Three Square Meals Ch. 079

Making a deft gesture with her left hand, she grabbed a fresh one, the Drakkar ahead of them lifting off the ground in her ghostly telekinetic fist. It shrieked with terror as it desperately tried to aim at the glowing sorceress, but Alyssa casually batted aside its weapon with a contemptuous backhander, then snapped its neck with an elegant twist of her fingers.

"That's better," she said conversationally to Rachel, who was walking along by her side. "They do insist on making a ridiculous amount of noise."

Rachel turned to look at her and suggested, "Perhaps they don't like being scared shitless before you kill them?"

Alyssa adopted a thoughtful look before a frown appeared on her beautiful face. "No, I don't think that's it. They definitely seem to enjoy playing that game with the Ashanath, so it's only fair that they get to have a turn being chased."

The brunette laughed, shaking her head as she observed, "You're enjoying this far too much. Aren't we meant to be the good guys? What happened to merciful deaths and all that?"

"Well, they're really nasty bad guys, so that means I can pretty much do whatever I like to them and not feel bad about it. It's awesome!" Alyssa replied with a grin.

She summoned up a glowing white lance of telekinetic energy, then launched it down the corridor, punching a huge hole through the back of one of the petrified Drakkar soldiers. Her psychic missile went on to skewer the two in front of it and all three crashed face-first onto the ground.

"Nice shot," Rachel noted wryly with a smirk.

"Thank you kindly," Alyssa replied, using her right hand to tip an imaginary hat in her friend's direction. She released her grip on the floating Drakkar and let her temporary shield crash to the ground in a tangle of limbs.

Rachel smiled at the blonde, then quickly checked the map, searching for red dots. "That was the last of the Drakkar from that dropship. All the rest are over by Sakura towards the front of the Legacy, or at the back near the High Council. Which way should we go next?"

"Sakura's having fun, so we'll leave her that last lot," Alyssa replied, scrutinising the map herself. "All the ones at the back have spread out, so we better head that way and help John."

Rachel nodded her agreement, a look of concern on her face as she said, "There's a big group heading towards the High Council. We better hurry if we're going to save Ularean in time."

Alyssa stepped over the punctured Drakkar corpses, then broke into a swift run, Rachel easily keeping up with her as they sprinted down the corridor towards the rear section of the ship. The blonde Matriarch could hear the brunette's thoughts racing through her mind, and she glanced at her knowingly, switching to telepathy while they ran.

*Do you really want to know?* she asked, glancing to the left at her tawny-haired friend. *Half the fun is the surprise when you find out - I wouldn't want to ruin that for you.*

Rachel smiled, having grown used to Alyssa's ever-watchful presence in her mind. Her smile faded into a frown as she admitted, *It's just that Dana's had her third helix activated now and you know what they say when there's a disparity between the power in a relationship. Things are great between us at the moment and I don't want anything to ruin it. I guess I'm just curious what John has in store for me.*

*Sparks has totally fallen for you, you've got nothing to worry about,* Alyssa said comfortingly as she loped along the corridor, deftly avoiding the brunette's unspoken question.

Up ahead of them, they could see an abrupt change in the structure of the ship and they faltered for a moment, slowing down at the intimidating sight. The shiny silver Ashanath construction ended along a jagged line, where it met forbidding onyx walls illuminated with dark crimson lighting. The two Terran girls gave each other bashful grins, realising how silly it was to be scared of what essentially amounted to black walls with red lights.

Rachel walked over the join into the original section of the Legacy, glancing around at the gloomy surroundings. *I don't think much of the Progenitor taste in decor.*

*Thank God we didn't leave John in charge of refurbishing the Officers' Lounge!* Alyssa agreed with a grin.

The brunette couldn't help giggling at that. *It certainly would've set a dramatic tone for breakfast at the dining table!*

Alyssa laughed along with her, then took a quick glance at the overlay map. *We'd better pick up the pace, the nearest group are one-hundred metres ahead of us and a bit to our left. John's lower down and over to the right - he's busy chasing another group at the moment.*

*Sure, lead on,* Rachel agreed, holding her Justice Laser rifle at the ready.

*I suppose I better hold my gun too,* Alyssa said with a smile, as she unslung her Punisher rifle and started jogging down the corridor. *It's bad form if I don't even pretend to be scared of the Drakkar.*

Rachel shook her head with amusement, then said, *We got interrupted earlier, we were talking about psychic powers.*

Alyssa shot her a teasing grin and replied, *Ah yes, so we were. Sakura certainly seems pleased with her Cryokinesis.*

*Wait! She can do what now?!* Rachel blurted out, as they followed the corridor around to the left.

There were at least a dozen Ashanath corpses scattered around the floor, the small, frail skeletons having been picked clean by the ravenous Drakkar. Alyssa and Rachel carefully stepped around the sad piles of bones, sharing a grim look as they headed deeper into the brooding black core of the Progenitor vessel. Their light-hearted conversation ended as they heard the sound of howling Drakkar ahead of them now, the insatiable monsters hunting their next meal.

Irillith's overlay map hadn't led them astray yet, so they ran swiftly down the corridor, eager to prevent any more Ashanath from sharing the same fate. The next set of rooms were filled with huge capacitors for the Progenitor Power Core and the Drakkar were chasing the Ashanath around the enormous machines in an attempt to corral them and start their next feast. It was obvious from the way the red dots had fanned out on the map, that the pursuing Drakkar were herding the fleeing greys straight into the waiting arms of a second group.

Alyssa stepped through the jagged-edged doorway, her jokes and banter forgotten with the urgent need to rescue the Ashanath from the impending slaughter. She glanced over her shoulder to watch Rachel enter the room behind her, then gasped as a white-haired Maliri girl rushed through the door behind them, her face stricken with terror.

"Wait!" Alyssa cried out to the blue-skinned woman as she ran into the room, then blinked in shock when she rushed straight through Rachel's armoured form.

Immediately realising what she was seeing, Alyssa turned to watch the psychic echo as the girl fled across the room. The Maliri sobbed with fear as she ran, before being thrown violently through the air and landing in a crumpled heap on the ground. It was clear from the awkward angle of her head that her neck had been broken with the impact. Alyssa felt a chill run down her spine as she felt the reverberation of terror the girl had experienced in her last moments.

"What's wrong?" Rachel asked, reaching out to place a comforting hand on Alyssa's shoulder.

Alyssa turned around in a daze as more psychic echoes began to appear. She saw one Maliri girl fiercely berating another, when the capacitor they were standing beside suddenly exploded, incinerating both of them in an instant. The blast had only just dissipated when a trio of young Maliri women brushed past her. Alyssa whirled around to watch them, sensing the initial tremors of pain beginning to build, forecasting their imminent and excruciating deaths. They walked calmly across the room, before abruptly clutching at their chests with strangled cries of agony. Their faces were masks of torment as they pitched over, once beautiful faces draining of life before Alyssa's shocked eyes. The three girls convulsed in their death throes until their withered husks slowly faded away.

"Alyssa! What is it?!" Rachel asked again, shocked to see her friend suddenly looking so pale.

The blonde shivered and turned away from the horrible sight, murmuring, "This place has a long memory. Lots of terrible things happened here..."

Rachel studied her for a moment, before asking with concern, "Are you sure you're alright to continue?"

Alyssa nodded stoically and lifting her chin to meet the brunette's worried gaze, she replied, "I'll be alright. Let's go save the Ashanath - this place doesn't need any more ghosts."

She turned and ran after the Drakkar, trying her best to ignore millennia of horrific deaths playing out before her eyes.

***

Leader Linnaeus felt a surge of relief as the red beams from his cruiser slashed across the flanks of the battleship. With the aid of the other three cruisers in his formation, they had finally worn down the Drakkar's shields and their Beam Laser salvos were finally striking home.

*Excellent shot, Pallari,* he praised his Tactical Officer, watching all eight beams carve into a section of the hull already scored with multiple hits. There were deep glowing trenches carved in that armour now, the energy weapons having melted almost all of the way through that plating.

*It is easy when they are distracted by the rest of the group,* Pallari replied graciously, but Linnaeus could hear the satisfaction in his voice.

Engineer Batiri had been studying the Tactical Map, watching as the tail-end of the battle unfolded before her eyes. *There seems to have be a dramatic shift in our fortunes, Linnaeus. I have not seen our forces lose a ship for several minutes.*

Linnaeus glanced her way and explained, *JohnBlake's associate is providing leadership and tactical guidance to our fleet.*

Batiri turned to look at him with her huge black eyes, admitting, *For a moment I believed all was lost.*

Before Linnaeus could reply, Cadimus' shocked voice echoed through their minds. The frightened Navigator blurted out, *The Drakkar are launching dropships!*

Linnaeus responded immediately, ordering, *Move away from the battleship to give Pallari a chance to shoot them down.*

*They're everywhere!* Cadimus cried out in panic.

When Linnaeus looked at the map again, he felt that same sense of fear. Dozens of Drakkar dropships were racing away from the wounded battleship, but more were pouring out of the wrecks around them. Not all the Drakkar vessels had been instantly obliterated in reactor core explosions and some had been left mortally wounded, incapacitated but still partially intact. It seemed that the Drakkar had been waiting for a moment to strike and with the Ashanath so close to their ships, now was that time.

***

Faye fired the Nova Lances, unleashing the colossal energy built up in the turbulent spheres of white energy at the front of the Invictus. The maelstrom of fire converged on the prow of the grey Drakkar battleship, then slashed diagonally across, leaving a glowing, haphazard rent as she disintegrated the front third.

"Damn!" she exclaimed with frustration, watching as the beam flickered out a few seconds later. Glancing at Calara, Faye frowned as she continued, "I don't know how you can completely vaporise them in one shot! You make it look so easy!"

Calara turned away from the chaotic Tactical Map for a second and gave the purple sprite a reassuring smile as she replied, "You just need more practice. You've improved a great deal with the Pulse Cannons."

"I'll have to spend more time analysing your shooting!" Faye replied, looking eager at the prospect.

The brunette nodded and said, "You've got lots of targets to practice on with the Singularity Drivers now. After that last sweep, there's several battleships without shields you can shoot at."

The Invictus had charged through the turmoil of the battle, slashing left and right with Beam Lasers and stripping the shields from the Drakkar Capital ships. Those ships were now exposed and vulnerable, but their frantic headlong plunge had come at a price.

"Our shields are fucked again," Dana said, grimacing as she looked at the shield status display. "Their new tactic of 'spray and pray' seems to be paying off."

The lights had gone out completely now, showing that the wild Drakkar shooting had knocked out the Invictus' own shields. While the scattered beams didn't have enough focused strength to blow out any more capacitors, there were more melted furrows in the hull on the exposed bow, where the battlecruiser had already lost a couple of capacitors. The armour was still highly reflective, robbing those otherwise destructive beams of much of their power, but they were taking damage now, with several more furrows marring the once-pristine hull of the Invictus.

Jade nodded her sombre agreement. "It's much harder to dodge incoming fire when they're just firing spreads of shots like that. I think they've given up trying to aim properly."

"I want you to hold position out of range of their guns," Calara cautioned the Nymph. "We've got a massive range advantage with the Singularity Drivers and Nova Lances, so we can just pick them off without exposing ourselves to more damage." Turning to face Faye, she continued, "You'll still be shooting at extreme range, so be very careful to line up your shots. They're big targets, but we can't afford to hit any Ashanath. Watch the flight vectors of the Grey's ships and try not to let them sail into your fire."

Faye's luminous eyes were wide as she said, "I'll take extra care to make sure I don't miss!" She allocated three avatars to calculate the trajectories of all ships on the path towards the closest Drakkar battleship.

Dana smiled at the brunette as she said, "Good plan! We better not fuck up the Invictus. John's already going to be pissed at us for trashing the Valkyrie and the Raptor."

"I was only hit by one missile!" Jade protested, already apprehensive about his reaction when he saw the gunship. She knew he'd blame himself for exposing her to danger.

"You've got nothing to worry about," Irillith said soothingly. Her violet eyes flashed over to the redhead as she added teasingly, "He's going to be far more annoyed at Dana for nearly getting herself killed."

Dana deflated in her chair, nodding with a glum expression on her pale face. "Yeah, he's gonna be furious when he sees the state of the Valkyrie."

Irillith winced, giving her twin a guilty look before saying, "I was only joking, Dana. Please don't be upset."

Tashana darted over to the redhead and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder as she said, "I'm sure he'll be more relieved you're okay than anything else. I haven't known him long, but it's obvious how much he cares about you."

Dana smiled at her and she opened her mouth to reply, but was suddenly interrupted by Jade's startled gasp.

"We've got lots more contacts!" Jade cried out in warning, cat-like eyes widening in surprise. "Drakkar dropships appearing all over the place!"

"Fuck me... there must be hundreds of them!" Dana murmured, staring at the new sensor contacts that had sprung up like weeds all over the battlefield.

Calara leaned forward in alarm, her brown eyes flashing back and forth as she took in the sheer number of Drakkar boarding ships. Her brow furrowed with worry as she knew the right course of action they should take to help the Ashanath, but it would mean exposing themselves to considerable danger.

*I agree with you,* Alyssa thought to her an instant later. *The Ashanath will lose the other half of their fleet to boarding actions if you don't intervene. I've seen what happens to the Greys after the Drakkar get their hands on them - you've got to save them from that.*

"Take us in, Jade," Calara said firmly. "We need to bring all our guns to bear if we're going to clean up those dropships."

"We're going in!" the Nymph replied, her emerald eyes gleaming with excitement as she thrust the throttle forward.

The Invictus' huge engines flared with a blazing orange glow, as the battlecruiser plunged into the chaotic battle once again.

***

The gunshots left purple trails through the air as Vekrok's elite guard unloaded on the locked doors. They were deep within the ship now and had chased the last few of the little grey runts into this room, before the door had abruptly closed behind them. Whatever the door was made of, it was tough as old boots, because they'd been blasting it for five minutes and it still hadn't buckled.

"Bahh, get outta my way!" he grunted, barging his way past his men and knocking several of them flying. "You lot are fucking useless!"

His bulging black eyes studied the imposing doorway, looking for possible weak points. Its entire surface was a pitted mess, covered in deep craters from the powerful rounds that had slammed into it. None of the shots had penetrated yet, but there were definitely a few places that looked in bad shape.

Dropping his black swords on the ground with a dull clatter, Vekrok grasped his two maces in matching two-handed grips, then activated the power fields on both weapons. A glowing crackle of energy shrouded the head of each mace, with a deep humming sound filling the corridor. Raising both weapons back, his upper arms brought the first mace across from the right, hitting the door with a massive booming crash. No sooner had he pulled the mace back to swing again, than his lower arms swung in the second mace from the left, battering the doorway with another deafening impact.

Back and forth those two weapons worked, pummelling the besieged portal with hugely powerful blows. It didn't take long for the door to start creaking ominously as Vekrok smashed enormous dents into its surface and after the ninth blow, the upper half of the door split down the side with a horrible shriek of protest. As the door caved in, Vekrok was finally able to see into the room.

It was a huge black chamber - a control room of some kind - with scores of Ashanath cowering on the far side behind onyx consoles. Amongst those feeble aliens were nearly a dozen in white dresses, which he knew were the leaders of those pitiful creatures.

"You're fucked now," he gloated, wrenching the smashed doors apart. A few red laser bolts streaked across the room in his direction, but he laughed at their pathetic weapons. Vekrok stepped backwards and picked up his two discarded swords, before turning to look at his men. "You can eat the rest, but capture the bosses in white. I need them alive!"

His elite bodyguard howled with glee, their lime-green faces twisting into terrifying expressions of hunger through the red-tinted faceplates of their black armour. They poured through the door, eager to start feasting on the scores of terrified Ashanath within, Vekrok following them in as his men charged towards the cowering Ashanath. Surprisingly, the nine white-robed leaders were standing there with their eyes closed, probably so scared out of their minds that they didn't want to see the Drakkar coming for them.

Vekrok grinned in anticipation, but he suddenly heard a faint whisper, somehow sounding clear in his head despite the raucous battle cries from his men.

*Sleep... It is time to rest...* an eerie voice murmured to him, the quiet voice strangely compelling.

Staggering on a couple more steps, Vekrok's toothy jaw opened in a long yawn, his bulging eyes drooping as he started to get drowsy. All around him his men were slowing to a halt, or just putting down their weapons and squatting down on the floor to sleep. He tried to shrug it off as long as possible, but that voice was everywhere, filling his mind with irresistible thoughts of slumber.

***

Alyssa and Rachel caught up with the chasing group of Drakkar just as they were herding their Ashanath prey into the second group. The Terran girls could see the looks of fear on the small, silver-clad Ashanath crew as they nearly ran into the Drakkar waiting for them, whirling around and looking at their pursuers in horror.