Forever Defend (The Kurtherian Gambit Book 17) Read online

  CONTENTS

  Dedication

  Legal

  Social Links

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Epilogue

  Author's Notes

  Series List

  DEDICATION

  To Family, Friends and

  Those Who Love

  To Read.

  May We All Enjoy Grace

  To Live The Life We Are

  Called.

  FOREVER DEFEND

  The Kurtherian Gambit 17 Team

  Beta Editor / Readers

  Bree Buras (Aussie Awesomeness)

  Timothy Cox (The Myth) - working on it ;-)

  Tom Dickerson (The man)

  S Forbes (oh yeah!)

  Dorene Johnson (US Navy (Ret) & DD)

  Dorothy Lloyd (Teach you to ask…Teacher!)

  Diane Velasquez (Chinchilla lady & DD)

  JIT Beta Readers

  Alex Wilson

  Erika Daly

  Melissa OHanlon

  Kimberly Boyer

  Brent Bakken

  John Findlay

  John Raisor

  Paul Westman

  Joshua Ahles

  Keith Verret

  Thomas Ogden

  Peter Manis

  Sherry Foster

  Kelly ODonnell

  Micky Cocker

  If I missed anyone, please let me know!

  Editors

  Stephen Russell

  Lynne Stiegler

  Thank you to the following Special Consultants

  for FOREVER DEFEND

  Jeff Morris - US Army - Asst Professor Cyber-Warfare, Nuclear Munitions (Active)

  FOREVER DEFEND (this book) is a work of fiction.

  All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.

  Copyright © 2017 Michael T. Anderle

  Cover by Jeff Brown (http://jeffbrowngraphics.com)

  Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing

  LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  LMBPN Publishing

  PMB 196, 2540 South Maryland Pkwy

  Las Vegas, NV 89109

  First US edition, 2017

  Version 1.0 July 2017

  The Kurtherian Gambit (and what happens within / characters / situations / worlds) are copyright © 2017 by Michael T. Anderle.

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  The email list is changing to something…New. I don’t have enough details but suffice to say there is so much going on in The Kurtherian Gambit Universe, it needs to go out more often than “when the next book hits.”

  I hope you enjoy the book!

  Michael Anderle - 2017.

  PROLOGUE

  Yollin System, Three Years After Straiphus Rebellion

  They say that history is written by the victors, and they are right. The reason is completely logical. Those that lost aren’t around to write anything.

  As the dead can’t write from beyond the grave.

  The latest and most impressive ship built in the Yollin’s new military shipyards slowly and smoothly slid from its moorings as hundreds who watched from nearby ships raised their hands in salute.

  The Empress stared in silence as the new, massive, ship slid into place next to her official Royal in-system Transport Pod. The doors opened to allow the Empress’ transport to enter the ship’s cavernous bay.

  It wasn’t long before those in the Transport Pod disembarked and made their way to the bridge, which was built in the center of the massive vessel.

  Bethany Anne stopped outside of the bridge to look at the dark, six-foot-wide, gray stone monument that had so many names chiseled into it. She reached up and rubbed her hand across a few. Turning, she wiped a tear from her cheek as she took the last few steps to the bridge, the doors opening automatically for her.

  She nodded to those standing around waiting for her arrival. The Yollin head of the shipyard, those that worked to make this ship useable by both humans and Yollins, and those who had been employed on the massive electronic infrastructure.

  Necessary to house the new Intelligence.

  She walked straight to the Captain’s chair, turned and sat down. The Shipyard Master looked over to the Minister of Defense, who winked back at him.

  “This is Empress Bethany Anne of the Etheric Empire, show yourself.” She commanded.

  A face, a replica of the Empress herself, slowly brightened into view on the front screens, her eyes flaring red. Some of those on the bridge were shocked to see the face of the Empress on the screens.

  Their Empress, however, smiled in satisfaction. “Hello ArchAngel, it’s damned good to have you back.”

  The face on the screen looked around at everyone standing on her bridge. Then, she looked at the woman seated in the Captain’s chair and smiled.

  “Hello, Mother.”

  There was a second where no one even breathed, as the AI continued, “This is the Leviathan Class Super-Dreadnought ArchAngel II. I have been commanded to protect the Etheric Empire by Empress Bethany Anne. All Lockdown Protocols on this ship have not yet been implemented. Does the Empress command I enact lockdown protocols?”

  “No, I do not,” Bethany Anne replied.

  “Lockdown protocals are not activated. Leviathan Class Super-Dreadnought ArchAngel II is now fully operational and will fight all who attack the Etheric Empire until Victorious…or Dead.”

  Bethany Anne smiled, her eyes red in memory of those whose names graced the stone outside the bridge. “Good, it’s time you kick some more ass, ArchAngel.”

  Yollin System, Thirteen Years After Straiphus Rebellion

  It had been ten years since the battle that had seen the original ArchAngel reduced to so much scrap in another system. The Etheric Empire had grown in influence, power, and prestige. Unfortunately, what they hadn’t grown in was knowledge of where Kurtherians might be hiding.

  In the intervening time, those who were aware of the rumors of the human Empress discounted them. While she was very commanding in person, most didn’t believe the stories the humans told in the bars, cities and outer reaches.

  Or the few videos she still permitted to float around.

  That was about to change.


  CHAPTER ONE

  Pirate Ship F’zeer

  The vessel on his screen was neither sleek nor svelte. In fact, if you looked closely at it you might have called it a large bathtub in space.

  It was ugly, but it wasn’t small. The potential value of its contents was significant enough that even a small piece of them would be worth a couple weeks of gluttony on one of the pirate worlds.

  Or on some of the seedier space stations that existed in most systems.

  Brell, the captain of the pirate ship F’zeer stayed the course as he watched the passive viewing instrumentation’s data. For the last five years, those damned humans had made his job more and more difficult in the outer reaches of the Eubos, Straiphus and Gorn Systems.

  First, he had been forced to give up his minor slave-trading efforts in Eubos. Then black-marketeering had largely become unprofitable in Straiphus. Now the rumor was that just a bit over thirty days ago there had been a set of news torps shot into the Gorn System warning that the Etheric Empress’ Rangers would be extending their damned reach into that locality.

  For the good of all citizens.

  Well, Brell thought, it wasn’t for the good of his clan at all. So apparently the Etheric Empire didn’t consider his kind citizens. Which was fine.

  He didn’t want to be a part of their special clique anyway.

  “Captain?” First Officer Wig turned to look at him from his seat a step lower on the bridge. “Permission to engage?”

  Brell hadn’t found any ships following the massive commercial vessel, and he had his team try, and try hard. His ship had placed large emitters on the other side of the trajectory the ship was expected to fly. If there had been a cloaked vessel lying in wait, they would have known about it.

  “Go,” he commanded finally and reached for his log book. They might be pirates, but that didn’t mean they ran a loose ship.

  If you weren’t a good businessman, being a pirate could be an excellent way to lose your life.

  Commercial Transport K’leen II out of Yollin Territory, heading toward Gorn Station 2215

  The bridge of the ship was calm, the Yollins reviewing their consoles glanced up from time to time, but everything had been calm so far.

  “Captain, we just got hit by active sensors!” Radar Operator D’ber yelled.

  “Dammit.” Captain M’rin clicked his mandibles and locked his four legs to his couch. “I had hoped the memos would do the trick.”

  “You were hoping the memos would do the trick because you lost a hundred credits to me,” the captain’s steward commented as he placed a drink and a stim pill next to the captain.

  Captain M’rin turned to look at his steward, who had a small gleam in his eye. “Well, it might be that, or it might be those idiots.” He pointed toward the main screen on the bridge, which was now plotting the location of the suspected pirate vessel. “Might just blow some holes in us instead of boarding.”

  Steward A’nick sniffed and shrugged his shoulders, a completely human movement. “We all have a time to die, Captain.”

  “Well,” M’rin turned toward the screen as he waited for the next step in this dance, “if it is all the same to you, I don’t intend to do that anytime soon.”

  A’nick nodded. “I doubt our passengers wish to perish either.”

  Captain M’rin punched a button. “This is the Captain speaking. We have a possible pirate heading in our direction. All secondary personnel, go to your safety zones and remain there until we sound the all-clear or call you for support services. Please be aware that decompression might occur. Take all necessary precautions.”

  He clicked off the call button and blew out a breath of air. “Ok, patch me into Section Two-Two-One.”

  Section Two-Two-One, Mid-Spine, Commercial Transport K’leen II

  Ryu held his hands straight out, palms down. His face was a study in composure, eyes unblinking. If you didn’t know any better, you might think him a 3D-printed statue.

  The set of hands beneath his barely flinched, but the change was enough for him to pull on the Etheric and move his hands out of the way. The female’s hands sliced through the air where his had been a microsecond before.

  “DAMMIT!” Tabitha hissed as she missed Ryu’s hands. She had decided that he would use a straight-back exit strategy for this game of slaps, but the little bastard had pulled his hands in two separate directions.

  “That is officially seven misses in a row, Kemosabe,” the Japanese man told the Hispanic woman. “You now owe me seventy pushups.”

  “Gott Verdammt!” Tabitha eyed him. While she technically outranked him, he was still one of her two mentors and counselors. She had learned a lot in the last few years, but she would never catch up to the knowledge Ryu had acquired in the hundreds of years he’d been alive.

  “Double or nothing?” she asked, smiling at Ryu in an attempt to sell it better.

  He raised an eyebrow, but shook his head. “No.”

  “Double-dammit!” Tabitha groaned as she dropped to the floor. “This is so fucking embarrassing.”

  “You need the exercise anyway, Tabitha,” Ryu consoled her. “Why is it that doing the exercises is a problem?”

  “It’s exercise,” she grumped as she started doing her reps of forty push-ups. “That’s all I should have to say. Hell, it’s not chocolate or sex, so why would you even have to ask?”

  The speaker came on. “This is the Captain speaking. We have acquired suspected pirate activity. What is your command, Ranger Tabitha?”

  Tabitha spoke up as she kept pushing up, dropping down, and then pushing back up. “Mind your Ps and Qs, Captain M’rin, and tell me where the fucking exit on this ship is. Or at least where they are going to come aboard.”

  Pirate Ship F’zeer

  Captain Brell nodded to his communications specialist. “Put me on tight-beam to the K’leen II.”

  Brell was hoping that he… Yes! As he was waiting for the communication video link to connect and steady, he heard that the captain of the other ship was a male Yollin. He wondered if he could get the captain to defect from the Etheric Empire and bring his ship along for the ride. “This is Captain Brell of the F’zeer. Who am I addressing?”

  The video didn’t show. “This is the captain of the K’leen II out of the Yollin System, part of the Etheric Empire. To what do I owe this honor?”

  Captain Brell released the transmit button so his voice wouldn’t travel back to the Yollin ship.

  “Honor?” He looked around his bridge and heard the chuckles he had anticipated. He pushed the button to talk. “K’leen II,” he started, leaning into the mic, “you will slow down, and we will board your ship. We are going to review your manifests and decide on the most valuable tribute to take for allowing you to continue on your way.”

  Brell exhaled dramatically. “And unfortunately, Captain, you and your command staff will be offered the opportunity to join us here on the F’zeer as our short-term guests. And by guests, I really mean slaves. Now, if you don’t like this choice, I would like to offer you the chance to join our Navy. With such a handsome ship as the K’Leen, you and your command staff would be celebrated upon your arrival.”

  Brell muted the mic once more to talk with his own people. “Of course,” Brell continued, winking to his First Officer, “everyone else on the ship will be either sold into slavery or spaced. Probably half his command staff will also be sold or spaced.” Brell shrugged his shoulders. “But what he doesn’t know probably won’t affect this next decision, anyway.”

  The K’leen II’s captain’s voice came back over the speaker, his annoyance evident. “F’zeer, you can kiss my Yollin ass. There is no way I will give up my ship to you useless Skaine bastards.”

  Brell punched the button. “Why are you suggesting we are Skaine, Captain?” He released the button and continued speaking to those on his bridge, “Not that you are wrong. I’m just curious.”

  The answer didn’t make him any happier. “Because,” the K�
�leen II’s captain replied, “the Etheric Empire has scan data on many of the Skaine ships, and we have a 98.7% match to your ship, real name Kurket. This information has already been sent to our home office, and from there it will be sent to Central Defense Command.”

  Section Two-Two-One, Mid-Spine, Commercial Transport K’leen II

  “Gott Verdammt!” Tabitha hissed as she listened in on the conversation. “He’s going to fuck up my opportunity here.”

  Ryu shook his head. “The goal, Kemosabe, is to protect the transport and the assets, and reduce piracy. Not to kill every Skaine in existence.”

  Tabitha looked at her Tonto. “Well, those might be the written commands, but I received a memo.” Tabitha’s focus went distant, her memory still haunted by the fateful death of one of her own at the hands of the Skaines.

  “Yes?” Ryu looked sideways at his boss. Memos had become digital voodoo with Tabitha. The more outrageous they were, the more believable it was that they were real. How she alone received them in foreign systems so she could point to them when she needed to, he wasn’t sure.

  Ryu and Hirotoshi had tried questioning Achronyx, only to have him tell them he didn’t have the information they sought.

  Both knew Tabitha had enough programming prowess to accomplish such sneakiness as the memos but had figured she would have engaged Achronyx’s assistance in any such endeavor.

  So far, they had gotten nowhere.

  “Yes, the memo stated that the Skaine would be dealt with ‘in a manner commensurate with their previous behavior’.’” She focused on him once more. “Their previous behavior was murder, piracy and slavery. All punishable by death sentences in the Etheric Empire.”