Three Square Meals Ch. 080

Tashana sat up with interest and said, "I've seen stylised depictions of Thrall body armour, it's definitely fully shielded if the images weren't exaggerated. It showed shots bouncing harmlessly from ovals surrounding the women."

"Oh! I actually saw some of the psychic echoes wearing Thrall body armour!" Alyssa suddenly blurted out, eyes widening as she remembered. She tilted her head back to look up at John and added, "I thought I was being creative when I designed our Paragon suits, but I know where I got the inspiration now. They look extremely similar to Thrall armour!"

Everyone went quiet at that bit of news, glancing at John when he said, "Is it just me who finds that profoundly disturbing? We're instinctively guiding ourselves down the same path that other Progenitors have followed."

"Yes, but at a much slower pace," Dana said grimly. "We're being throttled by whatever you can force out of your Progenitor Guide."

John nodded, his expression bleak at the thought. After letting out a sigh of frustration, he forced himself to smile as he said, "Alright, let's get back to the battle review."

"The new weapons on the Invictus were well worth all the effort we put in on the refit," Calara said, smiling at Dana in appreciation. "Being able to repeatedly fire the Nova Lances was incredibly useful and coupled with the Singularity Drivers, our firepower was devastating!"

The redhead smiled with satisfaction, then asked, "What about the Heavy Cannons and Gauss Cannons?"

"They were certainly very effective," the Latina replied thoughtfully. "Being able to strip off the black armour plating like that left ships vulnerable for the Ashanath to finish off - any we didn't just kill outright that is."

"You don't sound very impressed," Dana said, looking crestfallen.

Calara gave her an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry Sparks. It's just that after seeing the Nova Lances and Singularity Drivers in action, I've been a bit spoilt with sheer destructive power. The new munitions based weaponry weren't as dramatic, but they did work exactly as you designed them to."

Dana's eyes narrowed as she said, "Hmm, maybe I'll have to get a bit creative."

"The Photon Lasers on the Raptor were an excellent upgrade to the old Beam Lasers," Jade said enthusiastically in an attempt to cheer her up.

The Latina nodded enthusiastically and said, "The Raptor and the Valkyrie tearing apart cruisers like that was incredible! If we could upgrade the Invictus' Beam Laser batteries to Photon Lasers that would be a massive upgrade!"

Dana winced as she replied, "The amount of power needed for that would be insane!" Tapping her finger on her chin, her mind whirred as she mulled over a number of possible areas of future research, then continued, "Those Photon Lasers were just initial prototypes. I'll keep looking at ways to improve them; maybe I can make them more energy efficient."

"Thanks, Dana," Calara said gratefully.

John turned to look at his Chief Engineer and said, "While we're discussing the Valkyrie, that reminds me about something important. The Invictus took a few nasty hits to the hull in that battle and if she'd suffered serious damage, you're the best chance we've got at keeping our main source of firepower in the fight. I've been thinking about it and it might be a wise precaution to keep you on the Bridge in future battles, just to be on the safe side. What do you think, honey?"

Dana looked at him in surprise and her expression softened as she realised what he was doing. "You're right, making sure the Invictus is fully operational is the most important thing I could be doing."

He looked around at the gathering of girls and asked, "Is anyone else an expert at damage control and coordinating emergency repairs?"

They all shook their heads, having no experience or expertise in that field.

John smiled at her apologetically, and said, "In that case, I'll have to insist you stay at your Engineer Station, Dana. We can't risk the Invictus taking damage and not having you around to fix it."

Dana let out a dramatic sigh, then said, "Alright, but I'll really miss piloting the mech, that was fun!" She glanced at Faye and added, "We should definitely increase your team of maintenance bots. If we take major damage, I'll need your help to actually patch the ship back together again!"

Faye nodded eagerly, her purple face lighting up at the prospect of being able to assist her friend. "I can directly oversee as many robots as I have avatars, but for simpler work I could control lots more! As long as they have programs for their tasks, they should be fairly autonomous."

"We'll start with bringing your team up to twelve for now," Dana said thoughtfully. "Then if we need to go into emergency repair mode, all of your avatars can coordinate their work. We can't predict the severity of any damage we take, so I think you'll struggle to create repair programs sophisticated enough to handle so many random factors."

"That sounds like a good idea to me!" Faye exclaimed, bobbing her head in agreement.

John looked around at the girls and said, "Unfortunately that leaves the Valkyrie short a pilot. I've got someone in mind who I think would be perfect for it, but I haven't had a chance to speak to her about it yet."

When he turned to look at Sakura, her almond-shaped eyes widened in surprise and she blurted out, "You want me to fly the Valkyrie?"

He nodded firmly and replied, "You flew a hoverbike, so piloting isn't something totally new to you. You've got exceptional combat awareness and Dana's working to improve the mech's control mechanisms to make it very responsive. For someone as athletic as you, I think you'll be a superb choice for it."

Sakura mulled the idea over for a few seconds, nodding slowly as she thought about it. "I have been feeling like a bit of a fifth wheel on the Bridge. Unless we get boarded, I'm not really able to contribute in most ship battles. It was so different when we boarded the Legacy though! Saving all those Ashanath from the Drakkar, then rescuing Rachel and Alyssa felt tremendously rewarding."

"I'll still need you for boarding actions and ground missions," John said firmly. "If you're up for piloting the mech, then you'll be able to assist in the same way during space combat."

"I get the same feeling saving friendly ships from hostile ones," Calara said, darting a perceptive look at John. She met Sakura's gaze when she looked her way and continued, "I think John's right. With your athleticism, focus, and temperament, you're the perfect choice as a replacement pilot for the Valkyrie."

Sakura smiled at her gratefully, then turned to beam at John with enthusiasm as she exclaimed, "Alright, I'm your girl!"

He grinned back at her. "Fantastic! I knew I could count on you."

Sakura giggled then, her brown eyes sparkling with delight.

"What?" he asked, looking at her curiously.

She grinned at him as she explained, "You know you've really gone for the cliché now? Putting the only Japanese girl on your crew in the giant mecha!"

He laughed and nodded, spreading his hands helplessly. "Sorry honey, it was unavoidable really. I could only resist for so long."

Alyssa shook her head and her cerulean eyes twinkled playfully as she said, "Actually we haven't gone for the full cliché yet! To do that, we'll need to dress you up in a school uniform and have our resident tentacle monster violate you."

"I've got a great outfit you can borrow!" Dana gasped with delight.

"You only have to ask and I'm sure something could be arranged," Jade purred, smiling flirtatiously at the Asian girl.

When they saw the lusty look on Sakura's face, everyone cheered and burst into laughter, making her blush furiously.

"Hey! I can't help having a few naughty fantasies!" Sakura objected, grinning at her friends.

While Calara gave her a playful hug and the girls all giggled with each other, Alyssa glanced up at John and said, *I'm impressed, you handled that very delicately. Thank you for making such an effort to spare Dana's feelings, she really appreciated it.*

*I felt bad about effectively taking the mech away from her, but she's too vulnerable out there without either of us to keep an eye on her.* John explained, winking at Dana when she blew him a grateful kiss.

*We nearly lost her months ago aboard that Drakkar battleship because she was so fixated on blowing up its reactor,* Alyssa replied, gently stroking his arm. *We both think you made the right call.*

He leaned down to give her a kiss, while waiting for the girls' laughter and chattering to subside. When they finally quieted, he sat up straight again and smiled at them as he tried to recall the other points he wanted to raise.

"There was one last thing I wanted to bring up before we end the post-battle review. Now this one is mainly my fault, but I think we badly overextended ourselves in this battle. We were so busy going for the big win and trying to help everyone, we were courting disaster by taking too many risks," he said, before turning to look at Calara. "Commander, what was our primary objective in this battle?"

"To destroy the nineteen black-armoured Drakkar battleships and eighteen cruisers, thereby relieving pressure on the Ashanath forces, Admiral," she replied promptly, in a clear voice.

He nodded and said quietly, "Which we achieved and is a breathtaking accomplishment. However, just think about the amount of mission creep we had." He raised his hand and began ticking off items, "We intercepted the cruisers going for the Ashanath carriers, then cleared the way for the Ashanath strike craft to shoot down the planetary raiders. We protected the Legacy from dropships, then boarded it to rescue the Ashanath High Council. Finally, we took out scores of dropships to save the remnants of the Ashanath forces from boarding actions."

The girls shook their heads in amazement, realising the sheer scale of everything they had achieved.

"I don't want to take away anything from our victory, which was truly outstanding," John began, looking worried. "But, we were in real danger of spreading ourselves too thin, which is when bad things started to happen. The Invictus took damage because we re-entered the battle rather than hanging back to fight at a distance and recharge our shields. Rachel was injured because Sakura and I weren't there to back her up - we boarded the Legacy from three entry points to save as many Grey crew as possible. This also meant that when Alyssa was incapacitated, the shock distracted everyone and the Invictus got boarded."

"We pulled through by the skin of our teeth, but it could have all gone very badly wrong. Now, if you see me getting sucked into this kind of over-commitment in the future, I want you to let me know. Saving the Ashanath was a worthy goal and I'm very glad we did so, but it wasn't our fault they got attacked and you girls shouldn't have to pay the price because they didn't adequately protect their homeworld."

Alyssa turned around and said quietly, "We all understand." She smiled at him and stroked his face as she added, "Immortality might seem like a blessing, but to spend an eternity grieving for girls you've loved and lost - that would be a terrible curse."

He nodded, pulling her into his arms, then beckoned the other girls in for a group hug. Calara, Sakura, and Jade from the left, Dana, Rachel, and Tashana from the right, surrounding them, and leaning in for a hug. As Irillith paused to peel away her spirit form, John beckoned Faye closer and she knelt behind Alyssa as Irillith wrapped her arms around her.

"All of you are the most precious thing to me," he said earnestly. "Always be careful and take special care of each other, because I don't want to lose any of you. Okay?"

They all murmured their agreement, nodding and smiling first at him then each other.

He smiled back at them and said, "Alright then, we've got the normal after-battle work to do, so we'll fly down to Ashana now and repair the Invictus." Glancing around at the semi-clad girls, he added, "I absolutely love the bikinis, but we better get showered and semi-presentable since we're off to meet the leaders of the Ashanath."

"I'm sure they'd appreciate it more if we turned up like this," Alyssa said with a sly grin. "You know the Greys are all obsessed with curves?"

John chuckled and replied, "You're naked at the moment! We want to find out information from them, not give them a collective heart attack!" As the girls laughed along with him, he smacked her on her pert little rump and continued, "Come on, time for a shower, then we can all head up to the Bridge."

"Just wait until you see Ashana!" Dana exclaimed as she nudged Rachel. "It's fucking crazy!"

"I haven't seen it either," Tashana admitted, her curiosity piqued.

Irillith smiled at her as she gave Faye a kiss on the cheek and released her from her arms. "I've never been, but I've seen plenty of images of the place. I'd love to see it in person."

The group broke apart then and they all headed into the shower. Alyssa waited for John at the foot of the bed and took his hand as he climbed off - he was last after being in the centre of the group hug.

*Nice motivational speech, handsome,* she said, giving him a tender kiss as they walked into the bathroom.

He glanced her way, unsure if she was being serious or sarcastic. *Are you sure? It felt like I got a bit too bleak at the end there. It wasn't quite the rousing toast to a glorious victory I'd originally planned, but I got a bit caught up in it and let my emotions get the better of me.*

The girls welcomed them into the warm cascades of water and as everyone got soaped up, Alyssa glanced at him over her shoulder. Calara and Sakura were busy getting her very clean, but she focused on him as she replied, *As we discussed before the battle, the girls aren't a normal crew. Believe me, everything you've been saying to them has been having a big impact.*

*I've just been honest about how much they mean to me,* he said in confusion.

She smiled at him and replied, *I know. Keep doing that, they love it.*

The crew quickly showered, dried, and got dressed, gathering in the huge bedroom while they waited for everyone to get ready. Alyssa sent out a few mental commands to coordinate their attire and the girls began to reappear in smart business wear, as their militaristic uniforms would have felt inappropriate. John had dressed relatively quickly in his charcoal suit, so he got to see each girl as she made her appearance.

"You look like you're having fun," Alyssa quipped as she sauntered out of the walk-in wardrobe in a fetching pencil-skirt suit.

John was stroking Irillith's slender stomach and Tashana's slightly rounded cum-filled one, the Maliri twins grinning at him indulgently. He laughed and said, "I feel like I've died and gone to heaven!"

Noting the sister's identical business suits, Sakura smiled and said, "It's like a before and after picture!"

He stepped back to admire the whole group, but just as he was about to tell his girls how stunning they looked, he paused. The two blue-faces of the Maliri twins and their long white hair made them look exactly like the Thralls on the stone monoliths, then there was the identical Amazonian body shape shared by all eight women. Considering that the Ashanath seemed to know far more about Progenitors than they'd originally revealed, he wondered if it was wise to bring the whole crew. The Greys were his allies and he didn't want to terrify them into silence.

"We saved their species from extinction," Alyssa reminded him gently, running her elegant fingers along his shoulder and caressing his neck. "They won't be afraid of us, not now."

Nodding his agreement he said, "Alright, let's head to the Bridge and we can take the Invictus down to Ashana."

He led the way up to the Bridge, primarily to avoid following after all the girls. As much as he would have loved to follow in their wake, he knew he'd never be able to concentrate after seeing them all gliding along in high heels and the enchanting effect they had on their tight derrieres. He jogged up the steps of the Command Podium as the girls fanned out to take their stations, Alyssa smirking at him in amusement as she took her seat at the Executive Officer's Station to his right.

A quick glance up at the holographic Tactical Map swept away all thoughts of beautiful women. He stared in silence at the melancholy battlefield where the Battle of Ashana had taken place, the massive sprawl of wrecked spacecraft like an archipelago of battered islands in that vast, dense sea of debris.

The beleaguered Ashanath survivors were picking their way through the derelicts, still rescuing trapped colleagues from vessels that had been merely crippled rather than destroyed. He watched a pair of cruisers attempting to tow a marooned battleship from the centre of the metallic wasteland, the huge disc having lost all its engines to Drakkar Beam Laser fire. Everywhere he looked, the salvage and recovery efforts were in full swing, with civilian vessels aiding the few remaining military ships in their endeavours.

The extent of the devastation inflicted on the Drakkar meant that their ships were too badly mauled for crew to have survived. The Ashanath wouldn't have been brave or foolhardy enough to attempt such a rescue in any case, knowing recovery teams were more likely to be attacked and eaten than met with gratitude for their salvation. It made for grim viewing and John had soon seen his fill.

"Take us down to the shipyard please, Jade," he requested, averting his gaze from the scenes of carnage.

"Course is already set," she replied with a smile, having remembered the way from their last visit.

She pushed forward with the throttle and the Invictus' six massive Trankaran engines blazed with an orange flare of light as the battlecruiser began to accelerate forwards. A green guide path led their way down towards the surface and the reddish-orange planet grew larger and larger in the screens as they descended through the atmosphere. It was a dry, arid world, the dusty red surface dotted with silvery-grey settlements that glinted as they reflected the light from the system's yellow sun.

Each cluster of buildings primarily consisted of tall, lofty towers and perfectly rounded domes, with each settlement built atop floating islands of orange rock. The island homes of the Ashanath were anchored to the surface of the planet by glowing beams of white energy, creating a strange multi-levelled vista on the otherwise flat plateau they were flying over.

"I see what you mean!" Rachel marvelled, staring at the screens in amazement. "It's like the outer crust of the planet is trying to float away, but the Ashanath have desperately tethered as much of it as they can."

"It's due to the low gravity on their homeworld," Dana explained sagely. "It makes those floating rocks easy to manipulate and manoeuvre into position. You won't notice the difference when we land at the shipyard as they've built artificial gravity into each of those levitating islands."

John turned to look at the Maliri twin to his left and asked, "What do you think of the Grey's homeworld, Tashana? Dramatically different to what you're used to on Valaden, I'd imagine?"

She tore her eyes away from the view and smiled at him as she replied, "I have visited a number of different planet types before while searching for Progenitor relics." She glanced back at the view of Ashana and continued, "You're right though, their homeworld is nothing like most of the worlds in Maliri Space. The majority of Maliri planets are lush and full of life; I find it hard to believe that anything can flourish in such a dry, inhospitable ecosystem."

Jade brought the Invictus lower and they soared low over silver settlements, close enough to see the shallow gullies and troughs in the earth.