The adventures of Blackstar

[Blackstar the Chakat]

Adventures of Blackstar
By Chakat Blackstar
Chapter 5: The Original


Sasha found her fellow crewmates in a laboratory of some sort, the walls lined with a number of prototype weapons and diagnostic equipment. On the far wall were five cryostasis tubes used to store a living being for extended periods of time; three had been occupied, two were covered in condensation due to use. Blackstar began working on one of the consoles, while Sasha's curiosity got the better of her. She began wiping the condensation off one of the tubes, but Blackstar spotted her movement, "Sasha stop."

It was too late. Sasha saw the face in the tube. "What the what the hell is this?"

"Didn't you know Sasha?" asked a new voice. "Every copy has to have an original."

The boarding team turned around and saw Parishka and a group of escorts. Blackstar waved. "Hey, how you doing? Hey how did you get here? The Midnight Star barely made it, and she's got one of the strongest hulls available."

"We improvised a way to increase the structural integrity on our shuttle, long enough to get here," explained Parishka. "It doesn't matter because this is where you die."

Blackstar crouched down and put hir left arm up defensively, and to position hir personal shield to an optimal position, but no shots were fired. After a moment Blackstar looked from one hired gun to the next, and quickly realized that no one was firing. Then Blackstar turned hir head to look behind hir and decided that shi had figured it out. "You need the original for something, so your men aren't firing. What do you need her for?"

Parishka crossed her arms. "Like I'd tell you. I talk too much as it is, but I'm not going to keep babbling about how I need something or someone to you."

While the Blitz team members could easily shoot Parishka and her cronies, Blackstar hesitated because it didn't quite seem fair. Being a Chakat, shi had difficulties in situations such as this one, and hir practical and peaceful sides would be in conflict. After a moment debating with hirself, Blackstar finally came to a decision. "Fire stun "

Blackstar was interrupted by Parishka shouting, "Attack!" to her men. Only 8-Ball was able to get a single shot fired before the morphs under Parishka's command engaged them in hand to hand. Most were able to disarm their opponents, however. The Blitz team had started out as primarily being a ground unit before they purchased a capital ship, and Blackstar made sure that every member could at least fight in hand to hand combat.

The Quenxelian wolf morph, Rys, delivered a quick kick to the knee of his opponent, a fox morph. As the fox began to lose his balance from the blow, Rys smashed his elbow into his enemy's snout, knocking the fox backward. Rys delivered an upper cut to his opponent's jaw, knocking the unfortunate fox to the floor. Rys recovered his stunner and used it to finish off his opponent.

Sasha was faced with two fierce wolf morphs, one of which was sent flying after receiving a blow to his chest. Judging by the cracking sound, at least one of his ribs was broken. The second wolf was far more cunning and tried to slide in close to his far larger opponent, and actually got behind her. However this would prove to be a far worse location when Sasha bent over and balanced on her hands. Her powerful legs sent the wolf into one of the unoccupied stasis tubes. The wolf tried to stand but fell forward.

8-Ball, having all but lived in a local bar during her youth, delivered a low blow to the badger's groin. This had been a move that had served her well in many a bar brawl, unless the unfortunate guy was too drunk to feel the pain While the war morph tried to recover from the devastating blow, 8-Ball delivered a one-two punch knocking the badger morph out cold.

Dr. Oliver was normally a pacifist, but when a badger morph tried to land a blow, he deflected it with ease. He grinned and said, "You really shouldn't pull your arm all the way back like that. It leaves you open to attack." An attack he demonstrated well, with a punch to the solar plexus, with a follow-up punch to the badger's face. The badger fell to the ground nursing his bloodied face. A wolf tried to knock the doctor down with a sweeping kick, but the doctor used the foot the wolf was aiming for to send himself into a spin. He used the momentum to kick the wolf's side. When the wolf doubled over, the doctor picked him up by his clothing and rammed him into a nearby computer console causing a number of sparks to be sent flying.

Blackstar had no problem with hir opponents, a pair of wolves and a male Caitian. The Caitian made a frontal attack, which ended when Blackstar grabbing an arm at a specific pressure point. The Caitian was then knocked out with a blow to the head. The two wolves tried to attack from hir right side and rear, believing those to be hir weakest points. The wolf attacking from behind was caught by Blackstar's prehensile tail. To counter the other wolf, Blackstar did a side flip to hir left side, grabbed the wolf with the claws of hir handpaws and sent him flying into a nearby computer console. Blackstar used the momentum to send the wolf that shi had trapped with hir tail flying to join his companion. The wolves were finished off with a series of shots from Blackstar's stunner.

Blackstar took a quick look around the lab looking for an opponent. Shi nodded in approval as shi saw the enemy had all been defeated. Then shi realized that Parishka was nowhere to be seen. "Oh, crap. Where has she gotten off to?" Shi went to work on the console controlling the stasis pods. "We'll need reinforcements," shi explained, "and these two are the best ground-air team we've got."

Sasha, being a curious feline by nature, rubbed the condensation off the second pod finding herself face-to-face with an armored figure. "Who is this?"

"That would be Tex," said Blackstar. "He's the ground specialist. The armor is also his life support system. He was badly injured and his neural net was grafted into that suit. He is about as strong as a Chakat and just as quick. He can shoot a flea off a dog's back at thousand yards with a pistol."

Sasha blinked twice. "You're making that up. Aren't you?"

"Just about his aim," Blackstar replied. The room began to fill with some sort of steam or smoke being released by the pods. "Yes arise! Arise my evil minions!"

The figures of the two that had been held in stasis emerged from the steam. The otherwise dramatic effect was ruined by them both coughing. The young Wolftaur looked at her armored companion with a look of confusion. "Hey Tex, if you don't have lungs why are you coughing?"

A deep synthesized voice replied, "I guess it's old habit." The armored figure, who stood at 6'10", turned to most likely look at Blackstar. However, a reflective visor prevented anyone from knowing where he was actually looking. "So Boss, what's so important that you woke us from our naps? I was having a good dream where Lucy and I were screwing like rabbits."

Once she stopped coughing, the young Parishka punched Blackstar in the face, and then as if nothing had happened, she stood at attention ignoring the fact that she was nude. However what was more surprising to Sasha than Parishka's posture was her southern drawl "What are our orders, shir?"

"What was that all about?" Sasha looked at Blackstar with a confused stare. "You were their commander? Parishka has an accent? What else have you not bothered to mention?"

Blackstar shrugged. "Maybe, I commanded them once. Those two, Vega, and myself were a squad of elite fighters. Our last mission was supposed to be escorting the Time Matrix to its new hiding place. Of course the best hiding place is where no one would look."

"The Maelstrom?" asked Sasha.

Before Blackstar could answer, Tex interrupted. "Not to be rude or anything, but I was under the impression that we weren't supposed to talk about the mission or the device to anyone. Who are these people and just how long have we been out?"

"Don't worry, Tex. Sasha is my chief tactical and security officer. You two have been in stasis for twenty years. And I am the Captain and owner of the Blitz team. Also, don't feel too jealous that I've been awake longer then you. I was injured shortly after my departure and was in stasis until a couple years ago. Also, I've been chased half way across the Maelstrom by Parishka's psychotic clones."

The young Wolftaur now interrupted Blackstar. "Um why would my clone be chasing you?"

Blackstar hesitated, looking for a way to explain it without putting the original Parishka into shock. Shi never got the chance though as 8-Ball had gotten impatient and answered for hir. "From what I understand, your clones are missing something or something went wrong in the process and they need the original, you, to fix it. However this defect has made them crazy, unless you are naturally going nuts, but in any case, the first clone taking care of your daughter went crazy when shi ran away. Since, by what I assume is only a huge coincidence, shi ran into the care of hir half-sister, the clone is trying to kill Blackstar for revenge and created more transporter clones of herself to ensure that is accomplished. And now her ship is in combat with our ship and she's on board this ship, trying to kill us." 8-Ball turned to Blackstar and asked, "Did I leave anything out?"

Blackstar shook hir head, "No, I think that pretty much covers it."

Parishka nodded and said, "Okay."

"Okay?" asked Blackstar. "None of that was confusing or anything?"

Parishka shrugged. "Well, I admit ya'll got to tell me more about this 'transporter cloning' stuff later, but I think I've got the gist."

Tex laughed before he asked, "I'm more concerned about this half-sister of Blackstar's. Please tell me it wasn't hir father that got you pregnant." The look of guilt on Parishka's face was answer enough. "That's wrong on so many levels. Have you thought about therapy?"

Parishka gave Tex a dirty look. "For your information, we were stuck on an alien planet, and I was in heat. And you of all people should know how bad I get when in heat. Shi turned out to be a very good lover."

"Oh, gods. That's something I don't want to hear about," said Blackstar. Shi was covering hir ears, which had lain back against hir head. "We've got bigger things to deal with then that. Is the armory still stocked?"

"As far as I know," said Tex.

"Good." Blackstar typed a number of commands into the computer and two containers filled with a number of weapons appeared. One container held Star Fleet standard phasers, phaser rifles, and stunners. The second contained more primitive weapons that used bullets rather then energy beams as well as some grenades. Blackstar pulled out a shotgun from the second container and tossed it to Tex. "Saddle up."

"Lock and load," finished Tex.

Blackstar grinned and grabbed an assault rifle and gestured to the others to grab weapons as well. Blackstar began thinking out loud, "If I were Parishka, where would I go?"

8-Ball interrupted Blackstar's train of thought with an observation, "Why don't we ask her? The clone might have twenty more years of experience then this one, but people will usually use the same strategy as long as there is no unknown factor affecting their decisions."

"Well if it was me," said Parishka, "which it technically is, I would be heading towards engineering to take control of the whole ship."

"We should split up and take the different access routes," suggested Tex. "Since only three of us know the way, so we should split into three teams."

"Agreed," said Blackstar. "Tex, you take Rys and the Doctor to the maintenance shafts. Parishka you take Sasha through the main access corridor. 8-Ball and I will take the back door. Let's get a move on." Shi led the heavily armed team out into the corridor.

The group hadn't even split up before they ran into eight armored figures, each identical to Tex except that they wore a dirt brown color rather then Tex's black color. "Oh, I forgot about them," said Parishka. "I guess I would activate the ship's compliment of robot soldiers as well."

"I got this," said Tex. He pulled out a grenade and tossed it into the group of robotic soldiers. The grenade detonated and sent the robots into the walls and disabled at least half of them. The team open fired and was able to defeat the bots before they could fire a shot. Turning to the team, Tex said, "Don't expect all encounters with those bots to be as easy. We just caught them off guard this time. Next time we'll be separated. Be careful."

After the team had separated, Tex was being annoyed by his companions as they opened up a maintenance shaft that led to engineering. Rys and Doctor Oliver were complaining about crawling around when Tex had enough of the whining. "I need you two to shut up. You think it's hard for you? I've got a massive suit of armor for a body! All I do is carry tank-sized cannons wait. Close that up. I just got an awesome idea."

Rys and the Doctor looked at each other. "What do you think we should do?" asked Rys.

"Well, anything is better then crawling through a maintenance shaft," said Doctor Oliver.

Meanwhile, Blackstar led hir Folftaur companion to the level above the main engineering room. 8-Ball was the first to break the silence. "How well do you trust her? The original Parishka I mean."

"I trust her more than you if that helps," replied Blackstar. "As you heard, we were part of the same team. We were well balanced. Parishka was the ace pilot and cook. Tex was the ground specialist and munitions. Vega was the rookie and psychic of the group. I was the team leader."

"Psychic? Do you really believe in that stuff?" asked 8-Ball.

Blackstar shrugged. "Not really. However Vega has often been more right than wrong."

Blackstar stopped in front of a door and indicated that 8-Ball should take the other side. After counting down with hir fingers Blackstar and 8-ball stormed into the room, weapons ready. At the center was a massive column, and a number of consoles on either side of the room. The column's blue glow was the only illumination, giving the room an eerie appearance. As the two taurs made their way around the column, they saw a figure below the upper deck's balcony. It was working on a console that Blackstar remembered was the primary Warp Core power management console. Blackstar whispered to 8-Ball, "Don't try this at home."

Before 8-Ball could stop hir, Blackstar ran and jumped from the balcony to a position on the opposite side of Parishka. Shi used hir momentum and the claws on hir right front leg to bring hir around to face the old Wolftaur. Blackstar got hir rifle into position before Parishka could even register what had happened. "Parishka you are under arrest. Now surrender. I hate bringing in corpses, and I don't think you're worth the price of a bullet."

Blackstar was surprised as Parishka's face broke into a grin. "My, my, my. You are persistent. Not to mention annoying. Now I'll be rid of you once and for all, and if I ever find where you hid the Matrix, I'll change things so that you'll never exist in the first place."

"You never learn, do you?" Blackstar slowly shook hir head in disappointment. "If I never exist, then you'll never meet my father, and you two will never have sex and have a kid. All you've fought for will also not exist."

Parishka wagged a finger in front of Blackstar's face. "You should know better then anyone that the device doesn't just change history, but that it has that failsafe that protects the user from being erased. If I can extend that power to my daughter "

"Shi'll remember everything you did, including try to kill me, kidnapping hir, and who knows what else," Blackstar grimaced as shi explained this. "You can have success in your mission but it'll take millions of years before you can get all the variables just the way you want them. Of course that's all assuming that you find the device. Which you won't because I'm a freaking genius." Just as shi finished talking, Blackstar open fired on the old Wolftaur. However each and every bullet was deflected by an energy shield that surrounded Parishka.

"You always were too cocky," said Parishka. "One of these days it's going to get you killed. I believe that day is today." Parishka snapped her fingers, and the younger Parishka and Sasha entered, escorted by twenty robotic soldiers. "I believe these are your people."

8-Ball watched as this all unfolded before her eyes. "I've got to do something, but what? I've got to think this through." 8-Ball watched as Parishka had one the robots toss her the weapon belts from the young Parishka and Sasha. Then it hit 8-Ball like a bolt of lightning. She pulled out one of the more unusual weapons that she found in the cases of weapons that Blackstar had let them use. It was designed like a crossbow, but it had a barrel of the arrows that were used for ammunition. She adjusted the fire rate selection for single-fire mode. Then without a second thought, she fired an arrow straight at the older Parishka's upper body, striking just centimeters away from her heart.

8-Ball fired another shot as Parishka turned, landing an arrow in her right arm. A third arrow landed in Parishka's upper heart, right as Parishka ordered her robotic troops to fire. 8-Ball quickly succumbed to the effects of the stunners. The robots grabbed 8-Ball and dropped her unconscious body next to her still-standing crewmates.

The old Wolftaur pulled the arrows out of her chest and arm. "How annoying. Really, how much more of this will I have to endure?" Without waiting for an answer she added, "At least one more since that hot wolf and the human are still missing. And I suppose if my younger self is here, it's reasonable that Tex was also revived. So tell me something, where are they?"

Blackstar looked around, specifically the maintenance hatches. "I'm going to be one hundred percent honest. I have no idea where they are. They should have come through a maintenance hatch by now and either a) saved us or b) got caught by you. If they don't show up, I am so docking their pay."

"I'm sure they'll show up and rescue us with a well-formulated plan any second now," said Sasha. The heavy double door that served as main engineering opened up. "Or they could just storm engineering in a suicide run too."

Then all hell broke loose as a massive explosion consumed five of the robotic soldiers. The explosion was followed by a large hunk of metal, otherwise known as a tank, rolled in through the doors, crushing anyone who got in its way. The elder Parishka took the chance to make a run for it. Blackstar yelled to the younger Parishka to cover the still unconscious 8-Ball, while shi followed the older Wolftaur. Sasha and young Parishka reclaimed their weapons and started picking off the robotic soldiers, a task hindered by the fact that they could take much more damage than any living being would take from similar hits.

Blackstar pursued Parishka through the hollow corridors of the Starsword. The only sound was the panting of the old Wolftaur and the young Chakat and the pounding of their paws on the deck. It almost seemed like time slowed down as Blackstar relentlessly pursued hir prey, making the seconds seem like hours, but in reality the chase only lasted five minutes. Parishka's front legs tripped over themselves and her front side smashed into the deck. Blackstar barely avoided running over hir prey, jumping over her instead, and spinning in midair to land, facing the elder Parishka and cutting off her escape.

Parishka was just getting to her feet when she felt Blackstar's left hand around her throat, claws exerting almost enough pressure to penetrate. When Parishka looked into Blackstar's eyes, she could see the hesitation and laughed. "'Can't kill the monster without becoming one', that's what Starfox used to say. Or at least when it came to situation like this, where you literally hold their lives in your hand. Tell me, do you have the strength to go through with it? Or are you just another weak, cowardly Chakat who's afraid of me?" Blackstar's grip loosened a little. "That's what I thought. Even when there " Parishka was cut off as Blackstar's right fist slammed into the Wolftaur's jaw. "So the Chakitty has some guts after all."

"After what you did to me and Snowfall, I have every right to toss you out an airlock," said Blackstar, "but do you know why I don't? It's because I'm not like you. So if you would kindly die on your own, I'd appreciate it."

"You can kiss my big fuzzy ," she was interrupted as Blackstar's other fist connected with her jaw. Parishka collapsed, fading into unconsciousness.

Blackstar looked down at the fallen Wolftaur with a grin on hir face. "I ain't 'fraid of no clone."

Blackstar looked up from Parishka's limp body to see 8-Ball staring open-mouthed at what Blackstar had done. "Did, you just kill her?"

Blackstar shook hir head. "No, she's just unconscious. Give me a hand with her. I wish I had brought cuffs or something." 8-Ball pulled a pair out of hir pockets. Blackstar raised an eyebrow and asked, "Do you always carry a pair of handcuffs?"

8-Ball shrugged. "Ya, so what? You never know when you need a pair. Hey, need to make sure she stays quiet?" 8-Ball pulled out a ball gag.

Blackstar shook hir head. "You know what? I'm not even going to ask why you carry a ball gag. I honestly don't want to know. Put that away, and help me carry her."

"Wouldn't it be easier to use the combadges as a makeshift transporter enhancers and beam her back to the Midnight Star," suggested 8-Ball.

"Impressive, except to do that we'd need a third combadge. Where do you propose we obtain the third one?"

8-Ball crossed her arms and grinned. "There's a third com in your left arm. Just incase the external one you normally wear was lost or taken, like in a hostage situation."

The Chakat was a little disturbed by how quickly the Folftaur was adapting to a job that required improvising and know information that she shouldn't. "You catch on quickly. Okay, set it up in a triangular pattern. Blackstar to Layla, transport old Parishka to one of your holding cells and keep her sedated." The old Wolftaur disappeared in the transporter beam, and the combadges were put back in there proper places. "Let's see how the others are doing."

The two returned to main engineering to find the robotic soldiers to all be disabled, destroyed, or crushed by the tank. "Not bad for a day's work," said Blackstar. Shi saw the team was mostly trading stories and checking out the tank that had saved their tails. "Hey, why are we just sitting on our tails here? Parishka, Tex, Sasha and I will begin raiding the supplies for weapons, medicine, ammo, vehicles, and fuel. Layla will download the ship's database. The rest of you pack up and head back to the ship."

Before Blackstar could stop them, Dr. Oliver and Rys climbed into the tank and exited engineering with it. They were joined by 8-Ball who jumped up onto the tank and rode on top of the scorpion-like canon. Blackstar shook hir head at their antics. The young Parishka walked up beside hir and said, "At least they're in good spirits. Remember when we used to be like that?"

"Used to? I never did anything like that," said Blackstar.

"That's not true," said Tex. "I have video footage of you straddling a photon torpedo like that dude in Armageddon on the nuke when he went nuts."

Blackstar smiled. "Ah, fond memories. Well let's not waste time reminiscing. We got a wreck to loot. I assume most of the ground equipment is on board."

Tex nodded. "The crew took the stuff from lockers 2 and 4 when they helped the Commodore. Lockers 1, 3, and 5 are still full along with all planet-side vehicles. The rest were emptied before we left port."

"Okay, Tex and Sasha work on locker one, Parishka and I will take locker three, and we'll meet up in locker room five. Let's get to work," ordered Blackstar.

Tex led Sasha to the first locker room and began checking the weapons and ammunition, packing them into containers and placing them into a mini-transporter designed and used for small cargo transfers. After setting up an efficient process, Tex and Sasha were working well enough that they began to talk. Tex began by asking what had happened in the past twenty years since he had put in stasis and Sasha answered the best she could. Later Sasha began asking questions of her own about her captain's clouded past. She was certain that Tex was exaggerating about some of the more unbelievable stuff, such as the time that they won a four vs. thirty dogfight, or some of the alleged battles over the Time Matrix.

In locker room three, the two occupants were having a much more violent conversation. Blackstar snarled at Parishka, "Twenty years go by and the first time we're alone, you want to argue with me about who you work with? You have a group of clones hunting me down, a daughter who was sired by Stareye of all people, and the first thing you do is complain about not working with Sasha! You are supposed to be older than me."

Parishka rolled her eyes and shook her head, being used to Blackstar's lecture about how she behaved. "First of all, there is nothing wrong with being attracted to a woman with breasts that size. And the clones were only created to protect my daughter. But to be honest I'm not surprised you pissed them off enough for them to kill you. You've gotten me to that point a few times. Oh, and before you judge me for sleeping with your sire, at least hear me out."

Blackstar was sorely tempted to use one of the weapons in the locker room on Parishka, but hir Chakat instincts and years of friendship with her stopped Blackstar from pulling the trigger. "Alright, you can tell me why of all people you slept with my dad, you little sleazy slut."

"If you recall, shi and I were stranded on that sinkhole planet for nine months, and I have a very tough time dealing with my heats. I would've had sex with anyone. And I shouldn't have to defend myself against you, and would you really want it any other way?"

"What do you mean?"

Parishka explained, "From what I understand, you are very close to my daughter, your half-sister. Now would you rather things happen in a way that shi wouldn't have been born?"

Blackstar hated it, but Parishka had a point. While the result of Parishka's mating with Stareye did result in a number of problems for hir, Blackstar wouldn't ever trade Snowfall for any of it. "I suppose you're right. But that doesn't mean I hate you any less."

"That's okay, I'm not exactly thrilled with myself either," said Parishka. "So what is shi like? My daughter I mean."

Blackstar was glad that the original Parishka was interested in hir daughter despite the fact that Snowfall was almost the same age as her. "Snowfall is your typical Chakat-Wolftaur hybrid. Shi's not the violent type like me. During the year or so I was hir legal guardian, shi served as our team's unofficial ambassador. Shi normally lives at a lighthouse, and is paid to operate it. Shi's also writing the story for a new holo-program, which shi says is inspired by hir time with the team." Blackstar stopped talking when shi saw a tear role down Parishka's cheek, something that was out of character for her. "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing that you can change," said Parishka. "When your kids are born I think you'll understand. I've missed my daughter's whole life. The parts of hir life that I should've been around for, and from what I gather my clone wasn't the mothering type. Shi was brought into this world without any forethought or planning and had to deal with whatever hell my clone put hir through. I'm sure shi hates my guts. And the sad part is, shi has every right to hate me. If shi wasn't a Chakat, I'm sure shi'd kill me the first chance shi got."

"Then I guess I should mention shi's on board the Mystic right now."

"I take it the Mystic is your ship?"

"Didn't I mention that?" Blackstar decided to brief Parishka on some of the points of hir life. "The Mystic is the flagship of the Blitz team. We also have three freighters that will arrive at Quenxel by the time we return. Also, Quenxel is now a civilized planet. In addition we own five state-of-the-art Blade-class fighters and one modified by yours truly. Also Layla has been moved to a new ship, the Midnight Star. The Star is also Slipstream capable, one of only a handful in the Federation. Also, I have recently gained a second denmate, my Caitian first officer, Nightrose. My first mate is a Red Panda named Sly Wacoon, although he occasionally goes by Jabbers, or on one occasion, Bessie."

Parishka grinned a little. "You know, it's a good thing I'm not as curious as certain felines. Although when you said Caitian, I half-expected you to say V'Les, because something that bizarre would be in line with our type of craziness. Sleeping with traitors wouldn't be too much of a stretch."

"Traitor? Are you saying Admiral V'Les is a traitor?"

"Admiral? V'Les' ship led an attack on our little convoy," explained Parishka.

Blackstar shook hir head in disbelief. "That's impossible. Computer, playback the last recorded images of V'Les' ship." A nearby console lit up with an image of a Star Fleet vessel that Blackstar recognized as the ship V'Les had commanded twenty years ago. It was firing a spread of photon torpedoes at a nearby ship that Blackstar identified as the Galaxy Tree. "I've known her for two years since I came out of stasis. She never told me about this. What happened?"

"The other ships jumped out of the system together and we played decoy. Antimatter failure forced us to eject our fuel. We put the Starsword into orbit of this gas giant in the hopes that we could find enough fuel here to get to a habitable planet. However there was nothing here that we could use, so Tex and I went into stasis waiting to be rescued. We didn't expect it to take twenty years though. We figured one of the other ships would be by to rescue us in a week or two at most."

"Well, at least we won't have to worry about anyone attacking us," said Blackstar. Almost as if on cue, the deck shuddered as the Starsword was pummeled by photon torpedoes. "You know, I almost felt that one coming. Layla, give me a report."

"Multiple torpedoes are penetrating the upper atmosphere and striking the Starsword's dorsal structure. We are losing altitude. Even if the attack ceases, the pressure will crush the ship in about five minutes. The attack is stopping. From what I can detect an object, I believe the Mystic, is blocking the attacks."

Blackstar swore under hir breath. "Everyone back to the Star now!" Luckily the group still aboard the StarSword was swift on their feet. Sasha's long legs and hours of training let her keep up with the two taurs and the cybernetically enhanced Tex. They were just within sight of the docking hatch when the deck suddenly fell away from them. Then just as unexpectedly the floor slammed into them again. Blackstar was the first on hir feet and when shi looked at the docking port, shi swore a second time. "I swear this bloody ship is cursed or something."

The port that had served as the gateway to the Midnight Star had become a portal of doom. When Sasha asked what had happened, Blackstar began explaining what shi could figure out. "The StarSword suffered a rapid descent of some sort beyond the inertia dampeners' ability to compensate for. The Midnight Star detached from the docking port for related reasons. Probably part of the survival programming that saves as many lives possible. In this case, sacrificing us in the process, and since we were already at 98% of its structural limits, we have probably descended beyond its ability to reach us, which is why the ship detached. The docking port then brought up an emergency force field that would hold long enough for the proper hull to return to its normal structurally sound position. Now we won't be able to escape because no one can reach us and this ship is out of fuel, which is why it was here in the first place."

"What about the escape pods," asked Sasha.

Tex shook his head. "No. They'd be crushed like a tuna can."

"Well, not all of them, but we could hotwire one with the systems from a few others and boost the structural integrity field and the engines to hold long enough for us to exit the atmosphere. The systems don't need to last long, just long enough to get into orbit," explained Sasha.

"That's brilliant," said a very enthusiastic Parishka. "It's just a matter of how long the systems will last with the forced overload."

Tex began using his cybernetic systems to run the necessary calculations, "If we properly calculate the engine power necessary to reach escape velocity, and balance it with the power for the SIF generators to make it last long enough to get rescued without blowing out the environmental systems in the process. However I estimate only a 19% chance of survival."

"I'd like to point out that if we stay on a sinking ship, we have a 0% chance of survival," said a slightly pissed Sasha.

"That's a good point," admitted Tex.

"Okay, where should we begin, sir? Blacky?" Sasha looked around realizing that her captain had gone running down the corridor. "Okay, shi is either beginning the work without us or shi's enacting hir own plan." Sasha began pursuing her captain followed by Parishka and Tex.

When they finally caught up, Tex asked, "What are you up to?"

"Saving our collective asses," said Blackstar, acting like it was something shi did on a daily basis. "The lifepod plan would work, but the additional equipment will reduce the crew capacity to maybe one Terran-sized biped. If Sasha curls up into a ball she might be able to escape. Not only that, but even if we could fit inside the refitted pods, we wouldn't have enough time to launch them before we got too low for the escape to work. If you feel like saving just Sasha, feel free, but I got an idea to save all four of us and this ship."

"How do you plan to do that?" asked Parishka.

"I plan on flying this ship out of here," said Blackstar.

"Once again I ask: how do you plan to do that?" asked Parishka.

"I'm going to blow it up," explained Blackstar.

Parishka's and Sasha's faces were a combination of worry and confusion. If Tex's face had been visible, it would have been a wide open grin. Instead he just nodded and gave two thumbs up. "Is this going to be like the Russian job?"

When Blackstar's nod confirmed this. Parishka visibly deflated, "I'm gonna get frostbite again aren't I?"

Blackstar shook hir head. "I didn't mean exactly like the Russian job you freak."


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8-Ball was still arguing with Layla to go back for Blackstar when the Midnight Star breached the upper atmosphere of the planet. The argument was stalled by the sight of the Mystic facing off with a Star Fleet ship. Layla zoomed a section of the viewscreen on a section of the Star Fleet vessel's saucer section. The name and hull number was FSS Los Angeles NCC-2525. Technical data was displayed to the right side of the picture and from what 8-Ball could tell, the Mystic was no match for the Los Angeles.

"What's the situation Layla?" asked 8-Ball, who seemed to assume command in Blackstar's absence.

Layla's pissed-off voice came through, "Do I look like I know? I'm a computer entity, not an all-knowing deity!"

"Well I thought you might be monitoring their communications and have some idea of what's going on, so you prevent us from doing something that could worsen the situation," explained 8-Ball.

A subdued Layla said, "Oh, sorry. I'm just a little upset about leaving Blackstar behind."

"Don't worry. Shi's a big herm and I have no doubt shi'll find a way home," said 8-Ball. "We can't let that distract us though. We must focus on the problem right in front of our faces. Now what's going on out there?"

Layla, who had been monitoring the situation since 8-Ball suggested it, explained it as best she could, "Nightrose says that the Los Angeles fired on a Blitz Team vessel. The Los Angeles' captain claims that she's interfering with a Star Fleet operation. She says that the StarSword belonged to us according to salvage rights as dictated by interplanetary laws. He says he's just following orders. They're now going back and forth about the legalities and I estimate that it's only a matter of time before they fire on each wait. The Los Angeles is targeting us now. They think we have classified material. They are demanding we surrender our entire computer core to them."

"Open a channel," ordered 8-Ball. "This is 8-Ball of the Blitz team. Please explain why you're targeting us."

A 'window' opened up showing the Los Angeles' captain, a wolf morph. "This is Captain Traven of the FSS Los Angeles. My orders are to prevent any information from the derelict ship from falling into the wrong hands. Even if it means destroying the Blitz team."

8-Ball struck what she hoped was a heroic pose and began a small speech of her own. "Any attack will force us to defend ourselves, and most likely result in your destruction. Seeing as you'd be guilty of both unprovoked assault and attempted piracy and we're outside of your jurisdiction, we don't have to worry about legal retribution from I'm sorry who gave your orders?"

"Admiral V'Les," answered Captain Traven. 8-Ball's and Nightrose's jaws dropped simultaneously. "Do you know her?"

Nightrose answered, "She's normally the person we have contact with when Star Fleet has an assignment for us. Not to mention that she's our captain's grandmother by marriage." After muting the audio to the Los Angeles, Nightrose asked, "Speaking of which where is shi?"

Before 8-Ball or anyone else could reply, Serge reported a massive explosion in the planet's atmosphere. Nightrose sighed and said, "Never mind. I have a pretty good idea." The explosion actually reached the highest point of the atmosphere. As the explosive fireworks died down, a form began to appear. It was a charred, but otherwise virtually undamaged Starsword. Nightrose opened a channel to the StarSword, acting as pissed off as possible. "What do you think you're doing?

Blacky appeared on the channel. "I can tell you what I wasn't doing. I sure wasn't recreating the coolest scene from Dukes of Hazzard ever on a ship-sized scale."

"You know what? I don't even care right now. I'm just happy you're okay," said Nightrose.

Blackstar smiled. "So what did I miss, luv?" Nightrose didn't get a chance to answer as 8-Ball started waving her arms. "Hold that thought. I think 8-Ball wants to answer. Go ahead 8-Ball."

"Thanks Silverbolt." 8-Ball cleared her throat and began explaining, "Traven and his Los Angeles are here by V'Les' orders to destroy the StarSword and any information from it, including that aboard the Midnight Star's database. I'm assuming this is to prevent any information on the Time Matrix's location from falling into the wrong hands. Traven also seems to be by the book on this one and won't give us an inch."

"Don't worry," said Blackstar, "I can be very persuasive. I'm opening a channel to the L.A."

Captain Traven's face was a cross between bewilderment and horror when he saw Blackstar's face appear on his viewscreen. He began yelling orders at his helmsman, "Get us out of here. Full speed. Everything we can afford to shunt into warp engines, see that it's used. Go, go, go!" He then cut all communication and his ship escaped at warp speed in the direction of the nearest Starbase.

Blackstar shrugged and said, "I know I'm good, but that has got to be a record." Under Nightrose's intense stare, Blackstar added, "He's paying me back a favor by running off so quickly. I helped him with a terrorist situation a while back. Between the time I left the academy and the time we teamed up."

"Whatever," said Nightrose, "just get your big butt over here before I drag you over here."


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Nightrose welcomed Blackstar home with a big kiss, while Snowfall settled for a hug. There was more than a little confusion with the new, younger Parishka. By the end of the night, she was talking about some of Blackstar's adventures with her. Sasha and Nightrose both were being cautious around Parishka while Snowfall tried to avoid her altogether. Tex on the other hand was accepted by the crew almost immediately. Tex's bizarre personality seemed to be par for the course on the Blitz Team.

That night in the Café, Blackstar was explaining to hir mate how shi was part of the StarSword's original mission crew but escaped before the battle. "You see after a number of needle shots passed through me, not only was I poisoned, I had enough holes in me that I'd look like one of those cartoon characters who drinks water and then have it leak all over the place." Nightrose giggled a bit. "Since we had limited medical resources, I was put into stasis and Vega took me back to Earth. The one thing that sucked was that the poison was unusual and there wasn't a cure for it at the time. I was in stasis for twenty years until they found a cure. I bummed around for a while, eventually landing up at the academy. You know what happened after that. It's crazy. I lost Vega during that time. She changed too much during those twenty years. Then I found out my team was still alive. Amazing, how I have gone through so much in twenty years or so of my life when others don't have this much excitement in 150 years. I wonder if I'll ever have a normal life."

Nightrose shook hir head, "No."

Blackstar was surprised when Nightrose was so definite about her answer. "Just what do you mean by that?"

"Simple," said Nightrose. "It's that you attract 'excitement'. Wherever you go trouble will follow. How did Vega put it? Ah, yes. 'Hir aura is strong, and like a magnet it attracts other powerful auras and like a magnet they are opposite of hir.' But that doesn't mean they're all bad. After all it got you me. Does that make any sense?"

"Trust me, if Vega hangs around long enough, you'll get used to it. Or have a psychotic episode in a month."

Blackstar and Nightrose were eating dinner when they were approached by Dr. Oliver just after Tex delivered a decent joke that made the crew that was listening laugh, and handed Blackstar a PADD. "I'm happy to inform you that Nightrose no longer needs regular medical attention. You have a very resilient mate. I hope you don't mind but I was looking through the EMH's medical records, out of boredom, and I noticed that you left before the EMH gave you the full report."

"What do you mean?" asked Blackstar "She gave me a clean bill of health. End of story. Right?"

Dr. Oliver bit his lip. "That's not the end. In fact it might only be the beginning. Tell me Captain, when was your last heat?"

"That's a bit personal," said Blackstar. "Why?"

"Think about it," said Dr. Oliver.

Blackstar was silent for a moment. Shi counted something out on hir fingers before getting up and running out of the café. "I think we'll be in sick bay," explained Dr. Oliver.

Nightrose sighed, wondering what was so important. Nightrose had to work on surprises of her own anyway. A surprise that she knew Blackstar would both be pleased with and caught off guard at the same time.

Before Nightrose could leave, she was approached by the young Parishka. Nightrose found the similar appearance between the cutthroat old bitch and this young high-spirited doppelganger more then a little disturbing, but from their personalities, it was hard to believe they originated from the same person.

Parishka held out her hand in greeting. "Howdy. I don't think we've been properly introduced. Well, with me at least. From some of the horror stories your crewmates have told me, y'all got too familiar with my clones. I'm Parishka the Original. And with luck someday I'll be the only one again."

Unsure what to do Nightrose, shook Parishka's hand. "I'm Nightrose. I'm Blackstar's partner, Denmate, and the second-in-command of the Blitz team."

Parishka laughed at Nightrose's surprised face. "I'm sorry; I guess after working with Kid for so long, some of hir straightforwardness rubbed off."

"Kid? Who's Kid?" asked Nightrose.

Parishka looked dumbfounded for a moment but quickly recovered and put on a grin. "Ya, that's what we called Blackstar before Commander Armstrong was lost. Shi was only in hir teens when shi joined up. I'm the only one gutsy enough to call hir Kid after shi took command. I won't call hir by commander until shi starts swearing like one."

"I see," said Nightrose, which was only half-true. "So could you tell me more about my mate's old antics."

Parishka tilted her head in confusion. "I would think shi would've told y'all about it."

So did I, thought Nightrose. "I didn't even know you worked with hir before shi pulled you off the StarSword. I didn't know about Vega until we picked hir up on Terra. You know more about hir then I do."

Parishka shook her head. "Not likely. Like how you got hir to not only mate, but mate a crewmember."

"Ah, the old don't screw the crew rule," quoted Nightrose. As a general rule most people tried to avoid having intimate relationships with fellow crewmembers as it often clouded judgment and created unnecessary drama. However Nightrose knew from spending so much time with Blackstar that Chakats rarely followed this rule due to their tough heats and ruts, but their nature also led them to be less susceptible to the drama that too often afflicted other species associated with such a personal affiliation.

Nightrose thought about why Blackstar agreed to be her mate, but she couldn't really come up with a reason why shi changed hir mind on the rule. "I can't think of why shi broke the old rule, but if I know who could answer the question of mating, I'd have to refer you to hir first Denmate, Sly Wacoon. I've never actually met him though."

Her eyes widening, Parishka asked, "Shi has another denmate? Wow. Shi's really growing up."

"Wouldn't shi be considered grown-up when shi started blowing up pirates?"

Parishka shrugged. "Well, doesn't everyone do that as a kid?" Nightrose shook her head no. Parishka feigned surprise. "Really? I thought that was part of growing up, like learning to read, having the cub of your best friend's dad, stealing a starship or stabbing your parents."

Finding the last part hard to believe, Nightrose asked, "Are you making some of this up?"

Parishka nodded. "Of course." Nightrose breathed a small sigh of relief. The Wolftaur then added, "I never learned how to read." Nightrose rolled her eyes in response. "I'm kidding. I didn't make any of it up," explained Parishka.

"How much have you been drinking?"

"Nah, drinking is too old school. I have alcohol injected right into my blood stream."

Nightrose groaned because she could tell that this was quickly turning into a difficult conversation. "So, Parishka, why don't you tell me more about my mate. Despite having known hir for a year or two, I hardly know anything about hir past, and shi barely mentions it, even when it's staring us in the face."

"So shi still tries to avoid hir past like talking about the Yankees in Boston," stated Parishka. At Nightrose's quizzical look, Parishka explained, "Rival baseball teams. Even after the curse was lifted."

"Curses?" asked Nightrose. "You don't believe in those do you?"

Parishka nodded. "That's how Tex got stuck in that suit. He was cursed to neither be truly living or dead for twenty years. When he was badly injured, he fused his neural synapses to the neural relays in the suit to support his higher brain functions. They can repair the suit, but even if they wanted too they can't separate his neural net from the suit. He can't physically feel anything, but he can't die either. The suit's most protected system is the neural net to prevent injury feedback to the user. Ironically, fusing of the neural synapses is one of the things it was supposed to protect against. Somehow Tex was shot, disabled the safeties and rewrote the codes to fuse his neural net all in under thirty seconds."

Nightrose followed along, learning more about the unusual armored man who did the impossible. Disabling the safeties on a priority system like that should have been near impossible, much less been done in under thirty seconds. "I don't think that's possible, even if he knew the codes by heart."

"That's what I'm saying," said Parishka. "I've known Tex for a good five years, and he's not that smart. And we checked the damage to his armor, and its records of the battle. There is no way the damage done to it could cause the safety to fail."

"I see, and you think the curse is at fault," Nightrose concluded. She wasn't totally convinced, but she did enjoy learning more about a potential crewmate. "I don't suppose you know anything that crazy about my mate, now do ya?"

"Well let me think. Did shi tell you about hir pirating days?" asked Parishka. Nightrose shook her head, partially to signal no, and partially out of disbelief. "It's not as bad as it sounds," said Parishka. "They only pirated from pirates. But Star Fleet still saw it as piracy and hired a freelancer to hunt hir down. That freelancer turned out to be none other then Stareye, Blacky's father. That's when they started their little feud. Even though Blackstar and hir crew were doing good, they were still hunted down. Of course that was before I met hir. Before the ship itself was finally caught, they mutinied and put Blacky in the brig."

"Now Nightrose, you need to understand something. Shi was able to escape from the ship's brig and make it to Quenxel. The station in orbit rescued hir, and shi claimed to have escaped from pirates after being held hostage. They bought it, and has been waiting to get revenge on the traitorous first mate that betrayed hir."

Nightrose who was fully engaged in the story asked, "Who was this first mate of hirs?"

"A Rakshani known as Jakkan na Borenth sa Larenne. He was relatively young, so he'd still be alive, so Blackstar has been keeping an eye out for him ever since," explained Parishka. "The really sad thing is that the last time shi had a chance to kill him, Blackstar couldn't without risking the lives of over a hundred innocent civilians."

Nightrose gave Parishka a skeptical look and asked, "How much of this are you making up?"

"None of it."

"How much did Blackstar make up?"

"About 90% of it," said Parishka, "and shi borrowed most of it from a movie shi saw a while back. But if you see Jakkan, don't tell Blackstar."

"So that's part of the 10% that true. But other than the usual moral reasons, why would I want to stop my mate from getting revenge?"

"Jakkan has kids. That's what really stopped Blackstar last time. His daughter, who was like four or five years old, was looking on. I guess she'd be an adult by now. Her name was like Sassy or Sala or something."

"Come to think of it, that name sounds familiar," said Nightrose, "I'm almost certain I've heard it before."


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Meanwhile down in the bowels of the Mystic's corridors, Blackstar was making hir way to the team garage where they kept a pool of vehicles ranging from old cars with internal combustion engines to PTVs to the tank they recovered from the StarSword. Shi was so engrossed in the information on hir PADD that shi didn't notice a brief breeze, something unnatural on a starship, or the shadowy figure appearing behind hir. Blackstar had no idea what was happening as hir muzzle was clamped shut by a strong hand and shi was whisked away in a transporter beam. A firm and familiar voice said, "Don't scream."


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The two-tailed Quenxelian fox morph nicknamed Tails, had hoped for a lot more action for this 'training' mission. Outside of a few simple patrols, he had done damage control and now was stuck watching some guys in a brig. The only bright side was that it was a slacker job where he basically did whatever he wanted on the computer. He was actually so bored he was watching a soap opera, when he came to full alertness by a loud hissing sound. He was looking around for the source when one of the prisoners, a wolf, asked, "What's that on your neck?"

"Is it a spider?"

A fox in the same cell said, "No, it's blue."

"A blue spider? Get it off." Tails was deathly afraid of spiders.

The wolf said, "No, it's like a pulsing blue fuzzy thing. And we can't, we're behind a force field."

"Is it danger " Tails was interrupted by an explosion from the blue thing.

The prisoners, who had all ducked or hid as best they could from the explosion, cautiously approached where the barrier had been. One reached out past the field, confirming that the force field barrier was gone. The clone of Parishka walked out of her cell and looked over Tails' body. She shrugged, "Nothing personal." The clone turned to the other prisoners and said, "Everything is going according to plan. Team Alpha secures the bridge, Team Beta will take the hanger, and I will lead Team Delta to the engine room. Let's move out people."




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Continued in Episode 6.

Story and Characters are copyright of Alex Wiegerling unless otherwise stated.

Chakat universe is copyright of Bernard Doove.

The Quange were created by Roy D. Pounds II.

Skunktaurs are copyright Bob Reijns.

Sly Wacoon is used with the permission of his player.

If I've managed to step on anyone else's toes (or paws, claws, tails, or other various appendages) let me know

[Blackstar the Chakat]

Fresh off the presses so to speak. Not even on the Chakat's Den. You boys get the advanced copy. Please comment on the story, good, bad, anything inbetween.

Adventures of Blackstar
Chapter Six: Here we go again
By: Chakat Blackstar

Blackstar looked out at the city skyline from balcony a good twenty stories up. Hir nose sniffed at the night air of the alien planet. It was moments like this that Blackstar loved, not worrying about fighting or defending some convoy, but just watching the glowing city below and smelling the unknown scents in the air. For that moment shi was in total bliss. Just as quickly shi was brought out of it by a noise coming up from behind hir. Shi knew exactly what was about to happen when someone wrapped their arms around hir upper torso, and when a voice asked, "why are you still up?"
Blackstar sighed worried about telling the man who held hir the whole truth. Shi looked back at the Red Panda "I just have a lot on my mind. While I'm sure it would fit in yours given its lack of use I'm still trying to come to terms with it."
The Red Panda laughed, "I'm your denmate, evil genius, hot stud, and your mate. What can't you tell me?"
"I'm pregnant."
Sly looked around and asked, "who exactly? I know you mated with Nightrose, but I thought you said that we would tell each other before we mated with someone else."
"I didn't mate with anyone else," said Blackstar, "you're the father." Hir ears picked up a large thud behind hir. "I know how you feel."
* * *

"You know Sly, I thought this was supposed to be relaxing," teased Blackstar. Finally having a moment to rest shi took a look around the abandoned alley. Shi and Sly had just barely avoided a group of gunman who had burst into their room.
"I thought you freelancers enjoyed a little excitement," said Sly.
"Well, that doesn't include getting shot at," stated Blackstar. "We need to get off this planet before we get killed. We should head for the spaceport."
"What did they want anyway?" asked Sly.
"Clearly they wanted one of us dead," said Blackstar.
Sly was silent for a moment, until he realized his mate was staring at him. "I swear I haven't done anything to anybody-" A spray of bullets just barely cleared their heads. "-lately." Blackstar pulled a hand pistol out from hir vest and shot a single bullet at the enemy. Sly watched as a body fell limp from a roof-top. "Is he dead?"
Blackstar watched as the body fell to the sidewalk below. "Well, if the bullet didn't kill him, the fall sure did." Blackstar shrugged and walked towards the spaceport where hir ship was parked.
Sly, who hadn't seen the more callous battle-side of his mate began following hir in silence. He stopped when he heard a moan from where the guy had fallen. "I think the guy is still moving."
A voice came from that direction saying, "No I'm not. I'm dead. Leave me alone." This did not deter Blackstar from approaching the limp form. "Would it help if I said it wasn't personal?"
Blackstar stepped on the masked figure's back. He was a human judging by the fact that the skin showing in between the sleeve and gloved hands was not covered in fur. Shi dug hir claws into the man's back, which only helped hir realize he no longer had feeling there. "It helps a little. Now who are you working for?"
"I don't know. Some old Rakshani guy. Now, could you call an ambulance?"
"Thank you for your help," said Blackstar, "but I'm afraid not."
"Are we just going to leave him here?" asked Sly.
"Of coarse not," said Blackstar, "I want to see what else he can survive. Got an anvil?"
"That's so cliché."
Blackstar nodded, "you're right. We need a road roller. I've always wanted to see if they go flat like in the cartoons."
***
Vega was engrossed in the schematics on her PADD that displayed the repairs needed on the Mystic and wasn't paying attention when a phaser shot missed her neck by less then a millimeter, actually singeing her fur. She responded quickly by throwing the PADD and striking the wolf that fired right in between his eyes. While he was dazed she kneed him in the crotch. While the Wolf was doubled over Vega grabbed him and shoved him into the bulkhead, knocking him out cold.
When Vega's instincts gave her self-control back she realized what happened she tapped her comm. badge. "Vega to the Bridge, security alert! At least one prisoner escaped from the brig."
Nightrose answered, "This is the bridge. We've confirmed that the brig has been broken out of. Miles Prower was in critical condition, and not likely to survive more then an hour or two. Report to engineering, we need someone with some combat experience down there. Sky's never been in a firefight."
"Roger that. I'm on my way."
* * *

Sly was standing next to his mate who was sitting in the Midnight Star's pilot chair, when he leaned towards hir ear and asked, "just where did you find the road roller? Seriously, now.
Blackstar shrugged, "just be satisfied that I didn't run him over." Shi was busy fiddling with the ship's radio, but was getting frustrated.
No matter what Blackstar tried shi couldn't raise the Mystic on any communication channels. Given the fact that the Mystic's communication array was state-of-the-art and brand-new there was no way shi shouldn't be able to contact it. It had even been customized for the Maelstrom's unique environment. The only reason shi wouldn't be able to reach it would be that it wasn't transmitting, something impossible under normal circumstances. All the worst possible scenarios were running through hir head. "Layla, keep trying to raise anyone on the Blitz team. Maybe they've split up or something and we might reach a fighter or a shuttle."
"Or an escape pod?" suggested Layla.
Blackstar glared at the position where shi knew there was a camera, hoping Layla would get the point. "That isn't helpful. Get me the watchtower. We're taking off ASAP."
Sly put his hand over Blackstar's. "Hey, you trained them. I'm sure they'll be alright."
"My worst enemy and her cronies are in my brig and there's still an unknown spy in my crew. And half of my crew was rejected by a Star Fleet Captain who quote, 'wouldn't trust this group of retards with a potato gun'."
"Perhaps we should return to EVIL HQ. You'd be a lot safer there." Blackstar glared at Sly for a solid minute before Sly sighed and said, "Somehow it seems like you're less then thrilled with that idea." Blackstar nodded. "We're going to go make sure your crew's okay?" Blackstar gave a tilted nod. "And to make sure Nightrose is okay."
"It's almost like you're psychic," said Blackstar. Shi kept talking as shi began the pre-launch sequence. "I've invested too much of my time and money to let them die without fighting for them. I had to survive Sasha's attempts to assassinate me, Serge's 'accidents' in the engine room, and Trip's anger issues to start the team. Besides, I'm hoping the Mystic will pay-off before it's destroyed. So you gonna help?"
Sly shook his head. "Of coarse I'll help, it's just that I don't know how much help EVIL will be. The Federation hasn't exactly liked us since the Prophecy Incident."
"To be fair they were trying to kill us at that time. One of the few times you were totally justified in my opinion." Blackstar began taking off once they had received clearance.
"Well that's the only one I care about right now," said Sly. "Speaking of old times, heard anything from Silverfox, Rainbow or Turk?"
Blackstar shook hir head, "no. I've only kept up with Rainy on the net. Turk is MIA, but I'm betting he's hanging out with Alteijra on her homeworld. I swear they're like a pair of rabbits on Viagra. That reminds me, I need to talk to Rainbow about adjusting the Angel-Guard control systems."
"I noticed the Midnight Star's alterations. You fitted the bridge some parts from the Angel-Guard hunter shi gave you and grafted them to the Midnight Star's systems," said Sly. Sly was hoping to provide some distraction from hir crew's disappearance.
A small smile appeared on Blackstar's face, at what Sly was trying to do. Hir empathic abilities let hir see right through the attempt, but it was the thought that counted. "You're correct. The last bridge was heavily damaged. Long story short: Layla rammed the bow into a building to save me after I got trapped while saving a cub. A Chakat Shadowcrest I believe. That's the incident that cost me my left arm, and some of the original controls. The new systems can occasionally short out, resulting in a really bad headache." Sly frowned a little, he rarely thought about hir artificial appendage. It was so well blended in with hir natural body that Sly didn't even know where the replacement ended and Blackstar began.
Changing the subject Sly asked, "just where is the Time Matrix anyway? I know from experience that you aren't actually hiding it in your sheath."
Blackstar's glowed and hir voice went deep as shi said, "I am the Matrix."
Sly's eyes went wide, "really?"
"No," Blackstar said with a smile, "I'm just screwing with you."
"How did you do the eye glowing thing?"
Blackstar shrugged, "don't know. It's just one of those things I can do on command, but I don't know how I do it."
The Midnight Star left the planet's upper atmosphere and was in now in high orbit. "Now I'm about to say something that I always wanted to. I've got a need, a need for speed!" On cue the Midnight Star activated its Slipstream drive. With Blackstar at the helm it was only minutes before the ship reached Quenxel. A quick scan revealed that the Mystic was no where in the area. With out a word the ship reentered Slipstream going along the course that the Mystic was supposed to take. It wasn't long before the Midnight Star returned to normal space again, this time right in front of the Mystic's bow. "That was almost too close."
"My bodyguards aren't going to be happy about this," said Sly. "Anything on the coms?
Blackstar frowned, troubled by the sensor readings. "No. The ship is in anti-invasion mode. All docking ports and the landing bays are locked down, transport scramblers will make transporting messy, and any type of interface will result in the automatic attempt to take over our computer."
"And this is one computer who might die from a hack," said Layla. "And the drill on the assault pole is still damaged from pulling out too quickly. Wait. That sounded wrong." Blackstar let out a half-grin and Layla's poor sense of humor.
Blackstar began thinking hard about hir options. Shi clasped hir hands and positioned hir thumb and pointer finger in a rubber-band gun shape. Shi always did that when thinking hard about a problem. "Can't get through the ports, can't take them over, and can't punch a hole in them. But if we can't get through the defenses we need to get around them." A smile crossed hir face. "It could work. It has to work. Layla, is the RX4000 on board?"
"Of course. Why? There's no way that could penetrate the hull," warned Layla.
Blackstar leapt from the pilot seat and ran to the Midnight Star's weapon storage. Sly waited outside the door, until Blackstar walked out wearing the RX4000 assault unit. Its primary weapon was a machine gun with a 'replay' button. It also included several oldies but goodies: RPG launcher, trident, net, flamethrower, along with an ice gun. It had also been upgraded with a force field projector by Sky to increase its durability. The downside to the heavy weapon system was that it could only be mounted on vehicles or strong taurs.
Sly nodded in approval; after all it was he who gave the RX4000 to Blackstar in the first place. In fact it was when he made the measurements for the system that the two had first mated. And according to the scans that Dr. Oliver analized, when they first conceived as well. Blackstar shared this fact with Sly, wondering how they conceived before he began his experiments to make him compatible. "Any theory's on how we conceived?"
Sly shrugged, not being too sure himself. "It's possible one of my previous experiments may have an unintended side effect on me that made me compatible with Chakats. Or maybe there is Chakat-kin DNA mixed in you somewhere and you have some of their adaptability. After all, you are pretty unusual for a Chakat. The most violent one I know, not to mention a few other things."
"Oh, sure make this my fault," teased Blackstar. "Well whatever the case, we have a bigger problem. The Mystic is clearly in trouble and I've got to help."
"Great," said Sly, "but how are we going to board it?"
Blackstar gave a mischievous grin, grabbed Sly's hand and the hallway on the Midnight Star was replaced by one of the Mystic's cargo bays. A quick glace showed that Nightrose, Trip, Rys, Dr. Oliver, and 8-Ball had all been captured and being held by a pair of wolf guards, both armed with machine guns. Everyone except Blackstar was totally bewildered by the sudden appearance of Sly and a Chakat who was armed to the teeth.
A guard raised his machine gun and asked, "who the hell are you? How the hell did you get in here?"
"Me? I'm your worst nightmare." Blackstar unleashed a fury of shells killing both guards before they got off a shot. Blackstar bit hir lip for a moment, holding back any tears. Shi hated killing someone without giving them a chance, but when it came to hir mates and crew Blackstar never regretted it. Shi just wished there was another way.
Blackstar took control of hir emotions and gave hir signature smile to the now freed crewman. "Can't I leave you guys alone for more then half a day without you guys getting into trouble?"
Nightrose leaped on Blackstar and gave hir a tight hug. "I'm so happy you're here. I knew you would save us." It was a minute into the hug that Nightrose noticed Sly. "Who is he?"
Blackstar was really nervous about the two meeting for the first time. Mostly because Sly had a tendency to be jealous and was in many ways the opposite of Nightrose. "Oh, right. Nightrose meet Sly Wacoon. Sly this is Nightrose. I guess you're co-mates."
Sly shook Nightrose's hand, "It's nice to meet you."
"Likewise," said Nightrose. "So how did the two of you get here?"
"Well," said Blackstar, "I have limited Teleporter abilities, so I just used my empathy to lock-on you and I teleported here. First time I've aimed and landed right where I wanted to."
"That was Teleportation?" asked Sly. "Somehow I was expecting something more. So how did it get past the inhibitors?"
Blackstar shrugged, "beats me. Teleportation is very different from transporters. They work on a totally different level. They're like apples and oranges. If you came up with a drug to make it impossible for you to taste an apple, it would have no effect on the taste of oranges."
"I like oranges," said Sly.
Not quite sure what else to say Blackstar said, "me too."
"I hope you fight better then your mate pays attention," said Rys.
Blackstar nodded, "when it comes to protecting my family, friends, crew, and ship, I'm unstoppable."
"And what makes you so confident?" asked Rys.
"I'm the infamous Captain Blackstar. Saavy? Now what's the situation?"
8-Ball, who had become the unofficial explainer on the team, began, "well, Parishka has control of the Bridge, the main engineering room, and the hanger bay, but she hasn't restored main power. The rest of the crew is being held in cargo bay two. And Prower was killed during evil Parishka's escape by one of our own sticky grenades."
"Sticky grenades? Wait that Kitsune is dead? Oh, man! I actually liked him." Blackstar was only a little surprised that one of their own grenades had been used. Given some of the events occurring over the past month shi had suspected a spy on board. The 'sticky' grenades were the brainchild of the Blitz team's own chief engineer, Sky. When thrown they covered themselves in an adhesive, a useful feature for taking out moving vehicles without having to throw the grenade through the window or use an unwieldy shoulder-mounted missile launcher. They had also produced interesting results in anti-personnel usage.
Blackstar walked over to the wall mounted console in the cargo bay and began typing in the anti-invasion protocols override codes. Shi then activated the com unit mounted in hir arm, "Layla, begin taking back computer control. And bring up a diagram of the ship with the locations of all personnel. Blitz team and allies in blue, and invasion forces in red." Blackstar was confused when nine red blips appeared on screen. With two wolves dead there should have only been eight. Shi did a quick count of the blue blips and found all hir crew accounted for.
A switch to the security scanners in the hanger confirmed that both badgers and a wolf had secured the hanger deck. "I wonder how long they can hold their breath," Blackstar mused out loud. A few taps on the console and the main door of the hanger began opening. The badgers and wolf in the hanger never stood a chance as the sudden rush of air forced them out into the airlessness of space. A quick scan of the engineering section showed that only a Caitian male occupied it at that time. Blackstar opened the aft section of engineering, something normally reserved for ejecting the ship's unique warp core, sending the Caitian into space. Both the hanger and engineering were then sealed up again and re-pressurized. However cargo bay two had half the crew in it and Blackstar wouldn't sacrifice them for such a small gain.
Before Blackstar could order the crew in this cargo bay to start moving the two blips in cargo bay two disappeared. A quick look through a security cam showed that both wolves were dead. One had a broken neck, the other massive head trauma. Shi opened a com channel, "hey guys. Nice to see you saved me some time. Who did what?"
Serge answered, "happy to hear your voice sir. Sasha broke the neck of one wolf, and Carl busted the other wolf's head open with a kick from his hind legs. It was awesome."
In the background Carl shrugged it off, "the asshole was suggesting some stuff he was planning to do to Sasha and my sister. I did the only thing a brother could. But I can't use my hands, what else would I cook with?"
Blackstar noticed Sly whispering something to Rys and Dr. Oliver. Blackstar was certain hir mate was commenting on how he was sure Carl only really needed his right hand. Diverting hir attention back to the screen Blackstar began giving orders, "Sky and Vega return to engineering. I already vented everyone not in the cargo bays or on the bridge so don't worry. Sasha will meet me, Sly, Nightrose, and Trip on the bridge. I found an anomalous signal there and I want to check it out before we kill the big bad bitch herself. Everyone else, um just do what ever you normally do I guess."
Even with the heavy RX4000 unit Blackstar still managed to keep up with hir mates and sister. "Do you have a plan?" asked Nightrose.
Blackstar rolled hir eyes, "you and your plans. My plan was to use Msuaig style combat."
"Msuaig style?" asked Nightrose. She had never heard of the Msuaig style.
"Yep, making shit up as I go style!" exclaimed Blackstar.
At the entrance to the bridge Blackstar's group meet up with Sasha. When Sasha asked for a plan she got the same response. Before anyone could say anything else Blackstar ordered them to all stand back from the door as shi charged in, "It yipi-ki-ya time!"
A fox charged at Blackstar but jumped to his right, his fur being singed by the RX4000's flamethrower. Parishka quickly fired several phaser shots at Blackstar, all of which were deflected by hir personal shielding before shi shot the pistol. The fox was now standing on all fours and tried charging Blackstar only to find that the deck plating had been covered in ice. This had barely registered when a net from the RX4000 wrapped itself around him.
Blackstar looked around the bridge looking for the unknown enemy, but only found the Parishka clone standing in front of hir. Parishka reached for her holstered phaser, but her reflexes had slowed with age and Blackstar fired hir machine gun, but found that someone had knocked hir aim off just as shi fired and had missed Parishka completely. Then an impact to the side of hir head caused hir to almost black out, but as shi felt something begin to impact hir lower torso hir instincts kicked into overdrive and with near-impossible reflexes shi swatted at what was hitting hir. Hir eyes didn't see anything, but hir hand collided with something covered in fur.
Parishka tried to fire a shot, but found hir phaser infective against Blackstar's personal shielding. Sasha leaped on Parishka a second, and knocked the phaser from her hand. However the Wolftaur was somehow able to throw Sasha off of her despite hir slower reflexes.
What ever or more accurately whoever had hit Blackstar appeared briefly as a black mass of fur doing a single back flip before disappearing again. Blackstar fired the flamethrower in the general direction, and although shi couldn't see hir target shi fired hir machine gun. Hir instincts were in complete control now, and were using any hint to pinpoint hir target. A slight distortion, a movement of air, the slightest sound, was all being processed at high speed to find the enemy. Even weighted down by the RX4000 unit Blackstar still charged were shi knew the invisible enemy was.
The target moved fast as well, and was doing everything she could to avoid the enraged Chakat. Like Blackstar she was operating on instinct and wasn't thinking when she took cover behind Parishka. The old Wolftaur hadn't even realized what had happened when Blackstar's machine gun tore up hir lower body. The shock from killing Parishka finally brought Blackstar back to hir senses. Shi took a quick glance around the bridge and saw that all the starboard side consoles had been burned or shot up by the RX4000. Hir attention returned to the Parishka clone as she was whispering something.
Parishka then turned to Blackstar and said, "you might have defeated me again, but death as you know it has no power over me. Defeat is but another step to glorious victory! I will " she was cut off as Blackstar fired two shots straight into Parishka's head.
Blackstar turned to hir jaw-dropped mates and said, "I just can't stand needless drama, so I fired two warning shots."
"Into her head? Hun, there are some days when you scare me," said Sly
"Would you really love me the same if I was any different?"
Sly nuzzled his mate and whispered, "I don't want you to change a thing."
Nightrose, who was feeling left out, interrupted. "If you two could pay attention you might notice the black-furred fox girl over there." She was pointing out a small nude fox morph, hiding behind the clone's body, kneeling in a submissive manor.
Blackstar studied the fox morph for a minute. At first glance she had an obvious resemblance to a fennec fox, but Blackstar had never seen a biped fennec fox much less one with black fur. Then a reference to an old drawing popped into hir head, reminding hir of the species. "I've never seen a Bat-eared Fox morph before, much less one who knew how to fight and turn invisible."
The Bat-eared fox nodded, "I am unique. I am the last of my species. My ears hear all, and my fur hides me from all eyes. All eyes that is, except yours. You have defeated me, I am yours to do with as you please."
"Captain, what is going on exactly?" asked Sasha.
Blackstar didn't really seem to hear her. "Are you saying that whatever I ask you to do, you'd do it?" The fox nodded. "So if I order you to make your own choices and not have to obey any one other then yourself you'd do it?"
"Yes. I suppose so. But after attacking you, I expect you'll execute me. Please don't toy with me. Just get it over with." The fox closed her downcast eyes, bracing herself for death.
Blackstar looked around for a moment, looking around the damaged bridge. Nightrose showed her concern; Sasha was staring at the Bat-eared Fox and was baffled by her actions, while Sly watched everything like a concerned spectator who was uncertain what would happen. Shi then turned hir attention to the Bat-eared fox, who was still waiting for death.
Blackstar couldn't bring hirself to even truly consider killing the spy. She had been raised and trained for the purpose of spying, and possibly assassination. She had no more choice in it the Blackstar had. Shi knelt down to the spy's level. "Tell me your name."
"My designation is BSK-1."
"No formal name then?"
"Does it matter? My old name doesn't matter, the only people who know it are dead anyway. I won't reveal it to someone who's going to kill me anyway." The spy kept her eyes shut.
"Everyone dies. It's only a matter of when and how. I don't know when, but I promise you it won't be at my hand."
The Bat-eared fox looked up and was more then a little surprised when she locked eyes with Blackstar. The same eyes that only a moment ago had burned with desire for her destruction, now looked much kinder then she remembered. "But I tried to kill you and failed. I do not deserve to live."
Blackstar shook hir head a little, but kept hir eyes locked on the spy's bloodshot eyes. "You have barely begun to live. You weren't really alive. And if you aren't alive, then I can't really kill you now can I?. Now I'm ordering you to make your own choices. I'm ordering you to live."
"So I can do anything I want?" Blackstar nodded. The fox smiled, "then I want to sleep." The small fox proceeded to collapse from exhaustion.
Without hesitation Sasha grabbed a tricorder from the medical kit and began scanning the fallen fox. "She's completely exhausted. I'm no doctor but it looks like she had little sleep, and was running on adrenaline."
Blackstar grinned, "I know exactly how she feels." Blackstar undid the straps that held the RX4000 unit to hir and followed the young morph's example.
Sly leaped over to Sasha and swiped the tricorder from her hand and began scanning his mate, paying close attention to hir lower torso. He then wiped sweat from his brow in relief. "Shi's alright. And so are the cubs."
"Cubs?" asked Sasha. "Shi's pregnant?"
"Cubs?" asked Nightrose, "as in more then one?"
Sly nodded, "I'm reading six heart beats. Either shi has twins or, three hearts is a really rare recessive trait that Blackstar and hir child both have."
Nightrose hid her shock by giving out orders. Once Trip took the helm, and the Midnight Star was loaded into the hanger bay the Mystic resumed its course to Quenxel. She also had Parishka's body taken to the morgue, the captured male fox to the brig, and sent the spy and Blackstar to sickbay; just to be sure they weren't in danger. She and Sly stayed by Blackstar's side until shi awoke a few hours later.
Blackstar looked at hir two lovely mates. "I can't imagine waking up to a more beautiful sight. The cub, is shi alright?"
Sly held hir hand to calm hir down a little, "I had both the EMH and that Dr. Oliver character check you and them out. You've all gotten a clean bill of health."
It took a moment for what Sly had said to dawn on hir. "You said, 'them', as in plural. Was that just a slip of the tongue?"
"No luv. We have two beautiful and healthy cubs on the way."
Blackstar began to tear up, and embraced hir mate in a hug. Shi then saw hir other mate, Nightrose leaning against the wall, a little distant but hopeful at the same time. "Nightrose, come over here. These are your cubs too." Nightrose began to tear up as well and joined the hug. "I guess the only question now is how this happened. Sly, didn't you say it would be a while before the adaptation therapy could be tested?"
A new voice joined the conversation. "That is actually your fault Captain," said Dr. Oliver. "After some analysis I learned that you are 1/8 Chakat-kin. That was somehow enough for your eggs to be fertilized by a normally non-compatible species. It also could help explain your teleportation ability among other things."
"I never realized I was part Chakat-kin. I never did learn who it was that my grandsire mated with to produce my father, so I naturally never learned who hir parents were," explained Blackstar. "What else don't I know about myself?"
"Well you're also 1/8 foxtaur if that's of any interest," added the Doctor.
Blackstar giggled a little. "That's sure to come in handy. I wonder if I can do a DNA search to find out which village she's from."
"Does it really matter?" asked Nightrose.
"Yes," said Blackstar, "it could be useful should 8-Ball's mother decide to create a problem. It will strengthen my position should we ever have to fight her mother in the Foxtaur court room."
"Always thinking five steps ahead but never paying attention to the one in front of you."
Blackstar turned to see that the Bat-eared fox was awake. "Just what do you mean by that?"
She gave a small shrug. "I suppose an example would explain it best. You had a lot of long-term plans, or at least goals with Sly, but you never looked one step ahead to see that you're very pregnant. Even I knew it before you did."
"Well I've been busy," said Blackstar, "I've fallen from one planet to another, been shot at several time, killed my worst enemy twice, and had to retake my ship all in a relatively short amount of time. I think missing a thing or two is more then acceptable given the circumstances."
"I'm sorry," said the spy
"About what?"
"Attacking you the way that I did," said the young fox, "it wasn't right of me. I let my orders to kill you override my own personal code that normally prevents me from putting a child, even an unborn one in danger." A tear rolled down her cheek.
Blackstar got up and walked up to the vixen, put a hand on her shoulder and said, "what you did was forced on you by orders from the clone Parishka. You can't be held responsible for those actions. Now what are you going to do now that you're free? Personally I would recommend getting a proper name first."
"Well, I never thought of naming myself. And it wouldn't be proper to use my old name seeing as I'm a different person now." The fox shrugged, "I wouldn't know where to begin."
Nightrose stepped up, "Well, you could do like what the Chakats do and come up with a descriptive name. What are some of your traits?"
Dr. Oliver stepped into the recovery room and asked, "Didn't she try to kill you? First of all what makes you think she won't try again, and secondly what are we going to do with her now that she's here?"
"It's up to her," said Blackstar, "she's free now and she can do what ever she wants to do."
"And what is that exactly?"
The fox raised her head up for the first time since her former mistress died. "I'd like to stay on board. Life on this ship is all I know. Only from an observational view, but I'd like to be a part of the crew."
"Are you sure that's not from some sense of obligation to us freeing you?" asked Blackstar.
The fox shook her head, "it just that it's all I know. Like why you wanted to fight pirates. You were raised fighting off pirate boarding parties on a regular basis. I know this ship and crew as well as you do. I'd like to try."
Blackstar looked at the nude vixen giving it some serious thought. Shi may have a professional counselor take a look at this vixen's psyche to make sure there wasn't something more sinister or forced going on. However the fox had made an interesting argument and had tried to kill hir, joining the ranks of the many crew members who had done so on occasion. "So just what name should I add to our crew roster?"
The former spy thought about it for a moment. "I suppose Sonar will work until I come up with a more appropriate name. It suits my unique abilities."
"Just how good are those abilities?" asked Blackstar.
"I can see better with my ears then my eyes," said Sonar. "Does that give you a clue?"
Blackstar laughed a little, "that's good. I'll assign you quarters, then we can teach you a job on the ship."
Sonar smiled and said, "I actually know all bridge functions, although you'll probably have to replace the bridge module considering how much damage it took. I can also help with security, to make sure that the holes that let me through are covered up."
"But first you both will go to bed," said Dr. Oliver, "before you two do anything else. Both of you are tired from running on adrenaline. Blackstar has two cubs to worry about and Sonar is drained most of her energy from being 'cloaked' during her fight with Blackstar."
"You're right Doc, I'm exhausted. I'll try to get some sleep," said Blackstar.
"Awww, but he said go to bed, he didn't say anything about sleep," said Sly.
Blackstar ruffled Sly's hair, "don't worry. There'll be more time for that later. I'm very exhausted right now and we got our cubs to think about."
Nightrose put her hands on her hips and grinned, "I'm impressed. All go, no stop, freelancer Blackstar is going to stop? You're growing up so fast."
Blackstar rolled hir eyes. "Nightrose get Sonar a room and see that she's settled in. Sly, I'll show you to the quarters Nightrose and I have been using." Blackstar led Sly out of the room.
Nightrose looked over the nude Bat-eared fox before saying, "follow me."
Sonar leaped from the bio-bed, landing almost cat-like on the ground. Walking digitigrade she was near silent as she followed Nightrose. Now that she wasn't trying to hide from the crew Sonar felt completely exposed, but felt comfortable as well. "Nightrose, I was wondering if you could answer something for me."
"Well, seeing as my mate seems to trust you, I'll try to answer as best I can," said Nightrose.
Sonar gave a single nod. "It's not much really. Something I'm sure I'd eventually get anyway."
"What is it?" asked an increasingly annoyed Nightrose. Sonar 'eeped' at Nightrose's sterner tone and reflexively cloaked herself. "Sonar?! Where are you?"
"I'm still here," said Sonar's disembodied voice, "it's a reflex. I'm going to have to learn how to control that." Sonar breathed slowly trying to regain control of her emotions and slowly faded back in. "Sorry about that. Now, about the 'extra' stuff, it's not so much money, but...how do I phrase this?" Sonar didn't want to say it in a way that offended Nightrose. "I was hoping you'd be willing to consider me a friend?" Nightrose was taken aback a little. She didn't trust this little Bat-eared Fox, yet she was asking to be her friend. "After spying on the crew for so long, and knowing way more then anyone should about most of them, and having lived a pretty secluded life it'll be hard for me to make a friend. I also noticed you're fairly distant from everyone except Snowfall, who isn't really part of the permanent crew."
Nightrose was torn between hitting Sonar or hugging her. Sonar was right about Nightrose not being close to the crew, which made Nightrose want to rip the invisible girl a new one. On the other hand she did seem fairly innocent, other then the whole spying thing. Nightrose debated it for a minute before answering. "I will try to be your friend but you have to understand it's not something that can happen overnight."
Nightrose was nearly toppled as the now opaque fox hugtackled her, wrapping her legs and arms in a hug. Nightrose found her muzzle in one of Sonar's ears. Trying to whisper so that Sonar's eardrums didn't rupture Nightrose said, "we're not friends yet."
Then Nightrose found herself embarrassed as the Quange cook, Carl turned a corner and spotted Nightrose being embraced by a black fox that he didn't recognize. He looked from Nightrose, to Sonar, then back to Nightrose, before he finally said, "you know a week ago, this would have seemed really weird to me." He then continued down the corridor as if nothing out of the ordinary was going on.
Sonar eventually let go of Nightrose and followed the Caitian down the hall, skipping as she went. Nightrose showed Sonar around the quarters, and showed her how to activate the door's locking mechanism and use the replicator and computer. As Nightrose began to leave Sonar gave her a salute and said, "don't worry I won't let you down."
Nightrose shook her head at the girl's spunk. She returned to the quarters she shared with Blackstar, and for the time being Sly Wacoon. Nightrose wondered if her sister had to deal with anything like this with her unusual co-mates. In her quarters she found Blackstar and Sly chatting away, catching up on everything they had missed. When the two had taken a break from catching up Nightrose asked, "what exactly happened when Sly 'katnapped' you the other night?"
Blackstar shrugged it off. "Just the usual stuff, making love, making huge explosions, making Sly wear a dress."
"You said you wouldn't tell!" said Sly.
"I didn't know that meant Nightrose. Honestly this time," said Blackstar. Shi would occasionally forget things like that on purpose, just to tease hir mate. This time shi had honestly not thought of that, shi didn't think not to tell Nightrose a secret. "Anyway, nothing out of the ordinary."
"And what about the explosions?" asked Nightrose.
"It was chili night at the restaurant," Blackstar said flippantly. Nightrose wasn't sure if shi was actually telling the truth or if shi was making it up. "Anyway, I was thinking of taking some time off. Sly was thinking I should take a few months off until the cubs are born. Or at least take a romantic vacation with him for a while. I'm thinking a week tops."
"I see," said Nightrose, "if you two need a vacation with each other I'm fine with that. It'll take a while to repair the Mystic anyway, and for the Midnight Star's new drill to come in. I'll try and keep the crew out of trouble."
"You're invited along too you know," said Sly, "the more the merrier! Right Blacky?" Blackstar nodded in agreement.
"Sorry, Sly. I'd rather that one of this team's leaders stay back and oversee the Mystic's refit." Nightrose smiled and asked, "are we going to talk about this all night? Personally I'd like to have my first threesome tonight."
* * *

Blackstar was woken up by the buzzing off hir commbadge. "If this isn't a beautiful woman I'm hanging up."
"Well, many men and women have gone out with me for just my looks," said Parishka's voice.
Blackstar, having been used to being on alert for Parishka for so long that shi was fully awake before shi remembered that it was the original Parishka. The original Parishka had begun calling herself Parishka Prime, and changed her legal name to such. "What is it?"
"Sky says we're having trouble from the damage."
"This is Sky, micro-fractures in some of the injectors is expanding. We're gonna lose main power soon," said Sky.
"How long do we have?" asked Blackstar.
"20 minutes if the manifolds hold," said Sky. Then what sounded like tearing metal and the noise a teapot makes when it's ready were heard in the background. "Better make that five!"
"Red alert! All hands to emergency stations," barked Blackstar. Shi ran to the bridge as the ship shuddered around hir in a spin turning to starboard, the port engine being shut down from a failed power conduit. When shi got to the bridge shi found the already damaged bridge in disarray with wires and panels being strewn all over the place. Parishka had her wrist sprained by the helms force-feed back system. A glance at the view screen and the helm station confirmed that the Mystic was spiraling towards a planet. Blackstar grabbed the stick to try and arrest the spiral and began pushing power from non-essential systems and the port engine into the thrusters. The Mystic groaned in protest as she came back under control.
Although the Mystic did stop spiraling it was still loosing altitude. "Blackstar to Sky, can't you give me any more power to the engines?"
"Are you kidding me?!" Sky yelled out over the sound of a fire extinguisher. "The core is in emergency shut down mode. Just pull something out of your ass! You're good at that."
"This is Blackstar to all hands. Hang-on to something, this is gonna be hot!" Blackstar pushed forward on the ship's stick, pushing the ship's nose towards the planet, the Mystic beginning to pick up speed. "Computer, switch to atmospheric maneuvering mode."
When the computer gave a long irritating beep, which indicated that the computer didn't recognize the command Parishka Prime ran to one of the few, still functioning terminals and activated the ship's ailerons manually. Though the Mystic was a starship Blackstar and Sky had seen the possibility of the Mystic flying though an atmosphere, for any number of reasons and built in ailerons to enhance they Mystic's atmospheric maneuvering abilities.
Nightrose and Sly stumbled into the Bridge. Nightrose's mouth hung open, "you're flying us straight at the planet?!"
"I know," said Blackstar with a smile, "that's the idea!"
"Blackstar, hun you need to pull up! UP!" screamed Sly.
Blackstar laughed maniacally as the bow of the ship plunged into the atmosphere like a sword into an enemy's guts. Unsecured objects began to fall towards the bow as the planet's gravity began to win out against the ship's failing environmental systems. Just when it seemed like the suicidal ride was never going to end, Blackstar pulled back on the stick and nothing happened. The feedback system stuck the stick where it was, just like the ailerons. The air was running past the hull so fast that the ailerons were pinned down. "Oh crap, I think I found a design flaw! Push power to the aileron systems."
"They're already at 105%," yelled out Parishka, who was busy holding onto her console for dear life.
"Push them to 115 then! The manufacturers are too cautious with their safety recommendations," said Blackstar. Blackstar pressed a few controls to raise only the dorsal air brakes to assist the ailing ailerons. Blackstar's muscles burned from the strain of pulling back on the stick, the ailerons finally pulling the Mystic out of her suicidal nose dive. Blackstar retracted the air brakes and locked the ailerons once the ship was level with the water below. The ship's auxiliary drive kicked in and kept up the speed and momentum necessary to get the Mystic up to orbital velocity. The Mystic slipped into orbit of the uninhabited and unnamed planet. It was a rather humid planet with an environment similar to rainforests.
Blackstar collapsed as the ship's automated systems took over orbiting control. Spotting the rest of the Mystic's normal bridge crew shi said, "That was more fun then I ever want to have again. I want a report on all systems."
"What was that?" asked Sly.
Nightrose explained, "Blackstar dove the ship to pick up speed, pulled up, and used our momentum to get enough speed to get the ship into orbit."
"So, basically the Coyote-Road Runner thrust move?" asked Sly.
Nightrose shook her head and sighed as Sly made an Armageddon reference. "Yes, yes the Coyote-Road Runner thrust move."
Trip interrupted with a damage report, "we're almost dead in the water. We're barely holding orbit above the second planet in the system. I can keep us in orbit but the engines are losing power. Probably an EPS conduit or some other power system exploded, knocking out one engine, sending us into that spiral."
"During that maneuver our sensors picked up some type of energy signature you might want to see sir," said Serge.
Blackstar looked over the beat up sensor station, when hir eyes went wide with shock. "No, it can't be. Someone else should've picked this up by now."
"Not necessarily," said Serge, "most ships don't actively scan planets as they pass them, and there is a good amount of interference from the sun at this distance. It's possible it was missed. Why is this signature important anyway?"
Blackstar turned to the rest of the bridge crew, "It's one of a kind, like this ship, the Midnight Star, the Folly, or the Torrin. This signature belonged to my grandfather's ship." Blackstar visibly sagged, shi had thought the whole Time Matrix thing had ended with the death of the last Parishka clone. Now shi was not only involved with it again, but shi was going into the center of it. "Here we go again."
***

Yet another Parishka clone has bit the dust, but is it truly the last of the clones? And what will Blackstar find on hir grandfather's vessel? Will Sonar turn out to be friend or foe?

Continued in Episode 7.
Story and Characters are copyright of ChakatBlackstar unless otherwise stated.
Chakat universe is copyright of Bernard Doove.
The Quange were created by Roy D. Pounds II.
Skunktaurs are copyright Bob Reijns.
Sly Wacoon is used with the permission of his player.
If I've managed to step on anyone else's toes (or paws, claws, tails, or other various appendages) let me know at chakatblackstar@hotmail.com and I'll either give you credit or change my 'tale'.

[Tsukiyumi]

Boy, do I dislike jumping into the middle of a story. Have you posted any other parts of this on here before?

It's good; I just always start at the beginning, and then work my way forward in a linear-type progression...

Interesting characters and setting (though partially borrowed), but you could use a skilled editor to fix little nits like commas in the wrong places, or not in places where needed, etc.

Still cool, though. A little seasoning is in order, methinks; a lot of my earlier work had similar issues.

[Blackstar the Chakat]

As a matter of fact I have posted my stories here before

Chapter 1: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1137
Chapter 2: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1140
Chapter 3: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1141
Chapter 4: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1142
Chapter 5: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1144

Or you can find them at the Chakat's Den starting at: http://www.chakatsden.com/chakat/Storie ... tar-1.html

but you could use a skilled editor to fix little nits like commas in the wrong places

Ya...he was lazy this time around, but I'm also not paying him so I'll take what I can get.

[Tsukiyumi]

I guess I wasn't paying attention. Sorry, Blackstar.

I'll start at chapter 1, then.

[Sionnach Glic]

Right, I've thrown all these threads into one big one. Partialy because, as Tsu proved, it's easier to find if it's all one thread, but mostly because I'm fracking sick of picking my way through a dozen of these Blackstar threads every time I go looking for something in this forum (just how the hell do you manage to create a duplicate of six different threads?) and I've changed the thread title to reflect this.

[Monroe]

I do plan on reading it sometime. Honestly.

[Reliant121]

Why bother?

[Teaos]

I could just smash you in the head with a cricket bat, same end result.

[Mikey]

I could just smash you in the head with a cricket bat, same end result.

Meh - less painful, and it'd be over quicker.

[Sionnach Glic]

I'll take the cricket bat. I read the first chapter and decided to be polite by not saying anything about it at the time.

[Mikey]

I started it, but i decided I'd rather go find some Vogon poetry to read.

[Mikey]

SORRY, DOUBLE POST.

[Captain Seafort]

[Mark]

What was this thread supposed to be? An autobiography?