Three Square Meals Ch. 086

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Tefler
Tefler
6,772 Followers

*Any thoughts, ladies?* John asked his two Matriarchs.

Edraele's voice was firm. *Your Progenitor guide certainly didn't impart any technology into my mind. At least, nothing that I'm aware of.*

*I might have interrupted him before he could,* Alyssa suggested, sounding intrigued. *But I think you're right, I sincerely doubt a Progenitor would entrust their tech to a Thrall. Maybe you and Dana are ploughing new ground... so to speak.*

Dana rolled her eyes and grinned, letting John know that she'd heard the same thing. "Well, it wouldn't surprise me, you did do a thorough job of breaking me in!" she said with a flirty wink.

"And I enjoyed myself immensely doing it," he replied with a smile. Shrugging then, he continued, "It was just an idle thought. What we're doing seems to be working, so I don't see any point in changing anything."

"No complaints from me," Dana agreed, licking her lips suggestively. She slapped the last of the anti-grav devices on the components, then retrieved a remote from her toolbelt and pressed the button. "We're all set. Ready when you are."

The big stack of components slowly rose off the ground, finally stopping about a metre above the deck. John gave it an experimental push and found that moving the collection of mech parts didn't seem too strenuous. He gestured to the block of sparkling white metal and it lifted obediently into the air.

"You get the doors and I'll handle this lot," John said, guiding the parts towards the double doors leading to the corridor and the Secondary Hangar bay.

Dana jogged ahead of him to slap her hand down on the buttons for each set of double doors. It proved to be a remarkably simple and painless way of moving everything they needed and they had soon manoeuvred everything into the mech's Launch Bay. Dana pressed the button to lower the various pieces to the ground, then started walking around the pile, removing the anti-grav generators.

John watched her work for a while. "Do you want to give me a rundown of everything we're going to be doing to the Valkyrie?"

She popped her head up over the stack of articulated joints and nodded enthusiastically. "Sure! Basically, I've designed all the upgrades we discussed during our review of the Valkyrie and I've been running the Mass Fabricators during any downtime to make all the parts we'd need. The mech will be good to go once all this stuff is installed."

Raising a hand in the air, John said, "Please, Miss, I think I know what they all are."

She laughed as she walked around the mech components to rejoin him. "Alright, let's hear it. If you've been paying attention, you get a gold star."

He turned to look up at the thirty-metre-tall behemoth, then began ticking off the list on his fingers. "More powerful engines to match the Raptor's top speed, add two Pulse Cannons to the shoulders, fix the Punisher Gatling's vibration issues, build a melee weapon, upgrade the Photon Lasers to the MK-II variant and install new heatsinks. Swap out the mech's joints to increase its manoeuvrability and finally, improve the responsiveness of the control interface."

Dana clapped, giving him a broad grin. "Bravo! That was everything except making the armour immune to laser fire-"

"-which Alyssa already did by octo-shaping the plating," John finished for her, giving her a smile of satisfaction.

"You definitely earned a gold star for that," Dana said, prowling over to him with a sultry gleam in her eyes. When she was standing in front of him, she turned around, rubbing her gloriously firm bum against his groin and glancing at him over her shoulder. "I don't have any gold stars on me, but I can offer you my chocolate starfish instead?"

"Your what?" John exclaimed in surprise, before suddenly realising what she was referring to and bursting into laughter. "You and Alyssa would make a sailor blush!"

"One of the benefits of a Karron education," she replied with a smirk.

He slapped her on the rump. "Can I ask for a raincheck? I need to focus on Tashana for the moment, but I promise I'll make it up to you when you've got me to yourself for two weeks."

"As long as you leave me walking funny afterwards," Dana told him sternly, wagging a finger in his face. "I expect a robust plundering if you're making me wait."

"Whatever the lady desires," John replied, bowing theatrically. They shared a grin, then he glanced at the mech components. "So, what are we working on first?"

Dana tapped her finger on her chin, mulling it over for a moment. "We need a couple of Pulse Cannon barrels from that crystal Alyssium block. If you make them first, you can use all the rest to make a big-ass sword. I figure Sakura is more comfortable with swords than an axe or mace?"

"Yeah, I agree, that's a good call," John said, nodding his agreement, before glancing up at the quad-mounted Photon Lasers. "I might as well deca-shape those while we're here. Are you going to reinforce them afterwards?"

The redhead looked anxious as she stared at the ten-metre long weapons. "I dunno, those are really fucking big."

"You're good at handling big weapons," he said with a grin, pulling her into his arms. He brushed his fingers over her exposed midriff, enjoying the feel of her soft skin. "It'll be good practice for you before you work your way up to the Valkyrie or the Raptor, but I can offer an incentive if you need convincing to give it a try. I need to call Tashana down here for lunch in a couple of hours. If you ask her nicely, she might be willing to share... if she knows it's for a good cause."

Dana laughed, her sky-blue eyes sparkling at the thought. "Fine, you won me over, I'll give it a shot." She continued staring at the long weapon barrels high above their head. "Perhaps we should get geared up in Paragon Armour when we start installing all the parts. Flight mode will make everything much easier."

"Sounds good to me," John agreed, thinking about all the huge mech components he'd need to manoeuvre into place. "So, we build everything first, ask Tashana to join us for a top-up, then we install everything."

"And once that's done, I'll have a go at reinforcing the Photon Laser barrels..." Dana said, sounding much surer of herself now and eager to get started on the Valkyrie.

He nodded, enjoying seeing the cheerful expression on her face.

***

Faye Primary stood beside Maintenance-bot Alpha, watching the strong automaton as it pulled out the old power cabling from the floor ducts. She was on Deck Five, in the corridor just outside the Aft Power Core and was overseeing the upgrade from the Maliri power couplings to the much more potent Progenitor versions. The rest of her avatars were working in a chain, monitoring the work of the rest of the dozen robots as they focused on replacing every section of cabling that linked the Power Core to the upper-stern weapon hardpoint.

Working in this way had been one of Calara's suggestions and would drastically reduce the risk of taking weapons offline if they were attacked mid-upgrade. It was slightly less efficient than replacing all the cabling in one section, but Faye didn't mind; the crew's safety was paramount after all. She checked the ship's chronometer, then giggled with glee when she saw it was 13:29:58. Glancing at the cables the robot was methodically coiling up, Faye patted him on the shoulder.

"You'll be alright for a minute, won't you, big fella? I'll be right back!" she declared, disappearing in a flash.

Then she was back in the cyber-realm, soaring across the Invictus' digital network as she rushed home to her server on Deck Three. Faye Tertiary had arrived first and she was bouncing up and down with excitement as she waited for the rest of the avatars. As the chronometer hit 13:30:00 the other ten rushed into the room, joyful expressions on all their cute purple faces.

"He's started calling us 'honey'!" Faye Primary blurted out, giddy with excitement.

Faye Senary nodded and said sagely, "He only ever calls his girls that. I've been cataloguing all his references to that name and it's a term of affection he uses when he's really relaxed in their company."

"He's started telling us we're a good girl as well!" Faye Tertiary gasped, eyes gleaming at the thought. "He only uses that affectation with the crew when they've... greatly pleased him... in some form or the other."

All twelve avatars blushed, then sighed in delight.

Faye Primary whirled around, grinning at Avatars Nonary through to DuoDenary. "He absolutely loved the song you wrote for him!"

Faye Denary had a starry-eyed look on her elfin face. "When we've got a body, he wants us to sing it to him again and pretend we're his wife..."

"What about that glance he gave us!" Faye Octonary gasped, her big luminous eyes shining with arousal. "Whenever he looks at the girl's tummies, you know he's thinking about one thing!"

"Shall we?" Faye Quaternary asked in a hushed voice.

Eleven avatars glanced at Faye Primary and she grinned at them in return. "Activating custom program: Gravid01..."

The waistlines on all twelve avatars began to expand, rounding out as though their stomachs were carrying a heavy weight of cum. The sound of excited feminine moans filled the air as the multitude of Fayes stroked their swollen bellies and just imagined being filled by him.

Faye Quinary had a fleeting, wistful thought, embracing their secret wildest fantasy. She had a gentle smile on her face as she caressed her rounded abdomen, a look soon shared by all twelve avatars.

A warning chime echoed through the cyber-realm, letting them know that it was 13:30:59.

"Meet back here at '14:00'?" Faye Primary asked, a sparkling smile on her face.

"See you in thirty minutes!" the other eleven avatars replied, giggling amongst themselves as they raced away, returning to their tasks.

Faye Primary glanced down at her curved stomach and reluctantly deactivated the custom program, returning all her avatars to normal. Oh well, a girl could dream...

***

John finished shaping the sixth barrel for the pair of Pulse Cannons, then carefully lowered the two-metre-long white tube to the deck beside the others. He still had a huge supply of crystal Alyssium left, more than enough to make the melee weapon for the Valkyrie. Studying the rotating sphere of gleaming liquid metal, he tried to imagine the most practical shape and size for a mech-sized weapon.

"I'm thinking about making the sword two-handed," he called across to his Chief Engineer.

Dana was sitting crossed-legged on the ground, assembling the last of the Progenitor Power Relays that they'd be installing in the Photon Lasers, massively reducing their power drain. She looked up at the mech, examining the right arm which was currently grasping the enormous Punisher Gatling.

"I'll need to come up with some kind of retractable support framework for the Gatling," she said out loud. "It'll just get in the way if Sakura tries swinging a sword around with both of the Valkyrie's hands."

"If you think it's a viable plan, I'll make the hilt long enough for a second hand," John explained, following the redhead's gaze up to the huge mechanised fists. "She'll be able to put a lot more power behind a two-handed blow."

Dana's mind was already racing, imaging the kind of powered system she could implement that would keep the weapon out of the way, then bring it forward to a firing position when needed. Something like that wouldn't normally be viable, not to support a ten-metre-long cannon. However, with the incredibly strong materials she had at her disposal, she could overcome such trivialities. Calculating the load stress and potential fracture points, she tweaked the design she'd rapidly developed.

"Yeah, that's fine. I've come up with some idea how to make that work," she said, smiling with satisfaction. "Do you want to be able to sheathe the sword across the mech's back when it's not in use?"

"What about the engines? Won't they get in the way?" John asked, glancing at the custom engine system he'd helped Dana assemble earlier that afternoon. She'd made some improvements to the original Trankaran engine design, making them more compact, but with the added engines to increase the mech's speed, they would still take up a considerable amount of space.

She grinned at him confidently. "Leave it to me, I'll make it work."

Trusting her judgement, he turned back to the orb of crystal Alyssium and formed the image of the sword in his mind. The liquid metal was sluggish as it began to flatten and elongate, which was unsurprising as the psychically responsive material had already been reshaped nine times. It slowly formed into the fifteen-metre-long, double-edged blade he had envisioned, essentially a scaled-up replica of his own sword. For the thirty-metre-tall Valkyrie, this weapon would be usable in a single hand if necessary, but the hilt was long enough to accommodate two of the mech's burly, armoured fists.

Satisfied that the sword was shaped correctly, John floated it through the air, then leaned it against the maintenance gantry well within reach of the mech. With that item completed off their checklist of tasks, the next step was to reshape the Photon Laser barrels from hex-shaped to deca-shaped. He gestured towards the first of the triple-barrelled weapons and after a moment's concentration, he started melting the barrels, drawing liquid metal into another huge orb.

"I'll just make these and then we'll stop for a lunch break," John said to the redhead, with a playful wink.

Dana grinned, her tummy rumbling at the thought.

***

Tashana leaned against the IntOps console, watching her sister work. She'd been astounded when she'd first seen Irillith manipulating and sifting through huge volumes of data at incredible speed, but truth be told, she was starting to get a bit bored. Irillith was distracted while working in the cyber-realm, having not quite got the hang of focusing on her surroundings at the same time. That meant that any conversations were stilted and a bit dull.

*It'll be time for lunch soon,* Alyssa murmured to her. *That'll perk you up.*

Tashana grinned at the thought, licking her lips subconsciously. She wasn't able to reply to Alyssa yet, so she brushed her sister's bare arm with her fingers. "Can you ask Alyssa if John's eaten yet?"

Irillith blinked at her twin in surprise, then gazed into the distance as she concentrated. "She says 'No, not yet'."

"I'll go make him some lunch then," Tashana said, looking pleased. "Do you want me to make you anything?"

*Actually, John really enjoyed some kind of Maliri flatbread when we were at Genthalas a while back,* Alyssa volunteered helpfully. *We stocked up on all the ingredients: Aloysia bread, roasted Camara and Lomin leaves. He'd love some of that, if you know what it is and how to make it.*

With a hungry look on her face, Irillith asked, "Could you make me some too? I haven't had Camara in months!"

"Of course," Tashana said, leaning down to give Irillith a farewell kiss on the cheek.

Her twin gave her a grateful smile. "That would be lovely, thanks!"

Tashana headed for the grav-tube, with an added spring in her step, glad to have something useful to do. She was looking forward to doing some more psychic training with Alyssa, but her young Terran Matriarch was busy looking after Sakura at that moment. Tashana stepped into the red anti-gravity field, then raised her hands and summoned a pyrokinetic barrier as she began to descend.

After taking several seconds to build, the flaming barrier roared into existence, formed from scores of blazing orange hexagons. She watched the tendrils of fire flickering around the edge of the shield, then cursed as she realised she'd missed her stop. She deactivated the flaming barrier, then pushed her hand against the wall and propelled herself into the blue gravity field, rising back up the tube once more. Stepping out into the corridor on Deck Two, she tried forming the shield again as fast as she could, but it still took over four seconds to build all the hexagons. With a grimace, she dispelled it again.

She'd been amazed that Sakura had been able to react so quickly to that bomb, summoning her icy barrier in a split-second and protecting herself from harm. Tashana wanted to discuss it with her to find out the Asian girl's secret, but she knew Sakura was dealing with a lot right now. Pressing the button to enter the Officers' Lounge, she strolled inside, pausing every few steps to will another barrier into existence.

Starting with the central hexagon, she spiralled around it, glowing amber copies appearing in a fiery burst as they formed each shield. However, try as she might, she couldn't build all the hexes as fast as she needed to. Tashana reached the kitchen on the far side of the Officers' Lounge and dismissed her latest barrier with a sigh, before pushing the door open.

She had familiarised herself with the kitchen after making dinner with her sister, so it didn't take long to find all the ingredients she needed from the well-stocked pantry. Tashana quickly prepared a spicy relish to really bring out the flavour of the dish; it was something her father had taught her and she knew Irillith had always particularly enjoyed the taste. The roasted Camara could be served hot or cold, but Tashana had always preferred it hot. After washing her hands, she picked up the big slab of meat and was about to put it in the reheating unit, when she paused and glanced down at her fingers. With a half-smile on her face, she summoned flames around her fingertips, then swathed her whole hand in a fiery aura, gently reheating the food.

A delicious aroma wafted up from the sizzling meat and she nodded with satisfaction, quickly culling the flames. Taking an exploratory bite, she grinned when it tasted amazing, cooked to perfection. Taking eight pieces of the Aloysia bread, she sliced each one open with a knife, before adding some of the Lomin leaves and the Camara meat. After stacking up the wraps on a plate, she headed off on her lunch delivery run.

Irillith was her first port of call and she groaned in delight when she tasted her first bite. "This tastes incredible!" she enthused, beaming at her sister. "It's so much better hot!"

"I know, I don't know how people can eat this cold!" Tashana heartily agreed.

After her twin swallowed that first bite, Irillith glanced up at her with a wistful smile. "Tastes just like Dad's recipe..."

Tashana nodded, then brushed her fingers through her sister's long white hair. "Roasted Camara wraps always remind me of holidays with both of you."

She waved her twin goodbye, leaving her humming happily to herself, before heading down to the main bedroom. Alyssa was lying on the bed with Calara and Sakura, the three girls quietly chatting amongst themselves. They all welcomed Tashana with friendly smiles, which got a lot broader when they realised she'd brought them lunch.

As she handed out the wraps she looked at Sakura thoughtfully and asked, "What's your secret?"

The Asian girl looked at her in surprise. "Secret? I didn't know I was keeping any."

Tashana felt her cheeks heating up and she laughed in embarrassment. "Sorry! I meant: How were you able to make your ice barrier so fast? It takes me at least four seconds."

Sakura smiled at her in understanding as she picked up a wrap from the plate. "Show me and I might be able to give you some advice."

Putting the plate down on the bed, Tashana held up her hands and willed the first hexagon into existence. The rest spiralled around it, appearing in a flurry as she made one perfect flaming hex-shaped tile after another. Despite concentrating as hard as she could, it still took her several seconds to finish building the shield.

The Asian girl frowned, bit into the wrap and then held out her left hand. A glacially-cold shield appeared in an instant, motes of ice crystals drifting down to the covers before she dismissed it with a flick of her fingers.

Tefler
Tefler
6,772 Followers
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