Never Surrender (The Kurtherian Gambit Book 16)

by Michael Anderle

  Each of Tabitha’s Tontos was carrying the smaller wakizashi as well as one of Jean Dukes’ specials at their sides. None had on a full armor suit, but they did have the chest and back shields that the Queen had developed to go under most any clothes. They would have to be responsible for their own heads, this time.

  No different than when they were on Earth. Now, they just practiced the ancient art of kicking ass in another solar system.

  Ryu thought about his past, and how he had ended up on an alien ship, floating in the middle of nothing. His parents - long since dead - would never believe that in the upcoming centuries, their son would be following a woman from South America to implement a ‘no slavery’ condition of an Empress born in America.

  Hundreds of years after he was born. Ryu smiled.

  As Bethany Anne would say, “This is the shit!”

  QBS Archronyx

  “So, any guesses Achronyx?” Tabitha asked, waiting for the game to begin. She had four of her closest friends sitting in a ship she was using as a shield against laser fire, hoping that Skaines valued that stupid hunk of metal more than they wanted to blast her to bits.

  “I cannot guess, Ranger Tabitha,” the EI replied.

  Tabitha lost it. “Look you hunk-of-fucking-metal!” She spat out, “You know damn well the term guess means to estimate or suppose something without sufficient information to be sure of being correct. That’s the same fucking thing as calculating the odds. Pull that vacuum tube out of your metaphorical ass you stuck up Intel Pentium Chip with an FDIV bug and give me a Gott Verdammt guess!”

  There was a momentary squelch over the speaker. “No need to get ugly,” Achronyx responded.

  “I’ll call you a fucking TI 486DX2-80 next time, you cranky-ass computational curmudgeon,” Tabitha whispered to herself, as she watched the monitors and her men in the other ship. “Give me any more shit, and I’ll rewire your math co-processors, too.”

  She started biting a fingernail, “This had better work, or I’ll reverse haunt all four of your asses, you vampiric Japanese motherfuckers.”

  Tabitha confirmed she was locked down. “Ok Achronyx, I’m confirming you have all control, and you are handling this little play. Don’t you fuck it up, or we are beyond dead.”

  “The calculations say,” Achronyx started before Tabitha interrupted.

  “Don’t tell me the odds, you shit. Just make sure it fucking works,” Tabitha retorted.

  “MISSILES INCOMING!” Achronyx called out.

  Skaine Slaver Ship Kalifo

  “FIRE!” Gyrm called out, and the Kalifo rocked with the heavier missiles jettisoning out of the ship. “ENGINES GO!” He followed up, glee on his face. There was nothing like combat to force the body to feel the excitement of every second. The force of the accelerating ship pushed him down in his chair, explosions rocking the other side of the Gothwik.

  Two shots rang out from his guns, hitting small pieces of floating debris, but …

  “WHOOOOOO!” Gyrm yelled, “It’s gone.” He looked around as his ship flew over the top of the Gothwick, plenty of space between the two ships as they went in search of the Ranger’s ship.

  “Krahgin,” Weapons swore into the silence, “Perhaps four missiles was a little much?”

  QBS Archronyx

  “SHIT!” Tabitha screamed as the explosions rocked the ship, “Stop getting the paint messed up!”

  Tabitha noticed some of the damage reports go from green to orange. “Bethany Anne is going to be pissed.”

  She was rocked violently in the captain’s chair again, the lights dimming, then calm.

  Achronyx came online, “We are out of the area of the destruction, and both our shielding and the ship’s ability to cloak are intact.” The video came online, showing the Skaine’s ship flying over the Gothwick and two more explosions occurring before they slowed and poked around where the Achronyx had just vacated.

  “Why are those damage warnings orange, then?” Tabitha pointed to the pilot’s displays.

  “I scratched the paint,” the EI replied.

  Tabitha chuckled, “Maybe, just maybe, you might not be such a Cyrix chip, Achronyx.”

  “I’ll try to do better, next time,” he responded.

  Tabitha unbuckled from the restraints and stood up, stretching. “Ok, he took the bait, and apparently, he wants the Gothwick, so let’s follow his ass.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  QBBS Merideth Reynolds, Private Office of General Lance Reynolds.

  “Bethany Anne, you cannot go!” Lance argued with his daughter and Empress. Sometimes, depending on who he was speaking to, it was a frustrating experience.

  Both father and daughter had heads of granite and stubborn streaks light-years long.

  Bethany Anne, her lips compressed, tried her best not to yell at her father because she sure as hell would yell at her General, took a deep breath…

  “FUUUUUCK!” She slammed her hand down on the desk, the crack of the wood breaking was lost in the BAAANG of her fist hitting the desk in frustration.

  Well, that didn’t go well, TOM spoke up.

  WHAT the hell are you talking about? Bethany Anne focused inward, trying not to turn around, walk five feet to the wall and kick it. She had lost one pair of Jimmy Choo’s in a frustrated moment, and while that was bad, the sheer pain of shattering the bones in a foot can’t be overemphasized.

  It fucking hurt.

  You are yelling at the man responsible for dealing with the whole military for the Etheric Empire. While everyone is doing it for you, he has the responsibility to make sure Straiphus is able to be handled, but leave enough power here to protect the Merideth Reynolds and you.

  THAT’S what I am trying to argue! I can make a damned difference in Straiphus, I know it.

  Not if everyone knows you are gone from the Merideth, you can’t. TOM retorted. You would cause more problems than you might solve. What Royalty risks their bodies in wars?

  The old Europeans, those in the Biblical times, those in China in…

  How about lately?

  How the fuck am I supposed to know? She retorted.

  TOM dearly wished he could roll his eyes. He was tempted to try and roll Bethany Anne’s eyes, but that would cause her to bitch forever, and he couldn’t send her outside to vent her frustration.

  Unfortunately, she had recently figured out a way to give him a mental jolt if he was working with someone else and ignoring her. He was pretty damned sure that his life changing decision to jump into her body had now officially turned around to soundly bite him on his proverbial non-existent ass.

  Now, while he could do stuff to her, she had figured out how to slap him back.

  Sometimes, he really wondered if any Kurtherian alive had thought their tactic to engage with other alien species would come to this? He would agree that he was happy he was with her.

  But like any relationship, you need some personal space. He was good when he could bug her all of the time. Now, that she could return the favor, he felt boxed in. Bethany Anne was having too much fun being able to snag him.

  He had to finally admit to her that he would do a better job of listening for her call if she would be so kind as to not zap him mentally every time she was a little impatient. Which is to say, all the time.

  Bethany Anne, patience is not thy middle name.

  Anne is my middle name, I have NO idea why people think it is part of my first name.

  Wow, that was off tangent.

  You started it.

  Are you going to yell at your Dad, now?

  No.

  Ok, feel free to speak to him, he is waiting.

  TOM, have I told you lately for being a ride-along, you beat all of the previous do-nothing boyfriends I’ve ever had?

  That was what, one boyfriend? Two?

  Details. Just appreciate my sentiment and I’ll go speak to my dad again.

  I will.

  Her focus returned to Lance, “Ok, TOM has me cooled down.”

&n
bsp; “How did he do that?” Lance asked.

  “Ahhhh,” she thought through their conversation, “somehow we go off on these damned tangents to the core argument, and before you know it, I’m not angry anymore.”

  “I wonder if he,” Lance flailed his fingers, “does some Kurtherian hocus-pocus and plays with your emotions?”

  “No,” she replied, then stopped, her eyes narrowing, “one moment.”

  TOM, she called out.

  TOM is not in right now, his voice came back, He is presently working with ADAM and Reynolds on the ESD calculations.

  Bethany Anne switched channels mentally. ADAM?

  >>ADAM is not in right now, he is presently…<<

  “Fucking shit,” she replied, “Either he got ADAM to give him an important project to hide from me, or he might be doing it. I can’t tell.”

  Lance shrugged, “Have the talk with him some other time, and while I am risking you blowing your top again, you can’t go.”

  Bethany Anne chewed the inside of her cheek, thinking through everything TOM said. “I’ll be here on the Merideth Reynolds, waving them off.” She turned to leave his office, “but I’m not happy about it.”

  “Hell,” Lance grumbled when she shut the door, “half the base is aware you aren’t happy with it.”

  He smiled, “And that’s why we love you so much.”

  —

  Outside of the office, John looked down at his boss, “He accepted that?”

  Bethany Anne looked up to her friend. She reached out and grabbed his shoulder and then in the next moment, they were in her suite’s transportation room. “Ok,” she put her hands on her hips, “You fess up. What did you mean by ‘he accepted that’?”

  “Hell, boss,” John replied, “Anyone who listened to you knows that all you said was you would be here waving them goodbye. That doesn’t mean shit when you can etherically walk to the ArchAngel, and if I’m not mistaken, they ARE taking the ArchAngel, aren’t they?”

  Bethany Anne nodded.

  “So, la de da and Bob’s your uncle, one moment you are here, the next moment you are on the ArchAngel.”

  “That’s across an Annex Gate, in another Solar System,” she countered.

  “We get communications across the distance just fine. As far as I know, traveling through the Etheric is similar to the concept in A Wrinkle In Time.”

  “The children’s book?” she asked.

  “Don’t you know it, the concept is lit,” John replied, a smile on his face.

  Bethany Anne’s mouth opened, “Lit?”

  “I got terms like lit, gucci, ahhh,” John started concentrating, “fam, goat, squid, straight fire, sip tea, something that rhymes with … shit.” He shrugged, “Forgot it.”

  “How the hell…Oh, Cheryl Lynn’s kids,” she said, and John nodded.

  “Wow, who knew the Uncle would be picking up teenage slang,” she replied. “Well, except everyone in the group. You guys are like walking boys.”

  “With hella big toys!” John smirked.

  Bethany Anne’s tone turned sober as she looked up at him, “So, big guy, you going to rat me out?”

  “Not my job to keep you here, BA. My job is to keep you safe. If I thought keeping you here would do it? I’d probably try. Seeing how there isn’t a chance in hell of me keeping you here against your will, I’ll go too and assume I’m the trusted confidant.”

  She reached over and patted John on the chest, right where the knife had stabbed him so long ago, “John, you are always trusted and if you ever want to know something?”

  He watched her as she started walking past him to open the door into her suite, “All you have to do is ask me.”

  John shrugged. It wasn’t like he didn’t know he could ask, but sometimes Bethany Anne had a way of connecting with you and making you realize you were one in a million to her.

  John followed the shorter woman out of the suite’s transportation room.

  Skaine Ship Gothwick

  The clang of the connections reverberated throughout the Skaine ship. Hirotoshi and Ryu continued their watch with their eyes closed. Shin and Katsu’s eyes bolted open at the sudden noise. Both worked hard to stop any physiological changes, like breathing or their heartbeats to change.

  It wasn’t time … yet.

  Bridge - Skaine Slaver Ship Kalifo

  “No sir,” the intelligence operative answered, “from the information in the computer, this ship was slaved to the Ranger’s ship and followed it. It was remotely controlled.”

  “Pretty damn devious,” Gyrm had to give the somewhat recently departed Etheric Empire representative a few points. They had worked half a day to create their own connection with the Gothwick, and they moved a couple of hours away, just in case someone knew the last location of the Etheric Empire’s ship.

  You could not be too careful, sometimes.

  “They did not place any explosives on the ship. We have found no external signals either coming in or going out since we took out the Ranger’s ship.

  “That was a shame the ship was destroyed,” Gyrm commented, “I would rather have liked to look it over, and perhaps getting a chance to enslave the uppity alien at the same time.”

  “Well, we did lose four missiles,” Weapons added.

  “Which, against the cost of the Gothwick, is a fraction of the value. Although, it sure obliterated the target,” Gyrm added, pleased with their results so far. “Now, let’s make sure we have a good ship before we finish our time here in Eubos and then we need to grab the rest of our group and head out. We are going to have to swing back through command and update them what we have learned in Eubos.”

  Gyrm stood up, “Tell the boarding party to go ahead when they feel it is safe. Then, have Jilleck bring up the protocol to refresh the computer system. I don’t want any unexpected files messing up our efforts. Once we have all of that done, we will separate, and they can follow us.” Gyrm walked towards the bridge exit. “I’ll be right back, I need to…”

  That was when the screaming started.

  Skaine Ship Gothwick

  Hirotoshi’s eyes opened. Getting up, he moved silently out of the small enclosed space he had been resting inside, his eyes flaming red as he ignored Skaine after Skaine, his feet propelling him forward as fast as he could run.

  He could hear the screams starting behind him, as Ryu, probably him anyway, sliced open a few members of the crew as he followed Hirotoshi out of the Gothwick, through the airlock connection between the two Skaine ships and into the slaver ship he needed to attack.

  Well, he sure hoped it was the right ship. Provided Tabitha hadn’t been killed, she would have notified the men if this was the wrong ship in the first place.

  Skaine Slaver Ship Kalifo

  First Gunner’s mate Menok climbed down from his laser turret, dropped to the floor and stretched. He scratched under his arm where it always itched when he finished a shift up there. Something inside the chair of the turret poked and irritated him, but it wasn’t big enough to see so he couldn’t cut it out.

  Or he would have.

  He nodded to one of the officers as he headed towards the food that would be available for those coming off ship’s duties. With the Captain worried that the Gothwick was a trap, he’d been sitting in that damn turret for half the morning.

  Doing nothing.

  If the Captain had asked him, he would have been able to tell him it didn’t feel like there was anything alive on that ship. As a gunner, you get a feeling for some things, and it didn’t feel like anyone was piloting the ship. He had watched when the four external riggers left their ship to place a few counter engines on the ship to slow down the slight wobble and allow their ship to connect.

  That had been the extent of his fun this morning. Thril, next to him, had gotten in trouble for targeting one of the four riggers out of boredom. He would be on cleanout duty for the mess in the slave’s bay on the next trip.

  He arrived at the food room when his sixth sen
se kicked into overdrive.

  Menok turned back to the direction of the connection deck and started running, thanking his ability to wear real pants instead of those damned robes the officers had to wear. Yanking out his pistol, he hoped he wasn’t being stupid for no apparent reason.

  Then, he heard the screams. Flipping the pistol’s safety off he ran around a corner, grabbed a rail as he raced down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs, he ran forward, heading towards the yells, screams, and occasional firing of a pistol.