Chapter 46

---A Few Days Later---

Putting the power problems behind me now, thanks to solar plasma, the next thing on my list was testing Yamato's blink, folding, and warp drives to ensure everything worked properly. Wanting to use their designs for the rest of my vessels and the star base, I wanted to be one hundred percent sure they worked before committing the resources to it. Just as I was about to head out for testing, Angelica and company entered my lab full of excitement.

"Victor, they approved our application!!", Olivia shouted, "We got a really good spot too!"

"We wanted to get started on building the booth right away, but did we catch you at a bad time?", Angelica asked, as I was all kitted out in space gear.

"I was about to head out into space for a bit. Can we push the booth construction to this afternoon?", I replied, "I should be back in a few hours."

Promptly setting the paperwork down on my desk, all five of them quickly approached me with expectant gazes. Realizing they wanted to come with me, I let out a sigh and told Jarvis to bring up their space suits. Having anticipated this, Luxion went ahead and manufactured custom suits for each of them.

"Here are your space suits, grab the one with your name stitched onto the front of it.", I said, as the rack rose out of the floor, "They are custom made to fit you, let Luxion know if the sizing is off."

"Custom made for us…how did you get our measurements?", Clarice asked, looking at my hesitantly.

"Lucoa and Roxanne aside, the three of you shop at my clothing stores so all your measurements are written down. If I wanted to, I could look up damn near everyone's measurements in the kingdom.", I said, with a mischievous grin, "That said, I have never once looked at any of my customer's measurements. Luxion handled the manufacturing of your suits, I just sewed your names onto them."

Letting out sighs of relief, the three of them were happy that I did not know their exact sizes. Wondering if they felt ashamed of their bodies for some reason, I truly felt that all five of them were stunning the way they were.

"Luxion, this goes without saying, but please never disclose that information to anyone for any reason.", Angelica pleaded.

<As from Miss Lucoa and Roxanne's sizes, I have been given strict instructions to never reveal sizes anyone, even Master Stark. That said, he has expressed his admiration for the five of you on multiple occasions.>

Surprised that Luxion was helping me out of nowhere, I was not about to pass this opportunity up. Expressing my belief that all of them were breathtaking, my classmates blushed while Lucoa and Roxanne gave me a passionate kiss. Shooting Luxion a grateful nod, he flew to my side and observed their reactions some more.

"So…do you have a place we can change into these suits?", Clarice said, getting us back on track.

"Not in the lab, no. Once we are on Yamato, Lucoa and Roxanne can show you where you can change outfits.", I stated, "Jarvis, please send us over."

<Sending you over now, sir.>

Engulfing us in a brilliant light, in an instant we were on Yamato's bridge. Giving everyone's eyes a moment to adjust, Lucoa led the ladies into the sleeping quarters where they could have some privacy. While they suited up, I did some final checks with the engineering team and Yamato to ensure everything was good to go.

---Twenty Minutes Later---

Returning to the bridge in their space suits, it was very apparent that Luxion had gone for a skintight suit for the ladies. Highlighting every curve on their bodies, I was happy that Jarvis had softened Luxion over the years as the OG Luxion would have never done this for me. Doing my best not to ogle them, I greeted them as they approached me.

"Not to be rude but are these nearly skintight suits really necessary?", Angelica asked, a bit self-conscious about her appearance.

"The alternative was a baggy, oversized suit that is hard to move around in. In the future, I can build you ladies a custom armored suit like mine, should you decide to join our family.", I told her, "Lucoa and Roxanne already have their own armored suits, but they are not accustomed to using them yet. Currently they have issues controlling their enhanced strength and the flight system."

"Hehe, it is a lot harder than it looks. I have already crashed like twelve times.", Lucoa giggled, "It is a lot of fun though."

"Yes, it is.", Roxanne agreed, as her tail wagged uncontrollably.

Pressing a button on my console, five seats rose out of the floor for the ladies to use during our flight. While they took their seats, the flight crew began preparing the ship for launch. Sounding the departure alarms across the ship, the crew began sealing all external doors and windows before heading to their assigned posts. Waiting for confirmation that the ship was airtight, once Yamato gave all clear, the helmsman looked to me for instructions.

Ordering him to take us up, he tipped Yamato's bow upward at a forty-five-degree angle and began steadily increasing our speed. Watching the blue sky slowly turn black, as we reached outer orbit, I had him bring us around so Angelica, Clarice, and Olivia could take in the view. Hearing them gasp loudly, the three of them jumped out of their seats and ran to the window to get a better view of our speckled, blue marble.

"I had not idea our world was this big!", Olivia said, as her eyes glimmered with wonder, "It is so beautiful from up here."

"Seeing our world from up here really puts into perspective how small we all really are.", Angelica remarked, "Victor, would it be possible to bring my father and brother up here sometime to show them this as well?"

"That can be arranged.", I acknowledged, "What do you think of this, Clarice?"

"I…I am honestly lost for words right now. When you first told us about your dream, I thought you were insane or a lunatic. Now that I see what you do, I can completely understand your desire to see what else is out there.", Clarice stated, looking at me with a new passion burning in her eyes, "I am certain now, I want to see what else is out there in universe too! You can count me in for this adventure of yours!"

Watching the adventurous spirit in her heart flare up, I knew she was sold on sharing my dream with me, just like Lucoa and Roxanne were. Welcoming her to our party with open arms, Clarice was very excited to see where this new adventure took her. Suggesting they take their seats again so we could leave, showed them how to strap in so they did not get thrown around during our initial jump to warp speed.

"Alright crew, time to take our maiden voyage into the depths of space!", I proclaimed, over the PA system, "All hands, prepare to go to warp!"

<It is about flipping time, Captain!!>

Feeling her warp engines begin to fire up, Yamato began blaring her jump alarm across the ship so everyone could strap in. Giving the crew a few minutes to prepare, I gave the helmsman our destination.

"Set a course for the space station we detected with our deep space satellites. Remember, take us on an indirect path past a few stars to hide our warp trail. I do not want anyone following us back here!", I ordered him, "Yamato, count us down once our course is plotted."

"Aye Captain!", the helmsman and Yamato acknowledged.

Using the makeshift star chart I had made with Jarvis, Luxion, and Yamato, the helmsmen charted us on a course that would pass close by five different stars. Satisfied that our trail would be incredibly difficult to follow, I gave my seal of approval as Yamato began her countdown.

<…five…four…three…two…one…MAXIMUM POWER!!>

Feeling the engines roar to life, the scenery around us quickly began mere streaks of light. Entering Warp 1, Yamato shook violently as she had yet to calibrate herself for warp speeds. Carefully adjusting her stabilizers, slowly the shaking disappeared till she returned to her buttery smooth self. Disengaging her warp alarm, the crew was given all clear to move around again.

<I 5 am fully calibrated now, increasing speed to Warp Captain.>

"At Warp 5, we should reach our destination in hour, right?", I clarified, wanting to make sure my math was right.

<Correct, Captain.>

Getting up from my seat, I walked up to my console and began radioing departments one by one for a status check.

"Engine Room how are the warp engines holding up?", I inquired.

"They are purring like kittens, sir. No problems to report!", the Chief of Engineering confirmed.

"Medical Bay, any injuries to report?", I asked.

"No injuries reported, sir!", the Chief Medical Officer answered, "If anyone comes in, we will let you know immediately."

Confirming everything was fine in the other departments, I let out a sigh of relief as this meant our first warp jump was a success. Motioning for the women to unstrap themselves, I decided to take them on a tour of the ship to pass the time.

---An Hour Later---

Returning to our seats just a few moments before we dropped out of warp, the massive space station came into view as the scenery around us returned to normal. Noticing that were no lights on within the station, I had Yamato scan it for any signs of life inside while we circled around it.

<Captain, there are no signs of life onboard.>

"Did they abandon it for some reason?", Olivia asked, as the backside came into view, "Oh no…"

Finding a gaping hole in the hull of the station, it appeared a massive explosion had taken it out of commission. As the metal was bent outward and not inward, I deduced that that explosion had occurred inside, not outside the station. Uncertain if this was the result of a reactor meltdown or sabotage, my gut instinct was to investigate this area further for clues.

"Bridge to Engineering, deploy a few drones to investigate inside the space station.", I ordered, "Our primary objective is to determine what caused this. A secondary objective is to retrieve any data we can from the station's mainframe."

"Copy that!", the Chief of Engineering acknowledged, "Give us a few minutes, we will send a live feed to the bridge once we are inside."

While the Engineering Team got things ready, I had Yamato raise the shielding and place our weapon systems on standby. Unsure how long along this place was attacked, there was no way in hell I was going to be caught with my pants down while we were investigating. Sending the live feed over several minutes later, the drone pilots began fanning out once they entered the station.

Greeted by the chilling sight of frozen corpses floating around inside, it appeared a battle had been going on just before the explosion. Unable to identify the emblems on most of the uniforms the deceased wore, when we came across one that I did recognize, I ordered the drone's operator to stop where he was.

"Zoom in and enhance the emblem on that shoulder guard!", I ordered, narrowing my eyes.

"Roger that.", the pilot said, doing as I asked.

"Victor, do you know that emblem?", Lucoa inquired.

Waiting for a better image to appear on screen, I clenched my fists in anger and concern. Recognizing the Black Legion's emblem anywhere, this revelation sent a chill down my spine. These bastards were only an hour away from our world, that was way too close for comfort in my mind.

"Yamato, raise our status to red alert. Until we are certain when this location was attacked, we will treat this having happened only minutes ago!", I commanded, "Any anomalies and communications you intercept, I want to know about it! Also, get me samples of their DNA."

"Victor, what is going on?", Angelica asked, in a nervous tone.

"That emblem belongs to a traitorous group of enhanced humans called the Black Legion. They take great pleasure in terrorizing their enemies on the battlefield, and even more pleasure in the slaughter of civilian populaces. The Black Legion are nowhere near as formidable as they were in their hay day, but they are still a very real threat to our world.", I informed her, "Each member of the Black Legion was created to perform at superhuman levels, aside from my forces, no other military force on our planet could stand against them."

Understanding the gravity of the situation now, they began to share my uneasiness about this situation. Having the drone operators quickly retrieve DNA samples and data from the mainframe, I was about to give the order to retreat when Communication Officer Layla said she was receiving a distress call of unknown origin. Reporting that the transmission was heavily encrypted, I had Yamato review the data we retrieved for any encryption keys it might contain. Finding the information we needed, she quickly decrypted the message for us.

"This is Passenger Transport Vessel Helios Alpha; we are requesting emergency assistance from anyone receiving this message. We are under attack from a fleet of Space Pirates and a small group of Black Legion Space Marines. They have disabled our engines, and our shielding will not hold out much longer.", a man's voice cried, in English, "I have five hundred souls onboard, mostly refugee women and children. If anyone is hearing this message, please send aid immediately!"

"Commander, how would you like to proceed?", Layla asked, looking at me.

Knowing that we stood little to gain by helping these people, or that this was a trap, I weighed my options carefully as a lot was riding on this. If we decided to ignore the call and leave, we could use the blink or folding drives to get away leaving little trace of our presence here. On the other hand, if we decided to acknowledge the call and help, this opportunity could show me where my improvements to Yamato put her compared to other vessels. Not only that, but it would also grant me the opportunity to fight Space Marines and see where I needed improvements for future encounters. All that said though, this could all be a ploy to draw unsuspecting ships into a trap.

"While this could very well be a trap, but I do not care about that. Yamato, prepare the Folding Drive and bring all weapon systems online. We are going to hopefully give these bastards one hell of a surprise attack.", I ordered, "Communication Officer Layla, notify the vessel that we are on our way to provide assistance."

"Yes sir!", she said, immediately transmitting our response, "This is the Starship Yamato, we are…"

Returning to my seat, as the helmsman plotted our jump, I apologized to the women for dragging them into this. Shaking their heads, instead of being upset, they looked relieved that I was choosing to help them.

"You are going to help someone in need, right? There is no way we would be upset about that.", Olivia assured me.

"I expected nothing less of you, Victor.", Roxanne praised me, with a proud smile.

"Thank you.", I replied, "Alright team, time to kick some ass!"

Confirming that his calculations were correct, the helmsmen activated Yamato's Folding Drive and crossed his fingers. Either we were about make history again, or we were all about to die a very sudden death.