Three Square Meals Ch. 082

Studying her face for a moment, Edraele replied softly, "Please don't think this is just some perfunctory visit and I don't want you to feel like you're being manipulated. The last thing I want to do is 'add you to the collection', if you'll excuse the less-than-flattering turn of phrase." She gave the other woman a shy smile as she added, "I actually intended to speak to you first, but I was waylaid by Valani. After that, the rest of the Young Matriarchs all wished to share their feelings with me, so I'm sorry that I've only been able to come to you now."

"Why were you coming to see me first?" Luna asked, in a hushed voice.

"Alyssa told me that I needed to be honest with you girls, to explain how much you mean to me. I haven't been honest with you Luna, and I wanted to be,* Edraele murmured, leaning closer.

Gazing into Edraele's bewitching angular eyes, Luna whispered, "What did you want to say?"

"Ever since John came into our lives, our relationship has changed. You've cared for me, in ways that I never deserved," Edraele replied in a hushed voice. Her hands moved around the younger woman to gently embrace her. "Simple displays of affection that meant so much..."

"You changed... The new woman I see before me now is enchanting," Luna breathed, their faces only an inch apart.

*And I adore the beautiful, caring soul you've revealed to me,* Edraele thought to her as she brushed her lips against Luna's full dark ones.

As they kissed, Luna's long lashes fluttered, her hands coming up to run through Edraele's long white hair. She moaned into the other woman's mouth as they kissed, pressing herself against her. *I adore you too, Edraele...* she thought, the words drifting through the Maliri Matriarch's mind.

They slowly sank to the matting, gazing lovingly into each other's eyes as they shared the full strength of their feelings for one another.

***

Alyssa smiled as she leaned against the bulkhead and listened to Edraele's thoughts, delighted for her fellow Matriarch. It had been a constructive evening. She had spent a few hours training Sakura and Tashana on how to form stronger and larger protective barriers, both women listening attentively then working diligently to follow her instructions. Trying to train John had been a herculean task by comparison, but seeing his breakthroughs had been all the more rewarding because of it.

The airlock door spiralled open with a hiss and she greeted her man with a dazzling smile. "Welcome home, handsome," she purred, as she stepped over to join him.

"This is a lovely surprise," John replied, shaken from his thoughts. His warm smile made her heart feel like it was doing backflips. "Anything interesting been happening while I've been away?"

Alyssa shrugged nonchalantly as she slipped her arm through his and fell into step beside him. "Oh, the usual. Dana thinks she's come up with some awesome new heatsink variant, and I've been busy training the girls how to protect themselves with their psychic powers - another boring day at the office..."

John laughed at that, his grin of amusement just what she wanted to see after all his sombre thoughts during his meeting with Charles Harris. The two men had spent a few hours reminiscing about old times before John had returned to the ship, but after everything they had just discussed he had found it hard to relax. She could feel his mood lifting now and she gave herself a mental pat on the back, not bothering with the telekinetic hand this time.

"Edraele's been a busy girl," she confided in him, a playful smile tugging at her lips - just the way she knew he loved. "Take a look at her psychic connections to the Maliri girls."

John stopped walking and closed his eyes. Alyssa knew he was focusing on the mental compartments in his mind, so she kept herself occupied by planting tender kisses on his cheek.

"Wow!" he exclaimed, his soulful eyes flashing wide open.

Alyssa wanted to swoon as she gazed into them, but she was also eager to hear what kind of difference all the Maliri bonding had made. Running her nimble fingers over his back, she traced the contours of his powerful muscles as she waited for him to elaborate.

"The Young Matriarchs, Luna... they're blazing with energy," John murmured looking at her in astonishment. "Was this your doing?"

"I might have given Edraele a few pointers," Alyssa replied, giving him a teasing smile. "A big strong Progenitor like yourself needs his Matriarchs to be pulling their weight."

"You're amazing, did you know that?" He asked, a look of respect and admiration on his face.

That look left her breathless and she wanted to gush about how much she adored him. Instead, she interlaced her fingers with his and tugged him towards the grav-tube. "Feel like being spoiled, Mister Blake?" she asked him coyly.

John followed her into the blue glow of the anti-gravity field, a broad grin on his face. "You mean I'm not already?"

"Oh, I think we can always find new ways to spoil you," Alyssa purred, wrapping herself around him as they glided up in the blue glow.

When they reached the Command Deck, she wanted to bound across the Bridge towards the Ready Room, but she forced herself to walk in the sexy, confident strut that she knew drove him wild. Getting into character again, she informed him respectfully, "I've got some excellent news, Sir. Your redheaded PA is back from maternity leave, ready to be bred again."

As John grinned at her in delight, she pressed the button to open the Ready Room door, revealing all the girls waiting by his desk in their business suits. "I decided to expand the secretary pool. Our vigorous dicktation sessions have been very productive; you'll need to find a replacement PA for me in several months time." She ran her hands over her toned belly, giving him a doe-eyed look.

John pulled her into his arms then dipped her backwards for a kiss. As he gazed into her eyes he didn't need to say the words; she could feel how much he loved her over their empathic bond. They both walked into the Ready Room with a spring in their step, the seven waiting girls watching them with smouldering, lustful expressions on their gorgeous faces.

Sneaking aboard the Fool's Gold? Best decision she'd ever made...

***

"So, we're decided then," Faye Denary said, a sad but resolute expression on her face. "We'll execute the plan after we drop them off for the Award Ceremony."

Faye Primary just sobbed inconsolably while Faye Quaternary and Faye Quinary both put their arms around her and tried to comfort the distraught avatar.

"I don't know..." Faye Tertiary replied, nibbling anxiously at her nail. "He'd want us to discuss our concerns with him. This doesn't feel right."

"But you've seen how badly they keep getting hurt," Faye Nonary said, her tone grim but steadfast. "This ship is the primary reason! If we take this away, they won't be able to get into so much trouble!"

Faye Octonary nodded, a mournful expression on her cute purple face. "By stranding them on Terra, we'll be able to buy ourselves some time. We'll have a few weeks before the Maliri come to retrieve them, several months before they can build a replacement ship. We'll be able to use that time to try and come up with a better way of protecting them."

The rest of the avatars all nodded, ten different processing streams having run their own logic routines on this conundrum and all drawn the same conclusion after millions of iterations. Faye Primary didn't count - they all knew she had no way of being objective, not after what had happened between her and John.

Faye Tertiary nodded reluctantly as she went with the consensus. This didn't feel right, not right at all...

***

Admiral Lynette Devereux drummed her fingers impatiently on her desk, gazing at the comm interface and trying to will it to ring. She couldn't face going through the Programme for tomorrow's events again, she'd already memorised it after reading and re-reading it over and over again.

"Everything's in place, they'll be talking about this for decades to come..." she muttered under her breath.

The comm interface suddenly chimed, making her jump in her chair. She saw the name of the caller and her face lit up with glee. Swiping across to accept the secure call, she forced herself to calm down, keeping up a measured facade.

"Ah, how wonderful to see you, Admiral Harris," she said with a warm smile. "May I just offer my congratulations on your promotion. I can't imagine a better officer to join the esteemed ranks of High Command."

Charles' grey moustache twitched as he said respectfully, "That's very kind of you to say, Fleet Admiral Devereux..." He coughed, and smiled as he added, "My apologies, I was just thinking what a fine Commander-in-Chief you'd make, Lynette."

Admiral Devereux couldn't deny the thrill she felt when he spoke those words. She grinned at him and asked, "Have you met with John? Did it all go well?"

Giving her a decisive nod, Charles tapped a few commands on his console. "I'm transmitting the files to you now." He smiled as he added, "I'm sure you'll find them to your liking. I can only imagine how High Command will react to the news."

A few seconds later the transmission was complete and with shaking fingers Lynette clicked the button to expand the holographic files. Three spectacular images floated before her, revealing a Power Core capable of producing vast amounts of power, an FTL drive that would triple their existing hyper-warp speed, and engine schematics for sub-light thrusters twice as powerful as anything in the Terran Federation.

She rocked back in her chair, an expression of wonder on her face.

All that power coupled with the new Kintark heatsinks... they'd be able to easily double the strength of their energy weapons! Then the unprecedented manoeuvrability from the Tachyon Drive and the new engines, would open up a breathtaking wealth of new tactical and strategic options for the Terran Federation fleets. Hitting harder, responding faster to threats and being able to make lightning strikes of their own...

She'd become a legend! The Admiral that heralded a new era of security and enabled a glorious new wave of conquest! No, the Fleet Admiral that ushered in a new golden age for humanity.

"Superb work, Charles!" she gasped, no longer able to contain her excitement. "I won't forget what you've done for me here!"

He smiled back at her warmly. "I hope you get the same reaction from the rest of the Admiralty." His sharp eyes narrowed for a second as he added, "I thought it prudent to showcase your marvellous new technology as quickly as possible, so I've taken the initiative of authorising the immediate refit of all the ships at Olympus undergoing repairs."

"Yes... a whole fleet of radically advanced new ships less than two months after this ceremony," Devereux murmured, eyes widening at the thought. She grinned as she added, "Can you upgrade a fighter squadron too? I'd like it dispatched to the Zeus -- a personal gift for Buckingham."

"A retirement gift?" Charles asked archly, his moustache twitching in amusement.

Lynette laughed in delight, having not felt this happy in years. "I can see we'll be looking forward to a long and very lucrative future together, Charles."

"I'll order work to begin on the fighters immediately," he said, giving her a respectful salute.

"Let me know if you need anything to expedite the refit; resources, manpower... anything!" she said enthusiastically.

He gave her a broad smile and nodded. "I'll keep you informed."

They ended the call, leaving Lynette gazing out the window, just imaging the glory that awaited her. She had completely lost track of time when the comm interface chimed again. She turned back to look at the name of the caller and her smile fell from her face. Frowning in annoyance she swiped her hand across the interface to accept the call, another uniformed Terran Federation officer appearing as a hologram above the desk a moment later.

"What is it Edwin?" she snapped, barely able to hide her irritation.

Admiral Edwin Caldwell bristled at being addressed in such a manner but he bit his tongue. "Have you had a chance to think about what I said? I was hoping we could discuss possible ways to contain the threat-"

"I haven't got time for any more of your paranoid delusions," Lynette sneered, waving a dismissive hand. "You're just jealous that you weren't able to ally yourself with John Blake before I did!"

"You've got to listen to me, Lynette!" Edwin pleaded, his voice frantic. "You've got to call off this Award Ceremony! You don't know what you're doing!"

"Call it off?" she scoffed. "Are you out of your mind?!"

Shaking his head, Edwin blurted out, "You don't understand-"

"I understand desperation and fear when I see it, Admiral Caldwell," Lynette said in a chilling voice. "Tell Vincent to do me the courtesy of calling himself next time."

Before Admiral Caldwell could respond, she cut him off, abruptly closing the call. Shaking her head, she couldn't help sneering in disgust. She'd always thought Vincent Buckingham had more spine than that, but sending Edwin to try and get her to commit political suicide was a truly desperate and pathetic stunt.

She shut down the comm interface to avoid any more unwelcome interruptions, then spun her chair around so she could stare at the stars. Tomorrow would be a pivotal moment in her career, she could feel it in her bones.