The Second Book of the Alienbutt Saga. The Rise of Mr Fluffy. Part 91.

“I need to see the Book,” Nifty shouted as she rushed off to their quarters.
Blackarachnia flicked to the secure Ick channel as he sought to pick up a transmission from Ick command.
Nifty raced into their room and grabbed the Book of Ick that sat on a small table next to the bed. Opening a page at random she stared in disbelief at the blank page. Flicking through, she saw each page was the same. Not one word of prophecy remained in the entire book. Finally she returned to the first page and as she sat looking at the blank page, two words appeared.

NEED ALIENBUTT.

She didn't hear Blackarachnia enter behind her. It wasn't until he placed his hand on her shoulder that she looked up at him. The look on his face filled her with dread.
“I’ve just intercepted an Ick transmission. The Ick are not coming. The entire fleet flew into dead space, some sort of navigation error. No one knows how or what happened, and...” he paused and took a deep breath. “Snoodgrass is dead. He’s been assassinated, and the central command at Dagnabbit has been destroyed.”

Killashandra sat in her ship’s office, trying to make sense of what had happened. She had managed to escape the battle with what was left of her squadron. The squadron was now just six ships, and two of those so badly damaged they would have to be left, once all crew and usable equipment had been removed. They hid within the asteroid fields of Ashia Minor, hoping to make contact with other survivors, but all usual channels of communication were down. Even the secure Ick frequencies were full of interference. Killashandra remembered the events of the battle. The Fo’c’sle and allies had arrived to bolster the bounty hunters and when the Federation attacked, the sheer numbers had almost overwhelmed the defenders. The battle had swayed as the greater skill of the defenders made up for the lack of numbers and the defenders knew that the Ick fleet would arrive soon. The Federation had learnt lessons from the battle of Dagnabbit and kept their battle cruisers back from the main battle where their massive fire power could be better used. Instead they sent forward their droid fighters and small frigates to swarm the defences. The Fo’c’sle again used their skill and speed to launch lightning raids into the battle cruisers, inflicting great damage. Without the Ick all knew the battle would be lost, and as the shield for the great space station began to fail under the continuous firepower of the Federation forces, the battle suddenly changed.

To be continued.
All images are mine.