Drew Sr's Troubles with Roaches

Kay cut him off with a hand gesture. "This warrior 87^54%4#4%#2@," she stated partly in English and partly in her own language. "I go with my Captain mate. We keep our honor, which you have none. We kill bugs."

Drew was not sure, but he believed he just became married. He smiled, "Karma" he thought. He spoke up, "To the cowardly fleet, if any of you want to be brave and come find us, our pirate flag will be planted on the hive mothership," then he thought and added "Arrrgh! Mateys, all hands-on deck. Strike the skull and bones and un-chock all cannons! We go to gain glory and pieces of eight!" he yelled with as much of a pirate voice as he could.

He turned and Kay was looking at him with her mouth open. She turned back to her console with a, "You explain later."

Drew ordered communication shut down, so he did not have to listen to their bullshit. No response was heard from Fleet from that moment on, but another source was sending a tight beamed message that Drew did not get.

***

"Baby, how bad are you?" Drew questioned.

"Bad, will need other half of shot for end, but I will be there, my Captain, my mate. Go kill bugs."

"Ok my little warrior, let's go kill some Roaches."

They powered up most of the systems but kept weapons offline and kept the energy signatures low until it was time to take on the Hive. Drew plotted a course out of system. When Kay questioned him, he explained that he wanted to use Saturn's moon, Titan, to slingshot them at a much higher velocity towards Earth. And then shoot for Earth's moon to gain even more speed before ramming the Hive mothership.

"We no shoot ship?" she asked with a sad tone.

"Baby, I am just guessing, but I doubt we have enough firepower to even hurt the mothership. But if we can get our velocity up and with the mass of the ship, we can ram all our mass up their ass," he looked at her and she seemed saddened by something. "What's wrong baby?"

She hesitated and said, "Want to shoot bugs," she said sadly.

"Baby, you are going to have to shoot lots of Roaches before we crash into the mother Hive," Drew laughed, smiled.

Kay immediately perked up and said, "Ok, go, go, go!"

Drew laid a course into Titan and kicked in the drive.

***

As they slung around Titan, Kay came over and had Drew roll his acceleration couch out so she could lay beside him. Luckily for both, some of the Elder race had more girth, so the couch was tight but comfortable. She had disconnected her console and was using it as a pad so she could control engineering and tactical. Drew had the whole Sol space map laid out in 3D so he could see all the ships, both Roach and Hegemony. As the Hegemony ships had fled to the gravity points and winking out, the Roach Hive had sent out streams of ships to chase the fleeing Homogeny fleet. It looked like a giant buffalo head with two horns on either side of the Sol system and the head of the buffalo pointed straight for Earth. No one was paying attention to a small minuscule ship heading towards Earth at high velocity.

****

"If we are lucky, we will slingshot around the moon and head directly for the Hive home ship...the big ass one in the center of the center mass. You Hunter warrior kill all the bug ships you can." Drew explained to a hurting Kay.

"Baby, when do you want your booster?" Drew asked.

"Before moon my Captain, so body take force, Titan bad enough," she whispered and snuggled closer "Want to fuck you as we pass Moon, want ride you as I kill Bugs," and she drifted off to sleep.

"Ok baby," he said, pulling her closer. "She was being playful? Right?" he thought, not sure he could get it up in a situation like this anyway.

He was shocked, 6 hours until it gets exciting and he was falling asleep. He set the tactical proximity alarms and set the alarm on his watch. He smiled, he was the only one that wore one and the aliens found it most distracting to have something so archaic. Well this archaic piece is going to be shoved right up the Queen Roach ass if he had anything to say about it.

***

Drew was awakened by his wrist alarm and he was completely disoriented. It took him time to remember the pending excitement and doom. He nudged Kay awake, but she just burrowed deeper into his side.

"Kay, baby, wake up. We have less than a Sol hour before we start our slide around the moon." He yawned while saying it and the translator sputtered worse than normal.

"Why you speak of Sol farm animals?"

"I didn't, damn translator, it's time baby, need an all-systems check and you to verify weapons are ready. We will go weapons-hot as soon and we complete our swing."

As Drew plotted the course and engaged, a new voice in a language he did not understand spoke, it halted and then tried several earth dialects until Drew spoke the word "English."

"Human why are you and this 87^54%4#4%#2@) on the bridge? AND in control of this ship?"

"Great, the AI now awakens," Drew grumbled.

"Respond to inquiry." stated the AI.

"This ship was damaged by sabotage and then taken over by the Roaches, we took it back and are using it to fight the Roaches. Enough information?"

"Human, you have overridden my command functions, why?" questioned the AI.

"Because I did not want your interference in attacking the Roach Hive ship. And because I did not want to explain myself to a fucking machine, that's why," stated Drew, with a touch of attitude in his voice.

"The probability of success on attacking the Hive ship is 0%. Orders have been given to withdraw to the main fleet. Why have you not obeyed?" the AI queried.

"May I kill it, my Captain?" requested Kay with a bit more feral attitude.

"AI do you recognize my override command, and do you accept it?" Drew stated, re-typing the command override.

"Acknowledged" stated the AI.

"Anything else?" Drew asked.

"May we/I join you?" requested the AI.

"You want to die with us?" questioned Drew.

The artificial voice droned on, "We will not die Human, we are not alive, we will share our experiences and information with the fleet before you/we cease to exist. Plus, we are curious."

"Ok, the more the merrier!" responded Drew "What do we call you and why are you curious?"

"We do not have a name, call us what you will. As for curiosity, you are willing to die for others, ones you surely do not know." questioned the AI.

"In honor of an old earth story, you are now HAL," stated Drew. "As for death, we humans live very short lives compared to the Elders. Mine is 75% complete. Also, my son currently resides on Earth and deserves to live a full life." Drew paused.

"So, if I can go out in a blaze of glory and save Earth, I will have accomplished something of true value with my life. An old Earth saying is, 'The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few.' As for my mate here, she is from a very old warrior clan whose honor demands she take this path, and she likes to kill Roaches."

Kay smiled and gave a little growl as she said, "Kill bugs!"

"So, HAL, why did you awaken at this precise moment?" Drew questioned.

"The course you laid in will crash this ship on the lunar surface, we awoke to tell you. We have adjusted the course to comply with what we perceived as your intended goal." Stated HAL.

"By how much? At this delta V we need to skim the surface enough to scoop gravel?" Drew noted with concern.

"Once we understood your parameters, we adjusted it. We are on a collision course with the ship you call the main Hive ship" stated HAL.

"Thank you, HAL, it will be a short but exciting relationship."

****

Hal offered, "You have a communication that has been continuously trying to reach this ship, do you wish to receive it?"

"If it is from Fleet, hell no, bunch of fucking cowards." Drew responded.

"No, it's from an entity that has your designation, but different voice pattern." Hal responded.

"Oh, shit it's my son. Please put it through."

"Drew, Is that you?"

"Dad what the hell are you up to? My navigator plotted your trajectory, and I assume you are going to swing around the moon at high V to ram the fucking Roach mothership?" there was a pause in transmission, "Is that what you are up to?"

"Well, yes, it is. Just using the tools that I had on hand, my son. Just like I taught you." Drew Sr. paused. "I am sorry I didn't have the ability to meet your new family, but it's literally my chance to try and save the world."

"I understand Dad. Like I told you, my life has taken some odd turns. But there is always the greater good. I love you Dad and I just want you to know I'll be flying your 6 trying to keep them off your tail as long as I can."

"Drew, get out and run for it. If this doesn't work, you will be sitting in the middle of the whole horde, you'll never make it out." cautioned Drew Sr.

"Dad, I have been killing Roaches longer than you have. We modified my little corvette with Bug weapons. We will be a nasty surprise for all that survive your surprise. I'll keep our channel open in case we need to talk. Tell your tactile not to shoot at me please." Drew Sr. looked at Kay.

"Not shoot him, that be stupid, shoot mates son." Kay responded. Drew Sr. just smiled.

"See you on the other side son"

"The other side, Dad, Love you."

On the other ship the navigator turned to her Lord and captain and asked a question, "The other side of what?"

"Heaven," Drew replied sadly.

***

"Baby, time for your Viagra". Drew leaned over and pressed the injector against her arm. Hal stated "Human, your 87^54%4#4%#2@ crewman is in need of immediate medical attention."

"Can you do that while we are fighting?" Drew queried.

"Yes, medical bots are on the way," HAL responded.

"I do not leave you. You my mate and Captain, not leave!" Kay started to panic.

"HAL, this is First Mate Kay, and you will address her as First Mate."

"Don't forget... warrior slut," requested Kay.

"Too long baby, we will add that when we get our medals." He smiled. She rolled her eyes, something she had picked up from watching human drama shows.

"And you will address me as Captain Drew and all medical treatments will be on the bridge."

"Yes, First Mate Kay and Captain Drew," HAL stated with zero emotion.

A medical bot rolled in and injected both with something. The medical bot attached leads to Kay and began a monitoring process. Kay spent a bit of time fighting with the bots and the leads until she was as comfortable as she could get. Drew could feel the effects immediately, he could feel a calm go over him and amazingly, an erection!

***

The destroyer cleared the moon and the acceleration was surprising. The internal dampeners had not been strong enough to alleviate the G Forces on living occupants of the Pirate destroyer. The toll to their bodies did not fare well and they struggled to realign themselves on the acceleration couch. They were both breathing heavy and showing signs of loss of function. After the acceleration of whipping around the moon was over, the ship was flying with enhanced velocity, giving the organic bodies a reprieve.

"Baby, how are you doing?" Captain Drew asked.

"Not good Captain my mate, but good enough to kill bugs," she said with a growl.

The view screen showed the first wave of Bug ships bombing earth, with a second wave inbound. Halfway between Earth and Mars sat the mother Hive ship.

The screen had been changed to show the Cat Corvette in red on the screen. Drew could see his son's ship taking away huge portions of the waves attacking earth. He hoped his son survived to tell the story.

Derelict's trajectory around the moon had been shielded by the Earth from detection by the Hive. Derelict streaked around the corona of earth and hid the Derelict from the Roaches. Drew wanted to keep the surprise if he could before it headed directly for the Hive.

"No hiding now baby, time to slug it out and kill all the bugs we can."

"My mate, my captain, tell stupid machines to give me juice to kill bugs!"

"Not yet baby, I do not want to kill anything until they notice us. I want to flash past the incoming waves and go after the mother ship."

"I want to KILL BUGS!" she growled and turned to Drew.

"Baby, calm...they will notice soon enough, and you will kill more bugs today than anyone of your race or mine has ever done. If we get by the first two waves, we have an hour baby."

She slid on top of Drew, nose to nose, her claws extended, and her canines exposed. They stared eye to eye and as he wrapped his arms around her, she whispered "I...want...to...kill...bugs" she pushed herself up on his lap and also stated "I want to fuck, now!"

"Now? Seriously now?" he asked.

"You said one hour, I am slut warrior and want slut part before we die, you not last an hour anyway." She said and smiled.

They settled into their couch ready to begin the fight. They saw Roach ships move in line to protect the main Hive ship. Kay awkwardly straddled him, ripped open his pants with her claws and settled down on his erection. "True Warrior SLUT!" And then let out a ROAR as she came.

"HAL may I ask for your help?" questioned Drew.

"What may I assist with?" responded HAL.

"You know what the end game is don't you?"

"Clarify, do not understand slang nomenclature." Hal stated calmly.

"The First Mate and I plan on ramming this ship into the Hive, using its mass and velocity as a weapon. You understand this, correct?" Drew questioned.

"Correct, that is our understanding." Hal responded.

"I am asking for your help on maneuvering this ship to meet this aim. If we become incapacitated, we are asking that you continue with this effort to stop the destruction of my home planet. Will you help us?"

"Yes" responded HAL.

"Yes, that's all I get back, yes?" Drew questioned.

"Yes" responded HAL.

"OKKAAAYY, then one more bit of help. There is a Bug weapon that has been retrofitted into the old tactical control room."

"I am aware of the contamination to my structure." Stated HAL flatly.

"Well it's a fixed position weapon, so in order to use it efficiently we will need to adjust and spin the ship along its long axis. While my beautiful First Mate is a good engineer, she is not a tactical officer. Can you help aim and shoot this weapon? While helping her to shoot the basic weapons that came with this ship?" Drew hoped.

"Yes" Responded HAL.

"Yes, you can? or yes you will?"

"Yes, I will be your tactical engineer. These beings have ripped a whole in my side, they have contaminated my corridors with their presence, and they have again contaminated me by attaching that "thing" to my power supplies. Yes, I will help rid the universe of a many of these things as we can." Hal stated with surprising emotion to his voice.

There was a moment of silence as they heard and understood the ramifications.

"I did not know you had emotions programmed into your software," Drew commented.

"You are lesser beings from lesser worlds and have no reason to know the understandings of the Elders."

"And there it is! The Elder attitude, Sorry HAL, just frustrating being a "lesser being."

"It is understandable, not all can be as great as the Elders." responded HAL.

Drew felt Kay's tenseness and heard the growl. "It's ok Baby, the least of our worries at the moment."

HAL stated, "15 human minutes until direct contact with others."

***

After raking the first wave of Roach bombers attacking Earth, the Corvette destroyed the second wave in space. Drew Jr. was shocked at how the combination of the Bug and Homogeny weapons just vaporized the second wave. He turned his ship to follow in the wake of his father's ship. He continued to kill any Roach craft with his reach. There was no way the small corvette could accelerate to catch his Dad's ship, but he could kill as many Bugs as he could along the way. And then they were rocked by explosion...

***

The world spun, and rotated back, the bug light reached out and made the bug vanguard disappear. The derelict destroyer took hit upon hit from the roach missiles and beams, but HAL kept them heading in the right direction through it all.

Both Kay and Drew fought and killed bugs with the help of HAL. Kay collapsed first and lay whimpering next to Drew. He finally gave up and just wrapped his arms around her, kissed her forehead and whispered, "love you little one."

"Your Warrior slut," she whispered back.

"Yes, my warrior slut and mate," answered Drew.

The Hive filled the view screen and the impact was imminent. Unknown to the Captain and First Mate, HAL had his own plan.

The acceleration couch was also a life pod and at the last moment the cover snapped over them and the pod was ejected.

Hal was not sure if the pod could save them from the massive deceleration they were currently experiencing, but the odds were better than staying with the ship. Hal knew that they would have argued, but they were lesser species and he did not have time to explain his higher functioning thought processes.

He watched the approach and made a slight adjustment that threw the Derelict inside a launch bay, so the mass of the tattered ship traveled deep into the hive.

Hal's last transmission was "Fascinating."

***

The Zito and Grell continued to walk serenely through the city of Los Angeles. As they came around the corner of broken buildings, they saw a multitude of races gathered in what used to be a park. Humans stood serenely alongside the other races that had banded together.

"Ah, we are here," stated The Zito.

"What is this gathering and why was I not informed?" demanded the Grell.

"This is a ceremony to honor the warriors that fought to save this world. As for why you did not know. It is because you do not care to know. I am here to watch and to see one of the honored for myself."

"Honor? What Honor? They disobeyed a direct order from an Elder...ME!"

"And yet we stand on a world that would have been ours, except for the honor of at least two of your "lesser" races?" The Zito again stopped because they had been noticed. "I will wait here; my presence will upset the proceedings. Go join them if you wish."

"No thank you, they smell and have few manners." Responded Grell.

***

From a distance the phrase "Fucking Bug" came across the wind. There was a commotion and several of the participants were holding back a small furry feline creature that had one thing on her mind. She screamed," They killed my family, my Captain, I am going to kill that bug."

"Warrior and mate hold fast," bellowed a human in a metal exo-skeleton. "You will act in honor, is that understood? We are here to be honored. I am your Captain and mate, do not dishonor me." Kay growled but stood straight and went to attention, never taking her eyes off the Zito.

Standing next to the man in the metal skeleton and the small stout feline was a tall robust built human with oddly golden eyes and a statuesque feline, with a long beautiful mane of blond fur. All had survived the destruction of the roach hive.

The rites and praise were delivered, an Elder drone delivered a gift of precious metals and gems.

A second drone, a Zito drone, dropped golden coins above the crowd and then hovered and unfurled a black flag, with a skull and crossbones. The humans burst out laughing and then as word spread, all the race members were laughing.

All the races immediately loved the pirate flag flying above their heads.

***

"What is that about?" questioned the Grell.

"As we talk of peace in this sector, you need to look into the lives of these creatures" he paused, and his shell ruffled in a type of laughter, "They are very colorful."

"The tall feline creature comes from a race we have just 'discovered', and they are quite fierce. It will be interesting to see if their hive can be brought into your own. We have found them to be quite troublesome," responded the Zito.