Three Square Meals Ch. 010

"Oh yeah, I remember you from our old modelling days!" Sparks scoffed sarcastically. "Now why are you bothering me?!" she blurted out, annoyed at the interruption to her work.

"It's me..." The stunningly beautiful blonde continued "Alyssa..."

Sparks snorted with laughter "Haha! Good one, who put you up to it? Fat Tony? Choppy Bob?" she grinned good naturedly.

"It's not a joke, it's really me." the blonde said calmly.

Sparks rolled her eyes and laughed derisively.

"Four years ago we got caught in a street-fight and one of the Fletcher brothers stuck me with a knife, right here." Alyssa said pointing to just above her right hip.

Sparks laughter died as she looked at Alyssa a bit more closely for a moment. She then shook her head and grinned "Nice try Blondie, but plenty of people were there at that fight."

"Yes, but it was only us there when you helped stitch me up and you told me that holding on to your lucky penny would make it hurt less." Alyssa said, her melodic voice catching.

"How in the hell did you know that?" Sparks blurted out, before throwing the welding gear aside and striding right up to Alyssa.

Now that she was this close, the ghostly pale teenager did a double take as she stared at the beautiful blonde's lovely face. She recognised the piercing blue eyes, her mouth, her ears; she could see parts of her old friends face, but this stunningly attractive woman was over 6 inches taller than her friend, just to start with!

"What are you?" Sparks said, her eyes narrowing with suspicion. "Some kind of a robot?" she poked Alyssa's arm. "What did you do to my friend?" she said growing angry.

"It's me Sparks!" Alyssa said, growing exasperated. "We met four years ago. I used to gopher for you in exchange for food. I used to sleep over there." she said, pointing to a tucked away corner of the workshop. "I left here 6 weeks ago, because Georgio tried to rape me and I stuck him with a knife!"

The ghostly pale teenager stood there opened mouthed at Alyssa's outburst. "It really is you..." she whispered in a stunned voice, her eyes wide. "But you're tall and so beautiful now! What happened? Was it some kind of luxury bodysculpt job or something?" She asked, while walking around Alyssa, her face showing her shock as she studied the blonde's incredible body.

"My body changed, but it's still me." Alyssa said, smiling warmly.

"You don't even sound the same any more!" Sparks blurted out. "Your voice used to be more scratchy. Now you sound like... liquid honey." the confused girl said, struggling to find an appropriate description.

Alyssa's musical laughter filled the workshop.

"See! That's what I mean! No-one should sound that happy, it makes me want to smile just hearing your laugh!" Sparks said, desperately trying to reconcile the new Alyssa with the old.

"I know it's a lot to take in Sparks." Alyssa said. "I stowed away on that freighter, like you suggested I should and it turned out it was owned by this guy." the lovely blonde girl said, smiling towards John.

"John, this is Sparks." she said. "Sparks this is John."

"Nice to meet you." John said, offering his hand. Sparks shook it warily.

"So then my body went through some changes and I've been on a load of adventures. We decided to come back here to Karron and I wanted to come and see you and get you to come with us and leave this place!" Alyssa said in an excited rush.

"Leave?" Sparks said, sitting down on a nearby stool in a daze.

The spiky haired red-head sat quietly for a moment, thinking things through. "If what you're saying is true, then I'd love to come with you, but the Diablo's aren't going to just let me walk, they make too much money from my custom work." she said cautiously.

"Just say you're going scavenging and then meet up with us on the ship. By the time they realise you're not coming back, we'll be out of here!" Alyssa said enthusiastically.

"But what about all my gear?" Sparks said. "I can't just leave all that behind, it's taken me years to collect all these tools and equipment."

"Don't worry about that, I'll replace anything you leave behind." John interjected.

"Gee thanks, Daddy Warbucks!" Sparks said sarcastically. "Do you have any idea how much it would cost to replace all this stuff?" she said, waving her arms around encompassing the workshop.

John shrugged nonchalantly "Alyssa wants you to join us, so the cost isn't a problem."

"Come see the ship." Alyssa urged, "You'll see we're genuine once you're on board." she said encouragingly.

"Ok I'll come see, for old time's sake." Sparks said, not daring to build up her hopes.

"Thanks Sparks!" Alyssa grinned happily and wrapped the smaller girl in a tight hug.

They broke apart and Alyssa saw Sparks eyeing her chest suspiciously. "Go ahead," she invited warmly "they're real." she grinned.

Sparks reached out tentatively and gently cupped Alyssa's big firm breasts in her small pale hands. "Wow, they're amazing!" she gasped in awe.

"I know, right?" Alyssa beamed happily at her friend. "Don't worry, I'll explain everything properly back at the ship." she told her old friend reassuringly.

John and Alyssa exited the workshop, leaving a very confused and bewildered girl behind them. They left the Diablo's base without any trouble and wound their way back through the claustrophobic tunnels to return to Karron's central caves.

"Do you want to go to the mine now?" Alyssa asked John inquisitively.

"No, I don't think so, not yet. Let's go back to the ship and gear up. If there's any chance of getting into a gunfight with a street gang, I want you in body armour." he replied, his voice tinged with worry.

Alyssa smiled at him and nodded, touched by his overprotective nature. John contacted Calara using the communicator built into his watch and let her know they were headed back. She met them at the airlock and beamed happily at them as they came back onboard.

"It's just a fleeting visit honey, we wanted to get our combat gear. We might have trouble with a street gang on the horizon." John explained. Calara nodded her understanding and came up with them to their quarters to help them get suited up in their body armour.

John picked up his deadly looking assault rifle and loaded the bullpup magazine with a satisfying click. He followed his normal weapons check and held the high tech weapon to his shoulder to look through the integrated scope and made sure everything was fully operational. He turned to look at Alyssa and was surprised to see her holding his backup rifle, the sister to his one. She slapped in a magazine and performed an identical check with the scope. Alyssa saw him watching her and she winked at him impishly.

They said farewell to Calara a second time and asked her to watch out for their recently invited guest. They left the docking bay again, receiving startled looks from passersby as they strode through the spaceport terminal at a determined pace. They hailed a taxi and asked the driver to take them to the Mortimer Mine.

The journey to the mine seemed to flash by, and in no time John and Alyssa were in Seb Mortimer's office. The mine owner seemed delighted to see John again and clasped his hand in a warm handshake. Alyssa watched the interaction half-heartedly. Being back on Karron had been tough going for the young woman, everywhere she looked seemed to be dredging up bad memories from her past.

"Hey Seb, it's great to see you again. How's the mine been running?" John asked the mine owner politely.

"Great thanks John, it's really good to see you again too." Seb replied cheerily.

*You fucker, you have the balls to come back here after ripping me off?!* someone snarled furiously.

The incandescent rage of the second speaker had Alyssa whirling around, her eyes darting about trying to find who had just spoken.

"Are you ok there Alyssa?" John asked, wondering what his young lover was doing.

"Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry about me." She replied distractedly.

"Sorry Seb, I'm being rude. This is Alyssa, my Executive Officer." John introduced them courteously.

"Nice to meet you miss." Seb replied with a smile on his face.

*So you spent my money on whores, and flaunt this slut in front of my face?!* the enraged voice barked.

Alyssa looked around bug eyed. Where was this other person? Why was no-one else reacting to the crazy stuff he was saying?!

"Err, nice to meet you." She stammered.

John wondered what had gotten into Alyssa, he had never seen her behave like this before.

"I was wondering if you had mined any more Tyrenium?" He asked Seb politely. "I was looking to purchase some more if you have any for sale?" He enquired, laying the foundations for another trade.

"Well we tapped out that vein in the end, but I've got nearly 20 tons stored that I'm looking to sell." Seb explained.

*Come round for a second bite? You little fuck, payback's going to be a bitch.* the savage voice ranted.

"Oh that's good to hear!" John grinned happily. "I'd be interested in buying all of it. Same price per ton as last time?" he asked hopefully.

"Sounds like you have a deal mister!" Seb grinned back.

*Yeah, and I'm gonna take your ship and your whore too...* The voice growled dangerously.

"Let me go tell the foreman to get the Tyrenium ready for transport. You own that big fancy cruiser down at the dock right?" Seb asked pleasantly.

John confirmed that he owned the Invictus, as Seb beamed a big smile and stood up to leave the office.

*My own warship... I'm going to fucking end you, then I think I'll make myself Lord of Karron...* the voice gloated.

Alyssa watched Seb leave, her eyes wide with panic.

She grabbed Johns arms with both hands, surprising him with the strength of her grip. "He's going to betray you!!" She gasped.

John stared at Alyssa, mouth agape. "What's gotten into you?" he asked.

"He's pissed about the last deal, he thinks you ripped him off! He's going to kill you and take me and the ship!" She pleaded for him to understand the danger they were in.

"Why would you think that?!" John gasped, shocked at this sudden outburst.

He watched Alyssa's eyes dart from side to side as though she was rapidly turning things over in her head. She suddenly locked eyes with him, having come to her decision.

"I can read minds. I heard his thoughts." She blurted out.

"You can what?!...." John stammered, stunned.

"It's only been you up until now..." Alyssa tried to explain.

"You've been reading my mind?" John said astonished, as he tried to desperately wrap his head around this latest revelation.

Alyssa broke eye contact with him and lowered her gaze, looking guilty. "I'm sorry, I should have said earlier..."

Their conversation came to an abrupt end as they heard Seb's heavy boots outside the office door.

"Hey, welcome back." John said to Seb, managing to hide his earlier shock. "Everything good to go?"

"Sure John, let me just sort out the paperwork." The faux- friendly mine owner replied as he sat behind his desk and began to prepare the auth device, which would transfer ownership of the Tyrenium to John.

John threw a glance Alyssa's way. *Are you reading my mind now?* he asked experimentally, narrowing his eyes.

Alyssa met his gaze and gave a slight nod of her head, looking a bit contrite.

*Well I'll be damned.* John thought, his eyes widening in wonder.

Unfortunately further experimentation was cut short, as Seb held the prepped Auth device at the ready. John handed him the logging manifest for the Invictus and Seb plugged in the device and pressed a couple of buttons authorising the transaction.

"There we go." he said, smiling. He seemed to take in their ceramic plated body armour for the first time "You two in some kind of trouble?"

"Oh just a bit of gang trouble." John replied "better safe than sorry." he smiled amiably.

Seb nodded agreeably. *I'll give you trouble alright you fucker. I'm going to make you sorry you were born!* Seb thought to himself smugly.

"Ok we're all set. You two head back to the ship with the cargo and I'll come and meet you there with some extra boys to help speed up the loading." The mine owner said in a helpful manner.

*Just wait until you load the ship, then it's time to pay the piper.* Seb thought to himself, crowing over his impending victory. *This idiot won't even see it coming!*

John and Alyssa stood and shook Seb's hand, before leaving his office to meet with the truck driver who would be taking them back to the Loading dock. The whole experience was becoming increasingly surreal for Alyssa, especially when she had to smile and shake hands with Seb who was planning to kill John and do horrible things to her.

They climbed up into the cab of the massive truck and John greeted the pale skinned driver with a friendly nod. He moved to sit in the middle with Alyssa by the door. The engine rumbled loudly and the cab begin to vibrate as the chunky six wheeled vehicle began to move, leading the other 3 trucks in the convoy to the space port.

*So what's he going to do? do you know his plan?* John thought at Alyssa and then waited expectedly for her voice to appear in his head.

When nothing happened, he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. The beautiful blonde frowned at him cutely and then nodded her head.

*Oh right, you can read my mind but I can't hear your thoughts?* John reasoned, figuring out the silence.

Another little nod from Alyssa, the truck driver not taking his eyes off the road, oblivious to the silent conversation happening only inches away from him.

*Ok then, yes or no answer questions only.* he mused.

Alyssa nodded slightly, amazed at how well John was adapting to this situation and using it to their tactical advantage.

*Are they going to attack us on the way back?* he thought. A little head shake from Alyssa.

*Are they going to attack us back at the Invictus?* he wondered. A little nod from the teenager.

*Immediately?* John asked. Alyssa shook her head slightly.

*Ah, so probably after we finish loading. He's hoping to ambush us when we think the cargo is safe and our guard is down and he's bringing along his "extra boys" to help him carry out the plan?* John mused to himself.

Alyssa nodded her head animatedly before coughing to cover it up. She was very impressed, John managed to put together the whole plan based only on a couple of yes or no answers. The girl desperately wished this mind reading ability worked both ways. She had loads of questions she wanted to ask him, but she had to stay mute, it was so frustrating!

*If he's waiting till we're back at the ship, he's probably after the Invictus too?* John's question was met by another tiny nod from the apprehensive young woman at his side.

John's mind started racing as he began to formulate a plan *Ok when we get there, you excuse yourself and go and warn Calara, she'll know what she has to do. I'll distract Seb if needs be* he glanced at Alyssa to make sure she had heard his orders. She nodded firmly, a steely determination in her eyes.

*Good girl. Don't worry, we'll be fine.* he thought to her reassuringly, reaching out to take her hand in his and squeezing it gently.

The rest of the journey felt tortuous as they wove their way past dirty dilapidated slums and crawled along through dark, roughly cut tunnels. John was worrying about keeping the girls safe and Alyssa was worrying that he would forget to take care of himself.

All too soon the truck convoy arrived at the spaceport and John spoke briefly to the deck officer and port guards who waved them through. The chunky trucks rolled in to the docking bay and then parked against the left hand wall under the overhanging cargo loading equipment. John and Alyssa stepped out of the cab, just as Seb rolled up, riding in the first of two sturdy looking hover trucks. Alyssa spotted tarpaulins covering some strange lumpy shapes at the top of the hover trucks and wondered what they could be. Over a dozen stern looking men climbed out of the vehicles, but didn't seem to be making any effort to help the miners with the unloading and just loitered around.

"We'll go and open the cargo bay for you, you guys can start unloading the trucks." John suggested to the mine owner, who nodded curtly in response.

John and Alyssa walked over to the ship, the hairs on the back of John's neck standing up as though he could feel eyes watching his every move. They approached the airlock of the Invictus and he pressed his palm against the DNA reader. The airlock spiralled open invitingly and they stepped through the oval portal.

*Ok time to move!* John ordered Alyssa, as the airlock started to spiral close behind them. He went through the side door to enter the Cargo bay and the worried teen darted over to the elevator and hit the call button, tapping her foot impatiently until it arrived. She took the elevator up to the bridge, hoping to find Calara there and was relieved when she found the lovely brunette sitting at her tactical station.

"We're in trouble!" Alyssa shouted from across the bridge, as she dashed over to speak to her friend.

Calara's eyes widened as Alyssa quickly briefed her on the current situation.

"Ok I know what to do." the brunette said reassuringly, activating controls on the tactical station.

Alyssa felt confidence and determination from the tiny emotive presence that had reappeared in her mind. Feeling reassured, she spun on her feet and sprinted back to the elevator, determined to help protect John now she had carried out his orders.

Meanwhile John had opened up the cargo bay doors in the hull of the Invictus and was waiting patiently, as the miners ferried the Tyrenium into the cargo bay using Anti-grav loading sleds. He pretended to be intent on the loading operation, but out of the corner of his eye he could see Seb's mercenaries fanning out to take cover. They furtively unshouldered rifles or unholstered pistols whilst ducking behind the storage crates that were scattered around the loading dock.

Finally the last of the Tyrenium was brought into the cargo bay and John turned to face Seb and his men. All pretences were thrown aside as he saw over a dozen gun barrels aimed in his direction, Seb standing at the back with a heavy pistol in his hand.

"It's over John!" He called out. "Hands in the air and walk out of the ship" he said, his voicing sounding smug.

John raised his hands above his head and tried to look surprised and defeated as he walked forward slowly.

"You shouldn't have ripped me off you little shit." Seb gloated. "Yeah, I eventually got word of how much Tyrenium is selling for... fifty times how much you paid me for it!!" he said, his voice quivering with rage.

"I got over one hundred times the buying price actually." he said helpfully to Seb, causing the man to growl furiously through clenched teeth.

Just at that moment, several things happened at once.

Firstly, the tarpaulins on the backs of the hover trucks were thrown aside, revealing Heavy machine guns on pintle mounts that were both trained on John by grinning mercenaries.

At the same time, the door to the elevator in the Invictus swished opened quietly and Alyssa darted down the corridor to stand on the other side of the sealed airlock, her assault rifle held ready.

Unnoticed by all, armoured panels on the hull of the Invictus began to peel aside and an ominous low pitched whirr began to echo around the cargo bay.

Finally, a ghostly white girl with spiky red hair came sprinting into the Cargo bay, her face showing some relief when she saw John. "The Diablo's are after me!" Sparks cried out in alarm, before suddenly realising the tense situation she had burst into and screeched to a halt.

Seb lunged to the side grabbing Sparks in a tight grip while she stood in shock and he placed the blunt nose of his heavy pistol at her temple. "Give it up John, or this bitch gets it!" he yelled.