Never Surrender

by Michael Anderle

  This conversation had taken nearly half a second in real time, and Bethany Anne returned her focus to her father. "It seems we have a small ship of spies, business spies at that, seeking to come aboard. I'm told by ADAM that the teams have prepared special Executive Pods, which would allow them to locate and minimize any devices they have on their bodies. What do you think about this?"

  "Percentage of defense success?"

  "94.7% success expectation,” she replied.

  "I assume this high expectation of success has a reason?" he countered.

  Bethany Anne shrugged, "This particular group, at least from what I’ve just been told, isn’t militaristic. They wish to find out information about us and sell it on the open market. Since we are the new game in town, this information is probably going to go for a lot of money. However, they have some of the best spy technology in the business. Should we allow their ship to dock, I'm told our chances of defending ourselves drop significantly, all the way down to 50-50. I don’t like 50-50 odds."

  Lance grunted, "That's a significant drop. I don't want to throw a quarter up in the air to see whether they can get into our systems and defeat us."

  Meredith interrupted from a speaker near the two of them, "Me either. I can't imagine having an alien infestation inside my memory banks. I've been working with ADAM on this problem for a year now. To confirm I stay clean against foreign efforts. If it is all the same to you, I would prefer this possible occurrence be minimized."

  Bethany Anne shrugged, allowing her father to take the lead.

  Lance turned to the specialist, "Let them know that they are permitted to stop exactly 3 km from the QBBS Meredith Reynolds. Make sure they understand what that is in local distance conversions. We will provide a shuttle for their crew to come on board."

  Bethany Anne murmured after he was finished talking, "I guess this is as good a time as any to test the passive defenses."

  Lance looked back at his daughter, "Don't you mean passive aggressive defense?"

  Bethany Anne smirked, "When have you ever known me not to be aggressive, Dad? I am either passive aggressive or just aggressive aggressive, so I am answering as if this was an algebra equation and I could leave off the extra aggressive. So, I'm either passive or aggressive."

  Those around who listened anytime the Empress was close by, kept their smiles to themselves.

  Their Empress was never truly passive.

  R’Chkoklet, Planet Yoll

  "This is Pehl-eck, reporting from the city of R’Chkoklet. As we zoom out from our present location, you will notice that we have moved our location back another two blocks from the building where presently multiple upper caste individuals are holed up. We have received word that the Etheric Empress has sent one of her team members down to confront these individuals.”

  The reporter continued her discussion as the news organization placed a video up over her on the news video cast. “Right now, on your screens, is video from when Empress Bethany Anne first landed and exited her ship at the arena where she challenged the King. Notice those exiting her ship with her, specifically the human male on her right front. This is the individual we believe is heading in our direction at this time.”

  “We know, at least from all indications and eyewitness accounts, that there are at least twelve individuals inside the building the human will confront. We do not expect…” Phel-eck stopped talking for a moment and pointed toward the building, as the video zoomed in, her commentary continued. "I can see three more individuals arriving in what looks like military clothing. No, my cameraman is telling me that there are in fact seven military individuals that are now entering the building. That is going to take the total to nineteen individuals that this one human is going to take on. Will this human come down with additional support? Or will he or his people just blast this building into pieces from the upper atmosphere, causing those of us around the buildings to suffer with our lives? This is Pehl-eck, reporting from R’Chkoklet, and we are going to move back another couple of blocks."

  QBBS Merideth Reynolds

  >>Bethany Anne?<<

  What is it ADAM?

  >>I have a request from Bellatrix through her partner, Yelena, that Dio would like to speak to you.<<

  Are you shitting me? She asked her companion, I absolutely refuse to have another puppy following me. Where is Matrix anyway?

  TOM answered, I had Matrix go down to the park and frolic with one of his sisters. He needed to get out and run around, and asking you to do it at the moment didn't seem like a wise choice.

  ADAM, you're not about to tell me that Dio wants to become your partner, right?

  ADAM was quiet.

  Bethany Anne, her mental voice upping an octave continued her outburst, Am I right? You have absolutely GOT to be kidding me! There is no fucking way I'm going to have three dogs running around with me all of the damn…

  She received the mental equivalent of a snicker.

  >>Gotcha!<<

  Bethany Anne ground her teeth, trying to contain her anger. Some days, it sucked having a confirmed AI in your head. Fine, let me know which direction we have to head, I will go speak to him. You had just better pray to the Digital God it really isn’t you.

  This time, there was a pause from ADAM's side before he said, >>Me? Why in the world would a puppy want to connect with me? I'm not prepared to have the responsibility of a puppy. There was another pause before ADAM continued, >>I have just reviewed what it takes to raise a pet. I would have to…<<

  Bethany Anne interrupted ADAM's comments, ADAM?

  >>Yes?<<

  She snickered, Gotcha!

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Purplish clouds swirled out of the way of the human’s Black Eagle Pod as it cut through them, the mists mixing as the gravitic air cavitation shield kept any wind from buffeting the aircraft while it streaked across the Yollin sky.

  John glanced around, enjoying the view of the colors coalescing through the atmosphere. For a moment, he felt like a kid again, and wished he could stick his arm out and run his hand through the mists.

  "Tell me what the nano-spies have for us so far, ADAM." He said aloud.

  >>We have nineteen bodies inside of the building. There are seven exits available. The building is five stories tall, surrounded by multiple windows made out of a substance very similar to Earth-type glass.<<

  "Are these windows as breakable as a standard window on Earth? Or are these bulletproof, or destruction proof class see-through windows?"

  >>I do not know the answer to this question, I have now tasked multiple nano-spies to gather more data.<<

  John flipped a couple of switches inside the cockpit of his pod. He viewed the surrounding area and zoomed in on the neighborhood blocks to see if any additional backup or reinforcements were making their way to the building. Satisfied he wouldn’t have to face enemy reinforcements, John turned off those displays and checked the magazines on both of his Jean Dukes’ specials.

  Fully loaded.

  ADAM came back online.

  >>John, we have ascertained the breakage quality to be within the parameters of the majority types of window glass on Earth.<<

  "Good to know, that way if I want to throw some asshole out the window, he won't bounce right back at me. That would be fucking frustrating.”

  John thought about throwing a Yollin into the glass, only to have the Yollin bounce back off the glass. He rolled his eyes, “Can you even imagine how embarrassing that would be, ADAM? Would you be so kind as to add that to the checklist for the next time the Spybots are sent down?"

  >>I have added the request to the list for the Spybots.<<

  John could make out the small town that he was heading towards with his own eyes now.

  He smiled to himself, "One riot, one Ranger.” He cricked his neck back and forth to get ready for the challenge ahead.

  “One planet? One Bitch!"

  R’Chkoklet, Planet Yoll

  Pehl-eck felt the presence, more than she hear
d anything arrive. She lifted her eyes and saw the small ship sliding down out of the sky.

  It wasn't flying so much as floating.

  While she watched, the wings seemed to melt into each other going from an X shape to a single line cutting across. Moments later, it slowed down to hover a mere foot off the ground, and the canopy cracked open.

  Pehl-eck waved to her cameraman to make sure he was getting the action. Then, she watched as a large human, with blood red armor, hopped out of the ship. He reached in and grabbed what looked like a helmet, and then additional weapons. He kept his eyes on the building at the end of the street as he holstered two pistols, and put what looked like four small metal boxes across his chest.

  A moment later, the canopy started closing, and she watched the ship slowly rise back into the sky.

  Either he wasn't worried about getting hurt, or he was more concerned with somebody trying to acquire his ship while he was busy.

  Pehl-eck called out to the human. Her cameraman grunted behind her, and she waved her hand in a way that meant nothing ventured nothing gained. Surprisingly enough, the human started walking in her direction even though he kept his eyes focused on the building at the end of the street.

  While he was certainly encased in some sort of metal armor, it folded and molded to him as if it were a piece of fabric. Personally, she preferred her men to have hard exoskeletons, not a soft skin outside. However, she supposed that the armor the human had was hard enough, it could make things interesting.

  It wasn't so much that his looks appealed to her, it was the sheer sense of raw destruction she felt he was about to unleash. Yet, she did not feel personally afraid for her safety as he strode over to her.

  She put the microphone out to him as he finally arrived. The human nodded to her and turned so that his mouth would, in fact, speak into the microphone. Considering some of the arrogant personages she had interviewed during her career, she appreciated the courtesy.

  “Hello, my name is Pehl-eck?” John nodded, “I was wondering if you would mind me asking a few questions before you head down toward the end of the street?"

  John smiled, "I figured you were a reporter," he nodded toward her cameraman, "since you have the necessary staff to help you here. What is it that you would like to ask?"

  "My first question," she adjusted the microphone to make sure she caught his full answer, "is how do you plan on arresting those men down there at the end of the street?"

  This time, John turned to look her straight in the eyes, "I'm sorry, you must be mistaking me for a Queen’s Ranger."

  She gave him a puzzled look before she caught up with his communication translation. "Forgive me my ignorance, I didn't even ask you your name. Do you mind providing your name, and can you explain to me what a Queen’s Ranger is?" Pehl-eck asked.

  Her normal ability to play the disinterested reporter was being challenged in this person's presence.

  "Certainly," John answered, keeping his eyes focused on the end of the street. "My name is John Grimes. You ask what a Queen’s Ranger is?" She nodded her head, "the Rangers, probably more accurately called the Empress’s Rangers now, are tasked with locating and finding lawbreakers. How they respond to a situation is going to be in context to the laws laid out by Empress Bethany Anne. While they can kill in the line of duty, justice, not death, is their prime directive."

  A shot was fired from the end of the street, hitting the side of a bulding close by. John raised an eyebrow, "I guess they are ready to meet their maker a little sooner." He nodded to the lady, turned and started walking towards the end of the street in the direction of the building. Pehl-eck called out after him, "If you're not an Empress’s Ranger, a Queen’s Ranger, or whatever type of Ranger you mentioned, what are you?"

  John called over his shoulder, "I'm a Queen’s Bitch." He snagged his helmet, his hands ready to lock it into place on the top of his head as he finished his statement. "We get called in when someone has taken a situation beyond the law." He jammed the helmet on his head sealing himself into the latest of Jean Dukes’ R&D lab’s armor.

  Merideth Reynolds, Transit Quarters, Fourth Group

  Aerolyn had been running now for over four months and through three different star systems. He had hoped that by coming into the Yollin system, he would have the opportunity to obscure his tracks due to the upheaval that must have been happening due to the aliens taking over the Yollin’s system.

  Unfortunately, the humans had implemented several rules that had effectively made the system more efficient.

  It was just his luck to find an efficient star power. Finally, he chose to head toward the human’s space station when it would be obvious he would stick out on the Yollin’s. The Yollin’s didn’t have a specific area for all of the aliens to congregate, they kept them off in their ships for the most part.

  At least on the Human’s station, rumor had it, all sort of aliens were congregating in an attempt to find out more about the ‘new kids on the block,' and determine what kind of money could be made from them.

  Aerolyn had the misfortune of two different flaws in his life. The first was that he felt the king, and his cronies, were not ruling in the best interest of the people of his planet and he would speak about this opinion often and loudly in the common bars on his planet.

  The second problem was his relationship with the king himself. Aerolyn called him, ‘Dad.'

  While his original comments when he was younger were taken as humorous ignorance. As he got older and filled out into a man, his father could no longer ignore his outbursts.

  One evening, his older brother had warned him that should he open his mouth one more time, the King, not his father, would have to act on his civil disobedience.

  Unfortunately, it took all of three days for Aerolyn to forget the warning from his brother and he had an outburst in a local bar.

  One of his friends notified him of the Royal Decree later that night. There was a price on his head, and it took him three, long, agonizing hours to locate someone who would get him off the planet.

  He had hoped that by leaving, his stupidity would be forgiven at least. Unfortunately, he found out, in the next system, that the price on his head was for dead or alive, and there were no distance limitations.

  He had been on the run ever since, and now he had ended up in the Yollin System.

  Where he suspected, he would die when a bounty hunter found him.

  Nachid, Planet Yoll

  Nachid was a medium-sized city in the normal northern hemisphere on Yoll. It had been this size for the last four generations, never getting any larger, and never shrinking in population. Most Yollins ended up shipping out to the space stations, where they would then be redirected out to the commercial or military organization that needed their services.

  The system that determined who would stay behind, and continue helping the city grow, or ship out to the space stations was based on a lottery.

  Brylen walked the streets of his city, considering the history in light of the aliens taking over.

  While everybody took standardized tests, it seemed like it wouldn't matter what you scored on the tests or how you answered the question ‘where would you like to work?’ One would be randomly assigned to whatever role they had the least ability to accomplish.

  Basically, the same way it was handled in bureaucracies no matter what solar system you came from.

  It was amazing that his people were able to accomplish the beautiful craftsmanship they did, Brylen thought.

  The middle-aged Yollin walked towards the bar where he expected to meet his partner Rih-benn at a back table. He finished his musing about the government with the thought ‘there was no ability Yollins possess, that bureaucracy can’t screw up.'

  Stepping quickly into the bar, Brylen turned to his left and moved to the side. He didn't want to keep himself outlined in the doorway longer than he had to.

  Walking the perimeter of the room, he quickly located Rih-benn at the back table. Lo
oking around surreptitiously, Brylen noticed three of Rih-benn's men sitting and talking at the bar and two more sitting in a nearby booth.

  Rih-benn wasn't taking any chances at all. He must have heard the same rumors that Brylen had regarding this human they had chosen to meet.

  “Good to see you, Brylen,” Rih-benn pushed over a glass of the new beverage.