Payback Is A Bitch (The Kurtherian Endgame Book 1)

by Michael Anderle

  “Puck them?” Akio suggested.

  Addix thought about that solution. “Use the one-pound pucks? They should work, and if we carry them on our bodies the law would be on our side. Are you thinking of an airborne insertion?”

  “Yes,” Akio supplied. He walked to the wall, tapping a finger on the aerial shot. “We need more data, but if the law says all damage must stay on their land then we must abide by that.”

  “Why are we doing that again?” Gabrielle asked. “We hit, we leave…who cares?”

  “To minimize blowback on High Tortuga,” Addix answered simply. “This is a very advanced world, and we don’t want them creating a special file to figure out who carried out the raid. So long as we are successful and abide by the rules it will be an open and shut case—no blowback on High Tortuga whatsoever.”

  “It is a rather interesting legal model,” Michael agreed. “Plus, I want to confirm,” he touched the side of his head, “that this is the person who has attacked my family. If so, I’ll kill him…slowly.”

  Gabrielle nodded, satisfied that her question had been answered. She knew that even if she had found a loophole…

  Michael was going to do this face to face anyway.

  24

  Planet Adolphin - Personal Chalet

  Az reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his tablet. It would take hours for the round-trip confirmation that Imon had finished the job to reach him.

  That little Torcellan had been too unwilling to get his hands dirty by killing. The only positive aspect of his weak-spine was that it allowed Az to not worry so much about a physical backstabbing. He should get confirmation from Imon within a half day, maybe a day tops depending on what Uleq was doing.

  They arrived at the drop-off on top of the chalet. He had ordered a team of Leath mercenaries to meet him there, having negotiated with the company’s commander for them to be supplied for three weeks.

  He checked the time. They should arrive in about a stan. Good.

  His executive shuttle would now move to a secondary parking area.

  “Engage the anti-air defense and make sure the mercenaries have the right security signs before allowing them to enter,” Az commanded his security team lead, who tapped his earpiece to pass on the commands.

  He reached the doorway to the stairs that led into the chalet and disappeared.

  Adolphin System, ArchAngel II,

  Admiral Thomas was reviewing the after-action report of the attack on High Tortuga. He liked the results, but there were always ways to make it better.

  A red light flashed on his video screen and he looked up at ArchAngel’s face.

  “Hello, Admiral.”

  “What can I do for you, ArchAngel?”

  A second face appeared on the screen. “I’m sorry, that wasn’t me.”

  Both faces smirked at the Admiral. His eyes narrowed and he glanced from one to the other. He closed his eyes for a moment, breathing in deeply and then exhaling before opening his eyes and smiling at the first image of Bethany Anne. “Tell me you didn’t just arrive in the system, Bethany Anne?”

  “Of course not,” she supplied, and Admiral Thomas started to smile. “I got here three minutes ago. I’ve just been catching up with updates while you worked on the AAR.”

  His smile vanished. ArchAngel would have immediately notified him if any other ship had arrived unexpectedly—unless Bethany Anne was aboard. How that woman had gotten even the AIs to swear fealty to her was beyond his understanding. “Perhaps next time,” he grumbled, “ArchAngel would be so kind as to let me know immediately that another asset has entered the theatre of operations?”

  “But I’m not.” She winked. “You have set the radius of the theatre of operations as being from your location to the planet. We are outside that radius.”

  “By how much?” he asked.

  “Well, the Hewgley is at least fifteen miles from you.”

  “And you?”

  She smiled brightly. “If I put on a space suit I could knock on your door. Permission to land the G’laxix Sphaea?”

  “Depends.” He smiled sweetly at her. “Were you looking for someone?”

  “Well, of course.” Her eyes narrowed. “Is that jackass gone already?”

  “I have no idea which jackass you are referring to. Do you mean—”

  “Michael,” she interrupted. “Michael is the jackass I’m talking about at this moment. The father of our children. The man who needs—”

  Admiral Thomas put up a hand and she quit talking. “Already left to go on-planet. I would have thought you’d have asked that already.”

  “I thought it would take a while to get set up,” she admitted.

  “Didn’t have to. Addix was waiting here for us. Michael was anxious to go, so it was a quick in to pick them up and a fast goodbye.”

  “Dammit,” Bethany Anne grumped, “Addix needs to be a little less effective when it doesn’t work for my plans.” She turned her head. “Kael-ven! Head to the planet.” She turned back to the Admiral. “Maybe I’ll stop by for dinner later.”

  “Before you go, where are the children?”

  This time the second face of Bethany Anne, the avatar of the ArchAngel, answered. “They are staying on the Battleship C. Hewgley, Admiral. I will guard them with my life.”

  Admiral Thomas sighed. “Of course you will, ArchAngel. We all will.”

  Ship The Lady Princess, Two Hours Out from Adolphin

  Lady’s voice came out of the speakers. “We have an incoming message from Bethany Anne.”

  “Put it up on the wall,” Michael replied.

  Michael had expected to see a tired Bethany Anne with a small smile on her face as she held one or the other of their children in her arms, but the woman who stared at him was angry. He turned around, but when he saw no one behind him he turned back to her. “What happened?”

  “You died,” she replied.

  “Not lately.” His deadpan delivery did nothing for her. “Okay, so that didn’t go as planned. May I ask what we are talking about and where you are?”

  “I had a bad dream where you died and I woke up fearing that our children would have no father for the rest of their lives. I don’t remember much about my mom, Michael.”

  “Okay,” he replied, and sighed; empathy wasn’t his strongest superpower. In fact, as a superpower it ranked right up there with his ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

  Which was to say it sucked horribly, but he knew he needed to try. That much he understood, even with John and Eric off to the side waving frantically and pantomiming who-knew-what shit?

  “Am I to understand,” Michael continued, “that you had a bad dream? And in this dream I died very painfully, and you woke up fearing that our children would become fatherless?” He made a face. “And due to this fear, you packed up our children, departed a somewhat secure planet, Gated here, left them, and are intending to go with me into a military operation?”

  “Yes.” She grimaced. “And don’t describe it like I’m an emotional wreck just waiting to careen out of control and obliterate any semblance of objectivity as I smash into the rocks of melodramatic tempestuousness.”

  “I wouldn’t think of it,” Michael lied.

  John, Darryl, and Scott smiled and gave him thumbs-ups. Eric was grimacing and rubbing his arm where Gabrielle had just punched him. Eric gave him a wink from the eye opposite Gabrielle.

  “And our children?” he asked. Truth be told, he didn’t mind Bethany Anne coming here, but she had promised to watch over their children. Was this how their relationship was going to be?

  “A battleship, forty Guardians, and a superdreadnought are protecting them. They are in their little Pod-cribs and I held them for an hour each on our way here. I figure we get in, kill some people, and get out. By the time they wake up again we can each hold one.”

  “And have you named them yet?” Michael asked.

  “Not without you, Michael.” She glanced up. “I see we wi
ll be arriving thirty minutes after you will, so slow down. Let’s coordinate our attack efforts, ruin someone’s life—or many lives—and then get back to the ship, shall we?”

  He could only nod.

  Great. Neither one of them was the stay-at-home type.

  It was a good thing there were no Child Protective Agencies around. He would hate to have to kill someone who was trying to take his children because it was their job.

  Planet Adolphin, Upper Atmosphere

  It took three hours for the team to connect, land in a deserted area, and transfer to the G’laxix Sphaea. When that was done they headed toward the chalet and The Lady Princess lifted back into space.

  If they needed her she would be ready and waiting, but if they didn’t everyone would ride back on the G’laxix Sphaea.

  Bethany Anne walked off the ship and greeted Michael with a kiss, then eyed Addix as she approached. “Leave it,” she told her spymistress.

  Addix looked down at herself, mandibles tapping in confusion. “What?”

  “The robe,” Bethany Anne clarified, waving the hand that wasn’t holding onto Michael toward Addix’s outfit. “It doesn’t help your ability to fight. You are dropping on the chalet with us, yes?”

  “I am,” Addix confirmed. She was the spymistress for High Tortuga and this was the equivalent of going dungeon-diving for a possible treasure-trove of information. She wasn’t going to allow any of these intelligence neophytes to screw up her treasure box.

  Michael’s right eyebrow lifted.

  Dammit! Mind reading. She should leave her professional snootiness to swim in her mind some other time. Bethany Anne didn’t read the minds of her friends. Michael was apparently not on board in that department.

  Michael smiled as Bethany Anne spoke. “Then leave your robe. No one here is going to judge how you look.”

  Had she read John’s mind about Michael? Was this her version of sensitivity training for him? She glanced at Michael’s eyes; his mirth was evident. She reached over her shoulder and lifted the robe off over her head. She could have ripped it, unbuckled it, or just taken it off normally, but for some reason she felt like it was a rebirth.

  Addix tossed the robe past the two of them as Scott came up beside her and put an arm on her shoulder.

  “Feels good, doesn’t it?” he asked.

  —

  They all got back on the G’laxix Sphaea. Twenty minutes later they were looking at spy drone footage.

  “Where the hell did they get Leath executive-level armor?” Scott bitched. “Not as good as Jean’s, but fucking good enough.”

  “How many are his personal bodyguards?” Michael asked. “Probably none?”

  Eve came in just then and moved over to the ops room’s video screens without a single sound. She pointed to one of the armored figures. They were all larger than a normal human, and only John and Darryl in their group were tall enough to stand amongst them. “These Leath are—”

  “Large,” Michael interrupted, “and ugly.”

  “We have Leath friends.” Bethany Anne sighed.

  “So we have large ugly friends?” Michael quipped. “Why are you giving me the evil eye? Is this similar to how you never tell a friend their new baby is ugly?” His eyes darted around the room. “Except my children, who are very cute.”

  The chuckles around the room helped reduce the tension and Eve drew their attention back to the problem at hand, saying, “These are mercenaries-for-hire who work for higher-level company executives, not governments. Normally they control the tactics and take care of things without input, but since our man is ex-military they are probably working together.”

  “What’s the chance they have a dome?”

  She pointed to three spots on the screen. “Anti-aircraft shields here, here, and here…. If you can shoot up, you can shoot down. Not many have the ability to curve the protection fields.”

  Michael spoke. “First time a puck hits we lose the advantage of stealth.”

  John chuckled. “And that is different from Bethany Anne’s normal method how?”

  “You aren’t supporting me here, John,” she grumped. “Granted, shock-and-awe is my preferred style.”

  Michael shrugged. “I’m told this armor beats parachutes. We jump, we drop pucks, disable the anti-aircraft, land, and find the target.”

  “How thick is the roof?” Akio asked. “We could puck our own hole in the roof for quick entry.”

  “We have enough,” Tabitha pointed around the room, “for three insertions.”

  “Michael and I go in from the top.” Bethany Anne pointed. “Gabrielle, John, and Eric, west side. Scott and Darryl, east. Eve and Tabitha north, and Addix and Akio go in from the south side.”

  “Great!” Scott clapped, “Everyone meets in the middle!”

  Five minutes later Kael-ven’s voice came over the system. “This is your captain speaking. I’m opening the back ramp in thirty seconds. Anyone wishing to fall, hoping the armor’s antigravity kicks in before you pancake on the ground, please jump out. Anyone not crazy, please stay on board.”

  Kiel stayed with Kael-ven. “I’m on second-string, so I’ll keep an eye on the rear in case it goes to shit,” he told Bethany Anne. “Kael-ven and I will be here to help you guys get back aboard, and we’ll lay a shit-ton of fire down if you need it.”

  In the back, everyone locked their helmets on.

  —

  Bethany Anne jumped first, her body head down as she plunged through the atmosphere toward her target. Markers on her facemask pinpointed the locations of the three anti-aircraft emplacements, the main house, a new one for the exit from the roof to below, and three…no, five tangos.

  “ADAM?”

  “Yes.”

  “Make sure you watch everyone’s suit. I don’t want the newbies forgetting they need to control their descent and, as Kael-ven put it, ‘pancake into the ground.’ Give them a reminder right now that you will be taking control if they don’t.”

  “Tabitha, Akio, and Addix have confirmed that they will allow me to control their descent.”

  “Not Michael?”

  “No.”

  “Figures.” She sighed. “Watch him anyway.”

  Three seconds later the pucks dislodged from her armor and streaked down ahead of her. “SHIT!” She saw a missile erupt from one of the anti-air emplacements just before the pucks slammed into them and bodies flew everywhere, two of them in flames.

  The missile was slicing toward them when it exploded and two voices exclaimed jubilantly over Bethany Anne’s comm.

  “That was mine, Akio,” Michael stated calmly.

  “I think not, Michael-san,” Akio replied. “It should be obvious from the trajectory that I made the shot.”

  “Are you two arguing as we fall?” Gabrielle asked. “Seriously?”

  They all heard both Michael and Akio chuckle. “This is how the game is played. Now, because of your interference we have to credit half a missile-kill to each of us,” Akio replied.

  John chuckled gruffly. “Game on!”

  A moment later Bethany Anne released two more one-pound pucks. The antigrav Etheric drivers sped them up and the two unstoppable kinetic rounds slammed into the roof of the building, the pucks hitting within a fraction of a second of each other.

  All eleven of the armored figures turned feet-first in mid-descent and used the last five hundred feet to slow down enough that the landing wouldn’t shatter their knees and hips.

  Two figures rushed ahead of where Gabrielle had landed on the west side. “BOYS!” she yelled.

  On the roof, Michael was bitching.

  “How did those not make a hole in the roof?” he asked as he and Bethany Anne confirmed the mercs in the emplacements were out of commission. Michael was moving around the corner of the roof to the door when a gauntleted hand smashed into his helmet, sending him over the edge of the building.

  “Michael!” Bethany Anne raced to the corner as a seven-foot-tall Leath walked out from
behind the wall that had hidden him.

  Bethany Anne was the smaller of the two, but she drove her shoulder into the armored mercenary and knocked him off the edge after Michael.

  “GOTT VERDAMMT!” Michael’s voice, filled with surprise and anger, rolled through her helmet and Bethany Anne jumped off the two-story building, reducing her weight as she neared the ground.

  She found Michael underneath the armored Leath, who had apparently flattened him. Michael’s arms snaked up to grab the helmeted figure’s head and he twisted. The mercenary had been flailing but stopped when something snapped and his helmet was suddenly twisted two-thirds of the way around.

  Bethany Anne chuckled as she grabbed the Leath’s arm and yanked the dead suit of armor—and dead mercenary—off him.

  “I was just about to figure out a way back up,” Michael bitched as he stood up, “when it began raining Leath.”

  “We get up by commanding the antigrav to reduce our weight to fifty-percent normal and jumping,” she explained and crouched, then jumped, her body soaring back up and over the lip of the roof.

  Michael commanded aloud, “Set weight to fifty percent.”

  “Set,” his HUD replied.

  Michael judged the amount of strength necessary and pushed off the ground.

  Bethany Anne was expecting to see Michael fly up over the edge of the roof, but when she heard a loud CRUNCH she walked to the edge and looked down.

  Michael was on his back.

  “What are you doing? We don’t have time to be fucking around, Michael!”

  “You said fifty percent,” he bitched, standing up. “That was heavier than I thought it would be, so I didn’t jump as hard as I needed to.” He bent at the legs and exerted himself, and this time he landed next to her.

  “I said fifty-percent of normal.” She followed Michael, who was already kicking in the stairway door. The two of them headed down the stairs.

  By that point Akio had already counted out three takedowns and John two over the comm.