It's Hell to Choose

by Michael Anderle

  Look like pirates, act like pirates, steal like pirates. Well, Shun agreed, they were pirates he supposed. They were on the high seas, and they were looking to take stuff from someone else.

  How very seventeenth century of them.

  “Sir, we will be in range within thirty seconds.”

  “Prepare the missiles” Shun commanded. He could hear the men locking everything down. There is a joy, he thought, when the blood rushes thru your body as you prepare for battle. Shun was looking forward to testing the capabilities of his ship and men against the supposed high technology of this group.

  He could see the guns they had uncovered aiming at them, but the barrels suggested they were not throwing very large slugs. His missiles were each set to explode above their targets, raining down a massive number of ball bearings. Unprotected defenders on deck would be torn up without warning.

  It was a horrible way to die, but you have to go sometime. For the people on the two ships, it was their turn.

  “Fire the missiles” he commanded. The attack craft rocked perceptibly when the two forward-facing rocket tubes shot off their munitions.

  They had approached to within a half mile, and the missiles were about halfway to the two yachts when they inexplicably detonated.

  “Tā mā de!” Shun yelled. “Prepare the second set now!”

  —

  >>Two missiles fired, two missiles intercepted a quarter-mile away from the ships.<<

  We will be passing by in fifteen seconds, Bethany Anne.

  TOM, bring us between the Polarus and the Ad Aeternitatem about deck level. Then, bring all of us close to the attacking vessel. I want them to feel our passing.

  That will most likely damage the craft, as well as any unprotected person.

  They can call one-eight-hundred I-don’t-give-a-shit. If we suck any of them off the ship into the water, you get a bedroom.

  Oh, so that is how you are playing this.

  Yes, they will ultimately be safer in the water than on that ship.

  Why is that? Tom asked.

  Because I know Jean Dukes. Now that they have shown violent intent, Captain Thomas is going to allow her to play, and she has an issue with pirates.

  So, it will be safer for them in the water? You aren’t just trying to get me to hurt someone against my genetics?

  Bethany Anne’s mental voice sounded humored. Nope. I imagine evil, vicious, destructive thoughts are going through Dukes’ mind right now how to return the favor.

  Very well, going in hard, fast, and low.

  —

  “So” Jean Dukes’ peeved voice came out of the bridge speakers. “Please tell me we can let them get closer, Captain. Attacking with the pucks would be like shooting fish in a barrel!”

  Captain Thomas leaned over in his chair and hit the talk button. “Jean, is it annoying your sense of fair play to shoot this far out?”

  “Well, some” she admitted.

  “Well, the rest of us who aren’t shooting back would rather appreciate it if you would make sure the sumbitches don’t get any closer!”

  “Aye-aye, sir, Dukes out” she grumped as the connection was cut off.

  “She seems a little annoyed, Captain” the communications guy commented.

  “Yeah, she wanted to try out some new arms. Let’s see what she decides to do.”

  “Ooh, I see four 1-pound pucks pulling out from the second defense shield, sir.”

  “Holy fuck!” One of the men said as ten black Pods screamed between the two ships, throwing up water as they passed by.

  Captain Thomas mused, “Jean better hurry or Bethany Anne is going to beat her to the punch.”

  —

  Shun ran from the bridge to the outside to yell at his missile crew when black…somethings… passed by his ship. Men were thrown all over the place in the great wind that trailed the passage of the aircraft. He slammed into a wall and was then swept up and off the ship, flying more than twenty feet in the air and landing sixty feet behind his boat. In the tumble, he noticed at least four other men similarly caught up and blown off.

  He hadn’t hit the water yet when he heard deafening booms from his ship, and then the surface of the water slammed him. Stunned, it was all he could do to figure out how to get back to the surface.

  —

  As the connection was cut, Jean frowned, repeating to herself, "Make sure the sum-bitches don't get close..." She then yelled to Jimmy. “Jimmy, give me four one-pound pucks from the defense shield. Take them up one thousand yards, then maximum acceleration. Target two to the missile battery and two to the engine area.”

  “Aye-aye, ma’am” Jimmy replied. “Four up one-thousand, maximum thrust, target missile launcher and engines two-by-two.” His hands flew over the keyboard. “Starting their preperation now, ma’am.”

  “Fuck-a-duck!” someone yelled over crashing booms. “Ten Pods, passing through, ma’am. I guess Bethany Anne just breezed by.”

  “Jimmy!” she yelled out, “don't let the Queen have my fun! Slam those bitches down!”

  —

  Shun erupted through the surface and gasped for breath. He turned in time to see parts of his command flying over the water; his craft listing perilously with smoke and flames coming out the damaged back.

  The aft of the ship was destroyed as if something had smashed into the boat and the concussive force had annihilated the tail and shredded the metal. He could hear boats behind him accelerating. He turned in the water to look in that direction. Two craft with the scientists and other mercenaries had turned around and heading back. One was heading towards the Consanesco. It had made a few hundred meters before Shun watched in amazement as something hit it from above, cratering the boat, and breaking it violently into multiple pieces.

  There wouldn’t be many survivors from that ship.

  —

  “We can see,” Giannini was speaking facing the camera, “that there are three ships following the one massive attack craft.”

  Mark cut in excitedly, “The ship has fired two missiles, Giannini! They are flying towards the two superyachts and …”

  She turned around and picked up the story, “Both missiles have been destroyed!” She caught her breath, audibly. “The master attack craft has just fired on the QBS Polarus and the QBS Ad Aeternitatem. Now we are waiting for…”

  Mark took over again. “Look at those Pods go!” he yelled. “Multiple TQB Pods have screamed between the two superyachts and came so close to the attack craft that I can see people blown off by the Pods' backdraft…” His voice trailed off into silence.

  “And now the attack ship has been hit!” Giannini cut in. “With at least two missiles that we were unable to see, the middle and the back of the attacking ship is now damaged. It appears to be in substantial trouble. There is fire coming from the rear of the ship and it isn’t looking good for the pirates at this time.”

  “How did pirates get a new ship of that quality?” Mark asked. “That makes no sense at all. These pirates are too well-funded.”

  “Uh oh,” Giannini cut in and Mark turned around, “Apparently one of the ships in the second wave has decided to attack us here on the Consanesco.”

  Sia stepped towards the rail and turned her camera and zoomed in on the ship approaching them. She was tracking it for less than three seconds when it was obliterated.

  “Oh, my God.” Sia was amazed to recognize her own voice. The sudden and complete destruction of the threatening ship had caught her by surprise.

  —

  >> There are encrypted communications from the ship ahead of us.<<

  It looks like a piece of trash, Bethany Anne mused, did they spend all of their money on that attack craft behind us? If so, I don’t think their ship’s warranty is going to cover whatever Dukes and her team did to it.

  >>One of the secondary attack craft made a run at the Consanesco. <<

  And?

  >>It was destroyed by a two-pound puck coming down at significant velocity wit
h the gravity shield out at four feet.<<

  Yeah, that would seriously ruin an afternoon, I suspect.

  >>The ship was destroyed.<<

  They won’t get any pity from me.

  —

  Captain Si was standing on his bridge, thinking about what he should do. The attack plans were a total failure. Intelligence, or the lack of it, was at fault, and they had failed to prepare adequately for the assault on those ships. Apparently, they had technologies which protected from missile attacks and were capable of destroying a ship.

  He was not surprised to hear the ‘return to base’ command or even the sudden appearance of the black Pods in the air around his command ship. The same black vehicles that his teams were supposed to be stealing this very moment. The Pods circled his ship as if they were waiting for the chance to strike at him like a snake.

  “Sir, should we pull out the fifty-calibers?” one of his men asked him.

  Si shook his head. All that would do is enrage the vipers above them. Suddenly, one of the fighter-like Pods took off straight up. It was quickly followed by the similar-looking one. The other eight stayed a moment before disappearing back towards the west.

  “Hurry up!” Si shouted as he jumped to push a man out of his way. “Pray to whatever gods you serve they don’t come back. Call to the ships to catch up. We are leaving.”

  —

  TOM, surround their command ship, I want to give them something to think about before we attack.

  They had started circling the large old, rusty-looking command ship. This ship had the look of ‘pirate’ for damn sure. Anyone would see this vessel, and would think 'pirate’ instantly.

  >>TOM<<

  YES?

  >>Be prepared to lock down Bethany Anne’s emotions.<<

  Why would you have me do this?

  >>Michael has been killed.<<

  TOM flashed back to when Bethany Anne found out that her mentor, Martin, had been killed in the parking garage of his workplace.

  ADAM, Tell John, he will understand. Ask Captain Thomas if he needs Akio or if they should fly to Colorado.

  >>Where are we going?<<

  Up.

  Guy’s, I can hear buzzing, what are you talking about so forcefully?

  Bethany Anne, we need to go.

  Surprised, Bethany Anne dropped her mind speech, “What? Why!? What’s happened?”

  Michael has been killed.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  TQB Base, Colorado - USA

  Lance walked the grounds outside. He had a small group protecting him, but in respect for his privacy, they were staying a minimum of twenty feet away.

  Kevin walked over to him, “Patricia says to tell you that they received approval for the ‘test’ on our land in Australia. The team took a lot of film of the event, including high speed. It will be pretty eye-opening.”

  Lance stopped moving for a moment and looked at his base commander. “Move upper management personnel out the back. Stephanie and her team. Tom Billings is going to need to drop the hallway to the server room and go, as well. No one that the government can question should be left here.”

  “What about you?” Kevin asked.

  “I’m not leaving until she arrives, Kevin.” Lance replied.

  “How long has she been in radio silence?” Kevin asked.

  “At least two hours. ADAM let me know they are still just looking over the globe. It’s probably the only thing that is keeping her sane right now. Well, that and TOM is holding back some of the pain.”

  “Holding back the pain too long can’t be good” Kevin said in a considering tone.

  Lance looked around to make sure no one was close enough to overhear their conversation. He shifted his body slightly, which made him closer to Kevin’s ear without making it look like he was trying to pass along secrets. “Kevin, I understand from TOM that she told Michael she loved him. She is also the one who asked him to protect this base. On his Honor, he told her he would.”

  Kevin swore and looked away, “She feels like she sent her love to his death?”

  “At a minimum. Oh, she will know the intellectual arguments, but the only reason we don’t have massive fucking holes on this earth right now is that TOM is only allowing her to feel enough grief so the dam doesn’t burst. He’s been through this once before. Maybe not at quite so high a level, but he is better prepared for the reaction this time.”

  Lance looked up into the sky, “If I know her, and I do, she is trying to convince herself this pretty blue ball is worth saving right now.” Lance turned back to Kevin. “When she is finished up there, we need to be prepared.”

  “Why?” Kevin asked, “Lance, you have to remember that I never knew her nearly as well as you. Even now, I’m not close.”

  “Kevin, what did we, as a nation, do after the terrorists hit our country and attacked the twin towers?” Lance asked the younger man.

  “We came together, and we attacked…” Kevin grimaced, then his shoulders slumped, “Someone has really, really made a big-time mistake.”

  Lance grunted, “It had to have been several someone’s. ADAM is researching it now, but even with the help of his human posse, it's hard to find everyone involved. They have a good correlation with a group that is tangentially associated with the UN, but that connection is a farce. It is a bunch of conglomerates.”

  “Commercial interests, then?” Kevin asked, “because I guessed state-backed interests.”

  “Hell, Kevin. It’s probably both, all and everyone.” Lance looked around the base, “We will keep most of this base online, but the core group will move.”

  “Our people? Wounded or dead?” Kevin asked.

  “Wounded should be on pods and moved to the Ad Aeternitatem. The dead will have a service, first.” Lance answered.

  “Michael?” Kevin asked.

  Lance shook his head, “We have nothing. Based on our readings, he made it as far as the valley and then it detonated. Considering the evidence, the bomb wasn’t all the way in the valley, but rather still close to the lip. ADAM calculates he threw it but was then caught in the blast.”

  “What about the police and the reporters?” Kevin asked.

  “Jakob still working that angle?”

  Kevin barked a laugh, “Him and ADAM, apparently. All of the incorrect paperwork is eventually going to catch someone’s attention.”

  “Can’t be helped. I’m not letting her deal with this alone. I wasn’t there for so much of her life, and I’ll be damned if I don’t support her right now. They can stick me in jail. She will just get me right back out,” Lance said.

  Kevin smiled, “Pretty sure of that?”

  Lance returned the smile, “I’m damned sure of that. If it happens, I’ll be sure to flip off the video camera when we leave. Maybe I’ll moon them, too.”

  “Sir?” Lance turned to one of the Guardians who was holding up a radio, “She’s coming down, now.” Lance nodded his thanks.

  “Make it happen, Kevin. Get everyone in the upper levels out of here before the legal shit is figured out. No one else here knows anything. We’ve left a lot of Williams CNC crap in the old lair, plus some encrypted drives in Marcus’s old office. They will play with that forever before they figure out it isn’t worth anything.”

  “Monkey’s paw?” Kevin asked.

  “Yup,” Lance agreed. “Go on, she will be down any moment, and I’ll be fine. Plus, John is with her.”

  Kevin grinned, “I don’t care how nice he is, John is still one scary mother fucker.”

  Lance nodded, “Yeah, but for Bethany Anne, he’s a walking teddy bear.”

  Kevin shivered as he walked away, “That’s a scary teddy bear!” he hollered over his shoulder.

  Lance chuckled. It wasn’t but half a minute later when the two Black Eagles came into view and then quickly descended to land fifteen feet ahead of him. He walked over to her Pod and stood outside of it. Trying his hand on the security lock, he was surprised when the attempt produ
ced an audible click, and the cockpit door came up. He looked at Bethany Anne, sure that her red, bloodshot eyes came from two hours of continuous crying.

  Lance leaned into the pod and enveloped his daughter in a hug. It had taken only a second before she was rocking against him, her quiet sobbing tearing at his heart.