Forever Defend (The Kurtherian Gambit Book 17)

by Michael Anderle

  “But,” R’yhek argued as he chewed, “the collin root is a plant we have thrown out for centuries. The root is poisonous to us.”

  “It’s not after about three hundred degrees of hot oil,” Nathan pointed out as he grabbed another couple chips. “Besides, Bad Company is now the sole exporter from Straiphus for all collin plants and products.”

  “We are?” Ecaterina asked, raising her eyebrows.

  “Sure,” Nathan admitted. “What do you think I was doing while you and Christina concocted the operation to meet R’yhek?”

  “Mom says you got lost, and that’s why you two were late getting back.” Christina commented as she got up from the table, which would have held eight easily, and walked to the cooler. When she opened it, her eyes went wide. She turned to the three at the table. “How did we get all these new bottles?”

  R’yhek turned to look in her direction. “Oh, your father negotiated the purchase of all my remaining Pepsi as a condition of my joining the group.”

  Ecaterina turned to face Nathan. “You did not!”

  Nathan returned her look and winked. “He’s not telling the whole story.”

  Ecaterina turned in the Yollin’s direction. “Spill it, R’yhek.”

  “Well,” R’yhek shrugged, “to be fair, the condition was a bonus paid immediately for all Pepsi I brought with me.”

  Ecaterina’s eyes narrowed. “I thought we were waiting for important pieces from your home.”

  “We were,” Nathan answered, then clarified, “Mostly.”

  “I’m a mercenary,” R’yhek added. “I have weapons we had to pull out of special locations. Nathan agreed to let me bring the armor and weapons even if you can provide better, as a way for me to connect with my past while we create a new future.”

  “And how long,” Ecaterina asked as she looked between the two men, “did we sit at the star port waiting for the weapons versus waiting for the Pepsi?”

  “Honey, have you tasted the Pepsi?” Nathan turned to Christina and put up two fingers.

  “What does this mean?” R’yhek asked. “Are you telling her to bring you two bottles?”

  “Yes,” Ecaterina replied. “Christina, you’d better make it four.”

  “Yes, Mom,” she replied, and the three adults heard the clinking of glass as she grabbed the drinks and shut the door to the cooler.

  “We actually had to wait five minutes for the weapons after the Pepsi was onboard,” Nathan answered.

  “Hmmph.” Ecaterina accepted a bottle from Christina with a nod of thanks. She removed the top and drank a bit. She smiled just a touch before reaching out to pat Nathan’s arm. “I’m sorry. I forgot how good it was between the bar and the star port. It is lucky that one can’t marry Pepsi, isn’t it?”

  “Well, I wouldn’t go that far,” Nathan protested, eyeing his wife with a smile.

  “Who says I was talking about you doing the marrying?” Ecaterina asked as she winked at R’yhek.

  Nathan’s eyes narrowed at his mate. “Nice, sweetheart.” He turned to R’yhek and asked, “So you want to know, why you?”

  “Well, I assume you had a reason, but yes, I’m curious,” R’yhek admitted.

  “I didn’t fill you in on the whole story because we had to know you were in,” Nathan admitted. “Sorry about that.”

  “I wanted a bar, I got a bar.” R’yhek took a moment to drink before putting down the bottle. “What I didn’t get was adventure anymore.” He played with his bottle, turning it slightly in a circle. “The occasional drunk to toss out, but since my back was messed up, I had to hire one of my regular’s kids to bounce. At least, before he went to seek fame and fortune last year.” He looked at Nathan. “It was a bit embarrassing.”

  “I understand,” Nathan told him. “You know that you have signed up for a rather unique,” Nathan looked around, “uh…”

  “I’ve signed up to do something for the Empress’ personal friends,” R’yhek told him. “I’m sure it is something that isn’t forthright, because you don’t do forthright.” He nodded to the three of them. “Nathan Lowell and family.”

  R’yhek turned to Ecaterina. “The stories tell of the mate, who has her man’s back and can pick up a Yollin and throw him when she is pissed. Or shoot them between the eyes at distances that boggle the mind.”

  He looked at Christina. “Or their offspring, who is part of the group. Whispers say you don’t want to fight with her, that she is deadly and laughs like a child as she hurts others.”

  “That’s not fair!” Christina argued. “I don’t laugh because I’m hurting others, I laugh because I enjoy a good fight. And for once, I’m the one kicking ass, instead of everybody else kicking my ass.” She dropped her bottle an inch to the table, providing an exclamation point to her comment.

  R’yhek looked at her a moment, puzzled. “Who is it you fight against?”

  “Well,” Christina lifted a hand, “there’s Eric, and Scott, Darryl, of course Uncle John, and Tabitha. That isn’t counting Stephen and Auntie BA.” Christina looked up at R’yhek and stopped when she noticed his mandibles were hanging open. “What did I say?”

  “Didn’t you just name the Empress, the four Empress’ Bitches, one of her mysterious friends, and a Ranger?”

  Christina shrugged. “Yeah, ok?” she answered, then added, “Oh, and Gabrielle, although she tends to teach more than just beat me up.”

  R’yhek shook his head and reached over to ruffle Christina’s hair. “No wonder you are a terror on the ground, little one.”

  “Well, yeah,” she shot back. “But I never get to beat them.”

  “You would have them cheat to placate your ego?” R’yhek asked her.

  Christina’s lips pressed together. “No. Well, yeah, kinda. But I get your point. I might look pretty old, but that’s because my physiology is advanced due to the nature of the nanocytes within my body. Sometimes my ego is still rather young.”

  “Sometimes that is true,” Ecaterina told their daughter. “But trust me, sometimes that is true whether you are young or an adult. We are not all mature all the time.”

  Nathan snorted next to her. “Or with Team BMW, any of the damned time.”

  “They are mature, they just choose to hide it,” Ecaterina countered.

  “Team BMW?” R’yhek asked. “I don’t know this group.”

  “That’s because they aren’t necessarily talked about much outside of the circle,” Nathan explained. “B is for Bobcat, M is for Marcus and W is for—”

  “William,” R’yhek interrupted. “Yes, I know of them for their beer and their bar.” His voice sounded like he approved of the group. “They are famous across many systems to all of us who appreciate alcohol. That window into space on the second deck is a window of legend.”

  “Yeah.” Nathan’s focus was lost for a moment before it came back and he nodded. “Well, those three are responsible for so much more than just booze and their bar.”

  “Will I get to meet them?” the large Yollin asked.

  “Don’t know why not,” Ecaterina replied. “We should see them in about a week.”

  “That will be good. I wish to—” R’yhek stopped and looked around. “Do I have room on this ship to set up distillation equipment?”

  “I never showed you the whole thing, R’yhek,” Nathan told him. “We are currently in only a small portion of the Prometheus.”

  “We are?”

  “Oh, yes,” Nathan answered and stood up. “It’s time to show you the rest of our little company’s assets.”

  “What is our company name again?” R’yhek stood up, reaching around to his back out of habit. “By the way, that was a wonder, what you did to my back, Christina.”

  Christina winked. “Wait till you get the next fix for your back, R’yhek.” She grinned and grabbed his hand to pull him up from his chair.

  QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Yollin System

  Bethany Anne pursed her lips as she focused on the female Ixtali. “Legate Addix,
I was aware you were having trouble with him before you approached me.” She started walking toward her throne once more, pointing a finger toward the Yaree delegation. “I’ve not forgotten you, I’ll get to you in a few.”

  Legate Addix noticed the Yaree delegate seemed more anxious than relieved that he had not been forgotten.

  Addix walked through the sound field once more, the technology now of little importance considering the abilities the Empress had casually displayed in her presence. Just who—or what—had she been sent to negotiate with?

  Bethany Anne turned around before ascending the stairs. “Now, you can take this any way you wish, Addix,” Bethany Anne told her. “But here are your options. You may submit to a questioning where nothing is held back, and by that I mean I will know your secrets. All of them. Or you may grab your people, depart, and figure out how to deal with this rot yourselves.”

  Bethany Anne raised a hand and stuck up one finger. “Option one will mean I know more than you want me to know.” Then she stuck up a second finger next to the first. “The second option will absolutely end up, I believe, with the Etheric Empire kicking Ixtali ass sometime in the future, if you don’t implode from killing each other before then.”

  “You are not offering a third, less ugly option?” Addix asked, trying to lighten the mood.

  “Sure, Ixtalis decide that peace and prosperity among all aliens is their new focus as a people and—”

  Addix waved a hand. “I get it, you don’t see a likely third option. The challenge, as you are well aware, is the kill switch that precludes me from speaking too many secrets before it triggers and kills me.”

  Bethany Anne nodded. “We suspected as much.” She tapped a finger to her lips. “So long as you don’t speak the secrets, you are safe?”

  “Yes,” Addix admitted, not sure where this was going.

  Bethany Anne shrugged. “Ok. You need to give me your final answer, Addix. Is this going to be what is behind Door Number One,” she put her first finger back up, “or Door Number Two, labeled ‘kick Ixtali ass’?”

  Legate Addix’s four major mandibles seemed locked. Finally, her narrow shoulders dropped. “Whether I live or not, I trust you. I fear the result if our people fight yours.” She looked at the Empress’ two guards, then back to Bethany Anne.

  “I choose the first.”

  Third Outer Ring, Yollin System Space Control

  First Shift First Class Double-Starred Ship’s Controller Yri-Keva tapped the command response. “Turrell?”

  “Yes, shift leader?” Her friend looked over at her. “More ArchAngel II stuff?” he asked when he noticed the color of the screen she was looking at.

  “Yes. Make sure there is nothing in her quadrants.”

  Turrell turned to his screens. The locations the ArchAngel II used rarely had to deal with any sorts of troublemakers. The ship was massive, easily the largest the Yollins had ever built. It also included a significant number of upgrades and enhancements the humans built into the ship after it came from the yard.

  To just about everyone, it was both mysterious and deadly.

  By now, everyone who paid any attention to the Etheric Empire’s ships knew the story of the original ArchAngel and her crew. How they had gone into battle against two fully-crewed Yollin super-dreadnoughts.

  And defeated them both. The names of those lost in the engagement, about a third of her crew, were chiseled into the stone you passed on entering the bridge of the current incarnation.

  The ability of the ship wasn’t what scared most away. It was who the ship was.

  It was the reincarnation of the Empress herself as a ship of war. Those who communicated with the ship saw the Empress’ face on displays. Those who would annoy her found the face of the Empress, with her red eyes, enough incentive to toe the line. The ship never hesitated to take the power of the Empress anywhere she was directed to go. She and four other Yollin/Etheric Empire battleships and seven destroyers had recently left on a mission. Now she was coming back.

  For Yri-Keva and Turrel, it had been an amazing sight to see. The Etheric Empire’s ArchAngel II and the Yollin Navy had powered up, and within fifteen minutes they had all disappeared.

  Without using a standard gate.

  It was proof, yet again, that the Etheric Empire wasn’t constrained by permanent gates, and that the ArchAngel II must have power beyond comprehension to take that many ships through a gate she created.

  And no one who saw the ships come together and leave ever doubted it was the ArchAngel II that created the gate.

  Now they were returning. What would System’s Control see when they did? Had they been in battle? Just what was coming back to Etheric Empire space?

  They would soon find out.

  “All ArchAngel II areas are very clear,” Turrel told his leader. “But I sent a warning message.”

  Yri-Keva clicked her mandibles in humor. “You know that just means everyone is going to be looking for their arrival.”

  “Of course,” Turrel agreed.

  Skaine Battleship Shllet

  Tabitha sat in the Captain’s Chair, with Captain Bok next to her. He was watching the Ranger doing something to her nails.

  “May I ask what you are doing?” he said, nodding toward her hands when she looked at him.

  “I’m filing my nails down a little. I don’t like them long. They get in the way when I have to go into a firefight,” she answered. “Why?”

  “You don’t seem very happy to be bringing us in,” he admitted. “I would figure that such a good catch as this battleship would excite you.”

  Tabitha looked around the thirty or so control stations on the large bridge. It was quiet, and it should be. More than twenty of the ArchAngeI Il’s Guardian contingent were stationed throughout the ship.

  Here on the bridge, it was her, Ryu, and Hirotoshi.

  At the very start of the trip back to Yollin space, there had been a problem. Tabitha had handled it by slapping the Skaine into next week for giving her lip. Then Captain Bok had ejected that Skaine into space for trying to break the surrender agreement.

  All issues quickly died down after that event.

  “Captain Bok,” Tabitha eyed the Skaine captain “to be fair, I prefer to blow up Skaine ships. I like them best as little pieces of flotsam in the ever-increasing enormity of space. That you treated us as honorable combatants and yielded was a bit annoying.”

  “You expected me to try and fight the ArchAngel II?” he asked, surprised. “Or the other eleven ships with her?”

  She shrugged. “Well, to be truthful I didn’t know about the other ships until they arrived,” Tabitha told him. “I just knew ArchAngel II was coming.”

  “It was a message,” Bok told her. “We were in an out-of-the-way place, and yet your Empress sent a force that large for just one of her Rangers.”

  Tabitha smiled a little, then leaned over to the Skaine Captain and whispered, “Bethany Anne would do that for any of her people. But if you ever fuck with her friends, just kill yourself right then and there, because the universe won’t be big enough to hide you.”

  Tabitha leaned back and resumed filing her nails as the captain sat and thought about what she had just said.

  CHAPTER NINE

  “Nathan?” R’yhek asked, his mandibles clicking nervously as he looked to confirm that Ecaterina and Christina weren’t concerned. “Why are you opening the door to space?”

  “The question, R’yhek, should be,” Nathan told him as he hit the last button and the door started to open, “what space are we opening into?”

  As the doors separated, R’yhek’s eyes widened as it became obvious they were in the hold of a much larger ship. Nathan waved R’yhek forward and he walked out of the Prometheus onto the ramp that led down to the deck. Behind him, the three humans smiled as R’yhek kept looking around at the hold of the obviously new ship.

  “Welcome to Prometheus Major,” a voice said from the speakers. “I am the EI for this band of he
roes and outlaws.”

  “Wait!” R’yhek turned back as the three humans caught up to him. The two ladies kept walking toward a door that swished open for them, and they both turned right.

  “Where are they going?” he asked.

  “Spa.” Nathan clapped the larger Yollin on his back. “They love to soak after an operation.”

  “I am an operation?” he asked.

  Nathan thought about that a moment. “In a way. Recruiting is our operation currently, and we need to get a move on. We are half a day behind already.”

  “Before I ask why we are behind,” R’yhek continued, “why did the voice say that we have heroes and outlaws?”

  Nathan scratched his cheek. “Well, that’s because PM read the lyrics to the song, and for some reason has a rather romanticized view of what we are doing.”

  “PM?” R’yhek butted in, feeling the avalanche of info he had asked for starting to hit him.

  “Prometheus Major is the name of this ship, and the EIs of the Empire tend to take the names of their ships. I don’t think it is mandatory, but I can’t recall one yet that hasn’t.”

  R’yhek turned to look at what he previously thought was a large ship. It had to be at least fifty meters long, and he thought it could comfortably fit twelve of himself.

  The voice came back through the speakers. “I consider myself Prometheus Minor when I’m active on the Q-ship.”

  “Q-ship?” R’yhek asked, his shoulders drooping a little.

  “I’ll catch you up on that later,” Nathan told him. “Here is the fast rundown.” He pointed to the smaller Q-ship. “We use that ship anytime someone will see us, and to do all of our planet-side runs.” He pointed at the ceiling of the large deck. “The Major is for our transfers between systems.”

  “Wait, between systems?” R’yhek started to comprehend what kind of ship he was standing in. “This ship can create gates?”

  Nathan nodded. “Got it in one, buddy.”

  “This ship is more valuable than many worlds, Nathan.” R’yhek spoke softly before turning to eye the human. “If anyone finds out we have it, we will be chased and have to fight our way out of systems.”