THREE SQUARE MEALS CH. 015

"I take it that's bad then?" Sparks asked, startled by John and Calara's shocked reaction to the mystery ship. "Who are the Kirrix exactly?"

"They are kill on sight to all species in the Galactic League" John explained briefly. "They're a parasitic insectoid species that use other life forms to incubate their young. When their larvae hatch, they eat their way out of their victims!" he said, his mouth twisting with disgust.

"I can't believe these pirates would capture slaves for them. That's diabolic, even for pirates!" Calara exclaimed, looking sickened.

"They must have been getting paid huge sums of money. At least we know how the pirates were able to afford to buy all these ships" John reasoned.

"It looks like they're making a run for it!" Alyssa said, pointing at the tactical map.

The Kirrix hive ship had undocked from the Heavy Cruiser and was pulling away from the Gas Mining facility. Similarly, the Heavy Cruiser had also disembarked from their base and was turning to run in another direction, the Destroyer and two Corvettes moving to flank it as it fled the Chendar system and the rampaging Invictus.

"We can't let the Kirrix escape!" Calara pleaded, "There's over four hundred captives on board that ship!"

"Move to engage the Kirrix please Alyssa" John said resolutely. "It can't be helped, we're going to have to let the rest of the Pirates escape" he said sadly.

Sparks turned to her console and hit a series of buttons and then focused intently on a series of reports in front of her.

Alyssa changed course to intercept the Kirrix hive ship and the Invictus surged ahead, beginning their frantic pursuit.

"Three minutes until we're in range" She said confidently.

"How long until they're far enough away from the planet to go to Hyper-warp?" John asked.

Alyssa did a few quick calculations "Five minutes" she said, looking worried.

"Diverting weapon and shield power to engines" Sparks said distractedly, swiping her hand across the subsystem distribution hologram floating above her console.

The Invictus shuddered as the massive engines throbbed with power and propelled the assault cruiser forward at a speed remarkable for a vessel that large.

"Two minutes until interception!" Alyssa exclaimed. "How did you do that Sparks?" she asked amazed.

"I disengaged the safeties. We'll be perfectly fine for a few minutes, do it for too long though and we risk rupturing the power core". Sparks replied unperturbed.

John, Calara and Alyssa exchanged worried glances.

"We'll be fine" the redhead grinned, "trust me".

Calara returned her focus to the Tactical readout of the Kirrix hive ship. She counted at least 24 turreted weapons on the top deck, each weapon barrel over 20 metres in length.

"Those are neutron beams" John warned her, "We can't go toe to toe with that kind of firepower"

"Ok we'll attack them from below" Calara said "if they change course to try and bring those guns to bear, it'll stop them jumping out of the system".

John nodded his agreement and the Invictus charged after the departing alien ship, closing the gap between them rapidly.

"One minute until we're in range" Alyssa advised everyone.

On the tactical map overhead, the icons depicting the Heavy Cruiser and its escorts blinked and disappeared as the pirates jumped out of the system.

"They got away" Calara said, disappointed.

"Maybe not!" Sparks said eagerly, as her hands glided in a blur over the console.

"What do you mean Sparks?" John asked curiously.

"Take a look at this!" The redhead exclaimed proudly.

A map of the sector appeared above the Engineering station, large enough for the rest of the bridge crew to see. The Chendar system was clearly marked and a glowing green path left the system and headed outbound, extremely complex calculations flashing alongside the route.

"I used the ship's sensors to track them and when the pirate ships jumped out, I was able to calculate their flight path. As long as we don't delay too long, we can chase them and use the ship's Interdictor to pull them out of hyper-warp" the redhead said confidently.

"Wow! That's amazing honey, great job!" John grinned at her, delighted.

"Thanks John" Sparks said thrilled that her plan had worked.

"Ten seconds until we're in range" Alyssa warned them.

Sparks made some more manipulations to the power distribution hologram that was hovering above her console.

"All systems back to normal operating levels" She said with satisfaction.

Alyssa pushed the nose down on the Invictus so that they were heading on a trajectory below the Kirrix vessel. The alien ship maintained their current heading, so the assault cruiser was able to slip out of the fire arcs of all but the two rearmost neutron beams. As they closed to their own beam laser range, the Kirrix ship opened fire, sickly green energy streams lancing out at the Invictus. Somehow Alyssa was able to dodge one of the beams with a slight course correction, but the other hit the shields with a throbbing green glow.

"Shields down to 90% John!" Sparks warned him. "We won't last long if we get hit by too many of those!"

Alyssa brought the nose of the Invictus up slightly, bringing their beam lasers to bear. Calara pulled the trigger and the six beams slashed across the shielding on the alien ship, causing blinding spirals of light as the surging energy was dissipated.

"Enemy shields still holding" Sparks called out as she began active scans of the huge alien behemoth.

Alyssa dipped the nose of the Invictus again, so that they continued on their downward course. They were no longer burning out the engines with the extra burst of speed from before, but their ship was still considerably faster than the lumbering Kirrix craft. The enemy ship fired again, hitting with both beams this time.

"Shields down to 70%" Sparks said with concern.

Fortunately they were now flying directly underneath the alien vessel and it's weaponless underbelly was exposed to the topdeck of the assault cruiser. Calara opened up with the laser cannons and a cascade of laser blasts ripped into the bottom of the enemy ship, their shields blazing brightly as they absorbed dozens of hits.

Suddenly the shields winked out, overwhelmed by the ferocious barrage of laser fire and the laser cannons began to strike home on the hull of the Kirrix ship.

"Stop firing!" Sparks yelled in alarm, causing the others to look at her in surprise.

"The active scan is showing all the humans located in the belly of that ship. If we keep hitting the bottom of those segmented sections, we risk killing the captives!" she said urgently.

"What are our options Calara?" John asked the Latina.

"I don't have technical readouts for the ship, so I'm not sure where the vulnerable systems are located. I can take out the engines easily enough though" She replied confidently.

"Good plan, take them out!" John ordered.

"Yes Commander", the gorgeous brunette said resolutely.

Calara targeted the bulky sections at the rear of the alien ship that were obviously engines, given away by their ion trails and the laser cannon turrets swung around to focus on them. She began to carefully strafe the rear sections of the engines, landing repeated hits and blowing chunks off the armoured engine housing. Finally realising the serious danger presented by the Invictus, the Kirrix abandoned any idea of escaping the system and began to roll the ship to bring their neutron beams to bear.

"Adjusting course to maintain position" Alyssa stated as she brought the Invictus around, turning so that they began to gently loop around the alien ship, matching their roll rate.

The relentless laser impacts began to take their toll and one of the three Kirrix engines ruptured, spewing smoke and debris out into space. The Kirrix suddenly reversed the direction of their roll, causing Alyssa to pull the nose up hard on the Invictus to avoid flying right over the top of the enemy ship and right into their killing zone. Unfortunately they were still exposed to fire from some of the Neutron beams and three of the four enemy beams scorched their way across the Invictus' shields.

"Shields down to 40%!" Sparks shouted in alarm.

"I know, I know!" Alyssa exclaimed, her calm countenance finally shaken.

John had been watching the active scans as the Kirrix opened fire on them and he spotted something interesting.

"There was a power surge when they fired on us!" he said hopefully.

"Calara, target that rounded section near the rear of the ship on the port side" he ordered the brunette.

"I see it Commander!" the Latina said excitedly as Alyssa brought the Invictus back in a tight loop so they were pointing directly at the alien ship.

Calara pulled the trigger and the six beam lasers sheared the entire bulbous section from the side of the hive ship. The ship's hull was left with a glowing wound, where the beams had gouged deep furrows through the craft and when the bulbous section exploded a few seconds later, the port side was peppered with debris. The Kirrix craft seemed to shudder and half the ship went dark, all lighting on the port side extinguished in an instant.

"Nice shooting lieutenant!" John said, impressed by her incredible pinpoint accuracy.

"No problem Commander" she said, grinning at him.

"Now take out the last of those engines" he said, to which the brunette nodded her agreement.

Alyssa had brought the Invictus back around and their ship was now positioned directly under the Kirrix's underbelly again. The loss of the port power distributor had badly affected the hive ship's ability to make rapid directional changes, so it was now easy for her to stay directly beneath them and she grinned confidently. Calara renewed her assault on the enemy engines, scoring numerous hits with the laser cannons.

"John something just launched from the ship!" Sparks said in alarm.

John narrowed his eyes as he looked at the small shapes on the system map. "Dropships!" he said with alarm, "Calara take them out!"

Calara flipped over to the defence grid and the Gatling lasers span up as they targeted the incoming dropships. Ribbons of laser fire arced out, lighting up the Kirrix dropships with strobing flashes of light as they were hit by multiple streams of laser bolts. The shields on the first dropship collapsed and the laser fire punched through the cockpit, sending the small craft spiralling out of control. The second was hit multiple times and dropped the shields, but the armour proved resilient and the dropship was able to weather the storm of laser bolts. It moved around to the flank of the Invictus and began to close in to begin a boarding action.

"Sparks, can you fly the Invictus?" John asked bluntly.

"Nowhere near like Alyssa, but I can keep us out of trouble" she replied apprehensively.

"Good, take control" he ordered brusquely as he lurched to his feet. "XO we need to repel boarders!" he said urgently.

Alyssa nodded and the two of them dashed for the elevator.

"You've got about 30 seconds until they dock John!" Calara warned him.

John nodded his understanding as the doors closed and they disappeared from view. The elevator only took five seconds to drop to deck 2 and for the doors to open, but when every second counted it felt like a lifetime. The two of them raced to their quarters and grabbed their rifles.

"We need armour piercing not hollow point!" John said to his young companion, as he grabbed two magazines of the correct type of caseless ammo.

Alyssa nodded her understanding and grabbed a couple of mags of armour piercing rounds and the two of them sprinted back to the elevator. John hit the button for the bottom deck and they used the 10 seconds it took for the lift to descend, to slam their magazines home into the bullpup ammo slot and check the weapon sighting.

"Kirrix have armoured carapaces" John explained. "We need the armour piercing rounds to punch through that, but we can't afford any stray rounds going through the hull, so be very careful!".

"No problem" Alyssa replied steadfastly.

The elevator door opened and they were looking down the corridor towards the airlock.

"Let's move!" John said and the two of them dashed up the hallway to the airlock door and hugged the walls on either side of the reinforced portal.

They could hear heavy clunking on the other side of the airlock as the insectoid soldiers attempted to bash their way through the armoured door. The two of them shared a glance and Alyssa nodded her readiness as John placed his hand on the DNA reader. The green light flickered across and scanned his DNA, beeping softly in recognition.

The airlock door spiralled open and a six legged creature that was attempting to bash through the door with heavy scythe like claws, lumbered forward and sprawled on the floor. If insectoid faces could show surprise, this one would have been utterly astonished. Alyssa whirled and followed its motion as it fell forward to the floor, before firing a burst into its armoured head at point blank range. Green ichor spurted outwards from the wound, as the rounds bored through its brain.

John swung into the now open doorway and began to fire bursts into the tightly packed insectoid soldiers. It was like shooting fish in a barrel and the interior of the Kirrix dropship echoed with high pitched death squeals, as viscous green fluid gouted out from fatal wounds. One of the Kirrix managed to fire his rifle in return, but the sickly green blast went wide of the mark as John ducked for cover. Alyssa swung out and shot the insectoid soldier in the head, her armour piercing rounds punching into the Kirrix soldier's compound eye and through its brain, before bouncing off the armour plating at the back of its skull and sending the rounds back through the brain a second time. Utterly dead, the hulking insect crashed to the floor in a heap of chitinous limbs.

The Kirrix dropship pilot had been intending to join the boarding party, but it frantically tried to return to the cockpit when the accursed humans massacred it's podmates. The last thing it felt was a sharp pain to the back of its skull as Alyssa shot it in the head, spraying the cockpit in green blood.

A few of the insectoid soldiers twitched feebly, badly wounded but not quite dead, until John executed each of them with a single round to the head.

"That'll teach you to try and board a marine's ship!" he muttered indignantly.

"What do we do about this dropship?" Alyssa asked him pointedly. "We can't jump into hyper warp with it attached".

"Shut the airlock and disengage the docking clamps I guess?" John said, wondering why she was asking.

Alyssa was glancing over the controls "This looks pretty straightforward to fly, I could land it in the hangar bay if you like?"

"Sure, if you want" John replied. "At the very least Sparks will be able to take a look at some alien tech" he said smiling.

"Ok let's do this" Alyssa said confidently. "You go back to the Invictus and seal the airlock, then open the hull doors to the hangar bay, I'll bring the dropship around".

"Yes ma'am!" John grinned and moved to follow her instructions.

Alyssa stepped over the mangled Kirrix pilot she had gunned down earlier and wiped his brain matter from the control surface. She pushed a couple of buttons that sealed the dropship's airlock and fired up the engines. Taking hold of the flight stick, she found she could operate it ok, even though it was designed for an arthropod forelimb and she gently eased the dropship away from the docking collar on the Invictus' airlock. She then rotated the ship cleanly so that it was facing the hangar bay and waited for the doors in the outer hull of the Invictus to open. She nudged the Kirrix dropship in cautiously, the alien craft enveloped in the pressurised force field sealing the hangar bay, before landing it gingerly in the middle of the cavernous room as the hull doors swung closed. She opened the airlock and then powered the small ship down, before leaving to go and meet up with John.

"Nice flying honey" he said, moving forward to give her a kiss. He was surprised when she raised a hand to stop him.

"You're covered in green goo!" she said grinning and pointed at the alien blood that had splashed over his face. "You need a shower first, then you can kiss me as much as you like" she said playfully.

"Ok I'll take you up on that!" he grinned "First, let's see what's happening on the bridge".

They rode up in the elevator and stepped out on to the bridge a few moments later.

"How are you two doing?" John asked, "everything ok up here?"

"All engines on the Kirrix hive ship destroyed Commander!" Calara told him proudly.

"Nice work Calara!" John grinned at her "So, they are totally immobilised?"

"They aren't going anywhere!" she said excitedly. "We're safe now too, we're out of their fire arcs"

"I'm recharging shields again John, we're back up to 62% now!" Sparks chimed in.

"Great job, the pair of you" John praised them sincerely.

"What happened with the boarding party and why is your face covered in green goop?" Sparks asked him.

"They were no match for our surprise Counter-attack!" Alyssa said grinning. "They messed with the wrong marine, right John?"

John chuckled good naturedly. "Yeah, I'm wearing Kirrix at the moment" he said, wiping his face for emphasis.

"I'm afraid we're not done yet though honey, we're going to have to go in and save those captives" John said blowing out a sigh.

"Well we slaughtered that last bunch, this should be a breeze!" Alyssa grinned.

"We had all the odds stacked in our favour, those bugs had no chance" John said solemnly. "If we board their ship, we're going to be heavily outnumbered and we won't have the advantage of surprise. It's going to be really nasty" he said grimly.

"We have to do something though John" Calara interjected, "We can't leave the prisoners to die like that. You've seen the vids right?"

John nodded, his face showing his distaste.

"What vids?" Sparks asked curiously.

"It's part of the Terran Federation Academy, Xeno familiarisation training" The Latina explained. "The last time we stopped a Kirrix incursion, they took videos of what they found on board their ships..." She paused, recalling the horrific images. "No-one should die like that" she continued looking sickened.

"Maybe we could still have the element of surprise" Alyssa said, tapping her finger against her chin thoughtfully.

"How so?" John asked, curious as to what his devious Executive Office might have thought up now.

"The dropship" Alyssa said, smiling at him. "The Kirrix won't know we've captured it and we can just fly back, dock with them and then sneak on board"

"Oh that's very good" John grinned slyly.

"Do you want either of us to come with you?" Sparks asked hesitantly.

"No, I need you two here on the bridge to cover our butts!" John grinned.

John wasn't being completely truthful however, as neither the redhead or the brunette had much firearms training and he didn't want to expose them to unnecessary danger. Not only that but Alyssa worked with him like an extension of his own will, they synergised so well together and her shooting skills probably surpassed his own, he admitted to himself honestly. He glanced over at the stunningly beautiful blonde who was ever present at his side.

Alyssa gave him a tight smile, nodding slightly to show she agreed wholeheartedly with his decision.

"Ok John, you can count on us!" Sparks said, somewhat relieved. She never liked bugs much and the thought of facing eight foot tall, heavily armoured homicidal ones left her quaking in her boots.

"I'll contact you if the situation changes up here" Calara said dutifully.

"Ok good luck you two, we'll be back soon" John said, and he and Alyssa took the elevator down to their quarters.

John washed the sticky green blood off his face, then went to join Alyssa to get geared up. They put on their combat armour and collected several more clips of armour piercing rounds, which they attached to their utility harnesses. John also collected a few of the grenades he had picked up from the Griffon that he hadn't used yet. He had just finished attaching the last of them securely to his harness, when Alyssa leaned in and gave him a big kiss.

"I owed you that one from earlier!" She grinned up at him mischievously.

John laughed happily.

"Look at me laughing" he grinned "You'd never think we were about to storm a Kirrix hive ship!" he said incredulously.

"Come on you" he said to the stunningly beautiful young woman, shaking his head in amazement.

They headed down to the hangar bay and approached the parked dropship. It was a yellow-brown colour with a number of bulky pods at the back and sides and with a bulbous armoured cockpit at the front. It looked like some kind of sickly insect to Alyssa and she decided she was definitely not a fan of the Kirrix style of ship design.

"We better haul out those dead bugs" John said regretfully. "We don't want to risk tripping on body parts if we have to make a fast exit".

Alyssa nodded ruefully and they put aside their rifles so that they could haul out the Insectoid corpses. The Kirrix were big, bulky and very scary looking, with their six limbs, segmented bodies and frightening compound eyes over sharp mandibles. Fortunately though, their chitinous frames were deceptively light and the two of them were able to quickly remove all ten of the dead soldiers and stack them in a pile. The decapitated pilot was the cherry on top of an invertebrate cake.

They left the Kirrix weapons stacked neatly to the side, an odd array of bizarre looking pistols and rifles.

"What type of weapons are those?" Alyssa asked curiously.

"The small ones are Neutron blasters, the long ones with the side mounted grip is a Neutron rifle" he explained. "They are nasty weapons and hurt like hell if you get hit by one".

"Ok I'll give that a miss then" Alyssa said impishly.

John smiled, rolling his eyes at her and the two of them collected their rifles before boarding the dropship. Alyssa sat in the pilot's seat and fired up the engines, while John used a device on his armoured vambrace to open up the hangar bay doors remotely. The ship rose smoothly under Alyssa's skilful control and they glided out of the hangar bay as though she had been flying Kirrix craft all her life. She banked and pulled up so that she was heading towards the hive ship.

"Any idea where their hangar is?" She asked John curiously.

"There in the middle, aim for those big slots in the side" He replied.

The dropship rose and headed towards the much bigger alien vessel like a bee returning to its hive. They received no incoming fire from defence grid type weaponry, so John figured that the Kirrix must have fallen for Alyssa's cunning ruse. They were hailed as they approached, but they decided it was probably best to let that one go unanswered.

They entered the hangar slot for the hive ship unchallenged and Alyssa carefully glided into the big open hangar bay without causing suspicion. The hive ship was brightly lit by glowing hexagonal walls that surrounded the entire bay, all throbbing with a strange pulsating luminescence. The hexagonal panels directly in front of them, which were on the port side of the ship were all dimmed. Figures swarmed over another dropship, probably ground crew John guessed, as a squad of ten more Insectoid shock troops marched down from an overhead ramp to get ready to board their transport.

Alyssa gently rotated their dropship, as they came forward on their final approach to an unoccupied landing pad. As the marching soldiers swung into view, Alyssa pulled the trigger on the odd shaped Joystick and twin streams of sickly green energy bolts blasted out and scythed through the lined up soldiers. The Kirrix trooper's chitinous bodies exploded as they were hit by the powerful energy pulses, causing limbs, antenna and pieces of armoured exoskeleton to be blasted about the Hangar bay as the troopers were struck by the neutron bolts. The Insectoid forces were caught completely by surprise and by the time the survivors tried to react, they were picked off by a second deadly volley of accurate shots.

"Oops!" Alyssa exclaimed, holding her hand over her open mouth in mock surprise.

"What happened to stealthy?" John grinned wryly.

"Sorry John I'm still learning the ship, accidents will happen!" The mischievous blonde informed him.

She continued her sweeping turn until she faced the ground crew, who were desperately trying to get the other dropship operational. Alyssa pulled the trigger again and the Heavy Neutron guns on her hijacked craft opened up, blowing apart their segmented arthropod bodies and devastating the landed dropship. The repeated neutron impacts knocked it on its side and the yellow-brown hull of the ship began to smoulder in several places.

"Very nice..." John said, surveying the carnage. One of the wounded Kirrix troopers was dragging itself off the bloodbath on the gantry, but none were still standing.

Alyssa carefully set their dropship down on the centre of the landing pad and then pushed a button that caused the airlock to slide apart.

"Ok let's move out" John said and led the way out of the back of the ship. He glanced around the glowing hexagonal tiled room and noted three ways to leave the hangar. Up the gantry and then through doors at the top of an overhead walkway, or through ornate arches at either end of the hangar. He stopped for a moment to get his bearings.

"Which way?" Alyssa asked, before bringing her rifle to her shoulder and firing a burst into the chest of the wounded shock trooper who was attempting to stand up. The insectoid fell to the floor, its chitinous limbs thrashing wildly before it finally lay still.

"All the human life readings were that way" John said pointing to the archway closest to them, as he readied his rifle and led them out of the room.

They entered a wide corridor that continued the odd hexagonal tiling in the hangar bay. Each tile pulsed with light and the lighting in the hall throbbed, as though in time with the hive ship's pulse. They passed sealed doorways occasionally, but there were no sounds coming from within the adjoining rooms, so John led them on quickly, hoping to maintain the element of surprise. The corridor ended in a set of ornate double doors, so they darted up to them, getting ready to storm through. John listened intently, but all he could hear was an odd chirruping noise, so he cautiously eased the door open while Alyssa covered him with her rifle.

The big door swung open smoothly and the disconcerting chirruping noise became more intense. It seemed to fluctuate, getting alternately louder then softer and sounding utterly alien and extremely creepy. Now that the door was open, they could see that they were looking in on a hexagonal shaped room. There was a curving ramp that led both upwards and downwards and the strange chirruping noise seemed to be coming from the lower depths of the ship.

*The life readings all came from the lower decks, so I guess we go down* John thought to Alyssa, allowing them to maintain their silence.

She nodded her agreement and followed as he began to lead them down the curving walkway, spiralling downwards a good three or four full rotations around the central axis before they finally reached the bottom. The ramp opened out into a big room, big double doors at the end with smaller entrances on the flanking walls, the entire right hand side darkened after the loss of power.

An upraised curved dais sat in the middle of the room, with a bulky six limbed Kirrix operating hexagonal buttons on the odd looking console. Before they could react, John's communicator watch flashed with an incoming call. Unfortunately the Kirrix noticed the flash of light and looked up, spotting them. It pushed some kind of button in front of it and the hexagonal tiled walls started to glow red instead of white, plunging the room into crimson shaded gloom. A strange squawking noise sounded shrilly and reverberated around the chamber, echoing ominously.

John raised his rifle and fired a burst, but the insectoid moved with a speed that belied its size and it leapt for cover. It ducked behind the dais and began to take potshots at them with a Neutron blaster. Feeling exposed in the middle of the room, John sprinted forward, whilst Alyssa dropped to a crouch. Seeing the charging human, the Kirrix reared up to take a shot at him, only for its head to be ripped apart by armour piercing rounds as Alyssa opened fire.

The scratchy sounds of many clawed feet began to make their way into the room, coming from both side doors. Alyssa and John jumped up onto the dais and ducked behind the long, oddly shaped console that surrounded the upraised platform and stayed down low, staying out of line of sight as two squads of Insectoid soldiers appeared from each hallway. There were six Kirrix soldiers per squad, each group led by a hulking Overseer Insect. John furtively passed one of his grenades to Alyssa, taking another for himself and began a mental countdown.

*3*

*2*

*1*

*Go!*

The two of them lobbed their grenades in nice gentle arcs, so that they landed right at the segmented legs of the alert bug troopers. John and Alyssa ducked down, hugging the console wall and covered their ears in preparation for the upcoming explosions. Neutron weapon fire zapped overhead for a second before two tremendous detonations blasted through the room, still sounding deafening to them even though their ears were muffled. Cautiously they raised themselves up and glanced over at the two groups of soldiers in the aftermath of their grenade strike.

Each Kirrix patrol had been ripped apart by the grenades. The doorways were blackened, scorched ruins, with billowing black smoke pouring out of the incinerated tiling and a few more shattered tiles sheared off the wall to clang to the floor. The Kirrix forces had been annihilated by the powerful explosives, chitinous appendages were scattered all over the floor and viscous green liquid dripped from where it had been sprayed all over the walls. Miraculously, one of the bulky Overseer bugs was still moving, even though it had lost two of its leg limbs. It screeched a piercing squeal of rage as it tried to level its neutron rifle in their direction and John and Alyssa both opened up on it, sending round after round into its armoured body. It took an alarmingly high number of bullets to finally stop it twitching, the tough Insectoid able to take a surprising amount of punishment.

They reloaded their assault rifles and prepared to move out again, neither seeing nor hearing any further signs of reinforcements. John's watch communicator flashed again, forgotten in the excitement of the combat.

"Yes Lieutenant, what's the problem?" John said, fighting hard to keep any irritation out of his voice. The brunette had no way of knowing how much danger she had accidentally just put them in.

We've got company!" The holographic image of Calara's face said, grinning excitedly.

"What, more pirates?" John asked, wondering why Calara would be happy about that.

"No, it's a friendly! Its Captain Flintlock and the Indomitable" she said happily.

"Can you put me through to him please?" John asked, unable to directly contact the other ship from his watch.

Calara nodded eagerly and her image disappeared from view, to be replaced by the frowning face of Captain Flintlock.

"Command Blake! What's going on here? My tactical officer tells me that's a Kirrix hive ship!" he said, shock clearly showing on his older features.

"The pirates were selling slaves to the Kirrix and we're on board now, trying to rescue the human captives" John explained quickly.

"Do you need reinforcements?" the Captain asked grimly.

"Yes please, liaise with my Tactical Officer and she'll apprise you of the current situation" John said.

"John, we've got company!" Alyssa said, as the sounds of more clawed feet came from the ramp behind them.

"Got to go Captain!" John said and closed the call, as Captain Flintlock saluted him goodbye.

They dodged behind the oddly shaped console, being careful not to trip over the insectoid operator they had gunned down minutes before. Another squad of Kirrix troopers marched down the ramp, followed from behind by a looming Overseer. As soon as John and Alyssa could see the segmented feet of the insectoid forces, they opened fire, armour piercing rounds scything through the legs of the alien troops that couldn't actually see what was firing at them, coming down the ramp as they were.

The first few Kirrix had their legs shot out from under them and slid unceremoniously down the ramp, taking hits to their torso's as John strafed fire over them. The remaining two soldiers and the overseer rushed down the ramp and into the room, heads tilted sideways so that they could see what was attacking them. One of the bugs was shot in the face by Alyssa and it collapsed in a heap, killed instantly. The other began to return fire causing her to duck behind cover as accurate neutron blasts began to impact the console where her head had been. John popped up from the other side and fired the last few rounds of his magazine into the chest of the angry insect, causing it to slump over to its side with a inhuman shriek.

Alyssa slammed in another clip and then popped out, preparing to fire at the Overseer, but her timing was unlucky and a shot from its neutron rifle glanced off her right shoulder. The young blonde woman was knocked backwards and she dropped to the floor and screamed with pain.

John glanced at her in panic, but was relieved to see she that she wasn't too badly hit. He had reloaded himself and flipped the selector switch to full auto, targeting the ugly overseer's underbelly in his sights and then holding down the trigger. The muzzle climb from firing so many rounds walked his shots up from segmented belly to chitinous head and John emptied his entire magazine into the bug that had dared to wound his woman. The Overseer slumped over, its ruined body gouting green ichor all over the floor as its perforated torso sprayed blood around the room. Satisfied that he had killed it, John leaned down at Alyssa's side to check to see if she was ok.

"How bad is it Alyssa?" he asked, his voice tinged with worry.

She looked up at him bravely and removed her hand from her shoulder.

"Not too bad, the shot punched through my armour and grazed my arm, but it hurts like hell!" she said grimacing.

John nodded his understanding and helped her to her feet.

"Are you able to continue?" he asked with concern.

"Yeah, that amount of pain was just a shock" She said stoically. "Let's keep going"

John reloaded his rifle and they moved forward cautiously to approach the big doors at the back of the room. He pressed the hexagonal button on the side and the solid doors ground open slowly, the strange chirruping sound getting much louder as the portal parted.

"What's making that noise?" Alyssa grimaced in annoyance, wincing at the loud, irritating sound.

"Them" John said, as the door opened in front of them.

The room this door opened out into had hundreds of hexagonal alcoves set into the wall on either side, the ones on the right cast in shadow. They could see strange writhing shapes in each of the alcoves, Kirrix grubs, all of which were adding to the horrible chirping cacophony as automated chitinous arms dropped pieces of flesh into their waiting maws.

Movement in the centre of the room snapped them both out of their revulsion at the scene in front of them and an enormous multi limbed horror turned to face them.

"What the fuck is that?!" Alyssa gasped in alarm, at the twelve limbed fourteen foot tall monstrosity that lurked in the middle of the chamber.

"It's a Kirrix Broodmother!" John said forebodingly.

"Aim for its eyes!" he yelled as he dropped into a crouch.

Copying him, Alyssa dropped to one knee and she sighted the two sets of compound eyes on its large, bulbous, yellowy brown head. The pair of them opened fire and the Broodmother reared back in pain as round after round slammed into its sensitive eyes. The insectoid beast brought two sets of armoured foreclaws up to protect its face and their shots began to ricochet off the tough armour plating.

The massive creature stood up on its six legs and began to lumber towards them relentlessly.

"What now?" Alyssa cried out in alarm.

"Aim for joints, any place where the armour is weaker!" John said curtly.

The two of them began to walk fire over the Kirrix abomination, shooting at knees, elbows, feet and hands. One of Alyssa's shots blow out a knee, spurting green blood over the walls and John's shot took out a foot on the other side, causing the Broodmother to skid in the slippery green ichor. It still kept coming though, screeching in fury.

They both emptied out their magazines, incapacitating two more legs, forcing the Broodmother to crawl forward using two of its foreclaws for support.

"Now!" John shouted "Go for the eyes!" as he slammed another magazine home into his rifle.

The two of them stood up and backed away slowly as they sprayed bullets into the face of the Broodmother. With only two foreclaws to protect its head, rounds began to strike home, hitting it in the eyes and even shooting off a quivering antenna. It finally got within striking range and lashed out with a six foot long scythed claw, forcing John to leap to the side to avoid being eviscerated by the razor sharp chitin blade. Unfortunately for the Broodmother, this left its head completely exposed and Alyssa fired the entire clip into its face.

Shuddering, the hulking beast slumped to its side, letting out a croaking inhuman death rattle.

John looked up at Alyssa from where he had dived across the floor and he grinned at her victoriously. She returned the grin as she reloaded her weapon.

"Only one clip left John" She warned him.

"Yeah me too" he said with concern.

They gingerly stepped around the bullet ridden corpse of the Broodmother and headed into the big chamber in front of them. They walked past row after row of Kirrix grubs, not wanting to know what provided the flesh the hideous creatures were devouring. They finally reached the back of the chamber and a corridor led away from the room and up to another set of doors. John and Alyssa jogged up to the doors and then cautiously opened them, wondering what might lay in wait in the next room.

As they opened the door, they were met with the sound of a horrible wailing human scream. They glanced at each other nervously and then moved through the door into the next chamber. This huge room was stacked floor to ceiling along the sides with chitinous cages, terrified human prisoners locked within. They overlooked a scene of nightmares in front of them.

Three naked human prisoners were restrained on a round platform in the centre of the room. The first, a man, was slumped over unconscious with drool falling from his mouth and his bloated stomach pulsing as rounded shapes writhed within his abdomen. The second was a woman, who was screaming in fear and looking on in horror at her shipmate.

The third figure was another woman, her body obscured by the hulking insectoid form that hovered above her. It was over ten feet tall and had six limbs, four of which were holding its body up above her and the last set holding the woman it had mounted in place below it. A large bulbous segment grew out of its lower body which ended with an ovipositor, that was shoved deep inside the prostrate figure below. The woman was crying and groaning in horrified revulsion as small spheres passed down through the pulsating transparent section at the back of the creature and were pushed inside her tightly packed ass, her midsection bloating obscenely to accommodate the Kirrix eggs.

Holy fuck!" Alyssa gasped in shock at the sickening sight.

"It's the Hivelord!" John said grimly, "Aim for the back, its unarmoured there!"

The two of them dropped to one knee and began to open fire on the grotesque abomination, rounds punching straight through the Hivelords unarmoured abdomen and spraying green blood out the side of the creature. The Hivelord screeched in fury and pulled its ovipositor out of its victim with a sickening plop. It turned towards them, its mouth opened wide to bellow it's rage, only for Alyssa to blast the creature right between the jaws, her armour piercing rounds shooting through its mouth and punching into the nerve clusters at the back that led up to its brain. The Hivelord staggered to one side, crippled by the deadly shots and crashed to the floor in a tangle of twitching chitinous limbs.

"That was a hell of a shot!" John congratulated the young woman, amazed at her uncanny accuracy.

She grinned at him and tipped an imaginary hat, making him chuckle. They stood and cautiously walked into the room, looking for any more hostile aliens, but finding that they were now alone with the captured humans.

Pleas for help and desperate cries to be released began to echo around the chamber, as the terrified prisoners realised that against all odds, they had been saved by these two unknown heroes.

"We'll get you out, don't worry" Alyssa called out in a loud voice.

John found a nearby console that operated the cages and began to open the chitin doors one by one. The prisoners within began to climb down the ladders that led up to each cage, in a desperate hurry to leave this horrible place. A small group of people went to help the abused victims on the central platform and after five minutes all the prisoners had congregated fearfully in front of John and Alyssa.

"Now follow behind us" John ordered them, "We'll lead you out".

They began to trace their way back up to the hangar, passing through the deafening wall of sound in the Kirrix nest and then up the ramps that led to the upper decks. As they reached the long corridor that would eventually lead them to the hangar, John's sensitive ears began to hear the distant sound of gunfire coming from ahead of them. Recognising the sound of Terran Federation assault rifles, he led Alyssa at a hurried pace to see what was happening in the Hangar.

John walked through the ornate archway that led into the huge hangar to see that they had stumbled into the aftermath of a pitched battle. Parked in the middle of the hangar was a bulky Terran transport and a heavily armed gunship hovered nearby, facing the other side of the Hangar. Armoured Terran troopers had fanned out in a line and were gunning down the remnants of a Kirrix force that had tried to storm their landing site. The hexagonal tiled wall opposite was a mosaic of green blood and ichor, the corpses of bullet ridden Kirrix soldiers slumped where they had fallen prey to the accurate fire from the marines. It had not all gone the humans way however and over a dozen Terran troopers either lay dead, or writhing in agony from Neutron weapon hits.

An armoured soldier was standing next to the transport, issuing curt commands to a couple of attentive officers. One of the officers saw John and Alyssa and pointed them out to the figure, who whirled around to face them. The stern faced man strode up to them purposefully, the eagle insignia on his shoulder pad informing John that this was the leader of the Marine troopers.

"Commander Paul Richards TFMC" the grizzled veteran informed John as he reached the doorway and saluted respectfully.

"Commander John Blake, TFMC - retired" John said in reply, smiling as he returned the salute.

"Not much of a retirement John" the marine commander said, smiling grimly.

"I don't know, it has its perks" John replied grinning, as he glanced at Alyssa.

"You've done a hell of a thing stopping these Kirrix. We saw your handiwork in the hangar when we landed" Paul said, clearly impressed. "Where's the rest of your team? Not too many losses I hope?" he asked soberly.

"It was just us two" John replied nonchalantly. "We've taken out the hive guard, the Broodmother and the Hivelord and there's several hundred freed captives in need of an evac, if you can help us out?".

"You're kidding right?" Paul said, looking in disbelief at John and the teenage girl at his side and then over their shoulder at the huddled throng of humanity massed behind them.

John shook his head, and smiled at Alyssa with pride.

"Well god damn!" Paul exclaimed, before he burst out laughing, his face lighting up in a big grin.

"What I could do with a few squads of troopers like you two!" he said wistfully.

John smiled graciously. "We're in a hurry to chase the Pirate leader who sold all these people to the Kirrix" John explained "Can we leave you to mop up here and look after these prisoners?" he asked politely.

Paul looked at him in stunned amazement.

"Are you off to fight the war with the Kintark single handed as well?" Paul said, bursting into another round of booming laughter.

"We'll take care of things here" the Marine Commander grinned, once he had stopped laughing. "I'm just glad you're on my side!"

The two men shook hands firmly and John led Alyssa back to their captured Kirrix dropship. They climbed on board and the young blonde fired up the ship's engines and sealed the airlock, before taking off and gently pirouetting the dropship around to face the hangar exit. She powered up the engines and they left the Kirrix hive ship behind them.

John used the communicator as they left the hive ship, calling Calara to let them know they were safe. The gorgeous brunette's concerned face filled the holo-image.

"Oh thank goodness!" She exclaimed "Are you two ok?" She asked worriedly.

"We're fine and we rescued the prisoners!" John replied happily.

"Thank god for that!" Calara replied, sighing with relief.

"We'll be there soon" John said fondly. "You did a hell of a thing today Lieutenant"

Calara looked back at him and smiled proudly.

"See you both soon" she said and blew him a kiss.

Alyssa brought the dropship around to the side of the Invictus and then eased it into the Hangar bay as soon as John had opened the hull doors. They disembarked, eager to leave Kirrix technology and the blood soaked ship behind them. As they left the hangar, they passed a couple of cleaning robots who had stopped at the pile of Kirrix corpses, paused as if unsure how to proceed. The automatons eagerly began to clean up their bloody green footprints however, soaked as their boots were in Insectoid gore. Having pity on the cleaning robots, John and Alyssa left their bloodied armour in a pile in the Hangar bay to collect and clean later, rather than tracking blood all over the spotlessly clean ship.

John looked at the ammo counter on his Assault rifle as he placed it carefully by the armour, the digital readout showed him he had fifteen rounds left. Alyssa smiled at him wryly, and showed him her own rifle which cheerily displayed that she had nine remaining bullets.

"Thank goodness for Commander Richards" John said, shaking his head at how close they came to disaster.

They took the elevator up to the bridge and the door swished open quietly. Calara and Sparks rose out of their chairs and dashed up to meet John and Alyssa and hugged them both with relief.

Before they could get to congratulating each other on their extraordinary victory, the Communicator began to flash and chime, indicating they had an incoming call. John darted up the illuminated steps to the command podium and pressed the button to answer the hail.

Captain Flintlock's face filled the vid-screen in the bridge.

"Commander Blake!" He said happily "I've just spoken to my Marine Commander and he told me quite a tale" the older naval captain said, smiling in amazement.

"I've never known Commander Richards to exaggerate, but he tells me you took out the Hivelord, the Broodmother and scores of Kirrix troops, whilst managing to rescue over 400 captives?" the naval Captain said incredulously.

"Not only that" Captain Flintlock continued, "my crew tell me you destroyed 13 pirate vessels before taking on and disabling the Kirrix Hive ship?"

"Yes, that about sums it up" John replied. "It's been a busy day!" he said with a mastery of understatement.

Captain Flintlock laughed out loud. "I'd say it has Commander!" he said in wonder.

"Thanks for sending in the reinforcements" John said appreciatively "How did you get here so quickly though? I thought you were going to wait and repair the Calypso?" he asked, puzzled.

"I received orders from Vice-Admiral Harris to get to the Chendar system immediately" the Captain explained. "I left the rest of the patrol behind to assist the Calypso and we headed here as fast as we could".

"Well we hate to leave you to clean up after us, but we want to finish off the last of the pirates" John said apologetically.

"It's my pleasure Commander" Captain Flintlock said as he saluted. "You and your crew should be very proud, you saved a lot of lives today"

John nodded appreciatively and returned the salute and the Captain ended the call.

"Alyssa can you lay in a pursuit course for the Pirates please" John requested.

"No problem" the beautiful blonde teenager responded as she turned the ship around and they powered away from the gas giant. As soon as they had cleared the gravity well, the Invictus leapt into Hyper warp.

"Fourteen hours until we're in range to use the Interdictor" Sparks said, calculating the pursuit time based on Alyssa's flight path.

They all breathed a huge sigh of relief and slumped collectively in their chairs, the tension draining from them as the adrenalin wore off.

"I can't believe we managed to do it" Calara said in a quiet voice.

"I've never seen shooting like that before, you handled the Invictus' weapons like they were part of you!" John exclaimed in amazement to the brunette.

"and if it wasn't for you" John said to Sparks "we would never have been able to catch the Kirrix in time, or be able to chase after the pirates!" John said astounded.

"What about Alyssa's flying!" said Sparks. "How she managed to get this huge ship to dance around like that I've no idea!"

"You should have seen her on board the Kirrix ship" John said proudly. "She was like a Valkyrie descended from Valhalla!" he said enthusiastically.

"I'm not sure what that is, but I'll take it as a compliment" Alyssa grinned at him broadly.

"You should, you were amazing today honey." John said before turning to face all three girls.

"You all were. Several hundred people will live solely because of your actions" he said emphatically.

The teenagers sat there in stunned silence as the enormity of the day's events began to sink in. John let them sit quietly for a few moments to let them truly appreciate how much good they had accomplished in such a short time.

"Come on" he said gently. "let's all get cleaned up and I'll cook us a celebratory meal"

The girls nodded at him willingly, feeling slightly overawed by what they had managed to achieve today. They rose and joined him at the elevator and they took the lift down together in comfortable silence. Walking in pairs hand in hand, the crew of the Invictus stripped off in the Commander's quarters and went into the bathroom. John activated multiple shower heads in the huge cubicle to cover everyone in warm, soothing streams of water and they all got in. The girls washed him and each other, just enjoying feeling the touch of each other's toned bodies and revelling in being alive against all the odds.

They took a look at Alyssa's wounded shoulder, but the injury didn't seem too bad. John rubbed the blonde's toned slim tummy gently and she looked up at him, noting his concerned expression and nodded.

"Later" she said, smiling lovingly "you promised Sparks an important date first" she said, looking at him and the redhead affectionately.

John leaned down to kiss the lovely redhead, enjoying the feel of her full warm breasts against him.

"I'm ready" she said, looking up at him with love in her eyes.

Calara and Alyssa glanced at each other and smiled happily.

"Come on John, let's set the scene in the bedroom" Calara said eagerly. "A girl's first time should be special!"

Alyssa bit down on her lip and her heart felt heavy, suddenly feeling saddened at her own awful first experience with a man. She suppressed the feeling immediately, not wanting her friend to see her reaction and risk spoiling the occasion.

"You wait here" Alyssa said to Sparks, "we want it to be a nice surprise!" She beamed a warm affectionate smile at her oldest friend.

Sparks smiled and nodded, feeling her excitement begin to grow and butterflies did somersaults in her stomach.

John, Alyssa and Calara left the redhead to enjoy the warm water of the shower and they dried themselves off quickly to go and set up the room. John dimmed the lights, so that the room was bathed in a romantic glow and then Alyssa darted off to retrieve some candles from the playroom. She returned and lit them up around the room, the dancing candlelight adding a certain mystique to the romantic setting. Calara returned from her room cupping something red in her hands, which turned out to be rose petals. She carefully scattered them around the bed, adding the finishing touch to the room with a flourish.

"Where on earth did you get those from?" Alyssa whispered, astonished.

Calara flushed, looking a bit embarrassed. "They were from a rose I was given from the first boy I thought I loved" she said, smiling at John and Alyssa. "It turned out I had no idea what love really was" she continued.

John and Alyssa wrapped the beautiful brunette in a loving embrace, touched by her heartfelt words.

"Alyssa!!" Sparks' frightened shriek pierced the tender moment with shocking abruptness.

All three of them leapt to go to the bathroom, before Alyssa held the other two back with her upraised hand. They waited in the bedroom pensively, worried for their young friend.

"What is it honey?" Alyssa said, her voice maternal and caring.

"My face, it's bleeding!" Sparks exclaimed in shock, opening her hands to show reddened lumps cupped between her fingers.

"Let me see" Alyssa said, darting into the shower quickly and looking at her friends face with deep concern.

Alyssa gently brushed her fingers over the redheads face, noticing with surprise that the horrifically scarred, red angry skin covering the side of Sparks' face seemed to shift slightly at her delicate touch.

"There, there, it's nothing to worry about" she crooned softly to her oldest friend, her fingers moving deftly as she carefully peeled away a section of partially hanging skin.

"You're ok now, just let me check you over" she whispered reassuringly to the frightened teenager.

Alyssa's sombre mood from before and her worry about her friend evaporated in an instant, as she struggled to contain her delirious excitement.

I was right! she exulted.

Under the disfiguring scar tissue that she was tentatively removing, supple fresh young skin was gradually revealed. Her agile fingers moved swift and sure over her friends face, carefully peeling away the hideous old skin and revealing the healthy, rejuvenated skin beneath.

"Just close your eyes a moment" she whispered to her friend "This won't take long"

Sparks closed her eyes immediately, her trust and faith in the blonde girl absolute.

"Is it bad?" She asked, her voice tremulous.

"You're going to be just fine, trust me" Alyssa said, confidently.

Alyssa's elegant fingers danced over the frightened young girls arm and shoulder, removing scarred old tissue and uncovering acres of tanned unblemished flesh. Her quick, nimble hands had the girl completely cleaned in just under a minute and she then washed the scaly red remnants away and down the drain.

"Ok come with me, but keep your eyes closed" Alyssa said in a voice that was soothing, but brooked no argument.

The redhead followed obediently and Alyssa towelled her dry, using the hand held moisture extractor to blow dry Sparks' long hair in a few moments.

"Ok take my hand and follow me" Alyssa said to the young woman and guided her watchfully in to the bedroom.

John and Calara gasped in shock, which caused Alyssa to throw a frown in their direction and Sparks to turn her head slightly, with a worried expression on her face. The beautiful blonde girl led her friend into the walk-in-wardrobe and positioned her in the middle of the cleverly angled mirrors, that allowed the subject in their focus to view themselves from all angles.

John and Calara had followed them in, mouths agape.

"Ok, you can open your eyes now" Alyssa said lovingly.

Sparks opened her eyes cautiously and found she was standing in her friends wardrobe space in front of their mirrors. She looked at the mirror directly in front of her, not recognising the stunningly beautiful girl who looked back at her curiously.

"Who's that? Is this mirror broken" she asked puzzled, the ravishing girl in the reflection also wearing a bewildered expression.

"That's you Sparks" Alyssa said gently. "You're healed".

"It's me... what?" Sparks said turning to look at her friend, wondering just what was happening.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the figure in the mirror copying her exact movements. She walked forward and the blindingly beautiful young woman in the reflection moved up as well and stared in wonderment back at her.

Finally realising and understanding what Alyssa was trying to explain to her, she reached up with an elegant arm, her fingers trembling as she softly touched the side of her face.

"My scars..." she whispered in shock "... they're gone"

She turned her body to look at her arm and shoulder, seeing the lovely bronzed skin for the first time.

"It was all true" she gasped incredulously "I never believed you, but you were telling the truth"

She stared open mouthed in wonder at the young woman standing in front of her, finally seeing herself as she really was for the first time. Tall, athletic, slim, lithe and oh so breathtakingly beautiful. She moved her hands up to cup her big, gravity defying breasts and feeling the firm weight as they filled her hands. She turned her body and it moved gracefully and elegantly, the movements heartbreakingly smooth and fluid. She looked in amazement at the reflection that showed her from behind, staring at the perfectly rounded spheres of her buttocks and the smooth acres of bronzed flesh on her back, up to where it was obscured by her hair.

"My hair" she said, reaching up with unbelieving hands to gently touch the luxurious softness of her long silky hair. No longer the brash ginger that she had kept cut brutally short and spiked, her hair had changed colour; now a dark sultry auburn, that complimented her lovely figure and complexion perfectly.

Finally she could fit in with the gloriously beautiful Alyssa and Calara. Finally she deserved to truly call this place with these wonderful people her home, she thought to herself.

Her eyes welled with tears and she turned to her friends, overcome with emotion.

"Thank you" she gasped "Never in my wildest dreams..." she faltered unable to continue for a moment.

"I can't ever repay you for what you've done for me" she said simply.

Alyssa let out a happy sob and rushed into her friends arms to hold her in a loving embrace. Calara was crying softly herself, overcome with happiness for Sparks and she moved forward to encircle the redhead in her arms.

John gulped down the lump in his throat, his heart touched by the sincere gratitude from the young woman.

"You already have, just by being with us" John said as he moved in to wrap up all the girls in his strong arms.

They held each other and lost track of time, basking in the love and affection that filled the room. Eventually Alyssa and Calara gently released the girl who had gone through such a startling metamorphosis. Sparks looked up at John and kissed him delicately on the lips.

"Now I'm really ready to be with you" she said emphatically.

She glanced over at Alyssa and Calara in turn. "I told John that I wanted our first time together to be just us, but I've changed my mind" she said confidently. "I'd like you two to be there too".

The other girls nodded and they all moved to enter the bedroom.

Sparks saw the room for the first time and her breath caught.

"You're so wonderful" she told them all sincerely. "Thank you for making this night so special for me".

John held out his hand and led Sparks over to the bed. She climbed up on it gracefully and he joined her in unhurried movements, leaning on his side and looking down at her as she lay back on the bed. Calara and Alyssa moved to sit on either side at the head of the bed and watched the couple together, their eyes full of love. They both reached down to gently stroke the teenagers sultry auburn hair, causing her to look up at both of them in turn and smile happily. Calara and Alyssa then sat back to watch and take no further part.

John leaned down to gently kiss the young girl, looking into her light blue eyes and noticing for the first time the golden corona that surrounded her pupils. Her lips felt soft and warm under his and he let his tongue gently brush against them, causing her to open her full lips wide so that they could kiss deeply. He moved his right hand up to lightly trace the left side of her beautiful face, where her scars had once been.

"Now how you look on the outside, reflects the girl I love on the inside" he said sincerely.

"Oh John, I love you too" Sparks sighed and melted into his arms.

They kissed each other reverently and lost track of time, before eventually John began to move away from her mouth and down her body. He planted tender kisses on her neck, across her chest and then finally made his way to her glorious breasts, licking each nipple softly and causing her to moan with pleasure. He followed the perfectly curved oval of her tummy and headed downwards, before trailing soft kisses across her toned flat stomach.

Sparks gasped as she felt John kiss the sensitive skin above her hips, his tongue flickering out tentatively to gently taste her bronzed flesh. He carefully moved his body between her legs and she spread her toned thighs for him, inviting him to explore her most secret of places. John accepted her invitation and started to kiss her labia, relishing the velvety smooth skin under his lips. He lapped at her gently with his tongue, causing the teenager to cry out and arch her back at the wonderful sensations.

"Oh that feels amazing" she sighed breathily as John began to lightly stroke his tongue over her clit. She gasped and moaned as he teased her responsive young body ever closer to climax.

With a final flourish of his tongue the ravishing young woman cried out wordlessly, gripping the covers tightly in her fists as an incredible orgasm crashed over her, waves of pleasure washing over her body.

John looked up at her, smiling happily at her strong reaction to his efforts and Sparks looked down at him with adoring eyes.

"I want to be with you" she said invitingly.

John moved up her body until his arms were either side of her and the blunt end of his cock was nestled between her thighs at the entrance to her pussy.

John moved in closer to her, so that his arms were behind her back, cradling her head and she stared up at him as he kissed her passionately. Sparks felt protected and loved, cradled as she was in her powerful lovers arms and yearned to be joined with him. She nodded as he stared into her eyes and her mouth opened in awe as she felt her body being opened and filled for the first time. There was no pain, just an incredible feeling of satisfaction as John pushed slowly and carefully inside her body. She spread her thighs wider, giving him as much room as he needed and steadily his long hard cock pushed its way right to the back of her snugly gripping pussy.

He paused for a moment to let her nubile young flesh get used to being stretched out widely for him for the first time. Her body instinctively knew that it should yield for her man and her unused pussy wrapped itself around the gently throbbing cock longingly.

They kissed again, looking into each other's eyes as if being able to stare into each other's souls. She had never felt this connected to a person before, like she was entwined around John's very being, just like her body was tightly embracing his burgeoning cock.

John sensed that the teenager had adjusted to the strange and wonderful sensation of being penetrated for the first time and he began to gently rock back and forth, eliciting excited gasps from the eager young teen.

Sparks hissed as the broad cock nudged up against her cervix, but she knew that her body would spread itself open as far as he needed to go. She kissed him again and looked into his eyes.

"I want to feel all of you inside me" she said in a breathy moan.

John nodded and began to push steadily into her, feeling her cervix dilate in welcome for him and allowing him slow and measured progress into her tight young body. He eased his way forward, until he had finally pushed into her womb and Sparks reached down to feel the bulge in her tummy his massive cock had made, as he worked himself inside her. She could feel his big heavy balls resting on the cheeks of her bottom, the weight reassuring and yet hugely arousing.

She sighed happily, feeling like her body was being used for its natural purpose at long last and she kissed John with fervour. Matching her growing desire, John began to slowly and carefully pull back from the young girl, before steadily pushing forward to fill her once again.

Sparks let out a little moan as her body responded to making love for the first time. Her hips began to rock back and forth in time with John's movements, making his penetration deeper and more satisfying for both of them. They bodies moved in perfect time with one another, urging each other on with gasps, sighs and moans. Sparks moved her hands down to hold Johns waist, feeling the tightly controlled power behind his muscles as he moved gently but firmly inside her.

The lovers' movements became erratic, their breath more laboured as they quickly approached their climax. John cupped her head in his hands protectively and stared into her eyes, their faces only inches apart and their pupils dilating with ecstasy as they both came long and hard.

Sparks thigh's trembled uncontrollably as she experienced her first orgasm with her man inside her. Her tight pussy sucked on John's jerking cock eagerly, hungrily encouraging him to fill her up. Her eyes widened as she felt the first surge of his cum into her womb and then she groaned as her climax lengthened, rewarding her young body for following its natural drives. She let go of John's waist and gently cupped her growing stomach, as she felt each blast of his cum shoot inside her. John raised himself up on his arms to give her room to grow, whilst repeating his urgent little thrusts, deeply ensconced in her as he was.

Sparks could feel the enormous spheres of his balls trembling as they quivered against her bottom, flexing and pumping to make sure that every drop of spunk in his quad would end up inside her body. The redhead groaned euphorically as her belly expanded to home all of John's cum, as he filled her tight young body to the brim. Finally spent he gently eased back, leaving her feeling sadly empty, but the rapturous feeling of carrying such an enormous quantity of his semen in her densely packed womb proved to be ample compensation.

"That was wonderful" she sighed ecstatically, her eyelids languid after the sensory overload.

"You are wonderful" John said, leaning in to kiss her lovingly.

Calara and Alyssa had watched the whole encounter enraptured. They adored John for the caring and gentle way he made love to their friend for the first time and when the two of them had finally finished, the girls moved forward to embrace her and whisper gentle endearments in her ears. Sparks lovingly caressed her hugely swollen belly, enjoying the different feeling when it was her womb filled with cum rather than her stomach. Calara and Alyssa joined her in stroking her abundant tummy, with soft caresses of their elegant fingers.

Now that she carried John's cum inside her womb for the first time, the teenager finally felt the equal of Calara and Alyssa, unified in their purpose as John's mates. She sighed contentedly, the feelings of inadequacy and inferiority washing away.

John moved between the girls so that Calara was on his left, with Sparks on his right and Alyssa cuddled up protectively behind her. John looked the redhead in the eyes as he ran his strong hands over her hugely expanded abdomen and the look he gave her confirmed that she was right, she was his woman now.

They all cuddled up together to enjoy the intimate moment and rested comfortably in each others arms.

John lay back and relished being surrounded by the beautiful young women that he loved so much. He could hardly believe what they had been through and survived today, but he knew instinctively that this was just the beginning of their adventures together. The happy trio had become the happy foursome and he couldn't be more glad, as he looked down devotedly at the teenagers wrapped in his arms.