Three Square Meals Ch. 100

Memories of the luscious dusky reporter brought the smile back to his face, and he wondered how she was doing. Jehanna was a confident, famous, worldly-wise woman, her poise and sophistication part of the strong attraction he felt towards her. With a start, he realised she was almost the polar opposite to Helene in that regard, who had a charming naivety all of her own. He couldn't help wondering how the two of them would interact together. He'd missed talking to the bright-eyed reporter, and he decided to call her as soon as they got within range of the Terran comms beacons.

Lost in his thoughts, which admittedly kept drifting to him picturing the exotic aquatic girl getting very friendly with a certain TFNN lead anchor, he didn't hear the girls emerging from the bathroom.

"Come on, lazy bones, let's go get some lunch," Alyssa teased him, rousing him from his reverie.

John sat up, then gaped at Helene in astonishment. He must have been distracted for much longer than he thought, because she'd had a shower and her teal skin gleamed as it caught the light, practically glowing with health. Alyssa had brushed out that wild tangle of light-green hair and carefully braided it, sweeping the voluminous mane back from her face, so as to emphasise her delicate features. Helene possessed an ethereal natural beauty and John found himself sucked in by those beguiling light-blue eyes.

"What do you think?" Helene asked, doing a little twirl that made her aquamarine skirt flare up and reveal a tantalising glimpse of long well-muscled thighs.

"Wow... you look gorgeous!" John exclaimed, when he regained the use of his faculties.

She giggled and flashed Alyssa a warm smile filled with gratitude. John got up and then offered both girls an arm, then led them out of the bedroom and into the corridor beyond. He could feel Helene's nervousness as they walked towards the Officers' Lounge and when he glanced at her to check she was alright, he saw the apprehension on her face.

"The girls are lovely, you don't have to worry about a thing," he said, trying to sound as reassuring as possible.

Helene nodded and tried not to fidget, which got easier when she was distracted by Alyssa gesturing at the door controls with a flick of her fingers. The double doors swung open much to her astonishment and she gaped at the blonde in awe.

"That's called Telekinesis," Alyssa explained, winking at the startled young woman. "Moving things around with my mind is my speciality... all the girls have them."

"You're all wizards?!" Helene marvelled.

The blonde matriarch nodded, then flashed a dazzling smile at the man between them. "We all have psychic gifts from John for being good girls."

Helene gave John a furtive glance, watching him with a newfound respect as he guided them across the lounge to the long dining table where the first of the girls awaited them.

Alyssa pulled away from John and hugged the Latina, who had a welcoming smile ready for their guest. "This is Calara, my girlfriend," the blonde said with pride, planting a loving kiss on her lover's olive cheeks.

"It's lovely to meet you, Helene," Calara said, stepping forward to greet her with a warm hug. "Alyssa warned us that John wouldn't have eyes for anyone else after your make-over and now I see she wasn't kidding! You look so beautiful."

Helene blushed furiously, not sure whether to be grateful for the compliment, or distressed at the thought she might have offended the kind girl standing before her.

Calara sensed her apprehension and stroked her arm. "I was just joking about John, but not about how pretty you are. Don't worry about upsetting any of us, we're all delighted you decided to come back to the ship with Jade."

Dana took that moment to barge through the door from the kitchen, looking over her shoulder at Rachel as they carried through platters filled with smoked fish. "Yeah, she's smoking hot alright! Jade got her body just perfect, but not her mannerisms... I just wanna give her a big cuddle, she's so adorable!"

Rachel rolled her eyes at her girlfriend and nudged her with an elbow. "We've got company."

"Hello," Helene said with a tentative smile.

Giving her a broad grin, Dana put down the platter, then bounded over to greet her with a big hug. "Welcome to the family! You're going to love it here, I promise!"

Rachel waited for them to part and then glided over to give the newcomer a friendly kiss on the cheek. "I'm so glad you decided to come with us, Helene." She pulled back and couldn't help taking a surreptitious glance at her delicately folded fins. Trying not to embarrass their guest, she switched her focus to the aquatic girl's two-piece outfit and her braided hair. "The French plait looks so good with those clothes! Alyssa has an excellent eye, never be afraid to listen to her fashion advice!"

Helene brushed her fingers over the brunette's silk blouse, marvelling at the delicate softness, before her eyes travelled down to the tight-fitting skirt moulded to Rachel's limber thighs. "I've never seen clothes like these before... you look amazing!"

Alyssa winked at her and slipped an arm around her waist. "I'm really going to like you if you love clothes as much as I do."

Jade, Sakura, and Faye all arrived at the same time, having all been working down in the mech bay on the Valkyrie.

The Nymph beamed a brilliant smile at the Aquatic girl, bounding over to give her a hug. "I promised you an adventure; have you been having fun so far?"

"I've got so much to tell you!" Helene gasped, hugged her back fiercely. "Thank you for choosing me to come with you!"

Jade leaned in and whispered something in her friend's ear and Helene giggled, nodding exuberantly. When they separated, Helene turned her attention to the other two girls. "I'm Helene, it's so nice to meet you."

Sakura glanced down at her oil-smeared jumpsuit with a frown of apology on her face. "I'd love to give you a hug, but I'm all grubby. I don't know how these two managed to stay so clean!"

"Shapeshifting does a marvellous job at removing stains," the Nymph explained.

"And I was just overseeing my boys!" Faye exclaimed with a cheerful grin.

"There are other men here too?" Helene asked, looking at the petite sprite with curiosity.

Faye shook her head, making her purple hair flutter around her face. "Oh, no, that's just my name for the maintenance robots!" She stepped closer and wrapped her arms around Helene's waist. "Welcome aboard the ship! I keep an eye on everything around here, so if you ever need help, just call 'Faye!' and I'll be right there!"

"I'll remember that, thank you," Helene replied, hugging the diminutive sprite back.

"Are the twins okay?" John asked, glancing towards the door. "I'll go give them a hand..."

Dana and Rachel shot a guilty look at each other. "No, don't move a muscle. We'll be right back!" the brunette called out as they returned to the kitchen.

They returned a minute later with more plates full of seafood, followed by Irillith and Tashana who brought out the last of the meal.

"You look exactly the same!" Helene gasped, eyes darting from one Maliri girl to another.

The twins smiled as they put down the food, then walked over to meet her. "We're sisters... twins," Tashana explained. "I'm Tashana and this is Irillith."

"Have you never heard of twins before?" Irillith asked, as they both greeted Helene with a friendly embrace.

She shook her head. "No! I didn't know such a thing was possible... Don't people get confused which of you is which?"

The sisters shared a mischievous smile. "They used to when we were younger," Tashana replied. Irillith shrugged and continued, "Everyone here seems to be able to tell us apart easily enough."

John placed his hand on Helene's lower back and asked, "Are you feeling hungry? The twins are excellent chefs, so I'd definitely recommend trying a bit of everything they've prepared."

Helene glanced back at the spread on the table, her eyes widening. "We normally just put whatever the fishermen catch in a stew... this all looks amazing!"

In honour of the new arrival, the girls just took random seats, making sure that Helene was able to sit next to John. Jade took the seat beside her, much to Helene's delight, and the two were soon chattering away. The Nymph took some time to carefully explain what all the dishes were - with a little guidance from the twins, Helene hanging on her every word.

Seeing that their guest was quite happy, John glanced around the table and asked, "How's the refit going with the Raptor and Valkyrie?"

"We did the Raptor first," Sakura replied, then frowned as she added, "I got outvoted!"

"The Raptor was quickest and easiest to upgrade," Faye explained, with a conciliatory smile at the Asian girl. "All of us worked on that one together and we were done in twenty minutes. The Valkyrie is a bit awkward to access in some places because of its height, so my boys are wrapping that up while we have lunch."

"That's great news," John said, nodding his thanks. "We're going to need as many big guns as possible tomorrow." He glanced over at the Latina and continued, "How's the battle planning coming along?"

"I'm reviewing our footage from the Battle of Regulus at the moment, but I'll start work on projections this afternoon," Calara replied, sounding confident. "With the Maliri fleet operating in conjunction with us, we should be able to make a significant difference."

"Are you going to use regular comms, or rely on telepathy?"

Calara shared a smile with Alyssa. "We were thinking telepathy. My orders will go from me to Alyssa, then she's going to repeat everything to the House Valaden Fleet Commander as well as Almari and Ilyana. The assassins can pass any questions back to Edraele if my orders aren't clear." Her tone made it certain that she didn't expect that to happen.

John nodded, having full confidence in her tactical and strategic acumen. "I'll get in contact with Charles when we're back in Terran Space, it'd be helpful to find out what he knows about the Kintark forces."

"We'll cross the border at 5:23 this evening," Alyssa informed them. "We should be in range of the T-Fed comms beacons about the same time."

"I'd like to be there for the call if that's okay," the Latina requested. "It's important that we coordinate our forces for maximum effectiveness and I'd like as much detail on the Kintark fleet composition as possible."

"Sure, I was going to suggest it anyway," John agreed, giving her an appreciative smile.

They continued eating their lunch and when the meal wound down, Rachel cleared her throat and said quietly, "There's something else we need to discuss... I finished my analysis of Helene's DNA this morning."

John looked at her in surprise. "Why didn't you say so earlier?"

The brunette sighed, a pained expression on her face. "I didn't want to ruin the meal."

Helene glanced around the table, looking worried when she heard her name and everyone went quiet. "Did I do something wrong?"

John clasped her hand and shook his head. "No, not at all, honey. You don't have anything to worry about, I promise."

Rachel turned to look at Faye. "Please can you project the DNA sequences I was studying earlier."

"Will do!" the sprite replied, finding the files and preparing them for display.

Four sets of double-helix spirals arced across the dining room above the table, the genetic strands rotating slowly as they hovered in the air. Most of the crew were quite familiar with these kinds of presentations from their gifted doctor, but Helene gaped at the swirling patterns, her eyes drawn by the bright colours.

"Okay, the top one is a regular Terran DNA sample; actually, it was taken from me before John decided to give me the deluxe upgrade." She darted a quick look his way to make sure he knew she was only teasing.

John smiled and gestured for her to continue.

"The second is from a Brimorian. I collected a handful of shed scales from those guards on the docking platform and did some checks. The Brimorians appear to be a naturally occurring species with no genetic tampering from a Progenitor, Mael'nerak or otherwise."

"Okay, so who is the third set of DNA from?" John asked, not able to really see any discernable difference between them.

The brunette glanced at their guest, giving her a sad smile. "That came from Helene." She nodded to Faye and continued, "Can you show the highlighted DNA markers please."

The display changed, showing highlighted sections from the top two DNA sequences, the selected data then floating down to match the relevant sections of Helene's DNA.

"She's a hybrid!" Sakura exclaimed, whipping her head around to stare at their aquatic guest. "Brimorians can mate with Terrans?!"

Rachel paused for a moment as if not sure how to answer. "The Abandoned are not a naturally occurring species. Helene's DNA is very special, because it shows extensive genetic tampering... but it wasn't done by a Progenitor."

"Who then?" John asked, his eyes drawn to the fourth spiral.

"I recognised it straight away," Rachel said, her expression sombre. "It's the final piece of the puzzle and explains the true origins of the Abandoned. The fourth sample of DNA you can see was taken from Kindralax, the Kintark Emperor's brother."

"The Kintark created the Abandoned?!" John asked, gazing wide-eyed at the screen.

"Either it was the Kintark themselves, or the Brimorians traded Kintark technology so that they could do it. The fingerprints left behind by the gene-splicing revealed Kintark involvement the instant I saw it." She let out a heavy sigh and continued, "Terrans were used as the base template. They were genetically modified and cross-bred with Brimorians to create a new species adaptable to life in the ocean. Helene's DNA shows only mild mutation, so I believe she is fifth generation from the original Terran test subjects."

There was a stunned silence in the dining room as they tried to come to terms with this discovery.

John frowned as he looked at Rachel. "Fifth generation... and their women are having lots of children very young... so how long ago did this start?"

The brunette nodded, confirming that his suspicions matched her own. "It's reasonable to conclude that Helene's subspecies was created approximately a century ago..."

"First contact with the Brimorians!" Calara gasped, staring wide-eyed at John.

"The colonists on the Callopean Shoals..." John muttered, his face set in a bleak mask. "Those poor bastards..."

"But I thought you said that the colonists were killed when they refused to evacuate?" Dana asked, frowning in confusion.

"That was the official story from the Admiralty..." he replied, his mind spinning as he imagined the horrors those people must have suffered through. "The colonists supposedly died in the fighting."

Rachel spoke softly as she said, "But they didn't... they were abandoned..."

John rubbed his face with both hands, then turned to look at Helene. She looked frightened, not understanding much of what was being said, but picking up enough to realise that it concerned her and her people. He opened his arms for her. "Come here, honey. It's okay."

She sat sideways across his lap and he wrapped her up in a comforting hug. "I-I don't understand... what's making you all so sad and upset?"

He undid her braid and began brushing his fingers though her light-green hair to calm her down. "A long time ago, the Brimorians did something very bad to your ancestors."

Helene nodded thoughtfully, they looked up at him with her big eyes. "If they were bad, are they going to be punished?"

John's eyes narrowed. "Yes, you can count on it."

***

"Hoo-rah! Might of the Terran Federation!" Staff Sergeant Clint Brannigan boomed, standing atop the fortified bunker. "Gets me hard as steel every time!"

Sergeant David Gibbons joined the power-armoured soldier in gazing out over the vast field of defensive emplacements. Tanks, mechs, and troopers were deployed throughout the maze of ferrocrete-lined trenches, heavy weapons emplacements, and bunkers that surrounded the Citadel. Heavy transports loomed low in the bright afternoon sky, the ponderous spacecraft bringing in more reinforcements by the day. Darting around those lumbering beasts of burden, Rapier fighters screamed overhead, simulating strafing runs and low-altitude evasive manoeuvres.

Gibbons didn't experience quite the same... response... to that sight as his friend, but he couldn't disagree that it was an extremely impressive view. "We better head back to the barracks, I'm supposed to be meeting Wessex in ten minutes."

Brannigan didn't immediately reply, but Gibbons could see his friend smirking during the brief radio silence.

"Well, I wouldn't want to keep you from important Sentinel Alpha business," the Staff Sergeant said with a straight face, before breaking into deep guffaws.

"Let's go then," Gibbons said gruffly, turning and vaulting off the bunker's roof, the shocks in the legs of his Sentinel armour absorbing the impact when he hit the ground.

Gibbons hated being the source of Brannigan's mirth, but he knew this was all his own damn fault. He got on well with Brannigan and the two sergeants had become drinking buddies since he'd been posted with the Sentinel Battalion on Terra. During a heavy session that involved an ungodly amount of Trankaran Ale, Gibbons had drunkenly confessed to his friend what he really thought about Commander Madison Wessex - leader of the Sentinel Battalion's Armoured Infantry Company.

Everything would have been perfectly fine if he'd ranted about what a bitch their C.O. was and how much of a pain in the ass it was being assigned to her Company. Unfortunately, that's not what Gibbons had said at all. The big problem was that he'd drunkenly admitted to having fallen in love with her. Madison Wessex was gorgeous of course, there was no denying that; what with her athletic figure, wavy dark-brown hair, and that beautiful face with those enchanting green eyes. But there was far more to her than just a pretty face and spectacular body. She was so driven and confident; a pillar of strength that a man could lean on for support when times were hard, a fiercely loyal woman who David knew would always have his back.

Distracted as he was, Gibbons nearly ran headlong into a Pulveriser Mk XII artillery tank, but managed to dodge to one side at the last moment. He slowed his pace, weaving between the unit of tracked heavy artillery being repositioned on the hill. Reaching the crest, he paused for a second to admire the amazing view of the Citadel. From this vantage point he could clearly see the two massive shield generators that kept the fortress safe from orbital bombardment. He actually pitied anyone who would dare to attempt it; the dense network of planetary defence lasers surrounding the base would annihilate any ships foolish enough to try.

Brannigan clapped him on his Sentinel suit's armoured shoulder with a heavy gauntlet. "We better not hang around. Don't want you keeping your date waiting!"

Gibbons grimaced and tried to tune out his friend's braying laughter. He wouldn't have minded Brannigan's ribbing over the last couple of days about the 'happy couple', if it wasn't for the fact that Madison was quite clearly not interested in him in the slightest. She arranged long meetings with Gibbons every day, so to an outside observer, it might seem like she felt the same way as he did. While those meetings were usually tenuously related to the Sentinel Battalion, Madison always managed to find time for the real reason she wanted to speak with him.

To find out more about the Lion...

Commander Wessex had confided that in her mission to excel at everything she did, she no longer considered the Sentinel Battalion to be the most elite unit in the Terran Federation. She wanted to become a lioness, one of the Lion's hand-picked squad of super soldiers.