Three Square Meals Ch. 075

She looked relieved, and said in a hushed, discreet voice, "Genthalas is a powerful defensive asset. Perhaps a more -cautious- plan, would be to fight the battle in the Epsilon Aquarii system, instead? We could then bring the station's arsenal to bear, and make use of the extensive fighter bays it has available. With the addition of the system defence fighters there, we'd be assured of strike-craft superiority, before the battle commences."

After listening to her counsel, John smiled at her gently, and replied, "I want to try to avoid a battle, if I can help it. This is our best shot at achieving that."

She bowed her head, and her tone was respectful as she replied, "I'm aware of your primary objective for this confrontation, I just wished to raise this point with you, in case you were unaware. I hope I have not given offence."

"It was a perfectly reasonable suggestion, Fleet Commander. No offence taken," John said, waving away her concerns. "I know you can't use telepathy with Edraele yet, so join the command channel, and if it should come to a fight, Rachel will pass on any critical information to me."

"I will do so the moment we end this call," she agreed, smiling as she realised he hadn't been upset by her well-meaning advice.

"We'll be jumping in-system shortly, so I'll see you then," he said, and they shared a smile, before Rachel closed the comm channel on John's order.

"It looks like we're all set up," Alyssa said, glancing his way. "Now let's see if they want to come and play..."

***

Tashana walked out onto the bridge of the battleship, and greeted Aadya and Tsarra with a nod. The worried look on Tsarra's face made her pause, and she asked, "What's wrong?"

"We've detected a Terran cruiser," Tsarra explained, pointing at the Holographic Sector Map.

Whirling around to look at the map, Tashana's eyes widened when she saw the white-hulled vessel. It was much longer than before, and where it had once vaguely resembled an angular shark, it now reminded her of a gladiator's sword from one of those Terran Holo-vids. She blurted out, "That's him! That's John Blake's ship!"

Aadya nodded, and replied, "We realised that, and he's heading directly towards us..."

Tashana looked at the map in confusion, and muttered to herself, "I don't see the Valaden fleet... why would he leave Genthalas?" After a quick shrug, she looked at the House Perfaren Fleet Commander, and added eagerly, "If we interdict him now, we can cut the head off the snake!"

Shaking her head, Aadya replied, "I'm afraid we can't do that."

"Why not?!" Tashana demanded, her temper flaring. "Don't you see? This is our best chance to eliminate him now, without having to fight through all his fleets of thralls!"

"Oh, I understand that perfectly well," Aadya replied, patiently. She nodded her chin towards the map, and added, "Look how fast his ship's travelling! We have no hope of catching him."

Tashana glared at the white holograph representing the Invictus, and then gaped at it in shock, when she saw how fast it was travelling in hyper-warp. She remembered how quick their journey from the Underworld to Genthalas had been, and she stammered in a hushed voice, "It's even quicker than before!"

"It appears they've undergone some rather significant upgrades in this refit you mentioned," Aadya said, the normally unshakeable Fleet Commander looking pensive. "They're travelling at triple our fastest hyper-warp speed."

"What's he doing now?" Tsarra asked, looking at the image of the ship with fear in her eyes.

As they stared at the Sector Map, the Invictus performed an arcing loop that positioned the Invictus just in front of their fleet, travelling just outside of interdiction range. The Terran vessel was travelling on the same course as their Armada, on a heading directly towards Genthalas Station. As they watched, the glossy-hulled ship made a slight course correction, and tacked to port, but still stayed just ahead of the frontrunners of their fleet.

"It looks like he's trying to get us to follow him," Aadya murmured, staring at the Terran ship in fascination.

The Communications Officer cleared her throat, and said nervously, "We're being hailed by the Invictus, Fleet Commander. I know your ord-"

"Don't answer it!" Tashana snapped, furiously.

With an impatient sigh, Aadya glanced at Tashana, before looking at the Comms Officer again, and saying, "Go ahead, finish what you were telling me."

With an indignant look at the golden-masked woman who had cut her off, the Bridge Officer replied, "I know your orders were to not open any comm channels with them, but they've transmitted what looks like some kind of software package to us. They aren't trying to establish video comms."

Tashana began to pace nervously, as she said, "My sister's a devious and vindictive hacker! Don't open that application, whatever you do. Who knows what it'll do to our systems!"

Ignoring her, the Comms Officer continued, "I've had incoming messages from the other flagships in the fleet. They've received similar packages, and are holding them in a secure subnet, but haven't accessed anything."

Tsarra and Aadya exchanged glances, and the young Matriarch said, "Do we follow after them? Our fleet is bigger than theirs, and if they don't have Genthalas to back them up, it should make it easier to beat them, shouldn't it?"

"I don't like this," Tashana muttered. "This smells like a trap."

Aadya turned to the battleship's navigator, and asked, "Where will their current course take them?"

After a moment checking the Sector Map, the navigator looked puzzled, then replied, "They're on a direct heading towards Lambda Aquarii, but it's basically an empty system."

"Show us," Tsarra requested, pointing towards the Sector Map.

With a few clicks on her console, the map zoomed in on the Lambda Aquarii system, focused on the red-giant at its centre. Just as the navigator had stated, there wasn't much of interest to this system. There was a single orange gas giant planet on a wide orbit around the star, and a dense belt of strip-mined asteroids about halfway between them.

"Perhaps an ambush from the asteroid field?" Tashana suggested, pacing nervously.

Aadya shook her head, and replied "You couldn't conceal a fleet of any consequence in there."

"Mines, then?" Tashana blurted out.

The Fleet Commander looked dubious, and replied, "We could jump in anywhere around the outer edge of the gravity well. They wouldn't have had time to mine the entire system."

Tsarra studied her older advisor, and asked, "It sounds like you're suggesting we follow them?"

"Maybe just until we can see what's on the long-range sensors?" Aadya replied, looking at the map thoughtfully. "It's not like we're stumbling into a nebula; we'll be able to see what we're facing before we consider entering the system."

"I agree," Tsarra said, with a decisive nod. She glanced at the Comms Officer, and continued, "Advise the other Matriarchs that we're about to change heading."

"I don't like this one bit," Tashana growled, her eyes searching the map suspiciously, for any clue as to what the devious Progenitor was up to.

***

"They're following us!" Jade exclaimed, pointing at the huge armada of Maliri vessels that were pursuing them.

Alyssa grinned at her, and said, "They took the bait!"

The Nymph laughed, as she said, "I don't blame them! Having something teasing you just out of paw's reach is maddening!"

"Nice work, Jade," John said, giving her an appreciative smile. Turning to his left, he continued, "Rachel, did they all receive Irillith's program?"

The brunette nodded, and replied, "I broadcast it to every ship bigger than a cruiser, but I've no idea if they've opened it yet."

Irillith shook her head, and said, "They won't. It'll be stored in a secure subnet, while they try and determine what it is. Maliri believe in a defence-in-depth strategy for their networks, with compartmentalised zones in layer upon layer of subnets. I could brute-force my way in there, but they'd just eject the comms array when they saw me smashing through firewalls."

"We'll just have to convince them to take a look," John said, glancing at the System Map centred around its big red star.

"I'm getting messages from all the allied Fleet Commanders," Rachel said, touching her finger to the headset in her ear. She gestured towards the map, and said, "They've assembled their fleets on the outer edge of the system, as you requested."

John watched as their long-range sensors started to pick up the leading edge of the House Valaden fleet. Row after row of cruisers, carriers, and battleships were arrayed in neat divisions, with dense screens of corvettes and destroyers positioned in front. Scores of fighter and bomber wings had been launched, but all were stationary, parked in formation, like they were preparing for a huge parade. House Loraleth's forces appeared to the right, with House Ghilwen's fleet adjacent to it, while the considerable military might of Houses Aeberos and Naestina were assembled to the left. All told, there over four-hundred ships-of-the-line, the picket vessels doubling that figure, and the strike craft tripling it.

"The Maliri have so many ships," Dana murmured, staring in awe at the impressive display of interstellar power.

Calara nodded, and replied, "Just the forces on our side could crush the Terran Federation, or the Kintark Empire. They'd be outnumbered, but the Maliri have a huge tech advantage."

Dana glanced at John, and said, "One that just got a whole lot bigger. I know I said I didn't mind what you did with my tech advancements, but are you sure giving them the heatsinks, the power cores, and the Tachyon Drive was a good idea?"

He nodded, as he replied, "If all goes well today, there won't be a 'them' and 'us', we'll all be on the same side. Even if something goes horribly wrong, at least we've given the Maliri a fighting chance of holding off the Progenitor."

She shrugged, as she said, "Like I said, I don't mind. As long as you think you can trust them with it."

Irillith smiled at the redhead, and said, "My people are obsessively paranoid about secrecy, and have a long history of refusing to trade tech with xeno-races. Nothing we gave to the technicians on Genthalas will leak out to other species."

"We'll be ready to drop out of hyper-warp in three minutes, " Alyssa noted. She smiled at Dana, and added, "Going twice as fast is amazing, but it's halved our warning time on the sensors. Anything you can do to give them a boost?"

"I'll think about it, but without access to some radical new tech, I'm a bit stuck," the Chief Engineer admitted. "I already upgraded the Maliri versions a shitload. They're about as advanced as I can make them."

John held up his hand to still the chatter in the Bridge, and said, "Alright, Jade, when we drop out of hyper-warp, you know what to do, right?"

The Nymph nodded eagerly, and said, "Sure. I'll begin manoeuvres immediately."

***

"Tashana, have you got any idea what they're doing?" Tsarra asked, staring at the map in confusion.

The masked girl slowly shook her head, as she was forced to admit, "I'm sorry, I haven't the faintest idea."

They watched as the Progenitor's ship raced back and forth, in front of the neat lines of his fleet. The white cruiser was flying perpendicular to the rows of vessels, until it reached one end of the formation, where it looped around, and began rushing back the way they had just come.

The Perfaren Fleet Commander scratched her temple, and said, "This makes no sense. It's like he's showing off the capabilities of his ship. First, he reveals he has a vastly quicker FTL drive than us, and now, he's just given away the flight characteristics of that cruiser. Granted, I've never seen a ship move that fast before, but normal doctrine would be to conceal your strengths, and only reveal them when striking to your advantage." She frowned, as she added, "The same applies to the Fleets at his disposal. Why just leave them all on display like that?"

"Is there any news from the sensor probes?" Tsarra asked, nibbling at her index fingernail.

Aadya turned to her Engineering Officer, and the Maliri woman shook her head, and replied, "There's nothing there, Fleet Commander. No mines, no gravity inducers, no sensor nets, and there's nothing concealed in the asteroid belt. The entire system is barren."

"Apart from a Progenitor and his enormous fleet of thralls," Tashana scowled. She turned around, and added impatiently, "If the system really is empty, perhaps he's just grown overconfident, but doesn't want to risk Genthalas being damaged in a battle? If that's the case, this might be our best opportunity to strike."

"I'm inclined to agree," Tsarra said, looking at her Fleet Commander, to see her verdict.

With a decisive nod, Aadya said, "Let's enter the system, and prepare the armada for battle."

***

"Here they come!" Jade exclaimed, pointing to the stationary mass of vessels, which had stopped just outside the Lambda Aquarii system.

The opposing armada of ships had entered hyper-warp again, and were now jumping in-system, forming into well-organised, battle-ready formations. It took several minutes for the hundreds of bigger ships to assemble, and once the fighter and bomber wings had deployed, they were facing nearly fifteen-hundred Maliri vessels. They hadn't begun to close yet, but John knew it would be only a matter of moments before they did so.

"They're a whole lot scarier when I know they aren't just models in a simulator," Calara murmured, glancing back at John nervously.

John met her apprehensive glance, and raised an eyebrow, as he asked, "You're not getting jittery on me, are you, Commander? Remember, you're the saviour of the Dragon March, and the heroine who saved Terra! Billions of people are only alive today because of you. I couldn't ask for a finer Tactical Officer."

The Latina sat up straight, her face showing a flicker of pride, as she remembered her accomplishments. She gave him a firm nod, and said confidently, "Powering up weapons, Admiral."

He smiled at her, then turned to face their green-skinned pilot, and said, "Alright, you know what to do, Jade. Take us in."

"You got it," she replied, pushing the throttle forward to maximum, and changing course, rather than looping around when they reached the end of the Maliri formation lines.

John looked at the view-screen windows displaying the star fields beyond, and watched as they whirled madly with Jade's manoeuvres. The Invictus swooped about, shining dots flashing by in a blur that left him dizzy just to look at them. They finally held steady when Jade levelled out the ship, and pointed the nose directly towards the asteroid belt. The field of rocky chunks was densely packed, but didn't stretch particularly far, at least not like the vast, sprawling belts that were so prevalent in the Trankaran Republic.

"Get ready for my targets, Jade," Calara said, as she gripped the two weapon controls.

"I'll let you know which ones she tells me to aim for," Alyssa added, leaning forward, as she concentrated on the huge sprawl of asteroids, getting ready to relay the brunette's telepathic instructions.

"You're on clean-up duty, Faye," Calara said, glancing at the purple sprite with an encouraging smile. "Remember what I told you about leading your targets."

"You can count on me!" Faye agreed, her cute face set in a mask of concentration.

Dana had a wicked grin on her face, as she said, "Powering up the Singularity Generator!"

John nodded, and said grimly, "Alright ladies, let's see what the Invictus can do..."

***

"Wait! They're doing something!" Tsarra gasped, pointing urgently at the system map.

Tashana stared intently at the Invictus, and nodded as she blurted out, "They're running for cover in that asteroid belt! I knew it wasn't a coincidence it was there!"

They watched in silence for a long moment, as the white cruiser roared towards the field of rocks, then blinked against a sudden blinding flash from the System Map. The dazzling glare was from a blazing bluish-white beam that arced through half-a-dozen asteroids, obliterating the massive rocks in an instant.

"That blast came from a Nova Lance!" Aadya gasped, staring at the cruiser in shock.

Tashana nodded, and swore vehemently before she snarled, "Courtesy of Edraele Valaden, have no doubt."

They watched as a blue nimbus seemed to shroud the end of the ship, until there was a sudden detonation deep within the asteroid belt, the largest rock in the field left trembling by a huge explosion. The slowly-turning rock was gigantic, easily twenty times larger than the biggest Maliri battleship. A second later, it was struck by another terrifying impact, then another; one coming every second, in a blistering and unrelenting hail that pounded into the rocky edifice. It reeled under that storm of hyper-accelerated slugs, enormous craters pockmarking its surface, with deep rings spiralling outwards from each impact site. Unable to withstand such devastation, the moon-like asteroid broke apart in a savage display of raw, unadulterated carnage.

As the Maliri looked on in horror, the Invictus plunged into the asteroid belt, and a dazzling riot of blue beams seemed to explode outwards. They slashed through asteroids, cutting them to pieces with far greater efficacy than a normal Maliri Beam Laser, and each melted chunk was subsequently pounded by a storm of shells, fired from both above and below the ship. The sheer weight of firepower was terrifying to behold, and there was deathly silence aboard the Bridge, as every woman there stared at the frightful holographic images.

Just when they thought it couldn't get any worse, a blistering sheet of blue laser bolts swept out from the glossy-white hull, forming a globe of energy that scythed through the rocky fragments. The asteroids were blasted into tiny pieces, forming a vast sea of gravel, as the ship steamrolled its way through the asteroid belt.

"Are they trying to scare us?" Tsarra asked, in a hushed voice. She glanced nervously at her Fleet Commander, and added in a whisper, "If so, it's working."

"How can anything that size carry so much firepower?" Aadya murmured to herself, sounding awed.

"Wait!" Tashana hissed, pointing at the map. "What the fuck are they doing?!"

As the Invictus swept on through the asteroid field, it soon became apparent that the destruction had not been absolute. A number of asteroids had been sliced by the beams, but left intact, and the white ship slowed, as it began to move the huge rocks via tractor beam.

"They're spelling out words using the asteroids!" the Communications Officer blurted out, her angular eyes as wide as saucers, as she gazed at the map.

Tsarra frowned, as she tilted her head to one side, and she read aloud, "Does that say 'Play'?" Turning to look at Aadya and Tashana, she continued, "Play what?"

Aadya nodded towards the map, and said, "There's more, Matriarch..."

Sure enough, the Invictus tractored more of the glowing asteroid letters into place, until it formed a phrase, perfectly sculpted in Maliri script. In thirty-metre-high letters, the words, "Play the game", were all that was left of the asteroid belt, the rest entirely obliterated.

"Play the game," Tsarra read, her brow furrowing in confusion. She looked at her colleagues, and admitted, "I don't understand. What game are they asking us to play?"

There was a long moment of silence on the Bridge, before the Comms Officer said, "Matriarch, I've had word from Matriarch Gaenna Baelora. She says the software package the Progenitor sent is some kind of gaming simulation."

"She opened the file!" Tashana wailed, her eyes frantic as she grabbed Tsarra by the arms. Shaking her, she pleaded, "You've got to stop them having any contact with the Progenitor! If he speaks to them, we're done!"