All Comments on 'Three Square Meals Ch. 081'

Hey Tefler and readers. Another great one, Thanks!!

Happy Father's Day to all you dads!

Faye is doing something she shouldn't, i get the feeling she'll lock them up or something. Or try to take over the ship and fly them to some place she feels is safe..

Telfler bring on the 18 and 20 page chapters. I sense an epic showdown in the making with all the crew using special abilities. The sheer scale of your story in terms of time, space, technology, history, archaeology, medicine, cosmetics, warfare, intelligence and interracial relationships calls for nothing less than 20 pages for each new update in this epic saga. Yep I'm aware of how tough that is but you are a victim of your own success in crafting this black hole of fiction that has sucked in the brains of your readers some of whom are being crushed by the anticipation for the next installment not to mention the fear that you're going to leave this unfinished like a couple of other writers on this site.

regards

Kirk

"bring on the 18 and 20 page chapters"

Doubling the chapter size just means you'd have to wait twice as long for each new chapter. :-)

I'm happy with releasing 30k word installments, it works well in terms of handling edits from my editors.

Tefler

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it! :-) Happy Father's day to you (if applicable)!

Tefler

Ah, all will be revealed next chapter! :-)

Tefler

As always a great read and looking forward to the next chapter

Great to see they are going back to earth and then on to a new area of space :)

Keep up the good fun(work)

Tefler,

If you haven't already done so, you must get your copyright registered.

for obvious reasons as it is now generating an income.

Les

Thank you for another great chapter. Very easily worth 5 stars.

It has probably been mentioned somewhere along the story, but for the life of me, I cant remember what Mael'nerak means.

Does anyone remember????

Tefler. Once again a fantastic chapter. I am looking forwards to the negotiations with The Federation. I have a bad taste in my mouth when it comes to Fayes "plan". Hope she doesn't go too far. If she is revealed, then The Federation will probably go into full out panic mode, and try to destroy her John and the girls.

Happy fathers day. .. Had to kill million babies today before they were born. ... So horny after reading maliri twins scene.. .

Great work Tefler

Another great job done by Tefler!

With the level of ambition that Lynette Devereaux is displaying,maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to give her a well rounded stomach after the Ceremony 😜,just to keep her and the Terran military in check?

Awesome as always Tefler. Can't wait for the next chapter. I am glad literotica got it up over the weekend for us.

Just spotted 1 word the editors missed this time. They are doing a great job helping you get such a huge volume of work out so quickly.

Guessing 'send' should be 'said' in the following

'Twisting slightly, so she could look at him over her shoulder, Tashana send solemnly, "No, don't stop. I've seen how powerful Irillith has become and I want to be able to help you as much as she can."'

Geoff

Greetings to All;

I need your help, Tefler has done a great job on the patreon site with a word doc that covers the weapons through the second retrofit. However in this chapter a number of upgrades are on the way. My challenge is that I do not understand the difference between the different energy weapon types other than "More Power" - IE Photon Lasers verses the Nova Lances. I know that the Singularity Driver sends a very fast shell - at least that is what I remember - what is the nature of the shell? What is the difference between the heavy/gause/pulse cannons? Jedi Khan has done a great job of providing info - A Tip of the hat to you!

Thanks for your support,

Master Laurent!

They'll be able to help us construct the sixty-four Photon Lasers we'll need for the Invictus."

24 ?

Ah, well spotted thank you! I made a mistake on the hardpoint numbers in an earlier draft and thought I'd caught all references to that. It looks like one slipped through!

I'll submit an edited version at some point.

Tefler

Now that I’ve had more time to think about it here are my thoughts on the award ceremony. Sakura’s role is to be personal security for John and the girls. To me this means whenever they leave the ship she should be in full battle gear. (Side note whatever happened to her invisibility cloak but she wore while she was scouting the Invictus?) Tashana and Irillith as Maliri should also be in full battle gear with an opaque covering over the faceplate, this solves many challenges that have been brought up.

Just my 2 cents

“Either of you feel like volunteering to shape seventy-two Photon Laser barrels?”

“I thought we only had hardpoints for twenty-four?” John asked in confusion.

“Triple-barrelled guns, baby!” Dana explained with a huge grin.

Athena is a part of Alyssa, just as PG John is part John. Merge them. This whole we need to save her crap is annoying. Plus is she going to be another Progenitor-Matriarch hybrid? Cause it would suck for her to lose her powers if she were a separate entity. Ergh, just merge then for Darn sakes. John needs to catch up with his PG scenario. Curious though, if Alyssa is a PG shouldn't that include the tech knowledge etc? Or is she a PG only in terms of powers?

And, Tefler, I love you but why the hell are you making another ends justify the means plot line? We've already covered that with Edraele and already had Nexus too so for the love of all things holy can we not have Faye lose her marbles and do something stupid.

Last thing, considering how aggressive Terrans are I hope he isn't trading all their tech or Maliri weaponry to Charles. He should have sent irilrith to requisition the schematics for the heat sinks, after he did capture the ship they came from.

Anyway, that's just my opinion but I'm frustrated by the direction this seems to be taking as given by the foreshadowing. Whitewhalehunter

"It has probably been mentioned somewhere along the story, but for the life of me, I cant remember what Mael'nerak means."

According to Tashana, Mael'nerak means "Evil Enslaver" in modern Maliri. I would guess that in the Progenitor language, it means something quite different if anything at all.

-aderi

Brilliant! Next chapter please.

Thx for coming out with the next new chapter within a week, really enjoyed it

Am I the only one concerned that one of the worm girls uses the word 'incentivise'? The lines between good and evil are now totally blurred, the story probably beyond redemption.

I'm expecting a large number of collateral casualties amongst the Admiralty who just happen to be the ruling body of the TFed. What a shame it'll be if Charles and John are suddenly the highest ranking people left alive. Norwood referred to the federation as an autocracy. This would make Charles the autocrat.

Since this is going to be a very public attack, it's quite possible, likely even, that John and the girls' powers will be revealed live on TFN. That would have some interesting repercussions with the crews standing with the Terrans. If the final confrontation with BSP goes spectacularly poorly for humankind, in a few thousand years they could have a new mythology centered around the extended Blake family.

I don't expect that Mikaboshi himself will participate in this attack. I think that the crew will discover that his base of operations is on New Eden which just happens to be the next stop on their itinerary. After all, Sakura was transferred to him in a van in a fairly short time period. Of course, John and Sakura will then slaughter all of the assassins with Sakura getting the death blow on Mikaboshi.

Also of course, all of this depends on Faye's plan which is maddeningly vague.

-aderi

P.S. It just occurred to me that everyone's favorite reporter might be critically wounded during the attack, necessitating her immediate evacuation and 'healing.'

The worms have used any number of figures of speech that don't make sense for them to know.

The crew has used any number of shallow rationalizations to justify everything up to, and including, genocide.

How is bribery the bridge too far for you?

-aderi

Aderi - I really enjoy your comments and insights. Completely missed the fact that all of the admiralty will be at the awards ceremony. Great point. So Many outcomes! Wonder how much of the upgrades will be completed on the Invictus by the ceremony? If I read the timeline correctly, the trip will be 24 hours and they had a 3 day upgrade schedule. Hopefully Dana will be able to update the body armor with the info from the captured Drakkar BSP upgraded armor combined with her new Progen knowledge.

Whitewhalehunter, I understand your POV. One of the previous posters likened Faye to a Child with a Shotgun - I am thinking more like a Child with a 700M Battleship, incredibly powerful MEC and Fighter!!! The Raptor can take out a battleship with the new lasers and if Dana gets the Valkyrie upgraded/repaired, WOW!!

I understand your feelings about Athena and I somewhat agree with you, how can a part of someone be separated without reducing Alyssa's ultimate powers. The one way out may be to find a way to keep Athena alive in the on the astral plain.

Thanks for the kind words.

Unless I'm misreading the timeline, only the upgrades to the power distribution should be complete by the time of the ceremony. The new weapons might be mostly built but the install is projected to take a day by itself. Then again, if Dana has an epiphany about the personal shields in the Drakkar gear, the fabrication plans might be immediately changed to produce those for everyone. That could actually explain why the crew survives the attack while the admiralty is decimated if the predictions of a few of us are correct.

As for Athena, at the risk of repeating myself for the thousandth time, they need to let her go if she isn't gone already.

-aderi

I agree, she needs to merge back. Any efforts for saving someone should be focused on Faye!

As for chapters length I vote for the current setting.

Both faster update rate and easier to "digest" in a single sitting.

Faye - I see two options, 1. tranq the crew and take them somewhere to protect

2. following Mikabosh attack she goes nuclear and carpet bomp a planet.

Still waiting for Jade charachter progress, also for the Brimorian meeting.. maybe they will get some relaxation while setting for the showdown with the other progenitor.

Up to 20 wifes? well with the 9 onboard (including Faye), Edraelle + 3 body guards + 4 young matriachs (no luck for the rest?) + the reported (despite the fact rachel could save her, john's way will be prefered) you are nodging it prpetty soon...

I brought this up in the Patreon forum and was mostly ignored but, how the hell does Devereaux know that Lynton was involved with the Nexus debacle? After the discovery by Irillith in ch. 65, the crew didn't discuss it with anyone that I recall. The records should only show that Lynton was an adviser to the project. Von Brandt was the one that accessed the Ganymede archives. All communications between Lynton and Von Brandt were encrypted in the Progenitor charset, IIRC. That's why Von Brandt couldn't report her.

What am I missing, that's believable?

-aderi

"Lynton was an adviser to the project"

The fact that the project ended up causing the deaths of hundreds-of-thousands, coinciding with Lynton being revealed as a traitor plotting against the Terran Federation, is more than enough evidence for Devereux. She'll fling any muck at Buckingham in her efforts to destabilise his position as Fleet Admiral.

Tefler

That is not consistent with John's personality. One thing Tefler has been in this epic story is consistent.

Athena will be joining the crew with, (I suspect) Admiral Devereux's brain dead body, which John enhances to the third-helix progenitor shell for Athena. Then all that has to happen is Athena meet up with John and the empty minded shell in the ethereal plane and have her bond with it like part of the Leviathan did with Jade and take over the body in the physical realm.

This would serve several purposes for John.

The obvious being an Admiral in T-Fed on his side who would not have the shortcomings that Admiral Lynton had and who would be able to work the other Admirals as needed to assist John.

Second, Athena will be a third Progen in the house of Blake...and the three of them would be a strong enough front to handle BSP in the ethereal plane. She also needs to link with Alyssa.

As for Faye: I see a cyborg in store for her that becomes available in the aftermath of the fight with Mikaboshi. This would continue to provide the uplink to her avatars as well as provide her the ability to work with Sakura protecting John and the girls on away missions.

Good Point, I do not know how Devereaux would know, I do not remember any situation where that happened.

Another thing that seems to have slipped, Itillith “requisitioned” the plans for the singularity drivers, do you think the TFED may be a little upset about this and that is why Buckingham may have been calling.

I am so pissed right now, Hurry up Tefler and get chapter 82 done! (Big Smile)

OK PussyLickerRus, I understand your POV and Athena, However, unless John can pull the extra power out of his backside and not have any consequences to Alyssa, I do not understand how this will work. Where can I find the Jade / Leviathan interaction? Leviathan shows up in 5 chapters when I do a search on Literotica, however I did a search of chapter 67 is not the one.

Like Master Laurent, I'm also unsure of what you mean about Jade. Were you referring to the time that Irillith was wounded in the Astral and brought a bit of it back with her upon waking?

I get that it's not in John's personality to just let Athena go. I just think he needs to be disappointed on this goal. It doesn't seem very realistic, even for 3SM.

As for the possibility of Athena possessing a brain dead Devereaux (or anyone else for that matter), that might be one of the less than ethical ideas that Rachel claims to have come up with. That being said, nothing in the story has implied that that sort of possession is possible. Also, the survival plan you are proposing seems to require John to fuck a corpse in order to prepare it for Athena. That's a bit dark.

If Devereaux is going to be a body donor for anyone, it should be Faye. A Maliri cyborg brain upgraded with Prog tech is more than sufficient for the task. Honestly, my first thought 20 chapters ago, was that they were going to give Shinatobe's body to Faye. They've had the capability to give her flesh for a long time now. It just hasn't been a priority and that might be about to bite them in the ass.

-aderi

Spot on about Athena.

Really want to see Sakura in the Valkyrie at the Ceremony doing cartwheels across the stage. Or Jade auto-piloting the Valkyrie.

Do not know if I can wait until Wednesday to get some answers. The Irony is that if Tefller wants to be mean, Chapter 82 can all be about the retrofit and some other plot twist and make Chapter 83 starting off the Ceremony. I know I should be shot for even proposing this option.

Not Jade Flying the Valkyrie , Faye auto-piloting the Valkyrie

Well then Tefler... what do we have here?

1) We have Faye about to take drastic actions to keep the crew safe. I predict that she will try to take over the ship, possibly given a cybernetic body as consolation. This will likely be a tense scene, with all hands on deck. She will likely be less outgoing for a while...

2) Mikaboshi- will likely make his move on the slopes, or at the ceremony. I would bet money that the resulting battle will reveal more about the girls than John would like. For sure Rachel must come to the rescue, and phsycic powers will be involved.

3) Athena... Hoo-boy. Rachel will likely be pushed to her limit helping save her. If​not, then she will become a permanent astral ally.

4) Admiral Harris, and the conniving witch. I think John and edrael will somehow put Charles in as fleet Admiral, while losing the witch to BSP.

So complicated!! Can't wait till ch. 82!

Cannot wait to see it. How many Patrons now Tefler?

Jade could be the "third" of the tripplets! I'm just saying that would be a great scene!

“Where can I find the Jade / Leviathan interaction? Leviathan shows up in 5 chapters when I do a search on Literotica, however I did a search of chapter 67 is not the one.”

Ahh: My apologies, it was not Jade but Irillith and the Leviathan. You will find what you were looking for on the last page of chapter 67 and first page of chapter 68.

"Also, the survival plan you are proposing seems to require John to fuck a corpse in order to prepare it for Athena. That's a bit dark."

Nah. Rachel to heal and then the transfer. John gets frisky with Athena in the body to give her the 3rd helix.

LOL!!! That is a great line!!!!! Jade as the third!!! and what about Tentacles!!!! OK, not a big fan of Tentacles, however when she was in the hanger and created 20 something of John's Monster to feed the Maliri did create some thoughts. Now that Jade has become so powerful I can see the filling all three holes X 7+ girls while John does her in the ass. Hell, she can even do herself so she is not left out of the 3 hole filling!!!!!!

Thank you for the praise. Needed my head to grow a size or two and that helped. Now let's see if I can help with the weapons.

First off, the Singular Driver...

The shell is just a solid chunk of metal about the size of a human head, I believe. It is accelerated using the event horizon of a mini black hole that is contained within an energized lattice of refined Terinieium (probably badly misspelled that) ore. This acceleration causes the shell to travel at insanely high velocities, so much so that Tefler has yet to really classify it. We know the Mass Drivers that the Invictus had before used magnetic rails to accelerate an even bigger shell to hyper-warp speeds, and the Singular Drivers are an upgrade on that, with the exit velocity being multiple times faster. As I said before, the shell for the Singularity Driver is just a solid chunk of metal, no explosive, nothing. It uses pure kinetic energy to deal deadly amounts of damage to armor, but is entirely ineffective against shields. Look up information about the rail gun the US Navy is developing and you'll get a basic idea of the principles involved, minus the whole using a black hole for acceleration bit.

Photon Lasers vs. Nova Lances...

The Photon Lasers are an upgrade of the existing 10-meter long, turreted Beam Lasers, and come in a three-barrel configuration as compared to the Beam Lasers single barrel. The Photon Lasers fire in a pulse, with one barrel firing after another, and deal, I believe, two times more damage than the Beam Lasers. I'm not sure if this new three barreled config will allow the Photon Lasers to have a faster firing rate than the existing Beam Lasers, which have a 10 second cool down before they can be fired again. They are effective against both shields and armor, able to bring down shields rapidly and melt through armor plating in a single volley.

The Nova Lances, however, are an entirely different beast. The Invictus currently has a pair of these 30 meter long monsters housed in the bow of the ship. Unlike the turreted weapons, the Nova Lances can only fire forward, but have - I want to say - a 15 degree fire arc, meaning they can hit any target within a 15 degree arc to either side of the center line of the ship's nose. The Nova Lances have a 10 second charge up time before they can be fired, and a 30 second cool down before they can be charged again. The up side is that they are powerful enough to slice a fully shielded battleship clean in half in one shot, a feat no other weapon on the Invictus can match.

Heavy Cannons...

Think artillery, but in space. Basically the same as the big guns you see on the battleships of World War 2, just bigger and more powerful. We don't know the caliber (size of the shell) of these guns, but we can probably assume they are bigger than the largest guns fitted to WW2 battleships, the Japanese Yamato's 18-inch guns. We do know that they are in a turreted, double barrel configuration, so they can fire two shells with each shot. These weapons are ineffective against shields, but are devastating against armor, with the crystal tipped shells packing an explosive payload that just rips armor apart.

Gauss Cannons...

Smaller than the Heavy Cannons, these turreted, single barreled weapons use magnetism to accelerate their shells to high velocity. They're like mini Mass Drivers in that regard, except they use magnetic coils spaced evenly along the length of the barrel rather than magnetic rails. Look up Gauss rifle or coilgun on Wikipedia to get a rundown on how the Gauss Cannons work. Like the Heavy Cannons, these weapons are ineffective against shields, but do some serious damage against armor. They are able to track targets faster than the Heavy Cannons can, and thus are a bit better for use against smaller ships, but really, with Clara manning the guns, it doesn't matter much: she'll hit the target regardless.

Pulse Cannons...

Unlike the Heavy and Gauss Cannons, which are of Terran origin and fire solid projectiles, the Pulse Cannons are Maliri laser point defense weapons. These small, turreted, fast tracking weapons come in a three barreled configuration, with each barrel firing in sequence, however the cool down time is such that by the time the third barrel has fired, the first is ready again, meaning the Pulse Cannons are capable of continuous full auto fire. These weapons are designed to take out small, fast moving targets such as missiles, torpedoes, and strike craft, however they are powerful enough to deal significant damage to larger ships, being roughly equivalent in strength to Terran laser cannons, which are much larger and slower weapons. We saw the Pulse Cannons put to magnificent use in the Battle of Regulus, the Invictus appearing on the battlefield as a fast moving blue ball of death, with that blue ball being the wall of laser fire put out by the Pulse Cannons. Like most laser weapons, such as Beam Lasers, the Pulse Cannons are effective against shields, but unlike Beam Lasers, are only mildly effective against armor, requiring that each consecutive shot hit the armor in the exact same spot in order to actually penetrate rather than simply leave it a pot marked mess.

Hopefully all that information helps.

And I just realized I was calling the Singularity Driver the "Singular Driver." Damn. Oh well, that's what I get for trying to be smart at the end of my day.

If she makes it through the ceremony how will her hopeful plans for becoming Fleet Admiral survive ? She will be responsible for putting on the ceremony where the Terran Hero "The Lion" was attacked & a lot of high ranking Fed officers & probably family are injured or killed . In the cut throat world of politics(especially military ) her enemies will roast her alive .She'll be painted as incompetent or culpable , so much for her future . Which will leave Charles in good shape going forward . I know most are sort of hoping she becomes Faye's or Athena's new body but she'd be a pretty high profile person to all of a sudden change personalities , since her "death" would more than likely wipe out her memories/personality she really couldn't become their mole in TFed . Just my thoughts on the problem

ps aderi...worm girls ??? what did I miss , Thanks

Excellent synopsis. Only thing I would add is the Dana improved heavy cannons are roughly equivalent to the Terran Mass Drivers. So the Invictus has the equivalent of 6 turreted sets of its original set of forward facing mass drivers.

Thanks PLR, that is a great point. I am hoping that a document can be created on patreon that will be the start to creating the 3SM Wiki that will cover characters, ships, events, weapons, races and such.

Alyssa and Dana

In the 4th paragraph of this story, Mad Jonah gives John the tip that he should visit the prostitutes on Karron and refers to them as "worm girls." Oh, and by the way they just discovered Tyrenium out there.

Worms was defined as a slang term for the people living on the remote mining colonies who could go for years without seeing the sun and become so pale that they looked almost like albinos.

When John gave the Fool's Gold to Jonah, he sent along the message, "Thanks for the tip about the Worm girls."

Hope that clears things up though I'm not sure why the Anon I was responding to chose to use that term in the first place.

-aderi

Glad you used it.

Liking how the story's going.

glad we are getting closer to the Awards, but with the politicking behind the scenes makes me smile about how it will go down with some admirals looking for payback?

Now then if Faye wants to improve herself to protect John and the girls will she need more avatars to do that she'd need more computing power, as well as the body to come.

thinking about Tash being joined to the Harem Mind will she also get to bond separately with her sister at some point.

Just some random thoughts.

You Rock, I forgot about all of that info. I am going to be traveling Thursday - Saturday and I may download all of the chapters and re-read them during my down time.

It seems that while dana is just coming up random shit that will probably not work, rachel gave me the impression that she knows exactly what she needs to do, it's just that it's not pretty and it has to do with her speciality.

So, what is it?

Well, in terms of something rachel would hesitate to do, i can only think of three things: using a dead body, growing a new body or doing something to a body that the crew won't be all that thrilled about.

The first two are self explanatory, but i would be interested in the third. I already think that using cyborg tech is something that the crew will end up doing in the long run for a whole bunch of reasons and i think that using that cyborg brain technology they found in shinatobe provides a possible solution. (more on this later on!)

Another thing that is related and worth discussing is sakura and what her future on the Invictus crew is, in terms of her skills. Her ability to control extremely cold temperatures is actually something that has huge ramifications for her abilities, although partially disturbing.

Because you see, one of the biggest limitations a designer of a cyborg body would experience is waste heat. Electronics and computational objects function better when they're cold, but they give off a lot of heat when working hard. So, a cyborg couldn't use the best tech or push himself to his limits because he would cook himself from the inside due to the heat he would give off.

This is why sakura's abilities have disturbing implications: they are the perfect powers to give to a cyborg. you now longer have to worry about heat: You ARE a heat sink.

This means not only that sakura and some of the crew might go full circle and might use cybernetical tech one way or another, but that might be what rachel was talking about!

Faye and athena could "borrow" a crew member's body for a awhile, while hiding inside their head. It would be interesting, since that is what athena is doing already with Alyssa. There might be a non-invasive way to do that, but i have a suspicion that their won't be. The choice that john and Alyssa might have to make is either invasive brain surgery on Alyssa, or letting Athena fade away.

But back to sakura. It now makes her the perfect operator for the mech. Dana can give the thing a major upgrade and reroute the extra heat into the cockpit to be absorbed by sakura. She can also use souped up custom firearms that are ridiculously powerful, but overheat if you fire it even once!

OK, You make some very valid points. However, I doubt that they would make Sakura into a cyborg. Additionally John had repeatedly demonstrated his desire to protect his girls so any activity that would put them in any kind of jeopardy that was not 100% avoidable would be unlikely IMHO. Look at his conversation with Dana about the Ashanath / Dakkar Battle.

Great call on Sakura cooling the weapons, that would be a great justification for the MECH verses another Raptor.

There's a very important detail that seems to be overlooked and that is that John's healing abilities don't work on cybernetics. Any time the girls gobble down one of John's loads, their bodies are healed to match a template, and if something is missing, like say an organ, that organ will regrow. That would be rather problematic if there happens to be a cybernetic replacement for said organ in its place. Additionally, any damage caused by foreign objects in the body will be healed as well, and the objects rejected, so things like computer jacks to plug in external components or wiring/tubing in the body will likely be forced out. This is why Rachel had to remove all of Shinatobe's cybernetics before John could heal Sakura.

This also means that if any of the girls got cybernetics installed, they wouldn't be able to partake of John's creamy loads anymore, and they absolutely love the stuff, so the trade off would be unacceptable to them. So, turning one of the girls into a cyborg is not likely to happen...ever. Even Faye will likely not get a cyborg body for this reason. If anything, she'll get a full organic body (somehow) and be given Irillith's abilities to dive into the cyber realm, or even an improvement on those abilities so she is connected to the cyber realm constantly and doesn't have to do the "meditation," for lack of a better word, that Irillith does.

Greetings Jedi, It amazes me the understanding that the community has for this story. your points are Spot On! John healing would pose a problem. However, I wonder now because if he does not have more control. He was able to direct his healing / gifts during the battle. If his feedings were a universal healing would it not stand to reason that the women would be virgins every time? Or has the Projen evolution taken care of this? Just a thought.

Good point Laurent, but don't forget that part of the effects of John's cum is allowing for their muscles & tissue to relax & stretch for him. This was explained with the first obsevation on the effects of the first time a girl tastes his precum.

Cybernetics...Jedi is on point, as always. Mael'nerak created all the races. Therefore, progenitors can strengthen their thralls as they see fit, better than what cybernetics can do. As we can see, Sakura is poised to surpass her abilitites as Shinatobe, if she hasn't done so already, simply with John's psychic upgrades.

I disagree with the idea that progenitor cybernetical tech is incompatible with progenitor biology. After all, that cyborg brain was obtained from the maliri, which makes it likely that it was built by mael. Also, that template that you talked about can be altered once John is powerful enough and takes care of PJ. Then he can change the bond like he's done in the past.

Also, if anyone on the crew is going to be using that kind of tech, it's either Alyssa or Faye. Alyssa has some measure of independence from John due to her being a progenitor in her own right: even if she was separated from John, I don't think she would start aging like the other girls would.

Even if that's not true, the cybernetic brain that Dana and Rachel would build would be made of the progenitor computronium, which as John, Alyssa and Irillith demonstrated is compatible with progenitor psychic links. Shinatobe may have been unable to drink from John, but nothing Dana and Rachel get their hands on would remain incompatible.

Also, how would Faye be transferred to a purely biological body without destroying her entire development and identity as a character? At best she and Irillith would have the same abilities: psychic links to computers. Would she just possess the body every so often?

My money's still on the cybernetic brain. The only solution that comes with a big enough risk to make John hesitate and make it interesting. He kind of has some typical protagonist tendencies in that he is so hesitant to do anything that puts anybody he cares about in jeopardy, even when everyone involved is more than willing to take the risk.

There is no way in hell Sakura or any of the girls are going to accept cybernetics in their bodies. No need with psychic skills that match them.

Just my 2 eurocents:

Rachel is going to create three new bodies, combining all the collected DNA from the crew as a base, but adding some "enhancements" from the known aliens like Drakkar, Ashanat, Kirrax.

This "concoction" will then be grown ex-uterus or an artificial womb like Mael'nerak; one female for Athena, the second female for Faye - maybe with her wings?? - an one male for John's guide-spirit, which is now "imprisoned" in John's brain.

I think that John's guide wanted to live, and the only way he saw to live was by taking over John's body. John still has to deal with him, and doing it this way is a good solution, because it will take some time to grow up for the male. During this period he can learn about being a "good boy".

Faye and Athena are "well-behaved" and may be released as adults in the world.

hping - Wow what a great idea!!!! That will solve many problems. The only thing that I have to wonder is how is Faye going to be able to integrate into an Organic Brain?

that the ideal body for Faye is something more like Jades, a crystal computer styled gem thing with a purple flesh surround, maybe limit her shape changing to changing her size, rather than duplicating animals. and gaining/removing her wings. Maybe a banshee style combat body with psychic sonic scream ability grabbed from the ships sonic defences.

Athena I'm still not convinced that she should get her own body, and shouldn't just merge with Alyssa.what would Alyssa lose, and how would she cope with another version of herself, but vastly more powerful being around. You'd think that could screw her up quite badly.

As for Johns other personality, he isn't just someone who wants to live, he's someone detemined to conquer the galaxy. I don't know as you could ever let him lose without feeling intensely guilty about the inevitable deaths and consequences

Please tell me someone else agrees that the Invictus is a Pocket Dreadnaught(yes I know I spelt it with an a,you can).She is Battlecruiser size but with:

64 Pulse Cannons(192 Laser Cannons)

24 Photon Lasers(72 Beam Lasers)

16 Gauss Cannons(Heavy?(they are more powerful than the Terran version

12 Heavy Cannons(Light Drivers?)

2 Singularity Drivers

I don't think you can class her as anything but a Pocket Dreadnaught.

Let me know what you think please Tefler.

Ejit

After I posted my comment to HPING I started to have second thoughts about Proj John being released. I agree with you, his only goal is a domination.

Never thought about putting Faye into a body like Jade!!!! That would be kick ass!

That is what makes this story so great. Nothing is what it seems! And you forgot the Nova Lances. And all of this stuff gets tucked away when not in use! The deception is consistent with many of the aspects of this great story. The powers the girls have, John's abilities. Even Faye!

Keep up the great work Tefler!

Tefler, you rock, just looked at the tags for chapter and laughed very hard when I noticed twingasm!!!! I wonder if that will soon make it into Webster's as a new word this year!

It was a great surprise when coming home from vacation to find two TSM's waiting for me. Needless to say, the last couple days were more like a vacation at work.

This is a wonderful story. Keep up the good work Tef.

It's great to hear you've been enjoying it!

I always used to love that, when an author released a few new chapters and I got to read them back to back! :-)

Tefler

Just to give you a quick status update, I finished chapter 82 a few minutes ago.

It's available on my site and I'll be spending the next few days going through and doing some editing.

Tefler

Just Finished reading Chapter 82, it is epic as promised and well worth the wait. I will not provide any spoilers other than many of the speculations have been both wrong and right with many more unanswered. Classic Tefler epic works! Bravo, Please keep up the great work.

Well, to answer Master_Laurent88 an 1handslapping there is the influence of John on the upbringing of the Prog-John-boy.

John is able to influence the behavior of people with his sperm, see Tashana, Irrilith, and Eldraele, so during the gestation of the boy/man he is subjected to John's tender care which will influence his behavior.

Also I know that people can have a change of heart. Not often, but it is a known fact.

And I think that Prog-John is mainly driven by instinct, why that was done is simple, John had to succeed his father as a Progenitor and seemingly only one can be active in a certain volume of space or galaxy. When Prog-John became active, possible soon after the meeting with Alyssa, he started to try to train John, but John had a better defense against him, leading to the situation with Eldraele. Instinct is handy, but education enhances instinct, but also modifies it to more acceptable behavior.

I think that Prog-John will change due to the fact that he also wants to live, but he is taking the body of his "pupil" if an when is possible. Giving him a life of his own, possible limited due to the fact that he is not connected to John. So giving him the "carrot- and the whip"-treatment will create a better behavior.

We do not yet know how admiral Norwood was "enthralled" by admiral Lynton, so there may be a way for John to do so.

Thanks again for the tale, Tef! Keep telling it at your pace and on your schedule! All us freeloaders are just along for the ride and loving every chapter!

At least Calara remembered the planetary defense lasers!

PLR, howbout an updated list of dangling participles, err, I mean dangling plot threads? (Does anyone really know what a dangling participle is? Or what participles do when they're not dangling? Are they related to dingleberries? Inquiring cowboys want to know!)

It will be ironic if Faye goes rogue, even for benevolent reasons, after helping defeat Brainiac or Nexus or whoever it's name was. If she does, I think it will be up to Irillith to explain to Faye how TSM isn't an Asimov story about the three laws.

I didn't understand how the chess reference in a previous chapter subtitle applied to the tale (I'm obtuse about symbolism and syllogism and stuff like that). But I think John and Tashanah are missing the point of 'Shan's subconscious concerns. They saved the Ashana, which I feel was necessary given their role as the Ashana's ally, and the Drakar's role as aggressor. But BSP maneuvered them into destroying the bulk of the Drakar's fighting forces (who conceivably saved the day millennia ago and helped drive off Mael'nerak's unknown rival) and removing the Drakar as possible powerful allies against BSP, not withstanding the difficulty of turning the Drakar against their supposed benefactor. (They're your characters, Tef! You can make them listen!). Is that what the chess reference alludes to? In a stand up fight I'd rather have the Drakar than the Ashana behind me! Just tell the Drakar that Projenitor thralls taste just like chicken! What about the Drakar ships and elite troops left stranded after the minefield gambit, PLR? Are they still dangling?

So Mikaboshi has T-Fed sleeper agents, or has infiltrated or sustituted T-Fed units? Will Sakura and Faye save the day? Presumably the ladies will be wearing gowns to the awards ceremony. Hopefully John will be in his armor and wearing his sword like a boss. Of course, Alyssa's psychic strength means she is never unarmed or unshielded, and Tashanah's hellfire is always available and Jade is, of course, always Jade. It would be so cool to have Paragon armor and weapons and the Valkyrie (with Ride of the Valkyries blasting out loud alá Apocalypse Now) drop in from orbit like Spaceship Troopers (Heinlein's troopers, not the poor imitation movie version)or Iron Man's suits. Having the twins go to the ceremony unarmoured is concerning. I think they should at least be in their Maliri armor. (But I bet they'll be in incredibly gorgeous gowns) The Invictus crew (as they have noted, this isn't my concept) has done a poor job of keeping their capabilities under wraps. Having the Maliri attend unarmored won't clue in anyone who doesn't already know what the Maliri look like, but the whole point of Amadala's or whatever her name was, dictate was to keep them from attracting the attentions of another progenitor. If BSP was Mael'nerak's rival, he obviously knows of the Maliri. If BSP is a new rival, at the bare minimum the Maliri will look like sex on a stick to him. Presumably BSP already knows who's who and what's what, but why make that assumption until proven otherwise? Disguise, divert, dissemble, and whenever possible discombobulate. And follow Jade's "be the predator not the prey" strategy. Have a council of Elrond come to Jesus meeting and bring representatives of all races together and explain the big picture.

The BSP's armor characteristics are still at least partially unknown. However, the Invictus' firepower keeps growing by leaps and bounds. And in the armor vs. warhead arms race, warhead always ends. Speaking of that, why no nuclear warheads? EMP's? Can shields stand up to atomic weapons? Have Muab'dib dig up the family atomics! (Ok, I'm a Dune fan. And having a laser contact a shield was very bad juju in the Dune universe.)

Just random thoughts from a fevered brain!

Thanks again, Tef!!

Hillcountrycowboy

I'm not even going to jump into the what-about-Athena quagmire, that's like arguing Ford vs. Chevy or Republican vs. Democrat. You'll never change anyone's mind, you'll piss everyone off, and the only opinion that matters is Tef's!

Firepower isn't the only criteria for a Battleship/Dreadnought. You also have to consider armor and speed. Traditionally, the definition of a battleship is a ship that is sufficiently armored to resist the shells from its own main gun. The Invictus is tough, but I think it fails this criteria. (yes, this is highly debatable)

On the other hand, a battlecruiser is a ship which is armed as a battleship (check), but lightly armored in favor of speed. The idea is that a battlecruiser can go raiding and take down lighter ships, but fast enough to run away if it finds itself in a fair fight. Since they fail on armor (as above) but routinely use speed and maneuverability to evade enemy fire, battlecruiser is in fact the correct designation.

(I _might_ have spent most of the years aged 10-14 or so obsessing over WWII battleships)

If something goes off at the awards that might get john to do full shield around the girls ?

The Invictus is the size of a standard Terran battlecruiser, however, its weapons are 2X or greater than that of a battlecruiser and its armor, due to crystalalssium and the capacitors, is 2X or greater than a battlecruiser. It is also faster than any known ship of equal size in the galaxy.

I think it is safe to say the Invictus surpasses even a dreadnought, except for size. And with the crew that is manning the Invictus it is basically unstoppable, with the only ship known to surpass it is the BSP.

My 2 cents

The recurring pattern has been for John to overcome his mental blocks when confronted with a threat to one of the girls that he couldn't overcome to save them in any other way.

But I am geeking out about the image in my head of Sakura in the Valkyrie doing a superhero landing to Ride of the Valkyries, or AC/DC's Thunderstruck lol

I know the chapter has been written already, just pointless but fun speculation on my part.

Thanks Tef!

hillcountrycowboy

She can still do that if they leave the ship around terra the gunship only has 6 chairs ok 8 if you include pilot and co-pilot seats but it be showy? If the gunship and mech come down together as no-one in terra space has seen the mech yet

Tbh, I am not looking forward to C82. If the Athena thing turns into a clusterfuck and Faye goes all terminator on us then it'll be a disaster. Perhaps I'll be surprised but my gosh it's going to a gut wrenching read. Whitewhalehunter

HPing - You are correct, John is able to influence people with his sperm, however I do not see Progenitor John would be feeding him. Also, Progen-John would also have access to John’s full abilities, Leopard does not change spots and this would be very bad IMHO.

If my memory serves me, Norwood was being a man and Lynton had slept with him and I think she had video. Simple blackmail.

I think that the bottom line with Progen-John is that John will have to face him and then allow him to be absorbed.

anybody please chime in on the Lynton-Norwood situation if I am having a senior moment!

Hey tefler when can we see the nxt installment

Regards

A

I haven't finished editing yet, so I expect Monday/Tuesday next week depending on moderation delays for literotica.

Tefler

We can read it on lit on Monday or you will submit it on Monday ????

@ms904191 If Teffler was submitting it on Monday or Tuesday, moderation delays would not be a factor in that statement. So, he is probably submitting it on the weekend and depending on moderation duration, we will see it Monday or Tuesday.

You better find a way to relieve fays frustrations after voyiering on all of you for, has it been 6 months ? What plan is she working on ? A, A.I. cocking, or worse.

So John nothing puts a girls mind at ease like telling her she's #8, one who's so insightful you sure dropped the balls all 4 of them.

I'm sure the girls will enjoy the trip to Jericho to enjoy the white stuff, and the snow. "but white and much softer. You'll love it, I promise!"

Good that Charles is in charge, I like his character and or character, the Admiral Devarou is as scheming as any Terran, and could use a good dose of Johns influences.

i've just finished reading your story to its its current location, and i would like to read more. Thank you for an engrossing plot/story/line. Arkane

As far as I can recall it Norwood was neither blackmailed nor enthralled. He betrayed the Federation on his own will.

He and his junior officers who joined him lived and fought for the idea of a "new terran republic" (they had an actual name for that).

He apparently was not content with the system of the T-Fed anyway and when enthralled Lynton came along she was able to gain his trust by fucking him and pretended that she shared his ideas.

She told him that the Lizards (can't recall the name damnit) would join up with him and that they'd establish his new republic after the war. Whether or not they would've keept their end of the bargain is not quite clear to me, but they knew that they'd profit immensely from a betrayal at this scale.

To sum it up: Norwood and others don't like the T-Fed, Lynton manages to convince them to act on this.

Did I miss anything? Is anything I mentioned wrong? Do we have any experts on the matter?

Greetings, Cubius

I suppose it would answer some questions, does Johns sperm work on men? would he be turned into one of Johns ideal women? but I think the biggest problems would be which one of the two would get to control the other, both being psychic. Would the girls cope?, would any be stolen by progenitor John?

one way of moving Faye is to build an unoccupied body, implant the Shinatobe brain cybernetics,load Faye on to the cybernetics and let her move over . Then John building the memory and emotional structure in the same way as he did for Edraele. then if Rachel removes the cybernetic part and John heals the new body it could all be sorted

I don't think this has been addressed.

When John does have children would the majority of them be female?

Does each male become a progenitor like John?

Is it possible that progenitors do not want male offspring because of competition when they become sexually active and develop their powers?

Pure speculation on my part. Whomever is John's Father did not want a male offspring. When his mother had him, she left him and disappeared. She is still alive and a Thrall to John's Father.

I could be wrong, but I think we will eventually find this out.

Nick

John can have both boys and girls he just needs to careful on the boys and make sure its the same Species as the mother and not his, but this is my understanding Rach has said he can choose the sex of the babies, at the point i think he can also choose Species and any powers he wants added as the egg is swimming in his cum he has make sure not the bad ideas

Well, I do not know if John's sperm will work, but In the Kintark-story-arc there was induced that admiral Lynton had a thrall-like link over admiral Norton. Also admiral Lynton was under control of and by a matriarch on board of the BSP.

So there may be a way for John and Alyssa and Rachel to create a work-around. However John has no knowledge about the real relation between Lynton and Norwood, so something must happen.

Furthermore I think that the "meeting" between John and PG-John will be a mayor part in this. The outcome will possible be either the complete merge will occur during the meeting or that my solution will be possible. All depends on Rachel's knowledge of how to create life, or how to assist John when he is doing the hard work.

Much food for thought, and anyway it is all depending on Tefler how he wants to continue this saga. Anything else is just for fun, trying to create a vision of how I think what will happen while staying compliant to the future canon of the story.

Am enjoying the ride more and more with each chapter and curve ball you throw at us...also starting to enjoy the comments from all the armchair QB´s and sideline coaches trying to figure out your next move...it feels like a whole squad out looking for a bucket full of "back-blast", by the way, thanks to all out there laying it out for us to read. Started reading and finding so many writers here on "Lit" that keep me occupied while waiting for your next chapter, so it´s not so hard on me as it was before. Just aggravating when an author leaves the story and a reader in the air w/o finishing the story. Oh well, "Thanx again Tef" for another great 5* chapter.

P.S. Wife appreciates all the great ideas you´ve added, and adding, to our relationship...think you created a monster...thank you, thank you, thank you :)

"Well, I do not know if John's sperm will work, but In the Kintark-story-arc there was induced that admiral Lynton had a thrall-like link over admiral Norton"

No there was't. Multiple people have corrected you since the last time you said this.

Rachel has addressed that, extensively. A Progenitor not only controls his thralls' fertility but also the gender of any child conceived. It's pretty unambiguous. John's father must have wanted a son.

A few of us have conjectured that John is the only Prog to have ever actually been born, the first generation having been engineered in a lab.

-aderi

Guys, don't overthink how Lynton was able to control Norton. Many a man has been controlled by high quality booty and a progenitor can make some of the best. :-)

Holy crap! Wow!

"Tune in next week for another exciting episode!"

"Who shot J.R.?"

" BAM!" Squish! Pow!"

(Giddily clapping gal)

I've submitted the chapter today, so all being well, you should expect to see it up here on Monday or Tuesday.

Tefler

Sheesh: Nothing like calling a fella out! LOL.

A participle is a part of speech in American English that is a verb used as an adjective...like the word 'helping' in the phrase 'helping hand'. A dangling participle is missing the noun like the phrase 'that is not helping.' The word 'me' or words 'the situation' should follow the participle 'helping'.

Okay, an updated open thread list:

Sensae

BSP's grand scheme and subsequent showdown

Tracking down Mikaboshi

The Maliri Cybernetics Black Market

Edraele's bonding with her other Matriarchs and Bodyguards

Dealing with the Admirals of the T-Fed

The Drakkar abandoned in the mine field

The rebuilding of the Ashanath Fleet

All that Onyxium floating around Ashanath space near Ashana and the mine field

T-Fed recovered heat sinks from the Battle of Regulus

The new Maliri babies and reoriented society

The refitting of Maliri warships

The fleet being sent to Ashanath space as protective cover

The bonding of Tashana

The investigation of Rachel's, Tashana's, Sacura's, and Dana's new skills

The merging of Tashana's and also Sakura's memories

The incorporation of heat sinks, projen metallurgy, progen power couplings, progen capacitors, progen quantum flux cannons, quantum annihilator beam, invisibility cloaks, and worm hole engines into the Invictus, Raptor, Paragon armor, and weapons...both ship mounted and portable

The building of two cruiser class gunships to dock inside the large Invictus cargo hold

The fixing/upgrading of the Valkyrie and Raptor

The Inshunu

The Drakkar

The Kintark

The Brimorians

The Kirrixs

The Trankarans

Karron

The idiots who went into Kirrix space

The marriages and Rachel's/Calara's families

Rachel's father and Calara's parents/brothers

Faye's body

Faye's emotional issues

Athena's body

The Award's ceremony and who attends of the crew

The aftermath of the attack during the award's ceremony

The New Eden Vacation

Charles

Sensae

Jehenna

Rachel's skin care product line

Setting up the Orphanages

Carradine and his daughters

The popularity of the Lion in T-Fed and Terran space

The merging of Progen John and John

Body armor energy weapon shields

Next gen torpedoes

The Astral Plane Behemoth(s)

Two enhanced gunners to man the Invictus guns so Calara can concentrate on tactics

I have been thinking of ways to improve on the Progen Plating that was on the Legacy.

One of the possibilities is the use of Graphene which is a nanoscopic, room temperature, superconductor. In other words, the amount of energy in a 9-volt battery would be enough to elevate a very heavy magnetized structure over a super-thin layer of no mass creating a completely frictionless movement over a graphene sheet that was one molecule thick. This has implications in the rail guns and other mass drivers of the Invictus and hand held arms of the crew and ship. If there is no friction, there is no heat buildup...no barrel resistance...which means the rail guns can fire at max power and not blow up...the only limiting factor would be the projectile being able to handle the acceleration curve without self-destructing...Something a Crystal Alyssium round could easily accomplish. If the nose of the projectile were also prefragmented, one would have Crystal Alyssium rods explode off of the nose of the round upon impact with soft tissue while the core of the round could be a strong penetrator...or alternately, Dana could produce a rifle or pistol HEAT round using the kenetic energy of the fired projectile to form the liquified metal (crystal) penetrator at plasma heat levels. Combined with the energy-shield defeating characteristics of the new ordinance Dana is investigating, you could easily explain this as the way to defeat the Progen ship plating.

But I digress:

Another application, since Graphene is 200 times stronger than steel, is to create a biaxial Graphene skrim and use the Crystal Alysium like you would an epoxy resin, This would have the effect of creating a Crystal Alysium level 'bullet proof' vest that would prevent penetration of projectiles able to shatter/penetrate the Crystal stucture of Crystal Alysium. With Octa-shaped Crystal Alysium and tens of thousands of layers of Graphene sheeting (remember...Graphene is only one molecule thick), you would have a very thin, very strong, impenitrable plate or even cloth of woven fabric (without the Crystal Alyssium resin of course).

To give you some more information about the properties of Graphene:

Kevlar has a tensile strength of 3,757 mega pascals

Carbon fiber (the strongest man-made fiber today) has a tensile strength of 6,370 megapascals

The strongest steel (maraging steel) has a tensile strength of 2,693 megapascals

Graphene has a tensile strength of 130,000 megapascals which is 37 times more than Kevlar and 48 times stronger than the strongest man-made steel (a titanium alloy) and 20 times stronger than Carbon fiber (the strongest man-made fiber). Added to this is the extreme flexibility of Graphene, since it is only a two dimensional sheet, and you have the makings of a very strong, multi-layered scrim that is even stronger than Maliri Crystal (by a factor of 8). The resulting plating using a bi-axial scrim of Graphene and an epoxy type resin of single shaped Crystal Alyssium would make the Invictus Plating about 8 times stronger than the Titanium based version of Crystal Alyssium or 48 times stronger than the Terran standard as opposed to the 6 times Terran standard of current, single shaped Crystal Alysium. Now, 8-shaped Crystal Alyssium would make those numbers climb radically.

As for clothing...The two-dimensional structure of Graphene would make it softer than silk and a 1 molecule thich scrim attached to the fabric would be 37 times stronger than Kevlar. It would be water repellent, and impossible to rip or tear. The clothing would also repel magnetic forces at the molecular level.

There is no reason to believe Dana could not create this material as it is already being made today in small batches.

Additionally: the carbon molecule has four covalent bonds available. Two are used for the hexagonal structure of the hydrocarbon base unit while one is used to bond to the next hexagonal structure. That leaves a bond available for bonding to another two-dimensional layer of Graphene at each carbon molecule in the hexagonal matrix. This has the effect of doubling the strength of the single Graphene sheet with an additional layer of Graphene in a scrim that is only 2 molecules thick (actually bond widths are used since molecules really don't have a depth). With her new abilities, Dana could make a 2 molecule thick sheet of molecularly connected Graphene and layer them in 30 degree offset layers (each layer 2 molecules thick), using 8-shaped Crystal Alysium as an epoxy type binding agent that would be close to 20 times stronger than their current shield plating...even without the addition of the Progen metallergy.

For those in America, 130,000 mega pascals equates to 18,855,000 pounds per square inch or 9,427.5 tonnes per square inch. That is some VERY strong carbon lattice. And it is only one molecule thick!

To put that in perspective: If the singularity driver fires a 10 inch Titanium ball at approximately 250,000 kph (just short of the speed of light) it would only take about 750 layers of one molecule thick sheets of Graphene to stop it. Since a sheet of paper is about 650,000 atoms (bonds) thick, a paper thin Graphene scrim layed over the top and shaped into the 8 shaped Crystal Alysium plating on the invictus would be overkill when stopping the penetration of a Singularity mass driver round.

And with it being 8-shaped Crystal Alyssium, it would also be immune to energy weapons, being 100% reflective.

Now THAT is what I call the ultimate shield panel material!!!!!