“That’s what I heard,” Eric agreed. “What the hell, I’ll go for the long shot. Forty-three.”
Yuko asked, her voice slightly timid, “Are we betting on which one will finally give in?”
John scratched his chin as the ten of them watched Bethany Anne appear, anger etched plainly on her face and her eyes flaming red. “That conceited gigantic—” she was yelling when Michael’s arm snagged her around the waist and she vanished again.
“I believe she has a lot of anger to release,” Gabrielle mused. “And Michael isn’t allowing her to walk away and cool off.”
“No.” Akio added, “Also, he does not want to hold this discussion in public.”
“She isn’t going to like that,” Gabrielle answered. “Well, the walking-away part. The not-in-public she won’t care about.”
Jacqueline smiled. “I’d love to know what they are saying on the other side,” she admitted in a conspiratorial whisper. She turned to look to Eve. “Did you say ADAM was keeping you up to date?”
“Not exactly like that,” Eve told her. “And I’ll take twenty-five.”
Akio looked at the android AI. “You have inside knowledge.”
“That’s ok with me,” Gabrielle allowed. “Twenty-one.”
“Wow, you’re thinking she’s almost done,” Mark exclaimed. “Do you know both of them?”
“Yes,” Gabrielle admitted, “although Michael was more of a boogeyman for most of my life.”
“Which has been hundreds of years,” Yuko told Mark as she pointed to Gabrielle. “Remember, this is Stephen’s daughter.”
Mark’s mouth formed a silent “O.”
Jacqueline’s eyes narrowed. “That reminds me…where is this Tabitha female?”
Gabrielle turned to Jacqueline, and noticed the slight surprise in Yuko’s eyes. Mark silently pleaded with his own eyes, imploring her, she felt, to minimize her answer.
She would have to get to the bottom of this, but Gabrielle had a rather solid suspicion. Jacqueline was obviously a werewolf, and Mark had the physical tells of a vampire.
Even if he was out in the sun.
Most female werewolves didn’t like to share. Gabrielle jerked her thumb upward. “On the ArchAngel. Why?”
“Just curious.” Jacqueline’s eyes narrowed. “Is she coming down?”
“I’m sure she is,” Eric piped up from behind her.
Gabrielle wanted to roll her eyes when she saw the blood—what little he had left, she guessed—drain from Mark’s face. “Along with her boyfriend Peter.” Gabrielle told them, trying to stave off a possible issue.
“Peter?” Mark interjected, relief in his voice.
“Yes,” John answered. “The Queen’s Guardians’ leader.”
Jacqueline’s focus locked on John. “The Peter?” she asked, her excitement palpable. “The one the Queen saved?”
“Yes,” John answered. “Did you know him?”
This time, it was Mark’s eyes that narrowed in annoyance.
She shook her head. “No, but my dad told stories of Bethany Anne’s saving him, and how he turned around. Hell,” she gushed, pointing to each of them, “he told me about you too, John.” She pointed to the others. “And Darryl and Scott and Eric.”
“Who was your father?” Eric asked.
“Gerry,” she answered.
“The Pack Council Leader Gerry?” John asked, and she nodded. “Damn! You obviously take after your mother.”
Jacqueline opened her mouth to protest, but what came out was a chuckle. “Yes,” she finally agreed. “My dad was a lot of things, but a fine-looking specimen?” She shook her head.
“Your dad wasn’t ugly,” Eric argued. “Perhaps not a ten, but not a two either.”
There was a woomph as bodies hit the ground, but none of the ten even flicked an eye toward the noise.
“Twenty,” Gabrielle commented.
“Dad would have appreciated your support,” Jacqueline turned to Eric, “but even I know he was a solid six, maybe a seven if he shaved.”
Darryl was going to ask where he was when the ten of them received a message.
We will be a while, Michael sent, followed by Bethany Anne’s, I’ve got some booboos to heal.
Then the ten were alone.
“Did she mean,” Gabrielle questioned everyone there, “that she had the booboos, or Michael had the booboos and she was going to make them better?”
No one spoke for a moment, thinking through what Michael and Bethany Anne had told them. “I’m not sure we will ever know,” John replied.
Gabrielle shrugged. “Ok, pay up, bitches!” Gabrielle winked at Jacqueline. “I won!”
After five more minutes with no sign of Michael or Bethany Anne, Akio wondered aloud, “Does anyone want to meet Michael’s cat?”
QBS MineLayer Prime
Bobcat looked around the plush interior of the ship they had been given to help oversee the emplacement of the BYPS system around Earth. He, William, Tina, and Marcus had agreed to use the ship on the condition that it had a close approximation of their R2D2 workshop’s setup.
When they arrived on the ship they had found the same table, and two whiteboards.
More importantly, they had a beer fridge, and not one, not two, but three beer kegs.
Plus, Bobcat used the absolute cold of space (using Marcus only knew what technology) to help keep their beverages chilled appropriately.
He was being spoiled, and it felt damned good.
“Permission to come aboard?” William commed, amusement evident as he got out of a Pod in the smaller bay in the back of the ship. Marcus and Tina had come back that morning for the operation after spending some time on the ArchAngel II to check it out before the massive ship left with Bethany Anne. Those two were going back with Bobcat to Federation space.
When Bobcat glanced up, William was walking out of the bay toward their work area. He tapped the button to speak with him. “You didn’t even wait for me to give you permission. I should toss your ass back out the airlock for such insubordination!”
William stopped and turned, and it was then that Bobcat could see he was carrying a case of beer. “Obviously you don’t want my gift.”
“Hold on!” Bobcat jumped up from his seat, leaving William hanging. He had thought that Bobcat was going to come back with a funny line.
Marcus and Tina arrived through a different entrance in time to see William standing in the hallway in confusion as Bobcat ran up to him and pulled the box from his arms with a smile. Then the two started walking back the way Bobcat had come.
“I think we have new beer,” Tina mused. “The guys will be here shortly.”
Marcus leaned in to watch the last moments of the video. “I agree, and let’s get ready to turn on our mousetrap.”
“Mousetrap?” Tina asked, her eyes wide. “You realize this mousetrap is probably one of the most powerful and destructive cross-dimensionally-fueled planetary protection systems anywhere, right?”
“Well,” Marcus said, his tone moving toward teaching, “there is no way for us to know how high the BYPS system really is on the list of most powerful. We are setting it to protect against the likes of our own capabilities, with another twenty percent tacked on top of it. So—”
Tina put a hand up. “That we know of.”
Marcus sniffed. “Well, then we are probably the top seven on the list.”
Tina stared at her husband. “How are you coming up with seven spots when we have only one planet?”
“There are three ever-increasing concentric spheres of protection, any one of which would make it into the top ten. So, if A, B and C represent our spheres of protection, that’s three. Then AB and AC and BC, and finally ABC as a whole.”
Tina stared at him a moment, ignoring the chatting of Bobcat and William behind her. “That’s interesting, and it really brings home how powerful this system is.”
“Yes,” Marcus admitted, running a hand through the mess on the top of his head calle
d hair. “I do hope we don’t screw up bringing it online. I’d hate to be responsible for blowing all of the Queen’s ships up.”
“That isn’t funny at all,” Tina told him as she sat down at a screen and pulled up the areas she needed to focus on.
“But accurate, even if we have multiple safety mechanisms in place,” he said as he sat down next to her and accepted the beer Bobcat had handed him.
Bobcat and William sat down too, and Bobcat cracked his knuckles. “Ok, who wants to drink and blow shit up?”
Tina looked at him darkly.
“Ooookay.” Bobcat looked at his screens. “Dark humor is apparently out this morning.”
Tina didn’t bother with the drinking comment. Alcohol wouldn’t affect their mental abilities at all. In fact, a beer was a good way to keep them de-stressed. If they were drinking, what they were working on couldn’t be so dangerous as to blow up an entire solar system, right?
“Dry Run 001,” Bobcat said. “While we are waiting for all the satellites in Spheres Two and Three to arrive at their designated locations, let’s implement our commands in a dry run with Sphere One. None of these commands are going to engage, and ADAM will create a script for us to run once we have it all worked out.”
The only one of the four who didn’t feel a small trickle of sweat on the back of his neck was Bobcat.
The reason he didn’t feel any sweat was he fully trusted his team to get this done right, and done right the first time.
Besides, how much more dangerous could it be than activating a sun inside an asteroid?
QBS ArchAngel II, Bay 004
The ship slid through the field separating the cold of space from the safety of the bay.
Anthony Brian Binz had turned when he heard the alarm indicating an incoming ship, wondering which of the many vessels running back and forth to Earth this one would be.
His eyes widened when he got a peek at a black nose as it came through the field. The white vampire’s head on the side confirmed what he was seeing.
This was the Shinigami, which meant that the Queen was on this ship—and if scuttlebutt was true, that meant her love was on the ship as well.
Most had heard stories about Michael, and knew how Bethany Anne had been created. Hell, he had even read the authorized biography of the Empress that had been written by Frank Kurns—three times. He had seen Bethany Anne a few times, and if there was ever a woman who would be too much for him…
It was her.
Anthony didn’t mind looking at a pretty woman at all. But knowing the pretty woman could read your mind was just asking for a constant flow of bitching if you were in a relationship.
He could imagine the worst easily.
She would ask, “What do you think of my haircut?”
Anthony would say, “Beautiful” and think “You look like a dork.”
Then he would call his friend for a place to sleep.
Again.
No thanks. He’d keep his thoughts to himself, and be happy someone else was man enough for her.
The bay was completely empty, which was a good thing. The ship took up a massive amount of the space.
After the Shinigami slowly made its way to a stop the back ramp dropped, and Anthony smiled when he saw John Grimes and Darryl Jackson step out and look around. Her guys didn’t trust anything or anyone.
Even when docking on the ArchAngel II.
Soon enough, Anthony had to hide a smile when he heard Bethany Anne bitching about them telling her to stay behind. He had heard that once or twice before, but then he saw something he had never seen the Queen do.
She walked down the ramp holding the hand of a guy in a long coat, who was wearing some sort of hat he didn’t recognize.
It looked good on him.
He walked with a deadly grace, completely unimpressed by his arrival on the ship.
“ArchAngel?” Binz said softly into his lapel mic.
“Yes, Anthony?” the ship’s AI replied.
“May I have permission to video this?”
“One second,” the AI said, but before he could start worrying about the reason for the wait, she came back. “Approved.”
Anthony watched the rest of the passengers come down the ramp. Not only was the famed Michael with them, but if he wasn’t mistaken the group included Akio, Yuko, and Eve as well, plus the Bitches, Gabrielle, and two humans he didn’t know.
Those two were looking around like tourists seeing the big city for the first time.
She was a looker and he was buff and moved like he was either a martial arts master or a vampire. Either way, Anthony worked hard to keep his thoughts to himself.
When Bethany Anne walked past Anthony, who was fifteen feet away, she turned and winked. “Permission granted.”
The group marched away, and Anthony swallowed hard.
His permission to videotape them had come from the Queen herself.
—
There was a sharp rap on Tabitha’s door, and she checked the time before calling, “Who is it?”
The next knock was louder.
“Dammit,” she muttered as she got off her bed and swept into the small receiving room to open the door. “Non-enhanced,” she muttered. It wasn’t this person’s fault they hadn’t been upgraded and so hadn’t heard her ask who it was.
Nor was it their fault that she was impatient to meet with Michael. Bethany Anne had offered her a ride to the planet, but Tabitha hadn’t wanted her first meeting to include everyone else.
She had needed time alone to understand why she felt anxious about meeting him. She had even asked Peter to go away, so he was probably in the practice rooms kicking someone’s ass because his girl had ordered him out.
Dammit, at the moment she couldn’t even get her relationship with Mr. Studly McMuffin right.
Her chances of working through her issues with Michael was probably hexed as well.
If she had a TOM in her system, she’d beg him to kill these damned chemicals racing through her body.
The person on the other side of the door knocked a third time, and Tabitha went from edgy to thoroughly pissed off.
She yanked her door open, snarling, “WHAT?”
And her jaw dropped in shock.
Michael was standing in front of her. His eyes pierced her soul, and she couldn’t think.
“May I come in?” he asked.
Tabitha didn’t move; didn’t even register his request. “You’re really alive,” she whispered. “I don’t think I believed it.”
“Yes,” he agreed, his voice soft, “and I’m standing in this hallway wondering if I need to come back at another time.”
Her eyes opened in alarm. “What?” she said, then jumped to the side and opened the door farther. “Yes, of course!”
It was then that Tabitha noticed Bethany Anne behind Michael, pushing him through the doorway. “You have thirty minutes, then I will be back to grab him.”
Tabitha nodded mutely to Bethany Anne, who reached in and pulled the door out of Tabitha’s hand, closing it gently.
Michael looked around the rather spartan room. It had a small couch, a chair, and a desk with a tablet and screen on it, and she had placed an oval red rug on the floor. “I smell someone I remember,” he said, turning to her. “Who is it?”
Tabitha put a hand to her mouth and rolled her eyes to the ceiling. She and Peter’d had sex on that rug just twelve hours earlier. Her ears turned red as she hung her head.
She was over a hundred and seventy fucking years old, so she shouldn’t be embarrassed to have a sex life.
But this was Michael.
“Uh,” she waved to the couch, “would you like to sit?” When he turned to the couch she said, “Fuck it!” and slammed into him, clutching him around the chest. She started weeping, her shoulders heaving.
Michael looked down in alarm before he understood enough and wiggled one arm free, then the other, to hold her as well. “Tabitha, you didn’t kill me.”
�
�I wasn’t there!” she sobbed. “I should have found out something about their plans, hacked something, done something.” As she cried her head moved back and forth, soaking his jacket. She sniffed as Michael held her tightly. “I’ve talked to everyone and I know I couldn’t have logically accomplished anything,” she whispered, “but you’re Michael.”
“Who?” Michael answered softly. “I was an ass to you.”
Tabitha hiccupped and chuckled. “Yeah, but you respected me. Cared about who I was.”
He tried again. “I abused your skills, Tabitha.”
She shook her head, getting his jacket wetter still. “Michael, you saw me as a person to care about. A person. Tell me that isn’t true!”
Michael tried to think back to when Bethany Anne had saddled him with the young hacker girl. How he had tried to get the sassy geek moved out for another support person, and how she had made it to where he wouldn’t read her mind.
Because he would blush at what she thought about when he tried.
He smiled into her hair. “You got my grudging respect for your abilities, then my admiration for your intelligence, and finally I cared enough to make sure this human girl had the chances she needed in life. So no, I can’t tell you that wasn’t true.”
Tabitha held him tightly enough that it hurt. “You’ve obviously been upgraded,” he said, his voice strained.
“Sorry.” She stepped a little back, running a hand through her hair and wiping the tears from her face. “I’ve been worried that you would tell me it was all in my head.”
“No.” Michael reached over and removed a tear with his thumb. “It wasn’t. In some respects I treated you as a daughter.” He raised an eyebrow. “A pain-in-the-ass daughter, for sure,” he clarified as she nodded her understanding. “But still, for a human to push back at me like you did?” He slowly nodded his head. “A person I cared about.”
At the end of the thirty minutes, there was a knock on the door and Tabitha called, “Come in!”
Bethany Anne put her head in, scanning Tabitha’s face. Although her eyes weren’t red and puffy, it was clear there had been a lot of crying. She glanced at Michael, who seemed comfortable.
This certainly wasn’t the Michael she had left behind. She gave Tabitha a smile. “Sorry.”
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