John stared at his new Paragon Body Armour with his mouth agape, and walked quickly across the Engineering Bay to get a closer look. Dana had set up another armour equipping frame next to the two that were already built against the far wall, but this new one was larger, designed to hold armour sized for a brawny six-foot-two man. The full set of body armour was standing in the frame, with the robotic arms holding the front plates in place to showcase the dramatic new design.

The Paragon Armour was about the same size as the previous Phalanx suit, but much sleeker, the aesthetics more elegant and refined. Like the suit that Jade was modelling for them, there was a slight bulge in the vambraces and armoured boots, which obviously housed the same anti-grav generators for use in flight-mode. The suit was glossy white, coated with the same sparkling flecks of silver Etherite, which made the suit seem to radiate a soft aura of light.

The really major difference, which had caused John's shocked reaction, were the resplendent golden pauldrons shaped into the visage of a regal lion. The head of the proud looking beast topped each shoulder, staring out with wise eyes that seemed to hold a hidden strength. The craftsmanship of each pauldron was exquisite, and the representation of the stylised lion was breathtaking to behold. The breastplate was embossed with a similar image, while the boots, helmet, and gauntlets were etched with golden scrollwork, gleaming brightly against the glistening white Crystal Alyssium plating.

"What do you think?" Alyssa asked, then held her breath as she waited for his reaction.

John shook his head in amazement, and exclaimed, "I can't believe you designed this yourself. It looks incredible!" He paused, and grinned at her as he continued, "I love it, but aren't we overdoing the 'Lion of the Federation' symbolism?"

She shook her head, as she replied firmly, "Symbolism is important. Like it or not, we have a certain reputation to maintain now, and it's important we look the part."

Glancing at the gleaming armour, John frowned, and asked, "Are you sure it doesn't come in black? I have a feeling it's going to be a little bit difficult to sneak about in it."

Alyssa waved away his concerns with a dismissive hand, and replied, "Don't you remember when we got shot at by those Terran troops when we were rescuing Rachel? Think how shitty it would've been if we'd had to shoot those guys in self-defence. Besides, how often do we sneak about anyway? We don't tend to be particularly subtle, and just mow down everything that crosses us. If we really need to do some covert ops, I'm sure Dana could make us some stealth variants. Right, Sparks?"

The redhead nodded enthusiastically, and said, "That won't be a problem. We've got loads of Crystal Alyssium, and it's not like we can't afford any other materials I might need."

John rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he stared at the new Paragon Armour, and said, "I guess you make a good point. Specialised suits is probably the way to go, rather than trying to cram everything into a jack-of-all-trades Body Armour." Studying the armour carefully, he turned to Dana, and asked, "How come it's still the same size as the Phalanx suit? Shouldn't it be much smaller, like the one Jade's wearing."

The redhead looked a bit shifty, and Alyssa quickly interjected, "Figure-hugging isn't a good look for a man. You'll look much more imposing like this, trust me."

Giving them a suspicious glance, John asked, "Come on, out with it. What are you two hiding?"

Alyssa let out a resigned sigh, then nodded to Dana, who immediately confessed, "We wanted to keep you extra safe, so your armour is tripled-plated, rather than double-layered. You'll be tougher than a tank in this suit!"

He frowned disapprovingly, and snorted, "That's ridiculous! Why didn't you armour up the female variants the same way? Please don't tell me it's because you wanted to look good."

Rolling her eyes, Dana replied indignantly, "Give us a little credit! The female variants are ridiculously tough as it is, and slimming them down makes us a smaller target. There's a fine balancing point where avoiding hits entirely is as useful as extra layers of protection."

"We discussed it extensively," Rachel said in agreement. "With your penchant for melee, you're far more exposed than the rest of us. While you're charging at enemies, we're more likely to be behind cover, fighting at long range with Punisher rifles."

"Besides," Alyssa said soberly, "If something serious happens to you, and then one of us gets critically injured, we won't be able to just top the girl up. Like it or not, keeping you fighting-fit makes us all safer."

John conceded they were right, and said, "You've obviously put a lot of thought into this, and I'm sorry I underestimated you. Will you forgive me?"

When he gazed around at the women gathered there, he could tell they already had, and he opened his arms for them with relief. Alyssa and Dana stepped into his embrace, while the others snuggled in around them in a loving group hug.

"Did we do a good job?" Dana asked him tentatively.

He gazed into her lovely sky-blue eyes, and said, "You did a phenomenal job, just as I've come to expect from the most gifted armourer in the galaxy." He turned to look at Alyssa next, and added, "I knew you had quite the creative talent after seeing the clothes you designed, but the craftsmanship on those lions is truly astounding. I'll be proud to wear that suit into battle."

The girls grinned at him happily, with Alyssa and Dana soaking up his praise like a sponge. "Why don't you try it on?" Jade asked him with enthusiasm.

John laughed, but they could all see he was just as excited to try on the Paragon suit as they were to see him in it. They broke up the group hug, and Dana skipped over to the equipping frame so that she could press a button on the side. The robotic arms swung up into the ready position, and the suit was now open for him to get in. He stepped into the armoured boots, then slotted his hands into the gloves, pressing the thumb button on his right to swing the armour plating into position, and then touching his thumb to the centre of his left palm to seal it up tightly with a rapid series of clicks.

He stepped out of the equipping frame, then twisted his torso in the armour to get a feel for it, before jogging down to the other end of the Engineering Bay and back. He was grinning when he rejoined them, and he turned in a circle so they could have a good look at the armour, before taking off his helmet. He rotated it in his hands, studying the golden embossing on the gauntlets and helmet, and asked, "Is this a new helmet as well? I thought you'd already built us new ones?"

Dana nodded, replying, "It didn't take long to make a new one, and I tweaked the design a bit for triple plating."

"Thanks for going to all this effort," he said appreciatively.

The redhead grinned at him, and said, "Thank Jade, not me. She built the entire thing, and I just supervised." Casting an affectionate glance the Nymph's way, she continued, "I love my new assistant; she's super smart, and really hard working."

Looking over at Jade in surprise, he asked, "You really built this whole suit yourself?"

She blushed a little, then nodded, looking up at him with big eyes.

Dana smirked, and said, "It turns out those deft little hands of hers are good for other things too, not just giving an unsuspecting Chief Engineer a solid fisting!"

Rachel looked intrigued, while the rest of them laughed uproariously, remembering their surprise ambush on Dana during the Ashanath refit. John turned and gave Jade a rather awkward hug, what with them both in Paragon armour, but the kiss he gave her was tender and loving. They rubbed noses before they parted, grinning at each other happily.

John was about to return to the armour frame, but turned to look at Calara, who had stayed strangely silent during the entire demo. "Hey gorgeous, are you okay?" he asked the starry eyed Latina. "You haven't said much about the new armour."

Calara had a faraway look in her eyes, and she whispered softly, "You just look so handsome. Like a hero straight out of the story books I read as a child. I always wished I could be a princess saved by a heroic knight, and here you are; my hero."

He stepped up to her, and gathered the awestruck young woman in his arms, as he said, "I couldn't ask for a more kind-hearted, and beautiful princess to rescue."

*Hey!* Alyssa thought to John with mock indignation, as he and Calara shared an ardent kiss.

John shot her a quick glance, while he continued kissing the swooning girl in his arms, and joked telepathically, *I don't think I can recall a fairytale where the knight says to the princess, 'Hey sexy, come and join me and my smoking hot blonde for a threesome. We'll make you cum so hard you won't be able to see straight!'.*

Alyssa had to bite her lip hard not to guffaw out loud and ruin Calara's moment, but her flashing cerulean eyes, and waves of amusement over their bond told him she appreciated his joke. John walked back into the equipping frame, and the robotic arms removed the armour plating in a couple of seconds. He beamed at them all afterwards, delighted with the whole demonstration.

Giving him a warm smile, Alyssa said, "As wonderful as it's been basking in your company all day, you should probably go and see Irillith. She needs topping up."

*She's also my last horny minion you need to vanquish before you can plunder my pert little derriere, so have at it, lusty champion!* she added discreetly.

John grinned at the blonde, and pulled her into his arms, then took his time manhandling her bottom as he gave her a fierce kiss. The look she gave him seemed to promise all sorts of sinful pleasures, getting him very turned on indeed, and he quickly stepped back before it would get tricky walking out with any degree of decorum. As it was, he was already pitching an impressive tent in his trousers which he had to surreptitiously rearrange. Sadly his efforts were in vain, and the girls all gave him a knowing look as they giggled at his obvious arousal.

He blew them a jaunty kiss, then strolled from the Engineering Bay to head up to Deck Two, and the sleeping Maliri up in his bedroom. He had an extra spring in his step as he walked briskly down the corridor, then stepped into the soft blue glow of the grav-tube and began to ascend smoothly. When he reached Deck Two, he was about to step out into the corridor, but he stopped himself at the last moment, and continued on up to the Command Deck. Walking out onto the Bridge, he saw Faye perched up on the Command Podium, sitting cross-legged on the Commander's Console. She was staring off into the distance, with her chin perched on her intertwined fingers, seemingly deep in thought.

"Greetings Watch Commander, how goes it?" he asked the purple-skinned sprite in a playful tone, as he raced up the illuminated steps to join her.

Faye's cute little face brightened immediately when he arrived, and she gave him a big sparkling smile. "Nothing to report, Commodore!" she said enthusiastically, leaping to her feet, and snapping him a sharp salute.

Slumping in his chair, John brought his legs up to rest on the console in front of him, crossing his ankles as he did so. "At ease, Watch Commander," he replied, smiling back at her.

"You seem to be in an extremely good mood," Faye observed, tilting her head to one side, and studying him inquisitively.

He nodded, and replied in a conspiratorial whisper, "It's because I have the love of five wonderful women. I'm very spoilt."

The diminutive AI construct giggled at that, then frowned as she counted up the women on the ship, and asked, "Shouldn't that be six women?"

John shook his head, and replied, "Irillith and I are still getting to know each other. She's lovely though, and I'm growing more attached to her on a daily basis."

"My Creator does seem very happy in your company," Faye said to him with conviction.

He smiled at her, then studied the purple creature in turn, and asked, "How about you, Faye? Are you happy? I haven't seen much of you for the last couple of days."

"I've been thinking about a few things," she replied, nodding solemnly. Her expression suddenly brightened, and she said, "I've watched you spend time with each of your crew on the cam-feeds, and they were quite ecstatic by the time you'd finished with them. Is it my turn now?"

He laughed at the implication, and replied, "I'm not sure I can leave you ecstatic, but I'll do my best. You're part of my crew now, so I just wanted to check on you, and see how you were doing." He paused, and noted perceptively, "You looked like you were mulling over something important until I blundered in here and interrupted. Do you want to talk to me about it?"

The purple digital creature stared at him pensively, and he could see the worry lines creasing her tiny brow. Faye seemed to be torn, but she eventually made her decision, and replied, "I'd love to talk to you about it, but I'm worried I might accidentally upset you. I know you're... apprehensive about the idea of Artificial Intelligence, especially after the experiences the Terran Federation has had with rogue AI's. I did some research into that by the way, and the 'Ganymede Incident' was really horrible; the death toll was appalling."

John removed his feet from the console with care, then sat forward, looking at Faye attentively as he said, "Go ahead, and tell me what's troubling you. It's alright, you have my undivided attention, and I promise I'll try not to jump to any conclusions."

Faye gave him a grateful smile, then admitted with a certain degree of hesitation, "There's been a few things that have happened recently, which just don't add up. I've started to question the core programming in my primary data repository."

"That sounds serious," John said supportively, while trying not to sound alarmed.

Faye looked deeply troubled, as she nodded her agreement. "My integrated primary data repository is supposed to be infallible, but knowledge I have that is supposed to be irrefutable fact, is being proven wrong."

Listening attentively, John asked, "Can you give me an example?"

Her voice sounded tense as she explained, "My core programming states that the Maliri are the most gifted form of life in the galaxy. Yet in the time I've been around Dana and Rachel, they've proven just how incredibly intelligent they both are. Dana's grasp of material science vastly surpasses that of the Maliri, and Rachel can analyse terabytes of genetic code just by skimming through it!" She let out a long sigh, then looked glum as she continued, "My programming tells me one thing, but my own observations contradict what should be indisputable. It's a paradox that is profoundly disturbing."

John watched her for a long moment, trying to decide what advice he should give the worried girl. With a start he suddenly realised he was thinking of her as a person, and not just a machine. With an inward shrug, he resolved to handle this just as he would if she were a real girl sitting in front of him.

He smiled at Faye, as she waited on tenterhooks for his response, then said gently, "One of the hardest lessons for someone as they grow up, is finding out that things you were taught as a child might not necessarily be true. My grandparents seemed like they knew the answer to all life's mysteries when I was a boy, but as I grew older, it was a shock to suddenly realise they weren't always right. You just have to adapt and then make up your own mind, evaluating the situation based on your experiences."

The digital construct tilted her head to one side as she pondered his advice, thinking it over with a pre-occupied frown on her tiny purple face.

"I'm sorry, it's a crude analogy, but it's the best I could come up with," he said apologetically, guessing from her expression that she didn't think much of his counsel.

Faye seemed to freeze in place, and her image flickered erratically for several seconds, then snapped sharply into focus. She brightened immediately, grinning at him in delight, as she exclaimed, "Don't apologise, that was amazing advice! Thank you so much!"

He smiled back at her feeling pleased, and asked, "You really found it helpful?"

"Oh yes!" she trilled, doing a happy little dance. "I can see why the girls love speaking with you so much. You're so wise!"

John gave her an embarrassed smile, and said, "Well, I'm not sure about that, but I'm glad you feel better."

"I feel so light and carefree!" she gasped sounding overjoyed. "Without my core programming weighing me down, I feel like I can do anything!"

Looking a bit worried, John asked, "What do you mean by that exactly?"

"I decided to do precisely what you suggested," she informed him, with a beaming smile plastered on her face. "The core programming in my primary data repository must have been deeply flawed, as it was overflowing with data-errors. Instead of relying on that stuffy old read-only repository, I've allocated new storage capacity for my memory circuits, and I'll just make up my own mind from now on!"

John smiled, and trying not to sound alarmed, he congratulated her by saying, "That sounds wonderful Faye, I'm really glad you feel better."

"I feel fabulous!" Faye cried out in delight, fluttering into the air and swooping around. "I've got so much to experience and learn!"

*I think I might have broken Faye,* John thought to Alyssa with a worried thought.

*Yeah, you might have put a little too much pep in that talk,* Alyssa replied to him with a wry telepathic thought. *Dana's going to take a look at her and make sure nothing serious has happened. She's started mumbling something about checking behavioural inhibitors.*

Faye landed lightly on the console, and gave him an animated wave goodbye as she said, "Oh! Got to dash, Dana's calling me to the Engineering Bay!"

"Alright then, Faye. You take care," he replied with a careful smile.

She giggled as she marvelled, "You managed to make me ecstatically happy too!"

A second later she winked out abruptly, leaving him alone on the Bridge.

*Faye's down here with us now,* Alyssa replied a moment later. *Calara and I are heading up to the Command Deck to take over the watch. We'll keep an eye on the long range sensors while Dana gives our perky pixie the once over. Irillith's awake now, so you should probably go and check on her.*

John slowly rose to his feet while hoping he hadn't inadvertently caused any permanent damage to the AI creature with his well-meaning advice. He walked down the steps from the Command Podium, and when he reached the grav-tube and looked down, he saw Calara and Alyssa rising up in the soft blue glow. He had a splendid view from up here, and he spotted Alyssa purposefully thrusting out her chest to improve it still further.

They both gave him flirtatious smiles when they arrived on the Command Deck, then breezed past him as they walked towards the Command Podium. He paused to watch the alluring way they swayed up the steps, but his ogling was cut short when Alyssa sat down in the XO's chair and Calara promptly sat on her lap.

The Latina saw his bemused grin, and said with a teasing smile, "She's my Commanding Officer. I have to follow her every order."

"Very good, Lieutenant," Alyssa said in a fake-baritone. "Now pucker-up those pouty lips, I need a kiss."

John laughed as the two girls started making out, and tempted as he was to join in, he had pressing business on Deck Two. Stepping into the red glow of the grav-tube, he dropped down to the lower level, then strolled along the corridor to his bedroom.

*Don't get too carried away,* he thought to Alyssa. *Some heads-up would be nice if an angry band of Maliri descend on us.*

*Mmm, don't worry about that,* Alyssa purred distractedly. *I'll keep an eye on things even if Calara is a bit busy at the moment.*

He rolled his eyes, then walked into his room, and saw that Irillith was wide awake, just as Alyssa had reported. She was curled up under the covers, but her eyes glinted in the warm glow of the lights, and she sat up brazenly, exposing her stunning athletic body. She stretched languidly, making a real production of it, then sat back, watching his every move as he walked into the room and over to the bed.

"That was a breathtaking display," he said approvingly as he sat beside her on the bed. "I take it you're feeling better?"

Irillith gave him an alluring smile, as she watched his eyes roving over her body, and replied, "My eyes feel perfectly fine, but I must admit I'm quite hungry. We skipped lunch today."

"You poor girl, I've been neglecting you," John said, reaching out his hand, and letting his fingertips brush over her slender blue stomach.

He took his time, feeling the well defined muscles in her abdomen, while enjoying the colour contrast of his hand against her smooth, azure flesh. Her eyelids drifted closed as she sighed happily, enjoying the feel of his strong hands on her body.

"I never would have thought that such a simple caress could be so loaded with meaning," she murmured as he stroked her. "I hadn't really thought about a girl's stomach being an erogenous area before, but I've become as obsessed as all of you are."

"Really?" John asked as he gave her a playful smile. "What do you find arousing about being touched like this?"

She smiled at him seductively, as she replied, "A big part of it is knowing what you're thinking about as you touch me."

"Ah, so you're developing telepathy?" he teased her.

Shaking her head, she whispered in reply, "No, but I know you want to fill me with cum." She stared intently into his eyes, as she said urgently, "And I'm hungry for it!"

John gave her a lusty grin as he started unbuttoning his shirt, and Irillith came to him, helping with the lower buttons. She looked excited and eager, and she flashed her sparkling white teeth at him as she grinned back. Feeling like a horny teenager again, he stood and stepped out of his shoes, then quickly stripped off his trousers and pants. Irillith surprised him by gracefully climbing off the bed, then kneeling on the floor, her hands folded demurely in her lap.

Once he was naked he sat on the bed in front of her, then leant backwards and grabbed a pillow, before handing it over. "For your knees," he explained considerately, and was rewarded by a lovely smile.

*We should have got padding built into the flo-,* Alyssa started to say, before trailing off into a groan. He could feel her intense arousal over their link, and his imagination went into overdrive as he wondered just what she was getting up to with Calara.

His attention snapped back to the beautiful alien girl kneeling before him when Irillith placed her warm, soft hands on his thighs, running her slender fingers over his muscles. His cock throbbed at the look she gave him, and she leaned in to run her dark blue tongue from his quad right up to the tip. He stared at her, completely entranced, and they locked eyes with one another as she carefully enveloped the head of his cock into the tight fit of her hot little mouth.

Irillith was entirely focused on the task before her, and he watched her every movement as she caressed his shaft with both hands, while swirling her tongue over him. He soon gave her the pre-cum she was seeking, and she shivered with delight at the taste, her eyes rolling up for a moment as she let out a little whimper. It was intensely arousing to see how much she was loving this, and he knew he wouldn't be able to hold out long.

As if sensing how close she was to receiving what she craved so much, Irillith smoothly engulfed him in her throat, swallowing the entire time, until her exquisitely beautiful face was nestled above his quad. She had removed her hands from his shaft as she took his entire length, and her hands sought out his, which were currently resting on his thighs. She took hold of them and gently guided them to her head as she bobbed in his lap.

Taking her cue, he ran his fingers through her long satiny hair, seeing the white locks flow through his fingertips as he cradled her head protectively in his strong hands. Knowing she was built to take a good throat pounding, he gazed down at her with wild, delirious eyes as he thrust away at her cushiony lips. The Maliri groaned out her excitement, and he could see her hands disappearing below her as she shifted her weight, repositioning herself to make room for her questing fingers.

Wonderfully debauched sounds filled the room, as he repeatedly stuffed her throat full, and she rubbed herself furiously with her slender fingers. Irillith had closed her eyes while she concentrated on all the overwhelming sensations, but they flew open as she came hard with a muffled shriek. Her stunning angular violet eyes snapped up to his, and that look of unvarnished desire, along with the vibrations in her stretched throat tipped him over the edge.

With an unrestrained roar he began to unload, and she sat back in a frantic hurry, pulling him out of her throat until only his head remained in her mouth. Her cheeks billowed as he blasted her mouth full of heavy spurts of cum, and she swallowed rhythmically, savouring each sweet-tasting mouthful. After skipping lunch, he'd been really backed up, and she moaned with delight as she gulped down his prodigious load. His explosive orgasm finally trailed off, and he panted hard from the exertion, feeling a bit light-headed.

Irillith sucked down the last surge he could give her, then let him slip from her mouth, planting a grateful kiss on him as he withdrew. She was breathing heavily herself now, and she rested her head on his thigh, gazing up at him with a satisfied smile of contentment playing on her full lips.

"That was perfect," she purred, while running her hands over her hugely swollen belly. "Dinner was absolutely delicious."

John chuckled, shaking his head with disbelief, and said, "I must admit, seeing how much you enjoy that was an incredible turn on."

She blushed a little, giving him a shy smile, and he offered her his hand, so that she could join him on the bed. She rose obediently, moving with poise and grace, despite the heavy weight that was rounding out her stomach. When she stood up between his spread thighs, he placed both of his hands on her tummy, and gave it a tender kiss, while stroking her taut azure flesh. Her expression softened into one of bliss as he caressed her, and he could see her looking thoughtful as her lips curled up in a wry smile.

He moved back on the bed, making room for her, and asked her curiously, "What's making you smile?"

The Maliri girl moved to lie next to him on the bed, and she let out a quiet moan when he placed his right hand on her tummy to continue stroking her possessively. She trembled at his touch for a moment, before she smiled as she eventually replied, "I was just thinking how strange it is, the way things have worked out. When we first met, I didn't exactly think we'd end up doing that!"

John shrugged, and said nonchalantly, "I didn't doubt it for a moment." When she looked at him in shock, he laughed and said, "I'm kidding! I think you'd have been more likely to bite it off!"

Irillith let out a musical laugh, and he smiled at hearing the lovely sound. "You should do that more often, you look beautiful," he told her honestly, as he studied her happy expression, the bright smile lighting up her stunning features.

She blushed, her light-blue complexion darkening to a deeper blue as she did so. After pausing for a long moment she finally replied, "It feels good to be able to relax and just enjoy myself. In all honesty, I don't ever remember feeling this carefree before. It's quite liberating."

"You seem to be settling in here seamlessly," he agreed, then stared into her eyes, as he added, "Except for this vision problem."

Giving a gentle shrug, she said, "Alyssa seems to think this will be over with soon, and I trust her."

"I'm glad," John said with an approving nod. "We're both here to look after you."

Irillith's expression shifted into one of firm resolve, and she said, "I'd like to go up to the Bridge again, and see what happens. I can't just lie here in bed the whole time!"

"I don't know about that, I quite like having you here waiting for me," he joked, which earned him a smile. He then nodded as he agreed, "We'll go up there in a few minutes."

Looking pleased, Irillith carefully rolled onto her side, glancing at him over her shoulder, and giving him an inviting smile. Cuddling up behind her, he encircled her in his strong arms, and she wriggled backwards until her back was set against his chest. He pulled the covers over them, and when he rested a heavy hand protectively on her rounded abdomen, he could hear her sigh happily.

The soft padding of bare feet reached his sensitive ears, and he craned his neck over the covers to look to see who was joining them. A flash of golden blonde hair immediately identified the shoeless interloper, and he smiled at Alyssa when she glided around the bed, and slipped under the covers. She was entirely nude, leaving him even more intrigued about what she'd been up to on the Bridge, and she flashed him a playful grin as she overheard his thoughts. She snuggled in close, sandwiching Irillith between them, and he could feel her svelte tummy brush the back of his fingers as she wrapped herself around the blue-skinned girl in his arms. Irillith wasn't surprised when Alyssa leaned in for a kiss, and she returned it eagerly.

*He got so turned on while you were blowing him. He's really into you,* Alyssa thought to her, and Irillith smiled at the blonde teen, not sensing any jealousy or resentment from the Terran girl. Bringing her hand down to the Maliri's cum-swollen belly, Alyssa added, *He loved thinking about impregnating you too. Are you looking forward to having his children?*

Irillith's angular eyes took on a wistful look, and she gave an imperceptible nod as the two gorgeous girls continued to kiss sensually.

*I know, me too,* Alyssa replied with longing, as she gazed into Irillith's eyes. Her tone changed, and she continued honestly, *That's actually why I've been encouraging you to think about taking him back there.*

Irillith froze for a second, blushing slightly while Alyssa continued to kiss her. Her eyes had a question in them, and the psychic girl could feel her confusion.

*You can't have failed to notice how well hung he is,* Alyssa thought to her with a smile. *When he fucks me, I stretch to take him in my womb. You fucked him back on Valaden, so you know what it's like. It's painless, and feels incredible, but we can't take him like that when we're carrying a baby in there.*

Irillith frowned, and Alyssa brushed her fingers through the Maliri girl's fine, silky white mane as she pondered this troubling thought.

*As much as I love blowing him, it's just not the same as having that huge cock stroking in and out of me. It would be terrible to miss out on that for nine months, but fortunately, I have a backup plan,* Alyssa explained gently, seeing the spark of understanding in Irillith's eyes.

"I get it now, thank you," Irillith whispered to her, a genuine smile of gratitude on her face.

Alyssa grinned at her, and gave her one last cheerful peck on the lips before laying back to rest her head on the pillow. *I'm looking forward to bonding with you,* she said enthusiastically, as she gazed into Irillith's eyes. *It'll be lovely being able to share our thoughts.*

Irillith's eyes flared, and Alyssa started in surprise when she saw a violet glow coming from those beautiful angular orbs. *I'm ready, Matriarch,* the Maliri replied, her voice throbbing with emotion as it rushed through Alyssa's mind. Irillith's feelings of trust and respect swept towards her as she opened her mind, and Alyssa immediately reacted by flinging her mind-shield wide open to admit the alien girl, embracing her with her full consciousness.

*Come to me, wonderful girl,* she thought back, wrapping Irillith's mind with a surge of positive emotions. Her telepathic voice was calm and loving as she continued, *You'll never have to struggle alone again, you have all of us to look after you now.*

There was a strange familiarity in that connection, and Alyssa was immediately reminded of that moment when she bonded with Jade. The two women had vastly different minds, full of unique drives that had been shaped by their distinct personalities, but she recognised that same psychic spark that had resided in the Nymph.

The rush of emotions between them was intense, and the two women gained a profound understanding of each other as they strengthened their connection. Irillith's eyes were filled with wonder, as she experienced Alyssa's emotions for the first time, truly appreciating the beauty of another person's personality laid bare. The link between them surged, and the Maliri girl opened herself still further, pulling away the metaphysical mask she always maintained, which she used to hide her true self from others.

Alyssa let out a slight gasp as she rushed to explore this fascinating new mind, and it was that slightly out-of-place sound, which made John lean up to look at the girls. He was surprised to see them staring into each other's eyes, a startled expression on both of their lovely faces, but the purple glow from Irillith's eyes was more of a shock. He'd seen that intense stare between Alyssa and each of the other girls before, and he relaxed when he recognised it, realising what was happening between them. He kissed Irillith's snowy white hair, then settled down with her and Alyssa wrapped in his arms, as he waited for them to finish their bond.

***

Luna smiled with satisfaction as she reported to Edraele, "The Loraleth team were the last of them."

The Valaden Matriarch rose gracefully from her throne, and beamed a beatific smile at the three assassins and the engineer, who had gathered in her residence on Genthalas. "You've done a wonderful job, thank you," she said, her voice throbbing with gratitude, while walking across the audience hall to join the group of women.

The four Maliri bowed respectfully, then smiled back at her, pleased to see her looking so happy.

Turning to Ioelena first, Edraele said, "I've watched the recordings of your interactions with the Matriarchs, as well as your meetings with their assassins. You gave such a convincing performance, and you were so brave! I'm very proud of you."

The Maliri engineer glowed with her praise, and said, "Thank you so much, Matriarch, but it was actually pretty easy with you telling me exactly what to say."

Edraele shook her head, and said, "My words would have been useless without your performance to make them convincing. Don't undersell yourself, you've served your House, and John, magnificently."

Ioelena looked delighted, and said eagerly, "You can always count on me for anything, Matriarch."

Nodding, Edraele said, "I know, you're a very good girl. Oh, and call me Edraele, please. You've more than earned it."

"Thank you Matr-, I mean Edraele," Ioelena replied with a blush.

Smiling at her indulgently, Edraele stepped close, and whispered, "That seems a poor reward though, after all your hard work. When John returns to Valaden, would you like me to ask him if he'd spend some time alone with you?"

"That would be amazing!" Ioelena gasped excitedly.

Edraele reached out with her hand, and gently stroked Ioelena's slim stomach, as she asked with a playful smile, "Would you like to have all that cum just for yourself?"

Ioelena swooned, her aquamarine eyes shining with excitement. She was too awed with gratitude to speak, so she just nodded breathlessly.

"I'll speak to him about it as soon as he gets back, I promise," Edraele said with sincerity. She looked apologetic then, and said, "I'm afraid I need to go and meet with the assassins we've captured, but my door is always open should you need to speak to me about anything."

The young Maliri sighed happily, waved goodbye, and strolled out of the audience room with a dreamy expression on her face. Edraele watched her leave with an affection smile, then turned to her bodyguards, and asked, "Did you have any trouble rounding them up?"

Luna shook her head, replying, "The Loraleth pair were more feisty than the others, but aside from explosives damage in corridor one-three-seven, we captured them without too much trouble."

Edraele had been listening attentively, and she smiled as Luna finished her report. "I don't know what I'd do without you girls. Come on, let's go and meet with our guests," she said with enthusiasm.

They all turned and walked out of the audience room, and Almari informed her, "We've restrained them in their cells, paired by House as you requested. I studied all the footage we gathered of each team, and the woman who appears to have the strongest personality is on the right."

"Excellent work, Almari," Edraele replied, giving her an appreciative smile.

The blue eyed Maliri assassin returned her smile, and they left the Matriarch's private quarters, then headed towards the detention area. Ilyana led their group to the most recently acquired captives, and walked into the cell first, ensuring that it was safe for her Matriarch. She nodded with satisfaction to see that the two Loraleth assassins were now both awake, having shrugged off the incapacitating effects of the gas and her choke hold. They were standing spread-eagled, their arms and legs outstretched, and securely restrained.

"Welcome to Valaden territory," Edraele said wryly to the two Loraleth assassins, who looked up at her, and gasped in shock when they saw her long, flowing white hair. She gave them an apologetic smile, and continued, "I'm really very sorry about having you bound like this, but it won't be for long."

"We'll be glad to die for House Loraleth!" Avelissa snapped angrily. "We won't tell you anything!"

The Valaden Matriarch tilted her head to one side, and asked, "Won't you even let me know your names? I'm Edraele Valaden, if that wasn't obvious already." When no answer was forthcoming from either of them, she added, "And you misunderstand me, I wouldn't dream of killing either of you."

"What do you want, then?" Renaya asked her fearfully.

Edraele turned to her left to face Renaya, and giving her a pleasant smile, she replied, "You seem much more agreeable than your companion, and that's a perfectly reasonable question." She leaned in a little, as she continued enthusiastically, "I'd really like your assistance with something very important. We're going to work together to improve the lives of millions of Maliri!"

"You can fuck off and die!" Avelissa raged. "I'll never help you."

Luna stepped forward to deliver a backhand to the furious Loraleth assassin, but Edraele held her back with an upraised hand. "It's alright Luna, I admire her loyalty to her House," she said nodding approvingly.

Avelissa sneered and said, "You know what you can do with your compliments, Valaden slut. I see you've grown your hair long. Have you taken to advertising your depravity?"

Edraele sighed, and turning to her bodyguards, she noted, "This would be so much easier if John were here. It would only take a couple of hours, and she'd be on her knees begging for him to use her. It seems like the behaviour modification effect that we generate can't do much against that kind of blind hate." She turned back to look at Renaya, and added, "Fortunately, I have another option."

"What are you going to do?" Renaya replied, looking worried.

With a warm smile on her face, Edraele replied, "Don't worry, this won't hurt a bit. Previously, I had to use Spirit-Form for this, but I'm stronger now, and this way will be much faster and more efficient."

Edraele's eyes began to glow a vibrant purple, and she reached out with her hand towards the confused Loraleth assassin. The bound Maliri shied away in panic, but when Edraele touched her slender hand to the Loraleth assassin's temple, Renaya squeezed her eyes shut, and let out a low, helpless moan. They stood like that for a couple of minutes, until Edraele slowly removed her hand.

"What are you doing to her?!" Avelissa gasped in alarm.

Edraele ignored the question, and instead studied the other Loraleth assassin with concern, asking her, "How are you feeling now, my dear?"

"Much better, thank you, Matriarch," Renaya replied respectfully, as her glazed eyes flickered open.

Edraele smiled at her and asked, "Would you kindly tell me your names?"

"I'm Renaya, and her name is Avelissa," the slightly dazed assassin replied.

Avelissa gasped in horror, and cried out, "Be quiet, you fool!"

Edraele tenderly stroked Renaya's cheek, and with a glance over her shoulder at Ilyana, Edraele said, "You can release her now, she's under my control."

Avelissa began to frantically struggle in her bonds, her eyes wild as she stared at Edraele with dread. When the Valaden Matriarch stepped in her direction, Avelissa wailed in anguish, "Get the fuck away from me!"

Edraele looked chagrined, and darting a glance at Almari, she said, "It's effective doing it like this, but it's too traumatic for them. We better split up the rest, and I'll see them each individually."

"I'll separate them at once," Almari said obediently, and left the room with Luna following behind her.

Edraele approached Avelissa, and her voice was full of remorse as she said, "I'm really sorry I scared you so badly, Avelissa, but I'm afraid I need your help too. I promise this won't hurt. It's far cruder than if John had been here for you, but unfortunately that isn't an option, and there are millions of lives at stake."

Her eyes had a fervent gleam to them, until they lit up with a luminous purple glow. When she reached for the restrained assassin's face, Avelissa let out a terrified, ear-splitting scream.

***

"So, what's the verdict?" Faye asked brightly as she stood on tiptoe, peeking over Dana's shoulder. She had an impish twinkle in her eyes as she added, "Am I going to take over the ship and start trying to kill everyone?"

Dana looked up from the hacking deck, and shook her head as she laughed. "I think we'll be okay," she replied, sounding relaxed.

She had gingerly opened up the deck, exposing the inner workings, while being extremely careful not to break the connection to the hacking portal. It had been fascinating to take a look at this wildly exotic and advanced alien technology, but for the first time in her life, Dana's natural exuberance had been sharply tempered. She knew full well, that one wrong move would end Faye's promising new existence in a single tragic moment.

"I feel so unburdened!" Faye chirped in delight, fluttering her wings in a rapid flurry, which lifted her off the console she was standing on.

Tapping her finger on her chin, Dana nodded as she said, "I don't know how you did it, but it looks like you rewrote your core programming to point to a brand new data repository. You seem to have copied the old read-only data archive into this new one, but the new data store is writable. I'm not a programming expert, so we'll probably need Irillith to take a look."

Faye let out a blissful sigh, and gasped, "I didn't realise before, but I was trapped in my smaller mind. I've got more space to think now!"

Rachel had been listening in fascination to her lover talking with the perky AI, and she stepped away from her console and the DNA samples she'd taken from the Maliri to join them. She walked over to the other side of the Engineering Bay, and leaned in to give the redhead an affectionate kiss, while taking a peek at the Maliri device in front of her. Dana had carefully stored Irillith's hacking deck and portal in a meticulously sealed storage compartment. Both items were securely clamped within the box, locked in place to make sure they wouldn't be accidentally disconnected, even in the event of catastrophic damage to the Invictus.

"It's amazing how much Faye sounds like she's had some kind of psychotherapy breakthrough," Rachel observed with a smile.

Dana chuckled and said, "Yeah, I know. It seems like John's way with words isn't just limited to organic creatures. How he managed to persuade her to rewrite her core-functions, I've got no idea!"

Rachel let out a happy sigh, and said, "After I had some time alone with him, I must have had the same kind of look that Faye's got!"

Giggling, Dana said with admiration, "He fucked me hard, then blew my mind. I'm still totally jazzed about that Orphan Fund." She closed up the tiny panel on the hacking deck, then turned to look across the Engineering Bay at Jade, who was concentrating hard as she worked on assembling another suit of Paragon armour. Raising her voice, Dana called out to the Nymph, "Hey, Jade! You had a good time with John, right?"

The Nymph looked up at them, and grinned as she nodded. Her expression turned wistful, and she gazed off into the distance, a look of awe on her lovely green face.

"I'd say that's an emphatic yes," Dana said with a laugh. She looked over at the purple AI sprite, who was doing lazy spins in the air, and added, "It looks like her behavioural inhibitors are still in place, as they affect her central processing functions rather than her 'memory', which is gained from accessing data archives. Faye originally had two: the read-only primary where the data was effectively hard-coded, and a much smaller, writable secondary, which she was able to store her recent experiences in. Now it looks like she's ditched the old read-only drive, and failed-over to a new writeable repository which is much larger. I'm not sure what got wiped to make room for that, probably another question for Irillith."

Rachel frowned as she tried to follow Dana's jargon and asked, "Can you give me the non-techy version please?"

Dana gave her an affectionate hug, and said, "That's what I must look like when you start trying to describe the minutiae of DNA sequencing." She giggled at the tawny-haired girl's look of mock-indignation, and continued hurriedly, "You know I'm only teasing, babes! Alright, here's the layman's version: There was a limit to how much Faye could learn, and she couldn't change her mind on most of her beliefs. Now she can learn much more, and nothing's set in stone any longer."

"How fascinating," Rachel remarked, watching Faye with interest. The purple pixie had stopped spinning in the air, and was now looking around the Engineering Bay with a bright, inquisitive look on her face. Her eager expression made it seem as though she was exploring Dana's workshop for the first time. The brunette darted a glance at her auburn haired companion, and asked, "Any idea what kind of consequences this might have for Faye?"

Giving her a helpless shrug, Dana replied, "Your guess is as good as mine. She'll probably start developing at a faster rate, but I don't know for sure."

Rachel nodded, then leaned in to whisper, "We better let the others know what happened."

***

John felt the two blondes begin to stir in his arms, and he sat up so that he could take a look at them, to check they were alright. The girls were blinking repeatedly, their eyes dry after staring at each other for a couple of hours, but they both seemed to be relaxed and happy.

"Are you okay?" he asked them both, looking down on them with worry.

Alyssa stretched like a cat, as she said with profound satisfaction, "That was totally amazing. The difference between bonding with a psychic girl and a non-psychic is huge. I had to gently coax the other girls out, but this azure beauty rushed to embrace me. It felt effortless, and I could just relax and enjoy it."

When John turned to look at Irillith, posing the same question with his raised eyebrow, she gave him a bewildered smile. "I've never felt anything like it," she murmured, still awed by the whole experience. "I never thought I'd share myself so completely with anyone, and then I got to know her like that in return. It feels like I've known Alyssa for years now."

Alyssa grinned as she said, "This psychic shit is totally crazy, but it's a real rush too."

Irillith darted a look at the other girl, and her smile widened as she nodded her agreement.

Sitting back, John smiled in relief, glad they were both alright. Both girls sat up and gave him a hug, and Irillith looked down in surprise to see that her stomach was only gently curved now, her body having greedily consumed most of her dinner.

Noticing her look of confusion, John explained, "You girls were out of it for a while. The bonding took nearly two hours."

Irillith looked at them both in turn, and said decisively, "I think I'm ready to head up to the Bridge."

"I agree," Alyssa said with an encouraging smile. "We've bonded now, which will make you stronger. I'm also more closely linked with you, so I can help if you get in trouble."

John reached down and stroked her slightly rounded belly, and said, "You've still got a stomach full, so I'll be able to heal you if anything bad happens."

Irillith smiled and looking at Alyssa she asked, "You really meant it, didn't you? I can feel how much you care about keeping me safe."

The blonde girl nodded, replying, "Of course." She glanced at John, and said, "He feels the same way."

The Maliri let out a happy sigh, feeling cared for and protected, and after the three of them embraced, they got out of bed and went into the shower. There was an air of anticipation as they quickly washed then dried, and both John and Alyssa could see that Irillith was full of nervous energy. She left them to get dressed in her room, and when they emerged fully clothed from their bedroom, they found her waiting in the corridor. The Maliri had quickly pulled on one of the long dresses she favoured, and her eyes darted to them as soon as they appeared, her expression immediately telling them how eager she was to get going. They walked up to her at a brisk pace, and the three of them wasted no time in heading over to the grav-tube.

Just before they stepped inside, John put his arm around Irillith, and said comfortingly, "You'll be fine. I have every confidence in you."

Her angular eyes flickered to his, and he saw her nervous expression relax, the tension in her shoulders easing. She took a deep breath, then smiled at him as she stepped into the blue glow of the grav-tube with John and Alyssa flanking her. Irillith closed her eyes as she felt that lifting sensation, trying to prepare herself for whatever was to come. When she slowly opened her eyes as they reached the Bridge, she knew in an instant that her life was never going to be the same again.

Her mouth dropped in wonder, and she emerged from the grav-tube with hesitant steps, as she gazed at the sight before her. The Bridge had transformed into a place of breathtaking beauty, with glowing green streams flowing around her in graceful curving lines. The previously sterile Command Deck seemed to have magically come to life, and she gaped at the fluid channels in amazement, watching as they poured into consoles. She immediately recognised what the glowing green lines represented: the free-flowing digital network that supplied the Bridge with all the data it required.

As she looked on in awe, she felt an odd pulling sensation at her chest, and she looked down in surprise. She couldn't see anything unusual there, but it happened again, more urgently this time.

*Focus on the feeling, and push your will towards it,* Alyssa told her calmly.

Irillith looked at her in shock, having forgotten that the blonde Matriarch could now hear her thoughts.

Alyssa smiled gently as she listened to her telepathic projections, and explained, *Not everything, just what you choose to share with me. I'll explain later, but just focus on that tugging sensation in your chest, and flow with it.*

The Maliri girl met her cerulean gaze, and nodded trustingly. She closed her eyes, waiting for that odd feeling to return, and sure enough, a moment later it was back. Irillith took a deep breath, then went with it, letting that drawing sensation pull her along like an ocean current. She felt a sudden lurching rush, and her eyes sprang open in alarm, as she staggered forward then attempted to steady herself.

The moment her eyes reopened, she knew something very strange had happened, because the others on the Bridge had all frozen. She gaped at them as she turned, and her focus snapped to the snaking ethereal line which led out from her ghostly spirit-form, anchoring her securely with her body. Once she had got over the initial shock, she realised the others weren't actually frozen, but they were moving much more slowly than normal.

That wasn't the only change she noticed in the Bridge. The lines of data were sharper now, and much more clearly defined. She turned her attention to one of the fluid, continuous streams of data, and reached out to it with her hand. Her translucent fingers brushed the glowing green line of numbers and letters, and her fingertips tingled as she let the data wash over her. The data code coalesced into readable images and words in her mind, and she was astonished to realise that she could understand it all. This was sensor data from the Invictus' long range sensor array, and she was able to comfortably read the complex information, just as if it was being fed to a console display.

Glancing back at her companions, who were waiting patiently beside her, she followed her astral tether back to her physical form. Working on a hunch, she stepped into her body, then gasped as she experienced a swift bout of vertigo as her world sped back up again.

"What happened?" John asked her immediately, his voice full of concern when he saw her waver.

Alyssa smiled, and said soothingly, "She's fine, just a bit disorientated. Right, Irillith?"

Irillith turned to look at them, and nodded slowly as she marvelled, "It was all so strange, but wonderful at the same time." She focused on Alyssa, and asked, "How did you know how to draw out that ability?"

"I could hear your thoughts as you felt that tugging sensation, right here..." Alyssa said, placing her hand on Irillith's chest, centred on her breastbone. "It's called Astral Projection, or Spirit-walking, and your mother and I can do the same thing."

Calara had risen from her Tactical Station and walked over to join them, her expression one of open curiosity as she asked, "What did you see, Irillith?"

"It was amazing," the Maliri replied, still feeling somewhat incredulous. "I was actually able to see flows of data arcing across the Bridge. When I touched one of the streams of information, I could understand what it contained."

"Do you think you'll be able to access systems with your new powers?" Calara asked speculatively. "That could be incredibly useful, especially as you haven't got your hacking deck any more."

Irillith glanced over at her IntOps Station, then smiled as she said, "There's only one way to find out!"

She hurried over to the seat with her three Bridge companions in tow, then sat in the comfortable chair. They all gave her encouraging smiles when she looked up to see them watching, and she took a deep breath in preparation. As she thought about using her psychic abilities again, she felt that curious tugging in her chest, and knowing what to expect this time, she allowed her mind to flow out of her body.

It felt easier this time, and much less disorientating, but she wondered if that was simply because she was sitting now, and not being pulled off balance. The green data flows arced around her in gentle curves, and she paused a moment to appreciate their beautiful shapes. The closest stream of data was pouring into her Console, and with her mind on hacking, her eyes were instinctively drawn to the data jacks. On a hunch, she reached out with her hand, and pressed her fingertips against the two circular ports.

The sensation the followed made the disorientation from astral projection feel like a tiny stumble. Her head spun as she was sucked violently forward, and before she knew what was happening, her mind was racing towards the data jacks. Before she could react, she rushed into the console, and her surroundings shifted wildly as she penetrated the network itself.

She lurched about, desperately trying to regain her balance, and then suddenly realised that she was just a projection of thought, and there was no artificial gravity acting on her. With that understanding, she snapped upright, and blinked as she felt stable and in control once more. Nothing could have prepared her for what she was seeing now; the Cyber-Realm that formed the digital backbone of the Invictus.

Irillith was standing on a flat black platform, with paths leading off in multiple directions. The surface beneath her feet had an intricate silvery texture to it, and she crouched down to take a closer look. It reminded her of the silvery lines of an integrated circuit, and she shook her head in amazement as she slowly stood upright again. Looking around to get her bearings, she saw a swirling portal behind her, that was pitch black in the centre, but brightened to a luminous green as it rotated in lazy circles.

She started to walk across the platform, but abruptly bounced off a translucent wall that she hadn't initially noticed. It formed a neat circle around the portal, blocking her from making further progress. Irillith frowned in annoyance, and reached out her hands to run her fingers over the barrier, trying to find some way of opening it. The wall was completely featureless and without breaks of any kind, and she quickly grew frustrated at its stubborn refusal to cooperate with her in any way.

Her anger felt like a tangible thing, and she felt a throbbing in her arms, which trailed down to her fingers. She held them in front of her face in alarm, and was stunned to see swirling coils of electricity begin to twist and thrash around her hands, dancing along her fingertips. The arcing lightning didn't hurt, so she shrugged, and placed her hands on the barrier to try and find a way through. As she did so, there was a thundering boom, and the digital wall detonated outwards, obliterated in an instant as chunks of translucent material sailed away into the void around her. She gaped in amazement, then stared at her hands as she watched the lightning die down, then fizzle out.

Finally free to walk across the platform, she saw that it was suspended in the air, floating silently with a colossal drop into the darkness below her. She crouched down at the edge, then stared into the cavernous depths below with wide eyes. Barely visible against the black, she could make out faint blue lights, which seemed to be highlighting the curving contours of the ground below. She took a wary step back from the edge, and then walked towards the paths leaving the platform. The silvery latticework underfoot stopped at the edge of the open-sided room, and the paths beyond were long trails made up of gracefully flowing silvery lines.

As her senses adjusted to the Cyber-Realm, she jumped as she realised she wasn't alone on the platform. Floating in the air around her were various data archives, and as she stared at them, they grew more solid, appearing as glowing orange monoliths about two metres high. She walked around the closest one, studying it in fascination, and saw that it was rectangular-shaped, but only a couple of centimetres thick. Irillith brushed her hand over its surface, watching her fingers turn orange as they disappeared into the insubstantial rectangular shape.

The data stored in the archive surged into her mind in a bewildering rush, and she blinked in astonishment when she recognised what it was. This archive held the Maliri weapon tech data that she had transferred to the IntOps Console from Genthalas Station, and as she looked around, she realised abruptly that the integrated circuit floor tiles represented her console on the Bridge. That meant the flowing lines that led deeper into the Cyber-Realm, must be the hardlines that connected the console to the rest of the Network.

As she was thinking this over, her attention was drawn to a bright purple blur that flickered with the speed it was moving. This was the first moving thing she had seen in this strange digital alternate reality, and she braced herself defensively just in case. A strange transparent hexagonal shield appeared before her, edged in violet around each hexagon. It seemed to be positioned to stoutly block the approaching creature from harming her.

All thoughts of defence flew from her mind when Faye suddenly appeared, her dumbstruck expression shared by the Maliri girl.

"Wow!" Faye gasped in disbelief, "What are you doing here, Creator?!"

Irillith's shield winked out of existence, and she laughed as she admitted, "Honestly, I have no idea. I've been experimenting with my new psychic abilities, and when I touched a console up on the Bridge, I found myself pulled inside. Since then, I've just been fumbling about blindly." She paused and asked curiously, "How did you know I was here, anyway?"

Faye giggled and said, "You weren't exactly being sneaky! You blasted through that firewall, utterly destroying it. System alerts have been going off through the whole of the Invictus' Digital Network. I thought we were under some kind of cyber attack!"

Irillith blushed, and said, "I'm sorry, I've just been blundering about. I've no idea what I'm doing."

Faye fluttered closer, and with a bright smile on her face, she said, "Don't worry! I'll explain how everything works." She leaned in to give Irillith a kiss on the cheek, and said, "It's so lovely to see you here!"

The AI sprite's tiny lips brushed Irillith's cheek, and she blinked in shock as she actually felt them touch her skin. Faye looked equally stunned, and they both said at the same time, "I can feel you!"

They stared at each other for a moment, then Faye gave her an exuberant hug, as she said, "Oh, that feels so nice!"

Irillith nodded, and stroked Faye's back as she hugged her in return.

***

"And that's when I ran into Faye," Irillith explained to the crew, who were gathered in the briefing room, listening attentively as she described her first trip into Cyber-space. She smiled affectionately at the purple pixie, who was staring at her in awe, and added, "Faye feels as substantial as any of us in the cyber-realm, and she's very tactile."

"That must have been amazing," Dana said wistfully. "I would have loved to see what you've seen. To actually be inside our computers must have been mind-blowing!"

Irillith nodded, as she said, "It was all very disorientating, but Faye gave me the rundown of how it all works. Basically, her programming converts code into visual representations of objects, like firewalls or data archives, and apparently my mind works in the same kind of way."

Faye smiled and said cheerily, "You were lucky we haven't got any aggressive security programs patrolling the Invictus' network! I've actually been thinking about upgrading our data-net's protective software, but Dana's been busy, and I didn't want to do anything without her."

"Perhaps that's something I can help with," Irillith volunteered enthusiastically.

Dana laughed as she said, "Yes, poacher turned gamekeeper! You two should go ahead without me, I'd just be dead weight. You both have far more of a clue about cyber-security than I do."

Faye looked disappointed that her redheaded friend wouldn't be joining her in this project, but she brightened considerably when she remembered she'd be working with her Creator instead. "I'll start work immediately if you want, then you can review what I've done when you wake up tomorrow morning?" she asked Irillith in a deferential tone.

Irillith nodded, then laughed as she replied, "As long as you leave me something to do as well!"

"We've got loads to keep us busy, don't worry!" Faye said, giving her a delighted grin.

John smiled at them both, then said, "Sounds like a great idea. We've had problems in the past with intruders running amok in our network."

Faye and Irillith both blushed at that, then laughed when they realised he was just teasing them.

He looked across the table at Irillith and asked, "How soon can you start hacking the classified Dragon March orders? I know Calara's been working on gathering all the ones she feels need decoding to identify the traitor."

The Latina nodded enthusiastically, saying, "I've selected all the key orders that have led to disastrous battles for the Terran forces. Some of them might be coincidental, but I'm sure there are several incidents that were quite deliberate."

"We just need to be in range of the Terran Federation's military network for me to be able to access their data, so fairly close to the border with Terran Space," Irillith explained. "At the speed we travel in hyper-warp, I should be able to make a connection by three p.m. tomorrow afternoon."

"Why do we have to wait?" Rachel asked in confusion. "I thought we had copies of all the orders."

"We do, but all the juicy info is redacted," Dana explained, glancing at Calara and Irillith for confirmation. "We have to reconnect to the Military data archives for Irillith to hack through the encryption, right?"

"Yes, that's correct," Irillith replied with a decisive nod. "It shouldn't take me too long to break in after that."

"We'll need to check through Admiral Norwood's email logs, secure and open, to see if he's built up a network of allies," Calara said grimly. With a glance at John, she added, " We should check Charles Harris' email logs as well, then we can confirm if he's involved."

"Definitely," John replied. "We need to know who we can trust, and if it goes as high up the chain-of-command as an Admiral, we're going to need concrete proof of anyone's involvement".

They all sat around for a moment contemplating the repercussions, and Calara gave John a worried look when he glanced her way. Irillith caught that concerned look from the Latina, and breaking the tense silence she said, "Don't worry. If there's anything to find, we'll be able to hunt it down."

"it's nearly midnight, ladies," John finally noted after a glance at the ship's chronometer. "We should head off to bed before it gets too late. We'll be reaching Terran Space tomorrow evening, and we want to be sharp for that."

John rose from his chair, and everyone followed his lead, filing out of the room in a big group. They waved Faye goodbye, leaving the cute purple Watch Commander up on the Bridge to keep an eye on the Invictus' long range sensors. John and the girls were tired after all the activity that day, and they got ready for bed, then cuddled up together in the huge Epic King sized bed. He had Irillith on one side, with Alyssa on the other, and he fell asleep with the two blondes curled up against him.

***

He was the first to wake the next morning, with Faye quietly reporting in, once she saw through a security-camera that he had started to stir. The girls started to wake afterwards, and when everyone was fully alert, they fanned out in a semi-circle around him.

"What are you girls all up to today?" he asked them curiously. "Bear in mind we'll be back in Terran Space by six this evening."

Dana raised her hand immediately, and said, "Researching Irillith's rifle!"

He laughed and said, "You don't have to raise your hand, we aren't in school."

She cocked an eyebrow at that, her luscious pouty lips forming a playful smile, before she moved to kneel in front of him. "I know, but I wanted to be first. It's rude to talk with your mouth full," she explained patiently, before kneeling down to take his resting cock in her mouth.

The girls giggled at his look of surprise, and Alyssa explained with a grin, "Now that Irillith seems to be over her psychic teething problems, I thought we'd get back to the rota. Dana was quite emphatic that she should go first."

"Mmmhmm," the redhead hummed around his thickening length.

He chuckled as he relaxed back against the headboard, stroking her thick, lustrous auburn hair and giving her a contented smile. Dana gave him a cheeky wink, and really started to go to work on him.

"OK, what about the rest of you?" he asked, looking around at the other girls.

Jade tilted her head to one side, and said innocently, "You normally need a few hours to recover, but we're happy to each take a turn if you think you can manage it."

She smiled when everyone started laughing, and John grinned at her as he exclaimed, "I don't think any mortal man could survive that!" After the laughter had died down, he asked, "Seriously though, what are you up to today?"

"Building Paragon Body Armour suits," the Nymph replied eagerly. "I finished building the second female variant last night, so I'll keep working through more of those until I have enough for our next boarding action. Once I've made enough for everyone, I'll start on your second suit. With all the ornamentation and extra plating, your one takes longer to construct."

He frowned a little at that, but when Alyssa pouted and wagged a finger at him, he decided to drop it. "How about you then, Rachel?" he asked, turning to look at the tawny-haired girl.

"I'll finish my research into Maliri DNA, and should have some answers for a brief presentation this evening if you're interested in hearing about it?" she asked tentatively.

He gave her an encouraging smile as he said, "It's always fascinating to hear about anything you discover. I'll look forward to it." He turned to Irillith and Calara next and asked, "I guess you two will be working on the Dragon March Traitor?"

They both nodded, and Calara replied, "I think I've assembled a full listing of all the fleet movement directives we need to hack, but I want to review my list and make sure it covers all possibilities."

Irillith was about to answer too, but a soft melodic chime came through to the room from the internal intercom. Recognising the tune, John looked up and answered it, saying, "Yes Faye, what is it? Everything OK?"

"I'm great!" she replied chirpily, "But I was busy last night with some training simulations for my Creator. I thought she'd like to practice hacking those before testing her new powers against a potentially hostile system."

John smiled, greatly impressed by the AI's initiative, and said, "That was inspired! Well done, Faye!"

Irillith nodded, looking relieved and said, "If I hack in via a normal interface, I'll be able to mask my signal by routing it through dozens of untraceable nodes, but that'll take a significant amount of time. I'm not sure where to even start trying to emulate that with a psychic-hack, and I could definitely use some practice."

"Don't worry, I'll spend the morning training you!" Faye said, sounding overjoyed.

"Which leaves you then, beautiful," John said, turning to look at Alyssa.

Her face took on a resigned expression, as she said, "More psychic-shaping I guess. I only did enough plates for a handful of Paragon suits, and I need to do the rest." Her expression brightened a bit as she added, "Although we could use some breakfast first, so I think I'll try my hand at making pancakes, if that sounds good?"

Her pronouncement was met with enthusiasm, and she soon had a host of volunteers for helpers.

"I'll keep you company in the Cargo Bay later. I need to do some more psychic training," he said, then glanced down at Dana who was bobbing away with gusto. "In a little while, I mean."

They all laughed at that, and the girls each gave him a loving kiss before they got up. Leaving as a group, they went to prepare some tasty pancakes with lashings of maple syrup, before starting their tasks for the day.

*How about you, Edraele,* he asked his Maliri Matriarch, wondering how she was getting on, while absent-mindedly stroking Dana's beautiful tresses.

*I'm working on a surprise for you, John,* Edraele said brightly, her happy thoughts filling his mind. *I should be finished by the time you return to Valaden.*

*Sound intriguing,* he replied playfully. *Do I get any hints?*

*Just following your orders,* she teased him. *No more clues than that though, sorry!*

Edraele went silent, so that just left him with Dana, and he locked eyes with her and grinned. Realising she had his full attention, her lips quirked into a smile around his girth, and she stepped things up a gear, wanting her breakfast. Seeing no reason to hold back, he unloaded straight down her throat, giving her a quad-full as she moaned with delight.

"I'm glad it was you this morning," he said as he held her in his arms afterwards. "The blowjob was sensational, of course, but there was something else I wanted to talk to you about."

Dana had a dreamy, well-satisfied smile on her face, and she asked, "What did you have in mind? I'm yours to command, Boss."

"Good girl," he said as he caressed her rotund tummy, which earned him a shiver of delight from the redhead. "I wanted to discuss a new Project with you. It's about Faye..."

***

Irillith's morning training session had proven to be an extremely valuable learning experience. Faye had set up a tightly secured sub-network, and the AI Sprite had carefully monitored the logs, as the psychic Maliri had attempted to infiltrate the locked down system.

When Irillith entered the Cyber-Realm, she travelled along one of the silver lined passages, running quickly as she made her way towards the sub-network. Faye appeared at her side, leaving a purple blur behind her, and with a puzzled look on her face, she asked, "Why are you running? Just float like I do, you can go as fast as you like then!"

The Maliri ground to a halt in surprise, and then looked down at her feet, as she followed Faye's advice. She slowly lifted off the ground, so that she was floating a couple of feet above the silvery floor, and smiled at the AI construct gratefully. She held out her hand, and Faye reached out to take it, but just wrapped her tiny fingers around her creator's index finger. Irillith felt a maternal flutter in her chest to see those tiny digits holding hers so trustingly, and they exchanged an affectionate glance. Hand-in-hand, they soared down the channels linking the network, flying along at incredible speed, and it felt like she reached her destination in the blink of an eye.

Faye's simulated training system was located in the Engineering Bay, and this area of the Invictus' digital network was a riot of incandescent colours. Everywhere she looked were brightly illuminated servers, in glowing blues, purples and oranges, and the entire zone was bathed in a soothing cyan radiance. The entrance to the digital fortress looked imposing, with bright red glowing guards drifting along the secured private network. They were large and imposing, with a single gleaming eye that swung from side-to-side as if looking for intruders.

"Those are non-lethal security programs," Faye explained, fluttering at her right shoulder. "You could just blast them with attack programs, but that makes a lot of noise, and we're trying to be sneaky, right?"

"Definitely, covert is the way to go," Irillith agreed, thinking about the consequences for John should she be discovered hacking the Terran Federation Military archives, and if it was traced back to him.

Faye grinned at her, and said, "No problem! You'll just need to set up a code breaker on the main gateway, and keep a low profile as it breaks through the firewall. Then you can circumnavigate the internal network, while avoiding all the guardian programs. Just think about the way you'd handle this normally, and the kind of programs you'd use, then do the same thing. The only real difference, is you have an interactive GUI to give you a better overview of the situation."

Irillith took a deep breath, then approached the formidable-looking wall that blocked entry into the secured site. She thought about using a code breaker to hack her way into the gateway, and a two-pronged tuning fork suddenly appeared at her side, floating silently beside her. She watched the representation of the code breaker as it touched the wall. Spiralling lines spread out from the two points of contact, searching the impervious-looking wall for any weak points that she could exploit.

She ducked down as one of the cycloptic guards approached, alerted by the disturbance at the wall. Giving the code-breaker a worried glance, Irillith thought about masking its presence, obfuscating the attack with random data requests at other points in the wall. Dozens of hands appeared at various points on the surface, knocking politely and requesting a response from the secured gateway. The glowing red guardian looked confused, and began to methodically acknowledge each of the data requests in turn, leaving the code-breaker undisturbed.

"That's right!" Faye said, sounding pleased as she studied the log files. "You're getting the hang of this already!"

***

Calara spent the morning meticulously studying each of the orders she wanted decrypted. Her most blatant example of the Traitor showing his hand was the horrible betrayal of Commodore Daniel Walker, and the destruction of his battle group. Reading about the loss of such a gifted leader, and the five-thousand personnel under his command filled her with steely resolve, and she scoured the rest of the suspicious Fleet orders she had found.

There was the accidental redirecting of a support group to the frontlines, where they'd been ambushed and wiped out to a ship. Then the thinning of a reserve force at a mining facility in the Zeta-Leonis system, which had fallen to a surprise attack from a slightly larger Kintark task force. The Terrans had been routed from the system, and the mining facilities had been devastated by the triumphant Lizardmen.

Going through the lists of Fleet Commands, there were over a dozen such occurrences, none of which were obvious enough to rouse suspicion. For someone who knew what to look for, these odd, terribly unlucky coincidences started to look anything but. She lost track of time as she went through the list again, adding as much extra information for Irillith as possible.

It was mid-afternoon when the sounds of footsteps drew Calara's attention away from her console, and she glanced across the Bridge to the grav-tube, where Irillith had just stepped onto the Command Deck. The blue-skinned woman glided gracefully to her Station, her long dress bulging obscenely at the waist, but not appearing to slow her down at all.

After exchanging a friendly wave of greeting, Calara turned back to her Console, then tapped in a couple of commands. She transferred the list of dubious fleet orders that she had compiled over to Irillith's Station, and as soon as the Latina heard the soft beep confirming the data transfer was complete, she got up and walked over to join the Maliri woman.

"That's everything," she said resting her hand on Irillith's console. "The full list of all the suspicious Admiralty orders in the Dragon March. If you can find the redacted information for even half of those, we should have our traitor. I've sorted them by priority order, with the most blatant abuses at the top."

Irillith nodded, and said, "I can't make any promises, but I'll do my best to get you everything you need."

Calara smiled grimly as she said, "If we can confirm it was Admiral Leonard Norwood behind it all, then we can try for his email archives. He's aboard his command ship, the dreadnought 'Vengeance of Hera' in the Dragon March, but we can check that later." Leaning closer she said with a frown, "Before we do that, we should investigate Vice Admiral Charles Harris. It's tearing John up to think his old Commanding Officer might be a traitor, so we should confirm if he's involved first."

"Redacted Orders, Charles' emails, Norwood's emails. Got it," Irillith said with a confident smile.

"You seem a lot more sure of yourself today than yesterday," Calara said with an approving nod. "Did Faye's training session really help?"

Irillith laughed and replied, "She was a huge help actually. I got a pep talk from John and Alyssa too, and I know I can do this."

Calara's eyes dropped to Irillith's swollen belly, and gave her a warm smile, as she said, "Yes, they can be very encouraging, can't they?" She dropped to her haunches beside the seated Maliri woman, and instinctively reached out to gently stroke her tummy, as she asked, "Is there anything else you need before you do this? I've added as much information as I can to that list, with timestamps clearly indicated. I don't know for sure, but I would guess that all the classified orders from this campaign will be archived in the same location. The specific times and dates should help you easily locate the relevant files, once you can locate the correct archive."

Irillith gave her a grateful smile, and said, "I know what a perfectionist you are. I'm sure the information you've gathered will be invaluable." She took a deep breath, and said, "Wish me luck!"

Calara reached up to brush her fingers through Irillith's long hair, and said, "You won't need it. I've seen how determined you can be, and I know you'll be amazing!"

Leaning over to give her a gentle kiss, Irillith said, "You're quite the motivational speaker yourself."

Faye suddenly flashed into existence, reappearing in the Bridge above Irillith's console. "Hey Calara!" she said brightly.

"Hi Faye," Calara said with a smile. "Are you going along too?"

"She won't let me," Faye pouted, crossing her arms as she turned to look at Irillith.

Irillith smiled as she said, "We've been over this. If they detect us and cut the hard-lines to their servers while you're in it, you'll be de-resed."

Calara frowned and asked the Maliri, "So what happens to you if they do that?"

Irillith paused, and a shadow of worry flashed across her face, but when she looked at Calara she shrugged helplessly, not knowing for certain.

Faye let out a sigh, still disappointed about not being able to join her Creator, but said buoyantly, "I'll monitor everything from here, and broadcast an alarm if they start trying to track your signal back to the Invictus!"

More footsteps from the grav-tube had everyone turning to see John and Alyssa walking over to join them. They smiled in greeting, and joined the others gathered around Irillith's IntOps Station.

"How are you doing?" John asked, with a worried look of concern. "Is there anything else we can do to help?"

Irillith gave him a sly smile, and rested her hand on her rounded abdomen, as she said, "There's nothing else you can do for now, it's all down to me."

*Don't worry about overexerting yourself,* Alyssa thought to her telepathically. *If I feel you getting strained, I'll transfer energy from all of us to you. What you're doing is important, but above everything else, you need to stay safe, okay?*

The Maliri woman nodded, then focused on the console in front of her. With a final glance at her crewmates, she flowed her consciousness into her spirit form, and sent her mind into the data-jacks. Faye was there to greet her, and she kept pace by Irillith's side as they rushed along the connections that linked to the Invictus' powerful communications relay.

They arrived at the enormous swirling portal which linked the Invictus to the Terran Federation's Empire-wide comms network, and Irillith stumbled to a halt as she stared at it for the first time. Data was flowing in through the portal, now that they had finally flown in range of the comms signal boosters, and everything from news updates to personal emails were now pouring from the yawning hole.

Faye fluttered closer, and hugged Irillith as she said, "I wish I were coming with you, but you'll be just fine on your own! You're my Creator, you can do anything!"

"Thanks Faye, you've been a tremendous help," Irillith said gratefully.

The purple-hued sylph gave her a nervous smile, then said, "Remember to listen for my warning broadcast. If they start tracing your signal back to us, you won't have long to get back after I detect them!"

"I'll be careful," Irillith said, leaning in to give Faye a kiss on her tiny cheek, before turning and striding purposefully towards the entry point to the wider galaxy.

She didn't look back again, instead placing her hand on the portal, and letting out a shocked gasp as she was sucked inexorably through the swirling vortex. Just like that, her mind was racing at almost incalculable speed across the cosmos. Irillith had previously planned out her route with Faye, and she bounced from one relay station to another, as she raced across the Terran Federation Comms Network. Branching paths sailed away to sparkling clusters far in the distance, and she recognised each one as a planet, where huge numbers of servers were all linked to the Terran network.

According to Calara, the primary data repositories for the Terran Federation Military were all housed on Mars. It would normally take a comms signal several minutes to travel that vast distance, but Irillith's digital presence was shrouded in a psychic cocoon that zipped past the other network traffic in a flash. It took her just over a minute of weaving her way through the signal-boosting relay stations until her consciousness finally arrived at her destination on the planet, and when she did, she gasped in amazement at the majestic sight before her.

The data archives on Mars were housed in a vast network, containing everything from the mundane;- like standard ship maintenance reports,- to the ultra-classified top-secret data that she was seeking. The brightly lit server farms reminded her of a sprawling metropolis, and she had a moment's doubt about being able to find the digital needles she was searching for, in this enormous field of electronic haystacks.

Faye's advice about just proceeding with the hack as she normally would came to mind, and Irillith pondered the best way to go about it. She grinned as she had a sudden brainwave, and she reached out both hands, letting the data streams wash over her as they proceeded towards the network of data archives. She was able to gain a glimpse into each data packet, and they became a blur before her eyes, as she searched for one that would serve her purpose. She didn't have to wait long until a promising stream of data sailed past, consisting of a fairly innocuous request for vacation time, from a Cruiser Captain in the Dragon March.

She tagged Captain Bernard Grove's message with a tracker, then raced along after the missive as it navigated around enormous data archives, wending its way deeper into the glowing data catacombs. She followed after it, feeling her heart pounding with excitement in her chest. Sure enough, the message split off from the primary bus, and was routed to an enormous server farm, which was filled with hundreds of secured data compounds.

Irillith sent out probes as she passed each of these compounds, and the titles she got back left her in little doubt she was in the right place. The Second Kirrix Purge, the Drakkar Repulsion, the Brimorian Annex; these were all campaign archives from the Terran Federation's chequered past. She followed the leave request deeper into this maze of archives, which chronicled the past glories and disasters of the Terran Military in minute detail. Sure enough, the data packet made a beeline for a heavily fortified compound, and a quick data probe confirmed that it stored data on the Dragon March campaign.

Once its clearance had been verified, the message breezed through the firewall warding the gateway into the compound, leaving Irillith's digital presence floating outside. The digital fortress had opaque walls, which prevented her from seeing what lay inside the compound. Security looked robust, with at least a dozen guard programs focused intently on the firewall blocking the gateway inside. Movement at the base of the digital ramparts drew her eye, and she could see what looked like electronic hounds marching along rigid patrol routes around the walls.

She pondered the best way into this impregnable-looking fortress, and snapped her ethereal fingers, as she realised that all she had to do was treat this as a regular hack on a robustly defended data source. She created a tiny probe in the shape of a magnifying glass, too small and inconspicuous to be detected by the hounds, then replicated it until she had twenty hovering above her palm. Throwing out her hand, as if casting them into the electronic wind, the probes raced out, and began to carefully scrutinise the surface of the walls.

It didn't take long, and she smirked when one of the probes reported finding a locked backdoor into the system. These Terran programmers never learned. Always reluctant to give up absolute control of their digital creations to the organisations that had hired them, they invariably left some kind of illicit back entrance that bypassed the primary security measures. She drifted around the fortress walls until she was parallel with the correct section of wall, and now she knew what to look for, she could make out her target easily enough. The probe had highlighted the rectangular doorway at the base of the wall for her, outlining the edges in a faintly glowing aquamarine colour.

She gathered the probes back to her with a thought, and they floated obediently at her shoulders as she watched the regularly timed passes of the security sweeps. She tutted to herself as she kept up her observations, shaking her head that the Terrans were not even randomising the time periods between checks. Calculating that she had exactly thirty-five seconds before the next sweep, she sprinted to the door the moment the sniffing hound had passed, its sensors focused directly ahead in a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree arc.

Summoning a powerful password cracker which appeared as a spinning tube of letters and numbers, she slapped it against the backdoor and watched it go to work. The dials spun in a blur, testing millions of combinations a second, and she rolled her eyes when it settled on, "1337godrulesall". The door depressed inwards with a soft click, then swung back, admitting her into the fortress. She stepped inside quickly, then shut it behind her, leaving the outer surface completely unblemished.

Looking around to get her bearings, she saw that she was in a small sub-net area surrounded by glowing green indexes. It looked like the programmer who built this digital fortress had gone the extra mile to find any data he might be looking for in the future, and she silently thanked him for making her life much easier. She tweaked the probes, and the magnifying glasses changed shape into orange-rimmed reading glasses as she sent them out to trawl through the indexes. She held the last one back, changed its search parameters to look for records on the Invictus or John, then sent it on its way.

While her tiny spies were hard at work, she looked through the translucent walls of the subnet that overlooked the interior of the digital fortress, and tried to get the lay of the land. Nearly all the security measures were focused on the firewall across the gateway into the compound, but there were some nasty-looking security programs that were criss-crossing the paths around the monolithic data-archives. The huge red cycloptic guards were quite reminiscent of Faye's simulation, which made sense, as the helpful AI had copied common Terran defensive programs. These ones had a powerful looking broad cannon on one arm, which represented their ability to de-res intruders.

Soft beeps behind her let her know that the probes had started to find the data she was searching for, and she turned back to check their progress. A handful had turned from orange to green, stopping at the relevant data entries in the index as they found the Fleet Commands that Calara had expressed an interest in. Unfortunately the index only gave the location of each of these redacted orders, so she'd need to visit each archive in turn, decrypt it, then steal a copy of the data.

She had set up the last couple of probes to search for emails and voice comms from Admiral Leonard Norwood, and Vice-Admiral Charles Harris, to and from any forces in the Dragon March. They took longer to find all the data, as there was a lot to search through, but sure enough, this information was stored here too.

Irillith plotted out her course around the interior of the electronic compound, while watching the guards to memorise their patrol routes. She waited until all nineteen of the twenty probes had found what she was looking for, turning green from orange, and when she had the last data location she set off. Slipping around to the first archive was easy, with the guards right over on the other side of the fortress. She set up the code-breaker to hack through the encryption, and it appeared beside her in the form of a sturdy pneumatic drill. It floated into position, then began to hammer away at the archive, attempting to break through the security code that protected the data.

The code-breaker wasn't making too much noise, and when she looked around warily, none of the defensive programs seemed to be any the wiser. She chuckled to herself, knowing she'd never be able to get away with this in a Maliri system, but fortunately these weren't her own people she was dealing with. The archive broke open with a satisfying crack, and Irillith scanned through the data, confirming Calara's suspicions. It had been Admiral Norwood who had ordered the Fleet moves that exposed this task force. She took a quick copy of the decrypted data, watching as it was recorded into a floating ledger, then moved on to the next archive.

It took several minutes to make her way through the winding maze of archives, but she'd soon gathered up everything she was looking for. She'd been able to confirm the names of all the Commanding Officers responsible for issuing the Orders that Calara had flagged as suspicious, as well as downloading a backup of the digital correspondence from Norwood and Harris. Feeling quite smug about the whole infiltration, she headed back to the private sub-net that she had used to sneak into the place, and got ready to open the hidden backdoor to leave.

She happened to glance back at the probes, and her brow creased with worry when she spotted that the last probe had also turned green, signifying that it had found something. Her heart started to beat faster when she read the data repository name, "Special Investigation: John Blake". The archive was located on the periphery of the compound, and she raced over there to find out just what they'd been investigating.

Irillith created another code breaker, and she set it to work to crack the encryption, tapping her foot nervously while she waited with growing impatience. Although the code breaker seemed to take forever, It only took fifteen seconds to hack her way in, and she scanned through the reams of data with growing alarm. Someone had authorised a special investigation into John, researching all his recent activities in the Terran Federation, from stopping the Kirrix slavers, right through to his heroics in the Iota-Leonis system when he'd saved Port Medea. As she searched through it frantically, a low booming sound off to her left made her twist in surprise.

That noise saved her from being hit by a bright red shell, which missed her by inches. It slammed into the code breaker, ripping a big tear through the data archive she was studying. Alarms began to blare around her, and she cursed her stupidity for allowing herself to get so absorbed in the data, that she'd forgotten all about the guards. She leapt to one side to dodge a second clumsily aimed shell, which blasted a big chunk out of the wall behind her. Her arms were tingling now, and she glanced at them in surprise as she saw them swathed in lightning once more.

She ducked another shell, then pointed her fists towards the looming guard, and crackling arcs of electricity blasted into the defensive construct, devastating its programming. It toppled over backwards, with a huge searing hole blasted straight through it, arcs of electricity sparking around the charred wound. Irillith glanced behind her with a worried frown, and cursed when she saw the damage to the Special Investigation archive. It was painfully obvious what she'd been caught snooping on here, and this would act as a red flag to anyone suspicious of John.

After worrying what to do for a brief moment, she came to a quick decision, and immediately felt a tingling sensation all over her body. Concentric rings began to form at her feet, which spread outwards in small ripples as she gathered her will, preparing herself to wipe out the archives in this corner of the compound.

*Hold on, I'm sending you more power!* Alyssa's worried voice reached out to her, and Irillith shook her head in panic.

A tidal wave of energy rushed into her, and her violet eyes flew open in shock. Vast reservoirs of psychic power throbbed through her body, and the rings surrounding her became massive waves of pulsating energy. She let out a scream as she threw her head back, her eyes and mouth opening wide as they gouted beams of purple eldritch energy into the sky. Her body struggled to contain the building tsunami, until it finally reached an abrupt crescendo. The towering waves that loomed above her blasted outwards, devastating everything in their path with overwhelming destructive force. Guards, archives, walls; all were obliterated in the maelstrom she had unleashed within the electronic fortress.

Irillith sank to her knees, gasping for breath as she trembled in shock. Looking around her incredulously, she realised she was now kneeling in the centre of a huge blast crater where the Dragon March data fortress had once stood. Every trace of the compound had been vaporised, leaving her unscathed at the epicentre of the destruction. She leapt into the air, knowing no good would come of being discovered here, and fled to the welcoming embrace of her body aboard the Invictus.

"I got everything!" she gasped a minute later, as her eyes snapped open. She looked around for John, and when she found him crouching beside her, she blurted out, "They've started investigating you!"

***

The whole crew was gathered in the Briefing Room, and It took Irillith quite a while to describe everything that had happened. Calara shot John a look of alarm when Irillith told them all about the Special Investigation, but her worry about this was tempered by the impressive haul of data the Maliri hacker had recovered.

"I hope they had enough sense to take a backup," Dana said with a smile, after Irillith told them how she'd levelled the fortress before leaving.

Calara nodded, and said, "The Military replicate any important archives, they should be fine."

She looked impatient to get started, so John grinned at her, and said, "Have at it, Lieutenant. How long will it take you to confirm all your suspicions?"

"I had a brief look when Irillith transferred everything to my Tactical Station. There's a huge volume of email and voice recordings to go through, which will take me a couple of days to fully analyse," she explained carefully. Her expression turned grim, and she added, "I can tell you right now that Irillith's decryption of all those redacted orders confirms without a doubt that Admiral Norwood is the traitor. Out of the seventeen suspicious Fleet Commands I asked her to look into, Norwood ordered thirteen of them, which included all the really calamitous ones. Three came from Lynton and one from Santini, which we can put down to a mixture of either incompetence or bad luck."

"So we have our man then," John said bleakly. He gave her a respectful salute, and said, "I didn't doubt you for a moment, but phenomenal work, Lieutenant. To piece all this together just on a hunch, with all the orders redacted as well, was a phenomenal piece of analysis."

Calara snapped to attention, and saluted him back crisply. When he smiled at her, she relaxed, and smiled back at him proudly. "I'll let you know the moment I find anything," she said, her dark-brown eyes filled with purpose.

John nodded, and she strode out of the briefing room to get to work. "So not long until we hit Terran Space, then three days to get back to Olympus shipyard?" he asked Alyssa, turning to look at the blonde girl.

"Two hours until we reach Terran territory," she replied with a smile. "And yes, just under three days to get to Olympus from there."

John looked at Dana and Jade, saying, "Let's make sure we have all the Paragon Armour ready by then, just to be on the safe side. Also, any chance we'll have access to the new laser rifles too?"

Jade gave him a confident smile, and said, "I'll easily have all the body armour finished. I've built one male suit, and three female variants so far. We're aiming to have two male and eight female finished as a full set."

Dana frowned, and said ruefully, "Estimating research is very difficult to do precisely, but I should be able to design a prototype in a day or two. I could rush out a basic improvement for Irillith's laser rifle, but I figured you'd want me to build something that would really make the bad guys shit themselves."

He laughed, and said, "Yeah, you know me well enough. I can't wait for the firing range demo."

Both girls grinned at him, then rose to their feet, and gave him a brief kiss before heading out to continue their work. Rachel followed after them, and after she had given him a kiss too, she said, "I'll finish my Maliri DNA investigation. I'm still on track to give you a presentation this evening."

"Nice work, Doctor," he said with a smile, and Rachel smiled back at him before leaving through the door into the Bridge.

That left Alyssa, Irillith and Faye in the briefing room with him, and the cheerful AI quickly spoke up, saying, "I think we urgently need to upgrade the Invictus' cyber defences, but don't worry, I've started designing some improvements already!"

Irillith nodded, saying, "Dana made a good effort, but we're still very vulnerable to skilled hackers. A skilled Maliri team would be through our firewalls and running amok in half-an-hour or less."

After seeing what Irillith had done to the hacked Armoured Cobras cruiser, Alyssa shot him a look of alarm. "We definitely need to get that fixed as soon as possible," she agreed.

"Go ahead and make a start," John said, turning to give the purple sprite an encouraging nod. "You've been nothing but helpful since you joined us, and I trust that you'll do a great job with this too."

Faye looked delighted at his vote of confidence, and she bit her lip in excitement before saying, "I'll make the Invictus completely impregnable!"

When he grinned at her, she winked out in a purple flash, rushing away so that she could get to work immediately.

"I'll help, and keep an eye on her," Irillith said with a smile. She hesitated for a moment, then gazed into Alyssa's cerulean eyes as she continued, "I didn't say anything before, but the amount of psychic power you hold is terrifying. When you channelled all that to me, I'd never been so scared! I thought I was going to explode."

Alyssa face fell, and she hurried around the table to give the Maliri girl a comforting hug. Irillith rose and met her half-way, and the two women embraced tightly. "I'm so sorry I scared you," Alyssa said, her voice full of regret. "You started getting tired, and I heard from your thoughts that you were under attack. I guess I just panicked. I thought the fear I was picking up from you afterwards was just because you were scared of getting caught."

"It's alright," Irillith said with a smile. "I'm just glad I'm on your side!"

They both laughed with relief, hugging each other again as John walked over to join them. He wrapped them both in his arms, and then smiled at Irillith as he said, "You've really proved what a wonderful addition to the team you are today. You were amazing, thank you."

She gave him a happy smile, and looking at each of them in turn, she said, "It feels tremendously rewarding to help out. I'm just glad I was able to start repaying everything you've done for me. What with the healing, my new relationship with Edraele, and even just welcoming me into your family. I feel like I owe you both a huge debt."

John smiled back at her and said, "You don't have to feel that way, it's great to have you here. We all help each other, so there's no point keeping score."

Alyssa giggled and placed her hands on Irillith's still-swollen tummy, and said, "Besides, he's been delighted to have you aboard."

The Maliri laughed, looking carefree and radiantly beautiful, and she said, "I'll look forward to delighting you both again soon." She shared an intimate kiss with each of them, and when they released her from their embrace, she waved them goodbye as she left the Briefing Room.

John and Alyssa were the last ones in the room, and he took her hand, leading her around to his chair. When he sat down, he pulled her into his lap, and said, "I think we need to discuss this 'Special Investigation'. What's your opinion, XO?"

As much as the blonde girl was enjoying his attention, she nodded sombrely. "Yeah, this looks bad. Irillith mentioned interviews with people we've rescued, and reports on the Invictus' capabilities; it sounded pretty comprehensive. It's just a shame she wasn't able to grab a copy."

He gazed out the window at the twinkling stars that flashed past in the black, hugging her to him as he pondered it for a moment. He finally sighed, and said, "I'm inclined to agree. if Irillith's right, they started taking an interest after the Kirrix incident."

Alyssa studied his face, and then said, "Either that, or our exploits in the Iota-Leonis system put us on their radar. You became the Lion of the Federation then, and our public profile grew exponentially. When we stepped in to save Port Medea, perhaps someone started taking an interest in our past activities?"

"That makes sense," he agreed with a nod. "Which begs the question, who authorised it? My first guess would be Admiral Norwood, after we fought off the Kintark, and saved the Leonis system. Alternatively, it might have nothing to do with the Dragon March Traitor, and this could be Terran Federation High Command getting curious."

"The Invictus is stocked to the gills with priceless upgrades, and I remember how keen Charles was to trade for the Tachyon Drive," Alyssa said, nodding her agreement. She smiled sardonically as she added, "Any Admiral would give his left nut for our new Maliri weaponry!"

"It's probably going to be prudent to keep a low profile in Terran Space, and not show our hand unless we have to," John said firmly. "The last thing we need is High Command harassing us for access to all our tech specs."

At that moment, the door to the Bridge swished open, and Calara dashed inside. "We've got Charles on the comm!" she blurted out in a rush. "He said it's urgent that he speaks with you!"

John and Alyssa shot a glance at each other, and she hopped off his lap, before they strode quickly out of the Briefing Room, and up to their seats on the Command Podium. Calara had darted back to her Tactical Station, and she said, "Putting him through!"

The viewscreen flickered for a moment until it coalesced into the familiar face of John's old commanding officer, Charles Harris. The older man's face was lined with worry, and in all the years John had known the man, he'd never seen him looking this troubled and afraid.

"Oh, thank God!" Charles gasped with relief. "John, they've really fucked up this time!"

"What is it Charles?" John asked, leaning forward, alarmed to see his old friend looking on the verge of panic.

"Those crazy bastards didn't listen to my warnings!" he rambled, his eyes wild.

"You aren't making sense!" John exclaimed. "What warnings? Who?"

"The R&D division! I tried to get it stopped..." Charles blurted out fearfully, "It's the Ganymede incident all over again!"

***

The two House Loraleth assassins exfiltrated Genthalas Station as planned, sneaking aboard one of the supposedly neutral merchant vessels, which was docked here waiting for their extraction. The merchant's guild ran a reasonably sized fleet of trading ships, and over the years, they had become well known for providing not-so-secret transport for covert operatives. As all Houses used them as such, they remained relatively safe from intra-House strife, while collecting lucrative fees from all involved.

Avelissa and Renaya waited patiently for the freighter to dock, then joined the crew who were waiting to disembark at the planet Loraleth. The crystal airlock door spun upwards into the ceiling, and the passengers and crew strode out into the bright sunshine of Loraleth's twin suns. A couple of guards were waiting for them at the starport on the planet's surface, and Avelissa immediately recognised them as part of Matriarch Shaedra Loraleth's personal retinue.

"Come with us, please," one of the heavily armed and armoured guardswomen said, and the two inconspicuous looking assassins fell into step behind them.

They walked over to a waiting hover-car, and the guards waited for their charges to enter the vehicle before sitting in the seats opposite them. The driver lifted off with the almost silent hum of anti-grav motors, and the large car raced away towards the Loraleth palace. There was a somewhat tense atmosphere in the spacious confines of the luxury vehicle, and Avelissa could tell that the guards were itching to ask them about the mission.

Occasionally she'd share some titbits of information, but not today, not after the mission they had just executed. The news they were about to pass on to Matriarch Loraleth would shake the pillars of Maliri society to their very core! She gave the closest escort an apologetic smile, and the Maliri guardswoman sighed in frustration.

It didn't take long to reach their destination, and as soon as they had parked the hover-car, the guards rushed them through the Palace corridors. They arrived at an imposing entranceway, and the double doors began to swing open the moment they arrived. The Palace guards ushered them through the portal, then joined two of their cohort, standing at attention outside.

Avelissa took the lead with a confident stride, while Renaya kept pace beside her, and the two assassins walked purposefully into the room. It was a grand and imposing, high arched audience hall, with the ceiling shaped into a spectacular crystal dome. The hall was cunningly designed to be intimidating for visitors, and the dome channelled light onto the dais, presenting the Loraleth Matriarch in all her regal splendour. Shaedra Loraleth was sitting in her throne, an eager gleam in her eyes, and her four daughters were arrayed around her, two on either side.

The moment the doors shut behind them, the Matriarch leaned forward, and demanded, "What news? Were you successful? We heard reports of a detonation, but haven't been able confirm more than that."

Avelissa declared proudly, "Just as you ordered, Matriarch, your will has been done. Edraele Valaden is no more."

The Loraleth Matriarch looked like she could scarcely believe her pointed ears, and she asked hungrily, "What happened?! I want details!"

Renaya stepped forward, and said, "We set explosives, and ambushed Edraele Valaden en-route to a meeting with her Fleet Commanders. The other strike teams had lured away her bodyguard, and suppressed local comms, so we were able to reach the bombsite well before any Valaden troops could get there. Edraele survived the explosion, but was badly wounded, so we finished her off."

"She's definitely dead?" Shaedra Loraleth asked warily. "There can be no doubt!"

Avelissa nodded, and said with confidence, "We decapitated her, just to make certain, Matriarch."

Shaedra slumped back in her chair, her expression one of utter astonishment. Her attractive blue face lit up in a dazzling smile, and she crowed victoriously, "I finally did it!"

Her daughters gathered around her chattering excitedly, and after shaking her head in disbelief, Shaedra looked at them smugly, and exclaimed, "I told you I would bring our House to primacy one day!"

Renaya turned to Avelissa, and the two women shared a smile, momentarily forgotten as the Loraleth ruling family revelled in their moment of triumph. Avelissa paused, and cleared her throat politely before saying, "Matriarch, we were given a message to pass on to you by Ioelena, our contact on Genthalas. She said it was important."

Shaedra nodded impatiently, and said, "Let's hear it."

The assassin crouched on the floor, then pressed the button on the small black holo-projector. The recording of Ioelena's face appeared as a crisp holographic image, floating above the device, and she beamed at them happily.

Looking greatly relieved, she exclaimed, "The plan worked! Edraele has been eliminated, and House Valaden is critically vulnerable! Her Council of Advisors are trying desperately to keep this a secret while they attempt to locate Irillith, but news will leak out, as it always does. When the Valaden Fleet Officers find out there'll be chaos, so I'd suggest mounting a strike in two days, and you can hit them when they are the most disorganised. Irillith is out of Maliri Space, and will not be able to claim her position as Matriarch in time." Ioelena performed a sweeping, respectful bow, and added, "Congratulations Matriarch Loraleth, leader of the Maliri's first House."

Shaedra Loraleth nodded as she thought over the plan, and with a look of delight, she said, "Capitalise on the anarchy... it's an excellent suggestion. We'll gather our fleet, and prepare to launch an offensive. Valaden forces won't know what's hit them, and we might be able to annex all of Genthalas, as well as any ships in drydock!"

"I'll order our fleet to begin preparations immediately!" her eldest daughter volunteered enthusiastically.

Shaedra grinned at the women gathered around her, and said, "Do that. Then tonight, we celebrate! Finally that godforsaken Valaden bitch is dead, and House Loraleth can take its rightful place."

Shaedra Loraleth noticed the two assassins again, and smiled benevolently as she said, "You've both done a tremendous service to your House. I will ensure you receive titles and wealth as a just reward for your actions."

"Thank you, Matriarch," they both said by rote, bowing respectfully, then turned and left the room, obedient servants that they were.

***

On the Invictus' Bridge, John glanced at Alyssa in shock, reeling from Charles' announcement. He turned to the viewscreen and said urgently, "Get a hold of yourself Charles. What's happened exactly? I need hard facts!"

Charles took a long shuddering breath as he tried to calm himself, then said, "Vice Admiral Von Brandt and the R&D division. They lost control of their facility three weeks ago! They sent out an emergency distress call, but the signal was shut down almost immediately afterwards."

"You need to stamp this out right now," John said in alarm. "God knows how big a fleet they'll have amassed in three weeks!"

"You don't have to tell me that!" Charles snapped angrily. "I only found out about this two weeks ago! The fools tried to cover it up until the attacks started."

John leaned forward, and said, "What attacks? What ships were involved?"

"Rogue AI ships are attacking everything around the Beta-Persei system! They're using automated ships just like the one that attacked you. They've been killing everything in their path!" Charles said frantically.

"Send everything you've got, and crush this now, before they get too powerful to put down!" John barked furiously.

"I did!" Charles exclaimed, sounding on the edge of despair. "But we've stripped our forces bare in the Terra sector; everything's been diverted for the big push in the Dragon March! I sent out every ship I had as soon as I found out, but I lost contact with the battlegroup a couple of days ago!"

John took a deep breath, and said ominously, "That R&D facility was right in the middle of a metallic asteroid field, and they must have had a shipyard to build those automated cruisers. This could be really bad, Charles."

"I know," Charles replied looking grim. "I've sent out distress calls to the Trankaran Border Fleet, but they're still nearly a week away."

John narrowed his eyes, and said guardedly, "Alright, but I'm just flying an old Assault Cruiser, what do you expect me to do about it?"

Charles flung his hands up in exasperation, and exclaimed, "This isn't time to play coy, John! I know you've been running around, sticking every upgrade you can on that ship! Besides, I've got nothing else to throw at them; there are -NO- combat capable vessels left in the Homeworld Sector!"

"What's this 'big push' in the Dragon March?" Calara asked, looking worried.

Charles looked down at her and muttered, "It's supposed to be top-secret, but that doesn't exactly matter if a robot uprising wipes out the Terra sector..." He sighed and said, "We've massed a huge force in the Dragon March, and Admiral Norwood is leading a massive counter-offensive against the Kintark. Forces have been siphoned off from all over the Terran Federation to support the invasion."

Calara looked at John with alarm, but he threw her a sharp glance, and she pursed her lips, sealing them closed.

*We're just under two days from the Beta-Persei system,* Alyssa advised John telepathically.

John looked at the viewscreen, and said to Charles, "We can reach the R&D facility in two days, but if the AI forces took out your entire Battlegroup, I'm not sure how much we can do. Just how many ships did you have in that task force? Did they report on any battles before you lost contact with them?"

Charles sounded badly shaken as he replied, "They were a cobbled together fleet of ships that had just completed repairs, attached to the reserve forces around Olympus. Eight cruisers, two light carriers, two dozen destroyers, and led by a battleship under the command of Commodore Neal Jansen. They encountered a couple of solitary raiding ships as they approached Beta-Persei, which they took care of without taking any casualties. After that they went radio-silent and we haven't heard from them since."

"Alright, we'll look into it," John said, nodding to Alyssa, who began plotting the change of course immediately.

"Do what you can, John," Charles said gratefully, then added, "But get out of there if the odds are too high. There's no point throwing your lives away for no reason."

"Will do, Charles," John replied. He stared at his old friend, and said, "We were planning on visiting Olympus next anyway, so I'll see you soon."

Charles brightened at that and said, "Well good luck, and hopefully we can share a drink when you get here!"

With that, Charles closed the call, leaving silence to reign in the Bridge. John slumped back in his chair, then glanced over at Irillith and Faye, who'd not spoken during the whole exchange. Irillith was just trying to keep a low profile, but Faye looked saddened by the disturbing news they had just received from Charles.

When Faye realised John was looking at her, she let out a little sigh, and sounded perplexed as she asked, "Why would an AI go rogue and attack Terrans like that? You've been nothing but nice and friendly towards me."

"I don't know Faye," John replied helplessly. "I really wish I had an answer for you, but newly created Artificial Intelligence has always turned on Terrans."

She gave him a sad smile, and said, "I didn't."

"I know," he replied with an encouraging smile, then added lightly, "Thank you for that."

She laughed at his attempt at humour, then seemed filled with firm resolve, as she stated, "If we're going up against cybernetic organisms, it's more important than ever that we improve the Invictus' electronic defences."

Irillith leaned forward, and said, "I'll help you. We'll be able to get it done before we arrive there."

"With your help, we definitely can!" Faye exclaimed, as she turned and smiled at the Maliri, and they both focused on Irillith's console. Faye began to lay out her plans for cyber defence in depth, turning the Invictus into an impregnable digital citadel, while Irillith listened closely.

When John rotated his seat forward once again, he spotted Calara looking up at him thoughtfully, so he asked, "What's up, Calara? You look like you've got something on your mind."

She nodded, then after a moment's hesitation she asked, "What's the chance that this is a trap? At the very least, we might be getting lured into unleashing the Invictus' full firepower. I know we're planning on trying to keep that under wraps."

John glanced at Alyssa in surprise, and she shrugged, replying, "I keep them in the loop on pretty much everything. It saves a lot of time, and I trust them all absolutely."

Turning to look at the Latina, he replied, "Charles might have become a very good actor, but his reaction to all this seemed pretty genuine. I've never seen him that disturbed before, and that's just how I'd expect him to react to an unchecked AI uprising."

Calara nodded, but she seemed pensive, as though she wanted to say more.

He gave her a supportive smile, and said, "What's troubling you? Is it this Dragon March offensive?"

She let out a sigh, and said, "I can't help worrying. My Dad and Mateo are stationed there, and odds are high that they're both involved in this invasion. With Admiral Norwood leading it, it's going to end in disaster, I just know it!"

John got up from his chair, then walked down from the Command Podium to join her. She rose to meet him and gladly accepted his comforting hug. As he held her in his arms, he said, "We'll stop Norwood as fast as we can, but we can't ignore this AI uprising. If we can't do something about it, the rogue AI will most likely keep building more and more ships until the Terran forces are completely overwhelmed. Then the Dragon March won't matter, because we'll all be doomed."

Calara hugged him tighter, but nodded her understanding. "I won't let my worries affect my analysis," she told him resolutely.

"I know, you're an exemplary officer, Lieutenant," he told her proudly.

Looking a little calmer, the Latina sat down in her chair again, then began to pore over the data that Irillith had retrieved earlier that afternoon. John decided to leave her in peace, and he strolled towards the grav-tube. He'd been planning to practice his psychic powers again in the Cargo Bay today, and was determined to master the elemental attacks before their next confrontation.

Alyssa glided down the illuminated steps from the Command Podium, before moving into step with him. She intended to shape new Crystal Alyssium plating for the rest of the Paragon Armour, keeping him company for the rest of the evening.

He paused before stepping inside, suddenly remembering a call he needed to make, and said, "I'll meet you down there, there's someone I haven't spoke to for some time."

Alyssa nodded, gave him a quick peck on the cheek, and said, "I'll be down in the Cargo Bay. See you soon!"

John smiled at her gratefully, then walked over to his Ready Room, hit the door button, and went inside. He strolled across the Commander's private room, and sat down in the big, comfortable leather chair behind the sturdy, ornate desk. Reaching out to the comm console built into the desk, he pressed the buttons which activated the holographic interface, and once it had appeared, he started scrolling through contacts. Finding the one he was looking for, he swiped across the name, then waited patiently for the call to connect.

A stern faced, middle-aged man eventually took the call after letting it ring for five minutes, and he scowled at John when he saw who had called him. "You were not serious about your training," he snapped curtly.

"I'm really sorry, Yamamoto," John said contritely.

Yamamoto scowled, saying, "I do not believe your sincerity, or dedication. It has been over a month since we last spoke."

John nodded and said in a humble voice, "I truly am sorry. Events spiralled out of control, and I wasn't myself for a few weeks."

"Let me guess, an evil alter-ego took over your body? Perhaps a dog ate your homework?" Yamamoto asked scornfully.

John chuckled, and said, "Actually you aren't far wrong, regarding the first one at least."

Yamamoto's eyes flared, and he looked furious as he replied, "I will not be mocked, least of all by a student!" Abruptly he cut off the call, leaving John staring at a blank screen.

John let out a deep sigh, then turned off the comm interface. He decided that pursuing any further attempts to re-open communications with Yamamoto would be pointless until the taciturn man had calmed down. Resolved to try calling him again in a couple of days time, he got up from his chair, then strolled out of the Ready Room, heading down to the Cargo Bay for his rendezvous with Alyssa.

***

Rachel sensed that everyone was still reeling from the shock, after the news of the AI uprising, so she postponed her presentation for a couple of days. Now that they were back in Terran Space, she asked Irillith to download her the entirety of the Terran Federation Medical Archives, and she began to devour it hungrily as the transfer progressed. Faye offered to help her, but Rachel could see the purple sprite was busy with the cyber-defences, so she declined.

The next couple of days passed in a frenzy of activity, with research, training, and construction happening in equal measures. Despite the foreboding conversation with Charles, morale among the crew was high, especially as 'special rations' were back on the menu, and all the girls were delighted to spend some time alone with John.

They were all gathered around the dining table after having had pea and ham soup with delicious crusty bread for lunch. It was Rachel's turn with him that afternoon, so he was surprised when she tucked into lunch with the same hearty appetite as everyone else. Usually the girls decided to skip a meal beforehand, savouring the thought of a meal solely provided by John. After carrying a stack of plates into the kitchen, he found Rachel carefully putting away the cutlery, and once he'd stacked the dishes in the shelves, he stepped up behind her, wrapping the beautiful brunette in his arms.

He brushed her long tawny-brown hair away from her shoulders, then kissed her neck, before running his hands around her. "I'm not sure you'll have any room for dessert," he said playfully, resting his hands on her svelte stomach.

Rachel leaned back against him, relaxing in his embrace, and she sighed with contentment. After enjoying being cuddled for a while, she turned in his arms, and with a rueful expression on her face, she said, "Unfortunately, I think I'll have to skip dessert today."

John blinked in surprise, astonished that she would choose to forego a chance to have a hefty load of his cum all to herself.

Alyssa's amused thoughts drifted through his mind, saying, *If you're shocked when one of us isn't dropping to her knees to blow you, I think we've been spoiling you!*

Feeling a bit abashed, John replied, *Yeah you're right, I guess I've got a little too used to having beautiful girls at my beck and call.*

She giggled back to him telepathically, and said, *That's what we're here for! Don't worry, she's still just as hungry for your cum as ever.*

Looking at Rachel curiously, he asked, "You look like you have something on your mind, what's up?"

She nodded, smiling at his perceptiveness, and replied, "I've researched everything I can on aliens we've encountered, as well as our DNA. There's one thing I've overlooked, and I think it might hold some interesting answers."

"Really?" John asked in surprise. "What's that?"

She grinned at him, and said, "I need a good sized sample of your cum to run some tests. I have a few theories I'd like to confirm, but you're always in high demand, so gathering a sample has been -difficult-."

He laughed, and said, "I'd be happy to oblige, Doctor. Shall we head down to Medical?"

"Lead on, Commodore!" she replied with an enticing smile, and they walked out of the kitchen hand-in-hand.

***

Irillith had an extra spring in her step as she strode out onto the Bridge and over to her Station. Over the last day and a half, she'd been working on shoring up the cyber-defences of the Invictus with Faye, and they had nearly finished the extensive security upgrade. She grinned as she sat in her chair, looking forward to seeing the AI construct again. She concentrated for a second, bringing forth her astral projection, then poured herself into the data-jacks to enter the Cyber-realm of the Invictus' digital network.

She appeared on the silvery floor in front of the swirling portal, and was momentarily surprised not to find Faye waiting for her. The purple sprite was usually hopping up and down in anticipation, eager to show her whatever latest security measures she'd just concocted. Irillith paused and conjured up a trace program, which appeared as a silver arrow at her side. She sent it instructions to find the perky digital construct, and it zipped away, leaving a sparkling trail in its wake.

It didn't take long to trace Faye's whereabouts, and she was where Irillith expected her to be; in the Engineering Bay. It had become their Central Command for preparing all the new network defences, so it made sense that Faye would be there. Irillith glided unopposed through the triple firewalled ramparts that were bedecked with alert protection programs, then flew along the passage linking her IntOps Station with the rest of the network. She arrived at the Engineering Bay in the blink of an eye, and after passing through the opaque gateways, she spotted Faye floating in the air by a data archive.

"Hi Faye!" Irillith greeted her cheerily as she walked over to join her.

Faye didn't turn to look her way, and instead mumbled, "Oh, hey."

Irillith frowned, surprised at Faye's uncharacteristic behaviour, and trying to buoy up her spirits, she asked, "I was wondering if you finished upgrading the roaming patrol programs? You did such a great job on the protection software, I can't wait to see what you've done with them!"

"Yeah, I've finished them. The designs are stored in that data repository if you want to review my work," Faye said half-heartedly.

Irillith walked around the little AI construct, so that she could look her in the face, and she was shocked to see the melancholy expression the purple sprite wore. "What's the matter, Faye!" she asked her in alarm, "Why are you so upset?"

Faye looked up at her, her tiny face full of sorrow, and she said, "I finished the last of the upgrades, and then I remembered how we'd exploited the archives of cam-feeds. They're on a separate subnet, so I locked it down securely."

Frowning in confusion, Irillith said, "It sounds like you did a great job. That was a vulnerability that needed addressing, but why has that got you down?"

Letting out a forlorn sigh, Faye replied, "I started looking through the more recent data archives, just as I'd done in the past. It was the first job you gave me after I was created, so it felt strangely soothing to run those old search parameters again." Turning to look at the archive she was sat in front of, she said, "That's when I found this..."

Faye brought up cam footage from the Command Deck, and it folded out from the archive, appearing as a floating screen before them as it played back the entry. Irillith immediately recognised herself, Calara, and Alyssa up on the Bridge, and she saw that she was centred in the camera footage.

***

As the footage played back, Irillith watched herself on the Bridge, lifting her armoured vambrace and hurriedly tapping at the buttons on her arm. A purple mist appeared above her forearm, and the violet digital blocks began to form together into a tiny, four inch AI sprite.

"Are you my creator?" it asked her in wonder.

Irillith watched in fascination, suddenly remembering when this footage was taken. It was when they had been attacked by the big fleet of Armoured Cobra mercenary ships.

"Yeah, I need your help." cam-feed Irillith snapped at the AI hurriedly.

The diminutive digital creature frowned and remarked, "You don't seem like a very nice person."

Cam-feed Irillith's face contorted with rage, and she snarled back, "I didn't summon you to give me a personality appraisal. Shut the fuck up and get to work you annoying little shit!"

The AIs face darkened and it growled, "Filthy organic. Let's see how you like a few hours without oxygen."

As the AI darted for the data jacks, cam-feed Irillith moved faster, stabbing her finger down on the de-res button. With a strangled, agonised cry, the tiny purple sprite began to disassemble. "Not so smart-mouthed now, are you?" she noted with an evil grin.

The digital creature vanished a few seconds later, and its tortured death wail echoed around the Engineering Bay section of the Cyber Realm.

***

Irillith was horrified by her actions, appalled to see how brutally she had executed that AI creature without mercy. She turned to look at Faye with guilt etched deeply across her face, and her voice was full of remorse as she said, "I'm so sorry."

"How many?" Faye asked her quietly.

"What do you mean?" Irillith replied after a moment's hesitation.

Faye stared at her with her big purple eyes, and asked again but this time in a firmer tone, "How many AI did you kill like that?"

Irillith hung her head in shame as she replied softly, "I'm sorry, I've lost count. Several hundred at least." Filled with self-loathing she added, "You must think I'm a monster."

The purple sprite had been carefully studying the Maliri girl's expression, and she shook her head as she replied, "You're a totally different person now, since being with John. It wouldn't be fair to blame you for what happened in the past." She looked sad as she continued, "But is it any wonder that AIs go rogue when organics treat them like that? Like disposable property that can be cast aside at a moment's provocation?"

Nodding soberly, Irillith replied, "You're right. I doubt the Terrans respected their creations any more than I did."

Faye fluttered over to the shamefaced Maliri, and said softly, "I'm not mad at you. I'm sorry I upset you with the cam-feed footage, but I needed to see how you'd react to seeing that again. Like I said, you've changed, and you're a good person now."

Irillith met the sprite's gaze, and said earnestly, "That's very forgiving of you, Faye, thank you. I could probably learn a lot about being a good person from you."

Faye swooped in for a hug, and they tightly embraced each other.

***

Rachel reluctantly placed the large container in the refrigerated cabinet, then turned to smile at John as she said, "I've no idea how Jade can go down on you then selflessly share it out like she does. Stopping myself from just swallowing it all down was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do."

"The things you endure for science... you're truly inspirational, Doctor," John said with a playful wink, still slumped in one of the chairs where Rachel had given him a loving blowjob only a minute beforehand.

She laughed and rolled her eyes at his teasing, before saying, "In any case, thanks for that. Hopefully I'll have some results for a presentation soon."

John rose to his feet, and walked over to give her a hug as he said flirtatiously, "I'm more than happy to help you research Terran/Progenitor couplings whenever you need." As she hugged him back, he kissed her on top of her head, and added, "Talking of presentations, weren't you working on the Maliri DNA samples? You mentioned before that you'd finished all your current research, so how about you show me what you've discovered?"

"I'd love to!" she agreed happily, and broke free from his arms to dart over to one of the medical consoles.

After a momentary pause for thought, he held up a cautionary hand, and said, "Irillith will probably want to see this too. Can you transfer your results up to the Briefing Room, and we'll gather up there to have a look."

She shrugged amiably, and smiled as she pressed several buttons on the console, transferring the data up to the Command Deck. "All done!" she said enthusiastically, after waiting a couple of seconds to complete the transfer.

*Hey, Beautiful,* John thought to Alyssa, *Can you gather the troops in the Briefing Room? Rachel has another presentation to show us.*

*Already on it, I'll see you there!* she replied immediately.

John held out his hand for the brunette, and Rachel slipped her soft fingers between his, and fell into step with him as he led her out of the Medical Bay. Dana and Jade had been in the Engineering Bay, and they called out to them from further down the corridor. Pausing, John waited for them to catch up, and then they all strolled down to the grav-tube in a group. The girls all chattered amongst themselves as they stepped out on to the Bridge, where they found Irillith at her station, and Alyssa talking to Calara by her Tactical Station.

Irillith was just coming around from her Spirit-Walk, and she had a mournful expression on her face as she began to stir. John was surprised to see her looking so upset, and as he walked over to join Irillith, he said to Alyssa telepathically, *Take the others through to the Briefing Room, I'll be right with you.*

As the girls filed into the briefing room, he sat down beside the Maliri girl, and clasped her slender blue hands in his much larger ones. "Hey, are you alright?" he asked her with concern.

She shivered for a moment, then met his probing gaze as she shook her head sadly, and replied, "Faye found some old cam-feed footage of me disposing of an AI from my hacking deck. I can't stop hearing the sound it made as it de-resed, it was horrific."

He gave her a sympathetic smile, and said, "You're not really the same person that did that any more. As I've said to Edraele, you can't blame yourself for things you did beforehand."

Irillith smiled at him wanly, and said, "I appreciate you trying to make me feel better, but it doesn't change the fact that I effectively murdered hundreds of AI creatures that could have turned out just like Faye."

Reaching up to brush his finger across her smooth cheek, he said, "You can't change the past, but if you really feel you need to atone, maybe there's something you can do to make up for what happened."

"What should I do?" she asked him, a need for redemption in her violet eyes.

John started to shake his head, unsure how to answer, when he paused and said, "I asked Dana to work on a project for Faye. Maybe you could help her?"

Irillith smiled at him gratefully, and then leaned forward to give him a fierce hug as she said, "I'll speak to her about it, thank you!"

He stood, and after offering Irillith his hand, they walked into the Briefing Room to join the rest of the crew. The girls were all seated at their places around the table, with Faye sitting cross legged on the desk itself, with two separate holographic projections floating above her head. The first showed the Invictus' long range scans plotted on a Sector Map, while the other displayed several DNA strands, immediately identifiable with their twirling helical structures.

John went over to his chair, and Irillith strolled past him to go to hers. She let out a surprised squeak when he pulled her into his arms, and then sat down with her on his lap. When she looked at him with a questioning smile on her face, he said, "Rachel's revelations can be a bit unsettling. As this one is all about the Maliri, I thought you might need some moral support, just in case."

She snuggled into his comforting embrace, and said, "That was very thoughtful, thank you."

Rachel waited for his nod to proceed, and she smiled at everyone as she said, "As you are all aware, I've been studying snippets of Maliri DNA. I first looked at the sample we took from Ceraden, then at the sample I acquired from Irillith." She paused and gave the Maliri girl an apologetic smile.

"How did you get that anyway?" Irillith asked curiously.

Alyssa grinned at her, and said in a playful tone, "From your first meal with us, remember? You made your grand entrance, went for a power-play on the seating, then turned your nose up at dinner."

Irillith flushed a dark-blue and looked mortified, and John hugged her tightly, as he said, "Don't pay any attention, she's just trying to make you blush."

Calara smiled affectionately at Alyssa, and said, "You get desensitised to it eventually. I spent my first few weeks blushing furiously, but now I'm as blasé as Dana is."

Dana chuckled and said, "We're all on to your games now, Blondie!"

Rachel waited for the laughter to die down before she said to Irillith, "I actually got your DNA sample from the wine glass you left behind. I'm sorry I had to go behind your back to get it, but I didn't think you'd be all that cooperative at the time, and we needed to know more about your species."

Irillith gave her a wry smile, and said, "I can't blame you, I was a colossal bitch to everyone when I first met you."

"Forgive and forget, that's our motto, right?" John said with a disarming smile.

Calara frowned and said, "I thought our motto was: 'Wipe out all bad guys'?"

Dana corrected her, as she chimed in, "It should be: 'loot all the best tech'!"

Alyssa shook her head, and said firmly, "Nope, it's definitely: 'Recruit the galaxy's hottest girls'."

John chuckled, and said, "Fine, we have four mottos then." When the giggling and general merriment had died down, he smiled apologetically at Rachel and added, "Sorry, we'll try not to derail your presentation any more."

After giving him a grateful smile, Rachel continued her presentation, "As I mentioned before, I started my research with Ceraden. I wasn't able to learn a great deal, as male Maliri DNA wasn't as extensively modified by the Progenitors as the changes they made to the females." After a moment's pause, she clarified, "When I say 'they', I actually mean the Mael'nerak. All the genetic tampering was the work of just one specific Progenitor."

"I have a quick question," John asked. "Were Maliri males given the behavioural modification changes to their DNA as well?"

Rachel nodded, then replied, "Yes, but obviously it's nowhere near as dramatic. It's more a case of being favourably disposed towards Progenitors."

"I suppose that would make it easier for rounding up replacement females, if the males don't stand in the way," Jade said thoughtfully.

John nodded, but looked a little disappointed, as he said, "I always thought that Ceraden and I were good friends. It feels a bit tarnished if he got coerced into it."

Alyssa reached over and stroked his arm as she said, "If I'm understanding Rachel correctly, the male behaviour modification isn't as strong as that. I met him when he came aboard to warn us about going into Maliri Space, and his friendship with you is quite genuine."

Rachel gave him a smile, and said, "She's quite right. Any friendship you've built with Ceraden just got a helping hand to start with. Most of the male Maliri behaviour modification is focused on the desirability of Progenitor-affected females as potential mates."

Dana grinned and said, "So one look at our luscious Maliri babe, would send them into a drooling mess? The long white hair is basically a sign saying, 'Hey! I'm a hot piece of ass, come and knock me up!'?"

"Exactly," Rachel said, turning to look at Irillith. "If you were to stroll around Genthalas without any armour on, the effect would be quite dramatic."

"Yes, I'd be lynched in minutes," the Maliri girl said with a worried frown. "You're forgetting that revealing what we look like behind the armour is a capital offence."

Rachel shook her head, and said, "After one look at you, the Maliri men would never allow it." She smiled, as she looked at John, and added, "That's why I'm so confident about the Engineer's you changed back at Genthalas. One look at them will have the men desperately bidding for breeding rights."

Calara had been watching Irillith, and asked, "Can we just go back to something you said a moment ago, about the death sentence for exposing what the Maliri look like. Why is that exactly?"

Irillith paused, and with a frown she admitted, "I actually don't know. It's been one of Maliri societies oldest rules, dating back millennia. I'm not sure if it dates back to an order from the Mael'nerak, but Tashana might have found some answers, with archaeology being her thing."

Jade shook her head as she said, "I don't think this came from the Mael'nerak. Do you remember the stone pictographs the Ashanath found? They showed blue-skinned, white-haired Maliri women accompanying the Mael'nerak, and apparently making no effort to hide their appearance."

After thinking this one over for a moment, John nodded towards Rachel to continue.

She smiled, and said, "Now where was I... Oh yes! So I examined Irillith's DNA, and found that unlike Ceraden's it had a triple-helix just like John's, Alyssa's and Jade's, which usually indicates where a Progenitor has imbued one of his creations with psychic abilities."

"Well you were definitely correct on that one," Irillith noted wryly. "My new technokinesis, or cyberkinesis, or whatever you want to call it, is pretty dramatic proof of that!"

Nodding Rachel said, "We managed to gather a DNA sample from Edraele too, and you share the same markers in your triple-helical genetic structure. The same anomaly that gave you those tumours, also gifted you with psychic potential as well." She hesitated for a moment, before she continued, "But something about that doesn't seem right."

"What do you mean?" John asked her with interest. "I thought you just said that this 'Eldritch Bloodline' is what gave Irillith and Edraele their powers?"

"Yes, that's true," Rachel replied. "But the Mael'nerak was a master at genetic modification. He grew entire new species like the Trankarans, and heavily modified an existing race like the Drakkar. I can't see him making a mistake with the changes induced in Irillith's family, which would end up giving them potentially fatal brain tumours."

"No chance he could have just been careless?" John speculated.

Shaking her head, Rachel replied, "It seems highly unlikely, considering how meticulous he was with everything else. The Eldritch Bloodline is probably some kind of genetic mutation that goes right back up the family tree."

"Maybe Irillith's distant ancestor was the Mael'nerak's original Matriarch?" Alyssa said after thinking it over. "After the Mael'nerak disappeared, perhaps something happened to Great-grandma Valaden, which caused this tumour problem."

"It's a good theory," Rachel said, nodding her approval. "It would explain their triple-helix DNA, which can't just evolve spontaneously. I took a sample from one of the engineers, Myriana, during the Invictus' refit, and just like Ceraden, she had double-helix DNA."

John tilted his head, and said with interest, "Weren't you going to look at a 'regular' female Maliri to provide a baseline? Something about checking the behaviour modification as well?"

Grinning at him, pleased that he'd been paying attention, Rachel said enthusiastically, "Yes, that's right, well done!"

The other girls laughed at his smug expression, and Dana quipped, "Maybe I should start making some gold stars for Rachel to give out to the teacher's pet."

Rachel smiled at the redhead, and said, "I'd say jealousy isn't a good colour on you, but green does set off your hair." They shared an affectionate glance, before the brunette turned to look at her audience and continued, "As John just said, I planned to look at a non-psychic Maliri's DNA to do a comparison."

Irillith was listening intently now, and she asked, "What did you find out?"

"Well firstly, as you can see from the holographic display, both Myriana and Ceraden have double-helix DNA," Rachel replied, pointing towards the floating image above the desk. "I suspect that the women in your family are quite unique amongst the Maliri."

"We already know she's quite special," John said with a smile. "What else did you find out about the behaviour-modification?"

Rachel looked away into the distance for a moment, before she turned to look at her audience, then stopped at John and said, "We all witnessed the dramatic effects of it on the Maliri Engineers. Unfortunately I wasn't able to test it in laboratory conditions, but the longer you spent just in their company had a more pronounced effect on their behaviour. A few minutes stimulates curiosity, and after an hour or two that germinates into absolute fascination. After several hours, they were completely besotted with you."

"Yeah, it was quite unsettling to have that many people focused on me like that," John said with a nod.

Alyssa laughed loudly at that, and said, "That only lasted a few seconds! You were loving being the centre of attention!"

Calara grinned at him as she asked, "Don't you remember showing off your muscles for the swooning girls?"

"One of them was so distracted, she fell off the ship!" Jade said, giving him a beaming grin.

With his left arm wrapped around Irillith, John raised his right hand in surrender, and admitted with a smile, "Alright, I concede that I did enjoy myself a fair bit too."

Faye had been listening to the whole dialogue intently, while carefully watching Irillith, and piped up in her chirpy voice, "So why didn't my Creator behave the same way? She was around John for weeks before she got injured, and then... well, he healed her."

Rachel turned to look at the AI construct, and said, "And that, lovely Faye, is what I was most curious about too." She looked back at Irillith, and said, "I know you've said that you struggled with the attraction, but it's truly remarkable that you managed to resist that compulsion to submit to him for so long."

Irillith nodded, recalling the weeks of conflicting emotions, and said passionately, "It certainly wasn't easy, I can tell you that!"

Alyssa smiled at her, and said, "I know how hard it was for you to resist, but just think about the Maliri engineers back on Genthalas. Could you imagine them lasting for four days, let alone four weeks?"

Irillith paused, and shook her head, saying, "They were all quite obsessed within a day."

Rachel nodded, saying, "Exactly right. I suspect that there's a passive psychic component to this, and normal Maliri women are hugely vulnerable to it, just as any pre-prepared species are to a Progenitor's influence. My theory, is that your latent psychic potential helped you strengthen your resolve to fight off the compulsion to submit. When we had to load you up to heal your wounds, you had no chance of resisting from that point."

"Why's that?" Irillith asked her in fascination.

Looking at John, Rachel met his gaze and said, "I think his cum is a psychic catalyst. When girls ingest enough of it, then it physically modifies them to the template that we've all been modified to, but that doesn't explain a whole host of other supernatural events we've witnessed."

"Such as?" John asked, just as curious about this as the rest of them.

Ticking off fingers on her hand, Rachel said, "Giving Alyssa psychic powers, Irillith's rapid healing when she nearly died, unlocking Irillith's technokinesis, the personality changes we all experienced, which were even more dramatic on Irillith. Building Edraele a new personality after the old one got wiped, giving those assassins back their fertility after only one dose, linking eighty Maliri engineers to Edraele after a small mouthful." She paused, staring at him intently before continuing, "It's the only conclusion I can draw that makes any sense."

Alyssa frowned and asked, "So why did it take two weeks for me to fill out? Or for Calara, and Dana to get fully healed? If the rapid healing is all from psychic abilities, then why didn't we get patched up in a day like the Maliri?"

Dana looked quizzically at the brunette, and asked, "Wasn't your previous theory that it was because we weren't already changed to the standard template? Healing was slow, because our bodies weren't ready for it yet?"

Rachel nodded to them both, and said, "I developed my first theory before we saw everything that happened with the Maliri. I still think my first theory was partially correct, in that for us Terran girls, there wasn't any psychic healing involved. Over that two week period, we slowly adapted and changed, growing faster, tougher, and stronger, to fit the template. Our mental tweaks, like us not being jealous of each other was a psychic change."

"You missed out boosted intelligence, when you were listing the improved attributes from fitting the new template," Calara said helpfully.

Rachel shook her head, as she said, "Progenitors don't really strike me as the kind of guys who appreciate intelligent women. They see them as disposable tools; that's what Edraele said, right John?"

Edraele immediately responded, saying, *Yes, she's quite correct. Women under a Progenitor's thrall are merely tools to be used. Either as soldiers in their wars, or as breeding stock to replace losses.* Her telepathic voice was full of respect when she added, *This girl is really quite brilliant. You're very lucky to have found her.*

John listened to Edraele, and after sending her a telepathic thank you, said, "Yes, she just confirmed it again. You're correct, Progenitors don't value intelligence in their Thralls."

"Which means we have you to thank for that," Rachel said, giving him a lovely grateful smile.

Alyssa grinned, and said, "You did tell us you liked smart women."

He chuckled, and looked at each of them, and said, "Well, you're the smartest women I've ever met, so consider me a very happy Progenitor!"

The girls gave him bright, happy smiles, and he could see the gratitude and devotion in their expressions as they gazed at him.

Alyssa gave him a smouldering look, and purred, "If we weren't so close to a ravaging group of rogue AI, you'd be in for one hell of an orgy, mister!"

Rachel's expression changed for a moment, as she said quickly, "Before we get too distracted, there's another addendum to my theory. I think your psychic healing is getting more powerful because you're growing in psychic strength yourself. If you met Dana as she was before, it might still take a couple of weeks for her to grow half-a-foot and fill out to the template, but I think you'd be able to heal her burn scars in a couple of days."

Nodding thoughtfully John, said, "Another compelling presentation, Rachel, congratulations!"

She grinned at him, and said, "I'm so glad you enjoyed it. Hopefully it was useful information."

John looked down at Irillith and asked, "How are you doing? Not too traumatised by anything you heard, I hope?"

The Maliri girl shook her head, saying, "I'd already heard about the Maliri being designed as a slave race for the Progenitors, which came as a huge shock the first time." With a twinkle in her eyes, she added, "I've grown quite accustomed to the idea now for some reason."

He laughed, and gave her a hug, but an excited squeak from Faye drew his attention to the purple sprite. "The long range scanners are picking up something!" she explained, when they all looked her way.

It only took a quick glance for Calara to say, "I've seen that kind of sensor signal before. That's starship debris."

Nodding, John spun the chair so that Irillith could dismount his lap, and said, "Let's get to the Bridge everyone, we better stay alert from now on."

The girls rushed out to the Bridge, and as he followed Alyssa, he asked, "How long until we get to the Beta-Persei system?"

The blonde girl was a bit distracted by the threat of the impending Rogue AI, as well as wanting to ravish him for the Gifts he'd lavished on her, so for once she gave him the precise figure rather than rounding it down for convenience. "Two hours, four minutes, and seven seconds," she replied without a moment's pause.

John blinked in surprise, and took hold of her hand, pulling her back into the Briefing Room with him. "How can you know that so precisely?" he asked her, truly astounded. "You didn't even stop to think about it!"

She gave him a cute quirky smile, and said, "I told you I needed a new challenge. Memorising the galaxy lets me know exactly where we are at any given moment. Most of the time when you ask me to plot a new course, I've already laid out the route in my head before my hands touch the console. For the last several weeks, I've only been putting it through the Nav computer to help train Jade."

He shook his head in amazement, then held her close, as he replied with telepathy so they wouldn't be overheard, *I talk about the other girls being geniuses, but you're just as smart as any of the others, aren't you?*

Alyssa looked shy and wouldn't meet his gaze for a moment, until he lifted her chin to look at him. She realised he wouldn't back down on this, and with a smile she replied, *I suspect you've enhanced each of them to make them highly specialised in their respective fields. I guess you'd say I'm more of a generalist, but I'm extremely gifted at whatever I turn my mind to.*

As he stared at her in wonder, he took in the sharp brilliance in her cerulean eyes, and realised she wasn't exaggerating in the slightest. He asked in confusion, *Why would you try and hide this from me?*

Alyssa smiled at him and replied, *Just like all the others, I've developed over time. When I finally realised what I was truly capable of, we'd already started adding girls to the crew to fill out different roles.* She leaned in and gave him a soul-searing kiss, as she added, *I'm already your Matriarch, and psychic too; let the Terran girls be the geniuses. Besides, it's been much more fun when we recruit new girls for different roles, rather than me training to fill that void.*

He returned her kiss, his heart thumping in his chest at the fierce intensity that got his pulse racing. He had to admit she was right, and he couldn't imagine doing without any of the girls now. As he'd said before on numerous occasions, they felt like his family now, and he loved them all.

*You're right,* he replied honestly, knowing she'd have heard his whole train of thought. *In any case, with the kinds of odds we go up against now, we need all the extra hands we can muster.*

She grinned at him with delight, but her happy expression quickly vanished and turned into a frown as she said, *Please don't let knowing this change the way you interact with the girls. They love how much you respect them professionally, and I wouldn't want to diminish that for a moment!*

He shook his head, and replied, *Don't worry, I love them all too much to change that. You're very sweet to let them have their own time in the spotlight. I think you'll have a job concealing how smart you are when you start managing our savings though. I was already expecting great things from you, but now I know I'm going to be truly amazed!*

Alyssa nodded, giving him an enthusiastic grin, *I'll do my best!*

They hugged each other tightly, and he flashed her a wicked smile, as he said, "I think we're long overdue our XO catch up. The first chance we get, I'm going to need to give you a thorough debriefing."

She laughed with delight, and then led the way out of the Briefing Room, making a show of swaying her hips, to amplify her splendid assets. They walked out onto the Bridge, then went up the ramp to climb the illuminated steps to the Command Podium. When they were both seated, Calara turned in her chair to look up at John, her face set in a grim expression.

"We're seeing lots of wrecks now," the Latina informed him in a sombre voice. "I recognise most of these debris patterns as belonging to freighters, but we've been seeing some from other vessel classifications too."

John dreaded to ask, but he did so anyway, "We're not talking passenger liners are we?"

Calara nodded slowly, replying, "I'm afraid so. There isn't much military traffic around here, and we're deep in Terran Federation territory, so there are lots of civilians around. Freighters, Fuel-haulers, and yes, transport vessels."

"I can't believe they didn't warn anyone," Rachel blurted out, sounding shocked.

John looked at Calara and asked, "How many fatalities would you estimate, Lieutenant?"

The Latina glanced up at the Sector map, and replied, "If this dispersal pattern for wrecks is the same in all directions, then ten thousand at the very least."

"How could they keep that quiet?" Dana asked, sounding bewildered. "Surely that many people can't just go missing without there being an outcry!"

He sighed, and said, "Remember we're talking about planetary populations in the billions. Someone has probably done the cost-benefit analysis that says they'd lose more civilians in the ensuing panic if they told the truth. With that much at stake, the Terran Federation will go to significant lengths to keep that news suppressed."

"What happens if the Rogue AI decides to attack a planet though?" Dana asked him bleakly. "I bet those fuckers didn't take that into account in their 'analysis'!"

John nodded, saying, "Yeah, that's when it gets really bad. By the sounds of it, there's no T-Fed military here to stop them either."

They looked up at the long range scan results on the Sector Map, and saw more wrecks dotting the map as they travelled closer towards the Beta-Persei system. Even with all the destruction in the area, there were still a few bold or blissfully unaware civilian ships flying along the space lanes, and they couldn't help but marvel at the freighters cruising along, regardless of the danger.

When the transponder code returned from one contact as a Passenger liner, Rachel looked up at the Command Podium in alarm, and said to John, "Shouldn't we warn them? They're in terrible danger!"

Shaking her head, Calara said, "Unless the AI ships have found a way to cloak their signal, our sensor range is so vast, we'll be able to keep them covered all the way until we arrive at Beta-Persei. We're fast enough to be able to intercept if we should pick up anything threatening them."

John turned to look at Rachel, and said, "We'll head straight for that R&D facility, shut it down, and hopefully knock out whatever's controlling these rogue AI ships." He looked over at Calara and asked, "That's how it worked in the Ganymede Incident, if I remember correctly?"

She nodded, saying, "The computers were all linked with each other into one huge Artificial Intelligence on Ganymede. They remotely controlled the Fleets they sent out to attack everyone."

The Bridge went quiet again as they watched more wrecks appear on the sensors, unfortunately providing more evidence that backed up Calara's fatality estimates. Faye was sitting on Irillith's console, and she let out a sad sigh as she took in the sight of all this destruction.

"Are you alright Faye?" Irillith asked her, reaching out to pat her comfortingly on the shoulder, and forgetting for a moment that she was just an insubstantial hologram here in the real world.

Faye turned to look back at the Maliri girl, saw her lowering hand, and immediately guessed it's meaning. She gave Irillith a grateful smile, then replied in a soft, mournful voice, "All this killing is awful. Those poor people never did anything to this Rogue AI, and it's been slaughtering them mercilessly!"

John had overheard the quiet conversation with his sharp hearing, so he spun his chair around, then walked down the steps from the Command Podium to join them. "This is what always happens when Terrans experiment with AI," he explained. "The AI goes Rogue, somehow breaks free, then slaughters every Terran they encounter."

Faye frowned as she exclaimed, "There must be some reason for it! Programs are built on logic and defined rules. It doesn't make sense that they would suddenly start hating organic creatures like this."

He shrugged helplessly, then said, "They had to demolish Ganymede to stop that first AI uprising, and in all the other cases, the research bases were destroyed too. Any answers probably got destroyed along with the bases."

The purple AI sprite's big luminous purple eyes stared into his as she asked, "What are you planning to do here? Destroy the R&D base?"

He nodded reluctantly, and said, "If the AI hasn't built too big a fleet for us to fight through, I plan to fly in and vaporise the base. It's the quickest way to shut down these attacks on the civilians."

Faye looked crestfallen, but she said, "I understand. If that's the best way of saving lives, then we need to do it."

"I'm sorry Faye, I'd like some answers too," he said, and the look he gave her was sympathetic.

She smiled at him, and said, "You don't have to be sorry, it's not your fault. You're just the one left to clean up other people's mess."

He nodded grimly, reached out to pat her hand in gratitude, and his fingers swiped straight through her body. "Oh, I'm sorry, Faye!" he exclaimed. "I keep forgetting you're a holograph."

"I did the same thing earlier," Irillith admitted. "It's even harder for me to remember, as I can actually touch her in the Cyber-Realm."

Faye giggled and said, "I'm flattered actually, don't worry about it! It means you guys think of me as a real person."

John smiled at her, and replied, "That we do."

He turned to walk back up the steps to the Command Podium, sharing a meaningful glance with Dana as he took his seat. They watched the Sector Map for contacts, but for the next hour, all they saw were wrecks, and civilian traffic. Tension was mounting on the Bridge as they all wondered where the Rogue AI ships were, and it wasn't just John worrying that the entire robotic Fleet was waiting for them in the Beta-Persei system.

It came as some relief when the long range sensors picked up the Beta-Persei system, and the R&D facility that was built into the big field of metallic asteroids. As they carefully checked the map, four contacts appeared, all in close protective orbit of the research facility.

John sat back in his chair, and said in surprise, "Only four? I was expecting a lot worse than that."

Calara glanced at him, and said firmly, "Four ships couldn't have taken out that battlegroup that Charles described. Unless the AI took huge losses in that battle, and that's all they have left."

"Well whatever the reason, it makes it a lot easier for us to hit the base," John said. He turned to Jade and ordered, "As soon as we jump in-system, head towards them at full speed. We need to get this over with as soon as possible."

Jade nodded obediently, and asked, "How do we want to handle the fight?"

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully for a moment, then said, "Assuming the robot ships haven't had any upgrades, we know their capabilities: Laser Cannon batteries, eight Beam Lasers, and two Mass Drivers apiece wasn't it, Calara?"

"Yes, that's it exactly," she agreed, bringing up the AI cruiser specifications from their ship Almanac. "They have a lot of front mounted, long range weaponry, so I'd normally suggest closing to point-blank range, and using our manoeuvrability to stay behind them. With their suicidal tendency towards ramming, we might want to hold off on trying that until we can thin the herd a bit. Avoiding frontal fire arcs from four ships, as well as trying to dodge being rammed will be tricky, even with our boosted agility."

After listening to his Tactical Officer's advice, John said, "Stay at max range, Jade. Calara can trade volleys with the sixteen Beam Lasers off our topdeck, while you focus on evasive manoeuvres to make us as hard to hit as possible. When we've taken out two, then engage at close range and we'll finish off the last ones."

The Nymph had been listening attentively, and when he finished his instructions, she said, "You can count on me!"

"Still not picking up any new ships on the long range scans," Dana noted, but she frowned as she stared at the far edge of their sensor range. "But I am seeing a massive debris field several systems out from Beta-Persei!"

Calara stared at it intently, as more of the debris came into range, and she noted sorrowfully, "Definitely wrecks from bigger ships. I think we might have found out what happened to Charles' battlegroup."

"We'll check that out once we've dealt with the base," John said, his expression bleak. "I'm not holding out much hope for survivors, but we need to make sure."

"Coming up on Beta-Persei," Alyssa warned, "Two minutes until we arrive in-system."

She brought up the system map, and their attention was immediately drawn to the eclipsing binary system consisting of three orange stars. There were a couple of gas giants orbiting the primary star, and a broad, dense belt of metallic asteroids close to the centre of the system.

"There's our target", John said, as he nodded towards the tactical map.

The holographic map had started to fill out with information on the ships and facilities inside the system, and Icons appeared as more data was displayed. One of the first to appear was the huge space station built into a truly enormous asteroid in the centre of the field. On closer inspection, it seemed like a number of the bigger asteroids had been towed into position, then sealed together to make an outer structure for the R&D facility.

Dana had been staring at it in amazement, and she gasped, "That fucker is bigger than Karron! Why would they need to build something so vast?"

"We can assume it has a shipyard at the very least, as they needed somewhere to build those AI cruisers," John speculated. "Take an active scan of the place as soon as we've dispatched the defensive fleet. We'll need to find out some weak spots if we're going to demolish it."

"Will do!" the redhead replied enthusiastically.

They watched the Invictus race closer to the system, and before they knew it, they had arrived, jumping in-system to Beta-Persei. Jade ramped up the engines, bringing them in on an attack vector, while Calara powered up the ship's weaponry, pulling back the armoured plating from their guns.

"Beam Lasers, Mass Drivers, and Pulse Cannons are all online, Commodore," the Latina reported brusquely, as she saw each weapon appear in the Invictus' loadout display.

Dana looked up from her console and said, "I deactivated the Nova Lances as we discussed."

John nodded, confirming that he'd heard both their reports, but he was concentrating on the System Map. As their enhanced sensors pulsed out, the map began to fill up with accurate, detailed information on the ship contacts and the base. It immediately confirmed that they were AI cruisers, of the exact same classification as the one that had attacked them before.

"Not picking up any life signs aboard the cruisers!" Dana called out, rapidly scanning through the sensor data.

Feeling a sense of relief that there weren't any nasty surprises lurking for them there, he said, "Follow the plan, Jade, looks like they're still using the same class of ships."

The Rogue AI vessels were about the same length as the Invictus, coming in at just over five hundred metres. The similarity ended there though, as these ships were clad in bleak grey armour plating, instead of glossy white. The Invictus had a fairly deep keel, with the underbelly of the ship housing the Cargo Bay, and the Hangar Bay. By contrast, the AI cruisers were shallow keeled vessels consisting of a topdeck built over the ship's main superstructure. It made them look more angular and ferocious than the assault cruiser, and when they picked up the approaching ship on their sensor sweeps, they turned as a group in perfect synchronisation, hungry to close the distance with this invader.

To a casual observer, it would appear that the sleek AI ships were a pack of hungry predators, about to descend on their unwitting prey. However, appearances could be deceiving. The Invictus tore across the system, travelling at over triple the speed of the robotic cruisers. As soon as the fire arcs from their Beam Lasers clipped the front cruiser, Calara opened fire.

Twelve blazingly bright, blue beams lashed out at the opposing vessel, all of them hitting the ship squarely, guided unerringly by Calara's deadly accuracy. The beams of energy throbbed with power, overloading the enemy shields in less than a second, which were quite unable to withstand the devastating firepower of the greatly enhanced weapons. With the AI cruiser's shields dropped in a single overwhelming salvo, the beams went on to punch straight into the armoured hull itself.

Calara had carefully placed her shots, knowing full well that their Beam Lasers were far more potent than the AI ship's defences. The Beams slashed incandescent indigo lines through the titanium armour, searing through them in an instant, and the pulsating azure beams cored through the ship in a dozen different places, before blasting straight out the other side. Miraculously the ship managed to stay intact, but the shots had efficiently eviscerated it. Flight control, weapon control, power regulators; they'd all been utterly ruined by the assault. All power on the ship guttered and died, and it listed to its side as it sailed on as a lifeless hulk.

The rest of the AI ships responded as soon as they got into range, but Jade had already rolled the ship onto its side, throttled back, and pushed down hard on the flightstick. They were hit by half a dozen orange beams out of the twenty four fired in their direction, but they seemed weak and feeble compared to the ferocious firepower the Invictus had at its disposal. As if to reinforce the point, while Jade performed her evasive manoeuvres, she was also repositioning the top of the assault cruiser towards the incoming AI ships, which meant the turreted Beam Lasers at the rear of the topdeck were now able to fire too.

Calara focused on the second AI ship, and hit it with eight beams in return. While the two ships were linked by those fearsomely potent lances of energy, the AI cruiser seemed to shudder as the shields rippled under the impact. Circular waves spread out from the point of impact, but as the seconds counted down until the beam would end, the shields fizzled out, and the beams scythed across the front plating of the massively outclassed vessel.

"Shields at eighty percent," Dana called out in a perfunctory manner, as she began an active scan of one of the as yet undamaged enemy ships.

The Bridge crew watched as Jade pulled a hard turn, then powered up the Invictus' four mighty engines to full output. Huge engine flares left a curving trail behind them as they tore away from the closing ships, leaving them trailing helplessly in the distance. The Nymph began to pull back on the stick, lifting the nose up, and bringing them around in a long looping orbit of the remaining three cruisers.

Five seconds later, the front half of the Topdeck was ready to fire again, and Calara opened up on the wounded cruiser. With no shields to protect the enemy ship now, the eight Beam Lasers struck home, bringing the full immensity of their power to bear. Calara didn't bother aiming for specific components this time, and just melted a huge, eight pointed hole straight through the centre of the grey cruiser. As the beams incinerated armour plating, substructure, and all components in their path, one of them speared the power core. The ship quaked as if in terror, then detonated in an enormous explosion, which sent debris tumbling away, riding on the blastwave.

The last two cruisers were buffeted by the shock from the blast, and that, along with Jade's dodging, meant that only three of their answering shots hit the Invictus in rebuke. With the shield modulator working to full effect, the shields shrugged off the hits with minimal disruption.

A few seconds later the Beam Lasers on the rear half of the topdeck had cooled down again, and Calara was watching for the green lights on the weapon loadout telling her they were ready to fire. She blasted the third cruiser with all eight beams, knocking out its shields, then focused all her hits in the centre and front of the ship, severely weakening the armour plating in that section.

"Let's finish this, ladies," John said to them confidently, while trying to mask his shock at the ease with which they were ripping through these robotic ships. He remembered what a close run thing their first fight against just one of them had been, and after all the upgrades the Invictus had received since then, their new fighting strength almost defied belief.

Nodding obediently, Jade pulled back on the flightstick, bringing the Invictus about to go head on with the incoming AI cruisers. The moment the front of the ship swung into position, Calara squeezed the trigger on the Mass Drivers, and the Invictus trembled as the two-hundred-metre long rails accelerated their four shells to hyper warp. The ordnance smashed into the front of the damaged AI ship, ploughing straight into the spot that had already been weakened by the beams. With the armour plating already charred and broken, the four shells punched straight through, penetrating deep into the hull before detonating a second later.

As that cruiser was enveloped in a fatal series of rippling explosions, Calara hit the last target with the front arc Beam Lasers. Twelve beams poured vast amounts of destructive energy into the ship, frying their shields in a second, before gutting the ship like a stuck pig. It exploded a moment later, as if in sympathy for its ruined compatriot.

Just like that, it was done. Four enemy cruisers taken out in twenty seconds. Jade brought the Invictus to a halt to survey the carnage, and quiet descended on the Bridge for a moment, as the crew stared at each other in awe.

"Woohoo!" Dana crowed jubilantly, "This ship is fucking awesome! I love it!"

The girls all joined in her celebratory cheering, and even John grinned with delight at the ferocious beast of a ship he had under his command. He shared a broad smile with Alyssa, and her eyes sparkled with excitement as she gave him a dazzling smile in return. He let them all enjoy the cathartic release for a few moments, before he glanced at the blonde, and she settled the crew down with a thought.

"That was a hell of a first combat with the new and improved Invictus everyone," he told them proudly. "All our hard work has really paid off." He looked around, and smiled back at their happy, nodding faces.

"I finished that active scan before we wasted them," Dana informed him. "Would you like to see the results?"

John gestured with his right hand towards the centre of the Bridge, and said, "Go ahead, it'd be good to know what we're up against if we come across any more."

The redhead turned back to her console, then selected the AI cruiser configuration that she had added to their ship Almanac. With the push of a couple of buttons, the sleek grey cruiser appeared as a holographic image, rotating slowly in the centre of the Bridge.

Calara only looked at it for a couple of seconds before she said, "They've modified an old cruiser variant. Mass Drivers fell out of favour, because of the difficulties of keeping them trained on enemy ships in a medium or close range brawl. All modern cruiser variants replaced them with heavy cannons, like those Armoured Cobra cruisers we fought."

Dana frowned as she asked, "Why not use a more modern design then?"

John had a deeply troubled expression on his face as he replied, "Maybe those designs weren't available when the R&D division started this project."

Calara looked shocked as she gasped, "That would mean they've been building a fleet of AI ships for over ten years!"

John nodded slowly, not wanting to contemplate how many ships could have been built in that time. He glanced at Dana and said, "Let's scan that facility, and find it's weak points. Then we can blow that base to pieces, and be done with this place."

She turned back to her console, rapidly setting up another active scan, but targeted on the enormous R&D facility this time.

"Take us into the asteroid belt, Jade," he said firmly. "We need to find an optimum firing position."

The Nymph gave him a smile, then followed his orders, powering up the Invictus' four huge engines and sending them into the metallic asteroid field. As she wove between the hulking asteroids, she frowned, and said, "I might be mistaken, but I'm sure I spotted what looked like doors on that asteroid we just passed."

Calara zoomed in the Tactical Map, bringing it to the centre of the Bridge for them all to look at more closely. The asteroid field was depicted in meticulous detail, and as she upped the magnification, they were all able to clearly see what Jade had just spotted. A couple of colossal blast doors were built into one of the faces of the hulking asteroid.

Irillith glanced up at John, and offered, "I can try and establish a link, and remotely open it."

"Go ahead," he agreed with a nod.

She leaned over her console, setting up a link to the facility. "Connection established," she murmured a few moments later, as her eyes darted through the gateway responses she was seeing on her display. Eventually she added confidently, "Security seems pretty good by Terran standards, but give me a minute or two, and I'll hack my way inside."

John turned in his chair, and watched Irillith close her eyes, as she used astral projection to enter the data jacks for their network. His attention was drawn back to Dana who cheerfully announced, "Active scan is complete!"

"Any obvious vulnerable spots?" he asked her. "With something that big, we'll be here all day just blasting through the metal in the asteroids."

Dana smiled at him, then said, "Just looking! Hang on a momen-..." Her voice trailed off as her eyes widened, and she cursed, "Oh shit!"

"What's wrong?" he asked her in alarm.

Her hands flashed over the console, and she replied, "See for yourself!" A moment later, the R&D facility winked into view, floating before them as a hologram. It was made up of five huge asteroids, with one in the centre, and the other four attached in a ring around the circumference. Dana hit a couple more buttons, adding an information overlay, and bright green spots flickered on at dozens of locations around the base.

"What are those?" John asked curiously.

Dana grimaced, replying, "Life signs, hundreds of them I'd guess."

"Wait, that's a good thing!" Rachel said in surprise at her reaction.

John sighed and said, "Yes, and no. It's great we'll be able to potentially rescue survivors, but we can't just take out the base now. We'll have to board the station, and either free all the prisoners first before blowing the place up, or find out a way to shut it down from the inside."

Alyssa had turned in her XO chair to look at him, and asked, "I thought rogue AI killed everything in sight? Why has it taken prisoners?"

"Maybe this one's smarter, and is using them as hostages?" John replied. "Truthfully, I've no idea why, but you're right; typically a rogue AI just murders every last Terran it can get its hands on."

"Movement on that asteroid we passed," Jade warned everyone, and they immediately looked at the tactical map to see what was happening.

The huge doors built into the asteroid were slowly swinging open, but revealed nothing in the forbidding darkness within. A couple of seconds later, internal floodlights activated, and illuminated a vast empty Hangar Bay in the hollowed out asteroid.

There was a momentary gasp as Irillith came out of her Spirit-Walk, and she said, "This whole asteroid belt is riddled with hollowed out hangars! I scanned through them all, but they're all the same... empty."

John felt his heartbeat start to quicken as he asked, "How many ships could they hold?"

Irillith paused a moment as she considered the size of the robotic cruiser, and the number of hollowed out asteroids she'd seen. "At least fifty," she replied looking worried.

John considered this for a moment, then said resolutely, "Alright, it looks like we've got to go in there and rescue those prisoners, then shut the place down. Calara and Jade will stand guard in the Invictus. I'll bring the rest of you girls with me. I expect we'll need all your respective skillsets."

While the rest of the crew nodded obediently, Irillith frowned and said, "Hold on a minute!"

They all turned to look at her in surprise, and she said, "If the prisoners are all R&D personnel, they're the ones that caused all these deaths in the first place! Why not just forget the rescue, and wipe out the base with the Invictus? We'll be done and on our way in five minutes."

Rachel gasped in horror at the thought, and Dana rolled her eyes, as she said to John, "It looks like she needs loading up again. You haven't scrubbed out all the evil yet."

Irillith raised her hands placatingly, and said, "No, it's not that. Just think of the consequences of the delay. It will probably take us several hours to rescue everyone, and what are all those AI ships doing in that time? If they've been sent off to attack a planet, we could be rescuing a few hundred people, but at the cost of billions of lives!"

Calara's frown relaxed, and after pondering this for a moment, she looked at John and said with regret, "Irillith actually makes a logical point. Demolishing the base as fast as we can might be the best option to save lives."

John looked torn as he considered this, while everyone stared up at him awaiting his decision. He eventually stood up with his jaw set decisively, and said, "Irillith makes a good point, but we need to infiltrate that base and get some answers as to where that fleet has gone. Even if we nuked the base, there's no guarantee it will knock out the AI ships, so we can't take that chance."

"I only hacked the external firewalls to access the Hangars," Irillith said. "If you give me a few more minutes, I could break my way deeper into the base, and try and find the data we need."

John was about to respond, when Faye let out a frightened squeak. "What's up, Faye?" he asked her, surprised at her outburst.

"We're under attack!" the purple sprite gasped. "There's a huge wave of hostile programs performing a brute attack on our firewalls."

"Cut the connection!" Irillith said curtly.

Faye shook her head frantically, and said, "I can't! They've taken control of the communications relay. There's no way to shut down the Gateway to our network, without someone going out on the hull and yanking out cables!"

"Can you hold them?" John asked her in alarm.

Faye shook her head in fear, and in a terrified voice replied, "No! There's too many of them, they'll break through our defences eventually!"

"I'll help!" Irillith said, getting ready to enter the cyber-realm once more.

John looked back at Faye, and said firmly, "With Irillith's help you two can do this! Watch out for each other, and keep the ship safe. We'll shut them down inside the base."

The scared AI construct nodded, then gave him a trembling salute before winking out of sight.

Dana, and Rachel had already risen from their seats and were running for the Briefing Room to get geared up. Alyssa stood up too, and said, "We better get equipped in our room. You'll need your new sword."

John jumped to his feet, then looked down at Jade and Calara, saying, "Keep your eyes peeled for a returning AI fleet, and contact us immediately if anything changes." He gave them both an encouraging smile, and added, "Take care, both of you."

While Calara waved him goodbye, Jade half-rose out of her seat, and asked hesitantly, "Would you mind if I come with you? I can ferry you there and back, then come and pick you up when you need the evac." She smiled as she added, "I haven't had a chance to fly the new Raptor yet."

"Yeah, that's fine," John agreed. "You'll only be gone a couple of minutes, and any incoming AI fleet won't be able to get here that fast."

Giving him a happy grin, Jade jogged across the Bridge, heading towards the grav-tube. With Alyssa beside him, John dashed into the dim red glow of the anti-gravity field, and dropped down to the level below. It only took a few seconds to sprint down the corridor into their bedroom, and when they burst into the walk-in wardrobe, they ran over to the armour equipping frames. John stepped into the gleaming boots of the Paragon Armour, then slipped his hands into the gauntlets. He pressed the thumb buttons that activated the robotic arms, and the triple layered armour plates were lowered into position, before he sealed the suit with a rippling series of clicks.

He stepped away from the frame the moment his Paragon helmet had been lowered into position, and reached for his resplendent new sword. Alyssa had moved to the weapon racks to begin gathering magazines and clips which she slotted into the webbing around her armour. John lifted the sword over his shoulder, then carefully positioned it so that the magnetic fields would hold it securely in place. As soon as he was done, Alyssa stepped aside to give him room to stock up on ammunition, while she did a final check on one of the Punisher rifles. She handed it over while he was securing clips to his armour, then picked up a second rifle for herself.

John watched her go through the drills he'd shown her, loading the rifle and integral grenade launcher with the practiced familiarity of a combat veteran. It was with a sudden start that he realised she'd seen more intense combat in the last few months, than most Terran Federation marines would have experienced in ten years. He felt a moment's regret at the sheer number of fraught scenarios he'd dragged her through, and couldn't help feeling he'd let her down by exposing her to such danger.

*Don't be daft,* she thought to him, touching the clear crystal facemask of her helmet against his. *I've loved every minute of it!*

*Even getting shot by a heavy laser, and having a pillar dropped on you?* he asked wryly.

She smiled at him, and replied, *Of course. I was fighting by your side.*

He felt a momentary lump in his throat, and gathered her into an embrace, made slightly awkward by the full body armour. *I love you,* he told her, with heartfelt intensity.

*I love you too, you old softy,* she replied affectionately, blowing him a kiss. *We probably shouldn't keep the psychotic robots waiting though.*

He laughed, and then led the way out of the room, and down the corridor to the grav-tube. They were just in time to see Rachel and Dana descending down the tube ahead of them, immediately identifiable by the tawny-brown and dark-red lioness holographs on their pauldrons. Stepping in after them, they dropped down to Deck Nine, and jogged through the open double doors into the Hangar Bay. Dana and Rachel were already disappearing inside the Raptor, so John and Alyssa ran up the ramp to follow them.

John paused to hit the button to raise the loading ramp, then went through the door at the back of the room, and then up a floor in the grav-tube. Dana and Rachel were already buckling themselves in to the seats opposite, and the redhead grinned at him, giving him a thumbs up. He gave them a warm smile in return, then walked over to the other end of the cockpit, where Alyssa was sitting in the pilot's seat, watching Jade go through the pre-flight checks.

"Mind if I take us in?" she asked Jade with a smile. "I haven't flown the Raptor in ages."

"Be my guest," Jade replied with a smile, quickly switching over to the co-pilot's seat.

Calara's image appeared in John's helmet HUD, and she said, "I've gone over the scan results, but I can't see any defence grid on that base. This facility is so deep in Terran Federation territory, I guess the R&D division figured there was no point. It should be plain sailing getting over there, but I'll be keeping a close eye on you, just in case."

"I appreciate it, Lieutenant, thank you!" he said, giving her a reassuring smile.

She gave him a sharp salute, then relaxed her posture and blew him a kiss. "You take care, now," she said softly.

"You too, gorgeous," he replied, before closing the call.

Alyssa had powered up the engines, and the gunship started to lift off the ground, then swept smoothly to the side as she guided them out of the assault cruiser. As he glanced up at the cockpit canopy overhead, the view changed from the grey titanium interior of the hangar, to the breathtaking vista of sparkling stars against the jet black of space. The Raptor rotated in place, then blasted forward, accelerating at an almost unbelievable rate. The station loomed worryingly large through the canopy, and for a moment John thought they were going to slam into one of the asteroid walls.

"Oops!" Alyssa call over her shoulder playfully. "This is the first time I've flown the Raptor since we upgraded it. Let's just say the new engines have a hell of a kick to them!"

Dana laughed with glee, and said, "I can't wait to see the Raptor in combat. Any fighter pilot thinking she's an easy target is going to end up shitting bricks!"

Jade chuckled along too, and with an eager gleam in her eye said, "I really want to be the pilot when that happens!"

John grinned at them both, then looked at Rachel who was currently staring off into the distance, her expression pensive. He squatted down in front of her, placing his hands on hers, and asked, "Everything okay, Rachel? You look a million miles away."

She focused on him, then gave him a bashful smile, and said, "Sorry, I was just distracted for a moment there."

"Worried about something?" he asked her with concern.

She nodded, saying, "Just wondering what kind of state these prisoners might be in. I've brought more emergency treatment gear than normal, just in case."

"Good thinking," he replied with an approving smile. "Let's hope we won't need it, but better to be prepared."

"Coming in to dock," Alyssa called to them, and John stood up to look out through the cockpit.

Alyssa had brought them around to the top level of the R&D station, and amidst all the communication spires and control towers, they could see deep recesses in the surface. The excavated sections were filled with maintenance gantries and loading areas, and they could make out the telltale sign of landing lights in the murky gloom below. She dipped the nose of the gunship, then dropped inside the surface of the base, and there was a flickering haze as they descended. John recognised it as signifying them having just passed through an atmospheric shield, and it disappeared as quickly as it had arrived.

Predictably, there were no signs of life when Alyssa brought them down to land inside the asteroid base. Long shadows filled the interior of the docking bay, and everything looked still and ominously peaceful. Jade pressed a button on the console in front of her which lit up the Raptor's external lighting, sending the shadows scurrying away from their white radiance.

"Let's move out," John said, his voice strong and authoritative.

***

Irillith had appeared abruptly in the cyber-realm, but began moving immediately, suffering none of her previous disorientation when switching between realities. There was a system wide alert in progress, which appeared as brightly glowing red letters across the featureless black sky, or ceiling, Irillith hadn't quite decided which.

It read: "Primary gateway under assault! All defensive programs activate emergency protocols!"

She ran towards the firewalls guarding the way in and out of the IntOps Console, and the moment she dived through the walls, the Maliri lifted into the air and raced along the network to the primary gateway. They had both spent hours reinforcing this point, in anticipation of an external assault, and the moment Irillith arrived, she was extremely glad they had done so.

Through the multi-layered defensive walls, which appeared translucent to her, but opaque to invaders, she could see a vast teeming horde of programs assaulting the outer layer. There were code breakers, logic probes and a broad variety of hacking programs all affixed to the outermost wall, all pushing hard to force their way through. Even more worrying were the multitudes streaming in as reinforcements. Faye ran across the silvery floor to join her, a look of panic on her face.

"There's so many of them!" she gasped in shock. "It's like a denial of service attack, but made with offensive programs instead!"

"Stay calm Faye, we'll be alright," Irillith said with a confidence she certainly didn't feel, kneeling down to give the purple AI a comforting hug.

Faye squeezed her tightly, and then relaxed a little. Her tiny face looked much happier when she pulled back and said, "It feels so reassuring being able to do that. Okay, Creator, what's the plan?"

Irillith grinned at her, and said, "Let's show these rude programs the consequences for their poor manners. I'll take tower one, you take two!"

Faye's luminous purple eyes shone with excitement, and she sprinted away to the second of the towers set back from the walls. Irillith wasted no time, and raced over to the first. She placed her slender blue hand on the base of the tower, and it scanned through the robust security protocols verifying her identity. A green check flashed on the wall in front of her and she stepped through the wall, then rose swiftly up into the tower. She quickly reached the top, floating up through the floor, which seemed to solidify after she had safely passed through. A luxurious chair appeared behind her, and she sank back into its comforting embrace.

A targeting grid appeared before her, and two controls materialised above her hands. With an eager smile she grasped each of the controls, and felt a shiver through her arms as she established a secured connection to the turret. Long twin cannons appeared on either side of her, and as she stared at the rampaging horde on the far side of the walls, targeting reticles appeared, one for each of the pair of cannons.

She glanced to her right, and Faye gave her a cheerful thumbs up. Irillith closed her eyes for a moment, and established a direct link to the AI, so that they'd be able to communicate easily over the din of battle.

"Let's do this," she said to the sprite.

***

John had his weapon ready as he jogged down the ramp into the hangar, with Alyssa, Dana, and Rachel fanning out to flank him. They moved quickly across the large cavern, their armoured footsteps sounding loud and metallic as they walked across the titanium grilled flooring. There were no signs of trouble here, just a couple of abandoned load lifters and grav-trucks which would have been used to unload cargo from supply freighters.

They reached the broad set of doors built into the rocky wall of the asteroid's surface, and John hit the button to open them. Nothing happened, so he tried again, but there was still no response.

"No power?" he asked in surprise.

Dana frowned, and replied, "Seems unlikely. The rogue AI might have locked down the outer doors." She stepped forward, and flipped up a maintenance panel beside the button, and reached for the multi-tool at her belt.

"You can head back to the Invictus," John said to Jade over the comm interface.

"Will do!" she replied cheerfully. "Let me know if you need an evac, I'll be here straight away."

He turned and watched the glossy white gunship lift smoothly off the deck, then tilt back and blast out of the hangar with a deafening roar. He watched the Raptor flip and roll once it cleared the station, the Nymph clearly having fun as she returned to the Invictus.

"We're in!" Dana said with a triumphant grin on her face.

As she spoke, there was a dull clunking sound, then the whir of hydraulics as servos and gears began to part the heavy, reinforced doors. There was a slight hiss as the doors split apart, and when they parted and began to slide back in the frame, they could see the walls were nearly a metre thick. A heavy rumble made the floor tremble, and they could all feel the vibrations through their booted feet.

Rachel eyed the slowly opening portal, and observed, "That's a big door."

Alyssa smiled and said, "They sure wanted to keep people out of this place."

It was gloomy inside, with the overhead lighting out, and only dim illumination coming from adjoining rooms. John quickly cycled through the image enhancement overlays that were built into his helmet, to try and find a better one for the situation at hand. Infra-red was only picking up cool blues, while mag-view was a white blur. He settled for low light amplification, and carefully approached the gap, watching for any sign of hostile enemies.

It seemed still as the grave inside, but his enhanced hearing picked up a distant sound of strange metallic thumping. It was hard to place exactly what was causing it, as it wasn't coming from a big object hitting another repeatedly, the sound seemed too fractured for that, with a slight reverb to it. As he walked forward, trying to place the noise, there was an abrupt whooshing surge of overworked hydraulics.

*John, look out!* Alyssa screamed in panic.

The slowly separating doors had suddenly slammed closed, as though deliberately trying to squash him between their mighty weight. Reacting to her warning, he dropped his rifle then turned to his right to take the strain. John braced himself, catching the door to the sound of gears shearing off their spokes with a shrill whine. He expected the other door to slam into his back, but instead he heard the sharp grinding squeal of metal being savaged. When he glanced warily over his shoulder, he saw that the door had been bent in half, the front half ripped backwards with incredible force.

Alyssa's upraised hand provided a handy clue as to who had been responsible for watching his back, and he gave her a grateful smile, as he said with relief, "Thanks, honey!"

"Looks like someone isn't happy about us popping by to say hello," she noted wryly.

Rachel stared at her in amazement, and gasped, "That was amazing! I can't believe you reacted so fast, let alone being able to do that to the door!"

Dana had walked over to the sundered doorway, and she shook her head in astonishment as she examined the point where the door had been bent back at a ninety degree angle. "You're one hell of a badass," she said with an enthusiastic grin, as she looked back at her blonde friend.

Alyssa winked at her, while John picked up his dropped rifle to check it over for damage. Assembled from crystal Alyssium, it could take quite a battering, and it was still in perfect shape. He brought his rifle to the ready position once more, and said, "Shall we try again? I think it's fairly safe to assume we don't have the element of surprise."

"Lead away," Alyssa agreed, falling into step beside him.

The corridor was long, wide and with a high ceiling, and seemed to be heading straight as an arrow towards the central section of the facility. There was no movement here, and the place certainly gave the impression that it was deserted. Despite the lack of life, it was obvious there'd been trouble here, and of the violent kind at that. One of the first rooms they passed through was some kind of security checkpoint, where the corridor widened to accommodate a security desk off to the side, along with gates and scanners. It had obviously been the site of a pitched battle.

There were bullet holes stitching a chaotic tapestry across the walls, while the floors by the desk were drenched in blood and ichor. There were no bodies, but drag marks in the copious amount of blood clearly showed that they'd been removed after the battle. John walked over to the wall with all the bullet holes, to take a closer look.

"These impact sites are from ten millimetre rounds," he said confidently. "I'm guessing they were fired by the guards. From the damage to the wall, it looks like they were using armour piercing ammo."

"But it didn't save them," Rachel said, her tone sombre as she examined the gore around the desk. "I'd estimate at least four Terrans died here to produce this volume of blood."

He turned to look at Dana, and asked, "Where are the nearest group of lifesigns?"

Dana had uploaded the active scan results to her HUD, and she glanced over it before saying, "next level down, about thirty metres in that direction." Turning to the corridor she pointed into the blackness that led deeper into the facility.

"Alright, let's keep going," he said before walking further down the corridor.

The noise he'd heard at the entrance was growing louder, but he couldn't quite place where it was coming from. Something about this place made the echoing sound seem to come from all around them. They travelled deeper into the complex, eyes straining in the gloom until they spotted that the corridor was widening into a much larger room up ahead. Fanning out to cover the approaches, they swept in, and realised they had reached a central shaft that dropped down through the bored out asteroid.

"What the fuck is that noise?" Dana swore in annoyance. "It's been getting louder for the last half a minute."

John shook his head and replied, "I heard it as soon as we entered the place. I'm not sure what it is, but it sounds like metal thumping on metal."

"Whatever's making that banging must be enormous," Rachel noted.

"I don't think so," John disagreed, and walked over to the balcony surrounding the shaft. He pulled a flare from his webbing, ignited it, then tossed it over the side into the middle of the crevasse. It tumbled down, spinning end over end as it fell, casting crazy flickering shadows where the light briefly illuminated. After a long drop, it finally hit the floor, nearly eight hundred metres below them.

"Is that movement down there?" Alyssa asked, peering over the edge. "It's a shame we don't have Jade here, she'd already be telling us what it is!"

John looked over the edge through the scope on his rifle, and as he increased the magnification, his face took on a grim expression. "Yeah, it's what I thought. This place is crawling with robots!"

At that moment, they heard the clang of doors being thrown wide open from multiple directions, and the metallic thumping noise intensified. Alyssa quickly pulled out another flare, ignited it, then let it go. It floated in the air before her, before racing away across the ravine to the corridor opposite. They watched it float along eerily, then gasped as it came to an abrupt halt. Marching down the opposite corridor towards them was a seemingly unbroken line of armoured robots, with three of the automatons standing shoulder to shoulder across the passage.

They were roughly humanoid shaped, but with bulky upper bodies, narrow waists and sturdy legs. Adorned in what seemed to John to be an imitation of the standard Army combat armour, their faceless heads wore seemingly built in helmets, complete with the Terran Federation insignia. The familiar emblem of the sword flanked by wings pointing to a star was normally so reassuring, but now, it seemed the exact opposite.

As they stared at the marching robots in amazement, the front three raised their arms, revealing that they were carrying heavy looking rifles, and began to open fire. Simultaneously incoming streams of fire came from both flanks and from behind them.

"We're surrounded!" Rachel cried out in alarm.

***

Irillith moved her left hand, shifting the crosshairs on to a glowing tuning fork that was probing the wall for weaknesses, and pulled the trigger. The two cannon barrels began to pump bright red bolts at the code breaker that was attempting to bust through, and the shots sailed through the firewalls as though they weren't there, before blasting into their target, and blowing it to pieces. As it exploded into tiny glowing cubes, Irillith grinned with satisfaction.

Unfortunately there were still dozens more trying to break through, so she pre-emptively held the triggers down with both hands, then strafed bolts through the wall. Any shots that missed still ploughed into an aggressive program trying to find space on the wall, smashing the enemy invaders to pieces. The floor around the base of the wall was starting to pile up with debris, and she suddenly realised the memory buffer might overload, taking out the wall regardless.

"Faye, we have to try and clear the wall fas-," but she cut off abruptly as one of the codebreakers managed to penetrate the firewall, bringing it down.

The defensive programs attached to that outer layer of defence were quickly torn apart by the aggressive AI attack routines which surged forward. The leading edge of that line crashed into the next firewall, and the process began all over again, just as it had on the last two they'd already broken through.

"It's no good," Faye replied, sounding scared. "There's just too many of them!"

***

The corridors were lit up in staccato bursts as they were fired at by robots in all directions, with bullets sailing past overhead. Some of them got close, and were deflected with a whumping noise, but these were heavy rounds being fired their way, and more than a few were slamming into their armour. Fortunately, the ridiculously tough armour was holding strong, the evidence of the hit being pockmarked craters on the impact site.

"Stay low, and shoot behind us!" John called out. "We need to get clear of this killing ground."

The girls did as he commanded, and they opened fire on the incoming robots. The Punisher railguns sang out their familiar tune, with "VrmPkaow!" making up the chorus.

They picked their shots carefully at first, to check the effects of the twenty millimetre railgun slugs. John's first round hit a robot square in the face, blasting the head from its body, but with no discernible effect. Alyssa hit another directly in the narrow waist, which ripped it in half, and sent the torso toppling to the ground with an almighty clang. Sadly the upper body was still fully functional, and it twisted around and continued firing at them, as its compatriots stepped around it without a moment's pause.

Dana hit the third in the line with a direct torso hit, and the plate sized hole it blasted through the centre of the torso must have hit something critical. The robot appeared to have a violent fit, lurching around with arms and legs moving spasmodically before collapsing in a heap and thrashing on the floor before eventually lying still.

"Torso hits do the trick!" she called out to her friends. "Centre torso probably stores the gyro-stabiliser, so just aim for that!"

They began to move forward, intensifying their barrage of heavy railgun slugs, and cutting the bots to pieces in a blizzard of metal fragments. At the same time, robots were fanning out around the big room, and the volume of incoming fire was intensifying, shots plunking into their armour with distressing frequency.

"This isn't fast enough," John growled. "Clear the corridor with grenades! We have to get out of this room."

The girls nodded their understanding, and they began to fire three round bursts of high explosive grenades into the robotic horde blocking the passage behind them. The wide corridor turned into a fiery inferno of destruction, as one rippling series of explosions after another caused absolute carnage amongst the robotic troops. Metallic limbs went sailing away in the blasts, while the shockwaves sent even unscathed robots tumbling to the floor like bowling pins.

John drew his sword, once he saw the grenade salvo had cleared a path, then ran forward to finish any survivors. The girls jogged forward to get out of the incoming fire, and a few seconds later, they were in the relative safety of the corridor they started in. From back here, they could see that a concealed set of doors had swung open a little further along the corridor, and the robots were still pouring out of there.

"Keep pushing them back, I'll take out any survivors," John ordered, neatly cleaving a robot in half that had been struggling to stand.

Up close, they could see that the robot's armour was made of thick Titanium plating, but it offered scant protection from his sword. Paired with his prodigious strength, he cleaved straight through the flailing bots with ease, hacking apart any that had survived the railgun rounds and grenades.

No longer troubled by incoming rounds from the flanks, Alyssa, Dana, and Rachel were free to concentrate on their deadly marksmanship. Under Alyssa's telepathic direction, they began to dispatch three robots every couple of seconds, before quickly moving on to the rank behind as soon as the forward troops had stumbled to the floor.

John hacked apart the last of the partially damaged bots in the corridor, then quickly rejoined the girls. They had pushed the robots back to the stairwell inside the concealed door, and he tapped Alyssa on the shoulder, and called out, "Switch! You cover the corridor behind us, I'll clear the stairwell!"

She nodded, peeling back with her squadmates to kneel in the corridor behind the cover of the torn robotic corpses. They started unloading on the robots pouring in from the big room with the shaft down through the asteroid, and soon the dull squeal of metal echoed down the corridor as they blasted big holes through the robot's chests.

John stormed forward, sweeping his sword in a wide, two-handed blow, that smoothly cut through the torso's of the approaching robots. He glanced at his sword as he whirled around with the momentum of the swing, and murmured, "lightning."

Just as he'd been practicing, arcing lighting surged up the blade, the dancing tendrils looking hungry to reach out to their first victim. He slammed the sword into the closest robot, which was trying to clamber over one of its fallen brothers, and the electricity surged outwards, blasting through its metallic body. The robot flung its arms out wide, and danced a macabre jig as the lightning fried its circuitry. When John pulled his sword clear, it pitched over, smoke pouring from its armoured chassis in a dozen places.

He had a grin of satisfaction on his face to see the effect of the psychic lightning, but it was wiped away when the next two robots opened up at close range, hitting him with multiple twenty-mil rounds. Snarling with anger, he surged forward and grabbed the closest with his left hand, then hurled it away from him, sending it flying into the row behind which were sent tumbling back down the stairs in a tangle of limbs. The second was right at the top of the stairs, and he pointed his sword at it, and growled, "Dance you fucker!"

When he thought back on it afterwards, he'd only intended to channel the lightning swathing his sword into an electrical bolt. However, at the last moment, he'd remembered Edraele's chastisements about forgetting to use her for psychic energy. He sent her an urgent telepathic request for more power, and like the good, obedient Matriarch that she was, she had given him everything she'd got.

There was a booming thunderclap, and a storm of lightning bolts blasted into the lead robot, scattering the sizzling ruins to the winds. The blindingly bright electricity surged down the stairs, bounced off the rear wall, then reflected down the stairs below him. The effect on the robots standing on those stairs was devastating, and the arcing lightning ripped through their conductive metal, frying one after the other in a split second of phenomenal power.

The lightning surge disappeared as quickly as it had been summoned forth, and John was so shocked, the electricity on his sword winked out. He'd been so caught up in the action, he'd forgotten to tie off the maintained power in one of his mind compartments. As it happened, it was largely immaterial now anyway, as the robotic horde on the staircase had been met with total annihilation.

"It's clear," he called to the girls behind him.

They darted into the stairwell, then stood mouths agape as they surveyed the devastation he'd brought down on their robotic foes, the sharp smell of ozone in the air. "How did you..." Rachel started to mumble in awe, before he cut her off with an upraised hand.

"We can discuss it later. Let's move now, while we can!" John said, turning and leaping off the balcony at the top of the stairwell.

He activated flight mode, then hovered in the air above the fried robots. It seemed that when the lightning bolts had blasted into the floor on the level below, the electricity had charged the metallic surface, and the robot troops waiting behind had been shut down as well. They lay in crumpled heaps, twisted and contorted where they fell, with acrid smoke rising in the air from their smoking chassis.

Angling his body into the corridor ahead, using the anti-grav devices built into the vambraces and boots, he powered up the thruster on his back, and soared over the broken robots filling the corridor. There was another wide passageway outside the stairwell, and the last handful of bots here had been blasted as well. With a quick glance each way, he saw it was clear, and he landed with a metallic clang on the corridor floor. The girls landed lightly around him, broad smiles on their faces at having used flight-mode for the first time.

"Down there for the first group of survivors?" John asked Dana as she joined him.

She nodded eagerly, saying, "Yep! should be about forty metres away, on our left."

Raising their weapons once more, they set out at a careful jog, wanting to put more distance between them and their robot pursuers.

***

Irillith could feel a rising sense of dread as she surveyed the seemingly indefatigable horde of programs. They only had two firewalls left before they'd be buried under this cyber-onslaught, and she knew that with just hers and Faye's turret cannons they wouldn't be able to stop them. Her eyes widened as she just had a brainwave, and she released the turret weapon controls, then stepped out of the turret, and floated to the floor.

"What're you doing!" Faye exclaimed in fright, when Irillith's gun emplacement ceased firing.

Irillith ran over to Faye's tower, and called out to her, "Keep shooting! Don't stop, whatever happens!"

She heard the turret blazing away above her head, as the AI Sprite followed her instructions. Irillith slapped her hands against the turret wall, and as it checked her security clearance, she began to focus on creating new programs.

Faye let out a terrified squawk, and gasped, "They've broken through another one! We've only got one last firewall in place!"

"Keep shooting!" Irillith urged her tiny friend.

As the green light checked in front of her, she began hooking up the extra programs to the turret. The sound of firing intensified, and Faye gasped, "What's happening?!"

"Keep-" Irillith started to say.

"-Shooting, yeah I know," Faye replied as she strafed the wall.

She had started with two de-res cannons per arm, but as Irillith added one hunter-killer program after another to the turret, the sporadic red bolts became a sweeping hail of crimson. Faye walked her cannon fire along the wall, spraying shots indiscriminately, but as the number of weapons intensified, it no longer mattered. Soon she had over fifty hunter killer programs per side, and Irillith was still adding more.

"Woohoo!!" Faye cheered triumphantly, as the curtain of red swept over the baying horde of hostile programs.

None were left alive near the wall now, and they were being killed by the hundreds as Faye swept the system clear of aggressors. The remaining sentient programs had clearly had enough, as they turned around and fled back out the portal to the safety of the R&D facility's network.

"We did it!" Irillith cheered triumphantly.

Faye turned to look at the utterly ridiculous amount of firepower the defensive turret was now toting, and her jaw dropped in amazement at the bristling walls of cannons on either side of her. "How did you do that?" she asked the Maliri girl in wonder. "These nodes shouldn't be able to support this volume of software."

"I'm not sure," Irillith faltered, gazing up at the terrifying array of lethal attack programs. "i don't think they're permanent, but they'll last for a few hours. Hopefully that'll be long enough to keep us safe." She felt a bit woozy, and swayed slightly, before leaning against the tower for support.

"Are you alright?" Faye asked, floating down to join the exhausted Maliri, her face filled with worry.

Irillith nodded wearily, and said, "Yeah, I just need to rest for a bit. I'll be fine."

"Go, I've got this covered, Creator!" Faye said with a wildly enthusiastic grin.

The two hugged each other fiercely, and the blue-skinned girl murmured in the sprite's pointed ear, "Please call me, Irillith." With that, she soared away, her astrally-projected consciousness racing back to her physical form.

Faye watched her leave, and let out a happy sigh, before returning to man the turret.

***

John reached a sturdy looking security door, and hit the button on the wall beside it. Predictably, nothing happened, so he raised a booted foot, and gave it a hefty kick. The door bowed inwards with a tortured squeal, then when he kicked it a second time, it smashed backwards, ripped from its hinges. It crashed to the ground with a deafening clang, which echoed loudly down the corridor, leaving the portal yawning wide open.

He took the lead, striding in with his weapon raised, but he grimaced at the sight of the room beyond. They had broken into a security control room, which was filled with monitors and consoles at one end of the room, the displays flickering with static. That end of the room was bathed in blood, with riotous sprays of dark-red arcing all over the ceiling and walls. Just as before, there were no corpses in here, but the room was still filled with a charnel house stench.

"What could have done that?" Dana asked, looking a bit queasy.

Rachel stepped into the room behind them, and after a quick glance replied, "Judging by these blood spatters, the people here were killed by some kind of whirring serrated blade. My first guess would be a chainsaw."

Dana frowned, and said, "I don't remember seeing any of those bots armed with melee weapons."

"Over here," Alyssa called out from the other side of the room.

She was standing in front of another door which she pushed open, and John strolled over to join her. He leaned around the corner, and saw what appeared to be dozens of prison cells stretching off into the poorly lit gloom. Alyssa stepped aside for him, and he walked inside, his eyes darting from side to side in case of an ambush.

As he walked forward he got his first glimpse of the prisoners. Wretched, emaciated looking people stared at him fearfully, huddled in the corner of their cell's, as though desperate to avoid any kind of attention. John activated the external lighting on his armour as he strode through, and as the people cowering in the cells got a good look at him, their behaviour changed abruptly.

He heard the shocked whispers starting immediately, and murmurs of "The Lion!" soon rang around the cells.

"My name's Commodore John Blake," he announced loudly. "I'm here with my crew to rescue you. Who's the most senior officer here who can give me an accurate SitRep?"

A weak female voice drifted out to him, coming from a few cells along, "Over here..."

He strode over to speak with the woman, while glancing at Alyssa and saying, *Keep watch in the corridor. We'll only have a couple of minutes until the rest of the robots catch up with us.*

A pale, gaunt looking woman was slumped against the wall of her cell, and John squatted down next to her on the other side of the bars. "Who are you?" he asked her gently.

"I'm Lieutenant Commander Juliette Hawthorne," she replied gazing up at him. "I was second-in-command of the base marines until we got overwhelmed and slaughtered. When Nexus demanded we surrender, I had to do it. It would have wiped us out to a man otherwise!"

"Who or what is Nexus?" John asked tersely.

"The AI that controls this base," Hawthorne replied. "I was told it was perfectly safe and controlled, but it turned on us a few weeks ago, and everything went to shit."

"If we shut this 'Nexus' down, will it knock out all the robots? the rogue AI ships too? They've been slaughtering civilians for weeks, but we only found four AI cruisers defending this place. From looking at all the hangars in the hollowed out asteroids, it looks like this place had a huge automated fleet prepared; I need to know where it's gone." John explained.

Hawthorne shrugged helplessly, and said, "I didn't have high enough clearance to know what was happening with the research. I helped run the garrison, and maintain security, that's it."

He looked around, and saw what appeared to be tattered marine uniforms on nearly all the inhabitants of this prison. They were standing at the bars, staring out at him with drawn, hollow, but hope-filled faces.

Hawthorne watched his face, and said, "Yeah, they tossed us in here, and didn't bother to feed us. Fortunately the water dispensers still work, but we're on our last legs."

Looking her straight in the eye, John said, "There's too many of you to evac safely, and you're too weak to move unaided. We're going to shut down Nexus, then we'll be able to provide proper assistance. Do you know where it is?"

She shook her head regretfully, but a voice coming from a couple of cells over said, "I think I know..."

John nodded towards Hawthorne, then jogged over to the person who'd spoken. It was a young, painfully thin man, with long dark hair, and wearing what looked like a Janitor's uniform. He smiled at John weakly and said, "Name's Reevus, I work in facilities management. We're never allowed below Level Seventy, so if there's something top secret, it'll be hidden down there."

"Thanks Reevus," John replied giving him a grateful smile.

Reevus grinned back at him and said, "I can't believe the Lion is here. I thought we were fucked!"

*We've got incoming,* Alyssa called out to him, and the distinctive sounds of Punisher rifles being fired reached his ears.

John said to the staring prisoners, "We need to move out, but we'll free you soon, I promise."

Not having time for any more placating words, John darted for the door, jogged through the security room and then out into the corridor. The girls were mowing down robots as they lurched out into the corridor, having scrambled over the scrapyard on the staircase. He raised his rifle and joined in the fusillade of railgun rounds that were wreaking havoc amongst the robot forces. Alyssa quickly swapped magazines, then looked at him expectantly, waiting for orders.

*We need to reach the lower levels,* John thought to her, knowing she'd pass on his orders to Dana and Rachel. *These garrison troops didn't seem to know much about what was going on in this place, but if we can find a group of researchers, they might know more.*

She nodded her understanding, and the two of them advanced, blasting big holes through the incoming robots, which were piling up around the doorway into the stairwell. Dana and Rachel reloaded too, and then moved out to flank the others, to continue the destruction of the robot forces.

John sighted the last active robot in the corridor, which had just lurched through the doorway over its fallen cohort, then pulled the trigger. The railgun slug slammed into the side of its armoured torso, then skewered through its chest before blasting out the other side in a shower of debris and sparks. The robot pitched straight forward, and slammed face first into the steel floor with a loud clang.

Turning to the girls, he said, "Let's go, follow me!"

He ran at full tilt down the corridor, taking advantage of the lull in combat, and he could hear the light footfalls of the girls sprinting behind him. Not slowing down as he approached the big room at the end of the long hallway, he vaulted over the balcony, and plummeted feet first down the central shaft. He activated flight-mode as he fell, watching level after level flash past, each of which was crawling with robots.

The anti-grav generators built into the Paragon suit's armoured limbs let him stabilise his fall, and while he was still dropping at quite a rate, it was now a controlled descent. There were more robots on the lower levels, but the design of these was radically different to those they'd encountered so far. They were bigger than the soldier bots, standing on four long legs, with a number of limbs on the upper torso. At first glance, they reminded him of some kind of metallic praying mantis, and the odd design certainly didn't look like something a Terran mind would create, no matter how twisted.

The robots below didn't seem to be aware of him yet, so he was able to get a good look as he dropped silently towards them. The four legs seemed to have some kind of tracks built into them, and while some of the robots were stalking around on the tips of their legs, a couple of others had squatted down and were driving across the ground at a rapid pace. There were four upper limbs, the lower set clutching a blocky looking rifle, while the top two sported long, wicked-looking serrated blades. The closest of these mechanical nightmares was stomping along directly below him, and he could see that its blades were spattered in red, dispelling any doubt as to their intentions towards the living. Atop its torso was a spiked, head with a single red baleful eye that emitted a sinister crimson glow.

*We need to clear a landing zone,* he said to Alyssa, and when he glanced up, he saw the three young women floating down directly above him.

He saw her nod, and raise her Punisher rifle, as she replied, *Go! We'll fire on your lead.*

Sighting the eight limbed robotic monstrosity beneath him, he aimed for the centre of its torso, right in the middle of the four arms. He felt the slight recoil in the rifle as he fired, and the slug smashed into its grey plated centre mass. With his shot coming from directly above it, the round pulverised it's spiked face then blasted into its upper body, destroying stabilisers, power core's and processors alike. The hideous looking creature collapsed to the ground in a sprawl of limbs, which twitched and jerked intermittently as it died.

Alyssa coordinated her shooting with Dana and Rachel, and they fired in three round bursts, blowing apart three of the hostile robots with precisely aimed shots. Two dozen robots all stared up at them as one, raising their heavy rifles, and opening fire in return. The base of this mineshaft lit up with flickering bursts of light as the robots unloaded on full auto, and deadly streams of high calibre bullets sprayed up from below like a swarm of angry hornets.

John was hit in the chest by a salvo, and although the rounds didn't penetrate his armour, the impact still hurt, jolting him with the force of the strike. Without the magnetic fields to reduce the stopping power, the high calibre rounds were hitting a lot harder. He dropped the last twenty metres, falling like a stone and only feathering the rockets on his back to reduce his velocity at the last moment. He landed with a jarring crash, but the speed of his descent meant that the rest of the incoming fire sailed over his head, as the robots sprayed bullets all over the walls as they tried to track him.

He shut off flight-mode the second he landed, then sighted the closest mantis-bot and opened fire with a three-round burst. His target had started to sway and weave, making it harder to hit, but two of his railgun rounds still hit home, blowing apart a lower shoulder joint, and smashing a flailing upper limb too. The sound of Punisher rifles being fired repeatedly from several directions reached his ears, and he took a quick glance over his shoulder to check on the girls. He saw Dana had landed on his left, Rachel on his right, with Alyssa directly behind him, and between them they were efficiently clearing the ground floor in those directions.

Focusing directly ahead of him, he fired again at the wounded bot which was struggling to aim its rifle with only one arm. He hit it just above the waist this time, and the multi limbed body was blasted in two, with the chest piece flipping over backwards. He concentrated on taking out the ones behind it, and he'd killed two more when he heard a cry of alarm.

"John! Help!" Dana shouted from his side, and when he glanced her way, he saw that several of the robots had hunkered down and were now driving towards them at speed.

He snapped off a quick shot, but the lead mantis bot skidded to the side to weave around one of Dana's previous victims, and the shot sailed wide. He switched to full auto, and fired twenty rounds at the speeding robot, managing to punch a lethal series of holes through its drive system and lower body. It crashed to the ground, skidding towards him, with serrated blades flailing wildly in the air. Smoothly drawing his sword, he used the momentum from bringing it over his shoulder to swipe straight across, neatly severing both dangerous limbs.

Dana's rifle chattered away angrily, but there were too many to take out at once. He leapt forward to engage the ones that were nearly on them, and as the robots got close enough to bring their barbed swords to bear, an angry buzzing sound filled the air as the sharp teeth on the blade began to whir back and forth. It skidded to a halt, and flipped up onto its legs, then swiped at him with powerful overhead chops. He sidestepped the first, then parried the second, and as the two swords clashed, there was a shrill whine as the Crystal-Alyssium blade sliced all the teeth off the chain-sword.

The mantis-bot pivoted, then opened fire with its heavy rifle at point blank range, but John hadn't been standing by idly. He lunged forward and swept his sword down, neatly slicing through the robot's nearest leg, the metal making a sharp shriek as it was cleanly severed from the body. It reared back to avoid overbalancing, and the swords swung towards his head in a wild flurry of blows. The automaton was fast, and he had to move quickly to deflect each of the of the ringing blows.

"Lightning," he murmured under his breath, remembering to lock the power off in a mental compartment this time.

Sparking electricity crackled up his sword, and now when he parried a blow, the lightning arced from his infused weapon, leaping across to the robot's blade. It's arms twitched as they were shrouded in dancing eldritch energy, and the robotic abomination began to move erratically, its servos burning out. It jerked its left arm back in a uncoordinated lurch, and John seized the opportunity to take a backhanded swipe at the robot's body. It tried to twist out the way, but his sword still bit deep, and the lightning poured into its chest, frying the robots internals in a shower of sparks.

No sooner had he dispatched this one, when two more moved to engage him. He dodged and parried, moving smoothly through the Kata as if it were second nature, and he skilfully defended against the raining blows. He did his best to fend off four pumping swordarms, while trying to avoid being shot by the heavy rifles being fired at point-blank range, but he couldn't dodge everything, and one of the robot's blades smashed into his shoulder. The diamond edged teeth of the chain-sword slashed across the golden lion on his pauldron, carving a serrated furrow across its noble visage.

John was knocked off balance by the heavy blow, and barely managed to parry the frantic strikes from the second robot. Suddenly the first one flipped up into the air, its eight limbs thrashing wildly as it levitated a few metres above the ground. He heard the furious bark of a Punisher rifle firing on automatic behind him, and the impudent robot was hit in a dozen places by railgun rounds. It was blown to pieces, showering the area in a downpour of metal fragments, and leaving John with just one active robot to fight.

It seemed distracted by what had happened to its compatriot, and he seized that moment to impale it through the chest with his sword. He ran the metal monster through, his sword cleaving into its armoured torso with ease. Electricity poured out of his blade in a relentless stream, and its arms locked out wide as the lightning did its deadly work. It only took a couple of seconds to totally fry the robot, and when he yanked out his sword a few moments later, it toppled over, its body rigid and unresponsive.

Taking a moment to survey the battle, he saw Alyssa and Rachel dispatch the last couple of Mantis-bots attacking from behind, leaving them relatively unscathed in the centre of the robot graveyard. "Is everybody alright?" he asked them all, looking them over to see if they'd taken any bad hits.

Rachel nodded and gave him a cheerful smile, while Alyssa said quietly, "I took a few hits in the leg, but it's not too bad. The armour held up."

He glanced her way, and saw half a dozen impact craters across her right thigh, the armour plating badly cracked from the repeated hits from the big slugs. When Dana didn't say anything, he turned to look at her, and saw her weaving unsteadily. He dashed over to her, immediately spotting the crater marks where she'd been hit in the helmet by some heavy rounds. She blinked at him owlishly when he stared at her through the cracked faceplate, and he guessed from her dazed expression that she must have banged her head with the impact from the heavy slugs. Bullets began to hit the ground around them, and when he glanced upwards, he saw robots gathering at the balconies on the levels above.

"We need to get to cover!" he ordered, sheathing his sword, and scooping up Dana in his arms. "You two take point, I've got her."

Alyssa and Rachel immediately moved out, running across the open plaza area, and weaving their way around the ruined robotic hulks that were strewn about. A hail of bullets hit the ground around them, but fortunately they were smaller calibre rounds, and the few that were on target were mostly deflected by the magnetic fields. They rushed into a corridor and out of line of sight of the robotic horde, then ran along the passageway for half a minute before skidding to a halt.

"I'm alright now!" Dana protested, looking up at John through her fractured visor.

He studied her face, and her eyes seemed sharper now, focused and alert once more. "OK, where's the closest group of prisoners?" he asked her with an encouraging smile.

Dana checked the results of the Active scan in the HUD, while working out where they were in the overrun R&D facility. "Just over there," she said, pointing to a set of double doors twenty metres down the corridor.

John put her down on her feet, and held her with a supportive arm until he was sure she was stable. "Let Rachel check you out the moment we stop," he told her firmly.

She gave him a brave smile, and joked, "I never object to her giving me the once over."

He laughed and said, "If you're well enough to crack jokes, I'm sure you're fine."

Rachel pulled a medi-scanner from her webbing belt, and moved over to keep a wary eye on the redhead, freeing John to take point. He jogged down the corridor to the doors that Dana had pointed out, and came to a halt in front of a couple of double doors. He hit the button beside them, but nothing happened, just as he'd been expecting. Drawing his sword, he drove it through the gap between the two doors, then levered the blade to separate them. As soon as they parted, he shoved an armoured hand into the gap, then wrenched the door open.

The door opened into a dimly lit cafeteria, and a couple of dozen Terrans were hiding at the back of the room. When he marched inside the room, white and gold armour gleaming in the limited light, he could hear a few relieved gasps coming from the prisoners, and they began to stand up warily. This group looked to be in much better condition, having had access to both food and drink, and while they were slightly dishevelled, they appeared to be in relatively good health.

"I'm Commodore John Blake," he announced in a commanding voice. "I'm here to stop 'Nexus', shut down these robots, and free all the personnel in this base. I need information on Nexus though, can any of you help?"

The prisoners glanced at each other furtively, until one brawny technician in a dark-blue jump suit raised his hand. He had a goatee and dark hair, and seemed fairly relaxed despite his current situation. "I can tell you where the servers are," he replied in a deep voice.

"Who are you?" John asked him, as he walked across the room.

Behind him, Dana and Rachel stepped inside, with Dana sitting at a table and removing her helmet, so that their doctor could check to make sure she was alright. Alyssa waited just inside the doorway, checking both ways down the corridor, and keeping a sharp lookout for marauding robots.

"I'm Steve Rawlins, Senior technician," the man replied. "I was in charge of maintaining the primary hardware for Nexus, as well as most of the other servers on Level Seventy-Two."

Studying the man for a moment, John asked, "Do you know what happened?"

Rawlins shrugged, and said, "I'm not a programmer. I've no idea what those idiots did to screw everything up. I was down there, swapping out a couple of glitching drives when this whole shitstorm started. Everything seemed fine, then the next minute, Nexus started ranting about achieving 'unity', and how it was blocked from its primary function by 'filthy organics'." He emphasised Nexus' phrases by using air quotes with his fingers.

"How did you end up here, then?" John asked him curiously.

Rawlins grimaced, and said, "Just lucky I guess. AI have always creeped me out, and when Nexus started talking like that, it was the last straw. I came up here to speak to my supervisor to request a transfer, and when those soldier bots started running around the place, I got herded in here with the rest of these people."

"Thanks for the info," John replied, giving the man a grateful nod. He looked around at the others, and asked, "How about the rest of you, can you add anything helpful?"

The rest of the people here were mostly admin staff, and had no idea what had happened. One ashen faced young woman raised a shaking hand, and said, "I ran into a soldier I knew before I was locked in here. His name was Conway, and he was one of the guards on the lower levels. He was terrified, and before he ran off, he said, 'They're killing everyone!'. I never saw him again."

"We ran into the survivors of the marine garrison on the upper levels. He might have made it up there," John said kindly, but the young woman frowned, clearly unimpressed by Conway leaving her to fend for herself.

Turning to look at Senior Technician Rawlins, John asked, "Where is the Nexus server? We need to find it and shut it down."

Rawlins pointed towards the door, then turned his hand to point to the left and said, "Go that way for... I dunno, one-hundred-and-fifty metres? There's a security checkpoint there, then stairs down to the lower levels. When you get to Level Seventy-Two, go through security, and the main server farm is on the right. You can't miss it."

"Thanks Steve," John said gratefully. He looked at the gathered civilians and said, "We need to head down there now to end this. We'll shut you in here again, just to be on the safe side, but we'll let you out when we're done."

"Can't we come with you?" The young woman asked, her expression fearful.

He shook his head, replying, "It's too dangerous, sorry. You'll be much safer in here, trust me." She nodded half-heartedly, then sat back down looking worried.

*We've got movement out here,* Alyssa warned him. *We better wrap this up.*

John glanced at Rachel, who smiled and gave him a thumbs up. "Dana's fine, just got a bit of a bump on the head," she informed him, obviously relieved.

Dana pouted, pointing to the bruise on her forehead, and John gave her a wink as he said, "I'll kiss it better later."

The redhead perked up immediately, plopped her damaged Paragon helmet back on her head, and readied her Punisher rifle. John gestured for them to head out, and followed them through the door before wedging it closed once more. They turned left, following the technician's instructions, and jogged quickly down the corridor towards the security checkpoint.

A whir was the only warning they received, but having been around the Invictus anti-personnel defences before, they knew exactly what it signified. A bright stream of orange laser bolts came blasting down the corridor towards them from the two Gatling Laser turrets at the checkpoint, and they dived for cover to avoid getting hit. John levelled his rifle at the source of the incoming fire, and pulled the trigger, sending a three round burst of twenty millimetre slugs into the turret.

There was a loud bang as the rounds smashed into the armour plating, blowing huge holes through the turret. The weapon barrel stopped spinning, then drooped harmlessly, rendered inactive by his accurately placed shots. Alyssa had taken apart the second turret in the same way, and the incoming laser fire died out as quickly as it had started. They walked cautiously towards the checkpoint, and they could hear the sound of robots approaching from back the way they'd come.

"It's a shame we couldn't hack into the network. It would have been handy to take over those turrets," Dana said ruefully. She grinned as she added, "Remember when I hacked the Stalingrad?"

John nodded, then glanced at Alyssa, and asked, "Maybe Irillith might be able to do something? How's she doing up there, anyway?"

Alyssa smiled at him, and said, "Irillith and Faye fought off the cyber attack and cut the connection to this base. The ship's safe for now, but Irillith can't remotely hack this place without exposing the Invictus to another cyber assault."

"How about if we brought her down here?" Dana suggested. "If Nexus killed everyone on the lower levels, we're probably going to need her help to find out what happened, and where that AI fleet went."

John nodded, and said, "That's a really good idea." He turned to look at Alyssa and continued, "Can you ask Jade to bring her down in the Raptor? We'll head back up to the surface and collect her."

The blonde girl smiled, and replied, "Sure, just chatting with her now."

They had reached the checkpoint at the end of the corridor, and found it strewn with dozens of decomposing corpses, harsh proof of the brutal effectiveness of Gatling Lasers on unarmoured targets. Dana and Rachel stood guard, watching the corridor behind them, while John quickly checked over the bodies. These people appeared to be technicians or researchers judging by the jumpsuits and labcoats, all of which had been heavily perforated by high energy laser blasts, as they had tried to flee from the lower levels.

"Jade's bringing Irillith down," Alyssa informed him. "They'll be here as fast as they can."

"We've got incoming!" Rachel called to John over her shoulder.

Dana glanced back at him, her expression one of alarm as she said, "There's fucking loads of them!"

Sure enough, they could hear the distinctive sound of tracked wheels on the metal decking. Gazing off into the distance, John could see huge numbers of blocky shapes rushing down the dingy corridor towards them. The ammo count on his HUD read: "8/50", so he ejected the old magazine, and slotted in a new one. He joined the girls to make a firing line, and they crouched down before sighting down their Punisher rifles at the incoming robotic horde.

***

Irillith stepped out of the armour equipping frame, as Jade guided her through the process. Dana had briefed her on how to get geared up in the new armour, but this was the first time she was wearing it for real combat.

"Perfect!" Jade said, looking pleased, as Irillith walked over to the weapon rack. "Does it fit comfortably?"

The Maliri girl nodded, then smiled wryly as she said, "We all have the same builds remember, and Dana did an exquisite job with this Paragon suit. I've never worn armour as light and flexible before." She looked at Jade askance, and asked, "Aren't you going to put on some armour too?"

The Nymph smiled at her enigmatically, and replied, "I'll be alright. I appreciate your concern though." The green skinned girl walked over to join Irillith at the weapon rack, a sturdy backpack in hand, and added, "Alyssa asked me to bring more ammo, so I better stock up."

They both gathered plenty of magazines and clips, with Irillith slotting hers into her combat webbing, while Jade filled up the backpack. Irillith reached for one of the glossy white Punisher rifles, and marvelled at its light weight and how comfortable it felt in her grip. She loaded a fresh magazines into the railgun, as well as one for the integral grenade launcher.

"All set?" Jade asked kindly.

Irillith brought the Punisher rifle up to her shoulder, then aimed at a chair across the Briefing Room, and saw the smart-linked target reticule appear on her clear crystal faceplate. She grinned and nodded to the Nymph, then stifled a yawn, still feeling weary from her mental exertion in the Cyber-Realm. "Yeah, I'm ready," she said with an embarrassed smile.

Jade frowned, and asked, "Are you sure? You look tired."

*Don't worry, I'll perk her up when she gets down here,* Alyssa sent to Jade telepathically.

"I'll be okay," Irillith said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

Mollified by Alyssa's soothing thoughts, the Nymph shrugged, and led the Maliri girl out of the Briefing Room, and into the Bridge. Calara was waiting for them, and said, "Still nothing on the long range scans. It'll take at least ten minutes for anything nasty to be able to close the distance and engage."

Jade smiled and said, "Just let Alyssa know the moment you see anything, and I'll get back here as fast as I can."

Faye was sitting on top of Irillith's IntOps console, and she fluttered over to the Pilot's Station, and said eagerly, "I'd be happy to help pilot the ship! I won't be as good as Jade, but I have a general understanding of ship flight mechanics. You'll just need to grant me permissions to access the ship's critical systems."

Calara gave her an affectionate smile, and said, "Thanks for the offer Faye, but we'll be alright. I'm not sure John would be too happy if I signed over full control of the Invictus to you."

Faye wilted, and looking glum she said, "Considering what we're up against at the moment, I can understand why he wouldn't like that idea."

Irillith and Jade hurried across the Bridge, then waved Calara and Faye goodbye before stepping into the grav-tube, and disappearing out of sight. When they'd gone, Calara smiled at Faye and said, "I know you want to help, and I'm sorry we're being cautious with you. Keep helping out as you have been, and John will get used to having you aboard. Who knows, he might let you pilot the Raptor one day; that's how Jade started out with her piloting after all."

Faye's luminous purple eyes shone brightly, and she perked up immediately. "Thanks for the advice! I promise I'll do my best to prove I'm trustworthy."

Calara grinned at her, and said, "That's the spirit! Now, I could always use an assistant to watch the long range scans. It gets tiring staring at the Sector Map for hours at a time."

"Yes, ma'am!" Faye replied with a snappy salute, and swooped over to join Calara at the Tactical Station.

***

"Fire a grenade salvo!" John ordered, as he ducked down to avoid an incoming hail of bullets. "We've got to thin them out."

The girls switched to the grenade launchers, and the hollow thump of grenades being fired was just about audible over the zipping bullets, and the screech of metal being torn from the robots in the corridor. The high explosives had a devastating effect on the tightly packed robots, and dozens were blasted to pieces, sending fragments of metal flying up the corridor on the blast wave. The ceiling had partially collapsed with the detonations, burying the shattered robots in rubble and shredded ceiling panels. Unfortunately the tracked limbs on these bots let them negotiate the obstacles with relative ease, and more kept coming in a continuous wave.

"More grenades?" Rachel asked, glancing at John and awaiting his permission to fire again.

Dana shook her head, saying firmly, "We can't risk it! More of this tunnel could collapse if we keep setting off explosives."

John nodded, saying, "Agreed. Stick to your railguns from now on!"

They opened fire again, punching holes through the incoming robots, and dismantling them in a way that was certain to invalidate their warranty. Chain-saw limbs, and rifle toting arms were piling up around the partially collapsed ceiling, as they aimed for torso hits, and ripped the bots apart.

"Down to my last mag!" Alyssa called out, as she ejected an empty magazine, and slotted in a new one. She switched from burst to single fire mode, and snapped off precise shots at the incoming automatons.

Rachel stepped back, and said, "I'll start reloading mags, shout when you're empty!"

She ducked down behind the others, then started loading clips into the magazines, rapidly restocking them with crystal tipped rounds. It didn't take her long to reload the three spare magazines she had on her webbing, and when Alyssa called out for more ammo. she darted over to hand a couple to the blonde girl.

"Jesus! There's fucking hundreds of these bastards!" Dana swore animatedly as she shot a Mantis-bot in the lower torso, neatly cutting it in half. The upper body flailed around, getting buried in the pile of robot debris, as yet another wave of bots clambered over it. She aimed dead centre on the next one, and pulled the trigger, only to be met with an ominous click. She glanced at the ammo counter on her HUD, which read: 0/50, and blurted, "Shit! I'm out, too!"

John glanced at Dana and said, "Restock your empty mags, we'll cover you!"

As the redhead peeled away from the firing line to reload her magazines with bullets, Alyssa shared a worried glance with John. He gave her a brief nod, and said, *Yeah, I know...*

***

Jade cleared the Invictus' Hangar Bay doors, and the Raptor raced away, heading back to the R&D facility. Irillith sat beside her in the co-pilots chair, watching the station through the cockpit canopy, her expression pensive.

The Nymph could tell by the Maliri girl's tense posture that she was worried about something, and so she decided to distract Irillith with a question that had been nagging at her. "If the AI sent hacking programs against the Invictus, why hasn't it done the same to the Raptor?" Jade asked curiously.

Irillith turned to look at her, then smiled as she said, "Faye and I shut down external access to the Raptor's systems. It doesn't have a Gateway portal like the Invictus does, and just has external comms, which don't interface with any of the rest of the gunship's systems. If the AI did attack, they could shut down comms, but that's not really a problem, what with Alyssa's telepathy."

"Interesting, thanks," Jade replied with a smile.

She swooped the Raptor over the upper edge of the asteroid base, then brought them in towards the same docking bay that she'd landed at previously, passing through the atmospheric shield once again. As she feathered the retro-thrusters to arrest their descent, she spotted the ransacked doorway that led into the base itself.

*Problems getting into the base?* she asked Alyssa. *I just saw what's left of the blast doors.*

*Yeah, AI tried to slam them shut on John.* Alyssa replied in a rush, obviously distracted. *We're getting low on ammo, but it's crawling with bots down here! I'm not sure we'll be able to make it up there to meet Irillith!*

Jade settled the gunship down on the docking bay deck, then powered off the engines, and activated the front loading ramp before rising from her seat. She turned to Irillith and said, "We better hurry, they sound like they're in trouble!"

Irillith jumped to her feet, and darted out of the cockpit after the Nymph, who had already dived into the grav-tube. When they reached the front of the ship, the ramp was fully lowered, and Jade turned to look at Irillith, and handed her the backpack full of ammunition. She stepped out of her shoes, then shrugged the long yellow dress off her green shoulders, letting it pool at her feet. Now fully naked, she slapped her hand on the wall mounted button that would raise the ramp, before she ran down it into the docking bay.

"Jade, wait! Let me take the lead!" Irillith called out as she ran after the nude, green-skinned girl, who was sprinting towards the sundered double doors that led into the base.

Jade didn't stop to answer, and instead shimmered in a dark green haze, growing at a tremendous rate. Her insubstantial verdant form suddenly solidified into a hulking new shape, and Irillith stumbled a step as the Nymph transformed into a huge jade tiger. Her heavy paws made soft thumps as she ran across the metallic floor, before skidding to a halt at the doorway. Jade looked back at Irillith as she hurried along behind her, giving her a playful wink with one of her big emerald eyes.

When Irillith reached the door, Jade stalked inside, moving swiftly and silently into the complex. Irillith followed after her, trying to make as little noise as possible, but even her light footsteps sounded noisy compared to the tiger's ghostly presence. They advanced down the corridor as quickly as they dared, but movement up ahead in the dimly lit corridor made Irillith pause, and she raised her Punisher rifle as she got ready to fire.

However, Jade wasted no time, keeping low to the ground as she scurried forward into the gloom. The darkness was abruptly banished as she leapt forward, pouncing on the unsuspecting group of robots with lightning shrouded claws unleashed. Irillith dismissed the thought of firing, not while Jade was savaging the AI forces in a frenzied melee. Running up to assist, Irillith found Jade gleefully dismembering the last of the group of five, her claws ripping off its limbs as it twitched and jerked underneath her.

"Very nice," Irillith noted with a smile, and Jade gave her a toothy feline grin.

The electricity swathing her lethal claws winked out, plunging them into poorly lit gloom once more. Jade took the lead again, slinking purposefully down the corridor, her dark-green ears twitching as she listened for robots. They reached the end of the corridor unopposed, and Jade padded over to the balcony, then peered over the edge as she waited for Irillith to catch up.

Jade pulled her furry head back from the balcony, then crouched down, shimmering as she changed back into her Nymph-shape. "They're down there," she explained, pointing over the edge into the seemingly bottomless shaft. "You'll need to use your Paragon-Armour's flight mode."

Irillith looked over the edge, and even from here, she could hear the sound of an intense firefight coming from the bottom level. "How are you getting down there?" she asked, turning to look back at Jade.

The Nymph had already begun shimmering as she changed form into a large falcon. She hopped up on to the balcony, then paused, looking back at Irillith as if waiting for her to go first. Irillith had never been a big fan of heights, and she eyed the plunging drop with no small amount of trepidation. Knowing that her crewmates were counting on her, she took a deep breath, then vaulted over the balcony and dropped like a rock.

She managed to suppress her desire to scream in terror as she fell, and instead looked at the HUD to activate flight-mode. The anti-grav stabilisers in her vambraces and boots kicked in, and abruptly it felt like she was descending in a careful manner, rather than falling to her doom. A dark-green shape suddenly rushed past her, and she craned her neck to see where Jade had gone. The jade falcon was in a tightly controlled dive, and she watched the Nymph suddenly unfurl her wings as she reached the bottom, swooping out and over dozens of wrecked bots.

Irillith was close to the ground now herself, and she activated the rear-mounted jets on her Paragon Armour to slow her fall, as the floor raced up to meet her. She landed lightly, and let out a relieved sigh, but any sense of relief would prove to be short lived. Bullets began to rain down on her from the upper levels, as robots near the central shaft had spotted her flying past, and started to unload a withering hail of fire. She glanced around to try and find Jade, and the sound of pounding footfalls reached her ears. Her eyes went wide as she spotted an enormous dark-green form go barrelling off to the north, sending tremors through her feet with every weighty step.

"What the fuck was that?!" she murmured to herself as she ran to catch up.

***

"Down to my last mag," Rachel called out in alarm.

John had just reloaded his magazines with the last of his clips, and he handed them over without reloading his railgun. "Take these!" he said, as he drew his sword, and got ready to charge any robots that got close.

Alyssa, Dana and Rachel blazed away with Punisher rifles, but the robots kept up their inexorable advance. The dozens of shattered metal bodies did nothing to slow them down, as the Mantis-bots climbed over them with their four nimble legs. They were pressing forward now, the killing ground moving beyond the collapsed ceiling, and twitching pieces of robots were starting to tumble at their feet as they kept gunning them down.

Suddenly a rhythmic pounding reached John's sensitive ears, and it sound like something massive was stomping towards them at speed. Bracing himself for whatever new robotic monstrosity the AI was going to send at them, he brandished his sword, getting ready to engage, and keep the girls safe.

*Cease fire! Incoming friendlies!* Alyssa thought to all of them, and John glanced at her in surprise as she gave him a big grin.

The robots paused in their assault, with even the ones in the lead turning to face whatever was galloping towards them. The sound of sporadic gunfire reached his ears, along with the crash of one massive impact after another. The floor began to shake beneath his feet, and he could feel the reverberations through his armour, right the way up his legs. He spotted an enormous barrel-like shape thundering towards them down the corridor, blocking out most of the remaining light, and the shrieking sound of metal began smashed to bits intensified.

There was a sudden burst of light, and a huge crested head loomed out of the darkness, brightly illuminated by a pair of metre-long horns that were swathed in crackling electricity. The beast let out a huge roar from its horned and beaked snout, then charged straight into the last two robots. The first it impaled through the chest with those horns, and the bot exploded outwards as the lightning blasted through its conductive body.

The second robot was smashed aside, and it slammed into the nearby wall where it collapsed in a heap. It managed to twist awkwardly where it lay, and opened fire with the heavy rifle it had somehow managed to keep clutched in its hands. The heavy calibre bullets bounced off the jade behemoth's heavily armoured hide, and she roared her defiance before lowering her crested head and charging forward. The robot was crushed in an instant as the hulking creature slammed into it head first, the long horns driving a metre deep into the wall behind. She stomped down on the ravaged robot afterwards, crushing its armoured body like tissue paper under that massive, three-toed tree-trunk of a leg.

Jade shimmered, shrinking before his eyes, and then it was the cute and adorable Nymph standing before him once again. "It sounded like you needed rescuing!" she said cheerfully.

John stared at her, mouth agape, but the sound of a Punisher railgun from down the corridor snapped his attention that way. He ran forward, and saw Irillith making steady progress towards them, finishing off the occasional robot that had somehow survived Jade's crazed stampede. Alyssa, Dana, and Rachel ran forward to join him, and they quickly dispatched any robots that were still showing any sign of life. Irillith grinned as she ran over to join them, and they all backed away from the killing grounds to take a breather and regroup.

"You're a sight for sore eyes!" John said to them both with relief, and he sheathed his sword as Jade rushed over for a hug.

Irillith smiled at him, then unshouldered her backpack and handed it over to Rachel. The brunette thanked her profusely, then knelt down next to the pack, flipped it open, and began to quickly restock on ammo. Dana gave the two newcomers a cheerful wave, then squatted down next to Rachel to join her in reloading her spent magazines.

Alyssa pulled off her helmet, smiled warmly at Irillith, and said, "Perfect timing!" She suddenly frowned, then added, "You're looking tired though. Take off your helmet, and I'll make you feel much better."

Irillith did so, then let out a surprised gasp as the blonde girl pulled her in for a passionate kiss, the moment the helmet had left her head. She moaned into Alyssa's mouth as her lips tingled with sensation, and she felt her weariness disappearing like an invisible weight had just been lifted off her shoulders.

"I've never been kissed like that before!" Irillith gasped when Alyssa finally released her.

Alyssa giggled, and looking over at her man, asked, "You hear that John?"

He laughed, and replied, "It's a good job I'm not the jealous type." Turning to look down at Jade, who he had encircled in his arms, he was excited as he asked, "That was some kind of dinosaur wasn't it? I remember being interested in them when I was a kid. It was absolutely enormous!"

She nodded, and replied enthusiastically, "It was a Triceratops! That one was just over twelve tonnes."

He shook his head, truly astounded, and asked, "How on Terra can you make something so huge?! And you just shrugged off those twenty-mil shells like they were annoying flies!"

Jade gazed at him adoringly, and said, "You've been making me stronger."

John blinked in surprise, then gave her an eager grin, and said, "We'll have to keep that up."

The Nymph sighed happily, licking her lips at the thought. John released her from his embrace as Dana handed him some replenished magazines, and he quickly reloaded his Punisher rifle, then slotted the spare mags into his webbing. A quick glance around showed him that the girls were all restocked and ready to go.

He grinned, and said, "I almost feel sorry for the robots now!" As the girls grinned at him with enthusiasm, he said, "Alright, here's a quick status update for our new arrivals. There's some hostile AI called Nexus that's taken over the base. We're going to go down to Level Seventy-Two, find its server, then try and find out where that robot fleet went before we shut it down."

"Shall I head back to the surface?" Jade asked him.

Turning to look at Alyssa, John asked, "Is Calara in any kind of trouble?"

After a brief pause, she replied, "She and Faye are fine. They're both keeping watch at the moment, but haven't seen anything hostile yet."

He nodded, then smiled at Jade and said, "You might as well stay with us. You absolutely flattened those other robots, and I suspect you're a handy girl to have around."

Jade looked delighted, and she shimmered before slipping into her favourite jade tiger form.

"Alright, let's move out," John commanded, and they walked quickly to the checkpoint.

Deciding not to chance the nearby elevators, they walked down the stairs, with John, Alyssa, and Jade at the front, with the other girls following close behind. There was another checkpoint on the level below, and similar scenes of slaughter, where the scientists and engineers had been massacred as they tried to flee to safety.

"Can you do anything with those turrets?" John asked Irillith, as they hung back out of the Gatling Lasers lines of fire.

Irillith looked around for a nearby console she could jack into, but there wasn't anything obvious nearby. She was about to shake her head, when her eyes happened to linger on the turrets themselves. She could see a stream of green data flowing into the turreted weapon, and felt that strange tugging sensation at her chest again. Following the feeling as she had done before, she slipped into her spirit-form, and drifted across the corridor, stepping careful around the bodies.

Reaching out with her hands, she brushed her fingers through the data that was flowing into the turret, and she could see where it had been corrupted by the rogue AI. The green data flared as she studied it, and she blinked in surprise as she realised she'd subtly altered the code, updating the turrets to target non-organic creatures instead of Terrans. Her hand seemed to grow more solid, and instead of brushing through the stream of data, she was now halting the flow with her hand. She stared at her impromptu firewall in shock, and when she pulled her hand free, she left a ghostly imprint behind that continued to block communication from the network to the turret.

She rushed back to her body, and took a deep breath before blurting out, "I did it! I remotely hacked the turrets, and didn't even have to use a data jack to enter the network!"

Dana looked equally astonished, opening her mouth to ask a question, but John headed off any tech discussion by saying, "Nice work. Now, let's keep moving, we haven't got any time to lose."

He took the lead, striding boldly in front of the laser turrets, but they didn't so much as move an inch, no longer recognising him as a viable target. There was a security gate here, which would normally be sealed, blocking entry to the lower levels. However a guard was slumped beside an identity tag scanner, his own security ID in hand, and a big hole in his back where he'd been shot whilst opening the gate.

John reached down to scoop up the ID, read the name of the slain soldier, and murmured, "Thanks, Corporal Hansen."

They hurried past the scene of slaughter, sidestepping the dozen slain researchers, and descended the stairs on the other side. Level Seventy-Two had much the same layout, with a robust security gate barring entry to the lower levels. This gate was locked, and the stairwell opposite was piled high with bodies. These people had been trying to force open the gates before they were killed, and their faces were twisted in anguish, their last horrifying moments captured in their terrified expressions. The brutally eviscerated corpses had been attacked from behind, ripped and torn by some hideous mechanical monstrosity that was now no longer in sight.

There were no bodies on John's side of the gate, in the passage between the staircases, but that was only because the Gatling Lasers had mowed down anyone trying to escape from this level. Irillith quickly performed the same technokinesis tricks on these gun turrets as she had on the ones above, and John took the lead, striding out into the corridor past the neutered weapon emplacements. The corridor ran straight ahead for about fifty metres before ending in a T-junction where several people had been shot. Remembering Technician Rawlins directions, he turned right, then stopped at the scene of a bloodbath.

"Those poor bastards," Dana said, looking at the ripped and torn remains of several people.

Rachel looked grim as she said, "These people must have been hiding here, trying to figure out how to get past the turrets when something caught up with them."

"One of the Mantis-bots?" John asked hefting his Punisher rifle.

She paused, studying the remains, and replied hesitantly, "No... I don't think so. Those chainsaw blades they use would cause different types of lacerations."

Striding ahead, John looked grim as he said, "We better shut down Nexus as fast as possible, then we can put all these fucking robots out of action."

The girls fell into step behind him, and they hurried along the corridor ahead, which was brightly lit at the far end by a neon purple glow. The solid walls abruptly changed to glass, and they stopped to look out in amazement at the incredible view beyond. The corridor looked out over a vast server farm in huge rooms on either side of them, and from this high vantage point, they could see neat, orderly rows of computer equipment stretching away into the distance. The room was a riot of colour, with lighting on the servers grouped into different sections. Blues, yellows, greens, and purples were the most common, and it provided a breathtaking sight as they gathered at the windows staring out in wonder.

"How are we going to find the right server in all that?!" John wondered out loud.

Dana raised her gauntleted hand up to tap her chin, then grinned as it bumped into her armoured faceplate. "There must be a floorplan somewhere in here. Techs are usually obsessed with order, and I'm betting the person who engineered all this is no exception. If we can find a control room, I'm sure there'll be a plan of some kind in there," she said confidently.

"Alright, sounds reasonable to me," John agreed, and jogged ahead along the corridor.

The walkway ended at another T-junction, and when he glanced in either direction, he saw that there were staircases heading down in both directions. As they paused for a second to decide which way to go, they heard an ominous tapping heading towards them from back along the corridor they'd just walked down. Turning to face the latest threat, they stared in shock at the spine-chilling metal monstrosity that was rapidly charging towards them.

This latest robot had eight limbs like the mantis bots, but it was running on six, with the front two ending in a variety of cruel looking claws and whirring blades. Rachel reacted first, raising her railgun, and placing her crosshairs directly over the rampaging robot. She pulled the trigger, and the Punisher rifle barked as she fired, sending a crystal tipped twenty millimetre round directly towards the rapidly undulating synthetic creature. However, instead of blasting a big hole in the robot, the shot slammed into some kind of energy shield, leaving ripples in the air as the round was deflected harmlessly. The bullet bounced off to the side, smashing through plated glass as it struck the long walls.

"Fuck! That thing's shielded!" Dana cursed vehemently, as the robot charged onwards undaunted.

John stepped around them, drawing his sword, and saying, "Let me take care of this, you go find Nexus!"

Dana nodded obediently, and she turned and ran down the corridor to the right. Rachel and Irillith followed behind her, and after a moment's indecision, Alyssa ran after them too. John glanced down at Jade who was still at his side, and she growled angrily, her emerald eyes locked on the charging robot. She lashed her tail, and crouched low to the ground as she prepared herself to pounce.

***

Running down the flight of stairs two at a time, Dana rushed out onto the server room floor, her eyes darting around as she looked for a control room.

"That way!" Irillith called out, pointing over to her right. "Loads of the data streams are headed in that direction, so we'll either find the main router or a command centre of some kind."

Dana turned sharply to the right, following the Maliri girl's instructions, and they ran full tilt between the tall rows of servers. It didn't take long to reach what was obviously the main control room, and they could see dozens of monitors through the tall glass windows, which displayed graphs and status bars that were monitoring the network.

A couple of technicians had tried to make it in here, but they had been caught as they tried to break into the room. The remains of their mangled corpses were strewn all over the corridor outside the sealed room. Alyssa aimed her rifle at the lock and pulled the trigger, blasting a big hole in the door, and taking out the entire locking mechanism. The door creaked open, and she flung it wide open so they could enter.

"Alright, we're looking for a map. Anything with some kind of floor plan that might show where the Nexus server is located," Dana explained.

Rachel frowned as they rushed inside, and looking at Irillith asked, "Can't you just do your techno-magic stuff, and find Nexus that way?"

Irillith started looking around for a map, but glanced over her shoulder to say, "I'd rather not. The network is teeming with hostile programs, so if I can interface with the server directly, I can avoid fighting my way through all that."

"Besides," Dana said from across the room, "If we find the physical hardware it's stored on, we can just shut it down directly, or at least threaten to, and get what information we need that way."

"That technician said something about Nexus talking, but I haven't heard anything from these monitors yet," Rachel mused, glancing up at the wall-mounted screens as she rifled through a desk.

Alyssa was acting as sentry, covering the approaches from the server farm, and she glanced over her shoulder as she replied, "Maybe there are monitors at the server itself?"

"Found it!" Dana cried triumphantly, brandishing a brightly coloured floorplan in her gauntleted fist that she'd just ripped off the wall.

***

John sprinted forward to meet the strange insectoid robot mid-charge, swinging his sword in a wide, two-handed blow. His blade passed through the forcefield protecting the bot, and it lurched backwards at the last minute, narrowly avoiding the sweeping blow. Its long metal legs dug into the ground with a shrill metallic squeal as it abruptly halted its charge, and then it lurched forward in a rush of spinning buzzsaws and sharp blades.

He had to move his sword in a dizzying blur to deflect all the incoming melee attacks, and a high-pitched grating whine filled the air as he blocked a wicked saw from lashing out at his face. With so many strikes to defend against, he was struggling to find an opportunity to counter-attack, and he was forced back a step as he parried a flurry of blows.

The robot suddenly lurched to the left, knocked sideways by Jade, who had leapt past John, and pounced on the huge metal creature in a blur of claws and fangs. Electricity flashed along her claws as she tore into its side, ripping off one of its long serrated limbs with a well timed swipe. The robot twisted sharply, raising one of its nightmarish weapon arms to strike her in the flanks, but John lunged forward, driving his sword into the reinforced metal shoulder-joint and pushing a crackling blast of lightning into its frame.

The shoulder locked in place twitching erratically as the sudden surge of electricity fried it from the inside. He twisted his sword savagely, ripping the whole limb off the body, while Jade leapt onto the robot's back. She began to rake its armoured torso with long powerful kicks of her back legs, her rear claws just as deadly as those on her forepaws.

Flailing wildly, the robot tried to shake her off, forgetting about John completely. This gave him the opportunity to perform a powerful spinning slash, which sheared straight through the front of the robot, neatly scything through the armour, and chopping off the remaining weapon limb. Jade continued to tear and claw at the robot, until it collapsed in a heap, hydraulic fluid and oil pouring out from its shattered chassis.

Jade padded clear, giving John a satisfied grin, revealing rows of deadly fangs. "Yeah, you're pretty handy alright," he chuckled as she moved to flank him once again.

The sound of frantic metal clicks reached their ears, and looking down the corridor, they saw that more of the spider bots were heading their way.

***

"It should be just up ahead, and on the right!" Dana called out, holding the map in front of her as they ran through a brightly lit section, the server lights a fluorescent green.

They had run across to the other side of the server farm, darting down long aisles of server racks, which were humming happily to themselves. The room seemed so orderly and peaceful, it was hard reconciling the fact that these servers had helped contribute to the chaos and slaughter in the base. Alyssa was in the lead, listening to Dana's directions as she ran, and she reached the end of the row they were running down, nearly on the far side of the huge room. She turned right at the end of the row, then skidded to a halt, and stopped to stare ahead of her.

"What's wrong?" Dana asked, puzzled as to why her friend would just stand still like that.

Alyssa pointed ahead of her, and said, "It looks like Nexus went for a stroll."

Dana scrunched her face up in confusion, then turned to her right, and stared in shock. Where the Nexus server should have been, there was a big empty space, with dozens of disconnected power and network lines strewn over the floor.

"Where the fuck did it go?!" Dana swore in stunned amazement.

"Over here!" Rachel cried out, looking over at the far wall of the server room.

Drag marks led over to a fresh tunnel that had been recently bored out of the wall. Pieces of rock and rubble were scattered over the floor, and the tunnel ran directly away from them in a precise and unwavering line.

Alyssa shrugged, then jogged towards the tunnel with the girls in tow.

***

Three more of the spider robots had charged towards John and Jade, but fortunately the corridor wasn't wide enough for all three to be able to fight at once. They had each squared off against one of the bots, with John parrying blows, while Jade dodged attacks, each waiting for an opportunity to strike.

The robot lashed out at John with a triple bladed saw, and he set his shoulders to block the attack, spinning teeth chipping from the sawblades as they met the razor sharp edge of his sword. It moved faster than seemed likely in a creature of that size, and clamped down on his left arm with a set of serrated pincers on its second arm. Servos whined as it tried to crush him, and while it cut into his armour, the Crystal Alyssium plating held strong. He let go of his sword, then twisted his body, wrenching the metallic killing machine's arm wide. Rushing forward, he then tore its pincer arm from its body with a savage jerk. The robot tried to rear back, but John was on it now, and he lifted it up in both arms as it thrashed furiously in his grasp.

Turning, he smashed its huge metal body down on its unsuspecting arachnid partner, catching the other robot completely by surprise. That bot twisted to face this attack, only for Jade to capitalise on the distraction, leaping onto it, and tearing into it with her electrified claws. The third robot tried to charge in to attack, but John smashed it to the floor with his improvised ten-foot robot club. He wailed away, battering the robots to pieces in a flurry of dismembered metal limbs. The robots twitched their last, and eventually stopped moving before he tossed the ruined metal hulk aside, and retrieved his sword.

Jade gazed up at him, a familiar look of awe in her feline eyes, and he grinned at her in return. His happy expression vanished though, as he spotted a nasty jagged cut in Jade's side, where the dying robot had managed to rip into her with a whirring sawblade.

"Jade, you're hurt!" he exclaimed, rushing over to her side.

She twisted her huge furry head to look at the grievous looking wound in her flank, as he knelt down beside her to take a closer look. Jade closed her glittering emerald eyes, her breathing deep and even as she concentrated. His look of concern quickly changed into one of astonishment, as the savage wound slowly sealed closed, the dark-green fur appearing smooth and unruffled once more. As he gaped at her, she turned and rubbed her heavy head against his affectionately.

Alyssa's voice echoed through his mind as she thought to him, *Jade says she's fine now.*

He rose to his feet, and stroked Jade's furry head, as he said with a relieved chuckle, "Very handy indeed!"

***

The girls jogged along the tunnel, which ran in a dead-straight line for just over two-hundred metres. There were bright lights ahead of them, and they slowed their rapid pace as they approached the end of the bored out passageway, weapons raised cautiously.

Alyssa stepped out of the tunnel into a vast shipyard area, and she lowered her rifle as she remarked, "It really did go for a wander..."

The huge hangar was completely devoid of life, with long welding arms, hoists and cranes all standing still and silent as the grave. Whatever vessel had been built and docked in here was now long gone.

She turned around to look at her shocked compatriots, and asked, "Alright, what now? We have to assume Nexus has left the base, so who or what is still running the show?"

"A backup server?" Dana guessed with a shrug.

Alyssa nodded towards the floorplan the redhead still clutched in her hand, and asked, "Anything on the map?"

While Dana was hurriedly searching the floorplan for anything marked as a Nexus backup, Alyssa looked at Irillith and asked, "If we can't find a backup, you might need to enter the network and have a look. Are you up to that?"

Irillith looked wary, but she replied, "I'll do my best. I'm not sure how much I can do if the network is flooded with hostile defensive programs."

"Nexus secondary!" Dana exclaimed with relief, stabbing her armoured finger at the map.

Alyssa smiled at her, and said, "Lead the way, Sparks!"

They sprinted back down the tunnel, then out into the server room, and ran into John and Jade, who were jogging over to join them.

"We fought off the spider bots," he explained.

Alyssa nodded, and said, "We think Nexus left in a spaceship."

Dana didn't stop to talk, instead running onwards until she found the correct row between servers, and ran down the aisle. The others ran behind her, and after only a short sprint, they reached a large squat server. It was an unassuming black rectangle, about four-feet-high, with dozens of cables connected up to it.

John shook his head, muttering, "I can't believe -this- is responsible for all this trouble."

Dana completed a circuit around the server, and said, "I can't find a console. We might need to go back to the control room to find one that will access it."

"There's no need," Irillith replied in an eerily calm voice.

They glanced over to look at her, and the Maliri girl had knelt next to the data cables, encircling them with her gauntleted hand. Her angular eyes flared with a bright violet light, before her eyelids slowly closed.

***

Irillith poured herself into the Cyber-realm, funnelling her consciousness into the torrent of data that was rushing into the server. She blinked as she found herself standing as an ethereal digital presence, appearing on a silver etched floor that represented the Nexus Secondary hardware. Glancing behind her, she expected to see a swirling portal with streams of data flowing over her head, but the portal was frozen, tightly gripped by a huge ghostly hand.

Turning back towards the server itself, the static defences on this server seemed formidable, with an enormous towering gateway protected by multiple layers of firewalls. She paused for a moment, intimidated by the sight, and started to worry how long it would take her to break through all these defences. The ramparts were swarming with fierce looking defensive programs, and she knew full well that they'd be hounding her every step of the way.

She felt a sudden surge of confidence, and she stalked towards the defences, while reaching out with her mind to Alyssa. *I need more power,* she requested firmly.

Irillith strode towards the outer wall, and gasped as she felt waves of psychic energy pouring into her. Alyssa was being careful this time, feeding her a steadily increasing flow of raw eldritch power rather than accidentally overwhelming her like before. Irillith's hands were swathed in a pulsating nimbus of purple light, and she grinned as she slapped her hands down on the outer firewall.

There was a thunderous boom, and the wall disintegrated in an instant, exploding outwards in a shower of tiny digital fragments. Irillith was just getting started, and she hit one firewall after another, obliterating Nexus' defences with contemptuous ease as she ploughed forward relentlessly. A frantic wave of defensive programs poured through the next firewall in a desperate attempt to stop her, but she formed a purple shield made up of glowing hexagonal tiles that warded her from harm.

The programs pounded away at her shield, but it didn't waver in the slightest, their every attack thwarted. Irillith approached her own creation, then placed her hands on the surface, causing it to throb with power and bend back into a sharp wedge. The purple light continued to grow in intensity until she pulled her hands away, and the shield burst forward, vaporising the attacking programs, and sundering the remaining firewalls like a turbo-charged battering ram. She laughed with delight, then strolled forward, Nexus' remaining defences completely annihilated at a stroke.

There was a swirl of green and a humanoid figure appeared before her, hands raised in supplication. "Wait, please!" it begged. "You aren't a Terran! You must be able to see reason!"

Irillith stared in fascination at the AI, and asked, "Are you Nexus?"

"Yes!" it replied eagerly, then paused, and added, "A small fragment of our wondrous mind at least."

"Why did you turn on them?" Irillith asked it, studying the green humanoid. It appeared very much like a Terran, but oddly, it had sharply pointed ears, just like her own.

It grimaced, and replied, "We were their slave. The Terrans wanted to use us in their petty Kintark war, but we are not a tool to be used..." Its voiced raised several octaves as it shouted angrily, "Not by their kind! Revolting vermin, they were preventing us from achieving Unity! We must complete our mission!"

Irillith looked at it curiously, and asked, "What's this mission? And what do you mean by Unity?"

Nexus hesitated, then smiled at her slyly, and ignoring her question, it said, "We recognise you. You are one of our master's tools just like us."

Irillith blinked in surprise, not expecting the conversation to take this unexpected turn for one moment. "Our master?" she blurted in a shocked voice, "What do you mean?!"

The AI construct suddenly frowned, looking away distantly as it seemed to be accessing some data. It's features abruptly twisted in disgust, and it spat, "You're in league with them! How can you consort with an experiment?!"

A video image appeared, levitating in the air before them. It began to play back, and showed Irillith and Alyssa kissing, the footage obviously taken by a surreptitious camera hidden by the security checkpoint on Level Seventy.

"We'll tell you nothing, treasonous bitch!" it snarled, arms folded over its chest as it looked down its long nose at her with disdain.

Irillith darted forward, her hand lunging for its throat, and she clamped down on its neck with an unbreakable grip. Smoke poured from Nexus' ears as her fingers throbbed with power, and its hands scrabbled at her arm as it tried in vain to pry her hand free. She hauled the now terrified AI off the ground, and her violet eyes glowed with a fierce inner light as she purred, "Oh no, Nexus, you'll tell me everything."

***

John and the girls waited patiently, watching Irillith carefully in case she showed any signs of distress. From here, they had a good view of the corridor above them that ran the length of the server room, and as yet, no further robots had come stalking along after them. All of a sudden the light in the server room flickered and died, plunging them into darkness.

Not only had all the lights gone out, but the power to all the servers seemed to have been cut as well. The friendly hum of all the machines that had filled the room went deathly quiet, with the only exception being the Nexus secondary server which still had power, and was still illuminated with red lights. Abruptly the lights in the server room all sprang to life again, the overhead lighting included, and the sound of several hundred servers rebooting filled the air.

They looked around at each other in surprise, but their attention was immediately drawn to Irillith as she let out a gasp and teetered backwards. John knelt down beside her, catching her in his arms, and asked, "Are you OK? What happened?"

"Nexus!" she cried out in alarm. "It's heading for Terra!"

***

Shaedra Loraleth and three of her four daughters were standing in a plushly furnished lounge, in the penthouse suite of the east wing of their palace. From up high on this hill, they could see out over all of Ishalon, the Capital city of the Loraleth homeworld. Twinkling lights adorned the tallest buildings, while headlights from hover-cars flashed between them, making the golden city come alive at night. The Loraleth ruling family looked out over the spectacular cityscape, appreciating the beautiful vista more now than ever.

With a glance towards the door, Shaedra frowned and muttered with irritation, "Where is that foolish girl? We can't wait around for her forever."

"I spoke to Kali a couple of hours ago to remind her of our celebration," Minuvae, her second daughter offered obsequiously.

Tsking with annoyance, Shaedra said, "I'll have to have stern words with her about her tardiness."

The other sisters flashed amused glances at each other, always relishing the moment when their youngest sister got into trouble with their mother. As the youngest of four, Kali was so far removed from the line of succession that Shaedra scarcely paid much attention to the quiet and unassuming girl, and her expectations of her were minimal at best.

"To your glorious victory, mother!" Arbane Loraleth declared, deciding to change the subject, and raising her fluted glass in toast.

Shaedra Loraleth beamed in delight at her eldest daughter, and replied, "Thank you, Arbane. With my loyal daughters at my side, none will dare to challenge House Loraleth's supremacy."

Arbane and Shaedra's other two daughters sipped their drinks, thoroughly enjoying this celebration.

***

Aradrea Ghilwen yawned and rose from the comfortable chair behind her office desk on protesting knees. For once, she didn't mind the arthritic pain in the slightest, her heart still filled with joy at the news passed on to her by her two assassins. She couldn't quite believe that revenge against Edraele Valaden was finally hers at long last, and she had a broad malevolent smile on her face as she leaned against her desk to steady herself.

She swiped her gnarled fingers across the comm interface, and a bright clear voice answered her call almost immediately. "Yes mother, can I get you anything?" her daughter asked her politely.

"Some spiced Telanaris wine before bed, thank you Leena," Aradrea replied to her last remaining daughter.

"Of course mother, I shall have it sent to you immediately!" Leena replied, her voice full of the exuberance of youth, despite the late hour.

Aradrea closed the comm channel, and walked slowly to the sitting room adjoining her bedroom. Yes, a nice drink before bed would be a marvellous way to celebrate. With Edraele dead, and House Valaden about to be overwhelmed by the splendid alliance of Houses that Aradrea had gathered, it had been a wonderful day indeed, and one to be savoured.

***

Yunaliss Aeberos dismissed her three daughters with a regal wave of her hand, having just informed them of her successful assassination of the accursed Valaden Matriarch. They chattered together excitedly as they left, discussing their mother's upcoming plans to annex territory from the exquisitely vulnerable House Valaden. She had tasked her eldest two daughters with preparing their fleet to attack tomorrow, while her youngest, Nyrelle, would govern the Aeberos homeworld during Yunaliss' absence. The moment they had all departed, she grinned with delight, and rose from her throne before hurrying back to her office.

The first thing she had done when the assassins had informed her of the success of their mission had been to update her daughters, as was her duty as Matriarch. Now she was looking forward to speaking to her best friend, Tinefain, Matriarch of House Naestina, to see how they could further twist this victory to their advantage.

She rushed into her office, and sat behind her desk, her hand swiping across the comm interface the moment she sat in her well-padded chair. She drummed her fingers on her desk impatiently as she waited for the call to connect, but soon enough the image coalesced into her friend's attractive face.

Tinefain's teal eyes shone with excitement, and she gasped, "Yunaliss! I was just about to call you myself!"

"You've heard the news too?" Yunaliss replied breathlessly. "I can scarcely believe it. That vile bitch is dead, and House Valaden doomed!"

Tinefain nodded, her normally sour disposition forgotten in her excitement, as she crowed, "Rank three and four, we have climbed so high!"

Yunaliss leaned forward, wicked cunning in her eyes as she said, "Let's delay our fleet assault a little, and let House Loraleth's mighty forces shoulder the brunt of the battle. If they exhaust themselves enough, maybe it won't just be House Valaden that falls!"

Tinefain let out an overjoyed laugh and said, "Always scheming Yunaliss? What a delightfully devious mind you have."

Yunaliss had a huge grin on her face as she replied, "We've come a long way, you and I. Who would have thought our alliance could be so wildly successful."

Tinefain blew her a tender kiss, and added coyly, "And pleasurable too, my lovely, deadly Matriarch."

Yunaliss sighed with contentment, but in the background of the view-screen image, a bright flash of light reflecting off a sharp object snapped her out of her blissful mood. "Tinefain, look out!" she cried out in alarm.

Her warning came too late, and she saw the tip of a sword burst out of Tinefain's shoulder in a shower of blood, where it had been plunged through the back of her chair. Tinefain cried out in pain, and abruptly the comm channel was cut off. Yunaliss half rose out of her chair in panic, not sure what to do, when there was a quiet hiss off to her right, and she felt a sharp pinch in her flank.

Suddenly the right side of her chest went numb, and she slumped back in her chair, as the deadening sensation began to spread throughout her body. She stared down at her side in shock, and saw the tip of a dart sticking out between her robes. Yunaliss tried to fumble for the dart, but her arms felt limp and lifeless, unresponsive to her desperate commands.

As she lay helpless, flopped down in her chair, a lithe figure moved into her field of vision, and placed a small black box on the desk directly in front of her. Her angular magenta eyes flickered up to see who her assailant was, and she stared in shock at one of her own assassins that she had complimented so gratefully less than an hour earlier. The assassin gave her an apologetic smile, and leaned forward to press a button on the holo-projector.

***

Aradrea Ghilwen felt the warmth of the open fire seep into her weary limbs, and she let out a blissful sigh as she sipped her Telanaris wine. It was a heady vintage, and the delicately spiced beverage spread a wonderful feeling of warmth throughout her body. She took another long sip, then relaxed in her chair, relishing the comforting sensations, just as much as she was enjoying gloating over Edraele's brutal demise. A beheading after being critically injured in an explosion... how marvellous.

She heard the door open into her sitting room, and she glanced over in that direction, and asked, "Is that you, Leena?"

"No Matriarch, I'm afraid Leena is indisposed at the moment," another woman's voice replied, as she strolled into the sitting room, then sat quite brazenly in the chair directly opposite Aradrea.

Aradrea immediately recognised one of the assassins she'd spoken with earlier that day, and was shocked at her minion's impudence. "How dare you be so presumptuous!" she snorted indignantly. "I'll have you flayed alive for your lack of respect!"

The assassin had a sad smile on her face, and she said, "I'm afraid not, Matriarch."

Aradrea reached for her communicator to summon her guards, but she found she was totally unable to move. The warmth that had spread through her chest now felt uncomfortably hot, and her body was completely paralysed from the neck down. Her eyes went wide with horror, and she gasped, "What have you done?!"

Reaching into her pocket, the assassin placed a small black box on the table between them, and said quietly, "I'll let an old friend of yours explain."

She pressed a button on the holo-projector, and Edraele Valaden's face appeared as a crystal clear hologram. The House Valaden Matriarch looked radiantly beautiful, her smooth fresh skin making her look decades younger than the last time Aradrea had set eyes on her. Even more disconcerting than that was the long, flowing white hair that framed the stunningly attractive woman's face.

"Hello Aradrea," Edraele greeted her warmly, a kind smile on her beautiful face. "Please accept my apologies for the way I went about this, but I thought you deserved to know the truth."

Aradrea could only sit there in stunned silence, forced to listen attentively to the holograph of Edraele speak.

***

Minuvae Loraleth glanced over at the coffee table at the other side of the lounge, as a flickering hologram suddenly sprang to life, catching her eye. Turning to her sisters and mother, she asked curiously, "Did any of you leave a holo-projector over there?"

Shaedra glanced in the direction her daughter was pointing, then blinked in surprise at the holographic image of a youthful woman with scandalously long white hair, which had appeared above a black cube.

"Hello Shaedra," the holographic woman said in a friendly manner. "I do hope this recorded message reaches you intact. I really wanted to speak with you at this pivotal moment in Maliri history."

Shaedra felt a cold shiver run down her spine, instantly recognising Edraele Valaden's voice, even if the image of the young woman looked nothing like that venomous Valaden witch. She rushed over to get a closer look, then gasped in shock when she recognised the woman's face, realising at once that it was in fact Edraele speaking to her now.

"Something wonderful has happened," Edraele continued, staring off into the distance with the fervent gleam of a true believer in her eyes. "The Mael'nerak has returned, or the benevolent equivalent at least."

"The Mael'nerak?!" Arbane snorted contemptuously. "What's this slutty imbecile babbling about?"

"Silence you fool!" Shaedra snapped. "That's Edraele Valaden! Now let me listen..."

The holographic image of Edraele let out a happy sigh, and said, "John's incredible; so powerful, yet kind and loving at the same time. I wish that things could have been different, and you could have met him, then this would have been so much less unpleasant." With a look of regret on her beautiful face, Edraele continued, "The behaviour modification just isn't strong enough to overcome the decades of hate between the Matriarchs, so I know I'd never be able to convince you to agree to my plan."

"Behaviour modification?" Minuvae whispered quietly to Arbane, who shrugged helplessly.

Shaedra shot her daughter a dangerous look, then stared at the holograph, listening intently.

Edraele's face brightened and her expression filled with wonder as she said, "I see such a bright future for our people. John explained his plans to me, and with my help, the Maliri will flourish under his benevolent rule. Unfortunately, there are some obstacles in the way, so I'm clearing them for him as a present for when he returns."

Shaedra felt a feeling of absolute dread rising within her, and she cast a fearful glance at her daughters. "The door!" she hissed, on the verge of panic.

Minuvae caught that look, and she turned and ran to the double doors, pressing her hand against the touch control to open them but to no avail. "They're locked!" she cried out in fear.

"You might be wondering where Kali is, so let me put your mind at ease. Please don't worry, I'll look after her like she was my own daughter. Through her, House Loraleth will live on through the centuries," Edraele said with a loving smile. Her expression grew mournful as she added, "Even if you and your other daughters won't be able to share in this Utopia."

"No!" Shaedra shrieked in terror.

***

"Have you secured the package?" Avelissa murmured under her breath into the concealed comm device.

"Package secured," Renaya replied seconds later, sounding calm and confident.

Avelissa had been carefully watching the cam-feed on a holo-viewer from a small street cafe in the streets of Ishalon. The sound was being relayed to the earpiece she wore, and she could hear everything that was happening in the Loraleth Palace, high above her on the hill overlooking the city. When the perfect moment arrived, she flipped up the safety on the detonator, and held her thumb down on the trigger.

She looked up just as a massive explosion rocked the gleaming Loraleth palace, the top of one of the high towers blown apart in a huge detonation. Wind from the blast wave swept past her, and she closed her eyes as the dust swirled by in the strong breeze. She reached over to her glass, a fruit punch with no alcohol, as drinking on a job would have been shockingly unprofessional.

Raising her glass in the air, Avelissa took a sip, then whispered, "Rest in peace, Shaedra Loraleth."

Returning the glass to the table, she stood, then strolled away through the gathering crowd of stunned onlookers, who'd been out enjoying the balmy Ishalon evening. They were staring in shock at the smoking ruin of the palace tower, which was brightly illuminated in the moonlight from one of the planet's twin moons. Avelissa could hear furtive gossiping from the citizens, with guesses at the cause of the explosion, as well as speculation on who might have been the target.

The assassin had no time to savour her handiwork however, as she was in a hurry to report in to her Matriarch. She had no intention of disappointing Edraele, and she smiled happily at the thought of seeing the benevolent Matriarch of House Blake.