Deep Space Endeavor (43 page)

Endeavor
executed a maneuver that took them away from
Retribution
and allowed them the time to make the turn. They were getting into position to bring their weapons back to bear on the pirate flagship. One of the
Battle Hammers
drifted in front of
Endeavor,
trying to take its shot at the
Retribution
. It was shredded by the
Retribution
and four other battleships. The ploy had been meant for
Endeavor
. Unfortunately, the Mercenary ship didn’t see it when it tried to take its shot.

Commander Enosal hated to see any of his ships destroyed, but he liked it even less when the captain of that ship stumbled into an obvious trap. Enosal had eight
Battle Hammers
including his ship, the
Wealthy Battle,
attack the four battleships that had just tried to take out
Endeavor
. Commander Enosal’s move freed up
Endeavor
to go after the
Retribution
once again.
Endeavor
took out
Retribution’s
forward shields and began to inflict heavy damage when two pirate frigates closed in front of the
Retribution
. Jesse immediately began hammering the first frigate’s shields. Another heavy salvo rocked
Endeavor’s
shields. 

“Shields holding at sixty-eight percent,” Josiah called out.

“Josiah,” Jesse yelled. “Fire another shot at the frigate on the left, their shields should be almost gone, and the next shot should destroy them.” Josiah let loose another round from the plasma beam and the crew watched from the bridge as another pirate frigate was removed from battle.
Endeavor’s
crew cheered again as they set their sights on the next frigate.
Retribution
was moving away from them, but Admiral Togglasem in the
Reliant
had picked up the trail and began hammering at the rear shields. Two Kaldorian frigates charged the
Retribution,
but were stopped short by the particle cannons of two pirate destroyers.

Jesse surveyed the battle. At first glance, it was utter chaos, but to a well-trained eye, the Mercenaries were coordinating nicely with the Kaldorians. The only chaos was on the pirate’s side. Ships were blowing up all over space, and Jesse thought this must be quite a light show for the people below.
If they weren’t so terrified, they might actually enjoy it,
he thought. He could spot fewer and fewer pirate ships as the battle raged. They had almost no fighters left, and the
Cutters
and
Spykes
were inflicting heavy damage on the pirate’s frigates and gunships. It wouldn’t be long before Garrinoras was forced to retreat and try to figure out how Colonel Jesse Marcos had beaten him yet again.

______

Garrinoras couldn’t believe what was happening. He didn’t have the treasure, so he would be unable to buy the ships needed to conquer the Lawless Sector. Now, he was getting routed by a much smaller force in his first battle. He had lost a large portion of his fleet already, and even if he did take Kaldor, at this point, it would be the only planet he could take. This was all Marcos’ doing. He stole the treasure. He hired the mercenary thugs to defend Kaldor, and he warned the Kaldorians, giving them enough time to muster their forces. This should have been an easy first step towards consolidating power and wealth. At this point, they would be lucky to get out of this battle alive.
Endeavor
had unbelievably powerful weapons for a ship it size. It had destroyed the
Pillager,
and it had done heavy damage to his prize flagship. He hated to do this, but he was going to have to retreat. With no fighters left, and the powerful
Battle Hammers
collapsing his flank, the Kaldorians had practically run them out of the system. He only had about a quarter of his fleet left, and he had only taken out about a third of the enemy.

______

Endeavor
watched as the
Retribution
jumped to light space, followed by whatever pirate ships could make it out of the battle. Only thirty-nine of the pirate ships were able to retreat. The rest had been destroyed. Garrinoras would be licking his wounds on Zinnebulous for a long time before he could threaten Kaldor again. Jesse listened to the transmissions going back and forth from ship to surface. From ship to ship he could hear crews cheering, captains calling for order, and civilians celebrating. His crew was also in celebration when Commander Enosal sent him a transmission asking if he could come aboard. He agreed and left the bridge to wait for him in the landing bay.

Commander Enosal came into the landing bay with the same four bodyguards Jesse had already met. He had a smile from ear to ear. “Tales will be told and songs will be sung about this battle for years to come,” Enosal happily greeted.
He embraced Jesse and continued. “You, my friend, are now a legend in this sector. You orchestrated one of the biggest routes in the history of this galaxy. What is your secret?”

He smiled and shrugged as he replied. “Pirates think like pirates, they will always be at a disadvantage when trying to take on an organized military of significant size.”

Enosal broke into a jovial laughter as the joy of victory had not yet worn off.

“Your payment is loaded onto this hoversled, I can have one of my bots push it for you if you like,” he began. “We owe you a debt, my friend; we could not have won the day without you. I know your men made some sacrifices out there, and I hope this can begin to convey our thanks.”

Enosal looked at him and with a serious tone replied. “I lost nineteen ships and some great men. You have given me enough payment to make sure every one of their families will be well taken care of.” Enosal’s tone turned more joyful as he continued. “You are overpaying me, and you did all the heavy lifting. I’d call this a bargain.”

“Well, the second half of that bargain may reduce future profits” Jesse laughed.

“I doubt it. I don’t think anyone will be attacking Kaldor any time soon. But you have my word that I will never allow my fleet to be hired to attack Kaldor, and I will keep my eye on them. You can trust that my word is good.” Enosal put his hand out as he spoke.

Jesse clasped his hand and replied, “I know it is, that’s why I have one more gift for you.” He brought forth the sword Josiah had picked out for him. The sheath was solid gold, inlayed with many jewels of brilliant color on each side. A silver jewel-encrusted ring marked the tip of the sheath. Inside the sheath sat the jewel-studded golden hilt of a warrior’s sword. The hilt may have been decorative, but when drawn, he could see that this sword had been built for war. Over t
he millennia it had probably spilled its share of blood. “Do you know what this is, Commander?” Jesse asked with a big smile.

Commander Enosal’s eyes grew wide. His shocked disbelief at what his eyes were showing him slowed his speech. After a long moment, he looked at Jesse and with reverence in his voice asked. “Do you know what it is
that you give me?”

“According to my research,” Jesse started. “This is the sword of Targon. Targon was the last great ruler of Ginderbar almost
twenty-three centuries ago. Legend has it that the wielder of this sword has the authority to unite the mercenary tribes of Ginderbar into a single army under one banner.”

Commander Enosal’s mind was racing. “You do know,” He whispered in awe. “Then you know that by giving this sword to me, you are effectively making me the ruler of Ginderbar
. With all of the mercenary fleets united, you will be making me the ruler of the most powerful planet in the entire Lawless Sector."

“That’s why I had you agree not to attack Kaldor
before
I gave you the sword,” Jesse laughed. “My friend found this sword among the treasure and presented it to me as a gift. He knew I would like it, and I do, it's beautiful, a treasure who's value cannot be measured. As I researched it, I realized I could never keep it. It holds far too much significance for your planet. So once I decided I could not keep it, it was just a matter of finding someone I thought would do the right thing with it. I was already very impressed with you and your family, but when you told me you would fight for any cause except slavery, I knew you were an honorable man.”

Commander Enosal was still having trouble believing what was actually happening. Not only had he been vastly overpaid, but now this man was giving him the legitimate rule of his own planet.  “I receive this gift with great humility, and I hope I am worthy of the confidence you have placed in me. Ginderbar will be great again, and it is because of your gift.”

Jesse embraced Enosal again as he was leaving and Suzy came up to him and asked. “Are you sure you gave power to the right man?”

“I think so, Suzy. He i
s a mercenary, but that’s their culture. He has kept his word, and he hates slavers. He loves his family, too. I don’t know if we could ask for a better choice among mercenaries,” he replied. He was tired, and now that the battle was over, he knew there were a lot of logistical details to take care of before he could finally rest, so he grabbed an energy drink as he went back to the bridge.

“How did the Commander take your gift?” Josiah asked with a smile.

“I’d say he was overwhelmed,” Jesse replied as he sat in his chair.

He spent the next few hours taking transmissions from the Chairman, Mayor Valinor and Admiral Togglasem. Ev
en Commander Enosal commed him to say goodbye and thank him one more time before his fleet jumped to light space. Finally, all of the details were taken care of, and he could get some rest.

Josiah and Cassie were working hard with SAMMI to catalogue any pieces of artwork, statues or jewelry that might be of great importance to a particular culture. Jesse wanted to give the pieces that were really important to a specific planet back to that planet. He felt they didn’t have the right to own someone else’s history.
The final tally estimated that the treasure was worth almost two trillion chrons. Jesse had decided to give most of that away, either as historical gifts to individual planets or to Kaldor. Each member of his crew would then get an equal share of the remaining treasure, which meant that each crew member would receive a share worth almost three billion chrons plus the value of their personal items. They had each taken three or four small items from the treasure aside from the equal share they would be given.  Souvenirs, Jesse had called them. He had kept the dagger Josiah had given him, found a magnificent ring which had probably belonged to an ancient king, and also took a beautiful diamond and jade necklace that he planned to give Kiah.

The
Kalephi members of the crew couldn't believe that he was giving almost the entire treasure away. They also couldn't believe that from what he had kept he had given them all equal shares, including Agent Sandstorm who had only been with them a short while. They figured they would be handsomely paid from the treasure, but he had split it equally among them taking no more for himself than what he gave each of them. As the commanding officer and owner of the ship they used for the hunt, he would have been entitled to a much larger portion and no one would have argued, but he didn't take more. He simply said that they all shared equal risk so they should all reap equal reward and left it at that. The more they saw of Colonel Jesse Marcos, the more they were impressed.

H
e asked the Chairman to invite representatives from almost three dozen worlds to come to Kaldor for a diplomatic reception. There, they were to pick up the important pieces of art and history that
Endeavor
’s crew was donating to their respective planets. Each of the planetary leaders were in awe of the fact that the now famous treasure hunters were giving away almost the entire treasure. The date was set for ten days later. During that time, there would be planet-wide celebrations for Kaldor’s great victory. He also revealed to the Chairman and Mayor Valinor that he planned to give Kaldor a sizeable chunk of the treasure. Of course, this was on the condition that they use part of it primarily for three things.

The first was rebuilding Kaldor’s fle
et. Kaldor had lost thirty-eight vessels in the battle, which left them with only forty-three. He thought they should have at least one hundred and twenty, knowing how Garrinoras felt about them.

The second was raising the Outposts’ standard of living, significantly. He had seen their poverty and figured they should live at least as comfortably as the people on the main continent.

The third was to build nine orphanages. The Chairman and the Valinor's had already begun to change the culture on Kaldor concerning orphans, but they still had no way to adequately take care of them. Three orphanages with the capacity of almost one hundred for each of the three districts would be a good start. He just hoped they could find people caring enough to run them effectively.

After doing those three things, there would still be funds left over to do
several huge public works in each of the three districts. The entire High Council was buzzing with the possibilities.
Endeavor
had saved their planet and now they were sharing their treasure, Colonel Marcos would be forever remembered on Kaldor.