All Comments on 'Three Square Meals Ch. 124'

Thanks again. You make an art of space opera.

The Other Dave

Best series I've read in a long time!

This chapter was a lot better than the last and people are starting to show so growth again

Alright! We finally get to see Jehanna and Lynette kick some bad guy butt with those Lioness pistols.

Another exciting chapter!

Thai-tanic?

Shades of Grey?

Lol

Now time to re-read and look for more details

Thanks Tef!

Thank you for the new chapter

thanks and bye

They got thru that, thank the spirits for long term planning. Now John just need to patch things up on his ship, so he and the girls can get back into action.

Ten stars. This is the chapter worth waiting for.

now the waiting begins

Another first class episode! Can't wait for the follow up.

Thanks for the update. Always a joy to see your name in the new stories. I think John just had a little motivation instilled in his plans. Looking forward to the next.

If you ever publish this in print I will definitely own a copy.

Come on why the long wait for another good chapter

This story really is a gem from an author with real talent, imagination and commitment.

Thank you Tefler.

New chapters take a while, but they are well worth the wait. Well written, great dialog, characters that you connect with, and you must be the only writer here that knows what an editor is...

Keep em coming

That you can't have 2 wormhole generators in a dreadnought and use one to jump in and the other to jump out?

But, knowing our Master of Space Opera there must be some reason.

I thought this was one of the better chapters. I got real antsy at the breaks, but they worked well. Thanks for not making it to an intense of a cliff hanger at the end.

Tefler has a newborn. Taking care of his new kid can reasonably take some priority to writing

Fantastic work on the chapter by the way

I have no words. This was so epic that I am still reeling. Amazing job intertwining the parallel events! You kept me on edge the whole time! And huge thank you for not leaving us on a cliffhanger!

"Athgiloi could only pray that Larn'kelnar had dealt with his rival as he had confidently predicted." Not the first time it happened and it won't be the last. There WILL be a Chapter 200 some day.

First, this site is free. Second, it was posted in comments on the previous chapter that Tefler's wife just had a baby. Third, Tefler is helping his wife with the baby. Fourth, I am sure somewhere in the previous chapter comments it was stated that Tefler's writing time and schedule was upended and posting was going to be haphazard at best. AND FIFTH, THIS SITE IS FREE, YOU GET THE STORY FREE.

You're quickly approaching 4 years on this truly epic writing exercise with more needed to bring the saga to it's end. I'm curious if you know where you're at for a total word count so far? Thanks to Google, I found the entire Harry Potter series I read with my family totalled 1.08 million words. I'm guessing you've surpassed that.

Thanks Tefler.

Quit complaining about the wait. Rome wasn’t built in a day. It takes time to create a masterpiece like this. Just hold your horses and enjoy what we all get for FREE. Patience makes the heart grow fonder.

Your lack of thoughtful constructive input is immeasurably annoying. If you don’t have a good reason to post a comment, don’t bother leaving one. All these comments do is frustrate the illustrious author of this story who is doing his best battling the balance of writing this epic story and real life.

Love your work telfer, this was a great chapter, worth the wait

Such an engrossing read it s over way to fast :(

Grenade-firer? You mean a grenadier?

Lynette the acrobat. Charles has good luck in so many ways :-)

While the Lion is pinned down by a blood thirsty Progenitor for at least 12 hours.

Good to see T-Fed giving the fish-men something to chew on. Will they get scared or proceed to take on the Kintarks?

You have hit this one out of the park, well worth the wait. Are you continuing on with bringing the past chapters to book form?

As always when I saw another instalment had been published I thought sweet....and was not disappointed.....family looking out for family.

Looking forward to more

Thanks a million Tefler. Amazing story

Thanks for showing us more Lioness' in action this chapter. And a pretty damn good car chase to boot! You're gonna spoil us if you keep this up.

Anon, he is around 2 mil at the moment. Will probably be closer to 3 by the time he is finished.

It looks like TSM is currently at 3520400 words.

To Tefler: thanks again for sharing your story telling skills with us. This continues to be a great and thrilling story. I found your story about the time you were at chapter 110. Once I finished it, I immediately started over again. At this point, I look forward to when you complete this portion of John's saga and will once again start over from the beginning.

Oh my gosh! you just have to love the troll who complained about the story being late and decided to take a year off from reading it...um...just a few observations that make you look, well, plain stupid:

1. You are reading it for free.

2. Tefler far outpaces any author who writes as well has he does by a landslide.

3. Tefler just had a baby boy...so at best, you are a crass, self centered, north end of a south bound mule.

4. Since you get it for free, and obviously received the this chapter, the author is not late...like most professionals, he just isn't there yet. Adjust your thinking a bit.

5. Did I mention you are a freeloader and not entitled to an opinion on Tefler being late with his release?

6. Read #1 again.

7. If you don't like being thought of as a dumbass, perhaps you should consider that before posting next time...Oh, sorry, that moniker is still too kind. Please leave you misguided, self-absorbed puppet of Etaski.

Pick two. You can have it Fast, You can have it Good, You can have it Free. I for one do not feel waiting for a good story which is free is an issue. 5Stars as always. Thank you Tefler. Enjoy life and If you can get back to writing for us I will be waiting for the next installment.

Thank you again for a great chapter

I'm still trying to figure out how a flying car "skids" around a corner. Oops... LOL

I had to reread that a couple of times to make sure that was what I read. I did realize, by the time, the cavalry arrived, I needed to take a deep breath, (I'd been holding my breath), get my pulse to slow down and force myself to relax.

Mission accomplished, sir; job well done when, as an author, your work causes physical stress response in a reader. Well done, indeed.

Hope all is well with you, and yours, and you're coping with the Brit version of a crazed, blonde-haired head of government. Well, at least, you guys aren't throwing allies to the wolves.

GeoD

He is over 3,112,000 words already. The last chapters were over 30,000 words each so the 4,000,000 words will come in about the next 20 chapters if he does not create some extra long chapters in between.

This is a side note maybe find some tech on how they fed all those Thralls and give it to the Federation to feed the masses. Also great Chapter can't wait for the next! if you give us a link to your pay site I would really like to join the group of supporters having really hard time with it! Thanks. ! Wiserman4UT

Lesser authors kill off well liked characters for shock value and to shake the storyline up in a very lazy way. Unless Tefler plans to turn this into a horror where the entire cast is killed except for one or two? Is he turning into a lazy writer? First Faye, then Beth, now Faith & possibly Abigail. This tale is getting more depressing by the chapter. Be back after Xmas, hopefully a couple more chapters will be out by then and Tefler will be done with this depressing plot line and back to the fun plot line.

For those of you who are wondering, the current estimate for the word count of this amazing epic is roughly 3.3 million words. And to think, we're don't have the finish line in sight yet. Here's to another three million!

An amazing story that leaves you wanting more.

I think this was one of your best chapters yet. Thank you so much for sharing with us.I really appreciate your work.

Thank you my friend.

Ed Parachini

Thank you Tef for this latest instalment.

We are lucky to have this media. I remember reading the Sara Douglas epics. You had to wait a year or more for the next book to come out. When they did and I had it, I would start at book 1 and read the lot all again before reading the new one.

What is most troubling is the fact that I can race through 9 pages of TSM in 4 hours, yet it takes so much longer to read other stuff on here.

Maybe we should swap lists of stories to make the month wait a bit more bareable.

Once again as always 5 stars.

Percheron69.

Why did you have to leave me hanging again? SO MUCH HAPPENED!!! I'm like a crack junkie waiting for my next fix...I NEED MOAR WORDS!!!

The link for all the people asking is https://www.patreon.com/user?u=3814558

That said I'm a tight arse and will just have to wait another month or so for the next chapter to be up on here.

Winter is coming

Hell has no fury as a pissed off progenitor and John is very pissed.

And so are all the lionesses.

Time for Maliri clean-up crews.

Can't wait till the next chapter.

I have ABSOLUTELY NO issue with people reading it for free on this site. I did for a long time and I am not being a hypocrite.

I do have issues with trolls who naysay this fantastic story because some other author on this site is jealous and has a documented smear campaign against Tefler and, to a lesser extent, with those who do not support him monetarily (as low as a dollar a month which is less than a soda---a month) who think they have a right to complain about everything just because they read his story.

Non supporters: read to your heart's content, comment constructively all you want. But keep your criticisms to yourself. You have a right to write them down here, but we also have a right to point out you are childish and immature and to express our belief that you are entitled and spoiled.

I have been enjoying this story for almost 2 years. Thank you for sharing this story with everyone for free.

I felt the way that Edraele and Luna and the young matriarchs were conversing, we weird. Too formal and verbose for people who should be intimate with each other. But the rest of it was great.

I must be, cause I can "see" the action *Charles gaped incredulously at his pistol* and it's a good one.

John needs to train. Dimensional Gate could be an exciting one. Especially if he can carry crew with him like "Nightcrawler"

A few questions:

1. Where is the new Progenitor going next?

2. What info will captured Brimorians reveal?

3. How much stronger is ship armor & chrystal now? Lots of reshaping going down.

Thanks for an outstanding chapter.

We don't know that Beth or Faith are dead. One is missing the other is injured on A T-Fed battlecruiser. She may be dead or sh may be just unconscious let's wait and find out. Abagail is also badly injured but will be healed in moments when Rachel returns to Olympus. If Tefler wants she can take the Raptor or Infiltrator shuttle and go while the crew repair the Invictus.

You also forgot about the time that Tefler killed Jade. A character so much more integral to the crew and ourselves although she didn't stay dead for the entire chapter.

There have been other characters with more screen time that have been killed off. Several T-Fed admirals, Tashana's crew on the Internal Retribution, the wingmates of Leprechaun and Binary.

I'm going to wait and see who Tefler kills off and how and will only complain if the deaths seem forced, lazy or undercut their character act or the story.

I wonder if Charles is going to get lucky with 2 Admirals tonight.

Awesome chapter. Only after finishing I realised that I just read a story in this site with no sex.

This would make a great tv-series...

I want to begin by saying "Thankyou" every word of this epic saga has been a gift to the world and I am very grateful that you chose to give it to us for free (I know that there is a pay channel to see it early), for this I will always be thankful. It's as if Tolkien or Asimov had decided that he would hand out his story chapter at a time to anyone willing to read it, no easy decision.

Next, I would like to say that this story has not failed to engage, from the first time I found chapter 1 on this site to the moment I finished this latest chapter (dammit!), I have been carried along on a roller coaster of emotion from John's tortured past to Alyssa and Dana's beginnings right through to Lynette's romance set against this backdrop of intergalactic confrontation, it's a mesmerising performance of a master wordsmith.

Please keep going Tefler, this is not a demand, this is a plea to continue doing something that's so obviously a passion of yours. I can't wait to see where this journey will take you,but if you're willing to keep sharing,I'm along for the ride 😊

MadMacs2010

I can’t thank you enough for all your work

Many missed opportunities to create some real angst and pain to grow these characters and provide them with true conflict to have to resolve--they have to be flawed and not faux-flawed and artificially healed via Helene or some other method. Even those on the planet get "calmed" when they should have to face some real loss, real grief or real emotions, but then Dana's joking about a schoolgirl uniform? So unnecessary and uncalled for because this is war and they should be on a razor's edge most of the time, but none of that tension presents itself. Most crews would be losing sleep, skipping meals, working on shutting down the feelings and pain that get in the way just to get the ship space worthy but instead we read about sleeping together again, joking about an orgy, etc., etc. The real gem unearthed in all that flotsam was how "Little One" eavesdropped on many conversations to begin making repairs. Turns out the machines are more mature than the humans. How ironic.

How delicious it would have been to see Maria gunned down or even blown apart by an RPG, and see it unhinge Calara, as well as see just Charles' severed head with the moustache left but eyes bulging like saucers in horror of the impending doom of the moment frozen on his face and see Lynette lose it. What a shame these personalities don't deal with any real loss, which is why this story loses so much. Even the Progenitor blasting the planet stops short, as a real commander would have glassed the entire area and consequently blown the Invictus to smithereens. Please. Repeatedly pounding a dead hulk when only 3-4 blasts max would suffice (and then commence adjacent area bombardment to eliminate potential survivors) is so hard to buy. If that Progenitor was really pissed, he would have kept sweeping the entire area until all that area for kms around it was blackened.

I will say you adequately explained the black-clad soldiers, the insurgency and you did excel in detailing the car chase and pitched Olympus battle, as well as Lynette's reveal. The set-up for discovering the traitors set up some spine-tingling anticipation.

"Most crews would be"

Broken by PTSD...

The Invictus crew have been fighting almost non-stop for over 6 months and in that time, they've slaughtered millions. No normal crew could survive carnage on that scale without being deeply psychologically scarred... which is why John modified them to shrug off combat stress and be blase about all the bad guys they've killed. Reading about John and the girls cracking up under the strain wouldn't be entertaining, it would be incredibly depressing.

"How delicious it would have been to see Maria gunned down..."

I've chatted with my readership extensively over the last three years and have read at least 20,000 comments on my Patreon site. Brutally murdering Maria or Charles would have horrified 99% of my fans and resulted in people leaving in droves. Most of the readership are still upset with me about what happened to Faye!

"A real commander would have glassed the entire area"

Why would anyone orbitally bombard a huge swathe of uninhabited jungle? The sensors on the dreadnought are extremely sensitive and they picked up no signs of another ship in the vicinity. The Progenitor would only carpet bomb the planet if he knew there was a cloaked ship hiding on the surface... but why would he ever make that assumption?

Besides that, the Invictus crashed roughly 30 kilometres from the wrecked dreadnought. Bombarding an area large enough to hit it would have taken days.

"when only 3-4 blasts max would suffice"

Rahn'hagon's ship managed to survive an explosion that annihilated an entire system. Those dreadnoughts can withstand a huge amount of damage. The other Progenitor wasn't pounding the hulk repeatedly just for overkill...

Tefler

I couldn't resist, so I had to do some counting and calculating...

I used the Linux text editor which counts "I'm", "isn't" etc. as TWO words. I found that out only halfway through when I opened one file accidentally with LibreOffice Writer, which counts those as ONE word. I didn't want to go all the way back, so I checked a few more files which gave me the impression that the difference is somewhere between 2-3%. I used the numbers provided by the editor and trust that you can do the math yourself. So here are some numbers based on the Linux editor way of counting words. I also never counted the copyright notice at the beginning of each chapter.

- TSM passed the first milion words in ch. 61

- The shortest chapter in this range and overall is ch. 2 with 4.017 words

- The longest chapter is 58 with 54.637 words

- There are 11 chapters with less than 10.000 words and three with more than 50.000

- The average number of words is 16.626

- The second million words was reached in ch. 91

- The shortest chapter in this range is ch. 64 with 23.031 words

- The longest chapter is 70 with 62.264 words, followed by 75 with 53.637 words

- All other chapters have more than 30.000, but less then 38.000 words

- The average number of words is 32.954

- Million no. 3 was reached in chapter 119

- The shortest chapter in this range is ch. 123 with 31.207 words

- The longest chapter is of course 100 with 96.247 words, followed by 107 with 65.534 words

- All other chapters have a word count between 31.207 and 35.023 (ch. 106)

- The average number of words is 36.048

- The total word count for chapters 1-124 is 3.209.093

- The average word count per chapter so far is 25.880

According to what I found on the internet, this would be roughly 30 printed books with some 350 pages each. Wow! Thank you, Tefler, and keep going with this great saga!

In my honest opinion I have been expecting you to kill off one of the main characters, so while the "death" of Faye was sad and I was finding myself thinking about it throughout that chapter and the next, I wasn't necessarily surprised by it... And once an author has proved they are willing to kill off a character that many would consider to be a "main" character, let's be honest, from the readers perspective suddenly it feels like every other character is fair game to the auther... I mean you have been killing side characters off since basically the beginning, and it seems people have just plain forgotten what you did to Jade much earlier in the story (maybe they just brushed it under the rug and hoped to never repeat that)... In regards to the almost constant allusions to a progenitor war I (still) fully expect for several loved characters (both main and side) to be killed off, whether in brief moments or tragic scenes (and yes I count a character being brought back as still having died, such as Jade)... I mean I get that technically Jade wasn't "completely" dead I guess and that is why John was able to revive her, and that it's implied multiple times that if her "heart" were to be shattered he wouldn't be able to save her. But she was stabbed through the freaking heart! By all intents and purposes she was dead and had to be "magically" resurrected by what essentially passes as a god type race of the galaxy.

It would have been tragic to see Maria die, but I honestly thought she was going to and was mentally preparing (sort of) for it. The ISD taking out the squad cars, the personal vendetta, the what appears to be the death of her body guard... I completely thought no one was going to be able to help in time, I suppose that is a bit of a testament to you're talent as a writer, which was certainly helped along the implication by the previous loss of a significant character. I could imagine how it was going to go, Maria died tragically, Alyssa being informed, John loses his shit, they all break out some insane sense of work ethic, and they are off the planet the next day or the one after. Then the usual hunt and slaughter as he tracks them down, and maybe even decides to replace all the admirals for good measure. Some where near the end of that the other progenitor would catch up with them and a battle for survival would ensue... Which obviously didn't happen... But that's how I thought this was going to go down... To be blunt, I don't think there is really anything you could do as a writer that would make me quit reading this. I love the style you write in, I love how you developed characters, and I love the way you depict intense scenes that actually make me nervous... 😅😅😅 ... And some of your readers (though people say they'll never be able to continue) likely feel similar and would definitely be upset with the death of say, a certain adorable asian... Tragic, But I could see her making a self sacrifice for one of the others...

Another five star episode. The star system seems inadequate. Chapter One (remember that?) was only two pages and definitely worth five stars. Chapter 124 is 10 pages - and just as good (if not better) than episode one. So I reckon that Chapter 124 is worth five times as much as Chapter one, that is, it is worth 25 stars. Whatever, it is a hell of a tale and worthy of much, much more than 5 stars per chapter. So, thank you Tefler, great story, great storytelling

Have you been reading the story at all? Those have been explained for months. Also, what kind of monster just wants to see people hurt and grieving?

Thanks tefler 20 🌟

Faye will return, luv you Faye ❤

That is all.

I have now read you story three times completely to bring me up to date and I reread chapters 122&123 before reading chapter 124. You don't disappoint and I wish I could give you a rating much higher than a 5star. Mark keep up the good work!

Hi everyone !

I wanted to add my two cents on the storytelling and the possibility of death, since it seems to be the debate of the hour. Before that, I want to thank Tefler for this amazing story and to congratulate him on his latest addition to the family. Take all the time you need with your loved ones, man, we can wait !

Back to the matter at hand ! The post advocating for deathes and grief has let me disturbed, and I quite agree with Tefler when he says that we, readers, do not want to see our beloved characters die. They're already facing a lot of emotional turmoil grieving Faye, and it's enough for them now, with fecal matter colliding with mechanical air cooling devices all around the Federation.

Now, we don't want any of the crew to die, granted, yet that doesn't mean that the threat of death should completely disappear from the story. That is part of the narrative reason the stakes keep rising: to provide a credible challenge to an exponentially powerful cast (the other reason being that you can only face Drakkars that many times before it becomes repetitive, though I'd like to see one of the fearsome and legendary females...).

John and crew usually either get out of danger by the inch of a nail, providing suspens and a legitimate fear for their lives, or steamroll the opposition that they used to struggle against, providing a «Fuck Yeah !» feeling and a cathartic vengeance.

With their current power level, anything short of a Progenitor or his fleet doesn't pose a credible threat (barring the Enshunu, I'm not sure where the fucking sadists stand on the tech/power scale, but including the entire Brimorian Empire). That is most probably why the dramatic tension has shifted to the support cast, who are a bit less badass, and thus more likely to be in real danger, in this chapter. Hence also why the «conventional» space navies are dealing with the Brimorian invasion.

I do want to see John make the fuckers pay for the Abandoned and rescue another sister for Jade, and it will probably involve a lot of «Fuck Yeah !» feeling, but it makes more dramatic sense for now to let the Empires have at it, as the threat to one another is more balanced. Yes, John does outpower an Empire with a single ship, or he soon will.

In regards to the threat of death, it is masterfully applied as is: credible, yet not pervasive, making a reader tense or relaxed (or horny, it's been a while we haven't had a sex scene...) as the story unfolds. Awesome work, Tefler !

Anon 2, anon harder

PS: is there a technical term or phrase for the «Fuck Yeah !» feeling ? English is but my second language and I feel like I'm missing the word...

As long as Tefler doesn't start immulating the Hack of a writer George R.R. Martin we will be fine. If a character does die it will to actually help move the plot and give a scene a sense of gravitas, not simple to kill that character off because that one single character is morrally overpowered or whatever. George Martin got famous for killing characters off for shock value nothing more. Hes a hack of a writer who tried way to hard to tie himself to John R. R. Tolkien. Anyway rant over, Tefler your awesome and you do you, if a character dies they die, it will bbrbbrebbrbbreabbrbbrebbrbbreak my heart but not my will to read your work.

Another great chapter. Flawlessly written as it was. I am sure Abigail will be good as new. But there will be one heck of a clean up, in more than one way. the ones backing this vengeance trip will be found and dealt with, harshly.

I am probably the last one to notice this. But Faye did in fact make a copy of her memories, or at least a good part of them and gifted it to Little one. It is probably what The Invictus Node Collective are guarding so fiercly in the Invictus memory banks. So here we have a case of bad comunications. The crew are missing Fayes memories for a possible recreation of Faye, and does not know about the memory copies. And the Collective does not know about her personality being stored on Irillith's hacking thingamajig. Jhon really should talk to littleone about his plans to ressurrect Faye.

Whoa am i relieved!!!

The Brimorians will have their own recconing, as soon as John is back in federation space. I am looking forwards to those slimy bastards being shown the error of their ways. I loved the little preview of that, when Edraele made her little phone call to Lord Athgiloy. He probably skipped a few heartbeats there, hehe.

Okay, so....wow.

I have been reading this story off and on when I found it and I have to say this is amazing.

As of 07/11/2019 (UK dating format) I have caught up to this chapter. And, my god this is brilliant. It's giving me Mass Effect, Star Trek and Star Wars vibes all rolled into one with a heavy dose of sexual fetish content that keeps me hooked.

This latest chapter has kept me on my seat, even on top of the previous few! Everything seems to be falling apart and our protags/allies are making it by on the skin of their teeth!

I can't wait to see where this tale is going and I will follow this with great interest!

hi tefler

Any updates for next one.

I have purchased the e-books and have been awaiting book 5, what is the status?

Thanks

On the discord server I asked the same thing, but the short (and long) answer is that Tefler is aiming to get the story or at least this story-arc done, Then he is considering e-books, than the sequel. And all of this having interruption thanks to the new addition to his family. A;so social life is a thing to consider.

So the very short answer: we don't know when, but they will come in the future.

BTW, all is from what I recall from memory, so I may be wrong.

The ebooks are better for story rereads in my opinion.

I like them both, one for reading in a lazy chair with a good glass of whisky (scotch not on the rocks); the e-book while i am traveling.

The only downer is that the lay-out of the books is not consistent with chapter ending/starting (when a chapter ends on the end of a page a blank page is inserted that is not shown in the e-book), but hey, they serve the purpose.

Please sir can I have some more?

finally made it to the end of the story arc so far. Really really good but oh the pain of waiting for the next installment.

I’m guesstimating another week, based on the last two or three chapters. But I’ve been checking daily for the last two weeks. *sigh*

Thanks Tef!!

Yes, that is the game here, so beware that there are people who do like to have a tendency to tell some tales we want to hear about a new chapter, including faked "evidence".

What I do know from a reliable source is that Tefler has two parts of chapter 126 ready and merged on the Patreon-site and is currently working on part 3 of the same chapter. What that means for release of chapter 125 is still not made public.

Known fact is that Tefler will finish the story off, then do the e-books and finally he will start with the sequel. How that goes with the story "Setting Sail on a Black Sea" is also a big question.

Can't wait to find out if the pretty redhead will be into sexy fun and games with the army's power couple.

Hi everyone !

Does anyone else wonder if there might be a link between Kythsara (Mael'Nerak's secret home planet) and the Kyth'faren (John and Alyssa's species) ?

The information is a few chapters appart, but upon rereading the names do strike me as similar... and if Mael'Nerak is indeed the one responsible for the Shroud, he might have generated it from a planet bearing the (partial) name of Xar'aziuth's greatest enemies.

It could be to spite the big bad, it could also be a fluke, Mael'Nerak reactivating a Kyth'faren device to deal with the Kirix without fully understanding its real nature and power...

I can't wait for the gang to explore that nebula in Maliri space !

Best wishes,

Anon 2, anon harder

Good catch! So far there has been no coincidences in similar names, Tefler always has a reason. Each chapter is an Easter Egg hunt.

Thanks Teff!

Hi again everyone !

I have re-read the whole story, and I'm full of new conjectures. This comment is about Ailanthia, Larn'Kelnar's matriarch, and the true tragic scope of their deaths.

Now, let's put things in perspective... We know from the final chapter of John and Rahn's encounter that a Progenitor may claim un unclaimed race, after defeating the Progenitor who claimed them. That's what Rahn planned to do to the girls and the Maliri after offing his offspring. We also know that Larn and his matriarch were developing feelings for one another and expecting Larn's child.

That leaves us to the final moments of Larn. Broken by a foe he despised, chased within his own ship to a final stand down, deprived of his thriving empire, of his fleet and his thralls, the only thing he's got left is his beloved matriarch. And now his enemy offers him the most sadistic choice: it's him or her.

In John's perspective, it's a final mercy, giving him the choice to do a good deed before dying, freeing Ailanthia from the yoke of her master. It might also be a test of character, to see how depraved the other Progenitor is. But he doesn't realize what Larn thinks he is asking.

For Larn, his enemy isn't just asking for a self-sacrifice, he is asking for Ailanthia for himself, and possibly for his whole people as well, depending on how claiming works. Larn is perfectly aware of the fascination Progenitors generate on unclaimed thrall races, and of the psychic compulsion to obey they are under when in the presence of a Progenitor. He thinks John, in a final act of spite, wants to enthrall her, make her yet another disposable slave for him to use. That is, after all, the usual Progenitor's MO, and his own.

In that light, his final turmoil and his words to John, (something like «If I can't have her, neither can you !») are maybe shedding a not so dim light on Larn. That doesn't mean he's not an ashole Progenitor, he definitively is, yet the final sacrifice of Ailanthia might have stemmed at least partly from romantic feelings rather than self-preservation only. He might well have drained his matriarch and unborn child to save them from a fate he deemed worse than death, at least partly.

The real tragedy there is that Ailanthia didn't know that. She was drained thinking she meant nothing to the man she loved while he was trying to protect her. Let's just hope John never realizes that, or Rachel and Alyssa will have a lot of work to do about his guilt...

Best wishes,

Anon 2, Anon Harder

Hello Tefler you have been way too quiet,how is the going if there are good then plz can you do your thing,can wait for the update

It is the holiday season, and he’s got a new child. I’m sure it will be posted eventually, but it is totally understandable if takes a little longer. Besides, we typically get one chapter per month, though it has been as much as two months between chapters before.

It’ll come.

On Patreon is the first part of chapter 127 available for those who have access to it.

Waiting is for the second half and of course when 125 will appear here.

Tefler has been completely consistent on the timing of releases. The free sites are two chapters behind Patreon.

Patreon is up to 126.5. He was going to make 126 three chapters long, but instead cut it to two. The first half of 127 (the .5) is out just to get something out in November. When 127 is out, 125 comes out here.

The delay from 124 is caused by two things:

1. An extra long 126.

2. The author's personal life getting in the way (new baby, dental emergency)

But he was originally planing to make 126 three chapters long, but instead made 127 what was going to be the third part of 126, so you will be getting 125 earlier than originally planned.

Criticism that implies that he has slowed down is so completely the opposite of the truth.

Hi Trek !

I don't apreciate your comment, yet it might have a spark of thruth hidden under the bitterness. Yes, Tefler's pace has slowed down, and given his personal life, it's perfectly understandable: managing a heavily pregnant wife, then a newborn and various life events can be challenging, it's perfectly normal to be a bit slower.

What we are missing here and probably what unconsciously drives the Litterotica readership jittery is what I feel is a major change in Tefler's publishing policy, the subdivision of chapters. I have been here for less than a year, but this seems to be a new development in method, please correct me if it happened before.

Yes, that way we get longer chapters, and that's very cool to have a lot to read, but let's be serious, the whole bunch of Tefler's public are avid readers and will plough through a chapter in a single or at most a few nights. So we're left waiting longer in between chapter, without our TSM fix, which leads to frustration.

I refuse to think that an author of Tefler's talent can't subdivide a very long chapter. It would also be very profitable to him, depending on how exactly the Patreon work. If he is payed only at a finished chapter, then making halves is not economical, and if the halves get their own payment, then why not make them chapters in and off themselves ? Only if a single chapter gets charged three times (one for each half, one for the whole thing) would it be profitable to split, but that is charging once for a product that already exists, and I don't see him doing that.

So please, Tefler, could you, after 127, stick to single part chapters ? It feels more efficient for everyone and would greatly enhance your readership's experience.

Thanks in advance !

@TREK1

Not this again! "just for money" is not applicable here - you are reading for free.

Apart from that it is perfectly permissible to earn money for work. In this case good money for exceptionally good work. Now be nice, read elsewhere and come back eventually to enjoy the next chapter when it's here. Good things take time.

If I'm wrong then why has my comment being pulled?

At least have the guts to put your name on here, don't be a cowardly anon.

Also I followed Tefler from chapter 1 when this story started and saw all the changes happening, yes it's free for now. See if I'm wrong in the near future?

I don't usually answer to his lackeys but since I have a strong suspicion that Tefler answer under aliases I will reply this once, other than this I'll ignore you all. Tefler should be man enough to clear this issue up himself, not that it matters. I've given up on a good story cause it's to much of a hassle to reread chapters before reading the new one

Everyone has a couple and most’re worthless as tits on a boat hog. (Remember, oil and metaphors don’t mix) Here’s some of my worthless opinions:

We are enjoying a riveting, addictive, epic-length story for free. 99 & 44/100ths of readers are grateful and appreciative.

Other than the occasional “double” chapters, Tefler’s chapter lengths after the very early chapters are remarkably consistent, 9-10 Literotica pages long, with most ending somewhere in the 10th page.

Those of us who PAYED for books and waited YEARS for Stephen King to (poorly) finish his “Dark Tower” series know what excessive delay truly is.

Teller is being VERY generous to continue to post chapters for free after his Patreon account grew to the point he became a full-time writer. At that point, it would have been completely reasonable and ethical for him to stop giving it away for free, since it was now his livelihood. I doubt many readers work 5 hours at their job, then clock out and work another three hours for free. That, in effect, is what Tefler is doing out of loyalty and generosity to his readers.

As a father whose babies are grown and gone, I feel anyone begrudging time spent with mom and a newborn really needs their priorities examined. And anyone who begrudges time spent with mom and a newborn because it’s delaying their FREE gratification needs their head examined.

So, I will continue waiting with bated breath, chewed fingernails, and frayed nerves. “Looks like I picked the wrong story to quit amphetamines!”

Thanks Tef!

If all he was after was money he would make more shorter chapters released quickly because he gets paid per chapter. He continues to put quality over quantity. These discussions get erased because it has nothing to do with the chapter or book.

Chillax, Trekkie, it'll get here when it gets here and not a moment sooner. Art can't be rushed.

You gotta love and appreciate all the GR8 literature available to us . These authors owe us nothing . Yet one can read and read this stuff for free until you die . I love it . This Tefler is another of the amazingly talented writers we can enjoy . Thanx for the entertainment .

"I have a strong suspicion that Tefler answer under aliases"

Why? What's the point?

I've basically stopped commenting here because it takes about 12 hours for a reply to appear! How can you have a meaningful conversation with people with that kind of delay? Literotica started moderating the comments about a year ago because of all the advertising spam, but that inadvertently crippled the comment boards.

I chat to my fans on Patreon and on the Discord server, neither of which have this kind of ridiculous delay. All the really dedicated fans moved there years ago and so did all the in-depth discussions. There have been over 20,000 comments about the story on Patreon in the last 3 years and at least the same again on the Discord chat server.

"Tefler should be man enough to clear this issue up himself"

Again? How many times do I have to repeat the same thing to be a "man"? As I've said we nauseam, I will continue to release TSM on literotica and Stories Online for free until the story is finished.

The simple reason for the slowdown in chapter releases, is my second son was born in September. Having a newborn baby in the household has slowed down my writing output. I also had to have a couple of teeth extracted last month and I lost two weeks recovering from the wisdom tooth surgery.

As for your accusations that all I care about is money... It's bullshit. Just like all the pitiful whining about Patreon. I started my Patreon page three years ago with chapter 58. Since then, I've released over 2 million words, and 66 chapters all for free! The story is over 3 million words now, which represents over 5000 hours of work. How anyone can have the balls to accuse me of "selling out" when they've received the equivalent of 5 Lord of the Rings for free is astonishing.

Tefler

Hi Tefler

Given the delay, I suppose I won't be the only one to say this, so I'll keep it short:

Almost everyone here greatly respects you as a person, loves your work, and is more than happy to wait for updates until it makes sense for you (considering both your personal and your professional life) to make them.

And we really, really appreciate the fact that you have continued to share your work here after you became a professional writer.

We'd still *like* to have updates faster of course, but that's to be expected, because we're fans of your work :)

In the interests of brevity I'll leave out the negative comments a small minority of commenters deserve. Instead a personal view:

I'm terrified that one of these dimwits succeeds in actually annoying you, and you remind us if the facts by having us wait longer (or much worse, forever") for updates.

Please just ignore them. In exchange (and unless you indicate otherwise OFC) I promise to make responses to these comments that are a *lot* less understanding and polite than yours have been :)

I think you're all spoiled little pissers Tefler has maintained from the beginning he would finish the story out here, and the way Lit controls these comment is ridiculous so just shut up read the story and enjoy

I have read your story not 1 time but 3 times so far, I have found many things on my last reads then on my first time.The last read was very help full for the loss of Faye,for I found she downloaded her files for Little One to study. I am hope full for this,as Dana said the files are needed to bring Faye back.Your work is the best!!!So please do your magic with your words as you put them on paper(LOL).KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK ZEKE7474

He's creating an incredible story here. So what if we have to wait a bit for quality story telling? Some authors take years to put out new content, or longer. He deserves our thanks and support. Plus you get that great gift discovery feeling every time a new chapter releases.

Uh, really?

Tefler may be many things, but Tefler always answers personally. Yeesh.