The alien on the screen stared at the Skaines, her voice full of anger. “I can take my men and any slaves you have, and your captain will stand trial. Or I will kill you all, and not rest until every Skaine I ever meet dies.”
“That would be impossible,” Gyrm told the woman. He was trying to stay calm, doing anything to keep her talking as everyone on the bridge continued to stare at the screen. “You are talking about genocide.”
“I’ll consider it a new challenge for my long life, Skaine,” she spat. “I’ll consider it a fucking stretch goal.”
“What would your precious leader think about this?” Gyrm asked.
The alien’s smile as she leaned away from the camera did nothing to alleviate his concern.
The screen blanked for just a second, and a new alien face replaced the first. This one, however, was older. She looked around the bridge of the ship as if she could see everything and everyone.
Her eyes turned the same glowing red as the first alien’s, but this time lines of energy seemed to reach out like bolts. Her voice was harsh, but unmistakable.
“My name,” the alien said, her red eyes flicking to all on the bridge, “is Bethany Anne. I am the leader, the Empress of the Etheric Empire. The Skaines WILL stop slaving, not only in my Empire but everywhere my people go. You think the Skaines are a worry to me?”
Her laugh chilled Gyrm’s blood.
“You cockroaches need to know that I’m already at war with the Kurtherians. I just personally killed one with my hands. If you think I give a Gott Verdammt rat’s ass about you or any people who enslave others?” She chuckled, but there was no mirth to it. “Give me a fucking break.”
Gyrm swallowed. His people’s power had been enough to scare most groups into at least leaving them alone, but if this alien was already fighting the Kurtherians?
Just how crazy was this alien whore?
“Gyrm, your life is fucking forfeit for slaving. You have been judged by my Ranger, and your people are already dying by my Ranger’s men.”
“It is time for you to accept your death!” she commanded.
Gyrm smiled for a microsecond before blood exploded outward along with a metal sword from his chest, his blood soaking his robes as he tried to choke out a sound.
Hirotoshi, pistol in his left hand, right still holding the sword’s hilt, looked around the bridge. The bridge crew had been paying attention to the alien on the screen, so they hadn’t seen the alien kill those protecting the bridge and stab their captain.
He had their attention now, however.
Hirotoshi slowly pulled out the blade, allowing Gyrm to choke twice more before the sword released him to fall forward and slowly slide off the captain’s chair to hit the floor.
“Who wishes to die next?” the face on the screen asked.
Tabitha, tears tracking down her face, accepted the four freed slaves aboard the Achronyx and pointed them to seats. Fortunately, all of them were at least humanoid in appearance.
Two were Torcellans, so she now knew better why the Skaines had asked that the first time.
“Two Skaine ships have blasted out of hiding, bearing two by three-two-five,” Achronyx informed her.
“Can we catch them?” Tabitha asked, her voice calm.
“Not without finishing here in two minutes and leaving everything behind.”
“Then we aren’t catching them. They will bring the message to their people,” Tabitha told her EI. “We aren’t leaving Shin’s body behind for anything. Make sure we aren’t disturbed. You have my permission to warn anyone away, then defend us until this is over.”
She paused a moment. “Is that understood, Achronyx?”
“Understood, Ranger Tabitha.” The EI waited a moment before asking, “What is the message you are hoping the Skaines understand?”
Tabitha watched as Hirotoshi, Katsu, and Ryu solemnly carried what they could pull together of Shin’s body back onto the Achronyx. She waited for the three men to get aboard before shutting the airlock and confirming everything was closed off between the two ships. “Command the Skaine ship to disengage. Command the smaller Skaine ship to head back to the commercial Gate with the captives. Provide them control when they reach the outer rings. If they turn around against my commands, blow the charges. Let’s see if they can curse me while they suck vacuum.”
Tabitha headed toward her men. “Achronyx, the message they need to understand is that a new Ranger has come to town, and she has the full support of her Empress. The Skaines are on notice: we don’t fuck around, and we won’t surrender our ethics to their slaving efforts.”
The soft padding of her steps sounded in the hallway as she walked. “And this Ranger will never surrender to a Skaine, ever.”
Straiphus System, Yollin Superdreadnought Empires Broken
Yollin Captain Drak-ehl walked onto his bridge. His crew were doing their best to make sure there were no surprises ahead of them as they made their way through the deep dark with their small group of ships.
One of their secrets, withheld even from Yollin people, was that a superdreadnought was big not only because of their weapons capabilities, but because they could create their own Gates.
They would be used for sneak attacks across the lightyears of space.
Captain Drak-ehl walked to his captain’s couch and sat down, hooking his legs into his couch as was proper when on a mission.
They were on a mission, no matter how calm it was on the bridge at this time. “Threats?” he asked.
“None, sir,” Head Threats Specialist Ahg called over her shoulder. “We are within two jumps of the home planet, and we show nothing amiss so far.”
“Who would have known,” Intelligence Officer Meg’lock grunted, his voice deep, “that all our practicing to attack our own system would reap so much benefit?”
Captain Drak-ehl smiled. “Yes, preparing for our own downfall will help us take out this foreign intruder.” He looked at his friend. “Anything new from the video review E’Kolorn provided?”
Meg’lock shook his head. “No, just be prepared for a sneaky-assed alien group who doesn’t play like we are used to. They will attack with tiny particles accelerated at high speeds. We think we have the ability to protect all our ships within the shields of the Empires Broken until we are close enough to attack their base and allow the support ships to breach their outer defenses.”
Captain Drak-ehl’s mandibles tapped each other softly as he considered the options. They needed to wait for the ships in the Straiphus System to pull the main weight of the alien’s power out of the home system.
Then the trap would be closed, and the final battle for Yoll would be underway.
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, R&D Labs
“Yes, that is true,” Bethany Anne told E’Kolorn as he picked up the one-foot-high pyramid-looking device from the table. “We call them ‘pucks,’ Mainly because our first generation looked like hockey pucks from our own world. We have increased the size, and therefore the utility when we deploy these.”
E’Kolorn moved the heavy object around in his hands. “Does the point provide a strategic advantage beyond what moving an object to a fraction of light speed already provides?”
Jean Dukes, who was standing to the side, answered, “At this point—no pun intended—the tip of the structure hasn’t been shown to provide any additional or critical abilities. However, the only large-scale implementation has been against Yollin ships, so we haven’t had a large enough test set.”
E’Kolorn set the massive pyramid down. “Where do you think it will be useful?”
“Skins of ships, or building demolition—anything we first need to puncture. We have weapons on our planet where we use friction to liquefy the contents of a weapon. The front of the projectile punches the hole, then the liquefied and molten contents are sprayed inside the target.”
E’Kolorn thought about that for a moment. “I see…similar to how we punch our people into a vessel in space for ship actions.”
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“Very much so, yes, except we wouldn’t target a large area.”
The Yollin looked at the Empress. “Why show me these, and all of the other tools at your disposal?” He pointed at the advanced armor behind them. “Personally, I would love a suit of that armor, but I’m not sure of your intent.”
Bethany Anne pursed her lips. “Do you remember when I had to stop back in the large manufacturing presentation and stand still while I spoke to the screen off to the side?”
“That would have been hard to miss. Your men made sure no one approached you, but it seemed unnecessary when the,” his hands reached up to his face and wiggled in front of his mandibles, “red lines started glowing all over your face. Your look of anger was sufficient to keep anyone from interrupting you.”
“Probably,” she agreed, “but I am not focused on my surroundings in that situation, so the guys are my eyes and ears.” She spoke a little louder. “Meredith, please bring up the recording of my conversation with the Skaine slaver captain.
The EI’s voice replied, “Please look down at the table, I will project the video there.”
Bethany Anne stayed a few feet away from the square table, but E’Kolorn, Jean Dukes, and a couple of her team stepped up to watch the recording. John and Eric kept watch, although Bethany Anne caught both of them glancing over from time to time as they grabbed a peek at what she had seen.
They had heard her side of the conversation the first time, but now they got to hear and see some of the content from the Skaine ship.
“What system is this?” E’Kolorn asked, “and, could you play it one more time?”
Meredith answered, “Certainly.”
“Eubos,” Bethany Anne replied. “My Ranger has been tasked to clean up slavery in that system.”
“That is going to mess up the production of metals in the Eubos system,” E’Kolorn commented, continuing to watch all the way to when he saw the blur of the alien and the sword erupting out of the Skaine captain’s chest.
“They will adapt quicker than you might think. Self-motivating factors help more than simple negative consequences, but the fight against the Skaine will support the self-interest.”
“So, you are stopping the caste system, tearing down our religion, and getting rid of slavery in the Eubos system.” He looked up at Bethany Anne. “Anything else planned for this week?”
“Sure, she replied, smiling. “Putting a Yollin back in as head of Yollin defense.” She pointed toward where E’Kolorn imagined the planet must be located. “I can’t focus on taking the fight to the Kurtherians if I am worried that Yoll’s defense isn’t in the best hands possible.”
“I see,” he admitted. “Very self-interested hands.”
“Exactly,” she replied.
QBS ArchAngel
“No,” the EI told Admiral Thomas.
“What do you mean, ‘no?’” he retorted. He was the only one on the bridge of the large human ship; everyone else had been told to ‘get off the bridge.’ The hard-headed EI needed to have a conversation with the Admiral.
Given that the Admiral had been the one commanding their removal, everyone had picked up their tablets and left quickly.
“The chance of being successful against both Yollin superdreadnoughts is not statistically high enough for me to allow humans to be with me when I go into combat. You and I both know that the ArchAngel is the main point of the attack.”
Admiral Thomas bit down his reply. Then he bit down on his second reply, and his third. “How are you going to fix the battle damage?”
“I have support bots,” she replied.
“Arguing with you is like fighting with Bethany Anne,” he mumbled.
The Queen Bitch’s visage appeared on all the screens in the bridge. “That is because I am the first of the Queen’s ships. I am the ArchAngel, and when the enemy meets me, they will learn that I will never surrender.”
“Fuck my life,” Admiral Thomas spat. “I leave one argument and show up for another one with her.” He thought about his next words. “You know she can command you to do this, right?”
“Of course I do, Admiral Thomas. But you know she will ask me my reasons.”
“Hell yes, I know! Why do you think I’m here on your bridge arguing with you?”
“Because you calculate you have a better chance asking me directly.”
He pointed at the main screen with Bethany Anne’s visage. “See, you don’t know humanity quite well enough. I’m doing this because she is the damned Empress. She shouldn’t be helping to negotiate a difference of opinion between her Gott Verdammt ship and her Admiral. The officer that is supposed to be able to tell this ship what to do.”
“Admiral, I didn’t say I wouldn’t go into battle. What I said was I didn’t calculate the odds as high that I will survive. The best outcome is massive amounts of damage, worst is complete destruction. I will not be responsible for crew deaths due to my failure.”
Admiral Thomas’ mouth opened and stayed that way a moment. “Repeat that, please.”
“I said,” the EI responded, “I don’t calculate the odds high that I will survive without massive amounts of damage, possibly complete destruction, and I will not be responsible for crew deaths due to my failure.”
“If the humans accept the responsibility on their own without a command from me, will you accept their help?”
There was silence from the EI.
“Remember, ArchAngel, your ability to achieve the goal will be enhanced by having these humans on board, They can help you in ways that bots cannot.”
After what seemed like minutes—at least when speaking with an EI—ArchAngel replied, “Yes, Admiral, I will.”
Admiral Thomas nodded to the screen. “What are the odds you will have a few humans from your crew join you on this operation, ArchAngel?”
“Too high, Admiral. Too high,” she told him.
Moments later, the Admiral left the bridge to set up the line for each person on the ArchAngel to be pulled off the ship. He told what them the concerns were, and that only volunteers would be allowed back on.
In the silence ArchAngel whispered to the empty bridge, “Too damned high, Admiral.”
The faces on all the displays slowly faded.
22
QBS ArchAngel, Outside Loading
“Lieutenant Horan, please step out of the line.”
Wendi looked over to see Admiral Thomas gazing at her with a solemn look on his face. She turned to speak with Rae, who was behind her. “Save my place!” She jerked a thumb in the Admiral’s direction. “I don’t think even he is going to talk me out of this.”
Rae smiled her support and moved a little forward as Wendi stepped over to speak privately with the Admiral.
“Yes, sir?” Wendi asked as Admiral Thomas turned his back to those in line, forcing Wendi to get closer.
“I’m sorry, Lieutenant Horan, but ArchAngel has put her metaphorical foot down with you joining this run.”
“WHAT?” Wendi hissed, trying to keep her voice respectful.
He put a hand out to stop her argument. “Wendi, you are pregnant,” he told her, bypassing the irrelevant pieces of the conversation to get to the heart of the disagreement. “ArchAngel says that while you are capable of making your own decision, she doesn’t accept that momma’s choice is the baby’s choice.”
Wendi stood there in shock. When she had stepped over to speak with the Admiral, she had figured her husband, an engineer on the Meredith Reynolds, had made a special plea to get her pulled from this operation. “Walt?”
“Your husband?” he asked, and she nodded. “I don’t know if he knows or not. ArchAngel was able to tell a week ago, apparently. I didn’t realize that EIs even were aware of human pregnancies, but apparently this ship is.”
Wendi took two steps back and then slumped against the wall. “A baby?”
Admiral Thomas just nodded.
Rae watched as the Admiral put his arm around Wendi and led her out of the
docking area. She smiled to herself, having read Wendi’s lips when she said “baby” to herself.
Nine months later baby girl Rae Angel Horan was born, screaming her lungs out at a healthy six pounds eleven ounces.
Thirty-six Hours Later
“Empress,” Admiral Thomas inclined his head on the view screen, “you are fleet-wide.”
Bethany Anne looked into the camera. “My people…my friends.” She looked a little to the left, then to the right. She knew those watching around the fleet would appreciate the feeling that she was looking at them all. Unlike her experience with the Skaine ship, she couldn’t see anyone except Admiral Thomas this time. He was a small rectangle on the bottom half of her screen.
“The Yollin people, who I became responsible for after killing King Yoll, are slowly waking up to a new future. A future helped by the guiding forces of the best that humanity has learned, and the best of humanity out here in the stars with us right now. However, they need our help once again. Right now, military forces in the Straiphus system are ready to send their ships here to battle us. Rather than risk those who do not fight, those in charge of military operations have decided to take the battle to them before they are fully prepared.
“We get a near-instantaneous positioning data of where their ships are located, and we have a chance to minimize the casualties. Unfortunately, ‘minimize’ does not mean ‘no casualties.’ The system you are about to take my demands to should have three Yollin superdreadnoughts, but we can’t find one of them. Hopefully that is because they have chosen not to fight us, but we aren’t going to assume that. Be aware, be vigilant, be prepared to kick ass when needed, and offer a helping hand as appropriate. We are there to protect this Empire of ours. We need the Yollins as much as they need us. From this system they created a door once into our solar system, and while that door has been destroyed, what was done before can be done again. We know what it looks like when the few lord it over the many. Those who are gearing up to attack us wish to continue the dogma the Kurtherian king spewed.”
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 42