Deep Space Endeavor (40 page)

“Hello, my friends, did you find what you were looking for?” Mayor Valinor’s smile contrasted with the dark news they had for him.

“Yes, Sir, and it is truly impressive.” Jesse tried to manage a smile, but could not.

“What i
s the problem, then? You do not look like a man that just found the treasure of the ages, the fabled treasure of Ameteo.” Tarrick was still smiling.

“Tarrick,” he said with the weight of the world on his shoulders. “Garrinoras arrived at Najiban as we were leaving. We intercepted a conversation between him and Captain Janus.” He played the
transmission, and Tarrick’s smile quickly fell away. “They have one hundred and ninety-two capital ships, and they will be leaving from Zinnebulous in three days to attack Kaldor.”

“What are we going to do?” He asked. “We cannot withstand an invasion from a fleet that size.”

“How many ships does Kaldor have, Tarrick?” Jesse asked.

“Not enough,” The hard reply left his lips as he stared off in the distance.

“How many?” Jesse repeated louder, trying to snap his friend out of it.

“Eighty, maybe eighty-one. What difference does it make? We are no match for one hundred ninety-two.” He felt helpless as he spoke.

“Eighty could make all the difference, my friend. I have a plan that just might work. Alert the Chairman and the Council to the attack, but tell no one else. You have to get the Chairman to send all of your ships into orbit. It is vital that Kaldor doesn’t get caught with its ships on the ground. Trust me, I’ve saved planets against greater odds than these before.”

Tarrick asked him to wait while he contacted the Chairman. Several minutes later, he came back on the screen with a screen of the Chairman on the side.

“Please, Colonel Marcos, tell us of your plan,” the Chairman asked.

“I can’t tell you the whole plan yet because I have to ask a friend for a favor before we can finalize it. Please, just trust me and have all of your ships in orbit and ready for combat. I should arrive in two and a half days, and we can sit down for the details then. I know you’re scared, but I’ve been t
hrough this sort of battle before and survived. Just have everything ready when I arrive. I promise you, I will fight alongside you for Kaldor.”

When the transmission ended, he looked at Collin and said, “Set a course for Ginderbar, best possible speed.”

“What’s on Ginderbar, and who is this friend, Jesse?” Josiah looked surprised as he asked.
How had he managed to make a friend on Ginderbar in one evening that would want to help stop Kaldor from being invaded?

“Commander Enosal is on Ginderbar, hopefully. And he’s technically not a friend, but he does owe me a favor,” Jesse replied as he was looking for the paper Enosal had given him.

“Is he the man who owns the largest mercenary fleet on Ginderbar?” Suzy asked, trying to remember what Jesse had told her about the man that night at the restaurant.

“Oh, that guy,” Josiah said sarcastically. “What are you two talking about?”
He called out needing to know what was going on.

“Tell him, Suzy.” Jesse said as he ran off the bridge to his quarters.

As Josiah and the rest of the crew looked at her with confused expressions, she told them the story. “The night you were all getting arrested on Ginderbar,” she began as both Sandstorm and Enso raised an eyebrow. “Jesse and I were having a nice meal. During the meal, two of Garrinoras’ men entered the restaurant. They attempted to either kidnap or kill a man, his wife and their two sons. Jesse, of course, intervened, and the man said he owed him one. I assume Jesse went to look for the contact information.”

“So, our night of drunken bar fighting wasn’t a total failure?” Collin asked jokingly.

“I think Enso and I need to hear more about this night on Ginderbar,” Sandstorm laughed as he looked at Kimi and patted Enso on the back. Enso's raised eyebrow told everyone he agreed.

“It was all his fault” Cassie laughed as she pointed at Josiah.

“Now, don’t start that, Captain. Wasn't it you that hit the wrong guy with a chair,” Wennagal laughed.

By that time Jesse was back on the bridge. “Do you think this Enosal feels indebted to you enough to commit his fleet to the defense of Kaldor? Josiah asked.

“No, not at all,” he answered to more puzzled expressions. “But he may feel indebted enough to hear me out." The crew still looked confused. "We have treasure, which means we now have an awful lot of money to pay his men with.” The understanding became evident in the eyes of his crew as he asked, “Collin, how long until we reach Ginderbar?”

“Thirty
-two hours,” he replied.

“Good, we probably won’t need that much time. How much are we estimating the treasure is worth?” Jesse asked Cassie and Sandstorm.

“It’s worth somewhere between one and two trillion dudichrons.” Cassie smiled as she answered. "Probably closer to two." Sandstorm and Wennagal nodded in agreement.

“
Two Trillion?" Jesse asked in awe, momentarily forgetting their current crisis. This really was the treasure of the ages.

"Give or take," Cassie replied with a playful smile.

"Wow, here’s what we have to do. I would like the treasure fully enclosed in two of the landing bay’s four sections. Then, I would like approximately ten billion dudichrons worth of the treasure left out on the landing bay deck. At least half of that amount should be in gold coins. As we discussed, you may each have a few personal items from the treasure. We will be giving about ninety-five percent of it away, then we will be dividing the rest of the treasure among us equally later. Don't worry, we will each still receive a sizeable amount Reece will be receiving his share as well, any questions?”

“
Who are we giving most of the treasure to, and why do we have to hide the treasure?” Sandstorm asked.

“I plan on giving
a lot of it to Kaldor, and I would like to return all of the historically significant pieces to their planets of origin, we have no right to hold onto those pieces. I figure we'll still end up with a few billion each which is more than we could ever spend. We’re hiding the treasure because if Commander Enosal does agree to help us, he is going to be coming aboard with some of his men to take part of the treasure as payment. I don’t want him to see the rest of it just sitting out there and get tempted to change the deal. I may have saved his life, but he’s still a mercenary. If there are no other questions, let’s get started. Oh, and if anyone sees that Hyperian painting, bring it to me. That's our backup plan.”

As everyone except Collin was leaving the bridge, Josiah asked Jesse, “Are you going to take a couple personal items from the treasure?”

“I am going to take a few, actually,” he smiled as he knew his answer would throw his friend. “I’m taking some pieces for our friends back home."

“I knew you weren’t going to take anything for yourself, so I picked out two things I know you’ll like.” Josiah smiled as they entered the landing bay. Everyone except Suzy and Jesse had already picked out their souvenirs. “I picked out two things for Reece, too.” As Josiah went to his bag to retrieve the items he picked out for him, Jesse smiled at how even in the midst of one of his biggest moments, Josiah had thought about his best friend.

Josiah handed him a beautiful sword and an even more impressive dagger. He couldn’t wait to research them and find out what they were and where they had been. “Thanks, Jo, this really means a lot to me. Hey Suzy, look at what Josiah found for me.”

She came over and looked at the beautiful weapons and nodded. “He certainly knows what you like.”

“Hey, Suzy,” he began again. “Can you pick out some things for Nina, Ariel and Zoe? You would be able to pick out something much nicer than I would. Josiah, can you pick out a couple things for Manny and Serge since you have already seen a lot of this stuff? Oh, get something for Jason, too. He'd really get a kick out of alien treasure from another galaxy. I’m going to find something to give Kiah when we see her again.”

Wennagal approached Jesse with a huge grin on his face and a large, framed painting in his hands. “I found it,” He bragged. “This is the painting you are looking for.
"

“Seriously?” Jesse countered excitement building inside of him. “Thanks, Wennagal, this is amazing. If you come across any more Hyperian stuff, put it aside, would you. It wouldn’t hurt to have more than one bargaining chip.”

______

No one had slept much by the time they reached Ginderbar. The excitement of the treasure was still fueling them. Jesse was very relieved when he was able to raise Commander Enosal on a secure transmission.

“Hello, Commander Enosal,” he began. “I don’t know if you remember me. We met a few weeks back in a restaurant.”

“
Colonel Marcos,” the jovial response came through the vid screen. “Of course I remember you. Your line about punching pirates in the face has become quite the joke among my boys. How may I help the man that saved my life and the lives of my family?”

“I was wondering if I could hire your fleet,” he hesitantly replied. “But I do have to let you know up front, it won’t be an easy job.”

“Few people who need my services ever have an easy job in mind.” Enosal said somberly. “Who are we invading?”

“Well, we’d actually be defending,” he spoke cautiously. “Garrinoras will be attacking Kaldor with a significant fleet within the next two or th
ree days. Kaldor does have a decent size defense fleet, but it’s not enough. I also have a few tricks up my sleeve, but we need some more muscle to ensure the victory.”

“Well, when you call in a favor, you really call it in,” Enosal laughed. “You want me to put my fleet on the line against the mighty Garrinoras? I heard he has close to two hundred ships. And Kaldor has what, eighty?”

“Sounds like you’ve already been briefed about what’s going on,” Jesse surmised. “If I could get you in the battle with fifty or so ships, I’m confident we can rout Garrinoras. I’m not asking as the man that helped you out. I will pay you, very well. If things go to plan, you won’t even lose many ships.”

“Oh, it’s a paying mission? That may help in the decision-making process,” Enosal laughed. “How much are you willing to pay to put my fleet on the line?”

“One hundred million chrons,” Jesse’s response caused a slight smile to cross Enosal’s face, but before he could reply, Jesse added; “Per ship.”

The look that came across Commander Enosal’s face when he made his offer reminded Jesse of the look someone has when they figure out a joke has been played on them. Enosal looked right at him though the vid screen and said, “Son, don’t even joke around about that kind of money. Really, what’s your offer?”

“Commander Enosal, I have recently come across more money than I could ever hope to spend in a hundred lifetimes. That is my number, truthfully. I can bring you aboard
Endeavor
right now and you can have a look at it yourself if you would like.” He smiled, hoping Enosal would go for it.

“I’m on my way, and if you are willing to pay that much for my services, I will have fifty of my best
Battle Hammers
available to fight at a time and place of your choosing for any cause you would like. Except slavery; I won’t help slavers.”

“Knowing that,
Sir, I like you even more,” he replied as Enosal ended the transmission. Jesse decided that he liked this mercenary with a sense of honor and a hatred of slavery.

Half an hour later, Commander Enosal’s shuttle was docking with
Endeavor
. The Commander stepped onto the deck flanked by four bodyguards. After the pleasantries were exchanged and introductions were made, Jesse took Enosal to the portion of the treasure he would be receiving as payment if he should agree to the mission. When they arrived in the landing bay, Enosal stopped short and looked at the treasure in awe.

“You found it,” he exclaimed in wonder. “I heard there were other players looking for it besides Garrinoras, but I had no idea it was you.”

“We did,” Jesse confirmed. “The rest of it has been divided up among the crew and placed in the proper secure facilities. But we left this out for you.”

“There’s more than
five billion worth of treasure here,” Enosal noted as he was sure Colonel Marcos already knew.

“I’m not sure how easy it will be for you to exchange this for chrons, or if you will even receive full value. I added some extra to make sure you get everything promised.” He looked at Commander Enosal then added with a laugh, “Plus, I really want you to say yes.”

“Well, Colonel Marcos, you certainly seem to be an honest man. You save my life and ask nothing in return, now you want to overpay for my services. How can I refuse; what’s the plan?” Enosal asked with a business-like expression on his face.

Jesse went over the plan with Enosal. Garrinoras would be arriving from Zinnebulous, and Commander Enosal was to arrive to the left
flank of Garrinoras’ fleet four minutes after the pirates arrived. The
Battle Hammers
were to launch all of their fighters, which would have little resistance from the pirate fighters if one of Jesse’s tricks worked. Enosal enthusiastically agreed to the plan because it made the best use of his ship’s attack capabilities. His ships were made to attack. Although they could defend, it wasn’t their strength. Commander Enosal thought with a laugh,
for the kind of money Marcos was paying, he would let his ships sit there and be used for target practice
. When they were finished, Commander Enosal left to muster his fleet. He assured Jesse he would be within sensor range of Kaldor to make the jump to light space and arrive at the battle on time. This was the only option Jesse had, and the fate of Kaldor depended on whether or not Commander Enosal came through. Jesse thought him to be a man of his word, so he wasn’t worried.
Endeavor
left for Kaldor at best speed, hoping they would have enough time to put the full plan in motion.