Never Surrender

by Michael Anderle

  The human laughed, changed colors slightly and explained it was for providing nourishment for their young. The salesperson said that the larger the purchase, the more likely the option to negotiate in human society existed, but not for common items.

  “What is over there?” Ixgalan pointed off to the other side of the floor. Often, humans would exit the hallway and others would go in. Ixtelina picked up her tablet and figured out the function that provided a map of the local area.

  She looked up, “It is a hallway to take you to the tram that goes inside the space station.”

  Ixgalan started slurping the last of his drink. “Finished.” He stood up, adding, “I’ll be back.”

  Ixtelina watched as he made his way to the other side, threw his cup away and disappeared into the hallway.

  He came back out a little while later and made his way back to her and sat down. “Etheric Empire members or invited guests only.”

  Ixtelina nodded, “That isn’t entirely unexpected. What has you dejected?”

  Ixgalan turned to look at her, “There will be no unexpected options to get inside. There are only two trams and trust me, those are some vicious-looking aliens you would have to get by to get on the trams. I’m sure they have security protocols in place to shut down the tram if they have undesirables in one of the cars.” He looked around the area and then leaned in towards Ixtelina, switching to their own language, “Plus, the cars just fit inside the tunnel it goes down. I would not be surprised if they use a form of suction to move the cars back and forth.”

  “That would require quite a bit of engineering and power,” Ixtelina murmured.

  Ixgalan pointed up again, “Like that fake sun doesn’t?”

  “Well, no time like the present. Let’s figure out a way to release the macros, and we will walk around this area. I’ll need to reach out to those in charge of trade and let them know I would like to meet. I would like a little more information on this species before I do that.”

  Ixgalan nodded his understanding and stood up once more and left.

  Ixtelina turned and looked at the different shops, wondering which ones might provide more information and decided the one which suggested it was a type of monetary institution looked promising.

  She was halfway around the concourse when she saw Ixgalan coming in her direction, his face calm. His eyes, however, were annoyed.

  She waited, her hands in the sleeves of her opposing arms when he walked up, “The macros are dead,” he told her.

  Ixtelina let out her breath in a long, controlled exhalation as she looked around. “Humans?”

  Ixgalan nodded, “Humans.”

  Ixtelina considered the next step before she took her hand out and pointed toward the monetary location, “The game is afoot, Ixgalan, the game is afoot.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Rih-benn nodded to his last two guards, releasing them as he strode into his home. He had three full-time guards that roamed the place, as well as high levels of security. He would admit, if only to himself, that the human who they had met to exchange money for the spice had scared him, if only a little.

  It would be Brylen who died tonight, not him.

  Walking through the front entry, he headed down the hallway and took a right to stop in front of a doorway. Entering the security code, he let himself into his home office. Locking the door behind him, he tossed the box of Bostok onto his desk as he turned to the small group of plants he had cultivated as a side project.

  One of the four rectangular plots was empty. He was planning on growing his first successful batch of the spice needed for the soda project right here in his office.

  Then he would have the stranglehold on the market, as Yollins would prefer to know the source wasn’t from the aliens.

  Well, ok, most Yollins. There were a few who would go straight to the source for the thrill or the promise it was truly the right spice.

  He, however, would have all the rest.

  He picked a berry from the leftmost planter and popped it in his mouth. It had taken him over three years and multiple operations to acquire this precious seedling that was now a plant. “Keep growing like the little rebel you are,” Rih-benn told the plant, “because I’m going to make you a star.”

  The shock of the berry hit his system, energizing the ends of his pleasure nodes for almost half a minute as he closed his eyes and accepted the joy of success and the pleasure the chemicals brought him.

  Opening his eyes, he smiled. “I’m so sorry, you were my greatest achievement, but now you are yesterday’s news.” He patted the empty planter that only had sands and some chemicals. He would have to figure out the right chemicals to grow the plant, the right solar mixture, and the liquid quantities. It was a puzzle he would enjoy figuring out.

  Rih-benn grimaced and turned to his desk. Walking behind, he sat down in his chair and rubbed his mandibles together.

  “How the hell,” he asked himself aloud, “am I going to get another shot at those seeds?”

  —

  Over a hundred miles away, sitting in their own ship, Nathan and Ecaterina watched the feedback from the micro-bots that had infected the Yollin drug and crime boss.

  “That was an interesting peek in his physiology,” Nathan murmured. He was tapping the information coming from inside the host’s system as the Yollin ate from the plant.

  Ecaterina walked to the front of the ship. For this trip, Nathan had used a baby G’laxix Sphaea that had been cut down in size to half the original. With a full EI component and a direct link to ADAM, Nathan and Ecaterina just had to do whatever the ship told them needed to be done by someone with two arms and two legs.

  Everything else was run by the onboard EI.

  “Christina is asleep,” she told her mate. Sliding a hand on his shoulder, she looked at what he was doing, “Is this the guy that was going to set you up?”

  Nathan nodded, “Yes.”

  He didn’t see Ecaterina’s eyes flash yellow, “Those are his physiological and biometric readouts?”

  “Yes,” Nathan agreed, still paying attention to the feedback coming back from the crook.

  “So, when the nanocytes finally kill him, we will receive the medical information?” She continued.

  This time, Nathan nodded.

  “Good,” Ecaterina patted her mate on his shoulder as she turned to drop into the chair next to him, “No reason to waste this opportunity to understand the physiology of a Yollin.”

  Nathan finally caught on that his mate was not pleased. He turned to look over his shoulder. His eyes opened as Ecaterina’s eyes flared yellow, her mouth opened in a snarl as she thought about the crime boss trying to kill her mate.

  She looked back at him, “This asshole was going to die, one way or another.”

  Yollin Capital - Yoll

  Kiel, dressed in the normal clothes of a Mont-level project planner, entered the fifth bar he had worked so far this week.

  During his frequent updates to Dan Bosse, he mentioned drinking so much due to the job that it was beginning to cause him problems during workouts to get rid of the excess weight.

  Dan informed him he was aware how little the Yollin alcohol truly affected a Yollin’s weight, and that he appreciated the hellacious amount of sacrifice that going out drinking was causing the Yollin Mercenary.

  Kiel smiled, shrugged and just muttered, “I tried…” Now, after a month of working the bars, it was indeed becoming a sacrifice.

  It was just so damned boring.

  He was sitting, nursing his second beer when his implanted audio activated. “…That’s what I’m telling you,” a Yollin, speaking with an upper caste accent hissed, his voice low compared to the ambient sound. “Some of us in the Straiphus system need a few good contacts. Further…”

  Kiel lost the connection, too much noise was interfering. He put the mug up to his mouth to cover it, “ADAM?”

  “Yes, Kiel?”

  “Can you clean up the audio that is piping in? T
his is legit.”

  “… When we have the ships necessary, we will make our run here and force this alien to surrender. Then, we will hang her head up in the King’s Palace as the first of a new Monarchy.”

  Kiel grimaced. “ADAM, clean up, translate and route to Dan. Where is this coming from?”

  “A drinking establishment named Mont’s The Best, two streets over and one towards the stadium, on Chk’klock.”

  Kiel tossed two coins down on his table and stood up. He stopped and braced himself a moment before looking the wrong way for the door. Turning his head, he located the exit and nodded to himself. Putting his head down, he walked like a Yollin with a mission, making sure he could finish the job of getting out of the bar without falling down.

  Once outside, he turned left and kept up his act. Crossing the street, he changed his stride from half falling forward to a determined gait as soon as he was outside of the bar’s video cameras.

  “…we have a strategy to move the aliens where we want them, and have them fight us on our terms.”

  Kiel turned the corner.

  “Wrong direction,” ADAM told him.

  Kiel turned around, “Sorry, thinking about how to yank this asshole’s spine out of his mouth.”

  “Dan says not to detain him, we have a photo, we just need you to … Release your tags - Kiel, he is heading out the other side of the building.”

  Kiel cursed in Yollin and reached into his pocket to pull out a cylinder. He moved closer to a building and cracked it open. Inside, four small spheres, each the size of a small rock floated out and zoomed over his shoulder.

  He faked drinking from the cylinder and then put it back together. He stood up and looked around, “What do we know?”

  “One moment,” ADAM answered.

  Kiel started walking slowly down the sidewalk and it was a few moments before he received an answer.

  “We know he got away,” ADAM finally replied.

  Kiel looked both ways down the street and turned to his left. In a few paces, he was able to duck into a small alley and wait for the tags to come back. The four black orbs returned, and Kiel grabbed each and stuck them in the cylinder. “Shame these are too expensive to leave around.”

  ADAM replied, “Sorry, it isn’t just their cost, but if they are found, it could become a PR problem according to Cheryl Lynn.”

  Kiel grabbed his tablet and opened a small messaging app, and requested to see Kael-ven and see him as soon as possible.

  Seconds later, he was pinged with a time and place.

  QBBS Merideth Reynolds

  Hirotoshi, Ryu, Katsu and Shin followed the female in front of them. She had her hair tied back in a ponytail, her long black synthetic leather coat flowing out behind her.

  Typically, the Tontos would be in some form of casual dress, but now they were on a mission.

  The five of them walked down the hallway behind All Guns Blazing. Tabitha walked up to the non-descript door and knocked.

  The lock clicked for her, and she pushed it open.

  Tabitha raised an eyebrow as she and her team flowed into the room. Tabitha bowed, “My Empress.”

  Barnabas snorted from next to Bethany Anne. She punched him and said, “Oh, for fuck’s sake, stand back up you twerp.” Bethany Anne grinned as Tabitha walked down the length of the table to hug her friend. Bethany Anne rolled her eyes and called out, “You Tontos as well.”

  The four Japanese vampires stopped bowing, but Bethany Anne took care to look them all in the eye and nod her head. They owed their life to her people, and they took their vows very seriously.

  While Tabitha was only partially respectful, there was nothing but respect coming from her team.

  Protect your lead, she sent them.

  Hirotoshi and Ryu subtly nodded their heads. They got the message.

  “How are they hanging, Number One?” Tabitha cracked a smile as Barnabas frowned. He caught the play on words she gave him.

  “I see that the young teenager Anne, hasn’t taught you anything yet,” he said to her.

  Tabitha’s face gave her away before she could lie.

  She chose to drop the discussion rather than answer his question. “What are we doing?” She looked between Barnabas and Bethany Anne, then back to her boss.

  “We have information that says the Eubos system is barely above anarchy,” Barnabas started the information dump. “Well, that’s not true. They have plenty of structure, what they lack is an implementation of law.”

  “They didn’t get the memo?” Tabitha asked.

  “What memo would that be?” she asked.

  Tabitha turned to Katsu, “Didn’t you send an all Yollin dispatch that shared the new rules from Empress Bethany Anne?”

  “God, let me go back to just being ‘Queen,'” Bethany Anne grumped.

  Tabitha turned and winked at Bethany Anne before Katsu spoke. “Yes,” he agreed, “I sent the memo you directed. We have confirmation receipts from over a month ago.”

  Tabitha turned back to her bosses, “Ok, see, we sent the memo.”

  Bethany Anne turned her head to look at Barnabas, who was staring at his number two Ranger. “Oh, do tell Barnabas.”

  Barnabas turned to Bethany Anne, “As much as it pains me to say this, she implemented a tactically sound plan.”

  Tabitha shrugged, “Hey, ignorance of the law doesn’t excuse you. Plus, we warned them there would be a day we would come calling, and God help them if they didn’t read the memo.”

  Bethany Anne wanted to either smile or put her head in her hands and wonder what her Ranger had just done. “Oh shit,” she muttered, “I bet you just started a meme in this solar system.”

  “Didn’t you get the Empress’s Memo?” Barnabas asked.

  “That is what I plan to ask right before I plant my size eight boots up their ass.” Tabitha agreed.

  Bethany Anne nodded, “Ok, Ranger Tabitha,” she said, “you are commissioned to go to the Eubos system and locate the slave trade … ” Bethany Anne’s humor dropped, “ … and stop it with all speed.” She pointed down on the table and stabbed it with her finger. “I will not have slaves in my Empire. Slavers get one chance to listen, otherwise, let them explain their reasoning to their personal gods.” Her eyes started glowing, “Those that have used their slaves sexually, or victimized them? They don’t even get that chance.”

  Tabitha swallowed. This was the Queen Bitch speaking. Tabitha nodded her understanding.

  She was going to need a lot of ammo.

  Bethany Anne stood up, “Barnabas has the files for you and your team, I want to present you and your team with something.”

  Bethany Anne walked around the table, heading out the door Tabitha and her team had just come in. This time, when the door opened, Tabitha noticed Darryl was standing there.

  Where the hell was he when she showed up?

  When Tabitha walked past her guys, she whispered, “We are going to need a lot of ammo.”