Three Square Meals Ch. 119

Faye laughed and shook her head. "With the speed of my computation cycles and having twelve processing streams, you'd be surprised how much time I've had to think about this."

It tilted its head again and began to calculate an estimate.

"It was just a figure of speech, little one," she said with an affectionate smile, caressing its shiny metallic head. Faye rose to her feet and glanced at her server. "I'd better get back to John and the girls, they're starting to stir. Concentrate on reviewing those archives, you should find them... enlightening."

***

After resting for a while, John and the girls gradually began to recover from the overwhelming surge of emotions they'd experienced.

Dana rolled on her side to give Helene a lovely smile. "Alyssa showed me before how much our family cared about me... but that was something else!"

Helene reached out to clasp her hand and returned the smile. "It's the way I feel about all of you..."

Alyssa crawled over to the aquatic girl and gave her a gentle kiss. "Maybe John should promote Jade to XO? Picking you to join us was a superb bit of recruitment..."

Jade stretched on the bed, then relaxed in the loving embrace of her fellow Nymphs. "I'm afraid I'd have to decline. The XO meetings wouldn't be anywhere near as exciting for him... John already spent many hours on Genthalas becoming intimately acquainted with my bottom."

Irillith had a sultry gleam in her eyes as she looked at John. "If Alyssa's thinking about resigning the job, I'd like to throw my hat into the ring."

"I don't think he stretched her out that much!" Tashana quipped, evoking a bout of giggles.

John smiled and pulled Alyssa into his arms. "No, I think we'll leave you as my Second-in-Command for a while longer..." They shared a tender kiss, then he turned and stroked Helene's curved belly. "That was a beautiful end to a lovely time in bed together. Thank you."

She let out a happy sigh. "It was wonderful... and now I get to feed everyone too."

Dana's eyes lit up. "Oh, yeah! Peach flavour snacks!"

John's stomach rumbled and he grinned self-consciously. "Speaking of food, I'll grab a shower then get started on dinner."

As Helene spread her shapely legs in invitation for the hungry redhead, Rachel sat up and stroked John's arm to get his attention. "After we've all freshened up, could I have a few minutes of your time before you head to the kitchen?"

"Of course, honey."

"Would you like some company?" Faye asked, walking over to the bathroom door.

He nodded and climbed out of bed, exchanging a few lingering kisses with the girls as he passed. The purple sprite had removed her dress and started the shower when he joined her, the hot water deliciously soothing on his aching muscles after all the exertion in bed.

John let out a blissful sigh as the water sluiced over his shoulders, then opened his eyes and pulled Faye into a hug. "That feels fantastic, thank you."

"This feels pretty good too," she replied, snuggling into his chest.

He looked down at the petite girl and frowned as he said, "I wanted to invite you to join us, but we'll be having our third date soon... and I really want it to be special for you. I hope you didn't feel left out?"

She stood on tiptoe and gave him a kiss. "I desperately wanted to have my turn... but I was thinking the same thing."

Looking relieved, John tucked her slicked hair back behind her pointy purple ears. "I know you're a busy girl... do you think you might have a free evening for me sometime?"

Faye's smile broadened. "How about right after Arcadia? I know Dana and the Nymphs have you booked up for the next few days."

His eyes widened as he pretended to look nervous. "That's not much time to prepare... you set the bar very high with your magical second date."

She giggled and squeezed him tighter. "You thrive under pressure... I'm sure whatever you come up with will be amazing!" When he chuckled, she glanced up at him and continued, "John... what was it like? When Helene shared her feelings with you?"

John was quiet for a moment as he tried to find the right words. "Helene's got a beautiful soul; she only sees the good in us... I just hope I can live up to the way she sees me."

"How do you think she feels about me?" Faye asked hesitantly.

"The same way all of us do," he replied with a fond smile. "You don't have a bad side, honey. You're even more adorable than Helene."

She blushed, then swooned in his arms when he leaned down for another kiss, but a much deeper one this time. When John finally released the giddy sprite, Dana had joined them in the shower and was watching them with a broad grin on her face.

"Don't mind me, you two make a sexy couple... I could watch that all night," she said, enjoying soaking in the hot water.

The rest of the girls joined them one after the other, until the huge shower cubicle was quite crowded. Helene was last, her tummy slender once again after feeding the crew. John welcomed her into the shower with a kiss, then closed his eyes and revelled in the active connection with all thirteen women.

"What are you doing?" Faye asked, studying the look of concentration on his face.

He wrapped his arms tighter around her petite figure. "Feeling connected to my girls..."

Despite wishing she could be a part of that more than anything, Faye never loved John more than at that moment, for doing his best to make her feel included too. She glanced to either side as the rest of the girls joined in their hug and being at the centre of their affection reversed the heaviness in her heart, lifting it soaring. This time Faye didn't bother running any diagnostics... if it was an error, it was one she had no intention of ever fixing.

They finished the shower, dried off and returned to the bedroom, where John caught Rachel's eye. "I'm all yours, honey."

"Let's get dressed first..." the brunette said quietly, caressing his cheek.

Intrigued by her unusual mood, he did as she asked, throwing on a t-shirt and joggers. The cleaning robots had already stripped and remade the bed, so it came as a surprise when the tawny-haired doctor gestured for him to sit in his usual place by the headboard. "What are you up to?" he asked with a curious look.

Rachel stood at the foot of the bed and gave him an enigmatic smile as she watched the rest of the girls fanning out into a semicircle around him. When they were all seated, she said quietly, "Alyssa came up with this idea a few days ago. While you were away, I finally had a chance to work through all the details with Calara."

Alyssa brushed his hand with her fingers. "I know you still have some lingering doubts about recruiting me and the girls... So I asked Rachel to work out what would have happened if you hadn't intervened in our lives."

He frowned in confusion. "You were all in a tough spot when I met you, I already know that."

She shook her head. "No... they've worked out exactly what would have happened."

Calara touched his shoulder and said softly, "Rachel's extremely smart. The margin for error is miniscule."

Rachel shook her head and smiled. "And Calara's being far too modest about her contribution... but this presentation isn't about how incredibly perceptive she is; we already know that." Glancing at Faye, she nodded. "Go ahead."

Faye was sitting cross-legged on her chair and she blinked to activate the holo-screen. The picture was taken from the Fool's Gold, showing the emaciated blonde waif that John had first met eight months ago.

"I think we all know this young lady," Rachel said, turning to look at the blue-eyed Karron fugitive. "Alyssa stabbed one of the Diablos when he tried to rape her on her 18th birthday. Sparks convinced her to stow away on a docked freighter to escape the gang's retribution and the rest is history... but what would have happened if you'd taken her back to Karron?"

"She would have snuck onto another freighter and pestered some other innocent trader to distraction?" John asked with a smile.

Rachel shook her head, her expression sombre. "The ore hauler docked at Karron departed the day after you did. Your return journey would have taken four days and there were no more arrivals at Karron for another two weeks. Alyssa would have been marooned on the asteroid... and the Diablos had posted a 500-credit bounty for her being taken dead or 1000 credits for bringing her in alive."

"Considering the exposed nature of the starport, there's no chance she would have been able to escape capture by the guards, let alone the gang members looking for her," Calara quietly interjected. "Minutes after you threw her off your freighter, Alyssa would have been captured and dragged back to the Diablos lair."

Rachel nodded. "The various punishments for betraying the gang were all brutal. Alyssa would have been subjected to a gang rape, then if she survived... and Georgio decided not to just cut her throat, she would have been branded and enslaved as a gang whore. Bearing in mind her weakened physical condition, there is no chance she would have survived until the Kirrix occupation."

John looked shocked and he turned to stare at Alyssa. "I always thought you could have got away on another ship, or at least escaped into the tunnels!"

She slowly shook her head. "I only managed to get aboard the Fool's Gold by jumping onto the back of one of the Mortimer mining trucks and hiding under a tarp. Without the miners as a distraction, I doubt I'd have made it out of the docking bay before someone grabbed me. Any ship arriving at Karron drew a lot of attention, especially from the Diablos who were trading guns with off-worlders."

Rachel looked John in the eye and said firmly, "So if you'd rejected Alyssa's offer, she would have been raped and tortured to death." She glanced at Faye and nodded. "Next."

The holo-screen brought up an image of Calara, taken just after John and Alyssa rescued her from the pirates. The Latina had been badly beaten, with a broken nose, two black eyes, and looked delirious with pain from the brutal whipping she'd endured.

"Without Alyssa aboard the Fool's Gold, you wouldn't have stopped to investigate the corvette Griffon," Rachel said, her tone solemn.

John turned away from the shocking image and was about to protest, then he remembered that the enthusiastic young blonde had urged him to rush to the rescue. His shoulders slumped and he shot a guilty look at Calara. "I'm sorry... she's right. I remember being wary that it might be a trap. Even if I had investigated and saw that the Griffon was in trouble, I probably wouldn't have risked boarding alone."

She gave him an understanding smile. "You were on your own in an unarmed freighter. I'm actually amazed that Alyssa managed to convince you to board at all."

Alyssa kissed his cheek and said, "We're not trying to make you feel guilty. The point of this is just to make you understand what would have happened if you hadn't recruited us."

Rachel had been watching him carefully and when John relaxed, she continued her presentation. "Even if you had boarded alone, you wouldn't have been able to ambush the pirates and rescue Calara at the same time. You would have been forced to retreat and Calara's fate would have only been delayed for a matter of minutes."

"I would have been raped to death by the Largath," the Latina said bleakly. "It's a miracle the two of you got there in time to save me... that monster had already murdered the other two surviving crewwomen."

John put his arm around both girls and hugged them tight. He met Rachel's watchful gaze and said quietly, "Go on..."

"Charles would still have sold you the Invictus, but you wouldn't have travelled to Gravitus. Without Alyssa needing clothes, there was no point in going clothes shopping... which means that we would never have met." She gave him a quick smile, then her expression darkened as she continued, "So you would have returned to Karron alone to purchase more Tyrenium. There you would have been betrayed by Seb Mortimer, but without Alyssa to warn you, his ambush would have been successful."

"Calara wouldn't have been there to man the Invictus' guns..." John murmured, remembering her using the Gatling Lasers to even the odds.

"Exactly... and Seb would have murdered you aboard the ship," the Latina said softly, her face twisting with pain at the thought. "Calara and I calculated every outcome we could think of, but you had no chance... you were massively outnumbered and outgunned. Your abilities hadn't been activated then, so your guide wouldn't have been able to intervene to save you either."

John shook his head in disbelief. "I never even considered that."

Rachel glanced at Faye and a picture of Dana appeared, but as she was when John had first met her on Karron. She was pale, petite, and very slender, her gruesomely scarred face topped by a shock of spiky ginger hair. "Without Alyssa asking you to rescue her best friend, Sparks would have remained under close watch by the Diablos, kept as their pet gunsmith."

"I'd have lasted another eight months in that shithole, until the Kirrix invaded and grabbed everybody," the redhead said, her expression bleak. "Then I'd have been raped by a hivelord and ripped apart by grubs two weeks later."

John grimaced at that horrifying thought, then stared at Rachel as he realised what would have happened to her. "The rescue at Iota Leonis..."

"Would never have happened..." she said quietly, a haunted look in her eyes. "Even if you had survived Karron, there would have been no reason for you to travel to the Dragon March. Even if you had been in the system, without the girls to crew the Invictus, you would have had no chance of stopping the raid. When the Kintark attacked, I wouldn't have even made it to the vault in the Command Centre. I would have been burned to death by plasma fire... shot by one of the Kintark marines storming Port Medea."

John looked shocked as he took that in, then glanced at his Nymph matriarch next. "What about Jade?"

Jade wrinkled her nose in distaste. "Without the four of you to defeat the pirate fleet, I would have stayed enslaved to that Pirate Lord as his hentai sex toy."

"But only for one more month..." Rachel said ominously, drawing John's attention. "We know that Commander Rupert Grant was working with the pirates, selling them obsolete T-Fed vessels and supplying them with freighter flight paths. The pirates were supposed to capture Calara and turn her over to Grant, but Hitch's men were out of control and definitely would have killed her without your intervention. Grant would have been furious and instead of taking out the contract with Mikaboshi to assassinate you, he would have 'discovered' the location of the pirate base and called in T-Fed forces to wipe them out."

"Surely he would have continued what he was doing?" John asked in surprise. "He made millions of credits betraying those people."

Calara shook her head. "The plague of pirate attacks had already started to draw a lot of unwanted attention. Grant had to cover his tracks eventually and we believe he always intended to betray the pirates. Dead men tell no tales and pirates are kill-on-sight in the Terran Federation... A T-Fed Navy operation to deal with the base would have eliminated any witnesses to his corruption."

She glanced at Faye, who activated a picture of the heavy cruiser Stalingrad.

"Everett Hitch's ship was too powerful to risk a boarding action, at least for the patrol forces available to Port Heracles," Calara said, staring at the old warship. "The T-Fed fleet would have engaged at long range, to maximise their ability to rotate out vessels with damaged shields and avoid exposing them to Heavy Cannon broadsides. They would have eventually worn down the Stalingrad and blown the pirate ship to pieces."

"Killing Jade in the process..." John said, running his fingers through his hair. "I know you're right... I can feel it."

"Irillith would have been assassinated shortly afterwards," Rachel said, turning to look at the picture of the haughty dark-haired Maliri, taken when she'd stayed aboard the Invictus.

John frowned in confusion. "How do you know that?"

"I discussed it with Edraele," Alyssa replied, resting her head against his shoulder. "Irillith was due to return to House Valaden territory a week later than the date she departed with us from Geniya starport. The House Ghilwen fleet that attacked us when we left Valaden was part of an assassination plot by Matriarch Aradrea Ghilwen. We caught them by surprise, as they were actually supposed to be preparing an ambush for Irillith when she returned from Geniya."

"Leena confirmed it," Irillith said with a wry smile. "Her mother was furious at Edraele and desperately wanted revenge for a host of previous slights. As Edraele was too well protected on Valaden, I was a much softer target." Her smile faded as she admitted, "It would have worked too. Aradrea sent a battleship and several cruisers to finish the job. If they'd been hiding on minimal power, they could have easily ambushed and interdicted my ship. I would have had no chance of escaping a Nova Lance blast from that battleship."

Rachel nodded and glanced at Faye. The elfin girl blinked and an image of her as a tiny purple sprite appeared, the newly created AI standing on one of Dana's engineering consoles. "With Irillith's death, the hacking deck would have been destroyed, which means that Faye would never have existed..."

John shared a relieved smile with Faye, then rubbed Alyssa's shoulder and said, "I can't believe how much hinged on you joining me."

"It was very lucky we got together... for all our sakes," she agreed, stroking his hand.

Sakura made eye-contact with John and said softly, "It's like Yamamoto's stone garden..."

"Ripples of influence spreading outwards," he murmured, lost in thought. John focused on her again, his expression pensive. "Would you have been next?"

The Asian girl slowly shook her head. "Actually, I would have lived the longest, if you can call being locked in a metal tomb living..."

Rachel studied the next picture that Faye displayed, which showed Sakura after she'd been captured, her body hideously disfigured by Shinatobe's implants.

The brunette pointed to Sakura's sallow skin. "The cryostasis-induced frostbite was causing severe damage to her body; the skin necrosis was extensive and untreatable by conventional medicine. Sakura's internal organs would have started to fail within the year."

Calara looked at the raven-haired girl with sympathy. "The full-cyborg conversion that Mikaboshi intended to transplant me into was actually intended for her. It was only after we captured Shinatobe and freed Sakura that he was forced to change his plans."

Sakura's voice sounded hollow as she said, "I would've been trapped in that metal prison for at least another fifty years..."

"Come here, honey," John said, beckoning her over.

She gave him a grateful smile, then sat between his legs, leaning back to rest against his broad chest.

He put his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. "There, you're all safe now."

Sakura snuggled into his warm embrace, the tension easing from her body.

Calara turned to face John and gently stroked the Asian girl's silky black hair. "Freeing Sakura was a team effort. You needed Alyssa to read her mind, Irillith to hack her cranial implant, Dana to disable the explosives, and Rachel to perform the surgery to remove her cybernetics... even Jade helped by feeding her throughout the operation. Without all those girls, there's no way we could have saved her..."

Turning in his arms, Sakura tilted her head up to kiss his cheek, then settled back into place again. She didn't need to say anything, the tender gesture of affection and gratitude spoke volumes.