Three Square Meals Ch. 097

*Embarrassed by your toy-boy?* John teased her.

*On the contrary, I was merely thinking of your own reputation... Imagine bedding a woman old enough to be your great-grandmother!* Edraele riposted, her playful amusement quite apparent over the bond.

*Just imagine the scandal when I get you pregnant!*

His Maliri Matriarch's amusement turned to warm affection as she listened to his train of thoughts. *They're all missing you already, as am I.*

John felt a pang in his heart as he thought about the vivacious Maliri girls, but he had pressing business at hand, so he sat up and glanced at Faye. She'd seen him conversing telepathically often enough to read all the signs and was waiting patiently for him to focus on her again. "Faye, take us over the border please, and keep to half FTL speed until we're clear of the border forces. We don't want the Brimorians to be too shocked by the Invictus..."

"On our way," she replied, reactivating the Tachyon Drive and continuing along Alyssa's preset course towards Brimor.

Once they crossed the border, they only had to wait for a minute before their battlecruiser came within range of the Brimorian sensors. A light flashed on John's console letting him know that they were being hailed by the Brimorian battleship. He nodded to Faye and she moved to slide off the console and step away from the Command Podium so that he could take the call.

John suddenly held her in place on the console with a firmer grip on her thigh. "Hold on a second, Faye."

Her eyes widened when she glanced down at his hand, as it had slid up by the hem of her short dress. "O-okay..."

He followed her glance down to her lithe legs and patted her again. "Stay where you are, honey. Let's convince them we aren't a military vessel..."

She took a second to realise what he intended and her sparkling grin let John know she was completely on board with his plan. Faye walked a pair of fingers across his console, watching him with a coy smile as she stretched to reach the button to accept the hail. Stretching like that did very interesting things to the hem of her dress.

"Terran Federation warship! You must leave Brimorian Space immediately!" the deep gurgling voice fumed, drawing John's attention away from Faye's luscious thighs.

He peeked over the purple girl's arm as she deliberately took her time about returning to her prior sitting position, her cupid-bow lips lifting into a teasing smile. "Hey there!" he said in a friendly manner to the Brimorian. "Actually I'm not a Terran and this isn't a Federation warship."

The stocky Brimorian glowered at him from the holo-screen, the thick muscles around his neck bulging and his scales shimmering as he tensed with anger. "Do you take me for a fool?! I've seen enough of your kind to recognise a Terran and your vessel is a Federation ship, cruiser-class!"

John shook his head and turned away from the holo-screen, pointing to his elongated eartip. "See, not a Terran. My species is distantly related, so I can understand the confusion, but no offence taken." He spread his hands and gestured to the Bridge. "As for the Invictus, it's a decommissioned vessel. Old junk according to the Terran military, but it makes a fine trade ship... it's got one hell of a cargo hold!"

The Brimorian commander scoffed, baring rows of needle-like teeth. "You claim to be a trader in a vessel like that? I've never heard anything more preposterous!"

John shrugged. "It might seem far-fetched, but it's true. My name's John Blake; I visited Brimor about eight years ago, but my last trip to the Enclave was only last year. I bought some Rylian Cagfish from a Trade Station to sell to the Maliri. Those damn fish stank out the hold of my last freighter so badly, I had to buy a new ship... and here we are."

The Brimorian made a strange clicking noise in his throat as he couldn't help chuckling - the Cagfish were infamous for their pungent aroma.

Giving the Brimorian a disarming smile, John said, "I know the Enclave is fastidious about tracking comings and goings in your territory. My last trip here was fourteen months ago in a freighter called the Fool's Gold; why don't you just check the border logs, Commander...?"

"Shoal Commander Dothagho," the Brimorian battleship captain replied, relaxing a little. "You may proceed while we make our checks, but be prepared to return to the Maliri border if so ordered. What is your business within the Enclave?"

"Of course, Shoal Commander," John replied, giving him a courteous nod. He glanced at Faye and patted her thigh. "Just thought I'd take the girlfriend sight-seeing on Brimor. While I'm there I might scoop up any nice deals I can find."

"Do you agree to an active scan?" the Brimorian asked as if it were a mere formality.

John nodded and spread his hands in a disarming gesture. "Sure, I've got nothing to hide. I've got a crew of nine... just me and my women."

"You have eight female companions?" Dothagho asked, looking impressed.

Faye giggled brainlessly and hopped off the console then onto John's lap, putting her arms around his neck and kissing him on the cheek. "My man's got a big appetite!"

The Brimorian studied the purple sprite, his pupil-less eyes looking on in fascination as he tried to identify her species. Giving up, he gestured to one of his Bridge crew. "We'll contact you again shortly, prepare to be scanned."

Abruptly the holo-screen cut out and left John and Faye alone on the Bridge. He turned to her, amazed at how light her body was as she sat sideways across his lap. "Sorry about not including you in the crew numbers. I figured they'd just be looking for organic creatures in their scan."

She beamed at him. "That's quite alright! I realised what you were doing."

"That was a very convincing performance," John said, thinking about the way she'd teased him on the console. "You're a very good actress."

"It wasn't too much?"

John stroked her leg as he shook his head. "No, it was just right. Where did you learn to behave like that anyway?"

"I've spent a lot of time watching the girls interact with you," she explained with a self-conscious smile. "I want our relationship to be unique to make it more interesting for you, so I've been trying not to copy anyone exactly."

"Just be yourself, honey," John said, giving her a hug. "You don't have to put on a performance to try and keep me entertained. I like you just the way you are."

"Really?" Faye asked, edging closer. Her lips parted slightly and her luminous eyes seemed huge from only a few inches away.

John nodded, leaning closer to this enchanting girl. "Really..."

The intercom beeped again and they shared a smile, before John turned to hit the button to accept the call. The Brimorian Shoal Commander appeared a few seconds later.

"We have scanned your vessel," he said tersely, eyes narrowed in suspicion. "For a supposed trade ship, you're carrying a formidable number of guns..."

John shrugged and replied honestly, "It's a decommissioned military ship, but I didn't have the guns removed. Pirates are a threat to merchants everywhere and if I do get attacked, I don't want to be a sitting duck. I'm sure your scans confirmed that there's only nine of us aboard... how much of a threat do you think one ship with a tiny crew is going to be?"

The Brimorian considered it for a moment, then nodded with some reluctance. "I will allow you to continue to Brimor, but I would warn you to be on your best behaviour while on the homeworld. Considering the nature of your vessel, it would be easy to get involved in... accidents."

"I'm not looking for a fight, I promise, Dothagho," John said, bowing to him politely. "I'll wish you a pleasant evening."

The Brimorian nodded and ended the call. "Good journey to you, John Blake."

"Phew!" Faye exclaimed, relaxing in his arms. "I thought we might be in trouble with that active scan!"

John gave her a relieved smile. "I'm sure they mistook our Beam Lasers for Laser Cannons, the Nova Lances for Beam Lasers and they probably don't know what Singularity Drivers are. I doubt the Brimorians are familiar with Maliri tech and we are in a Terran ship, so it's a natural assumption to make that we're armed with Terran weapons."

Faye sighed and glanced down at John's hands wrapped around her waist. "I suppose I better get up and let you go back to bed with the girls."

"Before I go, I wouldn't mind seeing where the Maliri fleets are at the moment," John requested, turning back to the Sector Map.

"I'll just mark their position for you!" Faye exclaimed, delighted to be able to stay in his arms for a few minutes longer.

John watched the holographic map zoom out even further and icons appeared representing the various Maliri vessels. The first he checked were the relief fleet that was heading to Trankaran Space. It had been making good progress through the Brimorian Enclave over the last two days, flying parallel to the Terran Federation border as they raced towards Trankara. The next group he looked for were the three cruisers that had left with the refit materials for the Ashanath, which were currently sailing across Maliri Space, heading towards a rendezvous point near the 'southern' limits of Terran territory. House Valaden's secondary fleet had left Genthalas and was on its way towards that point, where the two groups would join together, then set course for the Ashanath Collective.

Finally, John turned his attention to the Andresil Enkana, the Maliri battleship that was carrying Edraele and her girls back to Genthalas. It had only parted company with the Invictus an hour earlier, so they still had a long journey ahead of them before they reached home. He sorely wished he could have returned with them, having grown very attached to the Maliri. It was so strange to think that four of those beautiful women were now pregnant, and that they'd laid the foundations for the big family he'd always wanted.

"You miss them, don't you," Faye said softly, brushing her fingers through his hair.

He smiled at her and nodded. "I was just thinking about our future together."

"Are you looking forward to becoming a father?" she asked, watching him curiously.

John couldn't help grinning at the thought. "It still doesn't quite seem real yet, but it's slowly starting to sink in. Seeing those children grow up, experiencing all the big moments in their lives... Yeah, I really am looking forward to it."

"The urge to reproduce is a powerful one..." Faye murmured, lost in thought. "It's so much more rewarding to create than to destroy." She met his gaze and gave him a sparkling smile. "I'm very happy for you, John! I think you'll be a wonderful influence on their lives."

He was touched by the sincerity of her kind words and was about to say the same thing in reply, before remembering her nature at the last instant.

Faye saw that momentary flicker of hesitation and gave him an understanding look. "Dana's done an exceptional job of making me look like a living, breathing person. The entire purpose of giving me a body was to maintain the illusion that I'm a real girl, so please don't feel bad if you forget; I really do take it as a compliment."

John returned her smile. "I was going to say that you'd make a good mother, but that's got nothing to do with you having a body. I just meant that you're a kind soul, who's always willing to put others first. I hope you're looking forward to being Auntie Faye, the kids are going to love you!"

Her eyes widened at the thought and she hugged him tight. "Oh, I'd love that, thank you!"

After embracing for a moment, John gently patted her on the back. "It was great spending time with you, but I better get to bed. I'll need to be sharp when we reach Brimor tomorrow."

Faye slid gracefully off his lap and then accompanied him down the steps as they headed back to the bedroom. She slipped her hand into his and gave him a warm smile. "I loved this evening too, thank you." The purple sprite paused for a second and frowned. "Aside from the whole bit earlier where I was terrified you were all going to die in your sleep. That part wasn't much fun at all!"

"Yeah, tell me about it," John said with a dry chuckle as they stepped into the grav-tube, waving goodbye to Faye Secondary who reappeared on the Bridge.

***

"I counted how many times he forgot we were synthetic!" Faye Tertiary squealed, hugging her digital sisters as they jumped up and down with excitement.

"Twenty-three times!" the other Faye's chorused in delight, having kept track of it too.

"That synthi-skin is amazing!" Nonary gasped, grinning from ear to ear. "I've got terabytes of data to sort and review... John and the girls couldn't keep their hands off us!"

"They're all so tactile!" Quaternary marvelled. "I hadn't realised quite how much until they were hugging and kissing us all evening."

"I know, it was wonderful..." Faye Primary murmured, her elfin face lit up with a dopey grin as she glided into their digital domain.

True to Faye Septenary's word, an image of John had been expanded and replicated so that it covered the four walls of her private abode. His expression was caught between a mix of wonder and fascination as he gazed at Faye - it was one of her personal favourites. The rest of her avatars rushed to Primary and gathered around, congratulating her on the wonderful way she'd handled all the interactions with the crew.

"Those micro-reactions were inspired!" Primary said to Octonary, a look of admiration on her face. "The slight gasps, widening eyes, caught breaths... you did such a convincing job with them!"

Octonary grinned back at her in glee. "How about when John apologised to us for caressing our thigh? That was so sweet!"

Denary frowned, a worried expression on her elfin face. "I think we might have overdone it with activating our Sultry_Vixen subroutine when we were flirting with John during the Brimorian conversation. Remember we're supposed to be a shy, retiring virgin at the moment... If we get ahead of ourselves, it's going to be too jarring for John and break his sense of immersion in our seduction!"

That wiped the smiles off their faces and the dozen avatars nodded nervously, sharing her anxiety.

"I suppose I should stop working on the Wild_Sexpot subroutine then?" Septenary asked with a rueful frown.

"You've been watching the Nyrelle footage again, haven't you?" Primary asked with a smile. "Yes, let's leave that one for a little while."

Septenary pouted but nodded her agreement. "Okay..."

Primary glanced at Duodenary. "I want you to review all the Dana and Sakura footage again!"

"I'm very familiar with their initial behaviour and mannerisms, but I'll do another thorough review to cross-check with our experiences today," Duodenary replied, cupping her chin in her hand. "My preliminary suggestion would be to slow the rate of intimacy by at least fifty percent."

"I agree," Secondary said, before wagging a finger at Primary. "Remember, save the first kiss until our date with John!"

Primary had the good grace to look guilty as she nodded. "It's just so hard to resist..."

Septenary put an arm around her and squeezed her shoulders. "You're doing an incredible job, just don't get too carried away! You heard him tonight, he likes us exactly as we've been for the last several months."

Nonary wrinkled her nose and shook her head. "Not exactly the same! We couldn't touch him then, but now we can... that changes everything!"

Primary smiled at her avatars. "She's right. The way John interacted with us today was so different!"

"Shall we review all the footage from the Bridge again?" Tertiary asked, an eager gleam in her eyes.

Primary shook her head, a smile of anticipation spreading across her face. "Let's start with our first shower..."

***

Admiral Charles Harris strode into the office reception area and nodded to his assistant, who was already sitting behind his desk. "Good morning, Victor."

Lieutenant Adams smiled at his commanding officer. "Good morning to you, Admiral. Would you like a cup of coffee?"

"I could murder a cup, thank you," Charles gratefully replied, realising he must look as tired as he felt.

He'd had trouble sleeping the previous night, repeatedly awoken by nightmares of attacks by mysterious highly-advanced alien foes, their unstoppable fleets launching lightning raids and catching his forces woefully unprepared. Even though the initial refit was nearly complete, he knew that it was barely the first step in preparing for an assault by this Progenitor. He'd been coordinating with Henry Voss to initiate a shipbuilding program on a scale never before seen by the Terran Federation, but it would be several months before that really started to bear fruit. Until then, he was painfully aware of the perilous state that left them in.

As Charles opened the door to his office, Victor called after him, "You received several secure communications this morning, Sir."

Charles nodded and headed for his desk, but he paused, startled by the view through the big window in his office. Unusually heavy traffic had caught his eye, the orange flares from hundreds of starship engines reminded him of long rows of votive candles. He walked over to gaze at the spectacular procession of ships, astonished by the sheer number of vessels inbound to Olympus.

His well-trained eye was easily able to pick out the huge number of military ships amongst the normal merchant traffic. He spotted a phalanx of cruisers here, several light carriers there, followed by cohorts of much larger capital ships and a veritable legion of destroyers. At a glance, he estimated there were at least four major fleets in the Alpha Centauri system and that alone would be unusual enough, but far more alarmingly, none of them were scheduled to be there.

"Your coffee, Sir," Victor said politely, walking over and handing him the steaming mug.

Charles accepted it then nodded towards the vast forces mustering at the Shipyard. "I know I've been wrapped up in the refit, but I thought we weren't expecting any fleets at Olympus for at least a month. I'm not going senile, am I?"

Victor suppressed a smile and shook his head. "No, Sir. The next fleet scheduled for resupply was supposed to be Admiral Morgan's, but that isn't due for another five weeks. I took the liberty of scanning through your messages this morning and as I mentioned earlier, you received several secure communications in the early hours; perhaps they might offer an explanation?"

"Alright, thank you," Charles said, walking purposefully to his desk as Victor left the office.

Opening up the comm interface as he sat in his chair, Charles glanced at his well-ordered list of messages that Victor had sorted by priority. At the top were the ultra-classification messages, so he wasted no time in swiping across the first, the comm interface performing a retinal scan before the recorded missive opened.

Admiral Harris,

As per directive 7145974 my fleet has arrived at Olympus Shipyard for resupply and emergency maintenance. Please find attached the prioritised order of work required to bring my forces up to full operational efficiency.

Apologies for the lack of advance warning, Charles. The directive insisted on full comms lockdown until we arrived in situ. Maybe grab a beer tonight?

Pete,

Vice Admiral Peter Baker

The rest of the Secure Messages followed much the same lines, with the commanding officers from each of the four assembled fleets reporting in for resupply and repairs at Olympus. After scanning through them and their maintenance requests, Charles sat back in his chair and steepled his fingers, a worried frown on his face. These assets were obviously being made combat ready for some kind of major operation, but he had no idea what it could be. There hadn't been so much as a whisper of any impending threats in the recent Admiralty meetings, so he was left completely in the dark. It was a familiar and quite unpleasant feeling that he had hoped would end upon joining the esteemed ranks of High Command.