Three Square Meals Ch. 111

Flicking a switch on the side, she powered up the weapon with a quiet hum, lights flickering to life along the broad barrel. Despite its elegantly beautiful design there was an ominous sense of foreboding about the Tachyon rifle, as though it was brimming with destructive potential just begging to be unleashed. That promise was fulfilled a second later as Dana squeezed the trigger, the light along the barrel flaring and coalescing into a pulsating orb in front of the muzzle, which burst out as a brilliant blue pulse of energy a split-second later. The beam hit the black chestplate dead-centre and vaporised a hole through the armour, the super-heated metal around its circumference glowing white-hot.

John stared at the skewered armour in shock, the effect more dramatic knowing that at one time he'd relied on that suit for protection. "How much stronger is that compared to a Reaper Cannon?" he asked awed by the demonstration.

"Hits about five times as hard," Dana said with a wicked grin. "Now, check this out..."

She aimed at the pockmarked Crystal Alyssium plating to the right and fired a short burst of pulsed beams, melting holes the size of dinner-plates through the armour with every impact. "That's a piece of deca-shaped plating we stripped from the Valkyrie after the Battle of Terra."

Shaking her head in astonishment, Irillith said, "So Tachyon Rifles are powerful enough to shoot through capital ship plating?!"

"Yup!" Dana confirmed, her sky-blue eyes sparkling in triumph. Her grin faded and she added, "Which is why you need to use low-power mode in a boarding action... otherwise you'll blast through the superstructure and breach the hull."

Tashana gave her a wistful smile. "Any chance you can upgrade my Reaper pistols with this tech?"

"I'll start working on a pair for you as soon as I get a chance," the redhead promised.

Jade glanced downrange at the second armour panel. "The next one's connected to a capacitor isn't it?"

Dana pouted at her. "Hey, you're giving away my surprises!"

The Nymph looked chagrined and said, "I'm so sorry! I just recognised it and-"

Shaking her head, Dana interrupted Jade's apology with a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about it, I'm only kidding." Aiming her Tachyon rifle at the broad piece of ship armour, she continued, "Okay, I guess you know what's going to happen next..."

She held down the trigger and the Firing Range lit up with staccato pulses of sapphire light, a stream of powerful blasts slamming into the white armoured panel. Dana hosed down the plating on full auto, the dazzling glare from the dissipating beams making the spectators flinch and shield their eyes. When she finally stopped shooting, the Crystal Alyssium was unblemished, not a single scratch or burn marring its surface.

"So don't try and gun down our own ships?" Sakura asked, looking at her quizzically.

"I'd hope you'd try and avoid doing that anyway," Dana replied with a wry smile. "I wanted to remind you how resilient our armour is against laser fire... just like Progenitor armour is almost guaranteed to be."

"Thrall body armour must be able to reflect or absorb laser fire too..." Calara murmured, realising Dana's true intent behind her demonstration.

The redhead's expression turned sombre. "Yeah, that's what I'm worried about. Drakkar armour was resistant to laser fire and Thralls are bound to be using better gear than them."

"I don't think Thrall armour is fully-reflective," Tashana said with conviction, staring at the perforated armour plate.

"You sound very certain," John said, looking at her in surprise. "What makes you so sure?"

"Because Thralls use Reaper Cannons," Tashana explained, meeting his curious gaze before glancing at her sister. "Do you remember how much it resonated when you saw Irillith firing a Reaper Cannon? Thralls wouldn't use laser weapons if they were completely ineffective against another Progenitor's forces."

Calara's eyes widened and she blurted out, "The same must be true for Thrall ships as well! That Tormentor-class destroyer the Vulkat salvaged was equipped with Tachyon Lances!"

Dana gave the Latina a rueful look. "Unless they use different weapon loadouts when they're fighting Thrall fleets..."

Tashana's jubilant face fell. "You're right. Thrall troops probably use different weapons to fight other Thralls."

Sakura mulled it over for a moment, then shook her head. "I think you were right the first time. Drakkar armour was shielded, so it stands to reason that Thrall armour must be too... and laser weapons are by far the best way of overloading shields."

"A Reaper Cannon is too large for a Thrall to carry around a backup weapon as well," Irillith said, nodding in agreement.

John was quiet for a moment, sharing a glance with Alyssa. "That feels right to me. How about you?"

"If I was a ruthless interstellar tyrant who viewed my Thralls as disposable minions, I doubt I'd bother to mess around refitting my fleets to fight another Progenitor," the blonde replied, looking him in the eyes. "It sounds like too much hard work."

Rachel clasped John's hand and gave it a squeeze. "I can't see their troops using a mix of weaponry either. We know how much Progenitors like uniformity in their Thralls; the way our bodies were Changed to match the Maliri are testament to that."

Dana grinned and cupped one of her impressive breasts. "I'm just glad Progenitors like their girls with big tits!"

Alyssa turned to John and said earnestly, "You answered the prayers of two flat-chested orphans, giving them racks to be proud of." She thrust out her chest and playfully squeezed her breasts together. "If you ever wanted solid proof that you're a good man, there it is."

He laughed and admired her spectacular cleavage. "I can hardly argue with an argument that compelling." Looking around at the girls, he continued, "All joking aside, I think you're right about Thrall equipment. Seeing Irillith using a Reaper Cannon felt tremendously satisfying; I've never experienced anything quite like it."

Tashana looked at him with an ambivalent expression on her face. "Would you prefer me to use the same weapons as the rest of the girls?"

John hesitated then shook his head. "We're evolving past Thrall equipment with these Tachyon rifles, so it's a moot point now anyway. Besides, you're deadly with pistols and it'd be ridiculous to prevent you playing to your strengths, just because I like the idea of all of you using the same gear." He glanced at Sakura and added, "Obviously, the same applies with you and your ninjato."

Both girls looked pleased, smiling at him in relief.

He turned to Dana and asked, "Shall we get back to the weapon demo? Or do you need some more time admiring your breasts?"

She gave him a pained frown. "It's really hard to choose, I love both so much!" When the laughter died down, she glanced downrange at the second piece of armour plating. "Alright, back to the demo. As you saw earlier, the armour plating completely absorbed that laser fire. Tachyon rifles are powerful, but nowhere near strong enough to overload ship capacitors by sheer damage output. But check this out..."

Dana made a dramatic production of flipping the switch above the trigger guard, toggling the fire mode to the lower barrel. Aiming at the Crystal Alyssium plating, she squeezed the trigger and the rifle let out a low bark. John's jaw dropped in astonishment when the round slammed into the armour, punching a big hole through the plating, before hitting the back wall of the Firing Range and leaving a deep crater. It wasn't the bullet piercing the Invictus' armour that he found so shocking, but the momentary flash of a Progenitor rune as a latticework of glowing hexes were shattered.

"The armour was runed!" he exclaimed, looking at Dana in awe. "What the hell did you shoot it with?!"

"A runic penetrator!" She slipped a hand into her pocket then tossed a bullet over to him. "It's a special crystal-tipped round fired from a Quantum barrel; I added a special Progenitor-runed payload."

John turned the bullet in his hand, the glowing runes gleaming brightly. "Destruction runes for penetrating hex shields..."

Dana nodded, her eyes narrowing. "You said you wanted something to fuck up protected enemies, so this is it. The Hive Queen's hex shield shrugged off Reaper Cannon fire like it was nothing... I wasn't going to take the chance that it could do the same to Tachyon rifle beams."

Tashana tore her eyes from the gaping hole in the armour plating to look at the redhead. "It won't matter how laser resistant Thrall armour is if we're packing that kind of firepower."

"That thought occurred to me too," Dana agreed with a grim smile.

Faye appeared in a flash, her translucent wings fluttering nervously. "Hi! Sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to let you know we've picked up a Kirrix fleet on our long-range sensors!"

"What's the situation, Faye?" John asked, as the whole crew turned to look at the purple sprite.

"They're still in the Eta Piscium system, but it looks like they're leaving Brecken's World!" she exclaimed. "They're making a run for the closest jump point!"

Calara looked at John in alarm. "If they jump out and scatter, it'll take us god knows how many hours to interdict them all!"

"How long until they clear the local gravity wells?" he asked, sharing her concern.

Faye wrung her hands together. "Based on their current speed, I estimate 9 minutes, 43 seconds!"

Alyssa grimaced, shooting John a worried glance. "We'll arrive in 9 minutes 11 seconds..."

"Can you turn off the hyper-warp proximity override and drop us right in the middle of them?" he asked, meeting the blonde's blue-eyed gaze.

She raised an eyebrow and gave him a coy smile. "Surely you should know the answer to that by now?"

"Going point blank against an entire Kirrix fleet is going to be brutal," Calara warned them. "The Invictus can take a real hammering, but we're not invincible."

"We haven't got any choice," John said, grinding his teeth. "If we're going to have even the slightest chance of saving any of the colonists from Menganus IV, Karron, or Valia Gate, we can't afford to waste a day chasing down a scattered fleet."

The girls nodded, understanding the severity of the situation.

John turned to look at his attentive audience and began issuing orders. "I want Jade, Calara, and Irillith on the Invictus."

Irillith looked at him in surprise, then nodded her understanding. "Alright, I'll do my best..."

The Nymph turned to John and opened her mouth to speak, but John held up a hand, pre-empting any objections. "Sorry, Jade, I need you piloting the Invictus to minimise the incoming damage. Besides, I'm not letting you get shot at by a fleet full of neutron beams; your dragon form is incredibly resilient, but you're not invincible either."

"Perhaps you need to feed me some more to toughen me up, Master?" she asked, a gleam in her emerald eyes.

He smiled at her, then turned to the rest of the girls. "I want Sakura piloting the Valkyrie. Faye, I need you flying the Raptor; I'll be in the back with Alyssa, Tashana, Dana, and Rachel. Any questions?"

Alyssa telepathically briefed each girl and they nodded their understanding as she outlined his plans in detail.

John looked around, but all he saw was focused and determined faces. "Alright, time to get geared up. We need to immobilise that fleet and rescue those colonists!"

***

Zelkrixa's segmented mind observed the frantic activity of hundreds of her drones, the views arrayed before her like the multitude of facets in her compound eyes. She watched as her hive ship left the orbit of Brecken's World, the navigator manoeuvring them into position in the Kirrix fleet as they evacuated from the Eta Piscium system. The Fertile Dream was one of a dozen hive ships in the centre of the formation, a matching number of drone carriers providing close escort. They were such beautiful, elegant craft, the lovely hue of their ochre hulls reminding the Broodmother of the glorious underground palaces on Kirr-Inax.

Her pleasant reminisces were shattered when one of her Bridge crew raised an alarm. Long range sensors had picked up an approaching vessel, the contact approaching the system at incredible speed. Zelkrixa felt a momentary flicker of fear when she saw the approach vector, then reminded herself that Carolus III was nearly a day's flight time from Brecken's World. There was no way that it could be the same terrifying vessel that had obliterated Krinava's vanguard fleet.

She contacted the drones connected to her in the accompanying carrier and they began to deploy fighters, vast swarms of the tiny ships launching into space. The strike craft stayed in defensive positions around the carriers for now, waiting to redock when the fleet reached the jump point, so as not to delay their departure. Surrounded by a wall of powerful ships, Zelkrixa relaxed as the fleet pulled further away from the white star at the heart of the system. The Kirrix were only a minute's flight time from the jump point and soon they would be racing through hyper-warp, beginning the long return journey to their homeworld.

Still, she kept a wary eye on the drone observing the sensors, watching the incoming ship as it rushed towards them. It rapidly approached the outer edge of the Eta Piscium system, but to her astonishment it kept on coming, charging across the system on an intercept course with the retreating insectoid forces. Zelkrixa decided that what she was seeing must be some kind of sensor glitch, because flying in hyper-warp through a gravity well was impossible. That was when the mystery ship suddenly dropped out of hyper-warp... right in the middle of the fleet!

She stared at the sparkling white ship in terror, instantly recognising its ferocious predatory shape. Impossible or not, the callous butchers were here, no doubt intent on sating their bloodlust on her retreating fleet. Then Zelkrixa's view of the Invictus was obscured by a dazzling onslaught of incandescent blue beams... and she could only look on in horror as a trio of majestic Kirrix capital ships were mercilessly torn apart. Her own escorting drone carrier was neatly sliced in half and she staggered in anguish as hundreds of her precious children were instantly obliterated, their connected presence vanishing from her mind.

Zelkrixa threw back her head and screeched, a piercing cry of inhuman grief echoing around the nest chamber. The grubs went silent, ceasing their chirruping as they stared fearfully at the stricken Broodmother.

***

John stood in the Raptor's starboard airlock, watching through the open doorway as the gunship rocketed out of the Invictus' Secondary Hangar. Dozens of Tachyon Lance turrets along the flank of the battlecruiser opened fire, Calara hitting the stunned Kirrix forces with a furious broadside of deadly beams. His view shifted as Faye banked around, the Raptor weaving between huge ochre hive ships as they rushed towards the front of the retreating insectoid fleet. He knew that the front-runners were perilously close to the jump point and it was their job to stop them.

The sound of Reaper Cannon fire behind him drew John's attention, with Alyssa wasting no time in attacking the shocked Kirrix forces. She stood in the port airlock firing her weapon telekinetically, a pair of glowing hands pivoting the barrel back and forth and sending a stream of blue laser bolts at squadrons of drone fighters. However, Alyssa's primary focus was on the hive ships, her arms upraised with swirling psychic eddies whipping around her gauntleted hands. She made a violent tugging motion and tore a blocky engine from the closest Kirrix horror vessel, its ignoble departure followed by a bright explosion that caught John's eye.

The vessel slowed considerably, spewing a trail of noxious gases from the ravaged engine housing as it limped on towards the jump point. Alyssa hadn't finished with the hamstrung vessel though and she clamped her huge telekinetic hands on the second engine, sparks flaring against the sombre-hued hull as she ripped it from the vessel. A third soon followed, the massive engine housing sent tumbling through space as she efficiently immobilised the hive ship.

He turned back towards the open airlock, then leaned out so he could see the front of the Kirrix formation. Ignoring the blazing light from the turreted Pulse Cannons overhead, his eyes narrowed as he stared at the drone carrier leading the fleeing insectoids. He could tell by the way it was pivoting into a defensive position that it had reached the jumping-out point and was intending to cover the hive ships as they made their escape.

*The lead ship has reached the jump point!* he called to Alyssa in warning.

*I'll let Sparks know,* the blonde immediately replied.

***

Dana looked out through the open hatchway at the front of the Raptor, watching as they charged through the Kirrix forces. The view was spectacular, with the ochre-hulled capital ships rushing towards the outer-edge of the system, their engines glowing bright orange on full burn. Finally reacting to the attackers in their midst, the insectoid fleet opened fire, sending a wild salvo of neutron beams and bolts at the lightning fast gunship as it swept between their vessels.

The Raptor dodged nimbly through the wall of eerie green beams, Faye even managing to squeeze off a shot with her twin Tachyon Lances at one of the drone carriers leading the formation. Dana winced against the blindingly-bright glare, the beams sweeping over the rear of the massive Kirrix capital ship, making its shields convulse as if in agony. The gunship's turreted Pulse Cannons weren't idle either, firing continuous azure streams at the nearest slow-moving hive ship, laser bolts hammering into its shields and leaving rippling impacts.

"Aim for the one on the right!" Dana called out to the two girls kneeling beside her in the loading area.

She watched enviously as Rachel and Tashana opened fire with the new Tachyon rifles, spraying pulsed tachyon beams over the hive ship's flank. By the violent reaction of the big vessel's shields, it was easy to see how much harder they were hitting than the Pulse Cannons, the undulating waves in the protective field growing dramatically more pronounced under that blistering salvo. Unable to withstand the combined hail of fire the shields finally gave up, the bubble bursting with a shimmering crackle and leaving the Kirrix ship exposed. Tachyon pulses began to strike the hull, blasting glowing holes in the armour plating as the beams lanced through the superstructure.

"Whoa, hold up!" Dana exclaimed, worried about triggering internal explosions. She looked down at her two companions as they ceased fire. "So, what do you think?"

"I take it back, these Tachyon rifles are amazing!" Rachel gushed, turning to grin at her girlfriend.

Tashana laughed and shook her head in amazement. "I can't believe how hard they hit!"

*Focus on stripping the shields from the hive ships on the right, ladies,* Alyssa informed the kneeling girls. *I'll take care of the ones on the left...*

Rachel and Tashana nodded, then turned to aim at the next hive ship, squeezing off short bursts as the Raptor closed the distance.

*Whenever you're ready, Sparks,* the blonde prompted Dana, her voice gentle and supportive. *Just let me know when you need more energy...*

The redhead closed her eyes and focused her will, trying to forget about the last time she'd really unleashed her powers like this. She felt a soothing wave of calm flood through her mind and she smiled in gratitude, knowing Alyssa was listening to her every pensive thought.

*Alright, juice me up,* Dana murmured, feeling the eldritch energy building within her body.