Payback Is A Bitch (The Kurtherian Endgame Book 1) Read online

  “Stay here, I guess. I’ve got projects that could take me out-system in the direction opposite Adolphin. Much as I love the weather and the food, I would hate to travel all that way just to come back.”

  “Okay. I’ll be back in about a month,” Az continued. “You, Imon, and I can follow up on special projects through the usual communications channels.” Which meant hidden messages. “Let me know if there are any general projects I need to review while on Adolphin.”

  “I will,” he confirmed. “Take care.”

  Az nodded and stabbed the button again. Some days there was just so much of his partner he could take before he wanted to walk into his office down the hall and unscrew his head from his shoulders.

  Az stood up from his desk, grabbing his tablets and the case he carried them in. The secret tablet went into a hidden pouch that was shielded from typical spaceport security. Not usually a problem, since once he got to the next major world he would rent a personal craft to take him to Adolphin.

  On the company’s dime, of course.

  He locked his office and headed for his suite, but then he got a bad feeling and turned to head directly to the transportation level.

  There was no time like the present to leave.

  22

  High Tortuga, Hidden Space Fleet Base, Nursery

  Bethany Anne was resting with her eyes closed when her breathing turned erratic. Her eyes beneath the lids jerked back and forth and her sleep was punctured by fractured dreams.

  She was back on Earth.

  Her hands subconsciously grasped the covers, squeezing them as scenes of destruction insinuated themselves and voices, screams, and death played out on the video screen of her mind.

  Michael was dead.

  Her back arched and her head tilted at an impossible angle into the pillow as a silent scream erupted from her soul.

  BETHANY ANNE! TOM’s voice ripped through her consciousness.

  Her eyes flew open. She was lying on her back in her bed, sheets torn up around her. She breathed a sigh of relief, spying the two advanced hybrid Pod-cribs her children rested comfortably in next to her.

  But there was no Michael.

  Her eyes flashed red and her chest heaved uncontrollably as she fought to hold herself together.

  This is bullshit!

  Bethany Anne rolled out of bed. ADAM, prepare my armor and tell the Guardians I want thirty of their best.

  >>Okay. Are we going somewhere? <<<br />
  Yes, she replied, walking into her shower to get the stink of the nightmares washed off. We are going to protect the father of my children…

  —

  Bethany Anne locked on the latest armor Jean had made for her.

  It was jet-black and sexy as hell. This new set wasn’t composed of connected links, but instead damn-close-to-impregnable plate. It ruined her mobility, but so long as she was inside it there wasn’t much on the planet that could kill her.

  She hoped.

  She deliberated for a moment. She wasn’t sure if she should take the children or leave them here in the safety of the base, but she listened to her instincts and allowed herself to feel the truth.

  “You guys are coming with me,” she whispered, keeping her voice soothing as she grabbed her helmet and walked out of her armor closet to the two Pod-cribs.

  Both infants were sleeping. She ran a hand across the permaglass that allowed her to see them. “You are our children. I’d wish you an easy life, but that isn’t in my power to provide. Hell, it’s not in anyone’s power; life doesn’t work that way. But I promise you love, an abundance of aunts and uncles who won’t ever let you out of their sight, and tough workouts.”

  She smiled. “And a father to enjoy it all with, so help me God.”

  Three minutes later, five men in armored suits were allowed into her suite to help Bethany Anne bring the little Pod-cribs with them to the G’laxix Sphaea, a hundred-foot-long ship which had cloaking abilities.

  And a captain she could trust with her children’s lives.

  High Tortuga, G’laxix Sphaea, Ships Bay 001

  Bethany Anne confirmed the Pods were locked in properly before she made her way to the bridge. Inside there were four people; two Bethany Anne didn’t recognize, but she did know Captain Kael-ven T’chmon, and…

  “Kiel!” She grinned.

  Kael-ven shook his head. “The captain of the ship gets no respect…URGH!” He coughed as Bethany Anne’s other arm squeezed him. “Watch that hug there or this could be a short trip.”

  “You large liar.” Bethany Anne patted Kael-ven on his hard exoskeleton. “Thanks for working with me on this.”

  “Of course,” Kael-ven nodded to something he was reading on his screen before sending the instructions to take them out, cloaking the ship with a swipe and a tap. “I’d have been offended if you hadn’t asked.”

  “Well, you didn’t ask me,” Kiel grumped, “but I will accept your surprise and elation at my presence as your apology.”

  Bethany Anne hugged the old Yollin mercenary and Marine officer. “Oh, shut up. I was freaking out that Michael was dying and I wasn’t there to save him, so I get a pass.”

  The front bridge screens showed the outside of the ship. The craggy walls swung by as they zigzagged through a canyon before breaking toward the sky, streaking upward toward their rendezvous with the battleship.

  Kael-ven turned his upper body in his chair; his four legs were wrapped around the base. “I imagine you have placed an operational gag order on anyone involved in this little effort?”

  “Of course,” Bethany Anne agreed, sitting down a moment. “Can you bring up video of the children?” A moment later, one of the screens at the front switched to show the two Pod-cribs and the four Guardians, two on each side of the babies. “Ok, excellent. And by ‘of course,’” she clarified, “I mean I had people do it.”

  A voice came over the speakers. “And by people, she means an AI,” ADAM explained. “Hello, Kael-ven, Kiel.”

  Kiel dipped his head. “Hello, Your Omniscience.”

  ADAM sniffed. “I’m not sure I can live up to that title, but I rather like it.”

  Bethany Anne pointed to the location on her skull where ADAM’s chip was embedded. “If his ego gets so large that I start having headaches, I will find you and kick your ass.”

  “ADAM working on his ego will be good for you both,” Kiel continued. “I’ve had to assist Kael-ven with his ego issues as planetary potentate, so I am extremely qualified to help ADAM through any issues as well.”

  “I can assure you,” ADAM replied, “that I have no issues with ego. Ego becomes a problem when people either ascribe to themselves capabilities they do not have, or when those who do possess such abilities are compelled to have their self-worth recognized by those around them. Either way it is self-delusion.”

  Kiel grunted. “Hmmph. Seems to me like you are already going down the path of self-delusion. I’ll watch you very closely.”

  Kael-ven interrupted the argument between his friend and the AI. “I’ve got the Battleship C. Hewgley on track to allow us to dock and snuggle up, then we Gate in twenty minutes. I hate to be all captain-y and demanding, my Queen,” he jerked a thumb backward, “but get your armored ass to the back and lock in.”

  Bethany Anne stood and patted Kiel on the shoulder. “Wow, grumpy pilot!” She looked around. “Where’s Snow?”

  “My precious white dog didn’t want to get out of bed to go on this trip. She told me to tell you hello, and that Ashur and Bellatrix called last night and they are fine.” He jerked his thumb again. “Now go. I’ve got a job to do, so catching up on our pets is for later.”

  Bethany Anne’s mumbled cursing followed her down the hall.

  Planet Soboth (Previously Territory 7732), Undisclosed location, Open Out-ring, Non-Federation

  “Dammit!” Uleq cursed under his breath. The income for the core world’s water purification services went down half a percent each year. As he walked down the hallwa
y toward his office he heard a palm slam against a desk in Imon’s office.

  Uleq stuck his head into the Shrillexian’s office. “What happened?”

  Imon aimed his glare at the intruder for a moment, then waved a hand. “Come in and close the door.” He leaned back in his chair, waiting for Uleq to sit down in front of his desk.

  “It seems,” Imon ground out the words, his voice tense, “that a group of my fellows on Goptek Major has been taken out.”

  Uleq put his tablet down on the desk in front of him. “Shrillexians?” Imon nodded. “How is that even… Who could do it?”

  “Well, plenty I can think of, but none of them were on-planet at the time. The bigger issue is that they got away. The city police shut down the port, but a total of five ships left between the time of the murder and when the spaceport was shut down. I have,” he waved a hand at his tablet, “refined the data and the information suggests an Ixtali took them out. Probably the same Ixtali who was asking questions of those who moved the warehouse materials from Goptek Minor to Major.”

  “On Az’s request,” Uleq pointed out.

  Imon’s eyes flicked to Uleq and stayed there for a moment, then he shrugged. “True.”

  Uleq leaned back. “So, is it possible that one Ixtali could take out your team?”

  “Highly unlikely, so that means there was a team already in place and this Ixtali pulled them into an ambush.” He grimaced. “Which means security on this operation has been breached.”

  “They couldn’t have made them?”

  Imon shrugged, “Unlikely. The Ixtalis are known for their intelligence and spycraft, not their fighting abilities. An Ixtali would certainly not be able to slit one’s neck,” he pointed at each side of his neck, “stab another in the neck, and shoot the third as he ran.” He shook his head. “No Shrillexian would run from a fair fight, and by definition a Shrillexian against an Ixtali is fair.”

  Imon tapped his hand against his desk. “No, the obvious answer is that it was an ambush. They tried to kill all three with knives to keep it quiet, but Str’ek caught on and tried to flee. He was shot down in cold blood.”

  Uleq was careful not to show his amusement at Imon’s turn of phrase. Still, he snickered internally at Imon’s complaint about his thug being ‘killed in cold blood’ when the purpose of the male’s being there was to kill someone on Imon’s orders.

  He wasn’t in good spirits.

  Uleq grabbed his tablet and stood up. “Well, I’m going to go get us a drink.”

  Imon looked up. “We don’t drink except on the last workday of the week.”

  Uleq shrugged. “Let’s drink to the fallen, then. At the moment, I believe I could learn to drink for some reason every day.”

  Imon nodded. “It is getting that way.” He waved Uleq off. “Go get it, I’ll drink with you.”

  Planet Adolphin

  It had taken Az a week to travel from the out-ring to Adolphin. As his ship sliced through the atmosphere, its clean lines and unique ceramic siding offered everyone the opportunity to admire the multi-billion-credit personal yacht of business moguls and royalty speeding past.

  Ignoring those who were beneath them.

  Conglomerates often had a central location for their main office, but not many ever expected to see the highest of the high who worked there. It was a common occurrence to find reporters from news agencies around the systems camping outside to try to get a word with the elite and powerful if they should appear unexpectedly.

  A single comment might be worth millions in the right hands as the powerful organizations manipulated markets.

  However, the big fish, so to speak, did have to show up from time to time, and Az planned to use this to his advantage.

  Adolphin was a well-defended world. No one would bring world-busting ships here and start attacking; it wouldn’t be prudent.

  Any mercenary group large enough to battle their way in knew damn well that it would be political suicide. Smaller pirate or mercenary groups would lack the resources necessary to fight their way through the protective military space-based weapons platforms layered over Adolphin.

  Adolphin was neutral ground, too many systems’ large business entities had representation and assets here.

  A mercenary company who harmed assets on Adolphin would find themselves ejected from all major star systems in three weeks flat. It would be little better than an oversized pirate association after that.

  No, Az had decided he would hide in plain sight and allow the world to protect him. He was fully capable of handling his personal protection, and that was another reason Adolphin worked for him.

  What you did on your personal (or corporate) property was your business on this world. So long as you didn’t harm others, you could build up a personal army and the local authorities wouldn’t blink.

  So long as you didn’t use those assets to attack anyone.

  Protection only.

  Of course, KGB had a corporate shuttle bay large enough to allow Az’s ship to land.

  He took six from his protection detail and another six from operations he’d ordered to come with him as he left the ship and headed into the corporate shuttle operations center while vetted support personnel went to work on the ship.

  Standing straight, the Leath CEO smiled and waved at those lucky enough to be outside as he strolled in, ensuring that the many news drones caught sight of him as he and his entourage swept past on their way inside.

  One of the more aggressive rumor-mongering news organizations flew their drone over the boundary into corporate space, but the drone got less than two feet inside their space before it dropped out of the sky. A small anti-drone launcher had fired three missiles and downed it without so much as a warning to the news organization to stay out of their airspace.

  Az spent little time inside the building, just spoke with a few workers and signed tablets for two others excited to meet him. Then he and his group disappeared into the vast underground mag-lift travel system.

  And were gone.

  Planet Adolphin

  The Leath-built ship sliced through the atmosphere on the path provided by system traffic.

  Unlike Goptek, Adolphin had been settled hundreds of years before and had quickly become a place where many conglomerates based their main offices.

  It was a world with arching skyways and beautiful parks. Addix enjoyed watching the thousands of ships which crisscrossed the sky. Due to the prevalence of money the world had a decentralized port structure, with many private ports.

  “Lady?” Addix called as they headed slightly away from the middle of the city.

  “Yes?” the ship’s EI replied.

  “Isn’t the KGB headquarters downtown?”

  “Yes, but for us to secure a landing location which is trusted by the city yet not so strict that our credentials will be checked too closely we had to go out of town some little way. The farther we go from the city center, the less we have to worry about the diligence of the private port in its interactions with the city.”

  Addix thought about this. On the one hand it meant she would have to walk farther or find private transportation, but on the other there would be less scrutiny.

  “Very good,” Addix replied. “But next time you go outside my operation parameters please inform me in advance.”

  “Understood.”

  Addix weighed her options and decided to choose knives. She could argue the case for knives, but Jean Dukes?

  Not so much.

  Besides, she was here strictly on reconnaissance, with zero expectation of getting herself in the middle of a gun battle. At least, she hoped that would be the case.

  Addix’s mandibles tapped together as she thought. Adolphin had decentralized access; there wasn’t one single place where ships that could navigate space and atmosphere were required to land for immigration and customs.

  Lady, the ship’s EI, had given the planet’s authorities their bona fides. These credentials were good until she lande
d, and all she could do was hope the shit didn’t hit the fan if their efforts to identify her came up positive.

  As long as nothing she did tripped their systems and she didn’t provide anyone with a reason to investigate her further—like wearing very unique weapons which could be traced back to the Etheric Empress—she would be at no additional risk of exposure.

  Addix sighed. “Knives and wits. Let’s hope I have more than enough of the one and not too few of the other.”

  —

  Three days later, Addix was stymied. She had been to KGB headquarters on three different occasions in three different guises and had the same outcome all three times.

  The CEO was not here, he was not accepting requests for interviews, and no, they did not know when he might show up.

  Addix was walking along a route of thought, one of many that criss-crossed the city, when a shadow passed overhead. Addix looked up and gawked. It was a Messeir Breat personal yacht—beautiful, and rare even on this world.

  Almost blindingly white, there were brown squares which formed a stylized “MB” along the craft’s side as it cut through the air in the direction she had just come from.

  “Damn, I want one of those,” she grumped as she continued walking. Easily half the people around her had stopped to pay attention to the yacht and talk about it, which was an indication that good design translated across species.

  It didn’t matter that the most recent yachts didn’t have the speed, the gating ability or the sheer power of The Lady Princess, the one that flew overhead was drop-dead sexy. As Stephen would say, it was like providing a human male with a female who was all body and no brains.

  She didn’t speak, just squealed.

  Ixtali sexual desires were driven by pheromones more than physical attributes, but the Messeir Breat that had just flown over helped Addix understand Stephen’s comment in a way that had previously eluded her.

  Addix continued down the alley, annoyed she had no way to figure out where the CEO was. She had called for the team to prepare and come here, but now the best they would be able to do would be a hit-and-run operation to acquire intelligence. She had Lady working on insinuating herself into the data lines throughout the city.