The Valkyrie Returns (The Kurtherian Endgame Book 7)

by Michael Anderle

Bethany Anne considered all the information. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to have another ship come here. You’re going to find me somewhere suitable to set up base on the colony. I have a sneaking suspicion I know exactly who is behind all of this, and I don’t intend to let the slippery fuckers get away with another raid.”

  The next day, not one, but three ships Gated into the system.

  “What the shiny fuck is that?” Bethany Anne almost choked on her Coke as they watched the Penitent Granddaughter slide into place between the ArchAngel and the G’laxix Sphaea on the viewscreen in Slater’s office. “Please tell me that hunk of rust isn’t the ship Nickie has been running my logistics network from?”

  Tabitha gave the old Skaine battleship an unconcerned glance. “Oh, yeah. But don’t stress it. The ship was completely overhauled by Jean. It has all the capabilities of a QBS, plus the Skaine weaponry was tweaked to give her the advantage over any pirates she runs across on the transport routes.”

  Bethany Anne’s lip curled as the ship made from odd angles and bulging holds grew larger on the screen. “But it’s so ugly!” She looked at Tabitha while pointing at the screen. “How does she look at that ship and not puke?”

  Slater made a sound of disapproval. “Skaine ships are built to cause destruction, not to win beauty contests.” His forehead creased as a thought occurred. “I have heard of the Grimes-who-would-be-a-Ranger. She was instrumental in making the Federation’s borders a no-go area for any Skaines who were foolish enough to get in her way.”

  John flashed a grin at the Skaine. “Yeah. I’m very proud of my granddaughter. She’s really stepped up and lived up to the family name these last few years.”

  Slater wisely kept his mouth shut, having a bone-deep feeling that criticizing the theft of the ship would end in those very bones getting broken by the Grimes nobody wanted to fuck with.

  Bethany Anne snickered softly. Her own opinion on the youngest Grimes had shifted radically since Nickie had decided to quit whining and embrace her destiny as a protector. “My people will be arriving shortly. This won’t take long to resolve.”

  Dan, Kael-ven, and Kiel arrived just ahead of Nickie and Grim.

  Kael-ven blustered into the meeting room, taking in the Skaine overseer with a distrustful look before bowing his head minutely to Bethany Anne. “You command, I serve. But did you have to choose this location for your base?”

  Bethany Anne lifted a finger. “These are good Skaines, if you can get over the irony in that statement, and they need our help to stop their people from being stolen by whoever owns that Gate.”

  Kiel managed to keep his thoughts to himself for once. He did, however, exchange a wry glance with Tabitha.

  “Where’s Natalia?” Bethany Anne inquired when Dan’s right hand did not appear behind him.

  “She stayed aboard with Darryl,” he replied with a wink. “I disrupted her leave to rush over here, but I didn’t have the heart to drag her down to the colony when she and Darryl have been apart for so long.”

  Bethany Anne held up a hand. “Enough said. Do not desire TMI.”

  John brightened at the sight of his old pupil. “Grim’zee!”

  Grim, for his part, swelled with pleasure as he sidestepped Dan and Kiel to reach his hero. “Always good to see you, my friend.”

  John clapped the Yollin on the back with fervor. “I hope Nickie isn’t working you into the ground.”

  Grim cupped his mouth with a hand and dropped his voice to a stage whisper. “Mentally, yeah. But you know my stamina when it comes to dealing with fiery females.”

  Nickie snorted. “Yeah, that’s why you’re terminally single. Grim the lover loves his food too much to settle on one female for longer than it takes to eat dinner.”

  Grim gave her a mock-pained look and put his hand on his chest. “You see the abuse I have to deal with?” he asked John. “There’s just no respect for a Yollin of my age and experience. You’d think she would be grateful she’s not eaten cold food out of a can since I showed up, but no. She just takes her moods out on her closest friend.”

  Slater looked at the group in confusion as they all laughed at Grim’s good-natured grumbling.

  Bethany Anne met his stare and shrugged. “I guess humor is subjective.” She clapped to get everybody’s attention. “Take your seats, people. Let’s get this meeting underway, starting with an update on what the drones we left at the Gate have picked up so far.”

  Tabitha flourished a hand for effect, and the screens that wrapped the meeting room lit up with the drone data. “Nothing has crossed the Gate yet,” she informed them. “Now that we have Dan, Kael, and Nickie here, we should think about going over there and taking the fight to whoever is doing the kidnapping.”

  “We all fucking know it’s Gödel,” Nickie interrupted. She looked at the doubtful faces. “What? Which other llama-sniffing dictator could it be?”

  “I can’t argue. You’re probably right,” Bethany Anne conceded. “Okay, send one of the drones in to get a closer look. We’ll wait for the results before making a decision as to whether we go in or destroy the Gate outright. We all know the Seven have no access to the Bakas and will need to replace their genetic material with some from a species who likes to fight without thinking.”

  “Hey!” Slater protested.

  “You most definitely resemble that remark,” Tabitha deadpanned. “And you’re a hell of a lot less likely to fight back than say, the Shrillexians. I’d buy it. Hell, I’m surprised she didn’t just send someone to negotiate a price with you.”

  Slater’s eyes widened, and his mouth fell open. “I don’t believe it.”

  Bethany Anne fixed Slater with an icy stare. “You’re going to tell me that actually happened?”

  Slater nodded vigorously, looking at Bethany Anne with dawning horror in his eyes. “A mercenary company came through here recruiting a couple of months back. There were a few takers, mostly post-adolescents with too much testosterone and something to prove.” He eyed her, worry on his face. “You think there’s a connection?”

  Bethany Anne lifted her shoulder. “Don’t expect them to come home. It looks to me like you gave the Seven a free sample of your genetics, and they liked what they saw.” She shook her head and sighed. “I expected to have a little longer before we were faced with a new flavor of Ookens to contend with. Unfortunately for Gödel, we already know what the Skaines’ weaknesses are.”

  “What is an Ooken?” Slater asked, hardly daring to hear the answer.

  Bethany Anne thought for a moment before deciding to tell him. “The Seven’s answer to fighting at a distance. For the last few years, they’ve been creating them from three species of people who are now under my protection. Now that they have no access to one of the species, they’re looking to replace them so they can continue building the numbers to cause me a damned headache.”

  Nickie leaned back in her chair with a thoughtful expression on her face. “Yeah, but Skaines with nanocytes? That’s going to be uglier than a bag of smashed assholes.”

  “Nickie,” John cautioned. “Be helpful or be quiet.”

  Nickie pouted. “Whatever, Grandad. I’m with Aunt Tabbie. Let’s go blow up whatever’s on the other side of that Gate.”

  Slater closed his eyes and rubbed his temples with his fingers. “I hate to agree with a Ranger by any name, but they’re speaking sense.” He frowned as he tried and failed to process the bigger picture. “I cannot understand how we got caught up in this. We’re just a small colony.” He waved an agitated hand. “Nothing to do with the politics of the wider universe.”

  Kael-ven shook his head in sympathy. “Be glad. Everyone is aware of how my people were tricked into believing filthy Kurtherian lies for centuries until Bethany Anne came along. If any of your people are still alive, we’ll get them back.”

  Dan had been quiet throughout the conversation so far. Bethany Anne saw he had something formulating and turned her attention to Kael-ven. “What do
you think?” she asked. “You’ve been fighting the Ookens all over the Interdiction this last year.”

  Kael-ven considered the question a moment before replying. “If this is Gödel, we have to assume she has a factory on the other side of the Gate. That makes it our duty to cross the Gate and dismantle it.” He frowned. “After we rescue their prisoners, of course.”

  “That’s horrifying,” Kiel exclaimed. “The prisoners you and Michael rescued last time have all needed extensive therapy, along with Pod-doc time to heal the physical damage done by the Ookens using them in their experiments.”

  They’re not experimenting,” Bethany Anne reminded them. “They are building. The only purpose of those factories and the Ookens operating them is to produce more programmable soldiers.”

  “Meaning that there will be more than the missing Skaines in trouble,” Dan put in, concern creasing his features. “We can guarantee we’ll find at least one or two Collectives, and likely a number of Bl’kheths, plus whoever else they have captive. If that’s the case, the only option is to go in and take the whole operation down.”

  Bethany Anne nodded. “That’s my thinking as well.”

  Tabitha let out a surprised squeak. “I have an update. The drone has crossed the Gate.” She lifted a finger and the image on the wallscreens switched to show a rolling view of the other side. “Everyone agrees that looks like an Ooken factory, right?”

  Bethany Anne recognized the crystalline structure easily. A wave of anger caused her heart and stomach to contract. She stood and leaned on the table with her hands clenched into fists. “We’re going in.”

  Slater didn’t know what he was seeing onscreen, but the red light from Bethany Anne’s eyes stirred something in him that he’d never expected to feel—the urge to fight for whoever was trapped in that structure. “Wait for me,” he asked, getting to his feet.

  Bethany Anne narrowed her eyes as Slater crossed to a console embedded in the wall by the door.

  He pressed a button and spoke in a tone that brooked no protest. “This is your overseer. Every Skaine fit to fight will report for duty. We will be joining Empress Bethany Anne in her attack on the Kurtherians who have taken your sons and brothers. Do not falter. There will be a severe penalty for any able-bodied Skaine whose name does not appear on a ship roster in the next hour.”

  Slater dropped his hand, squeezing it tight to get control of the rage running through his veins. “These are my people who have been taken prisoner,” He looked at Bethany Anne. “And you say there will be others who are victims of this atrocity? We may have been slavers until we were educated, and we may be sore about the methods the Rangers used to teach us the lesson, but we are not heartless. We will not stand idly by while anyone, no matter their species, is subjected to torture.”

  Tabitha shot Slater a double-thumbs up. “You have come a long way from the miserable excuses for sentient life I had to kick into shape.”

  Nickie laced her hands behind her head. “Don’t count on it. These guys might be all friendly, but I can tell you right now that there are still plenty of cannibal scumbag Skaines around, too.”

  Bethany Anne shot Nickie a look that shut the youngest Grimes up and turned her attention to Tabitha. “I might give you shit, but you’ve done good, girl.”

  Tabitha slung an arm around Slater’s neck. “What can I say? Just call me the HR expert around these parts.”

  Nickie laughed, deep and throaty. “All that means is that you can polish something a bit…turd-like…if you’ve got the patience.”

  Tabitha shook her head and groaned.

  John rolled his eyes. “Trust you to say something to ruin the moment.”

  Bethany Anne ignored Nickie. “Let’s go.”

  23

  Kurtherian Space, QBS ArchAngel

  “Empress on board,” ArchAngel announced from every display when Bethany Anne boarded the ship.

  Bethany Anne headed down the corridor to the bridge with Dan at her side. Her heart swelled at the shining faces of the crew lining the corridor. She waved to the crewmembers she recognized and smiled warmly at the new faces in the impromptu receiving line.

  It was almost overwhelming to be back aboard the ArchAngel and see her restored to her former glory after so many years as a derelict. Bethany Anne had hated to leave her in the Straiphus System and had been beyond happy to have her retrieved and repaired.

  This ship held a special place in her heart as the one that most embodied her spirit.

  Her father’s idea to have Dan take ArchAngel out into the border systems as a lone point of defense against incursions had been a wise one, given that the Ookens were showing up out there more often since Bethany Anne had cut off Gödel’s access to the Bakas.

  Bethany Anne allowed the surge of memories to wash over her as she walked onto the bridge, captured by the reminder that so many of them had been created in times of victory dragged from the jaws of defeat.

  ArchAngel’s was the only face Bethany Anne saw when she entered the bridge.

  The AI filled the main viewscreen, backlit with a glow that spoke to Bethany Anne of pure joy. “Welcome back, Mother.”

  Tears welled in Bethany Anne’s eyes at the warm welcome. “Thank you, ArchAngel. For the welcome, and for everything you have done to protect the Federation in my absence. It’s good to see you, too.”

  ArchAngel returned a mirror image of Bethany Anne’s smile. “It pleases me to have you aboard my ship for this assault.” Her eyes flared red, and her fangs gleamed as she spoke. “I have longed for nothing more than for us to ride together into battle, Valkyries into the fire.”

  “You and I both.” Bethany Anne’s eyes blazed as she took her position in the captain’s chair. She leaned to the left as she crossed one leg over the other and rested her chin on her hand. “Give me the fleet. It’s time to begin.”

  ArchAngel opened communications to the Sayomi, the G’laxix Sphaea, the Penitent Granddaughter, and the fifty-seven Skaine ships that had joined them at Slater’s order. Her face shifted, becoming altogether more vampiric as she settled into bitch-AI-ready-for-war mode. “May I have the honors?” she asked.

  Bethany Anne waved a hand, giving ArchAngel a warm smile. “You are and have always been an extension of my will. Go ahead and give the order.”

  ArchAngel’s hair whipped in a wind that did not exist as she appeared on every screen across every ship in the fleet. “The only thing to fear today is being the enemy who is unfortunate enough to fall under our regard. Let the Kurtherians and their allies learn that to fuck with innocence earns a death sentence that will be carried out immediately—and without mercy.”

  Red light flared from her eyes, washing the space around her avatar the color of blood. She opened her arms and tilted her chin, flashing her fangs in a dazzling smile that sent chills down the spines of everyone watching. “Go forth and be victorious.”

  Bethany Anne got to her feet as ArchAngel withdrew from all but the main screen. “Perfect. I wish I could take you with me, ArchAngel, but I know you will be ready and waiting to blow the shit out of that atrocity the moment we have the prisoners safe.”

  She took a moment to be still and connect to the mindspace, looking for a certain mental signature. Finding what she was searching for was both a relief and a source of pain. “Fuckdammit,” she muttered.

  “What was that?” ArchAngel asked, catching an echo of the Collectives’ cry.

  “They are my allies,” Bethany Anne told her, emotion cracking her voice as the cry receded. “The Collectives, who I have sworn to set free and avenge. They are in pain, and I won’t fucking stand for it.” She opened a channel to Kael-ven. “Be ready for me to transfer the Collectives they have in there. I can’t tell how many there are or what state they’re in physically, but their minds are broken. I can only hope they respond well to the Conduit.”

  Kael-ven shook his head, his features hardening in a mixture of sympathy and anger on the Collectives’ behalf. “Of course
. I’m sure bringing the Conduit along was the right thing to do, but how will you get them to agree to the transfer if they are broken?”

  “I’m not going to ask their permission to move them,” Bethany Anne told him solemnly. “The Conduit’s presence will help, but I will have you Gate them to QT2 as soon as they are aboard. It’s likely you’ll have to increase shielding around the tank in case they react in distress.”

  Kael-ven nodded. “We had the hold reinforced with Dukes technology before the kelp and water were added,” he assured her. “It will take whatever they can dish out, and the Conduit has its own space to retreat to if it gets too violent in there, as you ordered.”

  “Good to know.” Bethany Anne dropped the link and pressed the button on her armor’s collar to activate her helmet before turning to Dan. “I’ll see you on the other side of this. Make sure anyone waiting in the transfer bay is not in the way of any large group I bring over.” She made to step into the Etheric, then paused as a thought hit her. “And no matter what, do not let any Bl’kheths loose aboard this ship. I won’t have them harmed in any way, but this ship is precious to me.”

  Dan repressed his mental image of the ArchAngel arriving at QT2 with more holes than a slice of swiss cheese in her hull. “That was your experience?” he asked somewhat uncertainly.

  Bethany Anne nodded. “Those guys are ninety percent aggression, ten percent logical thinking, and 10 percent hangry,” she told him. “Their keepers will have them too starved to fight back, so they will be wild and hungry.” She smiled. “And yes, I’m aware that is more than a hundred percent.”

  Dan nodded and leaned over his console for a moment. “I have the information on the Bl’kheths from ADAM. I’ll have Natalia prepare a good meal and suitable quarters for them.”

  Bethany Anne smiled, appreciating Dan's foresight. She placed a hand on his shoulder briefly. “I missed this. Me, ready to kick ass. You, there to back me up. Good times. Good memories.”

  Dan grinned, similarly warmed by the return to their easy rhythm when working together. “Here’s to making a few new ones. Now go kick some ass, already. I’m getting old waiting here.”