by Francis, Ron
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Jesse sent a transmission to Garrinoras’ ship, Retribution, and smiled as the big Zinnebailan's image flared to life. "Garrinoras, you think you can make me fight a death match, you low life coward?"
"Colonel Marcos, I had forgotten just how much I hate the sound of your voice." He sneered. "I have captured your girlfriend and am prepared to kill her if you do not comply."
"You obviously still have a crew of morons working for you, Garrinoras, and you obviously don't understand much about human culture."
"What do you mean, Marcos?"
"What I mean is Captain Reed is not my girlfriend; she's my ex-girlfriend. She dumped me. Not only did she dump me, but she was kind of mean about it. I haven't even spoken to her since before I left Kaldor. If you understood human culture, you would realize that under most circumstances I would probably be more inclined to help a complete stranger than I would be to help her."
Jesse was pouring it on pretty thick, and Suzy actually believed he meant it. If he wasn't careful, he might just get Captain Reed killed.
"So what you are telling me, human, is that you will not accept my challenge and that you wish your ex-girlfriend to die. Very well..."
"No," he interrupted, "What I am saying is I welcome the opportunity to kill you, but it is not going to be on your terms. I'm still friends with Captain Reed's crew, not to mention the fact that I despise you. So I am inclined to meet you in battle, but we will negotiate the terms or there is no deal."
"What did you have in mind? Keep in mind that if we cannot agree on terms, she will be dead by the end of the day."
"First of all, it will be a one day death match, not the traditional three day match. I've got places to be and I don't want to waste my time."
"No good, human, three days or no deal."
"I am willing to go two days, maximum. No more."
Garrinoras smiled as he replied, "Fine, but here are my stipulations; there will be no killing until the second session of the second day. I wish to savor the moment. We will open up in unarmed hand to hand combat, followed by blunt weapons, followed by bladed weapons and finally, weapon of choice. Blasters will be allowed in the final round, but no heavy weaponry or explosives. You may bring as many weapons into the final round as you are comfortable with. Metal gloves will be allowed in the unarmed combat and you must wound your opponent with one weapon before moving on to the next."
"I accept that format, Garrinoras. See, we're getting along already." He sneered. "My next term is that we fight the match on a neutral planet, either a small human world that doesn't have a large military or a neutral non-human world. But I will not go to Zinnebulous because I know that no matter what happens, if I set foot on Zinnebulous, I will not be leaving there alive."
"Unacceptable, Marcos, I will not fight you on a human world."
"How about Chawanas, then, it is where you abducted the Captain in the first place. Half the planet hates humans and the other half likes them, it's as neutral as it's gonna get in this galaxy."
"No, the fight will take place on Zinnebulous, or not at all."
"Fine, I guess you'll just have to kill Captain Reed, then. But keep in mind that if you do, you will be fighting a war against Ginderbar, Kaldor and quite possibly their allies. I might also be able to talk the Monarchy into sending a few hundred ships to destroy Zinnebulous. After all, it was your men helping the Conglomerate hunt for his daughter through the Pandaran jungle like an animal. Don't think he's forgotten that." Jesse made a motion to cut the transmission, but before he could, Garrinoras had started speaking again.
"You are bluffing, Marcos, you do not wield that kind of power within the Monarchy. Besides, they are at war right now, they will not be releasing a fleet that size to you."
"He is most definitely not bluffing, Pirate," King Dominus interrupted to Garrinoras’ astonishment. “Admiral Dyson and Colonel Marcos have helped us dominate the Conglomerate quickly. He and his crew are owed a debt so great, I could never repay them, not with a thousand ships and all of the gold in Hyperia. I would gladly give him the ships to destroy your world after what you helped our enemies do to my daughter."
"Fine, we fight on Chawanas, then. Is there anything else?” he sneered in contempt.
"Only one more thing, as I enter the arena, Captain Reed exits the arena. We don't begin the fight until my doctor has examined her to make sure you have not poisoned her or put a bomb inside her like you did her cousin. I will not fight you only to have her die anyway."
"Agreed, now I have some conditions, human," he continued before Jesse could reply. "We land only one ship each on Chawanas, and we are each allowed to bring an entourage of twenty-five people with us from our ship to the Arena. We will also be allowed five beasts with our entourage. The winner is granted the loser's body to do with as he chooses, and lastly, the winner takes the loser's ship as a prize."
When Garrinoras said that last line, both Endeavor's crew and the King looked at Jesse in shock. He looked back at the transmission and replied, "I agree to all of those conditions except the last one. In the unlikely event of my death, I cannot leave my crew stranded in this galaxy."
"Not good enough, Marcos, it's all or nothing; and we both know nothing means Captain Reed's death, followed by war. It is not an unusual or unreasonable request, Colonel; it is a stipulation in approximately twenty-eight percent of the death matches fought on Zinnebulous."
He knew Garrinoras wouldn't relent on this stipulation, and he now knew the reason behind the entire affair: he wanted Endeavor. He looked at the pirate and replied, "Allow me a moment to talk it over with my crew." He muted the signal without waiting for a reply as he turned to his crew and the King and said, "What do you think?"
"I don't know, Jesse," Suzy replied, "We can't trust him, and we don't want to lose Endeavor."
"I say we go for it," Josiah interjected as Collin and Kimi agreed. "We can't expect Jesse to take all the risk, we convinced him to do this, to put himself on the line, well now we have a stake in this, too. If he loses, we're stuck here. It is still the right thing to do."
"My friends, I would gladly give you a ship to get you home, worry not about that."
"Thank you, Your Majesty," Josiah replied.
"Why not just agree to it with no intention of honoring the agreement?" Bessa asked, "It was a common practice among the people of Binwar."
"No, if it is within our power to do so, we always honor our agreements." Josiah replied. "It was a good thought, though, Bessa."
"It was a great thought, Bessa," Collin began excitedly. "We only need to honor the agreement if Garrinoras has not broken his side of the deal in any way. What are the chances of that?"
"True, so we're agreed then?" When everyone indicated their agreement, Jesse un-muted the transmission looked at Garrinoras and replied, "Agreed, but if you do not honor your word to the letter, all bets are off."
"Then we are in agreement," he smiled the smile of a man that had just won the lottery.
"I will see you in a few weeks, Garrinoras; make sure you say goodbye to your family and friends ahead of time. Oh, and just in case you are inclined to forget any of the points of our agreement, I am sending a copy of this transmission to the Governments of Zinnebulous, Kaldor, Ginderbar and Chawanas." With that, the transmission ended and Jesse thanked the King for being willing to back him up.
"I am not just willing, my friend, I fully intend to send the ships I have promised. They will be just out of sensor range; ready to jump in to the Chawanas system the moment Garrinoras betrays you. I could do no less after all you have done for us. If he does not honor the agreement, I will destroy his planet and hunt him until there is nothing left of him or his fleet in this galaxy." The King added.
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
After all of the details were worked out, Jesse left the room to spend some time alone training. While his body was just about back to normal, he hadn't picked up a weapon in over three months. He would b
egin training with his gralium Bo staff and Hyperian battle sword, hoping he wasn't too rusty.
As he was training, Kimi walked in and looked at him apprehensively. He stopped training and came over to where she was standing. "Is everything all right, Kimi? Do you want to go a couple rounds with the staff or sword?"
"Maybe later, Jesse, I don't feel like I've been fair to you."
"What do you mean; I thought we were back to normal after Pandara? I don't feel like you've been unfair, everything is in the past...unless, you want to talk about it."
"No, that is not what I meant, I feel like I gave you so much grief over Captain Reed, and then I pushed you into fighting Garrinoras for her. It seems like, I don't know. I'm sorry."
"Kimi, first, I want you to know I have no feelings for Captain Reed, I am only doing this because it may help avoid an all-out war in the Lawless Sector. Second, you have not been unfair at all. The thought never even crossed my mind. I'm the commanding officer of this ship. Even though everyone wants me to do this, I can still choose not to. Please, you have nothing to apologize for or worry about, except the Bo staff session we are about to have." He smiled and she knew he was right.
She smiled as he tossed her a staff. "As you wish," she replied as she went through a couple stretching exercises and then smiled again; she would be showing him no mercy.
After a long Bo staff training session and an even longer session with swords, Jesse was tired and bruised, but he felt pretty good. He was better with the staff than Kimi, although she was the only member of the crew that could give him a fight, but she was a lot better with the sword than he was. The wooden practice swords they used wouldn't pierce skin, but they left a nice bruise, and he had several. As he stood in the shower, letting the hot water wash over his bruised body, he was thankful for his friend, she would leave him with quite a few bruises but he would be ready for Garrinoras when it came time to draw swords.
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Endeavor’s crew was invited to a goodbye dinner at the palace. This would be far different than the huge celebratory banquet that had been thrown in their honor when they had given Hyperia their prized piece of art back. This was just to be the royal family, and the people Endeavor's crew had become close with while on Hyperia. Admiral Vantilas had been invited, but he was having too much fun picking out Conglomerate targets and destroying them. Hyperia was at war, and a full scale celebration would not have felt right. King Dominus wished it had been more for the crew that had done so much, and given so much to both his family and his kingdom, but he also knew his friends didn’t mind. In fact, it seemed they preferred it. King Dominus and Queen Constance had presented them with elaborate yet thoughtful gifts and Jesse had presented them with a Hyperian Fire Jewel he had found in his portion of the treasure. Princess Rayelle and Collette also presented Endeavor's crew with gifts and thanked them again for saving them from the Conglomerate.
Collin had finished building what he believed would been enough adapters, and he and Jesse had tested them. Everything worked and their back up plan was in place. Jesse wasn't sure where they would be going after the death match. He hoped to make another visit to Hyperia. They knew Endeavor would be back, but it still felt like this might be goodbye. Everyone was nervous about the pending death match, although no one said it until the Princess brought it up.
“Is there any way you can avoid this fight, Jesse? It seems as though Garrinoras has never been beaten in hand to hand combat. Surely you have nothing left to prove to anyone in this galaxy, certainly not to your friends. And I have no wish to see my hero hurt again.”
“If I don’t, Your Majesty, Captain Reed dies and then Kaldor, Qualoosh, Sollonia, Julan and Ginderbar will go to war with Zinnebulous. If that happens, the Xenul, Mannagore and possibly Jar-Karga will be drawn in against them. Chawanas will be drawn in as well, but their planet is divided on how they feel about humans, so that will cause even more problems. If I do this, I can keep ten of the Lawless Sector’s most wealthy and powerful planets from a war that will benefit no one, while helping my friends get their captain back.”
Josiah noticed that Jesse had carefully worded his statement to not include Cassie as a friend. He didn’t think the Princess had noticed, and it hit him that even though Jesse was over it, Cassie had really hurt him. He felt bad that he had pushed his friend into a battle he might not win for a person he hoped to never see again.
As dinner ended and Endeavor’s crew proceeded back to their ship to prepare for an early morning departure, the royal family promised to give them a send off in the morning. Jesse left the ship and took a walk around the Royal Spaceport to reflect on all that had happened since they had entered the Kalephi Galaxy. They had made some great friends, had some big adventures and helped a lot of people. The trip hadn’t been all good; he had been injured more times in eight months than he had over his whole life combined. They had lost some good people and had made some powerful enemies. Now he was on his way to face an opponent in a death match that he wasn’t sure he could beat. All he really wanted to do was go home.
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Early the next morning, King Dominus, Queen Constance, Princess Rayelle, Lady Collette and thousands of people were on hand to say goodbye as Endeavor left Hyperia for what was hopefully not the final time. The crowd cheered wildly as the King chronicled everything Colonel Marcos and his crew had done for them. He told the people of the painful injuries, the harrowing escapes, saving the royal family, the gifts and the giving of information valuable to the war effort. Jesse was deep in reflection as the King gave his speech.
King Dominus continued, “There wasn’t one member of their crew that didn’t put their lives on the line for my family and for Hyperia. First, they saved your Princess on Trinnus, then they saved your Queen’s life and finally they managed to rescue your Princess in the midst of betrayal on Pandara. Colonel Marcos endured hours of painful torture before breaking free and saving my daughter."
As the King continued his speech, Princess Rayelle was again ashamed of how she had treated Jesse when they first met. The more she thought about all he had done for them, for her, the more she admired him. She didn't think she had ever had as much respect for another person as she did for Colonel Marcos. She found herself not wanting to let him leave and thought her admiration could easily turn into something more. She wanted badly to tell him, but he was getting ready to face off against an opponent that she wasn't sure he could beat. The last thing she would ever want to do would be to tell him something that might distract him from the coming battle to the death. Maybe, if he did in fact make it back to Hyperia, and she still felt this way, she would tell him, but not before then.
As the Princess continued to think about the Colonel, her father was still speaking. "While Colonel Marcos was wounded, he jumped into death brush to save my daughter and one of our men. Lieutenant Jackson fought a Pandaran tiger to save my daughter and Collette's lives. Officer Tamanorra saved Collette from a Pandaran Cobra, and Officer Gavin arrived with the reinforcements just in time to save them all. Lieutenant Torrensede got them to safety aboard their most amazing ship. Hyperia owes these brave men and women more than we could ever repay. It is with a heavy heart we say goodbye, but it is with great joy that we plan to see them again before they leave this galaxy and return home. They have promised to return, and I am inclined to believe them.”
The crowd erupted into thunderous applause as King Dominus approached Jesse and said, “I have one more gift left to give. Admiral Dyson's information and your planning have helped us to take total control of this war in the early stages. You have saved countless Hyperian lives. As a token of my appreciation, I am sending twelve battle groups with you to Chawanas to reinforce our friends from Ginderbar. Do not even bother trying to refuse, they will go whether you accept them or not. I still owe the pirates for their part in the Pandaran affair.” He smiled and hugged Jesse as the crowd continued its applause.
“I don’t know what to say, Your Majesty.
Thank you, they will be most useful in persuading Garrinoras to keep his word.”
“I hope he does, and I wish you luck. Goodbye, my friend.”
Jesse and the rest of the crew said their goodbyes to the royal family and the soldiers they had become so close to while on Pandara. The crowd continued to cheer wildly and a thought struck Jesse as funny. If Natora could only see me now. Princess Rayelle approached Jesse and asked for a moment.
"I wished to apologize one more time for my awful treatment of you when you first arrived. Thank you for not holding it against me and saving my life anyway."
"You are most welcome, Princess, be well, and take care of your parents for me." He smiled and winked and she felt her cheeks flush a little as he turned to leave.
After boarding the ship and completing their pre-flight routine, Endeavor was off.
______
Endeavor was on its way to Kaldor where they would pick up the rest of Jesse’s entourage. Several of their friends from Hyperia were happy to join Jesse's crew for this mission. He had Captain Reed's crew of seven, his crew, including the new members, Xanu and Sergeant Rivada, which totaled nine counting Jesse and their Hyperian friends; Wassan, Honus, Tomra, Kord, Orvo and Baldack. They would also be picking up nine of Sergeant Rivada's mercenaries. Collin, Suzy, Bessa, Enso and Teha would stay on the ship, while everyone else, twenty-five in all, would accompany Jesse to the arena. Shadow and Commando would also accompany them, although according to the agreement Jesse was allowed three more beasts. He hadn't decided what to do about that yet, but more than likely he would be bringing several of the mercenaries’ large hunting cats. All of the planets that wanted one had a copy of the transmission in which Garrinoras and Colonel Marcos had agreed to terms which would make it more difficult, but not impossible, for Garrinoras to cheat. The match was set and it had grown into a much larger event than any Zinnebailan death match had ever been. Here was the most notorious villain in the Lawless Sector fighting the human hero of Kaldor. The very man that had foiled the villain’s plot to seize control of the sector was also the first human to ever agree to a death match. Garrinoras had never been defeated in hand to hand combat, and he definitely had a size advantage, but if the stories about Colonel Jesse Marcos were to be believed, this was a man that had jumped into death brush and survived. He also supposedly beat four Pandarans at once in hand to hand combat. He would be no easy victim for Garrinoras. No one on Zinnebulous actually believed the stories until footage of his fight against the Pandaran on Binwar appeared and began to make its way through the vid news stations. Now people were really looking forward to the fight, and the Zinnebailans had made a bundle of money selling viewing rights to the modified death match to other planets. Chawanas was also excited about the fight because they stood to make a lot of money off ticket sales, viewing rights and tourism. The day was fast approaching, and it had taken on a life of its own.
