Never Surrender (The Kurtherian Gambit Book 16)

by Michael Anderle

  Those that had power in the previous system did not wish to surrender that power and influence willingly. No one wanted to be told they weren’t special, it seemed. E’kolorn thought about his four legs, which had been instrumental in his own rise in the military. Four legs, the mark of the Upper Caste.

  The mark that proved he was special, that his body and mind were unique. The physical proof that was on display for all to see.

  Nothing but a manipulation, falsehoods on the part of a Kurtherian to keep the race subjugated through the use of lies.

  He breathed hard, squeezing his hands tight and releasing them. To make this decision, he first needed to decide whether this couch, this physical seat really was indicative of whether he was special.

  He placed his elbows on the table and then laid his chin on his hands that he had joined together.

  And thought.

  The aliens had provided him a tablet that allowed him to call for refreshment should he want any.

  He never used it.

  He allowed his mind to wander, to consider those he had known through the many stages of his life. Of all of those he knew with only two legs and considered each one he knew well enough to judge. Were they any less capable than him?

  E’kolorn’s voice broke the silence in the meeting room. “They were not.”

  Skaine Slaver Ship Kalifo - Eudos System (Etheric Empire - Yollin Territory)

  Gyrm continued searching the notes, but the information he was seeking wasn’t in the log, “Tell me again, where did Chrillen go?”

  “Station 182, Captain,” was the quick response from his intelligence officer.

  “Something is wrong,” Grym tapped his lip in thought.

  Off to his right, his comm’s specialist called over his shoulder, “Sir, we have a coded message arriving through the message channels.”

  Gyrm pulled his message screen around and called up the message. It was the Station Master of Two-Seven. He ignored the inconsequential information and implemented the function to decode the message. Inside, was a small video. He played the video. His eyes narrowing as it continued and then those on the bridge jumped when he slammed his fist down hard, in anger, the noise startling those around him.

  “Never mind looking for Chrillen’s group,” he spoke softly to everyone who had turned to stare at him.

  “He died a true Skaine, and will be avenged.”

  Well, he thought mentally, he was a true Skaine until the end, then he died like a whimpering youngling.

  She looked like a Torcellan. Except she didn’t mind killing.

  That wasn’t very Torcellan at all.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  The Personal Ship “Powerdrive,” Leaving through Commercial Gate Five, Yollin System Ring Three

  Shi-Tan accepted his slot in the queue to transfer out through the commercial gate. Setting up the alarm should anything go wrong, he got up from his pilot’s chair and walked to the back and entered his little lab area. He pulled up the analysis screen for the alien tablet to see what energy it emitted once he turned off the connectivity.

  Nothing.

  Shi-tan tapped the table in front of him, thinking. Either these new aliens weren’t very devious, something he wasn’t willing to believe so far, or this tablet wasn’t trying to connect to anything and send out information.

  Yet.

  That, he could believe. He reached up and reset the systems to check on the output of the tablet and left it inside the box. He wouldn’t need it until he arrived back at the bounty’s home system and by then, he imagined if it were going to call home, it would have done that already.

  Shi-tan left his lab and made his way back up to the pilot’s chair and slid into it. If he hadn’t needed to go back to earn his bounty, he would have liked to try fighting a few of those bigger humans.

  If they had the willingness to get hurt, that is. It was too bad that this little peon of a son was going to mess up a perfectly good opportunity for a grand bar fight.

  The Powerdrive went through another Commercial Gate before arriving back in the King’s system. It took Shi-tan fourteen long hours to approach the final space station and gain approval to dock.

  Once docked, it took only a minor amount of time before his buzzer sounded. Each time you docked, part of the connection was the outside buzzer that rang inside your ship, letting you know someone wanted to see you.

  Shi-tan made sure to have a few obvious weapons, a few less obvious, and at least two weapons well hidden.

  He made his way to the airlock and viewed the outdoor monitor. He hadn’t time to set up his own cameras to confirm if this was a double cross, but he doubted it. He was a bounty hunter, not a mercenary.

  He punched the button to open the airlock. On the other side was a King’s representative and two guards.

  “May I enter, Honored Shi-tan?” The larger alien, bald head and all, asked.

  “Of course, Representative…”

  The older being, his gray skin sagging, smiled, “You may call me Surce, but it is only a temporary name.”

  “I understand, Representative Surce,” Shi-tan stepped aside, “You and who?”

  “Oh, they will stay outside, Shi-tan,” the Representative said as he stepped aboard the smaller ship, “They are only there if I don’t come back. I know of your pride Shrillexion,” he nodded up to the taller being, “and I trust we have a business. I’m not here to screw you over, and therefore I don’t fear for my life. In fact,” the Representative turned as Shi-tan punched the code to close the airlock. “Now that I’m on your ship, with your permission, aren’t you honor bound to protect me?”

  Shi-tan smiled, “Yes, but since the only one who is going to harm you, is you, I’m not too worried. I’m not here to stop you from killing yourself.”

  “That would be a bit of a problem if I committed suicide, wouldn’t it?” Surce asked.

  Shi-tan started down the short hall to his lab, commenting over his shoulder, “We are under full-time video, with authenticity code. If you kill yourself, I have to trust I am in a legitimate polity. If I am not, then it wouldn’t matter what I wanted, the court would punish me, regardless of the truth.”

  “You are most cynical,” Surce replied as he followed the Shrillex looking around the ship as he walked behind the tall Shrillex, “I admire that in a contact.”

  “Truly?” Shi-tan turned to look at Surce. “I find that interesting.”

  The aging alien shrugged, “It is true, it means a contact has a good head on their shoulders, a thinking head.” Surce looked past Shi-tan into the small room and recognized the lab equipment. “You said you have a solution for us?”

  “Yes,” Shi-tan agreed. “But, before I pull it out, I want you to see what I’ve done, in case these new aliens are tricky.”

  Over the next half-hour, the bounty hunter explained all of his tests to the representative and what the results were.

  All tests had come back negative.

  “And what is on this tablet, that makes this tablet so important?” Surce finally asked.

  “The King’s son is now in the protection of these new aliens, and that tablet has the information you need to move forward with his apprehension. The bounty lists a half-payment, plus bonuses for information. I have spent a long time tracking him down. It is my belief he will be there for an additional twenty-two turns.”

  “Is that so?” Surce murmured, “you provide us not only the location of the boy but also a legitimate reason to attack those providing him refuge.”

  Shi-tan kept quiet.

  Surce smiled, “Yes, bounty hunter, you have done well, you have done very well indeed.”

  Surce’s eyes lit up as he considered the opportunities this might provide, and the way his King could use the justification for grabbing his son to send warships to the Yollin system to acquire the needed permissions to transfer across the territories of others. “Twenty-two turns?” Surce finally asked.

  Shi-tan nodded his agree
ment.

  “That is just enough time,” he waved towards the box holding the device, “give me the tablet. I will confirm you have fulfilled the bounty, and give you enough bonuses to make it the full value without providing the boy, provided the tablet confirms your information.”

  “Your technical people?”

  “Bah, we need to move on this.” Surce frowned, “They will hold the tablet, like you, for another fifteen turns and then require us to sign away that they did everything correct. Show me how to operate this tablet, the payment will be in your account before we finish.”

  “Of course, honored Representative,” is what Shi-tan said aloud.

  What he thought internally was, you fool!

  Meeting room on the QBS Achronyx, Eubos System

  “So, three of them, one for us,” Tabitha said aloud. She and the four Tontos on her team were looking at the map. There were three designations for the Skaine ships. Thanks to the information pulled from Chrillen’s ship, they had a good idea the type of ships they would be fighting.

  “It isn’t the ships, Kimosabe,” Hirotoshi admitted, “It is those they have on them that are innocent, that we need to think about.”

  “Well, fuck.” She answered, leaning back in her chair, “How the hell do we get on a ship only slightly larger than our own?” She pointed to the main ships icon on the screen, “It’s not like we can offer a bottle of wine, and they will tell us ‘come aboard!’”

  “Why not make sure they have slaves on their ship?” Ryu asked, “We are only assuming they still have innocents there.”

  “You cannot assume they don’t,” Hirotoshi replied.

  “Both of you are right,” Tabitha agreed. “We need to make sure, but if they don’t have passengers, do we agree that blowing them out of the sky is the right decision?”

  “Yes,” Hirotoshi advised, “we have proof they have been slavers in the past. This is a designated slaver ship, with two additional support vessels.”

  “Also armed,” Ryu butt in.

  “Troy,” Katsu spoke up.

  “What?” Tabitha asked.

  “Why not use the Trojan Horse technique, like was done in the battle for Troy?”

  “Perhaps because large wooden horses don’t fly too well in space?” Tabitha answered.

  “No, they don’t,” Hirotoshi agreed, “but we happen to have a Skain ship. What if we can convince them to come get it and connect their vessel?”

  “I have to imagine they can scan the vessel somehow, and anyone inside will be seen,” Tabitha argued. “Then, they just fill it full of holes.”

  “How are they going to find bodies?”

  “Hell, easy,” Tabitha pointed to the five of them, “Heartbeats, ambient temperature differences …uh…,” she shrugged, “That’s enough right there.”

  Shin nudged Katsu and winked, “Easy Peasy.” Katsu smiled and nodded back.

  Pretty soon, all four Vampires were smiling at their boss, who was confused. “Why do I think I missed the class on whatever-the-hell-it-is that has all four of you smirking at me?”

  “Because,” Ryu answered, “We are vampires. We can stop our heartbeats and reduce our ambient temperature to match that of our surroundings.”

  “Well, I can’t!” Tabitha argued, “So…”

  “You, Kimosabe,” Hirotoshi spoke, “Would not be on the ship in the first place, so your inability to accomplish this is irrelevant, at worst.”

  “No no no no!” Tabitha argued, “The hell I’m going to allow you twat-waffles to have all of the fun and leave me out of it!”

  Hirotoshi shrugged, “I don’t think you have a choice. We all have to do what is needed to accomplish the mission, Ranger Tabitha. Or, have you forgotten the command of the Empress?”

  Tabitha’s lips pressed together, “No, I haven’t forgotten.”

  She looked around her four men, “But if any of you get killed, I’m going to figure out a way to come and haunt your ass.”

  Skaine Slaver Ship Kalifo

  “Captain, we have communications coming in from those who claim they are part of the Etheric Empire, they are hailing us.”

  “So, put it on the loudspeakers, this should prove interesting,” Gyrm replied to his comm’s specialist.

  It was but a second before the alien’s voice could be heard through the speakers, “Attention Skaine Slaver Ship Kalifo, you are commanded by the Etheric Empire to stop your engines and prepare to be boarded, or I will blow your ship out of space.”

  Gyrm turned in his seat to ask, “Is that a proper translation?”

  “Sir, I didn’t have to translate it. It is coming across in Skaine.”

  “You have to give them twenty points for the sheer audacity,” Gyrm commented, “but then you take away two hundred points for stupidity compounded by ignorance.”

  He tapped his armrest, “What’s a Ranger?” Then smiled as he called out to his bridge crew, “Do Skaines allow anyone to board our ships?”

  “NO!” every Skaine on the ship’s bridge yelled back.

  “That’s RIGHT!” Gyrm called back, “Get me a connection to this Ranger, let’s have some excitement.” He reached for the button, but then stopped his hand and commanded, “Make sure everyone is already getting ready for battle but keep the alarms off. We wouldn’t want them to learn about Skaines and our natural predilection for cheating.”

  QBS Archronyx

  “How very nice to speak with you Ranger Tabitha,” the Captain’s voice came over the system, “However, I’m sorry to say our ships are not capable of shutting off the engines. The power is routed through our engines and everything, including our life support systems would stop working.”

  Tabitha bit her lip, she should have seen that answer coming.

  “You will prepare to be boarded Skaine ship Kalifo. You are in the Etheric Empire’s territory, and you are charged with both acquisition and selling of slaves.”

  “Sorry, we thought this was Yollin Territory.”

  “There has been a change of leadership in Yoll.”

  “Even so, I don’t think I have done such an act, Ranger, to be treated this way. We are simply providing a transportation service for those who wish to get off their world, and come find suitable employment in this system, working for the mining companies.”

  “Captain…” Tabitha let the question hang.

  “Gyrm,” he replied.

  Tabitha snorted, but thankfully the noise didn’t pass across the line, “Gyrm. I am in possession of one Skaine slaving ship at the moment, I’m sure I can afford to add another ship to my new armada. Prepare to be boarded.” Tabitha cut the line.

  Skaine Slaver Ship Kalifo

  “Intelligence!” Gyrm spit out, “is she being truthful?”

  A moment later, his intelligence officer bit off a curse, “Sir, she is correct, we have the second ship confirmed as the Gothwick.”

  Gyrm ground his teeth. Allowing her to acquire Skaine ships wouldn’t be beneficial if Skaines were to keep their reputation. Further, the ships were damned expensive. He needed that ship back in the fold.

  He stabbed a button, “All guns, be prepared to fire at a minimally safe distance. We need to kill this Ranger’s ship while keeping the Gothwick safe. Weapons!” Gyrm called out, “Don’t you dare mess up the Gothwick!”

  “Sir,” his weapons officer came back, “She’s keeping the Gothwick between us at this time.”

  “She’s not a stupid bitch, I’ll give her that.” Gyrm tapped his fingers against his chair, “Weapons, how many missiles do we have?”

  “Four, Captain.” Was the immediate reply.

  “Engines,” Gyrm called out, “We are going to push four missiles around the Gothwick to attack from both above and below. I want full power immediately so we can go above the Gothwick and guns can finish this Ranger off.” He paused, then added, “Pilot, don’t you hit my new ship, either!”

  There was chuckling around the bridge.

  Skaine Ship Gothwick
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  Hirotoshi, Ryu, Katsu and Shin slowed their bodies internal processes down, allowing their core body temperatures to match that of the Skaine ship. Occasionally, a beat of their heart would send blood coursing through their system.

  But, each beat was minutes apart.