WE HAVE CONTACT (The Kurtherian Gambit Book 12)

by Michael Anderle

  “I think we need to pull back on the speed a little, Paul. It went right through their wing.”

  “You did ask me not to mess up their ship too much, ma’am.”

  “Yes,” Bethany Anne agreed, “That is true.”

  —

  “WHAT HAPPENED!” Captain T’chmon yelled when their ship suddenly ripped to the left violently.

  “Sir, we have been punctured on the left wing. There is a significant hole, minimal effect on space movement.”

  “I understand that, but WHAT happened? What did they hit us with?”

  “We believe they hit us with a metallic non-explosive momentum based device.”

  Captain T’chmon wasn’t sure if the Weapons specialist was trying to be obtuse, or it was his training coming to the forefront. “So, you are telling me they hit us with a metal rod?” he asked.

  “Um, … yes, sir.”

  “Sir, they are coming towards us.”

  Captain T’chmon punched the comm button, “Kiel, expect boarding action soon.”

  “When do you want us to leave, sir?” Kiel responded.

  Captain T’chmon shook his head, “Not us boarding them, Kiel. Them boarding us.”

  —

  Royleen lost his balance and fell to his knees when their ship suddenly lurched to the side. The alien on the table started laughing, he babbled something. Then the translation came through the speaker as Royleen got up.

  “She’s coming, you asshole. Now you have gone and screwed the pooch!”

  —

  “All five boarding devices are on their way, ma’am,” Paul called out.

  “Start hitting them with pucks, I want to know if we have a force-field to worry about.”

  I doubt they do, TOM told her.

  I know you doubt it, but I’d like to know before we try and connect.

  “Pucks are hitting metal, ma’am. We have one puncture near the far back. One engine has cut out,” the weapons officer called out.

  “Stop fucking up my new ship.” Bethany Anne said, “Reduce the Puck damage. Keep hitting the ship, it’s got to annoy the hell out of them. Well, I hope it annoys the hell out of them.”

  “They could like it, like music,” Paul told her.

  Bethany Anne grimaced, “That would be my luck, I’m secretly asking them to wed me using some form of Galactic Morse Code.”

  —

  “Sir, we’ve lost engine one. We expect to have it back up in fifteen solar minutes.”

  “Understood,” Captain T’chmon closed the communication line. The constant barrage hitting his ship was aggravating. Except for the one time, they weren’t getting through the outer protection.

  “Sir, we have attachments hitting the ship,” Melorn informed him.

  “What else are these humans up to? This will not go well for them.” Captain T’chmon said when Melorn turned to him, his eyes opened wide.

  “Sir, we are being hailed on high bands.”

  “From where?” Captain T’chmon asked, “there are no other ships out here.”

  “From that one,” Melorn said, pointing to the large ship coming at them.

  —

  “…so, you pain in the ass, I am coming over there, and you will surrender, or I will space every one of you. You attacked my people and took them which is a declaration of war. You lost. Surrender or die…”

  Bethany Anne finished her statement.

  TOM send that in whatever languages you have that might work.

  Bethany Anne stood up from her chair, “Paul, take the seat. You have command until I get back.”

  Paul slaved his console over to Bethany Anne’s chair and switched places, “I’ve got the chair, yes ma’am.”

  Bethany Anne swept out of the bridge, her protection detail escorting her to the Pod Bay.

  —

  “Sir, it is coming over in multiple languages, I do not have a match yet.”

  “Work the translation, Melorn. However, I imagine it says something like surrender or die. That is what I would be saying if I were them.”

  Captain T’chmon looked around at his crew, his people. Those that trusted him to get them back home safely and possibly with riches.

  They had been so close, and he had failed them all.

  He punched the comms button, “Kiel, come to the command center.”

  “Coming, Captain.”

  It took Kiel one solar minute to arrive, “Permission to enter, sir?”

  Captain T’chmon hit the button to let him come in, “Permission granted, Kiel.”

  Kiel came and stood next to him, “Command, Captain?”

  Captain T’chmon looked around one more time and unhooked his four legs from the captain’s chair. “Come with me.”

  The two left the command center, the specialists left in the command center all looked around at each other in surprise. The Captain was forbidden to leave the command center in battle.

  Unless he was giving up his ship.

  —

  Royleen looked up when the Captain and Kiel entered, “Are we victors, then?” Royleen asked. The Captain shook his head in the negative, “No, we are not at the moment victors. Unhook the alien and have Kiel take him with us.”

  It took the scientist only a few moments to unhook the alien who spoke gibberish but didn’t fight the larger alien who had his military armor on.

  The three of them left the lab.

  Captain T’chmon lifted up his arm and hit his shipwide comms button, “This is Captain T’chmon…”

  —

  The fight for the ship was anti-climatic. Their field expedient boarding devices connected, well four of them did. One did not work correctly, and the group could not acquire a seal. By the time they had made the adjustments, their comms had informed them of the alien’s surrender.

  —

  Bethany Anne swept with her Bitches and Elite through the ship. Their helmets on. They encountered plenty of the aliens, some with the armor which they had seen. Those that had armor had laid what they easily guessed were weapons at their feet. Bethany Anne’s guards picked them up each time. Once, they stopped in a hallway only to have another, prostrate on the ground point down a hallway to their right.

  “This has got to be the fucking weirdest shit I’ve ever been a part of,” Bethany Anne murmured, “Why is everyone so docile?”

  Scott said, “Well, either their version of surrender, or one very well orchestrated ambush.”

  “They seem to be giving us their weapons quickly enough,” Darryl said.

  “Not that we know how to use them, or even understand if they are real and not practice weapons,” Scott shot back.

  Bethany Anne’s group came to a large door and hit the button on the wall. The door opened and the room beyond, a fairly empty one, was easily twice as high as an alien. Inside, there were two aliens and a human.

  “Holy shit, he has four legs,” Scott murmured.

  “He also has much nicer clothing and generally looks more poised…for an alien,” Darryl added, “So, we found Ivan.”

  “Yes, we have,” Bethany Anne agreed, “John, I want Ivan with us.”

  John broke from the group and headed towards the three. He pointed to Ivan and then pointed back towards the group. The four-legged one jerked his head at the two-legged armored one, and Ivan was released. Ivan took two steps towards John, then his legs buckled.

  John took a chance and jumped forward to catch Ivan. Picking him up, he helped him walk back to the group.

  Ivan was not looking good.

  “Two of you take Ivan back to the ArchAngel,” Bethany Anne told them, “I want to have a few words with these two.” She said as her eyes glowed inside her helmet.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Yollin Deep Space Ship - G’laxix Sphaea

  >>Bethany Anne, we have communications between this ship and the ArchAngel. There is a language which we have been able to use for translation. I can pipe the efforts through a speaker…<<

&nb
sp; No, I will speak the language, TOM see that I get the nuance correct. Wait, can I speak the language?

  Yes, it is an organic tongue, with infrequent clicks you can mimic using your tongue against the roof of your mouth and popping.

  Am I good to breathe the atmosphere?

  Yes.

  Ok, here goes.

  “Team, I am pulling off my helmet. I’m told the air is breathable, and I’m going to try and communicate with those two in front of us.”

  As she reached up, she saw John and Eric reach up and pull off their helmets before her. Rolling her eyes, she unlatched her own.

  —

  “Some of them are short,” Captain T’chmon spoke to Kiel after the first alien carried away their captive.

  “The sacrifice you are making Captain, will they even care? Do they have honor?”

  “That is not something I know. But, I failed. I will not take the rest of my ship down.”

  “It has been an honor, Captain T’chmon.” Kiel said.

  The Captain turned to him, “Kiel, it is just Kael-ven now, Captain is a title I left behind on the bridge.”

  Kiel shook his head, “Not to me, you didn’t.” He turned. “They are taking off their helmets.”

  Kael-ven turned back and noticed the one who helped the captive, as well as his companion, took off their helmets, just before the one with the fancy armor, started to take off theirs.

  The two aliens were surprised when the shorter one walked between the two of her guards. She would be the lead, then. They were astonished when she started speaking to them in Gaijon, a common enough language having been used for thousands of solar years.

  “You are?” she asked them.

  “Until recently, I was Captain Kael-ven T’chmon of the Yollin Deep Space Ship, G’laxix Sphaea.” Kael-ven told her.

  She turned to look at him, and her eyes were glowing red, “You are then, the person responsible for attacking my people? Killing one and taking another? Or is this a command from those above you?”

  Kael-ven turned to Kiel, “Kiel? She asks a legal question. As a non-member of the military at this moment, I am honor bound at a personal level to answer her. Do you wish to administer actions to protect military secrets?”

  “What military secrets Kael-ven? The universe knows we all take our orders from the King and if he isn’t powerful enough to answer for his commands, who is?” Kiel replied.

  Kael-ven turned back to the alien and got ready to answer her questions.

  —

  Bethany Anne waited as the two aliens conversed. She assumed the ex-Captain was asking some sort of question to clarify…what, she didn’t know. Permission? Now that he wasn’t the Captain, perhaps he was a war-criminal? Difficult to tell what was going on.

  The ex-Captain turned and spoke, “As the Captain of this ship, I am under orders to research this area and allow my scientists and those advising me opportunities to acquire military, technological assets and raw materials which the Yollin Monarchy might use for expansion.” He looked down at Bethany Anne, “It is our heritage to do such, all great peoples use expansion as the way to move forward.”

  “No, not all great peoples, just galaxy-sized assholes,” Bethany Anne spoke English, but then had TOM translate it into Gaijon.

  Bethany Anne turned to the one standing next to the ex-Captain. She noticed his armor, and saw the scrape across the faceplate, “You are?”

  “Military Lead Kiel,” he replied. It took two times to acquire the right translation. Bethany Anne bit down a desire to pummel the alien at the moment. This was the one who killed Coach.

  “I will deal with you, later. You will be brought up on charges for killing one of my people in an unprovoked war.”

  “War?” Kael-ven interrupted. “Kiel was operating under my orders, and we DID try to limit the loss of life. If that space station were not so ugly and weak, we would have perhaps used other means. However, in no way did we intend to kill.”

  Bethany Anne turned back to face Kael-ven, “I will take that into consideration. However, on the war comment. Yes, your king has declared war on my people as has the Kurtherians. My war with the Kurtherians supersedes my war with your leader. I will offer your King one chance when I pass through your gate to leave me alone.”

  “That will not happen,” Kael-ven told her, “No one is allowed to pass through Yollin space without obtaining permission, first. Simply by using that Gate, you will create an incursion and the military will attack.”

  “Kael-ven, I am personally counting on that happening.” She told him, “Now, tell me what is standard for accepting the surrender of your people. Our surrender terms might be better, they might be worse. However, I will choose the final terms and should you try to bypass my decision, Kael-ven? It will be stopped, and your people may suffer. Is this clear?”

  It took her two times and a third effort with them repeating her phrase back before understanding was agreed on what she had said.

  Kael-ven stood taller, his chitinous and angular scales across his body crossing each other as his back straightened and he looked down at the lead alien. “My name is Kael-ven T’chmon, lately the Captain of the Yollin Deep Space Ship, G’laxix Sphaea. I am offering my life in exchange for the lives of my crew, all of the lives of my crew, as the orders I gave them were mine as surely as my orders come from those above me, who represent the King’s Decree.”

  Kael-ven’s legs bent in half, and soon his head was equal in height to Bethany Anne’s, “Do with my life what you will.”

  Bethany Anne studied the bent head, the offering of an obviously tender part of their anatomy to deliver a killing blow.

  “Kael-ven T’chmon, what happens if I defer taking your life and require seven,” here she used a term that the language couldn’t translate, “of honorable servitude, never seeking to escape, and never seeking to mislead?”

  Kael-ven turned his head up and moved it left and right, “What is this term you used… this ‘year’?”

  TOM, shit. What is a typical time frame here?

  What are you thinking, you wanted seven years?

  Yes, it was a standard time of indentured servitude in exchange for something of value used thousands of years ago. I figure we have a little less than five years to get prepared and go through the gate, I want his help and his people’s help if possible.

  The term, translated is seven solar years, but Bethany Anne…

  Not now, let me finish this.

  “I believe the term is Solar Years, Kael-ven.” She replied.

  “On your honor, you will provide for my people and all of them, any under my command, will be spared?”

  “Kiel is going to have to face me in combat, Kael-ven. However, he will survive, but he WILL know pain. I will not allow my person’s death to go unaccounted.”

  “Bethany Anne,” John spoke behind her, “You can’t set a precedent that you personally will return retribution on every person that happens to kill one of us.”

  Bethany Anne turned around, “I’m not, John. Kiel is going to be punished, but it won’t be in a cell. He will make amends. Their King, however? His ass is mine.”

  “Oh, well, I’m good with you taking out rulers, they are at your level and all,” John agreed. “But I was worried you were going to start taking on all warriors and where the hell would that leave us? Playing with the fuzz in our belly buttons?”

  Bethany Anne held in a snort. “I understand John,” she turned back around.

  The two aliens had been speaking in decidedly faster tones before the armored one bowed his head and Kael-ven turned to her, “Kiel has agreed and will meet you in battle, but he wants to confirm if he should hurt you that the rest of my people will still be safe from your people?”

  Bethany Anne cocked her head and then walked over to the armored alien, “How safe in this armor do you believe you are from one punch?”

  Kiel looked over to Kael-ven, “Did I understand correctly, she wants to punch my armor?�
� Kael-ven agreed that was his translation as well. Kiel opened his arms wide, “I wonder if this is going to tickle….” His body, armor and all, slammed back against a wall and toppled over, the alarms ringing in his ears as the suit’s HUD confirmed his chest armor had suffered a major reduction.