Deep Space Endeavor
Page 32
“All right,” he began, sensing his crew’s excitement. “This is it, the end of a long journey. Josiah is in charge on this one. I’m going to be staying here with Suzy, and Shadow. I’m still about three days away from being field-ready, and I don’t want to slow you down. Comm me when you have found the treasure. I will then send the bots with the hoversleds. Are there any questions?”
“What if we run into any of these big game animals SAMMI mentioned?” Collin asked.
“Set blasters to stun, we don’t want to kill any of them unless it’s an us-or-them type of situation,” he replied. “Good luck everyone, and remember, I’d rather you all come back without any treasure than to lose any of you, so be careful. Also, if you can close the treasure chamber after you have unloaded the treasure, do it. Bring the artifacts back with you if you can.”
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Five hours later, Jesse was getting restless. Suzy just laughed as she watched him doing anything he could to further prepare what had already been prepared and prepared again. “Jesse,” she chided. “You’re making me dizzy. Come sit down or you’ll tire yourself out before you even begin the actual work.”
He came and sat down next to his lifelong friend, and with a smile, said, “It’s just really hard for me to not be out there, you know.”
“I know, Jesse, even when we were children, you could never sit still if you knew one of your friends was out doing something fun. Remember when you broke your leg?” She began.
“Oh, that just about killed me,” he laughed. “I had to watch everyone playing and running around while I was stuck on the porch. It nearly drove me nuts. I guess this is a little like that." He paused as he looked over at his friend and asked, "Hey, can I ask you a question?”
Suzy looked amused, “You know you can. I’ll even give you an answer if I have one.”
“My mind is messing with me, and I’m trying to figure out what it means,” He started.
“You’re upset that Kimi and Ogen have been getting along so well,” she finished his thought for him.
“Seriously,” he laughed. “How do you do that? I mean, I know I have no right to be upset. Especially since I’m with Cassie and I think things are going well. I’m pretty happy, so why am I feeling this way?”
“Do you really want me to answer that?” She asked.
“Yes, I really do. You know me better than anyone.”
Suzy hesitated before she began, “I think on some level you’ve been in love with Kimiko for a long time.” As Jesse began to protest, Suzy put her hands up and said, “Let me finish.” Jesse nodded and Suzy continued. “The problem is, Kimi is the first woman you met after Rebecca died. You weren't ready to move on yet and somewhere in your mind, you have eliminated Kimi as a potential love interest. Because of this, you have failed to notice how in love with you Kimi is.”
“Kimi is not in love with me,” he laughed.
“Has been for years, since the night she tried to kill you. Maybe even before that.” Suzy added. “But I think now that it's been so long you are finally starting to notice Kimi.
“What do I do about it?” Jesse asked. “I’ve only ever really been in love once, Suzy. You know I’m not the type of guy to go for two women at the same time, that’s just not who I am."
“I think Kimi’s already more than a little upset with you about Cassie, so it would probably be best if you didn’t say anything to her about it right now. I do know that she’s not interested in Ogen. I think she enjoys his company, but she’s not planning on being with him.”
He knew she was holding something back. “But?” He started as he motioned his hands for her to continue.
She paused as she was trying to find the right words to say. “I don’t think Cassie is in this relationship for the long haul, and I don’t like the way she snaps at you. I feel like she might just be using you to get what she wants, like her cousin, enough money from the treasure to get a new ship, that sort of stuff. I sometimes wonder if you might have been better off if we did leave her that first day on Kaldor.”
"I don't really know what to say to that." He stood sadly, “Thanks, Suzy, I guess I’ve got a lot to think about." As he walked away, he was upset. He knew Suzy had been truthful with him and that she would never purposely hurt him, but her words had stung. Was Cassie just using him, or was their relationship real? It would explain the nagging feeling he had been having.
She called to him as he walked away. “I’m sorry, Jesse, I’m just telling you how I feel. I really do hope I’m wrong.” As she sat alone in the empty landing bay she wondered what he was thinking about and if she had indeed hurt him. She wished he had just opened his eyes a little sooner, then this whole awkward mess could have been avoided. How had he not known that Kimi had been in love with him? She had hoped he would end up with Kimi ever since she had forgiven her and befriended her, but now it looked like that wasn't likely to happen.
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After hours of searching, Josiah was confident that the entrance to the treasure chamber was in the cavern they were currently searching. They had been searching through a maze of underground caverns, some manmade and others natural. It was easy to see why Endeavor’s sensors couldn’t tell if they were all natural. The team had been searching for several hours, and he didn’t want this to turn into a two-day expedition. As he was checking along the west wall of the cavern, he heard Kimi excitedly call out.
“Josiah, I think I found something.” She exclaimed with a smile that Josiah rarely saw on her beautiful face these days.
Collin set up one of the larger portable lighting units they brought into the caverns facing her. On the wall was writing that matched the writing on the artifacts. While they tried to decipher its meaning, Josiah began to get really excited. “This is it,” He cried. “We’ve found the entrance.”
The rest of the team rushed over to see what had him so excited. Josiah, meanwhile, was looking at the map with the details of how to use the artifacts. He began taking out the artifacts and he looked back at the wall. Something else had caught his interest. Jesse was right; it looked like they were going to need the large gold coins as well. He smiled as he realized that Jesse was usually the smartest guy in the room, even though he would never act that way. He had left all of this treasure hunting details to Josiah and Cassie, knowing how much they enjoyed it. But he was still able to give the key input into retrieving the last clue. Now, what Josiah had thought was an afterthought, turned out to be a much needed part of the puzzle. How did he know? Josiah wondered with a smile.
As he was arranging all the pieces, he wondered if it would be possible to close the chamber when they were finished. I don’t see why not, he thought. Whoever initially brought the treasure in closed it when they were finished. When he had finished arranging the artifacts, he noticed they were actually letters or symbols of the ancient writing they were looking at. He began placing them into their corresponding letters in the writing on the wall. As each artifact was placed against the appropriate letter, the letter lit up, and the artifact was drawn into the wall. After the seven artifacts were placed, Josiah and Cassie began placing the gold coins. After all of the gold coins were placed, a key hole appeared in the wall.
The wall looked absolutely beautiful. With all of the items placed in their respective positions, the wall lit up with the warmest golden light Josiah had ever seen. Kimi was recording it to show to Jesse and Suzy when they returned. As he began to insert the key, he wondered if not having the final three artifacts would be a problem. The map had indicated only seven of the ten would be needed, but it all seemed so precise. He guessed that when Ameteo had hidden this treasure he might have figured it would be nearly impossible to get all of the artifacts back together. Josiah knew this was probably the reason why only seven were needed.
He inserted the key, and a golden X appeared in the middle of what he assumed was the doorway. The light grew brighter as each triangular piece of the doorway retracted into the wall arou
nd it. Josiah and his team stood, bathed in bright, golden light, looking into the treasure chamber. No one moved. It was almost too much to take in. There were paintings, golden statues, and gold-plated weaponry. They saw jewel-studded icons and golden tableware. Incredibly enough, that was just the beginning. There were ancient scrolls, histories that may have been lost for a thousand years. They looked at mountains of the most beautiful jewelry they had ever laid eyes on. There were hundreds of priceless paintings as well. Lastly, they saw hundreds of crates. The crates were in the back, and seemed out of place. But as they opened them, each one was filled with ancient gold coins. There had to be thousands of the coins, hundreds of thousands. Josiah looked at Kimi and smiled. This moment had been even better than he dreamed it would be. “This is crazy, no one should have this much money.” Josiah said in a low voice, full of reverence.
“I thought Jesse already did,” Collin joked. He wasn’t far off, though. Jesse was very wealthy, now; however, they were staring at a treasure that dwarfed everything all of them owned combined. The team began a raucous celebration at the sight of the fabled treasure of Ameteo.
Collin broke into the festivities when he yelled, “All right, ladies, stop window shopping and let’s get moving.”
“He’s right,” Josiah added with a smile. “This stuff is going to take a long time to get back to the ship.” He pulled out his comm and said “Colonel, we have found the treasure, send the bots and the sleds to our location.”
“Will do,” Jesse’s voice came back through the comm. “And, Jo, congratulations, buddy; you’ve waited your whole life for this moment.” Josiah almost thought he could hear Jesse’s smile as the transmission ended.
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Ten minutes later, Jesse was there with the second speeder, the bots and the hoversleds. He noticed that a large amount of the jewels, icons, weaponry and jewelry had been packed into at least fifty large, synthetic bags, and it hadn't even seemed to make a dent in the pile. There was so much more than he ever imagined there would be.
The bots had the first two hoversleds packed and ready to go in slightly less than seventeen minutes. Cassie drove one, and Wennagal drove the other. Jesse, not wanting to upset Suzy by staying, hopped in the speeder with Cassie as they began to make their way to the ship. Cassie looked at him with the biggest smile he had ever seen, and he just leaned in and kissed her. Her smile grew even bigger as they drove back to the ship. Once they reached the landing bay, they backed the sleds in and released the treasure in two neat piles. They placed them close to the wall, and close to each other. They were going to need a lot of space, so they couldn’t waste any. Jesse stayed behind as they drove off for the second load, which would be waiting for them when they got there.
Suzy and Shadow entered the landing bay at a run. She wanted to see the treasure and her companion had come with her. She stopped short as she saw the treasure and just said "Wow," as she stared in amazement.
Jesse smiled as he added “That’s not even a tenth of it, there’s a lot more.”
Suzy stared at the two huge piles already in the landing bay. “Really, this is already more than I ever imagined, and it’s not even ten percent of the treasure?”
Jesse’s face could barely contain his smile. “Nope, you should see Josiah; he’s like a kid at Christmas. He’s so happy.”
“SAMMI, keep sensors fixed on the space around Najiban. Let me know the second anything appears. Also, keep focused on the ground as well. I know there are not many people around here, but I don’t want them sneaking up on us.”
“Sensors remain online, Colonel Marcos,” SAMMI replied.
After about thirty minutes, the second load arrived. This time, Collin was driving the second speeder. After Cassie unloaded her sled into the landing bay, she hopped out of her speeder and came over to Jesse while Collin was unloading. She walked right up to Jesse, still smiling, and said, “I think I owe you something.” Then she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. When Collin was backing out of the landing bay, Cassie let Jesse go and hopped back into her speeder with a smile and a wave. Just like that, they were off for the next load.
Suzy’s eyebrow was raised in inquiry, “What was that all about?”
“When I got to the cave, saw how happy everyone was, and saw the treasure, my first instinct was to grab Cassie and kiss her. I guess she was just returning the sentiment.” He shrugged like it was no big deal, but his face said otherwise.
After several hours, it had gotten late, and the treasure was still coming. Jesse left the landing bay to get something to eat. Suzy was down in med-bay checking on Reece.
As Jesse was walking back to the landing bay with his snack, his comm beeped and he answered. It was Josiah letting him know the last load was on the way. He was closing up the doorway and gathering the artifacts. They were ten to fifteen minutes away from pulling this off. The treasure of Ameteo was theirs.
As if on cue, SAMMI broke into his thoughts. “I am detecting ships dropping out of light space, Colonel Marcos.”
“How many ships, SAMMI?” He replied.
“Unknown, Colonel, they are still dropping out of light space,” SAMMI noted.
“Let me know an exact number as soon as you have it.” Jesse gave the order as he reached Josiah on the comm. “Hey, Josiah, I hate to rush you, but it looks like Garrinoras just got here, and it would appear he brought backup.”
“One hundred and twelve capital ships have taken up orbit around Najiban,” SAMMI called out.
“A lot of backup,” he corrected.
“Sandstorm should already be reaching you; the rest of us are seven minutes out at best possible speed,” Josiah reported. “Do you think they even know where to find the treasure?”
“I’d bet they somehow got that information from the Sub-Mayor, so hurry,” Jesse implored. “I’d really like to get out of here before they touch down and figure out that we’re here. SAMMI, are any of the ships heading for the planet?”
“Not yet, Colonel,” SAMMI replied.
“All right, we might be able to make it. Josiah, there’s still enough room for you and Cassie to pull straight in to the landing bay, but we are gonna have to take off immediately. Kimi and Sandstorm are already on their way to the bridge. When you get here, send Collin right up, and he can take over for Kimi. She will take off as soon as you’re aboard, though.”
“We are four minutes out, Jess,” Josiah answered.
“Several smaller ships have just broken away from the fleet and are moving towards the planet. They will make it to the atmosphere in three point six minutes,” SAMMI informed.
“Kimi,” Jesse called over the ship speaker. “Start the engines and cloak the ship, this is gonna be close.”
Jesse was already on the bridge with Kimi and Sandstorm when the last load arrived. Josiah and Cassie pulled in, and before the hatch was even closed, Kimi had Endeavor off the ground. Collin ran straight to the bridge. He took the yoke from Kimi, who slid over to weapons. Josiah locked up the landing bay, and then ran to the bridge as well.
Endeavor was able to leave as Garrinoras’ ships were landing. Jesse wasn’t sure if their shuttles sensors could pick up their take-off while they were landing. But even if they could, Endeavor was cloaked. It was unlikely they could figure out Endeavor’s exact location now. When they reached orbit, Jesse motioned towards the Retribution and the Pillager, “Get between them, Collin. If they are talking to each other, I want to know what they are saying.”
The Retribution was a powerful-looking battleship. It was very large, and it likely held a crew of three to four thousand people, not counting any troops that might be aboard. It was tube-shaped with boxy engines and powerful weapons protruding from its frame. The bridge was a canopy-shaped clear dome. As far as flagships went, this one was rather impressive. As Endeavor pulled up alongside it, SAMMI began to intercept transmissions. After several minutes, Endeavor heard a transmission they would never forget.
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“Yes, Mighty Garrinoras, this is definitely the location. There is evidence of several people recently removing a large amount of something from this cave. My men should have the wall blown into the chamber momentarily.” Josiah and Jesse shot each other a cautious glance as they knew what was coming next.
“Its empty, Sir,” Janus’ panicked voice called out. “They beat us here, I don’t know how, but they beat us. The only thing left is the sarcophagus of Ameteo. The treasure is gone."
“They what?” Garrinoras yelled so loud it actually startled Enso. “How is this possible? Jesse Marcos will pay. Everything he holds dear will be destroyed. When will the rest of the fleet be ready to meet us?”
“Rest of the fleet, you mean he has more than one hundred and twelve ships?” Collin looked stunned as he spoke.
“The chamber is collapsing," Janus began running as he yelled into his communicator, "it's burning up, too. It must have been rigged to destroy itself if it wasn't opened properly. We just lost a dozen men. I'm on my way back to the Pillager. We wouldn't have gotten the treasure anyway, Sir."