Fate of Terra

Chapter 16.5 - Adaptation

Michael had trudged numbly up to the back of the crowd when he was stopped by a bouncer who said, "You other pay the fee or we're going to have a problem." 

Michael tilted his head as people around him began to take notice of the disturbance. In a blur of movement, he whirled about the creature and continued walking. The wet thud signalled the headless body of the alien falling to the deck behind him.

He stared out at the crowd turning towards him in horror as a stunned silence fell over the entire room. He drew his sword in agonizing slowness and held it at his side. An ear-splitting scream rose from the viewing tables and there was a sudden rush for the exit. Kat and Pandora were waiting though, and had closed and sealed the hatch. The captured victims watched in fright as the three began their bloody work, flashing back and forth in the dim light

The Felician was shocked, but she felt a trickle of pleasure as she watched the monsters in the room getting torn apart by someone higher up the food chain. Pandora had managed to secrete a small arsenal of weapons on her person and Kat stopped in mid-lunge to stare at her incredulously as a bluish flame roared out from her miniature flamethrower, blanketing the closely packed mass.

As the screams of panic merged with screams of pain, the two women looked up as an armored-suited figure lifted off from a corner booth using a jetpack and flew to a far bulkhead. A laser shot out from one of the being's gauntlets and cut through the metal barrier with shocking ease. Pandora tried to infiltrate the systems controlling the suit and was stunned to find her efforts repulsed. She didn't have time to try a different process or begin draining energy using her transfer method before the figure shot out the hole it made.

Then the two had to work to cover the new opening the occupants were trying to escape through. It took less than two minutes to litter the floor with over a hundred corpses. Michael ignored the auctioneer who had crab-walked backwards until he hit the far wall and was cowering in terror. He instead approached the young girl. Her form trembled with fear as he approached but she defiantly kept his gaze. His blade came up slowly, the steady pressure splitting the chains with ease. The shock collar fell from her neck as Pandora unlocked it remotely.

Michael sharply flicked the blood off his sword, rotating it deftly in his fingers and presending it out, handle first, to the bewildered girl. The Felician looked at it in wide-eyed confusion. Then the whimpering of the auctioneer caught her attention and she looked up at his face in surprise before glancing at the sniveling creature who had taken everything away from her. She nervously took the sword with adrenaline trembling fingers and seemed astonished by its lightness and form. She waved it around a few times before turning and approaching the auctioneer.

Michael gave her credit - she hesitate, nor draw it out. There were no tears as the slave master flopped about on the stage, gurgling as the last of his life force drained out of him. She tried to replicate the motion of ridding the blood from the blade, being only somewhat successful. Michael grinned and took it from her, using a piece of treated cloth from an inside pocket to clean it before resheathing it. 

He took off his jacket and draped it around her shoulders as the hatch was blown off its hinges and Legionnaires - Michael already enjoying the new name -  rushed in. Kat ordered them to free the slaves and start ferrying them back aboard. Pandora coordinated with Aurora to have Medical staff ready and waiting and got a shock as she felt a series of disturbances all throughout the Intrepid. "Master!" She cried. "There's trouble!"

* * * * *

Aurora felt Pandora's alarm just as Stacey called out, "We have multiple sections reporting attacks. I'm getting reports of a large gathering of hostile civilians moving throughout the ship. They tried for the Armoury, but were pushed back by the troopers. They got the same results when they tried to take the Hangar and the Guard-Bots slaughtered anyone that went to the Brig to try and free those freedom fighters that didn't agree to be commanded under Revarjah."

She feverishly scrolled through reports and paused. "It looks like they're heading here and towards the Medbay," she announced. "Pan was able to trap some in a lift, but the majority of them are coming up the main corridor. They don't have plasma rifles, but they are armed and have been taking any aliens caught out in the open hostage. The refugees - the Felicians in particular - are forming war parties to retaliate and the Shredders have been released, but the mutineers will be here in less than two minutes."

'The Medbay?' Aurora wondered. Then her blood froze and she stood to address the fifty officers on the Bridge. "Alright then, ladies and gentlemen. They timed their attack when both our leader and most of our on duty troops were away. It's left to us to take up the fight. It's time to earn those bars... To arms!" She strode out the hatch drawing her sidearm as men and women fell in behind her.

* * * * *

The shuttle landed violently as Zoe spun the craft with the end of the ramp just a few feet from the lift doors. Pandora told Michael in a worried tone, "They went for the Nursery, the Daycare Centers, and the Classrooms. Obviously they knew they wouldn't be able to hold the ship, but think if they have enough valuable hostages they'll get to make whatever demands they want." His eyes hardened and his mouth set into a line as the lift sped off much faster than the recommended safety limits advised.

As the doors opened, Marcus, a Legion, Kat, Pandora, Michael, and the Felician girl that refused to leave his side rushed out and down the corridor. They found the first of the bodies at the entrance to the main office. The long trail of dead continued past empty classrooms and finally ended in the Playroom. They stepped into the room and saw a tableau of death and gore that would have turned the stomachs of hardened veterans.

The blood of the mutineers painted the walls and their bodies decorated the floor in such numbers that in some places they were stacked on top of each other. Tanya stood in the centre of the room with the twin blades Mara had given her dripping with blood. A large oak desk and various tables were on their sides behind her making up a barricade behind which teachers, nurses, and scores of children huddled together. She looked up as they entered and beamed when she caught sight of him.

As he approached, she nodded her head back towards the improvised shelter and indicated four kids about her age. Two girls held stolen guns and were still warily pointing them towards the entrance while one boy held a bloodstained metal bat and another, a giant that was already taller than Michael, had cracked and bruised knuckles. "They didn't freeze. They're not victims either." She ignored the stunned expressions of those near the door and looked up at Michael and said, "I want them to start training with me."

Michael's beaming smile only grew with the heartfelt pride at witnessing his little Valkyrie forming her own War Band. He crushed her in a tender embrace before pushing her back by the shoulders and tucking a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear. Beckoning the Felician girl who was still wearing his jacket forward, "In that case, I have another fighter to join your ranks. She's been hurt like you have and I need you to make sure she never feels vulnerable again." Tanya looked her over and smiled at what she saw.

"What's your name?" The twelve-year old commander asked in flawless Standard.

"Reinah," Came the hesitant reply as the Felician observed Tanya's blades and the destruction they'd help cause with admiration.

Tanya smiled as she freed a hand and held it out to the new girl. "Welcome to the Intrepid, Rei."

Just then, Revarjah and Dejah as well as a score of Felician warriors stepped through the doorway decked out in war paint, armour, and a variety of nasty-looking bladed weapons. Revarjah shouted, dragging along a captured and bloody human in a Terran Federation Naval uniform, "We've apprehended the one who incited this treachery!"

Aurora and most of his bridge crew filed in behind them and medics darted past to treat the wounded. If he had to guess, they both attacked the main body of rebels and worked their way towards the core. He relaxed slightly at seeing Stacey - her intense  glare focussed on the 'less-than-fearful' moron, currently bound and gagged at their feet.

Michael glanced at the Captain of the Council's Destroyer and nodded. "Good," He remarked. "Now I don't have to remove you before we get to the planets."

"Let me take care of him," Revarjah advised. "I will make sure he suffers appropriately before he's executed in a great fire before all to see. Never will your enemies think to defy you again."

He gave an amused snort at the alien's words and shook his head. "I'm not going to kill him."

The alien occupants in the room looked confused and a triumphant smile crossed the Captain's face. "I don't understand," Revarjah wondered. "Why not?"

Michael shrugged. "We've learned on Earth that making a big deal of killing the leader of your enemy only turns him into a martyr and creates more dissention. I'll do to him what I did to that freedom fighter. I'll toss him in the Brig and forget about him." He turned and paused. "Besides, I still need to interrogate him for any information the Council might have told only to him. Don't want to kill him and find out later that he was the sole receiver of some kind of doomsday codes or something."

Kat had already pulled out her knife and Pandora hauled the Captain up firmly by the hair at the back of his neck - dangling him off the ground before putting his face to the wall. "We'll take care of it, Master," She promised with a deliberate computerised voice. "I'll assure you we'll be very... thorough."

The Felicians shifted uncomfortably at the tenor in her voice and Revarjah said, "I bow to your wisdom. It is true in our culture as well that the worst fate that can befall a captured enemy is to be given over to the women." The seasoned, battle-hardened warriors surrounding him nodded grimly.

Before they left, Michael told his girls, "And take that Lieutenant-Commander with you. Find out if she has the mettle to lead one of my Destroyers into combat." They nodded and departed with their struggling captive. None batted an eye when he'd called the Council's Destroyer his.

That was when Revarjah caught sight of Rei on the other side of the barricade being looked at by medics. As her presence was explained, the warriors got worked up again and demanded they raid the Station, but there was a resigned look in Revarjah's eye - as if slavery was a part of the world he lived in and they had to accept it. Rei assured the warriors that Michael and his girls were quite thorough in meting out retribution.

Dejah rubbed the girl's shoulders and her father asked, "What clan do you claim as heritage?" Rei froze up at the question. 


"Don't worry," Dejah comforted softly, "You don't ha-"

"No!" Reinah shook her head, glancing between Tanya, Michael, Raverjah and then back to the taller female. "No... It's alright." The small girl cycled a quavering breath and began telling a tale that clearly caused her pain. 

"My parents were killed in the occupation," She began. "We lived on Caeruleus but my father had holdings on some of the colony worlds. My uncle told me that they were targeted because they were powerful or connected. When they died, my Uncle took me in."

"He protected me and kept us alive best he could. We worked any job we could. It was never enough. I knew it was never enough, but somehow we always had something left." She misted up. "He was killed when 'they' took offense to something." Her voice cracked and her head lowered as she fought to contain the tears. 

"What did you do next?" Raverjah asked gently. 

Sniffing her nose clear, the brutalised girl blinked away the moisture and continued in a chocked voice, "When he died I didn't know what to do. A pilot, one of the few the B'Amuf allowed, offered to get me off planet when he saw me in the starport after a few days."

"What did he ask as payment," Michael asked with as little venom as he could - his mind going to a dark place at the thought of what a smuggler would ask 'in trade.'

"I used all the money I had to get away," She admitted. Then the tears began to fall in earnest as the recent ordeal caught up to her. 

Through sobs and others filling in the gaps of his knowledge, Michael gathered the grim picture the girl had fallen into. From there it was unclear what exactly transpired. She was dropped off at the nearest Station outside of B'Amuf-controlled space and she was snatched up as she wandered around looking for work. Multiple hands later, she found herself on that stage, unsure where in the galaxy she was. The way it was set up made it seem likely that the pilot who'd given her a ride had sold her out. Somewhere along the line, Rei's head had burried itself within Dejah's long mane and they were both crying.

Revarjah looked to Michael and clasped his fist to his chest and bowed low, exposing his neck. There was a rumble from the warriors behind him and Michael knew something significant was happening. The Felician straightened and declared, "My people are already indebted to you. With this, I'm afraid that the scales will long be in your favour. What is mine is pledged to you. Let my name be linked to yours from this day forward. You and your family are accepted into the ranks of our most honoured and should you ever need help from any of my race, we are hereby bound to give it to you." He turned and walked out with his warriors, leaving the humans stunned.

People began leaving the room and the process of clearing the bodies got underway. Michael, Aurora, and Marcus walked down the empty bloodstained corridor where most of the fighting had taken place. His General had just finished explaining that they'd had suspicions about some of the players causing dissent but had never been able to obtain any hard evidence when Michael spun and plucked Marcus off his feet, slamming him against the wall, easily moving him along with over four hundred pounds of powered armour.

"You don't need evidence," Michael gritted out. "You don't need warrants or proof or probable cause. You let me worry about the backlash that occurs when you start arresting innocent people." He looked into Marcus's eyes and promised, "This will not happen again. I will attempt to be as fair as possible in judgment, but I will use fear if necessary to keep my people safe from harm. You are my shield, Marcus. Just as Aurora is my sword and Kat is my hidden dagger. If your morals get in the way of doing all that's needed to keep my family safe, you best tell me now."

Marcus glanced down and saw Michael's arm wasn't even shaking from the strain of holding him up. He felt a flicker of worry as he noticed they were getting stronger and wondered if they gave up more of their humanity the further they 'evolved.' He'd stared down tougher men than himself in the past. Men who'd seen the camps, the killing fields, infanticide, the apocalypse itself... Yet  when he looked into Michael's eyes, all he saw were twin black holes of determination boring into him. They made him feel infinitesimal, and yet powerful. It was a feeling he'd never experienced before, nor one he ever knew could exist.

He sighed and looked at the holographic images that stretched the length of the bulkheads along the corridor, displaying the view of space outside. He remembered them telling him of the rumors that a stronger, more advanced race was moving outwards from the centre of the galaxy. Even if that wasn't true, odds were good that the B'Amuf would not be the most powerful foe Earth would have to face. He remembered the Destroyer Captain and the Council-appointed Admiral before him, and knew that if it came to a war against a superior race, the government on Earth stood no chance.

Marcus knew Michael played for different stakes than everyone else. With Kat driving him forward, he was unstoppable. He held the fate of Terra in his hands. He saw a race millions of years old and immediately started coming up with ways to kill it. It wasn't 'right,' it wasn't 'sane,' those were concepts that Marcus was coming to realise weren't applicable anymore. The truth was, it was necessary. Marcus realized that if his sins were what were required to save humanity, he'd gladly pay the price. He breathed a heavy sigh and answered, "Aye, lad. I'll be your shield."

* * * * *

As the fleet left the Station and continued on their route towards B'Amuf-controlled space, Michael and Aurora exited the lift to their rooms. "The losses today bring our death toll up to 147 so far," She told him, frustrated. "We can't afford these kinds of casualties - we haven't even reached our destination yet."

"There was bound to be an adjustment period," Kat pointed out. 

"True, but we can't afford this level of in-fighting this soon into our quest." Michael pointed out. "We can't afford to break into Factions. We can replace them with worker model androids but that defeats the purpose of bringing all these people with us."

"What are they being used for?" Aurora asked. 

"To cut down the on a lot of manual labour jobs aboard," He revealed. "Particularly in harvesting crops and the processing sector. We'll be restructuring and should be able to supplement any shortages with aliens."

"Those aliens will be leaving when we get to their planets," Aurora reminded him.

He smiled. "Yes," He agreed, "But I suspect we'll be providing an outlet to those oppressed masses that have been ruled for so long." Her eyes widened in realization. "We should have a steady stream of volunteers to make up any losses we take, especially since we'll have the only ship that matches up to the B'Amuf. At least at first..."

"You intend to allow the aliens their own Navies?" she wondered. "I know they 'should' be with us since we'll be their liberators, but what happens decades down the line, when their leaders change?"

"It will be our job to not only make sure Pan can shut them down at any time, but also to watch them and ensure we always stay ahead of them in technology," Michael replied. "We're arming entire civilisations. What actions they take from then on will be our responsibility. I have a feeling that we'll be lucky if our enemy turns out to be someone we're familiar with though."

She remained silent and the three of them entered the bedroom. Both were exhausted and Michael had just planned on racking out. Then he saw a bare naked butt sticking out of the sheets atop the bed. Kat stopped and stared at the target a sleeping Aki was presenting and her mouth watered.

Each stripped their clothes and approached the bed. Aurora was delighted to see a sleeping Rin buried under a mountain of covers and moved into position. Michael knelt next to Aki and massaged her pearly white cheeks, causing her to squirm and wiggle her ass in her sleep. He smiled and gently spread her legs until he could access the bottom of her pert pink lips. Aki moaned and stretched dreamily as his tongue went to work.

She blinked her eyes open and paused, getting her bearings. A smile touched her lips and she looked over her shoulder saying, "I know that feeling..." Michael laughed and continued enjoying her dampening pussy. She arched her back and moaned as his tongue dove deeper. He grinned and smacked her plump, raised ass appreciatively.

"Oh!" Aki cooed before shaking her hips eagerly as her buns were reddened, the noise woke Rin who found herself pinned between two bodies that weren't there when she fell asleep. 

The tender kisses and the happy movements of each coming to lay comfortably with the others took heartbeats, each so intune with the others bio-rythms. 

Aki, rolled so she could look up at Michael from the bed, she wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned in for a long, endearing kiss. As she pulled away, she sighed sexily and grinned up at him impishly. "Just think, Rin," she murmured, "we could be stuck in a forced marriage with the Takamori brothers right now..."

Rin paused and considered that. She would've rather died than marry the eldest son, but with Aki at stake she knew there was no limit to what she'd have given up. She shot a loving look towards Michael and reached out and squeezed her sister's hand. Their circumstances had certainly changed. They were now among the most powerful women in their solar system and quite possibly the galaxy. They could do literally whatever they wanted. 

They lived in an environment that kept them interested and challenged them intellectually, physically, and emotionally. Most of all, they got to travel among the stars. She backed off Aurora's face and looked down at her sopping wet features. Smiling, she leaned down and gave her other sister a kiss, tasting her own juices. 'Yes,' she thought. 'Life really was perfect.'

* * * * *

An absolutely incredible thank you goes out to those on my Patreon who make this possible. 

A special thanks to:

John Stanley ,Andrew Deal , Rallaster, firelance1010, Kiel Torfin, Andrew Hosea, Karl Snickars, Orion0132, Tristitan, Onesemo, William, Dirlagraun, James Beckman, JCofEarth, Marcus Davis

This is the end of the first story of Fate of Terra as i've elected to split the story into two parts. 
The next few chapters will also be coming out in the next few days so keep posted. if you want early access, be sure to come over to my patreon. www.patreon.com/jcthecontinuer
If you would like to see this story progress faster, I am asking for some support from my reading community to make this feasible. The more I receive, the more I can invest into this tale. 

If you have any feedback I would love to hear it. How did you find the balance of adult material with plot? do you want to see more detail in certain scenes over others? 

JC