“Oh, fuck,” Eric said. “Time to get away from the opening, folks!” A rocket roared from one of the large tanks. “Head down, Bethany Anne!”
The explosion hit the side of the opening.
“I think we have their attention now,” Stephen confirmed, smiling at Bethany Anne.
She walked to the edge and peeked over. “Wanking jizz-covered barnacle bitches.” Bethany Anne smiled and turned to see everyone staring at her in confusion as she added, “I want one!”
John shrugged. “They have the only four I know about.” He turned and counted. “Seven of us, four of them. If they aren’t two seaters or better, then I got dibs on the second.”
“Me three!” Scott called at the same time Darryl did.
“Well, they are starting to come up here,” Bethany Anne told the group.
“The walkers?” Stephen asked, stepping up next to her.
“Nope, the regular units,” she replied. “I really miss all our supplies.”
Stephen shrugged. “It’s not like we can’t kill them.”
“Hey,” Gabrielle called. Everyone turned to look at her. She pointed to the shipping container. “Can we use this?”
“Don’t know why not,” Bethany Anne answered. “I imagine they’ve gotten the message now.”
Leath Automation Tank Leader Three reviewed the missile shot. “Ok, reset the missiles to attack into the opening at the top of the pyramid. They should go inside, and the blast will either kill the aliens or push them out so that we can shoot them.”
“SIR!” The Tank Driver reversed, causing the ATL to fall forward, since he had just disconnected his seat belt.
“What are you doing?” the leader yelled, but then saw the large container flying down at them. “DODGE!” he screamed, but it didn’t matter.
It was as if the large container was falling under some sort of control, or flying.
“Well, that’s one down, but I still get one,” John commented as they watched the shipping container wipe out one of the tank-looking machines.
The three others, once they stopped trying to dodge, each released four missiles.
“That got their attention,” Bethany Anne shouted as they each raced to her and held on. “New tactic. Kill the assholes!”
The team disappeared moments before seven missiles exploded on the outside of the pyramid and five exploded inside, wiping out the cave.
Quarter Military Leader Grindlock and Tholt had moved back from that damned pyramid, and they heard the Automation Tanks push through the trees. “About damned time those assholes showed up.”
“Let us take the hard shit, then they come and take the glory,” Tholt agreed.
“Typical,” Grindlock took his helmet off and spat to the side before placing it back on his head. “We at least ran them to ground. They are stuck up on that rock and we will pummel it until they aren’t much more than---”
He never saw Tholt’s head explode. In fact, he never saw anything ever again after the round punctured his helmet, his brains making a mess inside his suit.
“That’s two more dead,” Bethany Anne commed everyone in the group. “They were just jacking their jaws, waiting to have their heads blown off.”
“Sucks to be them,” Eric replied.
“How are they expecting to win if they have such poor field awareness?” Stephen mused. He lifted his rifle to his shoulder, and allowed the HUD to track his aiming.
Then he started shooting.
“Beats the fuck out of me.” Bethany Anne kept walking determinedly toward the pyramid and the noises the mechanical tanks were making.
“Where are you going?” Stephen asked over his shoulder.
“I want one of those Gott Verdammt tanks!” she told him.
Inbound G’laxix Sphaea-class Warship
Lance looked at his helmet HUD. “Can you believe she and her team have destroyed over thirty-two percent of the tangos on this world?”
“Yes.” Dan nodded toward a screen. “If it wasn’t for the miscommunication, she would probably have taken out all of the ones around her location.”
Lance didn’t comment on that. He had seven ships with him, all of them loaded with Guardians, Guardian Marines and special tactical operatives. They were three minutes from her location.
He opened a channel. “General Lance Reynolds to Empress Bethany Anne. The cavalry is about to arrive.”
It took a second for Bethany Anne to reply. “Well, don’t shoot us when you get here, cause that will put an exclamation mark on a piss-poor day so far.”
Lance pinpointed her location. “Bethany Anne, I’m showing you and your team at the bottom of the pyramid. Just what the hell are you doing?”
“General, blowing these sonsabitches to kingdom-fucking-come,” she answered.
“Well, I’ll be damned.” Dan sighed, exasperated. “Lance, you need to see this.”
Lance turned to look where Dan was pointing.
Down below, three Leath mechs were turning every which way, blasting the shit out of the tangos on the ground.
“How the hell,” Dan asked, “did she and her team take over those mechanicals?”
Lance shook his head. “I can imagine she used brute strength, force of will, and lots and lots of cheating by an AI and a Kurtherian,” he answered.
Frank came up to the two men and looked out the window. “If you ain’t cheating.”
Dan and Lance finished it. “You ain’t trying.”
Epilogue
Three weeks later - QBBS Meredith Reynolds
Bethany Anne was holding John Michael and cooing. She smiled when the little guy reached up and grabbed her nose.
“Ow…ow ow ow!” She pulled her head back. “He has a hell of a grip!” She smiled at Lance and Patricia as they walked into the Royal Suite. “What’s the latest, Dad?” she asked as the baby started to cry.
“The gate has yet to return. Ricky Bobby has sent back two more reports, and frankly, we need to get our asses in gear,” he told her.
Bethany Anne nodded. She handed John Michael to Patricia when she came over to her. There had never been a baby born Patricia couldn’t quiet down.
“Bethany Anne!” Her dad got her attention. She moved closer. “I want to apologize for our part in the debacle on the planet. We knew you wanted in the fight, but we felt we knew how to protect you and deal with the planet by ourselves. You probably saved twice as many lives as our plan would have, by getting them to fight away from the cities.”
Bethany Anne blew out a breath. “Yes, we all handled it poorly. I felt I needed to fight so badly that I wasn’t going to take any shit from anyone. Then I got most of our weapons and ammunition flattened, and had to call for help.” She chewed on her lip. “It was damned embarrassing.”
Lance chuckled. “We found you and your team in stolen mechs shooting the hell out of the Leath.” He eyed his daughter a moment. “Did you release the drone videos?”
Her eyes narrowed. “What videos?”
Lance spoke louder. “Meredith?”
“Yes, General Reynolds?”
“Can you put the in-system network news videos related to Bethany Anne and the battles up on the wall?”
The two of them turned to watch as Meredith played a series of seven videos detailing Bethany Anne and her team’s efforts to kill the Leath.
“Who the hell authorized those to be released?” she asked.
“Cheryl Lynn,” Meredith answered.
Bethany Anne put a hand over her eyes. “Of course she did.”
“For what it is worth,” Lance told her, “I approved it.”
She never took her hand away from her eyes. “Of course you did.” She opened a space between her fingers and peeked at her dad. “Why?”
“Because when you are able to negotiate from a position of strength, it helps, politically,” he admitted. “And too many were forgetting the reason the Etheric Empire was created in the first place. You have to warn those we will meet in the fut
ure that we have a history of doing stuff like this.” He pointed to the video.
Lance turned back to the wall. “Reynolds, show us the latest Leath video.”
Bethany Anne’s eyes widened when she saw the clips of the Leath planet, built up over time, and showing a city that stretched from horizon to horizon. Then she inhaled as massive space stations came into view around the planet. Moments later, warships could be seen in space, as well as many more under construction.
She turned to her father. “That’s a lot of ships, Dad.”
Lance agreed. “At last count, more than seventy-two had been completed and at least seven are under construction. And that is just those we can see, not counting the ships currently being used for invasions.” He nodded to the images. “That’s a lot of power, a lot of might.”
“Do we have the location of their system?” she asked, her eyes focused on the video.
“We do.”
Bethany Anne nodded. “Well then, the Etheric Empire is about to start building the shit out of ships and everything else we need to crush them.”
She turned to her father, who noticed tiny red embers in the centers of her eyes. “Because they might have faith in their gods, but that faith is built on Kurtherian lies.”
“How are you planning on explaining that?” he asked.
“Who needs to explain anything?” she replied. “They think might makes right, so I’m going to shove my size sevens up their asses until my toes tickle their tonsils and they understand what might really is.”
Bethany Anne turned as Patricia came up to them. “But for tonight, Patricia and I have babysitting duty while Eric and Gabrielle enjoy their anniversary.”
“And what do I have?” Lance asked.
“Diaper duty!” the ladies chorused as Bethany Anne reached for John Michael.
FINIS
Author Notes
Written July 1st, 2017
Location location location…
This year, our two youngest sons graduated high school. For their graduation present, and a last ‘hurrah’ as a family before they go off to college, we chose to take a very long vacation in Europe. The idea was to get them accustomed to different peoples, different countries and understand THEY can be on their own in strange places.
The problem was the vacation was 19 days.
Almost three weeks.
And I was KILLED the last time it took me 8 weeks between books. Plus, the latest release was a Michael book which meant it was a LONG time between Bethany Anne books.
Ok, that meant this vacation was going to be a working vacation. Which isn’t that big a deal, as I’ve been writing TKG books on trips since the beginning. I wrote parts of Death Becomes Her in a car trip from DFW to Louisiana (going to the Casino’s…shhhh!)
I wrote parts of Queen Bitch on airplanes and in airports from DFW to Phoenix Arizona and back.
I wrote parts of Love Lost in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico (and on the plane trips there and back.)
However, this is the FIRST time I’ve written a book all over the world (sort of).
So, I give you parts of my itinerary where this book was written. Maybe some of you will know of these locations (or maybe I’ll just go back in five years and think…was it room 1238 or room 1328???)
Here are most of the locations FOREVER DEFEND was typed out.
Chapter’s 1-3 include Las Vegas, Nevada, DFW, Texas, (USA)
Then, I wrote a scene out of order…
Chapter 23 (Beginning of the defending) - Starbucks and 7th floor room - Hotel Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain.
Chapter 3 - Hotel Catelonia, 1st floor, balcony (next to the pool) #108, Barcelona, Spain.
Chapter 4 - Seawall, Port of Barcelona (Mediterranean) & Speed Train from Barcelona, To Madrid, Spain (leaving Track 02, Car #3)
Chapters 5-6 Madrid, Spain and Plane from Madrid to Roma, Italy.
SIDE NOTE:
Why The Bad Company? I was listening to the following song when it was time to name them: Five Finger Death Punch, The Wrong Side of Heaven, The Right Side of Hell Volume 01 Motherfuckers!
“I was born with a shotgun…in my hand…”
Chapters 7,8 - Rome & Train from Rome to Venice, Italy + Duodo Hotel, Venice (#604)
Chapters 9 - Plane from Venice to Paris, France (lost voice)
Chapter 10, 11, 12, 13 - Paris, France - (123 Hotel - Room 501)
Sick as a dog the last couple of days. Slept a lot, trying to catch up.
Chapter 14 - Eurostar between Paris and London
(Shi-tan scene was partially written while speeding under the English Channel)
Chapters 15,16 - Park Plaza Hotel, Westminster Bridge suite 1328
Chapter 17 - (first part done in DFW, Texas in May
later two scenes done in Taxi from London to Surrey, and trian from Surrey back to London
Chapters 18-23
Flight from London to DFW, Texas
Chapters 24, 25 were both written at home on Monday, June 26th
(while suffering a little bit from jet-lag. ;-)
I want to take a moment and THANK THE HELL out of all of you who are writing reviews on any and all books (whether a Kurtherian Book or another author, anywhere and anytime.) We appreciate what you do! (Yes, we read them and weep sometimes, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles.)
I want to thank the Beta Readers, Editors and JIT team for their support, working in the background to help produce a book with WAY fewer mistakes. I keep the credit for any that are still in the story. If you find one, we take ‘oops’ at [email protected].
If you have read the Ascension Series…You know this isn’t the final series for Bethany Anne - she has one more to go … just saying.
Now, to get started on Might Makes Right - The Kurtherian Gambit #18!
*** I haven’t said this in a while, but here goes: “Any and all shoe knowledge credit goes to my wife, because without her, I would be lost trying to explain anything about Bethany Anne and shoes…”
Might Makes Right
The Kurtherian Gambit Book 18
1
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Mark Billingsley Park, Four Months since First Battle of Karillia
The two women set up near their favorite tree. It had grown in the years since they had first used it as a backdrop for their reports, but it was still recognizable.
The woman in front of the camera ran a hand through her hair as the other winked at her from behind her HUD Reporting setup.
Not that Giannini could see Sia’s wink.
There were a total of five drone cameras around Sia, the one high overhead setting the shot. Giannini was always amazed at Sia’s ability to control so much.
“Hello,” Giannini began. “My name is Giannini Oviedo, and I’m coming to you from Mark Billingsley Park located inside the QBBS Meredith Reynolds, currently on station within the Etheric Empire. This is our last report before additional Etheric Empire ships depart to support the Karillians in their fight with the Leath. You will remember that the Etheric Empire supported the Karillians efforts to stay free from the Kurtherian backed Leath.”
Outside the range of the cameras, two men glided through the trees, their eyes searching everywhere for anyone or anything that might suggest the two women were in danger.
Giannini continued speaking, her voice dubbed over video footage of a battle. “We will be conducting an interview with the Empress later today, but for now, we were able to confirm that the videos which have circulated of her on the Yaree or, more properly, the Karillian home world, are unaltered. Empress Bethany Anne, Stephen, Gabrielle, John Grimes, Eric Escobar, Darryl Jackson and Scott English are seen in these videos fighting the Leath from an odd pyramid structure in a jungle.”
Sia cut back to Giannini only. "The following scenes were provided by Cheryl Lynn, and were taken from the HUDs of those fighting.” Giannini looked straight into the camera.
“If you are bothered by graphic scenes of violence and death,
please turn to a different channel right now.”
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Main Military Meeting Room
“We are,” Admiral Thomas stated in answer to Bethany Anne’s question, “outmatched in numbers. Best estimate is they have us by fifty percent in new production and eighty percent on existing tonnage.”
The Admiral listened to an update from his earpiece, thought about his response and added, “The Leath ships are, class by class, close but not equivalent to our capabilities. However, with their numbers and a bit of luck, they could take us in a major action so long as it is not here in our system. We are dropping puck defense satellites as quickly as we can right now.”
“How many attacks,” Bethany Anne asked, “have we sustained on Karillia in the last four months?”
“Three,” he answered. While both of them knew these numbers, the operations people in the large meeting room needed to be reminded of them again. They should have all this information as well, since the updates for each attack by the Leath into Karillian space were shared with all relevant personnel, but question sessions like these reminded everyone about the issues at hand.
Bethany Anne raised an eyebrow. “Timing?”
“Exactly twenty-two-point-four days apart.”
“Another one coming in?” she asked.
“Three days, four hours, twelve minutes.”
Bethany Anne paused a moment.
TOM, why are they so predictable?
The Phraim-’Eh clan are very regimented in their belief system. However, that major clan is broken down into five smaller clans. One of them, the K’gurth, is regimented to a fault.
That is a Kurtherian assessment?
No. That is a Kurtherian-with-years-and-years-of-working-with-humans assessment. Most Kurtherians would only see the symmetry of the math and revel in it. We would, perhaps, love the math and believe that it is sacrosanct, deciding that to mess with it would disparage its meaning.
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 70