Three Square Meals Ch. 099

She nodded and gave him a reassuring smile as she leaned in to whisper, "I did a thorough job when I checked the generators against the schematics that Irillith 'requisitioned'. The Brimorian's surprise isn't an explosive, it's definitely just a remote shut-off switch. It'll only take me five minutes to remove it."

He paused for a moment, then shook his head. "Don't take it out... not yet. Why don't we give them enough rope to hang themselves?"

Alyssa telepathically conveyed the details of his plan to the wide-eyed redhead and Dana giggled as she nodded her agreement. "I'll make the changes as soon as we're done here!"

"Thanks, honey," John said with an appreciative smile.

He turned and strode over to the rapidly diminishing piles of Eternity Crystals that Dana had carefully selected for the refit. He gathered up the two huge ones, noting that there were only a handful of the smaller ones left, then walked towards the bow of the ship with one under each arm.

*I'm back in the stealth shuttle, Master!* Jade informed him, sounding as delighted as the redhead skipping along in front of him. *I'll see you very soon!*

*Alright, we're just finishing up here,* John replied, as he approached the slots for the focusing crystals they were replacing in the Nova Lances. Unable to keep the confusion out of his voice, he continued, *You didn't ask me about any questions for the Abandoned...*

*I'm so sorry,* Jade apologised. *I ran out of time and only managed to have a very brief chat with Helene before it was time to leave.*

*It's okay, you can tell us what you found out when we meet up,* John said, his voice soothing.

The Nymph didn't sound very upset though, much to his surprise. She sounded... elated...