John woke around midday, stretching languidly as he felt a couple of very familiar, soft, and warm, female figures cuddling up next to him. He glanced down and smiled fondly at the blonde and brunette, who were hugging him tightly in their sleep, as though not wanting to let him out of their grasp. Relaxing back in bed, he thought back to the rather uncomfortable debrief he'd had with Vice Admiral Charles Harris, after they'd returned from New Eden in the early hours of the morning.
Although the evidence against the Armoured Cobras had been damning, Charles had been catching some flak from senior officers in High Command, who had previously sanctioned the use of the mercenary group. Worried about possible bad press, when there was already a tense public mood due to the Dragon March conflict, the Terran Federation military were desperate to avoid news of the rogue merc group's criminal origins from getting out. Charles had therefore had some choice things to say about John's spontaneous bit of summary justice.
"Why not just own the story?" John had eventually suggested in exasperation, growing weary of being chastised for vigilantism. "Say that Terran Federation High Command suspected something was amiss with the Armoured Cobras, and they sent me, 'the Lion of the Federation', to get to the bottom of it. Then they look like they're rooting out any bad elements, and can claim the moral high ground. Besides, we rescued half a dozen kidnap victims, and a few interviews with them reunited with their families will sell whatever story you want."
Charles had been taken aback by this, and he studied John suspiciously as he asked, "Have you been taking Public Relations training since you retired?"
John shrugged and said dismissively, "People will accept any story you tell them, as long as you put in the effort to make it convincing. In any case, the Terran Federation legitimately seized the assets of that Merc group, so you've now gained a modern cruiser to replace your losses in the Dragon March, and reclaimed a partially terraformed planet for free. High Command should be falling over themselves to thank me, not giving me grief."
Charles looked startled at his tone, but then looked thoughtful, and said, "I'm sorry John, you're right. I'll discuss this with Admiral Devereux, and see how we can spin the story for some positive PR."
They said their farewells, and once the call ended, John had strolled onto the Bridge to confirm that a course had been set for the Trankaran Republic. Satisfied that they were well on their way, he then joined the girls in bed. His irritation with the debriefing had fallen away as he'd lain in bed with them, and they'd all drifted off to sleep almost straight away, everyone exhausted after the long and arduous day.
John waited patiently for the girls to awaken on their own, not wanting to disturb them. He glanced over to his right, looking past Alyssa and Dana, and saw Rachel's beautiful face looking serene as she lay asleep on the pillow. He studied her for a while, and she seemed to have found a sense of peace, which had previously alluded her the entire time he'd known her. He smiled in satisfaction, glad he'd been able to help the tawny haired girl deal with some of the ghosts from her past.
Alyssa's tousled blonde hair suddenly blocked his view and she smiled at him, then leaned in for a kiss. *Good morning, handsome,* she thought to him, as her soft lips brushed his own.
*Good morning to you too, beautiful,* he replied, feeling in a jovial mood that morning.
The other girls all started to wake up as well, gently nudged into consciousness by Alyssa's telepathic wake up call. They sat up and stretched, glancing at John flirtatiously, which soon had him thinking of interesting ways to start their day.
*Uh, uh. Not so fast mister,* Alyssa told him sternly. *We need to talk about what happened yesterday first.*
The girls fanned out in a semi-circle on the bed, with Alyssa sitting opposite him. John looked at each of them in turn, then said proudly, "You girls were all incredible yesterday. You performed perfectly in the battle, reacting calmly and sensibly to all the surprises that were thrown at us. The fact we all came out of it unscathed is a testimony to your outstanding efforts."
They all smiled broad, sparkling smiles to receive such praise, but Alyssa's fell away, and she frowned as she said, "Yes, the girls were amazing, but you just went missing for about twenty minutes, and left Dana and Rachel to fend for themselves! It was also my first time in command on the Invictus, and If I'd made a bad call, everything could have gone horribly wrong. I couldn't contact you or anything!" There was a hushed silence for a moment, and when she continued, they could all hear how worried she was as she added, "We were all very lucky it didn't turn into a real disaster. What happened to you?"
John faltered and shook his head in confusion as he said, "I've no idea... I was jogging along with Dana and Rachel, then I just blacked out. When I came to again, I was in the south east corner of the base near the outer wall. I ran over to rejoin them at the backup generator, and we continued on from there."
Dana thought back to when he'd made his sudden reappearance, and said in a quiet voice, "When you finally turned up, the paint on your sword was all chipped, so you'd obviously been in a fight."
Rachel nodded as she said, "And you weren't injured, but you were drenched in blood."
Alyssa reached out and took John's hand as she asked with concern, "Why would you lose control to Progenitor-John like that?" She then looked around and added, "I think we're all agreed that's what probably happened, right?"
The girls all nodded quietly as they looked to John for an explanation. After a long moment, he shrugged helplessly, and looked troubled as he replied, "I'm sorry, I haven't got any answers for you. After we discussed this previously, I'd just assumed I'd only lose control like that when I, or one of you, was seriously injured."
Alyssa crawled over the bed to join him, giving him a hug and saying gently, "Maybe we should try and avoid letting you be in combat situations on your own, at least until we can get some answers."
John nodded. Hugging her back tightly, he looked around at the girls as he said, "I'm sorry that what happened put you in danger. I swear I had no control over it."
Alyssa leaned in and gave him a kiss, then said with a smile, "It's alright, we aren't blaming you. It would be good to know why that happened though."
He smiled at her ruefully and said, "One more for the list of progenitor mysteries I guess."
