Moments later, Bethany Anne agreed to let her teams near Earth deal with the alien enthusiasts.
ADAM had reminded her she had a date with the ex-President and his family. This was their third date. She had rescheduled two previous appointments to show him and his family around the Meredith Reynolds and was refusing to reschedule it again. No matter how much other stuff got in the way.
Sometimes it was about the relationships, not the bigger picture.
She excused herself and left the general with team BMW to finish the discussion. She opened the door and nodded to Scott who closed it behind her. She, Asher, Matrix, and Scott walked towards the teleport room where she needed to take an Etheric short cut back inside the Meredith Reynolds to meet the President’s family.
Because the two of them had teenage daughter problems and Bethany Anne thought she might be able to help.
So help she would.
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Active Participation Area
“Beware the Wechselbalg, they bite…” Shun read the sign in front of the first set of doors aloud. The three men could hear the practice, the shouts, the cursing (in multiple languages), the occasional bark, growl and scream coming from the other side of the doors.
Zhu looked at his friends. “You remember the time we got attacked in the early morning?”
“Which time?” Shun turned from the sign to look at his friend. “We were in so many of those damned attacks.”
“Right,” Zhu agreed. “Now, both of you, close your eyes,” he said, speaking in Chinese. His friends did as he asked, not needing to know where he was going with this.
“Go back to one of the hard ones, the times where we heard our men screaming, the Cats attacking from under the brush, or from above. The feeling in your heart, your mind, your muscles when we meshed. The commands we spoke to each other, the knowledge that we weren’t three, but one in defense of each other. The ability to sense what the others knew…”
Jian’s mind took him back to the darkness, the smells, the screams of pain and the screeching of the Cats in the night. The smell of gunpowder, and the occasional pain if he or one of his friends were hurt.
Then, all three felt it again, the calmness in turmoil, the connection.
Their connection.
The reason they were best together, never apart. When the leadership made them separate, they pulled apart the best team, hoping that the three could teach others.
Unfortunately, it never happened.
When they opened their eyes again, they weren’t three friends standing outside of the APA. No, they had been transported back to the constant training in the fine art of staying alive. Zhu stepped back, and Shun strong-armed the door and stepped in.
His two friends right on his heels.
In another area of the battle station, EIs Meredith and Reynolds reviewed the video of the men outside the APA, noted their conclusions, and labeled it a priority for Peter to watch.
“And I’m telling you,” Dwayne told Craig as he pushed up the two hundred twenty-five pounds for a quick set of twenty before resting. “That there is no fucking way we’ll be going back to Earth. So, you’d better start practicing your ass off, Craig, or Peter’s going to…” Dwayne rolled his eyes when he noticed his friend not listening. Someone had come in, and his friend had used that as an excuse to ignore Dwayne’s recommendation to train harder.
It wasn’t that Craig was out of shape, or poorly trained, but Dwayne felt Craig’s ego was a little too large when they had yet to actually test themselves against a non-human enemy. Craig and his Marine team had easily taken out a two-Yollin attack group just two days earlier, and Dwayne was shocked Craig able to get his bulbous head inside the training area now.
It had grown so large from his ego puffing it up.
“Fresh meat…” Craig muttered loud enough for Dwayne to hear.
Making sure his weights were locked correctly—something Craig was supposed to be doing for him, the ass—Dwayne turned his head to note the three Chinese men who had entered. Looked like Marine material to Dwayne, so he grabbed his barbell once more and prepared to start another twenty. He preferred ten sets of twenty, and then three sets of three hundred for ten reps and a final push of five reps at five hundred pounds.
“Yeah, you keep saying that,” Dwayne mumbled. There was something about the three men that caused Dwayne’s hackles to go up slightly. He wasn’t worried they would do anything, but if he had to spar with them, he wouldn’t dismiss them.
“Craig!” a voice shouted from the opposite direction.
Dwayne smirked, Craig had just been caught by Peter. Seems like Craig’s all-knowing awareness was just caught with its pants down.
“Sir!” Craig turned around to see the Guardian’s top commander and Queen’s Bitch bearing down on him, Peter’s brows furrowed in a way that made Dwayne wince in sympathy for his friend.
His friend was going to get an ass chewing he would feel for the next week.
Peter slowed down, and made a point of nodding to the three new faces before he turned to the Wechselbalg. “So, not helping your team member here, I see.” Peter stated as he nodded to Dwayne.
Craig turned to look down at Dwayne, remembering he was supposed to be spotting his friend but had started running his mouth off as his friend continued his reps.
Thus, his friend had set his ass up.
Dwayne raised an eyebrow to let Craig know he was guessing what Craig would like to say and wouldn’t accept Craig trying to blame him for his present predicament.
Well, shit.
Craig looked back at the commander, “Sir, I was watching the fresh me… ah, the ahh possible new recruits for the Marines.”
“Yes,” Peter looked over at the three men. There weren’t yet any Chinese on any of the teams. Peter’s eyebrows furrowed. “Thank you for volunteering, Craig. I’ll note that next time I’m upset with you, that volunteering for something is your preferred way of making things right.” Peter stepped beside the man, who was trying to mentally catch up with what his boss had just said.
He had, however, caught the one word that meant shit was coming his way. “Volunteer, sir?” Craig’s head turned as Peter stepped around him.
“That’s right, Craig. Follow me,” Peter said and continued towards the new faces.
Craig, his previous smirk now absent from his face looked down at Dwayne who was lying on the weight bench. Dwayne mouthed up at him, ‘you are fucked.’
Craig turned to follow Peter. Behind his back, Craig flipped Dwayne off carefully working to keep his smirk from returning where Peter might see it.
Dwayne put the weights up and locked them down all the way. Sitting up, he grabbed a towel and starting wiping the sweat from his face. It wasn’t rare to find Peter down here, but Peter seemed to be on a mission. If Craig had caught his attention, then this was probably Peter taking the opportunity to hone Craig’s skills at the same time as providing an opportunity for others to get the message.
Dwayne noticed another pair of eyes looking curiously at him before nodding towards Craig. Dwayne winked back.
This should be good.
Shun entered the APA and stopped a few feet in, looking around in surprise. This room was significantly larger than he had expected!
It was easily a hundred and fifty feet long by about ninety wide and at least thirty feet high. There were large areas to work out along the sides, but the middle was set up for competitive training and sparring.
Shun noticed the man, no probably Wechselbalg, to his left start to stare at him and his friends as they looked around the Active Participation Area and watched the different people sparring against each other.
In one section, there was a wolf… a rather large wolf, in fact, with two humans holding guns fighting two Yollins.
“Craig!” Shun turned back to his left to see the Guardian’s commander calling to the one who had been looking their way.
Moments later, Peter stepped around this man,
who had turned to follow Peter after a second and headed towards them.
Shun relaxed for just a moment, content. He didn’t need to confirm what was going on around him because he could feel it. Zhu was watching behind and to his left and Jian the opposite side.
Shun was responsible for the front.
Like they were still in the jungles, those many months after Bai’s death when every death of a Cat was celebrated.
Peter arrived and held out his hand, which Shun took.
“Good to see you again, Shun,” Peter nodded to the other two. “Zhu, Jian.”
“I would say the same,” Shun smiled. “But I think we might be in a little pain soon?”
“Guys, I’m sorry, but Todd is delayed over in APA Delta with a large group action,” he explained. “So, you only have me this challenge instead of the two of us.”
Shun made a point of looking around the man at the rather large room. “Larger than this?” he asked Peter.
Peter turned around. “Oh, this is a smaller APA. Not our smallest, of course. This is the second smallest of the four core APA rooms not including some of the large ship’s caverns they’re clearing out.”
“Ship’s caverns?” Zhu asked from behind Shun.
“Sure,” Peter turned back to answer Zhu. “The engineering group is preparing for a ship’s refurbishment to be accomplished inside the Meredith Reynolds. Our version of a dry dock. That way, we can protect some ships if we need to, or finish them inside away from prying eyes. If they aren’t being used for active duty, we can use them ourselves for large troop actions. They can get pretty big.”
“Todd is the commander of the Marines; I’m in charge of the Guardians. Together we work both teams, and if a final decision needs to be made, I’ll decide who makes it. Occasionally, Todd is stronger in certain areas, and I’ll tell him to make the call. If it is within my area of specialty, I make the call.” He pointed a thumb over his shoulder. “This young, strapping volunteer is Craig. He’s a Wechselbalg who is going to test your ability to work as a team.”
“I’m going to fight them, sir?” Craig called out from behind Peter.
Peter winked at Shun before turning towards his soldier. “Why yes, Craig. Are you up to three against one? I mean, I can ask for a couple of volunteers to back you up if you want.”
“May I ask the parameters of the action, sir?” Craig replied, cautious.
“Of course. You will start at one end, them the other. Feel free to use all of your skills, and I’m going to give them the equivalent of what they’re used to using. Strictly standard effective sleep darts, so a couple of shots aren’t going to do much. Now, no killing and anyone yelling ‘out-out-out’ is making themselves a non-combatant.” Peter turned back towards the three men. “If you need immediate medical attention, you need to let us know. Otherwise, you have to stay on the field of battle, understand?”
Shun, Zhu, and Jian nodded.
“So, three outs and the Wechselbalg wins?” Craig asked, not believing his luck. Although he might be concerned if he had to deal with three of Todd’s Marines who had worked with his kind for a while.
Three obvious newbies like this? Freaking piece of cake.
Peter nodded. “Go stretch, Craig,” he told him and watched as Craig turned and jogged over to the far side of the mat.
Everyone had figured out that another match was about to occur, so when they finished their current sparring match, each would step off and cool down, waiting to see what Peter was up to.
Those who had met the three Chinese men in All Guns Blazing or had heard a couple of whispered rumors all worked hard to keep a straight face.
No, let’s be honest, they were trying to not bust out laughing.
It looked like Craig was going to be taught a lesson. Those who didn’t know what was going on were working to trust their obviously crazy commander.
Because allowing a Wechselbalg of Craig’s caliber loose on three humans?
This fight wasn’t going to be pretty for the humans, for sure.
5
EARTH
Around the world, a very sensitive, some might argue beyond sensitive, classified document was reviewed, shared, debated and argued.
In the end, for those who had been granted eyes to see it (it never went across the internet or even classified military networks) all who reviewed the document arrived at the same conclusion.
TQB was leaving soon.
Level Five attempts to acquire TQB technology were approved regardless of their legality. That it was ‘good for the world’ was justification enough.
Two men in a small, nondescript office building in Washington D.C. made a phone call to New York.
One said two words, no names shared, “Mousetrap approved,” then hung up.
TQB would not be leaving with their tech.
At least, not without speaking with them one more time whether the Queen wanted to…
Or not.
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Active Participation Area
Craig looked around the sparring room, smiling externally, but internally his mind raced. While he could be arrogant, always a potential personality problem for any Wechselbalg, he wasn’t a complete idiot.
That Peter had volun-told him to spar with these three men gave him enough of a warning.
Now, Peter was explaining the guns to the trio. These were modified to shoot tranquilizer darts instead of bullets.
Designed to subjugate a Were once hit six or more times. But Craig had an advantage.
He could get hit at least eight times before he would go out. He had been hit nine times two days ago, by the Yollins, but by the time the drugs nailed him, he had been able to win the fight. He was looking forward to this.
He started to remove his clothes, waiting for them to check out the guns. Peter led them to a range and was letting them run through a magazine of darts with no serum.
Craig paid attention, their shooting was good. The second guy in the group was messing with his sights, and Peter gave him another magazine.
The shots from the next magazine were much closer to the center. Craig made note of the shooter, he would have to watch out for that one.
Soon enough, they were given basic protective gear, and were walking towards their side of the mat, some sixty-five feet away.
Then they pointed their guns down and formed a triangle, one man in the front, the other two behind him.
Craig smiled, then changed…
Peter sent the three on their way. He sure hoped Todd was right about this. The Marine commander had worked with these men and said this group of guys was just as good as any of the Marines.
If not better.
Peter had asked and been told this team had been out in the bushes with the Sacred Clan, going toe-to-toe and taking their anger out in blood.
Not like the sparring matches here, but real, in the woods, in the dark of the night, men screaming in pain and agony, holding your shit together, operations.
They would, Todd promised Peter, be fucking amazing.
Looking around for a moment, checking on those that were paying attention to the challenge, Peter sure hoped so. Right now, Craig’s win over the Yollins was affecting his performance and he didn’t need Craig cock-strutting across the floor after wiping up a team a second time.
It was times like this that Peter appreciated having Todd around. He settled down and allowed himself the opportunity to appreciate the experience Todd had.
Peter was going to enjoy this.
Shun looked his rifle over one last time. The additional sighting shots helped him the little bit he needed to feel comfortable with the weapon. Peter explained that for most Weres six darts would be sufficient to mark them a kill. Zhu asked him if that was true for the one they were fighting.
“Now that,” Peter had whispered, “was a smart tactical question, Zhu. Since you thought to ask it, I would recommend doubling the quantity.”
Jian raised an eyebrow at Shun. “T
welve?”
Shun pulled his magazine and made sure it was full, quickly followed by Zhu then Jian. All three rammed the mags home, took deep breaths and focused. A peace came over them.
The peace before the storm of battle.
Craig’s wolf form cut a striking figure as he sniffed the air. His enhanced perception watched for any sign of nerves or discomfort the three men might exhibit when they were facing an obviously supernatural creature.
They glanced over at him as they walked to their side of the mat and then…
Ignored him.
Craig’s lips drew back in a snarl. His nose wasn’t changing what his eyes saw. These three were aware he existed, but they didn’t seem bothered by him at all. Didn’t they understand that death was just a few feet away? No? So fucking be it!
The stupider they are, the more it would hurt for them when he took them out of the game.
If the Yollins were the main course then he was going to have humans for dessert.
Jian whispered, “He’s not that big. I figured he would be as big as a horse.”
“You’re just spoiled fighting the Sacred Clan and some of their older warriors. He’s young, he will grow yet,” Zhu whispered back.
“Always treat your enemy with respect,” Shun added. “Right before you shoot them full of lead.”
“You mean darts?” Zhu asked as they lined up on their side of the mat.
“Whatever works,” Shun said.
Peter had to admit, not one of them so much as flinched when they watched Craig change and start pacing, trying to win the fight through intimidation. So far as Peter was concerned, the score was Team China 1, Craig 0.
Waiting until all three of the team had their headgear in place, Shun nodded. Peter raised his arm and looked around the large group of spectators and back to Craig, who was watching Peter out of the corner of his eyes.
Peter dropped his arm, “GO!”
Kurtherian Gambit Boxed Set Three: Books 15-21, Never Submit, Never Surrender, Forever Defend, Might Makes Right, Ahead Full, Capture Death, Life Goes On (Kurtherian Gambit Boxed Sets Book 3) Page 4