an endless voyage ch 44
A week prior to repairs to Excalibur being complete, Maya and Karen had gone into labor. As Kayla had to pilot the Admiral's Yahct into orbit for the births, Maya had left May in command on the planet below.
For Maya it ended up being her easiest welping yet. she'd given birth to ten healthy half spaniel half kuvasz pups within six hours of her temperature going down to 99.0 and had only cursed a few times in doing so.
The pups were a perfect mix of both their mothers' genes. They had stout kuvasz bodies, with fancy spaniel fur, spaniel ears and short fancy tails. Most were either buff colored like Karen, or multicolored, but two were all white like Maya. All were female of course. One buff colored pup and the two white pups all had congenital megacolon, while the other seven did not.
Karen had a much harder time of things. Doc Natalie had to repeatedly squirt her Honeypie full of water-based lube, and use fingers up Karen's butt to apply traction to help her push the pups out. Karen was in agony the entire time, cursing profusely and repeatedly wetting and soiling herself despite being given an enema prior to settling in to give birth.
After 30 agonizing hours of this torment, which Admiral Maya had been worried sick throughout, Karen finally birthed the last of the six pups, and soon fell asleep from exhaustion moments after the nurses had helped get the last pup on a teat. She even slept through Doc Natalie cleaning her up, flushing her Honeypie with antibacterial solution, and inserting a waste tube and catheter just as she had done for Maya.
Karen's pups were Trina's so they were 1/3 kuvasz, 1/3 human and 1/3 spaniel. Only one looked human aside from her canine vulva, ears tail and canine anus. the other five looked purely canine.
Two of those five were buff colored, two were all white, and one was multicolorred. One buff colored pup, one all white pup, and the multicolored pup all had fluffy kuvasz tails and kuvasz type fur and ears.
The other two purely canine pups, and the human looking pup all had spaniel ears, and a short fancy tail. the two purely canine looking ones having spaniel type fur as well.
Only the multicolored pup had congenital megacolon, which considering Trina had only been a carrier of the gene and Karen's lineage didnt have it anywhere down the line, was to be expected.
As unpleasant as it was, all the pups had been born naturally and while Karen would be sore for a while and need longer to recover than Maya would, they'd both be back to normal soon.
The little Sheltie Hira who had given birth to her second litter from Hank two weeks ago had not been so strong willed. whereas Karen would much rather bear the pain no matter hwo excruciating to keep her body flawless, Hank's sheltie girl Hira had taken the easy way out, and while Doc Natalie's skill and advanced canine technology meant scarring was minimal, nonetheless Karen often playfully joked that the little sheltie had more scars than Admiral Maya had. That was wrong of course. Maya's were battlescars, many she had cauterized herself in the field, getting medical treatment after the fight, and as such they were a good deal more noticeable, not to mention being irregular shapes and sizes, often jagged. Not to mention the surgical scars to remove bullets and shrapnel.
They remained in orbit two days following the births, and upon returning to the planet they took turns looking after the pups and administrating the campsite.
....................
A week after that, Repairs were nearly complete to Excalibur, and the mining ship was coming along nicely too.
During the day, Tom and Hank would take turns wearing the dreaded teatsuit. one would do it one day, the other the next, while whoever wasnt wearing it flew combat patrol. Karen spent days overseeing final repairs, while Maya would spend the days in her command tent taking care of buisness.
...............
two weeks later, with Excalibur fully rebuilt, better than new, and repairs to the mining ship nearly complete it was back to buisness as usual.
......................
Following the completion of repairs, Maya ordered a great feast to celebrate the new births, and everyone got really good and ticked, really drunk, and generally had a blast. Several heated females of various breeds ended up getting a wild orgy going as a result, and the whole thing turned into a massive party that lasted two full days and nights. the 3rd was spent sleeping it off, and on the morning of the 4th, the campsite was packed away, and by nightfall everyone was back aboard their ships and Maya had given the order to get the fleet moving again. One by one the ships accelerated down Xian POW constructed runways, and began their ascent. first the Lee Class ships, then the captured Xian ship, the mining ship, and finally it was time for her flagship, the newly repaired and upgraded Excalibur to take to the skies.
The engines spooled up without incident, and after a final systems chec reported all was good, maya took her seat in the redesigned command chair, and gave the order; "Kayla, take us up, full power. Erika inform the fleet we're acceleratin t' takeoff speed an' 'll be joinin em shortly."
Yes ma'am." they both replied. Kayla put the throttles up as Erika handled the comms, and the main engines blasting full afterburner, belching long firey exhaust jets that boiled the runway behind them and incinerated anything in their path, the great behemoth slowly began to accelerate.
THe massive heavy dreadnought began to pick up speed, and after what felt like an eternity Kayla called out "v1"
"Pitch up slightly an' stand bah t' fire ascent jets." Maya ordered. "We gonna have enuff runway?"
"Its borderline, Admiral." Molly said.
"V2" Kayla called out, pitching up more steeply. "Firing ascent jets."
"All systems well within normal parameters, Admiral." Belle reported from the bridge engineering station.
"Altitude 100 meters and climbing, velocity 1500 kph and accelerating." Kayla reported.
"Liftoff good, retract landin struts." Maya ordered.
"Yes ma'am." Kayla replied, carrying out Maya's orders. "If these engines run as smoothly in hyperspace, we'll be able to cruise well above our previous yellow-lining ''sprint'' speed and war emergency power at more than ten times our previous."
"Which means we can cover the Expanse more quickly." Molly added. "And with the shortcuts on the Xian starmaps, we could be back at Earth in just over six months."
"Took us a year jus t' reach this Expanse, let alone the few years we spent travelin through it." Maya said. "Ah reckon Karen upgraded the engines on the other ships t' keep up."
"At 1/3 power yes, which is why it will take six months. THe Lee class ships and Xian ship could make our cruise speed, but the mining ship's hull wouldnt stand up to the stress. flying any faster than our best at 1/3 power would risk ripping the engines from their hull." Belle informed.
At last the sky fell away and the view opened up to that of space once more.
"<well old girl we're fin'ly home.>" Maya mumbled under her breath, then "Set course fer the edge a' the Expanse, an' confirm the other ships have it." Maya said.
"Dne ma'am." Kayla said.
"All ships report ready Admiral." Erika said. "Hyperdrive status green across the board fleetwide....wait, strike my last, mining ship reports a yellow light, only four of their seven hyperspace window generators are coming online ma'am."
"How long?" Maya asked.
"About an hour ma'am." Erika said. "Seems to be a synchronization issue."
"Open a channel." Maya said.
"Done ma'am." Erika replied. the bridge of the mining ship appeared on screen.
"Captain yer holdin up the fleet." Maya said, her expression the same stone-fased one she always wore.
"I'm sorry Admiral, but Menos discovered a last minute engine imbalance and has been unable to fix it." the captain said.
"Y' tell that dunderhead bear t' put it back lahk Karen had it an read the instruction manual she sent, cause if Ah aint in Hyperspace in ten minutes Ah'm gonna have 'is balls fer lunch." The last bit was a joke, of course, but nonetheless the captain couldn't hide a twinge of fear as he replied. "Y'yes ma'am, I'll tell him."
The comm ended, and sure enough, ten minutes on the nose, Erika informed "Mining ship reports green across the board ma'am."
"Patch me through t' all ships." Maya said.
"DOne ma'am." Erika replied.
"All ships, 's Admiral Maya, engage hyperdrive."
"Yes ma'am." Kayla replied.
Excalibur tore poen a hyperspace window, and shot off into it an instant later. then one by one the other ships followed suit.
"All ships present and accounted for ma'am." Molly said. "Hyperspace fields read as strong and stable throughout the fleet."
Kayla has the bridge." Maya said, getting up from her command chair. "Ah'll be in mah cabin if'n anythin comes up."
"Yes ma'am." Kayla replied.
As Maya left, Kayla called May up to take the helm, and took her seat in the much too large for her command chair, marveling at how wonderful it felt.
Stopping by the mess hall on his way to his and Maya's cabin, Tom noted the wall of remembrance had been integrated into the rebuilding in such a way it was now a permanent fixture, meant to be added to as needed. He wasn't expecting to run into Sarah at this hour, as he had just come to grab some of the feast leftovers before it was all gone.
"You know when I'm out there and comm chatter is quiet, sometimes I swear I can hear her reporting in." Sarah said, referring to Melanie of course.
"Yeah I know what you mean, Gunner." Tom said. "You're not the only one. We all miss her. when pilots fly together as much as we all have, you grow on eachother...and when something happens...you never forget."
"Yeah.....I guess I better be going." Sarah said.
"Alright. I was headed to bed anyway." Tom said.
They went their separate ways after that.
..............................................................................
A week following their departure from the planet theyd stopped at for repairs, everyone had fallen back into the routines they knew so well. Life in the fleet was as it had been prior to the battle for X, save for the fact the Louisiana was now a repurposed Xian ship, and the crew of 3 other ships were living aboard Excalibur. Maxine had finally given birth to four healthy sheltie pups, and while the process had been very uncomfortable, she found Doc Natalie handled things well, and Sam was by her side holding her hand the entire time.
She was thankful Hira had offered to help with the feedings, as Sam hated wearing the 'Teatsuit", but the greatest adjustments was the lack of sleep, and learning how to help them relieve themselves as they were too young to do it on their own. She'd spent two days following the births resting and recovering, and the four little fluffballs, two girls and two boys, were doing well.
On the 3rd day she used the opportunity to talk with Maya and some of the others in the showers.
"How do you manage it?" Maxine asked. "I only had four and I cant sleep...you got ten...plus running this ship and leading the fleet."
"Y'learn t' powernap. Clean 'em while they're nursin s' y'don' wake 'em up, an' snooze while they do." Maya said.
"I showed you how to do that the first day." Karen said. "I know a lot of humans find it gross but if it bothers you that much you could ask Hira to do it."
"Hira has been a big help already." Maxine said. "I'm a Cajun girl, my stomach isn't as weak as some...I can handle that, but they never sleep very long."
"Yeah newborn pups spend most time eating." Karen said. "Our teats make it easier. I would imagine you have your hands full having twice as many mouths to feed as you have nipples."
"Yeah, that's putting it mildly." Maxine said.
"Just wait till they start teething." Belle chimed in. "My nipples hurt just thinking about it."
"Jus' the opposite fer me." Ashley said. "Ah'm fosterin' a newborn from one a' the pilots we lost. Janet Williams.. She's one a' the Alabama's pilots, an' a survivor a' the Stuart dropped her baby off with Doc Natalie s' Ah took her in. Name's Melody Dawn now, but Ah jus' caint figure out fer nothin how y'all manage."
"Y' had pups 'fore sis, Ah reckon y'know what t' do." Maya said
"It aint that simple." Ashley said. "Ah'm doin' ever'thang right, but she jus' keeps doin' weird, she's nursin fine an' all but she keeps spittin up an' cries a lot."
"I think I know whats wrong." Maxine said. "Karen, may i?"
"Sure." Karen said. "If I can help."
"Ashley, pick Karen up as if you were holding Melody." Maxine said. Shoe me what you do after feeding her."
"Shure nuff." Ashlley said. "Sorry fer the indignity, Vice Admiral." And then she did as Maxine asked.
"Its good you hold her close like that, but you should turn her with her belly toward you and head over your shoulder." Maxine said. "Yeah like that, and then here, take your other hand and gently pat and massage her back like this." she demonstrated.
Ashley did as Maxine instructed.
"Good." Maxine said. now when you do that with Melody, she'll belch a lot and probably spit up. thats normal, thats what you want her to do."
"Thanks." Ashley said. She gently let Karen down and the spaniel resumed washing and conditioning her fur.
"Mind if I bring the pups by later?" Maxine asked. "Maybe we can help eachother out."
"Shure, that sounds good t' me." Ashley said. "Grab a bottle a' bourbon an' some brats an' we'll make a night a' it."
"Consider it done." Maxine said.
"Ah caint wait t' see what kinda' merc she'll grow t' be." Maya said. "Ace pilot t' rival Gunner perhaps, 'er maybe a brilliant egnineer fer ya t' swap ahdeas with hun." She goosed Karen as she said the last bit causing the spaniel to give a surprised and yet happy yip.
"Yeah I agree it will be interesting to see how she turns out." Karen said.
"Just wait till she's showering with us." Grace said. "She'll be trying to figure out why our anatomy is so different."
"Yeah Ah kin imagine." Ashley said with a laugh.
"Ow! Grace yelped in pain at May doing her glands. "Not so rough, May."
"Sorry princess." May said. "Reckon mah daddy really loved yer butt good t' make it that tender this mornin."
"Yeah he loved me so long last night, I spent half an hour on the toilet expelling all the cum." Grace remarked.
The humans in the shower, excepting Maxine who was used to it, were still a bit shocked by how freely the Admiral and her inner circle, and all the canine crew for that matter so openly discussed lovemaking like this. It was one of the things that would take a lot of getting used to, but they didnt really have anything to complain about. They needed a place to live for the return to Earth, and Excalibur had plenty of living space to accomodate them. Sure it was different, but in a way experiencing the different culture was part of the adventure.
A few were even curious by the differing anatomy and even discussed it.
"what are they...eww...the spaniel girl just put her hand up the kuvasz girl's butt." one woman said.
"God! I'd love to do that." another remarked.
"Are you crazy Nikki, that's the Admiral." the first said.
"So what, Geraldine. You act like she's some kind of untouchable goddess or something. She has sex same as any of us."
"Maybe so but look whos doing the fisting. That's her Vice Admiral. Why would she want to play with a lieutenant and a master sargeant?"
"I never suggested she would." Nikki said. "But I would like to understand their anatomy. and she is very attractive."
Karen pulled her soapy hand out having finished doing Maya's glands at that moment, and Maya just happened to rip a huge noisy fart as a result of the soap stimulating things.
Several people coughed, and made negative comments, others inhaled deeply enjoying the scent.
"Fuck...you were saying." Geraldine was holding her nose, so was Nikki.
"Maybe the Admiral isn't my type afterall." Nikki remarked.
...........................
In the mens shower, the guys were discussing 'getting some' and Tom, Hank and Sam had mentioned their wives' new pups. At some point Ace added. "Yeah me and Ashley got another one too. She was the daughter of one of the pilots lost from the Alabama."
Tom mentioned he felt the kid was in good hands, and then after that they all resumed their previous conversations.
The new humans were asking several questions, trying to understand how Tom and Hank had so many lovers. In particular, while another man, David, was fellating him, a tall Confederate marine, John, asked; "I saw you with Belle before we left the planet. You're the Admiral's husband, how can you sleep around like that."
"Maya knows about it and approves of it." Tom said. "She's had some good times with Belle herself. Canine marriage is not monogamous."
"God that's so hot." another newcomer said. "If I was gay I'd suck your dick you big stud."
"If you were canine I might let you." Tom replied. "Though all you'd taste this morning is Grace's shit."
"Mike and me doubled up on Erika again the other night." Hank said. "Not exactly my type, but damn, that was a wild ride."
"I can imagine." Tom said.
"Mabelle's pretty hot." Another new guy said.
"Yeah another agreed. "I'd love to get me some of that fortune cookie."
"Mabelle's mine." Hank said. We asked eachother out during a long combat patrol one night and it went from there."
"Whats it like screwing the Admiral." another asked. "Or the vice Admiral for that matter." he directed that at Hank.
"Well, Maya's got some hardcore kinks." Tom said. Not snuff or mutilation or anything sick like that, but pretty much anything else is fair game. And I do mean anything."
"Karen can be pretty hardcore herself." Hank added. "She presents herself a lot more ladylike than Maya, but in the bedroom, the gloves come off."
"As to what it feels like." Tom said. "Well if you've ever had sex with a female dog, the anatomy and higher body temperature is the same."
"Yeah." Hank said. "It took me a few tries to get the angle right the first time, but the feeling is incredible."
"I still don't know how you two do it missionary." Tom said. "Even as big as Maya is I always have trouble with that position."
"It took a lot of practice, but all that time I wasted with that cunt Selena paid off." Hank said.
"I'd say so, its a tough position for us zoos." another newcomer said. "Had a big pyrenees girl back home, and I only ever managed to successfully do missionary once."
"Karen smells so much nicer then Selena ever did." Hank said. "Even if she hasn't showered in a week, there is no cabbage/fish smell, and bitches dont menustrate. every six months they go into heat, but estrus honey doesn't stink and is mildly antiseptic."
"Yeah Karen is a lot of fun." Tom agreed. "And as Hank said, bitches don't stink. Each has a unique scent, but its always nice, never unpalatable."
"My favorite is the time we were doubling up on mom." Jeff (one of Tom and Belle's sons, named after Jefferson Davis) said. "I'm seeing one of Dawn's daughters now but that was the most memorable."
"Yeah, Belle is perfect." Tom said. "Just the right size for everything to line up, plus strong and agile. Dont be fooled by their cute appearance, Collies are tough...and being so energetic, the lovemaking can get very intense and last for hours."
After that, Tom shared tips for how to court canine women, and not long afterward people were finishing up and starting to dry off to get dressed.
once more the newcomers were surprised at how the canines shook themselves as a feral would to help dry off.
............................................
Karen preferred engineering work over command duty. That's why she preferred to be referred to by her position of Transporter Chief, rather than her rank of Vice Admiral.
Nonetheless she made her way to the Bridge following the shower, and had Callie pick her up and put her in the much too large for her command chair. Mabelle was watching Karen's pups at the moment, while Maya had gone to her cabin to look after her own.
"At ease." Karen said. "Anything to report?"
"There is an unusually dense anomalie cluster a few hours ahead of us ma'am." Kayla said. "I've plotted course corrections to go around it."
"The Chinese believe a microsingularity may be responsible." Erika said "The Tsun Tsu requests we drop out of hyperspace to investigate."
"That would be consistent with my sensor readings, ma'am." Molly said
"We're a war ship not a science vessel." Karen said. "We can't go stopping for every little thing."
"I am aware of that but in this case I think it is warranted." Molly said. "I am detecting a small metallic object, possibly a ship of some sort trapped within the anomalies. Its at the extreme limit of sensor range so details are limited."
"I'm also picking up a distress call now." Erika said. "Single modulated carrier, lower frequency subspace band, audio only."
"patch it through." Karen said.
The comm buzzed and crackled with static as Erika opened the channel, then a single voice began to break through the static.; "If anyone can hear me this is Admiral Sarafina Dawn of the Avenging Aces." *static* "Fighter....suffered....damage...fuel levels are...low...."
Hearing that gave Karen pause. Sarafina was one of her and Maya's newborn daughters they'd made together.
"This is chief Karen, Vice Admiral of the Avenging Aces." Karen replied. "How may we be of assistance?"
"No Do not....if you....and...will....destroyed." Sarafina said. Erika fiddled with the comms to try and clean it up. "I repeat, Do not approach the anomalie field. If you do an engine imbalance in one of the ships sets off a chain of events...the singularity...and sent back in time 100 years...Excalibur...heavily damaged...but the rest of the fleet...destroyed."
"Warn the fllet off, tell them they are ordered to proceed around the anomalie cluster." Karen said. "Excalibur -and Only Excalibur- will drop out of hyperspace, recover the pilot and take a few scans to satisfy the Chinese science officer's curiosity, then punch it up to war emergency power to catch up with the fleet."
"Fleet confirms your orders ma'am." Erika said.
"Increase to war Emergency Power." Karen said. "We have no way of knowing how much air she has left."
"Yes ma'am." Kayla said. "Time to intercept now two minutes."
"I'm good for that....*static*..." Sarafina said having overheard through the still open channel.
Karen stood up in the seat to reach a button she needed. "Bridge to fighter bay, get those doors open and stand by for an emergency recovery. Unknown condition of inbound bird but severe damage assumed." She released the button.
"Copy that, bridge." Feena said. "We'll be ready."
"Drop us out of hyperspace." Karen said.
Kayla did as she instructed, and an instant later they got a glimpse of the anomalie field up close as the ship dropped to sub-light.
"All stop." Karen said. "Maneuvering jets to station keeping."
Yes ma'am." Kayla said.
"Sarafina, Excalibur, clear for approach." Karen said next.
"Wilco Excalibur." Sarafina replied. "Gods this thing is a pain in the ass to fly with only two engines running."
"Understood." Karen said. She guessed Sarafina was flying the Raven by that comment, and moments later, Molly confirmed it.
"Center runway, nice and steady." Karen said.
"Wilco Excalibur." Sarafina said. "Gear down, Tailhook down, speed 350."
"Your glidepath looks good, Sarafina. Come on home."
"Gladly Excalibur." Sarafina replied. Her fighter shook and wobbled down the flight deck as the age rotted landing gear threatened to buckle under the strain. The landing brakes creaked and groaned and the tailhook nearly snapped clean off where it caught the arrester cables...but enough of it held to bring the duplicate Raven to a stop.
Sarafina shut down the two working engines and hit the cockpit release as she unstrapped herself and quickly climbed out. Her tattered flightsuit was a mess but otherwise she looked ok.
"I need to speak with Admiral Maya immediately." the kuvasz-sized spaniel said at once. (she looked purely spaniel aside from being Maya's size).
"Admiral Maya is not to be disturbed at the moment." Feena said. "I will take you to Chief Karen once you've cleared bioscan however." She directed the pilot to the medical scanner/decontamination chamber in a far corner of the enormous room.
........................
By the time Feena brought Sarafina to the bridge, Molly had completed her scans, and Karen had given the order to jump back to hyperspace to catch up tp the fleet.
"Estimate ten minutes to rendezvous ma'am." Kayla informed.
"Understood." Karen said. then to Sarafina, "Welcome aboard."
"You have no idea how good it feels to be home." Sarafina said. "When we got thrown back, only Excalibur survived the trip, thanks to the honeycombed superstructure adding to the hull integrity...but we had sustained heavy damage. You finally managed to get the engines going, but we couldn't get enough power to break fre of the microsingularity's pull. without the less efficient ships our recycling system was perfect. it kept us alive, Except what was keeping the lights heat and air working was also slowly killing us. there was a radiation leak as a result of the damage...impossible to repair. but its what the radiation did to us that made it really strange. It only affected children once they became adults...but it affected anyone who was an adult immediately. aging process slowed to a dead crawl. I may look like I just had my first Heat, but I am a little over a hundred years old.
We decided one of us had to go back through the rift created by the anomalies intersecting with the singularity, and you figured our best choice was to send someone in The Raven. You wanted to go yourself, but I insisted it be me... and so, here I am."
Excalibur met up with the fleet moments after Sarafina had told her story, and now all ships resumed their previous cruising speed, as Erika transferred sensor data to the Tsun Tsu as had been agreed.
"We may have more data for you later." Karen added. "We recovered a fighter and its pilot from the anomalie field and are in the process of attempting to access its sensor data."
"Thank you, Excalibur." Captain Meilin Cheng said. "Tsun Tsu out."
The screen went black and then returned to the normal swirling neon view of hyperspace as the comm ended.
"Feena, see if you can download the sensor logs from the second Raven, and have them sent to the bridge." Karen said, then "Callie escort our guest to sick bay, Belle can cover for you."
"Yes ma'am." they both replied.
"Wait." Sarafina said. "Doc Natalie said I cleared bioscan. I'm not giving off enough rads to hurt a mouse. as she put it."
"What about your bodily functions?" Karen asked, as Feena left to download the sensor logs.
"I still got megacolon if thats what you mean. The radiation didnt fix that. But it also didn't do any harm. As far as we have been able to determine there are no unforseen side effects."
"Have any of you gone into estrus, mated and given birth recently?" Karen asked.
"Yes, Old Doc Tom says we're all in perfect health. and pups born inside the effect are not effected until their first heat."
"What happened to Natalie then?" Karen asked. "I know Tom takes medical classes to help out but he's a fighter pilot first and foremost."
"Suicide." Sarafina said. "Threw herself out an airlock. And she wasn't the only one. There were several others who couldn't cope with being trapped in the anomalie forever. some used sidearms, some used airlocks. there were other more gory methods as well...but for the most part the majority of the crew held it together. Unfortunately the radiation didnt slow the aging to the same extent in humans. It slowed it down, but nonetheless, shortly before I left You and Maya had both stepped aside to care for Hank and our aged doctor Tom as the years finally started catching up to them. I was named the new Admiral after that, and my vice-Admiral, Belle took command when I left to warn you from repeating history."
"Understandable." Karen said. "Still I want you to go to sick bay for a full checkup, colonoscopy, vaginoscopy, and rectal ultrasound to verify your doctor didn't miss anything. Meanwhile I need to have a talk with your mother."
"Very well." Sarafina said. "Lead the way." and with that she followed Callie out in to the corridor and they set out for Sick Bay.
Karen stood and pushed another button on the command chair. "Admiral Maya to the bridge." she said, her voice resounding throughout the ship on internal comms.
"*big yawn* Ah'm on mah way hun." Maya replied groggily a moment later.
When Maya arrived, she looked even more tired than she sounded, but nonetheless she shook herself awake, and helped Karen down from the command chair as the sexy spaniel announced "Admiral on the bridge!" snapping everyone to attention.
"As y' were." Maya said. then to Karen; "S' whats 'is all 'bout?"
"We recovered a fighter from the anomalie field." Karen said. "The issue is who was flying it. One of our daughters, Sarafina, all grown up, and with quite the story to tell. I sent her for a med check while Feena is working to download the sensor logs from the Raven she was piloting. I see no reason she would decieve us, but I just want to be sure the medical and sensor data matches her story before we take it at face value."
"Ah agree." Maya said. "Ah'll have Natalie take a butt swab from our Sarafina too t' compare DNA jus t' be shure she's really who whe claims t' be. Prolly a waste a' time but 's ya said yerself we need t' be shure."
Grace was watching Maya's pups, so Maya stayed on the bridge following her chat with Karen, and Karen returned to her regular duties in the transporter room.
...............................................
Tom was assisting in Sick Bay today, so he got to scrub in and help Natalie examine Sarafina.
Hank was in the fighter bay helping the deckhands sort ordinance, when Feena asked him to help her download the data from the new Raven. He was happy to help of course, but couldn't help commenting how old and worn out the fighter looked. "Fuel tanks are bone dry too." he added. "How did the pilot land this thing."
"She said she just pointed it at the flight deck and prayed." Feena said.
"Oil's bone dry in engines one and three, no wonder they failed." Hank added. "Other two will need oil added if we have to start them."
"We will." Feena said. "The batteries are shot, you get the oil while I pump the fuel and grab an APU ''jump'' cart."
Hank did as she asked, and once he'd topped off the oil on the two workable engines, he set about connecting the data cables to the sensor package in the nose while Feena went to get an APU cart.
Once Feena had the APU generator connected and running, Hank climbed into the cockpit, being swallowed up in the kuvasz-sized seat. He couldn't reach any of the controls without scooting out to the very edge of the seat, but nonetheless he blew the thick dust off the touch screens, and when Feena gave the word he flipped on the fuel pumps and moved the switch to "Start"
The engines made an awful grinding groaning sound along with the normal whine as they began to spool up. It sounded absolutely awful, and Hank felt his nerves on edge. It sent a chill down his spine and he very nearly wet himself at the very real possibility of a hot-start.
Nonetheless he breathed a heavy sigh of relief as first one, then the other workable engines at last roared to life in a whir of dust and decayed bits of metal. The computer blared warnins on the other wto engines, but Hank ignored them and focused on connecting up the datapad he held to the interface port, and tapping the appropriate commands to uplink the sensor package with Feena's network connections and start the download.
When they finally finished and Hank shut the engines down so they could hear eachother, he asked. "Think she'll ever fly again?"
"I don't see why not." Feena said. "We'll have to replace the engines and the entire undercarriage, but the skin is composite so it wont break down and the airframe underneath it seems solid."