All Comments on 'Three Square Meals Ch. 068'

awesome multilevel battle! my heart was thumping. i like the fighter squad addition, brings out the nature of combat.

very well done! maybe the best space battle scene i can recollect.

Come on guys, the progenitor has to be John's dad: the Laws of Space Opera require it!

That was friggin AWESOME! Thanks Tefler! Once again, you done went and exceeded my expectations!

Can't wait for the next one!

Dave (other one) my military experience is highly limited, mostly trough acquaintances (military several Australian army), one uncle is ex NZ airforce,or should that be air farce and brother who got bumped from fighter pilot training. Also had 4 great uncles in WWII in the NZ army, so am an avid military buff/wargamer for WWII, but no direct experience myself.

@ MIkipub, your arguments re the black ship progenitor (BSP), seem highly plausible, but then are some others, i.e. BSP being johns dad. I have also offered an alternate explanation as to who BSP is, however Tefler has not provided many clues as to which way the dice will fall on this. Given enough time collectively we may hit on a possible story line. However, I suspect Tefler will keep his powder dry until the right moments, with a suitable twist. :)

Mal

John just has to strip out the upgrades and put the old stuff back on. They can replicate the armor so no big deal there. If they back off Dana's improvements, the tech is available elsewhere. I think the problem with tfed right now is the rate of reverse engineering.

I don't think they will do that though because they don't want John to say screw you and take off. It would be a PR nightmare if the Lion left the Federation.

is If Faye goes down the Pinocchio route, will she just be a single person, or will each of the different sub systems get their own body?

What happens if the TFed asks for their Raptor Back?

John has to add at least one more girl to bring up access to beat the big beastie in astral space. (I think theres still the possibility that the total of his core group will be at least ten counting the number of seats in the raptor and the crew he leaves behind)

Very carefully and discretely evaluates Anon for possible Baker Act interdiction. :-)

I was very happy to see the Raptor run through its paces. And while the "did I miss anything?" was hilarious, so was Jade's reaction to Whiskey when he exclaimed "but their are 80 of them!" And Jade replied with a grin, "Yeah, I know!"

Jade was wanting some serious payback which became obvious after taking out 20 Kintark fighters in one Beam Laser blast with the exclamation, "Payback is a Bitch!"

My thinking is Shinatobe was lucky.

My bet on upgrades:

Dana comes up with new elements for the worm-hole drive and for better heat sinks that up the power levels even higher for the Nova Lances, Beam Lasers, Pulse Cannons and Justice rifles (making the latter equivalent to the current Terran Beam Lasers at full power).

Dana also incorporates that same new element into the Invictus, Raptor, and body armor to make them highly resistant to Kintark plasma bolts and Trankaran lava bolts.

Dana figures out how to create personal shields for energy weapons.

John and Alyssa combine to shape the new Invictus, Raptor, and body armor enough times to make them impervious to laser weapons.

Sakura gets PJohns speed and reflexes, develops super dense body structures (read difficult to cut or break bones) and limited telekenesis and electrokenesis and becomes a Super Hero level defender of John and the Girls. And she obviously gets white swords this time.

The debrief with T-Fed is going to be short and sweet....no, you cannot have my tech! and yes, I am not someone to piss off! LOL.

400 Patrons.

You have a popular story but if you keep writing chapters like this, the popularity is going to explode.

Transporters would be ok but I would really like to see some Transformers. Of course the they would end up with the Assassin sending Decepticons after them.

At the risk of being nit picky, aft and stern both refer to the rear of the ship. Perhaps you meant either 'stem to stern', or perhaps 'fore to aft'? Excellent installmemt in a most excellent series.

If anything, it shows that Jade is becoming more and more like the other girls. As in: Less of the master-slave bond that exists even for non-psions with nymphs.

I love this series, can't wait for the next installment.

the point of using shuttles instead of transporters although easier for transportation it was found that they were to easily hacked which caused disruption and confusion. such as in the case of the battle cruiser Achiles who's total munition armour ant was changed half way through transportation into tins of rotting tuna fish so was banned by 2219 peace convention.

Another superlative chapter. I keep expecting the next chapter to fall below your normal very high standard but you keep thwarting my pessimism. This could be because your improving standard masks the blips. Anyway I hope you can continue "disappointing" me

PS

The misspelling of "what" in the header is deliberate.

Meant Calara not Carmen.

As Tekt pointed out, this could stem from John asking permission to marry Carmen. In doing so, John may feel honor bound to come clean about his relationships with the other girls. Not sure if I missed foreshadowing in earlier chapters but it is a possibility. John may want to come clean and rip the bandaid off instead of misleading the father until it comes out later (with all the girls pregnant). Having saved the day as well as rescuing one of his sons should help ease the blow.

Raptor vs the destroyers was pretty bloodthirsty. Worthwhile but risky.

I think some green cheeks need a spanking. Of course the other girls will likely all confess other naughtiness because they want a spanking too.

Then the oral sex.

The duties of a questing knight can be quite debilitating.

One very logical reason stands out to me. John is a bit old fashioned in some very good ways. Perhaps he is going to ask for his daughters hand in marriage?

As usual you didn't disappoint anyone. With all the advanced tech, wouldn't you think transporters would be available.

Paul

That fleet battle was one magnificent rollercoaster ride!

However, there's a small slip-up with with the name of the female Kintark High Prelate. My Kintark is a little rusty, but I don't think she should be called either Grakira or Grikira interchangably. :)

John could want to meet with Calara's dad to discuss adding a sister ship to the Invictus, and have the boys (possibly with Calara) lead her. They would have good reason to be loyal. John needs to improve his ability to keep his promise to Calara; and having to protect her Dad, limited John's options in this last battle. John also needs to strengthen his resources -- especially with people now knowing so much about him. Of course, he is about to have an alien fleet at his disposal -- so what do I know? Maybe John just wants to make babies.

Thanks Teffler for this engaging story. You seem to have moved beyond your video game style of level up, fight a harder bad guy, have some sex, level up -- which is great. It would be fun to see our heroes face a former enemy, and just ignore them because they are no longer worth slowing down for -- much to the shock of the said baddies.

It will be interesting to see how the relationship between the BSP and John plays out. Perhaps he's John's father. Certainly there is something unusual in the relationship since Gabrielle was specifically told not to harm him and the BSP only reacted with bemusement as John undid all of Gabrielle's plans.

I know that no one can be here and writing for ever ... though I wish you would be able to do just that ... I find myself looking forward to your every submission. I only wish I was able to afford to pay what your writing is worth. Thank you for what you have done and what you will do in the future ... whatever the future brings!

1) Never forget the consequences of actions on this big a stage and their *political* ramifications.

2) In terms of political impact within the TFed, well Tefler didn't tell us much of the TFed's governing structure, but one would presume it's not exactly a military dictatorship. Ergo, the politics can/will have real consequences. John, whether he wants to think about it or not, is about to become a political sensation the likes of which the TFed worlds have never seen before. In time (and not a lot of time) the neighboring empires will have to sit up and take notice too - if they haven't already (Ashanath, Trankarans, Maliri...Kintark & Kirrix too).

This was an epic chapter with exactly the kind of space battle I've been craving. Each time a fighter got taken out I was cheering for the Invictus to come and save the day. Each fighter that got blown up added to the tension. Hopefully some search and rescue teams will bring back some surviving fighter pilots. Maybe Faye using the better sensors on the Invictus finds some survivors in all that wreckage where the normal Terran scanners couldn't find them in time before their life support runs out.

Thinking of the other progenitor, maybe it's really not an enemy. Maybe it's John's father trying to bring up an ally. Seems as if the progenitors are normally loners who fight for dominance and that was okay for a while but somehow, the creature in the astral plane came into existence and the few surviving progenitors slowly got picked off in the astral plane.

Maybe the progenitors keep a slave population because they can't risk the deeper connection that John is marking with his girls due to the astral plane monster. The mysterious progenitor allowing John to build up power makes more sense if it's really grooming him to be an ally to fight the astral creature. He is an alien who has lived a very long time and human considerations of morals and ethics of seeding new species in hopes of creating useful allies doesn't apply. It may be stirring up trouble in order to accelerate John's development. In peacetime, John may have just isolated himself instead of being forced to grow. That may explain the assassin. If John dies, the progenitor just needed to start over again. In an immortal alien, this may be an acceptable approach, especially if it uses the theory of relativity to accelerate time between creating a new hybrid progenitor and waiting for him to grow to maturity.

Commented there... 5* obviously.

It's good but when the Terrans were interdicted and Caldwell said "It's a trap" really had me going.

As for updates, expect to wait a week. That's what I've been doing and I'm pretty sure Tefler said it himself some chapters back or in his bio.

Forget movie. Turn this into a video game. I'd love to do the fighting myself. Fighting with guns, swords and then piloting ships. It'd be Oblivion/Skyrim combined with Modern Warfare/Halo and then Ace Combat or whatever. That'd be awesome I'm sure.

The reason that Humans were, the reason for our existence was that the Progenitor got bored.

That is the thing isn't it. At the Moment John is not as powerful as he could be. these games the 'Evil' Progenitor is playing might just be designed to get John up to a level where he is a challenge.

Remember the Red girls, think about it Red and Blue primary colours, so we have two Progenitors battling for a sector of space. Red team and Blue team.

So what to do when you win, create a species that can bread true. Humans, then wait long enough and set yourself another challenger.

It gives you the thought are there other areas of space where the species were Black and White, Silver and Gold.

Things to think about.

Oh and before I forget thanks for the story.

The stones the greys shown to john only show the Progenitor attack when they can wipe out a force that cant hurt them i.e. non space tech race but now we dont know how they fight a space tech race ?

In other words its a level fighting ground almost and with john ship in the mix who knows (apart from Tefler)

Had me on the edge all the way through. Interesting what you have Fayes various avatars doing. What's up with the other Progenitor???? Why did he leave the party? Got something brewing no doubt.

Really enjoyed this chapter, oh yeah, nice finishing line too.

Are they going to be added to the list of aliens too liked the wing Commander link sad that Angel died

I really enjoyed this episode but it got me thinking what would happen if the rival progenitor goes after Maria Fernandez? (A) That would make for an interesting search and rescue mission. (B) The reunion between mother, daughter and John if/when pulled off succesfully would also make for an interesting chapter. (C) It would be a hilarious coversation afterwards between Maria, Edraele, Irillith and Calara about how John is with all of them and then go on about his exploits in bed with him.

Yeah, I couldn't resist putting that in there! :-)

Tefler

Wow, the pressure is on now! I'll do my best, and hopefully you'll enjoy their conversation. I'm not quite at that bit yet in chapter 69, but I've written 5k so far, and it's been going well.

Tefler

Very nicely spotted! That'll teach me for having such similar names! :-) I'll fix that and create an edited version.

Thanks for letting me know.

Tefler

Thank you for an amazing chapter. I only wish I could give more than 5 stars.

I think ( She'd watched the video footage of Lynton's award ceremony,)

is a error{She,d watched the video footage of Lynette's award ceremony,}

Once again you have outdone yourself. One of, if not the best chapters in the whole story..

Good story

i seen that last line before but not at the end of a ch

i knew lynton was dead the moment the fight started and then the progen just did not know how

Time to reread it ;-)

...I want to know what John and Jack will be talking about. I don't know if I can wait another week or so to find out. I'm a sucker for conversations between an overprotective father and the boyfriend -- I find them hilarious. And nothing you've written has disappointed me yet Tefler (and it's been two years!). My only complaint is that you can't write as fast as I want to read. But even I have to concede that would be too lofty of a wish. Still, it won't stop me from missing the early days when you posted multiple chapters a week (side note: I thought you were a great writer when you first started but somehow you keep improving on perfection) and checking for new chapters daily. Great work Tefler!

P.S. Please send me a real-life John Blake at your earliest convenience.

The bad guy got away.

Otherwise a good story.

once again you delivered amazing chapter. So how they are going explain to sakura

loved the Carlo Collodi bit

*drums fingers waiting for next chapter* :-)

Space opera on the scale of 'Bio of a space tyrant' by pierce anthony - truly excellent!

You and OverRed are my all time, bar none, favourite authors on Lit ever.

Keep it up. Write fast!

I was in two minds about leaving that in, but I'm glad I did! :-)

Tefler

That has got to be one of the best ending lines of a chapter yet."did I miss anything" had me laughing so hard my eyes water and I had to catch-up on breathing.

It's a shame that this story can be made into a tv show. Maybe Netflix or something like that.

Hey everyone!

I'm delighted you enjoyed the chapter, it was a fun one to write. I know you guys were looking forward to a big fleet battle, so I wanted to deliver!

As I started working on this chapter I ended up creating a list of scenes with each of the characters perspectives. It made it much easier to group them appropriately as they reacted to their changing fortunes in the battle. Then when I started working through the list, it also made it easier to flow between each section.

Anyway, I'm glad you liked the final result, and it's something I'll repeat for future large-scale conflicts.

Cheers

Tefler

Last paragraph...epic. Laughed so hard lol.

First to Tef. Outstanding chapter, definitely one of your best and worthy of a permanent home on Lit's Hall of Fame.

Ozkiwi. I really enjoy your comments mate. I thought I felt a thread of military experience in some of your comments. Your Santini comment is a good one. The checks and balances plus psych profiling is pretty good in thinning the unsuitable out of the officer corps. In fact all ranks.

That said, some get through and the flaws only appear when they get the rank and a job that's clearly beyond them. The cynic in me tells me some things may not change by the 27th century.

The other Dave

This by far the best story that has ever been posted and I have been around for years telfer thank you and you are extremely talanted I love the balance of the sex the story and the bulk of the character

Damn damn damn this was great

Eagerly waiting for the next one

The emotions I went through while reading it

I don't think I will be able to explain them but damn it felt good after reading it

This is thee most action packed chapter they will probably have some concerns from the tfed towards John after how they just walked through the battle. There tech may still be secret but a lot more high ranking officers have seen and maybe wanting the tech for themselves. we see they there strength has calara's dad leery after the battle and the admiralty may notice and see they may have leaverage against John but at the same time I could see John forming a alliance like he has done with the greys. And he gonna have a fleet he just doesn't know it yet. Can't wait and see.

The rush of emotions i felt during this chapter was as intense as those brought on by a good action movie. I never thought reading a story would do that to me! Well done Tefler. This chapter is for the ages.

You write to slow!! Just kidding. You are extremely gifted. Very well done. As always checking daily for new updates.

As the third (win, place, show) person to make a comment on the story! I didn't even read it yet, but I's WIRED that it's up!! WOO-HOO!!!

Tef,

You out do yourself once again. However, I would have thought character flaws such as Santini's would have been weeded out by his rank, particularly inabilities for obeying orders. My experience with NZ and Aussie forces, officers a weeded heavily for detrimental character flaws such as Santini's. Indeed my brother was psychologically weeded because of an inability to let go of impossible problems, which leads to poor decision making.

Cheers

Mal

What a chapter.....