Total Betrayal (Deep Space Endeavor) (54 page)

             
"Very good flying, Lana," Serge encouraged as they unbuckled. Sun was crying and Suzy consoled her, holding her in her arms.

             
"It's alright, Sun, Lana saved us." Raina gently encouraged, but Nina could see she was really scared as well.

             
"That was some flying, Lana, thank you for getting us back in one piece." Nina encouraged as she sent a transmission to Jesse to let him know they were alright. She put Lana on the transmission and Jesse could see she was clearly shaken.

             
"Lana, it's alright. I'm hearing reports of how great you flew to get our family to safety. I know it was difficult, too. I'm so proud of you and so relieved that you are all okay."

             
"I've never been so scared, Dad." She said almost in tears. "There were so many of them and they were all coming after us, like we were the target. I was so worried about Sun and Raina and everyone else. I'm never scared when it's just me, but this time..."

             
"You were protecting your family. I get it," Jesse encouraged his heroic daughter. "I feel that same weight very often and there is nothing more frightening. And you weren't the only one really scared just now. I was down here, powerless to help knowing that many of the people I love were in danger."

             
"That was my first crash, too." Lana sadly added.

             
"Still better than most of my landings," Jesse joked and Lana smiled. "Now, go let your Aunt Ariel know you are okay. I'll see you in a couple hours. You should expect the biggest hug you have ever gotten and then I want to hear all about Hyperia."

             
"Okay, Dad, I love you." Lana replied, still shaken, but no longer on the verge of tears.

             
"I love you, too. sweetie." he replied as the transmission ended.

             
When the fire at the back of the shuttle was finally out, they were told it was safe to disembark and Lana practically flew into Ariel's arms. Then it was back to New Polisia as Admiral Tollegar had her people looking for enemy survivors among the debris to question. They had taken out twenty-nine ships and most of their fighters before the remaining seven retreated. They had suffered little damage, as the attacking ships were not very powerful. There were seven ships in need of repair, they had lost twenty-two fighters, but that was it. They had even been able to rescue thirteen of the pilots, so there was very little loss of life. Jesse and the military council were all under the impression that the whole attack had been aimed at destroying Lana's shuttle. Many of the ship captains had confirmed that all enemy fighter activity seemed to be centered on Lana and that she wasn't being paranoid. They also mentioned how well she had done. Now, the only thing left to do was find out who these people were, and who had sent them.

             
"Hello, Your Majesty," Jesse began, hoping Dominus could identify the attackers. "I just wanted to say thank you for the kind treatment of my family. The girls cannot stop talking about how much fun they had with Princess Rayelle and Lady Collette."

             
"Well, Rayelle hasn't left Lady's side since your daughter departed. I think she actually misses Lana, Sun and Raina. She said it was like having younger sisters for the week. She was also very impressed with Lana's skill as a pilot. She apparently defeated three of my academy's best at once; she certainly does not get that skill from you, my friend."

             
"No, Your Majesty, she doesn't," Jesse laughed. "She gets it from her Aunt Ariel. Lana's piloting just saved all of their lives on the way home." Jesse added taking the opportunity to transition to what he wanted to ask.

             
"Really? What happened?" The King asked, concern etched on his face.

             
"We were attacked by a small fleet of thirty-six ships right as Lana was exiting light space. They launched all of their fighters and her shuttle was the specific target. We routed them easily, but she was avoiding dozens of fighters; she took out at least ten before she made it to the safety of the
Vanguard
, but she knew they were all gunning for her and she's a bit shaken up. I was wondering if you or one of your people could identify the ships. They were not powerful at all; we destroyed twenty-nine without losing any." He sent the details to the King.

             
"I will see what my people can come up with, Jesse. Has Admiral Sonnadall seen this?"

             
"Yes, Your Majesty, but he was unfamiliar with the origin of the ships."

             
"I'll have this taken care of as soon as possible. I must go now, tell Lana we miss her already."

             
"Will do, Sire." Jesse replied and then the transmission winked out. Someone was still out to get him, and he had to know whom.

______

              Jesse ran, he ran as hard as he had run in months, in what felt like years. Eighteen kilometers down, twelve to go. He almost felt free he felt so good. He had finally finished his new gralium prosthetic. It contained synthetic flesh, synthetic muscle, gralium bones and nano technology so small he was able to recreate nerve endings at close to the cellular level. This leg was a masterpiece. One of the things he liked about it is he could increase the leg strength as his other leg regained its full strength and stamina. This was now his second week back in full physical training and he was loving every minute. He was going to try and reach thirty kilometers and he laughed as he saw some of the members of his protection detail struggling to keep up with him. King Dominus believed it was once again Tovanoras that had sent those ships after his family, and he was thankful none of them had been hurt. Lana and Sun had not stopped talking about Hyperia and he knew he was going to have to plan a vacation there at some point in the future. Sun had shown him the vid stills four times already, and he knew he would be looking at them again soon. Suzy had finished the pod for them, and now their program was up and running. They had already had over a hundred people go through and continued to be amazed by the results. As his run was winding to a close, he almost didn't want to go into work, but he supposed the leader of the city shouldn't be taking days off at his leisure. They had built enough homes for almost four hundred thousand more people, and King Dominus’ construction crews had moved on to begin building the first of six smaller settlements before they began on an even bigger city than New Polisia. In fact, Jesse had planned for New Polisia to be the capital of Donara, but also its smallest major city. He figured the city may eventually be built out to the six smaller settlements encompassing them and making New Polisia a sprawling city of up to three million, but he was going to try not to let that happen.

             
“How was the run, Jesse?" Kimi asked as she greeted him with a towel for the sweat pouring off his body.

             
"It was great. Thirty kilometers and no problems at all with the leg. I don't even have any of the pain I've lived with for the last four months." He smiled as he entered the house. He was going to need to take a quick shower, and then on to the central tower for another day of business. Now that they had space for a significant amount of new people, they were going to have to work on what their system would be.

             
"I'm glad your new leg is allowing you to get back to your old routine more quickly," Kimi replied as she followed him inside. "Now I will have to step up my game if I hope to keep up with you in training."

             
"Right," Jesse nodded skeptically. "Thanks for trying to make me feel good, but I've got a long way to go before I'm back to where I was. Speaking of training, have you chosen any students yet?"

             
"I have four candidates that I will be working out this week, and four more for each of the next two weeks. I will most likely choose half of them and begin the program in a month or so."

             
"That sounds great. How old are your prospective students?"

             
"Between seven and nine, I wish to start them young, but not too young."

             
"And the parents are okay with it?"

             
"Absolutely. In fact, they will be involved to an extent. I will not be training them exactly how I was trained. These children will still have a normal childhood with families that love them."

             
"Great, I can't wait to see what happens." he added as he stepped into the shower. Ten minutes later, he was at the door, giving his wife a kiss goodbye and off to another day of trying to be the leader of a developing planet. When he arrived at his cabinet's meeting hall, he noticed he was the first to arrive. His protection detail was fanned out through the lobby of the meeting hall and he pulled out his data pad to check on the day's activities. After his morning meeting, he had a meeting with his military council followed by a meeting with Josiah. The military council was set to discuss the opening of the new shipyards within the next few days. They would eventually be pumping out thirty-six ships every three months, but for now they would start with twenty-eight every four months, at least for the first two groups of ships the shipyards built. They would also be opening the factory that would make the
Vipers
,
Eagles
, warriorbots, plasma cannons, planetary shields, and all of their other military tech. It was a sprawling complex of seven very large buildings with an additional twelve storage facilities. One whole building was dedicated to blasters, heavy blasters, armor and explosives. Another was dedicated to hover-tanks, troop transports and military grade speeders. Jesse was going to have to come up with a plan to incorporate Donara's new ships with their existing fleet. Eventually when the new people petitioning to live on Donara were settled, military personnel might reach the point of supporting all of these new ships, but for now, the first two or three rounds of ships should get sufficient crews fairly easily.

             
Jesse's next meeting after the military briefing would be with Josiah to see how his intelligence network was coming along. He knew that with Tanna and Xanu, he would have at least limited access to Ginderbar and Hyperia's intelligence networks, but he wanted to build up his own. Josiah had been given
Endeavor
, and she was loaded up with three cloaked shuttles. He had also been given two Special Forces cruisers, the
Justice
and the
Freedom
as backup for
Endeavor
. Each was loaded with the best stealth capabilities available without having a cloak. They possessed the ability to change hue from grey to black or grey to white depending on where they needed to hide, they possessed sensor baffles and shields more powerful than any in the fleet. They were each loaded with two
Eagles
and eighteen
Vipers
. Josiah had handpicked their crews and was in the process of picking agents. He had only picked twenty-three agents to this point and Jesse was going to have to encourage him to pick more, and pick them faster. Josiah had decided that it was more important to have all of the backup ready to go before he put any agents out in the field, but now that his support teams were in place, Jesse wanted his agents trained and sent out.

             
As another day of meetings came to a close, Jesse sadly mused that he was in this for the long haul. He wished he could turn it all over to someone else, but there was no one else. His family had been right. The Milky Way citizens had followed him here and the Hyperian citizens had come because of him. He had to be the one to lead them, at least for a while.

______

              Three months later, Jesse was returning home from a particularly long day at the office. Nina had begun letting people that had been cleared settle on Donara. The city was filling up quickly and his first round of new ships were about to be put through their paces. He couldn't wait for Admiral Sonnadall's report. General Hernandez was halfway through the training for the first class of Special Forces from Donara and Josiah had recently let him know that their new intelligence network was up and running and growing every day. Things were going well in New Polisia and on all of Donara in general. Six additional settlements had been built and the second city was coming along nicely. They currently had a population of four hundred eighty thousand with room for one point two million. Everything was proceeding nicely, but Jesse couldn't help but feel uneasy.

             
The unease must have been evident on his face as he entered his home.

             
"What's wrong, Jesse?" Kimi asked as she kissed him. He could tell she had just finished training with her students because her hair was still wet from her shower and the smell of her shampoo was a little more noticeable than usual.

             
"I'm not sure," he replied, trying to find words to convey what he was feeling. "I just feel like things are going too well, I don't like when things are going this well."