All Comments on 'Three Square Meals Ch. 069'

I, JAPPPPPPY JAK JAP, AM FIRST TO COMMENT ON THIS MASTERPIECE!

Hot shit, it's UP!! Woo-hoo!!!

Tefler,

You just can't post two chapters in a row without one can you?

I mean C'MON NOW.... who won the battle... Blonde or Brunette?

And if you say it was: "A late entry from the green-haired kitten" I swear I'm going to lose it. XD

*Enthusiastic standing ovation* Encore,encore!!

I know, I couldn't resist!

I've written 11k for chapter 70, so that's progressing well. You should see that up here in just under two weeks, all being well.

Tefler

Great chapter once again you have written quality chapter. After new medicine development rachel should be promoted by terran fedration from second lieutenant

Amazing chapter, just the perfect combination of plot and sex. I've a query though. Can you talk to literotica for introducing the pinning feature of comments as provided by the YouTube. It'd be great if you can pin the good comments on each chapter such that if someone reads this masterpiece in the future, they will get a whole new perspective about the series and anticipation for the next chapter. Reading 100+ comments per chapter is not feasible and there are plenty of interesting comments which are worthy of reading.

You are doing really great tefler. Keep it up.

Good luck.

I love your stories and sometimes like to comment a few idea's and thoughts.

I would love to see the AI progress to having a body of some sort, and then with the mechanics help and the medic advance it to the point where the sensory information is simulated as nerve endings. of course it would probably have to be a team effort and could mean encountering an AI race , or even a race that progressed away from biological bodies and into robotic ones.

I love the descriptions of all the weapons aboard the invictis, but while you seem to be upgrading all the hardware, you haven't (from my memory) said much about what you are using as projectile ammo, this could be an interesting idea to expand upon to further maximize out the firepower of the starship.

also, you seem to have fallen short on the usefulness of currency to get anything done, surely there must be something he can use the amassed amount of money to increase his projected inpact during a fight, whether it's drones that are controlled by the AI, to small fighters launched from a specialized bay.

TBH i can't wait to see if you boil the universe into an epic conflict with super carriers, and dreadnaughts and an epic sound track in the background.

Great story, sorry for any spelling mistakes :P

This is another that goes into the great ones area!

I'm surprised you didn't have a 69 contest at the end.

This being # 69 and all.

Thank you for another great chapter. Very easily worth 5 stars.

that we're all patiently (yeah, right, "patiently") awaiting Faye's gaining of physicality... ESPECIALLY Faye herself....

While I'm sure they're already capable of giving her a body as a cyborg and since cyborgs can be a percentage, no reason that percentage can't be 100%...

Problem is Faye would need to be 100% organic since that's what John's cum works on...

That being said, what I disliked about THIS chapter is the same thing I've disliked about all of them...

They keep ending. Fervently awaiting your continued writings...

At least that's my theory. I'm guessing we might have to wait a few chapters, but as you said anticipation increases the payoff.

Great work as always, I'm looking forwards to the journey across Maliri space who knows if they might pick up some Matriarchs who want a lift back to their capitals.

Recovery time, Am I right in noticing that John is needing less and less time between giving out donations? As this could mean he could in the future adapt more than one girl at a time.

Something to look forwards to.

We are all impatiently waiting for Faye to get a body. Check.

We would need it to be fully organic because she wants John to bang her, as any girl should. (by the way, that reporter is probably never going to get the full enchilada, is she?)

Rachael though, oh my! I was waiting for her to have her moment to shine, and this really was a great start! She's developed internal stem cell regeneration spray on short notice, and followed up with the epidermal regeneration. I'm excited for the prospect that she could really be a force for healing in the galaxy, it's very believeable (compared, perhaps, with her reading a DNA sequence in a matter of minutes and understanding it, though I'm always willing to suspend disbelief for progenitor magic)

Given how far she has progressed with healing and regeneration, if John spritzes Rachael a few more times she'd be about ready to come up with some really impressive things. We already know that progenitor magic can regrow limbs. I suspect that Rachael could develop the technology to allow them to fabricate an entire organic body. Heck, her girlfriend Dana could help design the machine (similar to the one in 5th Element, perhaps?) Then Faye could have an organic body... or more than one body. (after all, should Faye really be limited to just one? Seems like Faye enjoys having multiple parallel threads)

"It feels naughty actually, going down on you while you chat to your girlfriend."

Yes sir. She is going to fit in just fine.

Imho I'm thinking maybe it's time for john to get a larger vessel. My reasoning is he wasn't able to even land the raptor in the cargo bay due to lack of room and also considering the modifications that dana wants to do there simply isn't enough room or power onboard the invictus to keep all the weapons powered as well as life support and full engine power as well as sensors and shields during a large battle if its all put on the current hull. So I was thinking that maybe they can go to malri dry docks strip the invictis of all the upgrades and weaponry and put them on a new improved ship built to dana's specs. More power and firepower and it would better the odds against the progenitor's dark ship.

Continue to love it. Including the schmaltzy bits. I look forward to every episode.

When Alyssa mentioned her life on Karron it made me wonder if the Progenitor set this whole whirlwind in motion. Maybe even was responsible for old drunk Jonah giving Tyrenium tip in first place to John. I've always speculated this is one big coming of age trial by fire getting John to embrace his heritage (albeit in his own way) and thus the orchestrated set up from chapter one. Just my theory.

She found the Maliri girl's clit and gently sucked it into her mouth, while Irillith did the same to her. 

there you go

Yea i had the same idea but i was thinking big i.e. dreadnought size with bay to hold they current ship(as they need a smaller craft for some stuff), but i was thinking about other stuff they could build into it like a park with a bigger swimming pond for jade and if there was a area on the hull they could peel back for a big window so they could sun bath and watch nice scenes outside.

I have other ideas on this but thats the basic idea i had

When I read this chapter - BTW nice work again as usual Tefler - I noticed that the DNA-code of Calara was again changed because when she wanted to close the door of the Raptor het scan was not accepted.

Can it be that John is - subconsiously - changing his harem from 'enhanced' females to Progenitors. That would be a big surprise, because until now only Alyssa is a Progenitor with Athena as guide. Maybe Athena can be used again as a in-house teacher.

Further new weapons for the Invictus will be added after Dana has had some play-time with the plans Irillith has snatched from the TF-dreadnought, but those weapons will be doom. hell, and mayhem for the other parties.

I am curious about the 'rescue' of Thalassa. What will she bring in on progenitor tech for the crew.

Also Jehanne can / will be picked up with the Raptor if the Invictus is in overhaul on the Maliri space-dock. Easy for Faye to do so, only a few living persons to transport, and the fastest ship present in the Terran Federation. She would have the scoop of the century with her making known what the Maliri are...

Would you consider Dana creating a hybrid laser-railgun weapon that combines the high shield damage done by laser weaponry with the armour piercing damage of railguns? It doesn't need to be something terribly complex maybe a weapon that can estimate shield strength, or how much damage the laser will do to the shield, and fire the railgun as soon as the laser that will drop the shields is fired. Even if the shields run on a burst system, or the enemy has a back up that comes online once the primary shields fall, the railgun's round should be able to make it through before the shields recover/are replaced

Also Jehanne can / will be picked up with the Raptor if the Invictus is in overhaul on the Maliri space-dock. Easy for Faye to do so, only a few living persons to transport, and the fastest ship present in the Terran Federation. She would have the scoop of the century with her making known what the Maliri are...

2 things faye can not fly the Raptor that far yet due to comms delay,

also Raptor will get upgraded to with powercore and ftl at lest

Hi Tefler,

Here's some ideas for your consideration.

As an admiral, John needs a fleet of sorts. I think Dana sees the need for strike craft and creates Remoras (since Tefler mentioned the Invictus looked like a shark). The Remoras attach to the outside of the Invictus at hardpoints during the next refit. The logical place would be at the terminus of the core support for the inertial negation system. The Remoras can detach and be controlled by Fae as strike craft or their additional engine power can help make the Invictus even more maneuverable and accelerate faster.

I think Edraele's flagship needs a full Dana upgrade, which the Maliri can refit a lot of their escort ships with the technology (maybe not the armor since the element is rare, but that can be overcome by that fusion thing that can make elements). That way, if John needs to call in the cavalry, he'll have one hell of a support fleet and his base of operations will be secure since the other Maliri houses won't be able to overcome the new tech.

I like the idea of John and the girls staying on the Invictus because it will keep the harem storyline to a manageable size. If John was onboard the flagship of Maliri women, he wouldn't have time for anything else!

Another way to "stretch" their armor resources is to literally stretch the material. Instead of having all the armor be made out of the crystal Alyssium, the underlying armor can be what the Maliri already use (which I would assume is better than the Terran titanium.

To overcome the current folding limit, John and Alyssa end up pulling the material between them to get to 100% (or very close) laser absorption at which point, I think the armor turns black like the Progenitor's ship. The theory being that the armor absorbs all energy so that's why it's so hard to see. It's naturally stealthy. They can put a thin layer over the much larger Maliri flagship without too much effort. They can also do that to the Invictus while they're at it. This has an added side effect of being much easier to do than a full ship armor refolding. Maybe during the refit, Dana solves the problem of space by cutting the Invictus in two and lengthening it from cruiser size to a pocket battleship size, creating more room for another power core as well as space for Remora fighters and whatever hybrid monster weapon Dana develops from the Gauss, heavy cannon and singularity drivers.

I was imagining how singularity drivers work. Initially, I was thinking they worked by shooting projectiles through the gravity wells of the singularities which accelerates the projectiles beyond what normal ballistic weapons can do but that doesn't work because small black holes powerful enough to do that would crush a ship. Then I thought, maybe the singularities are contained in hyperwarp bubbles and the projectiles are "warped into the bubble, become accelerated and as the warp field fails as it's crushed and accelerated, it drops out of the bubble going really fast. Dana can also fit it in the Invictus by slingshotting the projectiles around the singularity. The 4 mass drivers are replaced by 2 singularity drivers using the existing 4 tubes. Two tubes fire toward the singularity on one end of the ship, gets slingshot accelerated but maintaining the hyperwarp bubble, then it gets shot straight directly toward the singularity on the front of the ship which accelerates the projectile even more and crushes the hyperwarp on the shell, which drops it out of the bubble and it goes onward to it's target in real space. I imagine Dana wrestling with trying to miniaturize the singularity drive and John making a comment like, too bad you can't fold it up to stuff it in where the mass drivers are. At which point, Dana as a eureka moment and rushes off to make these. Dana's singularity drivers can be more powerful since the ammo that she designs for the new singularity driver is made from tougher material and if Alyssa forms it psychically, it overcomes another problem (uniformity) and removes the need to recalculate trajectories for each projectile, which greatly increases the fire rate. I can envision Alyssa grumbling having to make hundreds of rounds of ammo.

Oh, another thought about an ultimate weapon. What if the Remora fighters act as a singularity creation tool. They surround an enemy ship and they make a singularity in the center, which bypasses all the shields and armor and crushes the enemy from within. I'm picturing what happened to the Vulcan in the Star Trek movie reboot.

With the traitors being demoted, I think it's high time Calara's father to get a bigger ship. The admirals will want to keep John happy and promoting Jake to a bigger ship will also help keep him safer. John asks Dana what he can give Jake and she suggests giving Jake's new ship the improved mass drivers. Since the backbone of the system is the crystal Alyssium (which the Terran's can't replicate), it'll be safe to give, though the better heat sinks may be reversed engineered. That'll at least keep the admirals hopeful and happy that they will be getting advanced technology at least by second hand. The med-tech from Rachel should also start making a big PR hit as word spreads of the new treatments.

Since the inertial negation system has already been shared with another race, I think that's something that John can share with the Terran Federation. It's not something they an put in every ship (look what they had to do with the Invictus to make it work) but they can start making new fighters and bombers with increased maneuverability. I imagine Murphy and Binary getting new fighters that will fly rings around anything in their class.

I think John and crew need to go back to the grey's home planet and demand to see the Progenitor tech that they have. They can offer to share the improved tech with them and also give them the better heat sinks to sweeten the pot. Maybe during that visit, Dana discovers the wormhole drive that was an unknown piece of technology the greys hadn't deciphered. Since they seem to be a peaceful and curious race, they fall over themselves for a chance at a faster drive system, which opens up a wider range of space to explore. The alliance is strengthened and John gets scouts for his growing empire.

First off, I do really like the series. However, it I getting a little sickly sweet. Can you man him up a little. Maybe tone down the "honey's and sweeties". It is starting to make him sound like a pussy.

All in all a good series. A little to cloying and sweet for my tastes.

He's been calling Alyssa "honey" since chapter 2, so that's not going to change.

I don't think he's ever referred to anyone as "sweetie" in over 1.2 million words, but I could be wrong!

Although the banter between the crew is light hearted and affectionate, they've slaughtered tens of thousands of enemies between them. If I had them brooding around the ship being all grim-dark, the story would be pretty depressing!

Tefler

Thanks for the comment, and glad you enjoyed the story!

Lots of interesting ideas there, I'll definitely see if I can work some of them in. :-)

Tefler

Another wonderful chapter, although with the hint you left in 68 I was sure John and company would be met by a black opps team when leaving the safety of the Invictus finding Jack a hostage and in the end finding out more of their physic powers.

Better yet to surprise them later I guess. by then John will have unwittingly taught Sacuru the ability's of Pjohn's speed and agility he showed in the barracks

Interesting idea on the pinning comments. The last chapter had 210, so it would definitely be a useful feature rather than having to wade through all of those!

I'm not sure how much the site owners make changes to the site though. It's been pretty much the same for years, so I don't know if they plan to make any enhancements.

Tefler

Thanks for all the comments since chapter 1! :-)

Re: anon, MelanPonca, JohnCK, AnonymousLucifer, Sid0604, Ambivalence

Thanks for the kind words, I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the chapter.

Re: Wet_special

"We are all impatiently waiting for Faye to get a body."

I think I get asked more about that than anything else in the story at the moment! Rest assured, Faye's story isn't over yet, but how is it going to end for the AI who wants to be a real girl? Stay tuned... ;-)

Regarding Rachel, I'm glad you liked the extra focus on her. She hasn't been getting as much attention as the others, and this was an opportunity for her to really make a difference.

Re: Andya and anon

Dreadnought sized ships and Supercrusiers? Well, bigger is better! Especially when it comes to spaceships!

Re: hping

The DNA reader on the Raptor was probably just busted. ;-)

The trip back to Maliri Space should be fun, and I'm planning something a little bit different with Tashana. That'll be in Chapter 71.

Tefler

Faye.

It has been suggested that Faye would want a physical body for each of her avatars, I disagree with this. As I read things the main reason that Faye want a body is to enable her to interact physically with the other crew members. One body would be sufficient for this, Also unless Faye were to give up her cyber existence the body would have to be effectively an organic robot with a two way cyber link to her core programming. If there is no feed back then the AI Faye cannot experience what is happening to the Physical Entity Faye (PE Faye), this means that either the object of the exercise is nullified or AI Faye ceases to exist. If AI Faye continues the PE Faye is a separate being and to avoid confusion should adopt a new name. I also feel that Faye would want PE Faye to have her trademark purple colouration and fairy wings. though how durable the latter would be in physical reality is something of a conundrum.

The Invictus

I agree that it is time for John to get a bigger ship. I would suggest something at least four times the dimensions of the present Invictus, which would be housed in a special hanger/docking bay in the new vessel. I envisage a minimum of six power cores, one each for the on-board ship functions including any anti-boarding measures.the Nova Lances, the shields, the singularity drivers, the other long range weapons and finally the remaining weaponry. A major upgrade of this nature would help drive home to the TFed that John has powerful allies and if they messed with him they would, most likely, come out at best weakened and at worst obliterated. If John were to upgrade to Invictus II it would make sense for him to train a group of Maliri to crew the Invictus while he and his present personnel crew Invictus II.

Tech.

The Dakkar armour is, for John and company, obsolete tech. and by giving it to the TFed he would be providing them with a significant upgrade while at the same time not weakening himself very much. This would (should?) give the TFed High Command the impression that if they are patient and supportive enough John will give them the superior tech that he has acquired.

Finally

Three hours of enjoyable reading. Keep up the good work Tefler. One minor point of criticism in the scene where John is setting up the link to talk to Calara's mother he tells Faye that she can eavesdrop if she wants to. The quoted speech concludes with " "....if you want?" he asked" I feel that "suggested" or "offered" would be preferable to "asked". I know that the last bit is a question but John is not asking Faye if she wants to eavesdrop but telling her that he does not mind if she does so,

PS Over 200 comments to the last chapter. Is this a record?

It might just be me, but I'd love to see the group build their own ship from the ground up. The Invictus is amazing but it has its issues, mainly Size and design. Imagine if Dana had the opportunity to design her own ship with everybodys input. Not only do they have an amazing officer crew, but they have tons of Milari if they built a ship who just needed regular crew to supplement the girls and John. I've been thinking they might also need more personal tansports like the raptor, or more like a troop transport for mass rescue situations when the Invictus is busy.

Gve them a dreadnaught that holds the Invictus and a few dozen fighters Faye could control. Seems to me this won't be the last large engagment, and Johns not just gnna have one ship forever.

Oh and a loved the chapter. Im glad John got permission to marry Calara, and Rachel got plenty of love this chapter.

Once again Tef, you have given pleasure and delight in layers, thank you.

I for one, will hope that you keep the Invictus as a primary craft for John et al. the point being Johns sentimental feelings for the "Old Girl" - as well as my own. The idea of a custom vessel witch can carry her has an appeal. Doesn't have to be completely internal. raptors are better then fighters and bombers are not part of what Johns character is about so, more raptors in new configuration?

Umm Iriliths sister visits the Greys yep yep.

Also since the beginning, Engines, armor, weapons and SHIELDS... What happened to the mission to buff the shields??

Last thing, you said @ 80 chapters... In an earlier comment you noted 1.2 million words already. I can only imagine that at some point this effort of yours is becoming a burden to /for you. We get to read it in hours, but it takes you days to think it up, put it down then polish finally to post. Are you REALLY going to wrap this epic up in 11 chapters? I read the start of the pirate in outer space story and it looks to be both fun and cute. Still, only 11 or so more before this is done?

Just let John go into cyberspace like ilirith dose and bang Faye there for now until she gets her own organic body.

A bigger ship sounds good to me too plenty comments saying the same but I defo would keep the invictus it's like one of the stars of this series haha.

Keep them coming there is plenty more adventures for John and his merry babes yet to be written I hope you keep writing this story for another 69 chapters it's the best story on literotica by a country mile your a hell of a writer tefler keep em coming asap. Thank you

On Patreon there was a complete discussion about this.

With the structural metal fatigue that has crept into the Invictus due to her age alone, it was surmized she would not be able to handle the recoil of enhanced mass drivers without replacing it.

The upshot was it would be easier to build another ship instead. A ship built completely of 10 shaped Alyssium. This is doable since Athena did it to the Raptor and even had plenty of energy to help Irillith hack the assassin's battleship as well as rescue John and give John energy to bring Jade back to life. With the two of them, while it would take some time, it is possible.

This would make the ship immune to energy weapons and very resistant to mass weapons as well. And, if one of the new elements Dana creates with the antimatter stream/fusion reaction at Genthalis is a base element for making massively better heatsinks, the new ship would be highly resistent to plasma weapons as well. Not to mention being able to use beam lasers as gatling lasers or have fast turnaround on Nova Lances. The new heatsink material would also be used on energy conduits reduce resistance and make the progen power core(s) on the new ship even more efficient.

As was mentioned above, a larger ship, with multiple, superstructure intigrated, interconnected, inertial dampeners throughout the ship, multiple nova lances, singularity drivers, upgraded gauss cannons, etc.. Basically create a larger ship, with enough hard points for the weapons and with enough thrusters to keep the Invictus' agility and enough engines to keep her current or better speed. An upgraded medical lab which can incorporate new toys for Rachel, a small scale fission reactor so Dana can make the elements she needs on ship, a larger hanger bay that can hold multiple Raptors with dedicated comms and with independent servers for Faye so she can pilot them without comms delays.

There was also talk of multi-folded crystal alyssium shells for the upgraded cannons and singularity drivers combined with more powerful explosives that would turn the crystal alyssium into ship killing shards.

I believe the Invictus was originally a retired "attack transport" that was designed to carry a large compliment of marines. Usually that type ship would have a large berthing area for the troops as well as an expanded medical facility for wounded personnel. Why then were the wounded placed in the cargo bay and later the hanger bay? Why not use areas already set up to house personnel rather than a cargo bay or hanger bay?

I really have enjoyed this story. It is one of the best I have read on this site, please keep writing. It is great and I look forward to each chapter. Thanks for your work...

I'm glad John and crew will be diversifying their weaponry. Having all their eggs in the laser based weaponry basket seemed like a really bad idea when the Invictus is already close to being immune to lasers. You have to expect the BSP to have that covered already.

I like the idea of a larger ship too. Sentimental attachment to the Invictus makes that hard to do, but I think they're going to be hard pressed to fit all the weapons they want into the existing Invictus hull. Maybe cutting it in half and inserting additional segments as others have suggested.

I like the idea of converting the cargo bay to more hanger space. More fighters/bombers/raptors for Faye to fly. I suppose Alyssa could bring in a bunch of pilot's to add to the crew, but I like each girl having her own special skills.

I still think John learning to enter the cyber realm for some John/Faye cybersex is the way to go, but no one seems to be joining my bandwagon :(

@anonymous

When John first gets the Invictus, they rip out the Marine's berths to create the cargo hold

options for Faye. To fit the rest of the story she needs to have sex with the others there are several options. Firstly she stays purely as an AI character, and has John, Alyssa and Irrilith psychically visit in progenitor form and maybe the others if the DNA changes happen to all of them as people think

Secondly a technological approach where we use the assassin components and the various girls powers as a bridge to get her mentality across into a physical body.

Thirdly we could see a modified Jade style body. A purple (computer?) gem surrounded by purple flesh. although with limited shape changing. instead of picking any form instead give alterable size so she could go from tinkerbell size through normal girl to possibly (and this is a stretch :-) ) Amazonian giantess the smaller sizes with added wings.

The last option is the dark one where Faye never gets a proper body although it is a choice, and sacrifices herself to save all the others, the ultimate non-evil AI story of love for John and the girls.

"The last option is the dark one where Faye never gets a proper body although it is a choice, and sacrifices herself to save all the others, the ultimate non-evil AI story of love for John and the girls."

Everyone would be decimated. We already had that with Jade. Not sure I could handle that well. Even though this is just a fantasy story, I have invested a lot of my emotional side into it and have developed an affection for our protagonists that is neather easily made nor now severed.

And, steps were taken to prevent that.

I know, it would be dust in the eyes terrible, were it to happen. Faye is a special character

It has been shown that Dana can create elements. So the perceived shortage of the psycic element illisium is a non-issue. However not as much would be needed to make a ship three times the size of the Invictus anyway. The reasons:

1. The illisium has been diluted in the original matrix by quite a bit since the beginning matrix with the addition of several other elements, including the Maliri crystal. This has had the effect of stretching the available illisium by at least a factor of 3 if not more.

2. The thickness of the material can now be greatly reduced from the original since, with even just the original Maliri crystal, just an inch is equivalent to a foot of original titanium plating. Just 6 inches, less than half the original Invictus plating thickness, would be equivalent to the 6 feet of plating on the Dreadnaughts. This also effectively gives 12 times the coverage just by itself.

So the available illisium, with the plating already on the Invictus, would give 2 x 3 x 12 or 72 times the coverage of the original matrix since the stores of illisium on the Invictus were able to replate the original matrix more than one additional time, the available supply would be enough to create a total Crystal Alysium ship at least three times the size of the original. And that is not including making any more at Genthalis.

For nostalgic reasons, the setup of the bridge and officers quarters could be kept the same and the titanium in the ship can be used to make the Invictus II. With creative architecture, the ship could have 4 times the hard points for lasers and mass weapons, have two sets of Nova Lances, and two sets of singularity drivers (thinking one set fore and one set aft, butted against one another so they could share a common singularity and munitions storage). Each system with its own dedicated progen power core capable of load sharing and/or retasking.

Also, since shield strength has now been associated with power levels (the Dreadnaught's sheilds are more powerfull than the battleship's) the appropriate shield and power modulators and a set of dedicated progen power cores could create a shield that would be nigh impenetrable...even before the Brimorian upgrade.

(As a side note here: One reader on Patreon has a GREAT idea for reducing the total length by half while effectively doubling the speed of the projectiles--have a rail gun shoot the projectile around the singularity, using its gravity well to sling shot the projectile at near light speed out a parallel barrel...the projectile would also approach near infinite mass at those speeds and really raise havoc on any target).

But more space is also needed for swarm technology Raptor style gunships where the original Raptor has Faye controlled, fully armored and gunned, drones (we know from Nexus that she can control at least 50 since the ships do not require actual personalities and just follow instruction sets so she would not be limited like she is with her avatars).

Not saying there should be 50 drone Raptors. But just 10 would be an exponential force multiplyer which could be used in the more risky situations where the loss of a piloted Raptor would be likely. Give the Drone Raptors (DR) twice the beam lasers (with Dana's soon to be invented superior heat sinks for near instantaneous follow-up shots) as well as a conventional (Dana version) mass driver, some limited squad transport space capability (with an inertia dampened cargo box towed by tractor beam) and they could still be a bit smaller than the Raptor (due to no pilot space, unnecessary second deck or elevator, weapons room, onboard squad/storage area, etc.).

10 such drone raptors, flying and fighting as one, with the speed and agility of the Raptor, would overpower a whole task force of Terran/kintark/kirrix.... opponents (including one headed up by a Dreadnaught class capitol ship) just by picking off the capital ships one by one. And any fighters would just be gnats to be swatted with the pulse cannons.

So, people have been talking about Faye getting a body. A lot. I see comments about it on just about every chapter. Ideas range from Dana and Rachel teaming up to create a bio-android body, to making a cyborg, to grabbing some woman who's had her mind stripped and psychically implanting Faye. Aside from the Progenitors themselves, Faye's potential body is probably the second most theorized topic in the comments. I might as well throw in my two cents, so here we go.

We all saw Mael'nerak create the Ashanath, Trankarans, and humans, right? For humans, we saw that they were created from Neanderthals when Nexus showed the progression of the experiment. So basically, Mael'nerak did not create life from nothing - that appears to still be the domain of the gods, no matter how powerful the Progenitors are - which means that Mael'nerak took a base lower life form creature and using those chambers, modified it to fight the Progenitor template. Basically, we can consider those chambers more of "evolution chambers" than anything else.

Now with all that in mind, when (not "if") Rachel does unlock the secrets Mael'nerak used to create the races, perhaps when things cool down some, John and gang can go exploring through the galaxy looking for a base life form to evolve into a suitable body for Faye, basically making her into the mother of an all new race. And he can give her the same abilities as Irillith so that she can continue to interface with the cyber realm she was born in. Think about it, a whole new race of fairies that are masters of the digital realm. Not even Mael'nerak could conceive of that.

****

The Invictus...what to do with the Invictus? As difficult as it might seem, especially after that display last chapter, the Invictus is suffering from a firepower issue, or lack thereof. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the current weapon load out, focused as it is on beam weapons, is not flexible enough to deal with future threats, such as the BSP's possibly laser-immune ship. The problem here is, as Dana points out in this chapter, the Invictus can only be fitted with so many weapons, and right now, all the available weapon mounts are in use. It seems to me that there might be four options to address this issue.

The first is that while they're in dry dock, Dana finds a way to add a few more weapon mounts to the existing layout of the Invictus. Not all that likely, given just how many weapons there already are. She'd be hard pressed to find the space to fit new weapon mounts. If they were for more lasers, she could probably do it, as that would just involve running a few power relays to the new hard points. However, we're looking at adding projectile type weapons, which means Dana would not only have to find space on the hull for the mounts, but also space inside for the magazines and the mechanisms for reloading the guns.

Second option is to swap out some of the existing weapons for the new projectile ones. They would lose some of their effectiveness against shields, but gain the ability to be effective against armor that might or might not be immune to lasers. Again, same as the first option, Dana would have to find the space inside the ship for the magazines that hold the new projectile ammo as well as the mechanisms for reloading.

Third option, and this seems to be the popular one, is to expand the Invictus and/or create a bigger ship. This seems like a reasonable idea, allowing them to add/create the space for the new weapons, and gives them a bigger ship that likely would have more options than they currently have. However, the downside of this plan is that you are now creating a much bigger target, and bigger targets are always easier to hit. They can add all the thrusters and engines they want to the new, bigger ship, but they can only make it go so fast, or be so agile. Mass is always going to be a limiting factor in that regards, which means that whatever big ship they make, it'll never be as fast or agile as the Invictus. I think John has gotten lucky with the Invictus, hitting a sort of sweet spot in terms of size, agility, and firepower. They are large enough to host the firepower they need to take on ships much bigger than their own, and yet are small enough to have the speed and agility to evade all the big guns that are a threat to them.

The fourth option, and this is the one I favor, is to leave the Invictus at its current size and configuration, and build a fleet of new ships that are approximately the same size as (maybe a little bit bigger, depending) or smaller than the Invictus. These new ships can be designed and fitted to fill specific roles, such as anti-armor (a few beams to help take out shields, lots of cannons to tear apart armor), anti-shield (basically the Invictus now), carrier (not much for weapons, but plenty of hangar space for strike craft), etc. If you try to make one ship capable of doing everything, you're going to end up with a ship that's not very good at doing any one thing. You're better off making a ship that is designed to fit one role, and it'll be damn good at it. And then you can just build different ships that can cover for what the other ships cannot do.

I agree completely with your assessment of needing specialized ships. The agility is a major asset that really should not be given up. That is why all modern Navy's do that.

Problem is, John is going to have to learn to trust additional crews, Maliri I am sure, or possibly including Calara's brothers/father as Captians?

Rachel has stem cells. That is all John would need to psychicaly create a new body. He rebuilt Calara's arm. He also rebuilt part of a brain and fixed other major organs for Shinatobe. Just create a cocoon of stem cells for John's sperm.

I cannot fathom, as strong as John is concerning protecting his girls, that he would not create a small Maliri fleet of advanced craft to protect each of his soon to increase number of Matriarchs (the new Maliri ruling council who really should be equals with Edreale if they are to be a militaristic confederacy).

The Maliri secret is about to be out. And they are vulnerable to other races who may want to exploit their tech. Especially with their society rebuilding.

He would also need to create a white-haired cadre of staff and planetary governors (and their immediate staffs) for each Matriarch to ensure tusted servants for them without the need for fear or power mongering. I have no doubt there is already a dramatic shift starting in Maliri society between the men and women...given the many who went to the trading post for fathers. And Alyssa can mind-meld with each of the Matriarchs so a stable chain of command structure can be maintained.

That being said, I agree with you Jedi that John needs a small battlegroup of specialized ships:

1. A carrier, possibly like the Dreadnaught class, dedicated with standoff singularity

mass drivers.

2. 50 Raptor class fighter/transports (current Raptor configurations w/upgrades)

capable of transporting a 5 person squad of Dana equiped storm troopers.

3. Three battleships with Dana's improved Nova Lances and heavy cannons.

4. About a dozen cruisers, three for each battleship, as heavy laser based platforms.

5. About 250 marines in 5 man/woman squads equiped with Dana's tech.

With automation and Faye fragments/bots you are only talking about 500 people here including John and the girls. Which is very doable.

Make them all immune to laser fire and equip all the ships with worm-hole drives and progen servers for Faye fragments and bots. Then, when a battlegroup of some empire wants to attack, the fighters can just show up and create a safe zone for the Cruisers and Battleships to follow...leading to the creation of a space 'beach head" for the Dreadnaught to come into the field. John can do as the Kintark and transform white haired Maliri into specialized Captains, fighter pilots, gunners, storm troupers, etc. (with their permissions of course). The ability to project power over an entire quadrant of space would bring a lot of peace and prosperity to the entire region and to all species.

Small skirmishes can be handled by one or two Raptors.

Each fighter pilot wing commander would need telepathic ability with their wings, each Battleship would need it with their cruisers, and the Dreadnaught with their Battleships. Each Captain would also need it with their bridge staff. This would basically do away with the needs for external coms that can be hacked, perhaps with the exception of one ship with coms ability to interact with the opposing forces when they wish to surrender.

is size really that much of a problem?, as long as they can pour more power into the inertial dampers, wouldn't the size be able to increase without losing maneuverability? As for the doubling the length of the singularity driver by looping the shell round the singularity, why not spin it round the singularity multiple tiles then let it go to fire back down the reverse direction effectively making the barrel up to infinitely long depending how many spins you include

I don't think John really needs jack,Mateo or anyone in his fleet. They have got irilith and Faye to handle the fleets( more like drones) which will be more effective due to time lag in cyberspace, instructions passed via psychic thoughts so everything will be perfectly implemented. Also they might have another confrontation with BSP and knowing john I don't think he will put lives of that many people in danger. There is also the matter of stealing of tech they install in their fleet, not every member of the crew will be loyal to John unless they all are women(maliri with white hair) but still I think it won't be that effective.

About maliri, ever since irilith has joined the gang, the matter of national crime (maliri being exposed without suits) has never come although she has visited a no. of places without her suit including lynton's ship during hacking it. Is it because no one really knows how the maliri look like so they got confused with other races or the new edreale is lenient with these laws now?

Also why the maliri started wearing the suit in the first place( I don't know if it has been discussed previously)?

It's kind of ironic that folks like Jedi are worrying about trivialities like weapons mounts and trade offs between mass and maneuverability in a universe where a "passive scan" can instantly detect ships millions or billions of miles away, and the balls in a a man's pants can produce enough ejaculate to make a tall woman appear 6 months pregnant.

The characters in this story are quite likeable. But, as I've said before, the story was written with a seafaring mindset. This is a lot more like a magical fantasy story set on the high seas then anything related to sci-fi. All the goofy, obvious, utter violations of physics could be explained as "magic", but no technology can explain gallons of fluid coming (pun!) from something the size of a couple tennis balls.

Honestly, I don't think the author understands space or physics at all.

Thankfully, there's enough funny and sexy in here to make up for the ridiculous. But please, to my fellow readers, remember that suspension of disbelief is not the same as suspension of all thought processes. The author *can't* start worrying about the laws of physics now, because then John's crew and their amazing ship will simply vanish in a puff of logic.

Honestly, we've already seen that Tefler has the ability to stuff a weapon into Invictus that's just as big as Invictus, if that's the goal. Dana is just that smart! Maybe she learned this trick from studying the Doctor's tardis.

Before everybody starts yelling at me, please note I gave this one 5 stars. The characters really are quite likeable (if a little flat due to the lack of inter-personal conflict) and I applaud Tefler's bull-headed refusal to let trivial details like the speed of light and momentum in a vacuum get in the way of spinning a good yarn.

It's all magic on the high seas… but where "high seas" on this world is called "space" and magic is called "technology and genetics."

Do we not need Jack and Mateo because they are men? That is sexist! ;)

Although really, I was just thinking how restricted the sex scenes are. We aren't going to get any other men who get sexy time?

1hand, to keep the same agility when you double the mass you have to quadruple the energy available to move it. Eventually you don't have room for all the added thrusters.

We are not idiots here. :-)

We have fully explored the Physics issues in this story. And all space tales tend to ignore them. So to be critical about them in this one really doesn't add much to the discussion at this point.

Which really is the point. We are interested in looking at different aspects and possibilities in the story. At times, the Author even incorporates our ideas into the story. Which most of us find both entertaining and allows us to have a sense of ownership in his story.

I am sure you realize, it is all about our part in this story, both the fantasy and the growing up of an author.

Please don't mistake enjoyable speculation and constructive criticism with denegration.

It would be cool if they all had this

as the psi shaper had both emitter and receiver Dana migth be able to could up with a wearable device/hat with limited range/power and limitations?

I'll explain how scanning works:

Passive scans are always on (hence the name passive - its a mmorpg term for constantly working abilities). They don't have a high energy profile, so ships can get a general gist of nearby objects. The closer the objects the more detail is revealed.

Active scans have to be activated by the crew and focused on specific targets. They light up the energy profile of a ship like a beacon, have short range, but reveal extremely detailed information about a ship.

"the story was written with a seafaring mindset."

I've mentioned it in the comments before: Larger ships move like naval vessels, but can obviously go up and down as well. Strike craft have the flight characteristics of fighter jets. Play Homeworld (or watch it on youtube) if you want to see it in action.

"Honestly, I don't think the author understands space or physics at all."

You'd be wrong. Real space and physics don't lend themselves well to action sci-fi. This story was specifically written with "movie physics" in mind, to make the space combat far more engaging and entertaining. There are countless examples of this kind of approach, from movies, to tv shows and computer games.

"worrying about trivialities like weapons mounts and trade offs between mass and maneuverability"

These are valid concerns within the "rules" I've set for the universe of Three Square Meals. Debating such points is as valid as discussing whether Luke's X-wing could swap out Proton Torpedo launchers for Concussion Missiles. I enjoy reading such discussions, and the fans have contributed greatly to the story with ideas and feedback.

"gallons of fluid"

I've been quite specific that his load is four pints. That's half-a-gallon.

"I applaud Tefler's bull-headed refusal to let trivial details... get in the way of spinning a good yarn."

No need to applaud me, I merely followed the well trodden path laid down by every professional action sci-fi writer I've ever heard of. Judging by the overwhelmingly positive feedback I've received, it was a very wise decision.

Tefler

1hand: Dana's Inertial Negation device makes it so the occupants of a craft don't get turned into red paste when the ship accelerates or makes a sharp maneuver. Think of it as a very sophisticated seat belt and padded seats combo. It does not lessen the force required to get the mass of said craft up to speed or to make it dance like we see in the story. Mass is the limiting factor for speed and acceleration, and you can't cancel out mass; if you did, you wouldn't have a ship. You can try to slap on more engines to increase the force available for acceleration and maneuvering, but you'll eventually run out of space for those engines. There's also the factor of diminishing returns as well. Each engine you add increases the mass that must be overcome as well, and at some point, an additional engine is going to end up adding more mass than can be overcome.

hakdrakken: Well of course we're going to discuss trivia like this. What else are we to talk about? We've already exhausted just about all the ways we can express just how amazing this story is, how much we like it, how great a writer Tefler is, etc.. All that's left is to speculate and discuss "trivia." And as PLRus has pointed out, our discussions often end up being of use to Tefler, as it saves him from having to research all this stuff for himself because we've already done and discussed it ad nauseam. Passive scans and cojones the size of oranges (four of them, in fact) with amazing refractory rates are sci-fi staple, and readily acceptable. Also, we don't really have any scientific background on those. However, if Tefler were to ever try to scientifically explain those two aspects, rest assured we will be there to discuss it.

Weapon mounts, though, oh...those are something real and physical, something we can equate to in real life. Ever try to hang a heavy picture on a wall without first finding a stud? Yeah, that's the same as a weapon mount on a ship. Gotta have the weapon properly mounted or else it's just going to rip right off when you try to fire it, causing damage to itself and the ship, and not the enemy, same way a picture that's not properly mounted will fall off a wall, damaging the wall and the picture.

John and his girls are part of that great truism >

It's surprising what you can do when > > > > >

The scriptwriter's on your side.

Once again it deserves far more than just five stars.

Tefler, please explain to me why 4 pints (a half gallon) would cause a young lady's belly to so distend that she appears six months pregnant, and has trouble walking and keeping her balance the first time(s) she experiences it?

Re: passive scans. Gee, thanks for that "explanation," Tefler. Passive scans are scans that aren't active. Got it!

I mentioned this many chapters ago, but I rarely follow up so I don't know if you responded back then. An example of a passive scan is a camera/telescope. You're looking, but not transmitting. You can't detect someone looking at you, because the person looking isn't doing anything to you.

An active scan would be something like radar. You send out a pulse, and look at the reflection that comes back. A "scan" can only work in two ways: either you're emitting/transmitting something and looking at what bounces back or passes through (active, which can be detected) or you're looking at what's already there.

So how do these passive scans work, which let them detect ships outside of the current star system? It's tech that all of the races seem to have already, so what are they doing? Maybe some new form of FTL radiation has been discovered that makes it possible to passively "see" objects that are billions of miles away, without even knowing where to look in the first place? Perhaps this FTL radiation is altered in some way when it passes through a constructed object? Or through a living being?

You've compared yourself with the greats, and believe you have a masterpiece on your hands. So please, throw us (those of us who still like to think) a bone, help us to understand how these passive scans work beyond "they're not active"?

Your story is entertaining and you're doing very well for a first-time author. But Instead of arguing that your story is great (mostly because a bunch of people like it), maybe show a little humility and admit you made some mistakes. It's the best path to improvement. (There are a few times I think you should have admitted to a mistake, like with the penis-passing-the-cervix baloney, but so far you've just soldiered on and pretended it made sense...)

I thought about sending this privately but then I realized the other readers might like another chance to patiently explain to me how dumb and blind I am. Bring it, boys! :p

— Call Me Grumpy

Faye,

I really love her upbeat character and her helpful mindset. I still prefer a virtual body for her with force fields to make her touchable and sensors build into the room ( preferably Johns quarters) to give her feedback about being touched. Just like the Doc in Star Trek Voyager.

Invictus,

Bigger is not always better. I believe coping with the limitations of the ship will bring out the best in engineering.

Any upgrades should be focussed on dealing with the BSP. For more vanilla enemies, the potential of Faye and Irillith has barely been tapped. Irillith can hack an enemy ship in seconds, then leave a communications trapdoor for one of Faye's avatars to take over. Lather, rinse and repeat, and you can subdue an entire fleet without even taking a life. John would love it. With this back-up plan, there was really no risk in the Battle of Regulus - the nova-lance gambit simply hid one ace at the expense of revealing another.

Indeed, had John appreciated the potential of combining Faye with Irillith, it would have been immoral to murder the entire crew of one ship as an example to the rest. Of course it might have taken a few minutes to subvert two fleets of ships, but he could have used the ships already subverted as protection while taking the rest, at much lower cost of life.

"please explain to me why 4 pints (a half gallon) would cause a young lady's belly to so distend that she appears six months pregnant"

His semen is in a state of compression in his body.

The chemical mixture of his semen reacts when it enters a female and causes bloating.

He likes seeing girls look pregnant, so his psychic abilities trigger temporary belly expansion.

He's a psychic alien with inhuman biology. Pick whatever explanation you like if you're finding it distressing.

"Gee, thanks for that "explanation," Tefler"

You're welcome, I'm glad it was helpful. That's the terminology they use in my story, so your example to describe passive scans is incorrect in my literary universe. They work exactly as I described, and are named accordingly.

"help us to understand how these passive scans work"

Out of literally thousands of emails I've received regarding the story, you're the only person who has a problem with how the passive scans work. So let's not pretend you're the spokesman for some vast throng of people who are dying to know the answer to this critical element to the story...

"You've compared yourself with the greats"

By saying I copied their approach to realistic physics? That's not really a comparison, I'm just citing my sources of inspiration.

"There are a few times I think you should have admitted to a mistake"

I've admitted to plenty. Getting character names mixed up, calling Paragon armour Phalanx armour by accident, characters getting out on the wrong deck, there's been quite a few over the last year.

"like with the penis-passing-the-cervix"

That isn't one of them. Throat expansion for deep-throating, and belly-expansion to carry his loads happens in chapter 1. Girls stretching to take him into their womb was intentional from the start, and very much in-keeping with the rest of the story.

This may be a science fiction story, but it isn't really about the science. How it works is only important to the extent that it advances the story. Beyond that, the story is primarily about John and his harem. Tefler already gives us plenty of details of how things work, and I'm inclined (as a technophile myself) to think he gets the balance right. Demanding more would turn a currently very interesting story into a rather boring "Physics of Tefler's Universe" textbook.

Keep up good work tefler 99.99% peoples supporting you. Ignore other people and again I thank you for amazing story you have written.

"To overcome the current folding limit, John and Alyssa end up pulling the material between them to get to 100% (or very close) laser absorption at which point, I think the armor turns black like the Progenitor's ship. "

The Raptor is already well past laser weapon immunity and it is still white.

May I suggest you stop insulting us? I strongly suspect some of our brainpans would compare rather favorably. ;-)

As for thinking. I think you are a bit depressed and need professional help. Just sayin. You change your handle, but your song is always the same...very transparent.

Do you happen to understand the nuances of classical string theory as opposed to M theory? We discussed that at length some time back. I did not notice you making a contribution.....smirks.

I think you're off a little with your armor color. Remember, it starts off as black, and then turn white. Way back when Alyssa was using the Psydetector, it started as black, and stayed black. My theory is, with out the "mechanics" in the way, and in addition to the quality of their "souls" or "good/evil" ratio, (for lack of better terminology) the armor alloy either stays black, or turn white.

It seems the biggest issue with creating a larger Invictus is the loss of maneuverability. Lets remember the Invictus is already nearly as manuverable as a fighter. Lets make the assumption a dreadnaught with Dana tech would be slightly more maneuverable than a normal frigate. I think the trade off would be worth it. Firstly, Invictus Mk. 2 would have more weapon mounts by far. Rail, Gauss weapon hybrids that use high gravitational points to sling themselves to or past the speed of light. Armor capable of ignoring lasers if their shields fail. Armor that is also more durable per inch thick than titanium. Enough space to power anything they can fit in it. Nova Lances, singularity, lasers, plasma, and shields for days. Space for a small contingent of gunship class escorts. Fabricators that could make way more than the Invictus can handle. Lowered maneuverability seems a fair trade off.

Last bit l, Tefler if you read this, do shields stop some things and let others in? Like stop heat but allow light, or stop solids but not gas? I'm just curious.

PS. Mr. Grumpy, be nice we're all friends here.

Notice how if you are just having fun some people will show up and insist you are doing it wrong?

I thought I was having fun; are you sure I am not having fun?

When you finally tell them they are just being a spoilsport, they insist you are wrong about that too.

What a person says, tells mostly about themself.

Wise men know when to look deeply at what they are really saying and when to say nothing at all.

What will the Kintark info bureau call John Blake now that he has given them their worst defeat ever?

If Hakdrakken has this many quibbles about the physics of 3SM, I suspect that he's going to blow a gasket when Tefler further explains the metaphysics of the Astral plane.

Since Sakura is beginning to "see" psychic energy, she'll be in an excellent position to discover how to manipulate that energy with even more precision than John and Alyssa can manage using Progenitor intuition. I'm looking forward to the Big Nasty getting its ass thoroughly handed to it in its own little Astral pocket universe -- not easy, but doable with considerable energy at one's disposal and enough focused intent and will.

"What will the Kintark info bureau call John Blake now that he has given them their worst defeat ever?"

As egotistical as the Emporer has become, He will sue for peace while sending squads of royal guards to find and kill him.

If for no other reason than to avenge his brother. The consort and the advisor who know they are not immortal are dead, too.

The consort's only hope is to beg John for help.

"Since Sakura is beginning to "see" psychic energy, she'll be in an excellent position to discover how to manipulate that energy with even more precision than John and Alyssa can manage using Progenitor intuition. "

I was wwondering where that was headed, neat idea. I was just thinking about sniffing out DSP spies.

1. The Nova Lances had enough power to eventually take out his shields.

2. Irillith taking over the Dreadnaught meant John had singularity drivers at his disposal.

3. The Invictus and Raptor manuverability levels gave them tactical advantage.

4. The unknown as to the AI's (Irillith's) ability level to hack his ship.

That is why he ran. He was not assured victory. He will not attack John until he KNOWS he will win. He will plan to defeat what he saw of the Invictus' abilities. John's only hope is to further develop the Invictus or Invictus II well beyond current capabilities (Dana) and for Faye and Irillith to continue to increase their skills along with he, Alyssa, and Athena becoming full strength Progens in their own rights. John also needs to massively increase the Maliri Thralls. Perhaps even to make all the ruling council his Matriarchs with thralls under them.

The fight with the BSP will have two battlefields. the Ships AND the Astral Plane.

"As for the doubling the length of the singularity driver by looping the shell round the singularity, why not spin it round the singularity multiple tiles then let it go to fire back down the reverse direction effectively making the barrel up to infinitely long depending how many spins you include"

My perception is that would not be a good idea:

What builds up speed is the projectile, with a current velocity, getting very close to the gravity well of the singularity while still maintaining escape velocity. Using a law of physics which says a mass in motion tends to stay in motion on a straight line unless acted on by an outside force applies here. The singularity grav well affects the projectile by pulling it in. But the projectile wants to pull back away. If it approaches the singularity gravity well at a precise angle, it will pull away at an expected angle and the effect will be to increase its speed because it is converting that gravitational energy into kenetic energy (more speed). If the projectile goes around the singularity gravity well just one whole circle then it no longer has escape velocity and will just be drawn into the singularity.

Since a singularity has enough gravitational pull to trap light, the potential energy that a projectile can convert into kenetic energy can, theoretically, propel it at near speed of light.

Well, the faster the projectile is travelling when it encounters the singularity, the closer it can get to the singularity and the more gravitational energy it can convert into kenetic energy (speed) and the closer it can get to the speed of light as it pulls away.

Due to Einstin's theory of Relativity, we know that an object that approaches the speed of light also approaches infinite mass. Hence, if done right, (something TFed is not able to do--kind of like the Ashanath with the power core and ftl drives--just not having the math ability to understand the physics or the technical ability ot maximize the effect) the projectile exiting the barrel will have near infinite mass and can utterly destroy/cripple a massive ship.

A projectile of near infinite mass, when striking another massive object, unleashes so much energy in the form of shock waves and plasma, that it would blow a huge ship apart in just one shot...unless it was VERY well built of something like 10 shaped Crystal Alyssium itself. Even then, you would notice you had been hit.

That is why the other poster's idea to reverse the current rail guns on the Invictus to fire towards the singularity and then let the singularity throw it back out a parallel barrel is so good. Something moving at that level of hyper velocity to begin with will come massively closer to the speed of light/infinite mass than the Terran equivalent.

Feel free to contribute.

I would think that Johns dad is mad that John got to the Maliri first. but that's life!

John should have the whole Maliri Fleet make Several of the same upgrades to there ships because Johns dad is going to start a major war soon! Take some of the ideals from this story about how they had so many power core in the new ship and put new Progenitor power cores on each weapon sized to each weapon.

maybe have Rachael receive one or two Nobel prizes, for all her work in this chapter.

Most of your story is spot on with the Tech stuff but some is not so, but my point is that it is just a great story no matter if it is correct or not! some people just need to try not to read into things that are not there and just enjoy the ride so to speak.

I HOPE THAT YOU CONTINUE TO KEEP THIS STORY GOING FOR SEVERAL YEARS AND THAT IT IS LONGER THEN THE HARRY POTTER SERIES.

WISERMAN4U

My theory is that we have met the other program in the first chapter I think it's Jonah not much description of him just a theory but he likes the ladies and knew just how to entice John into going where he had no intention to. Alyssa stowing away could either be a happy coincidence I am learning toward a contrived by him as well kinda like lighting a fire under a slacker couch potato in a lot of movies.

I think an Invictus II of just over double size/mass made of full 10 shaped Crystal Alyssium is necessary.

1. The additional number of thrusters needed

is still doable, keeping the agility/manuverability

advantage. Maybe fewer would be needed

with a Dana upgrade?

2. There would be enough room for four sets of

Nova Lances and Singularity Drivers (two

sets forward and two sets aft--the ship would

be twice as long as well as twice as wide and

twice as deep and one singularity could run

all the mass drivers).

3. If carefully thought out, the archetecture could

provide lots of cross bracing which will be

necessary for a black hole drive system as

well as providing 4+ times the hard points for

mass and pulse cannons and thrusters.

4. It would provide the space for dedicated

Progen power cores for the Nova Lances,

the Singularity Drivers, the thrusters/engines,

the shields (thinking 2 here--primary and

secondary shielding with a power core

each and shielding around the power cores

and power distribution units), the lasers/gauss

cannons, and the electrical needs of running

the ship. (6 or 7 power cores all capable of

load sharing or indipendent/dedicated operation

as needs arise--they also need to be spread

throughout the ship and be able to isolate and

shut down a given core to prevent explosion

should one be compromised due to battle damage.)

5. The power cabling and couplings, with

heat sinks and Crystal Alyssium tubing

capable of handling that much power

while being resistant to sabotage/battle

damage.

6. Dual Anti-Grav Inertia Dampeners that

are upgraded to extend beyond the ship

to use gravity wells or mass within a

system to increase manuverability at the

anti-grav level along with the thrusters.

(Even an enemy ship's mass which would

have the added effect of knocking them on

their asses/ruining their aim/splattering

them against a wall--even if it is only after

the shields go out)

7. And the additional time at Genthalis Shipyard

required for the build would allow John to

get all the Matriarchs and thralls lined up for the

new Maliri governing council.

Okay, now I think this is interesting!

When fighting the DSP they could use two very strong tractor beams, on on each end of the progen ship and use the upgraded antigrav to project a pushing force against the middle, creating one massive shearing force against the hull!

You guys are all talking about the singularity driver munitions "approaching the speed of light"....... Please correct me if I am wrong, but, Tefler has already stated (several times) the just the regular mass drivers accelerate the projectiles to "hyper-warp" velocity..... Isn't that ALREADY PAST the speed of light? It should actually be faster than the lasers and other such weapons.

I mentioned once that the mass time velocity = kinetic energy should be massive and just punch straight through virtually "anything". In some stories, future and near future, at some point the mass being accelerated turn to plasma. I believe, they mean that between the speed and "air friction", the heat created creates the plasma. Now, in space, the would be very little to cause friction. However, at such excessive speeds, "some" friction could occur. Depends on what the current space could be.

Oh.... About the lack of space for the injured/rescued in the Invictus. Yes, it was an assault cruiser and had plenty of berthing for the assault teams and gear. Way back in CH 4 I believe, when John 1st got the ship, it was mentioned, that a lot of the Marine berthing was converted into the gym and cargo area.

Now that I think of it.... I'm slightly surprised that Tefler didn't have some of the rescued/injured moved into the gym.... "Oops... Sorry Mr Jameson, we forgot to lock the wheels on Jimmy's stretcher and he rolled into the swimming pool and drowned".... LMAO

With the larger ship would come more fabrication space. They could fabricate all sorts of things like interdiction beacons!

Can the effects of an inertia damper or negater be applied in the negative? Inertia...increaser? Gravity generators are a thing it seems, could that be weaponized? Forcing a few hundred G's on a ship might not break it, but Im sure the crew would be mad. Just thinking out loud.

The old geezer from the first chapter, now that would be hilarious.

Im not sure they were a threat to the other Progen, I think he is just playing a game to amuse himself, and left after losing a to him small battle.

The Invictus is such a key 'member' of the crew - and John has such a historical attachment to the ship, that I don't think he should abandon everything just because he needs more space. I think that changing things up is the way to go. I really think that Dana has to drop the whole reverse-engineering thing now, and step up to the inception thing. She has every ability to apply her Progen knowledge to new destructive devices and not just improve existing ones. For example, she could decide to create beam technology in a different spectrum, or create a sound disruptor, or she could create a psychic gun on an Invictus scale, and Alyssa could power it (but really Alyssa should be able to use her destructive psychic power without a physical gun - as she does with her shaping.) Or anti-matter, or lightning / electricity, etc. Just think of all the potentially destructive forces in the universe and away we go.

So my point is that I think that Dana should be thinking outside of the box, instead of just making a bigger box.

"Tefler has already stated (several times) the just the regular mass drivers accelerate the projectiles to "hyper-warp" velocity..... Isn't that ALREADY PAST the speed of light? "

That would seem to be the case. But the shells can still be seen and tracked to target (not instantaniously there) so not sure if the hyperwarp usage is actually ftl. It may refer to normal mass driver speeds instead. If they were ftl then Dana would not be salivating over the Singularity Drivers since that would be a step backwards. And, yes I do remember you mentioning that.

OK, I could see that hyper-warp velocity could be a minimum speed needed to activate the drive system. I will concede the point for now....

Hey Tef.... how fast is hyper-warp speed? LOL

I like the bigger ship idea but i still want Invictus about how about having a docking bay at the top front for Invictus that they can undock when needed but the bigger hull has extra decks for more space and when they undock faye can control the bigger hull/ship and use it as a weapons platform?

This is a great story! I recently discovered it, and read from beginning to chapter 68, then had to wait for chapter 69, it's going to be tough now waiting for each new bit!

I presume you have a plan for this sorted out, and maybe it's been discussed at great length in prior comments, but John is the son of a Progenetor, and the only such person we know of is the bad guy. The obvious solution is that the bad guy is Johns father - very Star Wars. The alternative is that there is/are one or more additional Progenetors that have yet to be introduced, one of whom could be Johns father. Either way, but especially in the case of the latter, the open question of John's mother could be an important element, if for example she is still alive.

The notion of a singularity weapon is interesting. I see folks here wondering about how to use, and improve, a projectile weapon that uses a singularity to accelerate the projectile. In contrast, I assumed that the singularity WAS the projectile, presumably a micro-hole, that is accelerated in some unknown fashion. Hmmm....

I see a lot of speculation about great improvements or replacements for the Invictus, lots of potential here. But for the purposes of the story, I'm not sure an arms race or an invulnerable ship makes for a great story - the ultimate victory cannot come just from a bigger and better ship. It has to be more interesting, like a chess match.

Regardless, I look forward to the continuation of this great story. Thank you for. Your work, Tefler!

The latest handle this troll has taken is Mr. Grumpy or Hakdrakken. It is the right of any reader to vote any number of stars and then stop reading the series. I have started reading any number of stories on literotica and never finished the first instalment. I chose never to rate a story below 4 stars because it is so difficult to write and even more challenging to write a compelling story. (If you can't say something nice don't say it) To discourage a writer who often are taking a chance even anonymously to share their talents and hone the craft of wordsmithing is by default vulnerable.

Tefler has energized hundreds of readers to not only follow him on literotica but willing to support him on Patroen. The number of comments and plot discussions after each installment is often as enjoyable as the chapter itself. By now it is obvious this TROLL is out for blood and I hope Tefler does not take him seriously.

My suggestion for all of us to not encourage the TROLL with comments of any type and let Tefler know how much we enjoy the chapter and story. I hope Tefler has a way of erasing the turds comments and report the cretin to the web masters of literotica.

Thank you Tefler for the best story series I have read on literotica.

RL

I have really enjoyed this series and check for updates multiple times a week despite the fact that I know there won't be one available 90% of the time.

One of the other guys was asking for more detailed science. This story is not really based in science, it is a space based adventure / fantasy. Trying to bound any of the science with what we currently know is a failure in my opinion.

First of all, some of the equations for accellerating mass to near the speed of light suggest infinite energy is required. If this is achieved somehow, when those projectiles actually impact a ship, they would completely vaporize the entire ship. The energy involved, even if it didn't break through the hull skin would still probably cause such a traumatic motion that the humans inside would be pulped.

When people ask for tech explanations, or discuss or dispute the tech, what they really are asking for is more of Tefler's creativity. The "tech" that Tefler has created, while having no real bounds in our own reality, is a nice, fun system that is more or less internally consistent. Obviously I'm a bit of a physics nerd, but no aspect of the tech descriptions have turned me off from the story.

Thanks again for writing Tefler!

And yet another exelent chapter. I truly like it

Something I'd like to see is Alyssa using her powers to maybe jack off John from across the room or even the ship if she has a strong enough connection with him. She could even use it while he's inside another of the girls throat and cause him double the pleasure like Jade does.

Oh and hey, Tefler... Semen is water based. You can't compress it the way you suggested. You'd know that if you knew Physics. :p

Hey Mr. Grumpy you forgot John is alien not human . So how normal physics terms applied here . If you know about progenitor anatomy then feel free to educate all of us. Hey, wait 1 minute this is sci-fi story and all the characters in the story are created by tefler so how you can tell us about it.

I'm sorry, but I just don't get that mentality. You find the sex scenes gross, but you've read all 69 chapters?!

Cum inflation was the tagged fetish of this story in chapter 1, it's not like I suddenly introduced necrophilia out of left field or something!

I personally dislike cuckold or femdom stories, as I find the category a turnoff. I'd never even dream of continually reading a story from a genre I found distasteful, let alone over a million words of it.

By the way, be careful with the insults, especially towards the fans.

You know, after 69 chapters I just realized something. Could John, over the course of a couple days, change one of his girls to look like someone else or even become them (all the way down to their dna)? Obviously he can mold their bodies to his liking over a while so I didn't know if it would be possible. It would be an interesting plot point to see in action though especially since that means the evil proginitor could do that too :)

That's an interesting point you raise about changing the girls appearance. I thought it over about 6 months ago, and decided that it wasn't possible for John to do that. The reasons were:

1) it would take away from Jade's uniqueness as a shapeshifter.

2) it would reduce the novelty of adding a new girl to the crew, if the existing girls could change appearance at his (or their) whim.

The in-story reason is that the change the girls undergo is simply to transform them into the Progenitor's generic template for soldier-thralls.

Tefler

It's an interesting idea! I'll think it over and see what I can come up with! :-)

Tefler

I've really enjoyed reading these discussions! I had something in mind for the invictus but I've changed my mind a bit after reading everybody's feedback.

Thanks everyone for the ideas!

Tefler