An explosion shattered the sphere and three of the ships immediately and a gravity wave shot out, light exploding in a ring…
Then everything slowed down. All the parts flared, and started to move back toward the middle of the destruction.
“Oh shit!” Richard pointed. “Implosion!”
The cavern rang with cries of disbelief, reporters speaking, and wails of concern and then horror, since the massive wall made them all feel they were being pulled into the middle with the debris. The drone which was sending the video was caught too close to the implosions and was yanked into the maelstrom. The video shook as it raced faster and faster into center of the super-hot white implosion, and then the signal switched to a different drone.
One outside the minimum distance.
Cheryl Lynn ran out of the admin box.
Tabitha sprinted after her, and Samuel and Richard followed. “Where are we going?” Richard called.
“Bethany Anne!” Tabitha shot back. “She is going to be devastated!”
The video switched to the Command Center, and in the background the Empress was crying out and sobbing. She fell to her knees, her hands over her eyes as tears dripped to the floor beneath her.
Some ten seconds later, that video was cut off.
Three different agencies got videos of the Empress’ people running toward the Command Center, their faces showing worry for their leader and what she must be going through. One was lucky enough to catch the Empress’ top Public Relations person and Ranger Two arguing, as they ran, with the base’s AI to allow them entry to the Command Center.
Which everyone assumed was a madhouse, since all access had been denied. The three non-Etheric Empire news agencies were politely escorted out of the room.
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Hallways En Route to the Command Center
“I don’t give a shit, Meredith!” Cheryl Lynn told the AI as she ran toward the Command Center. “If you don’t get me in there I will rewire your insides!”
“That’s not even possible,” Meredith retorted. “You don’t have the skills, Cheryl Lynn.”
“I don’t care if it’s not logical!” Cheryl Lynn argued as she and the three others took a left turn to bypass a congested area via a few back routes. “I’ll pay someone to do it!”
“Like me!” Tabitha offered. “I’ll figure out a way to make the rest of your electronic life a living hell!”
Samuel popped Richard on the shoulder and pointed to a group of aliens who were filming them. “Hope they got my good side!”
“Both my sides are my good side!” Richard replied as they kept up with the ladies.
“The four of you,” Meredith replied after several seconds of processing, “have been approved to enter the Command Center from Level Three.”
“Three?” Cheryl Lynn called back. “Command is on One!”
“Your approved elevator access to the Command Center is on three,” Meredith told the four of them. “I suggest you take a right turn at Hallway T-133, then go down Elevator T-137.”
“You’d better not be fucking with us,” Tabitha huffed as the four of them ran around the T-133 corner to their right. They bypassed four crosswalks and slowed as an elevator door opened with a ding at T-137.
The four of them jumped on and it closed. “Did you call this?” Tabitha asked Cheryl Lynn.
“No,” she replied. “I assumed Meredith did it for us.”
“I did,” Meredith replied. “I’d rather not deal with attacks from Ranger Two.”
The elevator doors opened and the four stepped out. “Direction?” Cheryl Lynn asked.
“Left,” Meredith answered.
It took the team another two minutes to reach a rather nondescript door with a full complement of Guardians in front of it. Before the team could say anything they moved to the sides and allowed the four to pass, blocking the hallway behind them.
“That was weird,” Tabitha muttered as they entered a large plain room with another elevator. There wasn’t anyone in it. “If this turns out to be a trash compactor,” she complained as they entered the elevator, “I’m Han Solo.”
“Star Wars at a time like this?” Cheryl Lynn asked in disbelief.
“Always time for Star Wars quotes,” Tabitha answered. “You should have been there for this one operation with the Tontos when we could only answer with quotes from characters in Star Wars. If you stayed in one character, it was a hundred extra points.”
The door opened on the Command Center and the four stepped out, their mouths open.
The Command Center was reacting in the most incomprehensible way possible.
They were celebrating.
—
Bethany Anne heard the word she had been waiting for. “CUT!”
She jumped up from the floor and looked around. “Do we have news?”
Bobcat pointed behind her, and she spun to Dan.
Dan put up a finger, but the air was tense until he broke into a smile. He threw off his communications headset. “WE DID IT!” he shouted, fist pumping.
Bethany Anne punched the air too. “WOOHOOO!” she shouted, her smile a mile wide. Laughing, she ran over to Dan, picked him up in a hug, and swung him around. “Dr. Destructo, you maniac, we did it!”
She dropped the laughing Dan and flung two red balls of energy casually into the air, where they burst into sparkles. “YES!” She continued to laugh as others high-fived each other.
She put her hands on her hips, but couldn’t stop smiling as everyone in the area celebrated.
ADAM, did we have any trouble?
>>Reynolds suffered a power feedback, and a quarter of his engines shut down. That was the worst, and it happened because his area of the Annex Gate started to flex, so he extended his shield somehow to help hold it exactly in place.<<
Bethany Anne shook her head. They had actually come rather close to having major problems. She wasn’t sure what might have happened, but she couldn’t believe twisting something that sensitive and that huge had been a good idea.
TOM spoke next. I can’t think of a more audacious and amazing example of human badassery than this right here. It’s a shame no one can ever know how awesome this was.
We will know, Bethany Anne replied, and that will have to be good enough for now.
John came over and hugged her, and she rested for a moment in his embrace before pulling away. “Good job, Empress. If you ever wish to give up this job you can take up acting.” He winked at her.
“Not something I would care to do,” Bethany Anne admitted.
“How did you do the crying so well?” John asked.
Bethany Anne waved to a couple of people who had wrapped up their tasks and were heading for a special exit, where Barnabas was waiting for them.
Everyone here had been a witness to the truth, and unfortunately for most of the volunteers they needed to unlearn it.
“I thought about how life would have been if it had really exploded, and asked TOM to push my emotions past the limit.” She snapped her fingers. “Instant crying.”
“Hey.” John nodded over her shoulder, so Bethany Anne turned around. “Oh.” Bethany Anne smiled at Cheryl Lynn and Tabitha and gave Samuel and Richard a little wave as the four worked through the jubilant crowd.
“So, guys,” Bethany Anne asked as they came up, “what did you think of the successful transfer of the Leath’s Annex Gate to Empire space?”
Cheryl Lynn looked around before focusing on Bethany Anne. “I ran all the way over here to console you!”
Bethany Anne nodded. “I know!”
“I said, I ran all the way over here—” Cheryl Lynn stopped her tirade in mid-sentence. “What?”
“I said I know.” Bethany Anne put out a hand, and John placed a tablet in it. She turned it around. “Isn’t it amazing how quickly the news goes out?”
Cheryl Lynn took the tablet and viewed the news clips that showed her and Tabitha front and center. She was reading the riot act to Meredith as they dashed
through the hallways.
“You couldn’t have acted any better,” Bethany Anne told her.
Cheryl Lynn looked up. “I wasn’t acting!”
“Exactly,” Bethany Anne agreed. “Your real emotions, spoken so openly and honestly as you raced down the halls, will do more than anything I did to prove this was real.”
“Wasn’t it?” Cheryl Lynn looked around as she handed back the tablet. “Did it actually blow up?”
“It had to blow up,” Bethany Anne told them. “Just not the real Annex Gate.”
“Sonofabitch!” Tabitha smiled. “The shell game!”
“This time it worked like a charm,” Bethany Anne agreed. “Although I wouldn’t want to do that again. I think I lost ten years.”
“Won’t you live like, forever?” Cheryl Lynn asked.
“I don’t think so,” Bethany Anne replied. “However, I still don’t want to do this again.”
“Damn right!” Cheryl Lynn huffed. “I can see your logic, but if you ever leave me out of a stunt like this again, I swear by all that’s holy I’ll switch your Coke for Pepsi!”
“Yes ma’am,” Bethany Anne replied, keeping her smile hidden.
Cheryl Lynn looked around. “So now I need to go out there and lie my ass off about the destruction of the gate?”
“Yes,” Bethany Anne agreed. “That would be best.”
“Ok. Knowing sucks,” Cheryl Lynn told her. “I can see why not knowing was so much more powerful.”
“If it is any consolation,” she pointed to the door through which most were leaving, “most of those who know the truth won’t in fifteen minutes.”
Cheryl Lynn turned to see where Bethany Anne was pointing. “Who is working the spell-craft mind voodoo in there”
“Barnabas,” Bethany Anne answered, and Cheryl Lynn headed in that direction. “What are you doing?” she called.
Cheryl Lynn spoke over her shoulder. “Getting Barnabas to help me with my acting!” she answered. “Better to speak from total ignorance of the truth!” She winked and then turned back.
“Good idea,” Bethany Anne answered, and looked at Tabitha. “You?”
“I’m a Ranger,” Tabitha replied. “We know how to lie.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Dock 775
Peter reached over and took Tabitha’s hand as the two of them approached the security guards in front of the dock.
“Hold, sir.” The Yollin Guardian Marine put up a hand as his partner stayed alert and safely out of easy range of the two humans.
“Security credential, please.” He nodded to the hand scanner in front of Peter, who placed his available hand on the scanner.
“Welcome, Guardian Leader,” Meredith said. “We need Ranger Tabitha’s print as well.”
Tabitha put her right hand on the security scanner. “This is a pain in the ass, Meredith.”
Meredith spoke again. “Welcome, Ranger Tabitha. Please continue past the security post.”
Peter dipped his head. “Good to see you, K’lok.” He nodded to the human. “Gregory.”
Gregory confirmed using his HUD that it was the Guardian Leader and his date for the event, and nodded slightly as the two of them swept through the security door.
“Now that,” K’lok looked down the hallway for the next set of visitors, “I never saw coming.”
Gregory put a finger up to where his lips were behind his helmet, then tapped where his ears were and pointed to the door.
K’lok gave the hand signal for “Understood” and focused on his role for the evening, making sure only those on the approved list were allowed past them.
And checking everyone, including the lady with the large white dog coming down the hallway.
K’lok looked at Gregory and hissed, “How the hell do we paw-test Ashur?”
—
The Executive Pod waiting for Peter and Tabitha was sleek, beautiful, and already crammed with the who’s who of the Etheric Empire.
“Who are we waiting on?” Peter asked as he stepped into the Pod, making sure Tabitha had room as he led her in.
She had informed him that in her world, the man led into restaurants and other places. Peter had no problem at all with that. It was his preference anyway.
First into the breach.
The two of them shook hands, hugged, or fist-bumped damn near everyone as they worked their way to the first two open seats.
Kael-ven and Snow moved over to give Peter and Tabitha room to sit down.
Peter turned to Kael-ven. “Who are we waiting for?”
“You, of course,” Snow answered.
“Funny har-har.” Peter reached over to ruffle Snow’s head. “No, really?”
Snow looked to the front. “My father.”
Peter saw Bethany Anne board, and assumed that near her somewhere was Ashur. Sure enough, the doors closed behind her and the Executive Pod slowly slid out of the docking area and the Meredith Reynolds. Within seconds, a full squadron of fighters pulled alongside, and the Executive Pod punched it.
Three minutes later the Pod slowed to match velocity with the monster ship ArchAngel II and slipped into a waiting dock. The fighters turned away, heading back to the Meredith Reynolds for some downtime before they would be needed to accompany the shuttle back.
The ArchAngel II accelerated rapidly and, when it was barely out of normal traffic areas, it gated and disappeared.
A small ship observed the activity and noted it for later.
QBBS Asteroid R2D2, R&D
“Here they come!” Tina shouted excitedly. “I just got the message from ArchAngel. They should be here in ten minutes.”
“Good!” Marcus answered as he walked up to her. “Does this look ok?”
Tina turned from the screen on the wall in their shared bedroom and slowly shook her head. “Ahhh, no.” She took off his tie. “Ok, better.”
“My tie!” He looked stricken.
“Is too formal for a Team BMW event!” she declared. She gently kissed him on the lips.
He nodded. “Right then, no tie it is.” He headed back into their washroom.
—
As the last one on, Bethany Anne was the first one off the Executive Pod. Bethany Anne thought it was funny that the Team had stocked champagne—or rather, a close equivalent—on the Pod for them to drink on the way over.
It did have a way of getting the party started, though.
The group, which included Bethany Anne and Ashur, Lance and Patricia, the Empress’ Bitches and their spouses, Barnabas, Stephen and Jennifer, Peter and Tabitha, Ryu, Hirotoshi, and the rest of the Tontos, and thirty others followed the signs to a large white room which could have easily held three times as many people. Colorful lights shone on the walls, old Earth music played, three kegs stood in the middle of the floor, and a chocolate waterfall shimmered.
Everyone but Lance and Admiral Thomas beelined for the chocolate fountain.
The two men smiled and walked over to a table, each taking a chair.
“Patricia didn’t want you in there fighting to get her chocolate?” Thomas asked.
Lance shook his head. “She’s a fighter. She’s willing and able to get her own.”
“She was probably afraid you would eat it yourself.”
“Yup,” Lance admitted.
“Did you make that up, or is it the truth,” Thomas asked.
“She didn’t tell me in so many words,” Lance admitted, “but her pat on my hand as she left told me in no uncertain terms to stay here.”
“Huh.”
“How long has it been since Nancy?” Lance asked. “Three years?”
“Yeah,” Thomas admitted. “Apparently what kept us together was the fact that I wasn’t around all of the time.”
“You got on her nerves?” Lance asked.
“I ejected her out the end of the Reynolds and haven’t looked back,” Thomas admitted. “So I guess the real answer is, she got on my last nerve after about two weeks.”
“She wanted to go do stuff?”
“She wanted to show me off,” Thomas grumped. “It was a chance for her to parade me around. We went down to Yoll and hit about ten restaurants I didn’t know about. I just thought it was rather nice to be going somewhere I hadn’t been before. The third time we were photographed and the images showed up in the gossip rags, I realized what was going on and confronted her.”
Thomas went quiet for a moment, reliving the conversation with Nancy. Lance just sipped his drink and watched everyone let their hair down.
Thomas finally started speaking again. “Is this you telling me to step back out there?”
“What the hell are you going to do but be a pain in my ass otherwise?” Lance grumped and the two of them chuckled. “Bartholomew, you need someone who can listen to you, not judge you, and enjoy you being around without clinging. She could be military, but I doubt you want that?”
Lance eyed Admiral Thomas until he agreed.
“Ok then. Hell, do what William did, and don’t mention it until you know the opportunity is golden.”
“He used the dating site, right?”
“It’s a bit more than that, but yes,” Lance told him. He leaned closer and raised an eyebrow. Thomas leaned in toward him. “Here’s the trick. The website is run by Meredith and ADAM together. They are working on their heuristic programming for personality fits. If you check the box for ‘Let us choose,’ they will select the top three best matches. If you tell ADAM you approve, he will pull everything they know about you so they can predict even better.”
Thomas thought about that for a moment, then clinked his drink against Lance’s. “For some odd reason, knowing ADAM and Meredith have my back will make it all the more fun.”
“What did William do?” Thomas asked, taking a sip.
Lance shook his head. “Oh, you can’t tell William anything.”
“Why not?” Thomas asked.
“Because my daughter was in it up to her neck, making that connection happen. She broke so many damned rules trying to work something for him with the right lady. Rumor is, even when she was running around as Baba Yaga she worked on the problem with ADAM.” He shook his head. “If she wasn’t the Empress, she would have to arrest herself. Now she has to pardon herself.”
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