Three Square Meals Ch. 099

Alyssa was already at her side before Jade could finish the sentence. She leaned down and gave the flustered alien girl a tender kiss. "I was only teasing, sexy." She gave her a reassuring smile. "Besides it was all John's fault for blowing your mind..."

"Hey, don't bring me into it!" John called over his shoulder. He paused on the ramp and turned to study the girls. "Just keep us informed of any problems. Jade, I want you to keep me updated, Calara can do the same with Alyssa."

"Of course," Jade replied, looking happy once again.

Waving the Bridge crew goodbye, John led his squad down to Deck Nine, then through to the Primary Hangar where the stealth shuttle was waiting for them.

While Dana was opening the airlock, Irillith studied the small black craft with a critical eye. "Isn't it going to be a bit cramped in there for all seven of us?"

Alyssa put her arm around the Maliri girl's waist and bumped hips with her. "We'll just have to get cosy then..."

"That would be a far more appealing thought if we weren't wearing full body armour and loaded up with guns," Irillith replied archly.

Dana grasped her Reaper Cannon again and headed into the shuttle, beckoning behind her. "Stop bitchin', it'll be fine. There's actually quite a bit of space."

Alyssa slid into the pilot's chair, while Dana quickly ran through the shuttle's controls as well as how to activate the stealth functionality. There were only four seats in the rear of the shuttle, but fortunately they were fairly robust, designed as they'd been for full-metal cyborgs. He propped his sword and Quantum rifle against the wall, then pulled Irillith onto his lap.

"There, that's not so bad, is it?" John asked, running a gauntlet over her sleek, form-fitting body armour.

"Dana was right, I should stop bitching," the Maliri girl said with a radiant smile, touching her clear-crystal faceplate to his.

*We just jumped into the Alpha Vulpeculae system,* Jade informed him. *The Vulkat fleet is clustered near a gas giant on the fifth orbital ring around the star. We'll get you closer using asteroids as cover, then you can cover the last in the shuttle.*

The huge hangar doors began to open and John was close enough to the cockpit to be able to see the red glow from the system's massive star shining into the hangar. A few seconds later the star fields outside began to shift as the Invictus pivoted, their parent ship taking them deeper into the system.

"Can you bring up a System Map?" John asked his statuesque pilot. "Jade mentioned they were planning on using asteroids as cover."

"I'll patch through the sensor data from the Invictus," Alyssa said, while tapping a few buttons on the black console, a System Map appearing in the middle of the passenger cabin. "Mikaboshi must have used that for briefing his assassins."

The Alpha Vulpeculae system consisted of a small barren planetoid, three gas giants, and two vast fields of asteroids located on the second then the sixth orbital paths around the star. Alyssa zoomed the map in on the dense outer asteroid belt, their view lingering on the massive chunks of rock floating like capital ships amongst an unending fleet of smaller asteroids. John glanced across at Tashana who sat opposite and she gave him a grim nod when she met his inquisitive gaze.

"I've seen exactly the same thing in the Unclaimed Wastes and I know Mael'nerak obliterated Achonin planets there," she said quietly. "It might not have been a Progenitor that destroyed those worlds, but there's definitely enough mass for a decent sized planet."

"A colonised world just snuffed out in an instant," Rachel murmured, her face reflecting her troubled thoughts. "How could someone do something like that?"

"That Quantum Annihilator on the moon would definitely do the trick," Dana replied, looking lost in thought. "From the amount of power that thing was gathering, one shot would have blown Terra to bits."

The brunette shook her head and said softly, "No, I meant: what kind of monster could pull the trigger? Billions of lives just gone... it doesn't bear thinking about."

"We're not going to let that happen again," John said firmly, clasping her hand.

The shuttle began to tremble, then the vibrations stopped a few seconds later as the vehicle lifted off the deck. John glanced out the cockpit window and saw that they were now in the midst of a sprawling asteroid belt, with enormous chunks of rock floating motionless as far as the eye could see.

"That's as close as Jade can safely take us ," Alyssa informed them as the black shuttle crept out of the hangar and into space beyond.

"Can you show me the Vulkat fleet?" John requested, turning his attention back to the System Map.

Alyssa tapped the console screen a few times and the holographic image was covered with a Tactical overlay, dozens of active spacecraft now appearing on the map. The Vulkat vessels were instantly recognisable, with their backward swept limbs, looking vaguely like a black, long-legged spider, with orange stripes around each backward-sweeping structure.

Dana shivered and gave John a cute frown. "I can't believe you talked me into this shit... Cyborg zombie spiders, I can't imagine anything worse!"

"Cybernetic zombie clowns?" Sakura suggested with a pained expression.

The redhead laughed and hugged the Asian girl. "Alright, you win. That would be ten times worse!"

John smiled at their banter, but he didn't take his eyes off the Vulkat vessels, watching as they flew low over the cobalt-blue gas giant. "Any idea why they're flying so close to that planet?"

Dana studied one of the smaller vessels for a moment, murmuring her thanks as Alyssa zoomed in the view even closer. After a lengthy pause, her eyes widened in surprise. "Looks like they're using some kind of fuel scoop to siphon hydrogen."

"Wouldn't it need to be refined first before they can use it?" John asked, frowning in confusion.

"Normally, yeah... Perhaps the Vulkat found some way of getting around the problem? That destroyer-sized ship is way too small to have a built-in gas refinery."

"Something else we could keep our eyes open for," Sakura suggested optimistically.

"We'll focus on the Eternity Crystals for now," John said, still watching the map. "If we stumble across anything else worth investigating, then great, we can take that too, but let's try and stick to our primary objective." He pointed to a much larger Vulkat vessel in the centre of the fleet. "That's got to be some kind of command ship. Unless any of you ladies think one of the smaller ships might be a good prospect, I suggest we board that one."

"That'd be my first choice," Dana agreed, before her brow furrowed. "If it wasn't a massive fucking spider nest!"

John glanced to his right. "Alyssa, can you get us to the big ship in the middle of their fleet?"

The blonde was manoeuvring the shuttle deeper into the asteroid field, hugging the huge hunks of rock as she wove her way through the slowly tumbling maze. "Yeah, that won't be a problem, but it'll take me a little while. It'll be slow going with stealth mode activated."

"Yeah, but it's worth it, our energy profile will be tiny!" Dana exclaimed. "The Invictus couldn't pick this shuttle up even if I knew it was coming. Unless the Vulkat sensors are like... ten times stronger than ours, there's no way they'll be able to detect us."

"Let's hope they don't give us any surprises then," John said with a smile. "How long until we reach the command ship?"

"About twenty minutes," Alyssa replied, after a quick glance at the System Map.

***

Maria Fernandez pottered around the kitchen trying to keep herself busy, but she was far too jittery to concentrate on anything. She always got that way when Jack was about to call, butterflies fluttering away in her stomach as she waited to speak to her husband. They'd been married over twenty years, but he still made her feel like a lovesick teenager, and he'd told her on numerous occasions that he felt exactly the same way.

The last two weeks he'd been away had been excruciating and she found herself missing him more than ever. A significant factor to her feelings of longing had been Calara's award ceremony. When she'd spoken to her husband after the ceremony, Jack had been overjoyed, the pride still shining in his eyes after seeing his daughter awarded the Stellar Cluster... he'd never looked more handsome.

Maria knew just how he felt and more than anything she'd wanted to make love to her husband that night, to celebrate their joy as proud parents. She had promised to blow his mind when the Damocles returned from its three-month posting on the Kirrix border and Jack had got that wistful look on his face that she loved so much. It was that special look that was just for her, telling her with his eyes just how much he missed her and wished he could be in her arms.

Letting out a groan of frustration, Maria gave up on trying to focus on any chores and went into the lounge to wait for his call. Trying to kill time, she activated the Holonet and started searching the channels for any news. It always amused her to see how infrequently the news accurately reported what was really going on, but then again, they didn't have access to the same special sources that she did.

Flicking through the channels she sought out TFNN, interested to see if they were running any more exclusives about the Lion. Those reports were interesting in themselves, but they had the added bonus of letting her find out snippets of information about her daughter. Her old navy colleagues had already been astonished by Calara's achievements, but the video of her in action against the Kirrix had left them awestruck. As much as Maria worried about her daughter's safety, she couldn't help marvelling at the kind of life she was leading.

Maria had always had a soft spot for the kindly Trankarans, especially after the way they'd helped care for her after her accident on their homeworld, so it had been wonderful to see Calara riding to their rescue. Thoughts of that decades-old injury brought a smile to Maria's face for the first time, instead of the usual sad frown. She ran her hand down her thigh, still finding it hard to believe that Rachel had cured her of a wound that had plagued her for so many years. Maria had spent the last two weeks stretching herself and testing her newly-healed limb, finding to her delight that her old flexibility and endurance had returned with gusto. She couldn't help chuckling to herself when she thought about Jack's return... he was in for one hell of a wild night!

Shaking off her wistful thoughts of her husband's homecoming, she focused on the news, frowning in concern as she read the headlines. She un-muted the screen and listened to the immaculately-groomed anchor.

"... still no sign of Jehanna Elani, TFNN's lead anchor," Bill Armstrong said, his expression showing real concern. "Police are still investigating leads after she was abducted from a parking garage beneath the Balcova hotel and are appealing for witnesses to come forward."

Maria was surprised at that flash of genuine feeling from the reporter; it was the first time the perceptive Latina had ever seen the TFNN anchor show any sincere emotion. She remembered the beautiful co-anchor he was referring to, having watched the lovely young woman reading the news scores of times after the last few weeks, and she sincerely hoped Jehanna was okay. It hadn't come as a surprise that the dusky beauty had been the one covering all the stories about John Blake, because Maria had been able to tell within minutes that the girl was thoroughly smitten with her daughter's fiancé.

Normally such an observation would have a protective mother's hackles up, but she knew how devoted John was to Calara, and considering their... unique... living arrangements they'd probably welcome Jehanna's attention. Maria had been shocked at that change in her daughter, seeing her blossom from a shy self-conscious girl into a woman so enthusiastically embracing her sexuality. She had initially thought it had been John who had brought Calara out of her shell, but after watching him and the girls interacting together on their last visit, it was obvious who had been the real guide to her daughter's self-discovery.

Normally it was Jack that was intrigued by beautiful blondes, but after spending more time speaking with Alyssa during their last visit, Maria had been surprised at just how much she envied Calara. Alyssa had a way of looking at her with those piercing blue eyes that made Maria feel like the blonde knew her every naughty little secret fantasy, even those that would shock Jack. At the same time, she'd seen fascination and acceptance in the sultry young lady's playfully flirtatious gaze... Maria could only imagine how exciting it would be to go to bed with such a woman. She blushed, suddenly remembering that despite the blonde seeming so worldly-wise, she was only the same age as her daughter.

It came as a relief when the comm interface on the sofa flashed and Maria quickly fanned herself before answering the secure call. The Terran Federation insignia faded away, the winged sword replaced by Captain Jack Fernandez's handsome face.

"It's so wonderful to see you, Jack!" she gasped, giving him a sparkling smile.

"You too, Maria," Jack replied, grinning back at her. "You've no idea how much I've been missing you."

Maria's heart skipped a beat, but not in a good way. There was something wrong, she could tell in an instant, just by looking at Jack's eyes. Despite his broad smile, she'd never seen her husband look so conflicted.

"I don't think I've ever found it so hard being apart from you," Maria replied, her eyes locked on his and saw a flash of acknowledgement in his soulful brown gaze. He knew that she knew.

Falling into a familiar pattern of conversation, Jack glanced towards the Bridge from where he sat in his Ready Room. "Mateo's doing well... he sends his love."

"Tell him he needs to write to his mother more! I want to hear all about that medical officer he's been dating, Emily, isn't it?" Maria said with a warm smile, but inside her mind was whirring. She realised that the only reason Jack wasn't telling her about what was troubling him, was because he'd been ordered to keep it secret.

"Don't go teasing him about wedding bells, darling," Jack said with amusement. "She's a lovely girl, we don't want to scare either of them off. Mateo said he's looking forward to introducing you to her, the next time we're near Jericho."

Maria picked up on the unusual inflection in his voice; whatever was troubling her husband clearly involved the dates when he'd be returning from duty. She sighed and gave him a look filled with longing, "I thought I'd get used to these three-month tours after all these years, but ten more weeks feels like an eternity!"

"Mi amor por ti es para siempre," Jack replied, his eyes softening.

While her husband's love might last forever, Maria could see the imperceptible flicker of very different emotions in his gaze... sadness, guilt, and remorse.

His expression brightened as he continued, "We'll have to gather the whole family next time we get some shore leave, maybe go boating together again, that might be fun."

"That's a lovely idea, Jack! We could take picnics with us and eat by the river," Maria gushed, artfully playing her part.

She'd been waiting for Jack to drop any reference to a date and wracked her mind trying to remember the date of their last boating trip six years earlier. With shock, she realised Jack was telling her he'd be back in the Core Worlds in two weeks' time! Jack's cruiser, the Damocles, had just spent the last two weeks travelling to the Outer Rim, so she was astounded he'd suddenly been recalled -- something was obviously very wrong.

Jack saw the flicker of understanding in her eyes and chuckled as he nodded. "Do you remember when Eduardo and Dylan started fighting and fell in the river? Have you heard from them recently?"

She laughed along with him. "Those two... always getting into scrapes." Except that never happened. Dylan was always a serious and reserved boy, very protective of his youngest brother, while Eduardo hero-worshipped him in return. Maria couldn't remember the two of them ever arguing. "Now they're all grown up, they're too busy to call their mother."

Jack frowned as if annoyed at his sons, but she could see something else was bothering him. Dylan was still stationed in Port Megara on the Trankaran border and Eduardo was on the battleship Orion which was fairly close to the Core Worlds in a sector near the Ashanath border. Both her boys were in safe postings, so she wasn't sure what had so unsettled Jack.

"How about Callie, has she called to let you know a date for the wedding of the century?" Jack asked, a smile teasing his lips.

Maria shook her head and pouted playfully. "Not yet... but at least we know the venue now!" she replied, confirming that her daughter hadn't been in contact recently.

"Hopefully she'll be in touch soon. I really need to have a chat with her, about the wedding. I want to know how much time I've got to write my 'Father of the Bride' speech," Jack continued, wincing at the thought.

What she saw in his expression shocked Maria to the core. Instead of pride, she saw that Jack was ashamed, but it wasn't directed at Calara... it was directed at himself. She concentrated harder on the subtle clues and hints he dropped, trying to build up the full picture of what had left him so distressed. The rest of the conversation went by in a blur, with Maria and Jack exchanging pleasantries and ending the call with loving words. For the first time in her married life, Maria wanted to end the conversation with her husband as quickly as possible, but they stretched it out to make sure all the hidden messages remained concealed behind innocuous chatter.

As soon as Jack closed the call, Maria brought up her messages index and began frantically scanning through the recent conversations between her network of service friends. They were a close-knit group, their friendships forged during their years at the Academy when they'd been training to become communications officers. It didn't take long to find what she was looking for, in a recent email from Commander Vivian Grayson, a communications officer based in the Citadel. Maria's eyes widened as she read the deeply unsettling message...

Hey guys! Hope you're all doing well, you know how much I miss everyone. I just wanted to share the pain and give you all a laugh at my expense...

My hubby invited his cousin Andrei to stay and it sounds like he's bringing his whole damn clan! I think our place is going to be chaos for a while, so no dropping by for a few weeks until I can turf them out and get my home presentable again!"

Love you all,

Viv

Maria thought she'd been worried after speaking to Jack, but now her heart was thumping in her chest. She forced herself to reread the message again, going through the code-phrases that Vivian had made all her friends learn, checking them off against each sentence. "Share the pain" was a warning of an empire-level conflict, "Cousin Andrei" was code for the Kintark, and her friend mentioned "home" which was a reference to Terra. Unless Commander Grayson had lost her mind, she was actually trying to warn her friends about a massive Kintark attack and to stay well clear of Terra!

Jack had wanted her to get in contact with John and Calara to warn them that the border worlds on the Outer Rim had been abandoned and left undefended. Now Maria realised her husband clearly didn't know half of what was going on. She swiped across the comm interface and began scouring through hundreds of recent messages from her old colleagues, her eyes widening in horror as she caught up on exactly what had been happening within the Terran Federation recently...

All contents © Copyright 1996-2023. Literotica is a registered trademark.

Desktop versionT.O.S.PrivacyReport a ProblemSupport

Version ⁨1.0.2+795cd7d.adb84bd⁩

We are testing a new version of this page. It was made in 60 milliseconds