The Carlson Chronicle Chapter 1
Chapter 19

22-July-2352

Alex smiled to his new exec and Amy. His father had suggested her personally, and considering she was the last of her kind, he really had no problem with it. Amy preferred the role of Adviser, and since Ericka now lived with and served James, the role of Exec had been left vacant.

“Cygna, right?” He asked, not needing to, but just clarifying.

“Yes.” She responded curtly. Amy smiled to her, considering how pretty she was, for a Marrokian.

“Oh, come on lover, you know you can’t wait to get her alone, and then sex her up.” Amy said with a laugh. Cygna’s eyes were wide! Alex looked first at Amy, like she’d lost her mind, then turned to look at Cygna. He did have to admit, she was really pretty, and her fur colors rivaled even some of the Gideon Lionesses they had on board. But to suggest that he even had a remote interest in ‘sexing her up’, was a stretch for sure.

“Nothing personal Cygna, but I know your past. I’ve also been told how I was supposed to be this ‘Chosen One’ of your people’s prophesies. Sorry that it didn’t happen.”

“Master Barnard explained why you didn’t come to his ship when it was offered. I don’t blame you or him. My former Mistress made that mistake, and though she rests in peace now, I still see it as my fault for letting myself get so blindsided by her beliefs. If I had joined the ranks of the Cat Warriors when I was first selected, maybe my life would have been better, or my people not wiped from the universe.”

“No offense intended toward your ‘Cat Warriors’, but against the technology you were facing, it was only a matter of time. Mental powers notwithstanding.”

“So, you believe as Barnard! That we were powerless to stop the Garshans!” She yelled, coming out of her chair. Alex merely chuckled.

“Yes.” He said, though after looking into her eyes, he was beginning to think better of that answer. As the ‘Fire of Primus’ raced through her, she tried to focus her anger, not wanting to hurt him, but needing him to see that given enough time, they could have defeated the Garshans. And she surely would have, if sleep hadn’t stole her away, she collapsing back into her chair.

“Collar her, brand her, and stick her in our quarters. We don’t need this happening every time we have to tell her just how screwed her people really were.” Amy said, the anger in her eyes something Alex hadn’t seen before. He chuckled again.

“For a minute there, I thought you were about to sheep her, but seriously, I’ll just send her and her kitty cat friend back to Barnard. I don’t need anymore distractions.” He replied, making the call for security to come get her, and to escort her and Furball back to the ‘Daedalus’, Barnard and Claudia’s Andro.

Two tigresses came onto the bridge a moment later, one of which was Anderson’s mate, Talia, making a small bubble as she came onto the bridge. She smiled to Alex.

“Hi Boss!” She said, sucking in her bubble, and catching Amy’s eye.

“Ok, we need to get one of these!” She said, pointing her thumb at Talia.

“One of these?” Alex questioned, following Amy’s finger to Talia, she blowing another small bubble. Her friend bent down, picking up Cygna.

“Where do I take her?” 42 asked.

“Take her to sickbay for now, and confine her there until we can meet up with ‘Daedalus’.” He ordered. Turning, 42 left, while Amy spoke in hushed tones to Talia, she suddenly nodding. Sitting in Cygna’s vacated seat, she proceeded to make a bubble, as Amy and Alex watched.

“Umm, ok?” Alex began, as Talia’s bubble swelled from 4” to almost 2′ in one deep breath.

“Bigger!” Amy shouted, and Talia responded, taking in a deep breath of air, and huffing into her now 3′ sphere.

“Using fingers, how many pieces is that Talia?” Alex asked, she holding up 4 fingers. Looking around their spot on the bridge, Alex arced an eyebrow at his mate.

“We really don’t have room in here for a bubble that will get as big as 4 pieces will allow, Amythyst. Anderson has told me of her prowess with Magi-Bubble. 4 pieces for this lovable kitty is almost 40 FEET in diameter.”

“REALLY!?” Amythyst asked, her eyes filled with joy and wonder.

“Ok, we DEFINITELY need to get one of these. Maybe we can get this one from Anderson?” She said, as Talia now arced her eyebrows. She loved David and didn’t think she liked the idea of bed-hopping.

“No, she and he are a mated pair, much like us being married. The only other girl I’ll let into our bed is Jett. Period.” He said, poking her now 4 foot bubble with his writing stylus, it popping with a ‘floomph’ sound, landing mostly in her lap. Talia sighed but pouted, as a bubble that size ruined her gum for chewing. Helping to clean her up, he pulled a half dozen pieces from his jacket pocket and handed them to her.

“Better catch up with your friend, wouldn’t want her mad at you.” He said, kissing her lightly on the cheek. She smiled, kissing him back on the cheek, then bounding from the bridge. Turning to his wife, he shot her a thoroughly annoyed glance, she sinking back into her seat.

“Sorry.”

“Between you and Jett, I get all the sex and gum antics I can endure. When we finally have the Garshans beaten, and the Vor’Gosh too, we can discuss kids. But for now, you and Jett are the only ‘kids’ I need, k?” She responded by leaping into his lap and kissing him passionately.

“Contact! Bearing 090, mark 45, declination 15, range 150k!” Jett said from her position at Ops.

“ID?”

“Squawking as TE Provincial, but the only provinces around here don’t have any FTL ships. Just system defense ships.”

“MAD?”

“Scanning... 25,000Cy, 12k Tons. Reads as a ‘Spee’?” She said, questioning her own sensors.

“Incoming COM!”

“Put it on the main screen.”

Jett flipping a few switches brought Antilles Black’s head and shoulders onto the view screen.

“Ahh, Captain Carlson, I was unaware the Empire now prowled the Deerstalker.”

“Captain Black, a pleasure. No, just fine tuning our sensors. The Garshans hate nebulas, so it’s my desire to force them to fight inside of one any chance I can get. Nice ship, is that a PBB?” He asked as Black laughed.

“No Captain, it’s a Velpare design. Same mass as those escorts of yours, but designed with my job as it’s first priority.” He said with a gold-toothed grin.

“What is his job exactly?” Amy whispered to Alex. Black heard her all the same.

“Piracy lass, or in my current role, privateer. It appears Tiberius doesn’t want you to grab all the glory. But, I must say, unless I can replace a Garshan Colony world, it’ll be slow going for the rest of us Carcosa rats.” He finished.

“Contact! Wait, no, Contacts, surrounding us, I read over a dozen ships, all squawking TE Provincial, all the same mass as Captain Black’s ship.” Jett yelled over her shoulder.

“What’s your game, Antilles?” Alex questioned, as Amy rose from her chair and left the bridge.

“I’m sorry Captain, but letter of marks aside, we still need to eat. And yes, you’ll get a few of us, but in the end, I’ll have that ship as booty, and the Carcosan Brotherhood will be a threat once more.” He finished as Alex sat back down, laughing.

“Cap, we’re at wep-status 1, he caught us flat-footed.” Jett said from her station, looking back at Alex, he still laughing.

“Lucky for you, lil’ skunk, I love you so much. Ok, here’s the deal Antilles, you want some booty, I’ll give you some. Skip or fold to these coordinates that I’m imbedding into this message. You’ll replace all the booty you can handle there.” He said, finishing the message. Antilles’ COM tech read the message.

“Sir? These coordinates are on the edge of Maiden’s Folly, the inner edge.”

“That’s right. We’ve been watching the Garshans’ staging ships and supplies there for a renewed offensive. If you jump in there guns blazing, you’re sure to catch them napping. And like you said, you need to eat also, so...”

After a few minutes of quiet contemplation, Antilles responded.

“I’m a reasonable man Captain Carlson, so here’s my counter proposal. Right now, your ship is locked up good, with over a hundred torps spun up and ready. So, I have you dead to rights. Here’s my pitch, we board you, I take command of your ship, then we go to these coordinates, and if it’s not a trap, we reap the rewards, otherwise...” He replied, letting the obvious trail off.

“INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!” Alex heard over the COM line, but it wasn’t from his ship...

Running as fast as she could, Amy knew exactly who to grab for this little hit & run exercise: Cygna!

Stopping in sickbay, she found the lovely Marrokian, sitting on a med table, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

“Cygna! Good, you’re awake!” She said, sliding to a stop in front of her.

“Yes, I don’t remember what happened. I was upset at your mate, then I woke up here.”

“Nevermind that now, contact you battle cat friend. We need to do a boarding action!”

“Garshans?!”

“No, worse, insane pirates! They caught us napping, and now Alex is trying to work out a deal...” But Cygna stopped her.

“Why should I?” Was all she said, folding her arms over her considerably abundant bosom.

“Ok, look, you want to get some payback against the Garshans? You’re on the best ship for that. I know about your abilities with regards to psycho-travel.” Amy declared, using the Marrokian term for teleporting.

“And?”

“And, if you help us get out of this jam, I’ll make sure Alex keeps you here. You’ll end up bunking with the tigs down in trooper berthing, but you’ll still be a part of the action. Now, you want in, yes or no?”

Cygna thought all of this through. She was annoyed with Alex, for certain, but she refused to be relegated to a second line unit that was unlikely to see any action. She needed to be there, to see the looks in the Garshan’s eyes that she sent to meet Ozum.

<Furball! Come, we have work>

<Garshans?>

<Not yet, old friend, but it appears we need to prove our worth.>

<Then I stand ready. Port when you can.>

“Are you coming as well?” She asked Amy. Amy was all grins.

“Hell yeah, I’ve been wanting to blast a few Garshans for some time now, and these pirates will offer me some good practice.”

“Blast? Blast them how?” Cygna asked, as Amy’s gear didn’t lend anything to any form of weapon. She winked at Cygna, and sheeped her! As Cygna wandered around on all fours, Amy pulled up the COM channel of her mate and Antilles Black. Cygna regained her normal form, drawing her Sha-lang and covering Amythyst with the ruby end.

“How in the name of the Elders did you do that to me!? I was a common farm animal!”

“I’m a reformed Kanin.” She said bluntly, laying all of it at Cygna’s feet, as a tear slowly rolled down her cheek. Hanging her head, she tried to focus on the here and now, as Cygna put her hand on her shoulder.

“Does Alex know?” She asked as Amy nodded.

“He’s like me. He can wield magic. But we have to hurry. Look, here, on this monitor, can you send us there?” And in the blink of an eye, they found themselves at the rear of Antilles’ bridge!

Furball got his bearings first, even as the alarms blared, lunging at the Ops station, ripping the head off of the Gideon wolf that sat there.

Amythyst turned around at Furball’s roar, and blasted the Gideon otter at Tactical with a small fireball, while Cygna simply ’ported Antilles and his exec 5 miles straight up...

Watching as the chaos and carnage unfolded on Antilles’ bridge, Alex sat back with a smile.

“Red Alert Jett! Set condition one throughout the ship! Point defense to auto/stand-by, Weps! Spin me up a flight of torps, secondaries, track anything that moves! Lock the mains on that ship dead ahead, if it moves, blast it!” He ordered as people lept to their duties, eager to put down this traitorous dog of a pirate.

“All decks and all sections report manned and ready!” Jett exclaimed, watching as Amythyst blasted another pirate with a ball of lightning as big as her head.

“Was that a lightning bolt!?” She asked, jumping as Alex set his hands on her shoulders. Looking up at him, she got kissed. She returned it despite the giggles from her two assistants. Breaking off the kiss before his loins got him into too much trouble, he looked at Amy on the view screen.

“The rest of the pirates are retreating, Admiral!” Jett’s curvy assistant, a bunny named Bridgette, said with a smile. He nodded, giving her a little kiss that curled her toes. Jett and her other assistant, a squirrel named Suzy, both laughed.

“Good work to you three. ’Port back when ready. EMF is still offline.” He said, moving back to his chair.

“Now I see why you like sleeping with him. He’s a great kisser!” Bridgette whispered to Jett. She just smiled.

Within minutes, all were safely aboard, and being de-briefed in the officer’s wardroom. Servers set a huge T-bone in a bowl in front of Furball, who first sniffed at it, then consumed it in nothing flat. Cygna waved off the offer of food, as Amy and Alex both sipped at coffee.

“Nice job Amy. I was just about to throw in the towel when you went all commando on us. Good work to you too, Cygna, and to you as well, Furball was it?” He nodded.

“Does this mean we get to stay?” Cygna asked, though her head was bowed.

“For the time being yes. As per Amy’s decision, you’ll bunk with the tigs down in the troopers barracks. I understand one of the troopers recently lost her bunk mate due to a transfer. You’ll bunk with her. As for you Furball, I’ll assign you to...”

<If it’s all the same, I’ll bed with the Slayer.> Furball said into his mind. Alex blinked.

“Ooook, that’s new. Fine, you can sleep with Cygna and 42. Dismissed.”