Three Square Meals Ch. 048

"Goodnight," she told him, with a warm smile.

He encircled her in his arm, resting his hand on her shoulder, and said fondly, "Sleep well, clever girl."

She hugged him tightly, and they all drifted off to sleep shortly afterwards.

***

Irillith let out a big yawn, and blinked sleepily. When she glanced at the ship's chronometer, she was astonished to see that it was nearly two in the morning. She had pored over the video footage from the camera archives, becoming completely absorbed in the compelling images, and had spent hours listening to all the conversations by the crew. Although she hadn't yet learned anything about how this ship could travel at such incredible hyper-warp speeds, she had found out all sorts of interesting background information about her temporary shipmates.

She finally turned off the archived footage, after watching them chatter away on the bridge as they annihilated a huge band of pirates, and a Kirrix hive-ship. She climbed into bed, pulling the covers up around her and felt a newfound appreciation for just how effective John and his crew could be. Unfortunately, the action on the bridge had only been a brief respite from watching John gleefully fucking his doting whores.

For nearly twelve hours, she had seen him alternate between bringing his women to screaming climaxes, and using them shamelessly for his carnal desires. It had left her feeling flushed with arousal, despite seeing these women debasing themselves so submissively, and she tossed and turned in the bed, unable to settle to sleep. She was half tempted to bring herself off, but she chastised herself for letting the debauchery on the ship get the better of her. When she did finally manage to fall asleep an hour later, the nightmares that had recently started plaguing her sleep took on an entirely different tone.

***

John awoke the next morning to the wonderful sensation of his cock being lovingly enveloped in someone's eager mouth. He decided to just enjoy the sensations, and not try and work out who it was, liking the idea of being serviced by a mysterious girl. She did a phenomenal job, and he soon found himself emptying his taut sack down her throat. The covers lifted once he was spent, and a mane of lustrous auburn hair appeared, revealing his mysterious fellatrix as Dana, who grinned at him with satisfaction.

Smiling back, he made room for her to cuddle up in his arms, and she sighed happily as he stroked her full stomach. John chuckled and said, "Thanks for the amazing wake-up call!"

"Thanks for all that tasty cum!" she said gratefully with a gleeful grin.

The others started to wake up too, and after some teasing stretches, everyone looked towards Jade.

John asked her curiously, "When do you want to show off your skills?"

"I'm ready now, if that suits you guys? If you aren't in a rush, we can go and have breakfast first," she replied tentatively.

"I don't want to wait, I'm ready now!" Dana blurted out eagerly.

Rachel laughed at her friend and gave her an affectionate hug as she said, "You've had breakfast already!"

When their laughter died down, John looked around at the others and said, "I'm looking forward to seeing Jade in action. Breakfast later?"

They nodded agreeably, and everyone climbed off the bed, to get a shower. Once they had dried themselves off, Calara, Rachel, and Jade left to go to their own rooms to get some clean clothes. John and Alyssa went into their walk-in wardrobe, and Dana sauntered in afterwards.

"What are you up to?" John asked her curiously.

The redhead grinned at him impishly, as Alyssa rolled her eyes, and handed her some underwear, shoes and trousers. Dana put on the dark blue trousers cautiously, taking care not to fall over with the heavy weight she was carrying in her swollen belly. Once she was dressed, and had slipped on a pair of shoes she had borrowed too, she sashayed over to John's freshly laundered shirts, and slipped one on. She shivered with delight at the feel of the soft cotton gliding over her bronzed skin, and at the thought of wearing one of John's borrowed shirts. She buttoned it up, and then rolled up the sleeves, before grinning at him happily.

Alyssa smiled at her wryly and said, "I've got to admit, you look great in that outfit."

John had been watching her with amusement, and when Dana glided over to him, doing a pirouette to show off the look, he gathered her in his arms.

"I'd better buy a lot more shirts," he said thoughtfully, reaching down and placing his strong hand on her rounded tummy. "They'll make great maternity tops for you when you've got my baby in there."

Dana sighed as she gazed up at him adoringly, and he smiled down at her as he gave her a hug.

Alyssa laughed, and said, "She's just hoping you'll give her a second round of breakfast."

John chuckled as the redhead looked up at him mischievously, "Come on, let's not keep Jade waiting."

They walked out into the corridor outside, and found the other three girls waiting for them patiently. Jade was standing there nude, with a pile of clothes under one arm. When she saw him smile at her nakedness she giggled and explained, "I'd have to strip off anyway as soon as we got to the Cargo Bay. It's not like you guys haven't seen me like this before!"

She took the lead, and they followed her as she strode confidently over to the grav-tube and stepped into the red glow, then sank out of sight. She led them through to the Cargo Bay, and handed over her clothing to Calara, smiling at her gratefully. Jade then walked back into the centre of the huge room, giving herself plenty of space.

Crouching on the floor, she smiled at them, then closed her eyes, taking a big breath. Her body seemed to shimmer briefly, and then before their astonished eyes, she changed into a large, eight limbed octopus, complete with bulbous head, and eight long tentacles covered in dozens of suckers. She raised one of her mottled green limbs, and waved it at them in a friendly fashion, before her body shimmered again, and she gathered her long tentacles into her body.

When the shimmering faded away this time, she had changed into a snake, covered in dark green scales. She uncoiled herself, before slithering across the floor towards them. Fully extended she looked to be about five feet long.

"You're only about half your normal body size!" John remarked in surprise.

Jade raised herself up, lifting her upper coils off the floor to look at him with her cold, reptilian eyes, and then flashed a look at Alyssa, who began to translate for her.

"That's right," Alyssa said, repeating the Nymph's words verbatim. "By squashing myself down, I can make forms that are about half my size."

They watched spellbound as she moved languidly over the deck in a smooth, oscillating motion, and approached one of the maintenance gantries. Shimmering again, she changed into a three-foot-tall, green furred monkey, and ignoring the staircase, she clambered up the side of the maintenance gantry with quick movements of her agile little paws. When she reached the top, she dashed along the railing, balancing herself perfectly, and they let out a collective gasp as she leapt through the air, and deftly caught hold of one of the loading arms that hung from the ceiling.

John shook his head in wonder, as she wrapped her tail around the robotic arm, and then let go, swinging upside down and waving at them cheerily. She then swung back up to the arm, and climbed up it deftly, until she reached the ceiling where she paused. Disappearing in a green haze once again, her form folded out, and a sinister looking, dark green spider took the place of the cute little monkey.

"Ugh, I hate it when she does that," Rachel said, looking away from the six-foot diameter spider.

Dana laughed and said with surprise, "I didn't know you were afraid of spiders!"

The tawny haired girl nodded, and replied, "Yeah, I can't stand them. Can you let me know when she's changed shape again?"

Dana nodded, and they all looked up to watch Jade skitter upside down across the ceiling. She made quick and steady progress until she had returned to the centre of the room, and then spun a thread of spider silk which she anchored to the ceiling, before dropping rapidly to the floor. Landing on her eight legs, the green spider paused for a moment, and then began to blur once more. The shimmering shape grew larger and larger until it solidified into a huge, leathery skinned, four-legged creature with two large horns.

There were collective gasps at the size of this huge creature, while Dana and Alyssa looked at Jade's new form with wide eyes, having no idea what it was. "That's called a rhino," Rachel explained helpfully, looking up when she realised Jade was no longer a spider.

Jade turned to stare at them with her small beady eyes set in her huge head, and her ears flickered towards them as she began to paw at the ground angrily. She suddenly charged towards them, the long horn lowered, and ready to impale her audience. Everyone looked at her in alarm, and she shimmered again, turning into her tiger shape mid-charge, before letting out a spine-chilling roar, and leaping into the air towards John. Just as she was about to pounce on him, she shifted into her Nymph shape, and he reacted quickly, catching her as she landed in his arms.

She planted a big kiss on his lips, and then asked playfully, "Did you enjoy the show?"

His eyes were wide with shock, and he laughed in amazement, before he replied, "I didn't expect it to have such a terrifying ending, but that was an incredible performance!"

The girls nodded and crowded around them, congratulating the Nymph, and saying how impressed they were with her amazing talents. She beamed at them in delight, and when John set her down on her feet, she did a little bow.

"Thanks guys," she said gratefully. "I'm really glad you enjoyed it."

Calara said in awe, "That rhino was enormous! How heavy was it exactly?"

Jade paused for a moment thinking it over, and then said, "Nearly two tons. That's the biggest form I've changed into so far."

Dana gestured towards Jade's body, and said, "How can a sexy little Nymph who looks like this, turn into a massive beast like that?"

Jade giggled and smiled at the redhead affectionately before saying, "I think this is where I hand over to Rachel."

All eyes turned to the tawny haired girl, and John asked, "Do you want us to come up to the Briefing Room for your presentation?"

Rachel nodded, and said, "Yes. There's some interesting things I can show you on the holo-display up there."

They followed her up to the Briefing Room, and sat down in the chairs around the long table. Rachel waited until they were all seated, before she began once she had their attention.

"I suspected that Jade's shapeshifting wasn't all natural. I mean, how could it be, with her suddenly gaining vast amounts of mass?" she said by way of introduction. "With the help of the psi-detector, I was able to confirm it," she added, clicking the button on the remote that controlled the holo-projector.

A recorded image of Jade in her Nymph shape, taken by the psi-detector, showed in the holo-viewer. Her body was surrounded with the familiar aura they had seen before, whenever they had looked at her with the futuristic looking device. As the recording continued, they watched her body shimmering, shrouded in a bright glow, before she changed shape into the Tiger form. The mighty feline flashed a brilliant white as she made the change, and then the shining brilliance slowly dissipated, returning to the normal intensity of her aura.

"So Jade's shapeshifting is some kind of psychic power?" John asked, fascinated.

Rachel shook her head, and said, "No, the shapeshifting is all her. A natural Nymph ability. The bright psionic flash you saw, was her altering her density, to add weight and substance to the shape she was assuming."

Alyssa glanced over at Jade and grinned at her as she said, "Welcome to the Psychic Powers Club."

Jade smiled back at her and then asked Rachel curiously, "Does that mean I might be able to develop powers like Alyssa? Being able to move things with my mind, that kind of thing?"

Rachel hesitated a moment, and then shook her head apologetically, "It might be possible, but I'm inclined to say no. I think your psychic powers are hard-coded into you, to make your shapeshifting more authentic and believable."

"And the telepathy," Alyssa volunteered. "Bonding with Jade was much easier than it was with you two," she added, darting glances to Calara and Dana.

They shared grins with the blonde, and she laughed at their expressions.

"So what are the limits to Jade's shapeshifting?" John asked Rachel curiously. "She seems to be able to change into bigger and more powerful creatures as she gets more practice."

Rachel and Jade shared a knowing grin, and the young doctor said, "It's funny you should ask. It's not the practice that's making her more powerful. That's just letting her change faster and into more varied shapes."

Jade nodded eagerly. "It's you, Master. You're making me more powerful," she replied reverently, slipping back into her old speech patterns in her excitement.

John looked surprised and said, "Me? What, you mean during the two weeks when you first joined us?"

Rachel shook her head, and she answered for Jade, "No, it's still happening. This is the psi-detector footage I took from last night."

With the click of a button, the image changed, showing the recording of Jade that Rachel had taken last night where the Nymph lay asleep in bed. Her rounded belly full of cum was glowing brightly, and each pulse of light that spread out from her stomach, showed up on the psi-detector as a bright white band. As they watched, her muscles seemed to crackle with otherworldly electricity in the wake of the expanding circle of light. When it spread out up and down her body, reaching her fingers and toes, the aura surrounding Jade's body seemed to flicker slightly.

Rachel clicked a button on her remote, switching the image with one recorded just after Dana had built the psi-detector, and the Nymph's aura was slightly dimmer than the image taken yesterday. "She's getting stronger, the more cum you feed her," Rachel explained in a quiet voice.

John looked over at Jade, reaching across the table to squeeze her hand, as he asked "Are you feeling alright? Any side-effects or anything?"

Jade shook her head energetically and said, "It still feels just as amazing to feed off your cum as it did the first time. Every time those glowing green pulses of light spread out around my body, it's like my body is tingling with power."

"Let me know if anything changes," John said to her adamantly.

She squeezed his hand back, and nodded obediently. "I'll inform you immediately," she said solemnly.

John smiled at her, then looked across at Rachel as he asked, "Did you find out anything else?"

Rachel looked apologetic as she said, "That's pretty much it, but I was able to verify a lot of things we knew already. Jade can hollow out parts of her body, as we've recently seen in action. She doesn't have blood, and is much more resilient that a normal person. Her agility and reflexes are much faster than mine, even though I've been enhanced by the Gift. Her eyesight is incredibly sharp, with greatly enhanced movement tracking and detail perception. Finally she's about twice as strong as I am in her 'natural' Nymph form."

Alyssa glanced at John for a moment, before looking at Rachel and saying, "What about behaviour modification? The need for a master, that kind of thing?"

Rachel looked apologetic as she shook her head. "I'm sorry, I can't answer those questions. The Progenitors definitely made some kind of behaviour changes, which are hard-coded into Jade's DNA strands. These kinds of modifications are the most complex of the gene-coding the Progenitors used, and I'm still trying to figure out how they work. If we can keep collecting samples of DNA that's been tampered with by the Progenitors, It will be easier for me to learn more about the process."

"We'll keep our eyes open then. Thanks for the presentation, Rachel, it was great to learn more about our lovely little Nymph " John said with a smile. He then glanced over at Jade and added, "Do you feel better knowing a little more about yourself?"

She nodded and got up to give Rachel a grateful hug. "Thanks for taking the time to study me," she said earnestly.

Rachel hugged her back tightly, and said, "I'm just sorry I can't tell you everything yet. I'll keep learning what I can, and hopefully we'll be able to unlock all your secrets!"

They laughed together, and everyone else got up when John said, "Well, time for breakfast I think."

Nodding eagerly, they strolled out of the Briefing Room and headed down to the Officers' Lounge to get some food.

***

Irillith woke up a little after ten, having gone to bed late and struggling to get to sleep. She stretched like a cat, then climbed lithely out of bed to go and freshen up. The Terran facilities were broadly similar to those of the Maliri, but she still found it bizarre to be using alien devices for the first time. Drying herself afterwards, she dressed and headed down the corridor to the ship's Galley where she prepared herself a quick breakfast.

She had just finished, and was looking forward to finding out more secrets from the archived footage, when a speaker activated in the Galley. John's commanding voice echoed around the room, "Irillith, we need you on the bridge. We're being intercepted by Maliri ships. Top Deck in the grav-tube."

Frowning as she wondered what he could be talking about, she ran down the corridor, back to her room. Darting quickly into her quarters, she picked up her right vambrace and slipped it on over her forearm. She then jogged to the grav-tube and stepped inside, and floated up to the Command Deck.

John and his crew were all seated up here on the Bridge, and they all turned to look at her when she stepped out of the grav-tube. Irillith flushed slightly, having seen all the girls here getting vigorously ploughed by John, and it was hard to look any of them in the eye. There were illuminated steps up to two thrones with John and Alyssa seated in them, overlooking the other women in the room. Behind them she could see the familiar systems of Maliri Space displayed in a large hologram, that cast a blue glow over the entire Bridge.

It took her a few seconds to adjust to this Terran technology, and she was astounded at the vast range of their long range sensors. All her life she had been led to believe that the Maliri were unsurpassed experts in this field, and now it seemed that this Mael'nerak possessed greatly superior technology. Focusing on the holo-map once more, she immediately recognised the depiction of their ship in white in the centre, and what looked like a Maliri attack group attempting to cut them off. Darting up the steps to take a closer look, she narrowed her eyes as she looked at the Maliri ships approaching their position. There was a Shandrass class battleship approaching, supported by a couple of Fethanar class Patrol cruisers.

"House Ghilwen!" she hissed in fury, "They must have had spies in the Space Port!"

"What do they want?" John asked her, sounding concerned.

Irillith snarled in anger, "To assassinate me! Your vessel shouldn't even be in Maliri Space, so if they strike now, they can kill the heir to House Valaden without any political fallout."

Calara looked up at them and said, "It looks like our hyper-warp speed might have caught them by surprise. If they were planning to interdict us on the way out of Maliri Space, only one of the smaller ships is in a position to intercept us before we get past them." She then looked at Irillith and asked, "What is that big ship anyway? The smaller vessels look like the cruiser class ships we've seen, but we haven't seen anything that large before."