Three Square Meals Ch. 098

"We'll have to keep our eyes open, see what we can find out," he said, sharing her excitement to learn more about his species. He glanced down at Faye and gently squeezed her shoulder. "Okay Faye, what other information have you got for us?"

"The Brimorian data on the Vulkat ships is pretty sketchy," Faye replied, removing the empire map and replacing it with a series of pictures.

The images were obviously taken from battle footage, showing a series of black ships banded in orange. They were frighteningly alien in design, with a central tear-shaped body that was surrounded by bent 'limbs' that swept back from the main hull. In one of the pictures, missile racks were exposed on the black hull, with propellant trails shrouding the ship in a grey haze as it opened fire with scores of tiny projectiles.

"Now that's an evil-looking ship," Rachel said with a shudder.

"Yeah... but what's it firing?" Calara asked in fascination, leaning forward to get a closer look.

Faye gave them a helpless shrug. "The Brimorians didn't elaborate, but they did say that the Vulkat have powerful shields; probably because of the eternity crystals in their shield projectors."

"Definitely looks like some kind of micro-missiles," Dana said, narrowing her eyes.

The Latina appeared to be lost in thought until she said, "Perhaps that's why the Vulkat gave the Brimorians so much trouble? If their ships rely heavily on shield-penetrating missile tech, that would nullify the Brimorians' strongest defences."

"Let's try to avoid finding out the hard way," John said, eyeing the disturbing multi-limbed vessels. "I know how much everyone hates stealth missions, but it might be prudent this time. If we go in guns blazing, we might inadvertently take out whatever ship actually manufactures those crystals. How about we locate one of these Vulkat fleets, then sneak aboard their biggest capital ship using the stealth shuttle and see what we can find?"

Faye winced and said, "You might want to take a look at the Vulkat before you decide on a boarding action..."

She swept away the ship images and replaced them with a fresh set of images, each one showing mangled corpses oozing congealed purple blood from scores of gunshot wounds. The Vulkat were eight-limbed arachnids, their pallid carapaces a faded black and orange, with glinting metal attachments all over their bodies. More unsettling than that was the strange appearance of decay to the hideous looking creatures, as though their bodies had been gradually decomposing for quite some time before the picture was taken.

"Oh my God!" exclaimed Dana, her eyes going wide with fright. "The Vulkat are fucking spiders?! I hate spiders!"

"Going by the dimensions listed, they're pretty big," Jade pointed out helpfully. "At least seven-feet-tall and they must be quite heavy with all those cybernetic parts."

Dana wrinkled her nose in disgust and shuddered violently, "Come on... cyborg spiders?!"

It was Rachel's turn to be fascinated now and she studied the pictures intently. "If those corpses were recovered after a space battle, they can't have been found in space, because the bodies wouldn't decompose in a vacuum. The Brimorians said the Vulkat don't settle on planets, which means they must have been pulled from a ship with an intact atmosphere, but those creatures look like they've been slowly decomposing for decades... that withered flesh doesn't look like regular decomposition to me."

"Those are fresh wounds though, look at all that blood spatter..." Sakura said, studying the corpses with a professional eye and pointing to the riot of purple splashes over the arachnid corpse. "Even though they look like they died years ago, those creatures were actually killed shortly before this picture was taken."

"The cybernetic parts could be keeping them artificially animated for many years after the original creature died," Rachel suggested, tilting her head to one side as she examined the picture.

"Zombie cyborg spiders?!" Dana squeaked. "You've got to be fucking kidding me!"

"Once I've had a chance to examine a specimen, I can let you know if they're one of the living dead," Rachel replied, a smile teasing her lips.

Dana shook her head, "No way! You aren't seriously considering going anywhere near those things?! Eternity crystals is a good name, because that's how long it'll be before I step foot on one of their ships!"

John gave her a sympathetic look. "Are you sure? We'll definitely need your expertise on a boarding action... none of the rest of us would be able to figure out how the eternity crystal manufacturing devices work."

"Why do we even need to bother going after them anyway?" the redhead whined. "Irillith just swiped the Shield Generator tech off the Brimorians..." Her face brightened and she sat up straight. "Faye, get rid of the zombie spiders and show me the new schematics!"

"Sure!" the purple sprite readily agreed.

The pictures of the dead Vulkat were replaced by a highly-complex set of blueprints. Dana's blue eyes darted back and forth as she memorised the schematics, making little gasps of excitement as she marvelled at the Brimorian technology.

John watched her for a moment, then quirked an eyebrow. "Find anything interesting?"

"Hell yeah!" Dana blurted out, looking overjoyed. "If I'm reading these right... okay, I know I am... the Brimorians are using a type of reinforced shielding!"

"Reinforced shields?" Calara asked, sounding intrigued.

The redhead nodded eagerly. "They've got more capacity than our shields, but that's not even the best part! They're basically able to shrug off a certain amount of laser damage without affecting the shield strength! Even heavy hitting energy weapons would have their overall damage reduced and the damage reduction effect seems to get more powerful the bigger the energy field you create!"

"So for something the size of the Invictus?" the Latina prompted the redhead, her eyes gleaming with excitement.

"Immunity to Laser Cannon fire at the very least," Dana said, glancing back at the schematics. "Maybe as little as 30% damage from a standard Terran Beam Laser?"

Calara shared her friend's grin. "Holy shit..."

Dana laughed in delight. "Yeah, exactly!"

"Is this kind of reinforced shield compatible with the Maliri shield modulators?" Irillith asked with bated breath, caught up in their excitement.

Dana paused for a second then nodded. "I'd have to design a phase convertor to sync them up, but yeah, definitely!"

"How long would it take to build the new shield generator for the Invictus?" John asked, watching his Chief Engineer with avid interest.

The redhead grimaced and replied, "Maybe about a week? It's a pretty big device and I'd have to manufacture every single part in the Mass Fabricators, because it's built from non-standard Brimorian components."

"Or we could get them pre-built for the Invictus, Raptor, and Valkyrie in less than a day from the Brimorians ..." John suggested with the hint of a smile.

Dana groaned and rolled her eyes. "You mean if we go up against the zombie spider things?"

Calara gave the redhead puppy dog eyes. "Just think how strong our shields would be with Brimorian reinforced shields, the Maliri shield modulators, AND eternity crystals in our shield projectors..."

"That would be pretty fucking awesome..." Dana murmured, a wistful look on her face.

"So you'd be willing to come along on a boarding mission?" John asked, sounding hopeful.

The redhead sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I suppose so. But don't blame me if I freak out and start shooting! Those fuckers already creep me out!"

"Should I send the dimensions for the Raptor, Valkyrie, and Invictus to the Brimorians?" Faye asked.

"Yes, thanks for reminding me," John replied, giving her a grateful smile. He glanced at Dana and gave her a rueful frown. "I forgot to ask for a set for our Paragon armour, sorry."

She shrugged and waved away his concern. "Don't worry about it. Those are tiny in comparison, I'll start the mass fabricators running as soon as we're done chatting. I should be able to get them all built by the time we reach the spider place... with Jade's help of course."

The Nymph playfully saluted her friend. "I'm always happy to assist, Grand Engineering Overlord."

"That reminds me, how did you get on with the Punisher Gatling upgrade for the Valkyrie?" Sakura asked, her brown eyes filled with anticipation.

"All built and ready to go," Dana replied with a satisfied smile. "Faye's boys are installing one of the new Heavy Quantum guns on the mech as we speak."

"Is it the same spec as the ones on the Invictus?"

Dana shook her head and gave the Asian girl a sly wink. "I tweaked it a bit. The standard ones fire off a slug every three seconds, but if you're doing your ice tricks to cool the barrel, you can override the safeties and fire it on full auto." She wagged a finger in warning at her friend as she continued, "But be careful! You'll blow the gun to bits if you haven't cooled it enough!"

Sakura grinned at her and nodded. "I'll bear that in mind, thanks!"

"Okay then, we just have one last thing to talk about," John said, glancing at Irillith. "Can you tell us more about what scared you so badly in the Brimorian Cyber Realm?"

Irillith's smile was wiped off her face and replaced by a pensive expression. "I can't tell you much I'm afraid, I just know I was being watched... I could feel it. The Brimorian network design was annoying to break through, but the resilience of their firewalls was laughable; whoever built the digital network on that Brimorian capital ship wasn't good enough to keep a security probe hidden from me."

"So if the probe wasn't Brimorian in design, who do you think built it?"

"I don't know..." Irillith replied, giving him a helpless shrug. "No alarms were tripped, so it might have been my mind playing tricks on me, but I really don't think so. I could feel something malevolent watching me in there... I've never felt anything like it."

John could see how badly shaken she'd been by the experience and he gave her a sympathetic smile. "I think we should take this as a sign that you need backup in the Cyber Realm. I don't like you going in alone like that, you're far too exposed."

"I appreciate the concern, but that's much easier said than done," the Maliri girl replied, sharing a glance with the purple girl seated next to him. "Faye would be the most sensible choice to accompany me, but I'm using psychic abilities to remotely hack these networks; I'm not sure how she'd be able to join me."

"Why don't you two give it some thought and see what you can come up with?" John suggested, receiving nods from both girls. He looked across at the Nymph who had shifted to the edge of her seat and was obviously waiting for an opportunity to speak. "Well, that's everything I wanted to discuss. Jade, you said you wanted to talk to me about something?"

She sprang to her feet, a beaming smile lighting up her face. "I met a beautiful girl on Brimor!"

"A Terran merchant?" John asked, unsure why she'd want to bring that up.

"No, she's a native to the planet!" Jade exclaimed, her emerald eyes glinting with excitement.

Alyssa wrinkled her nose and gave the Nymph a funny look. "I'm pretty open minded, but I'd struggle to describe the Brimorians as beautiful." She darted a coy grin at John's groin. "Plus, all those pointy teeth... ouch!"

Jade shook her head, sending her dark-green locks swishing over her shoulders. "No, she wasn't a Brimorian and she wasn't a Terran either! She reminded me a bit of both."

"Can you describe what she looked like in more detail?" John asked, intrigued by this mysterious girl that had got the Nymph so excited.

"I can do better than that!" Jade exclaimed, before shimmering in a dark green blur.

A few seconds later the blurring faded away and everyone gaped at her new appearance in astonishment. Jade now looked like a beautiful blue-eyed Terran girl, except for the fact that she had light-green hair, teal-coloured skin and elegant turquoise fins on her forearms and calves. The Nymph slowly turned so that they could see the native girl from all angles. She stood about five-and-a-half feet tall and had a toned, shapely figure, with well-muscled legs, a buoyant bust, and a compact perfectly-rounded bottom.

"Wow, she's gorgeous!" Rachel exclaimed, sharing a smile with Dana who nodded her agreement.

Alyssa looked on in fascination, an acquisitive gleam in her eyes. "Jade, what else can you tell us about her?"

"Her name is Helene and she told me she's one of 'The Abandoned'," the Nymph explained, smiling in satisfaction when she sensed John's interest.

"The Abandoned? That doesn't sound good," John said, his brow furrowing with concern. "What else did she tell you?"

"That was it I'm afraid," Jade replied, giving him a helpless shrug. "You asked me to return to the ship just after I made contact with Helene. I didn't want to bother you at the time, because you were so upset about Edraele. Her people did seem scared of the Brimorians though; when I turned up looking like one, they all started rushing around working harder."

Irillith frowned as she suggested, "Perhaps they're some kind of recently enslaved species from a minor empire? In all the research I did on the Brimorians I never saw any mention of worker castes or references to 'the Abandoned'."

"I did a lot of research into all known aliens, humanoids in particular," John replied, studying Jade's imitation of Helene. "I definitely would have remembered a species that looked like her."

"Is it possible she's one of Mael'nerak's creations?" Tashana asked, while gazing at Jade.

"I'd need a DNA sample to know for certain," Rachel murmured, equally as interested. "However, the chance of a species evolving naturally on Brimor that looks almost exactly like us is so remote, I think we can discount it as an impossibility. Did you see any more of her kind, Jade?"

"There were over twenty males working on a kelp farm, with at least a dozen females helping them with the crops. From what I could see, it looked like most of the women were pregnant, except for Helene of course," the Nymph explained, running a hand over her trim bluish-green stomach. "Oh, and she spoke Terran and referred to it as 'the old tongue'."

Rachel frowned and turned to look at John. "That doesn't fit with Helene being a Progenitor creation. The Maliri have their own distinct language, so why would a distinct species on Brimor with no contact with the Terran Federation, know how to speak Terran and refer to it as an old language?"

John shook his head, his eyes narrowing. "I've no idea, but we need to find out more. If everything goes according to plan with the Vulkat, we'll be returning to Brimor tomorrow; I'd like Jade to make contact with Helene again and try to find out some answers."

"I'd love to!" the Nymph enthusiastically agreed.

"Okay, I think that's everything then, thanks ladies," John said, glancing around the group to see if anyone else had something they wished to discuss. "Let's reconvene for dinner this evening, then we'll get ready for the crossing into Vulkat territory."

"I'll get cracking on the new shields for our body armour!" Dana said, turning to glance over her shoulder at Rachel. "Could you help me and Jade, Babes? I want to design and build the phase convertors too, but I won't have time if I have to build then fit the Brimorian shield generators."

Rachel hugged her lover and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Of course!"

John intercepted Calara and Sakura as the two girls started to head out of the Ready Room. "Are you heading back to the Dojo?"

"We are," Sakura said with a warm smile. "Do you want to come and watch?"

Alyssa glided past them into the Bridge a smirk on her face. "Or watch and cum?"

"I know which I prefer," Calara said airily, before sharing a coy smile with her sparring partner.

"I'll join you both in a few minutes, let me get changed into sparring gear," John said, smacking them both on the ass affectionately.

He followed the giggling girls to the grav-tube, waving goodbye to Alyssa as she walked up the steps to the Command Podium to plot their course. Parting company with his lovely companions, he left the red gravity field on Deck Two and headed towards his bedroom to get changed.

*Edraele, you had some concerns about the Brimorians,* he thought to his Maliri Matriarch. *Still worried?*

*Yes,* she replied without hesitation. *The Brimorians are very slippery and quite self-serving. Deep Lord Athgiloi might have made all the right noises, but he's up to something, I just know it.*

John entered his walk-in-wardrobe and started stripping off his clothes. *Well thanks to your brilliant daughter, we have the shield schematics already, so we'll know if the Brimorians try to rip us off with the shield generators.*

*Alright, but just be very careful... more cautious than normal, okay?* Edraele requested, her anxiety evident in her voice.

*We'll try and keep the risks to a minimum,* John replied, to put her mind at ease. *Once we're done here, there's a couple of things I want to clear up in the Terran Federation, then we'll head back to Genthalas for a bit of a break. We need to upgrade the Invictus' Heavy Cannons, set up your fleets with the new shield tech, and start working on a new project. I spoke with Dana a while ago about designing a destroyer-class vessel for the Invictus; If Alyssa and I get all the psychic shaping done for the superstructure, then your engineers can start building it... The fact I want to spend lots more time with you and your girls has nothing to do with me wanting to rush back to Maliri Space.*

*Of course, you're a very conscientious Progenitor... business before pleasure every time,* Edraele said, relaxing as she enjoyed bantering with him.

John grinned as he pulled on his sparring pants. *Not every time.*

*And for that the Young Matriarchs and I are exceedingly grateful,* she said sending him a coy smile.

Tugging a t-shirt over his head, John padded out of the wardrobe and made his way back to the grav-tube. *I've been really missing all of you. It was much harder to leave this time.*

*Have I done a good job of making the Maliri Protectorate an enticing place for you to retire?* Edraele asked him softly.

John stepped into the red anti-gravity field and just imagined settling down for a moment. No more rushing around trying to solve the galaxy's problems, no more war, no more fighting... just a chance to enjoy some peace and quiet with his girls. He could live with that. His thoughts drifted and he imagined watching a Valaden sunset with his two matriarchs, his arms around them both as they sat quietly together.

*That's a wonderful picture you're painting,* Alyssa murmured, touched by the longing she felt from him.

She pushed a new image to his mind, showing her and Edraele with baby bumps instead, both women glowing with their pregnancy. Edraele added her girls gathered around them, then Alyssa included the rest of the crew, making for a very busy picture indeed. Jade then supplied her own contribution, showing herself playfully chasing a score of giggling Maliri, Terran, and Nymph children across the grass.

*I'm fooling myself thinking I'm going to get any peace and quiet, aren't I?* John asked the three women, feeling a surge of affection for the trio he'd invited into his mind.

*We'll do our best to make sure your retirement doesn't get dull,* Alyssa replied. *Right Edraele?*

The Maliri's joyful laughter was wonderful to hear. *Just having the twins was hectic enough! But it's a lovely future to hope for, I'll do whatever I can to make sure it comes to pass.*

*Thanks ladies,* John said with a fond smile, before opening the door into the training rooms and entering the main dojo.