Three Square Meals Ch. 082

"What's the plan for this evening?" Dana asked, as John escorted the smiling sisters to the dining table.

John glanced around the table and replied, "We'll dock at Olympus Shipyard within the hour. After that, I'll go and visit Charles and we'll make the tech trade. Any of you are welcome to come along too, if you'd like?"

Alyssa traced her fingers over the back of his right hand. "Perhaps if just Dana and I accompany you to make the trade? She can confirm that the Kintark heatsinks are the real deal, then we'll come back to the ship and leave you boys to catch up in peace."

"Are you sure?" John asked in surprise. "I don't want to chase you away."

"It's quite alright. I'd like to spend some time training Tashana and Sakura this evening," Alyssa said, smiling at them both.

"Yeah, it's fine by me, too," Dana said with a shrug. "I've got a few things I need to work on urgently."

The rest all nodded, their indulgent smiles leaving John convinced that Alyssa had spoken to them about it beforehand. He wasn't ashamed to admit that he was really looking forward to seeing Charles again and after everyone had finished eating, Alyssa and Dana accompanied him to get ready for the meeting. They dressed quickly in business suits, with the blonde and redhead looking scrumptious in their smart pencil skirts and matching neatly-tailored jackets.

"It's a shame we don't have more time to play at being your secretaries again," Alyssa purred as they glided up to the Command Deck in the grav-tube.

Dana groaned in frustration. "I was already horny from the way he's been mentally undressing me! Then you have to remind me about being so stuffed my belly-button popped out!"

As they stepped out onto the Bridge, John palmed their firm asscheeks in each hand. "Stay in those outfits when you return to the ship and we'll have some fun when I get back."

They nodded obediently, then walked ahead of him, sauntering up the illuminated steps of the Command Podium. Doing so drew his attention to their stocking clad legs and the four inch heels that clicked with each step. When he was able to move his own legs again, John followed them up the steps to his Command Chair.

They weren't alone on the Bridge, Faye was up here too, sitting demurely on his Command Console. She was nude when he arrived, revealing her delectable purple figure in all its naked glory. The sprite glanced at Alyssa and Dana, then appeared heavily conflicted for a moment before she reappeared wearing her own version of their dark-grey business suits. The short, tight-fitting skirt hugged her shapely thighs, while the buttoned-up jacket emphasised the flare of her hips. There was a slot at the back of the jacket for her wings and they quivered with excitement as John stared at her in amazement.

"What do you think?" she asked him shyly, huge luminous eyes even wider than normal.

John was lost for words, so Alyssa grinned at the beautiful petite girl and replied for him. "Let's just say, that if you had a physical presence, you'd be leaving the Bridge several pounds heavier."

Faye bit her cupid-bow lip and gave John a coy glance as she hopped off the desk to land on her tiny high-heeled feet. She turned around and arched her back, glancing over her shoulder at him as she said, "Watch Commander handing over the Bridge, Rear Admiral."

"Good... very good..." John managed to mumble, staring bug-eyed at her provocative display.

As Dana and Alyssa cheered her on, Faye turned around to give them a self-conscious smile. She waved them goodbye then disappeared in a purple flash.

"Damn..." Dana said, shaking her head in admiration. "When I make her a body, I can see I'm going to have to reinforce the hell out of the Command Console."

Alyssa sat down in the Executive Officer's chair and grinned in eager agreement. "The little minx deserved a bone-shaking pounding after that masterful bit of teasing!"

John settled down in his Command Chair and pulled Dana onto his lap as they dropped out of hyper-warp in the Alpha Centauri system. The glowing green flight path on the map led them to the planet Gravitus, in orbit around Alpha Centauri B, the smaller pale-yellow star in the binary system. Olympus Shipyard appeared on the System Map, just as John had remembered it. The huge station was titanium grey, armoured in the same plating the Terran Federation used to protect their starships. At its centre was an enormous blocky hub, with long arms spreading outwards like spokes of a wheel, each one sporting deadly batteries of heavy weapons.

"I was in awe the first time I saw this place," Alyssa murmured as she stared at the massive shipyard. "But the whole thing could probably fit in the middle of Genthalas..."

John nodding his agreement. "We've come a long way since then."

The flow of traffic to and from the station was substantial, with civilian ships of all varieties flocking to the vast starport to trade with the centre of military might in Terran Space. There seemed to be something odd about the teeming fleets of spacecraft flowing in and out of the station, which had John puzzled for a moment until he realised why. Other than a minimal picket force, there were barely any military ships around the Shipyard, which was normally equipping new fleets to dispatch to various destinations around the Federation.

He didn't need to voice his observations for Alyssa to know what he was thinking and she glanced at him from his right. "I wonder where the rest of the fleet is?" She mused, echoing his thoughts.

"Back in the Dragon March?" Dana suggested, with all of them knowing what implications that might have.

Before they could speculate any further, a light flashed on their consoles, warning them of an incoming call. Alyssa answered the hail and the face of a military communications officer appeared on the viewscreen.

"Rear Admiral Blake, welcome to Olympus!" the officer said, his eyes gleaming with excitement. "Admiral Harris has requested that you dock at Bay Thirteen."

"Thank you, Lieutenant," John replied, smiling at the excited young man.

The officer snapped off a respectful salute. "It's an honour, Sir." He hesitated for a second then glanced furtively over his shoulder, checking to see if his Commander was in earshot. When he turned back, his voice was earnest as he continued, "Thank you for what you did at Regulus, Sir. My father was aboard the Pallas... he said you saved them all!"

"Just doing my part," John replied magnanimously. His smile was kind as he added, "I'm glad we saved your father; I hope he's well."

The young officer nodded, a beaming smile on his face. They could hear footsteps in the background and an angry voice snapped, "Lieutenant Graves! You're breaking protoc-" Whatever else was said got cut off by static as the Lieutenant quickly ended the call.

"Another happy customer," Dana said with a grin, as Alyssa banked the Invictus around, heading towards the drydock area at the opposite side of the shipyard.

When they drew closer to the drydock, they were able to see row upon row of grey-hulled warships in the repair yard. Each vessel was festooned with maintenance gantries as they underwent repairs, with a dozen battleships currently being tended to. The closest of those huge vessels was covered in scorch marks, the twenty-foot high letters that named the ship as the "Hyperion" partially obscured by plasma burns.

"I remember that battleship from Regulus," Alyssa said quietly. "The last time I saw it, the whole ship was ablaze with green fire..."

"I'm amazed they managed to salvage it," Dana agreed, looking at the extensive reconstruction work ongoing to replace the burned-out sections of hull.

The Invictus cruised past the battered spacecraft as Alyssa brought them in on final approach to Docking Bay Thirteen. She glanced at John as she feathered the retro-thrusters to guide them into the enormous drydock. "This is where we picked up the Invictus before racing off to rescue Calara."

"Number thirteen, very lucky for me," John replied, giving her a playful wink. He glanced at the hundred-metre-long number thirteen that was painted on the deck of the docking bay and added, "You know how I feel about coincidences; Charles is reminding me who sold him the Invictus in the first place."

"Hoping you'll give him a good deal because of it?" Dana asked with a grin.

He patted her toned thigh and nodded. "He's a shrewd trader, he could've made a great living for himself if he'd retired like I did."

The white battlecruiser glided into the vast, unoccupied drydock, lightly touching down in the middle of the space. Alyssa nodded with satisfaction as she powered off the engines, then remarked, "It's a good job he did send us here. There probably aren't that many docking bays large enough to hold the Invictus after our last refit."

"I'm sure he'll have a few choice things to say about that," John said, smiling as he lifted Dana off his lap. Rising to his feet he patted his jacket pocket and asked the redhead, "Have you prepared the holo-reader?"

She grinned at him and replied, "Yep! I've added schematics for all the tech you wanted and included a failsafe, just in case we get another Dragon-March-traitor situation."

"The Power Core?" he asked, as he met her blue-eyed gaze.

"We just need to transmit a coded signal burst and it's naptime for their ships -- total power shutdown," Dana replied with a sly wink.

John nodded, giving her a grateful smile. "Perfect! Thanks, Sparks."

The girls flanked him and hooked an arm around each of his as they descended from the Command Podium and headed out to meet with Charles. When the outer airlock door spiralled open, John spotted his friend immediately, although the smartly dressed older man didn't acknowledge them, he was too busy gazing in open-mouthed shock at the huge white battlecruiser.

"Admiral Charles Harris," John called out, with a wide grin on his face when he saw the new rank on the other man's epaulets. "Congratulations on your promotion!"

"What the hell have you done to my ship?!" Charles balked, staring at the Invictus in astonishment.

John strolled over to greet him, uncoupling his arms from around the girls so that he could give his superior officer a friendly salute. "Your ship? I think we've had this conversation before, Charles..." He glanced at Dana and added, "My Chief Engineer needed more room, so we stretched the Invictus a bit."

The Admiral shook himself out of his stupefied trance. "Forgive me, it just came as a bit of a shock." He saluted John with a wide grin, then turned to smile at the girls. "Alyssa, Dana, it's lovely to see you both again. If you'll forgive me for being so bold, you're looking even more beautiful than last time."

Alyssa and Dana glided over to the grey-haired man with coy smiles, both embracing him at once as they each kissed a cheek.

"Congratulations on your promotion, Charles," Alyssa purred, tracing a finger over the five golden stars surrounding the golden eagle insignia on his chest. "The new rank definitely suits you."

Dana nodded her agreement, smiling at the blonde as she added, "I don't know what it is about an older man in uniform. It must be the confident air of authority that's so attractive..."

John laughed as Charles blushed scarlet, the flustered officer lost for words. "Let's go and get that drink you promised me, we need to toast your new promotion."

Charles coughed to compose himself, then smiled at John and gestured towards the broad set of double doors that led from the docking bay. As they approached the door, it slowly opened, revealing dozens of eager faces.

"I banned them from the docking bay so you could land in peace," Charles said with a wry smile. "I'm afraid I couldn't convince them to just wait for the Award Ceremony tomorrow for a glance at the Lion."

Sure enough, John heard that nickname echoed repeatedly by hundreds of voices as he followed Charles into the corridor. This crowd was behaving very differently to the previous encounters with the throng of jubilant personnel at Port Megara. He saw looks of awe in the wide-eyed expressions on the naval personnel lining the corridor, a hushed, reverent murmur following them as Charles ushered them along one crowded passageway after the other. Dana flashed a startled look at Alyssa as they followed after John and Charles, her sky-blue eyes like saucers. The blonde nodded to her in return, giving her a knowing smile.

*Your fame precedes you, Mister Blake,* Alyssa said to him, her tone teasing. *If you'd like to celebrate after the Awards with a few score of doe-eyed beauties, I'm sure that'd be fairly easy to arrange. Just let me know if you'd like me to look into that for you.*

*I'm afraid we can't do that,* John replied, throwing her a quick smile over his shoulder. *After Calara and Rachel, Charles asked me to stop recruiting the most beautiful girls from the TF military. He was worried what it might do to morale.*

They travelled up in one of the dozen elevators in this section of the shipyard, then stepped out to find more personnel lining the wide corridor. It was mostly officers waiting to see him here and John returned the respectful salutes that were occasionally thrown his way, although most of the men and women here were too starstruck to remember his rank. It came as quite a relief for him when he finally saw the open door to Charles' office, Lieutenant Adams waiting for them impatiently.

"Good to see you, Victor," John said, nodding to the young man as he followed Charles into the reception area for his command suite.

"Welcome back to Olympus, Sir!" Lieutenant Adams gushed, throwing him a sharp salute, his eyes dancing with excitement.

Charles rolled his eyes as the door closed behind them and said, "Pull yourself together, Victor. You met him before he became a celebrity."

"Sorry, Sir," Lieutenant Adams replied, flushing with embarrassment. He glanced at Alyssa and Dana then blushed all the brighter. "W-w-would any of you care for some refreshments?" he managed to stutter.

Charles waved him away and said, "Don't worry about that, I'll sort out the drinks." Giving him a kinder smile, he added, "I'll be here for a while, Victor. You can call it a night."

"Thank you, Sir," the young officer replied, before saluting John again and smiling at Alyssa.

"Feel free to take a seat," Charles said, gesturing to one of the sofas as John and the girls followed him into his office. "Would any of you like a drink?"

Alyssa had glided over to the window to gaze at the streams of ships flying to and from the shipyard. She turned to smile at the Admiral and replied, "Dana and I are fine, we'll only be staying while you complete the trade, then we'll leave you two to celebrate your promotion."

John nodded and said, "Let's get the tech trade done first, then you and I can make a dent in that whiskey bottle you mentioned."

Charles smiled at him and replied, "That sounds like an excellent plan to me." He leaned against the edge of his desk and added, "I must admit I'm intrigued to know what you're planning to offer."

"Would you mind showing us the schematics for the Kintark heatsinks first please?" John requested politely. He smiled at Dana as she sat down beside him and added, "I'd like my Chief Engineer to take a quick look to make sure they're actually an improvement over the previous ones we've acquired."

"Alright, that seems like a reasonable enough request," Charles replied, twisting so that he could reach over his desk and hit a couple of buttons on the built-in console.

A few seconds later a detailed schematic appeared before them, floating in the middle of the office. It turned slowly as Dana stared at in fascination. "So that's how they improved the thermal conductivity..." she murmured, a smile of admiration for Kintark ingenuity appearing on her beautiful face. "If they're using a crystalline polymer, then that means..."

She suddenly leapt to her feet and darted over to give the startled Admiral a kiss on the cheek. "It was awesome to see you again, Charles!" She turned and gave John a thumbs up and an excited grin. "Yeah, they're the real deal alright! I'm heading back to the ship, I've got to test some shit out!"

Alyssa blew the shocked Admiral a kiss and said, "I'll look forward to seeing you tomorrow at the Award Ceremony, Charles. John was right by the way, you do look ten years younger."

The two girls flounced out of the room and John could hear them chatting to Victor as the door closed behind them.

"What just happened?" Charles asked, looking very nervous all of a sudden.

Alyssa's telepathic voice echoed through John's mind as she said, *His office is clear. Irillith has disabled several audio and video recording devices -- not set by Charles - and has established a zone of white-noise to disrupt all surveillance.*

*Thanks, beautiful. I'll look forward to seeing you later,* John replied sending her a kiss.

John gave his old commander a sympathetic smile and explained, "Yes, Dana's got a photographic memory. I'm sure she's already thought of a way to upgrade that technology, which is why she was so eager to head back to the ship."

Charles looked aghast and blurted out, "But... you can't do that! What about the tech trade?!"

Smiling at the older man, John replied, "In all honesty this was never a tech trade, this was more of a tech giveaway. Just grab that bottle of whiskey and a couple of glasses, then I'll explain."

Charles did as he was bid, retrieving the distinctive-shaped bottle of McGregor whiskey from behind his desk. His hands were shaking as he set the bottle down on the coffee table between them, the two accompanying glasses rattling together with a cut-crystal clink.

John pulled the holo-reader from his jacket pocket and placed it on the table before sliding it over. "I know you asked us to land in Docking Bay Thirteen as a reminder that you sold me the Invictus." He smiled as he added, "You didn't need to. I was already profoundly grateful for you giving me our old ship; I'd never have been able to save Dana, Jade, and Rachel without it." Glancing at the holo-reader he added, "You gave me that, too. Take a look, I promise you'll like what you see."

Charles reached for the holo-reader with trembling fingers, then slowly picked it up and pressed the button to power up the device. A glowing blue holograph appeared before him, the image depicting the silver orb of an Ashanath Power Core. Charles stared at the image in wonder as detailed technical data scrolled down, the image expanding to show a deconstructed view of the technology. It disappeared a moment later and he let out a strangled protest, desperate to see more of the image. His objection died on his lips as the Ashanath variant of the Tachyon Drive appeared next, scattering outwards as comprehensive instructions appeared, explaining how the technology worked and how to construct it.

John picked up the bottle, turning it in his hands, then grinned when he saw the label. "'McGregor 2732'! Where did you get your hands on this?"

"A friend owns a distillery, back on Terra," the Admiral muttered distractedly, spellbound by the compelling images before him.

The enhanced FTL drive disappeared, with the easily identifiable shape of an engine appearing next. Charles watched in awe as the Trankaran engine data scattered outwards, illustrating how to fabricate and build the impressive alien propulsion technology.

John poured out two fingers of the rich amber liquid into the crystal-cut glasses, then slid one over to Charles. "Here you go," he said with a smile.

"Do you have any idea what's on here?!" Charles blurted out, staring at John in shock. "What this technology means for the Terran fleet?!"

"I've a fairly good idea, yes," John replied with an indulgent smile.