Three Square Meals Ch. 039

"There's no need to apologise, I understand. You get used to it having your family scattered around off-world, and besides, Oceanus! That must be costing John a fortune!" she said with a grin, before she remembered why she had called in the first place. "Oh! I saw the broadcast last night! You won a special-issue medal?!" she asked her daughter, her face shining with pride.

"We all did," Calara said, glancing around at her friends with a smile. "Well apart from our newest recruit, Doctor Rachel Voss," she added by way of introduction.

"I was the damsel in distress they were rescuing," Rachel said in a self-deprecating manner.

Maria smiled at her warmly, and said, "I thought I spotted another stunningly beautiful young woman. You certainly fit right in with the rest of the crew!"

The tawny haired brunette blushed, and smiled in gratitude at the compliment.

"Did Dad and the boys see the interview too?" Calara asked her mother, rescuing Rachel from further scrutiny.

"I haven't heard from Mateo, but Eduardo and Dylan were very impressed and both say congratulations. I spoke to your father last night. He sends his love, and said how proud he was of you, his little Lion of the Federation," Maria replied, looking at her daughter affectionately.

Calara blushed, but looked blissfully happy at her mother's words.

"Hello to you as well, John," Maria said with a smile. "Congratulations on your promotion, Commodore," she added with a playful smile.

"It's lovely to see you again, Maria, and thank you," John said, smiling at the charming woman he had got on so well with before.

"Jack sent a message to you as well. He said, and I quote, 'Thanks for keeping her safe, and congratulations, but I'm not going to salute the man who's dating my daughter'," Maria said, then rolled her eyes.

John chuckled in amusement before he replied, "It's alright, that would be weird, I agree."

"Well I better let you go, but thanks so much for calling, it was lovely to see you all again! I'm very proud of all of you, so keep doing what you're doing," she said, her eyes shining brightly.

"I love you Mom," Calara called out to her.

"I love you too," Maria replied, before she glanced at John, then winked at her daughter. "And remember my advice!"

"I haven't forgotten," she grinned, and waved goodbye.

When the call ended, Rachel turned to the Latina and said, "Your mother is absolutely lovely."

"Thanks, we're very close," Calara replied with a happy sigh.

"What was her advice? If you don't mind me asking," Rachel asked curiously.

Calara laughed, and glanced at John as she said, "To hang on to him."

"Beautiful, friendly, and wise... Your father's a lucky man," Rachel said graciously. "And she seems to have passed it on to her daughter as well," she added flatteringly.

The Latina got up and hugged the smaller brunette, and they smiled at each other happily. The two girls separated and walked over to join the rest of the group, and they all spent the rest of the evening chatting and enjoying each others' company.

***

The next several days seemed to fly by, with everyone well settled in the luxurious resort complex, and getting used to living with a team of robotic servers catering for all their meals. Dana offered to look into constructing their own set of automated chefs and waiters, but John declined, preferring the camaraderie they shared when preparing meals together.

John was still getting executed dozens of times a day in the simulator training sessions with Yamamoto. He was beginning to be able to apply what he had learned more effectively, and even managing some parries and ripostes, before the inevitable dismemberment. The man was still just as taciturn as ever, and pointedly ignored all of John's attempts to get to know him in more detail. Eito Yamamoto was proving to be an enigma, and John decided to research more about the man to see what had made him this way.

After they had been on Oceanus for a few days, Dana announced that she had completed her research into the properties of Invictium, and the new white hued variant. Unwilling to take any chances, she asked them all to gather in the briefing room up on the command deck of the assault cruiser, just in case there were any surveillance devices in the complex that she had missed. John and the girls sat down in the chairs around the table, and waited for Dana to proceed.

"Good morning everyone," Dana said in her formal presentation style, which always had Alyssa smirking.

"Good morning, Dana," Alyssa said playfully.

John frowned at the beautiful blonde and wagged a finger at her, before he said, "Be a good girl, and let her give her presentation in peace."

"That sounds like there's an implied threat of punishment there," Alyssa said, her eyes flashing with excitement.

"Be good, and I promise I'll give you a good spanking sometime to say thank you," John laughed.

"Please proceed Dana, I'm very sorry to have interrupted you," Alyssa apologised politely.

*Those tight little cheeks are going to be a lovely rosy red when I'm through with you,* John promised, and Alyssa squirmed with arousal in her seat.

Dana laughed at their exchange, and the effect it had obviously had on her old friend. She picked up the remote off the table, and then pressed a button, which caused a hologram to appear, hovering in place. It showed a microscopic analysis of the Invictium alloy, and they could clearly see the lattice of Etherite crystals that were woven into the material.

"This is single shaped Invictium. It has twice the durability of Titanium, and has been proven to reflect energy weapon attacks, such as beam lasers. You probably don't remember the precise figures, but just to recap, when a laser bolt hits the Invictium, only five percent of the damage gets through. Thirty five percent is reflected, and the capacitors absorb the remaining sixty percent of the attack."

Rachel listened attentively, as this was the first time this had been explained to her. The others nodded politely, broadly remembering the figures that Dana was reviewing.

The redhead clicked a button on the remote and the holo-image changed. "Now here is double shaped black Invictium at a microscopic level. I'm sure you can see how much more intricate the lattice structure is, and my tests have proven that it is much more resilient, as you already probably guessed after that Kintark Royal Guard attack on John. It turns out that it becomes progressively tougher and more reflective with each reshaping, in a linear scaling model," she explained carefully.

"Could you give me a layman's summary please," Jade requested with an apologetic smile.

Dana smiled and nodded willingly. "Double shaped is triple the durability of Titanium, while triple shaping gives approximately four times the toughness of a comparable piece of Titanium plating. The reflectiveness seems to scale in five percent increments, with double shaped reflecting forty percent, and triple shaped reflecting forty five percent," she clarified for them.

"How does that compare to the white variant, and is there an upper limit to this scaling?" Calara asked, quite fascinated.

Dana glanced at Alyssa, who was paying close attention. "The white variant is incredibly resilient and protective, beautiful to look at, and quite unique in the Universe. Therefore, I've decided to call the white version Alyssium, after its lovely creator, because they share the same properties," she said as she smiled at the blonde girl affectionately.

Alyssa looked touched, and she got up to give Dana a hug. "Ah, Sparks, thank you," she said as she wrapped the other girl in a tight embrace.

They eventually separated again and Alyssa sat down, so that Dana could continue with her presentation.

"The white variant, Alyssium, is of comparable toughness to the original black Invictium, but as you would expect of a white surface compared to a black one, it is much more reflective," the redhead explained for them.

"How much more exactly?" John asked curiously.

"For single shaped Alyssium, it reflects fifty percent instead of thirty five percent for Invictium. Every additional reshaping improves that by almost exactly five percent. Additionally, because the white surface is so much efficient at reflecting light, no damage will get through, unless of course we get hit by so much damage we start blowing out capacitors," Dana said excitedly.

John looked thoughtful as he worked it out, and Dana laughed and waved at him to stop.

"I've drawn up a chart to summarise my findings," she said with a smile, and pushed a button on the remote to show the summary chart.

John looked over at it and it read:

Shaped / Reflect / Absorb

Single / 50% / 50%

Double / 55% / 45%

Triple / 60% / 40%

Quad / 65% / 35%

"So if we extrapolate that out, if you reshaped Alyssium eleven times, you would reflect all the energy from a laser weapon. Does that mean we could effectively become completely immune to beam lasers and laser cannons?" Calara asked, breathless with excitement.

"Yeah, because reshaping something eleven times is a walk in the park," Alyssa said with a grin, before looking thoughtful. "What is the multiple for eleven times, anyway?"

"Undecuple," Dana supplied helpfully.

"Thanks," Alyssa said, smiling at her sardonically.

"Actually, we won't need to go anywhere near as high as that to see dramatic improvements in survivability for the Invictus. Because of the way the capacitors only have to absorb any remaining energy that isn't reflected, just by re-plating the ship with double shaped Alyssium, we've doubled our resistance against laser fire. That's also not including how much tougher the armour is in general, which will help us against conventional attacks, " Dana explained with a wicked grin.

"Outstanding work with your research, Chief Engineer," John said with a smile, nodding his approval.

"Thanks, Commodore," Dana grinned back at him mischievously. "I can't take all the credit, it's all Alyssa's handiwork, or should I say 'mindiwork'?" she added with a giggle.

"Thanks, beautiful," John grinned at the blonde, and she blew him a kiss.

Assuming the presentation was over, John and the girls stood up and got ready to leave. "Oh, there's one other thing," Dana said eagerly, holding up her hand to get them to stay.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off," John apologised. "What else have you found out?"

"I looked into the cutting power of the alloy as well, now that you're using a big chunk of it to stab people," she joked.

John looked interested, and he waited patiently for her to explain.

"Well first of all, the reinforced lattice makes your sword extremely resilient against accident or deliberate breakage. You'd have to fight someone truly monstrously strong, for the sword to be in danger of snapping," she explained.

"Very useful," John nodded. "Anything else?"

"Re-shaping improves the cutting power of the blade too, as you'd no doubt expect," Dana replied, then looked thoughtful before she clarified further. "Your quad shaped blade should be able to cut through steel, like a conventional steel blade could hack through plastic," she added, trying to give him a useful analogy.

"I'm sure that will prove to be very handy, thanks!" John said, in a huge understatement.

"You're welcome," Alyssa and Dana told him at the same time, then looked at each other and laughed.

John pulled Dana into his arms, and beckoned Alyssa over too. She came to him obediently, and he put an arm around each of them, and gave them a passionate kiss in turn. They both looked delighted, but a little surprised.

John smiled at them both as they looked up at him. "You've both worked extremely hard to upgrade and maintain our gear. You know that keeping you all safe is the most important thing to me, and the ship, armour and weapons we've got will allow us to make sure that happens. Thank you both," he said sincerely.

The blonde and the redhead grinned, and hugged him tightly. The other girls smiled at the three of them, and then they all walked out of the briefing room together.

John turned towards Rachel as they strolled through the bridge, and asked curiously, "How's your research going?"

She looked up at him, and was about to say something, but stopped at the last minute. "I believe I've found something important, but I want to complete the tests on myself over the two week change, and compare it with the test results I took from the other girls. That way I can confirm my findings and make absolutely sure. Would you mind waiting a day or so longer so I can verify my results?"

"There's no pressure, take as much time as you need," John said generously, as he smiled at her.

Rachel suddenly grabbed him and squeezed him tightly in a fierce hug. "Thank you," she said emphatically, as she looked up at him with profound gratitude in her eyes.

"It's just a couple of days extension you wanted, right?" John joked, as he looked down at her.

"You'll understand soon," she promised him mysteriously.

The other girls stole curious glances at John and one another, but they didn't push Rachel any further for an explanation. Changing the subject, Alyssa asked John how his training was going, and he launched into a description of the new techniques he was learning. They listened to him talk animatedly as they headed down in the red glow of the grav-tube.

***

The rest of the holiday at this amazing location went by in a blur of good food, fantastic company and phenomenal sex. When they weren't relaxing, they were training, and Alyssa assured John that the other girls were making excellent progress with their marksmanship in the firing range. Dana had moved on to several new projects now that her investigation into Invictium and Alyssium were complete, while Rachel dutifully maintained her time points for her test results, and continued to analyse her findings.

It was quite obvious to them all, that the change for Rachel was fully completed by their last day on Oceanus. She had grown several inches over their stay, with her body becoming more sleekly muscular and athletic. Her bronzed skin was now completely flawless, entirely free of imperfections or blemishes of any kind, and perfectly smooth and soft to the touch. Her poise had improved too, and she now glided around with the same effortless grace as the other girls.

John was sorely tempted to celebrate the start of the last day together on the island by making love to the beautiful brunette, but Rachel convinced him to wait until the evening instead. She persuaded him to let her kneel and swallow down her breakfast, and he nodded amiably, happy to accede to her desires on this. The other girls took turns kissing him, while he simply enjoyed Rachel's talented mouth as she sucked him to completion.

He left the girls to enjoy their last full day together, while he went to the Dojo for his last morning of training with Mr Yamamoto. Despite spending a number of hours finding out what he could about the man, there was still no clear reason why he had abandoned his incredible success as a Kendo champion, and instead dedicated himself to the lethal use of the sword in combat.

John walked into the training room, finding Yamamoto waiting for him with the dojo simulation loaded and prepared. He went over to the rack and retrieved the Odachi, which now felt comfortable and familiar in his two-handed grip, and then walked over to stand in readiness.

"Attack," Yamamoto commanded him.

John was about to do so, when he paused and looked at the other man. "I want to know more about why you quit the Kendo championships, and adopted this sword style instead. I don't even know its name," he said, in frustration.

Yamamoto was about to berate him, but paused for a moment instead. "If you should ever defeat me in combat, I will answer all your questions. For now, in acknowledgement of your progress, I will say that you have learnt my own variant of Kenjutsu," he explained sternly. "It is the originator of Kendo and all modern forms of Japanese sword mastery, and has not forgotten that the sword is a weapon for slaying, not some toy for play fighting," he added with a sneer of contempt.

John waited for the man in case he would speak further, but he remained silent, guarded and watchful.

"Thank you, Yamamoto," he said gratefully, and then bowed, before presenting his blade and moving to attack.

Their swords moved in a glittering dance of flashing simulated steel, with sparks dancing off the blades as they parried and riposted. They moved smoothly in a long series of attacks, and counter attacks, with John lasting twenty minutes before Yamamoto tricked him with a skilful feint, and then neatly decapitated him.

"You are dead," Yamamoto told him with satisfaction, but John was sure he saw the smallest glimmer of respect in the older man's eyes, before he ordered him to attack once more.

When the training session was done, Yamamoto agreed to more sparring matches with John, which they would continue once he had moved the simulation equipment to the Invictus. John thanked the man, and they cancelled the afternoon's training, so that John could enjoy the rest of the remaining day with the girls.

He strolled out of the training room in a buoyant mood, and found the girls, Jade included, waiting for him in the lounge. With Rachel having completed her full two weeks, there was no need to maintain the relentless stomach filling routine, so they all settled around the table and enjoyed a lovely lunch together, watching Jade's aquatic friends leaping around in the sea off the coast of their island.

The pod of dolphins were Jade's special surprise for them, and after they had waited a little while for their lunch to go down, she urged everyone to get changed into swimwear, and meet them on the beach in the cove. They were all assembled on the golden sand a few minutes later, and Dana presented them each with a small mouthpiece and goggles.

"I wanted all of you to experience the wonders of the sea," Jade explained, and urged them to follow her into the water.

They all did so, even Dana, who was in on the surprise. She smiled confidently at Jade, and donned the mouthpiece and goggles, and when the Nymph shimmered and changed form into that of a dolphin, she reached out to hold on to her dorsal fin. Jade's tail propelled them forward and Dana disappeared under the waves.

John and the others glanced at each other excitedly, and when the rest of the pod swam around them, they followed Jade and Dana's example. The entire group sank below the waves, as the powerful dolphins swam them out to the local reef. They let go of their guides, and floated underwater, watching the fish swimming around the coral while the dolphins raced around playfully. It was peaceful and serene in this idyllic and unspoilt undersea paradise. The riotous colours of the fish and anemones were wonderful to behold, and they watched the oceanic flora and fauna with rapt fascination.

It was a novel experience for all of them, and when John and the girls finally came back to shore, they were all chattering away about the incredible sights they had seen under the waves. Jade had a final play around with the dolphins she had befriended, before she swam back to shore and changed form to her Nymph shape once more. The others thanked her profusely for sharing this with them, and she beamed at them with delight, when she saw how much they had all enjoyed it.

The evening meal was surprising, in a dramatic change to the perfect cloudless skies they had experienced on every other night on Oceanus. Dark storm clouds had started to gather on the horizon, casting an ominous shadow over the island, as they blotted out the sun. The wind started to pick up a little, and it didn't take a meteorologist to realise that a storm was on the way. They watched the sunset, which cast angry red shades over the roiling storm clouds in the distance, before the night seemed to suddenly descend on them.