by Jay Toney
He knew now when the means of transmission occurred. When the Vamps, as he now termed them, came aboard bringing the crew meals, doing repairs, and servicing the ships, their true purpose was to get close to the crew so they could impregnate them. Some like Red, Mike, and Nord would have several bites due to their attraction to females, others would have fewer. For all he knew, he may be one of few not bitten, perhaps because of his age.
Doc had another problem. The samples he removed were comparable to a fetus that had been developing for five weeks. They had only been infected for a single day. If the rate of development continued the way it started, and he didn't suspect it would slow down, he would only have 9 days to cure the fleet. He didn't have the time or enough units available to treat the fleet. He would have to search for another option.
It took a few precious hours, but he found a solution. After the parasites were dead and removed, he could inject the patients with Pantacure. It would counteract the effects of the Pharmakon, but leave the patient fatigued and sick for a few days. With the time he had remaining there were no other options. He needed help. There were to many crew members to treat by himself, so Miranda and Jane would be his first patients. Working around the clock, they should be able to save the crew. Every day that passed, the fetus would become more developed, and more difficult to remove.
****
"Natty, I need to talk to you."
"Astrea, is it time already? I was just starting to enjoy life."
"Your time hasn't come yet, but the Keres sisters are looking your way. You were supposed to stay together with Nathaniel, Jewel, and Amber. The protection I bestowed upon you would have protected them too."
"But I fell in love with Red."
"I don't care about your affair with Red. You could have stayed on the Persephone and still had your love affair with Red."
"Nathaniel kicked me off the ship."
"He kicked you off the ship because he couldn't trust you. You hid the affair with Red from him, and you didn't even bother to tell him why you couldn't do your part in the raid. He is a very understanding person, and would have understood if you just talked to him. This mess with the Vamps is all your fault. If you didn't leave them, they would have been protected and left the Vamps in quarantine. They are an ancient race that have been exiled from the rest of this galaxy. Now they will be free to conquer nearly every humanoid species in the galaxy. They will spread rapidly, and no one will be able to oppose them. You have put motions into place that even we cannot stop."
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize my being with Red would cause so many problems."
"It isn't your being with Red that caused the problems. It is what you did to hide it, and more. Now it is up to you to find some sort of redemption. This sin will weigh heavily on your soul when you are judged.
"I understand. I will try, but Nathaniel will not let me on the Persephone any time soon. I have to earn his trust again."
"Earning his trust is only a small part of what you need to do. You no longer need to be with them as part of their family. You are now obligated to stay with Red as his wife. I can tell that you have bonded with him. Part of his soul is intertwine with yours. You must find someway to help save Nathaniel's fleet."
"Thank you Astrea."
****
"Doc, what happened to us? Where are we?"
"The short version is that most of the fleet was infected with an alien parasite. Shar'tu has us headed into deep space until we can cure everyone."
"Who all got infected?"
"Its easier to tell you who hasn't. Natty, Beverly and her twins, our Iniguar officers and their bond mates, and myself."
"That's it?"
"That's it, now get out of my autodoc, I have other patients to cure."
"I am still feeling very sick, I need more time in the autodoc."
"Time is something we don't have. You will have to suffer with the rest of the crew."
With that, Doc kicked Jewel, Amber, and I out of sick bay. We headed to our quarters where I hoped I could sleep this sickness off. Until Rosie was back on her feet, we would have to fend for ourselves. I hoped it would be soon, the three of us were likely to turn my suite back into a pig sty. I didn't want Rosie to quit thinking we were beyond hope. I would have to bribe her to stay, by paying her a nice bonus when she got back on her feet.
After 7 days Doc announced that everyone was cured. All of the parasites had been killed and removed from our bodies. He was locking sickbay and taking a few needed days off. Jane, Miranda, and Doc rotated shifts, working around the clock to cure the fleet's personnel as fast as possible. Natty provided shuttle service bringing Doc new patients, and shuttling them back after treatment. I was glad that she was stepping up and helping with what she could. It would be a significant factor in earning my trust again.
Beverly's girls were remaining on my ship for now. They and Sally's entertainers were not high on the priority list, so they were amongst the last to be treated. They felt to sick to tend to themselves, so they bunked up with our entertainers. Nord, even though still sick, removed the writing desks from their rooms and installed additional bunks.
He must be feeling better than Mike or I. He had four fewer parasites in him than me and seven less than Mike. Doc only had to open him up once to extract them, whereas I was opened twice. Knowing Nord though, he wasn't doing it to be a Good Samaritan. He was probably helping them in exchange for their favor at some future date. If I wasn't happily married, I would be doing the same. Nord was going to be a very happy man when he collected on their debt.
A few days later, not feeling well, but at least feeling well enough I made my way to the bridge with Amber and Jewel. We needed to go someplace, having been kicked out of my quarters by Rosie. After receiving a substantial bonus, she promised not to quit on us. At least this time there were no clothes in the hot tub. Jewel contacted Red and David. They let her know that they were ready to get out of Vamp space. I worked with Persephone on setting our next course. Premius Capulus would be the last system we visited before concluding our mission in the Hades System. From there we would travel to Antares and begin our search for the star bridge, whatever that was.
I finished plotting our new course programing it in our navigation computer. Persephone transmitted it to the other vessels, and synchronized our computers. Her holographic image appeared on the bridge. Even though I knew she wasn't real I had a hard time thinking or speaking in her presence. "Are you sure you are ready to leave this system, my analysis shows that most of the crew are still suffering the affects of the Pharmakon and Pantacure treatments?"
"Even though we are not really fit to move on, we are more than ready to leave this system."
"Very well."
Our three ships disappeared into hyperspace. This was a long jump, and we would be in hyperspace until 09:00 hours tomorrow morning. We left Shree'tek and the rest of the second watch on the bridge. Amber, Jewel, and I stopped at the officers mess in hopes of a good meal. It was deserted, we would have to fend for ourselves again tonight.
Our cabin was clean again, the dishes were done, and so was the laundry. Rosie had laid down on the couch, and was quietly sleeping. I left a message for Mike, to let him know about his wife. It had been an exhausting day for all of us, and we all still felt sick from Docs treatment. Now that everyone had been treated, I would have to have a talk with him about letting us use the autodocs to filter the remaining toxins from our blood. The three of us collapsed on the bed, to sick and tired to do anything else.
In the morning we were treated to a surprise. Rosie had breakfast ready for us. As I hoped, we were each given a large piece of sausage to eat with our meal. I drank my juice, while waiting for the coffee to
finish.
"Thank you for not waking me up and letting Mike know that I had fallen asleep on your couch."
"I figured you were exhausted between the amount of cleaning you did, and how sick you must still be feeling. It was hard pulling a shift on the bridge yesterday. We will be arriving in the Premius Capulus System in a few hours. According to Red's records, it should be a friendly system. He has traded here in the past."
"I thought the last people were going to be friendly. They offered their hospitality and brought us all fresh cooked meals, then put us all under some sort of trance, so they could impregnate nearly everyone of us."
"Lets hope we don't need to come back here. I think part of the message shows that they would be very difficult to kill. In the images of them swarming over the Earth ship, they weren't wearing spacesuits. The ship must have self destructed to prevent its capture, or they would have left their exile long ago."
"What would you do if you had to go back?"
"I would try to find some means of destroying them for good. They can't be allowed to escape their system."
Amber, Jewel, and I headed to the bridge. Neither one of us really felt like working today. If we weren't coming out of hyperspace soon, I would have just crawled back into bed with them. We were late for our shift, but I didn't care. We still had plenty of time before reentering normal space. Fortunately Sultan was already at the helm controls. It was all I could do to sit in the command chair.
We all waited, watching the digital clock run down on the main viewscreen. When the clock reached zero, Sultan pulled back on the hyperspace lever. Dampers automatically extended, grabbing real space and slowing us down. Our engines burned hard slowing our ships to .2c.
"Nathaniel, I am picking up a fleet of ships ahead, in system, they are Alliance."
"Jewel, advise all ships to run dark. We cant take the chance of being detected yet."
Our ship cut its engines, exterior lights, and electronic emissions. We switched from active sensors to passive sensors and silenced our transponder. The Vengeance did the same. The Lucy kept going, heading straight to the Alliance without slowing.
"Captain, I can't reach any of the Lucy's officers or its AI."
Natty's image appeared on our main screen, "Cappy, the Lucy isn't responding to any form of communication. I've tried using her override commands, and hacking into her command functions. I can't get her to respond."
"Sultan, change course. Turn starboard 3° declination -4°."
Our ships veered off our old course ever so slightly. It was enough of a course change, that when they came looking for us, they wouldn't find us.
"Captain, the Alliance have spotted the Lucy. They are demanding her surrender," Jewel advised me.
"Captain, the Alliance is changing course to intercept the Lucy," Amber reported. Tears ran freely down her face as she waited for the inevitable destruction of her old ship. It was her sister's now, but she still loved the ship. She redesigned and rebuilt the ship, saving it from being scrapped for its parts and metal.
We all waited, and watched. Missiles and energy bolts shot towards the freighter. The Lucy never fired a return shot, or raised her shields in defense. It didn't take long for the Alliance fleet to reduce the ship, and its crew to a lifeless hulk. The remains of the ship would continue on its course until scavengers salvaged it for the scrap metal. There would be no telling what happened aboard her. That information was gone now, with the ships destruction. We continued watching and could see secondary explosions from her unspent ammunition reducing the ship further as it continued to travel further away from us.
Beverly came onto the bridge after receiving the news about the Lucy's destruction.
"Nathaniel, what am I to do now? Everything I owned was tied up into making the Lucy a successful business."
"You lost most, but not all of your business. All of your working ladies are aboard my ship. I imagine you can setup a working arrangement that would benefit your girls, Sally's people, and the fleet. Work up some proposals, maybe integrate the recreation center or a holosimulation into them, and get with Jewel and Amber. We can at least salvage that much of your business."
"What about their clothing. They lost everything they had with the Lucy's destruction. They will need both working and casual attire. They are borrowing clothes from their new roommates for now, but when they start working they will need their own attire."
"Amber and Jewel have more than enough outfits. I'm sure they can donate at least one outfit to each of your girls. They can get more when we get to the Hades system."
Beverly chatted with Jewel and Amber about working out a new arrangement for her girls. I thought deeply about what actions I would take against the Alliance Fleet. We were outnumbered. Our fighter and marauder pilots were still incapacitated. I would be lucky to find more than three or four pilots that could still fly.
Unable to fight them in combat, that left us with just who was left that could possibly defeat them. None of the systems in our recent past would be able to face them. The only system that I could think of that could oppose them was Haven. The Iniguar system was to far away to be of any use to us. Many of the Vorg systems had their fleets tied up in the Spicer system, rebuilding the planets infrastructure, so they wouldn't be of any help to us.
That just left one system. We would have to lead them to Sigma Mizar, and the Vamps. I didn't want to return to that system and face the Vamps again, but perhaps I could do it without confronting the Vamps. Doc told me that they probably wouldn't try infecting us again with the Pharmakon and Pantacure still circulating in our systems. That wouldn't prevent them from capturing our ships, and leaving us on their planet in exile. We would have to be very careful.
I contacted Red to let him know about my plans, and hoped he was in agreement. It wouldn't work with us splitting up, so close to our objective.
"Red, I plan on leading the Alliance to the Vamp world, then leading them into a false sense of security with the inviting Vamps."
"Do you think they will do their part?"
"I'm sure the Alliance will follow, and they won't be able to resist such willing hosts."
"I wasn't asking about them, I was asking about the Vamps."
"I have no doubt about their welcoming the Alliance, and impregnating them, like they did us."
"Will they remain in exile, or take the Alliance ships?"
"I'm not sure. That will become a concern of the Alliance. At the very least it will slow down their occupation dealing with the new threat to them."
"Why do you call it their new threat?"
"Think about it. If you had been in exile, with no means to leave your planet for millenia, then got hold of a fleet of ships that could take you to where you could gain the infrastructure needed to rapidly expand, where would you go?"
"That's easy. I would take my new ships to the Alliance core worlds."
"That is what I am hoping."
"Why didn't they take our ships?"
"I am guessing they were betting on us to bring the Alliance to them. If nothing else, our impregnation would guarantee the return of our ships in the near future, when their offspring matured."
I was about to end our communications, when Natty broke in, "Nathaniel, you can't go back. If you break their exile... ."
I broke in, "Natty, you have defied me twice already, don't make it a third." I shut down our ships comms before she could upset me further. I had our curse laid in, and a believable jump point that would have us on a vector to the Sigma Mizar System. We just needed to get their attention.
Natty forced her way onto my bridge. I would have to remind security about what it meant to be kicked
off my ship. Before she had a chance to speak, I did. "Doc put her in chains, and have her thrown in solitary confinement. No visitors allowed, not even me." Doc escorted her off the bridge. She was spattering nonsense, as she was led off. I would send her back to Red when we had time, and she had some time to think rationally, perhaps I should order a sedative to help her calm down. I opened my comm to Doc, and passed on the order.
I transmitted our course, and signaled Red. Our transponders started broadcasting our information. Our flood lights, formation lights, and anti-collision strobe lights illuminated the area around our ships. We changed course, making our drive plumes visible to them, and made our run to our jump point at a leisurely pace of .15c.
They turned and accelerated towards us, gaining on us as we tried fleeing them.
"Red, we have to escape to Sigma Mizar. We should be able to hide from them near the inner planets."
"Won't that endanger the people on the first planet?"
"It can't be helped. They are a peaceful planet, and will offer a distraction that will give us a chance to escape."
"But their women, the Alliance will have their way with them, taking many of them as slaves."
"Better theirs, than ours."
Our call was broadcast so the Alliance could easily intercept it. It was also sent without any encryption. The bait was given, and the hook was set. Now all we had to do was hope they followed us. We jumped shortly after passing the jump point, allowing them to get closer.
We set a course that would bring us towards the first of the systems three planets, and waited for the Alliance to appear. We could easily jump to Hades from here, but I wanted to be sure the Alliance Fleet met with the Vamps. Then and only then would retribution be paid for the Lucy's loss.