by Francis, Ron
"Collette, what a terrible thing to say about your king." She looked at her friend, trying to keep a straight face, and they both burst out laughing.
"So, you wouldn't mind if I made myself available for the good Colonel, then, Your Majesty?" Collette asked with a coy smile.
Rayelle thought about it for a minute before answering, "Of course not, Collette, you are my best friend, and if you think he would make you happy, then by all means. Seek to get his attention in whatever way seems fit to you."
"Oh, I'll get his attention, alright," she replied as she playfully smiled, and they both began laughing again.
As they were laughing, black clad men came crashing through two windows while another group broke through the door. Rayelle screamed as the armed men slowly approached. Collette pressed the emergency button in her bracelet to let the palace guard know the Princess was in trouble.
“If I were you, I would leave now. Many guards will be coming through that door in seconds.” Collette said with an air of defiance.
One of the armed men stepped forward and slapped her hard across the face. She punched the soldier in the throat and kicked the next closest man in the helmet. She shouted, "Run, Rayelle."
A large soldier stepped forward and punched her in the side of the face, and as she fell to the ground, he knelt next to her, pointed to the Princess and said. “We only need her, any more trouble from you and we will kill you. Do you understand?”
She nodded as Rayelle helped her up with tears streaming down her face.
“We have taken care of all of the guards in the immediate area, but we must go quickly. No raid on this palace has succeeded in almost four thousand years.”
As the men hurried from the room, Princess Rayelle turned to Collette and frowned at the welt developing on her cheek. She sadly whispered, "Why does this keep happening to me?"
Incredibly, they encountered no more guards as they exited the palace from a secret tunnel Rayelle didn’t even know existed. A waiting air speeder took the leader, three of his men and the two hostages. The rest of the strike team engaged a wave of angry palace guards, and she knew it was too late as she sought comfort from her equally frightened friend.
______
Josiah and Collin were very interested as the Hyperian technicians taught them how to use the telemetry equipment. Reece and Bessa feigned interest for Collin's sake.
“This is the manual alignment knob,” The chief technician was saying. “We use that if we need to slow down the general astrological calculations and pick a more specific point in space to calculate.”
"Can I try it?" Collin excitedly asked. As a kinetic learner he learned better by doing than hearing and loved learning how things worked.
"Certainly," the tech replied as he showed Collin the proper order of button pushing.
Collin was writing everything down in a notebook, including diagrams of the tech that were very accurate representations. Josiah knew Jesse could take one look at the notebook and be up to speed, but he would likely let them teach him the equipment anyway because it would better cement it in their minds. King Dominus had stopped by to wish them luck on finding the Milky Way Galaxy, and Josiah suspected he really loved to see the technology in action. Josiah sometimes felt bad for the King; it was so obvious that he would prefer to be out there in the galaxy having an adventure. Instead, he was forced to rely on others as enemies took shots at his family. Josiah suspected it would not go well for whoever was behind the attack on the Princess, when the King finally caught up to them.
______
Before the King could get back to the palace, he had already been alerted to the kidnapping of his daughter. He went straight to the holding facility to see the men captured during the raid. The King strode into the cell block and boomed. “Where are the men you captured, Lieutenant?” As the lieutenant led him to the cell, he could see the concern in his King's eyes. “Where has your leader taken my daughter?”
The two captured soldiers just defiantly laughed as the one on the left replied. “You will find out soon enough, old man.”
The lieutenant hit the soldier across the face with the butt of his blaster, dropping him unconscious to the floor. He looked at the other soldier and said, “I am going to have fun making you talk.” The King nodded and left him to it. He had to call the Queen and give her the bad news. Then a thought hit him: the Queen may also be in danger. He found himself sprinting to the transmission room.
______
Jesse began walking the Queen and her bodyguards out to the waiting air speeders when he got a bad feeling. He asked the Queen to hold on for a moment and called Suzy. “Suzy, can you send Kimi, Shadow and Commando to the landing bay. Also tell SAMMI to be ready to raise shields. I have a bad feeling.”
“Will do, Jess." Suzy replied, knowing better than to argue one of Jesse’s bad feelings.
“Your Majesty, something doesn’t feel right to me, would you mind coming back to the ship with me for a moment until we can figure it out?"
“Nonsense, Jesse,” she laughed. “You have been a warrior too long. No one would dare try to hurt a member of the royal family on Hyperia, and so soon after the attack on the Princess failed. We have nothing to worry about. I have a dozen fine men waiting to protect me right over there.” She pointed to the air speeders and began walking again.
“At least allow me to walk you to your speeder. If anything at all seems off to you, just mention that you left the data unit onboard Endeavor and we will return to the ship.”
The Queen could see the concern in his eyes, so she agreed. As they were approaching the speeder, her bodyguards tensed ever so slightly and Jesse knew they had spotted it, too. There were more than a dozen men, at least eighteen. Jesse knew there was no reason for there to be added men to the detail without alerting the Queen or her bodyguards.
The Queen noticed something seemed off and saw the look on both Jesse and her bodyguards faces. She smiled at the men in her air speeder and said. “Silly me, I left the device Colonel Marcos gave me on the ship. It was the whole reason for my coming. Please keep the engine running, we will only be a moment.”
The Queen turned and began walking back towards the Endeavor when she heard, “Not so fast, Your Majesty,” from an unfamiliar voice behind her.
“Run,” Jesse instructed the Queen and her bodyguards. He whirled and opened fire with his blaster and Helga, dropping two men. One of the other soldiers fired a rope weapon of some kind that tripped up the Queen. Before he could begin retracting the rope, Jesse dropped him. Jesse’s battle suit was taking fire, and one of the Queen’s bodyguards was already down. Kimi, Shadow and Commando emerged from Endeavor’s landing bay. Kimi was firing, dropping two men and Commando ripped through the rope holding the Queen with his teeth and claws. Commando stood guard over her as she rose to her feet, and ran with her remaining bodyguard towards Kimi as she waved her on. Jesse, meanwhile, had dropped four more soldiers as he recognized one of the men.
“These are Conglomerate Special Forces,” Jesse yelled back to Kimi as she helped the Queen and her bodyguard into the landing bay. “I recognize one of the men I beat up on Zenith the other day.”
“Did he say Conglomerate?” The Queen asked, nearly in a panic.
“Yes, he did, Your Majesty,” Kimi replied as she had SAMMI raise the shields. “You will be safe in the landing bay as long as you do not venture outside.” Kimi exited the landing bay to go help Jesse in the fight. The Queen's bodyguard was covering her as she went. As she ran towards battle, she noticed Jesse mixing it up with four Conglomerate soldiers. She saw that there were at least ten on the ground and another ten heading towards him. She opened up with two blasters, dropping two men and drawing the attention of the others. She dove behind an air speeder and dropped another. She noticed the men trying to flank her and she wished she had her sword. Two of the men coming up on her left flank dropped suddenly. She looked over and saw the Queen's bodyguard still firing from the cover of the s
hip.
Meanwhile, Jesse was getting hit from at least three people as he morphed Helga to blade, stabbing the first soldier through the chest. He took a shot to the back of the head and spun around to slice through the neck of the second. He kicked the third as he took another shot to the face from the fourth. He rounded on the man and hit him with a roundhouse left. He swept the legs out from under his opponent with his staff and then came down on his chest with the blade. The last man was lunging for him and he side kicked him right in the nose, dropping him in a heap. Jesse shot him as he ran towards Kimi. He was beginning to tire; he must have taken more damage saving the Princess than he thought.
Kimi was surrounded by seven soldiers and taking fire. He could see four more on their way. He picked up a dead soldier’s blaster because Helga was out of shots and opened up with two blasters on the men firing on Kimi. He dropped one, and immediately came under fire from the new men entering the fray. By this time, Shadow and Commando had joined the melee and each took down the first soldier they saw. There were now twenty soldiers down and only eight left standing, but Kimi was hurt. He could see her struggling to stand and blood trickling down the side of her face. He needed to get to her, now. Shadow and Commando were both taking fire, and Jesse dropped one of the soldiers firing at them while they jumped on the other one. He made it to Kimi’s side. He still had his blaster but now it was one against six.
The six men charged him, and the Queen's bodyguard picked off two before they made it to him. Now he was fighting four men while trying to protect Kimi. Shadow was down but Commando knocked one of the men off him and killed him quickly. Jesse was really tired, but there were only three soldiers left. He didn’t understand why no one in the spaceport had come to help them. He pulled out Helga and shot her blade right through the first soldier’s side. He took a vicious roundhouse from the second soldier but rolled with the blow into a windmill kick that took the third soldier off his feet. He stabbed through the man’s leg as an afterthought while he was charging the last man standing. Jesse and Commando hit the soldier at the same time and the man didn’t stand a chance. Jesse let Commando finish him off while he carried Kimi towards Endeavor. “Drop Shields, SAMMI, raise them again as soon as Commando is in. Suzy, we have to get Kimi to med-bay.” He continued as he gently put her on a gurney.
“I’m gonna need to check you out, too, Jess,” Suzy added as she pushed the gurney towards med-bay. Jesse ran back out with a hover gurney and pushed Shadow into the ship as Commando galloped beside him. That took a little longer because Shadow is massive, and Jesse was tired. The shields were reactivated as he brought the snow wolf to med-bay. He then went to check on the Queen. When he arrived back at the landing bay, Commando was standing guard by the Queen’s side. “Good boy, Commando,” he called as he pet him. He sat next to the Queen and said, “We should call King Dominus and let him know what happened, Your Majesty.”
“If I had only listened to you, my bodyguard would still be alive and you and Kimi would not be injured. Why did I not listen?” She subconsciously rubbed at the scrape on her palm as she tried to hide her fear.
He gently placed his hand on the Queen’s shoulder, “You couldn't have known. My crew trusts my gut feelings because we’ve been together a very long time, and they have seen my precautions save our lives on many occasions. You don't have the benefit of that experience, Your Majesty. I’m sorry we couldn’t save your bodyguard, but he understood what he was giving his life for. He wouldn’t have had it any other way.” Her remaining bodyguard shook his head in agreement as Jesse spoke.
“Thank you, Jesse, you are most kind,” she said weakly. “You are right; I should call my husband now.”
Just then SAMMI’s voice called out, “Incoming transmission from King Dominus.”
“Onscreen in the landing bay, SAMMI,” Jesse readied himself as the King’s face appeared on the vid screen. He looked really upset, maybe he has already heard about the attempt, he thought as the King began to speak.
“My love, I bring you unbearable news,” he started, trying to hold his composure. “Rayelle and Collette have been kidnapped. I do not know by whom or how they managed to breach the palace.”
Jesse could see the air leave the Queen’s body as she took in the news. Constance steeled herself as she replied. “It was the Conglomerate, my love. They attacked me at the Royal Spaceport. Colonel Marcos and Officer Tamanorra rescued me, but one of my bodyguards is dead. I do not know what has happened to the rest of my detail. If not for our friends, I would have been taken as well.”
King Dominus looked at Jesse for the first time to thank him, and noticed all of the new cuts and bruises. “I am in your debt, yet again, Colonel Marcos,” The King began. “Can you and Officer Tamanorra keep watch over my bride until I can get there with men I trust?”
“Of course, Your Majesty, it would be an honor.”
The transmission cut and he noticed the Queen had begun to tear up. “I know; not very royal of me, is it?” she conceded.
“All I see is royalty,” he replied “I cannot imagine what you are going through. Feel free to be as unroyal as you would like, I won’t tell.”
“Unroyal,” the Queen smiled through her tears.
“I know, it’s probably not a word, please don’t tell Suzy, or SAMMI,” he joked.
“If you keep my secret, I shall keep yours.” She replied as she sat down and began to gently sob. He gave her some space while keeping his eyes open for anything else that didn’t seem right in the Royal Spaceport. He realized that the Conglomerate soldiers were dressed as palace guard and that was probably why no one had come to help. They were probably very confused as to why the King’s friends and the Queen's bodyguards would have to save the Queen from the palace guard. He couldn’t blame them for their hesitation, but a little backup would have been nice in that situation. He was sore all over, and so tired that he could barely stand, but tried not to show it for the sake of the Queen. She already felt bad enough about it. Now with her daughter taken as well, he didn’t want her to have one more thing to worry about.
“Status report, Suzy, how’s Kimi and Shadow?”
“Kimi needed eleven minutes in the recovery pod, so she will be asleep for a while and should take it easy tomorrow. Something tells me that may not be an option, though. Shadow is a mess. She is going to make it, but she will need a considerable recovery time. She won’t be right for a couple weeks.”
“I’m sorry, Suzy,” he said gently.
“It couldn’t be helped, Jess, without her, maybe none of you would have made it. Just promise me you’ll be careful when the King asks you to save his daughter.”
Jesse marveled at the insight she showed as he replied, “I will."
______
King Dominus sat somberly before his generals and admirals, deciding what he should do in retaliation of the Conglomerate attacks on his family. He was stuck until his daughter was returned, but he wanted to have an appropriate response. Whether or not the Princess was recovered, Hyperia was now at war with the Conglomerate, and they would pay dearly. Advisor Torav bowed as he brought Specialist Zendar before the King. They both noticed that the Queen seemed to be standing even closer to her husband than usual.
“Your Majesty,” Torav began. “Specialist Zendar is prepared to lead a strike team to track down the Conglomerate dogs that dared to abduct the Princess.”
“What will Zendar need to bring my daughter and Collette back?” While the King was speaking, the Queen rubbed his back with one hand to keep busy and keep her husband calm.
“I will need about a dozen men and a heavily armored, heavily armed assault shuttle. I will find your family, Sire,” Zendar responded confidently.
“I think Zendar’s odds would be greatly increased if you could convince Colonel Marcos and a couple of his people, say Lieutenant Jackson, Officer Tamanorra and Lieutenant Torrensede, to help with the rescue,” Torav added.
“Colonel Marcos and Officer Tamanorra
just saved my wife from being taken. Officer Tamanorra was hurt in the process, and although he probably wouldn't complain about it, Colonel Marcos didn't look too good, either. Even if they were fit for duty; I can ask no more of them.”
“Please, my love, they are our best chance,” the Queen pleaded. “Doctor Baker believed you would ask and made Colonel Marcos promise to be careful. I think they are expecting your transmission." Under normal circumstances, she would have never asked her husband to reconsider a decision, but she was very upset and under a lot of stress to see her daughter returned safely. She knew that Colonel Marcos’ team represented their best chance because she had already seen them in action.
King Dominus picked up the transmitter and contacted Jesse. “My friend, these are dire circumstances, or I would not even consider asking. Would it be possible for you and your team to...,” The King paused, torn, because he hated to ask.
“Josiah, Kimi and I will be ready to leave tomorrow morning. If you need us sooner, Your Majesty, I’m afraid it would only be Josiah and I available,” Jesse could see the King struggling to ask his question. He interrupted so he wouldn’t have to. Still, he realized his breach of protocol and added. “Please forgive me, Your Highness, I did not mean to interrupt the King.”
“No apologies necessary, Colonel. I realize you were only helping me not have to ask a tough question. Thank you, my friend,” he replied. “The mission is scheduled for seven tomorrow morning. You will be accompanied by Specialist Zendar and eight of my special tactics soldiers.”
"We will be there, Your Majesty. We will bring Commando along as well. He has met your daughter and should be able to pick up a scent if we get close. Shadow is still a mess from the fight, so she will have to stay behind.”
“Thank you, again,” Dominus offered and ended the transmission.
______
