by Francis, Ron
“On your orders,” Collin smiled.
He looked out the viewport and noticed the Interrogator directly in front of them. Meanwhile, two similar frigates were fanning out, trying to make their way into position to fire on Endeavor from three directions at once. He thought Endeavor might be able to take them if she hadn’t just been in battle. He knew he was going to be in an even worse mood after running from the likes of Topanar, but he didn’t really have a choice.
“You are outmanned, outgunned, and outsmarted,” Topanar began. “Now drop your shields and prepare to be boarded, or you will be destroyed.”
Jesse just looked at him and laughed. “I know you won’t destroy us Topanar. You need our artifacts, or you can’t get the treasure.”
“Open, fire,” Topanar replied with a look of complete satisfaction.
“Jump to light space, Lieutenant,” Jesse ordered as Topanar's first volley rocked Endeavor's shields.
“Aye, aye, Colonel,” Collin replied as the ship left our dimension and entered light space.
______
Janus was all smiles as he had finally won a round against Jesse Marcos. True, it had come at a heavy price, as Endeavor had taken out three more gunships and eight more Razzers. The Pillager itself had also suffered significant damage and would have to put down for repairs, but Janus had the clue, and finally had a head start on Jesse Marcos.
He began to wonder just what kind of shields and weapons Endeavor had to be able to take on four ships at once and prevail. He had to figure out a way to capture Endeavor and make her his new flagship.
Garrinoras’ image came on screen in the room where Janus was examining the clue and the artifact. “I understand you have retrieved what I sent you for, Janus,” he boomed.
“Yes I have, Mighty Garrinoras,” he replied, a good amount of pride in his voice.
“Well done, I will dispatch three more ships to your flotilla at once. We are only one more clue away, Janus, and then it’s off to find the treasure. Do not fail me.”
“You can count on me, Sir,” he replied, still excited in spite of the implied threat. He couldn’t wait to get back to deciphering his clue and beating Jesse Marcos to the final clue.
______
Mayor Valinor had scheduled a meeting with Kaldor’s Chairman in Capital City to discuss the disturbing revelations he had found. Sub-Mayor Topanar had been taking payments from the pirates to plunder the outposts and had conspired to kill him. For Kaldor, this was going to be a major scandal. Kaldor only had ten elected officials on the planet, so sending one of them to jail for life would be a big deal. The Chairman was the ruler of Kaldor and ruled from the seat of power in Capital City. His election term was fifteen years. Each of Kaldor’s districts had one governor. In case of the Chairman’s death, there would be an emergency election one week later among the three active governors. If that took place, the mayor of the winner’s district would then step in to the governorship. The sub-mayor for that city would then step into the mayor’s office. Sub-mayors only existed in case of that very specific eventuality. They had other duties, and were usually fast tracked to become Mayors if a mayoral position needed filling. Any planetary business that mattered, however, would take place among the Chairman, governors and mayors. Those seven men were known as the High Council. Still, to have a person in as high a position as Sub-Mayor involved in such criminal activity was likely to rattle the public.
Mayor Valinor was making his way from the building to his waiting aircar, when he noticed two unauthorized vehicles descending from the sky above.
“They’re coming after you, Mayor. Quickly, into the aircar,” Agent Sandstorm yelled.
Tarrick realized he was too far from the building to head back. His safest place would be the aircar, although that thought did little to comfort him. Topanar was making his move, and he didn’t think he was going to survive. As he dove into the aircar, Sandstorm had pulled the driver out of his seat and jumped in to take the controls. The two unauthorized aircars were bearing down on them. Laser fire began to pour out from blasters being fired out the aircar’s windows. Sandstorm hit the accelerator, and as they left the roof they were taking off from, he threw the aircar into a ninety degree dive off the edge of the building. They lost sight of the other aircars momentarily as they plunged towards ground level. Moments later, they could hear the blasters again. The Mayor’s vehicle came standard with a decent amount of shielding, more than enough for blasters, if that’s all they had. But one of the pursuing aircars opened its top and one of the men inside stood up with a handheld missile launcher. Sandstorm knew right then that this situation was about to get a little more interesting.
As he was flying under one of the large hanging advertisement vid screens, he pulled out his blaster and fired two explosive rounds into the screen’s suspension. As the first pursuer began to dive under the screen to follow him, the suspension exploded and the screen swung down. The pursuer could not compensate quickly enough and the aircar flew directly into the screen, exploding on impact. A shower of sparks and falling debris had the people below scurrying for cover and he knew he had to end this confrontation before innocent people were hurt. The second aircar still pursued, but he hit his brakes and cut his engine, causing the aircar to plummet straight down. It was a maneuver the pursuers were not prepared for, and they overshot the Mayor’s aircar. Sandstorm restarted the engines and took off in pursuit of the second aircar. He followed the aircar through a maze of turns until they came to a straight away. He took out his blaster and fired his explosive rounds again, missing twice before hitting the aircar’s rear stabilizer. The aircar had no choice but to land. He peeled off and began to return to the building they first took off from.
“I think we’re safe for now,” he called back to his terrified passenger. “Sorry for the bumpy ride, Sir,” he smiled.
“No, not at all,” the Mayor began as he regained his composure. “That was some fine flying and shooting back there, Sandstorm. Well done.”
“Would you like me to put down at your tower, or would you like to continue on to Capital City? I can radio ahead and let them know the reason for the delay.”
Mayor Valinor looked thoughtful for a moment then replied, “I am just going to call Seeja and Kiah to let them know I am alright. I would like to continue on, if you would be my driver the rest of the way."
“It would be an honor, Sir,” Sandstorm replied as he smiled and adjusted his bearing to Capital City’s coordinates.
______
Eliphaz Topanar was growing more and more angry as he watched the breaking news vid on his office screen. His second attempt to assassinate Mayor Valinor had failed. How could this happen? He watched the harrowing chase and the moves Valinor’s driver made to escape. He had thought he paid off the driver to let them get hit and then bail out. He was going to have strong words for his incompetent nephew. First, his nephew had let Endeavor’s crew walk right out of his office. Then, he couldn’t get them back and now this. About the only thing he had done right was getting some of the treasure information from his spy on Endeavor. He hadn’t even gotten any of the artifacts, or more importantly, the key.
As Captain Topanar walked into the Sub-Mayor’s office, he knew his uncle was going to be angry, so he braced himself.
“You stupid, incompetent twit,” Eliphaz bellowed as his nephew entered the room. “You have the brains of a Borragg! All you had to do was pay off the driver, nothing else. You even found a way to screw that up. You apparently hired the most talented driver on our planet. It was such a simple task, you idiot. How could you screw it up?”
Joldas took it all with a smile. He knew to do otherwise would only anger his uncle further. “The driver I hired was pulled out of the aircar by some special government agent. The men you hired to hit the aircar revealed themselves too early, Uncle. Had they waited, the agent would not have been in position to jump into the aircar and save the mayor.”
“And you’re not even man enou
gh to take the blame you deserve.” His uncle continued as if he had said nothing. “Be a man, Joldas, not whatever it is you are now. Not only is my head on the chopping block, but yours is as well. You have to be better than you’ve ever been, because if I go down, you go down with me. Now figure out a way to fix this.”
Joldas figured he might as well get all the bad news out at once. “Garrinoras beat us to the next clue, but at least Jesse Marcos didn’t get it. Our intelligence has gathered that Garrinoras has three clues, Endeavor has five, and we have one. The final clue has yet to be found. If Endeavor finds it, we will have possession of it soon enough, along with their other artifacts and their key. We will then have the necessary seven artifacts to open the treasure vault once we find it. If Garrinoras finds it, an arrangement of some sort will have to be struck.”
“There’s only one clue left, Joldas?” Eliphaz asked, his anger rising again. “It won’t matter what kind of map we have if we don’t get that last clue, along with Colonel Marcos’ artifacts and the key. Why has your spy not been able to smuggle any of the artifacts off Endeavor? And who has the key? You need to be on your game, because the treasure is the only thing that is going to keep us out of prison at this point.”
“The artifacts are too well guarded, as is the key. We have just learned Endeavor has that as well. Our spy cannot get them off Endeavor without revealing herself to be the traitor. We are waiting to see if Endeavor finds the final clue before she acts. As long as we have her on the ship, we have a chance. If she gets caught and we don’t have everything, we’ll never get it.” Joldas grew tired of this. His uncle could be exasperating to deal with. He had to find a way to excuse himself from the conversation before he said something he regretted.
“I’m not asking you to be smarter, Joldas, we both know that’s never going to happen. Just be creative, use your imagination if you have one. What does this Jesse Marcos care about, besides the treasure?”
Uncle Eliphaz was a lot of things, but he knew how to get to a person’s weakness and exploit it. Joldas had used that advice before. Now he would use it again. “He loves his ship, I know that. He also loves the crew that came with him from his home planet. According to Kora, he would do anything for any of them.”
“Good, are there any weaknesses there, anyone that might be able to be tricked or taken without risk?” Eliphaz was curious now.
“Maybe the doctor,” he answered. “She is the only one that is not an elite warrior and she is Marcos oldest friend, but she always has that giant canine with her, so she’s no easy target either.”
“Now you’re thinking. Do you see the possibilities of using your imagination?” Eliphaz chided. “Now go, kidnap the doctor and Jesse Marcos will give you anything you ask.”
______
Jesse was still beating himself up over letting Janus get away when Josiah and Cassie came up to him excitement in their eyes.
“It wasn’t your fault, Jesse,” Josiah started, “It was the right move. The gunships could have hurt us if we’d left them out there. Anyone else would have done the same; it’s textbook.”
“Thanks, I appreciate that, Josiah,” he smiled. “Now, what’s all this excitement about?”
“We know where the last clue is,” Cassie said excitedly before Josiah could begin.
Jesse looked up his mood suddenly brighter. “Where, how?” he started.
“SAMMI, Cassie and I went through everything we had. All of the map fragments line up and we were able to deduce an area of space. We then narrowed it down with the other clues we have. We believe the last clue to be in an ancient temple on a planet called Habarsha. What are your orders, Colonel?” Josiah asked with a big smile.
“Off to Habarsha, then.” He called up to the bridge; “Collin, set in a course for Habarsha, best possible speed.” Jesse gave the order with a smile and two happy crew members by his side.
“Collin, how long of a journey is it?” He asked.
“It looks like we’ll be in light space approximately twenty-five hours,” he replied.
“SAMMI, put me on ship speaker, please.” He ordered.
“On speaker, Colonel.”
“We are about to enter light space for twenty-five hours,” he began. “I want everyone to get at least eight hours sleep during that time. SAMMI will make sure everyone is awake at least one hour before we reenter real space. This is not a request.” As he finished, he looked at Josiah and Cassie and added. “Let’s just hope we’re first this time,”
He left to watch the vid SAMMI had provided again. Most of what SAMMI had considered suspicious was normal irrational sentient behavior. He had eliminated Wennagal and Cassie as suspects, but there were some legitimately suspicious recordings of both Reece and Kora. He needed to watch them one more time to see if he could figure out which one of them it was. He was happy to at least have the suspect pool down to two people, but still was not quite ready to tell Cassie. As he watched vid of Reece and Kora again, he caught something that he had missed the first time. Kora quickly tapping her sleeve, followed by a frustration so slight that if he weren't looking for it, he would have never known it was there. He realized she had tried to send a message from a communication node in her Jacket's sleeve. It happened very quickly, but it was unmistakable.
It seemed he now had his prime suspect, and he would let the others know after dinner.
Later that evening, Jesse and Josiah called Cassie and Wennagal into the storage room where the real key and artifacts were being held. Josiah looked at Cassie with sorrow in his eyes and Jesse explained what was going on. He explained that there was a suspected traitor on board and how they had narrowed it down to either Reece or Kora, with Kora being the prime suspect. Cassie and Wennagal didn’t think it was possible and were both understandably upset. The more Jesse and Josiah spoke to them though, the more it confirmed a feeling she knew she was trying to ignore. Jesse needed them to go along with the plan, and they both agreed to, but they didn’t like it.
“I’m sorry it has to be this way, but we can’t let Topanar get any more of our information. Trying to beat the pirates is hard enough without another player in the game,” he was saying, as she was still not convinced.
“But what if it’s not her, what if she’s not the leak?” She replied, thinking of the many years of friendship she and Kora had.
“We really hope that’s the case,” Josiah jumped in. “If she’s not the mole, we apologize for the deception and move on. That’s all we can do.”
Jesse added, “And if she’s not the mole, nothing happens to her. Even if she is the mole, she’s going to take some fakes to Topanar and give him some bad information. Then we probably never see her again.”
“What if it’s Reece?” Wennagal asked hating that thought but hoping it wasn't Kora.
“Same plan,” Josiah shook his head. “Look, we’ve all grown fond of both of them. We sincerely hope it’s neither, but more than likely it is one or both of them, and we can’t let Topanar get any more info. Enso’s life may depend on it. The last thing either of you can do is hint in any way to either of them that we think there’s a traitor.”
Cassie looked at the floor as she replied, “I hope you’re wrong, Jesse, but I agree.” Wennagal nodded his agreement as well.
Jesse ended the conversation with the words, “Now, we know the plan, when the time comes, we’ll spring the trap.”
______
As Endeavor dropped back into real space, Jesse already had the crew at battle stations. Collin was able to cloak the ship in under a second as Endeavor began heading to the coordinates the crew had deduced. Endeavor made its way to the planet’s surface, while Jesse was laying out the plan. Endeavor was going to hover over the area, cloaked as backup in case the crew was met by pirates or Topanar on the surface. Suzy would also be aboard for her safety. He was taking everyone else with him, including the snow wolves and the two remaining warriorbots. He was taking no chances. This one was for the prize, and he didn’t
want to be outgunned on the surface. Everyone was wearing a battle suit. Wennagal and Reece were carrying heavy anti-personnel weaponry. This was as prepared as they could be. He just hoped it would be enough. They took all three of their speeders, including the Mag-Lev they brought with them from Earth. The Mag-Lev was equipped with some military grade surprises he thought they might wind up needing. The caravan left the landing bay about one and a half kilometers away from the temple. Collin immediately lifted off and began to fly a four kilometer wide circular pattern at approximately two kilometers above ground level. Jesse knew Collin could be to the evac point in under a minute, but could also provide cover at the temple if he needed to. As Endeavor’s crew arrived at the temple, they put the speeders on the side of the building. They threw camouflage netting over the speeders and the bots. Then they made their way to the temple’s entrance.
The approach to the temple was stunning, and even though it looked like it had been hundreds of years since anyone had been to this temple, it was still beautiful. None of the walls had been broken down like the meeting hall Josiah had described. This structure was in excellent condition, except for the main door which had been destroyed many years earlier, most likely letting thieves in to loot the temple. The temple was made of hand-hewn white stone. Each piece looked to be approximately three meters wide by two meters high. Each stone had a different elaborate pattern carved into it as if the outside of the temple were meant to tell a story. The temple stood almost two hundred meters high. The elaborate patterns stopped after the second row of stones. The trim around each of the windows and the doorway was beautiful artwork. They all wondered why so beautiful a place would be abandoned. The temple was roughly two hundred meters wide and four hundred meters deep. There were natural outcroppings of rugged stone surrounding the front of the temple, except for a carved entry way that the speeders had gone through. The stone surroundings gave it a natural defensible look. It stood at the top of a mountain and was backed up on three sides by a cliff with a sheer drop of almost a thousand meters.