----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Commander Soto slammed himself into the wall, dodging a few beams of that ugly laser fire the enemy combatants used. With their weapons unlocked and the idea of prisoners abandoned, the way towards the bridge had been much more manageable. Not to mention the Aasteran soldiers seemed eerily excited to be killing these alien slavers.

Watching from his cover as Ranarus charged an enemy encampment with nothing but his shield and grav sword. Soto's eyes widened in amusement as the soldier jumped over a metal barricade and proceeded to tear apart the enemy, going so far as to pierce through two of the aliens with his tail as he slashed into another three with his sword. "Guess that explains the tail spikes they have." He muttered to himself.

Soto continued down the hall, lazily holding a shield in front of him as he stalked towards the encampment, contemplating whether to kill the remaining slaver or capture it. Thankfully, his decision was made for him as an Aasteran soldier furiously charged forward, bellowing a primal war cry. Aggressively the male stomped his right foot and thrust his tail through the alien. Soto just nodded and looked to his side. "You guys really love doing that." He commented to the nearest Aasteran, who just shrugged and moved on.

Ranarus walked up beside Commander Soto and waved it off. "We have a lot of pent-up rage against these things."

"Hey, I get it. You guys can finally avenge your ancestors, right?" Soto replied, looking at his tac map.

"More like my people, these things cause us much suffering. To see them use whatever these diamonds are as some living battery. It tells me more about this civilization than I would like to know." Looking at the stolen cart carefully filled with the silicon bodies. Ranarus's anger once again boiled. "We can't even tell if they're still alive. They're so weak."

"BRACE!"

Ranarus leaned against the wall as the ship violently shook, looking at his team report to ensure that none of his party was injured as he gathered his footing. " What was that?"

Commander Soto looked over to the cart then back to Ranarus. "Team six took out the weapons storage in the fighter hangar. Well, what they consider a fighter. We have civilian ships with more armour and shielding on them." Motioning for the group to reform, Commander Soto began following his tac map towards the assumed bridge located middle of the ship.

Taking point with his shield and grav mace in hand, Soto continued following his nav markers, making sure to keep his team behind him before being pushed aside by Ranarus and his team as they stalked forward ahead of the Terrans. Looking back at his team, Soto decided to take a back seat to the action, figuring he would leave most of the killing to his new allies as they seemed to need a way to vent their anger and gain experience. They seemed to be pretty good at it as well, and almost needed to get some vengeance out of their system even if he would eventually get in trouble for it.

"Hey, there's some atmosphere on the other side of this door!" A marine shouted.

Quickly moving over to his scanner tech, Soto looked at the readout and waved at Ranarus, who happened to be busy pulling one of his men off a mutilated body. "Hey, uh, I'm pretty sure what you're going to say. But, did your people have anything with a bio scan similar to this on your planet?"

Ranarus looked at the scan in confusion. "Nope, I've never seen blood like that before. I don't even know what kind of metal that blood contains."

Soto scrunched his face and waved the entire boarding group over. "Ok, we got some bio signs in this room, oxygen breathers, not these vacuum fucks. Scanners indicate that they're hurt, we think. The plan, we set up a shield to keep the air in, blow open the door, rush in and subdue the bio signs if they're aggressive. It's looking like we won't beat team two to the bridge anyway, so let's bag us some captives."

Watching as the team's engineer set up the shield, Soto opened a com so he could listen to the other boarding groups, many of who were venting their anger out on these odd aliens with weapons typically not used inside ships. Thankfully, most of the vessel was already under Union control with only the bridge and a few hold-outs left, most of which were being utterly decimated by mobile lance batteries.

"Shield up!" Reported his team's engineer.

Watching as the charges were set, Soto and Ranarus moved up to take point. "Ready, buddy?" Commander Soto asked, already knowing the response.

Ranarus looked at the rest of his team before back to the commander. "I was born to kill my people's enemy, not capture them. I will follow your lead."

Soto chuckled at the unexpected answer and moved closer to the door as a result. "We'll have to work on that." As the charge countdown hit zero and the door blew open, Soto hefted his shield and charged into the room, looking for his target. "Nothing's here." He announced, looking around in confusion.

Ranarus rushed in and looked towards the location of the bio signs. "No, they're here." Picking up some fallen debris, Ranarus chucked it at a gathering of three spiky masses.

Commander Soto watched as the spiky ball rippled, making off cooing noises before quickly silencing itself. "Is it a porcupine?" He asked, slowly reaching out to touch a quill. His suit promptly began to scream warnings as the point pierced through his armour and into his under mesh.

Surprised, he pulled his hand back in shock as the nanites rushed to plug the hole. Soto continued to stare in amazement at the spiky ball as his suit finished up its complaining. "Holy shit, no way we're cuffing this guy."

"You'd be dead if its quill was coated in poison. You realize this, right?." The team medic announced, stepping up behind Soto to begin his scans.

Looking at the tac com updates, Ranarus deflated as the ship was now considered subdued and under Union control. "So, what is it, some pet?"

Waving his medic forward, Soto looked back at Ranarus and shrugged, "Dunno, the doc will figure it out. For now, let's make sure our diamond friends get plenty of light... It feels like I'm talking about a plant."

Watching as the medic waved his hands around and worked his healing magic, Soto was beginning to think he had more bad news heading his way as the doctor started frantically cursing and attempting to get around the quills of the creature. "What's wrong, doc?"

"It's a fucking sentient. It's malnourished and dehydrated, and I can't do shit with all these spikes in the way... I think... Its blood is filled with some weird metal that's interfering with my scans. The quills, I think they're quills. Something is off about them; they're pumped full of the metal too. Overall thoughts... I think those fucks were using this guy's blood for something. They're all missing a lot, or just.. don't need a lot compared to both Terran and Aasteran. I can't figure this out with all the interference from their blood or metal stuff, maybe both?"

Soto palmed his face and let out a low groan. "What kind of sector of the galaxy is this. We spend over two thousand years looking for life only to run into cold snakes and fucking cosmic boogeymen slavers, four-armed balls living in a vacuum, enslaving everything they come across? I don't think the people back home are going to like any of this. No offence Ranarus, your people are great, but this is bullshit."

Ranarus shook his head and looked at the spiky alien. "None taken. No one asked for any of this."

"Got it! I can spray them with some anesthetics until we can get them to a secure med bay. Uh, with your permission, commander. I'm sure they'll make it, but it's better safe than sorry with the state they're in."

Commander Soto nodded and looked down at the trio of porcupines. "Do it if you're sure it won't hurt them. I want to make sure they're alive for questioning."

Soto held his breath as he watched the medic spray the medical nanites between the tightly packed quills, shifting his visual spectrum to get a better look while the quills began to shudder as if fighting to stay rigid before completely separating and softening into fine hair. "It's a fucking spiky boy!" Soto shouted.

Ranarus looked at the Terrans curiously as they started making all sorts of soft noises at the alien and acting completely different from the hardened warriors of the last minutes." What's a spiky boy?"

"It's not a dog! It's a procu-wolf." Replied the medic.

"What kind of wolf is red, its a big ass spikey fox thing, dumb-ass!" Shouted a marine from the crowd.

"They got deep red dogs like that on the Kuacog colony, idiot!" Came another.

"You guys do know it's sentient, right? Like a thinking being." Argued the tech.

Regaining himself, Commander Soto looked to the medic. "Sedate the other two. I want to make sure these guys get the help they need."

Ranarus look on in confusion as the marines quickly quieted while they continued to look down on the trio of aliens. "Something wrong here I should know about? He asked, feeling a cold rage emanating from the Terrans.

Finishing up relaying his information to the rest of the boarding teams, commander Soto looked over to Ranarus. "It's good that most of the aliens are dead. But if you find one alive, kill it before a Terran sees it."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Srettia screamed in horror as Michael skilfully flew through the hull of a wrecked enemy cruiser, a successful gambit at losing the fighter wing that managed to get behind him. " I COULD HAVE DESTROYED THEM YOU, IDIOT!" She yelled in horror as a piece of debris narrowly missed her ship.

Rolling the ship out of the wreckage and manoeuvring to rejoining his bomber wing, Michael grinned and looked over to his terrified passenger. "True, but I felt like having some fun."

"that was suicide, not fun. I don't know how we made it out of that." Srettia returned.

"Well, our guest enjoyed itself."

"At least someone's on my side." Michael said as his bomber wing continued to work its way towards their target.

Srettia turned to look at the being as it chimed a jaunty tune at her, its arms splayed as if it was on some sort of ride. "We need to name this thing."

"It has its name; we just need to figure out how to communicate. Incoming forty-seven mark three, four interceptors are heading towards port bombers."

Srettia turned back to her weapons controls and began to rain anti-mater upon the poor ships, chuckling as they broke apart from just the vicinity of the lance fire. "I can get used to this."

"We are approaching our target. I am marking it on the display. Torpedos ready, waiting for wing commander's mark."

Michael frowned as the visual came up, noticing the massive amount of fighters leaving a giant carrier. "That's a big guy. Can we make it through that swarm?"

"You scared, partner?"

Srettia fired off a few shots and laughed. "He's scared. Big bad Terran ace pilot afraid of paper fighters."

"Har, har. Have a good laugh." Pulling a hard turn to avoid a particularly nasty volley of slugs, Michael just shook it off and voiced his thoughts. "I'm more worried about why they are bent on protecting that ship. What's in it?"

"Unknown. Fleet command needs it destroyed so Chrarada can take her fleet to secure a captured command ship."

Srettia grinned at the thought of Chrarada screaming as her ship charged its target. "Well, let's clear the way for our beautiful leader, shall we?"

"I did not know you thought her beautiful."

"Well, duh. Her horns are always perfectly polished, and her scales are as glossy as a newborn or a fresh shed." Srettia angrily fired some shots into a passing frigate as the squadron pierced the defensive screen and sighed. "It's unfair."

"We're coming up on the target. Get ready." Rolling under a cruiser to avoid some anti-fighter screens with the squad, Michael snuck a look at Srettia and frowned. "How about I pick up some moisturizer and polish for you when we get back to Leda. You can take the evening off to relax and let me pamper you."

Srettia fought to keep her tail still at the thought. "We shall do that."

"Target in range thirteen seconds, torpedos ready."

Michael looked at the being who began chiming an oddly deep tune and looked back at the ship. "I don't like this."

"Firing torpedos."

Michael watched as the bomber squadron unleashed tens of high yield anti-matter torpedos at the massive carrier, watching them closely as they crashed into the hull, ripping it apart and sending pieces splintering through the surrounding vessels and completely breaking the enemy formation. "Invest in better fighters, you idiots."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Charge forward! Break through their broken line and destroy all who get in our way!" Changing her fleet formation from a three-pointed claw into an arrowhead, Chrarada bought her ship to the front of the tip as her fleet advanced into the hole created by the Terran bomber squadrons. "I'll need to request a fleet of those bombers.." She thought to herself as the groups broke off to target new ships.

Attempting to keep the emotion off her face as her ship unleashed a vicious broadside into the enemy formation while it crashed through the debris of the massive ship. Chrarada noted that the enemy command ship changed from contested to secure and smirked. " Our males have completed their task, increase speed to secure the target ship; we can't let the enemies destroy it!" Watching as more of the hard light aliens extracted themselves from the debris of the battlefield, Chrarada scoffed in frustration. "What kind of enemy are we fighting."

"Ma'am, the enemy fleet is breaking off. It looks like a pretty ugly retreat." The ops tech reported.

Chrarada slammed her fist against her console in anger. "FIGHT ME, COWARDS!" Looking around at her bridge crew, who had similar thoughts, Chrarada took a deep breath to compose herself and fought off the urge to chase after the retreating enemies. "Take up position around the captured ship, destroy what you can in the meanti-."

"Detecting massive energy surge from enemy wreckage!"

"Bring it up on visual." Chrarada ordered, watching closely as the carrier wreckage seemed to sparkle for a few moments.

Lights began shimmering, multiple in locations and size, before merging into a massive hard light alien, twice no three times the size of her ship. "Ah, I can see why they're running."

Just as the alien finally finished forming into an odd funnel shape, Chrarada felt a cold chill run down her spine and opened a com to her fleet. " ALL POWER TO SHIELDS, NOW! EVERY OUNCE YOU CAN SPARE!"

Just as she finished relaying her commands, Chrarada watched in horror as the alien unleashed a massive beam of energy. One that rushed past her fleet and split into tens of smaller offshoots, shearing the enemy ships in half while destroying others. Shaking off her stress, Chrarada opened another com to her fleet in panic. "Stay out of its way. We secure the enemy ship with a tractor and get out of this area, NOW!"

Upon finally reaching her target, Chrarada shuddered as the energy readings on the giant alien once again began to spike. " Get a tractor on the ship and leave the area immediately. We don't have time!"

Holding her breath as her fleet activated their tractors and began pulling the enemy command ship from the battlefield, Chrarada watched curiously as another beam of light emerged from the alien, shaking her ship as it passed by to its intended targets. "Relay to the fleet command that our mission is complete."

Exhaling in relief, Chrarada authorized docking of the boarding teams into her fleet, tapping her tail angrily as the enemy fleet fled from both the aliens and the system. "What to do with these new aliens now, I wonder." She thought, watching as the hard light beings continued to chase the enemies until none were left.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ranarus walked off the boarding ship with his Terran teammates into the familiar sight of an Aasteran hangar bay as emergency personal flooded into the ships. Taking off his helmet Ranarus laughed as the Terrans threw down their own and rubbed their faces and hair. "Smells like home."

Soto walked up beside Ranarus and clapped him on the shoulder. "Good job, friend. It looks like some ladies are looking your way." Soto stated as he pointed to a section of the hangar where medical personal and armour specialists were waiting. "Any of them catch your eye? Bet you can finally have the luxury of being the one to claim."

Ranarus laughed and pointed at a Cyan female who pushed aside the other females and stalked towards Commander Soto. "Maybe, but I heard you're familiar with that one."

Soto palmed his face as the female approached. "Yeah, She claimed me after a demonstration. She beat the crap out of a green one that tried to challenge her for it or something."

Ranarus watched as the female captain got up in Soto's face and began marking him with her tongue. "Well, have fun, commander. I hear the fangs are painless."

Soto looked at Ranarus in shock, then at the very long tongue rolling around his body. "Ahh fuck it." Ejecting himself out of his armour, Soto effortlessly picked up the cyan female and began walking off happily towards the hangar exit as she clung onto him, ignoring his whooping and cheering team.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------