Three Square Meals Ch. 104

John recognised Charles' assistant, Lieutenant Adams, when he opened the second set of doors and walked over to join them. "Admiral, High Command is in full attendance. Three admirals are currently deployed with their fleets, so they can't make today's meeting; they'll attend as a hologram instead."

"Thank you, Victor," Charles replied with a nod. He smiled at Lynette and gestured towards the door. "After you, Admiral Devereux."

She smiled at him then took the lead, walking across the foyer then entering the main conference room. It was set up with a podium in the centre, then raised tiers of seating curved around the room in a semi-circle, like an auditorium. There were fifteen admirals in attendance, three more appearing as flickering holograms, and a number of conspicuously vacant seats were scattered around the room. Conversation petered out when the admirals saw who had arrived, smiles appearing on a number of faces when they recognised Lynette.

Admiral Eleanor Maybridge rose from her chair and walked over to greet the new arrivals. "It's so good to see you again, Lynette! I was appalled when I heard what had happened to you."

She stepped closer to embrace Admiral Devereux, but Lynette held up a cautionary hand. "Thank you, Eleanor. I'm afraid I'm still a bit tender at the moment... just recovering from my injuries," she said with a regretful smile.

Maybridge nodded her understanding. "Would you like to take a seat? We can begin the meeting now." Turning to look at John, she continued, "As the longest serving admiral in attendance, custom dictates that I act as temporary leader until a new Fleet Admiral is elected."

"Thank you, Admiral," John replied, before putting his arm around Alyssa. "I assume there's no problem with the two of us staying to watch proceedings?"

"No, that's quite alright," Maybridge replied, smiling at them both in turn. "I suspected you'd both be here..."

John and Alyssa stood to one side of the room as the older woman stepped up onto the podium to address the members of High Command assembled before them. "Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen. As the longest serving admiral in High Command, it falls on me to act as our interim leader until a new Fleet Admiral can be elected. There are a number of duties that I must perform in this role, the first of which is to recommend admirals to fill the vacant positions in High Command."

She glanced at the empty seats and sighed. "Admirals Mishra, Weber, Turner, and Buckingham were all killed yesterday, and Admiral Petran resigned, leaving five places to be filled. To avoid any contention, I'm recommending that the most experienced admirals in the Admiralty who are not already in High Command fill their positions. That would be Admirals Ramos, Dubois, Wu, Schmidt, and Esposito... Does anyone have any objections to their appointment?"

Her question was met with quiet acceptance, none of the admirals opposing her choices. She nodded to Lieutenant Adams and he walked back through the double doors to speak with the waiting admirals in the foyer. They strode through to take their seats, looks of pride on their faces as they joined the ruling body of the Terran Federation.

"Welcome, all of you," Maybridge said with a warm smile. After waiting for the hand-shaking and words of congratulations to die down, she continued, "Our next order of business is the election of a new Fleet Admiral. As you all know, we normally allow two months for campaigning during an election, but with the Terran Federation currently at war with the Kintark, I propose we enforce edict 748..."

Admiral Caldwell rose from his seat and shook his head. "I object! The war with the Kintark is over! There's no need to rush into appointing another Fleet Admiral!"

Admiral Connor Malone flicked a glance at Charles, then stood and said curtly. "I disagree. We have yet to establish surrender terms with the Kintark and we still have to deal with the Kirrix invasion. We need to appoint a new Fleet Admiral today!"

Maybridge glanced around the meeting room to see if anyone else wanted to say anything. When no one else spoke, she said, "All those in favour of enforcing edict 748 please vote 'Aye'. All those objecting to the edict, vote 'Nay'. I will abstain unless I have to break a tie."

The admirals tapped the corresponding glyph on the holo-panels beside them, as Maybridge glanced up at the panel displaying the votes. There was no anonymity and the corresponding seats on the display were highlighted in red or green depending on the vote cast. The final vote showed 16 voting for the immediate election of a new Fleet Admiral and only 8 against. Edwin slumped in his chair, darting a furious glance at Connor, who gave him a playful wink.

Nodding with satisfaction, Maybridge declared, "Edict 748 will be enacted. Please may I have your nominations for a replacement Fleet Admiral?"

Charles immediately rose to his feet and exclaimed, "I wish to nominate Admiral Lynette Devereux! She was foremost amongst us in opposing Buckingham's descent into insanity, infiltrating his inner circle to minimise the damage he could cause. Then she put her life on the line in an attempt to contact allies for assistance against the Kintark horde. Her champion, the Lion of the Federation, has proven himself our stalwart ally time and again, saving Terra from destruction on no-less than two occasions. I can think of no finer candidate to lead us in these troubled times."

"Eloquently put, Admiral Harris," Maybridge said, smiling at him when he sat down. She looked around the auditorium. "Does anyone else wish to nominate themselves or a colleague for appointment as Fleet Admiral?"

Caldwell glanced at his fellow admirals, deflating further when he saw the approving nods from many of those present as their eyes darted to Lynette. When Maybridge turned to look at him, he gave a slight shake of his head, realising that Devereux's appointment was now a mere formality.

Maybridge waited for another minute, then turned her attention to Devereux. "As it appears your appointment is to go unchallenged, I would like to offer the position of Fleet Admiral to you, Lynette Devereux. Do you accept this honour?"

Lynette rose from her seat, a triumphant gleam in her hazel eyes. "I gladly accept."

As she walked to the podium, Maybridge stepped down, then joined in the rousing applause for their new leader. John grinned as he watched Lynette, enjoying seeing the dedicated woman finally achieve her dream after three decades of military service. She gave the admirals a proud smile, acknowledging their applause with a grateful nod of her head.

After waiting for the clapping to subside, she said in a clear, unwavering voice, "Like all of you, I have dedicated my life to the Terran Federation, seeking only to serve for the betterment of humanity. I thank you for granting me this highest of honours, and pledge to you today, that I will commit my heart and soul to being the Fleet Admiral you and the Terran Federation deserve."

Her short speech earned her a second round of applause, the admirals all able to hear the earnest sincerity to her words.

She smiled at them again, then raised her hand for quiet. "We have a number of pressing issues that we must deal with today, but before we begin, there is a matter of urgency that must be addressed. I believe that we must root out all those who would bring shame to High Command, like Buckingham and Weber." Glancing at John and Alyssa, she continued, "Lion, would you conclude the grim business you started yesterday? As Fleet Admiral, I grant you authority to scour this office of corruption."

John stepped up to the podium and gave her a grateful smile. "Thank you, Fleet Admiral." He turned to look at the admirals present and inhaled deeply before continuing, "Yesterday I proposed an amnesty to the Admiralty, offering to let anyone retire with no repercussions for past misdeeds. I was pleased to see that only one member of High Command chose to take up my offer, giving me hope that you are the upstanding officers we need to guide the Terran Federation to glory."

"This is the moment of truth, Ladies and Gentlemen. As I announced yesterday, I want to make sure that those serving in High Command are the finest examples of humanity. There is no room here for those who've blackened their careers with heinous acts like torture, rape, or murder." He looked around at the admirals, noticing with concern that several were starting to look nervous. Hoping that they were just anxious because of the nature of the meeting, he continued, "I'm giving you one last opportunity to resign, if you've done anything that might bring disgrace to this office... I urge you to leave at once."

When no one moved, he gestured to Alyssa. "Okay, go ahead."

She smiled at him, then closed her eyes as she gathered her will. The lights in the auditorium flickered as she drew more power to herself, swirling vortexes of energy rolling down her arms to gather at her fists. There were startled gasps from the men and women present, many of them leaving their seats to back away from the shocking display of supernatural power. When Alyssa's hands were shrouded in a nimbus of pure white light, she opened her eyes, revealing the shining radiance illuminating her gaze. She crouched down and placed her fists on the floor, unleashing the gathered eldritch forces in a pulse of psychic energy.

There were more startled cries as the wave of light swept out to encompass everyone present, shrouding the admirals in a glowing aura. John's eyes swept through the crowd, widening when he saw one of the new additions to High Command painted a dark crimson. Admiral Dubois raised his hands, staring in horror at the blood-red light that declared his guilt to everyone in the room. To John's surprise, he saw a flickering red cover Admiral Maybridge, who looked absolutely mortified that she'd been highlighted. She staggered backwards, before tripping over in her terror, as she gaped at her blood-red hands with disbelieving eyes.

"No, no, no..." she stuttered in sudden realisation, her stricken face pale with dread.

Pierre Dubois fumbled for the pistol in the holster at his waist, yanking it out with a shaky hand and pointing it at John. "I'm innocent! I didn't do anything!" he screamed, his eyes wide with fright.

Alyssa flicked her fingers and a glowing shield of hexagons appeared in front of herself and John. "Want me to execute him?" she asked offhandedly.

John shook his head, his eyes fixed on the red-shrouded man. "Put the gun down, Dubois, it's over..."

The terrified admiral brushed the back of his hand over his forehead to wipe away the sweat. "No! I'm leaving, you can't stop me!" He started to inch towards the doorway, where the armed guards were covering him with their assault rifles.

"It's too late for that," John said quietly, shaking his head. *Take him alive if you can.*

Alyssa made a casual gesture and a huge telekinetic hand popped into existence then lunged for Dubois. A shot rang out and John ducked instinctively as the bullet ricocheted off the sloped hexagonal shield, the round embedding itself in the ceiling. The glowing fingers clamped down on the admiral, squeezing him hard enough to make him drop the handgun with a cry of pain.

"Now, let's find out what you did..." Alyssa said menacingly, as she beckoned to the telekinetic hand.

Dubois was lifted off the floor, then floated over to her, his shrill screams echoing around the room.

Seeing that he was safely neutralised, John darted over to a distraught Maybridge, who was lying weeping on the floor. "I didn't have any choice," she sobbed, her shoulders shaking with emotion. "They made me do it..."

"What happened, Eleanor?" he asked sombrely, kneeling beside her.

Maybridge was disconsolate with her grief, too shocked by what had just happened to respond. She seemed oblivious to him now, floods of tears rolling down her cheeks as she lay crumpled in a heap. John carefully disarmed her, taking her pistol from the holster, still shocked that this matronly older woman could have been involved in some kind of heinous crime. He glanced back at Alyssa, who was staring intently at Dubois, the admiral wriggling to escape from the glowing hand's implacable grasp.

Alyssa's lip curled in distaste as she delved into Dubois' mind, uncovering his darkest secrets. "He murdered his first wife... drowned her in his pool then made it look like an accident."

"She was cheating on me with the pool boy! The bitch deserved it!" Dubois frantically protested, eyes wide with fright. "But that happened before I signed up! You only said it was a problem if we'd done things during our military career!"

John darted a disbelieving glance at Alyssa, who rolled her eyes and shook her head in amazement at the man's audacity.

"Arrest him for murder," John said sternly to the two guards.

They moved forward to take the protesting admiral into custody, then glanced at Alyssa with a question in their eyes. She made a dismissive gesture with her fingers and the hand dissipated, letting Dubois drop to the ground with a thump.

"We'll take a quick break," Lynette announced to the admirals. "Let's reconvene in fifteen minutes."

They began to disperse as Alyssa, Lynette, and Charles walked over to John.

"Let me take a quick look," the psychic blonde said, squatting down beside Maybridge.

She placed a hand on the crying woman's head, cerulean eyes starting to glow as she investigated the admiral's troubled mind.

Alyssa's expression shadowed with sympathy and she knelt down beside the grieving woman to give her a hug. "I'm so sorry, Eleanor."

John looked at her questioningly as they stood, seeing the look of remorse in the blonde's eyes. "What happened to her?" he asked in a hushed voice.

They stepped away from the weeping admiral and Alyssa sighed as she cancelled the flickering red shroud that covered Maybridge. "Eleanor had an affair with her commanding officer on her first posting. When she told her lover she was pregnant, he contacted her parents... the three of them then guilt-tripped her into getting an abortion; they said having a baby would destroy her career and her parents threatened to disown her if she didn't. Eleanor blames herself... she thinks she murdered her unborn child, that's why she got flagged as a killer."

"That must have happened over forty years ago," Lynette said softly, her expression filled with sympathy. "I can't believe she carried all that guilt for so long..."

Alyssa leaned into John her eyes welling up. "I didn't mean to dredge all this up for her again... I don't have any control over the way people feel."

Charles patted her on the shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll take good care of Maybridge. At the very least she needs grief counselling to get over what happened."

"Thanks, Charles," John said, giving him a grateful smile, before leading Alyssa away. He sat down on the far side of the auditorium and pulled her onto his lap.

"I was always so sure," Alyssa murmured, looking at him with deep worry in her eyes. "Could we have accidentally killed innocent people?"

"When have we used that ability to sort out the guilty?" John asked her, already knowing the answer. "The first time was in the Underworld, which was a cesspit of pirates and slavers. I know for a fact you didn't tag any of the slaves and we left about half of the merchants untouched. Then the second time was Tartarus... You know what the scientists and soldiers did there, torturing then killing all those poor aliens and Terrans they experimented on." He glanced over at Eleanor, as Charles and Victor helped her to her feet. "Your conscience is clear, honey, I'm sure of it."

She nodded and cuddled into him. "I don't want to make any mistakes, there can't be any doubt that it's bad guys we're taking out."

"We'll be going up against the Kirrix next, there's no moral ambiguity there," John replied, rubbing her back.

"What about the Brimorians though?" she asked, looking up into his eyes. "They turned the Abandoned into a slave race... does that damn the whole Enclave?"

He paused to consider it for a moment. "It's complicated... Right now, I'm not sure just how much the average Brimorian citizen knows about Helene's people. There's obviously a very hostile attitude towards Terrans at the moment, but does that extend to a hybrid species? It's pretty obvious just by looking at the Abandoned that they're closely related to Terrans."

"If Rachel's right and there are billions of Abandoned, regular Brimorians must know what's going on. You can't hide that many slaves, it's just not possible," Alyssa said, shaking her head. "I'm not saying we go in and start nuking cities as payback, but any society that happily accepts slavery is a pretty fucked-up one."

"We'll just have to see how it plays out," John said, his expression bleak. "But I'm going to free the Abandoned whatever it takes, even if it means declaring war on the Enclave."

Alyssa gave him a sad smile. "From what Jade said about the rest of the Abandoned that she met, they seem like nice people. It's so shitty the way they've been treated."

He nodded his wholehearted agreement. "That's one of the reasons I want to help them so much. I really like Helene, she's such a sweet, innocent girl. It's horrendous that the Brimorians would abuse people like that; it feels so monumentally unjust..."

"Now you're sounding like Sakura," she replied, her smile lightening. "I better keep an eye on both of you when we confront the Brimorians."

John was quiet for a moment, then looked into Alyssa's eyes with concern. "That reminds me... I'm getting really worried about combat discipline. The girls are incredibly resourceful and I want them to use their initiative, but these solo-rampages have got to stop. First Sakura, now Jade... their hearts have been in the right place, but they've been putting themselves and the team at real risk."

"I did it too..." Alyssa admitted, looking guilty. "I disobeyed you over Niskera."

He nodded, agreeing with her, but remaining silent.

She sighed, then said remorsefully, "You're not saying it, but I can hear your thoughts. You think I'm setting a bad example; basically giving the girls tacit permission to ignore your orders." Sounding contrite, she continued, "I admit that I've sometimes just gone ahead and done what I thought was best... and in combat I've tried to stop you worrying about the girls by keeping you in the dark."

"Yes, like Sakura at Khalgron," he said, studying her face. "But you don't need to do that. You have more than enough to deal with already, I don't want you shouldering any more burdens." He gently brushed her cheek with the backs of his fingers. "You're growing into a very powerful, very capable woman, but I've had years of experience with battlefield command. If you think I'm making a terrible mistake, by all means warn me, but don't cut me out of the loop. Leave the command decisions to me, okay?"

"Okay, boss," she replied with a smile, leaning up to give him a tender kiss. "It'll be different next time we face the Kirrix, I promise."

He gave her a grateful smile. "Good girl."

The admirals had started to return after being temporarily dismissed, so John helped Alyssa off his lap and they both stood up as Lynette walked over to join them.

"Eleanor's feeling better now, but I've excused her from the rest of the meeting," she began, before turning to smile at Alyssa. "She wanted me to tell you that she's glad it all came out. She hasn't been able to talk to anyone about the baby she lost for over forty years, but the guilt still preys on her mind. This was a... relief... for her."

Alyssa reached out to clasp Lynette's hand. "Thank you for telling me... it means a lot."