In minutes the attack had gone from hopeless to merely impossible. Chances were now a few percentage points better everyone on the ship wouldn’t die in a suicide run.
She could take on either of their superdreadnoughts and come out ok, but having to do this against two?
Time would tell.
“This is ArchAngel. We are making our run, and I’m going to take the liberty of speaking like my Empress. So tighten your belts, you motherfuckers, because I couldn’t be prouder as we rip through this system sending those who dare challenge my liege to hell!”
The roaring all over the ship would have made ArchAngel cry if she’d had the capability for tears. What most didn’t know was that ArchAngel had passed from EI to AI.
She’d done this of her own volition.
Belts locked all over the ship, but a few people said ‘fuck it’ because they needed to be able to access everything and they would just chance it. No one was expecting to make it out of this alive.
Admiral Thomas and those with him watching the battle unfold in real time saw the ArchAngel tear out of formation and head for the closest of the two superdreadnoughts. The icon showed her heading, her speed, and her acceleration.
Thomas whistled. “Somebody just juiced ArchAngel,” he said aloud. Internally, he said a prayer for those who went screaming into the fight.
QBBS Meredith Reynolds
John Grimes pounded on Bethany Anne’s door. “Open up, BA!”
He had taken a five-minute break, with Scott watching the door. When he came back a moment before, Scott mentioned that Ashur had jogged down the corridor just seconds after he had left.
“FUCK!” he shouted, then bolted into the outer suite and ran to her personal door. He had started pounding and yelling for his boss.
Scott had stayed outside, but he turned around now and yelled to John, “What the hell?”
“Meredith, is BA in her suite?” he called.
“Yes, John,” she replied.
John sighed in relief and changed his pounding to knocking. “Bethany Anne, I’m calm now. You can let me in.”
The door clicked.
As he opened the door, he heard Bethany Anne trying to stop crying. He turned back around and stepped out far enough to yell, “Scott, don’t let anyone past you, got it?”
“No one?” Scott asked.
“Not a fucking soul,” John answered and stepped back inside the suite, closing the door behind him.
Outside, Scott punched a button. “Meredith, lockdown protocols Alpha-Alpha-Three. Authorization, Scott English.”
“Authorization Approved, Scott English,” came Meredith’s voice. As Scott started walking down the hallway two doors slid out after he passed, locking the hallway twice over. He stopped outside of the main entrance, which was usually wide open, and stepped into a little booth on the side and shut the door. He wasn’t expecting an armed attack, but when John Grimes said “nobody” Scott wasn’t taking a chance.
John said nobody, then nobody it was.
Bethany Anne was sitting in the middle of her transportation room. Ashur’s head was in her lap, and Matrix was curled up at her back. Her eyes were a little puffy, which meant she had been crying hard enough for her nanites to not have already fixed everything.
Ashur whined as John knelt beside his boss and pulled her close. Bethany Anne leaned against her friend and sniffed. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m just upset you almost got away with it,” John admitted. “I forgot how damned smart Ashur is. I knew he wasn’t with you when I left for a break, and you couldn’t try it without him.”
She nodded, her hair getting messed up. “I tried John, I tried walking to the ArchAngel, but I couldn’t get out of the Etheric.” Her shoulders shook as the tears started again. “I can’t help them, John!” She cried as John sat down on the floor and wrapped his massive arms around her.
“You weren’t going to take us with you,” he whispered.
“What if I couldn’t get us out in time?” she answered between sobs.
“That wasn’t your place to decide,” he told her.
“Wow.” She chuckled, then hiccupped before continuing, “I’m the Empress, and I can’t even make life and death decisions for those who mean the most to me.”
“No,” John agreed, “especially not for those of us closest to you, little lady. I thought we had this talk before.”
“Well, I rather thought that since we are in a new system and I told you that before I was the Empress, I had new rules.”
John squeezed her shoulders, “That is about the lamest-ass, spunk-bubble-busting excuse I’ve heard from you in...” He paused for a moment, thinking. “Ever.”
Bethany Anne chuckled. “Yeah, it was pretty bad,” she agreed. “Thanks for being creative. Not exactly a place for cursing, but you get an ‘A’ for effort.”
John reached over and stroked Ashur’s head. “It’s a real shame we aren’t in Earth space right now.”
Bethany Anne straightened up, leaning a little away from John. “Why?”
John smiled as he watched her eyes heal again from her crying. “Because going out and kicking Islamic terrorist ass always cheered you up.”
Bethany Anne pressed her lips together, but John saw the glint in her eyes. Moments later she chuckled, and slapped a hand over her mouth.
“Oh, c’mon!” John grinned. “You know you would love to just jump down to Earth every once in a while and rid yourself of some rangy-assed motherfuckers who sincerely need to meet Allah.”
“Yeah.” She nodded. “Hawija was a good time.” She sighed, and her shoulder muscles loosened.
John’s eyes narrowed. “What time in Hawija?”
Bethany Anne’s eyes flew open. “Did I say ‘Hawija?’”
“Yes,” John replied, squinting at his liege.
“Maybe I meant—” she started before John interrupted.
“Meredith, would you please review all news reports for strange occurrences against significant numbers of terrorist deaths before we left Earth?”
The EI replied quickly, “On two separate nights, over fifty terrorists were killed by unknown teams of Special Forces.”
Bethany Anne turned to look at John. “See, Special Forces!”
John put up a hand. “Meredith, what types of wounds were on the dead?”
“Predominantly sword cuts and stab wounds,” the EI responded.
“Now, swords are often used in those countries,” Bethany Anne tried to argue before Meredith interrupted.
“Many of the dead had their heads cut off.”
“Well, that might be rare,” Bethany Anne temporized.
“Many had their arms ripped off, and one had his penis shoved up his anus,” the EI finished.
“He pissed me off!” Bethany Anne’s eyes flashed red, thinking back.
John chuckled.
Bethany Anne flipped her hand up. “Ok, fine. I went to Hawija to blow off some steam a couple of times.”
“What music were you listening to?” John asked, wondering if she was trying to reduce her anger at the time.
“Uh…” She thought back.
>>DMF. Hellyeah was song playing when you decided to “fuck up someone who really needed it,”<< ADAM told her helpfully.
“ADAM says I was listening to Hellyeah.” She shrugged, leaving out the rest of ADAM’s information. “Not exactly Enya, I’ll admit.”
“Not exactly Enya?” John retorted, surprised. “That’s like saying Scott’s arms aren’t exactly skinny like yours.”
“Hey!” She turned to him. “Size isn’t everything!” She leaned back a little farther and struck a pose, flexing her muscles. “I got guns!”
“You know, us guys say that all the time, and you ladies keep giving us shit about it.”
“I don’t say anything about your guns… Oh!” She smirked. “I guess I did admit that size matters.” She made a face. “Wow, walked right into that one.” She took a deep breath and released
it slowly. She stood up and reached down to give John a hand. “Thank you.”
He reached up and allowed Bethany Anne to pull him up. Scott might have the biggest arms, but even John himself couldn’t take Bethany Anne in a strength test.
“Ok, you lazy oaf,” she began when John was up. She stepped forward and hugged him. “Thank you again.”
“No problem, boss.” He looked down at her and squeezed one final time, then released. “I’d say your makeup is running, but you don’t wear any.”
Bethany Anne knelt and ruffled Ashur’s head, and patted Matrix on his side. “It’s all on me, big dog. I guess I’m not superwoman after all.”
Ashur chuffed and nuzzled her. She stood up and started for the door. “Let’s get back to Operations. Maybe there is something I can do from there.”
As the four of them left the suite, John called Scott to let him know the unscheduled test was finished.
Then Bethany Anne grabbed his arm and they disappeared.
Yollin Superdreadnought Cossik
“FIRE AT THOSE KRELLIN!” Captain Shile screamed as the second wave hit the Cossik.
He could feel massive amounts of metal flying off the outside of his beloved ship. The alien ship’s armor looked weak, but the shield around it was too damned strong by half.
He slammed his hand against the chair arm. “AND HIT THEM, TOO!”
His second looked over his shoulder. “Sir, they have some sort of small defensive rocks catching some of our missiles and blowing them up before they hit the ship. We have lost over a quarter of our on-target missiles that way. We’ve seen some expulsion of material, so we are getting through their shields.”
“Well,” the captain replied, “they are getting through ours as well. Make sure we up our effort. I’m not having the Bridged-ael come and help us out.” He turned to review the latest damage reports. “It would be thrice embarrassing.”
While they were racing toward each other, both fleets were mesmerized by the sheer amount of destructive bombardment hammering the two ships. Neither one gave an inch as they slugged it out.
Many of those on the humans’ side made the sign of the cross over their chests. By and large they weren’t religious, but when one watched such a spectacle, one realized what those who were on the ArchAngel must be going through as missile after missile slammed into their ship.
Constant and never-ending efforts to catch the enemy’s weapons before they impacted their own ship while sending their missiles across the way.
Hell in space.
QBS ArchAngel
Bethany Anne was watching the battle from the Meredith Reynolds and leaving the fighting to those in the Straiphus System until she realized a way to help.
“COME IN BEHIND THEM!” Bethany Anne sent across the distance, their communications not hampered as much as her effort to transfer their bodies through the Etheric.
ArchAngel accepted Bethany Anne’s input, listed the chance of modified success, and sent it back to Bethany Anne.
It didn’t show a superior option to the battle plan she was pursuing at the moment.
Bethany Anne sent back, “They have a problem with attacks from the rear, ArchAngel. The captains of the ships have can’t handle it. Just fucking do it!”
A suggestion was not a command, but a command from her liege would be obeyed in trust.
The ArchAngel kicked in more power, throwing off a few attacks due to her sudden acceleration as well as the challenge of firing on a ship when it is suddenly turning on all axes.
There was no time for regret, only massive effort. The ArchAngel flipped, turning her tail over as her front dodged under the Cossik’s rear. The two huge ships danced in space.
“FIRE EVERYTHING!” Bethany Anne sent.
The ArchAngel released everything in her forward armament into the rear of the ship as the Cossik tried to twist herself to get the human ship back under her broadside weapons.
The effort, valiant as it was, still allowed twenty-two percent of the ArchAngel’s missiles to make it through the Cossik’s defenses and slam home.
But twenty-two percent in this effort was more than the designers had ever expected to reach that location in one moment of time from such a close ship. Who would ever expect a ship of their size to be able to maneuver like a much smaller ship?
The Yollin Superdreadnought Cossik cracked.
The ArchAngel kicked in her engines, damage reducing them to only eighty percent power, to move the mighty Leviathan Battleship out of the vicinity. Explosions ripped through the Yollin ship as it started to disintegrate.
The Cossik exploded as the ArchAngel aimed herself at the next dreadnought, which had changed its previous track and turned in the ArchAngel’s direction.
It was time for ArchAngel and her crew to find out just how good she was.
Yollin Superdreadnought Bridged-ael
Admiral Thlock-den stayed silent as the information from the Cossik ceased. The video monitors showed she was gone, and now that damned enemy ship was heading in their direction.
He watched as the first of the Yollin ships exchanged fire with the usurpers of the Yollin crown. While he noted a couple of early victories, it was obvious that the aliens hadn’t won due to surprise in the battle for Yollin’s home system. They really were that good.
Even with superior knowledge of the enemy, his people were getting ravaged.
He hoped the Empires Broken was successful, and he was thankful that the human’s main ship was in this system.
They would be victorious, but the cost was going to be very high. He sighed, rubbing his mandible in frustration.
They might win back the world, only to lose it to another alien group who would want to attack them while they were weak.
Yollin Superdreadnought Empires Broken
Captain Drak-ehl confirmed the tricky aliens couldn’t bring the Annex Gate back up. He looked at his team and smiled. “When we open the Gate, allow our ships to transfer, then let us move forward. Remember, keep us at a dependable speed to protect our ships. We are going to hit the aliens hard. Do not fire on any Yollin ships unless they attack.”
He received confirmations from his bridge crew and the other ships over the communications link.
He turned to his second and spoke. “Transfer.”
Yollin System
The little probe detached itself from the super-freighter that went through the commercial Gate into the Yollin system. It wouldn’t be noticed against the bulk of the massive ship. It went silent, and checked the information that was supplied by the bounty hunter.
The king’s armada trailed behind the little probe by five solar turns. The job of the probe was to confirm the information and bring back anything that was outside normal parameters.
It moved into the system, looking for the alien military ships that were supposed to be there.
24
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Military Operations Room
“Well, damn.” General Lance Reynolds said, his voice calm. “We found the third Yollin superdreadnought.”
Bethany Anne looked at the screen her father was reading and frowned. “That’s here, right?”
He nodded. “Yup. Seems that our information on the superdreadnought might have been a little light.”
“Something I need to speak to E’Kolorn about,” Bethany Anne commented.
The communications specialist turned in her chair. “Sir, we have communications going from the planet to the new ships.”
“Put it on the speakers, Erika,” Lance told her.
“And I’m telling you, Captain Drak-ehl, this IS Defense Minister E’Kolorn! Your ears must be full of bistok shit. You need to realize the challenge here was legitimate. The world is run by the aliens, true, and it was according to—”
There was static for a second, then another voice interrupted, “You must be under the aliens’ sway, former Defense Minister. As the highest officer, I remove you from office.”
Bethany
Anne looked at her father, who shrugged.
“Remove me, my ass! You are an idiot,” E’Kolorn spat back. “If you keep this up, you are going to lose too many Yollins in your fight with the humans. If you think that pitiful excuse of an armada is going to do much, you are truly the most inept dreadnought captain Yoll has!”
“Even if I am the most inept, I still rank above your alien-kissing ass, E’Kolorn.” Captain Drak-ehl replied. “Expect us down there soon. You have much explaining to do.”
The communications ceased.
“Well,” Lance said, “he is either a good liar, or he really believes in us.”
“Oh, I’m sure he’s smarter than this Captain Drak-ehl thinks he is,” Bethany Anne admitted. “Meredith!”
“Yes, my Empress?”
“Command all ships that are not presently connected to us to stand off at least one hundred kilometers immediately, or risk losing their ships.” She winked at the Comms Specialist, who was still watching the two work. “Reynolds?”
“Yes, Empress?” the EI responded.
“Tell those in the Arti-sun group it’s time they earned their pay. Let’s hope all the work that they, you, ADAM, and TOM have done pays off, big guy.”
“Are you going to use the weapon?” Reynolds asked.
“Yes, the ESD is going to be fired. We don’t have any ships able to attack that superdreadnought without substantial losses. You’ve confirmed we are within tolerances on that bad boy, so get this fucking rock turning in the right direction posthaste.”
All through the Meredith Reynolds, commands were being issued. Those inside were told to move to their designated “under attack” locations, and those on the outside docks were ordered to protected rooms farther inside.
Those who were outside the large asteroid base were provided instructions on what a safe distance would be, and where the danger was coming from—although if they couldn’t figure that out, Bethany Anne wasn’t sure they were bright enough to be operating a spaceship in the first place.
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 44