Alexis sniffed. “I suppose it isn’t.”
John cupped his hands to give the children a boost onto the ledge above. “’You suppose?’ That’s a little vague for a girl who loves precision.”
She rolled her eyes and hopped onto his hand. “Okay, you’re right.” She jumped for the ledge and pulled herself up.
Gabriel was next. He hauled himself over with ease and dusted himself off. He peered over the edge at John, who was backing up to take a running jump. “Dad could have given us at least some information,” he grumped. “He saw how excited we were to play the game.”
John landed on the mossy rock beside them. “Why would you expect that of him?” he asked. “Your father is wise, creative, and sneaky.” He looked them each in the eye. “He is also completely dedicated to making sure you two get the upbringing you need to be able to handle the power you’re gonna have when you grow up. You both know that, yet neither of you questioned why he’d let you play a game with no training value?”
Alexis made a sound of frustration. “Nuance! He even told me!” She stalked off, kicking the rocks as she went. “I can’t believe we walked right into the very first trap he— AHHHHH!” She screamed as she disappeared from sight.
Gabriel started forward. “Alexis!”
High Tortuga, Space Fleet Base, Michael’s Office, Vid-Doc Room
“Now that was ironic.” Eve turned from the screen to see the stony reception her joke got from the guys. “No? She was bitching about Michael’s trap, and she fell right into a trap.” Michael fixed her with a stern look.
She shrugged and turned back to the screen. “Whatever.”
John and Gabriel stood on the rim of the pit and searched the darkness below for any sign of Alexis.
“I can’t see! Where is she?” Gabriel leaned over, and John pulled him back. “I’ll jump in and pull her out,” he told John.
“And what if you land on your sister?”
Gabriel made a face. “Then we need to find something to lower me down there.” He looked around frantically, spotting a tall, vine-choked tree. “That tree wasn’t there a minute ago.”
John looked around. There weren’t any other trees around, and Gabriel was right about that one appearing from nowhere. He shrugged. “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, kiddo.”
They ran over to the tree, and Gabriel pulled at a likely looking vine. It didn’t budge an inch.
“Here, let me,” John told him. He wrapped the vine around his forearm and gave it a sharp downward tug. The vine came away farther up the trunk, dislodging a shower of bugs and dead leaves. He shook them off and pulled again, and more of the vine came loose. He wound the vine around his arm as he walked around the tree and freed some more of it.
Gabriel heard a dry rustle in the leaves above them as John bent over to tear the vine from the ground. He glanced up in time to see a snake fall from the branch above John’s head. “Uncle John!”
John managed to get an arm up before the snake latched onto his face. However, it sunk its fangs deep into his forearm. “Fuuuu…owww!” He tore the snake loose, twisted it around, and ripped its head off.
Gabriel eyed the fangs sticking out of John’s arm warily. “You okay, Uncle John?”
John picked the fangs out and tossed them aside. “Sure, it only hurt for a minute. Now let’s see about getting your sister out of that hole.”
Eve chuckled and muttered, “Interest is a bitch, John.”
Darryl and Scott exchanged worried glances.
Scott leaned over and whispered, “What did Eve and John get into that she’s so pissed at him?”
Darryl shrugged and spoke just as low. “I have no clue, but remind me to ask John if he makes it out of there so I can avoid it.”
Chapter Eighteen
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, All Guns Blazing Offices
Baba Yaga gave Tabitha a little shove to move her from the Etheric to the office. Tabitha stepped into the office, and the roar of the brawl was obvious. She grinned in anticipation and waited a beat for the others.
Jean, Gabrielle, and Baba Yaga appeared within a few seconds, accompanied by a loud thump and then a crash as someone hit the office door from the other side.
Gabrielle chuckled as she made for the door. “Oh, goody, it’s a big one!” Her voice sounded gravelly through the helmet’s voice modulator.
“That’s what she said,” Tabitha snarked, pushing past to her get to the door first. “And it’s first come, first served, so I’m leading.” She yanked the door open and looked down the corridor to the main bar area, where the chaos was even more complete. Furniture flew, the crashes punctuating the overall soundtrack of yelling, roars, and breaking glass. “Shiiit,” She looked back at her friends. “This is a full-on blowout.”
Baba Yaga came to stand beside her and sniffed. “You’re right. We can’t break it up just yet, not with this many frustrated Wechselbalg involved.” She pressed her lips together and assessed the severity of the fight. “Hmmm…”
“What are you thinking?” Jean asked.
Baba Yaga tilted her head. “That nobody here is trying to kill anyone, they’re just blowing off steam. I have a mind to let it run its course for now.”
Gabrielle’s shoulders dropped. “No fight for us?”
Baba Yaga snickered. “Oh, we’re going to fight. We’ll help the bouncers make sure it doesn’t go too far, and after it’s done, I have the perfect place for all those frustrated Wechselbalg.”
“Where?” Tabitha looked at her, then laughed. “You’re shitting me. Devon?”
Baba Yaga nodded. “You know it.”
The corridor heaved with angry bodies doing their best to pound the shit out of each other.
Tabitha saw a human standing over another human with his foot raised. The guy on the floor definitely didn’t need a kick to the ribs, so Tabitha decided it was as good a place to start as any and punched the standing guy in the face. “Not so fun when they can fight back, huh?” She snickered as he crumpled to the floor.
She stepped over him and looked back at the others. “You three just going to stand there?”
Baba Yaga was by her side in a blink, and the four worked their way through to the main bar area in a storm of kicks, punches, and judiciously applied elbows.
High Tortuga, Space Fleet Base, Michael’s Office, Vid-Doc Room
Addix pushed the plastic curtain aside and followed Eve’s directions to the Vid-doc room. The screen wall caught her eye as she entered, distracting her from her purpose. Bethany Anne and Michael’s children were playing some VR game with John, while Michael and the rest of the guys watched from the seating area and Eve puttered around the room.
Michael gestured for Addix to join them, and she took a seat and a handful of popcorn from the bowl Eric held out.
She munched a few pieces, her mandibles twitching with joy as Alexis had one of her little willful moments on the screen.
She waved her fists and kicked the loose rocks as she voiced her displeasure with her father. Addix thought it utterly endearing that so much force of will could be contained in such a sweet little creature.
Suddenly, Alexis screamed and was gone from the screen.
“Where did she go?” Addix asked Michael.
“There’s a trap,” he replied. “This part of the game is littered with them. Gabriel will have to work to get her out, with John’s help.”
Her mandibles conveyed her concern for Alexis.
Scott elbowed Darryl. “Aunt Addix is on the case now. She’s not going to want to see the twins hurt.”
Addix turned to Michael. “Is this true? They can be hurt in this game?”
He nodded. “This is not a game. They are in training.”
“You are ensuring that they suffer?” Her mandibles picked up speed, and her translation software struggled to keep up. “Of all the… Wait until Bethany Anne hears about this!”
Michael’s eyes flared red, and he put up a hand to silence Addix. �
��Enough. I respect your love and your effort, Addix, but my children are...my children. You will see that they are learning from this.” His face softened a touch. “The longest-remembered lessons are the hardest and most painful to learn; you know that.”
Addix looked at the screen, where Gabriel was working with John to retrieve Alexis from the pit. “Hmmm. Very well.” She turned to Michael, still agitated. “I came to see you because the issue of Lance’s we spoke about has intensified somewhat. The Noel-ni have lost more ships, and the Federation has gotten involved.”
“I see.” Michael steepled his hands under his chin for a moment, taking the news in. “Do they know what’s causing the ships to vanish? What measures is Lance having the Federation take?”
“The system has been quarantined until the reason can be ascertained. The Noel-ni have no clue what the cause of the disappearing ships is. It could be anything from pirates to space monsters.”
“It could also be Kurtherians,” Michael noted.
“It could.” They continued watching the children while Addix gave him a brief outline of everything she’d learned from her Federation contacts. “Unfortunately, the political situation is rather tenuous. The original vanished ships were fulfilling a trade obligation, and there is a real chance that war could break out between the Noel-ni and the other side unless the consignment—or at least proof of its destruction by a third party—is presented.”
Her mandibles continued to broadcast her agitation. “That is not my only concern, Michael. When is Bethany Anne due to return to High Tortuga?”
Michael smirked. “You are thinking along the same lines as me, then?”
Addix’ mandibles twitched in amusement. “I suspect she’s already on her way to the quarantined system.”
Michael sighed. “That’s about what I was thinking.” He got up and walked over to the console. “CEREBRO, get me a line to the Security Pit.”
“Right away, Michael,” the EI replied.
Jennifer came on the line a second later. “What can I do for you, Sir?”
“This is not a drill. Ready the fleet.” He had to work to keep the grin out of his voice as he spoke. He’d been waiting for the opportunity since the base had been in the inception phase.
“The fleet, sir?” Jennifer recovered quickly. “Of course. What are their instructions?”
Michael paced in front of the console. “Tell them to warm up and be ready to leave within twelve hours. If we need to go sooner, we’ll warn them we’re going to prepare for a three-hour lift off.”
“What’s going on?” Eric asked.
“My wife,” Michael stated, “won't leave well enough alone. I'm just making sure we have the firepower to back her up against whatever is out there. She would jump into Hell with a box of matches and a package of firecrackers. It isn't the wisest choice, so we will consider this an unplanned test of the fleet’s readiness.”
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, All Guns Blazing
Baba Yaga held two snarling wolves up in front of her by the scruffs of their necks. They twisted and clawed to escape her iron grip, which just made her hold on all the tighter. “Enough!” She banged their heads together to knock them out and dropped them, moving on to the next situation without a pause. She’d let the staff know she was there and that she would be responsible for damages, then threw herself into the fray with abandon.
It was satisfying to fight for no other reason than the sheer joy of it.
To pit herself against someone not because they were threatening the ones she loved, but simply because they challenged her to bring the pain or take it.
Jean and Gabrielle were dealing with a knot of drunken Wechselbalg in one corner of the bar.
Jean, keeping it minimal as always, laid the ringleader out with a headbutt.
Tabitha dashed past after a Shrillexian, who she was laying into with the pool cues she had acquired. The Shrillexian beat a hasty retreat for the exit before Tabitha could continue the lesson in fairness. She used the sticks to point behind her. “Asshole was picking on those little furry guys back there.”
Bethany Anne looked over to where Tabitha had jerked her pool cue before running off to check on them. The “little furry guys” had teeth as sharp as her own, and they didn’t seem to mind using them in the least.
She rolled her eyes and stepped over an unconscious Yollin to go and help Tabitha dislodge them from her legs.
The brawl was showing no sign of slowing, since word had spread that the bar fight to end all bar fights was going on. There was a long line of people waiting outside to keep the numbers steady. It was getting late, however, and they had an honest-to-fuck mission the next day.
Wrap it up, ladies, she told Gabrielle and Jean. She used her foot to scrape the small furry beings from Tabitha’s legs and jumped onto one of the few remaining tables. She kicked away the wolf who tried for her legs and pressed the button on her helmet.
“Enough!”
The bar was plunged into silence when the figure on the table removed her helmet and revealed herself to be Baba Yaga.
Sam and Lucas shared a terrified glance.
“We’re in the shit now!” Sam whispered shakily.
His brother sucked in short, rapid breaths. “The She-Witch was fighting… Shit, with us all.”
Sam hadn’t considered that, and he was nowhere near as afraid of her as his brother was. Personally, he found the scary look pretty damn—
“Why is she looking at you, bro?”
Sam swallowed, his face going red.
Baba Yaga grinned dangerously and addressed the bar. “Fight’s over, everyone. Make sure you pick up your belongings and your unconscious friends on your way out.”
It was more than disconcerting to hear the cheerful thanks given in that grating voice. When Baba Yaga spoke, her voice tripped every nerve in Lucas’ and Sam’s young Wechselbalg bodies. The instinct they felt most clearly was the one to flee.
Not everyone could move. Some stayed rooted to the spot, transfixed like animals in headlights.
Baba Yaga saw their reactions. She clapped her hands, and two energy balls appeared over her palms. “Anyone still present in two minutes time is going to be hot-footing it out of here.”
Their feet suddenly unstuck.
High Tortuga, Space Fleet Base, Immersive Recreation and Training Scenario, Dinosaur Island
John and Gabriel descended into the darkness, held securely by the vine. The pit was less deep than they’d originally thought. The light was blocked by the twists in the drop, which hid the bottom from anyone looking down from above.
Gabriel began to search for his sister the moment his feet touched the ground. He was drawn to a glow up ahead. The light came from a pool at the bottom of a steep decline. He saw a spot of what looked to be blood in the light cast by the pool.
“Alexis!” He rushed forward, and almost fell over a jagged crack in the floor.
John grabbed Gabriel’s arm to stop him from falling into the glowing liquid. “Easy, now.”
Gabriel peered into the pool and made out a vaguely human shape in the glowing gloop below. He pointed and stared at John impatiently. “But she’s down there, and she could be hurt!”
John joined Gabriel at the edge and identified the shape as Alexis. “So she is. Hang on a minute.” He hopped in, slid down into the gloop, and scooped Alexis out. She spluttered and drew a breath, but didn’t regain consciousness.
Gabriel hopped from foot to foot as John cradled Alexis in one arm and climbed back out. John gently laid her on the ground and turned her on her side.
Gabriel ran over and touched her sleeping face. “Is she okay?”
I’m fine, she answered groggily in their minds. She coughed weakly. Or at least I would be if Dad and Eve hadn’t put this stuff down here to knock me out! That’s cheating!
John wiped the rapidly-drying gloop from her face with his sleeve. “It could have been designed to kill you. Instead, you had an unscheduled nap and learned
something. Want to tell me what that was?”
Alexis opened her eyes and rubbed them vigorously to clear the last flakes. “That no matter how many times I think I’ve figured out what my dad is up to, he’s going to surprise me again? Okay,” she admitted, huffing at John’s serious expression. “I suppose that’s true. If I’d been paying attention instead of griping, I would have seen the trap.”
“I learned that you can tear the head off a snake,” Gabriel told his sister. “It squelches.”
Alexis paled. “Gross, Gabriel.”
John shook his head and set off toward the next ledge.
High Tortuga, Space Fleet Base, Michael’s Office, Vid-Doc Room
“I suppose that was a good lesson,” Addix admitted.
Eve grinned. “I know. I designed it.”
Michael glanced at the screen wall from his place at the console and smiled warmly at his children. Alexis and Gabriel were progressing through the trials even faster than he’d anticipated.
It was a good thing he’d listened to Eve about making it so the children experienced everything in real-time, since he needed the long High Tortuga night to go and make sure that they had a mother to return to when they emerged from the Vid-doc.
He reviewed the readiness reports as CEREBRO fed them from the ships to his station. Kael-ven’s name was at the top of each report, so Michael opened a line to the Yollin.
“What can I do for you, Michael?” Kael-ven sounded hopeful. “You did get my reports? The fleet will be ready when you ask.”
“Thank you, my friend.”
“Don’t thank me with words,” Kael-ven grumped. “I’ve got the G’laxix Sphaea all dressed up, but there’s nowhere to go, and you didn’t even think to ask her to the dance, did you?” He chuckled, the clicks echoing over the comm.
Michael chuckled in return. “I think we both know who wants to be asked to dance, Kael-ven. Do you have a full crew?”
“You know he does,” Kiel’s voice cut in. “Just point us at whoever pissed Bethany Anne off, and we’re good to go.”
The Kurtherian Endgame Boxed Set Page 38