They were soon underway, with Jade skilfully bringing them out of the asteroid belt, before racing away to reach the Nav beacon. As soon as they were clear of the pull of the system's gravity wells, Jade engaged the Tachyon Drive, and the Invictus leapt effortlessly into hyper-warp. They watched the icon representing their ship, as it followed the glowing green flightpath across the Sector Map, flashing past system after system as they headed back to Terran Space. The tag next to the flightpath showed that it would take them four days to pass Geniya Station and return to Terran territory.

John got up from the Command Chair, and said, "It's late, so we'll head off to bed in a minute. Let's have a quick meeting in the Briefing Room first though, I'd like to discuss the weapon test."

The girls rose obediently, then trooped through the door on the right hand side of the Bridge. He waited for them patiently as they walked inside, smiling at them as they fanned out to take their seats. He strolled in after them, then took his place at the head of the table, and sat down in the plush, comfortable chair. Alyssa, Dana, and Rachel were on his right, with Calara, Jade, and Irillith on his left, and the six women watched him attentively. Faye sat cross-legged on the desk itself, her indigo features lit up with a broad smile.

He looked at them quizzically with a raised eyebrow, and asked, "So, what are your thoughts on the field test?"

"We're fucking badass!" Dana immediately squealed with delight.

All at once the room erupted with excited chatter, as the girls all enthused about the new weapons, and the incredible new tactical speed of the Invictus. John chuckled as well, absolutely delighted with the unparalleled firepower at his disposal. Irillith grinned with delight at the gleeful reaction from her crew, feeling overjoyed to have made her friends so happy. She smiled at the girls as they thanked her profusely, and felt a surge of pride at having been able to make such a valuable contribution to their ship. Eventually everyone calmed down a little, with a bit of telepathic soothing from Alyssa, and they turned to look at Calara when she spoke up.

"I'm inclined to agree with our Chief Engineer's assessment," the Latina said, with a wide grin on her gorgeous features.

John returned her grin, and said, "Alright, break it down for me. How do the new weapons perform?"

Calara paused a moment as she assessed the capabilities of their vastly upgraded arsenal. She smiled at him eagerly as she began, "Firstly let's start with the Pulse Cannons. They're radically advanced compared to the old Gatling Lasers, and are much more powerful. It's probably better to think of them as being more like the old Laser Cannons, but instead of firing single blasts, they shoot extremely rapid bursts of laser bolts. They're fast-tracking like the Gatling Lasers were, so we'll be able to use them to absolutely devastate strike craft, but out at Laser Cannon range."

Dana nodded animatedly, and said, "The pulsed shots they fire will really let them slice up armour! When lasers start doing damage, they leave bits of liquefied debris in the way that reduces the power from a beam. By hammering away with pulsed shots, debris will dissipate before the next shot hits, which is much more efficient than the solid streams of energy from the Beam Lasers. We'll be able to pump out a shit-ton of damage with the Pulse Cannons, while hardly using any power."

John smiled at the pair of them, then looking Calara's way, said, "They certainly looked very impressive. You seemed to have no problems completely shredding the smaller asteroid chunks."

Looking thoughtful, Calara said, "They have a lot of stopping power. I think they'll pose a threat to anything up to a cruiser, but anything that size usually has too much armour for them to be effective."

"Good to know," he said appreciatively. He smiled at her enthusiastically, and asked, "So what's your evaluation of the new Beam Lasers?"

She grinned at him, and leaning forward, she replied eagerly, "Same range as before, but double the firepower! The really significant difference is we've gone from six forward-mounted Beam Lasers with a narrow fire arc, to twenty-four turreted Beams with three-sixty-degree coverage. I can't really describe how much more deadly that makes us in a firefight."

"Why don't you give it a try?" Alyssa suggested to her lover, with a playful wink.

Calara laughed, then sat back in her chair to think about it for a moment. With an excited sparkle in her eyes, she eventually sat up and said, "Okay, think about it like this." She raised her right hand, holding it flat and parallel to the tabletop. "Imagine my hand is the Invictus, and my fingers are the old Beam Lasers. If we're being chased by some bad guys, like those Trankarans, we couldn't hit them with our main offensive batteries." To illustrate this point, she lifted her left hand and held it behind the right, then moved them from side-to-side as though the Invictus-hand was trying to shake off its pursuer.

"That fight was awful," Jade agreed with a troubled frown. "It was horrible, not feeling in control of the battle."

Dana gave her a cheerful grin, and exclaimed, "Don't worry! With our new engines and retro-thrusters, no other ship in the galaxy will have our manoeuvrability!"

The Nymph gave the redhead a warm smile, and looked greatly relieved. Her lovely green face lit up with a wicked grin as she said, "I'd love to see the faces of the next fighter pilots who try to tangle with the Raptor!"

They all laughed at her look of eager excitement, and she joined in with their merriment.

Calara glanced at Jade and asked, "Would you mind taking over as the bad guys for my demonstration? I'm about to run out of hands."

"Sure!" the Nymph agreed readily, and lifted up her slender green hands to represent enemy ships. She scowled fiercely, to make it more authentic, and remind everyone she was a bad guy.

After shaking her head with an amused chuckle, Calara brought her hands together, placing one atop the other. "Now, after the refit, we've got twenty-four Beam Lasers. Imagine my right hand is the topdeck: we've got sixteen turreted Beams, four on each facing, which can fire in one-hundred-and-eighty degree arcs, as well as being able to fire straight up. My left hand represents the underbelly of the Invictus, which has two Beam Lasers on each facing, or eight in total."

"That's a lot of guns," Rachel said in a sober voice.

Calara smiled at her, and said enthusiastically, "It certainly is! In practical terms, we can fire up to twelve Beam Lasers in any direction on the horizontal plane, or sixteen straight up off the topdeck, and eight firing down from the underbelly." She glanced at Jade, and said, "Now, bring your enemy ships forward to flank the Invictus."

Jade nodded, standing up so that she could lean over Calara and place her hands as the Latina requested. "Like that?" she asked, checking to make sure they were positioned correctly.

"Perfect!" Calara said gratefully.

Faye piped up, and asked, "I could set up a holo-simulation for you, rather than representing ships with your hands?"

Calara smiled at her, but shook her head, replying, "We've got this for now Faye, but maybe next time?" The Purple AI construct nodded, and started planning ways she could help the friendly Tactical Officer.

Calara looked around at her captivated audience, and said, "Now, before the upgrade, if we were caught like this between two Trankaran cruisers, they could have hit us with broadsides from their flank-mounted Fusion Beams. We'd have only had twelve laser cannons per side to trade broadsides with them, and we would have been massively outgunned, and quickly ripped to pieces."

John was easily following her explanation, but he smiled as he asked supportively, "And now what would happen?"

"Now, it would be a whole different story. We'd be able to hit each enemy cruiser with twelve Beam Lasers per side-facing," Calara replied. With a dangerous gleam in her eyes, she carefully rotated her hands on a horizontal axis, and continued, "But I'd actually engage them like this. That way we hit the primary target with sixteen Beams off the topdeck, taking it out thirty-three percent faster, whilst still hitting the secondary target with eight Beams."

Jade made an exploding motion with the hand facing the topdeck, then did the same with the second one shortly afterwards, as Calara rotated her hands to face that with the topdeck.

Dana looked especially excited as she chimed in, "Don't forget that before the refit we were only hitting targets with six Beams! They were hitting harder than normal Terran Beam Lasers because the upgraded heatsinks let us pump more power through, but our new Beams hit twice as hard as that! If we do that topdeck trick, we've basically got over five times the long-range firepower as we had before."

Calara nodded eagerly, as she said, "Plus with all our extra speed and manoeuvrability, we can basically pick the range and positioning for a battle. So if we go toe-to-toe with something nasty, we can stay at range, hitting it with sixteen Beam Lasers as we circle it."

John gave her an appreciative smile, and said, "Thanks gorgeous, great explanation." He paused for dramatic effect, then added, "Now let's talk about the Nova Lances."

Calara let out a wistful sigh, and said, "The damage those Lances put out was beautiful. I just can't believe the kind of firepower they can unleash."

Irillith nodded, saying, "Those are the most powerful weapons the Maliri possess. Only battleship class Maliri vessels are big enough to mount them, and the most they field is two per vessel. A battleship has two Power Cores, one of which is purely dedicated to supplying enough power for the Nova Lances."

Dana grimaced, and said unhappily, "That explains our power problems then. I had to shut down the Mass Drivers completely, as well as reduce the extra power I normally channel to the engines and shields. Even then, we were right on the wire, and we wouldn't be able to use any other weapons while we're charging a Nova Lance blast."

"I'm just amazed you had enough power to be able to fire them at all," Irillith said, shaking her head in astonishment. "Your Power Core must be immensely powerful to be able to handle the load."

"It's a state-of-the-art Ashanath Power Core," John explained. "The one they fitted for us was intended for a battleship class vessel."

Rachel saw Dana's troubled expression, and asked, "Can we build a second Power Core? We could copy the Maliri, and use the same solution they came up with for their ships."

Dana gave her an affectionate smile, but replied ruefully, "I wish it were that simple, babes. We probably do have the space available for a second Core, but the problem is all the power conduits. It would take weeks to set up and install all those, as well as routing through all the power feeds to the prow weapon arrays."

John was unsettled to see Dana looking pensive, so with an encouraging smile on his face, he said, "It's not like you to get downhearted, Dana. What ingenious solution have you got fluttering around in that beautiful head of yours?"

The redhead glanced at him in surprise, then smiled when she saw he was just being supportive. She looked away for a moment, and said in a quiet voice, "I'm not sure, but I think there's something wrong with the Power Core."

This had everyone sitting up in alarm, and John looked worried as he asked, "What's the problem? Is it structural? Are we at any risk of it blowing?"

She frowned as she shook her head, and replied, "No, we aren't in any danger, and I didn't mean quite like that. When I was copying out the schematics for the refit, the Power Core looked really familiar, but wrong somehow..." she faded out as she struggled to describe what she was feeling.

"What do you mean, it looked wrong?" Alyssa asked her curiously.

Dana turned to look at her, and said helplessly, "I'm not sure, but it felt like the Ashanath didn't really understand the tech when they designed the Power Core. I got the exact same feeling with the Tachyon Drive as well."

"It was their most advanced tech," Alyssa replied with a tentative smile. "Maybe they just haven't mastered the technology yet. Not many of their ships had the new Power Cores, so perhaps we just got an advanced prototype?"

"Yeah, you're probably right," Dana agreed half-heartedly.

John looked puzzled as he asked, "Do you think you can improve on their designs then? If so, that would be amazing."

"No, I don-," Dana started to reply before faltering, and after rubbing her temples she continued, "Yeah, maybe. I'm not sure."

Rachel had turned in her chair, and gently rubbed Dana's back as she asked with concern, "What's wrong? Is your head hurting?"

Dana looked at her and frowned as she tried to explain, "I'm not in any pain, it just feels like the answer's there on the tip of my tongue. This isn't like those times I upgraded the Kintark heatsinks with my own design, or tweaked the Onyxium alloy we got off the Drakkar to come up with Invictium. I feel like I -know- this already, but I can't quite visualise it to put in a schematic."

John got up, and walked around the table to squat beside her. He took her hands in his own, and looking into her troubled face, he said soothingly, "You're tired, and it's been a long couple of days with all the work on the refit. Forget about it for now, I'm sure it'll come to you eventually."

"Yeah! Like when you hear a familiar song, but you can't quite remember the name of the band," Alyssa said with a grin. "It'll suddenly hit you when you least expect it!"

Rachel smiled at Dana and said, "She's right. Your brain will be much more efficient when you aren't stressed or tired."

John nodded, and said, "Don't worry about it for now. We can always shut down the Nova Lances, and bring the Mass Drivers back online until we can figure out the power problems."

Calara pouted, but her expression quickly smoothed out into a smile, as she said, "With the Beam Lasers, we've already got a ridiculous amount of firepower. Those and the Mass Drivers will still be a massive upgrade on what we had before."

"Alright," Dana said buoyantly, "I'll adjust the power allocation tomorrow."

"Good girl," John said, pleased to see her looking upbeat again. He stood up and stretched, saying, "I don't know about you girls, but I'm worn out. I think it's time for bed."

They nodded, rising to their feet, and began to walk out of the door, and through the Bridge.

"We got attacked by that House Ghilwen fleet last time we left Maliri Space," Alyssa said, looking at Irillith. "Are we likely to be in danger again this time?"

Irillith nodded, saying, "You never know, but it's a distinct possibility. Any of the major Houses could have spies at Genthalas Shipyard."

"We should probably set up watches then," John said decisively. "Then we'll have a bit more warning if anything appears on the long range scans. I'd rather not have to rely on the Automated Interdiction Response, and then fight our way out of trouble."

"I don't need to sleep!" Faye said eagerly, having reappeared in the Bridge. She was standing on top of John's console up on the Command Podium, and she gave them an excited grin, as she added, "I'd love to stand watch for you guys, then you can all get a good night's sleep. I can let you know if I see any sign of approaching bad guys."

Irillith smiled wryly as she said, "Bad girls would probably be more accurate in this case."

John frowned, not liking the idea of trusting the ship to Faye one bit, but Alyssa's voice sounded clearly in his mind as she said, *Dana said it should be perfectly safe. Faye won't have control of any systems, and she'll just be watching the long range sensors. She's proven herself trustworthy so far, why not give her a chance with this?*

He glanced Dana's way, and she smiled, giving him a slight nod of reassurance. Looking up at Faye's cute face, he saw she was waiting for his answer with eager anticipation.

"Alright then, Watch Commander," he said to the diminutive AI construct with a smile. "You're hired."

"Yippee!" Faye cried out exultantly. "I won't let you down, Commodore, I promise!"

"Contact us immediately in the Commander's Quarters on an internal comm channel if you spot any Maliri ships acting suspiciously," Calara interjected. "Watch out for any ships moving into interdiction range, or anything lying in wait for us."

Faye nodded, her little face looking serious and alert as she listened to the Latina. "You can count on me," she told them earnestly.

Waving her goodbye, John and the girls walked up the ramp to the grav-tube, then stepped into the red glow, and floated silently down to Deck Two. They stepped out into the corridor that contained the Officers' Quarters, and began to walk down to the big room at the end.

"Remind me to allocate you a room up here," Alyssa said to Irillith as they strolled along. "In fact, just take the one next to Jade's."

The Maliri shot a glance at John, and said hesitantly, "I had been hoping to share a room with all of you."

Alyssa smiled at her, and said, "Don't be silly, of course you'll be sleeping with us. John will want you nice and handy for when he wants to fuck some smoking-hot blue pussy."

Irillith blushed, and John slipped his arm around her waist, as he said, "She's quite right, you are gorgeous." He smiled as he added, "The other girls just use their rooms for storing clothes, but you should have your own space, just in case you want some peace and quiet."

She smiled at him gratefully, and said, "That's a nice thought, thank you. I only really took the quarters on Deck Four so I could snoop on you guys via the video feeds."

Alyssa gave her a flirtatious wink, as she said, "Now you can watch us all screw in person!"

Irillith's blush deepened, her cheeks turning a darker shade of blue. John frowned at Alyssa, and said, "You naughty girl, you're embarrassing her."

The blonde had an extra spring in her step as they walked along the corridor, and she smiled at Irillith apologetically. "I'm sorry," she said with a lovely smile. "I'm just excited to have you joining us properly; all that time with Progenitor-John didn't count. We've also got our surprise for John!"

Irillith's beautiful azure face lit up, and she shared a happy smile with Alyssa.

"Surprise? What's all this?" John asked the playful blonde.

Alyssa backed smoothly into their bedroom, beckoning him in with a waggle of her index finger. "Come and see!" she said with a delighted giggle.

John strode in after her, then stopped in surprise as he surveyed their bedroom. The huge four poster bed that had previously been centred against the far wall was gone. In its place was an enormous replacement, nearly twice the size of the old one, and covered in beautiful, pristine white sheets. The new bed still had posts, but now they were formed of a glossy white material, and the silvery flecks caught the soft light in the bedroom. White drapes hung off the frame, giving the entire room a lighter, airy kind of feel to it.

He nodded appreciatively, as he walked over, and ran his fingers over the white bedpost. "Is this what I think it is?" he asked her with a smile.

Alyssa nodded, then glanced at Jade, who stepped up onto the bed, and swung elegantly around one of the posts with incredible balance and poise. "Alyssa thought it might be fun to make the bed a bit sturdier," Jade said to him coyly, as she wrapped her legs around the pole and tilted herself backwards to gaze at him upside down. "Opens up all sorts of interesting possibilities..."

John walked over to her, and ran his hand over her luscious figure, which was suspended in the air supported only by her legs. The Nymph purred appreciatively as he caressed her, relishing his touch. "It does seem like an inspired idea," he agreed, but he turned to look at the bed and said, "But this thing is huge! How did you fit it in here?"

Alyssa walked over to stand beside him, and reached out to gently squeeze Jade's breasts. "I just shaped the Crystal Alyssium frame in here," she explained casually as she tweaked the Nymph's breasts, making her nipples erect. "You can thank Irillith for the mattress and bedding."

He chuckled as he glanced at Irillith and asked, "Is there a lot of demand for beds this size?"

Irillith grinned at him, and said, "I very much doubt it! I actually just put the request in with my mother, and she arranged for it to be made and delivered."

*I like to think of it as an 'Epic King size',* Edraele thought to him. *Do you approve, my Lord?*

*Very much, thank you,* he agreed wholeheartedly, amused at her choice of name.

*I'm so pleased,* she replied, and he could feel her burst of happiness over their empathic link. However, Edraele's voice was also tinged with a hint of sadness, as she added, *Hopefully it'll remind you of me while you're off on your adventures.*

*Don't worry, we'll be back soon,* he thought to her kindly. *Perhaps then you'll be able to help me put the new bed through its paces?*

Edraele sighed with delight, and he left her to her increasingly aroused thoughts. He turned back to the girls, who were marvelling at the wonderful new bed, and he said, "Let's go and take a shower, and get cleaned up after the refit."

They nodded obediently, and with Rachel and Dana leading the way, the girls started filing into the bathroom. He held Alyssa back, and pulled her into his arms, as he said gratefully, *The new bed is wonderful, thanks for going to all this trouble to make it.*

She leaned in and gave him a loving kiss, as she replied, *With all the girls we've been adding to the crew, the bed needed an upgrade. Now we've got plenty more space if you decide to expand your harem.*

He smiled as he asked, *I thought my XO was in charge of recruitment?*

She grinned at him playfully as she replied, *So did I, but then you added eighty-seven Maliri girls to your roster of willing females. I can hardly keep up!*

Laughing heartily at that, he took her hand, and led her to the shower as he said, *Sorry for stepping on your toes. I'll leave any further recruitment in your lovely and capable hands.*

*No need to apologise,* she smirked at him. Her voice took on a lustier tone as she added, *These Maliri are absolutely stunning. I can't wait to watch you fuck them all, starting with the hot piece of ass getting soaped up by your girls.*

As John walked into the bathroom, he saw that Irillith was centred in the shower, with the four other girls eagerly lathering her up. With an eager grin, he followed Alyssa into the shower, to help make sure that Irillith was very clean indeed.

***

The following morning, the sound of soft, tinkling music swirled around the room, and John was the first to wake up, recognising it as a customised internal comm ring-tone. "Faye, is that you?" he mumbled drowsily.

Faye kept her voice to a whisper to avoid waking the girls, but replied happily, "Good morning, John! Watch Commander Faye reporting in!"

He stretched a little, trying not to wake Calara and Alyssa, and asked, "Is everything okay?"

"Absolutely fine, there's nothing to report," Faye replied, sounding pleased with herself. "I just thought you might want an update, as it's just turned eight in the morning."

"Thanks, Faye, you did a brilliant job," he told her sincerely.

"It was my pleasure," she replied with a happy sigh, before she ended the call.

He glanced down, and saw that Alyssa's bright cerulean eyes had fluttered open, and she gave him a beautiful smile as she curled up against him.

*Looks like you made the right call with Faye keeping watch,* he said, acknowledging that she had been correct to trust the AI construct.

She ran her fingers over his chest, feeling his muscles as she said, *She seems to genuinely want to help us. I think it's sensible to keep an eye on her, but Dana trusts her implicitly. I'm not saying hand over control of the Invictus to her, but she's been a great help to Dana and Rachel on their research, and with the bots on the refit.*

John looked thoughtful as he considered what she'd said, and then admitted, *I probably do have a bit of a knee-jerk reaction to anything AI related. Faye isn't a Terran AI though, so perhaps her programming is more robust. Either way, I guess it wouldn't hurt to give her a bit of a chance to prove herself.*

Alyssa smiled at him and said, *Dana and Faye will be delighted.* She gave him a playful wink, as she added, *Now, on to much more serious business; I can't believe we all flaked out last night! Who do you want to start off with this morning?*

He grinned at her, and replied, *It's a new bed, so it seems only right that you help me break it in first.* He reached down and squeezed one of her firm asscheeks as he added suggestively, *It's been quite a while since our last XO catch-up meeting.*

Her sparkling blue eyes grew hooded with lust, but she surprised him by shaking her head, and saying, *I'd really love a rough pounding, but I think you should save me for last. Work your way through the crew first, as Rachel, Calara and Dana haven't been stuffed full of cock in weeks!*

*Aren't you a kind and caring Matriarch,* he teased her with a smile. He paused a moment, and said, *Actually, I do need to catch up with Rachel about a couple of things, I'll start with her first.*

*That's the spirit!* Alyssa told him exuberantly. *My tight little ass will be ready for you when you've ploughed the rest of the crew. Consider me the 'Sex-Boss', and you have to defeat my lusty minions before you get to plunder my treasures.*

Shaking his head in amusement, he stifled a belly laugh, as he said, *Alright 'Sex-Boss', I'll render your minions insensate, then you'll be mine!*

She grinned at him, and all at once the girls all started to wake up, stretching languidly after receiving a gentle telepathic prod from Alyssa. They each gave him a loving kiss goodbye, then climbed out of the enormous bed to get dressed for breakfast, until it was just Rachel left under the covers with him. She looked absolutely delighted that he'd picked her to start the day, and she flung herself into his arms, and hugged him tightly.

"I can't believe I get you first! I was absolutely certain you'd choose Alyssa," she exclaimed, looking thrilled. She paused for a moment as she thought it over, and said, "Actually, I bet you did choose her first, but she told you to catch up with us girls, as you've already been with her since the Progenitor-John episode."

He looked a bit abashed, and said, "You're right, I'm sorry. I hope you aren't disappointed."

"Of course not, we all know how devoted you are to her. That you'd choose to be with me after her is still wonderful!" she replied with a radiant smile. Her eyes looked away distantly for a moment, as her brilliant mind turned over the possibilities, and she added, "Is it because you wanted to speak to me about Progenitor-John?"

He gave her a warm smile, and said gently, "Easy there, gorgeous. I do want to talk to you about that, but that's not the primary reason I wanted some time alone with you."

John rolled her over on to her back, and brushed her tawny brown hair away from her beautiful face, enjoying the feel of her soft tresses as they swept over the back of his fingers. He stopped to admire her for a moment, just taking in her lovely delicate features, and alluring, smoky grey eyes. She was watching him intently, and he could see the fierce intelligence behind her entrancing gaze, reminding him of just how lucky he was to be with such a brilliant young woman.

He could see she was holding her breath as she gazed up at him, and when he leaned down slowly, he watched her pupils flare as she wet her lips with anticipation. He stopped an inch above her, just relishing her look of need, until she took matters into her own hands, and crossed her arms behind his neck so that she could pull him down to her. They kissed tenderly, and he relished the feeling of her soft lips yielding to him, as she parted her mouth to invite him inside. Their tongues duelled for a while, and she moaned excitedly, writhing underneath him as she arched her back so that her breasts pressed against his chest.

When they eventually parted, she was panting breathily, her eyes flaring with passion, and her expression telling him she was hungry for more. "That was a hell of a kiss!" she exclaimed, fanning herself with her hand, and smiling at him playfully. "What did I do to deserve that?"

He smiled at her, and replied, "You know full well, you lovely girl; your plan to help the Maliri. When they found out we were going to help them have children, I felt guilty seeing all their looks of awe and gratitude, because in all honesty, they should have been thanking you, not me."

Rachel smiled at him, and said softly, "It's alright, I wasn't after their thanks. It was rewarding enough just seeing how much it meant to them."

John nodded and said sombrely, "I've been awfully selfish with you."

She frowned, not understanding what he was implying, and said, "Sorry, I don't follow?"

He reached up to gently run his fingertips through her hair, then tenderly caressed her temple while cradling her in his hand. "Your exceptional mind. I've been selfish keeping you focused on researching things to help me, when you could be doing so much more."

"I love helping you, don't be silly," she said with an affectionate laugh.

"I know, you're a very good girl," he told her, enjoying seeing her pupils flare with excitement as he praised her. "But you could make a huge difference to so many people's lives. When you get an opportunity, I'd like you to start research into anything you like, but focus on helping people. Curing incurable diseases, that kind of thing. I want people to revere the name of Doctor Rachel Voss, for the wonderful gift to mankind that I know she is."

Rachel's expression had frozen in surprise, as she listened to him utterly spellbound. As soon as he stopped speaking, she pulled him down to her and kissed him fiercely, then gasped, "I love you so much! I've always dreamed of helping people, and you're right! I know I can make a difference!"

"Whatever resources you need, just ask, and you'll have them," he told her earnestly. He leaned down and kissed her again, and said, "And I love you, my beautiful, brilliant girl."

She whimpered into his mouth, kissing him with a look of adoration in her stormy eyes. He ran his fingers over her belly, just where the swallow tattoo used to be, and she moaned with arousal at his touch.

"You want me to swallow your cum?" she asked him eagerly. "You know we can do anything you like!"

He shook his head, and gave her a loving smile, as he replied, "I want to fill your womb with cum, and think about how wonderful it'll be getting you pregnant. I just like seeing the hunger in your eyes when I stroke you there."

"Let me ride you," she suggested longingly. "You can stroke my belly while we both think about the same thing."

He let her push him onto his back, and she straddled him in a smooth, effortlessly graceful motion. She paused above him for a moment, and stared into his eyes as she said, "Thank you for this morning. I didn't think I could love you any more than I did, but you proved me wrong."

John smiled at her, and said, "I just want you to be able to fulfil your potential, and I know you'll be able to do great things."

She closed her eyes, then sank down on his hard cock with a blissful sigh. "You don't know how good that feels," she moaned with delight, relishing being stretched around him.

"I've got a pretty good idea," he said with a grin, feeling her gripping him tightly.

He stopped to admire her glorious, athletic figure, and reached out to hold on to her slender waist with both hands. Her skin felt smooth, soft and pliant under his eager fingers, and he stroked her toned stomach with his thumbs, feeling her well-defined abdominal muscles. She slowly opened her eyes, then leaned forward slightly to place her hands on his chest, as she started riding him at a sensual pace. She stroked up and down on his length a few times, then settled down, resting her breasts against his chest, and staring into his eyes from only a few inches away.

"Before you fill me up, let's talk about Progenitor-John," she said, studying his face intently.

John encircled her in his arms, and he asked, "What did you want to tell me?"

"Alyssa told us everything that happened," she began, watching every change in his expression, "But I'd like to hear you describe what transpired with Progenitor-John."

He smiled, and asked succinctly, "Why?"

"Indulge me, please, and I'll explain afterwards," she said to him firmly.

He nodded, then looked away, losing focus on her face as he said, "Progenitor-John started influencing me several weeks ago, when we first met with the Maliri. I think meeting Irillith, and seeing what she looked like behind the armour, brought forward a powerful need to dominate and control the Maliri, when he recognised them for what they were."

"Which is?" she prompted him gently.

"A species tampered with by a Progenitor, to prepare them to be conquered and enslaved," he replied in a sombre voice. "That instinctive drive made Progenitor-John stronger, allowing him to encourage me to make risky decisions like going deep into Maliri Space."

"Until we met Edraele," Rachel said leadingly.

John smiled wryly, and said, "Yes. Unfortunately for her, damaging my mind-shield let Progenitor-John leak out, and he eventually started being able to take over my body. He got stronger as time went on, making my blackout periods last longer while he was in full control." He paused for a moment, as he thought back over what happened, and added, "When he was asleep his control wasn't so absolute, so I was able to reach out to Alyssa, and she strengthened all of your mind shields. She doesn't seem to remember doing it though, which is weird."

Rachel sat up a little, and looked at him curiously, as she asked, "If she didn't do it, who did?"

John shrugged helplessly, and replied, "I recognised Alyssa as the radiant figure who's helped me in my dreams, but I was trying to communicate through a shadowy barrier, which made it hard to tell. Whoever it was did a thorough job on you girls, and cut you off from Progenitor-John, preventing him from drawing energy from you to fuel his powers. Then when he went to assassinate the Glowing Queen, he must have exhausted himself using his own power reserves, which weakened him enough to let me take over again."

Rachel subtly shifted her weight, which felt delightful, then smiled at him as she said, "Yes, I remember that. It was such a relief to have you back to normal, even if it was just for a short time. Irillith was lucky you were back in control, after what Progenitor-John did to her mother."

"I tried my best to protect her, and working closely with Alyssa, we shielded Irillith too. That's why he severed the connection with all of you when we returned to Valaden, as he was planning to set up Edraele as his new Matriarch, and enslave the Maliri for his thralls. Once Edraele broke my mind-shield, Progenitor John was able to take over completely, chaining me up, and banishing me into a bottomless abyss," John explained with a shudder as he recalled the feelings of hopelessness and despair, manifested into demons who had tortured him as he fell.

Rachel saw the haunted look on his face, and she leaned in to give him a tender kiss, before saying gently, "Until Alyssa stopped him."

"Yes, exactly!" John said with relief. "I saw her appear next to me as a radiantly beautiful figure, and she reached out to me, banishing those demons. I gathered as much of my will as I could, then broke my chains, and grasped her hand."

Alyssa interrupted, and said gently, *Sorry handsome, you remembered that wrong. When I went into spirit form, you were already reaching out to me, and I realised you wanted me to grasp your hand, so I grabbed it.*

John frowned, sure his memory of events had been correct, but he conceded, *I was pretty out of it, so you probably remember it better than I do.*

Rachel arched an eyebrow at him, and asked, "What did Alyssa say?"

He smiled at her apologetically, and said, "Sorry, that must be annoying, me getting distracted by telepathic conversations."

She leaned in and gave him an understanding kiss, before she said, "I'm just eternally grateful that Alyssa lets us all share you, I'd never begrudge her anything." She looked at him curiously, and added, "So what did she say?"

"Just that I remembered events a bit wrong, as we both remember each other reaching out first. Anyway, after we made contact, I re-established my connection with Alyssa, but I held back the compulsion for you to obey me. That must have freed up Alyssa to make a connection with me as well, which massively boosted the bond between us. We banished Progenitor-John, locking him up in the same abyssal pit he tried to seal me up in."

Rachel looked fascinated, and she said, "And after you made your enhanced connection, all of us got a surge of inspiration, which we suspect came from your subconscious Progenitor mind."

John smiled, and said, "That's about the size of it, yes." He looked at her playfully, and asked, "So what's the prognosis Doctor? Am I a lost cause?"

She smiled, and hugged him tightly, replying, "No, I think you're a keeper." She sat up on his lap, gazing down on him as she added with an air of caution, "But I've got a theory about all this, if you'd like to hear it?"

Holding on to her waist again, he returned her smile, and replied playfully, "Of course you have, I don't just keep you around because you're so gorgeous. Tell me what you're thinking?"

She took a big breath, then said, "If you were a Terran, I'd suggest that you developed this second personality to deal with a psychological trauma that you weren't equipped to deal with. You aren't Terran though, so there could be all sorts of reasons for why this other personality manifested. Progenitor-John might even be your real Progenitor personality trying to emerge, but you've been sufficiently strong willed to keep it at bay, locking it up behind the mind shield.

Progenitor-John's personality is strongly influenced by Progenitor natural instinct, which is probably why he's able to access psychic powers that you can't. He seemed to be quite single-mindedly obsessed with conquering the Maliri, and spent over a week creating plans to dominate them all. What he planned to do with them after that, I've got no idea.

In any event, I think you're starting to subconsciously access more of your built in Progenitor knowledge because you defeated Progenitor-John. Maybe by stuffing his personality into that abyssal prison that you mentioned, it freed up more of your mind, because you seem more focused since you came back to us."

John looked thoughtful as he considered this, eventually nodding his agreement before he said enthusiastically, "I know exactly what you mean! I do feel clearer, and more in control, and I don't just mean compared with the last few weeks. I feel sharper than I have done in years." He grinned at her, and added, "Thanks, honey, it's been really helpful to talk this over with you!"

Rachel smiled at him, pleased to see him responding well to her observations, and said, "Fantastic! I'm really glad I could help." She paused for a moment, studying his eager expression, and added reluctantly, "There's something else you need to be aware of though."

"That sounds ominous," he said warily. "What's the problem?"

"You probably can't count on Progenitor-John saving the day any more, like he did against the pirate cyborg, the Drakkar, or the Fulmanax. Just like you were able to reach out to Alyssa while he was asleep, he was able to take control while you were in a weakened condition. From what you just said about him being locked away now, I think you're on your own," she said with caution.

John frowned and asked, "If Progenitor-John is the asshole you guys said he was, not that I'm doubting you for a minute, why did he help me before?"

Rachel pondered this for a while, before saying speculatively, "Although your personalities are different, you still share the same body. He wouldn't want you to come to any harm, and probably intervened when you were in real danger."

"Most of those times it was Alyssa in as much trouble as I was," John said in confusion.

She smiled at him as she said, "She was your Matriarch, but you hadn't cut her off from him at that point. He was still able to tap her for power, so when he acted to protect her, he was probably looking out for his own interests."

John mulled it over, and nodded as he said, "That makes sense."

Rachel sat there watching him for a long moment, and he could sense she wanted to say something else, but was hesitating for some reason.

Looking at her quizzically, he said, "You know you can say anything to me. What's troubling you?"

She let out a sigh, knowing he wasn't going to like what she was about to tell him, but she did as he asked, and replied, "I don't think it's over between you and Progenitor-John. You've said it yourself that he's locked away in your mind. Until you resolve things between you permanently, I don't think you'll be able to unlock your full potential." She looked away distantly, and added with some hesitation, "I feel this is right, but the only way I could possibly know this, is if it's leaked knowledge that's come from you. Alyssa's talked about compartments in her mind before, which she uses to maintain psychic powers. I -know- that a substantial part of your mind is dedicated to locking Progenitor-John away in his prison."

John frowned, looking deeply troubled, and Rachel could see the worry in his face as he said, "His personality is so strong. He defeated me easily, and it was only with Alyssa's help that I was able to lock him away. Even then, we seemed to catch him by surprise, and he was in a weakened state at the time. If I consciously break him out of that mind-prison, I'm not sure I'll be able to stop him."

*Then you need to get stronger, and I'll help you do it,* Alyssa told him fiercely. *I didn't go to all the trouble of getting you back to lose you to that asshole!*

*You can count on me as well, John,* Edraele told him solemnly. *I'll try and think of anything I can to help develop your psychic potency.*

He felt renewed by their confident and supportive words, and replied, *Thanks, both of you, that means a lot.*

Rachel watched the emotions play over his face, and she was greatly relieved when he looked confident, and positive once more. She leaned against him, and said in a quiet voice, "Sorry I upset you, but I thought it was important for you to know."

He smiled at her, and said, "You don't need to apologise. You were right, I really did need to know this. Thank you."

She gave him a relieved smile, then leaned in and whispered, "You were wrong about one thing though."

"Really, what's that?" he asked her, wondering what she was referring to.

She gave him a tender kiss as she murmured, "About us not having to obey you any more. I'm still your good, obedient, submissive girl. I'll always follow your orders."

"You're a good girl," he said with a grin, and he moaned appreciatively as she squeezed his length with her internal muscles.

He rolled her on to her back, and carefully pinned her hands to the mattress above her head, while flexing his shaft inside her. She moaned excitedly, spreading her thighs as much as possible to let him push as deep into her womb as he could go, and the head of his cock brushed against the back wall, making her gasp.

He rested against her supine, luscious body, feeling her full breasts squashed against his chest, and he leaned in to whisper in her ear, "Let's see how many times you can come before you pass out."

She whimpered with delight, and replied, "Are you going to tell me about how you plan to impregnate me?"

"Of course, you're my prime breeding stock," he confirmed, as he thrust inside her and nibbled at her ear.

***

Irillith slumped back in her chair at the IntOps Station, blinking rapidly to try and make the flickering spots go away. She was up on the Bridge, working with Calara to start looking at the classified orders given in the Dragon March, and see if she could hack her way into the top-secret files. The plan was to see if she could prove Calara's hypothesis conclusively, and confirm that Admiral Norwood was the Dragon March Traitor. Once they had done that, they were going to start investigating further, and see if they could discover his network of accomplices, should he have any. Unfortunately, as she had been working at her console, those drifting spots in her peripheral vision had appeared again.

"Are your eyes troubling you?" Calara asked her with concern.

Irillith looked up, and saw that the Latina had walked up the ramp to the IntOps Station, and was now squatting at her side. "I'm seeing flickering images at the corner of my line of sight," the Maliri girl said with frustration. "I know it's not due to tiredness, as I had a good night's sleep last night."

Calara reached out, and gently stroked Irillith's leg in a comforting gesture, as she said, "Come on, we should take you to Rachel, and get her to check you out."

Nodding distractedly, Irillith rose from her seat, then asked in confusion, "How did you know I'm having trouble with my eyes, anyway?"

The brunette smiled at her, and replied, "Alyssa told me to keep a close watch on you, and make sure you were okay. We all care about you, and don't want to see you in any distress."

Irillith was quite touched by Calara's honest words, and she opened her arms for a hug. It was an unusual gesture for her, but Calara embraced her immediately, wrapping her in her arms and stroking her back soothingly. Irillith felt better straight away, and she hugged the other girl gratefully.

*Always remember, you can trust us to be there for you,* Alyssa said to her, her warm and gentle voice filling Irillith's mind. *You've had to be on your own for years, watching your back. It's made you a strong person, but with us to support you now, you can be even stronger.*

"Thank you," Irillith murmured to Calara, "I needed that."

The Latina slowly released her, and said with a caring smile, "Any time." She looked distracted for a moment, then focused on Irillith, and added, "I'll take you to Rachel. We need to have her take a look at you."

Irillith nodded, and let Calara lead her over to the grav-tube.

***

John relaxed on the bed, with Rachel cuddled up beside him. She had recovered from her mind-blowing chain of orgasms, and was now sighing happily as he stroked her rounded belly, her womb stuffed full of his cum. He heard Irillith and Calara approaching down the corridor, and smiled at them when they walked into the bedroom.

"Hey girls, good to see you," he greeted them warmly, while Rachel gave them a friendly wave.

Calara led Irillith over to the bed, and said, "Irillith's been having problems with her eyes, flickering images in her peripheral vision, that kind of thing. We were hoping you could check her out."

Rachel sat up awkwardly, and said, "Of course! We can head down to Medical, and I'll give you a full check-up."

Another set of footsteps drew everyone's attention to the door, and Alyssa breezed in, smiling at everyone brightly. "You can head back up to the Bridge now, I can take over from here," she said to Calara.

Calara looked at Alyssa quizzically, but after a moment's telepathic communication, she smiled and nodded, giving the blonde a lingering kiss. Before she left, she gently squeezed Irillith's shoulder, and said, "I hope you feel better soon."

Irillith smiled at her gratefully, and Calara waved them goodbye before departing. Alyssa walked over to Irillith, and began to carefully remove the blue-skinned girl's blouse.

"What are you doing?" Irillith asked her in surprise.

Alyssa smiled at her, and said, "If there's anything physically wrong with you, the magic cure for everything is a stomach full of cum. We'll load you up, then Rachel can give your eyes a thorough check. If there's anything wrong, she can let John know, and he'll fix it, just like he did with Luna and the rest of Edraele's assassins."

Irillith blushed, but nodded, glancing at John and Rachel with a new gleam in her eyes. Rachel smiled at them, then lay back down, watching Alyssa's progress as she fully disrobed the Maliri girl. Irillith climbed onto the bed, then crawled over to join them, quickly followed by Alyssa, who was now nude too.

*It's polite to give Rachel a nice grateful kiss, before you eat John's cum from her. You know how wonderful it feels to have your womb stretched like that, so it's the least we can do to say thank you, for her being so generous,* Alyssa prompted Irillith playfully.

The azure-hued girl flashed Alyssa a curious look, then did as she had been bid, kneeling beside Rachel, and leaning down to give her a hesitant kiss. She quickly grew in confidence, and the two were soon growing more passionate. They eventually separated, and Irillith started moving down the bed, while Rachel spread her thighs for her invitingly. The Maliri girl soon went to work, her eyes rolling euphorically as she savoured her first sweet mouthful.

Rachel was watching Irillith in fascination, and remarked, "Wow! You really love the taste, don't you?"

Irillith let out an ecstatic sigh, and nodded as she continued to noisily suck John's cum from Rachel's pussy.

"I wonder if that's some genetic Behaviour Modification effect that makes you react so strongly?" Rachel mused out loud, gazing into Irillith's enchanting violet eyes, while tenderly stroking her flowing white hair.

Irillith had no answers for the brunette, so she continued her feast, and rapidly filled her stomach with his spunk. John and Alyssa both stroked Rachel's rounded abdomen as it gradually shrank, and the brunette sighed with pleasure at all the stimulation. Eventually they were done, and it was Irillith who looked like she was six months pregnant. She sat up, and stroked her swollen belly with a languid smile of satisfaction.

Alyssa darted around the bed, to kneel behind her, and gently caressed her tummy, as she asked, "How does that feel? Still having problems with your eyes?"

The Maliri girl leaned back against her and sighed as she said, "It feels wonderful, and my eyes seem to be fine at the moment."

Rachel climbed out of bed, and said, "That's good, but I want to give you a thorough check-up, okay?"

Irillith nodded obediently, and carefully climbed off the bed to go with the doctor.

***

Alyssa, Rachel and Irillith all left together, leaving John alone in bed with his thoughts. It had been weeks since he last spoke to Yamamoto, the taciturn swordmaster, and he really wanted to contact him to apologise for the abrupt end to their training sessions. Unfortunately they were still days away from the Terran Federation comm relays, so he'd have to wait until they got in range before he could make that call. He stretched then decided to get up, strolling into the bathroom for a shower.

*Hey, beautiful,* He thought to Alyssa as he washed himself down under the flowing water, *Can you see if Calara's up for a sparring match?*

*Can't wait for another piece of ass?* she chuckled in reply. *I'm sure she'll be delighted at the prospect!*

John was about to protest that he genuinely wanted to do some training, but he remembered Alyssa could hear all his thoughts anyway, and was just teasing him. He finished getting washed, then dried himself off before retrieving his sparring gear from the walk-in-wardrobe, and quickly putting it on. He walked briskly out of his bedroom while whistling a merry tune, and nearly collided with Calara, who was waiting for him outside.

"Hey John," the Latina said to him with a welcoming grin.

He smiled back at her, and saw that she was already dressed in her sparring gear, consisting of her black, close-fitting top and figure hugging leggings. "It looks like you got my message then. I hope you didn't mind having Alyssa act as a go-between, I figured it would be faster."

Calara let out a throaty laugh, and fell into step beside him as they walked along the corridor. "She told me to 'Head to the gym, because John wants to pound your ass', and I took a guess that you might want to do some sparring," she explained with a wry smile.

He chuckled as the two of them stepped into the grav-tube, and started floating down to Deck Seven. Calara slipped her hand into his, and looked up at him happily when he glanced down at her. They stayed hand-in-hand as they walked along the corridor past Medical and the Engineering Bay, before finally stopping in front of the door to the gym. John hit the button by the door, and when it swished open, he gestured politely for Calara to proceed. He followed her inside, and the two of them strode over to the mats to begin stretching before the fight.

As they limbered up their bodies in preparation for some strenuous physical activity, John's acute hearing caught a faint splash in the pool, immediately drawing his attention. When he looked over there curiously, the pool seemed to be deserted, but on closer inspection he saw a small flash of green under the water. He strode across the mat, then reached the water's edge, and sure enough, there was a dark-green shape swimming around, but it was tiny, probably no more than a foot long.

Kneeling down by the edge of the pool, he tapped the inside edge, and a few seconds later, Jade suddenly appeared in a shimmering green blur. She was over by the far side, and she grinned at him as she gave him a cheerful wave. Diving back under the water again, she reached the other end of the pool in a couple of seconds, and bobbed up right beside him.

"Hey!" she gasped with delight as she cleared the surface of the water. "What brings you to the gym?"

John smiled at her, and said, "We're going to do some sparring, but I just spotted you in the pool. Had you shrunk yourself? It looked like you were no bigger than twelve inches at the most!"

The Nymph nodded eagerly, and said, "It was Rachel's suggestion. After you spoilt me with Oceanus, the pool just felt tiny. By shrinking myself down, I can have a lot more fun!"

"Very impressive," John said, smiling at her in admiration. "Is that as small as you can go?"

Jade nodded, and frowned cutely as she replied, "Shrinking myself is actually surprisingly hard. Much more so than making myself bigger."

"What's the biggest you've been able to go so far?" he asked her with interest.

She smiled at him, and looking up at him, she replied, "A three tonne, African Bush Elephant."

"Wow!" he gasped in astonishment, "That's seriously impressive."

Jade beamed at him proudly, and said, "Thanks! It got easier after you and Alyssa re-bonded, so I think I went through a bit of a boost myself." She glanced behind him, and added, "Sorry, I didn't mean to hold up your sparring. It looks like Calara's ready."

John leaned down and gave her a quick kiss, and she swooned, then tipped back into the water comically, and disappeared from sight. He laughed when she re-emerged at the other end of the pool a few seconds later, and gave him a joyful wave goodbye. Turning back to Calara, he smiled apologetically for keeping her waiting.

"Don't worry, there's no rush," she said in her gentle easy-going manner.

She sat on the mat and watched him go through his stretching routine, and when he finished, she was about to get up when he surprised her and sat down in front of her. Calara was about to ask what he was doing, when he adopted a meditative pose and closed his eyes, breathing deeply. Staying respectfully silent, she watched him in fascination, as he seemed to grow visibly more relaxed and at peace. John took one last breath, before standing smoothly, and smiling at her serenely.

"I don't think I've ever seen you look so centred before," she said in surprise.

He offered her his hand, helping her to stand, and said, "I feel different. It was much easier to calm my mind and achieve a focused state."

They moved across the mats, and after bowing to one another, the bout was on. Calara danced towards him with the confidence and poise of an accomplished martial artist, moving in nimbly, and starting the match with a spinning roundhouse kick to the head. He ducked it effortlessly, then his hands darted out, and grabbed her toned leg. The Latina's eyes flared in alarm for a brief second, before his sweep knocked her other leg out from under her, sending her sprawling to the mat.

She gazed up at him wide-eyed in surprise, and gasped, "You haven't been able to catch one of my kicks like that in ages!"

John smiled, and said, "You're probably just a bit out of practice. We haven't done any sparring for a while."

Calara frowned as she took his offered hand, rising to her feet, and she backed away in preparation for another round. Deciding to let John make the first move this time, she circled him warily, then darted to the side as he lunged forward with a right-handed strike. She tried to counter attack with a kidney punch, but he deflected it effortlessly. When he followed up with another sweep, she easily jumped his leg, and started moving backwards to get some distance, but he launched another combination of strikes, seemingly having anticipated her move. She frantically blocked the series of attacks, but before she realised what was happening, he pounced on her for a grapple, and brought her down to the mat.

"You're making me feel like an amateur!" she blurted in shock, as he released her from the pin.

John sat back looking calm, while she felt flustered and out of control. He studied her for a moment, then patted the mat in front of him, and said, "Come to me, and sit here."

She did so obediently, turning away from him when prompted, and sitting cross-legged directly in front of him. He pulled her back a little further so that her back was resting against his chest, and he slipped his arms around her, placing his right hand on her slim abdomen, and the left on her sternum.

"Now, close your eyes, and breathe," he told her calmly. "Feel my chest behind you, and follow my lead."

Calara did so, trusting him implicitly, and took a deep calming breath, feeling his hands guiding her gently. They spent thirty minutes sitting like that together, synchronising their breathing, and just letting the tension flow out of her as he helped her relax.

Whispering quietly in her ear, he said, "Very good. Now clear you mind of all distractions, and focus on maintaining an inner sense of peace. When you can feel that sense of serenity in your mind, just let that feeling flow out through your limbs."

She did as he instructed, taking calm, measured breaths, and feeling a growing sense of attunement to her surroundings. It started with her love and reverence for John, then moved on to her loving relationship with Alyssa, her bonds of friendship with the girls, and even her connection to the ship. Her eyes opened slowly, and she knew she had achieved the same zen-like state that he had. Rising to her feet, she walked several steps away, then turned, so that she was facing him. They bowed to one another, then both moved to engage at the same time, their bodies moving like a flowing wave.

***

After John had arrived and said hello, Jade continued frolicking in the pool for another couple of hours. She shifted form into that of a Blue Mackerel, or more accurately a dark-green Mackerel with viridian stripes, having remembered the shape of the tasty fish from her time as a dolphin on Oceanus. She lost herself in the pleasure of the water, and although it wasn't the same as being in that vast ocean, the pool now felt big enough to remind her of it.

Two pairs of lithe legs entering the pool immediately drew her attention, and she turned to see that Alyssa and Irillith had both entered the shallow end. Racing over to join them, she shifted form into her Nymph shape, and sprang out of the water beside them.

"Hey!" she greeted them eagerly. Knowing that Alyssa wasn't all that comfortable with the water, she asked, "What brings you to the pool?"

"We came along to watch them," Alyssa said, pointing towards John and Calara.

Jade turned around to see what she meant, and stared in amazement at the fighting couple.

"Let's go take a closer look," Alyssa said in hushed voice.

The three of them swam over to the other end of the pool, with Irillith moving confidently through the water, having learnt to swim decades ago. They reached the other end, and peeked over the edge to watch John and Calara. The two were locked in an intense battle, spinning and moving in perfect synchronisation as they sprang to attack, or warily defended against the other's moves.

"They look like they're dancing," Jade murmured, her cat-like eyes watching their every movement.

Alyssa could feel her excitement rising as she watched the intensity of her lovers, as they battled one another for supremacy. Part of her was desperate to join her handsome man, and beautiful girlfriend, and have them both make love to her, but she reminded herself that she had other important responsibilities to take care of.

She stepped behind Irillith, and rested her head on her shoulder, as she whispered, "Are you able to fight like that?"

Irillith shook her head ruefully, then turned slightly so she could see the blonde girl, and murmured in reply, "I've done some unarmed combat training, but Ilyana has only been teaching me for a few years. I wouldn't stand a chance against either of them."

Alyssa gave her an encouraging smile, and said, "Calara's only been training for a couple of months. If you ask John nicely, I'm sure he'd love to train you."

Irillith stifled a laugh, and said wryly, "I've watched some of these sparring matches, I'd rather not pay the price for losing!"

"Calara tells me that's the best part," Alyssa purred in her ear, and smiled as she watched Irillith blush.

She hugged the blue-skinned girl from behind, and Jade cuddled in close as well, while they watched the battle draw to a close. John managed to eventually catch Calara, and although he wasn't using his super-strength, he was still naturally much stronger than her. He brought her down to the mat, pinning her with his body, and the two of them stared into each other's eyes as they both panted for breath, their bodies covered in a sheen of perspiration.

Communicating wordlessly, they both sat up, and quickly stripped off their clothes. Calara moved first, reverently kissing his muscular arms and chest, while staring up at him with a fiery intensity in her eyes. She glanced in Alyssa's direction for a moment, then suddenly turned, kneeling submissively in front of John. He came to her, and mounted her from behind, smoothly impaling her steaming pussy with his steel-hard cock.

Irillith gasped as she watched them, her eyes going wide as she saw John gather Calara's hair in his hand, and start to ride her roughly. "Are they...?" she murmured breathlessly.

Alyssa gently kissed the Maliri girl's ear, and said, "No, he's not taking her ass. John's going to load up her womb so you can fill your tummy again, and try and fix whatever's happening with your eyes." She slipped her hand around Irillith, and lovingly caressed her svelte, azure tummy as she added, "It looks like you were hungry for cum, you've already absorbed the last load."

Irillith felt a momentary stab of disappointment that she wouldn't get to see Calara taken like that, but she smiled, and settled down to watch the Latina get fucked hard from behind. She hadn't counted on Alyssa's empathic connection with her though, and the blonde girl hummed with interest at the Maliri's initial reaction.

"I can always ask John to start fucking her ass, if you'd prefer?" Alyssa asked in a teasing murmur. "Both of them love it."

Irillith shook her head quickly, and said quietly, "No, that's disgusting, I wouldn't want to see that."

"Are you sure?" Alyssa asked her playfully. "You've seen Calara get taken like that before, haven't you? You mentioned seeing the consequences of losing."

Irillith blushed furiously, and started to shake her head, when Alyssa's knowing smile made her pause. "Yes, I've seen them," she replied in an almost inaudible whisper.

Alyssa moved her hands higher, and gently caressed Irillith's breasts as she thought to her, *And you rubbed your pussy, wishing it was you, didn't you?*

Irillith froze, a look of panic on her face, as she started to deny it.

*Shh, don't worry, it'll be our little secret,* Alyssa murmured to her telepathically. *It's very exciting being taken that way, so I can understand why you're curious.*

The Maliri girl's eyes went wide as she felt Alyssa's right hand slide around behind her, and gently slip between her cheeks. She let out a little whimper as Alyssa brushed her finger over the knot of muscle between those firm buttocks.

*You trust me and Jade, don't you?* Alyssa asked Irillith soothingly, sensing her indecision.

When Irillith gave a tentative nod, Jade followed Alyssa's telepathic instructions, and lithely slipped in front of the Maliri, so their breasts were pressed up against each other. Jade leaned in for a kiss, and Irillith moaned into her mouth, panting with desire. Alyssa used her left hand to gather Irillith's long white hair in her hand, causing her to moan loudly into Jade's mouth. That moan turned into a debauched groan as Alyssa applied a little pressure with the index finger on her right hand, carefully sliding it into Irillith's unexplored passage. When Jade reached down and gently began to stroke Irillith's clit, the Maliri girl exploded in orgasm at their dual manipulation of her body.

*That's a good girl,* Alyssa said to her encouragingly. *Just imagine it's John taking you like this for the first time.*

Irillith clung to the Nymph in front of her, and sobbed through one intense orgasm after another.

***

"I'll go and start laying the table," Dana said to Rachel, as she swept out of the kitchen.

She started setting up placemats and cutlery, then looked up when she heard the double doors open into the Lounge.

"Hey guys!" Dana called out to John and the girls accompanying him, as they strolled over to join them. "Alyssa told me you'd been working up an appetite, so Rachel and I made us all an early dinner."

"I'm famished!" John exclaimed eagerly. "What are we having, my sexy flame-haired temptress?"

Dana giggled and said, "You're in a great mood!"

"Calara just put me through my paces," he replied, putting his arm around the Latina's shoulder and grinning at her.

She looked up at him with a look of adoration in her dark-brown eyes, and sighed contentedly as she said, "I've never had a workout quite like it."

Dana smirked, and reached out to gently stroke Irillith's swollen belly, and said, "Yeah, I can see a good time was had by one and all."

Irillith darted a glance at Alyssa, and blushed a very dark blue.

Taking pity on the obviously mortified Maliri, Dana smiled at her, and changed the subject as she replied, "To answer your original question, John, we've made a lasagne. I really enjoyed the last one, and it's relatively easy to make. Unfortunately I'm not the expert chef that you are."

Alyssa grinned at her, and said, "I like your cooking, Sparks. Even your old reheated stews back on Karron were tasty."

Dana snorted with laughter and said, "They were tasty because we were starving, and didn't know any better. We wouldn't even be able to look at them now without wanting to vom!"

"I guess we have been spoilt recently," Alyssa said, slipping her arm around John's and leaning up to give him a tender kiss on the cheek.

Rachel bustled through the door a moment later, carrying a steaming dish of food, and she said urgently, "Quick! This is hot, someone get the serving shelf ready."

"Oops! Sorry," Dana said, rushing over to hit the button that raised the platform in the centre of the dining table.

Rachel set the dish down with a sigh of relief, then said, "I'll be back in a moment with the garlic bread."

Everyone fanned out to take their seats, with Alyssa, Dana, and eventually Rachel, sitting on John's right, while Calara, and Jade sat on his left. Irillith waited until everyone had sat down before moving to take a seat, and her dining companions immediately recalled her making a deliberate point of sitting at the opposite end of the table from John. All eyes were on her as she carefully eased herself onto the chair beside Jade, being careful not to bump the table with her rounded tummy. She gave everyone a shy smile, and when everyone smiled back at her affectionately, she relished the feeling of acceptance into their group.

Their late lunch was a lovely, leisurely affair, with everyone looking relaxed and happy as they ate together, complimenting Dana and Rachel on their cooking. John looked out over the girls, just enjoying hearing the sound of their happy chatter and melodic laughter. He caught Alyssa gazing at him lovingly, and he smiled back at her.

*Happy?* she asked him, already suspecting the answer.

He nodded, saying, *Very much. Everything feels like it's getting back to normal after all the chaos of the last few weeks.*

She gave him a brilliant smile as she replied, *Real 'normal' would bore you to tears. Fortunately your 'normal' life is anything but.* She glanced pointedly at the bevy of girls around the table, then gave him a mischievous wink.

*I can't argue with that,* he said with a broad grin on his face.

Raising his glass of wine, John cleared his throat, and looked around the table to make sure he had everyone's attention. When they were all focused on him, he said, "I'd like to formally welcome Irillith into our group. We had a bit of a rocky start, not helped by my own... issues, but here's to a bright future together for all of us. Welcome to the family, Irillith!"

The other girls all echoed his toast, welcoming the Maliri into their group, and she looked genuinely touched by the gesture. "Thank you all for making me feel so welcome," she said with a shy smile. "I'm looking forward to our future together too."

Everyone applauded, and she laughed self-consciously, feeling conspicuously out of her depth in this kind of convivial social scenario.

Sensing her discomfort, Alyssa thought to her, *You handled yourself perfectly. Please don't feel self-conscious, we're all just delighted to have you join us.*

Irillith glanced her way, and gave her a grateful nod, and a warm smile.

When the applause had died down, John asked her with concern, "How are the eyes doing? Are they still giving you problems?"

Irillith sighed before she replied, "It's strange. When we went to Medical, I started seeing flickering movement in the corners of my eyes again, but as soon as we went to the gym, I was fine."

"I checked Irillith with a full body scan, but there weren't any obvious issues with her eyes," Rachel informed him clinically. "There was some increased brain activity since I took the last scan, but that's likely to be from the intellect enhancements from the Gift."

John gave her a grateful nod, then turned to Irillith and said, "Let us know if there are any changes, especially if your vision problems get worse."

She smiled at him, thankful for his concern, and said, "I'll keep you updated."

Everyone had finished eating by now, so they quickly cleared the table, then reconvened to the sofas in the Lounge area. John sat down on one of the sofas, and patted his lap for Irillith to join him. She looked at him curiously for a moment, unsure what he was suggesting, so he beckoned her over instead. She glided over to him, and he guided her down so she was sitting across his lap, with his left arm supporting her. When he placed his right arm on her still rounded tummy, she sighed contentedly, and leaned into him.

Jade sat opposite, with Rachel and Dana cuddled up with her, while Alyssa and Calara flanked him. There were looks of contentment all round as everyone relaxed after a lovely dinner. John glanced up at the ship's chronometer on the wall, and saw that it was just after three in the afternoon.

Smiling at the girls, he asked them, "So what's everyone's plans for this afternoon?"

Calara spoke up first, and said, "I'll continue assembling Dragon March data for Irillith to hack whenever she feels up for looking at it."

"Sorry about all this," Irillith said to the Latina looking chagrined. "I'm holding you up."

Calara stroked Irillith's leg comfortingly, and said, "Don't worry about that, you just rest and get better. In any case, we can't contact anyone from the Terran Federation to warn them about Admiral Norwood, until we get in range of the Terran comm relays. That won't be for another three days."

"It's a good thing you mentioned that," John said looking grim. "Even if we get damning proof of Admiral Norwood's guilt, who do we send that too? He's an Admiral, and I don't personally know any of the Fleet Admirals."

Alyssa stroked his shoulder and said, "Charles will know someone trustworthy we can take this to, he's pretty high ranked, right?"

John replied with some reluctance, "We still have to prove that he's not connected to this in any way. Even if he isn't we can't afford to send this information over a comm channel, even a secured one. High Command will be able to review any data we send out on secured comms."

Irillith nodded, and said, "Assuming these Terran traitors aren't complete imbeciles, they'll have data sniffers set up to check comm traffic, to give them plenty of warning if anyone starts to suspect their activities. Depending on the level of sophistication, they might be able to detect anyone discussing traitors, or even as far as mentioning their names disparagingly."

"So we just fly straight to Olympus then?" Calara asked, eagerly. "Irillith and I confirm my suspicions with concrete proof, then we take what we've found to Charles."

"How long till we can make it there?" John asked Alyssa, turning to look at the beautiful blonde.

She answered him immediately, saying, "Three days, six hours until we reach the border with Terran Space, then another three days to reach Olympus."

"What do we do if this Charles person is one of the traitors?" Irillith asked them openly.

John's eyes narrowed, as he said, "Then we still go to Olympus anyway, and I'll handle that personally."

Alyssa gently squeezed his shoulder, and gave him a sympathetic smile, before she said, "I'm sure it won't come to that."

He smiled at her appreciatively, then said, "Alright, so we have a few days to gather all the evidence we need." He hugged Irillith tighter, looking down at her as he added, "Which means Calara is absolutely right. You just focus on getting plenty of rest, and recover from whatever's giving you trouble with your eyes."

She nodded obediently, and just enjoyed being encircled in his arms.

John looked over at Jade, and asked, "How about you, Jade? Anything interesting going on?"

She shook her head, before she replied, "I've already spent several hours in the pool this morning, any more feels a bit self-indulgent. That means I'm at a bit of a loose end." She gazed at him with her glinting emerald eyes, and asked hopefully, "Have you got anything you'd like me to help with?"

"Actually I have," John replied with a smile. "I'd like to start doing some psychic training this afternoon, and I thought I'd start with that flaming sword trick that Irillith mentioned."

"Pyrokinesis," Irillith explained helpfully.

"That's it," John said with a grateful nod, "Edraele mentioned your grandmother had a real gift for pyrokinesis."

He could feel Irillith shudder in his arms as she said, "Ugh, don't remind me, please. Her reputation for cruel and twisted torture was absolutely legendary."

Rachel sat up, and said, "All this talk of psychic powers reminds me of something. I took lots of images with the Psi-detector yesterday, showing the flows of energy between Edraele and the engineers, as well as all of us."

"What are the results like?" John asked her enthusiastically.

"I'll go and get the Psi-detector, then I can show you," she replied with an eager grin, as she quickly got up off the sofa.

While he waited for Rachel to return, John looked at the redhead sitting opposite, and asked, "How about you, Dana? Any interesting projects on the go?"

She nodded animatedly, and replied, "Several actually, but I'm trying to be sensible and just finish off one at a time."

"Sounds intriguing! What are you working on right now?" he asked, then listened attentively.

Dana grinned at him, and said, "New body armour! I've added the last features to the schematics this morning, and now the design is finally finished, I'll get the Mass Fabricators fired up this afternoon." She glanced at Alyssa and added, "If you're up for some psychic shaping tomorrow, I'll be able to have the first two suits done by the evening. It'll take me another couple of days or so to build the rest of the female suits."

"I'd be happy to help you construct the rest of the armour," Jade offered. "I can watch you build the first one, then put the other suits together for you."

Alyssa smiled at the Nymph, and said, "I can vouch for what a quick learner she is. I think she'd make a great assistant."

Dana looked delighted, but then smiled a bit sheepishly, and said, "It's tedious and fiddly work. In all honesty I'd love to have your help, but it feels like I'd be taking advantage."

Jade gave the redhead a tight hug, and said gleefully, "I'd love to help! I hate not having anything to do, and if I can free you up for more research, then I'd be really contributing to our group."

John smiled at the Nymph, and said, "I think it's a great idea. You're very strong, agile, and bright, and I think you'll make a perfect assistant. You'll probably find some construction work easier than Dana would, because of your physical advantages."

Dana hugged Jade back, and said, "I guess that settles it then, you're hired!"

"Thanks, boss!" Jade grinned at her happily.

Dana laughed, and said, "No need to call me boss. Something simple like, Grand Engineering Overlord, will be fine."

Jade giggled, and said, "You got it, Grand Engineering Overlord. When do we start?"

The redhead smiled at her fondly, and asked, "Tomorrow morning? The Mass Fabricators will be finished with their last batch of components, and I can show you how the first suit is constructed."

John noted the ecstatically happy look on Dana's face, and asked, "Building the armour can't have been that horrible a job? What's made you so happy?"

She gave him a glorious smile, revealing her sparkling white teeth, and replied, "With Jade helping out on construction, I'll be able to make a start with the design work on my next project!"

Alyssa laughed, and said, "I've seen that look before. You're working on a new weapon next, aren't you?"

Dana nodded enthusiastically, and grinned at Irillith as she said, "Our beautiful Maliri gave me a lovely gift. Now I just need to unwrap it, and see what's inside."

Rachel swept into the Lounge with the Psi-detector in her hand, and she flourished it in the air, as she walked back to join them. "Can you hook up the big view-screen to this please, sexy?" she asked Dana.

"Of course, babes," the redhead answered immediately, leaping to her feet, and darting over to the bar to collect the remote for the view-screen.

The others watched the pair of them as Rachel handed over the Psi-detector to Dana, then walked over to rejoin everyone. It only took Dana a minute to connect the data store on the futuristic looking ray-gun device to the view-screen, and when she did, the big screen crackled for a moment before coming to life.

The frozen image on the screen showed a zoomed-in view of the assembled engineers, as they listened to Edraele speak. It was taken from a high vantage point, in this case, up on the maintenance gantries one-hundred-metres above everyone, and gave a nice clear picture of all the Maliri involved.

Part of the shot was completely obscured by the thick cable of bright ethereal energy that was snaking out from Rachel, the camerawoman taking the images. It led all the way down to ground level, then disappeared out of shot, heading towards what appeared to be some kind of distorting glare behind Edraele.

"Sorry about the line obscuring the shot," Rachel said with a frown. "I'll un-pause this in a moment, and I move position, so you can see everyone more clearly."

"Wait a moment," John said, raising a hand. "That connection looks significantly stronger than the last time we studied the Psi-detector footage."

Alyssa nodded, smiling at Rachel lovingly and said, "We're much closer now, since we bonded. We can chat telepathically now, rather than just me projecting my voice to her."

Rachel smiled wistfully at the blonde girl, and said, "That was an amazing experience. It felt like I was officially part of the group after that."

Dana put the remote on the coffee table between everyone, then gave Rachel an exuberant hug, and said, "You were part of the group way before that!"

The brunette laughed, and hugged the other girl back giving her a tender kiss before Dana released her and sat down on one of the sofas to the side to get a better view. Jade had turned around to kneel on the sofa to be able to see better, so when Dana patted the seat next to her, she got up immediately, and cuddled up next to her.

Rachel was still standing, and she said, "Now, if there aren't any more interruptions from beautiful redheads, I'll continue."

Dana chuckled, and waved her on, so the tawny haired girl turned back to the viewscreen, and picked up the remote from the coffee table. Rachel looked at the view-screen, and pressed play on the remote, and the frozen image started to move. Sure enough, Rachel had moved around the maintenance gantry, until she was at an angle where the snaking ethereal cable that linked her to Alyssa was no longer blocking the view.

"What's that bright glow coming from my mother?" Irillith asked, as she stared up at the screen in fascination.

"People with strong psychic abilities seem to project a glowing aura. Edraele's a potent psychic, which is why she's surrounded in the bright halo," Rachel explained. She glanced at Alyssa, and added, "But we've seen stronger."

"Pause it a second," John requested, as he leaned in closer to stare at the screen. "The lines coming from all those Maliri engineers are very faint. I can barely make them out."

Jade nodded, confirming his suspicions, and said, "You're right. The intensity from their connection to Edraele is much weaker than any of ours have been. The weakest we've seen up until now was from Rachel, which was before she bonded, but even then it was at least... ten times stronger than the Maliri connections."

They sat there quietly taking this in, glancing at each other as they wondered what it meant. Everyone suspected the same thing, but it was Rachel who spoke up first, "I think we've all come to the same conclusion," she began, looking around at everyone. "It seems like the closer we all become with each other, the more the strength of our psychic links ramp up as well."

"There's such a huge difference though," John marvelled as he glanced up at the screen. "Just the connection from Rachel alone seems more powerful than the eighty Maliri in the image. The Progenitors seem to be all about increasing their power, so I wonder how they boost those connections?"

"I don't think they do," Alyssa said soberly. "After the way Progenitor-John behaved, can you really imagine him getting to know the girls he was linked to? Encouraging them to grow and develop as people, and falling in love with them, just as they fell for him?"

Everyone shook their heads, realising how ridiculous that sounded.

"I was around him for nearly two weeks," Irillith said quietly. "All he wanted to know about was Maliri Noble Houses, their fleet dispositions, and orbital facilities. I don't think he bothered to ask me a single personal thing during the entire time I was with him."

John nodded, and said, "He was cut off from you as a power source by that point, but I don't think that was the reason. It's more likely that he just didn't care. He informed Edraele about how Matriarchs and Thralls are linked with a Progenitor, and she said that Progenitors and their Matriarchs have no name for 'the bond', as it's something they never do."

"What does this mean in practical terms though?" Calara asked them curiously. "Does it give us a tactical advantage against that Progenitor who seems to be stirring up trouble all over the place?"

John smiled at her, and said, "Well firstly, it confirms just how special all of you are. In purely psychic energy terms, you're each worth hundreds of Maliri, but I consider you all to be priceless."

Alyssa smiled at him lovingly, and gave him a playful nudge with her shoulder as she said, "You old smoothie. We're all quite fond of you too, you know."

The other girls murmured their agreement, and when everyone had settled down again, Rachel asked, "Everyone ready for me to continue? There's some other really interesting stuff to go."

"Please proceed, Doctor Voss," John said to her formally.

"I shall, Commodore Blake," she replied playfully, then turned towards the view-screen and pressed play once again.

They could see Edraele speaking to the assembled crowd of engineers, although there wasn't any sound accompanying the images. She turned to her side, and a few moments later John strode into the image. He still looked just the same as before, with no aura of any kind, but they had to blink against the blinding glare as a massive, blazingly bright column of energy was flowing from him off the edge of the screen.

"Holy fuck," Dana swore, blinking against the searing glare. "That link is insane. It was never that strong before!"

Rachel quickly fast forwarded for a few seconds, and abruptly the intensity dropped right down. "Sorry about that," she said with an apologetic smile. "It took me a moment to turn down the amplification... I was seeing spots for a few minutes until my eyes recovered."

With the changed settings, they could now look at the screen without having to squint against the glare. The connections from the Maliri engineers all seemed to have vanished, too faint to be detectable with the lower settings. The link from Edraele to John seemed strong though, still visible on the screen, but it paled in comparison to the primary link from him that disappeared out-of-shot.

The image showed John addressing the crowd, and then he turned to walk down the steps of the podium. Rachel panned the camera with him, and he strolled over to rejoin the girls, who were standing back from proceedings.

"Stop!" they all cried at once, staring at the screen in shock, and Rachel grinned at them as she paused the video.

"I knew it was you!" John exclaimed with delight, turning to grin at Alyssa. "The radiant girl from my dreams!"

Sure enough, there centred in the image, a brilliant glowing figure was standing next to John. Even with the modified settings, she was surrounded in a resplendent aura, but they could instantly tell by her elegant poise and bearing that it was Alyssa. The link from John was connected with her, and it had contracted when he walked over to stand next to her. Eldritch power lines snaked out from the radiant figure, linking the rest of the crew to Alyssa.

"It's not just Rachel's connection that's stronger," Jade noted, her sharp eyes quickly spotting the increased intensity of the link between Calara, Dana, and herself to Alyssa. "Even with the modified settings, the energy flowing from the rest of us to Alyssa is much more powerful."

Rachel nodded and said archly, "I have a theory about that if you want to hear it?"

"You know we do, honey. What is it?" he inquired with a chuckle.

She smiled at him, then replied, "When you re-established your connection with Alyssa, you said you modified the link to remove the compulsion to obey you. I suspect that element of absolute control took up a significant bandwidth of our connection, and with that gone, it meant the whole link could be devoted purely to psychic energy. Then, on top of that, Alyssa seems to have established the same kind of link with you. I bet that's completely unheard of amongst Progenitors."

All of a sudden Edraele's voice filled John's thoughts, and she said firmly, *Rachel is correct. A Progenitor keeps his Matriarch under a tight leash, and I don't think they'd ever consider relinquishing their absolute control.*

John nodded, and a sudden thought popped into his head, and he asked, *We still have a regular Progenitor/Matriarch connection, don't we?*

Edraele replied without any hesitation, *Yes, that's correct, my Lord. All the Maliri who are linked to you via me, myself included, will obey your every command.*

*Very interesting, thank you, Edraele,* he replied thoughtfully.

He looked at Rachel again, and saw that she was watching him patiently. "Sorry, about that," he said with a smile. "Edraele was just confirming that you're right, I don't think the Progenitors would ever dream of letting the women linked with them out of their total control."

"No problem," she said to him, smiling back. Glancing up at the screen, she added, "You can see that all of us 'Thralls' have massively boosted links with Alyssa now too. That makes me think that the same bandwidth theory applies to us as well. Now you aren't enforcing our total obedience, we're able to make stronger connections with you, routed through Alyssa."

Dana pouted and said mournfully, "I actually miss it. I liked being your good obedient girl."

John grinned at her, and said, "You still can be. The only time it was really important for you to be totally obedient was when we in bed together, so don't go throwing away your 'John's Property' schoolgirl outfit! Rachel and Calara already proved what good girls they are, mind-controlling link be damned!"

They all laughed at that, with Alyssa, Calara and Irillith all hugging him affectionately, taking advantage of their proximity. When everyone settled down again, they all looked up at the screen, curious to see if there was anything else of interest to spot.

Glancing at Irillith, Alyssa said wryly, "For someone who isn't psychic, that's a fairly impressive aura."

Even with the dampening effect on the Psi-detector image, they could all make out a distinctive glowing aura around the Maliri girl. When Edraele walked into shot with several engineers, they could see that the Maliri Matriarch was the stronger, but the difference wasn't that pronounced.

Irillith stared up at the screen in surprise, then said dismissively, "I've never been able to do anything supernatural, that can't be right."

Rachel studied her for a moment, before saying, "You do have triple helix DNA, and you share the 'Eldritch bloodline' with your mother. I'd actually be more surprised if you didn't have psychic potential."

The Maliri girl nodded, her violet eyes widening slightly with apprehension. Alyssa sensed how unsettled Irillith was, and leaned in to give her a supportive hug, while saying, "Don't be worried, we're all here to help you deal with anything."

John nodded, holding her in a comforting embrace, and said, "You've got me to look after you now, I'll make sure you're fine." He gently stroked her slightly swollen tummy for emphasis, and gave her a playful wink.

She let out a relieved laugh, and then smiled at them both, and said, "Thanks, both of you. I must admit, it feels weird relying on other people, but it's also very reassuring."

Jade suddenly spoke up, having spotted something else with her keen eyesight. "Sorry to interrupt, but I just noticed something else."

"No problem," John said encouragingly. "What have you seen?"

"The links with the assassins is faint, but still strong enough to be seen," she replied, pointing up at the screen.

John squinted at the screen and said, "Now you mention it, yeah, I can see them too."

"That's interesting," Alyssa said looking thoughtful. "You were only with them once, weren't you?"

He nodded, and said, "Yes, but they got a much larger 'share' than the engineers. In those group sessions with Jade, she was splitting each load between twenty or more Maliri."

Rachel tapped her chin thoughtfully, and said, "Connection strength could be related to volume ingested." She smiled at him, and added, "It's a shame we don't have a few, very willing Maliri test subjects to experiment with."

Irillith smiled at her, and said eagerly, "I'm happy to volunteer!"

Alyssa gave her a wicked grin, and said, "Don't worry, I intend to keep you fully loaded until this eye problem is sorted out." She glanced at John and added playfully, "As long as you don't object to your Matriarch's suggestion, mighty Progenitor?"

"That won't be a problem," he said with a laugh, and leaned in to kiss Irillith, while resting his strong, protective hand over her rounded tummy. Her violet eyes gazed up at him alluringly when they separated, and with a regretful sigh, he said, "I better get moving if I'm going to get any psychic practice in before dinner this evening."

He helped the Maliri girl to stand, and everyone else rose to their feet too. "I'll head up to the Bridge again, and have another look at those classified commands," Irillith said bravely.

Calara walked over to her, and said, "I'd be happy to have the company, but let me know the moment your eyes give you any trouble."

Irillith nodded, and the two of them walked out of the Officers' Lounge while waving everyone goodbye. Dana and Rachel smiled at each other and started walking out too, while Alyssa and Jade accompanied John.

"Sorry Rachel, I never found out what you were up to," John said to the brunette as they left the room. "I meant to ask when you came back with the Psi-detector, but with all the psychic talk I got a bit distracted."

"Nothing particularly exciting. I'll need to access the Terran Federation Medical Archives before I can start researching something that might really help people," she replied with a smile. "Until we're back in Terran Space, I'm planning to take a look at a DNA sample I got from one of the Maliri engineers, which I took before she swallowed any of your cum. I was going to compare that against Irillith's baseline DNA, and see if it told me anything new about the genetic behaviour modification. I never got a chance to ask Edraele for a DNA sample, unfortunately."

Alyssa smiled at her, and said, "You should check John's jacket and my blue dress, as long as the cleaning bots haven't whisked them away yet. We spent quite a bit of time with Edraele, so you might find one of her white hairs there."

They had arrived at the grav-tube, and Rachel was going to step into the red side to drop down to Deck Seven. She stopped at the last second, and smiled at Alyssa as she said gratefully, "I'll go and check right now, thanks!"

John was going to go with her to his quarters, to retrieve his sword, when Alyssa hooked her arm around his, and said eagerly, "Don't worry about that old thing. Let me forge you a shiny new one!"

Before he could answer, a startled cry from above them had them looking up in alarm. They stepped into the blue side of the grav-tube, and ascended smoothly up to the Command Deck. They found Irillith slumped against Calara, who was trying to support her weight, while carefully lowering her to the ground.

"What happened?" John asked, effortlessly scooping up the comatose Maliri woman in his arms.

"I've no idea!" Calara said, sounding distressed. "We stepped out of the grav-tube, and Irillith cried out, holding her hands over her eyes. She seemed to black out, and just tipped over, but fortunately I managed to catch her before she hurt herself."

Faye was fluttering nearby, having been on watch duty on the Bridge, and she looked worried as she asked, "Is my Creator okay?"

"I'm not sure Faye," John replied, studying Irillith's face with concern. He darted a look at Rachel and asked, "Take her to Medical?"

Rachel hesitated, and looked frustrated as she replied, "I couldn't find anything wrong with her. It wasn't eyestrain, or any kind of trauma, and her eyes looked in perfect health."

"Let's take her to our room," Alyssa suggested. "She'll be more comfortable there, and we can keep an eye on her more easily."

Rachel nodded, and said, "Perhaps she just needs rest. In any case, there's no point taking her to Medical if there's nothing I can do to treat her."

John stepped into the grav-tube, accompanied by the girls, and said, "I'll speak to Edraele, and have her send whatever Maliri medical data they have available to the Invictus."

*What's happened to my daughter?* Edraele asked, her voice throbbing with worry.

***

Aradrea Ghilwen sat at the head of the conference table, darting nervous glances towards the large set of double doors at the other end of the room. When the doors began to open smoothly, she rose from her chair, grimacing at the twinge in her back as she did so. She'd been greatly relieved that the Matriarchs from the other Houses had agreed to her urgent plea for a meeting, and even more so when they agreed to meet on her homeworld, saving her an uncomfortable journey. It rankled that they considered House Ghilwen innocuous enough to be classed as neutral territory, but for the leader of the eighth-ranked House in the Maliri Regency, such slights had to be lived with.

Two regal looking middle-aged Maliri women glided into the room, speaking amiably to one another, as they made cordial conversation. Aradrea Ghilwen immediately recognised the Matriarchs of House Aeberos, and House Naestina, ranked fourth and fifth respectively in the Regency. The two noble Houses had long been allies, and worked closely together to scheme against their rivals. They had successfully brought House Kayden low, devastating the primary Kayden fleet in a surprise pincer attack, then quickly followed up to annex several of their worlds. House Kayden had crashed from rank three to rank fifteen, their power and prestige now a mere shadow of what it had once been. These Matriarchs were duplicitous and conniving women, but they were both hungry for power, which made them exactly who Aradrea needed for her plan.

"Warmest greetings to you, honoured Matriarchs," Aradrea said to them both courteously, giving them a respectful curtsey, and ignoring her creaking knees.

"Cut the insincere pleasantries, Aradrea," Yunaliss Aeberos said dismissively.

Tinefain Naestina looked at the older House Ghilwen Matriarch with contempt, and sneered, "This better not be a waste of my time. I only agreed to this meeting because Yunaliss asked me to come."

Yunaliss gave her friend a wicked smile, and said, "Aradrea believes she's found a way to strike at that thrice-damned Valaden whore, so I thought it prudent to hear her out. If she's wasted our time..." She paused for a moment, and her magenta eyes flashed dangerously before she continued, "Well, House Ghilwen might only be rank -Eight-, but we can always pick on a lower ranked House to annex more worlds."

Aradrea ground her teeth while she stifled her fury at their threats and disrespectful tone, right here in her own palace. The provocative reminder about House Ghilwen being forced down a rank, after the terrible loss of two of her daughters to Edraele's assassin was particularly gruelling.

She took a measured breath to calm herself, then smiled as she said, "There's no need for threats Yunaliss. I'm very grateful that you and Tinefain agreed to meet with me, and I promise it will be worth your while."

"It better be..." Tinefain said ominously.

The two women sat on the two seats opposite each other, halfway down the length of the table, then both turned to look at Aradrea expectantly.

Yunaliss raised an eyebrow, and asked, "Well we're here, so what's this amazing opportunity to crush House Valaden you promised me?"

Aradrea gave her a disarming smile, and said, "If you would just wait for a few minutes, we ca-."

"Wait?!" Tinefain snarled in disbelief. "You're playing a dangerous game here, Aradrea."

Yunaliss' eyes narrowed and she asked in a chilly voice, "Why are you making us wait?"

"She's waiting for a major player to arrive, that's why," Shaedra Loraleth said in her lilting voice, her tone dripping with contempt.

Aradrea breathed a sigh of relief as the House Loraleth Matriarch swept imperiously into the room, then sat opposite her at the other end of the table. House Loraleth was the second ranked noble House in the Maliri Regency, and House Valaden's closest rival.

"What's -she- doing here?" Tinefain hissed, her teal coloured eyes flashing menacingly.

Yunaliss had started to rise from her seat, anger and indignation on her face, so Aradrea slapped her hand down on the table drawing all their attention to her. The look of shock on the other three Matriarchs faces at her impudence was tremendously satisfying, but Aradrea knew she had only seconds to act before she sealed her own fate.

"I asked you here, because you're all powerful, ambitious women," she began in a conciliatory manner. Before any of them could interrupt her, Aradrea's voice dropped several octaves as she added menacingly, "And more importantly, you all despise Edraele Valaden nearly as much as I do."

The furious hate in the older woman's voice drew all their attention, and they studied her intently, wondering just what the House Ghilwen Matriarch had in mind. Aradrea pressed a button on the console built into the desk in front of her, and a large holographic image appeared directly behind her.

"Tell them what you told me," she said coldly.

The image had coalesced into the face of a Maliri engineer, and they could clearly see the crossed blades insignia of House Valaden on the right breast of her jumpsuit. The woman looked relatively young, with bright aquamarine eyes, and her only noteworthy feature being her startling snowy-white hair.

"Edraele is vulnerable," the engineer began. "Irillith's taken up with some Terran, and is off on some mission, taking her away from Maliri Space for weeks to come. Edraele is ordering some kind of significant engine upgrade for her fleet, and is personally overseeing the work on Genthalas Shipyard herself."

"Impossible!" Shaedra Loraleth snorted derisively. "I already sabotaged Edraele's deal with the Trankarans. With that ambassador dead, there's no way she got her hands on their engine tech."

The engineer shook her head, and said insistently, "The man Irillith is infatuated with is some kind of Terran hero. He brokered the deal with the Trankarans, and supplied Edraele with the engine schematics." Her voice dropped to a hushed whisper as she added, "In exchange, Edraele equipped his ship with Maliri weapons!"

There was a deathly silence in the room, and the three Maliri Matriarchs looked absolutely stunned. Darting deeply worried looks at one another, they were all thinking the same thing; Edraele already commanded a bigger fleet than the second and third Houses combined. If she should have acquired such a technology, she would be completely unassailable, and her fleets could crush any opposing houses at will.

"Why should we trust you?" Tinefain asked suspiciously. "What have you got to gain from telling us this?"

"Edraele is a despicable tyrant," the engineer said vehemently. "My life couldn't be any worse working for one of your Houses, and I'm hoping that if we're successful, whoever takes control of Genthalas might see fit to let me run the shipyard."

Yunaliss smiled, and said sardonically, "Opportunistic and ambitious, I like her already."

"What's your plan?" Shaedra Loraleth asked curtly, a hungry look in her eyes.

The engineer smiled humourlessly, and said, "As I mentioned before, Edraele is overseeing the refit on Genthalas, so she's away from the protection of her palace on Valaden. Without Irillith lurking around, she has even less security, and I believe she's exposed herself enough to make her vulnerable to assassination."

Shaedra looked thoughtful, and said, "Irillith managed to sniff out the last four agents I sent after them. I don't know how she keeps breaking my operatives' cover, but she's relentless." The Loraleth Matriarch narrowed her eyes as she waited for the catch, and added, "So what do you need from us exactly?"

"Highly trained assassins," the engineer said with a fierce eagerness. "If you can send me at least two each, that should be more than enough to overwhelm her bodyguard, and cut that cold-hearted bitch down. I'll be able to supply your agents with access codes and schedules, making it easy for them to strike."

Yunaliss darted a speculative look at Tinefain, and asked, "What's a couple of assassins? It's not like they'd be hard to replace."

Tinefain nodded, a sly smile spreading on her face, as she replied, "I have no shortage of stone-cold killers at my disposal."

They both turned to look at the House Loraleth Matriarch, and she gave them a wicked smile, as she nodded her approval.

Aradrea Ghilwen didn't bother to turn to look at the Valaden engineer, and simply said, "We'll be in touch when our operatives are ready." She pressed a button on her console, and the image of the Valaden engineer flickered for a moment, then winked out.

Yunaliss turned to look at Aradrea with newfound respect in her eyes, and studied her for a moment before asking, "Eight assassins isn't a tall order for any House. Why would you need to bring us in for this?"

Before Aradrea could reply, Shaedra Loraleth answered for her in a quiet voice, "Because if this plan fails, Edraele Valaden wouldn't need to upgrade her fleets to obliterate House Ghilwen. With all of us involved, we have enough fleet strength to challenge Edraele directly should the assassination fail. Whatever happens, we can't allow Edraele to upgrade her fleet."

Aradrea locked eyes with Shaedra, and nodded grimly as she said, "Edraele Valaden must die, whatever the cost."

"Agreed," Shaedra Loraleth said decisively.

"Agreed," Yunaliss and Tinefain said without any hesitation.

A gloating malevolent smile spread on Aradrea Ghilwen's face. Edraele Valaden had crossed her for the last time.