Commercial Gate 221, Yollin Space, Third Outer Ring
It had taken several turns for the Ixtalis to learn to trust the human named Dan Bosse. It took just as long for Dan Bosse to trust the Ixtalis enough about their own devices to allow them to confirm the medical information he had provided.
Ixtelina was annoyed. Their people had placed devices in their bodies that could be used to kill them. From a very practical standpoint, she could understand her superiors desire to be able to remove a threat to the larger group. From a very personal standpoint, she was pissed.
She had moved Ixgurl from the ship over to the humans’ medical to confirm he had the same medical anomaly, and he did. It seemed that upper management in their group considered all personnel expendable.
The three of them were holding in silence, waiting for the queue at the commercial Gate to clear up, when the alarms in their ship started ringing.
Ixtelina waited for the official report, but she had a good idea what to expect from looking over Ixgurl’s shoulder.
“A Gate has been created, and multiple Yollin military ships have passed through it into the system, Leader,” Ixgurl said.
“Pull us out of the queue,” she told him, “but don’t go too far. I want to see what happens.” She pulled up a screen next to her. “Also, make sure you document the information about the Yollins having a temporal Gate, I don’t remember them having that.”
“No,” Ixgalan said over his shoulder. “We don’t have any information on that.”
“Well,” Ixtelina said, “that is a new bit of information we have gotten. Plus, if the Yollins have it, assuming the humans don’t disappear in the next few days they will have it as well.”
“Shit,” Ixgalan said, a small smile on his face. “There goes the neighborhood.”
“Yeah, but whose neighborhood?” Ixtelina said. “I guess we will find out shortly.”
QBBS Meredith Reynolds
Marcus was the first to yank open the door into the Arti-sun operations room, breathing hard. “I’ve got,” pant, pant, “to get back,” pant, pant, “into shape!”
William, who came in behind him a moment later, laughed as he put a hand on Marcus' shoulder. “Dude, you were probably never in shape. I think the term ‘physically-fit rocket scientist’ is an oxymoron.”
Bobcat yanked the door open and raced in. “Shit, I would have bet I beat Marcus here for damn sure.” He pointed at the scientist. “See? He’s wheezing horribly right now.”
William looked at him. “You stopped to pee, didn’t you?”
“Well,” Bobcat looked at a few of the screens, “if it all goes to shit, I don’t want yellow pants. It’d be embarrassing.”
Marcus looked at William. “You pee before getting here too?”
“Nah.” William started tapping the screens next to Marcus. “We’re bullshitting you.”
“How in the hell,” Marcus asked as he double-checked two screens, “are you two not gasping for breath?”
“We pointed out to Bethany Anne that if we ever needed to run somewhere quickly, it would be good if we could actually run,” Bobcat answered. “I suggest using that exact argument, in case you’re wondering.”
“Yes,” Marcus answered. “I think I have video proof that running isn’t good for my health.”
“I’ll tell you what isn’t good for your health,” William moved to a screen, confirming the ESD parameters were exactly as they’d been modified after the last testing two weeks ago. “Firing a fucking sun at somebody for the first time. That alone will make you piss in your pants if it doesn’t make you faint right away.”
“Are you shitting me?” Bobcat asked, checking the numbers William had just reviewed. “C’mon, I’ll bet you three ounces of gold we are standing here after we punch that button.”
“You are speaking metaphorically, right?” Marcus asked.
“What? No, why?” Bobcat asked.
“Because Bethany Anne or Lance has to give the approval. We aren’t punching any buttons,” Marcus answered.
“Well, yeah, I knew that,” Bobcat argued. “I meant when the ESD fires, we will be standing here with our thumbs up our butts and be just fine.”
“I’ll take your three-ounce bet,” Marcus said.
“What? NO!” Bobcat answered. “I’ve changed my mind! We won’t be standing here.”
“Hell, no,” William replied. “The bet is the bet, O Wise Beer Sage.”
“Shit.” Bobcat grimaced. “Ok, I’ll give you a chance to earn back a little of what you’ve lost.”
The other three engineers, usually the ones to help run the Arti-sun, stood in the back of the room, eyes wide in shock listening to Team BMW’s comments as their hands flew over the controls.
“Reynolds!” Bobcat called.
“Yes, Bahse?”
William bitched, “How the fuck did you get Reynolds to call you boss?”
“I didn’t,” Bobcat replied, smiling.
“I’m not calling him ‘boss,’ I’m calling him ‘bahse,’” Reynolds replied. “Each of you has confirmed all information. Are you signing off on the settings?”
“Yes,” Bobcat replied, stepping back from the screen.
“Yes,” William agreed.
Marcus was still looking at screens.
“Dude!” Bobcat called. “Answer the Gott Verdammt question already.”
“Fine!” Marcus grumped. “Yes.” He turned and stepped away from the screen. “Now I can’t see everything.”
Bobcat leaned over to Marcus. “Just for the record, this still counts as ‘here.’”
Marcus looked at his friend and winked.
“Excuse me, sirs?” Arti-sun Engineering Specialist Hui called from behind the trio. They all turned around. “Sorry! We didn’t say hi when we came in.” Bobcat reached back, hand out. “I’m Bobcat.”
The woman blushed. “Oh, we know who you are,” she answered as she took his hand and gave it a shake. “I was just wondering what ESD means?”
“Yeah, me too,” Marcus asked. “I suppose I can be entrusted with the super-secret name now?”
Bobcat shrugged and looked to Marcus. “Why do you think I know?”
Marcus just stared at his friend.
“Ok, I do know. I’m just wondering why you think I know.” Marcus didn’t say anything, just stared harder at his friend.
“Wow…playing weird psychic today will be Dr. Acula.” Bobcat murmured before answering Marcus with a smile. “I just asked Bethany Anne.”
“That’s it?” William interrupted, his face annoyed.
“Sure,” Bobcat admitted. “She said I had to tell anyone else who wanted to know they needed to go to her for the answer, but she said if we ever fired it, I was good to say what I know.”
Marcus finally caved. “Well, spit it out then!”
Bobcat winked at the woman. “Eat Shit and Die Beam.”
Everyone’s laughter overwhelmed Marcus’ groans.
Yollin Superdreadnought Empires Broken
“Ignore the tiny ships leaving their base,” Captain Drak-ehl stated. “We will make one pass to ravage their ships with a full barrage of missiles. We will drop our shields, fire missiles, shields up, then turn to come close. By then, what remains of their ships will be amassed. From there it will be a slugfest, but,” Captain Drak-ehl stood up and made a large show of looking around space before sitting back down, “they don’t seem to have a capital ship left to fight us with.” He shrugged his shoulders. “That’s such a shame.”
The chuckles on the bridge continued for a few moments before they all got back to work.
Yollin Superdreadnought Bridged-ael
Admiral Thlock-nel had to take over command of the ship from his control room after Captain B’rehk was killed when an explosion caused a fire on the bridge.
He knew the alien’s ship was just as damaged as his own. Neither ship was going to survive this fight. Both massive beasts were simply slugging it out. Neither had the capa
bility to move much anymore. If he could get this ship up to twenty percent power with patches out here in the middle of nowhere, he would be damned lucky.
One of the side wings on the other ship was gone, lost in an explosion that had engulfed a good portion of the rear portside. Fighters were flying in and around both ships, trying to do their little pin-pricks and kill each other, but the behemoths ignored them.
Well, his ship ignored them. The other ship shot them from time to time.
The room rocked as an explosion occurred close by. Thlock-nel looked up and frowned; he had lost three more missile batteries, leaving him at just over thirty-seven percent offensive weapons.
A fight to the bitter end, for sure.
QBS ArchAngel
“This is Acting Chief Engineer Merlins,” the voice called to the bridge from the speakers. “We’ve lost thirty percent of our people back here, and I need prioritization. Chief Rodriquez and Acting Chief Kirby were both killed. What do you need?”
ArchAngel flagged all the options on her list and started moving the ship one last time. “Give us everything to forward guns, Chief Engineer. Let’s send these sonsabitches to hell!”
“Roger, ArchAngel.” The people on the bridge kept the communications open and answers flowing, allowing ArchAngel, running above the new AI’s estimated efficiency, to try to keep as many of her crew alive as possible.
However, it wasn’t a question of staying alive. It was a question of whether they were going to defeat the enemy.
Yollin Superdreadnought Bridged-ael
“They wouldn’t ram us, would they?” the admiral said aloud. “Tell the helm to start adjusting. Don’t let those parasites ram our ship!”
QBS Minnesota
Admiral Thomas had watched the whole battle. He could see how it was shaping up, and that they would be victorious.
If the ArchAngel took out the dreadnought.
He glanced at the battle and then stopped, staring at his screens. “Get me ArchAngel!”
He waited for the connection.
“Sir?” a voice like Bethany Anne’s replied.
“Tell me you aren’t going to ram him,” the Admiral demanded.
“I’m not going to ram him,” the ship replied.
Too damned much like Bethany Anne, he thought.
“Now, tell me the truth. Are you planning to ram that ship?”
“Not at the moment, but it is on my list of possibilities,” the AI responded.
“How far down the list?” he asked.
“Next,” she replied before she cut the connection.
“God help them,” Admiral Thomas whispered.
QBS ArchAngel
Acting Chief Engineer Merlins ran to the hacked-together connections and looked at them, trying to see if he could fathom what John Rodriquez had done. He had lost two of the shunts in the explosion that had killed John, and needed to figure out his fucking genius.
“FUCK YEAH!” he screamed as he charged up the steps and grabbed one of the shunts. “Get me some fucking wire!” he yelled as he moved toward power lines twelve and eighteen. He yanked the dead connections on those that John had used. “Route these to six and twenty-four yester-fucking-day!”
They might go out in a ball of fireworks, but he was pretty sure they wouldn’t be the only ones.
Pilot Julianna Fregin and her wing ducked under the barely limping ArchAngel and raced ahead to nail two fighters as they came across the top. They shot them from below, their pilots never realizing that the danger hadn’t been lost; it was merely under them, obscured by the alien ship.
Her speaker sparked to life. The voice sounded like the Empress’, and the volume was turned way up. “EVACUATE! This is the ArchAngel: all ships evacuate this position or suffer potential destruction in ten, nine, eight…”
“FUCK!” Julianna shoved the controls forward and they darted ahead, trusting that the massive battleship behind her knew what the hell she was talking about.
Yollin Superdreadnought Bridged-ael
Admiral Thlock-nel’s eyes opened wide when his screens showed him that all the alien’s smaller ships were rapidly leaving the local area.
All the alien’s ships.
If he could have seen outside he would have turned to stare at the ship battling him, wondering what the hell...
He didn’t finish his thought before the massive surge of energy through the shunts the human had figured out powered the alien ship’s guns one last time, blowing the Bridged-ael apart.
Seconds later the aft engines and engineering area on the ArchAngel exploded, sending debris behind the ship and forever consigning her to a grave in the Straiphus System unless they figured out a way to move her.
Fully a third of her all-volunteer crew died in that one explosion.
Within a few hours the remaining Yollin captains capitulated, but the battle was over when the Bridged-ael was defeated.
The Battle for the Straiphus System was finished.
25
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Military Operations Room
“Are you planning on providing a warning?” Lance asked his daughter as she waited for word that everything was where it should be with the ESD Beam. She had allowed Matrix to join her in the Operations Room, and had him on her lap, petting him.
He wasn’t sure if petting Matrix was calming to her or not, but it was certainly calming to Matrix.
He was asleep.
The Yollin attack ships were hours away, so there wasn’t any rush. They had figured out that the massive superdreadnought was shielding those that were in formation alongside it.
“Nope,” Bethany Anne said. A moment later she barked, “Marshmallows!”
Lance leaned forward in his chair to check out her face, wondering if she was having another conversation with the voices in her head. He hoped that she would always be able to handle those conversations in the future. If she succumbed to other less tangible voices in her head, how the hell would she know?
“Pardon me?” he asked. She turned and smiled at him.
“Just imagine,” she said, holding her arms wide, “the fucking huge marshmallows you could roast on this beam the guys are going to create? I mean, fuck…probably a marshmallow the size of a football stadium.”
Lance blinked a couple of times before the chuckles around the Operations room alerted him to what she was doing. He leaned back in his chair and replied, “Yes, but who is going to bake a graham cracker that large?”
“Beats the fuck out of me,” she answered, and pointed to herself. “I’m the Empress. I don’t bake.”
“Thank God we all voted and made that a prerequisite of your royalty. I recounted your baking effort back in…was it fourth or fifth grade?” he asked.
Bethany Anne turned to him with a light blush on her cheeks. Her previous effort to raise the morale in the room was forgotten. “You did not!”
The room busted out in laughter.
The little probe recorded the Yollin ships heading toward the asteroid station, the asteroid station turning, and all of the other ships moving away from the area. What it recorded next caused the little probe to turn around and head back to the Gate through which it had arrived.
It needed to find another ship to hitch a ride back through the Gate and report.
The fleet needed to stop advancing.
Those in the Ixtali ship witnessed the event, but they could not believe it.
One of the three ships that refused to move farther away when commanded by the alien EI melted. The other two were far enough away that those inside could be rescued, but their ships and contents were lost. They later tried to file a complaint about the danger they had been placed in, and the human who talked with them suggested the punishment for frivolous lawsuits was seven years’ labor in the Eubos system.
They left peacefully, but they didn’t have anything good to say about the Etheric Empire ever after.
Those on the planet, even those in the daylight, could see the
streak across the sky.
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Military Operations Room
“The ESD Beam is ready and operational,” Reynolds told them.
ADAM?
>> Yes, everything is ready to go.<<
TOM?
Hey, I’m just as anxious that this work as you are. I might be old, but I don’t have a death wish.
Ok, guys, here goes nothing… Well, except the whole bringing-a-scene-from-Star Wars-into-real-life thing. Other than that shit, here goes nothing.
“Meredith, warn all personnel to sit down and strap in. Fire up the warning claxons and let them know it’s happening,” she said.
Breathing deeply, Bethany Anne gave the final permission. “Reynolds, on my authority as the Empress of the Etheric Empire, I order you to fire the ESD Beam at the Yollin fleet heading in this direction.”
Inside of the Meredith Reynolds, lights dimmed. In some areas, such as the agricultural and livestock sectors, it looked like dark clouds covered the sun for a little while. Then what felt like a sonic boom reverberated throughout the asteroid, surprising many of those who had chosen to ignore the warnings.
Arti-sun Area
“Why are you sitting down?” Bobcat asked as he watched Marcus sit down when the alarms sounded. The three engineers behind them sat as well. Bobcat turned to see William looking around, then slowly sitting on the floor, his eyes wide. “Oh no!” Bobcat shook his head. “You won’t make me lose this bet by getting all worried. I’m telling you right here and right now—”
The sonic boom tossed Bobcat from his feet, and he landed right on his tailbone. His shout of pain made those in the room flinch. When he rolled over, grabbing his ass due to the pain, Marcus said, “I may be sympathetic to your pain, but I still won that bet.”
“Yeah,” Bobcat agreed. “I feel you.” He rubbed harder. “Why the hell didn’t you say that this could happen in the meetings, you ass?”
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 45