by Saxon Andrew
“Was it this Insectoid?”
“It was.”
“Well, I want you to contact him and tell him I’ll pay him to be trained.” Leo’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t get sanctimonious on me, Leo. If I’m going to have to go away for a time, as you say, I am going to use the time to learn how to survive in a universe filled with Spiders!”
“I don’t know if he’d agree to do it.”
“Leave that up to me. I want to know how to contact him.”
Leo sighed, “I’ll give you his contact code once we get you a new communicator.”
“Where are we going to get that?”
“On Luminus. Two ships are cheaper than one.”
“You don’t have a ship?”
“No, I was forced to abandon it.”
“Pray tell what caused you to do that?”
“Fifty blasters blowing it apart in orbit.”
“How did you escape that?”
“I wasn’t on it at the time. However, my brother was.”
“Better buy a better ship!”
“I can now afford to do so.”
“I’ll pay for both as long as you give me the contact code.”
Leo rolled his eyes and then started shaking his head, “I had to undergo a lot of changes physically in order to have some of the talents I possess, Ana. I can tell you that it was extremely painful to do it. Are you willing to suffer through being trained?”
Ana’s eyebrows came together, “More than you know!”
“I’m booking us on a Starliner to Luminus tonight and we’ll be leaving in six hours. In the meantime, you and I are going shopping.”
“Shopping?”
“Victoria would never go out looking like this. We have some work to do.”
“What kind of work?”
“I know you’re basically a modest person but you’re going to have to get over that quickly. Victoria was proud of her appearance and didn’t mind revealing it.”
“I don’t know if I…”
“You can and you will! Just play the role of Victoria and you can deal with it. It’ll get easier over time. Just remember three things; smile, flirt, and laugh. Let’s go shopping. For the next two weeks, we’re going to have to use my bank-card until yours is active. Just look at me with a smile and say, ‘Jerry, please handle this.’”
“Jerry?”
“He was one of Victoria’s servants.”
“Oh geeeezzz. Lead the way.”
Chapter Four
Leo sat in the rear of first class and watched the men seated around Ana making a fool of themselves. The one-piece black and gold body suit she was wearing was quite revealing, especially at the plunging neck line. Ana nearly called the whole thing off when they went shopping until she noticed several men stop in the store and gawk at her. She looked at one of them and said sternly, “Is something the matter?”
The man stammered, “N…no! You are incredibly beautiful. I was wondering if you might share a dinner with me tonight.”
Ana was shocked at the statement and pulled it off like a champ. She walked over to him and leaned against his arm as she smiled, coyly, “I’m sorry. I’m flying out in a few hours.” She batted her eyes teasing, “Maybe another time?”
The man nearly broke his arm pulling a business card out of his pouch and hand it to her, “Please, call me!”
“You know I will.” The man walked off and she glanced at Leo. He smiled and she went back to the sales woman and continued purchasing expensive clothes. She even asked that several items she had rejected earlier be brought back out. He wondered at the sudden change and wished he knew what was going on in her mind. She was…different.
He sat back and looked out of the viewport at the twenty mile wide filament the Starliner was traveling. No one really understood why the filaments existed. Every star had at least one filament that connected it to another star. One side of the filament moved away from the star and the other side moved toward it. The speed of every filament varied but all of them moved at superlight speeds. The invention of the stardrive field, which allowed ships to leave normal space and go into, what scientists called, Under Space, revealed them and the universe discovered a way to travel to distant stars and civilizations. He looked at Ana and knew trouble lay ahead in her future. He turned back to the viewport. Luminus was six hours away.
• • •
They arrived on Luminus and after three days, she turned to him, “I should have given you more funds initially. We can’t afford the really good ships.”
“Fifty million credits just aren’t what they used to be. However, I don’t intend to buy a new ship; I’m looking for an old vessel that I can have modified.”
“Why do you want an old ship?”
“I’m going after a Pirate and a new ship would only cause suspicions on Tortuga.”
“Should I purchase a used ship?”
“No! Victoria wouldn’t be caught dead in an old ship. Let’s do this. I’ll find an old ship and we’ll purchase it and stay on board until your cards activate. I’ll take what remains in my account and use it as a down payment to get them started building your new ship now. By the time it’s done, your account will be active and we’ll transfer some funds back into my account.”
“I don’t want you to empty your account; you might need it.”
“I don’t think that will be a problem for the short time that remains.”
Ana stared at him for a moment, batted her eyes, and leaned against him, “Oh, Darlin, just use my card in the future and don’t touch your account. I don’t think you can make a dent in my savings.” She batted her eyes again.
Leo laughed, “Your card it is. I won’t abuse it.”
“Abuse it? Do whatever you need to do to keep us safe.”
Leo looked at her for a long moment and then said, “Thank you.”
Ana smiled, “This is a good deal for both of us, honey.”
• • •
The next eleven days passed uneventfully and Ana asked Leo the day before her accounts activated, “What sort of modifications are you going to make on your ship?”
“I’m going to arm it.”
“Arm it?”
“I’m going to make it as powerful as a main Unity Battleship. I do intend to hide some of the weapons under the ship’s hull so they won’t be seen. They will actually cost more than the ship to install.”
Ana thought for a minute and said, “What about arming the ship I’m purchasing.”
“Your crew might be overly curious about that.”
“That’s another question I have, Leo. Just how am I going to go about selecting those to crew my ship? If any of them learn that Serge Romanov is looking for me and they get suspicious, they might tell him where I am to receive a reward.”
Leo stared at her and leaned back in the ship’s command chair, “I haven’t really thought about arming your ship. I thought you’d just go out and enjoy yourself until things cooled off. You’re getting pretty good at playing the role of Victoria, so I doubt you’d raise any suspicions.”
“Leo, you know who I’m up against here. If there’s a way for me to be found, Serge can do it. I don’t want to be defenseless if that happens and I’ll need a crew to help me escape, not turn me in.”
Leo nodded slowly, “You’re right. You can follow me to where I’m having the mods done and I’ll contact some friends and see it they’re interested in signing on as your ship’s crew. I suspect if you pay them right, they’ll do it.”
“Can they be trusted?”
Leo smiled, “I’d give my life to defend any of them and I know they’d do the same.”
“But I’m not you.”
“If I ask them to make sure no harm comes to you, it would be just like defending me. But you have to make it worth their while.”
“How much?”
“Let me ask them.”
“Would it be possible for me to be there when you do?”
Leo stared at
her for a long moment and lifted a shoulder, “You can be present. I’m paying for their transportation to the site where the mods are going to be done. We’ll meet them there.”
“How am I going to follow you without a crew to fly my ship?”
“Your ship will have an auto-pilot. It will automatically follow my ship without a crew on board.”
Ana smiled, “Really.”
“You ship is going to be the most modern up-to-date pleasure yacht in this galaxy. It will have all the latest conveniences and electronic gadgets available. I’ll also make sure it will be able to defend itself in a fight.”
“This is exciting.”
Leo shrugged, “You haven’t met the Insectoid, yet. Wait until after that happens.”
“Could you invite him to come to meet with us as well?”
Leo sighed and tilted his head, “I guess he’ll come. I never know with him.”
“Tell him Victoria is back and she desperately wants to meet him.”
Leo chuckled, “That may do it.” Ana smiled and then burst out laughing.
• • •
The next day, the purchase price for Ana’s ship was done and she asked him in a moment of privacy, “Why do I need a ship that big? It cost twelve billion credits.”
“If the Insectoid agrees to join you, he is going to need a lot of space. That rear room will be needed if he does.”
“Why?”
“He will need the space to put some items in to start your training.” Ana stared at him and Leo added, “You also need a ship with a big enough hull to hide all the blasters and missile ports I hope to have installed. You can’t have any visible on the ship’s hull and pull off being a pleasure yacht.”
“Oh, ok.” Leo knew she was missing what was coming but she’d find out soon enough. The ship he chose for her was being built on the frame of an Insectoid Battle Cruiser that was salvaged after their battle with the Unity. It might come down to him needing it later to help him get out of trouble. He also hoped that he would benefit from the Insectoid’s interest in Ana.
• • •
“Are we going to the planet where you’re going to have the modifications done?”
“Not yet, Ana. I’m meeting the boys at another planet first.”
“Why?”
“They might not sign on and I don’t want to reveal what we’re doing if they don’t.”
“Oh. Ok.”
They arrived above a planet in the Proxima Sector of the galaxy and took an old shuttle out of Leo’s ship’s landing bay. They landed at the spaceport twenty minutes later and rented a bus. “Where are we going, Leo?”
“The boys arrived earlier this morning; they’re waiting for us at a local establishment.” Ana nodded and stared out of the windshield; this part of the city they were moving into didn’t look like a high rent section. Matter of fact, it didn’t look good enough to be low rent either. Leo parked the bus in front of a large tavern and handed a fifty credit note to the bouncer at the door, “Can you insure it won’t be damaged?” The huge bouncer took the note and smiled. Leo looked at Ana and said, “Stay close.” He didn’t have to worry. She grabbed his arm and held on tightly. This was a rough part of the city.
They walked through the door and immediately heard loud laughter and loud voices in the rear of the establishment. Leo smiled, “They’re here.” He threaded his way through the crowd and many of the customers stared at Ana but didn’t try anything with Leonidas escorting her. As he approached the table one of the men saw him and jumped up out of his chair, “LEONADIS!!” The others at the table jumped up as well, ran over to him, and began pounding him on the back and hugging him. Leo smiled and returned their affection as two chairs were pulled over to the table where they could join the loud group. Leo looked at a waitress and said, “Bring a round for everyone and put it on my tab.”
“I’m sorry, sir. But you have to pay in advance,” the waitress said while staring at Ana.
Leo pulled out a thousand credit note and handed it to the waitress, “Let me know if you need more.” The waitress’ eyes went wide and she began taking orders. Leo sat down and the thirty-six gathered at the table began updating Leo on everything that had happened since they last saw him. Ana listened in silence and noticed all of them looked at her when they thought she wasn’t looking but none of them questioned Leo about her. It didn’t take long to see that Leo was right; the people at the table had deep feelings for him and were very closed mouthed.
One of the men went back to his chair and bumped into a giant of a man walking behind him, which caused him to spill his drink. He cursed out loud and Leo immediately jumped up and said to the huge man, “I’m so sorry. This is entirely our fault. Please allow me to buy you and those at your table a round to replace your drink.” Leo grabbed his waitresses’ arm and said, “Please, take this man and his friends as many drinks as they want and put it on my tab.”
The giant looked at Leo and smiled, “Thank you very much. We appreciate your generosity.” Leo patted him on the back as he walked back to his table.
Leo sat down and one of the men said, “Sir, why have you called us here?”
Leo looked around the table and said, “Before I get into that, are any of you unable to take an assignment that might take a few years to complete?”
The men all looked around at each other and Glenny said, “I’ve just started a new job that took a year to get.”
Leo nodded, “Are any of you married and have families?”
The man who spoke first said, “All of those that do weren’t able to answer the call, Sir.”
Leo smiled, “I thought that might be the case, Jack. I notice that Russel, Nick, TR, and Elizabeth aren’t here.”
“They told me to let them know if you are in danger and they’d saddle up immediately.”
Suddenly the huge man appeared behind Leo and said, “Jack? Is that you?”
Jack looked at the man and his eyebrows came together, “Do I know you?”
The man laughed, “You knew me before I grew this beard and long hair. I’m Barney Baker.”
Jack’s eyes went wide, “Barney! You old dog, what are you doing in this run down town?”
Barney shrugged, “You know how it is, when they disbanded the unit; we ended up stuck here.”
Jack looked around the table, “Hey everybody, we served with Captain Baker on the Regulus Campaign!” Jack looked at Barney, “Hey Barn, this is my former CO, Leonidas.”
Barney turned to Leo and his eyes were wide, “Not the Leonidas?”
Jack smiled, “The one and only!”
Barney started shaking his head and stuck out his hand, “Sir, it should be me that is buying you drinks. What you did to save the platoon on Regulus was incredible.”
Leo smiled as he shook Barney’s hand, “Thank you, what unit were you in?”
“I and the lads at my table were in Third Special Forces.”
Leo tilted his head, “You were the ones that took out the major artillery units on the front of The Mountain.”
Barney smiled, “That was us, Sir. But it was your unit that got us out alive. We were pinned down and outnumbered when you gave us cover to escape.”
“Captain, it looks like you’ve run into bad times,” Leo said as he looked at the men dressed in old clothes sitting at Barney’s table.
Barney shrugged, “You know how it is, Sir. The Unity disbanded all of the mercenary units once they took control of the sector. We were taking R and R here as a reward for the battle and our ship just left us. This planet wasn’t this bad off before the Unity took control.”
Leo looked at Barney’s table and saw the other seven men were watching them. “Why don’t you invite your table to join us?”
Barney’s eyes went wide and he waved the others over, “Come on over; this is Leonidas!”
Ana leaned in and whispered, “Do you trust them?”
“I know who they are and they didn’t fold when everyone else was giving up
and running away. It was their taking The Mountain that gave us the victory. They have the hearts of a warrior.” Ana sat back and wondered just who Leo was. She didn’t know he had served in the military.
Leo waited as many of the former soldiers recognized each other and introduced the others. All of the seven Special Forces warriors came over and shook Leo’s hand thanking him for saving their lives. After an hour, Leo said, “I have one more guest I’ve invited to be here and he should arrive in exactly twelve minutes.”
Jack looked at Leo, “How can you be that accurate?”
“Insectoids are always exactly on time.” The entire table went silent. Leo looked at them, “I want all of you to understand that he is a friend of mine and I expect you to treat him with the same courtesy you show me and each other.”
Barney said, “I’ve never actually seen an Insectoid but the rumors about them are scary. I hear they’re incredibly ugly. They are not a part of the Unity and I understand the Unity does not fool around with them.”
The only woman in the group said, “Can’t be as ugly as some of you.” She looked at Leo, “We’ll treat him properly, Sir.”
Ana looked at the woman and saw she was quite pretty; short black hair and brilliant blue eyes. She felt a twinge of jealousy and wondered why. She saw that the woman kept her eyes on Leonidas and ignored her.
Leo turned to Barney, “I’m here to recruit some warriors for a one to two year assignment. Would any of your group be interested?”
Barney looked at Leo and said, “Will it get us off this cesspool planet?”
“It will.”
“Then count us in.”
Leo smiled, “I think it will do better than that, Barney.” Leo looked around the table, “I need to know now if any of you can’t or won’t want to take part in this mission. There will be a high level of danger involved and you could die if things go bad.”
He looked at each of those gathered around the table as they looked at each other and Jack said first, “I’m in. I’ve been bored to tears for the last few years.”
Leo looked at Glenny, “Don’t worry about your new job; I’m sure you’ll make more with us in two years than you will in ten on your new job. The others immediately began agreeing as well.