*Armor feels funny. I mean, I modeled these suits when I was building the Equipping Frames, but it's different when you're actually going into a fight,* Dana mused, doing some simple stretches to limber up while encased head-to-toe in modified Phalanx Alpha armor.
*You're sure you're up for your first combat mission?* John checked worriedly. While it had been his idea to sneak into the Drakkar base and rig the ships to blow with a stealth operation, he hadn't processed that only Dana had the technical know-how to turn a Power Core into a giant bomb until she was getting suited up.
*Relax, John,* Dana thought with an affectionate eye-roll. *I was already a good shot, and I crammed in a few sessions in the Firing Range since the Change went through so I'm up to par with Jonah and Alyssa. Besides, unless you want this to take hours, you'll need my nimble fingers tickling the power regulators and safeties in that Battleship's core room rather than me coaching one of you through it from the Invictus.*
John had to acknowledge her good point. He looked around the cockpit of the Raptor, where he and his Angels were all standing as Jade brought them in towards the temporary drydock utilized by the Drakkar raiders. Calara and the two new Ashanath recruits had stayed behind with the Invictus. The rest of them were all armed and armored and slowly gliding through the Kappa Indarran system towards the Drakkar base.
*While we're waiting, I did my magic and worked out a way for you to carry around your brand spanking new sword around with you while coordinating the repairs for the Invictus earlier,* Dana added.
John turned to the blade he and Alyssa had worked together to create during the lull before dinner back on Ashana, propped up in the corner. Alyssa had been all for an elaborate design that was as flashy as it was effective, but John had insisted on minimalist function in the end. After a mini-research session into all the various kinds of swords from Terran history, John had settled on a basic hand-and-a-half longsword. Alyssa, once she knew the shape he wanted backwards and forwards, had taken the half-cube of Alyssium Dana had provided and then shaped it telekinetically into the desired weapon. Apart from being entirely made of glittering white Alyssium, John's new sword was a simple double-sided 5-foot-long blade with a wide crossguard, handle, and pommel. Alyssium was surprisingly heavy, but luckily John had his Psychic Strength so he barely noticed. After a few test swings to make sure the balance was perfect, Alyssa had melted it back down and reshaped it until she psychically was incapable of further shaping. At quint-shaped, the Alyssium longsword was 6 times the strength and sharpness of Titanium and would even be effective at blocking or reflecting laser fire given the Onyxium that was part of the compound.
John focused back on his Chief Engineer. *Ok. You got a scabbard with you that'll hook up to my armor?* he guessed.
*Please, this is the 28th Century, I did something a bit more hi-tech than that,* Dana snorted. She walked behind him and attached something John couldn't see to the rear of his right shoulder plate. She went to the sword and clamped two metal rings to the top and bottom of the handle, where they wouldn't get in the way of John's grip. *Pick it up, then 'sheath' it behind your back,* Dana instructed.
John did as bid, picking up the Alyssium blade and bringing it up and over his shoulder. He released his grip, and part of him braced for the shriek of protesting metal as it crashed to the floor. Instead, the sword seemed frozen in midair at the perfect position for him to reach behind his back and grasp the sword.
*Magnets, gotta love 'em,* Dana chuckled. *Should handle the rough and tumble of floating along behind you easy enough, and if you ever need it your super-strength is enough to break the suspension without you even noticing the resistance.*
*Brilliant as per usual,* John grinned down at the redhead. If they weren't wearing helmets, he'd have given her a big smooch.
*You can make it up to me later,* she chuckled in the chorus with a hint of heat.
*Between taking out the Drakkar and surviving the whole 'rival Progenitor had us at his mercy' thing, I fully expect a night to remember,* Alyssa giggled telepathically.
John reminded himself that his armor had very little give when his cock tried to harden within the confines of the suit. *I'll do my best to deliver, honey. Though on that note, we need to have a very serious talk about the fact there's another Progenitor under the Shroud sooner rather than later.*
*Yeah, that's a steaming pile of shit we'll have to shovel at some point,* Jonah grumbled in agreement. *But for now, let's focus on the sharks.*
John nodded and went to look over Jade's shoulder as she was piloting the Raptor. *How we doing, honey?* he asked her.
*Minimal energy profile, so slow-going, but we're making good progress. We'll reach the drydock in about 10 minutes,* his Nymph Angel reported.
*Good girl,* he praised, running a gloved hand through her green-black hair.
Jade shivered but maintained her focus on flying the Raptor. *Once we're at the drydock, I'll go looking for any stacks of ore crates we can spot. Someone can check whether they're Iron, Onyxium, or something else. Once we 'requisition' enough to solve our own shortage, it's just a quick dock with the Battleship so you all can sneak in, right?*
*That's the plan. Though one of my instructors in the Academy liked to say that no plan survives contact with reality,* John chuckled ruefully.
*Funny, one of mine did the same. Sandusky?* Calara piped up from the safety of the Invictus.
*That old bastard's still teaching?* John blinked in shock.
The moment of levity passed and they all tensed once Jade brought the Raptor into the Drakkar drydock. There was a visible lack of any Drakkar in spacesuits and they were in stealth mode, but still, they were in the middle of hostile territory. Jade feathered the retro-thrusters until they reached what was clearly the 'cargo' section of the drydock. There were 4 different platforms, each filled with various ore crates in the standard size.
*One Spirit-Walk scouting mission, coming right up,* Alyssa volunteered preemptively. She concentrated and separated her Astral body from her Material body. As a floating spirit, she phased right through the walls of the Raptor and out into space. Part of her marveled at simply floating in outer space for a moment, but she refocused on the mission at hand soon enough. She moved faster than physically possible over to the nearest platform. She found the nearest ore container and noted a gray alien glyph stamped on the cover. Sticking her head through the lid, she observed neat stacks of iron ingots. Logging that particular glyph as 'Iron', Alyssa methodically checked every ore crate on each platform. She was starting to think they'd been wrong in their hunch that the rival Progenitor had dropped off a fresh shipment when she struck lucky on the last platform. With a snap, she returned to her physical form. *That one, there's a good 30-odd crates filled with Onyxium,* she pointed out to her crewmates.
*Damn, that's enough to plate a Battleship twice over! We'll be set for a good long while!* Dana thought cheerfully.
*Jade, bring us around and then open the Cargo Bay doors. Me and Alyssa will lift them all with Telekinesis and then lock them down,* John ordered swiftly.
Jade nodded and brought them around so the rear of the Raptor was a good jump away from the platform where the Onyxium crates were stored. John and Alyssa took the grav-tubes down to the lower level of the dropship and entered the rearmost bay. A quick depressurization later, Jade opened the loading ramp at John's mental command. John fearlessly made the jump from the ramp over to the drydock, noted the particular bunch of crates all with a black Drakkar symbol stamped on them, and began to pass the crates with Telekinesis over to Alyssa back in the Raptor. Confirming that they'd gotten every last crate of Onyxium, John leapt back into the Raptor and had Jade close the ramp again.
*Ok, honey, now dock us with the airlock of the Battleship. Calara, you saw the active scans the Ashanath took, where's the Power Core located?* John checked.
*Should be centrally located on the aft of the bottom deck,* the Latina Tactical Officer reported immediately.
Jonah and Dana came down from the top deck and the 4 armored crew gathered at the airlock door. They each had a Railgun and plenty of ammo, John had his new sword hanging over his shoulder, Dana brought an Engineer's toolkit to help her tamper with the Power Core, and they all bar Dana had offensive psychic powers. The Drakkar wouldn't know what hit them.
Once Jade confirmed they were securely docked, John opened the inner airlock door. He and his Angels walked into the chamber, closing the door behind them. Opening the outer door revealed the Drakkar's own outer door. John was all prepared to bust his way in, when Dana thought *Let's try finesse over brute force, eh?* She popped a maintenance panel and spliced a handheld computer into the system. She couldn't read Drakkar script, but tripping the hydraulics was a fairly idiot-proof hack. The door opened, and she repeated the trick on the inner airlock door.
*Jade, detach and stay hidden. Either you'll redock and pick us up without the alarm being raised, or you may have to come charging to our rescue if we get spotted,* John alerted his Nymph.
*Stay safe, all of you,* the cat-girl thought lovingly in the chorus before doing as her Master ordered.
John took point with Jonah, Alyssa covering the rear with Dana as the most protected inside their triangle. The Drakkar ship was in a terrible state of disrepair, even worse than what the Chendar pirates had been doing with their ships. Whole hallways lacked proper lighting and jury-rigged cabling and quick fixes little better than spit and duct tape were visible frequently. It was also filthy; John was pretty sure he spotted actual cockroaches or a rat more than once as he moved them towards the central spine of the ship. They got the drop on a trio of randomly patrolling Drakkar, John finding an empty room to stash the bodies.
They reached a room that, like the Kirrix ship, used ramps instead of stairs. John was painfully aware that in their glittering white Alyssium armor that they stood out like sore thumbs against the grubby surroundings. Moving fast as he dared, he led his team of Angels down until they reached the bottom deck and then proceeded closer to the middle of the ship. They finally found the entrance to the Power Core room, evidenced by all the technology and the massive 3-deck-high sphere that took pride of place in the center of the chamber.
*Alyssa and I will sweep each floor for Drakkar. Jonah, don't let Dana out of your sight. Sparks, do what you came here to do,* John ordered quickly.
Dana let her Railgun hang from a strap and grabbed a multi-tool out of her toolkit. She popped the panel on a power regulator, actually whistling a jolly tune as she started to sabotage the fusion reactor to become a hair-trigger bomb.
Rolling his eyes at the irreverence of youth, John took Alyssa and silently climbed up the gantries. On the second level, they came across a number of Drakkar hooting, hollering, and probably betting on the outcome of a brawl going on in the middle of the floor between 4 different Drakkar. Wanting to get some practice with his sword, John drew it. Activating Psychic Alacrity, he swept through the room like the god of death, decapitating each Drakkar almost before he realized there was any danger. Feeling that visceral sense of satisfaction again, John flicked the blade to clean off the blood and 'sheathed' it in its magnetic scabbard again. He and Alyssa went up to the third level, which was packed to the gills with Drakkar scientists and their guards.
*I'd say 'like fish in a barrel', but the pun would be painful,* Alyssa chuckled. Then she reached out with Telekinesis and froze every Drakkar in place. John and she both flicked their fire-selectors to burst-fire and began to methodically punch the tickets of every Drakkar on that level. They took special care not to hit the Power Core or any of the computers, which would prove disastrous. When there were multiple puddles of blue blood leaking through the gantry floor, John did one final sweep for any hostels before leading Alyssa back down to Jonah and Dana.
It was a tense half-hour, John waiting for an alarm to be raised or the silence from the room to be noticed by the Drakkar crew on the Bridge, as Dana disabled one Power Regulator after another. When she finished with the last, she tucked her multi-tool back into her toolkit. *And I'm done. The moment they try to power up to full systems, this whole base is going to light up like a giant firecracker. I recommend we not be here ASAP.*
*Jade, dock back with the airlock, we're headed back,* John ordered. He grabbed Alyssa's hand while instructing Jonah to take Dana's. With a mental effort, both men activated Psychic Alacrity and retraced their steps back to the airlock. Moving at psychically-enhanced speed, they were back on the Raptor in less than a third the time it took them to reach the Power Core initially.
Jade made her slow and silent progress back to the Invictus, landing them in the Hanger Bay. They went back to the Bridge, waiting a moment before getting unarmored. John sat in his Command Chair and debated how to provoke the Drakkar. *Calara? Beam one of the Cruisers,* he finally decided.
*With pleasure,* his teenage gunner grinned before taking aim and firing their most powerful Lasers at one of the Drakkar Cruisers in drydock. Since it was Calara, she'd unconsciously aimed for a vital point on the ship, coring straight through the Bridge at an angle to effectively cut the head off that particular ship.
There was a moment of stunned silence, and then the Drakkar Battleship inexplicably vanished in an explosion so bright that John almost asked Dana to mute the glare on the hologram. When the fury of the miniature star in the Drakkar Power Core faded away, the whole Drakkar base was so much debris caught in the gas giant's gravity well.
John blew out a breath. *That actually worked?* he thought.
*Yep, yep!* Dana beamed. *So, I believe the scorecard stands at Invictus: 7, Drakkar: zip. We won!*
*Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let's get unarmored. Alyssa, get us back on course for Ashana. Then everyone, family meeting in the Briefing Room. We need to talk about this whole thing,* John ordered.
The mood getting more somber, they one and all went to the meeting room on the Command Deck. The infiltration team got unarmored in the Equipping Frames and then took their traditional places at the meeting table.
*I want to start this by saying that you all performed phenomenally over the last few days,* John said, his mind-voice ringing with warmth and pride. *We were thrust into unexpected combat, and you all availed yourselves better than some career military I've met. We took out all the Drakkar raiders with minimal damage to the Invictus and no one got any real injuries. On that front, I'm ready to declare this a near-perfect victory! I could not love any of you more than I already do, but this was a major success and feather in our cap as a team. Each of you were extraordinary, and it's my honor to be your Commander and head of this family.*
The crew one and all got radiant smiles and felt surges of love in their hearts at the effusive praise coming from the Progenitor they'd all pledged their lives to.
John's smile lost a few molars. *Now… let's address the elephant in the room. A Progenitor was helping the Drakkar. Thoughts, feelings, what does this mean for us and the Galactic League at large?*
Calara frowned and steepled her fingers. *The first Drakkar attack with the Onyxium armor was almost a full 6 months ago. Even assuming that that was the very first thing this Progenitor did after coming under the Shroud, that's still plenty of time to have conquered the whole League if he were so inclined. I mean, I don't have hard specs on how powerful your standard Progenitor Dreadnought's loadout is, but we all saw that ship earlier. Even the strongest gun on it probably isn't at the same level as a proper Quantum Annihilator, but that's not saying much. And we don't know how many Thrall ships he might have or brought with him. If this Progenitor wanted to conquer the Galactic League, he could have done it by now. The fact he hasn't is telling, though what it says I'm still unsure about.*
*Well, let's think about this. Mael'nerak came under the Shroud, and his first instinct was to wipe out the Achonin and claim every system under the psychic invisibility cloak thingamajig. Rahn'hagon found this corner of space, ran into Mael'nerak, and he decided to start a war. This Progenitor, whoever he is, got his freedom under the Shroud and there wasn't any major Progenitor or technologically advanced by Progenitor standards empire to stop him. And everyone's different. Maybe this Progenitor decided he'd have fun fucking around with the League from the shadows,* Jonah laid out. *I mean, he's been the Devourer's puppet for who knows how long. Maybe he decided to give being the puppetmaster a try rather than just straight up crushing all resistance and setting up a new empire from the ashes.*
*If that's the case, worth noting that tensions between the Kintark and Terrans have reached an all-time high within the same time frame as the Drakkar raiders showing up,* Alyssa frowned.
*And there's actually a bit of a civil war going on in the Trankaran Republic right now,* Lirrash added, her lips set in a frown. *They're keeping it as secret as they can from the other empires, but our Ambassador to the Trankaran Republic informed the High Council that there's a group of insurgents led by, quote, 'the Glowing Queen'. She seems to command total obedience from every Trankaran who even lays eyes on her, and she seems determined to conquer the Republic from within.*
*Once is a fluke, twice is coincidence, thrice is a pattern,* John sighed. *Drakkar raiders get Onyxium armor, the Terran Federation bites off more than it can chew starting a fight with the Kintark Empire, and now we learn that some female Trankaran is trying to pull off a bloody coup. If this is all a game to this Progenitor, then that's subtle but powerful maneuvering. He gets to just kick up his feet and watch as we all batter ourselves to pieces. Then he either swoops in at the end to claim the spoils or he starts a new game for shits and giggles. If we hadn't intervened, the Drakkar could well have wiped out the Ashanath Collective if left unchecked. This 'Glowing Queen' sounds like a Trankaran Thrall he gifted some form of mind control. And all he'd need to do is seduce the right Admiral and she could have started the whole mess with the Lizards.*
*We're building a statue on clay feet here, this is all speculation,* Dana felt the need to point out. *I mean, short of asking this Progenitor to his face why he's pulling off all this shit, we won't really know his reasoning. All we know for sure is that he gave the Drakkar some Onyxium and probably snuck them past the border with his Wormhole Generator. And on that note, Wormhole Generator. Now that I'm not shitting my pants in fear, I kinda wish we'd recorded the whole thing so I can watch that baby at work.*
John nodded. *Ok, let's put a pin in discussing the Progenitor and all he could be getting up to. I mean, obviously we can't let him get away with all this if he's behind it, but let's be realistic. It'll take me becoming Maliri King and doing some heavy recruiting to be in any position to really affect him or pose any kind of threat to a fully-armed Progenitor Dreadnought. Let's focus on the here and now. We wiped out the Drakkar, so what's our next move?*
*The family reunion on Jericho is in 5 days,* Calara reminded them all. *I'd really prefer we could make it, and with our new Tachyon Drive we should make the trip with time to spare if we leave tomorrow or the day after at the latest.*
*Ooh, yeah, got to meet the future in-laws!* Alyssa giggled.
*Hey, I thought I was promised a guided tour of the Legacy!* Dana protested. She really was chomping at the bit to get a close-up look at Progenitor technology.
John cleared his throat, preventing any brewing conflict. *We'll get back to Ashana around midnight, so first up is a good night's sleep once we debrief with Ularean. Tomorrow morning, we can arrange that tour of the Legacy while the Ashanath process all the Onyxium we got into Alyssium ore. Tomorrow evening, or the next morning at the latest, we can head for Epsilon Eridani so we can make the meeting with Calara's family. What's everyone think we should do after the reunion?*
Jade spoke up in the group mind. *If we're serious about recruiting Rachel as our Medical Officer, I'd rather we do it sooner than later. If things really are heating up between the Terran Federation and the Kintark Empire, I'm not comfortable with one of your future mates being right on the border in the thick of it.*
John nodded, agreeing with the verdant woman. *Good point. Ok, after Jericho, I call in a favor with Charles to get Rachel transferred to the Invictus like I had Grant do with Calara. Assuming she agrees to join the crew in the first place, of course. We can head straight to Port Medea in Iota Leonis from Epsilon Eridani. We'll pick up Rachel, if she'll have us, and make the pitch to have her join the network and/or harem. Then I figure we've all more than earned a proper vacation. I'll book us a quiet couple weeks at a resort planet somewhere so we can rest and recharge our batteries. Once that's over, though, I think the clear priority is to go to Maliri space and at least get the lay of the land so we can start to figure out how I can go about 'claiming' them.*
*Kind of trippy, the whole idea of Thrall races and how they're literally designed to serve a Progenitor,* Alyssa mused.
*Agreed, but it is what it is,* John nodded at his Matriarch. *Back to another issue… what's everyone's thoughts on supplementary crew on Deck 4?*
*Ooh, want to do some more recruiting before we leave the Grays behind?* Jonah asked with a salacious grin. He glanced at Lirrash and Zanthus, both at differing stages of the Change. *I certainly wouldn't complain over some more members of the family, though the bed in our cabin is starting to get cramped.*
*Not members of the harem,* John thought firmly with a hint of fond exasperation. *But the Invictus was originally designed for a naval crew of 40 and 300 Marines. I'm not saying we need to be that ambitious, but each new member of my network equals more energy for me. And I'm sure we can all agree that Dana wouldn't mind keeping some of her Ashanath minions or that extra bodies carrying guns wouldn't come in handy during the conflicts we seem to keep getting sucked into. My question is if anyone is opposed to having people on the ship who won't be sharing our bed but still be serving as part of the crew.*
*No real reason not to. I mean, Deck 4 and the Galley are basically just sitting down there unused,* Calara nodded. *And we should think long-term, not just the Ashanath as potential candidates. We can hire and/or recruit everywhere we end up going. We're rich enough to afford the salaries, and the health benefits of the Change would have most people hooked even with the whole obedience compulsion to consider. I say we start small, though. Let's say 6 Engineers to help Dana and Zanthus work their magic, and a dozen Ashanath Marines to act as reinforcements when we get into gunfights. Jade can feed them with her breast-hollowing trick, so they can join the network without drinking straight from the tap, so to speak.*
*Shall we vote on it?* John posed to the crew. No one raised any objections, and John nodded decisively. *Ok. We'll report to Ularean, ask for the tour tomorrow and for 18 volunteers to join the crew and go through the Change. Then to bed, it's been a long ass day. Meeting adjourned. Alyssa, honey, come help me move all the Onyxium crates to the Cargo Bay, please.*
The rest of the trip back to the Ashanath homeworld passed uneventfully. The Invictus pulled into the Ashana system and went to dock in their assigned drydock under the capital city. John had Lirrash as Comm Officer initiate the call with Ularean. The Ashanath leader appeared on the vid-screen. "Ah, JohnBlake. May I ask how the mission to Kappa Indarran fared?" the Gray male asked through his mind-translator.
"There's good news and bad news, Ularean. Which would you like first?" John asked his ally.
"Just let me know both at the same time," Ularean decided.
"We wiped out the Drakkar. They're gone, Ularean. The Collective is safe… for the moment. The problem is, there was a Progenitor Dreadnought in Kappa Indarran with the Drakkar. Our best theory is that another Progenitor has found the Shroud and, for whatever reason, allied with the Drakkar," John laid out.
Ularean blinked rapidly, a great show of emotion for his species. "O-oh, dear," the man breathed. "The presence of 2 Progenitors in the Galactic League at the same time… the last time that happened, it was named the War of the Heavens."
"I'm hoping we can avoid things escalating to that level," John said firmly. "We have no way of knowing this other Progenitor's inclinations or why he helped out the Drakkar. We're not even sure he's necessarily hostile to the Galactic League, even if his actions seem to indicate as such. Let's move past this with the knowledge he's there, but there's no point in worrying ourselves sick over what might happen with no way to know for sure."
"Fair point, JohnBlake," Ularean nodded, regaining his composure. "Now, having ended the threat of the Drakkar at present, the Collective owes you a debt of gratitude. Is there anything I or my people can do for you before you leave us for the next leg in your adventure?"
"We're going to catch some shut-eye, it's been a very long day," John said, punctuated by an involuntary yawn. "In the morning, though, I'm sure Dana will have a fresh round of orders so keep the Engineers on standby. Also, you mentioned earlier today how some Ashanath have expressed interest in joining the crew. I'll leave it to your discretion to select 6 Engineers to leave with the Invictus as our new Engineering Team. I also ask that you assign us a contingent of a dozen Ashanath Marines, making sure they're fully consenting to join and serve under a Progenitor. And, as a personal favor, Dana and the rest of us would greatly appreciate a tour of the Legacy if you'll permit it."
"That all sounds quite reasonable," Ularean nodded. "I shall make the arrangements by the time you awaken. Contact me at your convenience tomorrow and I shall inform you of my progress with these requests."
"Thanks, Ularean," John grinned appreciatively.
"You're welcome, JohnBlake. It is the least we can do for our Champion," Ularaen said, managing a small grin.
John ended the call and went to take a hot shower with his crew. The shower started a little past midnight. They didn't all pass out in sexual exhaustion until almost 0300.
Waking up from a stellar night's sleep, John and his Angels all got breakfast, Lirrash and Zanthus getting it on their knees. Dressed and ready for the day, John contacted Ularean. An hour later, Dana having given an extensive list of orders to her perfectly willing helpers, the crew was in the Invictus as it flew through the Ashana atmosphere. They were following a flightpath provided by Ularean himself, who assured them that Councilor Talari would be waiting to guide them on a tour of everything the Ashanath had on the Progenitors.
They approached a particular section of what appeared to be barren desert. A hidden underground hangar opened, allowing them to land.
*Fuck me running! I'm picking up literally dozens of planetary defense lasers around this whole area!* Dana gasped as she looked at the data from the Invictus' sensors.
*This is our most secure location in the entire Collective. We wanted to make it so even another Progenitor would have to work to reach the Legacy,* Lirrash revealed.
Jonah landed them light as a feather in the hangar, and the crew took the grav-tubes down to the airlock. They exited into the slightly dusty atmosphere of Ashana, to find Talari in his High Councilor white robes waiting for them. He blinked when he got a good look at Lirrash. *Lirrash? You look… different,* her old friend managed delicately.
*I am undergoing a metamorphosis known as 'the Change'. John is transforming me into a woman worthy of standing by his side,* Lirrash assured the fellow Ashanath with a grin. Her hair, snow-white as Alyssium, had grown to a rough pixie-cut with no indication of stopping until it was a lustrous mane equal to the other female Angels. Her figure was now 5'7 and proportionally equal to the Angel build, she just needed a little more growing to reach the final shape.
*You're absolutely beautiful, Lirrash,* Talari assured the woman he considered almost a sister. He refocused on the much taller John. *JohnBlake, allow me to escort you and your crew into the compound. We will first visit a repository of all artifacts the Ashanath could lay hands on regarding Mael'nerak, Rahn'hagon, and even more ancient Progenitors. From there, we will enter the hangar that holds the Legacy.*
*Proceed, Talari,* John nodded.
They went through no less than 6 highly-defended chambers before reaching a grav-tube that took them deep into the crust of the planet. Landing gently at the bottom, Talari led them to a bunker of a security vault. A Psy-Scanner verified his mind-print with a wave of green light, and the 2-foot-thick door swung open to allow them entry. They entered what felt like a natural cave with strategically placed lighting to illuminate a number of stone plinths and cave paintings.
*Most of these were made by the first Ashanath to make a record of Mael'nerak's reign for future generations. Others were found on archaeological digs after the War of the Heavens. The oldest is over a million Terran years old according to carbon dating of the pigments used,* Talari informed them all, an awed hush filling his mind-voice.
John and his Angels regarded one mural after another, most of them showing a pointy-eared humanoid leading legions of women in warfare against less advanced civilizations. Most of the women were blue, though yellow and red popped up here and there. John felt a weight settle in his stomach as he saw one record after another of blatantly one-sided warfare, massacres of whole planets with the men slaughtered and the women kidnapped. *Mael'nerak might have finally seen the light, but he was a right bastard for a while there,* he noted quietly.
Jade tugged him over to a particular mural, which showed presumably Mael'nerak and Maliri assistants overseeing figures coming out of some kind of birthing pods. *He was responsible for much death and destruction, yes. But he also created life. Without him, half the Galactic League would not exist. I would not exist. Whatever his sins, surely that counts for something, no?*
*I can forgive him most of this shit for making a special girl like you to eventually end up with me, honey,* John grinned, mood buoyed as he gave Jade a quick, affectionate kiss.
When they'd looked at every stone tablet and painting, Talari guided them to a seemingly unremarkable section of wall. A hidden Psy-Scanner verified him, and a hidden door opened in the wall. They walked in, and spotlights illuminated the treasure hidden in the chamber.
*Wow…* Dana breathed in wonder.
It was clearly the same model of Progenitor Dreadnought as they had encountered yesterday, albeit heavily damaged. Given it had been in the explosion that created the Niryean Rift, the fact so much had survived was actually quite impressive. The Ashanath had filled in the gaps and damaged sections with their preferred Etherium metal. The silvery metal clashed heavily with whatever pitch-black material went into the original Dreadnought, but it was clear that the Legacy was space-worthy.
*It took centuries, but we repaired the Legacy as best we could. It's our 'secret weapon', as it were. There's still one functioning weapon, which alone has more destructive output than the Collective's best Dreadnought. The plan was to guard it from everyone and only utilize it if the very survival of the species or homeworld was on the line,* Lirrash revealed to her new crew.
John tore his eyes away from the achingly familiar yet still strange shape, turning to Alyssa. He could pick up discomfort, even nausea and dread from her. *Honey, what's wrong?* he asked.
*That ship is evil, John,* Alyssa said with bone-deep certainty. *Death and pain is all but radiating off it. I might be the only one sensitive enough to pick up on it, but I feel like I'm staring at a bloody battlefield in the shape of a ship. And it's not just all the psychic remnants. There's just something… wrong about the whole thing.*
Lirrash sighed. *The metal of the original superstructure was produced by a Soul Forge. A Soul Forge, by design, utilizes psychic energy to craft the supermaterial favored by Progenitors. The energy is harvested from Thrall 'volunteers', and the process is always fatal, not to mention excruciating. An estimated 100,000 Thralls were sacrificed to produce the original frame of the Legacy, based on what figures Mael'nerak shared with us on how the Soul Forge functioned.*
John felt his gorge rise. *He killed all those women just to get a special metal?!*
*And that's just for this one Dreadnought. A whole fleet…* Calara thought with horror.
*Progenitors, or at least the Devourer, are evil. This isn't news,* Jonah pointed out grimly.
*I can't go in there,* Alyssa thought, looking in danger of fainting in a pool of her own vomit.
*Ok,* John agreed easily. *But I think at least Dana and I should take a look. She might be able to succeed at reverse-engineering the tech where the Ashanath failed.*
*Let's make it quick,* Dana thought, subdued. She was feeling a bit queasy herself at the thought of all those innocent women being slaughtered just to make one ship.
The rest of the crew stayed behind with Alyssa to comfort her or also didn't want to set foot in the Legacy. Talari, though, led John and Dana down to the airlock and then let them in. John was unable to deny a sense of homecoming as he walked down the black hallways illuminated by blood-red lighting. Dana was looking around with a curious expression, as if she was trying to unlock the secrets of the Legacy through pure willpower.
Talari led them to the Power Core room, which showed clear signs of heavy traffic and experimenting by the Ashanath. Dana took one look at the massive sphere and clutched her head.
*Honey, what's wrong?!* John asked in alarm.
*Headache…* she moaned piteously. She recovered abnormally quickly, though, and had a massive grin. To John's intense surprise, she leapt up to plant a big kiss on his lips.
*What was that for?* John blinked, recovering from the passionate liplock.
*You gave me my own Gift already, even if you haven't given me powers yet,* Dana beamed. *The moment I saw the Progenitor Power Core, all the relevant schematics just appeared in my head! Psychic bullshit, genetic programming, don't know or really care. The point is, I'm 99% sure you uploaded the full archive of Progenitor tech into my brain when you put me through the Change! I can't consciously remember it all, but when I saw the real thing it 'clicked' in my brain. And now I know exactly how to make a Progenitor Power Core, not to mention Progenitor Power Couplings and Power Regulators!*
*That's great! So, worth extending our stay so you can build one?* John asked eagerly.
Dana's smile turned into a frown. *We can't. It requires exotic elements, a couple that I don't think the Galactic League have even discovered yet. I know how to synthesize them, but it'll take a session at a major Fusion Power Plant and some specialized equipment to make them. We don't have time. I can load the instructions to the Ashanath and they can start mass-producing them, though. We can arrange a shipment for us to pick up somewhere along the line and I'll be able to make one right on the Invictus from my Engineering Bay.*
*I see,* John nodded, processing that data dump. He turned to Talari. *Any other tech that survived. I know you at least have the Tachyon Drive.*
*Follow me,* Talari nodded. It was a quick trip to the Drive Room. A similar blinding headache later, and Dana was practically pink with glee. *Sweet! A Progenitor Tachyon Drive doesn't even need exotic elements, just dizzyingly complicated components. I can build one and we can install it while we're on vacation or something in a week or two!*
*Wonderful,* John grinned.
Talari took them room by room through the rest of the Legacy, but apart from a few minor insights like a new Oxygen Filtration System and Water Purifier, Dana didn't get any more flashes of Progenitor tech from what they could observe. They made there way back to the crew and from there back to the surface.
*It was my honor and pleasure to guide you today, JohnBlake,* Talari bowed. *My heartfelt thanks for all you have done for the Collective.*
John returned the bow and they all got back into the Invictus. In short order, they were back in drydock. Dana went to supervise the overhaul of the Raptor with all the same upgrades she'd given the Invictus, including Alyssium armor. John went to his Ready Room and contacted Ularean while his Angels went to prepare lunch.
"JohnBlake, greetings. How was the tour of the Legacy?" Ularean asked once the call went through.
"Highly productive, though I won't sleep easy tonight after learning about the Soul Forge," John answered.
"Yes, that is disquieting to learn about," Ularean nodded in sympathy. "In regards to your request for crew members, I have the 6 most highly qualified Engineers who volunteered to join you lined up, as well as an elite team from Ashanath Special Forces. They are already packed and ready to move into the Invictus for a prolonged tour, as well as briefed about the nature of your psychic network and the Change. I hope I was not presumptuous in assuming you intend to add them and put them through the transformation."
"No, no, you were spot on," John chuckled in good humor. "Send them to the drydock, I'll greet them personally. Is there anything else you can trouble me for, or can we leave as soon as Dana's done working on the Raptor?"
Ularean paused. "If possible, I ask that you stay one more night. The High Council wishes to honor you and your crew for your actions against the Drakkar with a ceremony tomorrow morning. If that's too inconvenient for you, you may of course take your leave whenever you please."
John posed it to the chorus, and Alyssa assured everyone they'd still make the Fernandez family get-together if they attended. "We'll come. It's really not necessary though, Ularean, a good deed is its own reward," John told the alien head of state.
"Please, allow us the chance to properly thank you all for your heroism," Ulearean said with a small smile.
"Very well, then," John agreed. He ended the call shortly afterwards, had lunch with his harem, and then went to greet the 18 new Ashanath crewmates. They one and all were 5'0, though John picked up that about a quarter of them were female and the rest male. The Engineers were in silvery jumpsuits and the Marines in what passed for Ashanath military fatigues. John introduced himself to each of them, and he picked up an undertone of worshipful awe and respect behind the professionalism they all exuded.
John strained his mental muscles, but he worked hard to memorize the 18 new names for his new crewmates. The Engineering Team consisted of Urran, Bareon, Zalin, Korsus, Yian, and Patreus. The Marine team insisted on using codenames based on Latin for some reason, with Primus through to Duodecimus. John did his best to learn a little about each of them, and then led them into the Invictus. He took them through the grav-tubes up to Deck 4, and offered each of them individual rooms. He showed them the Galley, then Jade joined him.
*Now, I want to state this for the record. Joining my network is completely voluntary. I'd rather no have you than have a member who didn't want to be there. This is a lifelong commitment, so give it some serious thought before you agree to become psychic batteries for me and forced to obey my every command,* John warned them solemnly.
The 18 Ashanath one and all stood at attention, clearly waiting for John to get on with it.
Respecting their decisions, John scratched his cheek. *Well, then there's only one thing to get out of the way. You need to drink about a mouthful of my cum in order for me to make a Connection with you. Why it works that way, I have no idea. None of you have to drink directly from me, though. Jade here is a shapeshifter. I'll fill her up, and she'll transfer a small amount to each of you via breastfeeding.*
Even the women among the Ashanath looked eager at that idea.
With little ado, John loaded up Jade, who seemed to get off on having a fresh audience, and then she patiently nursed each of the Ashanath from her breasts swollen with his spunk. Each passed out for the typical 14-hour nap, and John carried each with Telekinesis back to their rooms.
A tad nervous, John reached out using the active connection of his cum in their bellies and made almost 20 new Connections. The rush of energy was intoxicating, and both Jonah and Alyssa seemed to feel it too as their portions of the network greatly expanded.
The new crewmates recruited as Angels, the first John had no intention of sleeping with unless explicitly asked, John went to the Gym to get some Soul Stretching and other psychic practice in.