“Get out!” Tabitha answered. “You’re going landlubber?”
“Going?” Cheryl Lynn smiled as she continued to stare out over the floor. “I started as a landlubber, remember?” She waved a hand negligently above her head. “I’m certainly not going out there.” She shook her head. “No way, no how. I’m retiring.”
“Oh!” Tabitha pointed as the image on the wall changed. “There go the three drones.”
“Did you hear about the distance limits?” Cheryl Lynn asked.
“Yes, and it was a lot of math,” Samuel explained. “Something about something and if you go past this limit, we will blow the shit out of your ship.”
“Or there is a chance you could get sucked into a black hole,” Richard added. “Neither is a really good choice for a healthy future.”
“Still,” Cheryl Lynn said over her shoulder, “Kagax News Agency tried to press it, and they just about got their nose shot off.”
“Bad shot?” Tabitha asked.
“No,” Samuel answered. “Warning shot. Cloaked BYPS system. When the news agencies realized they couldn’t find the guns, they gave up trying to sneak in. When I set up two extra drones for additional video, they quit bitching to me and accepted the inevitable.”
Richard scratched the back of his neck. “Did either of you bet on the outcome?”
Tabitha whipped around. “What? There was betting?””
“When isn’t there betting?” Richard asked. “Yes. You could go with a friendly setup, or over in the Drainus sector you could get legit betting percentages.”
“What are the odds?” Tabitha asked.
“Two to one she blows it.” Cheryl Lynn sighed. “Bethany Anne went ballistic and told them to put a million credits on making this happen.” She stopped a moment to subvocalize a command to a floor-support person, then continued, “Unfortunately my wonderful Empress was in full-on Royal Affronted mode, and no less than three video cameras were on her when she said it. I couldn’t say squat before it was already out the door. It made the News of the Hour for the next four hours straight. People loved seeing her bet money they would make it.”
Richard added, “Seems only reasonable, since she is betting that her team can pull this off.”
“True enough,” Tabitha agreed.
All four heads focused on the wall in front of them when it blanked to black, then human numeric digits started a countdown from sixty. At fifty-five seconds, the four-story-tall numbers shrank to ten feet in the lower right-hand corner of the screen, and the video switched to a view of space.
“This is Empress Bethany Anne.” A six-story-tall face appeared on the screen. “We are about to transfer the Annex Gate from the Leath System to the Yollin System. To do that, we will be using six of our Leviathan-class superdreadnoughts to help power the transfer, employing state-of-the-art artificial intelligence. This information has been included in your packets.”
The face disappeared.
“That was pre-recorded,” Cheryl Lynn said. “There is no way Bethany Anne could have managed that, as tightly as she is wound right now.”
As if on cue, at fifteen seconds a hush fell over the large cavern. No one counted down, at least not above a whisper.
The video zoomed out until a bright pinprick of light was visible, and it focused on the area in a microsecond. The light grew in brilliance, then the camera zoomed back out quickly to display the outline of an empty circle with six large ships surrounding it.
A few whooped for joy as the light continued to grow so bright it overwhelmed the video camera, which implemented a filter to cut it down.
Even cut down, the light was bright.
Then it went supernova.
“Oh no!” Tabitha said, her hand over her mouth. “No no no NO!”
An explosion shattered the sphere and three of the ships immediately and a gravity wave shot out, light exploding in a ring…
Then everything slowed down. All the parts flared, and started to move back toward the middle of the destruction.
“Oh shit!” Richard pointed. “Implosion!”
The cavern rang with cries of disbelief, reporters speaking, and wails of concern and then horror, since the massive wall made them all feel they were being pulled into the middle with the debris. The drone which was sending the video was caught too close to the implosions and was yanked into the maelstrom. The video shook as it raced faster and faster into center of the super-hot white implosion, and then the signal switched to a different drone.
One outside the minimum distance.
Cheryl Lynn ran out of the admin box.
Tabitha sprinted after her, and Samuel and Richard followed. “Where are we going?” Richard called.
“Bethany Anne!” Tabitha shot back. “She is going to be devastated!”
The video switched to the Command Center, and in the background the Empress was crying out and sobbing. She fell to her knees, her hands over her eyes as tears dripped to the floor beneath her.
Some ten seconds later, that video was cut off.
Three different agencies got videos of the Empress’ people running toward the Command Center, their faces showing worry for their leader and what she must be going through. One was lucky enough to catch the Empress’ top Public Relations person and Ranger Two arguing, as they ran, with the base’s AI to allow them entry to the Command Center.
Which everyone assumed was a madhouse, since all access had been denied. The three non-Etheric Empire news agencies were politely escorted out of the room.
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Hallways En Route to the Command Center
“I don’t give a shit, Meredith!” Cheryl Lynn told the AI as she ran toward the Command Center. “If you don’t get me in there I will rewire your insides!”
“That’s not even possible,” Meredith retorted. “You don’t have the skills, Cheryl Lynn.”
“I don’t care if it’s not logical!” Cheryl Lynn argued as she and the three others took a left turn to bypass a congested area via a few back routes. “I’ll pay someone to do it!”
“Like me!” Tabitha offered. “I’ll figure out a way to make the rest of your electronic life a living hell!”
Samuel popped Richard on the shoulder and pointed to a group of aliens who were filming them. “Hope they got my good side!”
“Both my sides are my good side!” Richard replied as they kept up with the ladies.
“The four of you,” Meredith replied after several seconds of processing, “have been approved to enter the Command Center from Level Three.”
“Three?” Cheryl Lynn called back. “Command is on One!”
“Your approved elevator access to the Command Center is on three,” Meredith told the four of them. “I suggest you take a right turn at Hallway T-133, then go down Elevator T-137.”
“You’d better not be fucking with us,” Tabitha huffed as the four of them ran around the T-133 corner to their right. They bypassed four crosswalks and slowed as an elevator door opened with a ding at T-137.
The four of them jumped on and it closed. “Did you call this?” Tabitha asked Cheryl Lynn.
“No,” she replied. “I assumed Meredith did it for us.”
“I did,” Meredith replied. “I’d rather not deal with attacks from Ranger Two.”
The elevator doors opened and the four stepped out. “Direction?” Cheryl Lynn asked.
“Left,” Meredith answered.
It took the team another two minutes to reach a rather nondescript door with a full complement of Guardians in front of it. Before the team could say anything they moved to the sides and allowed the four to pass, blocking the hallway behind them.
“That was weird,” Tabitha muttered as they entered a large plain room with another elevator. There wasn’t anyone in it. “If this turns out to be a trash compactor,” she complained as they entered the elevator, “I’m Han Solo.”
“Star Wars at a time like this?” Cheryl Lynn asked in disbelief.
“A
lways time for Star Wars quotes,” Tabitha answered. “You should have been there for this one operation with the Tontos when we could only answer with quotes from characters in Star Wars. If you stayed in one character, it was a hundred extra points.”
The door opened on the Command Center and the four stepped out, their mouths open.
The Command Center was reacting in the most incomprehensible way possible.
They were celebrating.
Bethany Anne heard the word she had been waiting for. “CUT!”
She jumped up from the floor and looked around. “Do we have news?”
Bobcat pointed behind her, and she spun to Dan.
Dan put up a finger, but the air was tense until he broke into a smile. He threw off his communications headset. “WE DID IT!” he shouted, fist pumping.
Bethany Anne punched the air too. “WOOHOOO!” she shouted, her smile a mile wide. Laughing, she ran over to Dan, picked him up in a hug, and swung him around. “Dr. Destructo, you maniac, we did it!”
She dropped the laughing Dan and flung two red balls of energy casually into the air, where they burst into sparkles. “YES!” She continued to laugh as others high-fived each other.
She put her hands on her hips, but couldn’t stop smiling as everyone in the area celebrated.
ADAM, did we have any trouble?
>>Reynolds suffered a power feedback, and a quarter of his engines shut down. That was the worst, and it happened because his area of the Annex Gate started to flex, so he extended his shield somehow to help hold it exactly in place.<<
Bethany Anne shook her head. They had actually come rather close to having major problems. She wasn’t sure what might have happened, but she couldn’t believe twisting something that sensitive and that huge had been a good idea.
TOM spoke next. I can’t think of a more audacious and amazing example of human badassery than this right here. It’s a shame no one can ever know how awesome this was.
We will know, Bethany Anne replied, and that will have to be good enough for now.
John came over and hugged her, and she rested for a moment in his embrace before pulling away. “Good job, Empress. If you ever wish to give up this job you can take up acting.” He winked at her.
“Not something I would care to do,” Bethany Anne admitted.
“How did you do the crying so well?” John asked.
Bethany Anne waved to a couple of people who had wrapped up their tasks and were heading for a special exit, where Barnabas was waiting for them.
Everyone here had been a witness to the truth, and unfortunately for most of the volunteers they needed to unlearn it.
“I thought about how life would have been if it had really exploded, and asked TOM to push my emotions past the limit.” She snapped her fingers. “Instant crying.”
“Hey.” John nodded over her shoulder, so Bethany Anne turned around. “Oh.” Bethany Anne smiled at Cheryl Lynn and Tabitha and gave Samuel and Richard a little wave as the four worked through the jubilant crowd.
“So, guys,” Bethany Anne asked as they came up, “what did you think of the successful transfer of the Leath’s Annex Gate to Empire space?”
Cheryl Lynn looked around before focusing on Bethany Anne. “I ran all the way over here to console you!”
Bethany Anne nodded. “I know!”
“I said, I ran all the way over here—” Cheryl Lynn stopped her tirade in mid-sentence. “What?”
“I said I know.” Bethany Anne put out a hand, and John placed a tablet in it. She turned it around. “Isn’t it amazing how quickly the news goes out?”
Cheryl Lynn took the tablet and viewed the news clips that showed her and Tabitha front and center. She was reading the riot act to Meredith as they dashed through the hallways.
“You couldn’t have acted any better,” Bethany Anne told her.
Cheryl Lynn looked up. “I wasn’t acting!”
“Exactly,” Bethany Anne agreed. “Your real emotions, spoken so openly and honestly as you raced down the halls, will do more than anything I did to prove this was real.”
“Wasn’t it?” Cheryl Lynn looked around as she handed back the tablet. “Did it actually blow up?”
“It had to blow up,” Bethany Anne told them. “Just not the real Annex Gate.”
“Sonofabitch!” Tabitha smiled. “The shell game!”
“This time it worked like a charm,” Bethany Anne agreed. “Although I wouldn’t want to do that again. I think I lost ten years.”
“Won’t you live like, forever?” Cheryl Lynn asked.
“I don’t think so,” Bethany Anne replied. “However, I still don’t want to do this again.”
“Damn right!” Cheryl Lynn huffed. “I can see your logic, but if you ever leave me out of a stunt like this again, I swear by all that’s holy I’ll switch your Coke for Pepsi!”
“Yes ma’am,” Bethany Anne replied, keeping her smile hidden.
Cheryl Lynn looked around. “So now I need to go out there and lie my ass off about the destruction of the gate?”
“Yes,” Bethany Anne agreed. “That would be best.”
“Ok. Knowing sucks,” Cheryl Lynn told her. “I can see why not knowing was so much more powerful.”
“If it is any consolation,” she pointed to the door through which most were leaving, “most of those who know the truth won’t in fifteen minutes.”
Cheryl Lynn turned to see where Bethany Anne was pointing. “Who is working the spell-craft mind voodoo in there”
“Barnabas,” Bethany Anne answered, and Cheryl Lynn headed in that direction. “What are you doing?” she called.
Cheryl Lynn spoke over her shoulder. “Getting Barnabas to help me with my acting!” she answered. “Better to speak from total ignorance of the truth!” She winked and then turned back.
“Good idea,” Bethany Anne answered, and looked at Tabitha. “You?”
“I’m a Ranger,” Tabitha replied. “We know how to lie.”
11
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Dock 775
Peter reached over and took Tabitha’s hand as the two of them approached the security guards in front of the dock.
“Hold, sir.” The Yollin Guardian Marine put up a hand as his partner stayed alert and safely out of easy range of the two humans.
“Security credential, please.” He nodded to the hand scanner in front of Peter, who placed his available hand on the scanner.
“Welcome, Guardian Leader,” Meredith said. “We need Ranger Tabitha’s print as well.”
Tabitha put her right hand on the security scanner. “This is a pain in the ass, Meredith.”
Meredith spoke again. “Welcome, Ranger Tabitha. Please continue past the security post.”
Peter dipped his head. “Good to see you, K’lok.” He nodded to the human. “Gregory.”
Gregory confirmed using his HUD that it was the Guardian Leader and his date for the event, and nodded slightly as the two of them swept through the security door.
“Now that,” K’lok looked down the hallway for the next set of visitors, “I never saw coming.”
Gregory put a finger up to where his lips were behind his helmet, then tapped where his ears were and pointed to the door.
K’lok gave the hand signal for “Understood” and focused on his role for the evening, making sure only those on the approved list were allowed past them.
And checking everyone, including the lady with the large white dog coming down the hallway.
K’lok looked at Gregory and hissed, “How the hell do we paw-test Ashur?”
The Executive Pod waiting for Peter and Tabitha was sleek, beautiful, and already crammed with the who’s who of the Etheric Empire.
“Who are we waiting on?” Peter asked as he stepped into the Pod, making sure Tabitha had room as he led her in.
She had informed him that in her world, the man led into restaurants and other places. Peter had no problem at all with that. It was his preference anyway.
The two of them shook hands, hugged, or fist-bumped damn near everyone as they worked their way to the first two open seats.
Kael-ven and Snow moved over to give Peter and Tabitha room to sit down.
Peter turned to Kael-ven. “Who are we waiting for?”
“You, of course,” Snow answered.
“Funny har-har.” Peter reached over to ruffle Snow’s head. “No, really?”
Snow looked to the front. “My father.”
Peter saw Bethany Anne board, and assumed that near her somewhere was Ashur. Sure enough, the doors closed behind her and the Executive Pod slowly slid out of the docking area and the Meredith Reynolds. Within seconds, a full squadron of fighters pulled alongside, and the Executive Pod punched it.
Three minutes later the Pod slowed to match velocity with the monster ship ArchAngel II and slipped into a waiting dock. The fighters turned away, heading back to the Meredith Reynolds for some downtime before they would be needed to accompany the shuttle back.
The ArchAngel II accelerated rapidly and, when it was barely out of normal traffic areas, it gated and disappeared.
A small ship observed the activity and noted it for later.
QBBS Asteroid R2D2, R&D
“Here they come!” Tina shouted excitedly. “I just got the message from ArchAngel. They should be here in ten minutes.”
“Good!” Marcus answered as he walked up to her. “Does this look ok?”
Tina turned from the screen on the wall in their shared bedroom and slowly shook her head. “Ahhh, no.” She took off his tie. “Ok, better.”
“My tie!” He looked stricken.
“Is too formal for a Team BMW event!” she declared. She gently kissed him on the lips.
He nodded. “Right then, no tie it is.” He headed back into their washroom.
As the last one on, Bethany Anne was the first one off the Executive Pod. Bethany Anne thought it was funny that the Team had stocked champagne—or rather, a close equivalent—on the Pod for them to drink on the way over.
It did have a way of getting the party started, though.
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 149