Three Square Meals - Chapter 145

To anyone: Chapter 145 is the 1st Patreon chapter I've read. Does Tefler do anything to indicate the chapter has ended? I had to convert the .docx file to a .pdf to read it on my phone. The last paragraph I have starts w/ "What Lucyna didn’t say...". With no indication the chapter is finished, I don't know if the file conversion fucked up, (which can happen), or if the chapter has ended; it's ambiguous from the context of the writing. Thanks. GeoD

George Dennison

.149: this is a very comment, I was re-reading this chapter and when they were discussing their need for a replacing drop ship, ... I thought, what ever happened to that 5-ninja stealth shuttle they acquired from Sakura's old kidnaper, Mikaboshi, it has not been mentioned for many chapters, did it fall out in chapter #120 when the Invictus was sliced in two? if they still had it, Dana or someone would have mentioned it, ... not FTL capable, but for orbit to ground hops it would work fine. Tef needs to tell where this little black shuttle went to in his rewriting, ... ;-0 TTFN

Michael56Smith

Chapter 145 I get Sakura and the twins because they’re out best fighters, I get Sakura and the twins because they’re our best fighters, “There, no more distractions.”Re “There, no more distractions.” -- remove extraneous 'Re' The recently promoted commander of the House Waephyra fleets turning to face her monarch, then gaped The recently promoted commander of the House Waephyra fleets turned to face her monarch, then gaped

Bp Hlpt

KYAGOOB: Kiss Your Ass Good Bye

2ndAndrocentric

.145: Well, any other ideas for a 'real' ships name for the NEW RAPTOR: 1) Shinigami means death in Japanese, and Vegner means to come, to become and Atashi is the feminine form of I am. Full name Atashi Vegner Shinbigami....shortened name Atagami.... 2) Death-Raptor 3) the explosive shadow of RexZilla ... any others? ... or will we be stuck with just the Raptor, again? Or even worse, the Gunship! ;-) TTFN

Michael56Smith

I really like the explosive shadow of RexZilla

PLRus--Founding member of the TSM F5 club.

Or, since the original was a raptor we could call the replacement T-Rex. After Jade's dragon form? Or RexZilla? Zilla meaning shadow and Rex is a forbidden explosive.

PLRus--Founding member of the TSM F5 club.

(repeat): .138: Heck yeah! "I am become Death!" Yeah, I like it,.. It's perfect for the New Raptor,.. now we need to get Sakura to formally christen the new little ship! And have Dana or Jehanna to come up with a shorter version,.. (maybe?) and the deathglider is already spoken for, damn shame,.. I could live with it's 'everyday' name being the death-raptor,...hint-hint, nudge-nudge,... Or does Atagami mean -- Aragami, a vengeful spirit with the power to control the shadows, now Jehanna might like that one,.. ;-) (P.S. Atagami = I am) TTFN

Michael56Smith

(repeated w/o permission): PLRus--Founding member of the TSM F5 club. (naming the replacement Raptor) Shinigami means death in Japanese and Vegner means to come, to become and Atashi is the feminine form of I am. Full name Atashi Vegner Shinbigami.....shortened name Atagami.....

Michael56Smith

(repeat): .135: And yes, R.I.P. to the Raptor, it definitely was a good little ship, while it lasted,... but the next one gets a real name! ;-) TTFN

Michael56Smith

.139: ,.. for TSM #145? He did, on the 4th,.. i.e. "UPDATE - added additional scenes. Final version." ya just gotta read the fine print on the 2nd line,.. he added over 2000 extra words,.. ;-) TTFN

Michael56Smith

.138: Heck yeah! "I am become Death!" Yeah, I like it,.. now we need to get Sakura to formally christen the new little ship! And have Dana or Jehanna to come up with a shorter version,.. (maybe?) and the deathglider is already spoken for, damn shame,.. I could live with it's 'everyday' name being the death-raptor,...hint-hint, nudge-nudge,... ;-) TTFN

Michael56Smith

Shinigami means death in Japanese and Vegner means to come, to become and Atashi is the feminine form of I am. Full name Atashi Vegner Shinbigami.....shortened name Atagami.....

PLRus--Founding member of the TSM F5 club.

It does not feel complete, plus Tefler usually adds the complete in the headline when it is all done.

Scruples44

.135: And yes, R.I.P. to the Raptor, it definitely was a good little ship, while it lasted,... but the next one gets a real name! ;-) TTFN

Michael56Smith

.134: Yes it is now (on the 4th) complete,.. if you look under the chapter #145 title sentence, the very next sentence reads: UPDATE - added additional scenes. Final version,.. so there you go... Tef mostly just added onto the ending, taking the chapter from about 19K word count to a touch over 21K,.. and we got to see the Outer Rim Governor's jaws drop when Fleet Admiral Lynnette tells them that she is there to help. and NOT to arrest them.... whew! maybe some hope? ;-) TTFN

Michael56Smith

Is this chapter completed?

Crystar DeWolf

.130: And I can almost hear it now,.. John's battle cry as he dispatches the Progenitors: ,... " FREE THE NYMPHS!!! " ;-) TTFN

Michael56Smith

.129: Okay then, -- Q1: did Celphna 'report' to Larn'kelnar? -- Q2: does the process of 'reporting' cause the information to be erased, making room for more spying? -- Q3: did Larn arrogantly share any nuggets of wisdom, with Celphna, regarding Nymph-like slaves in his former Progenitor home region of the galaxy... -- Tef only knows! ;-) TTFN

Michael56Smith

It would be great if it turns out that Jade was not the only nymph that was turned into a double agent by the Achonin. What if the Brimorian nymph is also a double agent? Then John could first keep her secured (since she is not an OP psychic being like Jade) and then take his time to deeply study all her memories and learn a lot about the Achonin and Maelnerak, before beginning to enhance her like the other nymphs. In fact some of the behaviors of the Brimorian nymph makes me think that might be the case. Like that time when she was consciously aware that the progenitors exist who are far more powerful than her Brimorian master.

Akram123456

Possibly, but it seems to me unless nymph "souls" contribute to Xar's diet they would probably only churn out some of them when a Progenitor's weapons were not up to snuff and they needed an edge against a stubborn civilization.

Christopher Miller

125 Errata 144 If they’re all as arrogant as Larn’kelnar turned out ot be, 145 “There, no more distractions.”Re

jdg45

What’s the second scene? I see the one at the end with Lynette but I have spotted the other one with a quick swipe through (at work and shouldn’t be on my phone atm lol)

.124: Okay, Mael'nerak was called in to wipe out the Achinon around 70.000 years ago, and came under the influence of the Shroud, then shortly thereafter he became completely cut-off from the other Progenitors and Xar'aziuth too...those that are today (28th century TSM) known as Nymphs, were once used as spies,.. and Larn'kelnar had knowledge of them before he mistakenly took on John and his girls... So, are there more Nymphs back in Progenitor territory that John will wish to rescue? And will Queen Edraele need to make some more room for Nymphy refuges (maybe share a few worlds with some of the Abandoned),.. ? ;-) TTFN

Michael56Smith

“Sorry, I’ll be good,” he said, pulling the covers up over her bare chest. “There, no more distractions.”Re Re seems like either something is missing or it shouldnt be there @tefler

Carmina.burana123

.118: And Daniel, I wonder if Celphna 'reported' to Larn'kelnar when he visited? ;-) TTFN

Michael56Smith

Just wanted to say I love the nymph spy twist. Interested to see how that will play out with the Brimorian nymph. And to see what life is like outside the shroud. Who from the team will be able to function despite Xar? And will Dana need to/be able to design a portable shroud? How does the shroud relate to being hidden in the Astral realm?

If the big fight happens on 150 does that mean it will be published around may

Brittany durin

How is Lynette going to handle the governors? Will she be economical, saving time by dealing with them as a group, but also allowing them to have collective bargaining power, or will she take her time to methodically deal with each governor individually, preventing them from unifying? She's a smart woman. She'll probably take a little bit of time to identify the power brokers, the ones who the others listen to, and deal with them separately, and then deal with the rest as a group once she has the influencers on her side. She might set aside some time to talk to the governors whose worlds were actually hit by the Kirrix, give them special attention since they have suffered the most.

Jedi Khan

.114: Yes, a few typos and such, but for the most part it was an excellent chapter... We fans have been salivating for the possible Mael'nerak treasures to be found on Kythshara, and we got a few of them in this chapter... we also got Fleet Admiral Lynnette's arrival to the Outer Rim Governor's conference, and her short " I am here to help you" speech,... the Hyper-Warp Gate has been located and they can activate it, so in the next chapter we should have Maliri bringing the looted / requisitioned ships of ole Larn'kelnar's former fleet, home to protect Maliri space, just in time to fight off the latest Progenitor Asshat (Gahl'kalgor) to show his misogynistic head in John's protected territory, so look out! Is this a set up for the long time coming battle to be highlighted in the upcoming chapter #150? Tef likes to have big space battles at certain key chapters (remember chapter #100, Wow!),... ;-) TTFN

Michael56Smith

Yes pretty much, an add on to the Governors meeting and Lynette's arrival and brief speech.

ringill

A random Re has appeared in the latest verion, “Sorry, I’ll be good,” he said, pulling the covers up over her bare chest. “There, no more distractions.”Re

ringill

Was it just that one addition to the last scene at the outer rim??

bob lakhanpal

Thanks for this comment. It made me laugh. :)

Tefler

XD Calara is the story mission reminder we keep ignoring to grind side quests! Gotta get dem lvls, girl!

Youkai-sama

Um...the events on Brecken's World, especially the conference, aren't even done yet so I wouldn't say the conference is complete. I imagine it'll take at least another couple chapters to cover it. We are dealing with a bunch of disgruntled politicians after all. Once they come to terms with the idea that Lynette is actually listening to them, they're going to do everything they can to do what politicians do best: serve their own interests. I expect this conference to last several days, only to be interrupted by the arrival of GK's Thrall forces.

Jedi Khan

Much appreciated.

Antoine Scrivener

I really like the final version of chapter 145. It completes the Brecken’s World conference nicely and leaves room for further story, not leaving us hanging as bad.

Rocketman

Thank you.

Teun Segers

Thank you very much Tefler, it's always a pleasure reading this story.

Droidmek

Hey everyone. I added a few thousand words to the chapter, extending the previous final scene and adding in a new one. Please let me know if you spot any typos!

Tefler

Awesome

Muledrvr

It is fixed in the current version

!raptor

I don’t k know if this is the right place to put typos. „ had left Edraele’s hard pounding in her chest“ =heart

DB

Nope. Anytime time John fed her, his healing ability would cause the implant to be rejected by her body. I don't imagine having the implant still inside the brain as her body tried to heal itself would be all that pleasant an experience.

Jedi Khan

Could it be possible for Faye to have a cloned organic body, and have her brain connected to a progenitor computer via a brain implant similar to the one Sakura had?

Akram123456

Only the souls of the progenitors who made a deal with Xar and the the souls their thralls get consumed by Xar. Rahn said so to John.

Akram123456

I personally look at everything in terms of value. Whatever is your donation amount, at one time you saw value for it. For me the value was a brilliant escape that I eagerly awaited. And then devoured, then savored then re-savored. I waste far more on other entertainment that is fleeting, so for me to make sure that the source of my joy is stable, and can deliver better is an investment in my pleasure. Have at it Tef. Keep delivering.

Wassim Haroun

Oh, and I believe Rachel said something along the lines about 60 or 70 chapters ago that a new clone would have unformed neural pathways which would allow Athena to "move in" without complications. That's why they settled on finding Mael's lab. But maybe I'm wrong, I might be thinking about another scifi story. But it'd make sense to me on some level if Athena was relocated into a brain that was as physically similar to Alyssa's as possible.

Christopher Miller

IMHO Athena would be far more valuable as a researcher learning new psychic powers and making them more efficient. Not to mention she would be a terror in ground combat and boarding actions. Which she wouldn't be able to do if she was stuck being a politician in Maliri space.

Christopher Miller

As for Athena jumping into Vestele's body, I wouldn't really see the point. I assume Athena would "overwrite" what was left of Vestele's mind. That means the matriarch's memories and experience would be lost. Athena would be starting over learning a whole new skill set and even a whole new language to be able to fulfill the role of matriarch. It seems like it would be far more efficient to just give the job to the most qualified Waeyphra political operator. After all it's not like John wouldn't make them 100% loyal and motivated to implement his agenda.

Christopher Miller

So freeze Jade until recovery. I get Vestele was too fragile to freeze, but why not Jade?

2ndAndrocentric

Alternatively if they bring her back as before, she would be able to control the new destroyer single-handedly, maybe using a nymph pilot for the better skill there. I like the organic body or otherwise self-contained (i.e. no remote server, no additional avatars) better though.

DefinitelyMaybeNotHuman

I understand Tef set aside Faye because he needed roles for the nymphs who had just joined, but now Daphne is the AI operations officer with much reduced capacity. So the nymphs are still needed as pilots, gunners and in the future, infantry combatants. This probably leaves Faye in a new role, or possibly Daphne in charge of another vessel.

Christopher Miller

I really, really like the idea of Faye's return in an organic body. Perhaps with psychic abilities similar to Irillith, or not. Perhaps as a necessary sacrifice to be made for a transformation into an organic girl. Maybe she has to give up being able to leap around inside the cyberverse as a price for her new existence?

Christopher Miller

Here's something that will hopefully be never more than a thought experiment: what happens if one of the girls dies? Does their soul just fuck off to oblivion, never to be seen again? Do they get sucked into Xar's feeding trough? Or do they join Athena on her sub-plane, either to live out eternity with her or wait for John to grow them a new body?

Jedi Khan

99% sure the Collective would do that no? :D

Myrnalin

I do hope that when the team begins their attempt to resurrect Faye, that they learned their lesson from her death: keep a backup of her data! It would suck immensely, that if somehow during the process, the data they are working with was to become corrupted or lost, resulting in a failure. They'll need to make sure that they are working with a copy of what data they have left of Faye, that way if the attempt fails due to data corruption or loss, they can try again.

Jedi Khan

It may seem like that at first glance, but not really. Athena has an established identity: she looks just like Alyssa and is sorta the Fairy Godmother of the team. Sticking her into a body that looks nothing like her, is not even the same species, will lead to quite the identity crisis. Plus there's the whole thing about Waephyria being a matriarch to a Maliri noble house. That is pretty far removed from being the team's Fairy Godmother, and she wouldn't be fill both roles. Having Athena take over as head of house would be a lie because that isn't who Athena is, and having her remain as Fairy Godmother would result in the same issue as letting Waephyria die would.

Jedi Khan

Athena is the perfect candidate to move into Waephyria's vacated mind.

2ndAndrocentric

Or do we see her moved to Vastelle ???

!raptor

I like the "left on the edge" a bit more as well ( not someone dead mind you)

!raptor

54 Now we have Mael's life creation lab Athena will have a chance of moving out of Alyssa per her now stated wishes. Alyssa will be even MORE powerful!

jdg45

That's been that way consistently, since the start. I'm not sure if it's a cultural/locale thing or not. Yes, I find it jolting, but it might not be so for those over on the east side of the Atlantic. I run into it on different things with authors from Australia too (they often use learnt for example instead of learned). And don't get me started on the Southerners for whom everything is different than instead of different from.

Hughman

To be honest, I liked it better with the hard cliff hanger, than with the softer, blunted version in the revision. It's still a cliff hanger but the revised version leaves me.... less wanting more.

Hughman

51 Typo? 144 The consequences if I fail don’t even bare BEAR thinking about. 145 The amount of devastation their thrall fleets would cause to outlying Maliri systems before they reached Kythshara doesn’t bare BEAR thinking about.

jdg45

Good addition. Looking forward to the rest. Quick note: on page 1, "not sound the least bit contrite." should be "sounding"

Jedi Khan

I fixed some typos and continuity issues and extended the final scene. I'll add a couple more onto that tomorrow.

Tefler

Ah nice spot on the typo and continuity error. I'll fix both of those!

Tefler

Thanks a lot for all those. I've fixed them in my main document.

Tefler

I realize that a lot of my criticisms of the story probably relate to the fact that TSM is a space opera and not mil-scifi, but I constantly find I'm missing a lot of little things in the story that probably should be there. For example: by this point, High Command should be *thoroughly* familiar, individually, with Calara, Rachel and especially John's service records. John is effectively an honorary member of High Command, and they have to know that the Fleet Admiral has some kind of back-channel communications with him - if they haven't guessed that, they're idiots. And yet literally none of them brought up John's participation in the Galen Prime colony suppression when Lynette brought up the specter of colony rebellions - despite the fact that it would probably be in John's file that *he resigned his commission and retired because of what happened on Galen Prime*. Meaning The Lion might react *violently* at a time when they need his help more than ever - when the public would instinctively take John's side over theirs, when he's been doing a yeoman's work building alliances with the other great powers, and when *he* and only he has access to Maliri technology. With the Protectorate more active than they've been since before humanity took to the stars, this is precisely the time when you don't want to be rocking that boat. This would necessarily prompt the rest of High Command to revisit the question of whether Federation policy should actually be subject to The Lion's veto. There's even good argument that it should not be, given that John hasn't taken any responsibility for the governance of Terra like they have (thus bringing us back to how piss-poor of a job they've been doing). I realize that Tefler already has his hands full writing as big and complex a story as TSM is as it stands, but sometimes the lack of realistic character actions take me out of the story. I don't understand why no one in High Command ever brings up anything from John's service record. Not his deployments, his psych evaluations, nothing - even though these would be entirely relevant to any policy discussions about The Lion. It makes it hard for me to take them seriously as military officers. Some of my other minor issues - like the Trankarans not being told that John is actually the son of The Despoiler - are likely things Tefler has brewing in the background for a later payoff. But the thing with High Command actually considering John's history prior to the fight against the AI threatening Earth should have happened by now. Even Buckingham didn't bring it up at all.

John P

And let's not forget that he's in this situation because he's writing TSM full-time now. He doesn't bring home another paycheck. If he had been sick for a week he still would have gotten sick time. Since he's banging out chapters 2x-3x as fast as if he was doing this part time we have gotten far more material in the last few years than if this had been a hobby he did 15-20 hours a week.

Christopher Miller

44 Typos +++ I’ll park the Invictus on Mael’nerak’s front lawN +++ “It’s great to see you again, Nymaleth,” John said, acknowledging the Fleet Commander with a respectful nod. “You too, Aemira.” *** Nymaleth AND AEMIRA both nodded enthusiastically, not trusting themselves to speak. +++ It sounds like you did an excellent job,” John said, giving her AN (a) approving smile. +++ :)

jdg45

Trance, I can appreciate that, but I have confidence that Tefler will make good on the debt owed to us in this regard. So long as it’s not a recurring pattern, I wouldn’t overly fret about it, and instead, would simply wish him and his family the best of fortune during this holiday period. I understand the issues that they’re facing and I only hope that they quickly surmount them and that we all move on to more enjoyable times in the near future. I’m looking forward to Tefler’s release of the next few chapters while his house is fixed. After all, if he wasn’t getting it fixed, he wouldn’t be able to write for us.

Evan

Just read the email explaining I’m being charged for writing that hasn’t been done yet due to personal house issues. I thought the rule for patron was we pay for work, not promised work? A little pissed about that

TranceR

This goes back to my belief that filling up the nymphs is perhaps the most important use of John's cum at this point. They are, in essence, psychic batteries and provide massive amounts of psychic energy. That will be essential in their upcoming battles.

Bigfoot

Experimenting with shielding the girls. Jade's reserves were unavailable. Rachel burned through her reserves shielding the Raptor and healing everyone after. Dana blew through hers creating the vortex. Alyssa was fighting alongside him and she was already low. The rest of the network was drained by Alyssa during the fight on Kythshara.

Christopher Miller

Because it was mentioned they were all "running on fumes" themselves. Iryllth expended a lot breaking into the bunker before they even left Valaden. The others (especially John) spent some there to.

Christopher Miller

I am puzzled as to why John exhaused his psychic energy and had to draw on his life force when he was surrounded by his crew who clearly had loads of psychic energy to spare. Did I miss some reason why he could not do that?

IanBio

would be much appreciated from me as well to have these labeled completed. I was looking for the governor scene in 144 on the second read through, assuming you had added on at the end. If you end up rewriting things, it might be worth to wait until its finished.

Noticed a speech telepathy mismatch, *This palace serves a different purpose than Saelihn Immanthe,* Alyssa replied, her voice calm and soothing. *I think Mael’nerak ... so Kythshara would’ve been doomed.” There's also this (which I'm sure another 2700+ TSM nerds have pointed out), Nymaleth was a long-serving officer, who had been Fleet Commander for Aradrea Ghilwen before the elder matriarch was replaced by her daughter. Her hair was snowy white, but still short, having only met John briefly at Genthalas. She actually 'met' John on The Encaren Valar, along with the ships captain Darana, in Ch.72 when they escorted the women who had been saved from the Underworld back to Genkiri station.

ringill

First comment, and hate for it to be a complaint but personally I don't mind waiting for a finalized chapter, end up getting frustrated reading one and finding out it has been changed or updated to have to go back to it. Could you label these finalized so I only need a single read through or just wait to release them?

Solid chapter. Thank you 😀

Teun Segers

She and Faye can be sisters!

Jedi Khan

So, it sure seems like Athena's getting slated for a freshly cloned body! I've actually been looking forward to that for about 60 chapters 🥰. Another set of twins for the Invictus' crew!

Christopher Miller

Thank you Tefler, eager to read this chapter as always. Glad you're feeling a bit better now.

Paddy

Nymaleth both nodded enthusiastically, not trusting themselves to speak. Is someone's name missing here???

andrew finlayson

“I’ll park the Invictus on Mael’nerak’s front law and we can check out his palace.” should be lawn

andrew finlayson

Oops! A bit of a freudian slip there. :) It should be fixed now.

Tefler

Awesome, TY!!

Christopher Miller

thanks heaps

TF4EVA

They'll be directly after Lynette's arrival.

Tefler

Excellent chapter as always. Found a minor typo, right before John arrives. "robotic centaur had left Edraele’s HARD pounding", should be HEART? Thanks Tef

Wolfarrow777

So the new scenes that you are still writing, are they before or after the scene where the governors are interrupted by Lynette's arrival?

Jedi Khan

I can't wait to get started on this chapter. Thanks Tefler

Kris

I'm aiming to do two chapters per month at a minimum of 20k words per chapter. I actually managed that this month, despite being sick for over a week, so it should be entirely doable. :)

Tefler

I've just got a bit of a lingering cough, but otherwise I'm fine now. Mini-Tef seems to have caught the same thing and just threw up about 30 minutes ago... so hopefully he'll recover quickly. Thanks for the well wishes!

Tefler

.06: Okay, 1st #145 is around 19K, as was #144's 1st effort... With #144 the redo chapter with the new scenes and improved timeline, and fixing of Jade, was a little over 21K word count... is this #145 (complete) going to be about the same? And are you settling into this size of chapter? can you really do around 40K per month? or is around 20K per month more realistic? Take care of yourself and your family, don't worry, be happy! thanks for sharing! ;-) TTFN

Michael56Smith

Thank you, boss!!! Appreciate it!

Who Me

Thanks for the update. Will wait 'til tomorrow. Hope everyone is feeling well again.

bjcreek

Thanks.... Will wait for the complete chapter. Thank you.

bob lakhanpal

Thank you Tefler, you are awesome!

Ezorro

Awesome

Muledrvr

Cheers are for you

bigdawguw65

Thanks Tefler

Old Cruiser