Three Square Meals Ch. 175 (Completed)
Added 2025-05-01 04:00:02 +0000 UTC*** Edited - 31st May. I've added a bit more to the final scene and fixed a few typos.
Hey everyone,
Sorry to keep you waiting all night for the next chapter. I've just finished the final scene for Chapter 175, so I really hope you enjoy it!
Best wishes,
Tefler
Comments
Finally found time to catch up im glad walker was finally proven innocent.
GrowingCurve58
2025-06-09 20:55:27 +0000 UTCFor them to be so far in the future the Terran Federation Admiralty seems dumb as hell, like they were from the 14th century or thereabouts...they'd just had a traitorous situation less than 1 year earlier with the Kintark/Dragon March traitors, that reached into the highest echelons of Terran military officials...but they did nothing to guard against those things happening again, and in only a few months time they were in that situation again?...because of lack of foresight....edit: O.K. the previous hacks were against the Terran Military...but that should be more encrypted than the judiciary, making it even harder to do.
Greg Hill
2025-06-02 14:40:20 +0000 UTCTefler has foreshadowed like a mad genius. The ultimate defeat of his enemies requires a robust and well proven placeholder generator. I'm here for it.
Joel Wyrick
2025-06-01 03:46:21 +0000 UTC. .... 7:00PM (PDT) we get a quick update to chapter #175 (from last month), .... so newer chapter(s) to come soon, .... :-) ttfn
Michael56Smith
2025-06-01 02:43:54 +0000 UTCIf he ‘just’ finished the last couple of sentences of 175 does that mean he’s just starting 176 now?
AzureReader
2025-06-01 02:09:08 +0000 UTCWait, so instead of a new chapter we get an edit? How many placeholders does that portend? Three? Jesus this is so painful.
Tipp McClure
2025-06-01 02:05:24 +0000 UTCwell that was something. I dont know what the gang could do to make it any better than that.
Jim Owens
2025-06-01 01:58:14 +0000 UTCtomorrow.....
Jim Owens
2025-06-01 01:47:51 +0000 UTCNo place holders............... Yet?
bob lakhanpal
2025-06-01 01:34:06 +0000 UTC... and this TSM universe is TEF's to play with, .... It may regularly surprise us, but it stays interesting that way, .... ;-) ttfn
Michael56Smith
2025-06-01 00:03:04 +0000 UTCDana talked a lot about redesigning a few things including personal armor and power cores. In the case of armor she is thinking thicker. But why? The ‘white forge’ they have on the Invictus produces metal much stronger than either black metal or 35 shaped Crystal Alyssium. No one seems to have said how much tougher it is but I’m guessing 2x - 10x tougher. That would make some bad ass armor without redesigning it. If the metal is 4x stronger you could make the armor 2x thinner and it would still be 2x tougher. Likewise, the power core’s ability to generate power is probably determined by the strength of the material it’s made of. Design it to leverage 2x - 10x stronger metal and you could increase the pressure in the reactor dramatically. Same thing with the singularity in the singularity driver… the intensity of which is probably limited by the strength of the frame around it. It’s all make believe, but upgrading tech is a key theme in the story and it needs to make some sense.
AzureReader
2025-05-31 21:18:16 +0000 UTCTo save time, why would the inviticus need to jump to the ten fleets leaving. The entire area is covered by Mairi communications satellites and they had been try to break the encryption. Routing a “call” from John through a Gal ship would get them to answer the call and the genetic effects would kick in. Alternative method to cross something off a very long list.
20 ton
2025-05-23 11:52:54 +0000 UTCYeah! ... What the Blue Bookworm (AzureReader) said! .... Dana has half a Dozen Engineering Assistants (Nymphs), .... this problem should be fixed already, .... The Grand Engineering Overlord needs to recruit a few Ashanath Engineers (they all love her) ,,, ;-) ttfn
Michael56Smith
2025-05-14 02:56:16 +0000 UTCWasn’t it like 15 chapters ago that Alyssa figured out what was wrong with the wormhole generator and fixing it was supposed to be just about making a few parts? Now they seem to have forgotten about it. I would hope a fixed wormhole generator would not only preclude barfing, but take far less energy as things that work properly often do. This should allow bigger wormhole holes, or faster recharge times.
AzureReader
2025-05-13 23:48:35 +0000 UTCA lot of progenitor empires don't have a living progenitor ruling over them - just waiting for a new progenitor to be seeded. But even if it's a 100:1 ratio, that still means there are 2000 active progenitors with their own empires out there.
Akram123456
2025-05-09 01:20:17 +0000 UTCyou might be right, but I've long given up on Discord, .... it takes way too much time from me, .... ;-) ttfn
Michael56Smith
2025-05-08 02:44:36 +0000 UTCAre you sure that you were not only charged for Placeholders #192 and #193? ,,,, ;-( ttfn
Michael56Smith
2025-05-07 01:21:27 +0000 UTCThis just in to the TFNN news desk. There is a Discord server for Tefler's epic and it's growing. Reports coming in suggest intelligent conversation, reasonably mature members and lots of redheads. For further information go to https://discord.gg/tXEPg9PuhM
Hendrix Morton
2025-05-07 00:46:36 +0000 UTCSo why was i charged for a completed Chapter 175 when you already made the place holder for it way before? He is charging double or triple for a chapter. Once when he makes the placeholder, again when he makes an "update" but its a new post, and a third time when he finally publishes it, like he did on this new post.
Bricklayer13
2025-05-06 19:34:44 +0000 UTCThe discussion about how many progenitors there are, and matriarchs John would need to recruit, got me thinking that in the real world Milky Way the calculation of 50 would be way off. Our galaxy has ~200B stars. If a typical progenitor empire covered 100,000 star systems, and progenitors occupy all parts of the galaxy, there would be 2,000,000 progenitor empires There is some indication that star systems towards the galaxy core might be uninhabitable due to radiation, but even if only 10% of the galaxy was a ‘habitable zone’ that’s still 200,000 empires. John would need to get busy getting busy… with super-speed mode on all the time… to claim that many matriarchs.
AzureReader
2025-05-05 23:48:03 +0000 UTCThe shrouds ability to change a prog took time. Gal didn’t realize it was there until he tested his powers and attempted to contact X. I wouldn’t be surprised if they weren’t on a time line and making multiple jumps to conduct this survey. We’ll see.
20 ton
2025-05-05 17:48:00 +0000 UTCOh yeah, there's the hook back into that storyline. I completely forgot about that Nymph. And maybe there's Tom riding along with the rescuing party with some personal revenge
Dani Vega
2025-05-05 14:53:26 +0000 UTCThe 6 progenitors invading the space and not turning on their overlord makes no sense. Right from Mael'nerak to John's father - anyone that has been in the Shroud has sought freedom from their overlord. Now 6 doing the overlord bidding without turning on him - let alone each other under the shroud makes no sense.
Bharath
2025-05-05 12:01:12 +0000 UTCThanks for that bit of info - yes I am sure the story has evolved a lot since you started it.
Christopher Davis
2025-05-04 16:53:59 +0000 UTCHave said that it does give a few new ideas for the story to evolve. 1. With only John able to 'covert' empires it would be a slow job with him flying around - How about adding a second Progenitor (or even a third) to help. Is a few ways - A. His father. He is not like the ones from outside the shroud, so at least half good. B. Get Rachel to find a way to change Charles/Others to being Progenitors. C. Find a way to use the Girls as semi Progenitors.
Christopher Davis
2025-05-04 16:25:40 +0000 UTCThe Tom Walker stuff seemed rushed. The chapter is the smallest for some time. Not much new story, just talk and bluster.
Christopher Davis
2025-05-04 16:14:19 +0000 UTC...but is Grammatically correct speech all that common? This is realistic one on one conversation, ...I blame the schools, ... ; - ) ttfn
Michael56Smith
2025-05-03 22:59:42 +0000 UTCYou just spend time with whoever you want. The grammatically correct word here is whomever since it's the object not the subject.
MeCherAmigos
2025-05-03 14:04:34 +0000 UTCOmg, you propose relocating a huge and basically evil specie out from under the Shroud, ... after 70K years of being awful, can they change? That is a lot of work for a 'big maybe;' ... perhaps you could have a few small test sites so that the species lives on, but you might then wipe out the rest, ... Perhaps seed a few faraway worlds with a young Hive Queen, a few hundred drones and a few dozen support Bugs, and a few hundred of the herbivores (Luphids) that they should be in symbiosis with again, .... seed a dozen worlds in other Empires and then watch them closely, .... a fresh start for the Bugs, ... -) ttfn
Michael56Smith
2025-05-02 22:36:29 +0000 UTCThe last 3 chapters have been mostly recap of what already happened, told form different perspectives, with LOTS of dialogue filler - almost none of which moves the plot forward. Let’s PRAY Tefler decides to use the proposed 1-3 month lull in attacks by the 6 invading progenitors to push the plot forward to deal with all of the dangling storyline caveats. The Larathyran fleets will be delivered to Maliri space and fully crewed by the Maliri Navy, then begin helping all the marooned Galkyrans. The Maliri can then begin repairing the cloak-breaker system. Once Edraelle wakes up, she and the matriarchs can get the males distributed around the home worlds, and distribute their secret technology throughout the empire with them. Until Rachel creates a way to dilute &/or amplify john’s essence, the nymphs are the best way to recruit for his matriarchs. With 4 loads a day - 44,000 Nymps kisses/day, John could recruit all of the senior officers in the Galkiran fleet in 3 days, and discover/deal with Valeria & her special forces squadron. They would be an ideal honor guard for Kaija. Then they could begin the repair efforts, allowing the Invictus to move on to the next plot caveat. Dana can make her way to the Star Forge and finally build the Kyth’faren Dreadnaught Killer, Destroyer and Stealth Shuttle to replace the Raptor. The Brimorian/Abandoned issue needs to be dealt with and Celphna can to be recruited. The Abandoned could actually spread to all the Aquatic worlds throughout Terran, Maliri and Kintark space, but should be concentrated in Maliri space until their culture can be modified to make them independent and sustainable. Does anyone else think th e Enshunu are the yellow skinned, red eyed Thrall race that almost defeated Mael’nerak’s? How long until John claims them and unlocks the Achonin technology? It’s the LOWEST priority, but The Kirrix’s can be shipped off into either Larathyran or Galkiran space beyond the Shroud, and given worlds where they can reproduce on their own, revert to their benign state and rebuild their civilization. Then John and the his Matriarchs could claim all of Kirrix Space as well.
Erotic Poetic
2025-05-02 21:02:15 +0000 UTCI like the thoughts of every thrall empire having at least two women heading them up. One matriarch and one empress for each. One handling the administration and the other managing the psychic network. Handling the military should fall to whomever is more qualified. I see Auralei's BFF being tapped as her co-ruler, Kayjai's mentor/former CO as her assistant, and the dreadnaught's captain being the other Aelantelir co-ruler. This is awesome because John won't be around each individual empire for months at a time, and there will only be intermittent telepathic contact with Alyssa otherwise. A second 'co-ruler' to give support, affection and companionship at the apex of each empire's pecking order is ideal for the majority of the time when John and the rest of the girl's can't be around.
Christopher Miller
2025-05-02 19:34:08 +0000 UTCGreat chapter. I like the new, to come, weaponry mods. The enemy scouting is a bit puzzling, can't wait to see the next plot unveiled.
John the 5th
2025-05-02 17:21:28 +0000 UTCCovering Lynette is a given if not lost in dealing with X and the six dredknots. Shan said they would identify the hackers. L mentioned wariness of Rill earlier , but is there more of a history? If they are still in Brimordian territory, they are in Rill’s reach. I envisioned Rill stepping out of the screen for a chat with the smugglers. Connecting to John would allow him to start recruiting them. Contacting Deep Lord A through their ship could set in motion the release of the abandoned. Could Lyeliras first time to fight at John’s side be as a megacarridon. John riding on her to face the deep lord in a coronation of spears. Of course Tef comes up with different turns in the roads which keeps me hooked. Which way will he go.
20 ton
2025-05-02 11:58:46 +0000 UTCAWESOME DUDE
Metal
2025-05-02 01:56:48 +0000 UTCI was banking on the rogue Maliri hacker who planted all the false evidence to come forward in order to create more of the Terran drama that the Maliri find so entertaining, but this works too. A little bit of deux ex machina, but certainly workable. I hope Irillith provides Lynette with a full analysis of her findings, something can be reviewed by others so it doesn't look like Lynette has had a break from sanity to suddenly declare Tom innocent despite all the "evidence".
Jedi Khan
2025-05-01 22:09:57 +0000 UTCTashana pistols were Eshunu when she was a smuggler.
20 ton
2025-05-01 20:23:23 +0000 UTCI just assumed that the Walker case would require a person to person meeting between the Lionesses and Walker. I am not unhappy with the way it was handled, however. We do need to get on with rescuing Jade's long lost sister stuck with the Brimorians, and that will require a personal intervention, I am sure.
Stephen Paynter
2025-05-01 20:21:48 +0000 UTCTeff, thanks for the new chapter!
Scott Oyer
2025-05-01 19:52:35 +0000 UTCSpotted a couple of minor issues, a telepathic/ normal speech mismatch: The Nymph grinned and blew him a kiss. *I’ll be your pillow anytime, Master. I loved sleeping with you after getting a full tummy.” A massacred when it should be massacre: “I don’t know,” Irillith admitted. “The Callopean Shoals massacred occurred just before the assassination of the old matriarchs.... Then there's the chat John had with Auralei, John never explicitly mentioned the 6 Progenitors turning up to her in his update but she does mention it, ...That’s why I’m not even afraid that six Progenitors have jumped into Maliri territory... because I know you’ll protect us.* Finally there was Dana talking about the sonic weapons, ...the redhead confirmed. “Do you remember those sonic weapons I built a while ago? I’ve been tweaking the original Eshunu designs a bit... except she got the original sonic weapon from one of the pirates on the Underworld. From Ch.72, Dana twisted her shoulders to show him the unfamiliar and vicious-looking rifle she had slung over one shoulder, and added, “I did find this on one of the pirates. It looks like some kind of sonic weapon, so I’ll check it out back on the ship.” The only time I can recall an Eshunu weapon being described was in Ch.100, Norwood snarled in fury and launched himself at the Kintark leader. “You treacherous bastard! I’ll fucking kill you!” There was a sizzling sound and pain lanced through Norwood’s gut. He howled in agony and stumbled in his charge, tripping over and sprawling across the titanium deck. “You are a fine one to talk of treachery, Arch Traitor,” Melkadian said, brandishing the ugly-looking pistol he held in a clawed hand. He smirked at the fallen Admiral, savouring Norwood’s anguished cries as the man rolled on the deck, clutching the gunshot wound to his belly. “I’ve heard a wound from an Enssshunu pissstol isss agonisssing. I alwaysss wanted to try out thisss viciousss little weapon, but until now I’ve not found anyone truly dessserving of sssuch excruciating torment.”
ringill
2025-05-01 19:14:28 +0000 UTCYeah, Tef needs to get on with restoring Faye to us sooner, please, ... maybe after Rachel is rested up from all the healing she has had to do lately, ... ;-) ttfn
Michael56Smith
2025-05-01 16:11:07 +0000 UTCAt this rate it will be 6 months before they get to the super gate. A year before they are back at genthalis, and 2 years before they see Lynette again.
Jim Owens
2025-05-01 14:02:40 +0000 UTCAt least the Tom Walker arc was resolved. That's 1 of 10 threads left hanging. With the current plan of action it seems like it will be next year before we see Faye restored... which really sucks.
Jim Owens
2025-05-01 13:59:13 +0000 UTCThe brevity of the resolution alleviated my guilt for skimming past much of the Walker saga.
Joel Wyrick
2025-05-01 12:39:53 +0000 UTCA huge lack of substance to this chapter. The Tom Walker subplot dragged on for far too long and was then dismissed in a chat over lunch. If it was worth having the subplot, it was worth developing and concluding it properly. Tefler, I fear you have run out of steam and inspiration and are just dragging this out for financial reasons. I doubt very much whether you will ever write the chapters you have as placeholders. You are actually a really good writer. I wish you had the self confidence to bring TSM to a quality conclusion and move on to new stories. Your single chapter on Lit that was never developed was a promissing start. You are trapped by TSM. Break loose.
IanBio
2025-05-01 11:44:27 +0000 UTCI think this is the first chapter that was entirely one scene. Not a single “***” in the chapter. It could have been titled “Lunch”. Not that it wasn’t a nice chapter, but I’m hoping the next chapter isn’t another single scene titled “The Head”, since they just ate a big meal and they are aboard a ship. I tease a bit since a lot was actually accomplished. The Tom Walker side story is over! After 25 grinding chapters of buildup I thought something dramatic was going to happen, like a last minute wormhole jump to save the day. Instead, but Irillith found him innocent in a few paragraphs while digesting some ribs. For the promise of never hearing the name Tom Walker again I’m thankful for this chapter. Sadly, I suspect that it’s not quite over.
AzureReader
2025-05-01 11:16:11 +0000 UTCThe last scene feels more than a bit rushed
Akshay Anand
2025-05-01 11:13:57 +0000 UTC1 presented chapter and 2 placeholders. I wish I was as good at predicting lottery numbers and stocks picks. It’s almost like Tefler is predictable.
Paladin
2025-05-01 08:47:14 +0000 UTCThanks Tefler
Unresolved Plots
2025-05-01 08:43:39 +0000 UTCWell… lots of conversation and a few plot twists… Millions of Galkyrans stranded in space, a mind wiped matriarch, Valaria and Edraelle are still unconscious, no nymphs kisses, no Star forge…. I’m hoping the next chapters make story line progress instead of more recap and girl-talk. Is it just me or did this chapter seem to end prematurely?
Erotic Poetic
2025-05-01 08:43:37 +0000 UTCOMG, we finally got some resolution to the Tom Walker sub-plot, .... however, poor Tom's life is such a wreak now, .... ;-l ttfn
Michael56Smith
2025-05-01 08:36:57 +0000 UTCThank you!
MVFast
2025-05-01 07:44:14 +0000 UTCYay. and with placeholder 193 posted, we are owed 18 stories. I'm dropping off paying again for a while.
Jerry Isdale
2025-05-01 07:29:08 +0000 UTCThis is so awesome. I love this story so much I've read it between 10 to 15 times just waiting for new chapters. Thank you looking forward to more much more
Tammy Hoffman
2025-05-01 06:51:39 +0000 UTCThanks! I really look forward to reading it!
Flex
2025-05-01 06:46:59 +0000 UTCJust more drivel dialog filler.... such a shame..
Jim Owens
2025-05-01 05:54:20 +0000 UTC"My goal is to complete three chapters for April" ....We got one, and a smaller one at that....The last few that he has done have been around 90k - 95k.....this one comes in at 76k...And the obligatory 2 placeholders... At this point, I think Tefler has bigger balls than John....
Hendrix Morton
2025-05-01 05:14:03 +0000 UTCThank you Tefler
GDay (FMS)
2025-05-01 04:08:26 +0000 UTCSo much h for multiple chapters...not surpised...
Jim Owens
2025-05-01 04:07:13 +0000 UTCThanks
Nickcap
2025-05-01 04:03:41 +0000 UTCWhen I was writing the final scenes in this chapter, I was referring to notes I'd made 3 years ago. I was surprised to see Faye's name crop up with some dialogue, so it shows how much the story has changed and developed in that time.
Tefler
2025-05-01 04:02:59 +0000 UTCThanks Tefler!
DemonHunterCole
2025-05-01 04:02:50 +0000 UTCThanks, Tef
Old Salt
2025-05-01 04:02:00 +0000 UTC
