Three Square Meals Ch. 059

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, a teasing smile on her lips, and she said enticingly, "You haven't even dialled it up to max yet."

He immediately did so, seeing the number four appear in his HUD, then glanced down the firing range, and noted, "We seem to have run out of bad guys to vanquish."

"There's always more bad guys," she replied wryly, and stepped over to the control panel built into the wall that operated the target dummies on the range.

Dana hit several buttons, and the target dummy in the middle lane sank into the floor, and one further up the range rose into view. It was a standard hard-foam target dummy, but it was hiding behind a large stack of Titanium armour plating, with more thick Titanium panels set up behind it.

John took careful aim at the centre mass of the target dummy, then gently squeezed the trigger. "BEWWW!" the Justice rifle boomed, and a blazingly bright lance of azure energy blasted into the wall of Titanium.

The heat indicator spiked through the roof, and the heatsinks immediately kicked in, venting the heat to bring the temperature down to safe levels once more. John lowered the barrel of the Justice rifle, then blinked as he stared at the charred rear wall of the firing range, while looking through the foot-wide hole he'd just punched through everything in his path.

"You'll have to wait at least ten seconds for the heat to vent before you can fire again," Dana informed him, while watching the flashing red warning symbol covering the heat indicator in her copy of his HUD. She smiled at him and said, "But if we're going up against unshielded, heavily armoured targets, we've got the Punisher rifles instead."

He carefully placed the Justice rifle back on the stand, then removed his Paragon helmet. When Dana took off her smart-linked glassed, he swept the redhead into his arms. She sighed happily as he gave her a searing kiss, swooning as he held her in a passionate embrace.

"You definitely earned that one," he said with a playful grin when he came up for air. "Outstanding work, Sparks!"

The girls broke into a spontaneous round of applause, and when John released Dana from his embrace, she blushed and performed a sweeping bow. When she had finished accepting her well deserved accolades, John turned to face the girls.

"Alright, we've got a little over five hours left until we reach the Sol system, so let's make good use of that time until we arrive," he said encouragingly. "We'll have dinner now, then we'll reconvene on the Bridge later at twenty-three hundred hours."

They nodded, and headed up to the Officers' Lounge as a group, where John oversaw the preparation of a very tasty spaghetti Carbonara. He'd always enjoyed the dish, and the girls obviously agreed, as they tucked in enthusiastically after he'd grated parmesan cheese on the top. He remembered that it was Calara's favourite, and considering how much he'd soon be relying on her formidable gunnery skills, he wanted to do something nice for her. She let out a rapturous sigh once she had taken her first bite, and after savouring the delicious flavours, she gave him a grateful smile.

He smiled back at the beautiful girl, but he couldn't help wondering if they were enjoying their last meal together, considering what they were up against. Alyssa caught his train of thought and gave him a disapproving frown, so he did his best to just enjoy the ambience around the dinner table. The girls were so upbeat and positive, he soon forgot all about his worries, and just relished being in their wonderful company.

They finished eating and cleared the table, then quickly dispersed, departing in small groups as they hurried away to get back to their work. Calara and Irillith went up to the Bridge, while John and Alyssa descended to the Cargo Bay, leaving Dana, Rachel, and Jade chattering together animatedly as they returned to the Engineering Bay.

***

Edraele sat behind an ornate desk, in her luxury suite in the Genthalas Shipyard. She glanced at a progress report from Makaela, the shipyard Commander, and quickly scanned through the summary. The refit of her fleets was proceeding at an excellent pace. Makaela reported that the dispersal of John's white-haired engineers amongst the rest of the workcrews had had an immediate and positive effect on morale.

Despite the good news, Edraele turned away from the report, her mind plagued by worries. Although she had great faith in John and his team of exceptional women, she could hear his inner voice over their telepathic link. While he was trying to be a strong leader for the girls, she was still able to hear his every concern, just as clearly as Alyssa was able to. She longed to be able to reassure him, but was worried about being another distraction, especially when he already had more than enough to worry about.

A chime at her door drew her attention, and she smiled when one of her assassins entered her office a few moments later. Pleased at the distraction, she asked, "Is everything alright, Luna?"

Luna walked over to her desk and replied in her lovely rich voice, "We've received word from all the agents you dispatched. They were all successful, and are returning to Genthalas via freighter."

Edraele looked up at the deadly Maliri before her, and asked pensively, "Are our new friends safe and well too?"

"All four teams reported they were safely secured," the assassin replied, giving her a reassuring smile. "They'll be arriving over the next several hours."

Edraele let out a relieved sigh, then rose from her chair, and glided over to the large crystal window that dominated one wall of her office. It overlooked the holding yard outside one of the massive drydocks in the shipyard, and she studied the huge warship that was moored there, waiting patiently for an engine refit. She knew all the big ships in her fleet by sight, and she immediately recognised the sleek, crystal-plated vessel outside as a Shandrass class Battleship, 'The Galaena Serine'.

She stared off into the distance, and murmured softly, "You should be thankful you were never cursed with being a Matriarch, Luna. It sometimes seems like all I ever do is make choices between the lesser of two evils. I used to delight in those choices, savouring the chaos in their wake, but now I find it can be a thoroughly distasteful business."

Luna padded over to Edraele's side, and said with concern, "I've never seen you like this before, Matriarch. Are you alright?"

Edraele turned from the window, then smiled fondly at the younger woman, and said, "I've known you for decades, Luna. I think it's about time you started using my name, don't you think?"

Luna returned her smile, her happiness reaching her angular yellow eyes, and she replied, "I'd like that, thank you." Tilting her head slightly, she studied the Valaden Matriarch's face, and saw the worry in her eyes. Placing a comforting hand on the regal woman's shoulder, she asked, "What's troubling you... Edraele?"

Edraele finally let her guard down, and answered quietly, "John and Irillith are in significant danger, and there's nothing I can do to help them." She shuddered as she admitted, "I hate feeling so utterly powerless, and I just feel so alone."

"I'll always be here to support you," Luna said after a moment's hesitation, opening her arms in a slightly awkward invitation for a hug.

Edraele gave the younger woman a grateful smile, then stepped close, gladly accepting the embrace. They held each other for a long while, both Maliri women unused to the physical contact, but finding great comfort in the simple display of affection.

When they eventually parted, Luna smiled at her Matriarch, and said shyly, "I hope I wasn't overstepping my place, Edraele. You just looked like you needed that."

Edraele raised her hand, and brushed her slender fingers over the assassin's cheek in an affectionate gesture, as she replied, "It was lovely, Luna, and you're right, I really did."

She glanced at her desk, and said with regret, "I better get back to my reports. Unfortunately, despite my fervent wishes, House Valaden refuses to run itself." She looked at Luna, and asked, "Would you let me know the moment our guests arrive please? I'd like to speak to them as soon as possible."

Luna nodded obediently, and replied, "Of course, I'll notify you immediately." She turned to leave, but she stopped halfway, and said, "I meant what I said earlier, Edraele. Always feel like you can turn to me for support. Leadership can be a terrible burden, but Almari, Ilyana, and I want to help you however we can."

Edraele gave her a radiant smile, and said, "You're a treasure, Luna. I don't know what I'd do without you."

The assassin returned her bright smile, then padded gracefully from the room, feeling a warm sense of satisfaction at seeing Edraele looking so much happier.

***

John stepped out of the grav-tube with Alyssa at his side, and they strode up the illuminated steps to the Command Podium. The blonde girl took her place at the Executive Officer's Station, while he sank into the Command Chair, before spinning it around to look out across the Bridge. The entire crew were already at their posts, and they glanced up at him, acknowledging his presence with a mixture of respectful nods and warm smiles.

"Report in please, ladies, what's our status?" he asked his crew.

Alyssa spoke up first, saying, "We're twenty-two minutes out from the Sol system."

"Still no sign of the Nexus fleet," Calara informed him, while staring up at the Sector Map. She turned away from her Tactical Station, looking up at him as she added, "We haven't come across any wrecks or debris. It looks like Faye was right; Nexus is making a beeline for Terra, and not stopping for anything."

"Thank you, Lieutenant," John replied, then glanced over to his right at the IntOps Station where Faye was perched on Irillith's console. He gave her an appreciative nod, and said, "Well done, Faye, it seems like the first of your predictions was correct."

The purple fairy smiled at him, and said, "We synthetic being are simple creatures. When you know our primary objectives and operating parameters, it's relatively easy to predict our behaviour." She faltered for a moment, then continued, "Well, I really hope I'm right anyway!"

Irillith's spoke to the tiny AI construct in soothing tones as she said, "We've been over this. Don't worry, everything will be alright." She turned to look at John, and said, "Faye and I have been discussing the plan. She's concerned about us relying so heavily on her predictions, so I said I'd try and do a remote hack of the AI fleet, and confirm Nexus' location. While I do that, Faye will be defending the Invictus against Cyber assault."

John nodded, and said, "Sounds like a good plan. How close will you need to be to hack them?"

"Pretty close; Just outside of interdiction range," Irillith replied apologetically. "We need to be that close to make a stable connection."

"We'll get you there," he told her decisively.

Before he could continue, Rachel cried out, "The comm network just lit up like a supernova! I'm seeing dozens of distress calls from civilian traffic in the Sol System, and a military band emergency call for immediate assistance from Terra itself."

"We're too late..." Alyssa murmured, glancing at John in alarm.

Calara was staring intently at the holographic Sector Map that floated above them in the centre of the Bridge, and she said tersely, "Seven minutes until we'll pick up the Sol system with the long range sensors."

They all stared at the map, a deathly quiet on the Command Deck as their anticipation steadily mounted. The minutes, then seconds counted down, and the trailing edge of their powerful sensors began to pick up the outlying edges of the Sol system. Debris started to appear, cluttering the outer rim of the system with what was obviously dozens of wrecks.

"Terra's a major trade hub. Nexus must be taking out freighters," John muttered as he stared at the devastated shipping.

A number of survivors began to appear on the map, and they could clearly see the vessels racing towards the closest Nav Beacon outside the pull of the system's gravity wells. After a couple of seconds, the sensor contacts were replaced with representations of those ships, and a wide variety of unusual spacecraft designs appeared on the map. John immediately recognised the distinctive saucer shape of an Ashanath trader, as well as the blocky featureless mass of a Trankaran heavy freighter, and several ships from a number of the lesser races.

"Nexus is ignoring the non-Terran shipping," he noted, as he gazed at the fleeing ships.

Calara confirmed this a moment later, as she said, "The debris we're seeing, it's all from Terran vessels."

The sensors swept through the system, revealing a path of destruction on a direct course towards Terra. There were much bigger wrecks appearing now, and John realised they were seeing the ruins of defensive stations that guarded the approach to the Terran Federation Capital. Suddenly, mysterious signals began to appear on the map, and their advanced sensory array picked up dozens of sensor contacts. There were no transponder signals on the vast majority of those ships, which made it obvious they had found their quarry.

"Cleaning up the signals," Dana murmured.

Calara reached over to her Tactical Console, and worked quickly to match the signal patterns she was seeing, with the corresponding ships from their Almanac. There were a handful of transponder codes being returned, and she quickly updated those with the correct ship classifications as well. Alyssa replaced the Sector Map with the holographic System Map for Sol, showing the Sun surrounded by the solar system in much greater detail.

"It looks like you were right," Jade said, as her cat-like eyes flickered over the map, staring at the ships as they appeared.

Sure enough, the mass of sensor contacts were revealed to be Nexus' fleet, and Calara began to list off the numbers and classes of the ships she was seeing. "Thirty-two of the old cruiser variants, four modern cruisers, and a battleship..." she said with concern, her voice trailing off as she double-checked the transponder code. Glancing at John, she added, "It's the Loki."

"Now we know where Nexus is hiding," John said grimly. "We have our target girls, let's get ready."

Jade was still studying the system map, and she frowned as she asked, "I thought Nexus was destroying all the Terran civilian ships? Why are they leaving that one alone?"

Everyone stared at the ship she was pointing at, and Alyssa asked, "What type of ship is it? It seems to be heading towards Terra as well."

"It's a Mining Ship," Calara replied in confusion.

Dana blurted out, "What the fuck's that doing here? There's nothing to mine in the Sol System."

"It's part of Nexus' fleet," John said as he studied the map. "The rest of the AI fleet aren't ignoring the Mining Ship, it looks like they're guarding it."

Calara's hands flew over her console, and she brought up a tactical overview of the enormous Mining Ship. It was well over a kilometre in length, with an array of massive engines at the back, dozens of ore pods clustered around the middle, and a long frontal section that ended with four huge barrels.

She appeared wary as she said, "It looks like it's been modified. That isn't the standard configuration for an Appalachian class mining vessel."

"What's Nexus done to it?" John asked with a note of caution.

She shook her head helplessly, and replied, "We'll need to be in-system to get more details, I can only tell you that it's bigger than it should be."

John turned to look at Alyssa, but before he could ask his question, she replied, "We're still twelve minutes from the Sol-system. They won't pick us up until we arrive in-system and move to engage, unless of course, we try to approach by stealth."

"We haven't got time for that, we need to intercept them as quickly as possible," he replied. "Those ships could start an orbital bombardment of Terra as soon as they get in range."

"What about the orbital defences?" Calara asked, hopefully. "They might slow them down."

"We'll see in a few minutes," he replied, watching as the robotic fleet rolled inexorably onwards.

The AI ships approached Jupiter, then spitefully wrecked the orbital refuelling platforms and gas-mining facilities that orbited the planet, as soon as each facility came within range. By a stroke of luck, Mars was on the opposite side of the sun, so the densely populated planet was spared any orbital strikes by Nexus' fleet. The robotic ships cruised past Jupiter, and continued directly towards Terra.

The Terran Federation Capital was surrounded by several layers of orbital defences. These static structures ranged from military Battlestations festooned with weapons, to missile platforms and Beam Laser emplacement turrets. Unfortunately with the orbital defences being fixed in orbit, the AI fleet was able to use hit and run tactics, sending cruisers just into range to open fire with their long range arsenal, before backing out to recharge depleted shields. With such a huge fleet, Nexus made short work of the turrets, clearing the outer rings of defences without losing a ship.

"Nine minutes until we jump in-system," Alyssa observed, checking the progress of the Invictus against the sector map above her console.

They could only look on impotently as Nexus moved on to the two Battlestations next. These were massive constructions, at least twice as big as the trading stations they'd visited like Port Megara, and bristling with turreted weapons. The AI fleet rapidly changed formations, forming a huge wall six cruisers across and six deep, while moving with uncanny precision. They converged on the first of the massive Battlestations, all moving into range at exactly the same time, and there was a blinding surge of light on the map as the Base and the AI fleet exchanged ruinous salvos.

When their eyes readjusted, the once pristine Battlestation had been ravaged by Beam Lasers, and dozens of impact craters from Mass Driver hits pockmarked its armoured hull. It seemed to tremble on the map as it was rocked by secondary explosions, and they could now see fires raging out of control. With the shields out, the Battlestation was highly vulnerable to the Heavy Cannons on the modern cruisers, and they pounded away with brutal fusillades of shells. The AI cruiser formation continued to close the distance, heading into Laser Cannon range while their heavier weapons recharged.

"Where are they off to?" Jade asked, pointing towards the Loki and the Mining Ship, which had pulled away from the formation of ships.

Alyssa squinted at the map, and looked puzzled as she replied, "It looks like they're heading towards the moon."

They watched the bigger ships departing on their detour, but a bright explosion drew their attention back to the Battlestation. It had been annihilated by the cruisers, which had savaged the base with Laser Cannon fire, then hit it with another devastating salvo from their heavier weapons.

Calara grimaced as she stared at the AI fleet, and said, "Nexus only lost four cruisers in that first exchange. The base was too badly damaged by that initial attack to be able to retaliate with much after that."

Rachel looked away with a pained expression, and said, "This is so much worse than the Holo-suite simulation. There are thousands of people dying there right now, and we're powerless to stop it."

Alyssa nodded, and said grimly, "Seven minutes until we arrive."

The AI ships pulled back, moving safely out of range of the second orbiting Battlestation. They hung there motionless, while still in formation.

"What're they doing now?" Dana asked, sounding pensive.