Three Square Meals Ch. 090

Before John could reply, the sound of heavy thumping footsteps reached his ears and a moment later, Legionnaire Volnir ran into the room. "Vice Admiral, the two females you asked us to watch out for are on their way!"

"That's our cue to leave," John said, narrowing his eyes as he glanced towards the entrance. Turning back to look at the diplomats who were hurrying into the room, he did a quick head count, pleased to see they were all there. "Okay, move out everyone. Let me know if we're setting too fast a pace."

As he strode out of the keep, Alyssa's flustered voice drifted into his mind. *You remember you asked us to warn you about mission creep? We're in one of those situations again...*

*What's the problem?* John asked, frowning with worry as he walked into the courtyard.

Ahead of him, the Trankaran soldiers who'd been guarding the wall had assembled by the gatehouse, the doors now unjammed and thrown wide open. In the distance, he could see Tashana and Irillith sprinting towards him.

*I won't bother you with the details, but we're dealing with it,* Alyssa replied, trying to sound confident, but there was a definite undercurrent of agitation to her words.

John was quiet for a moment. *Alright, I trust you. Is there anything I can do to help?*

*I know you're nearly out of juice, but I'm really sorry, I can't spare you any energy right now... Please don't use any more psychic abilities unless it's an absolute emergency!* she requested, sounding vexed. *I'm already tapping into my own reserves helping Sakura, and that future-vision thing you gave Calara sucks up power like a fucking vacuum! Then there was Irillith powering that train and Rachel healing the Trankarans... we're all running out of gas!*

Frowning in confusion, John asked, *Sakura? I thought she was supposed to be laying low until we evacuated?*

*Don't ask...* Alyssa grumbled sourly.

*No problem, I understand,* John replied, realising how dire the situation must be if she was asking him to back off on the power usage. *We expected this with Edraele out of action.*

*Yeah, and Jade too,* Alyssa grumbled. *She's normally my go-to gal! That Nymph's packing a fuckton of psychic energy, but I don't want to disturb her, not while she's... well, whatever it is she's doing.*

*No change then?* John asked, worrying about the lovely Nymph.

Alyssa's distress was obvious. *Afraid not.*

John stopped at the gate, then walked over to the decapitated Juggernaut he'd slain earlier. He tipped it up on its side and wedged it between a couple of enormous insectoid limbs. With a massive overhead blow he sliced it straight across the middle, then flipped the two halves onto the floor for Rachel's perusal. She winked at him in gratitude, crouching down to study the chartreuse-coloured interior.

Glancing back to check on his companions, he was pleased to see the group moving at a steady pace to keep up with him. He'd been worried that a few of them might slow the group down, but his concerns were unfounded. The Bolon was surprisingly quick, its gooey body slithering rapidly across the ground, while the Elmurgh moved in a rippling wave, raised up on a dozen protruding nodules. Tethered to the Ornalith by a pair of its long tendrils, the floating fungoid creature waved a prehensile appendage at John when he looked its way.

John sent his blonde Matriarch a reassuring telepathic smile. *Everything's well in-hand here, so don't worry about us, okay? Just focus on resolving the situation up there and we'll be back together again soon. You're amazing! You'll be able to handle anything the Kirrix throw at you!*

Her mood lightened with his warm praise and she even managed to laugh. *Thanks for being so understanding. I think I still get a fail grade as your Matriarch on this one though...*

*You're doing a brilliant job,* John protested, his tone sincere.

Alyssa's voice was full of emotion as she said, *I love you, handsome. Stay safe.*

*Likewise, beautiful,* he replied, before turning his attention to the twins.

Tashana was the first to arrive, skidding to a halt by the gates. "We've got more of those Juggernauts incoming! We backed off rather than engage them."

"Good girl," John said, then smiled at Irillith as she arrived. Remembering that the twins had been in constant combat since he'd left them, he asked, "Do you two need a quick rest before we move out? We've gathered the survivors, so we're ready to depart as soon as you are."

Irillith and Tashana glanced at each other and shrugged. "Why would we need to rest?" Irillith replied. Tashana nodded her agreement. "We're both fine."

A quick glance at their armoured chests revealed that neither was labouring for breath and he marvelled at their constitution... and the impressive view. Quickly turning back to the group approaching from behind, he saw that Sub-Warden Dhormun had twelve Trankaran Legionnaires with him, who all looked alert and ready for action.

"We'll clear the path, I want you to just focus on protecting the diplomats, okay?" John said to the Trankaran.

Dhormun hefted a glowing multi-barrelled fusion rifle in his huge hands. "That won't be a problem."

Rachel was already rising to her feet when he looked her way. "This specimen has four rather primitive brains," she said, pointing with her rifle to each of them in the Juggernaut's split cranium. "By the look of all these neural connectors, it must have a distributed nervous system too, with lots of backups and redundancies. Without being able to confirm that theory with a thorough autopsy, I can only assume that's why they're so hard to kill."

"So just do a shitload of damage to their heads?" Dana asked, peering over the brunette's shoulder at the cracked-open Kirrix skull. "Fucking up all four brains will kill it?"

"Based on the way John killed this one, that seems a valid conclusion," Rachel replied. "It stopped moving almost immediately after he decapitated it."

Sub-Warden Dhormun gave John a dubious glance. "You expect me to believe you engaged one of these Kirrix demons in melee combat?!"

"I saw it with my own eyes," Legionnaire Volnir muttered in a bass rumble. "I'd never seen anything like it..." The rest of the Trankaran soldiers who'd been up on the wall, rumbled similar sentiments.

"No time for that now," John said modestly. "Let's move out everyone!"

The group set out a brisk pace, with John and the girls forming the vanguard. The Trankarans split up, with Dhormun and six Legionnaires in front of the diplomats, while the other half covered the rear of their formation. They made good time through the shattered ruins of Hol Darim Fortress, crossing the Bridge and travelling through the first of the tunnels the Kirrix had carved through the walls. John noticed Tashana glancing back at the Bolon diplomat, the dark glower on her beautiful face quite out of character for the cheerful and friendly young woman. He knew the reason behind that baleful glance, but he was more concerned that she did too.

Activating the internal comm system in his suit, he asked quietly, "Are you alright, honey?"

She jumped at the sound of his voice, then met his probing gaze. "I'll be fine. Just... the Bolon... it's very unsettling."

"Just focus on the Kirrix for now," John said, his voice soothing.

Tashana flushed a dark blue and whispered back. "Sorry, I won't let myself get distracted again."

John patted her on the shoulder, then strode through the last tunnel, which led out onto the plateau outside Hol Darim Fortress. He blinked in surprise at the walls of corpses stacked ten-high in places, big holes melted through every single one of the insectoid cadavers.

Irillith winked at him as he admired her handiwork. "It got pretty busy."

"Yeah, I can see that," John said with a wry smile. "You focus on the Kirrix drones and overseers, then leave the Juggernauts to us."

"Got it," she said eagerly, striding forward with the long barrel of her Pulse Cannon leading the way.

Sub-Warden Dhormun restrained John from moving further, his weighty paw of a hand holding John's armoured bicep with a firm grip. "Where's the rest of your forces, Vice Admiral Blake?" he asked curtly. "We can't risk leaving the safety of the fortress without a proper escort to the surface!"

"There's five of us here!" Dana exclaimed, winking at the big Trankaran as she strolled past. "That's plenty!"

"Wait! You're telling me it's just you?!" he thundered, looking at them all aghast.

"John, we've got incoming," Tashana warned him, as Irillith's Pulse Cannon began to sing its deadly song.

John grasped Dhormun's armoured gauntlet, then effortlessly peeled the Trankaran's hand from his left arm. The Trankaran's eyes widened at this casual display of herculean strength.

"Leave the Kirrix to us. Guard the diplomats," John reiterated calmly, before striding away.

Shouldering his Quantum rifle, John glanced at the girls as he walked past their firing line towards the closest of the Juggernauts.

"Time for a demonstration?" Dana whispered to him over their suit comms, a cheeky grin on her face.

"It'll save a lot of time," John muttered, drawing his gleaming two-handed sword.

Quickening his pace into a loping run, John jogged towards the closest of the towering onyx abominations. He was flanked by a torrent of blue laser bolts as Irillith massacred the front ranks of the Kirrix troops, a shrill chorus of Kirrix death shrieks heralding John's charge. Quantum weapons pumped out a steady stream of hyper-accelerated rounds, smashing through the closely-packed insectoid forces and helping to clear him a path.

The Juggernaut lowered its head to counter-charge, four massive legs pumping up and down as it barrelled towards John. He saw it follow the same attack patterns as the first he'd engaged, jerking both arms back as it got ready to cut him down when they clashed. Seconds before that moment, John activated his psychic speed, moving in a blur as he covered the last ten metres. Catching the Juggernaut completely by surprise, he ducked under its outstretched arm and skidded to a halt beside it. Bringing his sword down in a titanic looping blow, he aimed the devastating strike at the narrower point between its armoured torso and huge abdomen, his blade biting deep before slashing free on the other side in a thick spray of blood.

With three more rapid chops he finished the job, hacking the Juggernaut in half. John impaled the quivering abdomen with his sword, then let go of the hilt and grabbed the creature's disembowelled upper body. Grunting with the strain, he heaved the colossal beast above his head, its arms and legs thrashing impotently. He pivoted to his right then hurled it over the ledge, the multi-ton abomination sailing through the air before it splashed down in the lava lake below. The creature howled in agony, bladed arms flailing about as it sank into the fiery magma.

Cancelling his speed, John drew his rifle, and joined the girls in gunning down row after row of Kirrix soldiers, his four companions strode across the plateau to flank him. Dana was helping the other girls cut a bloody swathe through the bug forces, but she darted him a smirk as she passed by. John winked back at her, then paused to retrieve his sword, wiping off the worst of the green intestines on the Juggernaut's bloody carapace before sheathing the blade across his back.

Turning to look back at the Trankarans and diplomats, he suppressed a smile when he saw their open-mouthed expressions of awe - those that possessed a mouth at least. "We've got a bit of a trek back to the ship," he called back to them. "Just let me know if we're moving too quick for you to keep up, alright?"

***

The Invictus leapt into the fray once more, hitting the left side of the formation in the flank and eliminating the first carrier with a Nova Lance and Singularity Driver combo. That left five more carriers to go, but as much as Calara would have dearly loved to just sit back and pick them off at extreme range, they had run out of time for those kinds of tactics.

The planet Khalgron loomed ahead of them and she'd seen what would happen if the Invictus didn't stop them all...

~~~

Alyssa backed off, pulling their battlecruiser out of range of the Kirrix guns, rather than risk a close-quarters slugfest. They had destroyed two more carriers, but three escaped Calara's wrath. That trio of Kirrix capital ships entered the planet's atmosphere, holding position a mile above the city surface. Rolling so that they could bring their broadside batteries to bear, they began to bombard the city, scores of neutron beams raining down in a terrifying maelstrom of destruction. As fast as Sakura was, she hadn't been able to get clear in time. One of the beams struck the Valkyrie, blowing off its leg and sending the mech careening out of control. It slammed into a skyscraper, leaving Sakura stunned by the mighty impact. Then the second salvo came down, the Asian girl staring up at the sky in a daze as the sickly green beams lanced towards her...

~~~

...Shaking away the terrible visions, Calara gritted her teeth as she focused on the second drone carrier. There was no way she was allowing that future to come to pass.

Charging into their ranks, the Invictus' opening salvo of Photon Lasers and Singularity Driver shells tore the second carrier apart, a reactor breach enveloping the stricken ship in a blazing supernova. The Kirrix were terrified of having their EMP torpedoes shot out from under them again, so the girls didn't have to face that particular danger. However, with no choice but to destroy the remaining carriers whatever the cost, that meant slugging it out with them at medium range.

"You're sure about this?" Alyssa asked for the third time, wincing as she tried to dodge through the crossfire of beams from the next two carriers.

"There's no other way," Calara said helplessly, her fingers dancing over the weapon controls like a concert pianist.

The drone carrier facing their topdeck was the audience for that deadly tune, played out in the glorious carnage she was reaping on the Kirrix vessel. The Invictus' Heavy Cannons blasted their massive shells into the Kirrix ship, the barrels jerking backwards with the thunderous recoil. A dozen explosions ripped into the carrier, the devastating barrage aimed at the same location amidships and fracturing its battered ochre hull. The capital ship sheared in half along that faultline, the front half torn apart in a shower of debris as the rear section battered it out of the way, engines flaring out of control.

In retaliation, a fusillade of neutron beams from the second carrier slashed across the Invictus' prow, knocking out the last of their shields. In the Combat Bridge a red warning light flashed and a keening note echoed around the room.

"Faye, turn that shit off!" Alyssa snapped at the AI. "We know the fucking shields are out!"

The purple sprite nodded, shutting down the alarms while her team of avatar gunners worked seamlessly to eviscerate the closest Kirrix cruiser. The Invictus hurtled past and the two vessels exchanged savage broadsides, blue and green beams lancing back and forth, bridging the gap between them.

The drone carrier got by far the worst of that exchange, Faye's shot with the rear-mounted Photon Lasers piercing straight through the underbelly of the vessel and blazing out the other side. The decompression across two decks spewed Kirrix crew out into space, forming a long plume of writhing insectoids. Calara's secondary salvo with their Gauss Cannons battered the armour further along the hull, cracking open its plating and leaving it exposed to the wrath of Faye's defence grid. The subsequent hurricane of Pulse Cannon bolts melted through superstructure and burned deep into the Kirrix hull, setting fires raging across several decks.

Unfortunately, the Kirrix managed to strike back despite the horrific abuse their ship had sustained. A score of neutron beams blasted out at the Invictus, the Kirrix spreading out their shots in the vague hope that something would hit the extremely nimble battlecruiser. The Invictus took four hits to the underbelly, gouging trenches in the white plating and marring its spotless surface. It wasn't enough to penetrate the armour and cause any real damage, but the fight wasn't over yet. That Kirrix vessel might have sustained terrible damage, but it was still intact, as were the rest of the picket ships and three more unscathed capital ships...

***

John aimed his rifle at the Overseer with the missile launcher, squeezing the trigger as the bulky insect tried to aim the heavy weapon his way. His shot streaked above the heads of the smaller Kirrix and slammed into the Overseer's ornate helmet, the ridged yellow armour providing scant protection against the railgun round. Its head exploded, showering the nearby Kirrix in gore before the Overseer toppled over lifelessly. When its body hit the ground, the jolt triggered the missile launcher, sending its highly-explosive ordnance into the ranks of closely packed troops. A score of ragged Kirrix corpses were blasted into the air by that detonation, raining down sticky body parts on the surrounding troops.

"John, what about these side-tunnels?" Rachel asked, her rifle blazing as she pumped a three-round burst into a squad of drones. "Can we avoid the horde and just go up to the surface?"

He shook his head, looking over to his left and the yawning tunnel entrance that opened out onto a broad ramp. It was the fourth such passageway they had walked past. "There's a hive ship near the exits for all these tunnels. We'd get blasted by neutron beams if we tried going out that way!"

Rachel nodded, but he could see the frustration in her eyes, a feeling he fully shared. Since they'd moved into the pillar-lined gallery, the Kirrix death shrieks had merged into one ceaseless high-pitched dirge, the grating sound making his ears hurt and giving him a headache. He longed to escape from this gruelling battle as much as any of them.

John glanced to the right, where Irillith was leading their assault, her underslung Pulse Cannon mowing down Kirrix troops by the score. Her eyes were narrowed in tight focus, a slight frown of concentration on her face as she swept that deadly blue stream over the insectoid forces. Seeing her slaughtering his enemies gave him an electrifying sense of elation and he shivered, closing his eyes for a moment to shake off that thrilling feeling.

"Get ready, another one of those big fuckers!" Dana yelled to them in warning.

John's eyes snapped open and he swung his rifle around, dropping the crosshairs over its huge head. This Juggernaut seemed to have learned from its predecessors' mistakes and it jinked around as it charged, huge arms crossed in front of its head to protect itself. John flipped his fire-selection switch to three-round burst and he joined Rachel, Dana, and Tashana in hammering the huge beast with hyper-accelerated slugs.

The air came alive with blue contrails as the four of them unloaded on the Juggernaut, punching holes through its heavily reinforced arms and landing shots on the head behind as well. John managed to hit the monster directly under the right mandible, blowing the creature's jaw apart. Green blood spurted out from that ghastly wound, a sizeable portion of the right side of its head now missing. He watched his ammo counter go down as he joined the girls in pummelling the huge beast, slowing its charge with the sheer weight of fire they were pumping into it. Finally, it stumbled forward and sprawled across the metallic floor, its forearms and head nothing more than ragged stumps.

"Fuck! My shields are out!" Dana swore, crouching down behind a pile of Kirrix dead to avoid a volley of neutron bolts as she reloaded her rifle.