The trioy cuddled up togetherfortably in bed. John and Alyssa were both greatly relieved that Cra had taken their surprising revtion so well.


    “There is one thing though…” Cra said tentatively after a few moments.


    “What is it Cra?” John asked, his voice tinged with concern.


    “I still haven’t seen the bridge yet! I’m not going to be much good as a Tactical Officer if you don’t let me out of the bedroom” she said, grinning impishly.


    Alyssa’s musicalughter was joined by John’s baritone chuckles. “Ok honey, we can go now if you want?” he offered obligingly.


    Cra could barely contain her excitement as they got dressed. John waited patiently for the girls to leave the room, before following after them and turning off the lights as he left. The lovely teenagers headed down the corridor to the elevator, chatting animatedly and he admired the enticing sway of their hips as they walked. They stood together in the lift and the girl’s chatter fell quiet as Cra’s anticipation grew palpable.N?velDrama.Org: owner of this content.


    The door to the elevator whirred quietly open and they walked out on to the bridge together for the first time.


    “Wow!!” Cra gasped, her big brown eyes like saucers as she took in therge oval shaped bridge.


    Alyssa darted nimbly up the illuminated steps to themand podium and sat in the Executive Officers chair. She pressed a couple of buttons on her console and the Tactical station, down and to the left of her, burst in to life. Two long curving consoles began to fill with a weing glow, as one control panel after another lit up.


    John walked up to the awestruck Latina’s side and rested his hand reassuringly on her shoulder.


    “Take your post Lieutenant” he said to her quietly.


    Cra turned to face him as she came out of her reverie. “At once Commander!” she said, her sharp salute and the intense look in her eyes silently conveying her deep respect for him.


    Alyssa watched the two and rolled her eyes. She smiled, but stayed quiet, letting them have their moment.


    John climbed the steps of the podium and sat in the Commander’s chair, watching with a smile on his face as Cra eagerly strode towards her new station. She sat in the borate Tactical chair and pressed a sequence of buttons on the armrest, powering up her seat. Holographic targeting arrays sprang into being in front of her, as two illuminated controls slowly rose from the armrests.


    Alyssa had brought the Holo-reader with her and she walked down to the Tactical station to offer it to Cra, just in case she needed it to learn how to use the controls. The brte politely declined and so Alyssa just stood and watched intrigued as the brte gripped the arm rest controls confidently with each hand.


    “This is just like the simtor back at the Academy!”, the brte said excitedly.


    She pressed a couple of buttons andrge holographic images sprang to life in the middle of the bridge, disying tactical information for her crewmates to see. An image of the Invictus rotated slowly before them, looking sleek and menacing. Cra flipped a safety switch and then pushed a foreboding looking red button on the top of her right controller.


    Armoured panels on the hull of the Invictus began to slide away, revealing the hidden arsenal beneath.


    “Weapons armed, Commander.” Cra stated, following standard Terran Federation protocol.


    “Laser defence” Cra exined helpfully, as dozens of stubby Gatlingsers spun up, the Image of the Invictus showing their many ovepping fields of fire. “To take out missiles and fighters” she added for Alyssa’s benefit, John already being familiar with the assault cruisers capabilities.


    “Pulsesers” Cra said, as the overhead image disyed the broad fire arcs of the turretedser cannons. “Medium range and designed to take out lightly armoured targets” she rified for the blonde teenager.


    “Beamsers” Cra stated, as she cycled through the massive firepower at her fingertips. “Long range and powerful enough to punch through heavy shielding”. The rotating image in the centre of the bridge showed the six forward facing Beamsers, each barrel over 30 metres in length.


    “Finally the Invictus’ main guns” She said, with a gleam in her eye. She cycled through to thest setting, and two pairs of 200 metre long cannons were highlighted on the glowing holograph. It was obvious that the ship had been built around these enormous weapons, with power converters and ordnance feeding rooms built adjacent to them.


    “Mass drivers, for when you really want to fuck something up!” Cra eximed, her youthful exuberance momentarily getting the better of her military professionalism.


    “Want to perform a fire test Lieutenant?” John asked, the young brte’s enthusiasm proving contagious. Cra nodded eagerly.


    “XO, any asteroid belts near here?” he asked the beautiful blonde.


    Alyssa strode purposefully back up to her console and began searching through the systems closest to their current location.


    “There’s an uninhabited asteroid field in this system Commander” she replied, getting caught up in their excitement.


    “Lay in a course please, Alyssa” John ordered.


    A short whileter, the Invictus dropped out of hyper warp, the exposed barrels looking like teeth bared in a snarl as it prowled closer to its unwitting victims. The unsuspecting asteroids drifted and rotated slowly, as though performing an intricate dance with one another.


    Cra focused intently on the targeting grids in front of her. “Firing beams!” she said excitedly as her finger caressed the trigger on the right control. Sixnces of coruscating energy sted outwards and sliced an enormous tumbling asteroid in half. The chunks separated cleanly, each half glowing from the heat of the incision.


    “Main guns!” She cried out, as she cycled through the weapons and unloaded the Mass drivers. The Invictus trembled with the recoil, as the 200 metre long maic coils elerated the shells to Hyper warp velocity. Two sets of massive impacts punched into each of the split asteroid chunks causing spectacr craters, before the shells detonated a secondter. The two halves of the asteroid detonated into a thousand pieces, devastated by the colossal explosions.


    “Pulsesers!” Cra gasped, as the turretedser cannons began to track and vaporise therger asteroid fragments in a cascade of bright energy sts.


    “Point defence!” Cra panted, as ribbons ofser fire erupted around the Invictus, the Gatlingsers opening up on the pitiful remnants of the once majestic asteroid.