Three Square Meals Ch. 110

Her hand subconsciously drifted to her stomach as Jehanna remembered the wonderful dream she'd had last night. She had looked down in wonder at the beautiful dark-haired girl she'd cradled in her arms, the baby's soft skin like rich chocolate. John had put his arm around Jehanna's shoulders as they gazed at their baby and she'd felt such a profound sense of love... even thinking about it now took her breath away. That was another very important part of the future that John wanted with her and she longed for it with every fibre of her being.

"Miss Elani?" the Lieutenant prompted the doe-eyed young woman for the third time. "We've arrived at Deck Six..."

Jehanna blinked rapidly as she wakened from her daydream, then it was her turn to blush. "See, I told you I wasn't in a rush," she said with a self-conscious smile.

He laughed nervously and nodded. "I thought you were just being nice." Making a spontaneous decision and praying for a miracle, he blurted out, "Miss Elani, would you like to go for a drink with me sometime?"

"I'm afraid I already have a boyfriend," she replied, giving him a sympathetic smile. "Thank you, though."

The Lieutenant nodded dejectedly, his hopes dashed.

Jehanna walked out into the corridor, her luggage following obediently with the soft whir of anti-grav cyclics. She was met by a couple of broad-chested security guards, one of whom turned to bar her path.

"This is a restricted area," the stern soldier declared, eyeing her suspiciously.

"Easy, Coleridge, she has a suite here," the second soldier said, patting the man on his shoulder. He gave Jehanna a warm smile and added, "Welcome back, Miss Elani. I hope you had a pleasant trip to Terra?"

"I did, but it's great to be back, Darius," she replied, returning the friendly soldier's smile. "And just Jehanna is fine."

"Okay, just Jehanna, have a nice afternoon," Darius said with a wink.

She laughed at his joke, then looked up at his fellow guard and stuck out her hand. "Hello! I'm Jehanna Elani, who are you?"

"Private Bill Coleridge, ma'am," he replied, awkwardly shaking her hand.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Bill... and thank you for working so hard to keep me and everyone here safe," Jehanna said, her tone brimming with sincerity.

He looked surprised, astonished even, that anyone would take the time to thank him like that.

"Are you planning on getting to know all the security team on a first-name basis, just Jehanna?" Darius asked with amusement.

She leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, "I'm just hoping that if you guys like me enough, if the shit ever hits the fan, you might elbow an admiral out the way and put me in an escape pod instead!"

Jehanna grinned as both men laughed, the ice well and truly broken.

She waved goodbye and continued along the corridor towards her suite with an extra swish in her hips, knowing that they'd be admiring her ass. It might have sounded like she was joking with the soldiers, but Jehanna had just told them the honest truth. Her father had forewarned her about the priority status assigned to members of the Admiralty and bluntly explained that in an emergency, she would be a long way down the totem pole. However, if the situation became truly dire, basic human nature would win out, and young male soldiers would instinctively want to protect a beautiful young woman. So she was just helping to gently encourage those instincts.

Jehanna knew her papa was right; his long career as a close protection officer had made him deeply cautious and more than a little cynical. She loved him dearly, but he was unable to switch off his constant state of vigilance and it got a bit wearing at times. Fortunately, her mother's unrelenting optimism helped balance him out, even if she drove her father crazy. Jehanna let out a wistful sigh as she put her hand on the DNA reader, the light glowing green as it recognised her genetic code. She loved being a reporter working for TFNN, but it wasn't just her career she would have to leave behind if she retired to Maliri Space with John and the girls.

Walking through her spacious suite, she entered the bedroom and deactivated the tracking sensor in her luggage, letting it sink to the king-size bed. Jehanna flipped open the lid, intending to unpack her clothes, but she paused to stare at the laser pistol and shield belt that Dana had given her. Each was worth a small fortune, representing priceless highly-advanced technology well beyond anything available in the Terran Federation. They were a constant reminder that she was now part of something much bigger than herself... even if she hadn't fully committed yet.

Closing the lid, she activated the holo-interface projector built into the foot of the bed. Swiping across the entry marked "Home", she sat down and waited for the call to go through. Home... Her apartment on the outskirts of Unity City had never really felt like home, so she'd always been drawn back to her parents' house. This suite was very nice, but she knew that Olympus would never feel like home either. What about living on the Invictus though? Or retiring to Valaden in the heart of the Maliri Protectorate? Would her feelings change then?

Lost in thought, she didn't see the holo-screen flicker into the attractive features of the middle-aged Indian woman. But she certainly heard her...

"Jehanna!" her mother gushed. "It was so lovely to have you stay!" She turned to her right and yelled, "Ramesh! Come say hello to your daughter!"

"We only saw her this morning, Harini!" her father called back with an exasperated sigh.

Jehanna smiled at her father as he appeared behind her mother. "Hello, Papa."

"Hello, daughter," he said gruffly for his wife's benefit, but Jehanna could see the twinkle in his eyes as he gazed at the holo-screen. "How goes project: self-preservation?"

"Don't worry, I've been a dutiful daughter and heeded my father's words of wisdom," she said respectfully. "I've begun laying the groundwork by befriending the security teams."

"It's nice someone listens to me around here," he grumbled, throwing his hands up in the air. He walked off, but not before giving Jehanna a surreptitious wave goodbye.

"Oh, don't mind your father," Harini said with a laugh. "He's got a bee in his bonnet again."

"What happened this time?" Jehanna asked, unable to stop herself smiling.

Her mother rolled her eyes. "I was having a lovely chat with our new priest and his charming wife, and I invited them over for dinner next Tuesday. Your father wanted to run a background check on them first... I mean, honestly... he's a priest!"

"Well, if the priest or his wife try anything, at least Papa is loaded for bear," Jehanna said with a grin.

Harini smiled and shook her head. "I'm sure we'll have a pre-dinner briefing to cover all eventualities." She looked at her daughter fondly and added, "I love your father to pieces, but sometimes I pray that you don't follow in my footsteps and marry a military man."

Jehanna kept her expression carefully neutral. "No wedding bells planned just yet, Mama."

Her mother's eyes widened and she darted out of view for a moment, the door to the lounge shutting with a distinctive click. Harini rushed back, her face lighting up with joy. "You've met someone!"

"You're worse than Papa!" Jehanna said with a groan. "Has he been coaching you on interrogation techniques?!"

Harini adopted a mock frown. "Daughter, that's a terrible thing to say. Now, tell me all about your new man! Is he handsome? Is he from a good family? What rank is he? Will he be a good provider? Will it be long before you get married and give me some lovely grandchildren?"

Jehanna blushed, her cheeks reddening.

"You're not pregnant already, are you?!" Harini gasped, her voice treading a fine line between shock and hopefulness.

"Mother!" Jehanna protested indignantly.

Harini frowned at her, looking concerned. "Why didn't you tell me about him yesterday evening? You never said a word."

Jehanna rubbed her hands across her face. "I wanted to, I really did... but it's complicated."

Harini's expression softened and she said quietly, "Jehanna, there's only two things that really matter to me. Does he love you? And is he a good man?"

Looking up to meet her mother's questioning gaze, Jehanna relaxed and smiled. "Yes to both."

***

John carefully placed the completed piece of Crystal Alyssium gun frame next to Dana's workbench, so that she could assemble the new rifle at her leisure. "That's the last of them," he said, turning to smile at the redhead.

She nodded her thanks, then jerked her thumb towards the door, her expression conflicted. "You have a visitor."

He turned around to see Tashana standing there, the Maliri girl having clearly been watching him for some time.

"Hello, John," she said quietly, a host of emotions playing across her beautiful face as she walked towards him.

Wrapping her in his arms, he looked down into her troubled violet eyes. "Alyssa's convinced you this is a good idea... You want me to help..."

"I've spent the last couple of hours discussing it with her and Rachel," she said, an involuntary shiver running down her spine. "I thought it was a horrible idea at first, but now... I'm sure this will help put everything behind me."

"But what if it goes wrong?" John asked, unable to keep the worry from his voice. "You might end up being scared of me... hating me even! I don't want to take that chance!"

"I could never feel that way about you," she said earnestly. Brushing her fingers across her face she continued, "You remember what I looked like... after everything they did to me. You undid all that, made me more beautiful than I was before I was banished to the Unclaimed Wastes." Looking deep into his eyes she continued vehemently, "Now you can undo the worst of their tortures, turn it into something beautiful, just as you did when you healed my face!"

"I just don't know if I can do it..." he faltered, silently pleading with her to change her mind.

"Please, John... I need your help," she whispered, standing on tiptoe to plant a tender kiss on his lips. Pulling free from his embrace she gave him a brave smile. "I'll be waiting for you..."

He watched her turn and walk out, feeling horribly conflicted.

Dana slipped her arm around his waist and leaned her head against his shoulder. "You don't have to do this, John. We tease you and mess around, but everyone knows you're in charge. If you say you don't want to ever talk about this again, that'll be the end of it."

"My Matriarchs are all suspiciously quiet," John said with a snort. "Which I take as their tacit approval of Alyssa's plan. Does anyone else think this is crazy?"

She clasped his hand and squeezed it. "Just me."

He rubbed his thumb against her hand. "Well I trust your judgement, Sparks."

Dana hesitated, then shook her head and murmured quietly, "Please don't."

John looked at her in confusion. "Sorry, honey, you're going to have to explain that one?"

"I think it's a fucked-up idea, but I'm not a super-smart doctor," she replied, letting out a heavy sigh. "I know about guns, and armour, and power cores... But I don't know squat about the way a person's mind works, let alone how to help a deeply traumatised Maliri girl get over the horrific shit that a bunch of sadistic assholes did to her!"

John inhaled deeply, then slowly let out his breath, a resigned expression on his face. "You're right... and I don't know either. Alyssa and Rachel are the experts... I guess I need to trust them."

Dana looked at him with concern. "Just don't take any of this to heart, alright?"

He nodded and glanced back at the block of Crystal Alyssium, then drew off a stream of the glistening white metal. Once he had enough, he left the Engineering Bay with Dana at his side, the redhead watching him curiously. They rose up in the blue anti-grav field, with John carefully shaping the psychically malleable metal into a very specific item, identical to one that he'd created months before. Getting out on Deck Three, they walked down the corridor before entering the equipping room for the dojo.

Dana paused and turned to face him. "Alyssa says she's monitoring Tashana's mind and will be in constant communication with Rachel to make sure it all goes okay. If any of this gets too much, she'll just blanket Tashana's mind in loving thoughts and we'll end it."

John shared an anxious look with her. "Alright, I'll give it a shot."

He opened the door into the dojo, finding the room plunged into an oppressive gloom. The sight that awaited him made his heart lurch, and he stared at the restrained girl with unbridled horror. Tashana was standing on tiptoe, her legs parted and arms held aloft, wrists and ankles shackled with gravity cuffs. Stripped naked, she looked incredibly vulnerable, and he could see by the rapid rise and fall of her blue chest that she was very scared.

Logically, Tashana knew that she wasn't in any danger, but the Maliri girl was exactly re-enacting one of her most terrifying assaults. A Bolon had crept up on her while she was held captive, then psychically ramped up her fear so that the demented creature could savour every second of her terror. It had then proceeded to rape her, slithering up her body and violating the terrified young woman in every way possible. The horrifying finale had been it dividing by mitosis inside her womb, making her think that the sick monster had forcibly impregnated her.

Looking at Tashana restrained like that was like a knife in John's heart; he desperately wanted to rush over to free her, then wrap her up in his arms and keep her safe.

*You could do that,* Alyssa said softly, her voice full of sympathy. *Rachel thinks it'll help. Tashana will experience someone rushing to her rescue and saving her from the assault... something that she was begging for at the time.*

*But you want to go all the way,* he muttered, shaking his head in disbelief. *Actually go through with the ra-*

*No!* Alyssa insisted firmly, cutting him off. *We're going to twist what happened, make this a positive, loving experience for her. This is going to be like the pep-talk you gave me earlier... but a team effort on steroids!*

John's eyes locked on the frightened Maliri girl. *I just hope you know what you're doing...*

*Trust me... I won't let her get hurt,* Alyssa said adamantly.

"I could hear it... out there in the darkness," Tashana whispered, her voice shaking with her fear. "I was exposed, defenceless... and I knew what it was going to do... what they all did to me, over and over again!"

John clenched his teeth and strode across the room.

*John!* Alyssa protested. *Wait!*

*No,* he said, his tone brooking no further argument.

John placed his hand on Tashana's shoulder, making the frightened girl lurch in her restraints, her tautly stretched body twisting as if to escape him.

"Be calm... it's just me," he said, his voice steady and even. "You know I'd never hurt you."

She sagged in the grav-cuffs, her panicked breathing gradually slowing down.

"There you go, good girl," he praised her, gently stroking her shoulder. "I'm watching over you... you're totally safe."

"Thank you," she whispered, leaning into his hand as she finally relaxed.

John stood close, watching her with concern. "I've brought a gift for you, honey. Something to help remind you about your life here with me."

He shook out the sparkling white choker in his hand, a perfect match to the one that her sister owned. Showing it to Tashana over her shoulder, he saw her stare at it with obvious recognition. "Irillith's collar!"

"No, this one's yours," John whispered, leaning down to gently kiss her neck where the chain would lie. "If you want it..."

She turned to look at him, a glimmer of excitement in her violet eyes.

"Before you agree, I want to tell you what it represents," he said, letting the necklace brush over the luscious swells of her cleavage. "This isn't a token to represent your submission to me. That's something that Irillith enjoys; a fun game to give her an excuse to let her repressed sexuality out to play."

"What will it mean for me?" Tashana asked, closing her eyes and concentrating on the cool metal touching her skin.

"It's a reminder of who you have watching over you, protecting you and keeping you safe," he said firmly. "Do you remember what happened when Mikaboshi tried to take Calara from me?"

Her breath caught... and she nodded her understanding. "We tracked him down, killed all his men, destroyed everything he'd worked for over his entire life before Sakura executed him."

"We made him pay..." John agreed, gently stroking her back. "But what happened to Calara? Did he have a chance to hurt her?"

Tashana shook her head, long white hair sweeping across her shoulders. "We were too fast, hit them before they had a chance to react... ripped apart anyone threatening her."

"Would you like that kind of protection?" he whispered in her ear. "Me, Alyssa, Irillith, Dana, Calara, Jade, Rachel, Sakura, Faye... you know we'd do anything to keep you safe from harm."

"I want that so much... I never want to feel this vulnerable again..." she replied in a hushed voice.

John smiled as he carefully clicked the choker closed around her slender blue throat. "Silly girl, you already have all of us watching over you... this is just a reminder."

Tashana let out a laugh as the nervous tension eased from her body. "I'm sorry... I should never have forgotten."

"Have you forgotten your powers as well?" he asked pointedly, trailing his fingers up her arm until he enclosed the cuff and her wrist in his hand. "This is only quad-shaped; why didn't you just melt your way free? You're incredibly powerful now... you shouldn't need reminding about that either. In fact, if someone did try to kidnap you, I'd expect to find you sitting next to their incinerated ashes."

"They would suffer..." she hissed, her eyes glowing with a feral violet light.

John slipped a hand around her waist, holding it flat against her belly. "And who does this gorgeous little tummy belong to?"

"You..." she replied with a breathy sigh.

"That's right," he agreed, stroking her toned muscles. "You, me, Irillith, and Edraele... the four of us all long for the same thing."

She nodded, turning to look at him over her shoulder, a look of desire in her eyes. "Are you going to show me what I'll look like? Fill up my womb so I can feel it?"

John hesitated, wrapping her in his arms. "Do you want to try re-enacting what happened again first, but this time while wearing the collar I gave you?"

It looked like a huge weight had fallen off her shoulders. "I really do! Those memories will never be the same again..."

"If you start to get scared, just think about all of us watching over you to make sure you're safe..." he said, standing in front of her and giving her a tender kiss.

Tashana smiled at him and relaxed, completely at ease. She closed her eyes, letting herself get drawn into the memories as John backed away into the gloom. The Maliri girl started recounting her assault again, but this time her voice was strong and confident, almost as if she longed for a repeat so that she could immolate her attacker and vent her fury on the Bolon's charred husk.

*You were amazing,* Alyssa murmured, finding him in the darkness and wrapping him in a hug.

They listened to Tashana describing the Bolon skulking in the darkness, the way it slithered towards her... a sound effect that Irillith simulated a moment later, having heard the eerie, ominous squelching noises when her sister shared those memories. That noise would have reduced Tashana to a gibbering wreck, knowing that it preceded her horrendous assault, but now she was able to listen dispassionately... aside from the angry flame sprites cavorting over her fingertips.