Into the Chaos Ch. 05

"Is that chair standard?" I asked as I studied it. "It seems a bit too much."

The Chief Engineer shrugged lightly. "As I have explained before, a Dreadnought is supposed to project the power of the empire. When people come to visit the Sith Lord that normally commands a Dreadnought, they're supposed to feel like they're meeting a high-ranking representative of the Empire and not just another warship commander." He gestured at the Chair. "Have a seat."

There was a gleam of amusement in his eyes, but even with the force I couldn't detect any ill will in him, so I walked up to the chair and sat down.

"Greetings, sir." Said a male voice from hidden speakers in the chair. "Please place your hands on the armrests."

I looked over at Keller, who nodded with a smile and said, "That is the central computer, sir."

Wondering what was going on, I did as the computer asked me.

"Palm- and fingerprint accepted." The voice continued. "You're now recognized as Commodore Thalen of the Dragon Defence Force. If you need anything, I'm at your command."

Nodding to myself, I asked. "What shall I call you?"

"I am the ship's computer. Use the ships name, Commodore."

I looked over at Keller again. "Was it your idea to give me a promotion from Lieutenant Commander to Commodore? Four whole ranks are quite a promotion."

"No, that was actually Captain Meistrin's idea." He said, still smiling. "She argued that it would make it easier if we had to talk with the leadership of a planetary defence force."

"She has a point." I admitted.

Many non-navy people tended to confuse the title of captain with the rank of captain. The title of Captain simply meant the person that commanded a ship, which in theory, could be any rank, be it Ensign or Admiral. Captain Meistrin had the title of Captain because she commanded the Chariot, but her navy rank was still Junior Lieutenant.

To make matters worse, the placement of the rank depended on the navy. The Imperial navy had placed the rank of Captain above that of a Commander, but many others, including the Galactic Republic Navy, had placed the rank of Captain below that Commander.

However, a Commodore outranked both captains and commanders in any navy I knew of and by giving me the rank of Commodore, it should be clear to even the most thick-headed civilian, who was in charge.

The important part of the title was 'of the Dragon Defence Force'. Otherwise, I could be accused of impersonating a flag officer in the Chiss Navy, which was a serious crime, but as we were pretending to be a mercenary force, we could basically take any titles we wanted.

Chief Engineer Keller hesitated for a moment and then asked. "Sir, may I ask why you have tasked us with powering up all the undamaged ships in this battlegroup? This one is surely enough to get us out of here."

Instead of answering, I gestured for him to come along, as I walked over to the huge glass steel windows. Outside, the rest of the stranded battlegroup floated, now with their running lights on. A sign that they had their secondary reactor up and running.

For a moment, I enjoyed the sight, but then blinked in surprise, as I discovered that what I had thought was windows, really was a large screen. Looking over at Keller, I asked. "No windows?"

He shook his head. "No, sir. Unlike the Harrower, the bridge of the Dragon-class isn't located on top of the ship. The command section on top is reserved for the Wing Commander, who might need to see the outside with the naked eye, while the command bridge is in the middle of the ship, protected by heavy armor, and the outside we see is really just large holograms and screens." He smiled a bit. "What you see now is the standard configuration, but there are several others. Do you want to see the original?"

Since it was obviously his personal favourite, I nodded. "Yes, please."

A moment later, the hull above and around us seemingly disappeared, making it look like we stood in a big transparent dome on top of the ship, the pulsar clearly visible against the dark background.

It was a beautiful sight and I decided to keep that configuration if possible.

"You never answered my question, sir." Keller reminded me, interrupting my thoughts.

I paused for a moment to gather my thoughts before I said. "I have a job to do. Some of my people are still being held as slaves on Sharon the Red's base and once we get out of here, I intend to go get them." He nodded slowly at that, so I continued. "So, once we have extracted the people we came for, what do you suggest that we do with the rest of the slaves?"

He blinked in surprise at the question, but then said. "As a former slave myself, I would say that we liberate them all."

"And then what?"

"Well, just about every other slave I've talked with just wants to go home." He smiled grimly and added. "After having killed the slavers, that is."

"How would you get them home?"

If he thought it was a stupid question, he hid it well. "By ship I suppose... it's not like there is another way."

"I totally agree." I said slowly. "The problem we're facing is that Sharron the Red has more than seven thousand slaves on the island where her base is, and that was a year ago. If she made it home, she most likely has even more now."

He looked at me, disbelief and astonishment painted on his face, but finally he managed to say. "I hope you're kidding, sir."

"Unfortunately, I'm not. According to the slaves we liberated when we took the Chariot, it seems like Sharon the Red aspires to be a real Queen, instead of a pirate queen." I paused for a moment and then continued. "Besides those people, many of the former slaves would like us to go to the Nodia Prime system and free their relatives and friends. That too will take room if we ever manage to find them." I looked at the ships again. "We're four thousand four hundred people here already. How many ships do we need to transport an additional thirty or forty thousand people?"

"Well, the capital ships here would do the trick for thirty thousand people." He said slowly. "They can carry a lot of people in the trooper area."

"In theory, yes, except we cannot stack people into the ships like they were soldiers. I bet that many of them have kids and need more room than soldiers. That means one large family or two small families per cabin."

As on Chiss ships, trooper squads lived in cabins that held ten troopers in four rooms. Two rooms with four ordinary troopers in each, one for the corporal and one for the sergeant. The unit shared a bath and a toilet.

This arrangement allowed us to place two small or one large family in each unit, but it also meant that ten units could only hold sixty to eighty persons and not hundred.

"Good point, sir, though the difference isn't that big." He thought for a moment. "I guess that means that you'll want us to repair the damaged Gage-class Transports now that we have the time? They're not in that bad a shape and as they're troop transport versions, they can hold a lot of people. Just in case we manage to free all forty thousand." He suddenly looked at me with wide eyes. "You plan to take all of them! The ships, I mean."

"Every single one that we can repair." I confirmed. "We have to take the capital ships to have room for everybody just in case we're lucky enough to find them, and we need the Drakes for support on the journey there, along with any other ship we can find that have a crew requirement small enough for us to use them."

Again, he nodded slowly as he thought. "Do we even have crew for all the ships in this battlegroup?"

"Yes. If we land all our smaller ships in the hangar of the capital ships and use the crews from those ships on the capital ones, we have just enough people to equip all ships with a skeleton crew. Once we get people educated or updated, we can start filling them in where they're needed the most."

The Chief Engineer was silent for a while, looking at the ships. Then he turned his head to look at me with a smile on his face. "Most people would think you're insane, sir, but as a former slave I can only agree to your logic."

"Thank you." I replied. "Because as the Chief Engineer, much will depend on you and your people."

"We'll get them up and running, sir." He said confidently.

"Good and for now, this stays between us. I'll tell the others about the plan later, but as the one working with the ships, you needed to know."

"Thank you, sir." He thought for a moment. "If we get the chance, we could also repair one of the Delta-class carriers."

I looked at him in disbelief. The Delta-class carrier he was talking about had been hit by a meteor and had a severely damaged engine. In fact, it was so damaged that I haven't thought that it was possible to repair it outside a shipyard. "Is that even possible?"

He nodded. "Yes. If you haven't noticed, all the ships in the fleet are built on almost the same frame and have identical engines and hyperdrive configuration. In addition to that, many of the core systems are built as interchangeable modules. It makes repairs easier... especially with regards to spare parts." He smiled a bit. "We can cannibalise parts from the broken ships and besides that, the Epsilon-class repair vessels carry spare parts for engines. The two Gage- class are even easier, as it'll take a lot of work, some new armor plating, and a new life-support system, but we can cannibalise that from the smashed Delta-class."

Just to be sure I had understood what he was saying, I asked, "So, if one of the cruisers suffered enough damage to break down, we could cannibalise a transport for parts to get the cruiser back online?"

"Exactly right, sir. The same goes to a lesser extent for the rest of the ships, even the Drake-class Frigates."

That certainly explained why the capital ships were almost the same shape in different sizes and interior layouts. In my opinion, it was a genius piece of engineering. Not only did it make maintenance and repairing so much easier, but it also made it simpler to move crew around from one ship to another, without them having to relearn everything.

"Alright, Chief Engineer. If you can have the damaged Delta-class carrier repaired within a reasonable timeframe, just do it." A thought hit me, making me smile. "Oh, by the way, what're you going to call your ship?"

"Ehhh Call what, sir?"

"The Epsilon-class repair vessel." I stated. "As Chief Engineer, you're the co-captain."

He looked at me dumbstruck. "What?"

I couldn't help grinning to him. "You're the co-captain of the Epsilon-class repair vessel, meaning that when the ship is repairing something, you're the captain. No worries, I'll assign a captain to be in charge when flying ... However, you get to name it, so I'm putting you in the same spot you put me in with the Duchess, except that it has to be a marine animal."

He sounded slightly confused, as he asked. "Why marine animals, sir? We're in space."

I shrugged slightly. "With all these ships, I've been thinking about how to easily differentiate the classes. So, the Dreadnaughts will be adjectives like Victorious, Valiant or words in that style. The cruisers will be flying predators like hawks and eagles, and since the frigates are meant to hunt pirates, I'll have the crew name them something that symbolise that... like Hunter, Chaser or Raider... and to answer your question the supports will be marine animals."

The Engineer was silent for a moment and then said. "That's kinda genius, sir."

"Yes, but it's not my invention. It's a tradition as old as navies."

"Not in the Imperial navy." He said with a snort. "But it's a clear and logical way to do it."

"My thoughts exactly." I smiled at him. "So, what're you going to call your ship?"

He laughed softly. "With all the different things we need to do, I think 'The Octopus' would be a good name, but that would cause so many bad jokes... Hmmm... 'The Kraken' is a better name."

"The Kraken it is then." I said with a nod. "And now we need to go greet the newcomers."

He nodded, but the grinned. "Just to return the favour, sir. What're you going to call this one?"

"Majestic." I answered immediately and gestured around. "Nothing else really fit this ship."

He nodded with a smile. "You do have a point, sir."

-----------------------------------

"Wow!" Exclaimed Shakka in an excited tone a bit later, as she looked around in Majestic's on-board hospital. "How big is this?"

"Well, it has a hundred beds, ten bacta-tanks, a two-bed emergency room, a three-bed intensive care unit, operating room, a full laboratory and a pharmacy." I told her with a smile. "Everything a ship this size needs and as the only real doctor we have, it's yours."

She laughed in delight. "You really know how to make a woman happy, Thalen. Being a doctor at a hospital has been my dream for years, and now I'm in charge of my own hospital!" She did a little twirl. "Do you mind if I check the facilities out?"

"No. No. They're yours, so don't ask for permission for anything." I ensured her and chuckled to myself, as she vanished into one of the emergency rooms for a few moments, only to reappear as she left the room to go into the pharmacy.

I leaned back against the wall and relaxed, as Shakka continued her whirlwind examination of the hospital. Despite calling herself a med-tech, Shakka had proven to be much better educated than the average ship doctor. In fact, according to Iska and Keller, Shakka was on par with doctors on a large hospital and placing her in charge of the hospital really was a no-brainer. She would get the four combat-medics from the Black Dragons as assistants and students, along with every medic we could find among the freed prisoners. Hopefully, they would learn enough to be able to staff the hospitals and infirmaries on the other ships at some point in the future.

"Thalen!?" I heard Shakka call from the intensive care unit. "I might need your help here."

Still thinking about how to staff the other ships, I walked into the intensive care unit, but stopped as I saw Shakka. She was standing naked near one of the beds, her gorgeous red body on full display and a smile on her face, that was full of lust. All in all, it was an alluring sight, and I could feel my dick respond.

The sight made me raise my eyebrows. "Not that I mind seeing you naked, but didn't you need my help?"

She raised a hand and made a come-hither move with her index-finger. "I do. For some reason this has made me extremely turned on, and we have time for a quick one, before we're missed."

I considered it for a moment, but the growing hardness in my trousers convinced me faster than any spoken word.

"Majestic, lock the doors to the room I'm in." I said while walking closer. There wasn't a verbal reply, but I could hear the locks engaging.

"Practical." Remarked Shakka with a smile, as she opened her arms to draw me into a hug. Her full lips met mine in a soft, yet passionate kiss.

As always, her smooth skin was warm to the touch as I ran my hands over her body. Then I took a firm hold of her perfect ass, lifted her up and placed her on the bed. Shakka moaned approvingly and threw her legs around me, dragging me closer.

A moment later her impatient hands found the edge of my trousers and after a few fumbling tries, she got them opened and found my stiff cock, caressing it. In return I let a hand slide down between her legs, finding a dripping wet pussy. She really was as turned on as she had said, and her moans and kisses grew in intensity as my fingers began to play with her pussy. She shivered with pleasure when I ran my fingers up her lips and over her clitoris, where I pressed down as I made circles with my fingertips.

Her legs pulled me closer and suddenly I could feel the head of my dick connecting with my fingers. I removed them from her pussy and without pause, Shakka placed the head between her slippery lips and used her legs to press my dick halfway inside her.

"Oh my god!" she gasped, as she broke the kiss. "This is incredible!"

"Yes." I agreed. With her sitting in an almost upright position, her pussy was even tighter than usual, and her inner muscles rippled over my dick, caressing it part that was inside her.

Shakka's arm reached around my head as she kissed me again, making small rocking movements with her hips, adding to our pleasure. The kiss prevented us both from saying anything, so instead I took a hold of her hips and fucked her slowly, enjoying the silky-smooth feeling of her pussy, while going a little deeper each time until I reached bottom.

Then I shifted to long strokes, sinking fully into her body each time, while we kissed, and our hands caressed each other's backs.

It was a wonderful slow fuck, but knowing we had little time, I began to thrust into her a little faster, putting power behind each thrust. At the same time, I moved a hand from her back to her front, sliding over a firm breast and felt her erect nipple drag under my palm and fingers.

"Yesssss," she breathed into my lips and then groaned deeply, as I rolled her nipple between my fingers, causing jolts of pleasure to run through her body. Her pussy rippled around my cock, stimulating every bit of it with what felt like tight, liquid, velvet.

"Oh shit!" Shakka threw her head back and gasped in pleasure. Then she kissed me with passion, before hissing. "Fuck me."

Happy to be of service, I increased the speed. Her pussy gripped my shaft tight, and she began to tremble as she came closer to orgasm. Letting go of her breast, I gripped her neck and slammed into her, fucking her as fast and hard as I could.

The moaning escalated, and tell-tale muscle spasms started, then her body went tense, and she gasped. "I'm coming!"

I continued at the same speed, slamming into her body with each move.

Opening her mouth, Shakka came in a wordless cry, arching her back as her pussy clenching around my cock. I kept fucking her throughout her orgasm, using my grip on her neck as a counterbalance as I slammed into her, still using long deep strokes. She yelped and her body tensed, relaxed, and tensed again as she came once more, groaning in total bliss.

I did the same, as I enjoyed the feeling of sliding in and out of her quivering pussy, nearing my own orgasm with surprising speed.

"Are... You... Close?" She managed to ask, smiling when I nodded. "Yes."

"Gooooood!" she squealed as she exploded in another powerful orgasm, causing her to unhook her legs and let them fall to the side. Shaking her head to clear it, she looked at me with a dazzling smile. "That was fantastic. Could you please take a step back?"

Slightly confused, I did as she asked and watched as she let herself slide to the floor in front of me. Her red lips parted as she took the head of my dick into her mouth, tongue swirling around the tip, while her lips slid over the sensitive skin of the head. One of her hands gripped the shaft, pumping energetically, while the nails and fingertips of the other hand teased my balls.

Shivers of pleasure ran down my spine, going right to my balls.

Reaching out, I took hold of her head, using the opportunity to caress the soft red skin where her lekku met the skull. Shakka groaned happily and increased her pumping action, bringing me closer to an orgasm with each pump.

Seizing up slightly, I moaned as the shivers in my body intensified. Then my balls boiled over and I exploded into her mouth, sending stream after stream down her eager throat.

Shakka swallowed it all, moaning and shivering as she had a small orgasm of her own, and then proceeded to lick my dick clean, before she stood with a happy smile. "That was awesome. Thank you."

Breathing heavily, I chuckled and gave her a kiss. "No, thank you."