Deep Space Endeavor

by Francis, Ron

  The pirate ship was an oddity. He wondered how it could even be flying, let alone fighting. Originally, it had a snail-shaped body. Although, with all the replacement plating on the hull and the weapons, which were seemingly welded in at random wherever they might fit. He wasn’t sure how it all stayed together. Some of those cannons were fairly powerful though, so he needed to stay out of their crosshairs.

  “Collin, evasive maneuvers to port in three… two… one… mark!”

  This maneuver would put the landing bay out of the pirate ship's line of sight so it could launch the shuttle without the pirates noticing. He knew he would have to cloak quickly, and he gave himself about a minute and a half before he could be in position to deploy the space mine. As the bay opened and the shuttle launched, he saw Endeavor get rocked by another blast. Collin was doing a great job flying, but this had to end soon or they would be history. He moved toward the pirate ship at best speed and was able to deploy and activate the mine inside a minute. “This had better work.” he whispered into the empty shuttle.

  ______

  …..… Back on Polisia, Nina Romanov was speaking with Captain Ambrose of the Polisian Hope. “I just need to know if Endeavor made it into the event, Captain,” She said a little louder than she intended, frustration seeping into her voice. “It's not like I'm asking for classified intel.”

  “I’m sorry, ma’am, I can't release anything related to the battle without authority from Naval Command." He hated to give her the run around, he was sure that this would have been his last mission until Endeavor showed up and pulled their butts out of the fire. “That was some maneuver your brother pulled off to save our skins today. The navy could really use a few more like him. I wish he’d come back.” Ambrose offered, hoping he sounded as sincere as he felt.

  “Thank you, Captain, I really appreciate that. Could you send over your ships recording of the incident?” Nina was hoping against hope he would do it out of gratitude without involving Naval Command. That hope was crushed when the inevitable reply came back. "But the accident happened well after the battle, Captain, it wouldn't be battle footage," she argued.

  “If the explosion was caused by undetonated ordinance, it would technically be considered battle related. The footage is classified, ma’am. I’m going to have to ask my superiors before I can release classified material to a civilian, but I can ask Admiral Bliney. He loves your brother; he might be inclined to say yes.”

  It said a lot about how Captain Ambrose felt that he would even attempt to go around Admiral Natora to Admiral Bliney. Everyone in Naval Command knew how Natora felt about Jesse Marcos. “Thank you, Captain, I’m sure you’ll do your best,” was the best reply she could muster. She wished Vee Fleet were available, then she could have just gotten the footage from Ariel but Admiral Natora had intervened and Ariel was currently unavailable.

  “I’ll call the Admiral at once, ma’am. Endeavor and Vee Fleet did save our lives out there.” Captain Ambrose really wanted to help, and since his ship was closest to the phenomenon, he would have the most accurate data. The reality was, the best he could do for her was to ask Admiral Bliney, and face the possible reprimand if Admiral Natora found out about it.

  As Nina signed off with the captain she was more frustrated than she had been in years. Her husband Serge put his arms around her and whispered, “We will find out what happened to him, my love, just be patient.” Nina loved Serge’s slight Russian accent. He had been away from Earth for so long now that many people couldn’t hear it anymore, but she could. She had met her husband at university and as soon as she introduced him to Jesse they became fast friends. Serge was the other half of the brain child behind the technology of Sea Side Enterprises. Nina herself was the brains behind the business side, turning a start up tech company into the largest most influential company in the Coalition.

  Unfortunately, Jesse just had too much of an adventurous spirit to sit around living off his wealth. He had to be where the action was. He had been that way ever since he was a kid. He was even more so since leaving the military. Over the last ten years, Serge and Jesse had invented many new technologies together. They had actually started working together while Jesse was still in the military. Jesse would send ideas and designs to Serge to work on. Even then, Serge could see how intelligent Jesse was. Endeavor was their crowning achievement, and Nina needed to know if they survived the explosion, and made it into the event.

  All Nina could think to say to her husband’s comforting words was: “I hope you’re right, Serge. I hope you’re right.”

  The next thing Serge said was completely unexpected. “Come, Nina. I have prepared a shuttle with advanced sensors to go explore the wreckage. Perhaps we can find some clues or proof as to what happened.”

  Now we’re getting somewhere, she thought, thankful that her husband wasn’t one to sit around either. As she stood to go, Frost came bounding into the room. It always seemed as if Frost knew when her masters were about to leave and never wanted to miss a goodbye. Frost was a gift from Jesse, a Polisian mountain wolf, or snow wolf as they are more commonly known. Frost was pure white, with striking features and a playful attitude, but she would turn deadly instantly if Nina or Serge were threatened. Polisian snow wolves were the largest canine species in human occupied space.

  Jesse had actually found a litter of three wolf cubs while hiking in the mountains. The mother had been killed by hunters, and he was advised to kill them because very few people have ever tamed a Polisian snow wolf. He only took that as a challenge, and after training all three, gave the female, Frost, to his sister. He gave Shadow, a beautiful dark-grey female, to Suzy, an avid big dog lover, and kept Commando, the male runt of the litter, for himself. Commando had fur that was patches of dark-grey, light-grey and white. It reminded him of camouflage, hence the name, Commando. Even though snow wolves were notoriously hard to train, once trained they were loyal companions and bodyguards. Not only were they very smart, but very tough as well.

  The mountains were the wolves’ natural habitat, but they adjusted well to any climate. However, it was only in the mountains of Polisia where the snow wolves would mate. Polisia was a strikingly beautiful planet that had only two climates. They endured winter in the mountains and they enjoyed summer in the valleys and beaches. Neither climate ever fluctuated very much. The mountains were always covered in fresh, white snow falling through deep, violet trees while the valleys were covered in golden grass and red berry bushes. It was a beautiful planet.

  While thinking about Polisia and the wolves, Nina decided to bring Frost with her and Serge on the trip. She would definitely get a few looks from the crew, but no one would say anything to her, of that she was certain. She just wanted to feel close to her brother and Frost was a constant reminder to her of how much her brother loved her. As Nina left her home with Serge and Frost, she was determined to do everything in her power to find out if Endeavor had made it through the matter conduit.

  ______

  …….. “SAMMI, open a channel to the pirate ship.”

  “Channel opened, Colonel.”

  “Hey, Lizard guy,” Jesse taunted. “I’m going to give you one chance to surrender.”

  The Lizard man laughed or at least Jesse thought it was a laugh. “Humanssss are funny. I know you still don’t have your main weaponssss, and we are only one or two hitssss away from destroying your pathetic ship.”

  “Come on, Lizzy, you have already lost all of your fighters,” Kimi really was good at her job. “Why would you want to lose your ship, too?”

  “I shall enjoy seeing the corpsessss of your crew floating in space!" His comment was followed by more of the grating laughter.

  “SAMMI, arm the space mine. Josiah, blow it now.” Jesse waited to see the inevitable explosion, but it never came.

  “I'm receiving an error message, the mine is active, but it won’t detonate, Sir.” Josiah explained a, slight edge to his voice.

  “Well, why should things start getting eas
y now?” He yelled angrily. “I guess it’s got to be the hard way then.”

  ‘Sir, please!" Come back to the ship and let me do it,” Kimi cried, intense concern evident in her voice.

  “There’s not enough time, this can still work but we have to do it now.” He steeled himself as he flew back toward the pirate ship. To fire on the mine, he would have to de-cloak, which would instantly make him visible to the pirates. This is why Kimi was so concerned. He was a great Special Forces soldier, and a great scientist by most people’s estimation. One thing he was not, however, was a great pilot. In fact, he was one of the worst pilots he knew. If his timing were good enough, though, he wouldn’t need to be a good pilot for very long. As he flew toward the pirate ship for what could well be his last mission, the faces of his crew flashed into his mind.

  Suzy was an attractive woman but didn't seem to realize it. She always kept her long, blond hair up in a bun or pony tail for practical purposes, and was never without her white doctor’s lab coat. Her eyes were very blue and she had perfect vision but she usually had her visual enhancement unit, which was common among surgeons, propped up on the top of her head, ready for surgery. She had been friends with him since she was four years old entering her first day of primary school. They had remained close friends for the last thirty years. She was as much a sister to him as Nina was.

  Kimi on the other hand, was stunning and she knew it. Of Japanese and Brazilian descent, her jet black hair and perfect tan always turned heads. She had come on this mission simply because he had asked her to. She was completely loyal to him, because he was responsible for saving her family and giving her a new life even though she didn't feel she deserved it.

  Collin was a typical Special Forces soldier. At six foot four inches, most people looked up to him, and what they saw was the square heroic jaw of what Jesse imagined a superhero would look like. Collin was every bit the hero, especially to those in need.

  Josiah, his best friend since secondary school, was the wisest person he knew; himself included, and he valued him all the more for it. He was always looking for his next great adventure and this mission had been an easy sell as the possibilities became evident to him.

  The only thing he could think about as he prepared to blow the pirate vessel was getting his crew safely home, no matter the cost.

  The time had come and the plan was simple: de-cloak, fire on the space mine, and get out of there. Not a lot of moving pieces on this one, and it was all or nothing. He could feel the sweat running down his back and the cold fear in his gut as he eyed the switch that would make him visible. As he de-cloaked he felt the need to say something motivating to his crew; but all that came out was: “Hey, guys, I bet lizard guy will make a great pair of shoes for Kimi’s collection.” He followed the comment with some nervous laughter as he grit his teeth and found the firing solution. Then the thought hit him, I really hope those weren’t my last words. He let loose a quick prayer as he fired on the mine. He watched the alien ship explode and then the universe went dark around him.

  Chapter two

  ______

  Six years earlier………

  “We’ve been friends since year two of secondary school but before that we were enemies.” was the explanation Jesse had given when Kimi asked how long he had known Josiah. Kimi just looked at him, the question evident in her eyes.

  “Let me go back to the beginning.” He answered her unasked question. “We came from different primary schools and all throughout our seventh and eighth grade years we were rivals on our school's soccer teams. We were both the best player on our respective team. When we arrived at the same secondary school, our first year was spent as rivals for the striker position. Eventually, I won the position, but the coach was able to take advantage of both of our talents. We won the city title that year and we’ve been friends ever since. I found out we share the same birthday, too. I'm one minute and thirty-eight seconds older, by the way, and I never let him forget it. After secondary school we both joined Earth’s space marines. I resigned my commission about three months ago after Rebecca was killed in an accident, and Josiah, Collin and Manny are about to join me in the private sector when their service term ends. Now Suzy, I've known forever; I met her when I was four."

  Kimiko’s head was swimming. This target was nothing like she had been told. She had been sent by the Asian Dawn to seduce this young businessman. She was to steal his technology, and then kill him, but he didn’t seem like the evil man her masters had so painstakingly made him out to be. As far as Kimiko could tell, she was looking at a man who was mourning the death of his fiancé, yet still took the time to help a stranger in need. He loved his sister and cousin and had great lifelong friends. He was a man who gave to charity, and generally did right by people. What great evil was he hiding? It had to be there for her masters to order his death, and send their top female assassin to do it.

  She flashed back to three weeks earlier, when her plan to accidentally meet Jesse Marcos had first begun. She had purposely crashed into the back of his very expensive Mag-Lev, speeder. Her plan was to play the confused, upset and new in town young lady with nowhere to go. Kimiko was hoping that he would bring her home and take advantage of her. Once they were in a relationship, she could begin stealing his secrets, and when she had them all, she would kill him.

  Her plan hadn’t gone that way at all. He got out of his speeder and smiled at her. Right there she thought she had him, but then instead, he told her not to worry. He got back in his speeder and was beginning to leave. She remembered having to go to plan B very quickly. She fell to the ground and began crying. He immediately stopped his speeder and got out. She remembered him asking her what was wrong. Even as she launched into her pre-arranged story, she couldn’t help but notice that he really seemed to care. She told him about how she was here to go to grad school, but the university made a mistake on the dorm assignment, and she had nowhere to stay. She couldn’t afford to get an apartment and she couldn’t afford to go back to Japan. This was all part of the carefully crafted lie, which included an actual registration and class schedule. Kimiko herself had hacked the schools computer and purposely lost her rooming assignment.

  He helped her up and called a tow for her beat up old speeder. “It’s probably the brakes, you know,” he offered. “They are always the first thing to go on those old models. We’ll get her fixed up and have you back on the road in no time. For now, you can come home with me if you would like, until we can get your dorm assignment squared away.”

  She smiled to herself, maybe this would be an easy assignment after all, and if she had to live in a luxurious mansion while she carried out her mission? Well, she could think of worse things.

  As they arrived at the mansion, her plan once again hit a snag. He pointed to a very nice guest house and said, “You can stay here for as long as you like. If you need anything at all, food, towels, clothes or whatever, just let the maids know and you’ll have it. I find it easier to do well in my studies when I’m not worried about other things.” He took out the key to his speeder and tossed it to her. “Use this until your speeder is ready, I hope you don’t mind the dent, but someone hit me earlier.” He smiled, winked and then walked into his house. He didn’t even look back to give her a once over.

  Okay, she thought, this might not be as easy as I first imagined, but eventually he’ll give in; they always do. She walked with a bounce in her step into one of the nicest homes she had ever stayed in, and began making new plans to destroy Jesse Marcos.

  Now here it was three weeks later and nothing had happened. She was beginning to worry, because she had to report her progress to her masters that week and she had nothing to offer. If she failed, she was sure her family would suffer.

  She knocked on the big oak door. He opened the door and greeted her with a smile. "What’s up, Kimi?”

  “I just wanted to see if the room assignment issues had been cleared up yet, I hate to continue being a burden.”

 
“I’m really sorry, Kimi, but it appears the bursar has lost your room assignment again. They have one of the worst business offices I’ve ever seen. I can send my sister Nina down to straighten them out if you’d like, she can be pretty scary, or you can stay the semester in my guest house. Whichever you prefer is alright with me.”

  Kimiko started to cry. “I don’t want to trouble you further, I’ve been a burden and you have been so nice. I’ll figure something out.” This is one of my better performances, she thought.

  “Nonsense, I have this giant guest house and no one in it. Rebecca wanted it built so her family could live with us without living with us, if you know what I mean.” A hint of sadness crossed his face at the mention of his former fiancé and Kimiko almost felt bad. Instead, she took the news as an opportunity to jump into his arms, and give him a hug that lasted just a little too long.

  He didn’t even seem to notice; he actually invited her in to have dinner with him. “Suzy was supposed to have dinner with me, but she had to perform an emergency appendectomy, so she won’t be able to make it. I don't want all this food to go to waste. She thinks I'm still depressed about Rebecca and Polisia, so she doesn't like for me to be alone."

  This was her opportunity; Jesse seemed to like her as a person, now it was time to get him to like her as a woman. At the very least, she would have something to report to her masters.

  He was talking a lot during dinner; he spoke about how Rebecca, his fiancé, had died in an accident while he was on his final mission in the war with the pack. He had lost several men in his unit at the battle of Polisia and then made it back to base only to hear about Rebecca's death. It was almost too much for him. He looked over at his guest when he suddenly realized she wasn’t saying much. “I’m sorry, Kimi.” She was actually starting to like it when he called her that. “I don’t usually talk this much; in fact I don’t think I’ve talked this much in months. I love Nina, Ariel and Suzy more than anything, but I think in this case it just might be a little easier to open up to someone I don’t know as well. They always want to analyze me, I hope you don’t mind.”