Three Square Meals Ch. 098

Calara and Sakura had already begun a bout, so he made no attempt to interrupt, stopping instead to watch them fight. Apparently, this fight included powers, because Sakura was moving in a blur, her fists flashing back and forth as she tried to land a blow on Calara. The Latina had a serene expression on her face as she used her prescience to forecast the Asian girl's attacks, her supple body never pausing for an instant as she pivoted and dodged, just managing to avoid Sakura's flurry of blows by a hair's breadth.

He found it fascinating to watch them sparring like this, their two radically different sets of powers playing to each girl's strengths and managing to offset one another. They appeared to be closely matched, so it came as a surprise when Sakura managed to land a lightning-fast punch to Calara's stomach, winding the Latina and knocking her off-balance. Not wanting to waste an opportunity for victory, Sakura pounced on her opponent, applying a hold to bring Calara down.

Calara fell awkwardly, but that was when John noticed her smile of satisfaction as she sprung her trap, twisting in Sakura's grip and rolling to reverse the pin. Now that they were grappling, Calara had managed to negate much of Sakura's speed advantage, while her ability to predict the future was still just as potent as ever. It only took thirty seconds of scrambling on the mat before Calara managed to lock her forearm across Sakura's neck, making the Asian girl tap to concede the match.

John applauded as he walked over to join them, offering them both a hand to get up. "Nice fight!"

Sakura gladly accepted and shook her head in admiration at the Latina. "I might have the advantage in raw power, but you're one hell of a tricky opponent!"

"Taught by the best," Calara replied, throwing a wink at John.

He tipped an imaginary hat to her. "Nice to see you were paying attention to all those underhanded tricks."

Sakura glanced at her sparring partner then back at John. "Do you want to watch us spar again, or do you want to fight against one of us?"

"Neither for the moment," John replied, putting his arms around their waists and pulling them close. "First I just wanted to check you're both okay after that astral battle? You were both badly hurt."

He saw a shadow cross both their faces, but neither complained. Sakura raised her chin stoically, while Calara appeared thoughtful rather than upset.

"I'll be fine, thank you," Sakura replied with a brave smile. "It wasn't a pleasant experience, not by a long shot, but I've been through far worse."

Calara nodded her agreement. "I'm okay too. Rachel healed me almost immediately and I've not noticed any side-effects today." She looked at him hopefully. "That reminds me... I wanted to ask you something."

"Ask away, honey."

"I was thinking it might be sensible for me to learn how to fight with melee weapons," the Latina said firmly. "It would be a natural progression from unarmed martial arts and might prove useful in the future."

John nodded and gave her an encouraging smile. "Sure, I don't have a problem with that. You're an intelligent and creative fighter; once you're fully trained, I'm sure Sakura and I will learn a few things from you."

"I'd love to help train her!" Sakura immediately volunteered, looking delighted at the opportunity.

The two girls shared an enthusiastic grin, before turning to face him again.

He shook his head in admiration. "I was worried you two might be traumatised after being injured, but I can see I underestimated how amazingly resilient you are." Rubbing their backs, he said quietly, "My fierce warrior maidens... I'm very proud of you both."

Calara and Sakura looked at him in delight, swooning at his earnest praise.

He smiled at them affectionately, then said to the Latina, "Now, would you mind if I borrow your sparring partner for a few hours? I'd like Sakura to spend the afternoon teaching me Luna's sword-fighting techniques."

Calara laughed and nodded. "As long as it's not all afternoon."

John and Sakura headed to the equipping room and were soon wearing their training armour and holding their shining white practice swords. When they returned to the dojo, they found Calara waiting with a bright look of anticipation on her face, the Latina taking far more of an interest in the upcoming battle now that she was hoping to train with swords herself.

John watched Sakura as she glided across the mats to the centre of the Dojo. She had always been a graceful woman, her lithe athletic body moving with perfect balance, but this time he could see the difference in her. She now possessed that same smooth predatory gait he'd seen from Luna and he hadn't thought it possible, but her poise had improved, filled with an air of inner confidence. When she turned to face him and tightened her grip on the hilts of her ninjato, he saw the quiet watchful gaze of a lioness sighting its prey.

He'd never felt more attracted to her than at that moment.

The sudden surge in arousal was shocking, especially for a man surrounded by and bedding a bevy of gorgeous women. He did his best to suppress that feeling and swung his sword in a lazy figure of eight to distract himself. "Powers or no powers?" he asked the Asian girl.

"No powers," she said firmly. "They'll just be a distraction."

"Okay, let's see what you've got," John said, smiling at his limber opponent.

Sakura nodded as she padded towards him, her approach measured and cautious, her grip on her blades now loose and relaxed. John had been expecting her to sprint towards him, attacking in a blistering hail of blows as had always been her preferred style, so this new approach came as a surprise. She was wary now, her eyes watching his every movement like a hawk.

John decided to go on the attack to put some pressure on her, as he knew how much Sakura hated fighting on the defensive. When she was nearly in range, he darted forward a couple of steps and lunged forward with the longer reach of his two-handed blade. It was a reckless move that he knew had no chance of winning the bout with a lucky hit, but he intended it as a preliminary move to catch her off-balance and let him follow up with additional attacks.

Her reaction caught him by complete surprise.

Rather than effortlessly dodging or blocking the lunging blow as he'd expected, Sakura started to move the instant he started shifting his weight to prepare for the strike. The moment he had fully committed to his attack, she darted forward herself, dropping to her knees and skidding beneath his outstretched sword before slashing his torso with both ninjato.

John laughed and shook his head for leaving himself exposed. "Very nice. Alright, round two."

They squared off again and Sakura advanced at her measured pace, looking relaxed and at ease. John still wanted to push her onto the defensive, but decided not to be so reckless about it this time. Approaching cautiously, he tried a short, controlled slash, again taking advantage of the longer length of his sword. Sakura just stepped back, narrowly avoiding the swipe but making no attempt to parry. She did the same for the next dozen attacks, focusing only on dodging, but he did manage to get her to block the last couple which gave him a perverse sense of satisfaction.

After he'd forced her to parry the third quick slash, he stepped forward and shifted his weight to attempt a more substantial blow, aiming for a medium strength cut at waist height. Again, her response caught him completely by surprise as Sakura exploded into action, lunging forward and using both blades to parry his sword before he could bring it close to her body. He desperately brought the sword back to defend himself, but she was right on top of him then, dragging her blades across his vulnerable abdomen and around his waist as she pirouetted past. If they were unarmoured, he would have been neatly disembowelled.

"You've completely changed your fighting style!" he remarked in astonishment.

"Yes, but you haven't," Sakura replied, allowing herself a sly grin. "Round three?"

"Definitely!" John agreed, eager to see more of her moves.

Curious to see how she would fight given the chance to be on the offensive from the start, John didn't approach this time and adopted a guard stance instead. Sakura's half-smile was unnerving as she'd obviously been expecting him to change tack exactly like this. She strolled towards him, allowing herself a twirl of her twin swords as she did so. Spotting that confident and familiar flourish, John nearly expected her to fall back into her old habits and rain a flurry of blows down on him as she used to, as if attempting to batter her way through his defences.

Sakura didn't disappoint him though, completely changing her game plan into something new. She alternated with lazy slashes from both blades, just enough to keep him parrying and occupied, while watching him with almost casual disinterest. John wasn't fooled that time though and by the glint in her brown almond-shaped eyes, he knew she was watching and waiting for the slightest misstep. He finally realised the essence of Luna's fighting style and it was one that Sakura seemed to have excelled at in a very short period of time.

He kept parrying the blows, allowing himself to be pushed backwards, just as he'd seen Luna do to Sakura in their first bout. After blocking a score of similar swipes, he shifted his weight to try and surprise her with a counterattack, which was just what Sakura was waiting for. She dived forward with both blades extended, planning on catching him unawares and impaling him in the chest. John had been anticipating such a move though, and he stepped aside then chopped down with all his strength. The force of his sword smashing into hers drove her arms lower and he reversed the hand-tingling blow to bring his blade up to her throat.

Sakura froze at the gentle contact of metal on metal, then straightened and smiled at him, obviously impressed. "It took me a lot longer to come up with an effective counter to Luna's sword style."

John lowered his blade and smiled at her. "She's had decades to practice this, it's not a fair comparison." Shaking his head in admiration he continued, "It's an excellent technique against a skilled opponent; observe the way they fight and make no real attempt to attack, then wait for them to leave themselves even slightly vulnerable and go all-out for the killing stroke. I did something similar against that Drakkar Warboss, but it was far cruder."

Sakura nodded eagerly. "I spent some time discussing it with Luna. It's not a practical fighting style to use against unskilled enemies, because you waste all that time being cautious and watching your opponent. It'll be much faster for me to just slash someone like that to bits, while you can use your brute strength to quickly overpower them. Against someone who really knows what they're doing though, it can be surprisingly effective."

"You picked it up very quickly," John said patting her on the shoulder. "Luna told me you were an excellent student."

She blushed and managed to look quite adorable. "Thanks! Luna's a very patient and skilled instructor. I'll do my best to teach you what I can, but you should definitely try and make some time to learn what you can from her yourself."

"I intend to, when we return to Genthalas," John replied, pleased to have another reason to look forward to seeing the beautiful and deadly assassin. "Now, let's see what else she taught you..."

They spent the rest of the afternoon with Sakura teaching John a variety of new ripostes, which were Luna's favoured method of striking. The Maliri assassin liked to lull an opponent into a false sense of security, then launch a lightning-fast counter-attack. Sakura also explained how Luna had taught her how to pay very close attention to an opponent's balance and weight distribution, using them as a guide to foreshadow attacks. John had learned similar techniques from Yamamoto, but Luna had perfected that skill to a much higher degree.

It proved to be a fascinating learning experience and the Asian girl taught him a great deal. After fighting for several hours, they decided to bring the training session to a close and headed back to the equipping room to remove their armour. Calara had watched enthralled as they fought and followed them into the dojo's armoury with an excited gleam in her eyes. She waited until John had stepped out of the armour equipping frame before giving him a big hug.

"I can't wait to learn how to fight like you two! It was thrilling to watch!" she said, beaming at him in delight.

John put his arm around her and stroked her back. "I'm looking forward to having a new student. Sakura's my equal now."

"I don't know about that, the edge I got from Luna didn't last long," the Asian girl replied with a grin, joining the hug. "But I can't wait to train you, Calara, I think you're going to be amazing."

Calara smiled at her gratefully, then leaned in to give John a tender kiss on the cheek. "I hope you're not too tired. I still plan on challenging you to a sparring match in the bedroom..."

Sakura kissed his other cheek and returned the Latina's smile. "He's pretty strong, want some backup?"

Calara nodded, her eyes smouldering as she gazed at John. "Between the two of us, I think you might have met your match..."

***

Admiral Lynette Devereux walked at a brisk pace along the corridors of the Citadel on Terra, her jaw set in determination. Normally she was constantly on the lookout for fellow members of the Admiralty when she roamed these hallways, so she could greet friends or enemies alike with a kind word or friendly greeting. Ever the consummate politician, she was always trying to strengthen alliances or lay the foundations for new ones in the future. However, this time she didn't even notice the senior officers who smiled and said hello, blanking the startled personnel as she strode past them on her way to her office.

Sweeping into the reception area, she breezed past her assistant's desk. "Hold my calls, Janet, I'm not to be disturbed for any reason!"

Lieutenant Wilson looked at her in surprise. "Of course, Admiral."

Devereux closed the door to her office behind her, then took a seat at her desk. She only knew a little about the Maliri Regency, mainly that they were divided amongst noble Houses, each one run by a mysterious ruling caste of Matriarchs. If John Blake had forged alliances with the Maliri, she reasoned that he would know these Matriarchs personally, but which particular ones she had no idea. There were lots of unknowns, which made it a gamble reaching out to the Maliri like this and she hated leaving things to chance.

Her hand wavered over the comms interface, knowing that this was the decisive moment. Once she made this call, all pretence of her alliance with Buckingham would be over and they would be at loggerheads once more. She ground her teeth in frustration, knowing that it was too soon to be making this move. Buckingham still had significant support in the Admiralty and ousting the man from his position as Fleet Admiral was by no means a certainty.

Then again... High Command had no idea about the rampaging Kintark armada about to descend on Terra, nor were they aware that Buckingham had stripped the defensive fleets from the borders. The battle with the Kintark was going to be a bloodbath, but if she could recall John Blake in time, he might be able to claw back a victory for the Federation. If the Kirrix invaded as well, the public outcry would be deafening and with a few carefully composed speeches, she'd be able to dump the blame for this whole fiasco at Buckingham's feet, right where it belonged. The Admiralty would be practically begging for strong leadership in this time of crisis and she could step up to fill that void.

Despite the dire circumstances, Devereux actually found herself grinning as she made the call. Buckingham was finished and she couldn't wait to see the look on the senile old bastard's face when she finally pulled off this coup.

Her call was routed through the citadel's comm network to the massive relay that launched interstellar communications out to the stars. A warning message flashed up, alerting her that all messages to the Maliri Regency had been blocked by executive order. Devereux had been expecting that however and entered her ultra-clearance override, available to all members of High Command. As powerful as Buckingham was, he didn't have total autonomy over the upper echelons of the Admiralty. The 24-digit security clearance required voice recognition and a retina scan, but once her identity was confirmed, the call was passed on to the comm beacons.

Sitting back in her chair, Devereux waited patiently as the call was routed through the network of beacons, her message snaking across Terran Federation space until it reached the Maliri Regency. She had done her research into John and knew he'd conducted a lot of business at Geniya Trade Station, the busiest trade hub between the two empires, so it was a logical place to make enquiries. After waiting for just over a minute, the screen flickered and was replaced by a man in a suit of ostentatious golden armour, a number of precious gemstones catching the light.

He inclined his head politely. "My name is Pertharis, how may I be of service?"

"I'm Admiral Lynette Devereux, a member of Terran Federation High Command and I wish to speak to one of your Matriarchs," she requested keeping her tone courteous despite her urgency.

Pertharis shifted in his seat and even though his facemask was completely opaque, she could sense he was amused by her request. "Is there any particular Matriarch you wish to speak to? Or should I just contact them all and see who is feeling chatty this afternoon?" he asked blithely. "As a friendly word of warning, I would strongly caution you against such a course of action, Admiral Lynette Devereux of the Terran Federation. The Matriarchs are not known for their friendliness."

She gritted her teeth in irritation at his slightly mocking tone. "I just need to speak to someone with authority within the Regency. I'm trying to get in contact with John Blake."

Devereux's voice faded away as she realised the image of the armoured man had frozen mid-sentence and a moment later the holo-screen went blank. "What the hell?" she muttered, swiping across the interface in an attempt to reconnect.

A few seconds later an image flickered to life in front of her, but it wasn't Pertharis in his golden armour...

"Hello Lynette," Fleet Admiral Vincent Buckingham said, a triumphant grin on his face.

She glared at the screen in fury, realising that Buckingham had ended her communication. "You had no right to cut me off! I'm a member of High Command!"

Buckingham wagged a finger at the screen as he gloated, "I did warn you, Lynette. You might have been an excellent politician, but you've got no eye for the bigger picture. I've had you under investigation for weeks, which gives me executive authority to revoke your rights at any time, given enough evidence. Fortunately for me, you just violated a direct order not to go running to Blake for help..."

"Don't be a fool!" she snarled, eyes narrowing as she met his mocking gaze. "You're gambling with the fate of the entire Terran Federation! John Blake isn't our enemy, he's an ally!"

Buckingham inhaled deeply, then let out his breath. "Ahh, one needs to savour these moments... I've been waiting for this for quite a while." He leaned forward and continued, "Lynette Devereux, I am charging you with treason, for collaboration with an alien race that poses a direct threat to the Terran Federation!"

She gaped at him in shock. "Treason?! You can't be serious!"

He gave her a sinister smile. "Oh, I'm deadly serious. The Lion was your creation and you've been behind him every step of the way, supporting him as he systematically undermined the rightful rule of High Command."