Three Square Meals Ch. 034

"Hey, Rachel!" Jade said cheerfully, folding her arms on the poolside and looking up at the young woman. "It's lovely to see you. I hope you enjoyed breakfast."

"It was lovely, thanks very much for making that for me," the brunette replied, staring at Jade with wide eyes.

"Oh, you're welcome," Jade beamed at her, revealing a sparkling white set of perfect teeth in her beautiful green face.

"I don't mean to be rude, but are those fins?" Rachel asked, sounding amazed.

"That's right," Jade nodded excitedly, raising a slender arm and turning it slightly to show the other girl the delicate aquamarine fins. "I grew them one day when John was teaching me to swim."

"You grew them?" Rachel asked in astonishment.

"Jade is a Nymph," John explained. "Her species are shape shifters, which has saved our hides on more than one occasion," John added, smiling at the green skinned girl affectionately.

"Is this your natural shape?" Rachel asked her inquisitively.

"Hmm, kind of. There's another form that's more comfortable for me to assume, but that causes a little... confusion," Jade replied mysteriously.

"It's okay, go ahead and show her," Alyssa said with a laugh.

Jade concentrated for a moment and then her green body began to shimmer, and a few moments later, she assumed a perfect copy of the blonde girl standing at Rachel's side. Jade let out a contented little sigh, and then looked up at the brunette with sparkling cerulean eyes.

"Oh, wow!" Rachel exclaimed, rapidly turning her head back and forth between the two of them. "You're completely identical!"

"You can see why it gets a little confusing," Alyssa grinned.

"We better continue the tour," John said. "The other girls will be eager to meet you too."

"Bye Jade, it was wonderful to meet you." Rachel said, finally tearing her eyes away from the Nymph.

"Likewise, I really hope you choose to join us," Jade said encouragingly, and waved them goodbye as they left the gym.

"Where to next?" Rachel asked eagerly as they walked back into the corridor on deck seven.

"We also have a well stocked pharmacy, a firing range, and Dana's workshop on this level. I was going to take you to see Dana next if that's ok?" he asked.

"Let me take a quick glance at the pharmacy, then sure," Rachel replied.

They strolled down the corridor to the ship's pharmacy, and when John pressed the button to open the door, Rachel looked inside eagerly.

"You weren't kidding!" she gasped, as she scrolled through the pharmacy's inventory computer that was set into the wall. "Tamarnathol, Benza-strinate, Colnerum; you've got huge supplies of all the major pharmaceuticals."

"I must admit, this is the first time we've properly looked in here," John said with an embarrassed grin.

"With all the fighting you guys have done, there must have been injuries?" Rachel asked them with a puzzled frown.

"There have been one or two scrapes," John admitted cagily.

"But we've managed to get by," Alyssa replied with a smile.

"Why do I constantly keep getting the feeling you're both hiding something significant from me?" Rachel asked them, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"We are, but I promise we'll be completely honest with you soon," John replied carefully.

"Well I guess you've earned yourselves some trust, so lead on, I'm in your hands," Rachel said with a smile.

John nodded, then they walked down the corridor past the firing range, and finally entered the engineering bay. Dana was standing by her workbench near the open space in the centre of the room, and was carefully studying a multi-ridged ribbon, that was spooled on one of the levitating platforms that hovered around the workbench.

The redhead was completely absorbed in her work, and didn't notice them until they were practically standing beside her. "Hey, Dana," John called out to her as they approached, and she jumped slightly, breaking her intense focus, before she turned around to look at them.

"Oh, hey guys!" she beamed at them excitedly.

"We're just giving Rachel the tour," John explained, smiling at her fondly.

"What do you think of the Invictus so far?" Dana asked her proudly.

"It's very impressive," Rachel said admiringly. "I heard you've made a lot of enhancements to it already."

"I like to look after my ship," Dana smiled back at her, and patted the workbench fondly.

"What's caught your attention so completely?" John asked the eager young woman, smiling at her possessiveness of the Invictus.

"I've been taking apart the plasma rifles you guys brought back. These things are awesome!" she gasped breathlessly.

"Found anything you think we can use?" he asked her eagerly.

"The heatsinks the Kintark use are incredibly complex," Dana replied enthusiastically, glancing at the multi-ridged component on the workbench. "I've taken that one to bits to see how it works, and once I've figured it out, we're going to see some pretty tasty upgrades!"

"What are these heatsinks used for?" Rachel asked her curiously.

"Plasma weaponry generates an enormous amount of heat. If I were to use standard Terran heatsinks instead, this rifle would explode in your face as soon as you fired it, due to the incredible spike in temperature. The Kintark version seems to smooth out the temperature gradient over the entire heatsink almost instantly, and then rapidly disperses the heat without any adverse side-effects." Dana gushed admiringly.

"So what are the practical benefits we can see from that?" John asked her.

"Well we have two options really. We can feed more power into our Laser weaponry, making them cause more damage without worrying about them melting. Alternatively, I could keep the existing power levels the same, which would mean we wouldn't have to wait so long before we could fire again, improving our firing rate," she said eagerly.

"More damage," John said with a grin.

"I thought you'd say that," Dana said, returning his grin.

"I'd run it by Calara first, but I think she'll have the same opinion. It's only really the Beam lasers that have long cooldown periods, and even then it's only about a ten second wait." John clarified.

"You got it, boss," Dana smiled up at him.

"Dana, can I ask you something?" Rachel asked her curiously, and when the redhead nodded, she continued. "Why did you store the Drakkar corpses in the medical bay?"

"Well I thought I could study them and find weak spots. Give John and Alyssa places to aim at, that kind of thing. Dissection isn't really my forte though, so I've been putting it off," she said with a shudder.

"Maybe that's something I could help out with?" Rachel offered, smiling at the young woman. "I stopped being squeamish during my first year at medical school."

"Oh, that would be awesome, thank you!" Dana said with a sigh of relief. "If you ever need any kind of equipment in your lab, just let me know, and I'm sure I'll be able to put it together for you."

"That's very kind, thanks," Rachel said grinning at her excitedly.

"It's no trouble at all!" Dana said grinning back at her. She paused for a moment and her face suddenly took a more serious turn as she gazed at the brunette, studying her intently. "You seem really nice, and I think you'd fit in here brilliantly. I know we've only just met, but if you're still unsure about joining us, let me just say this. The best decision I've made in my whole life was to join John and Alyssa on this ship."

"Thanks, that sounds like good advice," Rachel said with a smile.

"We better go and find Calara," John interrupted them gently. "You ladies will have plenty of time to get to know each other later."

Dana waved her goodbye before turning back to the plasma rifle, and they left the redhead to her work in the engineering bay as they walked down the corridor to the grav-tube.

"She really was quite adorable," Rachel said to them as they walked.

"I've known her for years now," Alyssa said fondly. "We grew up together as orphans on a mining asteroid."

"Really?" Rachel said in surprise. "Neither of you look like you come from a mining colony."

"No, we certainly don't. At least not any more," Alyssa replied mischievously.

"You have me intrigued with all these little comments, I'll give you that," Rachel said with a light laugh.

They stepped into the blue glow of the grav-tube and ascended in the gravity field all the way up to the command deck. John led the way, walking out onto the bridge, and strolling down the ramp to join Calara at her tactical station.

"Hey, Calara," he called to her warmly.

"Hey, yourself," the Latina said with delight, as she rose from her chair to greet them, and looked at the brunette standing beside John. "I hope you haven't started feeling too overwhelmed yet."

"I'm doing okay so far," Rachel replied, smiling back. "What were you doing when we interrupted you?"

"Just exploring a theory," Calara said cagily, while glancing at John.

"It's okay, you can go ahead and explain," John encouraged her.

"That Kintark heavy carrier pushed deep into the Dragon March, and I wanted to know how a force that size could slip through the Terran Federation lines," Calara said, looking up at the sector map she had been studying.

"Perhaps there was a major attack that acted as a diversion, and they got in while the Terran forces were distracted?" John suggested.

"I'm still investigating at the moment, and I need access to more data which is classified, but I have a few working theories. Your diversion hypothesis is one of them, but there are other more... worrying possibilities," she said grimly.

"Collusion from someone on our side?" John said, realising what had Calara so concerned.

"Who would betray the Terran Federation like that?" Rachel gasped in shock.

"Given enough time and data, I'll be able to find out." the Latina said confidently. "Like I said though, it's just a theory, I could be worrying about nothing."

"Based on your previous track record, this sounds pretty ominous. Keep me appraised, Lieutenant," John said to her encouragingly.

"You know I will, Commander," Calara smiled back at him affectionately, before she turned to look at Rachel again. "Sorry this took a bit of a sinister turn, I was hoping to keep things light."

"It's no problem, it's better to know these things than be kept in the dark," Rachel replied, looking at John and Alyssa pointedly.

"We have something in common by the way," Calara said to the shorter brunette.

"Really? What's that?" Rachel asked her curiously.

"These two saved my life too," Calara replied, looking at John and Alyssa affectionately.

"So much for keeping things light!" Alyssa laughed merrily.

"We'll let you get back to it," John said, "Sorry to interrupt you."

"I'm glad you stopped by. It was lovely to see you again, Rachel," Calara said, smiling warmly.

"You too," Rachel replied, returning the smile.

They left Calara to settle back at her tactical station, and then went into the briefing room at the corner of the bridge. Alyssa glided around the table to sit down, and John pulled out the chair opposite for Rachel to sit in, before sitting down himself at the head of the table.

"What's all that?" Rachel asked them curiously, as she turned to look at the Phalanx armour suits in the equipping frames against the walls.

"Some of Dana's inventions," Alyssa explained. "The robotic arms can equip you in full armour in a few seconds. Here I'll show you."

She rose from her chair and glided around the table, before stepping lightly out of her high heeled shoes. She walked over to one of the armour frames, and then stepped inside the armoured boots, while slipping her hands into the gauntlets. A few seconds later, the armour settled into place around her, fitted in place by the robotic arms, and she was able to walk out of the frame fully equipped.

"Dana must be some kind of genius to come up with all this stuff," Rachel exclaimed in wonder.

"She's a very gifted young woman," John replied. "All of my crew are."

"Thanks, handsome," Alyssa said, removing the armour again. She slipped on her heels once more, and then sashayed around the table to sit at her seat.

"But I'm not even in the same league!" Rachel said despairingly, as she watched the gloriously graceful blonde sit in the chair opposite with perfect poise. "These girls are all stunningly beautiful, and incredibly talented. How could you possibly want me to join them?"

"Well before we get into all that, would you still be interested in joining us if we offered you the position as Chief Medical Officer?" John asked her curiously.

"Are you kidding? I'd leap at the chance!" Rachel said eagerly.

John studied her earnest and hopeful expression, before glancing at Alyssa. "It's probably time for us to be completely honest with you then," he said, hoping they weren't about to make a terrible mistake.