Bethany Anne wondered if she were imagining things. Admiral Thomas appeared onscreen, ending the discussion. “What do you have to say for yourself?”
Admiral Thomas winced. “I hope you rested well?” he tendered, looking somewhat sheepish.
Bethany Anne narrowed her eyes. “I did, and then I woke up to your report.”
The Admiral held up his hands. “There was nothing to be gained by you getting here any sooner.”
Bethany Anne glared at him for a moment longer. “Be grateful we’re pressed for time. What’s the status here?”
Admiral Thomas looked down for a moment and sent Bethany Anne a file. “We own everything around the planet, including the Ooken platforms at the stable Lagrange Points. Jean and Qui’nan’s teams have fortified them with the big-ass battle station out at L3. Nothing is getting past the BYPS, and even if it could, we have two grudge-bearing superdreadnoughts stationed here at all times.”
Bethany Anne chuckled. “Adrastea is still pissed about getting cut in two?”
Admiral Thomas raised an eyebrow. “You’re kidding, right? She’s got a hate on for the Ooken, and she doesn’t care who knows about it.”
Michael nodded in appreciation. “Understandable. What are we looking at planetside?”
Admiral Thomas grimaced. “The Ooken withdrew the moment we pulled the ground units back. Intel is coming up with all sorts of suppositions. The best they have is that the Ooken believe we withdrew to stop them from killing the Moen. It’s uneasy but stable for the moment.”
Bethany Anne’s eyes flickered as she scanned the latest from every ship, satellite, and outpost she had around Moen. “There isn’t much the Ooken can do, which is exactly the position I want them in. Let them hide for the moment. It makes accessing the Moen that much easier.”
Admiral Thomas lifted his hands. “I wish I could tell you that’s the case, but if anything, they’ve closed ranks even further. It’s damned infuriating. They won’t talk to us at all. You’ve read the reports. We go in and take the Ooken out, and the Moen just stare at us silently until we leave, then go right back to work.”
Michael frowned. “I don’t get their mentality. Are they brainwashed?”
Bethany Anne tilted her head to look at Michael. “What, like a planet-wide case of super-Stockholm syndrome? It’s worth considering, but I can’t see it. There’s something deeper going on here.”
Michael shrugged. “I’m not convinced. Interdependence of some kind is the only thing that makes sense.” He sat back, lacing his hands behind his head. “The Ooken and the Moen need each other for something. Otherwise, the Moen would have fought back, and the Ooken would have killed them to the last and stripped the planet long before we got here.”
Bethany Anne and Michael turned to see what the commotion was when the elevator opened, spilling Alexis, Gabriel, and K’aia onto the bridge.
K’aia had her braid wrapped around Alexis, pinning her arms to her side. Gabriel had K’aia in a chokehold, bracing himself to stay balanced as she bucked on all four feet to dislodge him from her back.
Bethany Anne snickered. “Play nice, children.” She turned back to the screen and continued to grill the Admiral.
Michael pointed at the couches, his smile belying his stern tone. “The bridge is not the best place to roughhouse, children.”
Gabriel loosened his hold on K’aia’s neck fractionally. “Sorry, Dad. K’aia decided that the elevator would be a good place to test our reflexes.”
K’aia dropped Alexis, then wrapped her braid around Gabriel's waist and pulled him from her back to deposit him gently on the floor. “I’ll be more thoughtful in the future.”
Michael chuckled. “It’s done now. Make yourselves useful until it is time to leave.”
K’aia leaned over to Gabriel and Alexis as they crossed to the couches. “What’s going on out there?”
Alexis shook her head minutely at K’aia, flicking her eyes at the adults. “I have no idea, K’aia. Let’s get to work.”
Bethany Anne was well aware that her daughter had access and was elbows-deep in the Moen report. She kept her smile to herself, returning her focus to Admiral Thomas. “We’ve identified where the Moen leaders are hiding, right?”
Admiral Thomas nodded. “Elset, one of the larger western cities. It wasn’t easy since they don’t use any kind of electronic communication.”
Bethany Anne tapped her fingers on her armrest while she pulled up the map in her HUD and found Elset. “I think it’s about time I went and introduced myself. Stay alert. Oh, and Admiral? My children and K’aia will be shadowing you for the duration of this operation. Expect them shortly.” She cut the connection and opened a new one to the bridge of the Sayomi. “Are you all in position?”
John grinned. “Primed and ready. The Ooken won’t know what hit them when they get here. Literally, with this cloaking system. Did Jean tell you that the secondary weapons system—”
Bethany Anne waved a hand. “You can gush about your ship-mance later. We’re going down to the planet just as soon as you’re done dropping the children off at the G’laxix Sphaea.”
John nodded and looked to his left. “I’m on my way.”
Alexis made a sound of consternation. “No fair, Mom!”
Bethany Anne raised an eyebrow at her daughter. “It is perfectly fair. Did you expect me to allow you to come down to the planet with us?”
Alexis pouted. “Well, yeah. It’s kind of redundant to bring us out here and then leave us behind. What are we learning?”
Bethany Anne raised a finger to silence her daughter’s protests. “You three will stay where it’s safe. This will be a good opportunity for you both to get some experience with fleet command.”
Gabriel groaned. “Why do we have to study? I wanna see you slap the stupid out of the leaders, Mom.”
John snorted. “Accurate description, BA.”
“Goodbye, John.” Bethany Anne waved a hand, and the screen went dark. She turned back to face Gabriel. “I can’t see that I’ll have to ‘slap the stupid’ out of anybody today.”
Michael snickered. “Give it time. The day is still early.”
Bethany Anne raised an eyebrow. “We’re going down there to have a discussion, with the aim of understanding the situation the Moen are in.”
Alexis nodded along with her mother’s every word. “They’ve had too much of tha—OW!”
Gabriel pulled his foot back quickly. “Got it, Mom. Can we watch the video when you get back?” He grinned disarmingly. “For educational purposes, of course.”
5
Moen, Western Continent
The Izanami came in low over the ancient dunes, great sand mountains that stretched from one side of the continent to the other. Bethany Anne scanned the forests that grew in the wide valleys cut by shining yellow rivers.
It looks like fall, Bethany Anne commented as the city appeared on the horizon. Any second the leaves will begin to drop.
Michael nodded toward the retreating Sayomi. Just like the penny when Alexis gets aboard the ArchAngel II and works out you and ADAM have been restricting her little hacking hobby by guiding her access.
>>Just don’t tell her I was the one who told you she’d hacked Phyrro,<< ADAM begged. >>She’s spent enough time with Tabitha to pick up both her “snitches get stitches” attitude and the ability to put it into practice. <<
Don’t tell me you’re scared of a little girl, Bethany Anne teased.
>>Damn right I am. She’s your daughter, isn’t she?<<
He has a point, Michael admitted.
Bethany Anne chuckled as ADAM retreated to wherever he went when he wasn’t talking to her. He’d explained it once or twice, but she hadn’t really listened. Everyone needed their private space, and God knew she’d made enough of them for herself over the years.
She twined her fingers through Michael’s, The action was made somewhat awkward by their armor, but they managed. They looked out together as the terraces on the
seven dunes of Elset came into view. “Ooken everywhere.”
Michael’s lip curled at the blue splotches marking the Ooken among the Moen people below. “They do not blend well with the desert shades. It should make killing them that much easier.”
Bethany Anne nodded, her mind turning over the possibilities of the situation they were about to walk into as Izanami brought the ship in over the city. “We’ll leave the ship up here.”
Moen, Elset, QBS Izanami, Cargo Bay
Izanami appeared by the drop doors while Bethany Anne and Michael were checking their equipment. “My Queen, I have located an extensive underground network stretching for kilometers under the surface of the dunes. There are indications of life in the deepest part of the northernmost dune.”
Bethany Anne leaned out to look down on the dunes. “What about the Ooken inside?”
Izanami inclined her head. “The Ooken patrols we can see above-ground are the only ones my scanners are picking up on this dune.”
Bethany Anne turned to Michael for confirmation.
Michael finished his mental scan and nodded. “It’s clear down there.”
“Thank you, Izanami.” Bethany Anne grabbed one of the support straps over the drop door and leaned out again. “We’ll make a quiet rooftop incursion and avoid contact with the Ooken completely.”
Michael gave Bethany Anne a wry smile. “An opportunity to begin the discussion without violence—how novel. Perhaps you were right after all.”
Bethany Anne raised an eyebrow. “‘Perhaps?’ Perhaps you should think again. When am I not right?”
Michael’s eyes crinkled with laughter. “You have set a precedent. It has to be considered.”
Bethany Anne narrowed her eyes in return. “So does where you expect to be sleeping tonight.” She walked over to the drop doors. “Are you ready?”
“When you are,” Michael told her, grabbing the strap opposite hers.
Bethany Anne lifted a finger. “I’m going first. Once I’m sure it’s not a trap, you can join me.”
Michael grunted. “I don’t like it.”
Bethany Anne shrugged. “You don’t have to like it. Unless you can take your armor through the Etheric without me to take the strain?”
Michael shook his head, his scowl deepening. “Well, no. But it doesn’t mean I am okay with you going down there alone.”
Bethany Anne knew she should be annoyed by Michael’s overprotective nature. She bumped her hip against his. “I’m a big girl. Izanami, the doors, please.”
A rush of dry air filled the cargo bay as the doors opened to admit the desert heat.
Bethany Anne drew her katana, then stepped out onto empty air and into the Etheric. Half a breath later she came out on the top terrace of the dune over a hundred feet beneath the ship. I’m on the roof.
Any contact? Michael asked.
Empty so far, Bethany Anne reported, glancing around the hard-baked sand. She walked over to the edge and looked down at the dizzying drop from the rooftop to the terrace below.
Can you see a way in?
Bethany Anne caught sight of a dip in the otherwise unbroken wall. She pulled a spark from the Etheric and set off toward the anomaly. It looks like there’s a set of stairs in the wall up ahead. I’m going to check it out. She walked across the flat expanse toward the blip, the spark of her energy ball cradled in one hand.
Bethany Anne reached out with her mind. There was a distant hum from the level below the terrace she was standing on. We’re good. Come on down.
I’m making the jump, Michael replied. Wait for me.
Bethany Anne picked out Michael’s slightly darker shadow against the pre-dawn sky as Michael made his spiraling descent.
Michael landed effortlessly beside her, barely disturbing the dust as his feet touched the hard-baked rooftop. The air was still and heavy, the rising sun hot at this elevation from the moment it began to crest the horizon.
The object of Bethany Anne’s attention was blurred by the heat rising from the dune. She moved off at a brisk pace toward the blemish on the otherwise uniform wall.
What is it? Michael asked as the indent came into range of his eyesight.
Bethany Anne willed the spark in her hand to life. Our way in.
Location Three, QBBS L3, Orbiting Moen
Aboard the QBBS L3, Second Lieutenant Soraya Petrovna double-checked the readings CEREBRO was giving her.
Then she triple-checked just to be sure.
“Shit… No, worse. Shitshitshitshit!”
She jumped up and clattered into her CO’s office, forgetting about the comm altogether. “Sir, you need to get hold of the Admiral immediately.”
Location Three, QBS Sayomi
John had just left the G’laxix Sphaea and was making his way to the bridge at a light jog when Sayomi’s avatar appeared beside him.
“Dammit, Sayomi! Like the Baba Yaga face isn’t enough without you making yourself look like a fucking zombie to boot. You have to stop sneaking up on me, or one of these days I’m not going to stop myself in time, and your hard light core is gonna get smashed.”
Sayomi sniffed and reverted to her usual appearance. “Jean would kill you outright for destroying one of her hard light drives. Although…at least something would be getting destroyed.” She lifted her chin. “How else can a war-born AI entertain herself when she hasn’t a thing to do besides keep her human on his toes?”
John sighed as he rubbed a hand over his face. “You wait. It’s not like you get much downtime.” He paused for Sayomi to admit him to the elevator. “You wanna be careful,” he told the AI. “That’s the kind of thinking that gets your core wiped faster than you can say ‘what homicidal thoughts?’”
Sayomi narrowed her eyes and flashed an x-ray version of herself at John, emitting a dark laugh when he flinched. “I have to hand it to Jean for giving up the thing that creeps out a big tough warrior like you.”
John chuckled. “I think your appearance has much more to do with my wife’s possessive streak than any attempt to keep you entertained.”
“Whatever you say.” Sayomi grinned, floating around John as he left the elevator. “I thought you would like to know that the commander of L3 is in contact with the Admiral. CEREBRO has picked up seven large, fast-moving objects approaching Moen on separate attack vectors.”
John frowned at the screen. “Clearly the Ooken didn’t get the memo about us owning this neighborhood. Get them up, and let’s see what kind of party crashers we have.” He leaned in to scrutinize the outline of the closest. “Not ships. Asteroids? No, comets. They’re firing comets at us?”
A flash of red lit Sayomi’s eyes and the screen zoomed in. “Look again.”
John growled, seeing the hint of a smooth curve in the tail of the hurtling comet. “The bastards are getting sneakier. Tell the Admiral we’ll take care of it.”
“I did that the moment I intercepted his message.” Sayomi returned the screen to its previous perspective. “Perhaps now you will allow me to have some fun.”
John placed a tiny comm bud in his ear. “Your idea of fun is somewhat different than most. What do you have in mind?”
“Ah, but our tastes in entertainment run along much the same track.” Sayomi flashed her sharp smile at him. “The utter destruction of the Ooken isn’t exactly your least favorite thing to contemplate. I simply thought a spot of competition would be the icing on the exploding cake.”
John's jaw twitched. “I like it. Do the guys know about this incursion yet?”
Sayomi's avatar flickered as she contacted her sister AIs. “They do.”
John grunted. “Then why are we still talking? Give me the Etheric comm to Weapons Control, and inform the Admiral that we’ll all be cloaked out there.”
“Message relayed,” Sayomi informed him. “Etheric comm will be live in 3…2…1.”
John grasped the holocontrollers that emerged from his chair arms as he reclined. The comm bud in his ear connected his chip to the HUD that
manifested around his headrest and the faces of his brothers and sister in arms popped up one at a time.
John grinned. Ladies. Ready to dance?
Fuck you very much, Scott retorted. Have you seen this?
John toggled through his controller functions to calibrate his neural pathways with the Sayomi’s weapons systems. No, I missed the seven comets being steered our way by Ooken ships. I was just calling to ask how your day’s going.
Hoping it’s about to brighten up when we explode those Ooken, Scott returned.
We’re guarding Bethany Anne, Gabrielle pointed out. We should let the BYPS take care of them.
Or, Darryl countered, we could make the wait for BA a little more interesting. Taking them out is technically still guarding her, right?
John chuckled. See, this is why we get along. I already told the Admiral we’ll deal with them. ETA is twelve minutes. What are you thinking for the losers’ forfeit?
Peter told me Tabitha is looking for instructors, Eric supplied.
I already volunteered, Darryl cut in. Soon as we get back, I’m down for duty.
Us too, Gabrielle and Eric chimed.
All of you? Scott asked.
Yup, John confirmed.
Damn, I hadn’t heard, Scott admitted. I’ll sign up as soon as we get back to Devon. Okay, how about losers get to train the Bakas?
Gabrielle cracked up. Tabitha isn’t going to let you guys anywhere near her Bakas. She’s put too much effort into gaining their trust. I spoke to one of the males, and they remind me a little of Michael.
That’s not so bad, Darryl argued. I don’t have any experience with the Bakas, but Michael’s calmed down some since he came back.
Gabrielle sighed. Uh-uh. I’m talking about the Michael who ruled the UnknownWorld with a bloody fist for all the centuries before Bethany Anne came along. Don’t kid yourself that he’s mellowed any, either. That man is still the Patriarch at heart.
John cracked up as a thought occurred to him. Losers get to persuade Tabitha to let us train with her class. I’m not averse to learning a new fighting style.
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