All Comments on 'Three Square Meals Ch. 052'

Dat cliff hanger. Also, what going on with John and Irialith? I'm kinda liking it, but John is starting to worry me with how much he is losing control to PJ.

I've seen a few curious spellings of some of the recurring character names in the comments, so I thought I might write a quick pronunciation guide. This is how I pronounce them, but of course, you can still your own variations if you prefer!

John: Jon (I can't imagine anyone getting this wrong, but for completions sake!)

Alyssa: Ah-liss-ah

Calara: Ka-lar-ah

Dana: Day-na

Jade: Jayde

Rachel: Ray-chull

Jehanna: Juh-han-ah

Irillith: I-rill-ith

Faye: Fay

Edraele: Ed-ray-elle

Let me know if there's any others you might be curious about.

"Dat cliff hanger".

Ahh I love 'em, what can I say. :-)

I'm making good headway through chapter 53, and wrote 5.5k yesterday. I'm in two minds on whether to make the next chapter a monster one to wrap up this plot arc in one go, or keep to the normal ~15k words/5 pages. I guess I'll see how long the mission to Trankara takes, and play it by ear.

Tefler

Nice to see that that I was right on pj having plan for irllith. But Faye may end up finding a he I'm one of Dana's bots at this rate. I have a feeling irllith being on board the ship is what is causing the issues with John and once they fiqure it out she may get spaced. Either that or pj is just doing what John's mind refuses to let him do by adding her to the crew.

Tef; nice twist with PG John coming out to play (reasonably nicely) hard ball with the Trankarans. I get the impression that the Trankarans have a symbiotic link with all Trankarans, hence the reluctance to extinguish the rebels as ruthlessly as John will, or does the link go to all life? Either way it explains their almost passavist behaviour and long tolerance tendency.

Alyessa will have to have it out with PG John, but there might be some backlash if PG John is riled. The arrogance displayed by PG John, for most people is a serious warning for her not to challenge him, but it needs to be done to allow personality integration.

For one the very first step in integrating split personalities is to first get them talking to one another so the there is a free flow of information, so that there are no memory blanks. However, that requires on personality to be adopted as the dominant one and the other to become a part of that personality. Although not all split personalities need integration, it is better if it does occur, hence many split personality persons can cope readily once they communicate with each other. I vaguely recall a very famous US woman who has something like 32 personalities, which she chose not to integrate, but she now functions perfectly well. There was a TV interview with her in the 80's 90's and you could see different personalities come to the surface as if they were different emotions.

Love the writing and the story, it has me hooked so another 5 star chapter for me.

Mal

Hmmmm Where to start....

Nice bit of "spin" the Fed did with the mercs. lol

Um... So, Faye is alive and kicking, so to speak. I guess, being out of direct control for a couple days is how long it takes an AI to develop some "Id". This will be an interesting, and possibly scary twist to the story.

Yeah, more convinced that the "toy" in the hanger is a mech.

Irillith, Irillith, Irillith..... I was wondering what the heck was going on (no mention of armoring up), and then you went and had her completely "space" on it because of her mental conflict... That's one heck of an "OOPS"....

So, she knows she is losing the "battle", yet hoping she holds out so she can escape... Now, that escape has a HUGE hole in her life boat.

PJ appears to be even more in control now, and has learn to emulate John to a fair degree. John wouldn't do this deal in this manner, I don't think so it has to be PJ running the show at the moment. Yet, John is in control at times, and doesn't seem to know he has been influenced. Now that I write that last sentence, I think "influence" is more accurate for PJ than in charge.

Wow.... This will get interesting.

Hmmmm Where to start....

Nice bit of "spin" the Fed did with the mercs. lol

Um... So, Faye is alive and kicking, so to speak. I guess, being out of direct control for a couple days is how long it takes an AI to develop some "Id". This will be an interesting, and possibly scary twist to the story.

Yeah, more convinced that the "toy" in the hanger is a mech.

Irillith, Irillith, Irillith..... I was wondering what the heck was going on (no mention of armoring up), and then you went and had her completely "space" on it because of her mental conflict... That's one heck of an "OOPS"....

So, she knows she is losing the "battle" yet hoping she holds out so she can escape... Now, that escape has a HUGE hole in her life boat.

PJ appears to be even more in control now, and has learn to emulate John to a fair degree. John wouldn't do this deal in this manner, I don't think so it has to be PJ running the show at the moment. Yet, John is in control at times, and doesn't seem to know he has been influenced. Now that I write that last sentence, I think "influence" is more accurate for PJ than in charge.

Wow.... This will get interesting.

Faye loose on the Invictus and possibly turning on her creator, Irilleth plotting everyone's death, our mysterious assassin seeing an opening and possibly coming out of retirement and taking on John, Yamamoto's significant other also being killed (wild guess but it seems to fit) by the assassin's organization, the mystery of the glowing princess (someone Projen John seems to know), Projen John and Terran John having difficulty in assymilation, a surgical strike to plan and implement (with a progen matriarch perhaps?)...and here I thought you were going to tie up some loose ends with this chapter....lol.

Keep up the good work. I look forward to every chapter.

Your story has kept my FULL attention. Well thought out, written, and presented, as with all of the previous chapters. For God's sake, don't slow down now!

The apparent personality split in John has been a recurring topic in many comments. Most assume they can apply whatever they know about human psychology to solve John's puzzle, while they forget he isn't human.

At the very least he is an Progenitor/Human hybrid, but for all we know, and given the changes his cum can do to already developed humans, the Progenitor genes could have overridden all human characteristics and made him a full progenitor.

Said that, his brain (as in physical support for his mind), and his mind (as in abstract concept of personality, ego, whatever else), don't necessarily follow human standards. For all we know there may not be any personality split. What do we know about Progenitor psychology?

All this could be some kind of Progenitor puberty, where the child mind (which you see as terran John) starts to evolve into the fully developed adult mind (which you see as Progenitor John). That would explain why he didn't show his powers while he was active in the military, why he has no conscious control over them (still developing/learning), and the "blackouts" could be normal for them, no matter how abnormal for us.

I'm most probably wrong in my guesses, but my point remain that most commentators forget he isn't human.

If have to wait on a kick ass story with many pages do it!!

We'll cry about it but with your writing style is worth it!

Please don't stretch this personality problem much more. This whole split personality John is developing is starting to bug me. I understand that it is a plot device, but it makes me almost stop reading. The blackout when seriously injured didn't bother me. What makes it hard to read is the other times outside of combat. I had to force myself to finish this chapter.

Maybe its just a problem for me. I have tried to analyze why I feel this way and I am still unsure. I have training in these things, and while I normally have no trouble suspending by disbelief, my education might be effecting my opinions. Split personality is not something that can be reversed. A mental break like this get much worse and with every event it increases the damage. A person who has experienced a mental breakdown of some kind, now has a many orders of magnitude greater chance of have another one. Their mental "barriers" are that much weaker and more fragile once they have been broken. And the more times is happens, the more the risk increases of re-occurrence.

Anyway, I just feel that this kind of trope is lazy and boring, but I might be alone there

Sorry you feel that way, but Basura's post is worth rereading. John isn't human, and normal rules for human psychology don't apply to him.

I really was wondering about having the pilot, XO, and tactical officer, plus the captain, all in bed while flying into known dangerous space. They were told just hours before that ships were getting pulled out of warp and shot up.

I look forwards to seeing Faye develop but I don't understand why they would talk about her aloud when she already revealed that she watches all their security cams. Also, I thought the hacking vambrace had to be physically connected to the network for the AI to skip around?

I really had to think about this chapter. I don't like the changes in John at all, and I'm now wondering if this was something to do with his earlier nightmares. Is Alyssa the bright woman who is suppose to save him?

When I was reading I got more personality changes instead of split personality. This started happening more after Irrilith went aboard the ship. That also makes me wonder if her genetic changes are what's bringing out this side more? Her species was altered for the progenitors.

I'm interested in Faye. I'm looking forward to seeing how the AI develops. I'm I also interested to see how Faye reacts to her creator.

I'm hoping Progenitor John doesn't destroy the rebel trankarians. John was so upset with the fulmonax destruction that I'm not sure if he could live with so many lives loss after snapping out of whatever it's is.

I'm truly enjoying this story.

And got a lot more interesting. Do good John was somewhat predictable jumping into the fire to save someone and bring justice to anyone that deserves it but who will make decisions now? Good John saving everyone and being a paragon of justice, Progen John who will squash anyone in his way and use all good or bad (like the assasin) to advance his goals or both going on a middle ground.

Also, I don't know if this was added following my comment but "The field slowed her descent when she reached Deck Nine" made the warning sign in my head go from briht red to a dull grey :) Tnx.

Looks like John is becoming crueler as time goes by.I know he's not human but,he does have human blood in him.Does no part of his mother remain in him anymore?

Will he turn into a Progenitor all the way?

Inquiring minds want to know.Patience is the only answer.

Thank you for another great chapter.

Finally, the ruthless bloodthirsty predator appears. Now he truly becomes a lion.

I really enjoyed the confidence, with which John:

1. Has a master plan and does not reveal it (only some hints)

2. Promptly settles all negotiations and interrogations

3. Handles Irillith and her AI

Great chapter. Thanks for sharing the inspiration.

P.S.

Looking forward to Rachel explaining how to kill a silicon based lifeform.

... just wanted to let you know that I involuntarily said "Yay!" out loud when I saw that your next chapter was out. #facepalm

PJ seems to crop up whenever john has to be around irilith . I wonder how this is going to shake out and whether the girls will find a way to return john to himself.

While the overlord outlook was appropriate for a protagonist in the middle of a battle, this one left me feeling saddened. It is a 180 degree turn in the character to go from a protector of the innocent to a political assassin for personal gain. The moral high ground of our protagonist is now lost.

While I do suspect there is a plot twist/surprise reveal coming, I am with others who feel this integration issue needs to be resolved soon. It has gotten troubling.

... I was so tickled when I saw that "dark-skinned" description for Jehanna. Incorporating fan suggestions like that? Way to go, Tef.

Was not expecting Faye at all. I suspect we might just be looking at something along the lines of Seven of Nine. Maybe a cyborg body that Dana creates for Faye out of the oxynium-maliri-crystal alloy? Amiright? Definitely looking forward to more Faye.

So, bald, voluptuous, amazons who are conveniently in the same height range as John. Why do I feel that a mind controlled "Glowing Queen" is waiting in Trankara for John to come and rescue her... and then invite her to his crew?

I suspect PJ's increasing appearances around Irillith are John's involuntary reactions to her mere "independent" presence. I expect these episodes might subside the moment Irillith is brought into the fold. Also, another dom-sub dynamic in the making? Didn't Jade have a similar relationship with John?

Anyway, great chapter as usual.

"I was so tickled when I saw that "dark-skinned" description for Jehanna"

I haven't changed her ethnicity, I refer to her as dusky skinned in chapter 20, and dark-skinned in chapter 37. :-)

- John hasn't meditated (at all?) since Alyssa joined him

- John hasn't converted a girl in forever

- John hasn't had his night of mind weakness after converting a girl (or rather his period of mind strongness thereafter). Is it just wearing down?

- John might not be in immediate danger, but his subconscious might tell him that a confrontation with an assassin is imminent. This was not the case earlier.

- John has never spent so much time in the same structure with an other alien species before (well, not counting Jade)

John has an AI loose on his ship and has not had an anurism.

The girls believe Irillith is genuine

John has decided being a political assassin is ok

John is distancing himself from his girls

John did not get crew opinions before entering into an agreement with a political body...he will be putting them at risk...as late and the Milari he has done so.

Of course you released a new chapter just as I was getting ready to leave for work. Made the day take forever to get through. I'm glad that my suspicion about the AI was founded, and I'm curious to see how she plays into the rest of the story. I wonder if she'll end up supporting the crew on the bridge (maybe acting as their hacker if they decide to space Irilith).

I get the feeling that Proginator-John is sneaking in more and more and messing with his mind. Possibly trying to sway him. I'm still really curious about the glowing figure from his dreams that protects him from the dark creature. I got to thinking that maybe some of Alyssa's psionic residue was accumulating in the ship and the ship itself might have been gaining sentience too.

So many questions! Looking forward to more.

I think the highlighted difference that are occurring to john, are what makes the story so interesting. As many have pointed out there are some face-smackingly dumb things John has done, which go against the main character we first met in the first 5 or so chapters. These changes (good or bad) are the main plot threads to the character development, and the other adventures seem to be the window dressing for the characters to interact in. As with all great writing there will be plots, sub-plots (resolved and open) that are woven in to form a more complex tapestry that works towards some sort of resolution.

I am not sure if Tefler is trying to set him up as an unsympathetic anti-hero at the moment, to then have the "original" character to come to the fore and save the day and make John the sympathetic white-knight hero, that we have sort of expected in the first few chapters. Certainly many of the Johns actions seem to be distancing him from other characters somewhat, and some readers, but no good plot (story) survives very long without some sort of conflict and resolution either within or between characters. The art (IMHO) of the story teller (and Teller has it in spades), is how they can twist and turn the characters to achieve this end.

Not sure who it was who determined that all literature can be distilled to no more than 5 plots at their basic essence; one of which is boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy and girl find each other again (aka, Romeo and Julliett); another is good triumphs over evil (aka, Star Wars); and another hero denies heroism, has internal conflict, hero becomes empowered and saves the day (aka, Thomas Covenant Chronicles). Any way, whichever of the 5 basic plots Tefler is using does not diminish the creativity required to generate characters that we can invest our emotions into and be captivated by the ride they endure.

Mal

Great story, one of my all time favorites especially since I have deciphered the secret. John is actually Donald J Trump! The tell was the enthusiastic greeting at the Federation Outpost. Well done, please continue for a long time. Sneaky but nice.

My theory is John has never had a blackout. He remembers everything he's done.

As for his coarse business dealings with the Trankarans maybe that is a reflection on what their culture respects in business rather than a new twist on John's personality.

"John is distancing himself from his girls

John did not get crew opinions before entering into an agreement with a political body"

Good observations, well done. :-)

I've written 5k of chapter 53 so far, and it's coming along nicely. I haven't made my mind up yet whether I'll do a 15k chapter as usual, or wrap up this plot arc in one go, which will probably take 30k.

I'll let you know which way I decide to go as I write more of the chapter.

Thanks for all the great feedback everyone. It's satisfying to see you're still finding the story interesting!

I've still got loads of material for upcoming chapters and at least a dozen sub plots to wrap up before I end the story. Hopefully I'll be able to conclude them all in a satisfying way! :-)

Please do not count me among the disbelievers, lol.

I hope I am allowed to mourn the stumble of my protagonist. I am a great admirer of Tefler and his writing ability, and of your literary ecumine. I am one of the many who have fully invested in this story, and when I have an emotional response, I would hope Tefler, and you, take it as a compliment. It was not my intent to do anything other than mourn. I have learned its efficacy over my long, real life.

BTW: EXCEPTIONAL insight. Thank you for your comments.

Is she another nymph..a matriarch..of the other projen..? Jade is perhaps not the only one n when The Queen gets the projen cum..the glowing lines of light n hence the name..? Intrigued by Faye n interested about that thread. As for the personality n the ruthless John - I guess we just wait for Tef to get the gory details out.

I'd also prefer an entire chapter as a mammoth one rather than the 15k words - enuf with the cliffhangers already..!

There was another thread of someone trying to entice John to accept a gift.. He was acting as the brother of someone John had rescued n was himself kidnapped.. I might have forgotten or overlooked any conclusive end to it. Does anybody else remember what happened to him..?

Awesome read..great work Tef.. As always..!

Avid Fan Neil

The guy who was attempting to lure John into an ambush was tortured to death because the assassins did not believe John told him to give the money to orphans.

I must have sleep-read it or must've been under the influence of our dear old PJ.. :)

Neil

Hi Pussy,

Thank you for the kind comments, and although my comments were not directed at you specifically, your comments did prompt it (apologies if offence was incurred). We have had some 5 or 6 chapters where commenters have questioned/criticised John for erratic behaviour, whereas I was more contemplative regarding the character development and the internal combat that the 2 characters of PG John and John are having.

I have found the reference to the literary plots that all literature can be distilled to, thank you Wikipedia (there are actually 7) as discussed by C Booker (2004).

1) Overcoming the Monster

The protagonist sets out to defeat an antagonistic force (often evil) which threatens the protagonist and/or protagonist's homeland. (these could be internal)

2) Rags to Riches

The poor protagonist acquires things such as power, wealth, and a mate, before losing it all and gaining it back upon growing as a person.

3) The Quest

The protagonist and some companions set out to acquire an important object or to get to a location, facing many obstacles and temptations along the way.

4) Voyage and Return

The protagonist goes to a strange land and, after overcoming the threats it poses to him or her, returns with nothing but experience.

5) Comedy

Light and humorous character with a happy or cheerful ending; a dramatic work in which the central motif is the triumph over adverse circumstance, resulting in a successful or happy conclusion.

6) Tragedy

The protagonist is a hero with one major character flaw or great mistake which is ultimately their undoing.

And

7) Rebirth

During the course of the story, an important event forces the main character to change their ways, often making them a better person.

As you can see we have in the plots and sub-plots that Tefler has given us so far are 1), 2), 3), and 4). I think we are about to get 6) and 7) in the next few chapters. I don't recall (though I may be mistaken) any subplots of 5).

As with my example of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy finds girl we already have 2 examples with Calara and Rachel, which fits with 4). Given that I almost failed high school English, my teachers would be proud of what has actually stuck (if they are still alive).

Mal

Yep, I'm pretty sure PJ has been in control for at least the majority of this chapter. Definitely in control during the negotiations with the Trankarans. Human John would never have steamrolled anyone like that; that was just brutal. PJ has been doing a pretty good job of making it seem like he's not in control, even going so far as to get Alyssa used to being blocked from John's mind by repeatedly and randomly blocking her. She doesn't like it, but by the time she does anything about it, it'll be too late. Whatever Alyssa is going to do, she better do it soon.

Irillith has obviously cooked up some sort of revenge scheme. Her mother Edraele is definitely a target, but what about John and the crew? I hope she doesn't have her sights set on them. They've been nothing but nice to her, except for when they punished her for her hacking, which could have been much worse; they could have had her go for a space walk without a suit. Whatever her plans are, it probably doesn't involve her AI, now known as Faye, as she seems to have completely forgotten about it, just like her armor.

Speaking of Faye, that was a nice surprise. Should be interesting to see where that goes, especially her reaction to finding out how her creator is being treated. Question though: is she limited to just appearing in the Engineering Bay, as that's where Irillith's gear is being kept, or can she integrate into all of the ship's systems and appear anywhere?

On another note, those new engines...*drool* Damn those are going to be overkill on the Invictus. If those new engines are capable of moving ships that have at least twice the mass of the Invictus with greater speed and maneuverability than the Invictus has now...good lord. Hopefully Dana can create the inertial dampeners needed to keep everyone on board from being turned into paste when they accelerate.

I've got a theory about the Trankaran's weapons: they're projectile weapons, but instead of firing solid rounds like the Terran's mass drivers, they fire molten projectiles, aka, lava. That could help explain why the armor on the Trankaran's ships is so thick, as their weapons would instantly melt through thinner armor.

Definitely looking forward to more of this Tefler. Keep up the good work.

@Jedi_Khan: You suggest that the Trankaran weapons could be molten, but... well.. at the speeds these projectiles are traveling, the kinetic energy would melt them on impact anyway and melt the armor they hit. This is much hotter than the kinetic impact of an A-10's 30mm melting through through the armor of a tank.

A little bit of extra energy from the projectile being molten lava makes only a small difference.

Who's to say that Faye couldn't be influenced by John's nature. His influence may not be limited to just Organics.

I wonder what she can decode from psionics detection sensors.

Dear Tefler,

Thank you for your wonderful series, may it continue with many more twists and turns spiced with some very hot and deviant scenes.

One thing I did notice was an increasing frequency of typos and spelling mistakes. If you would like help with proofing, I am more than happy to help.

Cheers!

BunLover

Look out universe (and creepy gothic assassin)... Progenitor John is en route and he's bringing an a**whoopin with him. John... First off, HUGE fan of your exploits so far. I'd like to ask one thing of you. Call it a request from a fellow vet... Make that conniving Irilith your b**ch before you get back to Maliri space. She's still irking me something fierce. Thanks brother

Keep'em coming Tefler

TEF finish the confrontation in one go instead of writing 2 stories of 15k. Don't. Want. Another. Cliffhanger.

I'm becoming increasingly convinced that Progenitor John's increasing influence is coming from the fact that he hasn't converted Irillith yet. His instinct to dominate her is bringing his other Progenitor qualities out.

Honestly though, this has been coming on for a while now. He's been acting out of character for several chapters, and now it's all come to a head. Mostly I find it weird that it took the girls this long to notice that's he's been acting odd, and now he's so far gone who knows what they can do to help him.

I can't begin to speculate how they might reconcile this. I don't really want to, to be honest. I'd rather just wait and watch Tefler go above and beyond. I wouldn't be surprised though if it were an ongoing arc. Like the Maliri arc is about to be wrapped up, but Progenitor John's increasing influence is probably going to continue for a while.

On the plus side, I can't wait to see how Irillith reacts to the resurgence of PJ. I love the way that she is super attracted to John despite, or even perhaps because of, how much she fears the Mael'nerak, and the interplay between those two feelings is so fun to watch.

When Irillith finally does get inflated like a bitchy blue balloon, I can't decide how I want it to happen. Either Progenitor John completely and utterly dominates her, or she has a total breakdown and comes to Terran John for comfort, like the Jack paragon romance in Mass Effect 2. Either one would be awesome to watch, and would be a powerful character moment for both of them.

I've been greatly impressed by your story-telling prowess, Tefler, to say nothing of your frankly amazing speed putting all this content together.

I won't speculate on the story, just wanted to cheer you on.

I'm working on the idea that instead of punching through armor like a solid round would, i.e. like the A10's 30mm shells you mention, the Trankaran's molten slugs would squish/splash against armor and would then melt away bigger holes than if the rounds had been solid. Sort of like the Kintark's plasma weapons, instead using it's mass to maintain cohesion rather than a magnetic containment field to keep plasma together.

I did say it was just a theory. I could be wrong. We'll just have to wait and see what Tefler comes up with.

I feel quite dread for John and his crew. So far throughout the story you put them for sure in perilous danger, but they haven't been affected by true tragedy yet. This whole deal with Progenitor John rearing his head could take this series into a dark turn. Just gotta say kudos to writing prowess. Making people care about your characters is one of those things that when you get right it just provides so much emotional weight to a story. I fear for the fate of the crew going forward and i am quite interested to see where you will take this story.

As usual you've done a bang up job writing a titillating story. I noticed this time the sex we much more exciting than normal. I'm kind of sad that John is becoming PJ more and more but hopefully at some point in the future there will be a true blending to of the two. PJ's an ass while John's a good man.

While I enjoy all of his girls I love Dana, her exuberance is exciting and then of course she's a redhead which clenched it.

Good job

Ed Parachini

Spewing molten ammo doesn't work. There is not enough cohesion in the round when in a liquid state for it to exit out the barrel with any accuracy. The molten mass just begins to splatter everywhere as soon as it hits the end of the barrel due to the friction effects of the barrel on the round.

I found this out first hand when I pushed lead bullets out the end of my 22-250 at speeds around 4500 fps. The lead turned molten by the end of the barrel and spewed out the end like blowing water and air through a straw...left a LOT of lead deposits inside the barrel as well.

To defeat armor, you need a round that will hold together enough to begin to penetrate. The person talking about the kinetic energy of the 30mm anti-tank round is mostly right. It does, due to friction caused by the high speed penetration of the AP round, begin to melt the tank armor..but this is due to the extreme levels of kinetic energy in the form of friction/heat caused by the penetration of the round. If the round is already molten, there is no penetration and not enough heat to melt the armor.

Look at the cone barrel artillery the Nazis set up in France to shell England for a hint.

What you are possibly talking about it creating a pressure washer from hell.

You can cut armour with a jet of water so you can certainly do so with a jet of molten metal. It would have other nasty effects as well. It would ruin surface modules like turrets, sensors, retro-thrusters, hatches and airlocks, and shield emitters. It would not necessarily be the best weapon for killing a target but it would be very good at disabling an enemy which strangely fits the Trankarans apparent preferences. it would fire tons of liquid ammo per second which also fits the massive capacity of Trankaran ships.

Keep in mind that plasma weapons are a thing in this universe. They have the same problem. Since Tefler introduced force fields in this universe, they could probably be used to keep the molten lava/plasma together until it reaches the enemy ship.

Sci-fi weapons for a science fiction story. That would be fucking terrifying. I would not want to get anywhere near one.

It almost sounds like you are trying to come up with a massive element particle laser which makes me think you want to combo it with X-RAY lasers to prevent or contain the positive ions dispersion by adding electrons with the X-RAY's. In theory you could even steer the beam.

With the molten lava projectiles; basalt starts to cool at about 1200°C so by just cooling a thin outer layer there would be a way to keep the inner molten, but the outer shell rigid. However, these will require a relatively large calibre otherwise the mass to heat loss ratio would be too low (i.e., the shell will cool too quickly if the mass is too low). Komatiitic materials (very early primitive lavas) melt at about 1800°C, so would be better for melting iron at about 1500°C.

Mal

Now that I've caught up, I have to actually WAIT for the next story/chapter.....

I'm glad you appear to be prodigious in your writing...

And so many threads throughout... it's been well worth the time reading...

The Trankarans seem to have lots of ore and sophisticated metallurgy so basalt or ceramic material wouldn't be the only option.

Molten ceramics can have seriously huge heat capacity and act as a metal solvent. If you dissolve armour, penetrating is not a big issue.

A molten metal like tungsten alloys would do serious damage, but I expect they would have an accretion instead of penetrating effect. You would coat the target in armour. With enough volume that could be very dangerous to the target anyway. It would slow them down especially if they were a small target like a frigate under fire from a cruiser.

It would wreck any surface mount systems and make non lethal captures a more common victory.

Just the combo of taking retro thrusters offline while coating a ship with a hundred tons of molten metal would leave them hopelessly vulnerable to outmanoeuvering. It plays into the Trankarans strengths of speed and agility. Their own heavily armoured ships with huge mass are almost perfectly designed to negate those risks.

Anon, you said: “Keep in mind that plasma weapons are a thing in this universe. They have the same problem. Since Tefler introduced force fields in this universe, they could probably be used to keep the molten lava/plasma together until it reaches the enemy ship.”

While I do understand what you are saying, I feel what I am trying to convey is getting lost. Lava rounds would be great antipersonnel weapons. But not so much with armor.

With armor you need penetration. It is much more effective because the penetration of a section of armor produces the same or more intense heat, and much more efficient use of that heat becase that heat is developed within the armor plating rather than on the surface.

This deep penetration of the heat melts a hole in the armor, greatly reducing its integrity at a much more rapid rate than just melting away the surface.

Even if you have a field around the stream, you are still just looking at superficial (surface effect) heat that just takes too much time to make a hole and destroy the integrity of the armor….ESPECIALLY on a target that is moving in multiple vectors (yaw, pitch, relative elevation, relative bearing, rotation).

For hardened armor: you need a one shot, one hole, effective loss of integrity because a ‘stream of superheated lava” would not be able to stay on one point on the armor but would splash across it…and make it ineffective. Those of you who assume the lava rounds/stream would coat the ship and melt away strategic targets on an apposing ship are assuming the shields are already down.

This is why the mass drivers of the Invictus are so effective but not used until AFTER shields are down. The shielding on these ships can effectively deflect mass type weaponry….of which lava is a subset. It would never even reach the ship until the shields were down. And these shields have shown remarkable resilience to mass type weapons. Energy weapons are necessary to take them down.

Xrays, while very energetic, do not carry that much energy in and of themselves, which is why they are used to do internal organic imaging. For this reason, the combination of Xrays and mass (lava) would not take down the shields to provide the effective coating you presume.

This is why plasma weaponry is so effective against both shields and armor. Plasma is almost pure energy, so it is very effective against shields. Plasma is superheated, very energetic, and as it cools, turns to mass with inertia (kenetic energy) that is very localized so it is also effective against armor plating. But the amount of heat imparted by plasma against armor is levels of magnitude higher than what any lava could produce. And if you have plasma weaponry, lava weaponry is like taking a bb gun to a grenade fight.

In battle, time is a rare commodity. Kills or disabling fire must be fast, overwhelming, and accurate. Hence the devastating effectiveness of Calara with her compartmentalized firing techniques.

10 feet of iron based armor is one hellava heat sink. You would end up melting your own ship.

Name: Titanium

Symbol: Ti

Atomic Number: 22

Atomic Mass: 47.867 amu

Melting Point: 1660.0 °C

How would you prevent heat loss through radiation as it travels to the target? And how would you prevent the melting of the firing ship's armor which is ten feet thick?

Being made of charged particles, plasmas can conduct electricity and create/be controlled by magnetic fields, So the electric/magnetic energy is effective against shields. Superheated plasma has temperatures in the MILLOINS of degrees centigrade. THAT level of heat can effectively and instantly melt armor from a superficial application. The 200 degree difference between lava and melting titanium….umm…no.

The solvent effect is interesting. Something that looks like lava and melts Armour.

Otherwise just shoot big metal slugs.

Amidst all the banter about the tech..bullets n armour.. When's 53 gonna come out.. N yeah..hurry up the already frenetic pace of your stories. Keep up the good work. Not a day goes by where I don't check in for updates..N end up reading the comments to whet my appetite..! Cheers Mate!

I've written the first part of chapter 53 and handed it over to my editors. It's 19k so far, and I intend to make some good inroads into part 2 on Sunday.

The whole chapter will probably be up on the site in about a weeks time.

Have a nice weekend!

Tefler

I did some research, well took the inventory of chapters of this story to be exactly, and did some spreadsheet work on it.

The chapters are appearing at about 5 days interval, the longest was 16 days, the shortest was 1 day; and have an average score of 4.82 with an minimum of 4.61 (the first one) and a maximum score of 4.91 (chapter 50).

So, I am waiting for chapter 53 as many of you, enjoying reading the chapters and the comments do, but I must give Tefler the credits for this story because it is good, very good. So: thanks for the story, and keep the chapters coming when they are ready.

Herman Grootaers

As a rapidly moving projectile the outer cooled shell only has to have sufficient integrity to last from the end of the muzzle to the target (a few seconds, for a rail gun, at several kms/miles), which if the inner molten core is super heated then the outer shell will start to ablate making the transfer of the kinetic and thermal energy at the point of impact. By shaping the shell/Charge, you can focus the thermal and kinetic energy to a relatively small area, allowing the molten material to burrow through the armour.

The same principles that apply to RPG war heads applies, only explosives are used to generate the molten material that then burrows through the armour. So the physics, of being able to do it are already there, just the practicality of doing it is not. For example the earth has a thin outer solid crust (~80 km thick average) holding in a molten centre that is much much hotter than the outer crusts; rock is a ver poor conductor of heat hence the only way heat escapes is through plate tectonics. Eventually enough heat (thermal energy will escape and the earth will eventually seize up. Earth has lost about half of its internal heat over the past 4.5 billion years, now all we have to do is scale all of that back down to say a 10 foot diameter mass weapon :).

Since the Tankarans are a silica based life form, then magmatic weaponry would seem wholely appropriate.

Mal

If anyone plays world of tanks armored warfare, or war thunder it's is also call H.E.A.T ammo aka high explosive anti-tank ammunition.

You said, "The same principles that apply to RPG war heads applies, only explosives are used to generate the molten material that then burrows through the armour."

I am not sure you're understanding the dynamics of how an armor defeating RPG works. First, you have a penetrating head that burrows deeply into the armor, the heat of friction then begins to melt the armor upon penetration. The round then explodes, further weakening the integrity of the armor which then fails, showering the inside of the armored vehicle/building with the melted armor/projectile explosive mix. This is devastating on personnel, fuel, and ammo stores within the structure.

Without penetration, the whole thing doesn't work. It is like firing a lead bullet at a granite stone brick...the bullet just deforms and can even bounce back to hit the shooter (don't ask how I know this ;-)).

Second issue, those rounds will still not defeat the shields.

Third issue, a molten core just does not act like a solid core as far as penetration goes. Fluid dynamics come into play and the molten core would just spread out over the surface of the target with the destruction of the outer shell. With only a marginal difference between the highest possible temperature for a molten core and the melting point of titanium, the round would have negligible effect, if any. You MUST have penetration to defeat armor. Additionally, a molten cored round would have LESS density (mass) for a given size, due to the expansion of the core due to high heat, than a solid round and therefore have less inertia/kinetic energy...(read less penetration). Even considering you have an armor piercing shell, it would be less effective than a solid core that would melt due to the friction caused by the penetration.

While a fun concept to consider, you are actually trying to justify a less effective manner to project kinetic energy to the target.

Thanks for making my point. H.E.A.T. rounds work because they penetrate first, that friction of penetration melts the armor at the point of penetration, and the round then explodes so the armor fails and the remaining kinetic energy splatters molten armor, and some molten projectile, into the structure. The explosion's main purpose is to cause an already weakened area of armor to fail...allowing the molten armor, not molten projectile, to invade the inner structures. You want maximum mass to impart maximum kinetic energy and maximum penetration. Solid core projectiles have more mass than molten ones due to greater density for a given element.

This is why armor defeating rounds from tanks, shoulder fired rockets, etc. have cores of depleted Uranium pellets. Uranium is a very, very heavy metal. That mass, sitting behind a penetrating warhead, gives maximum penetration.

I feel like I've unlocked an achievement by sparking this debate over molten weaponry. Bleep-boop. :-D

Anyways, most of the arguments on here seem to be predicated on the assumption that the Trankarans want armor penetration. Maybe they don't. Maybe they want to disable a ship's weapons and engines by clogging them up with chunks of material. I doubt that weapons function very well when they've got rapidly cooling material blocking the barrels, or preventing turrets from traversing. And if those weapons are fired while that material is in the barrels? Boom, the weapon blows up. Engines too, would likely react badly to having foreign material blocking their exhaust.

Of course, as was pointed out, this only works on unshielded ships, so the Trankarans probably have some other type of secondary weapons that are good against shields. Their anti-personnel weapons are probably of the molten variety. As silica-based life forms, they probably have a very high heat tolerance, and thus the molten ammo is likely non-lethal for them, having more of an immobilizing effect once the material cools. Any other life form though...well, ouch.

The Trankarans strike me as a race that, unlike the others, doesn't rely on shields too much, if they use them at all. So of course they would develop weapons that are not very effective against shields. They likely rely more on their ships' speed, maneuverability, and thick armor for defense. The Trankarans probably developed their thick armor more in response to the other races having weapons that would easily penetrate thinner armor. And their weapons are likely recessed into the thick armor in order to reduce the possibility that the weapons can be directly targeted.

Am well aware of heat rounds. There is no initial penetration, there is an initiator, followed by, a hollow shaped charge. The initial part of the cone collapses to stick the charge to the armour, the charge is then set off (a few milli seconds later) where the shaping focusses all the thermal energy and welds its way through the armour. I think you are thinking more along the lines of solid core armoured piercing, sabot, or ballistic cap rounds.

Perhaps agree to disagree ;-)

Cheers

Mal

Shoulder fired rockets firing projectiles with cores of uranium pellets? I've never seen a radioactive shoulder fired rocket used by militaries yet for general use. What i do believe you are referencing are depleted uranium solid penetrator sabot shells that are being used by the worlds armored divisions. These are not HEAT rounds, as they don't utilize explosives for their primary penetration values. They are just a aolid core of DU, no pellets as that reduces penetration and gets you an antipersonel shot shell. And its cheaper to use steel for that.

But i do agree, having a lava launcher would be completely ineffective inless your goal is to completely overwhelm the other ship by adding massive amounts of material to it. Its also better to keep the solid penetrator for railguns because of the effects of to many G's deforming the cone/charge of heat rounds ruining effectiveness.

To those who say this could work because of heat rounds probably don't fully realize how they work. So my question to you is why isn't heat rounds very effective against spaced armor? It'll probably be the same reason your squirt gun or fire hose of molten metal wont be good. To others who dont get the referance, it doesnt work well because the spacing between armor allows a splatterring effect which massively reduces penetration the larger the space is. Put it on sloped spaced armor and oboy, that was a wasted shot. Heat rounds take advantage of extreme pressure generated from explosives combined with super heated but not plasmic copper causing a liquifaction effect to the armor. But it must detonate right against the armor, if it doesnt then the molten streams just spatter doing minimal damage.

Can we please move on from the admittidly entertaining but ultimately inane conversation about molten riot hoses for capital ships?

Resident lurker,

Shadow

Now that I think about it that I could actually see how they could depend on a molten slag riot hose of sorts for Capital ships with their strong aversion to loss of any kind of life.

Resident lurker,

Shadow

Agree completely.... :-)

I suspect that Silicoids require a long time to mature.

If it takes a thousand years to create mature Trankarans then I hope they don't kill too many or I am going to hate Progenitor John. Okay I will hate him even more because I already hate him.

It is really fucking unfair to make your hero and your villain the same person.

Kind of a dick Tefler, but your story is awesome.

Big fan and waiting for each chapter like a nine year old waiting for Christmas.

;)

A HEAT round is basicly a shaped charge which when it contacts the armor explodes forming a jet of molten metal to pierce the armor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaped_charge#Munroe_effect.

Countermeasures are to explode the warhead farther away, stand-offs like grates or thin sheets of metal, or reactive armor which explodes outward to disrupt the jet.

A HESH or in US terms HEP is a thin case filled with plastic explosive which forms a blob against the armor and then the fuse in the base sets it off. It works best against homogenious armor by causing a shockwave thru the armor and causes the inside of the armor to "spall" , All you see on the outside is a burnt spot and on the inside a piece the size of a dinner plate breaks off and fragments start bouncing around inside the tank. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-explosive_squash_head

Countermeasures are layered armor which breaks up the shockwave and Kevlar spall liners to cover interior walls.

A kinetic penetrator relies on speed which when it contacts the armor the energy melts the armor and pushes a hot molten jet thru the armor. In the APFSDS rounds used in the M1 there is no explosive in the oversized lawn dart. The working part or "penetrator" is a rod of depleted uranium or tungsten carbide about 3/4" in diameter and 4" long. It comes out the barrel at over a mile a second. It burns a hole about an inch in diameter thru 12" of armor like it was butter. Watching M1s at Ft Knox the round comes out not with a boom, but the loudest crack you ever heard. The tracer in the tail looks like a laser beam and when it hits the target tank it is like God used the target like a bell and all you see is sparks coming out of open hatches.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_energy_penetrator

Maybe the molten lava hose would work like a steamblaster against a block of ice.

Anybody else putting a Lynyrd Skynyrd soundtrack behind this upcoming fight?

Rebel Rock?

Sweet home Trankara!

Where volcanoes often spew.

If you have never heard Sweet Home Alabama, then they also did Jessica, better known as the Top Gear theme song.

Well if you haven't laughed yet, tell me what your soundtrack would be. I can think of some easy ones so this is an easy ask.

Or don't bother being any fun. It's no grit of a Trankarans nose.

How about Queens we will rock you?

Mal

That was The Allman Brothers Band. No clue who did the updated cover for "Top Gear." Besides, it was created in Georgia, not Alabama

when can we expect next chapter tefler......

I've completed part 1, which is 19.5k and is with the editors.

I'm 6k into part 2, which I hope to get wrapped up by the end of the week. I'll finish editing over the weekend, then allowing a couple of days for moderation, it will probably be up about Wednesday next week.

Cheers

Tefler

I constantly find the comment section of any of the Three Square Meals chapters, a place of wonder and enjoyment. We have had everything from status updates on the story, plot reviews, scientific investigations on story principles and how they have real life counterparts, in comment bickering, more idea sharing, celebrations, get wells, congratulations, computations and much more.

Also I had been working on an Encyclopedia to make sure that I didn't miss anything however I have been recently been bogged down with college work and part time work. Hopefully will write some more entries for it in a couple of weeks when I get a bit of a holiday.

<Basura's post is worth rereading. John isn't human, and normal rules for human psychology don't apply to him.>

The worst thing you can do to your main character, is to damage his sanity to the point, where it damages the whole story. This last chapter was unpleasant because of that. So, I was thinking, could you kill John completely and turn this story into lesbian space opera? No insane males, no problems. And the girls are geniuses, so they could just replicate John's sperm in huge quantities for all eternity. End of misery.

With the insane amount of maneuverability these new engines and thrusters are going to have, it is not inconceivable that the Invictus could triple, or more, the thickness of her shielding and still need to develop ways to keep the crew from getting squashed if turned to full power. And when Dana gets the right formulae for inclusion of the Maliri crystal tech into the Alyssium armor plating, they could easily be fairly immune to mass weaponry as well as missiles from bombers. And what it could do for the dropship is just sick.

Also, since the dropship can already easily outmaneuver even Jade's abilities to maintain consciousness, I was wondering why the shielding has not been thickened on it? Not like there have not been some close calls there to warrant it.

BTW: I am wondering about the relationship between the anti-grav cyclics and this issue. If Dana can retro the ship and dropship to incorporate built in anti-grav cyclics embedded throughout the ship and are controlled via computer, would that not do the trick to counter the acceleration of these new engines and thrusters? Isn't that what the new grav tubes are doing? Also, why are anti-grav cyclics not incorporated into the new battle suit/armor designs? Would have been nice to have when they needed to surprise the enemy during boarding actions (like the Kintark Royal Guard for instance?).

And finally, Faye needs a body. Like a cyborg body based upon the Trankaran/Progen silicon based DNA (its silicon equivalent sequences) (3rd strand for limited psychic and transformation ability). Silicon can be produced by Dana in her lab. And she could become a new type of life form.

I am thinking some amalgam of the Star Wars/Alien (first & third movies)/Star Trek Next Gen/poly-alloy Terminator type of thing. That way she could transform like Jade, lead a small boarding army of slaved bots, be an active member of the orgies, etc.

My apologies if I'm wrong on gender. I am an equal opportunity supporter though.

Just to say thanks for your efforts with your many interesting comments. All of the regular commentators post good, balanced work. You seem to put that extra bit of effort in.

Much appreciated.

I appreciate your comments. I just am a what if kind of person when it comes to seeing potential in things. I hope to give Tefler, and readers, food for thought. I love Tefler's writing style and his vision for this epic story. And it makes my day to hear someone appreciates my posts.

You have a mild inconsistency in Chapter 48 page 5.

"With no other ships in range to be able to intercept them, she yanked the datajacks out of the console, and then hit a button on her vambrace coiling them back inside the armour. With the jacks disconnected, the AI would immediately de-res, so she turned off the computer built into the vambrace. "

Currently in the storyline, the vambrace was taken from Irillith so it is not connected to the ship by data jacks...yet Faye has not de-resed. I can see this as a fail-safe against a rogue AI, but the story is inconsistent with that concept.

Sorry, it was bothering me...lol.

That little project of yours would be fantastic to give good background and exceptional insight into the Tefler Universe. Kudos! I would LOVE a SIGNED copy with a letter of providence for my collection when it is finished! Give me a holler (let me know on this blog to expect an email because I had to ban the emails from here due to harassment from someone on this blog.) Remuneration is available. Tefler: that goes for a signed copy of this story when you finish as well. This would be a great addition to my literary collection. A signed first printing would be awesome as well. Let me know costs. And if you want a fold out map for your Universe, for a first printing bonus, and you can give me a rough pencil drawing, I would love the opportunity to contribute. The map and the Encyclopedia would be over the top for those getting a limited first edition. Just a thought.

Irillith hooked up the vambrace (containing the hacking deck) to the hacking portal. The hacking portal acts as a remote console, that lets her "jump" into nearby secure networks.

When Jade confiscated the vambrace, she didn't disconnect the data jacks from the hacking portal, and carefully carried both out of the room.

If someone disconnects the two, or hits the de-res button, Faye would be destroyed.

Any clue on when 53 will be up

" And it makes my day to hear someone appreciates my posts."

I appreciate your posts. :-)

We can discuss signed copies, printed versions etc when the story draws to a close. (So I little way to go yet!)

Chap 53..as what Tefler said earlier.. wud be due by Wed next..a mammoth chapter..!

Ahh, okay....I read the context wrong I guess. My impression was she hooked up the connections to the comm interface through the leads...same as in the Police Department with their mainframes....guess I am thinking too 21st century.

I appreciate your posts. :-)

We can discuss signed copies, printed versions etc when the story draws to a close. (So I little way to go yet!)

I appreciate your story. And thank you.

I seriously think you need to kill John and continue this story as lesbian space-opera. I mean, MC is mentally damaged, so why keep him?

wow! this comment was so absurd its funny

-devil

This is a wonderful story. Keep it going. please.

I can't figure out if anon's comment was serious, satirical, or trolling.

If you can't figure out, that means you had same thoughts at least once. There's no greater damage to the story as mentally compromised MC. And John is annoyingly compromised about 10 chapters in a row. Not to mention, he's a complete dick to his crew, girls doing all the jobs. And what job is he doing? Feeding them his cum? Yeah, great job, Commander! Rachel with Dana could invent some method to recreate his sperm in a huge quantities and voila - girls could travel alone and happy and their minds intacted.