A Pirate's Tale: The Only Solution Is Retribution (23 page)

“Go get the one on the right and get back here!” Leo ordered Carl.

Carl ran toward the right bunker as Jack used his shoulder blaster to kill any enemy soldiers that stuck their head out of the back opening.  Leo pointed toward the left and Embree rushed around the center bunker toward the bunker on the left; he arrived without being seen.  He glanced out at the platoon and saw that Billy and Glenny were pinned down.  Jeff and Chuck’s bodies were on the ground smoking to their right.  He slammed an explosive pack on the blaster’s wall, turned, and ran at his best speed toward the center blaster.  He dove after thirty yards and felt a giant explosion behind him rock the ground under him.  A moment later, the ground was rocked by the second blaster’s destruction.  He jumped up after the shockwaves passed and continued to run toward the center bunker.

Leo saw Embree and Carl place their explosive packs, he counted off in his mind, and then yelled, “EVERYONE DOWN!!”  Embree was already prone but Carl was still running when he heard Leonidas.  Jack, Carl and Leo hit the ground together and pushed their faces into the dirt.  Four enemy soldiers came rushing out of the center bunker and started to raise their shoulder blasters when the explosive packs went off and all four soldiers were blown apart by the debris coming at them from both sides.

Leo shook his head trying to remove the cobwebs as he jumped to his feet.  He staggered up to the open back entrance on the center blaster, raised his shoulder blaster, and shot the two surviving enemy soldiers through the chest as they struggled to shake off the effects of the two blasts.  Leo yelled out, “CARL, GET IN HERE!!  JACK, EMBREE, COVER US AND HAVE BILLY AND GLENNY JOIN YOU WHEN THEY ARRIVE!”

Carl came running into the bunker and Leo pointed at a large metal wheel to the left, “Turn the wheel!”

“What?”

“Turn that wheel!  We have two more levels of enemy blasters above us on this hill!”  Carl grabbed the wheel and began turning it as fast he could.  The turret housing the heavy blaster began turning slowly to the left and Leonidas prayed the enemy forces above them wouldn’t charge before he could get the heavy blaster turned.  The blaster bunkers behind them were at a decided disadvantage.  They could fire straight ahead or raise the barrels of their blasters to fire at aircraft…but they could not depress the blaster barrels enough to fire on the bunkers directly below them.  Leo saw the slope of the hill moving around in his vision and saw enemy troops start moving down from the next line of blasters.  “KEEP TURNING, CARL!!”  He turned the heavy blaster’s barrel and began firing at the approaching troops as well as the blaster bunker to the right above their position.  Jack came rushing into the bunker and took the wheel with Carl and they turned it as fast as they could.  Finally, the bunker’s opening was centered on the hill and Leo began firing the brilliant beam across the slope ahead of them burning all three enemy bunkers in the next line above them along with the enemy forces moving down the hill toward them.  Leo shook his head as he moved the heavy blaster back and forth across the slope.  “We could use some help!”

Carl was lying on the floor with both hands on his shoulders, “You’ll have it shortly.  You owe me a watch!”

Leo said over his shoulder, “If I hadn’t stopped and fired at those three warriors, you wouldn’t have an arm to put it on.”

Carl waved an arm and grimaced, “You should have done it on the run!”

Jack started laughing and, after a moment, Leo joined him.  Carl watched them and said, “YOU OWE ME A WATCH!”  Jack laughed even harder.

Jack looked out of the open back entrance to the bunker and saw the platoon was arriving and setting up around it.  Right behind the platoon, the rest of A Company was moving across the blasted terrain in mobile troop carriers.  With the blasters removed from the hill, the Legion’s attack fighters came roaring in overhead hitting the hill with a massive missile launch making the entire top of the hill look on fire.

Leo lowered his arms from the blaster controls in exhaustion and saw Captain Anderson stick his head into the bunker.  Leo looked up at him and Mark smiled, “You done good, Piper!  Your platoon will remain here and recover while we clean up the rest of the enemy positions.”

“Yes, Sir.”

The platoon dug in and they knew the new Lieutenant had their support and loyalty.  He had placed himself in the most dangerous position and they knew he would do everything possible to keep them safe.  They had no doubts about his bravery.

• • •

Leo opened his eyes and sighed.  That battle broke the enemy’s lines and the Legion poured through the break and rolled them up.  Captain Anderson was promoted to Colonel in command of First Battalion and his first act was to promote Leonidas to take command of A Company.  That was how it worked from that moment forward; Mark would be promoted and Leonidas was immediately promoted to take his former position.  Leo knew that Mark had manipulated him…but…he still deserved his respect; Mark’s killer should pay a price for his death.  He lay on the bed, closed his eyes, and after a few minutes, sleep finally found him.

G
old looked at Gem in his private quarters and twisted his triangular shaped head to the right, “I thought you must be wrong about this metal but it appears it’s even stronger than I thought.  Where did you say it comes from?”

“A planet named Bellingham.  I’ve seen another human recently with a sword like this one and it appeared someone was attempting to capture him.  I don’t know who trained him but his actions showed he’s further advanced than the three humans I’ve trained, which also means he’s faster than either of us.”

“What?!  How is that possible?” Gold asked incredulously.

“I have no idea.”  Gem pressed a button on his console and Gold watched the human kill the alien outside the tavern.  He started twisting his head from side-to-side and Gem said, “There is another agency somewhere capable of training humans to an extremely high level of efficiency.”

“You were right about Humans being dangerous.  This supports that view.”

Gem nodded and asked, “What did you decide about the question I asked you?”

Gold blew out air through his breathing tube, “You are right.  I possess no consideration for any other species than my own.  I think that comes from being raised only within our society.  Coming out here has shown me a larger view of the universe we inhabit and has changed how I see it.  The humans that possess this metal represent a real threat to us.”

“No they don’t,” Gem corrected him.

“Gem, this metal would make them far ahead of us technologically.  A warship coated in this would be indestructible.”

“But that doesn’t mean they’re a danger.  It just means we should see if we can acquire it for our own use.”

Gold raised his thorax in a shrug, “That is something we’ll have to take a look at in the future.”

Gem clacked his agreement, “Are you ready to go to the meeting?  Leonidas is moving this way now.”

“What are we going to do about this Romanov issue?” Gold asked.

Gem clacked again at Gold before saying, “Let’s see if the humans have figured out anything.”  Gem turned and left his quarters with Gold following close behind him.

• • •

Leonidas exited the shuttle and the crew in the landing bay cheered his arrival.  Jack saluted him and smiled, “I’m taking you to the conference room, Sir.”

Leo returned his salute and then hugged him, “It’s good to see all of you again.  I understand you’ve handled a couple of pirate ships.”

Jack laughed, “Yes, we did!  Follow me.”

“I know where it is, Jack.  I was present when this ship was built.”

“There’s been some changes, Sir.  The conference room is not where it was originally.  Gem expanded the training room into the former conference room and his former lab is now the conference room.”

“Oh.  Then I’m glad you’re here.  You’ve saved me some steps walking to the front of the ship.”  They arrived at the new conference room just as Gold and Gem entered the door.  “Gem, it’s good to see you.”

“And you as well, Leonidas!  Welcome aboard.”

Leonidas entered the room and Desiree and Victoria came out of their chairs to embrace him.  He returned their hugs and smiled, “It’s really good to see both of you again.  How did your training go?”

“Just like you said; it was incredibly painful and we’re glad that’s over,” Victoria replied.  She smiled and said, “Gem has a sword for you.”

Leo looked at her, “A sword?”

Gem clacked, “I’ll show it to you after the meeting.”  Leo smiled and Gem looked around the room, “Why don’t we sit down and start this meeting?”  Everyone went to their chairs and Gem clacked and then said, “The main issue we have to discuss is the Romanovs looking for Victoria’s ship.  Does anyone have ideas on how we’re going to handle this problem?”

Everyone was silent and Leo smiled, “I took a nap before coming here and before I went to sleep, I thought that the only way to deal with this is for Victoria to remain away from our Galaxy…”

“But that won’t work!” Victoria interrupted.”  Leo looked at her and she quickly added, “I’ll have to go back to collect funds to continue our travels.  The master account is in our galaxy and I’m running low now.”

Leo smiled, “I understand that.”  He looked at Gem, “The problem is what is going to happen when the Romanovs find Victoria, right?”

“Pretty much,” Gem answered.

“What will a DNA scanner determine when it’s pointed at her?  Won’t it show that she is not the one they’re searching to find?” Leo asked.

“That’s true.”

Victoria and Desiree’s heads went back and Leo smiled, “Then we just need to let them scan her and that should resolve the issue.”

Desiree tilted her head, “Are you saying that Victoria’s DNA now matches the former Victoria?”

Gem tilted his head to the left, “Yes it does.”

“Then this is not the problem I thought it was,” Desiree said as she sat back in her chair.

Leo nodded and Gem looked around at the gathering, “You’ve not thought it through completely.”

Leo jerked around to Gem as his eyes narrowed, “What am I missing?”

“They will think that Victoria is not the one they’re searching to find but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll be satisfied that Romanov’s daughter is not on her ship.”

The room was silent and Leo closed his eyes and sighed.  Victoria looked at him, “Why is that a problem?”

“Because they will want to come on board and scan all of the crewmembers.  If they do that, what will they discover?”

Victoria shook her head, “I’m not sure what you mean?”

Desiree sighed, “They will find out that everyone on this ship served with Leonidas in the Legion.  They will know that you and he are connected.”

Leo nodded, “And they will put two and two together and know that Romanov’s daughter was with a man when she disappeared.  Their suspicions will only be heightened by that discovery.”

“They already know that our two ships are connected,” Victoria stated.  “All we need is a plausible cover story on how that connection happened.”

Embree spoke up, “Have either of you thought about explaining how Victoria was on Kellinger at the same time this Romanov Daughter disappeared?  Whatever story you concoct will have to include that piece of information.”

Barney nodded, “Not only her, but the story will also have to include Leonidas being there as well.”

“Just how rich is Victoria supposed to be?” Carl asked.  Everyone turned to him and he shrugged, “I’ve watched Victoria on the planets we’ve visited and she appears to be a rather wanton woman spending credits like there’s no end to them, no offense, My Lady.”

“None taken,” Victoria responded.

“Anyway,” Carl continued, “She could have just picked up Leonidas on Kellinger after he left the Starliner and bribed him to provide her a crew along with instructions on how to build a new pleasure yacht.”

“But Leonidas may have been recorded on Kellinger with Romanov’s daughter,” Desiree added.

Leonidas smiled, “That didn’t happen.  I was using my electronic defenses built in the card to prevent that.” Victoria shook her head and Leonidas said, “What?”

“My sister saw me going with you when we left the Starliner.  I told her that I was going to use you to avenge the death of Lyla and my former husband.”

Desiree looked at her, “Former husband?”

“I’ll explain it later, Desiree.”

“Explain it now!”

“It can wait, Desiree!” Leonidas said sharply.  Desiree looked at him and then nodded.  “It might still work.”

Gem looked at him, “And how will you cover that item?”

“Victoria will simply say that she encountered me on Kellinger and after a few days, asked if I would assist her in building a new ship.  She’ll tell the Romanovs that I told her that I was with the daughter after the Starliner landed and refused to assist her in extracting revenge against the Pirate that attacked her Starliner.  She’ll tell Romanov that I told her that the daughter told me that she had discovered someone in her family’s business that was going to assist her and she had to go back to the ship to carry out their instructions.”

“That’s stretching it, Leonidas.”

“Not really, Gem.”

“How will you explain the purple card they knew you were carrying?  Remember the proctors that came on board made that determination and I’m pretty certain that Romanov knows about it.”

“I agree, he probably does know a purple card agent was on board but after she went back to the Starliner, there were no images taken of my being with her.”

“What about the Treasury?”

Leo rolled his eyes, “You’re right.  She was seen with a man there but they won’t have a clear image of me; my devices would prevent that.  They might be led to believe that it was someone working against them inside their organization that went with her to the treasury.  They might even believe that she was planning to take the funds out of her account from the beginning at best and may believe she is the one in charge of the Spider’s secret organization at worst.”

Gold spoke up, “They will insist on a meeting with you to confirm her story.”