John stretched contentedly after enjoying a relaxing cuddle with his girls. He looked over at Jade, and saw that her stomach was still emitting softly glowing green lines, that spread out over her body and curved along her limbs.

"So that was new." he spoke to her with a smile, then frowned curiously. "Did you even have any idea at all you could do that?"

"No." the Nymph said, shaking her head with a puzzled frown. "I just felt a strange tingling sensation when you took me that way and then... well you saw the result!"

"I felt a little more than a tingling sensation the first time he took my ass!" Alyssa laughed, with Dana and Calara bursting into fits of giggles.

"Well you do seem to be full of surprises!" John spoke to Jade warmly, opening his arms, and she shifted wordlessly into the warm embrace with a contented purr.

"So does that mean you can just grow a copy of John's cock whenever you feel like?" Dana asked, biting her lip coyly at the thought of being sandwiched between Jade and John.

Jade tilted her head to the side, grinning eagerly. "I don't know, but I'd like to try and find out!" she said.

She lay back on the bed and closed her eyes filtering out the distractions and concentrating hard. Her brow furrowed as she focused intently on making her body grow another replica of John's impressive cock. After a couple of hushed minutes though, Jade blew out a sigh and opened her eyes.

"It's no good." she said wistfully, making a 'tsk'. "No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to form my body into that shape."

"That's a relief!" John smirked haughtily. "You won't be replacing me that easily, little Nymph!"

The girls laughed at the joke, diving towards him as one and burying him under a pile of nubile flesh, cuddling and tickling him in equal measure. Finally managing to extricate himself from the impromptu assault by the appreciative young women, John glanced at the ship's chronometer on the wall. They still had a couple of hours to wait until the Greys launched whatever it was Dana had them constructing, and his mind began to shift to tactical planning for the upcoming confrontation with the Drakkar. The girls sensed his shift in focus and they sat around him on the bed, waiting to follow his lead.

"So what's the plan then?" Alyssa asked him curiously.

"First, I need to know what Dana's got the Ashanath working on at the moment" he stated.

"They're going to automate a freighter and modify it to tow a string of decoys." The redhead explained. "I've given the Ashanath instructions on how to hack the transponders so that it'll look like a nice fat convoy of freighters and civilian transports."

"I thought hacking transponders like that was highly illegal?" Calara asked with a raised eyebrow.

"For civilians it is." John replied. "But we've been given the go ahead by the Ashanath High Council to react to an emergency situation. For all intents and purposes, we're above the law."

"Well you've got no objection from me." Calara said, then grinned evilly. "The Drakkar won't be able to pass up a juicy target like that! Especially after the Ashanath starved them of targets over the last couple of days."

"So we lure them in with another tempting target." John stated with a nod. "It's a good plan. Calara, can you look at the system charts and find me a selection of good ambush sites."

"Yes, Sir," The Latina purred with just the hint of a seductive tone, before standing up to go.

"I'll come along too!" Jade said, eager to see where the cunning Latina was going to set the trap.

The Latina and the Nymph got up and disappeared into the bathroom to take a shower, the sound of splashing water soon accompanied by soft feminine giggles.

Dana, Alyssa and John exchanged glances and laughed, before returning to the discussion at hand.

"We took a few hits in that last battle." John addressed Dana, turning serious once more. "Is it going to be difficult to do repairs, if this Onyxium element is so rare?"

The auburn haired girl looked at him in surprise, her eyes glinting happily. "You really were paying attention during my presentation!" she said overjoyed.

John chuckled amusedly. "If my science teachers had looked as hot as you, I'm sure I would have found the subject far more compelling!" he said.

Dana preened at the compliment and laughed along with him.

"In answer to your question, I do have a little Onyxium to spare and certainly enough to fabricate enough Invictium alloy to patch the hull." Her mood then turned serious. "If we do take major damage though, we could be in trouble," she said regretfully.

"That reminds me," Dana continued, remembering something important. "If you aren't busy right now Alyssa, I could do with your help to test something?"

"I'm completely at your disposal!" Alyssa grinned, bowing regally.

"I'll come along too," John said, standing up. "I'm intrigued to find out what this test involves!"

They got up to go and have a shower, saying farewell to the other two girls coming out of the bathroom, both of them eager to get up to the bridge.

Not long afterwards, Alyssa and John were being led by Dana down the grav-tubes to Deck 9. They walked down the corridor, past the new ship defences and the redhead stopped at the entrance to the cargo bay, hitting the button to open the robust set of double doors.

"The cargo bay?" Alyssa asked curiously. "What are we doing down here?"

"Aha!" Dana said, turning and spreading her arms theatrically, as she led them over to the far side of the vast room. "All will soon be revealed!"

A few dozen five foot cubed containers were stacked together neatly and a large exotic piece of machinery loomed over them where it was positioned nearby.

"This is called a Psi-Shaper," Dana said with a flourish of her hand. "The Greys use them to manipulate the metal they use to construct and armour their spacecraft. I asked if they could spare one, so they gave us this to use."

John and Alyssa approached the odd looking piece of equipment, taking a few steps around it as they studied its bulky base and robotic arm that ended in a group of emitters. It looked very much like a conventional crane, but the emitters and otherworldly sensor array clearly marked it as being of alien design.

"I embedded Etherite crystals in the Invictium alloy, so that we could armour the ship using the Psi-shapers they have at the Ashana shipyard," Dana explained. "However if we're off having adventures somewhere. light years from Grey Space, we'll need to be able to do field repairs ourselves."

"Intuitive thinking." John said, impressed. He frowned then, and nodded with his chin towards the device. "How do we use it exactly, anyway? I don't see any obvious controls on that thing."

"We don't," Dana said with a grin, tilting her head to point to Alyssa at her side. "She does."

"Me?" The beautiful blonde asked in bewilderment. "I've never been that good with machinery." she said doubtfully.

"Councillor Rathus seemed convinced you'd have no problem with it," Dana stated with certainty. "And it needs to be you, because it's operated by Psionic waves."

Alyssa looked slowly back at the device, her expression somewhat doubtful.

"Ok," Alyssa said dubiously, looking cautiously at the Psi-shaper. "So, what do I do with it exactly?"

"The Ashanath engineers said that you just have to visualise the form you want the metal to shape itself into and think that at the Psi-shaper controls." Dana said, pointing to the psychic sensor and display attached to the bulky base of the device.

"John, we need a block of Invictium." Dana said, turning toward him, with her hands on her hips. "How about putting your manly arms to work, big guy, and bring me some?" she asked playfully.

John chuckled, shaking his head, and walked over to the crates she directed him towards. He looked inside and saw a dense looking block of shiny black metal. It glistened in the overhead lights, the tiny Etherite crystals embedded in the metal reflecting the light.

"That's the one!" Dana called out when she saw him look back at her for confirmation.

He tensed his muscles and picked up the heavy looking metal ingot, and then paused, looking down at it. He was surprised to find it weighed much less that he thought it would. He scooped it up under his arms and strolled back over to Dana.

"Perfect!" she exclaimed delightedly. "Can you drop it down over there please?" she asked politely.

John walked over to the spot the perky redhead had indicated, positioned just under the emitters on the robotic arm. He dropped the ingot and it made a deafening clang as it struck the floor.

It really was much heavier than he had initially guessed, John thought as he narrowed his eyes.

"Ok, this is just a spare piece," Dana spoke to Alyssa reassuringly. "You can use it to practice with and then move onto a large section later, when we need to make some proper armour plating."

Alyssa nodded dubiously, turning to study the shiny black block of metal that John had dumped unceremoniously under the Psi-shaper.

"Try making it into a flat piece like those armour sections over there," Dana said, pointing to several large armour plating panels that were stacked neatly on the far side of the ore containers.

"Just think the shape at the machine?" Alyssa asked with a raised eyebrow, looking askance at the odd looking alien equipment.

"Yep, it should be as easy as that." Dana said encouragingly.

Alyssa closed her eyes, imagining the shape of the armour plate in her mind and letting it solidify into a clear image. She opened her eyes and then concentrated on channeling her thoughts through the machine.

The sensor on the machine began to glow a soft pink and the crystal clear image of the armour plated panel appeared on the display. The emitters on the Psi-shaper began to glow the same ethereal colour and the shiny block of onyx coloured metal rose from the ground, beginning to slowly elongate and flatten out, moving like a black viscous liquid as it oozed into the new shape. It spun gently in the air as it solidified, before lowering to the ground.

John looked at the slab of metal with his eyebrows raised, while Dana hopped gleefully in place, clapping her hands at Alyssa's performance on her first try.

"That was brilliant, beautiful! Well done!" John said, impressed to see her handling the device so comfortably.

Dana walked over to the armour plating panel and lifted the edge of it up with a groan. John darted over to give her a supporting hand and Alyssa walked over too, eager to take a look at her first piece of mind-sculpture.

"Thanks!" Dana said to him with a grin, as he held up the Invictium armour plating easily.

The redhead then turned back to scrutinise the panel, unclipping a small scanning device from her belt and carefully examining every cubic inch of the armour plate with an in-depth scan. As the scan continued and data streamed through the holo-display, Dana's eyebrows kept creeping higher.

"You did an awesome job, Alyssa." Dana said in amazement. "The Ashanath said that for the first few tries, their engineers sometimes leave behind bubbles in the metal, or the shape is slightly warped, but you seem to have been able to get it spot on."

John gave Alyssa a proud hug and she beamed at him happily.

"That's quite a relief actually." Dana said with a cheerful smile. "If you hadn't been able to get this working, we would've been pretty screwed!"

"Now she tells us!" John chuckled, shaking his head.

"What will you use that armour plating piece for, anyway?" Alyssa asked Dana curiously.

"Umm... nothing really," Dana said with a guilty grin. "I thought you might mess up your first try, so I gave you something small to play with. This was just a practice piece."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence!" the blonde said sarcastically, pushing her friend playfully.

"Well, we could still turn it into something useful," Dana said, looking at the piece of metal speculatively. "After all, considering how he dispatched most of the Drakkar, John here is quite the swordsman. Why not turn it into a weapon for him to poke things with!"

"Ha-ha, very funny!" John said dryly, grabbing the redhead and beginning a vigorous session of tickling as punishment, with Alyssa laughing at the squealing redhead's misfortune, until the feisty engineer begged for mercy.

"I'm serious!" Dana gasped, wiping the happy tears from her eyes when John released her from his gasp. "Besides, I can't think of anything else practical to do with it at the moment."

"Ok, one sword coming up!" Alyssa said with a grin, looking forward to putting her psychic talent to the test.

John and Dana stepped clear of the Invictium armour plate, while Alyssa went to stand by the machine again. The beautiful blonde closed her eyes and imagined a simple sword shape in her mind and then concentrated on the machine. The sensor glowed a soft pink again and the adjacent display showed the image of a plain black sword with a flat crossguard. The black armoured panel lifted slowly off the ground and then began to fold in on itself, narrowing down and elongating as the metal formed the blade, crossguard and the hilt, all of which were depicted on the display. The newly forged sword rotated lazily in the air for a moment, before coming to rest on the ground.

"That was quite a bit harder!" Alyssa noted, frowning suspiciously.

"Really?" Dana asked innocently.

"Maybe you're getting tired?" John asked with concern, laying a heavy reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Do you need to rest?"

"No, I'm ok." Alyssa said, smiling and waving away his worries. "Try it out, see what you think!" she urged him excitedly.

John walked over to the now inanimate sword and picked it up off the floor. He hefted it in his right hand, testing the weight. The weight of the big blade was just about manageable, but the balance seemed off somehow.

"You forgot to put on a pommel honey." he said, realising what the problem was.

"What's that?" Alyssa asked him curiously.

"It's a counterweight for the blade and goes on the end of the grip." he explained.

"Ok, I'll have another go!" the blonde girl said enthusiastically. "Put it down and I'll reshape it again."

"Could you make the grip a bit longer too, so I can hold it with two hands if I need to?" he asked starting to get into the custom forging of this new weapon.

"And make it more elaborate!" Dana said excitedly. "A blade fit for our mighty champion!" she said with a grin.

Alyssa held her hands up in surrender and laughed. "Alright, alright! Instead of me guessing at what to make, why don't you search the holo-net for something you have in mind and I'll have a go at copying that?"

"That's a great idea!" Dana chirped. "You two wait here a minute, I'll be right back!"

John and Alyssa watched the redhead sprint over to the loading lift and then begin to ascend up into her workshop.

"So, what should we do while we wait?" Alyssa said coyly, facing John and trailing a fingernail over the muscles in his chest.

John smiled and pulled her into his arms. The beautiful blonde purred happily as he moved in to kiss her, luxuriating in the wonderful touch of his firm, demanding lips against hers. They lost themselves in their passionate embrace as she moulded her body against his, losing all track of time, as she surrendered to his probing tongue and his firm hands that followed the contours of her curves.

"Hey you two," Dana said with a playful smile as she moved up beside them, grinning. "Sorry to interrupt, but you didn't look like you were planning to stop anytime soon."

John and Alyssa reluctantly broke apart and then turned to the redhead, sighing contentedly.

"I've been doing some searching while you two were busy," she smirked, then beckoned them over. "Take a look at this bad boy!" she exclaimed excitedly.

She flipped the trusty holo-reader around that she held in her hands and showed them a rotating 3D image of an ornate black sword, that looked like it was straight out of a high fantasy illustration.

"Where did you find that?" John asked dubiously.

Dana laughed. "It's funny you should ask," she said with a grin. "I created a 3D model using this picture for inspiration."

She pressed a couple of buttons on the holo reader and then held it out for him to see. It showed a picture of a barbarian warlord wielding a long steel blade, standing protectively over a couple of scantily clad barbarian women.

"Uncannily accurate right?" Dana laughed.

"You're incorrigible," John laughed along with her.

"That picture is pretty hot," Alyssa admitted, admiring the curvaceous girls in their fur bikinis and getting some wild ideas in her head for the future, before nodding. "I'll do my best!"

John placed the crude black sword back on the floor under the Psi-shaper emitters and then they all stepped back, giving Alyssa plenty of room to work. Dana brought up the 3D image of the blade on the holo reader again and held it up for her friend to study.

Alyssa stared at the impressive looking sword for a long time and then turned to focus on the Psi-shaper again. The psionic sensor array began to glow a bright pink and the image of the blade appeared on the display, rotating slowly. Nothing else seemed to happen for a long moment, until Alyssa let out a long groan as she focused intently on the Psi-shaper, baring her clenched teeth. The Ashanath machinery began to creak ominously but after a heart-stopping pause, the emitters at the end of the arm began to glow with the same bright pink as the sensors.

The rough sword rose off the floor and after trembling for a few seconds folded in on itself, forming a black glistening bar of metal. Alyssa held her head in both hands, her brow furrowed with concentration and ever so slowly, the metal began to reshape itself to match the image of the sword on the holo reader. The bar of Invictium flattened, extending out to form a long sharp blade that was nearly five foot in length. The crossguard elongated, with the quillons turning back towards the point of the sword and shaping into dagger-like claws that flanked the base of the blade. The blade pirouetted slowly in the air before silently coming to rest on the ground.

Alyssa groaned, wavering slightly and her companions darted to her side to steady her.

"Hey! Take it easy there honey," John spoke soothingly, sounding worried. "Are you alright?"

Alyssa took a deep breath and then blew it out slowly. "That was a 'lot' harder." she said, glancing at Dana, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. "Is there something you aren't telling me Sparks?"

Dana had trouble meeting Alyssa's eyes and stared down at her feet, her booted foot twisting and turning on the toe as she looked shifty as hell.

"I was just curious!" she admitted, rushing through her confession. "The Ashanath said reshaping Etherite alloys got more difficult every time you did it."

"Dana..." John rumbled disapprovingly.

"They mentioned Etherium got stronger if it was shaped twice!" Dana spoke up quickly. "I just wondered if it could be reshaped three times!"

"Why didn't you tell me?" Alyssa asked, looking confused.

"I thought you might find it easier if you didn't know," the redhead said guiltily.

"Well I guess I'm ok, so there's no harm done," Alyssa said with a smile, rolling her eyes, before turning to John.

"Why don't you pick up the blade and let me know what you think. After all that effort, it better be worth it!" the beautiful blonde girl laughed.

John left Alyssa standing steadily next to Dana and walked over to the glimmering black blade. He knelt down and picked it up tentatively, the jet black claymore looking sinister and foreboding where it lay on the floor. He tested the weight and balance of the newly forged weapon in his hand, finding it finely balanced, as though it was an extension of his own arm. He turned it back and forth and admired the dark lustre of the razor sharp blade. The tiny innumerable flecks of Etherite caught the light and reminded him of the blackness of space, the unending void twinkling with infinite stars.

Taking an easy grip with both hands, he performed a few experimental slashes and heard the satisfying sound of the blade whistling, as it cut cleanly through the air. He had an excited lop sided grin on his face as he walked over to show the girls the new sword.

"Wow..." Dana murmured breathlessly. "That looks absolutely awesome!" she gasped appreciatively.

Alyssa smiled at him happily, proud of her work on the Psi-forged blade and his delighted reaction to the new weapon.

"You've done an amazing job on this, but I'm not sure how practical it's going to be hauling it around with me," John said, holding the nearly five foot long weapon in front of him carefully.

"I could make you a scabbard for it with not much trouble," Dana said with a smile.

She held out her hand for the sword, ready to take it up to her workshop to check the measurements for a scabbard. John handed over the weapon hilt first and when she had a firm grasp of the grip, he let go. The blade clanged noisily to the ground as soon as he released his hand, the redhead dropping it awkwardly, point first to the deck.

"This thing weighs a ton!" Dana exclaimed in surprise, struggling to pick it up with both hands, as the razor-sharp point gouged a big divot out of the steel decking on the cargo bay floor.

"I think you're getting used to your new found strength." Alyssa said with a smile, as John retrieved the Invictium sword from the straining girl and lifted it effortlessly in one hand.

"Let me carry this for you, fair damsel," he said with a courtly bow.

"My thanks, Sir Knight!" Dana said dipping in a curtsey and fluttering her eyelashes at him.

Alyssa's laughter echoed around the cargo bay as they walked over to the loading lift to head up to the engineering bay. They travelled up on the slow moving lift with the girls talking avidly about recreating the scene from Dana's picture.

"You quite like us dressing up for you, don't you John?" Alyssa asked, smiling at him coyly as she listened in to his wandering thoughts about scantily clad amazons.

"Can't a man have any secrets?" he retorted with a laugh.

"When we have some time, I must dress up in my business suit for you," she declared, then shivered with excitement as he started thinking about ravishing her over his desk in the Commander's ready room.

"I could barely take my eyes off of you in that outfit!" Dana said, her eyes sparkling wickedly.

"You cut an exceptionally fine figure yourself, the last time you played dress-up," John said with a salacious grin as he remembered the heart stopping moment the redhead had appeared in his bedroom dressed as a naughty schoolgirl, making her flush with excitement as she remembered the night of fiery passion.

"Where do you want it?" John asked in a seductive voice as the loading lift came to a halt in the engineering bay.

Dana gasped excitedly, looking up with an expectant gleam in her eyes, and then groaned in disappointment, when she saw him waving the sword in the air with a grin.

"Oh, very funny," She laughed sarcastically, then pointed to a workbench. "Just over there on the workbench is fine," she smirked, then added. "And that applies to either weapon!"

"Maybe later," John chuckled.

He left the heavy sword on the workbench for her to size up later and then jogged to catch up with the girls who waited for him patiently at the doorway. They walked arm in arm to the grav-tubes to go up to the bridge.

John stepped out on to the command deck first and saw Calara sitting in the tactical station, with Jade hovering nearby. They were gazing up at the system map and looking at a string of stars a fair way out from the Kappa-Indarran system. The local system was highlighted in an adjacent hologram and he saw that the Invictus was currently orbiting Ashana.

"Hey you two," John called to them. "Have you had any luck with finding us any ambush sites?"

"Calara has found three places we could attack from," Jade said eagerly. "We're just discussing which one would be the most effective."

"Sounds like we're in luck then," he said, approaching them and leaning against the tactical station as they examined the sector map. "What have you got for us Calara?"

"Well the first option is a wide, tightly packed asteroid belt," the brunette explained, shifting the holographic focus to the system map with a swipe of her hand. "It's been fully strip mined, so there's lots of hollowed out asteroids and abandoned mining equipment that will hopefully help mask our approach."

"That could definitely work," John said. "What's the second option?"

"There's a planetary nebulae over there," Calara replied, pointing at a dark red star on the stellar map. "Which is actually a dying red dwarf star. It's throwing out lots of radiation and magnetic fields, so we could definitely launch an ambush undetected, but if the shields get knocked out we could be in trouble."

"I think we'll have enough to worry about with the Drakkar, without having to avoid environmental hazards too," John said cautiously. "What's our third option?"

"There's another ice planet in this system over here," Calara said, moving the sector map to focus on the system she had in mind. "It's surrounded by dense rings of ice fields. Our shields will take some damage flying through that, but energy weapons will be a lot less effective due to the refraction effect of the ice particles that fill the area."

"That could be good too," John agreed. "We can rely on our Mass drivers to inflict damage, while they're restricted purely to their beam weapons."

"Yes, that's what I was thinking," the brunette said, nodding soberly.

"Have you got any particular preference at the moment?" John asked, fascinated to find out what the cunning Latina might have in mind.

"I'm leaning towards the first option, the abandoned asteroid field in the Gomeisa system," Calara said thoughtfully. "I've checked and it's completely deserted, so we wouldn't have to worry about civilian casualties either."

"Yeah that's good, I don't want to put any civilians at risk," he agreed. "Ok, it seems we've made our choice," John said decisively. "The asteroids at Gomeisa it is."

He turned towards Alyssa, who was already reaching for the console. "I'll hail the Ashanath Council," she said and winked at him.

John laughed at her fondly. He sometimes forgot how she was constantly reading his mind.

"I'd like to ask them something too..." Calara said cryptically.

***

Vermogrok the Voracious sprawled in the command throne on the bridge of the Drakkar Cruiser. He stretched his four muscular arms contentedly before hunching forward to stare at the sector map in front of him, watching the cluster of signals move slowly across the Gomeisa system. His underling, Lieutenant Drikog stomped up beside the throne, grinding his teeth with annoyance.

"It's been nearly a week since I last feasted!" Drikog grumbled. "When are we going to get some more action?"

Vermogrok's stomach rumbled as he remembered the mouth watering taste of the delicious Grey flesh. He and his fellow Drakkar had been taking full advantage of the unending buffet of pathetically weak aliens and he congratulated himself on his cunning for joining up with Overlord Okug on this most rewarding of raids.

"Remember how we boarded that last freighter and devoured every last crew member?" Drikog grinned toothily and starting to drool at the memory. "These Greys are only small, but after we hunted them all down, there were plenty to fill our bellies!"

"Patience Drikog, we will feast again soon!" Vermogrok replied, masking his own irritation at having to wait around on Overlord Okug's orders. "I have found us a new banquet!"

"Your pod brothers must be so envious of you!" Drikog said to Vemogrok admiringly.

"They would be, if I hadn't eaten them all!" Vermogrok said, then threw his hammer shaped head back and barked a burbling laugh, his tooth filled maw snapping up and down with glee.

Turning his attention back to the signals, more details about the convoy were starting to appear, as the sensor probes they had embedded in asteroids around the sector gathered more data. It looked like some Ashanath Freighters and passenger liners according to their transponders.

"Behold Drikog! That convoy has passenger liners!" Vermogrok exclaimed, his bulging eyes gleaming with excitement as he began to drool.

"We will gorge ourselves until we burst!" Drikog chortled. "You have done it again mighty one!"

"Set a course for Gomeisa!" Vermogrok bellowed at his helmsman.

"Yeah Warboss!" the helmsman replied with a toothy grin.

"Overlord Okug is calling us." his first mate grunted.

"Put him through..." Vermogrok snarled with irritation.

The grizzly face of the massive Overlord filled the viewscreen.

"Vermogrok!" the huge Drakkar shouted. "What are you doing?"

"We've picked up a convoy and it's well past feeding time!" Vermogrok replied, his long tongue licking his fangs in anticipation.

"We still haven't heard back from Giruk or Ookur!" the Overlord yelled. "I won't risk losing any more ships!"

Vermogrok chortled to himself quietly. "Those two were always spineless, pathetic worms! We're better off without them!" he said to Okug, gloating at their disappearance.

"There's only two ships left with the new armour!" Okug roared. "I won't risk losing any more!"

"The Greys are helpless against us!" Vermogrok countered. "There's no danger to be found in a tasty little convoy!"

Ever since the Dark One had given them the tech and the materials for their new armour, Vermogrok's ship was invincible!

"No! Until we find out what happened to Giruk and Ookur, I want you around in case I need support!" Okug bellowed.

"Maybe Overlord Okug is getting old and tired?" Vermogrok wondered inwardly. He had personally seen the massive Warleader tear apart and devour 5 of his supposed 16 challengers and it hadn't been pretty, but getting too cautious like this usually meant ending up in the maw of a bold challenger. "A bold young Drakkar like me!" Vermogrok thought, before he looked up at the viewscreen to watch Overlord Okug brooding malevolently.

"My minions are getting hungry!" Vermogrok snarled brazenly. "This is the first fat target we've seen in days! By custom you can't deny us this prey!" he added slyly.

Okug stared at him for a moment, his face twisted up into a hideous grimace.

"Take Zarog with you!" the Overlord bellowed, then cut off the comm channel abruptly.

Vermogrok threw his head back and howled in rage.

"Zarog!" he snarled, chewing the word over in his mouth. The thought of having to share all those tasty Greys with his hated rival was absolutely galling. "I didn't spend 5 years in the fighting pits to share my prey with the likes of that maggot!" Vermogrok growled to Drikog in irritation.

"Mistakes can always happen on a hunt. Who knows what tragic accident might befall Zarog?" Drikog rasped quietly, his bulging black eyes lighting up with malicious glee.

"Ah, Drikog! I love how your twisted little mind works!" Vermogrok guffawed with delight. "It's no wonder I haven't eaten you yet!"

Drikog chuckled to himself, relishing his own deviousness.

"Get us to Gomeisa!" Vermogrok roared at his helmsman. "And we better get there before Zarog, or I'll start my feast with you!"

The Drakkar bridge crew surged into motion, their four arms moving over the controls and turning the huge cruiser on an intercept course. The FTL drive powered up and the cruiser lurched drunkenly into Hyper warp. They were only a few parsecs away from Gomeisa, so Vermogrok only had to bellow and swear for about ten minutes before they finally entered the system and exited hyper warp.

Vermogrok stared at the tactical map, his bulging black eyes looking hungrily for the hapless Ashanath ships he intended to plunder. His eyes tilted up, as his hammer shaped head furrowed in confusion. Instead of seeing five cowering freighters and two passenger liners, there was just one disc shaped ship, moving in an unusual pattern. It was circling a wide asteroid belt and appeared to be towing some kind of very long metal frame with what looked like metal spheres attached to it.

"What the hell is going on here?" Vermogrok growled, scanning the tactical overlay.

"Just one pathetic freighter... There probably isn't enough crew to count as a starter!" Drikog snarled in disappointment.

"Want me to disable it anyway boss?" the helmsman asked.

Vermogrok shrieked the order to attack and the cruiser surged forward. He watched the overlay angrily, expecting the Ashanath freighter to flee, just like all the others had tried to, but this one just kept plodding along slowly. His eyes narrowed in suspicion, warning bells ringing in his head at the bizarre behaviour of the Grey vessel.

It was almost as if the freighter was completely oblivious to their presence, even when the Drakkar opened up with their beam batteries, wiping out the Grey's shield in a single crackling burst. Several of the beams followed through and sheared off one of the Freighter's engines, but the helpless ship kept limping along regardless.

Suddenly warning lights began to flash around the bridge, casting a sinister red glow over the command deck.

"I knew it," Vermogrok rumbled under his breath.

"We're being attacked Warboss!" the first mate cried out in warning.

Vermogrok slugged the panicking bridge crewman in the face with a powerful haymaker, sending the Drakkar sprawling. "Keep it together you simpering coward!" he roared, before turning back towards the tactical map.

Now that the enemy ship had been revealed by their cowardly sneak attack, Vermogrok stared at it in confusion, as it was displayed on the tactical map.

"That's not a Grey ship!" Drikog said, stating the obvious.

"Of course it isn't," Vermogrok scoffed. The Greys built their ships to look like a dinner plate, ready to serve up its tasty crew.

"It looks like a Terran cruiser, but they have the same armour as us!" Drikog noted with surprise.

Vermogrok's instinctive reaction was to fire back, but something made him stay his hand and he hesitated.

"Maybe they're an ally of the Dark One and this is just mistaken identity?" he growled uneasily.

"We don't want to face Okug's wrath if we kill one of our new allies." Drikog nodded with trepidation.

"Fuck Okug! There's no way I'm crossing the Dark One!" Vermogrok snarled vehemently.

The mysterious black ship fired again, six bright orange beams lancing out to scythe across his shields, followed by a hail of laser cannon blasts.

"Fire back!" he shouted, his lime green skin darkening with anger. Mistaken identity or not, no-one shot his ship up like that.

The sixteen beam lasers on the front of his ship opened fire, the lights inside the bridge dimming as the weapons drew massive amounts of energy from the power core. The Terran cruiser rolled on its side, effortlessly diving out of the fire arc of just over half the lancing bright purple beams.

Vermogrok gnashed his teeth in frustration and stared balefully at the Drakkar sitting at tactical. The imbecile just shrugged idiotically, making Vermogrok seethe with anger.

"Miss like that again and I'll beat you to death with my bare hands!" Vermogrok roared at the head-scratching crewman.

Suddenly Zarog's ship appeared on the tactical map as it dropped out of hyper warp, turning towards the duelling cruisers. The Terran vessel swung sharply about and began racing away towards the asteroid belt, it's four engines glowing with power as it surged away from the fight.

"Gahhhh!!" Vermogrok snarled, apoplectic with rage as the enemy cruiser fled. By the time his beam lasers had cooled down enough to be able to fire again, they were just out of range. "That thrice damned Zarog!" Vermogrok shrieked. "They're getting away!"

"What should we do?" The helmsman asked in confusion.

Vermogrok stormed up to the quivering Drakkar helmsman and backhanded him across the face. "Get in there after them you fool! Must I give the most simple of orders?!" he screamed.

The Drakkar Warboss stomped back to his throne and glowered at the tactical map as his ship followed after Zarog's cruiser into the asteroid belt.

Zarog's gunner seemed to be even more inept than his though, with beam after beam sailing harmlessly wide, as the Terran cruiser rolled and turned nimbly around the enormous floating asteroids. The sinister black ship seemed to suffer none of the same targeting difficulties however, as Zarog's shields were being pummelled by an unrelenting hail of laser fire from the rear and side mounted laser cannons.

Vermogrok was just out of range, the enemy ship so tantalisingly close but still just that little bit too far. Every time he thought he might be able to catch up, his crew were forced to perform evasive manoeuvres to avoid hitting the massive hunks of rock, that floated aimlessly in their snaking path through the asteroid field.

After a teeth gnashingly long pursuit that was proving as fruitless as it was frustrating, the two pursuing Drakkar ships split up to go around a large asteroid that was pockmarked with mining shafts. The Terran cruiser circled around a big asteroid up ahead and then instead of continuing to flee, it turned back to face them. Vermogrok trembled with excitement, sensing the chase was at an end and he slammed one of his fists down on the armrest of his throne.

"Fire!!" he bellowed, as the jet black cruiser closed to firing range.

Zarog's cruiser fired as well and dozens of virulent purple beams blasted out from the Drakkar ships, many of them striking the black hulled enemy vessel and overloading their shields. Vermogrok leaned forward excitedly, eagerly awaiting the sight of the irritating black ship being scythed in half. The beams caressed the enemy hull, but other than a couple of minor explosions, they seemed to only mildly score the jet black hull. He stared open mawed in shock as the practically unscathed Terran ship fired back, but not at Vermogrok's ship and not at Zarog either.

Four shells roared out from the black cruiser and Vermogrok snorted with laughter as they missed both the Drakkar ships and slammed into the nearby asteroid, which trembled with the massive impact. A second later, there was a muffled explosion from within the hollowed out chunk of rock and then everything turned upside down, as the shockwave from a colossal secondary explosion rocked his cruiser. The metal superstructure shrieked torturously, as panels blew open and conduits exploded with a shower of sparks.

Vermogrok was thrown clear across the bridge, slamming into a far bulkhead. Smoke poured out of overloaded consoles and alarms blared out through the command deck, as his crew rolled around in a daze, trying to get up.

"What the fuck was that?!" The Drakkar Warboss gasped in shock.

He lurched upright and hauled himself over to his throne, staring at the damage control display in horror. His glorious cruiser had been battered, the port side of the ship horribly torn and mangled by the devastating explosion. His ship was listing on its side and drifting out of control towards another huge asteroid.

"Turn damn you, turn!" he screamed, turning towards the helmsman's station, but he saw the seat was empty.

He charged frantically for the helmsman's station, desperate to avoid looming disaster and grabbed the flight stick with a grasping hand. He yanked back on the controls, pulling the stricken cruiser up and narrowly clearing the enormous rocky obstacle that had threatened them with imminent death. Vermogrok turned frantically around, his bulging eyes searching for the missing helmsman. Finally he spotted him, hanging upside down and impaled on an exposed girder that had been torn out of the wall by the explosion. Swearing animatedly, Vermogrok turned the Drakkar cruiser back towards the fight, scanning the flickering tactical map to see what was happening.

The mysterious black cruiser was bearing down inexorably on Zarog's vessel. His rival's ship seemed to have survived relatively unscathed by the exploding asteroid, merely having been knocked sideways by the blast. Vermogrok's eyes filled with hate as he stared at the two ships. "Zarog always was a lucky bastard." he snarled resentfully.

Suddenly the black cruiser fired again, as Zarog began to turn his ship around to face them. Four shells blasted out of the huge cannons on the Terran ship and pounded into the flank of the turning Drakkar cruiser, sending splintering fractures through the armour plating as the shots drove in deep. A second later, rippling explosions rocked Zarog's ship and it quaked as if in terror. A flickering corona of electricity arced out around the cruiser as the power core went critical and then a few moments later a tremendous blast tore the ship in half.

"Maybe he wasn't that lucky after all." Vermogrok cackled as his hated rival was vaporised in an instant.

The Drakkar Warboss' glee was cut short as the lethal enemy cruiser swung smoothly about to face them.

"Fire! Kill them now!!" Vermogrok roared in fury.

The Drakkar gunner pulled the trigger, but the Terran ship had already changed course and most of the shots missed, purple pulsating beams of energy firing wildly off into space. A couple of the beams hit, but they just gouged the glistening black surface of the enemy armour and didn't penetrate into the hull.

"You fool!!" Vermogrok bellowed at his gunner. "You've doomed us all!"

The black ship bore down on them like death itself and fired back with its beam lasers, rocking his ship with the impact, as the shots punched their way into his cruiser.

"They destroyed our fire control systems and took out our drive couplings!" Drikog gasped, staring in disbelief at the damage control display which was a riot of crimson. "We're adrift and toothless!"

"Order the transports to prepare for boarding!" Vermogrok snarled at his lieutenant.

The enemy cruiser pulled up to a halt next to them and began pumping an endless volley of laser blasts into the shattered side of his ship.

"No!" Vermogrok gasped, tasting fear for the first time. "No!!"

He turned and sprinted full tilt for the exit, the deck wobbling unsteadily under his feet, as his supposedly invulnerable ship failed him spectacularly. Vermogrok approached a bewildered crewman, his lower body lying crushed by a collapsed section of steel wall panelling. The crewman reached out to paw at him for assistance and the Warboss ran straight over him, as he raced towards the ramps that led to the hangar bay. This enemy ship might have crippled his cruiser, but no-one could defeat the Drakkar in a boarding action. Vermogrok would just seize their ship as his own!

He lurched into the hangar bay and sprinted for his personal dropship, seeing the crews for two other ships milling around by their craft, waiting for orders that had not yet arrived.

"Get moving you fools!" he roared at them and the Drakkar pilots lumbered into the waiting dropships to prepare for launch.

Vermogrok charged up the loading ramp for his dropship, seeing his fearsome handpicked retinue waiting on board. "Launch!" he bellowed at the pilot, as he closed the ramp behind him.

The three Drakkar dropships rose ponderously off the floor of the hangar and headed towards the shielded entrance in the centre of the bay. His cruiser was being ripped apart by the pitiless black cruiser. Sirens howled continuous warnings as explosions kept tearing through his once mighty vessel, causing debris to fall from the walls and ceiling of the hangar bay. Finally the dropships plunged out of the hole in the hull of the cruiser, eager to escape their certain doom should they have stayed inside.

The black cruiser was waiting for them remorselessly as the dropships raced out into the void of space. Bright orange beams enveloped the first two Drakkar ships, searing through their shields in an instant and melting glowing holes as they bored straight through, spitting the dropships like a kebab. The beams winked out as fast as they had suddenly appeared, leaving the Drakkar raiders and their dropships a charred ruin.

Vermogrok clung desperately to the cockpit doorframe as his terrified pilot brought the ship around in a turn that made his stomach sink to the floor. They were still being peppered by uncannily accurate point defence weapons, but at least they were out of the fire arcs of their dreaded mass drivers. The pilot performed a skilful docking manoeuvre and the dropship nestled alongside the glistening hull of the enemy cruiser. His fanged mouth was opening and snapping shut with relief as he fired off the docking clamps.

"Right, time to get us a new ship!" Vermogrok roared, stirring the Drakkar raiders who shouted and bellowed their own warcries.

There was a heavy clang as their ship made contact with the outer airlock and the two ships were secured in place. Vermogrok grinned evilly, surging with confidence once again. He moved over to his personal armoury and picked up the custom shieldblades that had seen him to 37 bloody victories in the fighting pits. His men began to move into position, opening the airlock on their ship and then getting ready to tear open the airlocks on the enemy ship.

They were surprised to see that both the enemy airlocks had been opened as well, but their passage was still blocked by a sturdy looking reinforced door that completely sealed the corridor ahead of them.

"Bust that down!" Vermogrok yelled eagerly, beginning to drool at the thought of what tasty morsels might wait inside for him.

The Drakkar raiders moved up, waiting in position as one of them brought forward a siege hammer to buckle the door enough to either smash it out of the way, or get a jack under it. The burly four armed Drakkar lifted the huge hammer over his head, in a four handed grip and brought it down in a booming crash against the reinforced door. The echo of the impact rang around the corridor, bringing big toothy grins to the raiders waiting around Vermogrok. The hammer wielder raised the hammer back for another overhead smash when suddenly the security door slid smoothly up into the ceiling.

"Uh?" The hammer wielder grunted in surprise, before his shocked face exploded, showering the nearby Drakkar in thick blue blood.

Then everything descended into a terrifying nightmare.

The corridor lit up as two turreted lasers began hosing down the invaders with an unending stream of viciously accurate laser fire. The Drakkar desperately pulled their reflective shields into place to protect their bodies, only to have their feet shot out from under them by high powered rounds. The airlock entrance began to stink of roasted flesh as the toppling raiders were peppered by searing energy bolts.

Vermogrok dived to the side, covering himself with both his shields. He heard the reassuring whumping sound as the magnetic fields deflected enemy shots away from him and the reflective surface of the mirrored shieldblades were doing a good job of keeping him safe from the turreted lasers too. He peeked through a small gap around his shields and saw there were only two defenders, clad entirely in shiny black armour, who hid cravenly behind two bulkheads and shot unopposed at his men.

"Fire back or we're done for!" he screamed in rage at the Drakkar around him.

The Drakkar raiders further back from the slaughterhouse where the reinforced door had been, began to shoot back, bullets from rotary cannons zipping down the corridor to pepper the bulkheads. Vermogrok looked on hopefully, but then shook his head in disbelief as the bullets were harmlessly deflected away from the black armoured enemies, to the same whumping sounds he had previously been so relieved to hear.

"We need heavy weapons you idiots!" he roared, as his own shields came under fire once again.

Vermogrok ducked back and hugged the wall as one of his men brought a heavy laser to bear, aiming down the corridor. The laser bolt from the heavy weapon blasted out, leaving a white flash across his vision as his bulging black eyes began to rapidly blink to regain his sight. He looked back at the barricade hopefully and saw that one of the laser turrets had been hit by the blast and now hung forlornly, the barrel partially melted. The Heavy laser operator roared out a victorious shout, before a shot from the smaller of the two armoured enemies hit the Drakkar in the mouth, blowing his head apart with a sickening wet squelch.

"Charge!" he boomed at his remaining men and the handful of surviving Drakkar leapt over their fallen podmates and raced down the corridor.

Using his men as a distraction, Vermogrok sprinted after them, as raider after raider were shot to pieces by a combination of high powered rounds and laser fire from the remaining turret. One of his men managed to leap up onto the barricade and lifted his shield up to batter the black armoured defender in the head. The enemy soldier dived backwards, simultaneously opening fire on full auto, blowing huge fist sized holes through the raiders torso and cutting the Drakkar raider in half. The barricade was showered in blue ichor as the eviscerated Drakkar fell to the ground in two pieces.

Fortunately that distraction was the opportunity that Vermogrok needed. He dived over the barricade and crashed into the second armoured figure, who was looking back to check on his prone comrade, before he was knocked to the floor. The two of them sprawled up the corridor, but the Drakkar Warboss was quicker to react, his fighting instincts honed to perfection after years spent duelling in the blood pits. As they both regained their feet, Vermogrok moved faster, unleashing a backhanded slap with his left shieldblade at the man's rifle, aiming to knock it out of his hand.

His left arms swung round and the shield smacked squarely into the rifle. He winced as it felt like he had just punched a wall, but he managed to knock the rifle out of the man's grasp. Expecting the armoured figure to try and flee in terror, the Drakkar Warboss was astonished when the unarmed man charged forward instead, and barrelled into his chest with a shoulder slam. Vermogrok went sailing backwards to crash into the barricade he had just leapt over, slumping down to his knees as he reeled from the impact.

Shaking his head to clear the daze, Vermogrok dismissed the knockback as a lucky hit, assuming his opponent had just caught him off balance. He brought his shield blades around protectively as he stood once again. The armoured man strode towards him, stopping only briefly to pick up a long black sword that was leaning against the wall. The Drakkar watched his opponent cautiously, but was relieved to see no kind of martial technique to the man's stance, even holding the glimmering black blade as an amateur would. He grinned evilly, thinking how easy this fight would be. A quick parry and counterattack would end this in a single killer blow, he thought to himself. This novice would never see it coming!

The man grabbed his long sword in a two handed grip and raised his arms, telegraphing his upcoming attack to the Drakkar, who grinned slyly in anticipation of the quick kill. The two handed blow came sailing downwards, just as Vermogrok knew it would. He stepped forward to block the attack with his left shieldblade, whilst drawing back his right arms and prepared himself to drive his right shieldblade into the man's unguarded torso with a powerful counterpunch.

The plan was good, but he was never able to make that counter attack. The black blade came crashing down on his parrying shield with a force Vermogrok didn't think was possible. He was driven down to one knee with the colossal impact, his left arms practically wrenched out of their socket as they tried to absorb the blow. No longer being in a position to attack, Vermogrok had to bring his right arms up to protect his head as the black blade came arcing down in another identical chop. He howled in pain as the wild smash cleaved a huge chunk out of his right shieldblade, leaving his arms ringing with the impact.

Vermogrok's bulging black eyes looked up in fear, as the armoured man drew the sword back for another overhead swing, seemingly intent on battering him into the floor. "This isn't right!" he jibbered to himself. There was no finesse, no style to the man's attacks, but his sheer brute power was quite unstoppable.

The Drakkar tried to scramble backwards as the blade came sailing down, hacking into the right shieldblade again and splitting it in half. The razor sharp edge then continued through to neatly sever his right hands, leaving Vermogrok to stare at the stumps in shock, as dark blue blood fountained outwards, spraying the nearby wall. Cowering behind the left shieldblade, the Drakkar tried to ward away the incoming attacks, but the swordsman was merciless. He hammered away at the huddled Drakkar, eventually smashing the shield to pieces and dismembering his left arms. The last thing Vermogrok saw with his terror stricken eyes was the black blade whistling down at his head, as the man performed one final crude overhead chop.

***

"Hey, nice work!" Alyssa said happily, as she walked over to stand next to John, removing the helmet from her Phalanx armour and freeing her long blonde hair.

John had his boot on the armoured torso of the enormous Drakkar leader and was heaving the black sword out of the alien creature's breastplate. His final sword blow had split the Drakkar leader's head in half and then scythed through to eventually get stuck in its chest armour. With one last tug, the black blade jerked free, dripping dark blue blood over the floor.

"Thanks honey!" John said cheerfully. "You were great too! That backwards dive you did when you took out that charging Drakkar was nicely done. You had me worried there for a moment!"

Alyssa stepped up to him with a big smile on her face and lifted off his helmet so she could plant a loving kiss on his lips.

"Mmm! That was lovely!" John grinned at her happily.

The exquisite young woman rubbed noses with him affectionately before stepping back and handing him the black armoured helmet.

"What did you think of the sword?" she asked him curiously. "It seemed to be very effective." she added, proud of her first attempt at psychic-weaponsmithing.

"It felt amazing!" John replied enthusiastically. "With the amount of enemies we end up fighting in close combat, this blade is going to be invaluable!"

"Hopefully Dana will come up with something innovative so you can bring it with you," Alyssa smiled. "Besides, we can't just leave it propped up against walls like that!"

"We better check to see if there's any stragglers on the dropship, then we'll regroup with the girls on the bridge," John said sensibly.

Alyssa nodded at him eagerly, checking the ammo counter on the freshly loaded magazine and flicking off the safety on her railgun.

***

Calara, Dana and Jade waited on the bridge, the excitement in the air palpable. John and Alyssa had strolled through the command deck a minute beforehand on their way to the debriefing room, so that they could remove their body armour and stow away their gear. They emerged a moment later with triumphant grins on their faces.

"Group hug!" John called out exuberantly and the three waiting girls rushed over to him.

He gathered all three of them up in his arms and lifted them effortlessly in the air, accompanied by their delighted squeals of laughter. Alyssa jumped on his back, not wanting to be left out and the girls descended into fits of giggles as John faked a groan under their supposed weight. He carefully put them back down on the ground again with a happy grin on his face, but he hung on to the feisty redhead, not letting her go.

"The new defences worked perfectly!" he said eagerly to Dana, who looked up at him with sparkling eyes, revelling in his excitement. "Those automated laser turrets are incredibly accurate!"

"That was actually Jade doing the shooting," Dana admitted as she snuggled into his arms. "She didn't want to be left out."

"Really?" John said, astonished, with a quick glance towards Alyssa. "It looks like I'm hugging the wrong girl!" he continued playfully.

Dana laughed and made way for Jade who eagerly moved to take her place. "When did you become such a crack shot?" John grinned at the Nymph who hugged him tightly.

"I've been practicing a lot with the Gatling lasers on the Raptor. I hope that's ok?" the green skinned girl said, looking up at him for approval.

John dipped her backwards, holding her in his arms and kissed her passionately. "You were wonderful!" he said happily when he came up for air. "Thanks for saving our bacon!"

Jade sighed ecstatically and looked up at him with big doe eyes. John stood up straight again, holding the Nymph in his arms and smiling at her affectionately.

"Not that I mind being kissed like that..." Jade said, her face alight with a beaming smile. "But I think someone else deserves most of the credit for that battle," her eyes darted to the Latina who was standing nearby.

John turned to Calara and opened his arms for her again. Smiling shyly the brunette snuggled into his chest as Jade made way for her.

"I don't know what I'd do without you Lieutenant," John said sincerely to the gorgeous girl he held in his arms. "I thought we were in big trouble when that second Drakkar cruiser turned up, but your plan to load that asteroid with explosives was pure genius!" he said, stroking her hair as she leaned into him.

"I'm just glad to be able to do my part," Calara said, looking up at him with her big brown eyes.

"Well thanks to you, the Drakkar have no Cruisers left!" John said, his mouth turned up in a feral grin. "Just their base to go and we're done!" he exclaimed excitedly.

"So what shall we do now?" Alyssa asked him curiously. "Plan the attack on the base, call the Ashanath High council to tell them the good news, or go to bed for some victory sex?" her eyes sparkling wickedly.

"Yes to all three and regretfully in that order," John said with chagrin. "Come on, let's go use the briefing room for its intended purpose for once, rather than a walk-in-armoury!"

The girls led the way and he followed in after them as they filed into the briefing room. He took the head seat and the rest of his crew fanned out, taking the seats along the long table. Alyssa then Dana were seated on his right, with Calara then Jade seated on the left. John was surprised at how comfortably familiar the seating plan felt, but then chuckled when he realised why.

"What's so funny?" Dana asked him, curious as to the cause of the playful smile on his lips.

"I just noticed you girls are sitting on either side of me the same way we cuddle up in bed together," he laughed.

"Maybe we all have the same thing on our mind?" Alyssa said with a arched eyebrow.

The accompanying nods had everyone laughing together and then they settled back in their chairs comfortably.

"Well first things first, let's sort out our plans for the attack on the Kappa-Indarran system," John said, restoring some semblance of order to the meeting. "I think the main thing we need at the moment is more intel," he said thoughtfully. "We don't have any idea what we could be facing at the moment and I don't want to just charge into any surprises like we did with the Kirrix!" he smiled ruefully.

"I was going to suggest the exact same thing," Calara stated soberly. "I think we need to carry out a scouting mission there and then make our plans accordingly. We just don't know enough yet to be able to make any sensible attack strategy."

"Now we've killed off their raiding ships, do you think they might get twitchy and desert their base?" Dana asked curiously. "If I'd just lost four ships in the space of a few days, I wouldn't want to hang around!"

"The Drakkar don't seem that bright, but Dana makes a good point," Calara said, nodding her agreement. "First the Ashanath withdrawing their civilian traffic from the space lanes around Kappa-Indarran and then us wrecking their fleet..." she paused shaking her head. "No matter how dim their commander, I can't see them staying there for much longer!"

"Ok so we need to move fast, but we took some damage in that last battle," John said. "How bad is it Dana?"

The redhead got up from the table and retrieved a remote from a tray at the other end of the room. She walked back, pressing buttons on the remote as she returned. Just as she sat down, a holographic display of the damage control system sprung into life and rotated slowly above the conference table, bathing the room in a soothing green glow. There were a couple of angry red spots on the smoothly turning image however and Dana pointed to them as she began to speak.

"You can see where we got hit in that last exchange," she said with an annoyed expression on her face, indicating the red marks on the display. "We lost a couple of capacitors when the Drakkar barrage overloaded the armour absorption matrix."

"Well I consider it an exceptionally successful field test of your Invictium armour!" John said, grinning at her in delight. "We got hit by..."

"13 beams!" Calara supplied helpfully.

"Thanks. By 13 beams in a single volley and we shrugged it off with only minor damage!" he said. "If we'd still been using the old Titanium armour, they would have carved us up into tiny pieces!" he said emphatically.

"You did some phenomenal flying out there today as well Alyssa," John said, turning to the blonde sitting to his right. "You must have dodged at least half of their incoming fire!"

"70% actually!" Calara supplied helpfully. "I got the computer to calculate the Drakkar hit percentages after the battle."

"Yeah, true," Dana smiled. "Thanks for taking good care of the Invictus!" she said grinning at Alyssa. "But I'm still worried about our staying power against powerful enemy ships," the redhead said with a worried frown.

"Well unless John plans to have us duelling battleships, I think we'll be ok!" Alyssa said cheerfully.

"Oh and the new Mass Drivers were awesome!" Calara enthused, smiling at the memory. "The faster recharging rates swung that last battle!" she said excitedly. "Being able to quickly follow up with the coup de grace on that first Drakkar cruiser, just after triggering the explosives in the asteroid, made all the difference," the brunette said gratefully.

"Thanks Calara," Dana said, blushing cutely. "I think your shooting had as much to do with it as anything though. Taking out that ship with a single shot to their power core was incredible!"

"She also crippled that second cruiser with a single volley from the beam lasers!" Jade supplied helpfully, putting her arm around the Latina's shoulder and giving her an affectionate hug.

"You all make good points," John said seriously, before his face lit up with a grin. "My crew of exceptional hot babes proved they aren't just pretty faces once again!"

"All joking aside, you all did an amazing job today," he said proudly. "I don't think there's a finer crew in the whole galaxy!" he said sincerely.

The girls preened under his glowing praise and smiled happily at one another.

"Ok so we need to do some quick repairs first. Then as soon as we're done, we investigate the Drakkar base. Everyone agreed?" his question was met with approving nods all round.

"I can put you through to the Ashanath High Council from here," Dana offered, brandishing the remote she still held in her hand.

"Ok, go ahead," John agreed.

The redhead pushed a few buttons on the remote and then entered the secure transmission code that would allow them to speak to the leaders of the Greys directly. The big viewscreen on the far side of the room lit up and Senior Councillor Ularean appeared, apparently having been in conversation with two of his fellow councillors.

"Ah, JohnBlake," he murmured softly. "We were just talking about you."

"All good things I hope," John said with a smile.

"Oh certainly. We have been delighted with your progress so far," Ularean whispered, his voice computer sounding unusually eerie over the transmission.

"Did the explosives we embedded in those two asteroids for you prove useful?" another high councillor asked quietly in the background.

"Spectacularly so, Councillor...?" John replied.

"My name is Councillor Lirrash," the new Ashanath councillor answered the question in its hushed voice.

"Well thanks to your explosives Councillor Lirrash, I'm pleased to report we've just taken out what we hope were the last two Drakkar raiders," John said with no small degree of satisfaction.

The robed Greys looked at each other with their huge unblinking eyes, communicating using telepathy and seemingly forgetting about the crew of the Invictus on the other end of the call. John quirked an eyebrow and looked at the girls, who smiled back at him in amusement. He let the Ashanath continue their silent discussion for a long moment before he cleared his throat.

"My apologies JohnBlake," Ularean replied in his strange whispery voice. "To have destroyed two of the Drakkar cruisers single handed is most impressive indeed. We are most grateful that you agreed to this alliance."

"You're welcome Ularean!" John said magnanimously. "Our victory was only possible due to the efforts your people put into the refit of my ship."

Ularean bowed in answer to the praise.

"We took a few hits in the last battle and need to replace some armour and capacitors," Dana interjected. "Would it be ok to come back to Ashana and use the shipyard to make some repairs?" she asked hopefully.

"You will always be welcome," Ularean replied quietly. "Return to the Drydock and we will assist you with whatever help you need," he went on generously.

"Ok we'll be back with you shortly," John replied. "Once we're done, we'll go to investigate Kappa-Indarran and see if we can finish off the Drakkar once and for all!"

"I will alert the drydock of your impending arrival," Ularean replied and waved goodbye briefly before ending the communication.

"So that's two things from our checklist done, one last item to go," Alyssa said coyly. "Why don't you go and wait for us in the bedroom, we'll be down shortly."

John stood abruptly and stretched his arms over his head. "Ladies, I'll take that as my cue to leave." he said mischievously.

The girls waved goodbye to him impishly as he left, then turned around to Alyssa as she elaborated on her plan.

***

John strode into his quarters with a contented grin on his face. Everything seemed to be going well so far in his campaign against the Drakkar and with a little luck, they would soon be able to finish off the raider base and repay their debt to the Ashanath. More importantly, he was just that little bit closer to getting some answers about exactly who and what he was. Finally, he was about to get laid and every time the girls got together to plan something for his entertainment, he usually ended up having an incredibly satisfying romp in the bedroom.

He realised he was still sweaty after the furious combat earlier on, so he stripped off his clothes and left them in a neat pile for him to wash later. Alyssa had been right just a few days ago when she'd noted that he'd changed. The old John would have fretted about leaving a mess on the floor, his OCD kicking in and making him clean up obsessively. Now he was completely beyond caring. That whole part of his personality that had been desperate to impose order on everything, no matter how trivial, seemed to have receded into the background. He guessed that running his own private assault cruiser and entertaining a demanding group of gorgeous young women kept him more than a little distracted. He hummed a jaunty tune to himself as he strolled into the bathroom and turned on the shower.

John swished his hand over the controls to activate the showerheads and a lovely warm cascade of water pattered down, running through his hair and over his body. He sighed happily at the soothing sensation of the water rolling over him and just luxuriated in the soft caress of the shower. He lost track of time for a little while, before the sound of the shower door opening brought him back to reality.

"Hey handsome," Alyssa purred as she entered the shower, stepping gracefully inside and walking over to stand next to him.

She didn't move straight into his arms and instead stood right beside him, close enough to invade his personal space, but still keeping an inch between them. She looked up at him with a challenging expression on her face and he felt a strong sense of déjà vu as the mischievous blond girl re-enacted one of their first encounters together. He sighed happily, feeling ridiculously happy and thoroughly smitten with the beautiful young woman who was looking up at him teasingly. He was just about to pull her into his arms when the shower door opened.

"Hey handsome," Alyssa purred as she entered the shower, stepping lithely inside and gliding over to stand right beside him.

The sense of déjà vu was overwhelming as he stared at the two identical girls, who studied his bemused expression with some amusement. As one they stepped forward, to rub their identical bronzed breasts against his chest, the matching sets of twinkling blue eyes watching his every expression like a hawk.

"I believe you expressed an interest in fucking a pair of hot twins?" left Alyssa asked him coyly.

"We can't wait to see what you're going to do to us," right Alyssa said seductively.

John was unable to respond and stood in stunned silence as both girls stood on tip toe to kiss him tenderly on each cheek. His eyes darted from one of them to the other, but Jade's copy of Alyssa was flawless and there wasn't a single discrepancy to let him tell them apart. The idea of being with twins excited him no end and his rapidly rising cock was a testament to just how turned on Jade and Alyssa were getting him.

"Whichever one of you is Jade, are you sure you're ok with this?" he asked both of them curiously.

"She loved the idea!" left Alyssa said enthusiastically. "Jade would stay looking like this all the time if she could."

"Jade finds adopting this form as natural as breathing and she can't wait for you to cum in her looking like this," right Alyssa said reassuringly.

"Just relax and don't worry about it," left Alyssa said with a smile.

"Imagine you've seduced a pair of real twin sisters and just go with it," right Alyssa said with the same identical smile on her lips.

"Well as you put it so nicely," John laughed in delight, reaching around to grab at a supple asscheek from each of the twin Alyssa's and squeezing them gently. He noticed that whichever one was Jade had somehow altered her body temperature, warming her skin so that she felt exactly the same as the real Alyssa.

"No fucking us in the ass today though!" left Alyssa warned him, as John manhandled her bottom.

"That might give the game away," right Alyssa said with a grin, as he gripped the perfect round sphere of her bum.

"Let's go through to the bedroom," John said suggestively, eager to get started.

The identical blondes smiled and nodded at him in agreement, leaving the shower together and then drying themselves off at a leisurely pace. John wrapped a towel around himself and watched in delight as he got to watch Alyssa running the soft towel over her smoking hot body from two different angles. They dried their hair in a couple of seconds with the moisture evaporators and then posed for him coquettishly, their glorious athletic figures standing next to one another and looking like a reflection in a mirror.

"You're a very beautiful girl," John said appreciatively as he approached them and trailed his hand over the matching teenagers.

"Thank you," left Alyssa said with a gentle smile.

"I'm glad you approve," right Alyssa said with a melodic laugh.

"You seem to have gotten a bit distracted," left Alyssa said archly.

"Would you like us to help you get dry?" right Alyssa smiled playfully.

John grinned and nodded, glancing from one girl to another. "It's remarkable, you're absolutely identical," he said in amazement. "You even both sound and act the way Alyssa does!"

"I should think so," left Alyssa said with a smirk. "I am her after all."

"Yes, I'm just behaving the way I normally do," right Alyssa said with an impish smile.

Both girls began to use their towels to dry him off gently, the soft caring motion feeling very sensual for some reason.

"Come on," left Alyssa said, offering him her hand. "Let's go to bed."

"And remember this is all about you, so you can do or say anything you like," right Alyssa said.

"I know all your desires anyway," left Alyssa said, staring into his eyes and tapping her temple as a reminder.

"That's right, I love listening in on your naughty thoughts," right Alyssa grinned at him lasciviously.

*Ah, but only the real Alyssa can hear this,* John said with a smile.

*But you can't tell who's replying!* Alyssa's voice sounded clear in his mind, enjoying the game.

They led him into the bedroom and then climbed onto the bed, both beautiful versions of Alyssa staring at him seductively.

"So what would you like us to do?" left Alyssa asked him curiously.

"Kiss," John said unhesitatingly.

"But that would be incest!" right Alyssa said in a mock outraged voice.

"That would be very naughty," left Alyssa smiled as she moved closer to the other girl.

Both young blondes turned their attention to one another and then leaned in for a kiss, their soft full lips brushing against each other. They sighed contentedly and then began to kiss with more passion, pressing their bodies together as the kissing grew more heated.

John watched enraptured, unable to tear his eyes away as one of the twins pushed the other on to her back and then gracefully lay across the supine Alyssa. They gasped and sighed as their sensitive breasts rubbed together, erect nipples dragging across warm titflesh. Staring into each other's eyes, they kissed sensually, growing more aroused as they read the obvious desire in the other girl's expression.

John moved over beside them, his rampant cock throbbing with excitement. The two Alyssa's looked up at him with matching sets of excited blue eyes and the kneeling Alyssa took the head into her mouth, while the other one licked at the underside of his shaft.

"That's right, get me nice and wet," he said approvingly.

The girl on top let the head of his cock slip from her mouth and then they both began to glide their tongues up and down him, from the base right up to his crown. They worked together in perfect harmony, the mouths gliding up and down as they licked every part of him. When his cock was glistening and wet, John gently pulled back.

"Stay exactly like that," he ordered them as he moved around between their spread legs.

"This one will obey master," they both replied, imitating Jade's speech affectation that she had managed to overcome.

They giggled cutely and then resumed kissing, the wet sound of their tongues together sounding wonderfully debauched.

John took hold of the kneeling girl's bottom and spread her cheeks apart, exposing her ass and pussy to his eager eyes. Alyssa hissed excitedly, tilting her hips up for him, as the other Alyssa kissed her twin and watched John move into position. Not wasting any more time, John pushed steadily into the kneeling girl's soaking wet pussy, hearing her cry out in relief as he penetrated deep into her body. This girl certainly felt like Alyssa on the inside and the tight little tunnel he knew so well, gripped and massaged him as he began to fuck her with long deep strokes.

Her twin watched him with excited eyes, then moved her hand underneath the panting blonde above her to begin to rub her clit. Between her eager fingers and John's pounding rhythm they soon had Alyssa screaming with pleasure as she climaxed spectacularly. He rode her pliant young body, letting her savour the deeply satisfying orgasm. When she sagged against her twin with a happy sigh, he gently pulled out of her and tilted his cock lower so that he could plunge into the girl below.

Top Alyssa moved lithely out the way and spread her twin's pussy lips apart so that John could slide in without hesitation.

"Oh god, that feels amazing!" the girl replied as John pushed his way into her pliant body.

This second girl felt exactly the same as the one he had just ridden through her orgasm and John accepted defeat, realising he was never going to be able to tell them apart physically. He leaned down to rest his weight on his elbows and began to gently ease his way back and forth in the girl below him. She spread her athletic thighs nice and wide, giving him full access to her pussy, as he pushed all the way inside her. Feeling the lovely curve of her bottom as he balls rested against her, he relaxed, knowing he wouldn't be pulling out of the girl below until he'd unloaded his quad.

He kissed Alyssa below him, as the other copy of her moved around to lie on the bed beside them, her face pressed up nice and close so she could watch them both. He stared into the girl's eyes below him and she stared right back, as though looking into his soul. Her hips began to gently rock back and forth, signalling her willingness to take his seed.

"I'd like to do this again when I get you both pregnant," John said, his eyes burning with lust.

Both girls drew in their breath sharply, those deep blue eyes flashing with excitement.

"Would you like to pretend you knocked up a pair of twins?" The Alyssa below him whispered excitedly. "I find that extremely hot!" she purred as he fucked her.

"Yeah me too," the side Alyssa said lustily. "But then again, we are the XO and in charge of recruitment. We could just find you a real pair of twins to join the crew and impregnate!"

"Oh god!" the other Alyssa groaned as John's cock flexed excitedly inside her. "I think he likes that idea!" she gasped. John smiled as Jade accidentally revealed her real identity.

"I know he does," the second Alyssa said, tapping her temple.

*Don't let on you know, just let her enjoy this,* the genuine Alyssa said in his mind as she smiled at him to his side.

*I love you beautiful. You're a genuinely wonderful person,* he thought to her.

*I love you too!* her happy thoughts came back to him. *Now make love to her and give her what she craves.*

John focused on the Jade-Alyssa who writhed languidly beneath him, gasping and moaning as he stroked in and out of her.

"I love you beautiful," John whispered in Jade's ear as he began to pick up the pace.

Jade groaned and arched her back, thrusting her full breasts up against him and rubbing her nipples across his chest.

"Oh I love you too!" she cried in Alyssa's voice, as he plunged into her tight little pussy.

"You're perfect!" John said to Jade as he took her passionately. "Everything I could ever want in a girl!" he said honestly, whilst pushing all her buttons.

Jade gasped and moaned as he drove forward, grinding his pelvis against hers when he was fully embedded inside her and rubbing her clit teasingly.

"I'm going to cum soon," he promised Jade as he felt his balls tensing up, his orgasm fast approaching.

"Oh please, yes!!" Jade pleaded emphatically.

"Don't worry, I'm going to keep filling you with cum until I put my baby in your belly," he promised.

"Aahhhhh!!" Jade shrieked, as she experienced an explosive orgasm, her body quivering in ecstasy.

"That's a good girl," he whispered to her encouragingly. "Grip me nice and tightly. Massage my cock for me!"

Jade's pussy began to grip him like he had several soft female hands stroking his length. John held her head in his hand and tilted it back so that his face was inches above hers. The Nymph's eyes were screwed tightly shut as she rode wave after wave of pleasure.

"Look into my eyes while I cum inside you!" he urged her.

Jade's eyes flew wide open, emerald green now and cat-like as she stared back at him in disbelief, never having cum so hard before. John stared into those beautiful sparkling eyes, feeling unbelievably close to the girl and he couldn't hold back any longer. He cried out as he came, straining to keep staring into her eyes as his four balls shot long spurts of cum into her eagerly sucking pussy. Jade gasped as she felt his cum pump into her womb and just stared up at him in wonder as he rounded out her belly with his heavy load. Again and again his quad flexed and pulsed as they stuffed her body full of every last drop of his cum. With a last trembling quiver his balls were finally done and he sagged against her, feeling deliciously wasted after such an intense climax.

Jade held him to her chest and murmured grateful appreciative words as he rested on her. He eventually recovered enough so he could lean back and take his weight on his arms, smiling down at her happily.

Real Alyssa stroked her hand through Jade's imitation blonde hair and smiled at her fondly. "That looked like it was a good one," she said to the Nymph affectionately.

"Oh thank you Alyssa!" Jade said, her voice tinged with awe. "That was better than I could have dreamed."

She winced and then looked back at John. "I guess I just gave the game away," she said with a shy grin.

"It's ok, I knew at the end anyway and I meant what I said," he spoke to her lovingly.

Jade looked up at John, sheer adoration in her eyes. "You make me so happy, you have no idea," she sighed blissfully.

"I think I do," he said with a warm smile. "Now turn back to normal please," he requested gently.

Jade shimmered and returned to her dark green Nymph form. "Mmm, much better!" John said and leaned down to kiss her passionately.

*Hey!* Alyssa said with pretend indignation in his mind.

*Just one of you is more than any man can hope to manage,* he thought back to her in amusement.

*Hmm,* she replied. *You seem to keep me under control with a firm hand,* she purred seductively.

John and Jade kissed for a while before he finally pulled back, easing his way out of her and then lay in the middle of the bed. Jade and Alyssa snuggled up against him and they all cuddled together contentedly.

"Thanks, both of you," John said. "That was amazingly sexy."

"Yeah I loved it too," Alyssa said happily as she looked up at him. "I hope it wasn't too much of a chore having to copy me Jade?" she asked the girl resting on the other side of his chest.

"Are you kidding?" Jade laughed incredulously. "I've never cum that hard before," she said with a lovely smile on her face.

"What are Dana and Calara up to anyway?" John asked curiously. "I'm surprised they didn't want to be around for that."

"Oh they did," Alyssa said. "But I wanted you focused solely on the twins," she said, rubbing her breasts against his chest.

"Don't you mean the quad?" Jade said as she copied Alyssa's movements and John was flanked on both sides by warm, pliant boobs.

"Yes, true," Alyssa conceded. "Both sets of quads," she said and gently stroked John's emptied sack.

John let out a big belly laugh at that and the girls looked up at him and smiled.

"To answer your question though," Alyssa continued. "I laid in a course back to Ashana, where Dana will oversee the repairs. Calara is studying Kappa-Indarran to find good places to hide in for when we scout out the system."

"Sounds like it's all well under control," John said with satisfaction, as he relaxed in bed.

"Oh it is," Alyssa replied confidently. "Now you have a rest, while I see if Jade feels like sharing..."

The Nymph giggled excitedly and John settled back to enjoy the show.