All Comments on 'Three Square Meals Ch. 103'

Told you when you put up your first chapter this was gonna be a big hit. Guess I was right huh?. Riveting chapter as allways.

And still dealing with aftermath, is it around that I feel that even as lo g as the story has been that your dialogs are improving even more i. A chapter like this. I know I haven't commented in a while I think keep up the good work man.

Thalt992000 ( Lawrence Hopper)

An excellent chapter setting up at least a dozen different story lines. I can't wait to see what Tefler does with all of them.

Keep up the great work Tefler.

I really hope Athena and Alyssa figure out the astral plane issues. I'm tired of the nightmares, too. The end almost seemed to imply that the fit is going to hit the shan when they go to sleep for the night, and I am wondering if Calara and Sakura will be caught up as well, since distance doesn't matter when it comes to their psychic links, or if they will be left out, and have to return and "rescue" the rest of them somehow?

I'm getting nervous with the repeated instances where Tefler is making a big deal about not letting any of the girls go out alone. After the self-deluded "Japanese" assassin's attacks on the crew, more of the same would be boring, but I can't see Tefler including these scenes for no reason...he just hasn't gotten around to them in the story yet.

For half a moment, I thought that Dana was going to end up souping up the "acquired" Thrall Destroyer, but after the report on it being a poor imitation, made out of old and inferior Terran parts, It would be wiser to start from scratch especially after John pointing out that the Invictus is like an egg, hard on the outside, squishy on the inside. Not to mention that they are doing their best to steer clear of simply copying all the Progenitor designs to the letter. John and Dana already agreed in a previous chapter, around Ch. 80 or so, just after the Drakkar battle at Ashana, that rather than build a copy of a Progenitor mother ship once Dana figures out how to replicate the substance they are made from, that they would make a smaller version, strapped with a shitload of weapons, instead.

Having the Nexus/thrall destroyer in the hangar makes me think that that is what Tefler intends to build to fill that massive new hangar they built when they lengthened the Invictus. I can see Dana designing a ship, basically barely big enough to hold all the power cores and drives/engines, and maybe a few corridors and reinforced rooms to carry a crew of 2-3, while the point is to only include what is necessary to power as many weapons as she can mount on the hull. Essentially it would be a pocket-sized capital ship, just without the thousands of crew normally required.

That could be John's answer to a thrall fleet. Dana, by not being given all of the Progenitor tech in the first place, has had to learn to take what she has and upgrade the hell out of it. Progenitors seem to have stagnated as far as technological advancements; if it isn't in their DNA, they're not interested. But if Dana, used to working to improve whatever she has, finally gets access to the Progenitor tech, I can see her doing what she always does, and improving on what she never knew existed.

In this case, making larger versions of the Raptor, just without all the cargo/passenger space, yet still having all the bells and whistles, as well as being armed to the teeth. Being smaller than standard sized ships, yet massively more powerful, and only needing a skeleton crew, the fast, maneuverable attack ships could be mass produced, especially as the same crew complement for a capitol ship could man hundreds of the smaller ships.

If Dana can get that wish list of tech in and on a small ship like that, maybe she could build four or five of them to fit in the larger hangar, and each could be piloted by an ace pilot Nymph. Later they could figure out a carrier or something to carry more of them, and be crewed by Maliri...

Now that they brought up the Progenitor hull material again, I assume that it will become a possibility in the next ten to twenty chapters. Right now, I think Tefler is going to complicate the hell out of a few easy-going "maintenance" chapters, post epic battle chapters.

I am disappointed that Charles wasn't there for John and Alyssa reshaping the Invictus' armor plating, seeing as John specifically invited him to watch them repair the ship, just after the Kintark invasion was stopped. What can I say, I enjoy little things like that. I'm the guy who hates it when a book does the flash forward a week, month, year or whatever, in the epilogue, and "wraps up" the storylines of all the characters you became invested in, in only a few paragraphs. I want a whole extra book on just that.

Every chapter makes me look forward to the next one, five stars again.

Hope Jade can free up her sisters. Will be interesting to see what the admirals have to say for themselves at 2pm. Well done as always!

This is one of the best chapters ever, I love the way you bring out the personal relationships in the story. I know that the battle chapters get the most comments but it's chapters like this that show what they're all fighting for. And I for one enjoyed the way the sex was written, it seemed it was more than just to have a sex scene, it shows the emotional and personal connections between John and his family of girls. I feel this story is so far from just erotic sci-fi and into a category that puts it with any published author I've read. You have gone far beyond your start with this. Please continue forward. Thank you sincerely.

As always you do a great job. This time without a lot of conflict you've managed to flesh out some of the new people. Doing so is always a struggle but you make it look easy.

Thanks for the great read.

Ed Parachini

thank you, love it, you are the best, gooo for it.....

Ok I get it character building is good but it’s been three chapters and not even a full day and half of time has gone bye. I love you and the story but please get a little more story line out there. I will end on a good note. You are a great writer and this is an awesome, epic story of science fiction grandeur. Please keep it up!

better & better!!

Not sure where the character building of Buckingham's son is leading us. I assume a setup for something that will happen with the Brimorians.

I like these slow chapters that slowly build up to a huge event.

Thanks for another 5 star chapter.

I had read this earlier today before I had to leave to go up town and left a quick comment. My earlier comment didn't do this chapter justice, all the interpersonal relationships are beyond excellent, can't say enough about this story. Thank you Tefler.

I have to think they are going to build a "destroyer" soon because i noticed what dana said about that tormentor class destroyer having so many hard points compared to the TF counterparts.

Again, another great chapter.

Enjoyed the writing.

Thank you!

I love your writing the story is epic and i dont mean long. If you continue to wright this for the rest of my life i will faithfully be there every chapter Even when old and diapers. lol bad image. Anyways Id also like to comment on if you eventually make a book I know I will buy at least 2 of the hard covers if it ever comes in that form. One hopefully signed. Thank you again very much for creating such a fantastic world to explore. I look forward to the next chapter.

Each chapter leaves you wanting more, I just can't wait!

This is agonizing going a month between chapters, they are oh so good.

If you really like this series, and want to see it continue, think about supporting tefler on patreon, will only cost you a handfull of $ each month sometimes less, depending on number of releases. Bonus is it is usually a chapter or two ahead of here, ofcourse if you dont mind the wait or you dont have the means of financial support, this is still an excellent place to read the chapters. Cheers from EasyReader.

I wonder whether any members of the Admiralty remain so infected by Buckingham's paranoia that they'll attempt an assassination during the meeting? It would be an admirably efficient way of self-weeding the upper ranks...

As always, Tefler, thanks for another awesome installment. After 102 posted, I went back to the beginning while waiting for 103, and loved every minute of it.

I can't say whether I would have caught it without just completing a re-read from the beginning, but Sakura is John's insurance policy against his Guide; I couldn't help noting that she was being sent off with Calara, who is both the galaxy's finest tactician and a hand-to-hand fighter to match John. Am I the only one thinking we might be about to see a bigger showdown than the expected trip into the Astral?

Did I miss something, or is Lynette's blowjob scene missing? I was looking forward to that...

Go back to 102 and read it and 103, she elected to let Jade feed her rather than take it from the source.

Is now out on Patreon, so countdown timer starts for about 10 to 14 days...

Wondering what will happen.

“you guys have a knack for making mistakes look easy!”

I’m loosely involved with some machine learning (AI) at work, and I have to say that line was really funny and insightful.

I am not sure how, but the story continues to improve. Absolutely amazing. I can’t wait for the next chapter. Thanks.

I can tell you why this story gets better and better, because by the end of the chapter the need to know what happens next will become like a f*cking addiction.

Another cracking read.

The hard work in plotting all of these story arcs and making it a riveting read is mind boggling, you are truly the master of the epic tale.

Thank you

MM2KX

I started rereading from Ch1 whilst wwaiting for this chapter. And some of the interlude or slow down chapters have been the debrief/review of previous chapters before ramping it up again. This was a nice change of having a slower paced chapter without rehashing previous chapters.

Dont get me wrong, I love all the chapters, I'm just giving u a pat on the back for something different.

So many plot lines you've got going. Incredible job. I really see this as being a massive piece of work like Lord of the Rings, The Riftwar (written over 30years and 30 odd books) etc.

Now back to rereading the series whilst I wait for chapter 104.

I was rereading Chapter 53 and I noticed that on page 13 it says that House Venkalyn is the 7th largest Maliri House, yet in later chapters the 7th ranked house is one that one of the young matriarchs belongs to (Ghilwen, I think?)

Also, in page 15 of Chapter 58, one of houses Aeberos or Naestina is ranked third, yet in a later chapter house Perfaren is ranked third. Although it's possible that the intent there was to say that they will be third after house Valaden falls from rank one, since at that point they think Edraele is dead.

Wow that was really well spotted, thanks! I haven't reread that chapter in over a year, so I had to refresh my memory. It was fun reading about the demise of the House Matriarchs again! :-)

You're quite correct that House Ghilwen is the 7th ranked House. I think when I wrote chapter 53, I hadn't written out a full list of the nineteen House rankings and I actually missed House Venkalyn. I've added it in at rank 10.

In chapter 58, Tinefain is referring to Edraele's death which would have resulted in House Valaden dropping far down the House rankings (with their fleets destroyed too). Houses Aeberos and Nestina are 4th and 5th, which would have bumped them up a spot.

I've fixed it in my master copy, so it'll be correct in the eBook... thank you!

I think Dana should unlock 🔓 the wormhole gen tech.

Viper

For my earlier comment, I can only apologize, I was half asleep when I wrote it, so it may not be entirely clear, or grammatically correct.

As for my latest ideas, I had two main ideas. I recently re-read the proposal and ring distribution scene after wiping out the Kirrix and saving the Trankaran Chancellor, and when John and Faye agreed to have the maintenance robots in the back of the Raptor in case they needed something armored to take cover behind, just in case, and because they don't yet have armor frames set up in the Raptor's armory.

I am not sure how many even Dana could fit, seeing as how she sacrificed half of the Raptor's armory already to make room for the inertial dampening device to counter the G's from the Trankaran engines. That said, I had a few ideas just on how to mobilize their armor.

First, is the idea of fewer equipping frames. The new model would take up the space of two or so original models, with the extra space taken up by armor segment storage. The Mk II frames would have a two position selector (as well as a DNA reader if there are security concerns) to load up a John or one-size-fits-all female Paragon armored suit. Once the selection is made for gender, the usual boots and gauntlets for the chosen suit variant are presented. Following the normal activation sequence, the corresponding armor segments are retrieved from the storage section and applied normally.

All told, with this version, it would only double or triple the equipping time at most. Seeing as that time is currently about 5 seconds in total, that still is lightning fast compared to any other system. Even with them all sharing frames, it would still probably take only a minute or two to armor the entire crew, depending on how many frames are at the location they are in.

No more only being able to suit up just John and one girl in the bedroom, and saving space for weapons racks in the briefing room, hidden armories in the security corridors, as well as the combat bridge.

The Mk II frames could hold enough armor for two of John's suits, and for an indeterminate number of female suits (I'll leave it to Tefler to decide), so to fully outfit the entire crew, it could mean needing two or more frames to outfit them all.

I'll leave the details to Tefler if he chooses to use any ideas I put forward. (I hereby give Tefler, or whatever IRL name you go by, full and unrestricted permission to use any ideas I suggest in these comments or emails, in any story you should write, in perpetuity, without expectation of compensation other than possibly a short thank you at the end of a chapter, for any ideas used. I do this in the hopes of you continuing to write for a very long time to come.)

My next idea for the armor is the most improbable, even for Dana. I was thinking about the briefcase armor Tony Stark has in Iron Man 2. As cool as it would be, I don't think even Progenitor tech could pull that off to the standards John would insist on to keep his girls safe, and the girls would do the same for John. That said, maybe this could give Tefler a similar idea that is more feasible.

My last ideas for making the Paragon armor more portable, either modifying Faye's boys, the maintenance bots, into mobile equipping frames, on top of their normal functions, designing purpose-built bots solely as mobile equipping frames, or maybe something like the deployment system for Tony Stark's Iron Man suit, which was only used the one time, as a link in his suit's evolution, where it launched as a pod, then wrapped around Tony when Loki knocked him out the window of Stark Tower.

Faye could control a deployment system, where if in trouble while away from the Invictus or Raptor, man-sized drop pods could launch from either, more often probably from the Raptor, and fly directly to a crew member, deploying and equipping the suit and weapons. Not sure how many more swords Alyssa would have to make for John and Sakura to cover the spare suit pods.

On the Invictus, the pods could launch from the Valkyrie bay, or Dana could set up some purpose-build launch portal in the hull, possibly from a hull-adjacent room, or one more towards the center of the ship, with a launch tube traveling to the hull.

As for the Raptor, the walls of either the front, back or both holds could be modified to store the pods hidden in those walls, launching through the open loading ramps. It might be a good idea to add pressurized shields to those ramps/doors to keep the air in for orbital drops, as well as simply protecting the innards of the Raptor in the case of a combat drop.

Speaking of armor, did I miss it, or has there been no mention of a suit of armor customized for Faye's robotic avatar? Part of the reason she wanted a physical body was to protect her friends. While her body was made of Crystal Alyssium, therefore it's very sturdy, it doesn't have certain functions that the Paragon armor does. Namely shields and flight mode, without which she couldn't keep up with the crew in some situations.

I understand not armoring a shapeshifting Nymph, but why not better safe than sorry when it comes to Faye's robot body? It took weeks to finish building her body, and I still am not sure if Faye is remotely controlling that body, or has fully downloaded one of her selves into the body, meaning it would be lost in the case of major damage to the body. I don't remember reading anything about there being any backups for her avatars, especially since the only Progenitor servers are her personal server and the comms portal gateway. I never understood why Tefler hasn't fully upgraded the Invictus to all Progenitor servers for the entire ship's systems.

Finally, my big idea. I don't remember seeing any mention of this, but if I have forgotten, or missed it the first read through, my bad.

I just re-read the chapter for the creation of the Quantum Rifles. They apply a field to the ammunition that allows them to breach a shielded opponent. Is it possible to do the same for Singularity Driver Rounds? Just imagine if they no longer had to strip the shields with normal photon/pulse lasers, or even the Nova Lances, but could skip the wait, and just fire the Singularity Drivers from the start.

Personally, I would love for there to be a battle with the Brimmorians, with regular TF forces witnessing the unveiling of the Quantum Singularity Drivers, where the Drivers were fired before anything else, and went through their shields like they weren't there. Not only that, Calara wouldn't have to strafe with the Nova Lances anymore, trying to keep them on target only long enough to strip the shields before trying to do the same to a second, and possibly third ship.

Now, she could just gut her main target while Jade or Alyssa, at the Pilot's station, could focus on an entirely different target with the Quantum Singularity Drivers, no waiting for a shieldless ship to target.

Please, Tefler? Consider the Quantum Singularity Driver my birthday present, which is coming up this month...;p

I was just trying to figure out if it was the Ashanti that were maintaining the subplane or if it's creator still powered it..., hmmm. Tazmanusmc. Thanks Tefler for the continued great effort.

Mael created it and the Ashanath just maintain it.

Your idea about a shield penetrating Quantum Singularity Driver actually seems like something that could be done quite easily. The only thing that might be a problem when I'm thinking about it is that the Quantum Rifles have a dedicated miniature power core. If you consider the scale of the Singularity Drivers maybe there isn't enough power.

The idea of Faye having a dedicated combat body was brought up 3 or 4 chapters ago. I thought it could be already inside the armor and she could access it from anywhere on the ship. I think Faye Primary is in her body but all of her avatars most likely can use it, Tefler is the person to say what would happen to Faye if the combat body was destroyed on a mission.

Are there similar stories to TSM on Literotica that are fun to read? I both enjoy the harem setting but also the pure space-opera-sci-fi genre. Are there good stories that have either one or both of those subjects on this site? The ones that I would recommend while waiting for the next installment are:

Stories by RipperFish https://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=2058911&page=submissions

Stories by Lien_Geller, especially The Missing Dragon series https://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=1040410&page=submissions

I think that TSM is one of the best stories on Literotica but considering how many people are asking when new chapters will be released it can't hurt to try and help the TSM-addicts (me included) by distracting them for a few days so they don't drive Tefler into writer's block.

If you like sci-fi man, check this dude out! I don't know who he is but the dude has got one hell of an imagination! He also branches out into different stories which is some seriously hot shit man! Stories by SwirlingJedi https://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=3123532&page=submissions

..... and still so good and so addictive.

Any update on ch 104 tefler ??????

I just finished editing 104 and posted the final version to Patreon. I'll give it a day in case anyone spots a typo, then post it to literotica.

Tefler

I just want to express my appreciation for not only the update but also for you continuing to post here for all your fans who read for free, myself included. Thank you.

that's just one of the reasons that Tefler is number 1 on Lit and there's a LOT of reasons like all his readers know

If memory serves, the Invictus 2.0 has three Progenitor power cores in it now, so there should be plenty power for my proposed Quantum Singularity Drivers. My worry was that Tefler would shoot down the idea, siting something like a problem with the singularity interfering with the forming of a quantum field on the projectile. I was seriously hoping that the Grand Engineering Overlord could make it work...

I just went back and found in Ch. 74 at the bottom of the page, Dana tells the group how she allocated the new power cores, and the "middle one" is powering the "Beam Lasers, Singularity Drivers, and the shields". I would think that wouldn't overtax that power core, even if the Quantum Field Generator is added to the works. If not, there's still room in the ship for another power core, or just put in a larger one instead. If nothing else, I suppose they could temporarily install one in one of the hangars/cargo bays, and armor the hell out of it, until the next ship overhaul.

As for mentions of a "battle body" for Faye, I haven't been following the comments much since about Ch. 99, so I missed that. Although it would be interesting if Dana made one. I don't think she could body hop easily, so she would need at least a minute or two before combat to switch from her bedroom-friendly body to her ass kicking body. After the weeks it took to build her, days on the synth-skin alone, it'd be a shame for her to go into combat without armor and end up damaged. It also raises questions: what are the pros and cons in battle to having the battle body the same size as her life-like body? Should Dana make a full metal body, whatever the size, and have it wear a Paragon suit of armor, allowing Faye to shed a damaged suit of armor and keep fighting with her kick ass body? Or, should Dana just build the battle body to look like a suit of Paragon armor on the outside, and jam every bell and whistle she can think of into that space, so Faye can protect her friends as she said she wants to?

So many options. I can see Dana, like Tony Stark, building dozens of suits, each with a different purpose. I would laugh if there was Red Snapper and other Iron Man armor suit names, lol.

Back to my favorite subject of all time; upgrading the hell out of the Invictus.

If implementing my proposed Quantum Singularity Drivers required more power than the current Progenitor power cores can produce, I'm not sure what Tefler will do.

In recent chapters, John has stated his worries about the Invictus being like an egg, hard on the outside, yet squishy on the inside, while watching the expansion of the ship. Even the new section of the ship being made from shaped Maliri crystal, which is much stronger than the Titanium in the rest of the ship, didn't reassure him much.

Then they discussed the feasibility, as far as currently known Progenitor tech, of building a full sized Progenitor ship. First there was the fact that Dana needed weeks of research into the ultimate Progenitor hull material just to see if she could replicate it. (Given that most of her big tech advances turned out to actually be Progenitor tech subconsciously gleaned from John's genetic knowledge, I'll be seriously surprised if she could improve on this one, aside from possibly combining it with newly acquired alien tech.) Second, John and Dana also stated that they didn't care to just copy the Progenitor tech word for word, as it were, but wanted to make a slightly smaller version of the Progenitor mother ship, customized by Dana. Leaner and meaner, incorporating all the tech they have acquired, if it's not included in the Progenitor designs, or if she can improve something. I can't wait to see what Tefler imagines for the ultimate Invictus' hull design. My preferences are with things like the High Guard ships from Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda series, but they aren't practical. Purely practical would end up looking like a damn blimp, so I hope Tefler's seemingly unending imagination has come up with something that is practical, yet cool as hell. No pressure. lol

I would hope that the next dry dock scene at Genthelas is of Dana scaring the pants off the station crews when she tells them how she's going to make the material to build the new ship from. A scene I can't find now, I think during the Kintark attack on Terra, where the other Progenitor's matriarch wondered at John still using the Terran based Invictus, and not having built his Soul Forge, or whatever it was called, and that it was needed to build his own Progenitor mother ship, makes me think it won't be long before we see a built from scratch Invictus mother ship.

Hopefully Dana's research into the uber-ultimate hull material will trigger John's genetic knowledge for the Soul Forge, allowing her to finally make it in mass quantities. At that point, I hope they say to hell with it, and start design and construction of the ultimate Invictus. They can leave plenty of weapons hard points for the Progenitor Quantum weapons to be added later, and obviously a space for the wormhole generator, yet start building the rest now.

Dana already has the specs for the ship itself, the Progenitor mainframes, capacitors and power relays, power core and tachyon drives, as well as the Trankaran engines and thrusters and her version of Ashanath anti-grav tubes of course. She'll have to incorporate the inertial dampening devices, which will be huge and numerous in the larger ship, as well the Vulkat crystal tech and Brimmorian shield tech, on it's own or incorporated into Progenitor shields to upgrade them...

I think the biggest difference between a normal Progenitor mother ship and the ultimate Invictus, will be that I think the original design was meant to house vast armies of Thrall troops, backed up by the scenes of fighting Alyssa saw during the psychic flashbacks onboard the Legacy. John will no doubt have Dana include plenty of guest quarters, as well as many rooms for "new girls" and the Maliri Matriarchs, and Rachel will definitely suggest a decent amount of space for humanitarian work, given the number of times they have had to pack the hangars full of refugees.

I can't wait to see the Lagoon and Observatory 2.0 versions. There's no way to leave out the water feature now that he's got a total of five Nymphs and a "mermaid" onboard!!!

I think the color scheme and interior design are going to be like night and day compared to the Progenitor version. As with all Onyxium-Etherite materials for shipbuilding when Alyssa and John get involved, the only color the new ship could be is white...obviously. As for the interior, there is no way in hell that Alyssa will allow it to even remotely resemble the Progenitor sections of the Legacy which John found so disturbingly comforting. I don't think she'll even give him the Progenitor man cave she suggested.

I am sure she'll do away with the sterile TF naval school of interior design, but I have no idea what to change it to in the new design. The Maliri school of design is too ostentatious for my tastes, too much gold for one thing. And just making everything out of the white version of the Progenitor material is too bland. I guess it's a good thing that John now knows how to change the color to whatever he wants, like he did for the bird sculpture he made for that one Maliri Matriarch. The possibilities abound if he can teach Alyssa how to do that too. I think whatever decorating she adds to the interior of the new ship will be an understated version of Maliri design, with her own flair added.

As for Dana, I can see her getting no resistance from John when she asks what he'll let her do for a new Grand Engineering Overlords Domain. In fact, he'll probably tell her to add things she didn't want to push too far for. I can see the loading platform being kept, many more mass fabricators, a massive power core for material creation, as well as generally powering the ship. The number of maintenance bots will have to drastically increase, as well as cleaning bots, and the "boys" will need more Faye's to control them.

I don't know why Tefler limited Faye to so few avatars, but maybe they could build a ton of new Progenitor mainframes, copy Faye in her entirety to each, then network all of them together, as well as in parity, for redundancy and security. If there's ten to twelve avatars per mainframe (I can't remember how many she has at the moment) all running at the same full capacity, it will be a tremendous help to Calara when it comes to taking control of the massively increased number of weapons, be they Progenitor Quantum weapons, Maliri Nova Lances, Quantum/Gauss cannons and other TF projectile weapons like the Singularity Drivers, and the Photon Lasers and Pulse cannons. I can see Dana adding a ship-mounted point defense system out of a much larger version of the Reaper Cannons.

Also, if there are so many "extra" Faye avatars, Dana can build a huge number of combat bodies, each downloaded with a "copy" of Faye, and thus eliminating the need for recruiting massive numbers of Maliri cannon fodder, and keeping John from wallowing in guilt over getting Maliri girls killed.

I did have an idea of how Faye could be a "real" girl, and even join the harem psychically, and even have John's babies, eventually. Once they kick BSP's ass, or he has a Damascene conversion and decides to make love not war, John and Rachel can work together, hopefully John will have full, conscious, access to his Progenitor genetic knowledge, and he can create a whole new species, the Sprites, or the Fae (wings optional). The Sprites will be purple, obviously, but the prototype, Faye, will not have a consciousness of it's own, but rather have a brain grown around a Maliri cyber brain.

With this arrangement, John can enhance Faye's body to a triple helix DNA, giving her a psychic ability on top of the Progenitor/Matriarch/Thrall link and telepathy. And the cyber brain will let her inhabit and control the empty shell of the first Sprite. Populating an entire species from Faye is unreasonable, and giving me a headache just thinking about it, so I'll just leave it to Tefler to figure out the long term details and practicalities.

Summary of my vision of the "Invictus Rex" (Unconquerable King)

1500-2000 meters long. Height and width = large enough for whatever John and Co. can dream to cram into the design.

All weapons to be covered in retractable armor plating. Lances and Drivers can be mounted with the tips of the barrels just back of any curves in the front of the hull, thus only needing to retract that small section to fire them. Being a white ship, and their desire for a peaceful life, I think they want to walk softly and only reveal the big stick when it's time to teach someone how to behave.

Ten or twelve each of Nova Lances and Quantum Singularity Drivers, plus as many Progenitor Quantum weapons, including the annihilator from the moon as the main gun running down the middle of the ship, as well as, as many of the weapons on the Invictus as of this chapter as they can carry.

Massive new Lagoon, as well as numerous nature features, like the garden domes from Maliri stations, just scaled to the ship.

Family living quarters will be as close to the center of the ship as possible, surrounded by 11-shaped etherite version of Progenitor ship material. The "home" will be just that, a home inside the ship, utilizing external camera feeds for "windows", with suites for all the current, plus future girls, and plenty of well appointed guest rooms for visiting Maliri Matriarchs, and friends like Ceraden and his growing family. They need to keep the growing families safe when traveling.

Humanitarian aid section for housing, treating and transporting refugees, when it will invariably happen again. There's still the Abandoned to relocate.

Engineering set up to do everything short of build capital ships and space stations.

No standard bridge on top of the ship. It's too easy to "decapitate" a ship just by destroying the bridge. I know this is why they built the combat bridge during the Singularity Driver refit, but I would instead build one spacious control room with connected briefing and ready rooms, with all of the walls showing live feeds of surrounding space, like the combat bridge does. It makes no sense to risk your life for the sake of traditional ship design, and one small forward-facing window. If something happens to the cameras, there can be a system for micro-drones that can be launched, which will attach to the hull and replace the non-functioning cameras, sensors or whatever data collection function was lost.

Dana needs to come up with a way to shield the ship from EMP weapons like the ones the Kirrix tried to use on the Invictus during the Trankaran rescue. We have some rudimentary EMP shielding even now, are you telling me in the next 700 years they won't have come up with a defense???

And lastly, with so many more weapons than ever before, Calara needs something to help her in the battles. Any or all of the following could help. 1-my earlier suggestion for many more Faye avatars. 2-add new girls to the crew with enhanced tactical and situational awareness and hand-eye coordination/reflexes and aim. 3-Dana figures out and enhances the Ashanath psychic control interface with which they use thought to transfer commands and information to their systems, but two-way, not just reading the thoughts of the operator. This way, the tactical display info is projected into Calara's mind, and she could use her enhanced mind to finally be able to control the entire arsenal simultaneously.

End of excessively long suggestions.

Just W O W. I read your comment and like I said W O W. There are so many ideas in it that it's impressive in that alone. All the different suggestions are thought provoking in and of themselves let alone all of them together. Tefler may have to read through your comment a few times just to get the full effect of all the ideas. You put a lot of thought into your suggestions and everyone will just have to see what Tefler writes the future to bring.

Thanks mikecfl. I didn't really appreciate reading until my freshman year in college, when my dungeon master handed me "The Black Company" by Glen Cook, and told me he had based our D&D campaign in the world of that book series. I finished reading it overnight, then inexplicably sat at my computer and wrote my first ever short story not required for a class.

I haven't written anything else since, but when I am watching/reading/listening to something, and it sparks an idea for a story, I write it down. After a few years, I started titling them "book ideas". Now, I have dozens of ideas littering my notes app, and various notebooks, but not enough courage to actually try to write said book. Maybe I'll try my hand at writing, like swirlingjedi (?), here on Literotica.com.

I have always been a daydreamer, so coming up with ideas is kind of common place for me. The problem with this is that when a story or show doesn't go the way I would like, I start imagining "better" versions. In the case of Tefler's Three Square Meals, I instead just think of ways to up the awesome quotient.

I had even more ideas than I wrote about earlier. You know the saying about forgetting more than other people know about something? My problem is that I get ideas while reading his stories, but if I don't write them down, which is hard since I can't stop reading long enough to do it, I forget half of them by the time I'm done reading the chapter. Then there's the issue of not always remembering whether or not an idea was already in the story or not. 100+ chapters leads to brain meltdown trying to remember every single detail, unless you have a photographic memory...

Another major idea I had has to do with John's children. I posted a comment on another chapter about it, prompted by the conversation John has with Alyssa when he impregnates the young Matriarchs. He cries and says that it's what Progenitors are good at, or something, most likely thinking about having to kill his own son(s) if they grow up as typical Progenitors. The what Progenitors do best part was rather vague, and other comments for the chapter showed I wasn't the only one confused, wanting a better explanation. I've always hated subtext, mostly because I don't always get the point the author is driving at. One of my biggest pet peeves is where a character in an anime starts a thought, wondering what if...then just stopping, expecting the watcher to just know what they were thinking, or maybe just filling in the blank with their own ideas. Either way pisses me off. If I wanted to play fill in the blanks, I'd do a crossword puzzle!!!

Anyway, my idea was in regards to his children. For some reason, Progenitor children come out different depending on gender. If male, he's a Progenitor, and his genetically encoded guide will lead him to the dark side. If female, she's destined to be a Thrall, but otherwise, the same base species as the mother.

I accepted that there was no way around it, ignoring his early attempts at consciously tweaking the girl's DNA, until Tefler dropped the bomb about John having turned Alyssa into a Progenitor.

So for this recipe to come together in my mind, here are the ingredients:

1) John decides both if the woman will conceive, and the gender of the child.

2) John's guide was programmed into the DNA of all progenitors, with no need to

consciously program a guide for each and every Progenitor at conception. The

Progenitor(s) who first inserted all their race's knowledge into their DNA must have

designed said guide to behave as it does.

3) John can now make conscious genetic changes to his girls, seemingly with

nothing more than his intentions/wants/desires.

4) John made Alyssa into a Progenitor.

?) figuring out the details for not only possibly fathering male Nymphs, and whether

they will just come out looking like John, or Jade and her sisters, and if he adjusts

his Nymph offspring to be fertile with other non-Progenitor species, as well as

shapeshifting Progenitors??? That's going to have to be a whole separate post of

it's own.

Add these together, and John can quit worrying about whether any sons he fathers will inevitably follow their guide to the dark side. He can essentially place his order at the time of conception for how he wants his children to come out. If a girl, he can make her a Progenitor, and give her a guide of her own, Athena 2.0. If a boy, he's already going to be a Progenitor, but like John made Athena, he can make a "good" guide in place of the original Progenitor guide. No matter if it's a boy or a girl, John can not only give them a "good" guide, but he can program the DNA to do the same for all future children.

This would mean that all of John's grandchildren, no matter how many generations later, will be Progenitors with "good" guides like Athena. This way it wouldn't be a forgone conclusion that his son's would grow up wanting to kill him, it would be up to nature vs nurture instead of DNA programming.

Having all of his descendants being "good" immortal Progenitors solves other future problems. He won't have to worry, in theory, about watching all of his daughters grow old and die, or kill or be killed when it comes to his sons.

Next, if he survives the current Progenitor aggressor, and has a few decades of peace to build his massive family, imagine the possibilities. Jack Fernandez dreams of his family crewing their own ship. John can seriously outdo that with just the first few rounds of births with his main girls, Terran and Maliri, which Alyssa figures to be about sixty kids.

If all sixty grow up without going to the dark side, once they're mature enough to leave the nest, John can build each and every one their own Progenitor Mother Ship, if they don't do it themselves as a right of passage/adulthood.

Once they each start assembling their own crew like John did, that's a fleet of sixty to a hundred full fledged Progenitors and Mother Ships to run around and keep an eye on the alliance their father built, with the Maliri-born patrolling the non-Terran zones, and his Terran-born children trying to lead the TF into racial adulthood, keeping their greed in check.

I particularly like to imagine his Nymph offspring riding herd on the Kintark, as shapeshifting Progenitors, turning into giant Dragons to keep them in line. Then, putting his Mermaid/Abandoned descendants to monitor the Brimorians, would be the height of poetic justice.

As much as I am not a violent or bloodthirsty person, I think that the token genocide to appease John's Progenitor instincts should be the Kirrix. Then, when they are extinct, he can claim the territory for his own, and use his claimed genetic Progenitor knowledge to terraform all the suitable planets in the territory into Gaia worlds, with an emphasis on using the oceans to for the Abandoned. So, worlds like Naboo, but even better, and with more attractive aquatic residents.

In the short term, John will either have to conquer the Brimorians to free the Abandoned and give control of their planets to the Mermaids, or have the Maliri slap together some prefab infrastructure to house the millions of Abandoned until Project Kill All Bugs is complete.

Hopefully the Drakkar are dumb enough to eventually forget ever living a different way, never knowing their ancestors ate their Ashanath employers, who now lead them around by their stomachs. That's if they ever reunite with their females to reproduce, and not just die off serving the greys.

Having an ever expanding number of Progenitor descendants patrolling the Alliance, John also avoids the downfall of all other bored Progenitors. He can be as soft as he wants, in the eyes of an invading Progenitor, when the invader is only using an army of Thralls and their Thrall ships, while John has an army of Progenitor Mother Ships, each with their Progenitor captain and their closely bonded elite "Thralls" like John has with his own crew.

I had a couple more ideas, but they slipped away while I was writing the rest of this post...lol

All this aside, I often wonder about the history of the Progenitors. The clues hint at a very advanced race, both psychically and technologically. Yet they seem to have plateaued in all aspects, probably due to boredom from living for millennia. Said boredom would have to have set in after they reached their current levels of advancement, and had bioengineered themselves to the limit.

The question is, why did they program their entire knowledge base into their DNA permanently? Was there a disaster, maybe Kryptonian in nature, and they programmed most, if not all their knowledge into as many as possible to help save their people? Or is there a Progenitor Davros, who created the Progenitors like Mael'nerak created so many species in turn?

Has there been any real advancement in technology for the Progenitors since they encoded their knowledge into their DNA? Or is it just Mael'nerak's created species, and now Dana who have improved upon the tech?

What was it like in Progenitor society on their homeworld? Were they all assholes, or did someone change the programming for some or all of their people, corrupting the original intent? If they were domineering assholes, how did they not kill themselves off before ever venturing out into the stars?

This is an example of the swirl of thoughts in my head, just better edited.

"The what Progenitors do best part was rather vague"

That was quite intentional. ;-)

I will explain it... just not for a while. I've dropped a few hints, so it'll make sense when we get to the relevant chapter.

I checked ch. 96 page 7 and when Rachael asked Faye to take over her body my impression was it only took a few seconds to do so. All these ideas or assumptions of mine Tefler will address in one way or another as the story progresses so I'm just throwing things out there. On a combat body for Faye I would say it would be full sized the same as the girls. The body would be inside an armor suit deca formed just like the mech armor if practical, if not formed to the number that is. Reason for the full size is that if forced to the girls could also use it and if it turns out that it only takes a few seconds for Faye to activate the body it would not have to stay in the armor all the time. Since this is a combat body they could produce more than one and have them in logical places through the ship. Faye was able to leave the ship in her new body so she should be able to use a combat body off the ship but I don't have a clue as to what would happen to her if her body was destroyed off the ship. I think if Tefler decides to free John's mind and powers that he will be able to create an organic body for Faye but that may be wishful thinking on my part, also that would be in the future but if Mael could create life John will also. Another thought is Faye becoming as powerful as Nexus through Dana's breakthroughs if practical because she would be able to control a large fleet of robotic ships. I'm going to stop now because the two fingers I type with are getting tired. We will see what Tefler's future story brings.

Anyone know when it will up darn Can’t wait lol

Tefler posted on the 10th that he had put the final edited version of 104 on patreon and if after a day no one saw any typo's that he would post it for here.

Thank you for the reply

What is the “normal” progression or development of a progenitor’s abilities as they mature? John’s guide was locked up in his head and driven insane because, I’m guessing, he was unable to lead John down that “normal” path. (I still wonder how that happened.) I asked Tefler about it and he said wait and see. So I’m gonna try to speculate here and if anyone wants to comment, feel free.

John is obviously not following the normal progression of his species. So, is the guide supposed to activate the powers? I don’t think so, because John started changing Alyssa after the 3rd time when he established a permanent link. The reason I say that is because in the beginning chapters John said that other girls had swallowed his cum, yet nothing happened to them. Now John didn’t know that he was doing anything to Alyssa consciously, but he was using his abilities. Here is where I get a little confused. How could he have done it without something triggering his powers to be activated? They couldn’t always have been there because in his 40 years, he has had to have been in situations where he was stressed to the point of using some power accidentally or subconsciously with those other girls. So is this a plot flaw, my over thinking the story, or is there something else about progenitors in general or John specifically where this is explained.

Which brings me to John’s guide. Did John somehow subconsciously, without any knowledge or understanding, lock up his guide? Highly unlikely in my opinion. Did another progenitor, I.e. his father, do it for some unknown reason? Again, unlikely, but possible. Is the guide only activated when John has enthralled his first girl? I don’t think so otherwise he would have been there when Alyssa got her 3rd feeding. But again, by that point he was actually active but trapped. So what, if any, conditions are needed to activate his abilities? Sexual maturity is the only one I can think of. But then what about those other women he’s been with? You mean, the guy never had a girlfriend before joining the marines? And never had a steady sex buddy while in the service? This is why I keep coming back to the point. He has his ability to enthrall or he doesn’t. If he didn’t before Alyssa, what happened to change it? Who locked up his guide? And who unlocked his abilities again?

Ok people, tell me what you think.

JAFCritic

Since removal of the elevators for the grab tubes, there’s basically a long hollow tube connection between all the decks. Since the 2nd major refit, there’s more tubes. Nowhere have I read about any security code or DNA reader that restricted access to these tubes. Also, in the event of battle damage, fire, the lagoon water and sand free floating due to no gravity, etc there’s nothing preventing said material from spreading through out the ship. I would like to suggest that in battle stations or security lock downs that there be doors and deck plates between decks that close to secure the tubes. They can be keyed to the crews DNA to open for normal traffic and voice and manual controls for emergencies. Just a thought.

The only thing I can answer is that John's relations with women were all one night stands. Since apparently they all fell into the "daze" and I assume slept for 14 hours he felt it was best. That way he didn't have to explain the" pregnancy " look. If you didn't want to end up on a dissection table I can understand that precaution. Suspension of disbelief is necessary in almost any scifi book or movie today and when you consider "dissection" I think it works well in this story. Some of the answers your after are scattered through out the story but not all of your questions will be answered yet. You will have to go back and read from the beginning to get the one's that are available.

To start , nothing about John is "normal" for a Progenitor . As far as we've been shown Progens are a created race ( from Rachel's study of the DNA) , but by who & for what purpose has been hidden so far . We all have our theories but there ours not Teflers :-) . It doesn't seem practical for a immortal despots to produce heirs , so John might be a unique experiment by a mortally wounded/dying Progen & because he wouldn't be tutored by the usual creators he Implanted his guide . If it was Mael he maybe hoped John would grow up to protect the Maliri , who he sacrificed his life for . Although ProJohn seems to be a bad personality it might be just that he went crazy being locked up & powerless . As to John's shield , with no real reason , I thought it might have been a gift from his mother , but don't know if it's even possible for a Matriarch to do so . I believe that his powers were dormant until he created & empowered his Matriarch & increased with each new girl & grew as their power grew & passed it on to him .Early in the story he told Alyssa that he only had one night stands before her due to his "questionable" heritage . One thing I asked early in the story was if John had any unusual survival stories in his earlier military career , where Projohn might have shown up to save him as he did later in the tale , but never got an answer from Tefler . When Alyssa had her third feeding & remained alert it was a suprize to John & her connection with him took time & multiple feeding to cement her connection & for her "powers" to show up & gain in power as she tried to extend her connection to his mind until she could sense others emotions ( miner owners plans to kill John).So much of what he did in the beginning was subconsciene & guided by instinct & possibly ProJohn but tempered by his own moral code . I always thought it must have been a shock to ProJohn to become aware , not in a child/teenager coming of age but a grown man with a personality & moral code set already .

You both make valid points. I do agree with the suspension of disbelief point.

Big65dawguw, you raise something I had not thought of. I also understand that John’s father is still in question. Progenitors can select the time and sex of child to be. So John’s father knew what he was doing in having a male heir. If John is Mael’s son, why did he allow him to be taken to earth and raised there? (Your thought about John in some way being Mael’s unique experiment is an interesting idea.) He’s got to know what will happen if/when another progenitor finds him. Unless he’s dead of course. So he may have changed John’s development from the “norm” to something else. That could cover my questions quite well. I think some more on that.

At this point I want to throw out a wild idea. I take it that progenitors don’t directly enthrall all their subjects as proven with Jade transferring John’s cum to many Maliri at a time. Now what if John’s mother comes across the progenitor ship and somehow ingested a progenitors cum? She is now enthralled without there having to be a progenitor around. Now because of the changes she goes through, she wants to have her lord’s child. She could do it herself if she has or can get access to this source/container. She will want to stay with the ship to be there when her lord returns. That could be a way of keeping the mystery of who John’s father is. I just don’t know if it’s going to be possible in the story. Does a progenitor have to be directly involved for conception? What if the progenitor is dead, does whatever remaining cum in storage become inert?

Any thoughts about that theory?

JAFCritic

There's a reason why everything happened the way it did between John and PJ. I won't go into the full details until the sequel, but I'll be explaining more before this story ends.

Re: the Invictus. There are blast doors around the grav-tube. If there was an environmental emergency, the doors would slam closed to protect the other decks on the ship. The lagoon is also fully enclosed, with doors sealing the room.

I don't remember which chapter it was but after John was promoted to Commodore or higher they accessed his mothers files and it had enough detail about the planet and timeline that the rest of the crew didn't know where she was that I feel self ingestion is not likely or plausible but find the chapters dealing with his mothers actions and you can make up your own mind. With what I remember of the details I can't come up with a reasonable excuse for her to figure out that it was cum on her own and then to impregnate herself on her own. It's more plausible that a progenitor was involved directly, just my thoughts on that scenario.

Mike I haven’t found that specific chapter yet, I’ll keep looking. I seem to recall that John’s mother disappeared for some time before her crew found her and the remains of a progenitor ship. I put out that theory as a discussion point. I don’t think that it would be likely either. Since thinking about it, I’ve come up with some holes in that theory.

Teller, I’m not trying to say what to do or write, I’m sorry if that’s how it comes across. About the blast doors for the grab-tubes (damn autocorrect keeps changing my words) I just never read anything in regards to that issue, likewise if an intruder were to gain access to the tubes. I read about all kinds of other security systems upgraded but not that.

Thank you for talking to me.

Respectfully,

JAFCritic

Tefler, you just made my day knowing we can count on more even when you're done with the current story.

I had made a post about Faye and Dana yesterday, and lost it while creating an account for the sole purpose of being able to comment more than once on a single posted story. I'll come back to it:

Regarding John and his Guide, I thought I read speculation somewhere (possibly in another fan's comment on an earlier chapter) that the Guide hadn't been activated before Alyssa because John didn't maintain an ongoing relationship with a female. That sort of thing makes some sense to me: if a Progenitor's first more-than-one-night stand is going to become his Matriarch, they're in a position to choose, consciously or not, who that will be, and likely for some substance to the relationship. We've seen that Progenitors can later disconnect from a Matriarch and choose someone different (and from what we've seen, for more self-serving reasons), but that first one is likely to be more deliberately helpful, which makes sense for a Progenitor just starting out.

As far as Faye's capacity is concerned, I'm not convinced that her current server is so very different from the Nexus servers built at various times by the Terran Federation. Faye has the luxury of focusing her twelve avatars on different tasks because the rest of the crew is handling some of the jobs; Nexus needing to use his avatars to entirely control a whole fleet may be the only reason the Terrans weren't wiped out. In the Ganymede Incident, TF forces didn't have much in the way of prep time because Nexus was already in-system when they realized they had a problem, but they were able to wipe out the Nexus Fleet and still have enough surviving firepower to shatter Ganymede.

I've also been thinking about Faye's desire to better protect her friends. As Dana and Irillith make headway on upgrading her central processing core to allow Faye more avatars, my guess is that Faye is going to be controlling combat craft, rather than operating a battle body for boarding actions or ground combat. My reasoning is that the upgrades to the Paragon Armor are keeping pace and doing an excellent job of keeping the crew safe when they have to fight, but if Faye is able to help wipe out ships before combat engages on a personnel level, it will go further toward keeping everyone safe. I'm sure we're going to see more upgrades to the Paragon Armor as Dana unlocks and improves more tech, but Faye being able to make the armor less necessary to begin with will have a bigger impact.

And Dana, that glorious, genius Grand Engineering Overlord. There's no doubt in my mind that she's going to improve on Progenitor tech. The Progenitors themselves start with it all ingrained in their minds, and it's so far beyond the level of everyone they meet that I don't think they even give much thought to developing things any further; there's simply no need. But it's exactly what Dana does. She spent the earlier part of her life making do with whatever was available, and making it into the best tech she could. Now that she has resources and information, there's no reason to think she'll stop doing what she's always done, especially since she's aware that the survival of everyone she loves may depend on her doing just that.

I'm looking forward to the eventual showdown between John's allies and Larn'kelnar's thralls. Though I'm sure he'll keep the name, I don't imagine John's flagship will be share much in common with the Invictus we know now other than its gleaming white hull as it soars in to do justice on Larn'kelnar and wipe out his ship and its black stain on the cosmos.

Tefler, as always, I thank you for sharing this wonderful story with us. You not only bring the best Literotica has to offer, but you're bringing out the best in your readers' imaginations. Hard as it can be to wait for the next installment, reading everyone's thoughts and ideas definitely helps pass the time.

If there ever was a story worthy of a true 10/10, it is this story, and it ain't even finished yet. My fucking God, Tefler. You can write one hell of a story.

And I thank you from the bottom of my heart for continuing to post it here for us to read for free.

I am still loving the story but one thing I do not understand. Why even think about a destroyer class ship when they could build 4 Sparks designed gunships similar to the Raptor? Having 5 gunships piloted by Jade and her sisters, that can take on anything from fighters up to cruisers makes more sense to me than just one more ship.

JAFCritic - If memory serves, John discussed this early on with the first girls, I think after they started getting past the perception filter, or whatever kept them from noticing the changes in body and mind. He said that as a young boy, he was acting out and getting in trouble, so his grandfather enrolled him in martial arts lessons, and from there he began meditating, which John continued throughout the very early chapters, until his Progenitor abilities and nature started to surface.

They theorized that the shield that originally kept ProgenitorJohn contained, was created by his two plus decades of meditating.

As for his age, first his Progenitor genetics slowed his aging, and it stopped altogether when his powers fully, well at least fully enough, came online during the bonding with Alyssa.

As for John's mother and the possibility of Mael'nerak being John's father? BS! First, the Legacy, proven to be Mael'nerak's ship by the visions of Maliri dying and Mael'nerak himself killing the invading Thralls, was destroyed down to just a third of it's original size according to what I remember reading and compared to the full Progenitor specs Dana has. The intel Irillith hacked about John's mother showed that she disappeared from the rest of the expedition for weeks, at least, and when they found her the pictures showed what Dana said was a much more intact Progenitor Mother ship, especially since it looked like the front section was still intact, just plowed into the ground when it crashed. Also, the parts of the ship shown in the pictures included the section that was incorporated into the Legacy, thus two completely different ships.

Sadly, I think this is either a completely unrelated Progenitor, or else the one that Mael'nerak gave his life to defeat, Ranagon or whatever his name is, the great destroyer as the Trankaran's referred to him. I'm leaning towards it being Mael'nerak's enemy due to the condition of his ship, being in the "general" vicinity of Mael'nerak's territory, and the fact that he's still marooned there. I think that he alone survived the battle and subsequent crash, either on his own, or he might have had to drain any of his Thralls that survived the explosion just to save himself. Now he's stuck on Arcadia.

You also said that John's mother could have self-impregnated from stored "psychic catalyst" found in the ship crashed on Arcadia in Kirrix space. I've just been rereading the most recent chapters, and am up to 100 just now, and part of the thoughts of Ailanthia, Larn'kelnar's Matriarch, she thought that it was strange that he impregnated a random Thrall rather than returning to their home territory with seed he had "stored up", or something to that effect.

That said, John's mother wouldn't have gone to such lengths, killing her old crew and stealing a ship, if she wasn't enthralled to a living Progenitor. The reason she left baby John behind is most likely due to him being a male Progenitor, and not a prospective future Thrall. So I don't think she artificially inseminated herself.

I still don't understand why Progenitors have sons, unless it's out of sheer boredom. They kill all of their rivals in the surrounding space, so they spawn a new Progenitor, and leave it out in the woods, as it were, to survive or not. I don't think that the current Progenitor antagonist, Larn'kelnar, is his father, though. Maybe his brother or cousin... He didn't wait for John to establish himself, but started meddling just as John first bonded with Alyssa and the rest of the girls.

I think that Progenitors were an established race, advanced in technology, especially genetic manipulation,and probably possessing at least some basic psychic abilities. Then they either started to try to improve themselves, out of boredom or maybe to fight off an invasion, who but Tefler knows? Or, as I said before, there could have been a mad scientist type who corrupted the program secretly, or the most unlikely, a Davros/Dalek situation, where one man started his own people by manipulating his own DNA as a template.

Either way, I wonder if there is still a world out there with the original Progenitor species, or if their enhanced natures ended up destroying their birth world in the fight to have only one ruling it all. Self destructive is what I call anyone who would program a species to always fight...that or Highlander, "there can be only one".

I just had another thought for what to do with the Invictus when they build the Invictus Rex, or whatever Tefler names it. Previously I had thought about either making a massive hangar in the new ship for the Invictus, which would be like sci-fi nesting dolls, and a large wast of space for mostly sentimental reasons. I had also thought of granting Jack Fernandez' dream of his family, sans Calara obviously, and having Jack and his sons, as well as the nurse his one son is dating, crewing the Invictus under John's direction, with Maria as ship mother.

Just now, I thought of another option. Someone suggested a similar idea to mine, for copying Faye's AI avatars to control AI Progenitor destroyers, or other ships. I had thought of building numerous Progenitor mainframes, each with copies of Faye's AI in it's entirety of 10-12 avatars each. A handful of such mainframes on the Invictus alone, networked together, would allow for vastly increased performance, and the ability to have so many avatars spread out the extra weapons on the ship that Calara can't control simultaneously.

Expand that to dozens of Progenitor mainframes with full complements of Faye's avatar copies per mainframe, on each ship, including the Invictus after they build and move to the Invictus Rex, and the Invictus can be an AI ship, as well as any other AI ships they build to increase their capability to withstand Larn'kelnar's invasion.

With John's unwillingness to see anyone die under his command, especially since he can't keep giving all his power to his current and possible future favored girls, as it keeps him from getting more powerful in his own right, I can see him going AI to the extreme. Have Genthelas pump out tons of ships, designed to be run by Faye copies, but with the ability to be run by a crew of no more than five to ten people. Also build thousands of combat droid bodies, controlled by copies of Faye, as troops(I haven't figured out the logistics of transporting or other aspects within a fleet.)

The ships would be five hundred meters long, just one hundred meters longer than Dana's advanced version of Terran Singularity Drivers. The design of the ships would basically be of (Quantum?)Singularity Driver and Nova Lance barrels running down the center of the "ship", where the rest of the ship is really nothing more than an armored housing to protect and supply power and ammo to the central weapons barrels, as well as as many weapons as Dana can mount and support on the outer hull. In other words, the Invictus, without all the wasted cargo and hangar space, just a few thousand square feet for crew accommodations, the rest just the combat bridge, and the bare minimum of space for power cores and other necessary systems. This would mean they could have the firepower of a 2-3km Dreadnought but only use as much material in the construction as a 500m cruiser, allowing them to pump out mini-Dreadnoughts at a ratio of probably 10:1, compared to how many capitol ships current empires have to build to field as much power.

Now John only has to make his own variant of a Progenitor Mother Ship, keep the Invictus as is, and pump out mini-Dreadnoughts by the score, even if they're crewed by a dozen or so Maliri each, with all the powerful and advanced tech they've gathered and can field, their fleet would be nothing but assault cruiser-sized mini-Dreadnoughts. Most battles, except probably against other Progenitor fleets, would be over in the first couple of salvos from the Nova Lances and (Quantum?) Singularity Drivers, before the enemy is even in range to damage them with their new Vulkat crystal powered Brimorian shields, especially if Dana ever gets the chance to enhance those shields like she has just about every other tech they have "acquired".

End of jumbled thoughts.

If I'm remembering correctly, the Progenitor server Dana built for Faye, to save her from dying in the Hacking Deck, was said to look exactly like the one Nexus inhabited when they watched him serving Mael'nerak during his creation of the Ashanath, Trankarans and modern Humans.

So, I think that Dana made the top of the line Progenitor server. The difference between Nexus and Faye is the origin program. Nexus was purpose created, probably from scratch, to serve Mael'nerak on major projects. Faye was made as a temporary construct from a handheld device that pumps out prefab AI, meant for small, specific tasks. If Dana and Irrillith ever get access to John's genetic knowledge of Progenitor programming, maybe they can finally upgrade Faye to Nexus proportions, and hopefully break all limitations on the number of avatars she can generate at once, thus being able to control so much more. Hell, a fragmented version of Nexus was able to control hundreds of attack robots and a fleet of AI ships at once. Please Tefler, make it so???

Any chance that Progenitors could be descendants/unwitting servants of that astral horror that's been plaguing John? They, by that I mean Progenitors, hoard their tech and powers so that there is no chance daddy/eldritch abomination comes back into existence. That's why Johns' attempt to summon Rachels mom backfired: he creature finally found a way through. It might also explain why the creature was disgusted with John and his benevolent behaviour: what father would want a criminal, by abomination standards of course, for a son/grandson.

No update on 104 tefler ?????

To see a new generation of fans being so thought provoking and interested in providing ideas and prognostications on this story.

I must say, many of us who have been following from the beginning have had many of these same discussions.

As for Progens:

They are a created race...why remains a mystery.

Additionally, John's Progen guide was there at birth.

The shield appeared as a result of his childhood martial arts training his maternal grandfather enrolled him in as a tool for John to control himself as a child. His Sensae taught him meditation which is something he practiced even up to the beginning chapters of this story in his life...which kept reinforcing that mental shield/crown until Edraele broke it.

John can decide if his children are male or female, progen or not, and he can instill an Athena type guide in any progen child he procreates.

Concerning Faye:

Nexus was purpose created over a thousand years of work by a full blown Progen, Mael. Faye is more an accidental entity (accidently left on--alive--by Irillith) and had a different purpose as has been stated. Faye is having to develop her own programming as she matures which means she is becoming her own creation where as Nexus was a creation of Mael......they will be different.

Nexus was built to be a computer....Faye is striving to become her own species.

It is also quite evident that the 'boys' and the cleaning bots are becoming her children as Faye has more needs and time to enhance their programming.

For expressing your thoughts and ideas here...as long as you are civil.

I know this for a fact because he has said so many times to me personally and to others on this blog...So rather than me presuming to speak for Tefler: I am just relating his own historical statements.

Tefler loves the interaction and if he sees something he likes he will use it in his story...as has happened with many of the suggestions I and other long time readers have made. Case in point: Making Faye a body was one of them.

Tefler honored the memory of my father even in the character 'Gator' Lewis in the story who is the Commander of the Zues' fighter squadrons. So keep thinking...keep throwing out ideas...you never know: you can very possibly come up with an idea that becomes an integral part of this epic story.

What do you think Helene’s niche and special skills within the crew will be? I have no idea, just throwing it out there for speculation.

It’s still a day or two early, but I’ve started my compulsive hourly checks for chapter 104.

Thanks Tefler!!

Hillcountrycowboy

I know I'm being an ass asking this question, but I'm freaking addicted to tsm!!!

Has Ch 104 been submitted for approval? Btw great work Tefler.

You are awesome!!!!

I for one appreciate the comments about Tefler's thoughts on ideas and also the insights into the different theory's that have been discussed in the last couple of days. It was helpful as I really like Faye's character and hope to see her become more in the future chapters.

I think helene's ability might be the key to Astral plane. The way she sees things is like a fairytale that's why I feel so. Plus looking at the current direction of plot, John and crew are in desperate need of help in that department and the timing couldn't be more spot on. Other than that I can't think of anything else. But you never no what tefler comes up with.

Regards

Mg

I hesitate to comment on what you wrote because some of it was confusing to me. I feel some of it should be clarified. I read your comment twice before commenting and for me some of the answers to your thoughts would be for you to start from the first chapter and read all chapters again. The reasons for John's character's feelings and thoughts about ordering people he cares for to their deaths would become evident. Try to read the story from Tefler's perspective rather than from how you as an author think the story would be improved. I don't know what character you referenced to do with Tashana, if your talking about her crew in the wastelands she didn't have a Trankaran crew member. If you feel Faye should have stolen the ship as she planned and was not there to help against the assassins then Calara would have been lost as well as the deaths of several of the girls. These are some of the things I meant you need to clarify in your comment. It would be safer not to comment at all but I'm bored with nothing to do until 104 comes out. So read the whole story again and see what you think.

ElonPaul made a statement that I too have questioned. Here is part of the comment, (I am paraphrasing it in order to be understood clearly):

Another thing I am don’t like is John's character development. It is his unrealistic and unreasonable determination of protecting his team in a wartime situation. No matter how skilled a leader he is, he has to harden himself to the death of comrades. The desire to protect all the Malari is pointless, although I predict it will change soon enough. He has to start thinking as a commander and not as a soldier or a team leader.

My thought is similar. How could he have risen to the rank of a Marine Comander and not have tempered himself to the fact that people die in combat? Well, in the story he has not shown that near debilitating trait when it comes to soldiers or even civilians dying. It’s only with those he truly loves. This reminds me of Robert Jordan’s a wheel of Time series and the Rand Al’Thor character. He went through something similar. He could not bring himself to let women fight and die for him like men did. He put himself through emotional hell and till required many people to guide him through the decision that, while he doesn’t have to like it, everyone has the right to stand up and fight. I think that’s what John is going through now. He knows, logically, that those he cares about will be in danger and may die and that’s okay, but emotionally, he hasn’t been able to get past that thought.

That’s just my opinion though I suspect that Alyssa and the girls, with possibly others like admirals Harris and Deveroux, will help him with this. I’m just not sure if it will require the death of someone close or even some of the Malair that he’s even with for this to happen.

As for Helene’s place in the group, I have no idea what Tefler has in store. But it’s an interesting idea to say that her place may have to do with the monsters in the dream realms. My thought was that Alyssa was going to develop more into combating this threat.

Regarding Faye, I have read some very interesting ideas from many people lately. Termed definitely has a lot to think about as there’s been quite a lot of ideas thrown out there. I have asked some questions about her evolution as well. I’m now at the point of just waiting to see what he comes up with.

Here’s a thought I asked Tefler in an email. I’m throwing it out here for discussion in the hopes that it will help later in the story. Can one progenitor take over another’s thrall? The one admiral, I’m forgetting her name at the moment, was enthralled by Larn (shortened). If John were to have captured her, could he have wrestled control away from Larn by feeding her his cum? Is that part of why Larn killed her?

That’s it for now. Thank you again Tefler for all your work in this wonderful story you are sharing with us. I really appreciate it.

Thank you and respectfully,

JAFCritic

PLR raises a point that Tefler has laid a lot of breadcrumbs about, but I don’t believe Tefler has given a clear signpost indicating exactly where we’re heading. So, while I’m procrastinating and avoiding work, what the hay, let’s guess!

As PLR pointed out, the automatons on the Invictus are showing changes in their behavior. A cleaning robot did a touchdown dance when it sped up to catch clothing John had thrown short. The same or another robot gave John a high five. Another cleaning robot beeped at Jade and bumped her leg when she didn’t help them clean right away, and then seemed stunned or wary when she shapeshifted and added additional arms to clean with (by the way, Tefler, that freaks me out. I love it when she turns into any kind of critter, but unusual unnatural shapes give me the heebie jeebies). And as PLR pointed at, the repair robots nodded to Faye. All of these actions seem benign, or even cute and cuddly. However, one early chapter ends with a tableau of a red light shining on the creepy robotic faces. (Nee nee neenie, nee nee neenie, insert Twilight Zone theme here)

If my failing memory is correct, at least some and possibly most of this predates Faye’s existence. So now I’ll start guessing. I think exposure to John, Dana and Faye is turning these Pinocchioes into little boys. I think Faye will be effected by John’s semen, and she will become some kind of hybrid being. Faye proposed using her boys as mobile combat shields, perhaps they will spontaneously throw themselves into danger to take a bullet and spare a Lioness. Perhaps they will be hacked, or not, and try to kill everyone in their beds. It’s fun to ruminate, hypothecate, speculate, bloviate and pontificate while I procrastinate!

I am really excited to see what Faye gets. I am hoping to see someone teleporting from one place to another just like a main character from the afflicted series did, if anyone has read that. In that series the girl could not only teleport but she was even able to take others with her. It was really cool and it would come handy in rescue missions like jehana, Calara, etc. I think Faye fits the bill perfectly as she already does it something similar in the invictus, it's not exactly same but it can be evolved.

I just re-read the part where the crew rescues Tashana in unclaimed lands. And in that part I just got confused regarding irrilith's abilities. She entered into the camera and came out from the screen where the bad guy was watching. I am confused if she did it physically or just by Astral walking. Still unclear about her abilities.

Regards

Mg

Thank you, that did help explain some things. Bull was a terran and the closest she had to a friend but she cared about all her crew as much as her "Malifica " personality would allow her too. She was betrayed by the people in her family so it was hard to trust. You covered Faye so I will move on to John. The conversation that John has with Lilyana, ILyana and Almari before they leave is telling, they can't afford unnecessary losses. John knows they aren't ready to take on the progenitor yet and all forces are to important to lose. If Tefler writes it the way you feel it should be, it will be later on in the story. For myself I love the way Tefler writes this story and still after 103 chapters I can't wait for the next so thank you Tefler, keep writing it as you envisioned it because you've been great.

First, I don't think Progenitors were created from scratch. If I'm remembering right, Rachel said once that John's Progenitor DNA was "heavily modified". I think that the Progenitors started as a naturally evolved race, but someone started adding upgrades to them. Whether this was a race-wide project, or a secret project for a small group or an individual, there's too many possibilities to guess accurately.

The theory I literally just thought up, is one I can see happening. For whatever reason, there was a project to improve the Progenitor race through their advanced genetic science, starting with encoding all of their technology as genetic memory. Things went off the rails due to an unforeseen quirk where Progenitors became violently dominant and territorial, especially towards each other. Instead of bringing their race up to a whole new level, it pitted all Progenitors against one another, ending their society.

I will be the first to admit that it has holes in it, most notably that it's so cliche, and the misogynistic tendencies, but for a work of fiction, it's a start.

As for one Progenitor "stealing" another's Thrall, I don't know how probable that could be within the mechanics Tefler has laid out so far. Then again, John seems to be breaking all the known rules, as it were. What I do know is that when I read the question about stealing Thralls, I flashed back to Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter book series. In it, for those who haven't, or don't want to read them, a vampire of a certain power level, called a master vampire, gains the ability to claim a human and/or animal (shapeshifter) servant. To claim the servant, the master vampire places four metaphysical/psychic marks on the servant. Anita Blake has commitment issues, so she has steadfastly refused the fourth mark, which actually has allowed enemy vampires to try to steal her for themselves. If she allowed the last mark, the only way to sever the bond is with a vampire that can cut bonds, of which only one or two exist, including her. The other method is her master's death, which normally causes the servants to die as well, or at the very least to go insane.

Even with those potential drawbacks, I prefer the idea of a master not being able to easily steal a servant/Thrall who is fully bonded, or in the case of John's inner circle, having consumed John's "psychic catalyst" three times.

Here's a random thought. Mael'nerak and Larn'kelnar are presumably both working from the same genetic programming. If that's so, why does Larn'kelnar find the species created by a fellow Progenitor so abhorrent? Shouldn't Mael'nerak have been disgusted by his own creations, rather than just think of them as slaves, and nothing else. I mean, Larn'kelnar seems to want to flat out destroy them all, yet he actually converted Thralls from the Terrans and Trankarans, as well as armed and collaborated with the Drakkar.

For Faye, I understand why she's not a fully realized AI like Nexus, she was never meant to be "alive" long term, she was a disposable hacking tool. I just don't understand the limitation on the number of avatars she has. If Progenitor mainframes are as powerful as has been hinted, possibly even a quantum system, I would think the 10-12 she can manifest is far below it's capabilities. Also, Faye is just code. Why can't she be copied over to more Progenitor mainframes, each with her max number of avatars, then networked together? Then she could better control more guns with higher accuracy, as well as control the Invictus and Raptor if she has to, and any robots she needs for repairs, or whatever.

As for Helene, I kind of like the idea of her being the Astral savant. That or the ship daycare director. Let's face it, Tefler would have to pull a rabbit out of somewhere to have all of this wrapped up in time to meet the deadline for impregnating the crew. Then again, they won't start to show for about four months or so, that could be a justification for going ahead with the pregnancy plan.

Then there's John's reluctance to place anyone from his crew, or even just the average Maliri, in harm's way. I don't think this developed until after his last battle as a TF Marine. He said that he lost friends in that boarding action, women that he was close to, just not romantic with. He claimed that as his reason for leaving the TF Marines. I think he had lost subordinates and comrades before, but losing so many close friends at once made him never want to lose anyone else, ever again. Thus his decade on his own in the Fool's Gold, with no one to lose.

If there were any other topics I wanted to address, I have forgotten them since I started writing this.

l8r.

Just something to lighten the mood. I think I found Faye ----- The sparkle fairy that sells Sparkle paper towels. LOL

Paul

1) Any gunship designed by Sparks is going to be badass. A destroyer might add a few more guns but will not be as versatile.

2) Able to be in 4 places at once instead of just one.

3) Able to be used to evac or haul cargo.

4) Could have removable missile or torpedo launchers that fit into the cargo bay.

5) Better escort for friendly fighters and bombers.

6) Better for ground support if needed.

7) Picture in your minds a squad of Terran fighter pilots when a flight of 5 gunships piloted by hot green girls flies over them.

->BigDog167 - I agree with you about the four fighters before a destroyer, up to a point. Then again, I would love to see my idea of mini-Dreadnoughts, at least five of them, piloted by Nymphs. lol

Whatever they build, it needs to fit into the Invictus Rex plan.

TEFLER - When will Edraele start the whisper campaign? The Maliri have started to reveal new info, i.e. renaming the Maliri Regency to the Maliri Protectorate, and Edraele as Queen. When is she going to start creating and using the myth/legend of Baen'thelas? She can tell the Brimorians, or the Terrans that she might have become powerful enough to control the entirety of the Maliri race, but as powerful as she is, there's one who even she and the other Matriarchs answer to...Baen'thelas the Protector.

I'm not sure which of John's roles should be the Superhero, and which the secret identity, the Lion or Baen'thelas.

Anyway, maybe the Maliri, and by extension, the Ashanath and Trankarans could use the mystique of the unknown, but extremely powerful, Baen'thelas in their dealings, paving the way for John to eventually grow into his role as a fully realized, but benevolent until you threaten those he cares about, Progenitor.

As much as John wants to retire and settle down to raise his family, even if he defeats Larn'kelnar, he'll still live long enough to see another Progenitor inevitably come out of the darkness of space to threaten all he holds dear. So, he needs to master his evil twin guide, stop holding himself back by denying he can do things which are basic abilities for Progenitors, just because of his Terran upbringing, and own his Progenitor heritage. Then he needs to kick Larn'kelnar's ass, knock up all his women with little Progenitors, boys and girls, all with the Baen'thelas adjusted behavioral package, along with the standard issue Athena model Progenitor guide that John will add to the DNA programming for all of his descendants.

Once his children reach maturity, having been raised right by all of their "mothers", or aunts if you prefer, John will have founded a new Progenitor clan, branch, house or whatever you like. Then, when Alyssa and Athena give each young Progenitor their stamp of approval, John will build each of them their own Dana variant Progenitor flagship. Once they have their own flagships, and I assume the beginnings of their own small but closely bonded "harem" like John gathered, rather than John as a solitary Progenitor growing bored and complacent over the millennia, thus vulberable to invasion, any future encroachment by another Progenitor will be met by an alliance monitored by House Blake and its fleet of Progenitors.

Tefler, if I get any more obsessed with this story of yours, I'll end up writing bad fan fiction about it!!! lol

Love your work, never stop!

What if the reason that there are very few progenitors is because they have to physically chose for them to be a proven and their luck just right for it to work

Hmm, that sounds like a sexy girl band! Anyway....

Has anyone else thought that Jade is probably going to become a matriarch to the nymphs? Since her introduction, she has undergone, in my opinion, the most change in identity, self awareness, memory, abilities, etc. We now know she was a tribe leader to many nymphs. So she is ideally suited for the role. She has not yet reached her full potential as she is getting stronger every time she swallows John’s cum. So there’s definitely the possibility of that happening. And there’s still the possibility of more nymphs out there in need of rescue. (I’m curious about Deep Lord Athgiloi’s servant Celphina(?), is she one?) One thing I wondered about the nymphs as a species when Mael controlled them was that they could not have been so easily imprinted on another. By that I mean, Mael was their master, period, so they wouldn’t be looking for any other master. My speculation for this was because of the possibility that another progenitor might be able to take control of them. Which is why I wonder if that’s possible for any Enthralled. Anyway, as to the nymphs, when he released them, he had to do something that allowed that bond to severed without damaging them. Now as a progenitor, I’d expect that he would have at least one, if not many, backup plans if he should need them again in the future. To that end I wonder if there’s some sort of a master override that would allow Mael to rebond with them all, either individually or as a massive group. Now if that possibility is true, is it possible for John to somehow stumble upon it as he gains in understanding of his potential. I’m not sure on that as Mael was a master geneticist with millennia of experience and he designed them in the first place. However, John does not work in the normal progenitor fashion and he need not be the one to find this hidden switch. My thought is that if Jade does develop into the matriarch of the nymphs, she might, in her desire to reunite her species, find this hidden switch in them. Since she wants them all back so desperately and she loves John so much, I’d think that she would tell John about this switch knowing that he would not abuse them. Another thought is perhaps John , in making her a matriarch and knowing her desire to find her people, would develop her abilities so that she can somehow connect with them in a certain range or something. That might lead to more discovery of some of the things Mael programed into them. Again, this is all speculation on my part. What do you think?

Thank you,

JAFCritic

So you made this point:

Here's a random thought. Mael'nerak and Larn'kelnar are presumably both working from the same genetic programming. If that's so, why does Larn'kelnar find the species created by a fellow Progenitor so abhorrent? Shouldn't Mael'nerak have been disgusted by his own creations, rather than just think of them as slaves, and nothing else. I mean, Larn'kelnar seems to want to flat out destroy them all, yet he actually converted Thralls from the Terrans and Trankarans, as well as armed and collaborated with the Drakkar.

My thought is that progenitors are like the Siamese fighting fish, commonly known as the betta, and are known to be highly territorial. My thinking is that they find thralls of other progenitors as an intrusion into their territory. As a created or modified species and Mael’s comment about one of his brothers finding him, I wonder if they are clones. And as such, in combination with whatever unknown purpose they were made for, they cannot stand the thought that they aren’t unique or not special or something. Possibly, that in order to prove themselves to their creator, they fight to be the best. It’s a weak theory, but it’s what I have right now.

Thank you and respectfully,

JAFCritic

Thanks for your thoughts on my theory about John and if someone put certain blocks on him. You wrote:

John's Progen guide was there at birth. The shield appeared as a result of his childhood martial arts training his maternal grandfather enrolled him in as a tool for John to control himself as a child. His Sensae taught him meditation which is something he practiced even up to the beginning chapters of this story in his life...which kept reinforcing that mental shield/crown until Edraele broke it.

John can decide if his children are male or female, progen or not, and he can instill an Athena type guide in any progen child he procreates.

So my theory has a hole in it. Seriously,Thank you for pointing it out. I try not only think up possibilities, I want to test them and see if there’s any flaws to them. Hopefully any thoughts I put out will help with Tefler in writing more chapters.

One plot tool used by authors I really like is the misunderstanding. In other words, leading a reader to think one way without saying that’s the way it really is, then when the truth hits, you go back to reread the chapter and discover that you missed it. It’s hard to pull off, but when done right, it’s a very good plot twist and sets up even more possibilities for development later. With that said, what if...what we have read and interpret as the shield being created by John is simply a misunderstanding on our part. We take what as written as fact, but remember, it’s only the character’s assumption. That leaves all sorts of things up for changes. If used sparingly, for specific reason, it’s a good tool. Overuse on the other hand will kill a story.

Now I remember something was said that John’s guide went insane being locked up. But is the guide inherently bad/controlling or more like Athena, in the background subconsciously guiding development of abilities?

If Johns guide was always there, did he influence John as a kid which led to him being enrolled in martial arts? Or was John just a kid, acting out like kids do and that led to the training? My hope is that Tefler has more twists for us to read in upcoming chapters. I also hope I’m not just nitpicking this point to death!

Thank you again and respectfully,

JAFCriic

I said in a comment several chapters ago that the Nymph's would come in under Jade. On page 2 of this chapter (103) Alyssa and John tell Jade that she would do well as the Nymph's Matriarch. Also Jade has been a Matriarch without girls since John opened his mind to her and has been referred to as a 3rd Matriarch in conversations since just not often. These thoughts are mine but when they suggested to Jade she become the Matriarch of the Nymph's I feel it is how it will be. On 104- I have been reading all the comments for updates but haven't seen where it has been sent for moderation to Lit yet but Tefler did post in comments on the 10th that after a day more on patreon if no problems were found he would send it to Lit. Appreciate any info. Thanks.

I guess I forgot that part. Thank you for letting me know. Any thoughts on the other part about the nymphs and any surprise programming left behind by Mael? Or really any of my other comments.

Just so you know I type with only 2 fingers so it takes a long time to put thoughts to print which is why sometimes my comments are abbreviated. Tefler has done such a fantastic job with this story that I don't speculate a lot ( 2 fingers ) but mostly comment on things within a chapter or on comments about someone's thoughts that may have been in other chapters that I happen to remember. My 2 fingers are why a lot of the time I will suggest a person go back and read for the answers to their thoughts on something that has been covered in previous chapters rather than detail a response. If I could type worth a dang my comments would be really long because this story inspires devotion, addiction and obsessiveness in it's fans. So this is why I don't comment on a lot of the speculation or theory's that are still to play out in the future. Tefler, please continue on, I'm looking forward to the next 100 chapters or so and if you need to write more than that I for one will be grateful. Thanks

When Faye says " her central processing core runs all her avatars " is she speaking of her original hacking deck core or the progenitor server she is on now ? It sounds like she can't become more until some progen tech breakthrough allows something. I know next to nothing about what she is speaking of. Thanks to any who can explain.

Mike,

When Dana and Irillith first activated the Progenitor mainframe that they copied from the one Mael'nerak had Nexus in originally, they completely transferred Faye's data to the new mainframe, which was when she first was able to manifest the ten or so avatars she has right now.

The hacking deck and the interface, or whatever it was that was always mentioned in conjunction with it, are now encased in clear Allyssium, if memory serves, as a gift to Faye when she first got her corporeal body, and they assigned her a room of her own. The encased hacking deck is next to her Paragon medal in that room.

I'm still waiting for the upgrade that allows her vastly more avatars. For some reason, even with how ridiculously more advanced the Progenitor mainframe is than the hacking deck, Tefler has limited her to the ten or so avatars she has now. I hope he will at least allow them to copy her to any future Progenitor mainframes they add in the future, as well as network them together. Imagine the Meta Faye that would create.

As for Faye herself, I think she will take centuries to even come close to getting as powerful as Nexus evolved to in the end, unless John's genetic memory has a serious software patch for her.

Keep in mind that I've already stated I don't know what Faye means. Please go to the 1st page of this chapter (103) almost 3/4 of the way down Faye says more servers won't help her because her central core has to be updated. She can't have more avatars until that happens. Is that because her core came from the hacking deck ( I know it's no longer in use) and was transferred over when they built the new server for her ? If that is the case then she can't become more powerful or have more avatars until her central core is upgraded ( according to what is written in this chapter.)

The wait is freaking killing me!!!!!!!!!

Have to disagree my fellow fan . We (Tef's fans) went through this a long time ago when some readers wanted to kill off some of the characters for "more realism" . If I want depressing realism I'll read the papers (if anyone really does that anymore) or watch the news . I'm here to be entertain & enjoy a exciting fantasy world where good wins & good people are rewarded & bad people get what's coming to them . Not where a leader Buckingham can pardon all his underlings for their crimes or they can pocket their ill gotten gains & retired to their own little world like Rupert Grant . Evil people like Buckingham , Webber , Grant , Mikaboshi , Melkadan , Baledranax , etc deserve & earn what they got & while some good people have died , they were not just killed to add more "realism" they played a real part in showing that to for Good to triumph over evil some sacrifice must be made . If Tefler decides at some point in the story a major player must make this sacrifice I will be sad & greave for them , almost like they were actually a real person (which to me shows how good tef. is as a writer) , it's up to him , but I find it rude to suggest he would improve his writing by making it darker & more real . Sorry to come down on you EP but like I said..been there -done that already

Absolutely agree with you man. Loving the way story is coming right now.

I just reread the part you sited. I am a little confused myself. From the jargon Tefler used at one point in relation to the cyber security and I believe the Progenitor mainframe, but I could be wrong, I thought he knew something about computers, and not just the point and click type.

But reading that section, Faye refers to her central processing core, which is hardware. The core of her program would be called a kernel. When Faye showed Irillith around the inside of the Progenitor mainframe for the first time, she noted that it was bigger than the outside would suggest, in multiple ways. That suggested to me, aside from T.A.R.D.I.S. bigger on the inside references, that the Progenitor mainframe was Quantum in nature. I mean, they have Quantum weapons galore, why not computers?

So you can understand my confusion when a device that is small enough to be worn on someone's wrist, which held Faye's tiny sprite form, only supports twelve "full sized" Faye avatars when it's the size of a washing machine!

I had assumed since Faye was initialized by a cookie cutter creation program in the hacking deck, that she needed a software upgrade, like going from a smart phone operating system to one for a computer server. IRL, that would be impossible, the two OS' being incompatible, but this is the future, tech from a highly advanced alien race, and also, we have the "script writer" on our side.

If it's software related, I think that would involve no less than John unlocking Progenitor genetic data for either Dana, Irillith or both. The same could be said for it if it's a matter of upgrading the mainframe core itself.

I did have a bit of a far-reaching idea, which would accelerate the time frame for updating their Progenitor tech acquisitions. They are currently planning to head to the outer rim of Terran space, and kill a bunch of Kirrix. John mentioned in chapter 101 to Alyssa that he needs to know what happened to his mother, and she replied that after they saved the Terran's from the Kirrix invaders, they could take a trip into Kirrix space, referring to the world, Arcadia, where where his mother came across the Progenitor ship and became a Thrall, if not a Matriarch by default.

If they manage to find the Progenitor ship still crashed on the planet, that would mean the Progenitor there who enthralled John's mother still doesn't have the means to escape, much less repair his ship. Since the Kirrix were most likely sent by Larn'kelnar to attack the Trankarans and Terrans, I assume Larn'kelnar either isn't aware of the Arcadian Progenitor's presence, or he found out through some Progenitor method/tech/psychic radar, or even Admiral Lynton could have fed him the classified report on John's mother.

If he isn't aware, this next bit is moot, but if Larn'kelnar is aware of the Arcadian Progenitor, maybe that is what he meant when he told his Matriarch that it was time for a (family?) reunion for John.

So, say John and crew locate the Progenitor flagship on Arcadia, and regardless of the situation with John's parents, Dana manages to get the vital tech they need to start the Invictus Rex from the downed ship, i.e. the Wormhole Drive, Quantum cannons and Quantum Annihilator, as well as whatever a Soul Forge is, maybe there will be something for upgrading Faye as well.

But this idea would unfortunately accelerate the story some, shortening the number of chapters before Tefler wraps it up and moves on to the sequel. Oh, well. As long as he keeps writing about John and the girls...

As for John's parents, unless yet another Progenitor is having a Damascene conversion, this time due to John's mother, I don't see that situation ending well. First, I think a Progenitor, all alone, having enthralled Jessica Blake, after John's birth and her return, would spend the decades to follow keeping her constantly pregnant with girls to turn into Thralls so he has at least some power to try and get off Arcadia. This means that if the Arcadian Progenitor is still dark side, John will be forced into a fight against not only his parents, but his sisters as well, since Progenitors do seem to be like Siamese Fighting Fish, as well as tech hoarders. He won't let John just have anything he wants.

Second, if the Arcadian Progenitor has managed to escape from Arcadia, even by the simple expedient of taking the ship Jessica Blake escaped from Olympus on, the odds of any Progenitor leaving even a damaged flagship, or any Progenitor tech for that matter, behind while he's still alive are astronomical.

So either the crew will find a kilometers long self-destructed pile of rubble, or a family drama of horrifying proportions, with a high chance of having to kill his blood relatives, and a slim chance of Dana going on a tech shopping spree that would send them straight to Genthelas to start the Invictus Rex construction. Although, if he has to kill his father, I wonder what he'll face in the way of a mother and any sisters who may survive the encounter?

I think that John has already have the SoulForge present. He and Alyssa are making all te parts for the armour of the Invictus by using telekinesis to forge the plates by reshaping the base material a number of times, now about 14 times for alyssium to get the nice white plating they need. Also Alyssa helps Dana when she needs to create a new material, if Dana does not use the reactors on the Maliri warf and maybe John and Alyssa will help Dana just in such processes to get new materials for the Invictus Rex.

Litreader, now you understand why I asked you to read that section. So that means we won't see any more avatars or power for Faye for a while. As for the Arcadia idea my impression from a comment of Tefler's is that will be in the sequel. hyping- I went back to chapter 100 and on page 14 Larn states John " should have constructed the soul forge by now " ( not a direct quote ) so even as powerful as John & Alyssa are I think they still need a mechanical way to produce the materials Dana needs. Also, normally they shape the armor 10 times and it turns white as Alyssa mixes it the first time.

For those that ask: I just checked and Lit says that chapter 104 is waiting moderation

Now maybe we can see if they can create a sub plane and if the Admiralty can get their heads out. Looks like a long night once I can start reading it.

The Ashana found what I believed was a ship or at least part of one not too long ago..., maybe they are waiting for alaysa to rejoin in their command net. Hmmmn what could it be.

Happy to hear that Tefler plans to do a sequel. Time for us to offer suggestions. My idea is that all 22 of Tefler's sons turn 18, build a big ship and sail away to have adventures. Proposed title: "Impregnating the Galaxy."