Sabine squirmed under the pressure. She didn’t want to lie to the woman who’d given her everything, but if she told Bethany Anne her friend had skipped out to play pew-pew in the outer reaches, she wouldn’t be much of a friend.
Bethany Anne’s eyebrow arched. “Sabine?”
Sabine sighed. “She’s still helping Akio out, so she’s not going to make it. But it’s the Hexagon I want to talk to you about. We’d like to give you first refusal before we sell it to the Defenders.”
Bethany Anne frowned. “I have a shitload of proprietary technology in that building. ADAM will take care of the details; consider it sold.”
Sabine grinned. “I thought you would say something like that, so I already drew up the agreement and sent it to him.” She shrugged at Bethany Anne’s raised eyebrow. “You are already leasing most of the building.”
“I am?” Bethany Anne asked.
Sabine nodded. “Oui. The VR suites are pretty much all we had left to maintain, so we figured we might as well sell out.”
“What about Tim?” Alexis asked, leaning in.
Sabine’s mouth twitched. “He’ll, umm, survive.”
Bethany Anne gave her a sympathetic smile. “So will you if your relationship doesn’t weather the separation.”
Alexis fixed Bethany Anne with a hopeful look. “Does that mean you’re going to cut Gabriel and me some slack? We’d be perfectly fine with Akio as our CO. We could make a difference, and you know we want to.”
Bethany Anne did not tear the heart from the universe at the thought of the twins leaving. She did, however, turn to Alexis with utter seriousness. “I know you’re looking for any opportunity to find Gödel and get your revenge, but you’re not ready for this conversation. I’m happy for Sabine’s team to take on whatever gets thrown at them because they have decades of experience.”
Alexis narrowed her eyes. “In Earth years.”
Bethany Anne smiled, brushing off the retort. “You are needed on the tour, where you will have the opportunity to prove you won’t run off and get yourselves killed the second my and your father’s backs are turned. We will discuss your crew’s fitness for front-line deployment when we return. Does that satisfy you?”
Alexis threw her arms around Bethany Anne. “I have to tell Gabriel!”
Michael replaced Sabine when she also left to inform her team of Bethany Anne’s decision. “You’re being generous tonight. Have the girls exhausted that, or am I just in time to persuade you to alter one of our stops on the itinerary? I have it in mind to go hunting with the children.”
Bethany Anne chuckled. “You’re an ass, Michael Nacht.”
Michael put a hand to his chest. “I’m lucky to have an ego large enough that your repeated assertion of that hasn’t affected me.” He dodged her punch and leaned back in the chair with his hands laced behind his head. “You’re impatient to get moving. I get it. The longer we delay, the more chance that Gödel launches her revenge before we can hit her with ours.”
Bethany Anne nodded. “Is it wrong of me to hope the twins realize while we’re on this tour that the action they’re looking for is exactly what we’ve been shielding them from their whole lives?”
Michael smiled. “You have a chance of them choosing to stick around if you continue to give them space to discover where they belong. You haven’t yet locked them in the Etheric for asking, which I’d say is a step in the right direction.”
“Don’t.” Bethany Anne groaned. “I wish I could. Sabine didn’t realize you’re less restrictive these days. I almost grounded all four of them when ADAM told me they were selling off their assets.” She frowned. “What the hell happened? When I found out I was pregnant, I thought you’d be the strict father and I’d be the cool mom who did crazy things.”
“I have been the father of toddlers with superpowers and no concept of death,” Michael told her with a sage look. “Nothing scares me. You’re a good mother. You never limited our children’s learning, and you support them in everything they do.”
He held up a finger to stall her interruption. “Look at them, Bethany Anne.”
Bethany Anne did as he asked. Gabriel was laughing with Ka’nak as they shared battle stories. Bethany Anne looked away from the impromptu wrestling match that broke out and scanned the tables for Alexis. She spotted her talking animatedly to Reynolds’ head engineer, and the genius inventor looked impressed.
They had the experience; she just hadn’t fully processed it yet. “Maybe I’m the one who needs neural reintegration,” she murmured. “God, I’m going to miss them, but you’re right.”
Onyx Station
Paul Jacobsen rubbed the tattoo on his forearm for courage as he looked into the camera. Public speaking really wasn’t his thing, but he had a message to get across to the people. He had recorded two messages, and this final one was about to go out on a live stream on the public access channel.
He glanced at the vial on the table next to the computer, hesitating for a moment before he picked it up and drank the contents. He swallowed without tasting it and cleared his throat, choked more by remorse that it had come to this than any reaction to the nanocyte compound he’d just tossed back.
He was going to die soon, but this was the only way to expose the truth. The only way to save everyone from the real enemy.
He smiled sadly, thinking about his wife and children as he pressed the button to begin the stream. “My name is Paul Jacobsen. I’m a nobody, a computer technician, but I’ve found out that something is wrong in the Federation, and I have to speak out before it’s too late. We are being lied to. There is a force at work that wants to tear us down and force us to fight their war for them. The Federation council wants us to believe that we are under threat from Kurtherians, but that is a lie they’re telling us to cover a darker truth.”
The silence that followed stretched out. Paul felt a keen pressure to ensure he didn’t appear to be a fanatic despite his method of getting attention.
“The Kurtherians don’t exist,” he continued in an even tone. “I have proof that they’re a myth created by Bethany Anne Nacht to cover the killing spree she went on when she formed the Etheric Empire. She will not stop until we are an empire again. We have to ask, ‘Will she stop there?’”
Paul paused to give the watchers time to digest the question. A pang in his chest told him his time was growing short. He looked directly into the camera with utter sincerity. “Many would welcome her back with open arms, ignorant of the consequences. Bethany Anne is the commonality in every war in recent history. Further, she is the cause. I know everyone watching this is already aware there have been multiple sightings of the former Empress in recent months, but what I’m about to show you is shocking.”
He tapped the keyboard as the cramps reached his stomach and began to twist his gut, replacing his camera feed with the image that had set in motion the chain of events that had brought him to this moment. “This image was taken in the control room of a mining outpost owned by a Leath group. As you can see by the blood, Bethany Anne has clearly killed a number of Leath already.”
Paul left the image there for a moment before returning his image to the screen. He fought to keep his voice steady as pain wracked him. “My source informed me that the outpost was stripped at this time and that any attempt to approach it was met with hostility from the nearby battlestation.” He opened his arms in supplication as he heard the elevator open. “I have worse news. My source inside the Federal House of Arbitration tells me that the council has met with Bethany Anne to discuss her taking over the Federation.”
Paul glanced at the door, hearing boots in the corridor outside his hotel room.
There was a bang on the door. “Station security. Open up.”
“We don’t have to take it lying down,” he told the camera, his face contorting as his insides burned. “I don’t want to do this, but I can’t let the truth be suppressed any longer. Bethany Anne has assets on—”
It was over. He c
lutched his chest, unable to hear the instructions being yelled by the two men who burst in with their weapons drawn.
Paul closed his eyes as the nanocyte compound reached peak conversion of his body’s energy and exploded.
Chapter Six
Devon, First City, Totto’s Restaurant
“I love that you had the building remade exactly as it was,” Bethany Anne told Leonardo as she accepted his warm handshake at the door.
“We can’t thank you enough for your help with everything,” Leonardo replied.
Bethany Anne smiled. “You have the Hexagon Foundation to thank for that. The volunteers have been working tirelessly to get First City back to normal.”
Leonardo beamed. “That’s what happens when people help each other. We’ve been cooking for the construction workers, doing what we can to contribute in our own way. But we should not stand here talking all night. You have guests, and those guests are waiting.”
“While true, it is important that normal life resumes as soon as possible,” Michael commented as Leonardo led them inside. He smelled the inviting aromas. “Besides, it’s practically tradition to have our departure dinner here.”
“People in the city come here to celebrate the special moments in life.” Bethany Anne winked at him. “There is no way we’d let this war take that away from them.”
Leonardo showed them into the private room where their family and closest friends were seated around four tables pushed together.
Bethany Anne was pleased to see that Cheryl Lynn and Todd were on Devon. Tina and Scott were sitting with them, Tina was on the end and had Marcus to her left at the next table, followed by Bobcat and William. John was flanked by Lillian and Jean. Darryl and Natalia sat with Dan, Gabrielle, and Eric. Sabine, Jacqueline, Mark, and Ricole were in deep conversation with the twins.
“Where are we sitting?” Bethany Anne asked.
“Over here,” Alexis and Gabriel called in unison, waving them past Tabitha and Peter.
Leonardo brought the starters in while the conversation flowed. Bethany Anne watched, eyes roaming, pleased to feel everyone’s energy was high in anticipation of the tour getting underway.
Tina got to her feet. She held up her glass and looked around with a smile. “Here’s to walking right up to the impossible and telling it to go fuck itself. We’ve designed a real-time defense system that will give the Federation the edge against the Seven. I want to say congratulations, but I don’t want to jinx it.”
Bethany Anne was distracted by ADAM. What’s up?
>>You have an urgent call from Lance and Nathan.<<
Give me audio. She waited for a beat. Dad, Nathan. What’s the urgency?
Nathan was first to reply. Onyx was attacked. Some ass blew himself up, ranting about you.
That got Bethany Anne’s attention. What? Go back, explain.
We can do better than that, Lance interjected. He live-streamed the whole thing.
He did what? Bethany Anne demanded. What the fuck is going on out there? We’re due to arrive in a few days, and you have terrorists on board the station?
>>I have the video,<< ADAM informed her.
Give me a minute. Bethany Anne left the table, holding a finger up when Michael gave her an inquiring look. She stepped outside the room and played the video ADAM had provided. How many were injured by the explosion?
The security officers who went to apprehend him are in Pod-docs, but they’ll be fine. A couple of the hotel guests received minor injuries, but most of the damage was directed outward into my damn building, Nathan informed her in a growl. I’ve contacted the Magistrate. They’re going to send someone to take care of the legal aspects of me turning this station upside-fucking-down until I’m sure there are no more crazies aboard.
What about Jacobsen? Bethany Anne asked, reading the report station security had made. Who was he working with?
We may have a leak, Lance conceded.
Fucking right, you have a leak. How else did that Kool-Aid-drinking wanksack get that photo of me? Bethany Anne adjusted her endocrine levels to abate the rage she felt building. Now wasn’t the time to get emotional. I’m concerned this attack won’t be an isolated incident. I want you to investigate. Our spontaneously-combusting lunatic wasn’t working alone.
Lance and Nathan started speaking at the same time.
Bethany Anne wasn’t done. Not only does the Federation council have a leak, Nathan is going to be tied up making sure this doesn’t become a diplomatic crisis when I arrive to implement the upgrades. This was not the start I wanted.
Nathan growled. Everyone saw that crackpot for what he was. Onyx is fine.
Then we thank Providence for the small mercies it grants. The last thing I want is trouble when we get to the Kezzin outpost on the itinerary. Bethany Anne sighed. Onyx is a neutral zone. Our security has to be able to prevent one conspiracy nut with explosives knowledge and no survival instinct from blowing the shit out of it. As for the council, it sounds to me like we’re still teetering on the edge of a complete fucking shitshow.
It’s not like that, Lance interceded. I don’t suspect any of the council delegates. Everyone who doubted was made aware of the reality when you threatened to bring an Ooken to Red Rock and drop it in front of them.
That’s still a possibility, Bethany Anne told him. However, I’ll hold off on the stringent measures until we know who is working against us. This needs to be stopped before they fuck up everything we’re working for. It’s time to clean house, Dad. I’m sending Akio to you. I have to be certain Gödel isn’t mixed up in this somehow.
We’ll soon know if she is, Lance told her, his voice hard with determination. Rest assured, whoever sent that photo will be leaving Red Rock in a body bag.
Bethany Anne knew not to argue with her father when he took it upon himself to address a betrayal. Nathan, I want a full investigation into Paul Jacobsen’s life. Work it from the other end.
I’m going to have to call in some backup, Nathan told her. We’re a little bit short-handed around here with everyone getting ready for your arrival.
Bethany Anne wasn’t bothered about the details as long as she got the answer to whose ass she had to beat some common fucking sense into. Don’t you have a Direct Action Branch for situations like this?
Nathan chuckled. You read my mind. I’ll call TH as soon as we’re done here.
I’m going to send Alexis and Gabriel ahead. With K’aia and Trey, you have four extra pairs of hands.
There was a brief hesitation on Nathan’s side. Please don’t kill me, but I haven’t got time to babysit right now, Bethany Anne. They’d be at risk.
I’d worry more about the risk to anyone who thinks my children are easy targets, Bethany Anne replied,
Okay then, Nathan replied. But if they get in the way, they’ll have to hang with Ecaterina until you get here.
He dropped the link, leaving Bethany Anne and Lance to their goodbyes.
He has no clue the twins have had enhancement, does he? Lance asked.
Not the slightest, Bethany Anne told him with a chuckle. Fucking with him makes my day, what can I say? Bad Queen, very bad queen. Love you. Bye, Dad.
She slipped back into the dining room and took her seat at the table. “What did I miss?” she murmured to Michael.
Michael leaned in to reply. “Tabitha and Jacqueline are about to have a fight. What was that call?”
Bethany Anne shook her head. “You don’t want to know.”
Michael gave her a pointed look. “That was kind of my point in asking.”
Bethany Anne sighed. “Dad and Nathan. Someone blew themselves up on Onyx Station. It’s dealt with. Tonight is about family.”
“At least I use a knife and fork to eat,” Tabitha snarked in response to a cutting comment from Jacqueline.
“Oh, I can use a knife,” Jacqueline retorted as Mark tried to get her to sit down. “Keep talking and you’ll be forked.”
Michael gave Bethany Anne a pained look as
he rose to intervene. “Family, love them or hate them."
Bethany Anne snickered. “You live for this shit, and you’ll never convince me differently.”
Devon, The Hexagon, Underground Hangar (the next day)
Bethany Anne smiled as Sabine, Jacqueline, Mark, and Ricole entered the storage hangar, with Demon and Sam Jr. in tow. She left her inspection of the space and walked over to meet them. “How are your preparations coming?”
Sabine gave that Gallic shrug, a holdover from her days on Earth that indicated her general ambivalence about the subject. “So-so. We finished negotiating with Cheryl Lynn the day before yesterday, so our businesses have all been taken care of.”
“What’s the issue?” Bethany Anne asked.
“We’re having trouble finding a suitable ship,” Mark told her dejectedly. “We had bad news from Jean. There are no unassigned battleships, and she can’t fit us in until approximately the twelfth of never.”
Bethany Anne chuckled when Ricole mumbled her displeasure with the situation. “That’s what I called you all down here for. The reason Jean hasn’t got any space in her schedule is I had her rush a bunch of ships I needed for John and the guys.”
“What does that mean for our assignment?” Jacqueline asked. “We can’t do much without a ship.”
“Well, we could try to swim through space,” Mark suggested. For his insolence, Jacqueline elbowed him.
Bethany Anne turned and swept an arm to indicate the Shinigami-class ships occupying the hangar. “I’m giving you the Defiant, the Revolution, the Cambridge, and the Shufur to go out and provide a suitable response to bullies.”
Jacqueline considered for a moment. “So, do unto bullies as they would do unto you?”
“No, don’t try any emotional bullshit. Give them one warning, then take them down three ways.”
“Which are?” Jacqueline asked.
Bethany Anne smiled. “Hard, fast, and continuously until they don’t know how to put on their underwear correctly.”
Return Of The Queen: The Kurtherian Endgame™ Book Eight Page 6