Three Square Meals Ch. 091

"We couldn't have done it without you," John said sincerely. He gave her a self-deprecating smile as he added, "You've no idea how glad I am that I didn't have to heal the Trankarans!"

She laughed at the thought. "Yes, I can imagine."

He paused for a moment, then said, "Using the Sonic Cannons to liquefy the Kirrix grubs was very impressive and you weren't using any powers for that. It was an excellent idea that saved thousands of lives."

"That's true," she conceded. "Perhaps I shouldn't be quite so dismissive about non-psychic treatment. Helping all those people did feel wonderful too."

"John, would you mind if I make a request?" Tashana asked, her firm tone drawing everyone's attention to her. "I'd prefer to keep using pistols rather than switch to a Reaper Cannon. I've had... a lot of experience using them and it seems a shame to waste it."

He looked at her in surprise then nodded as he met her intense violet gaze. "Of course, beautiful, I agree completely. Besides, you channelling your psychic abilities into those bullets was inspired! We would've been in big trouble without you there to take care of the Juggernauts."

"I can't claim the credit for that idea," Tashana said, smiling at Dana.

The redhead didn't notice though as she appeared to be lost in thought.

Rachel nudged her playfully with an elbow. "Hey, Tashana was talking to you!"

"Oh crap! Sorry," Dana replied, giving the Maliri girl a look of apology. "I was just thinking of a way to improve those pistols for you. I'll come up with something this afternoon while I'm working on Faye's sexy new bod."

"You're forgiven!" Tashana exclaimed with a broad grin, intrigued to find out what the inventive redhead had in mind.

"How close are you to finishing Faye's body?" John asked Dana.

"We've been making pretty good progress," Dana replied, sharing a look with Irillith. "I reckon about another four days and we'll be nearly done. The Maliri Matriarchs are bringing something important though, so I can't finish Faye completely until we rendezvous with their fleet."

Irillith nodded, a look of satisfaction on her face. "Her new software is coming along nicely. I should be finished in a couple of days."

John smiled at the giddy purple sprite. "Not much longer, Faye."

"I know!" she exclaimed, her wings thrumming with excitement. "I can't wait!"

"Likewise," he agreed. "I'd love to give you a hug right now. You were amazing in the battle! Ferrying us around, protecting Sakura, fighting in the Raptor, and manning the Invictus' guns... we literally couldn't have managed without you."

"Why don't you let me take care of that hug for you," Irillith volunteered, closing her eyes and entering the astral plane. A few seconds later, a glowing projection of her appeared on the bed beside Faye and wrapped the sprite in a warm embrace. "Thank you, Faye, from all of us."

The elfin girl hugged her Creator back, revelling in the contact. "I love that you can do that!" she gasped, snuggling into the Maliri girl before reluctantly letting her go. Irillith gave her an affectionate kiss on the cheek before returning to her body.

"While we're on the subject of creative use of powers," John said, looking around at the girls' beautiful, attentive faces. "There were a few other things I should mention that were all excellent. Starting with Irillith using electricity to power the train... Getting to the fortress would have taken so much longer otherwise and we might not have been in time to save the survivors from the Kirrix."

"It was surprising how much more powerful I'd become," the Maliri girl admitted, her angular eyes widening as she remembered the ease with which she'd powered the train. She flashed a grin at Tashana and added, "We should all be very grateful I have such a generous sister!"

"Sharing is always a pleasure..." Tashana purred, giving John a sultry glance under her long lashes.

Her flirtatious look scattered John's thoughts for a moment as his imagination ran wild. His painfully full quad ached with need and he could just imagine how good it would feel to part those soft, full lips...

Alyssa gave the Maliri girl a stern look. "John had a lot of stimulation last night and this morning, but he's been saving his cum for you ladies. No teasing him, okay? I'm not sure he can take it!"

The atmosphere in the room changed dramatically, to one that was much more sexually charged. John saw the hungry gleam in all those wonderfully enchanting eyes and he groaned at the promise held in each and every one. "Let's wrap this up fast!" he pleaded.

Unsurprisingly there was no disagreement from anyone present.

Turning to look at Dana, he did his best to ignore the flush of arousal across her luscious cleavage. "What happened when you brought the roof down? I didn't give you Pyrokinesis, so how did you melt all the metal like that?"

Dana gave him a brilliant smile. "I just lowered the melting point of all that steel! It was hot down there with lava all over the place, so the metal just slid right into the canyon!"

John gave her a look of sincere admiration. "That was really nice, Sparks. But how did you know we weren't going to get crushed by the canyon collapsing?"

The redhead looked a bit shifty then and admitted, "I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best."

He blinked at her in surprise, then laughed as he shook his head. "Well I'm very glad your luck was in!"

"Me too!" she exclaimed with a wink.

Turning to the last girl in the circle, John opened his arms for Alyssa, pulling her into a hug. "As I said before, I had no idea how tough that battle with the Kirrix fleet was. That you were able to pull through that fight while still acting as our telepathic hub and supplying everyone with psychic power was incredible! I know you thought you'd done a bad job as a Matriarch, but you couldn't be further from the truth."

The blonde let out a happy sigh, cuddling into his chest and enjoying the feel of his strong arms around her. "Thanks, handsome, that was lovely to hear." She glanced up at him and continued, "I actually had something I wanted to raise with you about our powers though?"

"Sure, go ahead," he replied indulgently.

She turned slightly so she could look around the circle of girls. "I think it's awesome that you've enhanced everyone with all these wonderful psychic abilities, but everyone's really starting to push their limits. While that's fantastic and I don't want to discourage anyone, we can't all be blowing through loads of eldritch energy! It's got to come from somewhere..."

"Yeah, getting tapped out mid-fight was a nightmare," John said, his eyes narrowing. "If I'd had enough psychic power, I could have cleared most of the Kirrix from that gallery single-handed."

Alyssa glanced back at the sleeping Nymph, a fond smile on her face. "Jade normally makes a massive difference. I didn't realise quite how much I've been relying on her until she was out of action. She hardly ever uses any energy either, so she's always there to help out."

"How long until she wakes up?" John asked, glancing at the ship's chronometer. He did a double-take and exclaimed, "What the hell?! It's four-thirty in the morning!"

The girls all laughed at his reaction as Alyssa explained, "We started the battle at three, yesterday afternoon. We spent about five hours fighting, roughly seven hours sleeping, and it's been an hour or so since we got up, watching the video and chatting."

"To answer your first question," Rachel said, looking at Jade tucked up in the covers. "If Jade is sleeping for fourteen hours since you fed her, then she'll wake up in approximately sixteen minutes."

"And if she doesn't?" John asked, glancing at the slumbering Nymph with a worried frown.

The brunette gave him a reassuring smile. "We can deal with that eventuality if it occurs, but I suspect it won't. Whatever you did to her appears to have been something profound and it was linked to your cum. Our previous experiences tend to make me think she'll be waking up soon; you love her far too much to let anything bad happen to her."

John relaxed and smiled at her. "Yeah, you're right. Whatever's happening to Jade must be linked directly to me and I'd never do anything to hurt her." He brushed Alyssa's hair away from her shoulder so he could see her face and pulled her into his arms. "So you were saying about Jade being like an extremely powerful battery of psychic energy?"

"Hmm? Oh right, yeah," Alyssa replied, distracted for a moment by his embrace. "I was just thinking that between me and Jade, we can keep all the girls here supplied with energy, even when I'm actively using powers too. But you also have a vast pool of potential eldritch energy practically begging you to make the most of it, or should I say them."

"The Maliri?" John asked, gazing into her blue eyes. "You think I should work with Jade to connect more of them to me?"

"That's one option, and I'm sure there's lots of naughty Maliri noblewomen desperately in need of a little positive attitude adjustment," the psychic blonde replied with a smirk. She made a point of looking around at her adoptive sisters. "But you already know of a much better way to really make the most of your connections with a girl and you've already laid the groundwork. There's a particular group of lovely Maliri girls that are very fond of you..."

"The assassins and the Young Matriarchs," John said quietly. "You think I should work on my relationships with them?"

"They'd absolutely love it and I have a feeling you'd have a good time too," Alyssa said with an indulgent smile. "Also remember that just between the girls in this room, they pool way more energy than over a thousand of Edraele's girls combined. Giving the Maliri some TLC would be fun for all of you and give you access to massive amounts of energy."

Mention of his Maliri Matriarch made John feel a sharp pang of loss and he glanced at the twins, seeing that they were feeling the same way.

"As soon as Niskera has finished her transformation, we need to head straight to the rendezvous point," John said with conviction. "I hate the idea of Edraele lying wounded in a cryostasis chamber. We need to get her out of there and healed up as soon as possible!"

"She won't remember or feel a thing while she's in stasis," Sakura said, her voice comforting. "Trust me... I should know."

He gave her a look of sympathy and nodded. "I just really miss not hearing her voice. I've been worrying about whether to ask the Maliri to just sail straight across Terran territory so we can meet quicker and I know she'd have some great advice for me on that."

"I really miss her too," Alyssa said softly. "For what it's worth, I don't think we should risk it. It'll only save us a day or two, but then we'd be meeting up in the middle of Terran territory. I can't imagine having a Maliri warfleet parked in Terran Space would win you any friends in the Admiralty."

"I'd come to pretty much the same conclusion," he said, relaxing a little. "I was also trying to decide whether to still send the Maliri off to protect the Ashanath, or ask them to help the Trankarans instead. I'm leaning towards intervening against the Kirrix, but it's a big decision with serious consequences and I don't want to make it without giving it a lot of thought..."

Calara leaned into his side and said, "In my opinion, the most sensible strategic choice would be to ask the Maliri to assist the Trankarans. It's true that the Ashanath are exposed to danger after losing so many ships in the battle with the Drakkar, but the Trankarans are actually fighting off an invasion right now. It's a choice between a potential threat or a very real and dangerous one."

"That's a very good point," John replied, giving her a grateful smile. "We could also send the next Maliri fleet that finishes the refit to protect the Ashanath. That would only leave them exposed for perhaps another two weeks."

"If I was King of the Maliri, that's what I'd do," Irillith said, her expression sombre. The teasing twinkle in her violet eyes gave away the fact that she was tormenting him.

Choosing not to rise to the bait, he smiled at her and said, "I'm sure you'd make a very wise Queen, Princess Irillith."

She looked startled for a moment, then laughed, the lovely carefree sound echoing around the bedroom. She shared a smile with Tashana, her fellow Maliri princess.

"I think we're about done," John said, with more than a hint of eagerness in his voice. "Did anyone have anything else they wanted to add? Oh, right! You mentioned the shields, Irillith?"

"Yes, that's right," she said, turning to look at Dana. "I just wanted to make the point that the shields were extremely effective when we were on the train, where we had a chance to let them recharge. But in the protracted battle along the gallery, they were overwhelmed too quickly, then basically stayed out of action for the rest of the fight. Is there anything you can do to improve the recharge rate or increase the capacity a bit more?"

The redhead grimaced and appeared torn with indecision. "I could do, but there's a few problems. Firstly, I'm not an expert in shield technology, so unless I get some kind of Progenitor innovation out of the blue, I'll have to do some extensive research into possible improvements. Don't get me wrong, I'd really love to do that, but I'm busy with Faye's body at the moment and I've got a few other things on the go too. Secondly, we're already thinking about visiting the Brimorians to get some of their tech. I might just end up wasting a load of time duplicating their research which we end up acquiring a week or two later anyway!"

John considered her reply for a moment. "Yeah, focus on Faye for now. I think the kind of upgrades Irillith mentioned would be extremely useful, especially improved recharge rates, but it's probably better to get hold of the Brimorian tech first. Then you can spend some time looking into ways of optimising or upgrading their existing technology and make some really big gains in the long term."

"Sounds like a good plan to me," Dana said with a grin. "I'll be able to use any new shield improvements on all our ships as well, not just the Paragon armour. I was going to treat the research into shield enhancements as my one and only priority as soon as we bag some of the Brimorian tech."

There were nodding heads all around the circle, everyone in complete agreement.

"Anything else?" John asked, glancing around at the girls.

"Only that our armour got the crap shot out of it," Dana said with a frown. "That's four female suits and one male that are busted to hell. You or Alyssa need to fix them urgently."

"Let me," Alyssa volunteered, giving John a coy smile. "I think you'll be busy this morning."

"Aren't you planning on joining us?" he asked the blonde in surprise.

She shook her head and send in a smoky voice, "You can finish off what you started with me at lunchtime. I think you should-"

A yawn behind them made everyone freeze and they all whirled around to look at Jade, who sat up with a radiant smile on her face. The Nymph locked eyes with John and squealed with delight, scampering over the bed to snuggle into him, her loving purrs audible to all.

"I can't believe you did it, John!" Jade gasped, looking at him in wonder. "I love you so much!"

"Did what?!" Dana blurted out, voicing the question on everyone's mind.

The Nymph bit her lower lip as she giggled with glee and she began to shimmer in a verdant haze. When the green aura faded away, a stunningly beautiful redhead gazed back at Dana. Her full lips formed a perfect sparkling smile, the golden coronas in Jade's sky-blue eyes flaring with her excitement.

Jade winked playfully at Dana and asked, "How awesome was that?"