Three Square Meals Ch. 080

Jade pulled back, her long tongue slipping back into her mouth as she smiled at him lovingly. "I know how much you care about me. Please don't be alarmed, that wasn't what I was asking." Twisting slightly in his lap, she gestured out at the Lagoon and added, "You built all this for me. I just wondered why?"

He smiled at her and answered, "Dana has her workshop and I built the Training Dojo for Calara and Sakura." He paused, then grinned as he added, "Alright, the Dojo was for me as well, but the same applies to the Lagoon. You know I enjoy a good swim."

"The trip to Oceanus?" she asked, a curious expression on her face.

John faltered, knowing full well that he'd chosen that luxurious destination specifically with her in mind.

Jade waited patiently, placing gentle kisses on his cheek as her cat-like eyes stared into his, "Take your time, I'm in no hurry," she said with a small smile, letting him know that she expected an answer.

He sat back and really thought about it, stroking her back as she nuzzled at his throat, her cool lips intent on kissing every inch of his skin. Finally, he looked down at her and said quietly, "I suppose I just wanted to be different to the other men you've known."

She laughed uproariously and exclaimed, "Oh, Master! Please trust me when I tell you you're nothing like them. At all."

Shaking his head, he continued, "Don't get me wrong, I love the physical side of our relationship, but that's what all your previous masters have always expected of you. With the trip to Oceanus and building the Lagoon, I just wanted to do something nice that was purely focused on your enjoyment, with no expectations in return. Seeing you look so free on Oceanus was absolutely priceless."

The Nymph sat there quietly, her vertical pupils expanding into deep black pools as she gazed at him. She reached out a shaking finger to trace his jawline and whispered, "I wish I had something special to give you, other than my body, to show my love for you in the same way."

He pulled her in close and said earnestly, "Jade, you already have! You're with me of your own free will. In over ten thousand years, no other man - not even your creator - has been able to say the same thing. I couldn't ask for a more precious gift."

Jade didn't say a word, but simply enfolded him in her arms and rested her head against his chest. He could feel her trembling as she clung to him, the beautiful girl quite overcome with emotion.

They sat together like that for some time, John stroking her hair with one hand, the other wrapped around her comfortingly. Without the obvious sexual frisson that was normally such an integral part of their relationship, such a simple thing as a tender hug felt far more intimate than the most heated of their lustful encounters.

For her part, Jade just listened to the powerful beat of her Master's heart, sounding so strong and vital in his chest. He had restored her own crystalline heart, bringing her back to life again when she thought she had drawn her last breath. The rhythmic sound filled her every thought, the resplendent crystal within her chest pulsating in perfect synchronisation to that same insistent beat.

***

Alyssa let out a muffled moan. She felt just like that time she'd swiped that miner's stash of rotgut and then got hammered with Sparks - it had taken an entire day before she'd been able to see again. Her tongue felt thick in her mouth and she winced against the light as she tried to open her eyes.

"Alyssa!" Calara gasped with relief. "Thank God you're alright!"

"Lights are bright," she grumbled, covering her sensitive eyes with her forearm.

"Faye, the lights!" the Latina called out urgently, the illumination in the room immediately dimming to a muted glow. "Thank you!"

Rolling over, Alyssa buried her face in her girlfriend's shoulder, sighing with relief as Calara caressed her throbbing head. Through the foggy shroud over her mind, she vaguely remembered that her boyfriend could work wonders. Perhaps he had the ultimate hangover cure up his sleeve? Or more accurately, in his pants.

*John! Can you load me up?! My head's pounding!* she muttered weakly.

*We'll be right there!* he responded the moment she had finished speaking, his thoughts sounding like a granite drill battering her subconscious.

Alyssa chose not to respond, just in case doing so prompted further conversation. She carefully withdrew her thoughts from everyone else as well, just in case they decided to all speak to her at once. If they did so, she wasn't sure she'd be able to refrain from throwing up all over her girlfriend and considering Calara was being so caring, and felt so nice, it hardly seemed like a fair way of repaying her. She just nestled against the Latina's neck, feeling the soft smoothness of her breasts squashed against her own.

The sound of lots of bare feet running down the corridor reached her ears and she felt the tremors on the bed as people climbed on to join her and Calara. In the months that she'd known John, this was the one time she felt really reluctant to give him a blowjob, not relishing all that bobbing for a second. She suddenly remembered that Jade would be able to help her out and suckling from her massively inflated bosom sounded just the ticket. Jade would croon a lullaby to her while stroking her hair - it would be perfect; a little maternal affection was just what she needed right now.

It therefore came as a bit of a surprise when she felt a pair of soft hands tentatively touching her forehead.

"She really is a Progenitor... but different! You two aren't the same!" Rachel gasped, sounding astonished. "Alyssa isn't masked by a shroud the way you are! Her aura is so beautiful!"

Alyssa really loved the girl, but her perfect diction sounded gratingly loud and annoying this morning. It didn't really help that she wasn't making the slightest bit of sense either.

"Can you help her?" John asked curiously.

Frowning at this unnecessary delay, Alyssa wondered why he wasn't buried down Jade's throat, the eager Nymph just as eager to feed her as she was to get loaded up.

"She's suffering from shock due to empathic psychic resonance," Rachel declared boldly. She faltered then, adding, "But, I'm not sure what that means, exactly."

Calara's quiet voice washed over her, the girl's deliberate use of a whisper making Alyssa fall in love with her all over again. "Alyssa was in quite a bit of distress, could you just heal her, please?"

"Sorry! Yes, of course!" Rachel murmured in barely audible tones, putting her back in Alyssa's good books again.

Alyssa felt soothing waves pouring out from the point that Rachel's fingers were touching her head, the light contact suddenly reminding her of the gentle brush of cotton wool. That soft fluffiness pervaded her every thought, wrapping up her mind in a misty swirl that left her shivering at the exquisite touch. The gentle fog faded away just as quickly as it had cuddled her subconscious back to health and she felt sharp, clear, and pain free once more.

Her eyes snapped open and she rolled away from Calara, then did a double-take when she laid eyes on Rachel. The brunette's stormy-grey eyes had softened, lit with an inner light that reminded Alyssa of one of Gravitus' moons, shining through a cloudy night sky.

Her face lit up in delight, having not been genuinely surprised by anything in months. It was an unfortunate drawback to being in constant telepathic communication with everyone around her, but one she gladly accepted for the wondrous perks she gained in exchange. She sat bolt upright and saw that all her adoptive sisters were there, sitting around her on the bed in a semicircle.

*Okay my loves, bring me up to speed,* Alyssa requested from everyone in the room - except Faye of course and also Tashana, who couldn't respond telepathically with her yet.

She closed her eyes and listened to John and six of the girls fill her in on everything that had happened since she'd been knocked unconscious on the Legacy. She smiled as she listened to their tales, greatly relieved to hear that they had won the battle and saved the Ashanath. However, she was particularly interested in John's version of his recent intimate encounters with the girls, while comparing them to their own fascinating perspectives.

There'd been a marked shift from Calara, Sakura, and Rachel in the strength of their feelings towards John, but Dana and Jade were practically giddy with excitement as they filled her in on all the touching details of their talks with him. She opened her eyes again, quickly studying the redhead and the Nymph and smiled as they darted adoring looks John's way.

"You have been a busy boy," Alyssa said to John playfully, then stretched in the tantalising way that she knew he loved. "Maybe I should get knocked out more often!"

John was kneeling beside her and he lifted her in his arms, repositioning her so that she was straddling his lap. "Please don't," he requested emphatically, embracing her tightly in a heartfelt hug. "I'm not sure I can go a whole day without hearing your voice."

"Oh alright, since you asked so nicely," she replied, hugging him back and letting out a happy sigh.

He kissed her on the shoulder, then asked, "What happened? Rachel said something about psychic shock?"

He released her from his tight embrace then settled back against the headboard, so she twisted around to sit in his lap, snuggling back against his muscular chest to face the gathering of girls. She noted Tashana's enormously rounded tummy, which explained where John's most recent load had gone. She felt doubly thankful that he'd enhanced Rachel to be able to heal, thereby saving herself several hours of feeling like death until his quad restocked.

She took a deep breath, then replied to John's question, "The old parts of the Legacy are all from an ancient Progenitor vessel, as I'm sure you're all well aware. What you probably don't know, is that the ship is filled with the psychic imprints of all the women who died there." She shivered as she recalled the horrific deaths all those Maliri girls had suffered. Her expression was grim as she added, "I saw hundreds of women have the life sucked right out of them, leaving them little more than hollowed-out husks. It was the most horrible thing I've ever seen."

"I'm sorry you had to witness that," John said gently, putting his arms around her again. "I've seen the same thing in the nightmares on the Astral Plane." His voice caught as he added, "Anyone who could do that is utterly vile."

Alyssa turned to look at him, concern written all over her face. She couldn't hear his thoughts when he was on the Astral Plane, so she hadn't realised he'd been tormented by visions of her and the girls having the life sucked from them. They shared a quick kiss, before she settled down in his arms once more.

She glanced at the twins, then around at the rest of the group and announced, "It was Mael'nerak's ship, I'm sure of it."

"How can you be so certain?" Tashana asked, before sharing a conflicted glance with her sister. They put their arms around each other for support, then turned to watch Alyssa with equally pensive expressions on their identical blue faces.

"The vast majority of the women being killed were Maliri and it was obvious that they were the crew aboard that ship," Alyssa explained, giving the twins a sympathetic look. "Mael'nerak might have turned good in the end, but he was an evil bastard in his prime. I saw him suck the life out of a bunch of invading Thralls - they definitely weren't Maliri as they had yellow skin and bright red hair."

"Can you remember any details about what you saw?" John asked, massaging her shoulders.

"It was from his really early days; Mael'nerak looked just like those first images we saw of him in the Nexus files. White robe, short goatee, stern faced, which must date it from at least forty-thousand years ago. If I had to guess, I'd say that echo might have even predated his invasion of the Achonin." She glanced at Tashana and asked, "Unless you've read about another Progenitor invasion he fought off, prior to the one we all saw in your memories?"

The Maliri girl shook her head and replied, "Valada never mentioned Mael'nerak fighting off anyone else. It's possible that something happened in the time before she was made into his Matriarch, but I've not seen any mention of thwarted Progenitor invasions."

John asked quietly, "So, if his ship got destroyed, does that mean Mael'nerak didn't survive his assault on this other Progenitor?"

"Are we certain the Ashanath didn't reclaim the ship on Arcadia? The one Jessica Blake found," Irillith interjected before anyone could speculate on John's question.

Dana shook her head and replied, "No, I don't think so. The ship that crashed on Arcadia was badly damaged but still in a much better state than this one. Mael'nerak's ship was totally fucked."

"We can ask them this afternoon," John said, smiling with anticipation at getting some answers. "Ularean's promised to tell us everything this time."

"It's just a shame they weren't completely honest with us from the start," Calara said, giving him a look of regret.

"If you'd pushed them too hard at the time, you might have been in trouble," Rachel said quietly. "They were obviously very frightened of you and people make rash decisions when they're afraid."

John nodded, then shrugged helplessly as he said, "Events played out the way they did, so we just had to roll with them. You knew they were hiding something, but we just didn't have the leverage to get them to open up about it." He looked around the group and continued, "Anyway, now that Alyssa's back in the land of the living, now's probably a good time for the battle recap."

"Sorry to keep everyone waiting," she said airily.

He squeezed her gently in his arms, then looked around at the women on the bed, making eye contact with each of them in turn. "I've already been through the battle with Calara, so I know what happened on the Invictus while I was aboard the Legacy. There's no point in going through everything in laborious detail, but I'll just go through the key points." He took a deep breath before continuing, "Before we get into that, let me just say that this was by far the most intense combat we've been involved in so far. Every one of you made me proud; you worked together flawlessly as a team, protecting each other and meeting our objectives. Thanks to all of you, the Ashanath were saved from extinction at the hands of the Drakkar. Well done girls, you were magnificent."

The crew beamed with his generous praise, sitting taller and grinning at one another as they looked around at their friends. John smiled as he watched them react, pleased to see them looking so happy.

When he'd let them enjoy the moment of victory for a little while, he spoke up again, "There were a few rather dramatic developments during the battle that I'll quickly mention. Dana and Rachel both have new psychic talents now and you've all seen what they were able to do. Sakura's powers have continued to expand to include Cryokinesis, which is the ability to manipulate ice. Alyssa and I will help train you where we can, but I suspect that you'll simply need to practice and get more familiar with the full range of capabilities at your disposal." He glanced at Irillith and added, "Using that electric field to short out the Drakkar's shields was inspired. Well done coming up with that."

The Maliri girl smiled at him as she replied, "It wasn't too hard to adjust the strength and volume of the electrical field. Once their shields were out, Tashana and me were able to tear them to pieces with railgun rounds."

"I wish we'd had you two with us the first time we got boarded!" Dana exclaimed, patting Irillith on her bare blue shoulder and darting a grin at Tashana.

Tashana smiled back at her hesitantly, still feeling conflicted about gunning down the Drakkar marines. John was watching her at that moment and he took note of her slightly pensive expression, resolving to talk to her about it when he got a chance.

*You saw that too?* Alyssa prompted him. *She feels regret about something.*

*Thanks, beautiful. I'll try and find out what's bothering her,* John replied thoughtfully.

She tensed for a moment, then said carefully, *I think I know what it is. I'll tell you about it later.*

John stroked her shoulder in acknowledgement, then glanced at Dana and said, "Let's move on to talking about our equipment."

"Actually I have something I wanted to mention," Rachel interjected, turning to look at the redhead beside her. "I don't think our current guns are adequate against shielded opponents. If Alyssa hadn't been able to use telekinesis to batter her way through the Drakkar, we'd have been in serious trouble. Having to split different weapon types up between teammates is just halving our firepower as Alyssa couldn't fire her Punisher rifle until their shields were down and my Justice Laser wasn't able to penetrate their armour."

"I could miniaturise a Progenitor Power Core and upgrade the rifle that way," Dana suggested thoughtfully. "We haven't been using the integral grenade launcher much, I could combine the best of both weapons and try an over-and-under railgun and laser combo?"

John shook his head in amazement and replied, "You could do that?"

She grinned at him and replied, "Yeah, it shouldn't be too hard. I won't be able to increase the firepower too much though, as we're still limited by heat dissipation on the barrels."

"How about the Drakkar's gear?" Alyssa asked curiously. "Did anyone get a chance to loot their dead?"

John winced at her unfortunate choice of phrase and said, "I've spoken to Ularean, his people are going to collect undamaged samples of all the Drakkar's weapons and armour for Dana to take a look at." He turned back to look at the redhead and added, "Those guns of theirs had a lot of penetrating power. Getting hit by one felt like being battered by a sledgehammer."

Rachel nodded emphatically and said, "I was very lucky I was hit by a glancing blow on the helmet, considering the trauma I suffered to my shoulder."

"Their guns were much more advanced than anything they used in our last encounter with them," John said soberly. "If the Progenitor could supply them with that black armour for their ships, there's no reason the weapons and armour didn't come from him too."

Sakura frowned as she recalled hacking through the black battlesuits and said, "The Drakkar's armour was very sturdy. Even my crystal Alyssium blades struggled a little with slicing through it."

"Maybe this Progenitor gave the Drakkar some kind of low-grade version of the gear his Thralls use?" Irillith speculated. "We've previously spoken about the armour plating the Progenitor gave them being a crude version of the armour on his black ship."

"Shit! We'll be able to find out if that's true!" Dana gasped in delight. "I'll be able to study the black armour on the Legacy and find out!"

"Do you think you'll be able to reproduce that armour plating, if that is true?" Calara asked, eyes going wide at the thought. "That would be incredible if that's the case. Considering how powerful the Progenitor ship's guns are, just think how tough that ship's armour must be!"

"I don't see why not!" Dana said with a joyful grin. Her smile suddenly faded as she added, "Unless it's fabricated by some kind of process which John hasn't felt like sharing with me yet."

Holding his hands up in the air, John protested, "Hey! It's not me blocking our access to this tech!"

"I know, I was just teasing you," Dana replied, blowing him a kiss.

The girls laughed at her banter, all except for Sakura who frowned with worry. She said quietly, "If the armour the thralls use is greatly superior to the Drakkar gear, exactly how tough is that going to be? I think we need to be prepared to face battle-armoured Thralls eventually."