by Francis, Ron
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As dinner ended, Jesse decided that it would be a good time to try and talk with Kimi again. He led her onto the vacant bridge and began. “Kimi, can we finish our talk now?” he started as he looked at his friend. “Okay, I’ll start,” he conceded after a long moment’s silence. “You’re upset about my relationship with Cassie, and I know I apologized to you earlier, but I felt like I should expand on that apology.” He paused as he collected himself. “I had feelings for you a long time ago, and I didn't act on them. I think a part of me liked you for a long time, but I just didn't want to be the guy that dates the first woman he meets after his fiancé dies. I know it's a stupid reason. In my mind, I kind of moved you into the friend zone, and I never noticed how you felt. If I wasn’t such an idiot, I would have known how you felt, and things could have been different. For that, I am deeply sorry.” He looked at the floor as he said that last line. “I can honestly say I'm not sure how I feel, but I'm willing to work on it, if you are.”
She couldn’t believe what he had just admitted to her. She needed time to work through that before she could really understand what the next step was. She did know she needed to respond as she said, “Thank you, Jesse. I feel like I should apologize as well. I was scared that if you didn't feel the same way about me that I felt about you, that things would become awkward, and you might not want me around anymore. If that happened, I thought that all of your friends, who happened to be the only friends I've ever had, might have discontinued their friendship with me. In my fear, I just didn't want to take that chance. I know now that I was wrong. They are all every bit as honorable as you are, but that was my fear and the reason I never told you of my feelings. I think we were both wrong, both scared and we wound up hurting each other.”
“So where does that leave us now?” He asked, hoping things could still be worked out between them and again wishing he had never met Cassie.
“I think that leaves us as friends. We're good at that; maybe we shouldn't try to be more.”
“So, does that mean there is no longer a possibility for us to be more?”
“I don't think so, Jess; I think we may have missed our window," she added sadly. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek as she moved to leave. “Let's just give it some time, alright? In the meantime, I would very much like to go back to the way things were.”
“So the window for us to be together is closed, and that's it, we can't open it again?” He added as she was walking away.
She turned and looked at him sadly and said, “I believe that to be the case. We should seek to rebuild our friendship and move on with other people.” She turned back around and walked away.
He just stood there, wondering what had just happened. Was he happy to have his friend back, or was he upset she had closed the door on them as a couple for good? As these questions filled his mind, he began to make his way to his quarters.
______
The next morning, Endeavor was still in light space en route to Hyperia. Reece woke up and went to med-bay to check in with Suzy. It had been good to get back into his own bed. He had spent a considerable amount of time looking at all of his treasure. He could not believe that his huge pile of treasure didn't even amount to one percent of the total haul. The Treasure of Ameteo truly was the greatest treasure ever found. He especially liked the two antique weapons Josiah had picked out for him. He found himself in awe of his new friends. No group of people he had ever been a part of would have left him a share of the treasure. They probably wouldn’t have even kept him aboard in a coma. Not only had they saved him and left him a fortune, they left the fortune unguarded because that’s how much they trusted each other. As he entered med-bay, he saw Suzy filing some reports that probably had to do with either his or Jesse’s health.
“Hello, to my beautiful, blue-eyed doctor. How are you this morning?” He was really pouring it on. He did love to tease his friend, and he had a lot to catch up on.
“Good morning, Mr. Gavin,” Suzy replied, pretending not to notice his flirting. “What can I do for you today?”
“You can hold my hand while we take a walk by the ocean,” he joked. Suzy frowned, and Reece put up his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay, I was just wondering if I’m cleared to begin training yet.”
Suzy looked at him and smiled. “Yes,” she began. “But don’t go all out yet. You can do more than light training, but don’t push your limits for a few days.”
Reece lit up as he excitedly replied. “That’s great news, Doc. Thank you.” He ran over and gave Suzy a big hug. Then he winked as he left the room.
He really was a big kid, she thought; he certainly did have a way of making her laugh.
He arrived at the workout room to see Kimi training. Kimi looked a little distracted, and he knew it had to do with her conversation on the bridge with Jesse. As he warmed up with some calisthenics and stretching, he was amazed to notice how limber he felt. His muscles weren’t even tight, and he thought that Suzy must have been doing more than exercising his muscle groups. She must have had the medbots stretching his muscles, too. She wanted to make sure he wouldn’t pull anything when he began training again. She really did always take care of the details.
Kimi noticed him stretching and came over and sat down next to him. “How are you feeling today?”
“Better every day, thanks. I’m told I owe it all to Suzy. She didn’t just save me, but she kept me fit and healthy. My transition back to training will be almost seamless.”
“That’s good to hear. We all missed you, a lot.”
“I appreciate that; I can't believe how great everyone's been through this whole thing. I mean, it was my fault. If I had just listened to Jesse...”
“Don't even think about that, Reece,” Kimi interrupted. “Let's just say love makes people do crazy things and leave it at that.”
“Speaking of that, how are things with you and Jesse?” He asked. The look in her eyes told him she really didn't want to talk about it as he quickly added, “I’m sorry, Kimi. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want.”
“I don’t really want to talk about it. I will say that they are complicated right now and leave it at that.” She began walking towards the door.
“Fair enough,” he replied. She was glad he dropped the subject. “I'm going to stay for some light training; I'll catch up with you later.”
“Alright, just don't press; you'll get back to your old self quickly enough. We don't want you to end up back down in med-bay.”
“You sound just like Suzy. Keep that up and I'm going to have to start teasing you, too.” He joked as he began hitting the speed bag.
“There's a reason why no one who has ever teased me is still alive, Reece,” Kimi threatened as she left the room with a smile.
Reece smiled as she left, hoping she was only joking as he continued his first workout in a long time. He never thought the sweat would feel this good on his body as his face glistened and his shirt clung to his skin.
______
In space above Kaldor, the Catamaran II was preparing for her maiden voyage. This was no ordinary freighter, however. This freighter was home to Kaldor's new Special Assignments Task Force, led by Captain Cassyanna Reed. As the crew was getting ready to see the new Chief of State of Ginderbar, Captain Reed was on the losing side of an argument with her crew.
“Wennagal, you can’t still be mad at me for not saying goodbye to Jesse. There was no point to it; we were already over.”
“The man stuck his neck out for you and Enso several times, Cassyanna. You almost got him killed, and he still helped us. Not only that, but he gave us more money than we will ever need. A little goodbye wouldn’t have killed you. They are our friends.”
“It's likely that we’re never going to see them again, and we are really busy now with our new job. I was planning the mission to Sollonia while you guys were saying goodbye. I’m the team leader; I have to consider that sort of thing now.”
“It st
ill wasn’t right,” Ogen added as Teha shook her head in agreement.
If Enso, Sibbie and Tioga were on the bridge, she suspected they would have agreed with everyone else. The reality was not saying goodbye to Jesse wasn’t her finest moment. She had thought she needed to start the relationship to make sure he was motivated to get Enso back. Once that was complete, the treasure was just too tempting to pass up. So it was a lousy thing to do, but it wasn’t like she had a choice. And she was pretty sure she was never going to see him again.
“How about you, Lenk, are you going to throw in your opinion of what a horrible person I am, too?”
“If you’d like, I could probably come up with something, Captain Reed,” he joked. “But I wasn’t there, so I don’t have an opinion.”
“What if we run into them again, Captain?” Teha asked. “If they miss their opportunity to get home, it’s a definite possibility they come back to at least visit Kaldor.”
“You’re just hoping to run into Collin again.” Cassyanna laughed as she thought about how much her young crew member had liked the man.
“That is definitely true,” She replied with a look suggesting she really hoped it would happen. “But I am also not wrong.”
“Alright, fine. If we run into Endeavor again, I’ll apologize to Jesse for how I left things. Is everyone happy?”
“Not yet, Captain,” Wennagal replied.
Chapter Four:
______
“Coming out of light space now,” Collin exclaimed. “We’ve finally made it. We’re one system outside of Hyperia. Why didn’t we go straight to Hyperia again?”
“We don’t want to show up on their doorstep uninvited,” Jesse answered. “Plus, if anything goes wrong, it gives us a little more room to come up with a plan.”
“But the Chairman told King Dominus we were coming,” Josiah added. “He’s expecting us, isn’t he?”
“Probably,” Jesse conceded. “But I’m not taking anything for granted, not after everything we’ve been through in this galaxy.”
“That’s probably wise,” Suzy added as she entered the bridge.
“Josiah, have we been followed?” Jesse asked, making sure he covered all of the bases.
“I can’t tell for sure, but it doesn’t look like it,” Josiah responded. “They couldn’t know where we were planning on coming out of light space. It would be an act of war for the Conglomerate ships to follow us, and there were only two pirate ships left. It’s doubtful that whatever idiot they have chasing us now would risk confrontation with only two ships after what he saw us do at Zenith.”
“It looks like we are in the clear,” Kimi added. “Is there any reason we would wait to send the transmission?”
“None at all,” Jesse replied excitedly. “Josiah, open a channel to King Dominus’ palace. It might take us a while to get to speak to the King because they don’t know us, but there’s no time like the present to start.”
Josiah sent the transmission to the Hyperian Palace using the code the Chairman of Kaldor had given them. As the screen flared to life, Josiah pointed to Jesse to begin speaking.
“Hyperian Palace, this is Colonel Jesse Marcos of the Earth ship Endeavor. I have an important message for King Dominus. I was told he was expecting us, over.”
Jesse looked around the bridge as he waited for the reply. It was taking a bit longer than expected. Jesse was actually about to transmit again when a voice with no picture replied.
“Endeavor, we were told you were no longer coming.” The voice stated. “Why are you here?”
“We are here to deliver an important gift to your king. The Chairman of Kaldor alerted him that we were en route and he did agree to see us.” Jesse repeated. He was a little worried that it might not go as smoothly as he thought. “Who told you we were no longer coming?” He asked.
“Irrelevant,” the voice responded.
“I beg to differ, it’s relevant to me.” He replied trying hard to hide his annoyance from his voice.
“It is above my pay grade.” The voice replied, and Jesse knew he wouldn’t get any further with this man. “My supervisor is attempting to contact King Dominus right now. You are welcome to wait, but this could take a while.”
“How long is a while?” Jesse asked.
“It would probably be better for you if we send you a transmission after King Dominus has been reached,” The voice conceded.
“In other words, don’t call us, we’ll call you,” he joked.
“Correct,” the voice replied, not getting the humor. With that, the transmission was cut and the crew of Endeavor was left wondering what just happened.
“Okay,” Jesse broke the silence. “I’m gonna go exercise for a while. Would anyone like to join me?” As he waited for their answer, they all looked at him as if he had just told another bad joke.
“You’re what?” Suzy asked incredulously.
“What?” he replied. “It’s not like I intend to leave the ship or anything. It seems pretty clear to me that they expect it to take a while before they reach the King. I don’t feel like sitting here doing nothing while we wait. Plus, I can take a transmission anywhere on the ship. So what’s the problem?” When no one said anything, he left the bridge.
He had a great work out and he was actually glad no one joined him. He had been trying to hide it, but ever since his last conversation with Kimi, he didn’t much feel like talking to anyone. As a matter of fact, he couldn’t wait to get home, say hello to Nina and Ariel and then take off for six months alone in the mountains. He loved that thought, but he didn’t see that option going over real well with the rest of the crew. He showered and then went to med-bay to see if Suzy could adjust his back. It still wasn’t right from when he fell over the electrified fence. Suzy was happy to see him and he was thankful for that. She adjusted his back and then gave him the treatment with the heat massage rollers and the electrodes. He felt like he had gone to heaven.
She sat next to him, knowing she had a captive audience. “So, what’s up, Jesse?” She began. “You've been a little down since that conversation with Kimi. What happened?”
“I really don’t want to talk about it, Suzy,” he answered truthfully.
“Too bad, you need to talk to someone,” she discerned.
“Alright. We're friends, we're going to try to get back to normal and Kimi has completely shut the door on us being anything more.”
“And,” she asked.
“And, that's it,” he recalled. “I understand that I hurt her, and I understand that I should have known she was interested, and maybe on some level I did. I take full responsibility for that, it's my fault. But if she had been in love with me for so long, and she could clearly see that I didn't see it, why couldn't she have just said something. Then the whole mess with Cassie would never have happened. At least I know why she didn't get along with Cassie now,” he mused.
“I’m sorry, Jess,” she whispered. What had Kimi been thinking? It was so difficult to watch two people she cared so much about go through something so painful and awkward when it easily could have been avoided. “She's right about one thing, though,” she began as he looked expectantly up at her. “You two will get past this, even if you never end up being more. I know you don't want to hear this, but just be patient.” She touched his shoulder as she got up to check on the treatment. He just lay there, trying to enjoy the heat massage and hoping maybe it would relieve a little of the stress as well.
______
After getting some lunch, Jesse returned to the bridge. Collin was the only one still on the bridge as everyone else had apparently taken his lead and decided not to wait on the edge of their seats for good King Dominus.
“No word yet, huh, Collin,” he asked as he looked out the front viewport.
“Not yet, Jesse, you were right,” Collin admitted.
“Do me a favor, Collin,” he started. “Cloak the ship and move us about a half a million kilometers into this system.”
“S
ure, mind if I ask why?” Collin replied.
“Just a hunch and I really hope I’m wrong,” he offered. “When you’re finished, why don’t you go exercise or spend some time with Bessa. I’ll take the bridge for a while.”
“Thanks, Jess...for Bessa, I mean,” Collin began awkwardly. “I mean, not just for saving her and freeing her, but…I’m probably not saying this right, but….”
“I understand, buddy, and you’re welcome. She is a great girl and she’ll be even better when she figures out who she really is. I hope you are there through the whole process to help her. You’ve always been someone I can count on no matter what. Now Bessa knows she can, too. If she wants to come back to Earth with us, she’s welcome. She only has to say the word; I’ll take all the heat and keep Natora off her back.”
As Endeavor reached its new coordinates, Collin stood to leave. “Thanks again, Jesse. I know you’re going through a lot right now, and I hope it works out for you, too.” With that, Collin was gone and Jesse was alone with his thoughts.
He was alone on the bridge. Most of the crew knew he was not in the best of spirits and they kept occupied to let him have some time alone. SAMMI broke into his thoughts with the words, “Incoming transmission from Hyperia.”
“Onscreen, SAMMI, and alert the rest of the crew,” he directed.
“Alerting the crew, Colonel,” SAMMI replied.
“Thank you, SAMMI,” he said as the voice came back over the speaker. “Endeavor, the King's advisors wish to have a few questions answered before they allow you to speak to King Dominus.” The voice began while the crew was filtering onto the bridge.