Three Square Meals Ch. 126

"And the bad news?" he asked, bracing for her answer.

"I doubt the Hive Queen is planning to stay close to the border, which means they'll be heading much deeper into Kirrix Space... and I have no idea which system they're travelling to. The longer we take to intercept them, the harder it's going to be to track them down."

He glanced across the table at Irillith. "Could you show me a sector map of the Trankaran border? It'd be good to have an idea what we're dealing with."

"Of course," the Maliri agreed, reaching for the remote and quickly activating a holographic map that floated above the meeting table. Irillith searched for Dun Hergrun in the Trankaran Republic, then plotted the most direct course from the besieged world to the border with Kirrix Space. Moving the focus of the map to that point, she turned and looked quizzically at Alyssa. "How far could they have gone into Kirrix territory?"

"Let me," Alyssa requested, holding out her hand for the remote.

After Irillith handed it over, Alyssa drew a broad cone which penetrated just over 60 light years into Kirrix territory.

"That's as far as they could have gone so far." She entered some more parameters and the arc extended outwards, growing increasingly wider with each increment. "Each of those represents another day of them travelling at maximum hyper-warp."

"We can't let that haystack get too big, or we'll never find the needle," John muttered, studying the fleet's escape path across the border. "How long will it take us to get there?"

"Eighteen hours," the blonde replied, scaling back the flight path projections to show the likely locations for the Kirrix fleet's present position. She hesitated, then added, "I've actually been developing a new method of astro-navigation for improving our hyper-warp speed; if it works, we could get there even faster."

"That's great news!" John exclaimed, looking at her with admiration. "The sooner we can get back to Maliri Space, the better. How does this new method work exactly?"

Alyssa paused for a moment, spinning the remote in her hand. "Do you remember I developed that theory on warp tunnelling? By oscillating the hyper-wake, we were able to slingshot around the outer edge of a system's gravity well and increase our top speed by up to 22%."

"I don't fully understand the physics behind it, but I know you've been using it to speed up our flight paths for months," John said, his curiosity piqued.

"Well this is entirely theoretical at the moment, but I've been working on combining warp tunnelling with my calculations on intra-system tactical hyper-warp jumps," she explained, using the remote to bring up her research notes. "We should see some considerable gains in hyper-warp speed."

Dana stared at the holographic screen and blanched. "You've got to be fucking kidding me!"

Tashana looked equally stunned, her angular eyes going wide. "You want to slingshot around a star inside its gravity well?! We'll be torn apart by the gravimetric forces!"

"If we tried it now, yes... we'd be crushed like a bug," Alyssa replied, looking remarkably calm despite that alarming admission. "However, if we install the Null-Inertia Gyroscope we requisitioned from Rahn'hagon's ship, we should be able to negate most of the gravitic stress on the hull."

"Most of the stress?" John noted, raising an eyebrow sceptically.

"I need Dana to test this for me, but I reckon twenty-shaped Crystal Alyssium should be strong enough to prevent the hull from crumpling like tinfoil."

"You want to twenty-shape the entire hull?!" John balked, staring at her in shock.

"Ideally, yes, but I think we might be able to get away with just reinforcing the bow," Alyssa replied, her cerulean eyes flicking to the holo-screen. She tapped several buttons and a simulation began, showing a swirling vortex of turbulence building in front of the Invictus. "This is entirely theoretical, but if we enter a system fast enough, the hyper-wave oscillations from flying inside a gravity well should build into a hypervelocity bow wave that will lessen the strain on the rest of the ship."

John stared at the simulation in shocked disbelief. He considered her proposal for a long moment, then shrugged and gave her a wry smile. "What the hell, let's give it a try. You were right about warp-tunnelling."

"Thanks, handsome!" she gushed, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek.

He pulled Alyssa onto his lap and gave her a hug. "The Invictus has deca-shaped armour at the moment... how strong does the rest of the plating have to be?"

"We'll have to harden the plating so it's been shaped at least 15 times," she admitted, grimacing at the thought.

"Okay... so let's leave reinforcing the bow until later and strip the armour off the rest of the ship," John said, mulling it over. "We can store all the Crystal Alyssium in the Primary Hangar, then the two of us can reshape the plating for the next... how long do you reckon it'll take? Three, maybe four hours?"

Alyssa sighed and nodded. "Yep, that should do it. We'll need to stop again to reattach all the armour, but if everyone helps out, it shouldn't take too long to get it done."

"With the entire ship armoured in pentadeca-shaped Crystal Alyssium we'll be completely impervious to laser fire," Calara said thoughtfully. "It's a real shame that won't make any difference to Thrall Tachyon Lances."

"Well the energy lattice and the capacitors will still work," Dana said with an optimistic smile. "Pentadeca-shaped plating is also twenty times more resilient than titanium armour, so we'll be able to take a load of damage."

"How tough is twenty-shaped plating?" John asked, thinking about the bow.

"Icosa-shaped Crystal Alyssium is the equivalent of 25 times the thickness in titanium armour... so tough as old boots basically," the redhead replied with a grin.

"If we plated the entire ship like that, could we take a hit from a Quantum Flux Cannon?"

She frowned, no longer looking so confident. "I think so, but I'd need to do some penetration testing to be sure. Either way, any hits and our armour would be seriously screwed. We won't be able to trade broadsides with a dreadnought, if that's what you're thinking."

"No, just curious," he replied with a grateful nod.

*What action would you like Lilyana to take, John?* Edraele asked, tremendously relieved that he'd stopped thinking about his own mortality.

*Ask her to accompany the Trankaran fleet and begin pursuit of the Kirrix dreadnought. Having more eyes available will help us track them down, but if they do reach the Hive Queen before us, she's not to engage the Kirrix forces in combat. Leave the fighting to us, but we'll need them to handle the civilian relief effort.*

Edraele immediately relayed that information to her Fleet Commander. *I've informed her of your orders.*

*Thanks, honey.* John patted Alyssa's thigh. "Alright, let's get moving. We've got a hell of a lot of work ahead of us."

"I'd like a word with you first, Master," Jade requested quietly, her emerald eyes boring into him.

Rachel smiled and raised an eyebrow. "I take it this is matriarch business?"

Jade nodded, her stony expression surprising the rest of the girls.

"Thanks for your helpful advice, ladies," John said, smiling gratefully at the group before looking quizzically at the Nymph.

All the girls except Alyssa and Jade got up to leave the room, departing with a kiss on John's cheek and a worried glance at the seated trio.

When they were alone, John studied the agitated Nymph with concern. "What's the matter, honey?"

"You promised you were going to stop being a bonehead!" she exclaimed, unable to hold back the anger and pain.

Thousands of light years away in Genthalas station, Edraele groaned, rubbing at her temples.

***

Sarinia stared in stunned disbelief at the Maliri Matriarch beside her, too shocked to even respond.

"Are you alright?" Kali asked with concern, squeezing her hand. "You haven't said a word."

"I-I don't know what to say," she stammered, her eyes like saucers. "You have to be lying... but you're not, are you?"

"Everything I told you was the truth," Kali said gently. "I know it must be a lot to take in."

Sarinia choked back a near-hysterical laugh. "Why would you think that? Mael'nerak was real... Baen'thelas is another 'Progenitor'... Edraele is now Queen... I hear such things all the time!"

Kali shook her head. "Baen'thelas is nothing like Mael'nerak or the other Progenitors; he's very kind, not cruel."

A delicious shiver ran down Sarinia's spine when she heard his name again from Kali's lips. "Yet he now leads the Maliri Protectorate with Edraele as his Queen and consort?"

"He prefers not to actively lead us except in times of war," Kali agreed, repeating what she'd said earlier.

"And your beautiful hair..." Sarinia said, raising her hand to touch it, then freezing and darting an anxious glance at the suddenly-tense bodyguards.

Kali nodded to them, then smiled at her companion. "Go ahead, it's alright."

"I wondered what the change in colour signified... and the length," Sarinia murmured, feeling the glorious silken tresses slip through her fingertips. "But I never could have guessed the real reason."

Unable to stop herself blushing, Kali let out a wistful sigh. "He's so wonderful, Sarinia... I can't even begin to describe the ecstasy I felt in his arms."

"Has my mother...?"

"No... but I'm certain Gaenna longs to be with him," Kali replied with a giggle. "Edraele has a somewhat strained relationship with the older matriarchs, but she's been making all sorts of bargains on his behalf."

"Vrysandral Spice..." Sarinia murmured, the pieces of the puzzle falling into place.

"I'm not privy to the details, but I know he wants to open up trade and improve relations between all the Houses."

Shaking her head in disbelief, Sarinia muttered, "What finer way than to sire an heir with all the matriarchs..."

"Actually, I don't think you're about to gain another sibling," Kali said with a reassuring smile. "Baen'thelas is very selective about who will become the mothers of his children. So far, only the Young Matriarchs are pregnant with his babies."

"The Young Matriarchs? You say that with special significance, as if it were a title."

"Oh, it's what he calls the matriarchs who are closest to him," Kali explained. "Edraele assassinated our mothers and elder sisters, choosing us to replace them as matriarchs of our Houses. Except Tsarra of course, her family had already been killed, but I think John was impressed with her because she's very clever and led Tashana's rebellion. At the moment, Tsarra Perfaren, Nyrelle Aeberos, Valani Naestina, and Leena Ghilwen are all expecting... and they're all really lovely girls. I care more about them than I ever did my own family."

"And then there's you..." Sarinia said, giving her an affectionate smile. "I can see why you were chosen to be one of the select few. You're by far the nicest person I've ever met."

"Thank you," Kali replied, touched by her sincerity. "Baen'thelas intends to father children with Edraele as well, once the Progenitor threat is eliminated. For the time being, he's simply restored her youth, but he will get her pregnant eventually."

Sarinia's ears pricked up at that, but she managed to keep her expression neutral. "My mother has white hair too, but she still looks her age..."

"As far as I'm aware, Baen'thelas only plans to grant immortality to those of us with long hair," Kali continued, oblivious to her new friend's stunned reaction to that news. "He might make the older matriarchs young and beautiful like he did with Edraele, but they'll need to stop being so horrible to everyone before he even thinks about letting them stay as House Matriarchs forever."

Sarinia tried not to blanch at that appalling revelation. Gaenna Baelora, returned to a nubile 30 year-old and given a new lease of life. Three more centuries of her mother ruling as matriarch of House Baelora... and that was a best-case scenario. This Baen'thelas might even gift Gaenna with immortality, so that she could rule her House for countless millennia. Sarinia shuddered, barely able to contemplate the hideous thought without being overcome by nausea.

"But for the time being, the Council of Matriarchs is focusing on upgrading all our fleets in case of a Progenitor attack," Kali explained, gazing up through the crystal ceiling at the warships in formation around Genthalas. "We also might have to intervene to stop the Brimorian invasion of the Kintark Empire, so things are likely to stay pretty busy around here. I just hope Baen'thelas returns soon... I really miss him."

Trying to regain control of her scrambled wits, Sarinia gave her a strained smile. "I think you'll make a lovely mother, Kali. Far better than Shaedra ever was to you."

"You're just so nice," Kali gushed, her beautiful face lighting up with a lovely smile. "I never would've imagined that Gaenna was your mother; the two of you are nothing alike."

Sarinia stared away into the distance and faked a shiver. "I sincerely hope not..."

Clasping her hand again, Kali leaned forward and said urgently, "Sarinia, listen to me. Edraele is Queen of the entire Protectorate and she was furious when she heard that Gaenna ignored her ban of the neural whip. She hasn't taken your mother to task yet, and will not until you grant me permission to intervene, but Edraele is more than capable of making Gaenna rue the day that she flaunted one of her edicts."

Her mind racing, Sarinia gripped Kali's hand as if in fear. "Are you certain that there will be no repercussions for me or my sisters?"

Kali giggled and nodded. "I've seen Edraele get angry before; trust me, Gaenna will never want to risk provoking her ire again!"

With a hesitant nod, Sarinia met Kali's blue-eyed gaze. "Would you speak to the Queen on my behalf? Gaenna loves her instruments of pain... any respite from them would be welcome."

"Oh, I'm so sorry for what you've been through!" Kali exclaimed, her eyes welling up as she hugged the Baeloran noblewoman. "I promise I'll do whatever I can to make life more bearable for you!"

Sarinia closed her eyes and hugged the troubled girl, feeling a pang of guilt for manipulating her this way. "I'm so glad I met you."

After a close embrace they reluctantly parted. Kali brushed away her tears and smiled. "I'll speak to Edraele as soon as I can, Sarinia. You have my word."

"I trust you," Sarinia said softly, giving her a look filled with gratitude. "Thank you, Kali."

"Will you come back to the arboretum tomorrow?" the House Loraleth matriarch asked hopefully.

"I'll try... but mother intends to banish my sisters and me to our homeworld at the earliest opportunity. As soon as the first House Baeloran cruiser has finished the refit, we will be departing from Genthalas."

"Perhaps the upgrades on that ship might encounter some difficulties?" Kali suggested with a mischievous grin.

Sarinia couldn't help laughing at that. "My mother would have an absolute fit. That would be wonderful, thank you."

Rising from the bench, the two noblewomen shared a smile and waved each other goodbye. They both left at once, heading for exits at opposite ends of the arboretum.

***

"I'm trying very hard not to be a bonehead anymore," John said with a wry smile. "What bone headedness are you referring to in particular?"

"This isn't funny!" Jade protested angrily.

"I'm sorry, honey," he said, beckoning her over. "Come over here and tell me what's wrong."

Alyssa slid off his lap to make way for the Nymph, who sat down and promptly threw her arms around John.

"I hate it when you think about dying, Master! Why do you do it when we can all hear you?!" she gasped in anguish, burying her face against his chest.

John shot a startled glance at Alyssa over Jade's shoulder and saw at once the pain in her eyes. "Oh god... I'm so sorry!" He grasped the blonde's hand and pulled her into the hug. "I forgot the three of you were listening to everything!"

*I can't stand it either, John,* Edraele sobbed, breaking down in tears. *Losing you is the worst possible thing I could ever imagine!*

"Please... I'm begging you..." Jade whimpered. "There's got to be some way you can guarantee your victory over your guide!"

He held two of his three matriarchs close, feeling them both tremble in his arms. Stroking their backs, he let out a heavy sigh. "I wish there was, honey, I really do... but I haven't got any choice. I have to make preparations in case he wins; the alternative is too awful to even think about."

"But..."

"Listen to me, Jade," he said quietly but firmly. "I don't want to die. I'll do everything in my power to defeat my guide and make sure he never causes us problems again, but there's always a chance, however small, that he might be the one that wins when I confront him. I know it's painful for you to hear this, but if I die, I will not allow him to rape and murder any of you girls. I refuse to allow that to even be a possibility. If that bastard wins, his first breath will end with Sakura cutting his throat."

"She'll be devastated..." Jade whispered, gazing at him through tear-filled eyes. "Sakura will never survive that."

"She can recover from grief... all of you can. There's no way I'm ever going to risk all of you being subjected to an eternity of abuse; I'd sooner end it all right now than let that happen."

Jade shook her head. "Don't you understand? We love you as much as you love us... we'd never recover, none of us would."

He looked up at Alyssa as a tear rolled down her cheek and felt his heart lurch in his chest when he saw how distraught she was.

"I couldn't go on without you, John," she said quietly. "You can't ask me to do the impossible."

John slumped in his chair and let out a forlorn sigh. "I'm sorry, girls... I don't know what else to do."

***

Sarinia strode along the corridor, her mind abuzz with all the things she'd just learned from Kali Loraleth. In the last few months, everything had changed for the Maliri matriarchs, but it was painful to think that she'd been oblivious to it all. With the benefit of hindsight, it was no wonder that her mother had been acting so bizarrely. Gaenna had been facing an existential threat to her House with the civil war, then she'd discovered the possibility of a second chance at reliving her life over again.

The stakes of the game of succession had changed dramatically. So dramatically in fact, that Sarinia wasn't sure there even was a game any more... the rules seemed to have been completely torn asunder. She couldn't help smiling as she imagined how her sisters would react to hearing everything she'd just learned.

Approaching her mother's quarters, she nodded politely to the bodyguards standing outside. One of them spoke into an commlink, then gestured for her to proceed as the door opened behind them. There were another brace of guards inside the suite, who stopped her to scan for concealed weapons. Sarinia waited patiently for them to complete the sensor sweep, then crossed the lounge towards her mother's office.

"What do you want, Sarinia?" Gaenna snapped, when her eldest daughter walked inside.

"I apologise for disturbing you, mother," Sarinia said, bowing her head in a gesture of contrition. "Might I speak with you for a moment?"

"Isn't that what we're already doing?" the House Baelora Matriarch tsked in irritation. "Alright, out with it. Why are you here?"

"You already know that I regret coming to Genthalas without your permission, so I won't waste your time with another apology," Sarinia said, meeting her mother's curious gaze. "My sisters and I will be leaving the station in the next couple of days, and I have the distinct impression that you intend to stay on Genthalas for the foreseeable future?"