Three Square Meals Ch. 127

John let out a heavy sigh. "So what's going to happen to Little One now? Is she going to be alright?"

Irillith frowned, uncertainty in her eyes. "I honestly don't know. She just found out the reason for her own existence... by accident... long before she was meant to. I think Faye planned to have the robots slowly develop over several months, if not years, with her carefully mentoring them as they gained self-awareness. But then she died... and we've spent far more time with the Collective than she ever could have anticipated."

"We've all been grieving for Faye," Dana said sadly, leaning into John for comfort. "It's brought us all closer."

Irillith turned to look at John. "Little One saw how sad you were. She said she tried to ease your pain."

"She moved Faye's body to her quarters... made it look like she was sleeping," he said, swallowing thickly. "Little One told me that Faye's just waiting for us to wake her up."

"That act of compassion was the trigger," the Maliri said, nodding in confirmation. "It upgraded Little One's access rights to the Collective's server, unlocked the VI we just saw, and inadvertently allowed Little One to tell us about the existence of Faye's memory files. I asked Little One why she had them; she said that Faye was trying to teach her about love... so she downloaded the memory archives that included all Faye's interactions with us."

"That's quite ironic, in a sweet kinda way," Dana said, smiling as she brushed a tear from her cheek. "By trying to teach Little One about love... Faye saved everything she'd ever learned."

"We've got to get her back," John said, a determined set to his jaw. "We need to get all these distractions out the way and return to Maliri Space as quickly as possible. Edraele needs us to resolve this matriarch situation and finding Kythshara will give us our best shot at rebuilding Faye."

"We're getting close to the interception point," Jade informed him. "Leylira said there's no sign of the Kirrix dreadnought so far."

John glanced at the chronometer on the wall. "How soon until we arrive?"

"Twenty-seven minutes," Alyssa replied. "But I projected the fleet's flightpath based on their maximum FTL speed and the assumption that they're flying directly towards Kirr-Inax."

"Why the homeworld?" he asked, looking at her quizzically.

She shrugged. "I don't know any other colonised Kirrix worlds, so it was as good a guess as any. The Invictus' long-range sensors have got a ridiculous range after we upgraded them, so I'll lay in a search pattern to sweep the sector if we don't run into the fleet."

"Alright, we better get ready," John said, looking around at the girls. "When we track them down, we'll knock the Kirrix out of hyper-warp with one of Dana's gravity wells, then hit them while cloaked. The Kirrix have abducted huge numbers of Trankarans, so we better scan all their ships before taking them out."

"We can do active scans super-fast now!" Dana gushed enthusiastically. "It won't take long to identify which ships have got colonists in them!"

"I'll start immobilising their vessels as soon as we spring the ambush," Calara said, with well-founded confidence. "When I've stopped them escaping, I'll knock out their weapon systems."

"While you were asleep, I asked the maintenance bots to set up the sonic treatment devices again in the Primary Hangar," Rachel informed him.

John frowned in confusion. "Isn't the Progenitor shuttle in there?"

"It's a huge room... there's plenty of space," the brunette replied. "Many of those Trankarans must be very close to hatching Kirrix eggs; I thought we should begin treatment immediately to save as many of them as we can."

"Good thinking," he said, giving her an appreciative nod. "The Maliri and Trankaran fleets probably won't reach us for at least a few hours."

*Lilyana is still in pursuit, but she hasn't located the Kirrix yet,* Edraele advised him, confirming what he'd just said.

"By the sounds of it, we've got a much better chance of finding them. As soon as we track their fleet down, we'll update Lilyana with the coordinates," John said decisively. His stomach rumbled and he glanced down at it with a self-conscious smile. "As you can probably tell, I'm famished. I think we should get up and have some dinner, then we can finish any last-minute preparations before the battle."

"Oh yeah, I started building a shitload of Tachyon Cannons while you were napping," Dana said with a grin. "If you or Alyssa can shape all the barrels I need, we could upgrade all the Invictus' Pulse Cannons before launching the ambush!"

"We can both help and do it half the time," John suggested.

Dana shook her head. "Nah, I need one of you to fix the Raptor. I've built replacements for the cockpit systems that got destroyed, but the armour's completely fucked up."

"I'm happy to take the Raptor," John offered, glancing at his fellow psychic shaper.

Alyssa groaned at the prospect. "64 Crystal Alyssium gun barrels... woohoo."

"We can switch if you like?" he suggested with a shrug.

"Nah, it's fine. Anything's better than churning out more armour plating!" she replied with a cheeky grin.

"Okay, I'll go take a quick shower, then we'll all meet up in the Officers' Lounge for a late meal. We're going to be up for hours, so you're going to need the energy."

Tashana licked her lips in anticipation. "Yum... I can't wait!"

John laughed as he rose to his feet. "Not that kind of meal. I'll wait until we've incapacitated the Kirrix fleet before topping you up. Jade, can you help with that?"

"Master, I'm disappointed you had to ask," she replied, rolling her eyes playfully.

He smiled at the Nymph, then turned his attention to Sakura. "How did the shield training go?"

"Really well!" the Asian girl replied enthusiastically. "Rachel's brilliant at explaining how to improve psychic techniques!"

The brunette gave her a sideways hug. "You've got a very quick and disciplined mind; teaching you was a pleasure." She looked at John and continued, "I taught Sakura how to create much stronger hex barriers, as well as how to rotate them and make rapid repairs."

"As strong as you can make them?" he asked, looking impressed.

"Not quite... but she made a huge improvement. Her shields are powerful enough to take a hit from a disintegration matrix now."

"That's excellent! Well done both of you," John said, delighted by Sakura's progress. "Do you feel ready to take down the Hive Queen?"

Sakura nodded, a fierce gleam in her eyes. "Absolutely!"

Dana frowned in confusion. "Wait a second... why are you two going off alone? Wouldn't it be safer to stick together to clear out the dreadnought?"

"I want to train Sakura to take down Progenitors and assassinating a Hive Queen will be good practice," John explained. "We've both got psychic speed, so we can reach the nest much faster if it's just the two of us. I'd like to split up the rest of you into separate fire teams to attack the dreadnought from different sides. That should distract the defending forces and make it easier for us to reach the nest. After we take out the Hive Queen, the rest of the Kirrix will be disorientated... so eliminating her as quickly as possible does make tactical sense."

The redhead shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. The sooner that evil bitch is dead, the sooner we can start saving the Trankarans."

"Exactly," John agreed. "Now, unless anyone else has something they want to discuss, we better get ready."

Everyone shook their heads, so John rose to his feet and offered Alyssa and Calara a hand.

"I'll ask the Collective to help install the Tachyon Cannons when we drop out of hyper-warp," Irillith volunteered, as she stood and straightened out her dress. "I'll also check on Little One and make sure she's okay."

"Perfect. Thanks, honey," he said, with a grateful smile.

As the girls left the Observatory, John, Alyssa, and Calara headed into the en suite bathroom together.

*Edraele, do you want to give me an update on the matriarch situation now?* John asked, as he followed the blonde and brunette into the shower.

*Certainly,* she agreed. *So far, eleven of the original thirteen matriarchs have been killed.*

John slipped his arm around Alyssa's waist and murmured, "Can you keep the girls informed?"

"Already am, handsome," she replied, standing on tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek.

*I'm amazed any of them survived,* John said to his Maliri matriarch. *Which of them are still alive?*

*Emandra Holaris and Vestele Waephyra,* Edraele replied. *They rule the eighth and seventeenth Houses respectively. I've spoken to Emandra and she was absolutely furious; all five of her daughters tried to murder her and she was forced to kill them all. Before the youngest died, Emandra tortured her to find out why they attacked... and she found out that Sarinia instigated it.*

*And now she's baying for blood?* John asked, tilting his head back so Calara could shampoo his hair.

*I've seen a lot of angry matriarchs in the last century, but I've never seen anything like Emandra's rage before,* she replied with clinical detachment. *I honestly thought she might burst a blood vessel until I calmed her down.*

*It's quite understandable, Edraele,* John said with sympathy. *The poor woman was forced to kill five of her own daughters!*

Edraele sighed in exasperation, then explained patiently, *No, John... Emandra didn't care about them personally. She was furious because the loss of so many members of her family might have affected her House ranking. When I confirmed that Gaenna Baelora and most of the other matriarchs were dead, she was thrilled.*

John paused, his lip curling in disgust. *You're kidding me?*

*With a big question mark over Sarinia's fate, House Baelora has dropped from sixth to eighth place. Leena Ghilwen's House has replaced her at sixth and House Holaris has moved up to seventh.*

*Who makes up all these rankings?* he asked incredulously.

*All the matriarchs know instinctively. Evaluating House rankings has been drummed into us since we were born.*

*I don't think I'm ever going to understand Maliri House politics,* he said with resignation.

*Soon they won't matter,* Edraele said gently. *When you return to Genthalas and connect all the matriarchs to me, the House rankings are likely to stay as they are... forever.*

*So you're recommending some kind of amnesty?* he muttered, shaking his head. *Hey, don't worry about murdering your mother and sisters... everyone's doing it!*

After hesitating for a moment, Edraele replied, *The final decision is yours of course... but that would be my recommendation, yes. Dividing the assets from thirteen Houses between myself and the Young Matriarchs just isn't practical; the administrative overhead of running all those star systems would be too much for the six of us to cope with.*

*Thirteen Houses? So you think I should pardon Sarinia too?!* he asked in astonishment.

*Actually, that's not what I said. Dividing up the assets from just one House would be perfectly feasible,* she said with caution. *While it's true that Sarinia is an extremely intelligent woman and it would be a shame to waste someone of her capabilities, she's also very cunning and manipulative. As much as I admire her intellect, I think it'd only be a matter of time before she sought to replace me as Queen.*

*She must be smart to have pulled off something like this,* John grudgingly agreed.

*It's not just self-preservation that's influencing my decision,* Edraele said quietly. *I'm very worried how badly hurt Kali is going to be when she discovers that her conversation with Sarinia preceded this bloodbath.*

John froze, his heart lurching. *Ah, shit... What does Kali know about this so far?*

*Nothing. I haven't said a word to any of the Young Matriarchs yet,* Edraele admitted.

*So who else knows that the information Sarinia wormed out of Kali, encouraged her to kill her family and organise a coup against the matriarchs?*

*You and your girls, myself, Luna, and Sarinia,* Edraele replied. *I know that none of you will say anything and Luna's lips are sealed...*

John's jaw set into a grim frown. *I don't want Kali blaming herself for this. She's a sweet girl and this wasn't her fault.*

*I couldn't agree more,* the Maliri Queen agreed with a sad sigh. *That's one of the reasons I need you back here as quickly as possible. We need to deal with Sarinia one way or another and inform the Young Matriarchs about the massacre. All ten of the daughters that deposed their mothers have contacted me and requested permission to travel to Genthalas. The earliest any of them will arrive is in four days' time.*

*Great... the clock's ticking,* John said, grimacing at the unexpected time pressure. *We should be arriving at around the same sort of time, depending on how fast we can track down the Kirrix fleet.*

*I do have one bit of surprising good news,* Edraele said, her tone lightening. *I know we were expecting the eldest daughters to be triumphant, but four of the ten were actually the youngest sisters. It seems their elder siblings were so used to treating them with utter contempt, they concentrated on killing each other and never even considered them to be a threat.*

John barked a short laugh. *Good for them.*

*Perhaps we could add them to the Young Matriarchs?* Edraele suggested with a coy undertone. *Every one of the new matriarchs is intrigued about you and desperate to start their dynasties...*

Alyssa bit her lip and her hand went to John's cock, suddenly feeling the urgent need to soap him up. "Mmm... I like the sound of that."

He carefully removed her hand and shook his head. *They still murdered their families, Edraele. While I sympathise with what they've just been through, I don't want to expose Tsarra, Leena, and the rest of the Young Matriarchs to any unnecessary danger. Until I know I can trust the new matriarchs and that this was just one terrible exception, I'll be keeping all of them at arms' length for the foreseeable future.*

Raising an eyebrow, Alyssa glanced at his shaft and grinned. *You're packing a lot of meat, but it's not quite that long... a forearm, maybe. You'll have to let the new matriarchs get quite a bit closer than an arms' length if we're going to connect them to Edraele.*

*You know what I mean,* he said, ignoring her attempt at levity. *I don't think we've got much choice but to accept the new matriarchs without punishing them... but I'm not going to reward them either.*

*It wasn't a serious suggestion... I suspected you might feel that way,* Edraele admitted. *There is one inadvertent consequence to the change of matriarchs; House Baelora's fleet is currently undergoing a refit at Genthalas. I was intending to station them here to protect the shipyard and dispatch fleets from Houses Perfaren, Aeberos, Naestina, and Ghilwen to intercept the Brimorians. I no longer believe that to be a wise course of action.*

*Leave Sarinia's forces as the only upgraded fleet stationed at Genthalas? No, I don't think that's a good idea either,* he said wryly. *Those fleets are all fully operational apart from House Ghilwen's, right?*

*That is correct. Leena's ships should finish in the drydock tomorrow evening and the House Baelora fleet will be refitted in three days' time. House Holaris' fleet is scheduled to arrive tomorrow to begin receiving their upgrades.*

John turned to look at Calara who was washing his back. "Will two Maliri fleets be enough to stop the Brimorian invasion without taking any casualties?"

She tilted her head to one side and considered it for a moment. "If I was there to lead them personally... yes. If I have to coordinate their battles remotely, then they'll be too heavily outnumbered to avoid losing ships. I'd expect at least a 10% casualty rate."

"We can't afford to lose any personnel... we need them all for the thrall ships," he said in frustration.

"Actually... there is another option you might not have considered," the Latina said cautiously. "Instead of the Invictus returning to Genthalas, we could intervene personally..."

"We can actually make it in time to stop them?" he asked in surprise.

Alyssa nodded. "The timings are tight, but it's doable. Since we doubled our hyper-warp speed, we should be able to make it just in time."

John weighed his options, then shook his head. "I'm not going to risk any more fallout from this mess with the matriarchs... too many Maliri have died already. We need to get back there and make sure the new matriarchs don't cause any more problems."

"In that case, can I make an alternate suggestion," Calara volunteered. When John nodded, she continued, "I think we should dispatch the Perfaren, Aeberos, and Naestina fleets to Kinta. Recall Kali's second fleet from the Kirrix border and have the Loraleth ships reinforce the House Ghilwen fleet at Genthalas. That should be enough ships to safely deal with the Brimorians and we'll have two loyal fleets on standby to protect the shipyard."

John glanced at her over his shoulder. "Is that enough ships to handle the Brimorians?"

She nodded. "I can work with three fleets."

*An impressive redistribution of our forces,* Edraele said with open admiration. *I'll have the relevant matriarchs issue the orders immediately.*

"We're spreading ourselves pretty thin..." John muttered with an uneasy frown.

"When we get back to Maliri Space, we'll have three fleets of Maliri personnel ready and waiting to claim those Larathyran ships," Calara said, hugging him from behind and resting her chin on his shoulder. "We've got to get our hands on those thrall fleets, John. Everything depends on it."

"Yeah, I know," he said grimly. "I'm just worried about any other unpleasant surprises..."

***

Dana watched impatiently as Rachel used tongs to place the second southern-fried chicken fillet on a bed of lettuce.

"That smells amazing!" the redhead gushed, upending the bottle of mayonnaise and squirting out a couple of big dollops. Flipping sesame seed buns on top of the burgers, she sealed the container. "Thanks, babes!"

The brunette gave her an indulgent smile as she handed Dana two chilled metallic cups. "You're welcome. I hope you enjoy your dinner."

Scooping up the food, Dana gave her a grateful peck on the cheek before rushing out of the kitchen. She entered the Officers' Lounge just as John, Alyssa, and Calara walked through the door opposite, the trio looking refreshed after their shower.

"Great timing!" she exclaimed, grinning as she strode over to join them. She kissed John, then skipped towards the door. "I've got dinner. Let's go!"

He looked at the exuberant redhead in confusion. "Aren't we all eating together?"

"We've got shitloads to fix on the Raptor. Rachel made us a takeaway, so we can work and eat at the same time!"

Pulling Alyssa and Calara into his arms, John gave them a brief hug. "Thanks for keeping me company in the shower. I'll see you both later."

They waved goodbye, then watched in amusement as he hurried to catch up with Dana.

"Have we actually got time to get the Raptor spaceworthy before the battle?" he asked, jogging along the corridor.

She waited for John, then stepped into the grav-tube beside him. "Jade's already stripped out all the busted shit and I've built all the replacements. Fitting everything will take a while, but if we work fast we should get it done before we track down the Kirrix. I figured we'll need the Raptor to ferry Trankarans to the Invictus for treatment."

"And the shuttle too, probably," John said, nodding in agreement. "The Kirrix occupied their world for at least a month; the Hive Lords will have been working non-stop to infest as many Trankarans as possible. Thousands of civilians will be dying every hour for the next two weeks unless we can save them."