Total Betrayal (Deep Space Endeavor) (17 page)

             
Just then, one of Bliney's aides ran into the room, "Admiral,” he shouted, “you have to stop this."

             
"What? Who are you to tell me what to do?"

             
"It's the room's cameras, Sir, someone has hacked the feed and it's going out live to the entire Coalition. They all know you promised this man safe passage, and now they have watched you torture him."

             
"Quickly, let us move Marcos to a more private location. We can't have this out there. Shut down the entire vid news network if you have to," The President barked.

             
"This isn't that bad," Lucien started with a smile. "Now, the entire Coalition knows what will happen to any who defy us. Still, a more private location will allow us to dig classified details out of Marcos’ brain before we kill him. Bring him!" He yelled to two of the guards as he and the Admiral left the room. The president was going to lead the prisoner to his new location while Bliney got his nose looked at and Lucien made sure the Coalition knew that what they had done was for the good of them all. As the guards practically dragged Jesse's broken body across the back lawn of the Presidential Palace, the palace grounds were rocked by an explosion.

______

              Josiah had seen enough, it was time to act. They were moving Jesse to a better location to continue his torture. Lucien, Bliney and Rhodes had been merciless, and it looked like his best friend was at the very least going to lose his leg. In his mind, all three of those men would need to be dead before he would ever be willing to leave this galaxy.
Endeavor
de-cloaked right above the palace to cries of surprise and fear. The President and the Enclave guards that were carelessly carrying Jesse's body were trapped in no man's land between the palace and the guardhouse.
Endeavor
quickly overpowered the palace shields and began laying down fire to keep the enemy out in the open. "We can't let them get Jesse inside one of those buildings." The President ran for the palace at the same time that
Endeavor
was taking out the palace defenses. He was caught up in one of the explosions, killing him instantly.

             
"I think we just killed the President," Collin called out, fear in his voice.

             
"It's better than he deserves," Manny angrily muttered.

             
Before
Endeavor
landed, Tanna already had twenty-four of Ginderbar's best armored and out the hatch. Their boot jets lowered them quickly and safely to the ground. They quickly overpowered the four Enclave guards and made a defensive perimeter around Jesse's unconscious body.
Endeavor
was now firing all of her anti-ship lasers at oncoming troop carriers and hover-tanks. A half dozen fighters screamed by as
Endeavor
landed five meters from Jesse's position and continued laying down cover as Tanna's men got him safely onboard. The shields went back up and the hatch closed as
Endeavor
rose above the Presidential Palace. "Manny, target the palace with torpedo one."

             
"Really, Jo? Isn't that kind of declaring war on the Coalition?"

             
"They already did that when they tortured Jesse under the Banner of Peace. Trust me, this is one war that if they pursue, everyone loses, now blow the palace; it no longer stands for anything." Manny fired and the palace was blown to atoms. The Coalition Presidential Palace was no more. "Alright, let's get out of here, cloak the ship and let's meet Jason at the rendezvous."

             
"Where's Jason?"

             
"Doing what we just did to Bliney's house in Rhode Island." Before Manny could reply, Josiah added, "Don't worry, he made sure the Admiral's family wasn't inside. We're not monsters, I just wanted to make a statement and put the fear into Bliney that all of our families have been feeling."

             
"And the palace?" Manny asked.

             
"That was a statement, too. Now the entire Coalition knows that we are not going to take Lucien and Bliney's treachery lying down. If they get to tear down everything that we've built, we're gonna tear down everything that they've built."

             
After reaching the rendezvous and bringing Jason's shuttle aboard, they left Earth and jumped into light space, heading towards Polisia. Josiah gave Manny the bridge and went to med-bay to check on Jesse. He learned that Jesse was going to need eighty-three minutes in the pod, which the doctor was fairly certain would heal everything except Jesse's leg. He was less sure after Josiah told him of Jesse's many uses and Suzy's theory of diminishing returns. When Jesse's time in the pod had finished, the doctor confirmed Suzy's suspicions, noting several lacerations and bruises that had not completely healed. He sewed up three remaining open wounds, put burn cream on two of the electrical burns on his chest and put ice packs on Jesse's bruises. He was relieved to see that all of Jesse's broken bones had healed and there was no muscle damage or organ damage, except for the left knee and the gash above the knee. Bliney had cut almost halfway through his leg, and after the damage the knee had taken, the doctor knew the leg could not be saved. Josiah would not let the doctor amputate; he wanted to get Suzy's opinion first.

             
Bessa had come down to sit with Jesse. Even though he was unconscious, she didn't want him to be alone. She gingerly held his hand as the tears rolled down her face. A friend had done this to him, and in the long run that might be harder for him to accept than the damage to his leg. He was going to be asleep for at least two full days, maybe more if Suzy's theory was right. She had no wish to see the tears fall down Lana's face when she saw her father.
Lana was the first person that introduced herself to me when I arrived in this galaxy
, she thought.
She was so kind even after everything she has been through. This is really going to hurt her
.
How could that evil man refer to her as a science project?
As Bessa thought about the implications of Jesse's condition on his daughter, Collin came in and sat across from her. The deep frustration was evident in his eyes.

             
"This isn't right, Bessa. We need to punish Bliney and Lucien for what they've done, and then I want to leave this galaxy for good. If our leaders and our people could turn on Jesse and the rest of us so quickly after everything we've done, these are no longer people I want to know." He looked in her direction; the hurt in his eyes was killing her. "And they certainly no longer deserve our protection. Let the Human Suppression Syndicate have them all. I don't care."

             
Bessa knew she should say something, but her life as a slave left her ill prepared to speak about conflicts with galactic consequences. "Well, then we leave, we take everyone you are friends with and their families. As soon as you and the others are done building Jesse's machine, we all leave. Just know that whatever you do, I am with you all the way." She smiled and she could see a little of the anger melt from her husband's face.

             
"Thank you, Bessa; you know that you're the best part of me, right?"

             
"Of course, and you are the best part of me, which is why we fit so perfectly. We will get through this, Collin, and we will need to be there to help Jesse get through this."

             
"I know we will." As the ship continued to hurtle towards Polisia, all thoughts were on Jesse and how he was gonna get through this. Would he retaliate, or just leave? No one knew the answer. The only thing they did know was that Jesse's life would be forever changed.

______

              Lucien and Bliney were in disbelief over what had just happened. President Rhodes was dead, the palace was destroyed and Marcos, or what was left of him anyway, was rescued. That was only half the story; Lucien didn't care about any of that. Rhodes was never more than an underling and he cared nothing about Earth or its historically significant landmarks. The thing that had both him and Bliney really excited was the ship. Never in his wildest dreams could he have imagined a ship that could cloak so thoroughly that it literally disappeared. How had Marcos come up with something like that? More importantly, why had Bliney not known about it?

             
"I cannot believe Marcos was able to invent a cloak for a ship that would render it both invisible and untraceable. This is fantastic news." Bliney excitedly remarked.

             
"Yes, I agree. I only wish this weren't the first we knew of it." Lucien replied.

             
"Well, that's because the ship was in another galaxy for fourteen months. It had never been in action before then, and there were probably only a small handful of people that knew about it, half of which have been in that same galaxy.  Jesse always did keep things close to the vest; he only ever brought me in when the tech became needed."

             
"Regardless, we must have that technology. We must capture
Endeavor
and unlock her secrets."

             
"It won't be easy, Supreme Commander."

             
"Of course it won't, but we'll raze all of Polisia if we have to in order to make that ship ours. This is our destiny, Admiral; imagine, a fleet of powerful SSE ships dropping in on an alien world unannounced and obliterating it. Imagine how quickly this entire galaxy would be ours if we had that technology."

             
"Ironically, Marcos never sought power, and he had the means to seize it all along." Bliney mused.

             
"None of that matters; our only focus now is in getting that ship and its cloaking technology." Lucien smiled as he thought about having a cloaked ship. His enemies would never see him coming and they would never find him unless he wanted them to. It would be the ultimate tactical advantage.

______

              ...On Kaldor, Governor Valinor had just received an interesting message: a cryptic note from Eliphaz Topanar. He wanted to meet, something about the fate of the Lawless Sector being at stake. As intriguing as the note was, Valinor didn't have time for it. It was Kiah's birthday, or at least the day they had designated to be Kiah's birthday since no one actually knew. Through scientific methods, they had been able to narrow it down to a two-week period, and they had let Kiah decide what day it would be. Today was the day she chose, and it would forever be entered on the legal documents as her birthday. He loved every minute of being Kiah's father, and Seeja loved her just as much. She was always so content, and genuinely happy whenever they gave her even the smallest of gifts. Today, they were going to take her out to her first fancy restaurant as a treat, and she was so excited she was practically bouncing off the walls. He only had one more meeting to go, and then it was off to see his family. Family was a difficult word for the Valinors before Jesse brought Kiah into their lives. They had found out that Seeja couldn't have children and they had no idea what they were going to do. Then Kiah was dropped into their lives, and they have never been happier. He had a smile on his face as he walked into his meeting with the Chairman of Kaldor.

             
"What's got you so happy, Tarrick?" The Chairman asked with a friendly smile.

             
"It's Kiah's birthday today. She is turning eight and we are going to go celebrate as soon as our meeting is over, Sir."

             
"That sounds fun, I won't take too much of your time, then."

             
"Thank you, Sir." He shook the Chairman's hand and took the seat offered to him. The Chairman's office was big, and mostly empty. He had floor to ceiling windows covering two whole walls. He had a silver colored desk with his silver chair behind it, and two silver chairs facing it close to the windows. He also had a fairly large silver bookshelf on the same wall as the door to the office. Then, almost five meters away, sat a silver framed couch with deep purple cushions a small silver table and two silver framed chairs with the same purple cushions facing the couch. They had each taken a seat in one of those chairs. The Chairman's secretary brought them both a beverage and the meeting began.

             
"Tarrick, I see you as my logical successor to lead the planet," the Chairman began.

             
"That is most kind of you to say, Sir, but..."

             
"Please, Tarrick, let me finish. Your popularity is off the charts, and your ties to Colonel Marcos, Chief of State Enosal and King Dominus make you the best connected. I also believe you have the most promise to not only be able to lead Kaldor, but also institute change for the better. I'm throwing my full weight behind your candidacy to become the next Chairman."

             
"Thank you, Sir, but I don't understand. Shouldn't this be a conversation we are having in six years or so? Why now?" Tarrick had the feeling he was not going to like the answer.