by Francis, Ron
“Calm down, Nina, you don’t want to say anything that can get you into trouble. The reality is, there is no way to prove it was him,” Ariel gently replied. She opened the door back up and called out, “Can someone bring us a fresh pot of coffee.”
“Oh, he’s behind it, all right,” Nina spat, angrier than she had been in a long time.
“We all know that, Nina, but we can’t prove it,” Ariel replied as she watched Manny on a vid transmission letting Zoe know he was all right. Nina took the cue and called Serge while Ariel prepared the footage for the inevitable call from Natora.
Moments later, a young clerical worker was at the door with the coffee. Ariel thanked him and began to pour three cups. She placed one in front of Nina and one in front of Manny while she was drinking hers. “All right,” Ariel started. “I have sent a detail to protect Zoe and one to protect Serge. I sent a message to Jason onboard the Olympus, just to make sure he's aware of the situation. He will be needing a detail as well when he leaves the ship. There are three full details on their way here to see each of us home. The details will remain with us for the foreseeable future.” As Nina began to protest, Ariel cut her off. “No arguments. With Jesse and his crew temporarily out of the picture, the six of us, are the best way that someone could get at Sea Side Enterprises.”
Nina knew Ariel was right, but intended to argue anyway. Before she could, a transmission from Admiral Natora was received. “Remember Nina, we can’t prove anything. Be civil,” Ariel reminded her as she took the transmission.
“What can I do for you, Admiral?” Nina inquired, anger and steel in her voice.
“I heard about the attempt on your life, it was all over the news. That was quick thinking, taking that car on the run like that. I wonder, why didn’t any of you return fire on the assassins?” He asked in mock concern.
“Because they were your men, Admiral,” Ariel chimed in while Nina stewed.
“My men?” Natora asked, a look of astonishment on his face. “Surely you don’t think I had anything to do with this travesty? Do you have any proof they were mine, or are these just baseless accusations from people who already dislike me?” He asked with a smile she wanted badly to remove.
Ariel sent him the file, and corresponding links to their current service status. “Manny knocked two of them out, but they were pointing blasters at us and didn’t identify themselves. If they were trying to help us, they weren’t very smart about it. The other two were clearly shooting at us as one of the hits they scored on me is right here on vid. So no, these are not baseless accusations and yes, we do dislike you.” Ariel kept her voice calm and neutral as she spoke. Nina wondered at her cousin’s ability to remain calm in a situation like this.
“These men will be brought up on charges immediately,” Natora exclaimed in outrage. “You have my deepest regrets that someone under my command would try something so dangerous and stupid. Thankfully, no one was hurt.”
“We appreciate the sentiment, Admiral, now if there is nothing else…”
“Actually,” Natora replied, interrupting her. “There is something. I’m terribly sorry to have to bring this up at such an awkward time. But Naval Command is concerned because you have produced more ships than we ordered, and currently have even more in production. This is a violation of Earth laws, as SSE already has the maximum amount of ships allowed. The additional ships will have to be confiscated, I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, right, you’re sorry,” Nina blurted. “But, you also happen to be wrong as usual. None of those ships are complete, so we are not in violation of anything at this point.”
“I don’t understand, then, why build several ships and not finish them?” Natora asked, starting to think he wasn’t going to like the answer.
She replied with a smile. “Because Serge and I are in the process of deciding whether or not we are going to move our Earth facilities to Polisia, and we don’t want to have a dip in production while we settle into our new home. That is, if we decide to go through with the move.” Manny and Ariel looked surprised as she added, “That’s what the dinner meeting was about. I was hoping to talk it over with my associates, but I obviously didn’t get a chance to tell them before everything got crazy.”
Admiral Natora was starting to get hot under the collar of his dress whites. “You can’t move your production off Earth.”
“Of course we can, our contract with Naval Command comes to an end in a little over nine months, at which time we are legally allowed to move anywhere we choose.” She countered. “It wouldn’t be good business if we were to wait until then to begin thinking about what to do. We’ve made no decision, but we are prepared to. If I don’t feel safe coming to Earth, I won’t continue to have the bulk of our military production here.”
“If you pull your facilities, the Coalition will no longer do business with you.” Natora threatened.
“You should really read the stipulations in the contract, Admiral,” she corrected. “If the Coalition decided not to renew its contract, Sea Side Enterprises becomes free to begin supplying individual planetary defense forces with ships. There are thirty-one other planets in the Coalition, and each planet would like approximately eighteen ships.”
“That’s five hundred fifty-eight ships,” Manny added. “Not to mention companies with fleet privileges."
“I think we could make do with that for a while.” Nina concluded. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some business to discuss with Captain Marcos and Captain Hernandez."
As the transmission ended, Natora knew they had him. He should have never agreed to such a clumsy attempt. Now, if SSE moved, things would really begin getting out of hand for the Enclave. Natora downed the last of his brandy as he prepared to report these troubling new developments to the Enclave.
______
Endeavor arrived at Kaldor to quite a sight. Eighty-one warships were in stationary orbit above the planet, exactly where Jesse had asked them to be. Fourteen Destroyers, twenty-two Frigates, and forty-five gunships were awaiting a siege of their world. Kaldor also had almost ninety squadrons of fighters. It was an impressive fleet by Lawless Sector standards, but it wasn’t going to be nearly enough. Endeavor docked with the Kaldorian flagship, Reliant. Jesse boarded to sit in an emergency meeting with Kaldor’s High Council. The High Council consisted of the Chairman, Kaldor’s three governors, and the three district capital mayors. Admiral Togglasem, the commander of Kaldor’s space navy was also present. Jesse went over the plan to save Kaldor with them while Endeavor deployed three hundred and fifty magnetic-smart space mines. Endeavor had three hundred and eighty of the mines aboard, but he wanted to save a few, just in case.
Jesse sat with the eight most powerful men on Kaldor and told them of the mine field. The plan was to let Garrinoras get his fleet into position, and then give him the chance to surrender. No one actually thought he would, it was just a tactic to give the mercenaries of Ginderbar a chance to get into position. Once the mines were activated, it would take a sizeable chunk out of Garrinoras' fleet. He would likely respond by launching all of his Razzers to weaken the Kaldorians without exposing anymore of his ships. That was when Endeavor would strike. Endeavor would eliminate a large portion of the pirate’s fighters. Only then would Kaldor launch its fighters. At that moment, hopefully, the Battle Hammers of Ginderbar would arrive at the left flank of the pirate fleet and attack. They would be launching almost two hundred squadrons of fighters while the Battle Hammers attacked the flank. Hopefully, this surprise maneuver would be bringing the battle to a quick end. Jesse would have overall command of the fleet until Commander Enosal arrived. At that point, Admiral Togglasem would take control of Kaldor’s fleet while the mercenaries hammered the pirates. Everyone agreed this was their best chance, and prayed his idea would work. Mayor Valinor believed it would, but he was the only one in the room that had ever seen Jesse in action. Now, all that was left was the wait.
______
Nine hours after Jesse had returned to Endeavor, Garrinor
as’ fleet jumped into the system. Endeavor was already cloaked, and sat at the midway point between fleets. The crew of Endeavor were all at their stations. Collin had the stick, Josiah had sensors, Kimi was on weapons and Cassie had shields. Enso was ready to help with power and engineering if the need arose, and Agent Sandstorm was in the shuttle, ready to cloak and deploy if Garrinoras employed jamming. Endeavor and its shuttle could still get close enough while cloaked to trigger the mines through a jamming field. Wennagal was ready to help with damage control. Suzy had the snow wolves in med-bay to keep them from distracting anyone during the coming battle.
As Garrinoras’ fleet deployed in a manner meant more for intimidation than strategic value, he opened a transmission to all channels. Endeavor, the Kaldorian fleet, the High Council and all of Kaldor could all hear what he was about to say.
“Humans,” Garrinoras boomed in a voice so deep it shook the deck of Endeavor. “The mighty Garrinoras claims your pitiful planet as the first prize in his birthright to rule the Lawless Sector. Power down your vessels and prepare to be boarded, or you will be destroyed. If you attempt to fight back, I will kill a thousand civilians for every man I lose. To fight me is to doom your planet to destruction. If you turn over the criminal Jesse Marcos and return to me what he stole, I may consider having mercy on you once I am the ruler of this planet.”
The Council was worried, even though they knew the attack was coming, seeing one hundred ninety-two ships arrayed against them was frightening. The people of Kaldor heard the threats and had no knowledge of the plans to defend the planet. They knew a great battle was coming and they began panicking on the planet's surface. Even Admiral Togglasem after seeing the odds was contemplating capitulation. Just when things seemed like they might begin to spiral out of control, Jesse spoke into the silence on all channels. “Nice speech, Garrinoras. How long did you practice that one?” He mocked. “Yeah, eighty-two ships are going to surrender without a fight because you say so. Let's all just pack up and go home. Did you really expect that to work? The good people of Kaldor will never accept the rule of a despot like you.”
“Colonel Marcos,” Garrinoras cursed. “I was hoping to have the opportunity to kill you today. It was no doubt you that warned the Kaldorians of our impending arrival. No matter, we are more than a match for their insignificant fleet. I am giving you one last opportunity. Surrender, or your fleet and your planet will be annihilated.”
“What is it with you evil tyrants and your fascination with annihilation, Garrinoras?” He continued to mock. “I’m feeling rather generous today. I just found a huge treasure, so I’m in a good mood.” He said this purposely trying to rile his opponent. “I’m going to give you one chance to surrender. Turn around, and go back to Zinnebulous, and we’ll pretend this whole annihilation threat never happened. What do you say, buddy?”
“You have just sealed the fate of an entire world, Marcos. Kill them all,” Garrinoras ordered, fury evident in his voice.
Garrinoras’ fleet moved to engage, and the Kaldorians moved into their pre-arranged defensive positions. Jesse hit the activation switch on the smart mines, and they attacked. Without warning, explosions started happening all around Garrinoras’ fleet as shields went down and ships exploded. Nearly sixty-five ships were incinerated by the mines in under a minute. Then the fighters came. Garrinoras launched almost five thousand Razzers at the Kaldorian fleet.
Admiral Togglasem commed Jesse, “Do we launch the Cutters now, that many fighters will destroy a large part of the fleet.”
“Not yet, wait for my signal,” he replied as Endeavor waited for the right moment. “Launch it now, Kimi,” he ordered. Kimiko pressed the button, and the laser net shot out of Endeavor. As the net grew to its full size, it tore through almost half of the pirate’s fighters. The rest of the fighters, not understanding what had happened, broke off in an uncoordinated attempt to avoid destruction. “Now, launch your fighters,” he called to Admiral Togglasem, and Kaldor launched its Cutters. They were still outnumbered over two to one, but that's when the Battle Hammers arrived in all their destructive glory. The Hammers launched their Spykes and began engaging the pirate capital ships.
Battle Hammers were impressive ships. Jesse had negotiated the design blueprints into his deal with Commander Enosal. Battle Hammers got their name because the ships resembled the top of a hammer. With a square box front flowing into a slightly smaller rectangular body, two powerful engines flowed in a slight curve to the back of the ship in what looked like the claw of a hammer. The ships were overloaded with weapons, high powered particle cannons, impact missiles and shield-busting torpedoes, not to mention the several laser cannons used to defend against fighters and gunships. Each ship carried four squadrons of Spykes. The Mercenaries called their fighters Spykes because they looked like large spikes used in construction. Hammers and Spykes, Jesse found it fitting.
“Commander Enosal, welcome to the party,” he greeted.
“Looks like the tricks you had up your sleeve worked.” Commander Enosal replied, truly impressed by the amount of destruction Colonel Marcos had inflicted while incurring little, if no, loss. “Allow me to congratulate you on a well thought out defense.”
“Thank you, Sir, but we haven’t won the day yet,” he replied.
“Yes, we have,” Enosal countered. “Garrinoras just doesn’t realize it yet.”
Admiral Togglasem had moved the fleet into attack position. The Kaldorian Cutters and the Mercenary Spykes were handling the Razzers at a four to one kill ratio. Endeavor’s anti-fighter lasers were cutting a swath straight to the Retribution. Endeavor began hammering the Retributions shields with her plasma beam, while the Pillager opened fire on Endeavor. Several ships filled the gap between Endeavor and Retribution, so Jesse set his sights on the Pillager. He hated that ship nearly as much as the Retribution, and decided it was time to say goodbye to Captain Janus for good. Endeavor launched two torpedoes at the Pillager, disabling the front and rear shields. Endeavor then opened up with its plasma beam, ripping the Pillager in two and the bridge of the Endeavor let out a loud cheer knowing they would never again have to encounter Captain Janus. Heavy weapons fire from the Retribution rocked Endeavor’s shields. Collin began evasive maneuvers as space lit up around them. Garrinoras must have known he was going to lose this battle by this point, but he wanted to make sure he at least killed Colonel Marcos before he retreated.
Endeavor executed a maneuver that took them away from Retribution and allowed them the time to make the turn. They were getting into position to bring their weapons back to bear on the pirate flagship. One of the Battle Hammers drifted in front of Endeavor, trying to take its shot at the Retribution. It was shredded by the Retribution and four other battleships. The ploy had been meant for Endeavor. Unfortunately, the Mercenary ship didn’t see it when it tried to take its shot.
Commander Enosal hated to see any of his ships destroyed, but he liked it even less when the captain of that ship stumbled into an obvious trap. Enosal had eight Battle Hammers including his ship, the Wealthy Battle, attack the four battleships that had just tried to take out Endeavor. Commander Enosal’s move freed up Endeavor to go after the Retribution once again. Endeavor took out Retribution’s forward shields and began to inflict heavy damage when two pirate frigates closed in front of the Retribution. Jesse immediately began hammering the first frigate’s shields. Another heavy salvo rocked Endeavor’s shields.
“Shields holding at sixty-eight percent,” Josiah called out.
“Josiah,” Jesse yelled. “Fire another shot at the frigate on the left, their shields should be almost gone, and the next shot should destroy them.” Josiah let loose another round from the plasma beam and the crew watched from the bridge as another pirate frigate was removed from battle. Endeavor’s crew cheered again as they set their sights on the next frigate. Retribution was moving away from them, but Admiral Togglasem in the Reliant had picked up the trail and began hammering at the rear shields. Two Kaldorian fri
gates charged the Retribution, but were stopped short by the particle cannons of two pirate destroyers.
Jesse surveyed the battle. At first glance, it was utter chaos, but to a well-trained eye, the Mercenaries were coordinating nicely with the Kaldorians. The only chaos was on the pirate’s side. Ships were blowing up all over space, and Jesse thought this must be quite a light show for the people below. If they weren’t so terrified, they might actually enjoy it, he thought. He could spot fewer and fewer pirate ships as the battle raged. They had almost no fighters left, and the Cutters and Spykes were inflicting heavy damage on the pirate’s frigates and gunships. It wouldn’t be long before Garrinoras was forced to retreat and try to figure out how Colonel Jesse Marcos had beaten him yet again.
______
Garrinoras couldn’t believe what was happening. He didn’t have the treasure, so he would be unable to buy the ships needed to conquer the Lawless Sector. Now, he was getting routed by a much smaller force in his first battle. He had lost a large portion of his fleet already, and even if he did take Kaldor, at this point, it would be the only planet he could take. This was all Marcos’ doing. He stole the treasure. He hired the mercenary thugs to defend Kaldor, and he warned the Kaldorians, giving them enough time to muster their forces. This should have been an easy first step towards consolidating power and wealth. At this point, they would be lucky to get out of this battle alive. Endeavor had unbelievably powerful weapons for a ship it size. It had destroyed the Pillager, and it had done heavy damage to his prize flagship. He hated to do this, but he was going to have to retreat. With no fighters left, and the powerful Battle Hammers collapsing his flank, the Kaldorians had practically run them out of the system. He only had about a quarter of his fleet left, and he had only taken out about a third of the enemy.
______
Endeavor watched as the Retribution jumped to light space, followed by whatever pirate ships could make it out of the battle. Only thirty-nine of the pirate ships were able to retreat. The rest had been destroyed. Garrinoras would be licking his wounds on Zinnebulous for a long time before he could threaten Kaldor again. Jesse listened to the transmissions going back and forth from ship to surface. From ship to ship he could hear crews cheering, captains calling for order, and civilians celebrating. His crew was also in celebration when Commander Enosal sent him a transmission asking if he could come aboard. He agreed and left the bridge to wait for him in the landing bay.
