Wing Commander Homes had calmed down and was thinking clearly.  The two girls, and the boarding party, still had to be on the galleon.  He spoke to Gallieni; he wanted permission to blast the thing open.  After about ten minutes of very intense discussion, Gallieni agreed.  He also informed Holmes that he was boarding a drop ship and coming over.  Holmes merely shrugged his shoulder and said, "Your choice.  This could get ugly."

Lance Holmes had the frigate commander move the ship back.  The attack frigate slowly moved into position to blast open the landing bay doors.  As the attack frigate slowly moved into position, Holmes got a quick message from the galleon.  Landing bay doors on the other side of the ship had opened, and a frigate had quickly exited, heading for an atmospheric reentry point.  Lance knew they would never get to the frigate in time to stop it from reaching the Triskellion's surface.  Instead, he had his ships head for the open door.  He would board the galleon and look for Laura, Lisa, and the boarding party.  They would worry about the surface of the planet later.

Holmes' party quickly docked, and he and the assault troops headed to the command center.  They got there as quickly as humanly possible, discovering the unconscious assault team that had been guarding Lisa Simoni.  A few of the men were dead; most were merely unconscious.  There were quite obvious signs of the cadet's attempts to revive the equipment, which, at the moment, seemed to be working fine.  Of Lisa, there was no trace.  Holmes could only assume that she had been taken to the surface of the planet.

Gallieni asked Homes to wait until he docked before moving any further.  There was wisdom in that order.  There would be more assault troops, and they could head for the power room together.  Holmes and his men waited forty minutes for the docking to complete, and the two groups of assault troops, along with Holmes and Gallieni, made the long journey to the power room.  Along the way, they noticed the spots of green grease.  And, according to communications from the attack frigate, it appeared as if more and more of the original galleon's systems were returning to normal.  Of the crew, there was no trace.

The party, using caution as a priority, found its way to the power center.  Once again, they found the twelve assault troopers unconscious, the small darts protruding from their necks.  The medical officer took some blood samples.  When they got back to the main galleon, he would have them analyzed.  The troopers were out cold.

Holmes and the team entered the power room.  Everyone remarked on the increase of the green grease in the room.  A quick check revealed that the power room, despite the green grease, was functioning normally.  Holmes dispatched his men in groups of three to see if they could find any other humans.

The men moved cautiously and with purpose.  Holmes heard a "Over here, Commander!" from one of the troopers, and moved quickly to see what was happening.  When he got there, he looked down on the very contented and very naked Laura Hansen, resting in a pool of the green slime.

Holmes knelt down, called to Gallieni, and lit a cigar.  The woman obviously appeared to be happy, wearing a post-coital smile on her face.  Gallieni noticed some of her clothes strewn about the room, and then he noticed the woman.  His face broke its usual expression of serious concentration, and he lit up with a small smile.  She was much more attractive in person than in video.  He walked over and helped her to her feet.

"You need to get cleaned up and dressed, Commander Hansen," remarked Gallieni.  "And then you need to tell us what went on here.  Commander Holmes, see if you can find her some clothing."

A short distance from the power room was crew's quarters.  Laura cleaned herself, and then fixed a pot of tea.  This amazed Gallieni and Holmes; they were looking for an explanation.  They ordered the guards to stand their posts, and closed the door to the quarters.  The wanted a talk with Laura.  Laura had found a set of coveralls that would fit, but for some reason she chose to remain nude while she drank her tea.

"I really don't know what happened to Cadet Simoni, gentlemen," she informed them.  "I suspect she was taken to the planet's surface, and that she is in no danger.  I really think we should proceed with a great deal of caution when we go to rescue her."

"This is fucking nonsense!" shouted Holmes.  "A galleon crew is missing!  Assault troops knocked out cold!  A cadet gone!  And a naked flight officer sipping tea and acting as if she has just had the best fuck of her life!  I want answers, and I want them now!"

It was Vice Chancellor Gallieni, who had kept a cool head throughout this affair, who took charge.

"I agree, Commander Holmes," he said dryly.  "But to just go charging to the planet's surface would be folly.  I think we are up against some sort of superior intelligence here, and it would be in everyone's best interests not to insult that intelligence.  I think a small force, lightly armed, and displaying no hostility, would be the best approach to landing in the planet.  In the interim, we can have a support team from our galleon land over here and restore this ship to normal.  Don't you agree, Laura?"

Laura only smiled and nodded.  She knew the Vice Chancellor was enjoying seeing her nude, and she had no problem indulging him.  She was still a bit high from the thorough sexing by the octopus, and wanted to meet the creature again.

"Okay," said Holmes, after he had calmed down a bit, "where do we go from here?"

"I think," said Laura, finishing her tea and standing up, knowing, that as she stood, the men were getting an eyeful, "Cadet Simoni is in no danger whatsoever.  What she did not tell you, gentlemen, was that when the apes raped her she enjoyed it.  The apes probably know that as well.  I think if we proceed with caution, the apes will take us to her.  And I also think that we will find her safe and sound.  Don't ask me how I know.  It is just my intuition."

Gallieni agreed.  The three drew up a plan.  Gallieni, Holmes, Laura, and six troopers, lightly armed, would drop to the base.  Once there, they would determine the best way to search for Cadet Simoni.  Laura found some boots, panties, and a set of engineering coveralls that fit.  They proceeded to a drop ship. Laura would pilot it down to the base.  After a quick and light meal, they would wait forty minutes.  Conditions would be ideal for a drop at that time.

The party of six lightly armed troopers, Vice Chancellor Gallieni, and Wing Commander Holmes boarded the drop ship and left the galleon.  Laura was the pilot, and she set them off on a path to the base on Triskellion's surface.  The galleon itself was slowly becoming a bustle of activity.  Crews from the rescue galleon were landing and restoring it to normalcy.

When the party arrived, they quickly got out of the drop ship and assembled.  Commander Holmes was looking for signs that would show which way Lisa had been taken.  Laura stripped to her boots and panties.  She was naked for all practical purposes. "I am running on intuition here," she said.  "Just trust me.  This is the safest way, I think."

Laura led them across the base and located a path that headed in a westerly direction.  The path appeared to be recently traveled.  The group followed Laura, the troopers and Vice Chancellor Gallieni primarily concentrating on the wiggle of her bottom.  Only Lance Homes kept his eyes scanning, looking for signs of the apes.

He would not see the apes, but the apes were watching the party.  Well concealed in a dense jungle with which they were well acquainted, the apes observed and tracked the group's movements along the path.  Only the presence of the nearly naked woman, whom they had used once before, kept them from attacking.  The single intelligence that directed the apes, and controlled their every movement, was seeing through the apes' eyes.  And that intelligence knew that there was something very different about this party of humans.

The party moved on, traveling in a roughly westerly direction.  They came to a large clearing, which appeared to have three altar-like structures in it.  They stopped for a rest.  Out of the jungle, appearing from nowhere, roughly three hundred apes surrounded them.  Gallieni spoke first.

"Make no hostile moves.  That is a direct order.  And, if you want to live, follow Commander Hansen's lead."

Laura giggled, and approached the apes.  They parted, forming a small corridor, and Laura led the party through the apes and back into the jungle.  They traveled for another hour, stopping for water, and abruptly exited the jungle and entered what looked like a small city of stone structures.  There Laura saw a female figure standing on a stone platform, surrounded by apes.

"Lisa!" she shouted.
