All Comments on 'Three Square Meals Ch. 046'

Awesome chapter! Your story pacing and dialogue is improving each chapter, you can see that trend in the scores each chapter gets. Consistently above 4.8 since chapter 25 means you must be doing something right!

Cheers!

Xentian

Just so I can see if time-travel is possible.

Screw causality, I wanna read this whole thing NOW.

:D

Damn you rock.

You took me very high in the climax of last chapter but didn't deliver in this one. I was very very eagerly waiting to see some serious action after that cliffhanger but it was not to be.

I'm going to be reading this story through 2016. We're at chapter 45, have visited only 2 of 4 upgrade destinations, only just met the bad guy, haven't found Johns mother, and need to bring a close to the war (or even up the Terran genetic disadvantage); I'm guessing at least another 45 chapters (at 2/week... 22 weeks...).

... I actually lose sleep refreshing Teflers author page waiting for new chapters to post. Darned addictive story!!!

-TM

. . . yet again, great writing!

New chapters are published at 5:00 AM UTC, but the author's list doesn't get updated until 6:30 or 7:00. Load the last chapter in a web browser an change the address appropriately. For example, in this case, load chapter 45 and replace the 5 with a 6.

Another chapter of a story i check for updates daily! YIPEE! Keep up the good work and i cant wait to see if john at least scared the blue woman straight. I wait with baited breath for more! 5 Stars.

If you can not figure out what happened I can picture it in my imagination and I am willing to share.

Mario world boss comes at dark meta John.

Light sabre sounds.

Mush.

This chapter didn't end on a cliffhanger. Not that I mind, it just seemed...odd.

Here's a thought...I wonder if Steinbeck Armory has realized that they sold armor to John, the Lion of the Terran Federation? If they have, I imagine that they'd definitely be trying to capitalize on his fame for marketing purposes, such as "Buy this armor, the same model used by Commodore John Blake, the Lion of the Terran Federation! And you too can be like him!" Same goes for the people he bought his guns from.

By the way, is Dana able to make guns from scratch? I know all the guns they're currently using she modified from ones John bought, but what happens if they lose a few? Will John have to go buy new ones and then have Dana modify them again, or can Dana just craft them up? I would imagine that she could, considering she's now starting on designing custom armor from scratch, not just taking a preexisting set and modding it.

This also begs the question of how is she able to replicate alien tech using the Terran-designed equipment she has in her workshop? Has she modified any of her workshop equipment yet? What'll happen when and if she comes across something her workshop currently can't reproduce and Alyssa can't psi-shape?

I would have liked to see more of Progenitor John in action but I'm betting that spoilers got in the way.

This is actually the first time I've commented on this site. This story is one of, if not the best I've read on this site and I find myself refreshing the latest chapter multiple times a day to look for new comments as they are almost as interesting as the story itself, not to mention eagerly wanting to know when the next chapter will be available. The only real problem I have with this story is the ending because it will feel like my friends have moved somewhere that I cant talk to them once a week ;)

As far as Dana building weapons she already has, ch 40 pg 5, "I thought we converted all the old XR75's into railguns?" he asked Dana curiously.

She nodded energetically before she answered him, "That's right! I made ten railguns, but they make far too much of a mess of the firing range, so I created some standard assault rifles for us to practice with instead. They're about the same weight as the upgraded versions, and handle pretty similarly, so it's a good practice weapon before moving on to the real thing."

Whew that was a long one... keep up the good work Tefler

Please can we get to the good parts already, so frustrating when you wait days for wat you hope is them arriving only to get a boribg anaytical chapter, but well writen none the less

Good to see that most of you enjoyed the chapter. I'll explain about the fight with shroomzilla in a separate comment.

RE: Jedi_Khan

"By the way, is Dana able to make guns from scratch? "

As firebird71 mentioned, she was able to easily replicate the standard XR-75 assault rifles, so she could fabricate more modified railguns if necessary.

She hasn't built any new weapons from scratch...yet!

"I wonder if Steinbeck Armory has realized that they sold armor to John"

That's a very good idea, and I'm really tempted to do something with it. Unfortunately for the Steinbeck marketing division they might have left it a bit too late, as Dana + Alyssa have started redesigning their gear.

"Has she modified any of her workshop equipment yet?"

She hasn't built any new manufacturing equipment yet, but that is coming very soon, to utilise some of the new tech she acquired.

Re: anonymous regarding loading the pages

Yep, that's what I do when I'm checking to make sure a chapter has submitted. Modifying the page number to the correct chapter will let you know if its up, or still awaiting moderation.

I saw from the comments that a couple of you were hoping to see Progenitor_John in action, and see him hacking apart the big Shroom beast. The reason I didn't is because:

1) No crew witnessed the fight.

When John is no longer himself, he's not really the protagonist any more. Alyssa was knocked out, while Irillith only saw the start of the battle and is also not part of the crew. The first time Progenitor_John used his super strength, Alyssa was there and watching (dismembering the pirate cyborg). The next time it happened with the Drakkar, the cameras on the Invictus captured everything, and besides, it was simply a continuation of the same ability.

2) Avoiding a tedious reveal later, and building anticipation for a future scene.

If I had described the fight in detail, then when the crew witness it later (if he learns how to use it!), the subsequent scene will lose it's impact. The reader would be thinking "Yeah, I've seen all this already, why are you making such a big deal about it?"

As it is, I'm hoping you guys are still looking for finding out what actually happens when he hits someone with a flaming sword. ;-)

3) When something amazing happens, its fun to have the crew discuss it afterwards

And as I mentioned above, no one from the crew witnessed it, so they can't have a post-awesome debrief.

So that was my reasoning behind not detailing the fight. I hope that makes it a bit less disappointing. :-)

I was just wondering with this being futuristic. Why don't they have built in cameras in their helmets? We have that in our military, & it would make sense, seeing that they are far more advanced than us. Love the story. I believe it would make a great movie, maybe R-rated!!! Or even PG-rated. Thanks & I hope it keeps going for a long time. 5 stars!!!!!!!

To my camping trip. Read this chapter while sitting in front of the campfire in the morning, feeling toasty and warm while enjoying a great story.

I do feel bad about that genocide.

I hope John can express his disgust

with the Maliri, specially Irillith's mother,

who seems like a real badass.

In regards to meeting the Maliri.. With cedarans warning and being used as unwitting pawns while following an untrustworthy "ally" into unknown territory... Some concern some discussion on how to capture her for interrogation perhaps even hailing the ship and recording her confession.

Another side note; Johns self doubt and solutions to "fix" the threat of his progenitor self by running away is pretty lame especially for a 40 something year old.

I love this story but may I suggest you have Alyssa make some armour for Jade when she is a Tiger. Jade may have claws but that is no good against guns etc. Perhaps chain link as she would have to put it on as a tiger without hands - something to crawl into? I am thinking if the shooting starts she would be vulnerable, of course as the Author that may never happen!

That was great can't wait until the next chapter sounds like the maliri home world is going to be full of back stabbing ass holes

First, something I don't think you considered is that for John to be able to lift tons in weight his body would have to be incredibly tough to support that weight and to also not tear apart from his own strength. Which means that the hit he took from that Fulmanax behemot shouldn't have hurt him that much. Or maybe it should. I don't know the physics behind how tough specific parts of his body would need to be so it would not tear apart from his own strength and would be able to support tons in weight.

Second, with John's and Calara's military background I thought they would have thought of requesting for information on the capabilities of the Fulmanax before going inside a nest of them. It felt out of character when they didn't think of doing this. Maybe Irillith wouldn't have given that information to them or wouldn't even have it, but them not requesting for it felt out of character.

Third, you should make John and the girls more paranoid. I facepalmed when they discovered Ceraden's convenient disappearance and didn't suspect any kind of foul play. This isn't the first time when your characters should have gotten suspicious of something and didn't. You don't need to make them act on their suspicions, and their suspicions don't have to be right, but it makes them look naive when they don't get suspicious at all.

Fourth, I hope you don't get the impression I don't like your story from this comment. You write incredibly well and I hope you continue writing.

Not sure if I missed it but not seen/read the Rachels orgasm induced linking that the other girls have had with Alyssa, that was hinted to be coming?

Anticlimatic :/

Sorry, I vehemently disagree.

You absolutely cannot have a well written story without background information. It all has to fit together so the action scenes have meaning. It is not all about the adrenaline rush!....It is about good storytelling. Something at which Tefler is counted as a master in my humble opinion. This chapter was necessary to reset the foundational knowledge base for the readers after the new revelations. What you seem to fail to realize is Tefler uses these moments to educate the reader to his vision which makes the story so much more rich and addictive. All great works, written or otherwise, do this...for very good reasons.

On another note: I have to agree and disagree about the Ceraden "business trip" situation. If you recall, it was mentioned as curious, but there was no reason at the time to expect foul play on the part of the characters. Now, with this latest development, that will not be the case, and I suspect Tefler is not finished with Ceraden as a character in this story.

I was kinda right on the whole psychic draining thing and johns progen mode. But I have some questions. First, how the hell is Alyssa not more critically injured? That piller weighted what, 20 tones? In my memory I can't remember Dana saying that the armour can protect against that much weight.

Also, why does John call Rachel "Thrall" but does not even recognize Dana? It seems that Progen john would recognize Dana more because he has 'mated' with her more, also progen John HAS seen Dana injured before. I think it was the fight with the drakkar. It's just a little strange to me.

My final question, in the next chapter will we see Irilith freak out? Because I LOVE seeing her freaked out about John. Sorry, I went back on my promise. But is Irilith's mother one of johns fathers mates? Like John would be her Step son or something like that? I think that might be the case because in an earlier chapter you wrote that once a progenitor has found a permenint mate, they are basically immortal. So, johns dad could be like, 5,000 years old or something like that and started to hook up with Irilith's mother (Sorry, I kinda forgot her name at this moment) way back when and made her immortal too so she could rule a malari house. It could fit.

Well, all in all, good chapter and waiting for the next one! (Seriously, if I don't get my fix of this once every four days or so, I get antsy and suffer from withdrawal)

Sincerly, I guy who has been reading since chapter five came out.

Ill go through them in the sequence they were posted (and thanks to everyone for the nice comments).

Re: armour updates

"Why don't they have built in cameras in their helmets?"

It's a good point, and if they had a commander back on the ship running the away missions, then they would be really useful. As it is, John is there on all of them, so the helmet cams haven't been necessary. If you meant for recording his Progenitor_John rampage, the helmet got smashed and destroyed, so wouldn't have been of use..

Re: Should the crew be that excited

You raise some good points. I partially address them getting concerned in chapter 47, but that's mostly because he wants to leave them on the ship, as stated in the dialogue in this chapter. The girls are generally pretty optimistic, and leave most of the worrying to John. Being young and specifically having trouble even thinking about John dying, they tend not to be overly cautious, which can get them in trouble sometimes.

Re: Jade armour

I had considered having Jade running around in armour like battlecat, but as you discuss in your comment, putting on the armour when she's not in cat-form becomes an issue. I'll give it some more thought.

Re: Some nitpicks

"for John to be able to lift tons in weight his body would have to be incredibly tough "

I've got that covered. I'll go into it in more detail in a future chapter, as Rachel clears through her research backlog!

"John's and Calara's military background... information on the capabilities of the Fulmanax"

Good point. I thought about it, and had them wanting to contact Ceraden, but then forgot to write the follow up conversation with Irillith. She would have fobbed them off with "they're mushroom men" or something along those lines in any case.

"Ceraden's convenient disappearance and didn't suspect any kind of foul play"

They did comment that it seemed odd at the time. The short answer is, I didn't feel like writing a ton of filler where they ask Irillith to wait a bit, dock with Geniya, go over to Ceraden's offices, only to find them a) closed or b) told by an assistant he wasn't there. So I skipped it. :-)

No, seriously!

As an object travels at speeds greater than the speeds of the objects around it, for instance in a space ship, the relative time of the stationary objects, from the perspective of the spacecraft, speeds up. So the space ship, and those in it, move into the future of the stationary object. This is dramatic in the case of a fast traveling spaceship, but it also holds true for you driving past a friend who is standing beside the road....you are literally moving by infintesimal amounts into that friend's future.

This was proven some decades ago with two atomic clocks, set at exactly the same second. One was stationary at an Air Force base while the other went on a supersonic flight around the world...the one on the plane, when compared to the one stationary, moved over a second into the future of the stationary clock. This all ties into Einstein's theory of relativity.

Scifi writers tend to ignore this little bit of esoteric information or incorporate it by using worm-hole-type technology to 'bend' space (like two corners of a piece of paper--you bend the paper so the two corners are side by side, step to the other corner, and unfold space so you are light years away in an instant). In this scenario, time remains relatively constant for both the stationary and the moving objects. The level of the 'bend' in the space/time continuum reducing the time to travel from one place to another. At speeds above the speed of light, the time paradox becomes a bit more interesting and the math involved is still in development. This is further complicated once physicists figured out the speed of light is not constant and that even different wavelengths of light travel at different speeds.

Re: Rachel

"Rachels orgasm induced linking ... was hinted to be coming?"

Nice pun! ;-) Don't worry, you haven't missed Alyssa bonding with her yet. It isn't actually linked to an orgasm, there's something else that's the real trigger. That hasn't happened for Rachel yet, but I'll get to it.

Re: PussyLickersRus

Thanks for the compliments. :-)

Re: Looking forward to the next one.

"I was kinda right on the whole psychic draining thing and johns progen mode."

Well done. :-)

"First, how the hell is Alyssa not more critically injured? "

She stopped it inches before it landed on them, robbing it of its momentum. Also, she held up 20 tons in the air, but when it hit the ground, breaking up into smaller pieces, there was considerably less weight on them.

"why does John call Rachel "Thrall" but does not even recognize Dana"

This is a tricky one to answer without spoilers. John didn't recognise either of them as individuals. The only metaphor that springs to mind is this: You work in a big company and go on a company-wide team building day. You speak to some guy from another department, and know he works for your company, but have no clue as to his name or anything else about him.

"progen John HAS seen Dana injured before"

He was on Deck Nine the entire Drakkar fight. She got hurt in the Engineering Bay (Deck Seven).

"Because I LOVE seeing her freaked out about John."

lol you sadist. :-) She's pretty evil though, so it's always nice when bad guys get their comeuppance.

"But is Irilith's mother one of johns fathers mates?"

You'll have to wait and see. I'd get lynched if I put a massive spoiler like that in the comments!

"I guy who has been reading since chapter five came out."

Nice to have had you along for the ride all this time! Thanks for continuing to follow the story.

A possible solution for Jade's armor is to make it adapt (partially) to her body shifting. When she changes to her tiger form, the front part of her armor opens and part of the helmet and arms protection drop to the ground, leaving a (possibly partial) protection to her back and head.

There is a character I keep imagining and I hope you have someone like her in this story: a younger syster of Irillith who is a rebel and doesn't accept Maliri society, seen as naive and the black sheep of the family/house, who ends up helping John against her mother and syster. Give us a Maliri we can love.

Also, I have a question: how much do you have planned and how much do you create as you write? Your world seems very well developed. Is it something you were imagining for a long time and finaly decided to write a story? Or you created it just for this?I'm also hopping to read more about your other storyline in the same world (but not now). You use something that Tokien used: you explore the world much more than the story needs, letting your readers imagine other possible stories you may eventualy write.

"how much do you have planned and how much do you create as you write?"

The main story arc is planned out in advance, but it's not completely set in stone. I've had a few more ideas recently, so I made a few tweaks here and there, to fit them into my list of destinations, and key events that have to occur on that timeline.

I tend to think of certain specific scenes and important characters in advance. 90% of the detail I make up as I go, and just expand and adapt it to fit around the key events that have to occur.

For example, my prepared notes for the Fulmanax mission were: "Irlllith sends them off on a side mission against a Fungoid species. Alyssa gets wounded." Everything else including their name I made up on the fly.

"Is it something you were imagining for a long time and finally decided to write a story? Or you created it just for this?"

I started writing on a whim about seven months ago. I had a few vague ideas about the main plot when I wrote the first chapter, but many things just happened organically as I went. By about Chapter 10, I had firmed up the main things I wanted to cover in the overall story.

First of all to all those who are disappointed with the pace of this chapter, don't be. It mirrors real life to a certain degree, you don't go out everyday and have epic adventures do you? Then when all is said and done after an epic adventure you take time to savour it. Secondly, Tefler, when is Alyssa going to improve the psychic connection between herself and Rachel and lastly as lowly and scum bag worthy Illrith seems it would be nice to see her drafted to the Invictus crew for a 'redemption path' of sorts, plus the fact the after cheering up a bit her and Jade would probably get along like a house on fire.

Given that they now have Rachael's knowledge -- if not 'expertise' per-se -- in how psychic DNA seems to be formatted, I wonder if it would be possible to bio-augment their armor; either with strictly 'emergency defense' systems which could attempt to block or divert things which might otherwise kill or seriously injure the occupant, or potentially with 'active' systems which could work under the user's control. Actually, come to think of it, putting psychic-augmentation into the suits might be even better, as they could potentially allow otherwise-non-psychic users the ability to access latent psychic abilities.

Also, given (again) Rachael's knowledge, as well as examples of psychic DNA in both Alyssa AND John, I'm surprised they haven't attempted to replicate them under controlled conditions to see if they can narrow-down the source of the abilities, in terms of genetic potential.

Or rather....I'm surprised it hasn't been *mentioned* yet -- not having the tech to do it is one thing, but not even thinking of it is something else...

;)

...because the Lit. comment-submission form doesn't auto-expand the page's boundaries so that the "Preview Comment" button stays above the page Footer, and thus remains visible (and clickable) to anyone with a propensity for writing longer comments (such as myself).

ANYWAYS...

On-Topic:

Also, it's a theory of mine that the reason Progenitor_John only emerges when Alyssa is in danger is precisely because she's 'shielding' him, in a sense, from the (apparently genetically-pre-programmed) 'darker' half of his Inner Self. (Remember those dream sequences where the 'Angel of Light' saved John? Yeah. That.)

It wouldn't surprise me to learn that given their own extensive genetic modifications to OTHER species, the Progenitors long-ago removed from themselves that which would otherwise be thought of as empathy in our species, simply to make themselves more efficient conquerors.

It's easier to slaughter other species without hesitation when you give exactly zero shits, and not even a single flying fuck, about what it would feel like from their perspective.

Would make for much more efficient soldiers -- they'd never bother questioning orders. "You want us to commit planetary genocide? Sure, we'll be back by Tuesday. Oh, and we'll save some genetic information from them. You never know what might make a nice slave, amirite?"

OK I'm addicted now I've read all the chapters it took a while but I did it now I have to ask how long until the next chapter I'm dying to find out what awaits them on the maliri home world

I'm waiting for the m moment when Irillith mother tries to show off her psychic powers as a reason for her right to be matriarch, just for Alyssa to go all "bitch please" on her ass and show what a true matriarch is supposed to be capable of. Even better if she bitch slaps Irillith in the process.

@cittran: progenitors aren't soldiers, but rulers. Empathy can allow you to understand what drives your enemy and how to use it against them, so removing empathy doesn't make them more efficient in any way. Being empathetic doesn't automatically make you sympathetic, and understanding the suffering of those you kill doesn't necessarily make you forget your reasons to kill them.

Most comments picture the Progenitors as the big baddies, but for all we know at this point they could as well be the gardeners of the galaxy's life, seeding new life here and there, while cutting "rotten branches" somewhere else.

First. Welcome aboard the good ship Invictus to Superchef and joining fellow addicts.

Second. Terra-Lupus has summed it up pretty well. That there are plateaus of normality between spikes of action is just life. If you have been on the journey from Chapter 1, that's how Tefler writes his world. If you are after combat, violence and mayhem every chapter you are going to be disappointed. So bare with and wait for the battle and chaos because they are worth the wait and the previous chapters build to that clevely.

Battlecruiser

Glad you liked the Steinbeck Armory idea. Please give into the temptation and run with it. I'd be very interested to see what happens. Plus, even though John already has silly amounts of cash, he doesn't have an income, so once he actually starts spending it, all that money won't last long. Unless of course he somehow finds a way to get all the Invictus upgrades "pro bono."

As for Dana making replacement weapons, I had forgotten about her making new XR-75s for training purposes. But that still leaves the question of can she make the parts to upgrade them to the railguns, specifically the Ashanath power cores that were used? I seem to recall that the power cores in the guns they're currently using were provided by the Ashanath, not ones that Dana made, and put out considerably more power than a Terran power core of the same size.

Here's another thought...are we going to see Rachel's father at any point? We know that she bailed on the family business and supposedly cut all ties to her family, but that doesn't necessarily mean that her father isn't trying to keep track of her just in case. Remember Miranda from Mass Effect? Yeah...that, except...you know...your version. I imagine that if Rachel's father was keeping track of her, he's probably going nuts trying to track her down after the Iota-Leonus incident.

Best sci-fi ever

Next chapter plz

Five stars again and please hurry with the next chapter.

Many thanks for such a great read.

The way the mass fabricators are described, they sound like highly advanced 3d printers. Thus Dana can make anything as long as she has the design specification, the raw materials, and the mass fabricator can work with these materials. Furthermore, Dana is shown to be a genius at reverse engineering design specifications. Therefore, as long as she has been able to examine an object closely enough, she can probably make copies - and that is not limited to Terran technology.

Maliri are not even the last of the planned shopping trip visits.

New engines and lasers after the new lasers.

Do not rush.

It will be finished so soon even with another 50 chapters likely that we will all be sad when it is finished.

There are other side trips to help extend. Finding the Terran double agents. Visit to New Eden to find justice for Rachel's mother. Getting the full dis closure from the Ashanath. The finale against another progenitor.

Just enjoy. If you feel like whining just ask for your money back... Now you should be thinking this is a pretty sweet deal. Just enjoy.

Armor - was tried of complaining about it failing, now is the chance to have is powered = giving the girls capabilities. extra strength or speed, hovering / flight (they do have anti grav tech), and of course massive firepower.

Supporting crew - drones, clones, tanks, something! as despite their accuracy and abilities the sheer numbers of Fulmanax almost overwhelmed them.

Girls powers - John's power is increasing, Alyssia definitely, it's about time for some quantum leap for one of the other girls.

A/I - still open from before, both with the federation ship and Dana's robots.

John's naivety? after 20 years in service about time to stop being mister nice guy and maybe threaten (bluff) the Maliri?

Anon, I think the Brimorians are for the shield upgrades! The Maliri lasers upgrade may just be a little overkill if they were to upgrade them even further after Calara has become so good with the gunnery on the Invictus. Very interested to see what Dana comes up with in regards to new armor solutions with Maliri crystals. Wonder if she will combine those with etherite crystals to make psychically receptive crystal based armor?

Xentian

Also acceptable is to turn her into a crew member and make that bitch their sub slut for eternity. Being who they are she would be made to enjoy it so much that humiliation and pain really would not punish her, but providing the pain and degradation would help relieve the urge to kill her. Keep in mind that they make the personality amplified. Irrilith amplified would need to be bound and flogged pretty frequently.

Right-click footer, "inspect element". Select the element that says <div id="b-footer>, go to element.style on the right-hand-side and add "display:none".

Now you can make your comments as large as possible :-)

This is not the nature or the character of the crew/John. There WILL be consequences, but I do not see her becoming a permanent fixture in the story. They have no need of a sub/pain slut in the warm loving environment they have created. I'm sure if you look up the tag "alien" in the BDSM category you will find what you're looking for.

@kaiser27

'First, something I don't think you considered is that for John to be able to lift tons in weight his body would have to be incredibly tough to support that weight."

I think Tefler did consider this. My idea would be that he uses his hidden psy powers. Just like he did not know he was shielding his mind until he was told about it, I think that he uses it the same way with this strength thing. That way you don't need to worry about his body giving out on him and tearing him apart.

Just think about the possibilities of anything a person could do, and then add some way of using psy power to make it better/stronger/tougher/faster. If you can believe that someone has psy powers, how hard is it to make the strech to have it power all normal abilities beyond their normal max? For me... I thought that way before reading this story and has made the journey all the more exiting for me.

next point

'Third, you should make John and the girls more paranoid. I facepalmed when they discovered Ceraden's convenient disappearance and didn't suspect any kind of foul play.'

This makes me cringe as well, but in a good way. The way Tefler describes John and the girls, well, they are just kind people in their cores. If that makes sense. They all hate violence, but are not afraid to use it when needed. They tend to rely on honesty and only start suspecting people after they prove not to be trustworthy. So, it is totally in line with their personalities. (But it is Naive yes.) You would think that after so many battles one would get desensitized to that inherrently good part. The fact that John still has that 'trust' shows how strong he is in his mind. I love them all the more for it. (But I still facepalm when they miss something that is obvious to us readers :) )

The way Tefler describes his writing style. I feel more a kindred spirit then even before. It is how I put together the stories that my vtm rp friends play with me. (I just don't write them down... maybe I should give it a go...) but Seriously... still awesome.

So, Tefler, if you ever get stuck on something or just want someone to bounce ideas from that is just as nuts as you are. PM me and I will get back to you the same day ^^

I suppose we are just clogged with content so it hasn't fit yet but Rachel needs Allysas special talk. I feel for her trauma and wish I had Allysas kind thoughts. In my head. It is not a matter of if but when before stress flakes Rachel out again.

Just re-read the series, still loving it. With what has been seen so far I don,t see Irillith joining the crew. I don't see John killing her as punishment, probably will pity her after learning more about her lifestyle, but at this point I don't see her as worthy of redemption. She did mention another Maliri who told her of the progenitors so we may get introduced her soon. Since Tefler loves his foreshadowing, maybe John will get lucky and meet a girl who is still holding onto her goodness while surviving among the Maliri. My fingers are crossed on her being Ceraden's daughter or granddaughter.

from near death rage to happy felt a little too fast. I don't comment on abilities as it's science fiction but that change took me by a huge surprise. kind of took the suspense out of all future injuries to the crew which is fine with me but something that's the opposite of what rr martin would have done cuz of emotional buildup cementing another cliffhanger the lack of which was a surprising change on this chapter.

tiny constructive feedback, no offense intended

-Devil

Long time reader, first time commenter. Let me start with saying how much I love this series and that the world building never ends giving us a huge universe to explore. The action is great, the sex is always enjoyable and inventive, but it's the simple "dull" chapters like these that I really like when you take the time to breathe and learn more about this amazing world.

Now for my other thoughts. Alyssa's faith that John will never hurt them even when his darker inner-self comes to the fore is admirable, but somewhat naïve. John may be willing to lay down his life for his family, but from what we know of the Progenitors, I don't doubt that ProJohnitor wouldn't hesitate to suck the life out of all his thralls if necessary to keep himeslf alive. A body wants to live and instincts do what they must. But nothing has really changed; it's a dangerous galaxy and there will be more battles to come. They can't just hide away on some remote world, though that's what I'd want to do in John's place. I guess I just wanted to share that thought and it was an excuse to coin the phrase "ProJohnitor." :)

Really looking forward to the next chapter, just like every time I read the latest available. Can't wait to see what Dana comes up with for the new armor. Keep up the good work!

Interesting feedback, thanks!

I've started on chapter 48, so after I read your comment, I had to skim through 46 to remind myself what happens. :-)

You're correct that the tone changes dramatically from a frantic near death experience, to them chilling out and laughing around the dinner table. If they were just regular people, then you're absolutely right, it would be totally unrealistic for them to be all chipper so quickly. However with the changes that's been made to the girls, they bounce back from injuries and emotional trauma very quickly.

I personally find it hard going as a reader when the main characters are moping around depressed for ages after a traumatic event, but I didn't really lay out the changes above to counter that. It was just something inadvertent, so fast recovery is something you'll see from most fights: Hopefully it should be consistent with the aftermath of previous battles:

Dana nearly being killed (head shot)

Alyssa nearly being killed (heavy laser hit to the back)

Dana's broken arm

John skewered by the Drakkar

If something permanent was to happen to any of them, then that would be an entirely different story. But they haven't had to deal with anything like that so far.

Hi Tefler,

Loving this story so much, can we please have a man in a blue box come visit and Vogons too please?

A sexy paranoid android would be fun.

Time for my medication.

Stacey

"it was an excuse to coin the phrase ProJohnitor."

lol very nice!

Thanks for the nice feedback. It's fun to expand the background of the story, and get a bit creative with the different creatures and civilisations in the universe. I try not to throw too much at you in one go, to avoid overwhelming you with new names, and places to remember.

I won't go into your comments about John, Alyssa and thralls, for spoiler purposes, but thanks for sharing your thoughts! :-)

I think back to when Tefler wrote from the perspective of the Drakkar as they engaged the Invictus in combat. I recall that particular chapter being quite popular and surprised a few people! There was a bit of this from Iriliths point of view in this chapter but It could be interesting to see the story from the perspective of a female they rescue (its their habit) from a dire situation. Showing that wild swing of emotions from fear, despair, shock, hope and relief could be an interesting exercise, Ive found it quite difficult to emphasise different emotions over a chapter particularly the swings and the thought processes they create.

Just my 2 cents!

Cheers,

Xentian

Thanks, that's a good suggestion. I have something like that in mind already, but it's a long way off. I'll see what I can come up with. :-)

One thing that might be useful to show later on after they finish with the Maliri and go back to Olympus could be from Charles perspective, it's obvious that TFed high command will be wondering just how John has managed to get all this tech as well as the pressure he might be getting to get access to some of this. The pull between his loyalty to the Federation and his friendship to John, it is quickly becoming apparent that the force projection of a single assault cruiser now rivals that of a battleship especially in terms of survivability and overwhelming firepower! Politics is going to start playing a big factor in the story as more and more powerful factions encounter the Invictus and the ripples that they leave in the galactic community.

Cheers,

Xentian

Will we finally get to see Edraele?

I am waiting for her to be even bigger bitch than Irrilith and how John avoids making her an enemy which would easily put them in their most dangerous situation ever. Deep in Maliri space at their main base?

They need to have relax chapter first I bet, so this was perfect.

"Will we finally get to see Edraele?"

Hopefully you won't have to wait long to find out! I've submitted chapter 47 for moderation.

Does Happy Dance!!!

(or would if i wasn't paraplegic :p )

I agree with Xentian. It might be good to do a bit from the Vice Admiral's perspective, maybe get his take on the changes being made to his old ship. I've been wondering if he's even noticed any of the changes. Surely he's spotted the color change from standard issue grey to black and now white, right? So far I think the only indication that he's noticed the upgrades is when he tried contacting John before the Iota-Leonus attack, thinking that John was still two days away from arriving in system, only to be struck dumb when John pointed out they were already there.

How much longer until the new chapter?

Thanks

Wow. Best space dic story that I have ever read. It is I increadibly clear when reading it. I have to ask if you have read the A New Day A New Me story set by P.O.I. Jade seems kind of based off a part of the story arc. Well done can't wait for the next chapter.

-LordFire

I haven't heard of this one before. I'll have to check it out sometime.

Glad to hear you're enjoying it so far.

Tefler

I want to say I love this story and parts like this where they a killing time are some of my favorite stuff. Joytime is a proper reward.

I want to see Charles perspective as long as it is not a spoiler.

Many soldiers will spend little to no time dwelling on scary escapes. John seems like that type. All alive? Good job so let's celebrate. Suffering the loss of growing up without his mother likely raised his trauma threshold and his crew follows his lead.

I couldn't help but notice the similarity between what'son the stone pictographs and what progenitor-John left to yet another planet.. So is that a coincidence or the greater force of destiny at play here

First off, I want to be sure you know how much I'm enjoying the story. I've had some thoughts that have been building over these 46 chapters, but mainly based on this one: Alyssa seems to get way less attention, affectionate moments, recognition, and plain good lovin than the other women. John has chastised her several times; he has rolled his eyes at her when she expresses interest in designing their uniforms (which, by the way, doesn't that seem flighty and unimportant compared to the genius of Dana, Calara, and Rachel, and the absolute devotion of Jade?). She seems to often be a side piece waiting to instigate John's relationships with the others and he just lets her be the one to tell the others what he wants, when he's not telling them himself. She got a little more attention in the last few chapters but it paled pretty badly to the attention the others seem to get. It almost feels that he wouldn't miss her at all if he didn't need her there to be the hub of the psychic network. And the comment about her being the pimp seemed fitting.

All that felt like it culminated in this chapter with the underwhelming reaction of John to her terrible injuries. He let's Dana draw his attention away from Alyssa's broken body lying in a hospital bed? Really? And no big thoughts from John while he sits at her bedside about how much she means to him? Especially as often as he emotes about the others in day to day thoughts. That's one crappy soulmate.

Maybe I'm taking this too much to heart, but her character seems to be devolving instead of evolving. Yay for her psychic strength growing, but John doesn't shower her with near the praise his three geniuses and his shape shifter get. Does he truly appreciate her and see her as a prize or has he gotten complacent and takes her for granted most of the time? Except as maybe a high-end sexual activities director? A token word of kindness or shared glance here and there gets lost in the bigger shows of appreciation, praise, and affection to the others... in my humble opinion. The way it looks now is that if he had met one of the others first, they would have gotten the psychic connection and she would have been unnecessary.

Again, I really am enjoying the story and look forward to what else you have prepared. I just couldn't help but comment after this chapter. Maybe I'll find a surprise up ahead and this observation will be all for naught. (And I think I'm taking this way too personally. Lol) Keep up the good work!

Thanks for leaving the feedback, it was interesting to read! There's some rocky times ahead for John and Alyssa, but hopefully you'll enjoy how it pans out when you catch up to the latest chapter.

Tefler

I have really been enjoying the story so far. Tefler, you are truly a talented author, keep up the excellent work.

I would love to see Dana develop a hover heavy weapons platform with the visual targeting from the raptor added to the phalanx hud. Perhaps it could do double duty as an emergency liter. I also wish she took Sparks as her surname, so that if others wanted to still use it they would have to call her Ms. Sparks, for some more banter opportunities.

(ex. John: "Ms. Sparks you never cease to amaze me"

Ms. Sparks: "Why thank you Commodore")

As I am only through chap. 46 can't say if this has been implemented, but a monsterpedia with critical target areas added to hud. For example the Drakkar's two hearts approximately highlighted in the hud.

Truly a great read, keep those chapters coming ; )

I've noticed another thing that you haven't done, yet I would have. You have John with his sword, but, none of the women have a Knife or anything that could be a side arm. You have the rifles, but, you don't have anything for the women to use if they run out of ammo or if they are somewhere that they can't carry a rifle or pistol. Just my thoughts as an ex Special Forces type of guy... :)

If the girls are planning on getting pregnant at the same time. Might they want to train their replacements? Then you could have rotating teams of pregnant teens.

So the emergence of the Mael'nerak has Irillith soiling her panties. something that might be more disturbing to her would be the comment from the Captain of her ship saying. " holy crap the terrans just spaced 3 people" and the thoughs of what callous and evil beings crew that ship in the disguise of giddy teen girls.

PS: Oh oh! Run Irillith run. you have been very bad and now the Mael'nerak has come

Canadian Wolf

Is Irillith the next crew member? I can almost see her mother forcing her to go with them

I had wondered about the supplies and ammunition before. Shipyards do not carry ammunition. There’s just to many things that can set them off. Ammunition’s are kept at a weapons facility or base. Since I have not read anything about rockets or torpedoes, I can only guess that the ship’s Gauss guns and small arms ammo is what they are short on. The lasers are energy based systems and they got plenty of power. The mass fabrication systems need raw materials too and after all the components they have been making, those should be running out too. The food supply I wasn’t sure about though.

...you (and us) could have a lot of fun with some chapters dealing with John's domestic life after the battles. Imagine coping with super intelligent children developing psychic, physical and intellectual abilities like their parents! There'd be a horde of diversity, too.

I love your yarns, Tefler. Waiting patiently for the next installment is a character -building trial. Write on, Tef! (Or knit on, with your yarns.)

One of my favorite stories on the site (and a pretty decent read even off the site for that matter). Enjoying the reread, though one nitpick that always got to me. I get that you love the stars and views in space, (hell I do too, some amazing stuff out there and love sci-fi), but you've gotta think about it from their pov.

To people who spend practically every day out in space, the novelty of those "phenomenal views" begin to wane and they'd quickly grow bored without some new relaxing hobbies. Be it watching some holo-net movies/shows, drawing, reading etc, there should be something else to do to relax.

Just my 2 cents, they'd still love the views no doubt about it but I think they'd miss and appreciate other views such as on Oceanus and otehr natural ones when on planets (canyons, mountains, sunsets, beaches etc) since it's different from the monotony of space they see everyday. Love the story, keep up the amazing work! :)

the ship was setup with food and other supplys for a crew of 300 marines plus a crew of about 100 navy personnel for a patrol of maybe 90 to 180 days and if I'm reading the time frame of the story right aprox 2 months have passed since they took delivery of the ship from the navy shipyard, so with a crew of 6 people, they should have enough food for a couple of years. the raw materials for the fabicrators yes I can see a need to resupply. Really like the series and am reading it for 1st time, already on my favorite author/story lists, spent 20 years in military and wish this web site had a military stories listing in the index

The other four girls sat nearby as couples, hugging each other affectionately while they watched the Latina spellbound. When Calara eventually dismounted him, she graciously offered to share, but the other girls declined, and let her savour carrying his cum in her womb.

All chaps are assless, they are designed to protect the legs and go on over lighter trousers. This is like carrying a shield: You're still wearing your clothing, but a shield is a lot more awkward to carry constantly, so you can easily set down the shield, or take off the chaps, and still have your more comfortable clothing on.

So chaps are assless, just like a thong is assless (chaps do not even have the "crack string," however), but people wearing them are only exposing their assess if they are wearing only the chaps (or only a thong).

Alyssa continues to grow in psychic powers. He really needs to step up. This blackout thing is annoying. Especially while they are in the territory of such scheming, lying and dangerous "guests". Hope I don't sound worried 😬😖

Oh, it is such a pleasure to read this huge novel.

It's filled wiht courgious sex, intemit love making and great fighting.

And to top it off, it is still all sublime connected.

After finishing the last chapter, I can only hope that you started a new book, equaly enchanting.

I have love sci-fi stories since I learned what a book was... and Tef's Three Square Meals: The John Blake Chronicles are pretty awesome! I spent twenty years in the U.S. military and while some parts of the story click with me, others are a little bit like fingernails screeching on a chalkboard... that said, some of the items that do bother me I can see as useful to the story, and to 'fix' the problem would significantly alter the tale... and I am loving the tale! I just look at it as Tef's alternate reality, 28th century, heavily British influenced, story universe and I don't let myself sweat the small stuff... Please keep writing this wonderful story, it's so good! Thank you! ;-) TTFN

On my reread i feel the mission against the fulmanax has a story hole. As it got nothing to gather from there the orbital bombardment had been an option anyway. Maybe an explanation that orbital bombardment would hinder the colonisation effort due to pollution of the atmosphere or climate changes would have made it more plausible for the maliri to go down there.

The real science fiction here is how John makes smoked bbq ribs in 1 hr, when it usually takes 6 to 7 hrs 😂

I lost count on how many times I have read through this series so far, and I still love it, actually it’s gotten to the point that I skip most of the sex scenes and only get to the action, still read the love scenes though..

speedy, irillith was commanded by her mother to use john to destroy the fulmanax, which means they needed him in combat

How does one make hickory smoked ribs in an hour? Space Magic!

This is great still

Good action scenes. Still loving thus. Am more positive Irillith will join the team??

I confess I’m with Ramaza re the ribs in an hour, I can do decent ribs in 3.5 - 4hrs, but they ain’t smoked and let’s not get into buying “smoked ribs” from a shop, where the smoke comes out of a bottle…. When it comes to sex and plot, I’ll use the same advice they had in the Godfather, “Leave the gun, take the cannoli”, the sex is disposable.

TIMING! from the 1-hour BBQ ribs to the inexact time it takes a Terran 'thrall' to absorb a cum load (full or partial), ... the Author often leaves me scratching my head, ... that Space Magic sure confuses me, .... good tale, lots of action, both in and out of the bedroom, .... ;-) TTFN

Illrith needs a bullet to the leg to learn a lesson I think. Just a quick shot nothing too serious but just painful and annoying as it would hobble her as it healed. Oh and boy would it piss her off. POW right in the thigh….. heavy pistol I think!

4th read through and I know what happening and leg shots are not on the cards but I still think she needs it. Well a lead injection and then a John injection would do the trick. POW POW, a one two combination.

@Micheal56smith… timings… yes I totally agree. I’m thinking half the food the eat is either raw or burnt but since they’ve only eaten rat, Nutri bars, military rations and mi.Italy galley food that they just don’t know that it’s raw or burnt. And well Rachel who has had good and great food is just being polite.

But this is a story so belief suspension is required. However it is mentioned somewhere before or after this chapter that John only cooks using traditional methods aka what we do, so direct heat methods and doesn’t use the ‘cooking machine’ that cooks anything in a minute, because his grandma said it just doesn’t taste the same. So that means normal cooking times are still required.

Since they don’t have a chef that spends the day making food and cleaning up after 6 other people then they definitely need their cooking ‘Space Magic’ to protect them from salmonella at a minimum.

For me to make a traditional beef Rogan Josh curry (no tomato or onion or ginger but using assifoetida and rattan jot) takes me 3 1/2 hours go to woe not including loading up the dish washer afterwards. Their 20 minute lasagna takes me 40 min to make a sauce from scratch and then cook the mince in that while I make a white sauce and the lasagna sheets soak in water. Then 5 min to assemble and 40 min in the oven. So 1 1/2 hours to cook from scratch. Fuck bottled sauce ( I bottle cooked puréed tomatoes I have left over for the off/ winter season) We eat it as a winter meal anyway.

So basically all the food timings are rubbish and just a place holder number to fit it into the story time line. I get the need and truthfully I just don’t care, not really. I tray it as the20 minutes as just a quick slapped together meal and the longer ones as a meal that they have really taken their time and loving care with so they can feed their lovers a special meal. As in I’m only prepared to spend 20 minutes on this food to feed the troops compared to I’m going to devote a couple of hours to this meal to please my lovers.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"Well, don't act that way again, I didn't like it!"

Elevators out, Gravity Lifts in, .... fun idea, until somebody on a stretcher needs to get to the Medical Bay in a hurry, .... so, they must use the cargo lift that goes up into Engineering (same deck level as the Med Bay). For crying out loud, the Invictus is 500 meters (over 1500 feet) long, so why only one set of elevators to start with? they should have kept one elevator running nearby Medical and put the 'fun and fast' Grav lifts elsewhere (I would think close by to: the Main Armory / the Bridge / or the Command Center), to get the crew somewhere that can really use the faster travel time between decks, like to repel boarders or fly/fight the Raptor. smh ... ;-) ttfn

-- I still say they could have a couple of the fast and fun grav-tubes, one tube fore and one tube aft, and still leave a few more regular elevators in between, after all the Attack Cruiser is whooping 500 meters long (that's over 1500 feet) so, plenty of room for another lift or three, ... ;-) ttfn

patiently waiting for the yellow N

Tef's sci-fi universe, ... they still (in the 28th century) cook on stove tops in pans, and they have even burned an egg in one, ... now 'oven' cooking might be a bit more advanced (but not microwave) however still would be faster than our old fashioned (21st century) stoves, ... so cooking times are shorter than today, ... right? .... ;-) ttfn

I like a lot of things about Tef's 28th century, .... and I suppose they'll live longer on the average too, .... spaceships and many worlds, cool gadgets and fine foods, ... yeah, sign me up, ... ;-) ttfn