Three Square Meals Ch. 127

Dana shuddered with revulsion. "I really hate the Kirrix. Those bastards would've got me too, if you hadn't saved my ass."

"I'd never let that happen, Sparks," he said, slipping his arm around her waist. He let his hand slide down to gently squeeze her bottom. "You're mine... and your ass is mine too."

She smiled wanly at his attempt to lighten the mood and leaned into his embrace. "You know what I mean. I was already thanking my lucky stars that you took me in... but after what happened to everyone on Karron..."

"I know, honey," he said, kissing the top of her head. "I thank my lucky stars I managed to rescue you and Alyssa too."

John held her as they floated down to Deck Nine, where they reluctantly separated and left the grav-tube. He gestured towards the control panel on the wall ahead and the reinforced doors that led into the Secondary Hangar peeled open. When they walked into the huge room, he stopped, frozen by the sight of the battered gunship. The cockpit was completely exposed, the ravaged armour plating removed along with the pilot's and co-pilot's consoles, which now lay discarded in a mangled pile.

"This is the first time you've seen the Raptor since the ambush, isn't it?" Dana asked, standing beside him.

He nodded in confirmation, his expression grim as he surveyed the damage.

"I'm not sure who fucked it up worse... those thralls or Jade," she muttered, frowning at the huge rents where the dragon had pulled herself out of the cockpit.

"I think Jade deserves a pass on that one," John said, recovering from his shock and darting a smile at the redhead.

She grinned back. "Yeah, me too. We would've been totally screwed if she hadn't acted so fast."

They walked over to the replacement components that were arrayed around the gunship and Dana placed the food container on the co-pilot's console. "Here you go... try this," she said, handing him one of the tall cups, condensation beading the metal surface.

John took a tentative sip from the straw and his eyebrows climbed in surprise. "I haven't had a chocolate milkshake in years."

"Mine's strawberry... want a taste?"

He hummed in approval. "Very nice. So what's for dinner?"

Dana unpacked the food, handing him a chicken burger and a plate of fries. He smiled gratefully and took a big bite of the burger, then looked at her in astonishment. "It's just like the ones my grandmother used to make! They were my favourite when I was a kid!"

"I know," she said affectionately. "Me and Rach thought you might need a bit of cheering up after everything you've been through recently. We asked Alyssa for suggestions."

John watched her as she unpacked her own food. "Thanks, honey. This was really thoughtful."

She bit into her own burger, then her eyes lit up in surprise. "Holy fuck! This is awesome!"

He laughed and nodded.

Dana hopped up onto the console and sipped at her milkshake, then jerked a thumb at the cockpit. "Give me a boost?"

John gestured towards the bulky flight control system, then carefully levitated it up and into position. The redhead hopped off when she reached the cockpit, then spun around so she could line up the replacement console.

She leaned over the side of the gunship's exposed fuselage. "Just a bit closer... about fifteen centimetres."

He did as she asked until Dana called out for him to stop, then after a few more minor adjustments, he set the new pilot's station down.

"Give me a few minutes to bolt it in place, then send up the other one," she requested, holding a multi-tool in one hand and her chicken burger in the other. "I'll hook up the power and data cables at the same time."

"Will do," he agreed, leaning against the pilot's station as he finished his dinner.

The familiar tastes reminded him of home... or at least his old home on Terra, growing up with his grandparents. It felt uncomfortable to think back on his childhood, a time when he'd been so desperate to find out what had happened to his missing parents. After everything he'd discovered on Arcadia, those memories were now shadowed with regret... that he'd wasted one minute longing to meet a mother and father who cared nothing for his wellbeing.

John could only imagine how heartbreaking it must have been for his grandparents, raising a boy who was a constant reminder of their missing daughter. Despite everything they'd done for him, his dream of being reunited with his parents had never faded... and he desperately hoped that his grandparents never felt that was because he resented the way they'd raised him.

Dwelling on his family woes was depressing, so he tried to think about something else instead. As John chewed his food, he smiled as he thought about all the effort Dana and Rachel had gone to in reproducing his grandmother's cooking. He knew how lucky he was to have the redhead and brunette in his life, the two girls always caring for him in every way they could. Unfortunately, that reminded him of why they'd tried to cheer him up, so his thoughts turned to Faye... and the distressing revelations about her feelings of isolation. He never suspected that she'd felt that strongly and it was horrible to think that her love for him had inadvertently caused such heartache.

Hearing a clang, John looked across the hangar in surprise. Dana had vaulted out of the cockpit, dropping fifteen feet to land as agile as a cat on the titanium deck below. She sprang to her feet and rushed over to give him a hug.

"I'm sorry!" she gasped, squeezing him tight. "I was trying to cheer you up, not make you sad!"

John embraced the worried teenager and shook his head. "It wasn't your fault; I've just got a lot on my mind at the moment." They held each other close for a long time, then he pulled back to look her in the eyes. "Dana... is there anything that's been upsetting you? If there is, please tell me."

She looked at him with sympathy. "No, John... I promise I would've said something if there was." She gave him a wry smile. "Besides, I'm like an open book to Alyssa... we all are. There's no way she'd ever let us stew about any problems like that. I know you hate all that Progenitor shit, but having that psychic connection to your matriarch is really wonderful."

He cupped her face and gently stroked her cheek. "I think this is the first time I'm actually grateful for that."

Dana smiled and rubbed against his hand. "I wish you could experience what it's like for us girls and see how awesome it is. Imagine being connected to your best friends, and really knowing that they love you and would never do anything to hurt you. When I bonded with Alyssa, I got to feel all that."

"I don't have to imagine. I am connected to my best friends," he said, leaning in to kiss her.

She swooned in his embrace, letting out a breathy sigh. "Oh, John..."

*I'm trying not to interrupt, but that was lovely,* Alyssa said, sounding genuinely touched.

*Well it's true,* he replied with frank honesty. *Especially you three.*

*Friendships are a new experience for me, but I feel the same way about you, John,* Edraele said softly.

*Really, Master? You consider me one of your best friends?* Jade asked in a hushed voice. There was no missing how shocked she sounded.

*Of course you are,* he replied with a smile. *I'm always looking to the three of you for advice and support, and you never let me down. You make me laugh, you make me feel respected and loved, you always have my back no matter what. I trust all of you with my life; if that doesn't make you my best friends, I don't know what does!*

His normally chatty matriarchs were rendered speechless, but the joy he felt pouring across their connections spoke volumes.

Dana looked up at him, curiosity in her sky-blue eyes. "Your matriarchs liked hearing that too, huh?"

"They did."

"It seems like such a simple thing now.... having friends," she said, her distant gaze looking years into the past. "Unless you've been alone, I don't think you can ever appreciate how much that really means."

"Yeah... I know," John murmured, thinking back to the dozen years of solitude he spent on the Fool's Gold.

Dana focused on him again and smiled. "I guess we were both a couple of lonely souls... it's a shame we took so long to find each other." After a moment's pause, she giggled and added, "But then again, you would've been 28 when you left the military and I was only six, so maybe it worked out for the best after all. Unless you were looking to adopt a gawky ginger orphan!"

"I like to think I would've taken you in to save you from the streets of Karron, even if I was a mess back then," he said, remembering how depressed and stricken with guilt he'd been after the Siege of Galen Prime. "Our relationship would've ended up very differently though."

"You would've been my dad... my foster father... for the last twelve years," she said, looking startled at the thought.

He nodded, studying her face. "You wouldn't have been scarred in that generator explosion, or spent all those years forced to work for the Diablos."

"True... but I'm glad we never met back then!" she suddenly declared. "Because then I'd never be able to do this!"

Dana squashed her lips against his, giving him a passionate kiss. She slipped her tongue into his mouth and moaned wantonly, while pressing her full breasts against his chest as she writhed against him. The kiss stretched on and on until she finally released him, both of them slightly out of breath after the lengthy smooch.

"I'm glad too," he said with a self-conscious smile.

She winked at him. "I bet you are!"

John laughed and pushed himself off the console. "We better get back to it. We'll be arriving at the closest interception point soon."

"Yes, Daddy," Dana said with an impish grin as she flounced away.

He caught her hand and pulled her back. "Dana, there's a reason why I've never liked you joking around about that. When we start having kids, they'll start calling me Daddy, so you probably will too." Running his hand over her toned stomach, he quietly added, "But it'll be because I'm the father of your children... and that means so much more than a kinky sex game."

"Fuck..." she groaned, her eyelashes fluttering as she melted in his arms. "I want that so badly!"

"I know, honey... me too," he said, giving her a gentle kiss.

She looked up at him with big doe-eyes and sighed wistfully. "I don't know how you expect me to work now. All I can think about is all the beautiful babies we're going to have."

"How about this for an incentive? If you help me get the Raptor fixed in time, you can help me feed the girls before the battle."

Her eyes lit up in delight. "Oh yeah! Alright, let's get cracking!"

John laughed and gestured towards the second console. When the redhead hopped onto the sloped surface, he raised his hand, and the bank of computer systems rose slowly into the air.

"I'll send everything else up, then start re-armouring the cockpit," he said, glancing around at the replacement components. "I'll give you a hand inside when I'm done."

"Great!" she enthused, unclipping the holo-reader from her belt. "Here's the schematics for the Raptor's cockpit; you need to rebuild the superstructure before you slap on the armour. Ready... catch!"

She tossed the holo-reader out of the Raptor, which he caught in a telekinetic net just to be safe. Flicking through the blueprints, he memorised the shape of the underlying fuselage, making sure he would be able to recreate it on demand. Turning to open a crate containing Crystal Alyssium, he started melting the block of metal into a rotating orb.

John glanced back at the Raptor and studied it speculatively. Holding out his hand, he beckoned towards the gunship's plating, using telekinesis to strip away all of the psychically responsive metal in one go and guide it into a large white ball. When the crystalline structures had been reshaped the same number of times for both roiling spheres, he merged the two together.

After the extensive psychic shaping practice that afternoon, when he'd re-armoured the Invictus' entire hull, working with a relatively small amount of the metal now felt easy. John pushed himself harder than he ever had before, starting to feel the strain as he started the 25th shaping. Deciding that was plenty, he first concentrated on replacing the missing titanium superstructure, which the thralls had destroyed when they opened fire on the Raptor's cockpit. After that was completed, it was a simple task to slot the armour plating into place like a second skin around the gunship, until the flawless white hull sparkled in the light.

The final step was to bleed all the colour from the cockpit canopy, leaving a translucent and incredibly resilient set of viewing windows. He nodded with satisfaction when he was done, pleased to see the faithful craft fully repaired and considerably better than new. The Raptor had already been outfitted with six Tachyon Cannons and a pair of Tachyon Lances, so as soon as Dana had finished rewiring the cockpit, the ship would be ready for action.

He walked underneath the chin turret, patting the linked Tachyon Cannons and admiring their sleek, deadly design as he passed below. It was astonishing to think how much firepower the gunship was now packing, carrying a complement of guns that were powerful enough to threaten a Kirrix capital ship. However, the real test of their capabilities was going to be against Thrall ships, which were orders of magnitude more powerful. That sobering thought wiped the smile off his face and he strode up the ramp into the Raptor with his brow furrowed in a pensive frown.

After rising up in the grav-tube, he walked into the cockpit and found Dana lying on her back under the pilot's console. Her multi-tool buzzed and whirred as she connected data cables to the navigation systems, linking flight control to the sensor array. John knelt down beside her, ducking his head below the console to watch her work.

"That was quick," she said, greeting him with a warm smile. "Any problems?"

"Nope. I stripped all the plating and re-armoured the Raptor in one go with 25-shaped Crystal Alyssium."

She whistled, her eyebrows climbing. "Damn... you're kicking ass."

"Just doing my part to get the Raptor ready in time," he said with a smile, resting a hand on her tummy.

Dana bit her lip and writhed on the floor. "That's not helping! I'm horny enough already!"

He peeled back her shirt to expose her midriff and gently kissed her toned stomach. "Sorry... I can't help myself. You're too tempting."

"Distracting me isn't a good idea," she groaned, goose bumps prickling her sensitive skin. "I might accidentally hook up emergency atmospheric decompression to the joystick's trigger!"

John laughed and pulled down her t-shirt. "Okay, I'll be good. What can I do to help?"

"Phew... just give me a second to cool down." The flustered redhead blew out her breath, her cheeks flushed. "Alright then... for some reason, I can't reach the power couplings from here. Can you lift up the deck plates and pull them through for me? Then I can get everything plugged in."

"Sure," he agreed, finding the mag-lock for the access panels in the titanium decking.

Lifting the panel, he saw a messy nest of cabling below, so he started untangling the power couplings and feeding them along the channel towards the consoles.

As he worked, he glanced back at his Chief Engineer. "Sparks... I was thinking about Little One earlier. Is there any chance you could make her a new body, something a bit like Faye's?"

She gaped at him in surprise. "You want to fuck Little One?!"

"No, of course not!" he protested indignantly. "I just meant something a bit tougher. She's still just a basic cleaning robot made out of titanium."

"Oh right, I get it... sorry," she said giving him a bashful smile. Thinking about his suggestion for a second, she continued, "Yeah, that wouldn't be too hard. We could make her a variant of Faye's chassis, but without all the... extra features."

"That would be perfect, thanks," he said gratefully. "The Collective thought those maintenance bots had been destroyed when they went missing and I don't want to risk that happening to Little One. She was precious to Faye and I want to protect her."

Dana nodded her agreement. "Yeah, me too. The bots were configured to be autonomous before Faye started tinkering with them, so I doubt she changed their basic set up. I'm pretty sure they aren't all running from a central server, but we can check with Irillith to be sure."

Alyssa's telepathic voice cut through their conversation. *Irillith says that the Collective is a distributed network. They use the primary server for additional software like diagnostic suites and data archives, but the robots are actually individual... people.*

*Thanks, beautiful,* John said to his blonde matriarch, before looking at Dana. "Maybe we should make new tougher bodies for the rest of the cleaning bots too?"

"Like a bunch of cute robo-girls in maid outfits?" she asked with a grin.

He laughed and rolled his eyes. "I think we've got more than enough sexy girls aboard the Invictus."

*John! You take that back right now!* Alyssa exclaimed indignantly.

Holding his hands up defensively, John said, "Alright, let me rephrase that. I don't think we need to sexualise the cleaning robots."

Dana smirked at their banter. "Okay, leave it with me and I'll have a chat with Little One. When we've figured out the details, I'll get you or Alyssa to make the new bodies out of Crystal Alyssium."

He patted her on the leg. "Thanks, honey."

They both continued their work on the Raptor, installing and activating the replacement subsystems in the cockpit. Soon the pilot's and co-pilot's station had been brought back to life, holographic displays floating above each console.

*We've arrived at the interception point,* Alyssa informed them. *There's no sign of the Kirrix fleet, so we're heading towards the Trankaran border. I'll start sweeping the sector to see if we can track them down.*

*Thanks for the update,* John said, sitting in the pilot's chair and running through the various tactical displays and map views to confirm they all worked. "I think we're nearly done here, right Sparks?"

She gave him a thumbs up from underneath the co-pilot's console. "Five, maybe ten minutes tops?"

*I'll let you know as soon as we spot the fleet.*

John ducked his head down to look at Dana. "Everything looks good with the holo-interfaces. Shall I test the co-pilot's station?"

"Nah, I'm not quite finished," she replied, shaking her head. "Why don't you power up the engines and try taking off?"

"Okay, will do," he agreed, beginning the start-up routine.

A faint vibration ran through the gunship as the two big engines thrummed to life and John kept an eye on the internal systems status holograph to watch for any malfunctions. Satisfied that everything was still in the green, he used the hover control on the throttle to carefully lift the Raptor from the hangar deck. He could see the orange glow of the Retro-thrusters out the window as he drifted from side to side, then forwards and backwards, keeping the agile craft in a low hover.

"It feels like months since I was in the pilot's chair," John said, flashing a grin at Dana who sat down in the seat beside him.

"Maybe you should do the flying in the next battle?" she suggested with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. "It'd stop Jade and Alyssa from arguing over who got left behind to pilot the Invictus."

He chuckled at the reaction that announcement would receive. "True... but then nobody would want to leave the ship."

"Ah, it's a hard life being popular," Dana said with mock sympathy, as she began tapping at the console to check that the various holographic displays were functioning correctly.