THREE SQUARE MEALS CH. 010

Alyssa looked down over her lovers and saw that she had their undivided attention. They listened to her eagerly, intrigued to learn more about the beautiful blonde girl they cared so much about.

"As you know, I grew up on Karron. It's a bleak inhospitable place, a massive asteroid that's been gradually hollowed out as the mines have dug deeper. Slums have built up in the old abandoned tunnels and there's thousands of people living there now."

Calara didn't know much about Alyssa's history at all, so she lay there enraptured by the tale. John nodded encouragingly for the beautiful blonde to continue.

"My mother died shortly after childbirth." she began. "My father was a miner and died in a mining accident when I was six years old." she said, continuing with her tragic tale.

"He was a good man, but we lived on the breadline even when he was working. After he was gone, I had nothing and no-one to turn too, so I was put in an orphanage." she said, her exquisite mouth twisting with distaste.

"In a terrible, dangerous place like Karron, there's no end of orphans and the orphanage was cramped and overcrowded. I stuck it out there for a couple of years, but the vicious bullying made it as bad a place to be as the streets, so I left."

"I tried begging and scavenging for a while, just barely managing to get enough food to stay alive. By the time I hit eleven and had started to physically mature, I learned I had to watch out for other kinds of predators." she continued grimly.

"When times got really bad, I..." she paused, struggling to go on for a moment. Calara got up and knelt at Alyssa's side, offering her a comforting arm around her shoulders. John laid his hand reassuringly on her leg, his heavy grip feeling warm, reassuring and supportive.

Alyssa continued haltingly, "...sometimes I did what I had to do to survive. Some men were nice, some weren't..." she shuddered involuntarily.

Calara and John were shocked. They had no idea their warm and bubbly young companion had experienced such a horrific start in life. John hadn't know his parents, but at least he had grandparents who had loved him dearly and had looked after him in his formative years. Calara's family were career military and she had had a strict but enjoyable upbringing, living with her loving parents and three older brothers.

"Anyway, I'm sure I would have ended up getting killed by some deranged miner, but that's when I met Sparks." For the first time in her tale, Alyssa's lovely face brightened.

"I was 14 years old when I first met her. Sparks was the same age as me and we ran into each other scavenging in a junk pile. Sparks is extraordinarily gifted at fixing and working with machines and she was looking for parts. I offered to help, having no idea what I was looking for and we soon became great friends." Alyssa smiled wistfully at the memories.

"Sparks was an orphan too, but her skills at fixing things made her useful to one of the gangs. She was kind of adopted by the Diablo's and she kept their gear in good shape in exchange for food. She used to share with me and in exchange I'd go collecting parts for her." she said fondly.

"I kept my head down and managed to survive, largely thanks to Sparks. I never had to... get extra money, ever again. Unfortunately one of the gangers took a shine to me... there was an incident and I had to escape. That's when I boarded your freighter John and now here I am."

John opened his arms for Alyssa, wanting to hold her in his arms and reassure her that nothing bad was ever going to happen to her again. The beautiful blonde smiled warmly at him, and moved in to cuddle up at his side, with Calara moving in to embrace her friend from behind. Alyssa could feel the brunette shuddering as she tried to suppress her tears at hearing her lovers terrible tale. Alyssa could sense overwhelming sadness tinged with heartfelt love and compassion coming from the young woman. The blonde reached back to stroke the Latina's leg comfortingly.

"Thank you for telling me your story Alyssa." John said gently. "I'm sorry you had such an appalling start in life."

The lovely blonde kissed him softly. "It wasn't your fault, you have nothing to apologise for. I appreciate your kind thoughts though." she said, smiling up at him lovingly.

"So what prompted you to tell us about it now?" He asked curiously.

"Well we're only a day from Karron now and I know we're going there mainly for more Tyrenium, but I wanted to ask you two if you would mind another passenger?" she asked tentatively.

"Another passenger, what do you mean?" John asked curiously.

"Sparks." Alyssa said succinctly. "I owe that girl my life and I think she'd make a great crewmember here. She's amazing with machines and I think she could be really useful."

"Besides... " she went on, her voice trembling with emotion. "I'd like to save her from Karron. She's too special to waste another day in that shithole."

John looked over Alyssa's shoulder and made eye contact with Calara, who nodded her agreement eagerly, a warm smile on her face.

"Who am I to argue with my XO?" John smiled at Alyssa playfully. "She is in charge of recruitment after all!"

Alyssa laughed gaily, relief washing over her as her musical laughter filled the room.

"Thank you John, it means a lot to me." she thanked him sincerely, her voice full of emotion.

"No problem." he smiled at her fondly. "Besides, look how well your last hire turned out!"

Calara grinned at them and they cuddled up together happily.

"Hey Calara." Alyssa asked. "Do you think we should be worried?"

"Worried, why?" Calara asked, suddenly concerned.

"Well John just agreed to expand our crew. Maybe us two aren't enough to satisfy him anymore?" the mischievous blonde said playfully.

"Hey wait a minute!" John cut in "I didn't mean it like that!"

Calara sat up and played along "Maybe we should show him we can still be his good girls and take care of him properly." she said to Alyssa. "We're sorry you had to miss an emptying the other day." she frowned in apology to John, gently stroking his quad.

The girls moved smoothly as one so that Calara was lying on her back with Alyssa astride her, their lovely firm breasts pressed together. They closed their eyes and presented him with two soft pouting mouths shaped into ovals.

John's denials died abruptly when he saw the gorgeous teenagers offering themselves up for him like that. His rapidly growing erection led the way as he shuffled over and sank into Alyssa's welcoming mouth, bottoming out deep in her accommodating throat. He held her head dominantly as he began to stroke in and out, delighting at the soft wet touch of Calara's tongue as she licked each of his balls in turn.

"You are good girls." he said earnestly as he pulled back out of the young blonde's mouth and then aimed lower and pushed forward into the exquisite tightness of Calara's proffered throat. He thrust his hips until her lovely lips encircled the base of his shaft, his balls hanging directly above her. Alyssa kissed his stomach tenderly and then sat up to kiss him on the mouth as he fucked the pretty brunette's face.

"Doesn't that feel better John?" she asked him rhetorically, before giving him a heated kiss. Alyssa enjoyed hearing his breathing get more uneven as he started losing control and she broke away from the kiss and looked him in the eyes.

"Now remember to share, we both want a nice breakfast." she said naughtily.

She lowered herself down again so her nipples were brushing Calara's and lovingly kissed his stomach, waiting patiently for his creamy load.

John panted as he got more turned on. He had not one, but two lovely teenagers eager to service him and now Alyssa wanted to add a third? That thought drove him over the edge and his balls tensed up, ready to deliver their hefty contents. He hunched forward as he came, holding on to Alyssa's shoulders to keep his balance.

The lovely blonde teen was looking down directly over Calara and she was fascinated to watch her olive toned neck throb in time with the jerking of John's cock, as he pumped his load directly into the gorgeous Latina's empty stomach. Alyssa could feel the brunette's toned abdomen start to rise underneath her own slim tummy, as spurt after heavy spurt rounded out the young girl's belly. She saw the bulge in Calara's neck begin to move back up and Alyssa knew excitedly that it would be her turn soon.

She moved down so her mouth was practically on top of Calara's, so John could switch girls without spilling a drop. His broad head was suddenly pushing at her lips and a blast of sweet tasting cum filled her mouth. She swallowed it down as his massive cock glided over her tongue and then began sliding effortlessly down her throat, his way lubricated by the slick layer of cum. Alyssa made sure he was deep inside her with her lips wrapped around his root and she suckled at him, coaxing him to empty every last sperm out of his balls and into her belly. She made sure to swallow continuously so that her throat would massage his length and heighten his orgasm.

John groaned as his taut balls finally stopped flexing, having released all their cum into the girls beneath him. He gently slid out of Alyssa's mouth and flopped backwards on to the bed, making sure he was in the middle so each girl could lie on either side of him. Alyssa moved to his right and Calara to his left as had become their custom and the girls snuggled up to him feeling warm and soft against his body. He noticed both girls were absent-mindedly stroking their gently rounded tummies, his enormous load big enough to comfortably fill both their stomachs.

Alyssa noticed him watching her and she looked up at him, staring into his eyes. "Just let me know John, whenever you're ready." she said invitingly.

"Whenever he's ready for what?" Calara asked curiously.

"Alyssa..." John said warningly, but of course the beautiful blonde ignored him completely.

"I told John that he can be a daddy whenever he wants." Alyssa explained helpfully.

"Wow, you're pregnant?" Calara asked, her eyes widening.

"No, no, not yet." Alyssa clarified. "When John decides he's ready, he just has to let me know and he can impregnate me."

Calara's thighs began to rub together as she grew excited "That's actually really hot!" she exclaimed.

"Have you ever thought about having children?" Alyssa asked innocently.

"Alyssa..." John said warningly. The mischievous blonde just smiled up at him impishly.

Calara looked contemplative as she thought it over. "I hadn't planned to have children until I was a bit older, once I had built up a successful career. I thought I'd eventually become tactical officer on a big ship and really be able to do some good, before finding the right man and falling in love. Then when we were ready, I'd have children then."

"Sounds like a good plan." John said encouragingly, seeing a chance to deflect where this was heading.

"Then again, I'm already on a huge ship doing good deeds and I've fallen in love with the perfect man!" Calara sighed happily. She looked up at him ardently "John, let me know when you'd like me to have your baby and you can get me pregnant too!"

John groaned helplessly. "I'm honoured Calara, truly, and I love you so much, but..."

Alyssa cut in "We could be pregnant at the same time! Can you Imagine, we'd both have baby bumps and then be mummies together!" She grinned happily at the brunette.

Calara squealed excitedly, climbing lithely over John to wrap Alyssa in a loving hug.

John thought to himself for a moment. "What's the matter with you? Just look at them for god's sake!" His heart skipped a beat when he sat up and looked at the gorgeous teens he loved so much.

"Ladies..." he said and both girls looked up at him expectantly.

"You are both stunningly beautiful girls and I love you more than anything in the galaxy. You are intelligent, kind and caring and would make perfect mothers for my children." John said honestly.

Two sets of doe eyes looked up at him adoringly and they sighed happily together.

"I think we should wait a little while, as you're both only just 18. I promise you though, I want to start a family with both of you when the time is right." he said, stroking their rounded tummies gently.

Calara and Alyssa moved swiftly to embrace him, their eyes filling with blissfully happy tears. They cuddled together feeling happier than any of them had thought possible before.

The rest of the day proved uneventful after all the startling revelations and declarations of love in the morning. The girls were good to their word and at lunchtime Calara knelt between John's legs eagerly sucking his cock, impatient for him to fill her stomach again. In the evening it was Alyssa's turn to be the vessel for his cum and she smiled at him contentedly after he gave her a huge load to keep her tummy warm that night.

They awoke the next day and dressed quickly before heading up to the bridge. The Invictus was about to arrive at Karron and they were all keen to see their destination after almost two weeks of travel. The cruiser left Hyper-warp and Alyssa plotted a course that would dock them directly with the mining colony.

There were only three available docking bays available at Karron and the Invictus was too large to fit into two of them. They had to wait 20 painfully slow minutes until a huge heavy freighter pulled clear of the last bay and headed off into the blackness of space. Alyssa skilfully docked the huge cruiser, guiding the ship carefully into the tight fit of the bored out tunnel that opened out into the docking bay. As the cruiser glided to a halt with the aid of retro thrusters, massive airlock doors creaked closed behind them and a force field sprung into place over the tunnel as an extra precaution against depressurisation.

"Ok then, let's get moving." John said to Alyssa.

They had decided earlier that Calara would stay back on the ship, to keep watch over their home. An assault cruiser was a whole lot more tempting that a small, worn old freighter like the Fool's Gold, so John was far more wary of leaving it undefended. Calara was disappointed not to be able to come along too, but she understood his reasoning and didn't make a fuss. She kissed her lovers goodbye, with warnings to stay safe and be careful.

"So where too first?" Alyssa asked John, as they exited the airlock in the side of the Invictus.

They had landed in a huge rough hewn docking bay, designed to load the hulking freighters that came to take away the thousands of tons of valuable ore that were mined from the asteroid. Loading equipment and Storage crates lined the darkened edges of the bay and loomed in the shadows, making the loading dock seem sinister and foreboding.

"I thought we could go and meet your friend." he suggested. "We've waited two weeks for the Tyrenium, a few more hours won't hurt."

The beautiful young blonde nodded eagerly and led him out of the docking bay through a towering set of doors and into the dusty and grimy spaceport that guarded the way into Karron. The couple were dressed in street clothes, as wearing combat armour and carrying assault rifles would have attracted too much unwanted attention. Going completely unarmed would have been foolish though, so they each carried a heavy pistol on their hips.

They crossed through the initial huge open cave areas, which housed the docking area and the mercantile district. There were no aliens to be seen here, the crowds bartering noisily around the bustling market consisted entirely of pale skinned humans, or "worms" as they were known to the less than polite visitor. John wove through the throng of people, following behind his beautiful companion as she skilfully navigated the crowds. She led him away from the central hub of the colony and soon the tunnels got smaller and more claustrophobic, as they wound their way deeper into the bowels of the asteroid.

John would have been completely lost without his infallible teenage guide, who seemed to know these tunnels like the back of her hand. His mind flitted back to her tragic tale of her life on Karron and his heart felt heavy at the thought of his wonderful girl having to go through so much at such an early age. They eventually reached Diablo territory, which he could tell by the red jacketed, pasty white gangers slouching insolently at every intersection.

"Aren't you worried someone might recognise you?" He whispered to Alyssa.

She turned slightly to face him, a gleaming white smile on her tanned face, her golden hair tumbling past her shoulders and down her back. She was a picture of vibrant health and beauty.

"Ok silly question." he said, grinning wryly.

Alyssa finally led him up to a closed steel door, flanked by two heavily scarred men in gang jackets.

"Hey chief, what do you want eh?" One of the ghostly pale gang members asked John, watching him warily.

Before he could speak, Alyssa cut in "We're here to buy some custom gear from Sparks, we don't want any trouble."

She handed the man a credit stick for one hundred credits "For your assistance..." she said, smiling disarmingly.

Powerless to resist such a beautiful woman bearing gifts, the ganger let them through with a casual wave of his hand. His dour faced companion punched a button on a wall mounted panel and the locks on the reinforced door clanked open and swung open for them with an ominous creak.

John followed along behind the blonde, the darkly lit tunnels reverberating with wolf whistles as she strolled elegantly past gangers. The flirtatious comments and whistling grew quiet in her wake as the gangers spotted John and eyed him suspiciously. They eventually reached a workshop cut into a side tunnel, the bright light from a welding torch casting dancing shadows through the entrance and on to the wall of the tunnel opposite.

"Hey Sparks! You got a moment?" Alyssa called out in a friendly, familiar manner to a small, wiry figure bent over a workbench.

The welding torch cut out a moment later and the figure stood upright, lifting the heavy welding mask from her face as she half turned towards them. John could see a pasty white face looking hopefully in their direction for a moment, before the hopes were dashed and replaced by a dark scowl.

"Custom gear's over there Blondie." she said dismissively as she waved a finger over at weapon racks on the wall before turning back to continue with her welding.

John followed the direction of the girl's pointing finger to see a surprisingly clean and well cared for set of weapon racks, filled with elaborate custom pistols and sub machine guns. The weapons gleamed in the dull light of the workshop, looking sleek and deadly. He walked over to look at them more closely and saw that the sinister looking black and chrome weapons were actually the work of a highly skilled gunsmith. He picked up a heavy bore pistol and was impressed by its excellent craftsmanship as he turned it carefully in his hand. Even the scope was surprising, with its powerful zoom and infrared capabilities, far beyond anything he expected to see in a colony like this. He carefully replaced it on the weapon rack, feeling a newfound respect for its creator and turned to focus on the reunion in the workshop.

Alyssa moved closer to the tetchy figure and tried again "Don't you recognise me Sparks?" she asked tentatively.

The wiry girl seemed to tense with irritation before turning off the oxy-acetylene torch and pulling off her cumbersome welding mask and turning right around to look at them squarely. Now John could see her clearly, he noticed a livid looking red scar all over the left side of her face and running down her neck. The girl could have once been considered pretty, if not for the disfiguring burn that looked to be many years old. The girl was ghostly white like all the locals at Karron and the small figure had a shock of short, spiky red hair.

"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.

Moments later, over a dozen red jacketed gang members came bursting in through the entryway into the hangar. They drew their weapons and pointed them at John and the Mercenaries. "Let her go!" a bulky ganger with a mohawk shouted. "She's Diablo property!"

The mercenaries on the hover trucks spun the heavy machine guns around quickly to point them at the new threat and the tension in the room ratcheted up several notches.

John opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by a booming female voice being transmitted throughout the Cargo bay. "All gang members and mercenaries will leave this Docking bay immediately." The voice said implacably "Refusal will be met with deadly force. You have ten seconds to comply".

Dozens of sets of eyes looked up at the towering hull of the Invictus, suddenly painfully aware of the four turreted Gatling lasers that had spun up and were now pointed in their direction.

"Ten." Calara said, beginning the countdown.

"I'm not kidding John, I'll splatter her brains all over the floor!" Seb shouted, waving his heavy pistol in the air for emphasis, before placing it back against the small girl's head.

"Nine." The Latina continued undaunted.

"Let her go, She's coming with us!" The gang leader shouted, as his men trained their weapons at the mercenaries.

"Eight." Calara intoned.

John tensed the muscles in his legs, getting ready to spring into action.

"Seven." The young woman's voice continued.

Alyssa touched the panel activating the airlock and then hugged the wall closely, staying out of sight. The door spiralled open silently, unnoticed in the tense Mexican standoff.

"Six." Calara's voice echoed around the docking bay.

"Shut that bitch up, John!" Seb bellowed, furious that his carefully laid plans had unravelled so quickly.

"Five." came the booming reply.

"You better do as she says." John called out "She isn't bluffing!"

"Four." Calara said relentlessly.

The mercenaries and gangers were looking increasingly worried. Staring down a two meter long gun barrel will do that to a man.

"Three." The Latina said in a flat emotionless voice.

"Let her go man, she's my property!" The gang leader shouted, the nervous tremor to his voice betraying his fear.

"Two." Calara's countdown continued unabated.

"Last chance John, surrender now!" Seb yelled angrily.

Alyssa suddenly appeared around the edge of the airlock, her assault rifle at her shoulder.

"One!" The blonde teen sang out, her melodic voice piercing the scene playing out in the room. Her rifle chattered and Seb screamed as his wrist exploded, his severed hand still clutching his pistol as it sailed through the air.

John burst into action, charging directly towards the crippled mine owner who was screaming in pain and holding the bloodied stump of his wrist with his other hand. Sparks had been thrown to the ground and was cowering in fear as the mercenaries with rifles and pistols opened up on John. They weren't expecting him to sprint right past them though, so a fusillade of small arms fire sailed around him harmlessly as he ran flat out towards the mine owner, moving too fast for the surprised mercs to react in time. John barrelled into the critically injured man, shoulder charging him with a ceramic plated pad that sent Seb sprawling and leaving John to bounce off and drop to a crouch next to the frightened redhead.

The low pitched whir of the Gatling lasers was drowned out as Calara opened up with the Invictus. Rapid Staccato blasts of laser fire arced outwards, illuminating the dimly lit room with strobing flashes. The hover trucks were hit by dozens of high energy pulses, the vehicles exploding as the multi barrelled Gatling lasers chewed threw them in seconds and tore them to pieces.

The Gangers could only stare in horror as the last two Gatling lasers turned in their direction and sprayed the wide doorway with a long continuous burst of laser fire. Most of the Diablo's managed to throw themselves to the ground or leap behind storage crates, but two gang members weren't so lucky. One was hit by several laser bolts, each hit searing holes straight through his body and leaving his torso looking like a smouldering Swiss cheese as he toppled over. The other was hit in the shoulder, the laser bolt penetrating clean through and melting the entire shoulder joint. The man's arm fell to the floor, the charred stump glowing with the heat of the impact and he collapsed to his knees in shock, his mouth agape in horror.

"Get behind those crates!" John ordered curtly to Sparks, pointing to some sturdy storage containers stacked against the side of the room. The terrified teenager looked up at him wide eyed, before she managed to shake off her fear and started crawling in the direction John had pointed. John attempted to shield the girl, using his armoured body to cover her as she scampered away. Round after round went sailing over his head, but a few hit his arms and back, ricocheting off the tough ceramic plates. He winced as he felt the impacts, one round slammed into his right thigh between ceramic plates and caused him to flinch in pain.

Alyssa's eyes narrowed with anger as she sighted in on the mercenaries shooting at her lover and friend. Her assault rifle chattered in multiple bursts as she took steps to eliminate that danger. The first burst hit a merc who was crouched behind a crate firing his pistol wildly. The three hollow point rounds hit him squarely in the head and his skull exploded as the caseless ammo blasted out the other side.

The second burst hit a merc standing in the open, who had stepped out of cover to try and shoot around his colleagues, his line of sight to John blocked after his reckless charge. These rounds punched into the merc's torso from the side, eviscerating him as the bullets tore through his body and leaving him writhing on the floor in agony.

Her final shot hit a merc in the leg as he tried in vain to conceal himself behind a crate. Two of the bullets hit him in the calf and the last blew out his knee, showering the crate in gore. The man slumped to the ground screaming in pain as he clutched his ruined leg.

The Diablo's cowered behind crates as the cargo bay turned into some kind of horrific hellscape. Bright flashes of laser fire kept them pinned down and illuminated the corpses of their brothers who had been cooked by laser fire, wispy smoke rising from their charred bodies. It was a powerful reminder of what would happen to them if they broke cover, so they wisely ducked down as low as possible.

Sparks finally managed to crawl behind the sturdy storage containers stacked against the rough wall of the docking bay. The containers were pock marked with impacts from the dozens of rounds fired in their direction, but John was glad to see the containers were robust enough to stop the rounds from penetrating. He followed the young woman behind the crates, glad to be out of the line of fire for a moment.

"Are you ok?" He asked the scared girl as she huddled up against the crate, trying to make herself as small as possible.

"Yeah, I didn't get hit." Sparks replied, much to John's relief.

The gunfire from the mercs had gone quiet for a moment, when they weren't able to shoot at him any longer. After a brief pause, he heard numerous small arms firing again, but this time the rounds weren't headed in his direction. He held his assault rifle at the ready and carefully leaned out behind the crate, to see what the remaining mercenaries were shooting at. He saw they were firing towards his ship's airlock and he heard the distinctive chatter of one of his assault rifles firing back defiantly. John saw the muzzle flash at the airlock door and that sudden flare of light revealed a mane of golden hair.

"Goddamnit!" he swore. *Get down Alyssa!* he shouted in his mind, praying his fearless companion was listening to his thoughts like before. He was greatly relieved when she immediately disappeared from view. He had the mercs in a good crossfire from his current position and he was able to drop two more with carefully aimed bursts, before the rest of the mercenary team reacted and ducked down low behind cover.

Unfortunately for both the mercenaries and the Diablo's, the storage crates proved scant protection against the ship mounted Gatling lasers. These weapons were designed to take out lightly armoured fighters, so a few inches of Reinforced plastic might be able to stop a hollow point round, but it was powerless to protect against penetration by the searing laser bolts.

Calara began to walk laser fire along the defensive positions held by the two hostile groups. Glowing holes were punched through the reinforced plastic of the storage crates before the laser bolts connected with soft flesh, screams of pain announcing every successful strike. Pitiful cries of surrender began to drift up around the loading bay and John contacted Calara using his watch communicator and asked her to cease fire.

"Ok it's over, get out of here!" John shouted loudly to the terrified attackers, their morale truly broken.

The seven remaining Diablo's stopped to pick up their fallen brothers and dragged them from the Loading bay. The mohawked leader was one of the survivors and he turned to face John before he left.

"This ain't over chief, the Diablo's have got long memories!" he snarled. When two of the Gatling lasers began to spin up and track him, his bravado disappeared and he fled the docking bay.

John saw the three surviving mercs crawl out of cover and limp away, leaving their fallen behind. John took a quick glance at the abandoned corpses, but he couldn't see Seb anywhere. He noticed a bloody trail leading out of the docking bay from where he had sent the mine owner sprawling and figured he must have crawled away during the heat of combat.

"Are you ok to walk?" he asked Sparks.

The teen nodded tentatively and John offered her a strong hand to help her stand up. Adrenalin was fast wearing off and the young woman stood on wobbly legs, reluctant to let go of John's supportive arm. He helped her to walk towards the airlock on the Invictus.

Alyssa came dashing out to their side, her face concerned. "Are you both ok? Did either of you get hit?" she asked, worried.

"I'm going to get a nasty couple of bruises, but other than that, all good!" John replied reassuringly.

The gorgeous blonde moved to hug them both, but John held her off for a moment.

"Let's get inside the ship first, I'm still feeling a bit exposed here." He said, glancing over his shoulder at the writhing figures still lying in the slaughterhouse that the docking bay had become. Alyssa helped Sparks through the airlock on her shaky legs, while John entered the Cargo bay and pressed the controls that would re-seal the outer hull of the Invictus. He walked briskly over to meet up with the girls in the corridor and they took the elevator up to the bridge.

The door swished open quietly and they walked out on to the bridge. Alyssa watched her friend with amusement as Sparks stood open mouthed with awe at the technical wonder that was the command deck of the Invictus. The multi levelled bridge was illuminated with the light blue glow of the holographical tactical images projected into the centre of the room.

Calara stood up from her tactical station when she heard them arrive and came over to meet them. "I'm so glad you're all ok!" she said, relief showing clearly on her face when she saw that they weren't injured.

"It's our very own deus ex machina!" exclaimed John upon seeing Calara and he moved forward to sweep her up in a warm hug. "That was awesome honey, you were amazing!" he said proudly.

The gorgeous Latina beamed up at him, glowing with his praise.

"Thanks for the rescue you guys." Sparks said in a small voice, clearly intimidated by the massive ship and yet another ravishingly beautiful woman.

"Oh sorry, I'm being rude." John apologised to the girls. "Calara, this is Alyssa's old friend Sparks. Sparks, this is Calara, we're lucky to have her as the Tactical Officer on the Invictus".

"And she's quite lovely too!" Alyssa said warmly, moving in to wrap Calara in a hug. "You did a great job today Calara. Thank you for saving these two!" she grinned happily.

"You're all welcome!" the gorgeous brunette smiled at them, her deep brown eyes warm and friendly.

"Why don't we go the debriefing room and we can have a chat." John suggested to the young women gathered around him.

The three teenagers followed after him as he led them to the as yet unused door, on the other side of the bridge. The door led into a sizeable room, with a long meeting table dominating the space, surrounded by plush, comfortable looking chairs. A long window ran the length of the room, which would no doubt provide spectacular views, but unfortunately all they could see at the moment was the rough hewn rock of the Docking bay wall. John gestured for the girls to sit and once they had moved to take their seats, he sat in the luxurious leather chair at the head of the table.

"Alyssa, why don't you explain to Sparks what you had in mind for her onboard the Invictus?" John prompted gently.

The beautiful blonde nodded happily and gleefully launched into a long and detailed explanation of her plans for her spiky haired young friend, shocking the pale teen to the core.

"Now wait a minute, let me just get this straight..." Sparks said. "You want me to join the crew as Chief Engineer and sail around the galaxy in this monster of a ship. I get an almost unlimited budget to maintain the Invictus and I can work on whatever side-projects I like. I get to hang out with my BFF and I'm going to end up looking like these two goddesses." she said waving her hand towards Alyssa and Calara.

"And all you want in exchange, is for me to dyke out with beautiful and gorgeous here from time to time and have Mr Handsome blow me up like a balloon whenever he wants?" the redhead asked.

Calara and Alyssa nodded serenely, lovely warm smiles on their perfect faces.

"That's about the size of it I guess." John said hesitantly, a bit startled by her blunt delivery.

"Well show me where to sign up!!" Sparks grinned excitedly.

John chuckled loudly. "Welcome to the team." he said, smiling at Sparks warmly.

Alyssa stood and wrapped her old friend in a big hug "I'm so happy you're coming with us!" she said, overjoyed.

Calara gave the little redhead a hug too "I'm looking forward to getting to know you." she said smiling, her voice friendly and welcoming.

"Well I don't know about you girls, but I think I've had quite enough of Karron." John said soberly. The young women nodded, agreeing with him wholeheartedly.

"Alyssa, please take us out of here and plot a course to Port Olympus." he requested as the group left the briefing room and stepped back on to the bridge.

"I better speak to the Star port authorities and explain the carnage in the Loading bay." he said, grimacing. "I'll be in my ready room. Let me know when we're under way."

John strode away, disappearing into his office.

"Wow he's a real take-charge kind of a guy isn't he?" Sparks commented to Calara, turning to look at the Latina.

"Uh-huh." the gorgeous brunette nodded dreamily, as she watched John disappear into the side room with adoring eyes.

Sparks left Calara to her tactical station and the redhead turned to look at Alyssa, who had darted up to the Executive Officer's chair. Sparks followed her old friend up on to the command podium and watched in amazement as the enthusiastic blonde rapidly plotted a course back to the centre of Terran Federation power. The girl's hands flickered over the controls and holographic system charts sprung into being, the glowing blue line of her projected flight path linking system to system.

"How do you know how to do all that?" Sparks boggled in amazement.

Alyssa shrugged self-deprecatingly. "I had some spare time and John needed a navigator." she said, smiling happily as she added the finishing touches to their route back to the core worlds. She raised a delicate finger to her full lips, gesturing for her friend to hold the questions for a moment.

"Karron starport this is the cruiser Invictus." She stated, her voice calm and confident. "Requesting clearance to leave Docking Bay three."

"Clearance granted Invictus." The communications officer at the starport replied.

Warning lights began to flash in the loading area and a hexagonal pattered force field sprung into being, sealing off the cruiser from the rest of the Docking bay. Shortly afterwards, the force field sealing the outer bay doors winked out of existence and the massive airlock squealed in protest as the doors opened, depressurising the tunnel out into the vacuum of space.

Sparks watched astounded as Alyssa eased the sleek cruiser out of the crudely bored out tunnel and then clear of the asteroid. The beautiful blonde rotated the ship smoothly and then powered up the enormous engines, causing the Invictus to surge forward on its way towards the Nav beacon.

"Say goodbye to Karron, Sparks." Alyssa said to her old friend in a quiet voice. "I promise you, the rest of the galaxy has so much more to offer."

The redhead nodded mutely as Alyssa activated the FTL drive and their ship leapt into Hyper-warp and away from Karron. Sparks watched the asteroid in the system map and saw Karron grow tiny before disappearing behind them as the Invictus raced away. She was finally leaving the colony where she had spent her entire life.

"To the future." Sparks thought to herself, feeling a bit scared, but daring to hope for the first time.