Three Square Meals Ch. 100

Gibbons heard the angry sizzle of Plasma Cannons being fired behind him, quickly followed by a huge explosion to his right. The blast was strong enough to stagger him and he clutched at the pockmarked battlements to stay on his feet. When he glanced to his right, he saw that Bunker 187 had been completely destroyed, only a burning plasma-filled crater left in its wake.

Darting a fearful look behind him, he saw the gigantic black-clad dragon, perched up on top of the Citadel like it owned the place. The twin Plasma Cannon barrels on the Emperor's back were shimmering, heatsinks venting away any excess heat to cool the weapons down so they could be fired again. Baledranax didn't even look his way as the majestic dragon turned to aim at the next bunker along the final defensive wall. Gibbons wasn't sure if he should feel insulted or just incredibly relieved that he was so beneath the terrifying draconic beast's notice.

"Commander, what're we going to do about that dragon?" Gibbons asked, watching as ineffective potshots were fired at the Emperor from around the perimeter of the fortress.

"I say we do fuck all, and keep our heads down," Brannigan muttered, his earlier bravado taking a back seat to self-preservation. "Look at the size of that fucking thing! If we shoot him, we're just going to piss him off!"

Wessex glanced up at the huge monster and grimaced. "We're going to need the fleet to take out that beast. We've already got our hands full trying to stop the rest of his army from overwhelming the Citadel."

As if to reinforce her point, plasma bolts flashed around them, blasting glowing chunks out of the battlements and splashing molten plasma across the walls. A squad of Kintark soldiers were finally close enough to fire on the power armoured troopers who'd been making their advance a living hell, Wessex's squad having harassed them from afar with their support weapons.

Brannigan, Gibbons, and the rest of Sentinel Alpha returned fire, raking the Kintark soldiers with laser bolts and autocannon rounds. Wessex was too busy to fire back, instead she barked orders on the Company comms channel, ordering her power-armoured troopers back to the rearmost emplacements. Gibbons watched as the heavily outnumbered squads began to retreat, running back along the evacuation routes to the final bastion wall.

"They're here..." Wessex suddenly breathed over the comms interface, a look of wonder on her face.

Gibbons tore his eyes away from the Royal Guard he'd been shooting at, the rampaging lizard currently attempting to tear its way into one of the forward bunkers. He quickly searched the battlefield, knowing exactly who she was referring to. That was when he saw them dropping from the sky...

The Lion was wearing the same suit of armour that he'd worn in the recent footage of his fight against the Kirrix, but what had really drawn Gibbons' attention was the huge sword the man carried, sheathed as it was in dancing blue flames. Three of his Lionesses were with him, the quartet sailing through the air as if they were somehow above the petty battles being fought beneath them. Gibbons frowned as he realised that it was literally true, seeing as how John and his Lionesses were flying above the battlefield at the time.

He watched the four of them touch down at the outer edges of the Terran fortifications. With their sparkling white armour, and the bright flare of thrusters on their backs resembling glorious golden wings, their dramatic entrance made them seem like angels descending from heaven. When Gibbons glanced at Commander Wessex's awestruck expression, he realised the effect was definitely not lost on her, and his heart sunk like a stone.

***

Jade's vertically-slitted eyes darted back and forth watching for the slightest sign of movement along the Odin's flanks. The dreadnought had stopped retreating and was now moving back into range to support what was left of Weber and Mishra's ravaged reserve forces. In the distance she could see the occasional flash of an explosion in a tumultuous dogfight, where a handful of Claymore fighters were trying their hardest to keep the Praetorian bomber wings at bay. Trying not to get distracted by the bright flickers of colour and movement in the raging battle, the Nymph watched the Odin's hangar bay doors, waiting for her quarry.

And then there it was...

The black shuttle slipped out of the dreadnought and almost immediately activated its stealth mode, the tiny craft flickering out of sight on the Tactical Map. With its energy profile reduced to almost nothing, her own shuttle's sensors were unable to pick up any trace of the vessel, but Jade had never planned on relying on sensors to track this target.

Her sharp eyes never wavered from the shuttle as it crept away and she powered up her own stealth shuttle's engines and followed after it. Weber had thought he was in dire danger from the Kintark bombers and had fled for his life, just as she'd expected. The dreadnought was a mobile weapons platform, not a carrier, so it only had limited docking bays. Unless a hyper-warp capable vessel docked with the Odin to whisk Weber away, which it hadn't, then that meant he would be forced to try to flee to a location within the Sol System.

If Weber fled to one of the many starports on the populated worlds in the Sol System, Jade would simply intercept, incapacitate, and detain him before he could board a jump-capable ship. Then she would offer him up to Alyssa's tender mercies, where she was sure the powerful telepath would come up with some highly creative way of punishing him, once she'd stripped all the secrets from his mind. Should Weber run to "Tartarus", the hidden base that they suspected he was associated with, then Jade planned to take steps herself to protect Jehanna and her sisters.

The thought of being reunited with more Nymphs left her experiencing a riot of conflicting emotions. She was giddy with excitement at the prospect of being reunited with them again after so long, but felt chagrined and guilty that she had inadvertently caused their capture. Finally she could feel the anger slowly building at her sisters' treatment... the normally placid Nymph growing increasingly incensed that Buckingham and Weber would try to keep her apart from her fellow Lenarrans.

There were so many things she wished to speak with those Nymphs about and couldn't help wondering what, if anything, they might remember about Lenarra. John longed to know more about the past, so for his sake more than her own, she really hoped that they might be able to recall something of their time with Mael'nerak. Her own memories were very patchy around that time and she could remember nothing that transpired before that final meeting with her original Progenitor Master and his kind-hearted Matriarch.

After John had helped draw out Jade's personality, she'd had a few moments of introspection where she had pondered that she really might be the last surviving Nymph. Of course, John had promised her that he would give her children of her own, but the opportunity to be surrounded by her own kind was almost too wonderful to imagine. She loved John and his mates with all her heart, but she also longed for the chance to be reunited with more of her people.

Jade did her best to put such thoughts aside as she tracked Weber's stealth shuttle, watching as it changed course and headed towards Jupiter...

***

John crouched down as soon as he landed, thumping his left fist into the ground. Channelling his will into a circular telekinetic wall, he unleashed it on the shocked Kintark troops that surrounded them. The psychic blastwave rushed outwards, hurling scores of soldiers through the air and clearing a thirty-metre space around his position. A Royal Guard clung on for dear life, talon-like claws embedded in the ground to stop it being tossed away, so he darted forward and decapitated it with a swift slash of his sword. Its reptilian face was frozen in shock as the immolated head sailed into the air, ethereal blue flames making it look like a ghoulish jack-o-lantern.

As soon as the girls landed, they immediately sprang into action. Tashana reacted fastest with her Reaper Pistols, sending twin columns of blue laser bolts scything through the closest Kintark troops. Each bright shaft of energy burned wide holes through the lizardmen, simply slicing the soldiers in half as she swept those deadly blue streams through their ranks. Flame sprites danced from her fingertips into each pistol's magazine and she fired the underslung barrels like grenade launchers, the Quantum rounds penetrating deep into the enemy formations before exploding into huge fireballs.

Rachel and Alyssa levelled their Reaper Cannons at a squad of ten Royal Guards, then strafed them with a blistering hail of azure light. John spotted the tell-tale flicker of shields around the hulking lizards, but those protective fields were inadequate to the task of stopping that kind of firepower. The Royal Guard were cut down where they stood, the huge creatures barely having time to utter a death cry as they were speared through by incredibly powerful laser bolts. Each shot was nearly as potent as a ship-based Laser Cannon blast, but the Reaper Cannons were firing without pause, leaving little more than smouldering piles of glowing limbs in their wake.

John rose from his crouch and gazed across the battlefield at his target, the massive dragon looming over the Citadel like some ancient mythical wyrm guarding its treasure horde. There was a green flash of light and Baledranax fired his twin Plasma Cannons at the Terran defenders, a bunker exploding in a virulent blast of superheated plasma. He could see how dire the situation was with the remaining Terran forces on the verge of a full-scale rout as they retreated to the final defensive lines.

Glancing back at his three companions, John said over their internal comms channel, "Alright, follow me. The Kintark are about to overrun the Citadel."

Alyssa met his gaze and shook her head. "Don't wait for us, go introduce yourself to the Emperor!"

"I'm not leaving you alone in the middle of a warzone!" he balked.

"Don't worry, we can take care of ourselves!" She winked at him and let go of her Reaper Cannon, her eyes blazing with a fierce white light.

A pair of disembodied telekinetic hands appeared a moment later, grasping the floating weapon and tilting the long barrel towards the closest group of Kintark troops. Alyssa wasted no time in hosing them down with streams of blue laser fire, the energy bolts carving through rank after rank of enemy soldiers. Now that her hands were free, she gestured at a Kintark hover tank, then tightened her telekinetic grip around its long twin barrels. Hauling the tank into the air, she used it as a fifty-ton mace, slamming it down on the second tank in the formation and smashing both into the ground.

John watched the two armoured vehicles explode, flaming debris cartwheeling across the battlefield. "Alright, but call me if you get into any trouble!"

"Yep, no problem," Alyssa replied with a smile, then flicked her hand at a salvo of plasma missiles that were screaming their way. Her telekinetic swipe knocked them off course and they plummeted down into the Kintark forces, immolating a swathe of their own soldiers.

Turning around, John sprinted towards the Citadel, his psychic speed making him move in a blur. The Kintark had already overrun the first several lines of fortifications, so he kicked off hard from the smoking remains of a Federation tank and vaulted into the air. Activating flight mode, he had a clearer view of the battlefield from up here and saw that pockets of Terran troops were holding out in bunkers, fighting a series of last stands against the Kintark.

*Keep going... We'll help the Terran troops on the way,* Alyssa told him.

He glanced back and saw the three girls striding purposefully towards the closest besieged bunker, the blonde leading her wards as a brutal fire team. They carved their way through the Kintark troops, blue laser bolts mowing down any alien soldiers in their path.

***

Murphy held his finger down on the trigger, spraying the Kintark bomber with orange laser fire. The shields on the bombers were more resilient than those on the fighters and it took a while to blast through them. He had to jink and weave around to avoid the bursts of plasma from the bomber's tail-gunner, but he'd only taken a couple of hits so far and his Claymore's shields were still intact... barely.

He watched the heat indicators climbing on his weapon loadout, banking on the bombers shields giving out before he had to let his Gatling Lasers cool down. It was a close-run thing, but he saw his laser bolts suddenly burst through the shield and burn a glowing track of holes across the rear of the bomber's fuselage. Tapping the thumb control for his Gauss Cannon, he grinned as he anticipated the slug ripping through the bomber, but his happy expression faded when nothing happened. It was only then that he noticed the red warning icon flashing on his HUD, the message declaring he was out of ammo.

"Fuck!" he swore, in a mixture of anger and frustration. The bomber was nearly within optimal torpedo range of the Terran Dreadnought, but Murphy's Gatling Lasers would need at least ten seconds to cool down, leaving him with nothing left to throw at the lumbering Kintark ship. Glancing at his comms interface, he saw his wingmen's tense faces as they fought their own desperate battles. "I've stripped the shields off this bastard... can any of you help take him down?"

"Sorry Leprechaun, got three fighters on my six," Lincoln replied, his arm jerking from side to side as he performed evasive manoeuvres.

Baker shook his head. "Just killing one at the moment, Boss!"

"No can do, Sir," Abbott replied, frowning in concentration. "Binary's wing is in trouble, I'm helping out!"

"Give me two seconds, Leprechaun," Halifax said, his eyes flicking to his HUD. "I'll get him for you."

Murphy didn't acknowledge his last wingman's reply, as he was frantically scanning the Proximity Grid to find Abbott and Binary. When he saw them, he felt his heart lurch in his chest. Binary and the last remaining Claymore in his wing were being tailed by six Kintark heavy fighters, with Abbott in frantic pursuit. Even though the Terran fighters were much faster, there were dozens of Kintark strike craft in this swirling melee, so attempting to power away in a straight line from their pursuers would make them an easy target for the merciless lizardmen.

Torn between the urge to help his old friend and his duty to keep hunting the bombers who were so close to their target, Murphy was distracted enough to get sloppy with his dodging. The Kintark tail gunner let rip, twin bursts of plasma bolts taking out the last of the Claymore's shields and bracketing the cockpit. The shots on the left sailed high, but the ones on the right clipped the fighter's engine, blowing it apart in a big explosion that rocked Murphy in his seat.

"Get out of there, Leprechaun!" Halifax yelled in fright.

Murphy reacted by shoving the flightstick forward, dropping his Claymore's nose, before banking hard to starboard. He saw the flash of green plasma bolts sailing overhead, but these were coming from behind him now, not from in front.

"Three fighters on your tail," Halifax warned him. "Give me a few seconds and I'll take them down."

"Negative, Halifax," Murphy said curtly, yanking his flightstick to the left in a sharp roll. "Get that bomber..."

He saw the young man's expression tighten, but Halifax was a good kid, Murphy knew he'd obey his orders. With one engine down, he could barely match speed with the Kintark fighters, and with all the dodging, they were all over him. The one thing he did have was a much tighter turning circle, so he decided to turn the tables in the most rudimentary way he had available to him. Pulling the flightstick back, he performed a tight loop... and kept turning... and turning... bringing his crosshairs ever closer to his pursuers.

The Kintark wing split up when he got behind them, but he stayed on the leader, ignoring the other two as they rolled away. Squeezing his finger down on the flightstick trigger, Murphy's eyes narrowed as he lit up the rear of the Kintark fighter, showering it with orange laser bolts. Four seconds was all it took to strip those shields and he raked the Claymore's amber claws across the fighter's fuselage, blasting big holes in the rear of the Kintark ship. The heavy fighter tried to pull up to escape the gunship's vengeful wrath, but laser bolts stitched their way up the hull and blew out the cockpit canopy, instantly killing the pilot.

Murphy's jubilation was short lived as his Claymore jolted violently again, red warning lights splashing over his HUD. With shock he realised the two Kintark wingmen had just pulled aside to let him pass, then slotted in on his tail and blasted his gunship as he took down their wingleader. His Claymore had lost its entire left wing along with several retro-thrusters, wrecking his Claymore's agility and knocking out three of his Gatling Lasers. The only silver lining in a black cloud was that he wasn't currently on fire and he shivered as he couldn't help remembering Romeo's fate.

"Leprechaun!" Halifax gasped, bordering on panic. "Keep moving, I'm on my way..."

Murphy felt a sense of peace descend on him, a calm he hadn't felt since Regulus... or perhaps it was something he'd never known before. "Keep on the bombers, Lieutenant," he said quietly, as he pulled to port, the retro-thrusters on his starboard side still allowing him a decent turn-rate. "One fighter isn't worth a dreadnought..."

He looked at the comms interface and saw all his wingmen watching him with looks of horror on their faces... He could see they all desperately wanted to rush to his aid, but he'd trained them too well and they knew their duty.

Continuing with his last-ditch turn, Murphy glanced at the Proximity Grid and saw the green icons marking Terran ships were few and far between. There were nine green dots remaining from well over a hundred Rapiers and Claymores, the rest a red swirl of unfriendly sensor contacts. Another trio of Kintark ships rocketed towards him, obviously eager to try and steal the kill from the two heavy fighters on his tail. He laughed humourlessly... that more than anything showed how little honour the Kintark pilots possessed.

His Claymore was too battered to limp away and he knew he'd only be able to keep circling for so long before the Kintark took him down. However, he was determined to make them work for their kill; the longer he kept those bastards distracted, the more time he'd give his wingmen to hammer the bombers...

***

Calara studied the Tactical Map, watching with a brief surge of relief as Dacres' fleet jumped into the outskirts of the Sol System near Pluto. Despite the upgraded engines on his ships, it would still take him some time before he could join in the bloody battle. The Maliri fleet had proven their worth many times over, inflicting massive damage to any Kintark ship that got in range and allowing Admiral Aeri Malone's battle group to completely disengage. A few triple beamed Nova Lance blasts had done a thorough job of convincing the Kintark to stay well back and avoid grouping up at all costs.

Her sense of relief quickly faded as the first wave of Kintark bombers fell upon the rest of the retreating Terran battle groups. What was left of the Terran picket forces opened up with their Gatling Laser defence grids, but they weren't hitting hard enough to wear down the bombers' shields in time. She saw the first squadron of lumbering strikecraft launch their torpedoes, with two of the four destroyed by laser fire, but the other two slammed home in the battleship Artemis. One hit the front of the Terran vessel, the huge blast ripping away the prow, while the other blew an enormous hole in the side of the Artemis, several decks immediately experiencing explosive decompression.