Total Betrayal (Deep Space Endeavor) (10 page)

             
The voice came back, this time angrier. Kimi mused that he was not used to people who did not comply immediately. "These ships now belong to the Coalition government by order of Supreme Commander Lucien. Now, this is your last warning, disembark the vessels and prepare to be taken into custody or we will open fire on you."

             
Kimi paused, playing for every moment she could give Josiah before she responded. "Lucien has no authority to be giving orders within the Coalition; he is a guest and an ally, nothing more. Continue trying to illegally hinder our departure and we will take it as an act of aggression and respond in kind." As she finished speaking, a shot took Xanu off his feet. Maria was a blur, quickly shooting out several of the lights shining down on them and casting the depot into shadows. Five of the men in the shuttle had stealthily disembarked, while two of the soldiers from each ship also came out to fight. The pilots continued to get their ships ready for takeoff, while the remaining soldier aboard each ship manned the weapons. SSE cargo haulers had military grade weapons, and while they may not be able to go up against a battleship in orbit, they were more than enough to combat unshielded, planet-side ordinance.

             
Each cargo ship picked out a target and opened fire. The hover tanks surrounding them began to explode and Enclave soldiers began diving for cover. Suddenly, the soldiers Josiah had dropped off began picking off their enemies quickly. Blaster fire rang out all around them as various streams of intense light lit up the depot on Pythos. Kimi, Xanu and Maria ran for cover as Kimi looked to Xanu and asked, "Are you injured? That shot looked hard."

             
"I'll be fine," he smiled and opened his jacket, revealing another. "I started wearing two after it saved Jesse on Chawanas. I probably won't even have a bruise."

             
Kimi smiled as the three of them made it to the cover being used by the soldiers from the shuttle. The scene had degenerated into confusion and chaos as the Enclave could not get reinforcements in quickly enough. Enclave soldiers were going down quickly because they had not anticipated functioning military grade weaponry on the cargo ships. Kimi commed the men to get back to their cargo ships while her people and
Endeavor's
soldiers would get out on the shuttle. The plan was for the ships to all take off as close together as possible and
Endeavor
would cover them from above with her shields. Everyone still on the ground would have to escape on the cloaked shuttle.

             
The ships began to rise and Kimi saw the leader of the Enclave soldiers getting ready to say something into his communicator, she rolled out of her cover and shot him before he could relay what was happening to his superiors. Just then, several more vehicles arrived and began to take aim at the rising cargo ships. Suddenly, the shuttle de-cloaked, swooped in and began strafing the men that were trying to bring the ships down.
Endeavor's
soldiers opened fire once again, and Kimi had her people begin boarding the shuttle as it came in for a landing behind some cover where it quickly cloaked again. Kimi and Maria were laying down cover for the soldiers as they made their way to the shuttle where Xanu was covering the entrance. Two more armored personnel carriers were fast approaching and Kimi didn't think they could take that many men. She was happy to see that the ships had at least made it to orbit.

             
All but five of the soldiers had made it to the shuttle by the time the Enclave reinforcements arrived. Kimi found it interesting that while this battle had played out, the authorities on Pythos had remained uncommonly silent. She briefly wondered what that meant before returning her attention to the shuttle. She wasn't going to be able to get the rest of her men to the shuttle in time so she commed Xanu to take off without them and meet them at the secondary rendezvous point in one hour. She huddled next to Maria and the five remaining soldiers and let them know they had to begin making their way to the rendezvous point. If only they could make it out of the warzone the depot had become. They started to make their way to the back of the depot when their path was blocked by the hard light of two dozen angry Enclave soldiers coming their way. The blasterfire was so thick that she could smell the charred ozone the air around her had become. They turned around to see the way they had come quickly filling up with the enemy. Kimi briefly thought she would never see Jesse again when suddenly, Enclave soldiers began to drop at an alarming rate. Blasterfire rang out from several directions at once and when they were all down, a voice called out, "Tejada, is that you over there?"

             
Maria could barely hide the surprise from her face as she replied, "Lennox? What are you doing here?"

             
"Who is Lennox?" Kimi asked, not quite ready to trust their rescuers.

             
"He is the only other remaining member of my unit from the Battle of Polisia. Jesse carried him out of that forest on his back, we can trust him." She turned and yelled back, "What are you doing here, Sergeant?"

             
"It's Lieutenant now, and we're here because we knew Jesse would send people for these ships, and we knew they'd be walking into an Enclave trap. It looks like you had prepared for a trap, but the stealth nature of this mission just wouldn't allow for a force large enough to overcome the amount of men the Enclave sent in. I gotta hand it to you guys, you put up way more of a fight than I thought you would. You even got the ships into the air. I only hope you can get them out of the system. By the way, General Kelly sends his regards."

             
"We're jamming the planetary defenses; we'll only have to make it past the defense ships. We're hoping there are still enough captains out there that will not open fire on retreating cargo ships."

             
"There probably are, but there are also about two dozen Enclave ships in orbit that won't have such reservations. We need to bug out, but we'll talk later. You should be on your way to your rendezvous point."

             
"Copy that, and thanks, Lieutenant. Give our thanks to the General." She got up and began to run at a brisk pace towards their pick up point. Kimi and the other soldiers followed her, thankful for the reprieve but worried for the ships.

             
"Who is General Kelly?" Kimi asked as she ran alongside Maria.

             
"He is in charge of Special Forces Command, and I'm sure the Coalition/Enclave treatment of us is not sitting well with him. He was Jesse's Sergeant when he was in Special Forces training. Over the last seven years since his retirement, Jesse has donated tons of new tech to the General's command. He always wanted the General to have the best. General Kelly would even make special orders that Jesse or one of his guys would build for him. He has also financially supported every Special Forces injured vet, as well as given generous donations to the family of every Special Forces Space Marine that has died in the line of duty. The General is not likely to forget that type of support."

             
"I had no idea," Kimi replied.

             
"I don't think anyone really does. I only know because the General let it slip last year when I was doing a freelance assignment for him." They kept moving quickly as they finally came to the rendezvous point.

             
Josiah did not like what his eyes were seeing. They had made it into orbit and were only a minute or so from light space when suddenly, twenty-four ships appeared and blocked his path. These were ships he had never come across and were most likely Enclave. They were sleek and looked powerful. Destroyers, cruisers, frigates and gunships blocked their way. The ships all looked the same; the only way you could tell the difference was by the size. Enclave ships were long but not quite rectangular. They were marked by gentle, flowing curves that almost made them look like elongated ovals. They were blocking their escape route and had taken up attack position.

             
They immediately began opening fire, but it seemed to be warning fire at first, and the cargo ships’ shields were holding. Once the real firing began, there was no way they could win this engagement. Josiah waited for the transmission to surrender which never came. He decided they were going to try and clear a little space for a desperation light space run. Six of the cargo ships combined fire on an Enclave gunship while the other six did the same. The Enclave ships launched a wave of fighters, which
Endeavor
eliminated when their fighters collided with its laser net. Josiah then took out one of their large cruisers with a successive barrage of torpedoes and lasers. He then watched in dismay as the rear two cargo ships were destroyed. It was too late for evasive action and he was likely to lose the entire fleet. Suddenly, any hope of getting away was lost as another thirty Coalition ships jumped in behind them and immediately opened fire.

             
Ship to ship laser fire raced across space looking for destruction. He braced for impact and damage reports, but they never came. He watched in amazement as Enclave ships began blowing up. The Coalition ships were pouring continuous fire into their clearly unsuspecting enemy while the Pythos Defense Fleet watched from behind Pythos moon. Josiah wondered whose side they were on as he began to add
Endeavor's
fire and that of the cargo ships to the mix and another seven ships were out of it quickly. Josiah saw three of the Coalition ships that were helping them explode as three more Enclave ships went down. The remaining eleven ships turned to run and Josiah let them. Just then, he received a transmission from a familiar face. "Lieutenant Jackson? So, Marcos finally gave you your own ship, huh?" He laughed, and Josiah let out a breath and smiled.

             
"It's always a pleasure to see you, General Kelly. Thanks for the save, this construction equipment is gonna help a lot of people on Polisia. What brings you out this way?"

             
"I figured Jesse would be back for his stuff, and I'm not a fan of this Enclave or its little errand boy, Rhodes. How they could turn on you guys after everything you've done, the sacrifices you've made and everything you've given, makes me very angry. I've never been one to keep my feelings to myself, so I figured it was only a matter of time before they came for me, too. I've got my ship, the
Washington,
and the entire Special Forces fleet and almost all of our soldiers and we would like to put ourselves under Jesse's command at Polisia. I'm only sorry that we didn't come to our senses and send aid to Polisia a few weeks ago."

             
"I understand, General, and Jesse would never hold it against you. There's no one he respects more in this galaxy, I can tell you that. When we get to Polisia, we'll have to let you in on a shuttle until Jesse okay's your fleet. We've had a lot of problems with assassins and Jesse isn't very trusting right now."

             
"I understand, Lieutenant; we should get going before the Pythos Defense Force gets it in their mind to chase us out."

             
"I agree, wise as always, General." He smiled as the transmission ended and then reality lost focus around them as the fleet jumped to light space.

______

              When the fleet arrived back at Polisia, Jesse was told of everything that had gone on, and how General Kelly and his Special Forces had saved them. Jesse was relieved that they had made it back, and after speaking with the General, was more than happy to incorporate his men and twenty-seven ships into the fleet protecting Polisia. He graciously cut the meeting short to continue dealing with the fallout over the assassination attempts at the refugee camps. Collin had immediately run off to check on Bessa and Sarah. Josiah was relieved that Mathias had not been injured, and impressed with the reports of how well he fought, but he, too, graciously dismissed himself from the General to go check on his family. He and Tanna left almost immediately. Jesse took the General over to Admiral Collingsworth and Admiral Sonnadall and asked them to begin coming up with defensive plans and strategies. He was most interested in how they were going to stop the assassination attempts and the Coalition rabble-rousers that had begun entering the refugee camps. When he was told that Kimi's shuttle was getting ready to land, he excused himself and quickly went to meet her. Her world was about to be forever and irrevocably changed and he needed to be the one to tell her.

             
Kimi was so excited to see Jesse waiting for her when she disembarked the shuttle. She smiled and ran into his arms, but she quickly sensed something was terribly wrong by Jesse's demeanor. She pulled back from his embrace and looked into his eyes. "What is it, Jesse? What is wrong?"

             
Jesse couldn't find the words, how was he going to tell the woman he loved that her mother was gone? How was he going to tell her that he was not there to protect the people that mattered most in her life? He took a deep breath and began. "A group of over thirty assassins hit the refugee camp our people were working at a few hours ago."

             
"Oh no, Sun, is Sun alright?" Kimi was shaking. Sun was the one person she just couldn't lose.