Three Square Meals Ch. 044

***

Irillith beamed with delight as she closed the channel. She had been sure that John was going to turn her down, especially after Ceraden snuck off to meet him on his ship, no doubt to warn him against accepting her offer. She could deal with that disloyal cretin later, as it looked like things were working out splendidly. She took a deep breath and composed herself, before quickly opening up the comm interface to inform her mother of the good news.

The channel connected and the familiar icon of House Valaden filled the screen. A few seconds later the stern face of Matriarch Edraele Valaden appeared, staring at her impassively.

"I did it mother! The Mael'nerak has agreed to journey with me to meet with you!" she told her mother eagerly.

Edraele's cold eyes studied her daughter for a long moment, before she said, "This had better not be a waste of my time Irillith. The limits to my tolerance for incompetence are well known."

"I promise you I'm right, mother," Irillith insisted urgently.

Edraele's eyes narrowed, and she asked, "Have you tested him? Verified you're correct?"

"My apologies mother, not yet," Irillith replied, flushing with embarrassment. "I'll escort him to the hunting grounds, and have him ki-"

"No," Edraele cut her off sharply. "If he is who you say he is, then have him eliminate the Fulmanax."

Irillith looked shocked, and blurted out, "But, I don't think tha-"

"Leave the thinking to me," Edraele interrupted her, with a malignant, twisted smile. "That world is ripe for colonisation, but I can't afford to waste the resources necessary to take it. Have your Mael'nerak do it for me."

Irillith was about to protest again, but thought better of it, so she bowed her head and nodded obediently. When she looked up at the viewscreen again, it crackled with static, the comm channel closed. She let out a troubled sigh as she slumped in her chair, and stared off into the distance.

***

John wiped the sweat from his brow, trying not to cover himself in grease from his hands, and stood from where he'd been kneeling next to the sensor component. He checked that all the connections were securely attached as Dana had instructed them, and once he was sure that the device had been correctly installed, he stepped back and called the robot over.

It smiled at him benignly as it floated into position, holding the large armour plate securely in its multi-digit hands. The robot carefully lowered the bulky armour plate, and when John had confirmed that it was correctly slotted into position, he ordered the hovering automaton to back away. He pulled out the multi-tool from his belt and then began to securely fasten the armour plating, making sure that it was locked into place.

Rachel was sitting on the hull of the ship drinking from a canteen of water, watching him as he completed his task. "That was the last one," she told him with relief, before standing and offering him the canteen. "Need a drink?"

John nodded, and grinned at her as he said enthusiastically, "Yeah, make mine a double, with plenty of ice!"

She laughed, and handed over the canteen to him, then watched as he took a long drink of water. "As your physician, I should probably warn you against excessive consumption of alcohol. But then again, I could murder a tall one right now!" she said enthusiastically.

Calara and Alyssa strolled over to Join them, looking equally as flustered after all the hard work that morning, installing the sensor array. Alyssa stood with her hands on her hips, and nodded with satisfaction as she surveyed the glossy white hull of the Invictus, checking to make sure all the armour plating had been replaced correctly.

John looked up at them, and noticed that the lovely green-skinned Nymph was nowhere in sight. "Where's Jade?" he asked them curiously.

"She went to run us a bath," Calara said eagerly. "Come on, I can't wait to get clean again!"

John laughed, and picked up his toolbox, before turning to the robot and saying, "Follow." As he walked over to join the blonde and brunettes, it hovered behind him quietly.

"A bath would be amazing," Rachel sighed happily, as she walked by John's side and held his hand.

He smiled as he looked down at her, and said, "I know the bath is huge, but I think fitting all five of us in there is a bit optimistic."

Alyssa turned to look at him over her shoulder, as they walked over to the maintenance gantry, and her bright blue eyes sparkled as she said, "I guess one of us is going to have to sit in your lap then!"

John laughed along with the others, but as he watched Calara and Alyssa walking ahead of him, he thought that the blonde's suggestion might be a very good idea indeed. He couldn't be certain, but he was sure she put more sway in her walk.

***

It turned out the bath had been big enough for five of them after all. As long as one of the girls was snuggled against his chest, they were all able to comfortably relax in the warm bubbly water. The girls decided that to make sure it was fair on the poor girl who had to sit in his lap, they would all have to take a turn. Getting comfortably settled seemed to take an inordinate amount of wiggling and squirming, but once John was deep inside them, they leaned back against him, sighing happily. He was currently enjoying Jade's tender ministrations, and she squeezed him lightly with her rippling internal muscles, as she rested against him.

The peace and tranquillity was suddenly disturbed by the sound of muttered curses coming from the corridor, and a few moments later, Dana stomped into the room. The redhead looked furious, and she pouted when she arrived, her arms crossed tightly across her chest.

John looked up at her curiously, and asked, "What's the matter, secret agent? You don't look happy."

"I can't fucking believe it! I was so close, and they chucked me out!" Dana exclaimed indignantly.

He smiled at her sympathetically, and said in a soothing voice, "Well you did an incredible job getting all the other schematics. Trying to acquire the clear-crystal tech as well, was probably a bit ambitious."

"Oh I got that, and I found out how they reinforce the lattice," she said offhandedly, frowning with annoyance.

John's face lit up in a wide grin. "That's fantastic! So why are you so upset?" he asked her in confusion.

"Rellathis had begged me to help him fix one of their cruisers! I was moments away from seeing their Beam laser blueprints, on the pretence of finding out how they should be connected to a power coupling, and the Maliri guards threw us out of the docking bay!" she said with frustration.

Rachel smiled as she checked out Dana's impressive cleavage with a raised eyebrow, and asked, "The outfit didn't work its magic on them I take it?"

"No! The guards around the cruiser were women! And I'm sure they called me something very rude. Rellathis refused to translate it," she said with a frown.

They all laughed, and the redhead eventually smiled at them, her face lighting up once again.

"Their weapon tech is amazing," she said with a wistful sigh. "I got a close look at the patrol cruiser, and they have turreted beam weapons!" she added in wonder.

Calara frowned as she looked up at her, and said, "Those turrets must be enormous. Thirty metre long weapons in a turret sounds pretty unwieldy."

"That's just it!" Dana exclaimed in amazement, "The barrels on the Beam lasers couldn't have been more than ten metres long. They must be using some kind of incredibly sophisticated focusing crystals, that would make the ones we use look like a hunk of glass!"

Calara looked distant as she imagined it. "Turreted Beam lasers would be amazingly useful. We'd still be able to put out some real damage while making wild evasive manoeuvres, or even whilst running away," she said her eyes flashing with excitement at the possibilities.

"I know! Awesome, right?" Dana nodded eagerly.

John smiled and said gratefully, "Well thanks for trying so hard, I appreciate it. You've got us some extremely useful tech for free, which means I won't feel that bad about paying big money for the weapons. That's assuming Irillith's mother is actually willing to make some kind of agreement."

Calara looked at him curiously and asked, "You're having more doubts after speaking to Irillith?"

He nodded and replied, "She was very hazy on the details, which didn't instill me with a lot of confidence. I still think it's worth giving it a shot though."

The girls nodded their agreement, and then Dana finally seemed to realise she was missing out on some action. She looked at them hopefully and asked, "Got room for one more?"

Alyssa shook her head sadly, and said, "We're pretty squashed in here at the moment." She looked at Dana's top curiously and asked, "Oh! What's that on your blouse?"

The redhead looked down and plucked at the material, trying to find the offending bit of dirt or lint that the blonde girl was referring to, but without success.

"Not there," Alyssa said shaking her head. "It's a bit lower. Here, let me show you," she added beckoning the other girl closer.

Dana stepped forward, while leaning down so that her friend could point it out, and Alyssa reached out carefully. The redhead let out a shocked squeal when Alyssa suddenly grabbed her, and pulled her fully clothed into the tub with them, sending waves of soapy bubbles splashing over the bathroom floor. Dana sat up and spluttered for a moment, before descending into a fit of giggles, joined by the other girls and John's baritone laughter.

Jade grinned at Dana and said, "Hurry up and strip out of those clothes. I think it's your turn to sit on John's lap."

Everyone started laughing again when Dana's boots sailed across the bathroom, and the redhead splashed around in the tub in a scrambled haste to remove her trousers.

***

They played around in the huge bath for another half an hour, before Dana glanced at the chronometer set into the wall, and regretfully rose from the soapy bubbles.

"I need to get cracking on the Tactical Station upgrades," she said with a sorrowful sigh, as she stepped out of the tub. "All our guns will be out of action while I make the upgrade, so I want to swap it out as fast as possible."

Calara stood too, revealing acres of her smooth, glistening, coffee-coloured skin as she did so. "I'll join you," she said eagerly. "I want to make sure we've got everything covered with the new controls."

Dana laughed and handed the Latina a warm towel. "You worrier," she said affectionately. "You spent hours poring over your designs, I'm sure they're perfect by now."

The brunette blushed, and then shrugged, before saying "Perhaps, but I'd still like to double check, as long as that's alright?"

Dana nodded, then raised an eyebrow at Rachel as she got up as well.

The tawny haired girl smiled at her and said, "I need to learn how to use the Psi-detector if I'm going to be using it properly tonight. I'll join you girls, as long as you don't mind?"

Calara offered Rachel a hand as she stepped out of the tub, and said, "Of course not, we'd enjoy the company, right Dana?" to which the redhead nodded eagerly.

All three waved goodbye to John and the last two girls remaining in the tub. "You two aren't leaving too I hope?" he asked them cautiously.

Alyssa shook her head, and eyed him hungrily. "No. You have something we both want," she told him seductively, before turning to look at the Nymph, and saying leadingly, "It's been a while since it was just us two with you."

Jade shared the look and then grinned happily. She shimmered in a dark green haze for a few seconds, before reappearing as a perfect copy of her beautiful blonde companion.

The authentic Alyssa smiled playfully, then said, "You haven't fucked the twins for a while, fancy having some fun?"

He grinned at her eagerly, and both identical blondes rose and then stepped out of the bath, shooting smouldering looks at him. He followed after them with his cock throbbing with anticipation, and the girls dried each other off in silence, getting themselves ready for him to take them. They walked into the bedroom hand-in-hand, and glanced at him coyly as he finished drying his hair and entered the bedroom behind them.

Alyssa and Jade were lying on the bed, looking like mirror images of each other as they both smiled at him invitingly. He glanced from one girl to the other, looking for any differences, but try as he might he couldn't tell which one was the Nymph, or the genuine article.

"Don't worry about trying to tell us apart, just relax and enjoy," left Alyssa said with a warm smile.

The other stunningly beautiful blonde nodded, and said, "Just pretend we're a horny couple of twins, wanting you to impregnate us at the same time, so we can experience pregnancy together."

Left Alyssa nodded, and shot him an aroused look, and murmured, "We don't have to pretend, if you want to make it really exciting..."

He groaned at the thought, and they both beamed perfect sparkling smiles at him, before leaning over to start kissing each other. John climbed onto the bed with them, but they only stopped their sensual kisses when he eased his rock hard cock between their lips. Two sets of bright blue eyes looked up at him adoringly, as their mouths glided up and down his length, their tongues flickering out to caress his skin.

He knelt like that for a while, just letting them worship his shaft with their hot little mouths, until he pulled back and glanced at right Alyssa. She lay back and spread her bronzed thighs for him, and her slick pussy gripped him as he pushed forward until he was completely sheathed inside her. The other twin knelt as his side, and smiled at him eagerly as he began to pick up the pace, the blonde underneath him, moaning her encouragement.

"I look amazing getting fucked like that. I can see why you're so fond of me," the kneeling Alyssa said to him playfully.

John laughed, and grabbed her before kissing her fiercely, no longer caring which girl was which.

***

Calara watched transfixed as Dana installed the components for the Fire Control System. The redhead was busy fitting and slotting one circuit bank into place by feel alone, as she glanced to her side, looking for the next one in the orderly arrayed parts. She passed each item from one hand to another, not even having to look where it needed to go, having memorised the blueprints for the device that precisely.

The redhead had the Fire Control System hooked up to one of her consoles in what seemed like no time, and her fingers scurried across multiple consoles, writing multiple sections of operating code simultaneously. Calara glanced up at the holographic displays above her, and watched in awe as thousands of lines of code scrolled up above her, moving so fast that she struggled to read one set, let alone the other two that Dana's right hand was flitting between.

"How can you do that?" she asked in astonishment.

Dana looked to her side, and flashed a warm smile at Calara, her coding continuing uninterrupted. "It's been getting easier with practice. Just relax, and let it flow through you," she said encouragingly. "John spent two weeks with you as his sole centre of focus. I bet he put just as much care and attention into you and your gorgeous body, as he did with me."

The Latina looked doubtful, but then she remembered the way John would stare into her eyes as she knelt before him, and a shiver of excitement ran down her spine. "It always felt so intimate," she said, nodding as she remembered. "Like there was a powerful connection between us."

Dana looked away into the distance for a while, a wistful expression on her face. "We'll have to ask Alyssa about just having some alone time with him like that again. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing him with the rest of you, but just being able to stare into his eyes with his complete focus on you as he cums down your throat..." she shivered like Calara had, and then turned and flashed an excited look at the brunette, who nodded knowingly in return.

Calara noticed that Dana had paused, momentarily, and said apologetically, "Sorry, I didn't mean to distract you from what you were doing."

Dana grinned and shook her head as she said, "I'd just finished anyway. I'll start up a simulated demo on Rachel's console at the end there, so you can see what to expect. She isn't using it right now."

The Latina nodded, and then glanced over at their tawny haired friend, who was sitting cross legged on the floor, with the holo-reader in her lap and the Psi-detector in her hand. She was busy reading through the instruction manual that Dana had written for her, and she waved at them with a smile when she heard her name mentioned.

Calara returned her friendly greeting, then strolled over to the console as the redhead started up the simulation. She blinked at the bewildering amount of information being displayed, trying to figure out exactly what it all meant.

"Oops! Sorry about that, let me turn on some filters," Dana apologised, and with several button clicks removed the riot of information. All that was left on the holograph were a dozen small spaceships flying around, that looked like they were probably fighters.

"Alright, so let's start again," Dana said with a smile, turning to look at the simulator. "The Maliri Fire Control System is very sophisticated, tracking and calculating enormous amounts of information from any targets you have selected.

It gathers all the data from the powerful Maliri sensors, allowing you to see that data next to a target, and you can display as much or as little information as you like. So for example, it will show projected flight-paths for targets, based on the flight characteristics of the vessel and movement predictions."

She pressed a button, and with a click, faint lines arced out in front of the fighters, showing their likely flight paths. Calara watched in fascination as the simulated craft dodged around, following the predicted vectors.

"We can also add a targeting reticle for each of those targets," Dana continued, making some adjustments, and a glowing crosshairs appeared slightly in front of each fighter.

"Of course, if you're using different classifications of weapons to shoot at the same target, you can have a different targeting reticle set up for each weapon," she explained, and with a flicker of her fingers, four crosshairs appeared in front of each fighter, representing the Mass Drivers, Beam lasers, laser cannons, and Gatling lasers.

Calara flashed an excited grin at Dana, and asked, "What other information can it display?"

Dana grinned at her, and began to add more information overlays to the simulation, pausing a moment between each one, so that the brunette could see the new data. "Shield strength, armour durability, and locations of ship components like power cores," she said enthusiastically with a wink. "Although we'll need to have performed an active scan on that type of vessel beforehand, to build up a database of ship types and configurations," she added regretfully.

Calara turned, and hugged her friend tightly as she gasped, "This new Fire Control System is amazing! Thanks so much!"

"I should be thanking you, I loved building it!" Dana confessed, hugging her back.

When they separated, Calara walked over to the pile of new parts needed to upgrade the Tactical Station, and picked up one of the ergonomically designed hand controls. "These look amazing, just like the ones I'd envisioned," she said approvingly.

Dana walked over to her side, and smiled as she looked at the completely redesigned joystick. "I'm not sure how you'll be able to manage all those buttons, but as long as you're happy with them, my work is done," she said with a grin.

Calara nodded confidently. "Each stick has a dual-button thumb control that allows me to fire off each of the four Mass Drivers individually, in pairs, or all at once. It's the same for the multi-button trigger controls for the Beam lasers, and for the laser cannons. If I need to fire the Gatling lasers on manual control, I can swap them out for any of the other configured weapons with the flip of a switch, otherwise they'll be set to auto-fire as part of the defence grid," she explained animatedly.