Chapter 132: Making solemn pledges...

“Fuck!” John snarled, incensed that the Brimorians were causing him even more problems. Let me get this straight ... the Maliri fleets won’t make it in time, so now we’re rushing to save the Kintark from an Enclave invasion?!

That’s correct, Edraele replied mournfully.

Except we won’t make it in time either, Alyssa added, sounding heavily distracted.

John froze. What do you mean?

It’s kinda tricky to talk right now. Come up to the Bridge.

He fastened up his trousers and reached for his T-shirt. On my way.

The door to Jade’s quarters slid open, admitting the nude Nymph herself. She padded barefoot across the floor, then wrapped her arms around him, pressing her warm breasts against his bare chest.

“You were wonderful with her, Master ... simply wonderful!” she gushed, gazing adoringly into his eyes.

Before he could say anything, Jade pressed her lips against his, giving him a tender kiss that was full of heartfelt emotion. As lovely as that was, John had been all set to sprint to the Command Deck and was hyped-up for action. The Nymph’s languid sensuality took him completely by surprise, not at all what he was expecting from her in a crisis situation.

With her tongue lovingly duelling his, conducting a regular conversation proved to be a challenging prospect. Err Jade ... I need to get to the Bridge, he prompted her, resorting to telepathy.

I know... she cooed, hugging him with surprising strength and making no move to let go. But I love you so much ... and you’re just so deliciously kissable, Master!

He squeezed her gloriously pert rump, making Jade gasp and give him a sultry smile. It also temporarily stopped the lusty Nymph from coiling her tongue around his and allowed him to talk again.

“Let me go speak to Alyssa, then I’ll come back ... I promise,” he said, kissing the tip of her nose.

Jade giggled and nodded, then fell back on the bed and snuggled Ailita from behind. She began to purr contentedly, a serene expression on her face.

It looks like I turned Jade into a love drunk, John said to his blonde matriarch, while slipping out of the Nymph’s quarters.

It’s rude to talk about a lady behind her back, the Nymph protested, before her infectious laughter echoed through his mind.

I wasn’t ... you heard every word, he said with a smile, as he leaped into the grav-tube. Now, quiet down for a minute or I’ll have to shut you out of my mind, okay?

Jade’s laughter cut off in an instant, the sudden silence eerily abrupt.

The fact that Alyssa didn’t make any comment about Jade’s behaviour was ample proof of how distracted she was. When John reached the Command Deck and stepped out of the grav-tube, he saw the blonde leaning forward in her XO chair, staring intently at the holographic Sector Map in the centre of the Bridge.

Calara was sitting beside her and when she saw John had arrived, rushed down the steps to greet him. “Alyssa’s trying to navigate a safe course to the Dragon March, but there’s huge numbers of merchant and civilian traffic near Alpha Centauri.”

“So we’re en route to Kinta instead of Genthalas,” John said, walking up the illuminated steps to the Command Podium.

She nodded, her beautiful face shadowed with worry. “Alyssa assumed you’d want to change course ... but we’re not going to reach the Imperial homeworld before the Brimorians arrive.”

He frowned as he sat down in his Command Chair. “Didn’t you tell me that we’d be able to make it in time?”

“Yes, but we’ve made so many diversions since then,” she protested, looking at him anxiously. “A couple of hours detour to pick up my dad and Mateo, docking with the Epiphron to build my mom’s new car, the wedding at Olympus, dealing with Khatri ... it all added up.”

John rubbed a hand over his face. “Shit.”

Calara’s expression was grim. “Even going full speed, we’ll arrive hours after the Brimorians. The two Kintark fleets are massively outnumbered and at a big tech disadvantage; they have no chance of repelling the Enclave forces ... absolutely none.”

“But we’re still flying there anyway?” John asked, staring at Alyssa’s projected flight path that snaked past scores of systems towards the Dragon March.

The Latina looked at him in astonishment. “Seriously? You don’t want to try to save the Kintark?”

John watched Alyssa’s incredible navigation skills in action as she guided the white battlecruiser towards Groombridge 34, a yellow star only eleven light years from Terra. His eyes flicked to Alpha Centauri and he couldn’t help wondering where his parents were lurking. It rankled that Rahn’hagon had ignored the banishment from Federation territory, but John grimaced and realised he shouldn’t have expecting anything else from his father.

The Invictus shook violently as it plunged into the gravity well, then the vibrations fell away as the hyper-warp bow wave reared up over the prow. They raced around the star on the holo-map, skipping forward in short jumps as the navigation computer struggled to keep up. Clearing the edge of the system, the white battlecruiser weaved around freighter traffic at astounding speed, giving the merchant ships a wide berth to avoid obliterating them with their wake.

“What do you think we should do?” John asked, turning to face Calara.

She nibbled at her lip, indecision in her eyes.

“Just tell me what the wisest strategic decision is in your opinion,” he urged her, clasping her hand and giving it an encouraging squeeze. “I don’t care how callous it sounds.”

Straightening, Calara met his questioning gaze. “We should fly directly to Genthalas and focus on securing Larn’kelnar’s fleet assets. Tamolith and the Kintark forces have no strategic value in the Progenitor War and can be ignored. We should still order the Maliri fleets to wipe out the Brimorian invaders, to prevent the Enclave from conquering what’s left of the Kintark Empire.”

“If we let the Brimorians destroy Tamolith’s forces and demolish Mar’Trinark Shipyard, the Kintark will never recover, will they? With no way of rebuilding enough ships to defend themselves, the Empire will be systematically picked apart by the Terran Federation, the Brimorian Enclave, and even the Drakkar.”

“That would be my assessment, yes,” she agreed solemnly.

John grimaced and sighed in frustration, then reached over to his console and activated the comms interface. He made a secure call and a stunning young brunette answered a few seconds later.

“John?” the sleepy Fleet Admiral asked, rubbing her eyes. “Everything okay?”

“Hi, Marie,” John replied, emphasising her undercover name. “Please could you ask your Aunt to clear a path for us to the Dragon March. I need her to issue an executive order banning all civilian and military traffic from our route. It’s for their own safety and we need it done immediately.”

Lynette blinked in surprise. “Err ... okay. I’ll pass the message on.”

“Thanks a lot,” he replied with a grateful smile. “Sorry to disturb you.”

She waved goodbye and grinned. “No problem!”

“Good night.” John returned her wave and ended the call. Turning to Alyssa he smiled. “That should help keep everyone out of our way.”

“Nice job,” she replied, flashing him a quick smile before returning her attention to navigating a safe course through the thousands of spacecraft in the Sector. “If Lynette can give us a clear run, I’ll be able to create an optimal flight path, and we might be able to get there a bit faster than I predicted.”

“No problem.” John rotated his chair to look at his Tactical Officer. “Alright, so we’re rushing to the rescue ... again. Can we slow the Brimorians down? Maybe mine their invasion route and use Gravity Well Generators like we did against the Drakkar?”

Calara sat down on the top step and frowned as she mulled it over. “I’ve got some ideas, but I’ll need as much information as possible about the fleet assets and materiel the Kintark have available.”

“I’m sure Edraele can get that for us,” he agreed.

I’m still on an open comms channel with Tamolith ... I’ll start gathering the data Calara needs, Edraele informed him.

Thank you. He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and propped his chin up on his interlaced fingers. “Okay ... anything else?”

“We should discuss this with the girls,” Calara said, glancing at Alyssa. “They might have some useful ideas.”

“They’re on their way,” the blonde instantly replied. “I’ll get them to join you in the Briefing Room.”

John got up and offered Calara a hand. “Send them to my Ready Room instead, it’s more comfortable there.”

It didn’t take long for the girls to arrive, with Dana, Rachel, Sakura, Helene, and the Maliri twins all wearing cotton shorts and crop tops. Jehanna yawned as she followed after them, wrapped in a slightly oversized silk robe.

“What do you think?” Dana asked, doing a twirl to show off her outfit before sprawling on the sofa. “Cute, right?”

“Very nice,” John agreed from the chair opposite, his arm around Calara’s shoulders. “I half-expected you to turn up nude.”

Rachel sat demurely on the sofa beside her girlfriend. “Alyssa thought that might be a little too distracting.”

Jehanna eyed the seat next to John, then glanced around at the girls to see if anyone was going to take it.

Sakura encouraged her with a shooing motion. “Go ahead.”

“Thanks,” the reporter said with a grateful smile. She snuggled into John and stifled another yawn.

“You don’t have to stay up for this,” he said, rubbing her arm as he hugged her close. “You’re exhausted, honey. You should be in bed.”

“No, I’ll be okay. I really want to listen to you plan this rescue mission,” she insisted, before covering her mouth to fight back another yawn. Jehanna smiled self-consciously and looked around at the girls with admiration. “I don’t know how you’re all so bright-eyed and bushy-tailed ... it’s 4:00 am!”

“John likes to keep us on our toes,” Irillith said, with a coy smile. “We’re not always on our knees.”

The girls laughed as they all took their places, with Helene sitting next to Sakura, and the Maliri twins seated opposite.

John welcomed them all with a warm smile, then his expression turned serious. “Alright, let’s get down to business. Has Alyssa brought all of you up to speed?”

Tashana nodded. “We were settling down for bed when my mother raised the alarm. Alyssa headed up to the Bridge to change course and updated us on the way.”

“Okay, good,” he said, pleased that he didn’t have to brief them. “So we need ideas on how to slow down the Brimorians, upgrade the Kintark fleets, or enhance our maximum FTL velocity.”

“Ideally all three, I assume?” Rachel asked, tucking her legs underneath her.

“Anything would be helpful,” Calara replied, looking at each of the girls in turn. “I have some ideas myself, but you’re all very creative and might be able to suggest something I missed. Have you thought of anything yet, Sparks?”

“There’s no chance of me being able to upgrade the Invictus to go any faster. I haven’t even started looking into enhancing a Progenitor FTL drive yet, plus, I’d still need to build and install it which would take time we just don’t have.”

“Alright, forget about that for the moment,” John said, keeping his eyes on the redhead. “What about giving some of our technology to the Kintark to upgrade their fleet?”

“I’ve been thinking about that, but there’s a big problem. We’ve got access to a ton of amazing tech, but even if we give something awesome to the Kintark, they won’t have enough time to build it before the Brimorians get there.”

“What if we slowed down the invasion force?” Calara asked. “How long would something like ... Pulse Cannons ... take to construct?”

Oh, by the way... John said to Edraele, tuning out the technical discussion for a moment. When you raised the alarm about the Brimorians with Alyssa, why didn’t you warn me too?

You were deeply intimate with Ailita at the time, the Maliri matriarch replied. Jade said that you were making a profound difference to her sister and asked that you not be disturbed. As neither you nor the ship were in any immediate danger, Alyssa and I agreed to leave you alone.

It felt fundamentally wrong to have been enjoying himself with a sexy girl while the fate of a galactic empire hung in the balance, but John couldn’t find fault with their reasoning. Okay ... no harm done, I guess.

By the sounds of it, Ailita benefited immensely from the experience, Edraele said, her voice soft and supportive. Alyssa said that Jade was ‘high as a kite’ afterwards.

Yeah, I noticed... he said with a wry smile.

Focusing his attention on the girls again, John listened to Dana calculating how long it would take for production lines to be modified before the Kintark could produce Pulse Cannons. The amount of time required to customise manufacturing facilities meant that they wouldn’t have a single weapon installed before the Enclave besieged the planet.

“You need to think quick and dirty, Sparks,” he interrupted, shaking his head. “What can the Kintark churn out that’ll make a difference but won’t take a massive manufacturing or refitting effort?”

“Oh, I know!” the redhead blurted out, her sky-blue eyes widening in inspiration. “What about EMP missiles?! I could send them the schematics we swiped from the Kirrix! A solid hit from one of those would instantly overload the Brimorians’ shields!”

Calara sat bolt upright. “They’d be perfect! Kintark cruisers are already equipped with missile launchers. We could swap their plasma warheads for EMP payloads!”

“They wouldn’t take long to mass-produce?” John asked, delighted that they’d already figured out something that could make a difference.

Dana shook her head and jumped to her feet. “I’ll make some tweaks to the blueprints so they’re even easier to build! The Kintark should be able to crank out a bunch of warheads if they start as soon as they get the updated schematic!”

“Well done, Sparks,” John said to the beaming redhead.

“I’ll let you know as soon as I’m done!” she exclaimed, waving goodbye as she rushed out of the room.

Irillith rose from her seat. “I can encrypt the schematic so that it’ll only unlock when Tamolith speaks a specific command. We’ve still got samples of her voice from when you met her in the Xen-Nuchek mines.”

“Sounds good, we don’t want everyone getting their hands on them,” John agreed.

“Wait ... couldn’t we use EMP missiles to knock out Thrall shields?” Sakura asked, her eyes shining with excitement.

Calara ruefully shook her head. “I’m afraid not. Thrall and Progenitor Shield Generators are both protected against EMP. Hard shields would also block the incoming missiles and the explosion would just cause some temporary instability in the defence field.”

“Damn, that’s a shame,” the Asian girl sighed, sagging back in her sofa.

John nodded in agreement, then turned to Calara. “How much difference will the EMP missiles make to the Kintark fleets? Will they be able to hold their own against the Brimorians?”

Her brows furrowed as she played out battle scenarios in her mind. “Brimorian ship hulls are lightly-armoured compared to all the other space-faring races. If the Kintark can knock their shields out using EMP missiles, their plasma cannons will tear them apart. The Kintark are still outnumbered at least 4 to 1 though. We’ll be lucky if any of their missiles get through the defence grid, with that many enemy destroyers protecting the capital ships.”

“So we need to slow down the Brimorian armada long enough for us to arrive and take them out, or break up the invasion force into much smaller groups so the Kintark can try to overwhelm them piecemeal?”

“Yes, that’s about the size of it,” Calara confirmed, her expression grim. “But if we’re relying on the Kintark, we can’t afford to lose any defending ships to the first couple of Brimorian waves.”

John ran his fingers through his hair. “Damn...”

I’ve started receiving an inventory of the Kintark assets, Edraele informed him. I’ll transmit them to you over a secure channel.

The data arrived a few minutes later and Calara leaned forward to study the information. “It looks like Baledranax stripped their munitions reserves bare. There are hardly any mines left ... not that they’ve got any minelayers to deploy them.” Blowing out her breath, she sat back and frowned with worry.

“Worse than you thought?” John asked, stroking her back.

She nodded, her expression bleak. “I better get down to the Combat Bridge and start running simulations. The sooner I can come up with a defensive stratagem, the more time the Kintark will have to begin preparations.”

Tashana eyed the list of equipment speculatively. “I notice they’ve got sizeable stocks of mining drones and seismic charges. I know a few handy tricks from my smuggling days ... I’ll come with you and see where we can put them to good use.”

Calara gave the Maliri girl a grateful smile. “I’d appreciate that, thank you.”

John patted Jehanna on the thigh and moved to get up. “Okay, let’s go.”

Calara shook her head and placed a hand on his chest. “Thank you, but that’s not necessary. Unless you have a specific idea you want to discuss, you’d be more help getting a good night’s sleep and reviewing my plans with fresh eyes.”

“I was going to offer my moral support,” he admitted with a rueful smile.

“That’s sweet, but I’ll be completely absorbed in planning and I won’t be able to appreciate your company.” She gave him a fond kiss. “Get some rest ... you’ve been through a lot today. If you do think of anything helpful during the night, come and see me immediately so I can factor it into my plans.”

“Alright, will do,” he agreed, realising that she was right. Tiring himself out unnecessarily was pointless.

Calara nodded to Tashana and the two girls strode purposefully from the Ready Room.

“Okay girls, time for bed,” John said, before glancing down at Jehanna who had already fallen asleep. “It looks like someone beat us to it.”

Rachel, Sakura, and Helene laughed quietly, then waved goodbye and headed back down to the Observatory.

John rubbed Jehanna’s shoulder to wake her up. “Come on, let’s get you to bed.”

“Mmm ... sounds good...” she agreed, snuggling in closer. “You’re so comfy...”

He scooped her up in his arms, then headed out onto the Bridge, where Alyssa was watching the traffic on the Sector Map like a hawk.

“You’re not planning on pulling an all-nighter are you?” he asked with concern.

“I haven’t got much choice. If we’re trying to get to Kinta as fast as possible, then I’ll need to nursemaid the Invictus until we’re away from the Core Worlds,” she replied, flashing him a rueful smile, before focusing on her route again. “It’ll only be for tonight. If Lynette clears a path for us, it’ll be plain sailing tomorrow and I can sleep all day.”

“I feel bad about going to bed while you girls are working,” he admitted, flashing an apologetic look towards Irillith at her IntOps station. “Are you sure you don’t want me to keep you company?”

“And distract us with annoying questions all night long?” Irillith replied, the twinkle in her violet eyes letting John know she was just kidding. “I appreciate the offer, but you should get some sleep.”

“Go to bed, handsome,” Alyssa agreed. “You’ve got training in the morning with Sakura, then we need to teach Tashana how to Spirit Walk in the afternoon.”

“Yeah, true...” He walked up the illuminated steps to give Alyssa a goodnight kiss. “Thanks for doing this, beautiful.”

“It’ll be worth it just to see the look on Tamolith’s face when we arrive in the nick of time,” she replied with a grin.

He laughed and gave Irillith a quick peck on the cheek before leaving the Command Deck. With Jehanna still slumbering in his arms, John exited the grav-tubes on Deck Two, then walked along the corridor to Jade’s quarters. When John opened the door, he saw that Ailita was still asleep where he’d left her, purring contentedly as pink pulses swept out across her body.

Jade’s emerald eyes glinted in the darkness, reflecting the light shining from her sister. “Hello again, Master.”

“It’s going to be a squeeze tonight,” John whispered with a smile, placing Jehanna on the double bed beside the pink-hued catgirl.

Jade rolled off the covers and walked around the bed to join him. She seemed much calmer now, having regained her composure. “I’ll move out of the way and let the three of you share the bed.”

“Hey, I wasn’t chasing you out,” he protested, pulling her into a hug.

“I know,” she murmured, giving him a warm smile. “But tonight is special; Jehanna decided to join the crew and you became Ailita’s new master, binding them both to you permanently. You should be alone with your two newest mates.”

John decided not to dispute Jehanna’s status, but darted a guilty glance at the resting catgirl. “Jade, the things I said to Ailita ... about using her for pleasure...”

“Were perfect,” Jade said solemnly, turning him to face her. “You told Ailita exactly what she needed to hear, in a way that she could easily understand. You couldn’t have handled things with her any better, Master ... I promise.”

He brushed his fingers through her long dark-green hair and studied the Nymph matriarch. “I know you were overwhelmed by psychic energy afterwards. Did the way I handled her really make that much difference?”

“Yes ... among other things,” she replied, her loving smile turning playful.

John chuckled and rolled his eyes. “Which I assume you’re not going to tell me?”

“I love you very much, Master ... more than I can put into words. Do you trust me? Will you let me keep this secret from you for a short time?”

Moved by her sincerity, he nodded and gazed into her eyes. “You’re my perfect mate, Jade. Of course I trust you.”

She quivered with delight, her smile broadening. “No matter how much I’ve evolved and grown, some things are still nice to hear.” Jade glanced at the sleeping girls, then continued, “Thank you, on Ailita’s behalf. Someday soon, she’ll be able to understand just how precious this gift is that you’re giving her.”

Slipping out of his arms, she blew him a kiss, then padded out of the bedroom as if she was floating on a cloud. John watched her leave, glad to see how happy and contented Jade seemed to be. She seemed particularly serene and he was quite certain that there was some special significance to rescuing Ailita.

John stripped off his clothes, then climbed onto the bed between the two sleeping girls. As if drawn to him like a magnet, Ailita rolled over and draped an arm across his chest, with Jehanna mirroring her actions a moment later. He relaxed at the comforting and familiar feeling of being flanked by two nubile women, and drifted off to sleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Tashana stood in front of the glowing holographic map, her angular eyes flicking from side to side as she studied Kintark territory. “There!” she called out, pointing to a sweeping band of asteroids. “That’ll do nicely!”

Tapping a button on the tactical overlay, Calara displayed the most pessimistic forecast of the Enclave’s advance towards Kinta. “It’s cutting it close. I’ll ask Irillith to send the deployment order immediately, or the mining craft won’t reach the asteroid belt in time.”

“That’s it for this sector,” the Maliri smuggler murmured, her eyes roving over the map. “Move on to the next and I’ll search for a nebula we can use...”

Calara nodded and shifted the focus of the holo-map. Leaving Tashana to her careful scrutiny of Kintark territory, the Latina continued updating her combat simulation, issuing Kirrix EMP missiles to the two Kintark fleets.

Alright, I have a few minutes to chat, Alyssa announced, the relief in her voice palpable. Everyone’s finally getting out of the way.

The Latina leaned back in her chair and mulled over how to frame her question. The awkward silence stretched on, until Calara finally blurted out, We should talk to John about contacting his father.

Even if Rahn is still sneaking around out there, that’s not a good idea, Alyssa said quietly. You saw how angry John was earlier and that was just from talking to his mother.

But with Rahn’hagon’s help, we could arrive in Kinta tonight! the brunette protested. Larn’kelnar used the dreadnought’s wormhole generator to jump a Drakkar battleship deep into Ashanath territory and that ship was much larger than the Invictus.

Alyssa let out an exasperated sigh. There’s no way in hell John would go along with that. It was only last week that Rahn punched him in the face and tried to kill him, for fuck’s sake!

Calara grimaced at that dreadful thought, but she wasn’t to be deterred. If Jessica is trying to contact us, Rahn’hagon must’ve had a change of heart or he wouldn’t have allowed her to make the call. We know Jessica regrets abandoning John now and you’ve shielded her mind to stop Rahn from dominating her again; what if they’re calling to apologise?

So what if they are? Rahn’hagon’s got his own agenda and I don’t trust him. Besides, John has more than enough to deal with at the moment, without dredging up all his parents’ shit all over again. She let out an exasperated sigh. They hurt him, Calara ... worse than anything he’s been through so far. Even if they do apologise, I’m not sure John is ready to forgive them ... at least not yet. You saw him come apart at the seams with your mother.

But you set that up to help John, Calara said in confusion.

Yes and I’m sure it did, but it’s much too soon to push John into reconciling with his parents. We’ll give him another few weeks to let things cool down a bit first.

The Latina shook her head. The Kintark don’t have three days, let alone a week!

I’m not willing to risk John getting hurt again just to save the Kintark, Alyssa declared, her tone defiant and uncompromising. Don’t forget, it’s their own fault they’re in this mess.

It was Baledranax that ordered the invasion, not Tamolith, Calara corrected her. I’m not exactly overjoyed that we’re helping her after what she did to Mateo and those T-Fed prisoners ... but John’s committed to protecting Kinta now. While the remnants of the Kintark Empire don’t matter in the scope of the Progenitor War, I am worried about more delays before we return to Genthalas.

Me too, Alyssa agreed. But the most important thing is supporting John and helping him recover from having his heart stomped on, otherwise recovering Larn’kelnar’s fleets won’t mean a thing. You know what’s coming ... and John needs to stay focused and eliminate his guide before we face another Progenitor.

Calara mulled it over, then nodded. Alright, I won’t say anything to him, but I think you should seriously consider telling John what you did to Jessica. It might help him to forgive her if he knows she’s not under Rahn’s thrall anymore.

I will ... but not yet, Alyssa said softly. Not yet...

The first thing to register on Tom Walker’s befuddled senses was a quiet rhythmic beeping, the noise increasing in tempo as it got louder. He tried to open his eyes and winced against the white glare that felt like stabbing lances into his brain.

There was a sudden flurry of activity and he heard muffled voices, the noises droning around him but not making any sense. He desperately strained his ears to try to figure out what they were saying, but he could only make out a few words here and there.

“ ... brain activity ... check ... responsive?”

“ ... Walker ... hear me?”

He fought to respond and the irritating beeps got louder and more obnoxious.

“ ... cardiac ... sedation!”

As he struggled, Tom felt a soothing wave sweep over his body, lulling him into its gentle embrace.

John stretched as he woke, being careful not to disturb the two luscious girls draped over him. He’d spent a wonderful night with Athena in the Astral Plane, kept safe from Xar’aziuth’s clutches despite having just added the Nymph to his network of girls. Jehanna’s mass of dark hair didn’t so much as move when he stirred, but Ailita lifted her head and greeted him with a dazzling smile.

“Good morning, Master!” she whispered, before darting a curious glance at the raven-haired beauty slumbering beside John. “Is this Terran female your mate?”