John led the girls down the corridor to the room adjacent to the Firing Range. He pressed the button opening the door and ushered them into the Armoury.
This vast room was originally used to store weapons and armour for the cruiser's compliment of three hundred marines. With no need to store that much gear any more, row after row of empty weapon racks and armour lockers filled the room, looking forlorn and abandoned. Sparks looked around, wondering why he would bring her to such an enormous empty room.
"We have no use for an Armoury this size, so I'd like to convert it for you to use as your workshop," John suggested, watching to see the redheads reaction.
Sparks looked bewildered for a moment. "This room is absolutely huge!" she said, stunned. "I can have all this area of the ship for myself?"
"You can start small if you like and then expand the workshop whenever you need more space," John suggested. "When we get to the Olympus shipyard, we can go shopping. Just pick whatever equipment you need, and I'll have it fitted in here for you."
Sparks eyes shone with excitement, and she wrapped him in a big hug. "This is the best present ever!" she exclaimed.
John and Alyssa laughed, pleased that the teenager was so happy.
"What are you going to work on first?" Alyssa asked her petite friend.
Sparks looked deep in thought for a moment. "Hmm, I've got some ideas. Do you mind if I keep it a secret and surprise you later?" she asked excitedly.
"No, we trust you. Have fun!" John replied, smiling.
Sparks squealed with glee, and did a little dance, making John and Alyssa laugh at her antics.
"Ready to have a look at the rest?" John asked the ecstatic young woman.
"Lead on!" the redhead grinned, walking over to him and Alyssa.
John led them out of the armoury and showed her the pharmacy and medical bay. Sparks was fascinated by the state of the art medical equipment and he let her explore a little. Alyssa looked a bit twitchy, so John moved up to her side and put his hand on her shoulder.
"Are you ok? You look a little uncomfortable," he asked, concerned.
"Something about this room creeps me out," Alyssa replied awkwardly.
John nodded his agreement "I've never felt comfortable around medical facilities either," he admitted.
"It's something else," Alyssa said looking distant, "like the room echoes with pain." She shook her head abruptly as if to clear her mind.
"Come on Sparks, lots more to see," John said, worried about the young blonde woman.
Alyssa laid a reassuring hand on his arm. "Don't worry, I'm fine," she said quietly, and smiled up at him warmly.
Still, John ushered out the two girls, and led them on to the gym. Sparks was another non-swimmer, so she was less than enthusiastic about getting too close to the pool.
"I'll teach you both to swim, you'll love it I promise!" John said confidently.
Alyssa remembered how enjoyable the Jacuzzi was, once she had overcome her initial fears about the large volume of water. She realised she would no doubt feel the same about the swimming pool eventually.
"Maybe we could start tomorrow?" she asked John bravely.
"Sure, that would be great!" John said, pleased that his young lover was warming up to the idea.
Sparks looked a bit dubious. "Hmm maybe," she said cautiously. Like Alyssa, she had grown up on a dusty asteroid, and had never seen such an enormous amount of water before. The pool looked terrifyingly deep to her inexperienced eyes, and the thought of being plunged in there scared her more than a little.
"There's no rush," John said soothingly. "Just let me know when you feel ready."
John let the girls leave first, before following after them. "That's it for Deck Seven, how about we go down to the bottom deck, and I'll show you the Docking Bay and Cargo Bay?" he suggested amiably.
"Let's go, Mr tour guide!" Sparks said, grinning.
They took the elevator down to the lowest level of the Invictus, and John led them through the heavy set of double doors into the Docking Bay. It was a huge area, currently completely unused, except for the anti-grav sled that they had been given at Olympus shipyard.
"I need to look into acquiring a dropship," John said, thinking out loud as he and the girls walked into the cavernous area. "We might need to go somewhere that's too big for the Invictus to dock."
"I still can't believe you actually own all this yourself," Sparks marvelled.
"Yes, John owns everything on board," Alyssa smiled mischievously, as she recalled the conversation she had eavesdropped on earlier through her link with John's mind.
Sparks blushed a little, but couldn't deny that the beautiful blonde's innuendo laden comment turned her on.
"You're such a vixen," John laughed at Alyssa affectionately.
"Come on ladies, I'll show you the Cargo Bay next," he said, guiding them back through one set of robust double doors, and then on to the Cargo Bay through an identical set.
The huge open space yawned open in front of them. The twenty tons of Tyrenium was carefully secured to the deck of the Cargo Bay in four sturdy crates, each one approximately five feet cubed.
"Why did you still buy the Tyrenium if you knew Seb was going to betray you?" Alyssa asked John curiously, as she looked at the crates.
"Well if we'd just cancelled the deal, who knows what he would have done. Coming back to the Invictus where Calara could support us with the defence grid seemed like the best tactical choice at the time," John explained.
"Besides, we also picked up all this Tyrenium at a ridiculously cheap price, and as the transaction is legally binding, there's nothing Seb can do about it now," he grinned smugly.
Alyssa laughed at John's cunning plan. "So, soon you're going to be even more fabulously wealthy?" she asked in amusement.
"I think I'm going to need as much cash as I can get," John grinned. "The last time we went shopping on Gravitus cost me a pretty penny!"
"Oh wow!" Alyssa said, her eyes lighting up. "Of course, another shopping trip for Calara and Sparks would be amazing!" she grinned excitedly.
"We never did get a chance to invite Rachel for dinner either," she said, her eyebrow arched suggestively.
John laughed along with her. Sparks was quiet however, and her attention seemed to be elsewhere.
"Are you ok there Sparks?" John asked, curious as to what was keeping her so absorbed.
"Yeah, sure John," Sparks said, distractedly, staring up at the ceiling.
"What are you looking at Sparks?" Alyssa asked inquisitively.
"My new workshop is overhead isn't it?" the petite redhead asked.
John paused for a moment, thinking about the layout of the deck above them. "Yes, its directly above that area there," he said, gesturing towards the side of the cargo bay.