Three Square Meals Ch. 037

When they all settled down, John looked over at Rachel. "Have you looked at any of your test results yet?" he asked her curiously.

"I've been doing too much sleeping," she said, as she grinned self-consciously. "I'll start analysing the results soon, though. Would you like me to tell you what I've found out as I discover it, or just compile all my results into a presentation after the two weeks are up?"

"It would probably be good to see a final presentation, then we can more clearly see what happens over the entire change," John said thoughtfully, "Unless you find out anything really important, that you think we need to know immediately."

"Whatever you say, Commodore," Rachel said with a smirk.

"Oh, don't you start all that too," John groaned. "Alyssa already takes great delight in mocking my rank."

"How about 'Boss' then, or 'Chief'?" the brunette asked playfully. "Maybe 'Lord', or 'Master', if we want to get a bit more racy?"

"Sorry, Jade called dibs on 'Master' already," John laughed, as he glanced at the Nymph.

"This one loves being your possession, Master," Jade gasped breathily, before smiling at him impishly.

Calara, Jade and Alyssa laughed in amusement at Jade's self-deprecating humour, but Rachel just looked a bit confused and smiled politely.

"I used to speak that way all the time," Jade explained for her gently, "But being with John gave me a sense of self-worth beyond just being some sexual plaything for a long series of unpleasant men."

"That sounds horrendous, what happened?" Rachel asked sympathetically.

"Now's not the time. It's too depressing a tale, and everyone's in a good mood," Jade said with a smile. "Remind me to tell you some other time, if you're interested."

Rachel nodded, while studying the Nymph with fascination, admiring the viridian curves on her beautiful dark green skin. "I'd love to find out a lot more about you," she said eagerly. "Maybe when I'm done with this current analysis, you'd agree to let me study you more closely?"

"Of course, I'd be happy to," Jade replied with a smile.

"So, what plans has everyone got for today?" John asked them all. "Are you all going to go shopping on Gravitus?"

There was a chorus of agreement from the girls, except from Dana, who shook her head.

"I want to get the Raptor repaired straight away, assuming the parts have arrived," she said eagerly.

"Well we might as well wait until you're finished with the ship," Alyssa said with a shrug. "Then Jade can fly us down to the planet, and save us any messing around with shuttles. Will it take you a long time to install the new engine?"

"I should be done in an hour, less if you guys help too," Dana said with a grin. "Replacing the Gatling lasers should only take about ten minutes each, but I'll have to fabricate new turret housings for them first. I can get the mass fabricators working on the parts for those while we fit the engine, so we shouldn't have to wait."

"Well, sounds like we have a plan then," John said, as he smiled at them. "I'll help you fit the engine if you like, I'm guessing my strength will speed up the process even more?"

"Yeah, that would be great actually," Dana nodded appreciatively. "That will make it much easier."

"You haven't told us what you're doing while we're going shopping," Calara protested, as she looked at John.

"I'll be placing the booking for our vacation on Oceanus," John grinned at them, "But I want it to be a surprise, so no peeking!" he added, throwing a stern glance at Alyssa.

"Alright, I promise I'll stay out of your head for a few hours," she said as she smiled at him affectionately. "But only two at the most!"

John laughed and nodded. "That should be fine, I'll try and resist thinking about it after that."

"Do you want one of us to stay with you afterwards, to keep you entertained?" Alyssa asked him playfully, and the other girls started to look torn about their decision to go on a shopping trip.

"No, it's okay, I think I can last a few hours," John said with a chuckle.

They got up and went for a shower, but Rachel paused when she passed the huge bath and looked at it longingly.

"Go ahead, have a long soak," Alyssa said in a friendly tone. "We won't need you for the repairs, and you already have an important job to do."

"I do?" Rachel asked her puzzled.

"Of course!" Alyssa said, reaching out to caress the brunette's cum packed belly. "Absorbing this lot, so you can join us properly," she added warmly.

Rachel laughed at that, and then leaned over to give the blonde girl an affectionate peck on the cheek. "Thanks for being so lovely," she said sincerely. "You've really gone out of your way to make me feel at home here."

"You're very welcome," Alyssa replied, and gently stroked the other girl's cheek. "John likes you a lot, and you're joining our group. That means I care about you a great deal already."

Rachel smiled happily at this, and then hugged the blonde enthusiastically. "This still feels like a dream," she said with a wide grin. "But one I never want to wake up from!"

"Oh, don't talk about dreams, please!" Alyssa groaned. "John and I just experienced a horrible shared nightmare last night, and I'm still a bit raw."

"What do you mean?" Dana asked, poking her head out of the shower.

"Wait till they've run the bath, and joined us in the shower, then I'll explain," he said to the redhead,

Alyssa waved her hand over the panel set in the wall, activating the holographic controls, which sprang into being with a soft orange glow. The panel had various settings for the bath, including depth of water, temperature and just how bubbly to make it. She pressed a few buttons, and water began to pour into the tub, gurgling happily as steam began to rise above the rapidly filling bath.

When Alyssa and Rachel joined them in the shower, the blonde positioned the new girl in the middle, and she was soon being lovingly massaged and stroked by her female companions.

"Oh my God, that feels amazing!" Rachel groaned, closing her eyes in bliss.

"Jade is a gifted masseuse, and the girls are her willing students," John chuckled, as he watched the young woman sigh rapturously.

He let Rachel luxuriate for a while as the other girls lavished attention on her, before the soft melody coming from the bath let them know that it was now full.

"I won't keep you from your bath, so I'll keep this brief. I never used to dream before, but I've recently been having some pretty scary ones over the last month or so," he explained carefully.

"I somehow shared the most recent nightmare, and you shouldn't undersell it. That was the most terrifying thing I've ever experienced," Alyssa said with a shudder.

"Yes, well, Alyssa and I had a chat about it, and we think these nightmares are somehow linked to her getting more powerful, and might be some kind of psychic attack," he explained, before turning to look at the blonde. "Although this is the first time you've been consciously aware of it, I think you might have been present in the other ones too."

"What makes you say that?" Calara asked him curiously.

"In almost all of my dreams, there's been a glowing white figure, or some kind of radiant white aura. Thinking about it now, that presence has felt distinctly feminine, especially the dreams I've had after I've been injured," he said wistfully, as he recalled the feelings accompanying those dreams.

"You've been having these kind of nightmares when you've been hurt as well?" Alyssa asked him with concern.

"Oh no, not like the one you experienced at all. Those ones have been amazing; warm, caring, loving... the contrast between them is colossal," he said emphatically.

"How badly were you hurt?" Rachel asked him curiously, as she studied his body carefully. "I don't see any scars on you."

"The worst was when he got punched through the chest with a spike," Jade said with a frown. "A Drakkar impaled him with a blade right through the torso below the ribs," she added, moving around behind him, to place her hands on the entry and exit point.

"Thankfully you were there to save the day," John said to the Nymph gratefully, as he looked at her over his shoulder, and she stood on tiptoe so that she could kiss him lovingly.

"There's no kind of marks on you of any kind," Rachel said in amazement, as she closely examined his chest below the ribs. "And a wound that severe would have been life threatening."

"Yeah, Jade definitely saved my life that day," John agreed, as the green skinned girl cuddled up behind him.

"No, I mean a wound that bad would have required immediate medical assistance. Does one of you have medical training?" she asked, as she looked around the assembled group, but was met by shakes of the head.

"I applied a trauma kit, if that counts?" Alyssa said helpfully.

Rachel smiled at her and gently shook her head. "That would have helped stop the bleeding, but he would have definitely required surgery," she explained, before studying John again. "I can't see a scratch on you, so how long did it take to completely heal?"

"Overnight?" he said with a shrug.

"Come on, you can't be serious!" Rachel balked. "I've never heard of regenerative abilities on that scale."

"Hmm, you probably didn't get a good look at that Kintark Royal Guard then," John said wryly, as he remembered the wounds in the reptile healing before his eyes.

"Really?" Rachel asked him intrigued. "I would love to have studied that in more detail."

"If we come across another one, I'll save you a souvenir," John joked.

"That would be brilliant, thanks!" The young doctor replied gratefully, and John laughed as he nodded.

"Actually, John isn't the only one who healed fast," Dana said with a smile. "I had a nasty head wound, and I've broken my arm before. Both of those got healed overnight too."

"Oh, and I got shot in the back with a heavy laser!" Alyssa added chirpily.

"Yeah, that looked like it could have been fatal to me, but you were good as new the next day," Calara smiled at the blonde with relief. "I had a broken nose, fractured ribs and a lacerated back. Those were all healed within a few days too."

"How is that possible?" Rachel said in wonder, before suddenly looking dejected. "And why would you bother recruiting a doctor if you can heal from critical wounds overnight? I can't see how I'm going to be able to help you guys much at all."

John opened his arms to the girl, and she stepped into his embrace, looking up at him as he wrapped her in a big hug. "Don't worry, I can think of lots of ways you can be useful," he said, smiling down at her fondly.

She rolled her eyes as she smiled up at him. "You've got four astoundingly beautiful young women at your beck and call already. I can't believe you'd want me here just for a bit of variety!"

The other girls smiled at her gratefully for the compliment, and stroked her back and arms, as she stood next to John.

"I'm sure I'll have lots of fun with you, but that's not what I meant," John replied with a smile. "We have a lot of questions that need answering about what exactly happened to the girls when they joined me, the rapid healing being one of them. Another example is the DNA reader on the Invictus. It stopped working for the girls after they'd been here a little while, so we think their DNA might have been changed."

"I knew these changes were dramatic, but that's on a whole different level!" Rachel exclaimed in surprise. "But I should be able to explain all that for you in a few weeks, so what about after that?"

"Well we don't know much about Jade, and her species is pretty much extinct, so she's essentially unique. When you can see what she can do, I think you'll be eager to help unlock some of her mysteries," John said, and he smiled when the Nymph hugged him tightly from behind.

"True, she already has me quite fascinated," Rachel said, as they exchanged warm smiles over John's shoulder.

"Then there's me. I'm a Progenitor, and we know nothing about what makes me tick," he grinned.

"But if there was anything strange about you or your physiology, aside from the obvious," she said, while looking up at his ears, and then down suggestively. "then wouldn't the doctors have highlighted it when you joined the Terran Federation military?"

"That's a really good point!" Dana blurted excitedly. "I'll access your old medical records, John. I'm sure they'd be an interesting read."

"If you could, that would be really helpful!" Rachel said, nodding eagerly. "If you've gone through any changes yourself recently, then we'll have a baseline report from... how many years ago?"

"Twenty two years," John said with a self-conscious smile.

"You wouldn't think it to look at him, but he's old enough to be our father," Alyssa smirked at him playfully.

"Don't start all that 'Daddy' stuff again," John groaned.

The girls giggled at him, and he laughed along with them.

"Okay, but we're still talking about a few weeks of research, and I don't think I'll be able to tell you much about the psychic stuff that's happening. Terran tools aren't equipped to cater for that kind of analysis. We don't have any people with psychic powers," she said apologetically.

"Yeah, but the Ashanath do!" Dana gasped excitedly.

"I don't really fancy a detour back to Ashana just yet," John said with a frown. "We've got some other interesting places to go first."

"We won't need to!" the redhead exclaimed eagerly. "As Alyssa trashed the Psi-shaper, I could take that apart, and start developing some psychic devices. At the very least, I'll be able to build Rachel something to detect psychic energy," she added confidently.

"Hey, that was an accident!" Alyssa protested. "But how can you be so sure about being able to build a detection device, anyway?"

"There's a psychic sensor on the base of the Psi-shaper. If I can't figure out how that works, then I should resign from my job as Chief Engineer," Dana replied cheerily.

"That all sounds really interesting, and I can't wait to get started on it, but what about the long term? What have you got planned for me then?" Rachel asked John hopefully.

"I've got a few things in mind for you actually. I think Dana was on to a good idea with analysing the aliens we encounter. If you can investigate any corpses we bring back, you might be able to tell us more about them, specifically things like weak spots for some of these more dangerous creatures we've faced, like the Drakkar, or that Kintark reptile," he explained cautiously.

"I can do that for you, no problem!" Rachel agreed eagerly.

"I want you trained up for combat as well," John said firmly, then looked around at the rest of the girls too. "We've taken it all too casually so far, with just Alyssa training intensively in firearms. While we're relaxing on Oceanus, I'd like you all to spend some time improving your marksmanship. If we get boarded by anyone in the future, I want all of you combat ready."

John felt Jade flinch behind him, and he quickly turned to look at her troubled face. "I don't mean you of course, honey," he told her soothingly, and watched her relax immediately. "You're more than lethal enough with your natural abilities." he added with a smile.

When he was certain that the Nymph was alright, and not going to react badly to the thought of firing weapons again, he turned back to face Rachel.

"Any objections to that?" he asked her considerately. "If you're a pacifist, let me know now!"

"No, none whatsoever," Rachel replied with a smile.

"Great! I'd like you to regularly accompany Alyssa and I on our combat missions. We might need you to help stabilise either of us if we get badly hurt, and there's always the chance you might have to help any wounded friendlies we might encounter. We seem to be rescuing more than our fair share of people," he said wryly.

"That sounds amazing," Rachel said, her eyes gleaming with excitement. "Although I must warn you, I've never fired a gun before," she added bashfully.

"I didn't have much experience either, but I soon improved," Calara told her encouragingly. "One of the benefits of our heightened reflexes, increased strength, and improvements to agility, is that we're ideally suited for combat."

"Based on what we saw on those stone pictographs, that doesn't surprise me at all," John said with a depressed sigh.

"Don't feel bad," Alyssa told him immediately. "Those guys might have been dicks, but you've twisted your natural abilities, and turned them into something good. Just think about all the people we've saved already, like the Kirrix prisoners, or all the military personnel at Iota-Leonis. Then there's all the rest who will live, because we stopped the pirates and the Drakkar from attacking anyone else."

John looked at her with hope in his eyes, and she smiled at him lovingly. "Then there's all these girls. You saved all their lives, and I'm sure they're all eternally grateful to you. I know I am!"

The other girls murmured their heartfelt agreement, and John looked around at them gratefully.

"Thanks ladies, that was nice to hear," he said appreciatively, as they all moved in for a group hug.

"Now we're all caught up, we better get on with the day," John said as they separated, before he looked at Rachel with a smile. "Does that answer your question about your role on the ship?"

"Yes, thank you. I feel much happier now," she replied honestly.

"I've thought of something else that's going to make you invaluable," Alyssa said with a sultry purr. "A vital role for a doctor on this ship."

Rachel raised an eyebrow, looking intrigued, and asked her, "Really? What have you got in mind?"

Alyssa moved behind the young woman, and wrapped her gently in her arms, before stroking Rachel's heavily swollen belly with both hands.

"Obstetrics," the blonde said softly, as she kissed the brunette tenderly on the shoulder.

The shower room echoed with breathy sighs from the girls, and John looked around him, seeing wistful, doe-eyed expressions on all of the young women as they stared up at him. He smiled back at them, then opened his arms invitingly.

"Okay, one more group hug, then we better get moving," he said with a grin.

After they got out of the shower, Rachel stepped gingerly into the bathtub, and groaned with delight as she sank below the bubbly surface. The other girls laughed, and waved goodbye to her playfully, as they joined John in getting dressed quickly, so that they were ready to assist with the repairs. The corridor outside the Commander's Quarters filled with excited teenage chatter, and John strolled alongside the girls as they made their way to the grav-tube.

"I'll go set up the mass fabricators," Dana said eagerly. "Can you bring the replacement parts into the hangar bay for the Raptor, please?"

"Right away, Chief Engineer," John grinned, and they all stepped into the grav-tube.

When they left the airlock, they saw that there was a large crate standing ready not far from the hull of the Invictus, along with two long secured containers. John eyed the crate speculatively, and momentarily considered attempting to pick it up, to carry it into the ship's hangar.

*Easy there, Hercules, we're probably surrounded by cameras,* Alyssa's cautious voice reached out to him.

*I know, but it would be a lot easier,* he replied with amusement.

Calara strode over to one of the nearby loading cranes, while Alyssa walked over to collect one of the anti-grav flatbeds that were left parked in the Docking Bay. They drove both over to the bulky crate, and after taking a few minutes to get used to the controls, Calara swung the crane arm over the large cube. Jade leapt lithely up onto the crate, clambering up the side before standing ready at the top. When Calara brought the hoist down into position, the Nymph grabbed it with an outstretched hand, and then secured it to the attachment on top of the box. Once Jade had jumped clear, the Latina carefully manoeuvred the wavering crate into position, helped by John's sneaky guidance, and they dropped it onto the back of the anti-grav flatbed.