Chapter 111: Healing broken souls... and shattering dreams...

John gave Irillith a moment alone with her sister, watching as she hugged her twin and whispered earnestly in her pointed ear. Tashana was unable to return the tender display of affection, still restrained as she was in the set of grav-cuffs, her legs parted and arms held aloft. Instead she simply leaned into her sister, eyes closed as she savoured the loving embrace.

He walked over to the twins and stroked the back of Tashana’s head, brushing his fingers through her snowy-white mane. “I’m so proud of you,” he said, smiling at her when she opened those enchanting violet eyes to gaze up at him. “You were incredibly brave.”

“When the Bolon attacked me, I was absolutely terrified ... but I don’t have to be frightened of anything now,” she said, a newfound confidence in her eyes. “You reminded me of that ... and I won’t forget it.”

Reaching up to unlock the grav-cuff on her wrist, John nodded. “I can tell the difference ... it’s wonderful to see.”

“Wait!” she called out, making him pause. Tashana gazed at him under her long lashes. “We haven’t finished my therapy session yet...”

Knowing exactly what she had in mind, John cupped her face in his hands and said quietly, “I don’t want you associating anything we do together with the horrors you experienced in your past.”

Tashana shook her head. “It won’t be like that.” Glancing at Rachel, she added, “Can you explain for me?”

The brunette smiled supportively at the Maliri girl. “Tashana responded brilliantly to the lovely things you said to her, overcoming the traumatic memories from her past. If we give her some positive reinforcement, it will encourage her to instinctively adopt the same courageous approach if any more unpleasant memories are triggered in the future.”

Alyssa nodded as she glided over to join them, giving Tashana a loving smile. “We need to positively reinforce her brains out...”

The rest of the girls emerged from the shadows, gathering around them and waiting for John’s verdict.

Turning to face him, Alyssa studied John with her piercing cerulean eyes. The terrible things Tashana went through left her with deep mental scars, but we’re going to do the exact opposite. We’ll wrap her up in so much love she’ll carry it with her forever. She placed a reassuring hand on his arm. I’m going to spirit link into her mind ... if there’s even a hint of a problem, I’ll flood her subconscious with loving feelings and we’ll call it all off.

John looked down at the Maliri girl, seeing no hint of fear or trepidation in her unwavering gaze. He leaned down and kissed her. “Okay, we’ll try it your way.”

Her pupils flared with excitement and her dark-blue nipples hardened into points, as though begging for attention. “Thank you...” she whispered breathlessly.

The girls quickly removed their clothes and soon they were just as naked as Tashana. John felt nimble fingers tugging at his own clothing and he didn’t resist as they stripped him bare. Then they all turned their attention to the restrained girl, with Dana, Jade, Rachel, and Sakura kneeling in a close circle around her, leaving John, Alyssa, Calara, and Irillith to focus on her upper body. They all began with gentle caresses, eight pairs of hands lightly brushing over her skin, drawing breathy sighs from Tashana.

Those unthreatening touches were soon followed by soft kisses, making Tashana moan at the gradual escalation in sensual pleasure. John brushed her long white hair back and planted a trail of kisses up her slender neck to her ear. As he took Tashana’s earlobe into his mouth and sucked gently, he watched as Irillith kissed her, their identical dark-blue lips moving with practiced familiarity. His tongue flickered out to lick the outer edge of her ear, then kissed his way up to the top, Irillith feeling every teasing caress of those sensitive pointed tips. Both girls moaned in a sultry duet and their kissing grew more passionate as they responded to everyone’s attention.

John glanced down over Tashana’s blue shoulder to see long manes of blonde and chestnut hair, Alyssa and Calara sucking attentively on her nipples. They looked up at him and smiled, their mouths completely engulfing those painfully-hard points, tongues swirling over them lovingly. Tashana began to tremble, then threw her head back and climaxed, her mouth open in a silent cry. Irillith mirrored her movements perfectly, sharing her sister’s euphoria and joining her in her release.

John circled Tashana in his arms, catching Irillith and steadying her as she wavered. “You better lie down, beautiful,” he said with an affectionate smile. “You won’t be able to stay standing for much longer...”

Irillith looked at him with smoky, lustful eyes and nodded, leaning in to kiss Tashana before following his suggestion. She lay back on the padded training mats, splaying her thighs wantonly as she dipped her agile blue fingers between them. Tashana groaned as she felt the sudden surge in pleasure flowing across their bond, Irillith languidly circling her clit with a slick finger. John felt her freeze, Tashana letting out a long drawn-out gasp.

“Did one of those naughty girls do something?” John whispered in her ear. “Tell me...”

“Jade...” Tashana panted, her hips making involuntary rocking movements. “Her tongue ... it’s so long...”

Irillith’s back was arched, her eyes rolling up as she shared the thrilling sensation of being filled with the Nymph’s velvety tongue. She writhed on the mats, her fingers moving faster as she grew more aroused by the second. Biting her flushed lower lip, she bucked back, reacting the same way as her trembling twin.

Suddenly there was a frantic groan of frustration from Tashana and she pushed forward with her hips in desperation. “No! I’m so close!”

John’s eyes fell on the Maliri girl lying on the mats and found Irillith looking back at them, her fingers having gone still.

“Not yet, little sister,” she purred, lips curling up into a teasing smile. “Jade was just getting you ready...”

Dana rose to her feet and leaned in to give John a kiss on the cheek. “I’ve deactivated the immobilisation function on her grav-cuffs, you can move her into whatever position you want...”

He looked at the redhead and they shared a smile, both feeling tremendously relieved that putting their faith in Alyssa and Rachel had been so well rewarded.

“Did you hear that?” John murmured in Tashana’s ear. “Do you want to take this further?”

“I need you!” she gasped, rubbing her firm bottom against his throbbing cock. “You’re so hot and hard ... I want you inside me!”

With the grav-cuffs supporting Tashana’s weight at her ankles and wrists, moving her body would have been easy even without John’s enhanced strength. He repositioned her so that she was leaning forward, looking like she was riding one of the hoverbikes. Her legs were slightly parted and bent at the knee, her dainty feet pointing up towards the ceiling and her ass tilted up for ease of access. John could see how wet her pussy was, glistening with her arousal in the soft light.

“You look absolutely stunning,” he said appreciatively, running his fingers along a quivering, finely-muscled thigh. “How does that feel?”

“Like I’m ready to be ridden!” she gasped, her voice shaky with delirious excitement. “Don’t make me wait any longer!”

Dana grinned and tapped the four grav-cuffs, locking the Maliri girl in place. “There, right where we want you.” She leaned down to give Tashana a gentle kiss. “We all love you so much ... thanks for trusting us.”

Tashana kissed her passionately, too aroused to reciprocate with the same tenderness. John lined up the head of his cock with her sopping pussy and nudged forward, slightly parting her moist lips. She let out a low groan deep in her throat as he spread her open, his girth stretching her labia obscenely wide to take him. Tashana stayed perfectly still as she concentrated on John pushing the fat head of his cock inside her perfectly presented body.

John could tell she was expecting him to thrust deep inside, but he only gave her the head, her labia sliding over the crown to encircle his shaft. He paused then, watching her look back at him over her shoulder in confusion, her angular eyes aflame with passion.

“We’re going to take this nice and slow,” he said, his fingers running along her flanks as he took a firm grip around her waist.

Tashana’s brow furrowed and she was about to protest, when the girls all renewed their sensual caresses. Her long eyelashes fluttered as six girls began to kiss and stroke her body, seeking out her erogenous zones with soft lips and gentle fingers.

“Oh my God...” she whimpered, mouth falling open as Irillith began to languidly circle her clit with a finger.

John watched Irillith’s face as he began to penetrate her twin at a glacial pace, her lithe body gyrating seductively. Tashana was looking forward now, mewling in disbelief and joining him in staring at her sister. While he couldn’t see Tashana’s face, he could see how much every extra inch was affecting Irillith. They both cried out, and he felt Tashana’s internal muscles clamp down on him as she came, temporary halting his progress. He smiled and thrust forward a little harder, making her squeal with ecstasy as he pushed deeper into her fluttering pussy.

Stopping when he reached her cervix, he watched her chest heaving as she came hard. It was fascinating to watch her exquisite azure body wracked in climax, supple muscles flexing under her flawless skin, a light sheen of perspiration making her glisten in the light. He could see that it was a powerful one, so he let her have a few moments to calm down afterwards, Tashana panting to regain her breath.

John felt a wet tongue lap lovingly at his quad, a mouth enclosing each ball for a gentle suck before moving onto the next.

So full of cum... Jade purred, identifying the girl behind the attention. All ready to go where it belongs ... in a willing girl’s fertile womb...

His cock lurched at the thought, making Tashana gasp as she felt his iron-hard length flex inside her. Jade’s mouth left John’s quad and Tashana’s appreciative moan gave him a good idea where the Nymph had moved next. His suspicions were confirmed a moment later as he felt the Nymph lick the join between the lovers, Jade’s tongue gliding along his shaft and lingering on Tashana’s clit. John pushed onwards and continued his steady progress, easing his way through her pliant cervix.

He watched the girls lavishing attention on the immobilised Maliri girl, heightening her state of arousal with their constant caresses. Working as a team, John let the girls control her climaxes, while he concentrated on slowly stuffing her full. He finally felt the head of his shaft brush the back of her womb, drawing a throaty groan from Tashana. Looking down, he could see she had taken all of him, her obscenely stretched pussy forming a snug seal around the base of his shaft.

John pulled back, but only for an inch, then eased forward so that Tashana could feel his cock nudge inside her depths. The firm round orbs of her ass trembled against his stomach and he was tempted to just grab her hips and give the Maliri girl the pounding he knew she craved. But this was a team effort and his job was simply to keep Tashana full of cock, while the girls coaxed her to ever greater heights of pleasure. He draped himself over her back and reached around to cup her pert breasts, massaging and squeezing them as he fed her nipples to Alyssa and Calara.

“Fuck me, John ... please!” Tashana begged, trying to thrust back against him.

“No, honey ... the girls want to show you how much they love you,” he whispered in her ear, his hips moving at a maddeningly slow pace, with the head of his cock kissing the depths of her womb every time he hilted himself inside her.

He saw Irillith squeeze her eyes tightly shut, her body quaking out of control ... until she screamed in ecstasy, echoed an instant later by her sister. John smiled with satisfaction, then kissed Tashana’s ear, murmuring loving words that sent her over the edge again and again. He could hear the girls sucking on her breasts, Jade lapping at her clit and the sweet sound of fluttering kisses covering every inch of Tashana’s hyper-sensitive skin.

The twins whimpered and gasped through countless orgasms, their mouths falling open as they were rendered insensate by the overwhelming pleasure they were experiencing. He simply enjoyed the spectacular view and revelled in the glorious massage Tashana’s pussy was giving him as she climaxed repeatedly.

Alyssa eventually crawled out from under Tashana, then stood in front of her, running her fingers through the Maliri girl’s sweat-soaked hair. “You’re nearly done, aren’t you gorgeous?” she said, in a soft murmur, looking into dazed violet eyes. “That’s about as much love as you can take...”

“So much...” Tashana sobbed, in a blissful state of euphoria. “I love you all so much...”

“Such a good girl,” Alyssa crooned, leaning forward to give her a loving kiss. “You just need John to make everything perfect ... don’t you?”

The Maliri girl managed to nod her head, her glorious body quaking with anticipation. “Please...”

Alyssa’s eyes sparkled with delight and she glanced up at John. “Okay, handsome, it’s your turn now.”

John straightened up and slowly eased his way out of the exhausted girl, Tashana making a feeble moan of protest as he withdrew. Glancing down at the girls, he asked, “Can you deactivate the grav-cuffs please?”

They quickly moved to do as he asked, then helped him position Tashana so that she was wrapped around him, her wrists crossed behind his neck, ankles crossed behind his back. She whimpered as he pulled her down on his cock, sheathing himself again inside her pliant flesh until she had taken him all the way.

“I love you,” he said, giving her a soul-searing kiss.

Tashana moaned into his mouth, her luscious lips moving instinctively with his. John cupped her ass and bounced her on his lap, the lubrication from her overwhelmed pussy dripping down his cock to cover his balls. He’d been on the verge of release for what felt like hours and he could see that Tashana couldn’t last much longer. She gave him a look of utter adoration that tipped him over the edge and he buried himself in her womb, his cock pulsing as he filled her with cum.

Tashana gazed at him reverently, the rapturous expression on her face revealing that she’d achieved some kind of higher state of consciousness. Her tummy swelled between them, growing heavy and rounding out with the huge load he pumped inside her. When he was done, Tashana sagged against him, growing limp as she surrendered to sweet oblivion. A glance over her shoulder revealed that Irillith had fainted too, the unending chain of orgasms leaving her too exhausted to keep her eyes open.

The girls quickly removed Tashana’s grav-cuffs and John carried the comatose Maliri into the adjacent bedroom, placing her gently on the covers. Jade lay Irillith down beside her, then they all collapsed on the bed for a well-deserved rest.

John hugged Alyssa close and gave her a kiss. “You were right, that was just what she needed. I’m sorry I doubted you before.”

“You don’t have to apologise,” she said, cupping his face and staring lovingly into his eyes. “You were just worried Tashana might get hurt ... I understand.”

Dana propped herself up, giving Alyssa a rueful smile. “I thought you were crazy too, but that worked like a charm. How did you know?”

Alyssa snuggled into John’s arms, a look of contentment on her face. “I hear all of you, all the time. Tashana’s been getting so much stronger and she loves being here with us. She was starting to really put her past behind her, which is why I got so mad when the Kirrix gave her flashbacks.”

“Making Tashana a collar was an inspired move,” Rachel said, stroking John’s arm. “What made you think of giving that to her?”

Dana giggled and glanced at the sleeping Maliri. “Come on, babes, it’s obvious! Irillith looks sexy as hell with a collar on; I’m just surprised it took him this long to make one for Tashana.”

The girls all laughed and John shrugged playfully. “What can I say? The twins are hot; the twins in matching collars are even hotter.”

That earned him another round of laughter, but Rachel gave him a knowing look and he could tell she wanted a genuine answer.

He turned to lie on his back and pulled the brunette in for a hug. “When Irillith puts on her collar, it gives her the courage to do things the Maliri consider taboo without feeling any shame. I figured that Tashana could use her collar in a similar way, drawing strength from it to help her handle those terrible memories.”

“It was an excellent idea,” she said with open admiration. “Tashana’s had quite the breakthrough today; the collar will be a helpful reminder that she’s loved and protected.”

I’m intrigued to know what rationale you’ll have for putting a collar on me, my Lord, Edraele said, a playful lilt to her voice. I’m sure whatever it is will be for my own good.

I’m sure I can come up with a suitably noble justification, John bantered back, thoroughly enjoying the thrilling image that conjured up.

Edraele paused for a moment, then opened up her empathic connection, letting John feel her profound sense of gratitude to him for everything he’d done for her daughter. She managed to convey far more with that flurry of intense emotions than she would have been able to with words alone. Layered on top of that initial surge was a flood of relief as her sense of guilt lifted, Edraele knowing in her heart that her family had been mended and made whole again.

Alyssa sounded startled as she said, She’s right ... I can feel the change in the twins.

John turned to look at the Maliri sisters and saw that they’d stirred from sleep. Two sets of doting violet eyes gazed back and he could see a sense of peace in them which he’d never seen before. They looked calm, relaxed, and very much in love, the dark demons from their past finally exorcised from their souls and gone for good.

“I feel different,” Tashana said softly, her hand absent-mindedly circling her swollen belly. “Lighter now ... as though I’ve been unburdened from all that pain. It’s like there were three stages to my life: my childhood with Irillith on Valaden, the banishment to the Unclaimed Wastes, then living here with all of you. Except those terrible thirteen years feel muted ... almost like they happened to someone else and just don’t matter anymore.”

Irillith nodded, her expression one of wonder as she turned to look at her sister. “I know you forgave me before, but I really feel it now. The most important thing is that we’ve been reunited and nothing’s going to separate us again.”

John beckoned them over for a celebratory hug, Irillith rushing into his arms and Tashana moving more cautiously with her heavily rounded stomach. The girls all joined in, embracing the trio, and soon there were beaming faces all round.

Alyssa pulled back and reluctantly said, “This has been lovely, but we better start getting ready, we’ll be arriving in the Eta Piscium system in thirty minutes.”

Tashana lay back on the bed and spread her legs with a coy smile. “Who’s going first?”

Commander Tom Walker anxiously drummed his fingers on the desk as he waited for the call to connect. The image of a winged sword flashed and the call went through to voice mail, Anna cheerfully announcing, “I’d love to speak to you, but I’m afraid I’m busy right now! If you’d like to leave a message, especially if you’re my wonderful fiancé, then you know what to do!”

He’d heard the recording so many times over the last couple of days, he was starting to hear it in his sleep. The dream last night had been particularly disturbing, with Tom bursting into Anna’s apartment and finding her riding Archie. She turned to give him one of her dazzling smiles and happily declared, “I’d love to speak to you, but I’m afraid I’m busy right now!”. Fortunately, he’d lurched awake before his subconscious could torture him with any more of that horrible nightmare.

This was the longest they’d gone without talking to each other since ... he frowned, trying to remember a day they hadn’t spoken at least briefly. Their parents had known each other long before he was born, living as neighbours in a luxurious residential district allocated to senior officers on the outskirts of the Citadel. Then when children came along, it was only natural they’d play together being so close in age. Only a year younger than Tom and Mason, Annabelle was the third Musketeer in their little band, the three of them thick as thieves for as far back as Tom could remember.

His eyes dropped to the holo-pictures on the desk of his best friend and his fiancée. Mason was giving him a broad grin, while Anna gazed back lovingly, her beautiful face lit up with a radiant smile. Tom was closer to them than anyone, but he couldn’t help feeling that he was failing them both. Mason was falling apart after his father’s death and despite Tom’s best efforts to help him, his friend seemed to be withdrawing into drink and anger. He dreaded to think how their father’s death was impacting Anna, but he wasn’t able to contact her and she wasn’t returning his calls. Tom had tried calling her mother numerous times in his desperation, but Natalie Newmont wasn’t answering either.

The comms interface chimed and he felt his heart skip a beat, hoping it was Anna. A quick glance at the ID revealed it was Lieutenant Commander Kyle McDaniel and Tom answered the call with a host of conflicting emotions.

Kyle had bags under his eyes and he looked haggard as he gazed at his friend. Tom saw an odd expression on the man’s face, one he’d never seen before on the stocky marine. He was looking at him with pity...

“No...” Tom whispered in horror.

Visibly deflating Kyle could only nod dejectedly. “I’m so sorry, Walker. I’ve been trying to track Anna down but she’s been on leave. She hasn’t been at her apartment for days, but I finally found her this morning...” He turned and hit a button on the holo-interface, transferring a file.

Tom’s hand shook as he went to open the attachment, looking at the data-file like it was a cobra poised to strike. The file was a video clip taken across the street from a luxury apartment, bright morning sunshine making the dew on the manicured lawns sparkle like a carpet of diamonds. His heart lifted when he saw Anna, his beautiful fiancée walking quickly from the apartment, but he could see she looked anxious, her eyes darting around furtively. A few moments later, he saw a tall, dark-haired man leave the same apartment ... and Tom sank into the depths of despair.

He recognised Archie instantly, the man’s smug smirk as he leered at Anna from behind making Tom’s skin crawl. They approached a sporty red hovercar, with Archie carrying two suitcases, one of which Tom knew belonged to his fiancée. Archie loaded the luggage in the trunk, then he pulled the blonde into a hug, Anna resting her head against his chest. She gave him a warm smile, then they got into Archie’s hovercar and drove away.

“I took that video at 6:15 this morning. I found Anna’s car at Davenport’s apartment and checked the energy cells to see if she had just arrived. They were cold, Walker ... she was there all night,” Kyle informed him quietly, his sad eyes full of sympathy.

Tom slumped back in his chair, his breathing shallow, his vision blurring. It was like he was in a long tunnel, with nothing but blackness and despair surrounding him. Kyle’s voice sounded hollow, what he was saying barely registering.

“Hard to tail ... trying not to be followed ... lost them a few times ... a cabin in the woods...”

“Thanks, Mac...” Tom mumbled, reaching for the comms interface. “Gotta go...”

“Wait, Walker!” Kyle called out, staring in alarm at the devastated shell of a man before him. “Don’t do anything stup-”

Kyle’s panicked face froze on the screen as Tom killed the call, killed it stone dead.

Just like his heart.

Zelkrixa eased her enormous bulk through the nest chamber, five pairs of chitinous legs clicking unsteadily on the deck. She paused for a moment, involuntary shudders rolling over her intimidating form, and tried to immerse herself in the glorious chirping chorus of her grubs. The sound of her precious children being fed normally brought joy to her heart, but she was still reeling from the waves of telepathic pain that had engulfed her mind.

Locked into the psychic connection with her Hive Queen, she had felt Krinava’s shock when the revered elder had discerned the true nature of the attackers on Carolus III. Shock had quickly turned into terror, waves of it pouring off the battered Hive Queen and crashing over the entire Hive Mind, rippling down to the lowliest of drones. Zelkrixa had experienced every agonising moment of the Hive Queen’s terrible fate, her mind writhing in anguish as Krinava was systematically eviscerated.

The Broodmother had scrabbled to break the connection, bordering on the edge of madness as she tried to free her mind from such excruciating torment. She had clicked her mandibles in horror as her own children thrashed in sympathetic agony, Zelkrixa’s connection to her drones making them join her suffering. The Progenitor beast had taken her time, cruelly ripping Krinava apart and making the poor Hive Queen suffer, knowing the Kirrix would feel every last act of barbarity.

Zelkrixa shivered with fear, remembering the glowing bipedal female and her icy blue eyes that blazed out of the darkness. There was no mercy to be found in that hideously ugly alien monster, the Progenitor remorseless in her torments. For millennia, the Kirrix had been reduced to raiding neighbouring territories to abduct sentient creatures, all in a desperate attempt to stave off extinction. With that fear ever-present, the threat of a swift and brutal annihilation of their entire species had stunned the upper echelons of the Hive Mind. Most galling of all, was the way that terrifying glowing figure had coldly informed the Hive Mind that this was their well-deserved punishment for the slaying of Terran and Trankaran children.

The Broodmother’s huge compound eyes swivelled around to gaze lovingly at the rows full of hexagonal alcoves, each one a nest for her beautiful grubs. The way their mandibles gnashed in anticipation of a sliver of flesh was adorable; what kind of monster must this Progenitor be, to begrudge her children a warm meal? It’s not like the mewling Terran chattel actually mattered in the grand scheme of things; it should have been obvious to even the most slow-witted of aliens that only the Kirrix had true value.

When Zelkrixa had finally regained use of her faculties, she abandoned the attempt to round up any more prisoners on the Terran colony known as Brecken’s World. Recalling her legion of children to protect the nest was an instinctive act, one she ordered without conscious thought. Unfortunately, her troops were widely dispersed as they hunted for Terran colonists in the forests, so it was taking them some time to return to her hive ship, the Fertile Dream. Having lost the Hive Queen’s comforting telepathic presence, the Broodmother felt frightened and exposed, left wondering what the Hive Mind wished her to do next.

Then she heard a faint echoing voice, each word horribly laboured, the Hive Mind battered and filled with fear.

Zelkrixa ... return ... home. Kirr-Inax ... must be ... protected!

Kelli hunkered down with her unconscious friends, watching fearfully as a stream of Bug patrols marched by. The insectoid soldiers stuck to the main road, paying no attention to her, or the score of decapitated Kirrix troopers that had chased them towards Iron Wolverines territory. Her hand shook with fear as she held Tony’s chrome SMG and she prayed that they wouldn’t return.

When it was obvious they were gone for good, she turned to check on her friends, her eyes drifting to the big man sprawled on the ground. Fortunately, it looked like his backpack had taken most of the hit, destroying everything inside, but protecting most of his back from harm. Kelli put the gun down and dug into her own backpack, pulling out a trauma bandage so she could attend to his wound. The instructions were pretty straight forward, but she read them through several times, trying to distract herself from dwelling on the fact that she was probably the last person still standing in the hollowed out asteroid.

Kelli pulled aside what was left of Tony’s backpack, then ripped his ruined shirt away and grimaced as she stared at the ugly gunshot wound on his lower back. Although the ragged red lacerations looked dreadful, they didn’t seem to go deep enough to hit anything vital. Kelli had no medical training, so she could only hope he wasn’t critically injured. After smoothing the bandage into place around the wound, Kelli blew out her breath and tried to figure out what the hell she was going to do next. Tony and Perl were both unconscious, and there was no way she could drag the blonde very far, let alone the muscular ganger.