Three Square Meals Ch. 063

"Was that your handiwork?" he asked her, visibly impressed.

She nodded, and replied, "I closed the runway blast doors a second after they launched the bomber wings. The explosions were the torpedoes detonating with the impact."

He shook his head, chuckling as he said, "Thank God you're on my side!"

Irillith was delighted by his enthusiastic response to her efforts, and she gave him a dazzling smile that lit up her face. He smiled at her, then turned back to the Tactical Map, to watch the Invictus bear down on the sluggish invasion craft. There was no sign of the Kintark armada yet, and he had a grim smile on his face by the time they caught up to the huge troop transports.

He glanced at Calara, and said, "Go ahead, Commander, cripple those ships. Be careful not to destroy them, though."

She turned to meet his worried gaze, and said confidently, "They won't lose a man."

Alyssa sailed the Invictus above the pack of slow moving ships, while rolling the assault cruiser so that the topdeck was facing towards them. Calara opened fire with the Beam Lasers, her shots precisely placed as they burnt through the shields, going on to slash into the rear of the enemy ship.

The pulsating blue beams reminded John of Rachel's laser scalpel as the Latina surgically removed the rearmost section of the closest invasion craft. She neatly sliced away the twin engines, leaving nothing but brightly glowing scars in their place. With all thrust gone, the invasion ship was left marooned, drifting helplessly in space. With that vessel disabled, Alyssa guided the Invictus towards the next transport.

***

Prelate Khardas stared aghast at the Tactical Map, watching in horror as the white Terran ships annihilated the supply base and incapacitated the fleet of invasion ships. The comm channels were alive with Kintark ships and structures desperately crying out for assistance, and his crew were plotting the approximate positions of the enemy ships based on those calls for help.

His one hope had rested on the wings of fighters that had barrelled in to attack the gunship, which was wreaking such horrendous devastation throughout the base. However, one after the other the pilots' voices went silent as they were gunned down without mercy.

"By Valssstraz the Vengeful, Damn you to hell!" he snarled, quaking with rage as the evil Terrans ran unchecked through the nebula.

Vorgrax was standing beside him, and he growled, "We ssshall have our revenge for thisss atrocity, Prelate."

Khardas' clawed hands clenched into fists while he watched impotently, as the Terrans finished their terrible work.

The pilot, Sub-Prelate Gorchir, sounded shocked to the core as he called up to Khardas in a numbed voice, "We're clear of the Nebula, Prelate. What are your ordersss?"

After a quick glance at the huge lizard beside him, Prelate Khardas replied, "Head with all ssspeed to Kinta! We mussst warn the Emperor!"

***

John slumped back in his Command Chair, sighing with relief when Alyssa engaged the Tachyon drive, and they leapt safely into hyper warp. They'd swept through the invasion craft, immobilising the last with minutes to spare, and then took full advantage of that precious extra time to assist Jade in blasting the last of the Kintark base. As soon as the Raptor had docked, Alyssa plotted a new course, and they raced away from the scene of utter ruin that was all that remained of the Mar'Katrach nebula supply complex.

"Bravo, ladies, that was outstanding." he said proudly, gazing out at the equally relieved faces around him.

Alyssa stood up from the Pilot's Chair, then stretched like a cat, and grinned as she said, "Not too shabby yourself, Admiral."

There were approving nods from the rest of the girls, agreeing with both sentiments, although everyone was feeling numb as the adrenaline wore off.

John closed his eyes, focusing on the temporary mental compartment that housed Sakura, checking to see how the surgery was progressing. The girl's arms were healed now too, and the surgical wounds on her thighs were starting to regenerate next. It appeared that the surgery was complete, with all the implants removed from her body.

"Yeah, Rachel says she's done," Alyssa confirmed with a tired smile, as she walked up the ramp to rejoin him on the Command Podium.

"Time to call Admiral Lynton. Let's find out where the Fleet Admiral is," John said, with a look of satisfaction on his face. Turning to look at Dana, he asked, "Are we close enough to the T-Fed temporary comm beacons to patch the comm channel through?"

The redhead nodded to him, replying, "We should be, those things have a pretty broad range. We better use a burst transmission though, it'll make us harder for the Kintark to detect."

Alyssa was back at his right-hand side, sitting at the Executive Officer's station once again. She pressed a number of buttons on her console, and opened the call to the Terran Federation dreadnought, the Thor's Hammer. It didn't take long for the signal to get through, and they were confronted with the Terran Federation logo with the flashing red warning beneath that announced they were connected on a secure channel.

"Are you there, Admiral?" John asked, clenching his teeth in irritation that the video feed was still out.

"I've got terrible news, John!" Gabrielle Lynton's clear voice said a moment later. She sounded shocked to the core as she blurted out, "Admiral Norwood has defected!"

"That fucker! It's not going to save him!" John snarled in fury, thumping his fist down on the arm of his Command Chair, causing it to creak ominously with the impact. Getting his temper under control, he growled, "Give me the Fleet Admiral's coordinates anyway, Gabrielle, I still need to speak with him."

"Wait... you knew he was a traitor?!" she gasped, her voice betraying her stunned amazement.

John glanced up at the Terran Federation logo, and grimaced as he replied, "We figured it out. That's why I was trying to find the Fleet Admiral." He sighed as he continued, "We wiped out the Mar'Katrach nebula base for you, so I need Buckingham's location."

"I wish you'd trusted me with this. I could have informed Buckingham immediately, and had Norwood executed for his treason," Lynton said, sounding subdued. "Sending you the coordinates."

"I'm sorry, Gabrielle. We weren't sure who we could trust," John said, glancing at Alyssa who confirmed that she'd received the transmission a moment later. Turning back to the screen, he asked, "Do you know what happened?"

Admiral Lynton was quiet as she replied, "I spoke to the Fleet Admiral himself only ten minutes ago, and he told me what he could. I'm sure you appreciate that details are sketchy at this time. All I know, is that Norwood was leading a battlegroup in his dreadnought, the Vengeance of Hera. He must have gathered the rest of his allies with him, because there are reports that a large number of ships assisted him when he turned on the loyal vessels. Once the loyal ships were destroyed, the traitors fled."

Calara had a panicked look on her face as she gasped, "The Damocles? The Hydra?"

"I don't have a list of the ships involved, I'm afraid," Admiral Lynton said apologetically.

Blowing out his breath, John said, "Alright, thanks for the news, Gabrielle." Before he signed off, he added, "There's something else you should know. The Kintark were planning something big, some kind of invasion. We disabled a transport fleet carrying upward of a-hundred-thousand soldiers, and we saw a big armada of what must have been their escort ships heading their way."

"You disabled them? Why not just destroy those forces?! They'll still be a threat!" she exclaimed incredulously.

John's eyes narrowed as he replied, "You wanted the supply base destroyed, and we left it a charred ruin. I wasn't going to just butcher thousands of helpless soldiers."

"I'm sorry, John, It just came as a surprise," she apologised. "You've really made a big difference here, thank you."

"That's alright, and you're welcome," he said magnanimously. He paused for a moment, before he continued, "You might want to deploy Maddox's picket fleet closer to the border, just in case the Kintark armada still attempts an assault."

"I'll take steps to bolster our defences," Admiral Lynton replied sounding resolute. "Don't worry, I'll keep the Dragon March secure."

He nodded, and said, "Good luck Gabrielle, but I hope you don't need it."

"Same to you, John," she replied soberly. "I informed the Fleet Admiral that you wanted to speak with him. He's expecting you."

"I appreciate it, thank you," he said in return.

The Admiral closed the comm channel, and the Terran Federation logo disappeared, to be replaced by static.

"So what now?" Alyssa asked him, glancing his way while her fingers danced over her console. "I've laid in a course to reach the Fleet Admiral. He's just under seven hours away, in the Delta-Draconis system."

John turned his chair her way, and replied, "We need to find out what happened with Norwood. The Fleet Admiral is our best bet there."

She nodded slowly, her eyes darting to Calara, who was staring off into the distance, her face a mask of worry for her father and brother. "Sounds like a good plan to me," she agreed.

"Let's head down to Medical," John said, as he rose from his Command Chair. Looking at the brunette he added, "I want you to come too, Calara. Staying here and worrying isn't going to accomplish anything."

The Latina let out a heavy sigh, then got up from her chair, and walked up the ramp towards the grav-tube. Alyssa skipped down the steps to meet with her, wrapping her up in a comforting hug.

Faye fluttered up to his Command Console from the Tactical Station, and said to John, "Don't worry, I'll let you know if there's any trouble!"

He nodded to her appreciatively, and said, "You did well, Faye, you should be proud of yourself."

She grinned at him in delight, then watched as he stretched briefly before walking down the illuminated steps from the Command Podium. He joined the girls at the grav-tube, and they stepped inside as they headed down to Deck Seven.

Rachel was waiting for them in the Medical Bay when they entered, and she looked worn out after completing nine hours of surgery. She had removed her surgeons' gown, and was sitting in one of the comfortable chairs drinking a cup of coffee.

"Hey everyone," she said, greeting them with a weary smile.

John strolled over to join her, leaning down to give her a quick kiss before he crouched down beside her. "You look exhausted," he said, reaching out to brush an errant lock of hair from her face. "Why don't you go to bed and get some rest?"

Rachel nodded, and said, "I will in a moment."

Standing up, she handed over her mug to Dana, who accepted it gratefully, taking a big gulp of the hot drink. She beckoned him to follow, then led them over to the operating area where Sakura was lying under a sheet.

Alyssa shook her head in amazement and said, "She looks incredible!" Throwing a glance at John, she added appreciatively, "Spectacular work, handsome. You're a miracle worker."

Sakura's short black hair had now fully regrown into a luxurious silky-black mane that framed a beautiful face. Her skin-tone was a lovely golden brown, and her complexion was wonderfully smooth and fresh. John was shocked himself, recalling the girl's broken ruin of a face, and her deathly pale, sallow skin; the transformation really was quite breathtaking. The sheet rose up around her waist, her stomach still hugely rounded, packed full with the heavy load that Jade had pumped into her just over an hour ago.

Rachel gently lifted Sakura's arm, showing them the slender limb, and her flawless, unblemished flesh. Her arms, just like the rest of her body, had previously been hideously misshapen by the subdermal armour plating. He remembered the crisscrossing of surgical scars, but they had been fully healed too, not leaving behind even the barest hint that they'd ever existed.

Rachel smiled at him, and said, "It's also my professional opinion that you are indeed, a miracle worker." She turned to look at the sleeping girl, and he could hear the wonder in her voice as she continued, "As fast as I was removing the implants, her body was healing the incisions behind me. It was almost like the flesh was repairing itself as I watched, I've never seen anything like it."

Jade looked saddened as she said, "I can see why they picked her to be abducted. She's a very beautiful girl."

"Hopefully she can put all that behind her now," John said optimistically. He turned to Rachel and added, "How long until you think she'll wake up?"

Rachel tapped her finger on her chin, and said, "I've been assuming that she'll be out for fourteen hours after we fed her the first time. If that's true, she has another three hours to go."

Irillith had turned to look at the big pile of metal, ceramic, and plastic devices that were piled up high on a trolley. "She had all this inside her? I'm amazed it all fit!" she marvelled. Looking around for a specific implant, she added, "What happened to the CPU? I don't see the cybernetic brain here."

"It's held in a containment field up in my workshop," Dana explained. "The bomb in her head was really nasty. A high yield charge to destroy her body, coupled with a nanotoxin dispersal system that would melt anything organic in a ten metre radius."

John's eyebrows raised in alarm, and he immediately asked, "Can you separate the bomb from the brain? The Maliri tech in the implant might be useful for tracking down the Master Assassin, but I don't want a live bomb aboard, even if it is safely contained at the moment."

"Don't worry," Dana replied with a confident smile. "I'll split the two then flush the bomb. It should be relatively straight forward, and I can ask Faye to assist with one of the maintenance bots, so I won't be in any danger."

Calara picked up the adrenal booster device, her mouth twisting in distaste at the long, spidery tubes that snaked out of the cold, black implant. She shook her head slowly, and her voice was full of compassion as she said, "That poor girl, having all these hideous implants shoved inside her. How could someone be so cruel?"

Rachel walked over to her, and picked up a fractured ceramic plate, and she said, "I agree, the man behind what happened to her is a monster. Ironically though, the subdermal plating did save her life."

"What do you mean?" John asked her, leaning in to take a closer look at the smashed piece of plating.

Glancing at Alyssa, Rachel explained, "Sakura had these plates implanted around her skull. Without them, Alyssa would have crushed her head like an eggshell with the force of the blows she was delivering."

Looking chagrined, Alyssa protested, "I didn't know it wasn't her fault! After what Shinatobe did to all of you, I was really fucking pissed at the time!"

Rachel dropped the shattered plating with a loud clatter, and rushed over to the blonde, giving her a hug. "I'm really sorry! I didn't mean it to come out like that," she said earnestly. "I wasn't blaming you for anything, it was just an observation."

John rubbed Alyssa's back, and said soothingly, "She was just saying that you're a very powerful girl. Shinatobe was a lethal killing machine, and if you hadn't knocked her out, we'd have had to kill her. Thanks to you, Sakura has a chance at a new life now."

Alyssa hugged Rachel back, and said, "Sorry I got a bit defensive there. I do feel guilty about smacking the crap out of Sakura, she'd been through so much already."

John glanced at the beautiful Asian girl who was sleeping peacefully before them, and said, "There's no harm done, she'll be fine."

"Thanks to you," Alyssa said, as she stepped away from Rachel and looked down at the slumbering girl. She slipped her hand into John's and said, "You did a good thing healing her."

Deciding to change the subject, Dana piped up, "While Rachel was doing all that gross operation stuff, I took a look at some of the tech behind Sakura's gear and implants. Some of this equipment is pretty cool!"

John chuckled and said, "I thought you were supposed to be helping with the surgery?"

Rachel gave Dana a fond smile, and said, "She might be exceptionally gifted with machines, but the internals of the human body were a bit much for her. Weren't they, my love?"

Dana shuddered with revulsion, and then smiled as she said, "It was meant to be a sterile environment. It wouldn't have been if I hurled everywhere!"

The girls laughed at that, and she gave them a cheeky grin as she bounded over to a nearby table. On it they could see the assassin's black sword, some crumpled black fabric, and a small metal object.

"Is that everything she had on her?" John asked, as he walked over to take a closer look.

She nodded, then gestured to the sword, and said, "That sword's very strong and sharp, but aside from that, it's not particularly exceptional. Your Crystal Alyssium blade is superior in every way."

John had a wry smile on his face, as he noted, "Unfortunately, I was stuck fighting her with a holo-simulator training blade."

They laughed at that, but Alyssa looked at him curiously, and asked, "Is that why she beat you?"

After thinking back through the fight, he replied, "If I was fully geared, then it would have been a completely different story. Trying to fight with a woefully inadequate blade was a huge handicap," He paused, then admitted, "In all honesty, she was better than me though. I've specialised in Kenjutsu, but she was very skilled at that, as well as several other sword styles I've never even seen before."

She nodded thoughtfully, then glanced at Dana to continue.

The redhead cleared her throat, then said, "Her outfit is some kind of nanoweave mesh. It bends light around her body, and doesn't require huge amounts of power to do so. It's pretty fucking cool tech actually, and we might be able to make some good use out of it."

"I've heard rumours of that kind of material before," John said with a start. "I've never actually seen it in action, but I remember talk about some black ops unit that could turn invisible. Soldiers love to tease each other with all sorts of bullshit, so I assumed it was the usual made up rumours."

"Not this time," Dana said with a grin. Turning to the next object on the table, she lifted up what looked like a semi-transparent glove, which John hadn't spotted with his initial glance. Being very careful, she lifted it in the air, and said, "I found this tucked into a pocket on her bodysuit. It's a synthi-print glove, and I think she used this to break into the ship."

"Synthi-print..." John mused. "Does it copy someone's fingerprints?"

"Yep!" Dana said nodding enthusiastically. She gave him a pointed look, and added, "I checked the prints, and they're an exact match of yours. It actually contains traces of your DNA too, which is how it fooled the DNA reader."

He stared at her in surprise, and asked, "How on Terra did they get hold of my DNA?"

She shrugged, and replied, "Sorry, I've got no idea, but it's on the glove alright."

He exhaled heavily, then nodded towards the metal cube, and asked, "What's that box do?"

"It's a signal jammer," she replied, putting down the glove, and picking up the cube. "It's a pretty cool device actually. You can use it to block all electronic signals in a tight radius. She must have stuck it on the airlock door before she opened it, to avoid triggering any of the alerts to the Bridge."

Irillith looked at it askance, and said, "We'll have to come up with creative ways to counter all these kind of things."

John nodded his agreement, then turned to Dana, and asked, "I take it that's it for her gear? What can you tell us about the cybernetic implants?"