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HEY! Remember me?

Been awhile, hasn't it?

Writers block, and possible other projects, have delayed this chapter, however I'd like you all to know that, while the wait times seem unbearable, the delays should be well worth it.

Warning: Sex, profanity, death, violence, homosexuality, furries, and science fiction in equal parts; shaken, not stirred, and served over a hot, steamy plate of plotline follow. If that sort of thing isn't your bag, then I suggest you leave.

Under 18? It is recommended that you turn back now. You don't have to, I can't stop you; I'm just saying.

And now, without further adieu:

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Chapter 8: Strategic Withdrawal

Thirty minutes till launch. Zero hour as the humans put it. Everyone was anxious, wondering if they'd make it off the planet. The plan was simple and so fluid in design. Jasyn was explaining the plan, after a nervous Atlas explained the stations' weak points.

"Our new cloaking systems are practically invisible, and can run for up to fifteen minutes before they must be shut down, or risk complete loss of power to the rest of the ship. The stations all have an access port on their poles, and a single phase-missile will obliterate one. You'll have at most three seconds to be clear of the stations. Aries will be leading his squadron, Beta wing, to open up a hole large enough to get our ships through. I, will be in command of the Morningstar, coordinating the assault," said the wolf rather commandingly, taking a sidelong glance at those mentioned for a nod.

"Axis and Blaze, you will be command ops. Make sure that we aren't ambushed. Atlas will be leading Gamma wing, who will be escorting the Morningstar. Daemon is in charge of Delta wing, escorting the StH," he continued. "Captain's Varu and Litman are in command of the TSS Era and the TSS Monarch respectively. Lieutenant Garett will be leading Epsilon squadron, escorting you. Divide your team up however you think will provide the most protection, lieutenant."

Jasyn finished by listing off who was in which squadron, a tedious task considering the number of pilots. When he'd finished, he bowed his head a bit and looked out among the combined Trian Resistance. "We've only got one shot at this, people. Let's make it count!" he called out, and the entirety of the assembly gave an uproarious cheer.

--

"In all my years with the resistance; I've never run from the Crag... This is the most cowardly idea I've ever heard!" brooded Roman, as he took his spot at the helm of the Corona class TSS Fledgling, the same model as the Star Hawk. It's bridge gleamed, well-tended and clean. The steel of the curved walls and the simple carpet bringing him into a sense of anger.

"Lieutenant Caprius. Take us up," said the captain of the ship, a human woman with jet-black hair. "All hands, prepare for ascent" she said over the comm., as the ship began to rumble a bit.

--

Jasyn seated himself in the comfortable captain's chair of the Morningstar, the former captain of the ship beside him in the commander's seat. Axis and Blaze were sitting at the communications and tactical stations to either side behind him on the pristine, shining bridge.

"Alright... Open a channel to all ships. Engage engines and prepare for ascent. I want the fighters out of here first," said Jasyn.

On the panoramic before him, the main screen, Jasyn saw the water. All of the large ships were submerged, being too big to fit in the hangars. He could see the sun rippling through the water, various aquatic life swimming around nearby.

As soon as the Morningstar's underwater engines kicked on, the ship began to lift from the bottom. "Alright everybody. These next few weeks will be rough, but we're going to get to Earth. We'll rebuild our technology, and we'll fly back here with an armada. We'll raze the Crag palace, annihilate the emperor, and destroy the grid around our once-lush world. All fighters are to land before we go to slipstream," he said, grinning.

--

The water broke over the hulls of the twelve large ships; the pelican class Support ship, Remora, and the three Corona class support craft, the Canary, the Fledgling, and the Andromeda, being the lightest, rose first above the water. The four Quantum class Heavy support craft, the Longbow, the Ceres, the Paladin, and the Sparrow, with their curved and glistening hulls, rising after.

The Erika class Sonic the Hedgehog, oddly named as it was, rose next, irregularly shaped and shining.

Next were the Polaris Class Starcruisers, the Monarch and the Era; the glowing lines of blue crisscrossing the hull; these lines but amplifiers for the barrier technology.

Finally, the modified, bulkier, and more well-defended Polaris Refit class Morningstar, with it's hooked trifoil wings and dagger-like shape, cutting the surface with ease. At least one-and-a-half times larger than the ordinary Polaris class, it's surface was covered in a fine blue-glowing mesh, ten times finer than the crisscrossing of the Monarch.

It's engines kicked on as soon as it was above water, and the entire craft lifted itself out of the ocean, steam escaping from the crevices near the engines.

The swarm of fighters leaving the island was unlike anything any of them had seen, blocking view of the sun almost by their sheer numbers. Each one glowed with intricate blue lines, the tips of their extending wings blinking intermittently. The thrust beneath the rising craft created a depression in the water, almost to the point that the entire island was rising above the waves.

They shot off, almost like one ship, towards the distance, the fighters weaving and ducking between ships as they passed.

The resistance was beginning its ascent, and the entire planet looked on, fearing that their saviours were deserting them.

The atmosphere thinned as the world fell away around them, and the orbital stations began turning their cannons at the ships.

--

Aries spun his MPN into a barrel roll, initiating his cloak. He designated targets for his squadron, and they dispersed.

"Alright..." he said to himself, looking at the satellite. "It's time to tear a hole in their screen door."

The silence of space helped mask the cloaked exoskeletons approach, and almost as though linked one, then another, and another station shattered, at least seven at a time, always; the battery of guns doing little to defend the stations.

Leon's fighter, gleaming and silvery, rolled and ducked through the endless vacuum, ready to pick off any number of Crag swarmships.

The Empire might have been predictable, but they weren't stupid. Five large and fully concealed capital ships became painfully visible, striking immediately at the smaller support craft of the Sirian resistance.

The point defence lasers and ECM generators completely protecting the large Craganii Warships, while they pummelled the smaller craft.

The Trian Fleet was clear already of the blockade grid, only one obstacle in their way.

--

"Ensign, can we open a slip portal?" shouted Jasyn, the Morningstar's bridge rocking and swaying with the impacts.

"At this range, we'd pull the planet through, and we wouldn't have a cause to fight for, sir!" called the helmsman, performing evasive manoeuvres. The entire fleet cut into two flanks, tearing away from one-another.

"Open a channel directly to our capital craft, secure it if you can!" called the young wolf to Axis, who began tapping keys.

"Secure channel open, sir! I'm heading down to Engineering," replied the fox, leaving the bridge. Another officer took his place quickly.

"This is fleet commander Jasyn Emitt. Take two different routes to Earth. Go into slipstream as soon as you're able. Captain Varu, you're in command of that half of the fleet. Bring them home in one piece," said the wolf, the bridge rocking again.

There was an explosion off to one side of the bridge, one of the support craft being blown into dust.

"That was the Canary sir," said Blaze, looking up momentarily.

"Fire all port-side cannons, aim for their missiles," said Jasyn, before turning his attention to the helm. "Ensign, as soon as we're clear; open a slip portal to Earth, signal all fighters to return," he added, watching the fight before him.

"Collapse the portal as soon as our entire convoy is through, ensign. Take us through last," he ordered, finally, as the ship shook again.

--

"That's it!" said Aries over the comm., "Beta wing follow me, we're returning to the Morningstar."

"Mind if we join you, Wraith?" said Atlas, spinning his MPN in a quick arc and merging into Aries' squad.

"Not at all," replied the wolf, as he pushed his own machine into a landing approach.

"Here comes Daemon's wing. Looks like he's peeling off to join us," said Atlas with a grin, rolling between enemy weapons fire.

--

Approaching quickly while dodging through laser fire upon the hangar bay of the Morningstar; Aries, Atlas and their squadrons began to feel the tug of artificial gravity. Gliding to a clear spot; the pilots, with several dull thuds and scrapes, brought their craft down, skidding to a quick stop. Atlas, still in his EV suit, leapt out of the MPN and looked towards the doors, beginning to close.

A lone fighter, twisting and ducking between enemy fire, hurtled towards the closing gap in the doors. Nearly there, a couple hundred meters and closing fast, Daemon suddenly felt shrapnel hit his arm.

Barely thirty meters away from salvation, Daemon's ship gave one final shot of the engines before the entire ship's systems lost power. With a sickening scrape the ship rammed through the doors mere moments before they shut completely, gliding in an almost perfect arc towards the far wall.

Hitting the hangar bay floor and causing sparks as the bay pressurized, Daemon opened the canopy of his fighter and leapt gracelessly from the doomed fighter, falling hard on his side with an audible crunch as the ship itself careened into the far wall and was reduced to nothing more than shrapnel.

Atlas began to run, tossing his helmet to the side as he fell to his knees and slid along the now-corrugated floor panels to Daemon's side, scooping him up quickly and removing the helmet to look into his eyes.

The younger wolfox coughed a bit and grinned up at his fox, chuckling slightly. He winced in pain a bit, his ribs fractured, as he looked back and said, "Fun..."

Atlas looked at him, nearly in tears, and laughed a bit, stroking over his forehead with a smile. "Fucking daredevil..." said the fox, shaking his head. The fighter smouldered against the far wall as Aries and the two fighter-wings looked at the two.

"C'mon... Let's get you to the med-lab," said Atlas, as he stood, lifting the wounded mix-breed with a smirk.

"Kay..." replied Daemon in a weak, but steady voice, nuzzling gently into his lover's shoulder as the two made their way out of the bay.

Aries watched for a moment, before turning to look back at his team with a shake of his head. "Good job guys, you're dismissed for now," he said, smiling a bit, before he too made his way out of the bay.

--

"We've lost contact with the Ceres sir!" said Blaze, tapping furiously at controls.

"Ensign, are we clear yet?" shouted Jasyn over the blaring alarms.

"In another two seconds sir!" replied the man, tapping at keys.

The swirling slipstream portal opened with a bright flash, a sight Jasyn was praying for. "Order the support ships through first, full speed!" he ordered, yelling over the din. "Bridge to engineering, prepare for slipstream!"

"Captain, we've taken a lot of damage. If we jumped to streaming velocity now the gravimetric shears might tear us apart. I don't know if I can keep us together," said Axis, the beeping alarms in engineering and the hiss of coolant trying to drown him out.

"We've got no choice, kit. Deploy the armour plating, we're jumping to slipstream," said Jasyn, and within an instant the whirr of the armour as it dispersed itself across the ship's hull flooded the ship.

With a dull bang, as the armour completely closed on the ship's exterior, the helmsman directed the Morningstar toward the slipstream event at top speed.

All that remained after the battle was the debris of thousands of Craganii swarmships, some twenty-odd fighter remnants from the Sirian forces, and the hulls of the Ceres and the Canary. The blinding flash of the slip-portal as it slammed shut on any Crag pursuers being the end of the Battle at Falla.

--

Shuddering and groaning in protest, the Morningstar fought with itself to keep together; the forward section wanting to decelerate while the aft tried to plough through. Axis was in engineering, trying his hardest to stabilize the ship.

"Phillips, reroute emergency power to the forward runners, quickly. Hennessey, prepare damage control teams," said the slightly overwhelmed fox. The ship shook violently, a screech of metal scraping against metal coming to his ears.

He growled a bit as the ship rocked, feeling himself being pulled to one side more so than the other. The dangers of flying uncontrolled in Slipspace were always fatal. Axis knew this well.

'If I'm going to do this...' he started to think to himself, and he heard an ear-splitting whine and groan as the ship began to crumple backwards.

"Phillips, NOW!" yelled the fox, as the lieutenant started to tap helplessly at the controls.

"There isn't enough energy, sir!" she yelled back, slamming her fists down in frustration.

Axis growled again, his white hand paws wringing at nothing as he thought over what he was to do next. A console right beside him exploded, shrapnel showering towards him and being deflected off of something intangible. Axis clenched his eyes briefly, before reopening them to reveal violet, glowing spheres. His fur bristled in a rush of overwhelming energy as he let out a howl. His fur suddenly seemed to flash brightly, darkening from the almost unnatural white which he was famous for to an almost jet black in mere moments, red markings gracing his body now in intricate stripes and curves. Across his face, a pair of diamond shaped patches formed a mask over his eyes, and the stripes continued up his ears. His tails each began to show the same patterns, the outer two with stripes moving upward like the threads of a screw while the inner one was covered in seemingly random stripes. All three culminated in a red ring around the tip, a mere three inches from the blackened tips of the fur.

--

Jasyn cringed and waited for the bridge to crush him under its weight, knowing that collapse was imminent. He could see the 'strings' of Slipspace running horizontally across the front screen, what was remaining of it. It had shorted out around the edges. The large, circular lights in the ceiling and the long, vertical lights on the walls had already died, bathing the bridge in an eerie red glow from emergency lamps.

The bridge did not crush him, or anyone else on deck. He looked, and he could see a strange violet aura, tinting the strings light purple. The ship began to turn, of it's own accord, to face the stream, the groaning of the hull reduced to a dull hum as the slip runners came online.

Soon the haze faded, and the ship was riding the stream again, heavily damaged, probably less likely to survive an attack against a fighter now than survive the crag warships when in perfect order.

Jasyn looked around him and everyone else was as confused as he; even blaze, who would be most likely out of all of them to have solved it.

Then came the call over the com, the speaker crackling to the point of barely being able to hear it. Surprising, considering main power was down, that it was working at all. Phillip's disjointed voice reached their ears, and the bridge crew tried to piece together what she was saying.

"Ca--in, Y....... to co-me d--n h--re. Ax- unc--us," was what they heard.

Blaze spoke up first.

"Captain. You should head to engineering. Someone's out cold," he said as a suggestion.

"I'm on my way. Commander..." he began, turning to the man who was still sitting in the seat beside him "You've got the bridge"

"Aye sir," said the man, as Jasyn stood up and quickly made his way out of what was left of the bridge.

On his way out he passed Aries, who continued into the bridge, looking around at what was left.

--

"Axis?" spoke Jasyn quietly, cradling his kit's head in his lap and looking down at him. Phillips stood some ways off, warning everybody to give the fox some room.

The rim of Axis' ears were covered in black fur, the red rings around the tips of his tails now red tips, fading into the usual white. Otherwise he looked the same, except unconscious.

Axis' left ear twitched, and Jasyn blinked and ran a paw against it, looking down worriedly. "Axis? C'mon, wake up!" he growled a bit, hurt evident in his voice. "That's an order dammit!" he chuckled a bit, trying to brush off the pain.

A slight smirk and one eye cracked slightly, the once-pure-white fox looking up at him through a painful eye. "A-aah!" he gasped, closing the eye quickly, "dammit!" he growled, clinging to Jasyn a bit without realizing it. Even without the regular lights, the emergency lighting was irritating.

"A-are you okay, kit?" Jasyn stuttered, looking over his love worriedly.

"S-stop fussing, worrywolf. My eyes just sting..." grumbled the moderately embarrassed kit fox.

Jasyn deftly helped his younger and dizzy fox to his feet, catching him as he fell back over. Jasyn looked into his kit's scarcely open eyes and saw barely visible flecks of amber brown mixed with the violet. He said nothing, yet, but he helped his love regain his balance and looked around at the surrounding crowd. "Oh, and I suppose nobody ordered Damage Control Teams?" he snarled a bit.

Everyone scattered rather quickly, except lieutenant Phillips, who approached the two.

"Are you alright, sir?" she asked, her long brown hair dishevelled.

"Y-yeah... I'm fine..." said Axis, quietly, blinking still and rubbing at one of his eyes.

Jasyn shook his head a bit and said, "Axis... I think you should go to the infirmary... if only to settle my nerves," his cold, blue eyes showing concern.

Again, Axis practically melted. It was as if, ice cold as they were, Jasyn's eyes were filled with a peculiar warmth. The young Sirian Fox nodded and leaned into his mate a bit. "Feel like escorting me?" he asked, sighing softly.

"Of course..." replied the wolf, smirking a bit.

"I'll take over here, Axis. Don't worry about it," said the Lieutenant, smiling.

At that, Jasyn took Axis out of engineering, one of the lesser-damaged areas of the ship.

The corridors themselves suffered from conduits littering the floors to full-blown hull breaches. Those segments where holes were punched in the hull were evacuated, either before the breaches formed, or after. The infirmary was one of the few places that, despite having lost main power, were still intact. Red emergency lighting and all, Doctor Tavok came out and looked Axis over, already tending injured from all around the ship.

"He's fine, just needs some rest," she said, returning to more immediate patients.

"Doctor?" started Axis, curious about something all of a sudden.

"Hmm?" came the reply

"Any reported casualties, injured aside?" asked the fox, still blinking furiously.

"So far? A crewman came in with reportedly seeing most of the security team get blown into space," again replied Tavok, before saying, "I need to tend to my patients. You'll have to leave."

The two complied quickly, letting the woman get back to her work.

--

Travelling through slipspace is an exceptionally boring thing as very little happens. Aries had left the bridge and was currently walking through the near-destroyed ship towards where his designated quarters were.

As he rounded into the carpeted steel corridor that his quarters were supposedly along, the blaring red lights causing him to blend in with the relative darkness, he spotted a small husky, knocked out from a plate of metal that had fallen from the ceiling. He'd been hit with the flat side, but the force of it was enough to cause his nose to bleed.

Aries ran towards and rolled the youth over, blinking down at the wounded pup. "Mati?" he said, blinking in shock. He shook the husky gently to no avail, checked the pulse, and sighed in relief. 'One... two... three... Steady beat... he should be fine. Got to get him to the med lab though,' thought the wolf silently, before carefully picking up the pup and jogging back through the corridors to the infirmary.

The more constant jostling motion roused the pup, and he opened his eyes, barely, to see the black and red wolf carrying him. He blinked slightly, taking a moment to figure out whom it was, before he clung a paw against Aries' jacket and groaned a bit.

"Hold on just a little more, pup," said Aries, only a section away from sickbay.

Thankful that the doors were wedged open, the wolf slipped a foot between the crack and opened them wide, causing Tavok to jump.

"Doctor, Mati's got a broken nose, possibly a concussion," said the wolf, bracing his back against the other side of the doors and looking in at the woman.

Tavok glanced up and the red lights immediately lost power, mere moments before the regular lighting came back on, gaining a groan from those within the bay. The woman briefly shielded her eyes and let them adjust, a mere three seconds, before reaching out and taking the pup husky into her arms, turning and laying him on one of the clear beds.

Aries moved through the door and heard them close on the medkit wedging them apart, wondering for a brief second if the automatic function was working as he asked, "Think you can do anything to get him up and around?"

Tavok shone a penlight into one of Mati's eyes, checking for brain damage.

The young husky reached up weakly and tried to bat at the light, striking the doctor's arm but barely doing anything. He groaned at the sudden, painful light.

"I'm FINE!" he said, whining suddenly when he stopped speaking. A sharp pain ran over the top of his nose, making him cringe slightly.

"He should be fine," she said, before quickly and deftly reaching up and pushing Mati's lopsided nose back into place.

The young husky barked and whined and howled at once, growling at her and nearly biting her hand. "OWW!" he yelped and whimpered a bit.

"And that should heal nicely, now that I've reset it..." began the doctor again, checking a little bit more for anything else that may be wounded. "... No concussion, as far as I can tell, his pupils aren't dilated... he should be fine to move right now. I'd suggest making sure his nose stays as still as possible, so that means nothing solid for a couple days, limit your talking, and sleep on your back," she finished, directing the last bit at Mati.

The young husky nodded, looking around a bit. "So, can I go home?" he asked, to which the doctor agreed, and the two left en-route to the executive officer's quarters.

--

"Mati! What happened to you?" gasped Axis, looking the pup over. He'd recovered from the massive drain of energy, however his eyes were very faintly glowing violet.

"A panel fell and hit him in the nose. He'll be fine in a couple days. No solid food, try to avoid making him talk, and only let him sleep on his back," replied Aries, ruffling the youth's head fur.

Mati looked up and growled a bit but shrugged and walked into the big quarters, hugging Axis tight. He looked up at Axis, the larger fox smiling down at him. "Bed..." said the pup, before he left through one of the doors to the two other areas of the quarters and went to sleep.

Axis blinked, before regarding Aries. "Thanks for bringing him back..." he smiled, sighing a bit.

"Anything I can do for you, Axis? Any idea where Jasyn is?" asked the black and red wolf.

Jasyn was lying in the bed at the back of the room they stood in, a simple curtain separating it from the rest of the quarters. A small grunt reached Aries' ears and he snickered.

"No, we're good. Blaze was looking for you a few minutes ago, though; seemed urgent," came the fox's reply.

"Oh? Comm. down?" asked the wolf, to which Axis shook his head.

"I think it was something personal. He said he was going to wait for you at your quarters," further replied the slightly impatient fox.

"Okay, well I'll head down there now. See you tomorrow, Axis," the wolf bid farewell.

Axis gave a similar farewell before turning and sitting down.

--

"Aries!" shouted Blaze from down the hall.

The wolf felt like running up to him, but he strode up at the same pace, his eyes locked with the crimson in Blaze's own. 'Damn he looks yummy...' he thought, before forbidding the thoughts to the box of things he wished he'd never thought about.

"Heard you were looking for me," spoke the lupus, his voice smooth and calm.

"Yeah!" came Blaze's raspy answer. "I wanted to talk to you about something... personal..." he added, rubbing his neck slightly, his tail swishing low. He seemed shy about something, and the blush in his cheeks made his goldenrod fur turn from yellow, to rose gold.

Aries looked into the Lyrii's eyes and smiled, shrugging a bit. "Well... what is it you wanted to talk about?" he asked casually, smirking slightly and noticing the blush deepen considerably.

"Well... you see..." began the male.

__________________________________________________________________________

Suspense, Again?

NOOOOO!!!!

I can hear you all crying and cursing my name already. I love it!

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Be nice to me, love yah all!

~BRP*WAF*

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