by Francis, Ron
“I am very sorry my actions resulted in your injury, Lieutenant Jackson,” she said as she looked at the ground.
He just lifted her head with his fingers and looked her right in the eye. “First of all, please call me Josiah. Secondly, you have nothing to apologize for, Your Majesty; it was an absolute honor to rescue you from those tigers. Now I’ll have an exciting story to tell my friends when I get home.” The Princess smiled and Collette came up beside her.
“Okay, people, we need to move,” Kimi called out as everyone stood and prepared to continue fighting through the jungle.
They had walked for almost two hours when suddenly, Wassan and the Princess stepped in the wrong place and almost completely disappeared. They both cried out in surprise as they sunk up to their chest into the ground. Jesse saw what happened and yelled, “Don’t struggle; it will take you more quickly.” He had never seen death brush before, but it looked and acted like quicksand, and everyone knows the more you struggle, the faster you sink in quicksand. Wassan was still sinking, but slowly, and the Princess had all but stopped sinking. “Does anyone have a grappling gun?” Jesse yelled. When no one answered, he winced as he knew it was up to him, and he was going to be ripping open the wounds on his side again.
Kimi saw what he was about to do and yelled, “Jesse, no, let me do it.”
“I wish I could, Kimi, but you know it only works for my DNA.” She nodded; she knew he was right but she didn’t want to see him hurt himself further. “Okay, Princess, I’m coming in. Wassan, you'll be next.” He unclipped Helga and stepped into the quicksand-like substance and he sunk past his waist almost instantly. The death brush was gritty to the touch even as he felt it begin to soak through his clothes. “Now, Princess,” he began, “grab me around the waist and hold on tight.” As she grabbed him, he fired the grappling hook into a sturdy tree branch hanging over them about eight meters up. He pressed the retract button, but it wasn’t pulling them out as easily as he had hoped. He let out a little slack and tried again. He could feel his wound opening as he held Helga as tight as he could. He noticed they were still sinking, and Rayelle was almost in up to her mouth.
“There is some kind of suction holding us in,” Jesse called out. “I need you guys to all fire into the area around us and see if that will help. It’s possible that whatever is creating the suction could be destroyed, or at least the seal or whatever it is could be temporarily disengaged. Prepare to fire on my mark. Kimi, maybe you could use your sword as well.” He let out a little more slack from his grappling line and prepared for the final pull. His wound was bleeding through the bandages and his shirt, but he couldn’t think about that now. “Alright, everyone, ready, MARK!” He hit the retract button and cried out in pain as he held on tight. Everyone began firing into the quicksand; he heard a popping sound and felt the suction release. Jesse and the Princess sailed into the air as the rest of the team stopped firing. Honus pulled them to safety and Kimi was by Jesse’s side instantly. She noticed the fresh blood through the gritty substance that covered him and began checking the wound with a worried look in her eyes.
"Not yet, Kimi," he said. "I still have to get Wassan out." With that, he took a deep breath and jumped back in to the death brush. After going through the same process, he and Wassan sailed into the air. As both men came free, Jesse lay on the ground; the exertion combined with his wounds had taken almost all of his energy from him.
Wassan looked over at Jesse lying on the ground, covered in muck, breathing heavy and bleeding from his side, and said, “Thank you, Colonel Marcos, I owe you my life.”
“No problem, Wassan, do you think you can pick out that stuff if you come across it again?” He looked at the soldier as he tried to wipe the muck from his body.
Wassan smiled and said, “Most definitely.”
“Good, you are in charge of making sure Princess Rayelle and Collette do not fall into it then.” Wassan laughed his agreement and Kimi gently helped Jesse to his feet. He couldn’t help but notice that she was being very nice to him today. He wondered what had happened to change the rocky status of their friendship back to the close, tight knit relationship they had before Cassie came along; not that he was complaining.
"I continue to be in awe of the lengths you will go to keep people safe, Colonel," the Princess said as she was wiping the muddy substance from her clothes. "I cannot fathom that someone would ever purposely jump into death brush to save another. I cannot thank you enough. I hope we make it home so you can bask in the appreciation of a grateful planet." As she spoke, he noticed a look come across her face, it was more than respect, and it was almost as if she actually liked him. Maybe she was developing feelings for him; that would certainly explain the reason for Collette's theatrics in the tent.
"You are most welcome, Your Majesty, and for the record, I can't wait to get home, too." With that, he smiled and readied himself for the next leg of the journey.
As Kimi once again took the lead to continue through the jungle, they were a little more in tune with just how real the dangers could be. She thought it would be a good idea to have Commando come up to the front with her, knowing that the snow wolf would be able to detect many of the dangers she could not. She noticed Wassan dutifully walking by the Princess side, alert for any danger and smiled at the display. She also noticed Lady Collette glancing at Jesse, and figured she must still be confused as to how he could turn down her offer. After several more hours, the group stopped to make camp. Josiah was proud that they had made it almost thirty-four kilometers through the jungle. They had not had any more incidents after the Princess and Wassan had accidentally waded into the death brush. Jesse had warned the team that Jaketh and Blade’s forces were more than likely not too far off by this point. They set some traps covering three separate entry points and planned an escape route at the fourth. They settled in for another night, knowing sleep would not come easy.
______
Colonel Jaketh and his men finally caught up to Captain Blade and his pirates in the Jungle. Jaketh was in a foul mood. He had lost six of his thirty men to the jungle during the night and including the day’s travels. Two of his men wandered a little too far from the group and were killed by Pandaran tigers. The other four men had been swallowed alive by the death brush. He had never heard of anyone escaping the death brush alive. As a result, his men were now keeping close together and had all of their senses on high alert.
“So, Captain Blade, how is it we have caught up to you? Did you not have a three hour head start?”
“We have encountered some resistance from the jungle, and apparently our Pandaran guidesss were not quite as good as they led usss to believe. I have already lost seven men to the jungle, including one of our guidesss.” He was indeed unhappy with the Pandaran’s they had hired. They claimed to be Rangers, which were the Pandaran elite soldiers and survivalists. It turned out that only one was actually a Ranger. About a third of his landing force was normal for what you would think of pirates: brazen and undisciplined. Six of those ten men were now dead in the Pandaran jungle; along with one of the frauds posing as guides. He kept Saaban, the lone actual Pandaran Ranger with him. He had lost one man to a tiger, two men including the false guide to snake attacks and four men to the death brush.
“So together, we still have over fifty men and Marcos only has seven or eight. It will be an easy battle when we finally catch them,” Jaketh assessed.
“Something isss wrong,” Blade realized. Jaketh just looked at him expecting a follow up statement. “We should have come upon them by now. If they were heading towardsss the nearest city, which we have to assume they are, we should have easily met them by now. The only thing I can think of isss that some of them are injured and they cannot travel quickly.”
“Well, they did crash land,” Jaketh admitted, “But there was very little blood in the shuttle and no indication of major injuries. That doesn’t mean one or two of them didn’t suffer a broken leg or something of that nature. There is, howe
ver, another possibility that does not include them going towards the further city.” Blade looked at Jaketh waiting for him to finish his thought. “He may have purposely taken a more circuitous route to avoid contact with us. That is what I would do.”
“If that isss the case, they could already have passed usss. They are probably asss much asss fifteen kilometersss ahead of us and to the north. They would not have wanted to take a chance that they would crosss pathsss with usss.”
Jaketh agreed with his assessment and they decided to double time it through the jungle instead of resting in an effort to catch up to Colonel Marcos while his men were sleeping and unprepared.
______
King Dominus was still at a loss, how was the Conglomerate able to get their men so close to his family? Questioning Holt had revealed little more than Reece had already told him. The one detail the interrogation did reveal that he hadn’t already known was that a man named Admiral Greyside was behind all of this. The King had already strategically redeployed close to forty battle groups to be able to invade Zenith the moment his daughter was safe. Those plans for invasion would become plans for annihilation if she were to be killed. However, he couldn’t follow through with any of it until he had word of either her survival or demise. In the meantime, he would focus all of his efforts on finding out who had betrayed him. He now had a lead, thanks to Soall's diligence, and it would soon be time to meet back up with him.
The King continued to console the Queen as she would not leave his side. She needed the reassurance only he could provide. "Colonel Marcos will keep her safe until Reece and his team can extract them, my love. We know that as of two hours ago, they were still at large in the Pandaran jungle. I know she is still in great peril, but we have no other choice than to hope our friends comes through for us one more time. I swear, I am going to give that man his own planet if he asks for one, after all he has done for us." He held his wife tight as he spoke. It was a breach of protocol for the King to openly display affection while in the throne room, but he didn’t care. He and his family had been through quite an ordeal and continued to go through the ordeal. His wife needed comfort and reassurance, and he was going to be the one to give it to her.
As the Queen began her reply, Torav walked in and frowned, obviously unsettled by the King putting aside the established etiquette to comfort his wife.
“Is there something you need, Advisor Torav?” The King queried.
“Yes, my King,” Torav began but then stopped as he looked at the Queen.
“Anything you have to say to me may be spoken in front of my wife. Please continue.”
“We have received news that Conglomerate and pirate forces are closing in on Colonel Marcos and your daughter in the Pandaran jungle. The Conglomerate has made some demands.” As Torav was speaking, Soall entered the room. Torav was annoyed every time he saw the former page turned junior advisor. In his opinion, the boy had neither the intelligence nor the pedigree necessary to be an advisor to the King, yet here he was. Worse yet was that he actually had the King’s trust.
“What are the Conglomerate demands, Torav?” The King asked impatiently.
“They are demanding two hundred billion dudichrons as ransom, as well as twenty of the King’s battle groups and his promise that there will be no retaliation. What message would you like me to convey back to them?” Torav folded his arms in his royal robe as he awaited the King’s answer.
“Convey this, Torav,” the angry and unexpected response began. “I, King Dominus, will destroy one Conglomerate world for every day that I am further deprived of my daughter, starting with Zenith. Tell them that all of Hyperia demands vengeance for what those Conglomerate dogs have done to us, and anyone they ally themselves with will be utterly destroyed as enemies of Hyperia. Tell them that an additional planet will be destroyed for the attempt made on my wife’s life. You tell them that they will be lucky if any of their leadership survives what I have planned should my daughter not make it home. That is what you are to tell them, Torav. Now go!” Torav knew better than to make any reply as he bowed and left the King’s presence.
The King looked at Soall and asked, “What news do you bring, my friend?”
“My investigation reveals there are no more agents of the Conglomerate among the palace guard, Your Majesty. I have also unfortunately had no luck in finding the last traitor, but I have prepared a list of people who have been cleared. I know it may not be very helpful at this point, but it may narrow your search, Sire. Only eleven of the people with the clearance to delete security logs were out of the palace when the breach occurred, leaving twenty-one possibilities. I am sorry I could not be of more assistance, but I will continue my investigation.”
Soall was perfect for this kind of work. He was exceedingly intelligent for his age, and no one knew of his position with the King. He was as unassuming as they come, and most people would never even know he was gathering information about them. Dominus hadn’t even told Torav of his assignment. “Well done, Soall,” the King replied. “Thank you."
______
………Back on Earth, Captain Ariel Marcos was going through the list of everything she needed to catch up on due to the marathon meeting she had taken part in on Polisia. Much of the day-to-day issues and paper work had been done by her trusted second in-command, Captain Snyder. He had done such a good job she wanted to kiss him. She refrained and smiled at the scene that might cause on the bridge of the Vanguard. The Captain’s efficiency did free her up to look at the other matter she was investigating. She had hired a former spy that happened to be a friend of Jesse’s to follow Admiral Natora and chronicle anything suspicious he might be engaged in. She knew she was playing a dangerous game, but felt it was absolutely necessary after he had tried to have Nina, Manny and herself killed. Her spy was a person that comes with her cousin Jesse's full trust, which rarely happens, so she knew she would not be betrayed.
As it turned out, Natora had been busy. The spy had recently spotted him with another admiral and a couple generals. That wasn’t suspicious, but the spy had also seen them with the last known ranking member of the Asian Dawn, the owner of Earth’s most influential news vid organization and the Secretary of Science. The spy had decided to have each of these men as well as a few senators she had recently seen Natora with followed as well. Ariel only knew the spy as Ladyhawk. She is someone who Jesse had saved twice from being killed. She returned the favor once, saving Jesse’s life and she would have been a public member of Jesse’s inner circle had her trade not demanded secrecy and privacy. Ladyhawk was one of the best in the business and had left the documents and vids mixed in with Ariel’s regular reports. No one looking at them would know what they were unless they had the translation key. She had not let anyone else know what she was doing because she didn’t want to place anyone else in harm’s way. As she went through the information Ladyhawk had provided, she was horrified to learn that her spy had uncovered a plot to assassinate President Sandoval. She went through every piece of data three more times before she would finally let herself believe it was a legitimate threat.
She could not believe it. Ladyhawk had uncovered a legitimate plot to assassinate the President of the Coalition. She had to warn him. It wouldn’t be too difficult to get a sit down with President Sandoval. Given the SSE’s importance, and the president’s friendship with Jesse and Nina, she figured she could get a meeting with him. She sent a transmission to the president’s office and set about making herself some dinner while she was waiting for his reply. She was surprised when the president himself commed her back only minutes later.
“Mr. President,” she greeted. “It is good to see you. Thank you for returning my transmission so quickly. I was wondering if I could sit down with you sometime very soon. I have a matter of great importance to both you and the Coalition that needs to be discussed.”
“Captain Marcos, it is good to see you as well. I must admit, the urgency of your message caught me off guard. Is this something th
at can be discussed now?”
“I’m afraid not, Mr. President, this is something that can only be discussed in person with a jamming field turned on to make sure no one is listening to us.”
“In that case, you should come over right now. I do not have an opening in my schedule for the next three weeks, and something tells me what you wish to speak to me about is important.” He smiled as he made the offer.
She nodded and replied, “I’m on my way, Sir.”
______
Ariel arrived at the president’s mansion almost a half hour later. Her shuttle landed in the area the president had arranged for and as she stepped out into the crisp air she remembered how much she loved Prague. She was greeted by one of the president’s advisors.
“Captain Marcos, it is good to see you again. Please follow me.”
After going through the security checkpoint, she was brought into a large office where President Sandoval was waiting. The president rose as she entered the room and offered his hand. “It is good to see you again, Captain Marcos. Please, have a seat.” He motioned to a plush couch and she was relieved to begin the meeting so quickly.
“It is good to see you as well, Mr. President. I only wish better circumstances had brought me here.” Her reply came as she sat down on the couch. She noticed it was quite comfortable.
As the advisor left the room, she turned on her jamming field and intended to get right down to business. She smiled as an employee brought in a tray with coffee and snacks on it.