“What do we do about this dropship?" Alyssa asked him pointedly. "We can't jump into hyper warp with it attached".

“Shut the airlock and disengage the docking clamps I guess?" John said, wondering why she was asking.

Alyssa was glancing over the controls “This looks pretty straightforward to fly, I could land it in the hangar bay if you Like?"

“Sure, if you want" John replied. "At the very least Sparks will be able to take a look at some alien tech" he said smiling.

“Ok let's do this" Alyssa said confidently. "You go back to the Invictus and seal the airlock, then open the hull doors to the hangar bay, I'll bring the dropship around".

"Yes ma'am!" John grinned and moved to follow her instructions.

Alyssa stepped over the mangled Kirrix pilot she had gunned down earlier and wiped his brain matter from the control surface. She pushed a couple of buttons that sealed the dropship's airlock and fired up the engines. Taking hold of the flight stick, she found she could operate it ok, even though it was designed for an arthropod forelimb and she gently eased the dropship away from the docking collar on the Invictus airlock. She then rotated the ship cleanly so that it was facing the hangar bay and waited for the doors in the outer hull of the Invictus to open. She nudged the Kirrix dropship in cautiously, the alien craft enveloped in the pressurised force field sealing the hangar bay, before landing it gingerly in the middle of the cavernous room as the hull doors swung closed. She opened the airlock and then powered the small ship down, before Leaving to go and meet up with John

"Nice flying honey" he said, moving forward to give her a kiss. He was surprised when she raised a hand to stop him.

“You're covered in green goo!" she said grinning and pointed at the alien blood that had splashed over his face. "You need a shower first, then you can kiss me as much as you Like” she said playfully.

"Ok I'll take you up on that!" he grinned "First, let's see what's happening on the bridge".

They rode up in the elevator and stepped out on to the bridge a few moments later.

"How are you two doing?" John asked, “everything ok up here?"

“ALL engines on the Kirrix hive ship destroyed Commander!" Calara told him proudly.

“Nice work Calara!" John grinned at her "So, they are totally immobilised?"

“They aren't going anywhere!" she said excitedly.

“We're safe now too, we're out of their fire arcs"

“I'm recharging shields again John, we're back up to 62% now!" Sparks chimed in.

“Great job, the pair of you" John praised them sincerely.

“What happened with the boarding party and why is your face covered in green goop?" Sparks asked him.

“They were no match for our surprise Counter-attack!" Alyssa said grinning.

“They messed with the wrong marine, right John?"

John chuckled good naturedly. "Yeah, I'm wearing Kirrix at the moment" he said, wiping his face for emphasis.