Dana slapped another magazine into her railgun, and hurriedly snapped off a three round burst at the Fulmanax warrior that was charging straight towards her. The high velocity rounds slammed into the right side of its head, blasting out huge chunks of white, fibrous material, until the third round punched through to the nerve ganglia. The eight foot tall Fungoid creature crashed over lifelessly, skidding across the ground, and coming to a rest at her armour plated feet.

"I'm getting low on ammo!" Rachel called out to her, as she poured fire into the incoming aliens.

Dana grabbed her last grenade, pulling it free from her webbing, and lobbing it into the group of half-dozen Fulmanax that were stomping rapidly towards them with their odd rolling gait. There was a deafening explosion, and sticky white chunks of eviscerated Fungoid soldier went sailing overhead, with a few pieces splattering wetly against her chest. She peered out into the gloomy mist of the huge cavern, and could see indistinct shapes moving in the far distance, but for the moment they seemed to have a temporary reprieve.

Whirling to look at Rachel, Dana said urgently, "We're safe for the moment! Go check on Alyssa, she's been hurt!"

Rachel nodded, and darted back towards the back of the cavern, where John, Alyssa, and Irillith had disappeared out of sight behind the calcite pillars. She looked around frantically for her friends, and then gasped in alarm when she spotted Alyssa's crumpled form, half-buried under a collapsed stone pillar. She ran over and skidded to her knees, quickly examining her fallen companion and trying to evaluate how badly she had been injured. At first glance it looked pretty bad, and judging by the crushed armour plating where the massive stone had fallen on Alyssa's right side, at the bare minimum she probably had multiple breaks on her right arm and leg.

Rachel carefully removed Alyssa's dented helmet, and quickly pulled the medi-scanner from her belt, so that she could check her vital signs. She fought down a rising sense of panic while the device took an interminably long time to perform its scan, but she sighed with relief when it picked up a pulse and found no sign of brain damage. Realising she needed to get Alyssa out of there immediately, she glanced around to look for the others. There was no sign of John, but Irillith was slumped against a sturdy pillar, hugging herself tightly where she sat rocking on the floor.

"Irillith!" Rachel yelled at the Maliri woman, "Are you alright? Where's John?"

The golden armoured woman turned to look at her, and nodded hesitantly, and then pointed a trembling arm into the cavern beyond.

"For fuck's sake," Rachel muttered under her breath, and paused for a moment, trying to decide the best course of action. Dana was standing guard in case more Fulmanax warriors attacked, Irillith seemed... broken, which only left John to help her pull Alyssa clear from the stone cylinder she was trapped under. Rachel rose to her feet, raising her railgun to her shoulder, and began to walk cautiously through the gallery of stone pillars, into the other chamber.

She paused when Irillith suddenly leapt to her feet, and darted over to her, placing a restraining hand on her shoulder. The Maliri sounding absolutely terrified, as she blurted out, "No! Don't go in there! We should flee this place, while the Mael'nerak is distracted."

Rachel frowned and shook herself free from the other woman's hand as she said, "What's got into you? Go and help Dana! It looked like there were more Fulmanax warriors getting ready to attack."

Irillith stood at Rachel's side, her hand still held out in a silent plea. She turned to look into the huge chamber beyond, and then backed away fearfully, before turning to dash back into the other cavern.

Rachel watched her run, shaking her head at the Maliri's bizarre behaviour. She suddenly heard the sound of footsteps coming from the chamber beyond, and she immediately recognised the sound of Phalanx armoured boots on the rocky ledge. She jogged out into the chamber, and felt a surge of relief when she saw John calmly walking towards her. He was helmetless and his armour was badly battered, but he looked otherwise unharmed, his walk smooth and untroubled by injury.

"John! I'm so glad you're alright!" she said happily, but he walked straight past her without a word.

She turned around in surprise, and watched him stride purposefully back the way she had come. Rachel was about to follow after him, but then something bright and flickering caught the corner of her eye, and she turned to look out into the chamber beyond. Fifty metres below them, the fungus covered hill looked scorched in places, with massive gouges torn out of the white mound, where it rose up from the cavern floor. Charred and broken chunks of huge white fibrous flesh lay strewn all about the chamber. Some of the pieces smouldered where they lay, while a couple still burned, flickering with an ethereal blue flame.

"Thrall!" John called out, in a commanding voice. "We must attend your matriarch, she has been critically wounded."

Rachel looked up at him, and saw he was standing by the gallery of calcite pillars that led into the room, staring in her direction. She was startled when she realised he was addressing her, and when she turned to follow him, he walked quickly ahead and out of sight. Hurrying to catch up, she jogged after him, and reached him just as he casually flipped the massive monolith aside, freeing Alyssa from its heavy weight.

John knelt and moved to pick up her broken body, until Rachel dashed forward and placed her hand on his arm. "Wait! Don't move her yet, she might have some internal injuries!" she blurted out in panic.

He nodded and stepped clear. "Are you a physician, thrall?" he asked, his behaviour growing as increasingly bizarre as Irillith's.

Rachel frowned at him, then nodded as she knelt by Alyssa's side, and pulled out the medi-scanner again to check the girl's wounds. "Her right arm and leg are broken in several places. She has a couple of broken ribs, and it looks like a punctured lung!" she said in alarm. "If you carry her out, you might cause more damage!"

John turned and strode over to the grav-sled containing the sonic device, and brushed Irillith aside where she had been standing nervously beside it. She gasped in surprise, and then backed away from him warily. John ignored her, and then effortlessly shoved the heavy device off the sled, leaving it to fall on its side with a metallic clunk. Irillith let out a strangled cry, and darted forward to kneel by the device, checking it frantically. Ignoring her completely, John grabbed the grav-sled and pulled it back over to Rachel.

"Will this suffice as a stretcher?" he asked intently.

She nodded eagerly and replied, "Yes, that's perfect! Help me lift her on to it please, but we have to move her slowly and carefully."

John nodded, following Rachel's instructions as they transferred Alyssa to the flat surface of the grav-sled. She stirred briefly, groaning in pain, so Rachel knelt at her side and administered an anaesthetic and sedative from the hypo-syringe she carried on her belt.

Dana jogged over to them, and when she saw John, she said with relief, "Oh, thank God! I wondered what happened to you!"

He stared at her blankly, with no flicker of recognition reaching his eyes. Dana looked up at him in confusion at his odd behaviour, and was about to ask him what was going on, when Irillith ran over to join them.

"We have to leave here, now!" she shrieked in panic. "I can't fight my way out on my own!"

Dana turned to look at her in surprise, and the Maliri woman continued pleading with them desperately, "Please! We don't have much time, we must go now!"

"But what about the research facility and the data?" Dana asked in confusion.

Irillith had turned to stare at the sonic device, and she mumbled, "There is no data..."

Dana followed Irillith's gaze, and saw what she was staring at, "Oh fuck!" she cursed, before whirling on the Maliri woman. "That's a fucking bomb, isn't it?"

"The timer activated when he tipped it over," Irillith said angrily, pointing an accusatory finger towards John. "It's been damaged and I can't shut it off!"

John started reaching for his sword, and he took a menacing step towards the Maliri woman, fury written over his face as he growled, "You dare speak to me in such a way, slave?"

Dana glanced his way, and said urgently, "We haven't got time for this. We have to get out of here now!"

He looked back at her, and paused before nodding. "How do we leave this place?" he asked sternly.

Dana activated the intercom in her helmet, and opened a channel to Rachel, asking in a worried voice, "What the fuck is up with him?"

Rachel looked up at her, from where she was tending to Alyssa, and replied, "I'm not sure, he's been acting strangely ever since I found him in the other chamber. It looks like you're in charge now."

Dana squared her shoulders, then took a deep breath as she turned around, and said decisively, "Alright, I'll lead us back, but I'm going to need your help if we come across any more Fulmanax."

She grabbed a couple of empty magazines from the webbing slots at her waist, and quickly inserted some clips of ammo, restocking the mags so they were ready for use. John had drawn his sword, and Irillith had unslung her laser rifle, which she was now holding in shaking hands. Rachel stood by Alyssa's side and picked up some clips of ammo from the fallen girl's webbing, restocking her empty magazines.

"Alright, let's move out," Dana said firmly, and led them quickly back the way they had originally come through the cavern.

They walked past huge piles of Fulmanax warrior corpses, that had surrounded their defensive position in expanding rings of Fungoid bodies. The last grenade she had thrown had blasted a big hole in the stacks of white mushroom cadavers, and they walked through the crater, weaving around the last few dozen bodies until they were clear. Watching carefully for sinkholes, they followed the path back through the murky cavern, until they reached the stone bridge that rose eerily out of the glowing mist that swirled around their feet.

A group of Fulmanax warriors let out shrieking cries and charged towards them, their scarlet capped heads bobbing into view as they appeared out of the gloom. Dana and Rachel readied their railguns and were about to open fire, when John stepped forward, eagerly brandishing his sword. The Fulmanax saw him and skidded to a halt, then scrambled backwards, fleeing as though in terror.

Dana watched them run away on their three stumpy legs, and shrugged, deciding not to question their sudden good fortune. "Let's keep moving!" she urged them, and darted up the stone bridge, looking down its length to check for enemies.

She beckoned them to follow, and their dishevelled group trotted along the long rocky ridge, with no sign of Fulmanax to trouble them as they went. Dana jogged down the ramp on the other side, but could see no more of the strange mushroom-like aliens, so she began carefully threading her way towards the tunnel on the other side of the cavern. The others caught up to her, with Alyssa lying comatose on the silently hovering grav-sled, and Rachel walking attentively by the blonde girl's side.

The tunnel up to the next level was even more treacherous going up, than it was coming down, with the water-slicked floor making them slip and skid with practically every step. In the end, John took the lead, and repeatedly drove his sword into the ground, using it as an anchor to pull him up, while dragging the grav-sled with his other hand. The girls clambered aboard, being careful not to disturb Alyssa, and he made steady but painfully slow progress up the ramp.

Irillith kept glancing nervously at the device built into her vambrace, and a series of Maliri glyphs cycled through various shapes on the small holographic display.

Dana glanced at the Maliri woman and said tersely, "That's the countdown isn't it? How long till it blows?"

"Just over four minutes," Irillith replied sounding very worried.

Dana swore animatedly, and then activated the comms interface in the GUI, glancing at the corresponding icons to initiate contact with the Invictus. She finally got through, and Calara's image appeared in a small window on the left of the interface, flickering with static. She looked surprisingly tired and drawn, with lines of worry furrowing her brow.

"What's going on down there?! I couldn't get through to you!" the Latina said frantically. "Is Alyssa alright? I felt her pain through the link, and now she's gone silent!"

"The rock strata must have been blocking the signal," Dana said in a steady voice, trying to calm the brunette. "Alyssa's been hurt, but she's going to be okay. We need Jade to come down ASAP, and get us out of here!"

"She's on her way," Calara said, glancing off to the side. "ETA three minutes."

Dana controlled her expression, to avoid revealing just how worried she was, and said, "Alright, we'll be right out. Tell her to hurry!"

Calara nodded, and smiled tremulously at her, as she said, "Be careful, I'll see you soon."

They ended the call, and Dana let out a sigh. When she looked up to find out how they were doing, she was overjoyed to see that John had managed to bring them right up to the top cavern, and they were finally leaving the slippery tunnel behind. The girls all jumped off the grav-sled, and raised their weapons in case of a Fulmanax attack, but the only Fungi in sight were the huge towering ones that seemed to be used as a food source.

"Jade is on her way, but we've not got much time, so we're going to have to run for it!" Dana warned them.

They all stared at her fearfully, except John, who stood impassively at their side. Dana stared at him a moment, wanting to tell him off for freaking her out, but it was neither the time nor the place. Instead she said, "Irillith, can the grav-sled keep up with us if we run?"

The Maliri woman looked up at her, tearing her eyes away from the ticking countdown and nodded.

"Alright, let's go. Follow me!" Dana ordered them loudly, and sprinted through the misty cavern, her feet making squelching sounds with every light footfall.

The others ran after her, with the grav-sled hovering silently behind, trailing after Irillith. Rachel kept pace with the sled, darting anxious glances at Alyssa whenever she could. They charged across the huge room, with a few squat Fulmanax drones lurching out of their way as they ran past them. Dana found the ramp upwards easily enough, and she dashed up the slope, while keeping a wary eye out for any ambushes, but it seemed that the Fulmanax had decided to let them leave unhindered. They ran around the ledge, and then into the broad tunnel that sloped up to the surface.

The device built into Irillith's vambrace started emitting a soft chiming noise every few seconds, which was rising in pitch with every note.

"How long?" Dana gasped, as she dashed along the tunnel, darting worried glances down each pitch-black side tunnel as they ran up the slope.

Irillith glanced at her vambrace and blurted out, "Fifty seconds!"

Dana fought down the rising tide of fear, determined not to panic and let them down, not while they were all depending on her. As she rounded the next corner, the tunnel levelled out and she could see the tunnel entrance ahead of them.

"We're nearly there, move everyone!" she shouted encouragingly, and the rest of the tired group sprinted hard for the cavern mouth.

They burst out into the meadow beyond, and to Dana's eternal gratitude, the Raptor gunship was parked nearby, with Jade standing by the lowered landing ramp. She was waiting for them nervously, and she started to jog towards them when she saw them break out of the tunnel.

"No!" Dana shouted, waving her back. "Start up the Raptor, we have to leave now!"

Jade nodded, and darted up into the gunship in a fast loping run. Dana, Rachel and John ran towards her, but Irillith broke away, and ran to her own golden ship, that shone brightly in the midday sun. The grav-sled peeled away from their group, and began to follow obediently after Irillith, taking Alyssa with it.

"Irillith, the grav-sled!" Dana called out, and the Maliri woman turned to glance back at it for a moment.

She paused and unclipped the device from her vambrace and then lobbed it carelessly in Dana's direction, before sprinting into her ship. A few seconds later, the Maliri heavy fighter lifted off the ground, and then roared away, heading up to the orbiting cruiser.

"Fucking bitch!" Dana cursed, as she had to dash to the side to catch the casually discarded device.

She scooped it up, and heard the chimes it was emitting, climbing to ever higher notes. With a glance behind, to make sure that the grav-sled was following her, she raced over to the Raptor and sprinted up the ramp.

"We're clear!" she shouted out loudly as soon as the sled was aboard, hoping that Jade could hear her from down here.

The Nymph must have been able to, because the Raptor took off immediately, the retro-thrusters lifting them off the ground with a dull roar. Jade powered up the engines, and they raced away into the sky, while Dana, Rachel and John sat on the floor, panting for breath.

***

Irillith sought to catch her breath as she stared out of the clear crystal bubble on her fighter, watching as the white Terran gunship left the ground, and followed after her. Both ships scrambled to put more distance between themselves and the planet, and she knew they didn't have much time left. A few seconds later the whole mountain range seemed to tremble, as the incendiary bomb detonated, igniting the magnesium veins that interlaced the once dormant volcano. She watched dispassionately as the top of the mountain exploded, blasting out molten hot magma in a thunderous explosion.

She slumped in her chair, and stared out into space, the icy fingers of dread having never stopped clawing at her heart. She had done as her mother had demanded; the indigenous Fulmanax had been exterminated, and the planet Quanthos could now be colonised at their leisure. Not only that, she was bringing the Mael'nerak back to her homeworld as she had been bid, and Irillith now held absolutely no doubt as to his identity. She just couldn't shake the feeling that her mother was making a calamitous error in judgement, and the thought of having that conversation with her, left her quaking in fear.

***

Dana and the others sat quietly in the Raptor, regaining their breath. Rachel stood and pulled off her helmet, placing it on the grav-sled as she checked on Alyssa.

"How's she doing?" Dana asked her friend, standing herself and copying the tawny haired girl, removing her own helmet too.

Rachel looked worried as she examined Alyssa, scanning her with the medi-scanner. "I can't detect any internal bleeding, but she's got a lot of broken bones, and is in a bad way. I'll have to take her straight up to Medical to get her prepped for surgery."

She then frowned and glanced over at Dana as she continued, "Those caverns were saturated with fungus spores. I'll have to decontaminate all of us to make sure we don't pick up anything nasty."

Dana darted a glance back at John, who lay slumped against a bulkhead, having slipped into unconsciousness. "If he tops us up, we should be fine, right?"

Rachel followed her gaze, looking down at John and nodded as she replied, "Yes, that's true, but he might be out of it for a while. Even when he wakes up, we need to make sure Alyssa gets his attention first."

Dana paused, and looked into Rachel's eyes as she said hesitantly, "What happened back in the other chamber? He was acting so weird! It was like he wasn't even the same person, and he had no clue who I was..."

Rachel shook her head, looking equally as worried. "I've no idea, but I agree, it was totally bizarre. He had no idea who I was either, and called me a 'Thrall', and referred to Alyssa as a 'Matriarch'. We'll have to get together, and discuss it when everyone's okay."

Dana let out a big sigh, and nodded, then they both looked up when Jade walked into the room. The Nymph looked worn out, and she stifled a yawn as she nodded to them both, hitting the button to their side to lower the landing ramp. They could see the familiar sight of the Invictus' Hangar Bay as the loading ramp swung down smoothly, with the accompanying hum of hydraulics.

"What's up with you? You look worn out!" Dana exclaimed in surprise, when she got a good look at Jade's face.

Jade shook her head, looking confused as she replied, "Calara and I were fine, just sitting up on the Bridge, and waiting to hear from you guys. We both suddenly felt... I'm not sure how to describe it. A strong pulling sensation? And we both felt totally exhausted afterwards."

All three of them exchanged glances, and looked down at John, who was still sitting unconscious on the floor. Rachel knelt at his side and quickly scanned him with the medi-scanner.

"He's in perfect health," she said a few seconds later, as she stood and began to push the grav-sled down the landing ramp.

Dana looked at his shattered armour and raised an eyebrow speculatively. "Yeah, I think I can guess what happened," she said with certainty, before looking up at Jade. "Can you get him out of the armour and put him to bed? We're going to need you to nurse Alyssa back to health," she added pointedly.

Jade nodded and replied, "Don't worry, I've got him." She then knelt beside John, and started to remove his battered armour.

Dana watched her for a moment, and then jogged down the ramp to catch up with Rachel, who was pushing the grav-sled towards the double doors. "We'll take her up via the loading lift in the Cargo Bay. That'll be more stable than trying to move her through the grav-tube," the redhead suggested helpfully.

They hurried out into the corridor, and Calara stepped out of the grav-tube, darting over to join them. She gasped when she saw how badly wounded Alyssa was, and held her hands over her mouth in shock, as she stared at her friend with wide eyes.

"We're going to patch her up right now," Dana said calmly, walking over to stand beside Calara, and putting a reassuring arm around her shoulders. "She'll be as good as new in no time," she added with a reassuring smile.

The Latina nodded distractedly, not able to tear her eyes from Alyssa's broken body, as Rachel guided the grav-sled through to the Cargo Bay. "What can I do to help?" she asked plaintively.

Dana put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and said. "We've got this, don't worry. Was everything alright on the Invictus while we were away? Jade already told us about you both being drained of energy."

Calara nodded and replied, "Apart from that, everything was fine. That Maliri fighter returned to the patrol cruiser a bit before you got back here, and they asked us to sync hyper-warp signatures with them again. I did that, and we're back in hyper-warp now, on our way deeper into Maliri Space. Did you guys manage to secure the data that Irillith wanted?"

Dana ground her teeth with anger, and shook her head as she replied, "The whole mission was bullshit! We'll have a debrief later when John and Alyssa are alright again, and I'll explain what happened."

Rachel had reached the loading lift and was carefully manoeuvring the grav-sled into position as the anti-grav cyclics started to whir. Calara and Dana broke into a run, sprinting over to catch up with her, and they all began to ascend slowly on the floating platform, as it raised them up towards the Engineering Bay on Deck Seven.

***

John let out a contented sigh, stretching as he lay in bed, while a talented young woman knelt between his legs, sucking eagerly on his cock. He could tell immediately that it was Jade blowing him, from the unique way her throat muscles rippled along his shaft. He felt a bit disorientated, having no clue how he suddenly appeared to be in bed on his ship, as the last thing he remembered was being flung through a stone pillar by the Fulmanax behemoth.

He gave up trying to figure it out for the moment as Jade slurped hungrily on his length, her tongue, mouth, and throat moving rhythmically, as though desperate to empty his balls. He reached down to run his fingers through her long, soft hair, and she purred happily as he pulled her down the last couple of inches, so her cute nose was rubbing against his stomach. The Nymph's long tongue snaked out, and began to lap at his balls, massaging them as she encouraged his quad to give up its cargo. John groaned with relief, and his balls lurched as he blasted his cum down her throat, which gripped his cock tightly and began to milk him expertly.

He was seeing stars by the time she finally let him go, and he collapsed back on the bed, feeling drained completely dry. Letting out a disbelieving chuckle, he grinned at her as Jade threw back the covers. She returned his broad grin, and blew him a kiss, before climbing carefully out of bed, her centre of balance upset by her enormously bloated tits full of cum.

"Where are you going?" he asked her in confusion, as she glided out of the door, giving him a brief wave goodbye.

"Alyssa's been hurt, I'm going to give her a full tummy," Jade replied to him from the corridor.

John sat up with a start, the moments before he blacked-out suddenly and shockingly coming back to him. That falling pillar, and Alyssa crying out as it fell towards them... He leapt out of bed, and grabbed his trousers that had been left crumpled on the floor. Pulling them on quickly, he sprinted down the corridor, running to catch up with the nude Nymph who was just stepping into the grav-tube.

They floated down in the red glow until they reached Deck Seven, and the two of them stepped out, striding briskly along the corridor to the Medical Bay. John hit the button on the wall, and the door swished open, allowing Jade to glide through and enter the room. She walked over to join the other girls, who were standing around Alyssa as she lay on a hospital bed, having just been transferred from the operating table.

The blonde girl was unconscious, and lying on her left side, with her chest, right arm, and right leg swathed in bandages. Calara was stroking Alyssa's hair with one hand, and biting the thumbnail of the other nervously.

Rachel pulled off her white operating scrubs, and nodded in greeting to John as she said, "She's going to be alright. I've set the breaks in her arms and legs, and the same with the broken ribs. I had to artificially inflate the collapsed lung, but with plenty of time and rest, she'll make a full recovery."

John strode over to join them and Dana stepped in his way, looking up at him suspiciously. "Are you, yourself again?" she asked him with a frown.

He smiled at her distractedly, as he peered over her shoulder to look at Alyssa, and said, "Yeah, it's me. Who did you think I was? Santa Claus? Stop messing about Dana, I want to check on Alyssa."

Dana flung herself at him, and wrapped him in a tight hug, as she gasped, "You had me so wigged-out back there. You were behaving like a total freakshow!"

He encircled her in his arms, and looked puzzled as he said, "I seem to be having some blank spots in my memory. The last thing I remember was being slapped about by an enormous Fulmanax creature, and then I think I got knocked out."

The redhead looked up at him, and frowned as she said, "Well, don't act that way again, I didn't like it!"

John nodded as he looked down at her, and rubbed her back soothingly, as he said, "It's alright now, we're all safe and sound."

Dana was about to reply, when Rachel let out a startled gasp. They turned to see what had caused such a reaction, and saw that Jade was now kneeling by Alyssa's side. She was stroking the unconscious girl's blonde hair, whispering to her lovingly, while she had her first two fingers inside Alyssa's mouth. Her fingers seemed to pulse rhythmically, and as they watched in fascination, the blonde girl's belly began to slowly inflate.

Rachel turned, and sprinted out of the room without a word, while the rest of them watched her run in surprise. John walked over to Jade and crouched down beside her.

"Aren't you worried about her choking, with her unconscious like that?" he asked the Nymph with concern.

Jade nodded, and said seriously, "You're right. My poor little kitten is too hurt to feed normally, so I've elongated my fingers, and I'm pumping your cum directly into her stomach. She'll be fine in no time."

Dana walked over to kneel next to Jade on the other side, and leaned in closely to watch the Nymph's dark-green fingers throbbing as they worked as a feeding tube. "How are you doing that?" she asked in wonder.

Jade shrugged and said, "I've always been able to hollow out parts of my body, but with all the shapeshifting I've done recently, I'm getting much more control over it now."

Eventually she was done, and her breasts had returned to their normal perky size and shape, with their contents now safely transferred into Alyssa's rounded stomach. Rachel darted back into the room with the Psi-detector, answering everyone's question about why she had suddenly run from the room.

The tawny haired doctor said eagerly, "Could you guys move away from her a moment, please. The glow from Alyssa makes it too hard to see what's happening."

They nodded and stepped back from the unconscious young woman, while Rachel swung the psi-detector around to scan them for psychic energy. She moved from girl to girl, examining the strange ethereal white lines that linked each of them with Alyssa.

"Now this is interesting!" she exclaimed, staring at the holographic display in fascination. "The glowing white lines look normal from all of us to Alyssa, but the energy is all flowing in one direction at the moment, from us to her. The rate of energy draw seems to be much faster from myself and Dana, but with Calara and Jade, it looks slow and normal."

She then swung the psi-detector towards John and looked astonished. "And as for you, the flow of energy from Alyssa to you looks roughly the same, but now there's a massive surge of power going from you to her."

Calara walked back to Alyssa, and began stroking her hair again as she asked, "What do you think that means?"

Rachel put down the psi-detector and looked thoughtful. "I have a theory, but we'll have to wait until tomorrow morning for me to be able to verify if it's correct," she replied cryptically.

They all walked over to stand together again, clustered around the bed. John looked around at them all, and saw their tired, worried faces, and his heart went out to them.

"I want all of you to go to bed. It's been a traumatic day, and you girls need some rest," he said firmly. "Alyssa won't wake up for a while, and I'll stay here to keep a close eye on her."

Calara opened her mouth to object, but a single look from him cut off her protestations. She nodded obediently, and walked around the hospital bed to join the others.

"Good girl," he told her warmly. "All of you get some sleep. I'll let you know the moment anything changes," he added kindly.

They each gave him a kiss goodbye, and then quietly filed out of the Medical Bay, too weary for their normal excited chatter. John pulled over a comfortable chair, so that it was right next to the hospital bed where Alyssa lay, and he sat down beside her. Leaning forward, he stroked her hair gently, and prayed that she would recover quickly. He glanced down at her heavily rounded stomach, and hoped fervently that the contents would work its magic on her once again.

***

John awoke late that night, having no idea what the time was. A quick glance at his watch told him it was just after midnight, and that he'd fallen asleep for a couple of hours. The Medical Lab was dark, with just a couple of nightlights on, casting a soft warm glow around the room. He was sitting slumped in the now not-quite-so-comfortable visiting chair, and he sat up gingerly, as his back protested at him falling asleep like that. He glanced over at the hospital bed, checking to make sure that Alyssa was alright, and he suddenly sat bolt upright when she was nowhere to be seen. He whirled around to look for her, and then breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her standing to his left, a few metres away.

Alyssa had removed all the bandages, and was twisting, stretching, and rotating her spectacular naked body experimentally. She looked up, and beamed a sparkling smile, then sashayed over to join him.

"Hello, sleepy head," she purred playfully, encircling his neck with her arms when he rose to his feet.

"We were all so worrie- mmph!" John started to say, until she pulled his face down to hers, cutting him off, and gave him a heated kiss.

She pressed her delightfully nude body up against him, while letting out a happy little moan into his mouth, as her full sensual lips moved against his own. Her eyes were bright and alert, and she grinned at him playfully when they eventually pulled apart.

"I feel amazing!" she exclaimed. "Let's talk later. I want you to fuck me, right now!"

John chuckled at her wantonness, and glanced around the Medical Bay. "What, in here?" he asked her dubiously.

Alyssa looked around the large medical facility, and she shivered involuntarily at the psychic echoes that haunted this place. "Alright, perhaps not immediately. We can go up to the bedroom, and you can give me a good pounding in the bed. We'll probably wake the girls up, but I'd be waking them up soon anyway, so that doesn't matter."

She sauntered out of the Medical Bay, glancing over her shoulder, and grinned as she caught him staring at her long, lithe, tanned, and toned legs.

"Why would you be waking them up?" he mumbled distractedly.

She rolled her eyes at him, and said as though it were obvious, "So they can eat your cum from me afterwards! Something tells me they'll be wanting a little pick-me-up."

He smiled at the thought, and she chuckled as she read his mind.

***

Alyssa vaulted onto the bed, lay on her back, and eagerly spread her thighs for him, then beckoned him over with a hungry look on her beautiful face. Despite her earlier request for some rough sex, John was very gentle when he pushed his throbbing cock inside her.

She giggled as she thought to him, *I'm not going to break! You don't have to treat me like I'm a fragile heirloom!*

He smiled down at her and replied teasingly, *I like to take care of my property, and you are my most prized possession.*

Alyssa's eyes flared with arousal, and she grabbed his head, pulling him down so that she could kiss him passionately. John held her tightly in his arms, and kissed her back equally as fiercely, feeling a surge of relief that she now seemed completely unscathed after suffering such terrible injuries. He pulled back from her a little, and she looked up at him questioningly as he stared into her shining cerulean eyes.

His voice surged with conviction as it echoed through her mind, *It was horrible seeing you get hurt like that. I don't ever want to see you that way again.*

She raised herself up so she could give him a tender kiss, before resting her head back on the bed again. *We lead dangerous lives, and who knows what may happen in the future. As long as you're there to make me whole again afterwards, we'll be alright,* she thought to him lovingly.

*I love you,* he thought to her.

Her answering smile was so warm and tender, it made his heart lift in his chest. *You know I feel the same way too*, she replied, looking up at him adoringly. *I've changed my mind from earlier, though, I want you to make love to me instead,* she requested earnestly.

He nodded, and they set about showing how strongly they felt about each other physically, expressing their feelings with their intertwined bodies.

***

John spent a couple of hours coupled with Alyssa, staring into her eyes as they moved slowly and sensually together. As they were so quiet and intimate with each other, they didn't disturb the other girls, who slept around them completely oblivious to their presence. Eventually, John methodically pumped his load into Alyssa's welcoming young womb, and they cuddled together for a while, whispering lovingly with each other.

She woke the others up with a gentle telepathic murmur, and they all sat up wearily, rubbing the sleep from their eyes. They were overjoyed when they saw Alyssa beaming at them happily, completely recovered from her earlier injuries.

Rachel was witnessing this miraculous healing for the first time, and was suitably shocked. "I can't believe it!" she marvelled, as she knelt next to Alyssa, leaning over her to examine her right arm, leg, and chest. "Your skin is flawless! There's not even the hint of a scar!"

Alyssa grinned up at her, and stroked Dana's auburn hair affectionately, as the tired looking redhead lapped away at her. "John is a master craftsman at patching us up," the blonde girl agreed.

The tawny haired doctor nodded as she leaned forward, gently probing Alyssa's arm and leg. She then moved on cautiously to explore Alyssa's chest, as she checked over her previously broken ribs. "No pain or discomfort of any kind?" she asked curiously, before stifling a yawn.

The beautiful blonde girl shook her head enthusiastically, and replied, "I'm in tip-top shape, and feel bright as a button!" She then looked at Rachel with concern, and said sympathetically, "You look tired out though. I think you should go next, after little miss greedy is done."

Dana giggled happily as she rolled out of the way, and lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling. "That feels so much better!" she sighed, with a massive grin on her lovely face, rubbing her tummy with delight.

Rachel smiled at Alyssa self-consciously, and then took Dana's place between the blonde teenager's toned thighs. "Good girl," Alyssa said to her softly. "You'll be as good as new in no time."

John lay in bed, with one arm around Calara, and the other holding Jade equally as close. They cuddled into him, feeling happy to be held in his arms, but despite having slept for eight hours, they both looked exhausted. They watched Rachel eat out Alyssa for a while, with Dana sitting perkily at the blonde's side, stroking her friend's swollen belly lovingly. When the tawny haired brunette sat up a short while later, looking refreshed and wide awake, John gently nudged Calara.

"It's your turn next," he prompted her quietly, and the Latina rose to swap places with Rachel.

Rachel disappeared out of the room as soon as she finished her late night snack, and returned with the psi-detector a few minutes later. She nodded with satisfaction as she examined the glowing ethereal lines that joined them all, her hypotheses seemingly proven correct. She put the psi-detector down on the comfortable chair to the side of the room, and then climbed on to the bed, snuggling up beside John.

Once Calara had finished, she licked her lips, and then crawled up the bed to cuddle with Alyssa. The blonde and brunette kissed each other tenderly, staring into each other's eyes, and holding each other in their arms. Jade eagerly took the Latina's recently vacated place, and elongated her tongue so that she could enthusiastically lick every drop of John's cum from Alyssa's womb, like someone helping 'clean' a delicious bowl of cake mix. As the Nymph filled her stomach with the last of his sweet tasting load, glowing viridian lines began to pulse out from her belly, spreading out over her body as they lit up the room.

They all sat around together on the bed afterwards, the girls looking bright and alert, their earlier tiredness completely banished. John leaned against the headboard, and they watched him attentively, waiting for him to start their post-mission debriefing.

"Time for a chat, I think," he said, and they all nodded their agreement. He then glanced Rachel's way and said, "You've seen the healing in person now. Did you notice anything interesting?"

She nodded animatedly and replied, "Yes! I learnt a lot, and I think I can fill in some of the blanks about what's going on. Firstly, I believe the tiredness we all felt was due to us being 'drained' of psychic energy to fuel this healing. Alyssa was severely injured, and yet here she is now, completely restored, after only..." she paused as she glanced at the chronometer, "ten hours!"

Alyssa smiled coyly, and said, "It probably only took about eight hours. John and I spent some time together, before I woke all of you up."

The girls all giggled at that, until Calara suddenly spoke up, "So why did Jade and I get so tired? That happened quite some time before Alyssa got healed."

Alyssa darted a glance at John as she said, "I wasn't the only one crushed under that pillar."

Dana nodded animatedly as she agreed, "I saw the state of your armour, John! You must have been hurt even worse than Alyssa!"

"I think you drew energy from Calara and Jade to heal yourself directly," Rachel said quietly.

Dana frowned at the memory, and looked at John, as she said, "You went totally weird when you came back from that other cavern. It was like you were a completely different person!"

Alyssa and John exchanged meaningful glances, before he returned Dana's gaze, and said, "Let's get back to that afterwards." He then turned to look at Rachel and said, "Anything else you found out about the healing?"

Rachel hesitated for a moment, before she stared at John intently and said, "Yes, something significant. A lot of this is supposition, so I could well be wrong, but this is my working theory: I think you tapped out Calara and Jade's reserves of psychic energy, and used the power you siphoned from them, to fully heal yourself of what must have been critical wounds. You left Dana and I alone, because we were still in danger from the Fulmanax, and you couldn't risk leaving us drained and exhausted. Once we were all safely aboard the Invictus, you drew power from Dana and me to completely heal Alyssa.

Even now, after we just ate your cum from Alyssa, there's energy being channelled directly from you to each of us, which is probably what perked us up again. My guess is that we supply psychic energy to Alyssa, who channels it to you. With her being incapacitated, you just took matters into your own hands, and tapped directly from the source. I think your cum acts as a catalyst that allows you to heal us, and probably allowed you to direct the nature of the Gift as well. I know I felt an intense connection with you when I was on my knees, staring into your eyes as I swallowed down your cum, and I've heard the others mention it too."

She glanced at Dana and Calara, and they nodded affirmatively.

John faltered as he said, "But I'm not consciously doing any of that..."

Rachel nodded firmly and said, "Yes, I know. I think back down in those tunnels, we finally met the person who is."

"So you're saying I'm schizophrenic?!" he balked, then looked downwards, unwilling to meet the intensity of her probing gaze.

Alyssa sat beside him and stroked his arm soothingly as she said, "No, she's not saying that. I think there's some kind of version of yourself that runs purely on instinct. When we've been in real trouble... the pirate cyborg, that Drakkar boarding action, the Fulmanax behemoth, this side of yourself emerges, and... resolves the problem."

Rachel nodded and moved over to sit beside him, ducking down and looking into his eyes as she said gently, "I think it's hard-coded into your Progenitor DNA, and not something you have any control over. This instinctive personality seems to emerge in times of severe physical stress, and appears to have no problem unlocking your psychic abilities when you need them. From what I understand, you only started getting stronger after seeing Progenitor-John, for want of a better name, fighting the Drakkar?"

He nodded distractedly, thinking back to the last time that he had blacked out. He could still remember the shock when they'd watched the video footage of him afterwards, brutally hacking apart the hostile aliens with his supernatural strength.

Alyssa said quietly, "When it's happened before, I wasn't able to read your thoughts any more. It was like your normal mind had shut down."

Jade moved closer to him too, placing a comforting hand on his leg as she said carefully, "I met this other version of yourself at the end of the Drakkar attack. It was definitely not you, and he felt very dangerous, like a predator, running on instinct alone. I would have fled, but I needed to heal Dana and Alyssa. Shapeshifting into Alyssa's form seemed to distract you enough to snap you out of it."

Rachel hesitated for a moment, wary about burdening John with any more news, but Alyssa's voice suddenly sounded in her mind, *Go ahead and tell him. Whatever it is, we'll need to deal with it sooner or later.*

The tawny haired girl nodded, and then said, "When I walked into the other chamber to look for you, you were the only living creature there. The Fulmanax behemoth that Alyssa mentioned was utterly destroyed. It must have been enormous, because there were huge flaming chunks of it scattered around the entire floor of that cavern."

John looked up at her with wide eyes, and blurted out, "It was on fire?!"

She nodded as she looked into his eyes. "Yes, and not with any kind of fire I've seen before. The flames seemed... unnatural," she said with emphasis.

They all sat quietly, digesting this latest bit of surprising news, when Rachel spoke up again.

"There's something else too," she said ominously, drawing all their attention to her. "Progenitor-John had no idea who I was, but he referred to me as a 'Thrall'. He also referred to Alyssa as our 'Matriarch'. He was very specific, and I think those terms mean something significant."

Alyssa tilted her head to one side, and looked thoughtful as she said, "Maliri society is run by 'Matriarchs'. That seems way too much of a coincidence to me."

Rachel looked across John's chest at the blonde girl, and smiled at her in agreement. "Yes, I think you could be on to something. Perhaps the Maliri have modelled their current societal structure, on the one previously imposed on them by the Progenitors," she mused, looking intrigued.

Dana giggled at a sudden memory and said, "Progenitor-John didn't think much of Irillith. He referred to her as 'Slave', and probably would have killed her at one point if I hadn't jumped in."

Rachel nodded and said, "Maybe he recognised her as being from a species that the Progenitors had genetically modified to be used in their wars? Aside from that, I think she might have seen him do something, or spoken to him in the chamber before I got there."

"What makes you say that?" Alyssa asked curiously.

Rachel looked grim when she replied, "Because she seemed absolutely terrified. She urged me to run away, and abandon John in the tunnels."

Alyssa and the other girls looked equally stony-faced at the thought, and they went silent as they pondered all these revelations. John looked equally troubled, and Alyssa suddenly looked at him sharply.

"Don't be ridiculous," she said to him sternly. "You can cut that shit out right now!"

He turned to look at her and said worriedly, "It might be the wisest course. I can't risk an uncontrollable Progenitor version of myself putting any of you in danger."

"Nope. It's NEVER going to happen, so you better get used to it," she said to him adamantly.

Calara looked concerned at Alyssa's angry outburst and asked, "What's the matter?"

The blonde girl looked furious as she said, "He's thinking he should be 'noble', and keep us away from him, so we don't get hurt."

"Fuck that!" Dana said vehemently.

Calara nodded her agreement, and said determinedly, "You could never make me voluntarily leave you."

Jade and Rachel echoed Calara's thoughts, and when he looked around at them, he saw only absolute conviction on their beautiful faces.

Alyssa then reached for his chin, and turned his head so that he was looking at her, as she said softly, "This instinctive personality has only ever emerged when I've been in big trouble. You will never convince me that any part of you would put us in danger."

He sat there for a while, digesting what she said, and then finally looked up at her with a small smile on his face, as he said, "I better get used to having all you girls around then, right?"

The girls all laughed happily and dove in for hugs, burying him under a pile of female bodies. He joined in their laughter, wrapping them in his arms. They cuddled like that for a while, with Alyssa lying on his chest as he lay in the middle of the bed, and the other girls flanking him.

John eventually glanced around at them and said, "There's still a few other things we need to talk about."

Rachel looked at him eagerly and asked, "Like how you can start utilising this ethereal fire ability? I can't wait to see that in action!"

He paused for a moment, and shook his head as he said, "Actually, I was thinking about something else entirely. That's an interesting idea though, but how would I even be able to start trying to use it? I've no idea what Progenitor-John even did!"

He glanced around at the girls, but they all shrugged helplessly.

"We could always ask Irillith nicely, to try and find out what happened," Rachel said with a smile. "But after seeing the way she reacted, I'm not sure she'll be too forthcoming."

Alyssa giggled where she lay on John's chest, and suggested to him, "Maybe you could join me for some Psychic training 101 with Edraele? I'll have a chat with her, one matriarch to another, and put in a good word for you."

John chuckled, brushing his fingers through her golden hair, and she sighed happily as she leaned into his hand.

"Actually, that's something else I'd like to know the answer to," he said curiously. "Why would Progenitor-John refer to you as a Matriarch, and what does that even mean?"

Calara pondered this for a moment, and then smiled at Alyssa lovingly as she said, "Well she does look after all of us, and has built the psychic bond with each of us too. She's your second-in-command as well, so maybe she's the matriarch, and you're the patriarch of our little family."

Jade looked doubtful and she said hesitantly, "That's probably all true for us, but that doesn't sound very much like the way the Progenitors operate."

Dana said off-handedly, "Maybe a Progenitor uses a Matriarch to help keep his hundreds of women in line, like some kind of female super-pimp!"

The room went quiet as they thought about what she had said, and Dana looked chagrined as she apologised, "Sorry guys, that wasn't something to joke about."

"It's alright," John said quietly, reaching out to gently stroke her arm. "That sounds much more like the way the Progenitors would operate."

Deciding to change the subject, Dana asked, "So what are we planning to do about Irillith and the Maliri? She admitted there wasn't any data to retrieve. She lied to us about the Fulmanax, and the 'sonic device' turned out to be some kind of fucking bomb!"

Calara looked sombre as she said, "I was watching the mountain from up here on the ship. It must have been a dormant volcano, because when that bomb went off, it triggered a massive eruption that devastated the whole range. Any tunnels beneath that rocky plateau would be completely flooded with lava."

The room went deathly quiet as they considered the enormity of the events that had just transpired.

John looked grim as he said, "That is what I wanted to discuss. Irillith basically tricked us into helping her destroy an indigenous alien species. I wasn't exactly that fond of the Fulmanax, but they hadn't done anything to us, and she just incinerated who knows how many thousands of them."

Calara looked pensive for a moment, before she said, "I don't want to sound callous, but I don't think this really changes anything. We're hardly in a position to bring Irillith to some kind of intergalactic genocide trial, and everything that happened occurred in Maliri Space. For all we know, these kinds of actions are fully sanctioned by their laws."

"So we just forget about what happened?" Rachel asked dubiously.

John's expression turned dark as he said, "Definitely not! I'm furious at her for putting us in unnecessary danger, and especially for Alyssa ending up getting hurt..." He then took a big sigh as he continued, "But Calara is right. We can't exactly just open fire on her cruiser; we have no proof her crew were involved in what happened. I certainly don't think Irillith will just hand herself over to us for some kind of impromptu trial, so where does that leave us? Besides, we don't even know anything about the history between the Maliri and the Fulmanax. For all we know, there could have been historical conflict between the two species, and that was the final act in a long-standing war."

Dana frowned and asked him doubtfully, "You don't really believe that do you?"

John shook his head as he glanced at her. "No, not for one moment. I think she used us as unwitting pawns to help her wipe out the Fulmanax in an unprovoked act of genocide. I have no idea why though, and that's the real problem. Until we find out more, we can't make any kind of absolute judgement one way or another."

Alyssa rested her chin on his chest and asked him, "So what now then? Do we continue onwards, or just high-tail it out of here?"

John looked regretful as he said, "I think we still need to find out as much as we can about the Maliri, and their involvement with the Progenitors. They obviously know something, and I don't want to lose the opportunity to find out what that might be."

Alyssa nodded sympathetically, feeling his burning desire to find out more about the Progenitors, and himself in the process. "Then we continue," she said simply.

John looked to each of the other girls in turn, and they all nodded to him one after the other. He saw no judgement in their eyes, only calm acceptance of his choice. "Thank you for supporting me on this, I know it's not an easy decision to make," he said gratefully.

Calara smiled at him and said, "You're our leader. You make the hard calls, and we back up your play. That's simply how it works."

John smiled wryly and said, "I don't think there's many ship's Captains who command that kind of loyalty from their crew."

Calara knelt beside him, and leaned down to kiss him lovingly. When she pulled back, he stared into her soulful brown eyes, and she said to him reverently, "You aren't an ordinary Captain."

Alyssa had been watching the two of them from inches away, and she smiled as the gorgeous Latina gave him a smouldering look. "Alright, alright, you two can have some fun in a minute. There's something else I wanted to show you all first, before we start getting physical," she said with amusement.

Calara blew John a flirtatious kiss before she sat up straight, and turned to look at Alyssa curiously. The beautiful blonde girl dismounted him gracefully, freeing him to sit upright too, and the girls copied him, fanning out around Alyssa.

"What did you want to show us?" he asked Alyssa, sounding intrigued.

She smiled, and then winked at him teasingly, as she turned to look around the room. Her eyes settled on the psi-detector, and she took a deep breath before holding her hand out towards it. She made a beckoning motion with her fingers, and before their astonished eyes, the futuristic looking piece of equipment rose steadily from the chair, floating over to her outstretched hand.

John stared at her in surprise and said, "How are you doing that? I thought you could only use telekinesis with that Etherite alloy?"

Before Alyssa could reply, Dana said with a shrug, "There are actually Etherite crystal rings inside the psi-detector. I copied the Ashanath's design from their psi-sensor, and the different resonance between the rings allows the detector to pick up psionic energy." She then frowned as she added, "It's pretty delicate, so please be careful with it."

Alyssa laughed, and rolled her eyes as she put down the psi-detector. "Alright, let me start again. Obviously, I didn't know about the Etherite crystals..."

She then held out her hand towards the chair, and with a gesture of her hand, it rose smoothly off the floor. She made a rotating motion with her fingers, and the big luxurious chair began to spin lazily in the air, drawing gasps of amazement from her audience. She placed it carefully on the floor again, and then looked around at her friends who were staring at her in open mouthed amazement.

John was about to ask her the same question again, when he suddenly had a flashback to the last thing he remembered in the Fulmanax caves. He had a hazy memory of Alyssa screaming his name, and the huge stone pillar crashing down towards them, until she had held up her hands, stopping it in its tracks.

"That pillar!" he blurted out in wonder.

Alyssa had turned to watch him, and she nodded as she followed his train of thought. "We were about to be squashed by that stone column, and I just reacted purely on instinct. When I flung my will at the pillar, and actually managed to stop it falling, I was as shocked as you look now. Unfortunately, the Fulmanax behemoth jumping up and down on it, was a bit too much for me to handle," she explained softly with a smile on her face.

He laughed and pulled her into his arms, "You amazing girl! You saved our lives then for sure."

Alyssa hugged him tightly, and had a huge grin on her beautiful face as she basked in his praise.

Dana was now staring at her friend in awe as she exclaimed, "Those pillars must have weighed upward of twenty tons! You supported all that weight using just your mind?"

Alyssa glanced over at the redhead, and nodded enthusiastically. "Only for about five seconds or so, but yeah, I managed to hold it," she said with a grin.

Dana clapped jubilantly and said to John, "You need to raise your game Hercules! It looks like you've got some serious competition."

He chuckled good naturedly, and nodded as he said, "I'll see what I can do."

***

Everyone finally went to sleep a few hours later, tired but wonderfully satiated. After they realised just how close they had come to total disaster, they got together as a group to celebrate just being alive. Calara and Alyssa paired off with each other, as did Dana and Rachel, and Jade joined John with a coy smile on her beautiful face. Unlike the frenzied orgies that normally ensued when they all got together, this night was about making love, and soft sighs of pleasure soon filled the room. They swapped partners after a little while, greeting each new companion with a welcoming smile, before embracing each other tenderly.

They lost track of time as they submerged themselves in blissful sensations, and just relished being with the people they loved and trusted unreservedly. Calara finally straddled John, and rode him to the finish with a sensuous rocking motion of her hips, while staring rapturously into his eyes. The other four girls sat nearby as couples, hugging each other affectionately while they watched the Latina spellbound. When Calara eventually dismounted him, she graciously offered to share, but the other girls declined, and let her savour carrying his cum in her womb.

She fell asleep in his arms shortly afterwards, a lovely contented smile on her gorgeous face, as he gently stroked her swollen coffee-coloured belly. The other girls fell asleep one after the other, until it was only John and Alyssa left, staring into each other's eyes over Calara's dark brown tresses.

*Thank you...* they both thought to each other at the same time, then stopped to let the other continue.

A sparkling smile lit up Alyssa's face, and she said, *You go first.*

*For everything.* John said, glancing around him. *You brought all these wonderful girls together, and transformed my life.*

She leaned down and placed a loving kiss on Calara's head, while she stared into his eyes. *I was going to say much the same thing,* she told him sincerely.

They held hands, interlacing their fingers, and smiled at each other as they closed their eyes and drifted off to sleep.

***

It was late in the morning when they all finally woke up. John stretched lazily and glanced over at the ship's chronometer and saw that it was well past ten. The girls began to wake moments later, and they sat up and stretched, smiling at him happily as they did so.

"Let's go and have some brunch," John said cheerfully, and nodding eagerly, they all headed into the shower.

Everyone was well rested and recovered after such a lengthy sleep the previous night, and they had a long, unhurried shower together, which was very tactile and enjoyed by all. They dressed in their own rooms afterwards, and then reconvened in the Officer's Lounge to prepare a meal for themselves.

It was cramped in the relatively small kitchen with all six of them in there, so there were some brief glances amongst the girls as they spoke with one another telepathically. Calara took charge of proceedings, and began to put her assistant chefs to work, while Alyssa shooed John and Dana out of the door.

He chuckled as the redhead followed him out of the kitchen, and over to the sofas, where they sat down next to each other. "I take it this means you want to talk to me about something?" he asked her with a smile.

"Actually, no, not really," she replied, with a bemused expression on her face. When she saw the concerned look he gave her, she giggled and turned to face him, swinging a lithe leg over his lap. "I didn't mean it like that, silly!"

John looked relieved and placed his hands on her hips. She was wearing a crop-top and low-cut trousers, and he savoured the feel of her deliciously smooth skin, as he ran his fingers over her exposed flesh. She leaned down to kiss him playfully, and their lips brushed together briefly before she sat upright again. She suddenly looked thoughtful, and said, "Come to think of it, there is a new project I was going to ask you about."

Looking up at her, he smiled as he said, "You know you have my permission to work on anything you like. Go ahead and tell me about it though, I'm always fascinated to hear about any new tech you're working on."

She grinned at him gratefully and said, "Since one of your Phalanx armour suits got totally wrecked, I thought I might look at redesigning it. The current version is still based on the initial designs from the Steinbeck Armoury, upgraded with alien tech we've acquired of course, but fundamentally their original design. I'm sure I could improve it if I completely redesigned it from the ground up."

John pulled her down to him, so that she was leaning against his chest, and he reached up to run his fingers through her long auburn hair, before cradling her head protectively. "I'm sure of it too," he told her, his voice full of admiration as he marvelled at her staggering intellect.

Dana beamed a glorious smile at him, and leaned in to kiss him tenderly. He lost himself in her sky blue eyes for a while, watching the golden coronas expand, her pupils dilating as she became more aroused.

"If we keep this up, we'll have to put off brunch," Dana panted, as she writhed against him.

John smiled back at her, and said sincerely, "That might not be a bad idea. I need to thank you for taking charge when Alyssa and I were out of action. You stepping in there undoubtedly saved all of us."

She blushed, and then hugged him tightly. "I was so scared," she admitted as she lay her head against his chest, and he could feel her trembling against him as she remembered the frantic dash through the caverns. "I was terrified I'd make the wrong decision and get us all killed."

He encircled her in his arms, and said to her proudly, "You were very brave, kept your head, and lead us out of there safely. I get scared too sometimes, but part of being a leader is fighting through that, to make sure you're thinking with a clear head when you make decisions."

"I'm glad I'm not in charge all the time," she said, shuddering at the thought. Dana sat up, and looked at him with newfound respect in her eyes, as she added, "I don't know how you can cope with that constant burden of responsibility."

He smiled at her, and cupped her beautiful face in his hand as he said, "It's easy. I just focus on keeping all of you safe, and then act from there."

She sighed as she leaned into his hand, and then said softly, "You're always so lovely with me. It actually made it even more of a shock when you turned into Progenitor-John. The worst part of you turning into him though, was when you didn't recognise me. That was just awful."

"I'm sorry about that," he said, her look of sadness making him feel horribly guilty.

Dana smiled at him and said, "It wasn't your fault. Besides, even though Progenitor-John is kind of a dick, he did save us all from that enormous Fulmanax creature. I guess I can't be too mad at him."

John laughed and hugged the upbeat redhead, and she grinned at him happily. The door to the kitchen opened a moment later, and the delicious aromas that wafted over to them enticingly, announced that brunch was ready. John got up from the sofa, with Dana wrapped around his waist, and she giggled as he strolled over to the dining table, supporting her effortlessly in his arms. She dropped to her feet with the lithe agility of a cat, and the two of them darted curious looks at the food the other girls had brought out.

"I love French toast!" John exclaimed with delight. "Whose idea was that?"

Rachel smiled at him and said, "Our cook used to make it for us on lazy Sunday mornings. It's one of my favourites too. Calara was the one who made it."

"Thanks girls!" John said gratefully, and picked up a plate so he could start serving himself. He poured on liberal amounts of maple syrup, and speared a piece with a fork, before putting it in his mouth. "Oh God, cinnamon too!" he groaned ecstatically.

Calara looked overjoyed at the reception her food was getting, and she watched him savour each mouthful, with a radiant smile on her beautiful face. She got up and poured a cup of coffee for him, and then brought it around to put beside his plate. John grabbed her exuberantly, sat her across his lap, and gave her an enthusiastic kiss. The other girls laughed at his playfulness, while the Latina grinned at him happily. He held her on his lap for the rest of the meal, and he chuckled when she took the fork from him, and took turns between popping dainty bite size pieces in her own mouth, and then feeding big pieces to him.

"Best. Meal. Ever," he said emphatically when he was done, hugging Calara gratefully. "Thank you, that was wonderful."

She smiled at him adoringly and said, "I love taking care of you. I'm just glad you enjoyed it."

*Perfect wife material?* Alyssa teased him playfully.

John grinned and shot her a meaningful glance as he replied, *Of course! You all are. I hadn't forgotten by the way, it's just been difficult to find the right moment.*

She nodded as she stared into his eyes, and thought back to him, *I understand, things are pretty hectic for us right now. Don't feel pressured though, I was just having fun.*

He smiled at her, but further conversation was interrupted by Rachel who asked, "When are we going to arrive at Irillith's homeworld? I can't wait to see Maliri society!"

Calara thought back to the flight path they had resumed following again yesterday, and turned to Rachel and said, "We should arrive tomorrow, at around eight in the morning, our time."

The tawny haired girl looked excited as she said, "I can't wait to see the Maliri! Being the first Terrans to experience their culture is going to be amazing!"

John hesitated a moment before he said apologetically, "I'm not sure that's such a great idea."

"What do you mean?" she asked him curiously.

He frowned as he said, "Our little side mission for Irillith has proven how right Ceraden was with his warnings. I can see how eager you are to see the Maliri, but I think it makes sense to have you girls stay on the Invictus. I don't want to expose you to any unnecessary danger." Alyssa opened her mouth to object strenuously, but he cut off her protest by adding, "I'll take Alyssa with me as backup, but I want the rest of you on the ship. Besides, you'll need to keep your eyes open, and protect the Invictus from any kind of tampering or intrusion."

The other girls looked a bit glum, but they nodded their understanding nonetheless.

Trying to lighten the mood again, he said, "Well, we have another free day, so what are your plans everyone?"

Jade grinned at him and said, "Shapeshifting practice."

Dana said eagerly, "First I'll repair Alyssa's armour, then I'm going to start looking into designing a new version of the Phalanx armour!"

This started excited chatter amongst the others, with Calara volunteering to help as a model. "I'm not quite at the prototyping stage yet," Dana said with a broad grin. "We were a good team with the Tactical Station upgrade though, so I'd love the help!"

Alyssa looked thoughtful and said, "I was going to do some telekinesis practice, but now I want to help with the armour aesthetics!"

John laughed as he said, "Because looking good in armour is obviously way more important than harnessing your psychic powers."

The beautiful blonde girl nodded eagerly, deliberately ignoring his sarcasm. "Exactly! Where's the fun in being a lethal killing machine, if you can't do it with a sense of style?"

The girls all laughed, and John rolled his eyes, chuckling in amusement. He then turned to look at Rachel and asked, "And what do you have planned?"

"Nothing quite so glamorous," she said with a rueful smile. "Autopsies. The Kintark and Drakkar corpses keep making me jump when I'm in the Med-Bay alone, so I might as well get those out the way."

"I'll help if you want," he offered. "Not that I've got any pressing desire to see the insides of either of them, but it'll be a lot easier for me to haul the bodies around, than for you."

Rachel grinned at him gratefully and said, "That would be amazing, thanks!"

Everyone was eager to get started with their plans, so they quickly cleared away the dining table, and then strolled away briskly to get started. When they stepped out of the grav-tube on Deck Seven, Jade waved them goodbye as she continued descending in the red glow down to the Cargo Bay.

John hit the button to open the door into Medical, and said politely, "After you, Doctor."

"My thanks, Commodore," Rachel said with a smile, and glided into the large medical facility.

John joined her a minute later, as Alyssa, Calara, and Dana all insisted on getting a kiss goodbye. She smiled at him indulgently as he strolled over to join her, and studied him curiously for a while, seemingly in two minds about asking him something.

He smiled when he saw the indecision on her face and said, "You know me well enough by now to know I'm not going to be offended by anything you say. What's on your mind?"

She blushed a little and then said, "I was just going to ask you; doesn't it get exhausting constantly being the centre of so much female attention? I'm just curious from an anthropological viewpoint."

John laughed loudly at that and said, "Have you looked in the mirror? What man would get tired of five incredibly beautiful women lavishing attention on him?"

Rachel smiled at him affectionately for the compliment, but insisted, "Yes, we're all gorgeous, but I think I know you better than that. What's the non-boorish answer?"

He smiled at her and replied seriously, "You're all lovely, bright, intriguing young women. I genuinely enjoy spending time with each of you, and it feels like I get to know you all a little bit more every day. I've been with Alyssa longest, as you well know, and even though we're incredibly close, sharing a telepathic bond, she still manages to surprise me."

"What do you mean?" she asked him, looking fascinated as she leaned against a hospital bed.

He realised Rachel was in the mood to talk, so he sat down in one of the visiting chairs, and beckoned her over to him. She smiled coyly and then sat gracefully across his lap, so he could hold her in his arms.

"There, that's better," he said with a smile, moving his right hand to rest on her firm, warm thigh.

She smiled and said, "You're incorrigible."

"Absolutely," he said with a mischievous grin, which sent her into fits of giggles. "But now I have you here where I want you, I probably should answer your question."

"If it's not too much trouble," she replied archly.

He shook his head playfully, and then said, "There's been a few things recently actually. You know I have some kind of mind-shield that stops people reading my thoughts? Normally Alyssa can hear everything I'm thinking about, but I'm able to shut her out of my mind when I don't want her listening in. I had thought I was doing that subtly, and that she wasn't aware of it, but she told me the other day that she knew about it every time. She just never mentioned it because she trusted that I was doing it for her own benefit. The depth of her trust in me was surprising, and I loved her all the more for it."

Rachel had been listening attentively, and she nodded her understanding. "What else were you thinking of?" she asked him curiously.

He grinned as he looked at her coyly, and said, "Her growing relationship with Calara. That came as a bit of a surprise too."

"Do you feel any jealousy towards either of them?" Rachel asked him, studying his face intently.

John shook his head and replied, "It would be ridiculously hypocritical if I did, although, you can't always react rationally to an emotional situation. But the honest answer is no, I actually think it's wonderful to see how close they've become." He then added teasingly, "Just like I've been enjoying watching the budding relationship between my Doctor, and Chief Engineer."

She blushed furiously at that, and looked down as though unwilling to meet his eyes.

"What's the matter?" he asked her, surprised at her reaction. "You're normally so sexually confident. I thought you'd been in a relationship with another girl before?"

"I have, and don't get me wrong, Dana is absolutely wonderful!" she replied enthusiastically. She then added guiltily, "But this feels like I'm cheating on you."

He pulled her in for a hug, and said to her reassuringly, "Please don't feel that way. I don't think of it like that at all."

She looked up at him for a while, looking a little sad, and said, "Is that because you don't feel as strongly about me as the others? I know you've been in a relationship with them longer."

John laughed and shook his head, and then moved his right hand up to stroke her slim stomach. "We've talked about having children before, haven't we?" he asked her gently.

She nodded and her beautiful face immediately took on a doe-eyed expression, and she sighed longingly as he stroked her. "Yes, we have," she said wistfully.

"And you don't want to have children with anyone else, do you?" he asked her pointedly.

Rachel shook her head fiercely and said, "I'm yours, forever!"

He smiled at her and said, "And your reaction is why I don't feel any jealousy. I just want all of you to enjoy life and be happy, especially if we're spending an eternity together. If building up a relationship with each other makes you happy, then go for it! I love all of you, and if you love each other too, then that's perfectly alright with me."

"You love me?" she asked him softly.

"I love you," he replied sincerely, with a broad smile on his face.

She gasped with delight, and said, "That's the first time you've said it to me! I love you too!"

He grinned at her, and leaned over for a kiss, which she enthusiastically returned. They spent a long while like that, with John wrapping her up protectively in his arms as they explored each other's lips. When they finally broke apart she grinned up at him ecstatically.

"Good talk?" he asked her playfully.

"The best!" Rachel said with a delighted laugh, and then sighed contentedly as she settled down in his arms. She rested her head on his chest, and smiled blissfully as she listened to his strong heartbeat.

"There's one last thing I wanted to say," John murmured as he cuddled her.

She looked up at him inquisitively and asked, "What was that?"

"Thank you," he said, his voice throbbing with gratitude. "You saved Alyssa's life today. You stabilised her, kept her safe, and operated on her when we got back to the ship. I don't know what I'd do without her, and I owe you a huge debt of thanks."

Rachel laughed softly, as she leaned against him, a broad smile spreading on her face.

"What's funny?" John asked, smiling at her curiously, surprised by her unexpected reaction.

She sat up and returned his smile, her grey eyes bright and vibrant, as she replied, "You're very welcome, and of course I wasn't laughing at what you said, that was very sweet. It's just that when you saved me from the Kintark, you told me that if I joined you, I'd end up saving you from one scrape or another, and you'd be the one thanking me. I didn't expect it to happen so fast!"

He laughed heartily, and she grinned at him as he hugged her tightly. They sat like that for a while, with her wrapped in his arms, enjoying both the physical closeness and that of their growing relationship.

He eventually looked down at her ruefully, and said, "I hate to bring it up, but we did come down here for a reason."

Rachel laughed and smoothly dismounted from his lap. "Who should we start with?" she asked him, as she glanced at the Kintark and Drakkar corpses.

He shrugged and replied, "Lady's choice."

"Let's start with the Kintark," she said, pointing at the Lizardman dropship pilot that John had dispatched with a snap of the neck.

He walked with her over to the cryo-tube, and waited while she deactivated the seals.

***

Once the autopsies were complete, Rachel took blood samples from the Kintark and the two Drakkar warriors, and prepared discs so that they could be viewed in the DNA analyser. She didn't bother to display the results there, and instead entered the commands that would transfer the results to her console in the Engineering Bay.

"Come on, let's go take a look!" she said to him eagerly.

John glanced back at the corpses in the Medical Bay and asked her, "Have you finished with them?

She nodded, and said, "Yes, I've learned all I can. I'll do a presentation to the others later, and let them know what we've found."

"OK, I'll dispose of the bodies, and then meet up with you in a few minutes," he offered.

She smiled at him and replied, "It's alright, I'm not in any rush. I'll get the doors for you."

Rachel had sealed up the corpses in large black body bags once the autopsies were completed, and John hauled them out of the Medical Bay, before dragging them over to the grav-tube. They floated them down in the red glowing side of the tube, and he stacked the bodies in the airlock, before sealing it up and blasting them into space.

They strolled into the Engineering Bay a few minutes later, and looked around for their friends. Alyssa was sitting on Dana's workbench, sketching out designs on a large digital sketchpad, while Calara and Dana were poring over one of the consoles on the Chief Engineer's Podium, chattering excitedly about features to add to the armour. Rachel walked up the illuminated steps to her console, while John strolled over to take a look at Alyssa's designs.

"How are the new designs coming along?" he asked her curiously.

"They aren't finished yet!" the blonde girl protested, hugging the sketchpad to her chest, and preventing him from seeing her work so far.

He smiled at her, and said, "Not even a little peak?"

She shook her head stubbornly, and shooed him away. "Leave me in peace, or I'll design your armour to look like a pair of assless chaps!" she threatened him impishly.

John backed away with his hands in the air, and she giggled as he feigned a panicked expression. He turned and walked over to rejoin Rachel, who was busy preparing the DNA analyser results for display. She hit a red button on the adjacent console, and the empty half of the workshop suddenly dimmed as the lights went out. A few seconds later, bright helical structures arced across the fifty-foot width of the room, illuminating it with a riot of colours.

This was the first time that the others had seen Dana's modification to the lighting in action, and they watched spellbound as Rachel pressed a couple of buttons, causing the DNA helix to scroll across the room. She descended the steps and walked over to stand before the three long strands, staring up at them as vast amounts of data flew before her eyes.

John followed after her, and stood at her side. "Does that actually mean something to you?" he asked her in wonder. It just looked like a blur of bright colours to him, and he was astounded she could make anything out of it.

"Oh yes!" she said enthusiastically. "DNA forms the building blocks that make up who we are, and there are certain patterns to the way it's formed. I can tell you straight away, that neither the Kintark nor the Drakkar are psychic. Or at least, both have double helical DNA, which hasn't been modified in the same way as yours, Jade's or Alyssa's."

"But it has been modified?" he asked her, picking up on her phrasing.

She smiled at him and nodded. "Yes, but crudely. At least compared to the sophistication shown in the techniques used by the Progenitors. I'll need a genetic sample from another of those big lizards to confirm this hypothesis, but I suspect that the Kintark have been experimenting with genetic modification of their species."

John rubbed his chin thoughtfully and said, "That would explain why the Kintark merchants I met years ago were so much smaller than the warriors. Do you think this is a recent change for their species?"

Rachel shook her head, and said, "Relatively recently, but the modifications to these strands look like they've still been through at least a dozen generations. Based on what we've seen of the Kintark; with the warriors, this pilot, and the Royal Guard, it looks like they designed different sub-species, that are well suited for different roles."

John looked up at the other two DNA molecules that flashed past them, and asked, "So what about the Drakkar?"

Rachel smiled and said animatedly, "Now they're an entirely different story. They've been massively genetically modified, but this isn't some recent change. Judging by the structure of their DNA, it looks like they were 'constructed' as a species, but this happened millennia ago. When you compare the DNA strands from the two different Drakkar warriors, you can see thousands of tiny mutations, which would have only occurred over countless generations."

He narrowed his eyes, and said, "Millennia? You think the Progenitors were involved?"

She frowned as she looked at the helical structures and said, "The modifications are very crude, and show a blunt expediency, which are nothing like the subtle manipulations in your own triple helical DNA. If the Progenitors did make the Drakkar, they probably did it as an emergency fix for a manpower problem."

John pondered this for a while, and stood quietly next to Rachel as she continued to study the DNA strands. He eventually turned and said to Dana, "While you're looking into armour anyway, you might want to take a look at the armoured flight-suit we took from the Kintark. It looked like an unusual design to me, so we saved it for you. It's in the Med-Bay at the moment."

The redhead looked up from her work and grinned at him eagerly, then bounded down the illuminated steps to the Engineering Podium, before darting out the door.

***

A couple of hours later, they gathered together in the briefing room, so that Rachel could brief the crew on her findings. Jade had been in the Cargo Bay and had missed out on what she had discovered from the DNA strands, so Rachel gave her a brief recap before moving on to the autopsy results. John had found the autopsies grisly, but interesting nonetheless, and he found it remarkable how much information Rachel was able to discern from the alien anatomy at a glance.

She stood before them now, with the holographic display remote in-hand as she brought up the first image. "We examined the Kintark first, and it was fascinating to find out more about them," she began animatedly as she pointed to the scanned image of the Lizardman pilot. "The Kintark are from a highly adaptable reptilian species, and just like Terran reptiles, they are cold blooded."

John glanced towards Alyssa and said, "That surprised me, as they were giving off lots of heat when we fought them on Port Medea Space Station."

Alyssa nodded her agreement and said, "I remember them glowing brightly in the thermal imaging scope."

Rachel smiled at her and said, "Which is actually due to their armour. Dana, do you want to explain?"

"It keeps them toasty and warm," the redhead said succinctly. She laughed at Rachel's disapproving expression, and continued, "Okay, okay. The entire suit of armour is threaded with a variant of their heatsinks, that disperses heat evenly around them, warming up their body."

"And as they're cold-blooded," Rachel continued, "their muscle activity depends on chemical reactions which run quickly when it is hot and slowly when it is cold. The heat from the armour allows them to always move around rapidly."

"How do they compare to Terrans?" John asked her curiously.

She paused for a moment as she did a mental comparison. "This pilot is probably slightly weaker than an average Terran male, but is tougher and has faster reflexes," she estimated for him.

Calara looked thoughtful and said, "Which are the exact qualities needed for a pilot."

Rachel nodded and said, "Yes exactly. From what I've seen of the warriors, Royal Guard and this pilot, they look to have been adapted to emphasise different physical characteristics."

"Any weak points?" Alyssa asked speculatively.

Rachel shook her head and said, "Nothing glaring, like the Fulmanax. They have tough, leathery hides, which would offer some element of protection against knives and stabbing weapons. It's not tough enough to stop a bullet though. One other thing I noticed, is that there is very little scar tissue on this pilot, and from my preliminary analysis, it looks like he had limited regenerative capabilities. Nothing like what you described with the Royal Guard, but it would allow much faster recovery time from injuries."

Calara looked pensive and said, "That can't be helping the Terrans in the Dragon March conflict. If the other side recovers their injured in even half the time, that's a massive boost to potential manpower."

Her audience absorbed this interesting titbit attentively, and then gazed over at the holographic display above the desk, as Rachel changed the image to that of a Drakkar Raider. Dana shivered at the sight of the hideous looking putrid green alien, with its four arms, bulbous eyes, and sharply fanged mouth set in the middle of its hammer shaped head.

"The autopsy for this specimen was quite enlightening," Rachel said enthusiastically, not sharing the same disquiet as the others, who had actually fought these creatures.

"You mentioned you thought they were genetically modified from looking at the DNA," John supplied helpfully.

"Yes, that's right," she agreed. "And genetically modified for war, based on this autopsy. The Drakkar body has dispersed and duplicated organs, that would allow them to keep fighting, even after sustaining injuries that would kill or at least cripple a Terran."

Alyssa grimaced as she said, "I remember shooting big holes in these fuckers, and they kept on coming. At least we know why now."

Rachel nodded and said, "They also have thick, blue, highly oxygenated blood. It helps give them more endurance, with oxygen carried around the bloodstream very efficiently, and the blood coagulates quickly, clotting over wounds and preventing excessive blood loss. All-in-all, they're very highly specialised for combat."

John frowned and asked, "Any vulnerabilities?"

Rachel looked thoughtful and said, "Decapitation will do it, but their heads and brains are quite spongy, and resilient against blunt force trauma. Their two hearts are located in the upper right, and lower left of their torso, so destroying both of those would kill them quickly as well."

Dana grimaced, and looked around at the group as she said, "Let's hope we don't run into those bastards again. We had far too close a call last time!" This was met with emphatic nods of agreement.

Rachel wasn't deterred however, and asked John, "Do you know anything about their civilisation?"

He rubbed his chin as he tried to recall everything he could remember about the vicious alien species. Finally he said, "They don't really have a civilisation as such. They consist of hundreds of Warbands that fight amongst each other, battling for supremacy. Every so often one of the groups will decide to raid Terran or Ashanath space, searching for outposts or ships to raid. They eat practically anything, and will devour any prisoners they capture."

Calara shivered as she remembered the sharp fangs of the one that had tried to eat her. Alyssa reached over and took her hand, squeezing it gently, and smiling at her comfortingly.

"Did you find out anything else?" Dana asked Rachel curiously.

The tawny haired doctor spread open her hands and said, "That's the lot I'm afraid."

"Well that was a hell of a lot more than we knew beforehand. Nice work," John said to her appreciatively.

Alyssa grinned and began a round of applause, which everyone joined in with. Rachel blushed, and looked a little embarrassed, but she grinned back at them happily.

Dana smiled at her and said, "You're so cute when you blush!" Which made the poor girl blush all the more.

John glanced at his watch, and said, "If you've finished tormenting her, maybe we should go and make some dinner, it's nearly six."

This suggestion was embraced with enthusiasm, as they had skipped lunch after eating a late breakfast. John roasted up some hickory smoked ribs, laden with barbecue sauce, and an hour later it was ready to serve. He smiled at them happily as they savoured the perfectly cooked meat.

"I swear, just your cooking alone would have convinced me to join the crew," Rachel said, as she licked the barbecue sauce off her fingertips.

Dana nodded eagerly and said, "I didn't even know food could taste this good. I don't think I could even stomach the shit I used to eat on Karron now."

Jade took a brief break from nibbling the meat off the ribs to say light heartedly, "I've lived for thousands of years, and it doesn't get much better than this!"

"Well, you better get used to it, because I love cooking for you," John said with a smile.

Calara shared a knowing glance with him, having shared that same pleasure of preparing and serving a meal that was met with a glowing reception.

"We haven't restocked since we got the Invictus," Alyssa said cautiously, as she brandished a thick cut potato wedge in the air. "How are we doing for supplies?"

John shrugged, not looking particularly worried. "The galley on Deck Four has loads of supplies, but that food is more nutritional than especially tasty. We've gone through a lot more of the food and spice stocks up here, but there's only six of us, so we aren't eating the cupboards bare yet. We can restock the next time we're at Olympus."

Jade grinned at him excitedly, and said, "Or when we visit the Maliri! If you can come up with the same dishes we had at Natralis, I'll love you forever!"

John smiled at her and said playfully, "I'll ask Irillith's mother to throw that in to seal whatever deal we make on the lasers."

"I'd so make it worth your while!" she said, her emerald cat-like eyes sparkling mischievously.

They finished off the rest of the meal chatting happily, but there was an air of anticipation, as they couldn't help but think about the fast approaching meeting with the Maliri. They cleared away the table after dinner, then relaxed together on the sofas for a while, sipping drinks, and staring at the stars.

Maliri space was thick with nebulae, and the normally velvety blackness was a riot of purples, greens and reds. One of the more striking ones was made up of spiralling blue threads surrounded by a bright crimson shroud, and it stretched away from them for a huge distance, linking several systems. Dana flicked out the lights, and they sat there quietly, cuddled up together as they marvelled at the wondrous beauty that the Universe had spread before them.