Deep Space Endeavor 3 Death Match

by Ron Francis

  “This is going to be fun. It has been so long since I have been presented with any kind of a challenge. I do so enjoy a good challenge. I will also really enjoy killing the beloved cousin of the great Jesse Marcos. No one who has ever seen me has lived to tell the tale. I can see you wish to know who I am. It is simple; just ask yourself what year is it?”

  Her breath caught and her heart leapt into her throat as she whispered,” “The Dragon!” The fear was threatening to take control of her, but she wouldn’t let it. She had to survive, if for no other reason than to warn her cousin that it had begun. She noticed his lips curl almost into a smile that let her know her guess was accurate as much as his next words did.

  “Very good,” he teased. “But now you die.” He came at her straight on as his dagger missed the mark. He swung again and she was able to get her arm up in front of her throat as he sliced into her arm. She cried out in pain as she connected with a right hand to his jaw. The blow staggered him for a moment and Ariel took advantage by kicking him hard in the groin. Instantly, she was at the door fumbling with the lock. She was through the door just in time to hear the dagger hit the door as it closed behind her. She glanced back and the tip of the dagger was sticking out of the door. That was some throw, she thought as she continued to run down the empty corridor. As she ran for her life, she noticed the bodies of her two bodyguards and realized that help might not be coming. She sadly mused that it didn’t look like they died quickly and painlessly either. She looked down and realized she was trailing blood from the cut on her arm. She covered her wound with her ripped sleeve and continued to run as she heard her door open. Then, she heard soft but deliberate footsteps coming down the hall after her. She had to make it to the security station. She had to last until her other men arrived. The Dragon had killed the two guards outside her room, but he probably didn’t know about the two that were with the shuttle. She also had eight other guards posing as guests stationed around the resort. Some, if not all of them should already be on their way.

  She made it to the lobby and it was a bloodbath. Blood splatter could be seen all over the walls and several pieces of furniture. Bodies littered the floor as she rounded the corner and gasped in fear. She was horrified to see that there were at least seven dead, including the two security guards. One dead behind the counter, a luggage boy was dead and three guests were dead as well. She began to wonder just how many people the Dragon had killed in his quest to murder her. She knew she couldn’t outrun him for long, and she needed to get the wound in her arm tended quickly because she was losing blood, so she stopped and looked for something she could use to fight with. She saw it almost instantly, stanchions, signifying the cafe was closed. Each stanchion had a six-foot long cobalt colored chain attached to it. She quickly ran over and unhooked a length of the chain. She then took off her pajama top, deciding for the added range of motion. She ripped the sleeve off her top and tied it around her wounded arm stemming most of the blood flow. She didn’t feel at all self-conscious about the skimpy tank top she was wearing. The reality was she wore less to the pool. She did, however, continue looking for things she could use to defend herself with against the galaxy’s most feared assassin.

  The Dragon sauntered around the corner into the lobby, no doubt admiring his handiwork. He immediately spotted Ariel and he smiled as he began circling her in a wide arc.

  “Your death is imminent. Do you have any last words?” He taunted as he slowly drew closer to his quarry.

  “You will never get my cousins, Dragon. I’ll make sure of it.” As she spoke, she gripped both ends of the chain hidden in her pajama top behind her back, and waited for the Dragon to attack.

  “I can’t wait to cut that pretty face.” He drew his dagger again and attacked. She was ready as she swung her top with the chain inside. She hit the Dragon’s hand, forcing the dagger to go flying, and injuring his hand. He had clearly not been expecting the move. He took a step back as she swung again, this time letting one of the ends go. The chain shot out to its full six-foot length, but the Dragon was ready, catching the chain on his injured arm with a grunt; he grabbed it and pulled hard. He yanked her off balance and then hit her with a knee to the solar plexus taking the air from her body. She hit the ground in a heap and he stomped down on her hand as she tried to rise, breaking several bones in her hand. She cried out in pain, and he smiled as he slowly walked over to retrieve his dagger to finish the job. He leaned over and picked up his weapon of choice. When he looked over to where he had left his injured foe, he noticed she was gone. He smiled again. He knew she couldn’t have gotten far and this chase was actually amusing.

  “Come now, Captain Marcos,” he confidently began. “It is not becoming for such a distinguished member of the EDF to be running and hiding like a scared child.” He continued to mock. “I will find you and you will die. No one is coming to help you because I am jamming the signal your bracelet is broadcasting. It is just you and me, and soon, it will be just me.”

  She couldn’t believe it. Jamming? How am I going to get my men to my side? She had a gash in her arm, a broken hand and at least two ribs that were bruised, if not broken. She was not going to win this fight against the galaxy’s most feared assassin. It wouldn’t take him long to figure out that she was hiding in the cafe. A million things were flashing through her mind as she knew she was about to die, but she had to push them all aside to focus on living just a little bit longer. She noticed the strong smell of coffee beans; Brazilian. It was an odd thing to notice at a time like this and she briefly wondered if the fear of imminent death heightened one’s senses. She glanced to her left and noticed a coffee grinder, mystery solved. I would hate it if my last thoughts were of coffee beans, she thought as she remained frozen. She dared not move as if immobility equaled invisibility.

  The Dragon entered the cafe and spotted the blood drops on the floor. Each droplet fell in such a way that he could easily see the direction she had gone. Captain Marcos was close by. He spotted her in the corner and charged with his dagger drawn in his uninjured left hand. He saw the fear in her eyes and he knew he had her. He raised the dagger and struck for her heart. She moved at the last moment, and he instead plunged it deep into her shoulder as she broke a thick glass vase on his face. They both cried out in pain and fell to the ground. She still had the dagger sticking out of her shoulder as she began trying to crawl away on the cold marble floor. She remembered just yesterday sitting at a table only a few meters away, working on a fantastic breakfast of Eggs Benedict while her bodyguards laughed at how much she was enjoying it. She wasn’t sure how she managed, but she was on her feet and running towards the shuttle docking bay. It was almost as if muscle memory had taken over. If there was any luck left for her in the galaxy, the two men she left with the shuttle would still be awake and come to her aid. There was no way she could hide where she was going from the Dragon as she was now bleeding from two wounds and had only one good hand to try and stop the bleeding. As she was running, she was tackled from behind. Her face bounced off the cool imported marble as she hit the floor hard. The Dragon had caught up with her, but he was dazed, sluggish. She kicked him off of her and stood once again, but before she could run, a kick to the ribs put her back on the ground.

  ______

  Somewhere in the Milky Way Galaxy, far from Coalition Space, the Jarlevian High Council had just been informed that their fleet had destroyed another human world. This was a much needed victory and a boon to the morale of the Jarlevian people. It had been a mistake to go after Earth, it was so far away that it was almost inconsequential but their expansion was what had the Council worried. Humanity had already spread like a plague following them from the Kalephi Galaxy many millennia ago to inhabit hundreds of worlds here in the Milky Way. The last thing they needed was a militaristic, technologically advanced, cluster of human planets showing up unannounced in their sector of the galaxy. They had suffered a great loss at the hands of Earth’s coalition. It would t
ake years to get their fleet back up to full strength, but all indications were that Earth had no idea where Jarlevia was nor did they appear to have any desire to come looking. They were probably secure for a long time judging by the rate of Earth’s expansion. It could be hundreds of years before Earth ever became a problem.

  The preemptive strike was ill advised and now they would always be looking over their shoulder. For now, however, they could bask in the success of freeing one more world from the plague of humanity. Most of the human worlds in the Jarlevian sector of space were not very advanced. It was as if their knowledge of technology disappeared a couple generations after their arrival here. There were some powerful human worlds but for the most part, the human worlds were at a great technological disadvantage, which Jarlevia planned to continue exploiting. Maybe after they had taken enough human worlds, taken enough human slaves and mined all the resources they could, they would be powerful enough to make another run at Earth. Until then, the plan was to bring humanity to their collective knees in the Jarlevian Sector.

  As the High Council was basking in the glory of its most recent victory, they received a transmission. They had their tech put it on screen and were slightly taken aback by what they saw. Standing before them was a tan, furred humanoid with two legs, four arms and a face that had several features similar to that of a canine.

  “Members of the Jarlevian High Council. I am Dobar, leader of the Barrafoss. I represent an alliance of four powerful species. The Barrafoss, the Rodajhan, the Ophion and the Squiznazab. Your hatred of humanity has come to our attention and we would like to offer you a place among us as we try to eradicate the disease of humanity from our galaxy.”

  “You will have to excuse us; we have never encountered any of your species before. How do you know of us?”

  “We traveled into Pack territory to make them the same offer, but it would seem their territorial nature prevents them from desiring to be a part of an alliance. They did, however, mention your people to us, and told of how you sent many ships to try and wipe out a small cluster of humanity on the far side of the galaxy. That is exactly the type of zeal we are looking for in our allies.”

  “How can we be sure you are not allies of this galaxy’s humans seeking our destruction? Humans are not to be trusted and we have done our share to make all of them hate us. You cannot blame us for being cautious.”

  Dobar’s face curled up into a snarl as he let out what sounded like a bark before speaking again. “No, we cannot blame you for being cautious. We will make you this offer. Send a delegation, whatever size you deem appropriate into our sector and you will see that we are no friend of humanity. After you have seen the human civilizations ravaged by our armies and the slave worlds populated by the refugees of those annihilated worlds, you will understand we are on the same side. Human worlds are mostly weak in our sector but they have a few powerful worlds that have banded together. We have been unable to conquer them yet, but that time is soon coming. Aside from the Pack, the remaining two known sentient species we have extended invitations to are the Voresse and the Krytar, but while neither race is aligned with humanity in any way, they unfortunately have no wish to join our alliance. All of the other known species in the galaxy are too far away to make the same offer to.”

  “We will send a delegation to see these destroyed human worlds just as we will accept a delegation from you to have a look at the damage we have done to humanity in our sector. Please, send us the coordinates you would like us to come to. We look forward to the possibility of combining our efforts to rid the galaxy of humanity.”

  “Very well, you shall have the coordinates and we look forward to giving your people a royal welcome in our sector.” The coordinates were transmitted to the High Council as they sent out their own set of coordinates to Dobar. As the transmission ended and the Barrafoss image dissolved, the High Council was already in their planning stage.

  “Thansar, we should send a second team to the nearest system to these coordinates so we can take our own unguided tour and see if these beings really are against humanity. Just imagine, five races united against humanity, we could eradicate all of them. We could even take another run at Earth.”

  “That would be something, but first let us make sure these beings are who they say they are, and remember, just because they may hate humanity, that doesn’t necessarily make them suitable allies for Jarlevia. The timing of their offer couldn’t have come at a more coincidental time. They call as we are trying to recover from a terrible defeat. We have no way to know if they are just trying to strike at us in our moment of weakness.” Thansar looked at the rest of the council as he spoke.

  “We will be on guard for treachery, but for now we proceed with eyes wide open to any possibility. Our second team should be gathering military intelligence as well as checking to see if they are really destroying human worlds and enslaving humans.”

  “We shall soon see if we have an ally in our righteous war or another enemy to be wary of.” Thansar replied with a contemplative look in his eyes. His excitement of the possibilities Dobar presented them with far outweighed any concerns he had, but they were still there.

  ______

  Back on Telos… “Captain Marcos, come in! I have an urgent message. Come in Ariel,” Manny desperately cried. He was getting more and more frustrated as he landed his shuttle in the guest only docking bay of Ariel’s favorite hotel. Manny and Jason exited the vehicle at a run, and eight heavily armed men followed after him. He had gotten word about the plot against her and had to make sure she was safe. He had made a promise to Jesse, who had saved him more times than he cared to admit. As he was running across the docking bay, he noticed Ariel’s bodyguards Charlie and Dane exit their shuttle.

  “What’s going on, Captain?” Charlie asked.

  “Captain Marcos is in trouble. We have to get to her now.” He impatiently replied. “Do you know where she is?”

  “Yes, sir, she’s in her room. She told us to stay with the shuttle. She has Vic and Frank outside her door.”

  “Well, we need to get to her now.”

  Charlie looked at Dane a little unsure as Manny glared impatiently at him and said, “What is it, son, spit it out. She may already be dead.”

  Charlie motioned to the back of the docking bay and said, “There’s a secret passage that leads to her room, Dane and I are the only ones that know about it.”

  “Take Jason and two of my men and go. We will go up the front way in case she was chased out of her room.”

  The two groups took off, desperately hoping to reach her in time. Manny didn’t think he would ever be able to look Jesse or Nina in the eye again if Ariel didn’t make it. As they burst out of the docking bay, weapons drawn, they ran across the breezeway towards the hotel lobby and that’s when he spotted it. An injured man circling a fallen woman, and he had bad intentions in his eyes.

  The Dragon was enraged. This woman had injured him and made him bleed all over the hotel. He kicked her in the face and she grunted in pain. She could not muster enough wind in her chest to actually cry out. He kicked her again and again. He then hoisted up her bleeding battered body, and slowly, painfully withdrew the dagger from her shoulder. She slumped back to the ground and he swung the dagger at her throat again. She moved again and he caught her across the side of her face. She was barely conscious, but he continued to taunt her anyway.

  “Look at you, Captain,” he laughed. “Who’s going to want you now? Your face is ruined, your body is ruined and you are about to die. Leaving you alive like this might be an even worse fate.” He smiled as if contemplating the idea but then quickly rejected it. “No, I am going to enjoy killing you. Then, I’m going to finish the job on your wretched cousin.” He raised his dagger to take her life and a blaster bolt hit him in the back. The force of the shot sent him over the railing and off the breezeway. Ariel looked up to see what had happened, but she began to slip in and out of consciousness
.

  Manny ran to her side, worry evident in his eyes. He began frantically calling for a medic to get her to the nearest recovery pod. His men formed a perimeter around her as Charlie and the second team arrived and formed up, reinforcing their position.

  “It’s going to be alright, Ariel, stay with us,” he pleaded. “Where’s that medic?” He yelled. “Stay with us, beautiful.” He was nearly in a panic as he looked at her battered body. He could see the blood trail and the injuries and he wanted to berate himself for not getting there sooner. He continued to speak, hoping to get through to her. “Please, Ariel, I need someone to tease, you can’t leave us.” He checked her pulse; it was weak, and her breathing was coming out in short, painful gasps.