Deep Space Endeavor (4 page)

While thinki
ng about Polisia and the wolves, Nina decided to bring Frost with her and Serge on the trip. She would definitely get a few looks from the crew, but no one would say anything to her, of that she was certain. She just wanted to feel close to her brother and Frost was a constant reminder to her of how much her brother loved her. As Nina left her home with Serge and Frost, she was determined to do everything in her power to find out if
Endeavor
had made it through the matter conduit.

______

…….. “SAMMI, open a channel to the pirate ship.”

“Channel opened
, Colonel.”

“Hey
, Lizard guy,” Jesse taunted. “I’m going to give you one chance to surrender.” 

The Lizard man laughed or at least Jesse thought it was a laugh
. “Humanssss are funny. I know you still don’t have your main weaponssss, and we are only one or two hitssss away from destroying your pathetic ship.”

“Come on
, Lizzy, you have already lost all of your fighters,”
Kimi really was good at her job.
“Why would you want to lose your ship, too?”

“I shall enjoy seeing the
corpsessss of your crew floating in space!" His comment was followed by more of the grating laughter.

“SAMMI
, arm the space mine. Josiah, blow it now.” Jesse waited to see the inevitable explosion, but it never came.

“I'm receiving an error message, the
mine is active, but it won’t detonate, Sir.” Josiah explained a, slight edge to his voice.

“Well, why should t
hings start getting easy now?” He yelled angrily. “I guess it’s got to be the hard way then.”

‘Sir
, please!" Come back to the ship and let me do it,” Kimi cried, intense concern evident in her voice.

“There’s not enough time, this can still work but we have to do it now.”
He steeled himself as he flew back toward the pirate ship. To fire on the mine, he would have to de-cloak, which would instantly make him visible to the pirates. This is why Kimi was so concerned. He was a great Special Forces soldier, and a great scientist by most people’s estimation. One thing he was not, however, was a great pilot. In fact, he was one of the worst pilots he knew. If his timing were good enough, though, he wouldn’t need to be a good pilot for very long. As he flew toward the pirate ship for what could well be his last mission, the faces of his crew flashed into his mind.

Suzy was an attractive woman but didn't seem to realize it. She always kept her long, blond hair up in a bun or pony tail for practical purposes, and was never without her white doctor’s lab coat. Her eyes were very blue and she had perfect vision but she usu
ally had her visual enhancement unit, which was common among surgeons, propped up on the top of her head, ready for surgery. She had been friends with him since she was four years old entering her first day of primary school. They had remained close friends for the last thirty years. She was as much a sister to him as Nina was.

Kimi on the other hand, was stunning and she kn
ew it. Of Japanese and Brazilian descent, her jet black hair and perfect tan always turned heads. She had come on this mission simply because he had asked her to. She was completely loyal to him, because he was responsible for saving her family and giving her a new life even though she didn't feel she deserved it.

Collin wa
s a typical Special Forces soldier. At six foot four inches, most people looked up to him, and what they saw was the square heroic jaw of what Jesse imagined a superhero would look like. Collin was every bit the hero, especially to those in need.

Josiah
, his best friend since secondary school, was the wisest person he knew; himself included, and he valued him all the more for it. He was always looking for his next great adventure and this mission had been an easy sell as the possibilities became evident to him.

The only thing he could think about as he prepared to blow the pir
ate vessel was getting his crew safely home, no matter the cost.

The time h
ad come and the plan was simple: de-cloak, fire on the space mine, and get out of there. Not a lot of moving pieces on this one, and it was all or nothing. He could feel the sweat running down his back and the cold fear in his gut as he eyed the switch that would make him visible. As he de-cloaked he felt the need to say something motivating to his crew; but all that came out was: “Hey, guys, I bet lizard guy will make a great pair of shoes for Kimi’s collection.” He followed the comment with some nervous laughter as he grit his teeth and found the firing solution. Then the thought hit him,
I really hope those weren’t my last words.
He let loose a quick prayer as he fired on the mine. He watched the alien ship explode and then the universe went dark around him.

Chapter two

______

Six years earlier
………

“We’ve been friends since year two of secondary school but before that we were enemies.” was the explanation Jesse had given when Kimi asked how long he had known Josiah. Kimi just looked at him, the question evident in her eyes.

“Let me go back to the beginning.”
He answered her unasked question. “We came from different primary schools and all throughout our seventh and eighth grade years we were rivals on our school's soccer teams. We were both the best player on our respective team. When we arrived at the same secondary school, our first year was spent as rivals for the striker position. Eventually, I won the position, but the coach was able to take advantage of both of our talents. We won the city title that year and we’ve been friends ever since. I found out we share the same birthday, too. I'm one minute and thirty-eight seconds older, by the way, and I never let him forget it. After secondary school we both joined Earth’s space marines. I resigned my commission about three months ago after Rebecca was killed in an accident, and Josiah, Collin and Manny are about to join me in the private sector when their service term ends. Now Suzy, I've known forever; I met her when I was four."

Kimiko’s head was swimming. This target was nothing like she had been told. She
had been sent by the Asian Dawn to seduce this young businessman. She was to steal his technology, and then kill him, but he didn’t seem like the evil man her masters had so painstakingly made him out to be. As far as Kimiko could tell, she was looking at a man who was mourning the death of his fiancé, yet still took the time to help a stranger in need. He loved his sister and cousin and had great lifelong friends. He was a man who gave to charity, and generally did right by people. What great evil was he hiding? It had to be there for her masters to order his death, and send their top female assassin to do it.

She
flashed back to three weeks earlier, when her plan to accidentally meet Jesse Marcos had first begun. She had purposely crashed into the back of his very expensive Mag-Lev, speeder. Her plan was to play the confused, upset and new in town young lady with nowhere to go. Kimiko was hoping that he would bring her home and take advantage of her. Once they were in a relationship, she could begin stealing his secrets, and when she had them all, she would kill him.

Her plan hadn’t gone that way at all. He got out of his speeder and smi
led at her. Right there she thought she had him, but then instead, he told her not to worry. He got back in his speeder and was beginning to leave. She remembered having to go to plan B very quickly. She fell to the ground and began crying. He immediately stopped his speeder and got out. She remembered him asking her what was wrong. Even as she launched into her pre-arranged story, she couldn’t help but notice that he really seemed to care. She told him about how she was here to go to grad school, but the university made a mistake on the dorm assignment, and she had nowhere to stay. She couldn’t afford to get an apartment and she couldn’t afford to go back to Japan. This was all part of the carefully crafted lie, which included an actual registration and class schedule. Kimiko herself had hacked the schools computer and purposely lost her rooming assignment.

H
e helped her up and called a tow for her beat up old speeder. “It’s probably the brakes, you know,” he offered. “They are always the first thing to go on those old models. We’ll get her fixed up and have you back on the road in no time. For now, you can come home with me if you would like, until we can get your dorm assignment squared away.”

She
smiled to herself,
maybe this would be an easy assignment after all
, and if she had to live in a luxurious mansion while she carried out her mission? Well, she could think of worse things.

As they arrived at the mansion,
her plan once again hit a snag. He pointed to a very nice guest house and said, “You can stay here for as long as you like. If you need anything at all, food, towels, clothes or whatever, just let the maids know and you’ll have it. I find it easier to do well in my studies when I’m not worried about other things.” He took out the key to his speeder and tossed it to her. “Use this until your speeder is ready, I hope you don’t mind the dent, but someone hit me earlier.” He smiled, winked and then walked into his house. He didn’t even look back to give her a once over.

Ok
ay,
she thought,
this might not be as easy as I first imagined, but eventually he’ll give in; they always do.
She walked with a bounce in her step into one of the nicest homes she had ever stayed in, and began making new plans to destroy Jesse Marcos.

Now here it was three weeks later and nothing had happened.
She was beginning to worry, because she had to report her progress to her masters that week and she had nothing to offer. If she failed, she was sure her family would suffer.

She
knocked on the big oak door. He opened the door and greeted her with a smile. "What’s up, Kimi?”

“I just wanted to see if the room assignment issues had been cleared up yet, I hate to continue being a burden.”

“I’m really sorry, Kimi, but it appears the bursar has lost your room assignment again. They have one of the worst business offices I’ve ever seen. I can send my sister Nina down to straighten them out if you’d like, she can be pretty scary, or you can stay the semester in my guest house. Whichever you prefer is alright with me.”

Kimiko
started to cry. “I don’t want to trouble you further, I’ve been a burden and you have been so nice. I’ll figure something out.”
This is one of my better performances,
she thought.

“Nonsense, I have this giant guest
house and no one in it. Rebecca wanted it built so her family could live with us without living with us, if you know what I mean.” A hint of sadness crossed his face at the mention of his former fiancé and Kimiko almost felt bad. Instead, she took the news as an opportunity to jump into his arms, and give him a hug that lasted just a little too long.

H
e didn’t even seem to notice; he actually invited her in to have dinner with him. “Suzy was supposed to have dinner with me, but she had to perform an emergency appendectomy, so she won’t be able to make it. I don't want all this food to go to waste. She thinks I'm still depressed about Rebecca and Polisia, so she doesn't like for me to be alone."

This was
her opportunity; Jesse seemed to like her as a person, now it was time to get him to like her as a woman. At the very least, she would have something to report to her masters.

H
e was talking a lot during dinner; he spoke about how Rebecca, his fiancé, had died in an accident while he was on his final mission in the war with the pack. He had lost several men in his unit at the battle of Polisia and then made it back to base only to hear about Rebecca's death. It was almost too much for him. He looked over at his guest when he suddenly realized she wasn’t saying much. “I’m sorry, Kimi.”
She was actually starting to like it when he called her that
. “I don’t usually talk this much; in fact I don’t think I’ve talked this much in months. I love Nina, Ariel and Suzy more than anything, but I think in this case it just might be a little easier to open up to someone I don’t know as well. They always want to analyze me, I hope you don’t mind.”

______

Present day
…………

“Jesse, stay with us,” Kimiko pleaded. “You did it; you destroyed the pirate ship and we won; now don’t leave us.”

What was she talking about
?
He wondered, trying to wipe the haze from his eyes. He was right here, he wasn’t going anywhere. He felt really confused as he slipped back into unconsciousness.

Collin had done a fine bit of flying to bring the damaged shuttle back on board. Especially since that last shot they took damaged the sublight engines. He made his way over to
Endeavor’s
shuttle practically on maneuvering thrust alone. They were going to actually have to land to effect repairs.

“We can be to the nearest
planet in just under six hours at our present speed. Let’s just hope no more pirates show up.” Josiah added as he exercised his gift for understatement.

“SAMMI, do we know where we are yet?
Did we make it through the matter conduit?” “Lieutenant Torrensede, I am still unable to ascertain our exact position. I can tell you for certain we are no longer in the Milky Way Galaxy which would indicate to me that we indeed did make it through the event as planned.”

That wasn't really a definitive answer
, he still wanted to know where they were, but at least they were able to get the shield and the cloak working properly again. Josiah replaced the power coupling while Collin was bringing the shuttle aboard. Meanwhile, Suzy and Kimi were checking out the Colonel's injuries. He had flown a little too close to the pirate ship and the shuttle was damaged in the explosion. He really wasn’t a very good pilot, but his courage could never be questioned. Collin was under no illusion that they could make it back without him. Jesse Marcos was their best chance to survive this galaxy, wherever it is, and get back home in fourteen months and eight days.

Towards the back of the ship
in med-bay, Suzy had Jesse on the examination table, trying to figure out the extent of his injuries. Kimiko was standing worriedly to the side, trying to see everything that was happening; as if seeing it would in some way help him recover. She was a woman used to action and always found she was restless at times like these.

“Is there anything I can do to help
, Suzy?” She left the question hanging in the air, hoping that Suzy would magically have something helpful for her to do. That was unlikely, as Kimiko was not a member of the medical profession. Though she did have vast experience at putting people in the hospital, her experience at helping people out of the hospital was rather limited.

Suzy smiled;
she couldn’t blame her for wanting to help, they all knew how much Jesse meant to her. She thought hard about what Kimi could do. “Well, I know this might sound menial, but no one has checked on Shadow and Commando since the accident. They are probably a little anxious by now. Do you think you could check in on them?” Suzy knew this probably wasn’t what Kimi wanted to hear, so she was a little surprised when she agreed and left the room. She probably thought it would get her mind off worrying for Jesse. Suzy knew that Kimi loved Jesse, but, as she remembered, that wasn’t always the case.

______

Six years earlier
…….

This was Kimiko’s best chance to set her plan in motion. She had been in the guest house over three weeks, and this was the first night she was even able to have a real conversation with Jesse. They had talked for hours; they had laughed and drank wine. Now, they had moved their conversation to the patio out back.

As
he looked up at the stars, she leaned in and kissed him gently on the lips. The surprise on his face was genuine, and he immediately pulled away. “I’m so sorry; I must have given you the wrong signals. Please forgive me, I have to go.” As he quickly moved to go back inside, she was left wondering where the plan went wrong. At least she could buy a little time with her masters by letting them know she and Jesse had just shared their first kiss, even if calling it a kiss was a lit bit of a stretch.

The next morning as Kimiko had just fini
shed updating her masters; there was a knock on her door. She opened the door to see Jesse staring at the brickwork of the stairs.

She
put on her brightest smile and said, “Good morning, would you like to come in for a cup of coffee.”

“No thanks
, Kimi.” He sounded quite depressed and didn't look like he had slept well.

“About last night…”

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that,” she broke in, “I really felt that the mood was there, with the wine and the stars and the laughing. I am sorry I made you uncomfortable.” She lied. The only thing she was sorry about was that it didn’t work.

Hi
s reply was unexpected. “It’s not your fault, Kimi. I think part of me might have wanted it to happen, but I just have to clear something up.” He paused, obviously choosing his next words carefully. “Kimi, I can’t imagine anyone who wouldn’t want to be with you, and I might live to regret this, but nothing is going to happen between us because I’m just not ready.” He looked back down at the ground, studying the imported Italian brickwork Rebecca had loved so much as he searched for the words to continue.

“
It's only been a few months since Rebecca's death and I’m not sure if I'm ready to move on.... and you deserve better than that. I hope you can forgive me, I want you to know nothing has changed, you are most welcome to stay. Over the last month or so I feel like we’ve become friends and I wouldn’t put out a friend.”

Th
e world went dark around her, she knew her plan to seduce him was never going to work. “Why are you so intent on helping me if you don’t want to be with me?” The question had left her lips before she could stop it. This was new territory for her. No one had ever offered her anything without wanting something in return.