Deep Space Endeavor (26 page)

“You will regret coming to this planet,” he stiffly replied as the
Pillager
scored a direct hit on
Endeavor’s
shields. “You will pay for your insolence, human.”

“So that’s a yes, right? You really need to stop underestimating us. Clear the field,
Lieutenant Jackson.” Jesse’s hand made a sweeping motion as the transmission was cut. As the transmission died, the second gunship and two more
Razzers
went down. “Janus beat us to the planet; they’re just trying to keep us occupied until he gets back. Let’s make sure he has nothing to come back to.”

Endeavor
was rocked by two more hits as sparks showered the bridge. “Shields holding at fifty-one percent; we can’t take too many more hits like that, Colonel.” Josiah exclaimed as the shields for the third gunship went down.

Collin skillfully evaded the
Pillager’s
next barrage as Josiah hit and destroyed the last gunship, which exploded into a cloud of atoms. Kimi hit her sixth
Razzer,
and the remaining
Razzers
swung around to regroup for a concentrated attack.

“My sensors have picked up an armored shuttle exiting the planet’s atmosphere on the far side of the
Pillager
,” SAMMI informed.

“Janus has the clue; he beat us. Let’s see if we can’t destroy the
Pillager
before he can get that clue to Garrinoras. If we can’t have it…” Jesse yelled to his crew, wishing the battle klaxons would shut off already.

Another shot struck
Endeavor’s
shields as a plasma beam from
Endeavor
destroyed two of
Pillager
’s weapon batteries. “Shields at thirty-seven percent,” Josiah warned.

“Keep firing,” Jesse yelled as Kimi took out two more
Razzers,
and the rest retreated to escort the shuttle aboard the
Pillager
.
Endeavor’s
next shot rocked the
Pillager,
causing significant damage. The
Pillager
had stopped firing as the shuttle and the
Razzers
entered the landing bay. The ship turned its undamaged side towards
Endeavor,
and then the
Pillager
and Janus were gone.

“She’s gone, I’m sorry, Sir,” Josiah spoke in a normal voice now that the battle klaxons were off.

“Don’t be sorry, Lieutenant.
Endeavor
’s crew availed themselves quite well today. The fault was mine; I should have ordered the
Pillager
disabled before clearing out the gunships. Janus escaped because I dropped the ball, not you.” He was really disappointed with himself, and he wanted to make sure none of the crew put the blame on themselves.

“Attention, three ships emerging from light space.” SAMMI’s voice broke the silence.

“Cloak the ship, Collin,” Jesse ordered.

“We can’t,
Colonel. We spent too much power on the shields. The cloak won’t be available for several minutes. We’re being hailed.”

“Of course we are,” Jesse muttered, “On screen!”

Topanar’s cruel features filled the screen as he smiled and said, “Well well, well, it seems we meet again. You are outnumbered three to one, and your ship is damaged. I suggest you surrender and prepare to be boarded.” He smiled as his ships began a flanking maneuver.

“Hello again, Joldas,” h
e replied, smiling widely, purposely not calling him Captain. “It appears that you are late to the party, again. You really need better people working for you. Anyway, Janus already beat us to this clue, and as you can see, there was a battle, but the
Pillager
escaped.”

H
e muted the channel and asked, “Can we make the jump to light space?”

“On your orders,” Collin smiled.

He looked out the viewport and noticed the
Interrogator
directly in front of them. Meanwhile, two similar frigates were fanning out, trying to make their way into position to fire on
Endeavor
from three directions at once. He thought
Endeavor
might be able to take them if she hadn’t just been in battle. He knew he was going to be in an even worse mood after running from the likes of Topanar, but he didn’t really have a choice.

“You are
outmanned, outgunned, and outsmarted,” Topanar began. “Now drop your shields and prepare to be boarded, or you will be destroyed.”

Jesse just looked at him and laughed. “I know you won’t destroy us
Topanar. You need our artifacts, or you can’t get the treasure.”

“Open, fire,” Topanar replied with a look of complete satisfaction.

“Jump to light space, Lieutenant,” Jesse ordered as Topanar's first volley rocked
Endeavor's
shields.

“Aye, aye,
Colonel,” Collin replied as the ship left our dimension and entered light space.

______

Janus was all smiles as he had finally won a round against Jesse Marcos. True, it had come at a heavy price, as
Endeavor
had taken out three more gunships and eight more
Razzers
. The
Pillager
itself had also suffered significant damage and would have to put down for repairs, but Janus had the clue, and finally had a head start on Jesse Marcos.

He
began to wonder just what kind of shields and weapons
Endeavor
had to be able to take on four ships at once and prevail. He had to figure out a way to capture
Endeavor
and make her his new flagship.

Garrinoras’ image came on screen in the room where Janus was examining the clue and the artifact. “I understand you have retrieved what I sent you for, Janus,” he boomed.

“Yes I have, Mighty Garrinoras,” he replied, a good amount of pride in his voice.

“Well done, I will dispatch three more ships to your flotilla at once. We are only one more clue away, Janus, and then it’s off to find the treasure. Do not fail me.”

“You can count on me, Sir,” he replied, still excited in spite of the implied threat. He couldn’t wait to get back to deciphering his clue and beating Jesse Marcos to the final clue.

______

Mayor Valinor had scheduled a meeting with Kaldor’s Chairman in Capital City to discuss the disturbing revelations he had found. Sub-Mayor Topanar had been taking payments from the pirates to plunder the outposts and had conspired to kill him. For Kaldor, this was going to be a major scandal. Kaldor only had ten elected officials on the planet, so sending one of them to jail for life would be a big deal. The Chairman was the ruler of Kaldor and ruled from the seat of power in Capital City. His election term was fifteen years. Each of Kaldor’s districts had one governor. In case of the Chairman’s death, there would be an emergency election one week later among the three active governors. If that took place, the mayor of the winner’s district would then step in to the governorship. The sub-mayor for that city would then step into the mayor’s office. Sub-mayors only existed in case of that very specific eventuality. They had other duties, and were usually fast tracked to become Mayors if a mayoral position needed filling. Any planetary business that mattered, however, would take place among the Chairman, governors and mayors. Those seven men were known as the High Council. Still, to have a person in as high a position as Sub-Mayor involved in such criminal activity was likely to rattle the public.

Mayor Valinor
was making his way from the building to his waiting aircar, when he noticed two unauthorized vehicles descending from the sky above.

“They’re coming after you, Mayor. Quickly, into the aircar,” Agent Sandstorm yelled.

Tarrick realized he was too far from the building to head back. His safest place would be the aircar, although that thought did little to comfort him. Topanar was making his move, and he didn’t think he was going to survive. As he dove into the aircar, Sandstorm had pulled the driver out of his seat and jumped in to take the controls. The two unauthorized aircars were bearing down on them. Laser fire began to pour out from blasters being fired out the aircar’s windows. Sandstorm hit the accelerator, and as they left the roof they were taking off from, he threw the aircar into a ninety degree dive off the edge of the building. They lost sight of the other aircars momentarily as they plunged towards ground level. Moments later, they could hear the blasters again. The Mayor’s vehicle came standard with a decent amount of shielding, more than enough for blasters, if that’s all they had. But one of the pursuing aircars opened its top and one of the men inside stood up with a handheld missile launcher. Sandstorm knew right then that this situation was about to get a little more interesting.

As he was flying under one of the large hanging advertisement vid screens, he pulled out his blaster and fired two explosive rounds into the screen’s suspension. As the first pursuer began to dive under the screen to follow him, the suspension exploded and the screen swung down. The pursuer could not compensate quickly enough and the aircar flew directly into the screen, exploding on impact. A shower of sparks and falling debris had the people below scurrying for cover and he knew he had to end this confronta
tion before innocent people were hurt. The second aircar still pursued, but he hit his brakes and cut his engine, causing the aircar to plummet straight down. It was a maneuver the pursuers were not prepared for, and they overshot the Mayor’s aircar. Sandstorm restarted the engines and took off in pursuit of the second aircar. He followed the aircar through a maze of turns until they came to a straight away. He took out his blaster and fired his explosive rounds again, missing twice before hitting the aircar’s rear stabilizer. The aircar had no choice but to land. He peeled off and began to return to the building they first took off from.

“I think we’re safe for now,” he called back to his terrified passenger. “Sorry for the bumpy ride,
Sir,” he smiled.

“No, not at all,” the Mayor began as he regained his composure. “That was some fine flying and shooting back there, Sandstorm. Well done.”

“Would you like me to put down at your tower, or would you like to continue on to Capital City? I can radio ahead and let them know the reason for the delay.”

Mayor Valinor
looked thoughtful for a moment then replied, “I am just going to call Seeja and Kiah to let them know I am alright. I would like to continue on, if you would be my driver the rest of the way."

“It would be an honor, Sir,” Sandstorm replied as he smiled and adjusted his bearing to Capital City’s coordinates.

______

Eliphaz Topanar was growing
more and more angry as he watched the breaking news vid on his office screen. His second attempt to assassinate Mayor Valinor had failed. How could this happen? He watched the harrowing chase and the moves Valinor’s driver made to escape. He had thought he paid off the driver to let them get hit and then bail out. He was going to have strong words for his incompetent nephew. First, his nephew had let
Endeavor’s
crew walk right out of his office. Then, he couldn’t get them back and now this. About the only thing he had done right was getting some of the treasure information from his spy on
Endeavor
. He hadn’t even gotten any of the artifacts, or more importantly, the key.

As Captain Topanar walked into the Sub-Mayor’s office, he knew his uncle was going to be angry, so he braced himself.

“You stupid, incompetent twit,” Eliphaz bellowed as his nephew entered the room. “You have the brains of a Borragg! All you had to do was pay off the driver, nothing else. You even found a way to screw that up. You apparently hired the most talented driver on our planet. It was such a simple task, you idiot. How could you screw it up?”

Joldas took it all with a smile. He knew to do otherwise would only anger his uncle further. “The driver I hired was pulled out of the aircar by some special government agent. The men you hired to hit the aircar revealed themselves too early, Uncle. Had they waited, the agent would not have been in position to jump into the aircar and save the
mayor.”

“And you’re not even man enough to take the blame you deserve.” His uncle continued as if he had said nothing. “Be a man, Joldas, not whatever it is you are now. Not only is my head on the chopping block, but yours is as well. You have to be better than you’ve ever been, because if I go down, you go down with me. Now figure out a way to fix this.”

Joldas figured he might as well get all the bad news out at once. “Garrinoras beat us to the next clue, but at least Jesse Marcos didn’t get it. Our intelligence has gathered that Garrinoras has three clues,
Endeavor
has five, and we have one. The final clue has yet to be found. If
Endeavor
finds it, we will have possession of it soon enough, along with their other artifacts and their key. We will then have the necessary seven artifacts to open the treasure vault once we find it. If Garrinoras finds it, an arrangement of some sort will have to be struck.”