by Francis, Ron
“May I have a few minutesss to confer with the Mighty Garrinorasss?” He queried.
“Of course, we’ll be right here awaiting your next transmission.” The Admiral’s image winked out as the transmission was cut, and Captain Blade immediately contacted Garrinoras. After Garrinoras agreed to the plan, he replied to the Admiral. When all the details and boundaries of the agreement were worked out, the Conglomerate Battle Group and the pirate ships left for Zenith.
While hurtling through light space, Greyside began to think about his plans. These plans would be the shining highlight to a brilliant career. These plans had been in the works for a long time, but the one thing they lacked was a legitimate scapegoat. This Mannagore and his pirates provided just that. The three things the Conglomerate needed were ships, gold and for Hyperia to be taken down a notch or two. He hoped to get all three of those things in negotiations for the princess and queen, after his forces captured them. Dominus would do anything to get his precious family back once his men had them. Of course, one of the stipulations of ever seeing Princess Rayelle or Queen Constance alive again would be that the whole affair be kept quiet, which would make the rest of the plan possible.
The plan was already in place, they were only waiting for the best moment to pull it off. He would get plenty of their gold and enough ships for a major incursion into the lawless sector. The Conglomerate would then attack the targeted worlds in the Lawless Sector using the Hyperian fleet. This would accomplish a couple important goals. First, it would make Hyperia and King Dominus look like the aggressors to the rest of the galaxy, while at the same time, weakening them. Second; the Conglomerate would then be able to capitalize on the situation by making a major push into the Lawless Sector, taking several resource-rich planets and other worlds of strategic importance. When it was all said and done, the added money from the gold, the added resources from the conquered planets and the loss of face and ships by the Hyperians should give them enough power to propel them ahead of the monarchy. Soon after, their new, secret shipyards would begin producing more ships than the monarchy could handle. If all went well, the Conglomerate would be invading the Hyperian Sector within five years, but capturing the princess was the first step and the pirates might just provide the distraction necessary to pull it off. Greyside would then be considered the greatest military leader in Conglomerate history. That thought made him smile. His father had always told him growing up that he would never amount to anything, usually right before he would beat him. Now he was about to make history, and when he was finished, it was he that would have the last laugh. He had made it further than his father had ever even dreamed. He would propel the Conglomerate past the vaunted monarchy, and for the first time in over four thousand years, there would be a greater power than Hyperia.
______
Endeavor still had about an hour before it reached Zenith, so Collin got up from his station and went to the galley to make himself a snack. It was nearly dinner time, and he had not yet eaten, so he was pretty hungry. When he arrived at the galley, he stopped short as he saw Bessa alone in the room. She was also preparing a snack. She looked up at him and smiled.
“Hello,” She began with a shy smile. “Are you the one called, Collin?”
He swallowed as he answered. “Yeah, and you’re, Bessa, right?”
“Yes, I am,” She smiled.
“Well, it’s nice to officially meet you.” he smiled and offered his hand. She shook his hand and he continued. “I have a little while before we drop out of light space, so I decided it was time to eat something. Looks like you had the same idea.”
“I was preparing a snack for myself,” she offered. “Would you like me to prepare something for you as well?”
He smiled as he realized this is probably what she was used to doing. He shook his head no as he said. “No, that’s all right, I'll get it. You are our guest, not our servant.”
Bessa smiled and Collin couldn’t look away. “Why are you and the others being so kind to me? I know Jesse didn’t want to see me get hurt, so he bought me and freed me. But Suzy risked her life with the Pandaran. Now you are being nice to me. Why?”
“Bessa, I know it might be hard for you to imagine, but there are people that just want to do what’s right. I, for one, am really happy that Jesse rescued you.” He couldn’t stop looking at the Qualoosh woman’s beautiful face while he spoke. He was very attracted to her, but he didn’t want to act on it. He didn’t want her to feel obligated to return his affection.
She had moved closer to him as he spoke, and when he was finished, she grabbed his hand. “Thank you so much for your kind words, Collin. I know I am going to very much like being on Endeavor.” As she was leaving the room, she kissed him on the cheek and said. “Thank you again.”
Collin went back to the bridge with a snack in his hand and a smile on his face.
“You ran into Bessa, didn’t you?” Josiah observed.
“As a matter of fact, I did.” He replied, still smiling.
“So where does Stephanie fit into all of this,” Josiah asked.
“Stephanie and I decided we should take a break before Endeavor left Earth. She didn’t like the idea of being out of touch for more than a year. She said if neither one of us had found anyone else by the time I returned, we could pick up where we left off. I didn’t tell anyone because I honestly didn’t expect to meet anyone on this trip. Though now, we are in another galaxy, and I have realized I really like Qualoosh women. I almost went for Teha when she was flirting with me, and she was pretty young. Bessa is closer to my age and even more beautiful than Teha. So yeah, I guess I am interested.” He concluded as much to himself as to Josiah.
Josiah chuckled to himself and responded. “She is a beautiful woman, Collin. Be careful, though, she is only just beginning to learn who she is now that she is free. Another thing to keep in mind is that she might not decide to stay with us.”
He hadn't considered that last part as he nodded his head and went back to his station.
______
Suzy was sitting in med-bay, going over the logs of Reece’s most recent brain activity. She had been giving Jesse regular updates as the activity started picking up. She knew Reece was going to come out of his coma, and she hoped it would be soon. She had the medbots diligently working all of Reece’s major muscle groups so that when he did wake, he would not have to go through a difficult adjustment period. Reece’s chest had healed quite well. His surgeries were some of her finest work. Everything was looking good, and everything was ready for him to wake up. She finished her latest update to Jesse. Then, she loaded a medical journal into her portable data unit to continue her research on comas. About an hour later, she was startled by a hoarse voice asking, “Where am I?”
“Reece, is that you?” She jumped up and ran to his bed. He was barely awake and he was trying to say something. She just held his hand and said. “Please, Reece, don’t try and talk yet. You’ve been unconscious for a long time.” She was so excited she could barely contain herself. “Colonel,” She shouted into the ship speaker. “Come quickly, Reece is awake.”
Jesse was sitting on the bridge waiting for Endeavor to come out of light space. He was quiet. He was thinking about his friendship with Kimi and how it had been strained since he had dated Cassie. He knew it would eventually go back to normal, he just hoped it would be soon. He also hoped their relationship might blossom into more than friends. He was willing to wait and take one step at a time. Suzy’s excited voice broke into his thoughts. Reece was awake. He looked around the bridge and saw smiles from everyone. Even Bessa seemed happy, and she didn’t even know Reece, although he had no doubt Suzy had told her about him.
“Collin, I’m going to run to med-bay. If we drop out while I’m there, you know what to do. Cloak instantly and head for the area on the surface that Josiah and I picked out. We can most likely land there undetected. It is the Conglomerate capital, so even that area may prove challenging.” He finished speaking and h
urried from the bridge to med-bay.
“The last thing I remember is Kora shooting me in the landing bay,” Reece recalled. “And you’re telling me that was a month ago.” He smelled the fresh scent of the sheets along with the faint but distinct smell of the lotion Suzy loved to use. Peach was what he thought she had called it.
“Yes, Reece.” Suzy patiently replied. “You were almost dead. It took ten hours of surgery to stabilize you, and we almost lost you a couple times. I had to put you in a medically-induced coma for a week. When I brought you out of it, you didn’t wake up until now. Jesse never doubted you would wake up, but you had me pretty worried.
“Thanks, Suzy, I guess I owe you my life,” he replied.
“Well, if you weren’t around, who would tease me?" She joked, hoping to see him smile. He managed a weak smile and she continued. “Everyone has been in to see you regularly."
Jesse entered med-bay at not quite a run. “Reece, it is so good to see you awake. I knew you would wake up." He was smiling as he sat next to his injured friend's bed. "You can thank Suzy. She was amazing.” Jesse was very excited as he spoke.
“So, did I miss anything exciting while I was out?” He asked.
Suzy smiled as Jesse prepared to respond. “You missed quite a bit. Cassie, Kimi and I raided Topanar’s ship for his artifact and maps. During the raid, I almost died, and I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but Cassie killed Kora during the raid. She did it to avenge you."
“Kora’s dead?” He asked with a twinge of sadness in his voice.
“I’m sorry, Reece, I know it's a lot to take in. We've all had a month to deal with it. Cassie couldn’t handle the betrayal.” Jesse offered with some sadness of his own.
“It’s alright, after what she did to me and tried to do to you, she got what she deserved…but I still miss her. You warned me, she shot me and I still miss her. What does that say about me?” He looked away in shame as he spoke.
“It says your human, Reece. No one blames you for anything, and no one is going to mind if you miss Kora. You were in love, and that’s hard to get over. We're all just glad you’re alive. Eventually, you’ll be able to move past this. We'll all be here to help you if you want us to."
“Thanks, Jesse,” he gratefully replied. “What else did I miss?”
“Topanar kidnapped Suzy while I was injured. Kimi, Collin and Sandstorm got her back, and Kimi killed Topanar during the mission. Then we made the exchange with Garrinoras. We were able to get Enso back, and we didn’t give him any of the real artifacts. We found the treasure, and it was immense. We have vid footage you can watch. Your share is in your room, by the way. We gave the important historical pieces back to the planets they were originally from. Then we gave most of the rest to Kaldor. We kept a bit for ourselves and split it ten ways. We each wound up with almost three billion chrons.”
“Three billion,” Reece interrupted in awe. Jesse shook his head yes. “Each?” Jesse shook his head again. “After giving almost all of the treasure away,” he asked in disbelief.
“I told you it was immense. We also used some to rent a mercenary fleet to help us save Kaldor from Garrinoras. He attacked with almost two hundred ships. Kaldor had eighty and we hired fifty. It was a rout. We destroyed the pirates. Garrinoras left with only thirty-nine ships. Kaldor threw a weeklong celebration. Also, the Valinor's publicly adopted Kiah as their daughter.”
“Really?” he smiled as he asked. “That sounds amazing, Jesse, I wish I could have been there.”
Jesse continued, “Cassie, Wennagal, Enso and Sandstorm stayed on Kaldor to become a special planetary task force. Then we left for Hyperia to try and use their deep space telemetry equipment. We're on our way there now, but we have to put down on Zenith because our FTL drive is acting up. We also have a new member of our crew. She is a Qualoosh woman named Bessa. That's about it, I guess.”
“Wow, I did miss a lot.” Reece commented as he shook his head.
“Don’t worry; we have lots of vids for you to watch while you are recovering,” Suzy added. “Okay, Jesse, Reece needs his rest, everyone can come in later to say hello.”
“Alright, Suzy, you’re the boss,” he agreed. “Reece, it’s great to see you awake. We’ll talk more after you rest a while.” Jesse left the room and he had a new sense of hope that everything was going to turn out alright for the crew of Endeavor.
______
Endeavor dropped out of light space at Zenith. Collin cloaked the ship immediately and made his way to the planet. He put Endeavor down almost one hundred fifty kilometers west of Zenith’s second largest city, Banar. They had chosen Banar because that's where the FTL drives are manufactured. Josiah and Kimi quickly left in a speeder to try and purchase an FTL engine for Collin to study. He and Jesse began working on the repairs to Endeavor’s FTL drive. Jesse knew Collin wanted Suzy to help him, but he felt it best if Suzy stayed with Reece now that he had regained consciousness. Bessa came into engineering to offer Collin and Jesse some help.
“Hey, Collin, I don’t know if you remember, but Serge and I built this ship.” Jesse chided as Collin was telling him what to do to fix the cooling system.
“I know. It slips my mind sometimes. I think of engineering as my domain, and I forget we have another expert on board.” He replied as he grabbed his tools to get under the engine.
“Hello, Collin. Hello, Jesse,” Bessa greeted as she entered engineering with Commando by her side. “May I be of assistance?”
“Hi, Bessa,” Collin replied brightly as he slid back out from under the engine. He sat up and gave her a big smile, which she returned.
“Bessa, you don’t have to feel like you should be working, you’re our guest,” Jesse said.
“I know,” she began. “But everyone else helps out a lot around here. I feel like I should, too. Don’t worry, I know you are not treating me like a..."
“No, we aren’t,” Jesse interrupted. “And we never will.”
“I know, and I do appreciate that. I would still like to help out where I can, though,” she added with a shy smile.
“Fair enough,” he agreed. “We’ll occasionally ask you to help us out. Remember, though, you have the right to say no.”
“I will remember,” she smiled. “Now, how may I be of assistance?”
“I can really use someone to hold this hatch open while I work.” Collin replied. “You’ll have to get under the engine with me. You might get a little dirty, but it will help me work a lot faster.” Collin wiped the grease covering his hands onto his pants and helped Bessa get into position holding the hatch.
“Just show me what to do,” she smiled, and Jesse knew Collin was in trouble. She was so beautiful. She was also intelligent and had an incredibly gentle disposition. Jesse thought Bessa was the complete package, and he wasn’t even interested. He could only imagine what being around her did to Collin. He felt terrible that this sweet, beautiful woman had lived her whole life as a slave. She was regularly beaten and taken advantage of, and she still had such a pleasant demeanor. Even now, she bore the bruises of her last encounter with her former master. As he set to his work, he heard a question from under the FTL drive.
“What will happen to me, Jesse?” She called up from the floor.
“What do you mean, Bessa?” He asked, a little puzzled by her question.
“What I mean is, when you fix your ship, will you leave me here or on one of the other planets we visit?”
“If you would like us to, we can leave you anywhere you would like. We can even drop you off on Qualoosh after we return from Hyperia. You're also more than welcome to stay on Endeavor with us.” He responded, still a little unsure of what she was really asking.
“Anywhere you leave me in Conglomerate Space will most likely result in my enslavement,” she began. “I cannot go back to Qualoosh because I have been shamed. My own parents sold me into slavery, and I will be an outcast on my planet. There are not too many places I would feel safe. "
“I’m sor
ry to hear that, Bessa, I…didn’t know your people would treat you that way,” he answered sadly.
“I think I would very much like to stay with you on Endeavor. It is the first place I have ever felt... welcomed. I feel safe with you and Suzy and Collin.”
“Well, you will always be welcome here, Bessa,” Jesse replied as Collin nodded his agreement.
“Can I even accompany you back to your homeworld?” she asked, hope evident in her voice.
“Of course you can, Bessa,” he began. “You are more than welcome to come with us wherever we go.”
“Thank you, Jesse. I cannot imagine my life anywhere else now that Endeavor is my home.”
“Good, it's settled then. You may stay with us as long as you like.”
Jesse heard Collin mumbling something and assumed that meant repairs were not progressing as quickly as he would like. He was nearly finished with his portion of the work. He wondered if Collin was stalling a little so that he could be alone with Bessa after he had finished. He smiled at the thought.
______
Suzy was reading the medical journal on her data pad again when Reece woke up. Even though he had been unconscious for a month, his body was likely to need rest for a couple days as it adjusted to consciousness once again. He had only been asleep about an hour and a half, but he already seemed stronger and more alert.
“Hello, Reece. Are you hungry?” She asked with a smile. She was still giddy that he was awake. It was like a giant weight lifted off of her shoulders.
“I think I could eat,” he admitted with a smile. “Are you gonna always sit there and watch me sleep, Doc? I know I’m irresistible, but isn’t that a bit much?” He smiled as he listened to the barely audible whirs of the med-bay machinery.
