All’s Fair in Blood and War (The Kurtherian Endgame Book 4)

by Michael Anderle

  “In what way are they acting suspiciously?” he asked.

  Winstanley checked the observations that her system had flagged. “They are dressed strangely, and they have approached the door twice and backed off.”

  “I’ll go speak with them,” Hirotoshi told Winstanley.

  She followed Hirotoshi on the cameras while maintaining surveillance on the four Bakas. He slipped out of the main entrance and approached the Bakas in a friendly manner. The logic of that did not compute for Winstanley since Bakas were unfriendly toward humans as a rule.

  Still, they did not initiate violence, as she had anticipated. Instead, Hirotoshi spoke with the Bakas for a few minutes, then left with them.

  22

  Outside the Interdiction, QBS Achronyx

  Having his bonded human grieve when there was something he could have done to prevent it was not an outcome Achronyx considered. All the AIs knew how it had been for ADAM when Michael had died and there was nothing he could do for Bethany Anne except be present for her during the worst of it.

  That was not happening to his Tabitha.

  He checked on the progress of his drones as he took the ship off the line. The others took this as permission, word from Tim or not, and the battle was joined for real.

  The Interdiction zone was instantly filled with projectiles of all kinds from both sides, plasma fire and Etheric charges adding to the mood lighting provided by the open Gates.

  Tabitha covered her eyes as Achronyx veered the ship into a corkscrew. Peter spoke in Tabitha’s mind. Tim’s not too happy you jumped the gun, Tabbie.

  Tabitha peered out from between her fingers, hardly daring to look but unable to take her eyes off the viewscreen. Don’t look at me! My crazy AI decided to come rescue your ass. Drones and seekers exploded all around the Achronyx as Achronyx pounded the crap out of them with pucks. “Achronyx, are we going to make it?”

  “It's going to be close,” Achronyx admitted. “But as long as they keep sending things that blow up so nicely, I’ll have enough material lying around to keep making new pucks to clear a path with.”

  Be ready, she told Peter. The second it’s clear, we’re gonna get out there and cause some real damage.

  You weren’t kidding about the destroyers, huh?

  Tabitha heard the laughter and love in his voice. Oh, sweetie, did you think I was?

  Peter snorted softly. Not for one minute, babe. Just watch yourself, okay?

  You know I will. Achronyx won’t let anything happen. She grinned at the screen, where Achronyx was taking out an Ooken ship every few seconds, then scooping up the remains to use to destroy the next. We’ve got this. He’s killing it out here, literally.

  She tilted her head when Peter dropped the link. “We do have what we need to take a few of those out, right?”

  “Oh, yes.” Achronyx sounded smug. “I’ve saved all the best stuff for last.”

  Tabitha’s lip curled. “Good.” She looked back at the screen. “The refugees are almost through. It will be our turn in a minute.”

  “I count five ships remaining,” Achronyx confirmed.

  The fighters shielded the final ship to cross the line, opening up the field for the Devon fleet to do more than defend.

  Tim’s voice came over the speakers. “All ships of the fleet. We are clear to engage. The Interdiction will be live in two minutes, and I don’t want to see any fucknuts getting fried by those satellites unless they’ve got tentacles hanging from their faces.”

  His voice grew passionate as the Gates continued to spit out Ooken ships just out of weapons range. “You might be looking at all of those ships right now and be wondering how we’re going to win against so many. Have faith in yourselves, and trust your teammates. We might be outnumbered, but we are never outgunned. The Ooken have destroyed worlds just to test our defenses. Now get out there and show those fuckers what we do to homewreckers!”

  Tabitha grinned. She remembered when Tim was just another punk Were with a chip the size of Texas on his shoulder. “You heard the Commander, Achronyx. Both barrels hot, and don’t fucking stop until there’s not a single one of them left.”

  Achronyx had the ship at peak efficiency. He zipped around firing pucks in every direction. “I’ll do my best, but maybe it would be nice to save some for everyone else?”

  Tabitha sneered. “If they want any, they’ll have to fight for them. My baby is down there! You have no idea how fucking pissed I am that they came to our home.”

  “Oh, I have. It’s a ‘perk’ of being both onboard and sentient. I get feedback from all your emotions these days.”

  Tabitha snickered. “Must suck to be you at least one week in four.”

  “Yet if I made that joke, you’d find new and even more inventive ways to threaten me.” Achronyx huffed.

  Tabitha shrugged. “Should have chosen to be female.”

  They broke through another line of Ooken ships, edging ever closer to the destroyers.

  “The fecaloid freaks know how to play the numbers game,” she admitted, her eyes glancing at the screens giving her feedback. “There are so many of them.”

  “We should do something about that,” Achronyx remarked in a tone that suggested he had something in the works.

  “What have you got?” Tabitha asked, walking over to her console to look through their inventory. “Where did those drones in the cargo bays come from?”

  “I borrowed them from CEREBRO,” he told her. “Just don’t disturb them in any way, okay?”

  “O-kaaay.” Tabitha’s hand, which had been hovering over the activation sequences, pulled back. “Why?”

  The earlier lightness returned to his tone. “Let me just get us out of friendly-fire range and closer to one of those destroyers and I’ll show you.” There was a brief pause. “Oh, wait. I’m low on ammo.”

  Achronyx flipped the ship and dropped them into a sickening perpendicular dive, preceded by the hail of pucks he sent ahead to clear the way.

  “FUCKING HELLLLLLL!” It didn’t matter that Tabitha felt none of it, the rapid rollercoaster motion on the screen made her feel like she needed to throw her hands in the air and scream her lungs out.

  Achronyx reached the trough and tipped the nose of the ship back up to gather the debris from the destruction he’d caused on the way down. “Almost done…”

  He didn’t bother to compact the shards of metal into pucks this time, just loaded all six sets of Jean Dukes railguns over and over and sprayed them like superheated buckshot at the enemy ships.

  Despite this, the drones kept being gracious enough to provide the means for their own termination all the way to the nearest Ooken destroyer.

  “Watch the marker,” Achronyx instructed as a yellow triangle appeared on the screen.

  “Ummm…” Tabitha chewed on her lip. “It’s not on the ship,” Tabitha pointed out.

  “Just watch.” Achronyx released five of his reprogrammed drones. Four vanished into the Etheric, and the fifth shot toward the destroyer. “Dammit.”

  Tabitha gaped. “What did you do?”

  “I read the plans for the ELF and adapted the drones to fulfill a similar function. That one is about to fail spectacularly.” The one headed for the destroyer suddenly picked up speed.

  Tabitha snickered, her eyes on the drone. “Was that what William called it? What’s the acronym for, and how on a cold day in hell did he get that name past Bethany Anne?”

  “I have no idea, and I have no idea.” Achronyx shifted the ship, and the view tilted again while the external cameras adjusted for the new trajectory. “One moment while I get us out of range of that rogue drone.”

  Tabitha frowned at the screen. “Um, we’re not near the drone.”

  “We’re too near,” Achronyx muttered distractedly.

  Tabitha watched the drone warily as it grew smaller on the screen. “Is it…glowing? Just what did you do to those drones, Achronyx?”

  “I told you.” Achronyx huffed. “It should still
be very effective.”

  The drone exploded, throwing Etheric energy outward in a bright corona that burned everything around it for hundreds of kilometers to ash.

  Beyond that, there were four more detonations. The flash was eyeball-searing, and Tabitha threw up an arm to protect herself.

  When she dropped it, the destroyer was gone.

  Tabitha raised an eyebrow at the ash cloud drifting away on the solar currents, all that remained of the Ooken ship. Her voice was soft this time.

  “Yeah, Jean’s going to want a couple of those to play with.”

  Location Seven, Ooken Outpost

  Bethany Anne seriously considered the logistics of just knocking the adult Leath out and floating them to the Izanami through the Etheric if they didn’t stop arguing with her before they drew the attention of the Ooken.

  Luckily for them—and her—at least a few had been sensible enough to see that her time would be better spent finding their children and persuaded the others to allow her to lead them out of the pit to where Michael and Addix waited.

  Bethany Anne opened a link to Izanami as she left Michael and Addix to lead the Leath out of the outpost. How are the children doing?

  They completed the task well, Izanami reported. The Pod-docs are all set up and waiting.

  Good. I want Alexis and Gabriel safely in the Vid-docs before a single Leath sets foot aboard the ship. Also, we have a few more coming aboard than we planned for, and Michael and Addix will need pickup with the twenty-one we were expecting.

  I understand, Izanami told her. I have dispatched two Pods to Michael’s projected destination. I wouldn’t worry about the extra. I can take care of that.

  That’s exactly what I was hoping to hear. Etheric jumping would just have to be saved for the children. They were being kept somewhere not too far from there. The adults had told her they’d heard crying while she was getting them out of the pit. Now, can you take a guess at where I would find a bunch of children in this place?

  I can do better than that, Izanami told her, pride in her voice. I’m able to pinpoint life signs that belong to the Leath you are searching for. I’ve sent directions to ADAM.

  >>Yeah, and when we get back, I want my ship’s scanners upgraded to match Izanami’s.<<

  Bethany Anne snorted. Um, yeah, no. I’m a hundred percent certain we’ve already discussed that you’re not getting back into that ship anytime soon.

  >>Whatever.<< He sulked, going quiet again.

  Bethany Anne followed the route overlaid on her internal HUD until she came to a point where she couldn’t avoid being seen and then slipped into the Etheric.

  The route map vanished. Bethany Anne rolled her eyes and headed in the general direction she’d been traveling in.

  “Well, that’s just fucking great.” She looked left and then right, but walked straight ahead. “Guesswork is always my favorite way to conduct a rescue mission.” She kept bitching as a way to deal with the Etheric strain. “I mean, having your onboard AI, your alien stowaway, or even a single fucking clue where you’re going aren’t at all fucking necessary when there are lives hanging in the balance, are they?”

  ADAM and TOM exchanged the mental equivalent of a knowing glance without Bethany Anne noticing. Neither of them were going to offer themselves as a target for her simmering murderous feelings.

  Bethany Anne ran a hand over the left thigh of her armor and accepted the sword hilt that pressed itself into her palm. She activated the Etheric blade and poked her head out to check her position, then pulled it straight back in again when she came face-to-face with a nest of tentacles.

  She reached out with her free hand and dragged the surprised Ooken into the Etheric with her, then tossed it roughly to the ground and pressed the tip of her sword into the fleshy part under its tentacles.

  The Ooken squirmed until the edge of Bethany Anne’s blade nicked a tentacle.

  “What to do with you? Will the others know I killed you if you die in here?” Her lips pressed together in consideration for a second, then she shrugged. “I guess I’ll find out.” She flicked the sword hilt with a practiced twist of her wrist, and the Ooken’s head dropped onto the pile of its severed tentacles.

  Bethany Anne wrinkled her nose as she turned away. “I think I might avoid spaghetti and meatballs for a while.” She gacked, and a moment later she peered out of the Etheric again, remembering to sense ahead this time to check that it was clear.

  The route map reappeared in the top corner of her vision, and she saw that the building ahead and a level up was her target.

  Ooken minds might be beyond Bethany Anne’s ability to read like Michael could, but she could easily sense when they were in the vicinity.

  Like now.

  However, Bethany Anne had her target in sight. Another short hop through the Etheric took her inside the building where the Ooken held the Leath children hostage against their parents’ good behavior.

  Bethany Anne repressed her reaction to the conditions the children were being kept in. The single room had no bathroom, and the children had no food or water that she could see. She wanted more than anything to destroy the whole vile place.

  Soon.

  The children were asleep, huddled together in a rough bed that looked to Bethany Anne like it was made from whatever they'd been able to scavenge.

  One of the larger children opened an eye, sensing that something had changed. He saw Bethany Anne standing in the shadows and jumped up in terror. He managed a single horrified word. “Empress!”

  The other children woke up and had similar reactions. One of the smallest let out a shrill squeak and the air suddenly carried the tang of fresh urine.

  Bethany Anne took a knee and held her hands out in a non-threatening way. It didn't take a mind reader or a genius to work out that she was the proverbial monster in the closet to generations of Leath. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m here to help.”

  The children scuttled back against the wall as though she’d just told them they’d make good ingredients in a soup.

  It wasn’t unexpected. Not every species she'd made contact with considered her a savior, and in the case of the Leath, it had taken a century of persuasion for her to convince them that their affiliation with the Seven would bring about their ultimate end.

  She should be grateful she wasn’t here as Baba Yaga.

  Of course, she was the end she had warned them about, and although the Leath had disavowed their false gods, it came as no surprise to find herself the object of the cautionary tales they passed down to future generations.

  It didn't solve Bethany Anne's current dilemma, though.

  Unfortunately, she’d had enough experience of situations like this. Well, too much, and she didn't deny it. She knew there was nothing she could do for these children except wipe herself from their memories.

  Doubly unfortunate was that the mind wipe rendered the children unconscious.

  Bethany Anne didn't feel as bad about the side-effect as she thought she should. After all, she wasn’t the one who had scared these children with stories of a woman who would in actuality defend them with her last breath if it came to it.

  If she could save the children the extra layer of trauma that seeing their boogey-empress had caused, then a short nap wasn't a huge factor in the decision.

  Bethany Anne shrugged and waved a hand over the children. Their peacefully sleeping bodies rose into the air on the cushions of Etheric energy she had formed beneath them, and they bobbed behind her into the Etheric.

  The fact that she was finding it much easier to get them aboard the Izanami now they weren’t likely to bolt had nothing to do with her lack of guilt.

  Nothing whatsoever.

  23

  Devon, Interdiction

  CEREBRO registered the massive pulse of Etheric energy near the Achronyx’s position. They requested a report from Achronyx, adding the response to the mass of inputs they were processing from all over the Interdiction.

  Data trickle
d back from the drones to the core group faster than human thought, giving CEREBRO the means to choreograph the mechanical side of the efforts and keep the organics alive.

  Over by the satellites, the battle raged thick.

  Tim whooped as his Pod completed its barrel roll by releasing two guided Etheric charges after the seeker. “Missed me, you mangy sphincter twinge!”

  Sabine snickered, jerking her Pod up at the last moment and leaving her pursuer to get fried like a bug on a zapper in the active laser net. “Ma petit boulette, such passion, and all for a machine with no Ooken inside.”

  Tim accepted her gentle teasing. “Just wait and see how ‘passionate’ I get if I get the chance to meet any of the squirmy-faced little fuck-knuckles in person.” There was a tiny pause. “What’s the team’s status?”

  Sabine flipped her Pod around, spraying the drones around her location with tiny explosive pucks. “We’re doing great. A couple of minor scrapes, but otherwise the biggest challenge is keeping the area around us clear enough to work. They’re swamping us the second we defend elsewhere.”

  Tim frowned at the expected news. “I’m getting that from across the fleet. But the Ooken can't have infinite resources. The tide will turn, babe.”

  “Be sure to let me know when that happens,” she told him softly before dropping the connection.

  Tim wanted nothing more than to tell her it already had. Bethany Anne had warned him about the Ooken numbers game, but it had to be experienced to be understood. However, the majority of the Gates had been taken out, and Tabitha was pulling some crazy shit right in the middle of it all.

  Tim didn’t think the Ooken as a species were too bright. Their swarm tactics might have worked wherever they went before, but they hadn’t backed off at the realization that they’d kicked whatever their version of a hornet’s nest was. That made them dumber than a football in Tim’s opinion.

  In fact, he thought they were even stupider than that, since this nest was filled with super-enhanced humans who were more than happy to scrub the chance of that stupidity spreading from the galactic stage completely.