Deuces Wild Boxed Set: Books 1-4: Beyond the Frontiers, Rampage, Labyrinth, Birthright

by Ell Leigh Clarke

  MA and (Time-)Travel

  MA was in China or some place like that. We were chatting on slack to organize details for the various projects. Once we were done with the essentials I thought I better ask about his travels.

  Ellie: so, how’s the trip?

  MA: Oh - trip is 'k' - I hate long flights and are on layover for 2 hours to continue to Beijing. Signing probably tonight. It's 6:30 AM right now here.

  MA: Tuesday

  MA: I WENT INTO THE FUTURE!

  MA: Or is it Wednesday?

  MA: Fuck, I don't know.

  MA: Oh... Tuesday says my laptop

  Ellie: hahhahaa #authornotes

  John DeBlanc vs Nickie

  For the keenly observant members of the Kurtherian family, you may have noticed that our character John Deblanc has a strangely similar name to one of the gang: John DeBlanc!

  How so?

  Well, we like to honor our readers and helpers as much as possible… and last month John joined at the Patreon level where I said I’d name a character of him. He was psyched about it, and this was my first opportunity since he signed on. So that’s how John Deblanc of Zuifra was named.

  And with so many new series I’m in the process of launching won’t just be in Michael’s Kurtherian Universe that you can leave your legacy for readers. (And yes, at this stage you can probably choose. Just drop me a message in there).

  If you’re interested in this and scores of other perks, feel free to check out becoming a member here:

  https://www.patreon.com/ellleighclarke

  I’d love to connect with you over there!

  Ok, so I’ve already used about two thirds of our backmatter allowance for this book, so I should probably let MA say something.

  Thanks again for reading! You’re the best.

  Ellie x

  Author Notes - Michael Anderle

  August 28, 2018

  Tabitha 03 ;-)

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  First, THANK YOU for not only reading these stories but giving us a chance to crack at each other as well.

  As you can tell, Ellie has been a bit busy there in Austin, and with her social media. I admire her ability to keep her stuff all in order since my social media is all over the place.

  #Crapfood

  So, during this conversation Ellie and I had on the phone yesterday? Two days ago? I think two days ago, she was commenting on her travels to Asia and how the only thing she had difficulty with was finding and being able to eat fresh food.

  Now, my concern with coming to China was that I wouldn’t be able to find ANY food I was going to want to eat. I was worried enough that I did research into the subject, and found out KFC was a big deal here in China, and if I was in larger cities, I’d probably be able to eat just fine.

  And so I have.

  I’ve had Japanese, buffets (international hotels seem to have these HUGE restaurants with food from a few different styles. I’ve noticed now in both Asia and previously in Europe, that Italian food is the “go to” choice for me) and I’ve eaten Chinese food at Lost Heaven in Shanghai (WONDERFUL!)

  However, what I haven’t tried to locate is anything remotely labeled fresh.

  So, when Ellie was complaining (I suppose you could spin it as “commenting”) that it wasn’t easy to find fresh food, and all she could find was processed stuff, I retorted, “You mean that food I eat all the time?”

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  Too many time zones

  Ellie is on Central time in the USA, I’m on…HTFDIK in China (approximately 13 hours apart I think.) She has a weird sleep / non-sleep schedule and I’m never sure when is good to call her. I’ve decided it doesn’t matter since whenever I try to call her, she’s asleep.

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  BUT with her weird sleep schedule, I'm probably too nice not calling her at midnight her time, (2:00 PM in the afternoon my time) and screwing up trying to reach her at 11:00 AM her time, 1:00 AM my time.

  However, I usually get a ring back or a Slack comment within 30 minutes whenever I reach out. Sometimes I find out she is out with Amy (look out Austin!) and others she is in the middle of a nap. Because naps fuel her life. With such a screwed-up sleep schedule, that’s how she copes.

  I, on the other hand, am usually good with a night of sleep and one nap after a large lunch at Javier’s (Aria Hotel). Here in China, I usually sleep from 9:30 pm to 3:30 AM – then wake up to work for a couple of hours while team members are up in the USA and then fall back for a nap before breakfast. I’m JUST getting into the groove to sleep longer, and I go home in three (3) days. Just in time to HATE MY LIFE adjusting to USA time.

  I’m back one night in Vegas, then fly to Atlanta, Georgia (the state, not the country for you John Ringo fans) and visit DragonCon.

  Hope I saw you there! (I’m flying home when this book is released.)

  This book would be much later

  If it wasn’t for Ellie keeping me on track, and Natale Roberts helping me too, this book wouldn’t be where it is (in front of you, being read.) I sincerely appreciate the Editors (Lynne’s team) / Artist (Jeff-fa-fa) / JIT team / Jami and folks and everyone who has helped produce our stories, and this one in particular.

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  If you liked these stories (or ANY author’s stories) consider giving them a review, it helps our marketing for the next fan!

  Just a note. If you happen to go to Shenzhen, China. The town isn’t two gas stations and a single light, it’s a city of about twelve million people. SURPRISE! (Also, it’s a note for me to pay attention to the cities I’m going to visit and learning a bit about them before I jump on a train, not knowing where I’m going to end up.

  Ad Aeternitatem,

  Michael

  Birthright

  Chapter One

  Unmapped Location, Aboard the Penitent Granddaughter, Bridge

  Nickie took her feet off the console and sat up to glare at the empty space around the Granddaughter on the screen. “Where the fuck did he go?”

  Adelaide gave Nickie an apologetic glance from the nav console. “He just vanished. There’s nothing to show where the Briar Rose went.”

  “A whole fucking ship can’t just disappear into thin-fucking-air.” Nickie got up to pace while she bitched. “I know he doesn’t have Gate technology.”

  Grim turned from his station. “This is why we should have traveled with John instead of tracking him from a distance.” He ignored Nickie’s icy stare. “Then we wouldn’t be here—wherever here is.”

  Keen wore a frown. “Where exactly are we?”

  “Dunno.” Nickie shrugged. “The ass-end of nowhere? There’s fuck-all around by the looks of it. Meredith, where did Prince Precious go?”

  There was a barely noticeable delay before Meredith answered through the intercom. “Oh, this is new. He has passed through the interdiction.”

  “Interdiction? Why aren’t we following?” Nickie demanded. “That word sounds familiar…” The ship shuddered. “Meredith, what’s going on?”

  “How much do you actually want to follow the prince?” Meredith asked. “This could become somewhat awkward for you.”

  Nickie glared at the speaker. “We wouldn’t be all the way out here in the first place if I didn’t want to know what he was up to. Just follow him, Meredith. I don’t care where you have to go.”

  “Which is what I thought you would say. We can go around…I think. Meredith came
back a few seconds later. “Yes, we can. I’m correcting our course.”

  “Go around what?” Nickie demanded. “Will you quit being so fucking mysterious?”

  Meredith sniffed. “The planet’s defenses. Unless, of course, you want to go through Federation checkpoints?”

  Nickie dragged a hand down her face. Of course, it was Federation space. She should have known it was too much to hope, to avoid it forever. “As if. I might as well turn up waving a fucking banner to announce my arrival.”

  Grim chuckled. “I wonder how that would go down?”

  Nickie pulled a face at him. “It wouldn’t, because it’s not going to happen. Meredith, our route?”

  Meredith sounded smug. “Luckily for you, I have an idea where we are, which tells me where John is headed. We’ll arrive shortly after he does.”

  Nickie looked around at the others. “Yeah, but where is he going?”

  Neither Adelaide, Durq, nor Keen had the faintest idea.

  Grim gave her a look but just lifted a shoulder in reply to Nickie’s questioning glare. “I know nothing. But you want to find John? Just go with it.”

  Nickie sat back down in her captain’s chair with a heavy sigh. “Whatever. Mere, just get us to wherever he’s going.”

  “That’s the plan,” Meredith chirped.

  Nickie frowned and got back to work. She had a sinking feeling that whatever Meredith knew was going to piss all over her already-less-than-stellar mood.

  However, her mind was stuck on the same track it had been on since she’d accepted that she had a crew. Especially now that the first few days had passed, and everyone had begun to fall into a comfortable routine.

  Nickie ate and worked with the others, and she had even stayed behind in the mess after dinner a couple of times. She knew that fully immersing herself in the easy camaraderie was going to take a little longer, though.

  The others respected Nickie’s need for space as much as any group living aboard a ship could. She still spent most of her free time alone, and when being around the others became too much, she went down to the training hold and worked her frustrations out on her bag.

  Her punching bag.

  It wasn’t just the adjustment to her living situation, though. John had gotten her back up in more ways than one. She was still more than a little uncomfortable with the breezy way he’d sailed into her life and straight back out of it again, trailing his assumptions about her behind him like a judgmental fucking bridal veil.

  Nickie still wasn’t sure she even liked him. While she might have been willing to overlook his…quirks for the sake of a wild night or two, boyish charm was only charming for so long before it began to wear on her.

  Sure, he was hot, but he had that relentless naivety that she loved to hate. Nickie didn’t want to admit to herself that part of the reason she was keeping her distance was that she didn’t want to find out if the attraction between them during the volcano mission remained now that the danger had passed.

  Nickie was well aware of how emotions got ramped up when lives were on the line, and how easily the relief of survival turned into the urge to grab the nearest warm body. Shit, she’d picked up her last lover that way.

  The memory cut her for a second, but she shook it off. That was the past. Prince Pretty should have taken her up on her offer while she was feeling generous, but he’d missed his chance. Nickie was back to thinking of him as an annoyance, albeit a reasonably interesting one.

  What Nickie really wanted was to find out what John’s secretive behavior was covering.

  They’d followed him to Zuifra and waited just outside the planet’s detection capabilities while he’d delivered the plant that would save his father’s life. Nickie had intended to hail him once he’d taken care of his family business, but the prince had all but snuck away from his home planet afterward—which set off alarm bells with the whole crew.

  Nickie’s instincts had told her to follow John and remain hidden. The others had agreed at the time, despite Grim’s current stance on the effectiveness of their surveillance now that the Briar Rose appeared to have vanished.

  Nickie found the situation confusing. John had been pretty forthright during the volcano mission. Almost too open, if she were honest. In fact, if she were completely honest, there was no “almost” about it. Whether or not he’d meant to affect her that way, her conversations with him had forced her to examine some hard truths about herself.

  Consequently, John’s sudden vagueness about his destination after he’d taken the plant back to his planet had tickled her curiosity.

  Some things just don’t change.

  Nickie scowled mentally at Meredith’s intrusion. What do you know?

  I know you, Meredith replied.

  Yeah, well, then you know to leave me alone unless you’re going to stop being a pain in my ass. What’s going on here, Mere?

  You know what’s going on. We’re following your prince.

  He’s not my fucking prince, she grumbled. How long until we get around this interdiction?

  A few hours.

  The bridge was companionably silent while Meredith took care of the ship. Nickie alternated between brooding in her chair and pacing the bridge while she waited for the EI to announce that they’d reached their destination.

  A short time later, Grim took Durq with him to get a start on dinner. Keen sat back in his chair and practiced the ancient military art of sleeping while there was a minute, and Adelaide did what Adelaide always did when she wasn’t fixing things: she read up on how to fix things.

  Eventually, Nickie gave up pacing and flopped into her chair to take a leaf out of Keen’s book. Just as she felt herself begin to drift off, the ship ground to a halt.

  She opened one eye when she felt the almost imperceptible change. “Meredith, why have we stopped?”

  “We’ve reached the planet,” Meredith replied. “We’ve stopped because we don’t want to get caught in that shielding.”

  Nickie’s heart sank. “It’s an outpost? Shit. Well, take us into the dock as quietly as you can. We might be able to sneak in and out without anyone noticing.”

  “It’s a little late for that,” Meredith told her. “We’re being hailed.”

  Nickie sat up and narrowed her eyes. “Who’s hailing us? Put them onscreen.”

  A man in a familiar uniform appeared on the screen. “Skaine ship captain, identify yourself and your purpose… Oh, you’re not a Skaine.”

  Nickie scowled at the Guardian as she sent the ship’s registration over. “It’s pretty fucking obvious I’m not a Skaine. We can dispense with the niceties. Which outpost is this?”

  The Guardian looked at her as though she’d hit her head. “You don’t know where you are?”

  Nickie rolled her eyes. “Would I be asking if I did? I’ve been away for a while.”

  “Must have been a long while,” he replied.

  “You could say that,” Nickie deadpanned. “So, are you going to let us in?”

  “I don’t know. Wait a minute.” The Guardian held up a finger and reached down to pick up a handset. He half-turned while he waited for an answer.

  “Get me Jennifer or Charles. Yes, it’s urgent. There’s a Skaine ship here with a human captain who wants to know where she is.” A pause while the person on the other end spoke. “The Penitent Granddaughter,” he replied. There was a longer pause. “No, they don’t know where they are, but they have Federation verification. I know that’s weird. Yes, ma’am. Of course.”

  He hung up the handset and turned back to Nickie. “This is High Tortuga, ma’am. You have clearance to land just as soon as someone gets there to confirm your identity.”

  “Oh, fuck my life,” Nickie groaned.

  The Guardian smiled. “Welcome back to the fold, ma’am.”

  He cut the connection before Nickie could tell him to fuck off, which she appreciated since she was making an effort to be pleasant to people unless they deserved differently. It wasn’t the Guardi
an’s fault she’d ended up in the very place she’d been avoiding like a Baka avoided soap and water. She would save it for John. He was the one who had enticed her into coming here. The fucker.

  The screen returned to showing the planet, and the ship resumed its usual thrumming as the engines kicked in again.

  “I’ve received a course for safe passage through the defenses,” Meredith announced. “We’ve been instructed to dock at the platform over the southern continent. Last chance to turn back, Nickie.”

  Nickie considered it for a moment. There was a chance that some of her family were here. She was surprised to find she could admit she cared. Could she face them? She wasn’t sure.

  She had changed for the better—that much she knew. That she still had so far to go was arbitrary. She had hit rock bottom and was clawing her way back up one good deed at a time. That had to be worth something.

  She was torn for a moment. The urge to run was strong, but something in her refused to back down to her fears. She was Nickie-fucking-Grimes, for fuck’s sake.

  She never backed down.

  “Take us in, Meredith. It’s about time I stopped running.”

  “As you wish.”

  The Granddaughter jerked as Meredith turned the ship to follow the path through the deadly satellites to the platform in high orbit above the planet. The ship came to a stop again when they reached the dock, and the majesty of High Tortuga slowly revealed itself.

  Keen and Adelaide drank it in. They were awed by the shining cities stretching from one end of the northern continent to the other, and then again by the sharp contrast when the wilderness of the southern continent came into view a short time later.