by Ron Francis
Jason was more worried than he had ever been in his life. Thank God for Carmine, I wonder what he’s even doing here? That’s a question for another day, he thought as he rounded the corner with eight men behind him to see his sister sitting on the ground with Lana’s head in her lap. He could see that she had been trying not to cry, but she was always a sympathetic soul. Lana was in a lot of pain and Raina didn’t want her to go through that pain alone. She smiled when she saw her brother and the bodyguards took up position around her and Lana.
Carmine smiled and shrugged when he saw Jason. He put his blaster away, donned a cap and walked out into the smoke. She knew her brother would have to return the favor someday.
“Come on, kid, let’s get you to safety.” Jason whispered as he scooped Lana up in his arms and strode towards the park’s exit. When he rounded the corner, blasterfire erupted around him. He hurried back to cover as his men began returning fire. “We need that emergency pick up now, Lana’s injured and our exit is blocked by heavy resistance.”
“It will be there momentarily, Lieutenant,” Ariel anxiously replied. Injured? How bad? I should let them get to safety before I ask. The blasterfire ceased when an Eagle assault shuttle landed right there in the park, behind the diner. The protective detail covered him as he boarded with Lana. They covered Raina as she ran in after them, then they boarded and the shuttle took off. They needed to get Lana into the Vanguard’s recovery pod as soon as possible.
Nina was livid. As soon as she received word that Lana was safely aboard the Vanguard, she made the call she had been praying she would never have to make. I can’t believe Natora targeted a pair of sixteen year old girls. That’s a new low, even for him. She was so angry she didn’t even feel bad when Maria Tejada picked up the transmission. “Nina?” she queried. “What’s wrong?”
“There was an attempt on my family today. The game is on.”
“Impossible, I’ve been on top of this, my intel suggests the Enclave higher ups have put a hold on going after you and Ariel. I would have known if something was up.”
“Admiral Natora just tried to assassinate Jesse’s sixteen year old daughter.
“What? I didn’t know Jesse had a daughter.”
“Neither does he, it’s a long story. Anyway, Natora just tried to take her out at an amusement park on Telos.”
“Nina, you should have told me, I did pick up on that plot. I had no idea this Lana Evans was even a kid, let alone Jesse’s kid. My team could have prevented it if we’d known. I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. We didn’t think anyone knew and we were trying to keep it that way.”
“I understand; I can have my men in position within the next two days. Are you certain this is what you want?”
“No, it’s not what I want, but it’s us or them.” Nina sighed heavily; she had just crossed the line, and it pained her to know she would do it again if needed for her family.
“The game is on, then.” Maria confirmed as the transmission ended.
Ariel didn’t think she had even been this scared when it was her life on the line. If anything had happened to Lana, it would have been my fault, she sadly mused. We have to have an information leak somewhere for Natora to know Lana’s true identity. She raced to med-bay as Jason was bringing her in. She was crying as he carried her and Ariel’s heart felt like it might break. Lana tried to smile when she saw her aunt, but couldn’t. Ariel was practically in tears as she grabbed her niece’s hand while the doctor scanned her. “She is going to need twenty-one minutes in the recovery pod, Captain.”
“Let’s get her in right away then, she’s my niece.” When she said that, Lana did smile a little. It felt good to say that out loud. She was sure almost everyone knew by now anyway. “I will be here when you wake up, sweetie.”
“Aunt Ariel, I can’t go in there,” Lana pleaded weakly. “I don’t like small spaces very much.”
“Doctor, is there any way we can give her a sedative before she goes in?” She turned to reassure her niece, “It’s okay, sweetie, we’ll get you all sorted.”
“Of course, Captain.” He pulled out a syringe and quickly injected the sedative. Lana was asleep before the doctor had finished disposing of the needle. “The fear is actually more common than you might think,” the doctor offered.
“Thank you, Doctor.” She called up to her second-in-command, acting Captain Snyder. “Captain, give me ship wide. Attention, Vanguard personnel. Lana Evans is Colonel Jesse Marcos’ daughter. We were trying to hide that fact until he returned. Apparently, someone on this ship figured it out and gave that information along with her whereabouts to the people that just tried to kill her. When I find out who that person is, he or she will be placed in the brig for the rest of time if I let them live. To anyone else that might think to give our enemies information that could hurt my family, my friends, or this ship, I make you this offer. Retire now. You have the opportunity to leave this ship in good standing. Sell my family’s information to assassins, and you will leave this ship in a bag. I hope I have made myself clear.”
As Ariel’s message to the crew was finishing up, Crewman Stevens was packing a bag. He went to the shuttle bay and was scheduled to leave in three minutes. He knew he would be found out eventually, and he didn’t want to be on the ship when his betrayal was made known. He was surprised when Nina entered the shuttle bay. She was with Manny and Jason and she walked straight towards him. “Going somewhere, Stevens?” She asked with a note of menace in her voice.
They already knew, how could they already know? “I’m just going to visit a friend.”
“I didn’t know traitors had friends,” Manny chimed in.
“He’s about to have a friend he doesn’t want,” Jason added.
Stevens leveled a blaster at Nina and yelled, “Back off. I’ll kill her if you don’t. I am not going to Vanguard’s brig. I’m leaving.”
“I’m afraid we can’t let you do that, Stevens.” Manny replied as he raised his blaster. “Put it down and we can talk.”
“No, no talk.” He raised his blaster to shoot and Manny dropped him. Nina had turned around and begun walking way before the body hit the floor. Jason nodded to Manny and he walked away as well. Manny had the shuttle bay crew bag the body to be sent back to Earth along with the full vid of what had transpired.
Two days later, the vid-news was abuzz. Several prominent members of the Coalition had died, on several different worlds. Admiral Thomas had died in an accident aboard his ship. A General had been killed in a firing range accident. Two senators were found dead of unknown causes, businessmen, criminals, even the Secretary of Science was killed. The reporter droned on, wondering if any of these deaths were connected. It seemed likely some of them might be. One name Nina didn’t hear among the list was Admiral Natora. She was about to find out why when she received an incoming transmission alert.
Maria’s face appeared with an apologetic smile. “Nina, I assume you’ve heard?”
“Yes, I did. What happened?”
“He was called into an emergency meeting after the fire was already burning. It was too late to call the rest of it off. That’s not the worst part.”
“What is?” Nina asked, suspecting she would not like the answer.
“The meeting was called for the purpose of finding and killing Ladyhawk.”
“Oh no, we’ve got to warn her. This is all my fault.”
“No, it’s not. You are not the only person she has dealings with. She’s into a lot of shady stuff. It’s probably a compilation of all of those dealings that has her in this hot water.”
“Thanks for that, but it’s most likely her investigation of the Enclave that caused it. They will be out for blood now.”
“I’ll still be looking for a way to finish this job, Nina, you have my word.”
“Let’s just hope it’s before our competition finishes his job.”
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Kirsten Jensen was on her way out to lunch to meet with her old college roommate, Sam. She couldn’t shake the feeling someone was watching her, which was normal for her line of work. Kirsten’s alter ego was Ladyhawk, the galaxy’s greatest spy. I think I need to start thinking about retirement. There’s only so long I can do the types of things I do before my luck runs out. There’s a ton of heat coming down over this whole Enclave business. I can’t believe Nina had them all assassinated, Jesse would have never done that. To make matters even worse, she missed the most dangerous one. Admiral Natora is gonna want to see heads roll for this. The unidentified member of the Enclave is someone placed very high in the government. I think it might actually be the vice-president, but I still have no proof. Either way, it’s getting way too hot for me. Her thoughts continued as she made her way to her meeting. She skipped the shortcuts in favor of the harder to track routes, as was her custom. She was actually meeting with Sam to get some papers with her new identity.
Admiral Natora had eyes on his target. She was on her way to meet with someone. She did not yet know that today was the last day of her life. He had been handed the proof he needed by his spies that this woman was indeed Ladyhawk. Her real name was Kirsten Jensen, and she was a senior level analyst for the Coalition Security Agency. A job at the CSA was the perfect cover for a spy or information broker. He was surprised he hadn’t figured it out sooner. The best ones are always great at hiding in plain sight, he thought. He had his assassins following her right now. He wanted to kill her and whoever she was meeting with. Hopefully this will send a strong message to anyone else that might mean me harm. He was still stinging from yet another failed assassination attempt on a member of the Marcos clan. I know that the Evans attempt is the reason for the swift and brutal retaliation against the Enclave. I also know that I’ll never be able to prove it was Nina or Ariel, but the timing of the attacks were just too close to the failed attempt on Lana to be coincidental. I can’t believe either of them actually have it in them to retaliate this way. I was almost on that list, I only managed to escape a similar fate by sheer luck. If I wasn’t called into that emergency meeting…that meeting had both saved his life and given him the identity of the woman he was now going to kill.
Kirsten sat down with Sam and said, “I think I’ve been followed, we should not tarry.”
“You always think you’ve been followed, Kirsten. Just sit and relax, you can go back to being paranoid in a half hour when I go back to work.” She handed Kirsten a small envelop under the table so deftly, only a trained professional would have spotted it.
“Just because I may be paranoid doesn’t mean someone’s not out to get….” Before she could finish speaking she was slumped over with a small hole in the back of her skull. A look of shock came across Sam’s face, and fear filled her eyes. Before she could react, she too was slumped over the table with a hole in her head.
One of the other patrons of the cafe noticed what happened and screamed as the scene quickly degenerated into a mass of chaotic confusion. On a rooftop two blocks away from the cafe, a sniper spoke into his transmitter. “Mission accomplished, Ladyhawk has been eliminated.”
Admiral Natora didn’t even reply as he ended the transmission with a smile.
Chapter eight
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The time had come, Jesse was about to enter the arena for the final battle. He was taking no chances. He had his blaster on his left leg, his side cannon on his right leg, Helga clipped to his belt, his gralium knuckles in his jacket pocket, and his knife strapped to his leg, just above the ankle. Technically, his side cannon could be considered heavy weaponry, but he didn’t care. It looked like a normal blaster and had a normal blaster setting; he was able to get it in, no problem. He didn’t want to be out gunned when his opponent cheated again. He was putting on his second battle suit jacket for added protection, not just during the final session, but for the escape he knew they would have to make afterward. As he was about to step out onto the arena floor one last time, Kimi approached him and took his hand. She smiled, but he could see the worried eyes behind her smile and she started to speak, even though she didn’t know what she was going to say. “Jesse, I…”
“It’s alright Kimi, I’m coming back. I promise I’m gonna live through this, and then I’m taking a long vacation.” He smiled and kissed her gently and she smiled and embraced him, never wanting to let go. He loved her smile so much. It touched her dark eyes and lit them up like shooting stars. As he thought about this lovely woman, he was once again hit by what a fool he’d been to miss her signals. As soon as I wake up from the recovery pod, there’s not going to be any more missed signals. I’m going to take her in my arms and kiss her like I should have been all this time.
“Just come back to us, Jesse.” She released her embrace and then walked away. He didn’t have time to fully take in the moment as the horn blew and he stepped out to fight Garrinoras for the last time. At the very least, things would be settled in a few hours. Jesse walked out into the arena to the usual shower of boos from the pirate crowd, and chorus of encouragement from the pro-human crowd. He was still in pain, his ribs and shoulder hurt, a lot, even after being field dressed by Kimi. He had taken a mild painkiller, but it had had almost no effect. I’m going to have to wince my way through this one.
He slowly made his way over to the wall and gingerly sat down. He knew Garrinoras would not be out anytime soon and decided to conserve his energy. He would not be wandering around the arena looking for his enemy while his enemy had been allowed to sleep a little more in the tunnel. He had Josiah on comms. His first officer would alert him to any danger heading his way. Shadow sat on one side of him and Commando sat on the other, also vigilant for any threat he might have to face. He didn’t have to wait long as he started to hear the all too familiar growls of the drapad hunters. Josiah released all of the Mercenary’s big Ginderian hunting cats and the beast battle had begun. This time, however, his pets were far outnumbered. It appeared as if Garrinoras wanted to kill him before he even came out to fight. Jesse stood, waiting with both blasters at the ready. He slowly, methodically began taking down the ugly creatures. He was well positioned as the beasts were going to have to cross an open space to get to him. He had taken out eight when suddenly almost thirty began to rush him. He started picking up the pace of his shots and the big cats sprung into action with a frightening roar. Shadow and Commando stayed by their master’s side, alert for any beasts that might make it through to attack him. Having the two snarling snow wolves flanking him made him feel a little better, but he knew he was going to have to make it into the trees to survive this onslaught and give his beasts a fighting chance.
______
Garrinoras smiled as he watched Jesse and his beasts fight what amounted to an army of his drapad hunters. By the time I’m ready to go back out there, Jesse should be exhausted and I’ll kill him easily with my bare hands. He relished the thought of killing his depleted foe as he rested comfortably. He couldn’t even stand at this point, Jesse had done so much damage to his legs, and he could barely hold a blaster with his off hand. Fortunately, his people were wiring him into a complete armored exo-skeleton. He would only need to think it to do it. I am going to have two blasters and a large knife. My armor will also be able to shoot small missiles, powerful enough to get through anything that cursed Marcos might want to hide behind. Let’s see him escape that! He had almost no strength left to fight with, so he waited and watched as Jesse was forced to fight beasts. I will give it another hour before I make my way out and kill the pitiful human once and for all. That thought put a smile on his bruise-filled face. His smile didn’t last very long as Marcos took some kind of weapon off his belt and it morphed into a staff. An instant later it shot a grappling hook high into the trees and his foe sailed into the air, away from the danger of the beasts. From his perch, he sat comfortably and killed the beasts at will. He is not wearing himself out; in fact, it looks as t
hough he is resting. Is there no end to his escapes, no end to his tricks? What is this technology? Metal cannot change its form. No matter, my missiles will take care of him. I would rather use my bare hands, but his death will have to be enough.
He was furious, how was it even possible for metal to change shape, and how would a human be able to accomplish such a feat when no one on Zinnebulous had ever even thought it up? This Marcos must indeed be from another galaxy because no one in this galaxy has such weapons. The humans of this galaxy would never be able to fight with the skill and abandon that Marcos has exhibited time after time. They are nowhere near as creative, nowhere near as devious and nowhere near as formidable. It makes no difference though, in the end, Marcos will die by my hand. As much as he continued to say that to himself, he was no longer sure he believed it. For the first time he had to confront the notion that he might not live through this day. He angrily pushed that thought aside as his techs had finished wiring him into his exo-skeleton. He would now be able to move and fight almost as well as before this match started. He looked to the screen one last time and felt a flare of annoyance at what he saw.