Three Square Meals Ch. 120

After the greetings were out the way, the duellists strolled out onto the mats, leaving Rachel and Alyssa standing beside John.

"We've been experimenting with shields while you were taming this sexy girl," Alyssa said, flashing a grin at Leylira. Turning back to John again, the blonde continued, "Do you want to join in and see for yourself, or just observe?"

He shared a smile with Alyssa, then slipped his arms around the glowing Nymph to stroke her tummy. "I've got my hands full at the moment. I think I'll just watch."

Leylira didn't comment, but nuzzled into him appreciatively.

Alyssa glanced at the brunette beside her. "In that case... whenever you're ready?"

Rachel arched an eyebrow and a glowing grey sphere appeared around Calara.

John's gaze flicked from her to the Latina and back again. "You shielded her! But you didn't even look, or make any gestures!"

"She's come a long way... further than any of us," Alyssa said with pride in her student.

Rachel smiled at John's look of surprise, then twitched her fingers towards Sakura. The assassin was immediately surrounded by an identical orb of hexagons.

"Wow... two!" he marvelled, shaking his head in astonishment. "I don't think I could even project one shield like that, let alone protect multiple people at once."

"None of us can," Alyssa said, with a grimace of frustration. "Believe me... I've tried."

"I have managed three, but the increase in mental strain is significant," Rachel explained, wincing at the memory. "We're hoping that with more practice, it should get easier."

"Even projecting one is very impressive," John said, nodding his appreciation. "If someone was in trouble, you could shield them far faster than healing their wounds."

"Yes, and avoid the physical exhaustion that's a side-effect of psychic healing," she enthusiastically agreed. "In a long-running battle that kind of fatigue is crippling."

Alyssa turned and glanced towards the waiting combatants. Calara and Sakura took up offensive stances, then moved to attack each other.

Rachel kept her attention on John as he watched the fight. "I'm not sure if you were consciously aware of it before, but shields are unidirectional. Gunfire and melee weapons can pass outwards through the barrier without disruption, but the shield will attempt to block any incoming attacks."

John mulled that over for a moment, then nodded. "I hadn't really thought about it before, but yes, you're right." His eyes were drawn to the duel again and he saw the damaged hexagons being replaced as quickly as Sakura and Calara could shatter them. "I've been in that position before... trying to batter my way through a hive queen's shields."

"Which is something else we considered too," Alyssa said with a sparkle in her eyes. "Because brute force doesn't really work very well..."

"Even with speed activated, the hive queens were able to repair their shields between blows," he readily admitted.

"Brute force isn't very efficient, but as you've proven, it is a viable method," Rachel said magnanimously. "The more damage you do to hexes, the more the shield owner will have to replace. You could wear them down as they burn through energy trying to replenish their shield, or you might do enough damage to enough hexes at once to rupture the shield's integrity."

Alyssa made a popping noise, then mimed a spherical shield exploding.

He chuckled at her theatrics, then focused on Rachel. "But I'm guessing you've found a better way?"

"A few actually," the brunette replied with a broad smile. "Alyssa?"

The blonde turned towards the white-armoured figures who turned to face her. "Option number one... the double-tap."

She summoned a swarm of telekinetic darts, then gestured towards Sakura. All but two of the glowing projectiles rushed out to slam into her shield, knocking them out in a scattershot approach all over the sphere. As each hexagon was sundered, Rachel replaced it, quickly repairing the grey dome. Alyssa then pointed at the assassin and the remaining pair of bolts raced towards her target, one directly behind the other. The first destroyed a hexagon and the second rushed through the gap before Rachel could repair it, slamming into Sakura's chestplate and knocking her back a step.

"Careful," John cautioned with a frown.

Alyssa rolled her eyes and smiled. "It was just a love tap."

He glanced back at the shield. "I was using that method by accident using burst fire with my Tachyon rifle. The first runic penetrator knocked a hole in the hex shields protecting the Kirrix Guardians and the next two rounds took them out. It's just a shame I can't do something like that with my sword."

"Can't you stab twice with the tip?" Rachel suggested.

"That might work for Sakura's ninjato, but her swords are equally viable for piercing and slashing... my runesword is primarily a slashing weapon. My blade hits much harder, but it's too unwieldy to stab in quick succession like that."

Alyssa shrugged. "At least you know it's something to watch out for."

"Good point," he conceded. "Okay, what next?"

"Option number two... the shish-kebab," Alyssa replied, waving her hand. A gleaming white spear appeared, roughly two metres in length. "If you see anyone create anything like this... be careful. Psychic javelins are specifically designed to pierce through shields, so if you're stronger than your opponent it will penetrate..."

She turned and hurled it at Sakura, the lance shearing through Rachel's shield and stopping just inches from the Asian girl's armoured leg. Alyssa rubbed at the spot on her own thigh where she'd been injured and gave John a pointed look.

"My guide... that's how he hurt you," John muttered, gritting his teeth in anger.

The blonde nodded. "He tried it before... back on Valaden, but he must have been weak then and I was able to block it. He got me on the Astral though." She looked thoughtful for a moment and added, "It must be some kind of generic psychic ability, because the hive queens were lobbing dozens of these things at me when I pulled them into my pocket plane."

"Dozens?" he asked, his eyebrows climbing.

"I was a lot stronger than them individually, so they had no chance of punching through," she replied with a nonchalant shrug. "If they'd gathered together as the Hive Mind, I might have been in trouble, but I caught them completely by surprise."

"Well, that's something else to watch out for," John said, nodding to the blonde. "But I don't think I'll be throwing them around anytime soon-" He suddenly froze, his voice trailing off.

"What is it?" Rachel asked in confusion.

"He lobbed one of those at the big boss monster in the nightmare plane," Alyssa replied, listening attentively to his thoughts.

John nodded, shaking off his daze. "It was after we recruited Tashana. I got sucked in by the mists and the thing running that place started mimicking all of you. It sounded like you were in agony..."

Rachel stroked his arm, a look of sympathy on her face. "That must have been horrific."

"It was," he muttered grimly. "But the thought of that monster hurting you got me furious, so I hurled one of those javelins at it. The thing was so shocked it dumped me out of the pocket plane and I was able to escape."

Alyssa caught his eye and smiled. "It sounds like it did you a favour. If you were able to create a javelin on the Astral, then that probably means you can do the same thing for real."

"Yeah, that's true! I'll have to start practicing," he agreed, his expression lifting. Looking at the blonde and brunette, he continued, "Did you find out any other methods for breaking a shield?"

"If you have no other option than brute force, try to isolate a section of hexagons by breaking those around it. You might be able to make the shield unstable enough to collapse in on itself," Rachel advised him. "You would need to work incredibly fast though, otherwise your opponent could just replace lost hexagons between sword swings."

"Okay, I'll bear that in mind," he said, filing that titbit away. "That's really impressive work, girls. You learned an awful lot about shielding in just a couple of days."

"I can't take the credit for that," Alyssa said with a grin, putting her arm around Rachel.

The brunette smiled and shook her head. "It was a team effort. Sakura and Calara helped a lot too; they pointed out the mono-directional nature of the shields and how to make shields collapse if you disrupt too much of their structure."

John beckoned them over. "Group hug."

The girls laughed and embraced him, while Leylira watched them with a lopsided smile. John took her hand and pulled her in to join them, making her beam at him in delight. After saying goodbye to the quartet of Lionesses, John led the Nymph out of the Dojo into the adjoining armoury.

He noticed that she was quiet, apparently absorbed in her thoughts. "Are you okay, Leylira?"

She paused and looked up into his eyes. "I want to fight for you."

Never expecting that for a moment, he blinked in surprise. "Why?"

Leylira led him into the nearby bedroom and sat on the bed beside him. "This one saw how you viewed your mates; you respect their dedication and admire their prowess in combat..." She had a wistful smile on her face as she added, "I would like you to look at me that way too."

John gently guided her onto her back and lay down beside her. "I don't think that's a great idea, honey. Combat is very dangerous and I don't want you to get hurt."

"But Jade fights for you," she countered. "My sister has actually saved your life before, hasn't she?"

"True, but her circumstances are a little different," he replied, trying not to be too discouraging. He placed his hand on her rounded stomach, watching the bands of light pulsing outwards. "Jade's been with me for a long time and I've fed her a lot of cum."

"You could feed me a lot too, Master," Leylira purred, her voice turning seductive.

"I plan to, but over the upcoming years," he agreed, gently stroking her. "Besides, there are only five Nymphs left in the galaxy, at least as far as we know. You're part of a highly-endangered species and it would be a tragedy if something happened to you."

"If we can learn to protect ourselves, we would have a much greater chance of survival..." she argued, a cunning gleam in those amber eyes.

John frowned as he had no real counter-argument to that. "Alright... I suppose that's a good point," he grudgingly conceded. "But teaching you to defend yourself isn't the same as taking you into battle with me."

"This one would still like to learn," Leylira said softly. She traced a finger over the muscles in his chest and whispered, "You like dangerous women, Master. Just think how thrilling it would be to vanquish me when I'm a real threat..."

He swallowed, his mouth suddenly feeling dry.

Leylira leaned closer to nuzzle into him, then let out a low growl and gently bit his neck, being careful not to break the skin.

John pushed her back and smiled as he playfully restrained her. "Jade was right, you really are a handful."

She didn't disagree, or struggle to break his grasp, but she watched him intently with those sharp amber eyes.

"Alright, I suppose there's no harm in Jade teaching you how to shapeshift into defensive forms," he reluctantly conceded. Releasing her wrists, he trailed his fingers down her arms, pausing to follow the black tiger stripes that curved over her orange skin. "But I've already grown quite attached to you looking like this... so no changing into anything crazy in the bedroom, okay?"

Leylira frowned and feigned a look of concern. "You don't think this one would look sexy as an ankylosaurus?"

He laughed at the thought. "I'm sure you'd be quite irresistible, but I doubt the bed could take it."

She laughed with him, a lovely earthy sound that made John smile.

***

Tashana walked up to the IntOps Station and stroked her twin's arm. "I brought you a drink, Rill. Hot chocolate..."

Irillith looked up at her sister and gave her a grateful smile. "Thank you." She sipped the steaming drink and sighed. "Mmm, delicious."

Leaning against the console, Tashana glanced at the score of holo-screens arrayed in a wall in front of Irillith. Her sister's program was searching through millions of lines in the Vulkat archive, looking for word matches and checking context. "Making good progress?"

"Nearly done," the Maliri hacker said with satisfaction, leaning back in her seat and taking another sip. "We're lucky this is a technical archive not something hideous like a compilation of Vulkat poetry. Imagine trying to figure out all their expressions and idioms..."

"Better a full web than a drained husk," Tashana said sagely, nodding her agreement. "We should cross our spinnerets there aren't any."

Irillith's carefree laughter echoed around the Bridge. "Exactly!"

Tashana smiled fondly at her, enjoying seeing her sister so relaxed and happy. "I had a lot of fun working on this with you."

Glancing up at her twin, Irillith saw her loving expression and smiled back. She reached for her hand and interlaced their fingers together. "You're right, it was really nice. Just like old times, but even better."

"Almost as much fun as the Raptor trip," Tashana agreed, her smile turning coy as she slowly rubbed her thumb against Irillith's hand.

"Are you referring to Jade masquerading as Dyani Spiritwing or something else entirely, darling sister?" Irillith teased her.

Tashana's violet eyes smouldered at the prospect. "Something else... but now you mention it, we really must arrange a movie night..."

Irillith grinned at her twin, then she paused and looked into her eyes. "What are we going to do about John's fascination with us and Edraele?"

"He wants the three of us so badly," Tashana noted, her lips turning up into an affectionate smile. "We could encourage him when we return to Genthalas..."

"I thought that too," Irillith said, before sipping her drink again. "But he also seems determined not to rush into that aspect of our relationship. Should we just wait and let him set the pace?"

As Tashana mulled that over, a soft chime from the console made them both freeze. They whirled around to look at the array of holo-screens which were now converting into perfectly translated Maliri.

Irillith rose from her chair and jubilantly hugged her sister. "We did it!"

Tashana laughed and hugged her back, then winced when she accidentally jogged Irillith's arm and spilled her drink over the console. "Oh damn!"

Irillith smiled and rolled her eyes. "It's a good thing it's waterproof..."

The twins scrambled out of the way as the hot chocolate dripped down the IntOps Station. As soon as they were clear, one of the ubiquitous cleaning robots whirred into place and started mopping up the mess.

"Hey, thanks," Tashana said, with a grateful smile at the small automaton. "It was lucky you were right there."

It paused and waved at her cheerfully with its mop, before getting back to work.

***

John walked down the ramp into the Lagoon with Leylira at his side and smiled at her sisters as they waved in greeting. He turned to the tiger-striped catgirl, his smile widening. "I had a wonderful afternoon with you, Leylira. We'll definitely have to-"

He was cut off by her passionate kiss, as she moulded her body against his and crossed her wrists behind his neck. The kiss deepened as she moaned into his mouth, until she grasped a fistful of his hair and tugged it, while playfully biting his lip.

"Hey!" John exclaimed in surprise.

Leylira turned on her heel and sauntered down the ramp, giving him a feisty smile over her shoulder as she departed. He chuckled as he watched her leave, shaking his head in amusement at her behaviour. She was soon surrounded by her sisters, with Betrixa and Marika comparing the transformed siblings, while Jade looked on with a look akin to maternal pride.

*John, I've got some great news!* Alyssa interrupted, her excited voice coursing through his mind. *The twins have finished translating the Vulkat tech archive!*

*Oh, that's fantastic!* he exclaimed, a broad grin spreading across his face. *Let's get together as a group to review the schematics.*

*Dana offered to go through them first to see what we've got,* Alyssa replied. *According to Irillith, the archive is a massive data repository containing the tech for everything the Vulkat ever researched. The sheer volume of blueprints means it'll take a little while for Sparks to find the real jewels amongst the schematics for coffee machines and printers.*

*Okay, keep me informed.*

*Will do!* she cheerfully replied.

Walking down to the gathering of Nymphs, John smiled as he watched the four newest additions to his crew celebrating together. Not wanting to interrupt them congratulating Leylira, he went over to stand beside Jade.

*In case it wasn't obvious, Neysa and Leylira absolutely adored spending time with you,* she said, stroking his arm. *I also agree with Leylira... teaching my sisters to shapeshift so that they can defend themselves is a very wise precaution. Once you've spent some time alone with each of them, I'll start their training.*

He gazed into her emerald eyes and said emphatically, *I'm not trying to turn them into a unit of shapeshifting super soldiers, Jade. I promise you, that's the last thing I want.*

She gave him a reassuring smile. *Trust me, John, I fully understand your wishes. I want my sisters to spend the rest of their lives happily pregnant with your babies... the five of us are going to be very busy repopulating the Nymph species.*

*They might not want that future, Jade,* he cautioned her. *Once they're fully self-aware, they might not even want to stay with me, let alone spend centuries having hundreds of children.*

*Of course, Master,* she readily agreed. *That's always been a possibility...*

He looked at her askance. Jade's blasé attitude towards the risk of her sisters leaving him was... unexpected.

Suddenly he had a very excited Nymph in his arms as Betrixa jumped on him, wrapping her legs around his waist. "It's this one's turn now, Master!" she crowed, her emerald eyes dancing with delight. "Turn me into a super sexy catgirl!"

He laughed at her wild exuberance and helped support her by cupping her bottom in his hands. "Now? In front of your sisters?"

"Yep, I'm not shy!" she gushed, staring into his eyes. "I wanna know all the naughty things you want this one to do!"

Betrixa squeezed her eyes tightly shut and he felt a light contact against his mind, her telepathic touch like a playful tickle.

He kissed the tip of her nose and said, "Betrixa... when I let you into my mind, I want-"

"Yeah, I know! Stay away from the baddie!" she interrupted impatiently, keeping her eyes closed. "Let's do this!"

John smiled and held her close to him as he opened a gate through his mental fortress for her. Betrixa traipsed inside, the spark of her subconscious like a ray of sunshine as she flitted about, exploring the recesses of his mind.

He glanced at Jade and she ran her fingers through his hair and whispered, "Thank you..."

A few moments later, Betrixa squealed with joy and began to shift, her body rippling around him as she was swathed in a soft blue haze. When the change was complete and the shimmering faded away, he found himself looking into a set of brilliant sapphire eyes. She hugged him tight and showered his face with kisses, making no attempt to hide how thrilled she was.

Just as suddenly as the Nymph had leapt into his arms, she dropped to her feet and spun away, turning in a graceful pirouette. "What do you think, Master?"

There was no denying that she looked quite beautiful. Like Neysa and Leylira before her, the green was gone, her skin now a light tawny brown. She was much paler from her navel up to her face and there was a pattern of black swirling circles along her flanks and shoulders. Betrixa's hair had once been such a dark green it was nearly black, but it was now a glorious blonde mane, the copper lowlights making her hair look even more voluminous. Perking up amongst that mass of hair were two furry catlike ears, and behind her, a long spotted tail flicked mischievously, the tip quivering with excitement.