Three Square Meals Ch. 123

Alyssa nodded, a look of grim determination in her eyes. "We've got a load of killing to do, then we can all concentrate on making him really happy."

Dana groaned in frustration and her hands went to her svelte stomach. "We were so close! I can't believe we've got to take out all those Progenitors before we can get pregnant!"

The brunette let out a sad sigh of resignation and nodded. She reached out to brush her fingers over Dana's trim tummy. "You'd look so gorgeous with a baby bump..."

"You too..." Dana murmured, licking her lips as she lightly traced her fingertips around Rachel's bellybutton.

Alyssa laughed and slid off the bed. "And on that note, I'll leave you to it. I feel an overpowering urge to make Calara moan..."

Rachel and Dana smiled, then waved goodbye to Alyssa as she sashayed out of the bedroom.

The lovers turned to face each other and Dana quirked an eyebrow. "Do you want to go first?"

"How about at the same time?" Rachel suggested with a coy smile.

The redhead wrinkled her nose and shook her head. "You're too good with your tongue... I get distracted. Besides, I really like watching you when you cum."

"In that case, I'll gladly accept your generous offer," Rachel said with a grin, pulling off her top and throwing it aside.

A flurry of clothes hit the floor and they were soon both naked, then Dana pushed Rachel back onto the bed and fell on top of her. They giggled together, then the laughter died out as they looked into each other's eyes. Their gentle kiss was sensuous and passionate, as each girl tried to put all their love into the soft caress of lips and tongue. Rachel let out a heady sigh of contentment, parting her thighs and wrapping those deliciously long legs around her lover.

Suddenly, Dana paused and pulled back, a pensive frown on her beautiful face.

"What's wrong?" Rachel asked with concern, before studying her lover and recognising the flicker of grief in her eyes. "You're thinking about Faye..."

"John was right... We just lost her today, we shouldn't be doing this."

"Come here, baby," Rachel murmured, pulling Dana down so she was lying on her chest. She ran her fingers through the redhead's silky auburn tresses. "Faye had an incredible zest for life, she wouldn't want you to spend your time grieving. She loved you, Dana... she'd hate seeing you upset like this."

"What if Irillith can't bring her back?" Dana whispered with dread, lifting her head to look down at her lover.

Rachel pondered that for a moment before replying, "Do you believe that there's a chance you might be able to exceed the limitations of Progenitor Technology?"

Surprised by the shift in topic, Dana propped herself up on an elbow, her chin in her hand. "It's going to be incredibly hard... but yeah... I think it might be possible."

"I believe in you," the brunette said earnestly. "And I believe that Irillith can exceed a normal Progenitor's mastery of computing. If she can do that, she can bring back Faye."

The redhead thought about it for a moment, then brightened. "Yeah, I guess that's basically the same thing. If I can exceed their tech, there's no reason Irillith can't too."

Rachel smiled to see Dana looking happier again, then they both paused when they heard a tap on the door. She uncrossed her legs from behind the redhead's back, releasing her girlfriend so she could answer it.

"Who is it?" Dana asked as she padded across the floor.

"Sakura," came the muffled reply.

Opening the door, Dana beckoned the Asian girl inside. "Hey, come on in!"

Sakura glanced at the nude redhead, then her eyes flicked to Rachel who was posed seductively on the bed. "I'm sorry... my timing's terrible. I would have waited until tomorrow, but Alyssa said that now was a good time."

Rachel laughed and rolled her eyes. "We'll have to get her back for that."

"It's okay, you caught us just before we got busy," Dana said with a mischievous wink. "Now, what's up?"

The Asian girl let Dana lead her across the bedroom, then sat on the bed beside the nude girls. "Alyssa told me everything that happened after I was knocked unconscious. She told me that both of you got hurt trying to protect me from Larn'kelnar." She lowered her head submissively and added, "I wanted to... thank you."

Dana and Rachel flashed excited grins at each other.

Rachel crawled across the bed and lifted Sakura's chin so that they made eye contact. "You're our guest, we couldn't possibly take advantage of you like that..."

Trailing her finger across Sakura's toned bicep, Dana purred, "Besides, you kicked that shitweasel's ass... we should be the ones thanking you!"

Sakura's full lips turned up into a warm smile. "What did you have in mind then?"

Rachel started unbuttoning the Asian girl's shirt, her tone turning seductive. "Take your pick..."

"Dana," the Asian said without hesitation.

"Yay!" the redhead crowed, as she helped peel off Sakura's trousers.

Rachel laughed as she unclasped the Asian girl's bra. "I might have known you'd pick her. You can't resist those lovely blue eyes looking up at you."

Sakura kissed the brunette, then whispered, "Actually... I wanted you to talk to me."

The brunette bit her lip, then nodded, her grey eyes sparkling with excitement. She propped herself up with a couple of pillows, then lay back on the bed and parted her legs. Patting the covers between her splayed thighs, she gave Sakura an inviting smile. Not wasting any time, Sakura stripped off the last of her clothes, then reclined backwards on the bed, her head nestled against Rachel's luscious cleavage.

"Are you comfortable there, gorgeous?" Rachel whispered in her ear.

"Very..." Sakura replied, spreading her legs for Dana.

"Now... look into those beautiful blue eyes," the brunette urged her. "You can see just how much she cares about you..."

The two girls made eye contact and shared a tender smile as Dana lay down on the bed. She traced her fingers along Sakura's inner thighs, marvelling at the silky softness of her flawless skin and watching her muscular body react to her gentle touch. Dana leaned down to lap at Sakura's outer labia, the gliding wetness of her velvety tongue drawing a long sigh of contentment from the quivering girl.

"God, I needed this..." Sakura moaned, her hips rocking slightly.

Curling her hands around those splayed golden-brown thighs, Dana held her down and started gently teasing her clit, her tongue swirling in circles over the sensitive flesh.

"Ohh..." Sakura breathed, reaching down to tangle her fingers through Dana's red tresses, so she could hold her in place. "Don't stop..."

Dana smiled, the corners of her mouth twitching as she feasted on Sakura's pussy.

Rachel slid her arms around the Asian girl and cupped her firm breasts, savouring the feel of the supple flesh. "We're so glad you joined us," she crooned in Sakura's ear. "Such a beautiful, lovely girl... we're going to give you so much pleasure..."

Sakura whimpered with arousal, then turned to kiss Rachel, her dark almond eyes flaring as Dana brought her closer to an intense climax. Her mewling cries grew louder when the brunette pinched her swollen nipples, the heady mixture of pain and pleasure enough to drive her over the edge. It was hard for Dana to keep Sakura pinned down as her toned body shook with her orgasm, those powerful thighs wrapping around the redhead as her pelvis rocked instinctively.

"So strong... but gentle too, just enough to keep her in place," Rachel murmured, kissing Sakura's neck and watching as the Asian girl was careful not to squeeze too hard. "You're like John... a powerful warrior that needs submissive girls to show their appreciation."

"Yesss..." Sakura groaned, her body trembling with excitement.

"You want more, don't you, gorgeous?" the brunette purred, nibbling at her ear. When Sakura moaned her agreement, Rachel smiled at her girlfriend between their guest's spectacular cleavage. "Two more, Dana, then it's my turn..."

***

"There it is, Captain," the Maliri helmswoman drawled, pointing to the red glyph on the edge of their long-range sensors.

Shanryl leaned forward as she stared at the icon that represented the Terran Federation Comms Beacon. "Take us right in, Ankayla. I need to make a direct connection to the T-Fed network."

"No problem."

Her executive officer raised an eyebrow. "A spacewalk... isn't that too risky? What happens if the Terrans detect us?"

"As I'm the only one with access to the Lahlenori accounts, I'm confident you'll resist the urge to flee until I'm back on board," Shanryl said, a sly smile on her face as she rose from her command chair.

"I'd never dream of leaving you marooned," Zentha said, almost managing to sound sincere. "Your safety was my primary concern, of course."

"Of course..." the Lahlenori Captain said as she picked up her golden helmet. "But we have nothing to worry about. Terran sensors are feeble; their ships are as perceptive as a blind old crone fumbling around in the dark. We'll see them long before they see us."

"How much time will you need?" Zentha asked, a flicker of apprehension in her eyes. She glanced back at the holographic map, where their destroyer was closing on the Comms Beacon.

"You shouldn't rush art," Shanryl replied, her fingers gliding lovingly over the sophisticated hacking deck built into her vambrace. "We have several hours until Athgiloi's deadline, but I won't need anywhere near that long... Terran network security is laughable."

"I'll warn you the moment any of those primitives come in range."

"Relax," the rogue Maliri said with a broad grin as she turned to leave the destroyer's Bridge. "I'll be back before you know it."

Shanryl left the Command Deck and hummed contentedly to herself as she walked along the corridor. Unlike her pensive second-in-command, the Lahlenori captain loved the thrill of doing something nefarious, and trespassing through Terran territory to perform a highly-illegal hacking operation was about as naughty as it got. She suspected that Edraele Valaden would be outraged if she ever found out that the Lahlenori was sabotaging the Federation and the added risk of antagonising the volatile Matriarch made this operation all the more delicious.

She took the lift down to the lower deck, then strode towards the airlock, where she waited for Ankayla to bring the Lahlenori destroyer alongside the Comms Beacon. Glancing through the clear-crystal windows, she stared at the sprawl of glittering stars for a few moments, then quickly got bored of the black expanse. Her armoured fingers swept across the interface built into her vambrace and she tapped into the Terran holo-broadcasts that were bombarding her vessel, curious to see what was happening in the Federation.

Activating the holo-net, she grimaced at the deluge of pop-up adverts, having forgotten to activate her filters. The image of a Terran housewife beamed out from the holo-screen and Shanryl recognised the jaunty jingle, designed by some malevolent advertising executive to be infuriatingly catchy.

"Nothing cleans like... Nova Clean," she sang along softly under her breath, while waiting for her ad-blockers to activate.

The image quickly faded away, letting her see the holo-browser unimpeded, with scores of icons providing links to the most popular items on the holo-net. Remembering Zentha's warnings about Edraele's involvement in the recent fight between the Terran Federation and Kintark Empire, she browsed through the list in search of information about the Maliri forces involved in the battle. One particular link caught her eye and she swept her finger across the icon, which was glibly described as: "Awesome action from the Battle of Terra!".

Shanryl fast-forwarded through tedious footage of ugly grey Terran ships blasting away at equally hideous green Kintark vessels. The scale of the battle was impressive, but the ships themselves were crude and ineffective; she could just imagine the carnage a Maliri battlefleet would wreak on those primitives. Suddenly, the images changed from the multitude of explosions in space, to some kind of ground engagement.

The images were taken from a soldier's helmet camera and a group of women in white armour bounded towards him across the battlefield, the jets on their battlesuits keeping them aloft. They fired incandescent streams of bright blue laser bolts at the Kintark invaders, gunning down hundreds of the reptilian forces as they advanced towards the Terran fortifications. Shanryl watched in fascination, amazed by the staggering firepower that deadly trio brought to bear on the Kintark troops.

The combat footage changed again, this time to one of the soldiers inside the Citadel's inner walls. The Terran infantryman looked up at a vast red dragon, the sheer scale of the monstrous beast terrifying to behold. Sounds of gunfire drew the trooper's attention and he turned to look at the source of the noise. A man in ornate white armour stood on the battlements, his rifle moving in a blur as he systematically executed every Kintark soldier in sight with precise headshots.

Shanryl had never seen shooting like it and she rewound the footage to watch the mysterious white-armoured figure in action a second time. He reloaded his rifle and turned to face the camera... and it was like her world froze.

"Oh my..." the Maliri breathed, staring enthralled at the most perfect male she'd ever seen.

She studied him in awe, pausing the image so she could gaze enraptured at his gloriously handsome features. Her body tingled with desire, flushed with an overwhelming lust that she'd never experienced before. Shanryl could only moan at the thought of bedding that paragon of masculinity.

"Shanryl? What's wrong?!" Zentha asked with trepidation, shaking her shoulder.

The Lahlenori captain blinked in surprise, then managed to drag her eyes away from the tantalising image on the holo-screen and look at her Executive Officer in confusion. "What? Why are you down here?"

"We arrived at the Beacon ten minutes ago!" Zentha exclaimed indignantly. "I've been trying to contact you, but you weren't responding!"

"Ten minutes?" Shanryl muttered, shocked that she'd been enraptured by this mystery man for so long.

Zentha's turquoise eyes flicked to the holographic image, then flared with arousal as she gasped, "Who is that?!"

Shanryl carefully avoided looking at the holo-screen and shut it down. "Never mind..."

"But I wanted to see!" Zentha groaned in protest.

"Later... we have a job to do," Shanryl said gruffly as she headed to the airlock.

As the crystal door spiralled up into the ceiling, the Lahlenori captain felt a shiver run down her spine. She knew that if the man in armour had been there right at that moment, she would willingly do anything he asked just for a chance to be with him. It was like her whole world had been upended and Shanryl knew that dalliances with the border males would never be the same again.

***

"It's not that simple, Lynette!" Admiral Hugo Chapman protested, his hands balled into fists. "I can't just cull the entire Research and Development division! We'll never be able to keep parity with the alien empires.... we'll be cutting our own throats for decades to come!"

Fleet Admiral Lynette Devereux tried not to scream in frustration. "I gave you those orders two weeks ago! You're telling me you've done nothing in all that time?!"

"I was hoping you'd see sense..." Chapman muttered under his breath.

There were a few muted chuckles from the other members of High Command in the auditorium, showing that at least a couple of the other Admirals also resented her dramatic policy changes. Lynette narrowed her eyes, knowing she'd have to nip this insurrection in the bud or the Admiralty would never respect her authority. She glanced down at her podium and activated a holographic map, but when she looked up again, she saw Chapman smirking. He had obviously taken her breaking eye contact as a sign of submission.

Half-turning to the floating map of the galactic empires, she said coldly, "Admiral Chapman, please tell me which of our neighbours you're referring to?"

He blinked in surprise, startled that she'd put him on the spot like this. "Err... the Kirrix!" he blurted out, his gaze flicking to the ochre-hued section to the right of the map. "They've already invaded... they're a clear and present danger."

"The Kirrix are now riven by civil war," Lynette informed him. "Their invasion fleets are turning on each other and they've been repulsed from our territory by the Lion and our border fleet. I believe that's an accurate summary of the present situation, Nathan?"

The holographic representation of Admiral Zelig nodded his confirmation. "That's correct, Fleet Admiral. Their forces have taken appalling losses; they don't have a single operational vessel left in Terran Federation territory and out of the hundreds that invaded, barely a score managed to flee to Kirrix Space."

"I think it's safe to say that they pose no threat to us for the foreseeable future?" she suggested, raising an eyebrow.

"That would be my assessment," Zelig agreed. "Replacing the fleet assets they've lost will take decades. Even then, I've been informed that Admiral Blake has threatened the Kirrix Hive Mind with extermination should they attack again."

Lynette nodded her appreciation and gave Zelig a quick smile before she turned her frosty gaze back on Chapman. "So not the Kirrix then. Who else?"

"The Brimorian Enclave, obviously..." the belligerent admiral replied, far from being cowed. "We know they've been dealing with the Kintark and supplied their invasion armada with shield generators. They must have hostile intentions towards us to ally so openly with a hostile alien empire!"

"In a matter of weeks, the Brimorians will cease to be a concern," Lynette said brusquely. "Deep Lord Athgiloi attempted to sabotage the Lion's ship during the Battle of Terra. I think we're all quite aware of Admiral Blake's stance towards betrayal... as so graphically demonstrated with the fate of Admiral Weber."

Chapman blanched at that horrible memory, then stuck out his chin stubbornly and objected, "But the Enclave is still a threat now!"

"So might we assume that your R&D teams are on the cusp of some incredible new breakthrough?" she asked, staring down the recalcitrant admiral. "I take it you have something remarkable ready that we can roll out to our fleets in the next fortnight?"

"Quality research takes time, Fleet Admiral," Chapman said condescendingly. "I shouldn't have to explain that to you..."

"I'm fully aware of the inordinate amount of time your division takes to roll out new innovations," Lynette said, her lip curling with contempt. "If Research and Development wasn't so appallingly inefficient, culling them might have been a more troubling decision. Now, are there any other empires you consider to be a dire threat?"

"The Maliri have proven just how dangerous they are," Chapman said, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"You consider our current strongest ally to be a threat?" Lynette asked, raising an eyebrow.

"There's been no formal declaration of alliance!" he protested.

Shaking her head, she looked at him like he was slow-witted. "They raced to our side to defend Terra against the Kintark invasion! How much more proof do you need that the Maliri view us in a favourable light? Besides... I'm sure you're well aware just how potent their fleets are; do you have anything in the pipeline that would allow our forces the slightest hope of repelling firepower of that magnitude?"

"Nothing as yet," he replied sullenly.

Expecting that answer, Lynette gestured towards the three-dimensional map. "Rather than dragging this out even more painfully, let me summarise the situation with the rest of our neighbours. The Ashanath Collective: benign pacifists who have never once fired on us in anger. The Drakkar: devastated by Admiral Blake and Grey forces at the Battle of Ashana. The Kintark: broken as a galactic power, their fleets wiped out at the Battle of Terra. The Trankaran Republic: besieged by Kirrix and still desperate to secure a formal alliance with us, despite their prior request for aid being cruelly rebuffed at Buckingham's insistence."