All Comments on 'Three Square Meals Ch. 070'

18 pages of yummy goodness

While this chapter might disappoint the tech fiends and those that love the gratuitous violence of a good space battle, this is definitely one of your best.

Well done Tef.

The other Dave

It's UP! YES!!!

THX loved it.

To me this chapter was in a different style to previous ones. It is now a perfect mix of story and sex and both elements blend well to advance the tale.

I'm glad you enjoyed it!

I wanted to try something a bit different with this chapter, with it being basically a training montage interspersed with character development. Also, with all the balls to the wall action recently, it was nice to focus on the character relationships for a bit. :-)

Tefler

Thanks guys, It's great to hear you enjoyed it!

Tefler

Usually you upload one new chapter in about 10 days. I've become restless waiting for Ch 70. Thank you for uploading it... superb as always.

Another Tefler addiction victim surfaces...

You might as well create a login ID and identify yourself "properly" - it'll be necessary for the 12-step addiction recovery program (yet to be formed) eventually anyway...

heh

"Hi I'm GrandPaM, and I'm a Tefler addict."

...a great 'high' as always, Tefler. ;-)

Exceptionally well thought out, written, and presented. Congrats!

Great chapter tefler, worth the wait. It would be amazing if you include some pictures in your major edit after the conclusion of this series.

Good luck.

Thats why I don't like the idea of them getting a wormhole drive. If they can travel instantly, then there won't be space for these chapters

This was really damn good tefler

I hope the next chapter will be as good

I've got something quite different planned for the next chapter. I'm about 3/4 of the way through it at the moment.

Cheers

Tefler

suggests yet another way for Faye to get a body. If John goes across into the network, and then makes Faye one of his girls with the usual treatment there, then we could see Faye developing a telekinetic skin for he body, and the ability to interact with all the crew physically on the outside. plus a psychic link as all the others have. with Fayes much faster processing speed, it might only take day to connect and develop her power

I think I may have figured some of this out.

How the Progen's ship was disabled and crash landed on that planet is completely unknown. I suspect it was an unassimilated group of women from inside the ship.

John's Progen father had to have been at least partially incapacitated. With no or limited mobility he would have no way to regenerate due to no Matriarch or Thralls who survived the crash. This fits or he would have just taken over the Terran ship on the planet right then and there. We know his mother was not ordered to leave or she would not have fought the Terrans.

For this reason: I believe John was to be a body for him to inhabit. Not a son for him to have to deal with later. Mom being kidnapped caused him a great deal of anger yet provided a way for her to steal a ship and bring it to him so he could get back to home base and create a new body and ship for himself.

In this way, the Progen is BOTH father and brother to John since his mother gave birth to another male child for him to inhabit. This explains why it has taken this long for the Progen to begin his machinations at domination.

His anger is so great he is going to put each of the species he has created back into the dark ages and subjugate them all. The appearance of John is, at this time, just something that is interesting to him. But, when John grows enough to become a challenge to his power, he will just take him out as his usefulness against his boredom will have dissipated.

You said, "Thats why I don't like the idea of them getting a wormhole drive. If they can travel instantly, then there won't be space for these chapters."

Tefler would just provide such atmospheres on Genthalis or some other venue. He really is that good.

And this explains the Astral Plane Leviathan(s)...Killed Progens who had to escape into the Astral Plane for survival.

And why the Leviathan tried to get a foothold in normal space....to inhabit a body again.

i think u might be wrong.

the progen has telekinetic ability thus motility is not a issue here.

the progen-john has vast reserve of eldirtch energy.if a 40 year old without any

experience has this much energy then some 60000 + year old would have certainly had more energy reserve or would have found a way to store it as a last resort.

the progens have ability to heal using their own energy reserve or using their thralls.

thus he could have kept jessica without impregnating her to heal him in case he lost all the thralls.

let us assume all this matriarch and thralls are dead.In that case when jessica becomes his matiarch and he can access her memories through which he could have found some more women to enthrall and snuff out their lives to recover his health and overpower men to take the ship and return to his base of operation.

in case he has some thrall left in his base of operation(which could be possible to take care of the experiments)he can directly tap the energy reserve or snuff out their lives as distance does not matter.

in case he assumed the ship left jessica and went he could have communicated with his thrall in his home to send a ship instead of waiting for jessica to kill and bring a ship back which took months (approx 1.5 years to return back to the planet assuming she had fuel for the journey).

i visited this site many times but whenever i saw this story title i ignored it like what the hell does this mean . finally when u posted ch 69 i thought what the hell !! how can a story have 69 chapters and started from ch 1.

and i got hooked into the story.it took me 2 days to fully complete reading till ch 69 and started waiting for ch 70 and IT IS ONE OF THE BEST SCI - FI STORIES.made me feel like shit for ignoring this story for this much time (lesson learned don't judge a story by its title) hats off to you . u are at par with silkstockingslover in this section of literotica (BEST WRITER IN INCEST/TABOO section).

anyway i had a doubt

why dana did not use the medical bracelet inbuilt in the suit to leviate alyssa when she fainted during the fight with kindralax(i sent the same question to u in private as anonymous).

hope u can post the chapter 71 without any delays(u nearly killed me with the suspense while waiting for ch 70).any help many persons (including me) are ready to help with editing the story.

if u find any program for addiction recovery send me a msg.

i would also like to join the program

another tefler addict present here : - )

Thanks for the kind comments, it's great to hear you've enjoyed the story so much!

Yes, the title is rubbish and puts people off. I'll change it as and when I decide to sell it as an ebook, but I'll leave it as it is here (edits take weeks to be moderated).

I got your email, but I couldnt respond as it was anonymous. There's actually a detailed technical reason they didn't use the medevac functionality... I forgot about it! :-)

You're right though, it would have made their exit from the lair easier. It was probably because I was in a -they are clear to escape now- mindset, and got distracted by the Invictus coming along to pick them up.

Chapter 71 is coming along well. It'll probably be up on here in a week or so.

Tefler

Tefler far surpasses Silkstocking. Albeit that's largely because I'm not fond of the levels of s/m she goes to.

I was right. Sort of. About Sakura getting psychic powers I mean. It's interesting that the rest of them are getting powers too, and I'm curious as to what they're gonna be. Also, Dana's secret project? I figure that's got somethingto do with whatever they picked up after the fight with the cobras. I'm thinking radically advanced mech type thing piloted by Faye? Anyway. Great chapter as usual, tefler. I loved the balls to the wall action of the last few chapters, no doubt, but this was a nice change of pace and some good character / plot development.

There are two ways to combat the addiction withdrawal symptoms, the first being to take part in the speculation about where Tefler is taking us and also about what tech will be developed, how this will impact on the story and, as a third thread to the placebo, how the existing story tech works. The second method is to put yourself into stasis with controls set to bring yourself back when the next chapter arrives. Unfortunately the latter is not a viable option given real life tech.

@Plrus, I disagree with you. I think his first son tried to take him out. Jessica became a lifeline for him. I think we will see a team up with father and son against bad son fighting for all of the universe. I think bad son is playing with John because of some hatred.

@grandPAM,. My name is texanguy1 and I am a TSM Tefler adict and junky.

@Tefler keep up the great work.

by reading story after story after story on this site while checking back OFTEN for the next chapter...

I try not to "suppose" where the story will lead in posts (though I have) as I have a contraire personality issue... And recognizing that facet in myself and worrying about it in others, I'd hate to make ANY suggestion I'd like the story to have and have our glorious author avoid it because of that....

If he goes a way I'd like all the more lucky me...

Or better yet, if his mental acuity surpasses my own, I can just await his incredible results...

As always, I've loved your story and can't *tic* wait *twitch* for more *nervous shudder*... =)

Well what can I say apart from brilliant as always, over half a book in one chapter.

100,000 being the standard length.

Now onto the reveals you made.

Yes Tashana has a role to be decided upon, baited breath on that one.

A need to navigate all the new press interest leans heavily towards the Dusky Communications officer Jehanna,

Then we have Felicity, somebody who knows about trade. After all Alyssa tends to like to start things for others to take control of later so that she can learn her next skill.

So looking forwards to how it all plays out.

The lack of going into detail for every sex scene is a nice touch. That way they are not boring. If you follow the story you know what is going to happen. Of course those looking for jerk-off material might be disappointed. Still the ones you do go into detail with there is a reason to for advancing the story. So much character interaction in them. The upcoming one with Edraele should be one of epic proportions. And I'm waiting to see a bonding between Edraele and Alyssa. Now with the new abilities will the girls be able to mind read between them?

I also notice a bit of referencing the previous chapter/s instead of making the reader remember what happened. Practicing for when you break the story into books?

Can't help but think of a Billy Idol lyric, "More, more, more, more, more, more!"

Hello! After careful consideration I would like to reply to your individual points. (Please understand I intend this just as a fun intellectual debate. Please let me know what you think.)

1. i think u might be wrong.

the progen has telekinetic ability thus motility is not a issue here.

I understand your point. And I may be mistaken, but a Progen actually requires a LOT of energy to repair bodies. While we do know John can do that through his sperm for others, we do not know that a Progen can do that on himself without pulling a great deal of energy from his thralls...which is the only way we have seen a Progen do this so far. Additionally, we have not seen anyone just enthrall or enslave anyone, or even 'mind meld' with them (other than linked persons) at any distance. While all that might be possible, I did not give it serious thought because, well, we just have not seen it.

2. the progen-john has vast reserve of eldirtch energy.if a 40 year old without any 

experience has this much energy then some 60000 + year old would have certainly had more energy reserve or would have found a way to store it as a last resort.

I am not sure we know that eldritch energy reserves build over time. I have seen nothing to substantiate that in the story so far. You may be right, I just don't see it. What we have seen is his stores of energy are encompassed in his Thralls...and such a catastrophic crash as was described could have easily killed them all.

3. the progens have ability to heal using their own energy reserve or using their thralls.

thus he could have kept jessica without impregnating her to heal him in case he lost all the thralls.

Perhaps. But why create a male child then? It seems counter intuitive for a Progen to create his own adversary of equal abilities who could one day supplant him. There has to be a reason for a Progen to decide to create a male child, on a planet where he is marooned, take Jessica as a thrall, and not just take over the Terran ship to get off the planet.

4. let us assume all this matriarch and thralls are dead.In that case when jessica becomes his matiarch and he can access her memories through which he could have found some more women to enthrall and snuff out their lives to recover his health and overpower men to take the ship and return to his base of operation.

I agree, so why didn't he? Has to be a reason. The only one that makes sense is that he was vulnerable and too weak to do so. Otherwise he would have, and it is well within his nature to do so.

5. in case he has some thrall left in his base of operation(which could be possible to take care of the experiments)he can directly tap the energy reserve or snuff out their lives as distance does not matter.

Agreed about the distance not mattering with Thralls/Matriarchs, but I can easily see, in a battle with another Progen in the physical as well as astral planes, he used all his Thralls up and was left vulnerable to psychic/physical attack and left for dead on an uninhabited planet. He could very well have put himself in a cryo chamber to preserve what was left of his body. And this is what Jessica found, only to be mentally forced to impregnate herself with his sperm that had survived.

6. in case he assumed the ship left jessica and went he could have communicated with his thrall in his home to send a ship instead of waiting for jessica to kill and bring a ship back which took months (approx 1.5 years to return back to the planet assuming she had fuel for the journey).

Ok, but why didn't he do that long before Jessica showed up if he could have done so? And why waste the time to go through the trouble of making and keeping and recalling Jessica to him as a Thrall or Matriarch? It is not as if it is in his nature to care. And Jessica would only have left the baby if she were told to because there was a more important mission for her in the Progen's eyes. A Progen is a natural born user and disdains other, lower life forms which exist only for his pleasure.

And, I am thinking it would have taken the Fool's Gold, a very slow freighter, about two, maybe three months at most to return to Terra, and a military Cruiser a good bit less time.

This whole thing only makes sense if the Progen is alone and physically vulnerable. Thoughts?

@Plrus, I disagree with you. I think his first son tried to take him out. Jessica became a lifeline for him. I think we will see a team up with father and son against bad son fighting for all of the universe. I think bad son is playing with John because of some hatred.

I can see that as a possibility. What about the other things I posited?

I can see John and Co. going on the talk show circuit soon to even increase his popularity and eventually be Overlord of both the Terrans and Maliri....(Lit does not have a sarcasm font, so I do hope you all can see it dripping from this post....lol)

If Hades is his dad, that would be very interesting indeed since John and the girls are on there way there. It would also explain Tashanna's ability to survive in the Unclaimed Wastes.

I agree with some previous comments here, that toning the sex down is great, because this is such a good story. Long sex scenes just adds boredom to it and makes at least me scroll down through it without really reading it. So, well done on reducing that part.

Then there is Faye. I believe that in the next chapter we'll see Faye and John meet in the cyber realm, and that is something I look forward to. Then - probably some chapters later - they will enable a physical representation of Faye that can be touched and act as a human. However, I doubt she'll become disconnected from her current 'home' all together. She's become way too valuable with her near omnipresence on the ship and ability to do so many things at the same time. So to me it seems more likely that she'll have one body that is physical and keep all the other virtual ones too. However, it is a great twist to the story, and one I'm looking forward to see the continuation of.

Then there is the matter of John's parents. His mother was obviously under the influence of the progenitor, and cannot be held accountable for her actions in escaping, and John has to come to terms with that. If not, he's not living the way he is preaching. Maybe someone should spank his butt to make him understand it ;)

All in all an amazing story, with no end in sight something I'm very happy about. Keep up the good work, and keep us mesmerised for a long time to come. Thank you for our great muse that you willingly share with us.

Damn good chapter mate, i just spent the last 3 hours reading it and just finished it now (For those of you that don't know look for updates on stories every day 7 am UK time) You've been building up the Maliri thing well and i think the shit is gonna hit the fan when John finds out just how exactly Adreale has went about getting peace, Irillith obviously suspects something big has happened and i canna blame her for keeping her mouth shut. As for John's mother i think we all may have figured out who she is by now, if not then no spoilers from me lol... Keep up the awesome work pal it's MUCH appreciated by us literature junkies needing our fix :)

Tazzy

Are far as Edraele's actions he might come down to a understanding of how that might have been the only course of action. Extreme yes but if the other 4 matriarchs were anything like the old Edraele I do not think there would have been any other way. A awful lot of hate between them and I do not think any thing Edraele could have done except for having John's wonder spunk could have had them joining together with her for the good of all Maliri. When John rebuilt Edraele's mind one of the things was to improve the lives of the Maliri, he didn't set a whole lot of rules on how to do it. I commented on this back then, in the military we have what is called "Commanders Intent". Basiclly you will see it as the commander stating his intent is,, he will lay out his overview and then subordinates know what they have to do to support the commanders intent. A commander could have told me his intent was to eliminate the enemy forces in a village. It would have been easy for me to call in the Air Force and have them level the place. But if there was rules in place by the commander or higher authorities to limit chances of civilian casualties an/or damage to civilian infrastructure then the "fun and easy, no muss-no fuss" way would have been off the table.

So John may have given her the desired end result or his intent but didn't quite put in a whole lot of rules. And she is under the influence is she wouldn't go against any rules John put in.

That was a long wait and a looong chapter to read.

Faye - when is she getting a body? not a psychic one, but a real live alysium or whatever...

John - another ability learned, I do want to see him rid himself of his dark side sooner rather than later... how much more does he need to evolve?

The invictus - they will upgrade with the new power core(s), new (improved) guns and all, but why not install plasma guns? it seems most effective against both ships (eat titanium for breakfast) and their own armor, and doesn't seem to require ammo

The maliri - can't they share the knowledge and tech and upgrade the maliri fleet? they are basically his, and beside the armor which require the forging (only possible by John or Alissiya) the rest can be reproduced by others.

Wormhole drive - I would let them "have it" = have Dana know how.

it would interfere with the progress as they'll have less "free time" but they still have to fight several races (riled up by the other prog.), take full control of the maliri, re-enslave the greys / or offer favorable conditions, and last set boundaries with the terrans ...

Let the countdown for #71 commence!

"And I've just spent the last hour having a fascinating chat with Forgemaster Gilgrem about metallurgy. Associate Bhaken wasn't exaggerating about the Trankarans having a gift with metals, they really know their shit! They're also mining several metals I've never even heard of before!" She looked a bit evasive, but grinned at him endearingly as she added, "I bought a ton of each, just in case they might be useful. I hope that's okay?"

She gave him a cunning smile, and replied, "They didn't have a use for Onyxium so they happily gave me four tons of it.""

Okay, when are we going to see Dana find a unique use for these new metals? And between the 4 tons of Onyxium from the Trankarans and the 10(?) tons they stole from the Drakkar, I think they have quite enough Onyxium to do a few battlecruiser class ships.

Also: When is Dana going to create a headband for Alyssa and John and Sakura based on the psy-shaper tech from the Ashanath to increase their psycic abilities during battle? It would seem they would use less energy to do what they need to do with that enhancer. Just Sayin.

take full control of the maliri, re-enslave the greys / or offer favorable conditions, and last set boundaries with the terrans ...

I think I am glad you are not John....lol. :-) Actually it is not his nature to rule that way, though he may reign in T-Fed a bit. He enjoys his relationship with the Greys and is about to reinforce that again. The Maliri will do anything he asks....enslavement of either is totally unnecessary at this point.

Your really fleshing the girls out into independent bad asses. I love the way your holding them all together, keeping me on my mental toes and still keeping the sexy in there. I check for new chapters everyday. Thank you for sharing your work with us.

-Marie

They could 12 shape the armor on the Invictus, the barrels for the new singularity mass drivers, Nova Lances, Beam Lasers, Pulse Cannons, Laser and Punisher rifles, upgraded Gaus cannons, body armor, etc. etc. etc. On TOP of the battlefield melee enhancements.

Amazing story. Love reading it and continue to watch for more. Ever thought about publishing it sometime? Its a masterpiece.

the amplifier weigh tons and have 30 foot arms? might be that for any noticeable effect they'd be too heavy to wear, and the weekly increase in power seems to me to be much more than the amount they got from the full size amplifier anyway

Unless of course Dana does her magic on the devices

Just outstanding!!

Unless of course Dana does her magic on the devices.

Exactly. Most of that machine was for materials manipulation which is not necessary for just simply amplifying psionic energy. Take the 'ray gun' detector for example.

I am thinking Dana could create an amplification device which could easily be incorporated into a headband. In fact, I seem to remember one of the Ashanath pictures that may have had one.

Another fantastic chapter. I definitely enjoyed the slower pace as a breather from the bang-bang-bang intensity of the huge number of high excitement actions they've been in since they left Maliri space (I had started listing them all in this comment, but the list length was approaching the length of this chapter :)

One thing that I thought was slightly surprising was that Sakura didn't get any hand-to-hand training. Granted, they haven't been in the habit of getting up close and personal with their enemies (John excepted) but Sakura's role as security officer and bladed fighting make that at least somewhat more likely. John could have delegated Sakura's hand-to-hand instruction to Calara, giving her a chance to become more involved in this chapter.

As far as future "travel"/relaxation chapters are concerned, if they get the singularity drive, I'll just point out that they were offered a comped, two month stay on Oceanus.

"Unsure what to say, John could only nod mutely in response. Turning away, Talari glided over to the next set of stone blocks. They showed another member of the Progenitor race destroying what looked like a city. Diminutive creatures were shown to be fleeing, as the Progenitor strode through streets, with red rays shooting out of his eyes, killing indiscriminately.....One of the stone mosaics showed the Progenitor using what looked to be psychic powers to slay his enemies."

Ok....so Dana gets the red rays shooting out of her eyes (Miss 'I got dibs on the fireballs') and the whole crew get psionic headbands.

One of my best stories. Wow can't wait 4 71 to be out. Going to confront hades in the underworld got to be interesting, some action coming up.

i am also taking it a fun debate not a personal one :-)

1.

bro please read the story again.sperm was used to create the active psychic connection between his thralls and himself not to heal them.Through the connection he heals them.

2.

nice point did not think about that.

3.

Time (read as Tefler) will give the answer.

4.

again time has the answer

5.

Hmmm...,this can also be true.mentally people are active in cryo and sperm can be stored and used so no issues here.

6.

we are talking about the ships travel capacity about 40 years before fool's gold.

that time FLT tech might not be that well developed and clearly it is mentioned in the story that by the time the ship reaches terra jessica was heavily pregnant (basic pregnancy is 9 months, we dont know about the gestation preoid for progen hybrid) and she managed to give birth,damage the ship (while unloading which would have taken not more than 5 days at the max),steal a corvette (which would the up to date FLT drive military has).

7. yup the whole thing makes sense if he is alone and vulnerable or he got bored and decided to start a new experiment with jessica and his sperm :-).

anyway i think we better continue all the discussion about this story in forum (literotica discussion board) and inform here if anybody creates the topic so many like minds can start discussing the story and provide out thoughts

Really good change of pace. To those trying to Predict where this story is going. No such luck. Great chapter.

Great writing ability , but honestly i ended up almost getting over this whole story,this chapter is far too slow paced for me, i ended up skippimg several pages cause the training was just boring i found, i want the underworld to come already, hate these intermediately between mission, the only interesting part was about his mother , the rest , look its good for ppl that wanted to know how training went ,i hope 71 is not as monotonous as this one , but well done none the less

" I seem to remember one of the Ashanath pictures that may have had one."

As if I needed an excuse to read all the way through again from the beginning.

I need to put together all the clues about Johns father and mother so had been looking for an excuse anyway.

Too slow paced?

The anon who said this is missing the best parts.

Learn to love the characters and you will rather spend time hanging around with them.

Just keep throwing them at bad guys, until eventually you get a couple of them killed.

That is what they are meant to do right?

Until you can love the characters, you are not really going to see the risk of their actions and get anything near the real impact of the action.

Sakura in training was foundation. She falls apart as a character without it. She works through much of her past and sheds shame towards purpose. I guess you missed it.

Think that tashana maybe hades. It would be odd and unexpected as she would be a leader in the wastes. Which would be funny because she would have learned some of the skill one would need from her mother. I have a feeling the wastes will no longer be lawless by the time they are done can see ederele claiming the territory after malari space is all unified maybe as a way to try and make amends to tashana for her banishment.

Calara should be like storm from the x-men Dana should have the ability to control fire,water,air,earth & metal & Rachel should be a white lighter like paige from charmed

Faye and John getting together in the cyber realm and she finally gets off. Her avatars might get off at the same time while doing their jobs back on the sip. I bet the GIRLS will mark that down as some kind of record. WOW maybe as many as an even doze at once. just for grins and chuckles

Paul

Depending on how much is active on the third thread of dna

1. Mind chats

2. Spirt walking (all could visit faye)

3. Speed

4. Strong (like john)

5. Elements (but only needed as john may need to heal them later)

6. Telekinesis

vn7199: Thanks for the kind responses. As for the sperm, I believe he actually has to have the sperm in the girls to heal them, he already has a psychic connection, but the sperm is a catalyst...so psycic alone seems not to be enough. So it does kind of beg the question; can a Progen actually heal himself without thralls?

Thalt: I keep going back and forth on Tashana being Hades, Hades being a Progen, Tashana being used for her Progen/Maliri intel/tech, and Tashana being one of the power brokers in the Unclaimed Wastes. Quite frankly: I think the Unclaimed Wastes are an old Progen stomping ground at the very least....hence why is it a wasteland? Only idea I have is its area resources were used up long ago.

1hand: Yeah, I excerpted the raygun eyes from the Ashanath visit. I think Dana gets her eyes.

If the crash has resulted in massive damage to ship and its progenitor then maybe he's been waiting in stasis and Mother had to have the link so the thrall energy got across to heal him. might mean he hasn't got the power to grab anyone else yet either. Being first that would make her the matriarch I think, as the only thrall, progenitor dad wouldn't be able to just grab her entire power when she was stolen, as he'd need her back to power his recovery. (and it could be another 10,000 years till the next opportunity at recovery comes along) If she is the matriarch then we may have proof that we have more than other progenitors. for there to be only one either she's changed her name or another matriarch has taken her place as the matriarch in page 9 of chapter 68 has a different name to Johns mother.

I do also wonder if the bits of Progen tech that the Ashanath have aren't the missing bits from this crashed ship.

Hades being a progenitor, I don't think so. if there's a progenitor living on the edge of Milari space, then he'd have been stealing women for the last 10,000 years, or however long he's been there. do I chose to flesh out my empire on desolate wasteland planets full of thieves and pirates who are going to steal from me and rip me off. Or do I pick the nearby planets of women who are genetically disposed to be fanatically loyal to me? I wouldn't think it a hard choice for your average conqueror of galaxies. I'd be quite happy to think that all the border planets are those depicted on the artworks the Ashanath have got though.

I think you may well be right about the eyes PLR

TITANIUM JAKE!!

The Invictus could use a swarm of Katies/Mjolnars armed with nova lances and controlled by Faye. But the again, that just wouldn't be fair to anyone else.

John has served as a marine for a long time. In his career, he might have suffered some injuries. We keep hearing about unblemished skin of the girls but I don't think tefler has mentioned anything related to a special scar or marks. So if the progenitor can heal themselves without thralls then john must have perfect skin as well!

There is also the thing about the dormant side belonging to PJ not forthcoming in all years due to his mind shield. I think his father created it for some reasons. Although the logical reason is so that no one control him(like edreale tried to do) but the PJ must have faught it if someone tried to temper with his mind. Anyone?

In the video shown by irilith, the maelnerak seemed identical to john(physically of course), all the pointy ears and stuff while his mother was terran(species discovered by the progenitor).

I think all of john's kid(at least boys) will look like him, no matter who their mothers are( Jade or irilith).

Ray

Any update on ch71 tefler

I have a math test tomorrow and if I don't pass that then I'm blaming you. Can't wait to immerse myself in this chapter.

You need to hold on, for 10 more days is my guess, if you want another 10+ page chapter.

I'd rather Tefler take his time and write without any pressure and publish another 5/5 chapter than a rushed 4/5 one.

Tefler mentioned green babies from Jade & Blue babies from Irillith

Ben

Hades could be a Progenitor in hiding. If his ship was damage beyond repair and he himself injured by another Progenitor he my be trying to hide in a lawless, out of the way place. That would probably make him John's father. He may have been slowly healing for the last few decades or he may have been crippled. That would have put him in the catch 22 or needing thralls to heal but if he gets too many thralls he makes himself a target, either to any other Progenitors or the nightmare monsters. In that case patience would serve him better, get a few thralls and wait a few decades. If they normally live for millennia what's a few decades difference.

Rachel's ability will have to do with healing rather a direct heal or able to see broken bones and aliments with out the need tests and scans. Calara's the only thing that would help her better with her role is maybe battle precognition something that allows her to see the enemy's movement before they make it. Dana's is the only one I'm drawing a blank on unless she just gets telekinesis so she no longer needs John or Alyssa to shape materials for them, but I can't quite see anything else being quite useful for her role on the ship.

The progen must have a dropship so she could drop the beacon 100+ miles away.

progen would have liked the crew taking his only slave away so using the ship blowing up did a few things like rid the knowledge of him as jess would not know what the crew tell tfed plus it would help hid her get away

amazing words fail to describe my joy for your effort in writing your stories , thanks again.

I think TJ's daughter should join John's crew!!

A little crossover action. Maybe she can get injured in a racing event, or another attack on her mom's place, and then they can make a call for aid and Alyssa can respond and bring John to heal her "the usual way". Maybe just 2 loads so that she doesn't become a thrall. Or heck, TJ and daughter could be doing a show on the vacation planet while The Lion is relaxing.

Also, somewhat unrelated, but "TFNN" I know it is Terran Federation News Network, but I have to know Tefler, if you really intended it to read "The F#@$ing News Network". Every time I read TFNN, I mentally substitute the second version and I usually LOL. The idea of having a news network with a strong, aggressive personality as the anchor. I'm not saying that this is the best example, but maybe someone like Kid Rock who opens up with "Welcome back to the F#$@ing news network MFers. We tell it like it is and F you if you don't like it."

I don't know, I'm sure someone else can come up with something funnier, but this is kind of what I hear in my head every time I read TFNN.

I'm glad that Faye is gonna get some action soon. Of course with 12 avatars, she's gonna give John a workout. I hadn't considered the possibility of cyber sex between those two (13). I've just been anxiously waiting for one of Dana's secret projects to finally be an android body. I suppose Rachel and Dana will have to make a cyborg body so that John can influence the DNA. Maybe Alyssa can make a psychic connection if they build an organic computer brain for Faye. I'm sure you have your path already mapped out for bring Faye into the loop, but personally, I think bridging the psychic gap between Alyssa and a cyber AI will be tricky to do with the current established technological limitations.

Thanks for another round of fun Tefler

I assume Mikaboshi is the driving force behind this offer for a vacation. No better place and time than on Holliday to attack the unsuspecting.

Necromon (SP?)

Seems like the given explanation is sufficient to justify the offer of a 2 month holiday. They did save Earth, and as the lady mentioned, saved at least her family. I would think that Mikaboshi would need more time to set up a sting than he has had so far.

But I can see how you could be right if Tefler is feeling a bit sinister these days.

Some backing up for my assumption.

Time to set the trap is not an argument, after the arrival he has at least six weeks time for the actual preparation. I assume that the strike will happen in the last days of the vacation. The victims will be most relaxed at that time. Mikaboshi still has a wast network of spies agents and high ranking contacts at his disposal. It will be sufficient to suggest the vacation to the right people at Oceanos and they will fall over themselves to accomplish this huge PR coup. The PR win is much higher than the cost for the vacation. To set time and place is crucial for an successful assassination. On Oceanos the lion and his pride are separated from their ship. The location is under control of external computers and robots. So Mikaboshi could prepare the strike from a distance using his minions already in place. From a storytelling perspective it offers the best of two worlds: Six weeks of character building with an explosive finale.

Can we get a word count of how many times you have used "svelte" in this series?

In all seriousness another great chapter. This deserves to be published.

Loving every chapter

As always can't wait for the next chapter.

OK I'm really just going to comment on the possibility of Faye upgrades... So what if John decided to psychically screw her when he was astral projecting into the computer... It's not out of the realm of feasibility for him to instinctively upgrade her mother board with crystal alysium circuits just cause Telfer wants to screw with our heads again, and as I commented on a recent post about polymorphic ship design, it really is only a slightly different application of powers previously used

First let me say I Love the story & your writing & can't wait for each new Ch. ,but (you had to guess a but was coming) I have never really got just what the Progenitors were. Are they a race ,as we understand the term , because if they are they don't act like it or are they more like the Sith Lords a sect/religion of sorts .

We know they are long lived but are they immortals ? Do they build Kingdoms to pass along to their offspring or do they just expect to rule until they are killed/deposed? We know now a female can be a progenitor (Alyssa) so can she have a progen son or daughter , or can the "powers" only come (or cum :-) ) from a male progenitor . So many questions .

As to the current situation with the revelations about John's mom might it be along the lines of the Sith Lords . John's father was the Master & BSP was the student & either he tried to take out his Master too soon or John's father was victim of an accident & was lost . It seems that BSP doesn't really know how to be a true Progen since he would have gone straight to the Maliri to start his conquest since they are the perfect tool . Instead his sneaking around trying to stir up trouble & hoping the worlds/races his Master created will weaken each other . Not very Progen like . I think John's father lost his Matriarch in the crash & with it his link to his thralls & his ability to draw power from them . He might think his student was killed or betrayed him & has sired John to continue his line & or get revenge is he was betrayed either before or after the crash .Jessica was able to carry his child but without the Father creating more thralls I'm not sure she can be a Matriarch . She is probably still alive & caring for his father but they are both stuck there until John comes to rescue them (if he dares) . Some of this information might be in the mind of BadJohn but kept from John's conscience until he(BJ) could take control . It was BJ's first move when he got control way back , get control of the most powerful Maliri House .

Well just waiting for the next fix...I mean Ch. can't come soon enough

ps small silly nagging though: how does John & Sakura sharpen their swords if they're so hard?

Wolverine has the same problem with his indestructible claws.

Basically you create the weapon psychically to be sharp, and if it is hard enough, it never dulls.

How sharp? monomolecular edge is the gold standard in scifi stories. For nondestructible materials, sharpness is a compromise based on edge durability.

From an earth technology vantage point, swords are a compromise between hardness and toughness. If crystal alyssium has any characteristics in common with steel, then she would need to create a tough core for the sword by shaping it only a few times, and then shaping the edge a few more times to make a harder edge to retain an edge.

A cool weapon design would be a damascus made from black invictium and crystal alyssium. Anyone not familiar with damascus should check it out. I love the stuff.

A more plausible solution for Sharpening. Theoretically a Sharpening tool could be created by shaping it one time more than the sword allowing it to sharpen the edge of the sword.

Of course Dana may be able to make a laser or plasma based tool to sharpen the swords also.

Faye, Irillith and Dana get together and create an interface and drivers that allows Faye to manifest in the astral realm, this also allows Athena to use a copy (modified to accommodate her differing personality) of Faye's AI program and become a companion AI for Faye. The above together with John becoming able to enter the cyber realm would probably cause Faye to re-evaluate her list of pros and cons about giving up her AI existence in preference to a physical one. I still see Rachel and Dana creating a fully functional physical body for them to activate. Whether Faye and Athena would get separate bodies or just one that either could activate I am not sure about. The first option would allow both to participate in the orgies at the same time but the latter could lead to some interesting situations if the other crew members did not know which one is activating the body at that moment.

John's Father and Progenitor John.

I suggest that PJ is the astral manifestation of John's father. We know, or at least strongly suspect, that at the time John was conceived his father had a good reason to want a son rather than a daughter. We also strongly suspect that reason the father needed a son was to have a body he could usurp. It could be that the only way to achieve this would be through the astral plane and would need a link between the father and son created at conception.

I posit that the original plan of John's father was to have Jessica give birth then use his tech to force the child to maturity in a matter of weeks instead of years. He then has a healthy, mature body inhabited by a mind that is only a few weeks old and thus easy to overcome. This was scuppered by the others in the expedition finding Jessica and forcibly returning her to TFed space. I submit that the father is dead and that the link he had set up with John pulled his spirit into the astral realm where it had to languish until John started to develop his progenitor powers. By this time John's personality was too well developed for the father to just muscle his way in and so had to use subterfuge by trying to pose as a guide.

John is so screwed. He proposed to 4 girls or so, but he didn't give them any rings. Girls like rings, and they like unique rings. I think the girls could really guilt him for the lack of a suitable token of his affection, or token of his devotion, however you view it.

Taking credit for the bidy mod and immortality is cheating also.

could also be a good site for Makiboshis base. (and similarly John's in the future) Assassination must be one of the major risks for visitors. perhaps the people who run the planet have made the deal "you can have your wacky evil looking island here with our security and defences on the agreement that you never ever ever assassinate any of our guests. And given two months playing in the sea, it might be just the sort of place for Jade to be shown by her Dolphin friends "Come and look at this mad island that's only a days swimming away"

Tefler - Such a wonderful chapter! Part of a great story is getting to know the characters and see it through their eyes. You do this well. Personally, I have found Faye to be absolutely delightful. I'm glad you you decided on a way forward to have John be able to embrace her. She adores him and considering how well she has integrated with the crew, it would be nice for her to have a level of intimacy with him too. Hopefully, the encounter won't overload her circuits. :-)

Cheers!

<JP>

So, are the entire crew progenitors now, or at least starting to make the transition, right? Can someone tell me if I'm wrong?

Something everyone should realize now is that if John and Alyssa both have alter egos that are supposed to show new progenitors the ropes, does that mean that everyone in the crew will get a progenitor spirit-friend? If we're going to stick with the Greek god theme(Athena), then we could probably match each girl to a name. It would have to be handled well, though, otherwise it would just become an awkward glut of characters. Maybe they can all show up at once when the crew is in trouble.

But wait!!!!!!!

Hades? Greek god? I sense foreshadowing....

Anyway back on names for the girls:

Alyssa: Athena, goddess of wisdom

Calara: Poseidon, God of the sea and ships

Dana: Hephaestus, God of craftsman and fire (fire-eyeballs)

Jade: Artemis, God of nature, hunters and animals

Rachel: Apollo, God of plague and healing

Faye: Hermes, God of communication

Irillith: Hestia, Goddess of virginity(not technically, just the idea of not being corrupted in one's sex life)

Sakura: Ares, God of war

Also, I'm now really interested in how the progenitors came to be. It seemed before that the species at large tended to be evil for some reason, and that John was just adapting what is normally a tool for slavery for good, but now I'm not sure. The fact that his thralls just got progenitor genes without John really trying is weird.

I could understand him doing it on purpose but this for me says that progenitors are originally more compassionate than we first thought.

Other people have commented before that the progenitors could have been corrupted by one of those nightmare fuel monsters in the astral plane. Irrilith was effected by the monster, but if it had won, could they have possessed instead of killed?

Wonder why Progenitor isn't meddling with the original thrall race like he is with all others? Or is he?

I like the bad son theory playing with John until he's worthy or once he finally gets his sharks with laser beams working.

My theory. The Maliri did fight off Mel'Nerak with their new laser weapons, destroying his ship. Afterwards they have gone into hiding in a new region in space, the present Maliri Regency. By hiding their appearance, they hoped to deflect the Progenitors. Their former empire laying waste they hoped possible Progenitors assumed them to be extinxt.

Interesting idea about Maliri , but it must have been the male part of population that fought him since just seeing him on vid had the Loraleth Fleet Commander ready roll over . Once he was disabled ,either by accident or battle they (the Maliri )retreated behind their armor & vast weapons & refused to inter-act with other civilizations for fear of the Progenitor or retaliations from worlds they destroyed while under his thrall

Makes their isolation & reluctance to trade or even meet with outsiders & the death penalty for being seen without their armor make sense. A Racal fear so deep rooted even though they no longer realize the reason behind it . It seems only Tashana was interested in the "Myth" of the Mael'nerak & through her Irillith recognition & fear of John at first sight . The males he had meet & traded with didn't seem to know what he was or seem to react to him like the females do .

You didn't read through careful enough Rachel said as they all has the triple Helix Dana Rachel and Calara DNA had no genetic information in unlike John and Alyssa has genetic information in their which is why only John and Alyssa are still the only to progenitors on the crew. The 3rd Helix on the other just shows them as having psychic powers. But interesting choice if that was the case.

Your thesis about the males doing the fighting off of Meal'nerak has something to be said for. But the strong willed matriarchs of house Valaden with their genetic anomaly could as well have played a role. The old Edraele seemed to have no qualms about dominating a Progenitor.

I LOVE THIS STORY. Thank you so much for sharing it with us. I can't wait to find out more. I really like how you are progressing the story at its on pace and not rushing it. I wonder what is going to happen in Underworld who they will fight, and then how will John react to what Edraele did with the Milair.

Been thinking of the normal progen slave linking as it normally only take a small load to link them most progen will not get the nightmares they have one or two but not hundreds of them as most of the slaves don't get three loads

Chapter 70 page 15:

...

"What about Interdiction Beacons?" Dana prompted them, thinking about the Battle of Regulus.

Calara frowned, and replied, "That's quite sophisticated tech. I doubt pirates would be able to get their hands on any."

...

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Chapter 16 page 1:

...

"We're being pulled out of Hyper-warp!" Alyssa exclaimed, staring at her Navigation overview intensely.

...

"They're using an Interdictor against us John!" Sparks called out in alarm.

"Put our current star system on the map Sparks" he asked her brusquely, having no time for pleasantries.

...

...Their dark grey hulled assault cruiser was centred in the map, surrounded by a destroyer, a frigate, four corvettes and the heavy cruiser. It was the pirates from the Chendar system and the hacking Sparks had done on their transponders, allowed the crew to see the full order of battle arrayed against them."

================

Perhaps the self-styled Pirate Lord Everett Hitch had more tech at his disposal than Hades, the lord of the Underworld, but it wouldn't seem a prudent thing for our master tactician to assume, especially given their earlier experience. It doesn't (yet?) seem to be a mistake significant to the plot, so the contradiction just seems superfluous.

hades being a evil tyrant,tashana being his slave.

john being the knight in shinning white armour arriving to save the wounded little bird(tashana).

I see a lot of speculation.

First I still believe that the progen messing with John is a sibling and rivalry is a bit**. Remember the Ashanath, they have that hidden base where the guns are pointing inward. Who's to say that John's mom and dad are not hidden there. The reason his attention was turned to John was because he was trying to get at him but John ruined his plan and now he is not proactionary anymore. It still seems to me like a non educated brat trying to upset everything to get what he wants.

Second, they are an independent race. It has been shown that several times over.

There at this time a count of four progens, John, Alyssa, BSP, and John's Dad. BPJ and Athena were designed to guide to their normal behavior. Problem was John had been practicing meditation. Athena was created by John so we're know how she will be.

I do not think Hades is Tashana. I do however believe he has her trapped.

Mikoboshi may have a base in the wasteland, I do not think he is planning an assassination on Oceanus.

As for the Astral Plain. Even Athena hinted that there were worse things there.

I think John will merge with BPJ with Tashanas help

Just one word, MORE, please!!!!

Looks like the ship will be taller and longer + wider so hanger will be bigger so dana could build 20 drone frighters for faye to use (I'm thinking 1 control and 4 linked to control drone),

also they going to need a freight dropship or "fools gold" ?

cargo bay going to bigger to so split it to 2 1 cargo the other half a equipment room to hold mechs and ground fighting vehicles?

The pirates and the darkkar used were built in to their ships. I believe cruiser class and above are equipped with an interdicter the beacons the kinatark used are a different reckon

I'm a tsm addict who reveles in my addiction .

I hope that the girls fiannly have John's babies after 70 chapters it's getting old waiting for it to happen anyway

Hi my name is Terra_Lupis and I am a TSM addict.

Now that's out of the way, the chatter about interdiction beams and beacons has caught my attention. The way I see it is that the beams work like those grabby hands in the arcade games stocked with all the plushy toys (except exponentially better) while the beacons work like the borders of a D&D or Warhammer table as in you can 'see' past the edge but you can't leave until the beacons are disable one way or another.

Also, what is with the Greek God assumptions just because Tefler used the name of two of the Pantheon and made slight reference to the afterlife (Alysium/Elysium). For all we know he could turn around and splurge other ancient mythologies on us. I know of a show that damn well nearly terrified and informed its audience about a Terror from Norse mythology. Then you've the Egyptian, Sumerian, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Native American Indian, Inuit, Incan, Mayan, Polynesian, African and Australian Aborigine mythology to go through as well as the others I mentioned and that's just the tip of the iceberg.