Capture Death (The Kurtherian Gambit Book 20) Read online

  “Why are you asking for craft training? Isn’t there a better solution on the open market than what we have in the military?”

  “Sweetheart?” Barb began.

  “Yes?” Frank replied.

  “Have you told Lance anything yet?”

  “He didn’t get a chance, Barb. Remember my bullshit comment?” Lance interrupted.

  “Right. Okay, Giles has been focused on his,” you could just hear her air quotes around the next phrase. “Space archeology. His notes are starting to include some out-of-the-way places. These places are far off the beaten path, and frankly we don’t know what he will find. So, while I think a lot of what he discovers in the future will have viability to all of us, I also think it could be dangerous. Knowing how to fly and having all of the other military training might be very useful.”

  Frank smirked. “Consider him ‘Indiana Jones in Space.’”

  “I hate that phrase,” Barb sputtered over the comm.

  “Yet,” Lance said, “it succinctly told me everything I needed to know.”

  “Score one for me,” Frank declared.

  “He is not a space archaeologist!” Barb’s voice had started to grow annoyed. Lance leaned back in his chair, sipping his drink. “He is combing data related to the almost fourteen billion years’ existence of this universe, along with the species and the history we know and that which we don’t know and can’t surmise. Something was out there before us.”

  “A lot of species lived, thrived, survived, and died before Earth came into existence, so why is this more important to us than the rock they are buried in?” Lance asked, taking another sip of his drink.

  Getting Giles into these classes was already approved in his mind. If the man was going to be a pain in the ass, he might as well be a skilled pain in the ass.

  Plus Giles was family, like a nephew that you loved but realized how much trouble he had caused your siblings who had raised him. He wondered if Barb still had color in her hair or if raising Giles had been able to overcome the Pod’s ability to keep her looking young.

  Lance decided not to seek that answer.

  Barb moved into the “I’m giving you data so listen up” phase. “Lance, if the Etheric Empire were to disappear and all those toys that are hidden away were found in a hundred thousand years, what is the chance they would be of value?”

  “Huh,” he grunted while thinking about the sealed weapon stashes the group had been planting for decades in remote locations, and the depth of the stasis efforts they had undertaken to ensure that the systems would work again within two or three days at most, if not hours.

  “So imagine that an even more advanced society than the Etheric Empire did something like that, and it has been waiting for ten thousand or a hundred thousand or even a million years. Who would you want to find it first? The Leath? The Zhyn? The Noel-ni?”

  “Us,” Lance admitted. “Okay, Barb, you’ve made your point.”

  “I always told Frank,” Barb said. “that you had a head of sandstone. Hard, but not too hard.”

  “Great, I’m a sedimentary rock,” he grumped.

  “Be glad I didn’t say ‘granite,’” she retorted.

  Frank raised his hand six inches. “Thank you for your support and help in this, and for the clarification.”

  “Will you approve Giles for the training?” she asked.

  “Yes,” he replied, “but it will come with certain conditions.”

  “I would expect that,” she admitted. “Perhaps a homing tag in his butt or something might be good.”

  “Too obvious,” Lance said, “but we shall see what we can do.”

  “Thank you, Lance. Hey, honey?”

  “Yes?” Frank replied.

  “Dinner with the Escobars is on for tonight,” she told him. “Gabrielle said she has something to tell us, so let’s not be too late, okay?”

  Frank replied, “Okay, dear,” and Barb disconnected.

  Lance finished his drink and reached for Frank’s empty glass. “So, ‘Indiana Jones in Space?’”

  “Perhaps that simplifies it too much,” Frank admitted, “but imagine if you will a galactic Ark of the Covenant.”

  “Fat chance,” Lance replied, as he opened the second drawer down on the right, then placed the empty glasses inside and closed it.

  “I don’t know why not,” Frank mused. “The Earth is less than four billion years old, but the universe is almost fourteen. How many peoples had to have existed before us? You know the Kurtherians—at least some of them—have already ascended and changed their bodies to operate in the Etheric Dimension.”

  “Sounds boring.”

  Frank shrugged. “TOM said that his clan was expanding their mental abilities. Their physical bodies were just a pain in the ass, and they needed a way to dodge the shitheads gunning for them.”

  “Yeah, I get that…” Lance started, but he was interrupted by a knock on the door.

  “Come in,” he called, surprised. The guard station allowed only a few to reach his office unattended.

  He thought for a moment that if Giles kept running scams to acquire resources to go larking about the systems he should be put on the “escort” list.

  A roguish young man stuck his head in. “I’ve been requested to attend a meeting.” His million-watt smile confirmed to Lance that he had a clue what was going on. If he had given another type of smile, it would have told him that Giles thought he was busted for something.

  Lance nodded to the chair next to Frank. “Come on in, Giles, and take a seat.”

  Giles walked over and slid into the seat. He was wearing a fashionable version of an atmosuit that was tailored to look like an old college professor’s.

  Complete with a pair of glasses he had absolutely zero need to wear.

  Giles Kurns, Lance thought. The Earth’s latest hipster.

  QBS Shinigami Over the Planet Ugaloff

  The ink-black face scrunched up. “It’s a trap,” she said. Baba Yaga looked at the information dump that had come in two days previously, and at the fortified location where the information suggested she would find one of the Seven. “I just can’t tell what kind of trap.”

  ADAM and TOM were both using the audio on Shinigami’s bridge to speak to her.

  ADAM went first. “Do you want me to allow the data to pass to Nathan’s group and see if they tag it as false or faked?”

  “No fucking way.” Baba Yaga tapped her lip as she looked at the satellite-level imagery. Better to presume a trap, but it would be nice for the effort to be easier than she anticipated. “Have you hacked them yet?”

  “No,” ADAM admitted. “I don’t think they have any computer systems down there.”

  “That’s…odd.” She thought for a moment. “How about power packs?”

  “Nothing we can sense yet,” TOM said. “Shinigami and I are working on the details and so far…it is a very unlikely event.”

  She considered what she knew. “They are trying to limit my advantages.” Baba Yaga stood up to walk around the bridge, thinking out loud. “They have studied us and know we can infiltrate systems.” She angled around the front video screens and walked towards the back. “They know we have better sensors—or assume we do—so they are hiding the power plants.”

  “Or there aren’t any there in the first place,” TOM said.

  Baba Yaga stopped pacing. “Well, that would make this operation a complete waste of time and effort.” She turned towards the bridge exit. “Time to release my inner Tabitha.”

  The hatch irised closed behind her.

  “Oh, damn,” ADAM commented over the speaker system.

  —

  When Baba Yaga left the armory, she wore a coat that would remind someone of The Matrix had they ever seen that archived movie.

  “There is no spoon,” Baba Yaga had commented at one point when she was sifting through all of the special toys Tabitha had acquired over the years and used on her operations with the Tontos.

  No
w she was suited up with the best tech that had been created over the decades for the Rangers and for Tabitha specifically, and it brought a sharp-toothed smile to her face.

  No matter what was below, she expected to be able to deal with it.

  Baba Yaga was carrying over five hundred rounds of .45 ammo, two swords, her Jean Dukes, and five of “John’s little friends.”

  Those had their own special box. The little grenades were custom-made. Spherical, but not much larger than an olive, with an Etheric-powered explosive device surrounded by small metal balls. They were easy to throw, and could roll along the ground. Hell, they even had a way to engage with antigrav or extragrav.

  Sometimes you really wanted those damned grenades to fall really fast.

  Shinigami said, “Where do you want me to set you down?”

  Baba Yaga considered dropping at the port, but realized that was cockiness talking again and her mouth twisted in annoyance.

  One time being stupid was enough for now, thank you very much.

  “I’m going to add a power pack and drop from ten thousand feet,” she replied. “Atmosphere?”

  “Breathable,” the EI responded.

  Ten minutes later she was ready to go.

  QBBS Meredith Reynolds

  John Grimes walked into the workout room where he and the guys used to spar with Bethany Anne. He was wearing something like an old zip-up jacket from Earth. His hands were in his jacket pockets as he thought back to all the sparring they had done once upon a time.

  How she would sit down on the mat just a few feet from him and stretch out face-down. Her head would touch the mat, and she would answer questions, her muffled voice coming out from under her hair.

  Now the guys used the Guardians’ workout area. It allowed the Guardians to test themselves against the best, and it allowed the Bitches to test themselves against new opponents.

  The Bitches had all been sparring against each other for so many decades they could read each other completely.

  “Meredith?” he called.

  “Yes, John?”

  “Would you please lock the door and record my next speech to Bethany Anne?”

  “Certainly,” her voice replied.

  John sat down slowly and crossed his legs underneath himself. He wished there were grass here so that he could pick at it while he said what he had to say.

  “BA…” he started, then tapped the floor and looked up. “Boss, it’s me.”

  Well duh, shithead! he thought to himself. Like she wouldn’t recognize your voice?

  “I need to get something off my chest and I know you will understand, even if you hate me forever for it.”

  He took a deep breath. “You remember when we took out that sheikh and his twelve security people after we judged them back on Earth?

  “Do you remember what we said as we executed them and tossed their bodies over the back of the boat?”

  He remembered each of them saying almost the same thing, over and over. Hell, that was when Peter had stood up and become a man for sure, and had stopped being “Pete” to the group.

  “Baba Yaga, if you are listening to this, think back to those times, to those promises we made. We agreed in no uncertain terms that you have to protect your primary, but you also have to protect the innocent. Right now we don’t know where you are or what you are doing.”

  I’ll find you if I can, BA, just don’t fall into darkness. Please, God, don’t let her fall into darkness.

  “I was instructed by my fucking best friend to not ever let her succumb to the darkness because Bethany Anne would not want to live that way.”

  I don’t want her to live that way. He sighed audibly. He would rather go into the darkness right now than say what he was required to say.

  “Baba Yaga, you need to make sure you protect the innocent, or the Queen’s Bitches will be charged with capturing you or killing you. We made that pact long ago, and at the moment, with no information, I am honor-bound my friend to warn you.”

  Tears dripped onto the mat and John reached up to wipe his eyes.

  “Bethany Anne, I love you. Please come back to us. Please.”

  It was another five seconds before he could speak without his voice cracking.

  “This is the Empress’ lead Bitch, but more than that, this is Bethany Anne’s friend John Grimes.

  Come back home please, BA. John out.”

  He sniffed and used his sleeve to wipe his eyes again.

  “Meredith, please send that to TOM and ADAM.”

  Five minutes later John was able to clear his eyes enough to leave.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  QBS Shinigami, Over the Planet Ugaloff

  The back hatch of the cloaked ship opened. Had someone been looking up, it would have been a strange experience to see the inside of a ship and a person in black standing there with no visible support.

  Baba Yaga once more made sure she had packed the coat. There was no way she was dropping through the atmosphere with all that shit in the pockets just begging to fall out. “Alley oop!” she said, and simply stepped out.

  Her full-face helmet was well-seated, so she leaned forward to use the air to guide her in the direction she wanted to go. Her planned landing spot was easily four kilometers from the location where she was expecting to find the Seven.

  Or at least answers.

  When she was a thousand feet up the antigrav kicked in, and she grunted as the deceleration increased. At one hundred feet she felt her stomach tell her to go fuck herself, and it stayed behind as the antigrav went into overdrive to handle the extra weight of her armor and supplies.

  By the time she touched the ground, it was as if she had jumped from five feet. She reached to her chest and unlocked the extra power pack, and tossed it up.

  It zipped up into the atmosphere so Shinigami could grab it. The ships robots would place it back in the charging queue.

  She unhooked her rolled-up bag and pulled out the trench coat. After making sure all the internal pockets were closed, she put it on.

  “Not very fashionable with a helmet,” she murmured to herself.

  A hole you can reach through in your head isn’t much of a fashion accessory either, TOM replied.

  Do you always have to give me shit? she asked, annoyed.

  When you aren’t thinking properly, yes.

  If you loved me— she started.

  TOM interrupted, I do love you and your pain-in-the-ass alter-ego, or I would have done something logical like stopping you from leaving Leath.

  Fucker, she mumbled, but he was right.

  Can we just kill these sonsabitches so we can go home? TOM asked.

  Home? she mused, and started walking towards the path Shinigami had identified to get down from this little escarpment. I am your home.

  At the moment you are my domicile, he answered, but didn’t provide any more explanation when she asked him.

  It took her another two hours to safely get to where she wanted to be, and during that time the local sun had set and darkness had arrived. She used the advanced optics of her helmet to look as closely as she could at her target. I got nothing, she grumped, then reached into the coat and pulled out three balls.

  >>You are too far away to use those at the moment.<<<br />
  She ignored his comment and thought the commands to program the little spheres. Watch and learn, young Padawan.

  She stood still for a moment, then pulled her arm back and threw the three balls as hard as she could towards the little castle-like building before she dropped back down.

  >>Okay, that was unexpected. Tabitha doesn’t do that. Well, at least not that I am aware of.<<<br />
  Tabitha is usually inside when she needs them. I’m pretty damn far away. She watched her HUD as the three spheres sped towards the building. “Damn, a little short.” As she said the words the antigrav kicked in, and instead of slamming into the ground the three spheres used their momentum to continue their forward motion. “Nice programming.”
r />   You are welcome, TOM said.

  Wait, you programmed them? she asked.

  Yes. I could see what you wanted, so if you failed to throw them far enough they would use the momentum to move forward, saving the energy for the antigrav.

  She thought for a moment as the three video-in feeds displayed on her HUD. “Well, nice job.” She watched the information flow across her screen for a moment, then said, “This is bullshit.”

  The other data the sensors were pulling soon confirmed her thoughts. “This is a setup. See if we have any traffic—something like a ping.”

  They waited there another forty-seven minutes before ADAM gave her the news over her helmet system. “Rigged with explosives.”

  “Huh?” she asked. She had rolled onto her back in a shallow depression, changed her ambient temperature to match the surrounding area’s, and closed her eyes for a few minutes so it took her a moment.

  “The place is rigged to blow. I suspect they are using a negative-return switch,” he told her.

  “Which means what, exactly?” She looked at the video feed. The left one was showing what looked like a fuck-ton of blow-up shit. “That would have been a hell of a way to earn a new asshole.”

  “Not sure there would be enough ass to create a new hole,” ADAM replied. “This would have shredded you into enough parts to vaporize you. It goes off at a positive signal, or lack of a negative signal.”

  “So we plug in a signal block and boom?”

  “Yes.”

  She thought about it for a second. “We have any idea where they are?”

  “Not yet,” ADAM replied.

  “Block it,” she told him.

  “How?”

  She was momentarily surprised. “No capabilities in those spheres?”

  “No.”

  “Well, shit.” She chewed on her cheek while she tried to think up a few options.

  TOM offered, “Could we fake you walking in there using the spheres, perhaps?”

  “Uhhh, have them hit the ground? Audio or shockwave sensors?” she asked. “What if they have video?”

  “No transmissions, and I have not seen anything on the video intake,” ADAM replied.