by Francis, Ron
"Hello, Lieutenant Torrensede, I have a message to share with you from King Dominus himself." he excitedly began.
"Go ahead, Soall, we're all here."
“The King wishes to publicly thank you for once again saving our Princess when you land at the Royal Spaceport. He also has his best doctor on standby to help the Colonel if he does indeed have death brush fever.
"Soall," Suzy worriedly began, "I've been hearing about death brush fever since we rescued the Princess, but I have never encountered it before. What is death brush fever?"
"Death brush fever is an infection that can only occur when someone has an open wound that comes in contact with death brush. The jungles of Pandara are full of death brush. If it's not caught within the first three or four days, it carries a fifty percent mortality rate. It is unknown when Colonel Marcos would have contracted it, if he even has it, during his four days on Pandara."
"Soall, if no one has ever survived falling into death brush, how do people who have not fallen in get death brush fever?"
"The heavy rains of the jungle cause the death brush to splash up and onto many of the surrounding plants and trees, and like I said, it's all over the jungle. There's probably not much in the jungle that hasn't got a touch of death brush on it. It usually wouldn't be too bad, but the Colonel was submerged up to his chest, so the death brush didn't just touch the wound, large amounts likely got in the wound.
"Thank you, Soall; we'll see you in a little while." Collin ended the transmission and looked worriedly at Suzy. "What do you think, Doc?"
"I don't know, Collin. He looked pretty sick before I gave him the antibiotics. I know the recovery pod won't be able to heal it, and I've never heard of it, so we're going to have to trust Hyperia's doctors. But King Dominus loves us for all we've done; he'll make sure Jesse has the best."
"You are the best, Suzy," Collin replied.
"Not for this, Collin," she shook her head sadly.
______
When Fate's Choice and Endeavor landed in Hyperia's Royal Spaceport, Sergeant Rivada was taken aback by the celebratory greeting awaiting them. The King, the Queen, the royal advisors, the entire honor guard, a five hundred piece band, hundreds of news vid cams and what looked like millions of people all gathered to see the safe return of their beloved Princess Rayelle.
Wassan and Honus were the first to disembark with the Princess, followed by Kord and Tomra. As soon as she saw her parents, she cried out and broke into a run. King Dominus ran to her and joyously held her in his arms. Queen Constance arrived and joined in the happy reunion as the entire spaceport watched. In reality, the feed was going out to the entire galaxy. The crowd went crazy at the sight of their beloved, beautiful Princess, and Sergeant Rivada savored it all from the deck. She was part of history now, and for that she was proud.
Xanu and the final eight Hyperian soldiers from Reece's crew emerged next as the crowd continued to celebrate and the royal family came over to greet them. The news vids were commenting on how haggard they all looked and how they couldn't wait to hear every detail of their exciting escape.
They were followed by the Hyperian men and women sent with Endeavor. The King and Queen warmly greeted each of the surviving soldiers that had put their lives on the line for their daughter.
The crowd erupted again as Collin, Kimi, Bessa, and Reece emerged from the ship with Sergeant Rivada and Commando walking along side them.
As they approached King Dominus, he couldn't help but notice that the Colonel was not among them and that troubled him. Kimi let him know that Colonel Marcos along with Josiah, Collette and Orvo were all still in med-bay with Suzy, and would not be coming out for the celebration. He motioned for silence and began to speak.
"People of Hyperia and people of the Hyperian Sector, Conglomerate dogs infiltrated our capital. They attacked your Queen and abducted your Princess. I sent a rescue team after them led by the traitor Zendar, who is now dead, and the legendary Colonel Jesse Marcos, who overcame Zendar's treachery to mount a rescue. With the help of our brave and noble Hyperian soldiers and members of his own crew, he succeeded in rescuing Princess Rayelle and Lady Collette. They ran out of luck on Pandara, and Colonel Marcos wisely called his friend, Chief of State Enosal of Ginderbar, for help. He knew his friend could get his people there more quickly than we could. Ginderbar sent twenty-four of their renowned Battle Hammers to defend my daughter. The battle group was led by the wise Admiral Dyson, and during the battle, a daring space rescue was performed to save her daughter, the beautiful Sergeant Rivada." He pointed to the sergeant and the crowd cheered again. He finished by saying, "We owe all of these people a great debt, and we remember our proud fallen."
“This act of treachery cannot be allowed to stand. We are now at war with the Conglomerate. It fills me with sorrow to know that these proud few will not be the last men to give their lives for our great kingdom. The thugs and criminals of the Conglomerate will face the full wrath of Hyperia for what they have done. They abducted my daughter, they made an attempt on the life of your beautiful Queen, and they have shown no remorse for their actions. Such aggression cannot be left unchecked and will not be left unpunished. Hyperia will show the worthless criminals of the Conglomerate the true meaning of justice as we will exact vengeance on them for their crimes. Hyperia will emerge victorious and stronger than ever. And as for the pirates that assisted Admiral Greyside in chasing my daughter through the Pandaran jungle like a fugitive, we will come for you as well. To attack the royal family of Hyperia is to court destruction. Hyperia will be victorious and will continue to be a bright light for the galaxy to follow. We did not begin this war, but we will end it." As the King once again embraced his daughter, the crowd erupted, the band played and Sergeant Rivada soaked it all in. She loved history, and now she was a part of it.
______
Wennagal was the last person Collin had expected when SAMMI announced an incoming transmission. He called for the transmission to be put on screen in the landing bay, and called Suzy and Bessa down to the landing bay as well. He genuinely liked Wennagal and was happy to hear from him.
“Wennagal, my friend, how have you been?” He enthusiastically greeted.
“I have been well, my friend, how about you?” Wennagal inquired, knowing about what was going on in Hyperia.
“We’ve been better, I will say that. I’m sure you know about this mess on Hyperia. Jesse, Kimi and Josiah went after the Princess, but they were betrayed and captured. They escaped, but they crashed and were hunted in the Pandaran jungle. Reece took a team after him and we followed. We got everyone back safely, but Jesse is in bad shape. Suzy and Bessa are on their way, but everyone else is off of the ship except Jesse; he's still recovering.
“Reece,” Wennagal exclaimed. “He finally woke up? That’s fantastic news. The rest of it, not as much, but if anyone can survive that sort of ordeal, Jesse can.”
“That's true, my friend. Now, enough about us, I want to hear all about your task force.”
Before Wennagal could answer, Suzy and Bessa arrived. “Hi, Wennagal,” Suzy greeted.
“Hello Suzy,” he replied.
“Wennagal, this is our friend Bessa, she lives on Endeavor now, too. How are things going with your task force?” She asked.
He smiled as he greeted Bessa. “Hello Bessa, any friend of Endeavor’s is a friend of mine. I was just getting ready to update Collin on what we have been up to, Suzy. So far, our task force has been a smashing success. We have already uncovered and diffused two plots against Kaldor.” He smiled as his friends listened intently. “You already know six of our team’s eight members.”
“So Teha did join you guys? That’s great. I know Sibbie would have been sad to be separated from her best friend.” Suzy smiled at the screen.
“Yes, and Agent Sandstorm has trained them well. They have made an immediate contribution. Our last two members are former Kaldorian Special Forces soldiers named Lenk and Tioga. They have been excellent additions as we
ll.
“That’s great, buddy,” Collin replied. “What else is going on?”
“Well, since you ask, our best mission so far has just come to a close. We are actually on our way back to Kaldor right now. We have just negotiated an alliance between Kaldor, Ginderbar, Sollonia and Qualoosh. We are hoping to expand the alliance to encompass Chawanas and Negowinz, which is the home of the Rizniaz. They are an insect-based sentient species that does not hate humanity, but also may not necessarily like humanity. We are also looking to add the two other powerful human worlds of our sector, Valagan and Zelanott. The last world on our list is Julan, home world of the Julanii. After we have decisions from those five worlds, our alliance could be as many as nine of the sector’s sixteen most powerful worlds. We will then begin to accept worlds with smaller populations and fewer military assets. The leaders of the four planets we already have feel it’s best to add small worlds slowly and only in areas we can protect.”
“I understand that from a tactical standpoint, Wennagal,” Collin agreed. “Who are the Julanii? I’ve never heard of them before.”
“The Julanii are humanoid, pale blue males, royal blue females. The males grow only to about five-foot eight and the females are usually between five-foot seven and five-foot eleven. It is rare to see any Julanii over six feet tall, and the females are nearly always taller than the males. It’s interesting because the females usually seek out taller species, much to the males’ dismay. Both the males and females are considered to be good warriors. They have also been used as slave labor on many worlds up until recently when they formed a pretty strong military in their home system and stopped letting other planets raid their villages for slaves.”
“That sounds great, Wennagal. It sounds like you guys are really making a difference out there. I’m really proud of you,” Suzy offered.
“Thank you, Suzy; I really do miss you guys. Endeavor will always be a great memory for me. What we accomplished was truly amazing. I am sorry for how Cassyanna treated Jesse, though, he deserved better.”
“It’s not your fault, we’re all friends, and Jesse is a big boy. He'll get over it,” Collin added.
“I almost forgot to ask,” Wennagal stated animatedly. “Did the Hyperian deep space telemetry equipment work? Do you have a route for your backup plan?"
“Actually, it did,” Collin began a little unenthusiastically. “But it turns out to be a good news-bad news situation. The good news is we now have a course plotted to get back home. The bad news is it will take at least nine months, and we are not yet sure if Endeavor can handle the journey. As far as plan B’s go, it's not the greatest, but at least there is hope. Jesse will probably think of something when he wakes up, at least I hope he does.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, my friends. I hope a better solution presents itself to you. I have to go now; I am needed in a briefing for our next assignment. Goodbye.”
“Goodbye, Wennagal,” Suzy added.
“Until next time, then,” Collin added as Bessa waved. Then the transmission was gone and an idea hit him. “The Conglomerate FTL drives,” he exclaimed as everyone looked at him, hoping he would have an explanation.
“If we could get a few more FTL drives and find a way to tie them into our systems, we might be able to cut a big chunk of time off our trip and not have to worry about burning out our drive halfway there," he explained.
“How much time?” Suzy asked.
“I’m not sure yet. I have to run some tests on the one we have and then make some calculations.”
“How will we tie them in to Endeavor’s systems?” Bessa inquired.
“I’ll probably need Jesse for that one,” he admitted. “But I do know one thing: we are going to need to go back to Zenith and get two, maybe three more FTL drives. I need to contact the King and ask if he has a shuttle we can use. I’ll take Bessa, Josiah, Reece, Kimi and a few soldiers to go get what we need.”
“That sounds dangerous, Collin,” Suzy started.
“It probably is, but there isn’t really another way, Suzy. The Hyperian FTL drive the King gave us is completely incompatible.” Collin replied.
______
Balinaz Superior once again watched as that blowhard of a king was all over the vid news promising vengeance against the Conglomerate for what had happened to his family. In what he termed a show of mercy, King Dominus had issued a decree that any Conglomerate citizen currently in the Hyperian sector had twenty-four hours to leave before they would be arrested as spies. Balinaz knew he only had two choices, and Dominus demands were too much. He was surprised by Greyside’s move, so his concern during their first conversation was genuine, but then Greyside revealed his plans. There was no way he was going to deliver his friend and very popular military leader to be executed. He had bought as much time as he could to get his ships in position to protect Greyside. He had played his hand and sided with his friend, hoping Hyperia would be none the wiser as he pretended to search for Greyside, but Hyperia wasn’t buying it, and after all of the public posturing, they would soon be at war. Hyperia would also soon learn that the Conglomerate would not be easily defeated. They would already have Dominus on his knees if not for Colonel Marcos’ continued interference. He was now a wanted fugitive in Conglomerate Space and there was quite a large price on his head. That, of course, wouldn’t change anything. It would, however, be nice to see someone kill that man after everything he had done to embarrass the Conglomerate military.
Greyside and Jakanna would be arriving back at Zenith in just under three hours to lick their wounds from the loss at Pandara. Balinaz thought it a good idea to publicly promote him to Fleet Admiral and throw a celebration in his honor. The celebration would probably be taking place at the same time Hyperia was celebrating the return of their arrogant Princess. He wanted to make sure the Hyperian royal family knew he wasn’t intimidated by them in the least. The posturing had begun; war was as much psychological as it was physical and tactical. Hyperia may have spoiled the plot and won the first insignificant victory, but it was the Conglomerate that would be standing tall at the end, with all of the riches of Hyperia behind it.
______
Captain Blade dreaded the next transmission he had to make. Colonel Marcos had gotten away, the Princess had gotten away, and he had lost a total of nine ships. Even worse, he had nothing at all to show for it. He was going to have to do some smooth talking if he wanted to survive to exact his revenge on Jesse Marcos. It had all been the Conglomerate's fault. Colonel Jaketh was now dead, but his incompetence might live on long enough to get Blade killed. As he confidently sauntered through the corridors of the Dominator, he decided he was going to make his transmission from the bridge. He would hold his head up, take Garrinoras wrath, and begin making new plans to capture Jesse Marcos. Garrinoras had to realize that they never would have even been close if it were not for him. That had to count for something. He brazenly walked onto the bridge, practically daring anyone to say something as he approached the communications station.
"Open a channel to Garrinorasss immediately."
As the officer began to send the transmission, Captain Blade felt a sharp pain in his back and looked down to see a sword sticking out of his chest. As the sword retracted and Blade's body slumped to the deck of the bridge, Garrinoras face flared to life on the view screen. He observed the scene before him and smiled as Yartan returned his sword to its sheath and stepped forward.
"It is complete, Mighty Garrinoras, the stink of Captain Blade's failure has been wiped away and we are ready to continue to serve you."
"Very good, Yartan, you are now the captain of the Dominator and my new second-in-command. Return to Zinnebulous immediately, I have a task for you."
"As you wish, Mighty Garrinoras." As the transmission ended, Yartan looked over his bridge as two soldiers were already dragging out Blade's body. He smiled as he gave the order. "Set course for Zinnebulous, best possible speed." He was ready to take his place at Garrinoras side, and unlike the p
revious captain of the Dominator, he was going to get the job done. He knew that to do otherwise was to bring about his own death.
"Jumping to Zinnebulous now, Captain Yartan, We should be there in sixty-one hours." the pilot informed.
"Thank you, I will be in my quarters going over the data from this past week's mission. Please send a list of all remaining personnel on the Dominator to my quarters along with the remaining personnel on our other vessels. I would like to have a full report ready for Garrinoras upon our arrival."
"Yes, Sir," came the anxious reply.
______
Collin had mentioned his plan to get Conglomerate FTL drives for Endeavor to the King. Two hours later, Endeavor was ready to leave. King Dominus had heartily agreed to lend them whatever help they needed. He was more than eager to begin repaying some of the kindness and loyalty Endeavor’s crew had shown for both his family and Hyperia. He gave them the use of Hyperia’s latest model assault shuttle as well as four soldiers. Collin was on the bridge with Kimi, Reece and Josiah while Bessa showed the Hyperian soldiers around the ship. Suzy stayed on Hyperia with Jesse. He was getting worse, and some more drastic measures were to be taken to battle his death brush fever.
It would take thirty-three hours to get to Zenith and hopefully not too long at the company selling FTL drives for freighters. Bessa came back onto the bridge and Collin looked over at her. He was pleasantly reminded of how much he enjoyed spending time with her. Even though they were not alone, he was just really enjoying getting to know her. She was starting to develop interests and things she enjoyed as she continued to figure out who she wanted to be. He didn’t mind taking it slow because he wanted her to be comfortable with the person she was becoming before she made any big relationship decisions. All in all, though, Collin couldn’t wait to get the drives and get back to Hyperia. Hopefully, Jesse would be feeling better from the Pandaran ordeal by then, and they could begin working out their back-up plan before embarking on their next round of exploration. He was really starting to enjoy Hyperia, so he was in no rush to leave there, but it would all happen according to Jesse's recovery time table, and he was alright with that. In the meantime, they would be exploring many of the worlds in the Hyperian Monarchy as the King had promised guided tours for his faithful friends.
