Bethany Anne looked over at the AI. “Why?”
Izanami glitched out, reappearing on the other side of the map in a burst of pixels. “It is covered by the same type of shielding we encountered over the first colony.”
Bethany Anne pressed her lips together. “Okay. That’s not entirely unexpected. What have they got going on here that we can see? Give me everything you've identified.”
Tabitha walked around the map, selecting the different-colored markers that popped up all over the map. “They're pretty organized. So, Izanami, the blue markers away from the shielded area are the manufacturing sites?”
“They are,” the AI confirmed.
Bethany Anne raised an eyebrow. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“That depends,” Tabitha replied offhandedly. “Are you thinking about blowing the shit out of this place?”
Bethany Anne nodded somberly. “That’s pretty much the plan.”
Izanami vanished again as the ship neared the shielded area. Her voice came from the speaker in the headrest of Bethany Anne's couch as a small drawer in her console slid open. “Take this with you, my Queen. It will disable the shielding, and I left a little gift of my own in there for the Ooken.”
Bethany Anne picked up the tiny translucent cube within and held it to the light to examine the ripple of the Etheric energy inside. “Pretty. How does it work?”
“Just press it to the shield generator. It will do all the heavy lifting for you,” Izanami informed her.
The corners of Bethany Anne's mouth turned up as she stashed the cube in one of her armor’s compartments. “Handy thing to have.”
ADAM spoke up. >>It can do much more than that with a little bit of tweaking.<<
You have a considerable amount of training ahead of you before you get to even think about touching the Etheric again, Bethany Anne told him firmly. Still, good to know. She filed the information away for later use and turned to Tabitha. “Ready?”
Tabitha grinned, hooking an arm through the sling of her rifle. “You bet your ass I am.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Beyond The Gate, Staging Post, QBS Izanami
Bethany Anne and Tabitha stood at the open drop door in the cargo bay while Izanami brought the ship in to hover above an access hatch near the shielded section of the central cube.
Bethany Anne leaned out to line up the hatch, holding the overhead strap for balance. “Make sure you don’t fuck the landing.”
Tabitha narrowed her eyes and made the jump. “I do not ‘fuck landings,’” she protested hotly as Bethany Anne landed beside her. “Sometimes they just get away from me, is all.”
Bethany Anne snickered as she bent to tear the hatch free. “Oookay, sure.” She checked her mental image of Izanami’s map and stepped inside the hatch onto the ladder. “This goes down a ways. We leave this shaft three exits down and then work our way across to the shielded section.”
Tabitha climbed into the hatch after Bethany Anne. “What do you think we’re going to find?”
Bethany Anne peered into the first exit as she passed it. “I couldn’t even begin to guess. Whatever it is, it was valuable enough to the Ooken to put all that shielding on it, so it must be worth blowing up.”
She passed the second exit, which was as empty as the first. Tabitha was quiet—for Tabitha, at least. “You okay?”
Tabitha made a noncommittal sound, not wanting to raise the subject with her. “I’m good.”
Bethany Anne sensed Tabitha’s reluctance to talk. She took the rungs a little bit faster, seeing their exit. “Nice try. What’s eating you? You know you can tell me if you aren’t happy on Devon.” She stepped into the horizontal shaft and waited for Tabitha to join her.
“Are you kidding?” Tabitha caught up a moment later and fell into step behind Bethany Anne, and the two women made their way deeper into the cube. “I love Devon. High Tortuga has gotten so stuffy that you can’t even find a decent bar fight there anymore.”
Bethany Anne frowned, checking their route again before taking the right turn at an intersection that led them into a wide corridor. “You and Peter are okay? Todd’s health is good, or you would have told me about it.”
“It’s nothing like that.” Tabitha shrugged. “There’s no point anyway. You made your decision about Nickie, I know you won’t budge on bringing her home.”
Bethany Anne raised an eyebrow. “Damn straight. Seven years is seven years, and I’ll be honest and say I’m not expecting much change when that time is up—not based on the reports I’ve been getting.”
“You too?” Tabitha’s voice wavered. “I hate that she’s out there alone, Bethany Anne. You just don’t know her like I do. She needs someone to believe in her, or my worst fear might just come true, and the next time I see her will be when her body is returned to us.”
Bethany Anne pushed Tabitha into the shadow of a recess before they turned into another corridor. Wait a moment—I’m sensing Ooken nearby. What do you want me to do about Nickie? she asked. Even if I wanted to let her come home early—which I’m not inclined to do at this point—how does that teach her anything?
Tabitha pressed herself against the wall. It doesn’t. All I’m asking is that you allow me to send someone to watch her back and give her a nudge in the right direction.
The Ooken got within smelling distance. Bethany Anne guessed they were about to turn onto the corridor she and Tabitha were in.
Bethany Anne looked hard at Tabitha. We will discuss this when we’re back on the right side of the Gate.
Thank you. Tabitha nodded toward the two Ooken. Which one do you want?
Neither. I’m really sick of sneaking around, but if we kill one, they ALL come running.
Oh. Yeah. Tabitha pouted. I’ve got to say, this deviation from your usual in-your-face badassery is not your best look.
I know, right? Bethany Anne grimaced. But what else can I do? It’s a different challenge completely when the enemy is telepathic.
Tabitha felt her best friend’s turmoil. Don’t stress it. Something will come along that tips the balance completely in our favor.
You’re right. Bethany Anne grabbed Tabitha’s hand and pulled her along the corridor. But when have I ever waited for serendipity to drop the solution into my lap when I can tip the scale myself? Now, run.
Bethany Anne and Tabitha blurred around the corner, moving too fast for the Ooken they passed to realize something had just blasted by and sprinted down the corridors at full speed.
They slowed upon reaching the shield, which covered the turn into a much wider, brightly lit corridor.
“Over here,” Tabitha called, indicating the hidden access panel she’d found farther along the wall. “It will only take a minute to open.”
Bethany Anne walked over and put her fist through the panel, ripping it off as she removed her hand. “Not even half a second if you do it my way.” She took Izanami’s cube from the compartment in her armor she’d put it in for safekeeping, made a space to push it through the ropes of wires inside the wall, and pressed it to the inner workings.
The cube glowed, then melted into the circuit board. A few seconds later, Bethany Anne had access to the Ooken mainframe.
“Did it work?” Tabitha asked.
Bethany Anne nodded slowly, then shook her head when nothing happened with the shielding. “Yeah…no.” She fixed Tabitha with a sparkling smile. “I don’t speak Ooken, which makes me doubly glad I brought tech support along for the trip. Oh, and TOM. ”
>>Hey,<< ADAM complained. >>What about me?<<
You’re grounded. Indefinitely.
>> Whatever.<< ADAM huffed and went silent again.
I don’t know why, TOM piped up, but somehow the Mom voice is worse than the Empress voice.
Bethany Anne rolled her eyes. Can we just focus, please? It’s like trying to think with a bunch of damned squirrels arguing in my head.
It’s about to get a little bit more unpleasant, TOM told her apo
logetically. I have to make you speak Ooken.
So? She waved off his concern. We’ve done that almost too many times.
Not with a psionic language. I suggest you brace yourself. This is going to hurt.
Bethany Anne considered why she wasn’t more surprised by that information. “I don’t give a shit if it hurts as long as it works.”
Tabitha looked at her with concern. “If what hurts?”
“Speaking Ooken,” Bethany Anne told her quickly. “Okay, just get it over with. It can’t be worse than the headache you caused fucking around with ADAM’s chip.”
Frankly, yes it can. There’s no point in sugarcoating it. I have to overstimulate a part of your brain that humans don’t normally use in this way.
Sudden pressure behind her eyes almost made her scream. Bethany Anne pressed a hand to her eyes, staggering from the intensity of the pain. FUCK! It wasn’t a damned challenge, TOM!
I’m sorry! Almost done.
The shield across the corridor disappeared.
Bethany Anne gritted her teeth and waited. The pressure behind her eyes vanished as suddenly as it had occurred. “Dammit, TOM.”
Tabitha was by her side in the next moment. “You okay?” she asked, her brow furrowed with concern. “It looked like you were going to faint or something.”
Bethany Anne shook off the residual pain. “I’m fine. Let’s go.” She drew her katanas and headed for the now-unrestricted corridor.
Beyond the Gate, Staging Post, Shielded Area
The corridor led Bethany Anne and Tabitha to an imposing set of doors, which Bethany Anne opened with a generous application of her boot.
The two women strode in with their weapons raised—straight into the waiting tentacles of several Ooken guards. There wasn’t even time to admire the huge tank that took up most of the room.
Tabitha ducked out from under the reaching tentacles and tossed a tiny drone into its snapping beak.
The Ooken stepped back, clutching its throat where the drone had stuck.
Tabitha winced when she realized exactly which drone she’d thrown. Bethany Anne?
Bethany Anne turned from the corpse of the guard she’d dispatched as the head of Tabitha’s guard exploded. Really?
Tabitha winced as Bethany Anne wiped a hand down her face to remove the brain splatter. Um, duck?
Bethany Anne narrowed her eyes.
Tabitha made herself busy to avoid the glare. How long do we have?
Bethany Anne flicked her hand to remove the goop. Ten, fifteen minutes maybe until every Ooken here comes baying for our blood.
Tabitha looked around. Then we should start searching for whatever it is they’re hiding before we have to leave everything behind.
Bethany Anne pointed behind Tabitha at the tank, gaping in amazement. They’re not hiding anything.
Tabitha turned her head from one side to the other, trying to understand the dimensions of the creature before her. “Are you a squid? You look a bit like a squid.”
The not-a-squid threw back its tentacles, revealing a familiar-looking beak.
Bethany Anne sensed more to the beast than the animal instinct it was showing them. “I think it might be Ooken, too, without the ‘ook’ part.”
You are correct, TOM cut in. It seems that this is what the Ooken were before they were altered.
By the Kurtherians.
Yes, Bethany Anne, by the Kurtherians. I believe it wishes to communicate with us.
Bethany Anne regarded the creature with a mixture of suspicion and curiosity. But it’s an Ooken. They don’t communicate, just attack.
She glanced at Tabitha. “Apparently, TOM and I are going to attempt a conversation with this creature.”
Tabitha shrugged. “I’ve seen weirder things happen. I’ll keep watch.”
TOM established the mental link between him and Bethany Anne and the creature.
We are the Collective, it began. And we wish for death.
Bethany Anne snorted. I figured that out from the way I keep killing you and you all keep turning up on my doorstep again.
The creature thrashed as though it were in pain. They are the Chosen. We are not the Chosen. We are alone.
TOM made a sound of sympathy. Bethany Anne, this being is separate from the hive mind.
We hate the Chosen. We wish them to die. We will help you.
Bethany Anne grinned at the mass of writhing tentacles inside the tank. Well, shit, I guess that makes us friends. What can you tell me that will help?
Everything.
She was hit by a flood containing the sum of knowledge of the mind inside the tank. TOM, are you getting all this?
TOM’s voice was tight. It wasn’t exaggerating. This is a whole lot of data, much of it random. It’s going to take ADAM and me some time to turn it into something you can use.
That’s fine. I can wait until we get back to Devon.
How generous of you.
Bethany Anne shrugged. Actually, you’re right. You can get started now, and I’ll hear it on the way home. She looked back at the solitary creature in the tank. Are you sure you don’t want to come back with us?
The creature was gone in a flash of tentacles. Destroy this place. We will die happy.
Bethany Anne went to find Tabitha.
Tabitha almost ran into Bethany Anne, returning from the corridor just as Bethany Anne left the tank room. “Yeah, um…we should probably get going. I think I just pissed them off more than they already were.”
Bethany Anne didn’t need to try to hear the Ooken’s minds; they were everywhere. Hundreds of Ooken spilled into the corridor, all screeching for blood.
“This way.” Bethany Anne opened a link to the ship as she and Tabitha raced in the opposite direction to avoid being overrun. Izanami, we’re ready for pickup.
The AI replied immediately. The ship awaits, my Queen.
Tabitha fired into the mass as Bethany Anne grabbed her and pulled them both into the Etheric. She dropped onto her ass when they emerged on the bridge of the Izanami, panting heavily around gales of laughter. “That was the craziest shit we’ve done in forever!”
Bethany Anne walked over to the screens and stared at the staging post as the ship moved toward the Gate. “I think we’re far enough away, Izanami. Activate the drones.”
Izanami appeared, dressed all in black. “Of course, my Queen.”
Bethany Anne grasped the Etheric and poured more energy into the drones as they sped away.
“Are you giving them more power?” Tabitha asked in awe. “After seeing what they do without a boost?”
Bethany Anne nodded, her face set in hard lines. “I want to be sure the creature who helped us does not suffer—and that every other Ooken aboard those cubes does.”
A few moments later, dozens of explosions lit the staging post as the drones detonated. The cubes were shredded by the Etheric energy hitting them from all sides.
The whole structure collapsed. Slowly at first, then all at once.
Bethany Anne saw a Gate snap shut near the one back to Devon. “Izanami, take us home.”
Izanami inclined her head. “If you would give me a moment to deliver my blow to this place?”
Bethany Anne smiled. “Go for it, Izanami.”
The AI bowed her head, and the tiny flaws in her avatar ceased to flicker in the air around her for a moment. “It is done.”
Tabitha clutched her hands in front of her chest as a fresh wave of explosions ripped through the remains of the staging post. “I always forget how awesome fireworks are until we do something like this.”
Bethany Anne grinned. “Let’s go home, Tabitha.”
Devon, First City, The Hexagon
“I want to see my boys!” Tabitha barged past Bethany Anne and Michael and ran over to where Peter stood waiting for her with Todd.
Bethany Anne grinned at Michael as Tabitha stormed down the ramp at high speed. “Did you ever think she would settle down like that?”
Michael
shrugged. “I had those two pegged the first time I saw them together.”
“MOOOOOM!”
Bethany Anne spun at the combined yells of Alexis and Gabriel. She got her arms out in time but was still almost knocked on her ass by the force of her children throwing their arms around her.
Alexis buried her face in Bethany Anne's shoulder, scolding her mother even as she clung to her. “Mom, we were so worried when you dropped off like that.”
Gabriel gripped her in a vice-like hug. “If it wasn’t for ADAM, we would have come after you.”
Bethany Anne understood her children’s concerns. “Heeeey,” she soothed. “It’s all good. I’m home.”
Alexis and Gabriel looked up at her with identical expressions. “We know you’re home,” they mumbled in unison, reverting to ritual as their emotion ran over.
Bethany Anne held her children close, kissing their heads one at a time. “I know you know,” she finished softly.
Michael completed the circle, wrapping his arms around the children while he touched his forehead to Bethany Anne's. “Everyone else is waiting in the conference room for the debrief, and our children have a shuttle to catch.”
Bethany Anne took a second to breathe him in, groaning at the thought of dragging her tired ass to a meeting when all she wanted was a duvet and a soft pillow. “A shuttle?”
Gabriel ducked out of his parents’ embrace. “To the Guardian. We are taking a shift helping out in the orientation lounges,” he told her. “Dad said it would be character-building, but we were going to volunteer anyway, so it all works out.”
Alexis squeezed her mother tighter for a second before letting go. “We should go or we’ll be late.”
Bethany Anne watched her children leave, then turned to Michael. “Let’s get this done so we can go home.”
“Home?” he asked as they set off for the meeting room.
Bethany Anne closed her eyes as the temptation to move the debrief to the morning flickered through her mind. “Mmhmm, which right now means wherever there is a bed I can get into and not emerge from for at least eight hours.”
The Kurtherian Endgame Boxed Set Page 96