Chapter 76

***This article contains spoilers.***

## Highlights

* All matriarchs pledge allegiance to John, who adopts the role of Protector of the Maliri. He'll get full military control in times of war.
* John is pulled into the Astral Plane, and a monstrosity plays a trick on John by making him hear his girls getting tortured. So John launches a telekinetic javelin at it.
* John is forced to learn telekinetic shields to protect Sakura from Alyssa. He is none too pleased with their training method.
* The Ashanath contact JohnBlake for help with Drakkar raiders. The team finishes the refit and heads to Ashana.
* Tashana's data archives reveal that another Progenitor challenged Mael'nerak's dominion, in a war that spanned hundreds of years and destroyed planets. In the end, before leaving, he broke his bond with Valada, who he'd fallen in love with, to keep her safe.

## Summary

Tashana wakes up and is surprised to see a Progenitor. And just as surprised they were naked.

John said that she got into trouble going on a dig in the Unclaimed Wastes so Irillith asked me to come and rescue you.

Tashana had left a message for herself in front of the mirrors: His name's John. He's a good Progenitor, who's trying to save the Maliri from an evil Progenitor. He know about her research into Mael'nerak and you asked for her help. Some very bad things happened to her but he healed them when she swallowed his...

Tashana's memories are hazy. She remembers an argument with Irillith in the palace, but the next thing she remembers is speaking to both of them last the night before.

Alyssa tells her she was in the the Unclaimed Wastes for 13 years. A lot of very bad things happened to her, until they saved her and John healed all her injuries.

John adds, she wanted to forget all of it and start afresh, so he wiped out the memories for her. He's altered Irillith and Edraele’s minds too, but they believe she went to the Trankaran Republic for years on an archaeological dig, before moving on to the Unclaimed Wastes and finally getting in trouble there. They asked him to rescue her.

Tashana is confused why she would go to the Unclaimed Wastes. Mael'nerak wouldn’t have left anything there; he obliterated all the habitable planets in that part of the galaxy.

The Achonin used to be a thriving, technically advanced civilization in that region of space. They spanned scores of worlds, until Mael'nerak arrived with his thralls and went to war with them. He destroyed world after world with a massive, planet-destroying superweapon and killed billions of their people.

John says they found her in an ancient refinery that’s now called Underworld. Tan-coloured, eight sides, pretty huge. It seemed to be some kind of orbital fuel refinery. She confirms that sounds like an Achonin facility. Mael'nerak might have left a few Achonin survivors on outposts like that, but without any habitable worlds or viable numbers to rebuild their civilisation, they were doomed to extinction. This happened nearly 72,000 years ago.

Tashana had found a lot of data on Epsilon Aquarii IV. When Mael'nerak was forced to flee the Maliri, his matriarch built a secret repository of information about him. She hid it there to keep it safe, just in case another Progenitor should try to take control of the Maliri again

Tashana had found it by fluke when she was exploring the deep catacombs beneath the foundations when she found a vault with documents there hinting at the location of a secret thrall base. The clues were vague, but she managed to follow them and stumbled on the base. It was long-buried and partially destroyed by then, but that’s where she found a projection device. Valada had used it to record personal logs and she gave it to Irillith to finally prove that she was right about Mael'nerak.

Alyssa explains Progenitor cum and immortality. Tashana had always wondered how Valada could live with Mael'nerak for thousands of years.

Irillith and Tashana make up.

The matriarchs start bickering and John has to step in. It's the first meeting of all matriarchs in living memory.

John's proposal: "*I will adopt the role of ‘Protector of the Maliri’, but I’ll simply be a figurehead, except in a few specific circumstances. All of you will continue to rule your Houses, but with several new ground rules that we must implement to secure a healthy future for each of your realms. Please be reassured that I have no wish to depose any Matriarch in this room. You have centuries of leadership experience between you, and I’d be a fool not to let you utilise your hard-earned skills.*"

If the other Progenitor attacks, John is granted full military control. Essentially, he'd only be leader in times of war. John will be immune to coercion from the other Progenitor so he's in a unique position to help hold him off.

They had all been swayed by his selfless intervention to save Tsarra at the cost of great personal injury to himself. The other Houses made their declaration of allegiances, and now every House in the Regency was united under his banner.

John asked if there are any long-standing grievances. it was a lengthy discussion of centuries of betrayals and affronts. Each House had sinned against most of the others in some form or the other. Edraele and Kali astonished the other Matriarchs when they agreed to cede back systems to some of the weaker Houses that had been crippled by their depredations.

Next, Edraele proposes that John act as Warleader for all external conflicts that involve the Maliri Regency. It is unanimously accepted. After that, they all unanimously accept John's optional offer of linking. The idea of restoring youth may have had something to do with that.

A House Valaden destroyer drops out of hyper-warp on the outskirts of the Beta Capricornus. It finds the remnants of a communication beacon that had been destroyed, and launches a new communications relay.

Edraele receives an emergency communication from Contarean, the Ashanath ambassador at Genkiri Station: "*My name is Ambassador Contarean. This emergency transmission is intended for JohnBlake. I am contacting you on behalf of the High Council, JohnBlake. I must inform you that the Ashanath Collective is in need of your assistance once again. Drakkar Warbands have been attacking with greater frequency and severity for weeks and our losses have been ... significant. If you receive this message, I would request that you travel to Ashana with all haste, as we urgently require your help.*"

They rush to finish the refit. Edraele says, "*While you’re away, I promise I won’t get upset if you sometimes think of me while you’re fucking my daughters.*"

Tashana and Irillith decide they'll just have to get use to seeing each other naked. There's a message from Valaden on Irillith's ~~hacking deck~~ projection device, but Faye accidentally bricked it during the server move. Tashana recognizes the Progenitor server from Epsilon Aquarii IV where she found the projection device. Unfortunately, the one she found was broken, but she salvaged all the components that weren't smashed and store them in her secured vault in the palace.

Despite getting cock-blocked by the Ashanath, John is in good spirits. He had been going stir-crazy because he hadn't stayed anywhere for that long in over a decade. Alyssa advises he may want to keep his wanderlust in check if he still wants to go ahead with his long-term plans for the Maliri.

Edraele arranged for a prioritized comm channel to be dedicated to the Invictus, so they'll be able to reach out to the Ashanath whenever they need to, and any emergency communications will be routed through to them.

Councillor Talari called and reiterated the situation. They've been on the receiving end of unchecked aggression from Drakkar raiding parties for weeks. He's surprised when John tells him it'll only be three days. John tells him they've had some updates. Talari stared at him for a few seconds, before saying it's excellent news. John thought Talari's slow blink was weird(er than usual), but they conclude he's probably just stressed.

Tashana gets back with her artifacts from her vault. The Progenitor server's ~~data crystals server she looted~~ ancient artifacts she retrieved are intact, so with only minutes of recalibration, Dana can hook them up to the gateway server.

The girls show off the new internal luxury upgrades.

*The pull to the Astral Plane caught him by surprise that night. John knew he should have been expecting it, but with everything that had happened with the Maliri Matriarchs and the sudden rush to leave, he forgot about it completely. Fortunately, the wards were still in place, but as the grey, impenetrable mists swirled about him, he could clearly make out the sound of hulking monstrosities lumbering about him, lurking just out of sight.*

*He ran blindly into the impenetrable fog banks, doing his best to stay one step ahead of the braying pack of abominations that hungered for his flesh. His tactic seemed to be working for a while until he heard a dreadful cacophony, which seemed to seep out from the gloom to assault his ears. It sounded like terrible, anguished wailing and as he listened to that awful sound, he began to make out distinct voices pleading for his help. The wards muffled the sound somewhat, but as he backed away from the hideous cries, he suddenly froze in place. To his horror, he recognised the girls’ voices and realised that it was his own crew wailing at him in terror, begging him to end their misery.*

*For one dreadful moment, he thought that they might have been pulled into the Astral Plane again and his mind was frantic with worry as he knew they’d be without the dome of runes to protect them this time. Afflicted by madness born of desperation, he very nearly dispelled his own wards to better locate the sound of their tortured screams, before the more rational part of his mind asserted itself and he realised it was some hideous trick. Still, his willpower was sorely tested at hearing the women he loved shrieking in pain and he clamped his hands over his ears to try to block out the soul-crushing lament.*

*With the noise dimmed somewhat, he remembered that he wasn’t powerless there and that mere thought had tangible weight. Eyes narrowing in anger, he channelled all his fury at the malevolent beast that would seek to use his love for the girls against him, then funnelled that anger into a burning spear of white light which he clutched in his right hand. When his fingers were throbbing with the power coursing in his grip, he ran forward a few steps and hurled the righteous javelin into the mists, aiming for the source of the agonised wailing.*

*A couple of seconds later there was a thunderous peal of pain, which seemed to reverberate from the very heavens above, shaking him to the very bones. Despite the terrifying rumble, John allowed himself a smug grin as he was unceremoniously dumped out of the pocket plane. He arrived in his body with a sharp jolt, causing Tashana and Dana to mumble in their sleep as they hugged him reflexively.*

*It didn’t take long for his breathing to return to normal and John glanced to his left where Jade slumbered peacefully, her arms wrapped around Sakura. The Nymph’s words echoed in his mind, sounding more profound than ever before: Be the cat, not the mouse. Perhaps it was time to start listening to her wise advice...*

John and Alyssa train psychic abilities while Tashana and Sakura watch. Sakura asks why the shields are made of hexagons. Alyssa doesn't know, but when she tried to make one made of squares it felt wrong. John struggles to make shields as instinctively as Alyssa. To help him learn shields, Sakura has Alyssa telekinetically beat her, to unconsciousness if necessary. It worked, but John spanked Alyssa. When John looks at his mental compartments, he sees a new metaphysical section had opened up that he instinctively knew was dedicated to protective abilities.

While Tashana, Alyssa, and Sakura are going down on John, Irillith is going over the data archives, when she suddenly feels a strange tingle in the back of her mind, then gasps as she experienced a sudden onrush of pleasure. Rachel never realized that looking at old data archives could be so arousing. Irillith thinks it's just Alyssa messing with her.

Later, when Tashana gulps down John's load, Irillith is unable to take her eyes off her. When Tashana’s eyes roll back in ecstasy, Irillith feels the strange tingle in the back of her mind again, and was again swept along in a surge of pleasure. They cuddled up with each other.

They cum simultaneously again later. Rachel thinks it's a latent psychic link between them. Alyssa feels the exact same emotions from both of them, like Irillith’s experiencing an echo of Tashana’s climax. Irillith felt everything Tashana was feeling.

Edraele looks over reports. To massively scale up the numbers of engineers at her disposal, this year's graduating classes at engineering academies are being fast-tracked into apprenticeships at Genthalas, giving her another 500 junior personnel in a little over a week. Fabrication of the new technology that John had given to her technicians had begun in earnest. Makaela had suggested a news feature on the life of an engineer aboard Genthalas Station, including interviews with the scores of expecting young mothers. This would have a dramatic impact on the prestige of the role.

Tashana presents her research.

* The first video takes place 11,000 years ago, chronicling the last days of Mael'nerak's rule over the Maliri. Mael-nerak was in his Maliri-style throne room. He had pointed ears and an aquiline nose like last time, but now he's clean-shaven, and wearing a smart jacket and trousers rather than long robes. There was one dramatic change: He looked relaxed and happy. He had fallen in love with Valada. Mael'nerak indulged her request to free the Nymphs, and she tells him their stellar cartographers found the perfect place to relocate them.
* The next video was Inside a throne room again but now it was filled with row-after-row of cat-like humanoids. They had dark-green fur with viridian stripes, but each with their own unique patterns. Mael’nerak was standing before them with Valada at his side and he smiled at the Nymphs as he said, "*You have earned your freedom, my faithful servants. You have been selected to lead packs of your sisters and I will be releasing you on a planet you may call your own ... Lenarra.*" Jade finds herself in the back in the video.
	+ Jade's memories come back to her. She had over a hundred in her tribe and they had a vast territory to roam, following and hunting the herds of shentole. They reverted to instinct over countless years of living a simple nomadic existence and they were happy. When the Terrans came, they didn’t know how to react to males. They’d forgotten so much. They followed their instincts and were lost. She was supposed to lead my tribe and look after them, but she let them down. They’re all gone now because of her.
* The third video takes place 900 years later. They were in a control room, with a galactic map of Gaia-class planets spread out before. They lost Listara, the planet and fleet. Mael'nerak realizes it was only a matter of time until one of his Progenitor brothers seeks to challenge his dominion.
* The fourth video takes place six months later. It was in the same control room with the blue map now mottled with a patchwork of red. Many of the white-gemmed Gaia worlds in Trankaran Space had now dimmed, the planets having met the same fate as Listara. Mael'nerak looked haggard as he paced back and forth, glancing up at the map from time-to-time, his face twisted with anxiety. Valada accuses him of creating abominations, but the Drakkar are the only thing keeping him at bay. Either he does, or Mael'nerak dies. There can be no peace.
* The last one, twelve years later. All the Gaia-classification worlds in Trankaran Space had now been destroyed. Not only that but a broad sweep had also been eliminated around what was now the Terran Federation frontier with Kirrix Space. Everything from Trankara to Arcadia and pushing past Karron, was now coloured red on the map. The control room was empty of Maliri except for Valada, who stared in trepidation at the map, hugging herself for comfort.

*Mael’nerak swept into the room and announced in his clear, authoritative voice, “The fleet has been readied, Valada. It is time.”*
*She whirled around and ran to Mael’nerak, putting her arms around him, while he stood impassive before her. “Don’t go! There must be some other way!” she begged, tears streaming down her face. “You said you loved me last night! If you care anything for me, please don’t leave me!”*
'**His stony expression flickered with anguish to see her so upset but he quickly recovered before she noticed, his face stern once more. “You’re too emotional. You aren’t fit to serve me as my Matriarch any longer,” he said, his voice chilling.'**
*He made a gesture and Valada looked at him in horror, clutching at her chest as she collapsed on the floor. “No!” she gasped, her expression one of utter disbelief and shock.*
*“I’ll just find another Matriarch to serve me,” he said, whirling around and striding for the door. “It makes no difference, you slaves are all the same. I’ll have forgotten you were ever with me by tomorrow and I’d strongly advise you to do likewise.”*
*Valada sobbed as he left her lying abandoned on the floor, utterly heartbroken.*
*She didn’t see the tortured expression on Mael’nerak’s face or the tears streaming down his cheeks as he strode from the room.*
Apparently Mael'nerak broke his bond with Valada because he loved her and wanted to keep her safe.
In the videos of her Tashana saw, Valada was bitter and angry.
Alyssa realizes a way to see the video again.