Three Square Meals Ch. 068

The shiver wasn't from fear though, not this time. She felt a delicious tingling thrill of anticipation as she gripped her flight controls. New engines, new retro thrusters, tougher armour, stronger shields, unlimited power, and the glorious new weapons... The Raptor was an entirely different beast now, and this beast was hungry for blood.

***

John watched Alyssa deftly steer the Invictus through the labyrinth of capital ships, while Calara assisted the Terrans where she could with lethal salvos of Beam Laser fire. The Kintark strike craft were located more towards the tail of the flotilla, so with nothing left to shoot at, Faye started unloading on the smaller Kintark picket vessels instead.

A Kintark destroyer was flanking a badly damaged cruiser, positioning itself to use its batteries of fast firing Heavy Plasma Guns to shoot down incoming missiles. Faye took careful aim, enjoying shooting at something so much bigger than a nimble fighter, and let rip with all the Pulse Cannons on the port side of the Invictus. The shields surrounding the hundred-metre-long vessel rippled with the repeated impacts, as twenty-four Pulse Cannons fired staccato bursts of laser bolts at her target.

It only took a few seconds for the relatively weak shields to crumple under that withering hail, and then her azure laser bolts were striking the green-plated hull. By the time the Invictus had swept out of range, she left the prow of the Kintark vessel looking like Swiss cheese, with almost every square metre of the hull riddled with glowing holes. She hadn't managed to destroy it, but she smiled as she saw the panicked crew turn the destroyer, and flee from the battle. The Invictus was suddenly clear of the two opposing fleets, and the assault cruiser's weapons went silent as both Faye and Calara were out of range of enemy targets.

"What's our shield status, Dana?" John asked, having seen more than a few plasma bolts hit them during their frantic flight.

She smiled at him as she replied, "Not that bad, we're at seventy-four percent. Alyssa dodged most of the shit the Kintark sent our way."

"The Invictus is so fast, by the time they tried to shoot us, we were out of range," Alyssa explained, grinning at the redhead.

Calara turned to look at Faye who was perched on her console, and said, "That was some nice shooting against those fighters, Faye, but try and cluster your shots against bigger ships. Those Pulse Cannons can do some real damage, but you need to chew through the armour first."

Faye listened attentively, enhancing her targeting algorithms as she applied Calara's advice, then replied cheerfully, "Thanks, Commander! I'll do that next time!"

Rachel had been listening to the Terran comm traffic, and she looked up at John with a worried frown on her face, as she said, "I think we might have a problem."

John turned to look at her, and asked, "Something serious?"

She nodded, pointing at the Tactical Map as she said, "We must have really pissed off the Kintark. Terran Federation forces are all celebrating about the Lion turning up and drawing away a battle group of Kintark ships!"

He looked up at the holographic map in alarm, and sure enough, a sizeable portion of the lower Kintark fleet seemed to be withdrawing from the firefight with the Terrans. He watched in silence for a long moment, studying the Kintark vessels as they moved to pursue them.

"Fuck!" he cursed, clenching his fist in anger, and the girls on the Bridge looked up at him with concern written over their beautiful faces.

Although he'd come up with a plan to deal with the traitor forces, they'd never be able to pull it off with all those Kintark ships breathing down their neck. His mind raced through a dozen different alternatives, dismissing each of them when he realised their fatal flaws. Suddenly he had a fresh idea, a plan so brazen that he doubted it would work, but with no other alternatives coming to mind, he figured it was worth a shot. Literally, in this case.

He straightened in his Command Chair, and said decisively, "Alright ladies, change of plan."

Irillith frowned at him, and asked, "Don't you want me to-?"

Shaking his head, he interrupted her as he replied, "Sorry honey, I don't mean you. Your part in the plan hasn't changed." Turning to look at Dana, he declared, "Power up the Nova Lances!"

The redhead met his look with a worried frown, knowing she'd have to take all their other weapons offline, and said, "I don't want to be all negative, but a Nova Lance blast isn't going to fuck up all those traitor ships. They've got three battleships and over two-dozen cruisers!"

He gave her a reassuring smile as he said, "Don't worry, that's not what I've got in mind."

Alyssa let out a disbelieving snort of laughter, and said, "Don't worry, Sparks. I know what he's planning." Twisting in her chair, she looked into his eyes as she continued, "I'd say you've got some balls even trying this, but we all know that's something you've got plenty of."

Dana stared at him for a second, then shrugged as she said, "Fuck it, I trust you. Taking all our weapons offline, and powering up the Nova Lances."

John leapt to his feet and starting running for the grav-tube, but he called back over his shoulder, "Rachel, get ready to open a group broadcast to all ships in Lynton's Fleet!"

***

A score of Kintark fighters had managed to escape the Invictus' intervention, primarily by being out of range of its Pulse Cannons when it swept through the battlezone. There were also a few that had managed to limp away from Faye's enthusiastic, but not quite so infallible shooting, and all these surviving ships had been given new orders. They all joined the incoming third wave of Kintark heavy fighters, further bolstering their numbers as they escorted in the huge formation of bombers.

Lieutenant Murphy formed up on Binary's wing, as the two Rapiers joined the ragtag group of Terran strike craft. They numbered twenty-seven in total, a sad remnant of the original one-hundred-and-forty fighters that had initially clashed with the Kintark.

"Get ready, lads," his new Commander, Whiskey, said in his gravelly voice. "We're going to have to clear those fighters before we can try for the bombers, so use your Rapier's agility to get behind them."

Ryan took his right hand off his flightstick, and clenched his fingers together a couple of times to try and stop the involuntary shaking. Giving up, he gripped the flight controls again, and darted an anxious glance at his Tactical View, checking the range until they closed with the scores of opposing fighters. He looked away to stare nervously out the cockpit window, before doing a double-take, and staring at the Tactical View once again.

A big green signal was approaching them at an unbelievable rate. The Rapiers were fast fighters, only outclassed in top speed by light, scouting-class ships, but whatever it was that was closing on them must have been travelling at triple their speed!

"Binary!" he yelped. "What the fuck's that?!"

Before his wingmate could reply, a sparkling white gunship hurtled overhead, slowing down for a moment as it waggled its wingtips in a jaunty manner. He saw an incoming broadcast, and he pressed the button to receive the call with a shaking hand.

The image of a stunningly beautiful green girl appeared to his right, and she beamed a dazzling smile as she said, "Hi! I'm Jade, one of the Lionesses. John Blake sent me to help you."

Murphy heard Whiskey's scratchy voice over the comm as he replied, "Can you assist us against the fighters? We'll have to try and clear them before we can tackle the bombers."

Jade laughed gaily as she replied, "Oh, don't worry about them. Leave them to me."

"But there's over eighty Kintark heavy fighters!" Whiskey protested.

"Yeah, I know!" Jade grinned, then blew them a kiss as the Raptor's engines flared, accelerating her gunship away from them at phenomenal speed.

Murphy gaped in disbelief at the white ship, shocked by the pilot, who seemed to possess no sense of self-preservation as she charged headlong towards the waves of Kintark. The gunship suddenly veered sharply to port, then cut power to main engines, the exhaust flare dropping to a dim glow. Using retrothrusters alone, the Raptor rotated with effortless ease, drifting sideways while carried along by her initial momentum, but still facing towards the Kintark ships.

He watched the gunship in confusion, wondering what on Terra she was up to, when twin blazing columns of blue light lit up the blackness of space. To say that he was stunned would be putting it mildly, as Jade scythed the twin beams through the ranks of Kintark fighters.

Jade had a feral grin on her face as she snarled, "Payback's a bitch!"

When the blue light from the Beam Lasers dissipated, over a score of Kintark fighters had been completely vaporised, leaving no trace that they ever existed.

"I'll give you a good head start on the bombers," Jade offered generously to the Terran pilots. "But I'd like all the fighters, okay?"

Without waiting for a response from the bewildered Terran personnel, she cranked up the Raptor's engines, and raced after the passing Kintark fighters. Murphy couldn't tear his eyes from the white gunship as six turrets opened fire, sending a steady stream of blue laser bolts into the closest wing of enemy ships, blowing them apart with contemptuous ease.

"You heard the Lioness," Whiskey growled, recovering from the shock. "After those bombers, lads!"

Murphy let out a disbelieving laugh, and when he glanced down at his hand, he noticed it wasn't shaking any more.

***

Admiral Caldwell shook his head in astonishment as he watched a Raptor gunship move faster than any vessel he'd ever seen, while toting more firepower than a squadron of destroyers. One glance at the Raptor was all it took for him to realise who it belonged to, and he studied the white ship as it pursued the last of the Kintark fighter group. He could hardly believe a ship so small could be carrying Beam Lasers, but the gunship confirmed it for him a moment later, as it annihilated the wing of fighters with a sustained blast of lurid blue beams.

Lieutenant Commander Castelo had pointed the gunship out to him, the brunette in charge of Fighter Command looking happy for the first time in this engagement. "We've gained strike craft supremacy, Admiral!" she exclaimed in delight. "The Kintark don't have a fighter left in the battlezone!"

He nodded, immediately understanding what she was hinting at, and said, "Launch all our bomber wings, Adriana."

"Yes Sir!" she replied, before spinning and rushing back to her station.

Turning his attention back to the holographic battle group interface, he began issuing a flurry of orders. He commanded his forces to focus on evasive manoeuvres, damage repair, and shield regeneration over attempting to deal out damage to the Kintark. His ragged battle group had fought well, it just had to hold out now as best it could, while they readied their counterattack.

***

His sharp claws digging into the edge of the Command Table, High Prelate Zorlin watched his meticulous plans falling apart before his appalled eyes. Everything had been going relatively well, and then his hopes had been dashed, as the battle seemed to take one turn for the worse after the other.

All had seemed to be playing out as he'd hoped, with the huge numbers of Kintark strike craft inflicting horrendous losses on the Terran fighters, and clearing the path for his bombers. Then out of nowhere, the Lion had appeared, and brutally slaughtered most of the first two waves of Kintark fighters. The Invictus had swept away after that, pulling half of Grakira's battlegroup with it, as the Lion made a beeline for Lynton's band of turncoats.

The High Prelate felt no sense of concern for the traitor and her forces. He'd been pleased in fact, that Lynton would have to keep John Blake occupied, allowing his third wave of strike craft the freedom to attack the Terran Capital ships. Now it seemed the Lion had brought a cub with him, and he'd been forced to watch helplessly as the white gunship savaged his fighters and bombers.

To make this nightmare so much worse, the Terrans were now using his own plan against him! Waves of bombers that had been held in reserve were now pouring from every carrier in the Federation fleet. They looked like an angry swarm of Ixkara drones about to descend on the poor unfortunate soul that had stirred up their nest.

With half of Grakira's forces pulled away on some fool's errand, leaving the rest under-strength to repel a torpedo assault, he knew exactly where those bombers would be heading.

"A thousssand cursssesss on you, Grakira!" he roared, his frustrations finally getting the best of him in a burst of anger.

***

John rushed back onto the Bridge, jamming his white peaked cap on his head, as he hurried to fasten the Lion embossed front of his dress uniform jacket. He sprang up the steps two at a time, then dropped into his Command Chair as he stared at the Tactical Map in the centre of the Bridge.

The Invictus was racing towards the battle between the Terran forces, which was just underway, the two groups of cruisers and battleships squaring off against one another. Searing lances of orange energy slashed back and forth, as the loyalist forces exchanged Beam Laser volleys with the traitors at long range. Behind the traitor forces, looming like a three-kilometre-long spectre of death, the Thor's Hammer waited for one of the loyalist capital ships to lose their shields.

"We're in range in twenty seconds," Alyssa warned him.

Turning to look into Irillith's beautiful angular eyes, he said, "It's time. Do it."

She nodded soberly, focusing her will inwards and peeling off her spirit form. He watched her breathing calm, as his Maliri cyber-psychic entered the Invictus' digital realm, on her way to reap electronic chaos amongst his enemies.

Turning to Rachel next, he said, "Alright, I'm ready." Pointing at the Terran forces battling each other, he continued, "Open the comm channel to all those ships."

*Open video comms with those ships, but broadcast this to every ship in the system,* Alyssa thought to Rachel, turning in the Pilot's Chair to give her a meaningful look.

The brunette glanced her way, and gave her a furtive smile as she followed her orders.

Dozens of images began to appear in front of John, as startled Terran Federation and traitor Captains answered his hail. He spotted Jack, Calara's father, amongst the rows of personnel, and they made brief eye contact before he turned his attention to the traitors. Rachel had grouped the images by fleet, with loyal forces on the left, and the group of traitor Captains on the right, their positions corresponding to their locations in the battle lines. He waited a couple of seconds for everyone to respond to his hail before addressing them.

"CEASE FIRE!" John boomed, drawing every ship Captain's complete attention.

Every officer on both sides of this skirmish knew exactly who he was; they'd been bombarded with TFNN propaganda about him for months. It had started with his intervention against the Kirrix, then stepped up a notch with the award ceremony, where Devereux had named him the "Lion of the Federation". Finally, after saving ten billion lives on Terra, he'd been the subject of non-stop features and newscasts for the last few days. Influenced by his growing fame, they obeyed his order, and the ships on both sides ceased all weapons fire.

He locked eyes with Admiral Lynton, and she started to stammer, "Ah, John-."

"I'm taking custody of your ship. I'll deal with you later," he snapped, cutting her off.

The image of her frightened face disappeared a second later, before she could utter a single word of protest.

Settling into his Command Chair, and fixing over a score of traitorous ship Commanders with a steely, disapproving glare, John said, "Lynton's been lying to all of you. About everything. She doesn't care about you or your rebellion. She's a slave to a new Master now, and she's played you for fools."

There was some resentful murmuring as the gathering of traitors listened to him speak, and he could see some more vocal dissent was brewing amongst his audience.

One of the bolder officers, a Commodore by the insignia on his battledress uniform, was the first to speak up as he snapped, "You're just a fucking puppet of the Terran Federation!" He sneered mockingly, as he continued, "Why should we listen to a word you say, 'Lion'?"

*Now,* he thought to Alyssa, who passed on his telepathic command to Calara.

An ominous bass thrumming began to increase in volume, which Rachel quickly muted from the call's audio, leaving the audience unaware of what was forthcoming. The lights dimmed, but that just served to dramatically emphasise John's anger at the man.

Narrowing his eyes in contempt, John replied, "Because if you don't, I will personally execute all of you for treason."

The traitorous Commodore laughed mockingly, in blissful ignorance of the deep bass rumble that was gathering in pitch inside the Invictus' Bridge. Outside the ship, the Nova Lances throbbed in anger as Dana shunted more power into them, her eyes transfixed by the spiking power readings. Vast amounts of energy were being funnelled into the weapons, charging them with all the power they needed to do their devastating work. Twin white orbs began to form, starting as a nimbus of light, but rapidly growing into tightly-controlled spheres that blazed as bright as a supernova.

"You can't be serious?!" the abusive officer scoffed, with a dismissive chortle. His face twisted in scorn as he spat, "That pitiful assault cruiser is a joke, just like you!"

John leaned forward and said in a quiet voice, "It'll be easy. Like stepping on a bug." Glancing towards Calara, he continued, "Commander Fernandez, show them how serious I am."

She pulled the trigger a second time, her targeting reticle lined up squarely with the obnoxious Commodore's battleship, which her Tactical overlay tagged as the Kratos. The full fury of the Nova Lances were unleashed, and the incandescent azure beams blasted into the front of the traitor's ship. The Kratos' shields were obliterated in a terrifying instant, and the gigantic columns of blazingly bright laser fire pounded into the doomed vessel, skewering through it and blasting straight out the other side. Alyssa used retrothrusters to lift the nose of the Invictus, gracefully slashing the terrible firepower along the full length of the battleship.

When the Nova Lance beams winked out a few seconds later, they had gouged a hundred-metre-wide rift through the Kratos, cutting it in half from bow to stern. Nothing remained of the armour or superstructure they had just atomised, with just a fading trail of blue particles linking the Invictus to what was left of the Kratos. The pitiful remnants of the topdeck and underbelly rolled away, glowing a fierce orange where they were once attached to the battleship.

John was met with deathly silence now, and he stared at the frightened faces of the traitors as he asked, "Does anyone else want to be stepped on?"

There was a long, forbidding silence before anyone gathered the courage to speak up. He recognised the woman who was first to reply, and Commodore Sasaki asked him in a tremulous voice, "What are your orders, Sir?"

Sitting back in his Command Chair with a look of grim satisfaction on his face, John replied, "Anyone who joins me now, and takes the fight to the Kintark, will be granted clemency." He looked at each of the officers lined up before him in turn, and added, "Does anyone wish to reject my offer?"

None of the officers chose to do so.

"Engage the incoming Kintark battlegroup," he told them, not releasing them from his gaze. "We'll discuss the terms of your clemency after the battle."