Deuces Wild Boxed Set: Books 1-4: Beyond the Frontiers, Rampage, Labyrinth, Birthright

by Ell Leigh Clarke

  Deuces Wild Boxed Set

  Books 1-4

  Ell Leigh Clarke

  Michael Anderle

  The Deuces Wild Boxed Set (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.

  This book Copyright © 2019 Ell Leigh Clarke, Michael Anderle

  Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing

  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 info@kurtherianbooks.com. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  LMBPN Publishing

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  Version 1.00, March 2019

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

  Contents

  Beyond the Frontiers

  Rampage

  Labyrinth

  Birthright

  Beyond the Frontiers

  Prologue

  The name is Nickie. Meredith Nicole Grimes. I don’t know if the Meredith bit was after the Empress’ mom or the moon rock they settled on, but either way, my friends call me Nickie.

  My childhood was pretty normal—if you call growing up amongst the Empress’ inner circle normal. Granddad is one of her Bitches…which meant I had privileges and, well, expectations laid upon me. I didn’t ask for any of it, the enhancements or the special treatment.

  Don’t get me wrong. It was fun, and I grew up loved and cared for. Everyone was like family. As kids we called the people Mom and Dad served with “Aunt” and “Uncle.”

  One of my “uncles” was the all-powerful commander of everything in the Empire. And even more so when the former Empress left, with the Federation.

  My favorite aunt was named Tabitha. She would spend hours with me, teaching me how to shoot, and how to tear down the weaker sex, otherwise known as males. And secretly, how to drink. She was the best.

  But Aunt Tabitha left to serve her Empress. Granddad John Grimes, too. I hate him. It’s his fault Aunt Tabitha went away. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t feel the pain of her loss.

  Even though she’s not dead.

  She may as well be.

  After she left things got pretty rough. I was pretty much told to shape up or ship out.

  So I shipped out.

  Five years, I was told. After that, I needed to come back and carry on the family business: ruling the Federation, and enforcing the will of the former Empress.

  I’ve spent the last few years of my exile swallowing liquor and drugs to try not to feel, but you know how that goes. You end up in seedy places, and before you know it you’re in the middle of a gunfight and your enhancements kick in to keep you alive.

  Well, if you’re one of the former Empress’ chosen, that is.

  My enhancements had been deactivated when I stopped living that life, and I was glad of it. Enhanced metabolism would flush shit out of my bloodstream too quickly.

  And life was good. It was fine. I’d spend my days drinking and gambling and…avoiding. So there I was, about to have my brains splattered across the wall, when everything kicked in, including my natural impulse for self-preservation. Long story short, I ended up taking out the lowlifes who started the trouble, rescued a damsel or two on the way, and then stole the ship with the other hundred or so Skaines on board.

  Thankfully, Meredith, my personal onboard (and until that time, dormant) EI, had it covered. She locked the doors to keep them in there and me out here, then got us underway.

  Oh yeah, and then there’s Grim, or Grim’zee P. Bonesticker. No relation, but it turns out that we have history. Or at least our grandparents did. Anyhow, he seemed kind of decent, and since I would need a chef at some point anyway, it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

  Now I’m here on this godforsaken ship with about a hundred Skaines locked in various rooms over the ship…all waiting like caged animals for their time to strike.

  This is my story.

  Chapter 1

  Nickie

  Rebus Quadrant, Aboard the Penitent Granddaughter

  The ship wasn’t bad, all things considered. An engine. Guns. A bridge. A galley. A lot of space and other assorted rooms.

  It had all the bits and bobs that make up a ship.

  Nickie paused mid-step when the door to her left was thumped on loudly, as if a rhinoceros were trying to charge through it. She scowled at it menacingly, can in one hand, the fork in the other raised halfway to her mouth.

  She kicked the door and kept walking as a barrage of guttural Skaine profanity followed her down the corridor. It rang out from behind various doors as she walked past them, just to drive the point home.

  Whatever the point was.

  Some elaborate version of “fuck off,” more than likely.

  The ship would have been better without all the excess baggage. There were too many people she didn’t want on board, even if they were locked behind their doors like vicious little fuckhead gerbils in their cages.

  With a sulk in her step, she made it to the bridge.

  Grim spared her a glance over his shoulder for just a second before turning his attention back to the console in front of him. With just him on the bridge and Meredith keeping quiet for the moment, the space was as silent as a crypt.

  Nickie wrinkled her nose at the comparison and shook her head to clear the mental image. No one needed to be thinking about something like that, even if it wasn’t entirely inaccurate—considering how she had acquired the ship.

  “The job listings in the database are…intriguing.” Grim settled on the carefully neutral word as Nickie flopped down in the captain’s chair. She sat sideways, leaning against one armrest with her legs thrown over the other.

  “Slave trafficking, weapons dealing, drug- and people-smuggling,” he listed, scrolling through the text on the console. His tone warred between discomfort and disgust. “Five hundred Yollins in this one exchange alone,” he noted. Disgust won. “Considering this is all every shade of horrible, why doesn’t the Federation do anything about it?”

  He glanced up from the console at her again.

  Nickie shrugged her free shoulder. “They probably don’t even know it’s all happening.”

  She shoved another bite into her mouth. Speaking with her mouth full, she added, “It’s not like they broadcast it to everyone who wants to listen that they are doing all that.” She flapped a hand at the console as she said it. “Back channels and black markets, and all that stuff.”

  She shoved another bite into her mouth.

  Grim’s eyes narrowed slightly. “I could make you actual food, you know,” he pointed out for the fifth time in the last few hours. “Something with actual nutrients. And taste.”

  Nickie clicked her tongue at him. “No time for all that.” Her words were muffled as she shoved another bite into her mouth, possibly just to spite him and his distaste. “We need to figure out what to do next, after all. Meredi
th!”

  She straightened up slightly and swallowed too soon, so she had to pound a fist against her chest for a second. “Any update on where we might be able to drop off all this extra cargo?” she asked once she was sure she wasn’t actually going to choke. “They’re sort of loud and rude, you know? I feel very unwelcome.”

  “Yes,” the EI answered simply, voice spilling out of the bridge speakers. “If I could make a suggestion, we’ll be passing right by the Minerva Trading Outpost, and we should restock while we have the chance.”

  “Okay…” Nickie replied slowly, less agreeing and more acknowledging. “But we’d have to dock to do that, and we have all…” She trailed off, and settled for waving one arm toward the door she had just walked through a few moments before, encompassing all of the Skaines locked up all throughout the ship. “I don’t think that would go swimmingly. Just a hunch.”

  “You did steal their ship,” Grim pointed out reasonably. “And you are holding them hostage.”

  Nickie rolled her eyes. “Judge-y, much?” She scoffed, one hand settling awkwardly on her hip. “You didn’t have a moral compass while I was saving your ass.”

  Grim shrugged, disinclined to rise to the bait. “All I’m saying is that we could be seen as the bad guys here—at least on a technicality.”

  Nickie snorted and slumped down farther in her seat. “Never pay attention to technicalities,” she advised, though she sounded slightly sullen as she said it. “Unless they’re in your favor. Anyway, loads of sci-fi heroes from the archives worked out of stolen ships. I’m following a precedent.”

  “How noble,” Grim deadpanned. “Name one of these heroes.”

  “Doctor Who?” Nickie suggested, twisting her wrist so the handle of the fork clattered in a circle around the edge of the can.

  “Any others?” Grim asked pointedly, cocking his head to one side.

  There was a pause before Nickie suggested haltingly, “Han Solo?”

  “Didn’t he win his in a card game?” Grim asked, sounding distinctly unimpressed.

  “Ah, right!” Nickie snapped her fingers. “Cards. Remind me to pick up a deck once we’re docked.”

  Grim opened his mouth to reply, but Meredith cut him off.

  “Perhaps if you feed them they’ll quiet down,” she suggested evenly. “It’s been roughly twelve hours, after all.”

  Nickie blinked at one of the speakers. “But he’s a—oh.” She cut herself off. “You mean the Skaines. I guess that’s worth a shot.” She supposed it had been enough time for anyone to get hungry, and she was pretty sure she hadn’t locked any of them in the galley.

  “I can help with that,” Grim volunteered, even if he already sounded slightly long-suffering about it. Or possibly about the sudden change of topic. It was hard to tell. “I’ll probably need more supplies, though.”

  Nickie hummed a long, sustained note as she mulled that over, dropping the mostly empty can to the floor as she did. She crossed one leg over the other on the armrest, bobbing one foot casually in the air as she pondered their options.

  “How about this,” she suggested slowly, folding her arms over her middle. When the gesture made her slide even farther down on her seat, she steadfastly pretended that she had meant for that to happen—even when she had to squirm gracelessly back into a partially-upright position. “Once we get to the Minerva Outpost, you go off and get whatever supplies you’ll need to keep the kitchen stocked and everything fed to whatever standard you plan on. I don’t know how all that works anyway.”

  “Clearly,” Grim drawled in reply, glancing down at the can. Nickie shushed him sharply.

  “While you’re doing that,” she continued as if he hadn’t said anything, “I’ll get whatever ship’s supplies we’ll need. Sound like a plan?” she asked, finally swinging her legs to the floor so she would stop sliding all over the place. She accidentally kicked the can aside as she did.

  “I have no complaints,” Grim agreed, and he pushed himself away from the console and started heading toward the door.

  “Where are you going?” Nickie called after him, baffled, turning to peer after him around the back of the chair.

  “To take stock of the kitchen,” he answered. “If I’m restocking it, I would like to know what’s already in there,” he reasoned, as the door opened to let him pass.

  “You have fun with that,” Nickie called sarcastically, just before the door slid closed behind him. She slid down low in her seat.

  If she had locked anyone in the galley, she supposed Grim would find out as soon as he got there. It would probably be funny. But she was supposed to at least be something like responsible in that moment, and she sighed slowly. Ships didn’t take care of themselves, after all, much to her disappointment.

  Meredith? Give me the update. What should I worry about getting once we’re at the outpost?

  She didn’t bother speaking out loud, since there was no one else on the bridge to keep in the loop.

  Immediately, text began appearing on the HUD, a list compiling itself in the corner of Nickie’s vision.

  I’ve had some thoughts on that already, Meredith replied. I’ve been sorting through the ship’s systems. The maintenance and the upkeep have been slacked on.

  Just regular slacking? Nickie wondered suspiciously. Or are you just trying to sound diplomatic?

  It’s nothing you won’t be able to take care of with relative ease, Meredith assured her.

  Nickie couldn’t decide if that actually qualified as an answer to her question, but she didn’t bother to ask. She could recognize when Meredith was just trying to be a troll.

  A few hours passed and Nickie sighed loudly, clearly bored with all the waiting around and travel. This was a far cry from her old life of getting up, drinking, brawling, gambling, and then collapsing in an unconscious heap again.

  Who knew that real life could be so…mundane?

  Says the girl with a shipful of Skaines waiting to tear her apart at the first opportunity.

  All right, Meredith. God! Do I ever just get some time to think my own thoughts?

  Not now that I’ve been activated, I’m afraid.

  Shit.

  Nickie’s mind compulsively flicked to all the dirty thoughts she’d had over the years, that she would rather no one be privy to. She was going to have to keep an eye on that, or figure out some kind of firewall that would fence in her “adult content” thoughts.

  While you’re figuring out how to do that, I thought you might like to know that I’ve found some information in your system. It has some important content that you might like to know.

  What? I need a systems upgrade? My drug-induced lifestyle has taken its toll on my nanocytes.

  No. Well, not exactly. Although we’re going to have to visit a Pod-doc for a tune-up at some point.

  Well? What is it?

  It’s your aunt.

  My aunt is in my system?

  No.

  Nickie immediately started feeling emotional.

  Well, what about her? she urged, trying not to let the feelings take over her body.

  It seems she uploaded something on your system for me to discover once you rejoined the fold.

  I haven’t exactly rejoined the fold, Nickie corrected, still distracted by the news she was dreading hearing.

  But you’ve activated me, which means something. In any case, I thought you should know about it.

  What is it, then?

  A file.

  Of what?

  I don’t know. Would you like me to open it?

  Yes.

  Are you sure? We don’t know what it could be.

  Yes. Open it. It’s from Aunt Tabitha, so I want to know.

  Meredith was quiet for a moment. Turns out it’s a series of diary entries, with time-delay locks on it segment by segment.

  Why the time delays?

  Maybe she wants you to take your time with it?

  Nickie’s mind spiraled, wondering about the possibilities.
>
  Maybe she wants me to “get” each piece and not jump ahead. Maybe it’s a count down?

  She shook her head in disbelief. Pulling her feet down off the console, she sat up in the Skaine-sized pilot’s chair.

  Send it to my viewing device. I’d like to read it. That is…

  Her voice trailed off and she stared into space, preoccupied by her thoughts and feelings. Is there any part that is unlocked?

  There is. Sending the cover letter now.

  Nickie sat in the dimly-lit bridge of the stolen ship, her eyes flicking from left to right, reading the words that were superimposed on her vision.

  Dearest Nickie -

  I know you were upset when I left. I’m so sorry. I miss you terribly. Every day.

  I wanted to explain to you, and for you to understand. But I know now that you were too young. So I figured I’d wait…and try to explain it to you again when you were older.

  I hacked your EI and left you a series of messages. Well, diary entries, really. My goal was to be there for you, even though I couldn’t be there in person. I hope that through you reading these entries I can perhaps save you some of the pain I’ve been through. Maybe shortcut some of the lessons you’ll have to learn. And hopefully allow you to know that I am with you still, and that you are loved.

  I know that when I went through some things, I wished I had someone to guide me. I feel bad for not being there to guide you and help you avoid the pain and suffering I’ve been through as I’ve grown in what I hope is wisdom. I hope that by reading about my adventures and heartbreaks you’ll come to realize that you’re not alone, and that you too will get through everything you’ll have to face with the courage and spirit that I know you have.