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Author's Chapter Notes:

Nostory told me Eris is, and I quote: "unbelievably sexy". Do you agree with this opinion? Let me know in a review.

The alarm sounds: 0700HRS UTC. Time for breakfast.

And so another day in interstellar space begins. It's on long missions like this when I regret joining the navy. Early start, nothing to do. Come on, please let there be some pirates today! I don't want to spend all day working out in the gym.

Not that I mind being in the ship's gymnasium to workout; it's necessary. And if I didn't workout I'd lose the muscles my girlfriend seems to love so much. Sure, the change in gravity can wreak havoc on the unprepared, blah-blah, but you'd think they could have up with a more stimulating routine by now.

Being surrounded by all of these state of the art computers and robots, I find myself wondering if they even need personnel like me anymore. It's hard not to feel grossly inferior to these amazing pieces of machinery. And yet they are always looking for new recruits.

It doesn't help that the captain often likes to boast about how our ship can take out other ships without the need for any of us humans at the controls. Its computers make the one I left at home on Mars with my girlfriend look like total garbage, and that was a rather expensive model.

Urgh, I'm starting to regret leaving Mars again. Mars is such a beautiful planet and I'm stuck out here for months on end. I could be working as a commercial pilot like I should have done, travelling between its cities and taking in the views as I do.

Olympus Mons especially is breathtakingly beautiful. I must go back there sometime. Being a civilian pilot would have been a much safer job and just as enjoyable, even if I have always liked playing war games using holography machines...

And now I'm out here, on the fringes of the known Milky Way for real. I always liked the military video games but now the reality of the situation is really starting to set in. I can't let her get to me though. We can defeat her! We will defeat her eventually! The good guys always win in the end, don't they?

How she has managed to become so powerful is beyond me. In a little over ten years she's managed to create an empire spanning several star systems in the constellation of Sagittarius and evade capture. And to think it all started with just a few sporadic attacks with some very stealthy ships but she quickly grew her backyard.

Hard to believe such large ships could be so stealthy. I hesitate to ponder how much power they consume. They must have several micro black holes in those things, surely.

There are lots of rumours about how she got her power. Of course, Jasmine's words still ring in my head. Mining vessels? Surely a corporation couldn't be that evil? Or maybe she's part of an alien race? It has to be some aliens somewhere; there is no way any business could be that evil, could it? If one good thing has come about from all this it's that the bond between the various human groups has grown stronger as they have a common enemy.

Man, it's so easy to get lost in thought. I'm daydreaming again. Time to get myself out of bed I think. I've reminisced for long enough. But they do say that boredom triggers creativity. Too bad I don't have a desk to work on in this tin can of a room. It isn't worthy of the title bedroom.

Looks like most people have already got out of their sleeping quarters. I can see why they're so eager to get out of their beds – it's so cramped in here. It's just a long thin corridor lined with beds and cabinets – but at least it's not a hibernation-pod. Still, we get very little privacy. Looking towards the exit at one end I see Brandon about to walk out. It's easy to tell it's him. Tall man, long blond hair.

"Hey Brandon," I shout as I run down the corridor, "Wait up."

"Hey Sidney; did you sleep well?" he replies as he turns to face me.

"I guess so. But I kind of wish I was home back on Mars."

"I think we all do...but we've got nothing to worry about. Isn't that what you've kept telling me? This spaceship is one of the finest in the fleet. Brand spanking new and chock full of state of the art technology. No rogues will be able bring us down."

"Yeah, I guess so. Hard to believe it's me who is the one with doubts now."

"I was heading to the canteen get some breakfast; I only came in here to get my watch and, by the looks of things, you aren't washed or dressed yet. I'll meet you in there shortly, yeah?"

"Sure thing. A nice cold shower will do me a lot of good. I'll meet you in the canteen approximately ten minutes then."

As Brandon leaves, I head to the showers. It's not too long of a walk as they're located along an adjoining corridor at either end of our sleeping area. The shower cubicals are fairly basic but they have everything I need fortunately, and the soap is nice.

Later, over breakfast, Brandon and I start to converse about all sorts of trivial things. I wish there were more people like Brandon in our universe. I've known Brandon since my childhood – we went to school together – and I feel that I can tell him anything. Sure we have our up and downs, but isn't every friendship like that? Nobody is perfect, and I don't like people who think themselves as perfect.

When I finish my breakfast we head towards the ship's gymnasium for the morning routine. During the workout Brandon and I, along with a couple of other friends, Jasmine and Virgil, continue to talk about trivial things. Nothing of any real importance, but thinking about our homes and what we're fighting for keeps our spirits up.

By the end of our workout I'm starving, and, fortunately, it's lunchtime. As soon as I've finished the assault course, I get up and look straight at Brandon, who is stood beside me. He knows exactly what I'm thinking: food. There's nothing like a good plate of lasagne for lunch. Pasta is full of carbohydrates so it'll help me recover from the workout, and the artificial beef isn't so bad either – well not as bad as some like to claim it is anyway.

Once we're out of the shower we head straight for the canteen. The steely greys of the canteen are a stark contrast to the bright colours of the ship's state of the art gymnasium. It's rather dull in here, but the food is always good, so I guess that makes up for it.

The ship's canteen is like an old English pub. It's a hub of activity. It's a place of the kind people used to go before they invented social networking websites and people stopped talking to each other. As I walk towards one of the kitchens I see exactly what I've desired all morning but didn't know I wanted. Behind the counter is a lovely lasagne, freshly prepared of course. The cooks aboard this ship are amazing! I don't know how they do it.

After being served, just as I'm about to sit down, a siren sounds. This can't be good. Heck, when have I ever known a siren to be a good thing? I can tell this is going to be important. And I was just about to have my lasagne! It seems today is going to be different after all.

"Hello, this is your ship's captain speaking. We're having a slight problem with the ship controls. It's as if someone is trying to hack into the ship's state of the art computer. Rest assured, they won't succeed. This ship has..." says a distressed male voice, apparently that of the ship captain, on the ship's public address system before being interrupted by another voice.

Even though the captain hasn't been able to finish his sentence, I can guess that he was going to say some along the lines of 'state of the art computers'. He can be quite predictable.

Suddenly all of the screens in the canteen turn themselves on. When fully operational, they show the image of the bust, encased in what seems to be a plain white bra, and neck of a woman with long blonde hair. And everyone starts panicking.

The Angels (giantesses) have never been known to reveal their faces to us 'lesser beings', as they put it. Apparently, as I recently learned, we are considered 'unworthy' by the giantesses, hence none of them have ever revealed to any humans what they actually look like. The camera will typically be pointed towards an area of the giantesses torso, in this case her breasts, and it's left to our own imagination to envision how equally awesome her face must be.

And t-that voice. It's her! No doubt about it.

Somehow, she has managed to take of control of the ship. This ship is supposed to be state of the art! And nobody told me we were this close to her syndicate. Unless...unless they didn't know she was stalking us. I always knew she was smart, but I didn't think that she would be able to hack into our ship's state of the art computers.

"Thank you, captain," says the new, distinctly feminine, and very sultry voice, "I'll be taking over from here. I've been tracking your ship for a several days now, and I've finally figured out how to hack into your supposedly state of the art computers.

"You see, you're in my realm now. And I make the rules in these parts. Your little dinghy isn't welcome here. However, it's too late to turn back now. I've already set a course for my hidey-hole. And I'd love it if I could have you for lunch. I'll make sure that you have a killer experience, you can be sure of that."

She's crazy! If she can hack into our ship state of the art computer system then I'd hate to find out what else she is capable of. How can she be so cruel? Life is precious but she squanders human life like it's nothing! I guess the rumours of her intelligence are true. She's a lot smarter than many of us have given her credit for, I'll give her that.

All of a sudden the voice switches back to that of the ship's captain and the screens switch themselves off, causing most of the panicking people to calm down. Somehow, I don't think we've won though. Eris wouldn't give up the controls that easily I'm sure.

"Everyone, please calm down! I'm back in control...I think. What? It's true! She's somehow managed to change our trajectory. We're headed towards some unknown planetoid. I don't know how, but at least I have control of the P.A. system again," the captain says through the ship public address system.

As soon as the captain finishes his sentence the screens turn themselves back on and the female bust from before reappears. Panic erupts all around me and it seems as though most people have all of a sudden forgotten protocol.

Thankfully, I'm so far managing to hide my fear. I don't know how or why, but I don't feel that scared of her. Should I? Perhaps I've learnt to control my fear of her.

She's so pretty, yet so devastating at the same time: surely a winning combination. Her beauty is matched only by her own brains. How did someone like her get to be so evil? That's what I want to know. All we can do now is hope that her overconfidence and arrogance will be her downfall, just like it was for Adolf Hitler all those years ago on the Earth.

"No, you don't!" she exclaims as she regains control of ship public address system, "I'm sorry, captain, but I control this sorry excuse for ship now. So, you can get your sorry little ass out of the bridge and let me do the driving. That's an order!

"If you're a good little boy, captain, then I've something special in store for you. But you'll have to promise me that you'll be a good boy. Understand? Now get going before I change my mind. Now! As for the rest of you...look at you all in the ship canteen. That's right, fatten yourselves up. Your goddess is waiting."

I feel somewhat left out by the fact everyone else is panicking and I'm not. My lasagne is getting cold! Dam it, how can I be thinking about food at a time like this? But how can I ever hope to fight her on an empty stomach?

She is scary, but I can't show any sign of weakness! She's probably watching us right now. How else can she know that most of us are in the canteen? Unless she knows it's the lunch hour? She has said that she's been watching us for days, maybe even weeks.

Gosh, the way she twirls her long blonde hair whilst she's on screen is so mesmerising. It's easy to tell why she considers herself a goddess. Apparently she's the goddess of chaos. Goddess of love more like! Wait, what am I saying, I have a girlfriend! I should be ashamed of myself! What would she think if she saw me here staring at this screen? Perish the thought.

"You people never fucking learn. This game of cat and mouse has gone on for long enough. I am going to make an example of you all. Then perhaps you people will learn. You can't win against me.

"I'm superior to you in every way. I'm so much bigger, so much smarter and so much stronger than any of you will ever be. Yet you choose to be ignorant of the facts.

"You've been struggling against me for nearly twenty years now. Look at me and then look at yourselves. If you don't see it then you're blind. I'm forging my own empire with my bare hands. You will bow down to your goddess! Do you hear me? You will bow down to me!"

Ignorant of the facts? But how? We've won several battles against her recently. And our ship is state of the art. I hope we haven't underestimated her again though. We have a habit of doing that. We say we're prepared for the worst and then she does something we didn't think of.

Time and again I hear lots of stories of vessels disappearing. They can't all be attributed to her of course, but who ever heard of a band of pirates successfully taking on something this size?

They don't. They never try and punch above their weight. Sometimes it's okay to look like a coward, because there's bravery and then there's stupidity. The pirates know their limits, and I hope we do too.

I look around at my friends: Brandon, Jasmine and Virgil. They're all panicking. Well not so much Brandon, but it's easy to tell that even he is worrying. Okay, so their panic might be justified.

Once again I'm reminded of the fact there there's being brave and then there's being stupid. And I hope I'm not the latter sort of person. I think can do this though. All of our training has been in preparation for this moment!

"Sidney," Brandon says as he turns to look at me, "You seem to be very calm given the magnitude of the situation!"

Before I have a chance to reply I hear the captain's voice on the ship public address system again, "She's really done it. She's amazing. I don't know how, but she's done it. I'm trying to change the ship trajectory but it's been locked..."

"Oh-w, captain, your flattery makes my heart dance," she says, as her right hand starts to grope her breasts,"But you're not being a good little boy, now are you? I told you, nicely, and slowly, to leave the bridge, didn't I? It seems that I will have to punish you. You'll be getting a thorough spanking when I see you. And seeing as you're so eager to stay in there, I'll lock you in.

I'll deal with you later, captain. It's no use struggling, captain, my Angels and I make short work of disobedient little boys. I have to go and prepare for your arrival now, but I'll be back soon, don't you worry. I'll leave you with one of my Angels. I'm sure that you'll find her to be quite the charmer."

"Everybody," the captain shouts, "I can see a ship in the distance. It's an ambush! Action stations! Action stations! An unidentified object is approaching us."

That's my cue. It's time to get into my fighter. It's all been leading up to this point. One of the reasons I got approved for the army is my ability to remain calm under pressure. The time to prove myself is now. The games are over. This is the real thing. I look around to discover that my friends have already disappeared. This might have been my last chance to see them, so a proper goodbye would have been nice.

As I start running towards the ship hangers, I notice that screens across the ship have switched to the image of another woman. She has long blonde hair like the last woman, although hers is considerably wavier. And, like the woman before her, she doesn't reveal her face. However, unlike her, she covers her breasts with, what appears to be, a black satin bra.

I don't know what exactly the women that have appeared on the screens are, but one thing is certain, I am going to inflict serious pain on them. One way or another, I will. I don't care if they are women. They have destroyed so many of our ships and captured so many humans. They deserve everything that's coming for them.

As I make my way down the corridor, the female figure on the screens begins to talk. Her voice is sensual, much like that of the woman before her, although not as angry. She speaks in a slow voice, nevertheless one that displays intense passion. Gosh, she must really believe what she is doing is right.

"Hello, everyone," she says whilst she appears to move her arms about in order to do several other things off screen, "Your goddess, Eris, has left you in...good company. I, am Nyx."

Chapter End Notes:

Chapter names may lead the reader to assume certain things about the chapter, and as I additonally cannot be bothered to think up names for chapters, you'll have to do with just numbers. Just so you know, I would have named this chapter: "A Discordian Encounter".

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