Three Square Meals Ch. 073

Her voice was clear and welcoming as she said, "Many of you are not from House Valaden, so I wish to thank you for journeying here to assist in this vitally important project. I know you are fearful at being here in the heart of Valaden territory, but please rest assured, you are all under my personal protection. I consider you to be honoured guests, and wish to make your time at Genthalas as enjoyable as possible." Turning to look back at John she gestured to the crowd, and added, "Perhaps you'd like to say a few words, John?"

Makaela, the Commander of Genthalas Station had been waiting with the assembled engineers, and she walked over to join John and the girls with a wide smile on her face. He nodded to her in greeting, then strode up the several steps to the podium, before looking out over the sea of hundreds of blue-skinned Maliri engineers. They stared at him in enraptured fascination, and being gaped at by nearly a thousand Maliri women was more than a little unsettling. John placed his hands on the seemingly delicate lectern made out of Maliri crystal, gripping the edges firmly to stop his hands from shaking.

*Just look at those Maliri girls, they can't get enough of you,* Alyssa said, her voice soothing. He could sense her amusement as she continued, *You could declare your name was 'Bethany the Pirate Princess', and rather than having you committed, they'd be lining up to join your scurvy crew.*

Echoing the young blonde, Edraele said, *There's no need to be apprehensive. I think it's fair to say that they'll be a receptive and exceedingly forgiving audience.*

John stared out over the sea of dark-haired women, and after clearing his throat nervously, he began to speak. A sophisticated audio system was cleverly concealed within the lectern, and it transmitted his voice across the drydock so that he could be clearly heard by his entire audience.

Reassured by his supportive Matriarchs, his voice was strong and confident as he said, "My name's John Blake, and it's an honour to meet all of you. The reason you are gathered here, is that you'll be working to refit the vessel before you: my ship, the Invictus. My crew will help oversee the work in case you have any specific questions, but I also plan to assist where I can, and hope to speak to each of you individually over the coming weeks."

At the mention of meeting him in person, a rippling wave of heady sighs echoed across the Docking Bay, with hopeful - if rather disbelieving - expressions on the Maliri's lovely faces.

He tried not to get distracted, and concluded his speech by saying, "I'd like to thank you in advance for your help on this project. Please believe me, when I say that the work you'll be undertaking will make a profound difference to the future of the Maliri. For the last refit, the previous teams of engineers were diligent and very hard working, and Edraele and I rewarded them appropriately. When the refit is complete, I hope to be able to arrange a special reward for all of you, too."

That titbit triggered a murmuring echo of frantic whispers, as the women gossiped with one another, wondering what he could be referring to. John gave them a warm smile, which had the closest Maliri swooning, then he descended from the podium to return to Edraele and the girls.

Irillith's sharp eyes had been darting around the huge throng of engineers, and when John rejoined them, she whirled around, and hissed in a hushed voice, "I spotted House insignias from Loraleth, Ghilwen, Aeberos, and Naestina! They're all enemies of House Valaden!" Eyes narrowing as she stared at Edraele with suspicion, she continued, "What have you been up to, mother?!"

Edraele gave her daughter a beatific smile, then beckoned to John, and said, "Come, let me show you my surprise."

John nodded and fell into step beside her, with Alyssa and Irillith following too, all of them eager to see what the House Valaden Matriarch was about to reveal. Makaela greeted everyone with a friendly smile, then joined Rachel to discuss the division of the Maliri engineers into work teams.

The small group followed Edraele as she led them deeper into Genthalas Station. Nobody said a word as they walked along, matching the House Valaden Matriarch's stately pace, each of them lost in thought. Irillith was trying to make sense of seeing engineers from enemy Houses working for her mother, while Alyssa watched John and Edraele walking arm-in-arm with a smile of satisfaction on her lips. John stole an occasional glance at the elegant Maliri stateswoman, studying her face, and trying to figure out what she was up to. Edraele's purple eyes flicked his way occasionally, and she blushed at his intense scrutiny, but didn't reveal any further details about her surprise.

With everyone distracted, they seemed to reach their destination in no time, and Edraele nodded, then smiled at the soldiers guarding the entrance to her private suite. The Maliri guards were wearing ceremonial armour and ornate, open-faced helmets, and they presented arms while nodding to her respectfully. Their professional composure was shattered when they glanced over the people keeping her company, and their eyes settled on John.

"Close your mouths, ladies," Edraele requested with a playful smile. "It's unbecoming to gawp like that."

They did as she asked, their mouths snapping closed, but they continued to stare at John in wide-eyed astonishment as Edraele and her entourage entered her quarters. The Valaden Matriarch's suite in Genthalas was plush and luxurious, showing a fine sense of style with the elegant furniture. She led them through the entrance lobby and across an ornate sitting room, before approaching a door to one side which opened before her.

Edraele glided inside, leading John by the hand into what appeared to be an impressive study. There was a large, imposing desk in one corner, which faced a wall partially covered in viewscreens. The rest of the wall was a sweeping floor-to-ceiling crystal window, which provided a spectacular view of Genthalas' golden spires and crystal domes. Beyond the sprawling space station, dozens of freighters and warships were going about their business, silhouetted against the planet Valaden in the background.

Sitting in pairs opposite each other on a number of chaise lounge chairs, were a cluster of four young Maliri women. They all turned to look at the group as Edraele and John entered the study, and they rose slowly to their feet, their excitement quite evident on their beautiful azure faces.

"Oh, wow!" an indigo-eyed girl gasped, while the rest let out breathy sighs, all as equally awestruck.

Edraele smiled at them affectionately, and said, "Ladies, it's my great pleasure to introduce John Blake to you."

They stepped forward and curtsied respectfully. The girls' attention was entirely focused on him, and they all appeared to be completely spellbound as they gazed at him in wonder.

Turning to him next, Edraele said, "John, these wonderful young women are Leena Ghilwen, Kali Loraleth, Nyrelle Aeberos, and Valani Naestini."

John was intrigued to know why Edraele was so excited about introducing him to those four girls, and their surnames definitely sounded familiar. He gave them a friendly smile, and said, "It's lovely to meet all of you."

However, Irillith let out a strangled gasp as she stared at Edraele, her face betraying her absolute disbelief. A cascade of troubled thoughts raced through her mind, the Maliri girl shocked to the core, and her blonde Matriarch picked up on them immediately.

Alyssa glanced at John in alarm, then managed to lighten her worried expression before she gave the four girls a disarming smile, and said, "It's really nice to meet you, ladies, but would you mind excusing us for a moment?"

The young Maliri women managed to tear their intense gaze away from John to glance at Edraele, and when she smiled at them and nodded, they reluctantly left the room. It appeared to be a struggle for them to leave his presence, and they lingered for a moment, darting longing glances at John before they stepped through the study door, pulling it closed behind them.

"You assassinated four Matriarchs?!" Irillith blurted out incredulously, shattering the peaceful quiet the very instant the study door had closed. She blinked, her mind whirling, before she added, "Wait! They're all the youngest daughters... You must have murdered their sisters, too!"

John looked at her in shock, and said, "Murdered?! What are you talking about, Irillith?!"

"Ask my mother!" Irillith retorted, her violet eyes accusatory as they snapped back to the House Valaden Matriarch.

Edraele was perfectly composed, although she looked regretful as she said, "I wish there could have been another way, but after decades of bitter fighting with their mothers, the old Matriarchs hated me too much to listen to reason. I was forced to eliminate their elder sisters too, as they'd been indoctrinated by the same blind hatred, and groomed to follow a similar path as their despotic mothers. It was unfortunate that events had to play out this way, but in order to obey John's orders to subjugate the Maliri, I was left with no other choice."

John had been staring at her in shock, and when he heard this, he protested, "I never told you to start murdering people! I specifically asked you to stop the torture and killings!"

Frowning for a moment, Edraele replied, "That's true. It was quite the conundrum at first, trying to obey what seemed to be conflicting commands." She smiled brightly at him, and continued, "But I managed to find a solution, which allowed me to follow both sets of orders to the letter!"

"Conflicting commands?!" John asked indignantly. "I never-"

Alyssa let out a long sigh, then raised a hand to halt him as she interjected, "Wait a second, John." Turning to Edraele she asked gently, "What specific orders have you had from him?"

Edraele smiled at her, and replied, "John's first command was to always address him as 'My Lord', until he subsequently asked me to only refer to him that way when we're intimate together."

"Okay, what next?" Alyssa prompted, her tone patient and encouraging. "Can you remember the specific wording of any other orders?"

Looking thoughtful for a moment, Edraele replied carefully, "He said: 'You will help me subjugate and enslave the Maliri, broken little toy. Your people will make fine servants to begin my conquests'."

John looked appalled as he exclaimed, "Fuck! My Progenitor-side must have left Edraele orders before you stopped him!"

Alyssa nodded soberly, then looked at Edraele again as she asked, "You said there was a conflicting order. What was that?"

Edraele gazed at John as she replied, "You said: 'Do everything you can to improve the lives of the Maliri living on the planets under the control of House Valaden'." Her face lit up with a bright smile as she continued, "It was then I understood! If I helped you subjugate all the other Noble Houses, they'd be under the effective control of House Valaden! Then I'd be able to implement policies to ban torture and all the political assassinations on their worlds as well. I've made alliances with the new Matriarchs, and they've done exactly that."

John gaped at her in shock, rendered mute by her frank admission of what she'd been up to while attempting to follow his unwitting commands.

"While I was forced to assassinate a dozen noblewomen to achieve your goals, we've saved so many lives in the process! Torture has been banned outright on all planets under our control, and there's only been fifty-seven murders while you've been away, rather than an estimated two-thousand-three-hundred-and-seventeen fatalities, based on trending averages." Her purple eyes gazed at him reverently as she added, "I immediately understood the benign wisdom of your orders, and it made me proud to serve the greater good. You'll make a magnificent King."

"King?!" John blurted out, his jaw dropping as he stared at her.

Edraele nodded, and smiled at him as she replied, "Of course. This domain is called the Maliri Regency for a reason; the Matriarchs only assumed the mantle of leadership because we had no Progenitor to lead us. I've taken steps to begin the annexation of the rest of the Maliri Houses, and soon every world in Maliri Space will be under your control. You can assume your rightful place as our Monarch."

John's knees felt weak, and he staggered over to the nearest chair before slumping into it. "Holy fuck..." he blurted out in horror.

Edraele looked alarmed at his reaction, and asked, "What's wrong, John? I thought you'd be delighted!"

"Will you give us a minute, girls?" Alyssa asked Irillith and Edraele, her tone polite but firm.

They nodded obediently, then glided from the room to rejoin the young Matriarchs, mother and daughter glancing at John before they left with concerned looks on their beautiful faces.

John blocked Edraele from his mind, and his eyes were wild as he stared out the window for a moment, until he gasped, "What the fuck have I done?!"

Alyssa walked over to sit beside him on the chaise lounge, tucking her feet underneath her as she placed a comforting arm around his shoulder. She was quiet for a while, then replied quietly, "By the sounds of it, you've already helped thousands of Maliri."

He twisted in his seat so he could stare at her, and balked, "You can't seriously be condoning this madness?!"

"It kind of makes sense, in a fucked-up way. You've seen how screwed up Maliri society is; they were basically dead-set on wiping themselves out. With you in charge, you can easily stop all the pointless killings and internal wars, and get the men to come back to their homeworlds so they can rebuild the population. You were already trying to help them sort this shit out, but now it'll be much easier," she reasoned, watching his face for a reaction.

"I can't run an empire, that's insane..." he protested. "I wouldn't have the first clue how to even start!"

"Edraele seems to have everything pretty well under control. I doubt she'd bother you with anything trivial, only the really big stuff, like wars and things," she said thoughtfully.

John shook his head, and replied, "I can't trust her in that position, not after what just happened! It wasn't her fault, but who knows what other commands my Progenitor-side left her with?"

Alyssa leaned in and gave him a kiss, as she said, "It'll be alright. If I can set up a telepathic bond with her, then I'll always know what she's thinking. I can tell you if she's planning anything that I know you wouldn't like."

John didn't respond for a while, then he stared into her eyes as he said, "I need some time to think it over. This isn't something I should just do on a whim; there'll be literally billions of people affected by my every decision."

Alyssa leaned in and gave him a tender kiss on the lips before she said, "I'll leave you alone to think things through, but please don't block me out. I promise I won't disturb you, but I can't help you if I don't know what you're thinking, alright?"

John nodded distractedly, and glancing at the door, he said, "I think I better speak to Edraele to stop her panicking." He let out a sigh, and tapping his temple, he added, "It's probably best I keep her out of here while I mull things over, though. She's only going to get upset if she listens to all that, especially if she thinks she's disappointed me."

"Of course," Alyssa replied, giving him a sympathetic smile. She rose from her seat, then murmured, "I agree with her, by the way. I think you'll be a brilliant King."

He gave her a troubled smile, and watched as she slipped out through the door. There was some hushed conversation in the room beyond, and a few moments later Edraele glided into the study, closing the door behind her. Her poise and bearing appeared calm and unruffled, but he could see the desperate worry on her face as she sought him out.

"I'm so sorry, John!" she gasped, her stately demeanour abandoned as she rushed to him.

Opening his arms, he embraced her, and when he felt her trembling against him, he felt a pang of regret for shutting her out of his mind. "Don't worry, I'm not upset with you," he murmured, his voice soothing.

"I thought I was doing exactly what you wanted!" she said remorsefully, pulling back so she could look into her eyes. Edraele faltered for a moment, then added, "I couldn't tell the difference between the two sets of orders. I just thought I was being a good Matriarch and helping you."

John gave her a reassuring smile as he brushed a stray lock of white hair from her azure face, and cupped her cheek. As she closed her eyes and nuzzled into his hand, he let out a heavy sigh and said, "I'd never have condoned the assassinations, but you were right before. What you've done has saved a lot of lives."

She gave him a chagrined look, and said earnestly, "I promise I wasn't trying to twist the intent behind your orders. They both seemed equally 'right', and I knew I had to obey them."

Stroking her cheek with his thumb in a comforting gesture, he said, "It was my mistake. When you started calling me 'My Lord', I should have realised that my Progenitor-side could have left you some other orders as well. If I knew what I was doing, I'd have asked Alyssa to check your subconscious to see if there were any more commands buried in there." He stared into her probing purple eyes as he continued, "We'll remove them later, and check to make sure there aren't any other surprises."

Edraele gave him a sad smile, and said, "Speaking of which, it might be wise if I avoided planning any more surprises for the time being."

"Surprises are good, but maybe something not quite so momentous next time, okay?" he requested, leaning in and giving her a brief kiss.

She nodded, then looked like she wanted to ask him something, but bit her lip anxiously instead.

John knew what she wanted to speak to him about though, and said, "I need some time to think everything through before I make a huge decision like this. We'll talk again tonight, but I'd like to keep my thoughts to myself for a few hours, alright?"

Edraele nodded, and replied quietly, "I really am sorry for shocking you like this. I just wanted to make you happy."

He smiled at her, and said, "I know, you're a good girl." Putting on a brave face, he continued, "Don't worry, everything will all work out for the best."

Looking greatly relieved, Edraele leaned in and gave him a loving kiss before turning and gliding from the room. The door closed with a soft click behind her, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

John walked over to the long clear-crystal window, and stared out at the panoramic view. Maliri Space was quite beautiful, painted as it was in a glorious array of colours by the hundreds of nebulae that populated this part of the galaxy. While it made for some breathtaking scenery, the colourful backdrop masked the twinkling of stars which normally gleamed against the blackness of space.

Although it was harder to make them out, he knew the hundreds of populated star systems that made up the Maliri Regency were out there. Looking at that vast sprawl of stars, he knew that there were billions of people living on those worlds, blissfully unaware of the titanic shift in power that would affect each and every one of their lives. Control of the most powerful empire in this corner of the galaxy was his for the taking... he only had to choose to seize it.

The stars had always been a source of strength to him in the past, a source of wonder and hope that encouraged him onwards. Now each star represented a vast number of potential problems, and they were problems that he'd be expected to know how to resolve. The crushing weight of responsibility threatened to overwhelm him, and he placed the palm of his hand against the crystal window, before resting his pounding head against it.