Sholan Alliance - AU Bk. 03 Ch. 04

The others laughed at both of them and settled back to eat. Dani didn't talk a great deal and mostly listened to the others. She was definitely comfortable in his lap and he smelled good. Dani was also learning about them and subjects they found interesting. She would occasionally ask questions and add her opinion just so they knew she was still awake.

Once they were done and paid she was getting ready to get up when a breaking news report caught her attention and she groaned. "Can you turn that up please?" She called out to one of the staff.

On the viewer was a well dressed Sholan female. "Thanks for tuning into InfoNet news. We have a breaking story that the Terran Ambassador was at the Green Goddess eatery this evening. He confirmed that he has asked his current bondmate to be his life mate and another lady to be their Third as a triad partner. We have known about the bonding contract between the two but one thing that hadn't been announce is they are Leska's. He confirmed this with a brief comment as the three left the eatery. Here is another replay of the brief comment he made."

The screen cut to the brief moment that Billy was speaking and it also showed Tasha and Z'Marl. Z'Marl was looking very shy and absolutely darling. The male and female who had talked to them were standing there looking at the viewer as well and the lady couldn't help it. "The young lady is very pretty and looks so happy." She leaned against her mate.

Dani couldn't help but grin slightly. "She is a lovely person but don't let that shy innocent look distract you. It hides a brain that is incredible. Z'Marl can actually understand my father when he talks math and the physics of hyper space. Tasha calls it 'geek foreplay'." She had to giggle when she said it since Tasha tended to grumble at them about being too damn smart for their own good.

Mizaki nibbled her ear just to tease her. "You are forgetting that you make all of us look rather normal yourself. Maybe we can have some medical geek speak foreplay tonight." His voice was a low murmur as well.

Dani twitched from his nibble and growled at him. "You are definitely a beast." She winked at him. "I will consider it. Now I want to go dancing and pretend my daddy didn't just play the new services." She knew he was still very angry at Tasha's pregnancy getting out even if it was to a very select group. Dani didn't blame him either. She would have been pissed as well.

With a number of compliments they left the place and headed towards the club section. "One drink for me and then non-alcoholic drinks." She wasn't worried about his taking advantage of her but she wanted to have a clear mind when she made the decision.

Mizaki tried to look dejected. "Well shoot, that means I will actually have to work to seduce you into my bed." He heaved a huge sigh of annoyance.

All of them laughed at him as they were walking down the street and finally found a club that looked interesting and headed in. They didn't stay to long since as Dani attracted attention they moved on. Eventually it was getting late and Dani was getting tired of the attention. "I think I am about done with all this mess. I would enjoy going to your place and relax." The longer the night had gone on the closer she had been drawn to him.

By now most of them were sweating slightly and his scent was stronger than it had been. There was a definite maleness to the scent and she found it very interesting. Though slightly damp his fur was very soft as well. "You might even be able to convince me for a bit of fun as well big boy."

He looked down at her and his eyes appeared to be glowing slightly and there was definite interest. "I rather like the sounds of that Dani. As I said earlier I will stop if you want when you want." Her scent was more intense as well and it was attractive and arousing. He nodded at the other two and headed towards a public air car location. In the bar district they were scattered around so people didn't have to wait.

The two of them slowly walked to the air car spot and finally found one that was free. Since Mizaki knew where they were going he gave the address. While he was doing that Dani called and left a message for her father that she was spending the night with her friend. She had already provided the contact info earlier so her father didn't have to worry. Once they climbed into the air car and lifted off she snuggled up against him. She was enjoying the warmth low in her abdomen since she had already made up her mind on what was going to happen.

From a shadow a figure was watching the two youngsters as they were walking along and obviously enjoying their company. Once they climbed into the air car the person flicked something towards the air car and turned and faded into the shadows.

~~~ The Valtagen's

In the Earth system the enemy ship was still slowing as much as possible but they could already tell it was going to be a losing case. "General Quarters now. Man all weapons and prepare for battle." It probably should have been done sooner but to be honest it was a moot point. The sound of the alert could be heard throughout the ship. Since they were already at a modified security level it didn't take very long to get to full GQ.

One of the ships that had been approaching vanished into hyper and appeared on the far side of them. Several of the craft from the enemy ship kept sliding out of sensor lock. To be honest he had never seen stealth this good before and until they approached close active scanner range they weren't going to be able to track them.

"Sssir we are approaching range of one of the light warships. What are your orders?" The nav tech called out. This war ship came from behind one of the planets they were passing.

"Fire at will. We have virtually no chance of getting out of here alive so fire on anything that might have value." If they were going to go down they might as well destroy as much as possible. "Prepare the data drone and download as much information as possible on this system. Launch it prior to destruction and set it for silent running for two days and then to translate out."

"Already in progress sir, updating programming now." The non-retractile claws could be heard tapping away on the keyboard. The gunnery officer had told the weapons stations that they were free to fire on any target available but to focus on installations and enemy warships. Once he had freed the weapons the feel of missiles and energy weapons being fired could be felt.

The missiles on the side of the ship closest to the other combatant were aimed at them as well as the energy weapons. The missiles on the far side were aimed at installations. Once fired they accelerated to high speed and then the drive would shut down only to activate for the final run. The energy weapons were much shorter range but were easier to deploy and use. At close range the beams were hard to deflect for similar sized warships.

As soon as they started firing the other warship did as well though it did a maneuver they hadn't seen before. It started spinning on its axis. "Sir, not sure what they are doing with that. Presumptive guess is that it is a way to protect their shields." The tech was updating the plot when suddenly a number of missiles appeared. "Ssir I stand corrected. It allows them to throw a heavier missile strength. Based on readings the missiles are not as capable as ours are."

"Good. Continue firing on whatever is..." The ship shuddered as a beam struck the shield. "Where did that come from and try firing a missile or beam along its path." The ship shuddered again as a warhead detonated from a standoff range of less than twenty thousand kilometers. The missile detonated behind the ship and bomb pumped x-rays impacted on the shields.

"Damage control reports aft shields heavily damaged and damage to one engine. Speed dropping." Another crew member called out.

~~~ Terran and Sholan ships

The Sholan fighters had streaked off the Mother Ship even as it was starting to shift orbit. They had contacted the local sky control for a path out even as they had started moving. The fighters were moving at high speed till their stealth was borderline functional. As they approached the vessel they would slow down to improve the stealth.

As they were moving out their sensors already started picking up weapons fire. They were also picking up the missiles fired and the commander had to frown at the plot for a few moments before he started swearing. "Fighters three through seven target the missiles on heading... They are aimed at a civilian population habitat. If even one of them hits the destruction will be massive. Do anything needed to protect all noncom habitats targeted. Launch all fighters and heavy assault craft."

The ship turned into a massive hive of activity as ship after ship was launched. It wasn't a carrier craft in anyway but considering the size as a forward capitol ship she had a large capacity. As the ships were arching out the commander moved forward to a large open space at the front of the bridge. "Activate the holo projectors." This was where the Sholan tech was at its best. As the projectors came up the system linked with his implant and data started scrolling past his eyes.

As his eyes flicked back and forth the implant was picking up the movement of all the muscles around his eyes. Targets were being assigned, prioritized; ships were detailed to attack parts of the enemy's vessel and other ships to provide protection. This was what he had been trained for and excelled at. There was a feral glow to his eyes and his tail was twitching as if he was hunting and almost ready to pounce.

One of the medium sized warships from the Swiss intercepted the freighter which had come in screaming they were being attacked. They had been given specific instructions on their flight path and where to park. At the moment nobody was going to take any chances on anyone getting close to earth. For all they knew the ship had been taken over and was filled with explosives that could damage a good portion of the Earth.

The Terran vessel that was attempting to intercept the alien vessel was having a hard time of it. They were only somewhat larger than a system patrol boat. They had been ordered in and that was what they were going to be doing. The OIC of that ship was doing everything he could but he knew that chances were very good they weren't going to make it. He was going to do his best.

~~~

"Now dog remember that you are dead and I have authorization to do anything to you I wish. I could have you castrated with a dull knife if I want to. You belong to me. The only thing I have been told not to do is to damage that pretty face and the perverted brain behind it. We are going to be picking every last bit of information from you." The officer had a very contented expression on his face. "Time for his bath gentlemen."

Two men next to him turned the fire hose on and gave him a good shower of cold water. Just for good measure they were careful not to hurt him but they did alternate the pressure and rolled him around the cell. Down the hall all of dead pirates were getting similar treatments. When the officer gestured they turned the water off. "Now dog you are going to put on these nice pretty paper uniform pants and shirt. Before you get any wild ideas of hanging yourself these will tear if you fart to hard."

The pirate stood up and screamed at him. "Stop calling me dog you mange ridden fleabag." Even though he was on meds he was still pretty much certifiable. It would take time to break him even with the very carefully orchestrated efforts.

"I will call you what I want and I have decided to call you dog because that is what you are." The pirate had been punished by being left in a nasty filthy dog kennel when he had been a child. He had started killing dogs in revenge and had an almost pathological rage against them. One thing that he valued was loyalty and that would be undermined by having one or two of his most 'loyal' crew appear to give up critical information. He hated having to do this but he was capable of doing virtually anything to protect his country and still sleep like a baby at night.

~~~

Dr. Desjean had finished reviewing the scans done on Amanda and had settled back in the new chair in her office. With the scan showing in her HUD she was manipulating the images to see what was showing as wrong. As she zoomed in and out she was making mental notes of the problems and how they could resolve the issue. She had sent the scans to the surgeon on the ship that had done the initial work on Billy for his opinion as well.

Since they were going to be at an alert status she decided to see if Amanda wanted to talk. She grabbed a portable 3D viewer and headed out. Before she went to the Ambassador's quarters she headed to the rooms the four humans were in. She signaled before entering. All four ladies were curled up on two beds and were looking very concerned which was why she came by.

Dr. Desjean gave them a comforting smile. "Relax ladies this doesn't have anything to do with you. I can't really say what it is about since I don't have all the details. I can say that it doesn't have anything to do with the pirates or a threat to the four of you. I can understand how this might scare you but right now we have two fighters hovering over us to protect us. I need to go and talk to the Ambassador but I wanted to stop and make sure you didn't worry."

Bitty stood and came over and gave Desjean a good hug. "Thanks for that and we will be fine. If all else fails we will have our token warrior brush our hair. He isn't as good as Kingie but does an adequate job." They both got a snort from the male sitting at a small table.

Dr. Desjean grinned and returned the hug. "Try not to drive them to crazy. I would hate to have to give them, what do you call it, a hug you coat?" She had heard of it from someone but wasn't totally sure what it mean.

Savanna snickered. "The term is a hug me jacket and is from many years ago when they used them on violent mental patients till they calmed down." The warrior rolled his eyes again and the other women giggled.

Dr. Desjean snickered and then left the rooms and headed towards the Ambassador's suite. As she was heading there she was receiving updates from her staff. Even though they most likely weren't going to have to fight or run they were double checking medical. They were also setting it up for injuries as well but again chances were good they wouldn't need it.

She stepped into the assistant's entrance and smiled. "Good afternoon, I do believe the Ambassador is in her rooms with Amanda and Ike. Can you please check and see if they have some time? I have some information for Amanda." She settled down when he told her he needed a few moments.

He finished sending the message he had to the queue to be uploaded to mother ship when she came back. Right now there was a communication blackout during the battle. Once he had finished that he sent a brief message to Teolura and waited for her to reply.

Inside her suite she received the message and reviewed it and nibbled on a claw before doing anything. She finally turned to Amanda and Ike. "Dr. Desjean would like to speak with the two of you if you have some time. She has some preliminary results for you."

Ike turned to Amanda. "Do it Hun, if she can help let her." He took her hands in his and pressed his lips to them. "I know how much your hip bothers you even during your good times. Please babydoll let her tell us what she found." He put as much emotion in his eyes as he could as he was talking to her.

She had tensed up till he took her hands. Amanda turned to him and could see how much he wanted her to do it. "This will be the last time Ike. I will listen to her and do my best to keep an open mind but I simply can't keep hoping someone has some fix." She nodded at Teolura.

She let her assistant know to let the doctor in. When she came in she smiled at everyone. "Thank you for seeing me ma'am." She settled down and set out the display unit. "I do have some positive information for you. The question I have is do you want a detailed explanation or a simple description?"

Amanda settled against her husband and considered the question. She had a fairly good knowledge of what was wrong and had seen all the various x-rays and scans. "A middle ground please. Not to basic but not to detailed either."

Dr. Desjean nodded and activated the imager she had set up. "First I am going to call up a skeletal view of your injury. This is based on what I scanned this morning. Once I have done that and explained what I am seeing I will superimpose what the skeletal structure of a female of a similar size and age." As she was doing that she pulled the scan up.

"I am sure you have seen this before and probably with a close degree of detail. I have filtered out a fair amount of details that you simply don't need and would only distract from what I am going to show you. I do have to say based on my knowledge of your level of medical technology the surgeons that did the work on you were very good. Having said that we have access to medical procedures and knowledge you don't yet. As of right now your right pelvic girdle is damaged here, here, and shifted here. The hip socket has been damaged and your femur was severely damaged and has both a artificial hip joint as well as more metal than bone."

"Here is a normalized pelvic girdle and femur that is within two point five percent of similarity to you. This is something I downloaded from a medical database we have been given access to. The pelvic girdle is an amalgamation of several thousand scans to come up with a good standard. I am going to superimpose it and you can see how even with the reconstruction it is not lining up correctly..." She went on to describe the differences. "Do you have any questions?"

Amanda couldn't help but be impressed with details and leaned forward as best possible as Dr. Desjean explained what they were seeing. Once it was done she leaned back. "You said that you felt you could help me. In what way and how much? What sort of improvement might I be looking at?"

Dr. Desjean held her hand out and waggled it slightly. "Please keep in mind that I am what you would call a general practitioner and not a specialist. Right now you are approximate what I would call sixty percent of normal and most likely have some sort of chronic pain. Without having you seen by a specialist I would say we could probably get you to somewhere around eighty percent normal. By correcting some of the tilts and other alignment issues a goodly portion of the chronic pain would be relieved as well. We do have a specialist aboard the mother ship and I would need to refer you to see him for further information."

Ike listened as well since he had been to a number of her doctor appointments. He did his best to keep his face neutral and composed. The more he listened the more hope he had that something could be done. It had been many years since she had been injured and it had been very hard on him watching the love of his life in pain. Moving was hard and she needed to be on some strong pain meds at times for the pain. Once the doctor was done he turned and pressed one hand against her cheek. "Amanda please listen to her and go. Go to the mother ship, see the specialist, and take a chance. Please love do that and for both of us."

Amanda looked at him and met his eyes. She knew that she had been extremely lucky that he had stayed with her. It had caused a number of side effects that impacted on the marriage and especially in bed. Many times it was hard for her to be physically comfortable with taking care of both of their needs. That was one reason why she had really gotten into the charity circuit. She was well known for organizing charity balls, parties, and dinners. "I would like to talk to you in private Ike before I say anything. I will consider this and I am not using this to say no but I need to talk to you first."