The dimly-lit chamber where the Deep Pool gathered was damp and chill, and would have been considered a gloomy and deeply unpleasant place to any Terran. However Deep Lord Athgiloi was a Brimorian and his scaly hide barely felt the cold, capable as he was of swimming down to the freezing depths of Brimor's deepest oceans. The darkness held no secrets from his black eyes, which were sensitive and highly-developed, able to pick out all the exquisite details of this sacred room in the low light. He admired the seven ornate oval stone discs spaced evenly around the floor, studying the intricate coral carvings inlaid around the base, then let his gaze roam over the majestic sculpted columns that held up the bejewelled ceiling.

Athgiloi was filled with a sense of pride and awe whenever he entered this revered place; he had felt the same way for every gathering during his twelve-year rule as leader of the Brimorian Enclave. Walking purposefully towards his dais, he noticed movement around the shadowy outskirts of the chamber and he clicked his teeth in greeting to the other members of the Deep Pool as they appeared. The Brimorian lords moved to stand on their respective platforms, while their mates remained in the shadows, kneeling respectfully as tradition dictated.

"We commence this gathering, paying homage to the wild seas," Athgiloi intoned, the six other members of the Deep Pool bowing respectfully as he did so. With the formalities out of the way, he stood tall and wasted no time in getting to the point of this meeting. "John Blake has arrived at Sequathis, just as I informed you he would."

Lord Rilosash's lip curled in distaste. "I still doubt the wisdom in permitting his entry into the Enclave."

Lord Semord glanced towards the Deep Lord, his tail lashing in agitation. "I must agree with Rilosash. Blake is a champion of the Terrans; it seems reckless in the extreme to allow him freedom of movement within our territory. What if he were to discover our arrangements with the Kintark?"

"Blake suspects nothing and is not here on some espionage mission," Athgiloi said, his voice ringing with confidence. "He might be a force to be reckoned with, but the Lion of the Federation is like a rampaging Buletark in a coral garden... there is no subtlety to the man. No, he is here merely to purchase shield technology for his vessel and I propose we provide it to him."

There were shocked gasps around the chamber. Lord Sibhaloi shook his head violently and snarled, "Deep Lord I must protest! That would be like handing over our heart served up on a platter to the Terran Federation!"

Athgiloi waved away his concerns, his calm response quietening the loud protests. "Even if Blake were to immediately gift our shield technology to the Terrans, what would it matter? In a matter of weeks, the Federation will cease to exist; there's no time for them to upgrade any fleets. Their continued blight on the galaxy is about to be dealt with once and for all."

"So you propose to fully commit to our agreement with the Emperor?" Lord Paotegh asked, his sunken eyes studying Athgiloi intently.

The Deep Lord allowed himself a wicked smile, his lips peeling back to reveal rows of teeth. "I fully intend to honour the letter of our agreement."

"But not its spirit?" Paotegh asked, joining his leader in a sly smile.

"If a pair of bull Megacaradons are battling to the death for supremacy, why intervene and shorten the conflict? Would it not be wiser to let them exhaust themselves, leaving a third challenger to establish complete dominance unopposed?" Athgiloi replied, a cunning gleam in his eyes. "I have no intention of risking significant damage to our forces unless absolutely necessary. Once all preparations have been made, then we make our move, but not until that time."

"But still..." Sibhaloi muttered, still not convinced. "Why take a such a risk with our most prized technology?"

The Deep Lord's grin broadened. "Because we need a sufficiently tempting lure, if we are to convince Blake to venture into the Desolation of Vulkat..."

Sibhaloi made a clicking noise at the back of his throat and performed a low bow. "You continue to prove the wisdom of your selection with every passing year, Deep Lord."

Rilosash nodded, lost in thought. "Yes... Keep the Federation's champion far from Terran territory in their time of direst need, without revealing any outward signs of our collusion with the Kintark. Inspired Deep Lord, truly inspired..."

"My sources inform me that Blake achieved a miracle for the Ashanath and exterminated the Drakkar," Deep Lord Athgiloi stated, drawing shocked murmurs from the rest of the Deep Pool. "Blake's prowess in combat is truly formidable... perhaps he might succeed where all others have failed?"

Sibhaloi gaped at him in disbelief. "So this isn't merely a trap designed to slay him? You truly believe he might succeed?!"

Athgiloi paused for a moment then nodded, an acquisitive gleam in his eyes. "It is a distinct possibility..."

The rest of the Deep Pool were stunned into silence, too awed by that thought to respond.

Sensing that there would be no more opposition to his plans, Athgiloi bowed to his fellow Brimorians. "As always, my Lords, it was a pleasure to be in your august company. I will keep you informed of any developments."

The Deep Lord turned and headed towards the high-arched doorway behind him, making eye contact with Celphna as he did so. His concubine had remained kneeling in wait for him, as was fitting for one of her station. She rose gracefully to her feet and Athgiloi marvelled at her unsurpassed beauty, still finding it hard to believe that such a beautiful jewel of the sea could be his.

Her scales shone as they caught the light, revealing the enchanting iridescent sheen to their surface, while her webbed fins were the longest and most exquisitely frilled he had ever seen. That Celphna was unquestionably loyal and absolutely obedient made her the most alluring female he had ever known in his one-hundred-and-twenty years.

"I need only attend to one more order of business today, Celphna," The Deep Lord said as she fell into step beside him. "Then you will have my full attention..."

"This one longs for that moment, Master," Celphna replied, her blunt snout twitching with anticipation in the most adorable way.

Athgiloi suppressed a grin and lengthened his stride as he hurried to his office. By the gods she made him feel like a stripling again! He could still scarcely believe that Celphna had been a gift...

***

Jade slowed her descent towards the seabed, watching more of the teal-skinned creatures as they laboured to harvest the kelp fronds from the ocean farm. With her sharp eyes, she was able to get a good look at the strange humanoids and what she saw surprised her. While these workers had a similar kind of greenish-blue colouration as a Brimorian, it was quite apparent that they were not the same species.

Brimorians were stockier and possessed a finned tail to help propel them through the water, while their bodies were covered in a glimmering coat of fine scales. However, these creatures had smooth, slightly-lighter coloured skin, and while they possessed fins at their wrists and calves, they had no tail. The biggest difference though was their faces. Brimorians appeared distinctly fish-like with a snout rather than a nose and webbed fins around their mouths, but these creatures had distinctly Terran features.

As Jade stared at the farm workers in fascination, one of the taller males spotted her floating motionless in the water. He called out to his friends in a series of high-frequency clicks and the dozen humanoids rushed into action, chopping furiously at kelp stalks. That reaction told Jade everything she needed to know about the relationship these creatures had with the Brimorians, piquing her curiosity even further.

Turning in the water, she lashed her tail, quickly swimming away from the farm workers and seeking cover amongst the waving kelp fronds. Her form grew hazy for a moment and she shifted to her aquatic Nymph shape, complete with a set of delicate aquamarine-coloured fins. Satisfied with her choice of appearance, she swam carefully through the undulating vegetation, heading back towards the farm.

Concealed amongst the kelp, Jade studied the workers from a safe distance, watching as they relaxed now that the Brimorian who had unsettled them had swum away. There were actually many more workers there than the dozen she had first spotted. At least forty larger, stronger males were working on stripping the leaves from the kelp trees, while a dozen smaller females gathered the leaves and bundled into nets, before swimming towards a cluster of buildings. The route the females took led them through fields of long seagrass and Jade shot off like a torpedo, rushing ahead through the kelp to intercept the last female to leave.

The females were lithe and slender, their toned figures a testimony to the long hours they clearly spent working on the farm. They were wearing quite revealing aquamarine coloured clothes, the garments little more than short dresses that kept their arms and legs unencumbered. Jade was surprised to see that most of them were clearly expecting, sporting rounded bumps in various stages of pregnancy.

The one that Jade had singled out to speak to was by far the prettiest of the group. She had beautiful feminine features, alluring baby-blue eyes, and a mane of light-green hair that billowed out behind her as she swam closer. The woman's tummy was slim with no visible bump, but Jade was hopeful that if she managed to make friends with this exotic woman, John might be able to help her out with that in the future. There was also something about her bearing that the Nymph knew made her special, but she couldn't quite determine what it was.

Jade waited behind an outcropping of coral until the rest of the mysterious woman's companions had swum past, then swam out from her hiding place, her movements slow and unthreatening. Remembering the high-frequency clicks that the males had used, Jade greeted her in the same way, saying the equivalent of "Hello" as if she were a dolphin.

Looking up in shock, the teal-skinned female gaped at Jade in fright, then prepared to bolt back towards the men working on the kelp.

"Please don't be afraid, I don't mean you any harm!" Jade called out in a rush, holding her hands up in a calming gesture.

The woman froze mid-turn, her head whipping back so she could stare at the Nymph, eyes widening in shock. "You speak the old tongue!"

"My name's Jade," the Nymph said, giving her jittery new acquaintance a gentle reassuring smile. "What are you called?"

The woman seemed torn between her curiosity over this mysterious dark-green stranger and her desire to rush to safety. In the end, curiosity won out. "I'm Helene," she replied, returning the smile tentatively. She darted a worried glance over her shoulder, then continued in a furtive whisper, "How did you come to speak the old tongue? It is forbidden!"

"We're speaking Terran standard," Jade replied, her tone warm and friendly. "I learnt it many years ago."

Her net of kelp leaves forgotten, Helene swam closer, unable to take her eyes off Jade's luscious naked body. "I've never seen anyone like you before... what manner of creature are you?"

"I'm a Nymph," Jade replied, slowly spinning in the water so that the other woman could see the rest of her more clearly. "I've never seen anyone like you before either..."

"I'm of the Abandoned," Helene murmured, thoroughly entranced by this exotic, mysterious, beautiful woman.

*Jade, we're heading back to the ship,* John said, his voice tense. *Do you want to catch a ride on the lifts with us, or do you want to meet us at the landing pad?*

The Nymph mulled it over for a moment, realising she had a long swim ahead of her to return to the city and didn't want to leave her friends waiting. *I'll make my own way back and meet you at the Raptor.*

*I'll look forward to seeing you soon, honey.* John tried to sound upbeat, but she could tell that he was anxious about speaking to Edraele.

Jade turned her attention back to the teal-coloured girl who was studying her in fascination. Giving her an apologetic smile, she said, "It was lovely to meet you, Helene. I wish I could stay longer, but I'm afraid I have to go."

"You have to go? But we only just met!" the aquatic beauty protested, looking very disappointed.

Swimming closer, Jade gave her a friendly kiss on the cheek, much to Helene's astonishment. "I'll try and come back to see you again!" the Nymph exclaimed, before turning and swimming away rapidly, Helene's calls to come back fading away behind her.

***

John was lost in thought as he rose up on the huge platform, the spectacular view of Sequathis little more than a blur of lights to his unfocused gaze. He couldn't believe how badly he'd handled the situation with Edraele. Yes, he'd been really worried about Tashana at the time, but to just let her past slip like that after all those weeks of careful planning... It was no excuse, but the only reason he could think of for his mistake had been the time when Edraele was in cryostasis must have made him complacent about guarding his thoughts.

*You've been trying to juggle private conversations with each of them for a couple of months,* Alyssa said softly. *You can't blame yourself, it was a minefield trying to keep everything under wraps.*

*Yeah, but it's Edraele that stepped on the mine,* John replied glumly, thinking about that kind, lovely woman tormented with guilt for actions she never even committed.

*Everything will turn out alright, just wait and speak to her,* Alyssa said, filling his mind with soothing thoughts.

John tried to resist her at first, guilt making him want to suffer for his mistake, but she blanketed his subconscious in feelings of love and serenity. He closed his eyes and leaned forward, resting his head against the lift's clear wall. He'd been so proud of the way he had helped the Valaden women turn their lives around, working tirelessly with them to try to undo all the horrors they'd suffered. He loved the three of them so much and all he wanted was to reward them with the loving mother-daughter relationship that they'd never had.

Lost in his thoughts, he was surprised when two sets of arms wrapped themselves around him. He didn't need to open his eyes to realise it was Irillith and Tashana, instinctively knowing it was the twins by the way they caressed him. When they felt him tense, they hugged him tighter until he finally relaxed.

"I'm sorry girls, I think I really fucked things up," he admitted, putting an arm around them both.

"We know you'll be able to fix it," Irillith said softly, leaning in to kiss his cheek. "Mother loves you as much as we do."

Tashana nodded, kissing him too. "After all the time the three of us spent together on the Invictus, Edraele will know that I don't blame her for anything. I never felt or expressed any anger towards her, not once! She'll remember that and realise she needs to move on too."

"I really hope so," John said, letting out his breath in a heavy sigh.

The lift crested the ocean's surface and came to a halt in a loading dock on the upper platform, safety doors opening and letting the sea air waft in to greet them. Opening his eyes, John turned as the twins released him and walked over to the rest of the girls who were watching him with concern.

"Sorry if I spoiled the end of the trip," he apologised to Faye and the three Terran girls. "I've just got a lot on my mind at the moment."

Calara shook her head. "We all understand, you don't have to apologise. Besides, you didn't spoil anything, the views from the lift were even more impressive than those from the sub!"

"I'm really glad you enjoyed it," he replied, following the Latina out onto the open platform.

They began to wind their way back to the Raptor, following the maze of gantries around the various-sized landing pads. As was always the way, the return journey seemed to be quicker than the outbound one, and it didn't take long to spot their sparkling white gunship waiting for them just where they'd left it. A holographic version of Faye waved to them from the cockpit and began to lower the forward loading ramp.

*We're nearly back at the Raptor,* John warned his missing Nymph. *Will you be back soon?*

*Not long at all!* she replied, sounding very excited.

There was a quiet splash off to his left and when John glanced that way, he saw Jade darting up the steps from the ocean, her naked body dripping wet. She turned and grinned at him, an excited gleam in her emerald eyes.

"Did you have fun?" he asked as she bounded over to join him.

The Nymph took him by surprise by leaping into his arms with a giggle. "I had the best time! You're not going to believe what I found!"

He looked at her curiously. "What was that?"

Jade studied him for a moment, then traced her finger along his jawline and kissed him on the lips. "I'll tell you all about it later. Make everything right with Edraele first."

He could taste the salt on his lips after her briny kiss. "I'm not sure it's going to be that easy," John replied, frowning with worry despite his efforts to put on a brave face.

***

Luna watched with concern as Edraele paced back and forth in her suite, the House Valaden Matriarch deeply troubled.

"I'm involved, Luna, I just know it," Edraele muttered, and when she glanced at the assassin, fear and guilt were etched plainly across her face.

"You don't know that, not for sure," Luna tried to reassure her lover.

"Why would John keep this from me otherwise? He's clearly trying to spare my feelings..." Edraele's face twisted in anguish. "My daughter was raped and I'm responsible in some way!"

Luna rose to her feet and walked over to the fearful woman. "Stop torturing yourself, Edraele. You know John's busy on Brimor at the moment, but he'll explain everything as soon as he gets a chance. I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding and all will be fine."

Edraele froze, her head tilted to one side as if she were listening. "One moment, Luna," she murmured, holding up a hand in stopping motion. "Alyssa wishes to speak with me."

*I'm not sure everything will be fine,* Alyssa said to Luna, her concerned telepathic voice startling the assassin. *This is going to destroy Edraele unless we can fix it somehow. I know you love her and want to support her, but to do that I'll need to tell you everything that happened. I know you can't reply to me telepathically, so if you want to help, just ask Edraele if she wants a drink.*

Without a moment's hesitation, Luna placed her hand on Edraele's arm. "My love, would you care for something to drink?"

"Yes, that would be nice, thank you," Edraele murmured, thoroughly distracted by whatever Alyssa was telling her.

Luna turned and walked towards the decanter on the table as Alyssa began to tell her Tashana's horrific tale. The former assassin was stunned as she heard all the dreadful details. She knew that Tashana had disappeared for thirteen years, so Luna always wondered what had happened to her, but she never once suspected the awful truth. Alyssa told her everything, recounting the full terrible story of Tashana's years spent being raped and tortured in the Unclaimed Wastes... and her mother's part in her banishment. Luna already knew many of her Matriarch's dirty secrets, but even she was appalled that Edraele would willingly throw her own daughter to the wolves like that.

Alyssa concluded her grim tale, explaining the extraordinary lengths John had gone to in trying to restore and preserve Tashana's sanity, allowing her a chance to recover from her horrific ordeal. Part of that work had included wiping Irillith's and Edraele's memory of the events, to avoid accidentally triggering problems for Tashana. The Terran girl informed her how worried John was that all his painstaking work was now going to come back and bite Edraele, who continued to blame herself for everything that her old personality had done in the past. Luna knew how much Edraele treasured her budding relationship with her daughters, having spoken to her at length about it, and she also realised that finding out what had happened to Tashana would crush Edraele with guilt.

A low cry of horror made Luna whirl around and the expression on her lover's face made her heart sink in her chest. Filled with dread, Luna realised Alyssa must have told the same awful story to the House Valaden Matriarch. Edraele was overwhelmed with self-loathing, it was written quite plainly across her beautiful features.

"What have I done?!" she gasped, staggering to the sofa and leaning heavily against the armrest. "I'm a despicable monster!"

Luna darted to her side and tried to stop her from collapsing on the floor. "It's okay, Edraele. Everything will be fine..."

Edraele's eyes were wild. "You don't know, Luna! If you did, you wouldn't even be able to look at me!"

"I do know," Luna said softly, guiding her lover to the chaise lounge. "Alyssa told me everything."

Recoiling from her grip, Edraele lurched backwards, her face full of torment. "No! How could she?!"

Luna watched her with concern, Edraele's anguish like lances of pain in her heart. "Let's just sit and talk about it..."

Laughing maniacally, Edraele shook her head. "You want to talk?! How can I ever face Tashana again after what I've done? My daughter loved me and I betrayed her in the worst possible way!" Her face crumpled and she began to weep. "After everything I did to Irillith... beating her, whipping her, the mental tortures, I didn't think it could get any worse! But then all those years of torment Tashana went through and it was all because of me!" Her body shook with racking sobs. "My poor baby... she must hate me so much!"

"That was all in the past, things are very different now," Luna said gently, walking closer and opening her arms to pull Edraele into a hug.

"Don't touch me!" Edraele gasped, shrinking backwards. "I ruin everything I touch!"

"I love you, don't do this to yourself," Luna pleaded, her matriarch's behaviour starting to scare her now.

"The galaxy would be a better place without me in it!" Edraele blurted out, a desperate look in her frantic purple eyes. "I should just kill myself!"

Luna narrowed her own eyes in fury and slapped her matriarch across the face. "Don't you ever say that!" she raged. "Don't even think it!"

"You hit me!" Edraele exclaimed, eyes wide with shock as her hand went to her cheek.

"I'm done with you wallowing in self-pity, it was making me sick," Luna snarled, before pointing at the sofa. "Sit down."

Edraele stumbled to the chair and sat as her bodyguard ordered, never having seen this furious, authoritative side to Luna before. "You don't understand..." she started to mumble.

"Be quiet!" the assassin snapped, her voice cold and unsympathetic. "I don't want to hear any more of your lunacy."

Luna stalked over to her matriarch and looked down at her stunned face. "John's bent over backwards trying to give you a new life with everything a woman could ever dream of! Doting friends, a devoted fiancé, loving daughters... he's even made you Queen of the Maliri Protectorate! And you want to repay him for his kindness by killing yourself?!"

"But, I..."

"You had your chance to talk and now it's my turn," Luna growled. "John's told you over and over again, but you just won't listen... Well I'm telling you now and you'll listen to me! The old Edraele was an evil, vicious bitch. I should know, I've personally killed and tortured hundreds on her capricious whims."

Edraele's expression darkened. "Yes, I know what I ordered you to-"

"You did nothing!" Luna yelled, her strained voice a mix of fury and frustration. "The old Edraele's dead! John's progenitor-guide ripped her mind out of her body and turned her into a fucking vegetable! You - are - NOT - her!"

Edraele blinked at the assassin in shock, never having been spoken to like that before.

Luna continued relentlessly. "No one knew the old Edraele better than I did. You've spent more time talking to Tashana and Irillith in the last two days than the old Edraele did over the last forty years! But I was with her constantly during that time; her own personal bodyguard and pet assassin. She slaughtered thousands upon thousands in the murderous games she played with the other Matriarchs, which doesn't even include all those from House Valaden she slaughtered! I know she personally tortured, maimed, and killed hundreds by her own hand, often just to satisfy some sadistic impulse."

"I despised the old Edraele for the twisted psychopath I knew her to be, and I longed to drive a blade through her black heart, but I couldn't because I'd been conditioned to stay loyal. I had to stand back and watch as she terrorised her own people... her own daughters... into obedience."

Sinking to her knees before her matriarch, Luna gazed up into Edraele's eyes and clasped her hands. "Can you imagine yourself for one moment behaving as the old Edraele did? I know I've never seen so much as a hint of that monster, because you're an entirely different woman now. The Young Matriarchs follow you because they love and respect you, not because they're frightened for their lives."

"When John created you, he was inspired by all the personalities he loves and admires the most. He wanted you to be a loving mother to your daughters and a benevolent leader to our people. You don't ruin everything you touch, you make everything wonderful! The new Edraele Valaden is John's gift to the Maliri!"

Reeling backwards, Edraele's mouth dropped open in stunned amazement.

Luna lifted her lover's hand to her lips and gave her a tender kiss. "And you're his precious gift to me..."

There were fresh tears in Edraele's eyes now, but they were a very different kind. She sank to the floor beside her lover, wrapping her in a tight embrace. "I'm so sorry for the way I behaved, my love. You were right... about everything." In a soft voice, she asked tentatively. "Please tell me that you can forgive me..."

Sighing with relief, Luna hugged her back. "I forgive you, Edraele. I love you."

The two women held each other close, drawing comfort from and supporting each other as they felt the tension wash away.

*Thank you, Luna,* Alyssa whispered, her voice brimming with gratitude. *If there's ever anything I can do for you, just name it and I'll make it happen.*

Luna kissed Edraele on her tear-stained cheek and got a happy sigh in return. That was all the reward she needed.

***

John walked down the ramp from the Raptor into the Invictus' Secondary Hangar, exchanging smiles with Alyssa and Dana who were waiting to greet them.

"Welcome home!" they chorused together, delighted to have their wayward shipmates safely returned to the Invictus.

Rachel laughed as Dana rushed over to wrap her up in a huge hug. "Maybe I should visit undersea cities more often if this is the reception I get when I come back!"

"Don't even think about it!" the redhead said with a grin, squeezing her girlfriend tight.

"Miss me?" Alyssa asked John with a twinkle in her eyes, before pursing her lips for a kiss.

"Always," he agreed as he kissed her, surprised to see her looking so chipper.

The blonde fell into step beside him as they walked towards the double doors to exit the hangar. "Why don't you go up to your Ready Room so you can speak to Edraele without any distractions. I'll bring you some lunch once you've had a chance to speak with her."

"That would be amazing, thank you," John said, stepping into the grav-tube with the blonde.

All the girls except Faye stepped out of the blue anti-gravity field on Deck Two, the purple sprite accompanying him up to the Command Deck. When they walked out onto the Bridge, she rose up on tiptoe so she could plant a big kiss on his cheek. "I loved my first field trip away from the Invictus, thank you!"

"You're welcome, Faye," he replied, watching her as she skipped up the steps to the Command Podium.

Realising he couldn't put the conversation with his second Matriarch off any longer, John walked into his Ready Room, then slumped on one of the sofas. Dropping the mental barrier he'd put in place between himself and Edraele, he braced himself for her worried questions.

*Thank you for letting me back in again!* the Maliri Matriarch gushed, sounding exhilarated. *I really missed you!*

It was a shock to find Edraele in such a good mood and somehow that made it worse, knowing that he was going to bring her world crashing down around her. John knew how much she loved her daughters, so he could only imagine what news of Tashana's ordeal in the Unclaimed Wastes would do to her.

*Edraele, there are some things I need to talk to you about,* John began, trying to keep his tone calm and reassuring. *It might be painf-*

*I'm so sorry that I've been making you worry!* Edraele interjected, sounding more contrite than anxious. *I was being so foolish!*

*You don't have to apologise, honey. You haven't done anything wrong,* John said gently. *But I need to tell you about-*

*I already know!* Edraele blurted out, sounding eager rather than crushed. *Alyssa told me everything that happened to Tashana!*

*Alyssa...* John growled at his blonde matriarch. *What've you been up to?*

*Just listen to her and you'll find out,* Alyssa replied, sounding very happy with herself.

Edraele quickly spoke up again. *Please don't be upset with her! She told me what happened to Tashana in the Unclaimed Wastes and I was overwhelmed with guilt, but Luna was there for me... Alyssa told her everything too and Luna made me understand!*

*Luna...?* John mumbled in astonishment.

*She was wonderful!* Edraele gushed, then broke into a bout of her delightful uninhibited laughter. *Her methods of getting my attention came as a bit of a shock, but I really listened to what she had to say...*

John paused for a moment, then asked carefully, *And what was that exactly?*

*That I wasn't to blame for any of those terrible things that happened to my daughters... that was all the old Edraele's fault! Thirteen years ago I wasn't even a figment of your imagination, so how could I be responsible for what happened back then?* She let out a happy sigh. *You didn't bring that Edraele back to life, she's gone... forever! Instead, you made me to try and undo all the terrible things that she did. I might have access to all of Edraele's old memories, they're just a guide to let me know what she broke and what I can fix.*

*So you don't blame yourself for what happened to Irillith and Tashana any more?* John asked, feeling a surge of hope.

*How could I be to blame? Edraele died a couple of months ago; my mind's actually younger than Faye is!* Edraele exclaimed, seemingly filled with boundless enthusiasm. *All I can do, is try to be the best mother I can for my daughters in the future... and I will be, John, I promise!*

*That's such a relief to hear, Edraele,* John said, feeling all the tension drain out of him. *I've been so worried about you blaming yourself for everything... I could feel how much it was eating away at you.*

*I really am sorry, John,* she replied, filled with remorse. *After everything you've done for me, making you worry like that was unconscionable. I know you've been trying so hard to make me see reason for months now, but it was really helpful to hear Luna's perspective. She knew the old Edraele better than anyone and she knows the new me very intimately too; we've grown very close.*

*I'm very happy for you, honey,* John said with a smile.

A surge of loving emotions surged across their empathic bond as Edraele gushed, *From now on, you don't have to worry about a thing! I'm going to be the best mother, the best matriarch, the best Queen I can be; you deserve nothing less!*

*It sounds like you might need to be the best lover too,* John replied with a broad smile. *It'll be a while until I can thank Luna properly, so I hope you can stand in for me and show her just how grateful I am.*

*I'm afraid I won't be able to thank her on your behalf for a while,* Edraele replied with genuine regret.

*You can't?* John asked in confusion.

*No, not until tomorrow,* Edraele clarified, with a sultry undercurrent to her voice. *I've thanked her myself five times already and she's started to get tired. I just love the adorable way her expression turns all serious just before she climaxes!*

John laughed and shook his head in amusement. *I'll leave her in your capable hands then.* After a moment's pause, he added, *I'm delighted you finally understand the kind of life I want for you, Edraele. I just want you, your girls, and the Maliri to be happy; you're my best shot at making that happen.*

*I know,* she replied, her words filled with love. *And I'll always be eternally grateful to you for that opportunity.*

He left Edraele to have fun with her lover, enjoying feeling the surge of positive emotions from her over their empathic bond. After speaking to his Maliri matriarch, he was convinced that she'd finally seen the light, and it was like a huge weight had been lifted off her... and his... shoulders.

***

Irillith examined the large formation of military vessels in protective orbit around Brimor, her violet eyes drawn to the cluster of capital ships at the centre of the group. There were five huge vessels forming the core of the Brimorian's homeworld defence fleet, four of which were battleship-class vessels measuring fifteen-hundred metres in length. The last was well over two-kilometres and was the biggest Brimorian ship she had ever seen. Sharing the same purple and blue colouration as the rest of the fleet, the hull of the massive command ship was bedecked with weapon turrets and broad gun ports, making it a very intimidating presence.

Unfortunately, the tactical overlay revealed nothing about the identity of this mysterious vessel, as the Brimorians refused to use active transponders. Still, it was obvious this must be the Brimorian flagship and assuming it was the pride of their fleet, Irillith knew it would offer her the best chance of acquiring their most advanced technology.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Faye asked, while nervously chewing her bottom lip.

The Maliri girl shook her head. "Just keep the Invictus in the same position. I can make the connection from this range and we don't want to do anything suspicious that might tip them off."

"What if you get in trouble?" the purple sprite persisted. "I'm not sure it's a good idea you going in there alone..."

Irillith gave her a confident smile. "Brimorian cyber-security is as bad as the Terrans; don't worry, I'll be fine. Besides, the only way you could come with me is if we established a remote connection from the Invictus' comm array and they'd definitely detect that."

"Okay, but please be careful," Faye requested, patting the Maliri girl's blue hand.

Glancing at her hand in surprise, Irillith shook her head and laughed at her own startled reaction to the touch. "I must have looked like John then!"

Faye giggled and nodded. "I think it'll take all of you a little while to adjust to my new body."

Irillith leaned forward and wrapped the petite girl in a hug and gave her a fond kiss on the cheek. "Not that long! You're far too huggable."

Blushing at Irillith's words, Faye watched as the Maliri hacker settled back in her chair and closed her eyes. Irillith's brow furrowed for a second and then her face relaxed as she peeled her spirit form away from her body and entered the cyber-realm.

Cyber-Faye was waiting for her in the central Bridge node and they raced off through the digital lanes that linked the data platforms together. It took a micro-second to traverse the Invictus' data network until they arrived at the swirling portal that marked the external connection point via the Invictus' Communication Relay. Rather than powering up the device to make a normal electronic connection to the Brimorian ships, Irillith focused her willpower and created a shimmering violet bridge linking the Invictus to the Brimorian capital ship.

"Wish me luck!" she said cheerfully to her small companion, before turning and entering the swirling portal.

"Good luck..." Faye replied, watching with mounting apprehension as her Creator departed.

Irillith raced across the psychic connection she had forged with the alien vessel, feeling that thrill of excitement as she began her hack. The Brimorian flagship was protected by a flimsy outer gateway depicted in the Cyber-Realm as a densely woven net, which she knew she'd be able slice through in seconds if she didn't have to cover her tracks.

She laughed and rolled her eyes at the Brimorian security officer's ineptitude, then summoned up a code-breaker to penetrate their defences. Turning that program loose, she shifted her attention to a new subroutine, writing her code quickly and efficiently. The code-breaker went to work, teasing out loose strands of the net, and after a minute, it had unravelled a section large enough for her to proceed inside. Irillith darted through the tear in the security net, then inserted her newly written backdoor program, which merged seamlessly with the security defences behind her. She reasoned that being able to instantly break into the Brimorian flagship in the future might well come in handy.

Once through the outer layer of defences, Irillith paused to study the Brimorian digital realm, fascinated by how uniquely alien it was. Rather than a series of interconnected data platforms like the Maliri or Terran networks she'd visited, the Brimorian Cyber-Realm was like a whirlpool, with data caught up in the swirling currents and rushed around the circular network. The various data repositories, processing centres, and internal security firewalls were set up in what looked like a large wheel around the centre of that maelstrom. One glance at the turbulent storm made her realise that flying wasn't practical, as she'd be buffeted around all over the place.

The Brimorian design seemed woefully inefficient at first glance, with data visiting every point in the network rather than simply being fired from point A to point B. However, there was a certain elegant simplicity to the solution; with no need to bother with routing information, all resources could be spent on simply providing enough bandwidth to keep all the data flowing at once.

It was an amusingly quirky take on network design, but she much preferred the way the Maliri and Terrans compartmentalised a network. In a sudden flash of insight, she realised that the way the two species thought must be far more similar than she'd previously realised - perhaps a nod to their shared Progenitor ancestry. That realisation made her feel closer to John and her adoptive Terran sisters, so she crossed the bridge into the Brimorian network with a smile on her face.

Irillith's first port of call was to a processing terminus to ascertain the specific layout of the local architecture. Her goal was the ship's Engineering Bay, as she knew that the Brimorian crew would need to have schematics on-hand to make repairs if the Shield Generators should ever get damaged. The platform was dark blue, interwoven with strange organic designs that looked like seashells, the whole area softly lit by turquoise lanterns.

The processing terminus was oval shaped with ringed circles on its upper surface, data scrolling around those concentric rings. She placed her hands on the processor and began to search for the Engineering Bay, her smile fading when she realised that she'd need to hack through half the firewalls in the network to reach the tech repository. Suddenly the Brimorian design didn't seem quite so amusing, now that she knew she'd have to slog through half-a-dozen security gates to get to her goal.

There were scores of hunter-killer programs running in the data streams, gliding around the network like watchful aquatic predators as they sought out intruders. Their sensor suites were not particularly efficient though, meaning that dodging them was easy, but with so many swirling around the network she had to keep a constant wary eye to avoid having one simply blunder into her. Gritting her teeth in irritation, Irillith went to work on the first internal security net.

Meanwhile, deep within the network, another uninvited presence stirred within the Brimorian Cyber-Realm, detecting a faint tremor caused by Irillith's newly-inserted code. This program was ancient, predating the Brimorian engineers who had built this network by several millennia. The six-legged, jet-black intruder drifted to the data streams and impaled one of the passing hunter-killers with a razor-sharp limb, making the Brimorian security program flicker and convulse as its code was rapidly rewritten.

Set loose once again, the hijacked program set off in the data stream, swimming innocuously in the currents just like its hapless peers. It circled around the network, homing in on the new intruder, and carefully observing Irillith as it drifted past. Once it was beyond detection range, it thrashed with furious swishes of its tail, racing around the network until it was in range once again. There it slowed, cruising at a languid pace past the Maliri hacker where it renewed its surveillance, then repeated the same cycle again.

Irillith felt a shiver run up her spine and she glanced around carefully, checking to make sure one of the security programs hadn't detected her. She was running a tap on the network's alarm subroutine, so if the Brimorians should detect her, she'd be able to bolt to safety from the Cyber-realm. That tap remained undisturbed, so she mentally shrugged and figured that she was just being paranoid.

Moving on to the fourth firewall, she started breaking through, but couldn't shake the creepy feeling of being watched. Pausing every few moments to check her tap and to watch for Brimorian detection programs, she saw nothing outwardly alarming, just the dumb hunter-killer programs drifting past. Figuring that the alien nature of this digital network was getting to her, she hurried on with her code breaking, slicing through the security net then prowling on towards the fifth.

By the time she was onto the sixth firewall, the feelings of being watched had intensified so much that she was spending more time looking for potential attackers than working on her hacking. She set up another code-breaker, letting it handle the work, while she focused on watching for threats. When she received the notification that the sixth firewall was breached, she rushed on, feeling her heart pounding in her chest.

Irillith had never felt this anxious before, not even when she'd hacked into Nexus' realm. Finding the relevant tech repository, she did a cursory search and found the schematics for the shield generators used aboard the Brimorian flagship. Uploading them to a portable data store, her eyes darted left and right, while she spun around to check that nothing was sneaking up behind her. She sobbed with relief when the data store chimed that the information had been successfully uploaded, then fled from the Brimorian network with her stolen tech in tow.

The rogue hunter-killer returned to its new master once its surveillance target had left the network. It waited patiently for the six-limbed program to impale it with a data-jack and absorb all the tracking data it had recorded. As soon as that information had been archived, the ancient program deactivated the Brimorian hunter-killer then created a simple unmodified replacement. Its job done, the black program returned to a semi-dormant state, watching and waiting in case it should be triggered into action once again.

***

John slumped in the sofa and rubbed his face in his hands, feeling drained after all the worry and anxiety that morning. Trying to sort out all the Valaden women's problems had turned out to be a herculean task, and he couldn't believe he'd finally managed it... well almost, there was still that Bolon to track down. Still, that seemed like a mere formality now, especially after navigating his way through the dense jungle of issues between the three women.

"Tough day at the office, sweetheart?"

John turned in surprise when he heard Rachel's voice, then did a double take when he saw the brunette sashay gracefully into the room. She was accompanied by Alyssa and Dana, the three Terran girls all wearing similar outfits that John had only ever seen in holo-commercials; they were of the type that advertisers used when they wished to hark back to homely domestic scenes. The dresses were tight around the bust and hips, then flared out and ended just above the knee. Accessorised by tall heels and with their hair done up into elaborate hairstyles, the three of them looked absolutely stunning.

They all gave him bright wholesome smiles with no sign of sultry flirtation, the open happiness in their expressions somehow more alluring than the sexiest of lingerie. Struck dumb by these visions of loveliness, he could only watch in awe as they split up, with Dana sitting beside him to his left, Alyssa gliding around to the right, and Rachel kneeling directly behind him.

Dana had a charming twinkle in her sky-blue eyes as she said, "Welcome home, dear."

Alyssa placed a hamper on the coffee table in front of him, before taking a seat herself. "We wanted to treat our darling fiancé!"

"The three of you look incredible," John murmured, running a finger across Dana and Alyssa's tiny waists.

"They're called 'fifties' dresses," Rachel explained from behind him. "I'm so glad you liked them! I picked them out for us especially when we went shopping on Terra."

Alyssa pulled back the lid of the hamper and handed a plate with a thick-cut steak sandwich to Dana, before pulling out a chilled bottle of beer and breaking the seal. "Ready for lunch?" she asked with a naughty smile.

He laughed and nodded. "Definitely!"

She leaned in first, bringing the bottle to his lips and tilting it up slightly so he could drink at a comfortable pace. When she sensed he'd had enough, Alyssa pulled the bottle away, then drew back so that Dana could offer him the first bite of his sandwich. They each made eye contact as they did so, adorable looks of concentration on their faces as they watched him drink and eat. John recognised Calara's cooking and hummed in delight as he munched then swallowed the delicious morsel, with Alyssa nodding slightly to confirm he was correct as to the identity of the chef.

"I wasn't expecting all this!" John exclaimed, putting his arms around the blonde and redhead as they continued taking turns offering him bites of the sandwich or gulps of beer.

Rachel began to massage his shoulders, her skilled hands gently easing out the tension from his body. "It was actually Dana's idea," the brunette explained. "We all saw how much you loved being with the Maliri, but she wanted to give you a glimpse of our future together..."

Swallowing another bite, John chuckled and shook his head. "This is really fun, but I don't expect you to wait on me hand and foot."

The brunette laughed and shook her head, long brown hair tickling the side of his face. "No, she didn't mean it quite like that." Her voice filled with admiration, Rachel continued, "She's so very clever, that love of mine. You wouldn't think it with her model-like beauty and the way she swears like a drunken sailor, but she's extremely intelligent."

"I know," John said, enjoying seeing the redhead blush at her girlfriend's effusive praise.

Rachel leaned closer and continued, "The Maliri might have been designed to be your perfect women, fulfilling everything you need from them as a Progenitor..."

"Fighting, fucking, and breeding," Alyssa reminded him with a mischievous smile and he flushed as he remembered when she'd heard him think that.

"Mmm, yes exactly! Just as you proved to us so vigorously," the brunette purred, clearly getting excited. "Alyssa told us how you felt... that instinctive pull towards the Young Matriarchs and how thrilling it was for you to conceive a child with each of them. Dana just wanted to remind you of some of the delights to be had closer to home..."

John's smile faded and he felt a surge of guilt as he glanced at each of the girls. "I was worried this might happen; that me being with the Young Matriarchs like that might end up upsetting you. It just felt different being with them, not better... I'm much closer to all of you and I'm sure when it's time for us to have babies together it's going to be incredible."

"Relax... It's okay, we're not jealous," Alyssa said, her tone reassuring.

"Just listen to what she's saying," Dana urged him. "Rachel's tons better at explaining this stuff than me."

"You can be convincingly eloquent yourself, my love," Rachel said affectionately, before turning her focus to John again. "Now, where was I?"

"You mentioned an instinctive pull to the Maliri," John reminded her, glancing back over his shoulder. When he saw the brunette smile, he realised Rachel was just checking to see if he'd been paying attention.

She kissed him on the cheek, then continued, "While you're genetically a Progenitor, you were raised as a Terran, so you respond to certain Terran cultural cues."

"What do you mean?" he asked, listening in fascination.

"The effect ladies in formal wear have on you?" Rachel prompted him with amusement. "You associate those outfits with sophisticated and classy women, primarily due to the cultural context in which they're worn, as well as the advertising and marketing you've been exposed to."

"I thought it was just the tantalising hints of exposed skin that made you seem like an exciting present waiting to be unwrapped," John said with a grin. "So what about these outfits then? What are the cultural cues I'm supposed to be getting from them?"

"This kind of look is strongly associated with an era when the housewife was glorified; where the woman of the house was supposed to be the nurturing and loving homemaker, while the man was the protector and provider. We all know how much you enjoy simple domesticity; our culinary skills have increased dramatically since we joined your crew."

John flushed and started to reply, before Dana leaned in and silenced him with a smouldering kiss.

"Don't be embarrassed," Rachel murmured in his ear. "We all love our cosy little home here with you. Dana's just remembering the times when she's had a tummy full of your spunk and she's been cooking with you in the kitchen while wearing one of your shirts."

John pulled Dana closer, relishing the passion of her lips as they moved against his.

Rachel leaned over his shoulder to give the redhead a kiss on the cheek, then continued, "So you see, while the Maliri have the genetic edge, we have the cultural advantage to balance things out. For example, the Maliri were thrilled that you want to live with them in the future, but we all assumed that would be the case because of our shared cultural values."

Dana pulled back and grinned at him. "We're your comfy pair of slippers!"

John chuckled and brushed his fingers across her cheek. "I think I get what you're saying. Aside from the raw physical attraction I feel towards you girls, we both want and expect the same thing for the future, which makes us more compatible."

Dana nodded enthusiastically and started kissing him again.

Rachel sounded excited as she said, "Another thing to consider is that as stunning as those blue-skinned beauties are, they look almost identical with their long white hair. Having a group of them go down on you will never be as visually thrilling as seeing a blonde, brunette, and redhead kneeling in front of you, working together to swallow your cum..."

He couldn't help groaning at that thought, especially when Rachel and Alyssa leaned in to plant soft kisses on his neck and throat, while Dana continued to duel tongues with him. Just when John thought he'd died and gone to heaven, the three girls pulled away and rose to their feet. Alyssa gestured at the coffee table and with a sweeping gesture, pushed it out of the way.

The three girls stood before him and slowly peeled off their dresses, revealing their magnificent nude bodies. They waited patiently as he reached out to caress them, indulgent smiles on their faces as they watched him openly admire their toned physiques. While their facial features were each uniquely beautiful in their own right, their bodies were identical; athletic and finely muscled, with bronzed skin that seemed to almost glow with health. He instinctively found that symmetry between them greatly appealing, but their long manes of blonde, brown, and red hair were just different enough to remind him of their individuality and allay any feelings of guilt.

He had a sudden epiphany and glanced up at the gorgeous trio, astonished at just how well they knew the workings of his mind. "That's why Calara and Sakura aren't here too, isn't it?" "You wanted to trigger an instinctive thrill at seeing identical girls, then confound those Progenitor desires enough so I wouldn't feel guilty about it!"

Rachel gave him a smile of satisfaction, revealing who was the mastermind behind that bit of psychology. She offered him her hand and he rose from his seat, grinning at them as they seductively stripped him of his clothes. His grin wavered at the feel of soft pairs of lips brushing over his skin, Dana and Rachel worshipping his chest with their kisses, while Alyssa finished helping him remove his shirt.

As the brunette and redhead started unbuckling his belt, John caught Alyssa in his arms, holding her close as he gazed into her bright cerulean eyes. *Thank you for helping Edraele. She sounded so happy and carefree, it was amazing.*

*I knew how worried you were,* Alyssa said softly, her fingers trailing along his arm. *I saw how close Luna and Edraele had become during their visit with us and just saw an opportunity to help.*

John kissed her then, enjoying the feel of her lithe body as she pressed herself against him. Her companions undid his trousers, then removed the last of his clothes while he was spellbound by Alyssa's inviting lips. When he was completely naked, Alyssa eased back a little when Dana and Rachel moved to flank her, so that John was gazing down at the trio of gorgeous young women.

They dropped to their knees with such flawless synchronisation that it could have only have been coordinated by Alyssa's telepathic guidance. The three girls opened their mouths, presenting him with three inviting ovals to choose from, their moist lips glistening in the light. John decided that he wanted all three, so he cupped his hand behind Dana and Rachel's heads and gently guided them to his shaft, while nodding his approval to Alyssa as she enveloped his throbbing crown in her mouth.

The view was breathtaking and he massaged Rachel's head as he murmured, "You were right, that's got to be one of the most beautiful sights in the universe."

Her mouth was busy as she worked with Dana to bathe his length in velvety warmth, but her eyes reflected her smile as she gazed up at him. John just watched them for a few minutes, meeting each set of adoring eyes as he groaned at their tender ministrations. It was thrilling to have such beautiful, brilliant young women working together to service him like this and he could have easily surrendered to his growing arousal and filled their three tummies. However, he hadn't been with the blonde and brunette since bedding the Young Matriarchs and was eager to correct that.

Rachel pulled back, having watched his expression intently. "Why don't you save me for another time?"

"Are you sure?" he asked, running his fingers through her tawny-brown hair.

She nodded, turning slightly so she could kiss his wrist. "Make this one about Alyssa, I'd like your undivided attention next time."

John offered the blonde a hand and she eased back on her haunches, letting his well-lubricated cock slide from her mouth. She gave him a smouldering look as she rose to her feet, watching him with burning anticipation as he sat back on the sofa. Rachel stood as well, moving around the back of his chair so she could kneel behind him as she had done before.

Alyssa didn't immediately straddle him as he thought she would. Instead, she turned towards Dana and stepped closer to her friend. The redhead glanced at John, a naughty twinkle in her eyes as she grasped Alyssa's pert bottom and pulled her closer. The blonde let out a low groan as Dana began lapping away at her, filling the room with sexy debauched sounds.

Rachel nuzzled into his neck from behind, her breath tickling his skin. "Dana needed to make sure she was wet enough to take your huge cock..."

John couldn't help chuckling, knowing Alyssa would have been soaked already, but it was thrilling to watch her gently stroke Dana's head as her friend ate her out with loving enthusiasm. He saw the two teenagers staring into each other's eyes, sharing something unspoken between them. There was profound gratitude, trust, and love in that look, as if they were reaffirming a bond they'd forged many years ago.

"You see it too, don't you?" Rachel whispered in his ear, breathless with excitement. "They were best friends for years, but never really expressed just how much they cared for each other..."

"They look incredibly beautiful," John murmured, as entranced by the pair as the brunette.

"God, I love how you bring us all together like this!" Rachel moaned, turning his head and kissing him passionately.

John reached back and lifted the brunette over the back of the sofa, her stormy grey eyes widening in surprise. "Sorry, you've been far too sexy, I can't wait," he explained, repositioning her so that she was straddling his thighs.

Rachel bit her lower lip and pressed her pussy against the base of his shaft, her wet warmth inviting him to claim her body. He took a firm grip on her waist, then dragged her up his length, her clit rubbing against him and making her tremble with need. When he reached the top of his sensuous journey, he could tell Rachel was teetering on the edge of release after all the flirtatious foreplay. Nudging the head of his cock against her soft folds, he pushed down, slowly impaling the stunning girl with inch after inch of his rock-hard shaft.

"Oh fuckkk!" she wailed, clinging to him in a vice-like grip as she climaxed.

John was much stronger than Rachel and continued pushing deeper, stretching her wide with his hefty girth as he burrowed into her body. She shook with the intensity of her orgasm as he pushed through the pliable entrance to her womb, her cervix yielding until he was fully embedded inside her.

"There you go," he murmured, holding her close as she moaned through her climax. "You've been such a good girl recently, especially with everything you did for Nyrelle. This'll just tide you over for a bit until we can have some time alone together..."

"Please..." she begged him, not entirely sure what she was pleading for in her post-orgasmic daze.

John raised her up a few inches then reversed direction, letting gravity sink her down his length, while lifting his hips to increase the intensity of the thrust. Rachel responded to the steady rhythm, her soft cries a potent aphrodisiac. It wasn't long before he hilted himself again as she writhed against his pubic bone, the pressure all on her clit. Rachel threw her head back and screamed, her back arching like a bowstring, her breasts heaving as she rocked through an orgasm that left her shaking with its intensity. John simply wrapped his arms around her and stroked her back as she trembled through the aftershocks, relishing the sensation of her clenching contractions rippling along his shaft.

Alyssa was watching him now, their eyes meeting over the brunette's shoulder. He could see the burning lust in her eyes as she responded to Dana's tongue swirling over her clit and he knew she was very close too; he recognised the way her pupils flared when she was teetering on the edge of release.

Suddenly she stepped back, then offered Dana a hand to help the redhead to rise. Alyssa made a gesture towards both girls, lifting Dana off the ground with a startled squeak, and gently levitating Rachel so that the trembling brunette slid off his cock. Repositioning the young lovers in a sixty-nine on the other sofa, she smiled when they both began to moan in delight.

Turning her attention to John again, Alyssa smoothly straddled him. "I need you," was her unrepentant explanation.

Placing her slender hands on his shoulders, she waited for John to circle her waist with his hands and lift her into position. The blonde made no move to aid him and just stared into his eyes as he pushed his way into her sopping pussy. He could see she was fighting back the overwhelming urge to climax, a bold challenge in that piercing cerulean gaze. Her eyelashes fluttered as John eased his way deep into her body, finally hilting himself with the head of his cock brushing against the back of her womb. John slid his hands down to cup her firm ass, massaging her cheeks then holding her firmly in place.

"You're an angel," he murmured, gazing in awe at the golden-haired beauty. He'd never seen her looking so stunning before, so bursting with life and soft sensuality.

Alyssa was flushed with arousal, teetering on the precipice of a huge climax, but she just managed to keep herself in check. Taking her right hand, she lowered it to her abdomen, caressing the bulge he'd made in her normally svelte stomach. When John glanced up at her face, he saw powerful emotions surging behind her expressive eyes, and he was blessed to be able to feel those emotions over their connection. Hope, longing, and love...

"After seeing you with the Young Matriarchs..." she whispered, her cerulean eyes piercing his soul. "It made everything more real... our future... our family."

He nodded, losing himself in her bewitching gaze. Not trusting himself to be able to find the right words to reply, he just opened his heart and mind to her, letting her feel everything he dreamed for their future together. Alyssa's breath caught and her sensuous lips parted in wonder. She began to move then, gliding up and down his length as they revelled in the intimacy of the moment.

She pressed herself against his chest, cradling his head in her hands as they rocked together, perfectly in tune with each other's bodies. He rejoiced in the velvety softness of her skin, the feel of her toned muscles rippling as she moved with him, and lost himself in the delicious heat of her depths. John had never felt closer to the ravishing blonde and he could feel that she felt the same way too. Alyssa surrendered to the waves of pleasure and he joined her too, sharing their climax as they gazed into each other's eyes.

When they were done Alyssa rested her forehead against his shoulder, panting to get her breath back. "God, I needed that so much! I've been so fucking horny for days," she murmured, turning slightly so she could see him out of the corner of her eye. "Watching you breed the Maliri had me climbing the walls!"

John nuzzled into her golden mane, kissing her head while he stroked her back. "That was so intense... Like you said, it's easier to imagine what it'll be like now, for you and me..."

She sat up straight and leaned back, showing off her curved abdomen, where he had staked his claim on her womb and filled her with his cum. John supported her with one hand and placed the other on her rounded tummy, his fingers brushing over the tautly stretched skin. It was so easy to picture Alyssa carrying his baby; the ultimate expression of the love they felt for one another. When he glanced up, he saw her watching him with gentle eyes.

Pressing her lips against his in a tender kiss, she murmured, "You get this soft little smile when you look at me like that. It makes my heart do backflips!"

They hugged each other, both sighing happily at the same time, which made them burst into laughter. Dana and Rachel joined them on the sofa, both girls looking giddy in a post-orgasmic haze. John put his arms around the brunette and redhead, pulling them into a loving four-way embrace.

That was when the comm interface chimed and Faye flashed into existence beside them. "Sorry to interrupt, but the Brimorians are hailing us! I've got a Deep Lord Athgiloi requesting to speak to you, John."

"Can you ask him to wait for a moment, Faye," John requested, aware that he was currently naked and coupled with Alyssa.

"I need to feed Dana anyway," Alyssa purred, easing herself off his softening shaft.

John gave her a parting kiss, then began tugging on his trousers, while glancing around for his shirt that Alyssa had casually tossed aside.

Irillith burst into the Ready Room, her face a much paler shade of blue than normal. "John! We've got trouble!"

He looked up in surprise, then frowned in concern when he saw her frightened expression. "What's the matter, honey?!"

She rushed across the room and into his comforting embrace. "I got the Shield Generator tech, but something was watching me... I know it!"

Irillith was shaking with fear, so John rubbed her back to try and calm her down. "The Brimorians know you broke into their network? Do we need to run?"

She started to nod, then hesitated, a look of worry and confusion on her face. "I don't know..." she admitted, giving him a helpless shrug. "I set up taps on their system to let me know if I triggered an intruder alert and nothing went off. But... there was something there... something knew I was in that network and was watching me. I've never been so scared..."

"John, the Brimorian who hailed us is getting angry at being kept waiting," Faye informed him, giving him an apologetic frown.

Rachel placed a hand on his and Irillith's shoulders. "Let me hold her, John. You take the call."

John gave Irillith a quick peck on the cheek, then let Rachel take over the hug. He found his shirt and buttoned it up as he crossed over to his desk and sat in his chair. Looking ruffled but half-way presentable, he nodded to Faye to patch the call through. The Brimorian that appeared was an imposing individual, taller and stockier than the Shoal Commander who he'd spoken to at the border. Sharing the same colouration as the other members of his species, Deep Lord Athgiloi's muscular body was covered in teal-coloured scales, with orange fins at the corner of his mouth and cresting the back of his head.

"You are trying my patience, John Blake, I do not appreciate being kept waiting," the Brimorian scowled, revealing a glimpse of very sharp teeth.

John took a steadying breath, then said politely, "My apologies, Deep Lord, I meant no disrespect. I was... occupied... when you first called."

Deep Lord Athgiloi narrowed his black eyes, but didn't acknowledge the apology one way or another. "I only contacted you because I was curious about your presence at Brimor. What brings the Lion of the Federation into Enclave territory?"

John winced inwardly, realising this wasn't likely to be a pleasant conversation. "I was hoping to be able to purchase or trade for your Shield Generator technology."

Athgiloi eased backwards and interlaced his clawed hands. "Either you believe the Brimorians to be fools, or you must be one yourself. Considering the state of relations between the Enclave and the Federation, what possible incentive would we have for trading our most prized technology with a member of your... race?"

"I'm not a Terran and I actually retired from duty in their military ten years ago," John explained, ignoring the Brimorians backhanded insult. "The shield tech would be for my own personal use, not for the Terran Federation. You're obviously heard about some of my recent activity in aid of the Terrans, but I've also been helping the Ashanath, the Maliri, and the Trankarans... I'm looking to make friends here, not enemies."

Athgiloi looked momentarily startled when John mentioned aiding the Maliri, but his composed mask was soon back in place once again. "You must be aware of the value we place on our technology?" Athgiloi asked, his tone cautious. "The price I would demand to relinquish a set of the schematics to you would be very high indeed..."

John had already suspected as much and was profoundly grateful to Irillith for acquiring the shield tech by underhanded methods. Still, he was curious exactly what price the Brimorians would have been willing to sell it to him for. "What kind of figure did you have in mind?"

The Deep Lord was quiet for a long moment, his cold eyes studying John as if trying to evaluate him. "I would be willing to make the trade in exchange for the removal of Terran Federation forces from the Callopean Shoals. If the systems under occupation are ceded back to the Enclave, then I would grant you access to our shield technology..."

Spreading his hands in a helpless gesture John shook his head. "As I said before, I officially retired ten years ago. The recent award ceremony was to honour me and my crew for protecting Terra against an attack by a rogue AI. I'm not here in an official capacity and I'm not a representative of the Terran Federation, so I'm sorry, but there's no way I can grant that request."

Athgiloi didn't look happy and glared suspiciously at the holo-screen. "I find that very difficult to believe, John Blake."

"It's the truth," John replied with a shrug of resignation. "I don't bear your people any ill-will, and if it would help ease tensions between the Terrans and Brimorians, I actually think it would be sensible to give those worlds back to the Enclave. Unfortunately, I don't hold much sway with the Terran Admiralty, so my opinion carries little weight."

"That is... disappointing," Athgiloi muttered, his webbed fins losing some of their stiffness. He watched John for another long moment. "Against my better judgement, I am inclined to believe that you are sincere in your desire for peace. I have heard of your efforts to protect the Ashanath against aggression from the Drakkar... such action is commendable."

*Be careful, John,* Edraele warned him, her voice full of suspicion. *Something about the way he's behaving doesn't ring true with my dealings with Ambassador Circhoi. The Brimorians have never cared one way or another about the Ashanath.*

*Thanks for the heads-up,* John replied, trying not to let his sudden wariness show on his face. He smiled at the Brimorian Deep Lord and continued, "It looks like I might have wasted your time then. I do appreciate you making the effort to contact me though, thank you."

Athgiloi nodded and reached for the button to end the call, but paused at the last moment. "Something comes to mind... an alternative service that you might be able to perform for the Enclave, for which we would be exceedingly grateful."

"A service?" John asked, his curiosity piqued.

"It would be dangerous..." Athgiloi said, his eyes penetrating as he stared at the holo-screen. "...but the rewards would be great, for both of us."

"I can usually handle myself in a fight," John said modestly. "What have you got in mind?"

The Deep Lord went quiet, appearing lost in thought. After a long pause, he spoke in a quiet voice, solemn in its intensity. "Beyond the boundaries of Enclave territory, there is a ruined place where a ruined people live... We know it as the Desolation of Vulkat and it is all that remains of a once mighty civilisation."

"What happened to them?" John asked, feeling a shiver run down his spine.

"That we do not know... the cataclysm that brought ruin to the Vulkat long predated the Brimorian Enclave," Athgiloi said, his scaly face set in a grim mask. "Now all that is left of their people dwell in nomadic fleets that roam their territory... They hunt any who trespass into their space, but they do not leave the boundaries of what must have been the Vulkat Empire."

John was quiet for a moment, curiosity conflicting with apprehension. "What do you want me to do?"

A shadow crossed Athgiloi's face. "It is impossible to reason or bargain with the Vulkat... we have tried, but all attempts have ended in disaster. My people have fought deadly skirmishes with their fleets, even managing to destroy some of their vessels at great cost. After examining their wreckage, we discovered that the Vulkat have harnessed the power of powerful devices... eternity crystals... that they use in their shield projectors."

John leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers. "So you want me to acquire some of these 'eternity crystals'?"

"Most of the ones we salvaged were broken and useless, but the few that were intact show tremendous potential..." the Deep Lord replied, his eyes gleaming at the prospect. "We need to know the method with which the Vulkat create these eternity crystals... if you can discover that for us, then you will have proven yourself a friend of the Brimorians. We would be willing to give you access to our best shield technology... and of course, you would also learn how to manufacture eternity crystals for yourself."

John shot a glance at the girls, who were all watching him with wide eyes. Dana nodded eagerly, giving him a broad grin and a thumbs-up. He returned his attention to the Deep Lord and asked, "Have you any idea where we should start looking?"

"The Vulkat have not settled on any worlds, they exist only in their roaming fleets," the Brimorian explained. "Their crystal manufacturing facilities might be located on their biggest ships, or they might be on a specialised support vessel. We honestly have no idea."

"That's not particularly helpful," John said with a grimace. He locked eyes with the Brimorian leader and continued, "If we can find out the secret for the construction of these eternity crystals, then I'd be willing to trade that for schematics of your most advanced shield generator as well as a number of pre-built devices. I'd need one for the Invictus and a couple of smaller variants sized for gunship-sized vessels; we can provide you the specific dimensions. Does that sound reasonable?"

Athgiloi inclined his head. "Indeed it does." He hesitated for a moment, then added, "In the spirit of our new friendship, I would offer you a warning, John Blake. The Vulkat are a ferocious enemy, do not underestimate them."

"I'm not making any guarantees, but I'll definitely consider your proposal," John said, tapping his index fingers together. "Can you send me all the data you have on the Vulkat and their ships?"

"We will gather what data we can and send it to you immediately," the Deep Lord replied. "Best of luck in your mission. You will need it."

With that, the Brimorian ended the call, leaving John looking at a blank screen. Turning off the comm interface he realised that the girls were all watching him intently.

"Well, I wasn't expecting that," he said with a wry smile as he got up from his chair.

"What are we going to do?" Irillith asked, still looking badly shaken from her trip into the Cyber-Realm.

John walked over to her, slipping his arms around her trim waist. "The first thing Alyssa's going to do is feed you and Dana; you'll feel much better with a full tummy. We'll gather the rest of the crew, then sit down and have a chat... we've got a few things to talk about."

The Maliri girl perked up immediately, her violet eyes sparkling in anticipation.

"Me first!" Dana exclaimed, diving to her knees in front of her blonde friend. Alyssa relaxed on the sofa, spreading her thighs in invitation for the redhead, while smiling contentedly at Rachel as the brunette caressed her cum-stuffed belly.

***

Admiral Lynette Devereux drummed her fingers to an impatient beat on the armrest of her chair. The shuttle seemed to take an interminably long time on its final approach to Olympus Shipyard, almost as if the pilot were deliberately trying her patience. She glanced out the window to try to distract herself and spotted hundreds of warships assembling in formation; the vast might of the Terran Federation had gathered for a final showdown with the Kintark Empire. The big problem was that only herself, Buckingham, and a handful of other Admirals were aware of that fact.

The Fleet Admiral had done his job with ruthless efficiency, creating a total comms blackout regarding anything to do with the marauding Kintark Armada. It was now the third afternoon after the dreadful events in the Dragon March that had culminated in the total destruction of Port Medea and she was astonished that word had still not leaked out about the alien invasion. The Kintark would arrive in a little over a day and a half, and there had been no outcry on TFNN or any of the scores of other news channels.

She felt a dark sense of foreboding and hadn't been able to shake it since being briefed on the invasion. More than anything she wanted to call John Blake and beg him to help, but she'd only get one shot at contacting him. The moment she used her security clearance to override the comm blackout and attempt to contact him in Maliri territory, she would tip her hand to Buckingham, so she had to be sure that the message would reach him.

Devereux had been making discreet enquiries to try and track the Lion down and as far as she was aware, he hadn't returned to the Terran Federation yet and was still in Maliri Space. The main problem was not knowing for certain if he was still in Maliri territory; that ship of his was so damn fast, he could have moved on to the Trankarans, the Brimorians, or anyone else for that matter. However, she knew she was quickly running out of time... As fast as the Invictus was, if she couldn't get word to Blake soon, he wouldn't be able to make it back to Terra in time to intervene.

Dropping her face into her hands, she rubbed at her weary brow, trying to massage away the headache that was brewing. This wasn't how everything was supposed to play out, not at all. Buckingham should have been ousted from his position as Fleet Admiral by now, with her coasting into place as his successor, basking in the reflected glory from the triumphant victories of her champion. But then she had underestimated John Blake, the man becoming so popular that he'd eclipsed her completely. She had been preparing to give her victory speech at the award ceremony, but the opportunity to deliver the coup-de-grace to Buckingham had been snatched from her fingertips by the jubilant crowd, who were desperate to hear more from the Lion.

The balance of power between the factions in High Command was on a knife-edge, with the incumbent Fleet Admiral always notoriously hard to shift. There were half-a-dozen Admirals wavering on the fence between her and Buckingham and a decisive speech in front of an audience of billions, would have been the gambit she needed to push them into backing her as replacement Fleet Admiral. Devereux would only have one chance to make her final move and should she fail, then Buckingham's retaliatory strikes would most likely see her ousted from the Admiralty at the bare minimum. She was under no illusion of the high-stakes game she was playing, a game that might even cost her own life.

After the award ceremony had turned into a complete disaster, Admiral Caldwell had approached her and offered the hand of friendship, clearly not realising how close she'd been to ousting his commanding officer. Caldwell had misunderstood her state of shock, expecting antipathy from her towards John Blake where there was none to be found. Realising she'd need to recoup and plan another angle of attack, Devereux had accepted Caldwell's tentative invitation into Buckingham's inner circle. Her pride had taken a battering, having to endure Buckingham's gloating and Weber's snide comments, but Devereux was willing to play the long game. By taking a short-term hit to her popularity within High Command for appearing to kowtow to Buckingham, she could secretly work to fatally undermine him in the long term.

At the same time, she'd been able to avert most of the more dangerous threats to the Lion, heading off some of Weber's more galling moves before they got any traction. She could still scarcely believe that Buckingham would choose to deliberately antagonise John Blake. Her contempt for the Fleet Admiral had turned into genuine fear, that Buckingham might ultimately doom humanity by enraging someone with Blake's power.

For Devereux, meeting John aboard the Invictus after his intervention to stop Nexus, had given her a moment of epiphany. She had never felt more terrified... or more reassured at any time in her life. It had been like standing in the presence of a god; a god who claimed to be benevolent and whose actions backed his words... but all the while she instinctively knew that John possessed enough power to end her in an instant. It was a humbling experience that she'd never forgotten, solemnly vowing to herself never to make an enemy of the man, or risk allowing anyone to turn him into an enemy of the Terran Federation.

Unfortunately, Buckingham had drawn a very different conclusion after meeting John, which led them to the current state of affairs. Now they were dealing with an invading Kintark battlefleet, the borders of the Terran Federation lay abandoned, and High Command was clueless as to the deadly threats arrayed against them. To compound this disaster, the one man who might be able to save the Federation had no clue of the danger looming over them. The whole situation was nearly enough to make her scream with frustration.

The shuttle trembled as it landed and when the vibrations stopped, Devereux realised she was still shaking... with worry or fear she wasn't entirely sure. Rising from her seat, she secured her peaked cap on her head then strode towards the airlock doors as they began to open automatically. Once the portal had spiralled open, she stepped into the massive Hangar, glancing around for her guide.

Admiral Harris was waiting for her, just as she had hoped he would be, and by the expression on his face, he didn't look too furious. It had been uncomfortable taking that curt tone with a man that she respected as an excellent officer and she had prayed that he would be able to read behind the lines without taking offence. Contacting a known friend of John Blake's had been a big risk for her, so she'd had to make the meeting seem as innocuous as possible, just in case her actions were being monitored, which she was certain would be the case.

"Admiral Devereux," Charles said frostily, but when she met his gaze, she saw curiosity there, not anger.

"Admiral Harris," she replied, her own tone haughty and standoffish. "So good of you to agree to this tour."

"I don't see why this is necessary," Charles said with a scowl, his moustache quivering as he gestured for her to walk with him. "Operations at Olympus are my remit, not yours."

Devereux matched his pace, following him across the shuttle bay and into the broad corridor beyond. "And your station falls within the jurisdiction of the Homeworld Sector; I am quite within my rights to perform a spot check to make sure that Federation resources are being utilised in the best way possible."

"Preposterous," Charles scoffed indignantly. "You have no room for complaint here, the shipyard is running at optimal efficiency. With the assistance of the Voss Corporation, we've been able to-"

"Ah yes, Henry Voss..." she interrupted him, arching an eyebrow. "It's a... bold move... to so heavily rely on civilian contractors."

"One that's paying off handsomely," Charles replied sounding smug, but the emotion never reached his eyes. He sighed and nodded towards the broad entrances to the drydocks up ahead. "We might as well get this over with. I assure you, you'll be most impressed with the progression of the refit."

They walked in silence for a couple of minutes until they reached the first of the hangars that were dedicated to spacecraft repairs, the signs declaring this to be "Docking Bay 15". Charles led her into the massive drydock and Devereux winced at the din from heavy machinery in operation, while squinting against the glare from safety lightning and plasma torches. A huge battleship was undergoing the last stages of the refit, engineers swarming over it as they finalised their repairs and upgrades. A section of armour plating had been removed from the upper decks so that an enormous power core could be lowered into the rear quarters of the warship, the sphere held steady by an enormous crane.

Devereux stopped to glance up at the grey titanium monolith, her eyes wandering along the hull until she spotted the name "Hyperion" emblazoned in ten-metre-tall lettering. Her eyes widened and she gasped in astonishment, "The Hyperion! It was a burned-out hulk after Regulus!"

With a start, she realised that Charles hadn't waited for her and was now standing on one of the loading lifts, waiting patiently by the control box. Devereux walked briskly over to the metal platform, stepping over the yellow and black chevrons onto the lift. As soon as she had both feet safely on the platform, Charles hit a button and it began to rise with the deep whir of anti-grav cyclics.

"From a charred derelict to one of the most powerful ships in the Terran Federation fleet, the entire refit taking just under eight weeks," Charles said, with a hint of pride in his voice. He allowed himself a small smile. "That includes towing time to recover the wreck to Olympus."

"How remarkable..." Devereux murmured, truly impressed. "Does this ship have all the latest upgrades?"

He nodded, turning to look at the power core being lowered into the hull. "We're just installing the final components now. This is the last of the battleships in the group that needs one of the new Ashanath Power Cores, all the rest have already been fitted. In fact, the Nereus is now fully operational, and Rear Admiral Dacres is taking it out on its milk run as we speak."

The loading lift reached the upper levels of the maintenance gantry, coming to a halt with a clang.

"You've performed miracles here," Devereux said, sharing a smile with her fellow admiral as he turned and walked onto the metal decking. Her smile slowly faded and without thinking, she muttered under her breath, "We could use a few of them right now..."

Charles looked at her sharply, but didn't immediately reply, instead turning left and crossing the metal bridge to the titanium hull of the Hyperion. "I thought you might like to take a look at the Power Core being installed," he called over his shoulder.

Devereux had seen that glance from his hawk-like eyes, and suddenly realised Admiral Harris knew a lot more than she might have suspected. She followed after him, trying not to look down at the dizzying drop to the decking below, having never been particularly fond of heights. They strolled across the hull to the open section where the armour plating had been removed and Devereux saw that temporary steps had been lowered into the gaping hole.

A couple of Voss Corporation technicians paused and waved for the two admirals to proceed, so Devereux followed Charles down into the exposed Power Core chamber. Instead of loitering in the noisy room, he turned left and walked through an opened door into a darkened corridor beyond. Devereux realised the power must be out in this section of the ship until the new Ashanath device had been hooked up to the Hyperion's power grid.

Charles strode down the corridor and stopped outside a closed door. After glancing left and right to make sure there were no engineers or technicians nearby, he pulled a chrome device from his pocket and slapped it down next to the door controls. He pressed a button and a light turned green, the door in front of them sliding open with a quiet hiss as the device provided it power.

"After you," Charles said politely, gesturing into the darkened room.

Devereux felt a pang of nerves, but did as he asked, walking into a room filled with massive capacitors. Charles removed the device, placed it on the opposite side of the door, then plunged them into darkness as they were sealed in. She heard movement in the dark, then a soft light illuminated the room from the small lamp he had just placed on a lifeless console.

"This is very cloak and dagger," Devereux said, trying not to let her nervousness reach her voice.

"The walls on Olympus have eyes and ears... but not in here," Charles said, glancing around the gloomy powerless room. He fixed her with a steady gaze and continued, "Alright, what's this about, Lynette?"

She studied him for a moment, then said quietly, "Maybe it would be sensible to tell me what you know first, then I can fill in some of the blanks."

Charles raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "You're the one that arranged this little get together, so I'm afraid I'll have to insist that you go first. Besides, I'm not the one who suddenly switched allegiances and fell in behind Buckingham... If we're putting our cards on the table, let me start by saying I don't entirely trust you."

Much to Devereux's surprise, it actually hurt that he didn't trust her. She sighed and met his curious gaze. "Alright, I suppose that's fair." She paused for a moment to gather her thoughts. "First, let me say that I believe that it's in humanity's best interests to work with John Blake."

"A quite understandable and sensible stance," Charles agreed, not giving anything else away.

Devereux took a deep breath then said, "The Terran Federation is facing an existential threat... we won't survive without his help."

Charles relaxed and gave her a warm smile. "So you know then? I'm a little surprised John confided in you, but he's a good judge of character." A confused frown crossed his face as he continued, "But if you're working with John against this other Progenitor, why did you ally yourself with Buckingham?"

She tried not to let any surprise show on her face at the mention of another 'Progenitor', but inside her mind was whirring. "I'm just pretending to work with Buckingham until I can get him removed from office."

Charles brightened and nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, I see! So with you replacing him as Fleet Admiral, John hopes to galvanise all of High Command into preparing for the war." He shook his head in admiration. "He's far better at politics than I am. How long until you take over from Buckingham?"

Devereux relaxed a little when she realised that Charles must already know about the Kintark invasion. She looked troubled as she said, "I'm not sure, soon I hope, but unfortunately there's a problem. Buckingham's still Fleet Admiral at the moment and he's trying to dig up any dirt he can to undermine John in the public eye. So far he hasn't had any luck, but Buckingham's getting desperate."

Frowning with worry, Charles leaned against the console. "Why in God's name would Buckingham try and work against John?!"

"Buckingham's afraid of him, he thinks John's a threat to the Terran Federation," Devereux explained.

He waved his hand to encompass the ship. "I'm trying to get as many ships upgraded as quickly as possible for when the other Progenitor attacks, but without John and the Invictus we're doomed!"

She looked at Charles curiously, feeling a surge of hope that the situation might not be as dire as she once feared. "What about the Kintark?"

Charles let out a frustrated sigh and shook his head in disbelief. "Don't tell me Buckingham's thinking about starting another skirmish with them?! The only way we'll stand a chance is if we can get all the alien empires to work with us! I know John's already got the Ashanath and the Maliri on board, and after seeing his rescue of the Trankaran Chancellor he's probably allied with them too. We need to get past the problems with the Kintark in the Dragon March... we might actually need them when the other Progenitor invades."

Devereux felt her heart sink in her chest as the situation suddenly became clear and was far bleaker than she ever thought possible. Not only was it obvious to her now that Charles had no idea about the imminent Kintark invasion, it was evident that they were also facing a far deadlier threat from another 'Progenitor'... someone just like John, but hostile. That thought was utterly terrifying and she knew that battle would make the Kintark attack look like a playground squabble.

The other dreadful realisation was that ultimately, Charles was more important to the survival of the Terran Federation than she was. She couldn't risk telling him about the Kintark invasion, because he would try to contact John himself, and if Buckingham got wind of it, he'd have Charles arrested or worse. Without Admiral Harris here on Olympus to drive the refit of the Terran fleets, then the Federation would stand no chance in the wider battle against this other Progenitor. That meant it was down to her to reach out to John, no matter the personal cost, and she had to do it now.

"The last I heard, John had travelled to the Maliri Regency," Devereux stated calmly, although her heart hammering in her chest was anything but calm. "I'd like to get in contact with him... do you know if he's still there?"

Charles paused then spread his hands in a helpless gesture. "The last time I spoke with him was just before the award ceremony, when he brought me in on a lot of this. I'm not sure exactly where he is at the moment, but I know he has a very strong alliance with the Maliri. Even if you aren't able to speak to him directly, I'm sure his friends in charge of the Regency will be able to pass the message on to him."

She nodded gratefully, feeling a surge of empathy towards her fellow officer; Charles was striving almost single-handedly to do his utmost to prepare the Terran Federation for the coming conflict. Stepping closer she put her arms around the startled admiral and gave him a fierce hug. "Thank you for everything you're doing, Charles. I don't know how you can manage all this alone."

Charles' eyes widened in surprise, then he put his arms around her and awkwardly patted her on the back. "We're not alone, Lynette, we've got John and Henry working with us... I get scared too if I stop to think about it, but we'll get the fleets ready in time."

Devereux stifled her gasp of surprise as she suddenly realised who he meant by Henry. Rachel Voss was a lioness so of course her father would be involved too; no wonder the Voss Corporation had thrown all its assets into ship construction. That was another mystery solved, but it didn't bring her any comfort. The sheer magnitude of what they were facing left her feeling bewildered and afraid.

She pulled away from the embrace and did her best to smile despite the icy tendrils of fear that she could feel around her heart. "Thanks for agreeing to see me, Charles. You've been a tremendous help."

"Anytime," he said with a broad smile, his moustache twitching. "I'm relieved you're one of us, Lynette. It's good to know I can trust you."

"Likewise," she agreed, returning his smile, but her mind was elsewhere. All Devereux could think about was how she needed to word the plea for help she was going to send to John.

***

Calara and Sakura were the last to arrive in the Ready Room and John exchanged smiles with the two girls as they took their places on the sofas. The Latina and the Asian girl were wearing form-fitting training gear and had been sparring in the dojo before being summoned by Alyssa. Sakura walked over to join Jade, while Calara sat beside her girlfriend, then ran her fingers through Irillith's hair, watching as the Maliri girl filled her stomach with cum.

Now that John had an active connection with Irillith, he was able to wrap his consciousness around her, fortifying her and banishing her fears. Well, he would have if Alyssa hadn't got there before him; he could feel her mental presence already soothing the Maliri girl, so with a shrug he just swaddled them both up in his loving psychic embrace.

"That feels amazing..." Irillith said with a breathy sigh, pulling back from Alyssa. She didn't possess Jade's prehensile tongue so she couldn't lick the bowl clean, so to speak, but between her and Dana, they had sucked out the majority of John's cum from the blonde.

"Tell me about it," Dana said with a lop-sided grin. She was kneeling beside the Maliri and ran her hand over her own curved cum-filled tummy. "I can't believe I'm going to be like this for two weeks!"

Irillith glanced at Alyssa then John with a look of gratitude in her enchanting eyes and he knew she wasn't just referring to her lunch.

He offered the kneeling girls a hand in rising to their feet and shared a cosy hug with them both. "I'm glad you're feeling better," he said to Irillith, giving her a gentle kiss on the cheek.

The girls took their seats, Dana cuddling up with Rachel, and Tashana welcoming her twin with open arms on the third sofa. John sat beside his blonde Matriarch, then patted the space next to him for Faye to join him. The purple girl had been unsure who to sit beside after receiving multiple offers, but she accepted John's invitation with a look of glee on her face.

"Alright then, ladies," John began, looking around at his crew. "I'm not sure how much you already know about my recent conversation with the Brimorians."

"All of it," Sakura said with a grin, her telltale glance at Alyssa revealing the source of that information.

He nodded to the blonde in gratitude. "Great, that saves some explaining." Turning to the petite girl on his right, he continued, "Have the Brimorians sent us any data on the Vulkat yet?"

Faye nodded eagerly. "Yep! Let me show you what we've got."

She blinked and a holographic map of the Brimorian Enclave appeared, projected above the seating area. It was a plan view, with the Terran Federation marked below the Enclave and a grey expanse of star systems above, the label identifying the area as the Desolation of Vulkat. The far edges of this mysterious empire had not been mapped, but the Brimorians had expanded the Enclave as far as possible so that they were abutting the closest edge of Vulkat territory.

"I've plotted a course, it'll take us a little over seven hours to reach the border," Faye informed them, peeking around John to look at the blonde sitting next to him. "But I'm sure Alyssa could get us there faster!" The purple sprite had calculated the total journey time down to the micro-second, but following the blonde's example, she rounded off for brevity's sake.

"Can you start us off in that direction please," John requested, putting his arm around the perky sprite. "Alyssa can make improvements to our flightpath once we're underway."

Calara looked at him in surprise. "Aren't we going to review the Brimorian's briefing first?"

"If we change our minds we can just stop and turn around," John said with a shrug. "Let's face it though, this does sound like a tempting opportunity..."

Dana grinned and nodded eagerly. "Getting our hands on some new tech would be fantastic!"

"And we might be able to learn more about Progenitors!" Tashana exclaimed, looking equally as excited. "An ancient civilisation wiped out by a cataclysm? It sounds awfully like Mael'nerak's assault on the Achonin!"

"Do you think he destroyed the Vulkat too?" John asked, having had similar thoughts.

The Maliri girl paused for a moment, then reluctantly admitted, "I've not found any references to the Vulkat in any of my research on the Maliri and Mael'nerak, so it might be a bit early to be jumping to conclusions. If we do see lots of dense asteroid belts and very few inhabitable planets, it might explain why the Vulkat are ship-bound nomads."

"Because Mael'nerak obliterated all their worlds..." John said quietly, meeting her thoughtful gaze.

Tashana nodded her agreement. "Exactly. Either him or Ranagon, the Progenitor who tried to wipe out the Trankarans."

"We'll have to keep our eyes open, see what we can find out," he said, sharing her excitement to learn more about his species. He glanced down at Faye and gently squeezed her shoulder. "Okay Faye, what other information have you got for us?"

"The Brimorian data on the Vulkat ships is pretty sketchy," Faye replied, removing the empire map and replacing it with a series of pictures.

The images were obviously taken from battle footage, showing a series of black ships banded in orange. They were frighteningly alien in design, with a central tear-shaped body that was surrounded by bent 'limbs' that swept back from the main hull. In one of the pictures, missile racks were exposed on the black hull, with propellant trails shrouding the ship in a grey haze as it opened fire with scores of tiny projectiles.

"Now that's an evil-looking ship," Rachel said with a shudder.

"Yeah... but what's it firing?" Calara asked in fascination, leaning forward to get a closer look.

Faye gave them a helpless shrug. "The Brimorians didn't elaborate, but they did say that the Vulkat have powerful shields; probably because of the eternity crystals in their shield projectors."

"Definitely looks like some kind of micro-missiles," Dana said, narrowing her eyes.

The Latina appeared to be lost in thought until she said, "Perhaps that's why the Vulkat gave the Brimorians so much trouble? If their ships rely heavily on shield-penetrating missile tech, that would nullify the Brimorians' strongest defences."

"Let's try to avoid finding out the hard way," John said, eyeing the disturbing multi-limbed vessels. "I know how much everyone hates stealth missions, but it might be prudent this time. If we go in guns blazing, we might inadvertently take out whatever ship actually manufactures those crystals. How about we locate one of these Vulkat fleets, then sneak aboard their biggest capital ship using the stealth shuttle and see what we can find?"

Faye winced and said, "You might want to take a look at the Vulkat before you decide on a boarding action..."

She swept away the ship images and replaced them with a fresh set of images, each one showing mangled corpses oozing congealed purple blood from scores of gunshot wounds. The Vulkat were eight-limbed arachnids, their pallid carapaces a faded black and orange, with glinting metal attachments all over their bodies. More unsettling than that was the strange appearance of decay to the hideous looking creatures, as though their bodies had been gradually decomposing for quite some time before the picture was taken.

"Oh my God!" exclaimed Dana, her eyes going wide with fright. "The Vulkat are fucking spiders?! I hate spiders!"

"Going by the dimensions listed, they're pretty big," Jade pointed out helpfully. "At least seven-feet-tall and they must be quite heavy with all those cybernetic parts."

Dana wrinkled her nose in disgust and shuddered violently, "Come on... cyborg spiders?!"

It was Rachel's turn to be fascinated now and she studied the pictures intently. "If those corpses were recovered after a space battle, they can't have been found in space, because the bodies wouldn't decompose in a vacuum. The Brimorians said the Vulkat don't settle on planets, which means they must have been pulled from a ship with an intact atmosphere, but those creatures look like they've been slowly decomposing for decades... that withered flesh doesn't look like regular decomposition to me."

"Those are fresh wounds though, look at all that blood spatter..." Sakura said, studying the corpses with a professional eye and pointing to the riot of purple splashes over the arachnid corpse. "Even though they look like they died years ago, those creatures were actually killed shortly before this picture was taken."

"The cybernetic parts could be keeping them artificially animated for many years after the original creature died," Rachel suggested, tilting her head to one side as she examined the picture.

"Zombie cyborg spiders?!" Dana squeaked. "You've got to be fucking kidding me!"

"Once I've had a chance to examine a specimen, I can let you know if they're one of the living dead," Rachel replied, a smile teasing her lips.

Dana shook her head, "No way! You aren't seriously considering going anywhere near those things?! Eternity crystals is a good name, because that's how long it'll be before I step foot on one of their ships!"

John gave her a sympathetic look. "Are you sure? We'll definitely need your expertise on a boarding action... none of the rest of us would be able to figure out how the eternity crystal manufacturing devices work."

"Why do we even need to bother going after them anyway?" the redhead whined. "Irillith just swiped the Shield Generator tech off the Brimorians..." Her face brightened and she sat up straight. "Faye, get rid of the zombie spiders and show me the new schematics!"

"Sure!" the purple sprite readily agreed.

The pictures of the dead Vulkat were replaced by a highly-complex set of blueprints. Dana's blue eyes darted back and forth as she memorised the schematics, making little gasps of excitement as she marvelled at the Brimorian technology.

John watched her for a moment, then quirked an eyebrow. "Find anything interesting?"

"Hell yeah!" Dana blurted out, looking overjoyed. "If I'm reading these right... okay, I know I am... the Brimorians are using a type of reinforced shielding!"

"Reinforced shields?" Calara asked, sounding intrigued.

The redhead nodded eagerly. "They've got more capacity than our shields, but that's not even the best part! They're basically able to shrug off a certain amount of laser damage without affecting the shield strength! Even heavy hitting energy weapons would have their overall damage reduced and the damage reduction effect seems to get more powerful the bigger the energy field you create!"

"So for something the size of the Invictus?" the Latina prompted the redhead, her eyes gleaming with excitement.

"Immunity to Laser Cannon fire at the very least," Dana said, glancing back at the schematics. "Maybe as little as 30% damage from a standard Terran Beam Laser?"

Calara shared her friend's grin. "Holy shit..."

Dana laughed in delight. "Yeah, exactly!"

"Is this kind of reinforced shield compatible with the Maliri shield modulators?" Irillith asked with bated breath, caught up in their excitement.

Dana paused for a second then nodded. "I'd have to design a phase convertor to sync them up, but yeah, definitely!"

"How long would it take to build the new shield generator for the Invictus?" John asked, watching his Chief Engineer with avid interest.

The redhead grimaced and replied, "Maybe about a week? It's a pretty big device and I'd have to manufacture every single part in the Mass Fabricators, because it's built from non-standard Brimorian components."

"Or we could get them pre-built for the Invictus, Raptor, and Valkyrie in less than a day from the Brimorians ..." John suggested with the hint of a smile.

Dana groaned and rolled her eyes. "You mean if we go up against the zombie spider things?"

Calara gave the redhead puppy dog eyes. "Just think how strong our shields would be with Brimorian reinforced shields, the Maliri shield modulators, AND eternity crystals in our shield projectors..."

"That would be pretty fucking awesome..." Dana murmured, a wistful look on her face.

"So you'd be willing to come along on a boarding mission?" John asked, sounding hopeful.

The redhead sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I suppose so. But don't blame me if I freak out and start shooting! Those fuckers already creep me out!"

"Should I send the dimensions for the Raptor, Valkyrie, and Invictus to the Brimorians?" Faye asked.

"Yes, thanks for reminding me," John replied, giving her a grateful smile. He glanced at Dana and gave her a rueful frown. "I forgot to ask for a set for our Paragon armour, sorry."

She shrugged and waved away his concern. "Don't worry about it. Those are tiny in comparison, I'll start the mass fabricators running as soon as we're done chatting. I should be able to get them all built by the time we reach the spider place... with Jade's help of course."

The Nymph playfully saluted her friend. "I'm always happy to assist, Grand Engineering Overlord."

"That reminds me, how did you get on with the Punisher Gatling upgrade for the Valkyrie?" Sakura asked, her brown eyes filled with anticipation.

"All built and ready to go," Dana replied with a satisfied smile. "Faye's boys are installing one of the new Heavy Quantum guns on the mech as we speak."

"Is it the same spec as the ones on the Invictus?"

Dana shook her head and gave the Asian girl a sly wink. "I tweaked it a bit. The standard ones fire off a slug every three seconds, but if you're doing your ice tricks to cool the barrel, you can override the safeties and fire it on full auto." She wagged a finger in warning at her friend as she continued, "But be careful! You'll blow the gun to bits if you haven't cooled it enough!"

Sakura grinned at her and nodded. "I'll bear that in mind, thanks!"

"Okay then, we just have one last thing to talk about," John said, glancing at Irillith. "Can you tell us more about what scared you so badly in the Brimorian Cyber Realm?"

Irillith's smile was wiped off her face and replaced by a pensive expression. "I can't tell you much I'm afraid, I just know I was being watched... I could feel it. The Brimorian network design was annoying to break through, but the resilience of their firewalls was laughable; whoever built the digital network on that Brimorian capital ship wasn't good enough to keep a security probe hidden from me."

"So if the probe wasn't Brimorian in design, who do you think built it?"

"I don't know..." Irillith replied, giving him a helpless shrug. "No alarms were tripped, so it might have been my mind playing tricks on me, but I really don't think so. I could feel something malevolent watching me in there... I've never felt anything like it."

John could see how badly shaken she'd been by the experience and he gave her a sympathetic smile. "I think we should take this as a sign that you need backup in the Cyber Realm. I don't like you going in alone like that, you're far too exposed."

"I appreciate the concern, but that's much easier said than done," the Maliri girl replied, sharing a glance with the purple girl seated next to him. "Faye would be the most sensible choice to accompany me, but I'm using psychic abilities to remotely hack these networks; I'm not sure how she'd be able to join me."

"Why don't you two give it some thought and see what you can come up with?" John suggested, receiving nods from both girls. He looked across at the Nymph who had shifted to the edge of her seat and was obviously waiting for an opportunity to speak. "Well, that's everything I wanted to discuss. Jade, you said you wanted to talk to me about something?"

She sprang to her feet, a beaming smile lighting up her face. "I met a beautiful girl on Brimor!"

"A Terran merchant?" John asked, unsure why she'd want to bring that up.

"No, she's a native to the planet!" Jade exclaimed, her emerald eyes glinting with excitement.

Alyssa wrinkled her nose and gave the Nymph a funny look. "I'm pretty open minded, but I'd struggle to describe the Brimorians as beautiful." She darted a coy grin at John's groin. "Plus, all those pointy teeth... ouch!"

Jade shook her head, sending her dark-green locks swishing over her shoulders. "No, she wasn't a Brimorian and she wasn't a Terran either! She reminded me a bit of both."

"Can you describe what she looked like in more detail?" John asked, intrigued by this mysterious girl that had got the Nymph so excited.

"I can do better than that!" Jade exclaimed, before shimmering in a dark green blur.

A few seconds later the blurring faded away and everyone gaped at her new appearance in astonishment. Jade now looked like a beautiful blue-eyed Terran girl, except for the fact that she had light-green hair, teal-coloured skin and elegant turquoise fins on her forearms and calves. The Nymph slowly turned so that they could see the native girl from all angles. She stood about five-and-a-half feet tall and had a toned, shapely figure, with well-muscled legs, a buoyant bust, and a compact perfectly-rounded bottom.

"Wow, she's gorgeous!" Rachel exclaimed, sharing a smile with Dana who nodded her agreement.

Alyssa looked on in fascination, an acquisitive gleam in her eyes. "Jade, what else can you tell us about her?"

"Her name is Helene and she told me she's one of 'The Abandoned'," the Nymph explained, smiling in satisfaction when she sensed John's interest.

"The Abandoned? That doesn't sound good," John said, his brow furrowing with concern. "What else did she tell you?"

"That was it I'm afraid," Jade replied, giving him a helpless shrug. "You asked me to return to the ship just after I made contact with Helene. I didn't want to bother you at the time, because you were so upset about Edraele. Her people did seem scared of the Brimorians though; when I turned up looking like one, they all started rushing around working harder."

Irillith frowned as she suggested, "Perhaps they're some kind of recently enslaved species from a minor empire? In all the research I did on the Brimorians I never saw any mention of worker castes or references to 'the Abandoned'."

"I did a lot of research into all known aliens, humanoids in particular," John replied, studying Jade's imitation of Helene. "I definitely would have remembered a species that looked like her."

"Is it possible she's one of Mael'nerak's creations?" Tashana asked, while gazing at Jade.

"I'd need a DNA sample to know for certain," Rachel murmured, equally as interested. "However, the chance of a species evolving naturally on Brimor that looks almost exactly like us is so remote, I think we can discount it as an impossibility. Did you see any more of her kind, Jade?"

"There were over twenty males working on a kelp farm, with at least a dozen females helping them with the crops. From what I could see, it looked like most of the women were pregnant, except for Helene of course," the Nymph explained, running a hand over her trim bluish-green stomach. "Oh, and she spoke Terran and referred to it as 'the old tongue'."

Rachel frowned and turned to look at John. "That doesn't fit with Helene being a Progenitor creation. The Maliri have their own distinct language, so why would a distinct species on Brimor with no contact with the Terran Federation, know how to speak Terran and refer to it as an old language?"

John shook his head, his eyes narrowing. "I've no idea, but we need to find out more. If everything goes according to plan with the Vulkat, we'll be returning to Brimor tomorrow; I'd like Jade to make contact with Helene again and try to find out some answers."

"I'd love to!" the Nymph enthusiastically agreed.

"Okay, I think that's everything then, thanks ladies," John said, glancing around the group to see if anyone else had something they wished to discuss. "Let's reconvene for dinner this evening, then we'll get ready for the crossing into Vulkat territory."

"I'll get cracking on the new shields for our body armour!" Dana said, turning to glance over her shoulder at Rachel. "Could you help me and Jade, Babes? I want to design and build the phase convertors too, but I won't have time if I have to build then fit the Brimorian shield generators."

Rachel hugged her lover and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Of course!"

John intercepted Calara and Sakura as the two girls started to head out of the Ready Room. "Are you heading back to the Dojo?"

"We are," Sakura said with a warm smile. "Do you want to come and watch?"

Alyssa glided past them into the Bridge a smirk on her face. "Or watch and cum?"

"I know which I prefer," Calara said airily, before sharing a coy smile with her sparring partner.

"I'll join you both in a few minutes, let me get changed into sparring gear," John said, smacking them both on the ass affectionately.

He followed the giggling girls to the grav-tube, waving goodbye to Alyssa as she walked up the steps to the Command Podium to plot their course. Parting company with his lovely companions, he left the red gravity field on Deck Two and headed towards his bedroom to get changed.

*Edraele, you had some concerns about the Brimorians,* he thought to his Maliri Matriarch. *Still worried?*

*Yes,* she replied without hesitation. *The Brimorians are very slippery and quite self-serving. Deep Lord Athgiloi might have made all the right noises, but he's up to something, I just know it.*

John entered his walk-in-wardrobe and started stripping off his clothes. *Well thanks to your brilliant daughter, we have the shield schematics already, so we'll know if the Brimorians try to rip us off with the shield generators.*

*Alright, but just be very careful... more cautious than normal, okay?* Edraele requested, her anxiety evident in her voice.

*We'll try and keep the risks to a minimum,* John replied, to put her mind at ease. *Once we're done here, there's a couple of things I want to clear up in the Terran Federation, then we'll head back to Genthalas for a bit of a break. We need to upgrade the Invictus' Heavy Cannons, set up your fleets with the new shield tech, and start working on a new project. I spoke with Dana a while ago about designing a destroyer-class vessel for the Invictus; If Alyssa and I get all the psychic shaping done for the superstructure, then your engineers can start building it... The fact I want to spend lots more time with you and your girls has nothing to do with me wanting to rush back to Maliri Space.*

*Of course, you're a very conscientious Progenitor... business before pleasure every time,* Edraele said, relaxing as she enjoyed bantering with him.

John grinned as he pulled on his sparring pants. *Not every time.*

*And for that the Young Matriarchs and I are exceedingly grateful,* she said sending him a coy smile.

Tugging a t-shirt over his head, John padded out of the wardrobe and made his way back to the grav-tube. *I've been really missing all of you. It was much harder to leave this time.*

*Have I done a good job of making the Maliri Protectorate an enticing place for you to retire?* Edraele asked him softly.

John stepped into the red anti-gravity field and just imagined settling down for a moment. No more rushing around trying to solve the galaxy's problems, no more war, no more fighting... just a chance to enjoy some peace and quiet with his girls. He could live with that. His thoughts drifted and he imagined watching a Valaden sunset with his two matriarchs, his arms around them both as they sat quietly together.

*That's a wonderful picture you're painting,* Alyssa murmured, touched by the longing she felt from him.

She pushed a new image to his mind, showing her and Edraele with baby bumps instead, both women glowing with their pregnancy. Edraele added her girls gathered around them, then Alyssa included the rest of the crew, making for a very busy picture indeed. Jade then supplied her own contribution, showing herself playfully chasing a score of giggling Maliri, Terran, and Nymph children across the grass.

*I'm fooling myself thinking I'm going to get any peace and quiet, aren't I?* John asked the three women, feeling a surge of affection for the trio he'd invited into his mind.

*We'll do our best to make sure your retirement doesn't get dull,* Alyssa replied. *Right Edraele?*

The Maliri's joyful laughter was wonderful to hear. *Just having the twins was hectic enough! But it's a lovely future to hope for, I'll do whatever I can to make sure it comes to pass.*

*Thanks ladies,* John said with a fond smile, before opening the door into the training rooms and entering the main dojo.

Calara and Sakura had already begun a bout, so he made no attempt to interrupt, stopping instead to watch them fight. Apparently, this fight included powers, because Sakura was moving in a blur, her fists flashing back and forth as she tried to land a blow on Calara. The Latina had a serene expression on her face as she used her prescience to forecast the Asian girl's attacks, her supple body never pausing for an instant as she pivoted and dodged, just managing to avoid Sakura's flurry of blows by a hair's breadth.

He found it fascinating to watch them sparring like this, their two radically different sets of powers playing to each girl's strengths and managing to offset one another. They appeared to be closely matched, so it came as a surprise when Sakura managed to land a lightning-fast punch to Calara's stomach, winding the Latina and knocking her off-balance. Not wanting to waste an opportunity for victory, Sakura pounced on her opponent, applying a hold to bring Calara down.

Calara fell awkwardly, but that was when John noticed her smile of satisfaction as she sprung her trap, twisting in Sakura's grip and rolling to reverse the pin. Now that they were grappling, Calara had managed to negate much of Sakura's speed advantage, while her ability to predict the future was still just as potent as ever. It only took thirty seconds of scrambling on the mat before Calara managed to lock her forearm across Sakura's neck, making the Asian girl tap to concede the match.

John applauded as he walked over to join them, offering them both a hand to get up. "Nice fight!"

Sakura gladly accepted and shook her head in admiration at the Latina. "I might have the advantage in raw power, but you're one hell of a tricky opponent!"

"Taught by the best," Calara replied, throwing a wink at John.

He tipped an imaginary hat to her. "Nice to see you were paying attention to all those underhanded tricks."

Sakura glanced at her sparring partner then back at John. "Do you want to watch us spar again, or do you want to fight against one of us?"

"Neither for the moment," John replied, putting his arms around their waists and pulling them close. "First I just wanted to check you're both okay after that astral battle? You were both badly hurt."

He saw a shadow cross both their faces, but neither complained. Sakura raised her chin stoically, while Calara appeared thoughtful rather than upset.

"I'll be fine, thank you," Sakura replied with a brave smile. "It wasn't a pleasant experience, not by a long shot, but I've been through far worse."

Calara nodded her agreement. "I'm okay too. Rachel healed me almost immediately and I've not noticed any side-effects today." She looked at him hopefully. "That reminds me... I wanted to ask you something."

"Ask away, honey."

"I was thinking it might be sensible for me to learn how to fight with melee weapons," the Latina said firmly. "It would be a natural progression from unarmed martial arts and might prove useful in the future."

John nodded and gave her an encouraging smile. "Sure, I don't have a problem with that. You're an intelligent and creative fighter; once you're fully trained, I'm sure Sakura and I will learn a few things from you."

"I'd love to help train her!" Sakura immediately volunteered, looking delighted at the opportunity.

The two girls shared an enthusiastic grin, before turning to face him again.

He shook his head in admiration. "I was worried you two might be traumatised after being injured, but I can see I underestimated how amazingly resilient you are." Rubbing their backs, he said quietly, "My fierce warrior maidens... I'm very proud of you both."

Calara and Sakura looked at him in delight, swooning at his earnest praise.

He smiled at them affectionately, then said to the Latina, "Now, would you mind if I borrow your sparring partner for a few hours? I'd like Sakura to spend the afternoon teaching me Luna's sword-fighting techniques."

Calara laughed and nodded. "As long as it's not all afternoon."

John and Sakura headed to the equipping room and were soon wearing their training armour and holding their shining white practice swords. When they returned to the dojo, they found Calara waiting with a bright look of anticipation on her face, the Latina taking far more of an interest in the upcoming battle now that she was hoping to train with swords herself.

John watched Sakura as she glided across the mats to the centre of the Dojo. She had always been a graceful woman, her lithe athletic body moving with perfect balance, but this time he could see the difference in her. She now possessed that same smooth predatory gait he'd seen from Luna and he hadn't thought it possible, but her poise had improved, filled with an air of inner confidence. When she turned to face him and tightened her grip on the hilts of her ninjato, he saw the quiet watchful gaze of a lioness sighting its prey.

He'd never felt more attracted to her than at that moment.

The sudden surge in arousal was shocking, especially for a man surrounded by and bedding a bevy of gorgeous women. He did his best to suppress that feeling and swung his sword in a lazy figure of eight to distract himself. "Powers or no powers?" he asked the Asian girl.

"No powers," she said firmly. "They'll just be a distraction."

"Okay, let's see what you've got," John said, smiling at his limber opponent.

Sakura nodded as she padded towards him, her approach measured and cautious, her grip on her blades now loose and relaxed. John had been expecting her to sprint towards him, attacking in a blistering hail of blows as had always been her preferred style, so this new approach came as a surprise. She was wary now, her eyes watching his every movement like a hawk.

John decided to go on the attack to put some pressure on her, as he knew how much Sakura hated fighting on the defensive. When she was nearly in range, he darted forward a couple of steps and lunged forward with the longer reach of his two-handed blade. It was a reckless move that he knew had no chance of winning the bout with a lucky hit, but he intended it as a preliminary move to catch her off-balance and let him follow up with additional attacks.

Her reaction caught him by complete surprise.

Rather than effortlessly dodging or blocking the lunging blow as he'd expected, Sakura started to move the instant he started shifting his weight to prepare for the strike. The moment he had fully committed to his attack, she darted forward herself, dropping to her knees and skidding beneath his outstretched sword before slashing his torso with both ninjato.

John laughed and shook his head for leaving himself exposed. "Very nice. Alright, round two."

They squared off again and Sakura advanced at her measured pace, looking relaxed and at ease. John still wanted to push her onto the defensive, but decided not to be so reckless about it this time. Approaching cautiously, he tried a short, controlled slash, again taking advantage of the longer length of his sword. Sakura just stepped back, narrowly avoiding the swipe but making no attempt to parry. She did the same for the next dozen attacks, focusing only on dodging, but he did manage to get her to block the last couple which gave him a perverse sense of satisfaction.

After he'd forced her to parry the third quick slash, he stepped forward and shifted his weight to attempt a more substantial blow, aiming for a medium strength cut at waist height. Again, her response caught him completely by surprise as Sakura exploded into action, lunging forward and using both blades to parry his sword before he could bring it close to her body. He desperately brought the sword back to defend himself, but she was right on top of him then, dragging her blades across his vulnerable abdomen and around his waist as she pirouetted past. If they were unarmoured, he would have been neatly disembowelled.

"You've completely changed your fighting style!" he remarked in astonishment.

"Yes, but you haven't," Sakura replied, allowing herself a sly grin. "Round three?"

"Definitely!" John agreed, eager to see more of her moves.

Curious to see how she would fight given the chance to be on the offensive from the start, John didn't approach this time and adopted a guard stance instead. Sakura's half-smile was unnerving as she'd obviously been expecting him to change tack exactly like this. She strolled towards him, allowing herself a twirl of her twin swords as she did so. Spotting that confident and familiar flourish, John nearly expected her to fall back into her old habits and rain a flurry of blows down on him as she used to, as if attempting to batter her way through his defences.

Sakura didn't disappoint him though, completely changing her game plan into something new. She alternated with lazy slashes from both blades, just enough to keep him parrying and occupied, while watching him with almost casual disinterest. John wasn't fooled that time though and by the glint in her brown almond-shaped eyes, he knew she was watching and waiting for the slightest misstep. He finally realised the essence of Luna's fighting style and it was one that Sakura seemed to have excelled at in a very short period of time.

He kept parrying the blows, allowing himself to be pushed backwards, just as he'd seen Luna do to Sakura in their first bout. After blocking a score of similar swipes, he shifted his weight to try and surprise her with a counterattack, which was just what Sakura was waiting for. She dived forward with both blades extended, planning on catching him unawares and impaling him in the chest. John had been anticipating such a move though, and he stepped aside then chopped down with all his strength. The force of his sword smashing into hers drove her arms lower and he reversed the hand-tingling blow to bring his blade up to her throat.

Sakura froze at the gentle contact of metal on metal, then straightened and smiled at him, obviously impressed. "It took me a lot longer to come up with an effective counter to Luna's sword style."

John lowered his blade and smiled at her. "She's had decades to practice this, it's not a fair comparison." Shaking his head in admiration he continued, "It's an excellent technique against a skilled opponent; observe the way they fight and make no real attempt to attack, then wait for them to leave themselves even slightly vulnerable and go all-out for the killing stroke. I did something similar against that Drakkar Warboss, but it was far cruder."

Sakura nodded eagerly. "I spent some time discussing it with Luna. It's not a practical fighting style to use against unskilled enemies, because you waste all that time being cautious and watching your opponent. It'll be much faster for me to just slash someone like that to bits, while you can use your brute strength to quickly overpower them. Against someone who really knows what they're doing though, it can be surprisingly effective."

"You picked it up very quickly," John said patting her on the shoulder. "Luna told me you were an excellent student."

She blushed and managed to look quite adorable. "Thanks! Luna's a very patient and skilled instructor. I'll do my best to teach you what I can, but you should definitely try and make some time to learn what you can from her yourself."

"I intend to, when we return to Genthalas," John replied, pleased to have another reason to look forward to seeing the beautiful and deadly assassin. "Now, let's see what else she taught you..."

They spent the rest of the afternoon with Sakura teaching John a variety of new ripostes, which were Luna's favoured method of striking. The Maliri assassin liked to lull an opponent into a false sense of security, then launch a lightning-fast counter-attack. Sakura also explained how Luna had taught her how to pay very close attention to an opponent's balance and weight distribution, using them as a guide to foreshadow attacks. John had learned similar techniques from Yamamoto, but Luna had perfected that skill to a much higher degree.

It proved to be a fascinating learning experience and the Asian girl taught him a great deal. After fighting for several hours, they decided to bring the training session to a close and headed back to the equipping room to remove their armour. Calara had watched enthralled as they fought and followed them into the dojo's armoury with an excited gleam in her eyes. She waited until John had stepped out of the armour equipping frame before giving him a big hug.

"I can't wait to learn how to fight like you two! It was thrilling to watch!" she said, beaming at him in delight.

John put his arm around her and stroked her back. "I'm looking forward to having a new student. Sakura's my equal now."

"I don't know about that, the edge I got from Luna didn't last long," the Asian girl replied with a grin, joining the hug. "But I can't wait to train you, Calara, I think you're going to be amazing."

Calara smiled at her gratefully, then leaned in to give John a tender kiss on the cheek. "I hope you're not too tired. I still plan on challenging you to a sparring match in the bedroom..."

Sakura kissed his other cheek and returned the Latina's smile. "He's pretty strong, want some backup?"

Calara nodded, her eyes smouldering as she gazed at John. "Between the two of us, I think you might have met your match..."

***

Admiral Lynette Devereux walked at a brisk pace along the corridors of the Citadel on Terra, her jaw set in determination. Normally she was constantly on the lookout for fellow members of the Admiralty when she roamed these hallways, so she could greet friends or enemies alike with a kind word or friendly greeting. Ever the consummate politician, she was always trying to strengthen alliances or lay the foundations for new ones in the future. However, this time she didn't even notice the senior officers who smiled and said hello, blanking the startled personnel as she strode past them on her way to her office.

Sweeping into the reception area, she breezed past her assistant's desk. "Hold my calls, Janet, I'm not to be disturbed for any reason!"

Lieutenant Wilson looked at her in surprise. "Of course, Admiral."

Devereux closed the door to her office behind her, then took a seat at her desk. She only knew a little about the Maliri Regency, mainly that they were divided amongst noble Houses, each one run by a mysterious ruling caste of Matriarchs. If John Blake had forged alliances with the Maliri, she reasoned that he would know these Matriarchs personally, but which particular ones she had no idea. There were lots of unknowns, which made it a gamble reaching out to the Maliri like this and she hated leaving things to chance.

Her hand wavered over the comms interface, knowing that this was the decisive moment. Once she made this call, all pretence of her alliance with Buckingham would be over and they would be at loggerheads once more. She ground her teeth in frustration, knowing that it was too soon to be making this move. Buckingham still had significant support in the Admiralty and ousting the man from his position as Fleet Admiral was by no means a certainty.

Then again... High Command had no idea about the rampaging Kintark armada about to descend on Terra, nor were they aware that Buckingham had stripped the defensive fleets from the borders. The battle with the Kintark was going to be a bloodbath, but if she could recall John Blake in time, he might be able to claw back a victory for the Federation. If the Kirrix invaded as well, the public outcry would be deafening and with a few carefully composed speeches, she'd be able to dump the blame for this whole fiasco at Buckingham's feet, right where it belonged. The Admiralty would be practically begging for strong leadership in this time of crisis and she could step up to fill that void.

Despite the dire circumstances, Devereux actually found herself grinning as she made the call. Buckingham was finished and she couldn't wait to see the look on the senile old bastard's face when she finally pulled off this coup.

Her call was routed through the citadel's comm network to the massive relay that launched interstellar communications out to the stars. A warning message flashed up, alerting her that all messages to the Maliri Regency had been blocked by executive order. Devereux had been expecting that however and entered her ultra-clearance override, available to all members of High Command. As powerful as Buckingham was, he didn't have total autonomy over the upper echelons of the Admiralty. The 24-digit security clearance required voice recognition and a retina scan, but once her identity was confirmed, the call was passed on to the comm beacons.

Sitting back in her chair, Devereux waited patiently as the call was routed through the network of beacons, her message snaking across Terran Federation space until it reached the Maliri Regency. She had done her research into John and knew he'd conducted a lot of business at Geniya Trade Station, the busiest trade hub between the two empires, so it was a logical place to make enquiries. After waiting for just over a minute, the screen flickered and was replaced by a man in a suit of ostentatious golden armour, a number of precious gemstones catching the light.

He inclined his head politely. "My name is Pertharis, how may I be of service?"

"I'm Admiral Lynette Devereux, a member of Terran Federation High Command and I wish to speak to one of your Matriarchs," she requested keeping her tone courteous despite her urgency.

Pertharis shifted in his seat and even though his facemask was completely opaque, she could sense he was amused by her request. "Is there any particular Matriarch you wish to speak to? Or should I just contact them all and see who is feeling chatty this afternoon?" he asked blithely. "As a friendly word of warning, I would strongly caution you against such a course of action, Admiral Lynette Devereux of the Terran Federation. The Matriarchs are not known for their friendliness."

She gritted her teeth in irritation at his slightly mocking tone. "I just need to speak to someone with authority within the Regency. I'm trying to get in contact with John Blake."

Devereux's voice faded away as she realised the image of the armoured man had frozen mid-sentence and a moment later the holo-screen went blank. "What the hell?" she muttered, swiping across the interface in an attempt to reconnect.

A few seconds later an image flickered to life in front of her, but it wasn't Pertharis in his golden armour...

"Hello Lynette," Fleet Admiral Vincent Buckingham said, a triumphant grin on his face.

She glared at the screen in fury, realising that Buckingham had ended her communication. "You had no right to cut me off! I'm a member of High Command!"

Buckingham wagged a finger at the screen as he gloated, "I did warn you, Lynette. You might have been an excellent politician, but you've got no eye for the bigger picture. I've had you under investigation for weeks, which gives me executive authority to revoke your rights at any time, given enough evidence. Fortunately for me, you just violated a direct order not to go running to Blake for help..."

"Don't be a fool!" she snarled, eyes narrowing as she met his mocking gaze. "You're gambling with the fate of the entire Terran Federation! John Blake isn't our enemy, he's an ally!"

Buckingham inhaled deeply, then let out his breath. "Ahh, one needs to savour these moments... I've been waiting for this for quite a while." He leaned forward and continued, "Lynette Devereux, I am charging you with treason, for collaboration with an alien race that poses a direct threat to the Terran Federation!"

She gaped at him in shock. "Treason?! You can't be serious!"

He gave her a sinister smile. "Oh, I'm deadly serious. The Lion was your creation and you've been behind him every step of the way, supporting him as he systematically undermined the rightful rule of High Command."

"The Admiralty won't stand for this! You're finished Buckingham!" Devereux blustered, doing her best to ignore the shiver of fear that ran down her spine.

"Goodbye, Lynette," Buckingham said with a chuckle. "You were an amusing opponent, even if your ambition far outstretched your ability. Please remain in your office, you will be detained shortly."

Buckingham ended the call, leaving her staring wide-eyed at the blank screen. With mounting horror, she realised that she still hadn't managed to warn John about the imminent threat from the Kintark and none of the people who knew about the hostile armada would contact him for help. She lurched to her feet, knocking over her chair as she stood, then stumbled out of her office.

"Admiral!" Lieutenant Wilson blurted out, gaping at her ashen-faced commanding officer as Devereux staggered through the reception area. "Are you alright?!"

"Stay away, Janet!" Lynette gasped, not wanting the kind young woman involved in any way.

Devereux bolted through the door to the corridor outside, head turning both ways as she tried to come up with a plan. She had to try and find a console... get word to Charles Harris and let him know about the Kintark invasion. He might be able to warn the Admiralty and get word to Blake where she had failed.

Hearing the sound of numerous booted footsteps approaching from her right, Devereux whirled to the left and ran, nearly knocking over a Commodore who she barged out of the way. She tried the next couple of office doors but they were locked, so she ran on, ignoring the looks of shock on the faces of the personnel as she dashed past. Suddenly remembering that there was a communications console in the Officers' Lounge, she fled along the corridor and barrelled around a junction, running headlong into a trio of soldiers. They hadn't seen her coming and she knocked two soldiers down, sending them sprawling across the corridor.

"Shit! Sorry, Ma'am," one of the fallen men blurted out, seeing her rank insignia.

"It's her, you idiot!" the standing soldier cried out. In a more authoritative voice he declared, "Admiral Devereux, you're under arrest."

Devereux scrambled to her feet and managed to avoid the flailing arms of the knocked over soldiers. She started running down the corridor, her heart pounding in her chest. She could see the double doors leading into the lounge, the entrance was just thirty metres away. Once she was inside, the console was just beside the door... it would only take a couple of seconds to make the call.

"Admiral Devereux! Freeze, you're under arrest for treason!" the soldier repeated.

She ignored him and carried on running.

"Stop, Ma'am, or I'll shoot!" came the stern warning.

Ten metres... so close, she was nearly there.

Devereux felt a thump in her back and she crashed to the floor, pain blossoming in her chest. She tried to crawl towards the door, but she had no strength in her arms and it hurt to breathe... she was so close...

Then blackness... and with it, a final surge of despair. She had failed and she knew humanity was lost.

***

The Atlas class freighter was desperate to change course and made a tight turn in hyper-warp, but by the time the nose of the blocky merchant vessel had swung around it was too late. One of the Kintark cruisers had peeled away from the vanguard of the armada, approaching on an intercept vector. As soon as the freighter was in range of the interdiction device, the ship was violently jerked out of hyper-warp, leaving it to the tender mercies of the Kintark forces.

Unfortunately for the crew, mercy was in short supply and the freighter was struck by a salvo of Plasma Cannon fire. The civilian ship's shields rippled for a few seconds, sending pulsing waves of green light out from the impact sites until the shield burst like a balloon. The subsequent fusillade of plasma bolts blew apart cargo containers in fiery explosions and gouged deep furrows from the freighter's superstructure. It didn't take long for the entire vessel to be set ablaze, a sickly green inferno burning out deck after deck.

Unable to watch any more, Admiral Leonard Norwood turned away from the Tactical Map, his face twisted with revulsion. "Is that really necessary?" he complained to Grand Prelate Melkadian. "They're civilians for God's sake!"

"We cannot take the risssk of allowing them to contact the Core World forcesss... they would inform them of our fleet disssposssitionsss. You know thisss isss a sssensssible precaution," Melkadian chided him.

"But your scouts are taking out all the comm beacons," Norwood persisted, a scowl on his face. "Even if those merchants wanted to call for help, nothing would get routed through anyway!"

"Jussst think of the greater good of the Terran Republic. You have made many large sssacrificesss already, thessse are trivial by comparissson," Melkadian reminded him, his reptilian eyes studying the Terran officer intently. "There are billionsss of livesss at ssstake, what are a few dozen when measssured againssst that?"

Norwood faltered, suddenly unsure of himself. "I suppose it is better to be certain..."

"In two daysss time the Terran Federation will ceassse to exissst... A decisssive victory in the Sssol sssyssstem will be a death blow to High Command; sssoon their tyranny will be brought to an end and you will be able to forge a bright future for humanity."

Nodding slowly in agreement, Norwood turned back to the Sector Map, trying to distract himself from his troubled thoughts.

Melkadian did not want to push the unsettled traitor any further. "We have yet to sssee any sssign of a Terran military presssence... We expected High Command to at leassst attempt to ssslow our advance with delaying actionsss."

"They must have recalled all the fleets to protect Terra and Olympus," Norwood said, his eyes narrowing as he willingly let himself be distracted by thoughts of how to counter High Command's strategy.

Melkadian nodded, revealing a toothy smile of anticipation. "Buckingham knowsss the calamitousss effect on the authority of High Command ssshould we ssseize the Terran homeworld, he isss probably trying to hold back all hisss ressservesss for one decisssive battle. The effect on Terran morale will be devassstating..."

"But if he is moving everything to Terra, he'd be leaving critical strategic assets exposed," Norwood murmured, repositioning the map to the Alpha Centauri system. "Losing Olympus Shipyard would be a crippling blow to the Terran Federation's fleet production capability; one that would take several decades to recover from. That's the real source of Terran military might, so let's just hope that Buckingham splits his forces to protect Olympus too. There's no way he could know that we wish to preserve the shipyard at all costs, it'll be critical to us in establishing the New Republic."

The Kintark Grand Prelate's eyes glinted in the light from the holographic projection. "Yesss, the future of the Terran Republic isss one of our highessst prioritiesss."

Norwood smiled at his ally, then focused on the map once more.

***

John cradled Sakura's head in his hands, enjoying the look of bliss on her face as she cried out his name in release. The head of his cock kissed the top of her womb every time he hilted himself in her pliant body, each fleeting contact drawing a sexy gasp from the writhing girl. This was her third, the first two coaxed out as he took her with long strokes, talking about their future together. He slowed his thrusts as her orgasm abated and just enjoyed her final fluttering spasms around his shaft.

"You look absolutely beautiful when you cum," he said with a loving smile. "I still can't believe you're mine."

His deep baritone voice made the Asian girl shudder in delight and she wrapped her arms and legs around him, holding him tight. "No, you're mine... I'm never letting you go!"

"That might make Calara's wedding a little awkward," John said with a grin, glancing at the flushed Latina who had just about recovered from her own series of mind-blowing orgasms.

She returned his smile and then leaned closer to the Asian girl. "You might have to let me borrow him for a little bit, at least for the wedding vows..."

Sakura giggled, her soft gaze shining with love for them both. John leaned down to kiss her and she returned it passionately, welcoming his tongue into her mouth.

When their lips finally parted, she glanced down and shook her head in amazement. "I can't believe you haven't cum yet! Your poor quad must be about to explode!"

"I'm enjoying this too much," he replied brushing a strand of her raven hair away from her face and admiring the post-orgasmic glow to her beautiful face.

"You're enjoying it too much?!" Sakura exclaimed with a giggle. "I feel like all my bones have turned to jelly..."

Calara slid her hand between them and caressed the bulge he was making high in Sakura's belly. "I'm going to miss taking you this deep when I'm pregnant. I know we've got alternative plans, but there's something so intimate about taking you into my womb..."

Sakura shook her head, her deep brown eyes drawing John in with her love. "I can't wait to have your baby in there and you deep inside me too... it'll be like you're using my body to its limits, breeding me and using me for pleasure..." Her long eyelashes fluttered and she groaned at the thought.

"Looks like someone needs some more," John said with a grin, circling his hips while hilted inside her, and rubbing her clit as he began to move once more.

"Oh God..." Sakura moaned, arching her back and lifting her thighs higher to fully expose her body to him.

Calara raked her fingernails across Sakura's breasts, not enough to mark her golden-brown skin, but drawing another groan from the over-stimulated girl. Finding her erect nipples with both hands, she massaged and squeezed them while John kept up his steady, womb-plundering thrusts. Sakura screamed as she came again, her body quaking with the intensity of her release and her pussy clamping down on his length like a vice. Finally spent, she collapsed backwards on the bed, her chest heaving as she panted for breath.

John watched her with satisfaction, then glanced to his left where Calara had cuddled up beside the Asian girl, her cheeks flushed with excitement. "Are you ready for more, gorgeous? I think I've vanquished Sakura."

The Latina turned to look up at him a wicked smile of anticipation on her lips. "I'm up for a final round, but we've done enough gentle lovemaking... now I want some of what Nyrelle got!"

John was faced with two sets of enchanting brown eyes and he nodded, powerless to resist their siren call. He sat up, but left his cock buried in Sakura. "How are we doing this?"

Calara then threw a lithe leg over Sakura's trim stomach, then wriggled downwards until her firm ass bumped into John stomach. Her skin felt warm and deliciously smooth. "Mount up, Vice Admiral!"

He laughed and took a firm grip on her waist as he eased his cock out of the exhausted girl beneath Calara. "Will do, Commander."

Aligning himself with her glistening folds, he eased his way inside, his girth stretching her wide once more. Despite the vigorous ploughing he'd given the Latina earlier, she was snug and tight, like a hot wet glove being stretched over his cock. Calara let out a low groan as he stuffed inch after inch inside her, until she was fully impaled on him once again.

Tossing her long mane of brown hair over her shoulder, her brown eyes flashed with excitement. "You've done your duty, Admiral, making us both cum over and over again. Now it's time for the victory parade in your honour."

"I think I have earned it," he agreed with a grin, pushing her down. "Lie on top of Sakura and slide your legs inside hers."

"Yes, Sir," Calara said obediently as she followed his orders.

She made sure to line up her nipples with Sakura's erect, dusky brown pair, then rested her weight on the nubile body beneath her. Repositioning her legs as he'd asked, Calara spread Sakura's thighs wide open, with those soft golden-brown calves now resting on the backs of her own olive-toned thighs.

John patted the perfectly-rounded globes of her ass. "That's perfect, good girl."

Calara was enjoying everything so far, especially having John deep inside her again, but this wasn't exactly the "Nyrelle experience" she'd been hoping for. She was face to face with Sakura so she gave the happy, satiated girl a gentle kiss. That was when John gathered her hair in one hand and wrapped it around his fist, pulling her head back so her back was arched, lying belly to belly with the Asian girl beneath her.

"Oh fuck!" both girls cried out at the same time as he pulled back and then slammed home, burying himself up to the balls in Calara's womb, his quad slapping wetly against Sakura's clit.

He began to piston into Calara, making her rump tremble with each pounding thrust. John punctuated her impalement by bringing his hand down in a sharp smack on her ass, the sudden extra sensation making her jerk back against him as she squealed in delight. She'd been spanked by Alyssa too but John was much stronger, his brawny physique so muscular and powerful. He used the tight grip on her hair to keep the Latina firmly in place, fucking and spanking her in equal measure. Loving every minute of it, Calara was shocked at how fast she climaxed, squeezing her eyes tightly shut as she bucked against him.

She instantly recognised the difference in the way John was fucking her. Before when they'd made love, he'd been carefully watching her body react to his touch, his gentle caresses and heartfelt words designed to gradually build her to a wonderful release. Now she could tell he was focused on his own climax, just as she'd asked him to, but that didn't mean he wasn't also fucking her brains out.

"I can feel him in you!" Sakura gasped, aware of every movement of John's cock by the bulge in the Latina's belly that was pressed tightly against hers.

Calara wasn't able to respond, she just placed her hands on Sakura's firm breasts, desperately holding on tight as John screwed her senseless. Her mind was spinning, revelling in the bestial nature of being ravaged this way and she shivered in ecstasy as she remembered John riding Alyssa just like this during the storm on Oceanus. She felt the hand that had been delivering the spanking shift to grip her tightly around the waist and John pinned her in place against the Asian girl.

"I'm going to fill you both up," John growled, jack-hammering into Calara.

"Please! I need it!" Calara begged him, trying to turn her head.

He released his grasp on her hair and circled her waist in both hands, keeping her prone as he gave her the pounding of a lifetime. Calara twisted to look at him over her shoulder, the heat and friction in her pussy driving her out of her mind. She knew the only thing that would quench it would be getting pumped full of his spunk and she longed to feel her womb stretching to take his potent load.

She watched his face as he finally climaxed, that wild look of elation in his eyes sending a thrill of satisfaction through her body as she felt his cock jerk inside her. His shaft throbbed as blast after blast of his cum jetted into her womb, rapidly filling it until she reached capacity, her tummy then starting to swell to hold all the sperm he was pumping into her. Calara loved that sensation of being packed full of his cum, the heavy weight rounding her abdomen triggering an instinctive feminine need to be bred. She stayed still, docile and submissive as she took his cum, only letting out a groan of loss when he pulled out of her quivering pussy and plunged into Sakura instead.

The Latina gazed into the Asian girl's lovely brown eyes, seeing the exact same emotions playing out in her expression. She leaned down and kissed her tenderly. "That's it, take his cum... soon we'll be doing this for real."

Sakura sighed with contentment, eagerly returning Calara's kiss as their cum-filled tummies pressed together. Eventually John was done and he eased out of the Asian girl then sprawled on the bed beside them, panting to get his breath back.

"That was amazing..." Calara purred as she snuggled up beside him, making sure to nudge her swollen belly into his flank to remind him he'd claimed her womb.

"Not too rough?" he asked between deep breaths, putting his arm around her.

Calara loved feeling protected and safe in his embrace. "It was perfect... just enough to make it feel gloriously primal!"

Sakura collapsed against John's other side, draping an arm and leg across his body as she kissed his chest. "I think you won that match."

John grinned and pulled them both closer. "I'm not sure about that, I made the count about ten to one in your favour."

"Are we going to end every sparring session that way?" Calara asked with a coy smile. "If so, I'm really going to enjoy training with you two..."

He laughed and kissed them each on the head. "I'm always up for a rematch!"

The girls giggled, hugging him tight, then they lay there and just rested in the afterglow.

Sakura turned slightly and propped herself up on one elbow so she could look down at him. "I loved every minute of that, but I couldn't help feeling that you were trying to atone for your time with the Young Matriarchs."

Calara mirrored her movements, turning so she could see his face too. "Yeah, I sensed the same thing." She gave him a bashful smile. "I'm not complaining, but you really didn't need to make us cum that much... What was it? Five times each?"

A shadow of guilt crossed John's face and he gazed into one set of soulful brown eyes then the other. "It all just feels really unfair to you girls. I met all of you long before the Young Matriarchs and I promised you that we'd have a family together. Now you have to wait, while the Maliri are expecting."

The Latina leaned down to give him a gentle kiss. "You shouldn't feel that way. Alyssa told you we all loved seeing you with the Maliri and it was the truth. We weren't jealous... just excited."

Sakura nodded her agreement. "We're all one big team now, it's not 'us' and 'them'. I got really close to Valani and she's such a sweet girl. It was wonderful to see how happy she was after the two of you got together; the Maliri have very different pressures to us and that duty to rebuild her House was weighing heavily on her."

"I felt just the same way about Leena," Calara agreed, giving him a reassuring smile. "Remember that all this roaming around the galaxy is just a temporary thing and eventually we'll all be spending an eternity together. Having to wait six months to have a family with you isn't too much to ask; we can be a bit patient."

"I actually felt a bit sorry for the Young Matriarchs," Sakura said softly, resting her chin on his chest. "They would have really loved to stay here aboard the Invictus. We're the lucky ones, because we get you all to ourselves until we finally retire as one big family."

John blinked at them in surprise. "I hadn't thought about it like that before." Then he frowned and looked at each of them, doubt appearing in his eyes. "I know the Change got rid of any jealousy and competitiveness between you girls, but conceiving a child with another woman is something else entirely. Are you really sure you didn't feel even a flicker of jealousy? I wouldn't be able to sit back and watch either of you being made pregnant by another man... I'd lose it completely!"

Both girls grinned and shook their heads, enjoying seeing him getting possessive.

*That's because you're a man,* Alyssa said softly. *I don't mean that in a condescending kind of way, like 'women are better' or any nonsense like that. I was just discussing it with Rachel and she had some interesting thoughts on the subject. It might be stating the obvious, but men and women are physically very different, particularly with regard to making babies. When you got the Maliri pregnant, it didn't affect your ability to have a child with any of us whenever we want to. In your example, if Calara was carrying someone else's baby, then she couldn't have yours until she'd given birth and recovered.*

John grimaced than cupped the Latina's face and brushed his thumb across her cheek. *It was a terrible example, let's not talk about that any more.*

The Latina gave him a loving smile and turned to kiss his hand, the look she gave him letting John know that Alyssa had been relaying the telepathic conversation to her too.

*Agreed, it was a horrible example,* Alyssa said affectionately. *But throughout Terran history, there's been countless cultures where a man can have multiple mates, as long as he's a good enough provider. Compared to someone like Genghis Khan, you're practically a Puritan.*

*Ah, it's good to know I'm in such prestigious company,* John said dryly.

Alyssa's melodic laughter filled his mind. *Alright, maybe I'm not explaining it properly. Have a chat with Rachel if you're still worrying about it. Actually, you should have a chat with her anyway, she's made an interesting decision recently.*

*She has?* John asked, sounding intrigued.

*Yes,* the blonde replied with a telepathic smirk, refusing to go into any details.

He rolled his eyes at his playful matriarch, then hugged the two girls in bed with him. "Thanks for bringing that up about the Young Matriarchs, I really appreciated hearing your perspective."

"It was the least we could do after all the effort you just put in," Sakura said, sharing a smile with the Latina beside her.

Calara nodded looking at him fondly. "You're under enough pressure as it is, don't start worrying about something that isn't even a problem."

"Wise advice, I'll bear that in mind," John said, before glancing at the chronometer on the wall. "We better go and get cleaned up before dinner, the rest of the girls will be waiting for us."

"That's true and we are bringing dessert," Sakura agreed, winking at him as she ran a hand over her curved tummy.

***

Faye carefully watched the Empire Map as the Invictus crossed over the border between the Brimorian Enclave and the Desolation of Vulkat. She'd been paying close attention to the long-range sensors for the last six hours, as they'd travelled through the supposedly safe Brimorian territory, but now she was really vigilant. There were no active vessels to be seen, but the sensors picked up numerous wreck sites, the vast majority of which appeared to be Brimorian.

The majority, but not all...

Some of the derelicts looked extremely worn, their venerable hulls pitted by the corrosive effect of being struck by billions of particles of cosmic dust. The designs of those hulks were nothing like any vessels that Faye had seen before, or was able to identify in the ships almanac. She could only conclude that the ancient wrecks were sad relics from a bygone era, but whether they'd been friend or foe of the Vulkat was impossible to know.

She handed over watch of the Bridge to Faye Secondary, then bounded down from the Command Podium to the grav-tube. Her robotic body didn't need to eat, but she wasn't going to start missing mealtimes, especially when she loved seeing all her friends gathering together to chat and relax in each other's company. Faye had been watching the internal cameras to track John's location on the ship, so she was able to time her descent perfectly, arriving at Deck Two just as he did.

"Hi John!" she exclaimed, greeting him with her brightest smile, one that she had calculated he found most agreeable.

"Hi Faye," he said with a smile, his obvious pleasure at seeing her filling the AI with delight. Offering her a hand, he added, "That was a nice coincidence."

Faye decided not to correct him and took his hand gladly, feeling the slight pressure of his grip on her synthetic skin. A strange thought crossed her mind, as she realised that with his incredible psychically-boosted strength, John probably had the power to crush her crystal Alyssium hand in his fist if he so chose. That he held her so gently instead was a delightful paradox, one that resulted in a stream of bewildering new outputs from her behavioural subroutines. Faye noted a 72% surge in her estimation of his capabilities as a protector.

She exchanged smiles with Calara and Sakura, noting their curved tummies. Faye recalled that when meeting a girl who was clearly carrying a load of John's cum, proper ship's decorum for the female crew meant greeting that girl with a light-hearted innuendo. John operated under a different set of parameters of course; his usual method of interaction involved a gentle caress and a knowing smile, or perhaps informing them what a 'good girl' they were, regardless of their actual age.

"You two look like you had fun in the Dojo!" she said with a playful wink.

Calara and Sakura laughed and nodded, much to Faye's satisfaction. She wasn't sure why other AI had such a problem with successfully replicating human interactions. You simply had to document and catalogue every single form of communication that you could observe, then spend a few billion cycles analysing them all to look for patterns, while making sure to note every exception. Faye had prepared a suitable response to 2,198,561 different scenarios so far, and was quite proud of her 92% success rate.

They walked into the Officers' Lounge, where Alyssa, Jade, and the Maliri twins were carrying dinner through to the table. More greetings were exchanged, with Alyssa walking over to welcome John and Calara with a kiss, while the Nymph hugged Sakura and stroked her tummy affectionately. That gentle caress caused Faye to pause, noting a possible change in the type of interaction between the two women.

Faye knew that John exhibited no jealousy when the girls paired off into couples; he actually appeared to find such pairings to be both fascinating and sexually arousing. She'd therefore been closely observing Alyssa and Calara together, as well as Dana and Rachel, to see what she could learn about such double-female couplings. Faye had decided not to pay so much attention to Irillith and Tashana, by virtue of the fact that they were "hot twins" and therefore not quite as useful subjects to aid her own further integration into the crew.

She had assumed that the relationship between Jade and Sakura was in a "not together" state, but this evening's interaction made her pause to review her observations. Sakura had been unofficially included as an occasional addition to the Dana and Rachel relationship, but Faye knew that was primarily for sexual gratification amongst the trio; to let her have fun "unleashing her inner domme" as Alyssa had put it. By contrast, Jade had an intimate physical relationship with all the girls, but had never expressed any particular emotional attraction to anyone other than John.

Faye recalled that Jade's primary interests were in seeing John's cum being fed to the girls to keep them strong and healthy, and ultimately to see them all pregnant with his children. Suddenly the Nymph's loving greeting to Sakura made more sense, and Faye decided not to make any amendments to the relationship status of either girl.

Performing her duty as Watch Commander she informed John, "Just to let you know, we crossed the border into the desolation of Vulkat. I'm keeping my eyes open for potential fleets we could target."

"Excellent. Thanks, Faye," John replied appreciatively. "Just let us know as soon as you spot anything promising."

Dana and Rachel were the last to enter the Officers' Lounge and they jogged over to take their places around the table. Faye was suddenly faced with a conundrum as everyone took their seats. When in her holographic form, she had previously sat on top of the dining table at the opposite end to John. This scenario had not come up before, but she was fairly sure that sitting cross-legged on the table like that with her robotic body would not be considered acceptable behaviour.

John saw her hesitation and gestured to the chair at the foot of the table with a smile. "Why don't you sit there, Faye? The host and hostess are supposed to sit at opposite ends of the table, and you do help run most of the ship."

Faye looked at him in astonishment, then darted an anxious glance at Alyssa, concerned that she might resent the elevation in status John had just granted her.

The blonde grinned at John and held his hand, then turned that dazzling smile towards Faye. "Go ahead, I don't mind."

The purple sprite took her seat, then looked down the rows at the smiling faces of all her friends. She felt giddy with excitement, behavioural subroutines pouring off reams of data as she recorded and catalogued this moment for intensive scrutiny at a later date. Thoroughly distracted by all the new information, Faye decided that it would be best to passively observe the rest of the meal...

John nodded to Alyssa in gratitude as she served him a couple of the pork chops, then turned to look at Dana. "How did you get on with the new shields for the Paragon suits?"

The redhead glanced at her girlfriend and the Nymph. "All sorted! Jade and Rachel built enough of the new Brimorian shield generators for each of us and I figured out how to get the phase convertor working. Once I added that in, then the Maliri modulators worked like a charm!"

"So how much stronger are the new shields compared to the old ones?" John asked, adding runner beans to his plate.

Dana grinned at him in delight. "180%! And that's not even including the damage resistance from the reinforced shields!"

He listened with interest, then asked, "You talked about how effective the new shields would be on the Invictus, but what about infantry weapons and the Paragon shields?"

"We'd be laughing against the Kirrix," the redhead said, before listing a number of figures while counting them off on her fingers. "Neutron guns down to 29% effectiveness! Even Plasma rifles would be down to 40%, and a Gatling Laser at 50%!"

"So our shields would have lasted about... eight times as long?" Tashana asked, frowning as she tried to calculate all the percentages.

"Yep!" Dana exclaimed with glee. "8.4 to be precise."

"Very impressive work, Sparks," John said, nodding his approval.

She tapped a finger on her chin, lost in thought for a moment. "By the sound of it, the eternity crystals are going to give us even stronger shields, and that'll be great for letting us take big hits from anything nasty, but what we really need now is faster recharge rates. If I can get the recharge rates really high, we might eventually become effectively immune to squad based weapons like plasma rifles and neutron guns!"

"That would be amazing," he agreed. "Is that what you're looking into next?"

She nodded, then gave him a rueful smile. "I can't give you any kind of time estimates I'm afraid. Unless I have a Progenitor related breakthrough, it'll be a case of intensive theorising and experimentation. I haven't a clue how long it'll take me to come up with something, if it's even possible."

"I can't think of anything pressing at the moment," John said, slicing off some of his chop and taking a bite.

*You mentioned a destroyer-class vessel?* Edraele prompted him.

*Ah right, so I did. Thanks, honey,* John replied, enjoying the tasty pork he was chewing.

Alyssa passed on the information to Dana directly, to save him having to wait to swallow.

"I've been thinking about a few ideas for another ship for the Primary Hangar, but nothing concrete yet," Dana replied, spearing a chunk of broccoli on her fork and eyeing it dubiously. "I was thinking: lots of guns, hyper-warp capable... anything else you're looking for?" She popped the vegetable into her mouth and gave it an experimental chew.

"We'll need at least enough crew capacity for all of us," John said, glancing around the table.

Alyssa grinned at him and said, "That basically means one huge bedroom and a dining room with a decent kitchen."

Sakura studied the redhead for a moment. "For a destroyer-class ship that'll fit in the Primary Hangar, we're looking at something about two-hundred metres long, correct?"

Dana was still chewing, so Calara replied for her, "Yes, that's right. 220 metres at a push."

Sakura nodded thoughtfully. "I doubt you'll be able to cram every square inch of that ship full of guns and ammo, so it might be worth thinking about sparing some space for extra crew compartments."

"The extra flexibility in the Raptor has been very useful," Calara agreed. "It's definitely worth thinking about for rescue missions, that kind of thing."

The Asian girl glanced at John and shook her head. "I was thinking more along the lines of Maliri marine contingents. If we get into some serious action they could make a huge difference."

John couldn't help grimacing at the thought. "I'm not sure that's such a great idea..."

Sakura was surprised by his reaction and persisted, "But think how effective even a few-dozen Maliri marines would be! I'm sure Edraele and the Young Matriarchs could supply us with hundreds if you asked..."

"But we don't have the manufacturing capabilities to equip that many in state-of-the-art gear. And if our theory is right, I wouldn't be able to enhance that many girls either, at least not without taking a big hit to my own psychic potential," John said, his expression deeply troubled. "I've been in really bloody meat-grinder battles before... they're horrific. I wouldn't want to risk using Maliri troops unless we can give them the very best possible chance of survival. I never want to become like the other Progenitors, sending legions of thralls into battle with no thought for their lives."

Alyssa ran her hand along his arm, giving him a look of sympathy. "I think you're right, John. Let's keep our forces small and elite." She darted a glance at Sakura and her eyes widened.

The Asian girl gave John a disarming smile and said, "Okay, don't worry about it. It was just a suggestion."

"In that case," Dana said, her tone sombre. "I'll do my best to make sure every square inch is stuffed full of guns and ammo."

The laughter helped lighten the mood and as John's tension ebbed away the girls all relaxed too. The rest of the meal was spent with idle chit-chat and jokes, as everyone enjoyed the chance to relax before the upcoming mission against the Vulkat. When they'd finished dinner and they girls were talking about dessert with eager anticipation, Rachel rose from her seat and walked over to John.

She held out her hand and said quietly, "I'm sure you'd enjoy watching the girls finish their meal, but I was wondering if we could have a quick chat?"

He looked at her in surprise, then smiled as he stood and took her hand. "Of course, honey. Alyssa actually mentioned that I should speak with you about a decision you'd made; is it about that?"

The brunette nodded and gave him an enigmatic smile. "In a way, yes."

Rachel led him from the Officers' Lounge and they walked along the corridor until she stopped outside her quarters and opened the door.

"I can't remember the last time I was in here," John replied, glancing around her private room. There were holo-pictures of her mother and father on the desk, along with a display case showing her medals and rank insignia.

"Truth be told, I barely use it," she admitted, gliding over to the bed and taking a seat. Her eyes darted to the wardrobes. "Except to store all my clothes of course."

John's attention was drawn to the picture of her mother for a moment, recognising Catherine Voss from the psychic imprints he'd seen on New Eden. He saw the striking family resemblance to her daughter once again, but quickly looked away, not wanting to stir up painful memories for the young woman sitting on the bed. He walked over to join Rachel and realised she'd been watching him carefully, a grateful smile reaching her lips as she saw his reluctance to mention her mother and understanding the reasoning behind it.

Sitting beside the elegant brunette, John clasped her hand in his and gave her a sympathetic look. "So, what's on your mind, honey."

"You," she said softly, stroking his hand.

He looked at her in surprise. "But Alyssa mentioned something about you making a decision?"

Rachel nodded, then reached up to brush her fingers across his temple, her touch gentle and caring. "I'm supposed to be the ship's doctor and I've been letting you down."

John frowned in confusion. "Why on Terra would you think that? Between the two of us, we've kept the whole crew in great shape!"

"I don't mean physically," she murmured, caressing the side of his head. "You've always been so conscious of our mental state and tried to help the girls deal with traumatic memories from their past. Speaking personally, I know how much you've helped me deal with what happened to my mother. But I've not done anything to help you face the demons from your past and for that I'm truly sorry."

John relaxed and smiled at her, catching her hand in his and kissing her fingertips. "Alyssa's helped me deal with most of it. You've got nothing to blame yourself for, honestly."

*That's not true, John,* Alyssa said quietly. *I've just distracted you with sex. Lots and lots of sex with lots of very beautiful girls, but I've never pushed you to open up about your past because I don't like seeing you in pain.*

Rachel leaned in and gave him a tender kiss on the cheek. "So when you're ready, I'd like you to come to me and really talk about the things that trouble you. Perhaps I can help you in the same way you've helped all of us."

A shadow of grief crossed his face and he shook his head. "I'm not sure that's a good idea. Sometimes things are best left buried in the past."

"It's an open offer," she said with a gentle smile. "If you ever change your mind, I'd love to talk to you." Rachel's grey eyes glinted in the light. "Remember, I'm not just a pretty face."

John did his best to return her smile. "You're a very beautiful woman and the smartest person I know." With a heavy sigh he turned away and added, "I'll think about it, but no promises, okay?"

"No pressure," she whispered, putting her arms around him and giving him a comforting hug. "The really important things I won't push you on. I'll leave it entirely up to you if you choose to speak to me about your time in the military or what happened with your family."

He turned back to meet her unwavering gaze. "And what are the unimportant things?"

"Little bits and bobs," she replied, evading his question with a mischievous smile. "Don't worry about those, I should have resolved them for you months ago. Again, I'm sorry, but I'll fix them for you now."

"Rachel..." John said, giving her an apprehensive frown.

*Sorry to interrupt,* Alyssa said, speaking quickly to them both. *Faye's just spotted a Vulkat fleet. We'll meet you down on the Combat Bridge...*