The Black

“Pappa?” Hera poked into the library of her childhood home later that night after Ivar and Martina had departed from their visit. She found Her father and Mother in their customary evening spot, sitting on a loveseat-style couch as they both relaxed behind the same datapad, reading the same book together. Both looked up at once as Hera stepped into the room and closed the door.

“What’s the matter, little one.” Her mother, Sylia asked first. “Come, sit.”

“Nothing’s the matter, Mamma” Hera responded softly, “But… I need to talk to you, both of you. It’s important.” She approached slowly, settling into a chair just next to the couch, “It’s about Jake.”

“I, see…” Prallus set the tablet aside and shifted so that He and Sylia could sit more properly, “Go on my dear.”

“I.. I need to know what you think of him. He has become special to me. I know my promise to you after Frie Paired with Clint. I wish to fulfill that promise.” Hera spoke more formally than she normally spoke to her parents.

“I think he is wonderful, dear.” Her mother began, “I worry though, I thought you felt humans too intense?”

“I care for Clint as family, but I have learned more about how and why he is different. Jacob is intense, but he is.. it’s not quite the same. I am unsure on how to explain it without betraying his privacy…” Hera began before her father held up a hand.

“He and I had a discussion; I believe I know the incident that you are referring to. I fear that I do not understand how that makes him different. His history is almost as full of blood as Clint’s.” Prallus was clearly concerned.

“Jacob… He is a Warrior, but He is a Warrior second. He told me once, that Humans like Clint are considered incredibly intense people, even by human standards. He may have fought in war, but he never let war consume him.” Hera finally fell silent.

“You truly wish for it to be him?” Sylia slid over to take Hera’s hand. “How close have you two become?”

“He has told me everything, I have seen the pistol. I have seen the picture. He has hidden nothing from me.” Hera squared her shoulders, “If I had not promised you would be involved in choosing my mate, I would have claimed him… this morning. I was moments from taking him when you knocked on the door, mother.”

“Are you ok? Do I need to give you two separate quarters? I didn’t realize that your relationship was that deep.” Sylia asked as Prallus leaned forward.

“No, Mamma. He knows our way. He wants your approval as much as I do; He won’t do anything until I ask.” Hera decided to leave out the part where Jacob didn’t actually need their approval, or his teasing threat to take her himself. She flushed slightly at the last thought.

“He is Human. I know your sister has done well with her choice, but it is not one I would have chosen for her. If you can promise me to wait until I can know Jacob better, I promise I will decide as soon as possible.” Prallus said slowly. “I do agree with you, He is not Clint. I will give him an open mind, little one. I am sorry I cannot decide tonight.”

“Ok pappa.. ok” Hera said softly. She took her mother’s outstretched hand and squeezed it. “It’s late, I’m sure you want to talk alone. G’night.”

“Good night” her parents parroted as she departed the library.

“I’m not sure what choice she has left us,” Prallus grumbled once she left. “She seems to have made up her mind. I thought we were done with this Human Foolishness with Frie.”

“Oh, Pral. You promised. Yes, she had made up her mind; but respect her restraint. It takes force of will to resist when the Claiming begins.” Sylia purred up at her mate, “I would know. You were always so propper. I couldn’t dare before my family made it official.”

“So you have told me, often.” Prallus pulled her into his lap and nipped her on the kneck, “I guess I can see where our daughters get it from.” He purred down at her. “Jacob is going to be family isn’t he…”

“Yes dear, I’m afraid so. Is he really so bad?” Sylia coo’d up at him.

“No, I guess he Isn’t. So the big question is.. how long do we make them squirm.” He flashed an evil smirk that was matched by his mate.

“Oh, a month or so. Payback is only fair after all” Sylia chuckled, “let's Let them butter us up first.” She snuggled up and reached over for the reading pad, “Where were we.”

__________________

Patrick followed Krastus into the ornately carved Library to be met by Aria sitting in a chair, cradling a mug of something hot and sweet smelling. Krastus took a seat in the chair next to her with a small table between them holding up a steaming cup of his own. “Please, Sit.” He indicated to a chair facing them in an L shape. Aria stood, walking over to the roaring fireplace with a pot next to it and poured a third mug before returning and handing it to Patrick. Patrick took a sip cautiously, remembering that The Delmar get cold more quickly than Humans. The beverage was hot, but sweet. Almost like a nuttier version of Hot chocolate mixed with something that tasted very similar to Baliey’s.

“Now son, please. What happened on that vessel.” Krastus asked gently.

“They hit the door to engineering with 12 and started shooting. They brought heavy weapons, and most of the engineering team died in the first few minutes. Lyrian’s brother-in-law stepped in front of a shit load of incoming, pardon my language. How he is still alive is a mystery, but him, plus a burst coolant line gave us an opening and we ended up in a maintenance crawlspace. Many did not make it to the crawlspace… we all saw their bodies thrown into a pile. As procedure, when the ambush started. Those with training were to arm themselves. That’s the only reason I even had my revolver with me. The other Humans were just engineers, I grew up in the desert. Shooting competitions and target practice was just enough to be “qualified” but I was the only one.” He paused for a long moment looking down at his hands, “I should have stayed.. died with them… but I….. by the time I got everyone else into the tunnel.. it was too late.”

Patrick continued, noticing the stillness of the Bailins as he got to through the events… Finishing with the assault on the three remaining guards before they could accidentally blow up Celest. “I am human, and it is not easy for me to tell you this. Portions of this story still give me nightmares, just as it does Camorra. If this was not such a culturally sensitive situation… I would have told you nothing… I’m still processing those events, and I suspect that both of us will be doing so for some time.” Patric took a deep breath, “Every time our Exo suits activate, a recording device activates to record whatever happens. I have the recording of that day, and I have not been able to bring myself to watch it…”

There was a long silence as Patrick stared down at his mug of steaming beverage. He wasn’t sure what to say. The Horror of what had happened to their daughter hung in the air for what felt like an eternity before Krastus finally broke the silence, “I understand. We will not press her about it… Thank you for telling us… and for our daughter’s life… Whe…” He was interrupted by a chime that resounded through the estate, denoting the front door opening with the security code. “We can finish this later. Thank you, Patrick, that will be all.”

Patrick nodded before departing the library, heading down the hallway. “You’re back early?”

“Fuck them!!! All they want to know is what happened!! How many died!! Did I fuckin kill anyone!!” She bellowed into his chest sobbing, “I don’t wanna talk about it, GODS FUCKING DAMMIT!!” She bawled before dissolving into shaking sobs, “I don’t wanna talk about it… I don’t want them to know. I don’t want Mamma to know…”

Patrick just let her rant until she petered out after a few minutes, “What’s that smell,” she said finally.

“Your mom made me a strange nutty hot chocolate drink. It’s pretty good, want some?” he asked gently, looking down at her and gently wiping away a fallen tear.

“Uhhuh..” She mumbled, finally letting go of him as they headed toward the library to find it empty. Patrick poured them a couple of drinks and sat down on one of the chairs only to have Cammy promptly sit down in his lap and curl up in a shivering ball, calming quickly as Patrick wrapped his arms around her, “Hmm…… They wanted to meet you… May wanted to tell her parents about you… That bitch…”

“Now, now. I’m sure they are nice people.” Patrick soothed.

Cammy slowly settled down, sipping on the drink, “Sorry. I got so mad. They weren’t who I remember them as. It’s like I grew up and they didn’t. May got me to show her a picture of you. She looked it over like you were a piece of ass.”

Patrick snarfed into his drink at the very human expression, “Oh my.” He said sagely, “I’m sure that went over well, ooof” His teasing was shortened by an elbow in the gut.

“Fuck her. She wants what she can’t have.” Cammy gruffed.

Patrick raised an eyebrow down at her, “Oh? I’m yours now?”

“Yes!” Cammy said without thinking then froze and blushed vibrantly up at him, “That’s not... I didn’t mean! What I was saying… I mean…” She stuttered before giving up with an exasperated sound and settled back down again. “You know what I mean.” She grumbled.

Patrick just chuckled and settled in to watch the fire. Two hours later he carried an exhausted and sleeping Camorra back to bed.

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“Forward Batteries by 3… Fire.”

As one, every 1005 capable of getting firing solution followed the order. USN Texas was a Terran designed ship of the line. She carried three sets of two primary turrets forward of her observation bridge amidships in both a dorsal and ventral positions and one pair aft of the observation bridge also dorsal and ventral. The command crew was currently deep in the inner hull on the battle bridge. The command of Captain Gleeson’s was simple. Every 1005 capable of firing was to split their fire among the three targets, and fire off a single round whilst keeping their rotary emergency magazines filled. Fourteen 10 meter long and 5 meter in diameter Depleted Uranium cored Steel darts departed the Texas at five percent the speed of light. Her two fixed forward battery, which was designed to cover the small cone directly in front of Texa’s centerline that the turrets could not fire, had to be swung slightly to come to bear on the beleaguered Vorath Cruiser closest to Phobos, and couldn’t participate in this volley. The Port side forward batteries fired on the left most incoming cruiser, whilst the starboard forward batteries split their fire between Phobo’s opponent and the other incoming cruiser.

The heavily damaged enemy vessel did not survive as 6 superheated and semiluminal projectiles evaporated the last of its shields. The Cruiser’s hull bulged from amidships as the dart shaped projectiles disassembled themselves under the extreme heat and pressure of impacting durasteel at almost 15 million meters per second, superheating the atmosphere inside the enemy vessel even as the overpressure shockwaves banana peeled the pressure hull itself. Death was instant as the atmosphere was turned instantly into plasma as it bellowed from the center of the symphony of destruction, flash cooking all inside.

The Vorath Cruiser to Port fared little better. She and her sister had dropped completely ready to fight and had immediately fired both of their Ship grade laser cannons moments before the Wrath Texas’ first volley arrived. She suffered the same fate as her Sistership under double the weight of volley, but she did not go quietly.

USN Texas’ shields flared and glowed under the combined hatred of 4 direct hits from weapons capable of evaporating cities through atmosphere. Alarms inside of Texas blared as she lost two of forward shield generators to auto shutdown. The last 10 percent of one of the beams penetrated, slamming into Texas’ Ablative bow plating ripping off several tons of reactive ablative armor. Texas had been designed to fight the Energy weapon-centric Martian Navy, and her armor did its job, boiling off the energy of the beam and dispersing it by controlled destruction of the armor itself.

“Away Damage Control! Status Report!” Gleeson bellowed into his helmet’s microphone.

“Forward Deflectors at 7 percent!! Generators 3 and 4 inoperable, reading overheat! Forward Decks 29 and 30 reporting excessive temperatures on the Port Quarter! We lost 40 tons from the impact site!”

Gleeson’s data flashed as the Planetoid finally reached subspace speeds and leapt, Captain Collins had tight beamed the destination Coordinates to the Texas before they left. It was time to go.

The Starboard side enemy vessel survived. She had received but half of the weight of ordinance that the other new arrival had been destroyed by. Her shields had held 4 of the 6 rounds that impacted her. The two 1005 projectiles that made it through were significantly slowed by their impact with the shields and had also been redirected just enough to prove to be only glancing blows. One barely kissed the starboard quarter abaft the beam, ripping a gauge down the side of the vessel before imbedding itself into one of the main drive blisters on that side. The gouge puked fire, atmosphere, and bodies for several seconds before emergency force fields could be established. The second impact was more substantial, slamming directly into the port side Primary Laser cannon’s power banks, shorting them out entirely and causing a secondary explosion that blew a chunk out of the port side ventral plating of the enemy vessel.

The weight of debris from both sides damage rendered identifying effect on target largely impossible. Texas’ momentum had already put her between the Beleagured Phobos, and the Library had safely exfiltrated. Captain Gleeson had no want to spend Human and Delmar lives if he did not have to.

“Come about! Double up deflectors on the Starboard broadside. Tell Phobos to prepare to be taken under tow. I don’t care if she can still make way” Gleeson growled.

“Captain Demetri on the hale for you.” Coms replied.

“Captain, We are going to have to snatch you up. The Library is Gone, we need not stay.” Gleeson said to the man on the other side of the channel.

“Agree’d, Phobos is Combat Ineffective, We are unable to make way. Requesting Evacuation once we are in the Bay.” Captain Demetri stated formally. “She gave a good show, but…”

“Understood, cables away, we are going to drag you into the bay. It won’t be pretty, prepare for impact.” Gleeson saluted the Destroyers captain and closed the channel.

Tow cables bore almost whaling harpoon shaped heads at their tips. 6 of them speared into Phobos flank as she drifted listlessly in the middle of a cloud of her own wreckage. It was a dirty and destructive way of doing business, and only done in emergencies. The prongs did not go in far but lodged themselves into the Martian made Destroyer. Automated winched heaved to their charge, forcibly pulling Phobos into the central bay designed for smaller capital ships. Phobos was reeled in like a half-dead right whale until her hull impacted the hydraulically suspension-equipped magnetic pylons that secured her into position.

“30 seconds!” called the engineering team from the bay.

“Captain! More contacts 099 by 015! Its big sir!” Came sensors as a Monster of a Vorath Vessel, easily the equal of Texas by tonnage, broiled into realspace just over a million kilometers from the combat zone.

“Phobos Secure!” came the call form the engineers in the bay.

Captain Gleeson bore his teeth at the newcomer. “Starboard Broadside, by division. Full spread, at the ready… Helm, all ahead flank, call when ready for jump” he growled into his helmet’s com system.

Precious moments went by as Texas spun up and accelerated towards jump velocity. No less than 5 separate beams impacted her board-side deflector array, but the range was long, and energy weapon attenuation prevented any penetrations. Texas’ Shields had dropped to a little under one quarters before the Helm made the call.

“Course and speed achieved! Jump ready!” Helm yelled out.

Gleeson’s voice rang clear and calm, “Starboard batteries... FIRE!”. Texas shook as the ‘full spread’ order was followed, dumping every one of the 24 tube’s 6 round magazines, releasing a wall of hate toward the new enemy.

“Rounds complete!” came the call from tactical as the last tube fell silent.

“Jump.” Gleeson ordered. His duty was to his men, not to whether he had affect on target. The parting volley would aid in preventing any attempt at a pursuit or triangulation. Texas leaped into subspace, having left her own presents in her wake.

It took almost 2 seconds for the wall of unbridled fury to reach the Vorath frigate “Wrath of Primus”. Her captain had watched the Texas through the Vorath version of data-link, and dumped all of his stored energy from both his shield and his weapons banks into his forward deflector screens the moment he dropped out of subspace. His vessel carried 8 generators for her forward shields alone. 6 of them detonated from power surges in the ensuing hurricane of depleted uranium and steel. Of the 144 rounds fired 105 struck true, 12 broke through the shields, and tore into the forward plating of the frigate. 3 made it past the hull but were too depleted in energy to superheat or overpressure the atmosphere inside, and instead passed through the forward quarter of the ship at an angle. 4 of them connected with the forward weapons banks and 1 ripped the power relays out of the sensor array before departing out of her port side amidships hull. The Wrath of Primus was crippled, but not immobile; and sent a message out for assistance. Four hours later two more Frigates dropped out of subspace to assist in the rescue mission.