Three Square Meals Ch. 101

"Bad guys?" John asked sceptically as he saw the white-garbed men pitch over stone dead.

"Don't ask for details... and yeah they were," Alyssa said with a grimace.

They walked inside and John saw Admiral Lynette Devereux on an anti-grav gurney. Her eyes were closed and she looked unnaturally pale, a rhythmic soft beep echoing around the room from the medical equipment keeping her alive. Barely...

"Charles seemed so certain she was dead," John murmured, shouldering his rifle and looking at the critically injured woman with sympathy and concern.

"According to Weber, Buckingham was planning on a big show trial after the battle," Alyssa said softly, brushing a lock of Devereux's limp brown hair from her face. "He wanted to make an example of her... show the rest of the Admiralty the price for so publically opposing him."

John studied the older woman. "She put her life on the line to warn us about the Kintark."

Alyssa nodded. "It looks like I was wrong about High Command... maybe they aren't all bad."

"I think it's well past time that we pick out all the bad apples," John said, ominously. "I'm not leaving Terra until we resolve the problems with High Command once and for all."

She nodded, then gave him a tired smile. "Can we have a rest first? Your inquisitor will be a lot more impressive after she's had a nap."

John put his arm around her waist, then did the same with Jehanna, who was staring wide-eyed at Admiral Devereux. "We'll evacuate everyone on the Raptor, then head back to the Invictus. I imagine everyone's exhausted..."

Tashana smiled at him. "I think we definitely need a good sleep before we face the post-battle briefing. That's going to be a hell of a meeting!"

***

John waited for the girls to walk through the airlock, then followed them into the Raptor, pushing Devereux's anti-grav gurney ahead of him. Tashana was waiting at the controls and she sealed the airlock behind him, with Faye detaching from the destroyer's hull a few seconds later. Rachel was waiting inside the gunship's airlock and she immediately went to Devereux's side, her eyes lighting up with a faint grey aura.

"How bad is it?" John asked, giving the brunette a worried look.

"Damage to her spine, paralysis below the waist, severe trauma to her right lung," Rachel murmured, before turning to glance at him out of the corner of her eye. "I used up almost everything I had saving Jade's life, but she's still badly hurt. I can do enough for Devereux to make sure she survives for the next few hours, but I'll need to rest before I can heal her properly."

John patted her on the shoulder. "Do what you can to keep her out of danger. We'll heal everyone once we've fully recovered."

She nodded. "I'll take her up to Medical; I'll let you know if she wakes."

Rachel turned her attention back to her patient then concentrated harder, her expression strained as she pushed out her healing mists to envelop the admiral's body. John left her to her psychic ministrations, walking into the rear loading area where the rest of the girls were waiting. Jade was back in her usual Nymph form and sat propped up against the wall, her normally dark-green skin a sickly shade of chartreuse.

John squatted down beside her and brushed his fingers through her hair. "Bad kitty, very naughty..." he said with a loving smile, but Jade could feel how worried he was at seeing her so badly hurt.

The Nymph leaned into his hand and closed her eyes. "I know... and I'm really sorry." She gave him a wan smile and glanced up at the four catgirls who fidgeted nervously a few metres away. "But I had to save them..."

"You were very brave," he said quietly, cupping her head in his hand. "But please don't scare me like that again, okay?"

Jade nodded, a playful glint in her emerald eyes. "I'll try not to..."

He laughed and said, "I'll feed you before you rest. Your sisters need you fully recovered as quickly as possible."

She gave him a grateful smile. "Thank you."

John studied the four Nymphs, who seemed torn between looking in the direction of the destroyer and hovering over Jade. He turned back to Jade and said softly, "We need to have a long talk when you feel better, okay?"

Jade nodded and sagged back against the bulkhead, clearly exhausted.

He rose to his feet, then stepped over to Jehanna. "I'm afraid you'll have to wait a few hours until I can heal your cuts and bruises. I know I said I'd heal you as quickly as possible, but-"

She gave him a quick kiss, silencing his apology. "I completely understand, don't worry. Of course you need to heal Jade first."

"Thank you," he said gratefully, giving her a quick hug.

They had only just started to separate when the rear loading ramp began to lower, revealing the interior of the Invictus' Secondary Hangar. Sakura and Faye were waiting for them and the purple sprite greeted her friends with a cheerful wave, while the Asian girl wasted no time in bounding towards the ramp, a look of concern on her face.

Alyssa caught John's arm and murmured, *Leave us to get everyone settled in.* She met his curious gaze with an anxious frown. *Calara needs you; she's up on the Combat Bridge at the moment...*

He could see how worried she was and immediately nodded his agreement. Turning to look at Dana who was watching her girlfriend tending to Devereux, he said, "Sparks, I'll meet you in my Ready Room in ten minutes, okay?"

Dana hesitated and lowered her eyes, then replied quietly, "Sure, I'll see you there..."

Leaving Alyssa to oversee the disembarking of their guests, John strode down the ramp, pausing to give Sakura a quick but heartfelt hug as they passed. He did the same with Faye, who squeaked in delight, then headed over to the express grav-tube concealed at the back of the hangar. The purple sprite had left the door open for him, so he walked inside and whooshed up to Deck Four.

Strolling over to his armour-equipping frame, he stepped inside and activated the machinery with the thumb controls in his gauntlet. The robotic arms began removing his Paragon suit, but the chestplate was jammed closed and wouldn't come apart. In the end, he had to break it along the joint to get the armour to separate, then left the mangled pieces propped up against the wall so they could be fixed later. By the time he'd finished, Irillith was waiting patiently beside him, her arms folded in front of her chest.

"I just wanted to let you know that Weber's dead," she said, a look of satisfaction on her face. "It was probably a heart attack that finished him off... but it might have been blood loss."

"Blood loss?" John asked in confusion. "He wasn't wounded when we left him."

"He clawed his own eyes out," the Maliri girl said soberly. "Remind me never to get on Alyssa's bad side..."

John grimaced, then pulled Irillith into an embrace, catching her off-guard. "I know how much you did for us today, but thanks in particular for saving Jehanna. She told me you protected her from Weber."

Irillith wrapped her arms around him, hugging him back. "She's one of us... I wouldn't have dreamt of doing anything less."

"You're such a good girl," John whispered fondly in her ear. "I'll look forward to spending time with you later."

She squeezed a bit tighter, then gave him a coy smile as they pulled apart. Irillith glanced down into the Combat Bridge, then said softly, "Calara's really angry, but I think she blames herself for the way this battle played out..."

"Thank you," he said, nodding in gratitude, as she left to give them some privacy.

Walking down the ramp into the Combat Bridge, John found Calara standing amidst a sea of holographic ships, the Tactical Map expanded so that it encompassed the entire room. As he walked up beside her, he could see her brown eyes darting back and forth, glaring furiously at the aftermath of the Battle for Terra.

"Hello, Calara," he said quietly, placing a hand on her shoulder.

She started in surprise, then glanced his way, her expression bitter and angry. "Why didn't they ask us for help, John? Why?!"

"I get the impression it was Buckingham's fault," he replied, following her pained look of regret up to the burning graveyard of Terran Federation ships. "According to Admiral Maybridge, most of High Command weren't even aware that the Kintark were invading until late last night."

Calara shook her head, eyes narrowing in anger. "I don't buy that excuse for one minute! They must've known something was happening! The Dragon March was in complete communications lockdown for several days... either the Admiralty was too stupid to realise what was happening, or too scared to cross Buckingham!" She snorted with disgust. "They're a bunch of fools and cowards... to think I actually used to respect High Command!"

John hesitated, realising the Latina was suffering a real crisis of faith. Calara's respect for her superior officers formed the bedrock of her loyalty to the Terran Federation, but that belief had been totally demolished.

"Hundreds of thousands of lives pointlessly thrown away, entire fleets annihilated... for no good reason!" Calara exclaimed vehemently, waving her hand at the holographic images. "You saw what happened at Olympus where I had complete control of the Terran forces. If I'd had days to prepare for the Battle of Terra, I could've mercilessly crushed the first waves of Kintark and made them realise they were making a terrible mistake. We could have forced their surrender and barely lost a ship!"

"But you still managed to turn the battle around," John said gently. "Even with us arriving so late and despite the fact that you had no chance to prepare..."

Calara glowered at the map and shook her head. "That was more due to Dana obliterating their entire carrier force than anything particularly innovative from me. I just did what I could to mitigate the scale of the disaster..."

"Don't downplay what you accomplished here," John said, his voice gentle and encouraging. "You managed to achieve a minor miracle and salvaged a victory out of this debacle."

The Latina faced him, finally revealing how distraught she was. "I might have won us a narrow tactical victory, but this battle was a huge strategic defeat!" She gazed into his eyes as though pleading for him to understand. "Don't you see? The Terran Federation forces have been mauled beyond all recognition! 42% of their ships were completely destroyed, another 24% severely damaged! It'll take years to rebuild those fleets and replace the experienced crews we lost!"

She turned and waved a hand at the endless field of devastated Kintark ships, their shattered hulks leaving a forlorn trail all the way across the Sol system. "What happened with the Kintark was even worse. They could have been allies against the other Progenitor... fought beside us to fight off his thralls. But he set this catastrophe in motion and totally destroyed them as a galactic power! Now the Kintark have barely got enough ships left to patrol their own borders and that's assuming High Command doesn't just annex their entire Empire! It's not like the Kintark could do anything to stop them at this point..."

John turned to look at the map with fresh eyes and suddenly felt bowed down by the crushing weight of responsibility. He slumped in his Command Chair and met Calara's desperately worried gaze. "You're absolutely right, but this was my fault... I should've handled all of this differently. Perhaps if I'd tried to reach out to the Kintark and encouraged them to become my allies, all this could have been avoided..."

Calara knelt beside him and held his hand. "You can't blame yourself for this. You gave each of us specialised skills to help you and this was my area of expertise... but I failed you." She looked deeply troubled as she continued, "The other Progenitor is systematically crippling every empire in this corner of the galaxy; the Drakkar, the Ashanath, the Trankarans, now the Kintark and the Terrans... The only forces still intact are the Maliri and the Brimorians!"

"And we're on the brink of war with the Enclave," John muttered, rubbing his hand over his face.

She nodded, her expression showing her fear and doubt. "We must protect the Maliri forces! They're our best hope now... we can't afford to let anything happen to them."

"But I've been sending their fleets off all over the galaxy!" John blurted out, eyes widening with alarm.

"I know, but I'm not sure what else we can do..." Calara said, sounding equally distressed. "The Ashanath and Trankarans need our protection, and the Maliri forces will actually benefit from helping them; they'll get ship upgrades and combat experience for the crews. I think it's the right course of action, but I'm worried how vulnerable they are, being out there on their own like that."

John grimaced with frustration. "Jade's always telling me to be the cat, not the mouse, but we've been dancing around to the Progenitor's tune for months. I've just been reacting to everything he's thrown at us and not been proactive at all."

"What were you planning to do next?" Calara asked him curiously.

"We need to repair the Invictus, which will probably take at least a couple of days. While we're here, it's the perfect opportunity to sort out High Command once and for all," he said, looking down into her troubled brown eyes. "Then I thought we should fly to the Outer Rim and join the Federation fleets in pushing the Kirrix out of Terran Space."

The Latina was quiet for a long moment, obviously perturbed by the advice she was about to give him. With a heavy sigh, she finally replied, "I think we should focus on upgrading the Maliri fleets with all the new tech we've acquired. We need to return to Genthalas..."

John looked at her in consternation. "But what about the Kirrix invasion?"

Calara deflated and wouldn't meet his eye as she slowly shook her head. "Saving the border worlds from the Kirrix isn't in our best strategic interests. We have to focus on getting the Maliri ready for the big fight against the Progenitor..."

He suddenly realised what had really been bothering her. With the devastating losses the Terran Federation fleets had sustained against the Kintark, Calara was starting to realise how ineffective they'd be against the Progenitor's thrall fleets. If the Federation wasn't in a position to help in that battle, then spending time and resources protecting Terran Space was a wasteful distraction.

As if she was reading his mind, the Latina nodded, her expression grim. "The Terran Federation needs to guard its borders again, tying up lots of fleets and not giving us much to work with. I'm sure they'll also want retribution against the Kintark... and the number of ships needed to just police the Kintark borders will take out a significant chunk of what's left of the spaceworthy Terran forces." She looked anguished as she continued, "I think we might have to write off the Federation as a useful ally, at least in the short term."

John knew how fiercely loyal Calara had always been to the Federation, so for her to suggest that course of action must have been killing her. "Are you sure?" he asked quietly.

Calara shook her head, eyes filling with tears as she looked up at him. "No, I'm not sure at all..." She swallowed around the lump in her throat. "My heart tells me that we should hand over loads of tech to the Federation and bring their ships up to parity with the Maliri. Then we should rush to the border to fight off the Kirrix and liberate all those Terran worlds. My head tells me that doing either of those things would be a really bad idea..."

He pulled her up onto his lap and encircled her with his arms. "I definitely agree on the tech. I feel a lot of loyalty towards the Terran Federation, but I don't think we can trust them with something as powerful as Nova Lances."

The Latina nodded, then let out a heavy sigh. "The battle at Olympus proved to me how huge a difference having a tech advantage can make. Our fleet of upgraded Terran ships caused enormous damage to that Praetorian fleet, but a similar sized Maliri force would have wiped the Kintark out before we even arrived; seeing the Maliri in action around Terra just confirmed how lethal they are. We also know you have their absolute loyalty and we can trust them with as much tech as we want without worrying they'll betray us."

John was quiet for a long moment as he mulled over her points. "I think we've got to assume the thrall ships are more advanced than the Maliri are at the moment. That means we're trying to close a tech gap there, as well as trying to bring the Invictus up to a point where it can face that black ship."

"Yes, exactly," Calara said, her expression grim.

"What if we were able to find a way to transfer tech schematics over the astral plane?" John suggested hopefully. "If we could figure that out, then we'd be able to keep sending blueprints to Edraele wherever we are. She'd be able to upgrade her fleets, while we continue to tackle any trouble the Progenitor stirs up... like this Kirrix invasion."

"That would be a perfect solution, but we don't know if that's even possible," Calara replied with a pensive frown. "Until then, we need to get back to Genthalas as quickly as we can. Sharing the Brimorian shield technology with the Maliri will massively improve their survivability, especially for their strike craft. We can't afford to commit the Maliri to a major engagement without that upgrade."

"I think you're right..." John said, sounding subdued. Although he could see the logic to what she was saying, he hated the idea of abandoning so many innocent civilians to a horrible death.

"Don't forget we've also got the Vulkat archives," the Latina continued, lost in thought. "It probably won't take long for Irillith to translate them, which might give us even more useful technology we can incorporate into the Maliri fleets. If we spend a couple of days repairing the Invictus, then head straight for Genthalas, we could be back there in less than a week. I don't think we should risk any delay in rolling out upgraded shields for the Maliri and anything extra we can use from the Vulkat would be an added bonus."

John considered their options, then said quietly, "We also need to get the eternity crystal tech into the Ashanath's hands, then their most powerful psychics can start growing crystals to upgrade the Maliri fleets. I should probably ask Dana to focus on trying to resolve this astral schematic transfer issue on the journey to Genthalas." He grimaced, then added, "But what about fighting the Kirrix? We can't just abandon those worlds... hundreds of thousands of Terran citizens are in terrible danger."

After a moment's pause, Calara replied, "The second Valaden fleet will arrive in Ashana in a few days' time. I don't know how long the eternity crystals will take to grow, but the Ashanath could probably re-plate most of their fleet in a couple of days. After the refit, we could redirect the Maliri to assist the Terran forces in liberating the worlds attacked by the Kirrix?"

"Two days to get to Ashana, two days for the armour refit, four days to reach the Terran Outer Rim..." John said quietly, gazing into Calara's eyes. "Eight days and the Kirrix invaded a couple of days ago... that doesn't leave much time to save anyone infested during the initial invasion."

"I know..." she replied, a haunted look in her eyes. "High Command has sent the Terran border forces back, so they'll engage the Kirrix in four days... But it'll take them time to hunt down all the Kirrix ships; they've spread out and hit multiple colonies."

"We'd need a couple of days to repair the Invictus, then two more days to reach the Outer Rim..." he said gazing off into the distance. Focusing on the brunette watching him intently, he continued, "I know we're trying to avoid rushing around fire-fighting, but can we really put that many lives at risk?"