by Larry Payne
Kai locked eyes with the judge. “You cannot hold me! Sooner or later, I will come back and everyone will pay!”
“Guards, get him out of here,” shouted the judge, waving the broken gavel.
Three guards surrounded Kai and escorted him from the courtroom.
“Court is adjourned!” said the judge and threw the headless gavel down on the bench.
Chapter 26
William Morgan invited the Freelancers to his quarters for a victory celebration. A festive mood quickly filled the room.
“Now that Kai has been dealt with, Owen Clayton is on his way over here,” said Magnus. “We were hired to find Rena and she is here.”
The door chimed and he looked over at Trace sitting next to his daughter. Brick Stanton strode to the door and admitted Clayton, who spotted Rena and started toward her with his arms extended. “Rena, my dear, thank goodness you’re okay,” he said.
Rena jumped up from her seat at the table next to her father. “Stay away from me. I’m not going anywhere with you! Not Now! Not Ever!”
Owen Clayton stopped and turned toward the Freelancer leader. “What’s going on here, Magnus?”
“It sounds like the lady doesn’t want your company anymore.”
“Well, I guess, then, that cancels our deal.”
“Now, wait a minute, Clayton. I believe our deal was to find her and bring her back. I have a lot of witnesses here that will verify that I’ve done just that.” Magnus shrugged his shoulders. “Whatever else happens after that is out of my hands.”
“Seems to me like Magnus has held up his end of the bargain,” said William. “I’m sure any judge would agree to that.”
Owen Clayton looked angrily at the smiling faces around the table. “Alright,” he said, slowly nodding his head. “Alright, the credits will be in your account in the morning.”
Clayton turned his attention to Trace. “Brodine, I’m calling your debt to me due. I’ll have the credits now or I’m taking your freighter and business as payment.”
“How much you owe him, Trace?’ asked Magnus.
“Don’t bother, Quentin,” said Brodine, waving his hand. “Let the old codger have it. I been wanting out of the freightin’ business anyway.”
Owen Clayton turned and stormed back out the door.
“Now, what are you going to do?” asked Rena.
“We could always use an extra blaster,” said Kalar and switched her gaze to Rena. “Or two.”
“Well?” asked Magnus.
Trace looked at Rena. “We have a better offer?” she asked.
“Okay, count us in,” said Trace.
“What about Sando?” asked Rena.
“Where is Sando?” asked William.
“He went to his quarters after the trial,” said Rena.
“He was one of the main reasons we got Excalibur back,” said Trace.
“We should ask him to join us,” said Kalar.
Everyone voiced their approval, so Magnus and Rena made their way to Sando’s quarters.
“Magnus has something to ask you,” said Rena, when Sando opened his door.
“Come in,” said Sando.
“All of us have agreed to stay together,” said Magnus. “We’d like you to join us.”
Sando looked from Magnus to Rena. “Trace and I agreed to stay,” she said.
“Okay,” said Sando with a smile. “Okay, I will.”
He followed Magnus and Rena back to William’s quarters. All eyes refocused on them when the trio walked in.
“Sando has agreed to join us,” said Magnus, throwing his arm across Sando’s shoulders. Trace raised a toast to their newest member.
“Now I have something to say.” All attention turned to William, who stood up from his seat. “I’ve been trying for some time to put together an elite unit, one that doesn’t reek of the military. This unit will take the ultimate risks with every assignment, but they will have free reign to use any means possible to succeed. If they are discovered, the Federation will deny having any knowledge of their existence, because they won’t know the unit exists. They will answer to me and only me. And judging by your success in the pursuit of Mondo Kai, you all are the unit I’m looking for.”
“I think we were just offered a job,” said Magnus, looking around the table at his companions. “I’ll not say yes, unless everyone is on board with it.”
“You ain’t getting rid of me that easy,” said Kalar.
Armand Juncker shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t have anywhere to be anytime soon.”
“I just lost my business, count me in,” said Trace.
“I’m with Pops,” said Rena with a jerk of her thumb toward Trace.
“You’re stuck with me now,” said Sando.
“I go where you go,” said Basko Zarr.
All eyes turned to the Jebhari sitting next to Magnus. “Quentin Magnus,” said Qwee, “you have found another way to test my ability to pull your behind out of tight spots.”
Magnus looked over at William. “I guess your search is over.”
Brick Stanton came into the room carrying a tray of drinks and set one in front of each of them around the table. Magnus stood up and raised his glass. “To us, not knowing what we just got ourselves into.”
“To us,” everyone said in unison.
Epilogue
Mondo Kai lay on his cot with his hands behind his head. He looked over at the three armed guards that appeared in front of his cell. The force field snapped off and the biggest of the guards entered his cell carrying two sets of shackles. He secured a set on Kai’s ankles and motioned to the big man. “All right, get up.”
Kai sat up on the edge of the cot and the guard shackled his wrists. “Let’s go, your new home awaits,” said the guard. The three guards surrounded Kai as he stepped from his cell and they led him down the passageway to the waiting lift.
When the doors reopened, a rifle muzzle prodded the big man’s back nudging him forward. Kai looked around the hangar deck as he shuffled toward the shuttle that would take him to Zendara. He looked up at the small group on the observation platform as he ducked his head and entered the shuttle.
He was buckled into the seat along one bulkhead and two of the guards stood facing him while the third shackled his ankles to the deck. The three guards buckled themselves into the seats behind their prisoner.
Kai looked out the viewport and up at William Morgan, Quentin Magnus and Qwee standing on the observation platform as the shuttle glided across the hangar deck toward the open doors.
* * * *
“Sometimes I wonder if the judge made a mistake not putting Kai to sleep,” said Dragit Dujon as he walked up behind the three of them.
“I will always be wary of Mondo Kai until his heart no longer beats,” said Qwee, as he watched the shuttle disappear into the stars. He wondered if the galaxy had truly seen the last of Mondo Kai.