Three Square Meals Ch. 095

The massacre being perpetrated by the Kintark forces was reaching its crescendo - or perhaps more accurately, descending to its lowest depths of depravity. Feeling like she was watching some horrifying holo-movie, Camilla watched as a Kintark battleship set upon Maddox's heavy carrier. Row after row of Plasma Cannons blew apart big chunks of the capital ship's superstructure, igniting the heavy carrier and leaving the vessel limned in green from the raging plasma fires. The Medusa had a crew of ten thousand and she knew not one of them would survive that horrendous inferno.

Port Medea had attempted a valiant stand against the Kintark horde, but they were so hopelessly outnumbered, the Beam Laser turrets had been swept clear in what seemed like seconds. The vast Kintark dreadnought moved into range and opened fire with its pair of Singularity Drivers, sending a stream of hyper-accelerated slugs into the Terran starport. There was no one left to stop it as a rippling series of explosions marked the devastating impacts of those rounds, the Kintark forces adding to the destruction by spraying the station with plasma bolts.

A moan of disbelief from the Hesperus' crew echoed around the bridge, as they watched the space station break apart, looking like someone had toppled a stack of burning dinner plates. There was silence after that as they jumped into hyper-warp, the crew all reeling from the slaughter of so many brave Terran Federation personnel.

Despite the horrendous loss of life she'd just witnessed, all Camilla could think about was Andrew's laugh and Galen's smile, knowing she'd never hear or see either again...

***

The young intern handed Jehanna a cup of coffee as she walked off the set, his eyes full of admiration. "You were amazing this morning, Miss Elani!"

She returned his smile. "Thanks very much, Steve, you're very kind."

He hesitated for a moment, then gave her a look of sympathy. "Mr. Gibson's on the warpath again. He asked to see you immediately..."

"I better go see what the Editor-in-Chief wants then, hadn't I?" she replied breezily, sipping her drink, then raising her cup as she nodded. "This is good coffee, Steve, thanks!"

Jehanna glided down the corridor, greeting her colleagues as she walked out into the main TFNN office.

Avery Gibson threw his hands in the air with frustration as he yelled, "Get me something with real bite to it, man!"

"But I've got multiple highly-placed sources from Orbital-Galactica!" Bill Armstrong protested. "They're all willing to go on record that Henry Voss is-"

"Pfft!" Avery snorted in disgust, cutting him off. "They're just bitter ex-board members whining that they can't gorge themselves on pieces of corporate pie any more! The man in the street doesn't care about that, he wants something he can empathise with! Something with heart, something that fires up his spirits!"

Bill Armstrong's shoulders slumped and he nodded morosely. "Alright, I'll keep looking."

"Good man!" Avery declared, slapping the dejected journalist on the back. He turned around, searching the newsroom. "Now where is that girl..."

"Right here, Chief," Jehanna said, greeting him with a smile.

Avery rolled his eyes. "Stop smiling all the time, it makes me nervous! In my office, I want a word..."

Jehanna nodded and walked into his office, then leaned against the windowsill as Avery slammed the door closed and returned to his desk. "What's up, Chief?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Where's my Lion follow-up story?" Avery demanded. "You can't just unveil the most sensational scoop of the century, promise me a personal interview with the star, then fail to deliver... It's just not done!"

"Sorry Chief, he's a busy man," she replied, a wistful look appearing in her eyes. "He sent his apologies for postponing, but he's busy saving the galaxy. Maybe next week?"

Avery's stern facade wavered as he studied the clearly besotted girl and he almost dropped character for a moment. Shaking off the protectiveness he felt towards the bright young woman, he huffed indignantly, "Fine, but don't keep me waiting too long!"

Picking up the data-stick from his desk, he flung it in her direction.

"What's this?" she asked, deftly catching the small device.

"Time to follow up on your Nymph story," he said, nodding towards the data-stick. "Those lazy good-for-nothing interns have finally managed to track down a solid lead. Quite wisely, the man refused to speak to those half-wits and asked to speak with you personally; doesn't trust anyone else over the reward money."

"Oh, fantastic!" she exclaimed, looking at the data-stick in delight. She grinned at him and whirled towards the door. "This is going to be great, I can feel it in my bones!"

"Jehanna!" Avery barked, making her pause with her hand on the door handle. His voice quietened from its usual bellow as he continued, "I think you should be careful..."

"Getting soft in your old age, Avery?" she remarked, a teasing twinkle in her eyes. Patting her purse, she added, "Don't worry, I can take care of myself!" With that, Jehanna swept out of the office, shutting the door behind her.

Avery Gibson sat back in his chair, frowning as he steepled his fingers. He hadn't actually been referring to the Nymph story, but to another subject much closer to the young woman's heart...

***

Jehanna soared along the skylane in her red hovercar, drumming her fingers impatiently on the steering wheel. She'd spoken briefly to the contact, who said he knew of very powerful corporate executive who kept a live Nymph as a pet. When asked for more details, he was understandably cagey, saying only that he'd worked security for the executive and found out about the Nymph that way. He reluctantly agreed to give her more details in person, but wanted half-a-million credits up front before he'd disclose everything he knew, the rest when the Nymph had been rescued.

She could just imagine how pleased John would be if she actually managed to help track down one of those impossibly rare Lenarrans. Remembering how sweet Jade had been with her, Jehanna had been moved by the plight of the alien creatures, doing plenty of research herself after filming John's appeal. After all this time, she'd been extremely dubious that any would still be alive, but here was her first really promising lead!

Peeling off the skylane at the exit corridor, she followed the floating signs down to the city streets below. She was meeting her contact in the parking garage under the Balcova hotel on the corner of Twelfth and Elm, so it would be much easier to find the entrance from down on ground level. It was a lovely sunny day, golden rays peeking between the tall buildings and matching her positive mood that morning.

Traffic was light today, long after the morning rush hour, so she made quick progress along the city streets until she found the building she was looking for. Searching for the entrance to the Balcova's underground parking lot, she spotted an elegant sign on her right, just off one of the side streets. She indicated, then turned her hovercar into the well-lit entrance, following the ramps down to the neat rows of parked hover vehicles.

Pulling into a free space, she grabbed her purse and slung it over her shoulder, before stepping out of her car and palming the DNA scanner to lock it behind her. The contact told her that he'd approach her, obviously very familiar with her appearance after seeing her on TFNN. She waited patiently in open sight, trying not to look intimidating or nervous, doing her best not to accidentally scare him off.

She'd only been waiting for a couple of minutes, when a quiet cough from her left drew her attention. Jehanna turned to see a well-built man in a trenchcoat standing a few dozen metres away, watching her intently. She had been around enough people with a military background to immediately recognise him as such, which made sense considering his current profession, working security for some corporate exec. The rich and famous liked to hire ex-special forces personnel for their protection and this man fit that bill perfectly.

Jehanna glanced around the car park, then walked a few steps towards him and asked politely, "Mr. Peterson?"

He greeted her with a curt nod. "Miss Elani, thank you for coming to see me."

She gave him one of her most disarming smiles in return. "You're welcome and thank you for contacting me. I appreciate your need for discretion, so just let me know how you'd like to proceed?"

"Do you have the money I requested?" the man asked. "If so, I'm willing to tell you everything I know."

Jehanna hesitated and shook her head. "Not on me. I wanted to meet first to confirm that your story was authentic. If you can convince me that your employer really does have a live Nymph in captivity, then I'll arrange for the initial funds to be transferred and you can give me the full details. The balance will be given to you once the Nymph is safe."

Peterson paused to consider that for a second, but she wasn't telling him anything he hadn't been informed about already, so he nodded and gestured to a black saloon hovercar a few spaces behind him. "The person I spoke to at TFNN said the same thing, so I put together a limited dossier for you. Nothing too revealing, but enough to prove I'm telling the truth."

He turned and walked to the vehicle, unlocking it with a click of the keyfob in his hand. As he leaned into the passenger side door to retrieve his files, Jehanna slipped her hand into her purse, following her father's security training which had become instinctive over the years. When Peterson pulled out of the vehicle with a nasty-looking pistol in his hand, it almost didn't come as a surprise to her.

"Alright, into the car Miss. Elani and you won't get hurt," the man said, his voice as cold as the look in his eyes.

Jehanna stepped backwards and shook her head stubbornly. "I'm not going anywhere with you..."

He frowned, raising the pistol and pointing it at her arm. "You have three seconds to comply, Miss. Elani. We have excellent medical facilities, so I have no qualms about shooting you."

The booming retort of the gunshot sounded deafeningly loud in the underground garage, making Jehanna jump in fright, her ears ringing. The sheer noise was nothing like shooting on the range with noise-dampening ear protectors on.

"You fucking bitch!" Peterson gasped as he staggered backwards, hand moving to the gaping wound in his stomach and coming away soaked in blood.

He tried to point his pistol in her direction and Jehanna pulled the trigger of her concealed handgun again, hitting Peterson in the chest this time with another heavy slug. Blood sprayed out behind him and his eyes rolled back as he collapsed between the two parked vehicles. With smoke rising from the hole she'd shot in her purse, Jehanna turned and started hurrying to the safety of her hovercar, her heart pounding in her chest.

Jehanna heard a quiet hiss the second before she felt a sharp sting in her neck. By the time she pulled out the dart embedded in her skin, her legs wobbled underneath her, feeling like jelly. She lurched to one side, clinging desperately to the boot of her hovercar as she fumbled in her purse for the handgun. She managed to yank it out but to her horror, her fingers were limp and unresponsive, the gun skittering out of her grasp across the concrete. Darkness descended as she slid to the floor, losing consciousness to the sound of booted feet running towards her...

***

Rear Admiral Colin Meares strolled along one of the broad corridors of the massive fortress known as the Citadel, then took a right down a narrower passage, returning to his office after lunch. He was preparing a number of important logistics reports for Admiral Cartwright and was eager to get stuck into them that afternoon.

He occasionally missed the relatively carefree existence he'd once led as the Captain of a scientific exploration vessel, but he'd made his peace with the sacrifices he'd been forced to make as he progressed up through the ranks. He opened the door to his office and strode through, nodding to his assistant as he did so.

The pretty young lieutenant glanced up from her desk and smiled warmly at him. "Pleasant lunch, Admiral?"

"Not as pleasant as an afternoon spent in your lovely company, Tabitha," he replied, removing his peaked hat and jacket, then hanging them on the stand.

She beamed at him, then returned to her work, concentrating intently on the productivity graphs he needed for his report. Tabitha might have been very pleasing on the eye, but she was also very bright, diligent, and hard working. With his mentoring, he was sure she'd make captain before she hit thirty, just as her three predecessors had done before her.

His peers often made lewd jokes about his selection process for new assistants, speculating on what the girls might offer him in exchange for such earnest support for their careers. In truth, Meares simply appreciated the company of beautiful and intelligent young women, and would never do anything so crass as to actually exploit his position of power over them to gain sexual favours. That wasn't to say that such offers had not been presented to him in the past, far from it, but he'd always politely declined, making sure not to upset their feelings as he did so.

No, he would never sully his relationship with them in such a way and, once that was established, those girls truly relaxed around him to his delight. Tabitha had expressed such an interest only the previous month, moistening her lips with a delicate tongue as she gazed up at him with trusting eyes. He'd explained that he was deeply flattered, but that such a wonderful young woman could do so much better than a cantankerous old rogue like himself. He was neither old, nor cantankerous, but she hadn't been offended by his gentle rejection and their friendship had strengthened ever since. Eventually, she would receive her inevitable promotion, and he would wish Tabitha well on her blossoming career, then choose another lovely young woman to mentor.

With those bittersweet thoughts in mind, Meares sat down at his desk to begin working on his reports. He brightened a couple of minutes later when he received a call from his first protégé, Captain Tovaskaya, the cheerful and energetic young woman always a pleasure to speak to. It came as somewhat of a surprise that she would choose to call him on such a highly-secure transmission, but he put his curiosity aside when he accepted the call.

The winged sword insignia faded away and he was shocked when he saw Camilla appear on the screen. She had dark rings under her hollow eyes and the woman he'd known for years looked like a broken shell of her former self. "Oh my God, Camilla! What happened? Are you alright?"

She shook her head. "Are you alone, Colin? It's critical that I speak with you urgently."

Turning to his assistant, he asked politely, "Tabitha, would you mind giving me a moment please?"

The young lieutenant quickly rose from her desk, taking a holo-reader with her. "Just contact me if you need anything, Sir."

Nodding in gratitude as she left, Meares focused on the holo-screen again. "Now, what's troubling you, my dear?"

"The Kintark have taken the Dragon March!" Camilla blurted out, her face stricken. "They tore everything apart! Port Medea, the defensive fleet, it's all gone..."

Meares gaped at her in shock, then shook his head in denial. "That can't be! I've heard nothing..."

"They got behind our lines, cut all comms, then just swept in and killed everyone... the Hesperus and two destroyers were the only ships that survived!" she gasped, her voice trembling with emotion. "You have to warn High Command! I didn't broadcast this on an open channel, because I didn't want to create a panic!"

Stunned by her announcement, he gaped at her in horror, only shaken out of it by the beep from his console alerting him that a file had been transferred.

"I've sent you all our sensor data from the battle," she said, then leaned forward, fixing him with her haunted gaze. "Colin, they had hundreds of ships... maybe thousands! I've never seen such a huge force in all my life... They aren't stopping at the Dragon March, they're coming for Terra!"

One look at the first image sent shivers of fear running down Rear Admiral Meares' spine. It showed the massive Terran Federation starport being blown to pieces and was all the evidence he needed that Camilla was telling him the truth. Not that he doubted her word, but still... the enormity of what she was telling him was almost too terrifying to comprehend.

"Leave it with me," he said in a rush, inserting a data stick into his console and copying across the files. "I'll warn High Command!"

She slumped in her chair and nodded, clearly exhausted after her harrowing experiences.

"I'm very proud of you, Camilla." Meares said, rising from his seat, trying to keep a brave face for her sake. "Get some rest, we'll speak again soon."

She nodded and gave him a grateful smile before closing the call.

"Fuck me..." Meares muttered under his breath, yanking out the data-stick with a shaking hand as soon as the files had transferred. He sprinted from his office with the device clenched in his fist, never feeling more scared than he did at that moment.

***

Admiral Lynette Devereux sat through the emergency briefing in stunned silence. Admiral Edwin Caldwell's voice had an undercurrent of dread to it as he ran through the series of harrowing sensor images, each growing progressively more shocking. She wasn't sure which ones terrified her the most: the vast fleet of Kintark vessels rampaging through Iota Leonis, the destruction of Port Medea and the defensive fleet, or that the Kintark were now using a Terran Federation dreadnought against them.

She glanced around at her fellow admirals and was sure the look of horror on Weber, Mishra, and Buckingham's faces mirrored her own.

"Where did the Kintark get so many ships?" Mishra finally asked, sounding like she was teetering on the edge of panic. "How could they have built so many vessels so quickly?"

Caldwell sat down heavily, looking like he'd aged ten years in as many minutes. "It's like they've thrown every ship in the Empire at us!"

Weber inhaled deeply, then said in a shaky voice, "It doesn't matter where they got them. How do we stop them? They outnumber the fleets in the Core Worlds at least two to one!"

They all looked at each other, their doubt and fear obvious to all. Fleet Admiral Buckingham didn't say a word, he just stared into the distance, his eyes widened in shock, fear, and something else... Devereux couldn't quite place the emotions behind his expression.

Turning back to the three Admirals, she took a steadying breath then said quietly, "We should ask John Blake for help..."

There was silence from the rest of the officers as they stared at her, their desperation making them willing to consider her suggestion.

"Where is the Lion, anyway?" Caldwell asked, looking at the rest in turn.

"He left Terran Federation territory two days ago," Weber replied. "He was heading into Maliri Space..."

Devereux nodded thoughtfully. "His ship's fast; if we can get word to him, the Invictus might be able to make it back to Terra in time to-"

"We are not running to John Blake for help," Buckingham interrupted her, his voice cold and hard.

"He's helped us before," Devereux protested. "I'm sure he'd be willing to help again!"

Buckingham sneered at her in contempt. "You want me to beg Blake to save Terra? Rely on him twice to save our own homeworld? Do you want to make High Command look totally incompetent? We'd be handing him the Terran Federation on a silver platter!"

"You just sat through the same fucking briefing I did!" Devereux snapped. "What the hell else are we supposed to do?! The Kintark outnumber us AND they seem to have got hold of some new shield tech!"