The Kurtherian Endgame Boxed Set: Books 1 - 4 - Payback is a Bitch, Compelling Evidence, Through the Fire and Flame, All's Fair in Blood and War

by Michael Anderle

  Michael let his hands drop. This isn't working. We need to get inside the chamber and work from there.

  Bethany Anne waved a hand toward the chamber. We already risked alerting them.

  The shrill cry went up across the ship again, echoing eerily in the spaces between the walkways. It got almost unbearably louder when the Ooken began swarming from the central trunk onto the living walkways.

  Michael's mouth twitched. How many are there?

  Bethany Anne risked a quick glance around the wall at the walkway they were on. Fuck me.

  Michael frowned. That many?

  Actually, a few more than “fuck me.” They’re all headed for the walkway where we left that Ooken. It must have come around. She scowled in frustration. I should have kicked it a bit fucking harder.

  Michael snorted softly. It would have been much more challenging to mind read a dead Ooken.

  True. Bethany Anne ducked when an Ooken dropped onto the walkway from the level above. Get down, there’s one about to pass us.

  The Ooken swung past, using all the available space to maneuver at a rapid pace along the walkway. Its tentacles crept along every surface as the Ooken felt its way along as well as using its eyes.

  Bethany Anne and Michael held their breath when a stray tentacle curled around into their hiding place and slapped the wall above Michael’s head.

  Bethany Anne opened her hand and tapped the Etheric, ready to make calamari rings of the Ooken's face if it got a single inch closer to her love.

  The tentacle receded, and Bethany Anne and Michael shared a relieved look when the Ooken moved on as quickly as it had appeared.

  She dropped her connection to the Etheric for the moment. We can't stay here much longer.

  Michael nodded his agreement. Let’s move.

  They took a nearby net to the level below and continued working their way down until they reached solid metal. Looks like they have to do things a bit more normally down here, Bethany Anne remarked, slipping into another alcove.

  Michael indicated the Ooken guards patrolling the corridor outside the core chamber. He calculated the distance from their present position to the glowing entrance. Can you take us in through the Etheric?

  Bethany Anne activated the blades on her armor’s gauntlets and moved to stand between Michael and the Ooken. Perhaps naked, but not on a moving ship with all this armor, and not without ADAM to calculate the exit point.

  Michael kept low as he darted across. Yet you brought us to this ship with no problem.

  Bethany Anne lifted a shoulder, looking out to check the position of the guards before she crossed to the next available cover. It's one thing hopping down here from the Izanami, but the odds of us not getting spaced in the process are the kind only someone with a death wish would take.

  Michael slid around to stand beside Bethany Anne with his own blades activated. Then next time we go naked.

  Or we take the lighter armor. Of course, we could always just walk the rest of the way and take the guards out. They're going to work out we're here any minute.

  Michael shrugged. If you insist. I do like this set, despite the drain the effort to Myst it would cause. He frowned, feeling a shift in the Ooken consciousness toward excitement. They’ve figured out where we’re headed. We have minutes at most.

  Bethany Anne darted forward to remove the guards blocking their way. Well, fuck. We’d better get our asses into that chamber, then.

  The first Ooken reached Bethany Anne just in time to meet the upward swing with her left blade. She moved on, denying the second Ooken a chance to react.

  Her momentum brought her around again, her right blade flashing downward to sever the Ooken’s tentacles even as she completed the spin and sliced clean through its skull with the left.

  She turned to Michael to offer him the third, but he was occupied with the glowing sphere he was growing in his cupped hands.

  The third Ooken held back. It blocked the walkway between Bethany Anne and Michael and their goal, shrieking at them unintelligibly.

  Bethany Anne took a step toward the Ooken and held up a finger. “I'm going to ask you to move, but something tells me you wouldn't do it even if you could understand me.”

  The Ooken took a step forward and screeched at them again.

  Bethany Anne glanced at Michael. Do you understand any of what it’s saying?

  Michael lifted an unconcerned shoulder. It's not saying anything much as far as I can tell. He nodded at the walkways above. But then, all of the Ooken up there are also singing from the same songbook. Death to someone—I would hazard a guess and say they mean us—and revenge upon their enemies. Again, I assume we are the intended recipients of this present example of stellar hospitality.

  I would say it’s a safe assumption. Bethany Anne waved the hand she was holding up at the Ooken, slicing it cleanly in two with a thin sheet of Etheric energy. Time to throw that dick-punch while we still have breathing room.

  Michael watched his wife stride through the spreading blood. How very quaint of you. Have you been watching old British sitcoms lately?

  Yes, because I have so much time for tv. Bethany Anne lifted her hands in a shrug, and an energy ball appeared in each. I want to get done and gone.There's no reason to keep it quiet if they already know we're here. Get ready, we're going in.

  Michael drew fast and hard on the Etheric to fill the shell he'd created with expanding energy. We don’t have too much time before it explodes, he warned Bethany Anne.

  This won't take but a minute or two. Bethany Anne threw both energy balls at the core chamber’s doors. She stalked into the chamber with her arms raised as the solid metal doors were flung back.

  Michael stayed a few paces behind her, putting the finishing touches to his creation while he gave Bethany Anne room to conduct her bloody symphony. He found it somewhat difficult to concentrate on his task when her every graceful move drew his gaze.

  Etheric energy flowed from Bethany Anne's hands, eviscerating everything in its path. The Ooken who rushed Bethany Anne were cut down in their tracks. Those remaining froze for a moment.

  Bethany Anne bared her teeth and waved a hand to end their existence. “Too fucking late,” she ground out as the sections of their bodies slid to the floor.

  She joined Michael at the railing around the ship's core. Well?

  Michael held up his hand to show Bethany Anne the pulsating energy within the sphere. It's time.

  Bethany Anne searched with her mind to get a lock on Gabriel and Alexis. She grabbed Michael firmly and nodded. Whenever you're ready.

  Michael prepared to release the energy. On three. One… Two… He flung his hands forward.

  JUMP!

  Chapter Fifteen

  Federation Deep Space Research Outpost, QBS Izanami

  Addix turned to see what had tripped her senses as Bethany Anne and Michael stumbled out of the Etheric into the transfer area on the bridge. She nodded at them. “Good work.”

  Izanami took them out a safe distance while Bethany Anne and Michael joined Addix and the children at the screens and watched the death throes of the Ooken ship.

  Explosions ripped through the ship, blowing it open. The outward force when the hull burst drove the ship back into the rings, throwing up splashes of displaced rock and dust.

  The larger asteroids were unaffected by the disturbance. The Ooken ship was bounced around like a pinball as one huge chunk of rock after another smashed into the ship, throwing it back out of the ring even as they tore away the main body from the tentacle-like arms at the rear.

  The two halves drifted away from each other, lacking the self-repair capability Bethany Anne's ships had.

  Bethany Anne shifted from one foot to the other, then turned to the avatar floating behind her left shoulder. “Izanami, can you get this wrapped up any faster?”

  Izanami’s expressionless face held the ghost of anticipation for the briefest moment. “I have just the thing, my Queen.”

  The
y saw nothing leave the Izanami. However, a few minutes later fresh explosions lit the two halves of the Ooken ship as Izanami’s toys ruptured the hull, exposing the last remaining pressurized areas to space.

  Bethany Anne watched for a few moments, then turned her back on the screen. “That’s taken care of. Izanami, patch Loralei into the bridge and take us to the outpost.”

  Alexis dragged her gaze from the light show. “Loralei isn’t here, Mom.”

  Izanami inclined her head slightly to confirm. “While you were on the enemy vessel, a Leath ship entered the system and was hijacked by a number of Ooken seeker ships. It was taken through a Gate, and Loralei followed.”

  Bethany Anne sighed. “Of course she did. She uploaded her logs when she got in though, right?”

  The air around Izanami glitched, and one of the inactive screens lit up. “For what they are worth.”

  “The Leath ship will wait until we have ADAM safe and sound.” Bethany Anne waved a hand at the screen. “This really isn’t the most helpful. All I can see is, well, nothing.”

  “I have done what I can to reconstruct the footage using the metadata,” Izanami explained, “but since Loralei received next to no data input either time she was inside the rings, there wasn’t much I could do with those parts.”

  Addix frowned at the shifting block of color and turned her head to Izanami. “This is inside the ring? The EI was essentially blind?”

  “On the way out, yes. ADAM led her in.”

  Michael made a noise of appreciation. “How did she manage to get out unaided?”

  Izanami’s aura turned pink. “She says she turned her nose sideways to the current and hoped for the best.”

  Bethany Anne chuckled, squinting at what she thought might be the outline of ADAM’s scout ship. “Uh-huh. I’m sure she said it somewhat less politely than that. Just skip ahead to what happened at the outpost.”

  The AI did as she was asked and the image switched to a jumpy birds-eye view descending on a curve toward the ground. ADAM’s scout ship took the lead as the view leveled out.

  Bethany Anne waved a hand at the screens. “Are there any more nasty surprises waiting for us down there?”

  Izanami confirmed they were clear for now. “You took care of the primary threat, and as far as my scanners are telling me, all of the seeker ships left through the Gate.”

  Michael frowned, continuing to follow ADAM and Loralei’s route into the largest dome. “How reliable are those scans?”

  Izanami’s avatar glitched in and out a couple of times, her aura flashing deep red. “As accurate as you would expect. I had time to find a workaround for the interference while you and my Queen were on the enemy ship.”

  Bethany Anne turned her head from the screen. “Excellent. Then it won’t be too difficult to coordinate the rescue and get back to our objective.”

  Alexis and Gabriel shared a look with K’aia, which Bethany Anne didn’t miss. She turned a pleasant smile on the children. “Is there anything you three would like to contribute?”

  Gabriel winced when Alexis jabbed him with her elbow. He narrowed his eyes at her and turned to Bethany Anne. “What about the Leath ship? When will we rescue them?”

  “I’m getting to that.” Bethany Anne felt another tight pulse of pain band her skull. “While I’m more than concerned that the Ooken have taken hostages who could lead them back to the Federation, finding ADAM comes before anything else.”

  She turned back to the screen to hide her discomfort from the children. “You kids go get suited up. If Izanami says it’s safe enough, I see no reason to leave half our team aboard the ship.”

  Alexis and Gabriel jumped up and dashed for the armory, pausing when K’aia was slower to move.

  Bethany Anne shooed her after the twins. “You too.”

  K’aia shrugged. “I haven’t got any armor to put on. I’m good with my staff and my knives if anything goes down.”

  Bethany Anne winked at her. “I think you’ll find something in the armory that will suit your purpose.”

  Gabriel whooped. “Told you we'd get you hooked up.” He grinned at Bethany Anne. “Mom's pretty awesome like that.”

  Alexis came over and tugged on K'aia's hands to get her moving. “Mom's just awesome, period. Come on!”

  K’aia’s mandibles worked for a moment, finally making the connections to stutter a thank you as the twins dragged her off.

  Bethany Anne and Michael chuckled as the young Yollin hurried from the bridge with Alexis and Gabriel.

  Michael raised an eyebrow at the retreating children. I think K'aia will relax and settle in well, given time.

  Bethany Anne turned back to the screen, observing their progress through the rings with her arms folded. I think… she stood like that, tapping her fingers on the elbow of her other arm while she drew the thought out, the child has seen far too much. I didn't like that she left Irey without giving us a chance to help her.

  She is too spirited to hand over control of her life, even to you, Michael qualified gently. Wouldn’t you feel the same if you had been mere property most of your life? What wouldn't you do to retain that freedom once you had fought to win it?

  Bethany Anne nodded. I recognize that K'aia has that fierce independent streak. It's one of the things I liked about her from the start. Her hands dropped to her sides. The question is whether we can do anything for her now that we have her here.

  Michael walked the few steps to his wife and held out an arm. I know how much you want to wave a magic wand for K'aia, but I do not believe she would accept a handout.

  Bethany Anne's mouth twitched in amusement. Her husband knew her too damn well. That's fine, since I wasn't planning on giving her one.

  She looked at Michael for a moment, then relaxed into his embrace. I don't think it's necessary to compromise K'aia's need to be independent. If she wants to earn her way in life, then we need to find a niche for her.

  I can't see that being an issue, Michael agreed. I take it you have a plan in mind?

  Bethany Anne touched her cheek to Michael’s chest. Actually, yes. Yours. I like the idea of Gabriel and Alexis having someone to watch their backs. The three of them seem to be bonding well enough as a group. She stretched up and brushed her lips against his jaw. I’ve had some time to reassess how I feel about this infuriating habit you've formed recently of being fucking right all the time.

  Michael wasn’t quite sure where this was leading. She’d accepted his arm around her and her inner voice was soft, but… And?

  Well, I’m not going to pretend it doesn’t piss me off. But, she snuggled into his chest, it’s also good to know I don’t have to worry about you so much as I have been.

  You are aware that I kept myself alive and in one piece for a very long time before you walked into my life in those red heels of yours?

  One hundred and fifty years, Michael. You can’t blame me for being protective. However, I can see I’ve been holding on too tightly.

  Michael held Bethany Anne closer, pressing his lips to her hair. Does that mean I’m forgiven at last?

  For getting yourself blown up in a nuclear explosion? She snorted against his chest. Fuck, no. But I have been thinking a lot about how we're going to win this war, and I refuse to be the reason it gets dragged out.

  How…progressive of you. I was beginning to think you would never relax your grip on us all. Michael raised his eyes to the ceiling and prayed to whatever gods were out there working to keep males and the most precious parts of their anatomy together that she never found out the whole truth about his hunt.

  Bethany Anne released Michael and moved away from the screen. It was that or face mutiny. Apparently, I’ve been driving everyone insane.

  Michael was definitely not falling into that trap. We all understood why you needed to place strictures on us.

  Bethany Anne put an indignant hand to her chest. Wow, want me to turn around so you can twist that knife a bit more? She laughed at Michael’s raised eyebrow. I k
now I’ve been overdoing it when my stick-up-his-ass husband compares my protective nature when it comes to our family to the bloody reign of terror he inflicted upon the UnknownWorld for centuries.

  A reign that was entirely justified, Michael pointed out.

  Of course, dear. Her mouth quirked as she teased him. Nothing at all to do with your refusal to accept anything other than your will being followed to the letter?

  Michael snorted. Pots and kettles, my love?

  Bethany Anne shook her head. I will admit to a certain level of expectation when it comes to getting shit done. But as long as it gets done, I don’t care how it’s achieved. I trust my people to be responsible about their methods.

  You mean you don’t like being swamped with all the details.

  Bethany Anne patted Michael on the ass as she passed him to get to the transfer area. Exactly. I have a couple of calls to take care of now that Izanami has solved the issue with the interference, but then I’ll be good to go.

  Michael turned and caught her in his arms before she took another step. I’ll go light a fire under the children. They should have been done by now.

  Bethany Anne pulled Michael close and kissed the corner of his mouth lightly. Not an actual fire, though, my love. I have to say that wouldn’t be proper parenting. It hasn’t been done since the Dark Ages.

  She turned and stepped into the Etheric, opening a connection to Admiral Thomas as she exited a moment or two later in her personal armory.

  What can I do for you, Bethany Anne? Did you find ADAM and Loralei yet?

  We have Loralei, or rather we had her. ADAM is still missing. We’re almost at the outpost now.

  What happened with Loralei?

  She went after a Leath ship that was taken out of the system by the Ooken. That’s why I’m calling; as soon as we have ADAM, we’re going after the ship.

  Admiral Thomas sounded more than a little confused. You’re going off to rescue some Leath?

  Yes, and don’t imagine for one moment that I’m at all pleased about it. Bethany Anne scowled as she replaced her katanas in their mount on the wall. But it’s a short leap from the Leath to all the other parts of the Federation. The last thing we need is the Ooken learning anything about them.