“I thought old people retired?" Alyssa asked inquisitively. "You don't look quite that old." she said speculatively.

“You're early sixties right? Still a few years to go until retirement?" she continued with a impish expression on her face.

"Ouch! That hurts." John said with a grin.

Alyssa cackled mischievously and then leaned up to give him a quick kiss on the Lips.

“So why did you retire from the military old timer?" she teased him playfully.

A haunted look flashed over John's face for a moment, making her instantly regret asking.

“Sorry John, I didn't mean to dredge up bad memories." she apologised sincerely.

“It's ok." he said with a sad smile. "I was in the military for a long time and fought in a lot of battles. I just didn't want to lose any more friends in the end, so I thought it was probably past time for me to move on to something new."

Alyssa reached up with her delicate hand and tenderly stroked his face, which he found strangely comforting.

“Sorry for getting all maudlin on you." he apologised wryly.

“It's ok, it's been good getting to know more about you." the teenager said with a fond smile.

“You'll have to tell me something about yourself sometime too." he said with a playful grin.

“Maybe, if you're Lucky!" Alyssa Laughed self consciously. Sensing that the young woman was trying to deflect his questioning with humour, John let it go. He stretched Languidly and then sat up.

"I'm just going to check the long range sensors." he explained.

“I won't be long if you want to just stay here and rest.“ he said, eyeing her heavily rounded stomach.

"Thanks I'LL take you up on that!" Alyssa grinned at him, relaxing into the bed.

John stood up and shrugged on some trousers, before strolling out of his cabin and heading into the cockpit. He sat in the comfortable pilot's chair and had a good look at the view screen for the long range scanners.

There didn't seem to be anything active out there, but the scanners were picking up quite a few wreck sites in this sector. Breakdowns and other accidents were not uncommon occurrences for space farers, but this many wrecks usually indicated more serious trouble. Still, he had come through the sector unscathed on his way to Karron, so he wasn't unduly worried. Just to be on the safe side though, he double checked that the alarm was still active on the long range scanner.

Finding everything operating correctly, John walked back to his cabin and stripped off before climbing into bed again. Alyssa had rolled over and was sleeping angelically, so he snuggled in behind her, wrapping her up in his arms and soon fell into a deep, restful slumber himself.

John slowly opened his eyes, as the fog of the night‘s sleep began to fade from his mind. He was about to perform his normal stretching routine when he felt a strange weight on his left side. He looked down to see a mass of blonde hair resting against his shoulder, and the previous night's events came flooding back to him. He half-turned, careful not to wake his sleeping companion as he wrapped his arm around her again. This was a new experience for him and he savoured the feeling of protectiveness he felt for his young bed mate.

John's hand began to gently and carefully explore the nubile girl's body. Alyssa's tummy had shrunk back to normal again, her body voraciously consuming the high protein feast he had fed the pretty teenager the evening before. The gloriously smooth skin on her toned stomach felt incredible to his sensitive fingertips. His fingers roamed upwards, cupping one of her breasts which nearly filled his hand with warm, pliant flesh. He decided not to do any more exploring for fear of waking her, so he settled down for a nice lie-in and waited for the young girl to wake on her own.

John didn't have to wait for long, as a mere ten minutes Later Alyssa stirred as well. She seemed to flinch initially when she felt another body surrounding her, but as she regained full consciousness she sighed happily and snuggled into his embrace. She raised her hand to brush the wayward blonde locks from her face, and twisted in his arms to look up at him. John studied her lovely fresh young face and realised he would have to stop thinking of her as pretty, and more accurately describe her as beautiful. Alyssa's skin seemed to be glowing this morning and she looked radiant. Her piercing blue eyes were sharp and focused, watching his every movement intently. The wide, full smile on her face lifted his spirits and he felt a strange feeling of contentment and happiness that was most unusual for him.