That didn’t work too well with hundreds of planets and trillions of people. Hell, even when you focused on those important in the Etheric Empire, Barnabas was typically lower on the list.
“So, you manage the esteemed Ranger Corps of the Etheric Empire,” he nodded his head toward Tabitha, “and the infamous Ranger Two?”
Peter coughed, holding a hand over his mouth. Barnabas turned to look at Tabitha who smiled and shrugged. “So I’m ‘infamous.’ Better to be infamous than out-famous,” she paused a moment, “like you.”
The captain shook his head. “You have my deep respect for your patience already, Barnabas.”
Barnabas turned back to the captain. “Yes, I appreciate your sympathy. My Empress does not realize the task she gave me when Ranger Two was moved onto my team.”
“You didn’t get a vote?”
“Who needs a vote for this?” Tabitha asked, waving a hand up and down herself. “It is an obvious solution to almost everything.”
Peter stayed remarkably quiet.
“If there was ever a moment when my Empress abused her powers,” Barnabas left the comment hanging.
The two leaders turned back to each other and Barnabas continued, “We are following up on another of our Empress’ subjects, one named—”
“Baba Yaga?” asked Captain D221, nodding his head. “She was here.”
“Did she kill anyone?” Peter asked, and the captain cocked his head. “Anyone who didn’t deserve it?” he amended
“She put one of my men on mental leave,” the captain replied.
“I’d like to apologize,” Barnabas said.
Captain D221 waved a hand. “He needed it. He was a bit like Ranger Two here, and needed a few moments of reality.”
Tabitha’s head pivoted back to the conversation. “Hey, I represent that remark!”
“Of course you do,” Barnabas answered. “Very well.”
Tabitha looked at Peter, who was staring at her. “I can’t believe I traveled this many light years to be harassed.”
“Your reputation precedes you.” Peter shrugged. “A tart mouth will be replied to in kind.”
Her eyes narrowed. “That’s very philosophical of you.”
“Wait until I find some tart fruit,” he replied enigmatically, before his eyes returned to studying the police building and those in it.
Tabitha returned her focus to Barnabas and the captain.
“So,” Barnabas continued, “he is okay?”
“Oh, he will be fine. It was a painless reality check for him,” the captain answered. “He is a Shrillexian.” This time it was Barnabas who winced. “I see you know the type?”
Barnabas nodded. “Yes, I have another Ranger who is a Shrillexian. You have my respect. They are challenging.” He cocked his head to the side. “You say she didn’t harm anyone?”
The captain put his hands back on his terminal and typed in a few commands. “She killed a Kurtherian, if that matters.”
“I’m sure the Kurtherian was unhappy,” Barnabas temporized, “but we aren’t.”
“Good.” The captain folded his arms across his chest. “Frankly, she went out of her way to save a rather low level criminal.”
Tabitha breathed out a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank God,” she said as Peter reached over and squeezed her shoulder in support.
“I have to tell you, this Witch is scary.” He reviewed his report once more. “She did leave behind some damage that a few owners are complaining about.
Tabitha interrupted, “What is the total?”
While the captain turned back to his terminal, Achronyx answered. “A total of fifty-two thousand three hundred and seven credits, of which about thirty-seven thousand credits were tacked on, so the insurance companies paid to get items fixed which Baba Yaga had nothing to do with.”
The captain explained, “Probably about thirty thousand credits, if you ignore the padding. I’ll have to investigate the padding, mind you.”
Barnabas opened his mouth, but Tabitha spoke. “I’ll pay it,” she offered. “Hell, if it will help your team I’ll even pay the padding on top. Just tell those businesses they need to support the local police next year.”
“Is this you personally, or the Empire?” the captain asked. “Do you have a budget?”
“Nooo,” Barnabas drawled. “This would be out of her own pocket.”
“It’s not like I need it, and it would make me feel a little better to help,” Tabitha told them both. “Would this clear up your investigation?”
The captain shrugged. “Yes, although she will have a few citations, including one for touching a police officer in the line of duty.” He shrugged again. “He deserved it, but that doesn’t mean I can let it go.”
“I suggest you offset that with community service if you ever see her again,” Barnabas told him. “If you go for more, you will lose more than you gain.”
“That bad?”
“She has the power to level your city,” he told the captain, “but to be truthful I doubt she would do something like that.”
“Barnabas, she isn’t a cold-blooded killer,” Tabitha said.
“Oh, she can be very cold-blooded about it,” Peter retorted.
Tabitha said, “Not helping, Peter.”
“Be honest, Tabitha,” he replied. “I didn’t say the person wouldn’t deserve it, but she doesn’t have to be angry to enact justice. To others, that seems fairly cold-blooded.”
As the two started arguing the merits of cold-blooded killing, Barnabas and the captain finished their conversation. A minute later the three of them were led out of the police station.
“Where to now?” Tabitha asked as they walked toward the local transit station to take them back to the spaceport.
“I got word from Stephen. We need to head to Devon.”
“Oh, goody.” Tabitha sighed and kicked a small rock down the sidewalk. “Let’s go to a planet on the ass-end of nowhere and pop its pimples.”
“Baba Yaga was spotted there just four nights ago,” Barnabas finished.
Tabitha held up an arm and whistled, then stepped into the traffic and pulled out her badge to slow down a taxi. “We need to get to the spaceport,” she told the driver as she opened the back door.
The two men hurried to jump into the front and back seats of the taxi before Tabitha left them behind.
“You know we still have a queue for takeoff, right?” Barnabas asked. “It isn’t like taking the public transport would have put us behind.”
Tabitha ignored him. “Achronyx? Get with Space Traffic Control and jump that queue. No, don’t use that excuse. Yeah, use E42, that should work. I’ll have Peter fake it.” She stopped talking with her EI and looked at Barnabas. “I have ways, young Padawan, I have ways,” was all she said to him as she patted Peter on the shoulder.
“I hope you act well,” she told him.
Planet Ugaloff
Baba Yaga, without most of her armor, peeked back into the control room she had pulled the Leath out of and dropped the small grenades in.
It was a mess.
She palmed her Jean Dukes and stepped into the room. “Where is everyone?” she wondered. She counted at least seven dead, and one who had a heartbeat, but he was bleeding out too quickly to last much longer without help.
She ignored him.
As she walked around the room, she saw that many of the video monitors had been destroyed.
TOM commented, I suspect they left the room when it suddenly erupted in explosions.
“Good tactical move,” she admitted. “ADAM, are you in yet?”
>>Yes, mostly. One of the computers is giving me trouble.<<
“Which one?” she asked, looking around.
>>How am I supposed to know? It isn’t like there is a map.<<
Look for something that is a different color, TOM suggested.
Bethany Anne walked up and down the rows, stepping over bodies, body parts and splatters of something she would rather not think
about. She pulled down her helmet’s visor. “Please vent this air and filter everything else. I don’t want any smell, ADAM,” she commanded as she stopped and looked under a field-expedient desk. “This one?”
Yes, TOM answered. Now, show me the keyboard and start touching the buttons I tell you to touch.
“Left top third one,” TOM began, and Bethany Anne started typing using his commands.
Some two hundred keystrokes later ADAM interrupted, >>Thank you. I’m in.<<
“What were you two doing?” Baba Yaga asked.
He needed a port opened with which he could communicate with the computer. He knows the Kurtherian language, but with no port he had no access.
The monitor in front of them started scrolling symbols.
STOP! TOM commanded, and the symbols stopped moving.
>>Press the top button on the right,<< ADAM told her.
After pressing the button, the screen dissolved to a video and she was face to face with a Leath. “Zill?” it said before realizing it wasn’t looking at its teammate.
“Hello,” Baba Yaga grinned, “two down, six more to go.”
“You,” said the Leath, leaning forward. “The elusive Witch. I see Zill has failed,” she hissed.
“Zill and Gorllet,” Baba Yaga answered.
The Leath waved a hand. “My baggage,” she answered. “You haven’t been playing against my best. One was mental, the other cocky.”
“That is the definition of Kurtherian,” Baba Yaga replied. “You are all cocky. You should be helping others, but instead you play gods and then use your people against each other.”
“Witch, you are too simple to understand the needs of the cosmos and how we Kurtherians fit in. For you to even try would be like a spaceship touching the sun,” she said, her eyes looking into the video. “Instantly vaporized.”
Wow, so humble, TOM remarked.
“It doesn’t matter what you believe. I’m coming for you,” Baba Yaga hissed. Her eyes started glowing brighter, her smile malevolent. “When you are awake, I’ll be coming for you. When you sleep, I’ll be getting closer. When you need to rest, I will be around the corner.”
“You are a pitiful excuse for a sentient being,” the Leath scoffed. “Your warnings are as troubling as the effort to decide what to wear in the morning. It is inconsequential to the beauty of…”
Baba Yaga ignored her ramblings.
ADAM, can you track this message?
>>No. I have tried.<<
Baba Yaga pulled out a pistol and aimed it at the screen, and her eyes narrowed. “See you soon,” she hissed and shot the monitor, destroying it. She holstered her weapon and turned. “It was a boring conversation anyway.”
A step later she disappeared.
Leath Military Ship, Unknown location in the same system as the Planet Ugaloff
Levelot’s face was impassive when the video cut off and she reached up, shutting down the connection. She issued commands to pull up Zill’s transmissions and watched the video she could see. She was able to see the arm that pulled Zill out of their dimension. It took her a bit of searching to find the fight on the plains.
She stood up and pulled her robes around her, then walked out of the room and down a passage, finally entering a formal meeting room with a round table. After sitting down, she pressed a button to summon her peers.
She said nothing as they arrived over the next few minutes, each taking the spot he or she would have in their chambers on Leath.
When everyone had assembled, she spoke.
“Zill is no more.” She waited for a moment, but no one said anything. “We will need to take this effort a little more seriously. When she fights us one-to-one, she has been successful. She shows no hints that she is willing to stop this effort to track us down.”
Behome’t, Second of the Seven—now Six—said, “Do you believe her capable?”
“I have reviewed the video I could access, and she is unfortunately very capable. We will need to limit her Etheric capabilities. She has the advanced technology of the Etheric Empire, and I am sure she draws from their people as well. Her Empress has commanded her to kill us. I am confident in saying she will obey her Empress unto death.” Levelot looked around the table, “Which will be our responsibility to implement.”
“Physically?” Chrio’set, Fifth of the Six, asked.
“Yes,” Levelot agreed. “We have used cut-outs long enough. It is time for us to prove our own ascendance.” They all considered what the new commands would do to their existing calculations.
“Two must go,” Chrio’set suggested.
Behome’t shook his head. “Three,” he told them, “and we need to change our bodies. It is time we drop these shells. They are limiting us.”
Levelot nodded her acceptance of Behome’t’s suggestion. “Three it is. Behome’t, you will be Prime for yourself, Teret and Chrio’set.”
The two other female Leath plugged the assumptions into their own calculations, and the six stayed silent until both nodded their agreement.
“Take this ship. We will take the secondary. It is time to power up the K’galeth.” She pushed her chair back. “Let us know your plans, and we will come back to you. We will work on the ship as you set your trap. Phraim-’Eh will ascend,” she finished, and the other five replied in kind.
“Phraim-’Eh will ascend!”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Planet Devon, Lerr’ek’s offices
The Zhyn looked at his three visitors. “There is not much I can tell you about the Mistress’ present location.”
There were five present in his office. Lerr’ek noticed the one called Peter had squared off against Nock, both keeping each other front and center.
He sighed. “Nock?” The Krenlock turned, still keeping two of his eyes on Peter. “These are the Mistress’ people. I have spoken with Stephen to confirm their bona fides.”
“They are dangerous,” Nock said slowly and carefully.
“I imagine they are deadly,” Lerr’ek agreed. “However, so is my Mistress.” He turned to the dark-haired human. “Barnabas, do you agree to hold me safe so long as I do nothing to your people?”
“Of course,” Barnabas agreed. “I am here for information related to Baba Yaga and what she has done here on this planet. We are going to have to answer to the Empress—”
“Why?” Lerr’ek asked. He put up a hand. “Wait, I must call Stephen back.”
Barnabas turned and raised an eyebrow to Tabitha, who surreptitiously put a finger to her head and tapped it, raising an eyebrow back.
“Nock,” Lerr’ek called, “I will need you to step out for privacy.”
Nock looked reluctant to move.
Peter spoke up. “I’ll go with you,” he told the creature. “You are fucking fascinating,” Peter told him as he walked toward the office door, Nock following him. “You are a walking badass dinosaur guard.” He turned the knob and opened the door, looking over his shoulder to confirm Nock was following him. “Do your people ever serve in the military?” he asked as the door shut behind them.
Lerr’ek continued once the door had shut. “I am informed by Stephen you both know that the Empress and the Witch are the same person?”
“Yes,” Barnabas answered, “but I am surprised you know this.”
“I know only what the Mistress tells me,” Lerr’ek answered. “She is working to clean up Devon.”
Tabitha spoke up. “Wait, the Empress or Baba Yaga?”
“Did we not just say they are the same person?” Lerr’ek asked.
“Some people question if Baba Yaga is doing things the Empress would not,” Barnabas answered.
“Once again, I fail to see the difference. They are the same person.”
“Perhaps we have a Zhyn misunderstanding,” Barnabas said. “Humans minds have the ability to parse themselves and work with a subset. When this happens, it is feasible one will receive a different set of results than if one had the entire brain functioning as a whole
.”
Lerr’ek considered what Barnabas was saying. “You believe that only part of the Empress’ brain is in control?”
“We don’t know,” Barnabas answered. “We have recent proof that she might not be as out of control as we fear.”
“She isn’t,” Tabitha muttered. “I know it.”
“Did she kill innocents here?” Barnabas asked, “and what was she trying to accomplish?”
“She is changing the political makeup of the planet,” Lerr’ek answered. “There are a lot of politically powerful people who have used their position of influence and status to become independently wealthy at the expense of those they govern.”
“Well,” Tabitha said, “they’re fucked.”
“Indeed.” Barnabas thought back to his own experience back on Earth, when Bethany Anne constantly argued with him about justice and punishment.
He would suggest a lesser penalty, but she would always ask for death.
It took a while for him to realize she was not as bloodthirsty as he had feared. She had been playing him the whole time.
He rubbed his jaw and asked, “What did she do?”
“Killed all the completely corrupt and any who ignored her warnings to stand aside, and shipped off a couple dozen to another world, telling them not to come back.”
Tabitha was surprised. “Really?”
“Or they would die,” he smiled, his Zhyn mouth full of teeth.
Tabitha pulled a chair from a table next to Barnabas, and the squeeeeechhh made him wince. She sat down and looked at him. “That sounds like Bethany Anne, not Baba Yaga.”
“She also scared the shit out of a complete bar full of patrons when she wanted a Coke, and put four in the hospital for more than a night. One died.”
Barnabas looked at Tabitha, raising an eyebrow. “For a Coke?”
Tabitha chewed on her lip. “The one who died, was he a criminal?”
“Not at the time, but his spouse came in later and spit on his dead body.”
Tabitha turned back to Barnabas. “Bet there’s a story there,” she said, tapping her head. “She checked him out and delivered justice.”
“Bethany Anne doesn’t do that,” Barnabas reminded her.
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