John looked at the ammo counter on his Assault rifle as he ced 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 disyed 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. Cra 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 congratting each other on their extraordinary victory, the Communicator began to sh and chime, indicating they had an iing call. John darted up the illuminated steps to themand podium and pressed the button to answer the hail.


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


    “Commander ke!” 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 Flintlockughed 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 exined. “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 thest 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 youy 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, calcting 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” Cra 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 eximed in amazement to the brte.


    “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 Valha!” he said enthusiastically.


    “I’m not sure what that is, but I’ll take it as apliment” 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 aplished 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 infortable 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.This material belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    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.


    Cra and Alyssa nced at each other and smiled happily.


    “Come on John, let’s set the scene in the bedroom” Cra 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 asion.


    “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.