John watched the last of the prisoners file out of the dreadnought and into the morning sunshine, their hands raised to shade their eyes against the brightness. Nearly a thousand Terrans had gathered outside the crashed Kirrix capital ship, appearing shocked and relieved that the worst of their ordeal was now over.
His eyes were drawn to a statuesque woman approaching him, her white armour sparkling in the sunlight as she weaved her way through the crowd of Terran civilians. She paused for the twentieth time to smile and nod as she was surrounded by grateful prisoners, not wanting to offend them by brushing off their earnest thanks, despite her mounting frustration. The black lioness holographs on her pauldrons flickered as people patted her on the shoulder, the Carolus citizens who had escaped from the Hive Queen's clutches eager to personally meet their saviour.
Sakura frowned at John when she finally reached his side. "Why did you have to go and tell everybody that it was me that grounded the dreadnought? I can't go ten paces without somebody trying to hug me!"
He reached over and gently removed her Paragon helmet, then leaned down to give her a tender kiss. "Who says I had anything to do with it?" he asked with a playful smile. "Maybe they all just think you're adorable? I know I certainly do."
She blushed furiously and bit her lower lip, then gave him a shy smile in return.
John brushed his armoured finger against her cheek. "Truthfully, one of the men thanked me and asked which Lionesses were involved in his rescue. I just mentioned your name and how to tell you apart from the other girls." His eyes flicked to the black lionesses floating above her shoulder pads, then he gave her a broad grin. "You can blame Alyssa for the vivid description of the Saviour of Unity City braving danger in her Valkyrie and single-handedly taking down the dreadnought against impossible odds."
Sakura rolled her eyes. "Why on Terra did she do that?"
"You saw how grateful those people were for saving their lives," he quietly replied, meeting her curious gaze. "How did that feel? Knowing that you helped rescue them?"
She hesitated, a self-conscious smile appearing on her beautiful face.
John gave her a knowing look, then turned to watch Alyssa levitating the remains of the Hive Queen into the Raptor's rear loading bay. He put his arm around the Asian girl and asked, "How did you get on with your sweep of the ship?"
Sakura glanced back at the dreadnought. "The four of you did a thorough job slaughtering your way to the nest. There were a few stragglers, no more than a hundred or so, but it's all clear now."
"Nice work, honey," he said, his gaze lifting to the Invictus which floated like a protective angel over the city of Reitberg. Brilliant azure beams lanced down, destroying the wrecked hive ships now that all the civilians had been evacuated. "We'll be handing over to the Terran forces soon; I want them to be able to concentrate on aiding infested citizens, not fighting off Kirrix troops."
*John, sorry to interrupt,* Alyssa said, after waiting for a lull in the conversation. *We're being hailed by Admiral Zelig. His fleet will be dropping out of hyper-warp in two minutes... he wanted a word.*
*Can you ask Calara to patch him through to my suit?* he asked, raising his Paragon helmet.
*Will do!* Alyssa cheerfully replied.
Sakura's hand darted out to catch his wrist, then she leaned in and gave him a soulful kiss. "Thank you," she whispered, her brown eyes gazing at him lovingly. "It felt good... saving those people."
"We'll talk later," he said, pleased to see her uplifted mood. "Better get back to the Valkyrie before Faye wrecks it."
The Asian girl laughed and waved goodbye before bounding over to her waiting mech, Faye popping the cockpit door open for her.
John donned his helmet, then glanced at the comms interface built into the HUD, the retinal scanners reacting and accepting the flashing call. He started walking towards the Raptor as a holo image of the Terran Federation logo appeared in the top right. A few seconds later, the winged sword was replaced by a bearded man wearing an admiral's uniform.
"It's good to see you, Admiral Zelig," John said, greeting him with a smile.
"Likewise, Admiral Blake," the older officer replied. He hesitated then added, "Can we forego rank?"
"Of course, Nathan. I assume you're calling for a status update?" John asked as he approached the rear of the gunship. Crowds of civilians had gathered there to watch their rescuers depart and he saluted the grateful citizens as they waved goodbye.
Zelig leaned forward, his expression full of worry. "We haven't picked up any vessels at the outer edge of the Pi Sagittarii system, so I'm assuming that after we jump in, we'll have a grace period before we have to engage the Kirrix. How large a force are we facing?"
Pausing at the ramp, John waited for the twins as they landed and jogged over to join him. "They had 32 drone carriers, 16 hive ships, and a dreadnought."
"My God, a dreadnought!" Zelig exclaimed, his brow furrowing in alarm. "I'm not sure we've got enough firepower to engage a hostile force of that size! I only have ten battleships in my fleet..."
John smiled warmly at the Maliri girls and slipped his arms around their waists as they walked up the ramp together. "We took care of it, don't worry."
The admiral's eyes widened. "You brought down the dreadnought?!"
"Calara swept the system clear, you're free to begin the relief effort," John replied, nodding to Dana, who grinned at him and slapped her hand down on the button to close the rear ramp.
"Wait... you actually managed to run off a Kirrix force of that size?!" Zelig exclaimed, shaking his head in disbelief.
John glanced at Rachel who was crouching next to the decapitated head of a nest guardian, her expression one of intense professional curiosity as she took some preliminary scans. "No, we destroyed their entire fleet. There might be a handful of Kirrix troopers loose in the city, but the vast majority were clustered around the hive ships. We took them out when we freed the prisoners."
Zelig looked stunned, then he frowned sceptically. "I'm sorry, John. I don't want to make it sound like I'm accusing you of lying, but I find all this very hard to believe."
The twins removed their helmets and started to pull away, but John held them close, shaking his head. "You'll see for yourself in about thirty seconds," he said to the admiral with a wry smile. "In any case, we're pulling out. Alyssa confronted the entity ruling the Kirrix and believes that the entire invasion force is now in full retreat, so we might have to change our plan to rush to Menganus IV. I'll discuss it with the girls and keep you informed."
Leaning back in his seat, Zelig was quiet for a long moment before raising an eyebrow. "Do you still want me to stick to our original strategy and liberate Tasmaris Prime?"
"Yes please," John replied with a nod. "If Alyssa is right, the Kirrix will probably attempt to flee with whatever civilians they've managed to capture so far. You might want to plot an intercept course with that in mind. Actually, I'll ask Alyssa to transmit one to you; her navigation skills are exceptional... she'll be able to reduce your flight time by a couple of hours."
A warning chime echoed around the admiral's Ready Room and he turned to study the Tactical Map as his fleet jumped into the system. John couldn't help smiling when Zelig's mouth dropped open in shock, finally seeing for himself the vast sea of debris that was all that remained of the Kirrix fleet.
"But it's just one ship... how is that even possible..." he whispered in awe, his eyes like saucers.
"To be fair, she's had a few upgrades," John said dryly.
Zelig inhaled deeply, then blew out his breath. "It seems I should have had more faith in you, Lion. As you appear to have wiped out the Kirrix to a drone, I'll send down the relief teams unescorted. The bulk of our medical staff are located on the carriers, so we'll deploy dropships and transports, then lay in a course for Tasmaris Prime."
John gave him a grateful look. "Excellent, thank you for the cooperation. If there's any new developments, I'll let you know."
"You've saved a huge number of lives here, John. I might not necessarily agree with some of your methods, but please don't feel that I don't appreciate the magnitude of the debt the Terran Federation owes you for your service." The admiral paused then saluted him respectfully.
"I'd return the salute, but we're speaking via helmet cam," John said with a smile. "Thank you, Nathan."
They nodded to each other and ended the call. John reached up to remove his Paragon helmet and saw the twins watching him expectantly as he pulled it from his head. Both girls looked pensive and even if Alyssa hadn't forewarned him about the incident on the hive ship, he would've known something was bothering them.
Tashana winced and quietly confessed, "I'm sorry about my Paragon suit; I promise it looks a lot worse than it is. None of the shots actually penetrated the armour."
He glanced down at the scores of impact craters marring the white plates, his eyebrows climbing in surprise. "I'm sorry, I hadn't even noticed. My only defence is that I was mid-conversation with Admiral Zelig when you arrived."
Irillith shook her head and said softly, "Shan... that's not why he wants to speak to you."
John nodded, pulling them closer. "She's right... I'd like to discuss what happened on the hive ship with both of you. I was thinking we could get together after the debrief."
"Me too?" Irillith asked in surprise.
He gazed into her angular violet eyes and saw the flicker of guilt there. "Yes, you too."
She turned away, unable to meet his sympathetic gaze. "Okay..."
