"When we were back on Irillith's homeworld, you mentioned that you wanted to catch up with Ceraden. I've got through to him," Rachel said to John, as they all sat up on the Bridge. "He's coming through on a secure channel."

They were only an hour away from Geniya Space Station, and John had been about to ask the tawny haired girl to reach out to his old Maliri friend. Impressed with her initiative, John smiled at her and said, "Thank you. Put him through."

Ceraden's handsome blue-skinned face filled the holographic view screen, and he looked relieved when he set eyes on them. "John! My old friend, you really are a sight for sore eyes!" he exclaimed enthusiastically.

John smiled at the Maliri trader and replied, "I was getting worried about you, Ceraden. When we left Geniya just over a week ago, I tried to reach out to you for some advice. I saw your message about being called away on business..."

Ceraden's expression darkened as he said, "It appears I was the victim of a cruel practical joke. I received an update from an automated mining facility in my possession, that has proven quite lucrative over the years. It reported catastrophic damage to the ore storage section, courtesy of a meteor strike. I assembled a repair and maintenance team at no small expense, and mounted an immediate expedition to salvage my property. You can imagine my surprise when it turned out there was nothing wrong, and everything was working perfectly."

John and Alyssa exchanged knowing glances. *Irillith?* she asked him with certainty.

*Sounds just like her M.O.* John replied. *She must have wanted Ceraden out the way, just in case we reached out to him about the Fulmanax.*

John turned to look at Ceraden once more, and said apologetically, "I'm sorry Ceraden, I think that was our fault."

Ceraden frowned and asked jovially, "My friend, how could my recent woes have anything to do with you?"

"Irillith," John replied grimly. "When we couldn't get in contact with you, I was worried she'd done something to you."

The Maliri trader's dark blue eyes narrowed with anger as he swore vehemently, "That fucking bitch! You're right, she must have faked the message. How she got her claws into my private stakeholdings I don't know. I'm going to have to have stern words with my digital security team." He then looked puzzled and asked, "But why? We don't get on, but I operate a trade license for House Valaden. Sending me off on a fool's errand for a week will have hit her House's profits."

John sighed and said ruefully, "She asked us to help her on a little side mission before we could meet with Edraele Valaden. She duped us into going to Quanthos and a run-in with the Fulmanax."

Ceraden's eyes widened with alarm as he exclaimed, "I tried to warn you my friend! You can't trust anything those scheming hellions say!" He then calmed a little when he glanced around the Bridge and saw all of the girls looking fit and well. "I'm relieved to see you seem to have escaped the encounter unscathed. The Fulmanax are extremely dangerous, I'm surprised that you got away so lightly. They've been a vicious hazard of that planet for centuries."

"Not any more," John said regretfully. "We escorted Irillith deep into the nest, and she set off some kind of incendiary device that triggered a volcanic eruption. The mountain range blew, and the Fulmanax were incinerated."

Ceraden looked shocked, and he sat there, stunned into silence for a long moment. He looked up and studied John's drawn expression, before he said gently, "Don't lose any sleep over the Fulmanax, my friend. They were an aggressive, hostile species, which suddenly announced their presence on the planet, by brutally slaughtering a Maliri colony several centuries ago. Thousands were lost, and the Fulmanax spared no one. Women, children, all butchered."

The girls turned to look at John, and he could see their expressions brightening as they glanced at Alyssa, having a telepathic chat with her.

*I don't feel quite so bad now,* the blonde girl thought to him, sounding relieved.

John nodded to her, then said to Ceraden gratefully, "Thank you for that, it's good to know. We actually have Irillith aboard the Invictus if you wanted to have a little chat with her about the mining facility diversion she sent you on."

Ceraden's eyes glinted, and he looked sorely tempted. He sighed with frustration though, and said, "I appreciate the offer, but she's entirely beyond my reach. House Valaden holds enormous power, and as tempting as it would be to have some kind of revenge, my life would be forfeit afterwards."

John nodded understandingly and said, "No problem. Let me know if you change your mind."

The Maliri merchant smiled at him, and said, "Now, enough of this kind of talk. I see from your call signal you are nearly back at Geniya. I do hope you are planning to drop by, and bring me up to speed on your recent adventures?"

John smiled back and said, "Yes, I was planning to come and have a drink if you're not too busy. We're heading to the Trankaran Republic next, so I'm still interested in electronic goods if you can set up a meeting with your friend, Meruan. We also enjoyed the food we had in Natralis so much, the girls have been asking me to resupply the ship with Maliri cuisine."

Ceraden chuckled and said exuberantly, "Do not worry about a thing, my friend! I will speak to Meruan and invite him to join us. You'll find him a most agreeable fellow, and a pleasure to trade with. I'll also arrange to have you provisioned out of my own pocket. Consider it an apology for the females of my species."

John grinned at the cheerful merchant, and said, "You don't have to do that Ceraden, thanks for the offer though."

"Nonsense, I won't hear another word of objection!" Ceraden smiled. "There is a condition to this offer however..."

John frowned and asked, "Condition? What might that be?"

Ceraden grinned at him and said, "You must bring your delightful companions for a drink! You've met the women of my species... You don't know what a rare treasure it is, to experience pleasant female company!"

The girls laughed and looked pleased at the compliment from the extravert Maliri trader.

"We'll be docking shortly, so we can head over to see you after that," John said with a light hearted laugh.

Ceraden smiled back at them, and gave them a jaunty wave before closing the comm channel.

"I do like him," Alyssa said affectionately, with a warm smile on her face.

Calara laughed and said, "I think you're just into guys with pointy ears!"

Alyssa giggled and glanced at John before nodding enthusiastically.

Dana looked up at them and grinned as she said, "I'm with Alyssa, Ceraden is really hot!"

Rachel smiled as she looked up at him and said playfully, "If I wasn't already taken, I'd seriously consider moving to Geniya Space Station."

Jade tilted her head to one side as though giving the matter some serious thought. "He seems quite pleasant, but I prefer John's muscular physique. I think I'd find all other men quite inadequate after being taken by such a powerful man," she said, gazing up at John adoringly.

John laughed, and said gratefully, "Thanks, Jade. At least one of my girls still likes me."

They all laughed at that, and over the gentle ribbing and joking he asked loudly, "We need someone to guard the ship. Any volunteers?"

The girls all glanced around at each other as they communicated telepathically, with Rachel nodding her agreement to the consensus. Jade grinned and then rose from her chair, and sashayed up the ramp to the grav-tube, while the others watched her in amusement. John turned his chair, following her luscious form as she darted flirtatious looks his way.

When she finally paused, and held out her hand for him, she said, "I'm volunteering to stay and look after the ship. My condition was that you 'power me up' first."

John grinned at her as he stood, and said, "I think we can arrange that. I feel like letting off some steam first though, so I hope you're ready to see what your powerful man can do."

The Nymph's emerald eyes flashed with excitement, and she grinned eagerly as she beckoned him to join her with her index finger.

***

Irillith had been following the conversation on the Bridge, and she had bristled with anger when they had spoken about her so derisively. Ceraden had stepped out of line one too many times, and she bitterly regretted not sending assassins after him when she sent him on the mining facility diversion. Still, now that they were nearing Geniya Space Station, she could set up a permanent end to the irritating male.

She packed away her belongings in her case, and equipped herself in her full armour, before picking up her laser rifle. She glanced at the data feeds from the cameras in the Commander's Quarters, and watched John roughly fucking the Nymph, mounting her from behind as she knelt before him. Pulling her head back with her hair in his clenched fist, he rode her hard with long, powerful thrusts of his hips, and the green-skinned girl moaned her way through several orgasms. Irillith was disturbed to find herself getting very aroused at the sight, even though she would never dream of allowing a man to demean her in such a way. She couldn't deny the look of sheer ecstasy on Jade's face as he took her so forcefully, and she felt a sudden surge of envy.

Realising she still had enough time, Irillith quickly stripped out of her armour, and then climbed onto her bed, her eyes glued to the video images. She stroked her clit in time to the thrusting the Nymph was receiving, and it didn't take her long to join Jade in an explosive orgasm as she watched with wild eyes. Panting for breath afterwards, she flushed a little with embarrassment at how wet her fingers had become, and she darted into the shower to get cleaned up.

***

John drifted down in the grav-tube, accompanied by the girls. They were all wearing business wear, except for Jade, who had borrowed one of his white shirts which tented over her heavily swollen belly. Slow, soothing pulses of light strobed around the walls of the grav-tube, as ethereal verdant bands travelled down her lithe green legs. She wore a contented, well satisfied smile on her beautiful cute face, and she held his hand tightly in her own. They stepped out into the corridor on Deck Nine, and the girls strolled over to the airlock, leaving John to say goodbye.

"Thanks for staying to guard the ship," he said to Jade gratefully.

She looked up at him rapturously and replied, "Thanks for reminding me how lucky I am."

John smiled at her, and gathered her in his arms, giving her a tender kiss goodbye. They eventually parted, and he strolled down the corridor to join the others. They all turned and waved Jade farewell, then stepped through the airlock out into the Geniya Space Station docking bay. He was surprised when the clean, crisp air in the docking bay actually felt a tiny bit dry, after getting used to Dana's upgrade to the fantastic air quality on the Invictus.

"Wait for me!" came the frantic call from Irillith, as she suddenly emerged from the grav-tube.

She jogged down the corridor towards them looking flustered, and she hurriedly pulled her golden helmet onto her head. Irillith gave Jade a wide berth as the Nymph turned back towards the grav-tube, rubbing her rounded stomach, and purring to herself contentedly.

John waited for Irillith to step through the airlock before closing it behind her. He turned to look at her and said firmly, "This is only going to be a brief stop at Geniya, a few hours at maximum."

She nodded and replied haughtily, "Don't worry, I have no intention of delaying our mission for one minute longer than I have to."

The Maliri woman strode off purposefully, leaving them behind, and John rolled his eyes as he smiled at the girls. They grinned back at him, then as a group, they set off together into the Space Station to meet up with Ceraden.

***

Jade stepped barefoot out onto the Command Deck, and then strolled dreamily down to the Pilot's Station, humming happily to herself. John had been so dominant and energetic with her earlier, and her body still tingled as she remembered his wonderful touch. She sat back in her chair, and rolling back the sleeves of his shirt that she had borrowed, she pressed a few buttons on the console. A broad panel of images appeared before her, showing footage from all the outer hull cameras around the Invictus, which gave her a sweeping view of every possible approach to their ship.

She sat back in her chair, tucking her legs up so that she sat cross legged, and she began her careful vigil of their home. The Nymph felt honoured that she would be so trusted by John and the girls, and she was determined that she wouldn't let them down. Still, she couldn't help but let a hand drift down to stroke her rounded abdomen, and she felt a thrill of elation knowing that she was packed full of so much of John's cum. Pulses of light made their languid way down her arms and legs, and Jade grinned as she remembered Rachel's wonderful revelations. The thought that her Master was nurturing her, and making her grow strong, made her feel deliriously happy.

Whilst keeping a wary eye out for the slightest sign of movement in the external cameras, she opened up a Holonet browser and began to search for more shapes to practice with. She had exhausted what she could find of old Terran animals, with one or two exceptions that were still outside her capabilities. Between quick glances at the security display, she typed in a search for "big animals", and flicked idly through several pages of images. Most Terran colonies had cloned or imported traditional Terran fauna, and there weren't that many examples of indigenous creatures to be found. At least not on the scale she was looking for.

She typed in a new search criteria, changing it to "large creatures" instead, hoping that might pick up something more exotic. After idly flicking past the images of elephants, giraffes and whales, she saw a picture that made her sit up with excitement. She hurriedly typed in a new set of search criteria, and began to grin eagerly. Oh yes, this was exactly what she was looking for. Way outside her capabilities at the moment, but if she was a good girl for her Master, and fed whenever she could, maybe someday...

***

Irillith walked back to the Terran ship distractedly, as she fretted over her recent instructions from her mother. To make the call to her homeworld, she had deliberately avoided Ceraden's offices, and gone straight to one of the House Valaden patrol cruisers that was currently in drydock. Edraele had been delighted at her news, and had listened attentively to tales of incredibly fast hyper-warp drives, extreme range sensors, highly advanced heatsinks, and psychokinetic laser-absorbing armour.

Irillith had been thrilled at the response she had received, and had eagerly launched into what she had discovered about the miraculous changes the girls had undergone when they joined John's crew. This bit of news had Edraele's eyes flashing with excitement, and just as Irillith was about to start describing the various other research they had completed on John and the other species, her mother had brought her up short.

"I want you to acquire schematics for all their technology as soon as you can," Edraele had demanded imperiously.

Irillith had carefully pointed out that if they simply waited until they returned to Valaden, they could eliminate John and his crew and take whatever they wanted at their leisure. Edraele had been adamant however, insisting that Irillith secure the technology immediately. When Irillith had tried to point out that doing so was very risky, and might well trigger very unpleasant consequences if she was discovered, Edraele's eyes had gleamed, flickering with amusement.

"Don't get caught then," she had offered unhelpfully, with a sly grin on her face.

Wisely, Irillith had remained silent, not wishing to provoke her mother's ire, especially after receiving such glowing praise for her actions so far. While she had avoided an ugly confrontation with Edraele, it now left her in a very awkward, and potentially dangerous position aboard the Invictus if she were to carry out her mother's orders.

Irillith walked into the docking bay, dragging her feet as she approached the ship, as though taking the long walk to the hangman's noose. John and four of his concubines strolled into the hangar moments after her, with the girls chattering away, giggling and joking like the air-headed sluts that they were. Irillith sneered with contempt, until she suddenly remembered that just like John, these seemingly vacant young women were cleverly hiding their true nature behind a carefully maintained deception. Irillith had seen them in action, and knew they were all lethally efficient killers, possessing talents and gifts that one would never suspect lurked behind their perky facade. Still, she groaned at the thought of having to put up with their insufferable cheerfulness for another few weeks.

John opened the airlock and once it had spiralled open, he waved them all through, including Irillith who moved with leaden footsteps. He closed the door after him and they walked down the corridor to the grav-tube.

When the Maliri woman removed her helmet, Rachel turned to smile warmly at her and said, "With you travelling aboard our ship, I thought it might be a good idea if you come to the Medical Bay, and let me give you a complete physical. I'm afraid I don't know anything about your species' physiology, so if you get hurt, I wouldn't know how to treat you."

Irillith curled her lip in distaste and snapped at her incredulously, "You think I'd let you practice your backwards 'medicine' on me? Are you completely out of your mind?"

Rachel looked hurt and said, "I was just trying to look out for you, there's no need to be ru-."

"Leave me be!" Irillith snarled, and stormed ahead of them and into the grav-tube.

She stepped out onto Deck Four, and marched angrily down the corridor to her quarters. She had activated the unlocking mechanism on the golden star-shaped security device, and was just about to enter her quarters when the sound of footsteps in the corridor behind her made her freeze.

"You owe Rachel an apology," John said to her heatedly. "She was just carrying out her role as Medical Officer. As you're a passenger aboard the Invictus, she's responsible for your care."

Irillith whirled to face him, having had just about enough of being ordered around for one day. "It's bad enough I have to put up with you, and your disgusting harem of whores!" she snarled at him furiously. "I refuse to let any of them paw at me. We'll be done with this damnable mission in three weeks time. Just stay out of my way, and keep your sluts out of my face!"

John was surprised at such a vitriolic reaction, but he recovered quickly, and his eyes narrowed dangerously as he said in a cold voice, "Be careful Irillith. You can rage at me all you like, but I won't tolerate you taking it out on the girls."

Irillith desperately wanted to take him up on his invitation, and swear at him profusely, but something held her back. Whether it was his foreboding tone, or piercing stare, she wasn't sure, but she nodded imperceptibly, and then turned and walked defiantly into her room, her head held high.

***

John walked away angrily, before he was tempted to do something he might regret.

*Come up to your room,* Alyssa told him soothingly.

He didn't reply, and stepped into the blue glow of the grav-tube, then floated up the two decks to where his quarters were located. He strode down the corridor, then into his room, and found all the girls waiting for him there.

"Thanks for standing up for me," Rachel said, walking over to him and raising herself up on tiptoe to plant a tender kiss on his cheek.

He smiled at her, and replied firmly, "No one talks to my girls like that."

They all looked at him appreciatively, and Alyssa said invitingly, "Come to bed. We'll help you unwind."

John laughed, and nodded as he said, "Sounds like a great idea to me!" which was met with amused giggles from the girls.

Dana walked over to stand beside Rachel and said tentatively, "We've both got research to show you. Why don't you let Calara and Alyssa look after you? While you're busy, we'll put together a presentation, and show you what we've been working on."

John grinned at her and said, "Alright, but on two conditions. One; I want a kiss before you go. Two; The three of us need to have a nice, intimate threesome sometime."

Rachel and Dana flashed smouldering glances at one another, then stepped close to him, pressing their firm breasts into his chest. They both kissed him on the cheek as they looked up at him, two sets of beautiful eyes promising him the time of his life.

"I can't think of anything I'd like more," Rachel told him breathily.

"We'll be very good girls for you," Dana agreed, staring up at him wide-eyed.

John reached up to gently hold the backs of each of their heads in his hands. He leaned down to kiss Rachel passionately, and when he left her breathless, he moved on to Dana who moaned with arousal. He finally released them, and he smiled when he saw how turned on they both were.

"We'll join you soon," he promised them, and they smiled at him happily, before leaving the room hand-in-hand.

Jade sauntered over to say goodbye too. "I'm still reeling from our earlier session, so it would be greedy to take more of your time," she said appreciatively. "Alyssa kept me updated on the deal with Meruan, and his men brought the cargo you purchased to the ship an hour ago. It's been safely secured in the cargo bay. If you're ready to leave Geniya Space Station, I'll take off with the Invictus and start us off on Alyssa's flightpath."

When he nodded, she kissed him reverently, then sashayed from the room, still wearing one of his shirts over her slender figure. He watched her leave, and smiled when he heard her humming contentedly to herself.

Alyssa's voice drifted over to him with a disapproving tone as she said, "I hope we won't be joining Dana and Rachel too soon..."

John laughed, and turned his attention back to the bed, where Calara and Alyssa were now nude, and looking up at him with coy smiles on their faces. "No, I think we can take our time," he said approvingly as he admired their stunning athletic figures.

He quickly removed his clothes, and climbed onto the bed as the blonde and brunette repositioned themselves, kneeling side by side as they looked up at him. "Who do you want first?" Calara asked him curiously, with an eager smile on her lips.

He smiled back at her, and the girls grinned at him enthusiastically. Alyssa moved one of the pillows from the top of the bed and lay back against it, spreading her bronzed legs for him. "Come and lie back against me," she told him alluringly.

John had an inquisitive look on his face as he moved to follow her request, and soon he was resting against her, with her large pert bust pressed into his back. She had brought her legs up to flank him, and wrapped her arms around his waist to grasp his big firm cock.

"Now, just let us take care of you," she crooned in his ear.

Calara crawled over to join them, moving lithely with her limber legs to straddle his thighs, positioning herself over his throbbing cock. She rested her hands on his chest and then slowly sank down on him, and he groaned with delight as he felt her tight young body gripping him snugly. Alyssa removed her hand so that her lover could take all of him inside her pussy, and Calara gently rotated her hips, taking his broad shaft up to the balls.

She leaned forward, and after pressing her taut breasts against his chest, she rested her slim tummy against his stomach. Completely surrounded by nubile female flesh, John could only grin with delight, and reached down to cup the Latina's pert little bottom cheeks in his hands.

"That feels so much better," he said appreciatively, revelling in the feeling of being buried so deeply in the gorgeous Latina.

Calara smiled at him happily, and gently brushed his lips with hers, whilst staring into his eyes. Alyssa kissed his neck and cheek, while she watched her lovers kissing passionately from inches away.

The blonde girl grinned and said, "We've got to raise our game if you're going to be having threesomes with Dana and Rachel now too."

The Latina nodded seriously and said, "Don't worry, we'll make sure we keep it fun and varied for you."

Alyssa grinned and said, "That's right. We wouldn't want you to get bored of fucking two girls at the same time."

John laughed at their banter, and shook his head incredulously at his marvellous luck. He lay back against Alyssa who was busy massaging his shoulders and kissing his neck and cheek, while Calara began to gyrate sensually in his lap. The brunette leaned in to kiss him passionately, and she moaned into his mouth as they all moved together.

"She's so beautiful, isn't she?" Alyssa whispered in his ear as she watched them kissing. "You can see why I can't keep my hands off her."

Calara leaned back and smiled coyly at the blonde, then began to rock smoothly on top of John. She stroked his cock with the incredibly tight grip of her strong internal muscles, and he groaned with pleasure as he watched her ride him.

"Yes, she's gorgeous," he agreed wholeheartedly. "And such a lovely girl as well, I can see why you fell for her."

Calara's eyes softened and she gazed at them both with a look of adoration, as they watched her beautiful face. "I love you two so much," she said earnestly.

John pulled her down to rest against his chest, and the three of them shared a kiss. When Alyssa drew back from Calara's flushed lips she said to her gently, "Why don't you ride him to the finish? Then I'll make you cum as I eat you out."

Smiling at Calara, John asked her, "What do you think? Like that idea?"

The Latina grinned at him, nodding eagerly as she replied, "You just relax, and let me take care of you."

John sighed as the blonde and brunette kissed him lovingly, whispering adoring words as they focused on making him cum. Under their intense and focused attention, he wasn't able to hold out for long, and soon he came long and hard inside the brunette as she gasped with every powerful spurt. When he was done, they carefully uncoupled themselves and Calara lay by his side, smiling up at him contentedly as he tenderly stroked her tummy, her cum-inflated womb making an impressively large sphere. She cried out as she climaxed a few minutes later, Alyssa staring up at them as she went to work on her lover.

They cuddled together afterwards, and John encircled them both protectively in his arms as they rested against him. Alyssa and Calara were lying on their sides, their heads resting on his shoulders, and a lithe leg thrown over each of his possessively. He could feel the smooth skin of their rounded tummies as they pressed up against him, and he smiled down at them with a broad smile on his face as they returned his happy look.

"Feel better?" Alyssa asked him playfully.

John chuckled and said, "Mission accomplished. I feel amazing."

Calara smiled at him with satisfaction and said, "You and me both."

They rested together for a little while, and it reminded them of old times, when it was just the three of them. Alyssa gathered Calara's hand in her own, and placed it over his chest directly over his heart, in the gesture she had used long ago. They shared a loving look and enjoyed the simple intimacy of the moment.

***

Irillith had stripped out of her armour as soon as she had got in her room, and sat there brooding for a while. John was such an enigma, and he was driving her crazy. She had seen the darkness that lurked inside him, which was the most terrifying thing she had ever witnessed. Then he insisted on behaving like this whiter than white hero. While his act grated on her nerves, she had to admit that she liked his attention, and it was wonderfully refreshing to be around a man who wasn't afraid of her.

Finally there was the way he was around the other women on the ship. She found herself getting increasingly jealous of the girls, even though she loathed them and sneered at the way they doted on him. She had seen the way he dominated them in the bedroom, and although the idea of giving up control to a man made her skin crawl, she couldn't deny the joyful abandon with which they climaxed as he took them.

All in all, she had never felt so conflicted, and she collapsed on the bed, holding her head in her hands. Now, to top it all off, her mother was demanding that she infiltrate their technology repository. She had no idea where it was kept, but if she had to guess, that redhead probably kept it close to hand. That meant the Engineering Bay, as Dana practically lived in there, at least when she wasn't fornicating with John.

She sighed, resigning herself to her mission, and then sat up, reaching for the vambrace from her armour. If they did keep the secure server in there, then she needed to do some searching, and see if she could locate it.

As she was pressing the buttons to access the camera feed from the Engineering Bay, she suddenly remembered that she had intended to order Ceraden's assassination. With everything happening recently, and Edraele's surprising commands, Irillith had been so distracted she had completely forgotten. She cursed colourfully, and stabbed at the buttons on the vambrace with an angry finger, closing the camera feed. She lay back on her bed instead, and began to scheme, planning how she could eliminate the troublesome merchant.

***

John, Alyssa, and Calara joined the other girls who were gathered in the Engineering Bay. Rachel had already brought up a couple of triple-helix DNA strands in readiness for her presentation, and she waved at the three of them as they entered Dana's Workshop.

"Great timing!" she told them. "I'm just about done, and Dana is finishing setting up in the Firing Range. Have you got any preference on who you want to start with?"

John smiled at her, and said cheerfully, "Why don't you go first?"

Alyssa tilted her head, grinned, and said, "Dana will be here in a moment, so go ahead."

Rachel smiled at them, nodding agreeably, and glided down the illuminated steps of the Chief Engineer's podium. She walked over to stand before the DNA molecules that hung suspended in the air, arcing fifty feet across the Engineering Bay. Dana darted in through the door, and jogged over to join them with an enthusiastic grin on her face.

After smiling at the redhead affectionately, Rachel turned her attention back to the triple helix DNA structures, behind her. "I'm sure you remember my previous presentation on the Maliri after we studied Ceraden's DNA? He had lots of dormant genes on that third strand, and I suspected that things might be different for female Maliri."

Her audience nodded as they remembered her describing her theory, and John waved for her to continue.

"Well this second triple helix DNA is from Irillith, and you can see that there are subtle but significant changes there," she continued in her clear, well educated voice. With the two sets of DNA mapped against one another like this, they could see what looked like brighter colours in certain sections of the DNA strand.

"I compared her DNA with ours, and I believe I've identified the markers that indicate physical enhancements. Although modern day Maliri men and women are about the same physical builds and size, this is an artificial modification of their base DNA template, which is very similar to that found in Terrans. Do you remember I mentioned the Progenitors' standard DNA template for bipedal mammalian species? Maliri females were supposed to be physically smaller and weaker than their male counterparts, but they have been greatly and permanently enhanced by the Progenitor tampering," Rachel explained carefully.

Calara looked intrigued and asked, "Does that mean that Irillith is as strong and agile as us?"

Rachel shook her head and said, "No, definitely not. Maliri females are 'naturally' more physically capable than normal Terran women, but we certainly don't fit that description any more." She glanced over at John and gave him a grateful smile.

"How about her psychic abilities?" Alyssa asked curiously.

At this, Rachel nodded animatedly and replied, "Oh yes, Irillith is definitely psychic. I ran her DNA against yours, mine and Jade's in a comparison, and there are a number of genetic similarities between yours and Irillith's, which I'm certain are to do with psychic potential. There is one significant difference though. Your DNA has been very carefully and meticulously manipulated to enable this psychic potential. Irillith's is not like that, and looks to be more the case of a genetic anomaly or mutation than by deliberate design."

John looked thoughtful and said, "But what does that mean with regard to Edraele? We know she's psychic, and I just assumed that she developed a range of powers as she's a Matriarch, just as Alyssa seems to have done."

Rachel paused at his observation, and said tentatively, "I have a theory about this, but the only way to verify it is if you can bring me a sample of Edraele's DNA."

John grinned at her and said encouragingly, "Come on, let's hear it. Your working theories are so astute, I'm willing to take your guesses as gospel."

The tawny haired girl blushed at his praise, smiling at him proudly. She took a big breath, and began animatedly, "Alright, my theory is this: I believe that the Maliri weren't intended to have psychic powers. I think this 'Eldritch Bloodline' is probably some kind of unexpected genetic mutation from the original Maliri Matriarch, who served the Progenitor that enslaved them thousands of years ago.

All Maliri have triple helix DNA, but the third strand was set up to make the women physically more powerful, and breed large amounts of female soldiers for the Progenitor's armies, hence the dramatically skewed birth ratio. I've spent days studying Irillith's DNA, and comparing it to all of ours. I suspect that the changes the Progenitors made to the Maliri's third strand, was to make them more susceptible to psychic domination, not to empower them with psychic abilities.

Additionally, there are a number of behaviour modifications in their DNA, which are patterned in a similar fashion to those I found in Jade's genetic makeup. This is more wild speculation, but I suspect that they are predisposed to be drawn to Progenitors, finding them very attractive, and making them more obedient and compliant for domination."

There was a hushed silence as her audience absorbed this latest bit of news, until John said with a wry smile, "Irillith certainly doesn't strike me as obedient and compliant."

Rachel laughed and said with a shrug, "Well it's just a working theory. It's possible that by inheriting this 'Eldritch Bloodline', Irillith has been made immune to the standard behaviour modification. There's a number of variables which I can only verify with access to more DNA samples. If you can acquire a normal Maliri woman's DNA for me to test, from someone who isn't a relative of Edraele's, I'll be able to confirm the behaviour modification. If you can get me a sample from Edraele herself, I'll be able to verify that any psychic ability is from a genetic mutation."

John nodded and replied seriously, "I'll make sure I ask her nicely when we meet up again."

The girls giggled, and Rachel smiled at him cheekily as she said, "That would be lovely, thanks!"

She turned off the holo-projection of the DNA strands, letting them know that her presentation had finished. John opened his arms for her, and she strode over to him, eagerly accepting his embrace.

"That was fascinating," he said sincerely. "Thanks for all the time you put into that research. It told us a great deal."

Rachel grinned at him happily, delighted that he had enjoyed hearing about her work.

Dana walked over to join them and sounded impressed as she said, "I'm just amazed you managed to get through that presentation without making any mistakes. Some of those phrases are a real mouthful."

Rachel smirked and glanced at John as she said, "I've had a lot of practice with big things in my mouth recently."

They all laughed at that, with John's baritone chuckles echoing loudly around the room. When the laughter eventually died down, Dana looked up at him and said eagerly, "Do you want to see what I've been working on now?"

He nodded at her, and the redhead bounded over to the door, saying jubilantly, "Follow me! To the firing range!"

John and the girls followed after Dana as she skipped down the corridor, and led them into the Firing Range, which was also located on Deck Seven. They filed in after her, and she stood by the nearby table, eager anticipation written over her face. There were a number of objects on the table, but they were currently concealed by a black cloth of some kind, making curious long shapes in the fabric.

When she was satisfied that they were all in the room, she grinned at them eagerly, and said, "May I present the new and improved Punisher Railgun!" With a flourish, she pulled back the cloth and revealed the weapon concealed beneath.

There was a collective round of gasps, and John stared at the ferocious looking weapon in amazement. It was slightly longer than the old XR75 rifles, and was coloured white like their armour. The railgun was of a bullpup design like the old rifles as well, retaining the second magazine slot in front of the trigger guard. The scope had gone now, and the barrel was broader, with a gaping muzzle that looked to be twice the calibre of their old weapon. Underneath the main barrel was a second, even broader, muzzle.

The redhead smiled at John when she saw his eagerness and said indulgently, "Go ahead, get a feel for it."

He stepped forward and picked up the rifle, hefting it in his hands, and a small light on the grip flashed green. Although the weapon appeared bigger, blockier and far more menacing than the previous version, he was surprised that it actually seemed lighter than the old weapon.

"How did you reduce the weight so much?" he asked her in surprise.

Dana grinned at him excitedly and said, "By swapping materials. The old XR75 railguns were made of Titanium. The new ones are made from double-shaped, reinforced Maliri and Etherite Crystal, which is much lighter and hugely stronger. The fully loaded weight is about the same though, as the new ammo is heavier."

"New ammo?" John asked curiously. "I noticed the weapon calibre seems to have increased."

Dana scooped up a couple of magazines from the table and handed the first one to him. "20mm crystal-tipped rounds; double the calibre of the old railgun. The new barrels are so strong that they can cope with much heavier slugs being propelled at greater velocities. This mag has a fifty round capacity like the old ones."

John slotted the heavier magazine into place, and noted the extra weight, but still found it easily manageable. "What happened to the sabot clips?" he asked her curiously. "I see there's still the second magazine slot, but now there's a second underslung barrel."

With a shrug Dana replied, "I built the last railguns to be able to use standard Terran Federation 10mm caseless ammunition. We didn't really seem to need the ammo flexibility from the other railguns, so with Alyssa's help on the crystal-tips I churned out ten thousand custom rounds for the new guns. The sabot casings are built into the new slugs, so there was no need for a second ammo slot."

He grinned at her and said with a raised eyebrow, "And yet, here it is anyway."

She laughed and handed him the second magazine. "Looks like mister impatient wants all his presents at once. That's an integrated 25mm grenade launcher, and the magazine for that bad boy has a ten round capacity."

Taking the second magazine, John carefully inserted it into the second magazine slot in front of the trigger guard. He hefted the weapon, bringing it up to his shoulder and aiming down the firing range.

"This feels great!" he exclaimed eagerly. "No extra weight compared to the old rifle, and it feels good in my hands."

She nodded at him, smiling confidently as she said, "I worked closely with Alyssa to make sure it was well balanced and light enough for us girls to use, and she was happy with the final version."

John glanced at the top of the Punisher railgun and noted, "No scope though?"

Dana shook her head as she replied, "I've smartlinked the rifles, so you'll see the targeting reticle in the helmet GUI of your armour. If you aren't wearing your helmet, you can use this instead."

She handed him a set of wrap around glasses, which looked to be made from the clear crystal that she had enhanced. When she saw him looking at them curiously, she nodded and said with a grin, "Yeah, clear crystal for the glasses. No chance of breaking them if you sit on them by accident."

He chuckled and put the glasses on, immediately noting a similar GUI to the one built into the Phalanx body armour. He aimed down the range, and as he moved the barrel around experimentally, the targeting reticle moved accordingly. He noticed that at the end of the firing range, half concealed behind a thick armour plate, an unwitting target dummy stood there waiting patiently. On the far wall, behind the dummy, layer after layer of heavy armour plating had been installed.

Smiling at her curiously, he asked, "What's up with all the armour plating?"

She gave him a wicked grin and said teasingly, "I felt fairly confident you'd like to try firing it, so I got the bots to help me take some precautions. What do you think, would you like a go?"

John nodded enthusiastically and said, "Definitely! Probably best to leave the grenade launcher though, right?"

Dana looked tempted for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah I don't want to waste time rebuilding the range afterwards. Stick to the standard railgun for the moment, but make sure you don't miss, okay?"

"Alright, I'll do my best," he joked. "I'm guessing that with all the armour plating down the range, this beast packs a punch?"

The redhead gave him a wicked grin, and gestured with her right hand for him to proceed. John smiled at her and raised the weapon to his shoulder aiming for a headshot on the target dummy.

"Go for a chest wound," Dana suggested, and when he glanced her way, he saw that she was wearing a pair of wrap around glasses too. She tapped them and said, "Tuned in to your railgun, so I can see what you're aiming at."

He nodded, impressed and aimed down the range again. This time he aimed at where the chest of the target dummy would be, hiding behind the armour plate.

"VrmPkaow!" the railgun barked as he pulled the trigger.

The 20mm slug blasted a huge hole through the armour plating, then smashed into the target dummy that was cowering behind it. The dummy went flying backwards, slammed into the layers of armour plates behind it, and then crashed to the floor in a shower of polycarbonate chunks.

"Fuck me!" John exclaimed, looking down at the rifle in awe. "The stopping power on this monster is incredible!"

Dana grinned at him and said, "You like?"

He laughed and nodded, saying admiringly, "I can't believe how much more powerful it is!" He then looked thoughtful, and added, "You might want to put a sound suppressor on it though, it's a lot noisier than the first railguns."

Dana smirked and said, "It already has one. Trust me, you don't want to fire this weapon without it. Come on, I'll show you why you want to be VERY careful when you shoot this inside a spaceship."

John flicked the safety on the railgun, unloaded, and put it down on the table, then followed after the redhead and the rest of the girls as they strolled down the firing range. When he caught up with them, he could see the shocked looks on the girls' faces as they alternated between staring at the target dummy, and the ruined armour plating behind it.

The 20mm slug had ripped a huge hole through the first set of inch-thick titanium plating, before going on to hit the target dummy. He had hit the dummy dead centre in the torso, and the round had blasted a dinner plate sized hole through the unfortunate target's chest. Finally the round had slammed into the armour plating beyond, and left a two-inch deep crater in the titanium, the impact leaving cracked circles spiralling outwards from the impact site.

John gaped at the damage inflicted by the single round, and said in awe, "That's insane! How did you get it to hit so hard?"

Dana smiled at him proudly, and said, "The new crystal-forged rails built into the barrel are about ten times more resilient than Titanium. That means we can finally unleash the full power of the Ashanath power core I built into the stock, and the boost to Lorentz force makes the rounds hit about five times harder than before. The awesome heatsinks we swiped from the Kintark let the weapon quickly vent out the excess heat that builds up, and even allows you to fire up to twenty rounds on full-auto. When you use full-auto, the safeties will make you wait about five seconds to let the heat dissipate before you can fire again."

John looked amazed, and he picked her up in his arms and gave her an affectionate hug. "Spectacular work, Dana, thank you!" he exclaimed, and gave her a big kiss.

She swooned in his arms, kissing him back passionately, and she had a big dopey grin on her face when he finally let her go. "It was worth all the hard work just for that kiss!" she said gleefully.

John and the others laughed, and the redhead smiled, then beckoned them back to the other end of the firing range. "I've got something else to show you. I want to earn another kiss just like that!" she said exuberantly.

They followed after her, and when they were all safely out of the range, she walked over to the weapon racks at the back of the room. She hit a button which opened up the shuttering, and as the metal panels drew back, they could see several more of the Punisher railguns sitting in the racks. Dana ignored them however, and stepped over to the section of the racks that held a wide variety of pistols.

She picked up a broad muzzled heavy pistol that was approximately fifteen inches long. It looked huge and menacing in her hand, and she grinned as she handed it over to him.

"This is the heavy pistol variant. It fires the same 20mm saboted ammo as the rifle, but doesn't pack quite the same punch. Sorry about the length of the barrel, I couldn't make the rails any smaller," she explained as she passed him a magazine. "The mags hold eighteen rounds."

John carefully bounced the pistol in his hand, nodding appreciatively at the light weight. Even when he slotted in the mag, it didn't feel much heavier than the regular heavy pistols he had in the weapon locker up in his room. He remembered the surprising selection of finely crafted handguns she had built back on Karron, despite the crude nature of her custom built workshop. Now she finally had access to tools that let her truly harness her abilities, he marvelled at the superb quality of the pistol in his hand, truly the work of a master gunsmith. He walked back to the firing range, and holding the pistol in his right hand, he aimed down the lane.

"Oh, wait a sec, let me get you a couple of fresh target dummies," Dana said, and hit a couple of buttons on the wall mounted panel beside her. Two more dummies were raised into position, hiding behind the armour plating.

John sighted down the lane, steadied, and fired off a single round. It punched through the armour plating and slammed into the target dummy, blasting a huge hole in its chest. When he stepped to the side a little so that he could look around the armour plate, he saw only a small impact site where the round had finally hit the plating against the back wall. Still, the devastation wrought on the target dummy was impressive, and he grinned excitedly as he glanced over at Dana.

"The pistols can fire on a three round burst setting as well. Do you want to give that a try?" she asked him eagerly.

He nodded, feeling the same sense of excitement, and aimed at the second target dummy. Pulling the trigger the pistol barked loudly, and the rounds ripped through the first armour plate before literally cutting the target dummy in half. It fell to the floor in two separate pieces, with polycarbonate fragments scattered like confetti behind it.

"Oh yeah," he said in a low voice, a broad smile appearing on his face.

Alyssa laughed and exclaimed, "I almost feel sorry for anyone who tries to fuck with us when we're carrying these."

John walked over to the table, unloaded, flicked the safety on the Punisher heavy pistol, and put it down carefully. He walked over to Dana, who was watching him eagerly, holding her breath with anticipation. Sweeping her off her feet, he dipped her backwards, and proceeded to kiss her soundly, as she moaned with excitement while their lips moved together. When he finally let her back up again, she looked quite flushed and fanned herself with her hand.

"Phew!" she gasped breathlessly. "I've never been kissed like that before!"

John grinned at her, and the girls laughed at the delighted expression on Dana's face. She giggled, giddy as a schoolgirl, and smiled at them all joyfully.

"How many of them did you make?" Calara asked the blushing young woman curiously.

"Ten each of the Punisher rifles and pistols," Dana replied helpfully. "I've stocked up the weapon lockers around the ship."

John looked thoughtful and said, "We should probably keep the old variants as well, just in case we need silenced weapons. They might come in useful."

Dana smiled, and shook her head as she said, "I thought the same thing at first, but then I had a brainwave. I created a low power mode, which is toggled with a thumb selector switch. Low power mode cuts the power down to a fifth, and makes the Punisher railgun behave like the old XR 75 versions: silenced, with much lower armour penetration. That means you won't have to risk stray shots punching through a ship's hull, and you can take out unarmoured targets silently."

He walked over to the Punisher railgun he had put down earlier, and picked it up off the table to take a look at the low power selector switch. As he lifted up the rifle, the small light on the grip flashed green again. "I spotted that light earlier. What is it?" John asked her curiously.

The redhead winked at him and said, "DNA reader built into the grip. It can scan through armoured gauntlets."

John shook his head, as he marvelled at her ingenuity. "Thanks again for the amazing presentations you two," he said to Rachel and Dana gratefully.

The other girls all nodded their agreement, and the brunette and redhead glowed with the praise.

"Now I don't know about you, but I'm famished!" John said exuberantly. "let's go and get some dinner."

They laughed at his loudly grumbling stomach and headed up to the Officers' Lounge.

***

The next several days passed by quickly, as the Invictus made steady progress into Terran Federation territory on their course towards the Core Worlds. John focused on training with Yamamoto, who was unamused at not having seen him for practice in over a week. John had pre-warned the taciturn man that he would be unavailable, but that seemed to have done little to assuage his bad mood. Their duels were long and arduous now, as John's skill with a blade had vastly improved from his initial tentative steps on Oceanus. Yamamoto still got the better of him every time however, but John was determined to beat the man someday and find out what had caused him to have such a sour disposition.

Dana threw herself into materials research, determined to find a way to introduce Onyxium to the reinforced crystal compound. She was suspicious of their unfriendly Maliri guest however, and kept a viewscreen permanently active on her console, so she could monitor Irillith's activities. The blue-skinned woman seemed content to stay in her quarters, and when she wasn't sleeping, she cleaned her gear, practiced some strange Maliri calisthenics, or made periodic visits to the ship's Galley for her meals. The motion tracking sensors and cameras in the corridors verified her movements, so Dana felt assured she wasn't up to anything.

Rachel kept the redhead company in the Engineering Bay, as she devoted her own time to further researching the genetic code in the DNA sequence samples she had acquired. With all the intensive study recently, she felt confident that she was beginning to gain a much greater understanding of the more subtle genetic modifications the Progenitors had made. She marvelled at the radically advanced knowledge they must have had on DNA manipulation, and it saddened her to think of such marvellous understanding of the building blocks of life, being abused for such evil purposes.

Jade still had plenty more shapeshifting practice to do, as she experimented with changing into some of the more bizarre creatures mother nature had to offer. Although two ton animals were her limit at the moment, she was finding it easier to adopt those forms.

Calara decided to begin her investigation into the dozens of high profile kidnappings that had plagued Rachel's home planet, New Eden. Information on the murder of Rachel's mother was scarce, but there were several other kidnappings that had ended in the murder of the victims, when the families couldn't or wouldn't pay the ransom demanded.

That left Alyssa, who practiced juggling storage crates in the Cargo Bay, to try and develop more control over her telekinetic ability. Moving objects that weren't laced with Etherite crystals was surprisingly tricky, so she focused on improving her precision with their telekinetic manipulation, rather than just attempting to lift heavier and heavier objects.

Irillith steered well clear of them all, just staying on Deck Four, and searching with the video cameras in the Engineering Bay. She was desperately looking to see if she could pick up any clues as to the exact whereabouts of the technical schematics server, and she was certain that the redhead had placed it somewhere in her Workshop. With Dana and Rachel in the Engineering Bay almost all the time, getting an opportunity to hack her way in was going to be problematic.

It was with some amusement that she saw the redhead watching the looped feed of activity that Irillith had set up. She smirked as the gullible Terran was duped by the VI system embedded in the fake video feed. It carefully manipulated the images, and made the illusory replication of Irillith perform a series of varied actions so as not to draw suspicion.

Safe in the knowledge that she could continue her surveillance undetected, Irillith continued to study Dana and Rachel's activity in the Engineering Bay. She watched closely for any potential lapses in security, when she might be able to seize an opportunity to sneak in, and plunder their prized archive of schematics.

***

The entire crew were up on the Bridge when they arrived in the Procyon system, and even Irillith had joined them on the Command Deck, as she was curious to see what this important detour was all about. The star in the centre of the system map shone brightly with a fierce white glow, clearly illuminating the single habitable planet in its orbit.

New Eden was a spectacular gem of a world, with a fresh, clean atmosphere, and a habitat that was perfect for Terrans. As a Gaia-classification planet, it was one of a tiny handful of highly sought after destinations for the rich and famous within the Terran Federation. As one of the wealthiest people in the Federation, it was to be expected that Henry Voss would have a residence here.

John glanced over at Rachel, and found her staring pensively at the holographic representation of New Eden. The beautiful green orb floated above them on the Bridge, looking serene and peaceful in the blackness of space that surrounded it. "When did you last visit?" he asked her gently.

Rachel looked up at him and said sadly, "Just over two years ago now, and I haven't spoken to my father in all that time. His estate is just outside Avalon, which is New Eden's capital city."

Calara stood from her Tactical Station and walked over to stand beside the tawny haired girl. "I've spent the last few days going through what happened with your mother," she said in a quiet voice, as she reached out and placed a comforting hand on Rachel's shoulder.

"Did you find any leads?" John asked, looking down at the Latina.

Calara nodded and looked up at him as she said, "I was only able to access news reports, and not the actual police files on the cases. The kidnappers seemed to be highly organised and extremely well informed. They hit the richest families, taking spouses or children, and then seemed to vanish with their victims. A day after each kidnapping, a ransom demand would be issued anonymously."

"Extremely well informed..." John said, his eyes narrowing. "You think they had informants?"

She nodded firmly and said, "Yes, that would be my best guess. I'd suggest investigating the following to look for the leak: Security contracting firms, to see if there might be a common link between private protection companies used by the families involved. Local traffic authorities, as they might have been forewarned about security entourages travelling along sky lanes. Finally, local law enforcement. A corrupt cop might have been tipping the kidnappers off about potential targets."

He looked thoughtful for a moment, and then said, "Let's start with the police. If we take a look at the police archives, we might be able to find some more clues."

"Bringing us in for a close geo-synchronous orbit near Avalon," Jade said over her shoulder, and they watched as the holographic representation of the planet grew larger on the system map.

John turned to look at Irillith, and said in a pleasant voice, "We could use your help, if you're as good with computers as your mother says you are."

Irillith frowned and said, "What are we doing here exactly? Has someone been kidnapped?"

He paused for a moment before answering, and said, "Rachel's mother was kidnapped and murdered ten years ago. We're investigating, and going to bring the kidnappers to justice."

The blue skinned Maliri woman looked incredulous, and she balked, "You're wasting our time with something that happened a decade ago?! What makes you think I'd lift a finger to help you?!"

John studied her for a moment before he replied, "We aren't leaving until this is resolved, so the sooner we wrap this up, the sooner we can be on our way. It's in your own interest to help us, if you want to leave quickly."

Irillith ground her teeth, and she bristled with anger as she said frostily, "Fine... I'll help."

He bowed his head to her courteously and said, "Thanks for your gracious offer of assistance."

He could feel Alyssa's amusement as she said, *You handled our guest very nicely there.*

John turned his chair back towards the rest of the girls and flashed a brief smile at Alyssa, before he said, "I want Alyssa, Calara and Rachel with me. Dana will stay with the Invictus, and Jade can fly us to the surface in the Raptor. Let's get geared up everyone."

The girls nodded obediently, and even Irillith caught herself doing the same, responding to the commanding tone in his voice. As John and his entourage walked over to the Briefing Room to get ready, she scowled and stalked off towards the grav-tube.

John strolled into the Briefing Room, and walked over to the armour equipping frame. He stepped into the plated boots, and slipped his hands into the gauntlets. Pressing the thumb button on the right gauntlet, the robotic arms swung down, swinging the armour plating into position, and slotting it into place over his chest and limbs. He pressed his left thumb to his palm, and the armour sealed together with a rippling series of metallic clicks, just as the Phalanx armour helmet was lowered into position on his head.

He looked through the clear faceplate in surprise, and saw that Dana had been working on a new helmet design. As he stepped clear of the equipping frame, he glanced back at the girls, and saw them grinning at him through their own versions of the new helmet. The helmets were white, like the rest of the armour, but now had a clear visor in a broad Y-shape.

Dana had followed them into the Briefing Room, and she beamed a sparkling smile at him before saying, "The full suit isn't ready yet, but I had to install the upgraded smartlink software into the helmets anyway, so I figured I'd just build the new ones."

"Ahem," Alyssa said, as though clearing her throat loudly.

The redhead laughed and corrected herself, saying, "Alright, Alyssa and I worked on the new designs, and then she shaped the crystal plating for me."

John laughed and said, "Nice job, both of you."

He then reached up and pulled off the helmet to take a look inside. Although the view through the visor was perfectly clear, he could see that there were actually two layers of crystal that made up the faceplate. The helmet felt lighter than before, and wasn't quite so bulky.

The redhead walked over to him and smiled when she saw what he was looking at. "Yeah, double plated like the old helmets. This new crystal compound is tough as old boots though, and even sturdier than the old armour," she said eagerly.

John grinned at her and put the helmet back on his head. "Nice idea. It's great to be able to see your faces, and visibility is much better now too," he said approvingly, glancing to either side, and finding his peripheral vision unobstructed.

Dana nodded and said, "Yeah, that was my thinking. The helmet GUI works the same way as before."

Alyssa and Calara had already retrieved their Punisher railguns, and were busy slotting in the magazines to the appropriate slots. They picked up some extra magazines, and a number of clips, slotting them into position on their combat webbing. John and Rachel followed their lead, and soon they were fully equipped and ready for action. He looked over at the three of them, standing in their glossy white armour with the gold, dark brown, and light brown lioness emblems on their respective shoulder pads. With their ferocious looking rifles at the ready, they looked very intimidating.

"How do we look?" Alyssa asked him curiously.

John grinned and said, "Like people not to be fucked with."

She smiled at that, then asked, "Why are we gearing up anyway? I thought we're just going to visit the police headquarters?"

He winked and said, "I have a feeling we'll make a significantly more dramatic impression on Avalon PD dressed like this."

"Clothes make the man," she agreed with a wry smile.

They strolled out of the Briefing Room, and Jade smiled at them as they walked past the Pilot's Station. "We're in orbit above Avalon," she said, rising from her chair.

He nodded to her, and the Nymph walked briskly ahead of them, heading towards the grav-tube. He paused, and turning to face Dana he said, "Take care up here. Let us know if you run into any kind of trouble."

"Likewise!" Dana said enthusiastically. She kissed her hand and then placed it on his face plate. "Try to stay out of trouble, you're down to your last suit of armour," she added with a wry smile.

He grinned to her and nodded, then turned to catch up with the others, jogging briskly as he headed to the grav-tube.

***

They were all down in the hangar bay when Irillith arrived, and she looked surprised that they had geared up so fast. She seemed like she was about to make some remark, then looked thoughtful, as though she were remembering something, and stayed silent instead. Jade had begun powering up the engines of the Raptor, so they all strode up the loading ramp, with John hitting the button to close it once they were all inside.

They led Irillith through the door at the back of the room, and stepped into the grav-tube, before floating up to the top deck. Jade had begun her takeoff procedure when they filed inside the cockpit, and they watched her neatly swing the gunship clear of the Invictus as they took their seats behind her.

Jade glanced over her shoulder at John and said, "Where to?"

"The Police Headquarters in Avalon. The capital is bound to have the biggest law enforcement facility," he said speculatively.

Calara nodded her agreement and said, "I checked, you're right. They have a large compound and central headquarters building in the North west quadrant of the city. It's quite distinctive; look for a modern thirty-storey tower block in black and silver. There are dozens of landing pads for anti-grav vehicles, on a platform on the south side. We should be able to land on one of those."

"On our way," Jade said with a smile, and cranked up the power to the engines, sending them racing towards the surface of the planet.

New Eden loomed large before them, the planet looking green and lush as it drew closer. Unlike the wilder nature of the Maliri worlds, this Terran world looked to be carefully maintained and cultivated, with humanity having stamped it's authority on the planet. Jade brought them in on a smooth descent towards the city, and they raced over huge, immaculately preserved estates on their final approach to Avalon.

A flashing light on the console let Jade know that they were being hailed, and she clicked a button that accepted the call. A stern faced young man appeared on the viewscreen, and he said brusquely, "This is Avalon flight control. Please identify yourself, and the nature of your business in the city."

John got up then walked over to stand by Jade's side, and in a tone that let the young man know that this wasn't up for discussion, he said, "This is Commodore John Blake, and I have business at the Police Headquarters. Let them know I'll be arriving in a five minutes."

The young flight controller looked surprised, and after a brief pause he said, "Right away Commodore! I'll alert them of your imminent arrival."

John nodded, and glanced at Jade, who reached over to end the call. She looked up at him and grinned, admiring his commanding presence. He winked at her, and then looked out over the planet, as they approached the city.

Turning back to look at Rachel, he asked her, "Did you grow up on New Eden?"

The tawny haired girl had been lost in her thoughts, and she looked up at him when he spoke. She nodded and said, "Yes, I spent most of my time here. We had several other houses on different planets, but I always thought of New Eden as home."

John walked over and sat on his haunches in front of her. "Having any second thoughts about this?" he asked considerately.

Rachel looked into his eyes and he saw a firm resolve there, as she replied, "No. I want to get justice for my mother. The people who did this to her have been able to get away with it for too long."

John nodded, and reached out to hold her hand before sitting beside her. As he did so, he spotted Irillith rolling her eyes, and he stared at her pointedly for a long moment, until she flushed with embarrassment and looked away.

Jade called out to them, "Coming up on the Police Headquarters," and they looked out of the cockpit canopy to get a glimpse of their destination.

Sure enough, the black and silver tower block appeared ahead of them, looming out of the steel forest of the city skyline. Jade raced towards it in the Raptor, darting between the skyscrapers that made up Avalon's city centre, with a breathtaking display of aerobatics. The landing platform jutted out mid-way up the law enforcement building, and numerous police cruisers coloured in the same black and silver as the building, were parked in neat rows on the landing pads. There were plenty of free spaces available on the platform, so she picked one of the pads close to the building, and brought them down to a gentle landing under her skilful and well practiced hands.

John stood and placed a hand on the Nymph's shoulder as he said, "You better stay with the gunship. We'll let you know if there's any trouble."

She glanced up at him with her shining emerald eyes and nodded, acknowledging his orders. He smiled at her, then walked out of the cockpit, and dropped down in the grav-tube as he followed after the others. They waited for him by the front loading ramp, and Alyssa hit the button to lower the ramp as he arrived. It dropped smoothly with the soft hum of hydraulics, and John strode out purposefully as soon as it touched the ground.

The girls fanned out to flank him, and the handful of police officers on the landing platform looked at them in surprise as they walked briskly towards the tall building ahead of them. John heard a few muttered comments from the startled police, and he was sure he heard "Lion" more than once. He smiled grimly as they drew closer to the Police Headquarters, and the door suddenly swung open as a flustered looking policewoman burst through the door.

"Commodore Blake!" she gasped when she looked up at them all in shock, having not expected to have them appear right in front of her.

John stopped and studied the woman appraisingly as he said, "Yes, I'm Commodore John Blake. Who might you be?"

The police officer blocking their path was an attractive raven haired woman in her early thirties, she got a hold of herself and said, "I'm Detective Karen Walsh, I just heard from Traffic Control that you were heading our way."

John nodded, and watched a couple of the police officers from the platform dart past them and run into the building. "My team and I are conducting an investigation. I'd appreciate the cooperation of the Avalon Police Department in helping me conclude it as quickly and efficiently as possible," he said in a no-nonsense manner.

Detective Walsh looked up at him wide eyed, and nodded as she said, "What can we do to help you?"

John smiled at her gratefully and said, "We'll need access to your data archives. We're investigating a murder that happened ten years ago."

The police officer nodded, and then opened the door behind her. "Follow me," she said eagerly, and walked inside.

It seemed like the police officers from the platform had spread the news of their arrival, and it appeared to have raced like wildfire through the building. As John and the girls strode through the corridors after Detective Walsh, they passed dozens of awestruck faces as the police officers came out of their offices to watch the celebrities in their midst.

She led them out into a large foyer area, with clear glass elevators on the other side of the wide room, that led up to the open plan offices above. They strode briskly across the foyer, as a hushed silence fell across the room. Their guide led them into an elevator, and it rose steadily, going up four levels before stopping with a soft chime. Police men and women lined the balconies of the different levels of the foyer, all wanting a glimpse of the Lion of the Federation and his lionesses, geared up for battle.

The elevator doors swung open and Detective Walsh led them across the open office area, to a glass walled server room on the far side. She swiped her detectives badge across the reader by the side of the door, and an automated voice said, "Welcome, Detective Walsh."

She gestured for them to enter, and John led the way, with the police woman and the rest of the girls following behind them. He turned towards the golden armoured Maliri who stood behind him, and said, "Over to you, Irillith."

Irillith walked towards the bank of huge servers, and deftly removed the data jacks from her right vambrace. She attached them to the corresponding ports on the server console, and then began to hit several buttons on her gleaming golden arm. There was a swirl of purple digital blocks and the AI construct began to assemble, forming the tiny sylph-like shape.

The AI Sprite opened its wide, trusting eyes, and blinked them a couple of times before it asked her, "Are you my creator?"

Irillith removed her helmet, and smiled warmly at the four-inch-tall electronic construct. Then she said gently, "That's right little one. Would you like to help me with an interesting problem?"

The diminutive AI pixie nodded eagerly and said, "I'd love to help you! What can I do to assist?"

Irillith said to it in a hushed voice, "We're trying to stop some bad men from hurting any more people. I'll give you instructions on what we're looking for."

She pressed a button, and when a holographic panel slid out, Irillith began to rapidly enter detailed search criteria for the inquisitive electronic creature. It stood on her forearm, it's head tilted to one side as if listening intently to her commands.

When she finished typing, it looked up at her with an earnest expression, and said, "You can count on me!" It then darted along the data jacks and dived into the console port, disappearing from sight.

Detective Walsh had been staring at the blue-skinned woman and her tiny purple companion in amazement, and when it leapt into the servers, she blurted out, "What was that thing?!"

Irillith looked at the woman with annoyance, and said dismissively, "A digital helper, pay it no mind."

The policewoman frowned at her tone, and John said, "Please accept my apologies for my rude companion. She's been having a stressful day." He then glanced disapprovingly at Irillith, who looked away haughtily.

They only had to wait for thirty seconds before a soft chime from Irillith's vambrace drew their attention back to her. She tapped in a few commands, and then unclipped a small device from her belt. Turning towards the glass wall behind them, and the dozens of staring police officers behind it, she stuck the device to the wall. With the press of a button, it began to project holographic panels, showing the relevant case files that the AI had located.

Detective Walsh looked up at the files, and when she had read the first couple of reports, she looked over at John in surprise. "You're investigating the New Eden Serpents?"

When he looked at her with a bemused expression, she smiled apologetically, and said, "Sorry, that's the nickname the media gave the kidnapping group. Because they were taking people away from the garden of New Eden... Yeah I know, pretty lame right?"

John shrugged and said, "What do you know of this group, The Serpents?"

The policewoman shook her head and said regretfully, "Not much I'm afraid. It was before my time on the force, and I was still in the Academy when they were active. The gang did a number of high profile kidnappings about ten years ago, with most of the wealthy victims returned safely. They made a lot of money in a very short time, but were never caught."

Calara had been carefully studying each of the police reports and she said off handedly, "The lead officer in all these cases was a Detective Cliff Buckley. Is he still working for the Avalon Police Department?"

Detective Walsh nodded, and said, "Yeah, Captain Buckley is in charge of the precinct now."

John was going to ask her for more details, when a stocky, red faced man in a suit came storming through the glass door to the server room. "What's going on here?! Stop what you're doing immediately!" he demanded in an outraged voice. "I never gave you permission to access our servers!"

Turning to face the man, John said calmly, "Permission? I'm a Commodore in the Terran Federation Navy. I outrank every civilian on this planet."

As the red faced man fumed impotently, Detective Walsh said, "Commodore Blake, this is Captain Buckley."

"Thank you Detective," John said, to her courteously. He then looked at the Captain and told him curtly, "We're just conducting an investigation. We'll be out of your hair shortly."

Captain Buckley glared at John, then narrowed his eyes as he looked past him at the reports Calara was sifting through. The Latina was speaking quietly to Irillith, who nodded, looking impressed, and began to rapidly type in new sets of instructions to her AI sprite.

The Captain's eyes widened slightly as he saw what reports they were examining, and he said, "Commodore Blake, we can discuss this like reasonable men, surely? Why don't you come up to my office and we can have a chat. Then you can continue your investigation afterwards."

John was about to reply, when Calara said sharply, "He's a corrupt cop. He was the informant for the kidnappers."

Buckley sounded outraged as he blustered, "How dare you! I've served the force loyally for seventeen years!"

Irillith entered a number of commands, and new holographic images began to flash in front of their eyes. Bank accounts registered to Cliff Buckley appeared, showing large transfers of funds ten years ago, with the relevant entries highlighted in damning red circles. Captain Buckley gaped at the images, his eyes wide in shock.

"There's more," Calara continued relentlessly. "He arranged the murders of two detectives ten years ago. They suspected he was involved with the kidnappings."

The Latina nodded to Irillith who opened the damning audio file, hacked from the telecom archive of his private phone records.

The recording of Captain Buckley's distinctive voice filled the room, and he snarled, "I want those fuckers dead! MacDermot and Higgins have started snooping around, and I've seen the looks they've been giving me. They know I'm involved!"

"Calm down," a stern voice replied. "Just let us know when they leave the station, and we'll take care of it."

Irillith clicked a button, and a news article suddenly appeared, with the title: "Avalon PD Detectives gunned down in apparently motiveless shooting!" The image accompanying the article showed the smoking ruin of a black and silver police squad car, riddled with dozens of bullet holes.

Captain Buckley stared at them in horror, and glanced behind him at the dozens of police officers who were staring at him appalled, their faces registering their shock. He glared at John in fury, and reached for his handgun, as he started backing from the room.

Alyssa was standing on the other side of the room, but with a dismissive wave of her hand, she slapped the pistol from the man's shaking grasp. She then turned her hand upwards, and he screamed as she lifted him off the floor.

John walked over to the Police Captain, and studied him for a long moment, seeing the fear in the other man's terrified eyes. "I'm entirely within my rights to execute you immediately," John told him coldly. "The only thing saving you from that, is if you tell me everything you know about the kidnapping gang, these 'New Eden Serpents'."

Captain Buckley stammered for a moment, but he began to talk rapidly when John began to reach for the Heavy pistol on his belt. "They're still active!" he gasped. "They used all the money they made years ago to buy a huge arsenal of surplus army hardware. Tanks, big guns, ships... They've been working as mercenaries!"

John frowned and asked, "Why? If they made that much money years ago, why didn't they just retire?"

Buckley shook his head frantically and replied, "I've got no fucking idea! They didn't tell me their plans, they just paid me money to tip them off about juicy targets."

"Where are they now?" John said in a voice quiet as the grave.

Buckley hesitated for just a moment, but one glance at John's bleak expression got him talking again. "Beta Draconis!" he yelped. "The merc group is called the 'Armoured Cobras'. They're legit now! They've got a base on the fourth planet in the system."

John nodded, recognising the name, and he said, "I've heard of them. Mostly do corporate work, but they've done some nasty jobs for the Federation too."

Alyssa walked up beside him, and asked, "What's the verdict on Captain Buckley?"

John glanced at Rachel and said, "He's an accessory to your mother's kidnap and murder. What do you want to do with him?"

She narrowed her eyes, and then glanced at the angry faces of the police officers outside the room. "He's a cop killer. Let them deal with him," she said firmly.

Alyssa waved her hand away dismissively, and Captain Buckley went tumbling backwards, then sprawled across the floor. John walked out of the server room without giving the man a second glance, and he passed the furious police officers as they began to walk slowly towards the prone man, their fists clenched in anger. The girls followed after him, apart from Rachel, who watched the red faced Captain scrabble backwards, looking up at his men fearfully. With a nod of satisfaction, she strode briskly after John to catch up.

Detective Walsh jogged to keep up with John, and she looked up at him in awe as he strode purposefully towards the elevators. "Where are you going now?" she asked him, sounding shocked to the core by the recent turn of events.

"Beta-Draconis," he replied calmly. "We've got a nest of snakes to eliminate."

***

An hour later, John and the girls had removed their combat gear, and were gathered around the long table in the briefing room, looking at the Beta-Draconis system map. The yellow star was enormous, massively larger than Terra's sun, and Dana had to adjust the scale of the map so that they weren't just staring at a huge yellow sphere. None of the planets in orbit looked particularly appealing, two of which were gas giants, while the third was a molten world, covered in vast oceans of magma. The fourth planet out was a relatively small and barren planetoid, called SerpentHold.

Dana frowned and said, "What's up with all these snake references? I can't believe they lucked out and got a planet with a name like that for their base."

Before anyone could answer, Irillith strode into the room, and she said, "They didn't. The mercenary group purchased that world and renamed it."

John smiled at the enthusiastic expression on her beautiful face, and said, "It sounds like you've been doing some digging."

She nodded, but hesitated a moment before she said, "I've discovered a wealth of information for you, but I have one condition before I hand it over."

He looked at her suspiciously, and asked, "That sounds ominous. What do you want?"

Irillith smiled with a predatory gleam in her eyes as she replied, "To come with you on this mission. I haven't hunted Terrans before, and for some reason, the idea suddenly seems very appealing."

John studied her for a moment before he said, "Alright, but there are conditions. Firstly, no firing until I give the order. Secondly, you obey my every command while we're down there. I won't risk you stirring up another shitstorm with some reckless shooting."

She nodded her agreement to his conditions, and produced the small holo-projector she had retrieved from the police server room before they left. She walked over to the desk, and placed it on the surface, angling it so that it would project out into the room. Although she had removed her body armour, she still wore the golden vambrace on her right forearm, and she pressed a couple of buttons on it with comfortable familiarity. Dozens of images sprang up, floating in the air in front of them, and she turned to face John and the girls.

"The 'Armoured Cobras' purchased Beta-Draconis IV eight years ago, and promptly renamed it to SerpentHold," she began, bringing up a deed that showed the sale from the Terran Federation to the Mercenary Company. "Since then, they've spent a substantial sum of money on terraforming the planet. It was a barren rock with a toxic atmosphere, but now the air on SerpentHold is breathable."

Dana looked puzzled and asked, "Why would the Terran Federation sell off a planet like that? It's got to be worth a fortune when it's fully terraformed."

John shrugged and replied, "The Terran Federation were strapped for cash at the time. It cost a huge amount of money to finance all the wars I fought in, back when I was a Marine, so I can easily see them needing to make some quick credits. By the sounds of it, Beta-Draconis IV would have been unusable without spending some serious money on terraforming, and the Federation wasn't in a position to spend those kind of credits."

Irillith nodded and said, "They bought the planetoid for half a billion credits, and have invested at least as much again in terraforming expenditure. They've been making significant amounts of money hiring themselves out to a variety of corporations, but there's also some off-the-books revenue streams as well."

John looked surprised and said, "You've been able to go through all their private finances?"

The Maliri woman shrugged nonchalantly and nodded, saying, "If a server is linked to the Holonet, I can hack it. Especially with their third rate data security."

Rachel frowned as she asked, "These other revenue streams don't sound like they're from legitimate sources. Are they still kidnapping and ransoming people?"

Irillith nodded, and replied, "New Eden isn't the only place they've been active. When they started drawing too much attention there, they started branching out to a number of different worlds." She tapped a couple of buttons, and a few dozen images appeared, showing news articles reporting kidnappings that were taken from at least ten different planets over the last eight years.

"They must have been raking in the cash!" Dana said in amazement.

Rachel looked grim and said, "These news articles are probably the tip of the iceberg. The rich and famous don't like airing their dirty laundry in public, so the last thing they'd want, is for it to get out that they'd been the victim of a kidnapping gang."

Calara frowned and said, "I can't believe someone hasn't put this together yet. Why haven't the Terran Federation military got involved?"

John glanced at the news articles, and said, "It looks like they've been careful to hit a broad selection of different worlds, so planetary law enforcement hasn't made the connection." He then looked at Irillith and asked, "Are you certain they're responsible for all of these kidnappings?"

The Maliri woman nodded decisively and said, "I cross referenced each kidnapping case with their accounts. A few days after each incident, significant sums of money were transferred through shell companies, and finally routed to the Armoured Cobras."

Dana looked puzzled and asked, "I thought you said their data security was third rate? They must know what they're doing if they can hide the trail enough to hide it from the cops."

Irillith sneered condescendingly, "Their network specialist is probably considered an expert amongst you Terrans. If he was my student, I'd have given him five hundred lashes with a neural whip for this kind of incompetence. It took me less than three minutes to cut through his firewall."

John raised a hand and said, "Alright Irillith, settle down. What do you know about their command structure? Do you know the names of the people running the mercenary company?

She scowled for a moment, before pressing a couple more buttons on her vambrace. A series of dossiers appeared, fanning out and aligning in an organisational chart. "Colonel Semias Morgan runs the Armoured Cobras, but I could find no records for him, military or otherwise, so the name is probably an alias. He has three Captains working for him, Abraham Pickering, Zane Latimer and Hitch Mallor. They all served in the Terran Federation military together, but they were dismissed with dishonourable discharges. Pickering was a Commander, and the other two men were First Lieutenants before they were stripped of their ranks."

With a few more taps on her arm, she brought up their extensive criminal history. They each had violent backgrounds, with crimes ranging from extortion to grievous bodily harm, and in Hitch Mallor's case; attempted murder. He had been acquitted when witnesses changed their statements, or refused to testify.

Rachel stared at the four men's faces, and asked quietly, "Do you think they were the original gang members that murdered my mother?"

John was about to reply, when Irillith suddenly said, "When they were discharged from the military, they were suspects in a number of violent crimes over several years. They seemed to cease all criminal activity eleven years ago, right before the kidnappings began. Then they disappeared off the grid for three years, until they suddenly formed the Armoured Cobras, and bought SerpentHold eight years ago."

John nodded appreciatively to Irillith, and then turned to look at Rachel. "That sounds like a pretty huge coincidence to me, and you know how I feel about coincidences," he said grimly.

Rachel nodded at him with a determined look in her steely grey eyes.

He then looked at Irillith and asked, "What info have you got on their hardware and numbers?"

The Maliri woman typed in a rapid series of commands on a holographic panel, and a number of listings appeared. They provided full details on the armoured company, including personnel rosters, vehicle inventory, and ship assets. Calara leaned forward eagerly to digest all the information, but she frowned when she read through the long lists of resources the Armoured Cobras had at their disposal.

"They've acquired a substantial amount of materiel," Calara said looking concerned. "They've got a fleet of three cruisers, and a dozen destroyers, along with a carrier rigged for orbital exo-armour insertions. They have ten heavy tanks and just over two hundred personnel."

John looked grim as she listed off all their forces, and said, "Are they all on-planet at the moment?"

Irillith shook her head and said, "The Cobras secured a contract to garrison a corporate facility a few systems from here. Going by the data on their normal deployments for garrison duty, that means the carrier with the exo-armour will be busy. They usually take one of the cruisers, and half the destroyers for protection."

Calara suddenly looked a lot more confident. "If they've split their forces, that's a whole different ballgame. We can hit the defending cruisers with a surprise assault, then obliterate their base from orbit."

Rachel looked worried and said, "Wait a moment. What about kidnapping victims? Have the Cobras taken anyone captive right now?"

Irillith rolled her eyes and asked, "You aren't seriously suggesting we rescue prisoners? Why bother putting ourselves at risk for a handful of civilians?"

John looked at her pointedly and asked, "How many are down there?"

The blue-skinned woman tsked, then said grudgingly, "Four women, two children. They're being held in the main compound."

Rachel looked horrified, and she gasped, "You would have let us bomb innocent kidnapping victims?!"

Irillith smiled at her wickedly, and gave her a nonchalant shrug.

Dana looked puzzled and asked, "If we'd blown up the base from orbit, how would you have been able to hunt any Terrans?"

The Maliri woman grinned and said spitefully, "There would have probably been some survivors. Just like cockroaches seem to be able to survive anything."

Further argument was silenced by Calara, who said loudly, "It doesn't matter anyway! They've got a planetary defence shield."

Rachel looked bemused and asked, "What does that mean?"

"That we can't hit their base from orbit," John explained. "If the base is shielded, that usually means they'll have laser defence batteries too. The Invictus won't be able to just sit there and slug it out with them."

"We have to rescue those poor people!" Rachel said earnestly.

He nodded, and looked thoughtful for a moment, before turning to Irillith and asking, "Do you have a topographical map of their base?"

She scanned through the list of files and then selected several, bringing them up in the holo-projector. The images included a satellite image of the base, a couple of photographs taken from different angles, and a detailed maintenance schematic of every facility in the compound. The maintenance schematic showed everything from power junctions and generators, to Janitor's closets and bathrooms.

John laughed in amazement and said, "Terran Federation Intel Division would kill to have someone like you working for them. In my ten years in the military I never had a mission briefing like this!"

Irillith smiled at him proudly, and for a moment, she looked genuinely happy, and pleased by his complement. As quickly as her face had lit up with that lovely smile, it was abruptly replaced by the dark shadow of a scowl. He shook his head, feeling sad for the woman, before turning to face the girls.

John smiled at them confidently and said, "Alright, let's get to work."