Deep Space Endeavor 3 Death Match (7 page)

The preemptive strike was ill advised and now they would always be looking over their shoulder. For now, however, they could bask in the success of freeing one more world from the plague of humanity. Most of the human worlds in the Jarlevian sector of space were not very advanced. It was as if their knowledge of technology disappeared a couple generations after their arrival here. There were some powerful human worlds but for the most part, the human worlds were at a great technological disadvantage, which Jarlevia planned to continue exploiting. Maybe after they had taken enough human worlds, taken enough human slaves and mined all the resources they could, they would be powerful enough to make another run at Earth. Until then, the plan was to bring humanity to their collective knees in the Jarlevian Sector.

As the High Council was basking in the glory of its most recent victory, they received a transmission. They had their tech put it on screen and were slightly taken aback by what they saw. Standing before them was a tan, furred humanoid with two legs, four arms and a face that had several features similar to that of a canine.

“Members of the Jarlevian High Council. I am Dobar, leader of the Barrafoss. I represent an alliance of four powerful species. The Barrafoss, the Rodajhan, the Ophion and the Squiznazab. Your hatred of humanity has come to our attention and we would like to offer you a place among us as we try to eradicate the disease of humanity from our galaxy.”

“You will have to excuse us; we have never encountered any of your species before. How do you know of us?”

“We traveled into Pack territory to make them the same offer, but it would seem their territorial nature prevents them from desiring to be a part of an alliance. They did, however, mention your people to us, and told of how you sent many ships to try and wipe out a small cluster of humanity on the far side of the galaxy. That is exactly the type of zeal we are looking for in our allies.”

“How can we be sure you are not allies of this galaxy’s humans seeking our destruction? Humans are not to be trusted and we have done our share to make all of them hate us. You cannot blame us for being cautious.”

Dobar’s face curled up into a snarl as he let out what sounded like a bark before speaking again. “No, we cannot blame you for being cautious. We will make you this offer. Send a delegation, whatever size you deem appropriate into our sector and you will see that we are no friend of humanity. After you have seen the human civilizations ravaged by our armies and the slave worlds populated by the refugees of those annihilated worlds, you will understand we are on the same side. Human worlds are mostly weak in our sector but they have a few powerful worlds that have banded together. We have been unable to conquer them yet, but that time is soon coming. Aside from the Pack, the remaining two known sentient species we have extended invitations to are the Voresse and the Krytar, but while neither race is aligned with humanity in any way, they unfortunately have no wish to join our alliance. All of the other known species in the galaxy are too far away to make the same offer to.”

“We will send a delegation to see these destroyed human worlds just as we will accept a delegation from you to have a look at the damage we have done to humanity in our sector. Please, send us the coordinates you would like us to come to. We look forward to the possibility of combining our efforts to rid the galaxy of humanity.”

“Very well, you shall have the coordinates and we look forward to giving your people a royal welcome in our sector.” The coordinates were transmitted to the High Council as they sent out their own set of coordinates to Dobar. As the transmission ended and the Barrafoss image dissolved, the High Council was already in their planning stage.

“Thansar, we should send a second team to the nearest system to these coordinates so we can take our own unguided tour and see if these beings really are against humanity. Just imagine, five races united against humanity, we could eradicate all of them. We could even take another run at Earth.”

“That would be something, but first let us make sure these beings are who they say they are, and remember, just because they may hate humanity, that doesn’t necessarily make them suitable allies for Jarlevia. The timing of their offer couldn’t have come at a more coincidental time. They call as we are trying to recover from a terrible defeat. We have no way to know if they are just trying to strike at us in our moment of weakness.” Thansar looked at the rest of the council as he spoke.

“We will be on guard for treachery, but for now we proceed with eyes wide open to any possibility. Our second team should be gathering military intelligence as well as checking to see if they are really destroying human worlds and enslaving humans.”

“We shall soon see if we have an ally in our righteous war or another enemy to be wary of.” Thansar replied with a contemplative look in his eyes. His excitement of the possibilities Dobar presented them with far outweighed any concerns he had, but they were still there.

______

Back on Telos… “Captain Marcos, come in! I have an urgent message. Come in Ariel,” Manny desperately cried. He was getting more and more frustrated as he landed his shuttle in the guest only docking bay of Ariel’s favorite hotel. Manny and Jason exited the vehicle at a run, and eight heavily armed men followed after him. He had gotten word about the plot against her and had to make sure she was safe. He had made a promise to Jesse, who had saved him more times than he cared to admit. As he was running across the docking bay, he noticed Ariel’s bodyguards Charlie and Dane exit their shuttle.

“What’s going on, Captain?” Charlie asked.

“Captain Marcos is in trouble. We have to get to her now.” He impatiently replied. “Do you know where she is?”

“Yes, sir, she’s in her room. She told us to stay with the shuttle. She has Vic and Frank outside her door.”

“Well, we need to get to her now.”

Charlie looked at Dane a little unsure as Manny glared impatiently at him and said, “What is it, son, spit it out. She may already be dead.”

Charlie motioned to the back of the docking bay and said, “There’s a secret passage that leads to her room, Dane and I are the only ones that know about it.”

“Take Jason and two of my men and go. We will go up the front way in case she was chased out of her room.”

The two groups took off, desperately hoping to reach her in time. Manny didn’t think he would ever be able to look Jesse or Nina in the eye again if Ariel didn’t make it. As they burst out of the docking bay, weapons drawn, they ran across the breezeway towards the hotel lobby and that’s when he spotted it. An injured man circling a fallen woman, and he had bad intentions in his eyes.

The Dragon was enraged. This woman had injured him and made him bleed all over the hotel. He kicked her in the face and she grunted in pain. She could not muster enough wind in her chest to actually cry out. He kicked her again and again. He then hoisted up her bleeding battered body, and slowly, painfully withdrew the dagger from her shoulder. She slumped back to the ground and he swung the dagger at her throat again. She moved again and he caught her across the side of her face. She was barely conscious, but he continued to taunt her anyway.

“Look at you, Captain,” he laughed. “Who’s going to want you now? Your face is ruined, your body is ruined and you are about to die. Leaving you alive like this might be an even worse fate.” He smiled as if contemplating the idea but then quickly rejected it. “No, I am going to enjoy killing you. Then, I’m going to finish the job on your wretched cousin.” He raised his dagger to take her life and a blaster bolt hit him in the back. The force of the shot sent him over the railing and off the breezeway. Ariel looked up to see what had happened, but she began to slip in and out of consciousness.

Manny ran to her side, worry evident in his eyes. He began frantically calling for a medic to get her to the nearest recovery pod. His men formed a perimeter around her as Charlie and the second team arrived and formed up, reinforcing their position.

“It’s going to be alright, Ariel, stay with us,” he pleaded. “Where’s that medic?” He yelled. “Stay with us, beautiful.” He was nearly in a panic as he looked at her battered body. He could see the blood trail and the injuries and he wanted to berate himself for not getting there sooner. He continued to speak, hoping to get through to her. “Please, Ariel, I need someone to tease, you can’t leave us.” He checked her pulse; it was weak, and her breathing was coming out in short, painful gasps.

He looked up and saw two medics rushing a hover gurney towards them. He stood and let them in as Charlie came over to him and whispered, “We have counted eleven dead so far, it appears the assassin massacred them to get to Captain Marcos. Vic and Frank are dead, too.”

Manny grimaced at Charlie’s assessment. “Nina is not gonna be happy. The Enclave will pay dearly if Captain Marcos dies. Where is Jason?” He looked around, but the Lieutenant was nowhere to be seen.

“Unknown, Sir, Lieutenant Cheng bolted as soon as we saw the Captain’s room was empty.” Charlie explained as he too began to survey the scene. Captain Marcos was a fantastic boss and he hated to see her this way. He thought back to how kind she had been about getting him back home in time for his family vacation and silently prayed she would make it through, even as the medics were gently placing her on the gurney.

Manny pulled out his communicator and began to make a transmission that he dreaded making as the medics pushed Ariel on the gurney towards their waiting aircar. One of them was hooking up an oxygen mask and checking her pulse while the other guided the gurney. Manny looked over the edge of the breezeway and saw Jason in combat with the assassin below. He had somehow survived the blaster bolt and the fall, and he was still on his feet, but he was injured.
Who was that guy
? He wondered. Manny and four of his men went with the medics while the rest of his men took off to help Lieutenant Cheng. Charlie and Dane woke up the rest of Ariel’s bodyguards, and told them after they had dressed, to meet up at the med-center.

“You tried to kill a very good friend of mine,” Jason said as he slowly circled his injured opponent. There was fire in his eyes as he looked at the injured assassin. He wanted to hurt this man badly, but knew he needed him alive to get some information from him. Still, if he could injure Ariel that badly, he wasn’t someone to trifle with, so he would kill him if he had to.

“I still will,” the Dragon replied with a confident smile as he lunged at his new foe.

Jason was ready for the attack and parried his strike. He came back around with a roundhouse right that knocked the assassin off his feet. He wanted him alive to find out who was behind the attack, but he knew this man was dangerous, so he was taking no chances. He kneed his opponent in the face as he tried to rise and then fell to the ground as the assassin had swept his feet. His opponent stood above him with a dagger in his left hand and Jason had no choice but to put two blaster bolts in his chest. As the assassin fell to the ground, the rest of Manny’s men caught up to him. He instructed them to take the body and then met up with Ariel’s bodyguards. They were all to meet back at the med-center.

The transmitter alert woke Nina up from a light sleep. She had been having trouble sleeping since Ariel told her about the plot on her life. “This is Nina,” she answered, not looking to see who had called; she knew it could really only be one of three people.

“Nina, it’s Manny.” She could hear the anxiety in his voice as he spoke. “I hope you are sitting down, because I have some really bad news.

That is certainly an ominous beginning
; Nina pushed away the dread and the covers as she sat up in bed and asked, “Why, what’s happened?”

“We uncovered a plot against Ariel and didn’t have time to warn her. We arrived on Telos while she was fighting with the assassin. I shot him, but he lived. The last I saw of him, he was fighting Jason. I sent some men to help, but I had to get Ariel to the med-center quickly, so I don’t know the outcome. Ariel has been seriously injured and is on her way to the nearest med-center now. I’m in the aircar with the medics. They’re not sure she’s going to make it. I’m so sorry I didn’t get there in time. She will have round-the-clock security, two dozen men until she recovers. The assassin killed some of her bodyguards and at least eleven guests and employees while making his way to her.”

“I’m on my way to Telos now, Manny. Keep her safe until I arrive.” She tightly replied. So many things were going through her mind as she thought about her younger cousin. The Enclave had just unleashed their opening gambit in this deadly game of chess they were playing, and Nina would make sure it cost them dearly. She couldn’t think about that now, though, all she could think about was her younger cousin clinging to life. She had been left all alone to fend off the attack of an assassin that obviously loved killing.
Where was her security detail? How had the assassin gotten to her? Why didn’t she just stay the night on Polisia?
Question after question jumped into her mind and she had to fight the urge to cast blame until she figured out what had happened. She could hear the pain in Manny’s voice at not being able to get to her in time. She was sure he did everything he could and would need to make sure he was not blaming himself.
If only Ariel had stayed the night like I suggested. If only I had made her.
No, she wouldn’t blame herself either. This was all on Natora.