“Well the first time any of us had dinner with John," Alyssa said, causing the other two girls to smile in amusement. "we slept for 14 hours".

“She isn't human though." Sparks said.

“Perhaps her body will react faster or slower?" she said logically.

“Well we'll just keep an eye on her and make sure she's comfortable.” Calara said compassionately and the other girls nodded agreeably.

John strode back into the officer's lounge looking pleased with himself. The girls Looked up at him and smiled affectionately.

“How did the chat with Charles go?" Alyssa asked him.

“Oh great thanks. He seems pretty keen to buy our cargo!" John grinned.

“I think the trip to Olympus should be fun!”

“I'm more looking forward to going shopping with the girls on Gravitus." Alyssa confessed.

“I wonder how Rachel's getting on?" She asked John with an arched eyebrow.

“Who's Rachel?" Calara asked curiously. "A lovely girl we met at the boutique I bought my clothes from." Alyssa explained.

“She could probably retire after the commission she made that day!" she said, grinning up at John.

“That's why I need to sell this ore, to fund your shopping trips.” John smiled at her fondly.

They settled down and chatted with each other happily, enjoying the quiet after all the action over the last few days. Before they knew it, they had talked their way through the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening. A soft beeping on John's watch interrupted the current conversation.

“We're nearly back at Port Heracles." John said, turning off the alarm. He noticed a worried look flash across Calara’s face.

“Oh sorry honey, I should have said before. Rupert Grant fled. He's wanted for treason now and is fleeing a death sentence." John said reassuringly.

“You won't have to worry about running across him there”.

“I'd still like to leave as soon as we can if that's ok?" Calara asked tentatively. "I have a lot of bad memories from that place.”

"Sure, we'll drop the civilians off and leave as soon as they've been taken care of." John said.

“Thanks John, I appreciate it." The gorgeous Latina said, smiling at him warmly.

They headed up to the bridge and sat in their familiar places and Alyssa brought the Invictus around to approach the immense space station, as soon as they jumped into the system and exited hyper warp. She received docking clearance and brought them in towards Port Heracles, while John contacted the new station commander and arranged for support teams to meet them and take care of the civilians.

Sparks was seeing Port Heracles for the first time and she marvelled at the size of such a huge piece of Terran construction. The space station reminded her of a stack of plates, with a big round disc in the middle that held the docking bays. The smaller discs above and below twinkled with lights from the hundreds of viewports sprinkled around their circumference. Their view of the station disappeared as the Invictus moved in to dock with Port Heracles.

“I'll Let our guests know we've arrived." John informed them as he stood up.

“Calara and I will wait up on the bridge." Alyssa said, throwing a warm smile the brunette's way.

“I'LL come." volunteered Sparks.