If All Else Fails

by N. D. Roberts

  If All Else Fails

  The Kurtherian Endgame™ - Out Of Time Book Two

  ND Roberts

  Michael Anderle

  This book is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.

  Copyright © 2019 N.D. Roberts and Michael Anderle

  Cover by Andrew Dobell, www.creativeedgestudios.co.uk

  Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing

  Interior Images by Eric Quigley

  Interior Images © LMBPN Publishing

  This book is a Michael Anderle Production

  LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact support@lmbpn.com. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  LMBPN Publishing

  PMB 196, 2540 South Maryland Pkwy

  Las Vegas, NV 89109

  First US edition, December, 2019

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-64202-608-5

  Print ISBN: 978-1-64202-609-2

  The Kurtherian Gambit (and what happens within / characters / situations / worlds) are copyright © 2015-2019 by Michael T. Anderle and LMBPN Publishing.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Epilogue

  Author Notes - N.D. Roberts

  Author Notes - Michael Anderle

  Books By Michael Anderle

  Connect with Michael Anderle

  If All Else Fails Team

  Thanks to our Beta Readers:

  Diane Velasquez, Dorene Johnson, USNR, and Timothy Cox

  Thanks to the JIT Readers

  Dave Hicks

  Diane L. Smith

  Misty Roa

  Jackey Hankard-Brodie

  Dorothy Lloyd

  John Ashmore

  Daniel Weigert

  Peter Manis

  Jeff Goode

  Kelly O’Donnell

  Deb Mader

  Micky Cocker

  Jeff Eaton

  James Caplan

  If I’ve missed anyone, please let me know!

  Editor

  Lynne Stiegler

  Dedication

  For the children we all are in our hearts.

  — Nat

  To Family, Friends and

  Those Who Love

  To Read.

  May We All Enjoy Grace

  To Live The Life We Are

  Called.

  —Michael

  Chapter One

  The Corral, Parade Ground

  One moment Gabriel was calling one last goodbye to his parents, and the next, he was standing at ease on the parade ground with Alexis, Trey, and K’aia around him.

  No integration scenario? K’aia murmured over the team link. My stomachs aren’t too happy about that.

  The neural integration was done on the first insertion, Alexis ventured. There was no need for the scenario. I’m not in the mood for fun and games, anyway.

  Gabriel shrugged minutely. It doesn’t feel right to take this lightly anymore. We have to focus on making every day count. There was no joy in play while his heart was still weighted by the loss of his aunt.

  Relax, K’aia told them gently. Otherwise, all you’ll end up doing is going around in circles until your brains explode. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you could learn something from Trey. His clowning got him through some dark times.

  Hey! Trey resisted narrowing his eyes, knowing better than to move a muscle while the SIs were watching for the slightest infraction. I’m a finely-tuned sarcasm machine, thank you.

  Alexis let the conversation wash around her. She found the immediate reinsertion somewhat jarring. More so when General Kispin’s booming voice rang out, causing every recruit, including her, to twitch involuntarily.

  The general stood at ease, unbothered by the volume of his parade voice. “Congratulations on passing basic training. You have all been promoted to corporal, and will have the opportunity to advance to specialist should you continue to prove your worth going forward.” A look that could possibly be interpreted as fondness contorted his horned face into a tight rictus. “Many stood here on intake day. You twenty are all who remain at the end of basic training. You have been broken and rebuilt into something stronger. Those of differing abilities have been filtered out and reassigned according to their talents. This process has cut away the weak, the easily injured, and the self-oriented.”

  General Kispin glanced at the SIs. “Some of those being instructing officers.”

  The remaining SIs stared straight ahead. Not so much as an eyelid twitched at the general’s remark.

  Trey snickered over the team link. They look so uptight. I bet they’d explode before they dared so much as fart.

  Wouldn’t you be? K’aia asked. The general tossed the others out on their asses for abusing their positions. How do you think the rejects are doing out on the front line of this war?

  He’s not done talking, Gabriel told them. Quiet for a minute. It would be just like us to miss something that would help us later on because we weren’t paying attention.

  The general dragged his stern gaze from the staff instructors and returned his attention to the new soldiers on parade. “This is your last day at the Corral. You will strip your barracks and return everything with the exception of the uniform you are wearing to the requisitions building. Then you will be taken to your transport and placed in stasis for the journey. Zenith Station awaits. Leave here with pride, knowing that you beat almost insurmountable odds to make it to this stage. You are the best, and you will be made better still in the months to come.”

  He gave the order to fall out and two of the SIs moved to direct the twenty corporals, regardless of the need for it.

  “It’s another story for the recruits who didn’t make the final cut,” Alexis grumbled as she trudged into the barracks behind Trey. “They don’t get special assignments or opportunities. They get shipped to the battle zone and thrown in to fight or die whether they wanted to be soldiers or not.”

  Sibil’s hissing laughter sounded strange in the almost empty room. “What in the universe are you talking about? Nobody except for you four wanted to be here. Why would anyone in their right mind leave a safe planet and look for a fight? Not me, that’s for sure.”

  Gabriel noted the shift in the color of Sibil’s scales, which indicated she was holding back. He grinned at his reptilian friend. “But?”

  Sibil shrugged, her scales flushing further as the blood rushed to her face. “I dunno. I like being able to fight for myself for a change. I can see it as a fair exchange to give a few years of service in return.”

  “I don’t get why anyone would want to turn down the chance for glory,” Trey cut in. “Whatever battles we fight will add to the stories the poets tell about our lives.”

  “I wanted to be a poet,” Gorrak admitted reluctantly. “But I never learned to write. There aren’t many schools for Shrillexians with creative minds. Plenty of fight clubs, though.”

  “You’re not exactly
shy when there’s a fight on offer,” Sibil told him with a soft smile. She turned her back to the group while she stripped the sheets from her bunk. “I wonder why we’re going into stasis again?”

  Trey picked up his folded bundle. “Zenith Station must be pretty far from here.”

  Last time we went into stasis, Trey got a boost. Alexis placed her pillow on top of her pile and picked it up. I’m guessing we’re about to have another growth spurt, and Eve has to put us all the way under.

  About time, Gabriel stated quietly. I hope Eve is finished with the aging part of the enhancement when we get there. I’m really done feeling like a cookie that got taken out of the oven half-baked.

  K’aia was also feeling introspective. I’m having second thoughts about this enhancement. I don’t know if I want to live forever. What do people who live forever even do with all that time?

  Ask us in a thousand years, Gabriel teased.

  The same officer who had handed out their gear took it back without preamble and moved the line along with a disinterested wave.

  K’aia was still quiet as they returned to the parade ground, where their transport to the stasis ship was just landing on the gravel.

  The SIs who had supervised the gear return gave the order for them to line up for boarding.

  Are you really feeling doubtful? Alexis asked as they entered the personnel bay aboard the carrier. You can always have your nanocytes switched off if you want to settle down.

  You can? K’aia glanced at Gabriel. I’ve never heard of anyone doing that.

  Gabriel shrugged and took a seat on the left-hand bench. Me either. Mom would know.

  If you want it reversed, I’ll find a way, Alexis promised, placing her hand on K’aia’s arm. You know that. But I can’t reverse it if you die.

  K’aia leaned into the comforting touch. We’re there for each other; that’s how it works. I had to have the enhancement, so let’s make me the most indestructible Yollin there’s ever been.

  Alexis gave K’aia a knowing look. I totally just saw you thinking about Kael-ven.

  K’aia cracked her neck and dropped into a half-stance. Yeah, let’s see his old ass ignore me when I can kick it from one side of the G’laxix Sphaea to the other. She shadowboxed to emphasize her point. See if he still calls me “child” then.

  Trey gagged. Wouldn’t his grandson be more your age?

  The Yollin tilted her head and threw a dirty look Trey’s way. Oh, I got over that after speaking to him. He’s a great warrior, but I didn’t find him to be the most interesting conversationalist.

  You expected differently? Trey lifted a finger when the comprehension train hit him at full speed. Never meet your heroes. Now the saying makes sense.

  Alexis raised an eyebrow. It didn’t already?

  Trey looked at Alexis like she was a Coke short of a six-pack. No? I met my hero, and she turned out to be the freaking Empress in disguise. How could I be disappointed by that?

  Trey got ahead of Alexis and K’aia and took a seat on the bench next to Gabriel as Alexis and K’aia headed for an empty space farther back. He bumped Gabriel with an elbow. “What’s with the serious look?”

  Gabriel’s attention was on the NPCs. He and Alexis were the only humans, but the non-player characters were mostly familiar species. They hadn’t spent much time with any of them except Sibil and Gorrak. “We’re soldiers now. These are the people we’ll depend on, and they should be able to depend on us, too. I think we should have done more to bond with our unit. Then we wouldn’t be headed into the next part of the game with fourteen strangers at our backs.”

  Trey grinned. “There’s only one way to remedy that.” He offered a hand to the lump of living granite opposite. “Good to meet you. The name’s Trey. I’m a Baka, the human is Gabriel.”

  “Boden, I’m a Chrlič,” he replied in a voice like grinding pebbles. He clasped Trey’s hand, then Gabriel’s. “Good to meet you. You two are the only ones from your unit?”

  Gabriel hitched a thumb to the other end of the transport, where Alexis and K’aia were strapped in with Sibil and Gorrak on either side of them. “My sister, Alexis. The Yollin is K’aia, Sibil is the…” He paused and smiled. “You know, I’m not sure what Sibil is. I never asked her. Gorrak is the Shrillexian.”

  Alexis waved. You came to the same conclusion as me, then? These guys are pretty fun! She flashed Gabriel a bright grin before returning to the conversation.

  Boden inclined his head in return. “Your unit did well. Only Slash and me made it through from ours.”

  The Noel-ni named Slash peered out from a shock of dark facial fur and jerked her chin in greeting. “’Sup?”

  “That’s nothing,” a Leath a few seats down scoffed. “I had to transfer because I outlasted everyone in my unit. You’re looking at the sole survivor of both those units.”

  “Let me guess,” Trey called. “Interrogation wiped your second unit out?”

  The Leath nodded, a stark expression replacing his easy grin of a moment ago. “That was brutal. Jentek, by the way.”

  The introductions went on as the transport lifted off and continued until the doors opened on an enormous hangar.

  The Yollin SI got to his two feet and held the team back from the rush for the exit with a hand. “Before you go, I wanted to thank you six on behalf of all the SIs for exposing the truth about the corruption at the Corral.”

  Alexis smiled. “It was the right thing to do.” Her smile faded momentarily. “Sorry, Staff. I don’t know your name.”

  The SI smiled. “Torrence.” He shook his head to dismiss the team’s humble mumblings. “Listen up. You weren’t at the Corral to do the right thing. You were there to learn how to obey orders. What you did took courage, even if you went about it like a bunch of school kids. Speaking up when you see injustice is hard. We’re all grateful to see the backs of those bullying jerkholes.”

  He glanced at the other corporals with a rueful smile. “Zenith Station is tough. Most of you won’t last six months. I was deployed there for just over six years before I realized my path lay with teaching. If you need anything while you’re there, Commander Childers is the person to ask if you can’t find me. I’ll put in a good word for you all when we get out of stasis.”

  Trey thought he’d misheard. “Did you just say you’re going with us to Zenith Station?”

  Torrence nodded, the medals on the breast of his uniform bobbing in rhythm with his speech. “Normally I’d hand you over officially here and return to the Corral, but I requested a transfer so I could keep my eye on your group.”

  Gabriel thanked him. “I know we’re going to appreciate that.”

  Torrence ushered them onto the ramp, moving ahead of them as he spoke. “You won’t appreciate a thing if you get stuck out of stasis for the next eight months. Get a move on, soldiers.”

  They all thanked Torrence again as they exited the transport.

  “Where to now?” Trey asked, glancing nervously at the stasis Pods set out in rows with six feet of space between them.

  Alexis flicked her gaze toward the pair of medical technicians standing by two chairs.

  “I’m gonna guess the line for the people in white coats isn’t going to end with a lollipop,” K’aia snarked. “For a Yollin who isn’t keen on doctors, I’ve met an awful lot of them recently.”

  Sibil poked her head out of the line. “K’aia?” She grinned. “Hey! Where did you guys get to? Gorrak had me convinced you’d been cut at the last second.”

  “Still here,” Gabriel assured her. “K’aia gets a little nervous when it comes to doctors.”

  Sibil pulled Gorrak out of the line by the sleeve, and the two of them walked to the back to join the others. “What do you make of the other corporals?”

  Gorrak made his opinion clear with a look.

  Sibil dismissed it with a hiss. “I know what grumpy-pants here thinks. He didn’t say a word to anybody but Alexis and me all the way here.”

  K’aia fixed
him with a fond look. “You can do better than that. You got to know us. That didn’t work out so badly, did it?”

  Gorrak’s glare softened at the warmth in K’aia’s reasonable tone. “I haven’t made up my mind yet.”

  They reached the technicians and received an injection before being shown to their stasis Pods.

  See you on the other side, Alexis told the others. A thrill went down her spine as the lid closed. I have a good feeling about this.

  Chapter Two

  Zenith Station

  Alexis woke feeling like six pounds of hamburger in a five-pound bag. She blinked as the fog cleared, and her mind came back into focus.

  What was different? Her uniform felt restrictive for a start. She looked down at her chest and saw the reason her clothing was so tight. “Damn. Those sure grew!”

  Unexpectedly enhanced breasts aside, her boots were also pinching, and her sleeves and trouser legs now ended above her wrists and ankles.

  Alexis shook her much-longer hair out of her face and waited for the stasis Pod to open before rushing out on legs that wobbled for the first few steps. She felt similar confusion coming from Gabriel and K’aia. You both okay? Trey? You’re quiet.

  Yeah, K’aia answered as the Pod’s lid opened to let her out. Just… I wasn’t expecting to grow any. She walked out of the stasis Pod and tested each joint of her body gingerly. “I don’t believe it. I’m perfect.”