Three Square Meals Ch. 102

"But you could've turned it around," Dana said to Calara, shaking her head, doubt in her eyes. "You always find a way..."

"It's accurate, Sparks, I promise," the brunette said soberly. "I told John the same thing just after the battle; If it wasn't for your intervention to stop the Kintark bomber assault, the Terran forces would've been annihilated. If High Command had called and given me time to prepare the battlefield, I could've crushed the Kintark so badly in the first ten minutes, they'd have been begging to surrender. As it was, I barely managed to keep what was left of the Terran forces intact... we were teetering on a knife-edge."

Faye gave her friend a sympathetic smile and said, "I ran the numbers... total projected deaths on the Terran side would have been over 3.5 million crewmen. The Kintark would have destroyed Olympus Shipyard that afternoon and probably started bombarding more cities on the homeworld planets as well as on Gravitus."

Calara nodded, her expression grim. "If we employed guerrilla tactics with the Invictus and the Maliri, we would have eventually been able to whittle down the Kintark armada. However, by that time it would have been too late, the damage would have been done. With the Terran forces wiped out, the Federation would be left at the mercy of the Brimorians and the Kirrix."

John stroked the redhead's back and said, "You know we have to prepare for the fight against the Progenitor... we wouldn't have been able to stick around to defend Terran Space. There's about 80 billion Terrans living in the Federation and this battle determined their fate."

Dana welled up, turning to look at Alyssa. "You really meant it... I wasn't completely sure; I thought you guys were just trying to make me feel better."

"I knew you still needed convincing," the blonde said, tears in her eyes as she hugged her friend. "BFF's don't lie to each other remember."

John waited until the Karron girls had finished their loving hug, before he beckoned Dana over to join him. "Think you're up to watching what actually happened?"

Dana snuggled into his arms and nodded. "I had to take them out... I can see that now."

Faye set up the footage for the Raptor, clearing away the scenes of desolation in Calara's projected battle. Everyone was transfixed by the sight of the white gunship tearing through the minefield, gathering a huge procession of magnetic mines behind them, all the while only metres from disaster. The Raptor swept past the vast carrier group, only to turn sharply and pull away... which was the point when Dana unleashed hell on the Kintark.

The blastwave was breathtaking even in holographic form, with thousands of magnetic mines detonated within a split-second of each other. In the epicentre of that colossal explosion, the massed ranks of enormous battlecarriers and carriers were there one moment, then just gone an instant later, totally obliterated by the terrifying destructive power of the detonation. The hushed silence in the aftermath was deafening, with Dana looking at her friends with apprehension.

"I'm glad you're on our side, babes," Rachel said with a loving smile, leaning over to give Dana a tender kiss.

John felt Dana relax in his arms and he hugged her tight, sharing the brunette's sentiments. The rest of the girls murmured supportive words to the redhead, knowing she needed reassurance at that moment and she thanked them with a grateful smile. Jehanna caught John's eye and she gaped at him in shock for a moment, obviously reeling from what she'd just seen.

"You okay?" he mouthed to her.

She blinked owlishly a couple of times, then managed a slow nod.

"Alright then, let's move on to Calara," John suggested when everyone had settled down.

Faye had anticipated his request, so had the relevant files at the ready. She started the playback and they watched the Latina assume command of the battle from Admiral Caldwell, then charge to her brother's rescue, saving the battleship Orion from destruction. Calara flashed John a look filled with gratitude at that point and they shared a smile before watching the rest of the battle play out. The bulk of her time was spent issuing rapid fleet commands over the battle-group interface, but they all sat up and paid close attention as she bluffed Weber into fleeing from his dreadnought.

"That was very impressive, exploiting his cowardice and convincing him the Odin was doomed," Rachel said with an appreciative grin.

"It was actually all Jade's idea," Calara admitted. "She thought he'd make a run for it if his life was in danger. I'm just glad we didn't have to lose the Odin to get to him."

Faye frowned and asked, "What would you have done if Weber hadn't tried to flee in that stealth shuttle?"

Calara spread her hands helplessly. "There wasn't much else I could do, I was too busy trying to rally the Federation forces."

"Jade was already on her way to the Odin when you called Weber," Alyssa said with a wry smile. "If it hadn't have worked, she would've done to that dreadnought what she ended up doing to Tartarus."

Jehanna cleared her throat and said, "I know Jade disobeyed orders, but she arrived just in time. They'd been starving me for days and finally decided I was weak enough to start interrogating when Jade assaulted the base."

"Can I see?" Alyssa asked her gently.

The dusky girl looked at her in confusion. "They were probably recording it, but I don't have a copy of the video."

"I'd like to look at the memory," the blonde requested, beckoning her over. "It won't hurt, I promise."

Jehanna moved across the bed to sit in front of Alyssa. She didn't flinch away as those cerulean eyes started to glow and the blonde raised a slender hand to caress her temple. Alyssa's expression shifted a couple of times as she looked into her friend's mind, smiling briefly, before shifting to an angry frown, and finally laughing in delight.

"You were very brave... and you can really keep your head in a crisis," she said sounding impressed, before leaning forward to give Jehanna an affectionate kiss. "Would you mind if I showed the others?"

The Indian girl gave her a brief nod, looking embarrassed. "Okay, if you want to."

Alyssa raised an eyebrow and glanced at Irillith, who rolled her eyes and sat next to Jehanna. "Do I get the same promise? Is this going to hurt?"

"I'll be very gentle," the blonde replied with a flirtatious wink.

She touched Irillith's temple with her left hand, while maintaining contact with Jehanna using her right. The Maliri girl's eyes glowed with a violet light and she let out a soft gasp as she began projecting the memories that Alyssa was reading. Everyone watched the interrogation in deathly silence, afraid for their friend. As Jehanna turned the tables on her interrogators, the girls were grinning as she goaded them, up until the point where Sergeant Green hit her.

"I should've taken longer with him," Irillith snarled, seething with anger. The stony faces around the room offered no argument.

When Jehanna had scared the men enough for them to back away from her in fear, her audience laughed, shaking their heads in amazement.

"Alyssa was right, you're very astute," Rachel said, smiling at the new girl in admiration. "I couldn't have done a finer job of exploiting their fears myself. The way you used your interviews with John to convince them they were all dead men for capturing you was inspired."

"It was mostly a bluff," Jehanna admitted with a self-conscious shrug. She clasped Irillith's hand and continued, "I didn't realise I was being prophetic."

"We protect our own," the Maliri girl said firmly, before pulling her into a hug. "I'm just glad I managed to get there in time."

"While we're on the subject of Tartarus, what's the plan?" Tashana asked, turning to look at John.

"I'm still getting life readings from inside the base!" Faye interjected.

John paused for a moment, then said, "We need to search it for any surviving captives, extract any useful data, and clear out the rest of the scientists and soldiers." He smiled at Jehanna and added, "Would you be interested in another exclusive?"

She nodded eagerly. "Are you sending out another warning?" she asked, brown eyes shining with excitement.

"Something like that," he replied with a chuckle.

"I already tried hacking their digital network, but it's a closed system, they have no external gateways," Irillith said, looking thoughtful. "But if I can get near any terminal inside, I'll be able to crack the place in no time."

"Alright, we'll wrap up the debrief, then hunt down the rest of the rats," John said, smiling at Jehanna.

She blushed, and said, "Don't... I was trying to sound menacing, but I felt ridiculous. I'm amazed I managed to scare them off."

Alyssa stroked her arm and said, "It sounded pretty scary to me. You were right by the way, we'll be burning their house down once we've got what we need..."

John turned to Faye and asked, "Can you play the rest of the battle please? No more interruptions or digressions this time, I promise."

"It's okay, I don't mind!" the purple sprite said with a grin, before playing the rest of the recording.

The battle played out under Calara's masterful control, with the Terran forces pulling back, forcing the Kintark into a narrower grouping as they pursued. The Invictus and the Maliri fleet vaporised any Kintark ships that got too eager in their pursuit, giving the beleaguered Federation ships a chance to withdraw without being overwhelmed. Then as soon as they were in range of the defensive emplacements around Saturn, her allied forces counter-attacked, catching the Kintark completely by surprise. The vengeful retribution they inflicted was brutal in its near-total destruction of the invaders, leaving barely a hundred Kintark ships to surrender at the end.

John got up to go to Calara, wrapping her in his arms. "I know you consider this battle to be a strategic defeat, but we survived and can learn from the mistakes we made. Your command of those battle groups was flawless, with men and women decades older than you deferring to your leadership. You're gaining experience, and improving your skills as a fleet commander, which will all count when it really matters."

"We'll be better prepared next time," she said firmly, before smiling and giving him a kiss. "But thank you, it means a lot to hear you say that."

Faye was watching and waiting for John to glance her way. "Tashana next?"

"Sure," he agreed, turning to watch the previous holograms disappear, to be replaced by the Kintark satellite video and her Paragon suit camera footage.

Skipping the orbital drop on Terra, Faye started with Tashana landing on the Kintark battlecarrier. The girls who hadn't been part of the planetary assault team watched in awe, as the Maliri pyrokinetic summoned up a legion of flame sprites and turned them into an infernal tornado.

"I think you killed more Kintark troops with that thing than all the rest of us combined," John said, marvelling at the destruction the conflagration left in its wake. "I had no idea you'd become so powerful."

"All that practicing's really been paying off," Alyssa added, giving the twin a warm smile of approval. "You made that look effortless."

Tashana nodded slowly. "I've been trying to push my limits... practicing creating barriers until I'm all out of energy, that kind of thing. I guess it's like anything; the more you train, the better you become."

"Wow!" Sakura exclaimed, pointing at Tashana's armour camera playback. "Did you just stop a Plasma Cannon bolt with a psychic shield?!"

The Maliri girl nodded, then replied quietly, "It felt really good to be able to protect with my powers rather than just destroy. I've burned a lot of people... defending someone was a first." She looked at Dana and made eye contact with her, letting her know with a glance that she shared and understood her fears.

The redhead turned to Alyssa with a conflicted look on her face. "You told them?!"

"We all love you, Sparks. They were just as worried about you as I was," the blonde replied, not backing down from her friend's accusatory stare. "You can talk to any of us, we all know what you're going through."

Dana relaxed, then looked grateful. "Thank you. It's great to know you've all got my back."

The video continued, with Tashana incinerating Royal Guard corpses and immolating squads of Kintark with fireballs from her Reaper pistols. When Baledranax's psychic dampener cut in, the Maliri pistoleer was forced to rely solely on her twin handguns, but they were more than deadly enough to mow down hundreds of soldiers as she defended the Citadel.

John smiled at her and shrugged. "Calm under fire, lethal on the battlefield, and you shielded your squadmates to keep them safe. You were magnificent... there's not much else I can say."

Tashana gave him a sparkling smile, overjoyed to receive such warm praise.

"You always were the goodie-two-shoes," Irillith grumbled, pretending to pout.

Her twin looked innocent as a fiery halo appeared above her head. "Practice makes perfect, beloved sister..."

Irillith snorted. "Show off!"

Everyone laughed at their playful banter until Alyssa blurted out, "You didn't have to make a gesture to do that!"

Tashana smiled as she looked at the blonde and a pair of cavorting flame sprites appeared above her shoulders, dancing seductively. "It just takes a little more concentration..."

Everyone watched in fascination as she added more flickering elementals, adding details to their faces until they resembled each of the girls in the bedroom. Tashana darted a smouldering glance at John, then created a blazing replica of the bed, with a larger fiery figure sitting in the middle. The giggling pack of flame sprites descended on him, burying John's avatar under a pile of shapely limbs.

He laughed and nodded. "Later, after we clear Tartarus."

The mood in the bedroom shifted and there was an impatience amongst the girls to get started now.

"Shall I go next?" Rachel asked, eager to get things moving.

Faye queued up the video and they were soon watching their kind-hearted medic shooting Kintark fighters out of the sky with her Reaper Cannon. She turned her attention to the ground forces next, scything that unending stream of blue laser bolts through anything that got in their way. Soldiers, Royal Guard, even tanks... Rachel gunned them all down without hesitation.

"Fuck me..." Dana muttered, eyeing her girlfriend and shaking her head. "You went on a kill-crazy rampage!"

Rachel smiled and raised an eyebrow, making the redhead blush, knowing she was a fine one to talk.

"Skip the fight with the Emperor," John said to Faye. "We'll come back to that with Alyssa..."

"Sure!" the purple sprite replied, knowing what he wanted to see next.

She switched to Tashana's Paragon armour footage, which showed a close-up view of a helmetless Rachel gliding serenely through the Terran troops. Her misty aura healed everyone it touched, with critically wounded soldiers gasping in amazement as their pain was soothed away, wounds closing and regenerating in her wake. The looks of wonder and profound gratitude were humbling to see, and Rachel couldn't help blushing when her audience turned to look at her in awe.

"You looked so beautiful and so happy," Dana said softly, her words filled with admiration and longing. She embraced her lover and whispered, "You were like an angel of mercy... I can't believe you're mine."

"It felt wonderful," Rachel said, stroking her back. She looked at John over Dana's shoulder. "Thank you..."

"You're welcome," he said, pleased to see one of the girls revelling in her abilities rather than getting upset by them.

Alyssa reached out to brush her fingers along his arm. "It was a really smart move giving Rachel the ability to heal." She looked at him innocently as she continued, "Imagine if it was you having to heal all those soldiers?" She mimicked furiously jerking off, then put her hands up in the air as if trying to avoid drowning in a deluge of jism. "Argh! I thought being shot was bad, now it's raining cum!"

The girls fell about laughing and John couldn't help chuckling along with them. "Yeah, I don't think I'd want that charming image broadcast across the Terran Federation..."

When all the giggling subsided, Faye piped up, "After Rachel's dramatic demonstration of her abilities, we've started receiving messages requesting her help."

"How many so far?" John asked.

"Just over 200,000 in the last five hours. I've assembled a team of avatars to filter through them all, but I suspect it's going to get a lot worse..."

John paused to consider that for a moment, then shrugged as he smiled at Rachel. "You did the right thing healing those soldiers and we'll just have to deal with the consequences. I'm very proud of you, honey. Well done."

She grinned at him, then glanced at Alyssa. "It's your turn, revered Matriarch."

The blonde rolled her eyes at the brunette. "Okay hit it, Faye."

They were treated to a spectacular shot from Alyssa's helmet cam, with the blonde's armoured hands gesturing towards a Kintark battlecarrier. She casually ripped off one of its engines and dropped it on the legions below, then stripped off all the retro-thrusters on that flank. The propulsion system was enormous and knowing that she was tearing it free using only her mind, made the video enthralling to see. She proceeded to do the same thing to a second Kintark capital ship, before leading her fellow Lionesses in a death-defying leap from the third battlecarrier they were standing on.

As soon as they reached the planet's surface, she started gunning down troops with her telekinetically controlled Reaper Cannon. Alyssa's accuracy wasn't inhibited by the unorthodox firing method, the long support weapon pivoting left and right, mowing down Kintark troops by the score. With her hands free, she was able to hurl around Kintark tanks with telekinesis, battering dozens of armoured vehicles as they carved their way towards the Citadel's last defences.

Tashana darted a knowing smile at the blonde when she saw her create the whirling wall of telekinetic weapons. "You really were pulling your punches in our duel..."

"What duel was that?" John asked curiously, looking at each in turn.

Alyssa winked at the Maliri then replied, "Just a little psychic sparring session. A bit like what you do with Calara and Sakura, but I don't usually fuck Tashana in the ass afterwards..."

He laughed along with the girls, then they all focused on the video again. When Alyssa's powers mysteriously cut out, she soared across the battlefield with Rachel and Tashana following close behind. They landed on the battlements and mowed down the Kintark assaulting the last lines of defence around the Citadel. After stopping the assault cold, she joined Rachel in shooting Baledranax as he tried to escape, Reaper Cannon fire lacerating his wings and bringing him crashing to the ground.

John glanced at her and frowned, "You being exposed to that psychic dampener highlighted just how critical you are to our group. As soon as your psychic powers were neutralised, it left us highly exposed, particularly the girls fighting in the fleet battle. Sakura ran out of energy for her powers and she immediately ran into trouble... You're the hub of our telepathic communications, as well as the one who shares out all the girls' psychic energy. I know you're going to hate the idea, but wouldn't it be sensible for you to stay aboard the Invictus in these kinds of fights?"

Alyssa immediately shook her head. "How often are we going to run into devices that shut down our powers like that? I can do far more good backing you up than just piloting the Invictus; Jade can do that job just as well as I can."