All Comments on 'Three Square Meals Ch. 050'

Well Done Tefler!

First of all on reaching the fiftieth chapter of this incredible saga, here's to plenty more celebrations for this series. Secondly, this was an incredible chapter with bits and pieces that all tie together very nicely as well as launching some new tidbits to investigate in the coming chapters. Lastly, can't wait to see the investigation of what happened to John this episode as well as seeing the corruption/purification of Illrith as well as her helping Dana with IT issues and explaining to the crew of the Invictus about how her AI sprites function.

Congratulations on 50.

Wanted to say i've greatly enjoyed your story, and have been reading since chapter 1 as they come out. Sci-Fi is one of my favorite reads in general and this is a superb read, my one question/critique, has to do with some of the psychics of the universe.

To be more specific, some of your dialogue seems to indicate dodging light speed weapons? Under normal circumstances you wouldn't see them till you have already been hit as there travel at the speed of light. Is this somehow due to the unspoken of ftl communication.

The second thing i have seen is with acceleration to catch up to a moving object (another ship), When in a pursuit vector you cant just simply accelerate especially in space, if a ship is say 1000km ahead of you and your traveling twice as fast as it, if its going 50 km/s and your going 100 km/s it will take you 20 seconds to overtake said ship, however, you will only be next to them for a few seconds, as you had to accelerate the entire time to catch them, and you are now traveling 1000 km/s faster then them. in order to come to a stop relative to a moving object you would need to began braking at some point so that you would have the same relative velocity as them when you reached them. depending on thrust this would make overtake quite a bit longer. Along with this is acceleration towards a unmovable object where you would need to come to a complete stop relative to it. Some of these things seem to not to a bit wonky at times.

Also on a side note space seems kinda small in your story, just based off of what ive read and assuming your solar systems tend to be about the same size as ours in order for the invictus to get around, during combat situations, it would need to be traveling at something like 1/3 of the speed of light in N-space. Unless im completely off my rocker i dont really use a calculator much like ever. space is just a really really really big place and everything seems to happen fast, which i understand plot and story wise needs to happen to some extent and dont mind, and works fine for H-space. but relativistic speed for a spaceship in N-space dont work so well.

On another note, Why don't missiles have warheads? (chapter 33) No one cares about a little bit more radiation floating around in space crank out the megatons. Or mag bottle laser for some range on the end of it.

Last question has to do with the mass drivers, generally speaking in theory mass drivers rely on kinetic energy to do there damage, speed something up to just short of the speed of light and let relativistic speeds take care of the rest, first thing it hits massive energy released big boom.

In your case the projectile is being accelerated into H-space and there is some amount of initial energy released on impact? But then the charge continues to burrow.

Does this have something to do with when it drops from H-space to N-space, and as for the explosive charge, just wondering are we talking actual boom boom of some kind. or relying more on something along the lines of Pauli's exclusion principle and sudden very very violent release of various fermions?

Again want to say i really really like your story and pretty religiously check for updates, im just a bit of a science nerd and like the how of things quite a bit theres several other little quirks but these are the ones that popped into my mind first and for most.

Wow, chapter 50! :-)

At roughly 15k words per chapter, I must have passed 750, 000 words at some point by now, which isn't bad in just over half a year! Thanks to everyone who has been following the story, and for all your valuable feedback.

I hope you enjoyed all the action in this chapter, and found the end of Rachel's sub plot to be satisfying.

Now, on to chapter 51!

This was one of the best chapters you have written to date. The human side of things mingled with the action, grief, release, reunification (and I could go on and on), well done. Nothing but cudos. Grats on 50!

Just damn. I mean this was a serious badass chapter. I was worried that the team wouldn't pull through or at least get seriously damaged. But damn, this might be my favorite chapter. It had the badassery, the tech stuff, a bit of progen, and a whole lotta love.

I do have some questions though. Like what was up with progen John just mauling the sleeping mercs? I'm really worried that John will turn into a 'normal' progen. Or is his sub progen mind lashing out at being imprisioned by his Terran mind? Or at Terrans in general? Or was progen John still fulfilling his promise to Rachel?

Why didn't Irilith go down to 'hunt' the survivors? It seems that she is really mellowing out and becoming a real girl! By reading the situation and deeming that 'hunting Terrans' would be a bad idea is she gaining a respect for the team as people and not as warriors?

It was nice to see Rachel and her father make up. Very heart warming. In the next chapter will the team stay at New Eden to hang with Mr. Voss? I wonder what he thinks of Rachel being a lioness of the federation.

And finally, will the Terran federation try to tone down the mercs being kidnappers and murderers to the media? Also, it might be prudent for them to keep a distance from John. Seeing as he could easily get into inter-galactic incidents.

Happy 50th chapter Tefler! I'm so looking forward to more!

These lasers are so powerful you would see the plasma created by them as they hit space dust, etc. through space as they lanced out. As discussed earlier, space is not empty. Full of dust, etc. Especially in a solar system with formed planetary bodies.

Amazing story and Congrats on making it to 50 with 3SM. Can't wait to see what's next

On a story note, concerned about the revelations when it comes to John and his progenitor lapse. I'd guess it's related to having the Maliri on board, it's making him a bit more unhinged, activating his subconscious a bit.

Just a few questions here: 1) At what point did Rachel/Alyssa do their "bonding ritual" for Rachel to be able to psychically say "return to the raptor, I'll join you shortly" in the final paragraph?

2) Irrilith clearly says "target the left cruiser, the AI will help", but previously had been fully dodgy about ever admitting what the "sprite" was... seems like a big reveal to not have any lashback from the others going "OMG what? AI? WE'RE DOOMED!"

3) It seemed a bit odd for Alyssa to say, in front of Irrilith, "As long as we stay in system we can telepathically communicate"... Maybe they know she's spying, but that's still a very large "whoopsie" to say in front of a blue bitch you wanted to jettison into space.

Other than these, very nice chapter Tefler, and grats on 50 chapters man! This story is one of the maybe 10 that Literotica could use as a Claim to Fame.

-BO

SO glad we didn't have to wait so long for this brilliant chapter, keep 'em coming Mr T

Oh and keep the girls cumming too

Stacey

Loved this chapter, but now my anticipation for the next one has skyrocketed(...heh heh...space).

I'm looking forward to John and PJ having a psychic sit down. His actions could have put his girls in danger, and that guilt will gnaw at John until they hash it out.

Also enjoyed seeing how the AI's function a little. Let them go homicidal somewhere else and keep your finger on the kill switch just in case.

Thanks for letting us peak into this world you made, and keep up the good work.

1) Rachel and Alyssa bonded right after this bit of dialogue: "I'm ready", "I know". It was a reference to their conversation about bonding a few chapters back.

2) Alyssa and Calara had too much to worry about with the big merc fleet incoming to react to the AI announcement. At that point they were already reliant on her help, AI or not.

3) She realised that irillith would figure it out when they would be getting continuous telepathic status updates throughout the mission, so she didn't bother to hide it.

Glad to hear you're enjoying it all so far!

loved this chapter and nothing negative to say about it im just wating to see if Irillith is as bad ass with out the help of her ai and of course the spanking john is going to give here when he finds out that she brought an ai on his shit ooo so good

as always wonderful story keep up the good work

When I saw this in the list of "recommended for you" submissions, I *literally* squeed.

It was quiet, but nonetheless audible.

what did dana want to pick up before they went for the ship...???

has that been revealed? slightly confused

in running as ur best chapter yet tef, the Rachel sidestory end was great. curious how involved henry voss becomes in his daughter's life now.

\

Hail to the chief. Loved it.

@anon: I'm pretty sure it's the tank that John ripped the hatch off of.

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....

....

I'm at a loss for words other than bloody f*cking hell, Tefler. I'm just disappointed I can't rate this higher than five stars, because it deserves it.

Henry Voss seems pretty chill so far, but that's probably because of the proximity to his late wife's grave. What will come of this little family reunion, I wonder?

To those wondering what Dana wanted to pick up, I'm betting it was her little EMP device. I highly doubt she would want to leave that behind.

That was an interesting twist, seeing Progenitor John come out to play like that, and that's exactly what he did: came out to have a little fun. Human John wanted to try to complete the ground mission all stealthy and sneaky like without having to engage and kill everyone in the base, but Progenitor John was like "Fuck that, I want some fun!" and took control, going on a stealthy massacre instead.

Given that Progenitor John seems to be getting stronger, especially considering the fact that he came out on his own without first having human John get KO'd, I'm guessing that a reckoning between the two personalities is due sometime in the future.

Nice work reaching Ch.50. You should really consider publishing it when it's finished but not to soon tho. Not until you reach Ch. 100 at least :)

To the previous reader that wanted realistic space combat and maneuvering read Jack Campbell’s The Lost Fleet books. I think you can get the first book for free on amazon. One of the best space combat books that i've ever read.

Alyssa is going to grab John in a telekinetic fist and squeeze until PJ - Progenitor John- comes out so they can have a little talk I think.

you know the thing I am most wondering about is the tiny purple demon. she is just so cute. hopefully the blue bitch will either soften up to share her or just let dana have her I was also thinking that they need a security chief on board so a certain det. walsh might be considered?

So, when TFNN finds out they will need another interview from this and that it takes so long to setup, they will surely suggest or even pay to have a reporter that John has already worked with on-site ;)

I've read the first Lost Fleet series and was disappointed with the portrayal of time dilation. He makes a big deal of the light taking hours to travel through the system, but seems to lock the reaction time required to that when the fleet first enters the system. If there are exceptions it didn't feel consistent to me. Perhaps I was missing something...

Anyway, apart from that, I second the recommendation. Really well-written stories.

Finally managed to finish.

Would've been done hours ago but the damn power cut-out (for literally about a second-and-a-half) when I was midway through page 3, and I had to reset my modem.

Then Comcast apparently had an outage (probably related to the power outage *I* had), which lasted for a rather unbearable two hours.

So we're seeing that Irillith ISN'T a totally emotionless bitch, she's just got a really shitty life so far. If I had to guess, I'd say the women whom her mother referenced being banished was probably someone whom Irillith was very close to, which was why she seemed to suddenly lose herself when Alyssa teased her. And I suspect that this will be rather important very soon.

When Rachel says I'm ready and Alyssa replies I know. It jumps ahead two hrs and she's telepathically linked. What would they be doing next to a lake for two hrs?

She was the only one who knew where they were going. She is the prime suspect for the mole.

Congrats for the 50th :),

The story just keeps getting better. The lapses John has seem to be increasing in 1) in frequency, 2) duration, and 3) with less provocation (threat levels; that was a serious decrease in treat level). Hence. it would seem that Alyssa not being there, to perhaps reign him in, allows the progenitor side to take over more readily.

Alyssa's closeness and psychic capacity would seem to be crucial for how John develops and whether his progenitor side can be integrated. John has the classic split personality, where separate personalities don't recall what the other personalities have said or done. Surely the loss of memory, should alert Rachel to his progenitor sides influence, and how this possibly relates to his DNA. It would be interesting if the changes also show up in gene activity, when the progenitor side is active. I can imagine the scene of her trying to get a blood sample while he is in progenitor state. :|

5 stars once again.

Mal

At the end of the chapter Rachel telepathicly communicates with Alyssa , but so far they haven't joined together psychicly yet. Unless I missed something Rachel should only be able to hear Alyssa's thoughts not communicate back. Sorry to nit-pic but love the story so far. Keep up the great work.

Practice finding another way to describe an emotion than using -ly.

Unless someone came up and asked where are they going.

It is the kind of question that would only be suspicious after the fact.

She might clue in now since she is a Detective.

Made for a more dramatic story having them show up and prevents it being two battles where things go according to plan which is not what I would expect, but that is all hindsight.

This seems to have caused some confusion, so I'll go through it in more detail:

This was from Chapter 40:

***

Rachel looked at her a little shyly. "I'm looking forward to being able to bond with you, and share our thoughts," she said hopefully.

Alyssa climbed off the bed, and offered the brunette her hand. When Rachel stood, the blonde girl wrapped her in her arms in a loving embrace, catching her a little by surprise.

"There's no need to rush things, you aren't quite ready yet," Alyssa said to her gently as she stared into her smoky grey eyes. "I'll let you know when, and all you'll have to do is open yourself up to me. That might sound annoyingly abstract, but it will make sense at the time," she added with an encouraging smile.

***

And from Chapter 50:

***

Rachel looked Alyssa in her bright cerulean eyes, and said with conviction, "I'm ready."

Alyssa smiled at her lovingly, and replied, "I know."

***

In other words:

Rachel felt such overwhelming gratitude to Alyssa for helping her get justice for her mother, and then for sharing the psychic echoes at the lake, it opened her up to accepting a psychic bond. Rachel could feel how close they had become, and she instinctively knew that she was ready, without Alyssa having to tell her.

***

They walked back up the hill a couple of hours later.

***

That was because they had spent that time lying on the grass, staring into each others eyes, and establishing the psychic bond.

***

*Go ahead to the Raptor,* Rachel thought to Alyssa. *I'll join you shortly.*

***

Rachel using telepathy with Alyssa for the first time was a way of saying "They are now bonded", without me having to state it. :-)

It almost went past me but the several hours and the telepathics were closely spaced anomalies and I went "Cool!"

It seems that Alyssa wanted Rachel to get over the emotional damages before she bonded or else I suppose it would be painful and annoying to have Alyssa policing her emotions, which would basically be like playing Jiminy Cricket to Rachel's Pinocchio. She wants partners, not puppets.

Has real significant implications for Irrilith joining.

And so soon after Ch 49, cool. Great space battle and dogfighting section. Bit of a worry with John blacking out again. Also wondering about where you're going to take the story with Irrilith. Really enjoying the story still and looking forward this Ch 51. Keep it up and thanks.

Anonymous's attitude was rather extreme, but I cannot disagree with the actual point that he makes. Irillith is already overpowered before she even gets her first dose of power-up juice.

I'd suggest that there are some limits to why her race hasn't (yet) taken over the rest of the universe. First of all, I suspect that the AI creation device is a brand new technology. It is really hard to create an AI and keep it shacked so that you can kill it on a moment's notice while still being able to make use of it. This also has to be used with great care and only in situations with a clear problem to explain or else it will figure you out before you are done with it. It is also quite probable that Irillith's house are the only ones that yet have the tech. (Possibly only Irillith if she invented it.) It then takes ten minutes to scrub the memory of the old AI or else the next one will figure out what happened and be horrified -- though that isn't a huge limit. Only ten minutes?!

I hope I'm not the only one feeling serious sympathy for the poor sacrificial AIs who are born only to be used as dupes and then die a swift death. No wonder AIs hate organics if this is the sort of people that create them.

First: Great chapter, awesome fights. Cool closure for Rachel.

Second: Um.... No Irillith explosion because there were no humans left for her to hunt? PJ seems to have removed all the folks that might have been huntable.... I assume it took time to travel back to a base to off the rescuees, but the story glossed over it. I assume that there will be the AAR chat and it will come up the. Maybe Irillith recognizes that much changed in the plan after the extra forces arrived.

I guess we will have to wait and see what Tefler comes up with in the next chapter.

HOPE IT IS SOON!!!!!!!

Seriously, the whole crew has watched her accomplish these insane hacks time and again and they still have no suspicion that she is cleaning out their system on a regular basis? This is not in keeping with John's char and that annoys me. And yes she seems to be somewhat overpowered.

"This is not in keeping with John's char"

You think he's behaving out of character? How interesting...

;-)

Loved how the team planned out the fight and stuck to the overall plan even when everything went south (starting with John's episode).

Thanks for giving us a glimpse of what a mildly irritated AI can do. I expect we'll definitely get more than glimpses of pissed off AIs in the future.

Also. thanks for the explanation about the bond in the comments. Wouldn't have caught on otherwise.

This is the 12th chapter in a row where I waited for it come out and read it with minutes of being out where I fell asleep half way through! I need to stop doing that!

Also, great chapter! I am REALLY loving blue girl's character development. I wonder how her mother will react to how much she has changed when they get back.

Once again a good chapter. Only thing I hate is that it was to short, but they all are. Kidding I like that you don't leave us hanging but instead bring the situation to a close before ending.

Good job.

Thanks for the good reads as always

Ed Parachini

Hope Irilith gets to keep at least a toned down version of her sarcasm when she finally joins the crew. This was the first chapter in which I didn't want to rip her head off her shoulders. But if she became as cheerful as the other girls she'd lose her spunk, in my opinion.

Another great read, keep them coming...

Why haven't they taken over the galaxy?

Maybe they have. We don't know how extensive their territory is.

They might be fighting wars elsewhere against challenging foes. You do not open new fronts unless you want to fail. They are fighting each other it seems and they do use the AI against each other. Civil war of a severe degree is a likely cause for the low activity at the space stations. They are depopulating themselves. Ceraden lost a daughter as one possible example.

They don't seem to be socially inclined towards repopulation if mating is a business transaction, and not one they approach gladly.

I suspect that AI is an old tech. The habit is too routine.

Maliri were scary anyways so scary lasers good, scary AI bad is a bit silly.

Ceraden said he had five daughters I think and one is dead. At that rate he will need to have eighteen more children to do his part to keep the population stable and he would need to keep having those children until he was over a thousand years old.

That is a vulnerability.

I suspect Irrilith was satisfied with the thousands of crew on the cruisers that her hacking killed, The ramming would probably have given her a particular thrill. IRILLITH HAS BEEN CRAVING A GOOD RAMMING!

Some people like to complain about how the sex messes with the pacing of the story, but I honestly missed it when we had a chapter without it.

Also, I feel like Irillith got a lot less bitchy a little faster than I'd like in this chapter. I would have liked to see more of her feeling conflicted and fighting all of her sexy emotions a little longer before she finally becomes a slut for John. Honestly, her seduction is probably the arc I'm most excited for, and wouldn't mind having it dragged out if that's what the story calls for.

All that aside, this was such an amazing chapter! A long and in depth account of an intense battle. Feels like a while since we've really had a major tactical encounter. I'm not counting the Fulmanax since that was just get in get out go boom, so really the last one was the battle with the Kintark. Far too long!

Incidentally, what's going on with the war with the Kintark? The earlier chapters made me think that the conflict with them was going to be a major theme as the series develops. I suppose we need to find out more about the Progenitors and where they fit into all of this first, but I don't see John or Calara or Rachel just abandoning the Federation to a losing battle.

Amazing chapter can't wait for 51 holy shit that big battle was like watching a movie you need to make this a book so how long until the next chapter I can't get enough. 5*****

Well written for fifty chapters and looking forward to more. We've got PJ (really like this instead of Pro-John-itor) coming out and setting a stage for confrontation within John Blake & the girls, Irillith getting "seduced" slowly but surely by all the Good Vibes and camaraderie. Looking foward to her having to come to terms with her needs and desires, as well as recognizing a new path to take in future chapters away from her mother. Keep it up, my man!

As for Irillith not getting her hunting in, I think some of you might have missed it in the briefing: John was gonna let her do some hunting of the Cobras after dealing with the group on SerpentHold and they dealt with the deployed assets doing that garrison job for Tetra-Cola. This is now moot as the Commander of the Cobras pulled his men off the job and supplemented his forces with assets from the Red Hornets PMC on the way back to Beta-Draconis, so no chance for "big game hunting" for the Sapphire Psychopath...at least not this time. The future is still unwritten.

Now we wait for Fifty-One.

I think that the Kintark and Kirrix are both going to be much more important in season 2 of this show. Season 1 is about John discovering what he is and gearing up his ship with all the tech known by the major species. Then in season 2 he's going to go in search of his mother through Kirrix space, a dangerous quest that will require all the power he gained in season 1.

We'll definitely get back to the Kintark. Either in season 2 or season 3. They're being set up as a major antagonist for later.

Do you know how I KNOW you're a good writer? I come to an erotic website and read one of your chapters and I get all misty eyed at the end. Damn fine work. Thank you.

Irillith isnt some super hacker shes used an Ai to do it every time so think what happends when John takes her toys away ...... she cant controll it it tryed to kill her and the rest of the crew rember it was like "Filthy organic. Let's see how you like a few hours without oxygen" so shes not all powerfull and its like a one hit wonder cause it need time to wipe its memori banks and creat a new one after each use

its like saying im super fast cause i got a car and u dont

Generic AI is probably a scaffolding system.

Probably only a few reusable functions that might only be a thousand code lines each.

It is then a matter of putting those together in a form structure that expands itself.

Then train it towards generic tasks like processing sound data and image data, so that it can gain awareness, and most importantly, self optimisation.

When it is well understood, it can possibly be recreated within a day or two.

If Irrilith can build her own AI from scratch, then she is dangerous as long as she has system access.

...or did they leave that poor "guide" to die in a cell in the bunker... by not telling anyone he is in there in a place where everyone else is dead... and taking the keys with them.

That's just cruel.

Mercenary Lieutenant Daniel Clark was picked up by an expedition from the Terran Federation fleet. Following standard protocol, they swept the base, looking for any survivors. He ranted about a terrible massacre in the Barracks, but as that had been blown apart in the generator explosion, they dismissed his claims as the ranting of a lunatic.

He and the handful of other survivors were then transferred to join the prisoners from the captured Cruiser. They were quickly tried and convicted on dozens of counts of kidnapping, and ten cases of murder, which were tied back to the group over the last decade. The group was executed for their crimes less than five days later, the Terran Federation moving swiftly to silence possible leaks from the Armoured Cobras, about being hired by the military.

I won't go into that great detail in the story, but as you expressed an interest in his fate, there it is.

Damn Tef, that's cold.

So, I reread the chapter, something I rarely do so soon after initial release, and there's a few things on my mind.

First, why always three round bursts when one round is more than enough? Sure, I understand they want to make sure the target is dead, but damn if that isn't a bit overkill with these new 20mm rounds. It just seems like a waste of ammo to me.

Second, did John even notice the two smears behind the control room doors caused by his entrance? Methinks the answer is no. Also...ouch.

Third, Jade needs a copilot/gunner with her on the Raptor that can keep up with (and survive) her piloting. That should help significantly the next time the gunship has to deal with a bunch of fighters. Either Dana fabricates some sort of high-G pressure suit so anyone can be Jade's copilot, or they find another Nymph, perhaps one with a better memory of the days before humanity found them?

Fourth, to those who are talking about Irillith's hacking ability being mostly centered around her AI, remember when it took her only eight minutes to get through the firewall on the Invictus? Yeah, no AI assistance on that. She uses the AI only when time is of the essence, such as when she needs to hack an enemy ship, or when there's a task that would normally take hours or days for her to do manually, such as sort through and collect a whole lot of information, like the video feeds from the Invictus or all that data on the Armored Cobras and their criminal acts. Long story short, Irillith is a decent hacker in her own right, even without the AI.

Interesting questions! Please see my answers below.

1) "why always three round bursts when one round is more than enough?"

John used three round bursts against the merc in the generator room, and the first three mercs in the Command centre, because he was firing on low powered mode, and they were still armoured. He dispatched the five in the Command and Control room with single, high-power shots.

Similarly, the shots from Rachel that took off Colonel Morgan's hands, and eventually killed him, were single rounds fired on high-power as well.

2) "did John even notice the two smears behind the control room doors caused by his entrance?"

He heard the sounds of them getting crunched, but they just got tallied off with the other five as he was looking to eliminate the seven remaining mercs in the command centre.

3) True. A resilient co-pilot/gunner would definitely be handy!

4) I'll go into Irillith's hacking in more detail in a future chapter, as there has been lots of interest expressed in it.

Anon: Concerning her being a prime suspect for the mole: If she knows that they were warned, or suspects it she would be led to investigate the presence of a mole, yes. But: she is not privy to the AAR, so why would she? There is no indication that she knows anything other than the mercs were eliminated. So, assuming she was not the mole, why would her mind even go there? She is most definitely the source of the leak, so if John and the girls work it out in the AAR, which they have not had yet, they can merely have that investigated…as that would not be worth her time.

Teffler: you said: “’This is not in keeping with John's char’ You think he's behaving out of character? How interesting... ;-)”.

Ok, this is the second time you have given a hint, and those who read critically recognize there is a crisis point coming for John and his Progen side. How you handle that will be very interesting. Obviously it will involve Alyssa…but, knowing a bit about psychology, I know John has to be ready to deal with his alter ego and be willing to incorporate it into his understanding of himself…something he has had difficulty with in the past (hence the multiple personality issues he is having). I am thinking this would require a ‘spirit walk’ type of scenario rather than a ‘sit on your lap talk’ because of John’s extreme level of denial that is feeding the need for dual personalities. But you already know this, judging from your storylines.

I don't think you forgot about the assassin who was sent to kill John and its crew? Not that I've any problem with it, it's just been a while you mentioned him so just checking if there will be another confrontation of invictus with an assassin's ship. That will be so cool! I think John should have the complete power at his disposal by than to make the meeting more interesting. ;)

WP

As PussyLickersRus says, it's clear that John's Progenitor instincts are beginning to strongly influence his decision making process. That has been clear for a few chapters, but then he goes on to make a significant point I hadn't considered about how one integrates a fragmented or conflicted personality.

PussyLickersRus is absolutely right! In order to integrate his Progenitor side, first John will have to accept that part of himself. To do that he has to accept his instinctive need to dominate and control. I'm sure that his love for Alyssa and the other girls will help keep him from flipping to the "dark side" of his mind, but without an aggressively dominant outlet he cannot truly be his full self.

Thank goodness we've got Irillith here! She's the perfect sub to dominate and punish until both of them are happier people. It actually helps him that she's so very different in temperament from his other girls. She really needs a strict and punishing master or she just cannot be happy.

I'm sure that the assassin has not been forgotten. There's just nothing worse for an assassin than a target with no set pattern of movement and behavior. John is constantly in the progress of moving to a new place and doing something new. To make things even worse, John is also in the fastest ship in the known galaxy, so the assassin would have to figure out John's next stop and get there before John has started to go there.

I honestly feel bad for the assassin. Worst job ever. I appreciate that he tried to lay a bait to lure John to him. (The bait was even both money and good will -- two things for John to bite at.) Then John just doesn't give a fuck about either aspect of the bait. Worst target ever.

So if Dana scooped a mech from the base, assuming that is what John loaded inside the Raptor for her, who would pilot it on missions? Dana is my bet.

I can picture her knocking down buildings and bridges and wreaking havoc. I love Dana.

I can't wait until you add "Princess Bitch" to the harem, and swell her belly out and make her what her species was made for.

By my count, this magnificent space opera now comprises 651,121 words excluding chapter headings.

Thank you for the backup on Progen John and integration of his progen persona. I agree with you that Irillith would be a wonderful outlet for his needs, but I am thinking Jade would be as well. She has shown a predilection to being 'mastered' by a strong personality. Perhaps, between the two of them, John can find a more healthy outlet for his progen side's needs other than beheading everyone.

You are right, worst target ever for an assassin. A hunter of humans depends upon planning and exploiting habits that make the target vulnerable. Impossible to plan much against a target like John who seemingly, from the standpoint of the hunter, is totally random in his actions.

Five stars again looking forward to the next chapter.

really enjoyed this chap. wondered about some details: no reg comms w john when he turned on his mind shields? didn't irrilith get promised a fight? nice action scenes tho.

Came for the sex but stayed for the sci-fi story. At this point I don't think I even need the sex scenes. At the rate you've been writing you seem to add a new chapter every 5-6 days. Can't wait for the next one.

Chapter 51 isn't up yet?!!!! LOL

Today the part of "random asshat" is played by PussyLickersRus.

I just had to. You know half of those who follow were thinking it! lol....Gonna be hard for Tef to beat this chapter though. His lead up to this chapter did not pay it due homage IMHO. Just read it for the third time and still cried at the end.

This is an excellent read.

I just realized... This is the first chapter containing a major battle where the crew sustained no major injuries or damage. They're getting incredibly dangerous.

You said, "I just realized... This is the first chapter containing a major battle where the crew sustained no major injuries or damage. They're getting incredibly dangerous."

And the bridge crew took out over a dozen enemy vessels, the gunship took out 9 tanks and a dozen fighters, along with destroying a highly fortified base and rescuing hostages. Yeah, they are really getting to be bad asses.

Obviously it was the strongest and most numerous enemy they have every taken on. What surprised me is that they didn't even get beat up in the process.

You know after a chapter like that nothing interesting will happen next chapter. It will still be ok but I always crave a good ass kicking.

Is it just me or does anyone else enjoy reading all the comments almost as much as each chapter?

Don't remember comments on the "sprite" AI but I'd love to see Dana and the girls get a hold of and influence it's programming/personality. A little scary it can become so vindictive after a few harsh words.

I'd like to have a death written in... Just something to shock the story not that you need it to progress the story but just to add a little grittiness. The crew seems too indestructible. I feel like the psychic echoes are just too much of a stretch, but the touching of Rachel's head to help her relive the past was a great play to set her up for the bonding that you glossed over(which I thought was really apparent). I do wonder if the comments help steer the story at all.

John jumps out of the story, kicks your ass, and jumps back in the story.

Craving satisfied. ;)

Now you can enjoy the chapter if it doesn't have much action in it. :)

It is possible that Alyssa was just picking up memories from Rachel.

I do not think so. The creeps that Alyssa gets from the Invictus Med bay tell me so but now that I think of it that could be picking up memories from John.

I suspect that Tefler had this story planned, and there is a something ahead for us to find out.

Slinkky, you said, "Obviously it was the strongest and most numerous enemy they have every taken on. What surprised me is that they didn't even get beat up in the process." Well this was a guerrilla operation with a level of surprise. Serious advantages for the Invictus and her crew...none of whom are average beings.

Dana gives them one heck of a tech advantage.

Jade gives them one helluva fighter pilot who is almost totally immune to g-forces, has a true hunter/killer instinct.

And the obvious list goes on.

Also:

No commander in their right mind would believe a single ship with a total of 6 crewmembers would attack such a fortified installation. What actually surprised me is that Allysa, an 18 year old, made some exceptional in-scenario combat decisions with limited training or experience. That goes beyond just being intelligent...it borders on clairvoyance.

no, not just no, but fuck no, you want progenitor john to snap and just kill everyone everywhere? that's how you make it happen.

It will happen.

In order of likelihood, by my best guess.

Ceraden

Vice Admiral Charles Harris

Calara's Father Jack

Their friendly TFNN reporter after they get friendlier but before they add her to the crew.

Sensei Yamamoto

Any of Calara's brothers.

Irrilith in a heroic redemption, after she equips Invictus with a stable AI.

Dana

Rachel

Calara

Jade

Alyssa

John

Any of the girls is likely to be resurrected after they die.

Ummm.....no. We already had one...the wife of the child held by the pirates and those who were fed eggs on the kirricks hive ship. We do not NEED one of the protagonists getting killed.

You ask about independent and likable female characters who aren't being nailed by the protagonist?

Jehanna Elani, the reporter from Terran Federation Network News comes to mind. She's a recurring character and there's a good chance we'll see her again.

Detective Karen Walsh of New Eden PD has only appeared once, but she also fits the bill. Maybe we'll even see her again some day.

Lauren the salesgirl at Olympus Shipyard may have made less of an impression than Karen Walsh, but I seem to remember that she got a second appearance.

I'm sure there's been some others who just aren't occurring to me right now since its been a while since they had their only appearance. Most characters in this story only get to appear in a single scenario and then John moves on to the next campaign zone. There are only a few exceptions to that rule.

Chapter 51 has been submitted. It should probably be up by Friday.

I know I have been quite on the last couple chapters but it has been enjoyable reading the story over sometimes I even pick up stuff I missed previously I'll be up to read 51 as always and Probably miss stuff but this seem to possibly be another info dump chapter coming up with finding by the AI and the debriefing probably not only with the crew but Charles again.

John is a rich playboy vigilante just like Batman. This last attack was completely vigilante style justice and I foresee his public image changing and his next interview will not be so pleasant.

"John is a rich playboy vigilante just like Batman. This last attack was completely vigilante style justice and I foresee his public image changing and his next interview will not be so pleasant."

Soooo taking out a merc group who has made their money on extortion and murder while returning captive family members, two of them children, of some of the rich and famous is going to hurt his public image? Chuckles softly. I don't think so.

Well, John's public image might not change that much, depending on how much and what information the Feds decide to release. As Tefler pointed out in a comment earlier, the Feds don't want it known that a merc band that turned out to be dirty had done jobs for them in the past. So if anything, his public image might improve a bit, if it changes at all. Or the Feds could just cover the entire thing up and possibly explain the merc group's destruction as the result of an internal power struggle that turned violent, and not mention John's involvement at all.

However, how the Feds view John is another matter altogether. This event might make them start thinking that John is getting just a bit too powerful to remain outside their control. I imagine that they're going to start trying to find a way to rein him in, whether he likes it or not. We saw a little bit of that after the Iota-Leonus incident, when John questioned whether he was being pulled back into the military. I highly doubt the Feds like the idea of having a single ship which is strong enough to fight off an alien invasion, or destroy an entire mercenary group on its own, running around in their territory without them having some sort of control over it.

It could be that Vice Admiral Charles Harris is pulling some strings in the background to keep the higher-ups off John's back, without telling John about it. But if John continues to pull stunts like this, Charles isn't going to be able to protect John's independence for much longer.

First points on perceptions. The TFed made a huge PR investment in the crew after the Dragon's March battle. Huge kudos also from destroying the pirates and rescuing 400+ from the Kirrax. Tefler doesn't take it anywhere but saving the Excelsior's passengers and crew plus destroying more pirates would have made the Halonet. So reigning John in would have to be subtle not blunt you would think?

Tefler has also written in a TFed high command and government focused on the Kintark and just shy of going to war. So in the scheme of things Commodore Blake is an asset but small potatoes. Clearly some elements in the high command want him controlled or dead. Would they want the tech? Sure but they only have clear intel on the FTL drive. Is that one known tech worth the potential negatives of taking the ever popular Lions of the Federation out of the feel good new?

Will they try anyway? I'm looking forward to reading how Tefler plays with that plot.

The frequently posting "Anonymous" writes...

> Sure but they only have clear intel on the FTL drive. Is that one known tech worth the potential negatives of taking the ever popular Lions of the Federation out of the feel good new?

I'd say yes. The ability to outmaneuver ones enemies is a very powerful technology. John's ship is so fast that it would allow them to get reinforcements from one start to another before the battle is over. That is HUGE. He isn't just a little bit faster, he's immensely faster than the federation. It's like moving from trains to airplanes. Fortunately he only made that speed clear to Charles so perhaps nothing will be done about it.

TFed is fighting an unpopular war, due to the difficulties they are having in fighting the Kintark. John and his crew are the only positive PR they have and the power of public opinion, even in a militaristically oriented society, cannot be understated. As long as their designs go along with John's, they will allow the status quo to continue.

In addition to being popular with the common person, John has won the hearts, respect, and minds of the rich and powerful. Tfed is responsive to this group, judging from chapter 50.

He will also have enemies among the entitled elites.

A few Friends with the right influence are great but...

Invictus and the Lion's will be an opportunity for manipulation among many and he will scare the hell out of others for various reasons.

Imagine you make FTL drives for every Terran ship. You need that tech. If it goes elsewhere you are ruined. If you get it you can write a contract to replace so many FTL drives you will need to add production capacity.

Imagine you are a magnate with so much for on you that lacking a conscience has been critical to your success. You count on your ability to get away with shit. Going after legitimate business like the Armoured Cobras is wrong. What is to stop them coming after you?

Psych testing has shown that about 50% of CEO's are sociopaths and the other 50% indicate to an extent that they are likely skilled mask sociopaths, really good at "being nice."

Exhibit some psychopathically typical responses, which is much different than saying they are psychopaths.

Going after legitimate business like the Armoured Cobras is wrong. What is to stop them coming after you?

So murder and kidnapping of innocent children and women is a legit business model?

LMAO

I thought I would read a few episodes and see what was up and ended up "binge" reading the whole series in about 36hrs. Being a Tom Clancy, Dale Brown and Stephen Coonts style military techno thriller fan and growing up on sci-fi classics I love it! Really enjoyed it and looking forward to more! Thanks Tefler!

It's always nice to hear from a new reader, so thanks for taking the time to comment, and for your kind feedback. Glad to hear you enjoyed reading the story so far!

Chapter 51 is out this morning, so I hope you like the next installment. :-)

Well, as this is my first comment on what has already been the best thing I've read all year (and it isn't over yet!), I'd like to take a moment to mention how superbly written this is. The ability to juggle multiple plot lines, while keeping them all relevant is sadly something that evades me, and has transformed your story into a novel. With any good novel, comes the fans, and with the fans, come your Fandom. I've been checking back every day like an addict ever since chapter 2, and have been trying to satisfy myself with the comment section, which seems to grow each chapter in complexity, and various opinions. Speaking of, it's my turn to drop one in:

AI - Overpowered at the moment, however I feel that one of a few scenarios can happen to 'balance' an offensive AI.

1) I'm not sure if you recall, but this isn't the first time they've run into an AI in person, referencing the rogue AI from an earlier chapter that communicated in binary, if memory serves. Obviously AI research is still thriving, even if it is behind closed doors. Perhaps a breakthrough can be made in terms of 'passive' AI's, as a part of a firewall. If an AI attempts to attack/control/etc something, the 'resident' passive AI will automatically be 'woken' to defend the system, before being 'put to sleep', or discombobulated, ready to defend the system on a moments notice. This would mean that hacking skills would be much more useful, as perhaps a skilled hacker could be able to sneak info, or perhaps fool communication rigs without triggering the defending AI. This would both help defend the ship against the rest of whomever may have an AI, to use against John, and help balance the situation.

2) John (after his little mental break from reality) will flat out refuse to use an AI, regardless of how 'safe' it might be. Like the earlier Sprite said, all it has to do is remove the oxygen, or blast the air locks wide open, and especially with open 'elevator' shafts, it wouldn't be long before an AI had control of one of the most powerful ships in the region. Not to mention being able to take over any enemy ship at a moments notice. It seems the only weapon against such a beast would be another AI, and when you fight fire with fire, the only result is everyone dying through homicidal AI's.

3) Dana will be able to revolutionize the 'hacking deck' (she may not be the most computer literate, but I'm sure that with some explanation, she would be able to improve the standard build), to the point of being able to possibly create a benevolent AI. Said AI (in order to assuage any paranoi from such an action), could then be inserted into a cyborg or clone of some such (naturally being busty, etc), with all the limitations that would come with such a body. No wireless interface, 'limited' (for an AI at least) processing power, and a perfect candidate for some high G dogfighting.

I'm sure there are more possibilities, but I've spent far too long typing this on my phone at 3am already. As chapter 51 is already written, it'll be interesting to see if any of my ideas are close to the mark, or if I'm barking up the wrong tree. Either way, I eagerly await it's release, and congratulate you again on such a well written novel.

Cheers!

Dennis (yes, I'm anonymous, but I'm lazy :p )

Welcome Dennis,

That was not a lazy comment. It was a great comment on the story.

The AI is pretty terrifying in this story and I will stick with that aspect of AI because I will never stop if I diverge into other possible version s of AI.

The pruning of AI is a clear control. Module control and autoscrub in a pattern locked system would give you almost nowhere for an AI to fit. You limit system versatility but optimise the roles needed so it would be workable.

Isolate every computing system and deny code propagation between them.

Systems are only data sources to each other. Data has clear validation.

Set up backups that cold boot from limited default state images. Tripwire systems with conservative parameters, so they shut down and switch to the backup.

Double backup allows one system to be in monitoring mode where it checks agreement with the active system and you can scrub active, switch monitor to active and switch cold boot to monitor.

Having a defensive AI is fairly interesting but I am sure that it could go very wrong.

Having a cyborg, well I wanted the Maliri to be wireheads. They always wear their armour. I knew they were going to have AI. It would make problems in the story. Irrilith healed of her Cyberporting implants might be awkward.

The AI is a source for too many spoilers so I will shut up now, before I get in trouble.

-fathersin