Jaeko laughed and was poking at Toxic's hand-puppet with a wooden practice sword when Captain Tkarro and Neblae came onto the flight deck. Jin came over and kissed her husband on the cheek and handed him a Ranger helmet. She giggled, "Avoid ANY more brain damage!" Dokka gave her a look and sighed,"A couple of knocks on my head might do me good!" Jin raised an eyebrow at him seriously. "Was it THAT bad dealing with the Galactic Humans?" He put on the helmet and said tiredly,"Worse that last time, for a WHOLE different load of reasons! Their 'EMPIRE' isn't. Not as we define one. It's a gaggle of competing mega-corporations with a couple of hundred worlds each with their OWN battlefleets! The nobles are aristocrats solely because of their places IN the corporations. The imperial family only acts as referees in the struggle for power! BUT! There is worse. They've been fighting the 'Great Enemy' in the OPEN for fourteen years! I need a drink, but I'm still on duty, so I want to fight someone!" Jaeko said,"I should wan you, I am a Golden Buckle holder." Dokka said,"I'm silver belt and know some tricks" They bowed to each other. Toxic and Jin looked at each other and shrugged. Neblae shouted,"FIGHT!" Dokka and Jaeko went at it. Dokka was out of practice and Jaeko was tired from sparring with Neble and Toxic earlier. It was more of an even match than Jaeko expected. While they fought with an almost rhythmic clacking of wooden swords, Narchi asked Neblae,"Learn anything useful?" She laughed. She whispered,"More than I can recount! they found working ALtha-Krommium WEAPON SYSTEMS in some systems! One is called a Space Transference Cannon that can drop up to planet sized masses out of hyperspace into normal space or normal space into SUB-SPACE!" Narchi looked sick."Holy SHIT!" "Know how they found out what it does? By dropping one of the outer planets in their home system into sub-space! They also found--GET THIS! What THEY call 'Probability Transformation Engines' on every planet that has a human species! They think they transform native primate species into humans by favoring the evolution selection process! They have FIVE human species that seemed to occur naturally! Same level of development!" Dokka shouted,"NEBLAE! That is 'TOP-SECRET-burn BEFORE READING' stuff, dammit!" Jaeko pressed him, seeing he was distracted. Dokka feinted to his right and ducked one swing, suddenly recognizing the style. He bided his time and then struck at one wrist in a flurry of blows. Jaeko's sword went flying through the air, to be grabbed by Toxic, using her puppet as a catcher's mitt. She gave a laughing scream and laughed, "OH NO! You killed Pengy! You bastards!" Jin reached over and slapped Toxic on the head, while laughing,"Watch your language, young lady! MY man won! Woooohoooo! Your man owes us a steak dinner!" Toxic stopped laughing and dropped the wooden sword to the deck-plates in shock. "He DOES? Hmmmmmm! Red meat! STEAK! OH,YEAH!" Jin suddenly remembered the last time Toxic ate red meat, and yelled,"I MEANT A CHICKEN DINNER!" Toxic scooped up the wooden stick and ran over to Jaeko and exclaimed,"STEAK DINNER! STEAK DINNER!" Jaeko laughed and shrugged,"Sure, why not?" Jin was waving her hands in a negative manner and shaking her head,'NO'. He looked at her and she sighed,"Why not, indeed? It's been years. It probably won't happen again." Dokka took off his helmet and looked alarmed. "WHAT happens again?" She shrugged,"Toxic got really hyper AND aggressive last time she ate red meat. That's why I keep her and River Prince fed on chicken and fish." Dokka and Jaeko looked with growing horror at the thought of a berserk Toxic. Narchi said,"It's 'all you can eat' night at that Pejite Chicken place you like,Toxic." Toxic was smacking her lips as Dokka and Jaeko both said,"I love you,man!" They glared at each other and laughed. --to be continued!--