Three Square Meals Ch. 109

Alyssa glanced at her Reaper Cannon next, ghostly translucent hands holding the white gun as it floated in the air. The long-barrelled weapon opened fire, the muzzle alight with staccato blue flashes, tilting back and forth as it unloaded a stream of laser bolts into the savagery below. Paying no more attention to her psychic creations, Alyssa stalked towards the rear of the hive ship, hands reaching out to tear and destroy. With a savage upward jerk, she ripped the massive engine housing from the stern in a shower of sparks and mangled metal.

The 40-ton propulsion system hung in the air for a moment as Alyssa looked to her right, her clear-crystal faceplate darting back and forth until she found a suitable target. There was a flash of movement from the left as the hive ship's engine was launched skyward, then it smashed into the ground, crushing a Juggernaut to death and spraying green blood in a broad arc. The battered engine ploughed a deep furrow in the ground, demolishing a score of helpless Kirrix drones until it finally came to rest. The camera bobbed as Alyssa nodded with satisfaction, then she turned to rip away a second engine, needing more ammo for her telekinetic trebuchet.

The remaining two engines quickly followed the first, splattering a couple more Juggernauts. Alyssa stepped gracefully off the side of the hive ship, floating down to ground level with her Reaper Cannon taking care of the final black-carapaced survivor. Alyssa paid it no attention, her focus on the psychic energy swirling around her hands, the blonde still tapping into her formidable reserves of power. Crouching down, she thumped the ground with a fist, sending a pulse of light outwards that seemed to disappear through the hull of the hive ship.

Alyssa backed up a couple of paces, staring at the hull as if looking for something. She seemed to find it, because she turned abruptly, jogging towards a section of the hive ship's underbelly to her left. Raising her clenched fists again, she cut loose with a dazzling beam of incandescent light that was so bright, it hurt Helene's eyes to look at it. The aquatic girl blinked as she saw spots before her eyes and as soon as they had faded, she quickly looked back to see what was happening next.

The Reaper Cannon was still blazing away, but now it was firing into a huge rift that Alyssa had blasted through the side of that yellowish-brown hull. The cannon finally stopped firing for the first time since the fight started, bright blue flashes no longer reflecting off the clear facemask. Helene wondered what was happening for a moment, then Alyssa's fell legion of telekinetic blades stormed through the breach in the hull, shrill Kirrix death shrieks starting only a few seconds later.

Alyssa turned back to survey the courtyard, her eyes flicking from one pile of butchered Kirrix corpses to the next. The only living creatures left were the terrified civilians, who had watched what seemed to be magic weapons pop out of the air then hack apart their Kirrix captors. They clearly recognised Alyssa as a Lioness, but the psychic energy whirling around her made them pause, not knowing what to make of this supernatural sorceress. It was quite clear to them that Alyssa was the creator and owner of those wicked telekinetic blades, and the crowd hesitated, torn between their desire to thank her or flee for their lives.

That suited Alyssa just fine and she activated flight mode, lifting off the ground. "You guys are free to go, but if you have friends or family inside this ship, they'll be out in a couple of minutes."

The civilians just gaped at her in astonishment, returning her cheerful wave with bewildered ones of their own.

*And that's how it's done...* Alyssa said to Helene, knowing she had an audience.

Helene could scarcely believe what she was seeing. The girls had all been so gentle and caring with her, but seeing them in action like this, she couldn't help but be shocked by the unrestrained violence they were visiting on their enemies. Darting a furtive glance at Calara, she watched as the kind-hearted Latina used the Invictus' incredible firepower to rain down death and destruction on the approaching Kirrix vessels.

Calara began by coring through one huge insectoid ship with a Nova Lance blast, while simultaneously blowing a second to pieces with Singularity Driver slugs. The Invictus was performing a slow roll as it reversed, so the drone carriers attacking from the flanks were intercepted by an unrelenting barrage of Tachyon Lance salvos. Two more capital ships were ripped apart, one efficiently carved into glowing chunks, the second blown to pieces in a colossal explosion as the Power Core went critical.

Helene suddenly realised she was being watched and turned to see Faye studying her with those big luminous eyes.

"Everything alright?" the elfin girl asked quietly.

"How many aliens live on each of those spaceships?" Helene whispered, her gaze drifting back to the Tactical holograph, almost dreading to know the answer.

Faye flicked a glance to an ochre-hued drone carrier as it shuddered and broke apart, Singularity Driver rounds battering it into submission. "At least ten-thousand per vessel," she replied, a flicker of regret crossing her elfin face.

Helene's mouth dropped open in shock, the sheer numbers of dead were almost more than she could imagine. She suddenly realised that every time one of those strange ships exploded, she was watching the extermination of what would be the equivalent of several villages of her people.

"Maybe this was a bad idea," Faye said with concern, seeing the growing horror in Helene's eyes.

The aquatic girl shook her head, turning to look back at the bank of holo-screens. "No, I need to see John and the girls in battle. I owe it to them to watch what they have to do to protect everyone..."

***

John dropped from the sky, the light blazing in his eyes burning brighter than the thruster on the back of his Lion armour. The runes on his sword matched that dazzling sapphire light, shrouding the blade in an aura of eldritch power. Hurtling to the ground like a meteor, he landed amidst the ranks of Kirrix, the blastwave from that impact sending scores of insectoid soldiers cartwheeling through the air.

Hundreds of compound eyes swung around to stare at the smoke-filled crater, weapons raised to deal with this threat from the heavens. Before they could open fire, John charged out of the billowing clouds, his two-handed sword whistling around in a curving slash. Runes flared all the brighter and a glowing wave of force erupted outwards, hurtling across the open plaza and sweeping all before it. Whole squads of Kirrix were smashed dozens of metres into the air, their six limbs flailing wildly until they hit the ground in a series of sickening crunches.

One of the Juggernauts stabbed down with its dual claws, impaling the ground to stop it being smacked away like a bowling pin. John lunged forward in a blur, his blade arcing down in an overhead chop that sliced the hulking creature in half from temple to abdomen. Its unearthly features registered its shock as it slowly split apart, green ichor running in a stream down its sundered onyx torso.

Moving in short bursts, John zig-zagged his way through the horde, leaving a trail of utter devastation behind him. He blasted the Kirrix from his path with broad telekinetic waves of force, insectoid troops hurled high into the air, only for them to rain down in broken twitching heaps. John bore down on the next group, but he hesitated as he was about to launch another wild blastwave of raw power. He concentrated hard on tightly narrowing the projection of his will and when he next whirled the blade around, the corresponding telekinetic wave appeared as a razor-edged arc. Slicing through everything in its path, it neatly disembowelled every Kirrix in a ten-metre-wide channel, until it crashed into a building on the far side of the plaza in an explosion of rubble.

*I always knew you could do it, Master!* Jade congratulated him, no mistaking the elation in her voice.

*You were right, I just had to believe it would work,* he marvelled, scything down another swathe of Kirrix.

*John, I'm not giving you any power...* Edraele murmured, shocked at the destruction he was unleashing completely unaided.

*The runes on the blade... they act as a focus,* John explained, charging towards the next group and hacking them down with another arc of force. *They amplify the psychic energy I'm channelling into the blade!*

He paused and looked around him, realising that there was nothing else left standing in the entire courtyard. The Terran prisoners huddled fearfully on the floor, staring in shocked silence at their saviour as he surveyed the broken piles of Kirrix troops.

"You're free now," he said to the prisoners, the amplifiers in his suit broadcasting his calm instructions so that they could be heard by everyone there. "Get to safety and wait for the Terran Federation relief force, they'll be here within the hour."

The civilians slowly straightened, looking around them in astonishment at the mangled insectoid wreckage. The lines of parents and children quickly merged, families clinging to each other as they were reunited, sobbing with a mix of joy and relief.

One of the men stepped forward, his expression twisted with anguish. "My brother and his wife... they were captured yesterday." He pointed a shaking finger at the hive ship, its engines starting to glow as the Kirrix prepared to evacuate. "They were taken... in there!"

John turned to look at the retreating Kirrix vessel. "Don't worry, they're not going anywhere. We'll free everyone once we've grounded all the hive ships."

He activated his Paragon suit's flight mode and anti-gravity generators lifted him off the ground. The thruster on his back blazed a golden yellow and launched him up towards the rear atop the Kirrix hive ship.

As John sailed aloft, the runes on his sword starting to pulse as he channelled his will. *Edraele, start feeding me power...*

*Yes, my Lord,* she said softly, responding with an undercurrent of excitement to his authoritative tone.

Crackling arcs of electricity began to appear around his Crystal-Alyssium blade, starting with tiny sparks that danced erratically along its length. They quickly ramped up into a seething torrent, the caged bolt of lightning lashing furiously in its impatience to break from the confines of the sword. John touched down at the stern and plunged his blade into the ochre hull, unleashing that deadly stroke of lightning into the Kirrix vessel. The ship was rocked by explosions, the engines dying out in a pathetic whine as they were robbed of power.

Faye's holographic face popped into existence on his HUD. "John! I've just finished scanning that dreadnought!"

He turned and looked out over the city at the vast Kirrix capital ship that loomed above the centre. It was firing a blistering forest of green beams seemingly randomly into the sky, but his HUD picked up the Raptor amongst that chaos, zooming in on the gunship as it banked and swayed to avoid the energy blasts. A bright blue line blazed out from the tiny white craft and John squinted as he followed that incandescent beam down to a landed hive ship. The beam swept through the landed vessel like a Tachyon-powered guillotine, Faye neatly cutting away the rear third and grounding it permanently.

"Any prisoners aboard?" he asked, his gaze flicking back to the ochre dreadnought, which was frantically firing a hail of neutron bolts at the Raptor from its defence grid.

"Thousands of them!" she urgently replied, her anguished expression matching his own.

***

Jade felt the wind rushing past her face, her emerald eyes narrowing to slits as she whistled through the air. As much as she loved her Nymph form, the ability to fly was so exhilarating, a precious gift that she'd never be able to repay John for. Jade would happily spend hours savouring the heady thrills that aerial acrobatics could offer, but right now she had an important job to do.

Flexing the powerful muscles in her shoulders, Jade's massive wings snapped open. The leathery surfaces pulled taut and acted like an air brake as they arrested her fall, Jade clenching her jaws at the savage jerk when her wings were fully extended. Her huge lower body swung down, fore and rear claws bared as she pulled out of her headlong dive, swooping towards the invaders. She landed on the back of the Kirrix vessel, armoured plates crumpling under the full weight of her massive draconic form.

The booming crash was followed by the grating squeal of metal as her extended claws dug into the armour plating protecting the hive ship's engines. Muscles bulged under her scaly hide and Jade wrenched the upper engine off its mount, lifting it high above her head before hurling it down on the two engines below. One of them was smashed clear, while the other bent at an odd angle, noxious smelling liquid pouring from the ruptured fuel lines.

The dreadful noise drew everyone's attention, Kirrix and Terran alike looking up at the massive dragon in shock. Jade inhaled deeply, then let out a throaty roar, the defiant challenge reverberating endlessly across the grassy field below. Her audience froze in place for a moment, then the fear kicked in... and the Terran civilians fled screaming from the trampled park, ignoring the insectoid captors in their desperation to escape from a far more terrifying monster.

The Kirrix let their prisoners go, their attention now on the enormous jade dragon snarling at them atop the hive ship. They opened fire with their neutron rifles, hundreds of green bolts hitting her verdant hide, but they weren't powerful enough to damage those resilient scales. Jade's emerald eyes watched men, women, and children running for their lives, the petrified civilians wailing in fear as they fled. Her huge jaws lifted into a toothy grin of satisfaction as the park was quickly cleared of Terrans, leaving only the Kirrix behind to face her.

Leaping off the hive ship, she landed with surprising agility, gouging long furrows in the ground as she skidded to a halt. The Kirrix drones kept up their hail of neutron bolts, while several overseers fired heavy weapons at their draconic foe, rockets corkscrewing through the air before exploding against her chest. Those detonations actually hurt and the Nymph flinched at each blast, trying not to let them ruin her concentration. Gathering her will, she could feel her vast reserves of psychic power bubbling under the surface, almost begging to be unleashed.

Opening her huge maw, energy crackled around her fangs, building into a pulsating nimbus of light. She let loose a searing beam of pure destructive force, the terrible blast vaporising everything it touched as she swept it across the park. Nothing was spared from that blistering shaft of eldritch power, with trees, drones, overseers, and juggernauts obliterated as she continued to feed more energy into her breath weapon. When her long scaly neck had finished its methodical sweep, the Kirrix had been completely scoured from the park.

Jade's wings snapped open again and began to beat in the air, lifting her off the ground as she turned to seek the next hive ship. Her reptilian eyes caught movement high in the sky above her as a white humanoid figure dropped through the scudding clouds, followed by a deluge of green neutron bolts from the squadrons of drone fighters in hot pursuit.

*Sakura's under heavy attack!* she called out in warning to John. *Do you want me to assist?*

*Alyssa's checking with her, stand by,* he replied, his tone firm and in control.

***

Sakura grimaced as she saw the mass of Kirrix drone ships in hot pursuit, the ochre fighters finally able to catch up to her when she slowed the Valkyrie's descent for atmospheric entry. A storm of green energy bolts zipped around her and she used the retro-thrusters in the mech's limbs to perform evasive manoeuvres. Unfortunately, she was being chased by nearly a hundred enemy fighters and there was no way she could dodge that much incoming fire. Despite her best efforts the mech was taking dozens of hits, green bolts pouring into the Valkyrie's shields.

*Are you alright?!* Alyssa asked in alarm. *Jade said you've got drones all over you!*

*I'm being chased by several squadrons!* Sakura replied, frantically jinking the Valkyrie. *Just a second!*

The Asian girl glanced at the shield display, bracing herself for the worst. Her eyes widened in astonishment when she saw that the shields were still a healthy bright green, the digital reading for the field strength showing as 100%.

*I think my damage display might be broken!* Sakura exclaimed, squinting at the shield status. *I'm not losing any shield strength from all these hits! I had Brimorian shields against the Kintark, but their fighters were still able to wear me down!*

There was a momentary pause, then Alyssa burst into laughter, the melodic sound filled with equal parts amusement and relief. *Dana says it's because you've got a shield matrix installed now as well. The damage reduction effect is even stronger, plus those Heavy Neutron Guns don't hit as hard as the Kintark Heavy Plasma Guns. They can't even hurt you!*

Sakura grinned and stopped dodging, twisting her torso so that the Valkyrie was now facing its tormentors as it fell backwards towards the planet. The shoulder mounted Pulse Cannons had been firing non-stop, steadily picking off drone fighters in a stream of blue laser bolts, but there were still scores more on her tail. She disengaged link-fire on the Tachyon Lances, changing the setting so that the weapons would fire in sequence instead.

Glancing at the first drone craft, the optical targeting system nudged the barrels to aim at her designated target, the reticle predicting the fighter's movements. Sakura pulled her trigger finger, then strafed the brilliant azure beam across the ochre ship, instantly disintegrating it. Keeping the trigger down, she swept the continuous stream of beams across the Kirrix drone, each Tachyon Lance firing for a full second before winking out to cool down, the next in the sequence firing in its stead.

It took Sakura a little over twenty seconds to sweep the sky clear of her pursuers, picking them off one after another. It actually reminded her of playing Dot to Dot as a child, but this time her crayons had a really nasty bite to them. Sakura twisted her torso again, angling the Valkyrie towards the rapidly approaching bulk of the Kirrix dreadnought.

*All done! Tell Jade not to worry, I'm safe,* the Asian girl replied, tilting her mech so that she was on a collision course with the rear of the monstrous alien mothership. *Did Dana have any suggestions on how to take this thing out?*

*Keep blasting engines and retro-thrusters until it starts falling out of the sky, but not too much, or you'll risk killing the prisoners if the impact is too severe...* Alyssa replied, sounding tense. Her voice softened as she added, *She makes it sound easy, right?*

The dreadnought finally seemed to have picked up the incoming mech as a threat, because it began firing over fifty neutron beams at her from its upper gun batteries. Most of the shots sailed harmlessly wide, but in that bewildering lattice of green energy beams several of them managed to hit home. The Valkyrie's shields reacted violently to the impact, broad waves sending ripples across the entire surface of the dome. Likewise, the shield strength display dropped through an alarming array of colours until the cheerful bright green was replaced by a murky-looking yellow

Sakura snorted as she executed a hard burn with her retro-thrusters, the Valkyrie landing on the topdeck of the Kirrix Behemoth with a booming clang. *Yeah, piece of cake...*