Three Square Meals Ch. 077

"Sounds good," he agreed, walking over to the first of the ten-metre long weapons. "This one's next, right?"

"Yep, attach it to the lower right mount, please," Dana replied, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

John lifted the triple-barrelled laser weapon with ease, then carried it towards the prone mech where Alyssa was waiting to line it up with the rear over-shoulder mounts. It didn't take long for them to lock it into place and he walked back to retrieve its counterpart for the left mount, which they quickly attached to the body. They did the same for the upper weapons, making sure the full complement of quad Photon Lasers were securely attached to the mechs weapon deployment system.

He waited patiently until Alyssa was done, then turned to look at Dana and asked, "Can you tell me a bit more about these lasers?"

The redhead was completely absorbed by the power readings however, a frown on her face as her hands danced over the console. Alyssa whistled to him to draw his attention, then jumped off the Mech's torso into his waiting arms. He put her down on her feet and she grinned at him then leaned forward to give him an exuberant kiss.

"Sparks is a bit preoccupied at the moment, but I can tell you the basics," Alyssa said, enjoying the feel of his arms around her. When he nodded, she continued thoughtfully, "They're an improvement over the original Maliri Beam Laser design but they fire in three short pulses. She hasn't come up with a name for them yet, but they basically hit twice as hard as the Invictus' Beam Lasers."

John glanced at the four weapon mounts in shock and exclaimed, "So that thing's packing eight Beam Lasers?!"

She nodded and grinned at him as she said, "Yep!" Turning to point across the hangar at an enormous multi-barrelled cannon she added, "Don't forget that monster as well."

Ignoring the other weapon for the moment, John frowned and said, "If we can fit double the firepower into the same space, why don't we just upgrade all the Invictus' Beam Lasers?"

Dana leaned against the Balcony on the maintenance gantry and grinned at them as she interjected, "Because those Pulsed Photon Lasers are as hungry for power as the Maliri twins are for your cum!"

John smiled at that, then raised an eyebrow. "Is that what you're calling them then?"

She grinned at him and replied, "Yeah! Actually, just Photon Lasers for short!"

He nodded thoughtfully, but looking confused, he asked, "I thought the Invictus had loads of spare power? We could upgrade a few Beam Lasers to Photon Lasers, surely?"

She frowned as she replied, "These four guns have basically got a dedicated power core between them. I could upgrade a handful on the Invictus, but I discussed it with Calara and she said firing a mixed configuration of beams wouldn't really work very well. Unfortunately, we don't have enough spare power to upgrade the entire complement of Beam Lasers, as these new guns draw power like four of the old ones."

"No problem, I was just curious," John said with a shrug. He glanced over at the cockpit and called out, "How are you girls getting on in there? Nearly done?"

Rachel stood up and stretched with a groan before replying, "I'll be finished in about an hour." She glanced back into the cockpit and added, "How about you, Jade?"

The Nymph stood up as well, taking a moment to stretch before waving at them cheerfully. "I'm actually nearly done. I was just about to move on to checking the arm-mounted rotary cannon."

"We should probably get started on the armour plating then," Alyssa suggested to John with a heavy sigh.

Looking around at the tired girls, he shook his head and replied, "We've been hard at it for five hours. You girls look like you need a break for a few minutes."

Alyssa grinned at him, a sudden gleam in her eyes as she reached down to take hold of his belt. "I couldn't agree more! A quick break and a snack would perk us right up!"

John laughed as she dropped to her knees, soon eagerly accompanied by the other girls who jogged over to join them. As they all went to work on him his laughter quickly turned into groans of pleasure.

***

Frowning at the sector map suspiciously, Grand Overlord Vekrok's fingers tapped out a staccato rhythm on his predecessor's skull. They'd been travelling deeper into Ashanath territory for hours now, but they hadn't seen a single ship on their approach to Ashana. He knew that the Greys were cowardly little runts, but to not even bother to attempt even a token defence was craven even by their standards.

"Could they have just fled, Grand Overlord?" Grukig asked, his jaw slowly opening and closing in confusion as he gazed at the map.

Vekrok shrugged his four shoulders and grunted, "It wouldn't surprise me, but they haven't got enough time to evacuate their tasty civilians from Ashana. If their fleet has fled, we'll be able to sail in there and start our feast unopposed!"

"Sir! We're picking up a lone Grey cruiser!" his navigator announced, his putrid green jaw snapping with anticipation. "It's heading straight for us!"

"One cruiser?!" Vekrok guffawed, tilting his head back and snorting with contempt. "That ship must contain the only warriors with a spine in this pitiful little empire!"

Grukig cackled too, joining his Commander in his derisive laughter. Their laughter was abruptly cut short as the dreadnought juddered violently, klaxons wailing as Drakkar crew were knocked off their feet with the bone shaking vibrations. Grukig crashed into the command table before being knocked sprawling, his heavy armour making a loud clang as he hit the deck.

"What in the nine hells was that?!" Vekrok bellowed as he clung to his throne, his mottled green skin turning puce with rage.

"A gravity well, Sir!" the navigator quailed, staring in shock at the huge source of gravity that had appeared before them. He turned terrified eyes towards Vekrok, just in time to see a huge armoured fist crunch into his face, snapping his rubbery hammer-shaped head backwards with a sickening crunch.

Vekrok shook the viscous blue blood off his fist, while snarling in fury, "Stupid, useless little shit!" He towered over the navigator's broken body and roared, "How could you crash us right into a system, you miserable cretin?!"

"The gravity well, it's coming from the Grey cruiser!" his engineer exclaimed, pointing at the Ashanath vessel.

Stomping back to the Command Table, Vekrok slapped a ham-like fist down on the comms interface, causing a spray of sparks from the table. "KILL THAT FUCKING SHIP!" he bellowed at his fleet.

A score of Drakkar cruisers powered up their huge banks of engines and surged forward in a rush, all eager to slaughter this impudent Grey vessel that had unceremoniously dumped them from hyper-warp. The silver-coloured disc spun on the spot, retro-thrusters firing along its hull as it rotated around before accelerating away from the pursuing ships. The Drakkar ships were faster, but they still had to close the distance and the Ashanath led them on a merry dance.

"Jump into hyper-warp again!" Vekrok growled at his navigator, before remembering he'd just battered him to death. His eyes narrowed in anger but the navigator's replacement rushed onto the Bridge on his stumpy legs before the Grand Overlord was forced to kill anyone else.

The engineer stared at the map, his bulging black eyes blinking rapidly. "We're still caught in the gravity well," he declared, pointing at the big red sphere that covered half the fleet, centred on the fleeing Ashanath ship.

***

*Leader Camiri, our superstructure is failing! The gravimetric forces are tearing us apart!* Engineer Zinareus warned the cruiser's commander, his console a riot of red.

*I know my friend, but we have played our part,* Camiri replied, a sense of pride filling her telepathic reply. She turned to face her engineer and navigator, her voice thick with emotion as she added, *With our sacrifice we can buy time for our people; hundreds-of-millions of lives are at stake.*

Purple beams began raining down on the cruiser from the pursuing Drakkar, causing their shields to buckle under the onslaught. A tremendous explosion rocked the silvery disc, knocking the Ashanath crew to the ground.

*It was an honour to serve with y-* Engineer Zinareus started to say, knowing their doom was at hand.

He never got to finish his sentence.

A virulent purple beam slashed through their cruiser's armour and sliced a deep furrow through the hull. The Bridge was cut in half and the valiant Ashanath crew were sucked out into space in an explosive decompression.

***

Faye nodded with satisfaction as maintenance bot Beta finished assembly of the last of the Sonic Cannons. "Good boy!" she exclaimed in delight, patting him on his shiny armoured chest housing. "Now take that to the security turret next to the aft grav-tube on Deck Five!"

The robot grasped the two-metre-long weapon in its six-fingered hands then levitated silently towards the door. The rest of her team of four robots had already begun installation of the new defensive weaponry, with over a dozen installed already. Faye had started with the two turrets by the original aft airlock, then replaced the Gatling Lasers by the fore airlocks. After that, she'd been going deck by deck, removing the old weapons and installing new Sonic Cannons to each of the pop-out turrets.

Three of her avatars were already personally overseeing the work of each robot and she allocated a fourth to Deck Five, waiting by the grav-tube for the smiling maintenance bot to arrive. With her construction tasks completed in the Engineering Bay, she reappeared in the Launch Bay then turned to look at John, waiting patiently for him to finish his conversation before interrupting.

"My plan is to link autopsy results to the targeting HUD," Rachel explained, turning to look at John over her shoulder. "For example: If I've identified vulnerable areas in a creature - like the locations of a Drakkar's two hearts - they will appear highlighted in an overlay on any Drakkar you look at."

"That's an excellent idea!" John replied, genuinely impressed. He was controlling a spinning white orb of Crystal Alyssium with one hand, while drawing out a steady stream of it with another, forming an armoured legplate for Dana's mech. Smiling at Rachel, he added, "That'll be a big help, especially for the new girls who haven't fought the Drakkar before."

"Hello Faye," Jade greeted the purple sprite, her sharp eyes picking up the rapid motion of the digital girl's translucent wings in her peripheral vision. She turned to look at her properly and gave her a friendly wave with the multi-tool still clutched in her hand.

"Sorry, Faye, I didn't see you there," John said, turning to smile at the petite sprite. "Everything going okay?"

She returned Jade's wave then nodded enthusiastically to him as she replied, "There's no need to apologise! I was going to say hello, but I didn't want to interrupt you or Rachel. I just wanted to inform you that the Sonic Cannons are now completed and the boys are half-way through their installation."

"Wow! You guys kicked ass!" Dana blurted out, looking up from her console to give Faye a wild grin. "Between you, your four bots, and Jade, I'm going to be out of a job!"

"Don't worry, Dana!" Faye said earnestly. "No one could hope to replace you and your incredible designs!"

John smiled at her and whispered quietly, "It's okay, honey. She knows that, she was just joking."

"Oh, I see!" Faye replied, flushing a darker shade of purple and giving John a grateful smile. She immediately allocated one of her avatars to devote a portion of her memory and processing power to creating humour-detection algorithms.

Changing the subject to save her further embarrassment, John asked, "How much longer will it take to finish installing all the new Sonic Cannons?"

"One hour, seventeen minutes and nine seconds," Faye replied, gazing at him with her big luminous eyes. "I just wondered if you'd like me to start prepping the Raptor to mount Photon Lasers when I'm finished?"

"Oh shit, yeah! We could definitely upgrade the Raptor, that's got a dedicated Progenitor power core too!" Dana blurted out and this time it was her turn to blush. "I've been so focused on the mech, I forgot the Raptor could support a couple of these new guns."

"That's great news!" John exclaimed, looking delighted. "That'll almost double the Raptor's firepower, won't it?"

Dana nodded, but she looked conflicted as she glanced down at the console in front of her. When she looked up at him again, she replied, "I don't think I'll have time to finish configuring all the systems on the mech, fabricate all the components and build two new guns."

"I can prepare the mass fabrication jobs for you!" Faye offered, her face lighting up with excitement. "That won't be hard at all! You've already drawn up a list of required components when you built the last Photon Lasers."

"I'll go make a start on the gun barrels!" Alyssa quickly offered, finishing the armoured pauldron she was working on and lowering it to the deck. Smiling at John, she grinned as she lobbed her sphere of crystal Alyssium towards him. "Hey, handsome, catch!"

He looked at her in surprise and just managed to catch the wobbling orb of liquid metal before it splattered all over the deck. Frowning at the playful girl, he carefully merged it with his own sphere of the psychically responsive metal, stabilising it with his mind. He gave her a wry smile then as he noted, "Anything to get out of armour plating, eh?"

Alyssa blew him a kiss then flounced out of the Launch Bay with a spring in her step.

Jade straightened up from where she was squatting on the back of the mech and said, "I've just connected all the power feeds to the upper right Photon Laser. Do you want me to start on the left ones, or would it be more useful for me to go up to Engineering and start building the guns for the Raptor? I built the last four Photon Lasers, so I already know what I'm doing."

Dana shook her head and replied, "It'll take Faye at least thirty minutes to finish fabricating the first set of components. Can you link up the power feeds to the mech's left Photon Lasers first?"

"Of course," Jade agreed immediately, climbing nimbly over the orbital insertion pack on the back of the mech. She crouched down beside the lower weapon mount and removed the armoured maintenance panel, multi-tool at the ready.

***

"I can send you one-hundred-and-fifty engineers to assist with the refits," Gaenna said, glancing through her roster of personnel working at House Baelora's orbital shipyard. She frowned and added, "Although if I do so, I'll barely have a skeleton crew to carry out repairs on my own fleet."

Edraele smiled pleasantly at her and responded, "Your fleets will not be exposed to combat until they've undergone the same upgrades as the rest of our forces. Keep your own fleet near your homeworld until we call for them at Genthalas, that way they will require less maintenance."

Gaenna nodded thoughtfully and said, "That makes sense, thank you Edraele." She hesitated for a moment before adding, "But what of my border with the Brimorians? Am I to leave that undefended?"

Looking around at the wider group of Matriarchs, Edraele replied, "We must start thinking as a single people, always working together to support one another for the greater good. House Valaden's ships have already undergone engine upgrades, making them faster and more agile in battle. With the new Tachyon Drives and Heatsinks installed, they'll be able to respond faster and hit harder than any of your vessels. As soon as House Valaden's fleets have completed their refits I will disperse every vessel under my command to begin patrols of the Maliri Regency's external borders. We will use my forces to protect us all until your ships have achieved parity. Then it will simply be OUR ships, and OUR forces."

With a light laugh, Gaenna said, "To think that I'd end up entrusting the security of my external borders to Edraele Valaden!" Shaking her head in amazement, she glanced at Tsarra and Kali then continued, "I've already ceased patrols of my borders with Perfaren and Loraleth - these are exceedingly strange times we live in!"

"But far more pleasant, don't you agree?" Edraele replied with a smile.

Tsarra had been hanging on Edraele's every word and she blushed as she admitted, "At the very least I've stopped biting my nails with worry!"

The women around the table laughed at that, but it was meant kindly, with all of them having experienced similar levels of stress in the lead up to the confrontation with John.

Edraele met the eyes of the recently recruited Matriarchs in turn, all of whom now had short white hair. "I can't speak for your own experiences as Matriarchs, but I found the long decades of leadership to be a lonely business. I was always suspicious of everyone's motives and never dared to trust a soul, especially my own family." Looking pointedly at the Young Matriarchs she added, "I have friends now, women who have proven themselves to be stalwart allies and who I trust implicitly. It's a comforting feeling and one I hope you will all eventually be able to share."

Kali, Nyrelle, Valani, and Leena all looked to Edraele with respect and affection, nodding their agreement. Those looks of open trust were not lost on the thirteen other Matriarchs seated around the table, an expression none of them were used to seeing. It was certainly an interesting revelation to ponder.

"Unless anyone wishes to raise another matter for us to discuss, I believe that concludes our business for today, ladies," Edraele said, looking around the group at each of the women in turn. Many of them were lost in thought, while the others gave her a tentative smile and shook their heads. Edraele rose regally from her chair and smiled as she concluded, "In that case, I wish all of you a very pleasant evening."

The rest of the Matriarchs rose to their feet, chatting quietly to one another as they left the large meeting room. Leena paused by Edraele and gave her a coy smile as she murmured softly, "Would you care to join us for another team building exercise this evening, Matriarch?"

"That sounds like a wonderful idea," Edraele replied, reaching out to clasp Leena's hand and stroke it affectionately. She glanced at the doorway where Tsarra Perfaren was hovering anxiously then added, *Please start without me, I'll join you once I've spoken to Tsarra.*

Leena inclined her head, her light-green eyes twinkling flirtatiously before she glided out of the room.

Edraele followed her out and smiled at the nervous young woman waiting outside the room. "Hello, Tsarra. Is everything alright?" she asked kindly.

The House Perfaren Matriarch nodded, then replied in a hushed voice, "I was wondering if I could have a word with you in private, Edraele?"

"Of course. Please follow me to my study and we can speak there. We won't be disturbed," Edraele replied, turning left and gesturing for Tsarra to accompany her.

Tsarra did so, but remained quiet, darting nervous glances at the intimidatingly beautiful and elegant leader of House Valaden. They walked into the study and Edraele gestured to one of the chaise-lounges then sat next to her before turning to face the young woman.

"Would you care for a drink?" she asked, glancing at the decanter of burgundy-coloured liquid and the glasses on the adjacent table.

Shaking her head, Tsarra replied, "No, I'm fine thank you."

Seeing that the nervous girl hadn't built up her courage to speak whatever was on her mind, Edraele turned her attention to Tsarra's short mop of snowy-white hair and said, "The new colouring suits you. It brings out those lovely green eyes of yours."