by Francis, Ron
He felt a flare of annoyance as he said. “SAMMI, we don’t refer to him as mighty. Put him on screen in the bridge, and assemble the rest of the crew.”
As he reached the bridge, he could hear SAMMI summoning the rest of the crew. He put on his best fake smile as the view screen came to life. “Garrinoras, you are the last person I expected to get a transmission from.” As the smile left his face, he continued. “What do you want?”
“Now, now, Colonel, that is no way to speak to the one holding your friend’s life in his hands, is it?” Jesse could see Cassie stiffen at the mention of her cousin as everyone else came onto the bridge.
“Apologies, Garrinoras; how may we be of service to you today?” He poured the sarcasm into his voice.
Garrinoras didn’t seem to notice as he continued. “You have been a pain in my side every step of the journey to this treasure, Marcos. No one has ever given me the kind of trouble you have, especially a human,” the big Zinnebailan began.
"Aw, you're just saying that to make me feel good," Jesse mocked.
Garrinoras mood darkened as he continued, “What I would like from you are all of your clues, every artifact, and the key, or Mister Reed here dies.” He held up a beaten Enso in front of the screen, and Cassie gasped at the sight of her injured cousin.
Jesse looked over at Cassie, looked back to Garrinoras, and said, “When and where?”
“Not so fast, human,” Garrinoras replied as a smile spread across his face. “I feel compelled to show you how serious I am that you comply fully, and without any deception in this matter.”
His image faded and was replaced by a ship in space. The ship was a freighter in good condition. The dual bridge led Jesse to the conclusion that it was the Catamaran, even as Wennagal said the name. The Catamaran was a fine ship, and kept in good repair. Elegant curves flowed from the dual bridge all the way to the stylish casings for the powerful sublight engines. She was silver with a lavender hue and Jesse could tell by one look that the Catamaran was more than she appeared to be. He knew how much Cassie and Wennagal loved that ship, and he felt his heart sink as he anticipated Garrinoras' intentions. Jesse could still hear Garrinoras speaking as he began yelling, “Garrinoras, don’t do this. I’ll give you everything you want right now, please, leave the Catamaran be. You don't have to do this.”
Cassie caught on to what Jesse was yelling about, and a look of terror came over her face as she realized that Garrinoras intended to destroy the Catamaran.
He continued, “We can make the trade today. You have my word, no tricks. Everything we have on the treasure, including some information you may not even know about, for the Catamaran and Enso. Please, you have my word we will cease pursuit of the treasure.” He hated to grovel before the pirate, but he couldn’t bear thinking about what the loss of either her ship or her cousin would do to Cassie. She had come to him, a complete stranger, desperate for help and now that they were no longer strangers, but friends, maybe even more, he couldn't let her down. He had to find a way to save the Catamaran.
“Ha ha ha,” Garrinoras' voice boomed through the transmission. “To hear the great Jesse Marcos beg for the survival of his pathetic girlfriend’s insignificant ship is laughable. Are you not the same man that singlehandedly thwarted the Jarlevian invasion of Earth? Are you not the same man that brought the entire Asian Dawn criminal organization to its knees? Are you not the same man that ended the war with the ravenous Pack? And now look at this great warrior, reduced to begging for a lowly pathetic freighter. I almost don’t believe the stories now. I wonder what kind of groveling I will hear for her useless cousin. I know of young Topanar’s artifact and his map, and they will soon belong to me as well.”
Jesse was confused, how is it possible that Garrinoras could know any of that, he asked himself. As he looked around the bridge, he could see they were all thinking the same thing.
“You look confused, Colonel. Let me clear it up for you. Kora told all of those things to Joldas Topanar. Young Topanar then told his uncle, Sub-Mayor Topanar, and before his arrest, Eliphaz told them to me in exchange for some… shall we say… future considerations. To answer your unasked question, yes, I know all about how you are here in our galaxy on an exploratory mission for another year or so and I don’t care. You have challenged the Mighty Garrinoras, and you must be punished.”
“Don’t do this, Garrinoras, please.”
“Let me hear your woman beg,” Garrinoras laughed.
“Please,” Cassie’s voice sounded like a whisper, “She’s all I have. We'll do whatever you want, please don't do this.”
“Not good enough,” his voice boomed, “You destroy my ships, I destroy yours.” With that, the bridge of Endeavor watched in horror as a powerful beam destroyed the Catamaran in one shot. A collective gasp went up from the crew, and tears began to roll down Cassie’s face.
“I will leave you to contemplate what has just happened. Be prepared for my next transmission, Mister Reed’s life depends on it.” The transmission ended, and the stunned silence of the bridge took over.
Jesse looked at Cassie, tears streaming down her face, and he said, “I can’t tell you how sorry I am, Cass. We’re going to get Enso back. We’re going to get him back, and then Garrinoras is going to pay. You have my word."
As he touched her shoulder, she flinched away, “I trusted you, Jesse,” she yelled. “I trusted that you could help me, but I was wrong. You can’t help me; no one can. Now I have nothing. The only family I have left is about to die, and all you have are fake clues and empty promises.” She turned and walked away, angry. He watched her go, and as he did, his heart was breaking.
“She didn’t mean that, you know.” Wennagal offered with a somber look on his face. “She knows you have done everything in your power to help her, and you have broken no promises. You only promised to do your best, and you have done that. She will realize in time, Jesse.”
Wennagal looked sad as he spoke and Jesse realized that he had just lost his home as well. He looked at his Qualoosh friend and replied, “Thank you, Wennagal, but she’s not wrong. I have no clue how we are going to get Enso back alive, and that’s our priority. You guys may have just lost everything, but I’m not going to let you lose Enso, too.” He was resolute; he had to get Enso back, and he had to make Garrinoras pay. Cassie was going to need some time alone, as was he. He didn't understand why her comments had stung him so much as he left the bridge to think about his next move.
Kimiko watched Jesse leave and could not believe Cassie had lashed out at him like that. She understood that Cassie had just lost her ship, but why lash out at the one person that was actually trying to help you. The more she tried to like Cassie, the less she did and she realized that it didn't just have to do with her feelings for Jesse, she just didn't like the kind of person Captain Reed was.
Josiah could feel the tension in the air so thick you could almost cut it. “I hope Jesse is not the only one trying to come up with a plan.” He said, as he looked to his three friends. “We should retire to the common room to see if we can figure something out as well.” Everyone followed him into the common room, while Suzy excused herself to check on Reece. He had made it past the critical first twenty-four hours, but he was in no way out of the woods. There was still no guarantee he would wake up when she released him from the medically-induced coma.
It didn't take her long to realize she was upset, about what had happened to Reece, about the demise of the Catamaran and she was upset by how hurt Jesse looked at Cassyanna’s outburst. She knew they had gotten closer over the last few days, but he must have really developed feelings for her to be that hurt by her words. He tried not to show it, and no one but she and Josiah would probably even recognize it. But it was there. After she checked on Reece, she was going to go check on Jesse, too. He needed to know that Cassie didn’t really blame him for what had happened. After all, her ship had been taken before they even met and Garrinoras could have destroyed it at any time, which begge
d the question; why now?
Reece was still in stable condition as the medbots vigilantly stood watch. Suzy wasn’t too thrilled with his brain activity, but everything else seemed to be healing as expected. Suzy grabbed Reece’s hand and whispered, “You stay with us now, Reece." She remembered how annoyed she would pretend to be whenever he would tease her of flirt with her. She knew he meant nothing by it; “just a bit of fun,” he would say. Now, she would give anything to hear her friend make fun of her neat rows of medicines, or see him smile as he told her she had beautiful eyes. She hadn't known him long, but she did consider him to be a friend and hated to see him like this.
She left the med-bay in search of Jesse. She found him in his quarters at his desk. He was deep in thought and hadn’t even heard her come in. She sat on his bed and softly called his name. She knew from years of experience that it was never a good idea to startle a Special Forces soldier.
He looked over to her and smiled, “Hey, how’s Reece doing?” he asked.
Suzy looked at him and smiled a little bit sadly as she answered. “I’m not crazy about his brain activity, but he is progressing. He made it past the first twenty-four hours. Now it’s just a waiting game.”
“When he wakes up, I’m going to make sure he knows that it was you that saved him, and that he should probably stop teasing you.” He replied with a smile.
“I honestly don’t mind the teasing; it’s just his way. How are you doing?” She asked, changing the subject.
“Me, I’m fine. Why do you ask?” He said, just a little bit defensively.
“I ask,” she began patiently. “Because Cassie just unloaded on you for something that wasn't your fault, and I know how much you’re starting to like her. I ask, because I know you’re blaming yourself for the destruction of the Catamaran, for Reece’s condition, and for Kora’s betrayal. I ask because I know you were worried about me during you run in with Topanar. Shall I go on? Because you know I could.”
He just looked at his friend. It was scary how well she knew him. He decided to give her question a try. “I’m not really sure how I am. I am blaming myself for all of that…”
“None of which is your fault,” she jumped in.
He smiled as he continued. “I should have spotted Kora earlier. I should have taken Reece with me to the Mayor’s to stop him from doing something stupid. I should have known better than to go out with you alone while we are on Kaldor, with Topanar trying to get any advantage on us, what did I think would happen? I know the Catamaran wasn’t my fault, but I feel like I failed Cassie in a major way. I just have to figure out a way to get Enso back to her, Suzy. I can’t fail her again. She has nothing left.”
“She has us, Jess,” Suzy reminded him. “She has a home on Endeavor, and she has you now. And that’s a pretty good start, if you ask me.”
“It’s not gonna be enough, Suzy, we have to save Enso.”
“Well, I’ll let you get back to it, then,” she replied as she stood to leave. She bent over and gave Jesse a kiss on the cheek. She hugged his neck as she was leaving, and it reminded him of how much he missed Nina. He wished Nina were here with them. She always seemed to know what to do and say in these types of situations. She must be going crazy not knowing if Endeavor made it through the matter conduit or if any of them were even still alive. At least she still had Serge and Ariel to comfort her.
______
Garrinoras was pleased with himself. Everything about that conversation went his way. He had gotten the great human, Colonel Jesse Marcos, to beg. He blew up Captain Reed's prized ship and he knew they would give him whatever he asked for in order to procure the good captain's cousin. It was going to be even more fun seeing the look on their faces after he killed Enso Reed. Then, they will be out of his way and broken-hearted. Such is the fate of all who trifle with the Mighty Garrinoras. He might not stop there either, he might just kill them all out of spite. That thought actually brought a smile to his face. It didn't last long as his first mate approached.
"We are having trouble locating the younger Topanar's ship," he began in the low gravelly voice common among the Jar-Kargen.
"Put every available pirate on it, pay off some locals, do what you have to do. We need his map or we will not find the treasure. Once we find the planet, Topanar's map leads us to the treasure. Without it, we have to search an entire planet which could take a lifetime. I will not come this close and fail, do you understand, Channa?"
"Yes, Mighty Garrinoras," he turned to leave, but stopped as a thought occurred to him. "What if we let Colonel Marcos find it for us? What if we let him steal it from Topanar, and once we have heard of the theft, we then send the communiqué to trade for the human?"
"Brilliant, Channa," Garrinoras boomed. "We shall do both, either way we wait to make the trade until after Topanar's map has been stolen." He strode down the corridor, knowing the treasure would soon be his and then his conquest of the Lawless Sector would begin.
______
A few hours later, Jesse had everyone gathered in the common room. “Alright, I have a plan,” he started. “It’s gonna take some doing, but I think it might work. First, we have to break into Topanar’s ship and get back the fakes Kora stole….”
“And steal his map and artifact,” Josiah added.
“Right,” he continued, not missing a beat. “Then, we find Endeavor’s spare flight recorder force field.” As everyone looked a little puzzled, he explained. “We are going to put one of the artifacts inside the force field and throw a thermal charge in there. We’re going to blow it up, right in front of Garrinoras. Then we’ll tell him that if he touches Enso, we will destroy them all. It might take two or three before he believes us, but if he knows about Topanar’s map, then he knows he’s going to need at least seven artifacts to get the treasure. We have nothing to lose. The only way Garrinoras makes the trade is if he’s scared enough of losing the treasure to give us Enso. All we have to do is get him to believe that if we don’t get Enso, he’ll never get the treasure. Are there any questions?”
“What happens if he does release Enso to us?” Wennagal asked.
“Good question, we have to make sure it’s within Endeavor’s most powerful jamming radius, because he’s still Garrinoras and he’s still going to betray us. He will more than likely have some sort of device he can remote trigger to kill Enso. Or a sniper he would contact after he had the goods. Either way, the jamming field should work. If he pulls a weapon right there, he’ll have to fire through me wearing a battle suit to get Enso. It’s not perfect, but it’s our best shot. Our main priority is to get Enso to the meet alive, as long as we can do that, then we at least know there's a chance to save him.”
“Are there any contingency plans?” Josiah asked
“I don’t have one, but I welcome ideas. This is our best shot, though. I believe that, but I’m leaving the decision up to Cassie. It’s her cousin out there.”
“Do I have to decide right now?” She asked
“No of course not, either way we are still about to go hit Topanar’s ship. You can make your decision whenever you’d like.”
She nodded her assent as Jesse, Kimi, Collin and she made their way to the landing bay hatch.
“Wennagal, Suzy and I will keep an eye on things here,” Josiah called after them, as they were waiting for the hatch to lower.
As they exited the ship, Cassie grabbed Jesse by the arm and said, “Listen, I’m sorry about earlier, I was….”
“Don’t mention it, Cass, it’s already forgotten. Let’s just get through this mission, and then get your cousin back.” He smiled, she smiled back, and they took their seat in the waiting aircar.
Sandstorm looked up from the driver’s seat and began his tactical assessment. “We are going to land about two blocks from the warehouse. Two of my lovely young assistants are going to meet us there. Collin and I will be wearing the same black tactical garb as the building’s guards. My two friends will walk up to the guards and ask them if th
ey want to party. When the guards are distracted, and don’t worry, these girls will be plenty distracting, Kimi is going to hit the signal jammer, taking their cameras offline for about nine seconds. During that time, we will incapacitate the guards and drag their bodies behind the bushes. Then, the three of you head inside while Collin and I take their places. The girls will still be there when the cameras come back on to sell the ruse. They will continue to flirt with Collin and me for a couple more minutes before they leave. I know it's not a big window, but that’s our way in; the rest is up to Jesse.”
“Thank you, Agent Sandstorm," Jesse replied as he looked at his team. “Let’s get moving. We know Topanar is not currently at the warehouse, but we don’t know how long he will be gone.”
The aircar pulled away from Endeavor and began the thirty minute journey to Captain Topanar’s ship as Kimi was saying. “I hope he does come back while we are there. I would very much like to kill him for what happened to Reece.” There wasn’t a person in the aircar that didn’t share her sentiments.
Sandstorm landed, and the infiltration team made their way to Topanar’s ship. They stopped across the road from the warehouse, and Kimi said. “The Interrogator’s in there,” as she pointed to the large building. They worked their way into position, and waited for Sandstorm’s friends to show up.
The area immediately around the warehouse wasn’t very busy, but within a block or so there were many things to do. Restaurants, stores, and entertainment were big business in this part of the city. Some of the buildings were business offices, but it was mostly entertainment, and no housing. This time of night, the area was still bustling with activity, but not the kind of activity that would have anything to say about a couple guards getting beat up, if anyone were to even see it happen.
After two or three minutes, two young ladies began to approach the warehouse, pretending to be a little bit drunk and a little bit lost. The first young lady was a beautiful Qualoosh woman. Qualoosh women had light, purple almost lavender skin with metallic specs that almost looked like glitter, as opposed to the deep purple of the males. They also had no hair on their body, except for the long, deep purple hair on their head, and their eyebrows. They really were quite a striking species and this young lady in particular. She teetered as she walked, with her arm around a lovely, young, human woman. They looked to be about university age, just out having a bit of fun.
