Chapter 54

***This article contains spoilers.***

## Highlights

* The girls get a burst of energy from the new bond.
	+ Dana researches her new supermaterial.
	+ Rachel analyzes Trankaran DNA.
	+ Calara investigates the Dragon March traitors.
	+ Jade gets lightning claws.
* Alyssa discovers that Edraele's entire personality was destroyed by Progenitor John, so John decides to give her a new one.

## Summary

Alyssa fills John in everything that happened since the last thing he could remember: a blowjob from Irillith (Chapter 53).

John explained how he changed the nature of their bond, he removing the compulsion to obey, freeing them from his control (Chapter 53). That was how Alyssa was able to double-up their connection. The change in bond didn't change Alyssa's feelings for John. When they kissed it felt like there was a tingle of electricity between them.

Alyssa gives the silver lining.

* Edraele will get her brain tumour healed, and is now unlikely to double-cross then.
* They got the best Trankaran engines installed in the Invictus.
* They made friends with the Trankaran government.
* Dana made the tech trade for 30 tons of Tyrenium, making John's even richer now.
* They gained Faye, a helpful AI and handy research assistant for Dana and Rachel.
* He now has a hot Maliri girl in his harem.

The girls all get a sudden burst of energy from the new bond. Dana uses it to research her new supermaterial. Rachel uses it to analyze Trankaran DNA. Calara uses it to investigate the Dragon March traitors. Jade got lightning claws.

John and Alyssa covered up Edraele when they heard Irillith coming. Irillith says she's always dreamt of a moment like this when her mother is vulnerable, and it'd be easy to slit her throat. John asks what's stopping her, since she doesn't have to obey him anymore. She says she won't because she knows he wouldn't want her to. John rewards Irillith for being a good girl. Irillith plays being defiant so John can play breaking her.

Dana realizes there are elements missing. Rachel realizes Progenitors fingerprint their creations. Despite the classified and redacted orders giving Calara difficulty, she identifies the Dragon March traitor in High Command.

Alyssa explains to John she felt she was guided the whole battle against Progenitor John, acting on pure instinct. John thinks he might have given her a built-in instruction manual along with her powers. John thought Alyssa had been the one reinforcing the mental shields of the girls to protect them from Progenitor John, but Alyssa didn't do anything. Alyssa spirit walks and checks John's mental shield, confirming it's intact.

Edraele wakes up, speaking in a monotone voice and calling him "my Lord." Alysaa spirit walked to check her mind, which had no mental shield. Edraele's mind held countless pieces of information stored away in a complex structure of memories, but the framework seemed empty somehow; the emotional context for them had been stripped away, leaving Edraele’s mind laid bare.

Alyssa returned to her body, informing John that Edraele's entire personality was destroyed. Irillith overheard, and leaves, asking to be left alone for a while. John decides to give Edraele a new personality.

John checks on Irillith and tells her about his plan for her mother, who now has white hair. Irillith recommends getting the ship refit at the Genthalas Shipyard, run by her cousin Makaela. They take Edraele's private shuttle to fly there.

As John noticed how scared Edraele's people are of her, his guilt eased, realizing what happened to her wasn't a bad thing. John has her give him a blowjob so he could modify her personality, and she telepathically told him it was delicious, surprising him. Apparently now John has two matriarchs.

Irillith no longer believes John's kindness is a sign of weakness.

They arrived at Genthalas, which was brightly illuminated by the blue-white glow from Albali, the star in the system. Only a fifth of it was in use. Apparently Maliri society is in decline due to the violence and dropping birth rates.

The Shipyard Commander, Makaela, was fascinated with John, who Irillith says is a close ally of House Valaden. Irillith informed the shocked Mikaela they'll be refitting his ship with classified Maliri tech and giving him unrestricted access of Genthalas' facilities.

The Invictus arrives at Genthalas and John's reunited with the girls. John offers Irillith the position of Intelligence Officer, and she gladly accepts.

Calara reveals that Admiral Leonard Norwood is the Dragon March traitor. Irillith offers to help Calara with her investigation. As Irillith transfers Maliri weapon schematics on her console, there's a slight flickering in the edge of her vision. Irillith says that Progenitor John did something similar to Jade's lightning claws in the fight against the Fulmanax: telekinesis to pull your sword out of the Sentinel’s leg, then pyrokinesis to set the blade on fire. John thinks that now he'll be able to do those.

Rachel presents her findings about Trankaran DNA.

* Progenitors leave unique patterns in DNA.
* There are only two others aside from John.
* The original one was a genius who was a master of genetic manipulation. His work on Terrans was so nuanced Rachel originally missed it when studying her unmodified DNA. He used tweaked Maliri to be used for his armies, and the white hair color is an indicator that a Maliri is "activated" for him. He also made the Drakkar and Trankarans, but not the Kintark.
* Trankarans are a relatively new species he created to be specialized miners. They might be a culmination of a series of experiments to adapt the standard Progenitor template. From her analysis of unaltered Trankarans, they have behavior modification built into them, which makes them predisposed to look favourably on a Progenitor, as well as his activated creations. She also analyzed an altered Trankaran: the Glowing Queen. Another Progenitor activated her, likely in an attempt to take control of the Trankaran species.
* Maliri are pre-programmed to look favourably on Progenitors, and activated Maliri females. This makes it easy for a Progenitor to recruit for his army, since his thralls are looked on approvingly by the rest of the species. The attention Irillith has been getting by other Maliri from her now-long, white hair is actually women responding instinctively and positively to her change.
* Drakkar were a crude, rush job to turn them into ideal soldiers on very short notice around 10,000 years ago. This was the last thing the original Progenitor did before he disappeared. It's unknown what threatened him to do that, or if his gambit paid off.

John asks Irillith what she knew about Progenitors, since their relationship started on the premise she knew a lot (Chapter #?). Irillith confesses it was a bluff, and everything she knew came from Tashana, who was fascinated by the Progenitors, and spent decades researching then. John asked who Tashana is.

Irillith’s face crumpled as she sobbed, “*She was my twin sister.*”