Deep Space Endeavor (14 page)

Reece looked at the ground as he spoke and fumbled with his pouch of chrons. “I’m a private protect
ion specialist that got my entire team killed and had my two charges captured. I’ll never work again. All I have in the galaxy are these chrons and the blaster of a dead pirate.” He said as he tossed the pouch in the air and snagged it as it came down.

“Nonsense,” Jesse exclaimed, still holding Kiah, who had finally loosened her grip. “You have a home on
Endeavor
now if you want it.”

Mayor Valinor came over to Reece, put an arm on his shoulder and whispered, “My report is going to state that you saved my wife and I against overwhelming odds. It will state that you are a hero and that your team died heroes. I will have the treasury not only pay the fee we owe you, but
they will also include a bonus for a job well done.”

Reec
e smiled his thanks, as he and the Mayor were entering the ship and the landing bay hatch was lifting, Jesse turned to Josiah and said, “Now, what did you find on that pirate ship?”

Chapter five

______

“Attention, unidentified ship,” an angry voice called through the ship’s comm. “You are not authorized to be in Kaldor City airspace. Stop your vehicle and state your intention or we will open fire.”

“Kaldor City C
ontrol, this is Lieutenant Torrensede of the Earth ship
Endeavor
. We are returning Mayor Valinor and his wife to Kaldor City's Spaceport, over.” He replied, hoping this wouldn’t take too long.

There was a pause; long enough to let him know this might take a little longer than expected.
Suddenly, control was back and they weren't happy. “I don’t know what your game is,” the angry voice replied. “But Mayor Valinor and His wife died in an accident at Outpost Twenty-Three yesterday. If you would have watched any of the news vids today, you would have seen a planetary-wide day of mourning has been declared. Thousands of people are in Kaldor City Park holding a vigil for him as we speak. I want to speak to your captain immediately.”

The response surprised Collin, and he was trying to remain calm as he replied. “Negative
, control, the Mayor did not die. Our crew rescued him… and his wife, over.” He took his finger off the transmitting button and called over the ships speaker, “Mayor Valinor, to the bridge, please.”

As the Mayor entered the bridge with Jesse and Kimi, they
shot him a questioning look. A moment later, Kaldor City control came back on line.

“
Endeavor
, if Mayor Valinor is indeed aboard your ship, we will need proof. Please provide immediate verification or we will open fire.”

Collin motioned for the Mayor to speak as he pressed the transmission button. “Kaldor City control,” the Mayor began. “This is Mayor Valinor, what is this all about?”

“I’m sorry, Sir, but we are going to need your authentification codes before we allow you to proceed.” the voice replied.

“Authentification c
ode two seven one four seven nine four one,” he began. “Now I ask again, son, what is this all about?”

“Code and voiceprint match,” control res
ponded. “We are terribly sorry, Sir; we were given..... faulty information. We were told you were dead.”

“Dead!”
He exclaimed, not even trying to hide the shock from his voice. “And just who, might I ask, informed you that I was dead?”

“Sub-Mayor Topanar did, S
ir,” gone was the stern voice threatening to open fire. The voice was now starting to get a little bit shaky in its reply. “He said you were killed by Pirates. The entire planet is in mourning.”

“Topanar?” Kimiko asked, a hint of suspicion in her voice as Jesse questioned her with his eyes.
He knew he had missed something, but wasn’t sure what.

“I see,” the Mayor’s steely response must have had control buzzing. “These are my orders, son. First, I would like the most prominent berth in the spaceport cleared for our arrival. Second, there is a pirate heavy cruiser in orbit around Kaldor waiting for reinforcements. Battle group
s three and four from fleet seven are to launch immediately, and if the pirates are not scared off, they are to engage. Lastly, you are to have two garrisons from infantry group twelve head to Outpost Twenty-Three and station them eight kilometers outside the settlement. The garrisons should be equipped with heavy anti-incursion weaponry and an attachment of battle engineers should be among them. I want them to begin repairing the damage to the settlement immediately. Are my orders clear, son?”

“Y… y… yes, S
ir,” the control technician stammered. "A...and welcome back, Sir."

“Thank you
, son, and oh,” he added. “Send blankets and enough food for one thousand people to eat well for at least two weeks, Mayor Valinor out.”

Collin took his finger
off the transmission button, while Kimiko came and stood next to the Mayor. “Excuse me, Sir,” she began. “When we went to the city to try and enlist some help for the outpost, we spoke to an officer named Captain Topanar. Would he happen to be any relation to the Sub-Mayor?”

Mayor Valinor’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, “Why yes, yes he is. He is the Sub-Mayor’s nephew,”
he began, eyes narrowing as he seemed like he might be suspecting there was more to this. “You told him about the pirates and he offered no help?” He asked, suspicion growing in his mind.

Jesse was becoming more and more interested in what was going on as Kimiko’s reply stunned them both. “Not only did he not send help
, Mister Mayor,” she began. “He told us he already knew about the pirates. He said he would have a word with your office and then he had an agent of some sort try and tail us back to our ship.”

“They knew,”
his voice boomed as he found himself growing angry. “They knew about the pirate attack? It was Topanar that convinced me to survey the damage from the last attack. It was Topanar that convinced me not to take my regular detail, and you are telling me Topanar knew of the attacks?” His voice was growing louder as he spoke, and the Mayor was now turning a deep shade of red.

She
wasn’t sure she should continue. “At least his nephew did, he said there was an arrangement in place. The pirates are supposedly free to attack the outposts as long as they do not disturb life on the main continent.”

By this point the Mayor was livid. “There is no such arrangement; our forces just never seem to find them.” He yelled, a little louder tha
n necessary. He looked at Kimi, an apology in his eyes and said, “Oh please forgive me, young lady, I did not intend to yell at you."

Kimi just smiled,
“No forgiveness is necessary, it has been a rough couple days, and we are all entitled to be a bit rattled by these events.” Even as she spoke the words, she looked over at Jesse. Dirty, beaten, and bloody, he probably needed some time in the recovery pod, again, but he also had a look that she recognized as a plan forming in his mind.

Jess
e looked up from his thoughts and said. “We can use this, Mister Mayor,” he began as the Mayor listened intently. “How are your acting skills?"

"I
do not understand your meaning." The mayor responded in confusion. He had not yet seen Jesse’s point, but he had seen his plan to free them from the makeshift cell work out perfectly, if not a little painfully. He motioned Jesse to continue.

Jesse began again,
"Topanar doesn’t know that you know anything. As long as he doesn’t see Collin, Josiah or Kimi, he won’t even suspect you know the truth. Embrace him as your colleague and trusted confidant after so terrible an ordeal, but do not accuse him of anything. Instead, take the time to begin quietly searching for evidence to convict him. You have to remember, he has at least enough power to keep your forces from engaging the pirates. You don’t want to make a move until you are sure he will not recover.”

Kimiko added, “And I would start digging
around the nephew, too. He did not strike me as shrewd. He may not cover his tracks as well as his uncle.”

The Mayor nodded in understanding, “You are absolutely right.” he said, “And I want to thank you both, not only for rescu
ing my wife and I, but for saving those children and bringing this to my attention. I am in your debt.”

Jesse smiled and said, “
No problem, Sir, just be sure to watch your back, I'm sure Topanar has a few more tricks up his sleeve.”

______

Suzy had finally been able to pry Kiah away from Jesse by offering her some food. He had several minor injuries and could possibly use some time in the recovery pod… again, even though she knew he would put it off until everything else was taken care of. As she put a hot meal down in front of Kiah, the little girl began to devour it while Commando sat by her feet, alert for any scraps that may fall from the table. She dropped a small piece of bread. Commando caught it in air and swallowed without chewing. She giggled and Commando wagged his tail. She dropped another small piece to see if he would do it again, when he did, she giggled again and pet him as his tail wagged.

Suzy looked over and smiled, wondering when the
last time this poor child had been given the opportunity to giggle and play like a little girl should. She wondered what would become of Kiah.
She knew they couldn’t leave her here. Kaldor’s ridiculous treatment of orphans would make it difficult to find someone Jesse would trust her with, but she also knew that a starship on a mission in foreign galaxy would not make a good home for a child.
As she thought about it she realized that Jesse would probably not want to keep her aboard with the danger they were likely to face, but he would make sure she was safe and well cared for. There was no way he would accept anything less for the little girl he had risked his life for.

SAMMI’s voice broke into her thoughts. “Dr. Baker, Colonel Marcos would like to know the condition of our young guest.”

Kiah looked up and around, but she couldn’t figure out where the voice was coming from.
She still hadn’t spoken to anyone except Jesse, which was adorable but also a little sad. Suzy smiled at her inquisitive little charge and replied. “All tests show her to be healthy, a little malnutrition and dehydration, but she is eating and drinking. She is also giggling and playing with her new four-legged friend. I will need to have someone come sit with her while I check in on the Mayor’s wife.”

“Copy that,” Jesse replied. “Kimi and I are on our way
with the Mayor, he would like to spend some time with our young guest, too."

______

Captain Janus couldn’t believe what had happened. His entire landing force was destroyed, including two more ships. His reinforcements had arrived just in time to see two battle groups rising through Kaldor’s atmosphere. The Human, Jesse Marcos, had gotten away, and he himself was no closer to finding the treasure. In fact, with all that was lost on Kaldor, he might be further away. Garrinoras was not going to be happy about this. If this Marcos decided to pursue the treasure, they would have an advantage because of the clues, map fragments and artifacts they now had in their possession. That was assuming of course that they didn't destroy the objects with the ships. He wasn't sure which scenario would be worse.

Topanar
was going to pay dearly for what had happened here. He had been paid very well to make sure things went smoothly. His men were not to be interfered with. Yet, somehow in the last five days, he had lost three of his twelve ships. He had lost the clues to the treasure they did find, he had lost over a hundred men and most importantly, he lost the key.

The key was not to be redundant, but “the key” to the whole quest. Not only was it
an important piece to unlocking the treasure, it was proof of just how old this treasure was. It had been several centuries since anyone on a civilized world used an actual key, let alone a solid gold bejeweled key with an ancient inscription on it.
Well, at least they had made a copy of the inscription
. A hail from the planet broke into his thoughts.

“Captain,” Zeresh called out, “Incoming hail from Sub-Mayor Topanar.”

“On screen,” he angrily replied. “Topanar, you fool!” he boomed as Topanar's face lit up the view screen. “What have you done? My ships and men are destroyed, the children escaped, and now you are sending two battle groups to meet me? I will destroy you for this.” He was pouring his anger into his voice.

“Me?” Topanar yelled, outraged at being chastised when it was Janus that ruined the plan. “I delivered the Mayor to you on a platter, all you had to do was put a blaster bol
t between his eyes. It is not my fault you were too incompetent to complete the job.”

“Careful,” Janus warned. “You only have the benefit of still being alive because Garrinoras imagines you to be useful. I will not hesitate to remove your head from your body if you continue to speak to me in such a manner.”
He was fuming at the thought of this human worm calling him incompetent.

“I had even spread the word to everyone that the Mayor had been killed in a pirate attack.” Topanar continued. “Imagine my surprise when I was told that not only didn’t he die, but that he was on his way home. It was he that deployed the fleet. The first time he has ever done so, I might add. Even I don’t have enough power to stop them from coming after you.”

“This was supposed to be easy; you promised Garrinoras he would not only have the Mayor, but also enough children to sell to the Conglomerate slavers to finance our entire search for the treasure. Imagine my surprise when there were not one, but two offworld teams of professional mercenaries protecting him. Now we will have to capture and sell hundreds of slaves, just to recover what we have lost here.”

Hi
s voice was measured but every sentient on the bridge could tell how angry he was. If Topanar were standing on the bridge with them, he would not be leaving alive.

“Topanar,”
he continued. “You had better find a way to recall those warships and allow us to continue harvesting slaves from your outposts. Otherwise, I might have to convince Garrinoras that your usefulness has come to an end. Then, it will be my pleasure to kill you.”