Liberation_Age of Expansion_A Kurtherian Gambit Series Read online

  CONTENTS

  LMBPN Publishing

  Dedication

  Legal

  Characters and Timeline

  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

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Bonus Material

  Author Notes - Craig Martelle

  Author Notes - Michael Anderle

  Craig Series List

  Michael Series List

  Social Links

  LIBERATION

  The Bad Company Book Four

  By Craig Martelle and Michael Anderle

  A part of

  The Kurtherian Gambit Universe

  Written and Created

  by Michael Anderle

  They say behind every great man, is a great woman,

  but what if the woman is a Werewolf?

  DEDICATION

  We can’t write without those who support us

  On the home front, we thank you for being there for us

  We wouldn’t be able to do this for a living if it weren’t for our readers

  We thank you for reading our books

  Liberation

  Team Includes

  Micky Cocker

  James Caplan

  John Ashmore

  Peter Manis

  Paul Westman

  Kelly O’Donnell

  Micky Cocker

  Larry Omans

  Peter Manis

  JIT and Beta Readers - From each of us, our deepest gratitude!

  If we missed anyone, please let us know!

  LIBERATION (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 © 2018 Craig Martelle and Michael Anderle

  Cover by Andrew Dobell, www.creativeedgestudios.co.uk

  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, April 2018

  Editing by Mia Darien, www.miadarien.com

  The Kurtherian Gambit (and what happens within characters situations / worlds) are copyright © 2015-2018 by Michael T. Anderle.

  CHARACTERS & TIMELINE

  Find the high-res version of the Kurtherian Timeline here:

  http://kurtherianbooks.com/timeline_jeff/

  World’s Worst Day Ever (WWDE)

  WWDE + 20 years, Terry Henry returns from self-imposed exile. The Terry Henry Walton Chronicles detail his adventures from that time to WWDE+150

  WWDE + 150 years – Michael returns to earth. BA returns to earth. TH & Char go to Space

  Key Players

  Terry Henry Walton (was forty-five on the WWDE)—called TH by his friends. Enhanced with nanocytes by Bethany Anne herself (Queen of the Federation), wears the rank of Colonel, lead the Force de Guerre (FDG), a military unit that he established on WWDE+20, and now leads the Bad Company’s Direct Action Branch.

  Charumati (was sixty-five on the WWDE)—A werewolf, married to Terry, carries the rank of Major, but is his equal partner

  Kimber (born WWDE+15, adopted approximately WWDE+25 by TH & Char, enhanced on WWDE+65)—Major

  Her husband Auburn Weathers (enhanced on WWDE+82)—provides logistics support

  Kaeden (born WWDE+16, adopted approximately WWDE+24 by TH & Char, enhanced on WWDE+65) – a Major

  His wife Marcie Spires (born on WWDE+22, naturally enhanced)—Colonel

  Cory (born WWDE+25, naturally enhanced, gifted with the power to heal)

  Her husband Ramses—Major, died on Benitus Seven, WWDE+153

  Kailin, Auburn & Kimber’s son (born on WWDE+78)

  Vampires

  Joseph (born three hundred years before the WWDE)

  Petricia (born WWDE+30)

  Pricolici (Werewolves that walk upright)

  Nathan Lowell (President of the Bad Company and Bethany Anne’s Chief of Intelligence)

  Ecaterina (Nathan’s spouse)

  Christina (Nathan & Ecaterina’s daughter)

  Werewolves

  Sue & Timmons (long-term members of Char’s pack)

  Shonna & Merrit (long-term members of Char’s pack)

  Ted (with Felicity, an enhanced human)

  Weretigers born before the WWDE:

  Aaron & Yanmei

  Humans (enhanced)

  Micky San Marino, Captain of the War Axe

  Commander Suresha, War Axe Department Head – Engines

  Commander MacEachthighearna (Mac), War Axe Department Head—Environmental

  Commander Blagun Lagunov, War Axe Department—Structure

  Commander Oscar Wirth, War Axe Department Head—Stores

  Lieutenant Clodagh Shortall, War Axe engine technician

  Sergeant Fitzroy, a martial arts expert and platoon sergeant

  Kelly, Capples, Fleeter, Praeter, & Duncan—mech drivers

  Other Key Characters

  Dokken (a sentient German Shepherd)

  The Good King Wenceslaus (an orange tabby who thinks he’s a weretiger, all fifteen pounds of him)

  K’thrall—a Yollin, used to be systems analyst on the War Axe, a warrior with the Bad Company

  Clifton—human pilot of the War Axe

  Bundin—a four-legged shell-backed blue, stalk-headed alien from Poddern

  Ankh’Po’Turn—a small bald humanoid from Crenellia

  General Smedley Butler – EI/AI on the War Axe, who they call the general

  Plato – Ted’s AI from R&D

  Dionysus – the AI tasked to assist with running Keeg Station

  Paithoon – A Belzonian, escort for Kaeden & Marcie

  Bon Tap – a teal-skinned, silver-haired Malatian, a warrior in the Bad Company

  Slikira – Ixtali, four legs, a spider race, called Slicker, a warrior in the Bad Company

  Other Bad Company warriors: Tim, “Skates” Mardigan, Chris Bo Runner (Harborian), Jones, Einar, Gefelton, Eldis (wife is Xianna, a green-skinned alien woman)

  CHAPTER ONE

  Keeg Station, in the Dren Cluster

  Terry pounded the bag. Relentlessly. It didn’t make him f
eel better, but he didn’t stop. Char ran through a series of leg exercises while Cory sat on a bench nearby, staring vacantly at a wall. They hadn’t left her on her own since Benitus Seven. Her husband of more than one hundred years was gone, his body fired into space after a brief ceremony.

  The blue glow had returned to her eyes, but the sparkle was gone.

  Her parents struggled for normalcy, but it eluded them.

  Aaron and Yanmei walked into the workout room. Yanmei approached slowly, holding her hands in front of her, almost in prayer. “Please join us, Cordelia,” the weretiger said softly, kneeling to be eye level with her friend. “We seek to help you be at peace with the universe and prepare for our travel back to Earth.”

  “Earth?” Terry and Char asked at the same time.

  Aaron intercepted them before they could interrupt Yanmei, who continued to speak softly with Cory. The two women stood together and headed for the corner where the yoga mats were already laid out. Aaron held up his hand and smiled.

  “Forever the teacher,” Char said. He had taught Cory, Kim, and Kaeden back in North Chicago, long ago. He had been a teacher in China when he was taken and modified, turned into a weretiger. Aaron had made the most of it, sadly, until he met Yanmei, a weretiger who had been Terry Henry Walton’s torturer, but that had been a different time and a different place.

  “I am,” Aaron admitted. “Ted has news. Some of us will be leaving soon for Earth, to take the IICS, as Ted calls them, and deliver them to our family and the powers that be.”

  “The Instantaneous Interstellar Communication System,” Terry spelled out. “I expect Cory wants to talk with her kids, tell them the bad news.”

  “We want her to go with us, talk with them in person.” Aaron wasn’t asking. Terry and Char looked at each other and nodded. They would do anything to help their daughter through her depression and on the road to recovery. She would never be whole, but they wanted her to be able to live with her loss. Of all people, Terry knew what it was like. He’d hidden from humanity for twenty years as he learned to cope. His nanocytes had decided that he would live, even when he didn’t care to.

  “A change of scenery will probably help.”

  “Among other things, my friends,” Aaron replied cryptically. “We will help her, with all that we are, because she deserves that and more.”

  Yanmei reached upward and then bent at the waist until she touched her toes. She slowly stretched downward until her palms were on the floor. Cory mirrored her.

  Aaron excused himself and joined them, adjusting Cory slightly before assuming his stance. His long arms touched the floor before he finished bending. After a solid thirty seconds, they rose. Three iterations later, they lunged forward into the warrior pose. Cory slowly assumed the position. Yanmei reached over to straighten one of Cory’s arms, rotating until her arm was under Cory’s, supporting it. Aaron moved to support her back arm. They remained in that position until Cory’s legs began to shake. They stood up and shook out before moving into a new pose.

  In between poses, they didn’t give her time to think. It was the first step on a long road, not to forget but to live a life as it had become. Move forward, one second at a time, one step at a time.

  Char stood and stretched the tightness from her legs. She had overdone it, just like her husband. Terry rotated his shoulder, flexing, twisting, and wincing. After all the years and the treatments in the Pod-doc, it still gave him problems, especially when he worked out like a madman. He folded his hands in front and watched his daughter do something other than cry.

  It had been tearing at his heart, because her grief was so profound, and there was nothing he could do about it. Terry felt the burden of life weighing him down, not able to shake the crushing mass. Char carried her own angst, every bit as great. No parent could watch their child go through what Cory was going through without having it grate on their very souls.

  It gave them hope to see their friends intervene and slowly lead Cory onto the road to recovery.

  Terry breathed slowly and deeply, licking his lips and picking up his towel. “What do you say we find Ted and ask how things are going?”

  “We have dinner with them tonight. He might get suspicious if we talk with him twice in the same day.”

  “True,” Terry agreed. “Then let’s get changed and walk around. See if there’s any color we can add back into this station.”

  “I know what you mean,” Char said softly. “It’s like everything is shades of gray.”

  “Fifty?” Terry injected lightheartedly.

  “Don’t you start with that.” Char pushed Terry playfully, her purple eyes sparkling for a moment.

  Normalcy. Maybe it wasn’t such a distant thing.

  After one last look at the weretigers working with their daughter, they walked away feeling much better than when the day started.

  Spires Harbor

  Sue and Timmons both stood with their arms crossed. They’d made their arguments, yet Shonna and Merrit looked skeptical.

  “I thought we were pretty convincing, so what will it be? Moment of truth, bitches,” Sue said, looking down her nose at the two.

  “Why do we have to decide right now?” Shonna replied, putting her hands on her hips as she faced Sue. Timmons moved to the side, as did Merrit. If the Werewolves were going to throw down, they wanted to watch.

  Shonna smirked first and Sue laughed. Merrit and Timmons harrumphed in disappointment. “Boys wanted to see mud wrestling, methinks,” Sue intoned.

  “Too bad, fellas,” Shonna said softly. “Of course, we’ll put on our project manager hats again. We need to contract the infrastructure required to build spaceships. I’m not sure it gets any better than that, but how will Char feel about it? I don’t think taking her pack away will do anything to lighten her mood.”

  Sue and Timmons frowned. Ramses had been their friend, too.

  “For the greater good,” Felicity interjected, joining the werewolves on the observation deck of Sheri’s Pride, looking at the beehive of activity surrounding the budding shipyard.

  “We’ve all lost people,” she said softly before speaking more boldly. “They were good people, but we have to move forward. The universe is expanding. We can sit back and watch, or we can grab that bastard and drag it in a direction of our choosing!”

  “Damn, Felicity. What’s got you so fired up?”

  She smiled slyly. “Ted’s home.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder, looking smug as she turned and walked away.

  Sue gave her the hairy eyeball. “You must be one hell of a woman, Felicity. My compliments! There was no amount of time that we were apart where Ted would return feeling amorous. One day or one year. He was always just Ted.”

  Felicity turned enough that they could see her blushing above a coy smile.

  “Ladies! It’s not a competition,” Shonna said as she rubbed Merrit’s shoulders. Timmons pulled Sue into a hug.

  “Let the orgy begin,” Felicity drawled as she walked away, adding an extra swing to her hips. The others stopped to watch her leave. Sue crossed her arms and scowled.

  “Some people make a better fit than others. I don’t want to think about a life without you,” Timmons whispered, racing to the rescue before Sue despaired too long over something out of her control.

  “You are right, you big, husky werewolf.” Sue kissed him on the cheek. “We all have work to do.”

  Sue and Timmons shook hands with Shonna and Merrit to seal the deal. “I’ll talk to Char,” Timmons told them.

  ***

  Christina strolled along the shopping deck. Marcie on one side and Kaeden on the other. “It’s like you don’t want me to shop, when you know I love shopping. Four shoe stores here and Felicity says that there will soon be six,” she said without looking at either of them.

  “We only want you to buy what we’re selling,” Marcie replied.

  “And that would be?”

  “Backstop us,” Kaeden said softly. Christina stopped a
nd turned.

  “I’ve got your backs, but that’s not what you mean, is it?”

  Marcie moved around the werewolf to be in front of her standing next to her husband.

  “General Reynolds wants someone to transform one of the regional militaries into a viable air-ground task force,” Marcie said matter-of-factly. Christina screwed her face up as she contemplated the words.

  Kaeden translated it into layman’s terms. “A land army just in case someone is trying to be a dick. A show of force, that’s not just show. And we know Dad’s the right person for the job, but he can’t be everywhere at all times. Back on Earth, Marcie, Kim, and I built up the FDG until it was a worldwide fighting force. But there was one drawback.”

  Christina crossed her arms, pursed her lips, tapped one foot, and waited.

  “The enemy was the Forsaken. They made sure not to be wherever we were. It was a lesson in futility. We disbanded the majority of the FDG in favor of small tactical teams, and that’s when we were finally able to engage them straight up.”

  “What’s this have to do with me? I mean, I know you think I’m a one-person army, which is flattering, but training another army? I’m not so keen on that.”

  Marcie rolled her eyes and shook her head as Kae chuckled. When the couple composed themselves, Marcie answered. “We want you to assume my position in the Bad Company. You’ll make a great deputy for Terry Henry. Kimber will take over the mech recon. Kaeden and I are taking over the expansion of the FDG.”

  “I thought Kurtz was doing that, with the other modified Pricolici?”

  “Kurtz is a better tactical commander. He was always a front-line guy, but they need someone who’s a little more recruiting, organizing, and strategy oriented. Plus, we want to step back from war for a little bit.”