Might Makes Right (The Kurtherian Gambit Book 18) Read online

  “Yes, yes, and yes,” he told her. “Plus, we have limited the print run with scarcity in mind so that they will have something to gamble with."

  “Can you go right now?” she asked him.

  He checked the time. “I’ve got a conversation with Kevin about the new mobile Reynolds he’s building in ten minutes.”

  Bethany Anne checked her schedule.

  ADAM, move my meeting with Jean until tonight before dinner. Tell her I’m tagging along with my dad to see about the new Reynolds.

  >>Done. She says that works out better for her anyway.<<<br />
  There was a pause…

  >>Sorry, I wasn’t supposed to admit that last part.<<<br />
  Humans have been copping out on stuff for more than a thousand years. We are all busy.

  “Why don’t we swing by, see if Patricia is around, then I’ll go with you to see Kevin?” she asked him.

  He nodded. “Works for me.”

  “Hey!” The two turned to see Admiral Thomas walking toward them. “Give an old man a lift?”

  Bethany Anne reached out to them both as he neared them. “You don’t look a day past thirty, Bartholomew.” She smiled when just the tiniest part of his lip curled in annoyance.

  Hey, it wasn’t her fault his parents named him something he didn’t care for. She wasn’t about to call him Bart, for fuck’s sake.

  Why not just call him “B”, like he had requested for all his life, and was one of the points in TQB’s favour when they made the initial call to contact him about the job?

  ADAM, where is Patricia?

  >> Shopping, fourth floor, men’s section.<<<br />
  Seconds later the three of them popped out into the large shopping area, seventh floor, in front of a shop.

  They all heard the indrawn breath.

  “Empress?” A woman’s voice inquired softly.

  CHAPTER TWO

  QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Prime Guardian’s Office

  Peter looked at his two subordinates, and then at Todd and his two. “Guys, we need more recruits. We can’t just shanghai people willy-nilly into the Guardians.”

  He leaned back. “It’s time we started accepting others if we are going to implement our own version of Death Dealers to another planet.”

  The sucked-in breaths from around the table amused Peter as they realized who he was talking about. “She isn’t that strange, Tommy,” Peter told him.

  “Sir,” he nodded, “all due respect, she is fucking frightening.”

  “Well then,” Todd told them, “I guess it’s a good thing she’s on our side, isn’t it?”

  The four men and two women nodded their agreement.

  “Ok,” Peter asked the group, “who’s volunteering to ask Gyada if she is ready to take point again?”

  “I think that kind of risk belongs at the top.” Todd smirked, looking at Peter. “Besides, you heal quicker.”

  He eyed his friend. “Yeah, I figured as much. Just seeing if I had any abnormally courageous individuals here."

  “Sir, she isn’t going to hurt you, right?” Tina, his second, asked.

  Peter shook his head, “No, she’s actually very pleasant. She’s incredibly old. Her time trapped in those caves in Russia, stuck in a Were form thinking about her children hurt her. It’s taken a lot of time for her heart to heal since Boris and his team saved her, and I’m sure it hasn’t fully healed, yet. However, I can tell you she is walking death and I’m the one who is going to potentially be sending her down a road that is going to cause her pain. And frankly?” He looked to them all, “I hate to ask a friend to do that.”

  “But needs must when the devil is driving,” Todd quoted.

  QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Open Court, Level Seven

  Sarah recognized the three who appeared in front of her office and a whisper escaped her lips. “Empress?”

  She was surprised when the Empress turned towards her. “Sarah!” She wore a smile.

  Sarah’s internal voice was screaming, Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit! She’s coming in here!

  Sarah stood up from her desk and stepped out from behind it, calling to her son over her shoulder. “Johnny?”

  Bethany Anne winked at Sarah as the little boy came out of the back of her office. He was playing with two model spaceships, using his hands to fly them around. “PEW PEW, TAKE THAT YOU SKAINE SLAVERS!” He twisted the first ship in his hand, then flew it into the wall and bounced it off, dropping it with a shouted, “KABLOOIE!”

  He bent down to pick up the ship and stepped forward as he looked up. His mouth opened and he couldn’t speak.

  He stared at the Empress, who was smiling down at him with a glint of humor in her eyes. “Hello, Johnny.”

  Beside her, Sarah surreptitiously wiped her eye. This woman was everything she could ever wish for in a monarch, and then some.

  About three months before, she and Johnny had been guests on a tour of the ArchAngel II, the preeminent ship in the Etheric Empire’s fleet, conducted by the head of the Empress’ Rangers, Barnabas himself.

  Sarah was a single mom, and she hadn’t told Johnny much about the military side of the Etheric Empire. The fact that Johnny’s dad had been killed in an operation back in human space was all she could share before her heart folded in on itself. She didn’t hate the military; it was just too hard for her to talk about it.

  Even to her son. Someday, she had promised herself, she would tell the young man all about his father—just not that moment. The someday moment had yet to occur.

  Until Barnabas had stopped in front of her little business and rented a chair from her son.

  The visit to the mighty ArchAngel II had captured Johnny’s attention, and she could see Earl’s, her husband's, blood flow through her son’s veins as he soaked it all up. God, she felt like she had let Earl down.

  But it was so damned hard.

  Sarah had thought the tour would be a fast thirty minutes, but Barnabas seemed to know exactly what Johnny wanted to see and he found the right people each time to explain things to the young boy. Her heart broke as she realized Barnabas was providing the kind of detailed explanation Earl would have given their son had he been alive.

  He had always been the teacher, no matter the subject.

  About an hour into the tour Barnabas had turned to her and pursed his lips. “Sarah,” he had asked, “may I show Johnny a video we have on the corporal?”

  Sarah’s mouth had hung open for a few seconds. “You have footage?” she had finally asked. She had quickly nodded her agreement before Johnny figured out whatever Barnabas had decided to surprise him with.

  She noticed when Barnabas reached up to his collar and spoke softly. A full hour later the three of them entered a small theater with a table at the bottom. They took seats in the bottom row as a voice greeted them.

  “This is ArchAngel. I have a video of your father, which ADAM compiled at the direction of the Empress for you to see, young Master Brunner.”

  Johnny turned to his mom, his eyes glistening. “Dad?” he whispered, and she nodded.

  “Would you like to see it now, or would you like to wait until you are older? The Empress says it is your choice,” the AI asked him.

  “Please?” he asked. “Please, ArchAngel, Empress?”

  It wasn’t a short video. It ran for over twenty minutes, showing Earl first as a young man going to college to be a teacher, before he received that fateful phone call.

  One that informed him his friend Samantha had been killed in a terrorist attack in France. He had told Samantha’s mother that he understood and appreciated her call.

  He slowly hung up the phone and grabbed his keys. He didn’t have class for another four hours, but his classes had become irrelevant to him now anyway.

  He never went back to that college. Rather, he left his apartment and went to the Navy/Marines recruiting station. Standing in front of the two doors, Navy to the left, Marines to the right, he looked at their posters. Pressing his lips together, he realized he wante
d…no, he needed to be on the sharp end of the stick.

  He had turned right into the Marines’ office and never looked back.

  Two years later, in a nowhere little dirt town protecting a group of civilians who probably didn’t appreciate his support, Earl’s vehicle ran over an IED and in the blast that tore up their vehicle, he lost a leg. When he woke up on a stretcher, he could see his sergeant’s face and knew something was wrong.

  “All I want to know,” he ground out through the pain that the meds were nowhere near taking care of, “is can I go back?” A moment later he pressed his eyelids together as the sergeant shook his head.

  A knock on his apartment door a year later changed his life. It was an invitation to visit TQB’s medical ship, which was based in France at that time. He hadn’t been sure it wasn't a joke, but thank God he had taken them up on the offer.

  When they told him he could get back into the game against the foes of Earth, he couldn’t agree fast enough.

  Sarah had been his physical therapist, and had gone with him to France. When he had healed, he asked if she would marry him.

  She had questioned him before answering, and he had admitted that he wouldn’t have asked her when he wasn’t a whole man. She had told him he was beyond stupid for thinking something like that would matter, then given him an emphatic yes.

  His story, including the tale of his lost leg, unfolded on the screen to their son’s rapt attention.

  An eternity and a few seconds later the film ended and the lights brightened. During the film Johnny had slid out of his seat and sat on his mom’s lap as she wiped tears away, reliving the love she still felt for Earl.

  Johnny had given her hugs during the video to comfort her, and she had returned them.

  In the aftermath of the footage the two of them were blankly watching the white screen. The next second they both were shocked when the Empress and John Grimes appeared in front of them.

  Johnny couldn’t figure out which of the two he had wanted to look at first as John walked towards him, “You can handle this, Johnny. Your dad’s story is incredible. You were damned lucky to have had him, both of you.” He nodded to Sarah, then stepped out of the room to take up his position outside.

  That left only the Empress, who had once again smiled at him.

  Just like she was smiling at him right now as he clutched the two forgotten spaceships in his hands.

  “Are you playing Rangers?” Bethany Anne asked him.

  Johnny nodded.

  “Well, Barnabas is going to be happy to hear that,” she told him, then winked. “But I’ve brought two other people who want to make sure they get a word with you before you make any choices for your future, young man.” She stepped aside and waved to the two men behind her. “Let me introduce you to General Lance Reynolds, Military Commander of the Etheric Empire, and Admiral Thomas, Space Navy Commander of the Etheric Empire.”

  Both men smiled and they playfully jostled each other to be the first to shake his hand.

  Johnny stepped forward, moved the ship to his left hand and reached up. “I’m honored to meet you both, sirs. My name is Johnny.”

  Sarah had groped to try and find some tissues as she watched. When someone handed her a handkerchief, she used it to wipe her tears. Realizing it was soft, she saw that it was made of silk. She turned to see a young-looking woman in a purple dress, wisdom in her eyes, smiling at her. “Keep it. I bought it for Lance, but I think maybe it would be an excellent marketing tool to offset Barnabas’ influence.”

  And she was right.

  Leath System, Sanctified Ground, City of Truth

  Torik, the Third of the Seven looked over to the Supreme Fourth, Head of the Military Maliki and asked him. “Our efforts to drive them from the testing’s system is going how?

  “Stalemate, Your Holiness.” Maliki answered.

  Torik nodded. It was the same answer he had received three times before. Now, with their most recent effort a week in the past, it was just another example of a waste of their resources.

  His role was to handle resource management for the efforts to elevate—and incidentally modify—this race. The actual killing of participants in the Testing was designed to facilitate the Prime’s effort to genetically enhance the Leath as a people. That the Leath believed Torik’s clan were gods was to be expected.

  Because they effectively were. Power and ability to change whole races and worlds did put them into the godhood bracket. Clan K’gurth, and specifically their branch, were the future of Clan Phraim-’Eh. Now they would explain to those who had cast them out why they reveled in the purity of Chaos.

  The math which finds ways to predict the unpredictable chaos of life providing insight, power and wisdom.

  “I will take the information you provide and consult with the Seven. We will have instructions before the next Testing for you to implement, Supreme Fourth.”

  The Leath military head bowed and left the holy location. He always felt exalted when he spoke to any of the Holinesses. But why would he expect any less when speaking with gods?

  QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Military Bases Development Offices

  Kevin was working at a large table, space displayed by a holographic projector above. Stephanie, beside him, was arguing with him as Bethany Anne, Lance and Admiral Thomas entered the Base Development offices.

  Neither of them turned as the three started talking softly between themselves.

  “Do they realize we are here?” Bethany Anne asked her father.

  “Doubt it,” Lance answered. “Occasionally Kevin would get into arguments back in Colorado having to do with the base, and he could become laser-focused on the situation. Especially,” he nodded at Stephanie, “if it was a spirited debate over engineering versus proper base arrangement.”

  The trio listened as the two deliberated the merits of the latest project they had been assigned.

  “That,” Kevin pointed to a rather large asteroid and highlighting the huge chunk of rock, “is not going to work well for defense purposes. There are too many odd angles, and it would take a goddamned lifetime to install enough protective emplacements to cover all of the—”

  Stephanie, the bi-racial engineer Bethany Anne and her father had hired years ago, wasn’t budging an inch. “We can cut the peaks down!”

  Bethany Anne thought she noticed Stephanie’s hand twitch as if she were considering emphasizing the statement with a slap to the back of Kevin’s head.

  “Why would we want to spend the time cutting this shit down,” he shot right back, “if we have three other selections, each of which is better?”

  “I swear, if I have to force-feed you the mineralogy reports for options 21, 88 and 221B I will do it, page by page.”

  Kevin looked at her, “I’ve read them. What I don’t understand is why the percentages matter, since the numbers don’t seem to be that far apart.”

  Stephanie stopped a moment, mouth open. Closing her mouth, her eyes narrowed. “You read them?”

  “Hell yes, I read them. I’ve learned to make sure I am prepared. Are you?”

  Stephanie ran her tongue around her lips a moment. “May I?” She nodded to the display and Kevin waved a hand, offering her the opportunity to take over. She stepped up and touched the four rocks hovering above the table in the display, then spoke. “Reynolds, please get rid of everything but these selections and then provide me the top five types of rock which make them up by percentage, listing below each.”

  The three watched, entranced, as the two continued their discussion.

  “Left is my selection labeled one, the other three are options. Now, the difference,” she swiped a couple of controls, causing small space ship animations to start attacking all four rocks, “is what can create an unstable dissonance in the core of each asteroid. You will notice that Asteroid 21 has a dissonance frequency similar to Asteroid 88.” She pushed up the controls as Kevin watched, mesmerized.

  “Granted, this isn’t the most likely event, bu
t should someone attack 221B using two asteroids at points,” she lifted a hand to indicate, “A here, and B over there, the asteroid will crack. There is a small problem with it.” She pulled her hand back and crossed her arms over her chest. “We could engineer a method of reducing the risk.”

  “But why take the chance,” Kevin finished. He was chewing on the inside of his lip, deep in thought. “Ok, you are saying it's a small chance, and I agree. But,” he nodded to the asteroid she had listed as her first choice, “how are we going to get that hunk of rock prepared in a timeline that works worth a damn?”

  “En route,” Stephanie told him.

  “En route?” Bethany Anne asked, startling the two in front of her.

  “Damn,” Kevin put a hand over his heart, “don’t scare a man like that, Bethany Anne. He’s likely to have a heart attack and need mouth-to—ooof.” Kevin finished, Stephanie having punched him in the ribs.

  “If you don’t focus, I’ll give you mouth-to-mouth.”

  “That was my intent,” he interrupted.

  “You didn’t let me finish!” Stephanie eyed him.

  “That’s right,” Kevin agreed, “and that is because whatever you have to say will be infinitely less enjoyable than my version.”

  Bethany Anne wondered how, after all these years, these two maintained both a working and a personal relationship. Stephanie preferred to keep the two separate, and Kevin preferred to annoy her.

  Bethany Anne would have thought the ex-Army man would have been all prim and proper, but not so much.

  “En route.” Stephanie ignored her husband. “My thought is we figure out the best solution for the external design for the mobile ESD and then emplace a field like we have here on the Meredith Reynolds to push attackers into a defined funnel, moving them away from locations we are concerned about."

  “To some killing fields.” Kevin nodded. “How long would that take?”

  “Depends on how many and where,” Stephanie temporized. “If we can agree where the ESD beam will be set up, then we can—”