Deep Space Endeavor 3 Death Match (18 page)

“I still have a couple friends in the military, maybe they can help.”

______

Nina was furious with her husband after the war council was finished. “How could you give them all of that information, Serge? Now we have no bargaining chips left. Pulling stakes up from Earth, stopping our production was the only card we had left to play, and now Natora knows that we can no longer make threats.”

“What would you have preferred that I do? Lie to the President, after he risked his political capital to back us? Lie to Admiral Bliney? We are about to be overrun by two different threats, and what scares me is I do not know which one is worse. You heard Admiral Bliney; the only way we survive is if we can put as many ships as possible out as quickly as possible.” He understood his wife’s frustration, but he had never been good at playing politics, nor did he have the desire to. While he was happy to be out in the crisp, clean, fresh air, he was enjoying this conversation even less than the meeting they had just come from.

“Yes, I know, but you didn’t have to volunteer us to be the ones to do it. Tell them we have to run some figures, work out scenarios, give us some time to make a plan. You needed to tell them anything except the exact information Natora could use to ruin us.” As Nina was continuing her argument, her portable transmitter buzzed. It was Manny, probably calling with an update on Ariel’s condition, so she knew she had to take it. “Yes, Manny,” she answered, a little more loudly then she meant to.

“Nina, we have a possible situation,” he started.

She felt herself getting nervous as she replied, “What situation?”

“The
Vanguard
just received a transmission from a woman named Terri Evans with a problem you’re going to want to look into.”

“What problem? Is it with us?”

“Not exactly….”

“Manny, just tell me,” she interrupted, a little more forcefully than she intended as she was still upset with Serge.

“She said her sixteen year old daughter, Lana Evans, is a member of your family. She says she has DNA evidence and everything.”

“Well that’s not possible; she’s looking for a handout. It’s not uncommon. Don’t worry about it.”

“Nina, this girl, Lana could be your clone. He sent a vid still and Nina looked amazed.

“Manny, anyone can fake a still like this.”

“I took this still during our conversation, I’ve vetted it; this is her. Listen, she could have had surgery to look like this, but chances are she’s telling the truth. She’s at a med-center in Prague right now. She’s only a few blocks away from you; just go meet her.”

“I don’t have time, Manny.”

“Sure you do, just hear the woman out and then you can continue yelling at Serge.”

“What, how did you…?”

“The look on your face when you answered. I’m assuming he gave the President too much information. Just go, please.”

He didn’t say it, but Nina knew he was thinking this girl could be Jesse’s. The girl looked enough like her that if Jesse did ever have a daughter, she would probably look like this kid, Lana. She relented and said, “Alright, but we are not giving this woman any money.”

Manny, satisfied with her response, replied, “We’ll see you in a few hours.”

“Who else knows about this, Manny?” Nina still had anyone the Enclave might try to use to get at them sequestered aboard the Vanguard. She could only hope Manny had shown some discretion so that everyone they knew and cared about didn’t already know about this.

“No one but me, I took the transmission privately and erased the ship’s recording when it was done.”

“Thank you, Manny; if this is something, we don’t want it getting out right now.”

Nina and Serge had their driver pull their speeder up to the front of the med-center. They entered the building with their detail and immediately found this woman, Terri Evans’, room. Nina walked into the room, all business, and stopped short when she saw Terri lying in a hospital bed. After the introductions were made, Terri handed her a DNA workup, but she refused it. Instead, she took out a scanner and touched it to the back of Lana’s neck, registered the results and then touched her own neck, again registering the results. Within seconds, the results were in and it was a familial match. She looked up in shock and stuttered, “H…h…how is this possible, what have you done?” She looked at the sick woman, awaiting a reply.

“You had better sit down, this story might upset you.”

“I prefer to stand, thank you,” she replied as Serge sat down.

Without any further preamble, Terri announced, “Lana is Jesse’s daughter.”

“She’s what?” Nina could hardly contain her shock at that possibility. “Jesse would have been eighteen when you were pregnant with Lana. It’s not possible, when Jesse was eighteen he was way too in love with Rebecca. There is simply no way he would have cheated on her. He had a love for her that was meant to last.”

“Had?” Terri asked sadly.

“She died almost seven years ago. I’m sorry, I don’t buy that my brother cheated.”

“He didn’t cheat, I committed a crime.”

______

Nina couldn’t believe this woman’s story, it sounded so unlikely, but the proof was sitting there right in front of her. “What do you mean you committed a crime?” Her mind was racing with what this woman could have done to her little brother. “I would like you to know, I am recording this conversation for my brother to hear.”

“That’s acceptable,” she agreed. “I was a military nurse,” she began. “I was almost twenty-seven when Jesse came through. I had already been a nurse for six years when I met him. My task was to give the Marines from Fort Buffalo their medical evaluation before they were deployed. I had to collect samples from each soldier, and after the tests were complete, by law, the samples were to be destroyed. I badly wanted a child, but I was not interested in the company of men. I used my position to scout out the best physical and mental specimens, and your brother’s intelligence was off the charts. As for the physical, like I said, men did not appeal to me, but nearly every woman on the base was trying to get his attention. He always very politely refused them and then would go on to show them a vid still of Rebecca. He was so in love, none of the young ladies could even be angry with him for turning them down. He was in peak condition, extremely intelligent and obviously desirable, so I made sure I was in position to do his evaluation. When the time came to destroy his specimens, I kept his seed and smuggled it off the base. I later used it to get myself pregnant.”

“You what?” Nina couldn’t believe her ears, but part of her was relieved that Jesse had never strayed from Rebecca.

“I know I committed a terrible crime against your brother and I’m sorry. I am not, however, sorry about the results. Lana is the best part of my life. I had never intended to tell anyone what I had done, least of all you, because I didn’t want Jesse’s money to support his daughter. Things are different now, however.”

“What do you mean, things are different? What has changed? Is it university? You want Jesse to pay for university, don’t you?”

“I hope he will, but that’s not it.”

“You do realize that by telling me this, the court could place Lana into Jesse’s custody when he returns from his mission.”

“I understand, but my hope is actually that she will wind up in his custody.”

Lana began to cry and Nina understood, “You’re dying,” she gasped. “You’re dying and you wish to make sure Lana is taken care of.”

“Yes, I contracted a rare disease while working in the outer colonies and our medicine has not caught up to it yet. I am told I will be dead within a week or two. Please, Mrs. Romanov, I have no other family, she has no other family and we have nothing.”

Lana looked up at her expectantly; tears still in her eye and Nina saw Jesse there.
How could I refuse my niece? Niece, I think I like the sound of that.

“Alright, Miss Evans, I will take her in until my brother returns….”

“We should not do this without the proper planning,” Serge interrupted. It was the first time he had spoken and Nina almost forgot he was there. “We need to make sure Jesse’s reputation does not take a hit and given current circumstances, no one can know Lana is related to us until Jesse returns.”

“What does he mean?” Terri asked weakly.

“Jesse is not due back for another six months, and our family has been the target of some recent assassination attempts.”

“That’s terrible. How will you take care of Lana if no one can know you are taking care of her?”

“I don’t know yet,” she looked to her husband.

Serge smiled and put his arm around his niece, “Meet the
Vanguard’s
newest intern.”

“Serge, that’s brilliant. Here’s what we will do. We will have you immediately moved to the
Vanguard
med-bay. This way, Lana can be with you twenty-four seven under the guise of working on the ship. Hopefully, the only people that will know what is going on besides us will be Ariel and Manny.”

“That is Aunt Ariel,” Serge added as he nudged Lana and was rewarded when she smiled ever so slightly.

“Lana, you will be able to spend as much time with your mom as you wish, but you can tell no one of our situation.” she nodded and Nina embraced her niece. “Sweetie, I am so sorry this is happening to you. I want you to know, you do still have a family. We may not know you yet, but we will always love you.” She released her embrace and added, “I am going to get all of the paperwork started, but there is one more thing, Lana.” She sat down next to her niece and took her hand as she continued. “When we tell Jesse, it will take him a little while to believe that you are his daughter. His mind will be unwilling to process how you came to be. Do not be discouraged, I promise you, the moment he realizes you are his daughter, he will love you. He will love you more than anything in the galaxy. Do you understand?”

“I understand, thank you, Mrs. Romanov.” She timidly replied. It seemed like things might work out, now she only had to hope that Jesse would want to be her father.

“Please, call me Aunt Nina when we’re in private.” She smiled and embraced her niece again.

Terri finally relaxed as for the first time, she knew her only child would not only be taken care of, but also loved. She only wished it wouldn’t be seven months before Lana could meet her father.

______

Thansar was excited; today their acceptance into the Human Suppression Syndicate would become official. They were invading a human world rich in resources together. They would need these resources for the upcoming war with the Enclave. The plan was simple; The Jarlevian and Barrafoss fleets would simultaneously arrive at the human world and quickly overwhelm their pitiful fleet. Once they began landing troops on the ground, they would graciously offer enslavement instead of annihilation. If the human vermin had any brains at all, they would jump at the opportunity to survive. Dobar would be contacting him momentarily and he hoped his excitement wasn’t obvious.

At last, the call had come and the fleet jumped to rendezvous with their new allies. They met one system away from the intended target. They were sending one hundred fifty ships each against the paltry defenses of this world. Thansar remembered bitterly losing almost all of his one hundred fifty ships to Jesse Marcos at Earth three years ago. That battle led to the loss of the war. That lose still stung, but after today, the sting would be a little less. Three hundred ships arrived in orbit around this world that Thansar didn’t even know the name of. He didn’t care, either. They would serve his purposes or they would die. Twenty-seven pitiful ships came out to meet them and Thansar almost let out a laugh. Dobar opened up before the first transmission could be received. He did the same. Seven minutes after their arrival, the entire enemy fleet was destroyed. Now, Dobar received a transmission from the lush blue-green world before them.

“This is the sovereign planet Sindar. We demand to know why you have attacked us.”

Dobar laughed before he replied. “I am Dobar, leader of the Human Suppression Syndicate. We are claiming this planet for ourselves. Your lives as you knew them are over. Every human on this world is now our slave. If you fight us, we will annihilate you. We only need your resources. When we are finished taking them, we will leave you in peace.” He smiled and Thansar knew he would never leave them in peace. The response surprised him.

“We will never bow to alien invaders. Leave now, or it is you who will be annihilated,”