Three Square Meals Ch. 100

It was as the Invictus rushed to regroup with the Terran forces that disaster struck. Before Irillith had been able to finish hacking one of the Kintark battleships, the Rinlan'tok fired a full broadside at the battlecruiser as it swept past. Roiling balls of plasma slammed into the stern, two of the huge Trankaran engines exploding as they were hit multiple times. The third Trankaran engine on the starboard side was badly damaged and set ablaze, green fire licking at the white armour plating. With three of the six engines rendered inoperable, that salvo effectively halved the Invictus' top speed.

Red damage warning sirens blazed around the Combat Bridge and Calara whirled around, ignoring the battle group interface as she looked back at the sprite in alarm. "Faye! What happened?!"

Faye's robotic body suddenly burst into life and she wrung her hands together in anguish. "I'm so sorry! We've lost three engines and there's a big plasma fire in the Galley on Deck Four!"

"We need the maintenance bots to put it out!" Calara exclaimed.

"They're on their way!" Faye replied, wincing as more plasma bolts struck the Invictus now that they were so much slower.

***

Dodging under another flurry of plasma bolts, Murphy threw a quick glance at the Proximity Grid, focusing on the pair of heavy fighters pursuing him. They were skilled opponents and he knew he wouldn't be able to keep out of their gunsights for much longer. He watched as three new sensor contacts charged recklessly towards the tangled melee, the Kintark reinforcements rushing to join their fellow pilots in hunting him down.

The holographic display showed the reinforcements opening fire... but there was something wrong. It looked like those Kintark pilots must be over-excited rookies, because they were firing well-outside Heavy Plasma Gun range. Expecting the shots to dissipate harmlessly, he was stunned to see they were blue laser bolts, not green plasma, and they were definitely not harmless! The two pursuing Kintark heavy fighters were ripped to shreds, each one gunned down in seconds.

As he blinked at the Proximity Grid in shock, he realised something else... those new fighters were fast... even faster than a Claymore. The wing raced past him and his jaw dropped when he finally got a glimpse of their sleek golden hulls. They were definitely alien ships, but the design was far more elegant than anything the Kintark possessed. The trio moved with expert coordination as they executed a sharp turn, heading back towards the bulk of the Kintark strike craft. His comms interface flashed and Murphy accepted the call in a daze.

A golden armoured figure appeared in his display, and in a voice that sounded like liquid honey, she said, "Terran, I strongly recommend that you return to your carrier. Your craft no longer appears to be spaceworthy..."

"I can't... we've still got the bombers to stop," he said, slowly shaking his head. A pair of flashes on the comms interface signalled more calls, so he patched them in, seeing two more of the golden-armoured women appear a second later.

"You are brave, Terran, but your fight here is done," the second said.

The third nodded. "Leave the Kintark to us. I would hate to see such a handsome male slain for no reason."

Murphy watched the trio of alien ships open fire on the closest of the Kintark bombers and he could see that each golden fighter was equipped with three triple-barrelled cannons. They appeared to be shooting at nearly twice the maximum range of his Gatling lasers, but the distance made no difference to the accuracy or power of those shots. Streams of cobalt-blue laser bolts overcame the bomber's shields in an instant, before neatly carving up the lumbering strike craft into glowing chunks.

"Who are you?!" he finally blurted out, staring at the three women in amazement.

The first armoured girl laughed as she replied, "I am Krisalei from House Valaden of the Maliri. Lorathyra and Torvanna are correct; there is no need for you to fight to the death, our squadron has been tasked with protecting the Odin's Thunderbolt for the remainder of the battle. You and your wingmates have all sustained damage... exposing yourselves to further danger is unnecessary."

Murphy gaped at her unable to believe his ears. "You're Maliri?!"

"That is correct, Terran," Krisalei replied, the amusement quite clear in her sensual voice.

All around him on the Proximity Grid, sensor contacts were winking out as the Maliri squadron efficiently slaughtered the Kintark strike craft. Half were focused on stopping the bombers in their tracks, while the rest took apart their fighter cover.

The comms interface flashed yet again and Murphy numbly accepted the call from his commanding officer. "We've been relieved, Murphy," Captain Lewis said, rubbing the sweat from his face. "We're too badly torn up to do any more good out here. We need to get back to the Zeus."

"On my way, Gator," Murphy said with a nod, then turned to look at the leader of the Maliri wing. "Thanks for the rescue, Krisalei. Your timing couldn't have been any better."

She inclined her head politely. "In truth it was Lorathyra and Torvanna who shot down the Kintark fighters pursuing you, but your gratitude is appreciated." Without another word they closed down the call, the trio of Maliri strike craft rushing after the next wing of Kintark fighters.

Murphy watched the Maliri leave with a pang of regret, wishing he could spend more time speaking to them.

"We'll escort you back home, Leprechaun," Abbott said, looking immensely relieved, the rest of his wing forming up protectively around his battered Claymore.

***

Sergeant Gibbons could see the eager, malicious glint in the Royal Guard's eyes as it tensed in readiness. The fearsome lizard launched itself forward, claws extended and ready to slice him to ribbons. He wasn't sure which of them was more shocked when the Lion slammed down on the malevolent predator's back, impaling it to the ground with his sword. The Kintark beast let out a keening screech of agony as the blade severed its spine, frenzied eyes locking on Gibbons for a split-second before blue flames roared out of its mouth.

The stench of scorched meat filled the air as the smouldering Royal Guard collapsed to the ground with a hoarse death-wheeze, but John was already moving. He yanked his fiery sword out of the flambéed lizard, then lunged at its companion, plunging the blade into its chest. That creature was too shocked to react as it exploded in flaming chunks, but by that time John had pounced on the third, cleaving it in half with what looked like an effortless backhanded swipe of his sword.

Jaw hanging open in disbelief, Gibbons watched as John seemed to move in a blur, sheathing his sword on his back and grabbing a vicious-looking rifle instead. The Lion whirled around, raising the weapon to his shoulder and aiming at the closest of the Kintark soldiers that had breached the inner wall. He fired that monstrous rifle at the lizardman, hitting the Kintark squarely in the chest. The hyper-accelerated round hit with such severe force that the torso was obliterated, scattering dismembered limbs like matchsticks.

The Lion turned to shoot at more Kintark soldiers and while at first glance it looked like he was firing on full-auto, there was something off about the way he was shooting. Gibbons could have sworn that the man fired off a hundred well-aimed shots in the space of about twenty seconds, the bark of each round followed by the death of another Kintark an instant later. Somehow John Blake even managed to reload half way through, his hands flickering as he ejected a spent magazine and loaded a new one, moving so fast it was almost impossible to follow those precise actions. John only lowered his rifle after reloading it a second time, coolly surveying his handiwork as he did so.

Gibbons followed the Lion's gaze and was astounded to see that he'd single-handedly swept the Kintark off the battlements. John hadn't left a single lizardman alive within the compound, having mown down at least a hundred Kintark in what was easily the most impressive display of marksmanship Gibbons had ever witnessed.

The Lion met Gibbons' stunned gaze and gave him a brief nod. "Reinforcements are on their way, soldier."

As if on cue, a sleek golden dropship roared overhead, two women in form-fitting armour leaping from the back of the vessel before it landed. They were both wearing the distinctive white armour of a Lioness, the Paragon suits letting them glide down to land lightly beside their leader. Each had drawn a gleaming white sword and held a long-barrelled pistol in their off-hand.

John turned to greet the new arrivals with a warm smile, but his voice was filled with concern as he said, "Almari, Ilyana... Alyssa warned me you were inbound."

"We felt so useless up on the ship..." the woman on the left said, sounding like she was worried that he'd order them to leave.

"Please let us assist!" the second begged, her tone equally as nervous.

He glanced at each of them, then nodded. "Alright, but no heroics. The girls will be here in a few minutes, so just hold the line until then."

They both gave him a respectful nod, then bounded away, rushing towards the corpse-strewn battlements. The dropship touched down moments later and dozens of golden-armoured women stormed out, each of them carrying impressive looking rifles that looked like variants of the one the Lion was carrying. The women quickly formed into squads and moved forward in disciplined tactical bounds. Gibbons saw that the Lion was watching their rapid advance to the battle lines, a strange look of almost fatherly concern in his eyes.

Gibbons cleared his throat. "Admiral Blake..." When he saw he had the Lion's attention, he continued, "That's the third time you've saved my life. Thank you."

There was a brief flicker of recognition in John's eyes and he smiled as he said, "Corporal David Gibbons, right? We met on Port Medea." He frowned in confusion. "What did you mean by 'Third time'?"

"I'm a sergeant now, Sir," Gibbons replied, his expression grim. "After your commendation, the promotion and transfer saved my life again. If not for that I'd still have been stationed on Port Medea when the Kintark destroyed it. A lot of my friends weren't so lucky..."

John's eyes narrowed in anger, and his furious gaze flicked up to the Dragon perched atop the Citadel. "One more debt of pain I owe that bastard." He glanced back at Gibbons, then at Wessex who was cradled in his arms. "Stay by the walls, the Maliri will protect you and my girls will join them shortly."

Gibbons felt a chill run through him when he saw the fury in the Lion's glowing eyes. Even though that rage wasn't directed his way, it was still terrifying to behold. Before he could reply, Blake shouldered his rifle and drew his sword, his armour lifting him into the air.

"Baledranax!" John roared, his Paragon suit amplifying his voice so that it boomed over the Citadel.

The Emperor's attention had been entirely focused on the opposite side of the fortress, firing his Plasma Cannons at the last of the Terran bunkers on the inner walls. When he heard his name, he sat up abruptly, his huge head turning so that he could affix this upstart with a baleful gaze.

"YOU DARE ADDRESS ME, MORTAL?" he rumbled, massive draconic visage twisted into a sneer of contempt.

John pointed his sword at the dragon. "I challenge your claim to the Terran Worlds!"

Baledranax studied him for a moment, a knowing look in his huge reptilian eyes. "SO WE MEET AT LAST, LION OF THE FEDERATION... I HAVE HEARD A GREAT DEAL ABOUT YOU FROM A MUTUAL ACQUAINTANCE OF OURS."

"Yes, I'm sure you have," John replied, glancing at his sword as it burst into flame, the ethereal fire burning with an unnatural hunger. "Did he tell you what happened to Kindralax?"

The Emperor threw his head back and laughed, his deep draconic chuckles echoing over the battlefield. "MY BROTHER WAS A FOOL! IT CAME AS NO SURPRISE THAT HE FINALLY PAID THE PRICE FOR HIS LACK OF FORESIGHT." Baledranax gave him a terrifying toothy grin, one that was filled with anticipation. "I HOPE YOU WILL MAKE THIS ENTERTAINING, LION. HUMANITY'S LAST SHRED OF HOPE WILL DIE WHEN I SLAY ITS GREATEST CHAMPION!"

"I don't think you'll find this entertaining, Baledranax, it'll be over too fast!" John twisted in the air and charged towards his colossal draconic opponent, willing his psychic speed into effect.

"HOW RIGHT YOU ARE, LION..." the dragon said, his gloating grin getting even wider.

There was a flash of purple light from a black device on the Dragon's back, and John felt an oppressive aura seem to sweep over him, the thick, cloying sensation smothering his mind. To his shock, time seemed to accelerate again as his psychic speed faded away, leaving him moving normally. At the same time, the eldritch blue flames limning his sword guttered out and died...

Baledranax roared as he leapt off the citadel with a massive sweep of his wings, rushing to meet John's faltering charge.

***

"Do you want me to go faster?" Faye asked, darting a nervous glance behind her. "They're getting awfully close!"

"Just keep going... hit that fleet at a 45-degree angle," Dana murmured, her eyes radiating a brilliant golden light as she poured more psychic energy into the Raptor's hull. She could sense all those mines as they hurtled along after the gunship, their presence making tiny distortions in the gravitational and magnetic fields she'd created.

Faye kept the Raptor on the same heading, rushing toward the cluster of Kintark capital ships, which had finally begun to react to their presence. The vast Kintark carrier group was just launching its second wave of bombers, the blocky green-hulled strike craft cruising out of the dozens of open hangars that lined each carrier. There was a substantial force of fighters watching carefully over their interstellar home and two full squadrons of heavy fighters turned to intercept the onrushing gunship.

The Kintark had no idea just how powerful the Raptor was, so the fighter pilots never for one moment anticipated Faye's opening Photon Laser salvo. Pulsed azure beams scythed through the ranks, the gunship's twin shoulder-mounted weapons annihilating the first four wings in a matter of seconds. By the time the rest of the fighter squadrons realised what had happened, the two forces had closed to medium range, allowing Faye to open fire with all six of her Pulse Cannons.

Although these weapons weren't as powerful as the devastating Photon Lasers, they fired in one unending stream of blue bolts. For someone like Faye, who was a great shot, if not quite as infallible as Calara, she was still able to cause incredible destruction by just swiping those deadly blue streams through each fighter. The gunship's turrets rotated back and forth as the independently targeted weapons cut the Kintark ships to pieces.

Before they had even reached short range, where the Kintark would finally be able to bring their Heavy Plasma Guns to bear, Faye had already massacred both squadrons. The Raptor hurtled through the glowing sea of debris, rushing towards the carrier fleet beyond. The dozens of battlecarriers and carriers had been holding fire, wary about hitting their own fighters, but they wasted no time in lighting up space with plasma bolts when they saw what the Raptor had just done.

"Don't go through them, fly right by," Dana muttered, brow furrowed in concentration.

Faye nodded, lifting the Raptor's nose as they neared the closest of the battlecarriers, the gunship moving far too quickly for the Kintark gunners to track. The sparkling white gunship rocketed past, dragging the long trail of mines in its wake as she ran parallel to the carrier fleet.

Dana could feel the presence of those huge Kintark hulls, giving her an incredibly accurate picture of the carrier formation. "Keep going..." she murmured, watching as the Raptor lured its deadly cargo onwards. As soon as the gunship reached the front ranks of the carrier group, Dana's head snapped around and she met her friend's worried gaze. "Hard starboard, full throttle... go!"

Faye bobbed her head, cranking up the Trankaran engines to maximum, while retro-thrusters roared along their hull, pushing the gunship into a sharp turn. The mines attempted to follow, but Dana had cut the gravitational field and was making diametrically opposed changes to the magnetic one. Shifting polarities, the magnetic charge on the hull went from strongly attracting the mines to powerfully repulsing them. For a brief second they hung in space as the forces reversed, then Dana hurled several thousand mines into the Kintark ships, the highly-explosive orbs slamming into the fleet like a shotgun blast from hell.

Titanic explosions ripped through the Kintark force as vessel after vessel was struck by mines, the levels of destruction unparalleled. 28 battlecarriers, 62 carriers, and over a thousand bombers were obliterated in a rippling blastwave that totalled everything in the vicinity... Nearly a million Kintark crew were torn apart in a matter of seconds.

Dana wavered and sat heavily on the deck, the golden glow fading from her eyes as the tears began to roll down her cheeks...

***

Alyssa strolled across the battlefield, with Rachel and Tashana flanking her, their Reaper Cannons and pistols carving glowing tracts through every Kintark in their path. They'd left a smouldering trail of corpses in their wake, the lizardmen soldiers falling like wheat before a scythe. The Royal Guard had attempted to charge the three girls at first, leaping unnaturally quickly over trenches and around bunkers as they attacked from every direction. A few had actually got alarmingly close, but Tashana had managed to put them down with well-placed Quantum slugs, showering the battlefield with flaming hunks of roasted reptile. If she hadn't been paying such close attention things could have gone very differently.

To protect them from any more close calls, Alyssa had summoned a dozen telekinetic melee weapons, ranging from swords to axes, then sent them spinning around her like a tornado. More of the Royal Guard had come after them, then hunched down just out of range of the glowing white weapons, trying to work out if they could jump the spinning wall of death. Alyssa had simply reached out to them with her mind, then dragged them kicking and screaming into that telekinetic buzzsaw, eviscerating the massive beasts with a flurry of savage cuts. A flame sprite from Tashana finished the job, incinerating the carcasses and preventing any recovery through regeneration.

"Tank on our left," Rachel warned, as she swung her Reaper Cannon around to gun down a Royal Guard trying to batter its way through a reinforced bunker door. The lizard screeched with pain as she blasted it in the back, blistering laser bolts punching huge holes through its armoured body.

"Yep, got it," Tashana replied, whipping her head around to spot it.

Keeping a firm grip on her Reaper pistol, she gestured with three fingers from her left hand. A fiery hexagonal shield roared into existence, interposing itself between the girls and the Kintark vehicle. Tashana reacted just in time as the hovertank opened fire, the Plasma Cannon recoiling as it blasted a big plasma bolt at the three Lionesses. The roiling plasma ball slammed into her pyrokinetic barrier, making the shield buckle under the stress and shattering dozens of hexagons. The hastily erected psychic barricade had served its purpose though, absorbing the plasma bolt with a searing hiss, as green globules of plasma sprayed harmlessly across the ground.

"I'll take care of the tank, keep clearing out the troops," Alyssa told them both as she pointed at the hovertank and made a sweeping upward motion with her hand.