She put her hand to her mouth and tried to hold in her snicker. Jean was apparently really riled up. It was common knowledge Jean loved her team, and they loved her back, but she sure had a way of talking to them.
She stopped outside the door, which was closed, but Tabitha could easily hear the latest rant as Jean’s voice was clear as day. “Listen you goat fucking morons, better unfuck this rat fuck of a situation right fucking now before I go back in time and make the best part of you dribble out your mom’s ass instead!”
Tabitha quickly walked away, making it twenty feet before she busted out laughing. It took her a few turns to realize that she had accepted Jean’s comment as if it were directed to her as well.
A huge smile lighting up her face, she started walking towards her quarters. “Oh my God,” she whispered. “Go back in time and make the best part…” she never finished the quote out loud because she started laughing again. She tried uselessly to stifle the snorting by putting her hand over her mouth, but all she did was muffle the sounds as tears streamed down her face.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
QBS ArchAngel
There was a sharp rap on Bethany Anne’s door. “Come in, John,” she called out. She continued petting Ashur’s head as the massive guard walked in.
“Are you planning on going to the Yollin meeting in your sweats?”
Bethany Anne glanced at the top of her tablet. “Dammit!” She bolted out of bed, tossing the tablet to John as she sped around him and entered her closet. John heard the rattle of hangers and some extremely fast cussing coming from her closet. Moments later, she walked out wearing blue jeans and a black shirt.
“Not exactly going well-dressed today, hmmm?” John smiled as she waved him off and he followed her out of her suite.
As Bethany Anne walked into the meeting, she saw that Bobcat, William, Marcus, and Jeffrey were sitting down. Also the Yollins, Captain Kael-ven, Kiel, and Royleen were there. Dan, Peter, Nathan, Patricia and her dad were in attendance as well. She had already passed Eric and Scott in the hallway outside of the doors and John kept five feet behind her when she sat down at the head of the table.
Bethany Anne opened the conversation. “I apologize, everyone, I got captivated reading on the status of our new ships in Admiral Thomas’s reports. For those that want to know, the new ships are going well, and he reports we should have the first two within the next six months.”
Dan asked, “Admiral Thomas is doing pretty well then?”
Bethany Anne nodded. “He certainly seems to be pretty happy with the results. If we can continue to get some of the parts manufactured on Earth and transferred to him, they can keep up this pace. But should we suffer continued harassment of our manufacturing partners, the production tools we are getting from Japan increase in importance.”
William said, “Yuko is doing a good job there, and we’ve been able to purchase an additional twenty percent over our original agreements. But I know that there are many smaller machine shops that probably have tooling and machines they’d get rid of in a heartbeat if they could find a cash buyer.”
Bethany Anne nodded. “That’s a good point. Why don’t you and Patricia jump on that? I suspect from the noise we’re hearing from the United Nations, this might get pretty nasty. I would prefer we had as much manufacturing capacity as we possibly can.”
Bobcat smirked at William who rolled his eyes. “No rest for the wicked,” Bobcat told him. “If you have a good idea, make sure you’re willing to see it through to fruition.” He winked as William nodded at him in agreement.
“How are you feeling?” she asked William.
“Right as rain now, since the Pod-doc finished with me I’m as good as new. Plus, I’ve lost ten pounds so the babes better be careful when the new William starts strutting his stuff!” he gloated.
Patricia said, “I’ll inform the newspapers.”
William smiled. “See that you do. Also can you get a few good pictures from my right side? It shows me off better.” He struck a pose and got a snort from Patricia.
“I’ll see about using some grainy old footage, maybe we can hide a few wrinkles behind pixilation,” she replied.
Bobcat laughed, and William smiled, rubbing his nose with his middle finger.
“Okay, since we have the preliminaries out of the way, I’d like to discuss a few things, and I want everyone’s input as I ask about Yollin culture.” She nodded to the three in attendance. “Understanding that so far, the only aliens we’ve had in our solar system recently that we’re aware of, are the Yollins. I don’t intend to allow them to be at our back ready to go back and attack the Earth. According to my conversations with Captain Kael-ven, we can expect hostilities as we make our way through Yollin space.”
Lance opened up the conversation. “Kael-ven, do the Yollins always attack other species in their territory? And is it only your home system, or your secondary or tertiary locations as well?”
Kael-ven adjusted his forelegs on the couch and turned to the general. “The only time ships from Yoll would not attack is if those crossing our territory have an obvious military advantage. In that case, we would have to presume the other species is superior to us. Therefore our caste system would require all of us, even our King, to be subservient.”
Dan said, “So there’s no such thing as an equal to your King? I’m asking whether or not you have interactions with other species where you consider them friends or at least allies?”
It took a moment for Kael-ven to answer this question. “There is a clarification I must make. While we do have allies, we recognize their military strength is presently beyond our ability to overcome. Internally, however, our caste system is patiently waiting for a day that we can subjugate them. Should the allies stay ahead of us, then we will never attack. But should there come a day when our efforts to expand our empire provides the opportunity, that is the day they will become subservient to us.”
“Kael-ven,” Bethany Anne said. “Can you better explain the caste system of Yollins?”
“Certainly.” He turned toward Bethany Anne. “There are four major castes on Yoll. These have been in existence for well over a hundred generations. Some historians suspect the caste system is derived from ancient religious beliefs.”
Royleen chittered for a second to Kael-ven, his translation software was unable to keep up.
Kael-ven turned back to the humans. “Royleen has clarified that among scientists, it is well understood that the caste system was religious at one time. So please excuse my ignorance. Right now the four core castes are first level, Kolin. This is the prime ruler, the King and those reporting to him on Yoll. Further, any of those who operate large political areas outside of the primary Yollin system must be in this caste. The second caste is called Chloret. These are the secondary rulers and high-level leadership positions throughout the worlds including what you call the military brass. The third caste is called Mont. These are the lower level leadership positions, all high-level skilled labor positions, and management for guilds and all middle military positions. For example, Kiel here is in Mont. The fourth cast is called Shuk. It is the unskilled labor and lowest of the skilled labor. For the military, these would be the privates. Finally, there is an un-caste group called Kiene, these are the undesirables. On your world, you might call them criminals, malcontents, those who have lost their way. Often, they are transferred to land masses which have little to no civilization.”
“I thought Yoll was overpopulated?" asked Marcus.
Royleen spoke up. “Yes and no. There are certain areas of the planet that are tough to live in. The landmass is not very usable to build upon, and the indigenous population, the animals, can be quite vicious. Therefore, they are considered a step up from prisons.”
“Yes, we have a country that did something similar in our history. More than one come to think of it,” Marcus amended. “It all depended on how important the malcontent was.”
Bethany Anne asked, “So each of these cast
e levels have more to do with roles and responsibility, than anything to do with birth?”
Kiel said, “You are born into a caste. But you have the opportunity to make something of yourself and get enough acclaim to move up.”
“Chloret is the highest caste level an individual can attain without the King recognizing you personally. That rarely happens,” added Kael-ven.
“Because people rarely accomplish feats worth recognizing, or does the King fear competition?” asked Bobcat.
Both Kiel and Royleen looked to Captain Kael-ven who replied, “As the highest caste member here and therefore the one who can answer this without others being penalized, please recognize that this is an answer which could cause an individual to be stricken of their place and become a member of the Kiene caste.”
Bethany Anne nodded in acknowledgment of his concern. “We understand.”
He chittered a moment before continuing, “My personal judgment is that the caste system is a method for keeping Yollin society organized, structured, and a method whereby those at the highest levels maintain their positions. Further, those of us in the first and second cast are usually recognizable by our additional set of legs,” he said.
Bethany Anne heard William murmur to Bobcat, “I was wondering how that extra pair came about.”
Kael-ven continued, “It is by no means a definitive way to tell if somebody is in the Kolin or Chloret caste. Usually, like myself, I am the son of a family who has been at my level for three generations.”
“Interesting,” Marcus murmured.
Dan turned to Bethany Anne. “Do you think that there’s a way to use the caste system to change Yollin society?”
Bethany Anne looked up at the ceiling, thinking, she did not fail to see the many heads at the table look at each other wondering if Dan had some insights. Finally, she looked at everyone and gave him a small smile. “Yes, Dan has it right.”
She waved to the three Yollins. “I’ve spoken with each of them before. Well, let me amend that to say I have talked with Captain Kael-ven and scientist Royleen more. I was yelling at, and punching, Kiel most of the time.
Kiel rubbed his chest absentmindedly.
“One thing that strikes me about Yollin society is that they are very structured because of the many generations of being within this system. From what I understand, the King comes from the prime family and the rules state: ‘only those at the top level may challenge the King,’ yet few do so. Since if they fail, they lose their lives, and their whole family is tossed into Kiene. It tends to put a damper on upsetting the political structure. Those that are in lower castes are not considered smart enough and of good enough genetics to rule. The way I understand it,” she nodded to the Yollins. “And please correct me if I’m wrong, the general understanding is that each caste is just a little slower mentally, and a little bit less physically fit than the one above?”
The Yollins agreed.
“Now,” she smiled to the team, “the Achilles heel of the Yollin society is that anyone who can beat the King is, therefore, suitable to rule.”
Lance said, “Uh oh.” Bethany Anne smiled at him.
“Soooo…” Dan said. “You plan on challenging the King?"
“It’s the least I can do after he attacked my people.” She smiled devilishly. “What else is a queen supposed to do when offended by another monarch?”
Dan turned to Captain Kael-ven, pointing towards Bethany Anne. “Is what she is proposing permissible in your society?"
Kael-ven chittered before replying, “Yes. There have been two occasions in our history when other species have challenged Kolin to Kolin.”
“Why do I feel like the other shoe hasn’t dropped yet?" Lance asked the table at large.
“Probably because it’s about ten feet long and dropping from a thousand feet above us right now,” Bobcat responded.
“What does this phrase mean, the other shoe hasn’t dropped yet?” Captain Kael-ven asked.
Jeffrey responded, “It means that we haven’t heard the worst part yet.”
“There isn’t much more to add,” Captain Kael-ven said. “Except that the challenge is to the death, and you are not allowed to bring anything to the fight.”
“So, no weapons, no armor, no protection?” Lance asked.
Captain Kael-ven’s head turned sideways and then back upright. “No, nothing as not anything. The way you came into existence.”
John said from behind Bethany Anne, “The Queen gets to fight in her birthday suit.”
Bethany Anne tried to ignore the smirks around the table. “For the record, there will be no video taken of this fight,” she declared.
Captain Kael-ven added one more item. “Do most of you realize that our King is approximately twice as large as I am?”
“And, the other shoe has finally landed,” William said to a suddenly quiet table.
Bobcat piped up, “Well you know what they say about the bigger they are.”
“Yeah, they kick your ass twice as hard,” Lance finished.
“Wow, let’s not all think Bethany Anne has a shot at winning this fight or anything. Just because my opponent will stand twelve feet tall, have bony exoskeleton armor surrounding him, be hellishly fast fighting and have multiple appendages. Well, hell. Yeah, he might make me sweat.”
Dan asked the question, “Captain Kael-ven, I understand you and a significant portion of your crew are now vassals of Bethany Anne. What would happen if our people best yours in challenges at this point in time? Those that are equivalent caste or higher?”
This time, most of those at the table recognized that Kiel and Royleen looked at Captain Kael-ven with curiosity. Apparently, this wasn’t something pondered much in Yollin society.
Captain Kael-ven opened his mouth and closed it multiple times before finally answering, “The tests would have to be appropriate for the challenges to matter. For example,” he waved in scientist Royleen’s direction. “It would be inappropriate to require Scientist Royleen to accept a challenge related to martial arts. Nor,” he waved towards Kiel, “would it be appropriate to have Kiel answer scientific questions for his challenge.”
Captain Kael-ven turned to his fellow aliens and chittered for a moment. Turning back, he said, “I have confirmed with both Kiel and scientist Royleen that they would feel that those who beat them were either in the same caste or higher. If it was apparent they were far superior, they would feel like the individuals were accredited a caste higher than themselves.”
“Where are you going with this, Dan?” Bethany Anne asked across the table.
“I think that we need to consider a long-term strategy for Yollin society. I suspect we’ll be undergoing this plan to beat the Kurtherians for many, many decades, right?” Everyone around the table nodded agreement. “So, I’m wondering what we need to do to make sure that the Yollin society attributes humans as being superior across the castes. We can’t hope to modify the caste system within the Yollin society without first qualifying how we stand in the caste system.”
“Don’t just try to tear it down without first showing we are better than it?” Jeffrey asked.
“Precisely. Since we’re going to stage the battle station in Yollin space, I would prefer to know we’re working towards creating a better society for the Yollins, rather than only keeping them a beaten opponent under our thumbs.”
“You’re thinking about the Japanese after World War II?” Lance asked.
“Not exactly,” Dan said. “But they are as good an example as any.”
Bethany Anne shrugged. “I can understand your logic, but how would we work this out?”
“Question, Captain Kael-ven,” Dan interjected. He waited until he had the Yollin’s attention. “Is it safe to say that the highest level person in any role on your ship, is the best individual for that position?”
Captain Kael-ven answered, “If you mean are they the highest ranking within the caste system, the answer is yes. On my ship, I believe it to be true that t
hey are also the best individual for the role. However, I would not suggest you take that qualification and think it applies to every ship we have.”
“So, would your people accept one of our people beating one of yours as being superior to themselves as well?”
Kiel interjected, “So, would Bo’cha’tien accept someone who beat me as being superior to her?”
“Yes, that’s what he is asking,” Kael-ven agreed.
Kiel turned to Dan. “If not, I would beat her myself,” Kiel said. “By suggesting she was better than someone who beat me, she is saying that she is better than me and for me to keep my position, it can only be construed as a challenge.”
“Well, that’s right up a Wechselbalg’s alley,” Peter spoke for the first time in the meeting. “If you can’t beat the one ahead of you in the pack, you don’t have the right to fight anyone above them until you do.”
The Kurtherian Gambit Omnibus 05 - The Fans Version: My Ride is a Bitch - Don't Cross This Line - Never Submit Page 19