by Francis, Ron
There was nothing of interest in the second chamber, so they continued on up. After another twenty-five meters, they came to the third chamber, and Josiah noticed a window facing the meeting hall. Neither of the other chambers had windows of any kind, so he was immediately drawn to it, hoping it was significant. He looked through the window directly at the meeting hall and he noticed he was at eye level with the golden icon on the outside of the meeting hall.
“Hey, Kimi, come here and take a look at this,” he remarked.
She walked to the window and looked at the icon on the meeting hall. She set her visor to full magnification and noticed that it wasn’t just one icon with four designs; it was four separate coats of arms with a symbol in the middle. She wouldn’t have noticed it if not for the visor’s very detailed imagery. She may as well have been close enough to touch it.
“Josiah,” she yelled excitedly, “I think that’s it.” She took off her visor, handed it to him, and said, “Look through this and focus on the symbol in the middle.”
When Josiah looked through the visor, what Kimi had been so excited about became clear to him, and he exclaimed, “We’ve found it,” and looked over to see her big smile. As they made their way out of the tower, they called down to let Cassie and Wennagal know what they suspected. When they reached the ground, the four treasure hunters raced over to the front of the meeting hall. The artifact was approximately seventy-five meters off the ground. Cassie and Kimiko both pulled out their grappling guns and fired to each side of the artifact. They clipped the guns to their belts and quickly made their way up the side of the meeting hall. When they reached the artifact, Kimiko lowered her visor to see if she could get any readings. While she was studying the display, Cassie reached out to grab the artifact and an undetected energy build up surged into her, leaving her unconscious. Cassie cried out in pain, and then went limp, dangling from her grappling gun, Wennagal and Josiah looked up and Josiah yelled up to Kimi. “What happened?”
“An energy surge has injured Captain Reed,” she yelled back down. "I will attempt to lower her to you, and one of you will have to come up and take her place. My readings show this to be a two person undertaking.”
She swung herself to the other side of the icon, grabbed hold of one of the stones and pressed the button on the grappling gun that slowly began letting out Cassie’s rope. She didn’t really like Captain Reed, and almost would have preferred to let her just hang there, but this was a two person job. As Cassie came to shoulder height, Josiah reached up and grabbed her, unhooking the grappling gun and passing it over to Wennagal. Josiah then gently laid Cassie on the ground and checked her vitals. She had a pulse, and she was breathing, but he was concerned because he didn’t know what kind of damage the energy surge had done.
As Wennagal reached the icon, he was very careful not to touch it. Kimiko liked Wennagal; he was a competent warrior. He was also a loyal friend to his Captain, and a nice person in general. These were all characteristics she valued in a friend.
Kimiko had figured out with the help of the HUD in her visor that there were two safe places to touch the icon. Both of them needed to be touched to be able to remove the artifact. Wennagal was big enough to reach both touch points, leaving her free to remove the artifact. She explained the plan to Wennagal, who was naturally a little reluctant after what had happened to Captain Reed. Eventually, he agreed, and she was safely able to remove the artifact. Once the artifact had been removed, the energy was gone. She put the artifact in her bag and began lowering herself down to the ground. Kimi knew she shouldn’t, but she found just a little bit of pleasure in noticing that Captain Reed was still unconscious.
______
Meanwhile, Jesse’s group had arrived at a large underground cave complex. Reece expertly navigated the speeder through kilometers of caves. The navigational control had recorded the entry so they would be able to find their way back out. Once they could go no further by speeder, Jesse had Reece hide the speeder nearby in case any unwanted guests arrived. They didn’t want pirates to destroy their only means of getting out of the massive cave system.
They began walking and Kora asked, “How much further?” In much the same way a child would ask: “Are we there yet?”
Jesse smiled as Reece replied, “Just a little bit further.” Jesse’s dad had always used the same reply when he asked that question. Reece wasn’t wrong, though. They only needed to walk about a quarter of a kilometer to the area indicated by the map. When they reached the treasure zone, as Josiah had called it, they began to look around. After about an hour, they had found nothing. They were all beginning to grow impatient, except Commando who stood guard, alert for any unwelcome visitors. Jesse looked over the edge of a cliff to a several hundred meter drop. At the bottom, there was a faint glow, and as he took readings, he found out that the glow was actually flowing magma. He looked up, wondering how high the cave was, and that’s when he noticed something hanging from the roof of the cave. None of them had noticed it before, even with visors. Once he was almost underneath it, however, he was able to determine an ever so slight sway.
“I think there’s something up there.” He called as Kora and Reece immediately turned their heads upward, straining to see.
As he unclipped Helga, Kora looked inquisitively at Reece and asked, “What is he going to do with that?”
“Just watch,” Reece replied, not wanting to spoil the surprise.
Jesse activated his weapon and both ends quickly shot out, turning it into a five foot Bo Staff. Kora looked at Reece in surprise.
“He’s not done, keep watching.” He said as he pointed back in Jesse’s direction.
Jesse aimed the end of the staff up towards the rock, still swaying ever so slightly, and fired. A grappling hook shot into the cave ceiling just right of the rock. Kora’s eyes widened in disbelief as she asked Reece, “What else can that thing do?”
“I know it turns into a blade, and I know it can discharge energy bolts. After that, though, I’m not sure.” He replied, amused at Kora’s wonder.
Jesse clipped the staff to his belt, pressed recoil, and began to fly up towards what he hoped was treasure. He approached the swinging rock and noticed it wasn’t a rock. It was another one of the small chests, painted to look like the rocks, and painted well, he thought. The chest was suspended by a thin electrified filament that he figured was probably dangerous to touch. He hammered an anchor into the cave ceiling and clipped himself to it. He released the grappling hook from the ceiling and only dropped a couple inches. He signaled to Reece and Kora below to get ready. He tied a piece of rope to the chest, careful not to touch the filament and clipped the rope to Helga. He put on a pair of rubber gloves, morphed Helga to blade and sliced through the filament. The chest swung out on the rope amidst a shower of sparks. Even through the gloves, he felt a jolt go through his body.
Jesse quickly lowered the chest to Reece and Kora, and as Kora reached out to grab the chest, Commando started to growl. Reece looked over to see a half dozen pirates taking cover around them as a Zinnebailan called out to them.
“Colonel Marcos,” he smiled. “How good of you to locate the next clue for me. Now, swing it over to me, or your friends die,” he added. His men began leveling their blasters in Reece and Kora’s direction. Reece was wearing a battle suit which would keep him relatively safe, but Kora wasn’t, because Cassie and her crew had still not gained his trust yet, even though he was very much starting to like Cassie.
Jesse yelled down, “You must be, Mister Janus,” he smirked, not resisting the opportunity to mock the pirate captain.
“That’s Captain Janus to you, Human.” He angrily spit back. “Now, send me the treasure, or you all die.”
Jesse noticed that Reece was moving closer to Kora, and Commando was behind a boulder, ready to pounce, as he replied, “No, I think I’m going to just drop it into the magma below, this way none of us get it. I know you’re going to kill us either way, so at least I die with the satisfact
ion of knowing you won’t get your hands on it.”
Jesse began swinging the treasure back and forth on the end of the rope. He was taunting Janus, but also building up speed. The chest weighed close to forty kilos, and everyone had their eyes on Jesse.
“Don’t be a child,” Janus yelled up to him. “I know you won’t release the treasure into the abyss. Just send it my way before I start killing….”
Before he could finish his thought, Jesse sent the treasure his way, just a lot faster than he expected. Forty kilos of metal hit Janus right in the chest and launched him about fifteen meters into the cave wall.
“Be careful what you wish for,” Jesse mocked.
Jesse used the distraction to bring his blaster to bear, unleashing several shots with both his blaster and Helga, dropping two more of the pirates. He cut his anchor and began free falling while Reece dropped another pirate and Commando pounced on the closest pirate he saw. Jesse shot his grappling hook into a lower outcropping and swung his body feet-first into the last pirate, sending him sprawling. He landed in a roll, came, up and noticed that another half dozen pirates were moving into position. He grabbed the chest and moved back to where the rest of his team had been.
“What are our options?” Reece called out as he looked over to Jesse for instructions, the adrenaline of battle kicking him into overdrive.
“We have to get past those pirates to get back to the speeder,” Jesse began. “You and Kora go left, I’ll take Commando right and we’ll flank them.”
As Kora stood to move, a blaster bolt hit her in the shoulder, knocking her off her feet, and over the edge of the cliff.
“Kora, noooo!” Reece shouted as Jesse had already leapt off the cliff after her. Jesse weighed more than Kora and put his body into a dive for speed. As he reached Kora, he grabbed her around the waist and shot Helga's grappling hook into the rock high above them. It would take more than one length of the cable to get them back into the fight, as they had fallen a good distance. As the cable pulled them back towards the surface, Kora held Jesse tight with her good arm, and Jesse, noticed she had released her pheromones. For a moment, Jesse forgot that Kora was Farannsian and had probably released her pheromones out of fear. He shook his head clear and called out, “Kora, could you control the pheromones please.”
After the incident with Cassie, Suzy had decided that it would be safe to have an anti-pheromone injection available for the male members of the crew while Kora was with them. The females of her species send out a powerful pheromone that attract males of most sentient species. Jesse had taken the injection, but it was likely that the amount of pheromones released by a fear event of that magnitude were more than the injection was intended to stop.
Kora looked up at him as they continued to rise towards the ledge and shyly said, “My apologies, Colonel, I can’t control it when I’m that scared.”
They reached the ledge, and Jesse helped Kora to the relative safety of a nearby boulder. He noticed Reece had taken out two of the pirates and Commando a third, but Commando looked hurt. He had taken a couple shots as he fought, but Jesse knew he would not quit. He was surprised to see Kora up and firing, and as she dropped another pirate, he charged the remaining two. They had found good cover so he decided to charge them. He had his blade out while he charged and the pirates responded in kind. They noticed that their blasters were not getting through whatever it was he was wearing. It looked like a ship's uniform, but, it must be some kind of armor, they thought as they charged him, swords drawn.
Reece helped Kora toward the speeder while Commando limped after them. Jesse was keeping the final two pirates busy and Reece picked up the chest as he walked. When they reached the speeder, Kora asked “Where are we headed next, assuming we make it out of here?”
“Probably Ginderbar to resupply,” He replied as he helped her into the back of the speeder and then turned to help Commando.
As Jesse approached the remaining two pirates, he swung for the head of the first. The first pirate ducked his attack and came up on the other side of him with some sort of tri-bladed weapon Jesse had never seen before. The second pirate parried his attack, lunging towards his chest and Jesse spun left, delivering a roundhouse kick to the pirate’s head as he passed. The pirate went sprawling and came up angry. Jesse smiled as tri-blade came at him with an overhand slash. He blocked the slash, kicked the pirate in the gut and spun left, severing the pirate's head with his blade. The second pirate was back on him quickly, swinging fast and angry, but controlled. As Jesse blocked an overhand strike, the pirate stabbed with a second blade right into his side. He cried out in pain, even though the blade did not pierce the battle suit, it managed to find his recently bruised ribs. The pirate pressed his advantage, swinging both blades, one after the other. Jesse was backing away, appearing to be on the defensive when he suddenly dropped and swept his leg around, dropping the pirate onto his back as he rose up and brought his blade down through the pirate’s defenses, into his chest.
Jesse ran over to the speeder and jumped in the passenger seat, still holding his side.
“Are you alright?” Reece asked him, concern etched on his face.
He adjusted his position with his hand still on his injured side and replied, “I’ll live, let’s get out of here.”
They began to drive back out through the complex cave system, and he picked up a hand-held rocket launcher and blew up the two pirate speeders. Reece looked at him with a smile. He shrugged defensively and said in matter-of-fact tone, “Some of the pirates might still be alive. I don’t want them following us.”
He sat back down and Kora leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek, “Thank you for saving my life back there,” she smiled and leaned back, cradling the arm of her injured shoulder.
Jesse looked back, smiled, and replied “I had no choice; otherwise this guy would have been moping around for the rest of the mission.” They both looked at Reece and laughed. Reece pretended not to notice and kept driving, indeed thankful that Kora was still alive.
They came to the entrance of the cave and Reece slowed down to make sure there were no surprises waiting for them. Two pirates stood by the open bay of a shuttle that Jesse assumed had brought the other pirates.
It was a large shuttle, designed to be a troop transport of some kind. It looked like it could hold up to sixty men and four to six vehicles of various size and capabilities. As Jesse surveyed the blocky shuttle, he was happy that the pirates hadn’t loaded it to capacity. He knew he couldn’t destroy the shuttle with the hand held rocket launcher he had, but with the bay open, he wagered he could do a great deal of damage to the inside of the shuttle. He could possibly even knock out communications and make it inoperable.
Jesse and Reece ran from the speeder which was stopped just out of the pirate’s field of vision, and took up position across from the open bay. They rose at the same time and fired. Reece’s first shot dropped one of the pirates while Jesse blew up the inside of their ship, and Reece’s second shot dropped the second pirate. Jesse shot Reece an appreciative look and they ran back to the speeder.
While they were taking out the pirate shuttle, Kora quickly typed one word, Ginderbar, into a communication node built into her sleeve and sent the transmission.
“Nice shooting,” Jesse called out as he ran.
“Thanks, you too,” Reece called back as he leapt into the driver’s seat like a stunt man in a drama vid.
When Jesse hopped in the speeder, he noticed how much his side still hurt. He tapped his comm and began, “SAMMI, has Team one returned to the ship?”
“Yes, Colonel Marcos. They returned almost fifteen minutes ago.” SAMMI’s voice echoed.
“Status report, please,” he continued.
“Lieutenant Jackson’s team has procured the artifact they were sent to retrieve. Captain Reed was injured as the artifact was connected to a fairly powerful energy surge that was hidden from Officer Tamanorra’s scanning equipment. Dr. Baker believes she will make a full r
ecovery within a twenty-four hour period. I, too, believe this to be the case.”
“Thank you, SAMMI. Please let Dr. Baker know that we encountered pirates, engaged in combat, and are coming in with two injured. Kora and Commando will need medical attention.”
“And probably the Colonel, too, he took a good shot in the side. He should at least have it looked at,” Reece added as he drove the speeder at full speed back towards the ship.
“Affirmative, Colonel, Dr. Baker will be standing by when you arrive.” SAMMI replied.
“Thank you, SAMMI. Team two out.”
______
Janus woke up in pain. The last thing he remembered was threatening that insolent human, and then…. He did it again. How could a mere human continue to get the best of him? He looked around and noticed that all of his men were either dead or wounded. The speeders were destroyed, and judging by the fact that no one had come to help them, the men by the shuttle were probably dead as well. Garrinoras was not going to like this at all, and Janus knew his position would not be secure if he made another mistake like this.
______
Jesse’s team returned to Endeavor and most of the crew was in the landing bay as the hatch opened. Jesse was proud that his team had not taken the same careless risk as the pirates. Suzy helped Kora into the ship while Wennagal came over to carry Commando. Surprisingly, Commando let him. Josiah excitedly grabbed the chest and brought it up to treasure-hunting central, which was the temporary name for the common room. As the hatch closed, Jesse and Reece walked tiredly into the ship.
As Jesse exited the shower, he noticed a deep bruise on his right side a few inches below his armpit. He pulled his shirt on and decided he would go see Suzy after all. SAMMI had probably already told her what Reece said anyway. He knew he would get some points for coming to her instead of making her find him. He entered med-bay and was happy to see that both Cassie and Kora were awake and doing well. Commando was sleeping peacefully which also took a load off his mind.
