Three Square Meals Ch. 046

They strolled into the Engineering Bay a few minutes later, and looked around for their friends. Alyssa was sitting on Dana's workbench, sketching out designs on a large digital sketchpad, while Calara and Dana were poring over one of the consoles on the Chief Engineer's Podium, chattering excitedly about features to add to the armour. Rachel walked up the illuminated steps to her console, while John strolled over to take a look at Alyssa's designs.

"How are the new designs coming along?" he asked her curiously.

"They aren't finished yet!" the blonde girl protested, hugging the sketchpad to her chest, and preventing him from seeing her work so far.

He smiled at her, and said, "Not even a little peak?"

She shook her head stubbornly, and shooed him away. "Leave me in peace, or I'll design your armour to look like a pair of assless chaps!" she threatened him impishly.

John backed away with his hands in the air, and she giggled as he feigned a panicked expression. He turned and walked over to rejoin Rachel, who was busy preparing the DNA analyser results for display. She hit a red button on the adjacent console, and the empty half of the workshop suddenly dimmed as the lights went out. A few seconds later, bright helical structures arced across the fifty-foot width of the room, illuminating it with a riot of colours.

This was the first time that the others had seen Dana's modification to the lighting in action, and they watched spellbound as Rachel pressed a couple of buttons, causing the DNA helix to scroll across the room. She descended the steps and walked over to stand before the three long strands, staring up at them as vast amounts of data flew before her eyes.

John followed after her, and stood at her side. "Does that actually mean something to you?" he asked her in wonder. It just looked like a blur of bright colours to him, and he was astounded she could make anything out of it.

"Oh yes!" she said enthusiastically. "DNA forms the building blocks that make up who we are, and there are certain patterns to the way it's formed. I can tell you straight away, that neither the Kintark nor the Drakkar are psychic. Or at least, both have double helical DNA, which hasn't been modified in the same way as yours, Jade's or Alyssa's."

"But it has been modified?" he asked her, picking up on her phrasing.

She smiled at him and nodded. "Yes, but crudely. At least compared to the sophistication shown in the techniques used by the Progenitors. I'll need a genetic sample from another of those big lizards to confirm this hypothesis, but I suspect that the Kintark have been experimenting with genetic modification of their species."

John rubbed his chin thoughtfully and said, "That would explain why the Kintark merchants I met years ago were so much smaller than the warriors. Do you think this is a recent change for their species?"

Rachel shook her head, and said, "Relatively recently, but the modifications to these strands look like they've still been through at least a dozen generations. Based on what we've seen of the Kintark; with the warriors, this pilot, and the Royal Guard, it looks like they designed different sub-species, that are well suited for different roles."

John looked up at the other two DNA molecules that flashed past them, and asked, "So what about the Drakkar?"

Rachel smiled and said animatedly, "Now they're an entirely different story. They've been massively genetically modified, but this isn't some recent change. Judging by the structure of their DNA, it looks like they were 'constructed' as a species, but this happened millennia ago. When you compare the DNA strands from the two different Drakkar warriors, you can see thousands of tiny mutations, which would have only occurred over countless generations."

He narrowed his eyes, and said, "Millennia? You think the Progenitors were involved?"

She frowned as she looked at the helical structures and said, "The modifications are very crude, and show a blunt expediency, which are nothing like the subtle manipulations in your own triple helical DNA. If the Progenitors did make the Drakkar, they probably did it as an emergency fix for a manpower problem."

John pondered this for a while, and stood quietly next to Rachel as she continued to study the DNA strands. He eventually turned and said to Dana, "While you're looking into armour anyway, you might want to take a look at the armoured flight-suit we took from the Kintark. It looked like an unusual design to me, so we saved it for you. It's in the Med-Bay at the moment."

The redhead looked up from her work and grinned at him eagerly, then bounded down the illuminated steps to the Engineering Podium, before darting out the door.

***

A couple of hours later, they gathered together in the briefing room, so that Rachel could brief the crew on her findings. Jade had been in the Cargo Bay and had missed out on what she had discovered from the DNA strands, so Rachel gave her a brief recap before moving on to the autopsy results. John had found the autopsies grisly, but interesting nonetheless, and he found it remarkable how much information Rachel was able to discern from the alien anatomy at a glance.

She stood before them now, with the holographic display remote in-hand as she brought up the first image. "We examined the Kintark first, and it was fascinating to find out more about them," she began animatedly as she pointed to the scanned image of the Lizardman pilot. "The Kintark are from a highly adaptable reptilian species, and just like Terran reptiles, they are cold blooded."

John glanced towards Alyssa and said, "That surprised me, as they were giving off lots of heat when we fought them on Port Medea Space Station."

Alyssa nodded her agreement and said, "I remember them glowing brightly in the thermal imaging scope."

Rachel smiled at her and said, "Which is actually due to their armour. Dana, do you want to explain?"

"It keeps them toasty and warm," the redhead said succinctly. She laughed at Rachel's disapproving expression, and continued, "Okay, okay. The entire suit of armour is threaded with a variant of their heatsinks, that disperses heat evenly around them, warming up their body."

"And as they're cold-blooded," Rachel continued, "their muscle activity depends on chemical reactions which run quickly when it is hot and slowly when it is cold. The heat from the armour allows them to always move around rapidly."

"How do they compare to Terrans?" John asked her curiously.

She paused for a moment as she did a mental comparison. "This pilot is probably slightly weaker than an average Terran male, but is tougher and has faster reflexes," she estimated for him.

Calara looked thoughtful and said, "Which are the exact qualities needed for a pilot."

Rachel nodded and said, "Yes exactly. From what I've seen of the warriors, Royal Guard and this pilot, they look to have been adapted to emphasise different physical characteristics."

"Any weak points?" Alyssa asked speculatively.

Rachel shook her head and said, "Nothing glaring, like the Fulmanax. They have tough, leathery hides, which would offer some element of protection against knives and stabbing weapons. It's not tough enough to stop a bullet though. One other thing I noticed, is that there is very little scar tissue on this pilot, and from my preliminary analysis, it looks like he had limited regenerative capabilities. Nothing like what you described with the Royal Guard, but it would allow much faster recovery time from injuries."

Calara looked pensive and said, "That can't be helping the Terrans in the Dragon March conflict. If the other side recovers their injured in even half the time, that's a massive boost to potential manpower."

Her audience absorbed this interesting titbit attentively, and then gazed over at the holographic display above the desk, as Rachel changed the image to that of a Drakkar Raider. Dana shivered at the sight of the hideous looking putrid green alien, with its four arms, bulbous eyes, and sharply fanged mouth set in the middle of its hammer shaped head.

"The autopsy for this specimen was quite enlightening," Rachel said enthusiastically, not sharing the same disquiet as the others, who had actually fought these creatures.

"You mentioned you thought they were genetically modified from looking at the DNA," John supplied helpfully.

"Yes, that's right," she agreed. "And genetically modified for war, based on this autopsy. The Drakkar body has dispersed and duplicated organs, that would allow them to keep fighting, even after sustaining injuries that would kill or at least cripple a Terran."

Alyssa grimaced as she said, "I remember shooting big holes in these fuckers, and they kept on coming. At least we know why now."

Rachel nodded and said, "They also have thick, blue, highly oxygenated blood. It helps give them more endurance, with oxygen carried around the bloodstream very efficiently, and the blood coagulates quickly, clotting over wounds and preventing excessive blood loss. All-in-all, they're very highly specialised for combat."

John frowned and asked, "Any vulnerabilities?"

Rachel looked thoughtful and said, "Decapitation will do it, but their heads and brains are quite spongy, and resilient against blunt force trauma. Their two hearts are located in the upper right, and lower left of their torso, so destroying both of those would kill them quickly as well."

Dana grimaced, and looked around at the group as she said, "Let's hope we don't run into those bastards again. We had far too close a call last time!" This was met with emphatic nods of agreement.

Rachel wasn't deterred however, and asked John, "Do you know anything about their civilisation?"

He rubbed his chin as he tried to recall everything he could remember about the vicious alien species. Finally he said, "They don't really have a civilisation as such. They consist of hundreds of Warbands that fight amongst each other, battling for supremacy. Every so often one of the groups will decide to raid Terran or Ashanath space, searching for outposts or ships to raid. They eat practically anything, and will devour any prisoners they capture."

Calara shivered as she remembered the sharp fangs of the one that had tried to eat her. Alyssa reached over and took her hand, squeezing it gently, and smiling at her comfortingly.

"Did you find out anything else?" Dana asked Rachel curiously.

The tawny haired doctor spread open her hands and said, "That's the lot I'm afraid."

"Well that was a hell of a lot more than we knew beforehand. Nice work," John said to her appreciatively.

Alyssa grinned and began a round of applause, which everyone joined in with. Rachel blushed, and looked a little embarrassed, but she grinned back at them happily.

Dana smiled at her and said, "You're so cute when you blush!" Which made the poor girl blush all the more.

John glanced at his watch, and said, "If you've finished tormenting her, maybe we should go and make some dinner, it's nearly six."

This suggestion was embraced with enthusiasm, as they had skipped lunch after eating a late breakfast. John roasted up some hickory smoked ribs, laden with barbecue sauce, and an hour later it was ready to serve. He smiled at them happily as they savoured the perfectly cooked meat.

"I swear, just your cooking alone would have convinced me to join the crew," Rachel said, as she licked the barbecue sauce off her fingertips.

Dana nodded eagerly and said, "I didn't even know food could taste this good. I don't think I could even stomach the shit I used to eat on Karron now."

Jade took a brief break from nibbling the meat off the ribs to say light heartedly, "I've lived for thousands of years, and it doesn't get much better than this!"

"Well, you better get used to it, because I love cooking for you," John said with a smile.

Calara shared a knowing glance with him, having shared that same pleasure of preparing and serving a meal that was met with a glowing reception.

"We haven't restocked since we got the Invictus," Alyssa said cautiously, as she brandished a thick cut potato wedge in the air. "How are we doing for supplies?"

John shrugged, not looking particularly worried. "The galley on Deck Four has loads of supplies, but that food is more nutritional than especially tasty. We've gone through a lot more of the food and spice stocks up here, but there's only six of us, so we aren't eating the cupboards bare yet. We can restock the next time we're at Olympus."

Jade grinned at him excitedly, and said, "Or when we visit the Maliri! If you can come up with the same dishes we had at Natralis, I'll love you forever!"

John smiled at her and said playfully, "I'll ask Irillith's mother to throw that in to seal whatever deal we make on the lasers."

"I'd so make it worth your while!" she said, her emerald cat-like eyes sparkling mischievously.

They finished off the rest of the meal chatting happily, but there was an air of anticipation, as they couldn't help but think about the fast approaching meeting with the Maliri. They cleared away the table after dinner, then relaxed together on the sofas for a while, sipping drinks, and staring at the stars.

Maliri space was thick with nebulae, and the normally velvety blackness was a riot of purples, greens and reds. One of the more striking ones was made up of spiralling blue threads surrounded by a bright crimson shroud, and it stretched away from them for a huge distance, linking several systems. Dana flicked out the lights, and they sat there quietly, cuddled up together as they marvelled at the wondrous beauty that the Universe had spread before them.