Three Square Meals Ch. 045

***

The next few days passed by in a blur, with each of the crew keeping themselves busy, catching up on training and research. Irillith didn't contact them again, but Alyssa noted with some amusement that the Maliri cruiser escorting them deeper into their territory, was sticking rigidly to her revised flightpath.

They fully upgraded the Raptor with the appropriated Maliri tech, replacing the sensor array, adding a shield modulator, and installing the new Fire Control System. With much more limited weapon options on the gunship, they all agreed that redesigning the gunship gunnery controls would be unnecessary. In the end, it was just a relatively simple case of getting the mass-fabricators to make the parts, then for Dana to build it and install the new system.

On the fourth morning of their trip through Maliri Space, John awoke to find a warm, wet mouth sliding up and down his cock, just as he had every other morning for the last several days. The girls had embraced his request with gusto, and developed some kind of secret schedule that meant he started each day with one of them sucking him eagerly. He recognised the blowjob technique of the girl under the covers, narrowing it down to Alyssa or Rachel, and a quick glance down at the blonde hair to his right confirmed the identity of his mysterious fellatrix.

He lay back and relaxed with a broad smile on his face as Rachel bobbed up and down on him, her lips, tongue and throat working together in perfect harmony. The slight rocking motion of her energetic attention gently roused Alyssa and Calara from their slumbers, and they grinned at him when they saw what was happening.

"You look like you're having a nice start to the day," Calara teased him quietly so she wouldn't wake up Jade and Dana.

Alyssa's bright blue eyes sparkled as she asked, "Is Rachel being a good girl for you?"

"Very good," John agreed, then stifled a groan as the tawny haired doctor sank his hefty cock down her throat.

Calara and Alyssa grinned at each other excitedly, then leaned across him, and began to kiss lovingly. Their lips were flushed with arousal as they lightly touched, and he could see eager tongues darting out to tease each other playfully. He could feel the pliant flesh of their firm breasts where they brushed his chest, and he was sure he could feel their nipples growing more erect as they began to kiss more passionately. He brought his hands around to their lush mouths, and they stopped kissing for a moment, so that they could suck his fingers. They glanced at him coyly as their lips encircled the index fingers of each hand, and their tongues flickered across his fingertips as Rachel pulled back off his cock, and copied the same enticing motion.

The Latina and Blonde in front of him sucked his fingers deep in their mouths as Rachel deep-throated him once again, and the loving looks they were giving him tipped him over the edge. The girls on his chest moved back, giving him room so he could reach down and hold Rachel to his groin, as he began to unload the contents of his balls down her hungry throat. He eventually sagged back with a dopey grin on his face when she had eagerly sucked out every last drop of cum from his quad.

Calara and Alyssa grinned at him and then gave him a tender kiss, before they turned to get up, making room for Rachel, who emerged smiling from under the covers. Jade and Dana had woken up too by now, and they got up as well, leaving John alone in bed with the tawny haired brunette. He looked at Alyssa quizzically as he wrapped Rachel in his arms, while the blonde and the other girls disappeared into the shower.

*We'll go make breakfast, you two should have a chat,* she advised him, *Rachel's been feeling a bit guilty. I've felt it over the empathic bond we have.*

*Thanks for setting this up,* he replied gratefully, and Alyssa turned and blew him a cute kiss before following Calara into the bathroom.

John was lying on his side, spooned up behind Rachel, and she sighed contentedly as he reached around her and stroked her swollen abdomen. "That was a wonderful way to start the day, thank you," he whispered in her ear gratefully.

"It was my pleasure," she purred, snuggling into his arms. "This morning wake-up-call idea was inspired!"

He chuckled as he continued caressing her, and he pondered how best to raise the subject with the lovely young woman. She seemed so happy and at peace, that he didn't want to upset her.

Rachel seemed to sense his hesitancy, so she turned her head slightly to look at him and said perceptively, "I did wonder when I jumped the queue ahead of Jade. Alyssa wants me to chat with you, doesn't she?"

John smiled at her reassuringly and said kindly, "We're just worried about you. I had noticed you've been avoiding any time alone with me, inviting the others into group sessions instead. Is everything alright?"

Rachel let out a little sigh, and nodded as she looked up at him. "I'm sorry for avoiding you, I've just been feeling guilty." she admitted reluctantly.

He hugged her tightly and said reassuringly, "It's not your fault, that could have happened to anyone with trauma like that in their past. I'm just sorry that we let you get into that situation with the pirates."

She smiled at him and shook her head as she said, "I'm not sorry about the pirates. I thought over what you and Calara said, and you were absolutely right. The pirates were vermin that needed wiping out. If they had been granted clemency and been imprisoned instead of executed, they would have probably just returned to the same life when they got out of prison. I just feel guilty that I might have compromised your reputation with what happened."

John gave her a relieved smile, as he said, "Don't worry about that, I'm certainly not. I saw the looks on the faces of those passengers from the Excelsior, when they left the ship at Port Cadmus. I didn't see condemnation in their eyes, I only saw gratitude."

Rachel looked relieved, and he leaned down to kiss her tenderly. "Thanks for the talk, it feels good to get that off my chest," she said gratefully.

He nodded as he looked down at her affectionately and said, "One of the advantages to having Alyssa snooping around in your head."

Rachel smiled at him happily and said, "You did tell me she was lovely and would look out for me, and you were right. She's like the caring big sister I always wanted."

John wrapped her up in his arms, and they cuddled together contentedly for a while, waiting for the girls to rejoin them. They didn't have to wait long before the others returned with trays full of cooked food, and they all sat on the bed to eat breakfast.

"How soon until we reach the Beta-Capricornus system?" John asked Alyssa between bites of toast.

She finished her drink of hot chocolate and put down the mug before replying, "We'll be there in three hours."

"I finished my research into Ceraden's DNA, if you guys want to hear about that?" Rachel asked tentatively.

There were eager nods all round, so she sat back against the headboard, balancing a drink of fruit juice on her rounded belly as she quickly thought about where to start.

"Well firstly, I can confirm that the Maliri have been massively modified by Progenitors," she said with conviction. "They appear to have started with the same kind of base genetic template as Terrans, but the telltale signs indicating Progenitor tampering are all over their DNA strands."

"So Terrans and Maliri are like distant cousins?" Dana asked curiously.

Rachel pondered this for a moment before replying, "I'd say it's almost beyond doubt that both species have some kind of Progenitor origin. It's fairly obvious when you think about it, especially when you take into account John's physical appearance. The chance of our three distinct species all spontaneously evolving into bipedal humanoids with identical numbers of limbs, and strikingly similar facial features is so staggeringly remote, I think it's safe to say it isn't coincidental. You all no doubt remember how diverse the alien lifeforms were on Geniya Station."

John nodded his agreement with her conclusions and then asked, "Did your research confirm your theories about the fairy-tale that Ceraden told us?"

She nodded and replied, "Certainly with regard to the skewing of the birth gender ratios. It's fairly obvious that the Maliri were modified to be... breeding stock... for use by the Progenitors in their armies. The Maliri have triple helix DNA, just like you, Alyssa, and Jade, but Ceraden definitely isn't psychic. He has lots of genes on that strand that are currently dormant, but that could be because he's male. I'd love to take a look at some female Maliri DNA, and Irillith's mother's especially!"

"I'll ask Edraele nicely, and see what I can arrange," John said with a chuckle. "Anything else you found out?"

Rachel shook her head regretfully, and said, "The Progenitors were masters of genetic manipulation. It seems like they introduced this third strand of DNA into creatures they wished to extensively modify, but unfortunately a lot of the intricacies of their modifications are too subtle, or too complex for me to be able to fully understand them at the moment. If I were ever able to perform an autopsy on a Maliri, I would be able to start identifying exactly what some of these genetic markers were designed for."

Alyssa smirked and said, "Perhaps Irillith will volunteer?"

The girls giggled, and John chuckled too, none of them overly fond of the caustic Maliri woman.

Calara had been quietly pondering something, and when the laughter died out, she asked John, "Who are you planning on taking with you on this mission to the Fulmanax nest?"

He had been giving that some thought already, so he replied immediately. "We'll need you up here manning the big guns in case there's trouble. I'm inclined to bring as many of you as possible though, especially after seeing your incredible shooting demonstration. I think Jade should fly us down in the Raptor, then return up here to pilot the Invictus until we need an evac."

The girls all nodded their understanding, looking around at each other with eager expressions on their beautiful faces.

"Oh!" Dana suddenly exclaimed. "That reminds me, I've made some modifications to our combat gear."

John grinned at her and said enthusiastically, "That sounds intriguing! What have you been up to?"

She returned his eager grin and said, "Well I thought some grenades could be handy, so I've made us some explosive, flash, and smoke grenades. I've added them to the weapon racks, so when we get geared up, they'll be ready and waiting."

"Excellent, that will give us lots more tactical options," John agreed, and then asked, "Are they the standard Terran Type-Seventeen fragmentation grenades?"

Dana shook her head and replied, "The casings are a pretty standard design, but I constructed them out of the lightweight alloy I developed from the Kirrix. That let me pack in more explosives, while keeping the weight down."

"So what kind of blast radius are we talking about?" he asked her curiously.

She laughed and replied, "I didn't go too bonkers, because we still have to throw them! About twice the lethality of a standard grenade, with most of the explosive force centred in a ten metre radius. I tried to reduce the fragmentation effects, otherwise we'd end up getting caught in the wider blast zone."

He smiled at her approvingly, and said, "Alright, sounds sensible to me. Those should be very useful."

"I've tweaked our armour and railguns too," the redhead said mysteriously, flashing him an impish grin.

He leaned in eagerly and asked, "You have? What else have you upgraded?"

"Ahh! You'll have to wait and see," she teased him playfully.

John nodded, then suddenly reached over to grab the redhead, and began to tickle her for her cheekiness. Dana let out a delighted squeal, and the other girls grinned at her infectious laughter as she writhed helplessly in his grasp. He eventually had mercy on her, and she sagged against him, panting for breath with a happy grin on her face.

"I think we deserve a lazy morning today," John announced. "I have a feeling we'll be in for a busy afternoon. If you girls have anything pressing you need to get done, then by all means go ahead, but I feel like having a lie-in this morning."

The girls agreed that was a marvellous idea, so they cleared the trays and snuggled under the covers again. He was already flanked by Dana and Rachel, so they cuddled up against him with the others on the sides. They dozed together for a couple of hours, just relishing the opportunity to relax in bed, and enjoyed taking a break from their normally industrious activity.

A soft chime from the comm interface alerted them to an incoming call, and realising they needed to get up now anyway, the girls got out of bed and disappeared into the bathroom for a shower. John sat up in bed, and accepted the incoming call, and was surprised to see that Irillith wasn't wearing a helmet and seemed to be contacting him from a different location aboard her ship.

"We're nearly th-" she said curtly, before stopping abruptly, her eyes widening when she saw his muscular torso.

John smiled at her brazenly and said, "Apologies for my state of undress, you caught me having a lie-in. We're just getting up now, but we'll be ready in good time for when we arrive at the Beta-Capricornus system."

Irillith nodded and re-established her haughty persona. "My cruiser will stay in orbit, but I'll head to the surface in a dropship. Follow me down to the landing zone, and I'll lead you into the Fulmanax nest," she said imperiously.

"Just how dangerous are these 'Fulmanax'?" John asked her, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.

Her answering smile was cunning as she replied, "Nothing you won't be able to handle, I'm sure. I'll be accompanying you in any case, and you can rest assured that I wouldn't expose myself to unnecessary danger."

He nodded, conceding that she was undoubtedly being truthful about that at least. "So we escort you into the nest, activate this sonic device, and then take advantage of the confusion to enter the research base and retrieve the data. Is that everything?" he asked her cautiously.

"Yes, that is correct," Irillith agreed. "As soon as I've extracted the data cores from the facility's central computer, we will just need to evacuate to the surface, and this task will be complete."

John studied her face for a long moment, wishing he could read this enigmatic woman's thoughts. He knew instinctively that she was lying to him about something significant, but he had no way of knowing about exactly what, or the extent of her deception. The Maliri woman seemed to be equally fascinated, and stared at him silently, her angular violet eyes searching his face for answers to questions only she knew.

John fixed her with a steely gaze and said in a voice as quiet as the grave, "It goes without saying that if this is some kind of trap intended to hurt me or my crew, there will be unpleasant consequences."

She smiled at him wickedly and asked, "Is that a threat, John?"

He smiled back at her grimly, and replied, "No, it's a promise. You know exactly what I am, and what I can do."

Irillith's bravado was shaken at that, and she shivered involuntarily and averted her gaze. "Be ready in an hour," she said, and abruptly closed the comm channel.

He sat back and let out a sigh, as the holographic image of the blue-skinned Maliri woman blinked out in an instant. He glanced to his left, and saw five beautiful faces watching him curiously from the bathroom, where the girls had been listening in on the conversation between him and Irillith.

Alyssa glided out and asked, "What was that bit at the end about? We don't really know much about what you can do yet."

John smiled at her and chuckled as he replied, "Just bluffing a little bit, but it seemed to have the desired effect. I'd love to know what had her so worried at the end there."

"She was very beautiful," Rachel noted thoughtfully as she sat on the bed, this being the first time she had seen one of the Maliri in the flesh. "It's such a shame she seems so unpleasant."

John nodded, as he said, "I get the impression from Ceraden that most of the Maliri women are like that. It seems like the Maliri culture twists their personalities horribly."

Alyssa smiled at him and said, "He was very envious of your entourage of loving Terran girls."

John laughed and said, "What man wouldn't be? Don't forget my lovely Nymph too!"

He pulled Jade over to him and gave her a hug, which made her giggle happily.

"OK, time to get up," John said exuberantly. "I'm curious to see what our industrious Chief Engineer has been up to."

He gave Dana a playful smack on the rump as they walked into the bathroom, and she laughed, wiggling her pert bottom at him as she sashayed into the shower.

***

They split up after the shower, going into their separate rooms to quickly get dressed, then all gathered in the briefing room up on the Command Deck to get geared up. John had brought his gleaming white Alyssium sword with him, and he propped it against the weapons rack as he walked over to the equipping frames to don his suit of Phalanx armour. Alyssa, Dana and Rachel followed his lead, stepping into the plated boots for the female variant of the armour, and the robotic arms seemed to be performing a Mexican wave as they brought the sections down and fixed them securely in place.

After a rippling series of metallic clicks, the Phalanx body armour was securely sealed, and John stepped away from the frames, fully armoured in just a few seconds. He retrieved his sword, and carefully swung it over his back, so that the magnetic fields could lock onto the hilt and hold it securely in place. When the girls had each collected a railgun, he picked up one himself, and began to go through the normal checks, powering up the supply in the stock, and making sure that the sound suppressor was active. He then slapped a hollow point magazine into the ammo slot, and a fresh magazine of sabot casings into the second slot in front of the trigger. When he was confident that they were firmly in place, he checked the ammo and sabot counters, confirming that they read 250/50.

When he looked up, one of the armoured girls was watching him, and he could tell by the red coloured lioness insignia on her shoulder that it was Dana.

"Want a tour of the new gadgets?" she asked him playfully.

John laughed and nodded, then replied, "Sure, what have you got for me?"

Dana said gleefully, "If you glance up at the top left of your helmet's GUI, you can activate the new features I've installed. I've smart-linked the railguns to the body armour, so go ahead and activate the weapon sync function."

John did as she requested, and an ammo counter appeared in the bottom left of the interface, showing 250/50, just like the display on his weapon. "That's handy," he said appreciatively.

"Now lift the railgun and point it across the room at something in your line of sight," Dana instructed him.

He did so, and a targeting reticle appeared on the GUI, showing where his weapon was currently pointing.

"Now aim the railgun at me," she told him, and she strode across the room and then began to walk back and forth. "You should see the targeting reticle leading your target as I move. If I were to run faster, the reticle would lead more."

John nodded, impressed at her handiwork and said, "There's a red cross next to the reticle when I point it at you. What does that mean?"

"That I'm friendly!" she replied in a cheerful voice. "The suits are all linked, so the targeting system will warn you if a shot might hit one of us."

"Very nice," he said approvingly. "How did you add all this tracking information to the suits?"