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

Srettia slowly opened her eyes, stretching her empty tail as she slowly shook off her morning drowsiness. "I guess Ankiah is off to the sim again." She thought, snuggling into Michael and savouring his heat as per her morning routine. "Wake up, ya bum. We leave for Luna this afternoon, and this is no time to sleep in." She whispered, running her hand up his chest.

After spending the night with Ankiah, teaching her some pilot tricks that might come in handy with her Mech studies, Michael had found himself exhausted this particular morning, opting to sleep in rather than command an empty ship. "Sleep, need." He grumbled, turning away from Srettia, ignoring her attempts at waking him.

Srettia frowned in annoyance and cuddled up to the retreating Michael, playfully nibbling on his shoulder in an effort to disturb him. "You have to set an example, you know... Captain. " She whispered into his ear, holding back her laughter as he grumbled into his pillow.

Michael groaned and finally turned into Srettia, burying his face into her neck. "No one to set an example to yet. Let me sleep." He grumbled into her.

---Skip here from here---

Srettia chuckled as she pulled Michael into her, happily scenting the morning air, wholly shocked at her findings. With a seductive grin, hidden by the fact that Michael was sleeping with his face buried into her neck. Srettia traced her hand around from his back to his stomach, slowly drawing circles around his muscled abdomen as she worked her way down to a curious yet exciting source of heat.

"Mmmm, what are you doing? Michael mumbled from his sleep-induced haze.

Srettia hesitated for a moment before taking a deep breath and continuing her trek down towards this new reservoir of heat. "This." She seductively returned, seizing the base of his swollen member. Michael's eyes shot open as the cool sensation ran through him. "It's like catching fire." Srettia moaned into his ear, shaking nervously as the heat ran up her arm.

Michael groaned as the odd sensation ran through him, pushing his head into Srettia's chest as she began to slowly massage his member. "This... This'll get bad if you don't stop." He weakly protested, slowly coming to his senses and wrapping his arms around Srettia, holding her still while taking deep breaths.

Frowning in anger, Srettia opened her mouth and extended her fans, swiftly biting deeply into Michael, eliciting a grunt of surprise from him as she continued her work on his heat.

"What's gotten into you?" He breathlessly asked, trying his best to ignore her passion.

After making sure her scent would stick with Michael for the next few days, Srettia finally released her jaws and broke free from Michael's grasp, forcing him onto his back immediately after. "We're finally alone after all this time, and I have claimed you once again. Now you will claim me in return!!" She hissed, sliding her tail into his underclothing and wrapping it around her prize as she made sure to clean up the small amount of blood her bite left behind.

Michael inhaled deeply through his nose as Srettia continued her subtle seduction and placed his hands on her hips, pulling her up to straddle his waist. "Can't say I'm against it." He ground out as her tail slightly tightened around his member while he slowly pushed up into a sitting position. "Kinda figured you'd want a romantic night out or something first, you know?" He continued, beginning to kiss and nibble on her neck slowly.

"And how would you achieve that?" She lightly moaned, releasing the hold on his member and pinning it between their bodies. "We go to Luna today. Leda tomorrow, and war the next day. Tell me when you will claim me if not now?" She demanded hotly.

Michael stopped and realized her point, pulling away from her neck to look her in the eyes. "I never said we should stop." He continued with a grin, seizing the base of her tail and evoking a lustful cry from his startled partner.

Happy to finally get her way, Srettia pushed Michael back down and spun about, taking a good look at the heat that was pleasantly burning against her core. Turning her face to meet Michael's eyes as he placed his hands on her hips once again, Srettia smirked and let her long tongue roll out, allowing the excitement to build within her as she watched her partner's eyes go wide in anticipation. Sliding her hips back, she bent over and tenderly wrapped her tongue around Michal's length, savouring the taste of his fire as he heaved in pleasure. Pausing briefly as she collected herself, Srettia slowly took him into her mouth as she swirled her tongue around his manhood, closing her lips around his tip as she slowly worked towards his base.

Michael grunted in desire as Srettia took all of him into her and decided it was a tad unfair for only one being to be enjoying themselves. With his hands already on her hips as she worked on his length, Michael pulled his prize towards him, surprised that she refused to release him from her mouth as he did so. With that, he decided against playing nice and ripped her shorts off to study Srettia's center. Relief washed over Micahel, grateful for the similar anatomy, only to quickly realized he had lost his focus as Srettia continued to work towards her goal. "S-shit." He rasped out, trying to control himself.

Srettia gleefully noticed the change as the pulsing heat was replaced with violent twitching. Deciding to quicken her pace as she realized what was coming, she only had to wait a meer moment as her partner tightened his grip on her waist and threw his head back in a loud moan.

Srettia felt it deeply in her core. A hot stream of liquid exploded into her mouth. Burning the back of her throat as it slid down into her stomach, warming her from within as her eyes rolled back into her head in lust. Holding her mouth against his base while her tongue continued to drain every ounce of heat from his length, she continued to savour the sensation as he finally burned his long-awaited scent into her.

"S...Sorry... That. The tongue is cheating." Michael breathed out as he continued to gasp heavily.

Srettia, having claimed her first victory of the night, stroked Michael's chin with her tail, directing him to where his attention should be as she busied herself cleaning him, not wanting to miss a single drop of his essence.

Taking the hint, Michael decided a direct approach was needed and threw Srettia off to the side, rolling onto her as she tittered. Bringing up a hand to cup the side of her face, Michael aimed for her lips and closed the distance. "We did this in the wrong order." He insisted, bringing her in for a kiss, much to Srettia's surprise and delight as he forced his tongue into her mouth to dance with hers, sending electricity down her spine.

Separating with a gasp after what felt like hours, Srettia looked at Michael with a saucy grin. "You know I ju-"

"Yeah, shut it." Michael replied with a quiet laugh, grabbing her tail and tenderly kissing his way down her neck and only halting at his second obstacle of the morning. "This needs to go." He said, ripping off her nightshirt to reveal her hunting scales, admiring the pattern while he brought his hand down.

Running one hand in gentle circles around the base of her tail, finding certain spots more receptive than others, Michael began working on her beautiful scales, gently swapping between a soft kiss and a nibble in an attempt to elicit the best response.

Moaning in pleasure, Srettia ran her hands through Michael's hair, fighting the urge to pull him harder into her chest as he worked to discover her switches naturally, panting heavily as he pinched and caressed her sensitive scales.

Enjoying the rough sensation, Michael gently moved his free hand slowly down her belly, stopping just above her core before dipping down to slide a finger between her lips, pulling her into him with his other hand as she bucked in pleasure.

Unsure of how receptive she would be, he began tracing a circle around her opening, all the while staring intensely into Srettia's lulled eyes, paying close attention to her heavy breaths as he stroked patterns in search of the best reaction. Noticing a particular spot was quite receptive to his touch, Michael slowly kissed and licked his way down, bringing his now free hand up to stroke and caress her chest.

Srettia breathlessly ran her hands down her lover's back, trembling in passion as Michael teasingly played with her body, slowly sculpting his heat directly into her in a way she could only dream. It wasn't until it stopped did she look down to notice where he was. Staring up at her, looking her directly in the eyes, Michael grinned and brought his mouth down onto her, bringing about a new sensation of pleasure as his fiery tongue seemed to know exactly where she needed it. Moaning loudly in desire as she wrapped her legs around his neck, Srettia pulled him into her as he brought her closer to a climax, completely forgetting herself as her lover completed her.

As Michael continued his craft, Srettia endeavoured to smother him with her legs. At this point, Michael worked with haste, betting on finishing her before she finished him. Thankfully, he had won the bet as Srettia bucked hard and howled in pleasure as she clawed deep into his back, gashing large cuts into him as she loosened her trembling grip.

Grinning as he attended to his mate, caressing her chest as she gasped for air as her eyes glazed over, and her body went limp. Michael Kissed his way up her body, positioning his lust at her entrance.

Kissing her neck and bitting on the edges of her hood, Michael stopped to look Srettia in the eyes. "Ready?"

Srettia weakly nodded, taking his member with her tail and guiding him with a lustful moan. Slowly, he pushed in, often pausing to allow Srettia to gather herself as Michael burned his shape into her. It was like nothing she had ever felt before. With his heat burning, pulsing inside her, Srettia felt violent shivers run through her body as climax after climax shook her, eliciting a look of concern from her partner. Not wanting the sensation to end, she wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him in close, a signal she hoped he would understand.

As Michael slowly bottomed out on Srettia, he pulled her close, pressing his body against hers with his face touching hers as she panted and shivered in his grip. "You okay there?" He urged, rubbing her back, letting Srettia calm herself.

Srettia let her instincts take over, allowing them to guide her towards her ultimate pleasure as she let her fangs free and bit hard into Michael, slowly bucking her hips as he yelped in surprise.

Wincing in pain at the not so gentle bite, Michael grabbed Srettia hips and began to encourage her, rocking her gently at first and quickening the pace as she increased her panting, chuckling a bit as her droll rolled down his shoulder while she lustfully gasped for air through her teeth. Cursing, Michael inhaled a long breath as the icy sensation of his partner brought him quickly to his end, and he bucked hard into Srettia, unloading month's worth of desire into her.

Noticing his partner was peaking once again as he finished deeply into her core, Michael wrapped both arms around Srettia as she moved into an intense climax, deciding to make sure she was securely pinned against his chest. Taking a long deep breath as the two ended, Michael rested his chin on her shoulder, holding her tightly against his body, hoping her violent shivers weren't a bad sign.

Srettia's orgasm increased in magnitudes as Michael gripped her body and pulled her close, her unwilling howl stifled by her bite into his shoulder as the burning fire flooded into her, pushing her far over the edge as she spasmed into Michael's grip for what felt like years.

Michael bucked one last time into Srettia as his last spasm took hold and leaned into her limp body, falling onto the bed together with his completed mate. "Well..." He breathed out, panting heavily. "That was.. damn. We're going to... We have to work on our stamina if... Well, ya know."

Srettia slowly gathered herself, doing her best to focus her eyes as the heat Michael had poured into her continuing to stimulate her in a way that was hard to describe. "Another?." She whimpered, immediately pushing Michael onto his back.

*--------------------------------------------------------------------------*

*--------------------------------------------------------------------------*

*--------------------------------------------------------------------------*

Michael walked onto the bridge, moving over to sit in his crash couch while trying his best to ignore Srettia's interesting walk. Pulling up the ship's reports, he nodded his understanding and opened a com to the entire ship. "Attention, all crew, this is your Captain speaking." He started, trying not to smile as he mentally checked one off the bucket list. "Prepare all systems for launch. The ship will be departing at thirteen hundred TSN, exactly one hour and three minutes. If you have anything to report that would delay our launch, please file them with me immediately. Thank you." Cutting the com. Michael looked over to his helmsman and nodded. "Do you require anything to begin, helm?"

Srettia shook her head. "Negative Captain. All systems are green. We could leave immediately if we wished."

"Understood." He replied, looking over the list of reports filing into his command pad.

"Good morning, Captain. And good morning to your Acting Sub Lieutenant." Jack said, taking form in his E-war suite. "It is good to see you well-rested. It will be an interesting day with meeting the new crew."

"Good Morning Jack!~" Srettia replied with a smile, keying in some command inputs.

"Hey, pal!" Michael said, continuing to scroll through his pad. "Seems the ship is ready to go. Though I don't see any bridge officers aboard yet."

Jack quickly looked through the database and nodded his agreement. "You are correct. With the exception of one officer, most will be coming from Leda."

"What can you tell me about this Steve guy?" Michael asked, bringing up the ops officer.

"He specializes in scanning tech and detection. He was most likely assigned due to his ability to decern ships from background noises. His most notable accomplishment was the tracking of the most recent pirate lord to their stronghold. You could say he was the reason the navy was capable of delivering the finishing blow." Jack replied, reading through the man's dossier.

Michael nodded and continued to study the man's file. "Any attitude problems?"

Jack took a second to search for anything of note but seemed to come up empty. "None reported. He seems rather dull, listed as only talking when having something to say."

"Hey, my kind of guy!" Michael stated, chuckling to himself that he might have found a decent drinking buddy.

"Why would you want to spend time with someone like that? It seems rather boring." Srettia responded, leaning into her chair with an oddly content sigh.

"Because when people like that talk, it's always important. They're great to listen to." Michael replied, sending off an acceptance of a quarters exchange.

"Ahh... Makes sense." Srettia agreed while closing her eyes. "Let me know when I can begin to power the engines. I'm going to get some rest."

Michael frowned at the statement and looked over to Jack with a shrug. "How's Ankiah?"

"She is well. A burden seems to have lifted when you challenged her to become a pilot." He replied, throwing her vitals upon the Captain's display.

"That's good. Wouldn't want to face her partner if I had made things worse." Michael answered, beginning once again to go through his command log.

Catching up on his requests, Michael found that he didn't really mind the Captain's position too much. Most of the requests so far were people wanting to swap quarters for others or request permission to cohabitate with a partner they had already found... Though, looking at the backlog, he saw that most of the engineers had been on this ship for months, so it might not have been too spontaneous.

As time quickly crept up on the three bridge officers, Michael walked over to Srettia, lightly tapping her shoulder in an attempt to wake her. "Wake up, drooly. It's time to show me what you can do."

Srettia grumbled and wiped her mouth, quickly adjusted her couch and bringing her controls to within her reach. "I do not drool."

"Sure, you don't." Michael grinned, walking back to his seat. "Helmsman!" He stated, shifting to his Captain pants. "Power up the engines and prepare to take us to Luna!"

"Aye, Aye, Captain!" Srettia returned, beginning to work on powering the impulse drive.

Michael looked over to the empty E-war suite and nodded, knowing Jack might be watching as he opened a link to see all stations were already reporting green and ready for launch. "Well, that was easy. Guess these engineers really are the top-notch big brains." he muttered.

"Ready for takeoff, Captain." Srettia stated, watching the display as the hangar opened and the docking clamps released.

"Alright, show me what she can do. Helm take us to Luna." Michael ordered.

Carefully Srettia powered the impulse and slowly exited the hangar, thankful the ship moved and felt exactly like her corvette as the ship departed the station. With no ships in her path, Srettia slowly brought the speed up to acceptable levels and made for Luna, where a pre-designated point awaited her in a hidden hangar.

"That was smooth." Michael stated as he watched the display. "You really are a good pilot, ya know."

Watching her controls closely as she flew the ship towards the point on her map, Srettia attempted to calm the happy twitch her tail was giving off at the complement. "Not now, Captain. We are working."

Michael nodded and watched the display, using his controls to take in the visual around the lift station and Earth. "How's Yirphayen doing, Jack?" He asked, reading the written update of what the funny alien had been up to.

"It is resting but will move to Luna upon our arrival... So I suppose I should awaken it now."

"Thanks, Jack!" Michael replied, watching as the ship was allowed past Luna patrol and began to slip through the hardlight barrier. "Not even a hi?" He asked, wondering why the patrol let the ship by.

"I will be taking care of the small talk while we are down our coms officer."

"Oh... I kinda missed that part of having you around, pal. No offence." Michael replied.

"None taken. I will continue to do so until we reach Leda."

"Do you want me to wait outside the hangar or go inside?" Srettia asked as the ship neared its destination.

"Take us in. I'm sure Yirphayen can find us with Jack's help." Michael answered.

"I will be able to do so easily."

Michael nodded as Jack threw up a prompt on the command display, causing him to transmit his Captain's credentials to Luna command and watching with a grin as the hangar began to open. "Alright, then. Show Luna command how an expert really parks a ship!"

Srettia sucked in a breath and focused on her flying, gracefully gliding into docking position without any issues cropping up. "Docking is pretty easy with all this automation." She stated, pushing her controls away as the ship completed its docking.

"You are being hailed by Admiral Perrin."

Michael paused for a moment and let a wicked smile side across his face. "On screen."

"Nerd."

Michael laughed as the screen came to life, displaying the Admiral standing in the middle of Luna CIC. "Captain Michael, I hereby transfer you, Luna personnel."

Michael fought back a frown at her forwardness and accepted the prompt on his datapad. "I hereby accept your transfer." He replied as the ship shuddered lightly, signalling that he was now connected to loading tubes

.

"Yirphayen has arrived. It is wondering where it can enter."

"Open the hangar for it. That shouldn't cause any problems." Michael replied, waiting for the Admiral to either cut the display or give him some bad news.

"Captain Graeme. Along with your crew, I am to load you with two Luna class fighters, two Luna class Mechs and an orbital drop moon drill." The Admiral replied, sending over another prompt.

Accepting the prompt, Michael eyed the Admiral, who seemed to be preoccupied. "I accept the load-outs. What's the difference with Luna class? To my knowledge, that class does not exist."

"Experimental and top of the line. Created but not mass-produced yet due to one reason or another. The fighters have orbital entry abilities and limited warp. The Mechs are equipped with new armour that's currently too heavy to fly but light enough to fit mech usage. They are also equipped with the latest weaponry that has yet to be named but is currently referred to as star cannons. We stole the idea from studying the Eaenhreph." Admiral Perrin replied with a smug grin. "Do you require anything from me at this moment, Captain... My apologies, but there is some rather pressing..... data I must study."

"No, Ma'am. Everything is Green on my side." Michael replied, looking through the log as people boarded his ship.

"You have your orders then. Good Luck, Captain." The Admiral replied, cutting the feed.

Michael shrugged and looked over the data of the new weapons being loaded onto his ship. "What's this star cannon shit Jack?"

"Yeah! How did they steal it from the Eaenhreph?" Srettia added.

"One moment...... It is an anti-shield weapon. It fires a concentrated form of energy much like the Eaenhreph, but it splits to envelop any shields or armour it touches to quickly overwhelm it. It is rather effective from what I am seeing."

"Alright." Michael replied, looking down to notice more requests beginning to litter his command pad.

"Looks like you have work to do, Captain," Srettia added, tittering as Michael sighed in resignation.

As the crew boarded the ship and Michael went through his requests, Srettia got up to walk around, Introducing herself to the eager and excited crewmembers as she made her way down to the hangar in an attempt to find Ankiah who, also seemed to find herself swamped by enthusiastic crewmembers asking all sorts of questions. Quickly rushing over to Ankiah's side, Srettia grabbed her hand with a smile and swiftly excused themselves from the excited crewmates as she took her away from the large crowd.

"Thanks!" Ankiah replied with a smile, happy to finally get away from the excited Terrans.

"No problem. I actually came to see if you were hungry. I don't think you've left the sim since this morning." Srettia replied, dragging Ankiah into a lift.

"Yes! I didn't realize it until one of the new mechanics tapped on my sim to say hello. Before I knew it, I was surrounded by..." Sniffing the air around Srettia, Ankiah's eyes went wide with excitement as she pulled Srettia in for a hug! "It's about time. I thought for sure you two would never reach that stage!"

Srettia's tail flailed around nervously as she looked away from the excited Voktlix and nodded. "Thanks? Wait! I made sure to take extra care in cleaning myself. How did you know?!"

"It's a celebration! Let's get some meat! Well, you got yours already, so maybe some fruit?!" Ankiah stated with a laugh as she pulled Srettia into their room, heavily sniffing the air as she did. "Wow... And I mean... Wow."

Srettia pushed Ankiah into the kitchen as her hood vibrated in embarrassment. "Will you shut it! Let's get some fruit!"

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