Three Square Meals Ch. 100

"Okay, please hail the border fleet on a secure comm channel," he requested, turning his attention to the holo-screen.

It only took a couple of seconds for the call to be connected and a young communications officer appeared, his face lit up with excitement. "I-I can't believe it..." he stammered, looking at John in awe. Shaking off his shock, he continued, "It's an honour to speak with you, Vice Admiral Blake! How can I be of service?"

"I believe Admiral Morgan spoke with a Maliri Fleet Commander late last night. I'd like to speak with him if possible, please," John asked politely.

"Right away, Sir!" the lieutenant replied, snapping off a hasty salute.

The holo-screen image flickered a few seconds later and a worried man in an Admiral's uniform appeared before them, seated in what appeared to be his Ready Room. "Thank God you're here!" Morgan blurted out, his anxiety overriding his usual politeness. "I've been worried sick!"

"Thank you for granting passage to Lilyana and her fleet, Admiral Morgan," John said, giving him a grateful smile. "You could have made that very awkward."

Morgan gnawed his lower lip for a second. "It was a lot to ask... Letting an alien warfleet sail unopposed through Federation space could torpedo my career!"

"If you hadn't let them through, there'd be no Terran Federation left to have a career with," John said quietly.

That did little to settle the Admiral's nerves. "What the hell's going on? It can't be that bad, surely?"

John took a deep breath, then replied, "I'm afraid it is. The Kintark have launched what appears to be a massive invasion fleet for Terra; I sent the Maliri ahead to help defend the homeworld and that's where we're headed too. The battle's tomorrow."

Morgan gaped at him in shock, unable to believe what he was hearing. "But that's impossible! What about the Dragon March fleet?! I've not heard a thing..." He blinked owlishly for a moment, then balked, "Tomorrow! You'll never make it in time!"

"The Invictus is six times faster than a Terran ship... you'll see for yourself when we're in your sensor range. Don't worry, we'll get there in time," John replied, although he wasn't anywhere near as confident as his tone implied.

The Admiral smiled, looking greatly relieved. "Well thank God for you, John! Devereux wasn't wrong, you really are the Pride of the Federation!" He hesitated for a second, then added, "You really made an alliance with the Maliri?!"

John nodded, allowing himself a smile of his own. "I'm close friends with their leaders, and I know we can trust them. We're really going to need their help for the battle tomorrow."

Morgan frowned with frustration. "I just wish we were fast enough to join you as well... I feel so useless stuck out here." His frown deepened as he continued, "The Kintark invasion... it must be why Vice-Admiral Ling's fleet was recalled from this border to the Core Worlds."

"From what we've gathered so far, all the Federation fleets have been recalled... from every border. Yours is the only exception," John explained.

The Admiral grimaced, his mouth twisted with distaste. "Yes, I suspect I know why..."

Faye suddenly gasped, her face frozen in horror. "Oh no!"

John turned to her and asked insistently, "What is it?"

"Jehanna! She's gone missing!" the purple sprite exclaimed, her face stricken with anguish.

John's heart lurched in his chest and the armrests of his chair creaked as he clamped down on them with both hands. His eyes snapped back to the holo-screen and he said, "Sorry, Admiral, I've got to go."

Morgan nodded his understanding. "Thanks for the courtesy call. I wish you the best of luck for the battle... we're all counting on you, John."

Nodding to the Terran Federation officer before he closed the call, John reached out to grasp Faye's hand. "How do you know, Faye? What happened?"

Her face was tense with worry as she turned to the holo-screen. "We got this urgent message from Avery Gibson; he's Jehanna's boss... He sent it three days ago!"

The holo-screen flickered, replaying the recorded message.

The lean middle-aged man looked distraught as he stared at the camera. "I'm trying to get hold of John Blake, the Lion... it's about Jehanna... I-" his voice trailed away and he gulped down the lump in his throat as he made a visible effort to pull himself together.

"My name's Avery Gibson, I'm Editor-in-Chief at TFNN. My Lead Anchor, Jehanna Elani, has gone missing! She went to investigate a lead on the Nymph story... she arranged to meet a contact by the name of Peterson in a car park beneath the Balcova hotel. She was supposed to check in after the meeting, but there was no call... something happened to her... I think she was abducted last night!"

He ran his hand through his hair, eyes frantic as he blurted out, "I warned her not to take any risks, but she was adamant! She wanted to do that story for you! Please help, you've got to find her!"

Faye ended the message, then turned to face John. "He's called every day since then. She's still missing and from what Avery's found out from the police investigation, they suspect a kidnapping." Her expression darkened as she added, "Witnesses also heard gunshots just before she disappeared..."

Alyssa reached over and clasped John's hand, her expression fraught with worry. "You don't think she's...?"

The sinking feeling in John's chest got a hundred times worse. "What else can you tell us, Faye? Did Avery give you any more details?"

"Apparently the police tried to check the camera footage in the garage, but all the recordings were wiped, including the archived backups!" the purple girl explained, her luminous eyes tense with worry. "They checked the street cameras surrounding the hotel, but they'd been wiped too! The whole area was under a surveillance blackout!"

"She's still alive," Sakura said assertively as she stepped out of the grav-tube, followed by the rest of the girls except Jade and Helene. When John turned his chair to look her way, she walked up the steps towards him and continued, "Alyssa just filled us in. It wasn't some crazed stalker that took Jehanna. Pulling off that kind of blanket security lockdown takes specialist skills."

Irillith nodded as she said, "You'd need to remote wipe the camera feeds, from both hotel security and municipal security, then you'd have to track down their off-site archive facilities, hack them, and make sure the backup footage was erased."

"There'd be a tight timeframe too," Sakura agreed. "You'd need to neutralise the cam footage just before your operatives were in place for the abduction, to avoid anyone investigating broken cam-feeds. You wouldn't be able to wait until after she was taken to retro-actively delete the files, in case the alarm was raised too quickly and the footage was seen before you had a chance to erase it."

"Maybe a team of kidnappers working together?" Tashana suggested.

Sakura shook her head and gazed into John's eyes. "My gut tells me this was a Federation Internal-Security operation. After they went to all this trouble to abduct Jehanna, they wouldn't just kill her... I think she's probably still alive, perhaps being interrogated."

Alyssa looked deeply troubled as she said, "Jehanna was running loads of pro-Lion propaganda pieces. She must have really pissed someone off in High Command."

John's eyes got cold and hard. "I warned those fuckers... If Buckingham or any of his cronies were behind this, they're going to wish they were dead." His gaze snapped to Irillith. "Alright, the chains come off. If they want to try to fuck with us, we'll show them what happens. I want you to bust High Command security wide open! I want to know what happened to Jehanna, what happened with the Abandoned colonists, what they know about the Kintark invasion... all of it. I want all the dirt on Buckingham you can gather... anything you can find... and I don't give a fuck if he knows about it."

Irillith cracked her knuckles, a wicked smile on her face. "Oh yeah... They won't know what hit them!" She rushed off to her IntOps Station, her violet eyes glowing before she'd even taken her seat.

John leaned forward in his seat as he looked at Sakura. "Can you track Jehanna with her ethereal cord, like you did with Calara?"

Sakura hesitated, doubt in her almond-shaped eyes. "You'd need to load me up before I can check, although we could try using the Psi-scanner instead... but I thought you only fed Jehanna once?"

"That's true, but isn't there some kind of link anyway?" John asked hopefully.

Alyssa shook her head, her expression full of regret. "I don't have an empathic connection with Jehanna. It would take three times before she's permanently linked to me."

"I'm sure you're right, but I still want to double-check to make sure," John said, with obvious disappointment. "Otherwise, we're relying on Irillith to track her down."

"I could just beat the information out of Buckingham!" the blonde offered brightly. "I suppose I could break into his mind to find out, but that won't be quite as much fun."

John couldn't help imagining how frightened Jehanna must be... if she was actually still alive. "If we can get near Buckingham, either option sounds good at this point."

"So what's our overall plan?" Alyssa asked softly, squeezing John's hand. "It seems like the shit's hitting the fan from all angles at the moment."

He was quiet as he considered their options. "It seems pretty obvious to me that the Kintark are working for the other Progenitor. Even if they aren't, we can't have them at the Terran Federation's throats, so we need to eliminate them as a threat," he replied, his jaw clenching as he suppressed his anger. "As soon as we finish the battle, we need to rescue Jehanna. Then when she's safe, we sort out High Command once and for all. After the dust has settled, we help the Abandoned and deal with the Brimorians."

"We still have the Kirrix to defend against too," Calara reminded him, perturbed by the wide array of threats lined up against them. "We also have to help the Trankarans reclaim their lost worlds."

"I warned Chancellor Niskera telepathically that the Maliri fleet would be delayed," Alyssa said, gazing into John's eyes. "We'll be adding at least three more days until they arrive, due to this diversion to Terra."

John nodded, then turned to look at Calara. "We need to keep that fleet as intact as possible... minimal casualties if you can manage it. The Trankarans desperately need their help."

The Latina hesitated as she said, "I can use them far more cautiously than I'd previously intended, but it'll limit their effectiveness in the battle against the Kintark."

"You know our medium and long term strategic objectives; I trust you to make the best judgement call," he said, meeting her apprehensive brown-eyed gaze.

"Only five months left before our retirement," Alyssa said with the hint of a smile. "Sounds like we're going to be very busy..."

"Wait a second!" Faye blurted out, a look of confusion on her elfin face. "Something isn't making sense!"

"About using the Maliri against the Kintark?" John asked, looking as bewildered by her outburst as everyone else.

"No, I don't mean them, I was thinking about Jehanna!" Faye exclaimed, turning to look at Alyssa in confusion. "John only fed Niskera once, but you just said you're able to contact her telepathically!"

"Yes, that's right," Alyssa said, nodding her confirmation, but appearing bemused at the way Faye was reacting. "What's the problem?"

Faye looked around at the sea of bewildered faces in astonishment. "What's the matter with all of you? Alyssa just said a girl needs to be fed three times to be permanently linked, but Niskera only took one time!" Her luminous purple eyes flickered as she gasped, "Oh! She's not the only one either! What about all the Maliri?! You've linked over a thousand of them to Edraele and aside from her inner circle, the vast majority were only fed once... but they're all still connected!"

Alyssa blinked, the shock behind her eyes like a light had just been switched on. "How the fuck did we miss that?!"

John frowned, gazing around at the girls. "Maybe we've subconsciously avoided thinking about it, like the way we were oblivious to the physical and mental aspects of the Change for so long."

"Thinking back now, I had an empathic connection to Jade after the first time too," the blonde said, looking thoughtful. "I remember the mosaic portrait appearing in my mind before you'd fed her three times."

Shrugging in exasperation, John said, "There's bound to be some kind of explanation, but I've no idea what it could be."

"I'll look into it," Rachel volunteered.

He nodded to her gratefully, then glanced around the group. "We've got a few hours this evening for final preparations, then we should call it a night; we have an early start tomorrow morning so I want you all well-rested. We'll arrive in the Sol System just before 7:00am, so I suggest we get up an hour earlier for a pre-battle briefing and a last-minute top-up."

They all seemed quite happy with his plan, but Sakura met his gaze as he looked at each of them in turn. "I'd like to practice fighting with a single blade. Would you be up for a sparring session?"

"Training for the Valkyrie?" John asked, receiving a nod when he guessed correctly. "Sure, we can go over some battle tactics with the sword. I'll meet you in the Dojo in a few minutes, but I need to call Charles first."

"No problem, I'll see you down there," the Asian girl readily agreed.

The group began to disperse and Calara fell into step with John as he headed to the Ready Room. He pressed the button to open the door and gestured for her to enter. "Now with a bit of luck, we can find out what the hell's been going on back on Terra..."

***

Admiral Charles Harris took his seat in the holographic meeting room, studying the members of High Command that were gathering for this Emergency Meeting. There were several other Admirals physically present in the room with him on Olympus Shipyard, but most were represented via holographic images. The atmosphere was tense, with everyone speculating about the purpose of the meeting. Charles glanced around the room looking for familiar faces and when he got to Admiral Cartwright, he saw that the canny logistics officer was staring right at him.

"Any idea what this is about, Aiden?" Charles asked his colleague.

"I was hoping you might be able to tell me, Charles," Cartwright replied in his detached unemotional voice. "I've heard some... disturbing rumours of late."

Charles frowned and shook his head. "I've had my nose to the grindstone. It's been bedlam for the last couple of weeks trying to coordinate all these civilian contractors with the refit, I haven't had time for gossip."

"How interesting..." Cartwright murmured, his shrewd, penetrating gaze making Charles feel uncomfortable. "I believe you met with Admiral Devereux shortly before her... incident. Should I believe that to be mere coincidence?"

"Wait a minute... what happened to Devereux?!" Charles blurted out, looking at the other Admiral in alarm.

Cartwright tilted his head to one side. "Very convincing... or perhaps an artful ruse?"

Before Charles could ask any more questions, a hologram of Fleet Admiral Buckingham strode into the room. The leader of High Command was currently in the Citadel on Terra, in a holographic meeting room identical to the one on Olympus.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Buckingham began, raising his arms to get the Admirals' attention. The room went silent as all eyes focused on him. "I've called this emergency meeting to discuss some urgent business and to address the wild rumours that have been circulating of late."

He began to pace back and forth. "These are dark times, my friends. The Terran Federation is beset by hostile aliens on all sides and now is the time for us to band together, for the betterment of all humanity." Buckingham froze and gazed out at his audience. "The Terran Federation has been invaded by the Kintark Empire!"

There were shocked gasps all round and Charles shared a stunned look with Cartwright.

"Why did you order a comms blackout in the Dragon March?" Admiral Eleanor Maybridge demanded furiously rising to her feet. "I've seen all the fleets gathering in the Sol System... Why aren't you dispatching reinforcements to Port Medea?!"

Buckingham turned to face her, his expression one of sympathy. "You have my most sincere condolences, Eleanor. Port Medea and the defensive fleets were overwhelmed and completely destroyed with the loss of all hands."

Her face went white as a sheet and she brought her hand to her chest as she wavered unsteady, the two Admirals helping return the horrified woman to her seat. Through his utter shock at hearing the fate of the Dragon March forces, Charles felt a sharp pang of sympathy for Admiral Maybridge; he knew her niece was stationed on Port Medea.

Returning his focus to the rest of his audience, Buckingham declared, "The Kintark invasion force is heading for Terra! I've recalled all available fleets in preparation to meet this deadly threat with the massed might of the Terran Federation. We're going to crush them in our own backyard!"

Charles didn't feel any sense of relief after solving the mystery behind the throng of fleets gathering at Olympus Shipyard; instead he felt a terrible sense of dread. The fleets had been arriving for the last few days, but it was only a four-day journey to the Dragon March from Alpha Centauri... Just how long had Buckingham known they were coming?

"When do the Kintark arrive?" he called out loudly.

Buckingham glanced at him in irritation, obviously planning to build up to that announcement. "Tomorrow morning," he grudgingly admitted.

That announcement brought chaos to the meeting room as Admirals gasped, shouted, and swore, their reactions alternating from fear to outrage.

"You're only telling us now?!" Admiral Kester roared. "You fucking fool! What the hell are you playing at?!"

Buckingham's eyes narrowed in fury as he snapped, "You'll keep a civil tongue in your head or I'll see you ejected from this meeting!"

"Fuck civility, you demented old bastard!" Kester snarled. "You can't keep High Command in the dark, we-"

His holographic image blinked out and the Fleet Admiral nodded his appreciation to Admiral Weber.

"Silence, all of you!" Buckingham demanded. The indignant roar of the crowd quieted to surly mutterings as he continued, "All precautions have been taken... We've mined the most likely approach vectors to the Sol System and we've summoned every available fleet that was close enough to Terra to arrive in time for the battle. Our forces have undergone maintenance, resupply, and rearmament at Olympus; they're all battle-ready. I have ensured that-"

Admiral Cartwright rose to his feet. "What happened to Devereux?" he interrupted, his calm but frosty voice slicing through the unsettled rumbling in the meeting room.

The Fleet Admiral held himself ramrod straight. "Lynette Devereux was conspiring with hostile aliens to overthrow High Command. I charged her with treason and she was shot while resisting arrest."

There were more shocked gasps, with High Command left reeling by his blunt declaration.

"I've never heard anything more absurd," Cartwright replied with a cold look of contempt. "Devereux was fiercely loyal, she loved the Terran Federation."

Buckingham shook his head, a triumphant smile on his face. "I told her not to go running to John Blake for help, but she ignored a direct order and attempted to do so anyway! Her 'Lion of the Federation' has been in league with the Maliri all along... Devereux was plotting a coup!"

Admiral Morgan's holographic face looked ashen. "The Maliri... they've sent a warfleet... they're heading for Terra!"