Deep Space Endeavor (41 page)

______

Six years earlier
………

This was it, the end was near. The man that ordered the hit on Jesse was in the safe house a kilometer away, and the final assault was about to begin. The two shuttles had just opened fire on the men guarding the safe house. After most of the guards had been taken down, Jesse’s team came from the west and Cartwright’s team came in from the east. It didn’t take long to eliminate the remaining guards and secure the perimeter. While Cartwright’s men set up a defensive perimeter, Jesse’s team breeched the safe house. The strike team and Jones’ marines were all wearing SSE battle suits, and, as a result, were able to cut through the Asian Dawn’s defenses pretty quickly. Not quickly enough, though. The Master was able to get to his safe room, and breaching those defenses would take time. Jesse was sure a lot more men would be arriving shortly. He didn’t want the fight to be prolonged, especially with Nina and Serge on the premises. Josiah took out a Brinium torch which could burn through just about anything, and quickly. He had come prepared for any eventuality because he couldn't let the Master get away, this needed to end, today.

When they breached the safe room, they were surprised to see an open door leading to a tunnel. But instead of running, the master was letting in a large contingent of men. They had walked into a trap. The Master had grown tired of being hunted and had laid a trap. But the joke was on him, because Jesse's team wouldn’t go down eas
ily. Jesse fired four explosive rounds into the roof of the tunnel, causing a collapse. Several men were buried under the rubble, and several more were stuck on the other side. That bought them enough time to deal with the twenty or so that had made it through. Ariel and Collin began laying down cover fire as they used a heavy oak desk for cover. Josiah and Manny were using shelves for cover on the other side while Jesse and Kimi were right out in the open. Jesse had already taken three shots, but the battle suit absorbed most of the damage. Kimi had been hit a couple times as well. The two of them began backing out through the hole in the wall.

Jones, meanwhile, was making the hole bigger to avoid a bottleneck or kill zone for anyone else trying to enter the room. He was in the process of taking out almost half the wall when a grenade flew through the opening. All of the men dove for cover. As the grenade exploded, the Master’s men made their move. Eight men rushed Ariel and Collin while the rest pinned down Josiah and Manny. Jesse saw what was happening and brought down the entire section of wall Jones’ men had been working on. As the wall crumbled, Jesse, Kimi and six marine commandoes opened fire, taking down all eight of the men charging Ariel and Collin. Jesse then turned his attention to the men pinning Josiah and Manny down.
They opened fire again, and several of the Master’s men went down. Jones lost two of his marines to heavy weapons fire. Manny picked off the thug with the heavy blaster, and now the Master only had four men left.

Jesse could hear the sound of battle raging outside as more of the Master’s men had answered his call for help. By the time it was all said and done, there were likely to be over one hundred thugs here at the safe house. Fortunately, most of them would not be leaving alive. Having
the marines along had thwarted the Master’s plan. He had obviously prepared for a surgical strike by Jesse's team.

“Why don’t we settle this like men, Lieutenant Marcos?” The Master called from behind his remaining men.

“Why don’t you stick your head up a little higher so I can shoot you in the face?” Jesse responded.

“How about you fight me, one on one? If you win, I’m dead, and if I win, your friends let me walk. Do you have the courage to face me?” The Master taunted.

Kimiko looked at him and shook her head, wordlessly pleading with him not to do it. Everyone was surprised when he said, “Agreed, have your men drop their weapons then we fight to the death.”

All he could think about was
ending the man that had tried to kill him, the man that had sent assassins after Nina, Serge and Kimi's family. They had even sent someone after Jason's ten year old sister, Raina. The thugs dropped their weapons and began moving the bodies of their fallen out of the way. Jesse’s strike team and Jones marines kept their guns trained on them the whole way. The Master removed his suit jacket and took off his tie. He unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt and rolled up his sleeves. Jesse took off his tactical pack. He removed his holster and took off the jacket of his battle suit. He handed his things to Ariel and smiled, trying to ease the worry on his cousin’s face.

"Jesse, please don't do this," she pleaded as she held his hand in both of hers.

"I have to, Ariel, don't worry, I'll be fine." As he finished giving his gear to his cousin, he looked at the Master and said, “Begin.”

Instantly, the Master was on him. He had become an angry barrage of kicks and punches. Jesse blocked most of them, but he had never seen anyone move so fast. He went on the offensive, landing a roundhouse through the Master’s defenses. The Master just
paused and smiled. He came at him again, alternating high and low, trying to get a rhythm to the fight. After several strikes were blocked by Jesse, the Master went high twice, hoping to catch him off guard. Jesse was ready for the feint and took advantage of the opening landing a savage knee to the solar plexus. His blow had taken the wind from the Master’s lungs. He tried to press his advantage, but a leg sweep from the Master landed him on his back. The Master could not take advantage of his opportunity because he was still trying to catch his breath. Jesse was back on his feet almost instantly and on the attack again. He went for a spinning leg sweep into a spinning roundhouse. When neither attempt connected, the Master was back on the attack.

The Master landed a roundhouse to his jaw, knocking him back and followed with a front kick to the ribs. He could feel at least one of his ribs break. The Master smiled as he pressed his advantage. Jesse was on the defensive and in pain. The Master pushed forward confidently.
He landed two more shots to his face and laughed at him. The Master was taunting him as he grew more confident with each second. He charged him, and Jesse dropped to the ground, interlocking his legs with his opponent's and taking him down hard on his face. Jesse jumped on his back and bent his arm back in a submission move. But instead of allowing a tap out as in competition, he just snapped his arm. As his enemy screamed out in pain, Jesse put his arm around his neck to finish him when the beaten man wheezed, “Please, I beg for mercy.”

“Mercy,” he yelled. “
You tried to assassinate me, you don’t deserve mercy.” He screamed as he kicked the Master in the face, snapping his head back.

He bent down to finish the Master, and the thoughts of
revenge were replaced with thoughts for his friends. His friends had helped him to this point, asking nothing in return. Could he reward their loyalty by murdering a defenseless man? As he was about to finish the Master, he just screamed. He dropped the Master and limped back towards his friends. He reached Josiah, looked at him and said, “I’m not ready to cross that line yet.”

Josiah looked proudly at his friend and replied, “You did the right thing, Jess.”

As Jones and the marines were escorting the thugs from the room at gun point, Ariel noticed the Master getting to his feet and aiming a blaster at Jesse’s back.

“Jesse,” she screamed as Jesse pulled Josiah’s second blaster and spun in one motion, firing and hitting the Master right between the eyes
. Jesse took one in the chest and flew back a couple meters. The strike team stared in horror at what had just happened, but their horror turned to surprise as Jesse slowly made his way to his feet.

He looked at them with a puzzled expression and touched the fabric of his shirt. “The new battle suit shirts are also particlized for added protection. They won’t stop a lot, and a small blaster still hurts like crazy,
believe me, but I should be fine.”

He was a complete mess from the fight, and would probably need several weeks to fully recover, unless Suzy could get him
into that new recovery pod thing she had helped invent. But thankfully, it was over. Josiah was happy that Jesse was able to get his revenge without compromising his integrity and killing the Master while he was unarmed. Josiah and Ariel helped him out of the safe house. The Master was dead, the Asian Dawn had been decimated and now he could move on with his life knowing his family and friends would be safe.

______

Present day
……..

Garrinoras’ fleet exited light space on the far side of Zinnebulous. “Status report,” he barked. He had been in a foul mood since Najiban.
How had Jesse Marcos beaten him yet again
? He hated humans, most Zinnebailans did. In fact, many of the sentient species in the Kalephi galaxy hated humans. But he hated Colonel Jesse Marcos with a white-hot passion. This insolent human had somehow beaten him at almost every turn. Marcos had the treasure that rightfully belonged to him. Garrinoras found himself dreaming of ways to kill Jesse Marcos with a reverence usually reserved for a Zinnebailan death match. Zinnebailans would engage in a death match in only the most severe cases of dishonor. When a death match was declared, it was a big deal. This was no simple knife fight to the death. The death match was a series of fights that could last for days, using several different weapons. You were not allowed to just kill your opponent. A death match was declared with so much hatred, that one quick blow would never be enough. There were rules. One had to wound their opponent with at least three to five different weapons before a death blow could be delivered. Sometimes a fifth weapon wouldn’t even be available until the third day of the match. A death match was a three to four day event, and would be broadcasted on the vid networks all over Zinnebulous. Garrinoras would very much like to challenge Marcos to a death match, but Marcos was human, and therefore not bound by the laws of Zinnebulous. He couldn’t imagine a scenario in which Marcos would actually accept such a challenge.

As Garrinoras was updated on the status of his fleet, he was pleased
that he would be able to leave for Kaldor in just under five hours. His men had done an exceptional job getting his entire fleet together on such short notice. They probably feared his response, knowing his fury over losing the treasure. He hailed his second in command, “Captain Janus,” he began. “How many battleships and heavy cruisers do we have available?”

“Thirty-nine, S
ir, including the
Retribution,
for which there is no equal. We also have sixty-three frigates and heavy frigates. We have sixty
Xenul
-class gunships and thirty
Slasher
-class gunships from our friends on Taglaharn. It would appear the Mannagore are eager to see the domination of the humans begin.”

“Very good, Janus, you have done well. In all likelihood, we will run into
Colonel Marcos at Kaldor. Make sure the fleet understands that I am the only one allowed to kill him and only after I get my treasure from him. We leave in five hours, and our journey will take twenty. I don’t expect the battle to last very long. By tomorrow night we will be landing our forces on Kaldor where we will kill or enslave every human on the planet. We will begin to wipe away the blight of humanity on the Lawless Sector." Even the thought of every human in the sector bowed at his feet could not rid him of the foul mood brought on by losing to Jesse Marcos.

Chapter thirteen

______

……Back on Earth, Admiral Natora had called to session an emergency meeting of the Enclave, a secret organization with twelve powerful members. Their mission was to seize power for the benefit of mankind. The Enclave believed that the only way mankind could be adequately protected from itself and alien invasion was if they were in power and they made all the important decisions. Admiral Natora knew that with Jesse Marcos in another galaxy for the better part of the next year that now was the best time to take control of Sea Side Enterprises. He wanted their military and defensive technology for the good of Earth and her colonies. An assassination attempt had been green lit on Nina Romanov against his better judgment, if it failed, things would most certainly get...interesting.

______

Nina had just arrived at Sea Side Enterprise’s main headquarters. With Jesse in another galaxy for eleven more months, she and Serge had been taking turns checking on the production facilities. She felt these trips between Polisia and Earth were largely a waste of time. There was one benefit to coming to Earth she reminded herself as her beautiful cousin Captain Ariel Marcos broke into a big grin at the sight of her.

“Cousin,” Ariel Yelled as she quickly moved to meet her. “I didn’t realize you were due back here on Earth. I’m happy you’re here.”

“Ariel,” she affectionately began. “You are the one thing I like about coming back to Earth.” She threw her arms around her cousin in greeting.

“I know you haven’t loved Earth for a while, but surely there’s more to see than just me.” Ariel laughed.

“Well, I suppose you and the restaurant we are having dinner at tonight are both good reasons.” She laughed. “Now, down to business; how is Vee Fleet?”

Ariel lit up at the mention of the fleet group she commanded. V
ee Fleet was owned by Sea Side Enterprises, and the crews of all six ships were all employees that were handpicked, specifically chosen by either by Jesse, Josiah, or herself. The SSE had conscripted Vee Fleet to the Earth Defense Force in the event of an attack on the planet. Otherwise, it was its own entity. Vee Fleet consisted of one
Leviathan
Battle Carrier, the
Vanguard
. The Battle Carrier was supported by five
War Hawk
Frigates, the
Valliant,
the
Vigilant
, the
Valkyrie
, the
Victory
, and the
Valor
. Vee Fleet’s main purpose was to defend the production facilities on Earth.

“V
ee Fleet is fine, Nina, as are the production facilities. There are a couple of clerical problems I don’t know how to solve, and that’s probably why you’re here. But, otherwise, nothing at all has changed since my last report to you three days ago.” Ariel laughed at her cousin’s business-like demeanor, but knew it was just Nina being Nina.

Nina smiled; even with Jesse gone, the SSE facilities here on Earth were in great hands with Ariel. She was a natural leader. “All right then, let’s handle these clerical problems and then be on our way to dinner.” She smiled as she walked arm-in-arm with her younger cousin.

______

Three minor problems and t
wo hours later, they were on their way to Ariel’s loft to change and meet Manny for dinner. Manny Hernandez was in charge of SSE’s cargo protection fleet. Every time a shipment left an SSE warehouse for another planet, Manny was detailed with its protection. To that end, Manny was in charge of his own battle group nick named the Olympians, with the same composition as Vee Fleet. Each ship in Manny's group took its name from ancient Greek Mythology. The
Leviathan
was named; the
Olympus
, and the five
War Hawks
were named; the
Hercules
, the
Ares
, the
Titan
, the
Iliad
and the
Odyssey.
Manny didn’t always travel with the fleet, but on important runs, he was always personally involved. When he wasn't on
Olympus
, he left the fleet group in Lieutenant Jason Cheng's capable hands. SSE had two main production sites, Earth and Polisia. There could be as many as two separate deliveries going on at any one time, which meant Manny’s ships were rarely in one place for long. When they weren’t protecting deliveries, Manny had his fleet group stationed at Polisia. The twelve ships of the two battle groups represented the maximum amount of warships a private organization could own. The Coalition had strict rules about the number of ships companies could own because they didn’t want large corporations to begin seizing power. SSE, being a very large corporation, could own the maximum amount of ships. While ultimately, these ships were under Jesse, Nina, and Serge’s control, they felt Ariel and Manny were better suited to manage them day-to-day.

As Nina and Ariel entered the restaurant, they were greeted with a big smile and open arms from Manny. Manny was a happily married man, which is why he hadn’t gone with
Endeavor
, but that never stopped him from flirting with Nina and Ariel.

“How are you ladies doing this fine evening?” Manny asked in a mildly flirtatious manner.

Nina just smiled and said, “I’m telling Zoe.”

Manny playfully raised his hands in surrender and asked, “How was the trip from Polisia?”

Before she could answer, Manny and Ariel had thrown her to the floor and turned a table over in front of them. She was very confused as she saw both Manny and Ariel bring blasters to bear. She heard a deafening explosion only moments later. The heavy table took the brunt of the concussive force, and her battle suit took the rest. She had made some modifications to her battle suits to make them more stylish so she could almost always wear them. This time she was glad she did. As she stood up, slightly dazed, she looked around the restaurant at the devastation. She hadn’t even realized Ariel was talking to her until she was shaking her.

“Nina, are you all right?” She yelled over the din of the fire alarms and people screaming. “Do you have a blaster with you?”

She gathered her wits and replied. “I’m fine, and no, I don’t have a blaster with me.”

Before she had finished speaking, Manny had pressed a blaster into her hand. “I count six, no seven,” He started.

“You count seven what?” Nina asked, starting to become a little bit frightened.

“Seven assassins headed our way, but there are probably at least two or three more.” Manny replied as he continued to assess the situation.

“Agreed,” Ariel replied. “I think our best option is to go right at them and out the front.”

“You think they are trying to force us into a trap out the back way?” Manny asked.

“It’s what I would do,” Ariel shrugged. “Less witnesses, more control; if we go out the back, we’re dead.”

“I’m sure Nina’s driver has called the SSE for back up. Maybe we should try and wait it out until they get here.” Manny called over the background noise.

“Unless they have already taken him out, in which case we are waiting to be attacked by overwhelming odds from two directions.” Ariel surmised.

“Good call. Okay, Nina, on three we are g
oing straight for the front window. Only shoot someone if they are pointing a blaster at you. Many of the people still here are civilians that have nothing to do with this, so be careful. Hoods up and visors down, let’s hope they didn’t bring anything heavy.” As Manny finished speaking, he started his count. At three, the three of them rose from the floor and began heading quickly for the big window next to the door.

As they ran, blaster fire rang out, further upsetting the occupants trying to exit the burn
ing restaurant. Manny jumped through the front window and helped Nina as she jumped. Ariel came out last, and as she was about to return fire, she stopped and looked at Manny. “These are Natora’s men, don’t fire on them.” She yelled. A look of surprise hit Manny’s face while a look of fury hit Nina’s. “I’ve captured three of their images on my visor’s HUD, let’s get out of here and see what the Admiral has to say for himself.” She concluded.

She stood to run and was hit in the back by a blaster shot. She cried out in pain, but kept going as the battle suit kept her relatively safe. They made it t
o the speeder limo only to find the driver dead and the vehicle disabled. Two men approached them with blasters up, and Manny knocked them out in two swift moves.

“Natora is trying to trick us into killing one of his men so he can put us in jail, but my visor’s HUD is recording everything. Don’t shoot anyone unless there is no choice.” Ariel called as the three of them ran from the restaurant, still being harried by blaster fire.

They ran into the street and Manny stopped the first speeder he saw. His blaster clearly frightened the woman as Ariel stepped up to her window. "People are trying to kill us," she began. "We will pay you handsomely to use your vehicle."

Before she responded, more blasterfire rang out and Manny yelled, "Slide over." As the frightened woman slid over he took the yoke while Ariel and Nina jumped in the back. Manny's driving skills had them out of danger quickly. When they had safely arrived at
the SSE production facility, their guards came out to escort them in. Nina brought the speeder's owner in with them.

"If you would like to press charges for our
not so gentle borrowing of your speeder, you are most welcome, but if you would like a reward, my people will draw up the paperwork which will prohibit you from pressing charges once you receive monetary compensation in the amount of one hundred thousand earth standard dollars."

The woman's jaw practically dropped as she said, I don't need that much money, and you were in trouble. I'm just glad I could help you out."

"Well you shall receive all of that money, and if you ever need a job, contact me directly."

______

Nina, Manny and Ariel arrived in their offices a few minutes later. The woman that had involuntarily helped them had been compensated and was receiving an escort home. Nina was furious as Ariel downloaded the faces of the men they encountered into their facial recognition program. Four of them came up as men under Admiral Natora’s command, including the two men Manny knocked out.

“Natora is going to pay for this,” Nina screamed. The few employees still working the last shift were all startled at her outburst. Manny just smiled at them and closed the door to the office suite.

“Calm down, Nina, you don’t want to say anything that can get you into trouble. The reality is, there is no way to prove it was him,” Ariel gently replied. She opened the door back up and called out, “Can someone bring us a fresh pot of coffee.”

“Oh, he’s behind it, all right,” Nina spat, angrier than she had been in a long time.

“We all know that, Nina, but we can’t prove it,” Ariel replied as she watched Manny on a vid transmission letting Zoe know he was all right. Nina took the cue and called Serge while Ariel prepared the footage for the inevitable call from Natora.

Moments later, a young clerical worker was at the door with the coffee. Ariel thanked him and began to pour three cups. She placed one in front of Nina and one in front of Manny while she was drinking hers. “All right,” Ariel started. “I have sent a detail to protect Zoe and one to protect Serge.
I sent a message to Jason onboard the
Olympus,
just to make sure he's aware of the situation. He will be needing a detail as well when he leaves the ship. There are three full details on their way here to see each of us home. The details will remain with us for the foreseeable future.” As Nina began to protest, Ariel cut her off. “No arguments. With Jesse and his crew temporarily out of the picture, the six of us, are the best way that someone could get at Sea Side Enterprises.”

Nina knew Ariel was right, but intended to argue anyway. Before she could, a transmission from Admiral Natora was received. “Remember Nina, we can’t prove anything. Be civil,” Ariel reminded her as she took the transmission.

“What can I do for you, Admiral?” Nina inquired, anger and steel in her voice.

“I heard about the attempt on your life, it was all over the news. That was quick thinking,
taking that car on the run like that. I wonder, why didn’t any of you return fire on the assassins?” He asked in mock concern.

“Because they were your men, Admiral,” Ariel chimed in while Nina stewed.

“My men?” Natora asked, a look of astonishment on his face. “Surely you don’t think I had anything to do with this travesty? Do you have any proof they were mine, or are these just baseless accusations from people who already dislike me?” He asked with a smile she wanted badly to remove.

Ariel sent him the file, and corresponding links to their current service status. “Manny knocked two of them out, but they were pointing blasters at us and didn’t identify themselves. If they were trying to help us, they weren’t very smart about it. The other two were clearly shooting at us as one of the hits they scored on me is right here on vid. So no, th
ese are not baseless accusations and yes, we do dislike you.” Ariel kept her voice calm and neutral as she spoke. Nina wondered at her cousin’s ability to remain calm in a situation like this.