Attack Butterfly (Rust Bucket Universe)

by Atk. Butterfly

  "What about the other part?" she asked.

  Dave replied, "That's partly because of a short life span and a propensity to live dangerously. Despite their birthrate, their population growth is almost at a standstill. As far as I know, they haven't gained more than a few thousand more people on Leuion in the last decade."

  "How long do they live?" she asked.

  "Only about a hundred of our years unless the person gets too reckless," Dave answered.

  "And many of them get reckless?" she asked.

  "Well, maybe not reckless, but they do take chances and they do enjoy sex. For example, they think nothing of skydiving and having sex at the same time. They won't even pull the ripcords until they're finished. Those are the kinds of chances they like to take," Dave answered.

  "Sounds like they aren't taking chances so much as being pre-occupied," the sergeant replied.

  "Your choice of words is probably more accurate of the truth than mine," Dave responded. "For myself, I think that doing something like that is taking chances."

  She said, "So, they're going to get revenge for their planet being raped."

  Dave said, "Yeah, and they'll probably go into battle with their mates between their legs."

  "They'll be, uh, making love while they fight?" she exclaimed.

  Dave tried to explain. "Probably. It's more of their ancient culture. Making love is one of their most important abilities. For a warrior to buy the farm while still screwing is their ultimate show of manhood and womanhood, for that matter."

  "The women do it voluntarily?" she asked.

  Dave replied, "To show that she deserves a warrior as brave as what she has and for the excitement. That's why they tend to take risks. When they're at peace, they find other outlets to show their courage and that they're deserving of each other. They don't start wars over nothing, either with others or among themselves."

  "I wonder how that all got started?" the sergeant mused.

  Dave answered, "That's the easy part. The Blues have lots of ancient records showing their history. That got started when a pair of lovers had to fight for their freedom and feared they would die before partaking of each other. She threw herself between his legs and fucked him while he fought off their enemies. The story of their unexpected survival and sexual exploit grabbed hold of the romantic nature of the Blues as well as their desire for excitement and took off from there. A number of Blue families can trace their linage back to that one couple and do so proudly."

  "I ought to let you get back to your work," the sergeant stated.

  "Nonsense. I could use a few more minutes away from my work." Dave reached into his shoulder pack and pulled out a cigarette and lighter. He lit up and smoked as he looked around the bridge, noticing that he must have been talking a little loudly. A number of men and women had their attention on him instead of their tasks. "Well, maybe you're right. It was nice talking with you for a few moments, though. If you have more questions, check with me a little later and I'll try to answer them."

  The sergeant left quietly. Dave finished his cigarette before turning his attention back to his planning.

  ***

  As Dave predicted, the Malakin forces detailed to retake Leuion veered away to fight at Echo instead. The Leuion forces sped off after them and caught them from behind, destroying several Malakin warships before they passed right through the enemy formation as it tried to turn to face the Leuion threat. Properly reinforced, some of the Leuion ships deliberately rammed right through turning Malakin warships, tearing them into two hunks of ripped and twisted metal that spewed out their contents into space. Then the smaller force of Leuion ships kept going as if running away from a hit and run engagement. They ran until they passed by hidden Union squadron ships that ambushed the Malakin force from the flanks while the Leuion force turned and charged a second time with equally devastating results.

  More Malakin ships were ripped apart. Others were simply fired upon by Leuion warriors who squatted at their weapons in ecstasy as their ships moved in close to make every shot impossible to miss.

  At one point, Leuion warriors in space suits leaped from their own ships to grapple themselves onto the enemy ships and plant explosives that the Malakins inside could do nothing about. As soon as the explosives were in place, the Leuion warriors hit a switch that activated a jet pack to rocket them away from the doomed enemy warship. Moments later, the explosive charges tore into the enemy warships with predictable results.

  The battle and interim chase barely lasted three hours.

  ***

  The sergeant said, "Admiral Wund sends his greetings and hopes that you have a beautiful woman between your legs. He reports that his force has destroyed a Malakin fleet and taken a number of prisoners. He would be glad to turn them over to us for interrogation provided they are returned for proper processing at a later time. He believes that they will be more talkative with their dicks still present."

  Admiral Oden considered his options and then said, "Tell Admiral Wund that he should hold onto the prisoners for now. We will send over an interrogation team. I fear that if we receive the prisoners, my government might not be inclined to return them and would use them to barter with the Malakins for return of some of our own captured people. Meanwhile, tell the admiral I congratulate him on his victory. I hope that he made many women pregnant during the battle and that his cock has grown from so much exercise. Okay, that's my message, sergeant."

  She replied, "Yes sir. I'll get it sent right away."

  A minute later, the sergeant was back by the admiral's side. "Sir, who will be sent to interrogate the prisoners?"

  "Is Admiral Wund asking?" Dave asked.

  She replied, "Yes. I'm interested, too."

  "You want to go?" asked Dave.

  "Well, I'm not sure. What would I need to know?" she asked.

  Dave looked at her for a moment and then thought better of it.

  "Really sir, what would I have to know to be included on a team of interrogators? It sounds like something that someone aboard every ship should know," she stated.

  Dave listened and realized she was right. He remembered his own inadequacies in dealing with the only three Ape-oid prisoners captured during the Ape-oids War. He had been forced to wait until he got them back to headquarters for a proper interrogation rather than messing up anything by doing something amateurish on his own.

  Dave replied, "Okay, you want to go? I'll tell you what's involved and you can make up your mind then. First of all, you have to go nude. The Blues have an intense dislike of clothing that's every bit as strong as their desire to show off their man or womanhood. It's considered very polite to stare at them, particularly in those areas, and even make a comment, preferably complimentary to them about their man or womanhood. That much you must know. Do you want to be an interrogator or a coordinator?"

  "What's the difference?" she asked.

  Dave answered, "An interrogator is considered to be a warrior by the Blues. If you go as an interrogator, you'll need a man with you because you'll be operating on their turf by their rules. If you go as a coordinator, you won't need to worry about a man being along, though taking one anyway is still regarded highly by the Blues."

  "Then I would be, uh, fucking while I interrogate?" she asked.

  "Not quite. You'd probably be getting licked if you're asking the questions. Do you still want to go so that you can learn?" he asked.

  She replied, "I guess I shouldn't think about being an interrogator just yet. Would I be allowed to observe the interrogation?"

  "As the coordinator, I should think that you would," Dave replied. "I think that you could learn something about how it's done on Leuion. You won't learn much about how it's done by Union standards, though."

  "How soon do you need to know?" she asked.

  "Fairly soon. If you want to go, then you're going to have to catch up with the team before it leaves for Leuion. We need any information we can get while it's still valid, so we can't wait fo
r long. I can give you ten minutes before you have to give me an answer," Dave responded.

  She asked, "They'd have to wait for me to arrive, wouldn't they?"

  "Probably."

  She said, "Send them without me. If we need the information that much, I can learn later when I won't cause any delays."

  "Good for you, Sergeant. Go ahead and notify Beulah headquarters to dispatch an interrogation team for Leuion. You don't have to advise them on the makeup. They've already got a team well-briefed on the Blue culture. Then notify Admiral Wund. When you finish, have Kyle, uh, Captain Kruler see me."

  ***

  Kyle came over to Dave and asked, "What's up, Admiral?"

  Dave said, "I think your sergeant there would be a good candidate for interrogation training, both Union and Leuion style."

  "Sergeant Ley?" asked Kyle.

  Dave laughed, "Is that her real name?"

  Kyle then realized what Dave was laughing at and smiled. "Yes, it is. Oh! Seems funny to me too, now that I'm thinking about what she'll have to go through on Leuion."

  Dave said, "She seems to think the same as you about every ship having someone qualified to interrogate prisoners. I'll see to it that you get her back after training and maybe one field trip."

  "Thanks."

  "Well, now that we have a real shooting war, we ought to get the funding to accomplish that idea of yours," replied Dave.

  ***

  New reports soon came in on the fifth wave of incoming Malakin warships. Orders were issued from Echo headquarters. Fighters across the planet scrambled back into space, their crews rested and ready.

  "Yeeee-Haaaawwww!" Susan shouted as her fighter took its rightful place in space and her fighter command formed up on her. She was ready to go again. From the sounds inside the fighter's cabin, her crew was just as ready.

  Radio silence was maintained as the fighters moved into position to catch the next incoming wave of Malakins. Not far from them, the squadrons formed together in preparation for what they hoped would be the next to last wave of attackers. Fully seventy ships assembled together into a formation that would allow them to exploit the enemy as soon as they spotted any weakness. The armed transports remained with the two squadrons, causing them to have more than normal strength. In fact, without the armed transports, the two squadrons would have each been understrength due to losses of their own.

  Thus situated, they presented two forces that the Malakins would have to deal with. Their positions gave them the advantage of a cross fire that the Malakins would be loathe to move into. With their engines and running lights off, their stealth characteristics made them all but invisible. It was a temporary disadvantage to be without maneuvering speed, but each ship was carefully maintained and ready to leap out as soon as the power was applied. Until the enemy knew where they were, the disadvantage of lost maneuvering power was slight and worth the risk.

  More reports from other than ships positioned by the Navy came in. Those reports came into headquarters from space watchers, small machines planted by the military in preparation for an attack. When ships came into their sensor range, the small machines, too small to be easily located and destroyed before they did their job, responded by sending microcode bursts of information back to warn the Navy. There was no doubt in anyone's mind about which direction the Malakins were coming from.

  Susan looked around her command through her view port. She counted to be sure that every fighter was present. She glanced over at Allen's fighter and something seemed different. She couldn't tell through the view port. Susan used a stick control to activate a camera with a zoom lens to put his fighter on one of her control panel screens. She zoomed in and looked his ship over until she finally spotted what was different.

  Beneath the butterfly on the nose, recent painting had been performed. Allen was now calling his fighter, Daddy Butterfly. Susan switched off the camera and retracted it back inside the hull. She smiled a warm, glowing kind of smile while she remembered some of their conversation …

  He said, "Yes, I agreed with you that if you should become pregnant by accident, the baby should be taken to term. I'm not asking you to abort it. I just think that you should have them suspend it now in an embryo suspension chamber before you have to launch again."

  She replied, "There isn't enough time to get hold of an E-sus chamber. Besides, if something should go wrong, we'll be short one fighter. It's really too early to take it out."

  He said, "No, it's not too early. You know as well as I that the earlier, the better. You just don't want to take the chance of saddling me with bringing our child up alone if something should happen to you in battle."

  She replied, "Or both of us. I don't want to leave an orphan. Besides, you know that I'm not going to take any unnecessary risks with our child in me, not to mention that my edge might be impaired after having our child removed and suspended. I don't know what that might feel like or do to me. Until there's more time to have it done without hurrying, our child is staying right where it's at."

  "He's at," corrected Allen.

  "You're pretty cocksure of that, huh?" she countered.

  Allen said, "Well, probably he."

  "Personally, I think our child is a girl and that she'll want to fly fighters. I can't deprive her of her first rides, can I?" asked Susan.

  "Butterfly, you're awful headstrong."

  Susan replied, "Maybe, but right now, I still outrank you. Until we're married, the decision is mine."

  "Oh, so you do want to get married?" he asked.

  She said, "I haven't ruled it out. Just pointing out some of the facts. You want more rights to make decisions, then you know what to do to gain them."

  "Well, how do you feel about marriage, Butterfly?" he asked.

  She replied, "I already told you that I haven't ruled it out. It's just that no one has proposed to me yet."

  Allen said, "Yes, and you have told me that you love me. I mean, otherwise, why else would you have given yourself to me? Haven't I told you that I love you?"

  Susan replied, "Not in so many words, Tiger, but you have in actions. I can accept that."

  "Okay then, I love you. Will you marry me?" he asked.

  Susan replied, "Tiger, let me think about that."

  "Butterfly, what's there to think about?" asked Allen.

  "Well, I've got to see if there are any other offers floating about. I can't just accept the first proposal without checking to be sure there aren't any others, can I?" she replied with a giggle.

  Allen exclaimed, "Butterfly! That's not fair! I ought to take you over my knee the next time I see you."

  Susan said, "You better not! I suggest you better be thinking instead of taking me again before I get big and that short dick of yours can't bridge the gap between us."

  Allen remarked, "Well, it may be short, but it got you pregnant."

  She replied, "Yes, it does function well. That much we both know now. Anyway, you ought to be thinking of doing that so I can be sure I'll be satisfied with you as a husband."

  ***

  The fifth Malakin attack ran into a meat grinder as the two forces switched on their engines while their gunners took careful aim and fired in a barrage of shots that took out fully a quarter of the enemy warships. By the time the Malakins reacted, once they were clear of the now dead warships of theirs that blocked part of their maneuvering, the Union squadrons were on the move and the fighters were closing in.

  "Yeeee-haaaawwww!" Susan hollered as her fighter leaped out at the oncoming Malakin warships. She switched on her command communications. "Butterfly Command! Attack and mix with them! Yes, Daddy Butterfly, the answer is yes!"

  Allen smiled suddenly as he heard Susan's voice directed at him telling that she was accepting his proposal of marriage. "All right!" he hollered while his crew, aware of what was being said, let out cheers and yells of their own.

  ***

  Minutes of fighting went by before the Malakins suddenly broke off and retreated. Susa
n stared in disbelief at the retreating enemy warships. It was the first time that she could remember the Malakins retreating like that. They were leaving at top speed, not interested in fighting any longer.

  "All Union forces hold your positions. There's still another wave due. Let them go or we'll be out of position to defend Echo. All Union forces hold your positions."

  Quickly, Susan rounded up her fighter command, down another wing as it was, and reorganized it into four wings.

  Allen's ship pulled alongside for a brief moment and caught Susan's attention. She glanced over and saw Allen pointing at the nose of his ship. She nodded that she had seen it.

  ***

  Hours passed waiting for the sixth Malakin wave of attackers. Dave realized that the Malakins were up to something. They were long overdue and there were no reports from their deep space watchers on their location. He walked over to Sergeant Ley and stopped. Dave said, "Send a message to headquarters to stand down half of the fighters. They need some rest and probably something better than Trats to eat."

  Chapter 14

  After twenty-four hours of waiting, Admiral Oden finally stood down all the fighter wings, leaving the two squadrons in place to guard Echo. Still, he wasn't satisfied with the results. An entire wave of Malakin warships had disappeared, along with the survivors from the retreating fifth wave. They were up to something, he was sure, but he didn't know what.

  Admiral Nick, somewhat shaken and slightly injured aboard one of the surviving dreadnoughts, met with him as they reached the surface of Echo and consulted with other staff officers.

  "You look unshaken, Dave. How do you do it?" asked Nicky.

  Dave replied, "Nicky, like I said, stay off the dreadnoughts. They draw fire. Put yourself on a cruiser, even a light cruiser when you know you have to fight. You'll have more of a feel for what the destroyers can do and still enough size to know what the dreadnoughts are capable of. Now look over these specifications. Let's see if we can get this new class of ships under way. This is the type of ship we're going to need."