[Bridge, USS Avalon]

  “Sir, we have several ships closing on us. They are 200k kilometers behind us, and closing fast. They are not broadcasting any IFF, nor do they have their transponders active,” Lt. Henry Klein, the tactical officer, states.

  Getting up out of his seat, he walks over to the tactical station to take a look. “Any idea who they might be?”

  The tactical officer shakes his head. “No, Sir, but we have to assume they’re hostile. Fleet command would have informed us if we were going to have company.”

  “Alright. Ms. Evans, set condition two, announce that all passengers are to return to their cabins, and tell the infirmary to stand by to accept wounded. Let’s just hope this is a send-off that they forgot to tell us about.” Then he mutters, “Though, I doubt it.”

  She replies, “Aye, Sir,” presses an icon on her dispy, which changes the lighting to amber, then touches another icon, and announces, “Stand to. Condition Two is now in effect. All passengers must return to their cabins. I repeat…”

  ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇

  Athena and I are in her bed deeply immersed with each other when the announcement comes.

  I pause, and she murmurs, “No, please, don’t stop. I’m almost there.”

  ‘To hell with it,’ I think, ‘It’s only a warning, so we still have time,’ and continue until she gasps, pulls me close and clutches to me as she shudders beneath me, which is quickly followed by me exploding deeply within her, yet again.

  Yep, we have sex, a lot, but the rec areas are always full, and Athena gets jealous when other girls flirt with me, which happens more than you might think considering I think I only consider myself to be decent-looking. It might be that most of them have looked around and figured out that their options for partners are rather limited. Although, they don’t seem to have gone beyond that thought to consider the further implications.

  Regardless, we enjoy each other’s company, and no, sex isn’t all we do together. We py games, watch movies, and talk about any and everything. Athena is not only beautiful, but also smart. Like me, she’s always pced in the top 5 for her grade.

  Once we’ve recovered a bit, she grins and kisses me, then pulls me down on top of her to cuddle. As she runs her fingers through my short hair, she murmurs, “Please, don’t go back to your cabin. Stay here with me. I don’t know what’s happening, and I don’t want to be alone.”

  “Okay, but let me tell my mom so that she doesn’t worry.”

  Rolling off of her onto my back, I decide not to call, but to text Mom stating that I’m with Athena and her parents are busy, so I’m going to stay with her.

  She replies telling me, okay but to stay put and not wander around.

  As if I would. I don’t want to end up in the brig for disobeying orders, nor do I want Dad mad at me. I’m simply gd that she didn’t demand that I return and bring Athena with me.

  Once I finish, she snuggles up to me, kisses my neck, and ys her head on my shoulder. A few moments ter, she murmurs, “That was the best yet. I told you that we’re compatible.”

  That she did, and I have to agree. Even though we haven’t been together very long, we know exactly where to touch, where to kiss, and where to lick to bring each other to ever-higher levels of arousal. I know she’s a fanatic about kissing as we make love, and she prefers to be able to look at me as we do, but she’s more than willing to make love in other positions. If I didn’t know better, I’d say we’re made to be together.

  “That you did, and I agree, we are.”

  ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇

  “Sir, they’re almost within engagement range. The computer has identified them as 2 battlecruisers and 6 destroyers. According to their engine profiles, they’re of Brazilian manufacture,” Major Klein states.

  The Captain sighs, thinking, ‘That tells us exactly nothing about who they are. The Brazilians sell ships to anyone. Well, I’m thankful they aren’t Russian or Chinese designs, or we wouldn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of surviving this since they are much better armed and defended.’ “Alright. Ms. Evans, announce Condition one, man battle stations, and activate the passenger cabin isotion systems.”

  The isotion system does as the name implies: it isotes each cabin, closes the air vents, and turns on the cabin’s individual oxygen supply and carbon dioxide scrubbers.

  She replies, “Aye, Sir,” taps an icon on her dispy, and the lighting changes to red. Then she taps another, and announces, “Condition one is now in effect. All hands, battle stations. This is not a drill. I repeat…”

  ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇

  20 minutes ter, Lt. Evans says, “Sir, we’ve received a report from command. HOTE just destroyed Ford, Garvey, Helios, Mammoth, Artemis, Paragon, and Arcadia stations, and are now engaging the fleet. Command also reports nuclear strikes on military and pharmaceutical research facilities across the globe.”

  Captain Marks sighs. “As if the virus wasn’t enough to…”

  “Incoming missiles! 5, 10, 20, 50, and climbing!”

  Captain Marks calmly states, “Settle down. Activate all weapons systems. Weapons free.”

  Lt. Klein says, “Sorry, Sir. Launching interceptor and anti-ship missiles. CIWS activated and standing by to engage any leaks.”

  One of the main dispys is changed to a view behind the ship. Moments ter, nuclear fire blooms ahead of the incoming missiles, destroying most of them.

  Twelve missiles make it through the interceptors from the Avalon and the Discovery. Eight head for the Discovery, and the remaining four head for the Avalon. Seconds ter, the thrum of the CIWS reverberates through the hull as they engage the missiles targeting them. The CIWS do their jobs and hit all of the missiles, but, unfortunately, only damage the engine on one, and it detonates when it careens into the hull.

  Thankfully, they aren’t nuclear, but it still blows a gaping hole in the armor, venting air, debris, and people into space. The Discovery isn’t as lucky; 3 missiles make it through the torrent of fire from the CIWS and strike the engineering section. Moments ter, the entire ship is wracked with a series of devastating explosions.

  The HOTE ships are even less lucky. Most of the nuclear-armed anti-ship missiles fired at them make it through and destroy five of their six ships, leaving only one heavily damaged battlecruiser.

  Lt. Klein gnces at the Captain, who nods and states, “Take it out. Damaged or not, they’re still a threat.”

  He fires two more missiles at the ship, which destroys it a few seconds ter. He then states, “All targets neutralized, Captain.”

  “Thank you… Ms. Evans, you may announce stand down from battle stations. Rescue and engineering teams are to stand by to deploy to the Discovery, and see if you can get Captain Dayton for me.”

  “Aye, Sir.”

  “Ms. Ivanov, I’ll need a report on how badly we were hit and how many we lost as soon as possible.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  A minute ter, Lt. Evans states, “Sir, Captain Dayton is on channel five.”

  He slips on a headset, then asks, “Fred, how are you?”

  “I’m fine, Evan, other than a broken arm and some bruising. The Discovery is done though. Engineering is literally gone. Anyone aft of frame thirteen is dead. So almost all of the passengers and crew are dead. We’ve gathered what few of us are left in the Observation Lounge. We’re running on emergency battery power, and that won’t st more than a few hours. I’m told about half of the cryo pods are undamaged and most of our supplies and cargo made it through alright, but we’re not going anywhere.”

  Captain Marks frowns deeply and stands up. He paces slowly around the bridge, then says, “We’ll be pulling alongside you soon. We’ll attach a portable airlock at airlock S3 and take you onboard the Avalon. We’ll see what else we can salvage after that.”

  “Thanks, Evan. See you soon.”

  He stops at his chair, leaning on the back of it as he considers just how much harder his mission became.

  ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇

  Several hours ter, Captains Marks and Dayton meet in the ready room after the survivors have been taken aboard the Avalon to consider their options and look at the list of remaining persons.

  Captain Dayton sighs contentedly after he takes a sip from his tumbler of Irish whiskey. USSF regs state no alcohol onboard ships, but that’s easily overlooked for these ships since alcohol is a social lubricant, and while some have issues with it, those types have been weeded out by the selection process.

  Captain Dayton breaks the silence. “What now, Evan?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, what do we do about me? The Avalon has no need for two Captains.”

  “How would you feel about becoming my first officer? I know that’s a step down, but it’s the best option since you know the Avalon-css ships just as well as I do. Just relegating you to passenger status is a waste of experience.”

  Captain Dayton nods. “You outrank me anyway, so I’d be happy to serve in whatever capacity you think is best.”

  “That’s settled then. Now, we need to ask some passengers to take in some kids because their parents were killed.”

  Col. Dayton nods in agreement, then says, “Right now, what’s most important is getting out of the sor system before another attack happens.”

  “I agree. Well, there’s no real point in keeping the majority of the people awake any longer. I was going to let them enjoy the view until we got far enough out of the sun’s gravity well to make the jump into hyperspace, but it’ll be safer if they’re in cryo if another attack does happen.”

  Captain Marks thinks, ‘Nineteen! Nineteen out of five hundred, and we lost ninety-three people due to the hit we took. Four hundred and twenty-six people to re-establish the human race. God damn HOTE to hell!’

  ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇

  A few hours ter, an announcement is made for all passengers to report to the main lounge immediately.

  Once everyone is confirmed to be in attendance, I look around the room, and honestly, I’m rather distraught at what I see, or more accurately, don’t see. The men outnumber the women, and that is not a good thing. There’s a damn good reason for why they sent twice as many women along.

  As I’m thinking this, Dad walks in and goes up to the front of the room. “Good afternoon, folks. I’m not going to talk about the attack earlier. What I am here to do is to give you an update. Some of the cryo pods were damaged, so we don’t currently have enough for everyone.”

  A murmur runs through the room, and Dad gestures for them to settle down. “Don’t worry, we’ll have enough. We’re salvaging cryo pods from the Discovery; it’s simply going to take time to install them. In the interim, most of you will be heading to the cryo pods, and the rest will follow as they become avaible. We will begin calling families as a whole to report to the infirmary for cryo prep tomorrow morning.

  “With that said, we have several children that have been orphaned in the attack. Do we have any volunteers to take them in?”

  Almost all of the adults raise their hands, which makes Dad smile. “Excellent! Thank you. See Major Devons after this, and he’ll make the arrangements.”

  Thankfully, it’s the passenger families that are put into cryo first, so Athena and I still have time together, which we make full use of. During this time, the Avalon is approaching Jupiter, and Athena and I make use of the observation lounge to watch. It’s a beautiful sight to behold, and it’s one that makes both of us rather amorous. Believe me, I’m not compining, but I find it odd that we’re the only two that ever seem to make use of the observation lounge.

  It takes almost a week to repair the damage to the Avalon, move over the most important cargo from the Discovery, and salvage and install enough cryo pods to repce the damaged ones.