Deep Space Endeavor Book Two: Royal Intrigue

by Francis, Ron

  He looked at the big smile on Suzy's face. He could tell she was enjoying this conversation as he continued. “Bessa, you are very beautiful, but I lied to your former master. I just wanted him to stop beating you, so I bought you from him. I hate slavery. That’s why I set you free immediately. You are free to make your own choices now. You never have to be with someone you don’t want to be with again.”

  “But I do wish to be with you,” she replied. “You freed me, you saved me from the Pandaran and you have welcomed me into your home. Why would you do this if not to be with me?” She looked confused. It was obvious to Suzy that men didn't usually turn her down, and she couldn’t figure out why.

  “I did it because it’s the right thing to do,” he patiently replied. "I think what you are actually feeling is gratitude, not love. I'm not interested in that kind of relationship with you, but I would like to be your friend.”

  Bessa slowly nodded her understanding as Suzy finished up. She looked at Jesse and smiled. “All done,” She announced. “I’m going to take Bessa up to the kitchen to eat. I know you are going to the bridge, would you like me to bring you anything?”

  He had forgotten how hungry he was. “Definitely,” he exclaimed enthusiastically. “Could I have a sandwich and some water?" She nodded and he replied, "Thanks, Suzy.” As they were getting ready to leave, Suzy was pleased to see Reece’s brain activity had improved. She left med-bay with a smile.

  ______

  “Captain Blade,” Yartan called out. “We have just received word from Binwar that a man matching Colonel Marcos description purchased a Qualoosh slave girl in Clove City.”

  “That doesn’t sound like the Colonel Marcosss that Garrinorasss hasss described to me,” he replied.

  Yartan continued, “Further intelligence suggests this same man immediately went to the government center and freed the slave. He then proceeded to get into a fight with a Pandaran that tried to attack the ‘loosh.”

  “Now that doesss sound like Colonel Marcosss,” he replied with a smile. “I assume he isss in one of the local medical centersss. Where can we pick him up?”

  “Actually, Captain, it is the Pandaran that is in the medical center.” Yartan informed. “Apparently, Colonel Marcos dislocated the Pandaran’s shoulder and knee. He also broke several of his ribs and knocked him unconscious.”

  “Impossible, a human cannot beat a Pandaran. Did Marcosss have help?”

  “No, Sir,” he continued. "Apparently, it was pretty one sided, too. The only blow the Pandaran was able to land was a shot to the face after he gouged Marcos’ shoulder with one of his horns. I’ve hacked the security footage. I’m putting a vid feed on screen.” The bridge of the Dominator watched in amazement as Colonel Marcos pummeled the Pandaran.

  “Incredible,” Captain Blade whispered. “Thisss human isss indeed a worthy adversary. Where is Marcosss now?”

  “He was last seen heading west outside of the city. There was also a jamming signal coming from west of the city, but it was shut down before we could trace its exact location. We are looking anywhere from fifty kilometers to one hundred fifty kilometers outside the city.”

  “Yartan, take two squadsss to search for him.” Captain Blade ordered.

  “Yes, Captain,” he replied as he pulled out his communicator and ordered two squads of warriors to meet him in the shuttle bay.

  Captain Blade smiled as he sent a transmission to Garrinoras. Garrinoras’ face appeared on screen. “I hope this is good news, Captain Blade,” he threatened.

  “Mighty Garrinorasss,” he began. “I have been unable to get anywhere near the Hyperian deep space telemetry equipment. My apologiesss, Sir. I took the liberty to search out likely locationsss Endeavor may stop, and we got lucky. I believe we have located Colonel Marcosss on Binwar.”

  “Really,” his eyes lit up. “Do you bring me proof?” He played the vid of Marcos fighting the Pandaran, and Garrinoras smiled as he watched.”

  “You have done well, Captain Blade. I am sending you two frigates and four gunships. Do not lose sight of him. Colonel Marcos is the most cunning opponent I have ever faced. Do not underestimate him.” With that, the transmission ended. Captain Blade could not believe his ears. Most cunning, he thought, but he’s only a human. How could a human cause the Mighty Garrinoras such problems?

  ______

  Jesse was monitoring the sensors when Bessa came on the bridge. Jesse smiled and she sat down next to him. “Are you getting settled in?” He asked.

  “Yes, master, thank you,” she replied.

  He turned to face her and said. “Bessa, please don’t call me master. Call me Jesse, or call me Colonel Marcos if you have to be formal. Please, don’t call me master.”

  “I’m sorry, mas… I mean, Jesse,” She replied. “It’s going to take me a while to get used to my freedom. I have dreamed of freedom my entire life, I just never dreamed of what freedom would actually be like.”

  “No problem. Did you get enough to eat?” He changed the subject.

  “Yes, I am very full. I’ve never been offered so much food. Suzy also gave me a glass of wine. I have never had wine before, so she didn’t give me too much. I enjoyed it very much.”

  “That’s good to hear.” He smiled at the lovely Qualoosh. “How about the clothes, do they fit alright? Do you like them?”

  “Yes, I have never had new clothes before,” She smiled. “Thank you, m… Jesse. I haven’t said that yet. You did save me, and you do not want to take advantage of me. People like you are hard to find in this galaxy.” She looked sad as she continued. “My own parents sold me when I was two. Slavery and people using me are all I’ve ever known. It will take some time to adjust and learn to trust people.”

  “I'm so sorry to hear that. I can't imagine what that must have been like. You are welcome to stay with us as long as you like. You have a new life now, and you can do whatever you choose to do. You're a free woman now, do you understand?”

  “I think so,” she smiled.

  “Good, if you have any questions or problems you don't feel comfortable talking to me about, ask Suzy or Kimi. They'll help you with whatever you need.”

  Jesse was still looking at Bessa when SAMMI’s began speaking. “Colonel Marcos, a heavily armored shuttle has just landed on Binwar sixty-five kilometers northeast of our location. Twenty-four beings have disembarked the vehicle and are forming a standard search grid pattern.”

  “They are looking for us,” Jesse replied. “SAMMI, put me through to the engine room.”

  “Collin,” he called. “We have pirates searching for us. They are currently sixty-five kilometers away from our position. How long do we have until they find us, SAMMI?”

  “According to the size of their grid, angle of the search pattern and current speed, I estimate we will be found within five hours.”

  “Collin, you’ve got four hours. Can you get Endeavor in the air by then?” He asked.

  “Yeah, but we’ll still have to stop again soon in order to finish the repairs,” Collin replied with a twinge of annoyance in his voice. “I really need seven hours. Is there any way you can buy me a couple more hours? Then we won’t need to stop again. As it is, if we close up early, we’re looking at another eight or so hours once we put down again.”

  “I know it’s not ideal. I know it’s my fault, too. If we're here when they get here, those ships in orbit will hurt us. Feel free to be mad at me.”

  “Good, because I am,” Collin began. “I’ll let you off the hook, though, because you did the right thing.” Jesse heard Josiah say something in the background, so he knew there was more. “And if you didn’t do what you did, Bessa wouldn’t be here now. I think she’s the most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes on.”

  “Thank you.” Bessa replied.

  “Oh, sorry, buddy.” Jesse cringed. “I didn’t think the conversation was headed there. If I did, I would have told you she is standing right next to me.” He explained. “On the bright side, it would hav
e taken you like three months to tell her what you just said to me. Sorry,” he laughed.

  He could hear Josiah laughing in the background, too, as Collin just mumbled. “Oh crap!”

  “Alright, back to work then,” He laughed. “Let me know when Endeavor is ready to fly.”

  Bessa looked at him and asked, “Will I get to meet this man that thinks I am the most beautiful woman he has ever seen?”

  “Yeah, you'll definitely meet him. I think you already did briefly, when we came aboard the ship. He was the one that didn’t say anything.” Jesse answered.

  “Who is SAMMI?” Bessa asked. “When will I get to meet her?”

  “SAMMI is the ship’s computer. She is what we call an Artificial Intelligence. She can process an amazing amount of data in very little time and come to conclusions based on that data. She can even think for herself to an extent,” He explained. “SAMMI, allow me to introduce you to our guest, Bessa.”

  “It is a pleasure to meet you, Mistress Bessa,” SAMMI replied.

  She felt a little awkward talking to the air, but she replied. “Thank you, SAMMI; it is nice to meet you as well.”

  “You can ask SAMMI questions about anything you don’t understand, and you can speak to her in any room on the ship,” he added. As Jesse was speaking, SAMMI broke into the conversation. “Colonel Marcos, the pirates search grid is proceeding faster than expected. At their new speed, their search will take just over four hours, not the five I had originally estimated.”

  “How much time does that leave us until they find the ship?” Jesse asked.

  “They will discover our location in just over three and a half hours.” SAMMI responded in her feathery voice.

  He opened a channel to engineering. “Collin, they are coming faster than we expected. They will discover us in three and a half hours. We need to be in the air in three.”

  “No problem, Jesse, we weren’t going to be able to complete the repairs anyway. I’m rigging the drive to be able to come online without me having to put everything back in its housing. This will save us almost two hours when we land again to finish the repairs. Josiah and I should be done with the patch in about an hour and a half.”

  ______

  “We know they are here somewhere, Captain.” Yartan reported. “They must be using some advanced form of cloaking technology that we have never seen before. If they remain in their current location, we should come across them at any point within the next five hours.”

  “That isss not good enough,” Captain Blade replied. "I cannot send a message to Garrinorasss telling him we may be within five hoursss of capturing Colonel Marcosss.”

  “I don’t know how we could speed up the process. Honestly, Endeavor may already be gone. If their cloaking is as good as I think it is, there is no way we would be able to tell. We are searching as fast as we can.

  “Just get it done, Yartan.” He replied as he cut the transmission.

  ______

  “Collin, they are less than an hour out, we need to go.” Jesse called to engineering, a hint of concern in his voice. “If we are here when they get here, they will be able to pinpoint our location to the ships in orbit. That would make escaping undamaged…challenging.”

  “Five more minutes, Jesse. I’m assuming you want to actually be able to make the jump to light space.” He replied a little impatiently. “For that, I'll need five more minutes.”

  Jesse couldn’t blame him; he knew Collin was doing his best. It just seemed like these things always went down to the wire. He would just like to comfortably escape for once. “Let me know the second it’s ready, because Kimi will be taking us up and away from the search. She’ll fly us southwest until you get up here to take the stick.”

  Sure enough, five more minutes came and went, and there was no call from engineering. Ten minutes came and went – still no call. Kimi was on the bridge, ready to go. Suzy had taken Bessa to show her around the ship. He was sure Suzy would be introducing her to Commando and Shadow. He would actually have liked to be there to see the look on Bessa’s face when she first met the wolves. Unfortunately, there were more important concerns right now. Finally, thirty-five minutes later, Collin called up to the bridge. Jesse gave the order and Kimi hit the thrusters. Endeavor slowly rose and took off heading southwest to leave the atmosphere on the far side of the planet. He did not want to exit where the pirates were positioned. As they rose into the upper atmosphere, Collin arrived on the bridge and took the stick.

  “We shouldn’t make a long jump in Endeavor’s current condition.” Collin announced. “I’m searching for known planets within a two hour jump radius.”

  “What did you come up with?” Jesse asked.

  “You’re not gonna like it, Jess,” Collin frowned as he said, “Zenith.”

  “As in the Conglomerate capital,” he replied. “Is there no where else?”

  “Unfortunately, no,” Collin shook his head.

  “Alright, let’s go,” he conceded. “I’ll be staying inside the ship this time,” he joked.

  ______

  Yartan heard the roar of an engine leaving planet. He knew he had missed Endeavor. As he made his way back to the shuttle he, called up to the Dominator to let Captain Blade know what had happened.

  “So we lost Marcosss,” Captain Blade yelled angrily.

  “For now, Captain,” he replied. “But I was thinking about the situation. Endeavor waited until the last possible second before launching. Why?”

  “I’m guessing you have a theory, Yartan,” he replied impatiently.

  “Yes, Sir, I do. I believe their FTL drive is damaged, and they were trying to repair it. It’s the only scenario that makes sense. I don’t think it’s completely repaired, so they will most likely have to stop somewhere close. Is there anything within two or three hours of Binwar?”

  “Asss a matter of fact, there isss,” he replied. “If you are correct, they are heading for Zenith.”

  The shuttle docked with the Dominator and Yartan returned to the bridge. Dominator and its two gunships were preparing a course for Zenith when a Conglomerate Battle Group exited light space.

  Chapter Two:

  ______

  As Endeavor traveled through light space on its way to Zenith, Collin told Jesse about the FTL technology available there. He thought it might be a good idea to send Kimi and Josiah out to buy an FTL drive while they repaired Endeavor, in case Endeavor's drive proved temperamental. The Conglomerate FTL drives were supposedly the fastest in the galaxy. He also thought it would be beneficial to be able to study one. Jesse was still giving the idea some thought when Suzy and Bessa arrived on the bridge. Everyone except Reece was now on the bridge. Jesse wondered when Reece would awaken. He also wondered just how distracted Collin would be with Bessa on the bridge. He had known Collin for a long time, and he had never seen him take to a woman this quickly before. Suzy brought Bessa over to Kimi to get them further acquainted while he and Josiah looked for the best place to have Collin put Endeavor down on Zenith. He was purposely not interacting with Bessa. He wanted her to get to know the rest of the crew. He hoped she would begin to understand that she not only had her freedom, she also had friends. He hoped she would realize it sooner rather than later, but he would give her as much time as she needed to adjust.

  ______

  The Conglomerate Battle Group consisted of nine ships. Admiral Greyside's Flagship, a Destroyer named Absolution, loomed large in the viewport of the pirate ships. The Absolution was the largest ship in the Conglomerate fleet, and also the most powerful. In the shape of a giant, elongated oval, it contained twenty-seven decks and carried one hundred eighty fighters. The bridge stood slightly raised above the highest deck almost a third of the way down the ship and cylindrical laser cannons jutted out one to three meters from the hull. There were over thirty cannons of varying size and power with the ability to rotate for maximum fields of fire. The armor was thick, and the powerful sublight engines protruded from the back of the ship
. Standing with the Absolution were two Heavy Cruisers, two Frigate and four Gunships, all bristling with weaponry. If the intel was accurate, the shields were not nearly as powerful as Hyperian shields, but from the look of the Conglomerate ships, they hoped to outgun any fleet they came against.

  As the Conglomerate Battle Group took up position alongside Captain Blade’s three ships, Yartan called out, “Incoming transmission.”

  “Put it on screen,” Captain Blade ordered.

  A human face materialized on the screen, which annoyed him. Like most Mannagore, he hated humans. He especially hated humans in positions of authority.

  “Attention, Dominator,” a voice began. “This is Admiral Greyside of the Conglomerate Destroyer Absolution. Please state your business on Binwar.”

  “Admiral Greyside, I am Captain Blade,” he began. “We are searching for a fugitive from the Lawlesss Sector named Colonel Jesse Marcosss. Our intelligence suggested he wasss here. In fact, we just missed him. It appearsss he may be heading to Zenith next.”

  “What is this Colonel Marcos wanted for?” Greyside asked.

  “Crimesss against Zinnebulousss,” he replied.

  “So, you are searching for the man that foiled Garrinoras’ attempt to seize control of the Lawless Sector,” Greyside began. “The whole galaxy has heard about the Battle of Kaldor. The Federation has already begun working on a vid drama retelling the tale of Kaldor. Garrinoras must be furious,” he smiled. “I’m sure we can come to an arrangement that will be mutually beneficial and will allow you to search our sector for your fugitive.”

  “What isss it you are suggesting, Admiral?” He asked, his curiosity piqued.

  Greyside took a deep breath before he began. “Well, we would like to use your presence in our sector as part of a cover up for a government-sponsored mission currently under way in another sector. In other words, if anything goes wrong, you will be the fall guys. You will, of course, escape to the Lawless Sector and we will have our plausible deniability. In return, you may move through our sector with impunity, provided you do not raid any of our planets. We will even aid you in the search for Jesse Marcos. What do you say?”