Three Square Meals Ch. 142

"The crews all volunteered," Calara quietly replied. "Valada didn't order any of them to do this."

"All the autopsies were performed on Maliri that were at least 250-years-old," Rachel clarified. "Many of them were already suffering from degenerative mental or physical conditions brought about by their advanced years."

"Alright, but that still doesn't explain why they kept flying to their deaths," John persisted, waving a hand at the mass of sinister red lines on the map. "Hundreds of Maliri threw away their lives for this!"

"Kythshara is protected by static defences," Calara explained, her expression now as bleak as Rachel's. "Valada already knew that the gun emplacements existed, but she didn't know their precise locations. The scouting missions were intended to track all the defences and allow Valada to plot a safe course to Kythshara that would avoid most of the defence grid. She planned to send the fastest Maliri vessel they had to penetrate those defences, reach Mael'nerak's Throne World and deactivate the device powering the Mists."

"But she obviously never succeeded," John said, grimacing at the pointless waste of life.

"No, Valada grew too sick to continue," Rachel explained. "Her malignant brain tumour triggered agonising migraines, which eventually reached the point where they became unbearable. She sealed herself inside her shrine to Mael'nerak to escape from the constant crippling pain."

John let out a ragged sigh. "So were all those Maliri killed for nothing?"

Calara shook her head, then gave him an optimistic smile. "The Mists block sensors, but that didn't stop the Maliri scouts from visually identifying over a dozen gun emplacements. If we follow through with Valada's initial plan to rush to Kythshara, we should be able to avoid a significant amount of defensive fire."

"Alright, well that's good news at least," John said, perking up considerably. "Have you found a method of countering the brain damage caused by the Mists?"

Calara's smile faded and she sat back in her chair. "No, I'm afraid not."

"We do have a few theories though," Rachel quickly chimed in. "We know that the Mists are designed to prevent intrusion by the Maliri, but I think it's a safe assumption that Mael'nerak would want to keep rivals away too. There is a distinct possibility that the Mists are specifically tailored towards repulsing thralls, which means that only Irillith and Tashana would be affected from our crew. If the twins waited in the Raptor on the periphery of the system, the rest of us could rush to Kythshara and deactivate the field."

"We'd be taking a big gamble that Terrans and Nymphs are unaffected," John said, looking dubious. "I'm not willing to take any chances of the rest of you getting hurt. Trying to heal mental scars is incredibly difficult... and there's no guarantee that either of us could actually undo this kind of trauma. Did you have any other suggestions?"

Calara and Rachel shared a pensive glance, which John happened to notice.

"Alright, what's the problem with this next theory?"

"It's not a problem precisely, but this theory is also untested," the tawny brunette admitted. "It seems likely to me that the field blanketing the nebula is actually psychic in nature. I can't think of any natural phenomena that can penetrate through an armoured hull and would have such dramatic side-effects, so we could treat this like any other psychic attack."

"We've encountered similar psychic auras before," Tashana said, drawing everyone's attention to her. "Nkkrrit was able to unsettle anybody that boarded her ship and the effect worsened as we got closer to her throne room. For those last few steps onto the balcony, it was all I could do not to run screaming in fear from her presence."

"And we've experienced the terror that Xar'aziuth radiates in the Astral. We managed to survive that and I can't imagine the Mists being anywhere near as bad," Irillith added, making those who had visited his terrifying subplane shiver at the disturbing memory. "If the Mists of Loralar are a psychic defence to repel intruders, then we might actually have a way of countering it."

John watched her violet eyes flick across the table and he blinked in surprise as her gaze settled on Helene.

The teal-hued mermaid sat up straighter, reflecting her firm resolve. "I'd like to help however I can."

His natural instinct was to immediately refuse, but John rubbed his chin as he gave the idea serious consideration. "I know you helped thousands of colonists recover from being abused by the Kirrix, and you supported the girls when they were traumatised after we disconnected, but that's very different from defending against an ongoing psychic attack. You'd need to protect the entire crew, including yourself, from a constant mental onslaught designed to terrify us into fleeing the nebula."

"I know it will be difficult, but I'll do my very best to protect everyone," she said earnestly.

John gave her a fond smile. "I don't doubt that for a second, honey... but I don't want to risk you burning yourself out either. This would be the first time you've used your abilities like this and I'm worried that shielding the entire crew would put you under huge strain."

"I understand," Helene said, deflating with disappointment.

"He's right," Alyssa said, sitting up on his lap. "Asking you to protect everyone would be too much, especially when you're trying this for the first time... but what about just a few of us?"

John looked at her curiously. "What've you got in mind?"

"What if we park the Invictus here, then take the Raptor with a small crew?" she explained, turning to face him. "I wasn't affected by Nkkrrit's fear aura, so I shouldn't have any problem resisting this either. You shrugged off the worst of it last time, but that was before you absorbed your guide, and you're by far the strongest out of all of us now. I doubt you'll even notice it."

"So just the two of us then?" John asked, nodding thoughtfully. "That might work... but then we wouldn't need Helene to shield anyone."

Alyssa shook her head and gestured to the twins. "We'll definitely need Tashana for this; she's the most familiar with Mael'nerak and the ancient Maliri. I think Irillith should come too in case we need her hacking skills, and Dana's our best shot at identifying and shutting down whatever device is generating this aura in the Mists of Loralar. If we do run into any serious trouble, we'll end up kicking ourselves if we don't bring Rachel."

"I'd like to join you as well," Jade volunteered, her emerald eyes gleaming. "I'm the only one of us that's actually been to Kythshara before."

"That's six then, including yourself," John said to Helene with concern. "Do you think you'll be able to handle that many?"

"I'm used to working with big groups of people, so six should be easy to manage," the aquatic girl replied, looking pleased. "I'll be able to give each of the girls much more attention."

"Alright, let's give it a try," John said, giving her an encouraging smile. "We'll stay near the outskirts of the system to give you some practice shielding the girls from the Mists. When you're confident that you're able to protect them, we can make a rush for Kythshara."

Calara gave him a look of amused resignation. "I guess I'm in charge of the Invictus until you get back, Admiral?"

"That's normally my line isn't it?" he replied, returning her grin. "Yes please, Captain. One last thing... how powerful are the static defences in place around Kythshara?"

Her expression immediately turned sombre. "Mael'nerak was a highly accomplished engineer with an in-depth understanding of Progenitor technology. Any gun emplacements he left behind are likely designed to repel an assault by a dreadnought, not just a mere thrall fleet. Be very, very careful when you approach Kythshara... I can't stress that more emphatically."

"Duly noted," he said, acknowledging her concern with a nod. "We'll take as many precautions as we can."

Dana frowned in confusion. "Wait a second... why don't we just sneak past them? We could take Larn'kelnar's shuttle, it's got a cloaking device."

Alyssa blanched and shot a pensive look at John.

He felt her tense and gave the blonde a comforting squeeze. "Don't worry, I wouldn't ask you to step foot on that ship again."

"Sorry, I forgot how you reacted to it," the redhead apologised to her friend. "But we could still take the Invictus and leave everyone else behind in the Raptor. If we go in cloaked, we could avoid all the gun turrets."

"I had considered the cloaking device, but using it would be a huge gamble," Calara explained, ruefully shaking her head. "We'd need to deactivate our shields to activate the cloak, which would leave us incredibly vulnerable to attack."

"But they can't attack us if they don't know we're there," Dana persisted.

"Mael'nerak set up these gun emplacements to defend his homeworld, and the only threat dangerous enough to launch an attack on Kythshara would be another Progenitor and his thralls. I think it's extremely unlikely that someone as technically gifted as Mael'nerak wouldn't have found a way to track cloaked vessels. The fact that he detonated his own dreadnought and caught Rahn'hagon in the explosion is ample proof that Mael'nerak knew exactly where his adversary was before he sacrificed himself."

Dana's face fell and she glumly nodded. "Shit... you're right. There's no way he'd blow himself to bits unless he was absolutely sure that he was taking Rahn with him."

"It was a good suggestion, Sparks," John said, giving her a conciliatory smile. "I think Calara's right though; we have to assume that Mael'nerak would've protected Kythshara from intrusion by cloaked ships."

"It's probably for the best," she said with a wry grin. "At least we're not attempting a stealth mission."

They all laughed at her joke, the levity easing the tension in the air. John offered Alyssa a hand and the blonde slid off his lap, allowing him to stand.

"Alright, ladies, time to get geared up," John declared. "Let's see what Mael'nerak left for us to find."