Three Square Meals Ch. 053

More of these shotgun like molten rounds began to hit the tunnel around them, as soldiers appeared in large numbers on the other side of the canyon, firing across at the interlopers. John led the others in a mad dash into the next room, then crouched below the window frame, and began to return fire. Rachel and Alyssa ducked down next to him, and they rapidly cleared any Trankarans who were visible in the nearby area, rocky heads and chests exploding as they were ripped apart by uncannily accurate marksmanship.

Seeing no visible targets, they quickly reloaded, and John said, "There's just one more tunnel to cross, then we can head up to the palace. The throne room isn't far from there."

Alyssa frowned and asked in a worried voice, "Won't the Glowing Queen have bolted by now? With the hornet's nest we've stirred up here, she must know hostile forces are nearby."

John grinned and said, "They have a panic room apparently. A security vault, which is supposed to be impregnable. Senator Vamred was quite certain she wouldn't leave the Radiant Palace, and would head straight for the vault instead."

He had a quick look around at the levels above them, but seeing no sign of movement, he rose to his feet, and walked over to the next set of doors to the final tunnel. It was still quiet, so he jogged out into the passageway, with Irillith following close behind. Rachel and Alyssa gave each other nervous glances, neither of them liking this mission one bit, but they smiled at each other bravely, then stood to follow.

The run across the final column lined tunnel proved uneventful, right up until John was nearly at the final set of doors. Suddenly over on the opposite side of the ravine, dozens of Trankaran soldiers appeared at the ledge of the tunnels up above them, and the passageway was showered in molten rounds as they opened fire at John. Ignoring the ineffectual munitions that were being harmlessly deflected by the magnetic field in his armour, he carried on running, with the girls trailing in his wake.

Alyssa and Rachel were approximately ten metres behind Irillith when the fusillade of shots opened up, and they were about to pivot and return fire, when their world suddenly turned upside down. A huge explosion ripped into the tunnel just ahead of them, sending Irillith flying forward, and knocking Alyssa and Rachel flat on their backs with the concussive force.

"What the fuck was that?!" Alyssa gasped in alarm, as she struggled to regain her feet.

Rachel was dazed, and was shaking her head to clear it, so she didn't reply. Alyssa looked across the canyon, and saw a Trankaran armed with a shoulder mounted missile launcher, aided by a second soldier who was rapidly loading the launcher with another rocket. She raised her rifle and sighted the Rockman with the launcher, her targeting reticle hovering over his chest, and she pulled the trigger a split second before he fired again. The Trankaran was ripped apart in the hail of railgun rounds, sending him lurching backwards, and upsetting his aim, which ultimately saved her life.

The missile raced down, slamming into the rocky tunnel directly below them, instead of Alyssa who had been his target. Her surging feeling of relief was short lived, as with a tearing crash, the section of passageway she was kneeling on ripped away from the wall, dropping away beneath her and Rachel. With terrified screams they both disappeared out of sight.

John had been unaffected by the explosion, but he heard it nonetheless. He whirled to see what had happened, and was about to open fire on the Trankaran soldiers opposite when the second explosion devastated the tunnel behind him. He quickly switched to full auto, then opened up on the mass of soldiers opposite, repeatedly firing grenades onto the ledge as well. The mix of railgun rounds and grenades annihilated the squad opposite, and when he finally ceased fire, there was no one left alive to threaten them.

Irillith had regained her feet, and was walking unsteadily towards him, darting nervous glances across the canyon. He activated his voice comms, and asked, "Alyssa, Rachel, are you alright?"

After a long pause, Alyssa's voice came through, and she replied, "We got a bit banged up in the fall, but we're both okay. We're on the level below."

John nodded and said, "Alright, get to cover, we'll come and join you."

He turned on the spot, and pushed open the doors, only to get knocked sprawling by a bulky Trankaran who punched him in the face with a huge rocky fist. John's railgun was knocked from his hand, and it skittered across the floor until it got snagged on some debris, teetering on the broken edge of the collapsed passage. He grinned and leapt to his feet, whipping his sword from his shoulder, and charging into the two Trankarans who had ambushed him.

He ran the one on the right through with his blade, then quickly tore it free as he barrelled into the enormous Trankaran soldier on the left. The two of them went crashing across the floor as the Rockman was knocked off his feet by the impact, while the first soldier collapsed, practically cut in half by John's savage sword thrust. The second Trankaran recovered quickly, twisting and pinning John's right arm to the ground, to prevent him from using his sword. The bulky alien then launched a flurry of massively powerful punches with his left fist into John's torso, the blows mighty enough to leave impact craters in the chestplate.

Unfortunately for the Trankaran, he wasn't aware of John's superhuman strength, at least not until John whipped his right arm across his body, sword in hand, and neatly cleaved through the creature's torso. The Trankaran's look of horrified disbelief was frozen on his slab-like face as John casually flicked his upper body off his chest, then scrambled to his feet. He smiled with satisfaction, until he looked up, and found himself staring down the barrel of a Punisher railgun.

***

Irillith had been sent tumbling to the floor after the first explosion, and her first instinct had been to flee for cover, when she eventually managed to stagger to her feet. After taking a couple of stumbling steps, she saw John open fire on their attackers, and she watched in astonishment as he ripped the Trankaran forces to pieces with the incredible firepower at his disposal. She was about to walk up to join him, when two more Trankaran soldiers ambushed John by the door, and sent him sprawling on his back.

She raised her laser rifle to open fire on them, when John's glossy white railgun got knocked from his hands, and slid across the ground past her feet. Turning to watch it, she saw it come to a halt just before the section of collapsed tunnel. She took a furtive glance behind her, and saw John rolling on the ground with a Trankaran soldier, and a wicked grin spread across her face.

***

Alyssa raised her right hand, and the metal beam trapping Rachel groaned in protest, lifting smoothly in her telekinetic grip. The brunette quickly crawled free, and when Alyssa offered her a hand, she took it and stood up swiftly.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Alyssa asked the young woman with concern, "Nothing's broken?"

Rachel nodded and smiled at her as she said, "I'm going to have to give Dana a big kiss for that one. I barely felt a thing when the beam fell on me. I might have a few bruises tomorrow, but I'm not in any pain."

Alyssa smiled at her, then the two of them quickly crouched behind the pillars that lined the ground floor passageway, ducking out of sight. They scanned the tunnels opposite but couldn't see any signs of Trankaran forces.

"Looks clear," Rachel said, "We probabl-."

Alyssa abruptly tuned out the brunette, as a gloating, triumphant voice appeared in her mind. One she had never heard through telepathy before.

*I will not be your plaything Mael'nerak. Arrogant fool, to discount me so easily. This ends now, and I can finally be free!*

She immediately recognised Irillith's voice, and with sudden shocking understanding, realised why she could suddenly hear her. *John!* she cried out to him in alarm, *Irillith's about to attack!*

Her eyes widened in horror as she suddenly remembered she was blocked from his mind.

***

Irillith smiled and shouldered her laser rifle. Powerful as it was, she'd witnessed hours of video footage where the Mael'nerak had discussed the laser reflective power of his armour with his harem. Even though she'd been delighted to get her hands on her laser rifle again, she knew it was far too risky to make an attempt on his life with it.

Now though, his very own rifle had dropped at her feet; the perfect tool to facilitate her escape from his clutches. Having witnessed the awesome destructive power these railguns possessed, she knew it would punch holes through him, just like it had done to those Trankarans. She grinned evilly, and leaned down to pick up the rifle. It was heavy, but she was a strong woman, the females of her species enhanced by the Progenitors. Yet another delicious irony, to compound her using his own weapon to destroy him. She gripped it in both hands, then stalked into the room after him, stopping in the doorway when she saw him rise to his feet. He looked up, his smiling face frozen as he stared down the barrel of his own weapon.

"This ends now, 'John', or should I just call you Mael'nerak?" she gloated. "I won't be serving you, or anyone else for that matter."

He finished standing slowly, his smile broadening into a cocky grin as he said, "You won't be able to shoot me. I've seen the looks you've been giving me. That overwhelming desire to be my obedient slave."

Irillith felt the dreadful truth in his words, and that caused her anger to flare, fuelling her desire for revenge. She aimed at him with the railgun, and tried to pull the trigger, but her finger wavered, refusing to obey her.

John laughed at her mockingly, and said, "You see now? Your body knows what you need, even if your mind hasn't caught up yet."

Focusing all her anger, and using it to fuel her will, Irillith mustered every last bit of mental strength she possessed, and with a surge of relief, yanked her finger down on the trigger.

"Click," the weapon went ominously, and she stared down at it in horror. Frantically turning it on its side, the magazine counter read "18", so she knew she had ammo.

John gave her a slow hand clap, chuckling as he said, "Your willpower is certainly impressive. It's going to make breaking you all the more delicious." Pausing for a moment, he quirked an eyebrow at her and said, "Turn over the gun."

Irillith did as he asked, turning the railgun in her hands, and she spotted a red light on the grip. She stared at him with a look of blank incomprehension, until he said, "DNA reader built into the grip. Dana must have thought you were too naughty to play with her toys."

She dropped the railgun with an inarticulate cry of rage, and reached for her laser rifle, just as she heard a strange searing hiss, and then a loud shriek to her right. Her right flank was suddenly a mask of scorching, burning agony, a torrid blistering heat more terrible than the lash of a neural whip, and she let out a tortured scream of pain. Staggering backwards through the doorway, she stared down at the melted holes in the side of her armour, where the Trankaran soldier coming down the stairs had just shot her. With a final desperate act to escape her torment, she took faltering steps over to the ledge, and flung herself over the precipice to be incinerated in the river of molten lava below.

***

Alyssa heard half the dialogue above her via Irillith's incensed inner voice, and she leapt to her feet, then started running for the doorway to the stairwell. She had just reached the doorway, when she heard Irillith's agonised scream, and a second later, she saw a flash of gold out of the corner of her eye.

*CATCH HER!!* John's mental voice thundered, sounding deafening as it echoed through her mind.

Acting on pure instinct, she reached out with her hand, and snatched Irillith from the air with a telekinetic net, preventing her from falling into the bubbling lava below. Alyssa beckoned with her hand, and the Maliri's golden armoured body came drifting towards her, writhing in anguish. She placed Irillith on the ground, just as Rachel ran over to join them, and the young doctor hurriedly knelt by the critically injured woman's side.

Glancing up at her a moment later, Rachel said, "This looks really bad. We've got to evac her immediately if we're going to have any chance of saving her."

Alyssa wanted to protest, but John's voice sounded in her mind again. *Take Rachel and Irillith, and return to the evac point. I'll join you shortly. I've got business to take care of with the Glowing Queen.*

Unable to deny his will, Alyssa nodded, then gestured to Irillith, lifting the tortured woman with her mind. "Let's get out of her," she said to Rachel firmly.

Rachel jumped to her feet, slung Irillith's laser rifle over her shoulder, and readied her Punisher Railgun at her shoulder. "I'll take point," she said bravely. "You have enough to deal with, levitating her out."

Alyssa nodded, and the two of them jogged back down the tunnels, with the thrashing golden armoured Maliri in tow.

***

John sighed with relief, no longer having to bother with the pretence any longer. He picked the railgun up off the floor with his left hand, and slung it over his shoulder, his sword still gripped in his right. He glanced up at the Trankaran soldier who was floating off the floor, his legs kicking frantically, as his hands clawed at the invisible fingers locked around his throat.

Smirking, John said, "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot about you. Now, I would spend some time making you pay for disrupting my plans, but I've got an urgent meeting with your Queen."

With a casual twist of his wrist, John ripped the Trankaran soldier's head from his body, then let the lifeless corpse clatter in a heap on the floor. He gripped his long sword tightly, and dancing Eldritch lightning began to twist and writhe up its length, moving as though alive, as it engulfed the blade. He began to run towards the stairs, and his form began to blur as he moved, travelling faster than the eye could track.

The next couple of rooms above him were empty, but in the third, two Trankaran soldiers gripped their weapons tightly, both their broad faces looking deeply worried. He paused for a split second, torn between continuing onwards, and stopping to indulge himself. One look at the brutes helped him make up his mind, and his face curled in a sneer of disgust. These creatures were appallingly ugly abominations, a twisted perversion that mocked the Progenitor ideals. He lunged forward, moving in a shimmering blur, and rammed his sword through the chest of the first creature. It let out a deep bellowing cry of agony as the lightning coursing along his blade lashed through its body, and with a casual flick of his sword arm, its convulsing corpse was sent slamming into the right wall. The second one stared at him in terror, which was the last expression on its hideous malformed features, as he lopped off its head with a broad sweep of his blade.

His rage momentarily sated, he dashed from the room with a satisfied smile on his face, flickering as he moved, with freakish, unnatural speed.

***

Alyssa jogged along behind Rachel as they backtracked along the pillared passageway, while keeping a close eye on Irillith when she could. They stuck to the left wall, trying to keep away from the gaps between the pillars as much as possible, and they were untroubled by Trankaran soldiers as they retreated. Rachel paused when they came to the end of the last tunnel, peering ahead warily at the downward sloping tunnel entrance.

*This might link up with the other tunnels,* Rachel thought to Alyssa tentatively.

Alyssa took a quick look ahead, then glanced at the ramp leading up to the next level, which would leave them exposed to anyone in the canyon above. *We can't risk getting lost in a maze of tunnels. We'd better just take our chances on the ramp, then we can follow the same path back out.*

The brunette nodded, and sprang into action, darting over to the basalt pillars to glance around for any enemies. Not seeing anyone in the immediate vicinity, she rushed up the ramp in short bounds, moving quickly to limit the amount of time she was visible.

Rachel's voice came through to Alyssa a few moments later, and she said, *I've got you covered. Come up whenever you're ready.*

Glancing behind her to check on the writhing Maliri, she felt a surge of panic tinged with relief when she realised Irillith had stopped convulsing in agony. *Irillith's not moving any more, so she's either dead or unconscious,* she replied, *We're coming up.*

Following the same path Rachel had taken, she ducked between the gaps in the pillars, then ran up the ramp with Irillith in tow. The brunette stepped out from cover ahead of her, and the tawny brown lioness on Rachel's shoulder snarled in anger as she opened fire at targets above them. Alyssa couldn't see if the shots struck home, but she heard a Trankaran's scream as he fell to his death behind her.

Alyssa ran through into the darker room at the end of the passageway she had just entered, and Rachel followed her in after Irillith had glided past her silently. Pausing for a moment, the blonde girl asked, *Do you want to check to see if she's still alive?*

Rachel shook her head and replied with a helpless shrug, *There's no point. I don't know anything about Maliri physiology, so I can't give her painkillers, or any other form of medication. I might end up accidentally poisoning her by trying to help her.*

Nodding her understanding, Alyssa took the left doorway and began the long run down the steep slope that would take them back to the loading area they had passed through earlier. She tried to contact the Raptor using the comm interface in her helmet, but was only receiving static. *Jade, can you hear me?* she asked in frustration, sending her thoughts out to the Nymph instead.

Jade's voice surged into her mind, and she immediately replied, *Yes, you're crystal clear. Is everything alright?*

*We're fine,* Alyssa replied with relief, as she ran down the curving passageway. *But Irillith's taken a nasty hit. We're evacuating now, and should be back at the jetty in about twenty-five minutes.*

*I'll be there, waiting,* Jade said with reassuring conviction.

***

John raced along the passageway, a trail of broken Trankaran corpses in his wake. Slaughtering these monstrosities had started to get boring, what with them moving in relative slow motion due to his psychically enhanced speed, and he sprinted through the guard room at the end of the tunnel without bothering to clear it.

The room beyond was a huge square stairwell, with a broad flight of stone steps spiralling upwards around the outer edge of the room, climbing skywards for at least another hundred metres. He started running up the stairs, taking two at a time as he rapidly ascended the staircase, appearing to be an indistinct white blur to the casual observer. The lower levels were clear, and he ascended the first half completely unopposed. However, he soon heard the sounds of dozens of heavy-booted feet making ponderous thumping sounds from up ahead.

Rounding the next couple of bends in the staircase, he came face-to-face with a squad of twenty Trankaran soldiers hurrying down the steps. When he paused to study them, they shouted booming cries of alarm, and raised their blocky rifles in anger. Glancing to his left, he grinned wickedly, and created a broad wall of force by the right edge of the room. The Trankarans began to fire at him, but the shots bounced off ineffectually, deflected by the magnetic field built into his glossy white armour. The Rockmen's angry bass shouts suddenly turned to ones of panic, as the telekinetic projection began to shove the rightmost members of the group into their fellows. John let out a dry chuckle, and with a mental surge, the wall shoved the entire squad of soldiers over the balcony. The stairwell reverberated with their booming cries, until there was a huge crash a couple of seconds later, and the seventy metre drop ended their terrified screams.