Three Square Meals Ch. 045

"That must be her!" Dana exclaimed, pointing up at the tactical map. "That looks exactly like the Maliri patrol cruiser I nearly got my hands on back at the Space Station."

They all looked up at the Tactical Map, and Alyssa zoomed in on the distinctive ship, so that they could look at it in detail. The Maliri cruiser was smaller than the Invictus, and seemed to have an elegant look about it, constructed with an aesthetic grace unseen on any other ship they had encountered so far. The ship was all graceful curves and flowing lines, and the numerous sparkling crystal domes made the Maliri vessel look delicate and fragile. The jutting weapon barrels and multitude of turrets put to rest any thought that the ship posed no threat, and there was an aura of deadly menace about the ship.

Calara looked at all the crystal domes, and shook her head dubiously, "Those domes are like painting a bullseye on the ship's vulnerable spots. The Maliri vessel might look pretty, but I can't see that craft having any durability in a heated firefight."

Dana smiled at her knowingly, and said, "Actually, the clear crystal tech they use is a lot tougher than the reinforced Titanium that Terrans use for armour plating. A couple of inches of strengthened crystal, could take about as much of a beating as one foot thick Titanium. The rest of their hull is armoured in reinforced crystal as well, but the rest of the armour isn't transparent."

The Latina nodded her understanding, and began to reappraise the exotic looking alien ship in front of them, looking for any potential weak points.

"Shall we do an active scan?" Dana asked eagerly, looking up at John.

He glanced down at her and shook his head, saying, "We better not. Active scans of non-friendly vessels is usually considered a hostile act, and we don't want to risk causing an incident."

The redhead nodded her understanding, but looked disappointed nonetheless.

Rachel interrupted the conversation when she warned him, "We're being hailed."

"Put her through," John said to her, then looked up at the viewscreen as it flickered and then filled with Irillith's image. Disappointingly, for the girls that hadn't yet seen the Maliri woman in the flesh, Irillith was fully armoured once again, in her ornate golden body armour.

"I had started to think you weren't coming," Irillith said testily, and John smiled as he imagined the annoyed frown she probably wore at the moment.

"We had some business to take care of," he replied unapologetically. "Besides, we're still ten minutes early."

The Maliri woman harrumphed with irritation, and then paused for an awkwardly long moment as if considering her next action. "There's been a slight change of plans," she said cautiously.

"Has there indeed?" John asked her, his eyes narrowing.

Irillith nodded and replied, "Before you can meet with my mother to begin negotiations, as a show of good faith, I require your assistance with a minor task. We will still be travelling along the same flight path, as the location for this task is en-route to my homeworld in Epsilon Aquarii. It should take us no more than a couple of hours to complete this diversion, and then we can be back on our way once again."

John waited for some further explanation, but when none was forthcoming, he asked, "So what is this mysterious task?"

She launched into her mission briefing earnestly, saying, "We had a research colony in the Beta-Capricornus system, which was studying the lush plant life on one of the planets there. Unfortunately the colony was attacked by a previously unknown Fungoid species that we named the Fulmanax. They besieged the scientists, and my people were forced to evacuate, abandoning the research facility to these hostile, marauding aliens.

There is valuable data stored in the internal network at that research facility, but we can't retrieve the data while the Fulmanax have the place surrounded. The Fulmanax are sensitive to sound waves, so I need to position a sonic device in their newly established nest, which will flush them out of there long enough for us to enter the base and collect the information we need."

John looked puzzled, and asked, "Why can't you just retrieve the data remotely? And why is it so important anyway?"

"The data collected on the planetary flora was gathered there over decades, and could offer real medical breakthroughs if we can secure it. House Valaden was concerned about the very real possibility of industrial espionage, so the data repositories are not accessible from a remote connection," Irillith explained helpfully.

"Alright, so what do you want us to do exactly?" he asked cautiously.

She shrugged and said, "Just provide me cover while I manually set up the sonic dispersal device. The nest is positioned under a broad plate of igneous rock, so we can't readily cut our way through with the ships lasers to deliver a sonic torpedo from orbit. If we tried it, we might risk damaging the research base, and orbital bombardments would cause too much unnecessary collateral damage to the Fulmanax."

John studied the Maliri woman for a while, but with her hiding behind the body armour, he couldn't pick up anything extra from her body language. "I'd like a few minutes to consult with my crew before I make a decision," he told her firmly.

Irillith nodded and replied, "Certainly, that's quite understandable. Hail my ship when you've made your decision." She then looked about furtively, to check they weren't being overheard, before she added cagily, "As a final incentive, if you assist me with this task, I will ask my mother to give you the 'friends and family rate' as it were, when you are negotiating a price for the merchandise you seek."

He nodded and said, "We'll be in touch shortly with our decision."

Rachel closed the comm channel when he glanced in her direction, and Irillith's golden helmeted face disappeared from the viewscreen in the blink of an eye. He then let out a deep breath, and looked around at the girls on the Bridge, in case any of them had any advice.

He stared at their attentive faces and said, "She seemed pretty convincing, but I'm sure you all remember Ceraden's words of warning not to trust her. What are your thoughts everyone?"

Dana began, by saying, "Well, she was telling the truth about hitting the nest from orbit at least. If we used the ship's batteries to cut through a strata of dense volcanic rock, we could accidentally cause all sorts of inadvertent seismic activity, and we would definitely risk causing accidental damage to any facility nearby. Even if we were able to eventually blast through it, we would make a right mess of the creatures beneath!"

Calara nodded her agreement, "Orbital bombardment to break through the plate would cause significant casualties. Delivering the sonic device in person is the only way to minimise unnecessary destruction, if your objective is to quickly and efficiently retrieve the data."

Rachel looked a bit guilty, and said hesitantly, "I think we should agree. In all honesty, I'd love the chance to study some more alien creatures. If we could get our hands on a copy of that research data as well, who knows what I could discover!"

John looked at Jade and she shrugged at him noncommittally. He laughed at her taciturn response and asked, "You must have some thoughts on this?"

She smiled at him and replied, "Not much has changed really. We still want the weapons, and you're still looking for answers on the Progenitors. If she wants us to do some side mission for a few hours, it doesn't seem like a huge price to pay."

Finally he glanced at Alyssa, who had plenty to say. "Irillith seems to be an accomplished liar, so who knows what was true out of that lot. I struggle to believe a word she says, and that sounded an awful lot like a steaming pile of horseshit to me!" she explained heatedly. "Jade is right though. It doesn't hugely change our original agreement, and we might even be able to secure some kind of discount on the weapons, if that wasn't all a pack of lies too."

John pondered their advice for a moment, before looking up and saying to Rachel, "Put me through to Ceraden. He might be able to give us a deeper understanding of who, or what, the Fulmanax are."

The tawny haired brunette nodded, and then turned to her console. She pressed a few buttons and spoke into a headset, then a few moments later, the viewscreen crackled and an image appeared. Ceraden's resplendent armour filled the screen, the gems and jewels sparkling brightly.

The Maliri Merchant began to speak in a clear voice, "I greatly appreciate your interest in contacting my humble enterprise, but it is with great regret that I must inform you that I am away on business for the next week. If you would care to leave a message, I will endeavour to call you back with all haste!"

When Ceraden did a bow and elaborate flourish with his hand, Rachel closed the comm channel. "Automated message, as you might have guessed," she clarified with a wry grin.

"Hmm, I don't remember him saying anything about a business trip," John said with a frown. "Alright, let's do this. Put me through to Irillith again."

Rachel hailed the Maliri Cruiser, and a second later, Irillith's armoured face filled the screen. "Have you made your decision?" she asked them immediately.

John replied sternly, "I don't appreciate the last minute change, it feels like extortion. However, we will assist you with your mission, but there better not be any more surprises."

Irillith's relief was palpable when she said, "This is the only thing I'll ask of you, you have my word."

"We're ready to depart when you are," he said, nodding his acceptance.

Irillith leaned over to the side, pressing a couple of buttons on a console, and said, "Move into formation with my cruiser, and we will sync hyper-warp signatures with your vessel." He could hear the condescension in her tone when she added, "Don't worry, we'll slow down enough so your Terran vessel can keep pace."

He smiled back at her wryly and said, "Don't worry about us. We're in a hurry, so gradually increase your hyper-warp velocity to maximum, and we'll adjust our speed accordingly."

Irillith laughed derisively and said, "I think you vastly overestimate what that ungainly crate can do. Transferring our flight path to your Nav computer." With that, she closed the comm channel abruptly.

Calara had a worried frown on her face as she asked him, "Are you sure it's wise revealing how fast we can travel in hyper-warp?"

He shrugged and said, "We've made no effort to conceal our speed so far, so I'm just surprised she isn't aware of it. Besides, as delightful as I'm finding Irillith's company, I think we probably should get this excursion through Maliri space over and done with as quickly as possible. I suspect we outmatch their maximum hyper-warp velocity, so all they'll know for certain, is that we can go at least as fast as they can."

Calara nodded her understanding, while Alyssa glanced over at him and said, "We've received the flightpath and the Nav data. The Navigation computer is just updating our maps with all the new stars."

John nodded and gazed up at the local sector map, as their route through Maliri Space was plotted above them with a glowing green line. The route they would be taking from the Geniya trading post in Theta-Aquarii, to Irillith's homeworld in Epsilon Aquarii, was an almost straight line with just a minor deviation to the Beta-Capricornus system.

"The Terran Federation has no knowledge of these systems," he said to the girls, "So we'll be the first non-Maliri to see them."

"Except for the Mael'nerak," Jade noted distractedly, looking curiously at the overhead map.

John nodded soberly, and stared at the long channel of stars that forged a path deep into Maliri territory. "How long will it take us to get there?" he asked Alyssa.

The blonde girl paused for a moment as she performed the calculations. "If we were travelling alone, with me plotting our course, and flying at our normal maximum hyper-warp speed, then nearly four days. With a regular Terran FTL drive it would take just over twelve, so let's hope the Maliri are faster than that!"

They switched their attention back to the system map, and the Maliri cruiser increased the power to its engines, moving to flank them and escorting the Invictus to the Nav Beacon. It took them a couple of minutes to reach the beacon, which marked a location sufficiently far from the local gravity wells that they could jump into hyper-warp unobstructed. Alyssa waited for the Maliri vessel to power up its FTL drive, then activated their own a few seconds later.

The Invictus was still the first to activate, with the Ashanath Tachyon drive swathing them in the blue Tachyon field, and launching them smoothly into hyper-warp. Alyssa kept their speed at a minimum while they waited for the other ship to catch up, and when it did so, the Maliri cruiser raced past them, their Navigator obviously intending to humiliate the Invictus.

Alyssa grinned as she accepted their challenge, and cranked up the power, dramatically increasing the speed of the assault cruiser. In a couple of seconds she had effortlessly caught up with the Maliri vessel, matching their velocity as the Maliri navigator pushed their ship faster. Eventually the acceleration levelled off, and Alyssa's melodic laughter echoed triumphantly around the Bridge, as she realised that was the fastest the Maliri ship could go.

"They actually have pretty good FTL tech," she admitted as she glanced at their current speed. "It looks like they are using a very similar Tachyon drive to those the Ashanath fit as standard. Ours is much better, but this Maliri ship is still twice the speed of Terran military ships."

She enlarged the sector map, which showed their projected route through Maliri space, and began to make dozens of minor adjustments to their flight path. John and the girls watched in fascination, as the projected length of time to complete the route dropped with every change. The modifications she was making with her warp tunnelling techniques increased their velocity further, and she smiled with satisfaction when she was done, the total flight time showing six days. She grinned at him when she pushed a button, and transmitted the greatly improved flightpath back to the Maliri ship.

"Let's see what they make of that," Alyssa said smugly.

They were hailed a few moments later, and Irillith said in a shocked voice, "How are you matching speeds with us?! No Terran ships are that fast!"

"I'm not Terran," John said bluntly. "Use the new flightpath we sent you, my crew have improved it. We want to wrap up our business as quickly as possible."

Irillith stammered for a moment, clearly shaken, before nodding mutely and closing the channel.

"I wish I could have seen her face," Alyssa said wistfully. "That would have been priceless."

John smiled and nodded, before returning his attention to the holographic map that was hovering above them. "It looks like it's going to take us about four days to reach the system for Irillith's detour," he said speculatively.

"Good," Dana said happily, "That'll give us plenty of time to incorporate all our recent upgrades into the Raptor as well."

The others all groaned at the thought of more maintenance, and she laughed merrily, and said, "The Raptor is tiny compared to the Invictus, so upgrading its Sensor Array will take no time in comparison."

"Is it still as effective?" Calara asked curiously.

Dana shook her head and replied, "No, it's just like the sensors on a regular Terran gunship compared to something big like an assault cruiser. The sensors array is smaller and not as sensitive. The upgraded one we'll install will still be a massive improvement though."

Calara nodded and then asked, "How soon will you need us to help you start installing everything?"

The redhead thought it over for a moment and replied, "About three hours? I'll need to get the mass fabricators started with cranking out all the parts we need."

Calara smiled and then glanced up at John as she asked eagerly, "Up for a fight Commodore? We haven't had a sparring match for a while."

He nodded immediately, rising from the Command Chair with a broad smile on his face as he asked her in return, "Feeling lucky today Lieutenant?"

She grinned at him, and began to stride up the slope to join him at the grav-tube. "I'm going to take you down again today, I'm sure of it!" she replied confidently.

"Again?" he teased her. "That last time didn't count! You know I'm powerless to resist your feminine wiles, so no cheating this time!"

The Latina giggled, and then took his hand, and they stepped into the red glow of the grav-tube together, descending out of sight.

Alyssa watched them leave, smiling in amusement at their playful banter, before she rose and began to walk gracefully down the illuminated steps of the Command Podium. "If you're interested, I'm happy to give you a crash course in astro-navigation?" she asked Jade in a friendly voice.

The Nymph nodded eagerly and said, "I'd love to learn more, that would be amazing!"

As Alyssa walked down the ramp towards the Pilot's Station, Rachel stood when the blonde passed her, and said, "I'll be down in the Engineering Bay if you need me. I'd like to switch research, and start looking at Maliri DNA if that's alright? I think knowing more about them is a higher priority, considering our current destination."

Alyssa paused a moment, and then nodded. "John agrees. In fact, it's probably more useful if you work on that uninterrupted, so there's no need for you to stop your research to help us upgrade the Raptor, we can take care of that," she offered helpfully.

Dana had walked up the ramp to join them, and she bounced up and down happily. "Yay! You can keep me company while I work on fabricating all the parts," she said gleefully.

Rachel grinned at her perky friend, and they walked up the ramp talking animatedly about the work they had planned. They stepped into the grav-tube, and sank out of view in the soft red light.

Alyssa had a fond yet wistful smile on her face as she watched the redhead leave, and only became aware of Jade's presence at her side when the green-skinned girl put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You look a bit sad, are you okay?" the Nymph asked her sympathetically.

"It's wonderful to see them get on so well together," Alyssa said immediately, with a happy smile on her face.

"But?" Jade asked her gently.

Alyssa looked a bit chagrined and admitted, "It's irrational considering how close I've become to John and Calara, but I do kind of miss being Dana's best friend. As close as we still are, she and Rachel are so much more in sync."

Jade pulled the blonde in for a hug, stroking her back as she said soothingly, "They share common interests in science and research, so it's not surprising they get on so well. You've known Dana for years though, so you two have history together, and that's never going to change. You haven't really been replaced, Dana's just building a new friendship."

Alyssa hugged the Nymph tightly, and then leaned back to smile at her as she said gratefully, "Thanks, that was lovely to hear."

Jade beamed a sparkling smile at her and said cheerfully, "I have to look out for my twin!"

The blonde girl laughed at that, and the two of them separated and walked down to the Pilot's Station at a leisurely pace. "let's get the basics out the way, and then we can have a chat about what we can surprise John with next time," Alyssa said eagerly.

"Sounds like a great idea to me, but I suggest we discuss it in bed together, just to help get the ideas flowing," Jade proposed flirtatiously.

Alyssa giggled and nodded, saying, "It's almost as if you read my mind!"