Three Square Meals Ch. 038

"I'm really sorry Peter. We've got a pressing engagement elsewhere at the moment, so we won't be able to meet you right now. I'll pass on your message to John though," she said with a warm smile as she turned to look at Calara. "We were both there in the fight against the Kirrix, and we're both delighted we could save your sister. I hope she's fully recovered after her ordeal?"

A momentary flash of some unreadable emotion flashed across Peter's face, before he smiled back at Alyssa warmly. "You both have my gratitude as well then! And my sister is much better now, thank you for asking."

"Well, I'll pass the message on to John then. Safe travels Mr Koeman," she said, clearly ending the call.

He looked like he was going to say something else for a moment, but then nodded reluctantly. "OK, I'll look forward to hearing back from him," he said, and waved goodbye to them with a pleasant smile.

Alyssa ended the call, and then looked up at Calara with a raised eyebrow. "He seemed pleasant enough."

"I wonder what he wanted to give to John?" Calara pondered out loud. "He seemed very keen to give it to him personally."

"Perhaps he's just very grateful," Alyssa said with a shrug, as she smiled at the Latina. "Some families are closer than others."

"I haven't told mine yet about the award ceremony. Do you think I should warn them?" Calara asked her pensively.

"Nah, keep it a surprise. They're all going to love it! Can you imagine how Eduardo is going to react?" Alyssa said with a giggle.

"You're right, I'll let them wait for the broadcast," Calara smiled fondly, thinking of how shocked her parents and three brothers were going to be.

"Jehanna said it'll only take a couple of days to be approved by Terran Federation Comm Division," Alyssa mused.

They reached the Nav Beacon and the blonde girl engaged the Tachyon drive, enveloping the Invictus in a soft blue glow before they surged into Hyper-warp.

Calara thought about the last news interview, when John had heaped her with praise. "I wonder what he said this time?" she asked the other girl with a smile.

"He'll probably just talk about what a hot piece of ass his Tactical Officer is," Alyssa teased the Latina.

The brunette giggled as she imagined how her family would react to that breaking news story. "I think he'll talk about how he loves to fuck his foxy XO, until she begs him for mercy," Calara said with a cheeky grin.

"Calara, your language!" Alyssa said, as though mortified. "Where did you learn such profanities?!"

"I've been corrupted by a very bad girl," Calara replied, and the two girls shared a smouldering look.

Calara held out her hand and the two of them left the bridge, to join the others back in bed.

***

Everyone slept for a few hours, before they awoke feeling refreshed. They got up for a quick lunch, and then John sent all the girls off to the firing range to get in some more practice, apart from Jade, who joined him in the pool. It felt like ages since the last time he'd been able to relax with a swim, and he thoroughly enjoyed swimming lanes, while the Nymph splashed and played around him.

After a couple of hours, the rest of the girls came to join them, with Calara and Rachel both eager to get in the pool. Alyssa had started to get over her fear of the water, and came in happily with Calara. Dana was more reluctant, but with some coaxing from John and Rachel, she built up enough courage to join them as well.

It turned out that Rachel was an excellent swimmer, having grown up with a pool in each of her father's many homes. She seemed reluctant to talk about her past in great detail, so John didn't press her too hard. Instead they had some fun racing against one another, and she was actually good enough to beat him a couple of times.

They soaked in the hot tub for a little while afterwards, and there was a moment of awkwardness when they remembered the last time they'd been in the hot tub as a group. Rachel's novel new presence soon distracted everyone, and within a few minutes, the gym was echoing with the excited chatter of the girls.

John luxuriated in the tub, and enjoyed the view of the five beautiful young women surrounding him. Jade caught his eye as he checked each of them out in turn, and raised an eyebrow at him playfully. Wondering what she had in mind, he looked at her quizzically, and she tilted her head to one side to show him the gills that she'd grown in her neck. He laughed as she licked her lips suggestively and the other girls stopped talking, as they wondered what he was grinning at.

He turned to face Rachel, and asked her, "Jade wants to feed you again this evening. Is that okay?"

The brunette flushed at the thought, and nodded her head eagerly.

"You've already seen the fins I can grow," Jade said, as she smiled at Rachel. "I can grow gills too, which can be fun."

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked, looking intrigued.

Jade winked at her, then moved off the bench she was sitting on and sank below the surface of the water. A few moments later, John sighed happily as the Nymph's hot little mouth was wrapped around the head of his cock, and the girls instantly recognised his satisfied smile.

"Oh, wow!" Rachel gasped. "How long can she stay underwater like that?"

"Jade says, 'Indefinitely'," Alyssa said with a smirk, having asked the Nymph the same question telepathically.

"She's amazing," Rachel said shaking her head in wonder. She tried to brush the bubbles away from the surface of the water to see more clearly, scientific curiosity and voyeurism competing equally.

"She's got quite a few tricks up her sleeve," Calara said enthusiastically. "Wait until you see the tiger!"

"Don't forget the light show!" Dana chipped in with a giggle.

"She's got a few surprises in the bedroom too," Alyssa said with a twinkle in her eye.

"You can't leave me hanging with all these teasers," Rachel said with a good natured grin. "What are you referring to?"

"Don't worry," Alyssa said playfully, "You'll see them all in good time."

John looked at Alyssa with a smile. "Ask Jade to swallow half, I can always top Rachel up again later."

Alyssa nodded eagerly, and passed on the message.

Dana and Calara were to John's side, so they leaned in to kiss him, while he watched Rachel and Alyssa begin to make out with each other. It didn't take too long for them to bring him to the edge, and Jade was soon swallowing down his load. She rose gracefully out of the water a few moments later, her breasts reaching the surface like two enormous flotation devices, while her belly was now nicely rounded with a stomach full of cum.

"Lights off," John said in a loud voice, and the gym was abruptly plunged into darkness as the voice sensitive lights deactivated.

Rachel glanced about, but could see nothing in the pitch black. She wondered what was going to happen next, and clung on to Alyssa for reassurance. A few moments later a soft ethereal green glow began to fill the room, as steady pulses of viridian light began to spread out from Jade's abdomen to travel the length of her body.

Rachel let out a started gasp, then leaned in to stare at the Nymph in fascination. "I've never seen anything like it!" she said in awe.

Jade smiled at her and held out her arm, so that the brunette could watch the pulse of light travel languidly up her limb to her fingertips.

"What does that feel like? Oh, and why is your body doing that?" she asked, quite intrigued.

"It feels indescribable," Jade sighed contentedly. "My body feels like it's surging with power. It only ever happens when I swallow John's cum."

"I can't wait to find out more about you!" Rachel said exuberantly. "You're by far the most interesting alien I've ever met!"

"Hey!" John said with a fake frown.

"As amazing as you are, you have to admit that a shapeshifting girl, who lights up a room when she swallows cum, has you beat," Alyssa interjected.

John nodded and agreed. "You make a fair point," he conceded with a grin.

Jade held out her arms, and Rachel moved into them with a coy smile. She soon began to feed, draining the swollen breasts of their sweet tasting contents, her silhouette showing on the ceiling as the room was lit by the glowing radiance from Jade's body. Eventually she was done, and so they reactivated the lights in the gym and headed back up to the Officers' Lounge to make some dinner.

They worked well together as a team, but they were reaching the limit of people who could constructively assist in the kitchen without getting in each other's way. Dinner was relaxed and enjoyable, as everyone discussed the upcoming trip to Oceanus, and how they would soon be there in a few hours.

Suddenly the Invictus began to vibrate, rattling the plates and causing the cutlery to clatter together, as a blaring siren sounded through the Officers' Lounge.

"BWOOOP!" "BWOOOP!" "BWOOOP!"

John and the girls stared at each other in shock for a moment, before leaping to their feet and sprinting for the grav-tube to the bridge.

"We're deep in Terran Federation territory, what the fuck could be interdicting us?!" John swore as he ran, but Alyssa, Calara, and Dana could only dart worried glances at him, having no answers.

Rachel had half-risen from her seat, and Jade moved around the table to her side comfortingly. "I'll take you up there too, so we can see what's going on," the Nymph said in a calming voice, and the brunette nodded gratefully.

John and his bridge crew darted into their places, with the girls moving fluidly to react as quickly as possible to the threat. Alyssa brought up the tactical map, and activated passive sensors to try and locate who or what had just interdicted them. Calara sat in her tactical chair and activated the targeting grids, while grasping the weapon fire controls. Dana smiled with satisfaction, noting that her Automated Interdiction Response System had worked perfectly. She looked at her engineering console, and saw that the system had powered up the weapons and shields, while starting to perform evasive manoeuvres.

"Shields at 70%," she called out. "We're being fired on by something!"

A few seconds later, the tactical map populated with the data gathered by the sensors. They had been travelling through the Beta-Persei system, an eclipsing binary system consisting of three stars, that was known colloquially as the Demon Star. There were a couple of gas giants orbiting the primary star, and a broad, dense belt of metallic asteroids close to the centre of the system. Of more interest though was their attacker, which was a long cruiser clad in grey armour plating, and bristling with weapon ports.

Calara looked at it in alarm. "The ship's got Terran Federation insignia, but it's no ship design I've ever seen before!"

"Me neither," John replied. "But it's hostile, so light it up!"

Alyssa assumed manual control of the Invictus, and swung the assault cruiser around to face their attacker. The two ships were of comparable size and the 500 metre long vessels raced towards each other as though daring the other to break away first. Orange beams blasted out from the mysterious ship, half of which hit the Invictus, while the other four lances of energy sailed wide, their gunner fooled by Alyssa's manoeuvres.

"Shields down to 50%!" Dana called out in alarm.

Calara pulled the trigger and the six beam lasers from the assault cruiser lit up the map with a brilliant flare. All six blindingly bright orange beams of energy throbbed with power as they slashed into the enemy's shields, sending coruscating pulses in concentric rings over the shield's surface as the target's shields struggled to remain intact.

"Mute the glare from the tactical map, Dana," John ordered her, shielding his eyes as he winced, blinking to try and get rid of the after-image burned on his retinas.

The huge boost in power that was now being fed to the ship's laser weapons, was being faithfully reported by the ship's sensors, and then displayed on the tactical map. This meant that the holographic representation of their laser fire was now blindingly bright, as it lashed out at the floating image of the enemy ship.

"Sorry about that, compensating..." Dana replied, as her hands flashed over the console and she made the corrections.

The two cruisers had now reached laser cannon range and both ships opened fire, sending fusillades of bright energy bolts at one another. Alyssa's piloting abilities greatly exceed that of the other pilot, allowing her to dodge most of the enemy ships' weapons. Some still struck home though, and Dana glanced nervously at the damage control hologram, which showed the shields at 34%.

John was staring at the other ship intently, and his eyes suddenly widened as he realised their intent. "They're going to ram us!" he yelled. "Evasive manoeuvres!"

Alyssa gritted her teeth, and focused intently on the enemy ship, watching and reacting to their every change of course. When it looked like a collision was inevitable, she ramped up the power to the retro-thrusters, and the Invictus seemed to groan with protest as she pulled up the nose. They narrowly avoided a direct head on collision, but the ships still clipped each other, the starboard side of the topdeck screeching in protest as it dragged along the underbelly of the enemy ship.

Rachel and Jade had joined them on the bridge, and they stared in shock as they saw how close they had just come to disaster.

"Why would they ram us?!" Dana exclaimed in alarm, as she looked at the scored surface of the Invictus on the damage control hologram.

"I've no idea! Try hailing them," John said abruptly.

As the two cruisers flashed by each other, Calara maintained the deadly rain of laser cannon blasts, and potent energy bolts punched over and over into the enemy shields. They eventually disappeared, overwhelmed by the concentrated firepower, and the ships raced apart, flying in opposite directions to each other.

Alyssa pulled the Invictus around, to prepare to attack once more, and Calara prepared herself to fire their main guns. Dana established a comm channel connection to the enemy ship, and there was a sudden squeal of noise, before the channel went dead.

"What was that?" John asked in confusion.

Dana frowned as she stared at the console in front of her. "We definitely established a connection for a couple of seconds," she said looking puzzled.

The ships were out of laser cannon range again by the time they swung to face each other once more, and both ships fired their beam weapons at the same time. The beams from the Invictus lit up the map again, but not so painfully blinding this time, after Dana had made the corrections to the display. Their shields were extinguished in an instant, and three of the beam lasers scythed into the heavy hull armour, melting huge gouges across the vessel and coring through into the interior of the enemy ship.

Unfortunately, the returning beams from the enemy cruiser hit home too. Alyssa managed to avoid most of them but the Invictus' shields had been weakened by the point blank flyby with the enemy's laser cannon batteries, and the two that did hit home knocked out their shields. Following up uncannily quickly, the ship opened fire with a pair of Mass Drivers, and although one sailed wide, one slammed home, causing the Invictus to lurch with the impact.

Calara returned fire with their four Mass Drivers, and the tachyon accelerated shells smashed into the melted crevasses in the armour that had already been severely damaged by the beams. The four shells caused huge fracturing impacts as they smashed through the armour, before punching deep into the hull, and the grey cruiser was rocked by a thunderous ripple of explosions as their payloads detonated a moment later. The ship seemed to judder with the impact, as engine control was blown to bits, and the cruiser began to drift and roll helplessly.

"See if you can knock out their fire control, Calara," John said to the Latina. "If we can disable them, then we can think about boarding and getting some answers."

"I'll run an active sensor sweep and see what we can learn," Dana said excitedly.

Calara nodded eagerly. "Great! Once I know what to aim fo-," she said, but was interrupted from finishing.

A thunderous explosion lit up the tactical map, and the attacking cruiser was vaporised in an instant as it was obliterated by the colossal detonation. As the blinding flash of the explosion dissipated, John and the girls stared at each other, stunned by the abrupt obliteration of the other ship.

"What caused that? Some kind of secondary explosion caused by the mass drivers?" John asked in confusion. It hadn't looked like the enemy ship had been that critically damaged before.

Dana looked up at him in bewilderment, her shock clearly evident on her face. "I think that was self-inflicted! It looked like a power core overload," she said with disbelief.

"Why would they blow themselves up?" Rachel asked in astonishment.

"I have no idea," John said as he slumped back in his seat.

The girls sighed in relief as they realised they were now out of danger.

"How bad is the damage, Dana?" he asked her with concern.

The redhead looked at the damage control display carefully. "The mass driver hit smashed up our armour, but didn't get through," she replied, the hint of a proud smile on her face at the resilience of the Invictium plating she had developed.

Alyssa felt relieved that they had survived relatively unscathed, but she hated the thought of their ship being vulnerable. "I'll do the repairs, and upgrade the armour as soon as we reach Oceanus," she volunteered immediately.

"That ship had Terran Federation insignia on it," Calara noted. "Do you think someone has realised we know there's a traitor in High Command?"

"The only person we've had any discussions with about what happened in the Dragon March is Charles," John said, looking grim. "I don't recognise that ship design though. Even if Charles was the traitor, he's only in charge of the Olympus Shipyard. He's not going to be able to design some experimental new ship, equip it with a suicidal crew, then send it out after us."

"Maybe he told someone else he's working with?" Calara said, but her doubtful face clearly showed that she didn't think the scenario likely either.

"What was that weird squeal from the comm channel?" Rachel asked curiously. "Could some creature have made that?"

"The Terran Federation doesn't use a lot of non-Terrans in their crew, so it seems a little unlikely. Are you able to analyse the sound at all, Dana?" he asked the redhead.

She nodded eagerly, and smiled at him confidently as she began to run some tests using the engineering console. Suddenly her bright smile was wiped from her face and she stared at the console in shock.

"What is it, honey?" John asked urgently.

She turned away from the string of numbers to face him, her face filled with dread. "It was a message in binary," she whispered in horror.

"What does that mean?" Rachel asked in confusion.

Dana closed her eyes for a moment as she concentrated on converting the binary into hexadecimal in her head. "Accursed organics, death to you all..." she translated in a tremulous voice.

"That must have been a robot ship, manned by an AI..." John said, his voice trailing off.

Dana glanced at her console as the active scan results came back. "Scan results confirm no biological matter in the debris..." she said quietly, looking up at him with worry.

"We've got company," Jade said, looking up at the tactical map.

Moving steadily in their direction was a huge spacecraft, which dwarfed their own. It was at least three times the size of the Invictus, and clad in grey armour plating. As it got closer, the passive sensors read the transponder, and revealed that it was a Terran Federation Battleship.