Three Square Meals Ch. 014

Alyssa dashed up to him, her face full of concern. "John, are you ok?!" she asked, her voice full of worry.

She cupped his head in her hands and looking into his eyes, but she couldn't pick up any thoughts from him and he seemed to be dazed. Alyssa shook him gently, and he gradually regained full consciousness, his eyes becoming bright and focused again.

"What happened?" John asked, bewildered.

"Let's discuss it later," Alyssa said firmly, as she helped him to stand.

John picked up his assault rifle and magazine from the floor, wincing at the sharp pain in his back and shoulders from where the cyborg had tried to insert him into the wall. They walked back to the mess hall, where the two crewmen from the Calypso were cautiously checking on the pirates that John and Alyssa had gunned down. More freighter crew were coming out from the storage area behind the kitchen, looks of relief etched on their fear drawn faces.

One of the crew, the brown haired woman who had spoken to them earlier, stepped forward holding a makeshift trauma bandage to her left arm.

"Thank you Commander! You saved us!" she said passionately.

The rest of the Calypso's crew had gathered around, and they echoed their Captain's words, thanking John and Alyssa profusely.

"We rescued three women in another room back there too," Alyssa said. "We were going to let them know when the rest of the ship was safe."

"Oh thank God! Bless you, the pair of you!" one of the men blurted. "I'll let my wife know the coast is clear," he added, heaving a sigh of relief as he moved to leave the room.

John waved away the thanks from the crew of the Calypso, nodding graciously.

"We better get back to our ship," he told the freighter Captain. "Will you be ok here?"

"Our engines took some heavy damage, so we'll have to wait for assistance from Port Heracles," the Captain replied. "You go ahead though. Terran Federation patrols responded to our distress beacon, and said they'd be arriving in two hours. We never would have survived that long, if you hadn't arrived in time, though!"

John smiled and said reassuringly, "We'll return to the Invictus and cover you."

He turned to face Alyssa, smiling at her as he said, "Come on, honey, we should let the others know we're okay."

The beautiful blonde nodded and waved goodbye to the Calypso crew. They clapped and cheered as the two of them left, the applause echoing down the corridors as they walked back to the Griffon to get to their ship.

"Are you ok?" Alyssa asked him as soon as they were alone, her voice tinged with concern.

"I feel drained and my back feels like I just wrestled a bull and lost, but other than that I'm fine," John said honestly.

"You managed to rip apart steel with your bare hands," Alyssa said, feeling awed as she remembered John tearing the cyborg's arm off his body. "I've never seen anything like it!"

"Adrenalin rush I guess," John shrugged. "I just knew I had to stop him from hurting you and then I sort of blacked out."

"Well thank you for saving me," she said as she smiled at him gratefully, realising that John had no answers to explain his mighty surge of strength.

They arrived at the docking collar between the Griffon and the Invictus, and John activated the airlock into the Assault Cruiser by placing his hand on the DNA reader. The airlock door spiralled open, and they headed into the ship, with Alyssa sealing the airlock behind them.

"We're back on board," John said into his watch communicator after he got through to Calara. "Disengage from the Griffon and provide cover for the Calypso. Relief will be here within two hours. We're going to our room to get out of this gear".

"We were so worried about you two!" the image of Calara said, forgetting to call him Commander she was so overwhelmed with relief.

John smiled at her affectionately, and said, "We're fine, honestly. We'll catch up with you soon."

Calara grinned at his smiling face and waved goodbye. "Executing your orders, Commander," she said cheerfully, ending the call.

John slumped, having put on a brave face for the Latina, and walked wearily to his quarters with Alyssa watching him closely as she kept him company. They entered their walk-in-wardrobe, where the beautiful blonde helped him gingerly peel off his armour, trying to be careful not to hurt his back or shoulders.

Sparks walked in on them just as Alyssa had taken off the last of John's armour from his upper body, exposing his muscular chest and arms.

"Oh my god! What happened to you?" Sparks gasped in alarm, seeing the black and purple bruises covering his back.

"A run in with an insane cyborg," John said, wincing as Alyssa helped him remove the armour from his legs.

"I got bashed about a bit," he admitted, downplaying the encounter.

"It looks like you got run over by an ore hauler!" Sparks said with concern, as she gently ran her fingers over the mottled bruises on his back.

Alyssa quickly stripped out of her own armour, leaving it all in a jumbled pile on the floor.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up, and then you can have a rest," the beautiful blonde said comfortingly.

Sparks went ahead of them to turn on the shower, and stripped off to join them, as John and Alyssa stood under the soothing warm water. The girls cleaned him up tenderly, washing the gore from the fight off his face and hands. Sparks looked puzzled at how he got so drenched in blood, but a glance from Alyssa told her not to ask.

John stood under the relaxing streams of water, letting the girls clean his body. He realised that Alyssa still had questions about the brutal melee onboard the Calypso, but he had no real answers, and was too weary to care at the moment. Alyssa moved into his line of sight as she washed his chest and he noticed the angry red welt on her left arm, from where she had been clipped by the cyborg.

"Honey, you're hurt!" he said in alarm.

"It's nothing serious," Alyssa said, shrugging it off.

She smiled as she read his concerned thoughts, and said placatingly, "Okay, you can give me a full tummy after the shower, I'll be good as new in no time."

Nodding languidly, John let the girls lead him from the shower, and he stood swaying as they gently dried him off. He followed them into the bedroom, and gingerly lay in the centre of the bed, being careful not to aggravate his sore back and shoulders. Alyssa moved between his legs, and began to suck on his cock expertly, soon having him rock hard and ready for action. John ran his hand through her soft blonde hair as she made love to him with her mouth, urging him to fill her stomach with his load. John wanted his potent cum to get to work on her immediately, so he made no effort to hold back. In record time Alyssa brought him to orgasm, and then sucked hungrily to make sure he gave her every last drop of his spunk.

She saved the final mouthful for Sparks as she crawled up the bed, pushing the redhead on to her back, and moving in to give her a loving kiss so they could share John's cum. Both teenagers then carefully cuddled up with John on either side, bracing him with their firm, warm breasts. He smiled contentedly, and fell asleep almost immediately.

Sparks reached over John to rest her hand on Alyssa's swollen belly, stroking the heavily rounded sphere with a gentle touch, and enjoying seeing her blonde friend's blissfully happy expression. This was the first time in quite a while that Alyssa had been able to swallow down a full load of John's spunk, having shared him so generously with Calara, and then Sparks, over the last few weeks. The beautiful blonde girl relished the contentedly full feeling, and Sparks loving caresses of her sperm stuffed stomach was the icing on the cake. The girls were tired after all the excitement that morning, and they soon dropped off to sleep as well.

John slept and another dream disturbed his rest. This time he dreamt that he was kneeling before the luminous figure that had saved him in the previous dream, bathing in the soothing glow that emanated from her. He did nothing but soak in her radiance, arms spread wide to welcome the gentle warmth, his body feeling like it was tingling pleasantly all over.

He started awake, and a glance at the ship's chronometer told him he had slept for just over an hour. He stretched, being careful not to wake the girls, and was pleasantly surprised to realise that the soreness in his back and shoulders had disappeared. In fact he felt like he had just had a full night's sleep and was raring to go again.

Remembering that Alyssa had been injured in the fight too, he looked over at her left arm with concern. Seeing nothing but unblemished bronzed skin, he thought he might have misremembered which arm had received the angry red welt, so he carefully extricated himself from between the girls so that he could take a better look at Alyssa's right arm. He scrutinised her limb closely, but it matched the left, with a smooth expanse of fresh young perfect skin.

"Checking to see I'm not broken?" Alyssa whispered to him, smiling.

"Sorry honey," John said bashfully. "I didn't mean to wake you up, I just wanted to see how bad the hit on your arm was. Which one was it again?"

"My left," she said, with conviction. She rolled on her side to show him the spot where the Pirate Captain had bashed into her, but was surprised she couldn't see anything untoward there.

"Flawless again," John smiled, stroking her beautiful teenage flesh lovingly.

Alyssa smiled, cupping her rounded tummy full of cum with both hands, and said, "This is potent stuff!"

Sparks leaned up on her side, and asked him, "How's your back feeling, John?"

"Sorry honey, I didn't mean to wake you up too," John apologised, which was met with a warm smile of forgiveness.

"Actually, I feel great! There's no soreness at all, and I feel completely refreshed," he said, happily.

Sparks rose from the bed smoothly, and then gracefully glided around to the other side to check his battered back.

"Wow! The bruises have all gone!" Sparks said stunned.

She ran her hand delicately over his back and shoulders, tracing the areas that should have been an ugly mottled patchwork of black and blue. Seeing no evidence of any kind of injuries, she moved forward to wrap her tanned arms around him, pressing her big full breasts against his back and kissing his shoulder tenderly, her long hair brushing softly against him. John reached back to caress the side of her face affectionately.

"I wonder why you healed so fast," Alyssa said, looking up at him with a puzzled expression on her stunningly beautiful face.

"I can understand us healing when our bodies feed off your cum, but this doesn't make much sense," she continued. "Do you think your orgasm triggered your faster recovery?" she asked him doubtfully.

"Hmm, that doesn't sound right to me," John replied. "It must be the love of a good woman that did it," he added playfully.

"Good women!" Sparks insisted, grinning at him happily. "You know I'm hopelessly in love with you John."

John turned and picked up the lovely redhead, sitting her in his lap, her toned thighs wrapped around him. "I've fallen in love with you too," he told the girl with heartfelt conviction in his voice.

"Oh, John," Sparks sighed, melting into his arms.

Alyssa lay on the bed watching the two of them kiss lovingly, happy tears welling in her eyes. She was delighted to see her lover and best friend falling for each other, and she felt a warm glow in her heart, knowing that she had been able to bring about such a dramatic change for the better in her old friend's life.

The poignant moment was interrupted by the flashing of the communicator, indicating an incoming call. Alyssa reached over to answer the communication, and Calara's beautiful face filled the view-screen.

"Sorry to interrupt your rest," she apologised . "I just wanted to let you know several ships have appeared on the long range scans. From the transponder codes, it looks like it's the relief you mentioned. They are reading as a group of Terran Federation vessels."

"Thanks Calara, we'll be right there," John said, looking over Sparks' shoulder where she sat in his lap.

Calara smiled at them affectionately and ended the call.

"Come on you two lovebirds," Alyssa said, grinning playfully. "You can make her your woman later" she added good naturedly, causing Sparks to blush.

John looked back at the blissfully happy redhead "Sorry honey, duty calls. We'll continue this later, I promise!" he said, smiling at her.

"Consider that a date!" Sparks said, beaming back at him.

The three of them dressed quickly and headed back up to the command deck. Icons showing a Terran Federation Cruiser and three Destroyers were highlighted on the tactical map, as the incoming vessels approached their position. John had just settled in to his command chair when the flashing light on his console indicated an incoming hail. He pressed the button to receive the call and the view-screen in the centre of the bridge flickered into life. A distinguished looking man with greying temples and wearing a Terran Federation Navy uniform filling the image.

"This is Captain Flintlock of the cruiser Indomitable, please identify yourself assault cruiser," the man requested politely.

"This is Commander John Blake of the Invictus. It's good to see you Captain," John replied.

"The distress beacon from the Calypso reported a pirate attack, do you know what happened to them?" Captain Flintlock asked curiously.

"We destroyed two frigates and a corvette, then boarded a second corvette to help the freighter crew fight off a pirate boarding action," John explained.

"It sounds like we were very lucky you happened by Commander," the Captain said gratefully. "But your ship is registered as a civilian vessel?"

"I'm ex-navy, currently retired," John explained.

"Well thank you for your assistance Commander Blake," the Captain said, a new tone of respect in his voice.

"The docked Corvette is the Griffon, it was captured by pirates over a month ago. Can I leave that and the Calypso in your custody?" John asked.

"Of course. We have repair crews that can assist the freighter, and I can spare some men to get the Griffon back to Port Heracles," Captain Flintlock replied. " Are you in a hurry to get somewhere?" he added with a smile.

John nodded and said nonchalantly, "Actually yes. We think we've identified the source of the attacks and are going to eliminate the pirate base."

"You're going to do what?!" Captain Flintlock gasped, looking stunned.

"I'm lucky to have a gifted Tactical Officer and she figured out the source. We believe they're based in the Chendar system," John said, smiling at Calara, who blushed at his praise.

"Do you want us to take care of them?" the Captain volunteered immediately.

"Thank you Captain but this is personal. We have a score to settle," John explained.

"I understand Commander," Captain Flintlock said nodding. "When the Calypso is under way, we'll head towards the Chendar system in case you need assistance with the cleanup."

"Much appreciated Captain. Invictus out," John said, and they closed the call. He then turned to smile at the beautiful blonde at his side, and said, "OK Alyssa, let's resume our course, if you please."

"Already on it," she replied, grinning at him. She powered up the massive engines on the assault cruiser, and the ship turned smoothly to her new heading, before leaping into Hyper-warp.

"John, while you were on board the Calypso, Calara and I found something interesting," Sparks said tentatively.

"What did you find?" He asked intrigued.

Sparks looked over at Calara who nodded and continued their tale. "You did well getting this one to join us," Calara said, smiling at the redhead affectionately, and causing the girl to blush.

"Sparks hacked into the Griffon, and downloaded the ship's log, the navigation logs, and their tactical maps," the brunette said, clearly impressed.

"Not only that, but she scanned the wreckage of the two destroyers and the corvette, and managed to break the encryption on their blocked transponders!" Calara went on.

"I've managed to put together a complete order of battle for what's left of the pirate fleet, and I've confirmed that they're definitely using the Gas mining facility as a base," she said, as she pressed a few buttons, bringing up the listings for the pirate fleet.

John was astonished as he glanced through the itinerary of decommissioned Terran Federation vessels, and he finally exclaimed, "Twenty ships! How could they have bought and outfitted so many ex-Navy vessels?"

"That's the other thing John," Calara continued grimly. "I've been studying the listings for ship registrations, and all these old military vessels were decommissioned from the salvage yard at Port Heracles. They should have had their weapons stripped, and then the hulls sold off to salvage dealers, but that didn't happen."

"This stinks of corruption," John said, his jaw clenching in anger.

Calara nodded, confirming his dark suspicions as she said, "They were all bought by the same buyer, a Mr Everett Hitch."

"And who authorised the transactions?" John asked forebodingly.

Calara's face looked bleak when she replied, "Commander Rupert Grant."

"Grant! I knew I should have put a bullet in that bastard's head!" John fumed.

Sparks looked at Calara, Alyssa, and John, seeing a wide range of emotions on their faces: sadness, shock, and anger respectively. "Sorry to Interrupt, but who is this 'Commander Rupert Grant' guy?" she asked curiously.

"We had a run in with him at Port Heracles. He's the Commander of the station, and in charge of this sector," Alyssa explained. "Plus he tried to ruin Calara's life!" she added angrily.

"I hate him already!" Sparks said vehemently.

John blew out his breath in a big sigh. "OK, we'll deal with Grant later, we need to focus on the Pirates for the moment," he said calming down.

He looked through the listings for the Pirate fleet, and called out the ship classifications as he read them, "Corvette, Corvette, Destroyer, Frigate, Corvette... Heavy Cruiser!"

He looked over at Calara in shock, and asked her in disbelief, "That can't be right?"

"I'm afraid so, John," she said soberly.

"How in the hell did they get their hands on that?" John blurted out, before slumping back in his chair.

"That's bad, right?" Sparks asked, concerned.

Calara nodded grimly, and brought up the detailed specifications for the Heavy Cruiser as she replied, "The Heavy Cruiser Stalingrad is armed with six beam lasers, and eight heavy cannon on both the port and starboard sides. It's designed to use broadsides in combat, but also has full coverage with a defence grid, and laser cannon turrets."

She brought up the weapon arcs for the formidable looking ship. At just over seven hundred metres, it was significantly larger than their Assault Cruiser.

"Can we fight that thing in the Invictus?" Sparks asked, her voice tinged with worry.

Calara paused for a moment before continuing, "Yes, but it's going to be a very tough fight."

Silence descended on the bridge as they absorbed this troubling news.

"Wait a moment," Alyssa said brightly. "Look at the yaw and pitch ratings for that ship!"

They all looked up at the detailed information displayed in front of them, but nothing immediately jumped out at the others why this would be good news.

"That thing turns like a brick!" the beautiful blonde said excitedly.

"Oh, very nice Alyssa!" Calara said, catching on to what her friend had spotted.

Sparks was still mystified, and she glanced at the Latina, hoping for an explanation.

Calara looked hopeful for the first time, as she exclaimed, "Look at the fire arcs! The heavy cruiser's main guns have no rear coverage. If Alyssa can manage it, we can get behind them, and they won't be able to broadside us!"