All Comments on 'Three Square Meals Ch. 104'

A good way to start a new weekend

Middle aged redhead. Fiery temper. Named Lina. Please tell me Teflar that you game. And please tell me that someone in the comment section gets the reference and what game it’s from!

Woke up randomly at 3:30 AM, happened to check my homepage. Found this! Thank you, Tefler!

"Lynette, grab your uniform and meet me in the main bedroom!" Because sex with a woman in uniform is really, really hot. Especially if she outranks you.

Alyssa used her power to identify bad people three times not two. The second time was in Mikaboshi's lair.

Great chapter, and we have so many events pending! The nymphs, the nightmare, the Kirrix...

Speaking of pending events, anyone have an update on 105? It will be up in like just a couple of days, right? ;-)

Thanks Tefler!!

Hillcountrycowboy

OK, first, how did Alyssa get the bloody hands trick to work...on the three Admirals who were only there as holograms??? I know she's good, and telepathy has no range limits, at least where there's a preexisting bond. How is she judging three complete strangers that are probably light years away?

Second, I love that Dana has gotten her hands on the next big piece of Progenitor tech/weaponry, but I have a continuity issue with it Tefler. In chapter 78, page 3, starting about a quarter of the way down, there are repeated mentions of charging the Quantum Flux Cannon, as well as describing the firing as first a targeting beam, followed by six "bolts" which each hit individually. Now in this chapter, on page 4, near the top, Dana says that "the Quantum Flux Cannon creates kind of a vortex in the firing chamber, which charges the projectiles when they're fired."

The first sounds like a pure energy weapon, and the second clearly says projectile...which one is it Tefler? If you decide to go with it using projectiles, you'll be crushing my dreams of Dana "inventing" the Quantum Singularity Driver, which I suggested in the last chapter or two's comments.

I imprinted on the pure energy version spelled out in Ch. 78. If the QFC is purely energy, and Dana added a Quantum aspect to the Singularity Drivers, then every weapon on the Invictus would be independently capable of stripping an enemy ship's shields, even if the Quantum projectile cannons on the underside of the ship would take a few hits to do so.

3rd time was on Tartarus (sic), however, since everyone was BAD she didn't light them up in the red glow.

All I can say is I wish we could vote on every page not just every chapter but I did found a way to vote more than once and I'm glad I can. You and TSM deserve as many votes as possible.

TK

I have a continuity issue with it Tefler. In chapter 78, page 3, starting about a quarter of the way down, there are repeated mentions of charging the Quantum Flux Cannon, as well as describing the firing as first a targeting beam, followed by six "bolts" which each hit individually. Now in this chapter, on page 4, near the top, Dana says that "the Quantum Flux Cannon creates kind of a vortex in the firing chamber, which charges the projectiles when they're fired."

Why can't it be both? The initial beam and then internally the vortex "charges" the "bolts/projectiles" prior to launching them down the beam... just a thought and how I envisioned it when i read this section.

Always keeping us on the edge of our seats. Cant wait to see what happens next. Will Lynette manage to resist John's sexual draw? Faye must be dripping in her knickers waiting for her turn. Time will tell.

Keep going Tef

Paul

Another great chapter that I didn't want to end. It says a lot about your storytelling when I glance at the page number as I'm reading and dread the fact that I'm almost done. Already looking forward to the next one just like everyone else. Sincerely, thank you.

Another great chapter. I also agree that I hate to see the chapter end. I guess I will have to read it again. Time to clean out some kirrix, sort out the kintark, then settle the issue of the abandoned before or maybe after a visit to milari space..., if the other progenitor doesn't stir up more trouble first. I also can't wait to see how the vulcat might be able to help in the astral plane. Thanks Tefler

Now the waiting begins for 105.

JT

Is according to the Patreon site out for the paying readers under us, so it will be another two weeks before it comes available here and on StoriesOnLine. That is if there are no major errors in the story.

So the timer starts ticking again, now for the nightmare because that is supposedly in chapter 105, if Tefler has not a nice twist in his hat.

NIce chapter Tefler, thanks for the story.

I completely agree with the other Jarhead. Everytime I have to hit the next page number I crave the next page but hate that it puts me one page closer to the end of the chapter. Silently, diligently, waiting on the next chapter.

I just read this for the second time today because I'm always waiting for the other shoe to drop on the first go round. Something I noticed is that the view count shows zero when earlier it showed 9 views which I felt was low at the time anyway. I don't know how Lit works but I feel Tefler is somehow being cheated of accurate view counts. You can't lose view counts on a new chapter unless the system is faulty or someone deletes them. This may not mean much but I thought reader views were a good thing. Perhaps someone who has a good understanding of the system might explain or Tefler himself might have input. Thanks again Tefler.

I'm sure there will be something in 105 about this but I still wanted to bring this up just in case. You sent Sakura & Calara away because of injuries they suffered with battle in the astral plain from the monsters but Irillith was severely injured also. In chapter 97 on page 8 she fell into John's arms very upset and basically said " I know Alyssa said we would follow you anywhere and I will but please don't go back there". I'm sure you have already accounted for this in the storyline. Since she was so upset before I'm sure it will be addressed some way. Respectfully mikecfl.

Well, speculations on 105 have started already due to our need to know.

I hope Tefler will have mercy on us, the addicts, and deliver the story soon...

Back to rereading the first e-book just the last two chapters...

I understand what your saying but if Tefler decides to address this it either worked or keep in mind that admiral Zelig is headed to the border worlds where John and the crew are going to be shortly, Kester is on the Trankaran border and it's not unreasonable to think the Fleet Admiral will order them to meet with now admiral Blake and Alyssa. Also admiral Morgan is on the Brimorian border where John has already stated they will be returning to soon

. . . . efforts combined with a wonderful story telling ability makes me smile when I see another 10 ( count them TEN ) page chapter. Thanks for what you do and how you do it.

Like, seriously, you'd think saving the homeworld twice would count for something. Is there any reason Caldwell insists on being obstinate at literally any given opportunity?

Nooooo...... Another great chapter.......but the wait for the next is going to drive me nuts. Thanks for a great story. Please write quicker...I can't wait to see what's going to happen next

After finding this story two weeks ago I haven't been able to stop reading. The story flows with a life springing from the imagination of a talented bard. In 104 chapters I haven't found any portions that slowed or disappointed. This is truly a masterful and entertaining tale that engages the reader and leaves them hopelessly addicted waiting on the next installment. Many thanks for sharing this wonderful gift. I will be anxiously awaiting the next installment. Five star rating all the way through.

@Litreader9696 and @Mikecfl.

I too was thinking that when Alyssa scanned the admirals she couldn’t account for the 3 who were off world. My shock was reading that she didn’t determine good people from bad. That she highlighted people who felt self guilt is a pretty unique way of looking at it. Kind of like a lie detector test. It does give rise to some flaws though. For example, what if someone doesn’t feel guilty? If someone did something that, to them, is a good deed, in-line with their morals, would they have that self guilt? Now for the three that were only there in holographic form. I think that @Mikecfl has it right. John is eventually going to meet up with them through his travels. I can see there may be some suspicious activity leading John to wonder about these admirals and questioning Alyssa if she was able to scan them at the meeting. But it doesn’t have to be the one in charge to stir up trouble. And Tefler reminds us that there is a department of spy’s, agents, and analysts that’s being cut loose. What are they going to do?

I have a dialogue question for Tefler. So as of read the chapters and characters dialogues, I come up with a certain...feeling... for the way each person talks, their accents, personality traits, etc. I’m struggling with how to ask this, so please bear with me. When you are writing each character’s dialogue, do you write it as that character or do you go back and say to your self, this is what I want them to say but they wouldn’t say it like that, and then reword it? I’m curious about your process. For example, to me Dana is a very wild, free spirit of a person. On page nine in this chapter when John meets Dana on top of the Invictus there’s this scene:

She turned around, her face lighting up with her enthusiasm. "So here's the problem: we've got six big turrets for the Heavy Cannons taking up a huge amount of space on the topdeck... but they basically suck."

John glanced back at the double-barrelled turrets. "They do take up quite a lot of room..." he said tactfully.

Dana wrinkled her nose as she smiled at him. "Yeah, you think they're rubbish too." She waved away his protest and continued, "They are much better than the standard Terran versions, but compared to the guns the Invictus is packing now, their firepower is pitiful. I mean, we've got Nova Lances, Singularity Drivers and Tachyon Lasers... the Heavy Cannons suck ass in comparison."

The word “rubbish” stood out to me as something she wouldn’t say. That sounds more like what Rachel should say with her well spoken accented higher society breeding. In all honesty, I’m not nitpicking. I’m genuinely curious about how you write your dialogue without make my each character sound like the other.

Thank you,

JAFCritic

Well, it is nice to see that John makes promotion after promotion in the TF military, but I would like to see the shock on the faces of the rest of the admirals when Linette breaks open this nice surprise for them.

Trying to force him to things "their way" will not work and they will realize that Linette has a major protector. I wonder if John has thought this out by himself or Alyssa and Endrale have helped him to set a queen over the Terran Federation just like he has done for the Maliri.

Nice that the secret about the Maliri is open to Jehenna, she can start to make a few hints about the cooperation with other races.

I think that John is busy to claim his inheritance but before that happens there will be some actions to be taken: at least actions against the Kirrix and the Brimorians, the BSP, and finding his mother & father.

So enough threads to be woven into the story...

What exactly is john’s status; is he active duty, retired, special duty assignment, and what will his job be once he is on is officially inducted to High Command? Because it’s seems that all the High Commands have a job or special place in that role.

I find it interesting that no one is upset that Lynette may end up with Charles. She will be a secret lioness but not mated to the lion. It bothers me but I'm just a passenger on Tefler's ship. Good job Tefler.

Tefler, I think Alyssa missed the amount of damage the Citadel took in the battle.

I don't think it would be a good place for the Fleet Admiral to use as the HQ.

"What exactly is john’s status; is he active duty, retired, special duty assignment, and what will his job be once he is on is officially inducted to High Command? Because it’s seems that all the High Commands have a job or special place in that role."

First, Buckingham, in his paranoid state, would never bring John back into the military officially. He would see it as inviting the fox into the hen house. Second, he has never requested, or been asked to come out of retirement, at least not formally. Third, John's status was actually just explained on the last page of this chapter, halfway down, while talking to Alyssa about John, and how much he's changed since retiring:

"He'd chosen a lonely life for himself, just him and that freighter... That's why I pushed for him to stay on the books as a special ops consultant. I hoped that keeping the ties to the military would help him feel connected and give him a sense of purpose."

Special Ops Consultant. That's why he has that TF code scrambler and the permit/license that allowed him to not only buy the mil-spec weapons and ammo in the early chapters, but it's the only way Charles was able to sell John the Invictus without stripping all of the military grade weapons first, especially the mass drivers.

As for John's role in High Command...PR of course (and all around savior). Devereaux told the PR Admiral she and her department were useless, and a huge waste of credits, the Lion and his Pride work for free, after all. All the gains in polls and recruiting were due to John, the Invictus and her crew.

Speculation on the sequel-

I wonder if the sequel will be after Larn'kelnar is defeated, and he and the girls have popped out a gaggle of babies, John will get a request for help from Larn'kelnar's Thralls, or one of the subjugated races of his territory, if any are still alive. With the fall of their master, they are now vulnerable to attacks, both from without and within, as different powers, and maybe other Progenitors, try to fill the vacuum left with Larn'kelnar's defeat/death?.

The sequel will be John and crew setting off, babies and pregnant women refusing to be left behind, for Larn'kelnar's territory to help, but in usual John fashion, he will unintentionally end up not only saving them from dire threats, but will also somehow end up as de facto ruler of all that he "requisitioned" by winning, bringing a benevolent revolution with him, as usual. To the victor goes the spoils.

@litreader9696:

So my understanding is that the Terran Federation’s government is similar to Starship Troopers, being military run. While reading that part again where Admiral Harris is talking to Alyssa, I noticed that Harris is talking past tense. At the time , John was a retiring commander. Since then in several chapters, several highly placed officers including then Fleet Admiral Buckingham raised the question of john’s official status. I really don’t know what Tefler’s view of this is. I’m saying I can see both that anon’s and your point of view. Here’s my speculation; in current military chains of command, only active duty personnel hold these positions. Granted, this is a story, but there has to be a basis for how this form of government works. Unless it’s spelled out, I’m afraid that it will be a bone of contention.

Regarding the Vulcat database:

So as a species, they’re all but extinct. The things I find interesting are that 1. They’re a organic technology based life form. Their ships, weapons (presumably), etc. Dana mentioned in an earlier chapter that their technology in better, but I’d challenge that. Spider silk is measurable stronger that any known product made by man. I would point out that this technology is alien to Dana and the progenitor tech that she is familiar with. So it would be reasonable for her to not understand what possibilities that the Vulcat technology could open up. 2. The database that Irilith is in the process of decoding shows a unique way that shows the sci-fi principal that aliens are alien. Meaning that there’s going to be things that will not make sense to humans. Be it thought process (as shown here), technology, the reasons for their actions (I.e the Kirix reproductive cycle including a host body), etc. Since one is still alive and on speaking terms with Alyssa, there’s the possibility of asking questions and discovering more about , well whatever plot line Tefler wants to explore. 3. They have a long history that may or may not include what life forms were like pre progenitor involvement. For example, Jade’s origins being feline based. This can help Rachel in her advances in genetic research. And 4. The new species that Tefler can introduce throughout this database for John and the girls to discover. But these are just my thoughts. Any comments?

Thank you for your time and respectfully,

JAFCritic

First - I have never made a comment until now. I am not really into the sex scenes in the story, and often skim through them, but this is Literotica.com, so I understand the need. I am not opposed, I just don't find it that interesting personally. The way that it ties into the story, however, I think is awesome! There would be no story if it weren't for the sexual aspect, so - way to incorporate genres!

Also, fantastic characters and development, cliffhangers and story in general! I am inspired by your writing. I have seen where you have incorporated ideas and imagery from other stories (Data getting skin from the Borq Queen vs Faye getting flesh from Dana for example), but they fit into the story, and they are strong images communicated well.

This is your story, and I don't want to presume to tell you how to write it, but I do have to say that the only time that I have been reading, and I got the feeling, "WHAT! That doesn't match that character at all!" was when John accepted a position in High Command. It doesn't support his character, or his character's goals or motivations. All of the Admirals in High Command are expected to perform an active roll in leadership, and John doesn't want or need that. He also has more than enough influence over High Command that he doesn't need to have a seat on it. It just doesn't make sense.

That being said, I love your story, and I am a huge fan of your writing style. Very well written! Thank you!

Anon, that's an interesting point you raise.

You don't say why you're not entirely ok with Lynette/Charles, so I can't really comment on your feelings.

I can make some guesses why the majority seem ok with it though. It more or less falls alongs the lines that Charles has been the friendliest of friendly supporting characters since the very beginning, he's admired the Lionesses openly without being creepy about it (not an easy trick) and we probably more or less feel that he deserves some happiness and some action.

Likewise Lynette has turned out to be a pretty decent lady. I wasn't sure of her at all at first, seemed kinda obsessed with her own advancement, but she really scored big respect when she put herself on the line to warn John about the invasion.

Since she hasn't become involved with John, it doesn't feel off to some readers the way it would if it was one of John's girls getting into someone else.

As someone mentioned upthread, the evil filter has a serious flaw if it relies on self assessed guilt. A sociopath that feels no guilt for their actions would sail right on through. If I were them, I would be less worried about false positives and a lot more worried about false negatives.

John is now promoted to the rank of admiral, and Lynette wants him in the Admiralty, but I think that both the promotion or the inducement in the Admiralty is what John wants.

John wants to be the man in the background, not noticed until he acts. As in that he acts like the progenitor who was stirring up the trouble with the Kintark, the Drakkar, and presumably also the Brimorans.

It should also be noted that the Drakkar seems to be a product of Mael'Nerak's 'production line' of created races. So he is slowly taking over the empires which were left leaderless with the death of Mael'Nerak in his fight against an other progenitor.

I wonder how many progenitors there are currently out there. For sure we know that Alyssa and John are progenitors, the BSP is one, John's father is also there, but the question is if he is the BSP or not, the observer, but is that John's father or the BSP is also a question. And is there any other male offspring of John's father, because if I recall correctly there are no other female progenitors besides of Alyssa.

More questions, some clues but they still do not add up to a solution, so we wait if Tefler has some answers soon...

Thanks again Tefler. *****

IMHO it's these chapters between the major conflicts that are the best. They allow for the character development that enhances the whole story.

It also allows the readers to add their perspective and guesses on the future. I find reading the comments more fun that the story (sometimes).

I patiently (shaking) await the next chapter.

I've done it again! I tried really hard this time to eak it out so that this chapter would last until Tef dropped the next chapter, but here I am 3 days after 104 dropped, and I'm having to wait for 105 /grumpy!

It's just too good a read. Please keep it up Tefler, thank you so very much for all of your hard work on this epic saga.

MM2KX

John's promotion to Admiral was to put him on an even footing as other members of High Command, so that any asswipes like Caldwell can't piss and moan about him being there, sitting in an meetings, or making comments or offering suggestions. John won't be 'doing' some task or work some project just because he's an admiral.

Alyssa's concern about the psychic red-handing of bad guys was a valid concern on her part, and illustrates her sincerity to do the right thing. Eleanor's red-handing was not indicative of some problem with the psychic marking of bad guys. Rather, it just shows that Eleanor really did/does consider herself to have done a really bad thing. Dubois, on the other hand, tried to posture that he was not guilty of anything bad, but deep inside he knew.

Dana never 'saw' the quantum flux cannon: it was hidden by several layers of Ashanath armor plating on the front end of the Legacy. So her not reacting to the 'sight' of the cannon until she actually got to see the damn thing is no f'n surprise.

Lynette and possibly Charles? A reasonable and possible thing. If that were to develop, that let's John off the hook, and would actually be a boon: Charles gets a hottie that understands a lot. What Charles doesn't know (yet) is just how much Lynette really knows and understands. Lynette has been 'fully' briefed by Alyssa and Rachel; a much more in-depth filling in on things than John did for Charles. And Lynette being a secret Lioness is even sweeter.

What could be interesting would be if Charles could figure out and work it out to have both Lynette and Lina as his. haha Charles has been exposed to the notion; Lynette has seen it in action; Lina is the question mark.

Re the notion presented by some commenters about needing more 'reality' or John needing to see things more from a'command' perspective....I call bullshit. Just because most R.E.M.F.s have no compunction about sending the troops in to die in hopeless or worthless situations, does not justify their actions. What I see is John has seen the results of the REMF's actions, and is trying his best to do his best for the troops.

There is one hell of a difference between using troops as cannon fodder, and doing your damnedest to make sure that the troops have every possible advantage, tool, resource, supply, and weapon to win with the barest minimum of losses.

on a more personal note....jafcritic: I find your postings to be rather discordant. keep on keepin on; just know that I won't bother reading what you post. I would suggest that you go write your own epic story.

"I’m genuinely curious about how you write your dialogue without make my each character sound like the other."

Each character has their own "voice" when I write their dialogue and I tend to follow a few different rules for each one when I write a scene. When I go back and re-read dialogue when I'm editing, I'll sometimes change things around so that it sounds more like the character. I did a lot of that in the eBooks, making John/Alyssa/Calara and particularly Dana more consistent with the way they speak in the later chapters.

For example, Dana doesn't swear as much when she's given a tech-description, because she's being "serious". If she sounds a little like Rachel occasionally, that's because the two of them are getting more intimate and lovers tend to pick up each other's mannerisms and speech affectations.

Some of the characters are more complex than others, and change the tone they use depending on who's talking and the situation. Alyssa probably has the most variants, particularly when interacting with: John, Dana, Calara, Jade, Edraele, sex scenes, new girls, T-Fed authority figures, and bad guys.

Tefler

I'm reasonably confident that BSP and John's father are not the same person. In the description of John's mother being found (end ch. 70), Jessica Blake finds a crashed progenitor ship on Arcadia. It is presumably, but not definitely, either Mael'nerak or the Progenitor he fought 10k years ago that was stranded on Arcadia all that time. (presumably a lack of thralls prevents exercising sufficient psychic energy to effect repairs, since the crashed hulk could likely be used for any needed raw materials) On the other hand. in Ch 100 (p 26) Ailanthia says that she's served Larn'kelnar (BSP) for over 4k years.

Arcadia was described as having only animal and plant life that wasn't harmful to humans, as though terraformed, which presumably takes a while. It seems unlikely to me that the progenitor on Arcadia would have remained in his crashed ship for so long if he had thralls available, either calling for a ride or fixing his ship. Also, I wouldn't expect the Arcadia progenitor to bother taking Jessica as a thrall or impregnating her if he had other thralls available. Likewise, I would have expected the Xenobiology team from the Cora to have encountered other thralls on Arcadia if the progenitor there had thralls around. So, it seems unlikely that BSP is the progenitor on Arcadia.

Another reason to think BSP is not John's father is that on p. 9 we're told that BSP bred the thrall Lymidia shortly after jumping into this part of the galaxy, and Lymidia is still pregnant. This would seem to indicate that BSP is a recent arrival in the region, and not compatible with being on Arcadia 40 years ago.

This is the most probable conclusion in my mind, but I'll concede hardly airtight. It's possible that the crash was recent and the Arcadia progenitor was just waiting for his ride, but that falls into the "highly unlikely coincidence" category in my mind. It's conceivable that Arcadia progenitor got picked up, went away for 40 years (presumably rebuilding his ship and forces) then came back, but again that seems unlikely. Also, I would expect that fathering a new progenitor and choosing the mother would be a more deliberate decision, not something to do while bored and killing time. He bred Lymidia on a whim, but that child was known to be female and not a progenitor. That said, we don't know a ton about progenitor psychology. What we do know is that personal amusement and not being bored seem like prime motivators, so maybe?

TL;DR: John's father is not likely to be the BSP. It is most likely Mael'nerak or the progenitor he fought 10k years ago.

Rereading your post, you also seem to be questioning if the observer(s) at Regulus, Ashana, and Terra were the BSP, John's father, or someone else. Since the observer in each case seems to have an active interest in the chaos being sewn, it seems pretty clear that the observer and BSP are the same. It's true we don't know if John's father has had any other progenitor children in the time since John's birth, but they are almost certainly not the BSP for the same reasons as John's father isn't. The no female progenitors is best viewed as speculation based on not having seen any. We don't actually know much about the natural biology of progenitors, assuming they are themselves not engineered.

We have no idea at all how many progenitors might exist outside the Terran/Maliri/Ashana/Trankaran/Brimorian/Kintark/Kirrix region of the galaxy. We know of three in that general region, John, his father, and BSP. There hasn't been any strong evidence for more, although if we assume that John's father was one of the combatants from 10k years ago, we don't know what happened to the other combatant. Possibly dead, maybe not. They could be somewhere else, waiting to be found like John's father was.

Wow, this got long fast.

I agree that BSP is an unlikely candidate for being John's father. Most people seem to think that Mal'nerik(spelling?) is the father, but after reading through the story a few times I don't think he is. The Legacy was probably Mal's ship (Alyssa saw him when she was overwhelmed) and the damge descriptions of the Legacy and the ship on Arcadia don't indicate 1 ship split into 2 chunks. The only other progenitor we have heard of is Ranagon. I will post a bigger theory forcing these puzzle pieces together later.

"An empire is only as strong as its borders... "

lel

Humorous considering news and current events and such.

I know that there was a lot of discussion about potential tech upgrades in the previous couple of chapters, but didn't get a chance to post myself, so apologies in advance if I am duplicating suggestions already made....

Psionic interface for Calara

The Invictus' s manual weapons control system has already been upgraded probably as much as it can, but have been wondering about leveraging the psi-shaper tech to create a psionic interface. Clara would be then able to to control the weapons systems at the speed of thought.

This idea could be extended to flight control as well.

Destroyer

Again there was lots of discussion about the pros/cons of lots of drones tv's a destroyer. It looks like Tef has plumped for the Destroyer option. Obviously this will be armed to the teeth with whater Dana can fit on to it, but was wondering about arming it with loads of torpedoes/missiles or even mine laying capabilities.

EMP Weapon

In the battle v's the Kirrix, the crew had a close call when they were attacked with an emp weapon. Thought something like this would be handy, especially against heavily shielded opposition.

Warbots

Whether fully autonomous units or under direct (Faye??) Control, heavy weapon systems (e.g. pulse lasers) mounted on mobile platforms. Could have a mix of energy and projectile weapons.

Heavy fighters

Alternative (or in addition) to the destroyer would be a squadron of heavy fighters piloted by Jade and her sisters.

Invictus mkII

Approaching the point where the size of the Invictus is becoming the limiting factor in the ship's capability. Not a short term solution and probably needs Dana to unlock a bit more tech, but the next logical step would be for her to design a new ship from scratch - full battle ship class. Will need to think about how it will be crewed though...

Anyway just some thoughts.

All the best

Fred

In chapter 66 one of the Kintark prisoners mentioned an Empress. Why would she not just inherit the throne now that Baledranax is dead?

Next chapter?

I agree that the most likely successor is the Empress, unless the Emperor has another brother. This is because the Kintarks have high level female officers in the navy so they are unlikely to be that sexist. But, she might be a regent for a while so one of her children can grow old and wise enough to rule. So, the TF will most likely be dealing in the peace talks with the Empress, I think.

On the question of John's retirement status, I previously noted that he retired as a Marine Commander, but Charles convinced him to "stay on the books as a special ops consultant." Then I was just rereading Ch. 103, pg. 3, near the end of the page, when I stumbled across this scene, just after John had Rachel heal Charles.

-------"Just a Vice Admiral..." Charles said with a chuckle, shaking his head. "Quite the meteoric rise from Marine Commander aboard the Invictus." His moustache twitched as he grinned. "Have you decided whether you're still retired or not?"

John laughed and gave him a helpless shrug. "I think I've been well and truly forced out of retirement for the moment. Hopefully we can deal with the other Progenitor in the upcoming few months, then I really will retire for good."

"After the shockwaves you've just sent through the Admiralty, I can't imagine you just leaving all this behind you," Charles said with a wry smile. "Are you sure you won't be keeping an eye on things to make sure High Command doesn't go off the rails again?"

Slowly shaking his head, John quietly replied, "I'm only doing this right now because I have to. The politics never interested me and I'm tired of all the fighting. I just want to settle down and raise a family... it took me a while to realise what I wanted, but now I really want that life."----------------

So, still nothing official, just what John thinks of his own status, but either way, I don't see him going to HR and filling out forms to start drawing his Admiral's pay now that he's not only been promoted to a full Admiral, but Devereaux is inducting him to High Command.

As to him accepting both promotions being out of character, I think that he's realized that a higher rank gives him more flexibility, not having to worry about some self-entitled Admiral trying to pull rank, forcing John to openly defy the chain of command in such a way as to cause himself problems. Also, with Devereaux as Fleet Commander and John a member of High Command, it's somewhat similar to the arrangement with Edraele and the Maliri, just on a much smaller scale of influence.

John doesn't want to be in charge of the day-to-day operations of any society on a whole, he just wants enough influence to be able to step in and get things done, especially so that he can stomp on any incompetence or incompetents, and fix the problem, militarily or mundane. Edraele, Devereaux, Niskera and the Ashanath Council can run their own empires, John just wants to steer them away from any rocks he perceives, or just flat out annihilate them. This way, he can be master of all, yet ruler of none, allowing him to settle down with his family, and just pop out to fulfill his role. Tashana really did name him well when she dubbed him Baen'thelas, the righter of wrongs, but then, the script writer was on her side.

In summary, being a member of the High Command allows John the ability to directly keep the pulse of High Command and the TF, and hopefully steer them away from stupid mistakes. He has Devereaux as Fleet Commander, but if he doesn't attend those meetings of High Command, and keep vocal about his opinions, and just filters them through Devereaux, the rest of the Admirals could start to see her as no more than his puppet.

As to the people worried about Charles and Lynette having a relationship...what the hell is your problem? He's been with all those Maliri who are now pregnant by someone else, so that's not at issue, now that she can presumably get pregnant again, although it could raise some eyebrows in High Command and the TF in general. If the objection is only about her having a meaningful relationship with a man other than John, he opened the door himself.

He told Jehenna that she could be a secret Lioness, allowing her to have a full life and career, then join them in Maliri space to retire, and he will reset her so she can have a family with John at that point. Her being devoted to John and the girls, precluding any other male romantic partners, is a personal choice for her, with her depth of feelings for John. Lynette, on the other hand, has been alone, and is still in the infatuation stage of her conversion, and isn't in love with John, allowing her to have feelings for Charles, who will be much closer to hand than John, in general.

I think that what will happen is that John will see two friends happy together, and they still have the option of her going to be with John, after her retirement, and getting the Progenitor version of a full body sculpt, after she spends a decade or two as Fleet Commander. Now, whether or not she and Charles make a go of it, and if Charles is ever made aware of the Gift, and all that comes with it, is anyone's guess.

I had a wild thought a while back, about male "Thralls". I'm not sure about going beyond a merely empathic bond with Alyssa as Matriarch, unless she can find a way to be aware, superficially, of them, and block their thoughts, but still allow directed two-way telepathic communication, because, let's face it, Alyssa probably doesn't need a bunch of horny men rummaging around in her thoughts, she gets enough of that from just Dana and the other girls...

Anyway, men could be given the "Psychic Catalyst" in the form of a capsule, kind of like I saw for an equally uncomfortable treatment, C Diff "transplant" capsules. Let's just say it comes as an extremely well frozen capsule, about the size of two gumdrops joined together at their bases. C Diff sufferers have to take about thirty of these capsules in one sitting. It wouldn't add up to the pregnant look women get from getting it from the source/John, but it would allow them enough catalyst to start the process, in a relatively comfortable way, especially since I don't think John is interested in that kind of male bonding.

If that's not an acceptable idea for male Thrall candidates, I guess one of the Nymphs could do the whole finger tube feeding down the throat...

Either way, once the catalyst is in place, John can do the basic upgrade package, whatever he decides that is for men, and just give them perfect health, the highest performance levels a human body can sustain without psychic abilities. I guess this could also work for women in stable relationships that John doesn't want to disrupt.

This would all amount to a way to add men and women to the House of Blake, friends who John wants to help/reward by giving them basic immortality. Also, it could be a way around John and the girls having to see people special to them, die of old age, while they keep going, frozen in time. It doesn't hurt that each of these would add to John's pool of psychic energy.

Well, that one got away from me. I keep promising my self to keep these short, then I write a thesis...

I am the one that posted the original comment about this. The question was asked as to what bothered me so I will address it.

Let me say firstly that I will not be losing any sleep over this nor will I be slashing my wrists. The things that bother me about it relate to the fact that it does not fit the established pattern for terran females. Up to this point, when John feeds a terran for the third time, the link to Alyssa is permanent and they eventually fall exclusively for John. Even Jehanna fits this pattern.

Now Lynette, is different is that John did not directly feed her and I will grant that and I will also grant that John gave his permission to Alyssa to play match maker. But I ask a rhetorical question: When does a lioness mate with any animal but a lion?

Let's look at a few other implications for this which are not serious.

1) Alyssa still intends to bond with her. If so, it will allow Alyssa to be privy to intimacies that don't involve those involved with John.

2) What happens 20 or 30 years down the line when Lynette wants to join John in Maliri space? Will she leave her children, grandchildren great grandchildren, etc.? (Calara faces the same issue with nieces, nephews and future generations.)

3) The amount of energy available to John is related to the strength of his relationship to his lionesses. My guess is her nergy level will be greater than the typical Maliri (due to the bonding with Alyssa) but less than the other lionesses.

4) While John will be able to do a great many enhancements to her is a few days, there are limits. Without the relationship to Charles, John could do other enhancements (intelligence, strength, speed, etc.) when visiting the core worlds. But he would never betray Charles f they are in a relationship so those would also be capped.

So those are some of my thoughts. But as I stated before, I'm just a passenger on Tefler's ship.

Great job Tef! Thanks for everything.

Jon just recently killed Baledranax the ruler of Kintark and earlier in chapter 66 a Kintark stated that there is an empress. could that empress be the mate of the brother of Baledranax that john had killed earlier. If so, she did not seem to be as unfriendly as the other two. If she is the last survivor of the ruling class of the Kintark's, she might be the best to work out a peace treaty with. At least she talked to him once before and knows enough about him to talk to him again. If I remember she went missing after her mate was defeated, did she go back to Kintark?

Tamolith is not the empress

Kintark succession: When John was fighting the emperor, Baledranex mentions that his Regen ability has been tested in fights with his brother and that during mating Vindralith(? spelling) can get fiesty. I believe that Vindralith will be the one that takes over.

Charles/Lynette/Lina?: I don't game enough to know where this Lina character came from but I hope Charles hooks up with both.

Alyssa's power: I think the power is specifically looking for murder/rape/extortion in a person's past. The Admiral clearly saw it as murder, so she was tagged.

Caldwell's a dick: Maybe, but I could also see him playing devil's advocate, putting forth counter options to make sure the whole picture is being looked at instead of just what part John is specifically looking at.

Tech upgrades: This is a big one. The Invictus doesn't meet the needs in these battles. A new ship built from scratch is needed for the power requirements Progenitor tech costs. A new ship filled with power cores for the weapons could then be fitted with things like a psionic interface (with manuel backup since BSP has a nullifier tech) for not only the pilot, but also holosuites that fighter pilots (and Sakura in the Valkyrie) could use to control their ships without being in harm's way. Sakura already has a psionic interface in the Valkyrie so that the machine mimics her movement and John's training dojo was able to have real time training across multiple solar systems so why do Sakura and Jade need to be physically in thier machines? Throw in some missle racks loaded with Vulkat style missles that bypass shields. Between Jade's sisters, Faye, Helene and the autonomous systems that are taking care of the day to day ship operations, you already have a enough crew to man a capitol ship built by Dana.

John's military status: special forces mercenary. He might be trying to save the galaxy because he's one of the idiots that lives in it, but this chapter clearly shows that he's going to be paid well for it. I'm assuming that is why Tefler threw in the salvage law conversation.

John's father speculation: I think that it's Ranagon. The Ashanath pulled Mal's ship from the Zeta-Pegasus(? Correct me if I'm wrong) system that still has time warp/ripples. I think Ranagon wasn't destroyed, he was shot forward in time, ripping apart his power cores and wormhole generator. This created a nebula around the planet he crashed on(Arcadia). I think that between the blast and him sucking his thralls life force to save his own, he was left alone until John's mom came along. He impregnated her to do the only thing he could to prolong his life, transfer his mind to the infant. When the crew stole her back to Terran space, he was unable to fully take control because the baby's mind hadn't developed enough for a full personality transfer. I don't think John has a guide, he has what's left of Ranagon's mind. This is why he will have to fight his "guide", instead of it being absorbed the way Athena was.

I think I've managed to comment on everything. Hope you all enjoyed.

My point is that the empress is a clear candidate for succession and I found it weird how none of the characters brought her up when discussing the topic in this chapter.

So I am really enjoying the story so far, but struggling to find alternatives in between chapters. If anyone can suggest books similar, not even necessarily erotica, it would be greatly appreciated. I've read the most common suggestions I think such as the expanse.

Thinking about upgrading the Invictus got me thinking about the main constraint that only John and Allysa can shape it. However now that most of crew now have psionic abilities, surely they might also now be able to make the stuff, even if they need help of the psi shaper machine.

Thought this would be especially true of Dana with her material manipulating abilities.

It is a bit wierd that John didn't bring her up. He was in Baledranex's head. However he was also looking for specific information and probably wasn't to worried about the next Kintark ruler. The only reason we know her name is because Tefler threw in a bit of history to explain why the dragon was confident in his Regen abilities. I find it odd that John missed it in his mental search, but it is plausible.

Is going to hold up against a progenitor who has been around for eons? In the midst of the final battle he could probably reach out with his mind and strip the Invictus of all its crystal allysium.

I’ll check in the morning for a response.

~~~ The RedbarreN

The Music of the Mind -- a genie story about the power of love

A Slave to the Servants -- slave woman in another planet finds love and happiness.

On a Savage Shore -- A man and 3 alien females marooned on a different alien planet.

All here on Lit

The Kintark prisoner in chapter 66 also told them there was an empress, and in general, I find it hard to believe that people wouldn't know that the leader of a huge empire has a mate.

The line of succession for the Kintark might only pass to said empress if there are no surviving male children. At this point there isn't enough information on their ruling structure to determine whether Tamolith takes over or serves as an advisor to whatever children Baledranax/Kindralax have left behind. For all we know, they are a martial society that upholds some archaic rules whereby John just became the leader because he defeated the previous ruler in single combat. Not that this is likely, of course.

Didn't mean to post the last one anon. Sorry.

Now that we're talking succession I remember that the crown doesn't go to the spouse, it goes to the oldest (usually male) child, and the best way to keep them from being killed is to hide them until their old enough to take care of themselves. It's just as likely that a son will take over. Since the Kintark believed themselves immortal, it's likely they wouldn't announce a line of succession because the "inferior" species don't need to know.

The problem with the Kintark succession is that we do think in terms of the succession in the Royal families that are her now. That is ok, but pleas do not make the assumption that the Kintark have the same rules in place.

With the Drakkar it is just the strongest takes the throne, but he must defend it against anyone who wants to grab the throne.

With the spider race it is just one female by biological dictated, if it follows earth, which is not necessary.

Maliri is female succession with the most brutal survivor to take all, but that has changed since John took over and started to normalize Maliri birth-statistics from 9 girls ot 1 boy towards a nearly 1 girl to 1 boy. Aftre that change what will be is still in flux...

So Kintark may be anyting combined and it may be that the Kintark Emperor is a figurehead because his wife is the real power that was until the BSP started to mess with them...

So enough possibilities Tefler can choose from, and maybe even other ways I have not thaougt of.

Thanks Tefler for this work, I'm waiting for 105...

I can't remember the chapter but Dana used her new psi ability to reinforce the armor on the valkri by covering it with progenitor runes , the side effect of this being that John couldn't reshape or repair it with his psi abilities until Dana removed them (I think it was the valkri) , I would hope a rival progenitor would have the same trouble also.

RKT

Another similar story is A Gift in Disguise by Talespin. Keep up the great work Tefler.

Any update on next Ch ?????

The next chapter wraps up events at Olympus station and will be a double-sized chapter.

I've written 50k of chapter 105 so far and have roughly 10k words to go. The first half is already up on Patreon and I'm aiming to finish the second half on the 28th June.

With a week or so for editing, Chapter 105 will probably be available here by about the 10th July.

Tefler

Thanks for the update, even though it's hard to wait, I'm looking forward to the next chapter and hopefully before July 10.

TK

Thanks for the update, Tefler. Looking forward to reading the new chapter.

I have been reading on here since the really 2000s and I must say. You have put together one of the most enjoyable stories I have read on this site. Keep up the good work. It has been a joy to watch you grow as a writer.

Thank you for still posting to this site!

Amazing work love every chapter and cant wait untill the next

Hello there,

I don't know whether or not this has already been discussed but it's been bothering me for some time: How does the communication between ships in hyper warp work?

I know that generally for hyper warp the space in front of the ship is contracted while the space behind it is expanded, allowing it to appear to be faster than light.

Information leaving this area of expanding and contracting, however, would once again be travelling at the speed of light as a maximum. Thus communication to with a ship not in the same 'warp bubble' should be impossible, as the information sent by the receiving party could never catch up to the sending ship.

Of course this is science fiction and there are some inconsistencies with our known physics but I would still be interested to know, if someone here has a 'reasonable' explanation for this phenomenon.

Anyways, it has been an amazing story up until now and the character growth as well as the storyline are very much to my liking!

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

now that Tefler announced the eta of 105. In that case, I guess it's time for more speculation and ideas.

First, things seem to be getting into the lead-up to the confrontation between Baen'thelas and Larn'kelnar. Dana has the full Progenitor flagship designs, the general idea for Progenitor black alloy, and the Quantum Flux Cannon plans. (Tefler, I'm still not sure if the QFC is purely an energy weapon, or a enhanced projectile weapon, like the Quantum Singularity Driver I proposed previously to get around having to blast away the shields before any projectiles could be launched.) All she still needs is the plans for the Quantum Annihilator, the Progenitor weapon from the Moon that I think was said to also be the main weapon for a Progenitor flagship, the Wormhole Drive/Generator, and maybe whatever a Progenitor flagship uses for point defense weapons, maybe gatling versions, or just a bunch of the current design, of the Reaper Cannons... (I can't remember how Reaper Cannons stack up against the triple barreled Pulse Lasers currently on the Invictus, Raptor and Valkyrie, or why such powerful weapons as the Reaper Cannons haven't been super-sized and mounted on all three, maybe I just think it would be cool to see hundreds of Reaper Cannons mounted to the Invictus, shredding anything that got too close. Probably just a pipe dream, though.)

Anyway, I'm thinking that between leaving Olympus for the Kirrix border, and returning to Maliri space, Dana, assisted by many feedings from John, will figure out the Psychic interface and communications systems for John. Then, when she moves on to customizing the Quantum Flux Cannon, i.e. using shielding to compensate for Crystal Alyssium looking like rice paper next to full blown Progenitor black alloy, she will finally figure out how to produce said alloy, which will in turn let her access the genetic plans for the Soul Forge mentioned by Larn'kelnar's matriarch, which seems to be the only way to make the Progenitor alloy in the first place.

Then she will no longer need to redesign the QFC. As cool as a Dana special would be, I'm getting really impatient for them to start building the Invictus Rex. All she would need to do when she and John design their own variant of a Progenitor flagship, is to leave a chamber for the Wormhole Generator, and a relatively user-friendly way to install it when she finally gets the specs for it. That and figure out how to customize the Progenitor alloy to work with Ashanath Etherite crystals, so they can make it even stronger than every other Progenitor ship out there, as well as allow John and Alyssa to make it white, instead of the dread-inspiring black. Even if that would inhibit it's normal stealth properties, the plot demands that any ship the protagonists fly is white, now that they can turn Onyxium white.

My next point isn't an idea, so much as a pondering of facts and story mechanics in Tefler's world.

Ok, Progenitors, "natural-born" male Progenitors, that is, are born with apparently similar features, including the pointed ears, and built-in, if dormant, genetic knowledge and evil guide, as well as likewise dormant psychic abilities.

Now, John, most likely the first Progenitor to do so, made a standard human, Alyssa, into a pseudo-Progenitor. He gave her the psychic abilities in spades, but nothing else that comes to mind, except for a benevolent guide of her own.

I'm curious as to how he "unconsciously" made her a Progenitor, but didn't give the woman he loves the full treatment. I would have thought that he would have at least given her the ears, if not the genetic knowledge. I mean, he seems to like the pointed ears of the Maliri women he's been with. Now I'm wondering why pointed ears weren't included in all of the girl's makeovers, aside from the uncomfortable questions that they would have evoked with people like Calara's and Rachel's relatives, not to mention Terrans in general.

There's also the question of whether Alyssa's children with John, regardless of gender, or John's intent at conception, will be born with pointed ears, or maybe even just flat out Progenitors, no matter their intent?

Also, can Alyssa manipulate DNA as part of her gifts as a Progenitor? I'm not sure what she could use as a psychic catalyst in place of a normal male Progenitor's cum. Maybe she could prick her finger for a spot of blood, and stick that in the subject's mouth? If she was pregnant, the baby would be part of her own body, so maybe no catalyst required. Can Progenitors even manipulate their own DNA??? If so, I would think Progenitor-John probably would have gone to town on John, locking in his control of the body, when he took over for that period of time.

Random thought...I wonder if Tefler did this intentionally. Of the human crew of the Invictus, Calara and Rachel are both active serving TF officers, with living families, while Alyssa, Dana and Sakura are all unaffiliated, as well as orphans.

End of late night - early morning, sleep deprived musings.

First, John and Alyssa can shape Crystal Alyssium unaided because, as Progenitors, one of their psychic gifts is telekinesis, while the rest of the girls are merely telepathically bonded to Alyssa, and have been bestowed with a single, if versatile, psychic gift.

That said, I really like, and think your idea of the Psychic Shaper is feasible. If you recall, the Ashanath, who are only telepathic, nothing more psychically, developed the Psychic Shaper as a workaround for this. So, only requiring psychic ability of some kind, I would think that the Psychic Shapers would work for the rest of the girls.

Now, whether or not they could hope to come anywhere close to deca-shaping, and if so, how much and for how long, is another question. Maybe they could build up to deca-shaped like Alyssa, and especially John, did.

The other issue is the sheer amount of psychic energy they would use up if the girls were all shaping at the same time. Alyssa's available pool would get used up fairly quickly, probably like when they are all in battle, throwing around their powers like it's going out of style.

But that's just my thoughts on the subject, Tefler could go a completely different way.

First of all, could Alyssa shape an entire ship at once? If she can shape 8 armor plates at once, why not have a steady stream of matter forming the structure of a ship? I mean the hull, bulkheads, braces, special compartments that need additional strength like the power core, magazines, Dana’s inertial compensator, singularity driver, etc.? Think of the strength of a ship built from a one-piece core structure! Or do it like CNC machining a piece of billet steel. You know, like carving an elephant. Take a piece of wood, and cut away everything that doesn’t look like an elephant. Take a huge ball of Dana’s latest and greatest material, then draw away everything you don’t need. And of course what you draw away can be used again. Start small with fighters (for the Maliri carriers, since John won’t have fighters on the Invictus) or gunships/destroyers for the Invictus. And, can John and Alyssa combine their efforts? Could they both shape a structure or piece together, and make something bigger or stronger than either one could alone?

We know that Progenitor runes can protect psychically shaped material, with the trade off that the runes require psychic energy to maintain them. However would a Progenitor adversary realize the vulnerability of psychically shaped materials? Or would even a powerful progenitor be able to “unshape” a deca-shaped piece? After all, Alyssa had to work up to it over a period of time.

Anywho, just some more random thoughts.

Thanks again Tefler!

Hillcountrycowboy

Dana also has the ability to psychically alter materials. She might be more able to use Ashanath psychic shaping tech than the other girls. Or imagine her using Ashanath psychic tech, Maliri and Vulkat crystal tech, and John and Alyssa’s abilities to surpass other Projenitor’s capabilities and technology. And Tashanah and Sakura could use heat and cold to temper and anneal a super-material.

Go Lionesses!

hillcountrycowboy

This will be the first time John and crew will visit the astral plane since they added the Queen spider..., I see all kinds of possibilities with this trip. Hang tough there Marine!

Has anyone else thought about Larn'kelnar‘s strategy? He’s obviously crippling the forces of any allies that John has. And he seems to be following a tried and true strategy. After living for thousands if not millions of years, how flexible is his thinking? Boredom is a huge problem for these near immortals. I expect that they get set in their ways. John is not following the script so that has to be exciting for Larn'kelnar, but he’s still playing by the same old rule book. John and the girls have been very flexible with their new powers. Should be interesting when Larn'kelnar makes his move and John doesn’t react like he should for a progen. Larn'kelnar will probably hit’em hard and fast after being so subtle. He probably has all the angles thought out. That makes him over confident. But that leaves for creativity on John’s part. John’s gonna have to think outside the Terran military box, but he has the girls, the Malari, and any other allies he makes like the Vulcat to draw on their styles and tactics.

Actually that is an interesting thought. Alyssa has added them in their song. They might prove strong bedrock in fight against Astral monsters.

The plight of the Vulkat queen breaks my heart. (Thanks Tef for creating such unbelievable yet realistic critters!) Maybe, after the astral leviathans are vanquished, John, Alyssa and Rachel could combine powers and heal and re-animate enough of the Vulkat to help Nikkrit re-establish the Vulkat race.

I don’t think the Vulkat queen is part of the “network.” Alyssa was able to add her to her song while she had physical contact with the queen. Obviously they have befriended her, but she has not established a psychic link with Alyssa. Amiright?

HillCountryCowboy

Nikkrit joined the chorus..., which it took to mean that she was now a part of it. It may be as you state since there was no "bonding", I am just not sure and it was a great thought for a massive boost to their power on the plane. There is nothing to suggest this in the written words and I am sure that either way we will all enjoy how Tefler does it.

Another thought is: the entity in the brimorian network sure seemed to be of vulcat design. Thoughts please.

We know that vulcat queen is psychic as she communicates with her children that way. I am assuming that Alyssa can create another sub-plane like the asanath where Alyssa can connect with them without any permanent connection. I am not sure how it works but If she manages to do something like that with Athena and vulcat queen's help, then it might be their permanent solution for Astral monsters.

Before there was radio, all naval messages and orders were sent by dispatch ships and brigs.

The answer for John to send blueprints is to use ships like the Raptor or just Corvettes. It would mean sending his girls out alone but it is the answer if they can't find a secure astral "radio" method.

On Patreon Tefler has sent chapter 106 out in the wild; however he did not announce it that he was writing it.

Now I wonder if there went something wrong, because 105 was due to be sent out in the wild on Patreon so we could expect it to appear about 2 weeks later on LitErotica and StoriesOnLine.

Now I am wondering what has happened.

Also for some spoilers there is a open read-only discussion for non-patrons about chapter 105 and possible following chapters

I wonder what chapter 105 will reveal.

I'm waiting in anguish for 105... Thanks Tefler for the story.

Tefler said 105 would be here on Lit on the 10th of July.

Just read an article about Patreon pushing a lot of "adult content creators" off the site. I'm wondering if this will affect Tefler's writing at all.

You are correct (to be exact on June 10 that part 1 of 105 was out) and on that date he announces that it was part 1 of chapter 105. On June 24 he announced that 105 would be a double chapter so about 50000 words in length, that would be finished on the 28th of June. He was however delayed on delivering by 1 day when he announced that 106 was out.

All dates are from his Patreon site.

So my question is what is now the current state of the chapters?

I need a TSM-injection real time soon...

A heavy addicted person on a cold turkey for new chapters...

Maybe it was a typo and he meant 105 instead of 106.

Tefler intended to expand 105 but the extension part which he intended to integrate ended up becoming too long to be a part of a chapter so he decided to call it Ch 106.

So now we know what has happened, not being able to use Patreon is somewhat a handicap, but I prefer to read the story here...

ETA 105 maybe next week, ETA 106 maybe in a fortnight anyone?

Thanks for the info.

-> hillcountrycowboy

I know John and co. are good, but all but the queen, Nkkrrit, are cyber zombies, so healing is pointless, and reanimating is also out. John barely revived Jade when she died, but was only able to do so because of the fact that she was a Progenitor creation, and also her unique physiology. Also, he had to draw heavily on the Astral to do it, and with the war between them and the Astral Evil, that option isn't open right now.

Maybe if Alyssa gets her Astral sub-plane up and running he could save another Nymph in a timely manner, but a naturally evolved species like the Vulkat...the only options for saving them is either fully healing Nkkrrit and having her give birth, although healing just the reproductive system would honor her wishes not to have her suffering extended, or using the genetic sample of Nkkrrit Rachel took, along with Progenitor/Mael'nerak cloning tech (to be recovered by Dana at a future date) to make a blank copy of Nkkrrit. (I'll leave Tefler to figure out the details of how she reproduces without a mate. He's good like that.)

If they clone Nkkrrit, maybe the dying queen could psychically transfer the culture and memories from before the Progenitor war, ten thousand years ago, to the new queen, allowing a fresh start for the Vulkat. The memories of the war, and after, shouldn't be passed on as a living memory, but as archived data, so as to not lose their history, yet not be scarred all over again.

In Ch. 99 on pg. 5, Alyssa offered to either help Nkkrrit rebuild the Vulkat race, since she was no longer fertile, or to end her suffering. Nkkrrit refused both offers.

" she felt honour bound to defend what had once been Vulkat territory from the vultures that sought to pick over the carcass of an extinct civilisation."

I don't know why Nkkrrit refused the offer to rebuild the race, except maybe due to the pain of having lost her entire race, including so many of her own offspring. Having just reread the passage, I didn't see anything to explain the decision, unless I skimmed over it accidentally. That said, I guess they could someday just clone Nkkrrit after she dies, and start over that way, but that would mean the loss of so much Vulkat history and culture.

Whatever the method, I had a few ideas about how to help the Vulkat rebuild. Since the Progenitor not only killed all the Vulkat, but literally destroyed all their planets as well, they need to find a new territory to settle. This is becoming a familiar situation, what with the need to eventually resettle the Abandoned.

Anyway, in order for Nkkrrit to feel able to move on, first she needs to fulfill her current mission, keeping the Brimorians from scavenging any Vulkat tech, aside from the crystal tech John just gave them. I still don't see why the Brimorian Deep Lord was smug about the Vulkat crystal tech, since he can't use it...

Back to my ideas. Either the Vulkat, or John and co. need to locate all remaining Vulkat tech in the region, and tractor it into the nearest star or sun. This would free them from essentially being trapped there. Once that is done, and I realize it could take years to complete, they will need a place to restart the Vulkat species.

The answer is simple: Kirrix territory. My fondest wish is for John to indulge his Progenitor urges, in this instance only, to wipe out a species. They don't contribute anything to the greater good, or the galactic collective. They're parasites, nothing more.

Once they have cleared Kirrix territory, rather than letting any other acquisitive races, especially humans, claim the region, John can claim it in the name of the Vulkat, since he will be using, in part, Vulkat crystals and other possible future Vulkat tech, in the process. Then they seed a chosen planet with the Neo-Vulkat, and oversee their return to the living until they can care for themselves, as well as join the League of Empires that John is building with the Ashanath, Trankarans and Maliri.

On a different note, I was wondering about John's psychic abilities, specifically telepathy. The Ashanath were sure he was telepathic from the moment they met him, but was suppressing the ability for some reason. Since then, he has grown to accept a number of equally superhuman abilities, including purposefully bonding telepathically to Jade, as well as intentionally opening psychic links with each of her newly rescued sisters, one by one. This made me wonder if he could have communicated telepathically with Nkkrrit, as well as the Ashanath, and basically any other telepath not linked to him, in recent chapters, if he really wanted to.

Just a thought...pun intended.

So, I’ve gone back and reread through the series this last week and the story really does just keep getting better. My question is on two phrases that always make me cringe a bit. ‘It’s a good job’ instead of ‘It’s a good thing’ and toy-boy instead of boy-toy. Is this a cultural/geographic turn of phrase or just something in John’s universe?

The phrases you mentioned are the English versions rather than the American. I also use English spellings throughout the story, for example: armour, colour, authorise, centring, etc.

Tefler

I was going to make 105 a double-sized chapter, but the second half got so big that I decided to just keep 106 separate. I submitted chapter 105 to literotica this evening, so hopefully it should be out in a few days.

Tefler

Thanks for the update, and clarification of 105 versus 106. The discussions here were a tad muddy. Can't wait to read them.

WOO HOO!!! Can’t wait! Thanks Tefler!

Cool to see Charles get the nice promotion and Lynette show she's interested in him, although I can't see how that's going to work at this time. She mastered the admiral's meeting for sure.

Seemed like it was set up to have the "nightmare" in this installment so it feels strange it wasn't included.

105 is awaiting moderation.

Is it 10:15am CST at the time of this comment.

It should be approved in about 12-14 hours.

Tefler again delivers on Independence Day.

What can you say about the best author on Lit.

Finally catching up with the series and have a quick observation that may have already been discussed before. It seems that of all the major species, the Terrans (and possibly the Drakkar?) are the only ones to have a purely military governing body and no separate civil government. All the other fleet wardens, fleet commanders, grand prelates etc answer to a higher power where as the fleet admiral does not seem to.

It probably would not make the story better to have to create more layers of political maneuvering and intrigue with an additional group of people outside the current command structure, especially since politics does not seem to be an area of expertise or interest for John. Just an interesting revelation on my part as I follow along the wonderful story telling.

In WWII the US deficit spent like crazy. It even gave away massive amounts of its output with Lend Lease.

It sold War Bonds to finance those deficits. But, it could sell only about half of what it needed to sell. The other half of the bonds was bought {illegally} by the Fed. Res. Bank. This is not well known even now, but if you dig a little you should be able to confirm this fact.

The lesson is that {at least} a large, resource rich, nation can deficit spend {in wartime with rationing and price controls in place} with abandon. And, if it wins the war it can refinance those bonds easily with little or no damage to its economy.

OTOH, repaying those bonds is almost impossible. All the nation can do is keep rolling them over {refinance them} forever. Running a surplus to pay the debt down has the effect of cutting the after tax incomes of someone in the nation's economy and they spend less and this results in poor GDP growth, or even a recession or depression. This has happened all 7 times the US Gov. has run a surplus for 3 or more years running.The 1st time was in about 1835 and the bank panic only ended when the US went to war with Mexico in 1846. The last time was in the late 1990s and 2000 and it ended when Pres. Bush ended the surplus by massively cutting taxes and increasing spending. This ended the surplus. Then came the GFC/2008 which may in some sense have been caused in part by the Pres. Clinton surpluses of 10 years before.

Fleet Admiral Lynette should just deficit spend to produce what the Federation needs and worry about paying for it later.

"I mean, we've got Nova Lances, Singularity Drivers and Tachyon Lasers..."

Tachyon lasers? Doesn't she mean the photonic weapons?

- Kal'adayn