Three Square Meals Ch. 041

The doctor who had performed his initial examination of Second Lieutenant John Blake twenty-two years ago, was a Captain David Tolland, and he had obviously been immediately aware that the young man was not of entirely human parentage. The ears were a dead giveaway, and the young man's impressive genitalia dispelled any remaining doubts. Doctor Tolland had noted the extremely unusual triple helix DNA structure in John's blood, but after performing some extensive analysis, he had concluded that it was some kind of evolutionary dead-end, as all the genes on this third helix appeared to be dormant. John had been declared fit for active service, and the rest was history.

The attached DNA-analyser report was much more useful however, as it provided her with a base sample of his DNA from over two decades ago. If there had been any changes recently, and Rachel strongly suspected that there had been, they would become immediately apparent in a comparison.

She brought up the original example as a holo display, and then with a click of a few buttons, displayed the sample she had taken yesterday alongside it. She carefully began to rotate each DNA molecule, looking for a good place to begin her comparison, but it was painfully slow going with the small segments she was examining.

"Dana," she called out to the redhead, who was tinkering with one of the robotic heads. "Would you be able to help me with something please?"

"Sure!" the enthusiastic redhead replied helpfully, as she bounded over and then vaulted up the steps. "What do you need?"

"I want to look at a larger section of these two DNA holograms, but my view using the console is quite limited. Is there any way you could make it bigger, so I can see more?" she asked tentatively.

"No problem!" Dana replied eagerly. "How much more?"

"A lot more," Rachel said emphatically.

Dana giggled. "Okay, you asked for it!" she said impishly, and then turned back to her own consoles. Her two hands became a blur as they glided over the panels, working independently of each other on separate consoles.

"Your brain shouldn't really be able to work on two things simultaneously like that," Rachel told her hesitantly, staring in awe as she watched the redhead work.

Dana nodded, and turned to wink at her. "Yep, I know. One of the many perks of the job," she said casually.

A minute or so later, Dana grinned, and then turned to face the brunette. "All done! Hit that red button on the middle console when you want to fire up your new toy," she said playfully.

Rachel laughed at her friend's perky tone, and then did as she was instructed, pressing the button. The half of the room that was currently unoccupied by machinery immediately went dark, until a second later, that half of the room began to glow with a bright array of colours. Rachel spun to face the area with her mouth open in shock, and saw two beautiful helical structures arcing gracefully overhead for over fifty feet, covering almost the entire width of the room.

"How did you do that?" she asked in amazement.

Dana walked over to stand beside her. "It was simple really. I reprogrammed the overhead lighting, and turned the ones in the unused part of the room into holo-projectors. Thanks for requesting that, it looks really pretty," she said gratefully, and leaned in to give the brunette an affectionate peck on the cheek.

Rachel laughed in disbelief, and then watched the remarkable young woman skip down the steps, humming a happy tune as she went over to her workbench to resume her work on her robots. The brunette then turned back to the DNA structures, and as if a switch had been flipped in her brain, she began to see intriguing clues leaping out at her from the long strings of data.

She walked down the steps in a daze, and then sat cross-legged on the floor a little distance away from the intricate depictions of John's DNA molecules. She reached her hands up to twist the complicated structures so that she could get a better view, but then remembered with annoyance that she'd have to go back to the console to do that, so she dropped her arms.

"Go ahead, I programmed the holo-projectors to respond to your hand movements," Dana called out to her across the room, and Rachel realised she had an audience.

She turned and waved gratefully, then looked up at the curving triple helix, and felt herself being drawn into her research once more. She raised her hands excitedly, and began to gently twist the huge holograms, carefully rotating each one, as she looked at them in more detail. She then began to swipe her hands to the side, so that she could examine further along the DNA molecule. She watched the moving image in fascination, and her fingers flickered again, allowing her to see more of the seemingly endless chain. Her hands began to move in a blur, as she examined section after section, her mind studying and absorbing the data too fast for her to consciously comprehend.

Suddenly strong and slender fingers held her hands still, and brought them down to rest in her lap. Dana stepped behind her and sat down, then produced a remote.

"Let me," she whispered to Rachel gently, and clicked the button.

The holographic image began to scroll from left to right, in a continuous, unending stream of data, and Rachel stared up at it in open-mouthed wonder. She could see patterns and shapes appearing clearly before her eyes, which began to tell her a wondrous story; one that another species had unlocked an eon before.

"Faster?" Dana asked her softly, and when Rachel nodded distractedly, she began to increase the speed.

"Keep going," the brunette murmured, and Dana ramped up the speed even further until Rachel finally raised her hand.

Dana wrapped her arms around Rachel, then rested her chin on her friend's shoulder, and settled down to watch the magnificent light show as vast amounts of genetic information scrolled across the room.

***

John strolled out of the bathroom having just dried himself off after his shower, and then walked into their cavernous wardrobe to get dressed for a training session with Yamamoto. When they left Oceanus, he had helped Dana move all the simulator equipment to one of the spare rooms on Deck Three, and while he had cleared the conference room of furniture, she had hooked up the equipment for him. She had excitedly explained that she was going to connect the pulse generator to the powerful communication relay on the Invictus, and promised him that it would work flawlessly.

He walked back into the bedroom, and over to the bed, and then leaned over to kiss the two girls there goodbye. Jade was curled up under the covers, sleeping off the huge breakfast of cum that now filled her belly. Alyssa was still awake and cuddling the Nymph, but she turned around to return his kiss when his lips brushed her cheek.

*Good luck with the training,* she said to him via telepathy so that she wouldn't wake Jade.

John stroked her soft blonde hair as their lips touched, and stared into her cerulean eyes. *Thanks for this morning. I love you, beautiful,* he told her with a sigh of contentment.

*I love you too, handsome, but you need to focus on your training now, or Yamamoto will chop you to pieces!* she said with some amusement.

John grinned at her and waved goodbye, then strolled out of the room. He walked along the corridor then descended one floor in the red glow of the grav-tube, before stepping out onto Deck Three. This deck mainly consisted of conference and training rooms, but with their tiny crew, there had been no reason to use any of the space here. His new sparring room was set up in the first room on the left, and he walked inside and then powered up the simulator, before striding over to collect his Odachi from the rack.

After two solid weeks of intensive training, the weapon felt comfortable and familiar in his hands, and he smiled as he looked down at it. The padded floor suddenly blurred and shifted below him, changing as the holo-simulation reconstructed the dojo where he had been decapitated and dismembered countless times. Yamamoto blinked into view with his hand on his sheathed Katana, and he grunted wordlessly in greeting.

John smiled wryly, nodding at his mentor, and then walked across the polished wooden floor of the dojo, in preparation for their first duel of the session.

***

Calara sat in her tactical chair up on the bridge, and stared through the targeting matrix off into the distance, as she pondered what improvements she would like to make. Cycling through the weapons had to go, as that was proving far too cumbersome. It made sense to align the front arc port weapons with her left hand control, and then the starboard weapons with her right, which would allow her to easily split the Beam lasers and Mass Drivers between targets.

The laser cannons were a little trickier to allocate, as there were four positioned on the front, rear and each side of the top deck, with two in each facing on the underbelly of the Invictus. She remembered the advanced optical targeting system that had been installed on the Raptor and looked thoughtful as she planned out how she would control the splitting of the laser cannon's firepower between multiple targets.

There were even more Gatling lasers in the defence grid, but if the optical targeting worked as she hoped, then it should make hitting multiple fast moving targets like fighters or missiles much easier to manage. With a nod of satisfaction, she brought up a blank document, and then began to detail exactly what modifications she had in mind for their gifted Chief Engineer to make.

***

Dana stood up while being careful not to disturb Rachel, who was still staring transfixed at the streams of data flying overhead, in the form of the triple helix DNA structures. She had only briefly stirred from her trance, to absentmindedly ask Dana if she could add Jade's DNA to the hologram projections, which the perky engineer then set up for her immediately.

The redhead stretched, looking down fondly at the brunette, and then stifled a quiet giggle. She remembered Alyssa complaining that whenever she got absorbed in one of her projects, that Dana became impossible to understand, talking in half sentences of technical jargon. By the looks of it, Rachel immersed herself even more deeply in her work.

A quick glance at the mass fabricators told her that they had finished, and she bounded over to retrieve the tiny devices that she was going to incorporate into their body armour. She scooped them up in one hand, then tipped them carefully into a small container that she picked up from her workbench.

One of the armour equipping frames had been set up in her workshop, so she hummed a jaunty tune to herself as she walked over to the Phalanx armour, and produced her multi-tool from her belt. She carefully attached the holo-emitters to the corners of the shoulderpads, and then skipped up the steps to the podium so that she could make some adjustments on her console.

She cycled through the images, nodding with satisfaction, and then glanced over at Rachel to make sure she was ok. The tawny haired girl was still entranced, staring up at the images in open-mouthed wonder, as though the secrets of the universe were unfolding before her. Dana shook her head with amusement, and then bounced out of the Engineering Bay to upgrade the rest of their body armour suits.

With all the talk of third DNA strands unlocking psychic powers, Dana bumped the creation of the Psi-detector to the top of her to-do list. She thought back to her time on Oceanus, when she had taken apart the Psi-shaper that Alyssa had wrecked so spectacularly, and studied the psychic sensors that were built into it. She paused for a moment, realising she was being unfair on her friend, who had clearly tried to be careful, but had just not appreciated her own Psionic strength. Dana walked into the Firing Range, and then began attaching the holo-emitters to the two suits of armour there.

In any event, it had been easy to understand the basic principles the Ashanath had used to create the sensors, even if she wasn't actually psychic herself. She figured it would take her half a day to miniaturise the Psi-sensors and then build them into a working prototype, which would hopefully have it ready for Rachel if she decided to start looking into these psychic abilities next. Dana finished modifying the second set of Phalanx armour, and then walked back out into the corridor to make her way to the grav-tube.

In all honesty, Dana found the whole idea of psychic powers a bit strange and unnerving, preferring to keep herself firmly grounded in the solid reality of metal and machinery. Still, she couldn't deny how comforting it was to be able to hear Alyssa's voice in her mind, along with being able to sense her thoughts and feelings.

*I love you too, Sparks,* Alyssa told her fondly, and Dana laughed as she realised the blonde had been listening in on her train of thoughts.

*I'm always listening to you. It reminds me of hearing you chatter away in your old workshop on Karron. I might not understand half of the things you're thinking about, but I find you comforting too,* Alyssa told her affectionately.

Dana giggled, as she strolled along the corridor and stepped into the grav-tube. She had been planning on going up to the bridge next, but she decided to leave those suits until last. Instead she stepped out onto Deck Two, and walked along the corridor towards the Commander's Quarters.

*Jade's asleep, so keep the noise down when you come in,* Alyssa requested considerately.

Dana smirked when she tiptoed into the room, and saw Alyssa gently stroking Jade's swollen tummy. The room was dark, but glowing ethereal green circles were pulsing out from the Nymph's stomach and curving around her body, illuminating the room.

*Sleeping off another big load... I'm quite envious of our sexy green skinned girl,* she said to her blonde friend, who grinned at her as she walked by.

*She's thoroughly enjoying herself while John's making up for lost time. I'm surprised you haven't asked him to take you like that yet, I know how much you love it,* Alyssa thought to her with amusement.

The redhead blushed as she disappeared into the walk-in wardrobe, and sashayed over to John and Alyssa's body armour that hung up in the alcoves here. *I usually let him take the lead with choosing when we're together,* she admitted shyly.

*That's all the more reason to take the initiative!* Alyssa encouraged her excitedly. *Think how turned on he'll be if you get lubed up, and start the encounter yourself. You'll be stuffed full of cock before you know what hit you.*

Dana squirmed at the thought, biting her lower lip with arousal, and decided to follow her friend's advice. *Good girl,* Alyssa told her proudly, as Dana attached the holo-emitters to the armour.

Changing the subject before she got too turned on to concentrate any more, Dana then said, *You must have been following what happened in my workshop. It was amazing to see Rachel get absorbed in the data like that.*

*You were right earlier, you do the same thing,* Alyssa said to her fondly. *I wonder what she's found out though, it seemed like it was something significant.*

*I doubt it's anything as crazy as last time, my fellow immortal,* Dana giggled quietly as she padded into the bedroom again.

*I know, right!* Alyssa managed to stay quiet, but her delight came through loud and clear via the telepathic link. *And what a fun way to earn our immortality too.*

Dana nodded with a wide grin on her face, before she stopped and looked at the Nymph who was still slumbering peacefully. *Jade was already at least a few centuries old. I wonder if she was like that already?*

*Quite possibly. Perhaps Rachel can tell us more when she finishes her research. I still struggle to think of Jade potentially being thousands of years old. She just seems so young, cute, and innocent all the time, and she thinks the same way as well.* Alyssa said, as she smiled down at the sleeping Nymph.

*Let's hope we still have the same mindset after we've lived that long,* Dana said wryly.

*I can't imagine you ever changing,* Alyssa told her lovingly. *In fact, there's no-one I'd rather spend eternity with than my oldest friend.*

*I love you too,* Dana thought to her as she walked over to the bed quietly, and then knelt beside it. *But what about Calara and John?* she added teasingly.

*Okay, them equally as much too, but they're my lovers, and it's different with you. You're my adorable little sister,* Alyssa said as she carefully pulled away from Jade, and then rolled on to her other side, and stared at the redhead who knelt by the bed.

Dana leaned forward and then gently rubbed noses with Alyssa, and they stared into each other's eyes. *I know exactly what you mean, my caring big sister,* she replied with a happy sigh.

Alyssa smiled a sparkling smile at her, and then gave her a little wave goodbye as Dana stood and began to walk quietly out of the bedroom. The blonde went back to cuddling Jade, and Dana smiled happily as she strolled down the corridor towards the grav-tube. She stepped into the blue glow, and then travelled up to the Command Deck, where Calara was engrossed in her plans for the Tactical Station upgrade.

"Come up with some good ideas?" she asked the Latina in a friendly voice.

Calara turned and waved at her, smiling happily. "Oh hey! It's good to see you."

Dana grinned, as she always enjoyed speaking to the lovely brunette, and she walked eagerly down the ramp to join her. "It's great to see you too," she said warmly.

"To answer your earlier question, the new weapon controls should greatly improve our flexibility with weapon targeting. At least, as long as what I've come up with is viable," the Latina said tentatively.

Dana leaned against the Tactical Station. "Let me just take a quick peek here..." she said, and studied the document Calara was working on carefully. "Fuck, that's brilliant, Calara!" she enthused immediately. Nodding confidently, she added, "Yep, that should be no problem at all. It'll just take a little extra programming, and rerouting of some of the weapon controls."

"That's a relief!" Calara exclaimed, and then grinned at the redhead happily.

"I'm just glad I can help," Dana said happily.

"What are you up to at the moment?" Calara asked her curiously.

Dana showed her the box of components. "I'm just putting the identification devices on the last suits of Phalanx armour. I hope John likes them," she replied a little nervously.

"You always blow him away with your ideas, you've got nothing to worry about," Calara told her confidently.

"Thanks, gorgeous," Dana said, grinning at her affectionately and then waved her goodbye as she walked over to the Briefing Room.

***

Rachel stood and stretched her back, feeling stiff from having sat in the same position for so long. She suddenly realised that she had no idea how long she'd been sitting there, lost in the wonders of John's Progenitor genetic code. Walking around the podium and then up the steps, she glanced at the chronometer there, and realised she'd been lost in the data for a couple of hours. Still, the secrets that had been revealed to her, far surpassed her wildest dreams, and she was eager to tell John and the girls the incredible news.

*Sorry to interrupt your research,* Alyssa said to her in a sombre voice, *Could you come up to the bridge please. We've run into some trouble, and we'll probably need your assistance.*

Rachel was about to reply, and then rolled her eyes when she remembered that Alyssa wouldn't be able to hear her. She jogged over to the workshop door, and then pressed the button and left the room as soon as the doors swished open. She marvelled at her powerful body as she sprinted effortlessly up the corridor to the grav-tube, and then paused for a second, remembering to step into the blue side to go up to the Command Deck. She stepped onto the bridge a moment later, and then walked over to the Comms Station on her left.