Never Submit

by Michael Anderle

  Annette looked where she was pointing to see the team on the second excavation tool was excited, and a group of fifteen men seemed to be heading that direction. Her phone buzzed and she looked down to see the name.

  It was the lead of Excavation Group two.

  QBBS Meredith Reynolds

  “Bethany Anne?” John’s voice called out from the security spot outside her suite. Bethany Anne was working at her table, her feet up, one hand rubbing Matrix who was relaxing in her lap. The little puppy had turned out to be a good stress reducing agent for Bethany Anne as she lazily petted the small dog.

  Ashur still loved to get his rubdowns, but he was so damned big, she could barely rub his head, neck and just a small portion of his back. He’d fucking smoosh her ass if she tried to put him on her lap.

  Matrix she could stroke, from his little head to his tail, easily.

  “Yeah?” she called out, looking up from her tablet and dropping out of a conversation with ADAM.

  “We got a group that all want to make one last quick trip for personal reasons to Earth. They were wondering if you would mind taking them to the G’laxix Sphaea?”

  “Who?” Bethany Anne asked while internally she asked ADAM to track Ashur down and ask him to meet her in the Queen’s Suites Transport room.

  “Well,” John started, “I think Tabitha, Barnabas, Ecaterina, Nathan, Scott and Darryl…Wait, a new request from Team BMW as well.” John ticked off.

  Well, too big for her transport room.

  ADAM, switch us from my Suites Transport room to Transport Room 002

  >>Understood, Bethany Anne<<

  “Wow, what’s everyone doing?” She asked as she lifted Matrix off her lap, “Go to my bedroom, little guy. Too early to get you involved in this.”

  Matrix wagged his tail and groggily walked into her room. He could just about jump up on her couch, but her bed was way too high. His first effort to jump on the couch landed short, and he slid back, landing on his butt and rolling over. This time, he was much more awake and made it up on her couch and spun in circles a couple of times, then flopped down.

  Should I have warned him? TOM asked

  That he shouldn’t sleepwalk and jump?

  Yes.

  Well, fair question. Was he hurt bad?

  No.

  Then that was probably ok. Next time, give him one reminder as he walks away and if he doesn’t register, let him try. Soon, he will be tall enough it won’t matter.

  What if he doesn’t grow? TOM worried, Do we put him in the Pod Doc?

  Well, if anyone was worried you were slipping to the dark side, TOM, I think you just put those worries to rest.

  After a moment, TOM came back. That’s good, right?

  —

  Bethany Anne and John arrived at Transport Room 002, and she slowed to a stop, looking down. Everyone was there in the middle, ready to go, but Tabitha had a suitcase.

  One of the field expedient armor suitcases.

  “What’s up Tabitha?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “Trouble in New York, a friend in the NYPD, asking for my help.” Bethany Anne looked over at Barnabas and raised an eyebrow.

  “One problem, One Ranger,” he replied, “I’m going to Mexico.”

  “Mexico?” she asked, as she finished walking into the middle. Ashur came up beside her as everyone grabbed a shoulder and worked themselves closer while Tabitha picked up her suitcase.

  “I need some information from a contact, and he is in Cabo San Lucas,” the elder Ranger answered.

  “Huh, so not going to any gang’s area?” She asked him.

  “Not this time, I don’t think,” he admitted, “But if I happen to run into a gang, I’ll make sure to leave some queen’s justice behind,” he told her.

  “If you run into those fuckers who are cutting heads off,” she told him, “leave a shitload of my justice…” the team disappeared.

  G’laxix Sphaea

  “…Behind,” Bethany Anne finished.

  The team checked to make sure everyone was good before most waved to Bethany Anne as they calmly left towards the Pod Bay.

  “I’ll see that I do,” Queen’s Ranger One replied as he stepped out of the transportation room.

  “Where now, boss?” John asked.

  Bethany Anne stared out the door of the Transport room as the yellow flashing lights stopped flashing, and the horn blaring that there were incoming for the transport room died down and the doors closed.

  “Do we have anyone working on figuring out how to accomplish transferring through the Etheric?” she asked.

  “Doing Transport?” John asked, and she nodded in reply. “Machine or person?”

  “Huh, good question,” she admitted, “I didn’t think about a person, only a machine. I wonder ... since I have such trouble with inorganic, if that is a hint?”

  John pursed his lips, “Hey TOM?”

  “Yes?” he answered from the speakers around the room.

  “Could the Pod-doc ascertain if a human would be a good candidate to accomplish Etheric walking, like Bethany Anne?”

  There was a pause from the speakers and John looked down at Bethany Anne who shook her head. She wasn’t talking with him.

  “Yes.” TOM finally admitted, “But we would have to do a few more tests on Bethany Anne to confirm a few suppositions on my part. We have most of the records, but there are areas I didn’t think to record for her because I wasn’t looking for the abilities. I didn’t know about the abilities at that time.”

  Bethany Anne grimaced, “How long?”

  “Probably a day and a half, so thirty-six hours,” he told her.

  Bethany Anne made a face, “Ok, fuck. I really hate going back in that thing,” she admitted. “Unless it becomes more of a priority, let’s do this testing after my fight with the Yollin King. It isn’t that important.”

  “I understand,” TOM agreed and the speaker beeped off.

  “So, now what?” Bethany Anne asked.

  “Well,” John looked around, “Darryl and Scott are gone. Eric and Gabrielle are in France on a date. Do you have anything to do for a few hours?”

  “Nothing super important,” she told him, “Why?”

  “Want to play hooky one last time?” John asked, a hint of mischievousness in his eyes.

  She pursed her lips, “And do what?” she asked, drawing her eyes together trying to figure out what he might be thinking.

  He opened his arms and shrugged, “Want to go fuck up some terrorists?”

  Bethany Anne’s face lit up with glee, “Hell yeah!” She started for the exit, and the doors opened back up, “We can call this additional martial practice on the calendar.”

  “I’ve blocked out the next twenty-four hours for martial practice,” ADAM told the two of them as they headed through the doors to leave the transporter room.

  “We can’t be gone that long,” she replied to ADAM, “but leave it blocked out just in case.”

  The doors shut behind the two of them.

  Inside the ship, Captain Natalia Jakowski, who was taking a few minutes of very private time with her personal Bitch was interrupted.

  “The Queen is looking for you,” E.I. Sphaea told the ship’s Captain.

  “Oh…Crap,” Darryl murmured from beside her.

  “What’s oh crap, baby?” Natalia asked as she got out of bed, “she brought you here, right?”

  “Yeah, but I’ve successfully hidden our relationship like you asked, and there is no way John isn’t going to know right away.”

  Natalia raised an eyebrow, “Why is John going to know right away?”

  “Because,” Darryl admitted as he slid off the bed, “There is no way I can stop this shit-eating grin.”

  Natalia smiled as she buttoned up her jacket, “Stay here a little while, Scott’s hanging in the cafeteria, maybe they are just saying hi.”

  “One can hope?” he told her. “Although you know Bethany Anne won’t care, right?”


  “Yeah, now. It’s been long enough, and I think my record speaks for itself. But who says I wanted everyone to know who finally got Darryl, hmmm?” she kissed her fingers and reached up to push her fingers on his forehead before she walked out of her Captain’s quarters.

  “Like the whole ship doesn’t know,” Darryl murmured when she left.

  “The ship might know,” E.I. Sphaea spoke to Darryl, “But it wouldn’t dare whisper anything the Captain wouldn’t want to share.

  Darryl went back to the bed and sat down on it, then pulled on his pants, “Well, no one on this ship ever wonders what I see in her.”

  “Not likely, they secretly think there isn’t anyone less than a Queen’s Bitch that can be good enough for their Captain. So you have a whole ship full of people that would be rather pissed at you if you ever hurt her feelings.”

  “Wow,” Darryl snorted as he pulled on his shirt, “No reason for performance anxiety there.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  G’laxix Sphaea

  Barnabas grabbed a small two-person pod and headed down towards Baja California. While he didn’t know much about Coca-Cola, he was smart enough to ask a few people and realized that there were multiple changes to the recipe over the years.

  Similar to arguments about all types of food, there was a discussion that Coke produced in Mexico had a better flavor because they still used cane sugar in their recipe over high fructose corn syrup. When he happened to mention THAT ingredient around Dawn, one of the ladies in Jean’s group, he had to politely listen to a five-minute diatribe on all of the evils of high fructose corn syrup.

  Barnabas had been sorely tempted to stop the conversation by commanding, “You don’t know I’m here, you never talked to me.”

  Then disappearing as quick as his Vampire legs could move him.

  For any person enhanced by nanites, they would use the energy stored in the body and fix any problems, including weight.

  Barnabas looked out the Pod’s window and smiled, he could see the sun creeping across the world and would soon hit Baja California Sur, or the southern lower area of Baja California. It was almost to the west side of the main body of Mexico itself.

  He just wanted to land while it was still dark, if possible. Otherwise, he would have to walk further than he desired.

  His target, Andre Batten, was one of fourteen men higher up in the Coca-Cola bottling company based out of Monterrey, Mexico. He wasn’t a member of the original two families who owned a big chunk of the company after the revolution and takeover over a hundred years ago.

  Andre was presently spending a long weekend in Pueblo Bonito’s Montecristo Estates on the other side of the hill from Cabo San Lucas’ harbor and tourist area. It was a secured and private area offering access to Sunset Beach and other resort amenities.

  Including a two-story home upon the hills with valet, a pool and a view to the merging of the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific.

  In short, it was beautiful.

  This should be a simple data acquisition and leave. Barnabas did a quick fly-by over the lands and could see Sunset Beach Resort, Pacifica Resort, the two sections of homes built on the side of the hills that would be Montecristo, the Nova Spania section and some Condo buildings a little to the north, mostly incomplete.

  He had the Pod drop him down at the end of the street in the Monte Cristo section, a cul-de-sac. Down here, the resort company was transferring many of these homes from timeshare and rental to purchase, and all except two were empty.

  One of the Monte Cristo homes were presently being used by Ernesto Coppel, the Resorts Owner, as his new estate on the top of a mountain was being built. From the air, it looked like his new house was going to be beautiful.

  Barnabas walked right past the house, with the SUV and golf cart parked in the front. Five houses further, he jumped the large gate meant to block non-residents from this part of the street.

  Facing west, Barnabas could see the sky beyond Sunset Beach slowly becoming brighter.

  There was a small gas-engine truck coming up the street, the truck revving to get up the steep grade. Barnabas raised an eyebrow and smiled.

  He stepped into the road and put up his hand to flag the driver down.

  —

  “Do you think she caught on?” Ecaterina asked her mate in a hushed voice, the two of them walking as nonchalantly as possible towards the Pod Bay on the G’laxix Sphaea.

  Nathan shrugged, “Chances are, she would have said something if she had caught on, especially since the others are doing something altruistic.”

  Ecaterina snorted.

  “So maybe not altruistic - they are robbing a company blind for a softdrink recipe. At least their travel to Earth is with good intentions.” He waited for the door to open before the two of them could walk into the small Pod Bay.

  The G’laxix Sphaea had a few modifications to her design to hold more Pods and even had some locked on the outside they could transfer inside. Plus, she had another Pod-Carrier off her stern for situations like this when a lot of people arrived, needing transportation to Earth. Nathan finished his thought, “While ours is not.”

  G’laxix Sphaea Dining Area Kitchen

  Scott was scrounging around in the back of the cooler for any left-over sandwiches when he heard Bethany Anne’s voice and John reply.

  He couldn’t make out their words, but it didn’t sound like they were talking about heading back to the QBBS Meredith Reynolds at the moment.

  Shit!

  He frantically looked around, trying to figure out where he was supposed to duck when he could hear them turn in the hallway and start walking away.

  He didn’t need to be anywhere around John or Bethany Anne, for different reasons, right now.

  If John found out about Darryl, there would be hell to pay. Not the least of Scott’s problems would be Cheryl Lynn’s annoyance that he had chosen not to share Darryl’s relationship with her.

  What was it with women, anyway? They could make a pinkie swear promise to a friend, maybe tell their spouse or significant other, maybe not, and that was ok. But, if a guy made a promise to his buddy to keep something private, they would be accused of something like the old and tired bros before hoes if he didn’t share.

  Scott peeked out of the kitchen area and made sure Bethany Anne wasn’t secretly waiting for him to pop up or anything.

  Feeling better, he turned back to the refrigerator.

  Still, whether it seemed fair or not, the fact he knew about Darryl and Natalia better not get back to Cheryl Lynn before he spilled the beans or his ass was going to get chewed out.

  That’s when Scott’s eyes flew open realizing just who Bethany Anne would want to meet with right then.

  “Shit, shit, shit!” He muttered and started moving as quickly and silently as he could. Trying to remember what kind of back route he could take to Natalia’s room to fetch Darryl and get the hell off this ship.

  —

  “I’m telling you,” Bethany Anne hissed at John, “that Scott is back there! So, go this way.” she pointed left, and John followed her, walking quickly behind her.

  “Not good, they will want to go along with us,” John whispered, “that would cut our kill ratio down by half!”

  “Speak for yourself,” Bethany Anne told him, “maybe reduce my kill ratio by twenty-two percent, but that is twenty-two percent fewer assholes I get to kill before leaving and I don’t want to share.

  “Where are we going?” John asked her, looking around and now totally confused after so many turns on the ship.

  Looking around a corner before proceeding, Bethany Anne answered, “ADAM is communicating with Sphaea and taking us around potential trouble spots. He says that she is going to have Natalia meet us secretly and provide some of our personal weapons and armor pulled from the ships armory.”

  “Good, I was wondering what we were going to do for weapons beyond what we had on us.”

  “ADAM says she now has a small box of grenades added to
her list for you, but we need to hang somewhere and give her a couple of minutes for Sphaea to bring an E.I. controlled cart for her. I’ve got that load of shit I’ve stuck in the Etheric for a rainy day, but I’d rather leave it there than use it now.”

  John knocked on a door before opening it and looking in. “Man, playing hooky with you can be such a pain in the ass,” John grumbled as the two slipped into the empty meeting room and closed the door behind themselves.