Kael-ven turned towards the body in time to see a large snakelike creature start to wiggle out of the neck. In a flash, Kael-ven’s pistol was up and shot it, blowing it into two pieces. He walked closer, but stopped ten paces away. Bethany Anne walked up beside him.
“Is that the Kurtherian?” he asked her.
“Yes.” They watched as one half of the body slowly stopped wiggling, but the other seemed to be growing longer, fixing its body.
“How many times do I have to shoot it for it to die?” he wondered.
“This is my responsibility now.” Bethany Anne’s face, highlighted on the great monitors overhead, crackled with energy as she walked over to pick up the creature, her hands glowing red. Its pained screams could be heard easily throughout the stadium.
“Next time I seek permission to pass through space to find Kurtherians to attack?” she said to the dying creature, “I suggest you fucking well let me do it!”
With that, there was a flash of energy and the small body was consumed by flame. Then Bethany Anne slapped her hands together to get the residue of the Kurtherian off of them.
She turned around and eyed the Yollins in the stands. “This is the planet Yoll and will be led by a Yollin,” she pointed to Kael-ven. “Your planet is now accepted into the Etheric Empire, and under my personal protection. Whoever tries to attack the Yollin people will answer to me.”
She looked around, her face returning to her normal visage.
“So decrees Empress Bethany Anne.”
Family Residence, Thr’ighillicks, Kolin Caste
There was a pounding on the door upstairs. “Don’t answer that!” hissed their father, busy suiting up. “We’ve still got a few more things to do, and can’t be…”
The door exploded, shrapnel showering the stairs leading down, all of those in the underground room pointing their weapons towards the room’s entrance.
They all looked at each other in concern. Then they heard the unmistakable CLOMP CLOMP CLOMP of armored military.
Thr’ighillick, Clan Leader, bowed his head. They could not take on people in armor, yet. He had two sets for his family, but they weren’t planning on suiting up until confirmation of the King’s death or the alien’s reached their ears.
“My name,” came a voice from above, “Is Kiel. I’m the leader of the Yollin Mercenaries under the command, of Queen, no Empress Bethany Anne. I’m not here to fight you. I’m merely here to tell you that this compound will be hit with multiple one and two-pound pucks within a few minutes. Anyone still in this compound will be killed.”
CLOMP CLOMP CLOMP. “You have been warned,” he called out one last time.
Clomp clomp clomp…
The father looked around at his family, looking back at him earnestly, fear in their eyes. “Children, leave first! Go, don’t question, just go!”
The Thr’ighillick family was the only family that took Kiel’s warning to heart. Every one of them made it out of their compound safely.
Kiel gave the other two families till the last of the Thr’ighillicks left and then ordered all three compounds pucked.
Those in the stadium watched as the three families’ houses exploded, rock and dust tossed high up into the air.
The underlying promise was there.
What Empress Bethany Anne decreed, happened.
Hours later, King’s Palace Grounds, Yoll
Bethany Anne walked along the row of dead and stuffed heads, asking for a translation how they had died and offering a prayer for each of the fallen. At the end, she told Kael-ven, “Give these all a proper burial, and a cemetery for those in the future to visit. In recognition of the evil King Yoll brought to all people, not just Yollins.”
“May I ask why you are not destroying these grounds?” Kael-ven asked. Both he and Bethany Anne aware of the video cameras on them, this walk through the late King’s palace on display for all of Yoll to see.
“Yes, of course,” she answered, and turned to look at Kael-ven. “On my world, we have monuments to those who have done both beneficial things and for places where horror was visited.” She waved around herself. “In the future, and there will come a time in your future, when those not yet living will question the validity of history. Whether we are in fact rewriting it ourselves. This palace,” she pointed down, “will be kept as a monument proving it happened. There was a time in Yollin history when it was led by an evil being, one that used the Yollin people for nefarious purposes.”
Bethany Anne looked into the camera. “Your people are part of the Etheric Empire now. There are seven Kurtherian Clans that have bent their hands toward evil and have done so on a cosmic scale. One of the Five tried sending out emissaries to uplift species to help them prepare to fight.”
“This Kurtherian found humans. Now, we humans will take the universe back from the Kurtherians and we won’t stop by just helping your people. No, we will fight until we are dead, or there isn’t a Kurtherian threat we can find.”
“Welcome to the Etheric Empire. Buckle up, because now the Kurtherians have both humans AND Yollins to deal with, and I expect your very best.” With that, Bethany Anne disappeared.
“What?” The startled cameraman said. The news reporter jumped forward and stuck her microphone in front of Kael-ven.
“Where did the alien Empress go?” she asked, looking at Kael-ven, still in his armor, his pistols evident, and then back to the camera.
“Bethany Anne?” he shrugged. A strange movement and the reporter asked him what his shoulders moving meant. “What, the shrugging? Oh, it is a movement the humans use to suggest they do not know. Once you are around humans long enough, you pick up some mannerisms.”
“Like this cursing?”
Kael-ven grinned. “Yes, that is a particularly nasty habit you will pick up around the Queen, sorry, Empress, if you spend enough time around her.”
“Would you say that you spent too much time around her and now are nothing but a puppet for her?” the reporter asked.
Kael-ven shrugged. “Answer this for me,” he looked into the camera. “Just seven solar turns ago, you knew that Yoll was the rightful King of all Yollins, that Yollin’s future was the subjugation of other races, that the Caste System was what the Holy Texts decreed.”
“Now,” he continued, still looking into the camera. “You know that King Yoll was a lying alien Kurtherian, his Yollin head shot off by me, the Kurtherian inside him killed by Empress Bethany Anne. If she wanted to subjugate Yoll, she could have dropped rocks on the planet, or destroyed our fixed space stations, killing untold millions without lifting a finger.”
He turned to the reporter. “Did you see her ship, the ArchAngel?” She nodded. “Have you seen the battle footage of the ArchAngel in the middle of our fleet?” Another nod. “So, you tell me, does she need a puppet?”
The reporter caught herself shaking her head no before she realized this ex-Captain was too damned charismatic by half. “So, you have no idea where she is?”
Kael-ven shrugged again, a smile on his face.
“Bethany Anne is always watching.”
All Guns Blazing, three days after the King’s Challenge
Peter walked into the bar, seeking out the team that beat him on Yollin ship 21. He smiled, they weren’t off at their own table alone this time, but rather in the middle of a large group of Guardian Marines.
The group noticed Peter walking their way and almost immediately straightened up. “Sorry Cap,” one of the men said. “Just blowing off a little steam.”
“Men, the only time I worry about what you’re doing in here is if I get a call from Bobcat, William or Marcus. They don’t say anything, I won’t either. They get pissed? Well, I wouldn’t suggest pissing off my friends, got me?”
A couple of those in the group blanched, not realizing that the owners of the bar were Peter’s personal friends.
Peter looked at all of them. “All I’m here to say is the team that attacked Yollin 21’s power rooms and shut down th
e fleet cloaking won the bet.” He looked at the three Chinese men. “And specifically Team Empress Cats’ blowout success was instrumental, so here.” Peter tossed a bag and Shun caught it, “is five ounces of gold to make sure the beer and liquor flows freely. That’s from my bank account, not the Guardians. A bet was struck, and you guys won the bet. Keep your heads on if you have duty in the next twenty-four hours. If you have to use a nanite pack to cure a hangover, your ass is grass, got me?”
There were plenty of ‘yes sirs!’ as Peter walked back out of the bar. He was sure the tablets were already full of messages for their friends and team members to come join them.
Tonight, All Guns Blazing was going to be a raucous party.
Team BMW Storage Cavern
“That’s a lot of shit,” William looked at all of the stills and equipment they had bought in Germany and had shipped up at the last minute in temperature and humidity controlled units. Marcus had come to find him and get his help after he heard a noise in the large holding cavern Bethany Anne let them use.
“Meredith, can we get some more light in here?” William asked the EI, looking around.
“Three minutes, William. I’ll move some from another cavern,” the EI responded from his tablet.
William turned back to Marcus. “Okay, what do you think you heard?” he asked.
“I know it sounds weird, William,” Marcus admitted, “and in this cavern, the noises are messed up, but it sounded like a ghost.”
“A ghost?” William asked, looking both ways and then behind himself. William thought back to when Marcus had interrupted him in the bar. He remembered Marcus said ‘something, something, something… noise in the caverns where we’re storing the German brewing equipment’ and had agreed to help his friend.
“Fuck me I hate ghosts,” he whispered. If he had known what the hell Marcus was talking about, he would have told Bobcat he needed to come out here. Now, William was in a hundred and fifty fucking thousand square feet of ghost-infested space and he was trying not to run right over Marcus and get the hell out of here.
Because that shit would be on the Meredith Reynolds video sharing site in a damned second, before he could make it back to All Guns Blazing. Marcus, lying on the ground grievously wounded when William had bulldozed him over, would call ahead and have it playing on the video monitors in the bar.
He would have to kill Marcus for the plan to work, and blame it on the ghosts.
Soon enough, Meredith had extra lights in the cavern and they could see the pallets of product they had purchased.
Some, it looked like, had been left outside back on Earth, with dust on them and a little rust. Those would have to be cleaned before they could be used. Everyone who had a recipe for Coke was screaming for Team BMW to get their shit together so they could try out their recipe.
That included, amazingly enough, a pair that had neither arms nor legs of their own. William wasn’t sure what TOM and ADAM were going to do about that little hiccup in their plans.
Then, William heard the sounds.
“Did you hear it?” Marcus looked around. “Although that sounded clearer.” Marcus looked over at William who had a hand over his eyes. “What is it?”
William rubbed his face and looked around. “We might need to grab a knife to cut plastic.” He started down between the pallets before he called out over his shoulder, “Marcus, I sure hope you like kittens.”
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, six weeks after the King’s Challenge
Barnabas arrived in deck 07’s secondary conference room. It was almost as far away from Bethany Anne as one could get, without going into the areas of the base still under construction.
He had received a special request from Ecaterina to meet her and Nathan here, they promised him information, but they wanted to ask a favor.
When he arrived, he checked quickly and confirmed it was just Ecaterina and Nathan inside the room. Meredith opened the doors; the almost silent swoosh was pleasant to him.
Both Ecaterina and Nathan were worried, that was obvious. He was tempted to read them, but Bethany Anne told him not to be doing that without her permission or unless he had grave concerns.
Ecaterina wiped a tear that had been running down her face and stepped over to Barnabas. “Thank you for coming.”
“What is it?” he asked, looking from Ecaterina to Nathan and then back in confusion. “What’s happened?”
“We need you to judge us, and then help us,” Nathan admitted.
Barnabas stayed quiet a moment. “Tell me.”
“We,” Ecaterina stopped and looked over to Nathan and then back at Barnabas. “We uh, we kind of stole the Pepsi recipe before we left Earth.”
He stared at her for a moment. “Okay.” Since he himself and half of Bethany Anne’s team had been working on stealing the Coca-Cola recipe, this wasn’t too bad, yet.
Nathan rubbed his head.
“How does this require judgment on you two?” Barnabas asked.
“Well,” Nathan blew out a breath. “That’s just it. I’ve found out through backchannels…”
“Backchannels?” Barnabas asked.
“He’s setting up Bethany Anne’s Alien Intelligence unit, so call it spies and bad people,” Ecaterina explained.
Barnabas looked at Ecaterina and then back at Nathan. “We’ll have to work together.”
“Don’t I know it,” Nathan agreed. “So, I was hoping you might do us,” he pointed back and forth between himself and Ecaterina, “a solid and help us forget or confuse us about who was responsible for the Pepsi recipe being stolen.”
“Why?” Barnabas asked. Making the two of them forget they knew about a Pepsi recipe, not always easy, but confused about a Pepsi recipe? He could do that.
Barnabas just looked at Nathan, waiting him out.
Nathan looked at the ceiling before turning his attention back to Barnabas. “Because it was stolen by a criminal and is now being made,” he pointed towards the planet Yoll, “on the planet as a form of illegal moonshine.”
Barnabas froze a moment before a small smile played on his face. “Am I to understand that the two of you,” he pointed at them, “stole the Pepsi recipe from Earth, brought it through the Annex Gate and then got it stolen here in Yollin space? Now, someone. presumably the bad guy, has sold the recipe and it is now a form of moonshine?”
Nathan pursed his lips. “Yes, that’s it in a nutshell.”
Barnabas started laughing. “That is Karma at its finest.”
“What?” Ecaterina asked. “You are laughing. You think Bethany Anne would be okay with this?”
“Oh,” Barnabas shook his head to dissuade her rash hope. “No. She would be furious that Pepsi made it past the Annex Gate and Saint-Payback would be the Bitch riding your backs for a dozen years. She would have a problem forgiving you every single time it came up. No, you two are forever in a bad place as the two responsible for Pepsi over here.”
“Oh,” Ecaterina’s eyes lowered. She looked at Nathan, her face resigned. “We’re going to have to tell her.”
“Oh, I didn’t say I wouldn’t help you,” Barnabas interrupted and pointed to her mate. “As Nathan has pointed out, I could use his help for my Rangers and I need him in one piece and functional to help me.”
“That would be nice,” Nathan agreed. “It’s kind of funny, but I don’t need the constant beatings in sparring class for the next ten years.”
“True.” Barnabas rubbed his jaw. “Okay, I can confuse your memories of who stole the Pepsi recipe, but it is going to erase memories around that event as well. What did you do next after you stole the Pepsi?”
Ecaterina answered, “Our special last date together on Earth, at the pizza place Nathan took me, how come?” There was worry in her eyes.
“How long were you there?” Barnabas continued his line of questioning.
“An hour, then all hell broke loose and we had to deal with getting back.” Nathan answered.
“Because that memory is
going to be fuzzy, and you might lose it as well.” Barnabas answered. There must be Justice, and fudging those memories would have to be enough.
“Oh,” Ecaterina bit her lip, “Okay.”
Nathan just nodded.
Five minutes later, Barnabas left the room, allowing the two a moment to finish the suggestion he planted in their minds as to why they were now in there away from everyone.
My Empress?
Yes? she replied, instantly.
Barnabas took a right turn down a hallway. I’ve solved the Pepsi case.
It was Team BMW, wasn’t it? she replied.
I told you, I would solve it, administer appropriate punishment, and that would be the final result. We both know you are too emotional on this subject to deal with it.
He could almost feel Bethany Anne’s annoyance through his connection.
Do you disagree? he asked.
No, she grumped, you’re right. I feel like we’re back in the time when I kept telling you everyone needed to die, just to make my point.
Ah, good times.
Liar.
Well, considering everything we’ve accomplished, the fact that a drink recipe has made it over to this side of the galaxy isn’t the biggest deal.
Well, I guess not, she agreed. Besides, do we still have the coriander crops properly hidden?
Yes.
Good, make sure we sell the oil on the black market for a huge profit. We’ll use the coriander oil trade to help fund some of the agricultural budget for the next couple of years.
Yes, my Empress.
It was Ecaterina and Nathan, wasn’t it? she snuck into the conversation right before he dropped.
Still not telling, Barnabas answered and disconnected their conversation, a small smile on his face.
He was sure he had blocked any information about the guilty party traveling across the connection back to her.
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 23