Never Submit (The Kurtherian Gambit Book 15)

by Michael Anderle

  He straightened up.

  She pushed the ball of energy, and it floated towards the middle of the room. It expanded to about eight inches, fading from red to pink, to white.

  The room was illuminated for the first time in a while.

  “Anyone else want to play General Custer?” she asked the room. “Because that was your only warning. Keep this shit up, and the DUCC will be an inferno. I’ve had enough of your bullshit.”

  “We are your country, Ms. Reynolds!” the President spat out, his annoyance apparent.

  She walked over to him, and grabbed his head, getting down in front of his face. Two more agents tried to jump in. She kicked both away. One hit the third agent coming in, both of them going down, the other hit the wall before he bounced off and hit the floor.

  “When you shot a nuclear warhead at my ship,” she hissed, “you became the enemy, you irredeemable knob wanking gag sacking rambling spunk experiment.”

  The President’s hand grabbed her arm, trying to remove it, to stop the pain as she continued to squeeze tight. She stood up, leaving her hand on his head. She looked to her left and shot out a small bolt of blue at the last agent who was trying to bring up his pistol. The blue ball hit his arm, causing it to seize. He grabbed it with his other arm, crying out in pain, dropping down to one knee.

  She spoke to the Agent, “Keep it up Charlie, and the President’s head goes pop.”

  She looked around the room, “There isn’t a thing in this room that is getting through Jean Dukes’ latest version of my armor. When I leave our very one-sided conversation, maybe you should look up Jean Dukes in the Navy’s record. Your loss, my gain. Perhaps you should have treated her better, and not covered up what happened.”

  Bethany Anne let go of the President’s head, allowing him to massage it. She held her hand out a foot in front of his face, “Here, you move too much, and this will blow your head apart.” A red ball appeared and grew to about three inches in diameter. She pointed at it, “I wouldn’t touch that, but feel free to blow your hand off if you don’t believe me.”

  She left it floating in front of him as she stepped back. “You asswipes tried to kill my people, threw a nuclear bomb at them, in cahoots with the Chinese. Well done! I’ve managed to get two super-powers who don’t trust each other enough to piss on one another if they were on fire, to toss nuclear weapons at my people.”

  No one doubted this lady was still pissed.

  She paced down the area between the long table and the wall, heads following her, “If your military hasn’t figured this out, you might have just killed millions of Chinese in that attack.”

  “Bullshit,” a grey-haired man in a dark blue Washington power suit called out at the end of the table.

  She shrugged, “I don’t really care what you believe, as my people and I won’t be here to worry about the fallout, and that is the hint right there, tweedle-dickhead.” She walked around the table, the armor moving with her, not solid like they would have guessed. “You asswipes have possibly started the end of the same damned World we are trying to save.”

  She put up a hand to quiet the same guy, “Don’t give me the whole bullshit about the technology, Moses.” She told him, “It’s mine, and I said no to sharing it. Anything else is stealing. You think stealing is ok? Well, not to the one who would be stolen from and as you can see, I don’t need a cop to stop me from defending what is mine. That I didn’t crush your useless asses was probably a mistake, I can see that now. However, where I come from, turning the other cheek was a good idea when it helped my people cope with going into the next system, not having killed a bunch of fellow humans before we left.”

  “Na ah ah!” She turned and waved a finger at the President, “You won’t be blaming my ass for this, and I’m not sticking around. I’ve got a fucking calendar date with destiny already. You created this mess, you FIX it! You should have time to figure out a solution, that’s all I can give you. I’ve got bigger problems, ones you wouldn’t believe if I told you.”

  She walked back towards the President, the red ball casting a ruddy glow on his face. The agent she had kicked into the wall was waking up, the others trying to figure out something to do to her, but coming up with nothing.

  Bethany Anne took three steps back towards the metal door and turned back to face the room. She held out her hand, and the red globe floated back to her. She flicked her hand, and the globe disappeared. She put her hands on her hips, the armored mask retreated, and a beautiful woman, black hair behind her head stood looking over the group.

  She looked at everyone there, her eyes now piercing their souls, “You aren’t alive because of superior firepower, but superior ethics and mercy. Mine. I’m leaving this world, but know this, you pencil-dicked Neanderthals and cloven-footed bitches, you never had a fucking chance.”

  Bethany Anne’s eyes started glowing red, the same red as the globe she had just winked out of existence. “My name, as I understand my father informed you, was Bethany Anne Reynolds.”

  Her face took on another demeanor, one that caused more than a few of the people in the room to blanch, “I’ve been called Queen of the UnknownWorld, Queen of the Etheric Empire…”

  She pushed out waves of fear, freezing everyone in the room, their spasms a reaction to the chemicals their bodies were flooding into their systems.

  “But I am now, and I will ALWAYS be the Queen Bitch. You ever, and I mean EVER, attack me or mine again?”

  She leaned forward, eyes crackling with Energy. “And I will fucking flatten your country, you understand me?” She looked up and down the table, making sure she had everyone’s attention.

  This time, even the President nodded his understanding.

  The fear stopped, people gasped for air, some not looking at the fearsome woman and so didn’t see when she disappeared.

  Her light stopped, but then the electricity was returned to the rooms, and they heard the locks to the doors click open.

  Computers came back online.

  “Don’t,” the President gasped out, “don’t chase her.” He looked around for his Military Liaison, “Tell the military to leave them the fuck alone, right God-Damn now!”

  The President turned and looked where she had just been standing, “And tell our partners, we drop any agreements that we will take up arms against TQB.” He spat out.

  Even idiots, it seemed, understood threats when that threat could crush their heads just by squeezing their fingers.

  New York City, New York

  Ecaterina noticed Nathan’s face as he was about to take another bite of his pizza. He blanched. “What is it?” Ecaterina looked around, trying to see if anyone was about to attack them.

  He shook his head, “Not around us, I just got notified that ADAM used our Pod for Bethany Anne.”

  This time, it was Ecaterina who blanched, “Does she know where we are?”

  “I’m sure she always knows where we are if she would ask.” He admitted, “We just take for granted that she won’t ask.” Nathan pushed the last of his large pizza away, having lost his appetite.

  Ecaterina reached over and grabbed his last partially eaten slice, “I’m telling you if she ever found out she wouldn’t do the horrible things you think.”

  “Huh, you obviously still believe vampires can be nice,” he told her and pointed to his chest, “I on the other hand, have been around them for decades and believe they can always have a bad hair day.”

  Nathan leaned forward, “And when a vampire has a bad hair day?” He raised an eyebrow, “Lots of people have a bad hair day!”

  Ecaterina rolled her eyes, “You are melodramatic!” she complained, then finished off his piece of pizza. “Why don’t you ask ADAM for another Pod?”

  “I’m telling you, she won’t find this nearly as funny as you think,” Nathan told her, then subvocalized his request for a connection to ADAM. “What kind of time are we looking at for pickup and where?” Nathan leaned his head down into his hand, covering his
eyes. “Is it over?”

  “Is what over?” Ecaterina asked.

  “Right, is there anything we can do?” Nathan removed his hand from his face and nodded to his mate, “No, we can join, but we don’t have anything like that. Ok, uh huh, yeah, we will.” Nathan made the symbol they needed to be going.

  Ecaterina picked up their trash and tossed it away. She turned around and caught a news report and stood there, watching.

  Nathan, his eyes showing that he was concentrating on a conversation using the bone induction speaker in his head came up and grabbed Ecaterina’s hand. He was going to walk away when she pulled him, hard. He turned in confusion, and she pointed up to the TV.

  It was Bethany Anne and John, in armor, on top of the Empire State Building. He watched in amazement as they got into a Pod and moved away, turning and racing off into the distance. The video, as near as he could tell, had been shot with a phone camera. He tugged on Ecaterina’s hand, and they moved towards the door.

  They stepped out of Joe’s, and he took a right. Nathan spoke softly, “Yeah, we will go there. Meet the pickup on the top, later.”

  “What is it?” Ecaterina asked.

  “Seems we missed the fun, because Bethany Anne, Tabitha, and John took care of it. But, there was an attempt to capture TQB personnel not that far from here. ADAM grabbed our Pod earlier to move Bethany Anne and John from the top of the… well, you saw the video.”

  The couple took a right at the next corner, Ecaterina asking Nathan, “Why did we miss the fun?”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Ted’s Apartment Building, New York City, NY

  Tabitha looked at the two sleeping bodies and took a deep breath. She reached into the Pod and grabbed the woman while John reached in after she stepped out and unhooked the man. Together, they carried them off the roof of Ted’s apartment building and went down to the top floor.

  They had seen the police tape below and hoped they didn’t have any issues.

  John went first. There was yellow and black police tape across Ted’s door. John ignored it. He twisted the doorknob and pushed, easily breaking the lock that held the door. The large man turned around, allowing his back to separate the tape instead of Ted. He walked over to the couch and laid the man down. When he turned around, Tabitha was already carrying Monica into the bedroom.

  John walked out to make sure no one was rushing up the stairs after them.

  Tabitha passed by John and maneuvered Monica through the doorway without bouncing her head against the doorframe. Not that she hadn’t wanted to, at least one time.

  No, that wasn’t fair. She didn’t want Ted, and Ted couldn’t handle her, that’s for sure. Maybe, just maybe, this couple could make a go of it.

  There wasn’t an explanation Tabitha could make up that might allow Ted some time to help them figure out what to do next, so she did the next best thing.

  Walking out of the bedroom, Tabitha reached inside her coat and snagged seven Etheric Empire coins. It was, in this denomination, about fourteen ounces of gold. Maybe, if he was lucky, fifteen thousand dollars if he just melted it down. She laid them down on his desk, beside his computer keyboard.

  It wasn’t much, but seven coins and her good wishes were all she could give the guy. She walked out, closing the door behind her. She tapped John on the back of his armor as she turned to go back up the stairway to the roof.

  The man, in all black armor, turned and followed the Queen’s Ranger up to the roof.

  Soon, they were in the Pod, leaving Earth for the last time.

  G’laxix Sphaea

  “Captain Jakowski, we have commands from the Queen, she says ‘It is time.’” E.I. Sphaea announced.

  “That’s it, folks,” Natalia said as they watched over the last Pods leaving Le Havre and racing up into the night. She smiled, “Let’s have some fun on our way out of here.”

  Down below, there was a long line of Police cars, lights flashing as they had arrived at the Port hours earlier, but when the Black Eagles showed up, the Police officers had halted their rush into the Port.

  Especially when three of the smaller one pound pucks hit the ground, sending up geysers of dirt near some of them.

  Now, the cops were on the outskirts, but it had been a tense response. Well, at least on their side. A few hotheads had started heading towards the port again when some of the first containers had risen into the air, two of the cops cars were flattened, and none of the cops knew how it was done.

  Captain Jakowski told the E.I., “Take us down, I want us just fifty feet off the ground. Put us over the Security gate and then uncover, Sphaea.”

  Le Havre Port, France

  French cameraman Michelle Jordan was busy getting shots of the containers leaving, the TQB Black Eagles and the long, very long, line of police cars, their lights flashing in the distance. He turned to get a few more shots of the last containers leaving. He pulled the view out, to get a large shot of the whole port when the ship uncovered.

  HOLY FUCK! he thought, backing up and hitting his own van. He kept the focus on the ship, just gracefully motionless in the sky. It turned on lights that lit up the sides, windows along the flanks, large guns on the top…

  And that logo. That damned logo that told anybody with half a brain who that ship belonged to.

  The French President was going to be spitting mad. But, what could he do? What did the French have that could fight a ship that could disappear?

  The French government might not have anything, but Michelle Jordan had a video. A video he was going to sell to the highest bidder.

  He got what became known as the final video of TQB as the massive space ship slowly started rising into the sky, the darkness taking it as it flew out into the night.

  Heading into the stars.

  God, Michelle thought when he slowly turned off his camera and pulled it from his shoulder, he wished he was going with them.

  --------

  Within a few hours, all across the world, Bethany Anne’s people were finishing their final preparations. It was time to go.

  Except for a small, hidden group on Honshu, the main island of Japan.

  It was time to check preparations one last time and go through the gate.

  Dulce, New Mexico - USA

  Edward thought he was about to faint when the person grabbing his shoulder change voices and spoke in an … Australian accent? He had screamed for what felt like forever but was probably only a couple of seconds when the voice had scared the shit out of him.

  “What the ‘ell? Samuel?” the man said, talking aloud in a normal human voice.

  All three guys jumped away from the man and scrambled forward until another male came out of the darkness, speaking behind them, “No Richard, I got it too.”

  Now, Jesse, Edward and Colin stood in the middle of the two men, “Holy fuck, who are you guys!” Colin asked.

  “And why are you scaring the shit out of us?” Edward asked, his voice cracking.

  The man that had placed his hand on Edward’s shoulder put up a hand, “Hold a tic.” He put a hand up to his ear, and shrugged, “You get a notice from the Queen?”

  “I did,” The other man responded. Jesse, Edward, and Colin kept swiveling their heads, looking back and forth between the two men.

  “Well, this is it, isn’t it?” Samuel asked his friend, pausing a moment. “Time to decide. She can’t come after us if everyone is leaving.”

  Richard looked around and called out to the three guys, “Jesse is it?” Jesse nodded numbly and barely caught the video camera Richard tossed him, “That,” he pointed to the large UFO, “is from technology stolen from the Nazi’s back in World War II. It was the technology from the group down in the Antarctica.” He told the three men as he walked by them, heading towards his friend.

  “Aye,” Samuel agreed, taking up the story, “The US had a plan to kick them out down there, but TQB put a stop to it.”

  “A few others wanted the technology, too.” Richard agre
ed.

  “Who are … you guys?” Colin asked, his voice cracking before he coughed and tried again. “Who ARE you?”

  “Us?” Samuel pursed his lips and thought about it, “Tell you what. Turn that video camera on, Jesse.”

  Colin looked at the stranger and then back to his friend who had all but forgotten about the video camera in his hand. Colin reached over and grabbed it, making sure he had time on the digital media and battery. He flipped it on and aimed it at the two men.

  “You good?” Samuel asked Colin, and he nodded. “Good. Hello world, my name is Samuel, also known by various other names in history, including a few bloodthirsty ones. Behind Colin here, are two messed up UFOs. Unfortunately, they aren’t from outer space. They are actually from a group here in the USA called XJ-12. The technology to make them go was stolen from the Nazi’s at the end of World War II. I can give you that much history. They are the updated efforts from a group in Antarctica called Schwabenland. It was if you want to look it up, the Vril Society moved there by the Nazi’s in exchange for the technology, which was derived from Aliens decades ago.”