Three Square Meals Ch. 102

"I wondered if you'd like to do a quick review of the Battle for Olympus, before we move onto the Battle for Terra?" Faye asked, looking at him curiously to see if he approved.

John hesitated, then faced Calara. "We've already spoken about how effective your tactics were here, as well as the impressive performance of the upgraded Terran fleet. Is there anything you want to see or talk about?"

Calara shook her head. "I think we covered it. I'm happy to move straight onto the Battle for Terra."

"Hold on!" Jehanna protested. "I want to see what happened!"

"Sure, that's fine by me," John said amiably. "Go ahead, Faye."

The purple sprite blinked and the System Map of the Terran Federation appeared. "I asked Charles to send me the sensor data Olympus Shipyard recorded during the fight, so you could see what happened in detail before we arrived in the Invictus."

The video began to play back, with the Kintark fleet arriving in the system, only to be ambushed by the Terran Fleet commanded by Rear Admiral Dacres. The girls cheered as the Terran forces unloaded on the Praetorians, but they quietened down as they watched an accelerated playback of the Kintark forces being pounded by broadside after broadside. It was hard not to feel some sympathy for the lizardman crews as one vessel after another was blown to pieces. Jehanna watched in stunned silence as the bedraggled Kintark survivors bombarded Olympus Shipyard, before the Invictus dropped out of hyper-warp almost on top of the invaders and annihilated them in an orgy of destruction.

Jehanna looked at Calara in shock. "You actually planned out that... fight?" She was about to say 'massacre', but changed her mind at the last moment.

The Latina nodded, then frowned in irritation. "It was a real shame there were no minelayers stationed at Olympus. If High Command had given me a few days to properly prepare, the shipyard wouldn't have taken a hit. Fortunately, Charles should be able to repair the damage in a couple of weeks."

John glanced at Faye. "Okay, go ahead with Terra, honey."

She blinked again and the map of the Alpha Centauri system faded away. "I thought we could review the space battles first, then take a look at the ground mission at the Citadel."

When no one objected, a trio of holo-images appeared. The first was an accelerated recording of the battle, shown via a zoomed-out view of the System Map, with a Tactical overlay depicting the forces involved. The central image was video playback of Calara on the Bridge, while the last showed a close-up holographic view of the Invictus just as it jumped into the Sol system. At this point, the Terran Federation forces were being hammered by the Kintark armada, multiple battle groups left broken and burning.

"Could I see from the beginning?" Jehanna asked quietly.

"Sure," Faye replied, once John had given his permission with a nod.

She made a slight gesture with her hand that swept those three holo-images to one side, and when she blinked this time another System Map appeared. This one showed the Kintark forces jumping into the Sol system at the start of the battle, with the Terran ships arrayed to oppose them. There was no cheering this time as the two gigantic fleets of ships closed to engage, with Terran ships destroyed by the score as the minutes rolled by.

"I can't believe Weber just left Mishra to die like that," Calara murmured, watching the last moments of her dreadnought, as the Shiva was blown to pieces in a maelstrom of plasma fire.

"The man was a weasel," Alyssa said coldly. "Mishra was a fool to trust him or Buckingham."

The Latina felt a pang of regret that Mishra had been killed, but she suspected the admiral hadn't been brave enough to oppose Buckingham and had paid the ultimate price. Turning their attention back to the map, the Maliri fleet under Lilyana jumped in shortly after the Shiva was destroyed, racing to join the terribly one-sided battle. The Maliri immediately made a huge difference, vaporising dozens of Kintark warships, and saving Admiral Aeri Malone's shattered battle group from annihilation.

"I see what you mean," John said quietly to Calara. "That tech advantage makes a staggering difference. The amount of firepower in that Maliri fleet makes them worth at least ten times that number of Terran vessels."

She let out a heavy sigh. "If we'd had time to set up another Olympus scenario; you can imagine how lethal they would have been. With the Maliri's increased speed and the longer range on the Nova Lances... they could have harassed the Kintark every inch of the way across the Sol system."

"We can't let the thrall ships do that to the Maliri," John said, clenching his jaw in anger at the thought. He glanced at Dana and continued, "Would it be possible to equip Maliri vessels with Progenitor-tech Power Cores and Tachyon Drives?"

The redhead nibbled at a nail as she mulled it over but was forced to ruefully shake her head. "I'm sorry, John, no can do... Remember those elements we created on Genthalas? Well, they're time consuming and dangerous to make... and we'd need shit loads of them to equip every Maliri warship with our level of tech."

"I just wish we knew what we were up against," Calara said, grimacing with frustration. "Whatever tech the Progenitors do equip their thrall ships with, they must be able to mass produce it."

"What about Weber's ship on Tartarus?" John asked, glancing at Dana again. "You said it was a thrall ship... a 'Tormentor-class destroyer' wasn't it?"

Dana looked thoughtful for a moment before replying, "It's definitely a thrall ship design, but there's something weird about it. The armour's all wrong to start with... I mean titanium plating? Then there's the fact it was equipped with Gauss Cannons... they're shit weapons, way lower damage than the Heavy Quantum Guns I replaced ours with."

Calara nodded in wholehearted agreement. "Those ancient wrecks of Vulkat ships we saw were all destroyed by energy weapons. There's no way the thralls were using Gauss Cannons."

"I'll take a look at the destroyer as soon as I can. Maybe I can find out some answers," Dana said optimistically.

Faye had paused the holo-videos while they spoke, so she resumed the playback as the discussion ended. They watched as the Praetorian battleship fleet began to bombard Terra, with the purple sprite bringing up another holo-projection, this one showing the feed from the Kintark media satellites. Unity City was soon engulfed by plasma fires and it burned under that merciless orbital barrage.

"Those motherfuckers," Dana growled, blue eyes narrowing with anger as she saw the majestic city skyline systematically demolished. "They were just civilians, they didn't do anything!"

"The Kintark were real pieces of shit," Alyssa murmured in agreement, darting a glance at John. "The galaxy's a much better place without them in it..."

The redhead looked at her old friend, the anger in her eyes melting away as she realised what the blonde was trying to do. She gave her a grateful smile, then crossed the bed to give Alyssa a hug. John brushed his fingers through Dana's long auburn hair, then stroked her back as he watched the wilful desecration of what was once a beautiful city. Less than a minute later, the Invictus jumped into the system, appearing like a shining white beacon amongst the sea of grey and green ships. As soon as it dropped out of hyper-warp, the Raptor and Valkyrie launched, the two much faster craft racing towards the Kintark forces.

"Faye, can you switch to Sakura please," John said, glancing at the Asian girl. "I want to see what happened to that Praetorian fleet."

Sakura blushed and struggled to meet his eyes, but she went to him as he opened his arms in a clear invitation. Faye switched the feeds then they watched as the mech charged towards the Kintark capital ship fleet and the swarm of fighters protecting them. The Valkyrie dodged through what should have been an impenetrable wall of plasma cannon bolts, before the mech landed on the hull and began to carve out a chunk of armour. They all looked on in amazement as Sakura strafed a continuous stream of Photon Lasers across one battleship's hull, obliterating it with a Power Core explosion, seconds before executing the second battleship's bridge crew with a salvo of Heavy Quantum slugs.

"You're a fucking badass!" Dana exclaimed, staring at her friend in wonder, then turning back to gape at the footage. "This is like watching a real-life manga video!"

Sakura gave the redhead a self-conscious smile, then darted a look at Calara. "I would've been a lot more efficient if I could shoot with your accuracy. You make hitting those Power Cores look incredibly easy."

The Latina grinned and shook her head. "I just wish I could cool the Invictus' guns like you can... the firepower you put out with those Photon Lasers is absolutely incredible!"

There was an awed silence as they watched the Valkyrie leap from battleship to battleship, remorselessly ripping them to pieces. Sakura charged across her next victim's hull in a blur, Pulse Cannons blowing apart the swarm of fighters that tried to chase her down. The Valkyrie drove its sword into the battleship's armour like an anchor, slowing the mech's incredible speed, and allowing Sakura to flip around onto the capital ship's flank to avoid incoming fire.

"That's the coolest thing I've ever seen!" Dana marvelled in open-mouthed astonishment, eyes riveted to the holographic images.

"I must admit, I didn't think a mech could ever be that effective in space combat," Calara confessed, giving Dana and Sakura a look of admiration. "Getting inside the battleship's shields like that was inspired; you actually managed to turn their own defences against them. You'd never be able to do something like that with a fighter, and only a mech could take advantage of your psychic speed."

John looked down at the blushing Asian girl in his arms. "You had no intention of just distracting the Kintark fleet, did you?"

She glanced up at him and looked shifty as she replied, "Well, I did manage to distract them... they stopped firing on Unity City when I started taking them down."

He chose not to reply and focused on the video again, then winced as the Valkyrie was caught in a massive explosion caused by Kintark friendly fire. Sakura regained control of the mech then moved onto the rest of the battleships, causing more destruction until she tripped and was caught in a Plasma Cannon blast that blew away the mech's lower leg. They listened as she spoke to Faye and Calara, all of them worried about the loss of contact with Alyssa. John shot Alyssa a pointed look, then watched the last few minutes of combat, with the Raptor arriving to help take down the last battleship.

Picking up Sakura, John effortlessly lifted her into his lap so she was facing him. He cupped her face and looked into her deep brown eyes. "That was extremely impressive, but you exposed yourself to huge amounts of danger. You know I would've wanted you to retreat after you were caught in that first explosion... so why did you keep on fighting like that?"

There was a flicker of remorse in her almond eyes for disobeying the spirit of his orders, but she didn't turn away from his penetrating gaze. "I had to keep up the pressure... the Kintark would have continued bombarding Unity City if I'd retreated. Those people needed me to protect them."

John didn't reply for a long moment and just brushed his thumb across her soft golden-brown cheek. "You risked your life to save several-hundred-thousand citizens... Did it alleviate the guilt? About Shinatobe?"

Sakura bit her lip then slowly nodded, eyes welling up as she fought to keep it together.

"No one ever blamed you for what happened while you were abducted," John said gently, wrapping his arms around her. "You had no control... you were a prisoner in your own mind."

"I know... but I felt like I had to make it right," she whispered, voice trembling with emotion. "I could see every one of their deaths; men, women, children... so many that died by my hands."

"You saved all those Trankarans at Khalgron and protected Unity City from complete destruction; do you feel like you have your absolution now?" John persisted, his expression taut with worry. "You were incredibly brave to take on that fleet, but I'm not going to let you fight if you keep putting your life in this much danger every battle. I won't let you martyr yourself, Sakura. I love you too much to let you just throw your life away."

Her face crumpled and she leaned into his chest, hugging him tight for support. Between sobs, she blurted out, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to scare you like that. It's over now, I promise..."

John held her close, rubbing her back as she cried softly against him, finally letting go of the guilt she'd been holding onto all this time. Alyssa and Dana were closest and they joined in the hug, stroking the Asian girl as they murmured loving words to her. When she'd calmed down enough, Sakura turned to give everyone a shy smile of embarrassment.

"You can stay here with me," John said fondly, refusing to let her go.

Sakura brushed the tears from her eyes and laughed. "Okay, but can I turn around to watch what everyone else did in the battle?"

"Alright, that sounds reasonable," he agreed with a smile, letting her turn so she was sitting with her back against his chest.

"Who would you like to see next?" Faye asked when Sakura had settled down.

John's gaze drifted to Calara. "Do you mind if we come back to you last? From what I can gather you made the biggest impact at the end of the battle."

"Of course," the Latina replied, not minding in the slightest. "Perhaps Irillith should go next?"

"That's not a problem!" Faye immediately agreed, queuing up the relevant footage. "Is everyone ready?"

When they confirmed that they were, Faye wound back the recordings to the relevant stage, then began to play the footage. Everyone watched with interest as the Maliri hacker took control of the captured Kintark dreadnought, then proceeded to turn it on the imperial forces. Between the Singularity Drivers and the massed batteries of Plasma Cannons, Irillith racked up a staggering number of Kintark ship kills, blowing apart shieldless vessels that tried to rotate away from the front lines.

John overheard the discussion on the Invictus' Bridge about having to stay within range of the Hera and asked, "What is your maximum hacking range, Irillith?"

"Just over interdiction and Beam Laser range," she replied, frowning as she watched the point where she had to relinquish control of the massive vessel. "It's a shame... that ship could deal out a serious amount of damage."

Alyssa frowned and asked, "Isn't that just the limits to a hack from the Invictus' communications array? What about if you create your own psychic bridge, like you did against Mikaboshi's battlecruiser?"

Tashana nodded and put her arm around her twin. "You're so much stronger now than you were back then. You should experiment, see if you can go further..."

Irillith blinked in surprise, then smiled bashfully. "I should have thought of that myself."

"I bet you could also hack multiple ships at once," Alyssa said, looking thoughtful.

The Maliri laughed in disbelief. "You're kidding right?"

"No, not at all," the blonde replied, completely serious. "You've been experimenting with splitting your consciousness for months now, just like Dana does. It started with speaking to us on the Bridge while entering the Cyber Realm at the same time, but you were also doing the same thing on the Hera. While you were... playing... with Melkadian and Norwood using a psychic projection, you were still in full control of the dreadnought."

Irillith deflated and gave John a guilty look. "I thought I'd done a good job, but it sounds like I let everybody down."

Sakura smiled and moved aside, giving Irillith room when John beckoned her over.

"Not at all, beautiful. I was just curious about hacking ranges, I didn't mean to make you feel like I was criticising," John said honestly as he pulled Irillith into a comforting embrace. Glancing up at the holo-screen, he saw the Kintark fleet turning on one another, with Irillith causing total mayhem amongst their forces. "You've always been an absolute terror in these ship battles. Just look at what you did to them: you're venting crews, firing on friendly ships and setting up rams... I almost feel sorry for those poor bastards."

"Hacking enemy ships is a huge force multiplier," Calara said sincerely, giving Irillith an encouraging smile. "The effect on morale is devastating, your hacking sows confusion in their ranks, and there's a huge reduction in incoming fire. Don't worry, you made a massive contribution to this battle."

"Still... I'll work on it," Irillith promised, a determined look in her violet eyes. "Maybe next time we can have twice the devastation!"

"That's the spirit," John said with a smile. "Finding out all of Melkadian's plans was really important too, thank you."

She glanced at Dana, who gave her a grateful kiss. "Yeah, thanks a million for that... I felt like total shit after what happened with the mines, but knowing that the Kintark were planning to kill everyone made a massive difference." Turning to smile at Alyssa, Dana added, "Fuck them, they were bad guys... right?"

"Exactly!" Alyssa replied, breaking into a grin.

Irillith brushed her fingers through Dana's hair and gave her an affectionate smile. "Who's your favourite twin?"

The redhead laughed and threw her arms around Irillith, the two of them tumbling onto the bed with her exuberance. "Definitely you! Sorry, Tashana."

Tashana smiled and shook her head. "She's my favourite twin too."

When Dana sat up, John raised an eyebrow and asked, "Shall we do you next?"

She grinned at him for the innuendo-laden comment, but then her smile died as she glanced at the holo-images. "Do we have to?" she asked, sounding distressed.

Calara reached out to hold her hand and squeezed it in sympathy. "I think we should, but I want you to watch something first." Glancing at Faye, she continued, "Please play Projection-01."

Faye blinked and the fleet locations on the System Map were updated. Dana sat up, her eyes darting around the map, searching for the Raptor gunship.

"This isn't right, Faye. We were half-way through the minefield when the battlefield was like this," she said, her expression taut with worry.

The Latina shook her head. "This is what would have happened if you hadn't taken out the carrier group. I described the scenario to Faye and she created this simulation..."

Dana stared at the holographic map with wide eyes, watching as the enormous Kintark carrier fleet started launching wave after wave of bombers. Supported by the huge numbers of Kintark fighters, the bomber waves advanced towards the Terran Federation lines, looking like a swarm of enraged killer bees. The Maliri strike craft put up a good fight, but they were outnumbered fifty-to-one and began taking heavy losses, while the last of the Claymore fighters were soon wiped out. With strike craft supremacy established, the Kintark bombers swept unopposed through the Terran lines.

Battle group after battle group were torn to pieces by torpedo strikes, their Gatling Laser defence grids standing no chance of stopping the shielded bombers. Everywhere Dana looked, Terran cruisers and battleships were ablaze in a conflagration of green plasma fire, the battle an utter catastrophe for the Federation side. The only battle group that escaped the vengeful slaughter by the bombers was that guarded by the Invictus, but it was only a temporary reprieve. The white battlecruiser was eventually forced to withdraw to avoid being overwhelmed by Kintark capital ships. Massively outnumbered, the Invictus, the Maliri, and Dacres' fleet all had to jump out, leaving the Sol system at the mercy of the Kintark.