Chapter 29 -Its time for a final confrontation with the Drakkar raiders!

John looked up in surprise as Dana and Calara walked into the bedroom. They both wore slightly confused expressions on their beautiful faces, which soon evaporated when they took in the scene on the bed.

Jade was lying on her back, her rounded belly sticking up proudly where she was stuffed full of John’s cum. She was panting excitedly, having just been licked to a very satisfying orgasm by Alyssa, who was lying between the Nymphs spread thighs.

The ravishing blonde looked back over her shoulder and grinned excitedly, licking her lips. “Yes! It worked!” she exclaimed happily, as the brunette and redhead entered the room.

“I could hear your voice saying my name!” Dana said, her eyes wide.

“Me too!” Calara exclaimed. “I heard you calling to me in my mind.” the startled Latina agreed. “You can transmit your thoughts now?” she asked in amazement.

“Well I’ve been doing that with John for a while now and it just worked perfectly with Jade. I figured now was as good a time as any to experiment with you two,” Alyssa replied with a grin. “By the way, Jade has a womb full of cum and she’s feeling in a generous mood...”

Calara and Dana exchanged excited glances and then rushed over to Jade on the bed, who smiled at them both affectionately. The brunette began to kiss the Nymph lovingly, while Dana knelt between the green skinned alien girl’s spread thighs.

“This makes a change!” the redhead said with a giggle, “You’re normally the one eating me out.” She settled into place and began to lap away noisily at her friend’s pussy, while Jade moaned into Calara’s mouth and ran her fingers through Dana’s lustrous auburn hair.

Alyssa moved over the bed to cuddle up with John and the two of them watched the three gorgeous young women coupled together so intimately on the bed. “Dinner and a show,” Alyssa said cheekily, as she ran her fingers lightly over her stomach, slightly rounded where she now carried John’s cum. “You sure know how to show a girl a good time!”

John laughed and pulled her tightly to him as they watched Jade writhing at the end of Dana’s eager tongue. “You always show me a good time,” he said affectionately.

“Are you really happy?” Alyssa asked him curiously, staring up at John’s face with her big expressive eyes.

“Are you kidding me?!” John grinned, sweeping the ravishing teenager up in his arms.

She squealed happily as he pulled her effortlessly over him, so that he was staring up at her face. “I’ve been living on cloud nine pretty much as soon as I met you and life seems to be getting better every day!” he said, shaking his head in amazement.

“Good,” Alyssa said, smiling contentedly and then she leaned down to kiss him. He held her in his arms for a long time, just losing himself in her tender loving kisses, as Alyssa’s soft lips moved with his own. The blonde’s long hair fanned down around his face, brushing gently against his cheek and her athletic body felt toned and sleek where he held her.

A breathy chorus of sighs to their side finally broke the enchanting spell and they looked over to see that Jade, Dana and Calara were watching them with delight.

“Seeing you two together like that was beautiful,” Dana said wistfully.

“You get your fair share too!” Alyssa countered with a grin.

Nevertheless Dana and Calara were both up for a good smooch and John was happy to oblige. Jade curled up with Alyssa and watched them contentedly, as he took turns kissing the eager young women.

“Not going for a passionate kiss?” Alyssa asked the Nymph playfully.

“I already had one,” Jade said contentedly. “He’s rocked my world once today already, I think twice is being greedy,” she added with a smile.

Alyssa hugged her affectionately and once all the girls were done they all relaxed in bed together for a little while.

“We should be arriving at Ashana in a few minutes,” Alyssa warned them a short while later as she glanced up at the ship’s chronometer.

“No rest for the wicked,” John laughed. “I’ll go make us all some dinner while you ladies make sure repairs are under way. Anyone up for being my assistant in the kitchen?”

“I’d love to help!” Jade volunteered immediately.

“Me too,” Calara said unexpectedly. “I’ve done all I can with reviewing the Kappa-Indarran system.”

“Wonderful!” John grinned, happy to have their company. “Let’s get washed up and then we’ll reconvene to the kitchen.”

After a quick shower, all five of them headed out, before parting ways as they passed the grav-tubes. John insisted that Alyssa and Dana join them for dinner in an hour, and after pledging sincerely that they would, the blonde and the redhead stepped into the soothing blue light and levitated up to the command deck. John hit the button to enter the officers’ lounge and led Calara and Jade across the huge room and into the kitchen at the back.

“So, tell me a little bit more about your family,” John suggested to Calara as he handed her a sharp knife and set her up with preparing the vegetables.

“What do you want to know?” the Latina asked him curiously as she began to slice up carrots.

“Everything!” he laughed. “I really want to make a good impression, so anything you think might be helpful. All I really know is your mother is called Maria, and she misses you terribly!”

“Oh, that was so embarrassing when she called!” Calara flushed, remembering the holo-vid call after her mother had seen John’s interview with the press.

“Your mother seemed quite lovely. You have nothing to be embarrassed about,” Jade interjected kindly, as she began to slice up the chicken fillets for dinner.

“Thanks,” Calara replied appreciatively, sharing a warm glance with the Nymph.

“So, start with your parents first,” John prompted her, as he prepared a chicken stock. “Tell me a little about them.”

“Well, their names are Jack and Maria,” Calara began. “They’re both from a military background and my dad still serves; He’s the Captain of the cruiser Damocles,” she said proudly. “My mother used to be a communications officer, before she retired to bring up me and my brothers.”

“My parents bought a nice house on Jericho in the Episilon-Eridani system, and my mother holds the fort while we’re all off having adventures,” she said with a grin. “It was a great place to grow up with lots of open space to roam around. My parents were great believers in discipline, but as long as you played by their rules, my brothers and I had a great time,” she explained fondly, as she tipped the sliced up vegetables from her chopping board into the pan.

“What about your brothers? What are they like?”

“I have three older brothers, Mateo, Dylan and Eduardo. Mateo is the eldest and is a lieutenant commander now. He’s a navigator on a light carrier, the TFS Hydra. Dylan is a medic stationed at Port Megara near the border with the Trankaran Republic. Finally, there’s Eduardo...” she trailed off, chuckling lightly. “He’s always getting into trouble, but he’s an engineer, lieutenant second class, on the battleship Orion.”

“So, you outrank him now?” John asked with a smile.

Calara paused for a moment, a startled expression dawning on her face, then burst into laughter. “Oh, I’d forgotten about that! He’s going to be so pissed! Mateo and Dylan will never let that go...”

“You all seem to have gone into quite different military specialisations,” John observed, thinking about the different careers of the Fernandez men.

“My father always liked to joke about crewing our own family ship, what with everyone filling different roles,” the brunette said, looking wistful.

“What did your dad start his career as?” John asked her curiously

“He was a tactical officer, like me,” Calara said, then paused awkwardly, a blush spreading across her face.

“I’m looking forward to meeting them,” John said with a smile.

“Oh, I’m not so sure you’ll feel the same way after you’ve met them. They like to give my prospective boyfriends the ‘Full Fernandez’ and none have passed the test so far,” she smiled at him apologetically.

“That sounds intriguing,” Jade said. “What did they do to your last boyfriend?” she asked curiously, putting down her knife and handing over the sliced up chicken to John.

“They’re all into sparring,” Calara said exasperatedly, rolling her eyes. “They aren’t malicious, but they like to put a guy on the spot and see how he handles himself under pressure. The last guy I took to meet them didn’t fare so well,” she laughed with embarrassment.

“If they’re all into martial arts, how come you weren’t trained too?” John asked, looking puzzled. Calara had been a novice when he’d started their morning training sessions.

“Well, before we met, I wasn’t quite so robust as I am now,” the brunette said with a self effacing grin. “They’re all big guys, and they didn’t really approve of their little sister getting into the ring,” she shrugged indifferently.

“Any pointers on how to win them over?” John asked tentatively, as he stirred in all the ingredients.

“Conquer the boss, and the rest will fall into line,” Calara replied with a smile.

“Who’s the boss though? Your mother or your father?” John laughed, nudging her gently with his elbow.

The Latina giggled cutely, imagining her mother ordering around her stern father. She stopped laughing abruptly though, when she began to remember the many subtle ways her mother actually steered many of the family decisions.

“Curse you and your magic cum!” Calara started laughing again and shaking her head in wonder. “Now you’ve made me smarter, I’m starting to re-evaluate my whole family dynamic!”

“I’m sorry, honey, I can’t help but be attracted to beautiful, intelligent women,” John said, moving up closer and running his fingers through her long thick hair. He gently caressed the side of her head and then cupped her head protectively in his hand. “And you’re both gorgeous and incredibly smart.”

Calara looked at him lovingly and moved into his arms for a soul searing kiss.

Jade watched John kissing the beautiful teenager he held possessively in his arms, and waited for them to break for air before she spoke up. “I’m curious, John. Who do you see as being the boss in our little family?”

John laughed and answered immediately. “I think you know who rules the roost,” he said, as he reached out to grab her with his left arm and pulled her close, squeezing her taut buttock firmly.

“Oh, without a doubt,” Jade sighed ecstatically. “I just wondered if you were aware of how much we hang on your every word.”

“You like me being in charge, don’t you?” he asked rhetorically, with a confident smile on his face, enjoying feeling her body pressed against him.

Jade nodded exuberantly, her eyes flashing with excitement.

“Well, I can only agree. I for one, like taking your orders,” Calara murmured breathily, with a sensual smile on her beautiful face.

“You’re a very good girl,” John said approvingly, caressing her pert asscheek as well.

“For you, always,” she purred in reply, brushing up against him gently.

“I’ll remember that later,” he promised. “For now, we better get dinner finished!”

They wrapped up the last of the meal preparation and soon the dinner was simmering away happily on the oven. Dana and Alyssa rejoined them, and soon they had the table set as they chattered away together. The girls gathered around the dinner table as John brought out the piping hot pan, the delicious smelling food wafting mouth watering aromas into the officers’ lounge.

“Honey, could you activate the serving platform for me please?” John asked distractedly, trying to avoid burning himself on the hot pan he held in his hands.

“Sure, no problem!” Dana said eagerly, standing up and moving towards the controls.

“Ok, handsome,” Alyssa replied, rising from her chair.

“I’m on it, Sir...” Calara said, her eyes still smouldering with arousal from the kiss in the kitchen.

“Of course, John,” Jade said, obediently moving to follow his request.

They all stopped and stared at one another for a moment and then burst out laughing, the beautiful chorus of melodic female voices lighting up the room, accompanied by John’s embarrassed baritone chuckle. Jade winked at him and as the closest person to the controls, pressed the button that raised the platform in the middle of the table.

John placed the pan down carefully and then looked around at the girls who were still smirking with amusement. “Ok, perhaps I need to come up with some more creative nicknames for you all,” he laughed lightly. “I guess I can’t keep calling you all ‘honey’ all the time!”

He was met with a chorus of girlish whines, begging him to keep using it.

“Ok, ok!” he laughed. “But I’ll still try and raise my game a bit.”

The girls smiled at him fondly and everyone tucked into dinner, thoroughly enjoying the tasty meal they had prepared. Once they had finished eating, John settled down on a comfy sofa with Dana keeping him company while the rest tidied up.

“How long to go on the repairs?” John asked the redhead curiously.

“Not long actually,” she replied, sounding impressed. “The Ashanath can strip damaged plating off the ship and replace it with fresh armour very quickly using the Psi-shapers.”

“That’s good news. I want us up and ready as soon as possible, so we can try and hit the Drakkar base before they evacuate and set up shop elsewhere,” he replied with a satisfied nod. “How bad was the damage?”

“The Drakkar left some nasty gouges in several plates, but they didn’t punch through,” Dana said smugly. “They did blow out two capacitors though, so if we’d continued taking hits in those locations, it could have gotten very nasty!”

“It’s a good job our sexy blonde pilot managed to avoid the worst of it then!” John replied, raising his voice to carry over to Alyssa, then chuckling lightly as he belatedly remembered she would be eavesdropping the entire conversation anyway.

“I appreciate the thought,” Alyssa said with an affectionate smile on her full lips, as she glided over to join them and sat next to John.

“I know you said we’re in short supply of Onyxium. Can we salvage anything from those damaged armour plates?” John asked Dana with a frown.

“Sure!” the redhead replied eagerly. “If Alyssa is up for reshaping the plates again, we can just add more alloy and then reform the Invictium into a completely fresh armour section.”

The blonde slumped at the thought of having to use the psi-shaper again. “If I have to...” she sighed melodramatically.

“Ah, come on! Reforming it a second time shouldn’t be so bad. It’s not like I’m asking you to triple shape it!” Dana said enthusiastically. “Besides, the armour will be tougher if you reform it, so when we have the time, maybe you could re-armour the entire ship?”

“The entire ship!” Alyssa groaned. “My poor brain!”

“Don’t strain yourself, honey,” John cut in firmly. “You’re still getting used to using psychic powers, so I want you to be careful.”

“I’ll probably need you to top me up afterwards,” Alyssa said, suddenly warming up to the idea and looking at him coyly. “Just to make sure I’m alright, obviously.”

“Obviously...” John agreed, slipping his hand under her top and letting his fingertips brush over her slim toned midrift possessively. Alyssa stared into his eyes, enjoying the intimate, familiar way he was caressing her.

A beep coming from Dana’s waist drew their attention away from each other for the moment and they looked up curiously. Calara and Jade had finished tidying up and they gathered around too.

Dana unclipped a communicator from her belt and then placed it on the coffee table in front of her. She pressed a button to answer the call and High Councillor Rathus’ bulbous grey head filled the holo-image. “Rathus! It’s great to see you!” she said in a friendly tone.

“It is wonderful to see you too Dana,” the robed Ashanath said in his whispery voice. “We have completed all of the repairs that you requested and the damaged armour plates have been stored in the cargo bay.”

“That was so fast! Tell the boys I send them a big kiss!” Dana said delightedly.

“Some of the engineers are female, but I will convey your message nonetheless,” Rathus said, dipping into a low bow.

“Yes please. Kisses for the girls too!” Dana giggled and waved him goodbye, before ending the communication. “And we’re ready to go!” she said eagerly.

“Ok ladies, let’s go finish what we started,” John said soberly, rising to his feet once Alyssa had stood smoothly.

“It’s time for serious faces now, right?” Alyssa grinned at him and dodged out of his grasp to avoid being tickled.

They laughed as they followed the skipping blonde out of the officers’ lounge.

The Invictus slipped out of hyper warp effortlessly, the tachyon wave that had carried them forward dissipating in an instant, but leaving the ship briefly shrouded in a nimbus of slowly fading blue light.

“Tactical map and system map if you please, Calara,” John said, leaning forward eagerly.

He was seated in the Commander’s chair up on the podium that dominated the bridge. From here he had an excellent view of everything and everyone that was up on the command deck, as well as being able to gain the full benefit of the holo images displayed before him.

The system map showed the Kappa-Indarran system, centred on its white class F star. There were three gas giant planets in this system and two asteroid belts, both of which had been strip mined by the Ashanath centuries ago. The Helium-3 rich gas giant they were interested in occupied the second orbital path around the star and was currently on the other side of the system map to them. Alyssa had brought the Invictus out of hyper warp on the outskirts of the system, and was following Calara’s plan to ghost around the asteroid belts, until they got close enough to pick up the Drakkar base with passive scans.

“Are we still running at minimal power Dana?” he asked the redhead, who was watching the holographic maps intently.

“Yep, everything’s fine,” she replied after throwing a quick glance at the energy distribution hologram.

Letting out a breath he didn’t realise he’d been holding, John turned towards Alyssa, who was seated to his right on the command podium. “Take us in whenever you’re ready.”

The blonde girl nodded eagerly and gently powered up the engines, but only enough to allow them to make steady progress, whilst keeping their energy profile nice and low. The assault cruiser stalked forward, heading determinedly towards the first swathe of asteroids that orbited the star on the sixth orbital path.

“Now, let’s just hope they haven’t left minefields in the asteroid fields or rigged them with proximity sensors,” Calara said, grinning up at John with her fingers crossed for luck.

“Wouldn’t it have been a good idea to raise that before?” Jade asked her curiously, noting the worried expression that suddenly appeared on John’s face.

“Perhaps, but if I were a betting woman, I’d be willing to lay good money that the Drakkar haven’t done either,” Calara said confidently.

“Why did you mention them then?” Jade asked her, puzzled.

“It’s what I’d do,” the Latina said with a shrug.

Fortunately, the first asteroid belt had neither, and Alyssa was able to guide them through the sparsely populated asteroid belt with the bare minimum of retro-thruster usage. She changed course towards the next asteroid belt that lay on the third orbital path, fired the main engines for a couple of seconds, and then powered them off completely. The energy profile of the Invictus dropped like a stone as the engines were effectively shut down, and they coasted in closer to the second asteroid field, silent and deadly like some vengeful apparition.

“Very nice...” John whistled appreciatively as the momentum from the initial engine burn carried them in closer, the ship absolutely undetectable except by the most powerful of sensors.

“Better safe than sorry,” Alyssa said, smiling back at him.

She began to feather the retro thrusters as the slowly moving asteroids began to loom closer, not using them for more than a second at a time, in tightly controlled little bursts. The Invictus turned slowly and pointed directly into the heart of the asteroid belt, gradually losing speed as Alyssa braked by using the front mounted thrusters. She had set the course perfectly, so they were able to slowly coast in on a straight line, eliminating the need to use side mounted thrusters for asteroid evasion purposes.

Abruptly, the tactical map began to light up as the passive sensors came in range to detect a number of vessels in orbit around the nearby gas giant. They stared at the tactical map with bated breath, hardly daring to move, as they waited to see what lurked in the Kappa-Indarran system.

“Hey, you were right!” Jade congratulated Calara happily. “They’re definitely using the Kappa-Indarran system as a base!”

“Look! They’ve set up a helium refinery and some kind of temporary dry dock!” Dana exclaimed, intrigued by the design of the structures.

“Is that what I think it is?” Calara asked John, pensively. “It looks like they’re accompanied by two more cruisers as well!” she said in dismay.

“Yeah, that’s a Drakkar battleship alright,” John growled as he stared at the huge vessel, confirming Calara’s worst fears. “How the fuck did they sneak that into Grey space?”

“That battleship is huge!” Alyssa said, casting him a worried glance. “It’s got to be nearly fifteen hundred metres long!”

“Yeah, I know...” John said remorsefully. “There’s no way we can take that in a stand up fight.”

“Dana, are the sensors broken?” Jade asked suddenly.

The redhead shot a worried look at her console and rapidly ran a diagnostic routine. “No, everything checks out fine. Why do you ask?” she asked with concern.

“Then, what is that odd glitching over there...” the Nymph said, pointing to an area of the tactical map behind the current location of the Drakkar battleship.

“What do you mea-” Dana said, before cutting off abruptly. “What the fuck is that?” she swore looking at the tactical map in shock.

They all peered intently at the tactical map, trying to make out the flickering image. It was faint and only appeared for one second out of every ten, but now that Jade had spotted it with her sharp eyes and pointed it out, they were now very aware of the ghostly ship that appeared to be haunting the Kappa-Indarran system. The ship was vast and jet black, only really noticeable against the darkness of space because of the absence of stars in that blackness, rather than being able to actually make out its profile. A deathly quiet descended on the bridge as they stared at it with wide eyes.

“John, who flies a ship like that?” Calara whispered, as though afraid to disturb the tense silence.

“I’ve never seen or heard of anything like that before,” John replied in a hushed voice.

“Well I think it’s a fair bet that something that looks that evil isn’t going to be friendly,” Alyssa said softly with a worried frown.

“That ship reminds me of the Invictus,” Jade offered helpfully.

John’s abrupt laughter broke the tense mood on the bridge like a thunderstorm clearing the air.

“Well at least we know where the Drakkar got the tech for their armour,” Dana said. “I knew there was no way they came up with that on their own!”

“If whoever is flying that ship is advanced enough to come up with radically enhanced armour, we probably don’t want to find out what their weapons can do,” Calara said grimly.

“Yeah, agreed. A ship that size is likely to be armed to the teeth,” John said ominously.

“So what do we do now?” Dana asked him curiously. “Tell the Ashanath ‘sorry they’re too tough for us’ and then give up on the alliance? I’m kind of fond of my new toys,” she said with a grin.

“No, I don’t think so,” John replied with a wry smile. “But we’re going to have to come up with something creative. Our chances of defeating them in a ship battle have just crashed from very slim to none.”

“Have you got anything in mind?” Calara asked eagerly.

“Well, we could try luring them to the remaining asteroid that’s still filled with explosives,” he said dubiously. “Dana, are you able to fabricate more explosives if we need them?”

Dana looked thoughtful for a moment and then replied: “Sure, but I’m a little short on raw materials. If we can stock up, I could produce as much as we need. Well within reason of cour-”

“Something’s happening with the black ship!” Jade blurted in alarm, cutting Dana off and pointing at the tactical map.

They watched transfixed as a spiralling circle of energy appeared in front of the massive ship, casting a ghastly pale shroud over the sinister black hull and briefly illuminating its sleek and angular lines. The light moved down the length of the ship, rotating slowly around the hull as it went, and appeared to be erasing the terrifying craft from existence. A few long seconds later, the pallid nimbus of light winked out, and then the otherworldly ship was gone. The girls all looked to John, who shook his head, equally mystified.

“Oh! I think I know what that was!” Dana exclaimed, her eyes open wide in amazement.

“You do?” Alyssa said bemused. “Ok, who’s flying it?”

“No, not the ship, silly! That strange pale light!” Dana grinned, her face alight with her excitement. “I think they just generated their own wormhole!”

“No way. That’s impossible,” Alyssa said curtly, having studied all the current attempts at wormhole generation when training to be a Navigator. “It’s all only theory and you can’t stabilise them!”

“There’s lots of species out there with tech way more advanced than ours,” John said gently, surprised at Alyssa’s vehement rejection of the idea.

The blonde looked suitably chastened and she turned to the redhead. “I’m sorry Sparks, I had to learn all the navigator stuff verbatim in a crash course and I guess some of it stuck a little too well!”

“Don’t worry about it,” Dana replied and shrugged dismissively as though it was already forgotten. “But I’m fairly certain that’s what we just witnessed. What I’d give to have technical schematics of a wormhole generator!” she added, sighing wistfully.

“If that black ship can generate wormholes whenever and wherever it likes, that explains how they brought the battleship here to Grey space, along with all those cruisers!” Calara said suddenly, struck with inspiration.

“Oh, well done Lieutenant!” John said approvingly. “That makes far more sense than any of the possibilities I’ve had running through my head.”

“The remaining ships don’t seem to have black hulls. Well except that one in the temporary drydock, but that’s only half complete,” Jade noted as she continued to stare at the tactical display.

“Wow, you’re on fire today!” John said to the Nymph appreciatively.

Calara zoomed in the tactical map to show the Drakkar battleship and cruisers in detail. The battleship was absolutely enormous and at double the size of the Drakkar cruisers, it was triple the size of the Invictus. The front of the battleship sported row after row of beam lasers and then on the flanks, the massive fifty metre long barrels of heavy bore cannon jutted out from the hull. Atop the spine of the ship was rack after rack of missile ports, that would be capable of launching an overwhelming barrage of high explosives.

One of the cruisers looked to be the same size and configuration as the ones they had previously faced, but instead of the purple ship being covered in black armour plating, the way the last ones had been equipped, this vessel was encased in dark grey plates. The cruiser in the drydock looked to be in the process of being upgraded to black armour, but only the front half seemed to have been upgraded so far.

John narrowed his eyes as he studied the ships currently stationary in orbit around the gas giant. “If they’re using the drydock to replate their ships, maybe we can do something about your Onyxium shortage Dana...” he said, grinning wickedly.

“Are you suggesting we steal from the Drakkar? John, I’m appalled!” Alyssa said, her eyes gleaming as she held her hand over her open mouth as if shocked.

“Oh wow! That’s a great idea!” Dana said eagerly. “That mystery ship must be their source for the ore as well! Maybe they’ve just dropped off a new batch?”

“What do you think Jade? Would you be able to sneak us in there to pull off a heist?” Alyssa asked the Nymph eagerly.

“Oh, yes! Please let me try, John!” Jade started bouncing up and down, barely able to contain her excitement.

“Are you sure you can get us in there undetected?” he asked, his voice turning serious.

“They’ll have no idea we’re there, I promise!” she grinned, her emerald eyes sparkling in the light.

“Alright then, but we’re still going to have to do something about the battleship though,” he said, studying the zoomed in view of the Drakkar command ship, deep in thought. “If we’re going in with the Raptor anyway, maybe we could do a spacewalk and plant explosives on critical places on the hull. You said you could create as much explosives as we need, right Dana?”