#so i went to his station and manuvered my way to my train

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

HASO, “Telling Tales.”

This story came as a suggestion from someone on the discord server, so I hope you all enjoy a break from some of the heavier stuff I have been doing lately.

The room was large and filled with noise, mostly the clinking of glasses and the clattering of voices, but on occasion the comm systems echoed with a cool female voice broadcasting announcements across the entirety of the station. 

There were at least forty tables inside the room packed in close together, with a long bar at one end where men and women alike stood standing and chatting to each other as they took their drinks. Below that was the low rumble of music, and up on all four walls, large projection screens broadcasted earth sports in delayed time.

At the far end of the room a large viewing window looked out on a wide view of space and the rest of the station. The station itself was huge, stretching out for what could have been miles and miles of tightly packed corridors and branching rooms. The station itself was a mesh of Tesraki and human technology and had been built right here in orbit….. In orbit of the thing staring at them from out in the darkness.

A supermassive black hole ringed by a disk of bright light and a halo that cut across the middle.

Honestly as McCaster stepped into the room, he found the view very disconcerting, and had the sudden worry that…. Inexplicably they would start slowly drifting towards the black hole until they succumbed to a horrendous and terrifying death. Looking around though, it seemed that no one else seemed to think so, and he ushered himself inside and over to the bar hoping that a drink might calm him down.

He sidled up to the bar leading against the metal countertop and motion for the bartender with a hand.

She slid over to where he was. She was dressed casually, though the bearing of her chin told him that she was one of the soldiers working on the station and not just a civilian. He ordered something to drink, and he came back a moment later with a metal tankard. He took it surprised to find that he missed the bright amber liquid inside cool glass covered in a layer of condensation, but he supposed having breakable drinking vessels wasn’t going to do for a ship like this.

Still, the liquid inside his mug looked a sort of muddy brown rather than a pleasant amber.

He took another sip.

Still tasted fine though.

He turned to look around the bar watching as groups of people chatted to each other , drank and ate.

Not all of them worked here, some of them, like the crew of the Omen, had stopped by for supplies and to give their men and women some time to relax and have a little fun before they had to ship out again. McCaster felt this was really his only chance for a while, to meet people off the ship.

He sidled forward eyes scanning over the room and falling on a woman. She was pretty, young about his age with blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail.

Couldn’t hurt right?

Unfortunately, just as he was sidling up, some other gus seemed to have the same Idea, and he sat down at her table just as two others did pausing to stare at each other across the table.

McCaster looked at the young woman, “This seat isn’t taken, is it?”

She tilted her head at him in near amusement, “I can’t control where you sit.”

“Then I suppose you don’t mind if we join you.” The other man added receiving a glower from McCaster across the table.

“You work here.” The other man asked her 

“Yes.”

“Well me and the boys here are just off from The UNSC Pioneer, finest ship this side of the quadrant.”

McCaster snorted into his glass, not trying to be a dick this time, but he knew THAT was a lie.

The other man glared at him, “What, you disagree.”

“Frankly, yes. Our ship is Objectively the best and that’s not even me bragging.”

“Oh really, and what ship is this.”

McCaster smirked, “The UNSC Omen, but I bet you’ve heard of it.”

There was a chorus of disbelief up from the other men.

“Right, and I bet you are personal friends with Admiral Vir too, right.”

McCaster frowned, “Maybe not personal friends, but I did fly with him once.”

More disbelieving booing.

He crossed his arms, “Don’t believe me huh well what about this.” he reached into his pocket to snag his ID card and then pulled it out, holding it up for the entire table to see, “See Lt McCaster of the UNSC Omen. I fly a Thunderhawk, and sometimes the shuttles.” This time the men could hardly argue, his iD said as much, at least as much about which ship he worked on and what he did.

THere was a light murmuring around the table.

“That’s right, so like ninety precent of my friends are aliens.” He was exaggerating just a little bit, he didn’t really interact with the aliens on the ship all that much accept for the Celzex that fixed the weapons on his jet, and the Drev he liked to play"  pool with.

But the blond was looking at him with interest, so its not like he could squander this opportunity

He nodded glancing sidelong at the girl. 

“Yeah, like I said, its not like the Admiral and I take lunch together or anything, ‘but’ the ship is small enough that I do run into him on a daily basis, cool guy, a bit weird though. I actually flew with him during the burg war on the Gromm home planet.”

A chorus of disbelief.

Behind him someone chimed in, “Bullshit.”

He turned to see that another table behind them had overheard his claims. There was a pretty redhead sitting there, and so he wasn’t likely to let go of his momentum. He raised his ID badge for all to see, “Not lying.” He raised his mug to his lips and took a long satisfied sip, “Disbelieve me all you wan’t but it’s true.”

“Well don’t just sit there all smug, tell us about it then.” Someone urged, and he was more than happy to oblige.

“Well, we had just been informed of the eminent Burg attack on the Gromm capital city below. I had been being debriefed by the Commander, at the time, and went with him to the bridge as we were debriefed. The Nexus was down and Burg ships were descending in swarms. They were unprotected on the planet below, and it was clearly up to our crew to stop the attack.”

His little crowd was drawing even more eyes, and he found himself with a small crowd of skeptics sitting around him listening to his every word.

He found himself speaking faster with excitement and nerves.

“I was on the bridge and watched him survey the scene, when out of nowhere he hands the captain chair over to one of his lieutenants and orders me out with him. They had orbital defences, but he knew that they had no chance in atmosphere since they didn’ have any fighter jets to push back the invasion.” he puffed out his chest, “Admiral Vir handpicked me to accompany him as his copilot and gunner.”

Another chorus of disbelief.

He shook his head, “Disbelieve me all you want, but it’s true. He knew my talents, and he knew I could keep up with him. And I tell you I have never seen a man or woman that could fly like he does.”

He had them now leaning forward in their chairs.

The best part is all of this was true…. Mostly.

“Of course, I was ready, solid as a rock, I have been training for just such situations for the entirety of my career, and I had no hesitations about what I was going to do. The Admiral was relying on me to be his copilot and damn straight I wasn’t going to let him down.” He grinned in a self satisfactory way, “He gave me charge of all the important stuff while he was flying combat…. And he made it sure in no unclear terms that if he couldn’t handle the flying, I was going to take over for him.”

Ok that was sort of a lie, but only a little one.

“I knew as soon as we were coming in that Admiral vir had an idea brewing. We didn’t go for an angled entry but instead piloted our jet straight down. I thought that the re entry was going to rattle my teeth out of my head. But as I said before I had no doubts about the Admiral. I knew we were going in, and I had inklings of what the admiral was about to do. I never questioned him.”

Also kind of a lie, but it's not like it mattered.

“We were plunging from the sky, fire spitting off our wings, going so fast it makes your insides feel like they are on your outsides. Picture the sky fading to blue behind you, fire is benign thrown off your wings like water from a waterfall, the G force is so powerful that it compresses your chest and makes it hard to breathe,” he was standing now gesturing wildly, “We plummet from the sky, and fire our guns exploding a burg ship just before it takes out one of our other fighters. We pull up right before the ground, must have been nine ten maybe even fifteen Gs.” Okay he was exaggerating, “But I stayed conscious through the whole thing.” That was also kind of a lie.

“We broke into combat with the burg drones, and I shot down at least three of them as the Admiral piloted.  He said afterwards that he had never seen someone take the shots I did and make it.” Okay yes he had been passed out for half of this, but again its not like any of them were going to know.

What harm was a little exaggeration.

“I caught one burg as we were coming out of a sharp dive, my hand felt nine times heavier than it should have, but I nailed it in the engine compartment and it exploded into a ball of fire. I was still shooting them down when the Admiral orders me to take control of the ship. Of course I wanted to ask what was going on, but there was no time, I grab the stick and manuver us into a tight barrel roll. A ship explodes behind us. I have control of the jet now complete control and I pull us up into tight pursuit of another. I avoid two missiles and in a moment of genius, I drop all of our flares, which collide with at least four burg ships exploding on impact. What I hadn’t known is that the Admiral’s hand had cramped from all that earlier flying, and if I hadn’t been there he would have died. But at that moment I had no idea and proceeded to clear enemy skies over the capital city. I dived so close to the ground that we might have crashed if I hadn’t pulled us into an inverted upwards pull for the last few seconds”

He continued to speak and as he did the fight grew even more excessive and heroic. He detailed in exquisite and colorful imagery as he single handedly flew them to safety pulling off near impossible maneuvers, crack shots and many more outlandish happenings as he and Admiral Vir valiantly switched back and forth on the controls, equals in every way.

He was just describing their great and climactic fight scene where, he had to take command of the ship once again, when he finally noticed no one was really paying attention to him. He saw their eyes, looking past him.

His voice slowed, as he looked around eyebrows furrowed.

He turned where he stood and cut off mid sentence as his eyes fell on a familiar face in the crowd.

Admiral Vir sat behind him in a chair balancing on two legs, head tilted to the side. His eyepatch covered one of his eyes, but the expression on his face was one of great and abiding amusement.

He leaned forward in his seat, “Don’t let me interrupt you lieutenant. I believe you were just getting the the part where you pull an inverted double helix back loop and I pass out drooling in the front, you just manage to pull us out of that dive, and the two burg ships are so confused by the manuver that they crash into each other and explode  catching the attention of all the other stunned burg in the area and allowing the other pilots a final push in clearing the sky?”

McCaster’s mouth opened and then closed and then opened again .

Admiral Vir continued to smile as McCaster stammered and gurgled like an idiot.

“So…. what actually happened.” Someone asked 

McCaster plopped shamefacedly down in his seat. Admiral Vir paused tilting his head in the other direction as if thinking. A good portion of the room had gone quiet as they shuffled closer to hear the stroy. He stood after a moment and walked over to where McCaster was sitting placing his hands on the back of the chair.

“Well The first part of the story wasn’t wrong. I had been debriefing McCaster and the other recruits on a few aspects of my ship when we got the call in that the Gromm homeworld was being attacked. I DID give up command to the ship of one of my lieutenants, and I DID as McCaster to fly with me as copilot.” he smiled and easy smile that seemed to light up the room around him.

Everyone within a twenty foot radius shifted forward in an effort to be closer to the man and the magnetic nature of his personality and charming smile.

“McCaster was top of his class in flight school, and I wanted an extra pair of eyes, that is true. We did take a vertical dive into the atmosphere instead of an angled entry. Yes there was fire spitting off the wings, and yes we did pull out of a vertical dive after saving one of the other fighter jets. All of that is pretty accurate.”

HE smiled and McCaster wilted.

“He did embellish a few things.” he rested a hand on McCaster’s shoulders, “But what is a good story without a little bit of embellishment? I’ve certainly never told a story that didn’t sound about ten times better than it actually was.” There was a small laugh from the crowd, “Point being that I would certainly fly with McCaster again, he is a brave, talented, and honorable member of my crew even if he is a colorful storyteller.”

McCaster looked up at the Admiral, still leaning on the back of his chair, and watched as the man made subtle eye contact with the blond girl just a few feet away.

McCaster blushed As Admiral Vir pushed his chair forward across the ground to sit next to her.

She was smiling in some measure of amusement, and Admiral Vir winked at him as he backed away. Either that or he just blinked, it was hard to tell with the eyepatch.

He turned back to look at the woman who was looking at him in some measure of amusement.

He rubbed the back of his head.

“He seems to be one hell of a wing man, in and out of a jet.” She commented 

He stammered stupidly glancing over his shoulder to where Admiral Vir had retreated to the bar, ignoring the eyes on him, hungry expressions from both men and women as he ordered a drink and sat down.

Bless the Admiral, number one for being a good wingman for sure, and two…. For not totally calling him out on all his bullshit.

Granted everyone probably guessed, but at least he could keep some of his dignity with plausible deniability.

He was able to work himself back into a state of cool suave composure, enough to learn that the woman’s name was Emily, and that she worked as a data analyst for the big black hole thing. It had a lot to do with math and physics which he totally didn’t understand, but certainly tried to because he knew she liked it.

Across the room, Admiral vir attracted ebbing and flowing waves of people coming to listen to his own stories which were mostly modest and self deprecating depictions of what really happened. Being the first person to fall flat on his face on an alien planet, how he had scared the shit out of the bran the first time he met them, how he ended up in a Rundi prison because he was being a dumbass.

There were a few times where he too tended to embellish the stories, only to preface later by saying, but what actually happened was this.

As soon as the man stepped into the room he seemed to change the whole gravity of it like  a wandering star collecting satellites.

He supposed that’s what happened when you were famous.

Thanks to him though, it turned out he got along really well with Emily, and despite knowing he was a complete moron, she seemed to like him too, and he scored her number and a surreptitious invitation to accompany her on a walk to somewhere quieter.

As he was leaving, he turned back to look at the Admiral, making surprise eye contact with him as he did.

He raised his glass minutely to McCaster before turning around and continuing his story.

He grinned as Emily took his hand,.

“So….. tell me really, how many times did you pass out when flying with him.”

He snorted, “Please, I spent  more than half of it passed out, like I can’t remember shit. I don’t even remember where the sky or ground was relative to each other for most of the time. The man can fly…. Like all that stuff I was telling you, just replace my name with his and you might have yourself a believable story.”

She laughed at his expense and he laughed too 

Thank you Admiral Vir. 

[startreckobsessed]

You want request? How about Bones, or his girlfriend, or maybe both of them, being suspicious about the fidelity of the other. Like really suspicious, make em look like they are really cheating (but they are not). Then they fight, like really fight, borderline breakup. But at the end, they make up. You can make it smut at the end, where partner A (the one who we thought was cheating) says to partner B that everything he/she has is hers/his. EVERYTHING. 😉😉😉😉 I’ll be waiting, love.

The road to the relationship had been rocky from the beginning, you both bickered constantly, but he had this deep seated fear down to his bones that he wouldn't be good enough for you. It was bad enough that there was a good chunk of an age gap, but you had to be witty, charming and you held a kind of beauty that attracted every kind of attention.

Now, Jocelyn never exactly cheated on him, but she did little things that would chip away at his self image; the way her eyes would linger on other men and act dissatisfied with him when they went home at the end of the night, not to mention how her lawyers raked him through the coals claiming he was an absent partner when in reality he had made long drives and days at a time without sleep to spend time with her during medical school and his residency.

Sometimes his past experiences colored the way he saw your actions, his imagination going crazy with how bad the situation looked, even of you acting suspicious didn't help any.

You had grown... Distant, lately. You would get up earlier and return extremely late. You were also careful with your words, thinking more before you spoke. Your mind was always elsewhere when you were together.

The implications he came to made his stomach turn. You were more than just his girlfriend, you were his best friend, his confidant. He would feel so lost without your support.

A little like he was feeling right now.

It wasn't until his weekly drink with Jim that his fears were confirmed.

Jim had been late, which wasn't abnormal but he was really late. Leonard was tired, eyelids heavy and his body ached, he decided to go back to your shared quarters to get some shut eye.

As he was making his way down the long winding hall he heard a bump coming from one of the many medical supply closets. He rolled his eyes, pausing for a second debating if he even wanted to go bust a couple of ensigns about to get it on. With a huff he turned, twisting open the knob and-

His breath caught, heart stuttering painfully.

It was you. Sitting up on the counter, ensign Hennricks standing between your legs. One of his hands was resting on your knee, the other was pushing the hair away from your face.

A strangled noise escaped his lips, he turned on his heel and sped down the hall. "Len!" You call, hopping off the table and chased after him, just catching a glimpse of him disappearing around the corner.

You shot forward, skidding around and finally catching up, grasping his bicep and spinning him around, but he wouldn't look at you. His eyes looked toward the ground, nostrils flared and mouth turned in a deep frown. He ripped his arm away from your hold. "Leonard,-that wasnt-" "don't." He growled. "Don't try to lie to me." His accent thickened with emotion. "How could you?" You shook your head "I'm not lying Len. If you would just-" "no." He hisses "I'm done with you. You knew how hard it was for me to- to trust again. You knew it and you still-" he pinched his eyes closed, a tear dripping down his cheek. You felt a pang of guilt go through you. And you felt like you couldn't breath. He turned away from you, and in a moment of clarity you reached for his head and turned it toward you.

"Leonard! Look at me!" You demand. His red eyes met yours for a brief second but it was enough for him to finally see the gash that traveled over your eyebrow and just shy of your eye. "What happened?" He asked in a gravely tone before he could think better to. Your other hand came up to cradle his face as his teary blood shot eyes roamed your face, now seeing a fresh bruise on your jaw. "Hennricks was patching me up, using a tissue regenerator so you wouldn't worry. I-ive been in training to become SSO." His eyebrows shot up incrediously "Why didn't you just tell me?"

You bit your lip. "I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. And.." "and what?" "I uh, I didn't want you to be disappointed if I couldn't do it. I know it bothers you that were not exactly on equal ground, that if our stations were level mabey you would feel more secure and.. people would stop assuming I'm sleeping my way to the top." He huffed slightly, one brow arching "who's been assuming?" You shake your head at his protectiveness, swallowing thickly. "It doesn't matter." You say.

He sighed " did you get the promotion?" You shrug "won't know till tommorow." He nods, avoiding your eyes again. "I'm sorry." You say. "For... Making you think I would ever want

Anyone but you Len. Your it for me, your everything for me." He blinked away a new onslaught of tears. You smile sadly, leaning in and pressing a kiss to his lips.

He sighs into the kiss, the stress melting from his body as he winds his arms around you, pressing lips more firmly to yours as your hands ball up in his uniform shirt, pulling his body closer to yours.

When you both stumble into your room, the lights are out, only the faint blue glow of the rooms control panel allowing you to see the faint outline of the bed.

The matress dipped as you fell back onto it, Leonard's hands roamed under your skirt, the other cradled your jaw as your lips collided over and over.

Your hands slipped under his shirt, fingers trailing over his heated skin. He shivers, hands leaving you to rip his shirt up over his head. You bite your lip, your neck getting hot as he does the same with yours. Slower, gentler and almost reverently as he underssed you until you were both bare.

Your hand traveled down his abdomen, brushing against the tip of his erect cock. His nostrals flared as your hand drifted further, wrapping around his shaft. Your thumb swiped over his tip, spreading his pearly white precum. You pumped him gently, your right hand focused on the tip as you massaged him. He was somewhat hunched over you, arms caging you in on both sides of the bed. You let go of him for a moment to steer him onto his back on the bed with you on your stomach between his legs. You wrapped your hand around his shaft.

You looked straight into his glazed hazel eyes as you took the base of his shaft into your mouth. Your tounge swirling as you sucked. A gutteral sound escaped his throat and his hands gripped the sheets,heels digging into the mattress. You smirked slightly, you always loved pulling sounds like that out of him.

Your mouth traveled up and down until his cock was slick and shining from your spit, his body growing tenser and tenser as his orgasm built. Suddenly he pulled you off of his cock, pulling your lips to his again with a growl, manuvering you to roll under him as he hovers above you. He gripped his wet cock, rubbing it over your clit and entrance teasingly. You moan and buck your hips as he rubs the tip up and down between your folds. Half of you wanted him to never stop doing what he was doing, the feeling of his cock dragging over your clit felt amazing, the other half wanted him to plow into you. You whined at the intensity of the sensations. "You like that?" He murmured. You nodd franticlly. "Have to remember that." He murmurs before slowly sinking into you. Your breath caught, savoring the feeling of being filled so deliciously. Your eyes squeesed shut. His fingers caught your chin. "Feel good darlin'?"

You nodded, brain too hazy to form coherent words. You opened your eyes and shuttered as he shifted inside you. You gripped his shoulders and pushed him to sit back against the wall as you sat on top of his lap, cock still buried deep inside of you. Your hands rest on his shoulders, one of your hands coming to rest against his cheek as you slowly started to move your hips, milking his cock.

His mouth drops open slightly, hands landing to rest on your hips and all he can do is watch your breasts move along with your labored breathing. After a few minutes his head bangs back against the wall, hands gripping your hips tighter as his eyes clench shut, and hot streams of cum exploding inside of you. You gasp, the twitching and warmth of his cock paired with your thrusts causing your orgasm to rip through you, almost violently.

As you both come down from. The high, You both still, your breathing stilling as he softens inside you, and you climb off. He lays down beside you, arm wrapping around your waist as he presses a kiss to your brow.

"Im sorry." He says into the darkness. You shake your head "your everything to me, Len. Everything." You say before you both settle in, falling asleep.

Fin.

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Humans are Space Orcs, “The Escape.”

Hope you guys enjoy, and have a great Monday everyone 

Great rumbling sirens still blared behind them as they cut through the darkness just at the base of the wall. The sirens were like nothing either of them had ever heard as they were deep and rumbling causing  the ground to shake like a mild earthquake. The sounds of the animals inside was just audible over the high wall, though the rumbling shouts of those deep, voiced creatures were drowned out by the sirens.

“Just a little further.” Krill whispered in Adam’s ear, and Adam continued to crouch low into the shadows, both of them had to hope that these creatures didn’t have as good of eyesight as humans or drev, for if they did Adam was going to stand out like candle in a dark room with just how pasty white he was.

Adam came to a stop a few feet later, his eyes scanning the open field before them, “‘There they are.”

“And now what?”

“Now we hijack and alien spaceship.”

“And what makes you think that you are going to be able to fly it?”

“I can fly anything.”

“And what if it requires a key?”

“Well then we will hotwire it?”

“Stop being annoyingly optimistic and listen to my concerns for just five seconds will you.”

The man waved a hand, “I know I know, but I didn’t exactly THINK about that part now did I.”

“You know sometimes I think you are intelligent, and then at other times you are a complete idiot. In the end, I am never entirely sure which one I agree with more.”

“Let's pick the one where I am smart until proven otherwise. If we get captured again, you can call me the biggest idiot ever, and I will agree with you.”

“IF we get captured again, then we are going to have bigger problems than you just being an idiot.” Adam held up a hand to quiet him, and then looking in either direction, he hurried forward across the open space, ducking down as soon as they reached the nearest ship.

“And how do we know if any of these are warp drive capable?” Krill demanded.

Adam peered out from under one of the struts, “We are looking for the ship we rode here on. If they take exotic animals from other planets, then I am willing to bet that it would have to have a warp drive. Ah ha, there it is.”

Krill glanced over his shoulder and in the direction that the Commander was pointing, and sure enough, there the ship was in all of its alien glory.

The two of them looked around for a few seconds looking for anyone who might spot their movement, but there was no one, and they managed to make it forward without being noticed. Adam and Krill stopped right below the strange, floating, silver ball.

“Now what.”

“Now a door.” Krill, float up there to about head height for those things and see if you can’t find anything.”

Krill did as told, but as of yet he was having no real luck.

“Shit.” Adam muttered tilting his head back to make one more suggestion, and that was when he heard the shouting.

Together, he and Krill turned to look back over their shoulders, and found a group of keepers running after them across the open tarmac.

They had been spotted.

“Shit!”

***

The team of keepers ran across the open tarmac and towards the escaped aliens. Three of them had tranquilizer guns up an ready, shooting down towards the two figures. They missed the duos by mere inches as it dove to the left, rolling out of their line of fire. They couldn’t believe what they were seeing, the boss hadn’t been wrong when he suggested these things might be sentient.

Either way, they were too dangerous to be left on the loose.

The Does grabbed the Planita and began springing across the open space. It was fast, and it would be almost impossible to catch up with it.

It dodged, and ducked and weaved this way and that past their flying darts, and over the tarmac.

Just before them, a crew from the nearest peacekeeper station had arrived, and had just lowered themselves  onto the Tarmac. The door popped open, and the peacekeepers began to file out onto the open ground only to stop when their shouting began. They looked about in confusion and befuddlement at the scene before them.

The keepers were forced to pull their fire so as not to hit the peacekeepers.  THey waited for the duos to cut in a different direction, but instead of turning course, it charged straight towards the peacekeepers. They stood in shock and confusion, and were just beginning to lift their weapons when the Duos ran straight into a running jump. It leaped almost three feet off the ground before lashing out with its metal leg. The power of the kick sent it up and forward, while the peacekeeper was shoved into the ground.

The Duos sailed through the air for a moment hands outstretched, the Planita clutching onto its back.

And then it came skidding downwards cutting right through the open doorway of the peacekeeper shuttle.

The keepers raised their weapons for one last volley of fire as the Duos slammed its hand into the closing button. 

Three of the peacekeepers went down and the doors slammed shut.

***

Adam raced towards the front seat of the small shuttle leaving krill to float behind him as the strange aliens slammed their fists against the door hatch.

“Hurry up, Commander.”

“I’m Hurrying! I;m Hurrying!” He shouted back pausing at the front of the little shuttle and looking around in confusion at the controls.

“Uh.”

“Just press something!” Krill was screaming from the back.

“OK OK!” He reached a hand forward towards a small pillar of light on his left hand side. When his hand came in contact with the pillar of light, he heard the engines roar to life. With his other hand, he passed his fingers over the second beam of light. 

Below him, he felt it as the machine lifted off they round.

The pounding at the door subsided and then started up again. Out the front windscreen, he could see That they were surrounded..

“Hurry up!”

“Do you want to drive! Because I will let you drive!”

“Just GO!” HE wasn’t entirely sure how Going was going to work but in frustration, he raised his hands against the beam of light, and almost smashed into the floor as they shot upwards. Krill squealed somewhere behind him, and suddenly they were airborne.

*** The ship shot into the sky and the Keepers were powerless to stop it. It hovered about forty feet above them for a long moment before wobbling and then shooting off in another direction. Shouting and yelling followed after as they raced to the other vehicles, leaping into their ships to begin pursuit, as the little shuttle streaked out over the city and upwards towards atmosphere.

The shuttle was slow in comparison to their cruisers, and they caught up with relative ease intending to grab the smaller shuttle with a magnetic hook.

Their first attempt was met with complete failure, as the shuttle spun and then dived violently in a manuver so well executed two of the pursuing shuttles slammed right into each other training debris down on the city below.

Their orders had originally been to keep the creature alive, but threw as no point to that now with the destruction it was causing, and they opened fire.

THe shuttle rolled hard right and then plunged downward cutting to the side, and under.

One of their cruisers rolled to chase, but that was when the creature found the energy guns.

One of their ships was blasted right out of the sky as the creature, flying like only a mad man would, cut under them and then straight up through their formation. IN the chaos, only one of their cruisers managed to make it out and follow the other ship as it rocketed upwards.

IT fired once, thought it had missed, but then the other ship slowed to a stop, slowing to an almost complete pause in the air before it tilted back and began plummeting dowards.

IT cut past the last remaining shuttle flipping end over end as it fell towards the city below.

There would be some damage, but the creature could cause no more harm.

The shuttle was approaching the ground now, only a few hundred feet away, and then the engines fired again. THey watched in shock and disbelief as the shuttle evened out and blasted low over the buildings, vanishing over the horizon in a matter of seconds.

** Krill groaned in agony as his insides ached from the toll of the G-forces they had just pulled. He was pretty sure something inside has probably ruptured, but stil Adam had managed to loose their tail, and had now cut upwards and emerged into a low orbit over the planet. 

“I want to put some distance between us.” He called ack over his shoulder, shooting out towards the blackness of space.

KRill turned to look over his shoulder as the planet grew smaller and smaller behind them.

Up ahead Adam wobbled slightly on his feet.

“Commander, are you alright.”

The man pulled his hands from the beams of light and turned on the spot, a sort of sheepish grin on his face.

“Make sure that no one is following us, will you.”

“What are you talking bout>”

With that sheepish smile still plastered on his face, the man turned to the side and lifted his arm to reveal the tiny tranquilizer dart sticking form his side, “Just make sure they don’t find us, you know how to fly the ship.” And then he staggered again, keeling over to one side and landing flat on his back on the metal floor with an echoing thud.

***

Hijan Rolled her spear between her fingers crouching low against an outcropping of rock. Behind her, her son, the Sentinel, and the others from her tribe remained silent as the troop of burg passed. THey were heading inwards towards the queen’s palace. 

Hijan didn’t take a moment to stop and wonder at the strange alien creations.

This was war, and she had no time to be wasting on shock or awe, despite this being the first time she had ever left her planet, or the fertile belt.

WIth one raised hand, she motioned her fighters forward, cutting across the open stone with them as the burg filtered out the other side of the cavern

“Hijan, come in, do you read me.” She pulled up at the sound, ordering the others to hide as the patchy and somewhat static signal came through her earpiece. IT was a strange experience, she had never used technology during battle, as her father had been a staunch traditionalist. Even now, hiding from the enemy instead of taking them straight on, was an unusual experience for her.

She reached up and pressed one finger against the tiny delicate button.

She didn’t understand how such a small device could connect her with someone form so far away, but she trusted that it would work.

“I am here.”

The young Drev sounded relieved, her voice crackling over the line with a sigh, “Good, change of plans.”

“What did you have in mind?”

Hijan crouched low in the darkness listening her joints aching as she listened to the younger drev speak.

“We need to get that egg.” She finished 

And hijab nodded her head before remembering Chalan couldn’t see her, “It will be done.” She turned to the others, raising a hand and motioning them to follow after her as she cut back the way they had come, and then into a side passage that took them downwards. The others were not entirely sure what she was dong, but they didn’t question her as they moved through the dark, damp tunnels.

They ran into a burg patrol just outside the room they were looking for, but barely a sound was made as her Drev warriors reacted first, taking out the Burg with all prejudice.

She didn’t feel bad about it, of course.

This was all for their own good, if what Chalan had said was true.

Together they stepped through the nearest door and into the large room.

Her son cursed behind her, and she couldn’t help but make a face at the large slime covered pit where they were now standing.

Large sticky mounds of mucus and slime covered the ground, sheets of the stuff spreading from floor to ceiling in great gelatinous sheets. In certain cases, little white maggoty creatures wiggled around in the slime mewling and churning.

“That’s disgusting.” Someone whispered from the back

She had to agree, but the mission didn’t allow her to focus on anything else.

She turned her head eyes falling on the other side of the room where a large nest of pearly white eggs sat quivering within the slime.

She told the others to hang back as she cut across the room and towards the little alcove that she was told would be there.

They were right, and with an expression of disgust, Hijan reached her hand into the little pile of slime grimacing as it squelched and oozed up over hr wrists and onto her forearm carapace, but then her hands closed around it, and, in triumph she pulled her hands back and raise the ball to examine looking straight through its partially opaque surface, and towards the little wriggling creature on the inside.

The future queen of the burg.

Now all there was left to do was to meet Chalan and the others up at the throne room to finish this fight.

***

Chalan paused at the opening to the cave, glancing back down at the line of burg males as they trudged up through the darkness holding their hands up against the light filtering down from above.

“Maverick, take the Jetpack and go with them, make sure that our units know they are friendly, When you have done that, tell the others what is going on and bring a support team in if you can.”

Maverick didn’t look particularly pleased and benign the one who was going to have to take care of the burg, but she nodded and agreed without verbal complaint.

The Burg King Zaran held to the back of the group.

It had been impossible to convince him to go along with the others.

He was determined to see it through.

Sunny sighed, looking at him, she could already tell he was going to be of no real help. He was very  thin in comparison to the females of his species, with spidly bug-like legs, and a body she could have snapped in half over her knee like a twig.

The legs on which he stood were no bigger than the width of your average human’s thumb, and the way he walked made it clear he was lighter than one might expect for his size, but this was his kingdom, and hopefully his presence would add legitimacy to the reign of the new queen.

Chalan turned in a tight circle as Maverick engaged her jetpack leading a column of the colorful burg as they flew into the morning sky above.

Hijan was close to the objective, so it was important to go now before there was a gap in time where things could go wrong.

They didn’t wait to make sure that Maverick made it out safe. She could handle herself, and together they turned back to the darkness of the burg cave.

*** The universe spun in a slow spiral about the leviathan’s head. He wore the night sky as a crown, and what a magnificent crown the night sky was for the king of the most ancient being in the universe.

He rolled in great billowing sweeps leaving streaks of light behind him through the darkness. Around his through he could feel the comforting compression of the queen of stars as she curled around his body.

He could feel it in the night, in the silence.

He could feel it’s presence, and knew what he must do.

He turned in a tight and winding circle up and then over opening his mouth and grasping onto the end of his own tail.

There was a sharp pull and then a thunderous burst of light.

And he was gone.