Three Square Meals Ch. 069

He looked over his shoulder at Maria, and grinned at her as he asked, "Would you mind if we called you back a bit later?"

Maria managed to choke out a laugh between her sobs of joy, pure delight written across her face at having actually seen the moment when John proposed to her daughter. She shook her head vigorously in answer to his question, then closed the comm channel a second later.

Turning back to look down at Calara, he gave her a wry smile as he said, "I'm sorry I couldn't find a more romantic location to propose than the cockpit of a Raptor gunship."

She giggled as she hugged him fiercely, and exclaimed, "It was perfect!"

Faye suddenly popped into existence in a purple swirl, and she had her hands pressed over her mouth as she squealed with excitement, "Congratulations! I'm so happy for you both!"

John turned to look at the newly arrived AI, and he grinned as he said, "Thanks, Faye. I'm glad you got to see it."

Clapping her hands with glee, the digital construct gasped, "I recorded the whole thing! Everyone can watch it and share the experience with you too!"

Calara's joyful laughter filled the cockpit, and she exclaimed, "I must have looked absolutely stunned! I had no idea!"

Stroking her back, John asked, "I thought you'd inherited your mother's perceptiveness?"

"I must have a bit of a blind-spot when it comes to you," she admitted, then stood up on tiptoes to give him a tender kiss. A sudden thought crossed her mind, and tilting her head back to stare at him, she added, "That's why you wanted to see my dad! To ask his permission before you proposed!"

"Too old fashioned?" he asked her with a self-conscious smile.

She shook her head vehemently, and replied, "It was a lovely gesture! Dad is a traditionalist so he would've appreciated it, but asking my mother too was so thoughtful." Laughing then, she continued, "I was going to say you probably earned some serious brownie points, but you already saved my life, Mateo's, and my father's too. I think it's fair to say they're ecstatic to have you as a son-in-law."

"I wasn't going to take any chances," he said, as he brushed the backs of his fingers against her cheek, savouring the feel of her wonderfully smooth skin.

Calara gazed at him with huge round eyes, and sighed softly as he caressed her, before she murmured, "I can't wait to tell the others." She looked thoughtful as she considered the other girls, and studying his face intently, she continued, "Who else are you engaged to?"

For a couple in a more conventional relationship, a question like that would be the prelude to a furious row. However, rather than feeling a shiver of panic at the question, John could see by her expression that Calara wasn't upset with him, she was simply curious to see which of her adoptive sisters she could share this news with.

"Alyssa and Dana were first," he replied, smiling as he recalled the marriage discussion in the shower, after they'd had fun role-playing at being his secretaries. "I intended to ask you next, but your family situation complicated matters a bit. I didn't want to risk causing you any trouble."

"That was very considerate, thank you. I loved you asking my parents for their blessing," she replied, touched by his concern for her family. She smiled at him then and asked, "Anyone else?"

"Jade too," he said, then chuckled as he added, "Although she took some convincing!"

Calara blinked in surprise, and asked, "Really? I would've thought she'd be overjoyed by the idea."

"It was a Nymph-thing I think. She's been genetically programmed to serve and obey, so the idea of being treated as an equal to you girls was a bit overwhelming. I managed to talk her through it, letting her know how much I loved seeing her personality grow and develop. Once I'd convinced her how important she was to me, she agreed," he explained with a smile of satisfaction.

"I can't wait to speak to them all," she gushed, as delighted for the other girls as she was about her own engagement. She grinned at him then, and her brown eyes sparkled as she added, "Who are you going down on bended knee for next?"

***

Rachel nodded to Commander Larson, and said, "Thank you for your assistance, Doctor. If you could ask your staff to assist with the disembarkation of the patients in the hangar, I'll co-ordinate the transfer of the critical personnel from my Medical Bay."

"Of course, Doctor Voss," he replied with a curt but respectful nod. "We'll begin immediately."

Commander Larson had been the Chief Medical Officer aboard the Phobos, and he'd earned the respect of his staff as both a skilled surgeon and for his fair-minded approach to leadership. When the rest of the personnel aboard the battleship had rebelled, his entire staff had followed his lead, and stayed loyal to the Terran Federation. This had earned them a one-way ticket to the Xen-Nuchek mines, but considering the eventual fate of their shipmates several hours later, not one of them regretted that decision.

Despite Erik Larson's protestations at Rachel's flagrant disregard for Terran Federation medical protocols, he couldn't deny the miraculous results she'd achieved with her patients. He'd watched in amazement as one terminal case after another had been reversed, her treatment not only saving their lives, but offering them a full recovery in an astonishingly short timeframe. When the Invictus had taken on the wounded personnel from the battle of Regulus, he'd been more than happy to help, putting his team of junior medical staff to good use attending the injured troops.

Rachel watched him depart, then turned her attention back to the horribly burned man lying sedated on the hovering gurney. There was a slight shimmering in the air in a graceful arc over the stretcher, where a translucent force field kept him in a completely sterile environment. Her mind whirred as she studied his scorched and shattered body, cataloguing and evaluating his numerous injuries.

"Patient seven-four-nine, Lieutenant Oliver Clarke: Loss of left leg below the knee, third degree burns to left quadriceps, broken left femur, second degree burns to both hands," she thought to herself, then glanced at the holographic screen displaying his medical notes at the end of the floating stretcher.

One of Doctor Larson's medics had already examined this patient, and she checked off the injuries that the other doctor had identified. Sure enough their lists matched, detailing the aftermath of the burning support strut that had fallen on Lieutenant Clark's leg, and the burns to his hands he'd sustained attempting to push the flaming wreckage from his battered limb. The most significant difference between their diagnostic techniques, was that the previous doctor had taken five minutes to detail all the injuries, whereas Rachel identified them all in just under three seconds. Lieutenant Clark was the last of hundreds of patients she'd glanced over, only having to correct mis-diagnoses in four cases.

The man groaned in his sedated state, shifting where he lay on the gurney in his discomfort. Noting a slight spike in his pain levels, she adjusted the strength of the neural blockers by a couple of increments, and the Lieutenant sighed as he visibly relaxed.

"Don't worry, Oliver. I'll take good care of you," she whispered to him with a look of sympathy on her beautiful face.

The massive doors in the ship's hull started to slide open, and she looked up from the medical notes when she heard the familiar sound of huge hydraulics at work. A statuesque blonde stood by the door controls on the other side of the hangar, watching the frenzied activity in the vast room. Rachel walked briskly across the Hangar Bay to join Alyssa, and as she approached her friend, she glanced through the widening gap below the hangar door. The enormous docking bay they had landed in was teeming with Terran Medical personnel, who were clearly waiting to receive the flood of patients.

"Hey, gorgeous," Alyssa said, giving her a soft smile in greeting.

Rachel smiled back at her, and was about to give her a quick status update, when she paused and studied the other young woman closely. Although Alyssa was doing her best to hide it, Rachel knew her well enough to see the pain hidden behind her carefully prepared facade.

Striding up to her, Rachel asked, "What's wrong? You look upset!"

"Just bad psychic energy from all the wounded," Alyssa replied off-handedly, trying to soothe her worries.

Rachel tilted her head to one side, frowning as she looked into the other girl's bright blue eyes, and asked perceptively, "Are you sure?" She opened her arms in invitation, giving the troubled blonde a sympathetic smile.

Gladly accepting the hug and realising her friend wasn't so easily dissuaded, Alyssa leaned into the brunette as she replied quietly, "Bad memories from a tragic past..." They embraced for a long moment, until she let out a mournful sigh, then straightened and brushed her lips against Rachel's cheek. Smiling at her, Alyssa added, "Thanks for the hug, that was lovely. Don't worry about me, you've got lots to organise with all these wounded people."

"I'm always here for you if you need to talk," Rachel said with concern, stroking her arm.

Alyssa nodded, and a relieved smile spread across her face as she replied, "I'll be alright, John's here now."

Turning her head to look out across the docking bay, Rachel saw the unmistakeable sight of John in his white uniform striding across the huge room. The huge crowds of awed Terran personnel seemed to part before him like shoals of fish before a great white shark, as he made his way towards the Invictus. She was amazed that Alyssa had spotted him though, having not even glanced his way before she'd announced his imminent arrival.

*A matriarch has her ways,* Alyssa said with a playful wink, her telepathic voice sweeping through Rachel's subconscious.

Smiling at her supportively, Rachel replied, *Go be with him, he'll make everything better.*

They parted ways, with Alyssa loping gracefully down the loading ramp and into John's waiting arms. Rachel watched them for a moment, enjoying seeing the look of delight on Alyssa's face as she was reunited with her man. Knowing the blonde was in capable hands now, she gazed out over the horde of Medical Personnel, looking for the ranking officer.

She spotted a cluster of medical officers gathered around a man who seemed to exude authority. His insignia and epaulets denoted his rank as Commodore, and he had the Caduceus on his jacket like the other medics who were vying for his attention. Rachel threaded her way through the crowded dock, and strode towards the group of doctors, but they were all so focused on the Commodore in their midst, they managed to studiously ignore her.

After waiting politely for a few long moments, she announced loudly, "I'm the attending physician. Would anyone be interested in my clinical assessment of these patients?"

The group of fawning medical personnel turned around to see who had spoken, then stared at her in surprise. Their looks turned to disdain when they realised they were being addressed by a teenager, and considering her age, they immediately assumed she was a medical intern. Or a model playing dress-up.

"Run along and fetch the Chief Medical Officer, dear," a haughty middle-aged woman said, her dismissive tone one she obviously saved for young medics beginning their residency. She peered over her horn-rimmed glasses, giving Rachel a disapproving glare when she didn't immediately leap to obey her orders.

Rachel arched an eyebrow at the woman's rudeness, but was unruffled as she replied in a firm but respectful tone, "My name's Second Lieutenant Rachel Voss, and I'm the Chief Medical Officer on the Invictus. However, I won't release the one-thousand-four-hundred-and-seventy-one patients in my care unless I'm confident the medical staff in this facility are competent enough to treat them."

The older woman had turned back to face the Commodore, but she whirled around, and snapped, "Don't be absurd! Your little joke has gone far enou-."

"Be quiet, Doctor Herridge," the Commodore said cutting her off, his voice stern and authoritative. He studied the beautiful young brunette standing before him, then continued, "My name's Commodore Hochberg, and I command the medical facilities at Port Medea. Forgive my doubts, but aren't you a little young to be in such a senior position?"

Rachel nodded, and lacking any trace of conceit, she replied in a matter of fact manner, "Absolutely, Commodore. However the Lion chooses his staff based on competence rather than age, and we're all exceptional in our fields."

"Yeah, but exceptional at what?" one of the men muttered under his breath to a colleague, who sniggered along with his friend.

The Commodore turned to glare at the man, and barked, "Apologise at once, Doctor Carstairs, or I'll have you on a disciplinary!"

The rude Doctor looked shocked at being loudly upbraided like this in front of the hundreds of personnel in the docking bay. When he saw that scores of people were staring at him now, he blushed bright scarlet with embarrassment. "Sorry Doctor Voss," he mumbled, looking mortified.

"Now you're dismissed. Get out of my sight," Commodore Hochberg said in disgust, sending the obnoxious doctor scurrying on his way. After scowling at Carstairs' quaking friend, he turned back to Rachel, and smiled at her as he added, "Please accept my apologies for my staff, I won't tolerate rudeness."

"Apology accepted, Commodore," Rachel said, trying to suppress her growing impatience. She met the senior officer's curious gaze, and asked, "Shall I begin my clinical assessment?"

"By all means, Doctor," Hochberg replied with a half-smile, watching her with amused interest.

She nodded, and then took a deep breath before continuing in her clear, professional voice, "The Lion rescued six-hundred-and-forty-five personnel from the Kintark sulphur mines at Xen-Nuchek. One disembarked to the cruiser Damocles, but the rest I will be transferring to your care. Of those, two-hundred-and-thirty-two are medically fit for duty, while the rest suffered varying degrees of acidosis from sulphur dioxide poisoning. I've developed a cure, and treated all personnel who sustained any pulmonary trauma. All can now be monitored as outpatients, as the cellular regeneration process will require no further assistance."

The medical staff, including the Commodore, gaped at her in stunned disbelief, all rendered speechless by this astonishing young woman.

Rachel took advantage of their silence to continue relentlessly, "After the battle at Alpha-Leonis, the Medical facilities in Fleet Admiral Buckingham's task force were overwhelmed with wounded personnel. They asked us to transfer eight-hundred-and-twenty-seven patients to Port Medea, in an effort to alleviate some of the burden on their medical staff. These patients sustained a wide variety of injuries during the battle in the Regulus system, and a significant number served on the battleship Hyperion, which was destroyed by plasma fire."

"We're already treating thousands of burn victims here," Hochberg exclaimed, his tone grim as he finally regained his voice. "If there's been a major engagement, I'm not sure we'll have the capacity to be able to offer them much assistance."

"Seventy-eight percent of the wounded on the Invictus are suffering from varying degrees of plasma burns, so I developed an enzyme that will fully regenerate skin damage," Rachel explained, completely unperturbed. "I'll provide you with the formula and protocol for this treatment, so you'll be able to begin replication and application immediately. By the time Buckingham's Fleet arrive, I'd estimate that you should be able to administer it to at least a thousand patients. The regeneration process will take several weeks to complete, but anyone suffering from second or third degree burns will be viable candidates for outpatient classification after the initial round of treatment."

Hochberg exchanged startled glances with his shell-shocked staff, and a small crowd of medics began to gather around them as they listened to Rachel in amazement. She felt relieved that they appeared to be taking her seriously, and she smiled as she heard a familiar voice behind her.

"Is everything alright here, Doctor Voss?" John asked, as he strolled up to join them. His arrival drew the attention of everyone gathered there, and they stared at him mouths agape.

Rachel glanced at him and gave him a welcoming smile, before she replied, "I believe so, Rear Admiral." Turning to Commodore Hochberg, she added, "Do you foresee an issue with my proposals, Commodore?"

Hochberg laughed then, shaking his head in wonder as he replied, "None whatsoever, Doctor." Turning to look at John, he saluted him respectfully, and added, "It seems Doctor Voss wasn't being immodest when she said you only recruit the exceptional."

John smiled at him as returned the salute, and said, "I feel I must apologise, Commodore. Rachel would have been part of your staff here on Port Medea, but I pulled some strings to bring her onto my team."

Nodding solemnly, Hochberg's face showed that he dearly wished Rachel was still working at the Terran Federation space station. He smiled at her then, and said, "Tell me more about your work, Doctor, I can't wait to hear all about it."

John patted her on the shoulder, and she gave him a grateful smile, before launching into a detailed explanation of the bio-chemistry behind her invention. He stepped back and watched her for a moment, admiring the beautiful young woman as she held the rapt attention of scores of senior medical personal. Their looks of bewilderment turned to intense professional curiosity as she detailed her work, and soon she had the throng of medics abuzz with excitement at the potential of her skin regeneration enzyme.

Rachel seemed to be handling the situation magnificently, so he turned to watch the orderlies pushing the floating gurneys out of the Invictus, and guide them through the docking bay. The disembarkation of the wounded was well ordered and professional, providing a useful insight into the organisational skills of the Commodore in charge of this operation.

He spotted three of his girls standing together by the Invictus' airlock, the stunningly attractive young women drawing attention from all who passed them by. Alyssa spoke briefly to Jade and Sakura, before the Nymph led the Asian girl through the docking bay. He was relieved to see that the newest addition to their team had decided to dress demurely as they left the ship, temporarily departing from her fetching attire of a formal shirt. They waved him goodbye as they strolled past, and Jade gave him a glorious smile, while Sakura blushed endearingly.

"Where are you off to?" he asked them curiously.

"I'm taking Sakura out for lunch," Jade explained with a playful grin. "I heard there's a lovely restaurant nearby called Calara's. She serves the most delicious treats apparently."

Sakura's blush deepened considerably, but she fought off her embarrassment and met his amused gaze, licking her lips suggestively. John chuckled heartily at that, and she grinned at him over her shoulder as the Nymph led her by the hand out of the room. He watched them head towards the adjacent docking bay, where Faye had landed the Raptor, and Calara was relaxing in bed with her womb stuffed full of his cum. Although he was in half a mind to follow after the departing girls, he had some other pressing business to take care of.

Striding over to the airlock, he smiled at Alyssa apologetically, and said, "I promised I'd be there for the rescued prisoners when they departed."

*I know. It's not a problem, we'll talk afterwards,* she replied, her tone understanding.