All Comments on 'Three Square Meals Ch. 062'

IM FIRST

Onwards to the battle posthaste!

Another cliffhanger, you should be writing for TV. Then you'd be driving more than me nuts with these cliffhangers..

Good chapter

The cyborg and it's implants was fascinating thing

Thank you so much for this story. It has been fabulous reading this entire work. Wish one of the women would become pregnant. .;-) especially if it is Alyssa

The assassin's mind is too scrambled and Faye gets a body.

When you are finished with TSM are you going to put some effort into the setting sail on a black sea series? It seems rife with possibilities for interesting storytelling.

I'm trying to decide what to work on next after I've finished this series. I posed this question to my Patrons a couple of days ago actually.

I have a number of plot arcs in mind for the 'Black Seas' story, but I was also toying with the idea of writing a high fantasy epic. It's months away until I have to decide, but probably what I'll do is write the first chapter of the fantasy series, and see which I'm most excited about writing next.

Tefler

... wont be the assasin. The crew were working on a body for Faye prior to the assasination attempt. The assasin will physically recover, but mentally will take time; she has been powerless and isolated for 60some years.

Your ability to write is outstanding and you know seem to know how to annoy people with all your cliff hangers, but if i could ask one thing from you it would be that the in the next chalter please dont make us wait for these ridiculous travel times inbetween action sequences its kak annoying,we dont want to have to wait 500 hours for thm to get to this systemnor that, you can just skip to a point where they areival at the star systen

"please dont make us wait for these ridiculous travel times inbetween action sequences"

The travel times are when they do most of their research, training, and when I spend time on character development. If I stripped all that out, I think the story would suffer for it.

It's only a short hop into Kintark space from the Dragon March, so you won't have to wait a long time for some action in the next chapter! :-)

Tefler

My opinion is,please write a high fantasy story next.

Give us more. The waiting is excruciatingly painful but each chapter takes the pain away. Thank you

Another great chapter... easily worth 5 stars.

"The waiting is excruciatingly painful but each chapter takes the pain away."

Unfortunately I have to waste ten hours a day going to work, otherwise I'd be able to write each chapter much more quickly. Who knows, if my writing proves popular enough, eventually I'll be able to pack in my day-job, then just write full time.

Tefler

Chapter 62 was another fine example of your OUTSTANDING writing abilities…….. I loved it!…… But damn, you left me “hanging” with how you let it end…. As you should have…… Now I will be thinking about the upcoming battles…..

I found this series about May. I was hooked by chapter two. The series has given me moments of escapism, while dealing with some of the most difficult times of my life. When my life recovers some stability; may God make that sooner than later, I plan on looking into this patrons thing. How does that work anyway? Great work on this chapter, just the escape I needed. May we all be blessed with Tefler's continued writing.

Love the series. It is very creative and although you would have to tamp the sex down it would make a great screen play and movie series. I appreciate you taking the time to provide us with a great story line. Many thanks!

I suspect that where ever Tefler ends a chapter some will consider it a drastic cliffhanger point. Whereas in Tefler's mind it is a convenient close point, for the next few scenes, sub-plots, and character development. So come on and give the poor man a break, or we wait for 3-4 months for him to write a single epic 200 (literotica paged) chapter to wrap it up. Even then there will be critics who go "you left" on a cliffhanger "I want to know what happens next"

I am just old enough to remember the good old movie trailer series etc. Where each week was left on a cliff hanger with our stunning hero looking as if they had been killed, but each new week the hero survived, usually from another camera view that shows the miraculous saving of said hero.

As the say on the stage "give'm just enough encores for them to keep coming back".

Thank for another great chapter Tefler. Plots etc have moved forward. I suspect Sakura will be team-member 7. She has nothing to go back to, Mumsie and Dadsies will be well over 130 if alive at all, should she go back to New Eden. She will be very psychologically scarred and need all of their support, be invaluable at tracking down the Assassins, will become a combat master, and effectively head of security for the Invictus (Master Sargent at Arms) to compliment Irillith's role as cyber security chief.

Mal

I want to see this story made into a Cable TV series. Game of Thrones in space. It could be done in Machinama.

Loved your ref. to Phillip K Dicks.

This is truly the first real Science Fiction I have read in the many years since Asimov, Clarke and Dicks

Take it at your own pace and don't listen to the impatient critics.

.. many . . . thumbs up !!!!!

I've been reading LitRPG books recently and I think that genre would fit you pretty well. They are often Harem and the RPG aspect means they are always upgrading gear or learning new skills or making new allies ect... As for writing full time I don't buy erotica on Amazon but if you wrote some nonerotic fantasy I'd definitely try it.

Hmm, the nebula sure seems like a trap. Best case they increase tensions in a war they believe was contrived by the bad guy from the start. I wonder how the timing of Earths destruction was supposed to fit in. It could be coincidence, but it's suspiciously coinciding with this new offensive, and the big bad guys fingerprints are all over both.

Why'd you have to go and make the cyborg assassin chick a redeemable character that now is likely to join the crew? Seriously, pretty much everyone hated her, more so than they did Irillith, for what she had done to the crew, but then it turns out she's a victim for John to save and heal? Darn it. I guess you'll save the real punishment for the Master Assassin, or do you plan on making him someone John can use as a pawn so as to spare him being shot out of the mass drivers into the nearest star?

Speaking of healing, I imagine Rachel is getting a kick out of watching organs literally regrow right before her eyes. Hopefully none of the organs started to regrow before their artificial replacements were removed. That'd be kinda awkward.

I've been wondering...why aren't the other girls getting martial arts training from John? I would think that the girls he takes into combat with him away from the Invictus would benefit greatly from that sort of training; Clara almost never leaves the ship as she's the gunner, so she would probably be the least in need of the training. And now that I think of it, maybe Irillith could use some training too. It might help her in the cyber-realm for when she gets ambushed again. Maybe she can get some lessons from Yammato? Jade too could probably use some training, despite the fact she tends to fight in an animal form; it could help her realize when someone has their guard up and is ready to stab her through the heart.

I'm betting that Kintark staging base is a trap, not by the Kintark though. It doesn't make strategic or tactical sense for the invasion fleet to have passed that target by if they had known it was there when the invasion started. In fact, that should have been their first target of the invasion. Only reason why they would have skipped it is if they didn't get the intel about it beforehand. And the Kintark still have a border fleet? Why wasn't that ripped apart by the invasion forces? First rule of any invasion is secure a beachhead inside enemy territory and ensure safe supply lines; allowing a border fleet that can easily cut your supply lines to stick around is a bad idea. I can understand why John hasn't thought about those questions, considering he was a glorified grunt in the military, not having to worry about the big, high-level strategic or tactical picture, but Clara should definitely be thinking about that...she is the tactical officer after all.

Okay, final question and this one is for the commenters: what role do you think Sakura is going to have on the crew when she eventually joins? I think it'll be something having do to with law, considering she was going to law school when she was abducted, perhaps the ship's legal counsel?

Fantastic storyline, you keep us on edge after every chapter. Will there be a second chapter for Setting Sail on a Black Sea? Thanks for the awesome story.

First about Faye's body. The cybernetic implant is gone. However ever thing that they pull out may end up as parts for Faye?

As for the battle in Kingston nebula. I would just say one thing. When you have a hidden base with limited sensors, you have to plan for the worse. I wouldn't be surprised to find out it is one big bomb.

The whole admiral against admiral is common in the military. There are only so many high positions. The big question I have was "We only approved commodore.". Something is going on and I bet it is going to be big.

Lastly, if it wasn't for ending on cliff hangers we would not be so drawn into this. Worse I would have to wait for a 6000 page book to come out and I would get fired from my job because I wouldn't be able to put it down.

Interesting direction on the assassin and the growth of Alyssa's powers.

On a side note, my self created ebook tells me you have passed 1,000,000 words for the series. Congrats and look forward to a million more.

Thanks for all the kind comments everyone, I'm really pleased you liked this chapter!

Writing a million words... Wow, that's pretty crazy, and it hasn't even been a year yet!

I'll take the opportunity this milestone represents to say thanks very much to my editors for all their support, and to the readers who've stuck with this story. All one million words of it!

I've had great fun reading all your comments (and plagiarising your suggestions!), so a big thanks to everyone who's taken the time to comment. All the feedback has definitely made a big difference to my writing skills.

It's been a very enjoyable journey.

Tefler

On 1million words. Quite the accomplishment you've made. Loved this chapter and I'm "jonesing" like a meth head waiting to score for the next one. I would ask one request of you... Asians with big boobage are sexy!!!

A great chapter yet again ., just wondered why you had them remove "all" of her cyber upgrades once they knew her actual ",mind"/ personality was a good person & not evil . Why not just remove the CPU & allow her to keep all her adaptations for her own protection , unless they would interfere or block John from healing her .Might be a little crowded to regenerate her original organs along with her cyber ones . I guess we'll see a crew member, a JAG lawyer which might come in handy in the upcoming battle of " The Admirals " beyond the Dragon March . Keep up the wonderful work & thanks again for sharing your story with us .

ThanKS for the updare I can't wait for the next one. Thank you for sharing this great story.

Just found this today and had to read it. You have a gift of the written word. I too think this would make a great movie series and I don't think you would need to cut too much of the sex out. Keep writing.

Tom

And lets give it a cheer for the milions to come. :)

Loved this story, read it on Patreon early but I have to provide my comments here on Lit. Wow, I really sympathize with this Sakura character and the tie-in with Yamamoto was actually a thrill in itself. We now better understand the pain that Johns teacher suffers, which helps to explain a lot about his unique disposition.

I also really am happy you are bringing in some Japanese culture and stuff. Aren't we in the west admirers of the land of the rising sun? I have lived in Japan for close to a decade now. I hope Sakura becomes an excellent legal advisor and cum balloon for John and that her bad memories are one day erased so that they no longer haunt her.

I had my doubts about whether you could concoct a believable storyline in which someone could treat someone as cruelly as was done to Sakura while at the same time making her into a valuable and loyal killing instrument. There are still big questions to answer but I have confidence in you. I'm sure you worked this out well in advance. Can't wait for the next installment!!!!!!

Very minor detail that I thought was a curious world building choice. I was a bit surprised at the opening paragraph, with Faye being restricted to one location. She doesn't have a body after all, and John gave her essentially free run of the Invictus' network a chapter or two back. I would have expected her to be able to manifest in multiple locations, and be able to monitor sensors without needing to actually manifest in Command. Nothing fundamentally wrong with it working that way, just not what I would have expected.

Oh, just had an (unrelated) thought. Another commenter had mentioned the importance of securing supply lines. Could this be the hand of the traitors leaving the invasion force in a position to be cut off and encircled?

That Lynton lost visual capabilities recently. I am suspicious that perhaps we may have found a thrall in hiding in our overly friendly admiral. And John may end up doing her bidding - or at least falling into her trap. Seems obvious - which makes me second guess myself.

Nice one on the ultimate assassin redemption btw.

Hey Tefler,

I'd have to say that one million words puts you officially in the "heavy hitter" category of writers on the site (I'd bet there are DAMN few of them...)! Not only do you have a cornucopia of words out there, you've organized them into a REALLY great story. I'm going to echo other commenters and say: many, many thanks!

Just a quick thought about Sakura and her implants; she has the physical manifestations of what we ALL carry around within us: our conditioning to who we are. We think we're free to make our own decisions, but we're trapped by our ideas of who we think we are, who we want to be, and how we want other people to see us. The ability for us to "see" the devices implanted in Sakura, for Alyssa to understand their influence on the "true" Sakura, and for Rachel to be able to physically remove them gives us the ability to be compassionate with her. I imagine if we could all see each other like we see Sakura in this story, the world would be a very different place.

Sorry, went kinda deep there. My apologies to anyone I took on a trip they didn't sign up for.

Sooo...regarding this Admiral we can't see, who desperately wants the crew to go kick some Kintark ass, while isolated from other TFN support or ability to communicate, without any additional intel provided...Is this suspicious?!? Could this be a trap?!?

Naaa, fuckit, let's go (I can't wait for the next episode)!

Thanks again!

That was deep, MelanPonca. Cheers.

First let me say I have been reading your story for a while and hope you really keep it going, I love the whole story from the beginning to this point. I love all the characters and was hoping you was going to find a way to make even Faye able to become real enough to be able to touch and mess around with John and the rest of the crew? Keep going thanks again!

GW

Congratulations on breaking the one million words mark. Love the story and anxiously wait for the next chapter. The Sci-Fi ideas tease the mind’s imagination to thinking maybe, it can be so!

Congrats on making it to 1mil words, Tef. I kinda lost track of the count after the first few hundred thousand. Looking forward to what the next million has to offer.

I know you get this hero worship fan mail stuff all the time but this is just an outstanding story. Additionally, the way you’ve continued to develop/tie all these characters and stories lines together is amazing.

Just wanted to throw a couple of thoughts into the mix (for shits and giggles). In reference to Faye obtaining a physical body, why? I don’t remember her asking for one or requesting to be a part of John’s harem. As an AI (Faye) is already above the need for a physical form and aside from the emotional support she gets from John and the rest of the crew, that seems to me to be all she needs. After all Faye is still a child in terms of morality vs Initial programming. I think she’s given responsibilities and freedoms as she grows and is able to manage them. She’s seen what an unrestricted AI with their own value system will do and understands and respects the trust John and the crew put in her. As far as moving around the ship I think it was mentioned a few chapters back that she had adapted a few of the maintenance bots. However; after the assassin got on board she was tasked with upgrading all sensors and everything security that would ensure this would never happen again. Thus allowing her to be everywhere at once, or so I would assume.

In reference to Sakura (a.k.a. the former cyborg assassin). I think she’ll have to join the crew due to the amount of time she’s been missing and her previous occupation. Additionally, I don’t believe her abduction was a random act, from the description of the memory the whole thing was a setup and when they research her past they’ll more than likely discover she was never listed as a missing person and has no living relatives.

My last P.O.I (Point Of Interest): is that Admiral Lynton (Gabrielle) was overly friendly with John before she was even (or should have been) aware of his promotion to Rear Admiral. Secondly, no visual capabilities? Not very likely, as there should be redundant systems in place to ensure that does not happen (never to an Admiral anyway). She had knowledge of John's ship speed capability but she was unaware of his promotion or the attack on Terra??? Finally, why would an Admiral need to go through a chief of staff to speak with their boss? What is a Fleet Admiral doing in Kintark territory? Why doesn’t Fleet Admiral Buckingham's subordinates know where he is? Fleet Admiral Buckingham should be in the rear with the gear and his subordinates be in the “active war zone” Kintark territory.

I hope John recorded that conversation and forwarded it to trusted individuals. He knows this is a set up. He may need a legal officer after all.

Great story, please keep it going at least until John and the girls (how ever many more may join his crew) retire and repopulate the galaxy.

Again an excellent upload to this continuing story. Characters are always being developed. More intrigue and new things coming along. Have enjoyed all of your stories. Thank You.

If there already is one, I'm joining. If there wasn't one yet, consider it to exist now. Not that it's not obiously dubious, but I wanted to put it out there that I don't trust this voice that may even only claim to be that Admiral.

No vid-feed, huh? When's that battle damage ocured? Anymore than a few hours and I call bs on the repairs not being already finished, not to mention the fleet commander probably having a backup for the backup of the backup system.

There's a German saying for this: Nachtigall, ick hör der trappsen. This reeks of something nasty (which isn't even close to a literal translation, but carries a similar meaning.)

Love your story can't wait for the next chapter hope it isn't too long in coming anybody have any other stories that they find very interesting I was reading works by Final Stand he had life of a new hire which is very good

You said, "I don’t remember her asking for one or requesting to be a part of John’s harem. As an AI (Faye) is already above the need for a physical form and aside from the emotional support she gets from John and the rest of the crew, that seems to me to be all she needs. " I would kindly disagree. Faye is a developing full personality. She has shown the need to be corporal several times with her attempts to kiss crew members as well with her enthusiatic approach to Irillith when able to do so in the cyber realm. She has also been very happy about the little things John does to help make her feel better as well as make her a more included member of the crew.

With the ninja if her parents are gone she would be all alone. I do not think John and the girls would just do a high speed drop off. Then again not many choices for a career path for a out of work ninja assassin after her former employer gets ripped apart by John and company. But instead of becoming the next crewmember another choice would be Yamamoto's apprentice. This would be a win-win outcome, she will need help dealing with her memories and she could help Yamamoto get some closure and some focus back into his life. Everybody gets a warm fuzzy! Maybe Yamamoto will get some young ninja nookie to smooth out his BA (bad attitude). Maybe even another plot line branch for another book.

Then how many more are there if they go raid the assassin's base? It was hinted there were more.

Will John and Edraele team up to put a end to the Maliri providing cyborg parts? What if Edraele was tied into it years ago?

Lynton was awful mysterious, John may find a major Kintark attack force waiting for him. That would be a interesting plot. Lure the main TF assault force into Kintark space and then the Kintark takes the TF staging base at Port Medea. Classic pincer movement, the main TF assault force would be surrounded and have to fight their way back into TF space with no hope of reinforcements getting past Port Medea to help them.

Commodore Saski was starting to get a bit friendly with John.

Having a body for Faye would be interesting but to me coming up with one worthy enough for her is another question. She seems to be satisfied now and maybe the Invictus set up with holo emitters everywhere would be good enough except if she wanted to go off ship with the crew.

.

On Monday. 62 excellent episodes later. *drums fingers waiting for the next one*

Here is an interesting thought.... It kinda sounds like she was along for the "horror ride" and not in ANY control at all. That being the case, she may have to learn to walk again. Also, she may have "observed" the skills, and fighting techniques, but doesn't actually know them. She might remember some of her law school information, however, all of that knowledge will be decades out of date.

I like the apprentice of Yamamoto. (sp?) Sakura will be able to learn things, and they can both heal together. ASSUMING that SHE was not the one that killed HIS family..... But if the situation is explained to him, he may be agreeable... We'll see....

Hmm...... I rather thought there was a history behind her. Once again.... We're off on a side trip. I suspect something fishy going on with Lynton. Having "comms problems" due to an attack is awful convenient, given the current situation in the area. And how she addressed John was a red flag, they haven't heeded yet. I think it was an innocuous call for help. We shall see in the coming chapters...

Is Shinatobe an alternate ego of Sakura like Progenitor John and Athena

I believe that Shinatobe was just the name that the master assassin called Sakura. It was an extreme cyborg at that point, and Sakura did not have any control. Ot at least limited control. Not really an alter ego as such, more, a name given to a creation, or the cyborg half. If you follow what I mean. So, with the removal of the cyborg parts, Shinatobe ceases to exist.

Oh yes..... CONGRATULATIONS ON ONE MILLION WORDS..... Here's to one million more.....

It's been more than hinted at this point that John has some control over the effect he has on a girl when they swallow his cum. It would make sense to experiment with that and I think a logical first step would be with Danas fear of water. Have her swallow a load while John concentrates on curing her fear of water. Then give her a swimming lesson and see what happens. If nothing else its a relatively harmless way for John to learn some control over the changes he can make to a new girl

Clearly something is suspicious about Lynton. I'm in the Lynton is a weasel camp. Also Sakura has nothing to go back to and no better chance for happiness, joy, fulfillment, and so on, than as one of John's crew. I predict they will want to bring her fully into the fold but hope nothing goes wrong, the dragon march is a dangerous place. Traitors abound. Lynton could be sending the Invictus into a trap, not knowing of their superior sensor range.

@purpl3purple i think shinatobe refers to sakura as a whole, kind of like what Dr. Frankenstein called his monster creation when he brought it to life.

@Telfer i think i can mostly speak for everyone here when i say oh please oh please don't take so long to post the next chapter. I realize people get busy with their lives but leaving things on a great cliff hanger like you usually do is a bit cruel. Because personally i can't wait to see how things turn out with Sakura. I even think it would be kind of cool to leave a few implants in just to give her a unique twist if she does become the next crew member of the invictus.

Shinatobe is actually an assassin name used commonly as generic assassin. I have seen it in multiple games. My belief is the master thought of her as more a thing being used as a assassin and therefore simply called her assassin.

A quick google search says that shinatobe is one name for a wind godess. I can see that as also an assassin swift as the wind etc.....

For some reason, when you try to translate it, google thinks it is albanian LMAO. doesn't say what it is, but.... oh well... LOL

Recent battle damage could be a sign of a mutiny and takeover hence the so-called comm damage and lack of video. We can only guess what Tefler has in mind.

Can Faye have a physical body and still be part of Invictus network 24/7 unlike Irrilith who has to plug in? Maybe that cybernetic brain they pulled out of Sakura will help.

Did anyone else find "Areola 51" funny like me?

Dear Teller I think you miss Alyndra the Lead Technician at the Power Core ( Chapter 55) when John mentioned his mental Connection. It should come altogether to 92 mental Compartments not 91. Keep up the good work best Story ever on Literotica

Well spotted! Yes I forgot about her in the version I submitted. I edited my master document to include her, but editing the submitted version would have meant another days delay before it was approved.

I'll submit an edited version to correct it.

Tefler

I will guess that after saving a captured Taron vessel, Rachel ends up with many injured people to tend to finding one hottie brain dead or mind completely wiped, a perfect candidate to insert the recovered “Dana improved” cyborg mind control to give Faye the “John approved” body to experience

John will be very busy when he returns to Maliri space and Edraele. She needs a top off and I am sure she will convene a council with all the new Heads of House so they can meet and experience the "Power" he puts forth. His conversion of the new heads could be a story of its own.

What will happen with Edraele's other daughter, will she accept John or need to be assimilated little by little like her sister was?

Looks like John will be a busy man when he is on R&R, I hope he survives all his adoring subjects.

Paul

I dont think john should help Admiral Lynton instead he should just help Calara's family & get out of the dragon march.

I could see two reasons Sakura would decide she wanted to join John's harem. 1) Her gratitude for him freeing her so selflessly. 2) Its the best avenue for her to get revenge for what was done to her.

I really think it would provide a great opportunity for John to test his powers. If it goes down that route, I really think that it should be the chance for John to try and impart psychic powers willfully. Every time he has done it has either been a subconscious effort (Alyssa) or activating a power that was already there (Irillith).

This would pose the perfect chance for him to try and give her the gift of psychic speed and strength, which would effectively give her the same physical advantages she had with her cybernetics which have been removed. Add the power armor on top of that and she would be more powerful than she was as a cyborg, and possibly capable of taking out the master assassin herself.

Since I am writing there was something else that I have been wondering ever since the last set of upgrades: Why has Dana never made an effort to improve their shields? That seems like the most obvious place to be making upgrades at this point, because whenever they are in combat that is the main thing that is keeping them safe, and its the only thing that I believe has NEVER been upgraded.

Along those lines, personal force fields... Come on Dana...

I am with you on the personal force fields. Hopefully, with the upgraded power cores they will be able to manufacture after another trip to Genthalis shipyard, Dana will be able to miniturize a body force field.

Would work better than the magnetic one since mass weapons have little effect at all against a ship type force field and it would work in tandem with the body armor in deflecting/absorbing energy weapons....that or, at the very least, Alyssa deca forms the body armor so it is immune to energy weapons and any hand held mass weapon in the known universe....like the Raptor is now.

Both would make the team absolutely safe and undefeatable...something John would insist on I would think.

Just remember folks, there are at least two, possibly four major battles brewing in upcoming chapters. First is the one we are heading towards in this chapter. Second is the one to either defend the fleet in Kintark territory or retake the defense force at Iota Leonis. Third is the one to defeat the traitors...they face death and are not going out without a fight. And fourth is with the assassin guild when they go get Irillith's sister...remember she is in their midst.

Sakura, reminds me of a dark evil - Major Motoko Kusanagi "The Major" from ghost in a shell. By the way 2017 release of live action movie.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1219827/videoplayer/vi3689723417?ref_=tt_ov_vi

I hope the good doctor didn't remove all of her implants a jealous woman is tough, I think Johns got a new crew member, this one really kicked there ass, no wonder they need to disable her.

I thought it wise to only give Iriliath one orgasim, she'll be wanting a bigger reward from her progenitor later.

A nice touch with "Areola 51" I thought what... do we know Sgt.Decrey ?

Didn't anyone in Terran command have Netflix?

One word "Skynet", then the classic 2001. "Hal open the hatch, "I'm sorry Dave I can't do that, Hal.... No one hears you scream in space !

*~*

Is it just me or dose everyone else wait for a couple of new chapters then start from the beginning again that's how much I love this epic adventure your taking us on please please please keep it going it's inbelievably good thank you.

Oh and it's a trap she is a traitor too but our hero and his angels will fuck up their day.

Shield and ship shielding is the expertise of the Brimonians. Unfortunately, they haven't managed to get there yet, too many distractions along the way, pretty sure they were there before AI distractions, Dragon March, and Assassins.

I am sure that when Dana gets her hands on the Brimonian tech, she will go to town tweaking it beyond all recognition, possibly trebling or quintripling their current shield survivability. Also Dana has to tweak the power core design to bring it up to progenitor specs, which will really power to the ship to the max, Nova Lances, and Impact drivers together with massive shields, frigate/destroy manouverability for a cruiser, and armour tougher than anyone else's (ouch one mean fighting machine).

Mal

At what point is she going to be designing her very own tech? It seems with the knowledge she has she should be starting to design her own technology. Its great that she is improving existing designs and marrying the best of various species tech, but...

There has to come a point where she is able to take her understanding of the principles behind these things and create something truly original. So far the only thing she has really done that with was the new inertial dampeners. I would think at this point that she could design something better than their current stock shields, and if she can't, why can't she? It just feels like the natural progression for her character. She needs to stop just making improvements to things that already exist, and start truly innovating.

Even the new elements she created were actually from knowledge given to her by the Pregenator genes. So even that powerful development which should have been a huge step for her as a character ultimately ended up being the credit of outside forces.

Right now, the shields feel like the most natural place for her to make that step. With the amount of combat that they have been seeing, she has to know that she may not be able to wait for them to improve upon another species technology.

Just my thoughts...

Inventing something new is not as easy as it sounds, and she has managed to do this with the new materials she has come up with as well as the tangential applications of one tech with another. What Dana has done is very much new (based on what Teflers world had as standard) and beyond what has been achieved previously except by a progenitor directly.

Science is mostly incremental, and one invention may go unnoticed, until someone works out how to apply it to a real world problem, then the incremental (even if very rapid) start to apply. For example, in computing we are happy to a doubling of computing power approximately every 5 years with chips; this is all incremental. Science builds on previous knowledge, hence quantum leaps in knowledge are rare and vastly spectacular. I see Dana's tweaking of the tech received is almost at the quantum level, rather than incremental. Even Irillith was stunned with the speed of Invictus, and with the sensor range, even when she knew the basis of the tech was Milarri in origin. The cleaner air, the solution for the inertial dampening, the miniaturisation of power cells, heat sinks, all give the Invictus and its crew the edge. All of which could not be achieved with out Dana.

Your question comes to a nature/nurture argument. Was its Johns melding with here genes/thoughts through his cum, or was it just that Dana sparks was already a gifted engineer in the first place, and Johns cum has just brought that out? As will all of these nature/nurture arguments the answer nature id the predisposition, nurture are the environmental triggers. Dan has the natural talent, John's cum has provided the trigger to expand that beyond all recognition. So in answer to your question, Dana has done more than enough to show the interactions, and the "character development' that she needs. Seeing new applications and directions for current tech is as important to complete new materials.

Mal

The shields did get a boost a good long while back, probably back when they were in Ashanath space. Dana put a booster on the shield generator, making their shields about 25% stronger than stock shielding. Remember when they went up against the Armored Cobras? They fought a newer model cruiser and the Invictus still had it's shields even as Clara was blasting the turrets off the enemy thanks to that boost. Of course, this boost will likely pale in comparison to what the Brimorians will give them eventually. Unfortunately, they don't have the power capacity for anymore upgrades at the moment; Dana has to upgrade their power core first before they can do any other upgrades.

As for Dana inventing stuff, what do you call the Punisher Railgun, the new Paragon armor, or the Crystal Alyssium? Those are all Dana originals. They don't exist anywhere else but on the Invictus. Sure, they may be based on other alien tech, but Dana has taken that tech and kicked it up a few levels, to the point where it is her own tech now, no one else's. I recall there was a scene back in Maliri space where I believe John was concerned about the Maliri discovering that the ship's sensors were based off of Maliri tech, to which Dana replied that after the modifications and improvements she had made, the sensors were unrecognizable as being based on Maliri tech.

Dana hasn't been able to upgrade the shields past the previously mentioned boost due to a limitation of both the tech available to her and her own knowledge of the principles behind that tech. The shield tech on the Invictus is all Terran, and so is the knowledge of shielding principles. She upgraded on that as best she could with the aforementioned boost, and she has improved her ability a lot since, so she might be able to increase that boost further, but at the moment, the ship just doesn't have the power capacity for it. However, the Brimorians are the shield experts, and once Dana gets her hands on that tech, she also gets the knowledge behind it. Then she can go to town on upgrading the shields, provided they've increased the ship's power capacity by then. Until they resolve their power issue, Dana might as well wait until they get to the Brimorians before doing anything with the shields.

And that power issue is also likely a reason why Dana hasn't put personal shield generators on the Paragon armor. Shields like that eat up a lot of power, and the armor suits only have so much to go around. All that other tech in the suits uses power too, and the magnetic force field likely uses less power than shields do, plus the mag field is an on-demand, reactive thing (except when the suit's in flight mode) rather than an always-on like shields would be. Then there's the problem of shields not playing well with magnetic fields, which Tefler pointed out long ago. A magnetic field will interfere with shields, and the armor suits have other features that use magnetism aside from that force field; the helmets have a mag view that makes anything metal show up like a light bulb, and although I don't think it's been shown yet, I bet the armor has magnetic grips in the boots and hands to allow for the crew to take a walk on the outside of the ship in space if needed. Both of those features would have problems if the armor had shields instead of the current magnetic field.

I forget which chapter but Dana already knew that the stuff was not right like the power core. She said it didn't look right. What you are seeing is that all of the tech is imprinted on her DNA and she just hasn't unlocked it yet like Alyssa's alter ego did in the bed room. When John changes them, he imprints his DNA on them giving them special powers but everything is stored in his DNA.

Speaking of the tech available on the Invictus, didn't they upgrade/replace a lot of the computers and/or electronics with Maliri tech back at Genthalas? If so, wouldn't the cyber-realm of the Invictus look a bit more like what was in Sinatobe's head? Or did they somehow get cheated out of the good stuff and got what is sold on the interstellar market to outsiders?

Maybe Dana and Irillith can put their heads together for their next project and upgrade the ship's computer and electronic systems. Dana can design the hardware with the new materials she's discovered while Irillith handles the software.

What Jedi_Khan said!

That was an excellent post, and covered everything in great detail, thanks!

The only correction is the Maliri Shield Modulators, which would have boosted their shield capacity by 60% but Dana upgraded the tech, and it went to 80%. This affected the initial shield strength, but not the regeneration rates.

"didn't they upgrade/replace a lot of the computers and/or electronics with Maliri tech back at Genthalas?"

They certainly did, well remembered. The cyber realm's appearance is based on the programming more than the hardware though, at least in terms of data-fortresses, defensive programs, that kind of thing. The Maliri kit was much more powerful that the Terran equivalent, and could support more robust defences.

If they get around to rewriting the network architecture software for the Invictus, it would look very different with Irillith (and Faye) doing the programming.

The shield boost was that recent? Damn, my memory must not be as good as it once was. However, in my defense, a -lot- has happened since then, including -but not limited to- the Shroomzilla fight, John's identity crisis, the Trankaran job, Irillith joining, Edraele's rehab, the refit at Genthalas, the liberation of Terran R&D, the Battle of Terra, and the assassination attempt. So yeah, lots of stuff to keep track of. Thanks for that. :D

And thanks for the clarification on the PC hardware upgrade. Makes sense that the programming would define the appearance of the cyber-realm. Although, as an IT guy, I have doubts regarding inferior Terran programing being able to work on superior Maliri hardware without heavy reprograming, however, this is such a damn good story that I'm more than willing to forego those doubts and just enjoy.

Oh, by the way, I'm not normally the guy to ask this, but since it doesn't seem to have been asked yet, how goes 63?

Ok...didn't want to go here. But, I am tired of everyone saying that magnetism and gravity and shield generation just don't mix.

This is just not true in Tefler's universe as it currently stands.

The question really is whether just classical gravity & classical EM can be unified. And the answer is yes.

General Relativity and Eectromagnetism are related and consistently unified in Kaluza-Klein-Theory. This theory actually proves that 5-dimensional relativity is equivalent to 4-dimensional relativity plus 4-dimensional maxwell equations.

In quantum-electrodynamics, the gauge group for electromagnetism is U(1)U(1).

The key concept here is that electromagnetism becomes the curvature of the U(1)U(1) bundle.

This is not the only geometric connection between General Relativity and Quantum Field Theory. In the same context, the covariant derivatives of general relativity are such that ∇μ−∂μ∇μ−∂μ sort-of measures the gravity, in a certain way, while this is also true in QFT, with some constants, ∇μ−∂μ=igsAμ∇μ−∂μ=igsAμ.

Note the similiar context.

In layman terms this means: The anti-grav cyclics and the inertia dampening device (built on anti-grav tech) do NOT interfere with shielding. This is a major source of error in Tefler's universe. If the shielding interfered with the anti-grav, the shields would not work in tandem with the inertial dampening of the Invictus....which does not happen. Additionally, there ARE very real, physics relationships between gravity and magnetism. THEY DO NOT INTERFERE! If that were the case we would not have magnetism on the EARTH! No electronics or electromagnets or speakers...gosh, the list is endless.

We do know that gravetational fields do effect magnetism. However: it is not that they are incompatible, but that they work in tandem with each other.

The ONLY issue is crossover. A similar analogy is unshielded speaker wires playing music along with some CB trucker's overpowered and linear amped transmissions. All that has to be accomplished then, is the proper shielding to prevent electro-magnetic crossover between the systems....AND HEREIN IS TEFLER'S WAY OUT OF THIS CONUNDRUM. No story fix is required....just increase the shielding within the systems to prevent crossover. This would happen naturally with a space ship because it has to have shielding from stellar radiation. So the whole ship would incorporate some very serious shielding as a matter-of-fact necessity.

Just have Dana realize one of her new elements has massive, natural electromagnetic shielding ability. BINGO! Personal shields.

This new element would also increase available power from the power core.

Transmission and distribution of electrical energy requires cables and power transformers, which create three types of energy loss:

The Joule effect, where energy is lost as heat in the conductor (a copper wire, for example);

Magnetic losses, where energy dissipates into a magnetic field;

And the dielectric effect, where energy is absorbed in the insulating material.

A super insulator would increase capacitor strength (hint, hint) would nearly eliminate magnetic field loss, and could eleminate dielectric effect.

Ahem: If one of the elements is a natural, room temperature superconductor, the Joule effect would also be all but eliminated. These three issues alone would increase the usable output of the power core by around 6%. With the amount of power put out by that core, you are talking a massive increase of avaliable power.

And that superconductor, along with the super insulator, would make one hellava capacitor.

Gee, and I am not even ON Dana's intellectual level.....winks.

Replacing the cabling within the ship with wire made from and shielded by that superconductor and super shielding material.....

Even in our current IT we have hardware abstraction layers and compiler building is partly automated. I believe that in future these concepts are much more elaborated. The Invictus is a military vessel, so hard and software will be strictly standardized. The Maliri do trade electronics throughout the Galaxy, so there will be knowledge available how to interface their hardware with various programming systems.

Thanks for letting me rave. I feel better now. :-)

I had forgotten the improvements to the shields from previous chapters so that at least explains why it would not be more of a priority. I still stand by my assertion that for her character it would be nice if she started formulating her own theories or understanding of the principals of the universe that allowed her to design her own technology.

It was really awesome when she discovered the new elements and I thought it was kind of unfortunate that it ended up just being knowledge that was granted to her by the gene manipulation. Seems like I am alone in this feeling, and everyone who has spoken up is happy seeing her continue to improve upon and meld existing technologies. To me it just feels like she has all of the building blocks to make that leap to create something entirely new.

The Kaluza-Klein-Theory was a precursor to String Theory and lately M Theory. The math and physics are way beyond the scope of most. But it boils down to the fact we are knocking on the door for a theory that explains and unifies all known energies and forces and matter found in the Universe through a framework of 11 dimensions (most of us are just familiar with three...up and down, left and right, and forward and backward with the possibility of timespace being a 4th.

Admittedly it is theoretica at this point. But mathematical equations of the physics has already told us that electromagnetism, gravity, indeed, all forms of energy are related and work in unison. The current issues stem from mating this with known quantum theory about mass. A lot of headway has been made in the last few decades, but more is needed before we have a truly unified theory of everything.

Point is, the Anti-Grav issue will not interfere with the shielding or magnetics. It is a violation of everything we do know about our Universe.

You said, "I had forgotten the improvements to the shields from previous chapters so that at least explains why it would not be more of a priority. I still stand by my assertion that for her character it would be nice if she started formulating her own theories or understanding of the principals of the universe that allowed her to design her own technology."

I agree...hence my rant.

Dana would be able to develop a quantum drive unit that would allow the Invictus to instantly traverse the Universe like stepping through a door to go to the next room.

Dana could develop a quantum energy weapon that would send parts of any mass/energy object/pulse, at a subatomic level, scattering across the universe (Tefler kind of hinted at this with the Progen Moon weapon).

Has all this potential. Please do not waste it.

Um, we need to talk. In looking more closely at the physics of the Progen Power Core and FTL Drive, I have discovered something that has the potential to change everything, allow us to instantly skip to any area of the Universe, protect us from anything, and overpower anybody. And it is scaring me what we could become.

Tefler, please incorporate the concept that the progen schematics would create a much more compact power core due to the changes the Ashanath had to incorporate due to not understanding the physics. The changes in scale would allow for an exponentially more powerful power core beyond the current expected increase....to incorporate the power necessary to, say, maybe...power the replacement of the mass drivers with a quantum disentigration beam and/or the current FTL drive with an M-Drive that allowed them to 'magically' appear anywhere in the Universe at the blink of an eye?

I am on vacation???? LMAO

I've seen some comments suggesting that the former assassin could become Yamamoto's apprentice. I just want to say that, psychologically speaking, I would be surprised if she wanted to have anything to do with swords... ever. She has been imprisoned in her mind, watching her body kill hundreds of people with various sword techniques while she had no control over that. I can't imagine that she wants to relive all that over and over while she trains her own technique.

I would find it more likely if she pursued a job as janitor on a space station... or, you know, finds a job for something she was studying for. Then again, the crew might be able to convince Yamamoto to adopt her as family.

Tefler, whats the status for the next chapter? please update it in your bio. thnx

I'm just finishing up the chapter, and I think I'll be done by about Tuesday. That means it'll be up on the Patreon site by Tuesday and Literotica by Thursday/Friday depending on moderation times.

Tefler

Just a thought on the evolution of Faye. Seeing that she wants to fly the raptor during combat ops she’ll have to be able to share a telepathic link with Alyssa. That after all the reason the raptor and the Invictus coms aren’t intercepted, unless those communications are used as a diversionary tactic. John has learned to direct his root oil to code and regenerate his girls as needed. Why couldn’t he do something like that to help Faye to obtain a soul? Faye could obtain access to said fluids through the Medical Bay equipment? Or, I guess John, Alyssa and Irillith could just do a spirit walk and induct her into the crew properly and then have Alyssa try and establish a telepathic link. I think the recovery time would be shorter with a non-organic life form.

As for Sakura’s mental stability, John has a way of fixing more than a broken body and she’ll be key in tracking down her employer, who assumes she’s dead. She may also wake up in time to shed some light on the Dragon March conspiracy.

Perhaps something along these lines?

We are in a mountain medow in Tennessee. No one but us. It is the middle of summer and slightly overcast, the temperature is 75 degrees and we decide to go fly fishing in the tout lake in the nude. We get our gear and walk to the lake, I walk behind you and enjoy the swing of your hips as we make our way. My mind wanders and I imagine walking in step with you while pressed to your back, my slick cock being rubbed by the undulation of your cheeks and my cock rages.

We get to the lake and you turn to see my excitement and without a word you smile mischeviously and lay down your gear and lay spread eagled on the manicured carpet grass before me, curling your fingers in invitation.

My cock already soaked with prekum I kneel beside you and let you spread it over me with your soft fingers as my breathing begins to come faster, more shallow while my lust rises to a fever pitch.

I move between your legs, my cock a steal rod, and I place the head at the opening to your pussy. I look into your eyes and you tell me, Take me my Buck.....take your woman.....fuck my pussy deep and hard.

I begin to press in and after a momentary resistance the head pops inside you and you close your eyes and a sexual yesss escapes your lips. I hold it there for a second....reposition....and slowly glide it into your hot pussy to the hilt in one long, slow, powerful thrust.

You moan continuously as I slide deeply within....and with my balls pressing against the crack of your ass I hold...and move slightly from side to side as I press my pubis against your clit in a rubbing motion.

My hands move to your nipples which are hard as picks and I pull on them with wet fingers. leaning over you and supporting myself with one arm I pull each nipple in turn to my lips and as I suckle it I stroke your pussy with my cock

I pull your nipples deeply into my mouth, running my tongue over it, around it, over it again and then let them pull gently from my lips past my gentle toothing of them as they exit

I stroke you faster as I cup your left breast and squeeze it slightly to pooch the nipple which I then gently slap in unison with my deep stroking of your pussy. Slapping it one, two, three times until it is rosy and tingly with the slight sting of my hand.

I grab the other nipple and do the same...the little stings driving you over the edge as you begin to scream you cum to my ears.

I stroke you even harder, slamming into your pussy as you climax builds to it's crest and I watch your face contort in ecstacy as you breasts bounce with the force of my strokes.

while still deep in the throughs of your climax I pull out of your pussy and begin to enter your ass gently, but quickly moving deeper and deeper with each stroke until by the end of your spasms I am deep stroking your ass and your body transitions immediately into another orgasm. As it builds higher and higher you feel my cock expanding and look into my eyes and see I am about to cream your ass.

We watch each other's lust filled faces as we build to that crest together....and we cum as one, writhing as one, connected through the conduit of my cock as electrical pulses of pleasure pass between our bodies.

We lay together as we catch our breath, gently kissing and cuddling. Until we decide it is time to catch lunch.

We are playful, touching, copping a feel of each other's bodies as we prepare our rods and as we fish you keep looking at my cock, my ass, making eye contact as you blush in your sensuality... I keep looking at your breasts, your shaved pussy, your shapely ass as they undulate with your movement and we enjoy the eye candy of each others nakkid bodies as we place our flies on the waters of the lake.

As one hooks a fish, the other begins to fondle, back and forth, touching, kissing, rubbing, as the other tries to land the trout.

When we have caught our fill, we return to the shore, lay down our baskets, and go into a 69 with you on top....and in a slow sensual langor lick, suckle, kiss, and tease each other into multiple orgasms....me slipping my tongue over your sex, my fingers exploring the deepths of your pussy and anus, you rubbing my prostrate as you lick and suck my cock....running your tongue maddeningly over its ridge.

My lips wrapped around your cunnie and sucking hard as you cum, pulling out your juices. I watch your anus flutter as you cum and it drives me wild. You feel my cock swell and spasm in your mouth filling it with my cream and swallowing me....I feel your throat muscles around my cock head as you swallow.

we lay face to face and I kiss you deeply, licking up the lines of my cum that escaped your lips and tonguing you deeply as we mix our juices and massage each other's tongues.

My hands roam freely over your body...your back, your breasts, your hips, your cheeks, your inner thighs....the depth of the sharing is wonderful and we are loath to return to the cabin to clean the fish....yet, finally, hunger begins to motivate us and we return.

I start the grill and you quickly pull out some prepared side dishes and set them to heating. You walk up behind me as I am placing the fish on the grill and you slip a well lubed finger into my ass and begin to rub my prostrate again. You stand behind me as I strain to concentrate on cooking the fish for over fifteen minutes as you finger my ass and kiss my back...reaching around to play with my balls and cock...driving me insane.

you pull away as the fish are almost done and run clean up and bring out the food. I arrange the outside furniture so that I can sit and reach all the food....you sit on my lap...facing me....my cock burried deep inside your pussy and we feed each other.....letting our natural movements create sinful sensations between us as we feed and fondle each other.

It is a meal I will never forget.

I have, but everyone keeps telling me they skip all the sex and they just love the sci-fi! :-)

I think Faye ought to be able to create and save patch and data files to preserve her progress, This would allow her to be "resurrected" if her cyber body was destroyed without the need to guide her through another childhood

With regards to telepathic communication with Alyssa, Dana could work out a modification of the device that was used as the starting point for the psychic detector to give Faye a telepathic "voice".

I have to say that I am enjoying reading this storey and have only found one of a similar type on the site that gets close to yours for sustained readability, that one being "Memoirs of Kitty-Siam". Again many thanks for sharing your vivid imagination with us.

Draco9881 ( The name I will use if I decide to sign on as a user.)

I hear you. I was thinking more along the lines of a more vivid description...like "teasingly licking along the base of her clit in soft staccato of butterfly like carresses" as opposed to 'he opened her legs and made her squeal'. But yeah, I was reading those posts, as well. Point is, your story is so good, we get impatient....lol.

And thanks for the update!

Am I the only one getting this error when looking for page 2 of the comments?

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