Three Square Meals Ch. 028

Taking an easy grip with both hands, he performed a few experimental slashes and heard the satisfying sound of the blade whistling, as it cut cleanly through the air. He had an excited lop sided grin on his face as he walked over to show the girls the new sword.

"Wow..." Dana murmured breathlessly. "That looks absolutely awesome!" she gasped appreciatively.

Alyssa smiled at him happily, proud of her work on the Psi-forged blade and his delighted reaction to the new weapon.

"You've done an amazing job on this, but I'm not sure how practical it's going to be hauling it around with me," John said, holding the nearly five foot long weapon in front of him carefully.

"I could make you a scabbard for it with not much trouble," Dana said with a smile.

She held out her hand for the sword, ready to take it up to her workshop to check the measurements for a scabbard. John handed over the weapon hilt first and when she had a firm grasp of the grip, he let go. The blade clanged noisily to the ground as soon as he released his hand, the redhead dropping it awkwardly, point first to the deck.

"This thing weighs a ton!" Dana exclaimed in surprise, struggling to pick it up with both hands, as the razor-sharp point gouged a big divot out of the steel decking on the cargo bay floor.

"I think you're getting used to your new found strength." Alyssa said with a smile, as John retrieved the Invictium sword from the straining girl and lifted it effortlessly in one hand.

"Let me carry this for you, fair damsel," he said with a courtly bow.

"My thanks, Sir Knight!" Dana said dipping in a curtsey and fluttering her eyelashes at him.

Alyssa's laughter echoed around the cargo bay as they walked over to the loading lift to head up to the engineering bay. They travelled up on the slow moving lift with the girls talking avidly about recreating the scene from Dana's picture.

"You quite like us dressing up for you, don't you John?" Alyssa asked, smiling at him coyly as she listened in to his wandering thoughts about scantily clad amazons.

"Can't a man have any secrets?" he retorted with a laugh.

"When we have some time, I must dress up in my business suit for you," she declared, then shivered with excitement as he started thinking about ravishing her over his desk in the Commander's ready room.

"I could barely take my eyes off of you in that outfit!" Dana said, her eyes sparkling wickedly.

"You cut an exceptionally fine figure yourself, the last time you played dress-up," John said with a salacious grin as he remembered the heart stopping moment the redhead had appeared in his bedroom dressed as a naughty schoolgirl, making her flush with excitement as she remembered the night of fiery passion.

"Where do you want it?" John asked in a seductive voice as the loading lift came to a halt in the engineering bay.

Dana gasped excitedly, looking up with an expectant gleam in her eyes, and then groaned in disappointment, when she saw him waving the sword in the air with a grin.

"Oh, very funny," She laughed sarcastically, then pointed to a workbench. "Just over there on the workbench is fine," she smirked, then added. "And that applies to either weapon!"

"Maybe later," John chuckled.

He left the heavy sword on the workbench for her to size up later and then jogged to catch up with the girls who waited for him patiently at the doorway. They walked arm in arm to the grav-tubes to go up to the bridge.

John stepped out on to the command deck first and saw Calara sitting in the tactical station, with Jade hovering nearby. They were gazing up at the system map and looking at a string of stars a fair way out from the Kappa-Indarran system. The local system was highlighted in an adjacent hologram and he saw that the Invictus was currently orbiting Ashana.

"Hey you two," John called to them. "Have you had any luck with finding us any ambush sites?"

"Calara has found three places we could attack from," Jade said eagerly. "We're just discussing which one would be the most effective."

"Sounds like we're in luck then," he said, approaching them and leaning against the tactical station as they examined the sector map. "What have you got for us Calara?"

"Well the first option is a wide, tightly packed asteroid belt," the brunette explained, shifting the holographic focus to the system map with a swipe of her hand. "It's been fully strip mined, so there's lots of hollowed out asteroids and abandoned mining equipment that will hopefully help mask our approach."

"That could definitely work," John said. "What's the second option?"

"There's a planetary nebulae over there," Calara replied, pointing at a dark red star on the stellar map. "Which is actually a dying red dwarf star. It's throwing out lots of radiation and magnetic fields, so we could definitely launch an ambush undetected, but if the shields get knocked out we could be in trouble."

"I think we'll have enough to worry about with the Drakkar, without having to avoid environmental hazards too," John said cautiously. "What's our third option?"

"There's another ice planet in this system over here," Calara said, moving the sector map to focus on the system she had in mind. "It's surrounded by dense rings of ice fields. Our shields will take some damage flying through that, but energy weapons will be a lot less effective due to the refraction effect of the ice particles that fill the area."

"That could be good too," John agreed. "We can rely on our Mass drivers to inflict damage, while they're restricted purely to their beam weapons."

"Yes, that's what I was thinking," the brunette said, nodding soberly.

"Have you got any particular preference at the moment?" John asked, fascinated to find out what the cunning Latina might have in mind.

"I'm leaning towards the first option, the abandoned asteroid field in the Gomeisa system," Calara said thoughtfully. "I've checked and it's completely deserted, so we wouldn't have to worry about civilian casualties either."

"Yeah that's good, I don't want to put any civilians at risk," he agreed. "Ok, it seems we've made our choice," John said decisively. "The asteroids at Gomeisa it is."

He turned towards Alyssa, who was already reaching for the console. "I'll hail the Ashanath Council," she said and winked at him.

John laughed at her fondly. He sometimes forgot how she was constantly reading his mind.

"I'd like to ask them something too..." Calara said cryptically.

***

Vermogrok the Voracious sprawled in the command throne on the bridge of the Drakkar Cruiser. He stretched his four muscular arms contentedly before hunching forward to stare at the sector map in front of him, watching the cluster of signals move slowly across the Gomeisa system. His underling, Lieutenant Drikog stomped up beside the throne, grinding his teeth with annoyance.

"It's been nearly a week since I last feasted!" Drikog grumbled. "When are we going to get some more action?"

Vermogrok's stomach rumbled as he remembered the mouth watering taste of the delicious Grey flesh. He and his fellow Drakkar had been taking full advantage of the unending buffet of pathetically weak aliens and he congratulated himself on his cunning for joining up with Overlord Okug on this most rewarding of raids.

"Remember how we boarded that last freighter and devoured every last crew member?" Drikog grinned toothily and starting to drool at the memory. "These Greys are only small, but after we hunted them all down, there were plenty to fill our bellies!"

"Patience Drikog, we will feast again soon!" Vermogrok replied, masking his own irritation at having to wait around on Overlord Okug's orders. "I have found us a new banquet!"

"Your pod brothers must be so envious of you!" Drikog said to Vemogrok admiringly.

"They would be, if I hadn't eaten them all!" Vermogrok said, then threw his hammer shaped head back and barked a burbling laugh, his tooth filled maw snapping up and down with glee.

Turning his attention back to the signals, more details about the convoy were starting to appear, as the sensor probes they had embedded in asteroids around the sector gathered more data. It looked like some Ashanath Freighters and passenger liners according to their transponders.

"Behold Drikog! That convoy has passenger liners!" Vermogrok exclaimed, his bulging eyes gleaming with excitement as he began to drool.

"We will gorge ourselves until we burst!" Drikog chortled. "You have done it again mighty one!"

"Set a course for Gomeisa!" Vermogrok bellowed at his helmsman.

"Yeah Warboss!" the helmsman replied with a toothy grin.

"Overlord Okug is calling us." his first mate grunted.

"Put him through..." Vermogrok snarled with irritation.

The grizzly face of the massive Overlord filled the viewscreen.

"Vermogrok!" the huge Drakkar shouted. "What are you doing?"

"We've picked up a convoy and it's well past feeding time!" Vermogrok replied, his long tongue licking his fangs in anticipation.

"We still haven't heard back from Giruk or Ookur!" the Overlord yelled. "I won't risk losing any more ships!"

Vermogrok chortled to himself quietly. "Those two were always spineless, pathetic worms! We're better off without them!" he said to Okug, gloating at their disappearance.

"There's only two ships left with the new armour!" Okug roared. "I won't risk losing any more!"

"The Greys are helpless against us!" Vermogrok countered. "There's no danger to be found in a tasty little convoy!"

Ever since the Dark One had given them the tech and the materials for their new armour, Vermogrok's ship was invincible!

"No! Until we find out what happened to Giruk and Ookur, I want you around in case I need support!" Okug bellowed.

"Maybe Overlord Okug is getting old and tired?" Vermogrok wondered inwardly. He had personally seen the massive Warleader tear apart and devour 5 of his supposed 16 challengers and it hadn't been pretty, but getting too cautious like this usually meant ending up in the maw of a bold challenger. "A bold young Drakkar like me!" Vermogrok thought, before he looked up at the viewscreen to watch Overlord Okug brooding malevolently.

"My minions are getting hungry!" Vermogrok snarled brazenly. "This is the first fat target we've seen in days! By custom you can't deny us this prey!" he added slyly.

Okug stared at him for a moment, his face twisted up into a hideous grimace.

"Take Zarog with you!" the Overlord bellowed, then cut off the comm channel abruptly.

Vermogrok threw his head back and howled in rage.

"Zarog!" he snarled, chewing the word over in his mouth. The thought of having to share all those tasty Greys with his hated rival was absolutely galling. "I didn't spend 5 years in the fighting pits to share my prey with the likes of that maggot!" Vermogrok growled to Drikog in irritation.

"Mistakes can always happen on a hunt. Who knows what tragic accident might befall Zarog?" Drikog rasped quietly, his bulging black eyes lighting up with malicious glee.

"Ah, Drikog! I love how your twisted little mind works!" Vermogrok guffawed with delight. "It's no wonder I haven't eaten you yet!"

Drikog chuckled to himself, relishing his own deviousness.

"Get us to Gomeisa!" Vermogrok roared at his helmsman. "And we better get there before Zarog, or I'll start my feast with you!"

The Drakkar bridge crew surged into motion, their four arms moving over the controls and turning the huge cruiser on an intercept course. The FTL drive powered up and the cruiser lurched drunkenly into Hyper warp. They were only a few parsecs away from Gomeisa, so Vermogrok only had to bellow and swear for about ten minutes before they finally entered the system and exited hyper warp.

Vermogrok stared at the tactical map, his bulging black eyes looking hungrily for the hapless Ashanath ships he intended to plunder. His eyes tilted up, as his hammer shaped head furrowed in confusion. Instead of seeing five cowering freighters and two passenger liners, there was just one disc shaped ship, moving in an unusual pattern. It was circling a wide asteroid belt and appeared to be towing some kind of very long metal frame with what looked like metal spheres attached to it.

"What the hell is going on here?" Vermogrok growled, scanning the tactical overlay.

"Just one pathetic freighter... There probably isn't enough crew to count as a starter!" Drikog snarled in disappointment.

"Want me to disable it anyway boss?" the helmsman asked.

Vermogrok shrieked the order to attack and the cruiser surged forward. He watched the overlay angrily, expecting the Ashanath freighter to flee, just like all the others had tried to, but this one just kept plodding along slowly. His eyes narrowed in suspicion, warning bells ringing in his head at the bizarre behaviour of the Grey vessel.

It was almost as if the freighter was completely oblivious to their presence, even when the Drakkar opened up with their beam batteries, wiping out the Grey's shield in a single crackling burst. Several of the beams followed through and sheared off one of the Freighter's engines, but the helpless ship kept limping along regardless.

Suddenly warning lights began to flash around the bridge, casting a sinister red glow over the command deck.

"I knew it," Vermogrok rumbled under his breath.

"We're being attacked Warboss!" the first mate cried out in warning.

Vermogrok slugged the panicking bridge crewman in the face with a powerful haymaker, sending the Drakkar sprawling. "Keep it together you simpering coward!" he roared, before turning back towards the tactical map.

Now that the enemy ship had been revealed by their cowardly sneak attack, Vermogrok stared at it in confusion, as it was displayed on the tactical map.

"That's not a Grey ship!" Drikog said, stating the obvious.

"Of course it isn't," Vermogrok scoffed. The Greys built their ships to look like a dinner plate, ready to serve up its tasty crew.

"It looks like a Terran cruiser, but they have the same armour as us!" Drikog noted with surprise.

Vermogrok's instinctive reaction was to fire back, but something made him stay his hand and he hesitated.

"Maybe they're an ally of the Dark One and this is just mistaken identity?" he growled uneasily.

"We don't want to face Okug's wrath if we kill one of our new allies." Drikog nodded with trepidation.

"Fuck Okug! There's no way I'm crossing the Dark One!" Vermogrok snarled vehemently.

The mysterious black ship fired again, six bright orange beams lancing out to scythe across his shields, followed by a hail of laser cannon blasts.

"Fire back!" he shouted, his lime green skin darkening with anger. Mistaken identity or not, no-one shot his ship up like that.

The sixteen beam lasers on the front of his ship opened fire, the lights inside the bridge dimming as the weapons drew massive amounts of energy from the power core. The Terran cruiser rolled on its side, effortlessly diving out of the fire arc of just over half the lancing bright purple beams.

Vermogrok gnashed his teeth in frustration and stared balefully at the Drakkar sitting at tactical. The imbecile just shrugged idiotically, making Vermogrok seethe with anger.

"Miss like that again and I'll beat you to death with my bare hands!" Vermogrok roared at the head-scratching crewman.

Suddenly Zarog's ship appeared on the tactical map as it dropped out of hyper warp, turning towards the duelling cruisers. The Terran vessel swung sharply about and began racing away towards the asteroid belt, it's four engines glowing with power as it surged away from the fight.

"Gahhhh!!" Vermogrok snarled, apoplectic with rage as the enemy cruiser fled. By the time his beam lasers had cooled down enough to be able to fire again, they were just out of range. "That thrice damned Zarog!" Vermogrok shrieked. "They're getting away!"

"What should we do?" The helmsman asked in confusion.

Vermogrok stormed up to the quivering Drakkar helmsman and backhanded him across the face. "Get in there after them you fool! Must I give the most simple of orders?!" he screamed.

The Drakkar Warboss stomped back to his throne and glowered at the tactical map as his ship followed after Zarog's cruiser into the asteroid belt.

Zarog's gunner seemed to be even more inept than his though, with beam after beam sailing harmlessly wide, as the Terran cruiser rolled and turned nimbly around the enormous floating asteroids. The sinister black ship seemed to suffer none of the same targeting difficulties however, as Zarog's shields were being pummelled by an unrelenting hail of laser fire from the rear and side mounted laser cannons.

Vermogrok was just out of range, the enemy ship so tantalisingly close but still just that little bit too far. Every time he thought he might be able to catch up, his crew were forced to perform evasive manoeuvres to avoid hitting the massive hunks of rock, that floated aimlessly in their snaking path through the asteroid field.

After a teeth gnashingly long pursuit that was proving as fruitless as it was frustrating, the two pursuing Drakkar ships split up to go around a large asteroid that was pockmarked with mining shafts. The Terran cruiser circled around a big asteroid up ahead and then instead of continuing to flee, it turned back to face them. Vermogrok trembled with excitement, sensing the chase was at an end and he slammed one of his fists down on the armrest of his throne.

"Fire!!" he bellowed, as the jet black cruiser closed to firing range.

Zarog's cruiser fired as well and dozens of virulent purple beams blasted out from the Drakkar ships, many of them striking the black hulled enemy vessel and overloading their shields. Vermogrok leaned forward excitedly, eagerly awaiting the sight of the irritating black ship being scythed in half. The beams caressed the enemy hull, but other than a couple of minor explosions, they seemed to only mildly score the jet black hull. He stared open mawed in shock as the practically unscathed Terran ship fired back, but not at Vermogrok's ship and not at Zarog either.

Four shells roared out from the black cruiser and Vermogrok snorted with laughter as they missed both the Drakkar ships and slammed into the nearby asteroid, which trembled with the massive impact. A second later, there was a muffled explosion from within the hollowed out chunk of rock and then everything turned upside down, as the shockwave from a colossal secondary explosion rocked his cruiser. The metal superstructure shrieked torturously, as panels blew open and conduits exploded with a shower of sparks.

Vermogrok was thrown clear across the bridge, slamming into a far bulkhead. Smoke poured out of overloaded consoles and alarms blared out through the command deck, as his crew rolled around in a daze, trying to get up.

"What the fuck was that?!" The Drakkar Warboss gasped in shock.

He lurched upright and hauled himself over to his throne, staring at the damage control display in horror. His glorious cruiser had been battered, the port side of the ship horribly torn and mangled by the devastating explosion. His ship was listing on its side and drifting out of control towards another huge asteroid.

"Turn damn you, turn!" he screamed, turning towards the helmsman's station, but he saw the seat was empty.

He charged frantically for the helmsman's station, desperate to avoid looming disaster and grabbed the flight stick with a grasping hand. He yanked back on the controls, pulling the stricken cruiser up and narrowly clearing the enormous rocky obstacle that had threatened them with imminent death. Vermogrok turned frantically around, his bulging eyes searching for the missing helmsman. Finally he spotted him, hanging upside down and impaled on an exposed girder that had been torn out of the wall by the explosion. Swearing animatedly, Vermogrok turned the Drakkar cruiser back towards the fight, scanning the flickering tactical map to see what was happening.