They exited the event horizon and dropped out of sight before he could see a single bleeding skull badge painted on the sides of the ships.
The rest of the merc companies were close behind, mixing with each other in their hurry to be next to cross. Tim chuckled, wondering how Lai-pen had gotten the Skull-Fuckers ahead of the pack.
He fired off a message to the Victory in Death inviting them over to the Guardian to celebrate after the battle and got back to monitoring the overview.
Scanning through, Tim decided that CEREBRO needed a freaking medal or whatever upgrade they wanted after this battle was done. Every report he read had a mention of the EI group in there, assisting the efforts and saving the lives of his people.
CEREBRO, you’re all doing a great job out there.
Commander? the EIs inquired.
I don’t know if EIs need to hear that kind of thing, but you’re invaluable. Our asses would be so far in the air right now without you all. His eyes flickered as he scanned through the report for the Lucky Run and moved on to the next—which was unavailable. Shit…where has the Achronyx gotten to?
Over by the largest Ooken Gate with a number of us, CEREBRO replied. They sounded somewhat thinner than usual. We are attempting to get readings from the other side of the Ooken Gate.
CEREBRO, are you good? Tim inquired. You sound like you’re missing some of yourselves.
We are optimal, thank you, Commander. We are just spread far and wide at the present time.
Tim shrugged. The EIs knew better than he did. What’s this with Tabitha and Achronyx?
Tabitha cut in. It’s time-sensitive, and you’re hogging CEREBRO’s bandwidth. Can you chat later, when we’ve gotten at least one freaking drone through this Gate intact?
Sure, Tim replied, but they were already gone.
In the lee of the Gate, Tabitha stamped a foot as the drone configuration failed to fail—again. “Fuck it five ways to Friday! Why can’t we replicate one simple error?”
Achronyx sounded equally frustrated. “Because we can’t replicate it without knowing the exact reason the drone went rogue in the first place. If just one sensor had remained functional, I would know what caused the drone to malfunction and we could create that malfunction in the rest of them.”
Tabitha kicked the drone. “Instead of digging around in the guts of this thing.”
“Oh.”
Tabitha looked up at the surprised tone in Achronyx’ voice. “What is it?”
“Could you kick the drone again, same place, same strength.”
Tabitha shrugged. “Sure.” This time her boot left a small dent in the drone’s shell.
“Interesting…”
Tabitha growled in frustration. “C’mon, just tell me, already!”
“Well,” Achronyx dragged it out just to annoy her, “it looks like an impact on launch may have been responsible for the malfunction.”
“You mean I’ve been sweating all this for nothing?”
Achronyx made a noise of uncertainty. “If you could just wait while I have another drone brought up…”
Tabitha was about to tell Achronyx exactly where he could stick his drone when Bethany Anne's voice reverberated through the ship. “Tabithaaaa. Where are youuuuu?”
“Oh, dear,” Achronyx muttered.
Tabitha narrowed her eyes. “What now, Achronyx?”
“Um, Bethany Anne might have tried to contact you a couple of times while we were working.”
Tabitha’s heart sank. “How many times? Like one or two?”
“Sure, one or two…”
Tabitha made a sympathetic face. “You do know I can tell when you’re lying, right? Bethany Anne might not kill me, but I’d start making final arrangements if I were you.”
She got to her feet and headed for the bridge at a brisk jog, taking a moment to kick Achronyx’ drone as the antigrav pallet carrying it passed her. “Here, finish your testing. If you have something good to tell Bethany Anne when I throw you under the bus, she might not pull your plug.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Devon, QBBS Guardian
Michael nodded and patted Hk’lhrr’s arm briefly. “I appreciate this. Just get them within hailing distance of the Leath homeworld.”
The Leath Marine nodded. “Of course, sir. Do you want me to be there when they wake?”
Michael shook his head. “I want you to be long gone by then. There is to be nothing that leads them back to this part of space.” He raised a finger. “And I’ll need you to confirm your success.”
Hk’lhrr nodded again. “I’ll send my report as soon as the assignment is complete, sir.”
Michael gestured for Alexis, Gabriel, and K’aia to follow him and they left the hangar.
Gabriel had retreated into his usual observant mode. “What are we doing here, Dad?”
Michael paused at an intersection to check the location designation stenciled on the wall, then took a decisive left. “Your mother and I agree that the best place for the three of you until the battle is over is the Hexagon.”
Gabriel regarded the faint line in his father’s forehead. “Wouldn’t you rather be out there fighting?”
“No.” Michael lifted a shoulder. “Your mother and Aunt Tabitha have everything in hand.”
Alexis gave Gabriel a nudge. “He means that they went out for a girls’ night and he got stuck looking after us.”
“I meant,” Michael corrected sternly, “exactly what I said. It is not necessary for me to be by your mother’s side every minute, and neither is it conducive to her focus to be worried about your safety. Besides, a fight is what you make of it, and there are two overly chatty children in need of some instruction right here who require my attention.”
Michael turned and narrowed his eyes at K’aia when the young Yollin snickered. “My apologies. Three.”
Rickie scrolled down the checklist on his datapad. “Damn, that’s a lot of people. Where the fuck am I supposed to put them all?”
“There are always the orientation lounges,” CEREBRO suggested.
Rickie almost missed his turn. “CEREBRO, you’re a freaking grade-A genius.” He grimaced. “Even so, is that enough space for them all?”
“The lounges can hold sixty thousand comfortably,” CEREBRO reminded Rickie. “They were originally intended as temporary accommodations for colonists.”
Rickie nodded and looked down at his datapad again. “Okay, then. Next…clothing and food for the people who aren’t being taken straight to medical.”
He located the site for kitchen orders, but it was unavailable because the staff was out at the Interdiction.
“Oh, shit. C’mon, Rickie, think…”
Inspiration hit. He’d noticed people regularly using one catering company around the station. Maybe they could help? A quick call confirmed that they would be able to provide a team for each orientation lounge.
Rickie grinned to himself as he headed over to Requisitions to see what they had in the way of warm blankets and other basic necessities. “Rickie, you might not suck at management after all.”
Devon, Interdiction, QBS Achronyx
Tabitha grabbed the doorframe to steady herself as she made the turn onto the bridge at breakneck speed. “I’m here!”
Bethany Anne looked at her from the viewscreen, her face stern and unmoving. “You’re not dead, then.”
Tabitha grinned and dropped into the captain’s chair. “No, but I can offer up Achronyx as a sacrifice to appease your anger if you’d like?” She put her feet up, ignoring the look she received. “Since it was him who blocked you.”
“I did nothing of the sort!” Achronyx protested over the speakers. “I blocked all external inputs so you could process working with so much of CEREBRO.”
“Here, watch this.” She forwarded the video of Achronyx’s modified drones.
Bethany Anne’s eyes moved rapidly, a smile creeping onto her face as explosions tore the Ooken destroyers to shreds.
Beth
any Anne raised an eyebrow once it was done. “Nice!”
Tabitha stood up and shimmied victoriously “I know, right? CEREBRO provided the drones, and Achronyx and I—”
“Um…”
Tabitha rolled her eyes. “Fine, Achronyx figured out what to do with the Etheric charges.”
Bethany Anne chuckled. “Well, in that case, I’m not as annoyed with you, Achronyx.”
“Which I appreciate immensely, my Queen,” Achronyx replied gravely.
Tabitha dropped back into her chair. “I knew you’d understand. What was so important you had ADAM hack my ship?”
Bethany Anne waved a hand. “Oh, just that we’re almost home. We’ll be docking at the Guardian in two jumps.”
Tabitha’s head snapped up. “Really?” A grin appeared on her face at the same time an idea popped into her mind. “You’re planning on coming out here?”
Bethany Anne looked at her skeptically. “Yes. Why do you have that crazy look on your face, Tabitha?”
Tabitha couldn’t see her own face, but judging by the tightness in her jaw and the angle of Bethany Anne's eyebrow, she thought she could probably give the Cheshire Cat a run for its money at that moment. “Oh, you need to get here soonest. We’ve come up with a way to get a look at what we think is the homeworld, and you don’t want to miss it.”
A satisfied smile touched Bethany Anne's lips. “That’s my girl.”
Devon, Interdiction, QBS Izanami, Bridge
Bethany Anne leaned forward, hands on the console, as the Izanami Gated into the midst of the battle. “Where’s the Achronyx?”
There was a massive explosion of Etheric energy off in the distance.
Bethany Anne reached out with her mind to discern the source. “Never mind, I’ve found them. Take us over there, Izanami.”
Izanami’s eyes blazed like rubies in the snow. “Of course, my Queen.” The AI’s aura glitched shades of red that pooled around her feet, flowing behind her in pixelated bloody-looking contrails as she glided around the bridge.
Bethany Anne read the fleet reports as Izanami guided the ship across the battlefield. She fired off a message to Tim to tell him she would discuss his decision to allow the general citizenry of Devon to participate.
Izanami appeared beside Bethany Anne. “We are at the Achronyx’s location, my Queen.”
Bethany Anne stepped through the Etheric to the Achronyx, exiting in the bay where she sensed Tabitha’s presence. She gazed down from the walkway above the bay as Tabitha laid a boot into one of the drones she had lined up in rows.
Bethany Anne watched, confused, as Tabitha paused a moment before moving to the next drone and kicking that one, too. She walked over to the railing and inspected the damage to the drone directly beneath her. “What did they do to you?”
Tabitha looked up from the drone when Bethany Anne called to her. “Cool, you’re here!” She made her way over. “I’m damaging them for a reason.”
Bethany Anne's leaned over the railing, her curiosity getting the better of her. “I’ll bite. What’s the deal?”
Tabitha hopped onto the nose of the drone Bethany Anne had been looking at, then jumped to grab the railing and swung herself over with ease. “Did you notice the Gate in the video I sent?”
Bethany Anne nodded. “I did. Was there something special about it other than the size?”
Tabitha shrugged and leaned against the railing. “That’s the thing—we don’t know. All our efforts so far to get a look at the other side have failed. Whatever we sent through got destroyed the second it crossed, and now the Ooken are bunched up around the Gate like hemorrhoids so we can’t get near it. ”
Bethany Anne pursed her lips, making the decision. “I can get us there. The Ooken can’t detect the Izanami.” She waved a hand at the floor below. “Pack up. We’re going to pay them a return visit.”
Tabitha wiggled her eyebrows. “I was really hoping you would say that.” She vaulted the rail, already conferring with Achronyx on the logistics.
Bethany Anne went back to the Izanami to wait for Tabitha, heading straight for the armory to exchange the light armor she was currently wearing for full battle gear.
The case containing her heavy battle armor opened as Bethany Anne entered the armory. No simple crate for this set, it was housed in an unbreakable glass cabinet with the Jean Dukes logo handpainted on the doors above Bethany Anne's Queen Bitch badge.
A small chuckle escaped her lips when she realized that even TOM and ADAM were absent for the moment. It was a rare thing to be alone long enough to contemplate.
“I guess there’s nobody around to think I’m crazy if I talk to myself.” She trailed her fingers over the rack of under armor suits, grabbing the one she wanted before crossing the room to get space to change into it.
Then came the fight to get out of the light armor. “Can I just get a happy medium when it comes to my armor?” she bitched, tugging at the skintight nano-infused fabric until it peeled away from her back with a snap. “Something comfortable that I can wear while I’m in the Etheric and not have to worry about healing bullet holes when I walk out?”
She extracted her legs and dropped the stiff suit on the floor, then retrieved the under armor suit and slipped a foot into the soft material.
The armor unfurled from the center outward when she was five steps away from the case. “The only thing that would make this beauty better was if it had heels built in.”
Bethany Anne smirked at the thought and raised her arms slightly as she walked up the two steps to enter the cabinet.
She turned to face the room as she took the final step backward into the embrace of Jean’s best work yet. The armor assembled itself around her body from her feet up, each section locking seamlessly into the next until she was completely protected from neck to toes.
She hummed as she stepped down, flexing her hands inside the gauntlets. They made the connection to the Etheric and a tingle raced over her bare skin. Keeping it simple, she selected her faithful katanas and her Jean Dukes specials.
If she couldn’t beat the Ooken with her swords, her guns, and her brain…
Bethany Anne laughed. “I can’t even continue that thought. It’s too ridiculous.” She left the armory and set off for the bridge.
Tabitha came aboard while Bethany Anne was finishing the review of CEREBRO’s logs pertaining to the attempts. She flounced out of the elevator and over to the larger couch, where she flopped down on her stomach and rested her chin on her hands. “Are we good to go?”
Bethany Anne shrugged. “Near as I can tell. Izanami, is our way home secure?”
Izanami appeared at Bethany Anne's side in a swirl of pixels. “As secure as a Gate jump can be,” the AI replied. “In short, yes.”
Bethany Anne waved her finger in a circle. “Then why are we not moving? Let’s go.”
Izanami dipped her head and vanished. The Ooken Gate came into view on the wraparound screens a few moments later.
Bethany Anne's eyes darted around, taking note of the various groups clustered around the Gate as the Izanami approached.
Ooken destroyers swarmed around the threshold. Their plasma weapons glowed brightly, warning off any ships that got too close. “They sure have enough of those destroyers. Didn’t you take a shit-ton of them out?”
“They just kept bringing more through the damned Gate,” Tabitha bitched. She untucked a hand from her chin and flapped it at the line the Ooken had made around the Gate. “This is how far we got with the Achronyx before they all swooped in like vultures.”
The Izanami passed the line without challenge.
Tabitha sighed heavily, then looked at Bethany Anne and shrugged. “I knew we were good, but it was still squeaky-ass time for a second while we tested it.”
Bethany Anne shook her head and turned back to regard the screen through narrowed eyes. “Izanami, take us through that Gate.”
Beyond the Gate, QBS Izanami, Bridge
Bethany Anne got her first look a
t the area beyond the Gate as the ship nosed over the threshold. The Izanami was a mere speck in comparison to the sprawling construction they’d arrived at.
She cursed softly, noting the heavy defenses on every flat surface. Patrol ships swept back and forth between the many active Gates scattered around the asymmetric arrangement of platforms that made up the staging post. “I guess we know why none of the drones made it through,” she commented as they passed unnoticed between two ships armed with turret guns.
Tabitha frowned as they surveyed the nine gigantic cubes that were linked in the Ooken manner by tunnels and scaffolding. “I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that this is not the homeworld.”
“You don't say!” Bethany Anne closed her eyes for a second, wrapping her hope up tightly to save it for another day. She opened them again and turned to Tabitha. “It’s not all bad news. I think we are in a position to deal the Ooken some real hurt. Look closely… Those Gates are going to other places than Devon. This is an important location for them.”
Tabitha’s face contorted when she connected Bethany Anne's words to the steady flow of inbound ships from the surrounding Gates. “Greedy fucking assholes. Is that their only motivation for all this? Stripping every world they come to for every resource it has?”
Bethany Anne nodded calmly, her outward serenity a sharp contrast to the tumultuous anger boiling within. “Yes, but not for long. Did you bring enough of those drones to make a scene?”
Tabitha gave Bethany Anne a shark-like grin, the maniacal glint back in her eyes. “Oh, hells yes. Where do you want to start?”
Bethany Anne glanced at the screen and pressed her lips together in thought. “Hmmm. Good question. Izanami, can you poke around in their systems without them figuring out that we’re here?”
Izanami floated across to Bethany Anne, a hint of darkness rippling through her aura. “I already have, and I’ve identified several areas of interest.”
A holomap overlaid the live feed and a colored marker appeared on one cube that was slightly offset from the center of the staging post. “This area, however, was the one that caught my attention first.”
The Kurtherian Endgame Boxed Set Page 95