by Ron Francis
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Mayor Valinor had some potentially devastating news, and he needed to contact Chief of State Enosal to let him know immediately. It seemed to him that their enemies were intent on starting a war no matter what precautions were taken to avoid it. As he sat in his office, waiting for his transmission to be put through to his new ally, he couldn’t help but think about Colonel Marcos putting his life on the line to avoid this very problem. He prayed it wasn’t for nothing.
The Chief of State of Ginderbar appeared on the transmission with a wary smile, “Mayor Valinor, I am told you have some urgent news to discuss.”
“Yes, my friend, unfortunately I do bring bad tidings. A fleet of over a hundred ships was seen leaving Zinnebulous for Ginderbar. Another fleet of over a hundred ships was spotted one system away from Chawanas. That’s bad news for several reasons.”
Enosal looked distressed as he said, “We’ll still have them outnumbered by close to fifty ships at Chawanas, but I cannot send anymore ships without compromising our security, especially if one hundred ships are poised to attack here. If that happens, we’re all in it for the long haul. Thankfully, Negowinz, Julan, Valagan, and Zelanott have all agreed to join our alliance. The Rizniaz of Negowinz are almost as hated on Zinnebulous as humans are. They are eager to see the Zinnebailans taken down a notch or two. That gives us eight powerful worlds in our alliance and four species. Four more worlds with smaller militaries and fewer resources have also been added to our alliance, bringing us up to twelve worlds as your Chairman has probably told you. But none of that matters if Chawanas has joined with Zinnebulous. With the Xenul, Mannagore, Salvarians, Banijard and Jar-Kargen, that gives them seven species controlling fifteen worlds. The Farannsians control two fairly powerful worlds, which are strategically placed. We really needed the Farannsians on our side. If Chawanas has sided with Zinnebulous, then we really need a miracle to keep this from being a long war.” The weight of responsibility felt heavy in his chest and for the first time he thought he might have been better off without the Sword of Targon. He might be responsible for leading a newly united Ginderbar into all-out war.
“My friend,” the Mayor began. “Let us not jump to conclusions. We don’t know that Chawanas has joined Zinnebulous yet. Either way, the Lawless Sector is in for a large-scale conflict the likes of which it has never seen, if we cannot figure out a way to diffuse this situation. I have been given intel that suggests if Garrinoras dies, the alliance against us falls apart.”
“Another reason for us to hope that Colonel Marcos prevails in his match then. In the meantime, we need to contact all of our allies and make sure their militaries are put on high alert. They must be ready to move to Chawanas or Ginderbar should the need arise.”
“I shall get on it right away. We will talk more later.” as the transmission winked out, Enosal sat back and hoped he wouldn’t have to fight an all out war. Ginderbar has only just been united and I really wanted to continue strengthening Ginderbar and the alliance. War will be a destructive detour to my plans for a better sector. I have no desire to see Colonel Marcos put his life on the line only to have to go to war anyway. Why can’t Garrinoras just die already? He contemplated all of these things and more as he waited for more intelligence that would let him know what was really going on over Chawanas and Ginderbar.
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Cassie boarded Endeavor to warm smiles and big greetings from her Cousin and Teha. She didn’t know any of the mercenaries, although they were very warm and polite to her. Collin was cordial but she could tell he was still upset with her for how she left Jesse. Collin’s girlfriend also looked at her apprehensively. She was tired and malnourished and her conversation with Jesse had taken a lot out of her. Suzy immediately took her to med-bay to give her a more thorough evaluation and make sure Garrinoras didn’t leave her any nasty surprises. She didn’t think he had, but a second look wouldn’t hurt. She also wanted to get some clean clothes on her and tend to her bruises and lacerations. She marveled at her patient. Even covered in dirt and bruises, she was still strikingly beautiful. It was easy to see why Jesse had fallen for her, what man wouldn’t?
On their way to med-bay, she put her arm around Cassie and smiled. “Let’s get you all taken care of, and then get you something to eat.”
“You don’t have to be nice to me, Suzy. I know you’re all mad at me.” Cassie frowned as she knew she would be experiencing the consequences of her poor treatment of Jesse four months earlier.
Suzy stopped and looked hurt as she addressed Cassie. “Some of us may be disappointed in how you left things with Jesse, but that doesn’t mean we don’t still care about you.”
“Thanks for that, but I know Kimi and I will never be friends again.”
Suzy stifled a laugh as she kept walking. “You and Kimi were never really friends to begin with. She tried to like you, but she was in love with Jesse at the time and you were with him. It was never going to happen.”
A light of understanding went on as she began to laugh as well, “I honestly never knew that, it all makes sense now. But seriously, you’re not mad at me?” She asked with a glimmer of hope in her eyes.
“No, I was a little hurt, only because I’m very protective of Jesse, but he strongly suggested to all of us that we had no right to be mad at you because you didn’t do anything to us. I agree with him, and after I was hurt for a little while, I got over it. I’m really not mad at you.”
Cassie smiled and put her arm around Suzy as they walked. “He really is a great guy, and I really am sorry for how I treated him. It was just….”
“We know, Cassie, the whole galaxy does. You’re conversation with Jesse outside the stadium was broadcast to, well, everyone.”
Cassie’s face turned a deep shade of red and her heart sank into her feet as she looked at the ground and said only half joking, “I think I’d like to die now, do you think you could make that happen? Really, everyone heard it? I’m going to be hated in this galaxy because I’m the jerk that callously used the hero who still came to save me. Suzy, what am I going to do?”
“I don’t know, but I would start by trying to make it right with Jesse, he has not referred to you by any name except Captain Reed since you left. I know him, and I know that means he’s still quite angry with you.” She could see how the situation was weighing on Cassie so she changed subjects. “You might be happy to know that Jesse saved the life of the Queen of Hyperia, and saved the Princess a few times as well.”
“Really, it figures he would save the most beautiful woman in the galaxy. So, did she fall in love with him after that?” she replied a little bitterly.
“No, not at all,” Suzy laughed. “She was really mean to him at the beginning. It wasn’t until after he saved her life a few times that she began to even treat him like a person. By that time, he was nearly dead with death brush fever. They parted as friends. If she does have feelings for him, she never gave any indication.”
“She was mean to him and he still saved her life?”
“Really mean,” Suzy laughed as she picked up the portable scanning device and ran it over Cassie’s body again. Her face went pale and she muttered, “Uh oh.”
“What does that mean?” Cassie asked, not liking the turn their conversation had just taken and worrying what it meant for her chances of escaping this situation unscathed.
“I don’t know how the scanner missed this, it’s not possible.” Suzy added as she kept running the scanner over Cassie’s body. “There’s no way I should have missed this.”
“Missed what, Suzy? You are really starting to worry me here.”
Among all the cuts and bruises, there were two incisions with technology implanted in her body that she hadn’t detected outside the ship. They must have been inactive and somehow activated. Still she should have caught it. Garrinoras had betrayed them. “Garrinoras put something inside you, just like he did with Enso. Two somethings, actually.” Cass
ie was about to ask what she meant when Suzy put up her hand for her to wait a moment as she called over the ship’s speakers. “Hey, Collin, could you bring our force field disposal unit to med-bay?”
“Our what?” he replied.
“That’s what Jesse has started calling the spare flight recorder force field.”
“Oh ok, that makes sense,” he laughed. “I’ll be right down.” He arrived a few minutes later, and watched as Suzy removed the first device from Cassie’s abdomen. She handed it to him and he detonated it inside the force field. As she made her second incision near the base of Cassie’s skull, Cassie cried out in pain and Suzy whispered, “Uh-oh!”
“What, what’s uh-oh?” Collin worriedly asked as Cassie grabbed at the pain in her head.
“Garrinoras’ second device is a killer. There is no way I can remove this device without killing her, and it does contain explosives. I don’t know what to do, Collin.”
Cassie looked up at her, pleading with her eyes to make the pain stop as Suzy administered a painkiller that helped ease the pain. When she could sit up again she asked, “What does this mean, Suzy? Will Garrinoras still be able to kill me?”
“I honestly don’t know yet, Cassie.” She looked at the worry and uncertainty etched in her patient’s face and wished she could have had some more comforting words for her. She looked to Collin and asked, “What do you think, Collin?”
He looked at the stills from the portable diagnostic unit and remarked, “It’s a device, and it’s wrapped around the brain stem. If we try to remove it, it will kill her. If we don’t, Garrinoras or one of his goons will kill her. But, it’s still a device.”
“We know, you said that, but what do you mean by it?”
He looked up and pointed in the direction of the bridge. “Between me and Enso, we have two of the best engineers in the galaxy on board right now. I say we get Enso down here now and let’s see if we can figure something out. This might be more of a technology problem than a medical problem. What do you think?”
“I think you’re right.” She immediately called up to the bridge. “Enso, to med-bay please, we have a tech emergency.”
Collin left to go get his tools and visor. He was grateful to see Bessa because Teha just wouldn’t leave him alone. He excused himself from her company and asked Bessa to walk to med-bay with him. “I’m really sorry, nothing I say seems to discourage her, either of them, really. Do you think you could just stay with me as much as possible, until they are off the ship? I want to make it as clear as possible to them that I’m with you, and I only want to be with you.”
Bessa looked shyly at the floor as she replied, “But they are younger than I am, and they are beautiful. Do you not find them attractive?” She may have had her freedom, but compared to the two young, talented Kaldorian agents, she felt ill equipped to measure up.
He stopped as he said, “That’s not how love works, Bessa. I’m sure there are millions of attractive women in the galaxy, but there’s only one that I want to be with. I just wish they would understand. I think I’m gonna ask Cassie to make them stop, she is their boss.” He held Bessa’s hand as they walked and she smiled at the man that was in love with her. He really did like everything about her, and he loved being with her even though they had yet to be together. She really hoped he meant what he said. She was still new to this whole relationship thing, and wanted to believe the best because she felt the same way about him.
As they walked into med-bay, they were met by the very serious expressions of Suzy, Cassie and Enso. After he brought Enso up to speed on the problem, he went over to the lab table with him to study the design of the device. The portable diagnostic unit had taken some very detailed stills of the tech, and SAMMI was constructing a three dimensional holographic model for them to study.
“This might take a while, guys,” Collin called out over his shoulder as he studied the device. “You might want to have SAMMI activate the jamming field around the ship, until we can figure something out.”
“Jamming field is already active, Lieutenant Torrensede,” the melodic voice replied.
“Thank you, SAMMI,” he looked at Suzy and Cassie, “If you have something else to do, you might want to go do it, this could take a little while.” He then mumbled something to Enso who shook his head in reply, and suddenly it was as if no one else was in the room.
“I’m going to go fix you something to eat, Cassie. You’ve been trapped on Zinnebulous too long, you need a good meal. What would you like?”
“I’ll be fine with whatever is easiest.” Bessa offered to take her to the common room to rest and she agreed.
“So, you are the beautiful woman that has captured the heart of Lieutenant Torrensede. You should be proud, you know. He is an outstanding man. He won’t even look at my crewmates, much to their dismay. He knows you are better for him than they are.”
Bessa shyly smiled and looked away, still not used to compliments, especially from people she didn’t even know. “That is very kind of you to say. Jesse, Suzy and Collin are responsible for everything I am today. Without them I don’t know where I would be.”
“Apparently, Jesse does that for a lot of people.”
Bessa looked at Cassie and said, “I hope I become that type of person as well.”
“You probably already are. If not, just stay with this crew for a while, and you soon will be.” She smiled as she sat on one of the common room couches and Bessa continued on to the bridge.
A few minutes later, Suzy came in with a plate of delicious smelling food. She knew she would love it. After eating Zinnebailan prison food, if it could even be called food, for the last month, she was sure anything would taste good. She smelled it before she saw it and her mouth had begun watering before the plate even arrived. She was going to devour whatever was on that plate and didn’t care if she lacked decorum while doing it. Suzy put the plate down on the table in front of her and she just sat for a moment to take it all in. Before her sat freshly cooked eggs with biscuits and some savory smelling gravy. There was also a cooked meat that smelled wonderful, even if she wasn’t sure what it was. Freshly squeezed juice and strong coffee rounded out the meal. At the smell of the coffee, Cassie slowly inhaled deeply through her nostrils, savoring every second of the heavenly aroma and immediately knew it had been brewed specifically for her.
“You remembered how I like my coffee; I can’t believe it, thank you.”
Suzy smiled as she said, “It was easy, I just had to remember the strongest coffee I’ve ever tasted, and then make it stronger.” She laughed for a moment and then added, “I should go check on med-bay. I don’t want those two mad scientists blowing it up.”
Cassie laughed and called after her with a smile, “And thanks for breakfast,” as she took another bite of eggs. “Oh, this is so good,” she whispered as she was torn between gulping it down or savoring the flavor.
Chapter four
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Ariel Marcos woke up in a sterile white room, covered in sterile white sheets and the smell of cleaning fluids was strong in the air. She could barely move and she had no idea where she was. As her faculties began to return she seemed to be more confused than scared. Where am I? She thought. What happened? How did I get here? Why can’t I move? As the questions began filling her groggy mind, she thought she noticed Nina sitting in a sterile white chair nearby. What’s Nina doing here? How did she get here? Where am I again? The questions threatened to overwhelm her and her confusion grew as she tried to call out to Nina.
“Hey, Nina,” she called in a voice that barely produced sound. She tried to wave to get her cousin’s attention but couldn’t. Her frustration was growing when suddenly she heard a voice, and the accent sounded familiar.
“Hello, Ariel, you gave us quite a scare. Quickly, Nina, your cousin is awake.”
She turned her head and saw Serge. She tried to ask him where she was, but her muscles and voic
e were not complying yet.
“Do not try to speak. You have had quite a close call. Nina will explain everything to you. Nod if you understand me.”
She barely nodded and Serge smiled kindly at her. By this time Nina was up and hovering over her. “Ariel, thank God, I don’t think I could have handled losing you.” Seeing the confusion in Ariel’s eyes, she slowed down. “Do you remember what happened?”
