Three Square Meals Ch. 118

"Yes, pretty much," John agreed with a nod of his head. He frowned and quietly continued, "Then Alyssa and Sakura got badly injured defeating my guide to rescue me."

"Actually... we didn't defeat him," Alyssa said, her expression grim. "All the psychic powers we were throwing around drew the attention of the monsters in the fog. Your guide returned to your body when he realised they were coming for us."

"We threw a lot at him," Sakura said, flexing her regenerated arm. "He's very resilient."

"You said you thought the guide was more powerful than before," Calara said to Alyssa. "How could he be growing in strength if he's trapped in a mental prison?"

They were all quiet as they thought about that, then Sakura suggested, "Perhaps his capabilities increase as you get stronger, John? The two of you are part of the same mind, after all."

"That's possible," he conceded, his heart sinking as he realised he'd never be able to gain ground against his guide before a final confrontation.

"Oh, wait!" Rachel blurted out, looking intently at Alyssa. "Wasn't that the first time you've confronted him on the Astral Plane? The only other time you've fought each other directly was when the guide took control of John's body on Valaden."

"Actually, you're right!" the blonde agreed, nodding as she thought about it. "The guide was weak then, with only a comatose Edraele as his matriarch. He had no thralls to draw power from, so he must have been running on empty."

"But he's had lots of other opportunities to attack since then," John said, frowning in confusion.

"Perhaps there's only certain circumstances in which the guide can 'win' and take permanent control of your body?" Tashana suggested. "If he ambushed you on the Astral Plane and you simply fled back to your physical form, your mind would have been safe from his attempts to take control."

John let out a breath he didn't realise he was holding, then relaxed in his chair with Helene still in his arms. "I don't think we'll ever know until I confront him and end this once and for all."

"You told Edraele that you thought you might be ready," Alyssa said, stroking his arm. "Do you still feel that way?"

He thought about that for a moment. "I do, but I still want to visit Arcadia first. I want answers about my mother and father before I face my guide, just in case he does beat me..." Seeing the looks of alarm on the girls' faces, he quickly changed the subject. "Before I forget, I actually found out a few intriguing things from Kirzuxa before I accidentally wiped out her mind."

"Such as?" Tashana asked with interest.

"Well, she confirmed that the Kirrix have been nearly driven to the point of extinction twice before. The first time was many thousands of years ago, when a Progenitor, probably Mael'nerak, kicked them out of the star systems now occupied by the Terran Federation. He pushed them back into what is now Kirrix Space, then must have got bored killing them and set up the Shroud to finish the job."

"So she confirmed that he created it?" the Maliri persisted.

He shook his head. "Kirzuxa is 13,000 years old and the Shroud was in existence long before she was born. The Kirrix spent millennia biding their time outside Maliri borders, harvesting sentient species to continue their existence, but trying not to decrease the population to dangerous levels. That all changed when another Progenitor turned up about 10,000 years ago..."

Tashana nodded in understanding. "Ranagon and the War of the Heavens."

"It all seems to fit," John agreed. "From what we saw from the Nexus files, Mael'nerak was too busy trying to fight off Ranagon to suddenly decide to exterminate the Kirrix. My money is on Ranagon slaughtering the Kirrix after he finished off the Vulkat."

"That coincides with the conversation I had with Nkkrrit," Alyssa interjected, sadness in her eyes. "I asked her about the life support systems you found that were keeping the ancient hive queen alive. She said that when the Vulkat returned to their empire and found it had been obliterated, all her people went crazy with grief. Nkkrrit desperately needed enough personnel to run her fleet, so she psychically contacted the Kirrix Hive Mind to trade for that technology."

"Ah, so Nkkrrit's throne was all originally Kirrix tech?" Dana said with interest.

"Yeah, and all the cybernetics that kept the Vulkat animated after they died," Alyssa replied, with a frown.

"That makes sense..." the redhead agreed. "The Kirrix are desperate to keep their species going whatever the cost, so of course they'd be researching creepy shit like that." She shivered with disgust. "That probably means there's Kirrix planets full of zombie bugs... yuck."

"The Vulkat actually met the Kirrix thousands of years earlier," Alyssa said quietly. "The Empress at the time banned all trade with them, because she was worried the Kirrix would use Vulkat weapon tech on innocent civilisations. Nkkrrit broke that edict and traded them the schematics for EMP missiles, in exchange for life support and cybernetic reanimation tech. She said the Hive Mind was terrified, desperate to do a deal for any weapons they could get their hands on. Nkkrrit's still torturing herself with grief for making that trade with them."

"Oh! No fucking way!" Dana blurted out, her eyes wide in shock. She giggled and shook her head. "I can't believe it... that's totally awesome!"

John gave her a funny look. "It's awesome that the Vulkat Queen spent 10,000 years torturing herself with guilt?"

Dana winced and shook her head. "Ah, no, sorry... that's not what I meant... that's really bad obviously." Her expression brightened and she continued, "But Alyssa just said that Nkkrrit contacted the Hive Mind to trade, right? And if the Kirrix were in full retreat because they were getting spanked by Ranagon, it's not like Nkkrrit could send a ship to them to trade schematics..."

"So they traded them psychically!" Alyssa exclaimed, looking at her friend in admiration. "Of course, it makes perfect sense. The Vulkat were naturally psychic and so are the Kirrix... there were probably other species they encountered who were also psychic and capable of trading information that way."

"Which means we need to get to work on the Vulkat tech archives," Tashana said to her sister.

Irillith nodded. "It shouldn't take long to translate it now the decoding is complete, maybe a couple of days."

"Do I get the credit if we find the schematics for a psi-communicator?" Dana asked, a sparkle in her eyes. "Maybe for another exclusive 24 hours?"

Alyssa laughed and rolled her eyes. "You're terrible, Sparks! You haven't even started the first 24 hours yet!"

The redhead pouted. "You can't blame a girl for trying..."

Raising an eyebrow, Irillith said, "If Shan and I translate the archive, surely we should get the credit?"

Tashana ran her hand sensuously over her curved stomach. "Mmm, now that is a delicious idea..."

"Hey!" Dana exclaimed indignantly.

"Okay, okay," John said, smiling and raising his hands to keep the peace. "It's not a competition."

Rachel looked at him quizzically. "Was that everything you discovered from Kirzuxa?"

"Most of it. Like I said earlier, I think Ranagon is the second Progenitor who attacked the Kirrix. The territory maps we saw in Mael'nerak's control room showed his opponent conquering huge swathes of stars, a lot of them now in Kirrix Space. Mael'nerak's surprise attack on Ranagon ended the war and inadvertently saved the Kirrix from extinction. After that, the Maliri withdrew to the Regency borders and the Kirrix began a huge expansion effort, culling every race they could get their hands on for more drones. Kirzuxa personally oversaw the systematic rape and murder of three entire civilisations." He shook his head in anger. "She had the blood of billions on her hands and didn't feel the slightest bit of remorse."

"Those extinct species need justice," Sakura said, her gaze turning cold. "After everything we've learned, I'm more convinced than ever that the Kirrix should be annihilated."

"I hate those bastards," Dana muttered with a scowl. "You'll get no complaints from me if you decide to finish the job..."

"I know I made that deal with them, but I reckon we should break it as soon as the Kirrix pull out of Trankaran territory," Alyssa said, her eyes narrowing. "By that time the Maliri and Trankaran fleets will be in position to defend the Republic's borders, so they won't be in any more danger. The Kirrix are evil, they need putting down."

"I agree, Master," Jade said quietly, to John's surprise. "The Kirrix would have murdered those lovely children if I hadn't got there in time. Any species capable of that deserves to be hunted down like the rats that they are."

He looked around at the rest of the girls. "I'd be interested to hear your opinions..."

The twins shared a glance, then Irillith said, "As we discussed the other day, I've always considered the Kirrix to be parasitical vermin. It wouldn't bother me in the slightest if we eliminated them."

Tashana nodded, equally certain of her opinion. "After hearing about the countless atrocities they've committed, I see the continued existence of the Kirrix as a wrong that desperately needs to be righted."

John's curious gaze fell on Rachel and her grey eyes hardened as they made contact with his. "Only soulless monsters could rape and murder innocents on such a vast scale... and keep doing so for millennia after millennia. We need to put an end to their horrific lifecycle... the Kirrix are an abomination that has been left to fester for far too long."

Helene shifted on his lap so she could look up at him with her big baby-blue eyes. "I've seen so much suffering over the last several days, all caused by the Kirrix," she said quietly. "The physical and emotional pain all those poor colonists endured... I could never have imagined the galaxy could contain creatures willing to inflict such cruelty. I can't help but agree with the rest of the girls."

John stroked her back supportively, then said, "Well, it's unanimous so far. How about you, Faye?"

The purple sprite was sitting on the opposite end of the table and she twisted her hands nervously in her lap. "The Kirrix have done some horrible things, but I know you were worried about being involved in genocide, no matter how justified it might seem. For that reason, I don't think we should... because I don't want you to regret it later."

"Thanks for being honest, Faye," he said with an encouraging smile, watching her relax when she saw he didn't mind her going against the consensus. Turning to the Latina sitting at his left, he could guess at her answer, but asked anyway, "So, what do you think, Captain Fernandez?"

She studied him for a long moment, then said firmly, "I strongly disagree with taking further action against the Kirrix. We should leave them alone."

John gaped at her in surprise. "I would have thought you'd be all for removing the Kirrix as a threat, especially after they invaded the Terran Federation!"

Calara shook her head, not breaking eye contact for a second. "They're a meaningless distraction. Between their civil war, our intervention, and the Maliri's fleet actions, the Kirrix are broken as a galactic power. Our primary mission is defeating the Progenitor, which means concentrating on upgrading our forces and dealing with any threats to our allies. Anything else is extremely low priority and should be ignored." She leaned forward, fierce in her intensity. "We can't afford to make any mistakes, John. Billions of lives are at stake... we need to maintain razor-sharp focus on preparing for a Progenitor war. Nothing else matters."

"Damn..." Dana murmured, slumping back in her chair. "She's totally right..."

The rest of the girls looked equally shocked, then found themselves nodding in agreement.

John had been transfixed by Calara's heartfelt words. When she finished speaking, he studied her with newfound respect and admiration. "You've proven once again how I couldn't do this alone. Thank you."

Her stern expression softened and she reached out to hold his hand. "You knew this already... you just needed a reminder."

He sat back and ran a hand through his hair. "Does anyone disagree with Calara's analysis?"

No one did.

"Yeah, me neither," he said with a smile. Blowing out his breath, he continued, "It looks like the Kirrix get yet another reprieve."

"Lucky bastards," Dana said grudgingly. Her expression brightened and she added, "Do you want to hear what we've been up to now?"

"Definitely," John agreed, shifting Helene on his lap and putting his arms around her again. "I'm all ears."

The redhead nodded to Faye and a complex schematic appeared as glowing hologram floating above the desk. "You asked Calara to come up with ideas for how to help us even the odds against Thrall ships... Well this should make a huge difference!"

"What is it?" he asked, trying to understand the bewilderingly intricate blueprint.

"A Holo-Baffler suite!" Dana exclaimed, with a triumphant grin.

All of her audience apart from Calara looked bemused rather than appropriately jubilant and the Grand Engineering Overlord deflated at their lack of reaction.

"Maybe I should have asked: What does it do?" John said with an encouraging smile.

Dana perked up again and said, "Faye, please can you run Dana_simulation_01?"

The sprite bobbed her head, then blinked, removing the schematic and replacing it with the image of a black-hulled Tormentor class destroyer. Its engines flared and the sinister ship appeared to be moving.

"Look at me, I'm an evil badass," Dana said, pretending to fly the thrall ship. "I'm flying around, stirring up some shit."

Then a golden-hulled cruiser appeared at the other end of the table.

"Oh yeah, here's some low-tech loser... I'm going to ruin their day," Dana continued with a malevolent grin. "Fire all Tachyon Lances!"

The holographic thrall ship opened fire with a salvo of purple beams that slashed through the Maliri vessel. Instead of the ship exploding, the columns of energy blasted into the cruiser, but nothing seemed to happen. An instant later, a cluster of blue beams lashed back from a point some distance to the cruiser's flank, hitting the black destroyer's shields and making disturbing ripples.

"What. The. Fuck." Dana balked with exaggerated shock. "Fire again!"

The holo ships traded a couple more salvos, with the Maliri vessel seemingly unscathed as it steadily wore down the Thrall ship's shields.

"I take it your Holo-Baffler doesn't make a ship invulnerable?" John asked with smile.

Dana shook her head, her eyes sparkling in delight. "No, but it should save our ships from a few broadsides at least!" She glanced at Faye, who nodded and began a second simulation.

The new image showed the Maliri ship surrounded by tiny holo-projectors built onto the hull, each projecting a ghostly outer shell around the vessel. The surface showed a starry backdrop, which would have kept it disguised to the naked eye. To the side was a gleaming golden-hulled cruiser, but this time partially transparent, letting her audience see the holo-projection drone inside.

"The holographic illusion is there to fool fighters and any attempts at visual spotting," Dana explained. "Meanwhile, the real Maliri ship vents heat out towards the drone, which also pulses with high-energy spikes whenever the real ship fires its guns. There are several other countermeasure systems built in, all designed to trick sensors into thinking the drone is the real threat. With a bit of luck, it'll fool any Thrall ships for at least a couple of salvos... unless a fluke hit takes out the drone. Either way, it saves the Maliri from getting blasted by an opening barrage of Tachyon Lances."

"That's very impressive work, Dana," John said, nodding his approval. He glanced at Calara. "What's your verdict, Captain?"

"It should give our forces a huge boost to survivability, Admiral," she replied, smiling appreciatively at Dana. "As our Chief Engineer just said, taking no damage from an enemy's initial barrage is a massive tactical advantage. Even after the Thrall forces figure out what we've done, they'll have to quickly develop countermeasures, or be left constantly second-guessing the true location of our ships."

"It looks like you held up your end of the bargain, Sparks," John said, letting his eyes roam over her luscious figure. "I'm very much looking forward to tomorrow."

Dana squirmed in her seat, her expression one of lusty glee. "Calara had a few more ideas, I'll give you the details when I've finished the schematics!" She suddenly frowned and said, "Hey! Why can't we start the 24 hours right now?!"

Alyssa brushed her fingers along John's shoulder and caressed his neck, then turned to give the redhead a coy smile. "Because we've all been apart from each other for two days. A celebratory reunion orgy is standard operating procedure..."

"Ah, I forgot," Dana said with a grin as she sprang from her seat. "First one there starts the quad rolling!"

Calara leapt for the door, her position at the table meant that she was ideally situated to get there first. "See you downstairs!"

Sakura swept past Dana in a blur. "Sayonara, Sparks!"

"Hey, no powers! That's cheating!" the redhead protested sprinting after her.

"I guess that's the meeting over with," John said with a chuckle, helping Helene off his lap.

"My sisters are on their way," Jade said as she slinked past, an excited gleam in her emerald eyes. She held out her hand for Helene and the two left together.

Irillith strolled up to John and quirked an eyebrow at him. "I take it no one wants to hear about how we destroyed a Kirrix battle group using only a gunship?"

"I'm sorry, beautiful. Dana got a bit carried away," he replied, pulling her into his arms. "I'll make everyone dinner later and you can tell us all about it."

She melted into his kiss, crossing her wrists behind his neck as she pressed her curvaceous body against him. "You're forgiven..." she breathed, giving John a smouldering come-hither look as she departed with Tashana.

Soon only John, Alyssa, and Rachel were left in the Briefing Room. He looked from the blonde to the brunette and back again. "Something on your mind, ladies?"

Rachel stepped closer, then gently cupped his cheek, her expression tender. "Enjoy catching up with the girls, then I want to show something. It's important."

"Do I get any clues?" he asked, holding them close.

"Thank you..." Alyssa replied, her blue-eyed gaze filled with emotion. "And we love you..."

John glanced at each of them in confusion. "Are you two alright?"

"Very much so," Rachel said softly, lightly brushing her lips against his.

He smiled at them affectionately. "Come on, let's join the others. I think you two have set the perfect tone for this evening."

"A love orgy?" Alyssa asked, nuzzling into him.

"That sounds wonderful," he agreed, leaving the Briefing Room with the girls linking arms with him.

They crossed the Bridge, waving to the holographic Faye who was standing watch, before descending in the grav-tube. She waved back and watched them leave, then turned her attention to the mopless and bucketless cleaning robot, which was hiding around the other side of the Command Podium.

It watched their departure with interest, remaining unnoticed by the distracted lovers. "Love?" it asked, looking up at Faye Secondary.

She fluttered down to land beside it, then knelt on the ground. "I've got so many files on that! Why don't you head back to your room and I'll start downloading my archives?"

"Thank you, mother," the robot replied, small fingers brushing over Faye's holographic hand without breaking the image.