Three Square Meals Ch. 123

"What?" he blurted out, looking at her in shock.

"You heard me!" she snarled, eyes flashing dangerously. "Alyssa told me all about what Progenitors can do to their thralls! I know you mind-fucked me; changed me so I didn't give a shit about anyone but you!" She shook her head in disgust. "All that time I spent on my knees sucking your cock and thinking how much you loved me... but I was nothing to you... just another obedient thrall you could use to empty your quad!"

He reeled back in the face of her fury. "Jess, it was never like that!"

"I know you changed my body... What about screwing up my mind?" she demanded, following after him. "Are you going to deny you messed around with my personality? The old me would never have just turned my back on all my family like that... NEVER!"

Rahn'hagon backed into the far wall, then grimaced as he saw the look of fury on Jessica's face. With a ragged sigh, he raised his hands and said in an authoritative tone, "Stop behaving like this, Jessica. Calm down so we can discuss this rationally."

"Fuck you!" she snapped, growing increasingly irate.

He gaped at her incredulously as she ignored a direct order. "Be silent!" he commanded with a hint of desperation in his voice, trying to defuse her temper.

She bared her teeth and actually snarled at him. "Who the fuck do you think you are?! You arrogant shit!"

Jessica stormed out of the kitchen and Rahn'hagon could only watch her departure in open-mouthed astonishment.

***

Anthony Kester walked out onto the Bridge of the Heimdall, his gaze sweeping across the men and women serving as crew of the night watch. They were bright and alert despite the late hour, but he expected nothing less from the elite crew of a Terran Federation dreadnought.

"Good evening, Admiral," Captain Felipe Cardoza said, greeting him with a polite nod. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

Kester waved him away with one hand, then took a sip from his mug of hot tea. "Don't worry, this isn't a surprise inspection.... I just couldn't sleep." He gave the captain a sly smile. "I won't be here long; you guys can all relax in a minute."

"I can assure you that my crew always conduct themselves to the highest of standards, Admiral," Cardoza said a little stiffly, offended at even the playful hint at impropriety.

Trying not to sigh, Kester nodded and let it drop. The Captain might be an excellent officer, but Cardoza believed in running everything by the book... and seemed to have had a sense-of-humour bypass at the Academy.

Turning his attention to the holographic Sector Map, the admiral studied the glowing red line that marked the border between the Terran Federation and Brimorian Enclave. They were still over two days away from the rendezvous with Admiral Morgan in the Callopean Shoals and were currently sailing through the Taxarran Straits. This area of space had received the name from the streaky orange nebula that swept through the sector, the aftermath of a gigantic supernova that had slowly dispersed over millions of years.

Clearing his throat to break the awkward silence, Kester asked, "Any sign of the Brimorians? I'm surprised they're not shadowing us along the border."

Cardoza gestured towards the map. "If they are maintaining a border presence, their fleet must be set back beyond the limits of the sensor grid. However, attacking this section of space would be a futile endeavour. I'm sure the Enclave are well aware of just how strongly defended the closest Federation systems are... and without being able to secure meaningful territorial gains, any creeping encroachment on deep space would be pointless."

Kester nodded as he listened to the man's dry analysis and began to wish he'd just stayed in his quarters. He glanced back at the Sector Map, then spotted a flash of red as unidentified contacts began to appear at the outer edge of the Heimdall's sensor range. Even more shocking was that they were deep within Terran Space rather than being at the border.

"What the hell?" he muttered, staring at the increasing number of unknown ships. "Are they Brimorians?!"

Captain Cardoza frowned and turned to look at the holographic map, then blinked in astonishment. "That's impossible, they can't just appear out of nowhere! The Sensor Grid should have picked them up hours ago!" Facing the dreadnought's Chief Engineer, he snapped, "Are the Heimdall's sensors malfunctioning? Is that erroneous data?"

The stunned officer shook his head, his eyes flicking anxiously over the Engineering console. "All internal systems are performing at optimal efficiency. If there is an error, it's not with our sensors." He pressed several buttons on his station, then squinted up at the mass of red contacts on the map. "The Agamemnon is seeing exactly the same thing... which means the uplink from the sensor grid must be defective!"

"So much for the Brimorians thinking an attack was pointless," Kester noted, although he wasn't smiling now.

"Set an intercept course," Cardoza ordered his helmsman. "We must prevent them from making further inroads into Federation Space!"

"Belay that order," Kester said curtly. He strode over to his command chair and activated the Fleet Command Interface. "All vessels... hold position."

The fleet responded quickly to his orders, dropping out of hyper-warp and coming to a complete stop.

"But Sir!" Cardoza protested. "We've stumbled across a Brimorian invasion! We need to intercept them now before they strike too deeply into Federation territory!"

"They're just sitting there," Kester said, nodding his chin towards the map. "Think about it for a second... If you'd just invaded enemy territory, would you park up in deep space and wait for enemy fleets to intercept you?"

Cardoza frowned and stared at the holographic image in confusion. "No... I'd search for priority targets."

"Right... which means those slippery bastards are up to something."

"What are your orders, Admiral?" the captain asked, looking at his commanding officer with newfound respect.

Kester paced for a few moments, mulling over his options. "Change course to heading 090... re-engage hyper-warp."

"That will take us into Enclave territory!" the helmsman gasped, turning to look at him wide-eyed.

"That's right. The Brimorians seem to think it's okay for them to take a jaunt into our territory, so it's only fair we get to do the same in theirs."

The helmsman couldn't help grinning as he powered up the Heimdall's engines and began to turn the dreadnought directly away from the Brimorian invaders.

Captain Cardoza stepped closer towards the Command Chair as Kester issued a rapid series of orders to the fleet. "This is very risky, Admiral. We're directly contravening Federation threat response protocols. In fact, we're doing the exact opposite of what those protocols mandate!"

"Yeah... it certainly looks that way," Kester murmured, staring intently at the fleet of enemy ships.

There was a tense silence on the Bridge as the Terran fleet turned towards the Brimorian border and re-engaged their hyper-warp drives. After a couple of minutes, the Enclave forces moved to pursue them, although they took a circumspect route rather than the quickest and most direct path.

Cardoza pointed it out. "Look! They're deliberately avoiding something!"

"Probably a minefield," Kester said, looking unsurprised. "They must have been expecting us to chase after them and fly right into it. If they've compromised our sensor grid, they would've known we were coming for hours."

"Shall I alert High Command?" the comms officer suggested.

"If the Brimorians have hacked the border sensors, I'd bet a million credits that they've already shut down the closest Comms Beacon too," the admiral said grimly. "Try contacting High Command, but don't be surprised when you can't get through."

A minute later, the same officer looked up from her console. "No response, Sir."

Kester acknowledged her with a nod, then focused on the map again. The Terran fleet had crossed over into Enclave territory and the Brimorian border force was now pursuing them. The minutes ticked by, with both fleets heading deeper into Brimorian Space.

"Alright, turn to a heading of 235," Kester said, staring at the map, before updating the fleet with his new orders.

"We're going back into Terran Space?" Cardoza asked, looking completely bewildered. "But the Brimorians are too close... they'll be able to interdict us before we reach the border! We'll never be able to escape them now!"

"Yeah," the admiral said, cracking his knuckles. "That's what I want them to think."

"You want them to initiate the battle against us?" the captain asked in confusion.

Kester ignored him as he was intently focused on the holo-screen, his fingers tapping out commands on the fleet interface. He rolled his eyes in frustration and confirmed the orders he'd just given to several of the capital ship commanders. Meanwhile, the Terran fleet had all pivoted and were making a run for the Terran border, with the Brimorians rushing to catch them on an intercept course.

"Get ready to drop out of hyper-warp on my command," Kester ordered the helmsman.

He watched the two fleets move inexorably together, with the vanguard of the Brimorian forces getting close enough to use interdictors on the Terran cruisers.

The instant he saw one of the Federation vessels knocked out of hyper-warp, he barked, "Now!"

The Heimdall dropped out of hyper-warp along with the rest of the Terran Federation fleet, just as the Brimorians started to appear next to them in a rippling wave. Rather than scattering haphazardly across space, Kester's fleet moved with purpose, pivoting towards their pursuers and ramping up power to their engines. Interdiction range was only just beyond Beam Laser range, so in a matter of seconds, the closest of the Brimorian cruisers was exposed to terrifying rows of Terran guns.

"Focus Beam Laser fire on my targets!" Kester ordered, uploading the target selection to the rest of the ships in his fleet.

Instead of splitting off into squadrons and engaging the enemy at numerous points along the battle-lines, all the Terran forces hammered the closest Enclave cruiser with a terrifying beam barrage. Even the tougher Brimorian shields stood no chance against that much firepower and as soon as they winked out, the alien cruiser was pounded by Heavy Cannon shells. Blue plating exploded outwards as the massive ordnance smashed into the lightly-armoured warship, and in a matter of seconds, the cruiser was atomised in a ferocious detonation. The scenario was repeated in a rippling series of explosions along the Brimorian frontline, as one cruiser after another was targeted for annihilation.

The Brimorians fired back, yellow particle beams lancing towards the closing Federation forces and causing a heavy toll of their own. The Terran shields offered a fraction of the protection that their Brimorian counterparts provided, but their robust hulls were able to take far greater punishment. Kester saw several of his own cruisers lose their shields and start taking severe damage to their hulls, but he never wavered. The Heimdall itself was leading the charge towards the Brimorian lines and drew a huge volume of incoming fire, the shields rippling violently as they struggled to hold against the onslaught.

The Chief Engineer turned in his seat to face the Command Podium. "Shields at 17%! We're taking a pounding, Admiral!"

"We're at short range, Sir!" the helmsman warned, his voice wavering. Accustomed to positioning the dreadnought at the rear of Terran formations, he glanced over his shoulder and added, "Hold here?"

"Negative," Kester said curtly, his gaze locked onto the Brimorian battleship directly ahead of them. "Ramming Speed!"

The helmsman's mouth fell open in shock.

"You heard the Admiral," Captain Cardoza said, an excited gleam in his eyes. "Divert more power to the engines!"

The Brimorians watched the Heimdall's reckless charge in confusion, having already been caught off-guard by the ferocious Terran response to the interdiction. They were expecting the Federation fleet to slow down and exchange broadsides at point blank range, so they never suspected for one moment that Admiral Kester planned to use the enormous dreadnought as a battering ram. When it increased speed and barrelled onwards, the Brimorian Shoal-Commander in the central battleship began to panic. The Enclave capital ship ramped up power to the retro-thrusters and started a desperate turn, its main engines flaring brightly as it began evasive manoeuvres.

The Brimorian battleship still had full shields, having not taken so much as a single hit from a Laser Cannon, but they offered no protection against 3000 metres of heavy steel and titanium. The Heimdall rammed the Enclave vessel at full speed, striking amidships with a thunderous crash that made both vessels quake violently with the impact. The Brimorian battleship seemed to groan in protest, then the superstructure fractured, the dreadnought cleaving the huge alien craft in half.

As the Heimdall ploughed onwards, the battleship wreckage spun away, causing more mayhem through the Brimorian formation. The rear smashed into an escorting cruiser, crushing the hull like a rotten egg and killing most of the crew as they were flung out into space. All along the battle lines, much larger Federation battleships smashed headlong into their flimsier Brimorian counterparts, crippling the entire complement of Enclave capital ships in an orgy of destruction.

Admiral Kester clung to his Command Chair to avoid being thrown from his seat, the Heimdall shaking violently with the tremendous force of the impact. As terrifying as that collision had been, he could only imagine what it must have been like for the Brimorians aboard the battleship he'd just ripped asunder.

"Damage report?"

The Chief Engineer stared wild-eyed at his console. "System failures reported across the bow section... hull compromised on deck 37 through to deck 42." He looked up and grinned. "But it could've been a hell of a lot worse, Sir!"

Nodding with satisfaction, Kester studied the now grossly one-sided battle on the Tactical Map. All the Brimorian heavy warships had been destroyed, leaving only two score of cruisers, several carriers and their complement of strike craft. The Terran carrier group was responding quickly to support their capital ships, with Rapiers forming up into squadrons to protect the bomber groups heading towards the intense firefight in the centre of the battlefield.

"All ships fire at will!" Kester ordered. "Let's finish this!"

***

Vice Admiral Richard Dacres was jolted awake as the alarm went off, his hammering heartbeat in sync with the grating noise. Shutting off the alarm, he checked the chronometer and confirmed that it was now 2:30 am. He yawned loudly and got out of bed, then donned his uniform, jamming the peaked cap on his head as he left his quarters. Strictly speaking, it wasn't necessary for him to be on the Bridge when his fleet arrived at the Callopean Shoals. However, after Fleet Admiral Devereux's dire warnings of caution before their departure from Olympus Shipyard, he wanted to make sure everything went smooth and by the numbers.

The corridors were quiet at this time of night, with the majority of the crew fast asleep in their bunks. Although the fleet was in deep space and not tied to any solar cycle, the Federation Navy kept to Terran Standard Time for ease of interactions between ships and colonies. Only the night shift were at their posts in the early hours of the morning, so Dacres reached the Bridge without encountering another soul.

Commodore Carolyn Hallister was the newly appointed commanding officer of the Vengeance of Hera and she greeted Dacres with a smile. "Good morning, Admiral."

"It's far too early to be that cheerful," he playfully admonished the attractive brunette. With a curious glance, he added, "I thought Captain Gelarde was on night watch?"

"I offered to swap shifts with him," she replied, sounding a little self-conscious.

"Ah, you're trying to make a good impression too?" he asked, giving her a knowing look.

She leaned closer and whispered, "I didn't want to be asleep when we arrived at the Brimorian border. It's the first time I've been in command of a capital ship, let alone a dreadnought."

He nodded in understanding, having read her dossier when the Hera was attached to his advanced fleet. Carolyn Hallister had commanded the heavy cruiser Notus during the Battle of Terra, receiving a promotion after gallantly sacrificing her ship to protect a heavy carrier from a marauding Kintark battleship. Bereft of her own vessel after the battle, she had applied to become the new captain of the re-commissioned dreadnought.

The Vengeance of Hera had lost all its previous crew in the same battle, the traitorous Federation personnel all electrocuted by Irillith when she seized control of the heavily upgraded behemoth. Although the Hera was now the most powerful warship in the Terran Federation navy, there was considerable superstition attached to vessels associated with rebellion. Thanks to the Hera's dark history, the newly-promoted commodore had been granted command of a vessel she wouldn't normally have been eligible for, until she'd served for at least another ten years.

"The Hera's a big step up from the Notus," Dacres said, turning to look at the huge Command Deck. "I remember what it was like taking command of the Nereus... and she's just a battleship."

"Not just any battleship," Hallister said, with a gleam in her eyes. "I read the AAR of your defence of Olympus. You managed to hold off a Praetorian Guard warfleet, the very best of the Kintark navy, while outnumbered 4-to-1!"

Dacres shook his head. "I can't take any credit for that. The tactics we used were all devised by the Lioness."

Hallister paused, taken by surprise. She thought about the beautiful Latina for a moment, then asked in a hushed voice, "Is it true Calara Fernandez is only 18?"

He glanced at her and nodded. "She's young... but don't ever make the mistake of underestimating her." Looking away into the distance, he continued quietly, "I hated the Kintark for what they did to Port Medea, but Calara actually made me feel sorry for the poor bastards after we were done with them. That Praetorian Guard warfleet had to endure us crossing their T over 60 times. Sixty full broadsides for over ten minutes... I still have nightmares about it."

"I read the report," Hallister said, looking curious. "If it was that bad, why didn't the Kintark retreat? They could have called off the attack on Olympus and fled the system."

"No, they couldn't," he replied, his expression grim. "My fleet had the edge in speed and firepower... it was what made our defence so devastating. By the time we'd destroyed half their fleet, the Kintark couldn't run; they were too far into the gravity well to escape. We would have hunted them down and wiped them out to a ship. I've had lots of time to think about it since the battle... I'm convinced Calara planned it that way. The defence of Olympus was always meant to brutally crush that Kintark fleet with maximum loss of life; it was a show of force, designed to prove to High Command what would have happened to the Kintark armada if they'd consulted her before the Battle of Terra."

"But... you didn't lose a single ship!" Hallister blurted out incredulously.

Dacres made eye contact with her. "The Notus was destroyed before the last stand at Saturn, wasn't it?"

She frowned with regret. "I spent the last thirty minutes of the battle in an escape pod."

"Well I led the advanced fleet on a flank attack against the last of the Kintark forces, so I saw exactly what happened to them. If the Lioness had full command of our fleets from the start, the entire battle would have been a brutal one-sided bloodbath. I've heard that Calara predicted no more than 10% Terran casualties if she'd been in charge... but I think she was being modest."