Chapter 64

***This article contains spoilers.***

## Highlights

* Admiral Gabrielle Lynton is involved with a Progenitor and tipped off Norwood when John arrived. On the Zeus, John informs Admirals Buckingham, Caldwell, Mishra, Santini, and Webber about her, as well as a limited version of the truth about Progenitors and himself.
* Calara's brother's ship, the Hydra, was one of the ships with Norwood that turned on loyal ships. Since the Kintark use prisoners for slave labor, it's possible Mateo's still alive on Xen-Nuchek.
* Edraele coaches the young Matriarchs, Leena Ghilwen, Kali Loraleth, Nyrelle Aeberos, and Valani Naestina, how to act like Matriarchs. Coordinating their fleets, they plan to intimidate the other Houses into joining by showing a united front and a massive show of military force.

## Summary

They arrived in the Delta Draconis system to find the largest that John had ever seen. Squadrons of corvettes and destroyers were patrolling the outskirts of the system, while clusters of cruisers, carriers, and larger vessels formed battle groups in the staging area closer to the center of the system. There were three dreadnoughts forming the core of each of those task forces. The most prominent was Fleet Admiral Buckingham's flagship, a four-kilometer-long fleet carrier named the Retribution of Zeus.

The Terran Federation navy had smashed the Kintark forces in a major fleet engagement, leaving behind a widely dispersed field of debris and wrecked vessels.

The Invictus receives a call from Rear Admiral Carmela Moreno, Chief of Staff to the Fleet Admiral on the Retribution of Zeus, asking what he's doing there, while stressing the "Commodore" part of his old title.

Edraele advised John. If Admiral Lynton arranged a meeting, then Buckingham's Chief of Staff would know about it, and his new rank. She’s probably threatened or jealous of his rapid promotions and trying to assert her dominance over him. John can choose to be either diplomatic, or direct. He chooses the latter, channeling his frustration from Sakura's rejection of his offer, and infuriates Carmela with his condescendingly dismissive tone as he tells her he's coming aboard.

Edraele points out that Carmela may be furious, but Buckingham’s expecting him, so there's nothing she can do. She likely earned all her promotions behind a desk.

Calara was appalled that he'd speak to a Rear Admiral so rudely. But Carmela was playing games, and John's *tired of that bullshit*.

Calara finds her dad's Damocles, but worries that she can't find her brother's Hydra. John suggests they might be guarding the supply line.

Edraele suggests that Lynton's comm array going out could have something to do with the other Progenitor. *We saw battle damage to her ship, but to still not have it fixed after six hours... The old Edraele would have had the relevant technicians flayed alive for such incompetence*.

Sending John to destroy the nebula base could have been to build trust, or to keep them busy while she tipped off Norwood. He defected within hours of them arriving in the Dragon March.

John has Irillith look into whether Lynton contacted Norwood before his ships attacked the loyal forces.

When they suit up to meet with Buckingham, Alyssa convinces John to wear his new Lion uniform to make a statement. Calara wears her Lion uniform as well.

Alyssa introduces Sakura to the team and explains John's reluctance about her, transformations, Progenitors, and mental changes. Sakura still doesn't see any downsides. She wants to join, and not just to get revenge on Amatsu Mikaboshi.

Jade flies John and Calara over to the Zeus, and the space around the landing area in the hangar was crowded with marines and navy personnel, filling the small room with resounding cheers. "*The Lion fucking rules!*" "*I love you, Lioness! Marry me!*" "*You saved Terra!*" Apparently Admiral Devereux hadn’t been able to suppress the news about the Nexus battle for long. Edraele isn't surprised though; it was witnessed by billions.

Admiral Edwin Caldwell, the commander of the Zeus, greets them, saying he'd seen them save Terra on TFNN. Apparently Caldwell would've immediately had Moreno transferred if she wasn't having sex with Buckingham. Alyssa laughs, noting that Edrael was wrong; Moreno earned promotions *under* a desk rather than *behind* it.

Admiral Edwin Caldwell tells John to call him Edwin, and then brought them to a large meeting room with the Admirals: Fleet Admiral Vincent Buckingham, Admiral Jayanti Mishra, Admiral Ricardo Santini, and Admiral Carl Weber.

Mishra and Caldwell are grateful to John for stopping Nexus. Buckingham is impressed by John's tactics. Weber grumbles in skepticism, despite having seen video footage. Santini covets the Invictus tech. Weber accuses John's motives of wearing his non-regulation uniform were to insult. Mishra rolls her eyes. Buckingham likes John's embracing of the Lion image. Thanks to the Lion, morale has been up, as well as approval ratings of High Command

Alyssa sends John an urgent telepathic update. Gabrielle Lynton tipped off Leonard Norwood by taking a shuttle to Commodore Sasaki's battleship, Artemis, and then went an extremely encrypted comm broadcast from the Artemis to Norwood’s dreadnought an hour after the Invictus left the system. So Lynton tipped him Norwood off. Irillith and Faye are working to break the decryption on the message.

John tells the Admirals that Gabrielle Lynton is involved. Santini didn't believe him. Mishra took John's side. Buckingham asks him to elaborate.

When John requested Buckingham's location and told Lynton he was following orders from Devereux, she claimed she couldn't divulge it without clearance from his staff officer. While waiting for approval, she sent them clear the Kintark resupply station from the Mar'Katrach Nebula.

Caldwell clarifies that she didn't need clearance for that at her rank.

John believes Gabrielle wanted to delay him from reaching Buckingham so that she could tip off Norwood. As soon as John jumped out of the system, Gabrielle took a shuttle to the battleship Artemis and used their comms array to broadcast to the Vengeance of Hera, approximately 10 hours ago.

John asks if Gabrielle Lynton radically changed her appearance recently. Ricardo confirms she looked completely different after her vacation several months ago. When diplomatic relations with the Kintark broke down, Gabrielle was supposed to deploy to the Dragon March, but she told him she had something personal to attend to, so she extended her vacation for another week. When she returned she had lost weight and looked decades younger. She told Buckingham she had a big inheritance, and spent a fortune on a designer bodysculpt job.

Caldwell sees the silent exchange between John and Calara, he asks why that's significant. Alyssa advices John to lie his ass off. Edraele advises him to at least give a limited version of the truth.

John stands there appraising the Admirals who were sitting and watching him silently, feeling like small children under his intense gaze. Everyone could feel that shift in perspective, and stare up at him with wide eyes at the realisation.

John tells them he isn't sure how Norwood’s involved, but that Lynton’s been coerced into this by someone of a species that predates the Terran Federation by millenia. That person was working with the Drakkar to disrupt the Ashanath, and was backing a rebellion amongst the Trankarans which would have led to civil war, until John helped the Trankaran government stop the rebellion.

The Ashanath call them Progenitors, and they ruled this part of the galaxy before disappearing about 10,000 ago. They're a race of evil tyrants, who seem to have no qualms about exterminating civilizations. The Quantum Accelerator built into the moon was placed there to destroy humanity.

John admits his father was probably a Progenitor, but John's loyal to the Terran Federation. John tells them to call off the invasion and pull back to Terran Federation territory, because something feels wrong to him. The 100,000 troops in invasion craft at the supply station in the Mar'Katrach Nebula was preparing for a counter-offensive. Buckingham admitted they're massively exposed, and they have to withdraw from Kintark territory.

John asked them to let him interrogate Lynton if they capture her. He has *ways* of finding out what she knows. When John asked about Calara's brother's ship, the Hydra, Buckingham says her brother's a traitor. The Hydra was one of the ships with Norwood that turned on loyal ships. It was bombers from the Hydra that crippled the battlecruiser Selene, preventing its escape from Norwood's dreadnought.

Edwin Caldwell, having worked with Calara's father for 10 years, reassured her that no son of Jack would turn on Terran Federation. Calara knows Mateo wouldn't turn, but she's worries they killed him to prevent a mutiny. Edwin said it's possible the Kintark would use them for slave labor on Xen-Nuchek instead. The chance of rescuing him is virtually non-existent.

John decides to go to Xen-Nuchek to rescue Mateo, believing it's more likely than not he's alive. Convincing a crew to rebel against the Terran Federation is one thing, but getting them to slaughter any crewmates who object is something else.

Alyssa talks to John about her parents. She can remember everything that happened when the foreman came to tell her he’d died, but she's finding it harder to actually remember her dad. After her mother died, it seemed like her dad’s spark guttered out too. He worked as hard as he could, but he had medical debts to pay off from the delivery, and they were always broke. She could never cheer him up.

Alyssa thinks Sakura can fill two important gaps on the crew:

1. Girl with black hair
2. Sexy Asian girl

Seriously, she says Sakura's role could be Security Chief. She has a lot of experience to draw from to help lock down the Invictus, and prevent anyone else from sneaking aboard.

John talks to Sakura before joining the other girls for bed. She thanked him, and fell asleep in his arms.

John thought about all the items he still had to take care of.

* Figure out what to do with Sakura.
* Hunt down Mikaboshi.
* Ask Athena more questions.
* Speak to Jack.
* Rescue Tashana for Irillith.
* Visit Edraele.
* Upgrade the Invictus with the Progenitor tech.
* Look into the Unity files from Nexus.
* Check on the encrypted message from Lynton.
* Work on the project for Faye.

John tells Irillith he loves her and then fucks her ass. When he cums, Irillith's eyes flash open, bright violet light projecting outwards and illuminating the ceiling.

Nyrelle Aeberos, sitting at Edraele's desk, demands Kalmaera, her Fleet Commander, on video chat to recall their forces from the Valaden border and reroute them to the House Perfaren border. Kalmaera was shocked she'd leave their borders exposed to House Valaden. Kalmaera tells her there was talk she had been kidnaped, but Nyrelle laughs and explains she's an honored guest.

Edraele had been coaching the young Matriarchs, Leena Ghilwen, Kali Loraleth, Nyrelle Aeberos, and Valani Naestina, how to act like Matriarchs, and Nyrelle pulled it off perfectly.

Edraele wants to avoid bloodshed. She hopes to intimidate the other Houses into joining by showing a united front and a massive show of military force.

The five of them toast. "*To House Blake!*"