Deep Space Endeavor 3 Death Match (38 page)

The seriousness in her eyes made him sit up and take notice. He turned to her and said, “Yeah, sure, Suzy, what’s on your mind? Is everything alright?”

“No, Jess, everything is not alright. I’m tired. I need a break. I didn’t sign up to be a battle medic. I’m a ship’s doctor. Cold, flu, the occasional training accident and maybe, horribly, a battle related injury once or twice in my life. I can’t do this anymore, I feel like I’ve reached my breaking point. I don’t want to sew you and Josiah and Kimi and Reece and Collin up any more. It hurts me to see you like that, any of you. I…I don’t want to seem pushy or ungrateful, but I don’t know if I can keep this pace up.” Jesse just looked at her, deep in thought as she poured out her soul to him. He knew the injuries bothered her. He had no idea they bothered her this much. Losing Ogen probably didn’t help.
It must have really hurt her to see her closest friends in so much pain, so often
, and he wanted to kick himself for not seeing it sooner.                           He was still musing when she added, “Jess, please say something.”

“Suzy, I am so sorry. You have always been such a rock for me that I took you for granted. I’m sorry that I didn’t think about your feelings in all of these battles. You always tell me to slow down, and I thought it was just you being you. I never stopped to think how much it might hurt you to see us in pain. I’m a terrible friend, please forgive me.”

“Jess, it’s not your fault, most of these situations could not be avoided. I just really want to take a couple months to relax. No more exploring, no more danger, just rest and fun. Can we do that? I’m not asking ship’s doctor to commanding officer; I’m asking one friend to another.”

“I think that’s a great idea, Suzy. We have more than enough data, several new technologies and more vid than we could ever watch. Why don’t we make Serge and Nina really happy by organizing as much as we can before we leave for home? It will also give me some time to spend with the King and more time to spend on the galaxy drive. Suzy, I think I’m close. I won’t know for sure until we make the return trip, but if it confirms my theories, we can do it. We would literally be weeks away from recreating it.”

Suzy loved how excited he was about this, and she loved that he just said yes without trying to explain or defend himself. He took her at her word and agreed to her request. “Thank you, Jess, this really means a lot to me. I can spend some time with the Queen working on Hyperia’s recovery pod as well. I’m really looking forward to this.” Jesse left to get some sleep, happy that Suzy was so excited. The King would be excited as well when Jesse told him they would be staying an additional two months to help finish the recovery pod.

______

Now that Jesse had decided to keep the crew on Hyperia for a while longer, Collin had picked out the perfect location to ask the most important question he had ever asked. He took Bessa out to see the falls. He seemed a little nervous, but Jesse didn’t think anyone else had caught it. When they reached the falls, Collin began pacing around. Bessa called him over to sit next to her. “Collin, all of your pacing is making me dizzy. Won’t you come sit with me and enjoy this beautiful sight before us?” The sun was setting over the beautiful Hyperian waterfalls. The picturesque view that made them feel like they were sitting at the edge of the world was right before them. She still had a hard time believing she was here sometimes. As a slave, this picture would have never even entered her wildest dreams. That she shared it with the man she loved made it even better.

“I’m sorry, Bess, I just have some stuff on my mind.”

“Anything you wish to speak about?” She asked, a note of concern in her voice.

“Alright, here goes.” Collin nervously began. “I’ve been waiting to come to someplace beautiful like this with you for a while because there is something important I need to ask you.”

“Of course, Collin, you can ask me anything, and you do not need beautiful waterfalls to do it.” She smiled, completely unaware of what was going on. Collin stood up from the bench and faced her. He knelt on one knee and produced a small black box from his pocket. “What are you doing, Collin?” Bessa asked, not understanding the earth custom.

“Bessa, this is a tradition from my homeworld. When a man is hopelessly in love with a woman and he knows that he cannot live a second without her, he proposes marriage.” He opened the box, and inside was the most beautiful diamond ring she had ever seen. A gold band, studded with small diamonds with a setting holding one large diamond, surrounded by six smaller sapphires. Bessa gasped when she saw it and Collin smiled. “Bessa, I love you more than anything in the galaxy. You are the best thing that ever happened to me. I can’t even remember what life was like before I met you that day on Binwar. You were the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes on and as I began to get to know you, I fell deeply in love with you. Would you do me the honor of being my bride? Bessa, will you marry me?”

A huge smile crossed her face as she said, “Collin, I don’t know what to say. You are the best part of my new life. I would love to marry you. The answer is yes.” Collin put the ring on her finger and then picked her up in an embrace. He kissed her as all of the tourist at the falls watched. They all began clapping as they realized two of the King’s honored friends had just gotten engaged. After a minute, Collin and Bessa looked up and realized they had an enthusiastic audience and Collin gave a shy smile while Bessa flashed the ring to the crowd. Then they left to go tell the rest of the crew the good news.

Suzy and Tanna could not get enough of Bessa’s ring as Jesse, Kimi, Josiah and Xanu congratulated Collin. Reece came in later and he congratulated him as well while complaining about another beautiful woman being off the market. Jesse had never seen Collin this happy and he was thankful for it. His crew needed some good news and he was happy that Collin and Bessa could give it to them. Bessa looked like she might never stop smiling. She walked up to Jesse to show him the ring, gave him a big hug, and kissed his cheek. “You made all of this possible for me. Never stop helping people.” She kissed his cheek again and then ran and jumped into her fiancé‘s arms. Jesse ordered an elaborate dinner and made it a party. He even called the King and Queen to tell them the good news. Collin and Bessa wanted to marry in the Kalephi Galaxy, which meant that in less than four months,
Endeavor
would be on its way to Earth with a newlywed couple aboard.

______

After eight wonderful weeks on Hyperia, Jesse decided it was time to move on. The crew was relaxed and refreshed and he had promised to spend some time on Ginderbar and Kaldor before they left. He was to have one final lunch with the Royal family and their Hyperian friends before they left.

After lunch, the King pulled him aside. “Jesse, I have a request, I do not know if it will be possible, but I would like to try.”

“Of course, Your Majesty, if it is within my power to do it, you know I’ll try my best.”

“I know you will, but you may not have the authority to grant my request. I would like to send two full battle groups with you back to your galaxy. I would like my men to explore and see the civilization that has sprung up from the original star jumpers that left us so long ago. I would like you to lead them. Do you think it is a possibility?”

“Your Majesty, once the conduit opens, anyone who wishes may enter. I would love to show your people our Coalition, and I know they have the route mapped out to find their way back, so even a return trip is possible. I would love to accommodate them, but let me give you all of the information first. Then, you can decide if you would still like them to go. If you still wish to send them, I will gladly lead them.”

“That sounds fair, what do I need to know?”

“Our Coalition is fairly powerful, but not nearly as powerful as Hyperia. We have a few alien races that have been trying to destroy us and the Polisian system is not in our Coalition’s core. In fact, we were attacked by Jarlevians as we arrived at the Conduit. We may be arriving through the conduit to the sight of battle. Another thing is, my government may wish to spend a good amount of time debriefing me on
Endeavor’s
exploits in this galaxy. I would have my people available to help your men, but my government may wish to determine their intentions before they allow them to explore the coalition. That could take time. The crews would need to be entirely volunteer, because I have no wish to lead people that do not want to be there. The last thing, and possibly most important, is that one of our main military leaders is not a good guy. He hates me, and he may try and block your men from any exploration simply to spite me. If you still believe it to be worth a try, you have my word I will do my best to protect your people and show them the kindness you have shown us, Your Majesty.”

“I believe it is worth the risk, and you, my friend, could stay here a thousand lifetimes before I can even begin to pay back what we owe you.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty. I also have one request. If I return to this galaxy, which looks like a good possibility, I may be bringing quite a few more people than I did this time. Are there any lightly populated worlds in the Monarchy that wouldn’t mind new neighbors should we return?”

The King smiled and said, “You may have your choice. I would be honored if you decided to return and settle your people in the Hyperian Sector.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty. That really means a lot to me.”

“What planet do you think would suit your needs, and how many do you think you could be bringing with you?”

“I was looking at Donara because it is lightly populated, and I could be bringing anywhere from a hundred to a couple hundred thousand depending on the circumstances.”

“I shall have a beautiful city built on Donara. If you never have need of it, I shall settle some of the Hyperian people there.”

“You don’t have to go to all of that trouble, Your Majesty.”

“For you, it’s no trouble at all.”

After all of the goodbyes were said,
Endeavor
was once again in light space on her way to Ginderbar. They would be spending a month there and then a month on Kaldor. The King had told him he would have two battle groups full of volunteers at Kaldor two weeks before the conduit was scheduled to open. Jesse thought about that and was actually excited to see what his friends and family would think about seeing friendly warships from another galaxy.

He had planned to spend his time on Ginderbar primarily working on his galaxy drive and spending time with Kimi. He did plan to see the Chief of State as well. Suzy was really happy they had gone over two months without a battle-related injury. Collin had broken a finger tinkering with the sublight engines, but that didn’t count. That was more amusing than stressful. She had been able to help the Queen almost complete the recovery pod for Hyperia and she was still really excited about that. For her at least, this had been the best part of the trip.

As Jesse stepped out of
Endeavor
, he flashed back to their first time on Ginderbar. He had found his new favorite restaurant, his crew had been thrown in jail for getting into a bar fight and Kora was in the process of betraying them. A lot had happened since then, and he was happy it was for the better. He smiled as the Chief of State greeted him and his crew as if they were conquering heroes. Josiah and Tanna left to brief Admiral Dyson, Collin and Bessa left to make wedding plans and Suzy took Xanu and Reece to meet with Ginderbar’s chief medical scientist to begin the recovery pod project for Ginderbar. Kaldor and Hyperia were already close to finishing theirs and Jesse had felt terrible that he forgot to offer it to Ginderbar. Chief of State Enosal gratefully accepted their offer to give them the plans and stay to help them get it off the ground for the next month. He also graciously accepted Jesse’s apology for not bringing it to them sooner. That left him and Kimi to enjoy a good meal with Ginderbar’s leader at his favorite restaurant in the Kalephi Galaxy.

______

Collin walked out in to the crisp morning air on Ginderbar with Josiah. “In one week, I’m gonna be a married man, Jo. I can’t believe it. I still can’t believe she said yes.”

“Neither can we,” he laughed.

“Jo, I’d like you to be my best man. Do you think you would want to do that?”

“Collin, are you kidding. I would be honored. In fact, I’m buying you breakfast right now to celebrate.” He gave him a pat on the back as they walked.

“Awesome, thank you! We should have just enough time to eat before I pick up the rings. Jo, this is gonna be amazing. We are already planning on adopting at least two kids. We want a Qualoosh girl and a Human boy. What do you think?”

“Collin, I think you are gonna be a great dad. I also think that if that little girl is half as pretty as Bessa, she’s gonna wrap you around her finger so tight you won’t be able to say no to anything.”