Life Goes On

by Michael Anderle

  “Won’t the government know what you do?” L’ep asked.

  If K’derrk got through this meeting he would institute a rule that he never again worked with two clients simultaneously, but right now he just needed to sell these two and continue building his reputation. In a couple of months, he would be able to offload this operation to an underling.

  He answered L’ep’s question. “No.” His mandibles touched twice. “The datastream doesn’t know that the purpose is munitions guidance. It uses a common weather application security protocol.” He smiled. “You need the windage and temperature anyway to make sure the munition doesn’t accidentally land on an unsuspecting enemy. It would completely ruin their day, I assure you.”

  The three of them laughed at the joke.

  At that moment the warehouse’s front metal doors violently hurtled off their hinges, battering crates that had been sitting in front of them and smashing into a vehicle that had been parked in the front of the warehouse.

  K’derrk pulled his pistol as his customers ran away from the destruction. The men he had stationed up on the walkway had raised their guns to their shoulders and started firing, but K’derrk heard more of his guards screaming in pain than success as he ran for his escape room.

  Always have a back way out, preferably easy to block.

  —

  Samuel cricked his neck left and right, allowing the bones to move back into place as he waited for the…

  SLAM!

  The back door was breached, revealing two Yollins who were looking around in panic.

  He casually shot both in their kneecaps and walked up to them, slap-tying them both before injecting them with painkillers. “Shut the hell up,” he said in Yollin. “You both know you shouldn’t be here, so be thankful you weren’t in front of the door.”

  “Gabrielle is back, and she isn’t happy.”

  —

  Richard was moving from cover to cover, singing a ditty to himself. “One little Yollin…” When he pulled the trigger of his Jean Dukes pistol, the arm of a guard splattered the wall behind him. He was spun around so violently he fell off the walkway and bounced off a couple boxes before landing on the stone floor.

  “Two little Yollins,” he sang as he twisted around and shot straight up through the floor. The second guard’s gun fired three more rounds before it clunked to the floor—along with the dead guard.

  “Three little Yollins,” he crooned as he dove for cover, sliding around the side of a crate and shooting over his shoulder. The bullet hit a guard in the gut, and blood dappled the wall behind him.

  “Fourrrrrrrrr,” he sang, sighting on a figure a full warehouse distance away and taking his head off.

  —

  Gabrielle followed the puck into the warehouse, racing at her top speed around some crates that had crashed to the floor and jumping another that was rolling through her path. She caught sight of the three Yollins she wanted, and let two go.

  Samuel would nab them.

  She followed the final Yollin as he ran for his bolt hole, probably. “Sword or pistol, sword or pistol?” she mused as he dodged into a room and clanged the metal door shut on her.

  “Pistol.” She yanked her Jean Dukes and dialed it up to eleven, then randomly shot through the walls. She looked behind herself and took three quick steps backward to put her back up against the wall before switching to auto and firing as fast as she could. She held on as the gun bucked in her hands.

  She stopped firing and pushed on the door, which gave a little but kept her out. She walked around the side of the room and into the warehouse and saw the room had a small window a little higher than she could peek through.

  The Yollin was taller than her. She holstered her pistol and jumped, grabbed the small lip, and pulled herself up to look in.

  She dropped back down and wiped her hands off, clapping them together a couple of times. “Guess I don’t have to explain why he pissed off the Empress,” she told no one in particular.

  Ten minutes later the local police got there, and then an ambulance.

  Gabrielle was standing outside when the police chief arrived. He climbed out of his vehicle and walked over to her while Samuel and Richard kept a lookout.

  “I’m the leader of the police here.” He glanced at the other two humans. “I’m told you are from the Empress?”

  “Yes,” Gabrielle agreed.

  He looked around the warehouse. “This was an arms dealer trying to set up shop on Yoll?”

  “Yes,” Gabrielle agreed again.

  He turned back. “And you are?”

  Gabrielle allowed her eyes to glow red. “Gabrielle, Captain of the Empress’ Bitches. You can request any information you need from EI Meredith of the Meredith Reynolds. You have any more questions for me?”

  The police officer stood a little straighter. “No, and thank you for waiting.”

  Gabrielle nodded and the three of them walked away, then a Pod descended and they got in.

  The police officers watched it shoot up into the night.

  —

  Gabrielle turned in her seat and smiled at the guys, putting a hand up palm out to high-five the both of them. “That was fun!”

  “Hell, yeah!” Samuel agreed. “It’s what I like to call ‘a good start.’” He winked.

  She nodded to them both. “Ok, guys, I will officially never bring up any shit done in the past unless you mention it first. I’m happy to call you friends, if you still want that.”

  “Oh.” Samuel looked at Richard, and then back. “I’m good. I didn’t know that wasn’t on the docket.”

  “Of course,” Richard agreed. “Always, Princess.”

  Gabrielle smiled as the Pod lifted into space. “What are you guys going to do now? Are you coming to Earth, staying here? Going out to see space?”

  Samuel turned to Richard. “You have any plans?”

  Richard shrugged. “I’d maybe like to see Earth, but not really,” he admitted. “I’ve got nothing back there.”

  Samuel thought about it a moment. “Do you have any jobs?”

  “Well, funny you should ask.” She smiled. “It just so happens there’s a planet I want you to visit.”

  “Which one?” Richard asked.

  She shook her head. “Sorry, can’t say exactly. Right now we are calling it ‘High Tortuga.’”

  “Like the pirates’ island?” Richard asked. “‘Arrrgh, me matey’ and all that?” He winked at Samuel, and the two chuckled.

  “It’s going to be one of those rumored places,” Gabrielle admitted. “Think of it like Hotel California.” The two looked at her, blank-faced. “You know? ‘We are programmed to receive, but you can never leave?’”

  Samuel smiled. “Ohhhh…. Sounds deliciously like a conspiracy is brewing!”

  Gabrielle smiled. “It is, in a way. Bethany Anne is fixing up a hidden world, and it is going to take some time to complete the renovation. She will need some team members to use it as a base and go on operations out in space from time to time.”

  “Is it a nice place?” Richard asked.

  “Uhh…” She shook her head. “I can’t say it’s the nicest. There was a lot of infrastructure built into the planet and then left alone. The boss is going to spend well over a trillion credits on it over the next decade or so to upgrade everything.”

  “A trillion?” Richard asked, stroking his beard.

  “I wouldn’t suggest stealing any of that.” Gabrielle eyed her friend. “The Mistress of the Planet might be displeased.”

  “Mistress?” Samuel asked.

  “Baba Yaga,” Gabrielle answered.

  “Oh, shit!” Richard shook his head. “I wasn’t remotely thinking of doing anything ugly on that planet.”

  “Seriously?” Samuel asked, intrigued. “Baba Yaga?”

  Gabrielle nodded. “It is part of the reason the planet is going dark. The owner of the planet, so to speak, is Baba Yaga.”

  “I don’t know…” Richard tilted his han
d back and forth. “Except for the shark teeth, she’s kinda hot.”

  “Ewww!” Gabrielle smiled. “So, if you can handle the lady in charge and have any interest in seeing more of space…”

  “I assume there is a reason she is doing this?” Samuel asked. “Other than the fact that she is so damned rich she could walk through the planet mall and say, ‘Mmmm, yes! I’ll take that planet, and that planet…’”

  “You do know that if you go eventually too far I’ll have to kick the shit out of you, right?” Gabrielle asked. “I’ll still love you afterwards, but you will be in the hospital.”

  “Just curious about the boundaries. No disrespecting the Empress. Got it.” Samuel agreed.

  “Is this something we can talk about and get back with you on?” Richard asked. “I assume we won’t have our mind wiped in a day or two?”

  “No, I just need your promise to never tell anyone there is a High Tortuga.”

  “First rule of High Tortuga,” Richard growled, “is we don’t talk about High Tortuga!”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Bethany Anne’s Suite

  Ecaterina leaned forward, and the couch let out the tiniest of squeaks. “I do like presents,” she admitted, “especially when I didn’t know something was coming.”

  Bethany Anne got up and went into her bedroom.

  Ecaterina turned to Nathan. “Did you know?”

  Nathan shook his head. “No, and that concerns me,” he told her as he raised his drink. “We were offered the forbidden Pepsi right here in her suite, and now we are receiving presents.”

  Ecaterina patted his knee. “Perhaps our friend has turned over a new twig.”

  Nathan glanced at her.

  “Leaf?”

  “Yes, leaf,” he agreed.

  Bethany Anne’s voice came out of her suite. “This first one is in two parts.” She came back out with a small square box wrapped in blue foil and a box that was easily four feet long, maybe a foot high, and about six inches deep wrapped in red foil.

  She laid the large one beside her on the couch and handed Ecaterina the small box. “First this.”

  Ecaterina took the present and unwrapped it, lifting off the light-beige cover to reveal a felt box inside. Taking that out, Ecaterina opened the next and inside was a terriliniam bear-trap pendant.

  Bethany Anne smiled as Ecaterina chuckled. “A reminder of our first fight together,” she told her friend. “With this, you can remember our fun!” Bethany Anne pantomimed buttoning up her shirt. “’All you have to do is capture their attention!’ Wasn’t it ‘use the right bait?’” she said in an accent, and the three of them laughed.

  Ecaterina pulled out the chain attached to the pendant. “It won’t break,” Bethany Anne told her. “And the necklace is long enough that you won’t strangle yourself if you change.”

  Nathan peered at the bear trap, admiring the craftsmanship, then looked at Bethany Anne. “What else does it do?”

  Bethany Anne shrugged. “Well, it might have Etheric resonance so that if I needed to find her and I was close enough, I could excite the terriliniam and listen for the sound it makes when it vibrates.”

  “Can you give us a demonstration?” Ecaterina asked.

  Bethany Anne nodded, and her eyes flashed red.

  Nathan and Ecaterina looked down at the pendant, up at Bethany Anne, and back down. “What?” Nathan asked, looking to Bethany Anne again. “Is it doing something?”

  “Yes,” she assured them. “You can’t feel it?”

  “That’s my point.” Nathan said. “I’m surprised we can’t.”

  “Mmmm.” Bethany Anne put a finger to her lips, then turned around and said over her shoulder, “Put it in one of your hands and I’ll pick it out.” She rolled her eyes as the two of them argued for a moment, the rustles created by their body movements going all over the place.

  “Ok, good to go,” Ecaterina told her and Bethany Anne turned to find they each had both of their hands out.

  “You want me to pick one of your four hands, correct?” Bethany Anne asked.

  “Yes,” Nathan answered, smiling.

  “Well, since the energy I’m feeling is coming from your crotch area, Nathan, I’m not going to point to it.” She smirked.

  “Fucking hell,” Nathan grumbled, and opened his legs to remove the pendant. “Did you hear us put it there?”

  “No, and feel free to test the pendant all you want.” Her eyes flashed once more. “It’s stopped. I didn’t have to offset the resonance, since it would quit in about ten minutes anyway, but it was bugging the shit out of me,” she told them as she rubbed her right ear.

  “Second gift?” Ecaterina eyed the larger package, and Bethany Anne handed it across. Ecaterina accepted it and laid the box across her and Nathan’s laps as she started unwrapping it.

  “Wood…” Ecaterina murmured as the wrapping came off. “Ohhh, handprint!” She sounded excited as she continued unwrapping. Nathan started to grin as he realized what it was.

  “JEAN DUKES!” Ecaterina squealed in delight tossed the crinkling wrapping paper aside. She turned the box around to place her hand on the palm rest.

  “Security access granted,” a security EI intoned.

  “The wood is an overlay,” Bethany Anne told her. “Underneath, it is damn near impregnable.”

  Ecaterina lifted the latch and opened the long box. Inside was exactly what Ecaterina had been expecting, and yet it wasn’t.

  It looked like a copy of the gun she’d carried when she met Nathan, but it had been upgraded.

  Bethany Anne nodded toward the rifle. “It is the original design, but modified by Jean Dukes with all her latest technology.” Bethany Anne leaned forward, excited. “Check out the settings!”

  Ecaterina turned the rifle to the other side to examine the dial, which was set into the stock near the trigger.

  “Seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven… Twelve!” Ecaterina broke into a massive grin and looked up at Bethany Anne. “This will truly go to twelve?”

  “Yup! Just be damned careful that you are lying prone with a backstop when you fire at that level or it will knock you on your ass for damned sure.”

  Nathan looked like he was already imagining shooting the gun.

  Bethany Anne turned to him and smiled. “Happy mate, life is great?”

  “That works for me.” He nodded.

  “Well, not good enough for me,” Bethany Anne told him. “I don’t want you to admit this to anyone without extreme need or my approval.” He nodded. “We need to work out the details, but my plan and gift to you is to fund a military arm of Bad Company.”

  “Ohhh!” Ecaterina looked at her mate. “You’re getting your own army!”

  “Not exactly, but close enough,” Bethany Anne admitted. “I’m going to help you when you need money, so it doesn’t come out of your accounts.” She shrugged. “But I need you to pretend that every penny is a slice of skin, so no one thinks otherwise.”

  Nathan was grinning like a bear who just found a new beehive, and his eyes searched the future. “People?”

  She put up her hand and tilted it back and forth. “When I get done with the trip to Earth, we will work it out. Those who go with me might decide they want to be back in space instead of going out to find something new.”

  “Good, that will give me time to think it out a little more,” he admitted. “So we don’t want this traceable to you?”

  She shook her head. “No, or you will have all sorts of people on your ass.”

  “I get a rifle that goes to twelve.” Ecaterina turned to Nathan. “And you get a military.” She sighed and turned to Bethany Anne, pleased. “That is fair!”

  QBBS Meredith Reynolds, All Guns Blazing

  Paul nodded to M’lerk, who was watching the door and staggering admissions to the crowded bar. He slid past the group and turned to his right to go up the stairs to the viewing deck. Once there, he craned his neck to see through the crowd and caught t
he waving hand.

  Walking around a pair of Shrillexians who were being escorted down the steps, Paul reached the waving hand and fist-bumped Peter, then hugged Tabitha. “What’s cooking, Good Looking?” he asked her as he grabbed a chip and accepted a beer from Peter.

  “Rumor is you’re staying here?” Peter asked. He raised a hand, caught the waitress’ eye, and put up three fingers.

  “Yup,” Paul admitted. “I’ve got a house near a few friends from way back, and we are going to try Operation Retirement.”

  “That’s a load of shit.” Tabitha rolled her eyes as she took a swig of her beer. “Flying is in your blood.”

  “Yes,” Paul admitted, “and I came out of retirement to fly for my Queen. She doesn’t need me anymore, so I’m going back,” he replied. The waitress came back and took away the empty bottles, then handed AGB Deuces to the three of them. “On the house,” she told them. “Marcus says he is paying for anybody on his list all month.”

  Paul looked down at his tablet. “But that’s only forty-eight more hours! I can’t drink much beer in forty-eight hours.”

  “It only matters what time the bar tab is opened,” she told him, winking. “Not what time the bar tab is closed.”

  “Oh.” Paul thought about it. “I can come back well-rested.”

  “See that you do, Skipper,” she told him, and lifted her tablet. “And if you need someone to remind you, here’s my number. Let me know.”

  Paul looked down at his tablet, and sure enough, her contact information showed up. “Don’t be a stranger,” she told him, and left to go to another table.

  “Well, huh.” Paul studied the contact info. “I’ll be damned.”

  “What?” Tabitha was leaning across the table to get a peek. “What’s it say?”

  “Apparently,” he smiled and wiggled his eyebrows, “pilots are still sexy!”

  Peter chuckled as Tabitha shook her head. “Maybe you are just a good-looking man sitting next to the famed head of the Guardians and Ranger Two, no less!”

  “Or,” Paul teased, “she isn’t old enough to know who you are, and just wants a piece of this stud.”