Three Square Meals Ch. 117

Emerging from the centre of the ruins were several mud-brown spires, which rose high above the broken remnants of the plant-like constructions. As the Raptor glided closer, many more of the ugly Kirrix buildings could be seen, looking out of place amidst the glaringly different architecture of the long-extinct inhabitants of this world.

"That must be their starport," Tashana said, pointing to the western edge of the Kirrix stronghold. "I can see the hive ships..."

He followed the line of her blue finger, and saw the distinctive bulbous ochre topdecks of the Kirrix cruisers. "They must still be transferring the colonists to the planet," John said, staring at the ships. "I wish we could get a closer look and see what's happening."

Jade turned in her chair, her emerald eyes bright and alert. "I could take a look for you. They'll never see me."

John met her hopeful gaze and nodded. "Okay, honey."

She blinked in surprise, then grinned as she rose from her chair. "You're not even going to try to talk me out of it?"

"I trust you," he replied, clasping her hand as he accompanied her from the cockpit. "You've proven that you're quite capable of looking after yourself."

They descended in the grav-tube, then entered the forward loading area, where John hit the button to lower the ramp. He beckoned Jade over for a hug as the whine of hydraulics filled the room.

"When the girls get here in the Invictus, we'll need to secure the starport and rescue the colonists," he said, glancing over her shoulder at the ugly ochre skyline. "The more information you can give me about the Kirrix stronghold, the easier it'll be to plan an evacuation."

"I won't let you down, Master!" Jade gushed, delighted by his confidence in her.

They enjoyed a passionate kiss, then John reluctantly released her from his embrace. She waved goodbye, then bounded over to the open ramp and dived outside, her form shifting as she fell out of sight. John walked over to the doorway and watched her reappear a few seconds later, graceful wings beating the air as she raced away as a resplendent jade falcon. He took one last look at the melancholy forest of pale-green ruins and closed the ramp, his jaw clenching as he headed into the armoury.

John walked over to the armour-equipping frame holding his paragon suit, then stepped into his armoured boots and slipped his hands into the gauntlets. The actions felt familiar now, repeated so many times before going into battle.

*Aren't you supposed to be waiting for us?* Alyssa gently chided him.

*Just being cautious, beautiful,* John replied, watching the robotic arms sliding down into place. *If Jade gets into trouble, I need to be ready to rescue her.*

She was quiet for a long moment. *Of course...*

Rippling clicks sealed his armour as John stepped clear of the frame. He loaded a Tachyon rifle then slung it over his shoulder, adding more magazines to his combat webbing. His eyes locked on his gleaming white sword, a smile pulling at the corner of his lips. As he reached for the hilt, he paused, remembering that the blade was only deca-shaped.

Gesturing upwards with his gauntleted hand, the sword rose from the weapon rack, rotating slowly in the air as it obeyed his will. It was a beautiful blade, shaped for him by Alyssa's fair hand... or fair mind might be more accurate. John hesitated for a moment, feeling a flicker of regret at reshaping her gift to him.

*Go ahead,* she said with an encouraging telepathic smile. *It's a weapon, not a treasured memento from our first date.*

The glistening white sword lost its hard edge and melted into a viscous sphere as he projected his will towards it. Reshaping it over and over again, he felt the crystal Alyssium structure grow more resistant to his changes, making it harder to keep strengthening and hardening it. He closed his eyes, focusing on his breathing as he forced it to obey him, managing to reshape it several more times before deciding that was enough.

*You reshaped it another nine times!* Alyssa gasped, shocked at how much he had ramped up in power.

*It was only deca-shaped to start; I just kept going until it got too hard,* John replied, sounding equally surprised. He started forcing the sluggish liquid metal to take its final shape. *When was the last time you really pushed yourself?*

*It's been a while,* she admitted, lost in thought. *We shaped all those Tachyon Lances fifteen times, but I didn't try testing my limits.*

*I wonder if there is some kind of upper limit,* he mused, reopening his eyes and staring away into the distance. *And if the Progenitor does anything like this to create that black metal?*

*Dana decided to leave that mystery alone for now. I think she was looking for a quick win to show you this evening... although I can't imagine why,* Alyssa said with no small amount of amusement.

*How are they all doing?* John asked, feeling a pang of homesickness. He smiled when he realised just how much the Invictus felt like home... more so than any place he'd lived in the past.

*Missing you, obviously,* the blonde replied with a hint of longing in her voice. *But we're keeping ourselves busy to kill the time until we're back together.*

*Give them all a kiss from me,* he said, blinking out of the daze.

Alyssa made a flirtatious comment, but John wasn't listening, his attention now squarely focused on the glistening sword hanging in the air before him. He'd been distracted during the final shaping and this definitely wasn't the weapon he'd been intending to create. He stared at the archaic design of the sword, astonished that he could have shaped it subconsciously. The double-edged blade was flanked by elaborate quillons, the intricate design achingly familiar, with the elegant scrollwork sweeping back up the hilt to the pommel. Reaching for the sword with trembling fingers, he grasped it firmly... and runes embossed along its length began to pulse with an inner light, swathing the blade in a gleaming blue aura.

*How did you do that?* Alyssa asked in fascination, listening to his shocked thoughts.

John took an experimental cut through the air, feeling the incandescent weapon flowing with the strike as if eager to execute his will. *I have absolutely no idea...* he murmured, sweeping the blade around in a series of defensive blocks and counter attacks. *But it feels... different. Almost like it's... hungry...*

*For blood?* she whispered, sounding more than a little scared.

John sensed a subtle tugging at his mind, like a gentle reminder of terrible purpose waiting to be fulfilled. *No. For power...*

*John!* Jade interrupted, her urgent voice sweeping through his mind. *I've reached the hive ships, but there's something... strange... happening here.*

*What's the matter?* he asked, sheathing the sword on his back and striding out of the room. *Are you in trouble?*

*No, I'm fine! It's the colonists... they haven't been infested with eggs yet!*

John paused as he stepped out of the grav-tube on the upper deck. *What? Say again?*

*None of the colonists are showing any sign of egg infestation! They're being herded out of the hive ships and into the Kirrix stronghold.*

He considered that for a second, trying to think of any reason the Kirrix might have for not infesting those people with eggs from a hive lord. *Maybe they're keeping them for a hive queen instead?*

*Perhaps... but there's something else. The children... they're still alive!*

The twins nodded to John as they sprinted past, diving into the grav-tube to put on Paragon suits.

He rushed to the cockpit canopy to stare at the hive ships in the distance and could imagine lines of children being marched out of the Kirrix vessels. *How many?*

*Hundreds of them...* Jade replied, her words filled with yearning. *John, we have to do something! We can't just stand by and let them be slaughtered...*

His gaze flicked up to the heavens, knowing the sheer size of the forces lurking in high-orbit above the city. "At least 20 drone carriers... twice as many hive ships..." he muttered under his breath, his expression twisted with anguish.

*John?* Jade prompted him, a hint of desperation creeping into her voice.

"Leave them to me," Irillith said quietly as she strode into the room, now fully encased in a Paragon suit.

Tashana darted by and slid into the pilot's chair. "Get below! We'll drop you over the starport!"

John gave Irillith a hard, questioning look. "Can you handle it?"

She gave him a curt nod, her eyes already glowing with an ominous violet light.

He clasped Irillith's forearm, then placed his other hand on her sister's shoulder. "Be safe."

Tashana looked up and gave him an encouraging smile. "Go! Protect those children!"

*John...* Edraele faltered, her voice edged with fear. *You're planning to assault a Kirrix planet with only Jade for support... and you're sending my daughters to fight an invasion fleet in a gunship! Are you really sure about this?*

*Have faith, Edraele,* John said, descending in the grav-tube and striding through to the rear. *I trust your girls with my life. If they say they can do this... I refuse to second guess them.*

*Yes, my Lord,* she said softly, holding back any further objections.

He hit the button to lower the rear landing ramp and watched as a crack of light appeared along the upper edge. His view of the horizon expanded as the ramp lowered, until he could see the outskirts of the dead city racing by below him.

*Nothing to add, Alyssa?* he asked, surprised she hadn't protested yet.

*Avenge that planet, John,* she whispered, her voice heavy with emotion. *You'll be the instrument of their retribution... make me proud.*

The comms interface in his helmet flickered to life as Tashana's image appeared. "We're bouncing the drop point at full throttle... 3 seconds!"

Stepping over to the ramp, John watched the buildings flashing by in a blur... then summoned a hex shield and stepped into the abyss. The turbulence should have hit him like a truck, but the psychic barrier made sure he never even noticed the wind. He closed his eyes, feeling a soothing wave of peace suffuse his entire being as he fell towards the planet's surface.

John was charging into battle with the Maliri at his side and he could feel his body trembling with anticipation for the fighting to come. He was facing a despicable foe that was undeserving of mercy and the need to visit destruction upon them resonated deep within his soul. He knew he was born for this... and it felt... good... to embrace that deadly purpose.

*Yes!* Jade cried out in elation, as she watched him descend from the heavens.

John's eyes snapped open as he plunged towards the Kirrix fortress, his steely-gaze illuminated by a brilliant sapphire light. The insectoid forces seemed to have noticed him and were scurrying around as they fired wildly at the sky. Green bolts sailed past on all sides and he was struck by the curious thought that the Kirrix really did seem like insects to him now... tiny and inconsequential. He thundered into the plateau, arresting his fall with a telekinetic blastwave that obliterated scores of ochre-armoured troopers and sent hundreds more cartwheeling through the air.

Rising from a crouch, he drew his Progenitor weapon from his back and cast a baleful glare at the assembly area around the ships. The last of the colonists were being dragged into the yawning tunnels that led into the Kirrix stronghold. The Terrans looked bereft of hope, shying away in terror from their alien abductors... powerless against a cruel and implacable foe. His heart went out to those tragic people. The galaxy was a terrible place, where the strong preyed upon the weak... and the citizens of Menganus IV had been found wanting.

*Jade, protect the children.*

*Yes, Master!* she sang out, leaping from her perch atop a nearby building.

Jade shifted from a falcon into a massive dragon, her wings snapping out to slow her descent as she swooped down to land in the plaza. Enormous claws dug into resin deck, leaving huge furrows as she skidded to a halt beside him. Jade paused to look John in the eye, her ferocious draconic visage filled with a curious expression of almost... maternal pride. She nodded to him and quickly turned away, tail whipping around as she charged towards the tunnel entrance on the far side of the landing area.

Channelling his will into his sword, the runes blazed with light as John drove the point into the ground. A shiver ran down his spine as he felt the weapon resonating with the psychic energy pouring into it. The difference between temporarily inscribing Progenitor runes on the blade and permanently etching them into the crystal Alyssium was profound, like comparing a tattoo with a scribble from a marker pen. His old weapon had been a useful tool, but this mighty blade he'd forged was an artefact from a bygone era.

John sank to one knee, his left hand still gripping the hilt of his sword, and he thumped the ground with his gauntleted fist. There was a terrifying crack as the floor shattered, leaving a broad crater that spiralled out from that impact point. Blue waves rushed outwards, gathering echoes and flooding his mind with the history of this forsaken place.

The Mhoirad were a species of tall plants, with four upper-branch limbs that ended in dexterous tendrils. They moved on a dozen stubby, root-like limbs, which they could burrow into the ground when resting. Sweeping ferns adorned their heads, with two large eyes and a broad mouth giving them a friendly face that matched their gentle temperament. Clusters of bright flowers added a splash of colour to their pale-green bodies, the females sporting elaborate displays of sweet-smelling blooms to entice their mates.

They had built a serene civilisation that had lived in harmony with their planet for thousands of years, the people taking great pride in their artistic and musical accomplishments. The Mhoirad had just taken their initial tentative steps with spaceflight when the Kirrix made first contact. Having no inclination to oppose the advanced alien invaders, the pacifistic Mhoirad didn't hesitate to unilaterally capitulate to the Kirrix. Surrendering without a shot fired, the citizens celebrated contact with these fascinating insectoids, eager to learn what they could from their new galactic neighbours.

The Kirrix sent their first wave of hive ships and the Mhoirad finally began to understand the true nature of their new relationship. The parasitic aliens returned every month to haul away protesting civilians, the pleas for mercy falling on deaf ears. John could hear the tearful lament from the Mhoirad as outlying settlements were systematically depopulated, the abducted citizens never to be heard from again. The Kirrix took their time, culling the subjugated civilisation into oblivion over nearly a thousand years... the last of the Mhoirad ripped apart by ravenous grubs while humanity laboured on the pyramids.

*The Kirrix wiped out billions here...* John said quietly, his eyes flaring as he absorbed thousands of terrifying memories from a long-extinct people. *The Mhoirad suffered for centuries, their people waiting in terror for the moment they'd be dragged away from friends and family...*

*Why didn't they resist? Even if it was hopeless?* Alyssa asked in bewilderment.

*Because it wasn't in their nature to fight.* John closed his eyes and said a silent eulogy for the countless dead.

His eyes snapped open as a hail of neutron bolts peppered his shield, the Kirrix forces rallying and shooting at the invader. He hauled his sword out of the ground and whipped it about it in a ferocious cross-slash, unleashing a broad wave of telekinetic force. The glowing arc scythed through scores of Kirrix troopers, chitinous limbs scattering across the docking bay as abdomens and thoraxes exploded, a fountain of green blood showering the ground.

Turning towards the closest hive ship, John channelled a broad stream of psychic energy into his sword, the runes almost incandescent with untapped destructive power. With an upwards sweeping slash, he unleashed the pulsing psychic energy, the titanic blast wave carving through the ochre hull and battering the Kirrix vessel backwards. It toppled over, lights guttering out as power couplings were severed through the spine of the crippled ship. Funnelling more power into his sword he smashed the remaining three hive ships, leaving them as little more than broken hulks.

Alyssa was quiet for a long moment, then said solemnly, *I'm glad we're not like the Mhoirad... I could never sit back and do nothing as the Kirrix picked off my friends and family.*

*We could never be like that,* John muttered grimly, as he advanced on the Kirrix trying to herd the colonists into the tunnels. *War is in our blood...*

***

Tashana gripped the flightstick and held the Raptor steady as they roared through the sky towards the Kirrix fleet waiting in orbit. Fluffy cloudbanks made way for a sweep of stars as the gunship powered its way clear of the planet's atmosphere.

"What's our plan, Rill?" she asked, darting a worried look at the mass of ochre vessels sprawled across the Tactical Map.

"I'm just having a little chat with the drone carriers..." Irillith muttered distractedly, her violet-eyed gaze focused on something only she could see.

Not wanting to disrupt whatever her twin was doing, Tashana rolled the Raptor and aimed at the closest hive ship. Squeezing the trigger on her flightstick, the shoulder-mounted Tachyon Lances thrummed with energy for a second before firing, a pair of dazzling azure beams cutting through the Kirrix shields like they weren't even there. Those lethal columns throbbed with power as they vaporised resin armour plates and blasted straight through the cruiser-sized vessel, the blistering beam punching out of the hull on the opposite side. Tashana pulled back on the flight stick, carving twin chasms through the ship before the beams finally winked out in a flurry of blue motes.

Having chopped through scores of power couplings, the front-half of the hive ship went dark as it veered away out of control. Tashana had decompressed a dozen decks, so debris and insectoid crew were being hurled out into space, leaving a macabre trail of corpses behind the listing vessel. Satisfied that the hive ship had been neutralised, Tashana banked to starboard, steering well-clear of the debris trail. Virulent green energy beams began to light up space around them, the Kirrix firing wildly in their direction now that they knew they were being attacked.

"Drone swarms launching," Tashana warned her sister, darting an anxious glance at the Kirrix capital ships.

"So they are," Irillith agreed, her lips curling up into a wolfish smile.

Bright flashes appeared along the launch tubes of the closest four drone carriers and Tashana quickly zoomed in the Tactical Map to see what was happening. It looked like the outer blast doors had slammed shut, with the deploying drone fighters ramming the fortified barriers at full speed. At the same time, airlocks were opening in the flanks, the internal atmosphere venting outwards in billowing plumes.

"What did you do?" Tashana asked, watching in fascination.

"The drone carriers are quite chatty," Irillith replied with a smirk, her eyes shining brightly with an inner violet light. "I convinced them that I'm their new Hive Queen and that their crew are all members of the opposing faction, so those ships are going to... deal with the problem."

The other eighteen drone carriers had powered up their retro-thrusters and were turning towards the Raptor, drone fighters emerging in waves from their launch tubes. Four carriers abruptly halted their turns and their engines blazed a bright orange as they were ramped up to full thrust. The colossal capital ships sealed their launch bays and barrelled straight ahead, ploughing into other members of their formation. Tashana stared in shocked fascination at one of the insectoid carriers, watching as it head-butted another of its kind in the flank, shattering ochre plating and grinding away more as it continued to ram the reeling Kirrix. Neutron Beams lashed back and forth, with the two behemoths flailing away wildly, locked in a brutal point-blank fight to the death.