Three Square Meals Ch. 079

The Drakkar looming over Rachel had no time to react as Sakura's ninjato punched through its torso, skewering both hearts with her frost-coated blades. She let her momentum carry her with him as he toppled over backwards and when she pulled her swords free, his brittle, frozen armour shattered with that effortless withdrawal.

Rolling forward, she kicked off from his chest and plunged the twin ninjato through the foreheads of the Drakkar's two closest companions. Their faces froze in horror, dying in an instant from a truly lethal case of brain freeze.

The rest of the Drakkar backed away from her now, terror in their eyes as Sakura twisted her blades free with a splintering crack. There was a chilling intensity in her answering smile - cold, dispassionate justice dispensed to the guilty. Her ninjato twirled in her hands, leaving white trails in the air as she advanced on them, promising a frozen death to any who dared oppose her.

Unwilling to face this pitiless killing machine, the Drakkar fled for their lives, some even dropping their weapons in their haste to flee.

Sakura stopped her pursuit and watched them rout, then spinning around, she hurried back to her fallen companions. She skidded to her knees beside Rachel, panic on her face as she saw the blood over her right shoulder and the mangled, blood-soaked state of her helmet.

"Rachel!" she cried out in alarm, gently turning her bloodied helmet to check on her.

The brunette gave her a wan smile and muttered, "Shattered clavicle... John's going to have his work cut out healing me." She saw Sakura's worried eyes fixated on the right side of her head and added reassuringly, "The second round smashed the helmet but deflected and didn't penetrate... I'm alright."

Sitting back on her haunches, Sakura breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Thank God you're okay."

Rachel tried to sit up but failed despite a gallant effort. Sakura gently lifted her and the brunette fell into a hug with the Asian girl. Her voice throbbed with emotion as she whispered, "I was so scared. Thank you for coming for me..."

Being careful not to jostle her wounded shoulder, Sakura murmured quietly, "You're my friend. You saved my life, I saved yours - it's just what we do."

***

Faye had already prepared the defences by the time the Maliri twins arrived. The security doors were down, the fortified cover raised, and the turreted Sonic Cannons were deployed and pointing down the Deck Three corridor. One of her avatars was waiting for them, nervously raising herself up on tiptoe as she peered towards the reinforced door that now blocked the passageway.

"Oh, thank goodness you're here!" she gasped, turning around to face them, having tracked the sisters approach in the security cameras.

Irillith squatted down on the left of the hall, with Tashana copying her and dropping behind the right barricade. "Are they through yet?" Irillith asked, checking the status of her railgun.

Shaking her head, Faye replied, "Not yet, but you'll hear the breaching charges when they-"

A thunderous retort boomed from just ahead of them, making the floor vibrate with the impact. The tremor that raced through Tashana was not from the explosion, but from fear, and she tightened her grip on her pistols. Faye's giggle made her glance at the purple girl in surprise and she wondered what the AI could have possibly found amusing about the situation.

"I'm sorry," the purple sprite apologised. She looked from one confused Maliri to another and explained, "Their breaching charge didn't penetrate the hull! The Invictus' armour was too strong!"

"Did the blast take out the dropship?" Tashana asked, with a delighted grin on her face.

Irillith shook her head before the sprite could reply, saying, "It's a shaped charge, designed to punch through a hull. They'll still be there I'm afraid."

They had to wait another thirty seconds before there was a second explosion and this time Faye's worried frown warned them that the Drakkar had blown through the armour.

"That's my cue," Irillith said with a wicked grin of anticipation.

Her glowing eyes flared brighter and she peeled her astral form away from her body, so that she was standing before them. She wasted no time in running away down the corridor, her shimmering electric-blue figure passing straight through the bulkhead without pause. The door was sealed to the simulator room, but that was no obstacle to her ethereal presence, so she swept through it and almost ran headlong into the Drakkar.

The creatures gaped at her for a moment before they raised their evil-looking rifles, opening fire at her spectral form. Purple rounds zipped through her body, leaving faint trails in the air as they went on to hit the steel door, blasting huge holes through it. The black-armoured monsters ceased firing to stare at her in dumb incomprehension, wondering how she seemed to be able to completely ignore their purple bolts.

Irillith gave them a terrible smile as she raised her hands, deadly lightning dancing around her slender fingertips. Rather than just pouncing on the closest one and frying him in his armour, she splayed her fingers wide, then sent a crackling field of electricity towards them all. She shrouded the entire group in the sparking cloud, blue zephyrs arcing up their multitude of limbs. The Drakkar swatted at them fearfully, then shrank away from her as she strode through the group towards the back of the room. They tracked her with their guns, wondering what she was going to do next.

That was when the door behind them opened and the shooting began.

Irillith's electrical cloud had shorted out the Drakkar's protective energy shield, leaving them horribly vulnerable to the penetrating power of the Punisher weapons. The twins aimed for headshots, firing single, well-aimed shots and dropping three in the first second. When the twenty-millimetre slugs hit the back of the Drakkar's helmets, their heads simply exploded, the armour unable to prevent the massive stopping power of those hyper-accelerated rounds.

It took a couple of seconds for the Drakkar to react to that initial assault, during which time, over half their number were already dead. As they whirled around, there was a dull whumping noise and the biggest Drakkar in the middle of the pack was hit by a grenade, fired from the integral grenade launcher in Irillith's Punisher rifle. The explosion instantly killed him and shredded the two Drakkar standing beside him, while knocking the rest sprawling with the force unleashed by that detonation.

The flurry of railgun and pistol shots resumed after a momentary pause, slaying the rest of the writhing marines with single, precise shots to the head. The massacre had taken less than twenty seconds and when the twins ceased firing, there were twenty-two dead Drakkar lying headless on the ground.

Faye popped into existence in a purple flash, then quickly looked around for any signs of life. Her look of relief told the sisters everything they needed to know.

Tashana lowered her pistols, the barrels shimmering as the heatsinks vented the excess heat to cool them again. She stared at the carnage in the room beyond, her eyes widening at the brutal slaughter they had unleashed on the Drakkar. Something nagged at her about this fight and it wasn't just the raw carnage - she felt a pang of regret when she looked at the dead aliens.

"Are you alright?" Irillith asked, putting her arm around her sister's shoulders.

"We're just like the Maliri Thralls in all those images I discovered," Tashana said quietly, looking down at the weapons in her hands.

Irillith hugged her sister and shook her head, saying, "We're not part of some tyrannical conquest, we were protecting the weak against invaders. We aren't mindless Thralls, John's made us so much more than that."

Tashana turned to look at her sister, studying the violet radiance beaming from her eyes with awe. She found herself in complete agreement with her twin.

***

Leader Linnaeus had watched aghast as Alyssa had suddenly cried out in torment, then vanished from the command web. The Ashanath Captains in the sub-plane were shocked at the abrupt loss of the wondrous astral goddess in their midst, leaving them leaderless once more. Combined with the sudden terrifying appearance of the swarm of Drakkar dropships, chaos reigned amongst the Ashanath now, their morale broken.

He trembled in fear, watching as Drakkar dropships seemed to appear from everywhere on the Tactical Map. They poured out from the wrecks of cruisers and battleships, or launched from those vessels still in the fight, surrounding his battered ship from all sides.

*Which way should we go, Linnaeus?!* Navigator Cadimus asked in a panic, seeing dropships in every direction.

*Link up with the other cruisers, but watch out for that battleship!* Linnaeus ordered, still very much aware of the huge Drakkar capital ship that lurked just on the other side of the wreck they were using as cover.

Cadimus spun their silver disc-shaped cruiser around and flew towards the nearest two Ashanath cruisers, while being very careful about not exposing them to fire from the battleship. However, the fourth cruiser was not as cautious as it fled from cover, dashing to rejoin the other two cruisers in its group.

The Drakkar battleship turned ominously, scores of retro-thrusters firing on full thrust to rotate the massive vessel. As soon as the fire arcs for its forward beam array overlapped the fleeing Ashanath ship, it was lashed by over a score of purple beams. They vaporised the shields, overloading them in a split-second before lancing through the ship, blasting big holes through its hull. The Power relays were incinerated by those glowing streaks of energy and the perforated hulk lost all power, veering away until it slammed into another wreck in a shower of debris.

Tactical Officer Pallari fired away at the pursuing dropships, but they were small targets and hard to hit with the point defence grid. Even when the shots hit home and knocked out the shields, the black-armoured dropships shrugged off most of the laser fire, rushing on undaunted. There were five chasing after them and Linnaeus knew that if even one were to successfully breach their hull, his entire crew would end up eaten alive!

They neared the other two cruisers, but their situation was just as perilous, with incoming dropships approaching from all sides. Linnaeus felt despair threaten to overwhelm him as the Drakkar swarmed towards them, unstoppable in their reflective black-armoured ships. The cruiser trembled as it was speared by a docking harpoon and he knew they were only minutes away from being devoured.

Just when he thought all hope was lost, an incandescent white blast lit up the Tactical Map with a brilliant surge of light, making him turn away as his eyes recovered from the flare. The Nova Lance beam heralded the return of the Invictus and the white battlecruiser clinically eviscerated the battleship that the Ashanath had been slowly whittling down.

No sooner had the light from that blazing column of destructive power faded, then the map was crisscrossed by bright blue Beam Laser fire. The beams swept around the three surviving Ashanath cruisers, in what Linnaeus would have normally categorised as wildly reckless shooting. However, when the lights on the map dimmed, the silver discs hadn't been so much as touched. The same could not be said for the Drakkar however. The black dropships were just gone - instantly annihilated by the devastating power of the Invictus' beams.

When Linnaeus glanced at the Tactical Map again, the Ashanath cruisers were sitting alone in a torrid sea of debris, every Drakkar ship within Beam Laser range had been blown away. He watched the white-hulled vessel sweep on through the battlefield, bring terrible ruin to the surviving Drakkar forces.

Slumping back in his seat, he thanked the maker for JohnBlake and his crew, overwhelmingly glad that he helped save them from Drakkar raiders only a few months ago.

***

Vekrok let out a howling battle cry, then charged towards John, covering the thirty-metre gap in a surprisingly short time. Hyper-aggressive and ferocious, the Drakkar Grand Overlord launched straight into a blistering assault, stabbing out with both swords, intent on skewering him where he stood. John leapt to one side, narrowly avoiding being impaled by the terrifying black blades, each one of the crackling weapons as long as his crystal Alyssium sword.

Vekrok skidded to a halt then rounded on his opponent, both maces swinging for John's head, their flanged tops crackling with energy. John narrowly sidestepped one, then hurriedly parried the second mace with his sword, but the Drakkar was incredibly strong and John's eyes widened as he struggled to meet the strike from the mace. The tip of his sword wavered as their weapons clashed and Vekrok grinned as he easily overpowered him. John barely avoided tripping over one of the bodyguards as he was forced to skitter backwards, the elite soldiers just starting to wake from the psychic slumber that the High Council had induced in them.

The hulking Drakkar laughed dismissively, maces pulled back and at the ready, while his swords twirled around in flashy figure-of-eight pattern. "Scared, little Terran?" he sneered mockingly. "You should be! I'm Grand Overlord Vekrok, the fiercest and strongest of all the Drakkar! I've slain hundreds of far mightier opponents than you!"

"You talk a good game, I'll give you that," John said defiantly, but there was a tremor of uncertainty in his voice.

The massive Drakkar lunged forward and slashed with his swords, forcing John to hurriedly block one blow after another with desperate two-handed parries. The ringing clash of the blades pealed around the room and John staggered backwards with the force of each blow.

Chuckling to himself, Vekrok goaded his opponent, grunting, "So puny and foolish. What madness possessed you to challenge me to a fight?!"

"You'll find I'm full of surprises!" John retorted, but his bold words rang hollow.

He stabbed forward clumsily and Vekrok swiped down with a mace, effortlessly blocking the attack. His second mace swung for John's head, forcing him to duck beneath the blow then scamper backwards, the wicked slashes from the Drakkar's huge swords missing him by inches. Vekrok grinned mockingly, his fang-filled maw a terrifying sight.

The Drakkar bodyguards had quickly backed out of the way to make room for the combatants and they cheered on their boss, braying and hooting with laughter. Vekrok took lazy swings at John, making him dart around, dodging frantically for his life to the amusement of the crowd. The colossal Drakkar raised all four arms in the air, letting out a thunderous roar as he showboated for his retinue.

The Ashanath cowered in the corner of the big room, temporarily forgotten by the malevolent crowd in their lust for battle. The diminutive aliens watched with fearful eyes, knowing that their fate rested on this hopelessly one-sided duel.

John was forced back again and again by thrusts from swords or mighty overhead blows from the maces. He was panting now, tiring with the exertion, his sword looking heavy in his hands and the tip drooping under the strain. By contrast, Vekrok seemed tireless and full of energy and they could both tell that the end of the battle was fast approaching.

"Watching you dance around all day is tiresome, pathetic Terran," Vekrok sneered. His face twisted into a dreadful grin of anticipation as he licked his slavering jaws. "Perhaps you'll taste better than you fight. It's time to end this laughable duel."

The Drakkar leader let loose a ferocious roar then rushed forward, stabbing out with both swords to gut his exhausted opponent.

John smoothly sidestepped the reckless thrust, his sparkling white blade whipping upwards and shearing straight through Vekrok's overextended right wrist. Black sword and dismembered fist sailed through the air with the force of that blow, before landing with a heavy clang in the now deathly silent room.

Vekrok staggered backwards in shock, staring at the bloodied stump of his lower right forearm in horror. "What the fuck?!" he snorted indignantly, his face grimacing with the shooting pain.

Dropping his facade, John stood straight and tall, calm and confident as he watched his reeling opponent. He glanced down at the blood blue dripping from the tip of his sword, then met Vekrok's stunned gaze. "I agree, it IS time to finish this."

He glided towards the injured behemoth, sword held in a relaxed two-handed grip. Vekrok loosed a defiant, blood-curdling roar, then brought his maces down in a dual-overhead smash, while jabbing forward with his remaining sword. John dodged to the left to avoid the black blade, his sword sweeping up high to block both mace blows with a booming crash. The titanic force behind the strength of that parry smashed the Drakkar's arms backwards, leaving Vekrok's hands feeling numb. He gaped in shock as John whipped his sword down in a white arc, neatly severing another black-armoured fist.

It was the Drakkar's turn to scramble backwards now, howling with the pain. His maces waved around frantically in an attempt to protect himself, his bloodied stumps spurting blood all over the floor.

"If I'd had enough energy for psychic speed, I wouldn't have bothered with the theatrics," John said conversationally as he strolled forward. He smiled at the Drakkar as he confided in him, "I had a bad experience with another Drakkar swordsman. I didn't want to underestimate you, so I spent the last five minutes studying your fighting style."

He took a couple of quick steps forward, lunging with the tip of his blade. When Vekrok attempted to parry, John swept past him, the sword strike just a feint. With Vekrok's mace arm blocking awkwardly in front of him, John was able to slash upwards with his blade, hacking through the bicep of the monstrous creature's upper right arm. The mace and limb arced through the air, narrowly avoiding hitting one of the aghast Drakkar henchmen in the face.

"No one fights like this!" Vekrok balked incredulously, while staggering backwards. He took a wild swipe with his last mace, but John smacked it aside with a languid sweep of his blade.

"You see, there's a fair amount of predictability in the way you fight. You favour lunges with your swords and overhead blows with your maces," John explained, before glancing at the scattered limbs. He gave the Drakkar Overlord an apologetic smile and added, "Or at least, you did."

Vekrok let out a strangled cry of disbelief as his three drastically-shortened arms flailed about impotently. "You aren't a Terran! What the fuck are you?!" he snorted, bulging eyes wide with terror.

"I'm a Progenitor," John said quietly, his eyes narrowing as he glanced at Ularean's crumpled form. "The Ashanath are my allies and I'm not happy you attacked them."

He stalked forward, white blade at the ready once more. Vekrok could see his doom fast approaching and he charged forward in one last desperate attack. John moved swiftly to reposition himself, darting to the left on the Drakkar Overlord's exposed flank. He easily avoided the mace as it clanged into the floor, then he drove his sword point-first through Vekrok's helmet, skewering the monstrous alien's brain. He tore the blade free in a shower of blue ichor, then sidestepped as Vekrok toppled over, crashing to the ground with a mighty boom.

The Drakkar bodyguards in the room stared at John with terrified eyes, backing away from him as they made to flee from the room.

John turned to look at them, sword tip pointing in their direction as he said sternly, "Surrender now, or I'll slaughter every last one of you."