Deep Space Endeavor 3 Death Match (43 page)

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Three weeks later, Nina was heading back to her air speeder with her detail after her first official meeting with President Rhodes. It had not gone well. Nina thought about what was discussed as she walked.
Thank God Admiral Bliney was in the meeting. Neither man was happy that the construction of the SSE Polisian ship building facility was behind schedule, but it seems as though Bliney has the power to pacify President Rhodes’ wrath. I can’t believe I just lied to the President and told him it was the price of doing business outside of the Core. I would have never lied to President Sandoval
. She knew they were placated, but she also knew that her excuse would not work again. They were happy that Serge had already delivered to them thirty-six vessels from their Earth facility and had another twelve due to be finished in five weeks. Nina had slated them for Polisia against Bliney’s wishes, but she reminded him that Polisia would be a target if the aliens knew they were building
Leviathans
and
War Hawks
there. He reluctantly agreed and she knew he was going to try to keep those ships on Earth.
I’m going to have to get Serge to have them ready a few days early and then put through their paces on the way to Polisia, or we’ll never see them.

She was still almost ten meters from her speeder when a blast hit the vehicle, causing it to explode. Two of her men were caught in the explosion and she had been thrown several meters. Her remaining men surrounded her immediately as she struggled to find her balance. Buildings were spinning around her and the smell of burning metal and flesh were thick in the air. Her detail began trying to get her to the nearest building for cover as her eyes were continuously drawn to the fiery wreckage her speeder had become. She noticed tiny droplets of blood and when she went to wipe them away, she felt the tiny pieces of broken glass that had embedded themselves in her cheek. She looked around again and for the first time noticed that several windows had been blown out by the explosion and there were fresh char marks on several walls. Her detail was stopped short of their cover when almost forty men popped up from various cover and began firing on them. They were using heavy weapons and the remaining ten men on the detail were taking a beating, even in their battle suits. Nina fired, hitting an attacker in the chest and barely slowing him; it was then that she realized that these men were also in battle suits and she knew they were in trouble. She was still having trouble standing and the bitter taste of blood was on her lips. She knew she needed medical attention; so did some of her men, but they were continuing to fight for her and she was almost overcome by their dedication.

We’re completely exposed and surrounded with nowhere to go in Prague, Earth’s capital. This can only be the work of our new president. Prague’s Law Enforcement doesn’t seem to be coming either
. That thought hung bitterly in her mind as she continued to go where her men directed. She had her blaster out and was firing from behind her men.
We can’t take much more of this
. With that thought fresh in her mind, a minor miracle occurred. Suddenly several of their attackers began dropping and they had an escape route. Several more dropped and she looked around and saw Maria Tejada with two dozen ex Special Forces commandos lighting up their attackers. Grenades were flying and heavy particle cannons were causing damage to the pristine streets of Earth’s capital city. After only a couple minutes, it no longer seemed like they were in Prague. The damage around them almost made it seem like another planet. Her men were able to get her to cover, which bought them time. Two minutes later, four assault shuttles descended on their position and took out the remaining attackers in a spectacular display of firepower that left a couple dozen speeders and one outdoor cafe ruined. Maria helped Nina onto the shuttle as her men and Nina’s detail boarded, and then they were gone.

She had barely taken her seat when Ariel was on the transmission. “Thank God you’re safe, Nina, someone has declared war on us. Jason and Raina were also attacked. They got away, but Raina was hurt pretty bad. She is in med-bay and Lana won’t leave her side. Rodriguez, Tally, Jordan, and their families are all dead. Liam and his family were killed when his parent’s house exploded during his sister’s birthday celebration. Manny wants heads to roll for that one. Irina got Dmitri to the
Vanguard
just in time. His soccer team’s locker room exploded. They should have all been in there, but Serge was able to convince the coach to get them out, so no one was hurt, thank goodness. The rest of Jason’s family is onboard as well as Charlie’s family and Josiah’s family. Someone took a shot at Mathias, but he was wearing one of Jo’s old battle suit jackets. It saved his life. It didn’t take much convincing to get them on the
Vanguard
after that. Four of our top people dead with their families: thirty-two in all. There were nineteen at Liam’s house for his sister’s birthday. You and Jason would have made six of our top people. It’s impossible to tell what the death toll would be if Dmitri and his soccer team had been hit and Josiah and Jason’s families were killed. We also lost fourteen of our protection specialists.”

“Sixteen,” Nina said sadly. “Vic and Dane didn’t make it”

“I haven’t been able to reach Carmine. He’s either underground or committing a crime, impossible to tell. I’ll keep trying. We’ve lost enough of our friends today.”

“Yes, we have.” Nina was trying to keep her temper in check; they were on a transmission which could be hacked, so she had to watch what she said. “Whoever it is that has declared war on us will pay dearly. Of that I can assure you. My detail and I would all be dead if not for Maria and her men.”

Ariel looked at Maria and smiled.“Thanks Maria, we owe you big.”

“No problem, but it wasn’t as selfless an act as you might think. The same people are after us and we need a safe place to lay low. We figured they’d go after Nina. We also figured if we saved Nina, she might be inclined to help us. I’m just happy we got there in time.”

“So are we; and, Maria, for the record, we would have gladly helped you anyway.”

“Thank you, Ariel. We need to get your cousin to med-bay as soon as we land. She took several shots and while she may not complain, she probably has a couple cracked ribs. She also may have hit her head during the initial explosion.”

Nina frowned, “I’m fine, and we don’t have time. We need to come up with a response,” she said, although she knew she wasn’t fine. She did need the pod, but she couldn’t spare the recovery time.

“We will, after the doctor checks you out. No arguments, I can’t have wounded walking around my ship without receiving medical attention.”

“I’m your boss,” Nina protested.

“Fire me if you don’t like it. I’ll see you in a few, Cousin. We will be heading straight to Polisia when you’re onboard.” She scowled, still angry that another attempt had been made on her cousin and ended the transmission.

“I hate it when she does that,” Nina complained.

Maria smiled and said, “You should be happy you have people that care enough to do that.”

“I am, Maria. I just don’t know what to do. If Jesse were here, he would have plans and backup plans and contingencies for the backups. We would not have lost four of our best in one day if Jesse were here. I hope we can last these next seven weeks.”

“Me, too, Nina. I have a feeling our fortunes will change as soon as Jesse gets back.”

______

Lucien had just finished up an unsatisfying transmission with his man on Earth. The construction of the new SSE production facility on Polisia was progressing much too slowly.
I’m going to need to go to Earth earlier than expected. The alien armada is several hundred ships larger than I thought it would be and I don’t think the Enclave has enough assets to win. I need Earth, and I need the transition of power to be quick and painless if I’m going to be able to marshal Earth’s military might against the aliens. War is upon us, and when the Enclave emerges victorious, the galaxy will be mine
. Deep in the heart of the Enclave on Enclave Prime, he called his fleet commanders together. Lucien ended the meeting with a summary of what was going to happen. It would be up to his people to make his wishes viable, he was their leader; they served at his whim.

“I will be leaving two hundred ships to fight off the aliens random and pointless attacks on our minor resource worlds. I will also leave five hundred ships at Enclave Prime as well as an additional one hundred ships at our seven most important targets. Together with the planetary defenses at each of those locations, they will have more than enough defensive firepower to hold off whatever the aliens sent until reinforcements arrive. I will be taking the final four hundred ships of my fleet to Earth. Hopefully, I will soon have all of Earth’s twelve hundred ships and their two hundred SSE ships under my command. Dismissed.” As his men filed out, he thought about his upcoming trip.
I like the thought of Earth’s fleet under my command; then I will surely be Lucien, Supreme Commander of the Galaxy.

His fleet left Enclave Prime and jumped to light space, headed for Earth. He wondered what kind of reception he would receive when he arrived.
Would the people’s faith in their new President overcome their shock at learning about another powerful coalition of humans in the galaxy? Would they willingly make an alliance? Would they finally be able to rid themselves of the Marcos clan, and claim their technology for the good of the Enclave?
All of these questions and more ran through his head as his ship,
The Conquering King
, traveled through light space. When they exited light space, they immediately began sending transmissions on all channels, saying that they were humans coming in peace. Lucien convinced Earth’s planetary control that it would be good to allow him to speak to President Rhodes. For the next forty minutes, Lucien and the President spoke while the news of this new human fleet spread faster than light space throughout the Coalition.

______

Nina sat in the
Vanguard’s
conference room. She had all of her top clearance personnel with her. The last time they had met, there were thirteen, now there was nine. Rodriguez, Jordan, Tally and Liam were dead, along with their families. She would have to find three new COO’s while not knowing who outside this room she could trust. Raina had just been released from med-bay and Lana was still fussing over her. The only thing she had done the whole time Raina was injured was continue her pilot training. Even that was only because Ariel had made her. Manny hadn’t spoken about Liam’s death and what happened to his family to anyone. He had taken it pretty hard. He blamed himself, and Nina was pretty sure he had something nasty in store for whoever turned out to be responsible. Jason was right there with him after they had almost killed his little sister. Ariel had still been unable to reach Carmine, and that was causing Lana stress. Once again, she found herself feeling terrible for Lana.
This poor girl has been thrust into this family, without knowing any of us. Her mother is dead. I know we’ve tried our best to be there for her and take care of her, but the reality is that there has been just too much chaos. She never asked for any of this, and she doesn’t deserve to be targeted by the enemies of a father she had still never even met. The people she was quickly becoming close with were constantly under attack and her life was in danger.
Nina was amazed that in spite of all of that, Lana had quickly become one of the best pilots in the fleet.
Maybe she wasn’t Jesse’s daughter
, she thought with a fleeting smile.

“Alright, everyone,” Nina began. “Do we have any intel on who is responsible for the attacks yet?”

“We know who’s responsible.” Manny yelled, startling all of them. They had never seen him this angry before. “They even went after Zoe’s second cousin on Telos. She’s never even met her second cousin and they tried to kill her anyway. Anything they can do to cause us pain and discomfort, they are doing. I say we take out this new president with extreme prejudice.”

“Manny,” Ariel started gently. “We need proof before we move. We also need to figure out why they are doing what they are doing.”

“They’re trying to keep us off balance so we don’t figure out what they are really planning until it’s too late. It’s a classic hacker tactic. Cause as much chaos as you can and hope they don’t see the real reason for your intrusion. If we prove it was President Rhodes behind this, I am going to destroy the entire government database for what they did to Raina. The Coalition will dissolve and each planet will be forced to look after itself. It will take months, maybe years before the Coalition is back on its feet. And that’s just my opening gambit.” Everyone could see that Jason meant every word he had said.

“Okay, Jason, that’s just a little scary that you’re even thinking about that level of payback. We have to be careful, we are all speaking of treason right now, and I am uncomfortable with these contingencies. Even if we obtain proof that it was the President behind the attacks, are we ready to destroy the Coalition in retaliation?” Serge really missed Jesse right now,
if Jesse were here, he would be able to reign in Jason and Manny’s anger. If Jesse were here, Nina would have never…Why did we convince him to leave?