Deep Space Endeavor 3 Death Match (33 page)

He thought for a moment about what he should do.
Garrinoras is out of tricks, can I really kill a man in cold blood? It doesn’t matter what he has done, is there no other way?
Jesse was at war with himself. The turmoil must have shown on his face as Garrinoras did the unexpected.

Garrinoras put his hand up in a gesture of surrender and cried, “Please, you don’t need to kill me, please, mercy, have mercy!” As he begged for his life, he was trying to reach his holdout blaster. Jesse kicked it away from him, yelling out loud at the pain in his broken leg. Garrinoras cried out again, “Please, I do not wish to die. You could let me live. We can change the rules, please.”

Jesse looked down at him, trying again to reach his blaster and realized no one would ever be safe with this being alive. He was to be the executioner and he would always have to live with that. He shook his head sadly with no joy in his eyes and replied, “That’s not the way the game is played.” He aimed his blaster and fired. Garrinoras slumped against the tree with a blaster burn between his eyes. The crowd was hushed in disbelief at what they had witnessed. The human had won; their hero was dead. The pro-human supporters began to go wild in celebration while one-half of the arena was silent. Jesse was in so much pain from his shoulder wounds, broken ribs and broken leg that he could barely stand. Commando stood right in front of him, daring anyone to come near while Shadow took a similar stance behind him.

Before any of them could make sense of what had happened, the announcer was on the stadium system shouting, “Arrest him! Jesse Marcos must not be allowed to leave here alive!”

______

As the announcer called for his arrest or death, Jesse began trying to run. Even with his ankle somewhat casted, the broken bone in his leg was making it very difficult to find any speed. He was less than a hundred meters from the tunnel. He knew that in his condition, the run was going to take too long. His men had all come out to cover him, and were taking fire from several directions. Josiah gave the order and they began firing back. Jesse was hit in the back as he limped towards his people. His battle suit took the damage, but the shot had taken him off his feet. As he lay there, he thought,
I’m not going to be able to get back to my feet. There’s no way my people can make it this far into the arena, either. I think I’m out of miracles
.

The shot had come from a sniper’s perch near the top of the stadium. Josiah watched Jesse go down hard as he called in to one of the Hyperian units to hit the perch with a missile strike. As the missile hit, pieces of debris fell into the crowd, hitting the force shields and bouncing harmlessly onto the arena floor. Reece took out an armored vehicle heading their way and Sergeant Rivada had her men set up an anti-personnel weapon that was cutting the Zinnebailan pirates down faster than they could approach. The warrior-bots were blowing up any vehicles headed their way, and taking out any heavy fire positions. There were well over a hundred warriors from Qualoosh, Julan, Ginderbar, Kaldor and Hyperia that had come out to reinforce his entourage and Jesse was thankful for every single one of them
. I hate the fact that some of these brave men and women might die protecting me.
He knew there were even more, along with the rest of the soldiers on
Endeavor
covering their exit. Curiously absent from the brouhaha were the Farannsian security forces. Jesse couldn’t believe they would let a battle of this magnitude rage on their planet without making their presence felt in some way. He could no longer stand, so he began crawling towards his cover. With only one good arm and one good leg to move him across the arena floor, it was painfully slow going.
If that miracle doesn’t happen, I will be leaving my life on the arena floor.

______

Wennagal and Sandstorm rushed out immediately upon Garrinoras’ death to try and provide cover for Jesse. Kimi and Sibbie joined them in the forward position with Lenk, Wassan and Orvo. They established a position as far forward as they could. Kimi could see him, but she couldn’t get to him.
It is going to be up to him to reach us. He is down and he looks like he is in so much pain, but she knew better than to ever count him out.
Reece had just taken out an armored vehicle, and Rivada’s men were taking out the Zinnebailans almost as fast as they hit the arena floor. It looked like they might get out of this unscathed. Suddenly, almost forty Farannsians began to rush their position. They had emerged from their tunnel, quite close to their position and the soldiers had not had enough time to react. Tomra, Honus, Kord and Baldack rushed to help fortify their position, but the Farannsians were upon them. Two more Hyperians tried to help, but were cut down. Lenk was taken out as he tried to get a better position of cover.

Kimi had a battle suit on, so she ran out into the open to cover Sibbie, who had wandered too far out into the fray. Wennagal launched an anti-personnel grenade to the back of their formation that took out eight of them while Sandstorm came out to help his niece get to cover. Kimi was now in the middle of it as she unsheathed her sword and began taking Farannsians out on a personal level. She had pirouetted, spun and parried her way through five of Chawanas’ best while giving Sibbie and Sandstorm the time they needed to get back to cover. Orvo and Wassan were covering her, but there were just too many guys.  Tomra called in a Hyperian tactical team, but they were not going to get there in time.
I am never going to be able to have that conversation with Jesse or let Sandstorm down gently,
Kimi mused sadly as she was hit with a blast that took her off her feet. She tried to crawl back to cover, but she knew she wasn’t going to get very far.

Sibbie cried out, “I have to help her; she’s out there because of me.” Wennagal was holding his young teammate back as Kimi was hit with anther blast from a heavy assault rifle. She was starting to lose strength fast when she spotted an opening. Wassan and Orvo had fought their way close enough to almost get her back and she took advantage of it. She made it back to cover and took a moment to take catch her breath as the pain from the heavy blasters hitting her suit kept her off her feet. As she was getting ready to get back into it, a grenade landed right in front of her and Sibbie. She tried to react, but the beating she had just taken slowed her reflexes. Before she could jump on it, Ogen had dove on it to protect his niece and the woman he was in love with. His armor wasn’t thick enough and the grenade fragments tore into his body. Sandstorm lie there motionless, a look of shock on his face. Kimi reached him and began to cradle his head. She knew he wasn’t going to make it, and she knew he had given his life for her. She began to tear up as she held his head in her lap. Moments later, he breathed his last.
His death will not be in vain
, she decided as she stood.
I must get Sibbie to safety
, she thought as she looked for the shell-shocked niece of Agent Sandstorm.

Before the Farannsians could take advantage, Reece had shored up the position with a dozen soldiers from Julan. Kimi was numb as she looked at Sandstorm and then back at Sibbie. The young lady was frozen in shock and grief. She was also injured, badly. A piece of the grenade must have found her as well. Kimi knew she needed to get her off the battlefield. She ran to the young woman and quickly brought her to the rear of the engagement. Tioga had seen everything, and gently took her from Kimi and brought her back to
Endeavor
.
Ogen died never really knowing how I felt,
she sadly reflected.
Now, I only want to save Jesse and get off this wretched world. Then I’ll make sure he knows how I feel.

______

As Garrinoras was breathing his last, Captain Yartan and Captain Xia’s fleets entered light space headed towards Zinnebulous. When they arrived, Captain Trae-bar was already there.

“What are the plans, now? We have not prepared for the contingency that Marcos would actually win, or that our fleet would lose over Chawanas.” Xia cried out in frustration.

“And we can no longer take the fight to Ginderbar, like we planned.” Channa replied, still hoping there was a way to seek vengeance for the death of his leader.

“Maybe this is better; at least now the entire sector will not become embroiled in a conflict that no one except Garrinoras wanted.” Yartan added, knowing there was nothing they could do now but wait.

“We are receiving a transmission,” Trae-bar informed. “It appears as if our ships from Xenul, Chawanas, Taglaharn, Banijard and the Salvarians have all packed up and gone home, the Jar-Kargen and Mannagore as well. It would appear as though it is down to Garrinoras’ remaining fleet and our Pandaran allies, eighty-four ships in all. Together with the sixty ships from Zinnebulous, we will not have enough to enact any of our plans or contingency plans anyway. It would appear that our defeat at Chawanas did not sit well with our allies.”

“I knew the fleet would fall apart without Garrinoras leading it, and we can count on Zinnebulous to keep its fleet station here. Which means we really only have eighty ships, plus our four flagships.” Xia added, his frustration deepening.

“How do we proceed, then; I’m not prepared to vote on anyone but myself as leader,” Trae-bar informed.

“A contest,” Yartan began. “We each take twenty ships and after six months, the pirate with the most ships and resources will be the new leader of the organization.” They all agreed and worked on how the fleet would break down.

“Channa will keep the
Retribution,
along with two destroyers, two cruisers, six heavy frigates and ten gunships. Trae-bar will keep the
Closed Fist,
along with two destroyers, three cruisers, six frigates and nine gunships. Xia will keep the
Savage
Destruction,
along with one destroyer, five cruisers six frigates and eight gunships. I will keep the
Dominator,
along with one destroyer, four cruisers, two heavy frigates, four frigates and nine gunships. Any questions?” Yartan finished, quite pleased with himself. He was even more pleased when the other three pirates agreed to his terms.

“We meet back here above Zinnebulous in six months, then, the pirate with the most ships and the most wealth will be our new leader.”

“Very well, Captain Trae-bar.” Xia replied.

“You may call me Admiral Trae-bar, my friend.”

______

Jesse knew he couldn’t run for cover and as he was trying to stand, a grenade landed near him, sending him flying as it exploded. He landed in a fog, and he seemed to be watching everything unfold in slow motion. He could no longer crawl, and he knew he wasn’t going to make it out of the arena. He thought he saw Kimi and Sandstorm go down, but he wasn’t sure. Suddenly, his miracle arrived in the form of two large snow wolves. As Shadow and Commando each grabbed one of his battle suit sleeves and quickly dragged him across the arena floor, he began taking heavy fire. By the time he reached the tunnel, he was barely conscious. Wennagal put him over his shoulder and began to run through the tunnel. Josiah called his forces to withdraw, and they followed him out as they covered his exit.

When they exited the arena, they noticed
Endeavor
only thirty meters away with shields extended to the front and side. They also noticed four plasma cannons blown up and useless. The Hyperian commandos were covering the back as
Endeavor’s
crew began to exit the stadium. A team of Qualoosh and Julanii warriors had the side covered. The Warrior-bots and Rivada’s soldiers covered the crew as they made their exit. Wennagal was first to board as he carried Jesse with Kimi and Reece flanking him. Before the next group made it to the landing bay, Jesse was already on a hover-gurney heading to med-bay. As the rest of the crew, and the extra soldiers from Qualoosh, Julan and Ginderbar boarded
Endeavor
, Cassie noticed a lot of injuries. Even Bessa, who had gone out to lay down cover for her retreating teammates had been hit with heavy fire and injured. This was a complete mess, and Cassie mused sadly that it was all because of her. She knew she didn’t deserve it, and somehow that made it all worse. When everyone was aboard,
Endeavor
laid down cover fire for the Hyperians to board the
First Strike
. As they took off, the
First Strike
flew directly beneath
Endeavor
with only two meters separating them.
Endeavor
extended her shields to encompass both ships, and they flew off into space. Three dozen
Razzers
picked up their trail, and chased them from behind. Kimi was thinning their numbers as they left the atmosphere. The adrenaline from the battle was still fueling her, but underneath it all, she was hurting. She was hurting both physically and emotionally.
Sandstorm gave his life for me and Jesse is a mess. I have no idea if he is even going to live at this point. I had better get my head back in it until we escape.
She returned her full attention to their present situation and continued to pick off
Razzers
. With each shot, she took out the frustration of the last two days.