Tales From The Space Force Pt. 02

They were cleaning up and dressing to go to dinner. Yes, Lucas still loved her tongue, it actually felt better now with the addition of the saliva replacement and Evelyn thought he tasted wonderful. She had licked and kissed every inch of his body, "Just to make sure."

They would have to be careful as the saliva replacement reservoir was not that big. Granted, it only needed a drop or two so she could taste things and that worked fine for eating, but if she got carried away using her tongue on him, the reservoir could empty quickly. They figured they would talk to Haruki and see if there was a way to shut it off if she wasn't eating and using her tongue for other things.

They went up to officers dining hall, and met Haruki there talking to one of the other officers. They figured they would talk to him after dinner. They waited another ten minutes then the colonel and major showed up and the were served dinner.

Evelyn smiled when the steward set a plate in front of her with her promised steak on it. The colonel smiled, "Your steak as promised Pilot Saito, I hope you enjoy it."

Evelyn cut off a small piece and put it in her mouth and began to chew. Lucas grinned when she got a look of shear pleasure as she tasted a steak for the first time in years. Lunch had been fine, but in no way compared to this.

She smiled and said, "Thank you so much colonel, you have no idea how good that tastes."

Haruki and Lucas smiled, and Haruki asked, "Is it the same as it was before dear?"

Evelyn smiled, "Yes, or at least I think so. It has been a long time."

They finished dinner and they all talked to one another for a while, then the hall started to empty and Lucas asked Haruki if he could have a private word.

Haruki nodded and they went out to the passageway and Evelyn said she'd meet him in their quarters. Lucas, with a slight blush explained the problem they had and Haruki smiled knowingly as he told him how Evelyn could shut off the saliva feed.

A few days later, Lucas and Evelyn were sitting in the dining hall after having lunch. Evelyn was used to having her taste back and they also followed the advice on how to shut off the saliva. It was pretty much the same as it was before she had the upgrade. So that's what they did, except for occasionally leaving it on as they both liked it better.

Evelyn saw Ellie and she left as soon as she was done eating even though Lucas had invited her to join them. Evelyn hadn't had a chance to talk to her friend Steve yet as he was making a supply run. He was due back today and she promised herself she would talk to him.

They decided to go back to their quarters for a bit until they had to go back to work. Lucas had some paperwork and she was down for some simulator training. They hadn't been able to fly the ships once they decided to make like they were still unusable, so to keep sharp, they used the simulators every couple of days.

Once they got back, Evelyn took Lucas in her arms and kissed him once the door slid shut. Then they sat down on the couch to relax until it was time to go.

Lucas was still trying to figure out what was up with Ellie. In the lab she was fine, but she seemed to avoid them once she was off. Evelyn saw the puzzled look on his face and asked, "What's the matter hon?"

Lucas was pulled out of his reverie and answered, "Sorry babe, I was just trying to figure out what's going on with Ellie."

Evelyn squeezed his arm; he really didn't know what her problem was. "I think I know, if you'd want to hear it?"

Lucas looked at her, "Sure, she's a friend, not just someone who works for me. If something's wrong, I'd like to help her."

Evelyn stroked his face, "It's pretty simple love, she's jealous and misses what you two had."

Lucas looked at her, "But... we were never serious. Oh sure, we had a lot of fun together, but that was it."

Evelyn smiled sadly at him and shook her head, "Maybe so, and that's what you thought, but does the phrase, "You don't know what you had, until it's gone" mean anything to you?"

He looked at her slightly stunned, "Are you sure?"

Evelyn nodded, "Pretty sure. Have you seen her with anyone else since we got together?"

Lucas thought for a minute, then shook his head no. "Not that I know of. If this is true, what do you think I should I do about it?"

Evelyn smiled, "Well, you two having a one-night stand is right out. But I was thinking about setting her up with my friend Steve Evens when he gets in."

Lucas nodded, "Okay, maybe that would work. Please don't take this the wrong way hon, but I am worried about her."

Evelyn nodded, "Don't worry, I do understand. When all is said and done, she is your friend. I'm not about to get jealous myself, I know how we feel about one another."

Lucas nodded his understanding, "Good. Do you think I should say anything to her?"

Evelyn shook her head no, "Definitely not. She'll be even more upset if you did. From what I've seen, she's dealing with it and isn't thinking about trying to take you from me. That's why she won't hang around unless it's for work."

Lucas looked at her, "Okay, I guess we'll do it your way then."

Evelyn hugged his arm and kissed him, "Don't worry, I'll talk to Steve when he gets in later or tomorrow."

They were on the way up to breakfast the next morning and as they walked down the passageway, a door opened and Evelyn's friend Steve walked out from his quarters. He stopped and smiled as he saw them, "Evelyn, how are you? Did your upgrade go well?"

Evelyn smiled and gave him a quick hug. "I'm doing well Steve and the upgrade went great thanks to personal repair guy here." She hugged Lucas's arm. "It's so nice to be able to taste again."

Steve smiled, "That's good to hear, I'm happy for you. You guys heading up to breakfast?"

Lucas nodded, "Yeah, I have to keep an eye on her so she doesn't eat everything in sight."

Steve grinned as Evelyn swatted him on his butt.

Lucas grinned at her, then leaned over to kiss her cheek.

Steve laughed some more, then said, "I guess I'll join you then. But afterwards, could I get you to check something for me Lucas? My interface to the ship seems to have a glitch, the diagnostic on the ship says its alright, so it may be on my end. But with what's been happening, I'm a little leery."

Lucas nodded, "Sure Steve, we can check that out. Let's go to my lab after we eat and we'll check you out."

Evelyn grinned to herself, "Ah, Lucas, did you forget we have that thing to take care of? Maybe Ellie could do it?"

Lucas looked at her and nodded his understanding, "I forgot all about that, but yeah, Ellie can take care of him." He turned to Steve, "We'll stop by and I'll get her to check it out for you."

Evelyn nodded, "You'll like her Steve, she's really good. She helped Lucas with my upgrade." She smiled at him, "So, don't worry, she'll fix you up. You'll love her."

Steve looked at the two of them, wondering what was really going on. "Sure, uh, that's fine by me."

After they ate, they brought Steve to the lab and after Lucas got his normal morning reports from Ellie, he introduced Steve to her, "Ellie, this is Steve Evens, he's one of the transport pilot's. Steve this my Ellie, my assistant."

Steve smiled at Ellie, "A pleasure to meet you Ellie." She's really cute, he thought to himself.

Ellie smiled back, "Pleasure is mine Pilot Evens." Gee, he looks nice. She thought to herself, and he's got a cute smile.

Lucas restrained himself from grinning, "Steve here has a problem with his interface, the ship checks out okay by it's diagnostic, so he's worried somethings wrong on his end."

Ellie nodded. "I don't see anything wrong with his end." She thought to herself, but said out loud, "Sure, we can check that out."

Lucas nodded, "Good, I have to take care of something, so why don't you give him a complete checkout. What with all the problems we've been having, better safe than sorry."

He turned to Steve, "I'll leave you in Ellie's hands. If she can't take care of you, no one can."

Evelyn restrained herself all through the conversation, even though all the innuendos almost made her laugh out loud.

She came over to Ellie, "I think you'll enjoy taking care of him Ellie. Just watch because he thinks he's a comedian sometimes. So, if he gets out of line, just give him a good smack."

Ellie looked at the woman who replaced her, and it finally dawned on her what was also happening. She smiled ruefully and nodded her understanding. "Thank you Evelyn, for the... advice."

Evelyn squeezed her arm. Then turned to Lucas, "We better go love."

Lucas nodded and came over to Ellie, "Thanks for checking him out Ellie, let me know how everything goes." The look he gave her, made her realize he knew what was happening.

Ellie looked at him, and he saw a tear run down her face, "No problem Lucas, you know how much I like taking care of... problems."

Lucas gave her a slow wink, and turned back to the others. "Well Steve, I leave you in my assistant's capable hands. She'll fix you right up."

Steve nodded, he sort of got the gest of what was happening. He didn't mind, the girl was very pretty. "Good, thanks for your help."

He turned to Ellie and smiled, "Well then, were do we began?"

Lucas and Evelyn started for the door, when they heard Ellie answer with a happy lilt in her voice, "Well, to begin, you need to take your shirt off so I can get at you, I mean your connections."

They heard Steve laugh, "I think I can do that."

Lucas and Evelyn grinned at one another as they went through the door and walked down the passageway.

Later, they went to lunch and as they entered, they saw Steve and Ellie sitting together eating lunch. Lucas smiled, and walked over, "So, how did everything check out?"

Ellie smiled, "Everything's good Lucas, he just had a bad interface connector module. I changed it out."

Lucas nodded, "Good. So Steve, did my assistant help you out enough?"

Steve smiled as he saw the tiny grin on both Lucas and Evelyn's faces. "As a matter of fact, she did, she had very gentle hands. She fixed me right up, then I've always found that women are very good at fixing things up." He gave Evelyn a tiny grin.

Evelyn nodded, "Yes, that's because we understand things better than the males of the species. Isn't that right Ellie?"

Ellie grinned. "I think your right. I've always found it that way."

Lucas grinned, "Well then, enjoy your lunch. And Steve, if you have any other problems, feel free to get hold of Ellie."

Steve smiled at him, "Yes, I think I will. I can see what Evelyn meant by having her own personal repair tech."

Ellie tried to hide her smile as she quickly took a drink.

Lucas smiled, "Well, we need to get something to eat, you two carry on."

They both answered at the same time, "We sure will."

Lucas grinned as the two of them blushed.

Two weeks later

It was Saturday, Lucas and Evelyn had just come from the gym. They had been doing a few bouts of Kendo, and Lucas was getting better, but he'd never be up to Evelyn's level. She was just too fast and coordinated for him to beat her most of the time. When he did, it was more than likely because of a small mistake she'd made.

But Lucas didn't care, they were together and enjoying themselves. And afterwards, Evelyn would always give him a kiss and rub his sore muscles.

Ellie and Steve had become an item, not permanent like Lucas and Evelyn, yet. But they spent time together in between Steve's transport runs.

They were relaxing in their quarters after getting cleaned up and watching a vid. As they sat watching, the message light flashed and they both heard, incoming message from Captain Hampton.

They sat up and answered the call. Hampton's image came on the monitor and he smiled, "Lucas, Evelyn, please come to the wardroom, the colonel has some new info."

Lucas nodded, "Alright, we'll be there shortly, we just need to get changed."

Hampton nodded, "Okay, see you soon." The message complete indicator flashed and the vid came back on. They got dressed, and headed up.

Once there, they came and sat down with Haruki, who smiled and greeted them. "Hello, how has your day been going?"

Lucas smiled at his teacher, "Not bad, I actually beat her once today during Kendo practice. Though she might have let me win because she felt sorry for me."

Haruki laughed, "Well, she does have two things going for her, one her speed and coordination. And two, she was trained by her father and he was at the Eighth-dan level."

Lucas looked at him, "Eighth-dan? Really?"

Haruki nodded, "Yes, really. She never told you?"

Lucas looked over at his mate, and watched as she hummed and looked everywhere but at him.

He shook his head, "Ah, no. She didn't."

Haruki patted his arm grinning slightly as the colonel and major came in. They all stood and he told them to relax. They sat down and the steward brought them some coffee. After the first sip, the colonel started, "I'm glad everyone could make it, we've gotten some very good info in finally." He took another drink.

"They finally found out who did the sabotage and they got him to do what we were talking about, telling them we still didn't know anything, for a reduced sentence." He laughed, "I guess he decided life is better than being executed for treason."

"Our contact in the Japanese Defense Force said that the guy wasn't very bright. He didn't know he was helping the Phoban's, he thought he was being paid by another company that wanted to take over suppling parts to the Yamato company."

Haruki nodded and added, "Yes, our security force confirmed this. Once everything is over, they will go after the one that hired him. They know who it is from the one they caught, and are keeping close watch on him as they don't know yet if it's the same with him, or if he's working directly with the Phoban's."

Hampton nodded, "That makes sense. No sense in showing our hand until absolutely necessary."

The colonel nodded, "Exactly right captain. We've also had an affirmative reply from the Vagan's on our idea and well be helping them plan everything as they will be leading the attack."

He drank some more of his coffee, "From what they said, their security people have found that the attack will more than likely be in a few weeks, so we'll have a little time."

He turned to Captain Snider, "Robert, I want your pilots spending as much time in the simulator as practical training for this. Your counterpart from the Vagan's will be stopping over as soon as they get everything planned out on their end. This way everyone knows what's going on."

Snider nodded, "Yes sir, we've upped the training schedule already since we haven't been able to fly. And I've had the repair people going over all the craft with a fine-tooth comb."

The colonel nodded, "Good, Lucas, the same goes for your people, get them to check out everything so we're ready when the time comes."

Lucas nodded, "Yes sir, it's already being done between the other jobs. I've had some people working with Captain Sniders repair teams."

He smiled, "I didn't want Jones to complain my people were holding him up since we know they're always breaking something."

They all laughed at that, they knew there was always a good natured back and forth between the repair and cybernetic people.

The colonel smiled, "Good. Well, it looks like everything is going as planned. Hopefully, this will end things and force the Phoban's to come to the negotiating table."

Everyone agreed with that, then the meeting broke up.

Two weeks or so later, everything was prepared as well as it could be. Now came the worse part, the waiting, everyone just wanted this to be over.

The commander of the Vagan attack force, his name was Kylian, had meet with them and laid out the plan. He was very happy with all that was happening, and congratulated the Earth force on finding and figuring everything out.

Once they had the meeting, he had his cyber people link both of their simulators together so they could all train together. He had been very impressed with the earth pilot's and told them so.

One other thing that happened, the humans and the Vagan forces started to come together as allies should, helping and teaching one another. Where before it was strange to see one another, now it was strange not to see them together.

It was common place now to see humans eating and relaxing with friends they had made with the Vagan's and vice versa.

Oberon, Lucas and Evelyn were sitting together in the dining hall having lunch and talking. Oberon had mentioned this and Lucas had replied, "Well, it just makes sense, we've never had a problem why should anyone else."

Oberon nodded, "Your right Lucas, we've talked about this many times before. People like us normally get along fine, it's always the higher ups and governments that don't seem to know how important it is."

Lucas nodded, "Your right, thankfully that's changed somewhat here. Now if we can get the rest to understand it, we'll all be better off."

Three days later, a message went out throughout the base, "All officers, pilots and senor people report to the conference room ASAP."

Evelyn looked at Lucas, "Do you think it's starting love?"

Lucas nodded, "I can't see what else it could be, let's go."

They all piled into the conference room, and the colonel, the major and the commander of the Vagan attack force came in. He had brought along two of his senor pilots and they joined the humans. One sat down by Lucas and Evelyn and smiled at her, "Good afternoon Pilot Saito."

Evelyn smiled back, "Good afternoon Saibai, you know, you can call me Evelyn, we've practice enough together."

He smiled, "I didn't want your mate to think I was being too familiar."

Lucas smiled, "It's fine, we don't get upset when people we know use our first names."

Saibai nodded smiling, "Good, I'm not that familiar with humans yet, so, as I said, I didn't want to upset anyone."

Lucas and Evelyn smiled, then she said, "Understandable, but it does take a lot to upset us. Especially if its someone we know."

Saibai nodded his understanding, he liked Evelyn, she was a great pilot and they had worked well together. He was also very surprised when he found out she was a cyborg as the humans called it. His people didn't really see any difference between the genetic and cyborg people, they didn't even have a word for it.

Then the colonel said, "Well, the wait is over, it's happening people. So, I'll turn this over to the Commander Kylian."

The Vagan commander came forward and smiled, "Before I begin, I'd like to say how much I've been impressed with all your people colonel. Your pilots meshed with ours perfectly, I know this will make this all a success. Our people have found out the attack will start soon and we want to make sure all units are in place to... spring the trap, as you humans say."

He smiled, "I would love to see the look on the Phoban's faces when they appear and we ready and waiting for them."

Then he got serious, "I know you humans haven't fought them before, but I'm positive you'll do wonderful. Just remember your training, be calm, follow the plan we've all come up with, and you will win. I have fought them before, and I have no doubts what so ever."

Everyone's hearts were racing, and Lucas thought to himself, "He certainly knows how to instill confidence."

He turned to the colonel "If you please sir."

The colonel nodded and signaled to his aide and the monitor came on showing a star-map.

Commander Kylian smiled, "Thank you. Here's how it will go."

They spent the next hour going over the plan of attack, some of the earth pilots had questions and they were answered to their satisfaction. Finally, the commander smiled, "I think that covers it. If there aren't any other questions, I'll turn this back over to Colonel Thorson. Thank you all."