Commander's Log, Sol Standard Date: July 21, 3340, Raytheon System-

All of the evacuation ships made it off the planet, two million civilians crammed into their hulls. The next task would be to maneuver several of the large ships around Eagle Station so that they could take on the remaining civilians that were still aboard the orbital city. No easy task given the massive size of everything involved. Still, I am relieved that we have lasted as long as we have.

However, I am worried. We are running out of time till the main Latorii force arrives. With all that has happened, I wouldn't be surprised if they move up their time table and attack with whatever forces they have at the time. They no longer require an invasion army, just a fleet of warships. Given that Latorii hyper drive technology is vastly superior to humanity's in both range and speed, their ships do not spend any notable time in hyperspace where as human ships require several days to reach their destination.

-Daniel 'Storm' Savarin,

Commander of the Allied Confederate Ship Fairlock

The Dropships touched down inside the Fairlock's hangar bay one after the other. The artificial gravity for the large hangar currently active as to aid in the marines' disembark from their Dropships. Strom and Bradley had started walking down the ramp before it had even finished lowering. The rest of the marines and a few militiamen followed them out of the troop compartment. Storm's Mk.14 was slung over his right shoulder. Adrenaline had kept him going on the planet's surface, but now that he was back on the battlecruiser, the lack of proper rest was starting to catch up with him. The only sleep he had gotten since the Latorii heavy scout fleet had entered the system the previous day was a small three hour nap during the evacuation of Falcon Station.

"Bradley, see that your men get some rest. Their job is done and they deserve it," Storm said as walked towards the corridor that lead to the bridge.

"Yes sir," Bradley replied, giving his head a quick nod in acknowledgement. The two officers then parted ways, Bradley and his marines heading towards the ship's barracks while Storm continued to the command bridge. It didn't take him to long to reach his destination as the section of the hangar dedicated to the Dropships was towards the rear of the battlecruiser, closer to the bridge.

"Commander on the bridge," Admiral Horner called out as the entire bridge crew stood and saluted towards Storm.

"At ease," Storm responded saluting back to the men before sitting down in his chair. "Anything new to report, admiral?"

"No sir," Horner answered, walking over and standing next to him. "Four of the evacuation ships with the most available space are moving in orbit towards Eagle Station at this moment."

"Very well, any new contacts?" Storm inquired, looking over at his executive naval officer.

"None yet sir. I dispatched the last of our Assault ships to the star to act as a scout. When the raiding force of Cutters entered the system, they destroyed our hyper wave sensors around the star," Admiral Horner stated.

"Alright, good job. That will give us some warning if they main force arrives before we jump out of the system," Storm replied before letting out a yawn.

"Go get some rest sir, we have everything under control here," Horner said with a stifled laugh.

"Admiral Horner has the con," Storm called out before standing up to do exactly what his XO suggested. With everything seemingly going fine, Storm departed from the command bridge and started towards his room. Thankfully, the two were relatively close to each other. After he entered in his security code, the door let out a slight hiss as it slid open.

As soon as it closed behind, he instantly dropped the illusion that was surrounding his body, his appearance going from typical human marine to Latorii legionary in the blink of an eye. He wasted no time in taking off the armor that surrounded his fur, leaving only the thin clothes that he wore underneath on. He placed his rifle and armor back where he had taken them from before collapsing onto his bed. Within seconds he was out cold, his chest slowly rising and falling as he breathed in his sleep.

Storm woke to the sound of alarms blaring throughout the ship as the call to general quarters was sounded. Looking over at the clock that was on his nightstand, he saw that he had been out for about five hours. While not as much as he would have liked, it would have to do. Jumping out of his bed, he wrapped his feet in cloth strips in a typical Latorii fashion when not wearing armor. Not bothering to put on anything more than what he was now wearing, he created an illusion around himself. He once again appeared in his ACS uniform similar to the one that Admiral Horner wore.

Setting out for the bridge, Storm ran as fast as he could. All around him, others were rushing towards their positions as well. Upon entering the command bridge, Storm could hear Horner issuing commands to the various officers.

"Order the evacuation ships to perform an emergency decoupling procedure and prepare to jump to hyperspace," Admiral Horner called out.

"Admiral, get me up to speed," Storm said as he sat down in his chair overlooking the rest of the bridge.

"The Assault Ship we had in position at the star just reported three separate cascade events. They are moving to get a closer look now," Horner responded as he looked over at Storm.

"Visual coming up now," one of the bridge officers reported as a live feed from the Assault Ship was displayed.

Visible were three massive Imperial Interdictors, each surrounded by their own small fleet of support ships. Their sleek white designs were unmistakable in the blackness of space. Everyone on the bridge knew they did not stand a chance against such a large fleet. The human fleet had already sustained enough damage that even a small Latorii force would overwhelm them. Now they were up against an entire battle group.

"Admiral Horner, prep what ships we have for combat. We need to buy the evacuation ships time to complete their jumps," Storm said before turning his attention to the helmsman. "Flip the ship over, get our port side facing the star."

"Aye sir," the helmsman responded, turning his controls hard to the right. Outside the ship, engines on the top and bottom of the battlecruiser ignited causing the ship to spin along its longitudinal axis. Once the ship was halfway through its spin, the helmsman reversed his controls in order to halt the ship's spin. Positioned just behind the capital ship was the lone surviving Corvette. All of the battlecruiser's remaining strike craft and fighters were already out of the hangar, their pilots having been waiting for the order to launch. In all honesty, Storm wasn't feeling very confident. This force wouldn't be enough to take on a lone Interdictor, let alone three of them and their supporting fleet.

Seconds ticked by as the fleet waited for the Latorii force to arrive. There was an eerie silence as all eyes were on their respective scanners. Two minutes after the Assault Ship reported that the Latorii fleet had engaged their FTL drives, the scanners lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Multiple contacts, range three hundred kilometers, bearing zero-one-zero off the port beam, zero-two-two down angle!" An officer called out.

"Mikael, rapid count," Storm said calmly.

"Three Majestic class Interdictors, fifteen Cutters, twenty-one Clippers, and a great number of smaller ships of various classes," the AI responded. "Recommend immediate withdrawal from the system."

"Not yet, we have to see the evacuation ships out first," Storm replied. "Helmsman, all ahead full. Get us between their fleet and the Eagle Station."

"All ahead full, aye sir," the helmsman said before pushing his throttle forward all of the way. The battlecruiser's massive engines burst to life as they started to propel the ship towards the alien fleet.

"They executed a rather smart jump, dropping into position on the opposite side of the station," Admiral Horner observed as he look at the massive orbital city in the distance. He could see the evacuation ship were still attached to their docking ports. "They should have detached by now..."

Storm punched in a quick command on his console and opened a channel to one of the ship's captains.

"Captain, why have you not executed the emergency decoupling?" Storm inquired in a harsh voice.

"There are still civilians on the station sir. They have the loading area jammed and we are unable to close our docking clamps. If we decouple now-"

"Captain, if you don't decouple now, all of us are doing to die. I am ordering you to decouple and jump out of the system," Storm said, hating the words as they left his muzzle.

"Aye sir..." the captain replied before turning to an officer next to him. "Close the airtight doors around the loading bays and purge them."

Everyone on the bridge watched in muted horror as the massive ship pulled away from the space station, large amounts of gas visible as it flooded out from the station. This process was repeated with the other ships as well. Storm clenched his firsts before closing his eyes. He hated himself for giving those orders, but he knew they had to be given. Undoubtedly, thousands of people had just found themselves sucked out into the vacuum of space and were now dead.

"Range to enemy fleet is two-hundred kilometers and closing. They will be in range of the transports in one minute. We will not have a firing solution for another ninety seconds," Mikael reported.

"Order the strike craft to run interference, try and buy the transports some time," Storm ordered in a somber tone. Moments later, the bridge crew could see the remaining fighters racing forwards ahead of the ship. There were not too many of them left after the skirmish that had occurred at the star, but it would have to do for now.

The Vipers and Vultures accelerated as fast as their engines would push them as they closed in on the enemy fleet. They passed by the massive evacuation ships just as the three Latorii capital ships opened fire. Three high intensity laser pulses shot out of each interdictor, each shot impacting against the heavily armored human ships.

"We are now within effective firing range," Mikael said, "Firing all available railguns."

Instantly, the AI discharged all six of the double barreled railgun turrets along his calculated intercept paths. All twelve rounds were aimed at the nearest Majestic class Interdictor in hopes of pulling its attention away from the fleeing civilian ships. Ten of the twelve rounds stuck their target seven seconds later, the large ship unable to alter its course enough in the fifty kilometer distance separating the battlecruiser from the Latorii fleet. However, the heavily advanced alien armor protected the capital ship from any major damage.

The attack did succeed in getting the attention of the Latorii fleet. Two of the massive interdictors shifted their fire towards the lone human battlecruiser. Six beams of blue, high intensity laser slammed into the thick armor that protected the warship. Thankfully, the armor managed to withstand the first blast, though Storm knew that it wouldn't last long under the concentrated fire of two Latorii interdictors.

He watched as the evacuation ships passed by the Fairlock as they continued to put as much distance between themselves and the attacking aliens. It wouldn't be long till they were free from the grasp of the planets gravity and would be able to jump out of the system. Mikael had been continuously firing the ship's railguns as fast as they could be fired. The AI had managed to knock out two of the six heavy laser cannons that were firing on the warship. The third Interdictor had shifted its fire from the retreating civilian ships and turned its attention to the massive space station, raking it with heavy and medium laser fire. Large pieces of the orbital city were breaking off and falling towards the planet below.

"Sir, the evacuation ships are powering up their hyper drives now," an officer reported as Storm observed the battle.

"Very well, helmsman, hard turn to port, get us out of the gravity well and into jump position. Start up the cascade drives and prep for emergency jump," Storm ordered. "Recall all surviving strike craft."

"Aye sir," several different officers responded before they started inputting various commands into their consoles.

Engines all over the massive battlecruiser fired up as it banked and turned away from the approaching Latorii fleet. The ship's maneuvering computer did most of the work when it came to engaging the proper engines at the proper time. Lasers continued to tear at the ship's thick armor, slowing burning its way through the plating. Storm knew it would not be long till the ship suffered a hull breach.

The Fairlock was halfway through its turn when a concentrated burst of laser fire tore into the exposed underside of the ship. Alarms blared throughout the bridge as various officers called out serval hull breaches and damage reports.

"Sir, all surviving strike craft have landed and the hangar doors are closed. We are ready to disengage," an officer called out.

"Prepare to deploy Halycon mines and engage the cascade jump drive," Storm ordered as the ship leveled out on its course away from the planet.

"Aye, sir!"

Moments later four large, black cylinders were jettisoned from the back of the ship. Each mine contained a fifteen megaton thermonuclear warhead with proximity sensors. The four Halycons spread out in a cone shape from the rear of the massive battlecruiser.

"Commence cascade jump," Storm said. The lights on the bridge dimmed as the power hungry cascade engines drained power from around the ship. Moments later, a black cloud of energy formed directly ahead of the warship. Upon reaching the cascade cloud, blue energy scraped along the edges of the ship as they came in contact with the black cloud. It took a few seconds before the entire ship was engulfed in the cascade energy. From the bridge, the view was solid black with a few streaks of blue and purple as the ship started its journey through the hole it had created in space.

"Cascade jump initiated. Estimated time of arrival in the Soliloquy System is three days," the navigation officer called out.

"Very well, take the ship off of general quarters. Start on an after-action report as well as repairing what can be fixed..." Storm said as he stood up from his chair. "Admiral, you have the con."

"Aye sir," Admiral Horner replied.

Storm let out a long sigh as he reached his room. Upon hearing the door hiss close behind him, he dropped the illusion that covered his body and made him appear human. His ears were pointed backward as he made his way over to his bed. He knelt down at its edge and closed his eyes, entering into a meditative state. The evacuation of Raytheon had gone much worse than he had hoped. He didn't bother asking how many people they were forced to leave behind nor did he intend to. As it was, there were more pressing matters to attend to. The most urgent was the fact that the Latorii had just learned the location of twenty human worlds and now had the means to rapidly transit entire armies to them.

The one part of good news from this mess was that the short blip of information that the wolven aliens had gained wasn't enough for them to transport their armies there immediately. They would still have to send scout fleets to the compromised systems to gain real time data for the cascade bridge to lock onto.

That was the other pressing matter, this cascade bridge... Such a device would make holding back Latorii nearly impossible. Human worlds would fall faster and with higher casualties. The faster planets fell, the faster the Latorii could drive their advance into the human core worlds. If the core worlds started falling, then the factories and orbital dockyards that produced the ACS ships and weapons would fall as well. The loss of said factories and dockyards would seal the fate of humanity to that of extinction. This very well could be the beginning of the end.

Storm opened his eyes before standing up and pulling off his shirt. He placed it with the rest of his clothes that needed cleaning before once again crawling back into his bed. It took him a bit longer to fall asleep as his mind raced with thoughts. Eventually the wolf managed to fall to sleep once again. This time, there were no interruptions as the ship traveled through hyper space. When Storm woke up, he saw that it had been six hours since the ship and its crew had escaped from the Raytheon System.

He rolled out of his bed and started for his washroom. A small smirk worked its way onto his muzzle as he looked at himself in a mirror. His fur was sticking out in all sorts of awkward directions and the long grey hair that was present on the back of his head had clearly seen better days. He then glanced that the bandages that were wrapped around his injured left shoulder. They needed to be changed and his wound inspected. It could wait until after he had washed up and gotten the smell of combat out of his fur.

The anthropomorphic wolf took his time as he thoroughly cleaned his entire body. One benefit of being completely covered in fur was he only ever needed to use shampoo. The downside being it took quite a while to actually get clean. In the end, Storm was grateful for the opportunity to wash up. He redressed his wound and replaced the bandages before rotating the injured shoulder some to make sure he had enough mobility with the bandages. Once satisfied with the bandages, he dressed himself in thin, light clothes that did not bother his fur and wrapped his hind paws in cloth strips. As he walked towards the door, Storm once again put up an illusion around his form.

Upon leaving his quarters, he made his way up to the command bridge. Admiral Horner wasn't present and Storm assumed that he was getting some rest. This was confirmed as he saw that the bridge was currently manned by a skeleton crew that alternated with normal crew during long hyperspace jumps. Thankfully the members of this crew were more laid back than the admiral and simply nodded a greeting towards their commander.

"Welcome back, commander," the helmsman said as Storm took his seat.

"Thank you, lieutenant," Storm replied as he looked out into the depths of hyperspace. It had a strange beauty to it, and Storm found it to be quite relaxing. "Anything new to report?"

"The admiral told me to inform you that the action report you requested is ready on your comm pad," the lieutenant responded.

Stormed nodded his thanks to the helmsman before picking up the comm pad from a compartment on the side of his chair. He punched in his CAS (Central Authorization Security) code into the electronic pad. He slid one of his three fingers along the surface several times before finding the file he was looking for. The device forced him to enter in his CAS code once more. His eyes started tracing back and forth over the text once he had read the first two bits of information.

Killed: 57

Wounded: 139

These numbers only included the personnel that manned the ship, including neither the number of pilots nor marines lost. Those totals would eventually make their way to him from their respective officers. Storm was sure that in the end, both of those numbers would be much larger than they currently were. For having just fought a major battle, they were well below the average throughout the rest of the ACS Navy.

His eyes continued to scan down the pages of text and diagrams that elaborated on the damage sustained to the ship. The only considerable major damage taken during the Raytheon campaign was to the starboard side dorsal railgun turrets. The damage taken to the underside of the battlecruiser while over a larger area was not as significant. When designing the massive human warships, the engineers had wisely put nonessential compartments along the exterior of the hull wherever they could manage. It would take about a week to repair the Fairlock and replenish her ammunition and food stocks.

Replacement crew, pilots, and marines would have to be assigned. It would take some time for them to integrate with the rest, but thankfully morale was high aboard the Fairlock. While most civilians held a distain for the Latorii hybrid, those among the ACS military held him with a certain amount of respect. They respected his ability to lead his men and command his vessel, but most still didn't like working with him and certainly not under him.

Once Storm finished reading through the document, he closed the file and locked his comm pad before placing it back into its compartment. Storm looked up from his chair overlooking the command bridge as the crew worked to keep the warship in hyperspace, making minor corrections to the ship's course every once in a while as it navigated the curved route to the Soliloquy System. While curved routes took longer to navigate, they prevented the Latorii from simply following behind retreating human ships.

"How is the hyperspace conduit holding up?" Storm inquired as he once again looked out into the mostly black void.

"Quite nicely if I do say so myself, commander. This jump was well within the capabilities of this lovely lady," he said as he patted the metal of the console he was sitting at, his comment referring to the Fairlock.

Storm nodded in reply as he closed his eyes. While there had been no damage to the cascade drive, it never hurt to ask. He had heard stories of ships that tried to jump beyond their jump range or with damaged hyperdrives. The resulting hyperspace conduit would taper out towards the end of the jump resulting with the ship being dumped out into normal space with considerable damage.

He sat with the bridge crew for another half hour before getting up and leaving as they had everything well under control. If there was one downside to being in hyperspace, it was that there wasn't much of anything to do. The Fairlock was currently unable to receive nor transmit any messages. Storm knew that before they arrived at the Soliloquy System he would have to put together a formal report about the battle and the events that had transpired. While they had sent out several quick bursts of information to ACS high command, they still needed to see everything in one place. He also knew that he would have to meet some rather unpleasant spooks. The BGR would be more than interested to discuss with him what all he had learned at their precious blacksite.

Storm let out a low growl as he thought about that future encounter. Undoubtedly there would be a Python with a coat of solid black paint waiting for the Fairlock upon their exit from hyperspace. If there were any people he absolutely hated meeting, it was those self-righteous spooks who thought they were better than everyone else. They had no respect for him nor his mother. He doubted they saw the two of them as people, only as assets to be used in the war.

Looking around, Storm realized he had just been wandering through the halls of the battlecruiser. He was a bit frustrated with his current thoughts. Though he knew that his current level of frustration would be nothing compared to how he would feed after his meeting with the spooks. Storm took a deep breath before heading towards the ship's hangar deck. With nothing else to do at the moment, he decided to look over his Eagle.

The fighter was one of a kind in the ACS navy as it was a reverse engineered prototype built off of the Imperial Eagle his mother had used when defecting from the Latorii Empire. While its performance was good, most pilots that tested the craft preferred the heavier firepower of their Vultures. So the Eagle project was scrapped and the prototype mothballed. Once Storm was old enough to fly, his father had the Eagle pulled out of storage and refurbished so he could learn. In the end, Storm liked the agile fighter enough to stick with it. While he had flown a Vulture a few times, he absolutely hated how they performed in atmosphere. The best way he could describe it was trying to fly a brick.

Storm traced his paw along the sleek, black metal as a small smile worked its way onto his muzzle. This ship held a lot of memories for him. Some were happy memories while others were sad. His mind momentarily drifted over to his father before he shook his head and cleared his thoughts. He climbed up to the cockpit and ran a quick systems diagnostic. While he knew that everything on the fighter would be in working order, it never hurt to check. Once the report popped up and confirmed that everything was in working order, Storm powered the computer off and locked down the Eagle.

The rest of the three day trip was rather uneventful. Storm had finished his detailed report that he would eventually give to his superiors. It had all of the information about the tactics and strategy used by the Latorii during the battle. Most of the report was dedicated to the cascade bridge that the wolven aliens had used to get their troops onto the planet's surface along with the BGR site that they had found. In all, it was a grim report for grim times.

He had on occasion gone and talked with the civilian girl he had picked up on Falcon Station. Sarah seemed to be doing alright though there sadly wasn't much for her to do. He had found a few books for her to read from the ship's meager library. Most books were electronic, but most large ships carried a small library with a selection of physical books. She was in the unfortunate position of being a civilian on a military warship in hyperspace. At least the crew of the ship had their jobs to keep them busy while Sarah had very little she could do. She was mostly confined to her large room as she wasn't allowed to freely roam around the ship.

Storm had kept her company when he could and would on occasion walk with her around the ship or eat a meal with her. He certainly enjoyed talking with her. While he also enjoyed talking with members of his crew, they still saw him as their boss. So it was nice to have an outsider to talk with. Though it was rather awkward when she asked him questions about his family and personal life. That was one thing his crew knew not to talk with him about. He was only comfortable talking about those topics with Admiral Horner and Colonel Bradley.

He had learned that she had been a doctor's assistant on Falcon Station and had a considerable amount of medical knowledge. Given that she had no direct family left, had no way to contact her friends she had on Falcon Station, and only a few contacts outside of the Raytheon System, Storm offered her a position as part of the ship's medical team. The ship's lead doctor had tested her knowledge and said she was qualified for the job. Sarah had yet to accept the position and had been thinking over the proposed job.

Storm was on the command bridge as the ship was in the final minutes of its hyperspace jump. He had made his way to his position overlooking the bridge when three short tones sounded throughout the ship, signaling thirty minutes till the jump was to be completed. This was followed by two tones at twenty minutes and a single tone at ten minutes.

"Hyperspace conduit is stable. Cascade drives are spinning up and approaching optimal RPM," an officer called out from his station.

"All ship systems are nominal. Main engines coming online now," another said as he entered commands into his console.

"The ship is ready to exit hyperspace. Estimated time till drop is ninety seconds," Mikael reported in his electronic voice.

"Very well," Storm responded as he watched the bridge crew work. He then reached down and grabbed the microphone for the ship's intercom.

"Thirty seconds," Mikael reported.

"All hands, prep for exit from hyperspace in twenty-five seconds," Storm said over the ship's intercom before placing the microphone back where it belonged.

He watched outside as the black void continued to pass by the warship. By now there were hardly any blue or purple streaks to contrast the never ending black. Storm listened as Mikael counted down the final seconds of long journey. Upon reaching zero, there was an ever so slight jolt as if the battlecruiser had gotten caught in a net.

The bow of the Fairlock seemed to disappear before more and more of ship disappeared into nothingness. It took a few seconds before the bridge passed through the invisible gateway. Instantly, the bridge crew found themselves looking out directly at a Class O star. The blue-white star was massive at roughly forty solar masses. The automatic, instantaneous tinting of the glass shielded the bridge crew's eyes from the extremely bright star.

"Cascade jump complete. The Fairlock has arrived in the Soliloquy System. All scans indicate the system is under normal operations," Mikael reported.

"Two hundred lightyears in three days," Admiral Horner said as he looked down at the navigation chart.

"Thank the Lord for hyperdrives," Storm replied as he gazed out at the star in front of the ship. "Never seen a Class O star before. They are rather beautiful."

"I have seen a few before, but they certainly are bright blue stars," Mark replied

"Sir, we are being hailed..." the communications officer called out, his low tone indicating who was trying to contact them.

"Put it through..." Storm responded with a sigh, as he looked up towards the main screen. A few moments later, a man in a solid black uniform appeared on screen.

"Commander Savarin, I am Captain Redford. I request permission to dock with your vessel, and that you come aboard for questioning," the BGR officer said, knowing full well that the request was more of a demand.

"Granted," Storm replied though the transmission was terminated by Redford before he had finished. Storm placed a paw to his forehead and rubbed between his eyes.

"Sir, we just picked up the BGR Python on scanners. It will be here in ten minutes," an officer called out.

Storm simply nodded in response before leaning back in his chair and letting out a sigh. He knew this was going to happen and yet that didn't make him feel any better. His body tensed slightly as he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"We should get ready sir," Admiral Horner said.

"Very well..." Storm replied as he stood up. "Helmsman, keep us in orbit around the star for now."

"Aye sir."

The Python was forced to pull alongside the battlecruiser as it was too large to fit inside the Fairlock's hangar. Once it was alongside the warship, a docking port extended out of the battlecruiser's hull towards the Python. After a bit of maneuvering, the smaller ship managed to dock with the large capital ship.

Storm was waiting with Admiral Horner at the entrance to the docking tube. In the time it had taken for the spy ship to arrive and dock with the Fairlock, he had gone to his room and changed into his armor. If he was going to be questioned the spooks, he was going to look the part as he wouldn't be able to hide behind his illusion when under their questioning.

Upon seeing the light above the door flash green, the two navy officers pressed forward. As soon as they stepped through the door, they exited the Fairlock's artificial gravity field. Mark stayed grounded due to the magnetic boots he was wearing while Storm simply used his psychic powers while he could. The door on the other end of the hallway slid open revealing three people dressed in black uniforms.

"Get it over with, Mark..." Storm said in a low voice so that only Admiral Horner could hear him. Storm tensed as he felt the cold metal along his neck fur. Then with a click, the collar locked around his neck. There was a brief hum before Storm shuddered as the suppression collar activated. Instantly, his illusion faded and revealed his true form.

Storm absolutely hated these collars. Well, when he was forced to wear them. Still, he had a certain amount of pity for the Latorii prisoners that had to wear them constantly. The best way to describe the effects of the suppression collar was lonely and empty. The psychic presence that has always been with him was suddenly cut off and replaced with nothing but emptiness.

"I see the dog knows the rules," Captain Redford said with a smirk.

"I am a wolf, not a dog," Storm growled out in a low tone.

"You think I care?" Redford countered in an uncaring voice. "Now come on, you're wasting my time just standing there."

Storm glared at the BGR captain before moving forwards and into the Python, though with some difficulty as he didn't have anything to hold him down against the floor anymore. Admiral Horner followed behind, giving his commanding officer a hand in moving forwards. The two of them entered the Python and stopped in the small room where the docking port connected.

"Admiral Horner, you can wait here while I talk with Commander Savarin," Redford said. Storm's XO simply crossed his arms across his chest and nodded in reply. He watched as Storm and the BGR captain disappeared further into the ship.

Storm looked around the room that was too familiar for his liking. Lit a bit too brightly, plain white walls, single steel table in the center with two chairs, and one door. He was currently sitting in one of the chairs waiting for Redford to return. Undoubtedly there was no reason to his absence other than to annoy the Latorii hybrid. He let out a sharp exhale as he closed his eyes and waited. A few minutes later, he heard the door open and close before someone sat down across from him at the table

"So, let us begin," Redford said as Storm opened his eyes, his bright sapphire eyes glaring into Redford's skull.

"Yes, let's. Unlike you, I actually could be doing something useful," Storm taunted in what was almost a low growl.

"Watch your mouth, mutt," Redford replied in a cross tone. "Now, during your operation on Raytheon Three you encountered one of our bases, correct?"

"Correct," Storm said as he crossed his arms across his chest. "We found it when responding to a distress call from the base itself."

"What was the status of the base upon your arrival?" Redford inquired as he took notes on an electronic pad as well as recorded the conversation.

"Completely overrun by a detachment of Latorii cavalry. There did not appear to be any fighting at the entrance to the compound. Our best guess was the defenders were caught by complete surprise," Storm answered, somewhat impressed that Redford had managed to say something without insulting him.

"Did you encounter any survivors from the attack?" Redford questioned, looking up at Storm.

"Found one soldier in the armory. He was badly wounded and died soon after we found him. He confirmed the fact they were taken by surprise," Storm said, though he knew that by saying he had come in contact with a BGR operative, there were more questions to follow.

"I need to know everything that our operative told you," Redford stated, his voice confirming what Storm feared.

"He gave us a vague description of the base's purpose after I insisted he tell me. Gave us a short description of the hyper wave research and the spike they were preparing. They were attacked during the final preparations. In order to prevent the Latorii from using the system against humanity, he and a few other soldiers sabotaged the primary reactors. That cut down the range of the spike. After that it was mostly just him mumbling as his injuries started to get the better of him," Storm replied before closing his eyes.

"And did you use your psychic powers to peer into his head?" Redford asked sternly.

"Yes, I did. He was injured and leaving out quite a few details as he tried to tell us what had happened. I didn't look for anything else. Truthfully, I don't want to know what you spooks are up to. Half of it is usually immoral and the other half is your usual spy business that I have no reason to poke around in," Storm said as he opened his eyes and glared at Redford.

"You know, I could have you executed for doing that," the BGR captain said with a sick smile.

"You could, but you won't. If you did, you would soon join me," Storm started before leaning forward and resting his arms on the table. "I have allies. Powerful allies in high places. You can threaten and intimidate me all you want, but you cannot scare me."

"I am well aware of your connections, and I don't care. You Latorii are not to be trusted. Your father was a moron to be allowed to use his influence to put you in command of a ship," Redford taunted, his smirk only growing.

Storm knew the human was trying to bait him. Still, his father was his one weakness. And most BGR agents knew it. Storm clenched his paws and took a deep breath.

"You will leave my father out of this... He was a better man that all of you spooks combined," Storm practically growled out as he glared Redford.

"He was a freak who fell for an alien," Redford continued as he stood up and walked around the table.

"Last warning," Storm growled out, baring his sharp teeth.

"Or else what? As long as you are wearing that collar, you cannot touch me you stupid mu-"

Redford never finished his sentence. In the blink of an eye, Storm was out of his chair and had Redford pinned against the floor. His forearm pressing against the human's throat as his muzzle was mere inches from Redford's face as Storm used the table as leverage in the zero gravity situation to keep the human pinned down.

"Just to be perfectly clear, I could kill you right now if I wanted to," Storm started, his tone indicating that he meant what he said. "You think of me as less than you, yet I can guarantee you that I am worth more to this war effort than you ever will be."

Redford tried to kick at Storm to get the angry wolf off of him, yet his attack was countered before it connected. Storm pressed harder against his neck. By now, Redford was struggling to breathe.

"Every time I am forced to sit through these debriefings with you self-righteous pricks, it is the same thing. You treat me like an animal and slander my father," Storm stated as he continued to glare into Redford's eyes. "It ends today. I will not be trod upon by you people any longer. So tell all of your friends that if they try and do what you did today, they will come off worse than getting pinned to the floor. Understood?"

Redford let out a low croaking noise as his face was rather red at this point. Storm knew that he would never actually acknowledge what he said, but backed off anyways. Redford gasped for air as he took in several deep breaths. He wanted to rage at Storm but couldn't find the voice to do so.

"I am done here," Storm said before he turned and left the room, leaving Redford by himself. Upon opening the door, the BGR operatives were a bit surprised. They had heard the noise in the room but had figured it was the other way around, with Redford roughing up Storm. Instead they saw their commander on the ground and struggling to get up. They moved to stop Storm but one glare from his steeled sapphire eyes stopped them in their tracks. It didn't take him long to get back to where Admiral Horner was waiting.

"Come on Mark, let's get off this ship before I actually kill someone."

Long and overdue chapter is long and overdue. I really am sorry for how long it took me to get another chapter of this story out. Sadly, college has been kicking my butt lately and I have been devoting a lot of time to my studies. Not even going to try and make a prediction as to when the next chapter will be, but I promise it will eventually happen!

Anyways, I hope that you all enjoyed reading this chapter! I certainly enjoyed writing it. Any and all feedback is welcome and appreciated.