Three Square Meals Ch. 056

Two pairs of lithe legs entering the pool immediately drew her attention, and she turned to see that Alyssa and Irillith had both entered the shallow end. Racing over to join them, she shifted form into her Nymph shape, and sprang out of the water beside them.

"Hey!" she greeted them eagerly. Knowing that Alyssa wasn't all that comfortable with the water, she asked, "What brings you to the pool?"

"We came along to watch them," Alyssa said, pointing towards John and Calara.

Jade turned around to see what she meant, and stared in amazement at the fighting couple.

"Let's go take a closer look," Alyssa said in hushed voice.

The three of them swam over to the other end of the pool, with Irillith moving confidently through the water, having learnt to swim decades ago. They reached the other end, and peeked over the edge to watch John and Calara. The two were locked in an intense battle, spinning and moving in perfect synchronisation as they sprang to attack, or warily defended against the other's moves.

"They look like they're dancing," Jade murmured, her cat-like eyes watching their every movement.

Alyssa could feel her excitement rising as she watched the intensity of her lovers, as they battled one another for supremacy. Part of her was desperate to join her handsome man, and beautiful girlfriend, and have them both make love to her, but she reminded herself that she had other important responsibilities to take care of.

She stepped behind Irillith, and rested her head on her shoulder, as she whispered, "Are you able to fight like that?"

Irillith shook her head ruefully, then turned slightly so she could see the blonde girl, and murmured in reply, "I've done some unarmed combat training, but Ilyana has only been teaching me for a few years. I wouldn't stand a chance against either of them."

Alyssa gave her an encouraging smile, and said, "Calara's only been training for a couple of months. If you ask John nicely, I'm sure he'd love to train you."

Irillith stifled a laugh, and said wryly, "I've watched some of these sparring matches, I'd rather not pay the price for losing!"

"Calara tells me that's the best part," Alyssa purred in her ear, and smiled as she watched Irillith blush.

She hugged the blue-skinned girl from behind, and Jade cuddled in close as well, while they watched the battle draw to a close. John managed to eventually catch Calara, and although he wasn't using his super-strength, he was still naturally much stronger than her. He brought her down to the mat, pinning her with his body, and the two of them stared into each other's eyes as they both panted for breath, their bodies covered in a sheen of perspiration.

Communicating wordlessly, they both sat up, and quickly stripped off their clothes. Calara moved first, reverently kissing his muscular arms and chest, while staring up at him with a fiery intensity in her eyes. She glanced in Alyssa's direction for a moment, then suddenly turned, kneeling submissively in front of John. He came to her, and mounted her from behind, smoothly impaling her steaming pussy with his steel-hard cock.

Irillith gasped as she watched them, her eyes going wide as she saw John gather Calara's hair in his hand, and start to ride her roughly. "Are they...?" she murmured breathlessly.

Alyssa gently kissed the Maliri girl's ear, and said, "No, he's not taking her ass. John's going to load up her womb so you can fill your tummy again, and try and fix whatever's happening with your eyes." She slipped her hand around Irillith, and lovingly caressed her svelte, azure tummy as she added, "It looks like you were hungry for cum, you've already absorbed the last load."

Irillith felt a momentary stab of disappointment that she wouldn't get to see Calara taken like that, but she smiled, and settled down to watch the Latina get fucked hard from behind. She hadn't counted on Alyssa's empathic connection with her though, and the blonde girl hummed with interest at the Maliri's initial reaction.

"I can always ask John to start fucking her ass, if you'd prefer?" Alyssa asked in a teasing murmur. "Both of them love it."

Irillith shook her head quickly, and said quietly, "No, that's disgusting, I wouldn't want to see that."

"Are you sure?" Alyssa asked her playfully. "You've seen Calara get taken like that before, haven't you? You mentioned seeing the consequences of losing."

Irillith blushed furiously, and started to shake her head, when Alyssa's knowing smile made her pause. "Yes, I've seen them," she replied in an almost inaudible whisper.

Alyssa moved her hands higher, and gently caressed Irillith's breasts as she thought to her, *And you rubbed your pussy, wishing it was you, didn't you?*

Irillith froze, a look of panic on her face, as she started to deny it.

*Shh, don't worry, it'll be our little secret,* Alyssa murmured to her telepathically. *It's very exciting being taken that way, so I can understand why you're curious.*

The Maliri girl's eyes went wide as she felt Alyssa's right hand slide around behind her, and gently slip between her cheeks. She let out a little whimper as Alyssa brushed her finger over the knot of muscle between those firm buttocks.

*You trust me and Jade, don't you?* Alyssa asked Irillith soothingly, sensing her indecision.

When Irillith gave a tentative nod, Jade followed Alyssa's telepathic instructions, and lithely slipped in front of the Maliri, so their breasts were pressed up against each other. Jade leaned in for a kiss, and Irillith moaned into her mouth, panting with desire. Alyssa used her left hand to gather Irillith's long white hair in her hand, causing her to moan loudly into Jade's mouth. That moan turned into a debauched groan as Alyssa applied a little pressure with the index finger on her right hand, carefully sliding it into Irillith's unexplored passage. When Jade reached down and gently began to stroke Irillith's clit, the Maliri girl exploded in orgasm at their dual manipulation of her body.

*That's a good girl,* Alyssa said to her encouragingly. *Just imagine it's John taking you like this for the first time.*

Irillith clung to the Nymph in front of her, and sobbed through one intense orgasm after another.

***

"I'll go and start laying the table," Dana said to Rachel, as she swept out of the kitchen.

She started setting up placemats and cutlery, then looked up when she heard the double doors open into the Lounge.

"Hey guys!" Dana called out to John and the girls accompanying him, as they strolled over to join them. "Alyssa told me you'd been working up an appetite, so Rachel and I made us all an early dinner."

"I'm famished!" John exclaimed eagerly. "What are we having, my sexy flame-haired temptress?"

Dana giggled and said, "You're in a great mood!"

"Calara just put me through my paces," he replied, putting his arm around the Latina's shoulder and grinning at her.

She looked up at him with a look of adoration in her dark-brown eyes, and sighed contentedly as she said, "I've never had a workout quite like it."

Dana smirked, and reached out to gently stroke Irillith's swollen belly, and said, "Yeah, I can see a good time was had by one and all."

Irillith darted a glance at Alyssa, and blushed a very dark blue.

Taking pity on the obviously mortified Maliri, Dana smiled at her, and changed the subject as she replied, "To answer your original question, John, we've made a lasagne. I really enjoyed the last one, and it's relatively easy to make. Unfortunately I'm not the expert chef that you are."

Alyssa grinned at her, and said, "I like your cooking, Sparks. Even your old reheated stews back on Karron were tasty."

Dana snorted with laughter and said, "They were tasty because we were starving, and didn't know any better. We wouldn't even be able to look at them now without wanting to vom!"

"I guess we have been spoilt recently," Alyssa said, slipping her arm around John's and leaning up to give him a tender kiss on the cheek.

Rachel bustled through the door a moment later, carrying a steaming dish of food, and she said urgently, "Quick! This is hot, someone get the serving shelf ready."

"Oops! Sorry," Dana said, rushing over to hit the button that raised the platform in the centre of the dining table.

Rachel set the dish down with a sigh of relief, then said, "I'll be back in a moment with the garlic bread."

Everyone fanned out to take their seats, with Alyssa, Dana, and eventually Rachel, sitting on John's right, while Calara, and Jade sat on his left. Irillith waited until everyone had sat down before moving to take a seat, and her dining companions immediately recalled her making a deliberate point of sitting at the opposite end of the table from John. All eyes were on her as she carefully eased herself onto the chair beside Jade, being careful not to bump the table with her rounded tummy. She gave everyone a shy smile, and when everyone smiled back at her affectionately, she relished the feeling of acceptance into their group.

Their late lunch was a lovely, leisurely affair, with everyone looking relaxed and happy as they ate together, complimenting Dana and Rachel on their cooking. John looked out over the girls, just enjoying hearing the sound of their happy chatter and melodic laughter. He caught Alyssa gazing at him lovingly, and he smiled back at her.

*Happy?* she asked him, already suspecting the answer.

He nodded, saying, *Very much. Everything feels like it's getting back to normal after all the chaos of the last few weeks.*

She gave him a brilliant smile as she replied, *Real 'normal' would bore you to tears. Fortunately your 'normal' life is anything but.* She glanced pointedly at the bevy of girls around the table, then gave him a mischievous wink.

*I can't argue with that,* he said with a broad grin on his face.

Raising his glass of wine, John cleared his throat, and looked around the table to make sure he had everyone's attention. When they were all focused on him, he said, "I'd like to formally welcome Irillith into our group. We had a bit of a rocky start, not helped by my own... issues, but here's to a bright future together for all of us. Welcome to the family, Irillith!"

The other girls all echoed his toast, welcoming the Maliri into their group, and she looked genuinely touched by the gesture. "Thank you all for making me feel so welcome," she said with a shy smile. "I'm looking forward to our future together too."

Everyone applauded, and she laughed self-consciously, feeling conspicuously out of her depth in this kind of convivial social scenario.

Sensing her discomfort, Alyssa thought to her, *You handled yourself perfectly. Please don't feel self-conscious, we're all just delighted to have you join us.*

Irillith glanced her way, and gave her a grateful nod, and a warm smile.

When the applause had died down, John asked her with concern, "How are the eyes doing? Are they still giving you problems?"

Irillith sighed before she replied, "It's strange. When we went to Medical, I started seeing flickering movement in the corners of my eyes again, but as soon as we went to the gym, I was fine."

"I checked Irillith with a full body scan, but there weren't any obvious issues with her eyes," Rachel informed him clinically. "There was some increased brain activity since I took the last scan, but that's likely to be from the intellect enhancements from the Gift."

John gave her a grateful nod, then turned to Irillith and said, "Let us know if there are any changes, especially if your vision problems get worse."

She smiled at him, thankful for his concern, and said, "I'll keep you updated."

Everyone had finished eating by now, so they quickly cleared the table, then reconvened to the sofas in the Lounge area. John sat down on one of the sofas, and patted his lap for Irillith to join him. She looked at him curiously for a moment, unsure what he was suggesting, so he beckoned her over instead. She glided over to him, and he guided her down so she was sitting across his lap, with his left arm supporting her. When he placed his right arm on her still rounded tummy, she sighed contentedly, and leaned into him.

Jade sat opposite, with Rachel and Dana cuddled up with her, while Alyssa and Calara flanked him. There were looks of contentment all round as everyone relaxed after a lovely dinner. John glanced up at the ship's chronometer on the wall, and saw that it was just after three in the afternoon.

Smiling at the girls, he asked them, "So what's everyone's plans for this afternoon?"

Calara spoke up first, and said, "I'll continue assembling Dragon March data for Irillith to hack whenever she feels up for looking at it."

"Sorry about all this," Irillith said to the Latina looking chagrined. "I'm holding you up."

Calara stroked Irillith's leg comfortingly, and said, "Don't worry about that, you just rest and get better. In any case, we can't contact anyone from the Terran Federation to warn them about Admiral Norwood, until we get in range of the Terran comm relays. That won't be for another three days."

"It's a good thing you mentioned that," John said looking grim. "Even if we get damning proof of Admiral Norwood's guilt, who do we send that too? He's an Admiral, and I don't personally know any of the Fleet Admirals."

Alyssa stroked his shoulder and said, "Charles will know someone trustworthy we can take this to, he's pretty high ranked, right?"

John replied with some reluctance, "We still have to prove that he's not connected to this in any way. Even if he isn't we can't afford to send this information over a comm channel, even a secured one. High Command will be able to review any data we send out on secured comms."

Irillith nodded, and said, "Assuming these Terran traitors aren't complete imbeciles, they'll have data sniffers set up to check comm traffic, to give them plenty of warning if anyone starts to suspect their activities. Depending on the level of sophistication, they might be able to detect anyone discussing traitors, or even as far as mentioning their names disparagingly."

"So we just fly straight to Olympus then?" Calara asked, eagerly. "Irillith and I confirm my suspicions with concrete proof, then we take what we've found to Charles."

"How long till we can make it there?" John asked Alyssa, turning to look at the beautiful blonde.

She answered him immediately, saying, "Three days, six hours until we reach the border with Terran Space, then another three days to reach Olympus."

"What do we do if this Charles person is one of the traitors?" Irillith asked them openly.

John's eyes narrowed, as he said, "Then we still go to Olympus anyway, and I'll handle that personally."

Alyssa gently squeezed his shoulder, and gave him a sympathetic smile, before she said, "I'm sure it won't come to that."

He smiled at her appreciatively, then said, "Alright, so we have a few days to gather all the evidence we need." He hugged Irillith tighter, looking down at her as he added, "Which means Calara is absolutely right. You just focus on getting plenty of rest, and recover from whatever's giving you trouble with your eyes."

She nodded obediently, and just enjoyed being encircled in his arms.

John looked over at Jade, and asked, "How about you, Jade? Anything interesting going on?"

She shook her head, before she replied, "I've already spent several hours in the pool this morning, any more feels a bit self-indulgent. That means I'm at a bit of a loose end." She gazed at him with her glinting emerald eyes, and asked hopefully, "Have you got anything you'd like me to help with?"

"Actually I have," John replied with a smile. "I'd like to start doing some psychic training this afternoon, and I thought I'd start with that flaming sword trick that Irillith mentioned."

"Pyrokinesis," Irillith explained helpfully.

"That's it," John said with a grateful nod, "Edraele mentioned your grandmother had a real gift for pyrokinesis."

He could feel Irillith shudder in his arms as she said, "Ugh, don't remind me, please. Her reputation for cruel and twisted torture was absolutely legendary."

Rachel sat up, and said, "All this talk of psychic powers reminds me of something. I took lots of images with the Psi-detector yesterday, showing the flows of energy between Edraele and the engineers, as well as all of us."

"What are the results like?" John asked her enthusiastically.

"I'll go and get the Psi-detector, then I can show you," she replied with an eager grin, as she quickly got up off the sofa.

While he waited for Rachel to return, John looked at the redhead sitting opposite, and asked, "How about you, Dana? Any interesting projects on the go?"

She nodded animatedly, and replied, "Several actually, but I'm trying to be sensible and just finish off one at a time."

"Sounds intriguing! What are you working on right now?" he asked, then listened attentively.

Dana grinned at him, and said, "New body armour! I've added the last features to the schematics this morning, and now the design is finally finished, I'll get the Mass Fabricators fired up this afternoon." She glanced at Alyssa and added, "If you're up for some psychic shaping tomorrow, I'll be able to have the first two suits done by the evening. It'll take me another couple of days or so to build the rest of the female suits."

"I'd be happy to help you construct the rest of the armour," Jade offered. "I can watch you build the first one, then put the other suits together for you."

Alyssa smiled at the Nymph, and said, "I can vouch for what a quick learner she is. I think she'd make a great assistant."

Dana looked delighted, but then smiled a bit sheepishly, and said, "It's tedious and fiddly work. In all honesty I'd love to have your help, but it feels like I'd be taking advantage."

Jade gave the redhead a tight hug, and said gleefully, "I'd love to help! I hate not having anything to do, and if I can free you up for more research, then I'd be really contributing to our group."

John smiled at the Nymph, and said, "I think it's a great idea. You're very strong, agile, and bright, and I think you'll make a perfect assistant. You'll probably find some construction work easier than Dana would, because of your physical advantages."

Dana hugged Jade back, and said, "I guess that settles it then, you're hired!"

"Thanks, boss!" Jade grinned at her happily.

Dana laughed, and said, "No need to call me boss. Something simple like, Grand Engineering Overlord, will be fine."

Jade giggled, and said, "You got it, Grand Engineering Overlord. When do we start?"

The redhead smiled at her fondly, and asked, "Tomorrow morning? The Mass Fabricators will be finished with their last batch of components, and I can show you how the first suit is constructed."

John noted the ecstatically happy look on Dana's face, and asked, "Building the armour can't have been that horrible a job? What's made you so happy?"

She gave him a glorious smile, revealing her sparkling white teeth, and replied, "With Jade helping out on construction, I'll be able to make a start with the design work on my next project!"

Alyssa laughed, and said, "I've seen that look before. You're working on a new weapon next, aren't you?"

Dana nodded enthusiastically, and grinned at Irillith as she said, "Our beautiful Maliri gave me a lovely gift. Now I just need to unwrap it, and see what's inside."

Rachel swept into the Lounge with the Psi-detector in her hand, and she flourished it in the air, as she walked back to join them. "Can you hook up the big view-screen to this please, sexy?" she asked Dana.

"Of course, babes," the redhead answered immediately, leaping to her feet, and darting over to the bar to collect the remote for the view-screen.