The alien’s glowing red eyes found D’leck, and she pointed to her.
Sis’tael felt the third kick hit the arms she was using to protect her head. She cried out a second time as a deafening crack above her hurt her hearing.
The crowd surged back, and Sis’tael wasn’t being kicked anymore.
“John,” a voice said above her.
Sis’tael moved an arm and looked up, right into the flaming red eyes of the new Yollin Empress.
“Oh, bistok shit,” Sis’tael whispered, trying not to move. “Mom is going to kill me.”
The Empress pointed at Sis’tael. “Carry her. She was being kicked.”
Sis’tael turned to see another of the aliens, this one in dark red armor and a helmet, looking at her.
Sis’tael swallowed. She had watched enough videos to know this was the alien her father had said did the killing for the false Yollin leader.
She went limp as he knelt next to her.
“I…” Sis’tael started, as he gently moved his arms underneath her. “Can…do this…” She looked around when he picked her up easily, and kept her legs tight against her body.
Jhrex laughed his ass off as he watched the group in front of him collapse into the street. He started egging on the fallen Noel-ni as they regained their feet. “Kick the alien!” Others took up the chant, and the violence started.
He noticed their kicks hurt her, but not too badly due to the Yollin’s hard skin. He was about to yell again when a large crack sounded and not ten paces away, floating in the air above the Yollin, was the alien Empress.
Her eyes were glowing red, and her hair was floating loose around her head.
Seconds later Jhrex started when he felt a hand grab his arm. “C’mon!” his friend hissed, but suddenly his friend’s face showed fear and Jhrex turned to follow his friend’s focus back to the alien Empress. His heart sank.
The Empress was aiming a finger at him, and her finger was starting to glow blue.
Bethany Anne was multitasking as fast as she could think. She confirmed John had the young Yollin protected, then she searched out the Yollin cry of worry she had heard.
The girl’s mom was easy to find.
She pointed toward the mother, and the crowd parted where she was pointing.
Score one for having a bunch of videos about your badassery. “Come here!” she commanded the female Yollin.
>>To your right, we believe we have found out why the Yollin teen surged ahead.<<
What happened? she asked TOM and ADAM.
I read her thoughts, TOM answered. She felt a large sting and her body reacted, then the natural tendency of Noel-ni to hate aliens took over and someone, most likely the one ADAM is pointing out, instigated the attack from the sidelines.
Bethany Anne lifted her arm, her fingertip glowing blue as the crowd moved away. She spoke in the native tongue. “Come here!”
The Noel-ni had turned to flee, but Bethany Anne released the electrical charge and the one she was pointing at collapsed, spasming on the ground.
>>INCOMING!<< ADAM yelled a warning on all channels.
Police Protector Tellek was hot, tired, and annoyed.
He didn’t pull many of these official gigs, but when he did he made sure to inform his upper command how much he despised them.
This time it didn’t matter how much of a pain in the ass he was; since practically the whole damn force had been called to duty to help protect the foreign dignitary. He wasn’t exactly sure which one this was since they had two coming this month, and frankly, with this being his fifth shift in two days, he could care less.
When he heard the squawk on the radio that said there was a disturbance behind his position, he turned and started jogging in that direction. The least he could do was show up. He imagined others would do the hard part.
Which meant they got the paperwork, as well.
He was a block away when the alien just appeared above a group of his people and another alien.
One of her guards picked up the alien and started to carry her away. Tellek’s lips pressed together when the alien, still floating in the air, lifted her hand, which started glowing blue.
Tellek reached over his shoulder, grabbed the radar-guided explosive missile, and pulled it around.
“HALT!” he screamed. Whatever this alien was doing, it was something that looked like it would hurt his people.
She released the blue ball into the crowd, and the screaming started.
Tellek put the weapon to his shoulder, locked onto the alien, and hit the firing switch.
10
Minor Planet Howz, City of Chaht, Bar
“I’m sorry, but you want what, exactly?” Nathan asked the odd-looking alien across the table.
He and R’yhek were sitting in a dark, dingy bar where Nathan would have been concerned about taking off his boots. He was sure some insect would crawl onto his feet and infect him with God-knew-what.
While the darkness of the place didn’t hamper his eyesight, it might have bothered R’yhek if the Pod-doc hadn’t upgraded his low-light vision abilities to the best a Yollin could expect.
The alien, one Nathan would describe as a cross between an emaciated robot and a thrift store, leaned toward him. “I want you,” he struck the table with one finger, his one good eye glowing brightly in the gloom, “to provide me with a contract that grants me all your Straiphus output for the collin plants.”
R’yhek jumped into the conversation, “You want roots?” Nathan looked at his companion and smirked. The large Yollin continued, “You are trying to shake us down in this dingy place for some damned plants?”
Nathan turned to the Yollin. “You owe me. You lost the bet.”
Beethlock eyed the two in front of him. “I am not sure,” his sibilant tones seemed annoyed, “you understand the gravity of your position.”
Nathan turned back to the black-market businessman. “Oh, I’m pretty sure I know.” He leaned back in his chair. “You tried to go to Straiphus and get your own supply of the collin plant, but you can’t.”
“It doesn’t grow anywhere else like it does on Straiphus. Too expensive to cultivate,” R’yhek interjected.
“Then,” Nathan continued, “when regular business channels didn’t work, you tried to strong-arm a few people on the planet. Unfortunately,” Nathan’s eyes flashed yellow, “you never asked the criminal underground for permission, and they ran your ass out and killed some of your people as a warning.”
R’yhek shook his head. “Truly shouldn’t piss off the local criminals.”
“Finally, you reached out to us to set up a meeting, not realizing that same criminal organization might have let us know that someone was trying to strong-arm our farmers.” This time, Nathan tapped the table with his finger.
“Why would they tell you?” Beethlock asked, narrowing his good eye.
“Call it professional courtesy,” Nathan answered. “These negotiations are over. No one threatens us.”
Beethlock’s chuckle irritated Nathan. “I think not.”
“Yeah?” Nathan looked around the place. He could count about fifteen beings he didn’t know. “You and what army?”
“I’m glad you asked,” Beethlock told him. Nathan flinched as a high-pitched whistle emanated from the alien in front of him.
Four of those in the bar seemed to go from drunk to sober in seconds, and another eight entered the establishment from outside.
“This army,” Beethlock answered.
“Not bad,” R’yhek admitted. “Didn’t see the outside options coming in.”
“Last chance, Beethlock.” Nathan’s eyes glowed yellow.
“For what?” Beethlock asked, ignoring the warning.
“To accept that you don’t fuck over Bad Company, as opposed to learning it the hard way,” Nathan answered, but he wasn’t really listening to Beethlock anyway. He was confirming everyone’s location.
Nathan tapped R’yhek’s foot with his boot.
> “Time’s up, asshole,” Nathan told Beethlock.
R’yhek turned in his chair and dove to his left.
“Arrgh, bistok shit!” R’yhek spat when he realized he was now halfway sticking to the gunk all over the floor.
Nathan roared, his body transforming as he grabbed the table in front of him. The nails of his clawed hands raked huge gouges in its top as he shoved it violently forward, crunching Beethlock against the wall. He then twisted to his left and tossed the table toward the larger group of Beethlock’s minions who had come in.
After the table had soared over his head, R’yhek jumped up from the floor and laughed. “Is that all you got, Beethlock?” he yelled as he saw Shi-tan’s green arm grab one of those who had been in the bar and throw him several feet. “We got an army in green!”
R’yhek heard some noise behind him and turned to see Nathan in Pricolici form ripping off Beethlock’s metal arm. “Oh, never mind. Looks like you’re busy with death-by-pissed-off-Pricolici.” He turned back around when he heard a woman yelling.
“Uncle R’yhek!” Christina shouted as she jumped on the bar and ran down its length, sidestepping all the glasses and plates in an amazing feat of dexterity until one of the people at the bar realized she was working for the other team.
The alien shoved the bar stool out of his way and turned to catch the speeding human, red in his eyes.
“Oh, for…” R’yhek almost closed his eyes, but Christina was on the alien, her clawed hands slicing from his head, behind his neck, under his arm and down his torso as she twisted around him like he was a pole. Then she jumped back onto the bar as the alien was left screaming, blood cascading down his flesh, eyes blinded.
The girl was giggling.
R’yhek opened his arms as she jumped fifteen feet across two tables and landed on him. She used him like a pole as well, but thankfully, no claws. Then she was next to him. “Dad called it!” she told him, and looked behind her. “Oh, sucks to be him.”
Nathan appeared next to them, his huge hand on his daughter’s shoulder. For this battle she had chosen to be the size of a full-grown woman, but he easily pushed her behind R’yhek. She smiled into the monster’s eyes. “Mom’s over there behind Shi-tan!”
The Pricolici turned and scanned the rest of the bar.
It was chaos.
The large group that had entered was mostly down already in various states of damage, thanks to Shi-tan. To his left, Bastek, the female cat-alien, had bounced her charged baton off two heads, and two aliens who had brandished weapons had been shot.
The barkeeper had his hands up, eyes taking in the scene around him in fear.
“Whoomp!” Shi-tan yelled as he jumped up in the air and replicated the human wrestling move he had been studying, turning sideways in the air and slamming his elbow into one of the aliens who had been struggling to get back up.
Christina flinched when she heard either bones or exoskeleton crack.
Nathan stayed in his monster form and walked over to the barkeeper, who needed to look higher and higher as he approached. The monster reached into a large bag dangling from his hip and pulled out Beethlock’s head.
He was still alive.
Nathan stared at the head in his hands, “Youuuu willll payyyy forr thiisss messs. Givvve theee barrrkkkppppeeerrrr yourrr crrredit nummber!”
Nathan turned the head toward the barkeeper, whose eyes flicked back and forth between the monster and the literal head of the criminal group in this city.
“Why?” the head asked.
Nathan slammed Beethlock’s head into the bar, which caused the electronics in the eye to fritz, before holding it in front of the barkeeper again.
“Two Two Frile Frile Con-temm,” the head spouted.
Five minutes later Bastek had provided medical assistance to as many of those in need as she could before the six members of Bad Company left the bar. Nathan had shoved Beethlock’s head back into the bag and Shi-tan was carrying the pieces of Beethlock’s body, chuckling the whole time about the can of whup-ass they had just opened.
“The spies show nothing between us and the ship,” Ecaterina told her husband, “so why don’t you change back?” She put a hand on his arm.
A moment later, Nathan was back with them.
“Beethlock,” Nathan growled as he walked down the sidewalk, a few aliens giving his group uneasy glances, “you don’t come into our backyard and fuck with us. My people will kick your ass and then they will tell the big bosses.”
Christina had moved up next to her dad, and she opened the bag and peeked in. She smiled at the robotic head looking up at her, “Which also happens to be us, bistok-shit-for-brains,” she told it before she closed the bag again.
Bastek walked next to Shi-tan, who looked down at her. “Yes?”
She looked more closely at his arm, “I’m going to need to give you a couple of stitches, or you should spend a bit of time in the Pod-doc.”
Shi-tan twisted his arm to see the cut she was talking about. “How did I get this?”
“Probably that wrestling move,” Ecaterina called back. “The guy you hit on the ground had some metal on him.”
“Huh.” He nodded. “Was probably that.” He put his arm back down and looked at Bastek. “I’ll take the stitches. The Pod-doc takes away my scars.”
“You want them?” she asked before rolling her eyes at the smiling Shrillexian. “Of course you do. Marks of honor and all of that.”
“Of course.” He shrugged as they all paused a moment to let some mechanical traffic cross in front of them. After crossing the street, Shi-tan kept nodding at those they passed who stared at the robotic body parts he was carrying. His smiles caused them to avert their eyes and hurry off to whatever it was they had been intending to do.
He laughed when one young alien turned and ran into a wall, bouncing off it and grabbing its forehead in pain.
Bastek slapped his shoulder. “Don’t be mean!”
“I’m not mean!” Shi-tan shot back. “Mother Ecaterina up there told me I needed to work on not looking so angry all the time, so I’m practicing my smiling.”
“Your smiling,” Ecaterina called, “Is a faceful of sharp teeth!” She dodged a small stump jutting from the concrete. “Try being nice without looking like you intend to eat someone.”
They walked another five steps before she added, “And I’m not ‘Mother’!”
The five of them chuckled softly, except Christina who patted her mom on the shoulder. “Yes you are, Mom.”
Ecliptic Orbit around Howz, Aboard Prometheus Minor
“So,” Nathan turned Beethlock’s head so he could see what remained of his body, “we have your head and your body parts. And we have the option of putting you back together or spacing you and allowing all your parts to re-enter the planet’s atmosphere, which would destroy all evidence.”
“Huh.” R’yhek scratched one of his mandibles. “That’s both incredibly devious and very impressive, Nathan.” He looked at the parts. “Who could find a body if it was nothing but burnt atoms spread all over the atmosphere?”
“I thought so,” Nathan agreed.
“What is it you want?” Beethlock finally spoke. “And why am I supposed to trust you will do what you promise?”
“Because between the two of us,” Nathan said, nodding to Shi-tan, who had entered the large room and turned toward them when he noticed the alien parts on the table top, “I’m the only one who seems to keep his word.”
Shi-tan picked up a hip, leg, and foot. “I wonder what happens—”
“Leave that alone!” Beethlock tried to shout. “Stop fucking with my parts!”
Shi-tan’s eyes narrowed. He leaned over the table toward the head, “And you are who, to give a Shrillexian orders?”
Beethlock stayed quiet.
Shi-tan nodded at the leg, and Nathan winked from behind Beethlock. Shi-tan gave the alien an evil grin, full of teeth. “I’ll just go put these on my wall of trophies, Beethlock. Y
ou can negotiate with me for them.” He picked up the parts and walked out of the room.
“WHAT?” Beethlock actually got out a shout this time. “That animal is leaving with my body!”
“That animal,” Shi-tan called from the other side of the door, “heard you!”
The door cut off anything else Shi-tan might have said.
“Keep pissing off those in Bad Company,” Nathan told him, “and I won’t have much left of you to give back.”
“Now,” Nathan spoke loudly enough for the head to hear him as he walked five feet over to a wall that had a tool bench and lot of tools. He grabbed a foot-long half-inch-diameter rod which had a four-inch box on one side and a connector on the other. “I’m thinking you need to provide us with information for this negotiation.” He picked up a connector and turned to face the table, eyeing a port he had found earlier on Beethlock’s head. He turned and put the first connector back, then pulled out another and locked it onto the rod.
He stepped back to the table and palmed the head. “What are you doing?” Beethlock asked as he noticed his jack’s door slide open.
“Making sure you keep your side of the bargain,” Nathan answered as he jacked in the probe. He set the head and probe back down on the table. “For you to get your body back and get back down on Howz, you have to perform three tasks. The first is answer my questions, the second is apologize, and the third is take an oath to your new criminal boss.”
“Who’s that?”
“I was hoping you’d ask,” Nathan grinned and walked around to where Beethlock could see him. “Welcome to Bad Company, you little pissant.”
Inside Beethlock’s head, his half-organic and half-electronic brain screamed in fear.
WHO ARE YOU? he asked, realizing that something had insinuated itself through his firewalls while Nathan had been talking to him.
My name is Prometheus, the entity answered, and you are now my bitch.
Nathan smiled as a green light clicked on and Beethlock’s eye dimmed.
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 79