Calley's Chrysalis

(Note #1: All comments and constructive criticisms are welcome and appreciated. If you wish for a response but don't want your name appearing in the comments everyone can see, feel free to e-mail me through my profile.

Note #2: Those of you wishing for a quick story to wank to will want to look elsewhere. Although there are a few nude scenes described in some chapters, the intercourse only starts in chapter 7.

Note #3: This chapter features descriptions of objects in outer space making noise. I am quite aware there is no sound in space but feel my story is more exciting this way. The "Star Wars" films are a big influence on my story in general and this chapter in particular.

Note #4: I'd like to thank my friends Pam and Marike for their help with the later part of this chapter.

Note #5: And finally, thanks to volunteer Literotica editor TheNyxianLily for her help with editing.)

The captain's prediction that Calley would have to kill again came true sooner than either one expected. The ship was on a run to the Farno system with its cargo holds filled with valuable ketorime crystals. It was the tail end of a complicated series of deals the captain had negotiated with various parties. After two sub-cycles of transporting different materials to different planets, all they had to do was get to Farno to sell the cargo for a tidy sum. But it seemed someone else had other ideas.

Calley was helping Alezanna repair Gork, the maintenance android, in the ship's reactor room. The android, named after the sound it made when activated, had a malfunctioning joint in its vacuuming arm. The Bellixan didn't seem to need much assistance but Calley was eager to learn new skills. The raven-haired spacer had the appendage partially disassembled when the ship's proximity alarm rang out. A moment later, the two women and Gork all fell forward as the ship's Hi-Vel engines cut out so suddenly, the artificial gravity failed to compensate for the loss of momentum. Calley knew that whatever had just happened wasn't an engine malfunction and feared the worst.

She and Alezanna both picked themselves up and left the android on the floor as they ran to the cockpit. Before the two could reach it, the ship lurched as it absorbed what they knew had to be a blaster shot. They were under attack.

They reached the cockpit as Calley saw a flash of light indicating the ship's energy shield had taken another hit. The two women took their stations and Calley urgently asked, "What's happening?"

"Pirates!" the captain said as he frantically maneuvered the ship. "Gravity mine shut down the Hi-Vel engines. Not sure where it is but there's a corvette off our port side. Trying to stay away from her. Got some fighters on us, though."

Calley looked over the targeting displays for the ship's two bottom turrets when she caught a quick glimpse of a small ship flying by. It was painted blood red with two small wings attached to a narrow central cockpit, and a blaster cannon was attached to its underside. She estimated the ship was no more then ten meters long. She tried to track it with her guns but it was a quick, nimble target.

"They're fast!" she declared as the enemy ship danced around her blaster fire.

"Shrike fighters," Sal told her as he kept the ship swerving. "All engines and guns. No shields. We've tangled with 'em before."

"Don't fire when they're out of range," Alezanna advised from her station. "Keep an eye on the proximity sensors."

Calley took her advice and saw that two pirate ships were approaching and firing at the Ravenfang as two more were peeling away. One fighter was above the ship, but the other swerved underneath, bringing it within firing range of her turrets. She tried to line it up but it kept dropping under her shots. It fired a few shots of its own and Calley saw the flash of the energy shield absorbing yet another hit. The pirate turned away and Calley saw another fighter ship approaching. This time she was better prepared for its speed and her fire was closer to the mark. She didn't manage to hit her target but the constant barrage kept her enemy from lining up a decent shot of its own.

She heard an explosion come from somewhere outside the ship and saw one of the blips on the sensors vanish. "Got one!" Alezanna announced.

Calley felt a surge of optimism before her eye caught sight of the energy shield display. The enemy fire had already sapped away over a quarter of it's output. "Still three more out there," she said.

"That's just the picket ships," Captain Sal advised. "The corvette's launching more. We need to clear some space here, fast!"

Calley returned her attention to the targeting displays. Another one of the attackers was flying in to strafe the Ravenfang. Calley adjusted her aim to its side to make it bank to starboard. When it did, it entered the firing arc of her second set of cannons. Calley fired one salvo from them that caught the fighter head-on and vaporized it. She let out a quick shout of triumph and got back to the job at hand.

"Good girl!" the captain congratulated her as he examined his own displays. "Lemme know the next time one gets within a thousand clicks."

Calley checked the sensors and saw multiple blips at a distance and two up close. She tried to line up another fighter but the pilot wasn't falling for the same trick she'd just used. The other close ship wasn't in her guns' firing arcs so she wasn't keeping track of it. A loud screeching sound filled her ears, and she realized it was coming from a nearby fighter's engines.

"Now!" Alezanna's voice reverberated around the cockpit.

Captain Sal suddenly reduced the Ravenfang's speed which caused the pirate fighter to appear in front of the ship. The captain fired the front cannons and reduced the smaller ship to ash.

"Gotcha sucker!" he said. "Thanks for the set-up, Alez."

"Sure, that was my plan," the tall woman replied, her voice full of sarcasm. "I never should have let him get that close."

Calley saw the fourth picket fighter drop back. "The last one's breaking off to join the others," she told her crewmates.

"He'll be back," Sal grimly predicted, bringing the ship back to its top speed. "We're near the edge of the mine's gravity well. It'll slow us down too much if we try to break out of it. Keep 'em off our backs and get ready to face front when I say so."

"Comms are jammed," Alezanna announced. "They're not coordinating their attacks, but I count thirteen fighters coming up on us."

"Prophet's breath, it's crowded out here!" the captain exclaimed. "They wanna take down our shields then blow out the reactor so they can tractor us in. Take the cargo and probably you two as well. Get ready, they'll be coming in on us in a sec."

Calley kept her eyes on the sensors as she saw the attacking ships were out of range at that moment. As the freighter started to slow down and shake, the wave of fighters surged forward into cannon range. The Ravenfang's shaking intensified as it struggled to break free of the gravity mine's pull. This made it harder for Calley to aim her cannons. However, the abundance of targets advancing at the same time meant they had little room to maneuver and she was able to destroy another one. She also heard another one blow up due to Alezanna's cannons.

A second later, Collondo cut the main Lo-Vel engines completely while shouting, "Front!". Alezanna and Calley spun their guns around as the ship flipped over to face its attackers. Sal re-engaged the engines as the ship flew forward, its speed enhanced by the pull of the gravity mine out there somewhere. Calley's targeting display was once again filled with ships. The captain's maneuver had caught the enemy pilots off-guard and they were flying fairly straight. Calley fired the cannons and destroyed two of them. The attacking fighters fired a few shots but the Ravenfang was in their midst in an instant. The wave of attack ships scattered and Calley heard the sound of metal scraping metal followed by an explosion. She feared her ship had been damaged but realized she hadn't felt the Ravenfang absorb any impact. It had to have been the pirates colliding with each other.

With her ship now through the attacking wave, she turned her cannons back and saw the enemy fighters turning around as well. She managed to line another one up and vaporized it before the others were back on the Ravenfang's tail.

"Seven left," Alezanna announced. "Half our shields gone."

"Six," Calley simply said after she moved the guns into position and blasted another fighter. She looked at the proximity sensors to confirm the number and see where the remaining pirates were in relation to her guns. She saw the six blips but also a large one from in front of the Ravenfang. She looked out the front canopy and saw the pirate corvette in the distance. It was a large ship with a flight deck at it's centre. She quickly thanked the Gods that the corvette didn't seem to be launching any more fighters. She then turned her attention back to her targeting displays.

She tried to get a bead on another fighter but they were staying at extreme range. She saw blips advancing on the sensors but couldn't spot the ships. She heard Alezanna firing her guns and realized the pirate ships were approaching from above the Ravenfang instead of below it. She heard the sound of the energy shields absorbing hits and saw its strength going down. It was now down to a fifth of its normal power.

The Bellixan suddenly called out, "Barrel roll Captain!" and the ship rolled over. The pirate fighters staying away from Calley's blaster cannons were now in her sights again. She only had an instant to aim and fire her guns but she took full advantage of it. Two more of the small ships were destroyed by her cannons before Captain Sal stopped flipping the ship over. Calley's targeting screens were clear again so she looked over at the sensors. The blips representing the fighters had altered course and were moving away from the Ravenfang.

"What are they doing?" Calley wondered aloud.

"Turning tail," Sal observed. "They've had enough of this fight. The corvette's signaling for us to leave her ships alone and they'll cease hostilities."

Alezanna turned from her consoles to reach out and put her hand on Calley's arm. "Are you all right?" she asked.

Calley wondered why her friend was asking her that question when she realized that, in the heat of the battle, she hadn't thought of the pilots of those pirate ships. She'd just killed quite a few of them. Her conversation with the captain came back to her. What he'd said about killing being easier when you were behind a ship's guns, and as you had to do it more. She realized he'd been right on both counts.

"I'm okay, thanks," she said as she squeezed her friend's hand with one of her own. She looked at Alezanna's station and saw no evidence of communications. "Signaling how?" she asked the captain. "I thought the comms were jammed."

"They are," Alezanna confirmed as she turned back to her instruments. "The pirate ship is flickering its lights in a code. I can't read it but our good captain can."

"Indeed I can," Captain Collondo said. "They're saying they can't shut off the mine remotely because of the signal jammer. They're gonna tractor it in and turn it off by hand."

"I dunno if I believe that," Calley observed.

"No, it sounds about right." The captain maneuvered the Ravenfang away and behind the corvette. "Putting a signal jammer on your mine is pretty standard tactics. The jammer activates as soon as the mine's sensors detect an incoming ship. Keeps the target from getting out a distress call. Meanwhile, the mothership loses its comms and knows a ship is about to be caught in the mine's gravity well so it reacts accordingly."

"So we're not gonna blow up the mine?" Calley asked. She was still amped up from the fight and hadn't fully relaxed yet.

"I'm tempted," Sal admitted. "But with our shields in the state they're in, we better not risk starting up another fight. Especially since it'd bring us in range of the corvette's guns. They're not generally built to fire at a small ship like ours. Especially that bastard of a mega-cannon they've got slung next to its control centre. But I don't wanna risk their gunners getting off a lucky shot. We'll keep an eye on 'em and let 'em have their equipment. They've already lost a squadron of fighters. No need to add insult to injury. That reminds me..."

He moved his right hand over to a switch and flicked it on and off at different intervals. Calley saw the corvette flicker its lights in response as it veered to its starboard, away from the Ravenfang as three of the remaining fighters docked. The fourth seemed to be damaged as it limped towards the larger pirate ship.

"What did you tell them?" she asked the captain.

"Asked them to transmit the names of the pilots they lost. We might be entitled to some bounties once we get to Farno. It's not my favourite way to make starcred, but I'd say we earned it today."

The corvette fired off its tractor beam at some object above its new heading. "So that's where it was," Captain Sal said as the three spacers watched the yellow beam maneuver the gravity mine into its docking bay. As it did so, Calley noticed the corvette had turned further away from the last fighter ship.

"Why aren't they helping that pilot first?" she asked her crewmates.

"Guess they figure the mine's worth more. Charming fellows, these pirates," the captain said sardonically.

The tractor beam vanished and a dozen seconds later, the Ravenfang shuddered. Calley realized the gravity mine had been deactivated. To confirm her assumption, Alezanna's communications console let out a chirp. The Bellixan turned her attention to it and announced, "Pirate names transmitted. Checking bounty listings."

"Good," Calley said. "Now the corvette can grab its last ship and get the Hells out of here."

"He's not gonna make it," Sal announced. The words were barely out of his mouth before Calley saw the fighter explode. "Damn. If they'd gone after him first, they probably could've saved him."

The communications console chirped again. "One more name transmitted," Alezanna declared.

"Flag that one, Alez," the captain told her. "That's one of the ones we'll keep on record and not turn in. I don't wanna invite the Gods to give me that poor bastard's shitty luck."

"Understood," his beautiful lover agreed as she kept inputting the pirate names in the bounty directory. "We'll recoup seven thousand, eight hundred and sixty star credit units from the others."

The captain nodded and said, "All right. One more bit of business then..."

He swiveled his seat to face Calley, reached inside his robe and pulled out his datapad. He looked something up on the device and asked her, "How in the seven Hells do you rank a level 1 certification in spaceship gunnery? Level 1 indicates basic competency and what you did today was well beyond that."

"I'll say," Alezanna said with admiration. "I have a level 2 rank and you put me to shame".

Calley blushed at the compliments. She explained, "Well, when I went for my certification, I thought the guns I'd been assigned had sights that were out of alignment. I pointed it out to the testing officer but he told me to stop being a whiney Gynapsi."

"Oh for the love of the Gods!" her beautiful shipmate moaned aloud as the captain rolled his eyes.

"Well, that creates a problem," Sal said in a more serious tone. "We've been paying you the standard guild rate based on your skillsheet. You get that updated and your rate'll go up. Think we can afford that Alez?"

"That'll cut into our profits," the Bellixan admitted.

"And that's no good. No, I don't think we can afford to keep you on as an employee. We'll just have to fire you and take you on as a partner instead."

Calley was struck speechless by what the captain had said. Her heart had dropped for an instant when he'd said he'd fire her but when he said "partner", she couldn't believe her ears.

The captain went on. "Alez and I were talking about it and we were gonna surprise you for your birthday. But after what you just did, I figured why wait? Now, keep in mind not every run is gonna work out so good as this--"

He was interrupted by Calley jumping into his lap to give him a hug.

"Thank you thank you thank you!!!" she babbled out in her excitement. "This is the best day of my life!"

"Whoa there!" the bemused spacer said. "I was trying to tell you about the risks. If we take a loss, that means you do too. Sometimes a deal goes bad. We lose a buyer, or our cargo loses its value mid-run. It happens. And sometimes the merchants you deal with sell your travel plans to pirates."

"You think the ketorime traders sold us out?" Alezanna asked him.

"Our most valuable cargo in cycles," he pointed out. "A dozen planets we could sell it at. And somehow these raiders happen to catch us midway to Farno? No Alez, the universe is too big for a coincidence like that to happen. I'm guessing those traders are gonna get a visit from some angry pirates who weren't warned about our guns." He turned back to the Gynapsi on his lap. "But this just proves my point. We could've lost our cargo today. If we had, the run would've been a disaster for us. As a partner, this could affect you if we get jumped in the future."

Calley was too excited to heed his warning. "I don't care! I know the ship will keep us safe. I trust you to keep the starcred coming in." She jumped off his lap and hugged Alezanna, who saw her coming and was more prepared for her embrace. "And besides, we've got the best mechanic in the galaxy. How can we ever not be profitable?"

Alezanna laughed aloud. "How indeed?" she agreed.

Collondo threw up his hands and gave up trying to dampen the young woman's spirits. "Well, if you wanna throw caution to the winds, that's your prerogative. All I can do is give you a third of the profits after expenses."

"That much?" Calley said in genuine surprise.

"After expenses," he repeated. "Keeping this old ship running can be pretty expensive sometimes. Speaking of which., why don't you ladies check out what kind of damage this little scuffle gave us? I can keep an eye on our playmates while the nav computer calculates our way outta here."

"Yes captain," the Bellixan agreed. She took Calley's hand and led her excited young companion out of the cockpit.

The two spent the next hour assessing the ship's condition. Aside from a few burnt out power cables, it seemed to have emerged from the fight relatively unscathed. The only other damage was to Gork. It had been flung around the reactor room when the Ravenfang had shuddered taking blaster fire. The pieces of it's disassembled arm were now all over the floor.

"I think this is a lost cause," Alezanna mused aloud. "We'll never find all of the smaller pieces."

"Yeah, this is a mess," Calley agreed. "You don't think you have the extra parts we need?"

"No. I don't stock a lot of android parts. We'll just have to buy Gork a new arm on Farno if that's all right with you."

"Me?"

"You're our partner in this enterprise now. You have a say in how we maintain the ship and Gork's part of that."

"Right. This partner thing is gonna take some getting used to. Have I thanked you for that lately?" Calley asked as she knelt down to start picking up some parts of Gork's arm.

"Only about a dozen times in the last hour," Alezanna answered as she stowed the android in a corner of the reactor room.

"I just didn't see this coming," the Gynapsi admitted as she took an armful of parts to what she thought was the correct cabinet.

Her friend had her back to Calley as she said, "Isn't that the point of a good birthday present? To be a nice surprise?"