Stonerager Chronicles -

Stonerager Chronicles

By 2Charlie

This is a science fiction series that happens to include occasional erotic scenes. If you have not yet read previous chapters of this series, I highly recommend going back to do so before you read this chapter.

All characters in this story are of the age of majority.

Chapter 06

As Dutch arrived on the bridge, he saw that his crew was already manning their stations. D'narius was at the helm, Jjan'tira at NAV next to her, Alisia at the OPS station, and Pheebs at the science station.

Taking his place in the command chair, he turned to his right, "Pheebs, report. What are we looking at?"

Without turning, Pheebs mirrored her display to the main view screen. "We are tracking a pair of Noraxi scout craft and a single destroyer. No sign of a galleon. The two scouts appear to be making an advance run toward the fifth planet. The destroyer is lagging behind."

"Are there any indications that the Terrans are aware of the Noraxi presence?" he asked.

"I am detecting no uptick in communication traffic as of yet, sir," Alisia reported.

"D'narius, bring us closer to that destroyer," Dutch ordered, "Jjan'tira, be prepared to disable her weapons and propulsion."

Pheebs turned to look his way. "It doesn't look like that destroyer is running with shields up. Either they aren't expecting a fight, or they think they will have plenty of time to prepare."

A telltale light started to flash on her console, and she quickly changed images on the view screen. "It appears the Terrans have detected the scout ships - I am tracking four small ships on an intercept course."

From the other side of the bridge, Alisia called out an update, "The power signature of the destroyer is ramping up. Looks like she might be getting ready to enter the fray."

Just then, the klaxon sounded and Prime cut across all conversation to alert the bridge of another situation, "Jump portal opening eighty thousand kilometers out from our current position. Two more destroyers and a galleon are entering the system."

"We're out of time," Dutch announced with a frown. "Time to get dangerous. Alisia, drop Stealth Screens and raise shields. Pheebs, launch a spread of jamming drones - let's shut down their comms."

The ambient illumination on the bridge immediately shifted from blue to red as Alisia announced, "Shields up, sir."

The ship shuddered slightly as a half-dozen propulsion flares swept out from the bow of the Odyssey. "Jamming drones launched," Pheebs confirmed.

"Jjan'tira," Dutch called out, "remove that first destroyer from my sky. Hit them hard with the ion emitters."

Flare suppression prevented the crew's vision from being temporarily blinded as the Odyssey spat destruction from a pair of weapons ports just below the bridge. A dozen balls of tightly packed energy converged on the first Noraxi destroyer, causing massive damage and multiple secondary explosions as her hull buckled and broke apart.

"Bring us about and put us on an intercept course with that second pair of destroyers. Attack pattern Alpha One," he ordered. "Pheebs, give me a status update on those scouts."

"The scouts have engaged the Terran ships. They appear to be occupied for the moment," she informed him tersely.

"The Noraxi destroyers have launched a spread of missiles at us, sir," Alisia informed him.

"Take them out with our CIWS," Dutch ordered, wanting to test the effectiveness of his ship's close-in weapons systems.

As a hail of kinetic rounds sped toward the inbound missiles, detonating them in rapid succession, Dutch leaned forward in his command chair to order, "Jjan'tira, take out those other two destroyers."

As the ion emitters once again belched death toward the enemy, Dutch turned his attention to D'narius, "Attack pattern Alpha Two on that galleon, Helm. Pheebs, stand by on the tractor. I want to grab them by the collar and beat their face in."

"Sir?" Pheebs asked, uncertain what he wanted to do.

"Put us directly in front of them and hold them so that cannot maneuver," he explained, then returned his attention forward. "Jjan'tira, be ready with the ion emitters to start, but be prepared to shift to the quantum cannon if their shields hold. I want to blow their fucking bridge away, then we'll assess the damage and determine if additional measures are necessary to render her dead in space."

The Odyssey's FTL drive spun up for a moment as the ship made a quick run at light speed, appearing for a moment to outside observers to be in two places at once, putting herself only a few kilometers off the bow of the Noraxi galleon. A faint cone of energy could be seen as the Odyssey grappled with the galleon, holding her with the tractor beam, as Jjan'tira began to pound away at the Noraxi vessel.

The big Noraxi ship had energy shields, but they did not hold up against the punishing barrage from the Odyssey's ion emitters for more than a few moments. Unable to turn to bring a fresh shield face to bear, the Noraxi defenses were pierced, and the bridge began to come apart before their eyes.

Flares of light flashed at the periphery of their vision as defensive weapons returned fire from the galleon, but they were insufficient to penetrate the Tao shielding technology. Before long, all defensive fire stopped, and a gaping, smoking hole was all that remained of the galleon's bridge.

A second volley of ion emitter fire leaped from the Odyssey toward a single remaining destroyer that had fared better than its companions against the first round of fire. It did not survive the second round.

"Second pair of destroyers have been dealt with, Captain," Jjan'tira reported.

"The galleon is dead in space," Pheebs reported.

"I am detecting life signs aboard the galleon, Captain," Alisia reported, "but not in large numbers. If there are slaves aboard, there aren't many."

"Status update on the scout craft?" he asked.

Checking her scanners, Alisia reported, "One scout has been destroyed, along with two of the Terran vessels. The second is still engaged in battle with the remaining two Terran vessels, although one Terran vessel appears heavily damaged."

"Let's give them a hand," Dutch decided. "Are they in range of weapons?"

"Negative sir, we need to close the distance by at least thirty thousand kilometers to have them in weapons range," Alisia replied.

"Helm, bring us about and take us in - attack pattern Alpha two again," Dutch directed quickly.

"Jjan'tira, take that scout out as soon as we're in range - particle beams should suffice," Dutch advised her.

Ten seconds later, the second scout ship was obliterated, and Dutch was preparing to return his attention to the galleon when Pheebs announced, "We're being hailed, sir, by one of the Terran vessels."

Just as he was about to respond to the hail, Alisia reported, "Sir, the galleon is underway - slow but moving. The surviving crew must be controlling her from an auxiliary command center. I am monitoring a power surge from her propulsion block - she may be attempting to open a jump portal."

"Target her engines, Jjan-tira, and fire two High Impact Torpedoes as soon as you have a lock," he snapped, not wanting the ship to get away to alert others.

Just as a jump portal began to open in front of the struggling galleon, the two torpedoes reached their target. Their modified payloads blasted away huge sections of the galleon's propulsion systems, and the subsequent explosion was remarkably violent. The aft section of the ship was shredded away, and the jump portal immediately collapsed. Secondary blasts reverberated throughout the galleon, and the ship listed heavily to starboard and was once again dead in space, tumbling slowly in an erratic pattern.

"Prime, please open the channel to the hailing vessel," Dutch requested of the ship's AI.

"Channel open, sir."

"This is Captain Stoenager of the Alliance Starship Odyssey. To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?"

"This is Major Thorne of the Rigellian Defense Force. We do not recognize your vessel's configuration, nor do I know anything about this so-called 'Alliance' you mentioned, Captain...?"

"Stoenager. Bram Stoenager. I need to speak with your superiors, Major. And I don't mean the Lt. Colonel of your particular command, I mean the leader of this Terran Colony."

"That's a pretty ballsy request from a nobody, all due respect," the Major responded indignantly.

"Well, this nobody just blew the shit out of a Noraxi slave galleon, three destroyers, and a scout without taking a hit. Or breaking a sweat. Think about that and let me know when your leaders are ready to speak with me. Odyssey out."

He slashed his hand across his throat, indicating to Pheebs to close the channel. Tapping her console, she turned to him and informed him, "Channel closed, sir."

"Thank you, Pheebs. Any outbound transmissions from that galleon we disabled?" he asked of her, looking at the graphic of the vessel being displayed on the main screen.

"Negative. They may have tried, but our jamming drones are keeping their signals from being effective. By the way - in case you were wondering - Prime is interacting with them, isolating signals from the Noraxi vessels for the jammers, allowing ours and Rigellian signals to function. Pretty neat, huh?" Pheebs looked pleased with herself, which she kinda was.

"Careful, dear. Wouldn't want you to dislocate your shoulder," he told her mockingly, a grin on his face. "Seriously, good work all around. Now let's take the next step. We need to go over to that galleon and board her - see what we can learn from their onboard systems that can help us next time."

"Setting course back to the galleon, sir," Jjan'tira confirmed.

"I'll have us alongside in a few moments, sir," D'narius added efficiently.

"Scanning for survivors. I am picking up a dozen life signs within a small area that is still pressurized - the rest of the ship has vented to space. No sign of any significant threat activities," Alisia reported.

"Pheebs, you have command. I will take Alisia and two of the droids over to that ship to see what we can find. If those yahoos from Rigel get anxious, tell them I'll contact them upon my return," Dutch announced as he stood from his seat and motioned for Alisia to follow him.

*****

"Interesting," Alisia commented as she examined the encounter suit that Dutch had handed to her. "They are quite similar to the armored uniforms the iShan'tal crew had been wearing when brought over from the K'vetch, are they not?"

"I've made some improvements," he grunted as he donned the suit. "I integrated the personal shield generators into the suits so that they could defend us against energy, kinetic, heat, or cold-based attacks. I combined the personal communications units into the helmets and the lingua code so we can understand and be understood by aliens. Also, we can deliver quite the physical beating with them if it comes down to that," Dutch informed her, testing the flexibility of the suit, pleased with his ingenuity.

Their encounter suits were now mostly armor, rugged plating made from some impossibly strong, but incredibly lightweight material that almost seemed to absorb light, it was so dark. The suit itself was in two main pieces, like their uniforms, an upper and lower body piece, with attachable boots, gloves, and a helmet. The helmet had a large, clear faceplate that would allow for easy visibility for the wearer while still providing protection. Sealing the connecting points would protect the wearer from harsh environments, extreme temperatures, and the vacuum of space. The suits were black in color, adorned at the shoulders with etchings of the Odyssey Mission Crest and Winged Dagger 'Who Dares Wins' Badge.

"Prime," Dutch called out to the ship's AI as he headed aft toward the hangar bay, "please have Droids 1 and 2 join us in the hangar. We're going over to that Noraxi vessel to examine what remains and gather what intel we can."

Pausing at the weapons locker just outside of the hangar bay, he selected a rifle and a sidearm, attaching the latter to the belt at his waist, while Alisia similarly armed herself. Continuing to the shuttle, he opened the hatch and went aboard, sitting at the pilot's controls. Alisia took their rifles and stowed them behind their seats, then sealed the hatch as the droids boarded the small ship. She strapped into the seat next to Dutch as he brought the tiny craft's engines online and ran through a quick pre-flight check. Opening the hangar bay, he brought the shuttle's shield online as he exited the Odyssey, quickly turning toward the crippled vessel.

"Alisia, scan for a boarding hatchway that we can use to gain access to the remaining pocket of pressurized compartments aboard that ship," Dutch requested of her as he maneuvered their craft through the considerable debris field surrounding the twisted, hulking galleon, searching for anything that looked like a docking port.

"I believe I may have found something we can use, Captain. If you will adjust your heading more to the port, down twenty, you should be able to see it momentarily."

Redirecting their craft as she had indicated, he peered ahead along the glistening, sticky-looking hull of the alien craft, until he saw a blister on the hull which protruded slightly from the surrounding bulkheads. Round, almost three meters in diameter, it definitely appeared to be some sort of hatch.

Hopefully, this is not the shit chute

, he thought to himself as he brought the shuttle alongside the aperture, rotating the dorsal bulkhead so that the shuttle could establish a docking seal.

On a screen to the side of his flight console, he watched an external image of his shuttle as the docking ring extended to the aperture, expanding slightly as it went until it made contact. A telltale flashed on his board, informing him of a positive seal, and he unstrapped from his flight seat, retrieving his rifle and turning to see Alisia doing the same.

"Have you ever encountered a Noraxian before?" he asked her, curious about what they were about to encounter.

"Never up close, thank the deities," she admitted. "The males dominate the species. They tend to be somewhat larger than humans, standing almost two and a half meters tall upright, although I have seen them moving on all six limbs. They are reported to be strong, but brutishly stupid, concerned with establishing dominance at the outset of any encounter. You should be prepared for any face-to-face encounter to be very physical, and likely very brutal."

Flexing his arms and shoulders within his encounter suit, he nodded to her, then began making his way up through the docking portal.

"One and Two, follow us through and maintain overwatch here at the shuttle. I will summon you if we need you," he ordered the droids.

As he made his way through the portal to the alien vessel, he transitioned into their gravity. It was somewhat lighter than that of the Odyssey, although not by much. The lighting was dim, and flickering. Various systems were clearly strained and failing, as the lighting flickered and he could hear atmospheric circulation systems whining as they cycled up, then wound down again, cycling through intermittent failures.

Alisia looked at her handheld pad, turning left, then right, before turning back to the left. "The strongest readings of life forms is to the right, Captain. But, the highest power readings are to the left."

"So, we go left. Priority for this mission is acquiring more actionable data."

"And what about the survivors, sir?" she asked, concerned that saving lives was not his top priority.

"We're outnumbered here, and they are - how did you describe them? Big, strong, and stupid, I believe you told me, indicating they will likely want to fight us upon contact. Let's at least try to manage those encounters," he suggested with a grim set to his features. "I am open to allowing them to depart if they have some sort of shuttles or life craft, but I have no interest in taking prisoners. I am inclined to let the Terrans, er, Rigellians decide their fate."

Moving forward, they eventually came to a hatchway of sorts barring their progress. First glance revealed no obvious operating mechanisms - no handle, knob, wheel, or other mechanical device that would allow them to open the hatch. A cursory inspection of the bulkhead around the hatch revealed a pressure plate that was covered in scratches. Pressing the plate caused an inner mechanism to cycle and the door opened. Inside, he could hear the hum of machinery, as well as more organic noises.

The hatch was barely open before a hulking figure filled its frame, sweeping through the portal to crash into Dutch, knocking him back several steps as the alien began pummeling him with blows. An electrostatic shimmer flared visibly anywhere the creature made contact, and the damage was negated, shunting the force of the blows along the surface of the protective field instead of transmitting their impulse onto the being inside of the protective field.

Dutch took a moment to regain his balance, then leaned into his assailant, returning the blows with a strength beyond the human norm. The Tao had augmented him in many ways, physically as well as mentally, and he was eager to see what his new abilities included.

The creature was taller than Dutch by nearly half a meter, standing upright on powerful hind limbs as it grasped at Dutch with its mid-limbs, attempting to grapple him, and swung at him with its forelimbs. Each limb was tipped with a heavily clawed set of four digits. The being was wearing some sort of uniform that exposed its hands. Feet? And head. Its head was an ugly squat shape looking more like an anvil than a melon, with two sets of eyes - one higher and further to the sides of the head was large and black, the other pair was small, closer to the forefront of the head, and glowing orange - and a large gaping maw containing serrated ridges instead of teeth. The being's skin was dark red and appeared leathery, with no signs of body hair, feathers, quills, or other similar features.

Dutch ducked under the swipe of a forelimb and stepped into the creature, slamming into its torso with his fists, shoving it backward until it was against the bulkhead. Deciding that its head looked like an unlikely vulnerability, he swept it off its feet. The creature twisted as it fell, spinning to land on its other limbs as it scrambled to get its read limbs under it. Seeing an opening, Dutch grabbed it by its hind limbs and spun, lifting the creature and swinging it through the air, slamming it against the passageway bulkhead. Reversing himself quickly, he swung the creature back against the nearby bulkhead, next to the hatchway, then dropped it to the ground and stepped back from it.

Drawing his sidearm, he gestured at the Noraxian menacingly, "Stop this nonsense, now! I am not interested in you, but I will kill you here and now if you approach me again!"

The lingua-code did its job, and the creature seemed to pause as it listened to the translation. Tensing slightly, it began to hiss and growl in response, which the lingua code translated as, "Filthy Scum! You attack my ship, then come aboard and expect me to ignore you!"

A beam of bright blue light sliced out from Alisia's extended weapon, striking the Noraxian in the chest, and the creature sagged to the floor, stunned.

"There appear to be more in the compartment ahead, sir. We should stun them and move on quickly before others find a way to reach this section of the ship. Consider what you might do were you in their place," Alisia advised him, getting him to return to his rational senses.

Shrugging off his urge to pummel the creature until it was broken, he turned and led the way through the open hatchway, having to immediately stun another two Noraxians as they were advancing upon them. Alisia stepped past him to his right and stunned one additional Noraxian who had been in the process of approaching them in stealth.