Three Square Meals Ch. 066

"I thought you were a god, Kindralax?" John goaded the beast, advancing on it with his blade dripping ochre coloured blood. "You don't look particularly divine to me..."

Two big orange vertically-slitted eyes settled on him then, as Kindralax recovered from his surprise. It was John's turn to be shocked now, as the rip in the dragon's arm began to close, the yellow flesh knitting together as the scales were drawn back into position. An exultant smile spread across Kindralax's draconic face, as he thundered, "NOW YOU FINALLY UNDERSTAND MY UNRIVALED PERFECTION!"

He lunged forward, taking a broad swipe at John with his four-clawed paw, and John had to dive to the floor to avoid being ripped in half. Kindralax was relentless though, and followed up by trying to stomp him into the floor. John managed to narrowly avoid being crushed by rolling to the side, but he lost his Punisher rifle in the process, which the dragon snapped in half as it smashed the ground with its clawed hand.

John lashed out with his sword as he sprang to his feet, the blade cutting into Kindralax's arm again, drawing a furious hiss from the dragon. It followed after him, the ground shaking with every step as it thumped down with its multi-ton limbs. The first cut John had made was now fully healed, and the second was already sealing up, Kindralax's incredible regenerative powers setting to work to restore the beast.

He heard the distinctive sound of the Justice Laser rifle firing again, and he glanced back between the rampaging dragon's legs in alarm. He felt a small sense of relief when he saw it was Alyssa with the rifle, and that it wasn't Dana shooting this time, what with her protective armour a smoking ruined mess.

Kindralax let out a furious snarl, and stopped his pursuit of John to flex his massive tail and send it sailing towards Alyssa in a wild slap. She tried to get clear, but the tail was just too long, and it clipped her legs, sending her cartwheeling through the air. John's heart was in his mouth as he watched her flying backwards, but she activated flight mode and managed to steady herself before she would have slammed into the cavern wall.

*We're fighting a regenerative shielded dragon that's healing whatever we throw at it!* Alyssa cried out to the girls. *How do we kill this fucking thing?!*

*Decapitation killed the Royal guard,* Rachel suggested as she backed away from Kindralax, trying to stay out of range of his deadly tail.

Dana had run back along the corridor by which they had entered the chamber, and was crouching in the darkness, Alyssa's Punisher rifle cradled in her arms. *The Justice Laser bolts cauterised the wounds. Those fucking lizards don't seem to be able to heal that!* she gasped as she panted for breath.

Alyssa opened up with the Justice Laser rifle again, firing in short but powerful bursts, as she flew up towards the platform overlooking the battlefield. Kindralax's shield seemed to show no signs of weakening however, and the blue laser bolts sent rippling circles across the protective field's surface with no other appreciable effect.

*It's too heavily shielded!* she thought to John. *But we think you can stop it regenerating!*

John ducked another whistling swipe from the dragon, staggering backwards as the three-feet-long claws narrowly missed his face. *How?!* he gasped, as he darted around a huge fanged skull, which Kindralax smashed with a scaled fist a second later.

*Kill it with fire!* Alyssa yelled to him, her voice coursing through his mind.

Kindralax surged forward, barging John aside with a dismissive backhander that caught him full in the chest, caving in his breastplate. He went tumbling backwards, sliding across the floor on his back as he lost his balance. The dragon seized this break in the melee to whirl on the spot and drop to his haunches. He stood tall on his forepaws, while the twin Plasma cannons throbbing angrily on its back, carefully aiming at the white-armoured figure who was firing that annoying laser again.

Alyssa saw the shot coming, and she powered up her back-mounted thruster to maximum, in an effort to launch herself clear. Two blistering streams of plasma fire blasted out towards her, but she was moving too quickly for Kindralax to track her. In her desperation to avoid the plasma, she overdid the thrust, and careened into the ceiling, knocking herself senseless with the impact. The fail-safes kicked in, shutting down the thrusters, and she was left sprawled unconscious on the upper balcony.

*Alyssa!* John called out to her in alarm, seeing her rebound off the ceiling from where he lay on his back. There was no response though, and fear stabbed at his heart.

Kindralax laughed contemptuously, a deep humourless chuckle that sounded absolutely terrifying. He turned to face John in a predatory crouch, a gleam of anticipation in those huge malignant eyes, and he growled, "I'LL DEVOUR YOU FIRST, AND THEN I CAN TAKE MY TIME WITH THESE FEMALES..."

John's eyes narrowed with rage, as his fear for Alyssa turned into cold fury. He pushed his will into his sword, and blue eldritch flames licked up the blade, swirling with hungry tendrils and burning with a dreadful intensity. He roared in defiance, and sprinted towards the gloating dragon, who looked delighted that his next meal was running directly towards him.

As Kindralax reached for him with a grasping, clawed hand, John slid to his knees, then skidded across the ground, using his momentum to keep him going. He took a savage two handed chop at the dragon as he passed under its arm, and the flames poured into the wound, scorching the gouge he'd just hacked out of its limb.

This time when Kindralax pulled his arm back, he howled in agony as the blue fire continued to burn the deep cut. He stared in shock at the dancing malevolent blaze that swathed his arm, having never seen anything like it in nearly two centuries. The eldritch flames overwhelmed his regenerative abilities, preventing the wound from closing, and the unbearable pain Kindralax felt was like nothing he'd ever experienced before.

"WHAT MANNER OF CREATURE ARE YOU?!" he gaped, staring at John in horror.

"Your doom!" John shouted defiantly, lunging forward to take advantage of the dragon's distraction.

Kindralax flinched backwards, trying to keep his four scaly limbs away from the glistening white sword that was alive with ethereal fire. John wasn't aiming for the dragon though, not this time, and he activated flight mode to give him a bit of extra lift as he swiped down with his sword. The razor-sharp Crystal Alyssium blade sliced through the thick steel chain around the dragon's belly, neatly cutting it in two.

The chain had been holding the plasma cannons and shield assembly in place on Kindralax's back, and as the dragon lurched backwards, it toppled off him to land with a deafening crash. It was strange to see fear cross a dragon's features, but Kindralax was suddenly and painfully aware of his own mortality.

"Open fire!" John yelled into the comm, as he ducked a ferocious swipe.

Rachel was some distance away on the other side of the room, but considering the vast size of her target, she could hardly miss. Not that she was a bad marksman, far from it in fact, as she'd drilled extensively in the firing range just like the other girls. She knelt beside her cover, placed her crosshairs right in the middle of the dragon's back, and after flipping the fire selector switch to full-auto, pulled the trigger.

Twenty crystal-tipped rounds blasted into Kindralax's scaly hide, the scales so thick and tough as to be practically impregnable to small arms fire. However, after all of Dana's loving attention, the Punisher rifle was more of an anti-tank weapon than a regular rifle. The hyper-accelerated slugs smashed into the dragon's back, shattering scales and blowing apart its armoured hide. Kindralax roared in pain, rearing up in shock as it felt the vicious rounds tear deep wounds in its torso.

Dana had been following the fight via her telepathic bond, and when Alyssa was suddenly knocked unconscious, she had crept back down the passage despite the danger. Seeing that the fight had turned in their favour, she darted out to take cover behind an angular skull topped with three horns. With only a single magazine loaded into the Punisher rifle, she was more conservative with her shooting, and she aimed for Kindralax's head with a three-round burst.

Two rounds hit his massive lower jaw, leaving nasty craters in the scales, while the third hit his crest, blasting a big hole in the ridged plate and sending a horn tumbling to the ground. "Payback's a bitch," she said with a grin, as she continued to hit the reeling beast with heavy slugs.

Kindralax had forgotten all about John as it reared with pain, as Dana and Rachel peppered it with railgun slugs. The pockmarked craters were starting to heal, but the stabbing pain from every hit was very real. The dragon decided that this was one trophy he was happy to do without.

John took advantage of all the distractions, running into position beside the staggering behemoth, and getting ready to attack. Raising his sword behind his head in a massive overhead strike, he swung the weapon down with all of his might. Just as the dragon turned to flee, he struck Kindralax above the ankle of his rear left leg, the blow landing squarely on that red-scaled limb.

The Crystal Alyssium that formed his sword was an astonishingly hard material, fashioned into an incredibly sharp edge by Alyssa's mental craftsmanship. This particular blade had been psychically forged six times, and as tough as the dragon was, very little in the galaxy could withstand a strike from something so deadly.

Shearing straight through the six-foot-wide limb, John's sword cut through scale and bone as easily as it parted flesh. The psychic fires that limned the blade cauterised the dismemberment, and Kindralax cried out in agony as John chopped off its foot above the ankle. The dragon crashed to the ground like a demolished building, crushing trophies as it rolled away in pain, roaring in utter disbelief.

Dana and Rachel kept up the pressure, hitting the felled beast with dozens of rounds, each bullet punching through armour plating, and sending gouts of yellow blood across the dragon's flanks. Dana stood and slowly walked over to the brunette, while continuing to fire three-round bursts, her ammo counter now showing "10/08". When she finally ran out of twenty-millimetre crystal-tipped ammo, she aimed mid-way down the dragon's tail, and fired the integral grenade launcher. The compact grenade hit the middle of that scaly appendage, then detonated in a savage explosion that blasted a gaping hole in it, sending yellow flesh spraying out all over the back wall of the cavern.

Kindralax tasted real fear now for the first time in its life, clawing backwards to try and escape these fearsome Terrans, and their potent weaponry. Even more terrifying than those rifles was this white garbed lion-man with his dreadful burning blade. With a last effort born of desperation, the dragon lashed out at John with its good arm, the other still smarting from the burning flames that licked at the wound.

John was ready for just such an attack though, and he felt calm and centred as he stalked after the wounded draconic titan. When it swiped at him, he lunged forward and drove his sword straight through the dragon's clawed hand. Kindralax howled with a mixture of fear and pain as the limb was suddenly enveloped in fierce blue flames, and John chopped down diagonally with all his strength, severing the lower two digits from that taloned hand.

Kindralax opened his maw to say something, only for Rachel to shoot him in the mouth, her railgun rounds hitting with enough force to splinter teeth and break his jaw.

"Please... have mercy..." he whimpered as he cowered backwards, quailing before John's remorseless advance.

"Do you deserve it?" John asked, as he strode forward, hacking aside a flailing arm that tried to bat him away. He stared into the creature's eyes, and asked, "How often have you granted mercy to your victims? Would you have shown any to us?"

Kindralax faltered then turned away, unable to face that judgemental gaze, and confirming all of John's suspicions. He used flight mode to soar into the air above the fallen colossus, then cut the thrusters to dive down on the terrified beast, driving his sword through the thick bone of its cranium and up to the hilt in its brain. The dragon spasmed as it died, the eldritch fires incinerating the contents of its skull.

John pulled his blade free, quelling the psychic fires as he did so. He looked across the chamber at Dana and Rachel, and asked, "Are you two okay?"

"Yeah, we're good, Dragonslayer," Dana quipped with a smile, as she wrapped her arm around her lover.

*I was so worried!* Edraele said to him, her telepathic voice sounding hugely relieved. *I was listening to your thoughts, and the fight sounded horrific. Is everyone alright?*

*I need to check on Alyssa,* he replied, the stress in his voice betraying his anxious state.

He activated flight-mode on his Paragon suit again, as he lifted off the vanquished dragon's neck, and headed towards the ceiling to check on Alyssa.

Dana turned to Rachel and said, "You better go with him, Alyssa might need a doctor."

John touched down on the dimly lit platform above, and was surprised to see that he was in a well furnished and modern-looking apartment. The furniture in Kindralax's lair was enormous though, with everything massively scaled for the recently deceased dragon. He looked around frantically for Alyssa, and found her almost straight away, her glossy white armour standing out like a shining beacon against the dark ornate rugs that covered the floor.

Running over to the fallen girl, he had his heart in his mouth as he knelt down to check on her. He felt overwhelming relief to find she was still breathing, although worryingly, she was still unconscious. Rachel landed behind him, then darted to his side when she saw that Alyssa was still comatose. She pulled out her medi-scanner and passed it over the blonde's head, staring intently at the display to check her status.

"Alyssa seems okay, but she might have a mild concussion," Rachel said to John a few moments later, with a surge of relief in her voice. She continued scanning the rest of her body, and added, "It looks like she has a hairline fracture in her femur as well."

He thanked his lucky stars for Dana, and the incredibly resilient armour she'd developed, then replied, "Probably due to that hit she took from Kindralax's tail. I'll fill her up later, and she'll be fine by the morning." He leaned forward to scoop up the unconscious blonde, then hesitated before he asked, "Is it alright to move her?"

"Yes, she's not in any danger," Rachel replied, stepping aside to give him room.

John lifted Alyssa into his arms, carrying the armoured girl with ease, courtesy of his enhanced strength. Rachel watched him pick her up, then crouched down to pick up the Justice laser rifle, which had been knocked from the wounded girl's hands when she'd bounced off the ceiling. They were about to leave, when John spotted a console on the far right hand side of the room. The computer system had been activated, and a comm interface displayed a large hologram above the console. A familiar draconic face was frozen mid-message, and he recognised the dragon as Tamolith, the Consort.

He nodded towards the console, and asked Rachel, "Can you see any kind of playback button there? It looks like Tamolith left a message for Kindralax."

Rachel strolled over to the console and looked over the interface, but with all the writing in Kintark, she didn't get very far. She tentatively swiped across what she thought might have been Tamolith's name, but the holographical image disappeared, and was replaced with unreadable draconic text.

"Sorry, I guess their systems don't work like ours," Rachel said apologetically.

John shrugged, and said, "It doesn't matter, she was probably just trying to cover all her bases. If Kindralax had killed us, then I'm sure he'd want to know how we got past her unopposed, and why she hadn't warned him about us sneaking into his lair."

"We better get back to Mateo then, in case she's decided to renege on the rest of the deal," Rachel replied, looking worried.

Walking back towards the huge gaping hole in the floor, John stepped off the edge of the platform with Alyssa safely cradled in his arms. He activated flight mode and descended at a steady rate, before touching down on the ground next to Dana. The redhead was waiting for them impatiently, and she looked alarmed when she saw him carrying her blonde friend.

"Is she alright?" Dana asked him, hurrying over to join them, and staring at Alyssa with a worried frown.

He nodded, and replied, "Rachel says it's not too serious. I'll carry her for the moment, but she'll come around soon enough."

The brunette touched down beside them, and said, "I'm more worried about Mateo and the rest of the prisoners. It looks like Tamolith warned Kindralax we were coming, so if she's already betrayed us over that..."

Rachel handed over the Justice laser to Dana again, and the redhead slung the spare Punisher rifle over her shoulder. They started back towards Tamolith's lair with only a brief glance towards the shattered Punisher rifle that Kindralax had stepped on, and the smoking ruin that was Dana's Paragon suit.

"Is it worth trying to salvage either of those?" John asked his Chief Engineer.

Dana shook her head, but then looked at Rachel, and asked, "Can you grab the busted Punisher rifle for me, babes? I'll build a replacement for us, but we probably shouldn't leave one lying around here, even if it is broken. We can drop it in the lava on the way out."

They waited patiently while Rachel slung her own Punisher rifle over her shoulder, then gathered the half-dozen pieces of the crushed weapon. As soon as she was done, they began walking back down the long, winding corridor that led to the fiery lake of lava, where they had made their deal with the deceitful female dragon.

***

Faye carefully rolled the Raptor, then stopped precisely seventy-five percent of the way through her manoeuvre. This left the gunship flying with one wing pointed to the ground, the other straight up towards the sky. She banked around, noting the drop in altitude, and making seventeen minor corrections to her piloting algorithm. Levelling out the gunship again, she increased airspeed by twenty-three-point-six-four knots to compensate for the loss of velocity during the roll.

She had observed both Jade and Alyssa at the pilot's controls, and both flew by instinct, with the Nymph even wilder and more unpredictable than the Terran teenager. Unfortunately that option was not open to Faye, and as a digital construct, she was reliant on precise logic and carefully calibrated programs for her flying 'skills'.

Including the latest updates, she had made six-thousand-two-hundred-and-seven corrections to her original piloting software, transforming the original program beyond any recognisable measure. With those corrections, the cute purple sprite was finally satisfied that she had mastered low-speed flight in the gunship. While Faye would readily concede that both Alyssa and Jade were better pilots, she was very happy with her progress that morning, and was realistic enough to understand she was unlikely to be able to improve her program further.

Having slavishly followed Alyssa's orders to keep her energy profile to a minimum to avoid detection, Faye had upgraded her software as much as was reasonable under the flight restrictions imposed on her. She longed to be able to "crank up the power", as Jade put it, but it was not in her nature to be wilful nor disobedient.