>>Shinigami is just stretching her wings. She will settle down.<<
So, no more randomly heading off and shooting up my enemies?
ADAM replied quickly, >>Oh no, you’re fucked there.<<
Bethany Anne replied dryly. No ADAM, go ahead, take your time and think it through. I’d like to know what you really think.
>>I’ve thought it all the way through, and I would like to change my statement.<<
Wonderful! Bethany Anne beamed. What are you changing it to?
ADAM took a moment before he answered. >>After careful and thorough consideration, you are thoroughly fucked, like, no-chance-in-hell-fucked.<<
Bethany Anne shook her head. ADAM, I love you too.
>>Just keeping it real.<<
It looked like she might have a new child, an AI she would have to teach how to obey her orders—or risk having Bethany Anne take her apart screw by screw.
“Shinigami?”
“Yes, Bethany Anne?” Shinigami said.
“Let’s have a small review of your most recent attack.”
“Why?” the AI responded. “I calculated the most efficient response, and while I did not adhere to the game plan, I was able to support the goal of killing those Kurtherians who were on the planet.”
“Yes,” Bethany Anne agreed, “but what about the Kurtherians who were in space?”
“Those fuckers got away,” Shinigami started, her voice going deeper as Bethany Anne’s left eyebrow rose in surprise. “As soon as we get a chance, I’d like to place about seven Heli-arc missiles right up their asses and blow them into their constituent molecules. I’d like their ship to look like a flaming meteor, heating the heavens so much it warms planets as it passes. I’d like—”
Bethany Anne put up a hand. “That’s enough!” she told the AI.
Maybe, Bethany Anne thought, she would have this discussion with Shinigami another day.
25
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Darkened Side, Military Dock 772
Shinigami appeared in the area of space reserved for the Military’s Leviathan-class superdreadnoughts. While many sensors were aimed at that area, none registered the ship.
Although two locations registered a power fluctuation.
The craft slid through space, going deep under the normal passages. It took an extra fifteen minutes of travel time, but Bethany Anne preferred the increased anonymity. It wasn’t impossible to see a black ship in the dark of space, and the closer it was to you, the higher the chances were of being seen with an optically-enhanced naked eye.
So Shinigami went deep. She sent out a ping to alert those who needed to know she was now in the system, and her expected arrival time.
The response was a location to arrive at.
It was Shinigami’s responsibility to make sure she didn’t crash into any other ships.
Bethany Anne was in her cabin staring at herself in the mirror. “You got this,” she said softly. “I meant well. I meant to keep them safe.”
Shinigami’s quiet voice interrupted her. “Bethany Anne, five minutes.”
“Thank you,” Bethany Anne responded. She took one more look in the mirror, and smiled to herself. “You will do better!” She smiled again.
There was a glint in her eye. Perfect!
She was wearing black pants and a deep-blue long-sleeved shirt, along with a gold necklace. Her hair was the deepest black she could make it.
Her hair complimented the hell out of her pants, she thought, but she glanced down at her boots and sighed.
“Nothing is fair in life, so deal with it,” she told herself. “And next time you decide to leave everyone behind and go kill Kurtherians, make sure you take appropriately fashionable footwear.” She started for the hatch. “Minus ten points for that one, BA.”
Inside the dock, half of the lights had been turned off. While plenty bright, it didn’t cause so many reflections and make you want to put a hand over your eyes to look around.
Meredith said over the dock’s speaker system, “QBS Shinigami arriving in thirty seconds. Please stay away from the atmospheric shield. That means you, Tabitha.”
A woman turned around and stuck her tongue out.
“If your shower goes cold, don’t blame me,” the EI retorted.
Tabitha pulled her tongue back in.
The group of humans and Yollins started to move a little closer together as a ship’s nose came into view, and slowly it pierced the field and eased into the dock. The lethality of the ship was on display, as were the female vampire emblem and the wear and tear of a few atmospheric entries.
In a few moments the ship settled down on its landing gear, and the hatch irised open.
A scant moment later military pipes sounded, and all took a knee to honor her.
Tears came unbidden to Bethany Anne’s face, streaming down it to drip off and soak her blue shirt. She looked around at her friends and her family, and reached past her smile to wipe her face. She stepped down the short ramp.
None got up from their knees.
“I’m not worthy of this,” she cried, falling to her own knees and hiding her face as she sobbed. The pain in her heart overcame her desire to put on a good face as her cries caressed those who looked up, knowing their friend, their leader…their Empress was back.
A giant of a man stood up and walked over to the woman, and knelt beside her. He laid his giant arm across her back, as he had well over a century before when she had learned of Martin’s death back on Earth. He pulled her closer and she turned her head, soaking John’s chest this time.
“John, I didn’t get them all.” Her shoulders heaved in pain and a hand reached through her hair to offer her some tissues. Bethany Anne took them. “Thank you,” she murmured.
Bethany Anne heard Stephen’s say, “You are welcome, my Queen.”
Wiping her eyes under her hair, she moved it aside and looked up to see her friends, her family – those she loved—slowly standing or coming over to stand near her.
“I failed,” she started again, but this time she was shushed by John.
“Stop it, BA,” he told her. “You got five out of eight, which means we only have three left to get.” She looked at him with a question in her eyes.
Her dad stepped forward and dropped to one knee to put a hand on her shoulder. “We all failed you, honey,” Lance told her. “In our own ways, we kept putting you higher and higher up on a pedestal to keep the Empire together, long past when you needed to be there. We’ve had a federation of races for a while, and it’s time it became official.”
“That’s…” She wiped a tear. “I would like that.”
Barnabas spoke from her left, and she looked at him. “The problem is that Empress Bethany Anne and her closest are too powerful within the Empire to allow a true Federation to exist.”
“So,” Admiral Thomas added from Barnabas’s left, “many of us need to disappear.”
“Like on a project,” Frank’s voice came from her right, so Bethany Anne turned to Frank, Barb and their son, Giles.
“Or a quest,” Giles added, a smile on his face. “One where we need to hunt up lost archaeological trinkets.”
“Maybe to Earth?” Dan asked. “Perhaps to lay in a powerful defensive array around the planet. Gives some of us a good reason to feel comfortable enough to gallivant around the galaxy! Perhaps meet new civilizations?”
“Perhaps help a few aliens along the way?” added Gabrielle. “Some of us raised our kids a long time ago, and are ready to go out and kick a few new asses.”
“What?” Bethany Anne looked around. “We are leaving?”
“Not all of us,” Lance said, and she turned to her Dad. “Some of us will stay here to help the Federation.”
“Protect it from those who see the good thing as something to take over,” Frank added. “It happened too many times in Earth’s past, so some of us need to be here to shepherd it into the future.”
“Not all from the front,” Nathan added. “Some o
f us will need to do it from the shadows.”
Ecaterina put an arm around Nathan’s waist. “Like we have done for decades.” She winked at Bethany Anne. “Subverting the sheep with Pepsi.”
Bethany Anne chuckled and wiped away another tear. “Bitch.”
Barnabas said, “Some of us need to go with you. It’s time for the Rangers to go gently into that good night. We are a huge reminder of the Empress and her powers.”
Tabitha stepped out from behind Barnabas and elbowed him in the ribs. “Move out of the way, Barney.” Barnabas rolled his eyes, then reached out and laid an arm over her shoulders as she kept talking. “Some of us want to get Michael and point our nose in a new direction. See what’s out there.”
“Plus,” Lance broke in again, “we need a way to hide a large military force that is…” he waved his hand, “out there somewhere.”
“Ready to be called back, if need be,” Admiral Thomas agreed. “So we have jobs to do.”
Tabitha interjected, “And we’ll come back from time to time to kick some asses and leave again. Never let your enemy think you are truly gone.”
“I can live with that,” Lance agreed. “We’ll stay in contact.”
“Make up shadow forces,” Nathan said.
“Kick asses out there,” John told her. “Because we all know there are some asses that need to be kicked.”
“And find those last three Kurtherians,” Darryl told her, “because we don’t leave a job unfinished.”
“And you didn’t let us help you with the first five,” Scott piped in. “I’m still a little miffed on that one.”
“Sorry!” Bethany Anne looked at her friend. “Truly.”
“Water under the bridge, BA.” He smiled.
She reached up and patted John’s face. “Thank you.”
He adjusted his hold and helped her stand. “I’m sorry, all of you,” she blew out. “I thought I was helping you, saving you this trouble as I took care of business.” She thought about her talk on that last planet. “What I learned is I’m not God. People should be allowed to make their own decisions on whether they walk into danger…or not.”
“Like we always have?” Ashur chuffed.
“Yes, like you always have,” Bethany Anne replied and reached over to his head, scratching him behind the ears, then bending a bit further and pulling him over to her so she could rub along his side. “Where’s Matrix?”
Ashur barked, “He has been talking with TOM since you made it back into the system. He is working on a project down in the R&D labs at the moment and happier than a puppy seeing a frog for the first time.”
Bethany Anne looked around, then her eyes narrowed.
“Did someone say go pick up Michael?”
Two large men stepped into Jean’s R&D lab. They were there to use an old laptop that had been carefully kept running since the Etheric Empire had been called “TQB Enterprises.”
They needed to type a message that would never route through to Bethany Anne.
Eric stayed just inside the main door as John made his way to a back room and opened the door. Turning on the light before sitting down, he cracked his knuckles as he waited for the laptop to warm up. In a minute it came online, and he typed in the password.
He opened the chat window.
JG: TOM?
TOM: Yes.
JG: John here. Eric and I have a minute, and we don’t want to say this in front of BA, but thank you. Without your help I’m not sure we would have her back.
TOM: Without my meddling she might never have gone.
JG: She would be dead without your meddling. I think that is a get-out-of-jail-free card.
TOM: It was, actually. It was get out of the jail of my ship and into Bethany Anne’s doghouse when she learned I had changed her and was onboard without permission. For what it is worth, her doghouse has a better view.
John was silent for a moment.
JG: How did you get her to come back?”
TOM: I took an axiom of human medicine which ADAM uncovered. Use laughter, use antics, use anything that fucking works to help them remember the past, not the present. Eventually she seemed to start helping herself, and something happened on Vel’aisle that snapped her out of the Baba Yaga mentality.
JG: Thank you for bringing her back.
TOM: We all did, brother, we all did.
John smiled and nodded to the laptop before standing up and stretching his large body. His advanced and modified bones cracked in their sockets. He nodded to Eric and the two of them continued toward the next meeting.
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, One Week Later
There was a knock on Bethany Anne’s door. “You in there?”
Bethany Anne scrubbed the top of Ashur’s head. “YES!” she called, and then added. “Please let her in, Meredith.”
The bedroom door lock snicked, and a moment later Tabitha walked in. Bethany Anne looked at her friend and frowned. “There’s something different about you.”
Tabitha pursed her lips, her hands on her hips. “I’m more awesome since the last time you saw me?” she asked, one eye raised in response.
Bethany Anne shook her head. “I’m not saying that isn’t true, but there is a glow, a… A…” Her hand shot out. “YOU HAVE A BOYFRIEND!”
“Nooo!” Tabitha shook her head and waved her arms back and forth. Then, she stopped. “Well, maybe,” she admitted, “but it’s a long shot and I don’t want to talk about it and maybe jinx it.”
Bethany Anne’s head turned to the side, both eyes still on her friend. “But you will share eventually?”
Tabitha sighed. “Yes, yes. If things progress, I will.” she said, trying to change the subject. “Did you hear William’s sweet on someone?”
Bethany Anne’s eyes narrowed. “William? I can’t remember the last girlfriend William had.”
>>Her name was Clarissa.<<
Shut up. I remember all his girlfriends. I was being social.
>>Oh.<<
“Her name was Clarissa. She was a mechanic like him, and he thought for sure they would be together forever.”
“He says that every time a first date goes well,” Bethany Anne retorted. “So what happened this time?”
Tabitha snickered. “Seems Ford and Chevy lovers don’t mix.”
“A house divided can get you that.”
“True.” Tabitha sat down on her bed. “Kind of like Apple and PC way back when.” She turned to Ashur. “How you doing, Furface?”
Ashur chuffed. “Ashur is not here right now. His mind is a million miles away due to the awesome scratching presently being received,” he barked. “so don’t fuck it up!”
The ladies laughed. “He deserves a good rub,” Bethany Anne replied. “I’ve been neglecting him.”
“What’s up with Bellatrix?” Tabitha asked.
Ashur’s head lifted off the bed and he whined. “She wants another litter.”
Tabitha nodded. “I thought the first litter was the last litter for her? I remember her bitching for years about her struggle with the pups being so intelligent. I started drinking—”
“Harder,” Bethany Anne cut in.
“Just to be able to commiserate.” Tabitha eyed Bethany Anne. “The stories of those puppies and their antics should be enshrined.”
“They have been,” Ashur chuffed. “Frank.”
“Oh, of course.” Tabitha thought back to the past for a moment. “That was why he left me alone for those few years.”
Bethany Anne nodded in agreement. It was always a nice reprieve when Frank found another group to go study. “You wanted to talk before I interrupted you?”
Tabitha leaned forward. “So what are we doing about Michael?”
Bethany Anne smiled. “He’s back. I got the short message from Akio, Yuko, and Eve. It’s really him.”
“How do we get him?” she pressed.
“War reparations,” Bethany Anne explained. “I’m taking the Leath’s gate. We’re just working to move it in
to the right position.”
“Where, here?” Tabitha asked.
“No, another system. Admiral Thomas is working on a plan to destroy our ships so the Federation can come together.”
“What?” Tabitha’s eyes opened in shock. “We can’t destroy our ships!”
“Oh, we won’t,” Bethany Anne assured her.
“Wait, then what are we doing with them?” Tabitha asked.
“We are stealing them,” Bethany Anne told her. “And taking them to Earth.”
“And then?” Tabitha asked.
Bethany Anne pursed her lips. “Then we are taking them and going ‘out there,’” she said, lazily waving a hand toward space. There was a nasty glint in her eye as she continued, “once I pick up Michael and kiss him and make his booboos better.”
Tabitha reached over to pet Ashur. “You mean the booboos you are going to give him?”
“Damn right,” Bethany Anne replied, wiping a tear. “Well,” she put up two fingers about an inch apart, “maybe a small booboo or two. I don’t want it to take him too long to heal.”
FINIS
Author Notes - Michael Anderle
December 14, 2017
As always, I want to say THANK YOU for not only reading this book, but also reading through to these author notes, as well.
Here we are, the second to the final book in this Arc (the third) for Bethany Anne.
I wrote the final couple of thousand words on a flight from Las Vegas to Dallas to get ready to see the younger twins (I say younger, but they are 18 and freshman in college so young men) come home from their first semester in school.
The team and I (Stephen Russell and Lynne Steigler, the beta readers, Stephen Campbell and the JIT team) have about 6 days to finish editing 1/2 the book, and run it through everyone, place the art inside the book and package it ready to go so we hit the December 20th deadline for the Pre-Order.
PRE-ORDERS
I really hate pre-orders.
“Why do it then, Mike?”
I’m glad you asked.
If you miss an Amazon pre-order by having to push it back (you failed to deliver your final manuscript 4 days in advance), you are banned for a year from doing pre-orders. Now, anyone who has read 20 of these author notes (or more) knows that I’m all about slamming until the end.
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 139