“How’s that?” Johnny asked.
Barnabas looked down at the young man. “The Empress is going to come through here on her way to defend the helpless, to defend those who can’t defend themselves.”
“What’s so wrong with that?” Johnny’s mother asked. Then, having decided this man wasn’t a threat to her son, she reached across her son. “Sorry, I’m Sarah.”
“Barnabas,” he replied, raising himself just a bit and then sitting back down.
“Absolutely nothing,” the man answered her earlier question. “But I can tell you that the Empress most have seen these last few years isn’t the Empress the Kurtherians will meet.”
Sarah’s eyes widened. “Oh…”
The hush caught their attention, and they all leaned forward so they could see down to the bottom level as a number of black-clad warriors entered the Open Court.
“Who are they?” Johnny whispered.
“Those are the Empress’ Guardians, and the Guardian Marines. They are always deployed in groups of three. One Guardian, two Marines. The Guardian handles close-range attack and defense, and the Marines are for farther-away attack and Guardian defense. You can see the guns they wear.”
Johnny turned to Barnabas. “Why don’t the Guardians have guns?”
Sarah swallowed. She knew the answer, but had not ever thought to teach her son this stuff. “They are the weapons, Johnny,” she told him. He turned and looked at her. “They can change shape, son. They are there to attack for the Empress. The Marines are there to protect the Guardians.”
Johnny looked back down. “THAT’S THEM!” he half-shouted, half-whispered. The people around them chuckled at his exuberance.
“Yes, those are the Empress’ Guards. The one in front is Darryl, to the Empress’ left is Eric, and across from him is Scott. Behind her is---”
“John Grimes,” Johnny told him. “Everyone knows him.”
Barnabas laughed. “I suppose they do.”
“That’s Gabrielle, their Captain, right?” Sarah asked, getting into the spirit of things.
“Yes, and the man next to her is Stephen,” Barnabas finished.
“No one knows much about him, do they?” Sarah asked. “I mean, we know he is with Jennifer.”
“You have to love the grapevine. But gossip or not, it is true,” Barnabas answered. “Stephen prefers to keep to himself when he isn’t on an op. He doesn’t mind being in the spotlight, but you won’t find him there on purpose.”
Johnny looked up at Barnabas. “Why’s he doing it now?”
“Because those soldiers down there are going with the ArchAngel to fight a Kurtherian-backed group.”
“Coooool,” Johnny whispered. “I want to see the ArchAngel someday,” he said to no one in particular, then turned to Barnabas. “I have a model of it, you know.”
“No, I didn’t,” Barnabas admitted, “but that is interesting,”
“I had heard rumors,” Sarah whispered. “I guess I didn’t want to know it was true.”
Barnabas glanced at her. “Those who fight are trying to make it so those that don’t fight have the choice to participate, or not. However, you should always support them with your voice and your support.”
Sarah nodded, watching the procession. The Empress started her speech while continuing to move across the Court.
Bethany Anne could feel the emotions awash in the group watching them. “My people, and visitors to the Etheric Empire, I leave you in capable hands as we do that which we left our home world to accomplish.”
There was cheering as she started talking, and more as she added, “Getting rid of the Kurtherian threat!”
“The Guardians and Guardian Marines, the special teams, and those in our Army, Navy, Engineering, Operations, Intelligence, and Diplomacy, have worked to support our new friend and ally, the Karillians. It is time now to show our support by defeating the ones that would damage their world, and stopping them before they hurt another world such as ours, or yours.”
STOP, she called to her people, and they all stopped instantly.
Bethany Anne looked around. “Some question whether Empress Bethany Anne should go out and fight. However, it is not the Empress who fights.”
She looked around as her eyes starting to glow. Her hair rose and floated as her face was marked by visible red lines of Etheric Energy.
“Well,” Barnabas leaned over and whispered to Johnny as he pointed to Bethany Anne, “there is your answer.”
She looked to those around her, and those staring down at her from above. “Before Empress Bethany Anne was ever crowned, there was another, someone who fought for others too. I am relinquishing my crown for this mission, and will do so as needed in the future. Empress Bethany Anne is stepping aside, and the Queen Bitch is stepping up.”
Bethany Anne’s group started walking again.
“I do this because the Etheric Empire will defend those who need and deserve it!” she finished.
The people down on the floor had been pushing backwards, feeling in their hearts that getting too close to the Empress was a bad idea.
Just then, a little boy on the seventh level started a chant that was quickly taken up by those on the eighth and sixth levels.
“QUEEN BITCH!” Johnny shouted. “QUEEN BITCH!”
Beside him, his mom joined in.
Soon, all thirty-plus-thousand souls added to their voices.
Bethany Anne swept out of the Open Court, heading toward the Etheric Empire’s destiny.
A month later, Sarah was surprised to find an invitation for her and her son to visit the ArchAngel as guests of Ranger One, head of Empress Bethany Anne’s Rangers.
He signed the invitation Barnabas.
22
Planet Karillia, the Dying Plains, Twelve Days until Expected Return
Bethany Anne’s ship floated above the graveyard. The skeletons of Karillians and machines littered this area, and had done so for close to five hundred years.
“Take me down, ADAM.” She spoke softly, and her ship dropped. There were five additional G’laxix Sphaea-class warships with the ArchAngel II high up in the sky above them, keeping watch as the Empress surveyed the world.
Their ship hovered over an area that looked level, but it couldn’t land because the ground was too soft.
It took a careful scan to find a place her ship could land safely. The team exited, and she walked the half-mile to a ship that had been destroyed and was now just a carcass that vines and other greenery grew on. Bethany Anne was able to see that it was clear inside the broken shell, and she entered.
She looked around, thinking about what it must have been like to be on the ship, under intense attack before crashing into your own planet.
Defending your people from aliens in the sky who were hell-bent on killing you. You beat them off, and then in time your people got so lax that in another generation or two or three no one believed the stories any more.
Then, when the fire came down from the sky again, people cried as loved ones burned in the streets, all because they had failed to remember the past, deciding that believing it was over was better than staying prepared.
Since they had gotten into space, they had told no one their story until they sought out the Etheric Empire.
They were trusting the Queen Bitch and her people to protect them this time, and after they won, they would have seventy years to take the battle back to the attackers.
Bethany Anne looked around the ship and walked back out, taking in the vast plains and the many burnt and broken husks that littered it.
This would be the last time that these aliens would ever attack this planet, she promised those who had died here.
Or she would be here with them, another skeleton who had died protecting it.
Ten Days until Expected Return
Lance walked over to Frank, who was sitting in a corner. “Got a minute?”
Frank nodded. “Take a walk?”
“Sounds good. Need to ge
t these legs a little exercise,” Lance agreed. Not true, but who gave a shit?
The two men left the control bunker and started walking the streets. “She knows the main landing zone is on the Plains,” Lance started the conversation. “They have attacked there six times.”
“Yes,” Frank agreed.
“So why did she agree to defend a different location?” Lance asked.
“She’s your daughter,” Frank answered.
“Whom you have studied like crazy to understand what makes her tick,” Lance replied. “Trust me, if I had the answer, I wouldn’t be asking for your opinion.”
“Tried Dan already?”
“Yup.”
“John?”
“Wouldn’t answer if he knew anything. Bethany Anne put the kibosh on that.”
“I don’t even have a suggestion to offer,” Frank replied. “She went looking for positions, and I’m told she found some damned weird pyramid-looking structure from a time the Karillians don’t even remember. Looks like it’s way out in the middle of futt-buck nowhere, and we’re all scratching our heads.”
The two men walked a little longer, deep in their own thoughts, before Lance pivoted, and they started back. He turned to Frank. “Think she will be ok out there in the middle of futt-buck nowhere?”
Frank’s laughing turned into coughing for a moment. “Hell, no!”
“Ok, just making sure I’m not being stupid here.”
“Well,” Frank grinned, “I can’t say you aren’t being stupid, but I don’t believe for a moment she will be ok out there.”
Eight Days until Expected Return
Lance looked at Stephen and raised an eyebrow. “You know why I asked you here to the bunker to chat?”
“Easy enough to guess. You want to know Bethany Anne’s plans.”
Lance nodded his agreement.
Stephen shrugged. “Lance, if I knew, and she told me to keep it to myself? I would keep it to myself.”
Lance bit down on his unlit cigar. “But you don’t know, because she has kept you in the dark too?” He swore when Stephen just smiled at him. “She’s making this such a pain in the ass.”
“Did you stop to consider that she plans on staying fairly safe, and being available to respond quickly with support when we find a hot spot?”
Lance chewed a moment. “That’s our most logical guess at the moment. That is the plan we think she is following, but no one is comfortable with that assumption.”
“So, more intelligence efforts, like speaking with me?” Stephen nodded. “Smart.”
“Yeah,” Lance agreed, “but it isn’t getting me anywhere.”
Six Days until Expected Return
ADAM
>>Yes?<<
Connect me with Defense Minister E’kolorn.
>>Yes, ma’am.<<
And both of you are hereby commanded to keep everything you learn on a need-to-know basis. And as far as I’m concerned, no one has a need to know, understand me?
>>Yes.<<
I understand, TOM agreed. I was wondering when the plan would be revealed.
It took a moment for the Etheric connection to route through the ships on their private channels, bypassing the traps Command had put into place to covertly listen in.
Why they even tried to capture anything ADAM sent out, he could not calculate.
A Yollin’s voice came on the line. “Defense Minister E’kolorn, awaiting your orders, Empress.”
Bethany Anne smiled. “It’s time to see if our little ship is ready to bring me my goodies, E’kolorn.”
“Yes, Empress,” he answered as the connection cut off.
ADAM or no ADAM, Bethany Anne figured there wasn’t any reason to keep the call open longer than she had to.
Third Outer Ring, Yollin System Space Control
First Shift, First Class, Double-Starred Ship’s Controller Yri-Keva tapped the command that would warn all traffic that a new super-dreadnought was departing for trial runs.
What no one knew was that the ship was being handled solely by Reynolds. Bethany Anne figured no one would even try to ask him anything about the spaceship, since they all assumed his responsibility was strictly for what happened on the QBBS Meredith Reynolds.
What they didn’t think about couldn’t get Bethany Anne in trouble.
At least, she hoped not.
In another system, a queued message to Admiral Thomas was lowered in priority, per the Empress’ orders. He could be upset with her later. The new ship would only be in the system long enough to allow thirteen ancient, to them, containers to float off. Then it would leave for another system before returning to Yollin and delivering the results of the testing for the yard to review.
Two Days until Expected Return
Gabrielle took a deep breath, then knocked on the door to Bethany Anne’s suite on the ArchAngel. “Come in, Gabrielle.”
She opened the door and stepped inside, closing it behind her. She was treated to a view of Bethany Anne painting her toenails.
Gabrielle blinked a couple of times. “Uhh,” she pointed to Bethany Anne’s feet, “is this a new way to get pumped for an alien invasion?”
“Not exactly, but you never know when your time has come. Why not go out looking fabulous?” Bethany Anne asked, as she finished her pinky toe.
“That’s rather depressing, especially coming from you.” Gabrielle stopped a couple of feet away from Bethany Anne, who had little foam dividers between her toes to keep them apart. “You wanted to talk to me?”
“Yes. Sit down. I’ll hurt my neck looking up,” she told her.
“As if.” Gabrielle sat down, but wasn’t fooled. “Let me ask, is this about me fighting on Karillian?”
“Yes, of course it is.” Bethany Anne turned to her. “What color?”
“What color?” Gabrielle wanted to be annoyed, but when Bethany Anne picked up a box, she peered into it and found over fifty different colors of nail polish. “Oh, I’m digging this purple,” she said, and pulled it out.
Gabrielle started taking off her shoes and socks. “Did Eric put you up to this?”
Bethany Anne snorted. “That man is a big Gabrielle pooh-bear.” Turning, she picked up the bag of the foam dividers and handed them over to Gabrielle.
“Thanks.” She started placing them between her toes.
“He won’t ask you the hard questions because he was traumatized by your first experience.” Bethany Anne told her.
“And because he loves me,” Gabrielle added, as she shook the purple bottle.
“Yeah, that too,” Bethany Anne admitted. “Although, you taking his name was damned impressive. It meant the world to him.”
“Yeah, I know.” Gabrielle looked wistful. “You know that’s the reason, right?”
“What is?” Bethany Anne asked, continuing to work on her toes.
“Why I have to do this?” Gabrielle answered. Bethany Anne looked up and raised an eyebrow.
Gabrielle shook her head. “Why do you make me say these things? You can be a real bit--- Queen sometimes.”
“Yes, I can.” Bethany Anne’s face became stern. “I need to know why you are not back with your kids, because it had better not be for me. You know I will be all right.”
Gabrielle nodded. “I know that, Bethany Anne. In the end, I know you can walk out of any mess, and you will take everyone you can with you. However, what happens if Eric isn’t near you?” She wiped a tear away. “I can’t tell stories to Steve and John Michael about their dad who died, when I could have been there to maybe kill the one who shot him or dragged him away from the danger in time.”
She looked into Bethany Anne’s eyes. “Don’t make me go home, please!”
Bethany Anne smiled and breathed out. “I’ll give you this one, but don’t ever ask me again. When those boys grow up, I’ll not be telling them I got both of their parents killed, understand?”
Gabrielle nodded. “I understand, and for what it is worth,” she said as she started on the
toes of her other foot, “Eric told me something similar.”
Twelve hours until Expected Return
Bethany Anne listened to updates from all groups as her team boarded her ship to be deployed to the planet below. She had some toys she needed to position.
“Any idea who we are fighting?” John asked when he saw the massive quantities of ammo they were carrying for their guns and other weapons. They had even grabbed backup armor, previous generation stuff, although Bethany Anne had looked at it and made a face.
“Tell me that is the previous model, and you aren’t secretly planning on stuffing me into Model One or Two? Because if you are,” she glared at him, “let me just slit my wrists right now.”
John chuckled. “No worries, last generation. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to fight in high-heels like you can now, but otherwise it’s pretty powerful.”
Two Guardians were carrying a case marked “Jean Dukes Q-Carbon Flechettes.”
Bethany Anne eyed the designation on the box and put a hand up. “Stop, you guys.” They stopped, wondering what they were doing wrong. Bethany Anne smiled to reassure them before looking at the case again. “Put it down for a moment.”
They put it down as Bethany Anne waved the rest of those bringing supplies to continue loading the ship. She looked the box over until she located a way to pry open the top and examine at the carefully packed boxes inside.
“Interesting,” she murmured, as she pulled one of her pistols out of its holster and ejected its magazine. “Come to me, my pretties.” She grabbed one of the new boxes and opened it, revealing a magazine. She pulled it out and slid it into her pistol butt, locking it in place.
“You need to be careful with that,” John told her.
Bethany Anne looked up at him. “Why, Mr. Grimes?”
John shrugged. “If those are the rounds Jean was talking about, they could probably punch a hole in the ship we’re standing in right now. Those flechettes are that hard.”
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 66