Three Square Meals Ch. 070

Gliding out into the empty space in the training room, she could only watch helplessly from inside herself as she began to sweep through various kata, her blades moving in graceful arcs. Her muscles weren't used to the unfamiliar exertions, and she began to ache as Shinatobe put Sakura's body through her paces. Pain began to flood her mind as the practice session dragged on, but she was powerless to do anything about the agonising sensations from her tortured muscles.

Sakura felt herself being shaken, and a concerned voice said, "Snap out of it, honey!"

***

The memory faded away, and Sakura felt a flood of relief as the pain washed away with it. She quickly glanced up at John, and said, "Thank you! That was... unpleasant."

"I thought Rachel checked you out? Thought everything was fine?" he asked her, pulling her into a hug.

Sakura let the weapons drop from her hands, and she wrapped her arms around him, just as he'd embraced her. She rested her head against his broad chest, enjoying hearing his strong heartbeat as she cuddled into him.

"It's my mind reliving the memories, and trying to use them to help with my training," she murmured, letting out a contented sigh, and feeling much better already. "Rachel thought these flashbacks would go away as I got more used to everything."

John was tempted to offer to wipe the memories clear again, but he knew how adamant she was on her present course of action. He kissed her on the top of her head instead, feeling her silky black hair tickle his nose as he did so.

"Shall we call it a day? We can go and check on Dana and Jade, and see how they're getting on with the training armour," John suggested.

Sakura leaned back so she could see his face, and shook her head as she replied, "Let me decide on the weapon first. You'll need to know that before you can make me a sword."

Nodding his agreement, he released her from his arms, and said, "Alright, but we'll stop if you start getting any more flashbacks."

She crouched down to pick up her dropped swords, glancing up at him as she did so. He could see the mischievous sparkle in her eyes, and his cock twitched in response to the promise in those dark orbs. Sakura rose slowly, pausing only to place a tender kiss on his stiffening length through his trousers as she straightened.

"I'm looking forward to dinner," she said flirtatiously, before flouncing off across the training mats.

He laughed as he watched her, and she turned to grin at him as she strode away. Her exuberant walk calmed into an elegant glide, and she raised her blades before her, as if testing the weight. She took a few experimental slashes with the sword in each hand, seemingly equally as comfortable with both her left and her right.

"You seem to be ambidextrous," he noted with surprise. He paused a moment, remembering how Shinatobe had fought with two blades, and he realised he should have expected it.

She nodded distractedly, then walked back to place the swords on the weapon rack. Turning to face him, she glanced at the weapons, and smiled as she said, "The katana is too long for dual-wielding and the wakizashi is much too short. It was mainly used to commit seppuku, and I'm fairly sure you don't want me doing that."

"Definitely not," he agreed, sharing her smile. Looking thoughtful for a moment, he added, "Shinatobe seemed to favour twin ninjato. Would you like to try one of those and see if it feels more comfortable?"

Nodding, Sakura replied, "I've got decades of experience using them, it seems silly not to put it to good use."

John realised he still held his Odachi in his hands, so he placed it back on the weapon rack above the smaller training blades, and offered her his hand. "Let's go make you some swords," he said with a smile.

"You say the nicest things to a girl!" she exclaimed, fluttering her eyelashes at him as she swooned.

He laughed as her antics, enjoying seeing her relax more in his company. Sakura grinned at him as she took his hand with both of hers, leaning into him as they walked from the room. It was just a short walk down the corridor on Deck Three to the grav-tube, and swathed in a red glow, they floated downwards in companionable silence, the happy girl occasionally stealing a shy peek at her lover. They stepped out of the anti-gravity field on Deck Seven, then strolled along the corridor to the Engineering Bay. John opened the door and waved Sakura through with a flourish.

"Hey guys!" Dana said cheerfully, when she heard the door swish open. "Alyssa said you were on your way."

"No Rachel and Jade?" he asked in surprise, expecting them to be there waiting.

"Nah, they're making dinner tonight," the redhead replied, as she bounced down the steps to join them. "I just stuck around to show you the plating you'll need for your armour."

"We just need the plating and the armour's good to go?" John asked her eagerly.

Strolling over to her workbench, Dana nodded as she replied, "Alyssa plated the helmets for you in clear Crystal Alyssium, so you'll just need to shape the Invictium alloy for the rest."

Tapping a button on the side of the workbench, projectors in the ceiling brought up armour schematics showing the various pieces needed to complete the armour. The plating was displayed in actual size, so all he had to do was mentally shape the psychically responsive metal into the exact same forms.

*I could have done the whole suit for you, but you need the practice,* Alyssa thought to him, blowing him a teasing telepathic kiss.

He chuckled as he said, *That's fair enough, you've done more than your fair share already. Thanks for doing the helmet though.*

*I wanted to keep your handsome features, and Sakura's beautiful face completely unscathed,* she replied with a slight undercurrent of concern in her voice.

Dana lifted a black, mono-edged sword from her workbench, and walked over to join them. She handed it hilt first to Sakura, and said, "Alyssa mentioned you wanted to take a look at this."

The raven-haired girl accepted the sword in her hand with a good degree of trepidation. It featured extensively in her memories of the brutal murders of several hundred people, and it almost felt like there were palpable waves of evil emanating from the blade, as she held it in her shaking hand.

*It's okay, we'll find a fitting way to dispose of it,* Alyssa thought to her, while sending soothing waves of comforting emotions to ease the feelings of guilt and anguish in Sakura's mind. *Just think of this as a tool now, there to help us shape you into a force for good.*

Her tension easing with Alyssa's words, Sakura tested the weight of the sword in her hand. A grim smile formed on her haunted face, and she glanced at John, nodding her confirmation.

"Two of those coming up then," John said, and then turned to walk back to the door as he added, "I'll just go grab some Invictium."

"Wait! I've brought some up already!" Dana called after him. "I asked Faye to send her boys to go and bring up some blocks of the stuff."

"Saves me a walk, thanks Sparks," John said gratefully, then followed her pointing finger over to the crates.

They were partially hidden behind a couple of new equipping frames, with a suit of armour set up in each frame. One was clearly designed for him, the other for someone with a smaller build.

"I'll ask Faye to move those up to Deck Three when you're done," Dana said with a playful smile. "While you were busy trying to stab Yamamoto, we got the room next door set up for you."

"What've you been up to?" he asked her, quite intrigued.

The redhead winked at him, and said, "Wait until tomorrow and have a look yourself. I don't want to ruin the surprise."

"Alright, I'll wait," he agreed, walking over to the crate, and removing the lid.

"Good boy," Dana said with a chuckle, then sat on her workbench to watch him get to work.

John was about reach into the crate to lift out the glistening block of jet-black Invictium alloy, when he remembered there was a much better way of doing it. Gesturing towards the metallic cube, he beckoned with his fingers, and the block rose into the air, floating out in front of him as he walked back to join the girls.

"It's like magic!" Sakura gasped, staring at the floating cube in awe.

Dana nodded, and said, "Yeah, I never get tired of seeing this shit either."

Focusing on the levitating object, John focused his mind on it, urging it to change form into a sphere. After working on Crystal Alyssium, Dana's original foray into metallurgy was significantly easier to psychically manipulate. It barely took any effort to coax it to lose its hard edges, as he made it change shape and become rounder, until a perfectly curved orb rotated slowly in front of him. As John applied his will to the metal, he saw flecks of white starting to appear, gradually turning into flowing streaks in the viscous ball of Invictium. Those stripes widened until they engulfed the whole orb, leaving no dark spots to mark the pristine glossy-white surface.

"Alright, swords first," John said, glancing at Sakura. "Can you hold up the ninjato so I can copy it?"

She nodded and obediently lifted the arm that was grasping the black sword. "Why not start with the armour?" Sakura asked him with a puzzled frown on her face.

"He wants the armour to be much tougher," Dana explained before John could reply. "These swords are only for play-fighting."

Her explanation didn't do much to ease Sakura's confusion, so John added, "Each time I reshape the metal it gets stronger. Dana's right; I want the armour much tougher than the swords, so they won't be able to cut through the protective plating."

Gesturing towards the orb, he drew out a stream of white metal, which spiralled outwards in a long, flexible tendril. Only taking as much metal as was necessary to make the blade, he stared at the ninjato clutched in Sakura's hand, then formed an image of that shape in his mind. Once he'd done that, it was just a case of pushing the liquid metal into an identical copy of Shinatobe's weapon.

The metal flowed quickly and easily, assuming the same shape within a few seconds. John floated it over to the Asian girl once it had solidified, and said, "Go ahead, it's perfectly safe to touch." He smiled as he added, "Not the blade though, obviously!"

Sakura reached out with her free hand to pluck the weapon from the air, and she smiled at him as she exclaimed, "Hey, this feels great! It's better balanced than Shinatobe's sword!"

He tipped an imaginary hat towards her, and said, "My first piece of psychic weaponsmithing. I'm glad you approve." He turned to look at the orb again, and said, "Now to make you a matching one."

Moving his hand, he drew some more liquid metal from the rotating sphere, then guided it into a three foot long white bar. The metal rod flattened and formed the blade with a single sharp edge, while he simultaneously formed the hilt and pommel. Finishing the sword with a square crossguard, he levitated it so that it was within Sakura's reach.

"I'll take that for you," Dana offered, nodding towards the black assassin's blade Sakura held in her right hand.

The raven-haired girl handed over the sinister-looking sword with a grateful smile, glad to be rid of it, and plucked the freshly forged white one from the air. She adopted a threatening stance, smoothly rotating the twin swords in her hands with practiced ease.

"Yeah, you look fucking badass!" Dana said approvingly. "I'm just glad you're on our side now!"

John smiled at Sakura and asked, "How do they feel? Balance okay on both swords?"

She grinned at him, twirling the weapons around in lazy circles, and replied, "They feel superb, thank you!"

"I better make myself one too," he said with an eager smile.

When he beckoned at the orb with his hand, a sizeable proportion of it separated from the larger globe, sending rippling waves around its surface as he pulled them apart. The larger piece quickly reformed into another perfect sphere, albeit a much smaller one, while the smaller piece flattened out into a long bar of metal. Using the same technique as last time, he remembered the shape of his training Odachi, then simply made an exact duplicate out of the shapeable metal.

It didn't take long to do, and he grasped the hilt with his right hand as soon as the Invictium lattice had locked rigidly into position. He backed away from the girls, and make sure he had plenty of room before he took a few tentative swings. The weighting and balance of the blade seemed fine, and while it was much better than the simulator training blade, it was but a pale shadow of the glorious weapon Alyssa had forged for him.

*Yeah, I might need to take another look at that,* Alyssa mused, as soon as he started thinking about her.

He smiled as he protested half-heartedly, *I'm quite fond of that sword. It's my dragon-slaying blade.*

*No problem, I'll make you a brand -spanking- new one then!* she gushed, with particular emphasis on one word.

John glanced at Sakura who was busy swirling the swords around her, and he could feel Alyssa's amusement over their emphatic connection.

"Now for the armour!" Dana said enthusiastically, hopping off the workbench, and skipping over to the Paragon suits.

Without the armour plating, all the internal structures of the Paragon armour were exposed. These variants were definitely a cut-down version though, and he could see they didn't include flight-mode, as they didn't bulge with manoeuvrability thrusters at the vambraces or boots.

"How should we do this?" John asked his Chief Engineer, while studying the dozens of armoured plated sections in the holo-projections.

*I'd just do the entire lot in one go, but until you've memorised all the plating sections, you're going to have to do it the hard way,* Alyssa teased him somewhat smugly.

*Shh, you!* he replied with a smile, while focusing on the redhead.

Dana thought about it for a moment, then replied, "It won't take me long to attach the plating to the correct areas, so just hand them over as soon as you're done. Let's start with the boots and work up."

"Alright, let me just shape this a few times first," John agreed, as he glanced at the sphere of Invictium.

"Hang on!" Dana said, interrupting him. "We have to make two layers of plating for Paragon suits. You won't have enough metal there."

There were two more crates beside the equipping frames, so he gestured at the closest of the two, then flipped over the lid. It landed with a solid clang, but it meant he could now access the block of ore within. Without too much effort he changed it into a thick stream of black liquid metal, which he poured into the spinning globe beside him. The surface grew murky as the two colours mixed, but as the sphere turned, the dark streaks eventually faded away.

Taking a deep breath, he formed the sphere into a cube. He knew it wasn't particularly imaginative, but he'd never had the same kind of artistic flair that Alyssa possessed. John went through a series of shapes, finding the Invictium far easier to manipulate than the Crystal Alyssium they were now working with. Although it wasn't as resilient or reflective as Dana's ultimate material, it was still far tougher than Titanium, especially after this many reshapings.

It started getting sluggish and harder to manipulate when he got up to his sixth shaping, which is when Alyssa said, *That's enough. You'll make it too hard for yourself to craft all the plates if you shape it again.*

Following her advice, he turned to study the various interlocking armour plates that were needed for the boots. He kept that shape in his mind, then made a curt gesture to the orb of white metal, coaxing out a thick stream of the alloy to form the first piece of plating. It took some effort, but not enough that he was worried about being able to complete the suits. Focusing on the task at hand, he began to make the second boot plate, while Dana snatched the first out of the air and began locking it into position on his Paragon boots.

*I remember the early days shaping this stuff,* Alyssa told him, clearly impressed. *Yes, it's easier to mould than Alyssium, but you've come along in leaps and bounds.*

*Thanks, beautiful,* he replied, as he concentrated on getting the curve of the next plate just right. *I've still got a long way to go before I catch up to you though!*

*You're getting there,* she said encouragingly, proud of his dedication.

It was a strange feeling for John, having her being proud of him rather than vice versa, but it was one he rather enjoyed.

***

They had a quiet, enjoyable meal together later that evening, with everyone complimenting Rachel and Jade on the spinach and chicken tortellini they'd prepared. When everyone was well fed, they retired to the sofas in John's Ready Room to relax after their busy day of training and research. Although John was enjoying their company, with Sakura on his lap, and flanked by the two erstwhile chefs, he found he couldn't stop yawning.

John had pushed himself hard to shape all that plating, and found the extended psychic armour-crafting session quite draining. Edraele and Alyssa gave him a boost of eldritch energy, but he was still exhausted when the temporary flood of power started to wear off. After another big yawn, Alyssa insisted he go to bed, and when he finally did so, he fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

It therefore came as quite a rude awakening, when Faye flipped the lights on, and announced loudly, "John, I'm picking up a distress beacon!"

He winced against the bright light, his eyes not quite adjusted yet, but he managed to make out a purple shape kneeling over the bed. "What's up, Faye?" he mumbled, untangling himself from Sakura and Dana's warm arms and sitting upright.

"An Ashanath trader! They're being chased by a Drakkar cruiser!" she exclaimed loudly, rousing the girls now as well. Leaning closer she whispered to him, "I hope I did the right thing waking you up. You want to help them, right?"

"Yeah, you did the right thing," John grunted as he clambered down to the bottom of the bed.

He started hunting around for the clothes he'd casually discarded last night, but they'd been dutifully removed by the cleaning bots, and were currently in the middle of a spin-cycle. Giving up, he dashed into the walk-in wardrobe to get some clothes.

"What's all the noise?" Dana groaned as she rubbed at her eyes. Glancing at the ship's chronometer, she protested, "It's two in the morning!"

"An Ashanath trader is under attack," Faye explained patiently to the groggy young woman. "They're being pursued by Drakkar Raiders."

Alyssa was busy waking everyone up with mental nudges as she followed John into the wardrobe, but she called behind her, "How far out are they Faye?"

"On the far edge of our long-range sensors, so just over fourteen minutes until we're in interdiction range. I made the course correction as soon as I detected the distress beacon," she replied to the blonde. Looking apprehensive, she added, "I hope that was alright?"

John hopped out of the wardrobe and tugged on his second boot as the girls scrambled for their rooms to go and get dressed. "Yeah, good call," he replied to the purple AI with a tired smile.

"Phew!" Faye exclaimed with an exaggerated sigh, and beamed at him happily when he smiled at her.

"See you up there, honey," he called back to Alyssa, as he strode towards the doorway.

Sakura had paused half way out of the covers, and asked him in a rush, "Should I come too?"

He nodded, and replied, "Yeah, you should get a look at the Ashanath and Drakkar. You haven't seen either of them yet, right?"

She shook her head, and looked eager as she rose from the bed with every intention of following him to the Bridge.