Three Square Meals Ch. 053

He ran up the remaining stairs without encountering anyone, and burst through the double doors at the top of the room, out onto the ground level of the Radiant Palace. With a glance at his helmet GUI, he brought up the Palace schematics, and went over the route from his current location to the vault. When he began running again, his eyes sparkled with a dark and hungry gleam.

***

Rachel led the way down the last section of the ramp into the disused loading area, with her rifle raised and at the ready, in case there was an ambush. The room seemed just as melancholy as the first time they'd passed through it, the long forgotten carts rusted and abandoned. Although there was no one in the room, they could hear the sounds of raised voices coming from the doorway on the opposite side of the room, and the alarm had obviously been raised in the forge.

Not willing to hang around in case they were discovered, Alyssa hopped off the platform, then switched to mag-view, and began to follow the gloomy tunnel back down to the lower levels. Rachel kept her weapon trained on the darkened passageway opposite, providing cover until Alyssa had disappeared out of sight, with Irillith floating lifelessly behind her. The brunette slipped smoothly and silently off the platform, then jogged to catch up with her friend.

They made good time down the passageway, and only slowed when they reached the open section that was edged with pillars along the right-hand side. Alyssa glanced around the corner cautiously, and saw the Trankaran forge workers having an energetic discussion in the centre of the room. Satisfied that they were engrossed in their heated argument, she crossed over to the left side of the passage, and began to jog along the tunnel. Rachel kept pace with her, running along behind Irillith, and they managed to clear the entire length of exposed tunnel without being spotted.

Stopping once they were safely tucked out of sight, Alyssa turned to look back at Rachel and asked, *Are you alright? Need a break, or shall we keep going?*

Rachel gave her a thumbs up, the friendly gesture appearing clearly in the magnetic filter in Alyssa's helmet. *I'm not even slightly out of breath! John gave my body one heck of an upgrade,* Rachel replied. She looked at Alyssa with concern, then asked, *Are you alright though? You're levitating Irillith as well.*

Mention of their lover, made Alyssa feel a mixture of conflicting emotions, but strongest of all she was deeply worried about John's apparent loss of control to his Progenitor alter-ego. She shrugged off her concerns, and not wanting to alarm the brunette, nodded while replying, *Sure, I'm fine. We better keep moving, and hope John rejoins us soon.*

They set off again at a quick pace, jogging along the passage, with Irillith gliding through the air behind them. All they had to do was cover one last stretch of tunnel, then they'd be back at the jetty by the lake of lava, and the safety of the Raptor at their extraction point.

***

John finally came to a halt deep within the Palace, and stared up at the huge circular metal door that sealed the vault. The metal on this enormous reinforced portal was five-feet-thick, and was strong enough to withstand laser cannon blasts. He probably could have hacked his way through eventually, but it would have taken forever, and he had pressing business elsewhere. He strode up to the doorway, ignoring the enormous metal door for the moment, and examined the wall by the side. Recalling the design of the vault, from the detailed schematics that Senator Vamred had given him, he measured a point about five feet above the ground.

Lifting his sword, he used the tip to score an "X" on the wall, the quadruple forged Alyssium blade having no problem cutting through the solid volcanic rock. Drawing back his arms, he lunged forward, and drove his blade into the wall right up to the hilt. The hideous grinding shriek of metal on metal let him know he'd hit the right spot, the tip of his blade shearing through the layers of armour plating protecting the power feed for the door, and neatly severing the connection.

He concentrated for a moment, and sent a pulsating coil of lightning up the blade, which arced out, tripping the emergency override for the vault door. With a shuddering rumble, the door began to slowly grind open, revealing the stunned faces of the several Trankarans hiding within. John yanked his sword out of the wall, and strode through the partially opened vault door, a sly grin spreading across his face.

The Trankaran rebel leaders were standing in a large chamber, gathered around a ten-sided meeting table. Four of them were male, looking just as hideously ugly as the rest of their grey, slab-faced brethren. However, the one in the middle, standing directly opposite him, was a female, and one look at her let him know he'd found the Glowing Queen. Her eyes had a transcendent orange glow to them, and the skin on her arms, and her bald head, had long flowing amber lines curving around them. The lines throbbed and pulsed, brightly illuminating the room with their rhythmic tempo.

"Your majesty," he said with a mocking bow, "I humbly request an audience."

The four male Trankarans rushed forward to valiantly defend their Queen, and John brandished his sword with an elegant flourish. Speeding up once again, he darted to the left, and used his momentum to bring his sword around in a blindingly fast slash at the first Trankaran's throat. The razor sharp blade made a horrible grinding noise as it sheared through his rocky neck, neatly decapitating the first of her most trusted warriors.

The second turned and tried to bring his heavy rifle to bear, but John simply sidestepped, then cut the eight-foot-tall soldier in half with an arcing backhanded swing. The third pulled a massive hammer from his back, the blocky head embedded with runes, and he attacked John with a powerful two-handed swing. John ducked the blow effortlessly, then stabbed upwards with his blade, spearing the Trankaran under the chin, and driving the point up through its brain with a sickening crunch.

The final warrior staggered backwards, retreating from the lethal melee as he fired repeatedly at this lethal interloper, who was busy butchering his fellow Trankarans. The last warrior was wielding a fusion rifle, and one of his frantic shots hit John in the right arm, just as he was finishing off the third of the Queen's guard. The searing energy blast caused the white armour plate to warp, buckling with the intense heat, and John glanced over at the final Trankaran warrior in anger. He raised his sword back over his shoulder, then snapped it forward in a flash, his whole arm moving too fast for the eye to follow. John released the long blade, and sent it whirling end over end, flying towards its target with deadly accuracy. It slammed into the fourth soldier, lifting him off his feet, and sending him flying backwards through the air. The blade sank deep into the wall, pinning the Trankaran in place, and he stared down in horror at the sword impaling him through the chest.

John walked over to it at a leisurely pace, then took hold off the grip in his right hand. There was a sharp cracking sound as the heat was sucked out of the air, and the blade of his sword was suddenly shrouded in frost. The alien soldier looked down at it aghast, as creeping tendrils of ice began to spread out, freezing his body from the inside out. His terrified scream was abruptly cut off as he froze in place, and when John hauled the blade from his chest, his ice-riven body tipped face first onto the floor, shattering into dozens of pieces.

The Glowing Queen backed away slowly, an expression of pure dread on her face, as John turned and stalked towards her. Her eyes were drawn like magnets to the blue-white crystals that drifted off the freezing cold blade, and she could feel its deathly chill from the other side of the room.

John's face darkened with a sinister smile as he said, "Now that that unpleasantness is over with, why don't you and I have a nice little chat about your master..."

***

The light from the molten lava lake seemed blindingly bright after the oppressive gloom of the Trankaran tunnels. Alyssa blinked her eyes rapidly as she quickly adjusted to the glare, and she sighed with relief as she saw Jade approaching in the gleaming white gunship. The Nymph brought the Raptor down to land a few metres in front of them, and the loading ramp began to open before she had touched down.

Turning around to check on Rachel, she saw that the brunette was standing next to Irillith, leaning over so she could carefully examine the scorched holes in the side of her golden armour. *Is she still alive?* Alyssa asked ambivalently.

Rachel turned and looked up at her, her expression full of concern as she replied, *Yes, but not for much longer.*

Alyssa looked back at the entrance to the tunnel, and wondered just how long John was going to be. She was astonished when he strode out into the light a few seconds later, carrying some kind of cloth-wrapped bundle under his left arm.

"We're done. Let's go," he said, glancing once at Irillith, and nodding with satisfaction that she was still alive.

The blonde girl gaped at him as he strode past her, and she muttered, "How did you get back here so fast? I thought you were going after the Glowing Queen?"

He didn't bother to turn, and began walking up the loading ramp as he said over his shoulder without emotion, "She's dead. I guess I'm just a fast runner..."

Alyssa stared at him, not sure what to make of his reply, then hurried to board the gunship, bringing Irillith with her. The comatose Maliri floated up the loading ramp with Rachel at her side, and as soon as they were all safely back inside the Raptor, Jade sealed up the ship and took off.

Alyssa paused in the front loading room, and asked Rachel, *What's the plan? How are you going to treat her?*

Rachel stared into her eyes and replied, *I think we both know the only thing that's likely able to save her life.* Turning, she glanced at John as he strolled out of the room, heading for the cockpit.

Alyssa's beautiful features looked even more worried, as she said, *I think you're right, but we better pray the three doses rule applies.*

Rachel gave her a fervent nod as she asked, *Can you imagine being stuck with Irillith for eternity?*

Alyssa shuddered and shook her head. *Don't...* she replied plaintively.

She looked down at the unconscious Maliri woman, who was floating motionless at her side, then gently lowered her to the ground. Rachel knelt down next to her, and asked, "Can you help me remove her armour? We need to see how bad the wound is."

Nodding, Alyssa knelt down beside the critically injured woman, and began searching the armour for some way to release it. She closed her eyes for a moment, and tapped into the psychic echoes surrounding Irillith's golden body armour. She watched a faint image of the Maliri angrily removing her armour, touching concealed pressure points to unlock the plated sections. Moving her hands in the same motions, Alyssa began to unlatch each piece with a satisfying click.

***

It took them ten minutes to get into orbit, and make it back to the asteroid belt that was concealing the Invictus. Jade coasted around the last of the asteroids, and she smiled with relief when she spotted the glossy white hull of the assault cruiser, and the slowly opening door to the hangar. She brought them in for a graceful landing inside the ship, and quickly activated the loading ramp, whilst shutting down the engines.

*We're here,* she thought to Alyssa, as she quickly rushed through the post-flight shutdown.

The blonde girl's voice came back to her immediately, and said, *We're going to take Irillith up to Medical. She's not going to last much longer, but Rachel's going to give her a full body scan to see if there's anything she can do. I think we might need you to nurse her, as that's probably going to be the only way we can keep her alive.*

Jade stood from the pilot's chair and glanced back at John. *He's asleep!* she informed Alyssa in surprise.

There was a long pause before her blonde friend replied, but when she did, she sounded relived, *Good. Hopefully he might be back to normal when he wakes up. We don't have much time, so try and wake him up now if you can.*

*Will do,* Jade replied, as she walked over to squat down next to John where he lay slumped in his chair, slumbering peacefully.

She carefully removed his helmet, and leaned in to give him a tender kiss on his cheek. She then pressed her lips to his ear, and whispered alluringly, "Wake up master! Your loving Nymph needs a belly full of cum."

John's eyelids blinked open, and he looked up at Jade's beautiful face as she loomed over him. He smiled at her affectionately and said, "Hey Jade, it's lovely to see you."

"It's wonderful to see YOU too," she replied earnestly, but he didn't pick up on her double meaning.

He yawned and stretched, then looked confused as he asked, "What's going on? And why am I in armour?"

She studied him for a long moment, wondering just how much he was aware of. "We just assassinated the Glowing Queen for the Trankarans. You returned to the ship carrying that," she said, pointing at the mysterious object placed on the seat beside him.

He glanced down at the cloth-wrapped bundle, and tentatively peeled back the top of the material. The cloth fell away wetly, revealing a female Trankaran head, her expression hideously twisted by her final tortured scream. They both spotted the eerily glowing lines flowing around her head, and the slowly fading light in her horror stricken eyes. John quickly covered the head again with the cloth, then looked up at Jade with a frown.

His expression was one of distaste as he said, "That's a pretty grisly trophy. Whose idea was that?"

She tilted her head to one side and said, "Yours. You decided not to discuss your plans with us."

He looked shocked, then deeply troubled, and when he gazed up at her once again, she saw fear in his eyes as he said, "I'm losing control to Progenitor-John, aren't I? These blackout periods are getting longer, and even the time in between seems a bit hazy. This feels like the first time I've been able to think clearly in weeks."

Jade started to speak, and hesitated for only a short moment, but her hesitation was all the answer he needed.

She reached out to gently trace her fingers down the side of his face, following his jawline, and looking at him lovingly, she said, "Don't worry. We're trying to find a way to help you."

He heaved a sigh, and nodded, then rose unsteadily to his feet, letting out another big yawn. "I feel absolutely wasted," he complained. "Have I been running a marathon or something?"

Jade replied in a quiet voice, "I don't have enough time to fill you in on all the details. We need your help though. Irillith's been very badly wounded, and Alyssa's asked me to help heal her."

Several emotions flashed over John's face as he tried to process all this new information at once, and he eventually said, "OK, is Irillith up in Medical?"

"She is," Jade replied, "but first we have some pressing business in the cabin." Smiling at him coyly, she walked out of the cockpit, beckoning him to follow with her finger.

***

Rachel pressed a couple of buttons on the medi-scanner, and Irillith was shrouded in a blue light, as the machine gave her a full body scan. The Maliri woman was dressed in a skintight jumpsuit, and was currently unconscious, which was a small blessing considering the horrific gaping wound in her flank. Dana walked into the Medical Bay a moment later, and she strolled over to join Alyssa and Rachel, who were standing on either side of the medi-scanner. She glanced down at Irillith, then grimaced at the hideous holes burned into the Maliri's lower torso.

"I don't like the girl, but damn! That must have hurt like hell," she said with a hint of sympathy in her voice.

Alyssa glanced over at her and nodded as she said, "I've never heard a scream of pain like it. She was in absolute agony until she finally blacked out."

Dana looked regretful as she said, "I did offer to upgrade her armour. I wish she'd listened to me."

Rachel glanced up at the two of them and said, "Tell me about it. If she'd agreed to let me examine her when I asked, I might be in a better position to help her now. As it is, I'm flying completely blind here."

Alyssa locked eyes with the brunette, and asked, "There must be something you can do? Some kind of surgery and then sew her up again afterwards?" As she glanced down at the terribly burned blue flesh, she realised how ridiculous her question was.

Rachel smiled at her gently, then shook her head, as she replied in a quiet voice, "I'd already be in my scrubs if I thought I could operate successfully. We've only got one option, I'm afraid."

The door to the Medical Bay opened, and John hurried inside, with Jade following close behind him. Her breasts were hugely inflated, swollen with his load, and she glided over to join them, somehow managing to move elegantly while carrying all the extra weight on her chest. John walked briskly over to one of the cryo-storage units and placed the cloth-wrapped bundle inside before sealing it up again. Walking over to stand by the girls, he looked down at Irillith, and his eyes automatically flitted to the site of her injury.

He flinched when he saw the charred and ragged wound that disfigured Irillith's flank, and exclaimed, "That looks appalling! How is she still alive?"

Rachel glanced at the scan results and replied, "Her anatomy isn't too dissimilar to a Terran's, and these molten rounds didn't hit anything vital, which probably would have killed her instantly. I've removed any bullet fragments I could find, but they did some terrible damage to the tissue in her lower right torso. Jade will need to feed her soon if you want her to survive."

John looked down at the grievously wounded Maliri woman, and then glanced up at Rachel with a look of compassion on his face. "Can you wake her? We need to give her the choice."

Rachel checked the medi-scanner and studied the preliminary drug-toxicity analysis, then nodded. She reached for a hypo-syringe, quickly filled it with a clear fluid from a bottle in a drawer by the scanner, and brought it up to Irillith's neck. Before she activated it she looked at the others and said compassionately, "It would be kinder to give her a little privacy for this. Would you girls leave John and I alone with her for a moment, please?"

They nodded, and walked swiftly from the room without raising any objections. Once the door swished closed behind them, Rachel pressed the button on the hypo-syringe, and injected the mild stimulant into Irillith's neck. A few seconds later, her angular violet eyes fluttered open, and she let out a low cry as she twisted in agony, then groaned with the indescribable pain in her torso.

"Irillith," John said to her in a firm voice. "We can help you, but I want your consent first."

She twisted and thrashed, not listening to him, and when she glanced down at the scorched wound in her flank, her eyes went wide with shock and fear. Her arms began to tremble violently, and she moaned with the pain, before finally looking up, and seeing Rachel looming over her.

"Help me! Please!" Irillith begged through gritted teeth, her beautiful features twisted in agony.

Rachel stared into her eyes, and said urgently, "Only John can heal you now. You've seen the videos, you know how he can save you."

An expression of dread crossed Irillith's face, and she shrank back, then sobbed, "No! Anything but that! You must be able to do something?!"

Rachel shook her head, the expression on her face sincere and full of pity, as she said, "It's the only way. I'm sorry, I don't know enough about your species to be able to help you with conventional Terran medicine."