Three Square Meals Ch. 055

*That's strange,* Edraele thought to him, sounding genuinely disturbed.

John glanced over at her, and saw that the Maliri Matriarch was sneaking a surreptitious look at Luna. *What's the matter?* He asked her curiously.

*She addressed you, not me,* Edraele replied.

John was certain he knew why, and he said to her reassuringly, *Don't worry. I think I know what's happening, and I can explain later. Just focus on your speech to the engineers for now.*

Edraele looked up at him, firm resolve in her eyes as she replied, *You can count on me, My Lord. I won't let you down.*

They stepped out through the airlock, and found the girls waiting by the podium along with Makaela, while eighty Maliri engineers were assembled in rows, waiting to be addressed by Edraele. The Maliri women had been talking quietly amongst themselves, but the moment Edraele appeared, all conversation ended in an instant. The sound of shocked, and quickly stifled gasps could be heard as a murmur through the crowd, as they took in Edraele's dramatic new appearance, with her long flowing white hair.

Edraele nodded to Makaela, who visibly quailed at being in her Matriarch's presence, too intimidated to even react to her new hairstyle. Edraele ascended the steps up the podium, then stood behind the lectern, looking out over the Valaden engineers. She turned towards John, beckoning him up onto the platform beside her, and he quickly strode up the steps to stand at her side. John looked out over the sea of dark haired Maliri women, and saw that they were all staring at Edraele, riveted to her as they waited to hear what she had to say.

"Thank you for gathering here to hear me today." Edraele began in her clear voice. "You are all blessed with an opportunity to serve your House, by working on a critically important task, which will affect the lives of millions of Maliri."

The Maliri engineers watched her spellbound, listening intently to every word.

Edraele glanced John's way, and said, "This Terran, John Blake, is House Valaden's closest ally. We are going to assist him with the refit of his ship using Maliri weaponry."

The crowd gasped in shock, astonished by this revelation. The crime of sharing Maliri weapon technology was punishable by death, and here they were, refitting this Terran's ship for him! Edraele gave the crowd a pleasant smile, and John could tell by the fearful way they looked at her that if their Matriarch was happy about something, it usually meant something terrible was about to happen to someone else.

"This Terran, and his crew, act with my full authority during this refit." Edraele continued relentlessly. "Any acts of disobedience or disrespect to them, will be a direct defiance of my will, and that woman will have to answer to me personally. Have I made myself perfectly clear?"

"Yes, Matriarch!" The crowd replied in one voice, not wanting to seem to be challenging her authority in any way.

"Very good. Makaela will liaise with Irillith to allocate you to your work crews," Edraele said with a pleasant smile. She then added ominously, "You have a great opportunity to impress us with your hard work and dedication. I would advise you not to disappoint me."

Edraele turned and nodded courteously to John, then descended the podium steps.

*Very impressive speech,* John told her appreciatively, as he followed her down the steps. *I was scared of you, and you're on my side.*

She stifled a grin, and said, *I doubt anyone will give you any trouble after that, but let me know if you or any of your girls have any trouble.*

They rejoined the others, and Alyssa gave him a smile, as she thought to him, *I'm glad she's not my boss!*

*What do you think of your boss?* John replied with a teasing smile.

She grinned at him and said, *He's alright. A bit of an eye for the ladies though, so a girl has to watch herself around him.* She rubbed her tummy, and added, *The work cafeteria is excellent though. Serves the most delicious food I've ever tasted.*

John managed not to laugh, then said, *Funny you should mention girls having to watch themselves. Have you seen what's been happening to Edraele's assassins?*

Alyssa glanced over at them, and saw all three Maliri women staring at John in fascination. *Must be the Maliri behaviour modification kicking in.* She glanced over at the engineers, and added, *It's not just them. Look.*

John turned to look at the assembled engineers, and eighty inquisitive Maliri women were gazing at him curiously. *I feel like I'm a juicy steak being stared at by a pack of hungry predators,* John said, feeling unsettled.

*Well, they definitely want something to fill their bellies,* Alyssa smirked in amusement. *And I'm sure they're very curious about what your meat tastes like, too!*

John rolled his eyes at her, and said, *We shouldn't be joking about this, Luna and the other assassins are getting friendlier all the time. I don't think it'll be long until they start getting flirty.*

Alyssa stared into his eyes, her own cerulean orbs twinkling with amusement as she said, *Then ask them politely to get down on their knees, and give them a nice belly full of cum. Edraele's perfectly safe right now, so it's a good time to bring her bodyguard onside. They're totally loyal to her anyway, but the more girls under her command, the more power she'll have access to, just in case she needs to defend herself against attack.*

He looked surprised, and said, *You wouldn't mind?*

*Of course not, don't be silly,* Alyssa said as she smiled at him encouragingly. *Get as much Maliri strange as you want. You've seen how much happier Irillith and Edraele are since you started loading them up. Why not share the love? We'll be out of here in a couple of days, and then you'll belong to just me and the girls.*

John nodded thoughtfully, then turned his attention to Makaela who had been conferring with the Maliri engineers. She looked shaken when she walked over to join them, but that eventually wore off as she eyed John with curiosity.

Dana strolled over to him, and said, "We're ready to go."

He turned to Makaela, and said, "Please take Dana, Alyssa, and Irillith to the shipyard's Primary Fusion Reactor. My Chief Engineer needs to use it to fabricate a couple of elements."

Makaela seemed to struggle with his command for a moment, but one glance at Edraele, who was watching her intently made her mind up in an instant. "If they'd care to follow me, I'll guide your companions there immediately," she said, nodding to him respectfully.

"Thank you, Makaela, much appreciated," John said gratefully, and she gazed up at him, giving him a tentative smile.

The Maliri Shipyard Commander seemed totally entranced, and when Dana cleared her throat politely, Makaela jumped in surprise. She turned and then walked away briskly, only turning once to dart a quick glance back at John, before heading towards a crystal door with the girls in tow. He looked at Edraele, and saw that she had been watching Irillith leave with sadness in her eyes.

*Are you alright?* he asked her sympathetically.

*I've treated my daughters so badly,* she said, her voice full of regret. *I wish there was some way I could make amends.*

John gave her a comforting smile, and said, *It wasn't you, remember, but an apology is a good place to start.*

Edraele nodded thoughtfully, then glanced over at Luna, Almari, and Ilyana, who were all staring wistfully at John. *You seem to be having a dramatic effect on my personnel,* she remarked to him in amusement.

*Maliri women have been genetically modified by the Progenitors to respond favourably to my species. Just being in my proximity will get them curious, which moves on to arousal, and eventually to full blown lust. Irillith was affected that way too,* he explained, but he paused as a sudden thought came to him. *It took her much longer to succumb though. She lasted a few weeks before getting friendlier.*

Edraele smiled at him, and said proudly, *My daughter has always been strong willed. It doesn't surprise me that she resisted for so long.*

Their conversation was interrupted by Rachel, Jade, and Calara, who walked over to him, and the Latina acted as their spokeswoman as she said, "The engineers have all been allocated. We're going to make a start."

John smiled at them affectionately, and said, "OK, I'll start stripping the weapons. Which engineers am I working with?"

"That group of ten over there," Calara said, pointing towards a group of Maliri women, who were watching him eagerly. "I borrowed half the weapons team, and they'll be helping strip armour plating off the Invictus."

"Nice work, Lieutenant," John told her with a smile.

The three girls fanned out to meet with their teams, while John glanced at Edraele, and said telepathically, *You might as well head back to your ship. I'll come and join you in a few hours, once I've helped remove the weapons.*

*Wonderful!* Edraele replied. She then sounded playful, as she added *I know a great way to reward you for your hard work.*

John turned to watch the Maliri Matriarch leave, and she stopped by her bodyguard, appearing to be asking them a question. They nodded enthusiastically, then prowled towards him with their graceful gait. Edraele flashed him a smile, before stepping inside the airlock of her ship, and disappearing out of sight.

Almari, and Ilyana stayed back a step, staring at him in fascination, while Luna asked shyly, "Edraele said that we could keep you company, as long as that's alright with you, John?"

He smiled at them, and said, "Sure, but it won't be very exciting. I'll just be removing weapons from the ship." He paused as he thought it over, and said, "Actually, it might be quite fun to watch. I'm stronger than I look."

Almari eyed his muscular arms, and said breathily, "You look very strong to me."

John chuckled, and said, "Alright, just stay safely out of the way, and you're welcome to keep me company."

"We won't be any bother, Sir," Ilyana promised him fervently, gazing at him with her turquoise eyes.

He gave them a friendly smile and said, "Call me John, please."

They nodded eagerly, so he turned towards the engineering crew, and strolled over to them briskly. "Hello ladies," he greeted the ten Maliri women cheerfully. "Have you all been briefed on our task for today?"

One of the Maliri engineers stepped forward and replied, "Yes Sir, we're to assist you with disconnecting and uncoupling all the weapons from your ship, in preparation for installing the new Maliri weaponry."

"Excellent! There's no need to call me 'Sir' though, John will be fine," he said brightly. He looked at the engineer who had spoken and said politely, "I'm sorry, we haven't been introduced. What's your name?"

She blushed, and replied, "I'm Filaurel."

"Nice to meet you Filaurel. Are you all familiar with how to disconnect all the weapons?" he asked her hopefully.

"Yes, John," she confirmed immediately. "Your Chief Engineer gave Thessalia a holo-reader with instructions."

He looked over at the Maliri that Filaurel had pointed to, who was currently holding the holo-reader, and alternating glances at it with looking at him. When Thessalia heard her name called out, and John focused his attention on her, she flushed with embarrassment.

"It looks quite straightforward," Thessalia said with a shy smile. "Uncoupling the Beam Lasers will take the longest, but the turret mounted weapons will be easy to prepare for you."

John nodded, then said, "Alright then ladies, let's make a start. You work ahead of me, getting the weapons ready, then I'll remove them."

The first engineer he'd spoken to, Filaurel, looked at him curiously, and asked, "Won't you need an anti-grav harness to remove the weapons?"

"That won't be necessary," He replied with a chuckle, shaking his head. He then looked upwards at the maintenance frameworks being moved into position, and asked, "Now, how do we get up on those gantries?"

***

Makaela led Alyssa, Dana, and Irillith through the golden, high-ceilinged corridors of Genthalas shipyard, deeper into the heart of the space station. They had been walking for about twenty minutes when their guide finally came to a halt in front of a set of sturdy double doors, which had started opening as she drew closer.

She walked in without a word, and as the others followed her inside, they realised they were now in some kind of long control room. The control centre had a curve to it, with the inside of that curve one long window, which looked out over a massive two-hundred-metre wide sphere that was rotating slowly in the centre of a huge room. A dozen female Maliri technicians were either sitting at stations monitoring readings, or striding purposefully around the room looking at complex power fluctuation graphs. One of the Maliri technicians looked over at them when they entered, her eyes widening briefly when she saw Irillith.

Managing to control her reaction, she walked over to join them, and asked, "Makaela, Irillith, what brings you to the Primary Power Core?"

Dana had wandered over to one of the power graphs, and after staring at the readouts showing the power output for the core, she gave Irillith an eager thumbs up. Irillith smiled at her, then turned to look at the Lead Technician who had spoken to them, and replied, "Hello, Alyndra. We're here to use the Power Core for an experiment, and this Terran, Dana, will be able to give you the details."

Alyndra looked sceptical, and frowned, glancing in Makaela's direction. "Help them with whatever they want," Makaela answered her unspoken question with a slightly surly tone of voice.

Dana bounded over to them, and said, "Hey Alyndra, I'm Dana, It's nice to meet you! I need to use your Power Core to make a couple of new elements, if that's alright? It should only take a few hours."

Giving the redhead a tentative nod, Alyndra asked, "What are you planning to do with the Power Core?"

Smiling at her brightly, Dana said with enthusiasm, "Well first, we're going to take a stream of highly charged anti-matter and shoot it through the Power Core. Then afte-"

Alyndra gasped in shock, and several technicians around the room looked up in alarm. "You want to stream anti-matter through a Fusion Reactor? Are you insane?!" she balked in disbelief.

Dana shook her head, and said, "Nope, it'll work, trust me. You just have to tightly regula-"

Alyndra had turned to Makaela, abruptly cutting Dana off again, as she pleaded desperately, "Have you any idea how unstable that is? If we do what this girl asks, we'll trigger a fusion detonation, and vaporise the entire station!"

Makaela started to look worried, and she turned to Irillith asking, "There must be some other way?"

Irillith looked at Dana, who shook her head firmly. Gazing at her imperiously, Irillith replied, "Sorry Makaela, this is the only way. Follow Dana's instructions to the letter."

Narrowing her eyes, Alyndra shook her head stubbornly, saying, "I won't allow it! You aren't going to wreck my Power Core!"

Irillith turned to look at her, raising an eyebrow as she asked in a chilling voice, "'Your' Power Core? I think you'll find that this shipyard, and everything in it, belongs to House Valaden. My mother is here at Genthalas to personally oversee this project, so perhaps you'd like to meet with her? You can explain in person why you're refusing to carry out her orders."

Alyndra turned a very pale blue, as colour leeched out of her face, and she said in a tremulous voice, "Edraele is here?"

Nodding slowly, Irillith said, "Oh yes, and she'll be most displeased to hear of the unnecessary delay you're causing."

Taking a big gulp, Alyndra cast a fearful look in Makaela's direction, and when she nodded grimly, the Maliri technician's shoulders slumped. "Alright, tell me what you want us to do," she said to Dana with a resigned expression on her face.

Grinning at her confidently, Dana said, "Don't worry, you'll be perfectly safe. Now, let's start with charging the anti-matter..."

***

John squatted down by the edge of the Invictus topdeck, gazing down at the hundred metre drop to the floor of the drydock below. He rubbed his chin for a moment, then looked over his shoulder at the engineers working quickly to disconnect the first of the Gatling Lasers. All the armour plating panels had been withdrawn, and the full arsenal of the Invictus was exposed for the work crews.

"Filaurel, could you set up a wide tractor field down there, covering the deck on our starboard side? Then I can just lob the weapons over the rim of the topdeck, and I won't need to worry about damaging the floor below," he said with a wide smile.

"Sure, I can do that for you!" she agreed eagerly, before stopping, and looking at him with a puzzled expression. "You're going to throw the weapons over the edge of this spacecraft?"

"That's right!" he said exuberantly.

She darted a look of confusion at her colleague, who was hurrying to undo the locking mechanism securing the Gatling Laser to the turret. Thessalia shrugged, and then smiled at John, as she continued to work quickly.

Filaurel pulled a communication device from her utility belt, and began to speak in a hurried voice. John hoped it was to an engineer in charge of operating the tractor field, and not to someone in charge of an asylum. He turned to look at the trio of assassins who were watching him curiously, and when he waved at them cheerily, they smiled and gave him a friendly wave in return.

"The tractor field is set up for you, John," Filaurel called over to him.

He grinned at her, and walked over to join them at the turret, saying, "That was fast, well done!"

She smiled at him happily, then stepped aside to give him room. Thessalia backed away too, stating, "The weapon is uncoupled." She hesitated for a moment, before saying, "I know Filaurel asked before, but are you sure you won't need an anti-grav harness?"

John winked at her, then lifted the two-metre-long Gatling Laser with ease. There was a collective series of gasps from his audience, and he strolled over to the starboard edge of the topdeck, and looked down carefully in case there was anyone in the way. Seeing it was clear, he casually dropped the weapon over the side of the ship, where it fell for nearly one-hundred metres before coming to a halt a few feet above the ground. The weapon hung there, suspended in the tractor field, rotating slightly before coming to a rest.

"Easy!" John said enthusiastically. "Who's next?"

A pair of engineers standing by another Gatling Laser turret raised their hands, and he strode over to join them. "Thanks ladies. What are your names by the way?" he asked them with a friendly smile.

"My name's Syndra, and that's Farryn," the closest one said with a smile.

He gave them a cheerful grin, and said, "It's nice to meet you both. Thanks for helping out on this." He turned to look at the three assassins, who were still wide-eyed with shock, and he asked, "Could you three girls check over the edge of the ship, and make sure it's clear for me?"

Ilyana was the first to react, and she nodded, her turquoise eyes sparkling with excitement, as she ran over to the edge of the hull. "It's clear, John!" she called to him.

John picked up the Gatling Laser, and flipped it over the edge of the ship in a nice smooth arc. There were more awed gasps, and he chuckled, thoroughly enjoying himself. "OK, who's next?" he asked with a smile.

"Over here, John!" another engineer called out to him eagerly. She was standing next to one of the ten-metre long Laser Cannons, that she and her fellow engineer had just been busy uncoupling.

He strolled over to join them, and said, "Thank you, and your name is?"

"I'm Annallee, and this is Rania," she replied excitedly. She paused and asked, "You aren't really going to try and lift this are you? This Laser Cannon must weigh nearly half a ton!"