“They are,” Admiral Thomas told her. “I’ve spoken with all of them. They don’t know the particulars yet, but they will, via ADAM.”
Tina spoke up. “We actually do need the superdreadnoughts’ help,” she said. “In order to move the Gate, they will have to feed some of their power into the translocation effort. It’s going to be the biggest translocation the galaxy will never know was successful.”
“We hope.” Bethany Anne took a deep breath. “No, we know. Ok, T-minus…”
“Three months, tops,” Bobcat told her.
She just stared at him, her mouth open in surprise.
Dan added, “Then the real work will begin.”
QBBS Asteroid R2D2, R&D, Two Days Later
Bobcat scribbled a few more notes on one of the whiteboards. “We have another situation to work through with the BYPS system.”
“Assuming they don’t blow up Earth,” Tina pointed out.
“You, young lady,” Marcus patted her hand, “are becoming too much like us.”
Tina turned to him. “I’d say you were rubbing off on me, but I was already like this.”
“I blame Marcus anyway.” William shrugged his shoulders when Tina turned toward him. “It’s more fun.”
“Yes,” Bobcat agreed, then got the meeting back on track. “Assuming we don’t just wipe out the ecological diversity of our home planet, along with our Empress and everyone else who goes on the trip, we have another problem.”
“Those fucktards on Earth better appreciate the challenges of putting up a tri-layered BYPS system-defense security array,” Tina grumped. “My head is starting to hurt.”
Bobcat pointed his marker at Tina. “I’m sure they won’t have a clue—or care—so don’t lose any sleep over it. Let’s move on.”
William, Marcus, and Tina raised their bottles to Bobcat in agreement.
“There’s a metric fuck-ton of space where we have to deploy these damned satellites in three concentric circles across millions of miles, and frankly they don’t have sufficient oomph to push themselves out far enough.”
“Virus program.” Tina took a swig of her drink. “Let’s map the locations we need, create nodes which represent drop-off points, and then use a virus spreading-type mathematical representation to figure out where best to deploy using the satellites’ basic ability to move.”
“Tweak it for velocity reduction, not accrual,” Marcus temporized. “Since the ships already have velocity, the satellites will be responsible for slowing themselves down.”
“That’s better.” Tina smiled at Marcus. “We might get done early with this meeting,” she purred. “Then we can…”
Bobcat waved his marker. “Ho-ho-hollllld on! I don’t need to know that, so let’s get these details down and R2 can work on it while you two go bunny-dipping.”
“Yeah.” William lifted his tablet to look at the table. “No baby gravy wanted.”
“Ewwww!” Tina looked around for something to throw at William, but found nothing. “Next time I see Kathy…”
“There won’t be a next time,” William responded.
“What? Oh shit!” Tina’s eyes went soft. “Did she break up with you?”
“Huh? No.” William shook his head. “I mean she’s back on her ship and I can’t see her for a long time, so neither can you.”
“Oh, well, ok then,” Tina agreed. She stood up and pulled on Marcus’ arms. “I’m going to take this-here man away from you two.”
“Need a beer to go?” Bobcat asked.
“Nope!” Tina replied, opening the door and pushing Marcus through. “I’m going to get some horizontal refreshment, thankyouverymuch!”
The door closed with a soft snick.
Bobcat looked down at William. “Everything ok with Kathy?”
“As far as I know,” William replied. “Why?”
“Didn’t notice you on a video call with her, that’s all.”
“She’s in the middle of something major with her ship. She is being sent over to another—probably for the transfer—and is out of touch for a few days.”
“She’s not going to be on a ship when they transfer, is she?” Bobcat asked.
When William said nothing, he looked at him. He had damn near turned white.
It wasn’t an attractive color on his friend, he thought.
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Three Months Later
“It would be a lot easier,” Bobcat grumped, “if we could do this via Etheric calling.”
Dan dropped into the seat beside him. “No can do. Since Baba Yaga had the issue with the Etheric communication shit with the Kurtherians we know it’s possible, but unlikely. This is too important, so no deal.”
“Says you,” Bobcat muttered. “My wife hasn’t been in town for a while, and I’m getting bitchy.”
“I thought this was your ‘after drunk’ face?” Dan asked, taking a second look at Bobcat.
“No.” He turned to Dan and smiled, and the crinkles around his eyes were real. “That,” he said as his face returned to exhausted, “was my ‘after drinking’ face.” He pointed to his head. “This is my ‘How the hell do we fix this next issue’ face.”
“You should slow down,” Dan told him. “Wait, you are working on my project too, so buck the fuck up, Researcher. Grab two bricks—”
Bobcat put a hand out. “Hold on there, Skippy.” Bobcat shook his head. “Don’t need the bricks.”
“We’ll see,” Dan replied enigmatically.
Both of them turned as Bethany Anne and Lance walked in. They continued discussing something the rest couldn’t hear, then broke apart and went to their respective seats.
“I asked the five of you,” she nodded to Admiral Thomas, Bobcat, Dan, her father, and Marcus, “here to go over the last-minute ideas, concerns, et cetera. She looked at Bobcat a second time. “You look like shit.”
“Feel like shit too,” Bobcat answered.
“Have you been drinking enough?” Bethany Anne asked.
“No,” Bobcat answered.
Down the table, Admiral Thomas was amused to realize Bethany Anne had truly meant to ask Bobcat if he was drinking enough.
“Why?” she asked.
“Too few opportunities to get the brew delivered,” he answered. “Plus my lovely other half is out of town, so to speak, and I forget to bring in supplies from time to time.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Meredith said. “I know what Yelena sends Bobcat, and what he orders when he isn’t mentally exhausted.”
Bobcat looked at the nearest speaker and smiled. “Meredith, if I wasn’t already married…”
“I’m sure, Bobcat,” Meredith replied. “I’m happy you’re happy.”
Bethany Anne smiled. Just the thought of constant beer supplies could perk that man up.
ADAM.
>>Yes?<<
Send a note to Yelena to tell her to get her ass back here. Bobcat probably told her some bullshit story about not being able to be nearby so she should check on the bars, but she needs to see him. Send her straight to R2D2. He needs to take some personal time.
>>Yes, ma’am.<<
She turned in her chair. “Ok, Dan ‘Destructo’ Bosse, what are we blowing up this time?”
“The universe!” Dan replied, smiling. “Or at least a small portion of it.” He jerked a thumb at Bobcat, who just grinned tiredly. “I’ve confirmed it with all the approved geniuses and all the AIs, and everyone agrees we should achieve a theoretical masterpiece of a nanotomic explosion.” He scratched his chin. “However, we are going to have to tell everyone the standoff distance has been increased by thirty percent.”
“Do we need thirty percent?”
“Oh yeah,” Dan told her. “The actual minimum safety distance is twenty, so we should be good unless they are in a tiny ship—in which case they’ll need fifty, perhaps.”
“Someone is going to ignore us,” Lance gruffed.
Bethany Anne looked at him, and noticed Admiral Thomas nodding.
<
br /> She chewed the inside of her cheek and thought about it. “Dammit, the smart thing is to warn them once and be done with it.”
“Verisimilitude would sell it,” Bobcat offered.
“However,” she continued, her eyes sliding over to Bobcat and then back to Lance, “that’s not our normal practice.”
“We can lay in temporary weapons platforms,” Admiral Thomas suggested. “Put them out at the limits and suggest we will shoot anyone who tries to pass.”
“I don’t want to shoot anyone.”
“Don’t have to.” He shrugged. “Warning shots. Make the platforms too light, and they’ll get pulled into the nanotomic explosion for more,” he shot a smile at Bobcat, “verisimilitude.”
She nodded. “Ok, make that part happen. I’ll get with my PR team to promote the event and start laying the ground rules for the press.”
“Which they will ignore,” Dan told her.
“That’s why we’ll have gun platforms,” she answered. “And warning shots. If someone goes too far—or more likely, they send in a drone ship—I guess we will all get some fantastic video.”
“Now, that is an idea,” Lance told her. “Why don’t we auction off three front-row seats to the event and let their drones be pulled in?”
“Can I bid?” Dan asked. “I’ve always wanted to see something like this in slow motion.”
“I’ll get you backstage passes,” Bethany Anne said. “At what distance?”
“Close enough to see well, far enough their sensors can’t get an accurate reading.” Dan pointed at Bobcat.
Bobcat shook his head. “ADAM can tell us that. Don’t toss it on us.”
“I’ve got it, Bethany Anne,” ADAM replied.
“Ok.” She exhaled heavily. “Now, who’s in charge of the popcorn?”
CHAPTER TEN
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Temporary Universal News Room
Cheryl Lynn looked out over the dozens of temporary tables from above. Lights hanging every which way showed full-on temporary reporter sets, which three of the multisystem news agencies had built in the last week in this massive unused docking cavern on the Meredith Reynolds.
Cheryl Lynn sighed. It was a chaotic mess in here.
However, for the most part the different teams worked together, and stayed out of everyone’s hair. It helped to have the Guardians walking around and dealing with issues, usually by ejecting one or both the troublemakers.
“Everything ok?” Tabitha asked from behind Cheryl Lynn.
“When did you get here?” Cheryl Lynn exclaimed, hugging Tabitha.
“Last night, but I checked on a couple of old friends,” Tabitha replied.
Cheryl Lynn nodded before turning back to view the hustle and bustle beneath her. “You mean you met with Peter.”
“Yes,” Tabitha agreed. “Both of them,” she added, winking.
Cheryl Lynn snorted. “Ok, I can forgive you for that, but just barely. Have you seen Samuel and Richard?”
“Not in six months.” Tabitha started looking around the massive room full of people. “Why?” Her voice was anxious.
Cheryl Lynn laughed. “Don’t worry, they only owe me breakfast.”
“Which is right here!” Samuel’s voice caused both ladies to turn around. “And we have enough for a tired lady who wore out a Pricolici.”
Richard stepped up, singing, “All night long…”
Both men harmonized, “All niiiight… All niiiight…”
“Give me that.” Cheryl Lynn snatched the bag of food and waved her hand toward Tabitha. “You may now continue harassing the Ranger about her nighttime activities.”
Samuel and Richard smiled, and Tabitha frowned at them both. Richard shook his head. “Uhhh, I think we’ve accomplished enough this morning.”
Cheryl Lynn chewed on her pastry, then covered her mouth to speak. “Are you guys going back to Earth?”
“We have to ask Gabrielle,” Samuel answered. “It’s been on our minds, but we aren’t sure what we want to do.”
“It isn’t going to be the same without so many of our friends,” Richard added. He looked at Tabitha. “You?”
“Going,” Tabitha answered. “I need to stretch my legs, and I want to speak with Michael, too.”
Samuel nodded. “Peter?”
“Going,” Tabitha responded. “Half because he wants to, half because he needs to, and the other half I won’t mention.”
Richard opened his mouth to speak, but closed it and shrugged. Maybe she wasn’t good with math.
“T-minus ten minutes until the big show.” Tabitha moved up beside Cheryl Lynn, and Richard and Samuel came up behind them. “What’s the plan?”
As if on cue the far wall, which was over a hundred feet tall, lit up with a view of the Command Center. Bethany Anne was in the background chewing on a nail.
“She seems a bit anxious,” Tabitha commented.
“I would be too if the ability to go see my boyfriend was completely dependent on the next fifteen minutes,” Cheryl Lynn replied. “Look.” She pointed below. “A lot of the news sources are taking a picture of the video wall, even though we fed them a clean signal.”
“It’s more real somehow,” Richard guessed. “I bet you a third of them have a picture of the wall, and a PIP in the bottom with the clean signal.”
“‘PIP?’” Cheryl Lynn asked.
“‘Picture in Picture,’” Samuel answered.
Tabitha turned around. “When did you guys go technical?”
“You try guarding a reporter and her video recorder for decades and not pick up the parlance,” Samuel suggested.
“Good point.” Tabitha cocked her head. “Where are those two?”
“They came out of retirement for this one,” Samuel replied. He pointed to the immense video wall across the way. “Who do you think is shooting that?”
“Ooohhh.” Tabitha nodded. “I guess that would have been enough to tease them to come back up.”
“Yeah.” Cheryl Lynn followed a team down below with her eyes. “They bought homes right next to each other in a nice neighborhood.”
“They ever want to get back into the game?” Tabitha asked.
“They seemed happy the last time I talked with them. One has a garden, and the other has a pond with fish in it,” she said. “I haven’t seen them in six months—not since I bought the house on the other side.”
“Get out!” Tabitha answered. “You’re going landlubber?”
“Going?” Cheryl Lynn smiled as she continued to stare out over the floor. “I started as a landlubber, remember?” She waved a hand negligently above her head. “I’m certainly not going out there.” She shook her head. “No way, no how. I’m retiring.”
“Oh!” Tabitha pointed as the image on the wall changed. “There go the three drones.”
“Did you hear about the distance limits?” Cheryl Lynn asked.
“Yes, and it was a lot of math,” Samuel explained. “Something about something and if you go past this limit, we will blow the shit out of your ship.”
“Or there is a chance you could get sucked into a black hole,” Richard added. “Neither is a really good choice for a healthy future.”
“Still,” Cheryl Lynn said over her shoulder, “Kagax News Agency tried to press it, and they just about got their nose shot off.”
“Bad shot?” Tabitha asked.
“No,” Samuel answered. “Warning shot. Cloaked BYPS system. When the news agencies realized they couldn’t find the guns, they gave up trying to sneak in. When I set up two extra drones for additional video, they quit bitching to me and accepted the inevitable.”
Richard scratched the back of his neck. “Did either of you bet on the outcome?”
Tabitha whipped around. “What? There was betting?””
“When isn’t there betting?” Richard asked. “Yes. You could go with a friendly setup, or over in the Drainus sector you could get legit betting percentages.”
“What are the odd
s?” Tabitha asked.
“Two to one she blows it.” Cheryl Lynn sighed. “Bethany Anne went ballistic and told them to put a million credits on making this happen.” She stopped a moment to subvocalize a command to a floor-support person, then continued, “Unfortunately my wonderful Empress was in full-on Royal Affronted mode, and no less than three video cameras were on her when she said it. I couldn’t say squat before it was already out the door. It made the News of the Hour for the next four hours straight. People loved seeing her bet money they would make it.”
Richard added, “Seems only reasonable, since she is betting that her team can pull this off.”
“True enough,” Tabitha agreed.
All four heads focused on the wall in front of them when it blanked to black, then human numeric digits started a countdown from sixty. At fifty-five seconds, the four-story-tall numbers shrank to ten feet in the lower right-hand corner of the screen, and the video switched to a view of space.
“This is Empress Bethany Anne.” A six-story-tall face appeared on the screen. “We are about to transfer the Annex Gate from the Leath System to the Yollin System. To do that, we will be using six of our Leviathan-class superdreadnoughts to help power the transfer, employing state-of-the-art artificial intelligence. This information has been included in your packets.”
The face disappeared.
“That was pre-recorded,” Cheryl Lynn said. “There is no way Bethany Anne could have managed that, as tightly as she is wound right now.”
As if on cue, at fifteen seconds a hush fell over the large cavern. No one counted down, at least not above a whisper.
The video zoomed out until a bright pinprick of light was visible, and it focused on the area in a microsecond. The light grew in brilliance, then the camera zoomed back out quickly to display the outline of an empty circle with six large ships surrounding it.
A few whooped for joy as the light continued to grow so bright it overwhelmed the video camera, which implemented a filter to cut it down.
Even cut down, the light was bright.
Then it went supernova.
“Oh no!” Tabitha said, her hand over her mouth. “No no no NO!”
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