Three Square Meals Ch. 079

The creatures froze, paralysed with fear, but quickly did as he asked, dropping rifles and shields as they placed their four hands on their armoured heads.

Striding across the room to the Ashanath High Council, John crouched down next to Ularean. There was a ragged wound across the Senior Councillor's thin abdomen and his white robes were soaked with blood. Ularean's grey face had a very unhealthy pallor to it and John didn't need to be a doctor to realise the Ashanath leader needed urgent medical assistance.

"JohnBlake... you saved us..." Ularean managed to whisper, huge black eyes staring up at him.

John smiled at the critically wounded Grey and replied, "Of course, your people are my allies, Ularean." He glanced at the nasty wound, and added, "Let's get you patched up, then we really need to have a chat."

Ularean's laughter was thin and warbling as he replied, "Yes, we have a lot to talk about..."

***

"Get us the fuck out of here!" Warboss Magaruk roared at his helmsman, shaking the terrified Drakkar crewman in his desperation.

He flung him towards the console as there was another blast in the Bridge, the Engineer's Console exploding in a shower of sparks and frying the Drakkar at the station. A smell like cooked Tirrac eggs filled the Bridge and Magaruk wrinkled his nose in disgust. He'd always hated eggs!

He counted only eight cruisers fleeing for the Nav Beacon, with his ship the only one equipped with the Dark One's armour. While his cruiser might have been clad in that special reflective plating, that didn't mean they were invulnerable to laser fire. The pitiful remnants of the once unstoppable Drakkar fleet fled from the calamitous battle, relentlessly pursued by swift Ashanath destroyers.

While having all his cruiser's weapons front-facing was a great idea when on the attack, it was a terribly bad idea when trying to run away. The smaller ships were able to hammer them remorselessly with laser cannon fire and with most of his cruiser's capacitors blown out, those shots were causing a distressing amount of damage.

Still, they were faring better than some of the Drakkar captains in regular armour and he watched one of the other cruiser's engines explode under that hail of destroyer fire, slowing them down dramatically. More of the Ashanath destroyers caught up with it now and began to pepper the straggling ship with laser cannon blasts. Magaruk laughed at their misfortune, glad of the distraction for the vengeful Ashanath destroyers. As the old saying went, you didn't need to be fast enough to outrun a rampaging Brutasaur, you just needed to outrun your friends.

Eyes glinting evilly, he stomped over to his Tactical Officer and thumped a heavy fist down on his console to get his attention. He would have smacked him around the head, but a concussion might have upset his aim.

"Shoot that cruiser!" he snarled, pointing at another Drakkar ship that was ahead of them on the port flank, just inside beam laser range. Its shields were out, but other than that, it was largely unscathed and wasn't far from escape.

"You want me to fire on our own side, when we're running for our lives?!" the Tactical Officer balked incredulously, fearing that his boss had lost his mind.

Magaruk's eyes narrowed in anger, his hands clenching into fists. "Shoot out its engines..." he muttered, showing an impressive amount of restraint in stopping himself from throttling the imbecile. That would have to wait until later.

He saw the light of understanding appear in his gunner's eyes, his jaw snapping up and down in laughter. A few seconds later, he opened fire with their port Beam Lasers, the shot slicing through the cruiser's two starboard engines and dramatically slowing its speed.

Whirling around, Magaruk yelled at his Navigator, "Hard to starboard and get out of range of that cruiser, just in case they try and shoot back! Then bolt for the beacon!"

The Navigator did as he was ordered, swinging the nose of the angular black cruiser around to the right and away from the badly crippled cruiser. Magaruk watched it limping on towards the Nav Beacon, so close to escape. The Ashanath realised it too and he cackled with glee as the destroyers peeled off his tail to descend on the hamstrung cruiser. The Greys knew as well as he did, that their shots would have a much greater chance of stopping the steel-hulled ship from escaping.

His surviving Bridge Crew cheered in triumph, their four arms waving madly in celebration as they veered away from the Ashanath forces, now free to make their escape. Magaruk gave them a fang-filled grin, relishing the feeling of relief that they'd be able to survive this massacre and live to feast on Ashanath flesh another day.

That was when his world turned upside down - literally, in this case. There was a deafening crash as his cruiser collided into something out there in the blackness of space. Magaruk sailed through the air with the impact, slamming into the front wall of the Bridge and bouncing back to collapse on the floor in a stunned heap. It took a long moment for the room to stop spinning, but when it did, he wondered why he was in so much pain and why he couldn't move his legs.

When he looked down with groggy eyes, he saw that a support beam had collapsed across him, crushing his legs under its immense weight. He pushed at it feebly with his four arms, but it was far too heavy for him to move alone. Doing his best to block out the pain, he twisted around to look for help, but the rest of the Bridge Crew hadn't fared any better in the impact. His Helmsman had been skewered through the chest when he fell on a broken cabling pipe sticking through the wall and his Tactical Officer had snapped his neck when he was violently thrown across the room in the crash.

Magaruk's attention was drawn by the flicker of the Tactical Map as it blinked on and off intermittently. Highlighted on the map were a squadron of Ashanath destroyers, eagerly racing towards his battered ship.

"No!" he roared in horror. "I was so close!"

He stared at the map in disbelief, wondering what they could have possibly crashed into.

***

In a sinister onyx chamber lit by dark-red lights, a black-cowled figure stared at an intricate Tactical Map, showing detailed technical readouts of every vessel in the system. He chuckled as he watched John Blake's gaudy white ship gallivanting about, mopping up the last of the Drakkar forces. It took another five minutes to eliminate the last of the Drakkar, leaving the Invictus and the tattered remains of the Ashanath forces triumphant on that blood-soaked battlefield.

Making a sweeping gesture with his hand, he replaced the Tactical Map with an incredibly detailed overlay of this sector of the galaxy. The various half-baked "Empires" were highlighted in a variety of colours, with the major players depicted by three-dimensional pieces. His hand moved back across the map from left to right, ignoring the Enshunu and the Maliri, before pausing above a representation of the Drakkar.

He flicked the unspeakably hideous four-armed warrior with a finger and it toppled over with a crash, the note ringing with an air of finality, before the piece faded from view. Next, his fingers moved over the image of an unbearably ugly, bulbous-headed Ashanath and he flicked that over too. The thin alien tipped over on the board with a similarly final-sounding thump, before disappearing from sight. His incredulous laughter echoed around the gloomy chamber, light from the holographic map casting eerie shadows about the room.

"What IS he doing, Ailanthia?" he asked his Matriarch, sounding quite bemused.

Ailanthia had been standing silently by his side and she turned to look at him in shock. In the thousands of years she had served her master, he had never once addressed her in such a way. Slave - of course, Matriarch - often, but never by her actual name.

"My Lord?" she asked him tentatively, never having seen him act this way before.

He removed his black cowl, dropping it to his shoulders and revealing his handsome features. "No matter," he replied, his lips quirking into a smile - another rarity. He appraised her for a moment with a discerning eye, before turning on his heel and striding for the door. He clicked his fingers as he did so, adding in an imperious tone, "Come, Ailanthia, I feel like celebrating..."

Her angular eyes widened further and she scurried after him obediently. Other than her periodic feedings to maintain her youthful vigour, this was yet another startling first. What was going on? He'd never expressed that kind of interest in her before! Her heart skipped a beat at the prospect, a smile lighting up her beautiful light-green face. She had dreamed of this moment for eons and she was determined to make it one her master would remember forever.

Practically walking on air, Ailanthia eagerly followed her master into his bedroom.

***

John strode into the generator room, eyes darting around as he looked for the three girls.

"Over here!" Sakura called out to him, stepping out from around a huge piece of machinery. There were half-a-dozen Ashanath standing with them, watching proceedings with their unblinking black eyes.

He jogged over to join Sakura, giving her a warm smile as he approached. Alyssa was still unconscious on the floor, while Rachel was propped up against the ancient capacitor. She looked up at him and saw the expression on his face when he laid eyes on the nasty wound in her shoulder, coupled with the blood splattered all over the right side of her helmet.

"I'll be alright, it looks much worse than it is," she said, in a futile attempt to calm his fears.

John wasn't so sure and he knelt beside the injured girl, reaching out to cup the side of her head. "I'll heal you as fast as I can, but we need to get you out of here," he said with concern. Glancing up at Sakura, he added, "Can you help Rachel? I'll take Alyssa."

"Of course," the Asian girl replied, crouching down beside the wounded brunette.

"I can walk, there's no need for that," Rachel objected, trying to get up on her own and grimacing with the effort.

Sakura smiled at her stubborn friend as she gently restrained her with a firm hand, ignoring the doctor's protests. "I'll activate the emergency evacuation protocol in your armour and guide you out. Just rest, there's no need to exert yourself," she said kindly.

Rachel looked like she was going to say something but she changed her mind, shifting into a comfortable position and waiting as Sakura activated the Paragon's evacuation functionality. The body armour locked into place, keeping Rachel steady, then slowly rose from the ground. Sakura checked she was comfortable then nodded to John that they were ready.

She watched as he picked Alyssa up, effortlessly cradling her in his arms then asked him, "Why not use the evacuation functionality on her armour?"

"It's okay, I'd rather carry her," he replied, looking at the unconscious blonde with concern. Turning to the Ashanath he added, "We're heading back to the High Council. You'll be safer there if you want to come with us."

"Thank you JohnBlake," one of the silver-garbed aliens replied. "We greatly appreciate your offer of assistance."

The group set off across the room, heading back the way John had entered. The footing was treacherous, with the floor awash with blue blood and they picked their way around the mangled Drakkar corpses, their twisted bodies showing horrific injuries. John studied them as he walked by, eyebrows climbing as he saw the brutally smashed remains of a Drakkar battlesuit. The black carapace had been absolutely pulverised, looking more like a crumpled soda can than a formidable piece of body armour.

He glanced at Rachel and asked, "I assume this was Alyssa's handiwork?"

Rachel nodded, her gaze dropping to the blonde in his arms as she replied quietly, "She's getting so much stronger. Until she was incapacitated, she was tearing them to pieces."

He paused for a second to study the devastation around them, the scattered limbs, the battered bodies... It looked like a vengeful god - or more specifically goddess - had unleashed her wrath on the Drakkar. Looking thoughtful he continued onwards through the door, leading them back towards Ularean.

Sakura walked alongside him, matching his pace and she glanced his way curiously. "Why are we heading back to the High Council? Shouldn't we be evacuating the Legacy now, so Rachel can recover?"

John glanced at the brunette floating along beside Sakura and replied, "Ularean's very badly hurt. I'm worried he's not going to make it without medical intervention and there are no medical staff with the High Council."

Sakura glanced at Rachel's ravaged shoulder and said dubiously, "I'm not sure how much help she'll be in this state."

"I'll be okay," Rachel murmured, getting drowsy now that the adrenalin had worn off. The anaesthetic that Sakura had given her - with the young doctor's guidance - had helped numb the pain of her injury.

Changing the subject, John met Sakura's brown-eyed gaze and said earnestly, "Thank you so much for saving them both. I wouldn't have been able to make it in time and the High Council would have been slaughtered if I'd tried. I don't know what I'd have done if..." His voice trailed away and he shuddered at the thought of losing either of the young women that meant so much to him.

Sakura blushed at the intensity of the look he gave her and replied, "You never have to thank me for helping to protect the girls. I owe all of you too much for that."

John smiled at her affectionately, and said, "You don't owe us anything, but you really came through for me today." He studied her for a moment, then added, "You and I need to talk when we're back on the ship. There's a few important things we need to discuss."

She returned his smile as she replied eagerly, "Definitely! Thank you, by the way."

"You're very welcome," he replied, giving her a brief nod as their eyes met.

They walked in companionable silence for the next couple of minutes, sharing brief glances and smiles as they did so. John was following their progress on the overlay map and he could see they weren't far from the room where the Ashanath High Council had sought sanctuary. He looked down at the unconscious blonde is his arms, Alyssa showing no sign of rousing from her comatose state.

"Athena... Can you hear me?" he called to the blonde, watching intently for any sign of a reaction.

It took several moments before her eyelids began to flutter and her eyes slowly opened. The white radiance behind those orbs was faint though, a pale shadow of the normal gleaming intensity.

"John..?" she whispered, her voice sounding weak and very distant.

He breathed a sigh of relief, then asked urgently, "Are you both alright?"

Her chin moved a few millimetres in a barely perceptible nod. "We just need... rest."

Glancing at Rachel with a worried frown, he faltered for a moment before asking Athena, "I'm really sorry to ask this, I know you're weakened at the moment, I was wondering..."

"Take what you need... we have plenty," Athena murmured, before her eyelids drooped and she fell asleep once more.

John watched her for a little while, but she showed no signs of stirring. They finally reached the plundered doorframe where Vekrok had smashed his way into the High Council's sanctuary, the splintered remains of the jagged-edged doors lying broken on the deck. The surviving Drakkar had gone now, taken to the brig by the Ashanath soldiers who had been guarding the council. Their suits of body armour and sinister black weapons lay where they had removed them, piled up on the floor.

One of the white robed Ashanath glided across the room to meet John as he approached, greeting him with a bow. "Thank goodness you have returned, JohnBlake. Ularean grows weaker by the moment," Councillor Talari said in his whispering voice. He turned to look at Sakura and continued, "Is this Terran your doctor?"

John shook his head, hesitating for a second as he had no idea which of the council members this was. "No, Councillor... The girl beside Sakura is our doctor. Her name's Rachel."

"But she appears grievously wounded," Talari replied, his voice modulator managing to convey his distress. He suddenly realised the reason behind John's hesitation and added, "I apologise for not introducing myself. I am Councillor Talari."

John gave him a rueful smile and said, "I should be the one apologising. We'll talk in a moment, Talari." He turned to look at Sakura and continued, "Could you help Rachel down, please. I need to attend to her."

The Asian girl immediately did as he asked, cautiously guiding Rachel down to the black surface of the floor. She was careful as she laid her down and deactivated the evacuation protocol on her Paragon suit, but the shift in position was still enough to awaken the brunette.

"Just give me a second to get my bearings," she said groggily, trying to sit up and fumbling for the medical pack on her waist. "Where's Ularean?"

John knelt beside her, placing Alyssa down on the ground, then restrained Rachel with a gentle hand. "Lie back and rest, honey. You can help Ularean in a minute, but I need to take care of you first."

"Sure," she agreed amiably, lying back onto the onyx surface. "I've got a shattered clavicle and a-"

"Shh, I know," John murmured, placing his right hand on her chest, while staring intently at Alyssa. Without taking his eyes from the blonde's face, he said to Rachel, "This might feel a little strange..."

The mental compartments in his mind still showed a white glow emanating from Rachel, the connection between him and her still active. She'd taken a terrible wound to her shoulder and the injury was illuminated in red, giving him all the information he needed to restore her body to perfection. He began to draw psychic energy from his sleeping matriarch, watching her face for even the slightest hint of distress. The flow began as a slight trickle as he experimented with pulling power from Alyssa, but he quickly ramped that up when she seemed unperturbed by his actions. He heard Rachel gasp, but didn't look her way, keeping his intense focus squarely on Alyssa.

"How remarkable," Talari murmured, watching as the torn tissue and bone in Rachel's shoulder began to regenerate, rebuilding her shattered body before his very eyes.

John nodded but remained silent, using his psychic might to restore and rejuvenate the teenager's body. It took roughly ten seconds to finish healing her, and he threw a quick glance at Rachel to confirm she was alright. Her flawless bronzed skin was visible beneath the jagged rent in her Paragon armour and she gave him a lovely smile in gratitude, looking serene and happy.

Returning her smile, he intensified the flow of eldritch power, massively ramping it up to ever greater orders of magnitude. His attention was back on Alyssa then, so he couldn't see Rachel's expression, but he could certainly hear her reaction.

"Oh my God!" Rachel yelped, back arching as her body surged with energy.

She felt like her body was wrapped in soft cotton wool, but her nerve endings were suddenly so hyper-sensitive that the gentle tickling sensation was totally overpowering. The psychic energy rolled through her nervous system, making her body feel like it was coming to life for the first time. Her eyes rolled back in her head as she let out an ecstatic moan, quivering helplessly as she rode the crest of a climactic wave for what seemed like an eternity.

Rachel convulsed against John's hand, crying out as he applied his will to her body. He focused on enhancing her genetic code, his intent providing the framework for the powers he was gifting to her. This work was subtle and very different to anything he'd tried before. He felt some resistance, although it wasn't coming from Rachel but from deep within himself instead - almost as if this was forbidden knowledge that should never be shared. He ignored that perplexing sensation, driving ahead with his plans for her and providing very specific instructions to the third helix of her DNA.