied, noting that whatever this tribunal was, it certainly didn't seem like a good place to be pushed in front of with bad news. The ship itself was still creaking and shaking, its shields taking the full brunt of the enemy armada as the commander tried his best to find that area of mental peace inside of him where he could think clearly and logically about his situation. Meditation had always helped him to achieve his goals, but he had neither the room nor the time to conduct a proper ceremony, so instead he resorted to a type of mental chanting till after a few minutes he bolted from his self-induced coma like state announcing, "I have a plan!" to all around him.

"What does this one involve...sending them a gift basket and some muffins?" the golden retriever said from her seat, the sarcasm almost dripping out of her muzzle; for in the time her husband had been pleasantly sleeping away, she had managed to get a rather decent smoke screen, created from releasing the ventilation depots of their carbon dioxide reserves into space which formed a dense white cloud only advanced sensors could pierce. "Look, you are obviously not mental equipped for this battle Demios, I make a motion to relive you of your command as of this moment and will then order an immediate pull out of all troops in the area, our ships have taken enough damage for the moment and need to be repaired."

"I have more then enough capacity to continue as the leading commander on this bridge," he forcefully informed her; giving her a brisk grunt as he took in his new surroundings, an idea jutting itself into his head as a smile passed over his lips. "Halt troop movement!" he announced, getting only a blank stare from the canine as he nickered aggressively, "I'm still the commander here and I said to halt movement!" to which she regretfully agreed and soon his armada was once again at his fingertips.

"So what are you going to do now?...Offer up an apology and wait till my smoke screen dissipates so they can blast our rear thrusters as we run for our lives due to your poor decision skills?" Natasha belted out. Her golden cheeks were flushed red as she made sure damn well that her husband knew her feelings, not being one of those wives that simply stays quiet in a corner somewhere.

"No," Demios replied stoutly, making sure to keep his hand off of his body's wife, not wanting to create major conflicts once he returns back into his realm. "Does this device allow me to talk to the gunners?" he asked, pointing to a small microphone by his side and receiving a very stern nod from his second-in-command, "good..." he mumbled, bringing it to his lips. "Alright crew, this is your captain speaking...I will specifically address any and all gunners or other weapon system soldiers here, turn all your attention to the Trang's storage devices and begin firing on my command. Ready...Fire!" he yelled as the view screen from his vantage point was soon filled with every colored laser and other armament imaginable, making the castle sieges of millennia past look like a child's game.

The captain and the rest of his commanders and fellow advisers looked on through the dusty smoke covering, into the fray of the battle raging on, till at last they managed to see a small flicker of intense light that could only mean that something on the opposite side of the space had exploded due to damage taken. Feeling rather accomplished at having made ample tribulation to Dell's memory, Demios let out a small silent prayer, one that would guarantee him a place in the realm of gods or some other equally wonderful place.

* * *

Several large alarms slammed through Phobos's eardrums as flashing red and blue warning lights popped out of small slots in the wall and began to flash on and off in alternating colors, lighting the room like a techno dance club. "What is going on Greco?" the equine demanded from his seat, turning to look at the dragon who was busy reading things off his screen to himself, his eyes scanning every inch of information as soon as it popped into his module. "I asked what the heck is happening?" the commander repeated, watching as the green male nearly jumped out of his seat as he turned to look at his superior.

"They are targeting our storage tankers with their lasers...their sensors are more advanced then ours and can see though that large carbon dioxide smoke screen they put up a couple stellar minutes ago." Draco informed his leader, his claws nervously scratching at his scales under his blue samurai outfit as he began to glance back over his figures.

"What the hell does that mean?" the black equine asked, pulling his inferior away from his terminal for a second time. "What would happen if we lost one of those...storage tankers?" he asked slowly, making sure to pronounce the term right as he tried to look on his own panel for any information as to what these mystery devices were. Clicking and flipping through several online menus, he managed to find a map of not only his ship, but his entire fleet as well; there, he instantly noticed several large flashing sections on the outside of some of the larger ships on the left and right sides of their current arrangement..

Yanked away from his screen for another time, and not having the time to even consider why his commander no longer remembered any of this information, he responded as quickly as he could. "Those tanks are where we house not only the majority of our food and ammunition stock, but they are also where our reserve air supply and water rations are held...if they get destroyed, it will severely decrease our ability for this fleet to continue on unless we manage to get back up supplies." With that the dragoon turned back to his screen having only been away for several moments, but as his eyes took in the new information, he couldn't help but gasp a bit. "They got our shields down to 40 percent...20...still falling, now at 10...7...and-"

Suddenly a loud explosion came from the right side of the ship, ye the ship itself did not move or even groan, signaling that whatever had exploded was not located on this vessel. Glancing down at his screen, the horse watched as one of the previously blinking little tubes suddenly stopped flashing and changed to a dark black. "We just lost one!" he announced. Just then a second huge 'bang' came from the opposite of the fleet as a second tube turned black, signaling the loss of another storage tanker. "How many more do we have left?" he asked quickly, "and tell those gunners of ours to recommission their firing orders."

"Four Sir," his underling replied franticly, typing out instructions to the rest of the crew as quickly as possible so that they might be able to save the other tankers; and if worse comes to worse, at least have removed most if not all of the equipment located inside of them, bringing into the hulls of the ships themselves. "And our sensors aren't powerful enough to breach the smoke screen the put up, we have no idea what we are firing at and could very well waste all of our remaining ammo on shooting a simple stars or meteor fragments that we pick up."

"Well then...what can we do to solve that problem about being too far away commander?" the equine asked, crossing his arms over his head as he failed to hear the whooshing sound of a door opening up behind him.

"Ummm...move closer?" Greco responded in a timid voice, already knowing he was correct as he quickly turned back to his panel and began inputting the new coordinates and movement schedule for the engine monitors to follow.

"Good, that's right...we move clos-" Phobos said, before he was cut off by two rather large brown arms encircling his chest and holding him tight to the chair. Thinking that it was a military coup of sorts, he started to struggle before a familiar musk hit his nostrils and a pair of soft lips forcefully kissed his. His eyes went wide as he looked up to see the face of the bull he had met earlier almost to the brink of tears as he lip-locked with the ship's captain. Glancing over at best he could to the dragon, it seemed that Greco simply opted to not pay any attention to the P.D.A. he was whiteness to.

Finally breaking from the kiss, Pyron stood in front of who he deemed was his mate, now clad in his uniform. The bovine was dressed in a heavy set of alloy armor, its glossy metallic finish making him glisten in the fluorescent lighting of the bridge. On his chest section there was a small red rose painted with the name 'Phobos' printed under it in large cursive letters with the tips of each line becoming thorns or the stem of the flower. Otherwise the design was rather simple, small highly flexible plates made up the contouring suit, each piece uniquely suited so that its weight would not reduce its usability when it came time to do battle. However, the only weapon that the equine could see on the massive male were a couple pouches placed on the armor's utility belt and the pair of rather pointy brass knuckles over each meaty paw. "When I heard the explosions...I just got so nervous about you," the male said, wiping his broad face with his fingers.

"Well...I'm fine Py," Phobos said softly, trying not to rally the beast into a crying fit and still get him to leave so that he could concentrate on the battle. "And besides..." he offered, inwardly cringing as he placed a few fingers on the large arm; "shouldn't you be getting back to your station, I'm sure they can greatly require your services," the equine glancing off at Greco who was content to pretend to ignore the bull's presence as he scrawled down orders for the rest of the crew.

Shaking his head slightly, the larger male ran the back of his paw across the equine's cheek, "there is no one to watch down in the detention facility...no prisoners of war in need of interrogations or dissidents in search of a good punishment." The bull taking a moment to look around his surroundings, and without even asking, a large chair was brought in and placed next to the commander's seat which he readily sat, placing a paw over one of Phobos' hooves. "Besides, I figure that you could use some emotional support and what not...so what the heck caused that large explosion anyways?"

The horse was about to open his muzzle before Greco broke in from his self-induced silence on the other side of the bridge, "that sound was the signal that two of our six storage tankers had just exploded." His voice seemed grim, probably from looking over the decreasing statistics he was getting back about the condition of the four remaining storage holders and how the transfer of goods was going. "Our progress will be affected, but if we don't loose any more, I don't foresee any serious complications will arise," was his qualified opinion, his claws clicking away on his keyboard.

Barely taking a breath into his lungs, Phobos was cut off once again as Pyron leaned over to get a good look at the dragon sitting across from him on the other side of his mate. "Has he deployed the fighter squadrons yet?" the gruff male asked, his fingers still softly stroking the black arm next to him. Getting a small shake of the head from the lizard, he was taken aback as he turned to face his commander, staring him right in the eyes as he tilted his head a bit, "something keeping you?...That's almost always the first thing you do."

Finally able to get a word in, the equine fell short of explanation as he turned to face Greco with a rather inquisitive look plastered upon his muzzle. He was about to ask the general as to why he wasn't informed about this seemingly simple maneuver, but thought against it since time was of the essence and he wasn't in the mood for any more lectures. "So...where are these 'fighters' of which you speak?" Phobos asked, looking around as he expected several well armed soldiers to come marching in, announcing of their battalions' readiness to fight in armed combat with the enemy: the equine's favorite part of any battle.

"Waiting for your command to deploy Sir," Greco said in a commanding voice, giving a half salute in the process. The medals located on his chest jingled from the jerky movement as he received a small nod from his captain before spinning his seat around and talking into a small microphone located just above his terminal. "All combat pilots, your captain has decreed a launch, move into your battle stations and stand ready to enter combat as soon as your wingman gives you the O.K. We wish you all the best, and may the gods be with you." The dragon finished the announcement, putting the speakers on hold for a few seconds before slipping it back on, "all medical crews stand ready for deployment at the first sign of distress...that is all."

Still a bit confused as to what he had just ordered, Phobos sat there rather bewildered and waited to see the results of his actions; the gruff hug he received from the brown bull next to him not making him feel any better about what he did. Suddenly the roar of multiple engines reached his ears as the floor of the entire bridge seemed to vibrate with life. He wanted to get up and bolt for the door, but seeing everyone else take no reaction to the shaking, he forced himself back into his chair as the first of his fighters peeled out of the launching bay located right below where they were currently seated.

The equine watched in awe as he saw what looked to be miniature models of his own larger vessel shooting out from underneath him as though the behemoth he was traveling in had just given birth to hundreds of small, metallic children. One of them, he figured was the alpha male of the pack, flew just over the large Plexiglas window everyone was looking out of so as to signal that his squadron was ready. "Head off to your targets," Greco said with a small nod, the pilot seeming to understand this as his vague outlive could be seen nodding before he took the lead, and soon had all the other 'children' following him out in to the blackness of space.

Phobos was quiet for a bit, taking in and registering what he had just seen as the ion flames of his fighters became only small specks in the dense absence of space. Only the ruffling of his hair by a large brown paw brought him back to reality as he looked over to see the bull smiling; "shall we head back to our room and watch your victory from the comfort of our own quarters?" he asked softly. The equine blinked, looking over at the green lizard who just shrugged nonchalantly before turning back to face his mate.

"Very well..." he said softly, slowly rising to his feet, "but there shall be no funny business until after this battle is ours, I want no distractions while my decisions might still be required." The captain watched Pyron's face think over the new condition before slowly nodding in agreement, his black paw then taken as he was lead out of the rear door and led along the direct route to their private chamber hidden in the ship's interior.

* * *

"Our status reports indicate that two of the enemy's six storage tankers has been destroyed," Natasha said in a monotone voice, reading straight off of the information on her screen.

"That sounds rather good," Demios responded, glancing down at his own screen for confirmation; his eyes then drifting over to a radar device as he watched with amusement and several red triangle shapes began to approach from one edge directly at their position. "What do you make out of that?" he questioned, turning to the canine as he pointed to the devise.

"Make out of what?" came the response while the dog slowly rotated her chair around, peering at the radar screen for a moment before her muzzle mouthed the word 'shit'. Instantly she was back at her command post, typing away on her keyboard while she spoke back to him. "They are sending their fleets of fighters out after us since their scanners aren't powerful enough to pierce the smokescreen I set up...we are going to have to blow them out of sky with out forward and rear mounted turrets if we want any chance of a victory."

Glancing about, Demios tried to find the large army of approaching soldiers, though staring out of his screen; he could see nothing but the vast emptiness of space. "Well...don't we have our own soldiers on which to confront them with?" he asked, his fingers touching the hilt of his pistol as he waited for the response from his mate.

"No," she responded quickly, her fingers moving at lightning speed over the keyboard in front of her as all the years spent in the academy were instantly put into full functional use. "We left our fleets back at base as protection...and the rest of our fleet are only equipped with either small scout ships or transport probes as the one Dell was riding in," the golden retriever informed her husband.

"Simply wonderful..." the beige equine sighed, "well, we better put up the best damn fight we can; have whatever weapons we do have on board put to use to repel the incoming attack, see about creating a second smokescreen, and funnel any important information straight to my screen...are we clear commander?"

"Crystal sir," she informed him, already getting to work on sending out the orders to the rest of the crew; all the while keeping an eye on the radar screen as she judged that the enemy combatants would arrive within shooting range in only a few short minutes.

"They are here," Denios said, his beige ears perking as the sounds of the fighter's engines reached his sensitive senses. He turned to look at his wife, giving a swift nod as he took a deep breath before talking into the microphone at his side; "fire," was all the captain said, and all that was needed to be said as soon the blackness of space was lit up with the shine of lasers firing at distant targets.

Each commander watched intensely as their forces collided on the battle field, the easily maneuverable ships outwitting the intense laser fire of the turrets formed a space bally of lights and fire as they formed the lackluster darkness of space into a laser light show on a massive stage. Their eyes taking in the sights, focused only on the battle scenes in front of them as they absently ignored their second-in-commands and any other military personal who happened to try and vain and get their attention or decision.

The Equines reveled in the senses of battle, glaring on with eager faces as their troops fought to the death at their command; their tails twitched, ears cocking, noses sniffling, hooves clattering, and fingers drumming on the armrests were all signs that they were enjoying themselves. The drama of the previous moments all faded into the recesses of their mind as the action of battle overtook their sensations, making it the only thing they could think about.

Soon the explosions began as the pilots became careless from lack of sleep, or the gunners began to get lucky shots; the flaming streaks shooting across the black background signaling that a laser had found its mark or a missile had hit its target. But no matter how many fighters were shot down, more continue to funnel through as the echoes of screams passed through the bust halls of Demios's ship, the captain knowing full-well they were the death cries of his own men as their gunning platform was destroyed by a well-placed rocket.

Status reports began to flow like an endless stream of paper into the awaiting terminals of the captain and his second-in-command; each from a different department aboard their ship, and each slip giving figures and numbers on things form the percentage of the oxygen level on board, to the amount of ammo left in turret number 523. Demios took a couple seconds to glance over each page, and not hearing any gasps from his wife sitting next to him, he took the figures to be in the acceptable range and simply tossed them aside without any further consideration. "Out of sight, out of mind..." the commander mumbled, looking over each set of numbers briefly before turning his attention back on the battle raging on outside of his ship.

His urge to participate in the battle himself was also something he waited for, yet he had no idea how to work one of the strange flying machines that zoomed on past his window; so reluctantly he was forced to sit on the bridge and stare outward into the raging war-zone. "We have a visitor," Natasha's voice said quickly, breaking the silent concentration that the equine had put himself into, turning around to see his wife motion to the passage behind him in which a rather sullen looking character stood in the dank lighting of the emergency lights. "Come on forward," she ordered, getting a silent nod from the personal as the figure moved into the light.

There standing in the passage way with arms crossed over his chest and his tail wrapped loosely around the waist of his white trench coat, was a gray tabby cat. "I am Doctor Yuri Wind," he announced slowly, his large yellow eyes flashing as he rearranged himself before moving any closer to his captain; "I am the Head doctor in the medical facility located on your flagship, and I come bearing the collective news from our entire fleet directly into your office," he announced, glancing around the terminal filled headquarters. His fur was a dense light gray from the tips of his ears, to the fur peaking out from under his ankle-length lab coat, the crest of the Leshay military emblazoned on the front as a stethoscope hung form his neck and a couple pens were sticking out of a side pocket.

"What is it Doctor?" Demios asked, forcing to take his vision and mind away from commanding his forces on the unknown terrain outside of the safety of his office, "and no offence, but please make it brief seeing as how I have my strategies to get back to formulating."

"Of course," was Yuri's response, nodding slightly as he gathered himself, "Well Captain, our forces have taken quite a substantial loss in available fighting units. I am getting reports from the rest of the fleet to indicate the trend is universal, as their sickbays are beginning to fill up with the injured ranging from 3rd degree burns to broken tails and limbs incapacitating our men. Not to ment-"

"Hurry up with it Mr. Wind..." the equine stated gruffly, standing up quickly as he stared at the feline unintentionally harshly, feeling that his troops still able to combat the enemy needed him in the position to direct orders and converse with the squadron leaders for plans.

"If we continue on our current path, we are doomed to failure at the rate of losses we are going at," the male spurted out as fast as he could, his paw instinctively saluting before he bowed several times; "I'm sorry sir...but that is my professional opinion at this moment, and based on the continuing trend that I am seeing."

"So it is..." Demios said softly, sitting down very slowly as the information sank into his head that he was slowly killing off his own troops; his mind reeling as he tried to comprehend the fact that his strategy was becoming one ultimate failure after another, and with no conceivable way out that involved continuing the fight. "Is that all Doctor?" he asked softly, his large blue eyes looking up at the gray tabby who stood over him.

The feline simply nodded slowly, sliding the clipboard back beneath the folds of his outfit while adjusting the small rimmed glasses located on his muzzle, "Yes sir...it is."

"You are dismissed then..." the golden retriever said, stepping into the conversation as he gently showed the male out of the bridge, "thank you Doctor Wind for your update, the captain will take it into consideration as we plan our next move." The canine giving him a sweet smile, turning back to give the same treatment to her husband only to see him sulking in his chair.

Yuri was about to step out of the bridge before something else struck him as he turned around, "Oh, umm...captain?" he asked, watching as the equine's ears perked and the stout face turned to look at him. Not bothering to wait for an acknowledgement, he just nodded softly, "you have the power to end this sir...we will follow your commands till the end," and with that, he tapped his glasses with the end of a pen as he walked out of the bridge area.

The beige commander just nodded, slowly turning around to sit back in his chair just to get a glimpse of an enemy fighter flying past his view screen, its right engine on fire as the entire craft exploded with a brilliant light right in front of his eyes. The spectacle making the war veteran cringe as he couldn't help but sigh, wondering if this was the best way to win this battle, was a continue endless assault on the fighters with each side losing more and more men. Reluctantly he turned to face his wide, his face blank as he couldn't even create a pity smile, "Natasha, get me in touch with the commander of the Trang."

"Right now?" the female asked flabbergasted, "we are in the middle of a life or death battle and you want me to make a courtesy call to the headquarters of the enemy?" The woman just shook her head, golden curls going everywhere as her tail tucked itself between her legs; "we don't have time for these tactics anymore, if we don't stop this fighting soon with a victory soon, we won't be alive to talk anymore."

"Stopping the fighting is exactly the reason I plan on having this conversation," the male replied bluntly, running his fingers through his mane as he sighed loudly. "I've realized that a victory isn't the only way to halt the onslaught and eventual defeat of our position," was his explanation.

"If you even think about surrendering...you can bet your candy ass that I am taking over this ship from your command," the second-in-command said, eyeing her husband as the explosions of war raged in the background.

"It hadn't even passed my mind," he replied coldly, settling back into his seat, "Just get them on the screen okay? I have an idea that will spare the crew anymore fighting if it works out."

* * *

Phobos and Pryon had taken a soft stroll through the corridors of their ship on their way back to the captain's private quarters, the sounds of the battle flowing outside not being able to as readily pierce the many layers of the hull to reach their ears. Once inside, they settled onto their large asian inspired bed, a high-definition screen lowering before them as they watched the battle from the small cameras placed on the hood of every fighter they had deployed. The bull kept his promise to his mate, keeping any funny business inside his head as he concentrated on the war going on, watching as the equine would formulate plans and then instruct the bridge via a small screen as to what to instruct the pilots.

"Seems the Leshay want to open up discussion channels again," Greco's voice announced from a small panel that appeared next to Phobos's head, the dragon's eyes looking over to the commander and his mate reclining rather cozily on their futon. "Should I patch them through?" he asked, his long scaly tail could be seen swaying behind him.

"Probably trying to salvage their reputation and ask to surrender," Pyron said, his large paws gently running up and down the black arm next to him. The bull squeezing the horse's arm tenderly as he leaned in to give a soft kiss to the ebony cheek, the horse having gotten used to the affection a while back and didn't even flinch. "Besides..." he continued, "the faster we crush their forces, the quicker me and the captain can get to our private time."

"You think that they'd really offer to surrender?" he asked his second-in-command, the lizard staring at the couple through the small screen that linked his terminal back in the bridge to the one in their room. All he got as a shrug before spinning his head around to stare at the bovine next to him; blinking rapidly and gulping slightly, nervously chuckle, "umm...you know what, I think I will take that call after all..." the horse scratching the back of his head.

"Right away sir," Greco said, punching a few keys on his screen as another screen appeared opposite his in the commander's room, its screen flashing several times as static filled the room. Phobos ignored the saddened look of the bull, trying not let the guilt get to him as his determination not to have to sleep with the mortal overtook any personal feelings towards him. However, soon enough the snowy picture began to shape into focus as once again the shape of Demios sitting on his throne appeared to the group.

Before the black equine or anyone else in his party could speak, the beige warhorse's voice broke through with a stern, "We have to put a stop to this fighting." The female canine still behind him once again caught Phobos's eyes, though made sure to do it covertly since his mate was next to him.

"You must be joking," came the retort, the larger male sitting up in his bed, "We are just getting to the good part and you want to pull out..." though dressed in his stark white suit with blue trim, the equine crossed arms over his chest and made sure they realized he was quite serious. "Well, if you want to surrender...I will certainly not interfere and welcome your unconditional surrender at the hands of my forces," his muzzle breaking into a wide smile as he nickered loudly.

The golden retriever glanced over at her husband with a slightly curious glare; "if you aren't going to surrender, and you aren't going to continue fighting...what the heck is your plan sir?" reverting to formalities in public.

"I demand that you agree to and sign a mutually exclusive truce, deeming neither o us a winner," Demios stated with a solid disposition. Each party as surprised as the other about the rather brazen offer to end the fight at this very moment. "Call off your fighters and we can simply just walk away," was his next demand, once again being met with wide eyes from everyone else.

"And just why the hell would we do that?" Pyron interjected, stealing the words right out of the ebony equine's mouth as he sat up suddenly and glared into the face of his foe. "We have got your forces over a barrel, why should we suddenly decide to pansy out, sign some paper, and walk away with nothing when we could have everything," his nostrils steaming as the horns on his made became even more menacing as he whipped them around in great arcs.

"Because if you will ask your second-in-command about the medial status of your troops, I'm sure he will inform you that they are in just as sorry state as my own are in...and the worthless waste of lives is no longer required for victory for even if you should win now, you lack the supplies to continue on anyways." His voice was cold and calculated, daring the enemy to follow his command as he looked on unblinking and with a sneer across his lips.

"Is this true Greco?" Phobos inquired of the dragon who had been keeping silent as the conversation continued. The scaly male snapping out of his blank trance before facing away from the camera so that he could look down and check up on recent reports from the med-bays.

After a few quiet seconds the lizard returned with a solemn look on his face, "yes captain, it seems that he is right on target. If we continue on the path we are on, win or loose, our forces will be in no shape to defend ourselves should we get attacked going back for supplies."

"Crud," was the equine's response, glancing back to his counterpart on the other side of the battle grounds, now crossing his own arms over his broad chest. "Well, I will not certainly sign some little parchment declaring a truce...that's giant load of bullshi-...I mean it is a complete farce," the male corrected himself, glancing over to Py to see a small smile.

"And you have a better idea?" the beige asked rudely, pointing furiously at his counterpart; his tail shaking violently behind him as through trying to get rid of a persistent fly or other such insect.

"As a matter of fact I do have a better idea," the captain said, a wide grin passing over his lips. He knew how much he wanted to join in on the battle, assumed that his counterpart was feeling the same as he concocted the plan in his head; "I propose..." he stated slowly, "the we have a one-on-one duel to the death, winner declares himself victor of the battle, the looser is well...dead."

A forced silence fell over all participants in the room like a wet blanket, everyone fearful to talk as they scanned the faces of everyone else as through trying to bore into their skulls and read their thoughts. No one said much of anything, Pyron taking the black horse's arm and holding him tightly while Natasha left her seat to sit on Demios's lap and wrap her arms around his neck; both mates fearful of the idea that their husbands, should they agree, might not come back to them. Finally with a heavy heart and the knowledge that with every passing moment more of his men were dying, the beige equine nodded, "Fine...I'll agree to duel."

"You will do no such thing!" the canine screamed, clutching her husbands neck hard as she buried her golden face into his jacket, the material seeming rough and cold compared to his skin. Those golden locks cascading over her shoulders as she pounded his chest with her paws, "you...you aren't in the right state of mind...you...I...I'm taking over this ship from this moment on and I forbid you from going!" then picking up her face from his chest, her golden orbs looking into his blue ones, she melted and planted a passionate kiss on his muzzle, both sets of eyes closing as he let her have her way before gently pulling his face from the embrace.

"Yes I will..." he said softly, staring into her eyes, "you once told me not to sacrifice the lives of the many for the lives of the one...well I am only 'one life' and now I am given the opportunity to spare the rest of my crew the horrors of a untimely death. Not to mention I have a feeling you would do the same thing, correct?" he asked, watching the details sink in before finally she gave a quiet nod and got off of her husband.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the screen Phobos had already dispatched with his mate's complaints with a simple, "I won't loose" every time the bull came up with a complaint or worry till eventually the male gave up and sat sulking on the side of the bed. "The duel will be held on out ship since you were the first two ask for the fighting to end," he stated gruffly, eyeing the pair in the screen.

"You are nuts if you think he is going to do that!" the canine screeched, staring into the video unit as her bosoms bounced up and down with each deep breath she took into her chest, "since he made the offer, we should be the ones to host the match."

"Listen lady, you better get your femme fetal hair out of your eyes and look around, there is no way I'm going to let Phobos head over to your ship unescorted..." Py retorted as the two mates squared off across the screen, neither willing to relinquish the possible advantage to their counterparts.

"If I may interject..." Greco offered from his video screen off to the side of the bed, the dragon having remained quiet the entire time as his forked tongue came out to almost lick the screen. "On board this ship we have a portable combat arena that is used to for our soldiers to practice their combat in a zero-G environment...it is equipped with life support systems and other such luxuries...I suggest we deploy it into the center of the battle field and have each captain shuttled over and fight in there. I can patch your ship into its video mainframe so we can all view the fight through our fleets."

In the next few minutes that passed, both groups ended up settling on that idea and the plans were made to deploy the combat arena as both captains said goodbye to their mates who were besides themselves with grief before setting off for their final confrontation on the battle field; even though each male knew that in the back of his mind that even should one of them fall in this time, their death was not permanent and the god would return back to their time, but the form they inhabited would have been killed instead. And with bonds having been formed between them and their 'mates' becoming strong over the past moments, neither wanted them to suffer and so made a determination not to loose at any cost.

Soon enough both fighters got to the pod, and once figuring out to get out of their respective pods, they slowly entered the arena as they got used to the feel of the lack of gravity in their surroundings. Then they were face to face for the first time in the entire battle, each looking over the other's outfit and weapon as they slowly circled the sterile environment where their brawl was about to commence. For the most part, they were both standing in a white cube; and as determined before they arrived, gravity was turned back on so that it was to their usual liking.

"Ready to get it on?" Demios asked, whipping his laser pistol from its holster as he twirled it from paw to paw, getting the feel for his new and only weapon. The commander deciding on removing his bulky white jacket which left him dressed in only his white slacks, blue sash, and a blue and white striped button down shirt which he opened the collar so he could breathe.

"Ready to loose?" Phobos countered, his fingers releasing his sheath of it's beam saber as he pressed the small button on the hilt and watched as the large gray beam short forth. He gave it several practice swipes in the air before beginning to circle around the center of the room as his foe did the same; his fingers going to gently adjust his top knot so as to keep his hair and mane out of his face.

The beige equine got into ready stance, legs spread wide, tail shivering behind him, arms spread open, and pistol ready and bearing on his opponents chest. "Enough of the chatter and let's start this thing already," he quipped, looking to make any finally corrections on his weapon before fire a large red ray of energy.

"Alright you son of a bi-" the ebony horse started, but had to duck and roll to avoid being hit by the ray of energy, the beam hitting the side of the cube where a little fire started. He then brought his weapon to bear and charged his opponent, his red eyes shining as he moved in for the kill and took several long slashes at the uniform and the male in it.

Backing up till his back was against the wall, Demios did his best to avoid each slice till he finally had to slide along the wall as the last cutting motion just nicked the collar of his shirt. But as he slid along the wall, his fingers were adjusting the small dial on the side of his pistol, and with a steady hand shot a seam hitting the other warrior directly in the chest with a bolt of lightning; the force of the blow sending Phobos stumbling back a few steps before regaining his balance, fingers running over the charred section of his armor.

Instantly the beige horse was back on his feet, the two facing off once again as they circled each other a few times before; and with another switch of the dial, Demios shot a deep blue colored beam at his opponent only to watch that gray beam sword deflect the ray into the right wall, a large icicle forming where it had hit. "My god..." the ebony stud mumbled, "is there something that thing can't do?" as he began to make tighter and tighter circles.

"After I win, I'm going to find out..." was the reply as he let off another ice beam which the male just ducked under before rushing forward with the tip of his beam saber pointed directly into his heart. The move giving the other captain only moments to attempt a doge, the move not preformed fast enough as the saber sliced along his right side, drawing the first blood of the match as Demios staggered to regain his position.

"I suggest you rethink that..." Phobos sneered, readying his weapon and lunging again without giving his opponent to ready himself for long. And do the duel between the two evenly matched horses continued on in such a fashion, swipes, slices, and shots flying around the enclosed cube as they did battle. The sights and sounds being transmitted back to their respective ships as their mates sat on the edge of their seats, refusing any option that might take them away from the battle.

Eventually both warriors parted from their most recent confrontation, each equine having to lean against the wall for support as their weakened bodies did their best to support them. Demnios's captain garb was now nothing more then shreds of white and blue fabric, the sash hanging loosely about his waist as what material still clung to his body was dyed a deep crimson from the blood loss he had sustained from the slices along his abdomen and limbs. His blue eyes shone just as brightly, his breath heaving as he readied his gun once again and held the weapon at his side while he took the momentary pause to rest up. Phobos wasn't in any better condition as multiple panels of his samurai armor had been blown off, shattered, or ripped from his suit to reveal his bruised and bleeding chest. His beam saber dripping with the other commander's blood as he too was on his last legs, the rays of the gun that did hit him sapping him of his energy.

The two males stared into each other's faces, showing off their determination to win at all costs as the ebony equine made on last second dash across the room; his arm was held back as he charged ready to slash at Demios's exposed neck, the gray blade shimmering in the illuminant light. Meanwhile, the beige equine juggled the gun from his right paw to his left while his now free hand worked to loosed his sash, and in a quick maneuver wrapped the opposing commander's sword wielding arm in it and pulling it away from his neck at just enough of an angel to keep the blade only centimeters from his flesh. "Give up..." Phobos breathed hard, pushing all his weight into the arm as he tried to rip the material and sever the enemy's neck, eventually your arm will tire, and then I'll be able to capture the victory with a single slice."

"Think again..." Demios blurted out, his eyes glancing from the shimmering blade to the black face staring at him. He then nudged the barrel of his gun into the tender and exposed flesh of the opposing captain, for in the struggle he managed to slip the barrel between the cracked panels of armor and had it aimed at the equine's heart. "Think you are fast enough to kill me and move before I shoot you through the chest?" he asked, his muzzle dripping a stream of blood as he watched the realization slide its way into Phobos's mind.

"Damn it!" was the response, but yet he did not move back for fear that should he move, his enemy would have an easy time shooting him where he stood. "You can't move, or else I'd slit your throat and I'd win...but I can't move or else you'd blow a hole through my chest...which means that...that..." his mind trying to search out another possible conclusion.

"That it is a draw!" Demios said forcefully, his ears picking up the slight neighs and whinnies of the other duelist. "Face it..." he mumbled though hazy eyes, "neither of us can win, and we can both loose...our best bet to both walk away alive is to call a truce."

The black male just sneered, yet he knew well enough that his counterpoint spoke the logical truth, and with no other way out then an all out massacre, he regretfully had to force his hand and admit to a truce. "Fine...a truce it is, I hope you are happy..." as Phobos waited for a nod of acceptance before he hesitantly pulled his sword off of the exposed flesh and stepped back, feeling the barrel of the gun slide out from underneath his armor. Both warriors glared at each other for a moment before holstering their weapons and then moving tot eh center of the ring, looking up at the perceived cameras and shaking the offered paws in a sign that an agreement had been reached.

Throughout both fleets there was cause for celebration as their mates rejoiced that their husbands would be coming back to them this battle. But remaining on the dueling platform, the gods slowly began to emerge from their host bodies, watching as the two males they had inhabited slumped to the floor, their bodies having collapsed from exhaustion and will wake up to remember only vaguely what had transpired while the god were using them. "Guess this battle will be written for the history books huh?" he asked, making sure the male beneath him was sleeping softly as both warriors waited patiently for their tubes to come back and escort them off tot eh realm of the gods.

"Don't remind me Demios...I can't believe you actually forced me to surrender," Phobos scoffed, whipping some dust from his otherwise perfectly healthy form; the wounds that gods had received were only transpired to the mortal bodies and not themselves.

"It wasn't a surrender buddy...it was a tie," he responded with a small laugh, their tails swaying back and forth as a bright door of white light opened to reveal their way home.

The black equine just sighed, "still, the matter of things is, is that it wasn't a win on my board," he muttered, thinking back to his chart back in his stable as they slowly stepped into their respective tubes.

They were about to head back before Demios quickly stuck his head out and looked over at Phobos, "speaking of which...looks like you will have to add a third column for 'draws' into that chart of yours," he said with a snicker, watching his counterpart just grin before their doors closed and they were whisked back to the land of the gods where time and war can be changed by the will on the one who wields the power.