Enter Into Valhalla Read online

  Bethany Anne, stop moving around, TOM told her sternly. I can’t keep the connection to the rift stable and keep the pain down at the same time. It’s too dangerous.

  Bethany Anne slammed a hand on the crate, splintering it. “Tell me how the fuck I’m supposed to deal with two attacks and the rift while I’m sitting on my ass in a fucking cargo hold?”

  Michael had heard TOM’s worries. “You stop trying to do it all alone.”

  Gabrielle took Bethany Anne’s hand. “What do you need?”

  Bethany Anne sighed. “I need to fix this rift and find a use for the excess energy. I need to get to the other side of the Interdiction to stop the Ooken from rolling right through to the Federation. I need my friend to not be dead.”

  Gabrielle squeezed her hand before letting go to get to her feet. “I can’t believe Addix is gone. I’m going to take us back to the Baba Yaga. It’s a start, at least.”

  “Thank you,” Bethany Anne murmured. “I need to figure a way to move around without sending TOM into meltdown.”

  Michael bent at the knee and scooped Bethany Anne up in his arms. “I feel like I’m going to enjoy this more than is strictly necessary,” he told her amiably as he walked them to the door.

  “I hope you’re not expecting me to be happy about being carried around like a freaking damsel,” Bethany Anne retorted. She resisted the urge to jump down and walk and wrapped her arms around Michael’s neck to steady herself while they headed for the bridge at a fast run.

  Michael set Bethany Anne down gently on the full-length couch when they reached the bridge.

  Bethany Anne was just out of reach of a console. She shuffled to get comfortable while she transformed the energy inside her body. “What’s happening on the planet?”

  Gabrielle gave her a rundown of the evacuation while she had the Cambridge return to the superdreadnought. “Paul is saying the majority are aboard. He’s waiting for the last few rescue teams to check in, then we can concentrate on getting out of here.

  Bethany Anne closed her eyes. “Not just out of here. Out of here and eighteen Gates away.”

  She must have drifted into sleep, because the next thing Bethany Anne knew, Michael shook her awake.

  “Mahi' came aboard with the last group of Bakas. Just in time; the planet is in the final stages of breaking up.”

  Bethany Anne blinked away the sleep and waved a hand at the viewscreen. “Show me.”

  Mahi' entered the bridge and joined them in witnessing Qu’Baka’s death throes.

  She sat by Bethany Anne, silent tears falling as huge pieces of the mantle drifted out past the blanket of dust and smaller rocks caught in what remained of the planet’s dwindling gravity.

  Even those broke away as the core stretched out, pulled in all directions in reaction to being exposed to the vacuum.

  “This is it,” Mahi' breathed as the core rippled, throwing out huge splashes under the pressure of being stretched and compressed.

  Bethany Anne was barely there to watch the core cool. Her vision was flooded with scenes of the Ooken inside the Federation.

  Visions in which she was merely a bystander.

  Bethany Anne felt the air, and she smelled death and heard it all around her. She ran through the carnage, her fear growing with every attempt to use her abilities to put a stop to the killing.

  None of it worked.

  Wherever she looked, people were dying, and she was powerless, unable to act to save a single one of them. Her horror was complete, her greatest fear come true.

  Forgetting she was only there in mind, Bethany Anne screamed in frustration.

  Michael reacted instantly to Bethany Anne’s anguish. He entered the mindspace and was immediately aware of the reason she’d screamed.

  He found her kneeling in the ruins of the Meredith Reynolds.

  Bethany Anne saw Michael approach. She ran to him, convinced his death would be the next she was forced to witness. “You can’t be here. You have to leave.”

  “This isn’t real,” Michael told her gently. “We are inside the rift energy.”

  Bethany Anne shook her head, unable to speak through her emotions for a moment. “It’s real. Or it will be. This is the future.”

  Michael frowned. “I don’t understand. This is the future? How?”

  “I don’t know how,” Bethany Anne admitted. “You’ll have to ask TOM. But this is the near future, Michael. This.” She swept a hand over the corpse-littered destruction that had once been Mark Billingsly Park.

  Michael shook his head, disbelieving. “No. I refuse to accept it.”

  Bethany Anne snorted softly. “So did I at first, but there’s no way this is fake. Every detail is perfect. It’s not a mind-fuck.”

  Michael had his own opinion on that. “Bethany Anne, come back with me. We can’t resolve this while we are here.”

  Bethany Anne looked around and pulled back from Michael. “I… I can’t stop this.”

  Michael raised an eyebrow. “What, the Queen Bitch can’t take care of one measly invasion she knows is coming? We need to go.” He took her hand, feeling doubt creep in. It wasn’t coming from him, he knew. There was something to be said for living long enough that you knew yourself inside out.

  He pulled Bethany Anne close, giving her a physical reminder of the difference between reality and the construct they were in. “This place is messing with you. With us both. Bethany Anne, if this is really coming, then you’re needed out there where you can do something about it. Who else can take on the hive mind? We need to go now.”

  Bethany Anne regained her sense of self at Michael’s touch. She frowned as the doubt leached away, replaced by her more usual cold fury. “You’re right. Something or someone is playing me. This event can’t be fixed in time if we know about it.”

  Michael smiled with relief. “That’s more like it. Ready to leave this behind? I’m pretty sure we’re scaring the crap out of Gabrielle and Mahi’ right now.”

  They returned to the bridge to find Mahi’ looming over them worriedly while Gabrielle hovered around the couch.

  Bethany Anne released the final trickle of rift energy as she came around. She jumped up from the couch and stretched. “Okay. I’m done with being lied to. TOM, get your ass out here where everyone can hear you and explain why you didn’t tell me that was a trap.”

  “What trap?” TOM asked from the speaker.

  Bethany Anne heard the truth in his voice. “You didn’t see it?”

  “I wondered why you were letting yourself be dragged down by grief,” he replied. “But I felt no outside force at work.”

  Bethany Anne and Michael shared a concerned glance.

  “TOM,” Michael spoke slowly. “There was an external force keeping Bethany Anne caught in the vision the rift energy created. She would not have made it out if I hadn’t gone in to bring her back.”

  There was a pause before TOM spoke again. “If that’s the case, I believe I might have been compromised.”

  Bethany Anne bared her teeth, utterly infuriated by the idea that someone had played them all like marionettes. “By WHO?”

  TOM’s reply was small. “I…don’t know. But that invasion is real. I’m going to isolate myself until we know I’m not a danger to you.”

  Bethany Anne called his name when he dropped off without another word, but TOM didn’t reply. Her anger only increased at hearing the fear in his last words to her. “Be safe, TOM. As for the Seven, they can fucking try to invade. I’ll paint the Interdiction with Ooken blood.”

  “What invasion?” Gabrielle asked with some confusion. “We won. Didn’t we?”

  Bethany Anne shook her head. “No, we didn’t win yet. In fact, I’m questioning whether we’re winning at all, or if we’ve been pawns in someone else’s game this whole time.”

  Michael had to agree. “We are no longer in the dark. Whoever this other player is, they don’t know we’re aware of them.”

  “Which gives us the advantage back,” Bethany An
ne finished.

  “But the invasion?” Gabrielle repeated. “Where is it going to happen? There’s nothing left to invade here.”

  Bethany Anne drew a measured breath. “They’re about to hit the Interdiction. I don’t know where, exactly, but it shouldn’t be too difficult to work out.”

  “What did you ‘see’ before you were on the Meredith?” Michael asked. “Perhaps we can figure it out that way.”

  Bethany Anne frowned. The rift energy was repaired, and it begged to be used. “That’s just it. I can use the rift energy to open a door, but the QBBS I saw doesn’t exist.”

  Izanami interrupted the discussion, appearing by the HLP unit. “There are a number of messages going back and forth between the General and Commander Escobar.”

  Michael looked at her in confusion. “Scott? He isn’t a commander. Unless he took a commission in the last few hours?”

  “No,” Izanami corrected. “I am referring to Rickie Escobar, formerly of the Queen’s Guardians.”

  Bethany Anne almost choked on the memory of the partially-completed QBBS from her vision. “That’s it! The station. Coordinates, Izanami. Now!”

  The Interdiction

  Rickie got the alert at stupid o’clock. He rolled out of bed and felt around in the dark for his pants, then slipped out of the bedroom before CEREBRO got the bright idea of switching the lights on.

  He didn’t want to have to heal from an ass-kicking if he woke Nickie up without an offering of caffeine.

  Rickie made his way to his den, hopping into his pants one leg at a time. The holoscreen was active when he stumbled through the door, still on the mining operation surveillance.

  He stared at the screen, not believing his eyes. “CEREBRO, what’s going on out there? Who opened all those Gates?”

  “The Leath are under attack,” CEREBRO replied.

  Rickie groaned and rubbed his eyes. “I can see that. Who is attacking them? I don’t recognize those ships.”

  “Unknown at this time,” CEREBRO answered.

  “Really fucking useful, thanks.” Rickie pulled up the message function in his holo and started typing a message to station security, ordering everyone to high alert. “You can’t read their energy signatures or whatever?”

  “This isn’t a sci-fi show,” CEREBRO grumped. “There’s too much interference from the Gates to discern much of anything else out there.”

  Rickie sent two more messages to Barnabas and the General, informing them of what little he knew so far. “Guess we wait and see.”

  Nickie walked into the den, scowling at Rickie’s failure to notice her until she saw the battle getting started on the holoscreen. She came up behind him and slipped her arms around his waist. “That any of our business?”

  Rickie glanced at Nickie, his face serious. “I’m not sure yet. Do you recognize that ship design? If it’s Leath on Leath, then it’s none of our concern. But—”

  “You don’t think it is,” Nickie finished for him. She dropped into Rickie’s chair and put her feet on the desk. “I sure as shit haven’t seen any Ooken ships that look like that.”

  Rickie furrowed his brow. “That’s the only thing stopping me from lighting a five-alarm fire in their asses. I don’t like that the ships Gated in from our side of the Interdiction. Even if they aren’t Ooken, they’re not here to bring peace and goodwill, that’s for sure.”

  Nickie narrowed her eyes at the screen. “If it’s the Ooken, we’re fucked. You’re not prepared for a full-scale attack here yet.” She looked distant a moment. “I’ve just had Meredith pass on my orders to the Company. My fighters will be here as soon as they can Gate in from wherever they are right now.”

  Rickie’s eyes remained on the screen as yet more Gates opened in the far distance. “I’ve sent for backup too. Something tells me we’re going to need the big hitters.”

  Nickie tapped Rickie’s chest with the back of her hand when the void opened again. Her mouth dropped open when the whatever-it-was swallowed a portion of the possible Ooken fleet, along with the Gates that had been left open in the area in a blaze of light. “What in living fuck is that?”

  23

  QSD Baba Yaga, Primary Bridge

  Bethany Anne strained to stabilize the door for the Baba Yaga to make it through.

  Michael and Gabrielle were under similar states of duress as they held onto Bethany Anne with their minds.

  Sweat ran down Bethany Anne’s back, a sensation she hadn’t been subject to for so long it was alien to her. Every muscle in her body tightened as though she were physically pulling open a door between Qu’Baka and the Interdiction.

  Now that she was aware of the trap in the rift energy, it had no power to hold her. Bethany Anne had control, and the energy leapt to do her bidding.

  Bright light flooded the external sensors as the door manifested by the bow of the Baba Yaga.

  “The door is stable,” Bethany Anne ground out. “Izanami, take us through.”

  The viewscreen whited out as the ship crossed the threshold into the battle zone.

  When the feed returned, it was on a Leath staging post ringed by Leath ships.

  “Where are the Ooken?” Bethany Anne demanded.

  “The door disintegrated a number of ships, according to CEREBRO,” Izanami replied.

  Michael eyed the asteroid in the center of the battle. “That looks strong enough to hold. The design served us well enough.”

  Izanami wrinkled her nose. “I am not picking up anything that indicates the Leath also employed Empire technology to defend their base. This is a poor copy of the Meredith Reynolds.”

  Leath ships clashed with the Ooken on the viewscreen, looking unevenly matched from the outset to Bethany Anne’s eye. “This can’t be allowed to drag on, not if the Leath here are going to survive.”

  Gabrielle waved as she and Mahi’ dashed to the lower exit. “I’ll see you out there.”

  Bethany Anne took her station next to Michael and connected to the Baba Yaga’s weapons systems. “I’d be jealous if not for the goodies Jean installed in our home.”

  Michael was already immersed in his HUD, engaging the secondary weapons systems to keep their flanks clear of Ooken drones. “We have a hard task ahead of us, regardless.”

  “The hard part is not dying. We avoided that already.” Bethany Anne put thoughts of TOM’s possible predicament to one side and focused on the battle. “I have the lash, you keep on with the guns. Izanami, you make sure nothing gets past the shielding while we’re on offense.”

  “What about the Gate missiles?” Michael inquired, seeing the option offered on his menu.

  Bethany Anne shook her head. “Too much risk of friendly fire. Save them for an emergency. Stick to smashing their shit up for now.”

  “The Shinigami ships have joined the battle,” Izanami informed them. “We are now within weapons range.”

  Bethany Anne raised an eyebrow as she engaged the Etheric lash. “Then what are we waiting for? Bring us about.”

  The Baba Yaga swooped in on a group of Ooken ships in formation that was bearing down on the Leath staging post to support those currently engaged by Gabrielle and the guys.

  Bethany Anne targeted the center ship and released the mixed plasma and Etheric charge. The lash erupted in a blaze of light as it whipped across the void.

  The discharge disintegrated the Ooken destroyer and damaged the other ships in the formation. Bethany Anne released the second charge, wiping the group out completely.

  “Nice work,” Michael murmured. “Watch this.” Six projectiles left the Baba Yaga on his command and six ships were blown to confetti, leaving the Leath ship they’d been attacking untouched.

  “It’s a start,” Bethany Anne told him with a small smile. “Wiping them out in groups is the best way to go with numbers like these. We won’t make a real difference until I can access the Leath ships’ cameras.”

  Izanami glided around the consoles as Bethany Anne and Michael worked to reduce the Ooke
n fleet, muttering quietly as she coordinated the AIs and EIs aboard Bethany Anne’s ships into an organized fighting force. “ADAM would be useful right about now,” she remarked to Bethany Anne.

  “ADAM is rather busy being in two places at once,” Bethany Anne countered. “You’ve got this, and I’ve got my part.”

  Gates winked in and out of existence as more ships arrived on both sides of the battle.

  “Who do we have here?” Bethany Anne asked while she lined up a defensive strike to protect the staging post from another attack. “More Ooken?”

  “Yes,” Izanami confirmed. “Along with the Shinigami fleet and the Bakas who have taken Pods to fight. Your Guardians who were stationed here are out there fighting, plus a number of ships registered to the Silver Line Company. Wait, there are more incoming.”

  Another Gate opened on the Federation side of the battle line.

  Bethany Anne’s eyes widened when she saw the Federation logo on the bow of the first ship to emerge. “Oh, fucksticks!”

  Michael was on top of it. He opened channels across all known Federation frequencies. “Federation ship, state your intentions.”

  “Michael,” Lance’s voice boomed over the comm. “Fancy bumping into you here.”

  “Dad?” Bethany Anne’s confusion was complete. “You can’t be here!”

  Lance’s laughter crackled over the speaker. “That’s where you’re wrong. Harkkat decided to come clean, so I’m here with full backing to pull him and his people out.”

  “You could give us a hand with taking out the garbage first,” Michael supplied, his voice filled with humor.

  There was a huge explosion off the bow of Lance’s ship, followed by another.

  “Teach your grandmother to suck eggs, why don’t you?” Lance shot back. “We’ll get the civilians out of here so you can focus on the fight.”

  The humor took the edge off for Bethany Anne. She smiled as she activated the Etheric lash for a second time. “Thanks, Dad. Just don’t get bitten in the ass, okay?”

  Bethany Anne got back to focusing on the battle. The ship she’d had in her sights before Lance entered the field had managed to slip through the net. “Shit! Izanami, take the weapons.” She disengaged from the HUD and got to her feet. “The Ooken have breached the asteroid.”