The Kurtherian Endgame Boxed Set: Books 1 - 4 - Payback is a Bitch, Compelling Evidence, Through the Fire and Flame, All's Fair in Blood and War

by Michael Anderle

Michael called back, “We do not come empty-handed.” He reached into thin air and pulled out a pair of jewel-encrusted gold vambraces.

  A vast bearded fur-covered man emerged from the shadows belly-first. His dark eyes shone at the sight of the gold and his hostile grimace melted into a wide smile. “Welcome, weary travelers.”

  Gabriel glanced at the vambraces scornfully as Michael handed them to the hair mountain. What’s the point of those? The first person who wears them into battle is going to lose both their hands.

  It is a cultural thing. Michael shook his head, smiling wryly. When this scenario occurred for real, I was ignorant of this clan’s customs. I made the error of offering my sword as a guest-gift in return for their hospitality.

  Gabriel frowned, missing the point. Why would that be a mistake? A blade is a more acceptable gift than…those.

  If you insist, go ahead, Michael conceded. This is your experience, after all.

  He reached out again and handed Gabriel the well-made and serviceable but plain sword he manifested. But I hope your proficiency with that weapon is adequate, since by offering it you are claiming you can best any warrior here.

  Gabriel’s normally passive expression shifted when he handed the sword over and the man eyed him skeptically. It should be interesting. How old were you when you experienced this?

  Michael lifted a shoulder as they walked side by side behind the man through the wagon circle. Around twenty-seven. I had a good grasp of my powers, such as they were at that stage, but I had little of your training.

  Gabriel grinned at his father. So I’m probably going to die horribly, but I’ll look spectacular doing it.

  Michael lifted his hands, feeling a surge of pride at Gabriel’s lack of hesitation. Who knows? I survived it. The clan fights honorably—mostly. If you do die, I suppose it won’t be the worst death you ever have.

  Location Seven, QBS Izanami, Vid-doc Room

  Addix and K’aia stood facing each other over the Vid-doc made for the four-legged.

  “Look. I’m not getting back inside that thing until you tell me why you want me to do it.”

  The Ixtali was the picture of calm in the face of the young Yollin’s mistrust. “I like that you are suspicious, K’aia. It will serve you well in your future role.”

  K’aia glared at Addix. “What do you know? You’re just a nanny.”

  “At first glance, it may appear so.” Addix’s mandibles twitched in amusement. “I have been taking care of Alexis and Gabriel since they were born, after all. However, I have lived many lives, young one. I may have the honor of protecting my Queen’s children, but I have also been her spymistress for more years than I truly recall. Before that, I was a highly-placed official in the Ixtali government. Do not be taken in by first appearances.”

  K’aia dropped her defensive posture. “So you’re not just being crazy, then.” She settled back and unfolded her arms. “I’m sorry for being such an ass, but would you tell me why you want me to get in there? I only just got out of the damn thing.”

  Addix nodded. “Good. I was beginning to wonder what it was Michael saw in you. As you so kindly pointed out, Alexis and Gabriel are almost too old to need me around, so it’s time to train my replacement. Before we begin, Bethany Anne has left instructions that you go into the Vid-doc for further enhancement.”

  K’aia looked at Addix and the Vid-doc. “I don’t know. What kind of enhancement?”

  Addix smiled. “You’ve heard of the Bitches, right?”

  “Yes. What have they got to do with…” K’aia tilted her head as comprehension dawned. “Oh. Oh. Then I guess I’ll do it. But I don’t want to get out of the Vid-doc and suddenly know what everyone is thinking, okay?”

  She climbed in and glanced at the humanoid-shaped Vid-docs as the lid closed over her. “I hope this does not go horribly wrong.”

  Addix started to assure K’aia that she was perfectly safe, but the Yollin was already under from the sedation. Her mandibles twitched merrily as she input the slide with the single drop of blood Bethany Anne had given her and handed control of the Vid-doc over to Izanami.

  The AI appeared by Bethany Anne's Vid-doc. “The process is underway.”

  “Excellent,” Addix replied, walking over to join the AI. She glanced at the wallscreens, one of which had a simple privacy notice.

  The other showed an icy white land and a circle of men, with Gabriel locked in a fight for his life in the center.

  Addix chuckled at the ferocity with which Michael screamed encouragement to his son from the sidelines while ending anyone dishonorable enough to intercede with his son’s battle.

  Izanami spoke, pulling Addix from her enthrallment. “Bethany Anne and Alexis are in the rejuvenation cycle.”

  Addix nodded and went back to watching Gabriel fight. This was something of a sad time for her, in a way even worse than when her own children had grown up and left her.

  Bethany Anne and Michael’s children had burrowed their way into her heart from the first time she had laid eyes on them as wriggly pink infants. They had been so helpless then.

  Onscreen, Gabriel pulled a maneuver that had him roll over his opponent’s back, giving him space to swing the sword and part the man from his head.

  They weren’t so vulnerable now.

  Addix could only hope that this Yollin would be more than the protector the children’s parents had decided they needed. Not just a guard, but a friend they could relate to. Someone they could trust and rely on once they were of an age to be on their own.

  They were going to need as many of those as they could get, and youth was in short supply in their circle.

  Bethany Anne exited her Vid-doc, unnoticed by the pensive Ixtali. She felt the sadness coming from Addix, something she’d noticed more than once in recent days. “Penny for your thoughts?”

  Addix turned gracefully to face Bethany Anne. “I think the translation on that needs some work. You want to pay me for thinking?”

  Bethany Anne snorted softly. “It means I'm listening. What's on your mind, old friend?”

  “Oh.” Addix placed a hand on K'aia's Vid-doc. “Gabriel and Alexis. I was ruminating on what path life will take once K’aia is trained and I become surplus to their requirements.”

  Bethany Anne scrutinized Addix. “Are you thinking of leaving?”

  Addix shook her head emphatically. “Not at all. But I think it will take some time to come to terms with this shift in the twins’ needs.” Her mandibles worked through her mixed emotions as she spoke. “I am proud of them, but human children mature quickly, Bethany Anne. I blinked, and they are almost adults.”

  Bethany Anne placed a comforting hand on Addix's arm. “You are their aunt, Addix, blood or not. They will always need you in their lives in one way or another.”

  Addix shrugged with a fatalistic air. “Children grow up. It will be as it is meant to be.”

  Alexis’ Vid-doc completed its unlocking cycle and she climbed out, stretching lazily once her feet were on solid ground. “Mom, we have to do that for real when we get back home.”

  Bethany Anne grinned. “I've been waiting for you to say that. There's this little place on one of my stations we can go that has the best masseuse.”

  She glanced at the wallscreen and did a double-take at the surreal scene of Michael and Gabriel sitting around a campfire with a bunch of… “Are those Huns they're eating with?”

  Bethany Anne's eyes widened when she saw one of the men pass her battered and bloodied son what looked to be a skin filled with liquid. “Izanami, get them out of there right now.”

  She stood at the end of Michael's Vid-doc with her arms crossed over her chest, her foot tapping an angry staccato while she waited for it to open.

  Michael emerged with a look of concern. “Why have you pulled us out? Has something happened with the Leath?”

  Bethany Anne pursed her lips. “Please tell me you didn’t allow our fourteen-year-old child to drink alcohol?”

  Mich
ael furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “Well, yes—and no. The celebration called for the fermented milk to be consumed, but there was no way for Gabriel to have become intoxicated.”

  Gabriel fairly erupted from his Vid-doc when it opened. “Mom, Aunt Addix, did you see me? They just kept coming, and I was like,” he jumped around reenacting the fight, “and then two huge guys that looked like bears tried cutting in and Dad just took them down.”

  Michael beamed at Gabriel’s joy in his victory. “Our son did exceptionally well,” he bragged to Bethany Anne. “He defeated seventeen fully-grown warriors one after the other in single combat.”

  Bethany Anne kissed Gabriel on the forehead. “Well done, honey.”

  Gabriel scrubbed the kiss away with the back of his hand. “Mom! You’ve gotta stop doing that. I’m a man now, and men don’t get kisses from their moms.”

  Bethany Anne shared a glance with Michael. “Is that so?”

  Gabriel nodded. “It’s true. There was a ceremony, and the clansmen told stories of when they became men and sang songs and gave me a gold arm ring.”

  Alexis pouted. “Sorry, Mom, but I kind of wish I’d done Dad’s thing, too. Why can’t I be in two places at once?”

  Gabriel chuckled. “That’s weird, because I would love to be in a hot tub right now.”

  Bethany Anne smiled and flourished her hands. “There we go; problem solved. Next time we go fight with the Huns together, then we all spa afterward.”

  Devon, Interdiction

  CEREBRO’s early warning system registered a series of blips a good way past the outer boundary of the Interdiction.

  They enacted the contact protocols immediately, and the alert spread back to the QBBS Guardian within just a few seconds.

  CEREBRO activated all weapons systems along the projected path of the unidentified objects and waited for their scanners to identify the class of the approaching objects.

  The next set of data identified the blips as a tight group of fast-moving bodies.

  Enough of the EI group agreed that the bodies were moving too fast to be natural phenomena that they did not preemptively fire upon them.

  Space trash could be blown to dust, no problem. Trade convoys, not so much.

  There was a return contact from the Guardian. “What have we got, CEREBRO?”

  “We are uncertain as of yet, Commander Kinley,” they replied. “Next set of scans in three, two… Ships, Commander. We have ships. What are your orders?”

  Commander Kinley’s reply came instantly. “Activate the Interdiction and alert the fleet. I'm on my way.”

  Tim dropped the connection to CEREBRO and scooted to the edge of the bed. He winced when he woke Sabine getting out of bed despite his efforts to slide out without disturbing her.

  “Where are you going, Beefy?” she murmured, her voice husky from sleep. “‘Cause if you were planning some kind of eat, fuck, and leave move, then you got it the wrong way around. You’re supposed to take me to my place.”

  Tim pounced back onto the bed and kissed her. “There’s something going on at the Interdiction. I would be more than happy if you were still here, exactly like this, when I get back.”

  Sabine rolled onto her side the second Tim got up. “There’s a good chance I will be. It’s the middle of the damn night.” She fluttered dark lashes at him. “Will you bring breakfast when you get back?”

  “Of course, babe.” Tim rescued his pants from the bedroom floor and did the dance of getting them on. He headed for the door, shimmying his hips as he went. “I’ll even be breakfast, if you like.”

  Sabine giggled and threw a pillow at his retreating back. “You’re an ass, Tim.”

  Tim slapped his rear end as he left the room. “I’ve got a nice ass? Thanks for noticing.” His teasing smile fell away as he heard movement from Sabine before the bedroom door clicked closed behind him.

  He opened a mental connection to CEREBRO as he left his quarters. What's the status out there?

  CEREBRO fed the reports to Tim’s internal HUD. The fleet is still headed toward Devon.

  Tim’s jaw dropped when he read through the updates. Shiiit, that’s a hell of a lot of ships. Do you know whose they are?

  We count fifty-three, Commander, CEREBRO informed him, and no, we have not yet been able to identify the fleet’s origin, since there are so many different energy signatures. We will know more once the head of the fleet comes into communication range.

  Tim paused walking to re-read the data. That doesn’t match what we know about Ooken ships.

  The probability of the approaching fleet belonging to the Ooken is low, CEREBRO confirmed. However, we also calculate that the probability of the Ooken being involved is high enough to mention.

  Tim noted something in the report that gave him a better idea of what was going on than the EI group had. CEREBRO, that’s a refugee fleet. Get confirmation before standing the Interdiction down, but this looks like a humanitarian situation to me.

  He dropped the link to CEREBRO and hit Joel and Rickie up.

  Rickie was first to answer. Dude…

  Tim cut across his bitching. Wake up, jackass. We’ve got a situation out at the Interdiction.

  Joel sounded half-asleep as well. What’s the situation, big guy?

  Tim got into the elevator, wishing he had Bethany Anne's ability to just vanish and appear wherever she wanted to be. I want you both at the docks ten minutes ago. We have an unidentified fleet approaching.

  Dammit! Joel cursed softly. Hostile or friendlies?

  Tim sighed. Again, we don’t know yet, but to me, it looks like a bunch of people fleeing for their lives. Rickie, you’re gonna stay here and coordinate the relief effort. Joel, inform the crisis teams that they’re needed out there, and scramble the ground teams in the cities to keep things calm.

  Devon, First City, The Hexagon, Commentary Box

  Ricole switched on the announcer’s mic and leaned in to speak clearly after Captain Holt’s all-teams bulletin had finished playing for the second time. “Training’s over for the day, people. Instructors, report to the armory, there’s a team call.”

  She stood and glanced out of the box to the arena below, where a rehearsal for the month’s acting event was breaking up at her announcement.

  Jacqueline pinged her on the team link. What’s going on? I saw the notification while I was on the floor teaching.

  Give me a minute, I’ll be right down, Ricole replied. Jacqueline was waiting at the base of the box’s stairs when Ricole got there. “Captain Holt has ordered all the ground teams to peacekeeping duty. Except ours. We’re to get our asses out to the Interdiction. His instructions are to come loaded for everything.”

  They headed over to the private elevator and waited for Winstanley to bring the car.

  It arrived a whole minute later and contained one battle-ready former Ranger fully armed with a stupidly large plasma rifle and a shit-eating grin. Tabitha waved them in with the rifle. “C’mon. Joel called like, twenty minutes ago. Get your asses suited up and meet me at the Achronyx, I’ve got a couple of babysitters to round up.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Devon, First City, The Hexagon, Private Dock

  Tabitha brought the Pod-crib to a stop by Hirotoshi and Ryu and bearhugged them both. “Thanks for babysitting your nephew.”

  “Our pleasure,” Hirotoshi wheezed as she squeezed his ribs tightly.

  Peter stood at the bottom of the ramp, looking skeptically at Hirotoshi and Ryu. “Are you guys sure you know how to take care of a baby?”

  Ryu drew a breath to recover from the hug. “We took care of Tabitha for years and look how well she turned out.”

  Tabitha rolled her eyes. “Ryu, you’re such a dick sometimes. Hirotoshi is now my favorite forever.” She laughed at Ryu’s indignant protest and headed aboard the ship.

  Hirotoshi dipped his head in Peter’s direction. “I cannot speak for Ryu, but I had a family once. Todd is safe in our care.”

  Ryu sh
rugged. “It can’t be so hard, can it?”

  Peter looked in on his sleeping son’s Pod-crib. “Sorry, it’s just hard to leave him with anyone. I appreciate that you volunteered so Tabbie and I could both go help out.”

  “Pete, come on!” Tabitha yelled from inside the ship.

  Ryu grinned and bumped an elbow into Hirotoshi’s side. “I do not miss that.”

  Hirotoshi bent to program the Pod-crib to follow him. “I cannot completely agree. It has been my greatest honor to guide and protect our Lady Kemosabe, although it is pleasant to take a more relaxed pace for a while.”

  “You mean it’s nice to eat in places that serve human food while we’re traveling,” Ryu countered. “My nanocytes thank me for ceasing to test them with toxic alien ‘delicacies.’”

  Hirotoshi shrugged and turned to leave. “I suppose if you look at it from that perspective…”

  Peter waved them off and headed up the ramp.

  Tabitha was on the bridge with her feet up on the console and a bag of popcorn in her lap. “Hey, babe.”

  Peter snagged a handful of the popcorn as he passed her. “You came prepared.”

  Tabitha snickered and lifted the arm of her captain’s chair to reveal a cavity stuffed full of her favorite snacks. “I just dipped into my emergency stash.”

  He shook his head, chuckling, and took the XO’s chair next to hers. “Are we good to go?”

  Tabitha looked up. “Achronyx, are we waiting for anyone?”

  “Sabine was last to arrive,” Achronyx informed her. “Demon got nervous about leaving, so Sabine had to come back for her.”

  Tabitha wrinkled her nose. “Poor kitty. They’re aboard now though, right?”

  “Everyone is aboard,” the AI replied. “Sabine and Demon are in the cargo bay you assigned to the cat. Jacqueline, Mark, and Ricole are in the galley making a mess.”

  Tabitha rolled her eyes. “Kids. They’d better clean up when they’re done.” She grinned at Peter and clapped her hands. “But if we’re all here, take us up to the Guardian, Achronyx.”

  “As you wish, Tabitha.” There was no mistaking the teasing edge to the AI’s voice.