Three Square Meals Ch. 078

***

The Invictus was deep within the sprawling battle now, with Calara firing Beam Lasers, Heavy Cannons, and Gauss Cannons the instant they had cooled or reloaded. John leaned forward to study the Tactical Map, watching as Alyssa and Calara targeted a pair of black-armoured Drakkar battleships. Calara struck first, efficiently stripping both marauding vessels of their shields with her Nova Lances. She was followed immediately afterwards by Alyssa, who capitalised on their vulnerability by hammering the Drakkar ships with Singularity Driver slugs, systematically pounding them into oblivion.

Irillith had wrecked her first toy a while ago. She had rammed it into another battleship after shutting down all the cooling systems for her power core, thereby triggering a reactor explosion that destroyed them both. Immediately afterwards, she hijacked another of the thousand-metre-long battleships, deactivated its shields, then used it to wreak merry chaos amidst the Drakkar lines. The Drakkar she targeted didn't know whether to fire back, or assume all the 'friendly fire' was just an accident and keep focusing on the Ashanath. Every time they did choose to fire on her hacked ship, it meant that the Greys had to endure one less barrage, keeping them in the fight just that little bit longer. In any event, the confusion and disruption she inflicted amongst the Drakkar ranks was even more valuable than the considerable damage she was inflicting with her battleship's guns.

Faye was currently using her huge radius of Pulse Cannon coverage to shoot down any missiles that the Drakkar launched, in a desperate bid to save as many Ashanath vessels from harm as possible. The Greys had been savagely mauled by the Drakkar, with well over half the ships from their initial fleet now lying burned and broken, providing grim tombs for thousands of their slain people. The Ashanath still fought on valiantly, striking back at the rampaging Drakkar and inflicting their own fair share of casualties in retribution. A sizable number of grey ships drifted aimlessly as broken hulks, their purple banding now looking like a ribcage that had been cracked open.

The Invictus had already made a significant difference to the battle, having destroyed ten battleships and over a dozen cruisers - all of which were plated in the Onyxium-alloy armour. However, fighting in that densely-packed maelstrom of beams, missiles, and exploding ships was not without cost. The battlecruiser's shield status was already showing as yellow, when a battleship clipped them with a wild salvo of purple beams, the Drakkar hitting more by blind luck than skill.

John glanced at the shield status hologram and grimaced as he saw the colour had changed to a deep orange. "We're down to twenty-seven percent shields," he warned his blonde pilot.

"Yeah, I know! They're throwing too much crap at us to dodge it all!" Alyssa grumbled, yanking the flightstick back and narrowly avoiding a burning Drakkar cruiser. "Even if these fuckers can't shoot for shit, we're fifty percent bigger now!"

Before he could respond, Rachel whirled in her chair, blurting out, "John! I've got Ularean hailing us. The High Council WERE on that Progenitor ship!"

"Put him through!" he replied brusquely, nodding to her in thanks before turning to look at the viewscreen.

The Senior Councillor's grey head filled the screen, but the right side of his face was covered in dark-red blood and he had a jagged cut in his scalp. "JohnBlake, it is such a relief to see you," Ularean began, obviously distressed. "We attempted to assist using the Legacy, but we were undone."

John stared intently at the diminutive alien and said, "We're going to need to have a long chat after this battle, Ularean. It seems you haven't been entirely honest with me."

"Please forgive us, JohnBlake," Ularean replied, his whispering voice still managing to carry his pleading tone, such was his strength of feeling. "We promise to reveal everything we know about the Progenitors, but we must ask for your aid first."

"Is your ship in danger?" John asked, glancing at the Tactical Map. The image of the wrecked Progenitor vessel hadn't moved since it had been struck by torpedoes, lying shattered amongst a broad swathe of debris. He couldn't see any sign of Drakkar in its immediate vicinity.

Ularean blinked twice before replying, "I do not refer to the Legacy, but to Ashana itself! More Drakkar forces have jumped into the system and are taking pains to avoid the battle - they appear to be planning a raid on our homeworld! We have sent fighter and bomber wings to intercept, but they require assistance to nullify this threat."

John expanded the focus of the Tactical Map, scaling it back to allow him to see the entire system rather than just the tighter confines of the battle. Just as the Ashanath Councillor had described, a small fleet of ships appeared to be heading directly for Ashana, but from the opposite side of the planet to the battling fleets. His eyes widened when he saw that the black-hulled group consisted of a battleship escorted by four cruisers.

"I'm not sure we can make it in time," John said hesitantly, looking back at the image of the Invictus diving through the intense firefight.

"I'll help the strike craft!" Jade volunteered, her cat-like eyes gleaming. "The Raptor is much faster than the Invictus and I'm already half-way there!"

Shaking his head, John refused, saying, "You can't take on a battleship, Jade, you'll be ridiculously outgunned!"

Her emerald eyes sparkled with excitement as she responded, "The Drakkar cruisers are severely damaged and that battleship doesn't even have any shields! They must be stragglers who barely survived the minefield."

Alyssa didn't turn to speak to him - she was too busy piloting the Invictus - as she said telepathically, *Jade might be their only chance. I can't get us there in time to prevent them starting an orbital bombardment and there's too much shit flying around for me to try a short-range hyper-warp jump without hitting anything!*

Turning to look at Ularean again, John said, "We're sending help, Ularean. Jade will intercept them in the Raptor."

"My deepest thanks," the Senior Councillor said in a whisper as he gazed at the screen. His eerie voice even managing to sound contrite as he added, "I wish we had fully trusted you from the start, JohnBlake. My sincerest apologies that we did not."

"Yeah, I wish you had too," John agreed with a rueful smile. "Now isn't the time for apologies though, Ularean. Let's finish this battle and we can talk afterwards."

Ularean bowed to him and ended the call, his bloodied face disappearing from view.

"Okay Jade, head for that new fleet," John said, glancing at the holographic image of her lovely green face.

The Nymph smiled at him as she replied, "I'm already on my way!"

Dana gave him an enthusiastic grin and exclaimed, "I just gave the last of these cruisers a new asshole! I'll follow Jade and give her some backup."

Tashana had been staring intently at the wrecked Progenitor ship, and she turned to look at John and said with some urgency, "It might be wise to protect the Ashanath's Progenitor vessel from further harm. Who knows what secrets such a ship might contain about your heritage?"

John nodded and turning to Dana he said, "I want you to protect the High Council and their ship. Tashana's right, but more importantly, the Ashanath High Council are very vulnerable at the moment and we need to keep them safe."

"Ah c'mon! You're sticking me on guard duty?!" Dana protested, looking grumpy. "Jade might need my help against that invasion force!"

"There's still another thirty Drakkar battleships left over here," Calara replied, attempting to placate the redhead. "You don't need to worry about missing out on any action."

The redhead grinned at them and cheered, "I'll be right there!"

***

Warboss Magaruk felt a cold trickle of sweat slide down his mottled green back as he stared at the Tactical Map. One minute the Drakkar armada had been gleefully slaughtering the stunted Grey weaklings - aside from that unfortunate incident with Vekrok's dreadnought - and then this white wraith of a ship had appeared as if from nowhere, felling Drakkar battleships left, right, and centre!

He grimaced as he watched the Terran battlecruiser's incredibly fast charge towards his own clan leader's black-hulled battleship. Overlord Duzrog desperately turned the huge ship to get a better firing position and as soon as the blunt nose of the battleships swung about, an immense salvo of pulsating purple beams bracketed the deadly incoming threat. Despite dozens of violet columns of energy being fired in its direction, only a couple managed to wing their target. The white hulled ship jinked around, looking more like some flighty corvette than a lumbering Capital ship - Magaruk had never seen anything like it!

Though the white ship was fast and agile, more importantly in Magaruk's eyes, it was packing enough firepower to make the ships it was hunting look like petulant podlings. Unlike the wild shots that sailed around the battlecruiser, the answering cataclysmic blast that slammed into the black battleship was aimed perfectly. Magaruk could only look on in horror as the massive white lance of energy filleted his leader's battleship, carving a hundred-meter-wide hole through the centre of the hopelessly outclassed vessel.

Normally Magaruk would have been delighted to see his Overlord blasted into oblivion, thereby giving him an opportunity to seize control of the clan for himself. Thoughts of courting the ripe but deadly Drakkar podmothers never even entered his mind though, not when a sudden disturbing realisation made him quake with fear.

That white ship seemed to be hunting down every ship furnished with black armour and his own cruiser was equipped in exactly that fashion.

The Dark One's gift didn't seem quite so generous or formidable now, after all.

***

Jade pushed the throttle as far forward as it would go, the Raptor leaping across space as it raced towards the incoming fleet of planetary raiders. Her gunship was by far the fastest vessel in the system and she quickly caught up with the Ashanath bomber wings, before tearing past the cumbersome double-disc strike craft. The Ashanath fighters were just up ahead, and the Nymph pulled back on her flightstick, lifting the nose of the gunship to slightly correct her course.

She grinned as she imagined the startled reactions of the Ashanath fighter pilots as the Raptor rocketed past them. In her experience, most fighter pilots expected to be flying the quickest and most agile ships in an engagement and to watch the much larger gunship effortlessly sail away from them must have been deeply unsettling. To make them feel a bit better, she moved the stick from left to right, waggling her wingtips in a friendly fashion. At the last moment, she realised that such a gesture could be misinterpreted as taunting them, but now wasn't the time to be worrying about such things.

Pushing a button on her console, Jade switched the focus of her map to the marauding battleship and its four cruisers. The enemy ships were covered in spikes, but their once-frightening appearance was marred by the great sweeping rents in their buckled and torn armour plating. It was quite clear that these Drakkar had been caught in the epic blastwave from Calara's minefield, with all five spacecraft hobbling along and nursing various injuries.

Grinning in anticipation, she pointed the Raptor towards the first of the black-hulled cruisers, the optical targeting system following her sharp eyes as she searched for weaknesses in its black hide.

***

The Valkyrie soared towards the wreck of the Legacy, arms and legs locked back as the mech travelled in flight mode. As Dana approached, she could clearly see the sheer scale of the devastation inflicted on what was once a magnificent and intimidating spacecraft. The front had been atomised by the crippling explosions from the Drakkar torpedoes, and while the rear of the huge vessel was still intact, she could tell at a glance that it had sustained serious damage under that battering.

Along the silver hull sections of the Legacy, lights flickered intermittently through the transparent Aluminum/Etherite hull plating over the ship's windows. To Dana's well-trained eye, that hinted at serious problems with the Power Relays, with the system load too heavy for the feeble amount of power remaining. The redhead guessed that the relays must have been torn from their housings with all those terrible concussive impacts, the power couplings now sheared through or hanging by a thread. She just felt glad that she wasn't going to be the one who had to fix that mess...

Arriving at her destination, Dana flipped a switch to shift from flight mode to battle mode and landed the thirty-metre-tall mecha on the vast silvery hull of the Legacy. Her landing was smooth and the Valkyrie immediately righted itself, so that she stood atop the wrecked ship. The quad-mounted Photon Lasers swung over her shoulders to lock into firing position, while she hefted the Punisher Gatling Cannon on the mech's right arm as the warmachine readied itself for combat.

Taking a quick glance at her Tactical Map, Dana's hopeful smile faded away. Although the battle still raged furiously between the two alien fleets, the closest ships were well out of her weapon range. She watched the Invictus rocketing through the battle lines, immediately recognisable by its incredible speed and haloed as it was in a blue sphere of Pulse Cannon fire. Occasionally, bright blue beams and the intermittent Nova Lance blast lit up the Tactical Map, with the battlecruiser bringing blazing retribution to the Drakkar forces.

Dana's sky-blue eyes narrowed as she watched her friends in action. She wouldn't put it past John to try and keep her out of trouble, and despite Calara's encouraging words, the redhead realised she had been stuck with boring guard duty after all. Her shoulders slumped, resigning herself to sitting out the rest of the battle as an impotent spectator, forced to just watch while John and the girls had all the fun. Her lips lifted into a smile as she remembered that the day hadn't been a complete letdown though - she had been able to test out her new guns and on really nasty bad guys as well!

She watched the battle for another few minutes, finding the red and purple flashes of light to be strangely hypnotic as the Ashanath and Drakkar struck each other with sustained Beam Laser barrages. The Invictus joining the battle had helped even the odds and with Calara brutally punishing any Drakkar ship with black armour, the Ashanath were starting to hold their own against the steel-armoured Drakkar forces. Periodic explosions signified the death of another mighty warship, along with the tragic loss of many thousands of crew, the butcher's bill for the dead rising alarmingly by the minute. Just as John had warned them earlier, the Battle of Ashana was turning out to be a very bloody business indeed.

While Dana had many virtues, patience definitely wasn't one of them, and as the saying goes; the Devil makes work for idle hands. Eyeing up the twisted remains of the mangled Drakkar dreadnought, she mused that while it looked like a lifeless hulk, it certainly wouldn't hurt to make sure. That would mean that she'd have to wildly strafe it with Photon Lasers and perhaps a burst or two from the Punisher Gatling, but that wasn't her being reckless, she would actually be taking eminently sensible precautions.

A huge grin lit up her face and she jogged the mech across the silvery surface of the Legacy, relocating the Valkyrie to a better firing position. The Defiler and the Legacy had taken each other out at extreme Beam Laser range and while she could hardly miss such a huge target, even from that distance, she wanted a better look at what she hoped would be magnificent explosions.

Dana got into a great spot to watch the upcoming action, then zoomed in with the mech's targeting grid, lining up her first shot at the ripped-open foredeck of the Defiler. It was then that she spotted a flicker of motion by the immobilised dreadnought. What started as a hint of movement soon turned into a hive of activity and she gaped in shock as dropships began pouring out of the derelict like angry bees swarming from a stirred-up nest.

***

Vekrok watched through the reinforced windows in the Breaker's cockpit as all around him, dropships began to lift off from the Hangar deck. Festooned with spikes, chains, and the picked-clean skeletons of their victims, the black-armoured craft made a heart-warming sight for the hulking Drakkar tyrant.

"Your Honour Guard is aboard, Grand Overlord!" Grukig reported, stomping through the broad doorway and into the cockpit. He rolled his shoulders under the weight of the massive rotary cannon on his right arms, and the chunky reflective shield he carried on his left pair of arms.

Turning to his pilot, Vekrok viciously kicked the back of his chair and snarled, "You heard him, Nezug! Fucking move your ass!" His fang-filled grin was terrifying as he added, "We need to get there first, before all the boys get started on their crew!"

The roar of the oversized engines was deafening in the Hangar, even drowning out the tortured groans of the dying dreadnought as explosions and shipquakes slowly tore the vessel apart. Under Nezug's practiced hand, the highly modified dropship lifted off the ground with a blaze of retro-thrusters before barrelling out into space, narrowly avoiding clipping the Hangar Bay doors on its way out.

Although the rest of the dropships had a lead on Vekrok and his Breaker, he wasn't worried. None of the other boarding craft were as fast as his personal ship and he knew he'd get there before the others. He glared at their silver and black destination and started salivating at the thought of all the Greys he was going to eat. The trick was to tear those silver suits from them first, otherwise you just filled up too fast. It took a little longer, but frightening them half to death made their meat all the tastier!

Suddenly the blackness of space in front of him lit up with blindingly bright flashes, leaving him squinting against the glare caused by some kind of stuttering blue beams. Most of the shots missed the throng of dropships, but one of the laser beams caught the rear end of one of the smaller vessels. The short pulse of energy vaporised the dropship in an instant, leaving a glowing line on the front section, which tumbled away helplessly.

"Full speed ahead! Get in there before you get shot to fucking bits!" Vekrok roared into the comm interface, watching a moment later as the engines mounted on all the dropships ahead of him blazed with orange light.

"Right away, mighty one!" Nezug growled, powering up the Breaker's engines to maximum, his hand moving over to the console to press a big red button.

Vekrok stepped forward just in time to snatch the pilot's hand away from the button. "Not yet! Let them take the hits. Wait until we're closer."

Nezug chuckled evilly to himself, flexing his left hand after Vekrok nearly crushed it in his ferocious grip. Turning the Breaker towards the source of those energy weapons, he roared towards the white-armoured mech, gaining on the rest of the dropships, which all charged forward at full speed.

***

Jade yanked back on the flightstick while easing back on the throttle and banking hard to port. A sweeping salvo of beams, laser bolts, and cannon fire sailed harmlessly past on her right, the Drakkar gunners having an impossible time trying to land any shots on the extremely nimble gunship. Following through the loop for two seconds, she finally levelled herself out and lined up the Raptor with the closest of the cruisers. The Ashanath fighters had joined the fight a couple of minutes earlier and taking full advantage of being entirely ignored by the Drakkar gunners, they peppered the cruiser's shields with quick bursts from their light laser cannons. They weren't powerful enough to knock the shields out yet, but they had weakened the defensive field.