Pussy Pirates
Chapter 25
Month 150—July on St. Jeanne d’Arc
“BATTLE STATIONS. Battle stations. This is not a drill. This is not a drill.” Joan’s voice filled the ship while Ubie’s voice filled the resort and Papillon Base. At the resort, our riflemen headed to the basement range while crew from St. Jeanne who were groundside transported up. The railgunners and their teams hit the pads at the base. I ran out of my room naked with Rainbow padding along behind me, trying to clear her eyes from the earth-shaking orgasm she’d been experiencing when the speakers broke in.
“I’m gonna kill a couple of Sa’arm for this!” she grumbled. As I ran, my cock leaked the remains of the semen I hadn’t finished spraying into Rainbow. We snatched a quick kiss at the transporters.
“Go get ’em, Tiger.” I gave her rear a pat and she winked as she disappeared from the transporter. I stepped onto the pad and was taken directly to my control couch where I could monitor Ubie. Tatts slipped onto the couch beside me.
“You smell like sex,” she laughed.
“I thought that delightful scent was coming from you!” We settled back with our VR helmets to the sound of Tatts giggling. “Status, Ubie.”
“Hyperspace bubbles are still forming. So far two hive colonizer spheres and an assortment of Vesta, Vervactor, and Venti ships have emerged. The hive spheres have not yet released their fighters but are known to carry twenty-seven light ships each.”
“The ships have appeared outside the band of mines that previously destroyed their scouts. Confederacy ships are faced off across the minefield to form a blockade. A Voluptus conquest sphere has now emerged. The Swarm are moving into position for another jump and Confederacy ships are falling back to the Earth HEZ.”
“Estimated time to arrival?”
“Three hours, thirteen minutes, and twenty-seven seconds.”
“How are we getting information so fast if it’s going to take them three hours of hyperspace and cruise time to get here?”
“I am monitoring AI chatter. Their communications are much faster than Confederacy ship-to-ship communications.”
“Let’s take a look at our ships,” Tatts said. “Is everyone moving all right?”
Our VR display switched to the flight deck where pilots were standing beside their birds—the sleek sexy Hawks and one Aston Martin. Crew were running with helmets for their pilots and opening hatches. There was a flight deck crew member for each pilot now. There was some talk and laughter among the flight teams as they prepared to mount up, but with a sense of excitement that was more than we’d seen lately. With the invasion three hours away, they weren’t rushing to mount up. There were a number of intense kisses being shared.
“Boss, this is the Captain. How do our systems look?”
“Everything is humming, Captain. Ubie reports no failures or slowdowns. Ground-based forces are taking up position in the shooting range. Railgunners and crew have arrived at Atlantic Basin and railguns are idling. Pilots are boarding their birds. All systems are awaiting your command.”
“The Sa’arm ships have made their jump in-system,” Dakota said. “Joan has been giving me projected landing points for the invasion. She says it looks like North America, Central Asia, and something in the Southern Hemisphere—possibly Australia or Africa. We’ll have to choose our targets carefully.”
“We can’t fight a Southern Hemisphere invasion,” I said. “Leave that to the Confederacy. I don’t think we can take on the conquest sphere unless there is no choice. We’ll take on the weak spots in America or Asia as they are revealed.”
“Boss,” Dakota asked on our private channel, “this invasion looks awfully well coordinated for the Sa’arm having only gotten a brief look from Neptune on their first visit. And sending a conquest sphere? Not just colonizers?”
“This is the first time the Swarm have made a serious push into our system, but don’t forget they’ve faced human Confederacy ships in a lot of systems over the past ten years. All they needed on their first scan was to discover that we were here waiting. They’ve met us enough times to know they need to arrive in force. Remember, their goal is to land the spheres on Earth. That’s what all the other ships are here to facilitate. Our job is to prevent an Earth landing. Got it?”
“Got it, Boss. It’s time to get our birds in flight.” Dakota switched to her all points speakers. “Attention. Pilots mount up and check in with control. Gunners, check your systems and ammo. This is a live round. Make sure you’re loaded for bear. Railguns pre-load the first salvo and make sure the next is ready to go. Remember, we’re letting the Confederacy’s big guns take out everything we can. We’re a mop-up crew—the last line of defense between the dickheads and our planet. Good hunting, people.”
“Captain, Hawks all report manned and armed. Hummingbirds are standing by at 50,000 kilometers above the pole.”
“Launch Hawks,” Captain said. The 360-degree screens on the bridge lit up with the view of space projected from the multiple sensors on the Hawks.
“Everything looking good, Ubie?” I asked on the channel Tatts and I shared.
“I think so.”
“Think?”
“There is a tingling in my circuits that is being fed by the pilots and weapons operators. I can only assume this is a response to adrenaline pumping in their veins.”
“Excitement, Ubie dear,” Tatts said. “This is all excitement mixed with fear, anger, anticipation, and raw sex.”
“Emotions still surprise me at times,” Ubie said.
“Just remember, we’re right here with you, my friend,” I said. “We trust you.”
“And I trust you, Boss. Transit bubbles are appearing in the projected locations. The conquest sphere is targeted toward east-central Asia. One colonizer sphere is directed toward southern Africa. The other is headed directly for the center of North America.”
“Kansas?” Tatts asked.
“Kansas is regarded as the geographic center of the forty-eight contiguous states of the United States,” Ubie said. “The North American center is generally accepted as northern North Dakota. A town named Rugby claims the honor.”
“Let’s make sure it doesn’t get the honor of the Swarm’s first landing.”
“Confederacy ships have begun engagements and are fighting the battleships and cruisers. Smaller Sa’arm ships are harrying the defenders. Confederacy forces have focused their greatest firepower on the conquest sphere over Asia. Both sides are taking heavy losses from both the African and American sphere groups. They are significantly outgunned.”
“That gives us our target,” I said. It was clear we were needed to defend North America.
“Hawks, prepare an attack run on the battle group approaching North America. Hummingbirds, prepare to defend Confederacy ships. The Sa’arm are primarily using energy weapons. Our purpose will be to disrupt the beams with shields. Alpha, Beta, and Gamma flights, prepare to dive bomb the sphere. Delta through Xi, you will run as many strafing flights on the smaller ships as needed. Stay out of the way of friendly fire. Omicron, Pi, Rho flights, you will stand by to offer aid to any ship pressed beyond its ability. Anouilh or Confederacy.”
A Vervactor and several fighters were giving heavy fire to a force attempting to penetrate the sphere’s defenses. Confederacy ships had been unable to penetrate the enemy’s shields. Suddenly, three misshapen cylinders appeared in near collision with the Vervactor, spewing out .50 caliber explosive rounds at near proximity into the shields. In fifteen seconds, before the Vervactor could react to the small ships, they were gone and three more appeared from a different direction. The shields faltered just long enough for the Shiros to get a series of plasma torpedoes through. All seven impacted the hull, causing severe damage. Shields did not come back online and a well-placed railgun projectile from one of the Confederacy ships drilled into the fuel reservoir and the Vervactor disintegrated.
Five flights of Hawks targeted the Lima attack fighters, popping in and out of hyperspace to strafe the small ships with their explosive shells with good effect. The fighters seemed to stumble as one and then another vented to space and broke apart.
“Wahoo!” Skitty yelled as her gunners took out another of the fighters.
The sphere was still well-defended against the onslaught of Confederacy forces pressing the blockade of Sa’arm fighters and battleships. A Confederacy Patrician was damaged and appeared to be tumbling out of control. A Lima was closing in for the final kill with a plasma torpedo launched. Suddenly, a Hummingbird appeared between the torpedo and the Patrician with shields flaring. The torpedo detonated against the shields over a kilometer away from the Patrician as a Hawk triad peppered the fighter with small shells. The Hummingbird disappeared.
“Ow! That hurt!” Ubie yelled.
“Ubie, status!”
“The plasma torpedo took out Hummingbird 18A. I felt it explode.”
“Oh, shit! Are you okay, baby?” Tatts asked.
“I’m fine. It just stung. We got them.”
“Was the pilot hurt?” One of the things we still didn’t know was what effect getting her ship destroyed in space would have on a connected pilot.
“The Hummingbird pilots are not physically connected to the units. They have no more feeling than watching a ship explode in a video game. The sphere is now 150,000 kilometers from Earth. It is time for the attack.”
“Alpha, Beta, Gamma flights. You’re on. Attack speed,” Dakota announced.
Confederacy ships were still heavily engaged and unable to penetrate the defense of the sphere. This would be the test of whether we could get inside their defenses.
“FTL in three, two, one,” Misty’s voice sounded and then blanked out. Three seconds later, nine little cylinder ships appeared between the defenders and the sphere, diving at the sphere. A single burp sent nine multi-stage railgun projectiles at the sphere as the Hawks blinked back into hyperspace.
“Sphere shields are at ten percent. Omicron, Pi, Rho, attack speed. Go!” Dakota barked. The nine ships that had been held in reserve accelerated.
“FTL in three, two, one,” Rainbow’s voice sounded and then blanked out. Three seconds later, the nine little cylinders were diving at the sphere with multi-stage projectiles burping out their fronts. Fighters had turned to protect the sphere from closer in and began firing at the Hawks immediately. They were too late as the Hawks blinked back into hyperspace. A scream pierced the air over Ubie’s speakers.
“I’m hit! Help me!” Rainbow’s voice cried.
“Ubie! Status!”
“APP-042 was hit as I was creating the bubble. I’m hurt, but I’ll make it if someone can get Rainbow out of her controller.”
“Emergency extraction team is on the flight deck,” I said.
“Alpha, Beta, Gamma flights. Attack speed!” Dakota’s unrelenting voice sang out.
“FTL in three, two, one,” Misty announced. The ships blinked back in even closer to the hive sphere as they let loose both the railgun projectiles and strafing fire. This time the Sa’arm didn’t have time to get a return shot off as the explosions penetrated deeply enough into the sphere to detonate weapon magazines, fuel tanks, and engines. The Hawks barely escaped the shrapnel as it exploded outward, taking out the last of the fighters.
I stood by the med tube waiting for it to release Rainbow. KC Cutie and Dakota flanked me. Tatts was nearby in an intense private conversation with Ubie/Joan. She approached us.
“The med tube is just giving her calming nanites—you could say a sedative. She wasn’t physically harmed, even though she thought she was. She needs rest and might not be ready to return to duty for a while. She felt Joan’s pain as her ship was hit and exploded in hyperspace. Joan will be recovering with her. It’s the downside of her distributed intelligence. She is fully present in every Hawk and to a lesser degree in every Hummingbird. There was a feedback loop with Rainbow in the equation and Joan felt both her own physical pain and Rainbow’s emotional pain.”
“What can we do?” KC asked. Rainbow was not only a friend, but a lover as well.
“Just continue to love her. That’s all any of us can do. Just like I’ll continue to love Ubie and Joan. We’ll get them through this.”
The hatch opened and Rainbow looked up at the four people waiting for her. A tear ran down her cheek.
“I’m so sorry, Joan! I should have responded faster. I’m so sorry!”
“Your reflex and response time were everything that was expected and more,” Joan’s voice sounded softly. “You are not to blame for the loss of this node. Please trust me, Rainbow. I will stay with you.”
I reached in to lift Rainbow from the tube and she buried her face against my shoulder as she cried. KC and Dakota petted her as I carried her away from the tube and we transported back to Anouilh.
Month 150—July on Anouilh
AFTER TWO DAYS IN BATTLE, everyone wanted sleep more than anything else. Dakota and I left Rainbow sleeping in the arms of KC as we went to the pool deck to receive Confederacy visitors. Col. Thom stepped off the pad in front of a beautiful redhead in a black uniform. Both stopped to salute and the two of us sloppily returned them. Thom laughed, much to his companion’s confusion.
“Captain. Boss. On behalf of the Confederacy Earthat Fleet, I want to thank you for your participation in this second battle of Earthat. Without your assistance, the North America-bound hive sphere would have made landfall, just as the Africa-bound sphere did. It was badly damaged, but survived and has begun a colony near Lake Victoria,” Thom said.
“And the other one?” I asked.
“By diverting the bulk of our forces to Asia, we were able to destroy the conquest sphere and its escorts. It was a near thing and we lost a lot of good people in that battle. It’s going to take us a while to rebuild the fleet and get enough crews trained to keep up the fight. We’ve put out a call to the colonies to send help. That’s what they were created for.”
“Thank you for your acknowledgment,” Dakota said. “We’re happy to be of service. Who is your companion?”
“Please allow me to introduce Commander Danielle Armstrong, Captain of the Patrician San Pedros,” Thom said.
“Welcome, Commander.” We offered our hands and she shook them uncertainly.
“Captain and… um… Boss. My ship was hit and crippled by a Sa’arm fighter while we were engaged with a Venti. We were about to be destroyed when one of your ships jumped in front of the killing blow and another flight destroyed the fighter and stayed on point to protect us from additional damage. My fourteen surviving crew and I wish to express our deep personal thanks to you for your bravery and sacrifice. We would like to honor the pilot who sacrificed her ship and her life to save us,” Commander Armstrong said. I glanced a question at Thom and he shook his head. The commander had no idea our ships were unmanned. Dakota was on top of it.
“On behalf of Anouilh, the St. Jeanne d’Arc, and Captain Little, we thank you,” Dakota said. “We are comrades.”
“Captain and Boss, we were wondering if you would object to our renaming our ship in your honor. We would like to become the Patrician Anouilh Beach,” the commander said. “Our ship AI has already indicated its willingness to accept this change in designation, as have our crewmates.”
“That would truly be an honor,” I said. I glanced at Dakota and she nodded. “Joan, do you have any objection?” Ubie answered in his shipside voice.
“I am truly honored by your gesture and by your recognition of our sacrifice. I am glad it was not in vain.” I led the Confederacy officers to the bar where we all ordered our drinks.
“Excuse my ignorance, but are you always naked here?” Armstrong asked.
“I’m sorry,” I laughed. “Usually, we try to dress before we greet visitors for the first time. We’ve been pressed tending to injuries since we got back from the ship and our combat stations, so we didn’t have time to dress.”
“You fight naked?”
“In the best tradition of the Gaesatae,” Dakota laughed.
“Who were they?”
“Third century BC Celtic warriors who fought naked against the Romans,” I said. “The truth is, we broadcast to our gamers from the cockpits of the Hawks and they like to see the Pussy Pirates naked.”
“It’s all a game to you?”
“A deadly serious game. One we are committed to winning.”
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