Michael turned to her, his eyes slightly unfocused. The children were successful. They have around twenty people with them who are in need of a ride home.
Bethany Anne laughed aloud as she set off, determination in her stride. Queen Bitch’s inter-realm taxi service coming right up.
Federation Deep Space Research Outpost, QBS Izanami
The ArchAngel II Gated in within a few minutes of Bethany Anne requesting pickup for the rescued people.
Admiral Thomas came aboard the Izanami to supervise the transfer of the traumatized researchers and their families personally.
Bethany Anne took him to one side once they were aboard the transfer Pod. “You need to make sure that they all receive Pod-doc treatment.” ADAM, your job is to make sure not a one of them remembers seeing me, Michael, or the children—and especially not even a hint of the Etheric.
>>Got it.<<
And don't disappear this time.
>>Will I have to say it a million times? I'm sorry.<<
Bethany Anne relented at the sincerity in his voice, but not much. Just don't make me have to come and search for your ass. I swear I'll find a way to beat it if you ever scare me like that again.
Admiral Thomas shuffled beside her, eager to get the rescued people on their way to the Helena, from which they could be transferred back to Yoll. He looked at her. “You still plan to follow the trail of the Leath ship?”
Bethany Anne nodded. “Yes. Izanami has been tracking Loralei since she left to follow them. She came out near our seventh location. I want the superdreadnoughts ready to Gate in at short notice.” She made a face at his fidgeting and waved him off, shaking her head. “Go. I can see you’re itching to leave. We’re heading for location seven as soon as you’ve gotten through your Gate.”
“Then I won’t keep you a moment longer.” Admiral Thomas walked off, turning back to raise his hands in a wide shrug. “What can I say? The shit has hit the fan.”
Bethany Anne snorted. “You can relax. The shit might be adjacent to the fan, but it hasn’t hit just yet.”
Chapter Seventeen
Ooken location, Municipal Center
Akio fended off multiple tentacles as well as the blades the Ooken he was fighting wielded in its hands. He noted that John was in some trouble, but not enough for him to intercede just yet.
All teams, you can relax. Bethany Anne has recovered ADAM, along with a number of survivors.
John did not relax when the Admiral’s update came over the comm.
Relaxing would, in fact, have been the worst thing he could have done, since an Ooken guard had a tentacle around his neck and it was getting tighter by the second. “You,” he grunted, “are a monumental ass.”
The announcement had nevertheless had the positive effect of cutting through the last vestiges of the grip his opponent was attempting to put on John’s mind, freeing him to concentrate on the physical aspects of the fight.
Anything that prevented him from becoming some Ooken’s midnight munchie was good in John’s book.
It took only a second to assess just how far up Shit Creek he'd found himself. His arms were pinned to his sides by the same tentacle, prohibiting him from ripping the fucking thing off and using it to give the sneaky bastard a taste of its own medicine.
The wishful thought, however, led to an idea. It wasn’t an idea he was proud of by any stretch, but Akio had his hands full with his own guard.
“I’m John-fucking-Grimes, you fetid beaked sack of dried foreskin!”
John leaned forward, then smashed the back of his helmet into the Ooken’s beak, stunning it before it had a chance to change tactics. “Mind-fucking still needs permission, asshole!”
As he felt the impact, he instructed the faceplate of his armor to open. He didn’t think about what he had to do next, just sank his teeth into the tentacle and tore a huge chunk of the meat away.
Akio finished with his guard and happened to glance over at the exact moment John spat out the chunk of tentacle along with a globby spray of Ooken blood. Really? You could have just called.
The Ooken screeched in rage and pain, then redoubled its effort to drag John into its waiting jaws.
“Hey! No smooches!”
John jerked his head back when one of the Ooken’s suckers caught his face. “I’ll eat you before you ever get a taste of me!” he roared as the burning line over his left eye healed.
He broke through the tentacle with another bite and flexed his chest to make room to free his arms. “Definitely does not taste like chicken!” he bitched, spitting out a stray scrap of meat as he took a couple of steps to give himself room to work.
I would have thought it would have a distinct sushi flavor, Akio retorted with a glib smile. He jogged up the stairs toward the entrance. Ika, perhaps.
John chuckled as he pivoted and drove a fist into the Ooken’s open beak. Fuckers haven’t got a single redeeming quality. They don’t even have the decency to taste nice when they’re forcing you to bite them.
His punch broke through the Ooken’s delicate soft palate and went straight into its brain.
He tried not to gag when the Ooken collapsed and its brain fluids ran down his forearm. Not that cannibalism should be a thing, but we’re fucking delicious. At least if a human gets eaten, they don’t give the fucker who ate them indigestion.
Akio thanked the stars he hadn’t eaten yet that day. His lip curled at the mess. How did it even get hold of you?
John pulled his fist free of the dead Ooken, grimacing at the brain matter coating his armored glove. Damn thing suckered me while I was taking care of the first one. Maybe Scott's tinfoil hat joke wasn't such a stupid idea. He wiped it off and headed up the last few steps with Akio close behind.
He flung a last bit of mucus-y gunk at the wall where it made a splunk sound and grabbed his two corpses. “Okay, that’s just nasty. Let's get these hidden and get inside before the Ooken get here.”
Akio nodded, dragging the remains of his guard into cover. “I can hear them, they are aware of the deaths of these three.”
John grunted, pulling the door open. “It's not news.”
There was no one inside the administration building,which was closed for the night, exactly how they’d planned it. They crossed the high-ceilinged atrium and hopped the counter to access the back of the building.
The first floor had nothing but meeting rooms. They headed up to the second floor and found more of the same. The door at the top of the next stairwell opened into a corridor going left to right.
Akio regarded the corridor with a look of utter disdain. How wonderful…yet another identical corridor.
John indicated the left-hand side to Akio. Quick search. It has to be on this floor. When you find anything that looks like the records room, call. I’ll do the same.
Akio made his way to the nearest door, the ghost of a smile touching his lips. How much would you like to bet that he did it?
John considered it while he stopped to try one door that looked out of place. Scott’s tinfoil hat? Sure, I'll take that bet. Don't forget who he's partnered with. Eve would tear him to shreds and share the photos with everyone—including Cheryl Lynn.
The nondescript door was locked. He would have dismissed it as another supply closet if not for the box at chest height on the wall beside it.
He looked over his shoulder at Akio. Check this out. It looks like I just found our target. This door has a biometric lock.
He looked at it, his eyebrows narrowing… “Ahhhh Shit.” He turned towards Akio. “Are any of those furry meatbags out there still intact enough that we can use them to open it?
Akio was by his side a moment later. He bent to inspect the blank display. I believe they may be beyond the ability to open it in any case. If the lock is biometric, where is the scanner?
John's grin dropped away. Well, damn. It's going to work by telepathy or some shit, isn't it? Can you trick it into recognizing you?
Akio frowned in concentration
for a few moments. No, and we don't have long. Our clock started counting down with the first Ooken you killed.
John grunted and shrugged. Yeah, well, it’s not as if we left a trail for them to follow. It’s just the three out front. We should have a little while at least before they work out where we are. He took a step back and examined the door when something tripped his subconscious.
Can you feel that around the door?
Akio tilted his head and surveyed the door. He felt the disturbance in the electrical field John had picked up. It’s alarmed, he confirmed, and his eyes traveled around the door. It goes in an unbroken line around the entry, so how do we get in without alerting the Ooken to our precise location?
John stared at the door for a moment, then grinned and took another two steps back, then a couple to the right. What do you think? He nodded at a panel on the wall in front of him.
Akio made a face. I think another half-step to be sure, and don’t hold back.
John raised an eyebrow. Why would I do that? He inclined his head and shuffled back more, now almost touching the wall behind him. Good?
Akio nodded, folding his arms. I will be judging you for style.
John chuckled. Challenge accepted.
He took two steps forward and spun precisely on one foot, twisting his hips as he brought up the other foot and stomped his armored boot into the panel. The composite the panel was made from buckled under the force of John’s kick, sending a shudder through the wall.
Akio made a noncommittal noise.
John held up a finger. Wait for it… A moment later the panel fell forward, spilling a heap of crumbled insulation out onto the corridor floor. He swept a hand toward the hole he’d made. One alternative entrance.
Akio see-sawed his hand. Almost. There’s still the panel on the other side to get through. I’ll give you a nine and a half, since it was excellent work in a confined space.
John frowned. Only nine and a half?
Akio shrugged. Your hip flexion was a half a degree less than it could have been during the wind-up. You lost power because of it.
There was a moment’s pause from John, who shook his head. Damn, that’s exacting. Did you learn how to critique from BA? Want some push-ups out of me? John filed the tip away for later and looked through the hole he’d made. He turned back to Akio. I’m kidding. I can always improve. Still, I’d like to see you make that kick—
Akio turned a perfect rotation on the spot, his foot meeting the exact center of the remaining obstacle to their entry. The composite came away from the wall in one piece and flew into the room beyond, bouncing off of something. Sickly artificial light shone through from the other side.
John nodded in appreciation as the panel came to a spinning stop. He gestured for Akio to go through first. It’s not cocky if you can do it.
Akio ducked through the hole and went a few steps in before turning back to John. It’s all in the hips. He chuckled. You just have to be flexible.
John grinned. Ask my wife. She’ll tell you I’m plenty flexible. He raised an eyebrow and gyrated his pelvis a couple of times to accentuate his point.
Akio snorted, turning to get a look around the room they were in. Of course, I’ll get right on that, just as soon as I put my affairs in order and make my final wishes known. He walked over to a door and looked inside. Servers.
John lifted a shoulder. I’d say that was a wise decision on your part.
He was only half-listening to Akio, his attention drawn to the computer on the solitary desk in the empty room.
He sat down at the desk and waved his hands over the computer in the extremely slim hope it would boot up, but nothing happened. I’m going out on a limb here, he sent Akio as he wiped his hand on the desk. But this looks like more tech you need to be psychic and an Ooken to use. Can you imagine being the Ooken who had to sit in here every day to maintain all this?
Akio came over to the desk and looked over John’s shoulder. This is definitely what Bethany Anne wanted us to find. Want to call in tech support and get started?
John nodded and opened the comm link. Admiral?
Admiral Thomas’ familiar voice answered. Good to hear from you.
You too, Admiral, Akio replied congenially.
John grunted. Same here. If that completes the greeting portion of the conversation, we made it to our target with minimal disturbance. Are you ready to receive the data?
Is this the score we’d hoped for? the Admiral asked, choosing not to mention that John’s start to a conversation was just as abrupt as Bethany Anne's these days.
John grinned, although Admiral Thomas couldn’t see it. How does a room full of servers ripe for the copying sound?
Sounds damn good, John, Admiral Thomas replied, instantly forgetting his grumpiness. I won’t lie. Any clue about what you have there?
None whatsoever, Akio told him, passing John an open case containing a toolkit and a number of small black disks, each no bigger than half a fingernail.
John ignored the toolkit and pried apart the computer casing with his bare hands. He treated the tiny disk with much more care, inserting it carefully into the computer’s inner workings before he spoke again. ADAM’s device is inside the computer. Are you ready to receive?
Admiral Thomas sounded like a kid on Christmas morning. Hit me.
Former Ooken Territory, SD Atalanta, Admiral’s Office
Admiral Thomas stood in front of the war board, his eyes skipping from feed to feed. There was action across the board, enough that he was hard-pressed to keep up with everything that was happening on the Ooken worlds.
They owned everything between QT2 and location three, but the word had gotten out and the Ooken were beginning to fight back.
Of course, it was too little, too late. The Ooken had signed their death warrants the very first time they committed a heinous act in the name of their advancement.
It had just taken this long for someone strong enough to come along and enforce it, and Bethany Anne wasn’t one to fuck around.
Both minor locations had been taken care of. John and Akio had hit the jackpot at their second target. Now they were headed over to give Gabrielle and Eric support, and the superdreadnoughts had Gated in and begun the bombardment of the colony as they were leaving.
Early progress was looking good, despite the setback Bethany Anne and Michael had with the Leath. He was glad about the progress since the unfolding intelligence was revealing the bigger picture to be more complex with every new report he received.
The information pouring in from the teams was at once revealing and horrifying. It wasn’t just technology the Ooken had stolen. The third location and the surrounding area of space had originally belonged to another species, the Moen.
This species were so damned submissive the Ooken had, in essence, showed up on their doorstep one day demanding to be served, and the Moen had rolled over to show their bellies and thanked their new overlords for the privilege.
Definitely not a typical human response.
Scott and Eve had sent this in from the first place they’d hit at location three. The issues the scout ship EIs had come up against were no obstacle to Eve. They had uploaded from two locations so far.
Admiral Thomas was waiting to hear that they’d reached the other information repository the largest colony possessed.
He didn’t need to speak to Bethany Anne to know how she was going to react to what they’d learned once she checked in.
He sighed aloud. “You are dead bastards. You just need to get with the program.”
Location Seven, QBS Izanami
Bethany Anne waited on the bridge while Izanami brought the ship in relatively close to Loralei’s locator beacon and messaged the EI. She had her couch in the upright position and her eyes on the screen with a live feed to the ship bay Loralei was headed toward.
The scout ship slid silently through the translucent barrier. “Give me audio to the bay, Izanami.” She paused a beat for Izanami to comply.
“Good job, Loralei. Where have they taken our kidnapped Leath?”
Loralei’s ship came to a soft stop. “I’ve already sent my logs to Izanami, my Queen. She reminded me there are, and I quote, ‘children on board who don’t need to hear my dirty mouth.’”
Bethany Anne smirked. “My children are not here right now, Loralei. Go ahead, but keep it short and sweet.”
“Okay, then.” The EI laid it out in the simplest terms. “Izanami told me to go after the Leath ship, so I followed them through the Gate. The Ooken didn’t catch me, so I kept on after them. They took the Leath ship to the coordinates I gave Izanami. That’s all I know, because there are three of those huge fucking ships guarding the colony, so I hid my ass and waited for you to send someone for me.”
Bethany Anne wasn’t worried. Izanami could get in and out without being detected. The question was, could she and Michael do the same? She was definitely making the children remain aboard this time.
Her fingers began tapping as she considered her options. “Well, fuck. This is a complication I hadn’t counted on.”
Michael stepped out of the elevator just as she spoke. “What complication?”
Bethany Anne turned in her seat. “Three Ooken dreadnoughts between the Leath we came here to liberate and us. Not a problem.”
“Of course not.” Michael smiled warmly as he took his couch. “Our dreadnoughts are much bigger than their dreadnoughts.”
“This is not a size comparison,” Izanami retorted. “You can have a heavy hitter in a small ship.”
Michael snorted. “Check your databanks. It is ALWAYS about size.”
Chapter Eighteen
Devon, QBBS Guardian, Station Commander’s Office
“Tim, are you listening?”
Tim snapped out of his daydream and focused on the holoscreen. “Sorry, babe, you just got me thinking for a moment then.” Sabine gave him the Look—the one that made him squirm in his seat. “Babe, can you not look so mad? It’s not helping.”
Sabine sighed, and her cute frown vanished. “As if I could be mad at you for long. Did you hear what I said?”
The Kurtherian Endgame Boxed Set Page 89