Deep Space Endeavor 3 Death Match (10 page)

“President Sandoval, It is great to see you again, Sir, and great to be back on Earth. To what to I owe the honor of this invitation?”

“Admiral Bliney,” he replied as he shook his hand and sat down. He turned on a jamming field before he continued. “I wish it were as simple as a social call. There are many forces at work right now conspiring against me, and conspiring against Earth. I wish I could give you all of the details. Let’s just say that I’m consolidating power and surrounding myself with people I trust.”

“It’s nice to know I’m on that list, Sir,” he laughed.

“It’s currently a rather short list, I’m afraid. I have scheduled a meeting with the Vice President, yourself, Nina and Serge Romanov, the Secretary of Defense and the Chief Justice. I’m afraid that’s the entire list at the moment.” He almost looked sad as he said that last line and Bliney almost felt sorry for him.

“I’m afraid I have news that could be rather upsetting, Mister President. Two of my long range, long-term, reconnaissance units have just returned with what may amount to troubling developments. I do not believe that either is an immediate threat, but they are both something we need to be aware of and ready for. Firstly, our old friends the Jarlevians have been making some new friends since we last saw them. They have allied themselves with four other alien races. Each of these races are pretty powerful, judging from the amount of ships they contain and the amount of worlds they rule. In their sector of space, they are known as the Human Suppression Syndicate.”

“The Human Suppression Syndicate?” Sandoval asked. “Seriously? And they’re coming here?” He couldn’t believe it.
Why did all aliens seem to hate humanity?
That thought actually gave rise to another question. “Am I to assume that we are not the only cluster of human worlds in the galaxy, Admiral?”

“No, we are not, Mister President. And no, the aliens are not heading here, at least not at first. They have been enslaving and annihilating dozens of human worlds in their own sector, as have the Jarlevians. It appears as though Dr. Hightower was right when he originally theorized that we are not the galaxy’s only humans.

“Is there no one to stand against them? What has humanity done to them?”

“Unknown, Sir. At least we know it was nothing we have done. They just hate humans and I don’t know why. There is a small cluster of technologically advanced human worlds they have been unable to invade, but these worlds are also not strong enough to defeat them. The Syndicate apparently never attacks any non-human worlds. Besides the Pack and the five races of the Syndicate, we’ve been able to catalogue two other alien races in their sector. We have also catalogued seventeen other alien races in another sector of space. It is unknown how any of them feel about humanity. We felt it better not to try and ask.”

“So, we should prepare ourselves for another war, then.” Sandoval concluded angrily.

“Not yet, Mister President, but we should step up our military production, considerably. I do not believe they are going to be coming here anytime soon. I estimate several years at least before they make a run at Earth again.” The calm manner with which Admiral Bliney briefed the president almost belied the potential Earth-shattering nature of the news he shared. Sandoval could barely keep himself planted in his seat, but also noticed he seemed almost unable to move.

“Why, are they going to finish off that cluster first?” He asked as he wondered when or even if he was going to share this news with the public.

“Maybe, but intelligence also suggests they are really worried about a large, organized and powerful group of human worlds from another sector. We don’t yet know what they are called, but we have some extensive intelligence on them as well.”

“Will they help us?” He asked, knowing the answer was likely no, but still allowing for a glimmer of hope.

“Doubtful, Sir, our intel suggests they have been invading and enslaving both human and alien worlds alike. They could very well be the reason this Syndicate hates us. I believe this group could be a more immediate threat to us. My men have captured atrocities on vid that we would never unleash, not even on these aliens that have attacked us. The fact that these atrocities were aimed at humans as often as not is what has me troubled. I don’t believe they know about us yet, and I would definitely prefer to keep it that way for now. They are far more powerful than any of the races in the Syndicate, but together, the Syndicate may be too powerful for this human war machine. Seeing them go to war with each other might end up being what is in Earth’s best interests. Either way, I would recommend we triple our military production immediately, just in case. We should also be working on having strong planetary defenses for each of our thirty-two worlds and our resource planets.”

President Sandoval felt the knot that had been forming in his stomach expand as Admiral Bliney talked about these other humans.
How could humans destroy other human worlds? This isn’t like the wars that used to plague Earth, this is planetary genocide.
The knot in his stomach began to give birth to a deep fear that the Coalition was in trouble. He realized he needed to reply to the admiral as he said, “For that, we would require a meeting with the Secretary of Defense, The Secretary of the Economy, the Vice President, Admiral Natora, and the Romanovs. Even that creates problems; the Romanovs believe Admiral Natora has tried to assassinate them, and they have more than enough evidence to at least begin an inquiry. I sure wish Jesse Marcos would hurry back, it seems as though we could really use him right about now.”

“I do as well, but if Nina is correct, we only need wait another seven months or so. Are you sure they are convinced of Natora’s involvement?”
Of course they’re convinced; the Romanovs are not the types to make claims like that to the president without knowing.
He suspected that in order to have the Romanov’s full attention and cooperation for the coming crisis, Natora may indeed need to go.

“They have told me as much after a failed attempt on Nina, Captain Hernandez and Captain Ariel Marcos. They believe so even more, now that Ariel was almost killed at the hands of what they believe to be an Enclave assassin a couple days ago. They may not even sit down to a meeting that Natora is invited to and I can’t say I’d blame them.” He saw the puzzled look in Bliney’s eye and addressed his unasked question, “As I have said, they have enough evidence to at least begin an inquiry.

This is going to be very tough now because of that blasted Natora.
“Maybe I can convince them to, Sir, for Earth. Jesse trusts me, so maybe they will, too.” At least he hoped as much.

Chapter three

______

As reality came back into focus and
Endeavor
exited light space, Jesse smiled as he looked out the viewport to a most impressive sight. Two hundred
Battle Hammers
hung in space as if suspended on an invisible string. They were arrayed in attack formation around Chawanas. The entire bridge crew was so focused on the majestic yet deadly sight before them, that it took Josiah a moment to realize that
Endeavor
was being hailed by the
Reclaimer
.

“Incoming transmission from the
Reclaimer
,” he informed.

“Onscreen,” Jesse ordered.

The stately features of Admiral Dyson appeared, filling the screen and Jesse thought that she must have been quite attractive as a young lady. “
Endeavor
, welcome to Chawanas. It is good to see you have safely arrived. You have only two hours before the stadium opens to the public, you might want to get down there and make your final preparations. Do not worry about the pirates; we have your back all the way down. And, Colonel,” she paused as she looked right through the screen into his eyes and smiled, “good hunting.”

“Thank you, Admiral. It is most appreciated.” He returned her smile and added, “Would you like to speak to your daughter?”

“I would love to, thank you.” Her eyes were filled with appreciation as she thought back to
Endeavor’s
daring space rescue of her daughter over Pandara.

Jesse pressed a button so he could be heard ship-wide. “Sergeant Rivada, you have a transmission, please go to the nearest transmitter.” He smiled at the Admiral as he gave the order, “Take us in, Lieutenant, shields at full strength.” As Sergeant Rivada picked up the Admiral’s transmission in the landing bay, another transmission was received, this time from Chawanas Control. Josiah put it onscreen, and Jesse stood for this conversation.

“
Endeavor
, you are to follow the course set out before you and land in the exact location provided. Any deviation will be taken as an act of aggression, and we will respond in kind.”

“Thank you for your hospitality, but it appears you have us flying a rather circuitous route to our destination. We are quite anxious to land and make our final preparations. I am sending the revised route to our landing sight.” He smiled as his crew shook their heads. He knew the Zinnebailans were pulling the strings at control, and trying to delay them as long as possible.

“Negative,
Endeavor,
do not deviate from your current course or we will open fire.”

“I’d like to see that,” he replied. “There’s no way you would risk killing me before the match. Think of how angry Garrinoras would be, and how much money you would lose in the revenue generated by this event. Not to mention the two hundred
Battle Hammers
in orbit that might take exception if you fired on us. We will land in the coordinates provided,
Endeavor
out.” As he turned off the transmission, he looked at Josiah and added, “No more transmissions until we are on the ground.” He smiled as the transmission light blinked and he realized how frustrated the Zinnebailans in Chawanas Control must have been at that moment. The less mature side of him just reveled in needling the human-hating Zinnebailans every chance he got.

Endeavor
landed in the darkness and kept its shields dialed up. “Great landing, Collin. Now, let’s go meet our hosts.”

Jesse, Josiah, Wennagal and Sergeant Rivada exited the ship through the landing bay, but stayed within the ship’s shield as a large delegation of Farannsians and Zinnebailans approached
Endeavor
.

They stepped out into the cool air of what felt like a crisp autumn morning in Vermont. It was almost dawn and the first light of day began to pierce the darkness, edging out the night. Jesse noticed that aside from the larger than life stadium a couple hundred meters to his left, there was nothing else around except trees for kilometers. Off in the distance he could make out a sprawling city as the sun peeked over the horizon. Chawanas was a beautiful world, at least this part of it was. Thick, lush forests of vivid color surrounded picturesque lakes of water so clear you could see the golden sand at the bottom. The government of Chawanas seemed to have done a good job of keeping the urban sprawl away from the beautiful forest. Colorful birds circled overhead, curious about the visitors in their forest. The forest had been cut back almost five hundred meters in each direction around the stadium, except the front, which was cut out all the way to the city. The area was otherwise untouched as far as they could see in three directions. Jesse imagined he would love camping in this forest, but unfortunately, could not imagine a scenario in which that would be able to happen.

“Good morning,” Jesse called with a smile as the delegation approached the shield around
Endeavor
. “What can I do for you?”

A Zinnebailan diplomat with a sour expression that almost made his light green face pale looked at Jesse and abhorred his smile. “You can drop your shields, for starters, human,” he replied.

Jesse looked around at the four mounted plasma cannons that had surrounded
Endeavor
as he said, “SAMMI, please drop the rear shield so our guests will feel more comfortable.” He made a sweeping gesture where the shield had previously been and continued. “Now we can talk. What can I do for you?”

“We have been sent with a supply of food, wine and water for you and your crew. A gift from Zinnebulous.”

Jesse smiled again knowing his smile annoyed the diplomat, “You have our thanks. That was most generous of you. You may leave them at the front of our landing bay hatch. I have loaders that can bring them inside.”

The Zinnebailan nodded and three men, servants, judging from their attire, stepped forward with supplies loaded on hover carts. They left the supplies where instructed and retreated to the back of the delegation as if their very presence were an affront to their masters. Another man stepped forward and had his servants present an assortment of weapons.