Forever Defend

by Michael Anderle

  Tabitha smirked as the wall that could be hit from the bridge got torn up by the impacts. Pieces blew off in big chunks and crashed to the floor.

  This raid wasn’t going to be useless after all. Provided that big-ass battleship didn’t blow them into infinitesimally small atomic bits, she now knew an expression that pissed Skaines off.

  CHAPTER SIX

  QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Yollin System

  X’Bock turned to the delegation’s Communications Director and asked discreetly, “Is her video relaying to the ship?”

  “Of course.” He sniffed. “We continually record everything from the team, and external as well.”

  X’Bock turned back. That little tidbit was annoying, but he doubted it would matter when he was finished with his operation.

  He sent the kill command.

  —

  Bethany Anne walked down the last of the stairs and took two steps toward Legate Addix.

  >>We have Ixtali communication.<<

  Bethany Anne ramped up her speed.

  Gott Verdammt! Bethany Anne’s eyes looked beyond the Legate. From Dickhead Maximus over there?

  >>Yes.<<

  Make sure you have disabled the Legate’s kill switch and, if possible, knock her out.

  >>There is a twelve percent chance she will die.<<

  Fucking aliens brought their fucking internal problems to me, Bethany Anne fumed. It’s a chance she took. Make it happen.

  In front of her, the Ixtali Legate’s eyes seemed to glaze over and she started to collapse. Not the most enjoyable sight, an alien with all four black eyes staring at you. “Eric!” Bethany Anne shouted, catching the Legate as she fell. The Empress twisted around, tossing the body as gently as possible to him. She continued her turn. “Meredith!” she yelled, her eyes going red. “DROP MY DAMNED SHIELD!”

  “Oh fuck,” John yanked his pistol. “Turn on her suit, Reynolds!”

  —

  Delegate Tomthum had been watching the different groups attending the meeting area with interest. He had noticed all delegate groups here in the throne room were provided with the same amenities. There were no size differences, and the only difference in rank was indicated by which group met with the Empress first.

  The Ixtalis were across the room and to the right of the throne from where the Yaree Delegation had their area. Between them and the throne were a group of Estarians.

  He didn’t mind Estarians, but they were rather bland as a race. They were very ‘Greetings to you and also to you’ emotionally nice aliens.

  Formal, at times. Even their underground people were polite. As far as he was concerned, a boring people. He was surprised when a human met with the Estarian group. A few moments later, the Estarians followed her out of their waiting area through a door in the back.

  Fortunately, that meant nothing was blocking Tomthum’s view when the action started.

  —

  Bethany Anne saw that the male Ixtali’s eyes showed surprise when she turned and started heading in his direction. He had subconsciously reached for a weapon, and that was enough of a guilty plea for her.

  She formed a ball of electrical energy and threw it across the intervening forty paces. His body was still convulsing when she took her last step and ended up right in the middle of the five Ixtalis. She backhanded the Ixtali who was convulsing.

  And he disappeared.

  Bethany Anne looked at the remaining Ixtalis, her eyes pinning each one. “Any of you dickless wonders working with the same group as that asshole?” she asked, seeking any clues that might help her.

  “Fuck it.” She spread her arms wide and the lines on her face glowing brightly as she broadcast electrical energy. All four spasmed and dropped to the floor.

  She looked down at them. “Lock them down for questioning. I’ll be right back,” she told John, then sidestepped and disappeared.

  —

  Delegate Tomthum stood there in shock. His eyestalks were all blinking at the same time, and his brain was trying to catch up with what he had just witnessed. This was the alien of the stories, the one who was whispered about. His people had heard the tales and failed to believe.

  This was the Queen Bitch.

  He waited, trying to slow his breathing as he noticed her Guards and Guardians quickly restraining the Ixtalis after the Empress disappeared.

  Neither of her personal Guards seemed worried. One continued holding the female Ixtali Legate in his arms.

  —

  Bethany Anne stepped into the Etheric and reached up to unclip her hair, letting it fall naturally around her face. Her eyes were still glowing like embers, and soon her hair started rising as she continued to pull Etheric energy.

  X’Bock looked up in shock at the Empress who was only a few feet from him in—he struggled to look around—he had no idea where. He couldn’t move easily, but his eyes were under his control, and what he saw made him second-guess the belief that this alien was all bluster.

  An alien who could blast him with energy and move him into what looked like another dimension wasn’t powerless and full of boasts.

  “You have no idea what you tried to do,” Bethany Anne spat out to him. “You wanted to pull the Etheric Empire—MY Empire—away from our efforts to find and get rid of the Kurtherian menace, and for what? Your personal EGOS!”

  X’Bock’s four major mandibles opened, but she pulled a red ball of energy and threw it next to his right side. It exploded, burning him in the process.

  “I DIDN’T SAY YOU COULD TALK!” she spat. “The only option you have is to die right here.”

  X’Bock gritted his mandibles and sent the command to execute himself and trigger the explosive device in his pack, to hopefully hurt this alien as well.

  Nothing happened.

  “What?” Bethany Anne asked him when he looked surprised. “You don’t think humans have had self-sacrificing sorry sacks of selfish camel dicks trying to use themselves as bombs before?” She spat to the side, “You Ixtalis think because you have gems, you own the ability to trade? That your ability to trade in secrets and stay neutral somehow makes you superior?”

  X’Bock looked her in the eyes, realizing that his group had seriously underestimated the alien Empress.

  “I’m through being ‘nice Empress’,’” she told him. “Trying to play the political game and smooth over the fucking waters. Well, the Etheric Empire is me, and I am officially beyond pissed off!”

  She reached down and grabbed the Ixtali by his robe. “Time to go back, fuckwad.” Bethany Anne threw X’Bock to her right, then took a step in the same direction and disappeared.

  —

  Delegate Tomthum was shocked a second time when the vanished Ixtali appeared in the middle of the throne room and flew some twenty paces before he hit the ground, rolling over several times before he smashed into the wall to Tomthum’s right. Next, he saw the Empress, hair flying on waves of energy, step out of nowhere and continue walking toward the Ixtali.

  “Try to blame me for killing your Legate!” She hissed as she walked toward the Ixtali. “Plan on using it to create problems for the Etheric Empire!” She spoke louder as she reached for the Ixtali, who was attempting to stand up. As the Empress grabbed him and turned around, he tripped and fell. She dragged him back toward the one named Eric.

  “MEREDITH!” the Empress yelled.

  Tomthum was surprised when the AI, another alien construct the Yaree were not too familiar with, answered.

  “Yes, Empress?”

  “Wake up the Legate!”

  Tomthum noticed that the Ixtali being dragged seemed very agitated.

  —

  Addix’s mind was fuzzy when she received the jolt. All four of her eyes opened, and her brain tried to remember what was going on.

  That was when she realized she was being held in someone’s arms. She looked up to see a human gazing down at her.

  “Oh…” she mumbled.

  “Are you all right to stand, Legate?” the Gu
ard asked her. She was about to agree when she heard the Empress’ voice from her side.

  “She better be ok to fucking stand up,” the Empress ground out. “She needs to be part of this.”

  Addix saw the Empress walking toward them. As she was being assisted to a standing position, she noticed the rest of her party in restraints on the ground. “What has happened?” she asked. She saw X’Bock dropped to the ground, and she ground her mandibles together.

  —

  “If you so much as flinch more than I want you to,” Bethany Anne told the Ixtali she had dropped, “I will send so much energy into you that you will twitch until next week. You understand the Yollin I’m speaking to you?”

  X’Bock had been giving her his full attention. He nodded.

  “Good,” she replied. He observed the arcs of electrical energy jumping between the fingers of her hands as she stood above him.

  Bethany Anne snapped her fingers to get Addix’s attention. “Your number-two guy here sent a kill command to your internal suicide switch. We intercepted and stopped the command.”

  Addix subconsciously reached behind her head as her mandibles, both major and minor, started moving erratically. “How is that even possible?” She took a step toward him. “You are not privy to those commands!”

  She stopped. “You were given them by the ousted.” Addix seemed to calm down. “It will not matter which one. They have all signed their death warrants.” She sighed. “And now you have reduced me to—”

  “Oh no he hasn’t,” the rough voice of the Empress interrupted her. “He already tried to implement his own suicide switch when we spoke a moment ago. Plus, he was trying to trigger the bomb in his pack as well.”

  Addix looked at the Empress, shock on her face.

  “X’Bock,” Bethany Anne, her voice primal, “you are hereby condemned by the Etheric Empire for seeking to attack us. Your life is forfeit.” She reached down to pick up the Ixtali. “Meredith?”

  “Yes, Empress?”

  “Set his internal systems to work again in fifteen seconds.”

  “Done, Empress.”

  “Good,” she looked at the Ixtali, “Have a nice life, however little of it is left,” she told him and pushed him into the Etheric once more.

  Bethany Anne turned back to Addix. The Legate, mandibles open, body in shock, stared as she took in Bethany Anne’s ability to cause people to disappear.

  “You should always,” Bethany Anne told the Legate, “be careful whom you ask for help.”

  Some forty or so steps away, the Yaree Delegate licked his lips.

  It seemed like she was talking directly to him.

  City of Bouk, Planet Straiphus, Straiphus System

  R’yhek looked at the human, his mandibles tapping very gently. “I was really afraid you would say that.”

  Nathan waved at the barkeeper and took another two swallows from his drink. “This is really good,” he admitted. “Hell, I would have picked you just for your ability to make this stuff.”

  “It takes more science than I would have thought,” R’yhek admitted. “But you are only trying to get me to feel good instead of agitated.”

  “We want you to join our team,” Christina jumped in. Nathan turned to look at his daughter in consternation when he noticed she was using her juju on the older Yollin Master At Arms.

  And he was falling for it.

  “Why?” R’yhek looked at her. “I’m old, I’m beat up, and even with you fixing me, I don’t have that many years left.”

  “Maybe,” she replied. “But what years you have, do you want to finish them here?” She waved at the bar. “It’s not a bad place, but we can fill your years with fun, and…” she pointed to herself and then her parents, “with family.”

  “Family?” R’yhek looked at the three humans. “You have noticed we don’t look alike, right?”

  “Silly!” Christina grinned at him. “Family is what we make it, and who has your back. Besides, who has had your back lately but me?”

  Just then, the door to the bar opened and three toughs came in. The humans all turned to see what was going on as R’yhek sighed. “One moment. These three believe they can intimidate an old Yollin mercenary.” He started walking toward the end of the bar to get around and speak to the new entrants.

  “Seriously?” Nathan muttered. “Those guys can’t lift their legs to piss in the right direction, much less….”

  Ecaterina eyed the three toughs, “Ok, Christina, you took over the negotiations from your father. You had better close this deal.”

  “Yes, Mom. I got this.” The younger woman turned and slid off her stool, then reached down and unlocked her pistol. She cricked her neck left and right as she followed R’yhek.

  “What are you doing?” R’yhek asked the young female as she came closer.

  She looked up at him and winked. “Showing you how I know you have my back.” She jerked her head toward the three waiting for them. “I’ll call us square.” Christina casually reached out, grabbed one of the heavier chairs, and tossed it up in the air. High enough that R’yhek caught it and realized she had tossed the heavy chair up…

  One-handed.

  “Hey, spineless shit brains,” she said. The three toughs looked down at the young girl. “That was three names, by the way.” She pointed to each one. “You are Spineless, you are Shit, and that leaves you,” she told the last Yollin, “to be Brains.” She looked him up and down. “So, do you have any?”

  “What?” the third Yollin asked, clearly confused.

  “Brains.” She shook her head. “Well, that was a bad call on my part,” Christina admitted as she pointed to R’yhek. “He and I are in the middle of a discussion, and you have about as long as it takes me to toss your asses out the door to understand you aren’t wanted here.”

  “You and what army?” Spineless asked the short human.

  “God, I was hoping you would say that,” Christina answered, her eyes flaring yellow.

  —

  “What the hell?” N’nook looked at the bullshit poster on R’yhek’s front door and ripped it off. “Stupid kids playing practical jokes. This came from the prostitute house,” he muttered, surreptitiously scratching his genitals.

  “I should know,” he grumped quietly.

  He took the two steps necessary to throw the sign away in a public trashcan. There was no reason to let R’yhek know about it; he would just worry about shit he couldn’t control and what people would think about him.

  He was a worrier that way. It’s why N’nook liked the old mercenary so much. Until he could make enough money to buy his own bar, he would get his drinks here because of R’yhek. N’nook turned back around in time to see the door to R’yhek’s bar explode outward as a Yollin tough emerged at high speed to roll in the street. N’nook’s eyes widened even further in surprise when another tough back-peddled out of the bar. His face was bleeding, and he was using his arms to try to protect himself from a small … human?

  On him.

  She perched on his shoulders swiping her clawed hands at his eyes, then twisted down, her upper body sliding under his head to pull him off balance. She dropped to the ground as the bruiser tumbled into the street.

  N’nook saw a third run out of the bar as the young female reacted to a call. A large piece of wood flew out of the bar but missed the third Yollin.

  Bad aim, that.

  N’nook realized his mistake when she caught the wood and swung it at the unsuspecting thug, catching him on his shins.

  He went down as well.

  Then R’yhek himself came out of the bar, walking like he was not in any pain, and she tossed the wood back to him. R’yhek caught it, so he now had the complete pair again. R’yhek wielded each with deadly efficiency as he beat the ever-loving shit out of the two remaining toughs. Finally, R’yhek allowed their cries for mercy to stop him.

  N’nook noticed the young human’s claws and hands had returned to what he thought was normal for the race. The
three thugs crawled together and helped each other up, then stumbled away down the street. The female looked up at the old barkeeper and smiled.

  N’nook shook his head when the two clapped hands in the old way.

  Warrior to warrior.

  At that point, the two of them noticed him standing there with a look of surprise on his face.

  “Hey N’nook,” R’yhek smiled, his mandibles showing happiness. “You think you could find the money to fix up a bar?”

  N’nook looked around and shrugged, “Sure, why?”

  “Because no one should own it but you.” R’yhek looked down at the human. “I’ve got a few years of adventure still left in me.” The little human laughed and started pulling on R’yhek’s arm to get him to follow her back into the bar.

  “Mom, Dad, I closed the deal!” she yelled to someone inside the establishment.

  N’nook followed the two as they entered, to figure out what the hell he had just witnessed.

  And did he really own a bar now?

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Pirate Ship F’zeer

  Ryu’s voice seemed calm compared to the fire Tabitha was taking from the bridge crew. “Are you in a bit of a bind, Ranger?”

  Tabitha pulled a small wand from a side pocket, twisted one end, and pushed it around the corner. The view from the tip came up on the HUD in her goggles. “Not yet, thank you very much.” Tabitha continued observing, evaluating her options. “How are things going in the engine room?”

  “Not quite as well as you, I’m afraid.” Ryu answered. Just then there was a small explosion accompanied by a large shower of sparks, and a chunk of the ceiling came down to shatter on the floor not five feet from Tabitha.

  “You call this progress?” Tabitha asked, knowing that Ryu could monitor her HUD.

  “They built the interior door very well.” Ryu replied. “Obviously they don’t want us getting inside.”

  Tabitha thought about it for a moment. “Ok, new plan. Achronyx?”

  “Yes?”

  “Is there any way to piss off that battleship and draw it away from here?”