Three Square Meals Ch. 080

"It was definitely worth having a look, just in case," John replied with an easy-going smile. "Where would you like to go next?"

"The Power Core chamber," Dana replied decisively. "I've got a feeling there might be a few hidden gems in there!"

She stood with her arms upraised, an expectant smile on her face as she waited for him to pick her up. John grinned as he did just that, before accelerating away carrying the giggling girl with him. Their next destination wasn't far away but he paused at the open door, stopping before entering the chamber itself.

"I just remembered, I caught up with several Drakkar in there," he explained, giving her an apologetic look.

"I'll just grin and bear it," Dana replied reluctantly as he put her down.

When they walked into the Power Core chamber, the teenager's eyes grew round as saucers and she couldn't help staring at the dismembered Drakkar all over the floor. "Holy shit! You chopped that fucker in half!" she gasped, gaping at the alien marine that John had carved into two separate chunks with a single vertical blow from head to groin.

He nodded as he said bleakly, "I didn't have any time for finesse. This group were about to eat a group of Ashanath they'd trapped in here, so I just killed the Drakkar in the quickest, most brutally efficient way I could."

Dana managed to tear her eyes from the butchery in the room, gazing up at the Power Core in the centre instead.

"I knew it! They're still here!" she gasped with excitement, all thoughts of slain Drakkar swept from her mind.

"What?" John asked in confusion.

She pointed at a number of large hexagonal devices spaced evenly around the room and explained, "The Ashanath didn't replace the Power Regulators! Those are the Progenitor originals." Grinning at him, she added, "While I go take a look at them, can you see if you can open up any maintenance access panels around the Power Core? We might be able to snag the schematics for Progenitor Power Couplings too!"

While Dana let out excited gasps of delight as she examined the Power Regulators, John did a quick circuit around the Power Core to see if he could see a way of accessing the power cabling below. The decking appeared black and featureless to him and there didn't seem to be any obvious way of opening up the hatches. As he completed his second circuit, he suddenly felt drawn towards a panel of buttons backlit in purple. Letting himself be guided by instinct, he pressed three buttons on the right, making Dana jump as there was a tortured shriek of metal on metal.

"You did it!" she squealed jubilantly.

When he turned around to look for his young companion, she'd already disappeared from sight, having dived straight into the maintenance ducts beneath the floor. A series of excited squeaks filled the room and also guided him straight to her.

"Got what you were looking for?" John asked, squatting down by the open maintenance hatch.

"We cleaned up!" Dana crowed, springing to her feet and doing a little dance.

He smiled at her, then glanced at the much thicker cable in the centre of the bundle. It was nearly a metre in diameter. "What's that thing for?" John asked, pointing it out as he glanced around at the other hatches. "I can't see anything that big in the other bundles of Power Couplings."

Dana halted her little dance as she explained, "That one supplied power to the Wormhole Generator." With a look of profound regret, she added, "Actually, that was the first thing I looked for on Rathus' plans for the original section of the Legacy. Unfortunately, that bit of the ship is long gone; the lower aft section was ripped away in the explosion."

John helped her out, then asked, "Is there anything else you need to take a look at?"

"Nah, that covered it," Dana replied, a huge grin on her face. "Most of the rest of the ship got trashed. It's a goddamn miracle that any of this survived intact."

John closed the maintenance hatches by pressing the same three buttons, then asked, "You seem pleased with what we found. Can you explain how those devices will be useful?"

"Sure! I'll tell you all about it on the way out," Dana replied, smiling at him as she hooked her arm around his once again.

*Hurry back,* Alyssa added with a teasing note to her voice. *Tashana needs loading up again and from listening to Irillith, it seems like she's in the mood to share...*