Three Square Meals Ch 84 - Complete!

I was thinking about new girls a couple of blonds. And the other three from the Badlands need more beautiful Kat's how about Jade's pride, and a certain consort as the dragon girl

wildcat 1986

Finally got to read this chapter looking forward to the next one. I don't think they will leave the new girl behind and unprotected she will be on special assignment with the lion

wildcat 1986

Thanks for letting me know about that one! It's never too late for edits! :-)

Tefler

Tefler, I know that the final version has already been released, but I wanted to just point out one more issue that I noticed on my last reread. "they’d being pushing" should probably be "they’d been pushing"

Evan

Let's hope they use Jehanna actively with them to facilitate spaceports...mAlthough using her like a 3rd matriarch at Terra n convert female admirals would work too... Can't wair for it.

JK, possible. Given Dana and the rest of Terran crew have come from an uncontrolled genetic development experiment of Mael, then the advantage the John has is the ability to think and expand technology off tangents. If you are working of precoded data on the genetic strands (nice allusion to the cutting edge science of today) than logical deductions, you are forced into the same/same of stagnation, however advanced that is in comparison to the current status quo. Given, the massive advances that each crew member has made (genetically and evolutionary), then the potential flaws of Progenitor design will begin to show themselves to the crew, and be exploitable, even if at this stage it looks like they are toddlers playing with a supercomputer. Just think about all the stuff 200 years ago that were thought to be impossible, that we take for every day thoughts. The one I like the best is it was thought that going at 100 mph would cause a mans death, compared to the fastest thing available to ride (a horse) then 100 mph was impossible, now it seems 100 mph is a must not a max.

A thought has occurred to me with regards to the Progenitor tech Dana is putting together. In light of her putting a fail safe back door into the tech John has given the TFed, what are the odds that such a fail safe exists in the Progenitor tech schematics that Dana is obtaining via John? We know that this tech is not being "developed" by Dana, instead coming from knowledge locked in her DNA, but does that mean it can be trusted to be safe? Dana doesn't have a full understanding of the tech, so I think it probable that there is a back door that another Progenitor, or perhaps whoever John's sire is, can exploit to cripple the Invictus. This could be a greater and more likely threat than the possibility of another Progenitor manipulating the psychically reactive Crystal Alyssium of the ship.

Jedi Khan

He might have been a non-cyborg despite just about everyone on Mikaboshi's staff being full cyborgs, but it could be that "Peter Koeman" is just an alias. The Peter that bought the implant 70 years ago might not have been the same Peter that tried to bribe John. Or it could be that the Peter Koeman we know might have been Peter Koeman, Jr. or even Peter Koeman IV.

Jedi Khan

One thing is bothering me about this chapter. Timing. If Peter Koeman is the one on record who bought Sakura's cybernetic implant, and she received it over seventy years earlier, how old was he when he recently passed on, and how old was he when he purchased it? He was fully human, no?

Evan

I think this is going to be the final version. I made a minor tweak last night, but that should be the last.

Tefler

Hey Tefler, while the post says the chapter is finished (and only minor things still needed), I was wondering if you have an idea of when the final version/tag will be put in? Don't know if it has already been answered, can't see a post above in the comments about it. :-)

The Terran Federation are kind of like me when I play a 4x space game on the PC. Basically hungering after everyone else's tech and planets! :-)

Tefler

Tefler i have to say i am loving how you are really showing the strength of greed that humanity has in this story. i mean the TFed has one of the strongest beings in the galaxy batting for them and thru him the ability to field 2 more highly advanced fleets should the need arise( i am thinking of the malari and the "greys) couple with the fact that he just handed them technology that was decades if not centuries ahead of what they had.. and they still felt the need to attempt to steal his ship...

Morris Crawford

I'm hoping that John comes across the grave of some, so he can revive them.

DemonHunterCole

Kenny, it has to do with vectored energy and impact area...As an example, I have been able to put a regular plastic drinking straw through a 4 inch thick potato...easy to do if you know how. Another example is the fact that a bullet proof vest can be penetrated by an ice pick. The two impacts are completely different in their physics. A cyborg with enhanced speed and strength, with a sharp sword, could do it. This is one reason why I am pushing the use of a Graphene skrim within both the body armor and the panels on the ships. Such a scrim would be tough enough to withstand such a puncture. It is also why I have suggested using an anti-grav tube on the ends of the Nova Lances to compress the 100 meter impact area down to a 10 meter impact area...with the better heat sinks and Progen capacitors/power distribution nodes it is conceivable to up the power per square centimeter to 20 times the current power levels...which could very well be a game changer for attacking Dreadnought class (and above) ships...even with Brimorian shields.

PLRus--Founding member of the TSM F5 club.

Hmm! Didn't think ordinary swords would be able to penetrate their armor suits!

Arakasi

Thanks John! Just working on it now. :-)

Tefler

Thanks Kin. :-) I enjoyed wrapping up the Mikaboshi arc... it's been a long time coming!

Tefler

Thanks Evan, I've made some changes. :-)

Tefler

Hey John. Thanks for the feedback! I'm glad you liked the comedic moments. :-)

Tefler

Good call, thanks!

Tefler

A fantastic chapter. A very nice roll up of the Mikaboshi story arc. Can't wait to see the next chapter.

Tefler, you might want to update your Overview to reflect that you're now working on Chapter 85, rather than that Chapter 83 is finished.

Evan

Finaly I was able to read this chapter... Tefler you've outdone yourself again! An amazing chapter! I loved it!

Kin Asdi

Might we have more nymphs? I was hoping that the assassins would have one or three. Jade can't be the last.

Benj

i like C.G. William and his sci-fi, and suggest his stuff for some addiction distraction. and i think the guy's worth more than 81 patrons.

keen_FlattendHedgeHog

Tefler, a few minor tweaks for you to consider. The Paragon suit locked the twins -- suit should be plural, suits. need to sign it off -- usually written as: need to sign off on it radius of our long-range sensors. -- range and radius are not always the same in this context. Do you mean range, here?

Evan

Loved the ending and bits of humor, cracked up when Alyssa ... merged them. BRAVO!! The amount of sex is well calibrated too. Can't wait for the next one.

Hinterlands Man

Hey Tefler, given we are now at $1950/ch have you thought about what "surprise" you can spring on us when we reach $2000/ch? Have a few ideas if you need prompting....

Wookey

1. Don't know about the Admiralty so much as the aftermath of the bombing and kidnapping. There's the question of green dinosaurs to be dealt with plus Rachel may want to have a look at the injured from the bombing and there's how Jehanna joining the crew will be handled so I think they could do with a holiday! Maybe a weeks skiing instead of two? 2. The Eden trip will only take a day, they want to visit Sakura's parents grave as well as Rachel's father for a quick "Hi Dad, this is my boyfriend, except he's asked me to marry him and I've accepted so he's actually my fiancée, this is my girlfriend who's also his fiancée and they're all an assortment of other fiancée's and lovers" 3. It's possible but the Maliri fleets are undergoing an extensive re-fit at the moment so with that and sending cover for the Ashanath Edraele is probably a bit short at the moment. There's also the issue that the Invictus is way faster than anything except probably the 'Black Ship' but I'm sure that if needs must a few battleships and a couple of carriers could be rustled up. 4. Let's see what else is there? A trip to the Trankarans to get supplies for the new space stations. I feel sure we'll be bumping into the Enshunu again. There's the crashed Progenitor vessel on Arcadia which may also hold clues to John's father (and mother come to that) And since Arcadia is deep in Kirrix space will we be seeing those numpties who were heading that way on a peace mission? Then there's Sergeant Gibbons transfer to Terra, I expected he would play some part in the ceremony but no, so I was certain he'd appear with the bombing and kidnap but again, no. If you turn the sound up on your computer when reading the latest chapter I'm sure you can hear Tefler's evil chuckle.

ringill

Given Chapter 84was 12ish hours and Tefler has a great ability to create magic, I stand by my projections.

Master Laurent

The issue is, as shown at the end of ch 66, our friendly neighbourhood Progenitor is behind it. So while I'm sure Dana will be churning out some awesome weapons, it will come as a bit of a surprise when a Kintark fleet appear with enhanced shields (they have them and are refitting their fleet, see the beginning of ch 74) which the Terran Federation ships may well have trouble dealing with. Otoh, the Kintark will be in for a bit of a surprise as the Terran fleet will have enhanced Power Core, Tachyon Drive and engines plus, if they done their homework, will have upgraded their beam weaponry using the Kintark heatsinks. So the Terrans are just holding back the Kintark in another life or death struggle when the Invctus rocks up with a supporting Maliri fleet .......

ringill

I'm not sure I see it reaching 200 chapters for book one. I definitely see it reaching 100 -- I'd bet money on it. (Arguably I already have, via Patreon. :) ) I also see it reaching at least chapter 120 before the end of book 1. But I think even 150 would be pushing it as an assumption -- not as a possibility, but as an *assumption*. That being said, if Tefler plans on writing two or more additional books, then I wouldn't be surprised to see the final count pushing 400 or 500 chapters. (Don't forget that many of the initial chapters of this book were quite a bit shorter than the current chapter average length -- if they were to be combined in some way once this book is finished and has received a finalized-edit, it could easily drop the chapter count by 15-20 overall.) Regardless of what the future holds, however, I'm fine as long as I keep getting to read epic stories. :)

cittran genericlastname

More random topics: 1. How do the events with the Admiralty affect John’s plan for a vacation given they are in Federation space? 2. The trip to Eden to see Rachel’s father? 3. Several people have brought up Edraele sending in “honor guard” escort for John. I can see this happening and Alyssa having a hard time arguing against it. 4. Any speculations for the next couple of chapters are thrown out the window, I clearly see TSM reaching the 200 to 300 chapter mark before the end of book one in the saga. Tefler has already laid the groundwork for new races.

Master Laurent

Ok, help me understand how the Kintark/Brimorians became a topic as one of the next major hurdles? We know that: 1. the Brimorians trip is on the horizon, now even further given the chain of events. 2. Kintark got their asses handed to them by John. I have brought up over several chapters questioning what are the implications for John killing one of the members of the royalty? 3. Even if the Kintark get the Brimorian shield technology, it is irrelevant due to the new ESP (Enhanced Shield Penetrating, see the other comment sections) weapons that Dana is going to develop.

Master Laurent

The only real part of Mikaboshi left was his brain and spinal column. The replacement head would encase the life support mechanism that kept his organic parts alive. It was possible for him to hot-swap that out. :-)

Tefler

Cheers Liam, your support is much appreciated!

Tefler

Nice, thanks for letting me know about that one!

Tefler

On page 11 you say that Sakura was handed over to Shinatobe. How'd she get handed to herself?

Youkai-sama

I was going to suggest this. I think a full set for John and the rest. If they enter fully armored, they have spares for when damaged. If clothed casually, they have it when they need it.

Muledrvr

Back in chapter 67 Mikaboshi replaced his head as part of his repairs on returning to Yomi-no-kuni. "His limb restored, Mikaboshi turned now towards the opposite wall, where a score of disembodied heads were neatly arranged in rows, staring back at him with cold, dead eyes. He strolled over to the first of those, lifting it from the shelf and checking the state of the connections. It had been many years since he'd had to make such significant repairs to his body, and it was one more thing he intended to make John Blake pay for, along with the loss of both the Amaterasu, and his beloved Shinatobe..." I assumed this meant he had moved his brain into his torso as part of his conversion into a cyborg, but in this chapter we see that's clearly not the case. What gives?

eggman

Your my first patreon creator ive donated to, don't have much money but you are worth it Tefler. Binge read your work :)

Forbsey

I think there needs to be an algorithm on it. Lol.

Wookey

Quick Question, did I miss the discussion in the chapters about the Kintark and their deal with the Brimorians? Can someone get me up to speed? Thanks

Master Laurent

Watching for the Statistical points for the T-Release Algorithm.

Master Laurent

So this chapter pointed out to me the fact that the Raptor needs an armor docking frame (or 3) so when armor is needed immediately, they don't have to go back up to the Invictus for it. Also, having an empty frame will allow for the temporary removal to treat injuries.

DemonHunterCole

I haven't gone through and added old chapters, as I started here at about chapter 58, It would mean a ton of work and post spam, to put them all up here and you can still access them all from literotica and storiesonline. I actually find the list in literotica quite useful, as it included the title. It makes hunting for something much easier when I can find what chapter it was in!

Tefler

No problem! It's great to hear that it's one of your favourites.

Tefler

Thanks GO283! I had fun writing this chapter. :-)

Tefler

Thanks John! I find the commentary very useful on here for picking up new ideas etc. :-)

Tefler

You're welcome!

Tefler

I'm pleased you liked it! I will create ebook versions. I just need to go back and edit the early chapters, then flesh them out a bit with better descriptions and more detail. Sort of a "Director's cut" version. :-)

Tefler

Well spotted! Thanks for flagging that one up.

Tefler

They're playing a dangerous game... :-)

Tefler

Cheers Ben! I'm glad you enjoyed it. :-)

Tefler

Koa, Tefler is English. "Full of Beans" is an English saying for being full of energy. On Lynette, will leave it to Tefler in ch 85 - he often keeps us addicts for a while so it might be ch 90 or later before the grand reveal. On #3, Mikaboshi probably thought would do better in his own venue. Didn't turn out so well for him though.

Wookey

Welcome aboard. It's a very vibrant community. Lots of great contributors. I am perpetually amazed by the level of insight, knowledge & insight of posters. Am sure you will enjoy it. I have since joining late at ch 70.

Wookey

Little help needed. Where do you find archived chapters on Patreon starting with Ch 1 or do they exist here? I always return to Literotica to look something up in previous chapters.

Mark P

Really loved the latest chapter, the evil laugh (Muahahahahahah!) came out a few times and I do an excellent rendition by the way! So many excellent points that I could write a small book about it which I don't have time to do so I'll just bring up some of my most burning questions: Bottom of page 92 I don't get the beans comment - is it intentional? If so is that a new reference to Johns cum or is it a cultural reference to being full of energy or is there some other explanation I'm missing here? >The redhead beamed at her in gratitude. >“That’d be awesome, thank you!” > >“How can you still be full of beans?” John >asked, rubbing his tired eyes as he >walked over to the second set of grav->tubes. > >“You perked me up earlier, remember?” >she replied, bouncing #2. It boggles my mind that Lynette Devereux is so quickly and easily in cahoots with fleet commander Buckingham - she made some damaging comments during the awards ceremony and then there's an immediate cloak n dagger meeting with him on his ship right after the awards? She's so cautious it seems out of character for her. Is an explanation forthcoming in the story that will shed some more light on this or is it just implied that she's playing along and biding her time? #3 I had to reread ch 83 cuz it's bugging me but maybe there's additional insight here on why the assassins didn't send a team or at least a pair of eyes after John and Alissa and Jehana. Raijin overheard the whole conversation about plans being made but it was not discussed where John them were going, they could've been heading back to the Invictus to conduct the exclusive interview! Also, Faye was mentioned in the conversation so if I was Raijin I'd be wondering who this additional person is. Minatobe no doubt would have briefed him on how dangerous John Blake is and the amount of caution warranted.

Koa

New here to Patreon - joined because I very much enjoyed reading the 3SM series on Literotica, I read some comments about Tefler wanting to do this full time and felt strong enough about supporting the effort to join and make a monthly pledge and I'm glad I did. This is pretty rare form for me, In fact I've been a silent lurker on Lit for a number of years now and though I've read some exceptional stories there, I've never felt the motivation to sign up to become a full fledged member. Sure I vote and by the way I'm stingy with my 5* ratings (story has to move me with a physical outburst of emotion to qualify for a 5* in my book and there are less than 2 handfuls of authors I've given 5 stars to and yes tefler is up there in the top 3 for me), so kudos to you Tefler for dreaming a dream, putting it out there and backing it up with consistent quality effort! What's surprising to me is that I just came across 3SM a few weeks ago as I regularly search through the top stories but i quickly devoured 79 chapters within a few days and was pleasantly surprised when 80 came out as I was finishing 79! I've also really enjoyed reading the comments here just as much as reading the story! I now can look forwards to reading all the older posts as I'm waiting for the next chapter to come out!

Koa

In case I didn't say it earlier, this is one of the best chapters yet. It's easily hands down ranked in the top 3. Thank you!

DemonHunterCole

Nah, just good manners. I am the same with my partner and my two daughters. Albeit the daughters are 9 and 12 so they don't appreciate it yet as a mark of respect.

Wookey

I want Faye to have some more fun with that guy in the brig. She needs to let off some steam, and since she can't partake of the crew's favorite pastime yet...

Jedi Khan

Minor point here, but has anyone else noticed that John is always the one opening the doors for the girls, never the girls themselves? Like when they returned from the raid, John opened the hidden door to the emergency grav-tubes, or when John opened the airlock door on the Raptor just before Sakura did her drop. I know it's probably John being chivalrous and opening doors for the ladies, but it almost seems like only his DNA works on the doors now. Maybe the girls have stopped trying to open the DNA locked doors because John keeps messing with their DNA?

Jedi Khan

Excellent Chapter - even in its first form, Tefler. I enjoyed it a lot, but if I had a gripe, it was that the bad guys died too quickly. I would have thought that John would have assured Sakura landed the final blow, but that the entire group of Lionesses - Faye included - would have each had their go with him. Like Faye's toying with the assassin..."Oh! I see you've turned off your pain receptors...Well, can't have that now." Mikaboshi clearly deserved that sort of treatment for a while. In fact he was worth killing a few times over. Let someone have a go with him, have Rachel heal him, and then let the next one take a turn. That was the sort of send off that Mikaboshi really deserved. He never deserved to see Sakura in "Goddess mode" either. ...but maybe that's just me allowing my dark side do my thinking for me.

GrandPaM

Can't wait for the admirals to get a good fisting. Most officers that I know, stay out of politics entirely. In fact, they purposely avoid any of that crap. 99% would sack sub-ordinates playing favourites or trying to influence politicians.

Wookey

Good point. Had not thought of that BWS

Wookey

Ok, if this was posted by another of you nuts, never mind, but why was a sword able to cut through Illirth's suit of armor?

Nice one - probably the best of the last 10 chapters (at least) and they were pretty awesome themselves! You can tell that Tefler had been planning this battle for a while, yet he also made it even sharper by taking on board comments on patreon. Kudos to JFL especially, whose observations I find particularly insightful.

John Jameson

Fun, Fun! Well done T! Thank you!

With respect to point 1 there's this paragraph a bit further on: John nodded and climbed off the bed, gathering all their clothes in his arms and following Sakura out as she walked into the corridor. He left their uniforms by the door to her quarters, knowing that the cleaning bots would already be racing their way in their urgency to get the outfits pressed and laundered. Since it refers to 'their uniforms' you may want to update that too.

ringill

That was great. Read it last night. One of my fave chapters. I am so ready to be able to own this in ebook or book form.

Brent

"His octo-folded crystal Alyssium blade hacked straight the ninja’s titanium torso," - I think you are missing a "through" there

Sounds like a cute little birdy... Then it chases you down and kills you for screwing with it's kittens. Yeah, basically what Jade does :P

ETNSosa

Nope, that's proper use. :) Tefler likes to use words that are not in common use.

ETNSosa

Great chapter, no truly horrible cliff hangers just some foreboding. I can not wait for the Faye tech/body hopefully coming soon.

Yet another Great Chapter! Not sure if anyone has mentioned this, or not. The line "His fingers were limned in a blazing scarlet aura, which he mistook for flames at first, frantically patting his hand down in an attempt to extinguish them" Should be either lined or rimmed I'm guessing.

VycronDyz

P.S. One of the very best chapters till date.

Does anyone else want Jayanthi as part of the group? If she isn't happily married, of course, but considering the lives Admirals lead I highly doubt it. She is an Admiral and she also doesn't jump to hasty conclusions out of fear. We can go with Devereux having a change of heart after some personal interactions with John, but after Maliri twins and their mother I don't think we need a repeat of that. And Jayanthi genuinely seems like a nice and honest woman.

EXCELLENT Chapter! I can't wait until he goes after those fuckin' traitors in the Admiralty. :)

Akamai Kekoa

One of the best chapter Tefler. Specially loved Calara for instilling fear in Mikaboshi Mind also loved timing counter. Loved John demonstration about overwhelming display of Power.

I've just updated the version to fix a handful of items based on your feedback: 1) Sakura should be in a dress 2) The medevac transmitter for the twins 3) Starting Mikaboshi's 17 minute timer (to clear up any confusion).

Tefler

If you read about Jade greeting John with a chirrup in cheetah form and thought that sounded a bit odd, check this out! :-) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6Qh3VTmtxU" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6Qh3VTmtxU</a>

Tefler

My knowledge of meteorology is admittedly poor, so I just checked wikipedia. It mentions tropical cyclones requiring water and high humidity, but not during regular Cyclogenesis. It also talks about cyclones having been seen on Mars (where there's no water!). I'm happy to change it if wikipedia is wrong. Either way, it was an interesting read, so thank you!

Tefler

Just a quick meteorological tidbit. The only way that Sakura could have produced a mini-cyclone/hurricane in Yomi-no-kuni is if she was in a pool of water, whereas a tornado/twister is purely land based. Just thinking about it what would have been even deadlier is if she had not only started the wind gust but also started lowering the temperature of the room to create a blizzard and therefore imbued the flechettes with an icy aura.

Terra_Lupis

True though to be fair they had things on their mind! Another one would be Sakura realising she could track Calara by her psychic link which they could also have done using the psi-dectector. All sorts of things that will come out at the post incident briefing like what to do with the torso in the brig.

ringill

Another good chapter, one oversight though was that John and the girls failed to recognize Faye's pivotal role in saving their bacon. If not for Faye's quick reactions the girls would have been killed and the ship would have been stolen. Perhaps add a line of dialogue where he praises Sakura and Jade. Maybe Sakura could say something like thank god you warned Jade and I in time

Dave2282

Assuming a midnight UK release its T minus 9 days 12 hours 30 minutes

Wookey

That's great to hear you enjoyed it Farrukh! Probably ten days to go until the next one. :-)

Tefler

I could have dragged out the hunt for Mikaboshi, but I thought it would be more exciting to just pile straight in there. The crew are extremely resourceful, so once Mikaboshi tipped his hand, he was a dead man! FatherSin also pointed out that because Alyssa has memorised the local starmaps, when she looked into the cyborg prisoner's mind and saw he'd been on watch, she'd have been able to identify the Red Sun in the Proxima Centauri system. I got around it by saying he'd only been on nightwatch, but I'm sure she could have figured it out by stellar cartography too! You're right, there's a lot going on at the moment, but all that should come together to a satisfying conclusion... hopefully! :-)

Tefler

Cheers Kim! :-)

Tefler

Thanks a lot for your support! It's nice to hear you're glad you joined. I find the after-chapter discussions to be really interesting and much more involved than the ones on literotica were, even though they were still very useful. I'll continue to add extra stuff outside the chapters, to add extra value for patrons. :-)

Tefler

Just finished reading it and I literally clapped. That was awesome! Very well done. And now the wait begins....lol

Well spotted, thanks for that one!

Tefler

That was an impressive body count!

Tefler

No problem! It's great to hear you enjoyed it. :-)

Tefler

Yeah it was very enjoyable to write this one, and thanks to you guys for the inspiration for Calara screwed with her captors. :-) It's fun writing action scenes, but it can get very complicated with regard to timings. I mentioned that in a comment on chapter 83, about how the entire Enigma building attack only takes place over about 30 seconds. It's a stimulating exercise to keep it all coherent though and trying to avoid creating any plot holes! Space battle scenes become complicated mostly due to the balancing of forces involved in each side and keeping track of the destruction. If you make any changes late in the chapter, they can have a knock on effect through dozens of paragraphs.

Tefler

All that was missing was for her to say "Kame-hame-ha" lol

Nice find, thank you!

Tefler

Thanks a lot K, that's awesome to hear! :-)

Tefler

Yep he's bought out the thesaurus a couple of times

I must admit it's been months since I wrote about the medevac functionality in the suit. Did I mention that it followed a signal in another Paragon suit? If so, I'll have to tweak that!

Tefler

Yep, that was an egregious continuity error! Thank you for pointing it out. :-)

Tefler

Hey Ben. That's fantastic! It's always great to hear that you guys really enjoyed a chapter, especially if it's now one of your favourites. :-) I like revenge stories, I've found they are tremendously satisfying if the really nasty badguy gets what's coming to him. Robocop is one of my all-time favourite movies for that reason.

Tefler

Try clearing the browser cookies or try on another browser. Its working fine here. Maybe reinstall the app if its giving problems ?

Sid1712

You're welcome Robert!

Tefler

Thanks GnarCore, it's great to hear you started reading since I released the first chapter! Sorry you've been having problems with Patreon. I've found it sometimes runs into performance issues, perhaps due to peak-loading(?). Maybe the login servers were overloaded or something?

Tefler

Yikes, that's a nasty continuity error! Thanks, I'll fix that now. :-)

Tefler

Cheers Ben! I came up with that while I was writing it, mostly inspired by the comments here about how Calara wouldn't be a damsel in distress and would kick some ass. She was lashed to the operating table when she woke up, so I couldn't write about her physically beating up the assassins, but her mind was still free. :-)

Tefler

I can't read the story! The app isn't working for me and the website won't allow me to login

What a chapter, absolutely insane. I have a feeling the will go down as one of the best ones so far. So much to do now : Upgrade the Invictus and the raptor, rebuild the Mech, upgrade weapons. This is not including the more exciting parts : Dealing with the T-Fed, Dealing with the person who ordered the hit and finally the big elephant in the room : The Kintark and their deal with the Brimorians. I wish someone could put me into a deep sleep till chapter 85 :P

Sid1712

Thank you. :-) I came up with that idea mid-chapter. You have JFL to thank for that one. He insisted that John would bring Jehanna aboard the ship with them when they chased after Calara. Once she was aboard, then it made sense to add a bit of dramatic backdrop to their interview!

Tefler

Fantastic chapter. I really enjoyed reading it

Kim Biel-Nielsen

Thanks! As long as you guys enjoyed it, I'm doing my job. :-)

Tefler

Thanks! It's nice to hear I can write engaging space and ground battles. :-) I wonder what it'll be like when I write a large scale one for both at the same time... (My head will probably explode!)

Tefler

Maybe delete cookies? I'm not sure what the problem could be, I don't think anyone has mentioned having login issues before.

Tefler

Ir's great to hear you enjoyed it!

Tefler

She wasn't fibbing, she was telling him the truth. :-) Unfortunately Athena is a part of Alyssa's mind, so removing her and keeping her intact would be extremely hard, if not impossible. This way Athena kind of gets what she wanted.

Tefler

Glad you approve! :-)

Tefler

To be honest, I didn't really write this one as a cliffhanger (the last chapter - definitely!). There's just lots going on, so when I come to a natural stopping point, there's still lots of things hanging in the air. :-)

Tefler

Thanks MaydaysSin, it's great to hear you enjoyed it!

Tefler

It was a fun one to write. I love a good revenge tale! :-)

Tefler

;-)

Tefler

You're welcome! I'm delighted to hear you enjoyed it.

Tefler

One of the best chapters yet. This is my first Patreon and every single chapter is making me so glad I joined.

that look more chilling that the frozen ninjato she wielded. (Chilling than that of the frozen ninjato) ?

Thanks tefler what a great chapter loved reading it

have included a Mikaboshi Battle Cyborg Body count in Community section. At least 53 by my reckoning. Nots sure how many were caught in Clean Up ops

Wookey

Only real question is who took out the contract on John lol, its not Charles(when Alyssa sifted his head) and its obviously someone he knows......

Got them on the way to grey world to save them

Another very satisfying end to a story line. Sakura definitely got her justice, and it was fun to see Calara toying with her captors. I especially like how immersive and dynamic the action in the story is, whether it's with katanas or nova cannons. Thanks for the chapter Tefler, and I hope you do have a ton of fun writing this story! The T Fed brass better watch their step unless they want to end up isolated and vulnerable to attack by the K races. I now believe more strongly that the evil progenitor's light green matriarch is a Nymph. Jade turned light green when she was out of energy, and the other matriarch rarely gets topped up.

sensing a blistering blue hail into the glowing wreckage, targeting anything still moving(sending a blistering) ?

Love the use of the word Hoar as in Hoar Fost. Had to look it up. Tefler educational as well as entertaining.

Wookey

Classic Tefler - Mic Drop!

Master Laurent

When did the Raptor get the Photon upgrades, they were making the barrels on the way to the ceremony? Tip of the hat to Jedi for the correct call that the top pulse canon turret had not be repaired as of yet. It was debated the last chapter as to the status given the uninstalled armor by Alyssa.

Master Laurent

Anybody else notice the power of Alyssa's Blast through many floors of stone and how large of a hole it created? Can you say psychic Mini-Nova Lance? Or how she lifted herself off the ground during the buildup. That makes three girls in the team that can fly without any technology.

Master Laurent

Stunning, Absolutely Stunning Tefler and you are a Bastard too for keeping us so in the dark and hiding things, you know you are, HA!!!!

I've got 10 bucks on a Maliri Honor Guard being en-route to Terran space...Battleship heavy. Alyssa is not the only Momma Bear.

PLRus--Founding member of the TSM F5 club.

It was John's latent psychic energy working to reveal itself. That was discussed on Lit on the comments of that chapter.

PLRus--Founding member of the TSM F5 club.

Arguably one of the best chapters you have written and that is saying a ton! Bravo

As ways wow and cool ch, hmm minor point with med evac of the girls dana needed a beacon signal for jade suit to follow her, but had no mention of it ?

Sakura was at the club in a dress.

They were both still wearing their white Lion and Lioness uniforms, so they quickly removed them before getting under the covers

John, Sakura turned her cyber brain into a dagger. It's how she killed Mikaboshi. Froze his head to make it brittle, and then rammed the knife home at the end of Mikaboshi's countdown to Calara's seventeen minute mark.

ETNSosa

Brilliant! I think that is one of my favourite chapters now. Sakura is such an awesome character. I've always loved stories about assassins because of the personal nature of the conflict. You really nailed it on this one. The cliff hanger is perfect too. I eagerly await the next chapter. I hope there are a lot more fights that involve Sakura and I really hope she doesn't vote to have her memories wiped. I would love it if Tashana gets hers back. I've always believed that painful memories are more useful than the happy ones.

G E

So I'm rereading the early stuff, and I have a question. Right after John's first promotion, they're upgrading the heatsinks on the Invictis. Jade and John get a little happy while sitting on the hull of the ship, then they all leave. There's a paragraph that mentions "a faint nimbus of light". Anyone have a clue what that was, or did it slip through the cracks with everything else Tefler has going on? Also, when Alyssa made the last set of swords for John and Sakura, she gave them a little something extra. Did we ever find out what that was?

I Agree with you, the comment about Faye is epic! I think more will come from the assassin in the brig - thinking that he will be spaced as a part of his Justice served. Would not want to hand him over to the TFED because he would tell them about Faye.

Master Laurent

A few thoughts: First constructive: What Sakura made and why is not quite clear. Was it a knife? Was it made from the material of her synthetic brain? Just wasn't able to quite follow that. Also, the jump to the interview was too abrupt. John needed to speak to Faye first and then do the story live with Jehenna. Or perhaps you are going to back up and give those perspectives at the beginning of the next chapter? Jehenna should also promise more insight into the attack to be given in her next segment...keep her listeners on the edges of their seats...C-mon Tefler, you are the master of cliffhangers! Lol. And, she has a natural scoop on who those who hired Mikaboshi are, why give other networks the time to scoop it? Second appreciative: Thanks for incorporating the ideas of Sakura tracking Calara via her connection to Alyssa and the new name for Sakura...I was honored :-).

PLRus--Founding member of the TSM F5 club.

Great Chapter as always. Thanks Tefler

Okay, I know everyone's focused on who hired Mikaboshi, but I want to know something else. What happened to the assassin they've got locked up in the brig? Last we saw was Alyssa doing a brain dive on him, her walking away with info, then...nothing. Not even a mention of him being left brain dead and drooling because he "resisted" Alyssa's interrogation. By the way, I loved how the first words out of his mouth were "Keep that AI away from me! She's fucking crazy!" You know Faye had fun when a hardened killer is terrified of her. lol

Jedi Khan

I love your writing Tefler, I've been reading since you released chapter one, but I hate how glitchy Patreon.com is. I can't open the chapter on my phone, the log in page on the website freezes whenever I try to log in on my computer and for some reason the email that goes out says I'm not a Patreon???? Any other suggestions or has anyone else ran into any of these problems??

I don't want to poke through the comments yet, because I just started reading, so I don't know if someone else pointed this out yet, or not, but in 83, you had all the girls at the club except Irilith and Tashana in dancing clothes (Faye brought them), and in the scene in 84 in Sakura's room, you have her in her white Lion uniform.

ETNSosa

I'm going with Webber, perhaps backed by Buckingham.

oooooo, so who paid, Buckingham, Weber, Mishra, Caldwell? No John did say he, when Irrillith revealed the information, so that discounts Mishra. Someone is so in for a stern talking to ;)

Excellent chapter, Tefler! Absolutely loved the 17 minute countdown!

Edit comment. Sakura was handed over to Shinatobe? Don't you mean Mikaboshi?

Timtom12

"Hell hath no fury, like a progenitor scorned"...... Nice..... I guess the current speculation topic will be "who is the contractor for the hit"? Grant had to have been working for someone higher up, since he disappeared so thoroughly. Currently the leading contender appears to be Webber.....

Muledrvr

I don't know about this, this would give John more opportunity for power in the universe. He could become the savior for all of the other races and I doubt that Charles shared the info from the giveaway chat at the shipyard.

Master Laurent

That's my question as well. All we know is that it's a guy.

DemonHunterCole

If the Admirals were smart, they'd offer to make John a "Special Military Envoy" for a joint military partnership (think NATO) with the Malari, Ashanath, and Trankarans. They know he has relationships with them, and it furthers their own ambitions to reign him in...nothing ties one up (and buries them in bureaucracy) like being tossed into the political sea!

CJ Mora

Wow! A serious bloodbath is always satisfying when it's the blood of the bad guy! Dying to know who put out the contract on John...was it Seb Mortimer (the miner who sold him the tyrrennium)? Commander Grant? The gang leader of the Diablos? Or...maybe a twist like Mad Jonah, one of the admirals, or possibly even Charles? Insidious cliffhanger!

CJ Mora

Excellent chapter! The way you sent those admirals a message at the end, just brilliant.

Amathew2

What fun!!! Another great chapter!

Old Salt

Amazing. One of the best. Only Battle of Regulus could potentially top it.

Wookey

Won't let me login :(

Smart wombat

Now that was a cracking chapter WOW I hope the nutjob admirals don't push their luck and if they do a televised execution should be a good ratings winner lol.

Jim lynch

ok so with the way Athena was dealt with just seems like Alyssa is lying to keep john from becoming depressed

dominick vigil

Spectacular !! Much better way to end a chapter !

Derek B

Always a cliff hanger and as expected a great read.

donald abbott

I'm thinking the answer to your first question is the word you typed after it. I used to think it was Mortimer or Grant, now I'm leaning towards the admirals that we're backing Grant.

Bravo! - Absolutely Awesome, near the end I was waiting for John to say to Faye, Use the Nova Lances to remove the base for the face of the planet. Your option, as always, was so much better. You did leave several cliffhangers - Who took out the contract on John? - Admirals - Faye’s Discussion with John - Faye’s upgrade to the boys - Still open to a cloned Jade body for Faye Loving Alyssa’s stronger powers! T-14ish days until C85 Next Chapter - Wondering how close they are to Eden? - Photon Upgrades - Faye's Boys

Master Laurent

That was a really fine peace of story I must say! Our Progenitor makes real friends on the way through his adventures :D I love the way they begin to fear the "monster" they created that is now grown way over their head!

MaydaysSin

I lied earlier. I'm going to start over analyzing now. I had previously assumed that the contract on John had been taken out by Mortimer or Grant due to the timing. However, the TFed investigation into John started about the same time. Now I'm starting to think that someone in the admiralty was backing Grant, the pirates, and the Kirrix. Or, at least, they wanted the Kirrix to look like a threat that required a military build up. John smashed that threat. If that thwarted their plans it would explain the investigation, the contract, and Webber's sudden fear at the end. The only counterpoint I've thought of so far is the Kintark troubles, but those hadn't spiraled out of control yet. Plus they were being orchestrated by different people. I think there are a few more traitors that need to be cleared out.

Lol @ mikaboshi turning out to be a weaboo.

Very nice chapter. Loved the sense of anticipation that Tefler created about several things in this chapter. I counted several things that might be considered cliffhangers, although some of them were resolved within this chapter.

That was excellent. Thank you. I'll start with the over analyzing tomorrow.

I'll do my best. :-)

Tefler

You must really speed read! It takes me a few hours to go through a 30k word chapter, but I guess I'm tweaking stuff as I go.

Tefler

Keep up the awesome work, though.

Sergio Snek

I hate how it takes weeks for you to write these and only about half an hour to read through it.

Sergio Snek

Woo, last of my shift, then 8 hour car ride to DC, awesome timing!

Axi

I've been planning that one for over 6 months. I'm really glad you liked it. :-)

Tefler

Absolutely friggin' AWESOME chapter Tefler!

andrew finlayson

Thanks Tefler!

go via your email from Tefler. Worked for me.

Wookey

For me on the iPad I click on the word docx and get nothing :(

Smart wombat

Awesome! Was expecting this tomorrow or Tuesday. You're the man Tef!

Just wait for 85 like me and take a double hit of the good stuff. Follow it up with some Pizza and wings and you'll be cloud 9!

No promises. ;-)

Jedi Khan

I really want to read this right now, on the other hand i also have to get up for work in the morning... I guess i can manage on 5hrs sleep

DeltaByte

Gonna skip the cliffhanger and just wait for 85. No spoilers people!

I just added a note to the post. I've done quite a bit of editing on this one, but the editors have only had a quick glance at part 2. I'll be doing more detailed edits over the next few days.

Tefler

Okay, so Crazy did wake me up for the new chapter, he was just an hour early. Time to read.

Jedi Khan

Is this final version

Thanks Tefler

Master Laurent

Awesome

Mark Hall

Bugger bugger bugger.....just got to work. Look forward to reading this tonight Thanks Tefler. Have an awesome week

Great

Jim lynch

Great! Thanks!

Dark Storymaker

Yes

Sean McAllister

Thank you! Wow! First post!

Evan