Three Square Meals Ch. 117

The Nymph glanced at the cages flanking the walkway. *I'm a bit big for this space. They'll know I'm coming the moment I shift.*

*That's okay, they must realise we're after them,* John replied, turning so he could look back at her as he continued along the passage. *Feel free to make as much noise as you like.*

She nodded eagerly, then closed her eyes, her muscular feline body growing much larger as dark-green fur was replaced by a coat of shimmering dragon scales. Reaching full size, Jade spread her wings, smashing aside hundreds of cages. She tilted back her head and let loose a terrifying roar, sending shivers down John's spine even when he knew she was friendly. He activated his psychic speed and sprinted down the hallway, listening to more crashing behind him as Jade battered aside everything in her path. Up ahead he spotted frantic movement, a group of Kirrix creatures heading to the right and running perpendicular to the long rows of cages.

*Don't cut across yet, John...* Jade warned him, as an ominous crackling sound reverberated through the room.

Off to his right, an incandescent blast of lightning made him squint against the dazzling glare, the tumultuous arcs of power blasting everything in their path. He heard the high-pitched shrieks of Kirrix on the receiving end of that shocking elemental eruption and when he finally reached the junction to follow the insectoids, he paused to stare at the scenes of carnage. There must have been a phalanx of guardians here, as he could see charred and shattered crimson corpses strewn in all directions, still twitching as electricity surged through their overloaded nervous systems.

Steam poured off several juggernauts, who had barely survived the attack and were tending to an enormous Kirrix abomination that straddled a mechanised cart. The vehicle itself had ground to a halt, marooning what must have been the master of this forsaken place. The creature reminded John of a hive queen, but it was significantly larger, with a mottled grey carapace protecting its segmented body. From this angle he couldn't see the head, but he could see the distinctive bulging abdomen and ovipositor owned by most of the higher-tier Kirrix.

Jade crashed through the room, barrelling her way past cages and smashing them aside. The juggernauts looked up, then turned to face her, drawing back their bladed claws as they prepared to fight. Before they could spring to the attack, John was on them, charging into their flank and catching them by surprise. His initial overhead blow slashed down through the rear of the closest black-clad behemoth, slicing its abdomen in half and severing both rear legs. It bucked wildly, shrieking all the while as it crashed over on its back... but John was already sweeping past it.

He leapt over the back of the second juggernaut, using the anti-grav units in his Paragon suit to boost his jump. With a whirling backhand, he lopped off its head, then landed and was off running once more. The other two barely had time to react to the white blur flashing past them when he turned back to strike again. Forgoing any subtlety this time, John charged into the closest, dropping into a sliding skid between its splayed chitinous legs.

He drove the point of his sword into its exposed underbelly, then poured azure fire into the shrieking beast, flames blasting out of its mouth as he incinerated its innards. Rising from his crouch, he held the burning creature aloft and hurled it at the remaining juggernaut, which actually looked shocked as it was smashed over the head by the immolated corpse. It didn't even have time to struggle to its feet as John strode over to it and plunged his blade up to the hilt in its armoured skull.

*Nice distraction, honey,* John said, tugging the flaming blade free and giving Jade an appreciative smile.

Her huge draconic face loomed over him, admiration in those cat-like eyes. *Nice execution, Master.*

John turned to look at the enormous Kirrix abomination straddling the broken conveyance. The vehicle was covered in what was obviously life support equipment, as every breath the creature took came out as a rattling wheeze, pistons rising and falling to aid its respiration. Up close he could see how old it was, the brittle carapace covering its body having greyed with age and marked with the same kind of swirling patterns he'd seen on the ancient resin walls.

"So... what have we got here?" he muttered, walking around to the front of the wizened creature.

"IT LOOKS LIKE A HIVE QUEEN... BUT TRULY ANCIENT..." Jade rumbled, staring at its sunken face, a milky-white film covering both its compound eyes.

"Where's an angry telepath when you need her?" John said, darting a smile at the Nymph.

*Praying you don't get yourself killed...* Alyssa replied with an exasperated sigh.

Jade didn't respond. Her head was tilted to one side as if listening to something only she could hear.

He looked at her with concern. "Jade?"

"I CAN HEAR HER VOICE... SHE'S WEAK... IT'S VERY FAINT..."

John stared at the senescent Kirrix hive queen. "What's she saying?"

The Nymph shimmered and rapidly shrank in size, returning to her normal humanoid appearance. "She despises you, John. She says you're a monster... that you butchered her children without mercy..."

He snorted indignantly. "You've got to be kidding me..." Looking at the ancient insectoid, he shook his head in disbelief. "How have you got the balls to take the moral high ground after what you did to the Mhoirad? You wiped out their entire species!"

Those ghostly eyes swivelled down to lock on John, dispelling his previous assumption that she was blind.

"Murderer... just like the rest of your despicable kind..." Jade murmured, quietly repeating the hive queen's hate-filled words.

He looked at her sharply. "You know me? Progenitors I mean?"

The hive queen twitched in the cradle-like carriage that supported her haggard body and chittered with agitation, her cracked mandibles grating against each other.

Jade grimaced and placed a hand on John's arm. "I don't think she's feeling particularly cooperative. She started hurling insults at you... and hasn't stopped."

Narrowing his eyes, John drove the point of his sword into the ground, then knelt as he clenched his fist around the grip.

*John?* Alyssa asked, startled by his thoughts. *What're you doing?*

*Getting some answers,* he muttered, closing his eyes as the runes on the blade flared with light.

John concentrated on drawing away his spirit form from his body, so that he could bring his consciousness into the Astral Plane. Bracing himself for the inevitable battle with his rogue guide, he was startled when he felt no resistance at all, smoothly stepping clear of his physical form. He stopped and looked around, his attention first drawn to Jade, who gleamed like a brilliant emerald beacon. He studied her in fascination, then turned to focus on the hulking hive queen, who was shrouded in a nimbus of sickly-yellow light.

The Kirrix loomed over him, hideously ugly with her bulbous segmented body. She might have once looked like the terrifying younger hive queens many years ago, but the forces of entropy had taken their toll, her form bloated and cracked with age. He could almost feel the waves of hatred pouring off her body, such was the level of loathing she felt towards him. Approaching the grotesque creature, John reached out to place his hand on her chitin head.

Alyssa had described the process of reading another's mind often enough and now that he had entered the astral unopposed, he was curious to see if he was capable of doing something similar. The hive queen resisted his initial tentative push at her mind, using her many centuries of psychic experience to bar his entry. John closed his eyes and concentrated, focusing his will into a sharp instrument that would allow him to pierce the barriers defending her subconscious. Driving it into the hive queen's head, he felt her shock and fear as he shattered her mental defences with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, allowing him to delve inside.

John felt a strange dizzying sensation as he tried to adjust to this very alien mind. He faced a wall of gleaming hexagons, each representing treasured memories, while the rest were scattered about haphazardly. Before he had time to gather his thoughts, he was assailed by a screeching tornado of hatred, the hive queen's shrill voice echoing with her terrible grief for the precious daughters he'd slain. The psychic assault battered him down, waves of furious loathing hitting again and again, as she tried to crush John and eject him from her mind.

John dropped to one knee, hands pressed over his ears to try to block out the anguished screams, the sound crashing into him like a flurry of physical blows. He realised that trying to muffle the hideous cacophony was futile, so he gritted his teeth against the pain, then slammed his clenched fist down into the insubstantial mists that formed the floor to this Kirrix subconscious. The blow sent a shockwave of force in all directions, instantly silencing the screams which tailed off with a strangled whimper.

He felt memories rushing back towards him, the eldritch blast dislodging them from their position and pulling them in. Flickers of remembrances became a flood and the ancient hive queen named Kirzuxa became like an open book to him.

~~~

Kirzuxa had grown quickly, nurtured and protected by her mother, the revered hive queen Naritixa. Groomed for a place in the Hive Mind, Kirzuxa's proudest moment was becoming strong enough to delve into the Grey Realm for the first time, to visit the Palace of Dreams. There she was welcomed by the Kirrix sisterhood... a meeting of triumph and despair in equal measure.

She joined with the Hive Mind and listened to the history of her glorious people, delighting in tales of their existence in the galaxy for so many millennia. To be told that her species was superior to all other forms of life came as no surprise to Kirzuxa, but as she revelled in that knowledge, her sisters shared with her the ancient legends of the Kirrix. Elation turned to devastation, as she was told of the Progenitor beast that had unleashed war upon them and brought her people low. Brutal massacres had pushed the Kirrix back from their rightful worlds, the deaths of billions sending psychic shockwaves through the hive mind.

Not content with his slaughter, the despicable alien had unleashed the horror of the Shroud, dooming the Kirrix to extinction as their symbiotic relationship with the Luphids was irrevocably tainted. Every effort had been made to defeat the Shroud, but its existence confounded the very best scientific minds the Kirrix had to offer. Kirzuxa had been stricken with grief as the Hive Mind explained the dark reality they faced... being forced to prey on other civilisations so that her people might survive.

With no other choice, the Kirrix practiced a form of husbandry on the independent species whose homeworlds still lay within what remained of their territory. Limited numbers were taken, enough to keep the Kirrix species at a healthy population, without overly depleting the source of hosts. Such had been the way for untold millennia, allowing their continuous survival, while all efforts were made to avoid antagonising their malevolent new neighbours. Kirzuxa learned to hate the two-legged mammalian tyrants for their trespass on what should have been Kirrix worlds... but the Maliri were unassailable in their power.

Kirzuxa was allocated her own civilisation to selectively cull, a dull-witted species of quadrupeds that called themselves the Vairun. The pleasure she felt with the insertion of each clutch of eggs was matched by the sense of elation that she was keeping the Kirrix alive, confounding the Progenitor beast's plan to slowly extinguish her people. To have such a wonderful sense of purpose was truly a gift and she glowed with pride when she joined her fellow hive queens in the Palace of Dreams, adding her joyful voice to the Hive Mind. For hundreds of years she served the Kirrix in that fashion, until the years took their toll and she was forced to rely on mechanical assistance to add renewed vigour to her body.

That was when another of the vile Progenitors arrived, laying waste to everything in his path.

This new monster seemed intent on finishing what the first merciless tyrant had failed to accomplish, vaporising every trace of the Kirrix whenever contact was made. Terror gripped the Hive Mind as the Progenitor beast drove them to the point of extinction... with barely a handful of hive worlds still left intact. Then as quickly as the Progenitor arrived, he vanished, the Maliri slinking away from their borders as well.

Plans were made for the resurgence of the Kirrix, with the primary threats to their existence now drastically curtailed. Measured husbandry of independent civilisations was to be abandoned, the need to replenish the billions of drones lost to the Progenitor now overwhelming. Kirzuxa fulfilled her duty, aided by her many sons, the hive lords helping her create vast numbers of glorious Kirrix at the cost of the Vairun. She felt no regret at their extinction... after all, they were a substandard species of no intrinsic worth, other than to be hosts to a superior form of life.

After the Vairun were depleted, she was allocated the Naygari, a fast-breeding reptilian race that provided countless numbers to swell the Kirrix ranks. Many worlds were reclaimed with their expansion going unchallenged, her people reclaiming their rightful place in the galaxy. After the Naygari she was given the Mhoirad, a worthless plantoid species lacking in even a basic sense of self-preservation.

The Hive Mind changed in the aftermath of the second Progenitor's butchery, with less attention paid to Kirrix history as all focus was placed on rapid expansion to secure their future. By the time she and her cohort had depleted the Mhoirad, Kirzuxa's strength had started to fail, making visits to the Grey Realm increasingly hazardous. To her eternal regret, she declined to the point that she was no longer powerful enough to join with the Hive Mind, resigning herself to live out her final days cut off from the sisterhood.

She cultivated a trio of hive queen daughters to continue her great legacy, the Kirrix now setting their sights on the plethora of two-legged species that had sprung up like weeds in what had once been the Progenitor beast's territory. There was a wonderful sense of satisfaction in seeing the Terran vermin being used to maintain her own resplendent species. Kirzuxa delighted in the birth of every batch of grubs, wishing that they were ripping their way out of the first Progenitor himself, rather than just his likeness... repaying him for the unspeakable crime that was the Shroud.

~~~

John staggered backwards, fighting down waves of revulsion as he saw Kirzuxa's horrific past. Not only did she not regret the extinctions she'd presided over, she revelled in them, seeing them as a necessity for the future survival of her own species. He had seen more than enough... and all that was left was to come up with a suitable punishment for such a profoundly evil creature. He willed his mind to leave the ancient hive queen's subconscious, eager to be away from the catalogue of horrors she'd inflicted during her 11,000-year reign of terror.

But nothing happened...

He closed his eyes to focus and tried again, throwing his considerable psychic might into freeing himself. This time he could feel a massive surge of resistance blocking his exit, his guide gloating as it kept him trapped within the Kirrix mind.

***

*John!* Alyssa called out in alarm, sitting bolt upright on the sofa. When there was no response, she reached out to his Nymph companion instead. *Jade! What's happening?! I've lost contact with John!*

*He hasn't moved,* Jade replied, sounding concerned. *I stopped hearing his voice when he started his Spirit Walk, but now I can't feel his emotions either!*

Balling her hands into fists, the blonde rose from her chair and started pacing. *I told him to stop taking so many risks! What the hell was he thinking, going into the Astral alone?!*

There was a moment's hesitation, then Jade asked in a panic, *What can I do to help? I can't think of anything!*

*I don't know... let me think a minute,* Alyssa said, rubbing at her forehead.

*Distance in the Astral is all a matter of perspective,* Edraele said, her voice tense with worry. *Can you reach out to John?*

The blonde froze, her mind whirring. *But if I can't even sense him, how can I find him?*

*Sakura?* Jade suggested. *She could track your psychic connection back to John.*

*Jade, you're a genius!* Alyssa gushed, eagerly nodding her agreement. *Sakura! I need you!*

Responding to the urgency in her matriarch's voice, the Asian girl raced up to the Officers' Lounge, bursting in through the double doors using her psychic speed. She was wearing her sparring armour, having been caught mid-training session with Calara. "What's the matter?"

"I need you to help me track, John!" Alyssa said in a rush. "He's gone missing... I need to follow him in the Astral!"

Sakura pulled off her helmet, her brow creased with an anxious frown. "But I've only been able to track connections when John's loaded me up."

Shaking her head, Alyssa insisted, "You've definitely got the ability... he just boosted it."

"Okay, but what about Spirit Walking?" the Asian girl asked with a look of trepidation. "I've no idea how to do that."

"John managed to bring Jade with him into the Astral when we were on Karron. If he can do it, there must be a way I can too," Alyssa said, renewing her pacing. She paused and glanced at the suit of training armour. "Can you take that off?"

Sakura nodded, pressing the thumb button in her gauntlet to unlock the suit with a series of rippling clicks. She started tugging off armour plating and dropping it on the floor with a clang. Alyssa watched her for a moment, then slipped off her own dress and lay back on the sofa, beckoning the raven-haired girl over to join her.

Jogging over to the sofa, Sakura glanced down at her training gear, then raised an eyebrow. "Still overdressed?"

"Strip!" Alyssa ordered, her flicker of a smile taking the sting out of her command.

When they were both nude, Sakura carefully straddled her matriarch on the sofa, pressing her firm breasts against Alyssa's luscious cleavage. "This feels lovely... but why are we naked?"

"I want to cover all my bases... and one of them is proximity," the blonde explained, wrapping her arms and legs around Sakura's gorgeous golden-brown figure.

Sakura initiated a sultry kiss, her velvety tongue seeking out Alyssa's. *Like that?*

*Perfect,* Alyssa said, eagerly kissing her back. *Now relax... and open yourself up to me... just like when we bonded.*

Nodding her understanding, the Asian girl melted in her matriarch's embrace, trusting her friend implicitly.

*Good girl,* Alyssa purred, closing her eyes. *Here we go...*

She concentrated on slowly peeling her spirit form away from her body, but at the same time, she tried to extend that sensation to include the athletic beauty in her arms. Alyssa felt herself stepping clear and after a momentary tug of resistance, Sakura fell back with her, her form incorporeal now that they were on the Astral Plane.

*It worked!* Alyssa exclaimed, grinning at her companion in delight.

Shaking her head in amazement, Sakura raised a hand to look at her ghostly fingers. *Well I'll be damned...*

*No, you're much too nice for that,* Alyssa said, hugging the Asian girl. *Now, can you see my psychic connection to John?*

Sakura looked around and shook her head. *Not yet.* She looked thoughtful for a moment, then added, *Give me a second to centre myself, then feed me more power. That's probably as close as we can get to emulating John giving me a full tummy.*