Three Square Meals Ch. 128

John shook his head. "No, I don't think so. The Nymphs are like very powerful psychic batteries; we'll just have to be careful how much energy Jade gives me at any one time, especially if I'm drawing power from Alyssa and Edraele too."

"Okay, it's good we found that out, but why would you be upset about that?" Dana asked with a puzzled frown.

"You're right, that's not the problem," John replied, his expression turning bleak. "When I obliterated the Hive Queen's mind, I got snapshots of her memories." His eyes flicked to Helene as he quietly continued, "Before they invaded the Trankaran Republic, this Kirrix fleet was stationed on the Brimorian border. They were there... to trade for slaves."

It took a moment for the girls to realise what he was saying and they looked at him in horror.

"Rach warned us the Brimorians were going to start culling the Abandoned," Dana whispered, her face twisted with revulsion. "But I never thought they'd actually do it!"

Rachel didn't say a word, she just looked at John, then put her arms around Helene to console the shocked girl.

John shook his head, his eyes filled with tightly-suppressed fury. "No, you don't understand. The Brimorians didn't just start this recently... they've been trading the Abandoned to the Kirrix for decades. All the sick, wounded, or elderly... the Brimorians murdered millions of them!"

Calara leaned unsteadily against the briefing table, her face betraying the depths of her horror. "I always wondered how the Kirrix had so many drones... my God."

"I think I'm going to be sick," Helene murmured, holding a trembling hand to her mouth.

Alyssa opened the door with a flick of her fingers and Rachel helped the devastated Abandoned girl out of the room. Helene didn't make it to the bathroom in time and they could hear her being violently sick on the Bridge until the door slid shut behind her.

"We can't let this stand, John," Sakura muttered, her jaw clenched. "The Brimorians have to be punished. They don't deserve to live."

He slumped in his chair at the head of the table, his expression conflicted between anger and trepidation. "I'm finding it very hard not to agree with you."

Tashana looked troubled as she said quietly, "We've talked about how evil the Kirrix are for preying on other species... but they're doing it just to survive. What's the Brimorian's excuse?"

"Greed..." John muttered, his eyes flashing dangerously. "Metals, minerals, precious gems... the Kirrix trade the Brimorians anything they want in exchange for a steady supply of Abandoned slaves."

"Fuck it!" Dana snarled, slamming her fist down on the table. "I say we kill them all and hand the Brimorian Enclave over to the Abandoned!"

Irillith nodded, her face grim. "I agree."

"So do I," Jade said, the vehemence in her voice surprising them all.

Alyssa stood beside John and stroked his shoulder, "What do you want to do, John?"

He glanced across the table at Calara, who had tears in her eyes as she shook her head.

"We can't do anything..." the Latina said, her shoulders slumping. "Not now... not when there's so much at stake. We have to get back to Genthalas as quickly as possible, rally the Maliri, then seize all of Larn'kelnar's fleet. As much as I hate the Brimorians right now for what they've done, we can't deal with them yet."

"But they're killing millions of people!" Dana exclaimed in shock. "We can't just do nothing!"

"If we don't get our hands on thrall ships for the Maliri, billions will die in a Progenitor invasion," Calara said, her voice haunted. "We haven't got any choice."

Irillith sat down, her eyes blazing with a violet light.

"What are you doing?" John asked the Maliri hacker.

"Getting some answers from the dreadnought," Irillith muttered, her angular eyes flicking from side to side as her spirit form swept over the Cyber Realm.

The rest of the crew watched in silence, waiting for whatever it was she was looking for.

It didn't take long before Irillith relaxed, blinking as she adjusted to being back in the room. "We've got some time... but not long."

"What do you mean?" John asked, leaning forward with interest.

"You were right... Irnaxxa's fleet was stationed on the Brimorian border. They invaded Trankaran space a month ago, then were returning to a planet called Kirr-arlak to unload all the newly-hatched grubs. After that, the dreadnought was supposed to load on cargo and return to the Brimorians to collect the next shipment. The Kirrix captured so many Trankarans on Dun Hergrun, they were running late for the next border meeting."

"But we just wiped out the fleet," Calara said, looking at her quizzically. "So does that mean the Hive Mind will send out another?"

Irillith nodded. "Yes, but Hive Queens will only travel on dreadnoughts and the Kirrix only had three, two of which we've destroyed. The third is stationed at Kirr-Inax and it'll take two weeks to travel to the border."

"Won't they just send the closest fleet of hive ships instead?" Calara asked, looking unconvinced.

John shook his head. "The Kirrix need the upper-tier creatures as well as just drones. There's always been a Hive Queen present for the trade with the Brimorians."

"The Kirrix are in the middle of a civil war now," the Latina reminded them. "Will they still send out their last dreadnought if the two sides are fighting each other to the death? Surely whichever side controls the dreadnought will use it to help defeat the other first?"

"Maintaining a fresh supply of hosts is more important to the Kirrix than anything," Alyssa said thoughtfully. "When I told the Kirrix to stop raiding neighbouring empires for hosts, one faction agreed while the other refused; that's the sole reason for the civil war. Secretly trading with the Brimorians for Abandoned slaves is something else entirely... both Kirrix factions will still be in complete agreement on that."

"Okay, so at least we've got two weeks then?" Dana asked, her face brightening. "We do all the shit we need to, then we can go wipe out the Brimorians and save the Abandoned!"

"We could always reposition Lilyana's fleet to the Brimorian border," Irillith suggested with a wicked grin. "Instead of the Kirrix turning up to collect slaves, Lilyana could meet the Brimorians instead."

Calara looked torn, her fingers drumming on the table as she considered it. "We really need to recall her fleet to Genthalas. We must reallocate those crews to thrall ships as soon as possible."

John shook his head. "We can always send a fleet of thrall ships with skeleton crews to meet her. If we can't attack the Brimorians in time for any reason, Lilyana can be our backup plan to stop the slave trade. Dana's right; we can't just stand by and do nothing. I'll do whatever I can to protect the Abandoned."

"Thank you, John," Helene said softly, hearing the end of the conversation as she re-entered the Briefing Room.

He rose from his chair and walked over to meet the distraught girl. "Are you alright?"

She looked pale and very sad, but nodded. "I just keep thinking about all the elders that disappeared from my village. They were good people... and it's just so awful to think about what happened to them."

"I'm so sorry, honey" he said, gathering her in his arms. "I promise you, we're going to stop the Enclave and make sure the Abandoned are never mistreated again."

"Are you going to kill all the Brimorians?" she asked very quietly, doubt and concern in her eyes.

John stroked Helene's back soothingly as she lay her head against his chest. "I honestly don't know..." he replied, his expression as conflicted as hers.

***

Neysa padded across the docking collar that linked the Invictus to the Forge of Ukonlir, smiling at the hundreds of Trankaran civilians in the huge hangar that bowed to her respectfully. She approached a group of officers wearing battle armour, who were speaking to each other quietly, or as quietly as was possible with their deep rumbling voices.

"Warden Brokurlun?" she asked, her tone polite and respectful.

The leader turned to look at her, his sad expression lifting slightly. "Yes, Lioness? Can I be of assistance?"

She smiled at him and shook her head. "This one is just called Neysa. I believe you asked to speak with John? He asked me to inform you that he will meet with you shortly."

He bowed to her. "Thank you for telling me, Neysa."

"You're welcome," she replied, her smile softening. "I also wish to inform you that someone else wishes to see you."

"Oh, of course. Who is it?"

"Brokurlun!" a Trankaran female called out, her voice ringing across the vast room.

He looked up in shock, then leapt forward, catching the rockwoman as she ran into his arms. "Helgruda!" he exclaimed, his craggy features lit up with joy.

As the Warden clung to his sobbing bond-mate, he felt a mixture of elation mixed with sorrow. While he was overjoyed to be reunited with Helgruda, he knew only too well what happened to the children captured by the Kirrix, and her heartbroken sobs echoed his own grief. Doing his best to console her, he glanced over her shoulder and his jaw dropped in shock. Neysa turned to watch as Irillith led two elderly Trankarans across the hangar to join their son.

"H-how did you find them?" he stammered, as he reverently embraced his parents.

"I hacked the Forge of Ukonlir's security to find pictures of your relatives in your personal archives," Irillith stated, her smile hidden behind her opaque mask. "Then I spoke to the Kirrix ships and asked them to search for your family members amongst all the prisoners."

Brokurlun could only gape at her, not sure whether she was joking or actually being serious. "Thank you!"

"It was no trouble," the Maliri said with sympathy. "I'm so sorry about the rest of your family."

"Your condolences are greatly appreciated..." Recovering from his shock, he continued, "Is Helene with you? I wish to thank her too."

Irillith hesitated, then shook her head. "I'm sorry, Warden. She's resting at the moment."

***

John stroked Helene's soft green hair, watching her breathing deepen as she fell fast asleep. He shared a look of concern with Jade, who was lying behind the exhausted Abandoned girl, then leaned over to give her a kiss.

*Don't worry, I'll watch over Helene tonight, Master,* she said, hugging the sleeping young woman.

*Thanks, honey. Let me know if she wakes up with nightmares.*

Jade nodded, then planted a loving kiss on Helene's teal shoulder.

Rising to his feet, John glanced at Alyssa and the pair quietly left the room, the door to Jade's quarters sliding shut behind them.

He stopped in the corridor and pulling the blonde into a hug. "That poor girl. She's lost whole generations of her family to the Kirrix... it doesn't even bear thinking about."

"I always thought Abandoned families were messed up, sending their kids off to different villages and never seeing them again," Alyssa said embracing him just as hard. "But I think in this case, it might actually be a blessing."

"Shit!" John cursed, his eyes widening. "What about her parents?!"

Alyssa considered it for a moment, then her face fell. "I don't know... but the odds aren't good. Abandoned females start giving birth once a year from about sixteen and Helene had thirteen older siblings. That means Riva must have been at least 30 when she had Helene... and that was 22 years ago."

"So her mother is 52, maybe older?" he asked, now looking just as bleak. "After Riva stopped being able to have children, how long would she last farming the kelp beds before she got sick or injured?"

"It's back-breaking work... We could ask Helene but I'd prefer not to."

"Yeah, she's got enough to deal with already," he agreed, nodding despondently.

Alyssa gave him a tender kiss on the cheek. "I'm really glad you decided to send Lilyana's fleet to stop the slave trade. At least we'll know that no more Abandoned are being murdered."

"Yeah, me too." He grimaced and continued, "I just wish I hadn't slept for so long after the fight. I really wanted to see Lilyana and the assassins before we left and thank them personally for everything they've done."

*It will mean the world to them if you can visit their ship, even if only briefly,* Edraele urged him. *I was also hoping that you could address the crews of the Maliri fleet to thank them on my behalf.*

"We can spare an hour," Alyssa said, looking into his eyes. "There's still huge numbers of Trankarans in need of treatment, so the girls can continue to help until we get back."

"You're right; an hour's delay won't make any real difference," he conceded, turning towards the grav-tubes.

Alyssa wrinkled her nose as she studied him. "John... you can't go like that!"

He glanced down at the wrinkled jumpsuit he'd been wearing since the battle. "Alright, let's go change."

She hooked her arm in his and walked with him towards the Captain's Quarters at the end of the corridor. When they entered the bedroom, she steered him right into the bathroom.

"Shower first, then clean clothes," she stated in a tone that brooked no argument.

He nodded, throwing a pensive glance at the high-backed leather chair as they passed it by.

"Faye's just sleeping, remember?" Alyssa said with an optimistic smile as she stripped off her own jumpsuit. "We'll rebuild her, it's just a matter of time."

John unfastened his own jumpsuit and followed her into the cubicle. "I really hope so."

Alyssa activated the shower and they soaped each other down, which ended up with John holding his young fiancée in an intimate hug.

*Do you want to talk about what else happened?* she asked softly, using telepathy to be heard over the shower.

He was quiet for a long moment, just letting the streams of water wash over him and make him feel clean once more.

Alyssa kissed his cheek, looking up at him with sympathy.

*I liked it...* he finally admitted, having trouble meeting her eyes. *A million Kirrix dead in an instant... and it felt good.*

*Of course it did; you just saved thousands of innocent Trankarans from being ripped apart by Kirrix grubs. Way to go, Lion!*

He didn't answer for a while, his thoughts conflicted. *I could feel their life being snuffed out... I shouldn't feel good about that.*

*The Kirrix are bad guys, John,* she said earnestly. *Fuck them. That's been our motto for the last 8 months, right?*

*Yeah, but where do we draw the line?* he asked, a troubled look in his eyes. *Now we're talking about wiping out the Brimorians? There's billions of them, Alyssa... what kind of a monster would I be if I condoned that kind of slaughter?*

*There's a billion Abandoned too,* Alyssa reminded him. *The Brimorians have killed god-knows how many already and they'll keep doing it, selling them off by the millions to be slaughtered by the Kirrix. If bad guys do something that evil, I say all bets are off.* She waited for a moment, then continued, *Let me ask you something: If you had to choose between the Abandoned or the Brimorians to have a place in the galaxy, who would you pick?*

*The Abandoned,* he replied without hesitation.

Her lips curved up in to a smile. *Okay, so that's decided then. If it comes down to a matter of survival between the two, we look after the good guys and fuck up the bad guys.*

*It's not quite as simple as that,* he said with a rueful frown.

*I think it is,* she said solemnly. *Life is a struggle... a violent one a lot of the time. People fight over territory, resources... anything and everything, and have done throughout galactic history. This has been going on for millions of years, starting with Xar'aziuth and the Kyth'faren. Can we find some kind of peaceful solution between the Abandoned and the Brimorians? Yeah, probably. But at the end of the day, you have to pick a side and do what you think is right.*

*So you wouldn't have any qualms about wiping out their entire species?* he asked, looking into her eyes.

She shrugged nonchalantly. *If it comes down to that, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. The Brimorians were never going to just free the Abandoned from slavery, not without us killing a shitload of those cruel bastards... that's been inevitable right from the start.*

John considered that for a moment, then reluctantly nodded his agreement. *I suppose that's true, but killing on this scale... doesn't that make us as bad as them?*

*Nope!* she replied with conviction.

He looked at her in surprise. *You're that certain?*

*Yeah, absolutely!* Alyssa said vehemently. *It's not like we're running around looking for species to exploit, abuse, and murder! We've been forced to fight these shitbags, because if we don't, they'll keep on killing innocent people who are too weak to protect themselves. We're nothing like the Kirrix, John. Where the fuck was their restraint when they exterminated the Mhoirad? Or what about the dozens of other species they've wiped out over the last 70,000 years?!*

Startled by her outburst, he struggled to come up with a counter-argument.

*Just think about all those Kirrix you lobotomised; would any of the drones have ever demanded a stop to the Kirrix preying on sentient species?* she asked, looking deep into his eyes. *How about the grubs? Would they have grown up to challenge the Hive Mind?*

He knew the answer immediately. *No. The Hive Queens make the decisions, but the rest of the Kirrix are happy to go along with their genocides. From what I've seen of Kirzuxa's and Irnaxxa's memories, there's never been any dissent from the drones in thousands of years.*

*There's your answer then,* she said firmly. *You basically took out a million murderers in one go. Nice job!*

He smiled and hugged her tight. *Why do I have a feeling you'd be supportive whatever I'd done?*

Alyssa pulled back and shook her head. *I'm not just telling you this to make you feel better. The Kirrix are evil... and so are the Brimorians. As long as they continue to be a threat to innocent people, we're doing a good thing by killing as many of them as possible. I believe that 100%.*

John felt a surge of relief, having been completely open with Alyssa about his feelings and not receiving any condemnation for it. Giving her a grateful smile, he shut off the shower. "Thanks for hearing me out. It was good to talk about it."

"It's what I'm here for," she said, returning his smile with a warm one of her own. Her eyes twinkled as she added, "Among other things..."

He laughed and stepped out of the cubicle, using one of the auto-driers on himself before helping her to fluff out her long golden hair.

Alyssa held out her hand. "Come on, let's go pick out something for you to wear."

John followed her through to the walk-in-wardrobe, where she made a beeline for one of the dozen protective suit carriers that hung on the clothes rails.

"Here, try that on," she suggested, before turning and strolling along her vast array of clothing to select her own outfit.

Unzipping the carrier, John found a white suit inside, the glint of gold from the trim reminding him of his Terran Federation Lion uniform. He pulled out the high-collared jacket to take a better look, then studied it curiously, the sharp design oddly familiar.

"I don't remember seeing this in here before..." he murmured, turning the jacket to study the ornate golden scrollwork. Suddenly he knew exactly why it looked so familiar. "What the hell?! This is a copy of Mael'nerak's outfit!"

Alyssa nodded as she trailed her finger across the row of long dresses. "Yes, from the video archives Tashana recovered... except it's white rather than black."

"I can see that! What's it doing here?!" he balked.

"I made it for you weeks ago," she replied conversationally, making her choice and picking out a flowing white garment. "I think you look fantastic in those colours."