Three Square Meals Ch. 100

John felt a surge of emotions over that temporary empathic link. First and foremost was overwhelming happiness, Helene's heart bursting with joy as she embraced her sexuality once again. Her subconscious was wrapped up in comforting feelings of safety, and she revelled in those sensations, knowing she was protected and cared for by her new friends. Contentment, arousal, hope... the emotions engulfed her completely, her mind floating in a sea of bliss.

"It was like that for all of us," Alyssa said softly, dampening the connection and uncoupling their minds. "We all needed you so much and then you were there, making everything better again."

He turned to look at her and was shocked to see the tears in her eyes.

Alyssa gave him a tender smile. "This is what I adore the most... Watching you help these girls just like you helped me. Thank you..."

Jade hugged him too, joining Alyssa in showering him with kisses. Through it all Helene worked tirelessly to pleasure his cock, letting out a low moan deep in her throat when he began to pump long spurts of cum into her stomach. John stroked her hair, holding her gently in place as she milked out every drop of spunk from his quad. He was barely able to hold himself upright at the end, his climax had been that intense, so Jade and Alyssa helped ease him from Helene's gently sucking mouth, before guiding them both to the bed.

John held Helene close, wrapping his arms around her and resting his hand on her swollen belly. He was connected to her now and could sense the damage done to her womb seven years ago. Now he had her swaddled in his gentle psychic embrace, he could heal those old wounds, regenerating flesh and making her whole once more.

"She's so grateful," Alyssa whispered in his ear as she spooned him from behind.

"Thank you," Jade said with a radiant smile, cuddling the sleeping aquatic beauty.

He fell asleep in moments, surrounded by happy nubile girls and sharing in their sense of contentment.

***

The black shuttle drifted into the small well-concealed hangar, following the docking lights until it touched down on the centre of a landing pad. An airlock door spiralled open and four black-clad operatives led a beautiful statuesque brunette out of the small vessel and down the exit ramp. The woman was garbed in a red evening dress, the slinky material clinging to her exquisitely curved figure.

"Are we going to visit this one's new Master now?" she asked politely, glancing at the man to her right.

"Yes, Miss," Sergeant Green replied gruffly, his jaw clenching with irritation.

The Nymph had been asking variations of the same question every fifteen minutes for the last six hours, but to Sergeant Green's relief, at least she'd stopped asking each of them if they were going to be her Master. The girl was stunningly beautiful and it had been getting increasingly difficult to say no.

They escorted her to the outer airlock door for Tartarus base, with Specialist Watts placing his hand on the DNA reader. After it recognised his genetic code and flashed green, the squad marched their prisoner past the extensive security checkpoints and worked their way deeper into the base. The holding cells were deep within the shattered remnants of Ganymede and it took some time to reach the lower levels.

"Ah, welcome back, Gentlemen!" Professor Friedrich exclaimed with a broad grin.

Green was startled by the creepy researcher's buoyant mood. Friedrich was often smirking to himself or making some sardonic quip, but he was never usually this jovial. "We eliminated her owner as ordered... the extraction was straightforward after that."

"Are you this one's new Master?" the Nymph asked, beaming a dazzling smile at the man in the lab coat.

"I'm afraid not, my dear," Friedrich replied with a frown. "You will be our guest for a time though."

The Nymph looked disappointed, her smile fading. "Will this one be meeting her new Master soon?"

Friedrich ignored her question and pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "Have her taken to holding cell 47 if you would be so kind, Sergeant Green."

The special ops Sergeant nodded to his men, who began leading the dejected brunette along the brightly-lit but austere corridor. He turned back to the scientist as they followed them and after a moment's hesitation he asked, "Who is going to be her new Master?"

"Ah, that's strictly need-to-know, Sergeant," Friedrich replied, before giving him a knowing smile. "They're certainly beguiling young ladies, aren't they?" He gazed away into the distance and sounded wistful as he added, "Absolutely devoted, unwaveringly loyal, willing to submit to any kind of depravity their partner desires... in many ways the perfect woman, wouldn't you agree?"

Sergeant Green chose not to answer as he preferred more spirit in his women. His eyes flickered to the right as they passed one of the cells and he tried to suppress a smile. The TFNN reporter certainly fit the bill and she'd proven to be a real handful. Jehanna had collapsed yesterday, which they'd presumed was from dehydration after she'd started refusing the water they'd been providing. Her collapse turned out to be a ruse and she'd managed to claw big gouges out of Adamski's face before they'd been able to subdue her and rescue the bloodied soldier. The poor bastard had very nearly lost an eye.

"Yes, the efforts to break her morale have proven less than effective," Friedrich muttered, his brow furrowing with frustration. "It's quite unfortunate... We'll just have to move straight onto the interrogation."

"Tonight?" Green asked, darting a glance at the dishevelled but unbroken reporter who stared sullenly at the one-way glass.

Friedrich stretched and shook his head. "Don't be silly, it's far too late to start that unpleasantness. I only stayed up to welcome our new guest to Tartarus." He clapped his hands together, rubbing them with a gleeful look of anticipation on his face. "Get a good night's sleep, we've got a busy day ahead of us tomorrow! Now that we've collected the last Nymph, we can finally begin experimentation! Isn't that marvellous?"

Green darted a glance at the rows of cells on the opposite side of the corridor, and knowing the hideous beasts contained within, he couldn't help shuddering with revulsion. "Yes, marvellous, Sir."

The scientist patted him on the shoulder then whistled a jaunty tune to himself as he strode away.

***

"The girls just found a lead on Jehanna!" Alyssa exclaimed, turning to look at John with a flare of hope in her eyes.

He turned off the shower and opened the stall door. "Are they all in the Combat Bridge?"

She nodded. "All fed and ready for action. Calara's got the briefing prepared and they're just waiting on us."

They dried off and returned to the bedroom, quickly dressing in the jumpsuits they typically wore beneath their Paragon armour. John headed for the grav-tube, but stopped as he passed the bed, gently stroking Helene's arm where she lay fast asleep under the covers. It had been six hours since he fed her late the previous night and her tummy still had that telltale curve, showing that she hadn't finished absorbing his load.

"I can't wait until she wakes up," Alyssa whispered, brushing her fingers through the aquatic girl's lustrous hair. "Helene's going to be so happy."

"She'll be out of it for the whole battle," John said, not sure if that was a good or bad thing.

Alyssa was more certain. "It's probably for the best. We're going to have our hands full with this one... Calara's really worried."

They shared an anxious glance, then stepped into the express grav-tube and dropped down to Deck Four. Stepping out into the armoury, they got geared up in silence, donning Paragon suits then collecting their weapons. Striding down the ramp into the Combat Bridge, John saw that the girls were already wearing their own suits of armour - all except Jade and Faye that is.

"Morning ladies, glad to have you all up here again," John said, tapping his temple. He had an active connection to all of them now and felt a satisfying sense of completeness because of it.

"Hey John!" they greeted him happily in reply, sharing that feeling of oneness.

Sakura bounced out of her seat and strode over to join him. "We've just found a big lead on Jehanna!"

John sat down in his Command Chair. "Tell me all about it."

The Asian girl darted a glance at the purple sprite perched on his console. "Faye, want to show him what we discovered?"

Faye nodded, her cute face lighting up with excitement. "We think we've identified her kidnappers!"

A holo-image appeared showing a zoomed-in view of two hover-vans, with a pair of heavy-set men visible in the front seats of both vehicles.

"Special Ops forces working for Terran Federation Internal Security. We tracked down the T-Fed military records for three out of four of them," Sakura said, gesturing towards the grim-faced figures and their corresponding military IDs that popped up beside them. "We've got them approaching the area where Jehanna was kidnapped, then picked them up leaving shortly after."

"That's amazing! How did you track them down?" John asked, staring intently at the images.

Irillith turned in her seat and replied, "Their cyber-ops specialist knocked out the cameras in a five-block radius, but Sakura gave me a timeframe needed to set up the extraction. I hacked the security camera footage in the wider metropolitan area and Faye searched for any vans and trucks large enough for the extraction team. When she identified these vehicles as potential suspects, we found this shot of the men, then started running facial recognition against classified military records."

Faye nodded exuberantly. "With all the classified data Irillith's tapped into, it was just a matter of time until we tracked them down!"

"So where did they take Jehanna," John asked, eyes narrowing as he studied the men.

"A safehouse first," Sakura explained, nodding to Faye again, then looking at the holo-map which tracked the kidnapper's route. "They stayed in that location for three hours, probably to make sure they weren't being followed, then they switched vehicles and drove to a private starport. We knew their precise arrival time, so Irillith searched through Terra flight control records and found a shuttle launch seventeen minutes afterwards. We're certain they took her off-planet."

"In a shuttle... so they wouldn't have hyper-warp capability," John said, easing back in his seat. "Which means they either docked with a spacecraft in orbit and took her out of the Sol System, or they're still there but on another planet."

Sakura shared a glance with Calara. "We think she's still in-system. The shuttle dropped its energy signature and Terra Flight Control lost contact with it as soon as they left orbit."

The Latina nodded, appearing pensive. "If they were taking her to a ship to fly out of the system, activating stealth-mode after you leave orbit seems unlikely. I don't think they were trying to hide the identity of the ship they were docking with, but the actual base itself. Like Mikaboshi with his fortress, having a secret base close to Terra makes a lot of sense, not least of which is sheer convenience. High Command has access to far more resources though and could afford to be much more brazen with the base location."

John looked at them in turn, genuinely impressed. "That's incredible work so far. Any luck on narrowing down the location."

"Not yet," Irillith replied, but she gave him a confident smile. "But bases need resources to keep them running and I'd be surprised if they were as circumspect with mundane things like ordering food and medical supplies. Anything like that leaves a digital trail... I'll keep digging until I find more leads."

"We're also looking into the deaths of the citizens who owned the Nymphs, and we'll use the same method to search for extraction teams. If they have taken the Nymphs captive, it might give us more clues to help track the location of this base," Sakura added, giving Jade a supportive smile.

"God help them if they are holding Jehanna and the Nymphs captive," John said, clenching his jaw. He glanced at the ship's chronometer and saw that it was 6:13am. "Has there been any news of the Kintark Armada yet?"

Faye shook her head. "I've been monitoring all the news channels, but it's all mundane reports this morning. The other media outlets aren't even discussing what happened with TFNN."

Rachel spun in her chair and said, "We're still out of range of the T-Fed Command Network, so we can't confirm exactly what the Terran defence forces are up to yet. We've almost certainly been barred from joining the comms network, but Irillith assures me that breaking in will be easy."

"Child's play," the Maliri hacker agreed, giving him a confident wink.

John locked eyes with Calara. "Okay, Commander, the floor's all yours."

The Latina nodded then pressed several buttons on a tactical panel, bringing up a holographic display. The ships displayed were Kintark vessels, hundreds of them, all neatly arranged into tightly-organised formations. Standing out amongst the endless ranks of shimmering green ships, was a massive spacecraft that dwarfed the rest of the vessels in the armada, and had an instantly recognisable shape - that of a Terran Federation dreadnought. Norwood's dreadnought, the Vengeance of Hera, was flanked by an escort of cruisers, the entire formation coloured green with distinctive gold flashes on their hull.

"I've reviewed the battle logs that Charles sent us, identifying every Kintark vessel that took part in the attack on Port Medea in the Dragon March. This is the full fleet listing of everything in their Armada... and it's a formidable force," she explained, glancing back at the massed legion of ships.

"They must have pressed every warship in the Empire into service," John murmured, dumbfounded by the sheer numbers involved.

Calara nodded, her mouth fixed in a grim line. "I've searched through all the military Intel Irillith provided for me, and the Kintark have brought everything from rookie training ships to older decommissioned vessels. I can only conclude that you're absolutely correct. The Kintark have committed everything to a single decisive strike, intended to topple the Terran Federation in one final battle."

John shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe they've left the Empire completely defenceless." He shot the Latina a worried glance. "Charles said the Kintark are using enhanced shields... Can the Terran Federation fleets defend against an upgraded force of that size?"

"The Terran Federation has recalled over a dozen Quadrant Fleets to the Sol System, which means that T-Fed forces significantly outnumber the ships in the Kintark armada. Assuming equally skilled tactical leadership on each side, the Terran forces should be victorious without our intervention, although the cost in personnel and materiel will be devastating," she replied, but the worry in her eyes told him that wasn't the whole story.

"What's the problem, Commander?" he asked quietly.

"There's two problems," she replied ominously, pointing to the vast armada of Kintark vessels. "The first is that I didn't see a single troop transport in those formations. Unless the Kintark plan on bombing Terra into oblivion, they'll need a huge number of troops to conquer the Homeworld."

"What about all those troop transports in the Mar'Katrach Nebula?" Alyssa suggested, then glanced at John with concern. "Maybe sparing them wasn't such a good idea after all."

He grimaced at the thought of gunning down the defenceless transports, then reluctantly conceded, "You might be right, but it would've been like killing them in cold blood. Either way, the Kintark Empire has no shortage of loyal troops to send into battle."

"Do you really think they'll try to conquer Terra?" Rachel asked quietly.

"Occupying Terra would be a crushing blow to morale," John replied, considering the possible ramifications to the Federation. "I think it's a reasonable assumption that the Kintark would definitely choose to bring troops with them to hit the Homeworld."

"So where the fuck are they then?" Dana blurted out, frowning at the holographic display.

Calara glanced at the redhead. "Exactly... and that leads me to the second problem, which is much worse. Those Kintark ships with the gold stripes on the side are part of the Praetorian Guard; they're the most advanced vessels in the Kintark fleet, manned by elite crews."

"It makes sense that they're defending the dreadnought, but we can handle a score of cruisers easily enough," John said, not sure what had left the Latina so anxious.

She was silent for a moment, then turned around and pressed a button on her tactical display. The countless horde of Kintark ships faded away to be replaced by a much smaller set of vessels, perhaps no more than a hundred ships in total. However, there were a disproportionate number of capital ships in this force, with over a score of battleships and at least a dozen battlecarriers. Every single one was marked with those gold flashes.

"That's the Praetorian Guard... but this Intel is two years out of date. If the Emperor was preparing for war in the lead up to the Dragon March conflict, this force could be much larger... and none of these ships were part of the force that ravaged Port Medea."

There was a deathly silence on the Combat Bridge as they realised the full import of what the Latina was telling them.

"There must be a second armada!" Irillith hissed, eyes widening in shock.

John grimaced, dreading the answer to his next question. "So if you're right and the rest of the Praetorian Guard are protecting a second armada of troop transports, what's the likely outcome of the Battle for Terra?"

"I've spent hours running alternate scenarios and trying to predict all possible outcomes..." the Latina began, but her voice faded away, the pain evident in her eyes.

"I need to know, Commander," John said quietly.

Calara took a deep breath, her expression bleak as she met his troubled gaze. "The Terran forces will be outclassed and facing equal numbers... It's going to be a massacre."

***

Ailanthia glided down the corridor with a dazzling smile on her beautiful face, her happiness bizarrely out of keeping with the forbidding surroundings. The click of her high heels echoed down the lustreless onyx passageway, but she walked with an extra spring in her step, heedless of the oppressive shadows cast by the gloomy crimson lighting.

She paused by a sealed doorway, then waved her hand over a blood-red runic control on the wall. The door split apart, jagged teeth separating as the segments of the portal retreated back into the robust black doorframe. Ailanthia entered the Medical facility, her heart pounding with anticipation at the thought of being in her Master's glorious presence once again.

Then she spotted him and froze.

He was standing beside one of several occupied examination tables, his hand resting on the swollen belly of a pregnant thrall. Ailanthia instantly recognised Lymidia, which was unsurprising, as the young woman was linked to her psychic power network. What was surprising, was seeing her Master pay attention to an unremarkable thrall, one that he'd bred on a whim shortly after jumping into this segment of the galaxy.

"I felt her kicking just this morning, My Lord," Lymidia said breathlessly, gazing up at him in awe. "She'll make a strong warrior for your legions!"

Ailanthia saw his mouth twitch into a smile, the expression on his face one she'd never seen before. He caressed the young woman's curved abdomen, fingers tracing over her light-green skin with a gentleness that Ailanthia had come to adore over these last few weeks. Lymidia hesitated for a moment, then placed her hand atop his, holding him in place. Ailanthia braced herself for an explosion of rage from her master, shocked that a thrall would dare to be so bold.