A Pirate's Tale: The Only Solution Is Retribution

by Saxon Andrew

  • • •

  Desiree looked at Leonidas and said, “What is this all about?”

  Leonidas looked at her and turned to Blakely, “Before I get into what we’ve been discussing, I want all of you to know that Captain Blakely is the leader of the Government here and is due the respect that a Head-of-State should be given. Captain Blakely, will you please tell them about your attack on the Starliner Victoria and I were on when we first saw you.”

  Blakely turned and looked at the recent arrivals, “I received a communication from Romania offering me a contract to attack a particular unarmed Starliner. I wasn’t really interested in taking my ships that far to attack a single ship but the offer was for six million credits to take possession of what the ship was transporting.”

  Leo nodded, “Go on.”

  “I accepted the contract but when I received it, I saw that there were several other requirements for me to perform to receive my payment.” Blakely paused and said, “I honestly thought I was being contracted by Romanov Industries.”

  Desiree tilted her head, “What made you think that?”

  “The communication originated from Romania and we pinpointed its general location as coming from the capital of the planet. That’s where Romanov Industries’ Headquarters is located. I was unable to determine just who was making the contact and whoever it was went to great pains to insure I wouldn’t find out. The payment was sent to a bank on Tortuga and I verified the funds were in an account there before I left to make the attack.”

  Jack looked at Blakely, “What additional things were added to the contract?”

  “I was directed to kill four passengers on the Starliner. I was told to do it under the guise of forcing Serge Romanov to reveal the code to the Starliner’s safe. I was further directed to take the contents of the safe unopened and deliver them to a vessel waiting at the intersection to Romania. That ship was described as bearing the Romanov Crescent and would be waiting for my arrival.”

  Victoria asked, “Who were you directed to kill?”

  “That’s why I really thought I was being hired by Romanov Industries. I was told to not harm Serge Romanov but to kill his wife, two daughters, and a baby belonging to one of the daughters.”

  “Why didn’t you do it?” Victoria asked with some venom in her voice.

  “I never anticipated that Serge would kill himself. I mean it made no sense that he would hire me to remove his family while being ordered to make sure he wasn’t harmed. Once he killed himself, I failed completing the conditions of the contract and lost what I was to be paid.” Blakely stared at Victoria, “Contrary to what you may think, I do not enjoy or like killing anyone. Once the conditions of the contract were violated, I chose not to kill Romanov’s family. There was no reason to do it and I was thankful that I was spared having to kill an infant.”

  “But you would have done it!”

  Blakely shrugged, “I do a lot of unsavory things to fulfill contracts. I suspect the ones in this room have killed many times fulfilling their contracts as mercenaries. However, my contract was void and I chose to avoid unnecessary killing.”

  Desiree looked at Blakely, “What happened then?”

  “I left the Starliner and received another communication from Romania. I was offered ten million credits to attack the Round Table Convoy that was going to meet the Starliner on Kellinger and stop delivery of the safe’s contents.”

  “Did they offer for you to keep the contents,” Embree asked.

  Blakely looked at him and smiled, “Actually, they didn’t.”

  Victoria’s eyes went wide, “What?”

  “They said I would be paid if I could stop the convoy’s delivery. I asked about trying to take the safe’s contents and they said fine if I could pull it off but it would be easier to just destroy it with the convoy. I was forced to agree with them. However, I still took the contents assuming it was well worth the risk. However, the only thing in the box was the dead body of who I thought was Serge Romanov.”

  Victoria was confused. Why would the one who ordered the attack not care about eight trillion credits worth of Trillium? Leo looked at her and said, “I suspect that whoever ordered the attack was not aware of what was in the safe.”

  Blakely looked at him, “What was in the safe?”

  Victoria said, “Trillium worth eight trillion credits.”

  Blakely’s eye flew wide open, “Are you serious?!”

  “Yes, I had it moved via the funeral vehicle to the Treasury.”

  Blakely tilted his head and shook it, “Well, I can tell you that whoever made the contract didn’t know it was there. They really didn’t care if I took it or not.”

  Victoria looked at Leonidas, “Why was a contract taken to attack our Starliner?”

  “You still don’t see it, do you?” Leonidas asked.

  Desiree quietly said, “The entire purpose of the attack was to kill you, your sister, her baby and anyone else that knew about who you really were. You were the target of that contract.”

  Leonidas nodded and Victoria turned to him, “Who would want that?”

  Leonidas sighed, “The answer lies in the original contract before the changes were made. It was someone that did not want Serge to be harmed. I’m sure after the Starliner was attacked and before it arrived on Kellinger, they learned that the real Serge was not killed. They ordered the Convoy attacked because they believed you, your sister, and her baby would be traveling with it to the Treasury.”

  Blakely nodded, “I was asked when I was contacted again if I had killed you and your sister. I told them no; that the contract was voided when Serge committed suicide. That’s when the second offer was made. I made sure that the payment would be made regardless of the outcome and the funds were waiting on my return to Tortuga.”

  Leonidas looked at Blakely, “Tell her about what happened afterwards.”

  Blakely looked at Victoria, “I sent a message on the frequency that was used to make the contracts and told them I wasn’t happy that I wasn’t paid for the initial attack on the Starliner. I was told to shut up and that if I needed to be convinced who really held the power they would be glad to demonstrate it to me. The frequency went dead and no longer functioned after that contact.”

  Victoria looked at Leonidas, “I’m so confused that I can’t think clearly. I’m sitting here with the man who killed Lyla and the man I was married to and now I see that he was carrying out the orders of someone who knew me. Who did this, Leo?”

  “Who is the only one that would benefit from your death, Victoria?”

  Victoria stared at him and then it hit her, “It has to be one of Serge’s biological children.”

  Desiree nodded, “If Serge died and had not openly recognized his biological children his will could be contested. You and your sister would be recognized as adopted children and the courts would give you the same thing his biological children receive. They have to remove you to take everything before they could kill Serge.

  Blakely shrugged, “That would have to mean that Serge does not currently have a registered will.”

  Leonidas nodded, “The entire reason he bought two infants to impersonate being his children was to prevent kidnappers from using them to extort money from him. If he registered a will, then his real children would become targets.”

  Victoria looked at Blakely, “I guess I should thank you for not killing me and my sister.”

  Blakely shrugged again, “I know this sounds callous but it was just business. I would have done it but for the twin Serge killing himself.”

  Victoria nodded, “You could have still done it and pressed to be paid. Thank you.”

  “I don’t deserve your thanks. But I do appreciate your saying it.”

  Gem looked at Leonidas, “Why did we go through this?”

  “Because I’ve told Captain Blakely that I’ve been hired to capture him and send him to the Romanovs via the box on my shuttle. He brought up some points that I’ve been struggling with and
allowed me to clarify what has been eating at my subconscious ever sense I learned about that teleportation box.”

  “What is that?”

  “I should thank Embree for mentioning it first. He suggested that the Romanovs could just as easily teleport a bomb into my ship instead of the credits. That’s why I had it put on a shuttle. But the question was a valid one. Captain Blakely asked me how someone could use this technology to gain power. Then I saw what has been eluding me.”

  Gem looked at him, “What were you missing?”

  Leo looked at him, “What would happen if the Unity Government along with the Insectoid Planets were blown out of existence? Who would benefit from that happening?”

  The room was shocked into silence. Victoria saw it first, “If the Unity and Insectoids were eliminated, the only one still possessing a fleet capable of taking control would be Romanov Industries. In the mayhem that followed the Romanovs would make trillions taking advantage of the void.”

  “And they would insist on being paid in valuable metals and Serge would become the de facto ruler of this galaxy,” Leonidas added.

  “Do you think he’s actually doing this?” Gem asked Leo.

  Leonidas turned and looked at Gold, who had just entered the room, “What did you find out?”

  “We’ve detected the receiving frequency of that box on the shuttle at more than a hundred places on our planet.”

  Gem stood up as Leonidas said, “He has the means of teleporting nuclear bombs to your major population centers and I suspect that if you start checking your ships you’ll find many of them are also giving off that frequency.”

  “HOW COULD THAT HAVE HAPPENED?!” Gem demanded loudly.

  Leonidas looked at Gem, “Romanov Industries is the largest manufacturer of advanced electronic parts. It would only take less than a tenth of a gram of Trillium to cause a blast larger than a hundred million tons of explosives.”

  “But we would detect it if it were on our ships or planet.”

  “That’s just it, Gem. It’s not there yet but the means of receiving it is. It will arrive on your planets and ships when it is teleported to the receiving container a moment before it is detonated.”

  “We’ve got to stop this now!!” Gem insisted.

  Leonidas looked at Gold, “Did the device you took with you operate?”

  “It did appear to block the frequency.”

  Gem looked at Leonidas, “What device are talking about?”

  “I discussed this issue with Embree and I’m going to let him explain what he made.”

  Embree looked around the gathering and said, “The teleportation module uses two frequencies to operate. One of them sends items out and another receives the items being sent. One of those two frequencies is always present around it. I think that if the box is hit with a powerful frequency that only sends items out and it is strong enough, it would block the receiving frequency from being used. I made a device that sends out the send frequency at high power and it stopped the receive frequency from being detected around the box in our shuttle.”

  “What will happen if something is sent to the box while the receive frequency is being blocked.” Every one stared at Embree and he continued, “When the Romanov Engineers were installing the box, they insisted that the red button had to be pressed before it would receive anything. They made a point of emphasizing it and I really believe that is the Achilles heel of this device. It can be blocked with a powerful send frequency.”

  Gem looked at Gold, “What is being done!?”

  “We’re mass producing devices that emit the Send Frequency and putting them around everything that is emitting the Receive Frequency. We’re then going into the devices where those modules are locating and removing them as quickly as possible.”

  “What if Romanov decides to do this now?”

  “I’m doing something to delay him, Gem” Leo answered.

  “And what is that?”

  “I’ve contacted him and told him that I’m close to capturing Captain Blakely and that he should know soon who the Spider is operating inside his organization. I believe he wants that information before he tries this.”

  “Why!?”

  Leonidas smiled, “Because he doesn’t know if this individual has access to the teleportation modules and may have one set up to eliminate him. He’ll want to remove that possibility before he takes the next step.”

  Victoria looked at Leo, “How can you be certain he intends to do this?”

  “Actually, you provided the biggest clue.”

  Victoria’s eyes narrowed and she tilted her head, “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “I went through your purse while you were taking the bath in the hotel.” Victoria lowered her eyes and Leo shrugged, “I found some credit bills in your purse that weren’t made by the Unity.”

  “You’re talking about the credit notes that are used inside Romanov’s business to purchase items at a discount.”

  “I was amazed at how detailed they were. They’re actually more detailed than Unity Credits and I wondered why Romanov would go to the expense of printing credits that detailed just to use in his business.”

  Desiree said, “He’s printing the currency that will replace the Unity Credits once the Unity is eliminated.”

  Leonidas nodded, “Exactly right. If I needed any other proof, the existence of all those receivers on the Insectoid Planets makes it pretty clear he is setting up a general house cleaning of all the possible adversaries he might have to face when he takes control.”

  “What about here? There are thousands of warships here!” Victoria snapped back.

  Blakely sighed, “We’ve found thousands of those receivers on the planet and on most of our ships.”

  “What are you going to do about it?”

  Blakely sighed, “I believe I am going to have to allow Leonidas to send me to Serge Romanov and inform them that his planet is filled with those devices to eliminate him so one of his children can take his place in controlling the galaxy. That would force him to start a search to find those devices and would buy enough time to produce the blocking devices we need to protect ourselves.”

  Victoria stared at him and said, “He’ll kill you in the worst possible way imaginable.”

  “I realize that.”

  Victoria stared at the tall pirate and started shaking her head, “Leo, there has to be another way.”

  Blakely’s cocked his head to the side, “Hey, I thought you wanted me dead!”

  “That was before I saw that you’re not what I thought. Why would you do this?”

  “Because what we have here in Fellowship is worth saving. It’s worth my life to insure it survives.”

  “But they’ll strip your mind down to bare neurons and extract what you know about their plan.”

  “I have a device inside me that I’ll use to kill me before that happens.” Blakely looked at the four beings sitting beside him at the table as he said, “The other Councilors will take my place and do everything possible to stop this from happening here on Tortuga. However, there is no saving the Unity.”

  “Why not?!” Desiree responded.

  Leonidas shook his head, “I sent one of my ships to Cruet and the receive frequency was detected covering everything on all the continents. Even the ships in orbit had it. I suspect Serge made sure of the Unity’s demise before he moved on any other possible adversary. There’s no way to block that many devices without alerting Romanov. He’ll immediately start sending the Trillium the moment he suspects his plan has been revealed.”

  Victoria fell back in her chair, “He’s a monster. I should have killed him when I had the chance.”

  “If you did, you would have died with him and the Spider in his organization would have come out and carried out his plan. You would have accomplished nothing,” Desiree replied shaking her head. She turned to Leo, “What happens now?”

  Leo looked at Desiree, “We anticipate that it is going to take three weeks to build
enough devices to remove the threat from the Insectoid Planets and Tortuga. I believe that Romanov is going to move quickly so I’m telling him that I will be delivering Captain Blakely in twelve days. I’m hoping that it will take enough time for them to break him to allow us to complete the protection of our planets.”

  Victoria looked at them and said, “I know a better way to do this.” Everyone in the room looked at her and she said, “Tell him that you know where I am and will bring me to him in three weeks.”

  Gem said, “That is not going to happen!!”

  Victoria looked at him and turned to Leo, “Give him something he really wants.”

  Leo shook his head, “But…”

  “Leo, Captain Blakely is needed much more than I am. You know I’m right.”

  Desiree shook her head, “I have a better idea.”

  “What is that?”

  “Give Romanov a choice on which one he wants. Tell him you have befriended Blakely and have learned he communicates with the one inside his organization on a regular basis and he knows where his daughter is being hidden. Tell him that you can go and retrieve her but that if anyone else she doesn’t know goes, they’ll probably lose her. If he wants you to send Blakely, she’ll probably be warned about his capture and she’ll leave for another sanctuary. Tell him that you are required to remain on Tortuga until the official welcoming is completed in two weeks but that you can then go and take her. Tell him it will take about a week to get to the galaxy she’s hiding in and capture her, so if he wants her, it will take about three weeks. Offer him the choice. Also tell him that if he wants Blakely, it will have to be done after the official welcome has been done. That will buy you at least two weeks and possibly three. If he chooses for you to send his daughter,” Desiree smiled, “after three weeks, you won’t need to send anyone.”

  Victoria looked at Desiree, “And what do we tell him at the end of three weeks?”

  Desiree shrugged, “One of your crew will contact Romanov and tell him that you were executed for being a spy. At that point, either Serge will launch his attacks or delay for a while longer. Hell, he may even try to hire someone else to come after Blakely, which will really buy us some time.”